South Africa: Deputy President meets with political parties on coalition governments

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has, as the leader of government business, held talks with various political parties represented in Parliament about coalition governance and putting South Africans first by catering for their needs.

The purpose of Fridays meeting was to initiate discussions regarding the upcoming National Dialogue on Coalition Governments.

This dialogue, scheduled to take place in July, is a direct response to questions raised in Parliament regarding the need to establish stability within coalition governments in the absence of a legislative framework, a statement by The Presidency read.

In his response to the parliamentary question in May, Deputy President Mashatile committed to convening a national dialogue aimed at developing a framework for coalition governments.

The framework is said to serve as a foundation for constructing appropriate legislation at a later stage.

Despite the diverse views held by the political parties, there was unanimous agreement on the necessity for a national framework that ensures coalition governments remain responsive to the needs of the people of South Africa.

According to the Presidency, there are currently more than 60 municipalities governed by coalitions, of which some have encountered difficulties in upholding governance principles and providing essential services to the people.

The forthcoming national dialogue aims to bring together all stakeholders under a cohesive approach, ensuring that governments can continue to serve communities effectively.

Deputy President Mashatile thanked all the parties for the positive outcome of the meeting. Parties agreed to fully participate in the national dialogue.

We appreciate the positive manner in which the political parties have engaged with us as government so that we can reach an agreement and commit ourselves to serving South Africans collectively.

When we enter into co-governing arrangements, we must always remember that we are working toward a common goal: the realisation of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, united, and prosperous nation. We can be prosperous if we work together, he said.

The political parties, according to the statement, agreed with the general principles previously articulated by the Deputy President. These include putting people first, a commitment to ending poverty, ethical governance, building an inclusive economy, and fostering social cohesion, which should form the basis of a framework for coalitions.

The national dialogue will take place on 27 July 2023 and will include all spheres of government and parties represented in Parliament.

The forum is expected to facilitate meaningful conversations and contribute to the development of a robust framework that ensures effective coalition governance in South Africa.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-06-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Law on Foreign Relations to act as safeguard

09:03, June 30, 2023 By CAO DESHENG ( Chinadaily.com.cn

China's first foreign relations law, which was passed by the nation's top legislature on Wednesday, provides the necessary legal guarantees for the country to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests amid increased foreign sanctions and restrictions, a senior Chinese diplomat said.

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, said that the law, which will take effect on Saturday, provides a legal basis for China to exercise its legitimate rights to counter sanctions and interference.

It is also conducive to firmly and effectively safeguarding national interests through the rule of law and to better upholding international fairness and justice, Wang said in an article published in People's Daily on Thursday.

The Law on Foreign Relations comes as the nation's development faces increasing challenges in foreign relations including export restrictions, "long-arm" jurisdiction and sanctions. China, for example, has been subjected to mounting sanctions from the United States over advanced technologies as well as issues related to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

However, international law has failed to provide adequate remedies. To protect its national security and interests, China recognized the urgent need for a domestic legal framework to regulate foreign relations.

In December, the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, issued the Law on Foreign Relations draft. The draft legislation won broad support from NPC deputies, political advisers, legal experts and the public, according to the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the NPC.

The law states that China "has the right to take, as called for, measures to counter or take restrictive measures against acts that endanger its sovereignty, security and development interests in violation of international law or fundamental norms governing international relations."

In formulating the law, China makes it clear it opposes all forms of hegemony and power politics, unilateralism, protectionism and bullying, Wang said.

The law also has provisions to counter interference, sanctions, sabotage and other actions by foreign countries against China. These provisions will have a preventive and deterrent effect and act as a warning, he added.

The legislation is very necessary and important in countering the long-arm jurisdiction of some countries that harms China's national interests, experts said.

Xu Tianqi, an associate researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, said that in the face of the frequent distortion, smearing and provocation by external forces against China, the foreign relations law is timely and useful.

The law also expounds on China's major principles, policy positions, and institutional frameworks for foreign affairs. It is considered a significant milestone in China building a rule of law system in relation to foreign affairs.

The law makes clear the objectives of China's development of foreign relations, its concept of global governance and its active engagement in various fields of foreign exchanges and cooperation.

It also states that China adheres to the path of peaceful development, the basic national policy of opening-up, the strategy of mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation and the correct direction of economic globalization.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Thursday that the law reflects China's diplomatic policy of maintaining world peace and promoting common development. It also represents China's strong expectations for peaceful development and win-win cooperation.

It embodies China's commitment to creating a community with a shared future for mankind, promoting the building of a new type of international relations and upholding common values for all humanity, Mao said at a news conference.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Reports about the use of confinement and restraint at Cook Countys Juvenile Temporary Detention Center dominated a three-hour hearing this week that highlighted what advocates said was troubling treatment but offered few immediate solutions.

The JTDC is where about 180 youths aged 10 to 21 are detained at a given time while court proceedings are pending. The center is subject to varying levels of oversight from the County Board, the countys chief judge and the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, but recent reports from independent watchdogs have raised concerns about internal practices.

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Four separate recent reports  from a Blue Ribbon Committee commissioned by the countys chief judge, the states Department of Juvenile Justice, the advocacy and accessibility group Equip for Equality, and the Illinois Supreme Court  have criticized the centers treatment of youth. Two called for either new leadership or closure of the facility entirely.

JTDC Superintendent Leonard Dixon and his staff defended center operations at the hearing Wednesday and said the reports mischaracterized internal practices. Dixon described the JTDC as a triage center for troubled youth accused of serious crime who were often only staying for days at a time.

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The report commissioned by Chief Judge Timothy Evans found that while those held were safe while in custody, the JTDC did not meet its affirmative duty to rehabilitate youth and help high-risk youth heal through trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate care, in part because they are kept confined in their cells for most of the day every day, an approach the reports authors described as isolating and deprivational.

On average, between January and July of 2021, youth were confined to their rooms 100 times per month for disciplinary reasons, that report found, and spent a median of 12 hours in the room. It also found youth were confined over 300 times per month for non-punitive events for a median of 16 hours at a time. Neither tally included sleeping hours.

State detention standards mandate that room confinement should not go beyond four hours without administrators or mental health staff developing an individual plan to address the behavior.

That panel recommended a transition to a smaller, community-based system where youth can access special programs, with a new leader who has experience with rehabilitative programming and is committed to transforming the JTDC from simply housing youth within its charge to safely developing youth competency.

In a separate report, Equip for Equality, a nonprofit and the federally appointed watchdog for people with disabilities in Illinois, called for the facility and the school housed in it, Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative High School, to be shut down and for youth to be transferred to community settings.

The group released its report on physical restraint and accessibility practices earlier this year after spending 1,000 hours observing the center and interviewing staff and detainees. They described feeling fear and hopelessness and reported the use of face-down and supine physical restraints and the overuse of rapid response staff at the JTDC that youth described as rovers.

The report also raised issue with the amount of time youth spent in isolation, saying that can cause profound and lifelong psychological damage to children and adolescents who are likely already traumatized.

Youth also told observers from the group that they were concerned that JTDC staff body cameras were used selectively, and some areas of the facility do not have video camera coverage.

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The study further found staff are not trained on the rights of students with disabilities and do not receive any information on the students disabilities, interventions, accommodations or goals contained in their Individualized Educational Programs (IEPs) and behavior intervention plans. Detainees are also subject to a practice residents refer to as on the wall, the report said, where they are made to sit against the wall in front of their cell for sometimes as long as 15 days during classes and not allowed to talk.

Dixon took issue with much of the report, saying it relied on misinformation and contained erroneous assertions, according to a written response to Equip for Equality obtained by Injustice Watch. Dixon wrote that it was fundamentally impossible for the JTDC to focus on rehabilitation, as its role is to provide short-term care for juveniles in custody.

The facility had passed state and federal reviews, he noted Wednesday. Two of the reports from the past year did commend JTDCs medical and mental health services available, the cleanliness of the facility and programming offered for youth.

But on Wednesday, when pressed on specifics by Cook County commissioners, Dixon and other JTDC leadership did acknowledge the existence of some of the practices highlighted in the reports, but argued they maintained safety for other detainees and staff.

Commissioner Anthony Quezada asked about confinement in what are known as holding pods, which are separate from residential pods and which the Equip for Equality report said youth were kept in for excessive amounts of time.

Are there, or are there not, holding pods? Quezada asked.

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Dixon replied that there are units with individual rooms that lock, but later confirmed there are designated units with holding pods, where youth involved with altercations or who wont participate in classes are placed.

It may take a couple of minutes, it may take a couple of hours, he said, based on the level of violence thats going on.

Though Dixon and other staff also denied existence of an on the wall policy, another member of JTDC staff described the practice as a safe environment, and Dixon said it was reserved for the most violent kids.

Its not called anything. Its called an area for them to do their work, feel safe and separated so that theres no conflicts, JTDC caseworker Niccole Joseph-Gordon said, noting that there are often gang conflicts in the center and such separation maintains safety.

Commissioner Scott Britton also pressed Dixon on the importance of compliance with legal requirements for students with disabilities. The JTDC lacks on a memorandum of agreement with Chicago Public Schools to know which students are in need of individualized education plans. A previous agreement lapsed, which Dixon said is being worked on.

Im not trying to fault either group for this, but I am trying to find a way forward, Britton said.

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Dixon said: My commitment and the commitment I have is to ensure that we give our kids the best that we can give them, because I come from the community they come from.

Evans, who as chief judge oversees the facility, told reporters after the hearing he wants to make certain that these very serious allegations are addressed, citing the on the wall system and the use of face-down restraints and the goal for the center to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act before the new school year.

Evans said he was already in discussion with the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts about new standards and that the JTDC had tweaked some of its confinement practices to ensure youth are engaged while isolated.

I would not support (prone restraint) under any set of circumstances, Evans said, Now the problem is, who describes what is the prone restraint? ... Im going to have the AOIC take a look at that.

In a Sun-Times opinion piece, the lead author of the Blue Ribbon Committee report criticized Evans for slow-walking reforms.

Asked about the hearing Thursday, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the county is already moving toward a community-based approach with facilities designed to provide supportive services needed for the rehabilitation of youth, many of whom have been impacted by systemic racism, adverse childhood experiences ... and trauma. Reimagining juvenile detention rehabilitation has been a longtime goal of my administration and Im committed to helping steward this process of transformation.

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aquig@chicagotribune.com
BALTIMORE  The Archdiocese of Baltimore added 42 names Friday to its list of church employees who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse, including that of a longtime theology dean and professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, the nations only Catholic historically Black college.

Father Phillip J. Linden began teaching theology at Xavier in 1991, after served as a priest in Baltimore from 1969 through 1986, according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore and his religious order, the Josephites. Linden is accused of abusing a boy in the 1970s when he was a pastor at St. Francis Xavier parish, according to the archdiocese.

Linden, who is in his 80s, has not been criminally charged. The Archdiocese of Baltimore reported the allegation to law enforcement when it received it, a spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the university declined to comment on the allegations. Linden worked at the university from 1991 through May 2018, according to a university spokesperson. He was still listed Friday in the universitys catalog as an associate professor.

Attempts Friday to reach Linden, his family and the Josephite order were not immediately successful.

Other than Linden, the vast majority of the newly added names were previously publicized, either in news reports or in the Maryland Attorney Generals Office report on the history of clergy sexual abuse in the archdiocese. That report issued in April identified 36 priests, brothers, nuns, deacons and lay people such as teachers who had been accused of abuse but who were not included at that time on the list the archdiocese maintains.

Fridays additions, approved at the direction of Archbishop William Lori, were the largest single expansion of the Archdiocese of Baltimores credibly accused list since it first published 57 names in 2002 as part of its response to the national clergy abuse scandal. The churchs list now includes more than 180 names.

Survivors of abuse and advocates have demanded Lori add names to the archdiocese list, even before the attorney generals office released the public version of its report.

The attorney generals report called on the archdiocese to be more transparent in listing credibly accused employees and clergy, and Fridays additions sought to met that request, about seven months since the report was completed.

The decision to add the names is also an acknowledgment of a recommendation by the Maryland attorney general that the Archdiocese expand its voluntary list, wrote Christian Kendzierski, a spokesperson for the archdiocese, in an email to The Baltimore Sun. The addition of these names to our public database builds on the Archdioceses long-standing commitment to transparency, healing and to ridding the Church of the scourge of child sexual abuse.

Of the 156 names in the attorney generals report, 46 had not been previously listed by the archdiocese. A Sun review of 36 of those people found that most of them had died. The other 10 names were redacted, but The Sun has since confirmed and published their identities.

The archdiocese has maintained its list, separate from that of the attorney general, with its own set of criteria  namely that it included only people who were clergy, meaning priests and brothers. Fridays additions expand that criteria to include deacons, nuns and lay people, but it would be up to the archdioceses Independent Review Board to determine if the wider criteria is used going forward.

Nonetheless, the additions mark a step toward recognition of some of the horrors survivors have dealt with. Among others, the archdioceses list now includes John Merzbacher, a former Catholic schoolteacher who spent the last 28 years of his life in prison for the rape and torture of a student. Merzbacher died May 12 in prison.

In order for a name to go on the archdioceses list, a complaint or report has to be made to Catholic officials. That complaint is investigated, reported to law enforcement and evidence is presented to the Independent Review Board, an interfaith group of eight community members from legal, academic, health care, social work and law enforcement circles. Lori appoints the members to the board.

The board meets quarterly and votes as to whether it considers the allegations credible. Lori then determines what course of action to take, if any, regarding making a name public or disciplinary action. Priests or brothers who died before a single allegation of child abuse was received arent added to the list unless a third party corroborates an allegation, or a second allegation is made against the same person.

As well as the 36 unredacted names from the attorney generals report, the archdiocese added Friday one of the 10 redacted names to its credibly accused list: Father Joseph OMeara.

Identified in the report as abuser No. 155, OMeara was removed from ministry in 2020 at St. Agnes/William of York Parish in Catonsville after three women said he had inappropriately touched them. The attorney generals report says OMeara inappropriately touched a 7-year-old girl in 1984, sliding his hand up her leg to her genitals under a table at a dinner.

An attorney for OMeara, Michael P. Mays, declined to comment Friday on OMearas addition to the archdioceses credibly accused list, but previously confirmed OMeara is one of the redacted names. Kendzierski, the archdiocese spokesperson, declined to comment on OMeara being one of the redacted names, citing a Baltimore Circuit Court judges confidentiality order regarding an ongoing process over how much more of the report should become public.

The archdiocese previously said it could not reveal the names of the redacted abusers, citing the courts order. The attorney generals office, subject to the same order, disagreed with that stance, saying the church is uniquely positioned to release any redacted name because the information would come from its own files.

Michael Joseph Miller was also added Friday to the credibly accused list, despite not being included in the attorney generals report. A former member of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Miller was arrested in Connecticut in 2011 on child pornography charges and in 2013 was sentenced to five years in prison plus 20 years of probation. Miller was a faculty member at Archbishop Curley High School during the 1994 and 1995 school years, and again from 2003 to 2006. He also celebrated Mass occasionally at St. Isaac Jogues in Carney and St. Margaret in Bel Air from 2003 to 2006.

The Baltimore archdiocese acknowledged his arrest at the time, but stated it did not have any knowledge of incidents involving children here. On Friday, the archdiocese said a man came forward earlier this year to say Miller solicited and sent inappropriate photos to him when he was a student at Archbishop Curley in the mid-2000s.

According to the Hartford Courant, Miller chatted on Facebook with seven teenagers about sexual issues, inviting one to come over and watch porn and engage in sex. Pornographic videos of children and adults turned up on computers he used, according to news coverage of his trial. The Hartford archdiocese said he was removed from the ministry in July 2011.

The Connecticut sex offender registry listed an inmate release date of December 2017, and online court records show that as of January 2020, he remained on probation. The registry gives his address as that of the RECON retreat in Robertsville, Missouri, a residential facility for troubled clergy affiliated with the Servants of the Paraclete organization. It describes itself as a Catholic congregation of priests and brothers who provide care for their counterparts in need.

Miller could not be reached for comment. Messages left Friday for the Servants of the Paraclete were not immediately returned.

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FILE PHOTO: ReNu by Bausch + Lomb, is seen for sale in Manhattan, New York City

(Reuters) - Bausch + Lomb said on Friday it would acquire several Novartis eye-care products for $1.75 billion as their market grows, sending the company's shares up over 8% in early trading.

The deal includes acquisition of Novartis' anti-inflammation eye drop Xiidra, experimental drug libvatrep for chronic ocular surface pain, and rights to use the Swiss pharma company's AcuStream dry-eye drug delivery device.

The first big deal by CEO Brent Saunders since his return to the company in March also includes potential milestone payments of up to $750 million to Novartis.

It is expected to close by the end of this year and will boost the company's earnings, the company said.

Bausch + Lomb's Miebo was approved last month for dry-eye condition, which affects about 739 million people worldwide, including around 38 million in the United States.

Novartis said it would continue to supply Xiidra on behalf of Bausch + Lomb for a "limited period" after the deal closes to ensure consistent supply to patients.

The company said last year it would slash costs and take an "opportunistic" approach to eye care and respiratory diseases, while focusing more on cardio-renal care, immunology, neuroscience, oncology and hematology.

It had acquired Xiidra from Takeda Pharmaceutical in 2019 for an upfront payment of $3.4 billion.

Sales of Xiidra, mainly in the U.S. market, stood at $487 million in 2022, up 4% from a year earlier. The treatment faces competition from AbbVie's Restasis and cheaper copycat versions.

Novartis's largest ophthalmology product, Lucentis, for treating macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in the elderly, has seen sales decline because of cheaper alternatives.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Vinay Dwivedi)
BEAVER ISLAND  Beaver Island Community School students in the Jobs for Michigans Graduates (JMG) program gained work experience thanks to a partnership between the Beaver Island Historical Society and Northwest Michigan Works!

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The four students participating each spent two weeks in a paid work experience program working for the historical society. The program gave the students the opportunity to learn skills in customer service, marketing, article writing, archiving and construction. The students were sophomore Sophie McDonough, junior Ava Palmer, and seniors Ethan Kubesh and Jacob Bontrager.

 Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231)675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com. Follow her on Twitter, @adoylenews

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Beaver Island high school students work with the historical society in jobs program
Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping during happier times? Mikhail Tereshchenko/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

As mercenary troops bore down on Moscow on June 24, 2023, it likely wasnt only Russian President Vladimir Putin and his governing elite in Russia who were looking on with concern. Over in China, too, there may have been some concerned faces.

Throughout the war in Ukraine, Beijing has walked a balancing act of sorts  standing with Putin as an ally and providing an economic lifeline to Russia while trying to insulate China against the prospect of any instability in a neighboring country. A coup in Russia would upend this careful diplomatic dance and provide Beijing with a fresh headache.

Joseph Torigian, an expert on China and Russia at American University, walked The Conversation through how Beijing has responded to the chaotic 24 hours in which mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin challenged the Kremlin  and why that matters.

Do we have any clues about how Beijing perceived events?

It will be hard to guess what Beijing really thinks, especially as there has been little in the way of official comment. Russians understand that the Chinese media  like their own  are tightly controlled. Historically, Russians have strongly cared about how they are depicted in the Chinese press. As such, China will be careful about what is being printed so that Chinese officials dont get an earful from Russian diplomats.

However, real signs of worry from Beijing may get out. In a tweet that was later deleted, political commentator Hu Xijin wrote: [Progozhins] armed rebellion has made the Russian political situation cross the tipping point. Regardless of his outcome, Russia cannot return to the country it was before the rebellion anymore. Similarly, China Daily  a publication run by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party  quoted two concerned Chinese scholars in its reporting on the Wagner Group episode.

Such commentary may be a subtle way for Beijing to suggest to Moscow it needs to get its house in order. These views could also serve to remind the outside world that China and Russia are different political systems, and that Beijing will not always act in lockstep with Moscow.

At the same time, the Chinese government will be at pains not to give any support to a narrative that Beijing is worried about the strategic partnership. Global Times, a state-run Chinese newspaper, has already dismissed Western media reporting that Chinas bet on Putin was a mistake. Such claims will be framed in China as a plot to hurt Sino-Russian relations.

So will the Wagner episode affect Chinas support for Putin?

The Chinese government likely believes that Putin is still the best chance for stability in Russia and that supporting him is a core foundation of the bilateral relationship. Some Chinese commentators have noted that Putin did emerge victorious quickly, and with little blood spilled. They may be right  although the insurrection is widely viewed as an embarrassment, many observers in the West also believe that Putin will survive the crisis.

On the Russian side, given the importance of China for them during the war in Ukraine, officials in Moscow will expect the Peoples Republic of China to clearly express support for Putin. During previous moments of intimacy in the relationship, such help was expected and valued. In 1957, when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev narrowly defeated a putsch, he was so grateful that the Chinese blessed his victory he promised to give them a nuclear weapon.

There is a question of how Beijing would have reacted if the mutiny had escalated. History suggests that the Chinese might be tempted to intervene, but also that they understand the challenges any such action would face.

For example, during the 1991 attempted coup by Soviet hardliners against then-President Mikhail Gorbachev, some of the leadership in Beijing contemplated providing economic support. Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, a long Soviet skeptic, ended those incipient plans, and the coup failed.

What lessons might the Chinese have drawn for their own system?

Its hard to overstate how what happens in Russia has historically shaped thinking in China about their own country.

The birth of the Chinese Communist Party, the Cultural Revolution, the economic reforms of the reform and opening-up program from the late 1970s, policy toward ethnic minorities  all of these and more were shaped by what some in China thought the Russians were doing right or wrong.

But many in China may wonder how much they have in common with Russia today. Presidents Putin and Xi Jinping certainly have a set of conservative, Western-skeptic and statist elective affinities. But Xis war on corruption and the Chinese Communist Partys command over the gun, as Chairman Mao put it, mean real differences.

The Chinese will likely take pride in their own system, where such a mutiny is hard to imagine, but will nonetheless be careful not to crow about it.

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: Joseph Torigian, American University School of International Service.

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Joseph Torigian 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.
Being undocumented made her path to becoming a doctor more challenging. She persisted.

A desire to help people, especially underserved communities and those who do not speak English, motivated Dr. Tania Zavalza Jimenez to become a physician.

As I grew up and I started to realize more of the health disparities, I was driven towards it more and more, said Zavalza Jimenez of wanted to become a doctor.

Being undocumented at one point in her life, Zavalza Jimenez said she also felt called to work with undocumented and migrant communities.

Zavalza Jimenez, who was born in born in Ayutla, Jalisco, Mexico, said she was about 2-years old or a little younger when her family moved to San Francisco. Then her family relocated to Turlock where she grew up.

Being undocumented made college and becoming a doctor difficult, said the 32-year-old doctor who completed on June 30 a three-year residency training program in Family and Community Medicine at UCSF Fresno.

According to UCSF spokeswoman Brandy Ramos Nikaido, the San Joaquin Valley has one of the lowest number of doctors per 100,000 people in California.

Depending on the specialty, it takes 11 years or more to produce a practicing physician after high school, according to UCSF Fresno, the largest academic physician training program in the Valley.

Zavalza Jimenez was among 100 UCSF Fresno graduates who completed their training in June.

A challenging path

Her immigration status made her path to becoming a doctor more challenging.

It was difficult, said Zavalza Jimenez., who became a legal resident when she was 19 or 20 years of age.

Zavalza Jimenez was undocumented when she finished high school and had to go to a community college instead of a four-year university because her family couldnt afford it.

Theres not a lot of help back then for people in my situation, or at least we werent aware of it, Zavalza Jimenez said.

Zavalza Jimenez went to Modesto Junior College and then transferred to UC Davis.

Starting as a junior in college is pretty hard if youre trying to pursue medicine, its harder to get research, its harder to get things that you need for medicine, she said. But my parents always supported me. They always were there for me, whether it be financial or any other reason.

After UC Davis, Zavalza Jimenez worked as a medical scribe at Memorial Medical Center in Modesto for a year before she went to Ross University School of Medicine in the Caribbean.

Zavalza Jimenez said she knew about the USCF Fresno program and wanted to come back closer to home. So, in her fourth year of medical school, she applied to UCSF Fresno to do a couple of her fourth-year electives.

As a medical student Zavalza Jimenez did three rotations at UCSF Fresno and knew that it was the place where she wanted to go for residency.

When Zavalza Jimenez got her residency at UCSF Fresno, she was not only excited but happy to be able to be close to home and at a very good program.

I wanted to be challenged, she said.

She wont be leaving the Valley as she is staying on as faculty in the Family and Community Medicine Department at UCSF Fresno. She is also going to be working at the hospital with the residents.

Its a big responsibility, but Im excited too. I really do enjoy teaching. So, I knew that something I wanted to incorporate, she said. I really like the residency program. The faculty and the attendees I work with are amazing. So, I feel like theres still so much for me to learn. Its a great group to work with.

Zavalza Jimenez, who is bilingual, said her clinic site will be at United Health Centers in Parlier where she would be able to provide bicultural and biliteracy patient care.

I really wanted to work with the rural population and like the migrants, undocumented. So that was the perfect site for me, she said. Everyone in the Central Valley needs help, that population just needs a lot of extra help.

We deal with a lot of patients that are undocumented themselves, so we have to kind of practice medicine a little bit differently, right? said Zavalza Jimenez.

For example, she said some drugs that work best are super expensive, so you have to work around the system a little bit.
The Hajun monitoring group reported that a field camp for 8,000 people has been set up in Belarus, and Wagner Group mercenaries will probably be stationed there.

Source: Belarusian Hajun monitoring group

Quote: "A camp for about 8,000 people. A field camp has been built near Asipovicy, where the Wagner Group might be accommodated.

BBC Verify has received the latest satellite images of the territory of the former Military Unit No. 61732 in the village of Cel (Asipovicy district, Mahiliou Oblast) as of 30 June 2023."

Details: The footage clearly shows that the construction of the field camp has been completed.

The monitoring group estimated that the photo shows approximately 298 tents: "It is clear that these are M-30 tents, which on average can accommodate 30 people."

Thus, there are places for 8,940 people, but not all tents are residential  there should also be places for household needs: toilets, showers, dining rooms, etc.

So we can say with confidence that the camp is designed for about 8,000 people. It is reported that these figures coincide with those announced earlier by the Russian publication Verstka.

In addition, the image also shows equipped fortifications in the northern part of the former military unit. However, no construction or military equipment is visible in the image.

Earlier it was reported that a military camp for Russian mercenaries is being built in Belarus.

Background:

The Russian publication Verstka reported that camps for the placement of militants of the Wagner Group were being built in Belarus after the agreement between Alexander Lukashenko and Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The State Border Service of Ukraine denied this information. It emphasised that intelligence is carefully monitoring the situation in Belarus, which is an accomplice of the aggressor state of the Russian Federation.

On 27 June, Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, claimed that they are not building camps for the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), but will "help with accommodation" if necessary.

"We are not building any camps yet. But if they want (as I understand it, they are looking at separate territories), we will place them. You are welcome to put up tents. But for now they are in Luhansk in their camps... We have offered them one from the abandoned parts. Welcome, there is a fence, everything is there. Put up tents. We will help as much as we can. Until then, we will decide what to do with them," said the Belarusian dictator.

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Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claims Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus several days after his day-long insurrection in Russia.

Meanwhile, Lukashenko denies claims that camps for Wagner mercenaries are under construction in Belarus. Russian President Vladimir Putin claims Wagner troops that do not want to join Russias military can move to Belarus.

Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, which border Belarus, urge bolstering defenses on NATOs eastern flank following news that Wagner mercenaries will move to Belarus.

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Minsk grants Ukrainian oligarch and business tycoon Dmytro Firtash diplomatic immunity to block his extradition to the U.S., where he is wanted on corruption charges.

Lukashenko orders Belarus top military brass to develop an algorithm for the use of Russian tactical nuclear weapons, despite claims that they will be under Russian control.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismisses its ambassador to Belarus for unknown reasons as tensions mount amid Minsks role as a co-belligerent in Russias war.

The European Council urges the complete ban of Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the Olympics amid Russias war in an ongoing fight to change the International Olympic Committees stance.

A Belarusian opposition group says it has given the International Criminal Court evidence of Lukashenkos complicity in kidnapping Ukrainian children during Russias full-scale war.

Lukashenko claims Prigozhin arrived in Belarus following Wagner mutiny

While Yevgeny Prigozhins whereabouts have yet to be confirmed, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed on June 27 that the Wagner Group chief has arrived in Belarus.

Yes, that is true, (Prigozhin) is in Belarus today, Lukashenko said. I promised him, saying that if you want to stay at our place and so on, we will help you. Of course on their own expenses.

Lukashenko also shared his version of how he entrenched himself in the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and warlord Prigozhin.

According to Lukashenko, he saved Russia from a bloody civil war as Putin was prepared to attack Wagner mercenaries. Putin shared a different account, crediting himself was stopping the mutiny.

Russia comes to the brink of civil war: How we got here and what it means Visually, the scene was a familiar one. Russian armored vehicles emblazoned with the Z logo in the central streets of a once peaceful city, masked soldiers standing at key intersections, and confrontational conversations with bemused local civilians. But this wasnt a Ukrainian city in the first da The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Prigozhin, who heads the mercenary group infamous for its role in assisting Moscow in its full-scale war against Ukraine, staged an armed insurrection in Russia on June 23-24.

Prigozhin claimed the self-proclaimed march for justice was aimed at countering Russias military top brass, who he claimed wanted to dissolve the Wagner Group.

After marching relatively unopposed through the Russian Rostov, Voronezh, and Lipetsk regions, Prigozhin called off his rebellion after he allegedly brokered a deal in a phone call with Lukashenko. The Kremlin announced that charges against Prigozhin will be dropped and that he will move to Belarus.

Lukashenko claimed on June 28 that he convinced Putin not to wipe out Prigozhin, instead urging negotiations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the rebellions organizers but said those who did not participate in the events can either sign a contract with Russias Defense Ministry or leave for Belarus.

Satellite images by BlackSky appear to corroborate Lukashenkos claim that Prigozhin is in Belarus, as they reportedly showed two planes linked to Prigozhin at an airbase in Belarus on June 27. However, there is no confirmation that Prigozhin was onboard one of the planes, a senior European intelligence official said, as quoted by CNN.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggested the agreement between Lukashenko and Prigozhin is a short-term fix that exposed severe weaknesses in the Kremlin and Russian Ministry of Defense.

The ISW also suggested that Lukashenko is using his position as a mediator to gain influence in Russia and hold leverage over Putin, noting that he may try to use the mercenary groups presence to reduce the Belarusian militarys accumulated structural dependency on the Russian military for higher operational functions.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Prigozhins alleged arrival in Belarus adds another element of instability in the country.

The dictator will never be a peacemaker, and his place is only in the tribunal, and not at the negotiating table, she said.

Rumors circulate regarding Wagner Group camps in Belarus

Rumors have circulated surrounding the alleged construction of camps to accommodate Wagner Group mercenaries transferred to Belarus.

Independent Russian media outlet Verstka claimed on June 26 that a military camp capable of housing 8,000 fighters is being built near Asipovichy, a town in Belarus Mahiliou region, roughly 200 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

According to Verstka, Belarusian authorities told workers to very quickly build a camp spanning 24,000 square meters. The outlet also claimed Wagner mercenaries family members have confirmed that the fighters are being deployed to Belarus.

Lukashenko claimed on June 27 that camps for the mercenaries are not yet under construction, but that Minsk will provide them with accommodation if necessary. He suggested that Wagner troops could set up tents at abandoned military bases in Belarus until they figure out what to do.

He also claimed that no recruitment offices for Wagner will be opened in Belarus, but said that nobody will prevent former Belarusian military personnel from joining the group.

Lukashenko reportedly said both he and Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin agree on the benefits of having a group like Wagner in the country.

This is the most trained unit in the army, BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying. Who will argue with this? My military also understands this, and we dont have such people in Belarus.

He added: Theyve (Wagner) been through it, theyll tell us about the weaponry  what worked well, which worked badly.

Petro Burkovskyi: Decoding Prigozhins rebellion The Wagner Groups armed rebellion has displayed little evidence of being a successful challenge to Putins regime, but it has created a strong argument in support of Ukraines accelerated accession to NATO. The military drama that unfolded in Russia from June 23 to 24, orchestrated by Wagner The Kyiv IndependentPetro Burkovskyi

Ukraines State Border Guard Service said on June 27 that there is no evidence yet that Wagner Group camps are being constructed on Belarusian territory.

At the same time, it cannot be ruled out, State Border Guard Service spokesperson Andrii Demchenko said, adding they are actively monitoring the situation in Belarus. Demchenko also said Wagner mercenaries have yet to be sighted on Belarusian territory.

Belarusian monitoring group Belarusian Hajun also said it had not observed the construction of such camps, much less the movement of Wagner mercenaries to Belarus.

Relations between Lukashenkos regime and the Wagner Group have been tense since 2020, when Lukashenko claimed the mercenary group assisted Russia in organizing mass protests ahead of that years fraudulent presidential elections.

In Belarus, mercenary groups are illegal. However, they are also technically illegal in Russia, despite the fact that they have been actively used to help it fight its full-scale war against Ukraine.

Latvia, Lithuania, Poland urge upping eastern defenses amid Wagner threat

Vilnius, Warsaw, and Riga have urged the bolstering of eastern defenses following reports that Wagner Group Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is in Belarus.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda warned on June 25 that, if Belarus is to receive Prigozhin, NATO should strengthen its eastern flank.

If Prigozhin or part of the Wagner Group ends up in Belarus with unclear plans and unclear intentions, it will only mean that we need to further strengthen the security of our eastern borders, Nauseda said.

It could take (Wagner mercenaries) eight to 10 hours to suddenly appear somewhere in Belarus close to Lithuania, he added.

According to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Germany intends to deploy an additional 4,000 troops to Lithuania to strengthen NATOs eastern flank, adding that facilities need to be constructed to accommodate the troops.

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on June 25 that Poland has strengthened its defenses along the borders with Belarus and Russias Kaliningrad exclave in the aftermath of the Wagner Groups armed rebellion on June 24.

We are aware of these threats and respond to them, anticipating attacks, Morawiecki said, adding that Warsaw is closely monitoring the events in Russia.

On June 27, Polish President Andrzej Duda also raised concerns over the alleged transfer of Wagner Group mercenaries to Belarus.

These are very negative signals for us, Duda said, highlighting the necessity of strengthening NATOs eastern flank via the decisions made in the 2022 Madrid summit to improve defense planning and ensure the allied forces faster reaction capabilities.

This move needs to be assessed from a different security point of view, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said. We have seen the capabilities of those mercenaries.

Minsk grants wanted Ukrainian oligarch diplomatic immunity to block extradition to US

Minsk granted Ukrainian oligarch and business tycoon Dmytro Firtash diplomatic immunity to prevent his extradition from Austria to the U.S., where he is wanted on corruption charges, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on June 27.

According to DW, in 2021, Belarus made Firtash an advisor to Belarus permanent mission to an international organization in Vienna, namely the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Austrias Justice Ministry reportedly said Firtash was never officially accredited at the UN office in Vienna and thus cannot be considered as having diplomatic immunity.

However, in mid-June, an Austrian court ruled to reevaluate Firtashs extradition case and the legality of his alleged immunity.

Dmytro Firtash poses for a photograph inside the Group DF offices following a Bloomberg Television interview in Vienna, Austria, on Monday, March 14, 2016. (Photo: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Firtash, once a close associate of former pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, has lived in Austria since 2013, where he was arrested and subsequently freed on bail. He is fighting extradition to the U.S. for participating in an international bribery conspiracy in 2014.

In May, Ukraines Security Service (SBU) accused Firtash and some of his top business associates of having embezzled millions worth of state gas. The SBU said the scheme cost Ukraine $94 million.

Ukraine imposed sanctions on Firtash in 2021 for having sold titanium products that were used by Russian military companies.

Lukashenko orders creation of algorithm for nuclear weapon use

Lukashenko ordered his administration on June 27 to develop an algorithm for using the tactical nuclear weapons deployed to Belarus from Russia.

According to Belarusian state news agency BelTA, Lukashenko tasked Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin, Chief of Staff Vladimir Gulevich, and KGB Deputy Head Ivan Tertel with developing the so-called algorithm.

Lukashenko said the algorithm should be based on the fact that we should use them (nuclear weapons) in a difficult moment, if we are attacked, adding that no one has ever fought a nuclear state.

The nature of the so-called algorithm is unclear, given that the tactical nuclear weapons, promised in a bilateral agreement on May 25, will allegedly remain under Russias control.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed on June 16 that the first of Russias tactical nuclear weapons destined for Belarus arrived.

However, Ukraines military intelligence said Moscow has yet to deliver a single warhead, noting that the preparation for a possible transfer is ongoing and storage facilities in Belarus are being equipped.

Ukraine dismisses its ambassador to Belarus

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Ihor Kyzym from his role as Ukraines Ambassador to Belarus on June 22.

The reason for Kyzyms ousting has not been disclosed, and his replacement has not been announced.

Ukraines Foreign Ministry summoned Kyzym, who took on the role in 2017, for consultations following Lukashenkos meeting with the head of Russias proxies in Donetsk Oblast in April.

The foreign ministry called Lukashenkos actions another blatant unfriendly act on the part of the Republic of Belarus aimed at supporting the aggressor state of the Russian Federation.

While Kyiv cut diplomatic ties with Moscow after the start of Russias full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022, it has yet to do the same with Minsk.

However, some members of Ukraines parliament recently introduced a draft resolution calling on Kyiv to break diplomatic ties with and label Belarus as an aggressor state.

European Council urges banning Russia, Belarus from Olympics

The Council of Europe urged the complete ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes participating in the Olympics as long as Russias war of aggression against Ukraine persists.

The Council called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its constituent organizations to uphold its position expressed in 2022 to ban the participation of these athletes from the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics and all other major sporting events.

In March, The IOC recommended allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes that do not actively support Russias war to participate in international sporting events under a neutral flag, despite Zelensky and other key actors pleas to exclude them entirely.

Meanwhile, the European Fencing Confederation suspended Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in the organizations events and tournaments on June 24 over Russias full-scale war against Ukraine and Belarus complicity.

However, fencers from the two states will be permitted to compete under a neutral flag at tournaments hosted by the International Fencing Federation.

Ukraines sports minister: As Russia kills our athletes, its not the time to allow Russians back to international sports Editors Note: This interview was recorded before the International Olympics Committees announcement on allowing some Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in Olympic qualification tournaments. Following the executive board meeting on March 28, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) rec The Kyiv IndependentAnastasiya Gordiychuk

Belarusian opposition says Lukashenko complicit in Ukrainian children abduction

Belarusian opposition organization National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) said it submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on June 27 alleging Lukashenkos complicity in the kidnapping of Ukrainian children during Russias full-scale war.

NAM Head Pavel Latushka published a letter allegedly written by the Russian State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, Dmitry Mezentsev, which he says proves the Belarusian government illegally transferred children from eastern Ukraine to Belarus in cooperation with Russian occupation authorities.

NAM said, since September 2022, at least 2,100 Ukrainian minors have been transferred from Russian-occupied cities in eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk, Mariupol, and Volnovakha.

The organization said the kidnapped children were mainly those in state custody, orphans, children with disabilities, or those whose parents have been deprived of parental rights. They were reportedly transported to Rostov, after which they were moved to Belarus and placed in camps and sanatoriums.

NAM said Lukashenko signed the documents regarding the organization and financing of the transfer.

The NAM believes that there are sufficient grounds to believe that the above-mentioned individuals committed war crimes, the statement said.

Ukraines Prosecutor Generals Office said on May 23 that it is investigating Belarus potential role in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children following a report by exiled Belarusian opposition members.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a resolution on April 27 recognizing the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia as genocide, noting that Lukashenko is one of the named individuals for whom direct responsibility is alleged.

Explainer: What we know about Russias deportation of Ukrainian children In March, the International Criminal Court made a historic ruling: It issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official overseeing the forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia. The statement by ICC says that Putin is allegedly respo The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko

The fake peacemaker

The Spotlight segment provides readers with the historical context of contemporary events in Belarus.

Throughout the years, Lukashenko has often branded himself as a peacekeeper.

From sheltering the former president of Kyrgyzstan, deposed in a revolution, to Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks, Lukashenko has attempted to increase his international significance and decrease foreign isolation of his brutal regime.

Lukashenkos international breakthrough came in 2014, when Minsk was chosen as a neutral ground for talks between Kyiv and Moscow, months into Russias war against Ukraine.

Following the signing of the first Minsk Agreements in September 2014, Western countries began to gradually decrease sanctions against Lukashenko, imposed for his regular brutal crackdown on the opposition.

In February 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spent 15 hours in Minsk attempting to discourage Russian President Vladimir Putin from continuing his countrys war against Ukraine.

Lukashenko held rare talks with foreign leaders on the sidelines of these discussions.

However, Lukashenkos rapprochement with the West ended in 2020 when a new wave of brutality flooded the country.

Following yet another fraudulent election, Belarusians took to the streets their dissatisfaction, demanding a fair count. After beating, torturing, and even killing several protesters, Lukashenkos rapprochement with the West, and mediation between Kyiv and Moscow, ended.

However, despite openly supporting Russias war against Ukraine, Lukashenko still made attempts to appear as a mediator.

In February 2022, days after Russia launched a full-scale invasion, Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in Belarus to attempt to broker a ceasefire, to no avail.

In June 2023, Lukashenko now attempts to portray himself as a peacemaker in the conflict between Putin and Prigozhin.




Bernie Sanders slams 'devastating blow' of striking down student-loan forgiveness, saying Supreme Court justices should run for office if they want to make policy

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during a news conference on debt limit at the U.S. Capitol on May 18, 2023 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Sen. Bernie Sanders released a lengthy statement condemning the Supreme Court's ruling on student debt.

He said the decision striking down Biden's relief plan showed the court protects "big money interests."

Sanders also called on the Biden administration to immediately implement a "Plan B" to help borrowers.

Sen. Bernie Sanders called out the Supreme Court on Friday, saying overturning student loan forgiveness is a "devastating blow" to millions of borrowers.

"Today, the Supreme Court has made it clear that they will continue doing everything possible to protect the big money interests against the needs of struggling working families," Sanders said in a lengthy and scathing statement.

"This right wing ideology is consistent with their recent decisions: denying women the right to control their own bodies, ending affirmative action, attacking LGBT rights and limiting the government's ability to address climate change," he went on.

Sanders also called on President Joe Biden and his administration to "implement a Plan B immediately to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans who are struggling to pay the rent, put food on the table, and pay for the basic necessities of life."

The Vermont lawmaker supports a more far-reaching student debt cancellation policy than Biden's and has called to cancel all student loan debt held by about 45 million Americans and make all public colleges, universities, and trade schools tuition-free.

A slew of Democratic lawmakers issued statements on Friday condemning the Supreme Court's decision and urging the Biden administration to take additional action to get borrowers relief. Multiple Democrats similarly attacked the high court's conservative majority for what they argued was corrupt protection of the wealthy.

"Justice Alito accepted tens of thousands of dollars in lavish vacation gifts from a billionaire who lobbied to cancel the student loan forgiveness," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, referring to recent reporting that Justice Samuel Alito received gifts from a Republican billionaire with business before the Supreme Court. "After the gifts, Alito voted to overturn."

The decision to overturn Biden's proposed relief came in two separate rulings. The high court ruled that the plaintiffs in one case, US Department of Education v. Brown, did not have standing  but the second case, Biden v. Nebraska, prevailed and the six GOP-led states had standing to sue on behalf of student-loan company, MOHELA.

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan said that the Court's decision to reign back how Congress delegates its power  in this case, under the HEROES Act  "is a major problem not just for governance, but for democracy too." She said the court's role is to stay away from making policy and policy judgments; but, in cases like this, the court instead makes itself the arbiter of policy.

Sanders, who is an elected representative  unlike the justices  agrees.

"In my view, if right-wing Supreme Court justices want to make public policy they should quit the Supreme Court and run for political office. Frankly, I do not think their extremist views will gain much traction with the average American voter," he said in his statement.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Best burger in the US can be found in Georgia, Yelp says. Why it reigns supreme

Those in search of the best spot for a burger need look no further than Georgia.

Fox Bros. Bar-B-Qs burger was ranked the best in Atlanta and all of America, thanks in part to its unique spin on the classic hamburger, according to review website Yelp.

The patty-less sandwich earned high marks on Yelps 2023 list of the Top 100 Burger Spots in the nation, released in May.

Inspired by Texas-style barbecue, the burger features chopped brisket topped with peppered bacon, pimento cheese, tomato, jalapeno mayo, red onion and pickles on a brioche bun.

Another Georgia burger joint, Slutty Vegan in Atlanta, joined Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q as a top contender, landing at No. 3 on the national list. The Black woman-owned business has amassed a cult following and is perhaps best known for its not-safe-for-work burger names.

The state is home to two other burger spots Yelpers named among the nations best. They are:

Stockyard Burgers & Bones in Atlanta  No. 34

Farm Burger in Decatur  No. 85

For the rankings, Yelp said it looked at U.S. restaurants where burgers were mentioned most in customer reviews shared online. It then ranked those spots using a number of factors including the total volume and ratings of reviews, according to the website.

Why fans cant get enough

Fox Bros. has earned national recognition for its burger, the brainchild of brothers and co-owners Jonathan and Justin Fox as they struggled to come up with a burger that would stand out from the rest, Yelp said.

The Fort Worth natives were homesick for Texas-style barbecue and after being unable to find the flavors they grew up with, the twin brothers decided to take matters into their own hands, the restaurants website reads.

It isnt the only offering customers raved about, however. Other popular dishes include the pulled pork, chicken fried ribs, beef brisket and combo plate, according to its Yelp page.

I have a love for beef brisket, and may I say, theirs was cooked to perfection, one person commented. The side completely complimented the BBQ, and I feel that the portions will make sure to leave complete!

Another gushed over the fantastic banana pudding, writing: So nice, with slices of banana and nice vanilla cookie crumble mixed in. Such a great way to finish the meal.

For vegans and meat-lovers alike, Slutty Vegans cheeky creations  including the One Night Stand, Fussy Hussy and Super Slut  are among fan-favorites. The take-out-only eatery also serves plant-based chicken sandwiches and chili dogs, according to its menu.

This was good food, one customer wrote on Yelp! If all vegan food tastes this good, Id become a vegan!

Slutty Vegan has multiple locations across Georgia, Alabama, Texas and New York.

These South Carolina burger joints rank among the nations best. Why fans crave them

These 10 California burger joints rank among the nations best, Yelp says

Best restaurant patios in NC? OpenTable ranks these 3 among the nations favorites
The multiple Grammy winner played for over a million fans during the 21-show European leg of her Renaissance World Tour.

Beyonce has conquered Europe! The superstar just ended the European leg of her Renaissance World Tour, grossing $154.4 million.

The Break My Soul singer played 21 European shows, the first of her Renaissance World Tour. She sold over one million tickets while playing in countries like Germany, England, Amsterdam, and Sweden, according to Billboard. Her five-show stint at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London sold 240,000 tickets earning $42.2 million.

The total attendance of 1.05 million concertgoers in Europe marks the first time Beyonce exceeded the one million concertgoers threshold on a solo tour. It also represents more attendees than her two previous tours, 2016s Formation World Tour (867,000) and 2018s On the Run II Tour, co-headlined with her husband, Jay-Z (871,000).

Beyonce performs onstage May 10 during the opening night of the Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The European leg of the tour was a huge success for the singer. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood)

The huge turnouts in Europe also brought bigger earnings. The $154.4 million gross from 2023 is a 77% increase from the $87 million she earned from each of the two previous tours, Billboard reports.

Beyonce is set to begin the North American leg of the Renaissance World Tour on July 8 with two nights in Toronto. The upcoming leg will hit 36 cities, including Philadelphia, Nashville, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Las Vegas, and more. If the pace of the European leg continues, Beyonce could potentially sell 1.8 million tickets and earn $264 million.

The all-time winningest Grammy Award recipient is on pace to outsell the Formation World Tour, the biggest-grossing tour of her career so far. In 2016, that tour sold 2.8 million tickets and earned $415 million.

Beyonce has earned a grand total of $921.7 million from all the tours of her career and performing for 9.9 million fans up to this point.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. Please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Beyonce earns over $154M from European leg of Renaissance World Tour appeared first on TheGrio.
An Aurora man has been sentenced to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder in a 2020 fatal shooting in Aurora, officials said.

Trevor C. White, 20, of the 1600 block of Northeast Drive, agreed to the sentence just before his trial was set to begin, officials with the Kane County States Attorneys Office said in a news release Friday.

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Prosecutors said just before midnight on Feb. 7, 2020, White arrived at the home of his former girlfriends sister in the 400 block of Sherman Avenue in Aurora. His former girlfriend, her sister and the victim, John H. Smith, who had recently met Whites former girlfriend, where at the home, officials said.

White acquired a 9mm handgun before going to the apartment, where he tried and failed to convince his former girlfriend to leave with him, prosecutors said. As the former girlfriend and her sister attempted to get White to leave, he fired a single shot from the handgun at Smith, fatally striking him in the side, according to officials.

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White at the time of the shooting was 16 years old and had no previous criminal history, Kane County Assistant States Attorney Kelly Orland said in a statement.

In accordance with Illinois law, White must serve the full sentence. He receives credit for 1,215 days served in the Kane County jail.

mejones@chicagotribune.com
UPDATE  The Bibb Sheriffs Office will place deputy Alex Fletcher on probation for six months and move him from criminal investigation to patrol detail following his arrest for public swearing and intoxication in Virginia, the sheriffs office announced Friday.

Fletchers probation and position change will be effective July 9, according to a letter issued from the sheriffs office to Fletcher.

ORIGINAL STORY  Police in Virginia arrested a Bibb County sheriffs deputy June 8 for public intoxication after he was found passed out halfway in the road, according to a report from the Stafford County Sheriffs Office.

The Bibb County Sheriffs Office confirmed that deputy Alex Fletcher was arrested June 8 for public intoxication. The sheriffs office said Fletcher was attending a task force training held at the Drug Enforcement Administration headquarters in Virginia at the time.

A daily incident report from the Stafford County Sheriffs Office reported only one public intoxication arrest from June 8 just before 3 a.m. that morning, matching the Bibb sheriffs office report on when Fletcher was arrested.

Fletcher was found passed out in the road near a Best Western hotel, where a deputy smelled alcohol on his breath, according to the daily report from Stafford County. When a deputy asked for Fletchers name, Fletcher said you.

Considering (the deputy) was not you, the deputy placed the suspect under arrest for public intoxication, the report said.

Fletcher then started making vulgar remarks, according to the statement. He later apologized when was at the magistrates office and realized the gravity of the situation, the report said.

He was held at Virginias Rappahannock Regional Jail until sober. The Bibb County Sheriffs Office confirmed Fletcher was put on paid leave after the arrest.
The News

The Biden administrations point man on Iran, Robert Malley, has been placed on official leave following the State Departments revoking of his security clearance.

The State Department on Thursday officially announced that Malley was on leave, but without stating why. Spokesman Matthew Miller said Abram Paley has stepped in as interim special envoy.

Malley essentially disappeared from performing his most important duties more than a month ago, according to U.S. officials who spoke to Semafor, with the White Houses Middle East point man, Brett McGurk, stepping in on some of his responsibilities. McGurk led a recent U.S. mission to Oman to try and advance a new nuclear agreement with Iran, according to these officials, as well as seeking the release of Americans held in detention in Iran. (McGurk is married to a Semafor editor, who had no part in this story.)

Malleys status was further muddied in recent weeks by the fact that he continued to take part in some public events as the administrations special envoy in which he officially spoke about President Bidens policy on Iran.

Know More

In a statement to a number of media outlets explaining his absence, Malley said, I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave, he said. Axios was the first to publish Malleys comments.

One person briefed on Malleys situation told Semafor the official was being investigated for the mishandling of classified information.

Malley continued to engage in sensitive missions for the Biden administration as recently as April when he met with Irans envoy to the United Nations. These talks were focused on cooling tensions between Washington and Tehran after Iranian-backed militias killed an American contractor in Syria  resulting in retaliatory missile strikes from the Pentagon, these U.S. officials said.

Malley has been a lightning rod on Iran policy going back 15 years through both the Biden and Obama administrations. He was brought on to then-candidate Barack Obamas 2008 presidential campaign as a Middle East advisor. But he was forced out due to his extensive contacts with members of Iran-allied Hezbollah and Hamas  both U.S. designated terrorist organizations  while conducting his academic and research work.

Malley, though, was rehabilitated during Obamas second term when outreach to Tehran became a core foreign policy objective. Malley was one of a small number of U.S. officials who engaged in the direct negotiations with Iran that led to the 2015 nuclear agreement, called the JCPOA.

Malleys appointment as special envoy drew sharp criticism from many in the Iranian diaspora who believed he was too soft on Tehran. A senior Congressional staffer who works on Middle East issues told Semafor that Malley had alienated many on the Hill for what he said was the diplomats lack of forthrightness in describing the Biden administrations dealings with Irans government. So, now he will have to answer for that and this security clearance issue, said the staffer.
President Biden on Friday will announce new actions to protect student loan borrowers following the Supreme Court ruling that struck down his student debt relief plan, according to a source within the White House.

I believe that the Courts decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong, Biden said in a statement. But I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American.

Soon after the Supreme Court ruling, a source within the White House told The Hill that they prepared for this scenario.

The president will have more to say today, the source said. The president will make clear hes not done fighting yet and will announce new actions to protect student loan borrowers.

The president will also make crystal clear to student loan borrowers that Republicans are responsible for denying them the relief that President Biden has been fighting to get to them, according to the source.

Biden in his statement vowed that this fight is not over and leaned into blaming Republicans.

The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses  including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven, he said. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.

The Supreme Court decision stopped more than 40 million borrowers from receiving loan forgiveness and delivered a major defeat to one of the presidents key campaign promises. Although the decision was expected from the conservative-majority court, the White House has shied away from announcing a Plan B if the program is struck down.

The program, announced in August, would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for other borrowers, if the individuals income is less than $125,000.

The president announced it amid mounting pressure from progressives to act on student debt. While some had pushed for up to $50,000 in relief, they saw his program as a positive first step.

The decision on Friday limits Bidens options to deliver on his 2020 campaign promise to forgive student loans.

More on SCOTUSs student loans ruling from The Hill

When it announced the program, the administration sought to tie it to the national emergency established during the public health crisis from COVID-19. It cited the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act  a law Congress enacted after 9/11 and as the nation went to war  to justify the maneuver.

The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote Friday.

This story was updated at 1:02 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
President Joe Biden hit out at Donald Trump on Thursday for his past repeated attacks on the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

The president sat down with journalist Nicolle Wallace to discuss a wide range of topics in an interview on MSNBC, during which he took a moment to talk about working across the aisle.

Wallace, who was a top aide to McCain during his 2008 presidential run, asked Biden how he imagined the decorated Vietnam veteran would feel about the Republican Party of today and its increasingly extreme politics.

I dont think hed think much of it, the president said, adding that he couldnt speak for the politician, who died in 2018 of brain cancer.

Biden talked about his deep connection with McCain, whom he met in the 1970s while working on veterans affairs issues.

The late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) worked with Biden in the Senate on veterans issues.

The late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) worked with Biden in the Senate on veterans issues.

He remembered encouraging his friend to run for office, despite their political differences.

[McCain] started working with me when he came back ... from being a prisoner of war, and I helped talk him into running, the president said of the senator, who was imprisoned in Vietnam for more than five years. And I used to kid him. I said, Youve got to, damn it.

Biden added that while the pair used to argue like hell, argue like brothers, they would always end up hugging one another in the end.

Though the duo didnt always agree, the president reminded Wallace about how hes defended McCains legacy against members of McCains own party, particularly former President Trump.

You may recall I got very upset with the last president and even with my good friend Lindsey [Graham], sometimes because of the denial of McCains heroism. Biden said, later noting, Come on, this guy was a hero! We may disagree, but he was a completely, thoroughly honorable man.

Trump has never quite masked his disdain for McCain.

"I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be," Donald Trump has said.

In July 2015, then-candidate Trump belittled the senators military career. saying, Hes not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured.

His irritation with McCain intensified after the Arizona senators last-minute decision to vote against a Republican measure to dismantle the Affordable Care Act in July 2017.

Talking about McCains vote across party lines in a 2019 White House press briefing, Trump said, I think thats disgraceful. Plus there are other things. I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be.

Trump complained about McCain once again in his 2023 coffee-table book, Letters to Trump, in which he wrote, I never warmed to him. Never felt good about anybody having anything to do with John McCain and never will, even despite the fact that at their request, I gave him the worlds longest funeral, 11 days. Much like his wars, it never ended.

McCains memorial events spanned five days, only one of which took place at the U.S. Capitol.

Biden served as one of the senators pallbearers during services at the Washington National Cathedral.

McCain asked for President Barack Obama and President George W. Bush to deliver his eulogies, while personally requesting that Trump not be invited to his funeral.

Watch Bidens full McCain comments here:

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President Joe Biden

President Joe Biden has condemned Fridays U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of a Colorado website designer who wishes to limit her wedding-related business to opposite-sex couples. The court held 6-3 that her First Amendment rights prohibit the state, under its antidiscrimination law, from forcing her to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.

In America, no person should face discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love, says a statement from Biden. The Supreme Courts disappointing decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis undermines that basic truth, and painfully it comes during Pride month when millions of Americans across the country join together to celebrate the contributions, resilience, and strength of the LGBTQI+ community. While the Courts decision only addresses expressive original designs, Im deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans. More broadly, todays decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations  including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women."

Biden added that he and his administration were still going to enforce federal anti-discrimination laws protecting queer Americans, adding that they would work with states to uphold those protections.

When one groups dignity and equality are threatened, the promise of our democracy is threatened and we all suffer. Our work to advance equal rights for everyone will continue, he said, That is why we must pass the Equality Act, which will enshrine civil rights protections for LGBTQI+ Americans in federal law and strengthen public accommodations protections for all Americans. I urge Congress to swiftly send this legislation to my desk.

The Equality Act was recently reintroduced in both the House and Senate. In earlier sessions of Congress, it has been passed by the House twice  in 2019 and 2021  but has stalled in the Senate. The Senate now has a Democratic majority, albeit a narrow one, but the House has a slight Republican majority, so the legislation faces an uphill battle there.
Rob Malley, a U.S. special envoy for Iran, has been placed on leave due to a security clearance suspension earlier this year which resulted in an investigation.

A U.S. official told CNN Thursday that his clearance was suspended after the State Department conducted an investigation into the possible mishandling of classified documents. While Malley remained at his post amid the investigation, he was barred from accessing classified information, the official added.

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller confirmed that Malley was benched, adding that Abram Paley will serve as the acting special envoy to Iran for the U.S., according to CNN.

Rob Malley is on leave and Abram Paley is serving as acting Special Envoy for Iran and leading the Departments work in this area, Miller told the news outlet.

Malley, who was appointed to his position two years ago, confirmed that his security clearance is under review, noting in a statement that he expects the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon.

I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave, Malley told CNN.

The move comes as Malley, who was a prominent player in working to secure the release of detained Americans in Iran, has remained excluded from the ongoing Iran nuclear deal talks.

The Hill has reached out to the State Department for additional comment.

Department officials last year said that reviving the nuclear deal with Iran, which was nixed under former President Trump in 2018, was not their main focus. This came as protests between Iranian authorities and residents intensified following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the countrys Morality Police, CNN reported.

Republican lawmakers recently warned the Biden administration about pursuing an agreement with Iran that would provide sanctions relief without approval from Congress.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Biden just took the first step to cancel student debt using a different law after the Supreme Court struck his first plan down  but it'll take 'longer' this time

President Joe Biden accompanied by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona as he announces new actions to protect student-loan borrowers in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Supreme Court struck down Biden's first student-loan-forgiveness plan on Friday.

Hours later, Biden announced a new plan to try once again to get relief to borrowers.

He's beginning the process of using the Higher Education Act of 1965 for relief.

President Joe Biden did not waste any time announcing a new plan to get student-loan forgiveness to millions of borrowers.

On Friday morning, the Supreme Court ruled that Biden's initial plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt was an overreach of authority under the HEROES Act of 2003. That law gives the Education Secretary the ability to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, but the high court's conservative supermajority ruled that it was not the proper law to get relief to millions of borrowers.

Hours after the ruling, Biden announced that his administration will be taking a new route. The Education Department filed a notice on Friday to begin the regulatory process of using the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cancel student debt, which does not require relying on a national emergency.

"This new path is legally sound," Biden said Friday. "It's going to take longer, and in my view is the best path that remains in providing for as many borrowers possible. But I'm directing my team to move as quickly as possible on the law."

The Higher Education Act states that the Education Department can "enforce, pay, compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand" related to federal student debt.

In addition to beginning the regulatory process for the Higher Education Act, the Education Department also announced that it has finalized a new income-driven repayment plan to cut undergraduate payments for borrowers in half.

While the department is still planning to resume student-loan payments in October, Friday's announcement also included a 12-month "on-ramp" from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024  to ensure "financially vulnerable borrowers who miss monthly payments during this period are not considered delinquent, reported to credit bureaus, placed in default, or referred to debt collection agencies," according to a press release.

It's unclear what exactly the timeline will be for Biden's new student-loan-forgiveness initiative. But it answers calls from many Democratic lawmakers who were urging the president to act quickly to announce a new route for relief.

"Today, I am urging the Biden Administration to implement a Plan B immediately to cancel student debt for tens of millions of Americans who are struggling to pay the rent, put food on the table, and pay for the basic necessities of life," Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said shortly before Biden's announcement. "Despite this legally unsound Supreme Court decision, the President has the clear authority under the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cancel student debt. He must use this authority immediately."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Washington  President Biden laid out what steps his administration plans to take after the Supreme Court struck down his student loan relief program in a 6-3 decision that upended a key campaign promise, vowing to continue pursuing debt forgiveness through "a new path" that is "legally sound."

The president insisted he "didn't give any false hope" to borrowers through his now-defeated plan, which would have forgiven up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt. Instead, the president said the court "misinterpreted the Constitution," and blamed Republicans for suing over the program and for voting against it in Congress.

"What I did, I thought was appropriate, and was able to be done and would get done," the president told reporters after remarks at the White House. "I didn't give borrowers false hope, but the Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given."

It was the second time in as many days that the president was forced to react to a defeat handed down by the high court. On Thursday, the justices ruled that the race-conscious affirmative action admission policies of Harvard College and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional.

But this time, the court overturned against a policy that Mr. Biden himself promised and unilaterally executed. Last August, the president and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona announced the administration would forgive $10,000 in student loans for those earning less than $125,000 annually, and another $10,000 in student loans for those who attended college on Pell Grants. The promise of relief was immediately challenged in court, eventually working its way up to the Supreme Court, where it was struck down Friday.

Speaking from the White House Friday afternoon, the president told borrowers he isn't backing down.

"Today's decision has closed one path," Mr. Biden said. "Now, we're going to pursue another. I'm never going to stop fighting for you. We'll use every tool at our disposal to get you the student debt relief you need to reach your dreams."

President Biden speaks alongside Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Friday, June 30, 2023. / Credit: Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The president announced he's directed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to start a process under a law known as the Higher Education Act to forgive loans "compromise, waive or release loans under certain circumstances." The administration is also rolling out a 12-month "on-ramp repayment program" when student loan payments resume in the fall after being paused during the pandemic. Beginning Oct. 1 and lasting for a year, the Department of Education won't refer borrowers who miss payments to credit agencies or consider them delinquent, the White House said.

"I'm announcing today a new path consistent with today's ruling to provide student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible. We will ground this new approach in a different law than my original plan, the so-called Higher Education Act," Mr. Biden said. "This new path is legally sound. It's going to take longer, but in my view it's the best path that remains to providing as many borrowers as possible with debt relief."

Additionally, Mr. Biden announced a new income-based repayment plan for federal loans, dubbed the "Saving on a Valuable Education," or SAVE, plan. Under the program, monthly payments for undergraduate loans are limited to 5% of income, cut in half from their current level of 10%. He also shortened the amount of time needed to forgive loans of less than $12,000, to 10 years of payments instead of 20 years, according to the White House.

"I know there are millions of Americans, millions of Americans in this country who feel disappointed and discouraged or even a little bit angry about the court's decision today on student debt," the president said Friday. "And I must admit, I do, too."

The White House said nearly 90% of the relief from the now-defeated plan would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to those earning more than $125,000. It would have come with a price tag of roughly $430 billion of dollars.

The court's decision, which fell along ideological lines, presented not just a setback for student loan holders, but also for Mr. Biden's reelection efforts. In 2020, he campaigned on canceling student loan debt, which he was ultimately unable to deliver.

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Biden mocks Republicans for accepting pandemic relief funds while opposing student loan forgiveness: 'My program is too expensive?'

President Joe Biden Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

President Joe Biden tore into Republicans for opposing his student loan forgiveness plan.

Biden renewed his suggestion that it's hypocritical for lawmakers to oppose his plan if their PPP loans were forgiven.

The president's comments came in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that axed his current plan.

President Joe Biden on Friday criticized Republicans who opposed his roughly $400 billion student loan forgiveness program but gladly took federal pandemic relief funds in the wake of a Supreme Court decision that axed his current plan.

"We all supported the paycheck protection program, remember?" Biden told reporters in a brief statement from the White House. "It was a worthy program but let's be clear, some of the same Republicans, members of Congress, who strongly opposed giving relief to students got hundreds of thousands of dollars themselves in relief."

Biden and the White House have previously tweaked the GOP over what it sees as apparent hypocrisy. The fact that the president returned to the theme in the wake of Friday's Supreme Court decision underlines how Democrats may see political gains for pining the program's demise on more than just the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the court's 6-3 decision that found the Biden administration did not have the proper authority under a 9/11-era law to propose roughly $400 billion in relief without explicit congressional approval. Roberts was joined by the court's other five conservatives in ruling against the White House in Biden v. Nebraska.

The Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP loans, are not directly analogous to student debt relief. The PPP loans were aimed at keeping business afloat during the pandemic by providing critical backstops to meet payroll and other limited needs.

This time, President Biden did not call out congressional Republicans by name but he did strongly hint at a few of them. He pointed out that some lawmakers "got over a million dollars."

Rep. Chuck Edwards, a North Carolina Republican who is serving his first term in office. Edwards had $1,133,907 in PPP loans and interest forgiven for an operating company for his McDonald's restaurants. Edwards, who praised Roberts' ruling, has previously dismissed criticism of his acceptance of PPP support.

"PPP loans benefited employees, it saved their jobs," he told the Asheville Citizen Times. "College loan forgiveness benefits one person and undermines the basic principles of personal responsibility." A spokesperson for Edwards did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican, received even more money. The Sarasota Republican had over $2.7 million in forgiven PPP loans and interests for car dealerships connected to him. A spokesperson for Buchanan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When news of one of the loans first became public, Buchanan said he would hope any small business would apply for the support.

"I would hope that small businesses in our area would apply to avoid laying off workers," he said in a statement to The Tampa Bay Times.

Rep. Kevin Hern, an Oklahoma Republican, received $1,082,302 in PPP loan and interest forgiveness for a restaurant management company. A spokesperson for the Oklahoman blasted Biden for suggesting there was something wrong with opposing student loan forgiveness in light of accepting PPP money.

"I see zero similarities between the two," Hern spokesperson Miranda Dabney said in a message to Insider. "If Biden can't tell the difference, that's his problem."

Biden also questioned how his plan could be considered so radical if PPP cost $800 billion.

"My program is too expensive?" he said. "The hypocrisy is stunning."

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Aurora City Council is considering a redevelopment deal to help open a new Italian restaurant downtown.

Amore Mio would be a little bit of New York on New York Street. The 160-seat restaurant is hoping to open in October at 31-33 W. New York St. in the former Gillersons Grubbery building.

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It would be an Italian restaurant and piano bar paying homage to the Italian-American restaurants of mid-20th century New York City.

David Dibo, Auroras Economic Development director, said the restaurant would be something unique and special.

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Aurora Economic Development Director David Dibo. (City of Aurora / HANDOUT)

We dont have an Italian restaurant downtown, he said.

Developing the restaurant is chef Roberto Avila and Erika Villanueva, who already own and operate Altiro in the first floor of Leland Tower apartments, Galena Boulevard and Stolp Avenue. They operate two other Altiros, one in Geneva and the other in Wheaton, and a coffeehouse.

The redevelopment deal would have the city make a $200,000 forgivable loan on top of a $75,000 finish line grant the city already awarded in 2022 for the project.

The restaurant owners would put in $53,000 of equity, and take out a personally guaranteed $222,000 economic development loan.

The entire project would be $550,000.

Dibo said the amount from the city is a little higher than usual for redevelopment deals, but he said the city expects to get paid back within eight years by food and beverage taxes.

The city is projecting roughly $40,000 in food and beverage taxes a year from the restaurant. When Altiro first opened, the city projected about $700,000 a year in revenue, but the restaurant is doing closer to $1 million a year, Dibo said.

He said Avila and Villanueva are personally guaranteeing to make up the difference to the city if the taxes do not pay back the loan within eight years. The project already has started and is being built out in the former Gillersons space.

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Dibo said the restaurant would dovetail well into Auroras downtown restaurant offerings. He said surveys show that 66% of the 350,000 patrons of the Paramount each year dine when they go to the show, but only 33% dine in downtown Aurora.

So we still have a need for restaurants in striking distance from the theater, Dibo said.

By the same token, the restaurant would operate independently of the Paramount hours, because it would be open for lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday, and will also have a late-night menu, Dibo said.

Dibo and two members of the City Council Finance Committee discussed the deal Thursday, but because the Finance Committee meeting had no quorum, it was unable to vote on anything.

The proposed deal will move to the councils Committee of the Whole at its July 11 meeting, with no recommendation.

Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, Finance Committee chairman, asked what the city would get if the restaurant lasted only two years. Dibo said its always good to have a finished restaurant  its a good thing to have a turn-key property.

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The property is owned by Vernon LaVia, who also owns other property on that block, and if he wants to sell, Avila and Villanueva would have right of first refusal, Dibo said. The restaurant will be on two floors of the building, with the 160 seats split about evenly between the two floors.

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President Biden on Friday announced new actions to offer student loan borrowers some forgiveness, reintroducing his forgiveness plan grounded in the Higher Education Act (HEA).

Using the HEA to provide student debt relief has been pushed by student loan advocates and top Democrats for years. Under the HEA, advocates argue it allows the education secretary to compromise, waive or release student loans. This path will require a public comment and notice period before it could go into effect.

We need to find a new way, and were moving as fast as we can, he said in Friday afternoon remarks at the White House.

The administration had tied the student debt relief plan  struck down by the Supreme Court  to the national emergency established during the COVID-19 public health crisis, citing the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the courts majority opinion, issued Friday morning, that the HEROES Act does not grant the authority.

Biden did not offer further details about who would qualify or how much debt relief borrowers would receive under his new plan to use the HEA, but he said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has taken steps to initiate the rulemaking process.

The department sent out a notice Friday, the first step in the negotiated rulemaking process. The first public hearing on the matter will happen July 18 to get input from stakeholders. The process could go well to the end of 2023, but the administration said it will try to move as quickly as possible.

This student debt relief is not being implemented automatically. This is a hot mess. This will be a bureaucratic nightmare, Braxton Brewington, press secretary for Debt Collective, said in response to the announcement.

The president also announced the administration will launch an on-ramp repayment program for borrowers who may miss payments when they resume this fall. It would remove the threat of default or harm to credit ratings because the Education Department wont refer borrowers who miss payments to collection agencies or credit bureaus for 12 months.

If you can pay your monthly bills you should, but if you cannot, if you miss payments, this on-ramp temporarily removes the threat of default or having your credit harmed, Biden said.

More on SCOTUSs student loans ruling from The Hill

Student debt payments have been paused since the pandemic, but in a deal with Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to secure a debt ceiling agreement, Biden set in stone the resumption of repayments beginning in October. Interest will begin to accrue again at the beginning of September.

The Supreme Courts Friday decision stopped more than 40 million borrowers from receiving loan forgiveness and delivered a major defeat to one of the presidents key campaign promises. The decision limits Bidens options to deliver on that promise.

The program, announced in August, would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for other borrowers, if the individuals income is less than $125,000.

Soon after the Supreme Court struck down the presidents student loan forgiveness plan, the White House said it was prepared and that Biden had a new action to roll out.

The announcement comes after the White House refused to talk about its Plan B for months while student debt relief was held up in the court system.

Updated at 4:41 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
One year ago this month, President Biden in an executive order promised to safeguard access to gender-affirming health care for transgender Americans, charging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with promoting expanded access to care in every state.

Today, 20 states and counting have passed laws that heavily restrict or ban gender-affirming medical care, including 17 that have done so this year. Most of these laws regulate the administration of puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries to transgender minors, but measures adopted in some states, including Florida and Missouri, threaten to limit access to care for adults, too.

More than 132,000  or 44 percent  of the nations transgender 13- to 17-year-olds now live in a state that has banned gender-affirming care for youth or is at risk of doing so, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ rights group.

Faced with an onslaught of legislation targeting health care that is considered medically necessary by major medical organizations, LGBTQ and health advocates wonder whether the administration has done enough to make good on its promises to the community.

I think a lot of us would really like to see the administration doing more, acknowledging that its hard, said Kellan Baker, the executive director of Whitman-Walker Health in Washington, D.C., a health center specializing in LGBTQ care.

Baker acknowledged that several policies enacted under the Biden administration have been integral to advancing and protecting LGBTQ rights  and transgender rights, in particular. But additional health care protections are still needed.

That includes a long-awaited update to the Affordable Care Acts (ACA) nondiscrimination clause, known as Section 1557, he said.

The final rule would broaden the laws definition of sex discrimination to include discrimination that is based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It would also prohibit categorical bans on gender-affirming health care.

It cant come soon enough, Baker said of the rule, which has been in the works for roughly a year.

A spokesperson for HHS said in an email the department is continuing to work on the rule but did not indicate when it might be finalized.

HHS is committed to protecting access to health care for all, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, and will continue to advance and protect access to care, the spokesperson said.

Sean Cahill, the director of health policy research at The Fenway Institute, an LGBTQ health care center in Boston, said although the increasing number of state laws restricting transgender health care is extremely unfortunate, there is only so much the administration can do to step in.

I dont blame President Biden, he said. I blame the people who are promoting those laws and the governors who sign those laws.

Cahill added that the LGBTQ and health care communities have welcomed actions taken by the Department of Justice over the past year to challenge gender-affirming health care bans in court.

The department in April, for instance, filed a challenge to Tennessees ban on care for minors, arguing the law denies necessary medical care to youth based solely on who they are.

In May, Justice Department officials submitted a statement of interest in a case challenging a similar law in Kentucky, advising the court that by denying transgender minors  and only transgender minors  access to medically necessary and appropriate care, SB 150 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Like Cahill, Baker commended the Justice Departments involvement in cases against transgender health care bans but said there should be more full-throated condemnation, from the highest levels of the Department of Justice, that this is an abuse of the law.

It is a weaponization of the arms of the state, and it needs to stop, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Biden says it would be a mistake to expand Supreme Court  despite ruling on affirmative action

President Joe Biden has said it would be a mistake to expand the Supreme Court, despite its recent rulings against affirmative action in higher education, LGBT+ rights, and student loan debt forgiveness.

The high court overturned decades of policies when it ruled this week that race-based admissions were not constitutional, preventing universities from considering race as a factor in student applications.

Mr Biden hit out at the ruling on Thursday, commenting: We cannot let this decision be the last word.

Discrimination still exists in America, he added. This is not a normal court.

Despite his strong reaction to the decision, the president ruled out the idea of packing the Supreme Court with additional justices in order to change the balance of opinion on the bench.

I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, were going to politicise it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy, Mr Biden told MSNBCs Nicolle Wallace.

It was a question Mr Biden was asked regularly during his last presidential campaign when a worried Democratic electorate expressed concern that there were few liberal justices left on the bench which would allow for the decisions handed down over the past year.

Although it would not be unprecedented to change the number of justices in the Supreme Court  as the Constitution does not specify how many justices there should be  the number has remained at nine since not been changed since 1868.

The court currently consists of nine justices  three of whom were chosen during Donald Trumps only term as president, tipping the balance over to more conservative judges. Indeed, just three of the current nine justices were appointed by Democratic presidents  Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed by Mr Biden, and Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor were appointed by President Barack Obama.

Clarence Thomas was appointed by President George HW Bush, and President George W Bush appointed Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Since Mr Trumps appointment of justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, the court has weighed in with a conservative hand on landmark rulings  including the overturning of the historic abortion 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade, giving the decision on abortion provision over to individual states.

In addition to the ruling on affirmative action, on Friday 30 June, the court also struck down President Bidens plan to cancel student loan debts for millions of Americans, reversing his campaign-trail promise as borrowers prepare to resume payments this summer.

The court also ruled that a wedding website designer may refuse to create work for people in the LGBT+ community if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. The case was unique in that it asked justices to rule on a question that was solely based on a hypothetical scenario.
President Biden said that the Supreme Court "misinterpreted the Constitution" after it blocked his student loan handout plan, and also announced changes being made to student loans.

Biden made the comments on Friday afternoon from the White House after the Supreme Court struck down his administration's student loan plan.

The 6-3 decision held that the secretary of education cannot cancel more than $430 billion in student loan debt under federal law.

During his speech, Biden hit Republicans, who he says blocked his student loan handout plan from being implemented.

SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST BIDEN STUDENT LOAN DEBT HANDOUT

President Biden arrives to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Wednesday.

"They said, no, no, literally snatching from the hands of millions of Americans thousands of dollars in debt relief that was about to change their lives. You know, these Republican officials just couldn't bear the thought of providing relief for working class, middle class Americans. Republican state officials sued my administration attempting to block relief, including millions of their own constituents," Biden said.

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He also touched on actions that his administration is taking on student loans, such as the creation of a new income-driven repayment plan and the initiation of a rule that would be aimed at "opening an alternative path to debt relief for as many borrowers as possible."

"The Secretarys plan canceled roughly $430 billion of federal student loan balances, completely erasing the debts of 20 million borrowers and lowering the median amount owed by the other 23 million from $29,400 to $13,600," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority opinion. "Six States sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancelation plan. We agree."

BIDEN DEEPLY CONCERNED AFTER SCOTUS RULES FOR CHRISTIAN WEB DESIGNER, CALLS ON CONGRESS TO RESPOND

Biden's plan aimed to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients in college and up to $10,000 for others who borrowed using federal student loans.

The Supreme Court on Friday also ruled in favor of web designer Lorie Smith, ruling in a 6-3 decision that she's not legally required to make websites for gay marriages, with the majority opinion stating that doing so would violate her Christian beliefs and free speech rights.

"Consistent with the First Amendment, the Nations answer is tolerance, not coercion," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion. "The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands. Colorado cannot deny that promise consistent with the First Amendment."

Fox News' Anders Hagstrom, Chris Pandolfo, Bill Mears and Shannon Bream contributed to this report.
Biden says he will 'stop at nothing to find other ways' to get student-loan forgiveness to millions of borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down his plan

President Joe Biden. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The Supreme Court struck down Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan on Friday.

Biden said in a statement that "the fight is not over," and he will find other ways for relief.

Democrats want him to use a different legal authority to get relief to borrowers.

The Supreme Court struck down student-loan forgiveness  but President Joe Biden vowed to keep fighting for relief.

On Friday, the high court decided, with a 6-3 ruling, that Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers is unconstitutional and cannot move forward. The decision came in two separate rulings  the majority ruled that one of the cases, US Department of Education v. Brown, did not have standing to sue the administration. However, the court found that the second case, Biden v. Nebraska, had standing  and it determined that Biden did not use the proper authority to enact this relief for millions of borrowers.

In a statement following the ruling, Biden said: "The fight is not over."

"My Administration's student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic," he said.

"I believe that the Court's decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong," he added. "But I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American."

Biden is set to speak on Friday afternoon to provide more detail on next steps for student-loan borrowers. It's unclear at this point if he will try an alternate route to get the same amount of relief to borrowers, given the Supreme Court said he cannot cancel student debt using the HEROES Act of 2003, which allows the Education Secretary to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, like COVID-19.

Some Democratic lawmakers have urged Biden to use the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cancel student debt, which does not require a national emergency.

"It is very important to note this SCOTUS ruling does NOT remove Biden's ability to pursue student loan forgiveness," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. "The Biden Admin can use the HEA (Higher Ed Act) - our position from the start - to continue loan forgiveness before payments resume. They should do so ASAP."

Still, Republican lawmakers rejoiced at the Supreme Court's decision  and would likely oppose any alternate routes Biden might try to cancel student debt.

"Mr. President, good riddance to your illegal, economically disastrous taxpayer-funded bailout for the wealthy," top Republican on the House education committee Virginia Foxx said in a statement. "I had hoped you would have greater respect for taxpayers and the Constitution, but I am pleased the Court stepped in to hold you accountable."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Biden shoots down Supreme Court expansion, says court could be politicized in 'way that is not healthy'

Biden shoots down Supreme Court expansion, says court could be politicized in 'way that is not healthy'

President Biden on Thursday warned that progressive efforts to expand the size of the Supreme Court would "politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy."

Biden was asked during an MSNBC interview if he was worried that "without court reform, this conservative majority is too young and too conservative, that they might do too much harm?"

"Well, I think they may do too much harm, but I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we're going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy, that you can't get back," the president replied.

"And I think, look, I think maybe it's just the optimist in me. I think that some of the court are beginning to realize their legitimacy is being questioned in ways that had not been questioned in the past," he said.

HARVARD REACTS TO SUPREME COURT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION RULING: DIVERSITY IS 'ESSENTIAL TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE'

The interview came just hours after the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision that outlawed affirmative action policies in college admissions programs because those policies violate the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Biden commented on the ruling prior to the interview, saying that the Supreme Court is "not a normal court."

He clarified his comments on MSNBC, saying, "What I meant by that is, it's done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history."

"And that's what I meant by not normal. It has gone out of its way to, for example, take a look at overruling Roe v. Wade. Take a look at the decision today. Take a look at how it's ruled on a number of issues that are, have been precedent for 50, 60 years sometimes. And that's what I meant by not normal," he said.

TIM SCOTT RESPONDS TO OBAMAS' CRITICISM OF SUPREME COURT RULING: 'A LIE FROM THE PIT OF HELL'

BIden said he opposed the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision on Thursday, but dismissed the idea of packing the court.

BIden was asked if he agreed with some Senate Democrats that the Supreme Court is "anti-democratic," but he declined to go that far.

"Well, you know, if I say it's not a Democratic, it gets" Biden started.

THOMAS BLASTS JACKSON'S 'RACE-INFUSED WORLD VIEW' IN SUPREME COURT RULING OUTLAWING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Biden's appearance on MSNBC was his first TV interview since early May.

"But its value system is different. And its respect for institutions is different. And in that sense, it is not as embracing of all what I think the Constitution says: we hold these truths to be so that all men and women are created equal, endowed by their creator," he said, quoting from the Declaration of Independence, and not the U.S. Constitution.
President Biden chastised the U.S. Supreme Court following its affirmative action ruling but previously led a fight against school desegregation.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court rejected using race as a factor in college admissions as a violation of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The ruling was considered a significant blow to affirmative action policies at major universities such as Harvard that sought to create a more "diverse" campus by favoring Black and Hispanic students over Whites and Asian Americans.

Left-wing politicians and activists roundly criticized the decision. Biden joined the chorus by directly attacking the high court over what he said was a rejection of long-standing precedent.

"In case after case, including recently, just a few years ago in 2016, the court has affirmed and reaffirmed this view that colleges could use race, not as a determining factor for admission, but as one of the factors among many in deciding who to admit," Biden said, adding that "the court once again walked away from decades of precedent" and that he "strongly, strongly" disagrees with the decision.

BIDEN RIPS SUPREME COURT DECISION ON RACE-BASED COLLEGE ADMISSIONS: 'NOT A NORMAL COURT'

As a freshman senator in the 1970s, then-Sen. Joe Biden opposed school desegregation.

Biden declared this is "not a normal court" while leaving the press conference.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Despite Biden's strong disapproval of the decision, he once was a primary figure in the fight against school desegregation. His prior stance became fodder for his Democratic presidential opponents during the 2020 election, including now Vice President Kamala Harris, who attacked him over the views he espoused in the past.

As a freshman Delaware senator, Biden stood at the front lines of fighting against integrating Black and White students in schools. In a 1975 Senate hearing, then-NAACP Legal Defense Fund director Jack Greenberg set his sights on Biden for sponsoring a bill limiting the court's power to use buses to desegregate schools.

During the hearing, Greenberg said the bill "heaves a brick through the window of school integration," NBC News reported in 2019. "And according to Greenberg, Biden was the man with his hand on the brick," the publication wrote on Greenberg's views.

The Washington Post also focused on Biden's opposition to desegregation in a 2019 piece. "Biden took a lead role in the fight, speaking out repeatedly and forcefully against sending white children to majority-black schools and black children to majority-white schools," the Post wrote. "He played down the persistence of overt racism and suggested that the government should have a limited role in integration."

SUPREME COURT HANDS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM WIN TO POSTAL WORKER WHO REFUSED TO WORK ON SUNDAY

Now-President Biden previously came under attack for his past views during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.

The Post's article included a quote Biden provided to a Delaware newspaper in 1975, in which he said he does not "buy the concept" Black individuals have been oppressed for hundreds of years.

"I do not buy the concept, popular in the '60s, which said, 'We have suppressed the Black man for 300 years and the White man is now far ahead in the race for everything our society offers," Biden told the Delaware newspaper. "In order to even the score, we must now give the Black man a head start, or even hold the White man back, to even the race. I don't buy that."

Biden's past views led to attacks from his Democratic opponents during the 2020 Democratic primary. Then-Sen. Kamala Harris said during a 2019 debate that she did not believe Biden is a racist, then pivoted to his previous segregation stance.

"You also worked with them to oppose busing," Harris told Biden, referencing two segregationist senators. "You know there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me."

BIDEN KNOCKED FOR DECLARING SUPREME COURT IS 'NOT A NORMAL COURT:' 'NOT A NORMAL PRESIDENCY'

During the 2020 Democratic primary, then-Sen. Kamala Harris attacked now-President Biden over his previous views.

Others in the Democratic presidential field, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, piled onto Biden.

"Right now, the vice president is not doing a good job at bringing folks together," Booker told NBC's "Meet the Press" days after the Democratic debate. "In fact, he's causing  and I've heard this from people all around the country  he's causing a lot of frustration and even pain with his words."

"What we've seen from the vice president over the last month is an inability to talk candidly about the mistakes he made about things he could've done better about how some of the decisions he made at the time in difficult context actually have resulted in really bad outcomes," Booker said.

The White House says Biden "has spent decades fighting against housing and school segregation."
DOVER  A bill that would change how Strafford County commissioners are elected  supported by state Sen. James Gray, R-Rochester  passed by the slimmest of margins Thursday. The legislation on one small county race has become the source of a growing political battle in New Hampshire with Democrats calling it unconstitutional gerrymandering.

House Bill 75 was passed by the House by one vote 186-185, Thursday and by the Senate, 14-10, along party lines.

If Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signs the bill into law, the 2024 county election would be set to feature three separate districts for Strafford County commissioners, rather than the top three vote getters countywide being elected. It would also mean longtime County Commission Chairman George Maglaras would have to run against Commissioner Deanna Rollo in a Democratic primary, if both seek reelection next year.

Strafford County Commissioner Chairman George Maglaras vows to fight House Bill 75 in the New Hampshire Supreme Court if it becomes law.

"I am seeking a meeting with the governor," Maglaras said after Thursday's vote. "I will ask him to veto the bill. If that doesn't happen, we will challenge the bill in New Hampshire Supreme Court."

Is House Bill 75 unconstitutional? Republicans and Democrats disagree

Democrats have dominated Strafford County commissioner elections for many years. Maglaras, who has served since 1983, serves currently with fellow Democrats Robert Watson and Rollo. The last Republican commissioner was in office in 2011-12, according to county records.

Gray has argued districts should be created to give smaller towns in Strafford County more representation. He also pointed out nine of 10 county commissioner elections in the state have districts. Strafford County is the only one that does not.

More Strafford County news: Sheriff Mark Brave faces criminal investigation by NH attorney general

Redistricting of voting maps happens nationally every 10 years, following the once-a-decade Census. Gray helped lead that process in New Hampshire last year with Republicans in majority control. Numerous election districts were changed in the state, but no changes were made to the Strafford County commissioner election at that time.

Maglaras and other Democrats said state lawmakers need to wait for the next 10-year cycle and making changes now would be unconstitutional.

New Hampshire state Sen. Jim Gray, R-Rochester, defended the constitutionality of House Bill 75, adding districts to the Strafford County commissioner election.

Gray said an attorney told him "districting is different than redistricting," meaning this change isn't part of the redistricting because there are no districts for Strafford County commissioners. Gray said another attorney advised him that since no action was taken on Strafford County commissioners during the redistricting process last year, "we still have our once-in-10-years opportunity."

Sununu's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he will sign the bill and whether he feels it is constitutional.

"I am proud of this piece of legislation, so all the people of Strafford County are represented," Gray said when testifying about the bill Thursday. "There is a predominance of Democrats here and my constituents is New Durham, Farmington, Strafford and six wards in Rochester came to me. I heard from people in Lee, Milton, Middleton and Barrington. This bill will elect representatives in the same way all the other counties do."

Leading Democrats in Concord have spoken out.

Representative Laurel Stavis, D-Lebanon, ranking Democrat on the House Municipal and County Government Committee, said "HB 75 is a brazen partisan effort to change the make-up of Strafford County commissioners outside of the established redistricting process. ...This bill sets a dangerous precedent of annually reopening the once-a-decade redistricting process and will result in instability and chaos. Rigging districts for partisan gain breeds distrust among voters and is not the New Hampshire way. I strongly encourage Gov. Sununu to veto this unwarranted, partisan power-grab.

Sen. Donna Soucy, the Democratic Party leader in the state Senate, and Democratic Sens. David Watters of Dover and Rebecca Perkins Kwoka of Portsmouth, whose district includes Strafford County towns, issued a joint statement.

It is essential that we as legislators stand by the laws and practices, we have established for ourselves, but especiallywhen it comes to one of our most sacred responsibilities: the redistricting process. The redistricting process is tremendously important as it is essential to ensuring fairness and integrity in our democratic election process."The senators noted redistricting is meant to be taken up every 10 years, following the U.S. Census.

"When we did so, nearly two years ago, we did not hear requests from Strafford County officials or residents to implement the changes proposed in HB 75," they said. "Therefore, there is no way to interpret this change in the district lines to be anything except partisan gerrymandering. We are deeply disappointed that House and Senate Republicans have chosen to take us down this dark path by further politicizing our redistricting process, but, given the starkly partisan nature of this legislation, we expect that this will not be the end of Granite Staters fight to protect democracy in our great state.

Why would county's largest communities be split into separate districts?

House Bill 75 would create three districts. The cities of Rochester and Dover, by far the most populous in the county at more than 30,000 each, would each be part of two districts. Gray was asked to respond to critics who point to this as part of their claims of gerrymandering.

"It's impossible to do math that keeps Rochester or Dover all together," Gray said. "Especially Dover, where you've got Rollinsford that doesn't touch anything other than Dover and Somersworth. It's the only way you can get the numbers to work and have even districts."

Gray also responded to Democrats who howled in protest over a legislative maneuver that kept House Bill 75 alive. When the bill was in a committee of conference, Republicans needed a unanimous vote to advance it. They got a 5-2 vote with two Democrats voting against it. The Democrats were kicked off the committee of conference and replaced by Republicans. The next vote was unanimous. Otherwise the legislation would never have reached Thursday's House and Senate votes.

"If you look back at committees of conference going back as long as I've been in Legislature, it is not unusual that members who disagree are replaced by members who will agree," Gray said. "That is all balanced out by having vote at the end so every one of the legislators gets to express their opinion. While it was a closer vote than most, the will of the majority of the legislators is what prevailed."

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: NH Strafford County commissioner election bill passes by 1 vote
Bill that cracks down on street takeovers advances in NC legislature

The North Carolina House voted Wednesday to pass Senate Bill 91, which cracks down on unauthorized street takeovers.

READ MORE: How social media likely fuels street takeovers

SB 91 will make it a Class A1 misdemeanor, which is the most serious misdemeanor in North Carolina, for anyone who participates in or coordinates a street takeover.

Law enforcement will have the authority to seize vehicles, as well.

These street takeovers are a danger to public safety, said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings in a tweet. CMPD has already made great progress on this issue here in Charlotte, but this bill will provide more tools to help mitigate this. I support this bill and urge Governor Cooper to make it law.

The legislation passed unanimously in both chambers.

This legislation was unanimously passed in both chambers! It specifically makes it unlawful for anyone to participate in or coordinate a street takeover. Also, this bill gives law enforcement specific authority to seize vehicles involved in street takeovers.  Chief Jennings (@cmpdchief) June 29, 2023

The state Senate has already passed the bill, so it will go to Gov. Roy Coopers desk next.

VIDEO: CMPD on street takeover response
[Source]

Andy Fang, co-founder of food delivery service DoorDash, is making deliveries out on the streets himself, a report revealed this week.

What his roles are: Fang, whose estimated net worth is at $1.1 billion, is one of DoorDashs co-founders, alongside Tony Xu and Stanley Tang. He currently serves as chief technology officer.

How he "Dashes": Like any other DoorDash driver, Fang drives his way to a restaurant, picks up a customers order and delivers it to their address. In one recent order, he reportedly realized that DoorDashs app had sent him to the wrong restaurant, so he promised to make a fix.

Why he does it: Fang makes deliveries for at least an hour each month, according to the Associated Press, which followed his recent stint.

More from NextShark: Ticketmaster cancels general sale for tickets to BTS member Suga's tour after high demand during presale

But hes not always alone  he sometimes delivers with Xu and Tang. This is because under the companys WeDash program, all salaried employees in the U.S., Canada and Australia  including the three co-founders  are required to complete at least four deliveries each year. The program, as per DoorDashs website, allows employees to look deeper into how the products we build empower local economies, which in turn helps us build a better platform.

Back to his roots: Fang said they started employee program WeDash to make sure that all of the company's workers understand what others are going through. The program started in 2015, but Fang and his co-founders have actually been making deliveries themselves while they were still students at Stanford.

"We had to. There was nobody else to do them," he told AP. "But what we quickly found out was that by doing these deliveries ourselves, we learned a ton of insights into what it actually took to get these deliveries fulfilled."

More from NextShark: Jack in the Box now offering boba tea in 3 Southern California cities

The bigger picture: Fang is only one of a growing number of executives who are reportedly clocking in as rank-and-file workers. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Lyft CEO David Risher have both fetched and dropped passengers, while Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan has trained as a barista and planned to work at least half a day in a different store each month.

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Authorities reported the homicides this past week of a 29-year-old Dolton man in that village as well as a 60-year-old South Holland woman shot to death in her home.

Separately, a 29-year-old man was stabbed and shot in Justice in a death that was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiners office.

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A 60-year-old woman, Lone Williams, was shot multiple times at her home in the 15900 block of Woodlawn East Avenue, in South Holland, according to the office and police.

She was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:23 a.m. June 23, according to the medical examiner.

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Williams was found deceased in her home by a family member, and the woman suffered gunshot wounds to her abdomen, according to South Holland police Chief Shawn Staples.

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He said a suspect has been identified and a warrant carrying a charge of first-degree murder has been issued.

Staples declined to provide more information about the suspect until that person was in custody.

In Dolton, the medical examiner reported the shooting death of James Yates, 29, of the 15100 block of Meadow Lane.

He suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the 1200 block of Sibley Boulevard, and was pronounced dead at 5:47 p.m. June 25 at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, according to the medical examiners office.

The medical examiner also reported the death June 24 of 29-year-old Antwan Owens in Justice, but said that an address for him was not available.

According to the office, he suffered stab wounds and multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at 1:55 p.m. June 24 in the 8600 block of South 86th Avenue.

mnolan@tribpub.com
The Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition filed Wednesday by Bitwise Industries in Delaware was predictable given what outwardly appeared to be the sudden financial implosion of the Fresno-based technology company, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said Thursday.

I was not surprised by the bankruptcy filing, Dyer told reporters Thursday afternoon. I thought that was going to be coming sooner or later. It came sooner.

Wednesdays bankruptcy filing by Bitwise, the 10-year-old Fresno-based technology training, services and real estate firm, came almost one month to the day after now-former co-CEOs Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. abruptly announced to employees that the entire workforce  estimated at about 900 nationwide, including about 400 workers in Fresno  was immediately being furloughed.

Dyer said he believes, however, that company insiders likely knew that the fiscal wheels were falling off well before that stunning announcement.

Ive got to believe that with Bitwise, the early warning signs were a long time ago, he said, and what we got to see (since May 29) was the end result, and it happened all of a sudden.

Bitwise Industries was launched in 2013 as a self-proclaimed mothership of technology innovation in Fresno, led by a pair of charismatic co-founders in Soberal, an intellectual-property attorney who was raised in Clovis, and Olguin, reared in a rural farm-labor family in Caruthers before attending college in Ohio to become a software engineer.

And it was a company with a cause that Dyer said appealed to a range of investors, government agencies and employees  one of reaching out to underserved communities and providing training and opportunities for people often left behind. The company proclaimed itself  and was often hailed by others  as a champion of racial, economic and LGBTQ+ diversity in Fresno and within the technology industry.

But over the past year, cracks were appearing in Bitwises financial foundation:

The city of Fresno itself is among the creditors noted in Bitwises bankruptcy filing. The city last year approved a $1 million grant from its share of federal pandemic-recovery funds for Bitwise to develop a digital empowerment program to help small businesses in the city learn how to leverage technology for their enterprises. The first $500,000 was paid to Bitwise, with the second half to be paid upon proof of completion of the project.

Dyer said Bitwise had provided reports to the city accounting for its use of $120,000 on the project. But the mayor added that he holds out little hope for recovering the remaining $380,000. Well be in a long line with a lot of other people who are owed a lot more money than we are, he said. Although we hate to lose any money, were fortunate that the amount wasnt much more.

The once-vibrant Bitwise Industries website now is barren, save for a pair of links to press releases: one announcing the termination of Soberal and Olguin on June 2, the other announcing the companys bankruptcy filing.

Employees get the short end in bankruptcy

Theres a lot of tragedies in this story, Dyer said. One of them is that both Jake and Irma were home-grown. ... People started believing in them (and) the American dream that two people could start up a tech company in Fresno and be successful.

The other part of it is the employees really believed in the company and the services they were providing, as well as the cause, he added. You have investors out there, not only were they investing in a product, they were investing in a cause.

The earnestness of that cause is what hurts so much, to wonder if, was it from the outset nothing more than some disguise, Dyer said, or were they really intending on helping people and then the machine fell apart?

Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Fresno Bee that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a criminal investigation into Bitwise and its leadership. Those sources were not in a position to describe the kinds of potential crimes or particular individuals under investigation.

The Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing appears to put up an immediate shield, at least in the short term, against the slew of civil lawsuits confronting Bitwise as a company and Soberal, Olguin and other Bitwise leadership as individuals. Olguin and Soberal were terminated from their positions as co-CEOs on June 2.

The filing does not, however, forestall criminal investigations by both federal and state agencies into the companys financial dealings.

I think what this filing says is that its all about the money. Its never really been about the employees, or at least that hasnt been demonstrated, Dyer said. So it is about the process of liquidating assets now and paying back some of the creditors and protecting themselves from other creditors.

And the employees unfortunately are the ones who are going to suffer the most, he added.

Court documents associated with the bankruptcy petition indicate that Bitwises parent company, BW Industries Inc.  along with associated enterprises Bitwise Industries Inc., BWRD LLC, Alpha Works Technologies LLC, and Bruces Bagels, Beverages and Bites LLC  collectively owe hundreds of creditors at least $189 million, and possibly much more.

That doesnt include employees, many of whom reportedly had their final paychecks on May 26 bounce when they tried to deposit them in their bank accounts.

While Soberal and Olguin placed the number of employees nationwide at about 900 in Bitwise locations in California, Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Texas, notices filed with various state employment agencies by Bitwise board member and interim president Ollen Douglass on June 14 indicated that the mass layoffs applied to 625 employees across the country.

Nothing in the bankruptcy filing sheds light on the disparity between the number of employees asserted by Soberal and Olguin and those detailed by Douglass two weeks later.

In fact, one court document detailing payments made by Bitwise to creditors within 90 days before the bankruptcy filing shows what appear to be May 26 payroll payments, labeled as employee reimbursements, for 213 employees amounting to a total of almost $843,000. For most of the employees, the document suggests that payroll was twice each month.

The average amount per employee of those May 26 payments was just under $4,000. Notable among them were payments to then co-CEOs Soberal and Olguin, and Bethany Mily, the companys president. Soberal was to receive about $18,725; the payment to Olguin was listed at $12,152; and Mily was listed at $10,661.

Unsecured loans since May 1 total more than $16 million

In what appears to have been a desperate scramble for cash to keep the company afloat, Bitwise approached numerous investors between May 1 and May 17, less than two weeks before the furlough announcement.

Court documents show that the company received 18 unsecured loans amounting to more than $16.3 million in debt during that period. The largest of those creditors is Startop Investments LLC in Wyoming, owed nearly $11.4 million.

But at least half of those unsecured loans originated from investors in Fresno, including $1.15 million from Fresno businessman Roger Glaspey and $575,000 from local commercial developer Ed Kashian.

Dyer said that as he looked through the list of creditors in the bankruptcy filing, he saw the names of friends who were investors. He also said he was told that Bitwise had been looking for large short-term loans with high return on investment. They were asked to provide six figures or more as a loan, Dyer recounted, and that loan was going to be for about 60% return on investment for a 90-day period. Some would-be investors were offered shares in the company for 60-and 90-day loans.
Student

As the U.S. Supreme Court continues to save its most controversial rulings that reshape American society for the end of its session like a cliffhanger at the end of a television season, it once again issued a ruling that upends decades of precedent. With the ultraconservative courts ruling that ends affirmative action in college admissions in the U.S., experts and advocates warn that the unintended consequences of the ruling will be detrimental to many, including Black and brown queer college students.

One of the most concerning outcomes of the ruling is the effect that it will have on historically Black colleges and universities, they say.

Human Rights Campaign HBCU program director Leslie Hall says that its imperative to highlight that the effects of this ruling will result in fewer queer Black students accessing higher education while also adding strain to historically Black colleges and universities as students seek refuge in environments where their abilities are valued.

The University of California did this a couple of years ago, even without this case, Hall tells The Advocate. They said theyd no longer use race as a checkbox on the admission criteria. And what happened is what everybody knew was going to happen. The BIPOC numbers in the UC system have gone down precipitously.

He says that to understand how the court got to this point, one needs to know why HBCUs exist.

Its because Black folks in particular were unable, were not allowed by practice or by law to go to the predominant national public institutions, and even when the Civil Rights Act was passed, they were still putting very Jim Crow-esque things in place to continue to keep [Black students] out. And so that prevented qualified Black folks, African Americans, from being accepted into some of the elite institutions."

He notes that innate human biases are entrenched in admissions policies and with the admissions counselors themselves.

So this affirmative action decision is now basically asking, What would happen if yall do it on your own because its just morally the right thing to do?

He points to the hypocrisy of the Supreme Courts conservative justices, who recently ruled that Alabama Republicans needed to redraw their congressional districts because of racism that disadvantaged Black communities in the state.

The court is saying it needs to step in there because racism exists, but in the affirmative action ruling, the court is saying racism doesnt exist or, better yet, that if left to their own devices, people would do the right thing, he says.

He adds that the promise of America is that all men are created equal, which, as defined at the time the Constitution was written, excluded women, brown and Black people.

Wo here we are in a situation the enrollment of HBCUs has been steadily climbing because of all the racial things that are happening, but when we look at some of the national public institutions, it really boils down to access, Hall says.

Will a valedictorian of an all-Black high school even feel empowered to apply for admission to some of these places? he asks. When has this country ever been color-blind?

He says it has never been.

So when you try to appeal to the best conscience of America, that is a noble ideal, but no, when have we demonstrated that?

Hall notes that there might be a silver lining in that HBCUs may get additional talented students who otherwise would have applied at a non-HBCU but who chose to forgo that option.

HBCUs dont exist for the lowest quartile of Black folks who apply. Howard is considered a selective institution, but youve talked to students; theyre almost like 80 percent Pell Grant eligible, given the economic backgrounds that some of these students have, he says. Pell Grants come from a federal program that helps students who have extreme financial need.

He adds, "So first, schools will have to lean more into their scholarship offerings to get some of these students in. But two, I think students will be able to see the real benefit of going to a historically Black college or university.
Photo: Phelan M. Ebenhack (AP)

A civil lawsuit brought by grassroots activists from around the United States against a foundation with stewardship of the Black Lives Matter movements charitable endowment has been thrown out. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick dismissed the suit, agreeing with the foundations attorneys.

A collective of organizers, known as Black Lives Matter Grassroots Inc., stated that Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Inc. had received donations stemming from the work of the city-based Black Lives Matter chapter. The group then claimed the foundation ultimately defrauded the public and left activists out of the decision-making process.

Read more

Lawyers for the foundation pushed back and said that the BLM organizers didnt prove that they were entitled to the money raised nor did they prove allegations that the foundations leaders used funds inappropriately. Part of the fraud claim was based on the infamous $6 million Cali mansion bought with donated funds. The foundation stated the property would be used for a Black artists fellowship.

Black Lives Matter chapter organizers say that claim is untrue. However, in a court order Bowick said that that is accusations of fraud were premised upon misrepresentation rather than concealment, the complaint fails to sufficiently allege the how, when, where, to whom, and by what means the representations were tendered.

Co-founder of BLM Grassroots, Melina Abdullah, said that the collective was stunned and dismayed by the cases outcome. An attorney for the organizers confirmed that an appeal would be filed immediately. Abdullah expressed in a statement: As always, the work of Black Lives Matter continues, regardless of the court ruling.

In a statement, the foundation expressed gratitude and urged unity. The problems we face as a community are too great for us to be divided. The foundation also emphasized the importance of their work despite allegations it has received. We have stayed true to our principles, philanthropic duties, and organizational focus despite countless blatant fabrications, misrepresentations, and innuendos of misdeeds lodged against us, the statement read.

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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - JUNE 29: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

With the stroke of a pen, on Thursday, the Supreme Court rolled back decades of work pushing equity in higher education. The court ruled that Harvard University and the University of North Carolinas race-conscious admissions policy were unconstitutional. In doing so, they severely limited the use of race as a factor in college admissions.

Despite being at Essence Fest when the news broke, Vice Kamala Harris responded swiftly to the ruling. The highest court in our land just made a decision today on affirmative action, and I feel compelled to speak, Harris told the crowd. This is now a moment where the court has not fully understood the importance of equal opportunity for the people of our country, and it is so many ways a denial of opportunity.

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However, Harris was far from the only Black politician to respond. On Capitol Hill, the Black Caucus put out statements decrying the decision alongside the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian-Pacific American Caucus. Todays decision deals a needless blow to Americas promise of equal and fair opportunity, they wrote.

Newer faces to Congress, like Representative Summer Lee, took direct aim at the court. Make no mistakethe decision by this corrupt and illegitimate Supreme Court was *designed* to keep a generation of brilliant Black young people out of higher education and positions of power, wrote Lee.

Former President Barrack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama also weighed in, with personal sentiments as well as direct calls to action.

Back in college, I was one of the few Black students on my campus, and I was proud of getting into such a respected school. I knew Id worked hard for it, wrote the former First Lady, who attested Princeton University. But still, I sometimes wondered if people thought I got there because of affirmative action.

Her sentiments echoed a feeling shared by many Black graduates who attended highly-selective colleges. But the fact is this: I belonged, she said. And semester after semester, decade after decade, for more than half a century, countless students like me showed they belonged too.

In a tweet linking to his wifes statement, along with organizations aimed at benefiting students of color, former President Barrack Obama called for action.

Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society. But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of Americas key institutionsit gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table.

In the wake of the Supreme Courts recent decision, its time to redouble our efforts, tweeted the former President.

However, there was perhaps no more poignant voice on the matter than Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who called the decision a tragedy for us all.

The only way out of this morassfor all of usis to stare at racial disparity unblinkingly and then do what evidence and experts tell us is required to level the playing field and march forward together, collectively striving to achieve true equality for all Americans, wrote Jackson in her blistering dissent. It is no small irony that the judgment the majority hands down today will forestall the end of race-based disparities in this country, making the colorblind world the majority wistfully touts much more difficult to accomplish.

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Police officers patrol a neighborhood amid gang-related violence in downtown Port-au-Prince on April 25, 2023 (Richard PIERRIN)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Haiti's embattled prime minister and Caribbean nations next week on calls for an international force in the crisis-wracked nation, officials said Friday.

Blinken will travel on Wednesday to Trinidad and Tobago for a summit of the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, and also visit the South American nation of Guyana the following day, the State Department said.

At the summit, Blinken will meet Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry on the multiple overlapping crises in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation.

Blinken will "urge Prime Minister Henry to work urgently with Haitian stakeholders to enlarge the political consensus and fashion a political path forward that returns Haiti to democratic order," said Barbara Feinstein, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Caribbean affairs and Haiti.

Henry has been calling for nearly a year for a multinational force to stabilize the country, where armed gangs have taken over large areas amid a breakdown of order, an economic implosion and a public health crisis.

Henry's own authority has been questioned as Haiti has not held elections since 2016 and the president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in July 2021.

Despite pleas from the United Nations, no country has been willing to step forward to lead a multinational force, fearing high risks with uncertain chances of success.

Canada and Brazil have both been heavily involved in discussions and several Caribbean nations have backed a multinational force.

President Joe Biden has made clear that the United States, which has a long history of intervention in Haiti, will not lead a force and instead wants to focus on bolstering the fledgling national police.

"It remains the United States position that that is critical -- that we ought to respond as a global community to the Haitian people's call for enhanced security assistance given the untenable situation on the ground," Feinstein said.

sct/sst
A bobcat attacked a camp counselor while he was on a youth trip in Connecticut, officials told news outlets.

At 2:04 a.m. on June 30, Deep River fire personnel responded to Selden Neck State Park in Lyme after getting reports of an animal attack, according to a Facebook post by the department.

The man was attacked by a bobcat while sleeping in a hammock, CT Insider reported.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection told NBC Connecticut the counselor who was attacked and two other youth group leaders killed the bobcat.

The group, with the Wilderness School, a transitional program for young adults in the state, was authorized to camp in the park located on an island along the Connecticut River, according to WTNH.

The three adults and nine minors were transported to the Deep River town landing where ambulances were waiting, according to the Facebook post. The adults went to the hospital, CT Insider reported.

Officials with DEEP told CT Insider the bobcat didnt have any contact with the campers.

The animal was sent to a lab to be tested for rabies, NBC Connecticut reported.

The National Park Service urges the public to not run away from bobcats. If approached, try to appear as large as possible and back away slowly. If attacked, fight back and report the sighting, the parks website says.

Lyme is about 40 miles southeast of Hartford.

Aggressive bears charge at hikers, attack dog off Blue Ridge Parkway, rangers say

Dogs kill 84-year-old and her dog in attack that also injures man, Arizona cops say

Coyote mauls 9-year-old walking with sister, until bystander steps in, Canada cops say
A body was recovered from a Fresno canal Thursday afternoon, believed to be the man who went missing in the waterway almost two weeks ago.

The recovery happened at 2:45 p.m. at West Nielsen and North Tielman avenues after the Fresno Police Department was told by Fresno Irrigation District workers that there was a body in the canal.

The Fresno Fire Department water rescue team arrived and recovered the body. Battalion Chief Brian Downs said the body had been in the canal for some time.

Downs said the workers were clearing out debris from the crates where the canal splits off and noticed the body in one of the crates.

On June 19, the water rescue team was searching for a man who disappeared in a canal full of fast-moving, cold water. The man was described to have dreadlocks and was reported to frequent the canal near High-Speed Rail construction. He was last seen under a bridge at Nielsen and Thorne.

Downs said the body recovered showed signs of detoriation.

Our department wants to remind people that during this time of year, all the canals are full of water; the water is moving very fast, he said. Even one little slip in the canals ... can put yourself in grave danger.
Bolsonaro to Be Banned From Public Office in Brazil for Eight Years

(Bloomberg) -- Brazils electoral court voted to ban Jair Bolsonaro from office for eight years for making false claims about last years election, a ruling that could effectively end the right-wing former presidents political career.

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Five of the courts seven judges agreed Friday that Bolsonaro had abused the powers of his office by using a meeting with foreign ambassadors to cast doubt on the countrys electronic voting system just months before his defeat to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The decision will render him ineligible to hold or seek office until 2030, when he will be 75, and rule him out of the next presidential election three years from now.

But the former army captain whose improbable rise to the presidency in 2018 unleashed a coarser, more radical version of conservativism in Latin Americas largest nation is poised to retain influence over a movement known commonly as Bolsonarismo.

And the widely-anticipated ban  the first of several legal rulings that could go against him in the coming months  has already kicked off a search for a successor that will test Bolsonaros strength as a kingmaker.

Everyone aligned with him will begin to look for alternatives, said Carlos Melo, a political scientist at Insper, a university in Sao Paulo. What begins today is an internal dispute over the leadership of Bolsonarismo. Who will take Bolsonaros place? Who will contest the election against President Lula in 2026?

The trials outcome was never in much doubt. In her decisive vote Friday, Judge Carmen Lucia said that there was clear evidence that electoral laws were broken and that Bolsonaro must be punished.

We are dealing with a proven, uncontested occurrence, she said. The law does not allow for a little more, or a little less, but indicates exactly what should happen.

Potential Appeal

Bolsonaro has spread conspiracies about voter fraud and Brazilian elections throughout his political career. His claims in the months before last years contest eventually ignited the fury of his supporters, who stormed the capital city of Brasilia on Jan. 8 to protest what they considered a stolen election.

Read More: Bolsonaro Election Trial Puts His Political Future at Risk

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing. He insists that the July 2022 meeting with ambassadors was a matter of foreign policy that fell within the powers of the presidency, and that he was expressing potential concerns about the election.

Like his close ally Donald Trump, who is facing two indictments and multiple open investigations in the US, he has argued that he is a victim of political persecution.

I was stabbed in the back, Bolsonaro told reporters in Belo Horizonte after the majority had ruled. Political abuse for arguing something that I always had argued while I was a congressman.

We are on the road to dictatorship, he said.

Bolsonaro can, and is expected to, appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. And in the merry-go-round that is Brazilian politics, there is ample precedent of comebacks.

Lula was barred from running in the 2018 election after his conviction on corruption charges, opening the door for Bolsonaros rise to the presidency. The leftist served 580 days in prison before the Supreme Court annulled the convictions on grounds that the lower court that had tried him lacked jurisdiction. That ruling allowed Lula to complete his own improbable political resurrection last year.

But legal experts see a far more difficult path ahead for Bolsonaro.

The near-united front from electoral court judges makes a successful appeal unlikely, said Diego Arguelhes, a constitutional law professor at Insper. In the cases against Lula, the balance was fragile from the start, he said. This is not the case now.

Bolsonaro is also facing another 15 cases in the electoral court over accusations that he abused his authority as president and tried to undermine faith in Brazils electronic voting system. Any of those could similarly result in an eight-year political ban.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who is spearheading many of the legal proceedings against Bolsonaro, used his vote to push back on the former presidents attempts to paint himself as a political martyr.

Freedom of expression is not freedom of aggression, Moraes, the electoral courts chief justice, said. Freedom of expression is not consecration of disinformation, its not attacks on democracy.

Search for a Successor

Outside of the electoral court, Bolsonaro is also under investigation for potential crimes that occurred during and after his presidency. The alleged offenses include failing to declare millions of dollars worth of gifts he received while serving as president, falsifying Covid-19 vaccination records, and inciting the Jan. 8 riots.

Despite the mounting legal troubles, Bolsonaro remains a popular figure on the Brazilian right. He won 49.1% of votes in last years election. His party secured the largest share of seats in Brazils congress, while his endorsement helped multiple conservative gubernatorial candidates prevail in the countrys largest states.

Read More: Bolsonaro Lost Brazil, But His Brand of Conservatism Lives On

His status as the countrys strongest conservative figure fueled the belief that Bolsonaro would lead opposition to Lulas government once he returned to Brazil from a three-month, post-election vacation in Florida. It also generated speculation that he would seek another office or a return to the presidency in the near future.

In recent days, however, Bolsonaro has talked openly about passing the torch. Eduardo Bolsonaro and Flavio Bolsonaro, two of his sons, are already members of congress and the senate, respectively. This week, Bolsonaro suggested that his wife, Michelle, could run for congress or president in 2026.

Others have eyed a pair of conservative governors from two of Brazils most populous states  Tarcisio Gomes de Freitas of Sao Paulo and Romeu Zema of Minas Gerais  as potential heirs. Both won with Bolsonaros backing last year, and Freitas rushed to his defense after the courts ruling.

Bolsonaros leadership as a representative of the Brazilian right is unquestionable and endures, Freitas said on Twitter. Tens of millions of Brazilians count on your voice. We go together, President.

Bolsonaro, meanwhile, may not be ready to cede the spotlight, or the end of his political career, just yet.

I have a silver bullet, he said in a recent interview with the local newspaper Folha de S.Paulo when asked about the 2026 presidential election. But Im not going to reveal it.

--With assistance from Beatriz Reis.

(Recast lead, adds analysis, context and Bolsonaro comments throughout)

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Brazil's electoral court voted to ban Jair Bolsonaro from running for public office for eight years  what amounts to two presidential terms  for making false claims about the country's voting systems.

Weve curated insights and analysis on what the electoral courts vote could lead to next.

Insights

While the ruling represents a major setback and possible end to Bolsonaros political career, other members of his family may run for office in place of the 68-year-old. Although a political newcomer, his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, heads the womens movement of her husbands conservative Liberal Party and has suggested that she could become a legislative candidate if she desires. Bolsonaros two sons from his former marriage  both federal lawmakers and controversial figures  may also toy with presidential ambitions.

But Bolsonaros legacy may also be continued by current governors seeking election in the next presidential cycle. They include Tarcisio de Freitas, the governor of Sao Paulo state, or Romeu Zema, the governor of Minas Gerais. But de Freitas lacks Bolsonaro's "common touch," while Zema is not nationally recognized. 

Know More

Four out of seven of the panel of judges voted that the former president abused his authority by using official channels to promote his campaign during the 2022 elections, including telling foreign ambassadors that the countrys electoral system was vulnerable to fraud.

Bolosanaro, often dubbed the "Trump of the Tropics," also faces multiple other criminal and electoral charges which could see him land in jail.
Boston police on Friday announced an arrest in connection with the death of a beloved mother from Sharon who was gunned down while visiting family in Dorchester earlier this year.

Stepheon Wells, 20, of South Boston, is slated to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court on a charge of murder in the killing of 32-year-old Diva Ayuso, according to the Boston Police Department.

Family of slain Sharon mom hopeful for justice after suspect named

Members of the Boston Police Fugitive Unit nabbed Wells on Friday morning. He was named as a suspect in the murder earlier this month and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Officers responding to a ShotSpotter activation at 15 Fermoy Heights on Saturday, Feb. 18, found Ayuso suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Family of Ayuso described her as loving, outgoing, and family oriented.

Its a sad moment for the whole family because Diva was really great with everybody. We all loved her dearly and we still do, Abiezer Ayuso told Boston 25 at the time of the shooting. Mom, dad they are all broken. We are a very tight family and the brother, and we are all very close.

Just a shocking moment: Family of woman fatally shot in Boston speaks out

The Ayuso family is now trying to focus on the memory of the young mother while supporting her 12-year-old son.

An investigation remains ongoing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Some University Park Village Board members say they are concerned about proposed state legislation that would create a University Park development authority board to focus on redeveloping vacant and underutilized commercial, industrial and residential property throughout the village.

Village Trustee Theo Brooks said he was stunned when he recently learned the University Park Development Authority Act was even considered in the last legislative session because no one asked the Village Board for input.

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Its insulting, Brooks said. Why are you putting power in someone elses hands to do things for University Park?

The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Debbie Meyers-Martin, D-Matteson, and state Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Frankfort, and passed the House 113-0, but wasnt brought to a vote in the Senate.

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Meyers-Martin issued a statement stating she didnt author the bill and declined to comment further. She did vote for it, according to the Illinois General Assembly website.

Hastings said the bill didnt advance for a vote in the Senate because it needs an extensive amount of work.

The legislation would create a board to encourage redevelopment and aim to attract new residences, senior and student housing, and commercial and industrial businesses, while creating opportunities for economic development, sustainable initiatives and affordable housing and employment for residents.

The board would have jurisdiction within the village and should make its best effort to annex land. The board would be able to enter into loans, contracts, agreements and mortgages, according to the bill, as well as issue bonds not to exceed $200 million under the supervision of the Illinois Finance Authority.

Trustee Donna Fulcher said she was disappointed when she learned about the bill a month ago because it limits the Village Boards powers.

What the bill does is take away all decision making about economic development from the board of trustees and the residents, Fulcher said.

Fulcher said shes concerned about who would be on the board, because the bill does not mention the members have to be University Park residents.

The legislation stated the board would have five members, three appointed by the mayor and two appointed by the governor, and a three-member quorum would be required to meet.

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Given the boards spending powers listed in the bill, Fulcher said the board would be able spend money at a cost to the community.

Our taxes could increase based on the decisions this board would make, Fulcher said. And guess who has to pay? The taxpayers.

The proposed legislation stipulates members of the new board should have experience in promoting development and in assisting in planning, acquisition, construction and marketing of residential, industrial, commercial or freight-oriented projects.

While the bill states the board should maintain relations with residents, industries, businesses, nonprofit organizations and elected officials, Brooks said that it would take away the Village Boards ability to approve economic development projects.

It literally takes powers out of our hands, Brooks said.

Frank Bass, the villages lobbyist, said he was hired by the village halfway through the 2023 legislative session and advocated for the bill. Ultimately, it was decided the bill needed more work, Bass said.

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We wanted to stop and see if it will work for this town, Bass said.

While some towns, like Kankakee, have a development board, Hastings said University Park residents and trustees should give input before the bill is considered again.

Theres a lot more work to be done, Hastings said. You have to bring everyones opinions in. You have to do your due diligence.

John Coultas, the legislative affairs director with the Illinois Municipal League, and University Park Mayor Joseph Roudez filed witness slips supporting the bill, according to the Illinois General Assembly website. Coultas did not immediately return requests for comment Friday, and Roudez did not reply to multiple requests for comment.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Fulcher said she was disappointed to see how easily the bill passed in the House, and shed like legislators to consider the community members of any legislation they pass that pertains to a specific town or village.

Im sure in their communities they wouldnt do that, and they shouldnt pass bills they wouldnt want in their own community, Fulcher said.

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Brooks said Roudez should have told the board about this bill.

With this bill, Brooks said Roudez is trying to bypass the trustees to get his development plans through.

He hired somebody to create a board outside his board and I believe it was in case he lost the election, said Brooks, who ran for mayor in the April election and lost by 10 votes. This was his back up plan.

Brooks and Fulcher both said they dont want the bill to move forward in the 2024 legislative session.

I want it to die, Brooks said. This was done underhanded and were very unhappy.
The Bucks County District Attorneys Office has created a special hotline and online form for suspected county victims of one of the largest, and lucrative, alleged stolen catalytic converter theft rings in the Delaware Valley as they may be eligible for reimbursement for their loss.

Since the June 27 announcement of the breakup of the ring that police say operated for at least three years out of TDI Towing, a Philadelphia car yard, the DAs Office has been inundated with calls about stolen catalytic converters, spokesman Manuel Gamiz said.

The calls were in response to DA Matt Weintraub, who stated at a news conference that individuals who had their catalytic converters stolen may be able to recoup the losses, if it can be shown TDI was responsible.

Authorities estimate the theft ring is responsible for 2,000 thefts of the valuable auto part in Bucks County alone. The ring also stole converters in the surrounding areas of Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware counties, authorities said.

Here is how to find out if the theft of a catalytic converter in Bucks County could be tied to the TDI Towing case:

The Bucks County District Attorney's Office has charged 11 individuals and one corporation, TDI Towing, with multiple felonies including corrupt organizations and theft of catalytic converters.

More on major car part theft ring Catalytic converters stolen all over Bucks County. DA says this ring took thousands

What do authorities know about the TDI Towing catalytic converter theft ring

Ten adults and an unidentified 17-year-old were allegedly involved in the theft and resale of the stolen auto parts, including Michael Williams, a 52-year-old Philadelphia man and owner of TDI Towing in Philadelphia, which was the ring's alleged headquarters. TDI Towing also faces criminal charges.

The year-long investigation went before a Bucks County grand jury which recommended charges, and alleges Williams had been buying stolen catalytic converters, at an average of $300 each, since at least 2020. Authorities believe the ring may be responsible for most of the catalytic converter theft in the five-county Philadelphia region.

At its peak, TDI Towing was paying a minimum of $10,000 a night to thieves selling stolen catalytic converters. Williams then resold the parts for profit, authorities said.

The DA's office is in the process of calculating how much profit TDI Towing and Williams made in the resale, but authorities allege they know Williams was making at least an 8% markup on the stolen converters.

The average cost to replace a catalytic converter is $2,000, authorities said.

This is an aerial view of TDI Towing located on Wheatsheaf Road in Philadelphia. Bucks County authorities allege the tow yard housed a major catalytic converter theft ring.

What you need to know 'A persistent problem': What you need to know about catalytic converter thefts on the rise in Bucks County

Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub (center) with other area law enforcement officials including Montgomery County DA Kevin Steele (right, front) announce the dismantling of a million-dollar catalytic converter theft ring on June 28, 2023.

My catalytic converter was stolen, am I eligible for reimbursement?

Maybe.

The Bucks County District Attorneys Office has set up a Catalytic Converter Theft Ring hotline at 215-340-8899. The victim witness unit is managing and documenting information from callers and conducting follow up where necessary, Gamiz said.

Victims can also submit their theft information directly online by filling out a Catalytic Converter Intake Form, which is available at https://buckscountypa-commissioners.app.transform.civicplus.com/forms/34338. Information can be submitted through either option. An investigator will reach out once the data has been processed.

Gamiz added that the hotline and restitution would only be available for victims who had their catalytic converters stolen in Bucks County, which authorities said was one of the rings target area.

Weve been getting many out-of-state calls, who are most likely not victims of this ring, Gamiz added.

The DAs office will attempt to verify a theft claim using evidence collected in the case including thousands of hours of surveillance footage, though officials said the process is expected to take time as the case moves through the courts. Victims should provide some proof, such as a police report, that their converter was stolen between 2020 and 2023.

Once the claims are confirmed and submitted, a judge would have to order the defendants who are convicted in the case to pay restitution to known victims.

This is examples of the precious metals that are found in catalytic converters that make the auto part attractive to thieves.

What makes catalytic converters valuable on the blackmarket

Catalytic converters filter out harmful byproducts in exhaust gasses reducing harmful emissions and improving car performance using the metals rhodium, platinum and palladium, which are valued at between $1,000 and $7,000 an ounce, Weintraub said.

Typically, the auto parts contains two grams or less of rhodium and no more than seven grams of platinum and palladium, authorities said. The metals can can broken down and harvested from the converters and sold for other uses.

More on drowning death of Telford man Telford man dies a hero after jumping into Lake Nockamixon to save 2 children.

More Doylestown crime stories Man, 84, faces charge in fatal hit and run in Doylestown. What the in-car video showed

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Catalytic converter theft ring hotline set up by Bucks County DA
Building society admits it would close customers accounts if they are rude or discriminate after Farage row

Nigel Farage blamed the politicisation of our corporate sector for his account being closed - GEOFF PUGH

A leading building society has revealed that it closes customers accounts if they engage in rude or discriminatory behaviour.

The Yorkshire Building Society made the admission after claims that it severed ties with a client who questioned the use of Pride flags in their branches.

It comes amid a growing row over whether banks are targeting people for their political beliefs after Nigel Farage revealed his account was recently shuttered.

Writing for The Telegraph, the former Brexit Party leader said he was then rejected by seven other banks when he approached them to become a customer.

The Yorkshire Building Society, which has three million customers, said that it does not close savings accounts based on different opinions regarding beliefs.

In a statement it added: We would only make the difficult decision to close a savings account if a customer is rude, abusive, violent or discriminates in any way, based on the specific facts and behaviour in each case.

Mr Farage revealed on Thursday that the high-end banking group that he has used since 1980 told him recently that it is closing his account.

Whilst he did not name the institution, it has previously been reported that he had a mortgage with Coutts, which is owned by NatWest.

He added that several family members had also had their accounts closed after Chris Bryant, a Labour MP, falsely accused him of taking money from Russia.

If they are coming for me today, they can come for you tomorrow

The former Ukip leader said that the decision was proof that we are living through the politicisation of our corporate sector.

It should alarm everybody that a bank has the power to punish those it considers to have erred or strayed, he wrote.

If they are coming for me today, they can come for you tomorrow. If you were to post a political opinion on social media that did not conform to your banks values, you could find yourself in my position.

The establishment are trying to force me out of the UK by closing my bank accounts.



I have been given no explanation or recourse as to why this is happening to me.



This is serious political persecution at the very highest level of our system.



If they can do it to me, they pic.twitter.com/O4xQ1h79ub  Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 29, 2023

Two former Brexit Party MEPs have revealed how their bank accounts were also cancelled after they were elected to the EU Parliament in 2019.

Henrik Overgaard Nielsen said MetroBank severed ties with him without an explanation after months of paying bills on time and having stable income and outgoings.

Christina Jordan added that, months after she was elected for the Eurosceptic party, she suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Nationwide Building Society.

My family and I had all our accounts closed even though Id been a loyal customer for 30 years, she wrote on Twitter.

To those cheering and celebrating the cancellation of Nigel Farages bank accounts, lets hope it never happens to you.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
Training leaders to help transitioning servicemembers and their families is the mission  and building a community of life-long support is the powerful offshoot of the George W. Bush Institutes Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program.

The 2023 class was recently announced, including 34 civilians, veterans and active military, all focused on supporting veterans and their families.

We started this program to train leaders who will help solve transition-related issues that military families face, said Eva Chiang, managing director of leadership and programming for the institute. It is a way to inspire people.

This is the fifth cohort to go through the program, and theyll gather in July to hear from leaders such as U.S. Navy Captain and NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy, the eighth United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald, retired United States Air Force General Alfred Flowers, and Bush Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Deborah Birx.

The five-month program includes sessions at the Bush Center and a session in Washington, D.C., Chiang said. Applicants were chosen based on an application and review process, she said, and each one has a personal leadership project they will continue to develop as part of the process.

After they leave the program in November 2023, Chiang said they join a network of 170 alums, who work on improving veteran outcomes  and can rely on each other for continued support and inspiration.

It was a really amazing experience, said Eric Goralnick, a civilian military advisor at the Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation and an associate professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School.

He was in the previous cohort in 2022, working on a project to build a civilian/military initiative at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Womens Hospital for veterans interested in health care careers.

As the participants work through the program, they continue to hone their personal leadership projects, Chiang said. And then, when the program is over, they have a network to continue collaborating and helping one another  a network that will continue to grow.

And thats really important, because they can call on one another, she said. These are mission-oriented folks who are tightly connected.

The personal leadership projects range from large scale global projects to boots-on-the-ground intensely local work, Chiang said.

The program is funded through donations and is free for participants.

Goralnick, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who served before going to medical school, said of the 200,000 veterans who leave service each year, about 10,000 have experience as allied health care professionals. His effort is focused on helping those veterans transition into health care careers.

Going through this program really helped me shape a vision and it helped me develop an action plan to bring my vision to life, he said. And it gave me the time and space to meet with colleagues who share similar interests and are working through similar challenges.

Its like having a phone-a-friend connection for life.

Blas Villalobos, who was also in last years class, agreed. His project is focused on providing low- or no-cost mental health treatment to veterans. The cohort was able to help him exceed his goals, including holding a fundraising concert in October 2022.

I had a 3-year goal when I started, said Villalobos, a former U.S. Marine. But we made it happen sooner.

He said the networking component was key, allowing him to expand his network and support his mission.

Its really incredible, said Villalobos, who is the CEO of Centerstones Military Services. I can only see this growing. The collective power of this group is amazing and I know it will continue.

The 2023 class of the Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program includes:

 Quiana Abner, Program Manager of Onward to Opportunity in the Texas Region, DAniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), San Antonio, Texas

 Kellie Artis, Director of Communications, Virtual Veterans Communities, Fayetteville, North Carolina

 Jennifer Barnhill, Freelance Journalist and Lead Researcher, Military.com and Partners in PROMISE, Pacific Grove, California

 Bobby Ehrig, Executive Director, Citizens for Progress, Bulverde, Texas

 Pete Faerber, Founder and President, The Warriors Lawyer, Lithia, Florida

 Victoria Harvey, Deputy Director, Hiring Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Kapolei, Hawaii

 Marnie Holder, Veteran Services Program Officer, National Veterans Memorial and Museum, Columbus, Ohio

 Desiree Holley, Director of Operations, Operation Healing Forces, Brandon, Florida

 Seth Kastle, Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies and Director of Military Program Innovation, Fort Hays State University, WaKeeney, Kansas

 Jermaine King, Chief, Public Protection and Safety (Senior Enlisted Leader), United States Air Force, Edwards Air Force Base, California

 Stan Kurtz, Programs Director of Office of Veterans Business Development, U.S. Small Business Administration, Dumfries, Virginia

 Michael Logan, Senior Director for Veteran and Military Affairs, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas

 Mollie Marti, Chief Executive Officer, Worldmaker International, Mount Vernon, Iowa

 Selene Martin, Corporate Responsibility Director, USAA, Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas

 Jessica Lynn McNulty, Commander, United States Navy, Clifton, Virginia

 Josh Michael, Clinical Sales Associate, Intuitive Surgical, Argyle, Texas

 Michelle Mills, Senior Recruiter, Amazon, Tucson, Arizona

 Rachel Moyal-Smith, Senior Clinical Implementation Specialist, Ariadne Labs, Slingerlands, New York

 Reggie Ordonez, Chief Operations Officer, Bunker Labs, White House, Tennessee

 Jennifer Pluta, Director of Veteran Career Services, Office of Veteran and Military Affairs, Syracuse University, Brewerton, New York

 Taheesha Quarells, Director of Troops to Teachers, Department of Defense Military to Civilian Transition Office, Pensacola, Florida

 Kris Rick, Veterans Employment and Training Services - Training and Partnership Lead, U.S. Department of Labor, Oakton, Virginia

 Curtez Riggs, Director of Military Events, Recurrent Ventures, Live Oak, Texas

 DeLisa Duncan Russell, Group Chief Executive Officer, Promises Behavioral Health, Spring, Texas

 Gilbert Saguid, Founder, Veterans Franchise Group, San Diego, California

 Abi Scott, Chief, Enlisted Force Development, U.S. Space Force, Fort Belvoir, Virginia

 Jackson Smith, Executive Director, Bastion Community of Resilience, New Orleans, Louisiana

 Sarah Streyder, Executive Director, Secure Families Initiative, Alexandria, Virginia

 Cappy Surette, Senior Manager, External Communications for Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, The Walt Disney Company, Windermere, Florida

 Chi Szeto, Management Analyst, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Torrance, California

 Eric Templeton, Cybersecurity Business Development Manager, Cisco, Garner, North Carolina

 Susan Thaxton, Chief Strategy Officer, The Mission Continues, Annapolis, Maryland

 Tracy Threatt, Counselor, Central Piedmont Community College, Concord, North Carolina

 Olivia Valerio, Military Bridges Program Project Manager, H-E-B, San Antonio, Texas
Photo: Twitter

On Monday, June 26, Chicagos State Attorneys Office officially dropped first-degree murder charges along with other charges against Carlisha Hood and her 14-year-old son. On June 18, Hood had an exchange with Jeremy Brown, 32, in a Chicago restaurant. According to authorities, Hood texted her teenage son to come help her and he brought along a registered firearm with him.



A disturbing clip that has circulated online showed Brown threatening to knock [Hood] out and then becoming violent, punching Hood several times. After the incident, Hoods son shot Brown and he sustained several gunshot wounds to the back. Brown was pronounced dead shortly after. Hood and her son turned themselves in to authorities last week.

Read more

MY SISTER WAS ATTACKED AND MY NEPHEW IS NOT A THUG OR NEVER BEEN IN A GANG! JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL! WE JUST WANT THEM HOME! #carlishiahood #justiceforthehoodfamily #shaderoom pic.twitter.com/ynydLrED9E  HoodFamilyJustice (@HJustice5368) June 25, 2023

After it was announced that Hood and her son wouldnt face any charges, people on social media sounded off about whether or not it was the right call. However, they are the victims in this entire ordeal. Not only was the mother violently assaulted by Brown, but onlookers used the moment to not help Hood but to record her being punched and then removed themselves from an uncomfortable situation.



Her 14-year-old son should have never been put in the position to protect her. But because no one else intervened, he had no choice. The fact that folks would rather record a Black woman being punched in the head by a man than help her is inexplicably upsetting. Illinois self-defense laws allows someone to use force to defend not only themselves but other people as well. That was the justification for dropping the charges, though Hood has filed a complaint against the city of Chicago and five police officers.

Her attorneys claim that Hood was falsely arrested and maliciously prosecuted. They also maintain that she has suffered emotional distress. When a woman is violently attacked by a man, an unarmed woman, then she shouldnt be arrested, Hoods attorney Brandon Brown said. If your mother or sister or daughter were attacked in a restaurant when she is trying to order a cheeseburger, would you expect that she would be arrested?

Brown shouldnt have to paint Hood as someones sister or daughter for her to be considered worthy of protection. But sadly, this is the reality for Black women.

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California has new Assembly Speaker after 7 years. Heres what he said on his first day

After more than seven years and a protracted, fiery succession battle, California finally has a new Assembly speaker.

Hollister Democrat Robert Rivas on Friday officially became the leader of the states biggest legislative body at a Capitol swearing-in ceremony that highlighted his Central Coast district and his desire to unify a fractured Democratic caucus.

Rivas succeeds Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, who served as speaker for more than seven years. Rendon took over the leadership role in 2016 from now-Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego.

He was the longest-serving speaker of the modern term-limit era that started in 2012, when voters approved a measure allowing lawmakers to serve a consecutive 12 years in the Assembly, the Senate or both.

Rivas will try to mirror Rendons longevity while uniting the caucus and tackling Californias current issues.

Robert Rivas is sworn in as speaker of the California Assembly by Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero in Sacramento on Friday as his wife and daughter, Christen and Melina Rivas, stand with them

The two spent the past year locked in a battle for the leadership position that dragged into the midterm election and divided Assembly Democrats. It ended in November with an agreement that allowed Rendon to retain the speakership through the end of June and the conclusion of budget negotiations.

Rivas is one of the very few speakers in modern state history to hail from an area outside Californias power and population centers in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area. His swearing-in ceremony paid tribute to his rural district and his familys legacy of farmworker labor activism. It featured speeches, mariachi music and plenty of political glad-handing.

Rivas took his oath of office surrounded by famous California political figures, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who previously served as Assembly speaker.

A group of farmworkers also made the trip to the Capitol for the ceremony, including some who marched with the United Farm Workers labor union last summer to push a bill aimed at making it easier for them to organize.

Rivas grandfather worked with the United Farm Workers to improve conditions at the San Benito County vineyard where he worked. Legendary UFW co-founder and Rivas family friend Dolores Huerta was on hand for the swearing-in and received loud applause when she was announced.

Luis Valdez, who founded farmworker theater troupe El Teatro Campesino, also gave a short speech honoring the new speaker.

Gov. Gavin Newsom grabs the hand of departing speaker Lakewood Democrat Anthony Rendon while coming up to the podium at the swearing in ceremony for new Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas at the Capitol in Sacramento on Friday, June 30, 2023.

The Speaker Rivas era

Rivas has not yet been specific about his leadership style or his policy priorities, sticking to the one speaker at a time line during the six-month transition period. But he provided some hints during his Friday speech and a post-ceremony news conference.

Rivas used his remarks to draw a parallel between his upbringing and the states most serious struggles. He retold the story of his familys rise  from growing up in farmworker housing with eight family members to buying a $140,000 home in Hollister during the late 1980s.

I wonder if our story would be possible today, Rivas said.

Rivas cited increasing home prices and said ownership is out of reach for nearly all residents. He also reflected on years spent at Californias public schools and universities.

Today, Rivas said, students question the value of college due to high tuition costs.

At every stage of life in California  from early schooling, to getting a higher degree, to that crucial step of buying a first home  success feels increasingly out of reach, he said.

Rivas also pointed to other priorities, including homelessness, the environment and infrastructure issues.

We must use every tool at our disposal to end homelessness, he said. Because the inhumane conditions on our streets are completely unacceptable.

Rivas did not provide any specific policy recommendations in his speech, but he did allude to a potential new leadership style. He pointed to focusing less on how many bills we can pass and more on the impact.

Sometimes this will mean going back and fixing something rather than passing a new law, Rivas said.

Mayra Flores, the single mother of Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, on Friday hugs her son before he took the oath of office at the state Capitol in Sacramento.

In conversation with reporters, Rivas did not have any specific examples of how we would put those lines into action. But he did mention he wanted to bring back the power of oversight legislation and see how we can improve laws that have been on the books for quite some time.

He also suggested the Assembly may see some committee position shake-ups, saying his office will have some initial changes that we will be announcing next week.

Rendon was known for his hands-off approach to legislation and committee chairs, and Rivas didnt indicate whether that would change under his speakership.

Every member wants to be supported, but they also want to be involved, Rivas said. They want to feel a part of the decisions we have to make. And so, certainly, we really look forward to ensuring that were developing a speakers office thats going to enable that.
This article was originally published in CalMatters.

As the number of unhoused students in Californias public schools continues to rise to pre-pandemic levels, experts and educators fear that todays economy paired with the states unrelenting housing crisis will lead to unprecedented rates of homeless youth.

According to updated data released today by the California Department of Education, there are about 5.9 million students enrolled in public schools this school year, close to 40,000 fewer students than last year or a .7% drop. But the number of students experiencing homelessness increased by 9%, about 16,000, to a total of approximately 187,000 kids.

The overarching cause of homelessness among all Californians is the perennial shortage of affordable housing in the state, according to Angela James, a researcher at UCLAs Center for the Transformation of Schools.

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Its alarming to me, quite frankly, James said. Housing instability may be deepening in California as a result of the pandemic.

The new data signals a return to pre-pandemic numbers. Last school year, about 2.9% of students qualified as homeless. The percentage is up to 3.2% this year, about the same as it was in 2019-20.

As a state we have not made the housing and well-being of our population a priority, James said. Sadly, social policies have not been responsive to the needs of young people and their families.

Experts struggle to explain why homeless numbers dropped during the pandemic. They said students and their families may have been moving around during the early months of quarantine, so they may not have been counted. Or unhoused students may have just been falling through the cracks.

In some cases, districts could be getting better at identifying students, said Dion Burns, a senior researcher at the Learning Policy Institute.

Student homelessness rose this year for the first time since 2020. The count includes students living in motels, trailer parks, campgrounds or public spaces.

While statewide numbers indicate a return to pre-pandemic levels, 13 of the 20 largest districts in the state have more students experiencing homelessness now than they did in the 2019-20 school year. At one district, Kern High, the number more than doubled.

Since 2015, rates of homelessness were rising gradually up until 2020, when they started dropping steadily. Student homelessness rose this year for the first time since 2020.

The California Department of Education uses a federal definition of homelessness that includes students living in motels, trailer parks, campgrounds or public spaces.

School districts and county offices of education employ liaisons who keep tabs on students and families experiencing homelessness. James said theyre often shorthanded, so collecting data may have been a challenge, especially during the chaos of 2020 and 2021.

At the Monarch School, a school for unhoused students operated by the San Diego County Office of Education, administrators have seen an increased need. Jesus Nunez, the communications director at the school, said students are experiencing more housing insecurity in recent years, along with more of the mental health challenges and traumas stemming from a lack of stable housing.

If students basic needs arent being met, it doesnt matter what teaching strategies are being used, Nunez said.

The Monarch School serves about 300 students. The school day is longer, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. Nunez said the school offers more counseling and services like art therapy.

I think everybody at the school wishes we could do more, he said. We dont turn away a lot of students, but unfortunately some students do need to go back to their school of residence because there isnt space available here.

Related

Often Unseen, Bus Drivers Can Help Schools Find And Support Homeless Students

Many unhoused students and their families have been evicted from their homes, James said. She recalled her own personal trauma of having her familys furniture moved out to their front lawn when they were evicted. With no home, students and their families might go from one temporary shelter to another with no sense of how long they can stay in one place.

The degree to which that impacts a child cannot be underestimated, James said.

She added that teachers are fortunately better prepared to work with these students than they were in past decades. When a student acts out or even gets violent, a teacher might try to calm the student instead of resorting to disciplinary actions like detentions or suspensions.

According to the states new data, the numbers of foster youth, students with disabilities and students from low-income households have all increased by between 2% and 3%.

The rate of decline for overall enrollment shows signs of stabilizing after plummeting in the first years of the pandemic. Kindergarten enrollment took the biggest hit, but is starting to climb back up. Enrollment went from about 71,000 in 2020-21 to about 130,000 this year, but state officials said its partly due to the states expansion of transitional kindergarten.

This story was originally published by CalMatters.
Cambodia's leader of 38 years has switched social media platforms

Cambodia's leader Hun Sen has quit Facebook and threatened to block it in his country after the platform's oversight board recommended he be suspended for six months.

Hun Sen had called for violence against his political opponents in a video in January which was viewed 600,000 times.

His move comes days before he launches a re-election campaign to extend his 38-year-long rule.

Hun Sen was a prolific Facebook user and his page had 14 million followers.

After he left the platform on Thursday, he also threatened to block Facebook in the country.

Talking to garment workers in Pursat province on Friday, he warned he could at any time block the platform "for a short period or forever" to prevent exiled opposition politicians from talking to the country's citizens.

"Don't be arrogant, you guys are staying overseas, you are using Facebook for communications, we could block Facebook," he threatened in comments aimed at opponents.

Hun Sen urged Cambodians to migrate to other social media platforms, including Telegram and TikTok, which he has moved to.

Before he quit Facebook, Hun Sen had built up a following of about 800,000 users on Telegram which is a commonly used channel in Cambodian politics. Critics say the 69-year-old leader's massive social media reach has been due in part to bots or fake accounts.

Facebook parent Meta's Oversight Board on Thursday recommended his suspension for six months over an earlier video, posted in January. It overturned an earlier decision by Facebook to keep the video live, citing "newsworthiness".

"Given the severity of the violation, Hun Sen's history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats, the Board calls on Meta to immediately suspend Hun Sen's Facebook page and Instagram account for six months," the Board said in a statement.

In the video, Hun Sen threatened opposition leaders against accusing his party of vote theft in elections due to be held in July.

"Either you face legal action in court, or I rally [Cambodian People's Party] people for a demonstration and beat you up," he said.

Soon after the Oversight Board's decision was announced, Hun Sen said he had asked an assistant to delete his Facebook account.

Hun Sen has served as Cambodian Prime Minister for more than 38 years, and is one of the longest-serving political leaders in the world. His rule has been dogged with allegations of human rights abuses, and he has also been accused of decimating all political opposition ahead of the July vote.

In May, Cambodia's electoral body disqualified his sole credible challenger, the Candlelight Party, citing a lack of appropriate paperwork.

And earlier in March, opposition leader Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years house arrest for treason, a charge that he denies.

Hun Sen's exit from Facebook is his way of pre-empting the Meta board's suspension, says Sebastian Strangio, author of the book "Hun Sen's Cambodia".

Mr Strangio told the AFP news agency that Hun Sen's decision to move to TikTok and Telegram also reflects Cambodia's broader foreign policy pivot to China and Russia.

TikTok's parent, ByteDance, is based in Beijing while Telegram was founded in Russia, where it is widely used by the public and even the Kremlin.

"Based on their track record, it is much less likely that these two platforms will restrict Hun Sen from using them as he sees fit, including as a vehicle for baiting, goading, and threatening his opponents," Mr Strangio said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) described Hun Sen's departure from the world's largest social media platform as an overdue "face-off between Big Tech and a dictator over human rights issues".

"The stakes are high because plenty of real world harm is caused when an authoritarian uses social media to incite violence -- as we have already seen far too many times in Cambodia," said HRW Deputy Asia Director Phil Robertson.

Hun Sen's threat to block Facebook has already sparked reaction in Cambodia, where the social media site is seen as the main platform for online activity ranging from political discussions to e-commerce.

"If Facebook is blocked, ties with the West will worsen. Bad officials will be happy," one Facebook user wrote.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (C) has long been a prolific Facebook user (TANG CHHIN Sothy)

Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday he could block access to Facebook in Cambodia, after the company said it would remove a video in which he threatened to beat up political opponents.

The warning came ahead of a July 23 election that has been widely dubbed a sham after authorities denied registration to the chief challenger to Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party.

Facebook announced Thursday it would remove one of Hun Sen's videos in line with a ruling by the Oversight Board for Meta, Facebook's parent company, which also recommended his account be suspended.

The ruling said his speech contained "unequivocal statements of intent to commit violence" against opposition politicians.

Long a prolific Facebook user, Hun Sen announced Thursday night he had stopped using the platform and appeared to have deleted his account.

Speaking to garment workers in Pursat province on Friday, Hun Sen warned that he could block Facebook "for a short period or forever" in Cambodia at any time to prevent exiled opposition politicians from communicating with people in the country.

"Don't be arrogant, you guys are staying overseas, you are using Facebook for communications, we could block Facebook," he said, appearing to address exiled opponents.

He then urged Cambodians to download other social media platforms, including Telegram, TikTok, Line, Viber and Meta-owned WhatsApp.

Hun Sen also accused Facebook of turning a blind eye to "insulting" remarks he claimed rivals had made against his wife and eldest son Hun Manet, who is widely seen as being groomed to take over the country's leadership in the future.

The Oversight Board, whose decisions are binding, on Thursday recommended Hun Sen's Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for six months due to the video filmed in January, in which he told opponents they would face legal action or a beating with sticks if they accused his party of vote theft in July's national polls.

Hours later, Meta said it would comply with the decision to remove the video.

"We will conduct a review of all the recommendations provided by the board in addition to its decision, and respond to the board's recommendation on suspending Prime Minister Hun Sen's accounts as soon as we have undertaken that analysis," it said in a statement.

After 38 years in power, Hun Sen is among the world's longest-serving leaders.

Hun Sen's Facebook page was launched in 2015 after his opponents, particularly exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy, used the platform to successfully reach younger voters.

The Cambodian premier now uses the Telegram app to relay his political messages to supporters, and TikTok to engage with youth.

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the saga was a "face-off between Big Tech and a dictator over human rights issues" that was "long overdue".

suy/lpm/ser/cwl
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (C) has long been a prolific Facebook user (TANG CHHIN Sothy)

Prime Minister Hun Sen warned Friday he could block access to Facebook in Cambodia, after the company said it would remove a video in which he threatened to beat up political opponents.

The warning came ahead of a July 23 election that has been widely dubbed a sham after authorities denied registration to the chief challenger to Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party.

Facebook announced Thursday it would remove one of Hun Sen's videos in line with a ruling by the Oversight Board for Meta, Facebook's parent company, which also recommended his account be suspended.

Tech experts characterised the move as a "turning point".

The ruling said his speech contained "unequivocal statements of intent to commit violence" against opposition politicians.

Long a prolific Facebook user, Hun Sen announced Thursday night he had stopped using the platform and appeared to have deleted his account.

Speaking to garment workers in Pursat province on Friday, Hun Sen warned that he could block Facebook "for a short period or forever" in Cambodia to prevent exiled opposition politicians from communicating with the country's citizens.

"Don't be arrogant, you guys are staying overseas, you are using Facebook for communications, we could block Facebook," he said, appearing to address exiled opponents.

He then urged Cambodians to download other social media platforms, including Telegram, TikTok, Line, Viber and Meta-owned WhatsApp on which it is more difficult to police content.

Hun Sen also accused Facebook of turning a blind eye to "insulting" remarks he claimed rivals had made against his wife and eldest son Hun Manet, who is widely seen as being groomed to take over the country's leadership in the future.

- 'A turning point' -

On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said the saga was a "face-off between Big Tech and a dictator over human rights issues" that was "long overdue".

Matthew Warren from Melbourne's RMIT University Centre for Cyber Security Research said Meta was facing increasing pressure to hold politicians to account for their online behaviour.

"I do see it as a turning point," he told AFP.

"It's good Facebook is doing this but that it doesn't stop the problem... because there is now a variety of platforms that politicians can use."

Hun Sen now uses the Telegram app to relay his political messages to supporters, and TikTok to engage with youth.

Meta's decision was better late than never, Warren added.

"What they are doing is showing that Meta can police content," he said.

"The video is from January, which is six months ago, so it's taken Meta a long time to deal with this situation. They haven't been that agile."

The Cambodian government put plans for a national internet gateway on hold last year, after an international backlash.

Warren said Hun Sen's threat to block Facebook in Cambodia could revive the gateway plan, which would funnel all web traffic through a state-controlled entry point.

Samuel Woodhams, a digital rights researcher at Top10VPN, a British-based digital security advocacy group anticipated a spike in demand for virtual private networks (VPNs) in Cambodia.

VPNs allow people to skirt online censorship.

- 'Back to books' -

For many Cambodians, Facebook is considered the whole internet.

Hun Sen's threat to block the platform received mixed reactions locally, with some pointing out that a ban would hurt small businesses, which use Facebook for sales.

"If Facebook is blocked, ties with the West will worsen. Bad officials will be happy," a Facebook user posted.

Others supported the move.

"If Facebook is blocked, people will return to reading books. There won't be headaches about immoral things. More than 10 years ago, we survived without Facebook. Close it down!" a Facebook user said.

Meta's Oversight Board, whose decisions are binding, on Thursday recommended Hun Sen's Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for six months due to the video filmed in January, in which he told opponents they would face legal action or a beating with sticks if they accused his party of vote theft in July's national polls.

Hours later, Meta said it would comply with the decision to remove the video.

"We will conduct a review of all the recommendations provided by the board in addition to its decision, and respond to the board's recommendation on suspending Prime Minister Hun Sen's accounts as soon as we have undertaken that analysis," it said in a statement.

After 38 years in power, Hun Sen is among the world's longest-serving leaders.

Hun Sen's party won every seat in the 2018 national election after the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was dissolved.

suy/lpm/aha
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen had been a huge Facebook fan. Now he's threatening to ban it

FILE - Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen attends the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, on May 10, 2023. Cambodias long-serving, tough-talking leader, Hun Sen, says he is considering banning Facebook in his country, largely because he is fed up with the abuse he receives on it from his political foes abroad. On Wednesday, June 28, he suddenly announced he will no longer upload to Facebook and will instead depend on Telegram to get his message across. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, Pool, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)  Cambodias long-serving, tough-talking leader, Hun Sen, on Friday said he is considering banning Facebook in his country, largely because he is fed up with the abuse he receives on it from his political enemies abroad.

Pulling the plug on Facebook for millions of Cambodian users would be the last stage in a lightning estrangement this past week between the 70-year-old prime minister and the social media platform. He had been an enthusiastic user, posting family snapshots alongside dire warnings to his foes, and recently livestreaming his many, sometimes hours-long speeches.

On Wednesday, he suddenly announced he will no longer upload to Facebook and will instead use Telegram to get his message across. Telegram is a popular messaging app that also has a blogging tool called channels.

Hun Sen said he was making the switch because Telegram is more effective and makes it easier to communicate when he is traveling to countries that ban Facebook use  such as China, his governments top international ally. He said that although he would stop posting new material, he would keep his Facebook page.

His announcement came just a day before a quasi-independent review board on Thursday recommended that Hun Sens Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for six months for using language that it judged could incite violence in a video of a January speech in which he decried opposition politicians who accused his ruling party of stealing votes.

The board said it reached its recommendation due in part to Hun Sens history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats.

The Oversight Board, established three years ago by Meta, Facebooks parent company, issued its nonbinding recommendation in a 26-page report. Separately, it overturned a ruling by Facebooks moderators to allow the video, originally broadcast live, to stay online. The ruling to remove the video is binding on Facebook.

Cambodia PM Hun Sen is finally being called out for using social media to incite violence against his opponents, and he apparently doesnt like it one bit, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, commented in an emailed statement.

Facebook, Robertson added, dared to hold him accountable to their community standards.

Within hours of the board announcing its findings, Hun Sens Facebook page was offline, but not at Facebooks initiative.

Hun Sen on Friday explained on his new favored social network, the Telegram app, that he had closed his account, and threatened to have Facebook banned in Cambodia if it kept carrying messages from his political opponents in exile that he considers unfair.

He said in a live video that he would order a temporary or even a permanent ban if his foes kept attacking him on Facebook, but he is reluctant to do so because such a move would affect all Cambodian Facebook users, not just his 14 million followers.

He also complained that Facebook had acted unfairly, as it has never taken punitive action against his opponents despite them sometimes using extreme language to attack him.

Facebooks response to the Oversight Boards report, issued Thursday night, had been a brief statement welcoming its findings and saying it would comply with decision to remove Hun Sens January speech.

It added that it will review the boards recommendations, including the suspension of Hun Sens accounts. Guidelines call for a public response to recommendations within 60 days  though if the account remains deleted, that point might be moot.

Two levels of Facebook moderators had declined to recommend action against Hun Sen, judging first that he did not violate Metas community standard guidelines against violence and incitement.

They prohibit threats that could lead to death and threats that lead to serious injury, including statements of intent to commit violence.

On appeal, a more senior set of moderators ruled that despite the comments provocative nature, Hun Sens position as a national leader made his remarks newsworthy and therefore not subject to punishment.

Three outside users appealed to the board to review the moderators rulings, as did Meta itself.

Social media critics have repeatedly raised concerns about political leaders using social media in a manner that could inflame and trigger violence in such countries as India and Myanmar. Former U.S. President Donald Trump was temporarily suspended from Facebook because of such concerns.

___

Peck reported from Bangkok. AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this story.
The following items were taken from the Evanston Police Department bulletin. An arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt.

Motor Vehicle Theft

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An unlocked 2014 KIA was stolen from the 800 block of Hartrey Avenue it was reported on June 25.

A 2017 KIA was stolen from the 1500 block of Darrow Avenue it was reported on June 25.

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A 2016 Dodge was stolen from the 700 block of Mulford Street on June 22.

A 2022 Dodge was stole from the 1800 block of Madison Street it was reported on June 29.

A 2012 Ford rented from the 2100 block of Dempster Street was not returned and was reported stolen on June 26.

Unlawful Use Of A Weapon

Richard Seymour Bowes, 38, of the 7400 block of North Claremont Avenue, Chicago, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon in the 300 block of Dodge Avenue on June 24.

Armed Robbery

There was an armed robbery at a pharmacy in the 600 block of Chicago Avenue on June 25 in which a weapon was displayed and food was demanded. No injuries were reported.

There was an armed robbery at a pharmacy in the100 block of Asbury Avenue on June 25 in which money was taken. No injuries were reported.

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There was an armed robbery in the 1100 block of Chicago Avenue on June 22 in which the offender showed a gun and demanded money. No injuries were reported.

Robbery

There was a robbery in the 2600 block of Girard Avenue on June 27 in which a wallet was snatched from the victims hand.

There was a robbery in the 900 block of Dodge Avenue on June 26 in which money was stolen from a pharmacy. No injuries were reported.

There was a robbery at Emerson Street and Laurel Avenue on June 18 in which money was taken. No injuries were reported.

There was an armed robbery at a restaurant in the100 block of Asbury Avenue on June 30 in which the offender displayed a weapon and took money. No injuries were reported.

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Assault

Abdul H. Muhammad, 54 and homeless, was charged with assault in the 1700 block of Sherman Avenue on June 19.

Aggravated Assault

Krystal Quiroz, 34, of the 6500 block of North Claremont Avenue, Chicago, was charged with aggravated assault in the 5500 block of West Grand Avenue in Chicago on June 27.

Shots Fired

There was a report of shots fired in the 1600 block of Madison Street on June 26 but responding officers did not find anything.

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There was a report of shots fired in the 700 block of Austin Street on June 19 but responding officers did not find anything.

There was a report of shots fired in the 1400 block of Brummel Street on June 24 but responding officers did not find anything.

There was a report of shots fired in the 100 block of Clyde Avenue on June 22 but responding officers did not find anything.

There was a report of shots fired at Main Street and Hinman Avenue on June 19 but responding officers did not find anything.

Trespass

Michael L. Calloway, 33, of the 1600 block of South St. Louis Avenue, Chicago, was charged with trespass in the 1100 block of Howard Street on June 27.

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Theft

A robotic lawn mower was stolen from Evanston Township High School grounds in the 1600 block of Dodge Avenue on June 25.

Donell P. Baker, 61, of the 3800 block of North Broadway Avenue, Chicago, was charged with theft in the 600 block of Lake Street on June 19.

A bicycle, extension cords, lawn mower, a battery and charger were stolen from an unlocked garage in the 800 block of Grey Avenue on June 24.

Man With A Gun

There was a report of a man with gun at Sheridan Road and Noyes Street on June 23 but responding officers did not find anything.

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Domestic Battery

Jean Pierre Itwitaho, 29, of the 300 block of Callan Avenue, Evanston, was charged with domestic battery in the 300 block of Callan Avenue on June 20.

Criminal Damage To Property

Maria Voronol, 28 and homeless was charged with criminal damage to property in the 1400 block of Howard Street on June 23.

Criminal Trespass To A Vehicle

Andre Mhoon, 29, of the 2700 block of Northshore Avenue, Chicago, was charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle in the 2000 block of Emerson Avenue on June 22.

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Diego D. Coronel, 19, of the 8700 block of Ridgeway Avenue, Skokie, was charged with trespass to a vehicle in the 1100 block of Dobson Street on June 15.

Clodie Habimana, 19, of the 3000 block of Horton Avenue, Rockford, was charged with trespass to a vehicle in the 1500 block of Chicago Avenue on June 16.

Ari Joseph Hergott, 18, of the 1100 block of Dobson Street, Evanston, was charged with trespass to a vehicle in the 1100 block of Dobson Street on June 15.

Battery

Taisha Alvira, 22, of the 2200 block of Foster Street, Evanston, was charged with battery in the 2200 block of Foster Street on June 15.

Criminal Damage To Property

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David Eden Crane, 48, of the 700 block of Hinman Avenue, Evanston, was charged with criminal damage to property in the 700 block of Hinman Avenue on June 20.

Public Indecency

Christopher Lee Custodio, 33, of the 7700 block of Lowell, Skokie, was charged with public indecency in the 3300 block of Howard Street on June 20.

Possession Of A Stolen Vehicle

Chikuru C. Chubaka, 18, of the 2200 block of Foster Street, Evanston, was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle in the 1500 block of Chicago Avenue on June 16.

DUI

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Jaesik Kim, 36, of the 600 block of Naples Court, Glenview, was charged with DUI in the 1700 block of Ridge Avenue on June 29.

Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
Canada is going to war with Google, and it might not win

An attendee walks past a Google logo during the Viva Technology conference at Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles on June 14, 2023 in Paris, France.

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, and Google say they will block local news from their platforms in Canada after the country became the latest jurisdiction to pass a law aimed at forcing tech giants to pay news providers for content. What happens now?

As president of La Presse, a leading French-language publication in Quebec, Pierre-Elliott Levasseur says he tried for years to negotiate payment agreements with tech giants, which he believed were sucking up data and ad dollars on the strength of news articles his 220-odd staff were supplying.

"For years and years they've flat-out refused," he told the BBC.

He had hoped a new law, known as the Online News Act, would change that - and lead to an influx of funds that could be invested in the business.

The law - which is aimed at Google and Meta - requires tech firms to negotiate payment agreements with news outlets. If the two sides cannot reach a deal, the country's broadcast regulator can force them into arbitration.

An independent parliamentary budget watchdog has estimated that measure could generate more than C$300m (180m; $226m) in total annually - or funding for roughly 30% of a typical newsroom's operations.

But instead of a windfall, La Presse - and every other Canadian news organisation - is now facing a potential blackout, as the tech giants pledge to block links to news articles on their platforms rather than comply.

Meta, which had opposed the proposal from the start, said it would start blocking news sites for Canadian users over the next few months.

Google has struck payment agreements with news providers in Europe, Australia and elsewhere and had appeared willing to negotiate.

But this week it called Canada's current law "unworkable" and said it would remove links to Canadian news from its search, news and discover products in the country once the act goes into effect in six months.

It says it currently has agreements with more than 150 Canadian news organisations, and estimated its traffic helped news websites earn C$250m a year.

"We're willing to do more," the company said, referring to payments. "We just can't do it in a way that breaks the way that the web and search engines are designed to work, and that creates untenable product and financial uncertainty."

Before the law was passed this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had dismissed the threats from the tech firms to pull news.

La Presse's Pierre-Elliott Levasseur says news organisations don't want a handout.

"The fact that these internet giants would rather cut off Canadians' access to local news than pay their fair share is a real problem, and now they're resorting to bullying tactics to try and get their way. It's not going to work," he said earlier in June.

Tech industry organisations have compared the effort to a "shakedown", but Mr Levasseur says no one in media is looking for a handout.

"We're asking to have an opportunity to negotiate a fair commercial agreement," he says. "The only reason that they haven't done it is because they're monopolies."

How the dispute gets resolved could prove a pivotal moment in a wider fight, as countries around the world, including Indonesia, South Africa, India, the UK and the US consider similar measures.

The sums under discussion amount to a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the tens of billions of dollars made by the tech giants each year - but could prove a lifeline for journalism, says Courtney Radsch, director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at the Open Markets Institute, an anti-monopoly think-tank.

"There is an increasing consensus around the world that Google and Facebook ... should pay for the news that they use," she says. "People realise that there is a need to protect journalism as a fundamental pillar of democracy."

Canada modelled its rule on a measure that Australia passed in 2021. That law sparked similar objections, prompting Meta to impose a brief news blackout.

But after some changes to the bill the two companies ended up negotiating more than 30 deals with publishers worth more than $130m (A$200m), according to economist Rodney Sims, who led Australia's competition agency, which developed the law.

He says he expects the companies to behave similarly this time - even though at Meta, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing the platform away from news in favour of more personal content.

"Facebook just hates the whole thing," he conceded. But "you can't have effective search with no news and I think Facebook is going to find ... that it is very hard for them to give you your feed without any news," he says.

"It's what makes their service complete."

But others are warning that how the fight plays out in Canada could be different.

Mark Zuckerberg has said surveys of Facebook users show they want to see less news on the platform.

Phillip Crawley, chief executive of the Globe and Mail, which has licensing deals in place with Google, Meta, Apple and others, pointed to broader changes in search that are under way, such as the rise of chatbots like ChatGPT, which generate answers, not a list of links, in response to user questions.

With more countries considering such measures, the companies also have bigger incentive to fight, he says.

"The world is in a different place," says Mr Crawley, who spoke in support of the bill, while raising concerns that certain powers granted Canada's broadcast regulator could threaten the independence of the press.

"So I don't think the model in Australia is one that that we should be guided by too much. That was then. This is now."

Google and Meta say that Canada's law differs from Australia's in key ways. Notably, in Australia, companies could satisfy regulators without doing deals with everyone. In Canada, there's no such out. It also regulates more types of content.

Google says it tried - with little effect - to raise its concerns about the bill with the government before it passed. Though the government came back to the bargaining table after the law passed, those "overtime" discussions were too late to fix the problems, a source at the company told the BBC.

Michael Geist, a Canadian tech legal scholar and noted critic of the bill, says the government has miscalculated given the shifts in Meta's business.

The company has said the proportion of adults using Facebook for news fell by about a third between 2016-2022, from 45% to 30%, and its surveys of users show they want to see less news on the platform.

"Why did the government not read the room?" Mr Geist said. "Facebook is not bluffing - they would like to get out of news."

Google has said it will continue to participate in the regulatory process, which could take months to resolve and leaves many newsrooms facing more turmoil.

At the Globe and Mail, which now gets two-thirds of its revenue from subscriptions, Google accounts for 30% of the traffic, Mr Crawley told parliament last month.

For Le Devoir, a major French-language publication, Google drives 40% of its traffic and nearly 30% comes from social media.

Meta has already moved to cancel the deals it has in place with publishers in Canada - which can be worth millions of dollars, according to reports - as well as a funding it had provided to a fellowship programme.

Mr Levasseur conceded that a blackout would have an impact at La Presse, which is profitable and funded largely by advertising and reader donations. But he said he believed the publication, which reaches roughly 1.4 million readers each day, would adjust, as it has to the other upheavals in the news business that tech giants have unleashed.

"When we put an end to the [print] paper, advertising revenue was decreasing. Now it's increasing," he says. "We were able to adjust then and I'm sure we'll be able to adjust in the future."
CANTON  Two men shot at police detectives while they were driving in a parking lot on 12th Street NW on Thursday, resulting in one of the two detectives being grazed by a bullet, police said.

The other detective was not injured in the incident that took place around 5:57 p.m.

The detectives, who were in the area working on an investigation, did not return fire based on two body camera videos released by police Friday afternoon.

Trezjon R. Allen, 21, of Massillon, and Braylen Smallwood, 22, of Canton, are accused in the shooting.

Police arrested Smallwood nearby. Allen was later found by police in Jackson Township. Canton police was assisted by Jackson Township police, the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force and the FBI task force.

Related: 'I'm worried': Neighbor of man shot, killed by Canton police reported fighting in 911 call

Related: Canton police investigating shooting at Nimisilla Park

Allen is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault on a police officer, discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises, one count of having weapons under disability and participation in a criminal gang.

Smallwood is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault on a police officer and discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises.

A Canton police officer guards the scene at 12th Street NE and Logan Avenue NE Thursday evening. Police say two men shot at two police detectives with one detective sustaining minor injuries.

What does the body camera show?

The two nearly one-and-half-minute bodycam videos show two plain-clothed officers wearing vests driving in a vehicle when they suddenly jump out of the unmarked sedan.

Both are seen exiting the vehicles with their firearms drawn but not firing the weapons. The officers can be heard ordering arriving officers to stop vehicles that were in a business parking lot.

"Our car's struck. We're OK," one of the detectives tells dispatchers. "He took off eastbound."

One of the detectives also can be heard telling the driver of another vehicle not to leave the parking lot, adding, "He (the shooter) got out of your car."

The detective who was driving asks his partner if he were hit and he replies, "I'm good." Later, the detective tells the dispatcher that the other officer was grazed by a bullet.

Suspect seen running after Canton shooting

Catherine Coblentz and her husband Wendell, who live in Lake Township, arrived at nearby Desert Inn Restaurant shortly after the shootings.

Coblentz said she saw a young man running by the Desert Inn parking lot toward the back of the restaurant.

"You could tell by the way he was running that he was up to something," she said.

Then she heard sirens as several police vehicles arrived with some going in the direction of where the man had been running.

Joe Shaheen, a manager at Desert Inn, said a man entered the restaurant's kitchen and was immediately told by the kitchen staff to leave. Shaheen said the staff did not see a weapon.

It's not clear if this was Smallwood or Allen.

Crime scene at 12th Street NW and Logan Avenue NW

By 8:30 p.m., police had strewn yellow crime scene tape around the parking lot of Phil's Wine and Liquor on the northwest corner of 12th Street NW and Logan Avenue NW. A police officer stood near the liquor store's shuttered entrance by two Canton police vehicles with flashing lights.

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers with a police officer wearing tactical gear were standing on the northwest corner of 12th Street NW and Logan. A police lieutenant at the scene declined to comment on what had occurred, except to say officers were still interviewing witnesses.

An Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation crime scene truck appeared at 8:35 p.m. Yellow evidence tags numbered one through five were at various spots on the back parking lot pavement. After sunset, two apparent crime scene specialists scanned the pavement with lights.

A police statement said the two police detectives who were shot at are members of Canton Police's Coordinated Response Team.

According to the police department's website, the team is charged with collecting intelligence about violent criminal acts being planned and using that intelligence "to actively disrupt violent individuals and group through an increase in presence, home visits, criminal traffic interdiction, pedestrian stops, search warrants, and collaborative visits with other agencies such as probation and parole."

Anyone with information about what happened call the Canton Police Detective Bureau at 330-489-3144 or Canton's Communications Center at 330-649-5800. People can submit anonymous tips through Tip411 at www.cantonohio.gov/police or Stark County Crime Stoppers.

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton police charge Trezjon Allen, Braylen Smallwood in shooting
Taylor Taranto was arrested after being spotted by Secret Service agents a few streets away from Barack Obama's home in Kalorama

A Capitol riot fugitive armed with guns and explosives was arrested near Barack Obamas home, police said.

Taylor Taranto, 37, was spotted by Secret Service agents a few streets away from the former US presidents property in Kalorama, an upmarket neighbourhood in Washington DC, on Thursday evening.

He reportedly attempted to flee the scene before eventually being detained.

Officers later uncovered firearms and materials to make explosives in his van, which was parked nearby.

Police announced that there was no immediate danger to the Obamas despite the incident. It was unclear whether the family were home at the time of Tarantos arrest.

There is no active threat to the community and this incident remains under investigation, police said in a statement.

Threats made to public figures

Taranto had made numerous threats to unnamed public figures on social media, according to officials.

CBS News quoted officials who said that the man wasnt in Obamas neighbourhood by mistake.

The Capitol Building in Washington DC was stormed by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

Taranto has an open warrant on charges related to the insurrection, two law enforcement officials said.

It is thought that he returned to Washington over a month ago to camp close to a jail where hundreds of those being detained in relation to the violent rebellion are being held.

Taranto is believed to have live streamed videos during his time in Washington, apparently making threats.

The family of Jeffrey Smith, a Washington police officer who was assaulted during the Capitol riot and committed suicide days later, have brought a civil lawsuit against Taranto.

They claim that Taranto assaulted Mr Smith.

Despite admitting entering the Capitol, Taranto denies joining in with the violence. More than 150 officers were injured during the incident.

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'Caricature of the truth': Lawyer disputes accounts of LMPD shooting of Mark Jaggers Jr.

A lawyer representing the family of a 21-year-old white man killed by Louisville police in an alley earlier this month pushed back against the citys narrative the man was trying to carjack an undercover officers vehicle, saying officials presented a false face and caricature of the truth to poison the minds of the public.

Instead, attorney Aubrey Williams said, Mark Jaggers Jr. was confronting a suspicious vehicle with tinted windows that had been parked behind his home in west Louisville's Portland neighborhood for a while, in a location frequently used by people to ditch stolen cars.

This man did what I would have done, Williams said at a press conference Friday morning, in the same alley where Jaggers was fatally shot on June 19.

Williams repeatedly highlighted how Jaggers was behind his home when he approached Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Matt Haydens vehicle, and that he got out of his own car leaving his soon-to-be wife and children behind.

Now, please tell me: when he hijacks the car, where is he going to take it? Hes going to hijack the car and drive off and leave his family there? he said.

He added: This is one of the most absurd situations that Ive dealt with as a lawyer.



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The press conference came one day after Kentucky State Police, the agency investigating the shooting, released body camera footage showing Jaggers walking to the drivers-side door of the unmarked LMPD vehicle and pointing his pistol at Hayden when the door opened. Hayden then fired several shots and Jaggers could be seen falling to the ground.

In the body camera footage, Jaggers can be heard saying I wasnt going to rob you after the officer radioed in that hed just experienced an attempted robbery.

A memorial set up in the alley where 21-year-old Mark Jaggers Jr. was fatally shot by LMPD Officer Matt Hayden on June 19.

In a statement following the release of the body camera footage Thursday, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the video made it clear that the officer was defending his life.

Any time a person loses their life like this it is a tragedy, he said. In this case, it is clear from the video that the officer was protecting his own life from an armed assailant. He quickly called for help, rendered aid, and made sure to record the entire encounter by activating his body-worn camera.

KSP said Hayden, a member of LMPDs Fugitive Unit, was conducting surveillance in an unrelated investigation when he was approached. He is a ten-year veteran of the force.

Williams, attorney for the Jaggers family, said the body camera footage did not paint a complete picture of what happened that afternoon.

He claimed that body camera footage omitted the moments leading up to the shooting, including the first four seconds of the video, in which KSP said audio is not recorded.

Jaggers father, Mark Jaggers, who was present at the press conference, said his son had said whos in that car? before approaching Hayden.

He also said his son did not call the police about the suspicious vehicle because police take 30 to 40 minutes to show up to incidents in their area.

Attorney Aubrey Williams speaks at a June 30 press conference in the alley where 21-year-old Mark Jaggers Jr. was fatally shot by police on June 19.

The father had previously told local news outlets his son thought the car was another stolen car that had been abandoned and was looking to take it for a joyride inspired by a TikTok trend.

Axon body cameras like the department use constantly capture video, but only start recording audio when physically activated by the officer to begin an event. An LMPD spokesperson told The Courier Journal they believed the body camera was not recording audio for the four seconds where audio was not available.

Williams also disputed that Jaggers opened the door of the undercover officers vehicle, claiming that Hayden pushed the car door open, knocking him to the ground.

In the video released Thursday, Haydens hand moves towards the door, but it is unclear whether he or Jaggers opened it. In a statement released alongside the body camera footage, Capt. Paul Blanton of the Kentucky State Police said Jaggers opened the door.

While Kentucky State Police released body camera footage, Blanton said the investigation is ongoing and has no set timeline.

Williams said he will launch a lawsuit against the city over Jaggers killing.

Thats how we fight for justice, he said.

In the alley where Jaggers was shot, a makeshift memorial has been created with balloons and flowers. A large wooden cross at its center describes Jaggers as a beloved father, son, brother and friend.

Parts of the alley were strewn with pungent trash and several cars appeared to be abandoned.

I do not dispute that he had his gun out, as any sensible human being would do if hes investigating a very suspicious car in his neighborhood, where you have crime proliferate, Williams said.

Hayden could have avoided the shooting, Williams said, had he gotten out of the car and confronted Jaggers as he approached.

Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on Twitter @JWoodJourno

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Lawyer disputes officials' account of fatal Louisville police shooting
Changes to how Kansas City handles 911 calls to be tested, evaluated in next 2 weeks

Possible major changes to the way Kansas City handles 911 calls will undergo testing and evaluation over the next two weeks, according to a plan announced by the Mid-America Regional Council.

An analysis of the testing and information about implementing the changes is scheduled to be completed by mid-July. Ultimately, the decision on whether to implement the changes as well as how the citys emergency call centers will answer and dispatch calls will be made by Kansas City, according to the agency, which is also known as MARC.

Kansas City is looking at a change to the way emergency calls are handled as a way to address the problem of growing wait times for people who dial 911.

At a meeting earlier this week, the Board of Police Commissioners directed the Kansas City Police Department to call for an emergency meeting with MARCs Public Safety Communications Board to discuss switching to an automated call attendant that would prompt callers to press a number to be routed to police, fire, medical and non-emergency calls.

For too long, Kansas Citians calling 911 have experienced unacceptable wait times connecting to call takers, threatening health and safety, Mayor Quinton Lucas said on Twitter Tuesday.

The hope is that this would route calls to the proper agency without callers having to wait on hold for a call taker.

MARC serves as the coordinating agency for Kansas Citys regional 911 system. It owns the equipment that allows a 911 call to get to the appropriate agency based on the location where the call originated.

The police department is the primary agency handling 911 calls in Kansas City. Currently, its call takers ask callers if they have a police, fire, or medical emergency and then route the call to proper agency. Officials hope that the change being proposed would streamline and route calls to the appropriate agency through the auto-attendant.

The time people spent on hold waiting for a 911 call taker has been a growing problem. The average hold times for 911 are now 60 seconds, according to the latest data presented to the board of commissioners on Tuesday.

The system being used by MARC currently has the capability to automate the calls this way, but it has to be activated, acting Deputy Chief Gregory Williams told the board of commissioners.

The board didnt want to wait any longer and directed Williams to get an emergency meeting and get this done now.

Emergency meeting

In response, MARC and the Public Safety Communications Board leadership released on Thursday a plan to enable the change to the 911 system.

Because of the complexity of the regional 911 system and the critical service it provides, any changes to the system must be evaluated and tested, MARC said in a news release. The testing is expected to take two weeks.

The agency will then prepare an analysis and provide information regarding implementing the auto-attendant feature for Kansas city at the Public Safety Communications Users Committee scheduled for 1 p.m. July 12. At that meeting, the committee will make a recommendation regarding the implementation of the feature.

The Public Safety Communications Board will then act upon any of the committees recommendations at a special meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. July 13, which is expected to be the only item on the agenda.

The board is responsible for executive level policy guidance and oversight of the regional 911 system and has authority to implement changes to allow the auto-attendant feature.

The decision to implement the feature and policies relating to how the citys emergency call centers answer and dispatch calls will be made by Kansas City, MARC said.
Chief Justice John Roberts said his opinion to strike down student-loan forgiveness doesn't mean the court opposes all relief. It just means Biden didn't have the authority to carry it out.

Chief Justice John Roberts. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down President Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan.

Chief Justice John Roberts said in his opinion that the Secretary of Education wasn't the proper person to implement it.

The Supreme Court thinks it's a matter suited to the legislative branch, rather than the executive one.

The Supreme Court just struck down President Joe Biden's student-loan-forgiveness program  and it's because, in part, they don't think Biden's Education Department was the right entity to get the job done.

A primary issue was Education Secretary Miguel Cardona's usage of the HEROES Act of 2003 to enact relief, which allows the secretary to  in theory  waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency. The Biden administration was adamant that it was the appropriate law to use in connection with COVID-19, to give borrowers financial relief during and after the pandemic.

In his opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts scathingly wrote that the Secretary of Education's plan "has 'modified' the cited provisions only in the same sense that 'the French Revolution 'modified' the status of the French nobility'it has abolished them and supplanted them with a new regime entirely."

And so, the court is probing not whether loans should be forgiven, but whether the right entity was making the push.

"The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it," Roberts concluded. He surmised that the program might be more in Congress's wheelhouse, specifically the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, rather than with the executive branch.

The two conservative-backed lawsuits that blocked Biden's debt relief both challenged Cardona's authority to use the HEROES Act to cancel student debt for millions of borrowers  and it was something conservative justices were skeptical of during oral arguments in February.

"Given the posture of the case, and given our historic concern about separation of powers," Roberts said. "You would recognize at least that this is a case that presents extraordinarily serious, important issues about the role of Congress and about the role that we should exercise in scrutinizing that?"

But even if the issue is punted to Congress, that's unlikely to result in relief for borrowers. Both chambers have previously pushed through legislation that would actually block relief, and a Republican-controlled House is likely unwilling to move any form of relief similar to Biden's forward.

It's unclear at this point what Biden will do next. Importantly, this decision does not strike down student-debt relief entirely  it just ruled that the president cannot carry out his plan using the HEROES Act. So he could potentially enact a plan to deliver relief using another law, like the Higher Education Act of 1965, which does not rely on a national emergency. It's something that Democratic lawmakers have pushed for in the past, and are continuing to do following the Friday ruling.

"The President has more tools to cancel student debt  and he must use them," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote on Twitter. "More than 40 million hard working Americans are waiting for the help that President Biden promised them, and they expect this administration to throw everything they've got into the fight until they make good on this commitment."

Read the original article on Business Insider
China tightens Xi Jinping's powers against the West with new law

China's new foreign relations law adds to Xi Jinping's vast powers

China is adding to Xi Jinping's vast powers with a new law that will assert Beijing's interests on the world stage.

The law threatens to punish entities that act in ways "detrimental" to China's interests but does not specify which lines should not be crossed.

Experts say the law underscores China's aggressive diplomacy, but how actively it will be enforced when it takes effect on 1 July remains to be seen.

After all, China has been keen to court foreign investment post Covid.

Jacques deLisle, a law and political science professor from the University of Pennsylvania, said much of the law is "relatively empty rhetoric and largely familiar" but it spells a more assertive foreign policy and stronger pushback against the US.

State media outlet The Global Times called the law a "key step to enrich the legal toolbox against Western hegemony".

Dr Chong Ja-Ian, a non-resident scholar at Carnegie China, said it was a "signal" of Beijing's intention to "actively pursue their interests in ways that include more coercion and pressure, even as they hold out the attraction of cooperation and economic gains".

China's leaders tread an "inherent tension" between their pursuit of economic development and protection of national security and interests, said Manoj Kewalramani, who leads the China Studies Programme at Indian think tank the Takshashila Institution.

"This push and pull is likely to continue," he said.

Relations between Beijing and Washington in particular have been strained in recent years, with the two superpowers exchanging a series of tit-for-tat trade sanctions.

Chinese authorities have taken a series of actions against Western firms, including raiding and shuttering the local offices of several US-headquartered consulting firms this year.

These are widely perceived as retaliatory moves to growing trade and technology restrictions from the US.

Last month, it banned products made by US memory chip giant Micron.

Dr Chong said the new foreign relations law could result in more international compliance with China's interests, but could also lead to pushback from other governments.

"Foreign businesses may wish to reconsider their exposure to the Chinese market or public positions they take, including political ones, if they haven't already.

"The legislation provides more legal basis for the raids and investigations of foreign firms that have already been happening," he said.

Still, the law does not guarantee that China will take these stronger actions.

Top business executives from the US, including Elon Musk and JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon have visited China in recent weeks emphasising China's importance to the US economy.

Experts say that how the law defines China's foreign relations in the context of ideology is particularly striking.

"The People's Republic of China conducts foreign relations to uphold its system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, safeguard its sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity, and promote its economic and social development," the law states.

It adds that China conducts foreign relations "under the guidance of" the political ideologies of Xi Jinping, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Marxism-Leninism, among others.

The law puts in writing for the first time that it is the ruling Communist Party, instead of the state, that directs foreign policy - it also represents Mr Xi's tightening grip on power.

"[The law] is strikingly explicit on party leadership over foreign relations, underscoring the Xi era trends of migration of power - from the state to the party, and within the party, to Xi," said Dr deLisle.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi called it "an important measure to strengthen the Communist Party Central Committee's centralised and unified leadership over foreign affairs," according to an editorial published on Thursday in state-run newspaper People's Daily.

Mr Kewalramani said the new law could, however, stifle discussion and disagreements on foreign policy issues.

But, he added, its overall implications can only be understood in time, depending on the courts' interpretation of the legislation and the punitive costs that are imposed.
A little girl sits with her dad in a park in Shanghai

By Casey Hall

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Trip.com Group said on Friday it would pay 50,000 yuan ($6,897.69) to employees for each child they have starting July 1 - the first such initiative by a large private company in China as the country struggles with an ageing population.

The company, one of the world's largest online travel agencies, with 400 million users, said it would pay a parental cash subsidy of 10,000 yuan annually for five years for every child born to its employees worldwide. The programme will cost about 1 billion yuan, the company said.

"I have always suggested that the government give money to families with children, especially multiple children, to ... help more young people fulfil their desire to have multiple children," Trip.com executive chairman James Liang said in a statement. "Companies can also play a role within their own capabilities to build a favourable fertility atmosphere."

In the wake of a one-child policy that lasted from 1980 to 2015, demographers have warned that China will get old before it gets rich, as its workforce shrinks and indebted local governments spend more on their elderly population.

China's birth rate last year fell to 6.77 births per 1,000 people, from 7.52 births in 2021, the lowest on record.

Authorities in 2021 said couples could have as many as three children, but even during the stay-at-home COVID years couples have been reluctant to have babies.

Young people cite high childcare and education costs, low income, a weak social safety net and gender inequality, as discouraging factors.

Liang, who is also a demographer, published a book titled "Population Strategies: How Population Affects Economy and Innovation" this year and has suggested that 2% of China's GDP should be put toward encouraging fertility.

($1 = 7.2488 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Casey Hall. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
China's Xi to attend, deliver speech at SCO summit via video link - foreign ministry

BEIJING (Reuters) -China's President Xi Jinping will attend and deliver a speech at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) via video link on July 4, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday.

India, as the chair nation of this year's summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State, announced in May that it would hold the event in a virtual format.

Defence and foreign ministers of the bloc attended in-person meetings in India this year.

The SCO is a political and security union of countries spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia.

Formed in 2001 by Russia, China and former Soviet states in Central Asia, the body has been expanded to include India and Pakistan, with a view to playing a bigger role as counterweight to Western influence in the region.

Kazakhstan will take over the presidency of the SCO after the July summit.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Ethan Wang; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Gerry Doyle)
The US Navy recovered surveillance balloon debris from the Atlantic

The Chinese balloon that crossed the continental US from Alaska to the east coast in February did not collect any information, the Pentagon says.

The US "took steps to mitigate" what intelligence the suspected spy balloon could collect, officials said on Thursday.

Debris collected from the balloon after it was shot down is being analysed by US intelligence agencies.

The incident caused a strain between the US and China.

Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder said on Thursday that the US was "aware that [the balloon] had intelligence collection capabilities".

But "it has been our assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States or over flying the United States".

He said the efforts the US took to mitigate any intelligence gathering "contributed" to the balloon's failure to gather sensitive information.

Gen Ryder did not confirm a Wall Street Journal report that American-made equipment was part of the balloon, but he said that Chinese drones in the past have used off-the-shelf US equipment.

The balloon spent a week in February flying over the United States and Canada before it was shot down by a fighter jet off the Atlantic coast, on orders from President Joe Biden.

The sensors from the suspected Chinese spy balloon were later retrieved from the ocean.

There was concern that Beijing was using the balloon to gather information as it passed over US military bases.

Chinese officials say it was a civilian weather balloon and that the US overreacted by shooting it down.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a diplomatic trip to Beijing over the incident. That trip was rescheduled and took place earlier this month.
Glenbrook South High School senior Nicholas DeRosa (left) showcased pieces from his original summer collection during a fashion show benefitting Friends of Youth Services. He is pictured with, from left, models Carolyn Shean, Isabella DeRosa, Holly Anderson and Meredith Bill, who are all from Glenview. (Gina Grillo/Pioneer Press)

Models walked the catwalk Thursday, featuring the designs of up-and-comer local high school influencers, expressing themselves not with words but through fashion.

Friends of Youth Services hosted their inaugural fashion Show on Thursday at The Social Loft in Glenview, showcasing the remarkable talents of Glenview and Northbrook high school students and fashions from local businesses in the area.

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The event helps us broaden the exposure of the work that we do in the community, Julie Bruch, Friends of Youth Services board president said.

Proceeds from the event directly benefit Youth Services, Bruch says, which serves more than 1,800 local children each year in Glenview, Northbrook and beyond, with a generous sliding scale and scholarship program to be sure no child is ever turned away from critical services due to difficulty to pay.

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Friends of Youth Services hosted its inaugural fashion show on Thursday at The Social Loft in Glenview, showcasing the remarkable talents of Glenview and Northbrook high school students and fashions from local businesses in the area. (Gina Grillo/Pioneer Press)

Services that support social and emotional health including one-on-one and group counseling, providing study buddies academic tutoring, and other support for dealing with social and emotional issues such as bullying, communicating gender identity, and suicide prevention, Bruch said.

According to their web site, Youth Services believes every child should grow up happy, healthy and with hope. The agencys mission is to foster the social and emotional well-being of all children and youth.

The fashion show featured original designs from Glenbrook South High School students sophomore Sophie Szafranski, junior Daisy Hutchinson and senior Nicholas DeRosa, who showcased pieces from their original summer collections, created while studying in the Glenbrook South Fashion Program.

The inaugural fashion show benefitting Friends of Youth Services was held Thursday at The Social Loft in Glenview. It showcased the remarkable talents of Glenview and Northbrook high school students and fashions from local businesses in the area. (Gina Grillo/Pioneer Press)

DeRosa said that he knew he wanted to design womens clothing since he was about 7.

I think of each design as a story, sort of like a diary or journal entry that allows me to express what I am feeling at the time  using elements of color, fabric, pattern-making and structure to describe those emotions, DeRosa said.

Many of the pieces shown tonight, were inspired by my rocky junior year of high school in a post-COVID environment, DeRosa added.

The event also featured the latest in fashion from Margo Boutique, Kendra Scott jewelry and Beauty Counter cosmetics.

Retail items were available for purchase after the show.

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Friends of Youth Services hosted its inaugural fashion Show on Thursday at The Social Loft in Glenview, showcasing the remarkable talents of Glenview and Northbrook high school students and fashions from local businesses in the area. (Gina Grillo/Pioneer Press)

Margo Boutique is owned by 26-year-old Mary Grace Nudo, organizers say, who studied in the fashion design program at Maine West High School, before attending college for fashion design. Nudo worked four years in a jewelry store before realizing her dream to open her own boutique in the Glen Town Center.

Event tickets were $30 for adults and $20 for those under 21, and included entry into the event, an age appropriate welcome drink, light bites, one drawing ticket, and a small gift bag.

Event sponsors included Vittoria Logli, @Properties, Margo Boutique and The Social Loft.

The fashion show featured 14 different fun summer looks and 10 active wear looks.

We strive to have events that are entertaining and bring the community together, and what could be better than spending an evening with friends viewing the latest fashion trends for a worthy cause, Bruch said.

The opportunity to highlight the creative brilliance of our local fashion students, made it a win win, Bruch said.

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Gina Grillo is a freelance reporter for the Pioneer Press.
Christie says hes living rent free in Donalds head after Trump shares photo of him sleeping

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie suggested on Friday that hes living rent free in Donalds head, after former President Trump shared a photo of the former New Jersey governor sleeping.

Trump posted an image of Christie sleeping on Truth Social with the caption, Resting after a good 25 minutes of work!

Christie hit back at the former president, sharing Trumps post on Twitter alongside a call for donations to his campaign.

Living rent free in Donalds head, he tweeted. Make me a permanent resident. Donate today.

The former New Jersey governor, a onetime ally of Trump who also ran against him in 2016, has repeatedly taken swings at the former president since launching a bid for the 2024 Republican nomination earlier this month.

Christie said in an interview published on Friday that Trump wishes he could be [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in America, adding that the former president really wants to be a dictator.

He also called Trump the cheapest S.O.B. Ive ever met in my life on Tuesday for reportedly using donations to pay his legal fees.

As the former president continues to suggest that he may not appear at the first Republican presidential primary debate in August, Christie also vowed on Thursday to shame him into attending.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Christie says he will shame Trump into showing up for debates

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vowed to shame former President Trump into attending Republican presidential debates after the front-runner threatened to hold a rival event instead.

I will shame him into showing up, Christie said in a Thursday podcast interview with Bari Weiss.

And quite frankly, he owes it to his voters and to all the voters in the Republican Party to show up and debate. If he wants the honor of being the Republican nominee for president, he has an obligation to show up at those debates. But you know, Oh, its not fair. Its not fair to me. Im so far ahead. Why should I let people talk about me? Because you decided to run for president. Thats why, he added.

Christies attacks on Trump continue his feud with the former president.

Christie, a one-time ally of Trumps, said taking on Trump is a primary motivation for his campaign, which began early this month.

When asked whether he would attend the first GOP debate in Milwaukee in August, Trump said, Possibly not.

The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

Trump said he didnt like Fox News, which is hosting the event, and didnt want to give a platform to candidates polling far below him.

Why would I give them time to make statements? Why would I do that when Im leading them by 50 points and 60 points? Trump told Reuters this week.

He said he is even considering holding a different event on the same night.

Weve had a lot of offers, whether its a rally or whether its an interview by somebody else, Trump said. Not to be braggadocious, but the debate will not be a very exciting one if Im not there.

Christie has jabbed Trump over debate attendance before, calling it a necessary part of the campaign. He expects the former president to be on the stage in Milwaukee.

Quite frankly, I think hell show up cause I dont think his ego will permit him not to, Christie said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Joe Bidens student loan forgiveness program, as a Missouri-created student loan agency helped six conservative-led states dash the hopes of millions of Americans hoping to be relieved of up to $20,000 of their debt.

In an 6-3 opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the Biden administration had gone too far in relieving up to 40 million Americans of some or all of their student loans, saying the plan went beyond the power Congress granted the Department of Education under a 9/11-era law that gave the administration the ability to change the student loan program in emergencies.

Today, we have concluded that an instrumentality created by Missouri, governed by Missouri, and answerable to Missouri is indeed part of Missouri; that the words waive or modify do not mean completely rewrite; and that our precedent  old and new  requires that Congress speak clearly before a Department Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy, Roberts wrote.

The case was brought by six states, including Kansas and Missouri, which claimed that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority by forgiving up to $10,000 in student loan debt and up to $20,000 in debt for Pell Grant recipients. Pell Grants are reserved for people from low-income families.

More than 16 million Americans, including 305,000 Missourians and 143,000 Kansans had already been approved for loan forgiveness. When the Biden administration introduced the program, it was during a state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to prove they had the right to sue, the states focused on Missouris state-affiliated student loan program, called the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, but better known as MOHELA.

MOHELA was created by the Missouri legislature in 1981, but operates as an independent entity. Missouri law says the legislature cant be held liable for decisions made by the student loan servicer, but also uses money from MOHELA to fund scholarship programs in-state.

Lawyers for the states argued that Missouri was directly harmed by the Biden administrations student loan forgiveness because it would potentially cut the agencys operating revenue by around 40%, jeopardizing the funding for those scholarships.

The Biden administration argued that because it has the independent right to sue, Missouri cant sue on its behalf. The conservative justices on the court disagreed.

The Secretarys plan harms MOHELA in the performance of its public function and so directly harms the State that created and controls MOHELA, Roberts wrote. Missouri thus has suffered an injury in fact sufficient to give it standing to challenge the Secretarys plan.

Missouri joined the lawsuit under Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt, who was Missouri attorney general at the time. It was part of a wave of lawsuits Schmitt launched against the Biden administration, as it has become increasingly common for both Republican and Democratic state attorneys general to build political capital by suing a president of the opposing political party.

Schmitt immediately took credit on Twitter, saying that the Biden administration didnt have the authority to wipe out billions in debt, part of a larger effort Schmitt has undertaken to pry power from the executive branch and give it to Congress.

Joe Bidens student loan bailout was nothing more than a thinly veiled political ploy on a shaky foundation to score cheap points, Schmitt said in a longer statement. The bailout was inherently unfair to those who responsibly paid off their debt or those who chose not to take on debt, and the truck driver or the waitress shouldnt have to subsidize the theater degree of the tenured professor.

Missouris current attorney general, Republican Andrew Bailey, also claimed credit for the decision.

Im proud to have led in the fight to halt Bidens unconstitutional plan in its tracks and to protect everyday Americans from being saddled with the enormous cost of the plan, Bailey said.

The lawsuit was led by Nebraska, and was argued in court by Nebraskas solicitor general, James Campbell.

In determining that Missouri was harmed by the loan program, the six conservative justices decided Congress had not given the Biden administration the express authority to forgive student debt when it passed a law called the HEROES Act in 2003, which gave the Department of Education the power to relieve hardship people may have from student loans in emergency situations.

The Biden administration had enacted the student loan forgiveness program under the state of emergency for COVID-19, which ended in May.

My Administrations student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic, Biden said. Nearly 90 percent of the relief from our plan would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to people making more than $125,000. It would have been life-changing for millions of Americans and their families.

On Friday, Biden said he would attempt a new approach to forgive student debt grounded in the Higher Education Act, which would allow the Department of Education to compromise, waive or release loans under certain circumstances. The details are still unclear, but Biden said it would take longer than his original plan.

He also announced a program to help student loan borrowers from defaulting on their loans for 12 months, where if people miss payments, theyre not immediately referred to credit agencies for 12 months.

The ruling puts an already unpopular court on the side of eliminating a program that would have helped millions of Americans financially. Groups in favor of eliminating student loan debt immediately called for Biden to find other means to eliminate student debt  though it is unlikely a divided Congress will be able to enact any such law before the presidential election in 2024.

It comes a day after the court declared race-based college admission policies unconstitutional, striking down more than 50 years worth of affirmative action programs.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, celebrated the two decisions. Kansas joined the student loan case under Kobachs predecessor, Republican Derek Schmidt.

This opinion, in tandem with yesterdays opinion, brings constitutionality and reason back to college education, Kobach said. Your race should not serve to get you into college or exclude you from college, and if you take out a loan, you need to repay it. The vast majority of Americans would agree with those common sense statements.

Rep. Cori Bush, a St. Louis Democrat who supports adding justices to the Supreme Court, denounced the ruling and said Biden must keep the promise he made to cancel student debt for over 40 million people by pursuing one of the several alternative paths at his disposal to deliver debt relief.

Other Democrats, like Rep. Sharice Davids, from Kansas, have criticized Bidens loan forgiveness program and welcomed the ruling.

I took out student loans to put myself through school, so I understand the hardships facing Kansas families as they pay their monthly bills, said Davids, who represents a key swing district in the Kansas City suburbs. But as Ive said before, I dont believe the Administrations plan for canceling student debt gets to the root of higher education affordability. We should focus on bipartisan solutions that bring down higher education costs and expose students to skilled trades and apprenticeships that help them get good-paying jobs.

In the dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court had overstepped its authority in eliminating the program. Kagan argued that MOHELA should have brought the case instead of Missouri and that the HEROES Act gave the administration wide latitude when it came to handling debt in emergencies.

The result here is that the Court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness, Kagan wrote. Congress authorized the forgiveness plan (among many other actions); the Secretary put it in place; and the President would have been accountable for its success or failure. But this Court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides, because (so says the Court) that assistance is too significan[t].

Roberts chided the liberal justices for indicating the court went beyond its authority, saying it has become common for people to claim the court overstepped when they disagree with an opinion.

We do not mistake this plainly heartfelt disagreement for disparagement, Roberts said. It is important that the public not be misled either. Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country.

Star reporters Jonathan Shorman and Kacen Bayless contributed reporting.
'Get out of my city': Moms For Liberty hears from Trump, DeSantis and noisy protesters in Philly

PHILADELPHIA - Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and other Republican presidential candidates have to pay heed to conservative activist groups, and on Friday they went before one of the newest and noisiest: Moms For Liberty.

"Don't mess with America's moms," the front-running Trump told members of the organization during a day-long conference that also drew 2024 Republican presidential candidates DeSantis and Haley, as well as hundreds of protesters.

Founded just two years ago, Moms For Liberty made its political name by promoting what members call "parental rights" in education policies, and what opponents call harassment and extremism.

Moms for Liberty describe themselves as passionate about problems in education, and motivated to vote in 2024; Trump, DeSantis, Haley and other candidates are speaking at their "Joyful Warriors National Summit" because they are apt to provide many voters in Republican primaries and the general election.

"No one is going to fight like a mom is going to fight for her kid," said Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of Moms For Liberty. "I think the parent vote is going to be huge."

The group claims 120,000 members in 44 states.

'A lot of tumult'

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Moms for Liberty meeting in Philadelphia, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

During his long and rambling set of remarks, Trump tied his education proposals into standard riffs that promoted his ideas and vilified prosecutors over indictments and investigations.

His plans include public election of school principals by parents, the elimination of "critical race theory" and "gender ideology," and efforts to "keep men out of women's sports."

Trump, like other candidates, also praised the new Supreme Court decisions against affirmative action and student loan debt forgiveness.

Trump also argued that his views - and those of his supporters - are the reasons he has been subjected to numerous investigations.

Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Florida indicted Trump in connection with his removal of classified information. He was already under indictment in New York state over hush money payments.

Trump remains under investigation in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., over efforts to overturn his 2024 election loss to President Joe Biden.

People say, Trump brings a lot of tumult,'" he said at one point. "We bring tumult because they come after us.

DeSantis and the 'mama bears'

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Moms for Liberty meeting in Philadelphia, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In his speech, DeSantis appealed to the group by saying they have created "the most powerful political force in this country ... mama bears."

Moms For Liberty is based in Florida, and worked with DeSantis on the state legislative agenda that he is promoting in his presidential campaign.

The Florida governor, who trails Trump in Republican polls, hit on familiar topics like his opposition to "critical race theory," sexually explicit books in school libraries, gender-affirming surgery for minors, "pronouns," and transgender athletes in women's sports. He also praised the new Supreme Court decision rejecting affirmative action in colleges and universities.

Looking toward the election, DeSantis said "parents across the country" will "finally fight back."

Trump, the front-runner is scheduled to speak later Friday.

What are the Moms For Liberty?

Justice and fellow co-founder Tina Descovich, former members of local school boards in Florida, started Moms for Liberty in 2021 after COVID restrictions closed classrooms and created in-home learning via Zoom.

Organizers said parents were being ignored when they objected to items ranging from the promotion of Black history and diversity to transgender and LGBQT policies.

Moms For Liberty has played big roles in electing like-minded supporters to offices across the country, particularly school boards. One of their most publicized successes came near Philadelphia in suburban Bucks County, Pa.

The new school board has banned books with "sexualized content" from school libraries and pushed a neutrality policy with respect to history subjects like slavery and anti-Semitism.

Protests in Philly at Moms for Liberty convention

Demonstrators gather outside the Moms for Liberty meeting in Philadelphia, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)

The Moms for Liberty "Joyful Warriors National Summit" in Philadelphia drew hundreds of protesters Friday from local groups who claimed the organization has been hostile to minorities and harassing to local school officials.

"Hate has no place here," they chanted.

On Thursday evening, more than 50 gathered at the Museum of the American Revolution, the site of a pre-conference reception hosted by Moms For Liberty. Chants included Philly is a trans city and Philly is a Black city."

'You don't own my children'

Milling about the hallways of a downtown hotel, supporters attending the convention said they do not hate school board members or other lawmakers, they just want to limit their power.

Bethany Mandel, 37, co-author of a book called "Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation." said many parents across the country believe their children are being subjected to false values by school officials and government bureaucrats.

"People are like, 'you don't own my children,'" said Mandel, who lives in Montgomery County, Md.

Some people said they attended the meeting to see what Moms For Liberty is all about.

Amy Davis, 45, a nurse from nearby Berwyn, Pa., said she wanted to learn more about "the drama, the anger, (and) the theatrics"of the issues under discussion.

"There's a lot of spin," she said. "I kind of want to figure it out myself."

'Moms care about a lot of things'

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks at the Moms for Liberty meeting in Philadelphia, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In her appearance at Moms For Liberty, Haley combined a standard stump speech - stressing her experience as governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - with periodic tributes to the strength of mothers.

Haley also drew applause for saying "God Bless the Supreme Court" for its string of recent conservative decisions on affirmative action, religious liberty, and student debt.

"Moms care about a lot of things," Haley said. "It's not just schools."

Are Moms for Liberty an extremist group?

The Southern Poverty Legal Center has designated Moms For Liberty as a "far-right organization" of extremists. In a report, the SPCL said members "use their multiple social media platforms to target teachers and school officials, advocate for the abolition of the Department of Education, advance a conspiracy propaganda, and spread hateful imagery and rhetoric against the LGBTQ community."

A county chapter in Indiana apologized after a newsletter included a quote that German dictator Adolf Hitler used at a Nazi rally in 1935 ("He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future").

Moms for Liberty say they are a 'threat to powers-that-be'

Members of Moms forLiberty said many of the accusations are unfair and attempts to silence and de-legitimize their organization,

"We're a real threat to the powers-that-be when it comes to public education," Justice said.

At their summit in downtown Philadelphia, Moms For Liberty are attending sessions ranging from "Comprehensive Sex Education: Sex Ed or Sexualization" to "Mastering The Spin: Effective Messaging Strategies."

They are also hearing from presidential candidates. On Saturday, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are scheduled to speak with Moms For Liberty.

Why are Moms for Liberty in Philadelphia?

Philadelphia is a Democratic city, but that state of Pennsylvania has been swingy in recent elections.

In 2016, Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania led to his victory in the Electoral College. Biden reclaimed the state in 2020, a key part of his victory over Trump.

In the upcoming Republican primary, Trump has a big lead, according to a Quinnipiac University poll this week.

Trump received 49% support from registered Republican voters in Pennsylvania, followed by DeSantis with 25%. Tied for third, at 5%, were former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Haley had 4 percent.

'Get out of my city'

Demonstrators react as former President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives outside the Moms for Liberty meeting in Philadelphia, Friday, June 30, 2023.

Outside the Philadelphia Marriott Downton, far from the fifth-floor ballroom where Moms For Liberty held general sessions, protesters chanted things like "get out of my city!" and "get out of my state!"

Kel Smith, 40, who works for a non-profit in Philadelphia, and Lydia Tseng, 39, a local teacher, said Moms for Liberty and the candidates who are lobbying them are encouraging people to indulge in hatred of people of color, gays and lesbians, and transgender people.

They and other protestors cited the high suicide rates for transgender children caught in the middle of a political maelstrom.

"Kids are dying because of what they're pushing," Tseng said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump, DeSantis, protestors rally at Moms For Liberty convention
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

A new class action lawsuit accuses ChatGPT creator OpenAI of criminally scraping data from all over the internet, then using the stolen data to create its popular automated products. The lawsuit, filed this week by the Clarkson Law Firm in a Northern California court, is only the latest in a slew of legal challenges that strike at the very heart of the influential startups business model.

Since it pivoted from a humble research organization to a for-profit business in 2019, OpenAI has been on a meteoric ascent to the very top of the tech industry. When it launched ChatGPT last November, the company became a household name.

Read more

But as OpenAI attempts to stand up its business and lay the groundwork for future expansion, the controversial nature of the technology that its selling may sabotage its own ambitions. Given the radicalness and newness of the AI industry, it only makes sense that legal and regulatory issues would develop. And if legal challenges like the one filed this week hold sway, they could undermine the very existence of OpenAIs most popular products and, in turn, may threaten the nascent AI industry that revolves around them.

The Clarkson lawsuits allegations, explained

The central claim in the Clarkson lawsuit is that OpenAIs entire business model is based on theft. The lawsuit specifically accuses the company of creating its products using stolen private information, including personally identifiable information, from hundreds of millions of internet users, including children of all ages, without their informed consent or knowledge.

Its well known that OpenAIs large language modelswhich animate platforms like ChatGPT and DALL-Eare trained on massive amounts of data. Much of this data, the startup has openly admitted, was scraped from the internet. By and large, most web scraping is legal, though there are some wrinkles to that basic formula. While OpenAI has claimed that everything it does is above board, it has also been repeatedly criticized for a lack of transparency regarding the sources of some of its data. According to this weeks lawsuit, the startups hoovering practices are blatantly illegal; specifically, the suit accuses the company of violating multiple platforms terms of service agreements while also running afoul of various state and federal regulationsincluding privacy laws.

Despite established protocols for the purchase and use of personal information, Defendants took a different approach: theft. They systematically scraped 300 billion words from the internet, books, articles, websites and posts  including personal information obtained without consent. OpenAI did so in secret, and without registering as a data broker as it was required to do under applicable law

The lawsuit also highlights the fact that, after OpenAI freely exploited everybodys web content, it then proceeded to use that data to build commercial products that it is now attempting to sell back to the public for exorbitant sums of money:

Without this unprecedented theft of private and copyrighted information belonging to real people, communicated to unique communities, for specific purposes, targeting specific audiences, the [OpenAI] Products would not be the multi-billion-dollar business they are today.

Whether the U.S. justice system ends up agreeing with the lawsuits definition of theft is yet to be determined. Gizmodo reached out to OpenAI for comment on the new lawsuit but did not hear back.

OpenAIs legal troubles are piling up

The Clarkson lawsuit isnt the only one that OpenAI is currently dealing with. In fact, OpenAI has been subjected to an ever growing list of legal attacks, many of which make similar arguments.

Just this week, another lawsuit was filed in California on behalf of numerous authors who say their copyrighted works were scraped by OpenAI in its effort to gobble up data to train its algorithms. The suit, again, basically accuses the company of stealing data to fuel its businessand says it created its products by harvesting mass quantities of copyrighted works without consent, without credit, and without compensation. It goes on to characterize platforms like ChatGPT as being infringing derivative worksessentially implying that they wouldnt exist without the copyrighted materialmade without Plaintiffs permission and in violation of their exclusive rights under the Copyright Act.

At the same time, both the Clarkson suit and the authors suit bare some resemblance to another lawsuit that was was filed shortly after ChatGPTs release last November. This one, filed as a class action lawsuit by the offices of Joseph Savari in San Francisco, accuses OpenAI and its funder and partner Microsoft of having ripped off coders in an effort to train GitHub Copilotan AI driven virtual assistant. The lawsuit specifically accuses the companies of failing to adhere to the open source licensing agreements that undergird much of the development world, claiming that they instead lifted and ingested the code without attribution, while also failing to adhere to other legal requirements. In May, a federal judge in California declined OpenAIs motion to have the case dismissed, allowing the legal challenge to move forward.

In Europe, meanwhile, OpenAI has faced similar legal inquiries from government regulators over its lack of privacy protections for users data.

All of this legal turmoil takes place against the backdrop of OpenAIs meteoric ascent to Silicon Valley stardoma precarious new position that the company is clearly fighting to maintain. As the company fends off legal assaults, OpenAIs CEO, Sam Altman, has been attempting to influence how new laws will be built around his axis-shifting technology. Indeed, Altman has been courting governments all over the globe in an effort to lay the groundwork for a friendly regulatory environment. The company is clearly positioned to be the de facto leader in the AI industryif it can fend off the ongoing challenges to its very existence, that is.

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You clean your kitchen regularly, but when was the last time you really thought about how to clean a garbage disposal? Even the most gorgeous kitchen can be off-putting if you get a whiff of food waste from the kitchen sink. Unlike a trash can, which can be emptied in a jiffy, a garbage disposal cleaning needs to be more than running it for 30 seconds with hot water.

Thats because food waste gets caught in the hopper chamber and around the impellers. A simple rinse of running water wont be able to get the debris out, and after a while food scraps start to smell and sometimes even house fruit flies.

Knowing how to clean a garbage disposal is as important as cleaning the dishwasher filter, since it also stops refuse buildup that can clog the drain. The last thing you want is icky water to come up as your kitchen sink is full of dishes. This swamp bath is anything but a sanitized scenario.

The good news: There are several DIY garbage disposal cleaning methods you can try. Cleaning experts opt for hot water, rock salt, ice cubes, and basic household items such as white vinegar and baking soda, as well as common cleaning products. You can even attain a super-clean garbage disposal with the help of the humble old toothbrush. Read on to find out how.

How to Clean Garbage Disposal With White Vinegar and Baking Soda

This DIY cleaning method is all-natural and is one of the best drain cleaners around.

Step 1: Remove debris

Girl washing a steel sink with a sponge and foam in the kitchen Photo: Denis Shevchuk/Getty Images

Before you start this process, make sure that your garbage disposal doesnt have large chunks of food waste inside the chamber. Use tongs to look for stray scraps. It helps to have a flashlight for this.

A bottle cap or toothpick can make the garbage disposal rattle. If you cant resolve the problem on your own, call a plumber to assess the situation.

Step 2: Add the white vinegar and baking soda

David Steckel, home expert on home service site Thumbtack, recommends a one-to-one ratio for this cleaning solution. This means first adding one cup baking soda and then adding one cup white vinegar into the disposal. The solution with start to foam. Add a cup of boiling hot water. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes.

Step 3: Rinse with hot water

Pouring boiling water to unclog the kitchen sink Photo: SBenitez/Getty Images

Run hot water from your faucet, then turn on the garbage disposal until the mixture and food particles have washed away. Ontario, Canadabased Ahmed Mezil, CEO of Hellamaid, recommends citrus peels refresh by adding freshly halved lemons, limes, or oranges to this step. Let the natural oils and fresh scent eliminate odors, Mezil says. As the blades break up the citrus, not only do you get a fresh aroma, but the acid in the fruit will give your garbage disposal a disinfecting boost.

How to Clean Garbage Disposal With Ice Cubes

Ice cubes and dish soap are probably the easiest garbage disposal cleaning hack you can do at anytime.

Step 1: Sanitize the rubber splash guard

close up photo of sink drain hole used for washing cooking utensils Andri Tirta

Before you get to the inside of your garbage disposal, what about the wide opening that leads to the chamber? Youll notice that the black circular fan-like piece, also called the rubber splash guard, which is inside the sink flange, is probably covered in greenish-brown plaque. Spray it down with an all-purpose cleaner like the grapefruit-scented Method All-Purpose cleaner concentrate. Use an old toothbrush or a designated scrub brush to clean away the grime. Rinse with warm water. If your splash guard has seen better days, replace it.

Step 2: Fill the garbage disposal with ice cubes

Fill the entire garbage disposal with ice cubes. You will likely need at least two to three cups of ice. Use tongs, not fingers, to push down the ice cube to fill the chamber.

Step 3: Add dish soap

More likely than not the blades are coated with gunk, grease, and other uninviting residue. To wash it away, squirt grease-cutting dish soap, like Dawn Platinum EZ-Squeeze, over ice.

EZ-Squeeze Dawn Dishwashing Liquid

$17.00, Amazon

Step 4: Turn on the garbage disposal

This is the fun part. Turn on the water and run the garbage disposal until the ice cubes become the consistency of a slushy. Youll likely see that the white ice is now a brownish color. You may want to add another two cups of ice cubes for a deep clean.

Step 5: Rinse the garbage disposal

To rinse away all the residue, you can put in a stopper and then fill up the kitchen sink with water. Then remove the stopper and run the disposal again to create a powerful whirlpool that will remove any leftover debris. Alternatively, use a kettle and pour boiling water down the drain.

How to Clean Garbage Disposal With Rock Salt

Want to step up the ice cube cleaning routine with an extra deep clean? Add rock salt. The combination of rock salt and ice works twice as hard at dislodging food particles.

Step 1: Add ice cubes and rock salt

close up of sea salt for cooking and aromatherapy on wooden background, selective focus IKvyatkovskaya

The rock salt to ice ratio varies. For a deep clean, you can do a two-to-one ratio of ice cubes to rock salt. This means you will have two cups of ice cubes and one cup of rock salt. Use tongs to make sure the combo is evenly mixed.

Yet, for Alessandro Gazzo of Emilys Maids, a house-cleaning and maid service in the Dallas area, two tablespoons added to a large mixing bowl of ice cubes is a proven solution. Both salt and ice cubes are going to create friction between blades, Gazzo says.



I think doing this once a month should be enough.

Step 2: Run the water and the garbage disposal

Turn on the faucet so that the cold water starts to cover the ice cubes and the rock salt. Then start the garbage disposal and let it go for at least 15 seconds. Always keep the garbage disposal running long enough to empty itself, Gazzo says. You will know to stop when the grinding turns to a more soothing hum. Turn off the water and enjoy your clean garbage disposal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best way to clean waste disposal?

No one wants to lose a finger cleaning the grinding chamber. First things first: Turn off the power source, which means flipping the breaker or unplugging the disposal. Ensure that the garbage disposal is truly off by pushing the on-and-off button or switch.

If the rubber splash guard comes off easily, remove it first. Take a flashlight and shine it into the drain opening to see if large food scraps or other debris are blocking the grinder. Never put your hands into the garbage disposal to remove objects. Doing so can result in lacerations and even finger fractures. Instead, use tongs or pliers to remove these items safely. Once the garbage disposal is unobstructed, use a scrub brush or old toothbrush, as well as dish soap or drain cleaner to cleanse around the disposal impellers and dislodge grime. Once youre finished, reconnect the power and run the disposal with hot water to clear out the soapy water.

Do garbage disposals need to be cleaned out?

Yes! Every time youre done using the garbage disposal, leave the cold water faucet running for an extra 30 seconds to make sure the debris is flushed away. Make cleaning your garbage disposal a weekly habit.

Steckel recommends a hot water treatment once a week. Run it for 30 to 45 seconds with the disposal on, so that anything caught in and around the drain can be flushed out, especially thicker liquids that could be stuck to the area, he says.

Trying the hack with a few cups of ice with a handful of rock salt and running it with some warm water will literally take you less than two minutes. (See steps above.) Bonus points if you finish by throwing in citrus peels for a burst of freshness. Even if you rarely use your garbage disposal, cleaning it every two weeks will prevent a lingering stale kitchen sink smell. Once a month, deep clean with a scrub brush.

Photo: Liudmila Chernetska/Getty Images

To prevent a clog in your garbage disposal, avoid stuffing too much down the opening. While it can work like magic on food scraps like cucumber peels, big chunks, like a chicken bone, can overwhelm the grinder, cause clogs, and damage the appliance. Even seemingly harmless food like corn husks and celery sticks can mess with the garbage disposal because the strands can tangle around the blades.

If youve been negligent in cleaning the garbage disposal, dont think that a splash of bleach is going to fix the problem. Bleach doesnt always play nice with other cleaning products, and it leaves your kitchen smelling like a pool.

How do I clean and deodorize my garbage disposal?

One of the quickest and easiest ways to clean your disposal is to run warm water, squirt dish soap into the drain, and turn on the garbage disposal. If you havent cleaned the appliance in a while, use boiling water to sanitize the drain, disposal, and pipes.

To deodorize and get rid of that stale-kitchen-sink smell, drop citrus peels into the disposalyou might want to use tongs to ensure they are inthen let running water and grinder mash it all up into DIY aromatherapy. This method can be done with cold water.

Alternatively, pour a mixture of baking soda and white vinegar into the sink drain. Make sure to place the stopper over the drain because this mixture will fizz up and try to escape. Turn the hot water faucet on and run the disposal to clear it out. For a seriously smelly clog, use tongs to check if a nonfood item is stuck in the garbage disposal.

For no-fuss cleaning, use disposal cleaners, like Plink or Grab Green mineral-based garbage disposal cleaning pods, both found on Amazon.

Grab Green Garbage Disposal Freshener

$20.00, Amazon

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
CNN analyst Van Jones had pointed criticism for the Supreme Court on Friday over what he described as the high courts evermore out-of-touch decisions.

Jones said this weeks decisions which struck down affirmative action, opened the door for discrimination based on sexual orientation discrimination and shot down President Bidens loan forgiveness plan create a crisis of legitimacy which could undermine the tenets of the entire country.

This is dangerous stuff, because when you have a legitimacy crisis for the court, you have a legitimacy crisis for the country, he argued. You can imagine a generation of younger Americans looking at the Supreme Court that is so out of touch with their reality.

If Im a young Black kid, you just made affirmative action no longer helpful to me, its harder for me to get an education. Now, you say if I get one, its harder to pay off my student loans. My cousin or my best friend or myself, who might be gay or lesbian, any store they walk in they might get discriminated against because the Supreme Court says its OK, Jones continued. This courts not my friend. This court is my opponent. This court is my enemy.

The court handed down three landmark decisions Thursday and Friday, settling the most significant cases of the courts calendar. The rulings, all of which fell along ideological lines, call into question the legitimacy of the institution itself among court critics.

You want to have a system that is responsive, that is flexible, and a Supreme Court that is fair, so that new generations can feel that America is their country. That it is on their side, it cares about them, it can hear their cry; its the opposite thats happening, Jones said.

The younger generations values are being rubbed in the dog poo by the Supreme Court over and over again, he added.

Jones also noted legitimacy concerns over the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017, after the seat formerly held by Justice Antonin Scalia was left vacant for months despite attempts by former President Obama to fill it.

The court has overturned multiple precedents in recent years, leading dissenting justices to warn about cases with wider ramifications on the rights of Americans and the sanctity of law.

Theres a Supreme Court that is willing to strike down precedent and standing, and all the things that make the Supreme Court supreme have been put in the garbage can today. And its going to have ramifications for a long time, Jones said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Get ready to vote, and vote, and vote in 2024, Colorado.

Gov. Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jenna Griswold announced Thursday that Colorado will again have a Super Tuesday presidential primary election, putting the state's voters among the first to choose their preferred presidential candidates. That means voters here will make their primary presidential picks on March 5, before the state's June 25 primary and Nov. 5 general elections are held.

Colorado will be one of at least 15 states to hold a presidential primary during the first week of March as the field of contenders for president begins to be winnowed.

After using the caucus system to direct its delegates to to each party's national convention from 1992 to 2000, Colorado adopted a presidential primary following a 2016 statewide vote. In the state's March presidential primary in 2020, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former President Donald Trump took Colorado's respective Democrat and Republican votes. However, current President Joe Biden won 10 Super Tuesday states on his way to the Democratic nomination and presidency.

This year, Trump joins a crowded GOP field including 15 declared candidates. Other Republican hopefuls include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Biden is being challenged by lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and author Marianne Williamson, who also sought the Democratic nomination in 2020.

Colorado's 2024 elections will again be all-mail affairs, with same-day voter registration offered. The state's open primary system means that independent voters will be able to choose which party's primary ballot to fill out. With the largest percentage of Colorado voters listed as independent, those voters hold significant potential sway over primary elections.

Leaders from both parties praised the decision in a news release from the governor's office.

Coloradans are very engaged in our democracy and deserve to have our voices heard in determining the presidential nominees of each party," Polis said in a written statement. "Our state will benefit from increased awareness around Super Tuesday which we all hope continues Colorados record of strong voter turnout across the political spectrum and ensures that candidates speak to issues that are important to Coloradans.

For more information on Colorado's elections, including how to register to vote, visit https://www.coloradosos.gov/voter/pages/pub/home.xhtml.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado's presidential primary election will be Super Tuesday in 2024
Brothers Keith and Greg Paul became instant friends with their classmate Scott Danford back in 1984 at Hardaway High School.

The lifelong friends would come together almost 40 years later as business partners to meet a need in mens clothing in the region and purchase the popular brand Southern Point Co.

Keith and Greg operated a bio-solid waste business that they sold in 2019, while Danford gained experience in business working in various positions at Realtree Outdoors since 2002. A couple of years ago, the friends recognized a demand for a different style of clothing in Columbus.

For the most part, people dont wear suits and ties to work anymore, Keith said. Its more of a casual look.

From left, Keith Paul, Greg Paul, and Scott Danford pose for a portrait inside High Pines Outfitters, a mens clothing store they opened in October in Columbus, Georgia. They recently purchased the popular brand Southern Point Co. By acquiring Southern Point under the holding company Midland Apparel the three partners were able to bring in management and more structure to the sales team. 06/27/2023

The three men opened a mens clothing store named High Pines Outfitters on Airport Thruway last October to fill the void, he said. There arent any stores selling casual menswear of similar quality within about a 30 to 45 mile radius of Columbus, Keith said.

High Pines Outfitters hit the ground running after opening just before the holiday season, Danford said, but the slowdown at the start of 2023 made room for another big business decision for the business partners.

January and February historically are going to be slower months in retail anyway, Danford said. And, for whatever reason, I guess we got tired of having caught our breath, so we decided to buy another company to fill that little time of relaxation.

Danford was already familiar with the Alabama-based Southern Point Co. brand from his time working in the outdoor industry. Hed already met the brands founder Brent Howell and was familiar with the manufacturer.

I just knew there was an opportunity there, Danford said. So we kind of started talking about that and ultimately decided that was something we wanted to do.

More than what one man can handle

Howell started Southern Point Co. in 2009, and since then the brand gained popularity across the Southeast. Products from the brand learn towards clothing for outdoor activities and include shirts, polos, khaki pants and swimwear.

Southern Point became well known for its distinct logo featuring a German Shorthair Pointer. The iconic logo is an image of Howells dog named Greyton as shown by its distinctive markings, Danford said.

Business partners Keith Paul, Greg Paul, and Scott Danford recently purchased the popular brand Southern Point Co., acquiring Southern Point under the holding company Midland Apparel. 06/27/2023

Brent is a very creative kind of guy, he said. And his ideas are on every brand of clothing that we have. Every piece that we have, hes designed. But Brent grew this as a one-man show.

The brand had a small operation under Howell, Keith said, and was sold in about 350 stores in the region. Southern Point grew bigger than what one man could handle, Keith said, and Howell wanted to return to his roots designing clothes.

By acquiring Southern Point under the holding company Midland Apparel, he said, the three partners were able to bring in management and more structure to the sales team. Along with the additional management, the three men see room for the brand to enter more markets across the nation.

They will continue focusing on the Southeast, Danford said, but the company is selling products in Colorado and Michigan as well.

Theres some people out there that really like the southern lifestyle, even though its not the South, he said. And so we think theres an opportunity to really grow and saturate some of the other non-southeastern region states.

The Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma region also has unlimited growth opportunities, he said, while maintaining their southeastern footprint.

Despite the changes new ownership will bring to Southern Point, Danford said, there are two things that will never change. The first is that the quality of the clothing will continue to stay high, and the second is that they will never mess with the brands logo.

If I were to mess with that logo, I would have a problem at home with my wife and daughter, he said.
Guerrero: For Republicans, 'Bomb the Mexicans' is the new 'Build the Wall'

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waits to speak at a news conference along the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Monday. (Eric Gay / Associated Press)

When then-President Trump proposed shooting migrants in the legs and firing missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs, he did so in private.

Republican politicians are now expressing their bloodlust in public. As Build the Wall loses its edge, Bomb the Mexicans is becoming mainstream in the GOP.

On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis  Trumps top challenger for the Republican presidential nomination  promised to deploy the U.S. military against transnational cartels in Mexico and advocated for executing people crossing the border who are carrying drugs. You absolutely can use deadly force, he said.

All of the partys top presidential contenders endorse a counterterrorism operation against cartels in Mexico, in some cases regardless of Mexicos desires. Trump has called for battle plans targeting drug traffickers just like we took down ISIS.

The idea exploits the grief of tens of thousands of Americans whove lost loved ones to fentanyl, sometimes made in Mexico with chemicals from China. Republican bills introduced in both chambers of Congress seek to authorize military force in Mexico. Other legislation would designate cartels in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations or classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction, among other things.

No politician has proposed bombing the U.S. corporations behind thousands of opioid-related deaths, but why would they? To rally American support for state violence, bloodmongers need racism.

A new NBC News poll found that military force against cartels, at least at the border, was more popular than all other policy positions in the survey, including anti-transgender messages. About 86% of Republican primary voters and 55% of all voters favored using troops at the border to stop drugs.

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) has been sounding the alarm about Republican proposals that lay the groundwork for an invasion of Mexico. During a House Foreign Affairs committee meeting about a bill to classify fentanyl under the chemical weapons convention, he argued that it gave victims families false hope.

Theres literally a black hole in this piece of public policy that doesnt address the American side at all, Castro said. He was referring to the U.S. demand for drugs and government data showing U.S. citizens represent the vast majority of drug traffickers, despite the popular perception of cartels as Mexican.

Republican legislation also ignores the fact that cartels in Mexico operate almost exclusively with guns smuggled in from the U.S. in defiance of Mexicos gun laws, some of the most stringent in the world. Imagine if Mexico were planning to invade the U.S. to attack American gun companies, which make products known to kill tens of thousands of Mexicans each year and which refuse to take basic steps to stop gun smuggling. Instead, Mexico is merely suing the gun manufacturers.

Read more: Guerrero: DeSantis and Trump compete to take the most extreme stance on immigration

If we really want to fight criminal organizations and drug traffickers, we need to decrease their firepower, Alejandro Celorio Alcantara, legal advisor for Mexico's ministry of foreign affairs, told me.

Castro has introduced a bill that would curb gun trafficking to Latin America and the Caribbean, the Americas Regional Monitoring of Arms Sales (ARMAS) Act. So far, it has no Republican co-sponsors, although Castro hopes to change that soon. GOP leaders seem to prefer a strategy that will create more war-torn regions from which people are displaced and help transnational cartels to expand their territory, as often happens when the U.S. military interferes south of the border.

Mexicos President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has scoffed at Republicans proposals, saying the use of U.S. military force in Mexico would violate Mexicos sovereignty. Even if Republicans could coerce Mexico into accepting some form of military intervention, the result would almost certainly be greater harm.

If Americans understood the economic realities of what drives drug trafficking and migration from the region  including the role U.S. corporations play in propping up corrupt local elites  they wouldnt be advocating for more bloodshed in that country. But Republican politicians arent interested in finding real solutions for reducing the flow of desperate migrants or for families harmed by opioid addiction. Theyre into political gain, by any means necessary.

A few months ago, I spoke to a 52-year-old white woman whose son died in 2021 from a fentanyl overdose. Id first met this woman while reporting on Trump voters ahead of the 2020 election, and she agreed to speak to me about her grief on condition of anonymity.

She had thoroughly internalized the GOPs scapegoating of Mexicans. If it stops the drugs from coming across the border, I will bring a gun down there and I will start shooting, she told me. She broke into sobs. Ive never felt that way, she said, its not because I hate  I dont hate immigrants. I dont hate them as people. But I hate what theyre doing to our country. Theyre invading our country, stealing our livelihoods, murdering our children.

If President Biden doesnt stop the drugs, she said, its only a matter of time before private citizens organize an offensive at the border. Me, my family, my husband, and everybody I know is ready to do it, she said.

The danger of her fantasies is real. But she isnt the villain, and seeing her that way would only increase our political polarization and the potential for civil war.

We can recognize the real threat behind her views while understanding that people like her have been victimized by a failure of drug policies, coupled with corporate powers that profit from addiction and armed conflict.

Neither she nor the migrants whove been made scapegoats are the real enemies.

Our nemeses are the right-wing demagogues who want us to destroy one another.

@jeanguerre

If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Facing a recent uptick in shootings throughout the Sacramento region, local community leaders say more needs to be done to address gun violence and its root causes.

June is recognized in the U.S. as Gun Violence Awareness Month, but Sacramento activist Berry Accius said there has not been enough conversation about how to solve the growing problem.

Accius, founder of Voice of the Youth, and members of other community based organizations marched Friday outside the California state Capitol. They plan to discuss ways to prevent gun violence and crime.

The core of the message is simple: Stop the violence.

We stand in solidarity, we stand against gun violence in our communities. We wont tolerate it, Accius said. Were saying enough is enough. Were going to let our voices be heard.

Fridays rally marks the second iteration of the annual event, which started last year and is held in honor of gun violence victims and their loved ones.

The Sacramento region has recently seen several fatal shootings, including a 17-year-old who was killed near Vintage Park in south Sacramento; a drive-by shooting that killed two in Del Paso Heights; and a Grant High School student, Billy Scott, who was shot a day before he was scheduled to graduate.

Last years rally was sparked by another string of high-profile shootings, including the deaths of Gregory Najee Grimes, a football coach who was shot and killed outside of a nightclub in downtown Sacramento; Giovanni Pizano, better known as DJ Gio, who was shot and killed during a robbery attempt outside his Natomas home; and the April 2022 mass shooting in downtown Sacramento that left six people dead and 12 others wounded.

Youth from Sacramento stand behind community activist Berry Accius during the Organized Voices and Voices of Youth rally at the state Capitol on Thursday. Paul Kitagaki Jr./pkitagaki@sacbee.com

Gun violence has been relatively apparent everywhere, Accius said. Now we have more young people that have guns before they can have an opportunity. Why do young people have more access to guns than opportunities?

Accius is challenging city leaders and political leaders to make necessary changes that will adequately address the issues surrounding guns and violence.

People in power, get off your a---s and invest in the people who are doing the work. Lets do something significant, Accius said. We need the support to do the work to stop the violence in our communities. We need the investment. Whenever law enforcement needs money, they get it. Whenever we ask for funding, its always in jeopardy.

Although Accius said the issue is not all about money, he knows that its a major component in the work he and other community based organizations perform.

Theyre clueless at what it takes to effectively create change in our communities, Accius said. Its not even about money. Its about really investing significantly in other approaches. These kids need a lot more.

Accius believes community based organizations should be a part of the citys budget for public safety. He said if it werent for community based organzations and the efforts they make to keep kids off the streets, there would probably be more bloodshed.

Violence comes from all the rooted issues that we dont ever want to address, Accius said. Poverty, lack of education, disenfranchised and underserved communities, food deserts, and all these underlying things.

Those factors arent excuses for the string of gun deaths and injuries reported in recent weeks, Accius said. But he hopes community based organizations can be on the ground level, keeping youth on the right track.
The debate highlights a growing ideological divide between conservatives who have advocated for expanding nontraditional educational approaches demonstrated by charter and private schools, and progressives who have argued the state should devote more resources to supporting existing learning in public schools.

At the Parker-Varney school in Manchester, grades are not part of the curriculum. Mastery is.

Students work their way through individual concepts, like long division or the mathematical order of operations. There are no letter grades and no distinct grade levels by age. But when a student fully masters a level, they may advance to the next one.

The approach requires a focused, personalized form of teaching that caters to each childs educational path. But school officials say it has delivered clear results for students. Once labeled a Comprehensive Support and Improvement School  a designation given by the state to schools that fall in the bottom 5 percent of testing  the New Hampshire Department of Education removed Parker-Varney from that designation in 2022.

Now, state officials and conservative education advocates are hoping to make the approach more standard in New Hampshire public schools. And theyre focusing on a once-a-decade update to administrative rules to do it.

The Department of Education released a blueprint this year for a sweeping set of updates to the states minimum standards for public schools  the benchmarks that existing public schools must adhere to and that new public schools must meet.

The proposed rules come out of a two-year consultation with the National Center for Competency-Based Learning (NCCBL), a nonprofit advocacy group the state has contracted with to help develop the new rules. The State Board of Education must approve new rules in 2024, when the last decades rules expire.

In recent weeks, the architect of that plan, Fred Bramante, has traveled the state and conducted listening sessions to hear from parents and educators. To Bramante, the state has an opportunity to move forward on an effort that began 20 years ago to pivot public schools to a competency-based student assessment approach that can better prepare students.

Thats really what were hoping for: That we will unleash creativity, said Bramante, a former chairman of the State Board of Education and the president of the NCCBL.

But not all public school educators are on board. Some worry that the proposed new standards will water down the requirements for newly created public schools. Others say the expectation that traditional public schools can easily leap into the Parker-Varney learning model is overly ambitious.

Its like trying to make a Royal Caribbean cruise ship turn right immediately, said Sue Hannan, president of the Manchester Education Association.

And some, like the National Education Association of New Hampshire, a teachers union, have voiced concerns that the new rules will be costly for schools. The proposed rules include a requirement for school boards to create a mechanism for personalized learning plans for public school students, which some educators say could be unworkable without more staff and resources.

The debate highlights a growing ideological divide between conservatives who have advocated for expanding nontraditional educational approaches demonstrated by charter and private schools, and progressives who have argued the state should devote more resources to supporting existing learning in public schools.

The proposed new rule changes span 87 pages and touch on a number of areas of the state standards, from assessment practices to graduation requirements.

Some changes are small tweaks. Others have sparked major debates.

A suggestion to stop requiring that schools review ways in which equity gaps in achievement can be reduced and barriers to learning can be eliminated has prompted backlash from educators; Bramante and other advocates argue equity is preserved in other parts of the rules. Another proposed deletion  of the requirement that schools have a fair and equitable code of discipline  brought criticism from the New Hampshire School Administrators Association.

But as Bramante tours the state to discuss the rules, he has pushed the competency-based education components to center stage. The proposed rules state that competency-based assessment shall be used as a component of the states review of schools, and it requires schools to develop curricula in which competencies are clearly stated and measurable and students advance upon mastery.

To Bramante, competency-based learning changes the relationship between teaching and learning. While traditional approaches focus heavily on a students participation in class at a given time and place, competency-based learning focuses on how much that student has learned, he said.

A student in a traditional classroom might excel in some classes and fall short in others, but as long as they pass the course they get their credit, Bramante told an audience of teachers and community members at Manchester Memorial High School recently.

In a competency-based world, we switch it, he said. Time and place become the variables, and learning becomes the constant.

Bramante says the competency model is much more centered on making sure students have an adequate understanding of concepts before they move forward. That, in turn, makes them better prepared for the workplace, he said.

If youre going to learn to fly a plane and you get an A in taking off, you get an A in keeping the plane in the air, but you get a D or an F in landing, they dont let you pass the course, he said. The current grade-based public school instruction model does not reflect true competency, he said.

Ryan Terrell, a board member and the vice chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, agreed, calling competency-based education a necessary step in addition to encouraging more public-private education partnerships.

As were having this discussion, one of the biggest pieces of pushback, or questions that Ive heard, is about how do we preserve an existing system? he said during the Manchester presentation. The reality is that those communities that were always talking about  low-income communities, communities of color  these are communities that in todays current traditional school system, regardless of funding, are currently already being underserved.

Introducing a new learning model into public schools is a more effective way to transform conditions for struggling schools, Terrell argued.

For their part, many public school educators say they broadly support competency-based instruction. But without additional funding to implement the proposed rules, some have compared them to an unfunded mandate.

Working here in Manchester, I think we have worked long and hard in moving toward CBE, said Hannan, using an acronym for competency-based education. But throwing out a document and thinking were going to change all at once? This is Manchester; we have 30,000-plus students, (and) 2,000 educators and staff.

Rep. Damond T. Ford, a Manchester Democrat who attended the Memorial High School meeting, said he respects the competency-based model. Its an effective way to allow teachers to reach students at different learning levels, he said.

My children go to Parker-Varney, he said. So Im like: It actually works.

But he said he didnt think it would be so simple to implement in every public school classroom. The approach is so resource-intensive that not every school in the Manchester School District has implemented it, let alone across the state, Ford noted.

Theres a lot more to it than just learning a new way to teach and to grade, he said. The personalized learning plans are really hard to implement unless you have the staff.

For Manchester Superintendent Jennifer Gillis, the results of Parker-Varneys approach are laudable. Expanding that to the other 21 schools in Manchester would require careful planning.

I think its the same of anything you try to push into a district: You have to have it at that ground level, she said in an interview. Youve got to be able to work it from the classroom all the way on up. We cant do it without each other.

This story was originally published by New Hampshire Bulletin

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Competency-based learning standard for NH schools takes center stage in rules debate
WASHINGTON  A fire broke out Thursday night in the amphibious assault ship Bougainville, which is still under construction at Ingalls Shipbuilding, the company confirmed, with several shipyard employees being treated for smoke inhalation.

Ingalls Shipbuilding fire and safety personnel responded to a call for a fire in the Bougainville superstructure, or the portion that rises above the flight deck level.

The fire was extinguished and two shipbuilders were transported to the hospital for smoke inhalation and were released later in the evening. Four other shipbuilders were treated for smoke inhalation onsite. No additional injuries have been reported, Kimberly Aguillard, an Ingalls Shipbuilding spokeswoman, told Defense News. Our shipbuilders responded immediately and within a short amount of time the fire was extinguished. A full review of the events, including a detailed timeline, is under development.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but initial findings indicate hot work was being performed nearby. Hot work can create sparks that can, as has been the case in previous shipboard fires, ignite flammable materials like rags, papers and oils.

Aguillard said the fire and smoke was contained to a small number of compartments.

Initial indications are that damage is limited to the immediately impacted compartments and no damage to the remainder of the ship nor the shipyard was incurred, she added.

Bougainville is the third America-class amphibious assault ship. Construction began in October 2018, and the ship is scheduled to launch from its land-based construction area into the water later this year. The ship was originally expected to deliver to the U.S. Navy in fiscal 2024, but service budget documents now show an October 2025 delivery date.

Ingalls Shipbuilding is a subsidiary of HII, which was ranked as the 17th largest defense company in the world in the Defense News Top 100, based on defense revenue.
A consumer group is calling for stronger action against airlines who cancel flights and fail to give refunds, saying no UK airline has been fined in 20 years

UK airlines have been getting away with "unlawful" behaviour against passengers for 20 years, Which? says. Carl Court / Staff / Getty Images

UK airlines should face stricter rules over cancellations and giving refunds, a consumer group says.

Which? says 2.3 million people in the UK weren't refunded for flights they couldn't take in the pandemic.

But the US just fined British Airways $1.1 million for delaying refunds since the pandemic.

Consumer group Which? is calling for stricter regulation of airlines operating in the UK and stronger fines against them, saying airlines have engaged in 'unlawful' behavior for 20 years.

Which? said Friday in a press release that UK airlines have escaped financial penalties and fines for 20 years since the Civil Aviation Authority was given the power to apply enforcement on airlines in 2003.

It pointed out that delayed and unpaid refunds from airlines were a major issue during the pandemic when flights were cancelled, as well as in 2022 when travel returned to normal and demand for flights surged massively.

Over 24,000 complaints about airlines in the UK were made to the CAA in 2020, in regards to regulation EC261 which requires airlines to compensate passengers when flights are delayed or cancelled.

Around 2.3 million people in the UK were not compensated for flights they couldn't take during the pandemic, according to the release.

Which? has submitted repeated complaints to the CAA about poor airline behavior including when British Airways failed to reroute passengers after flights were cancelled in April 2022 and EasyJet in June 2022.

The CAA failed to take meaningful actions in both instances. However, in the US BA was fined $1.1 million for unpaid refunds during the pandemic after its Transportation Department received 1,200 complaints about BA delaying refunds, per the release.

Which? said that the CAA "urgently needs stronger enforcement powers," like the ability to fine airlines to hold them to account.

"The US government fining Britain's flag carrier when our own authorities are powerless to do the same makes a mockery of aviation regulation in the UK, which has been failing travellers for 20 years," Which? Directory of Policy and Advocacy, Rocio Concha said in the release.

Concha was referring to British Airways being fined $1.1 million in the US over unpaid refunds to customers whose flights were delayed or canceled since the start of the pandemic.

"Passengers have repeatedly endured unfair and in some cases unlawful treatment by some airlines in recent years and meaningful action is long past due.

The UK's Department for Transport introduced new regulations for airlines on Tuesday including giving the CAA the power to issue "fines for breaches."

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Northern Kentucky doctor convicted of illegally prescribing painkillers and other drugs has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison.

Dr. David Suetholz, 74, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Covington. U.S, District Judge David L. Bunning also fined Suetholz $5,000.

Kent Wicker, an attorney for Suetholz, said he will appeal his conviction.

Suetholz, a general practitioner who had an office in Covington early in his career and later in Fort Mitchell, also served as the coroner of Kenton County from June 1991 to June 2021, according to court records.

He was charged in connection with writing prescriptions to patients for drugs that included oxycodone, an opioid painkiller, and Xanax and Valium.

Federal authorities charged Suetholz wrote the prescriptions outside the scope of professional practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.

A jury convicted him on 12 of the 25 counts against him.

Attorneys for Suetholz asked Bunning to impose a non-custodial sentence  such as home detention  along with community service and a $25,000 fine.

Defense attorneys and supporters who wrote letters to Bunning described Suetholz as a dedicated, compassionate doctor motivated only to serve patients, including disadvantaged people and people struggling with drug problems.

The accusations against Suetholz werent like those in a typical illegal prescribing case, with a doctor allegedly abusing his position to make money, defense attorneys argued.

Rather, the governments case was about a man who allegedly bucked protocols because he thought he knew what was best for his patients, defense attorneys said.

Guided by his faith, his devotion to his family and his community, Dr. Suetholz worked hard his whole life to make the lives of his patients better, defense attorneys wrote.

Prosecutors, however, argued that despite being sanctioned earlier by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure over prescribing, Suetholz ignored red flags about drug abuse by his patients, ignored drug tests and provided unnecessary prescriptions to people with histories of addiction.

Suetholz continued to prescribe in a manner that contributed to the epidemic of prescription drug abuse that has ravaged communities in Kentucky and the nation, prosecutors said.

Drugs that Suetholz prescribed for one patient contributed to her overdose death, according to prosecutors, who sought a sentence of five years and three months for Suetholz.

Before sentencing, attorneys for Suetholz asked Bunning to overturn the conviction against him or grant him a new trial.

Their arguments included that Bunning allowed jurors to hear some evidence that shouldnt have been admitted and that the government failed to adequately prove Suetholz intended to write prescriptions illegally.

Bunning denied the motion.
A Cook County judge who was accused in court filings of making racist comments during a conference in his chambers in January has been reassigned until further notice, according to Cook Countys chief judge.

In a motion for substitution of judge filed earlier this month, attorney Matthew Fakhoury accused Judge William Hooks of making racist remarks about Middle Eastern men, along with other derogatory comments, during a conference for a defendant charged with aggravated domestic battery.

Fakhoury also filed an affidavit that accused Hooks of improperly communicating with the prosecutors on the case in an attempted cover-up. Judges are not allowed to speak to parties on one side of a case while those on the other side are unaware.

In a statement, Chief Judge Tim Evans said he issued an order assigning Hooks to restricted duties that do not include judicial work following a meeting Thursday by the Circuit Court of Cook County Executive Committee.

The reassignment is effective immediately, and was meant to promote public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. It will stay in effect until further order of the court.

The order said that if the allegations about Hooks comments  as well as the alleged ex parte communications with prosecutors, are true  its likely a violation of the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct.

The comments were alleged to have happened in an off-the-record conference in chambers, so they werent recorded, nor was a transcript produced.

Hooks appeared before the committee with counsel on Thursday, the order said.

The defendant, Ryan Thomas, was indicted last June on four battery-related felony charges, and the case was assigned to Hooks courtroom, court records show.

On Jan. 17, the motion alleged, Hooks made several inappropriate and derogatory comments directed at Fakhoury and Thomas, including saying that Middle Eastern men are controlling and abusive.

Hooks referenced his service as a Marine, and said, according to the motion, while looking at Fakhoury, who is Arab American: I would shoot and kill men like that from Middle Eastern countries.

The reassignment is not the first time Hooks has been ordered away from the bench. In 2018, Hooks was temporarily reassigned to administrative duties and referred to anger management counseling.

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com
Portland Police

Portland police have identified the white man suspected of brutally beating a Black food truck owner while allegedly yelling slurs.

On Thursday, the Portland Police Bureau issued a press release requesting public assistance to find a man identified as Daniel Thomas Warren. An officer investigating the case spoke to witnesses and was able to get video evidence of the attack, but police said efforts to locate and arrest Warren have been unsuccessful.

While working at LoRells Chicken Shack on June 15, Darell Preston was attacked by a man he didnt know, according to his attorney Alicia LeDuc Montgomery. Montgomery claimed the attacker screamed the N-word during the assault, and video footage she provided to The Daily Beast showed the suspect walking away after stomping and beating Preston as if nothing happened. Montgomery said Preston suffered severe facial injuries and his wife drove him to the hospital after first responders failed to provide any medical assistance.

Preston suffered horrific injuries in the attack. Courtesy of Alicia LeDuc Montgomery

However, police countered that they had to convince Preston to come out from his food truck to speak to them after the attack.

They immediately offered to summon EMS, but he declined, Portland police said, according to the press release issued Thursday. When the officer asked for more detail on what happened, the victim declined to say more and locked himself in the cart.

Montgomery claimed her client was too scared to talk.

The Portland Police Bureau previously told The Daily Beast that it was investigating the attack as a hate crime.

Any arrest must be based on probable cause and will stand up to scrutiny in any future criminal court proceeding, Portland police spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen wrote in an email. A misstep now could prevent justice from being served later, and we have dedicated and professional detectives working hard to do things right.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The previously unidentified passenger in a four-victim car crash on Saturday was a Marine serving at Camp Pendleton, California, Corps officials confirmed Wednesday.

Base press officials say the fourth victim, Sgt. Jose Martinez, worked as a small arms technician for Combat Logistics Regiment 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group.

The Corps already had identified three other Marines stationed at the southern California base who were killed in the crash as Sgt. Daniel Nichols, Cpl. Rodrigo Zermeno Gomez Jr. and Staff Sgt. Joshua Moore Jr.

The single-vehicle crash happened around 2:30 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

These are the top causes of Marine deaths in 2022

The four Marines died after their 2018 Dodge Charger sped into a barrier on a freeway in Downey, California  a town just south of Los Angeles.

California Highway Patrol officials say the car splintered upon impact, overturned and burst into flames.

Preliminary information indicates that the driver lost control of the vehicle at a high rate of speed causing the vehicle to collide with a guardrail and the bridge abutment of the Lemoran Avenue pedestrian overcrossing, California Highway Patrol said in a statement to KTLA-TV.

Nichols, 26, an ammunition specialist from Texas, enlisted in 2017. He, Gomez Jr. and Martinez served in the same unit.

Nichols service medals included the National Defense Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, two Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, a Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal and a Certificate of Commendation.

Gomez Jr., a 21-year-old maintenance management specialist from Arizona, enlisted in August 2020.

His awards included the National Defense Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

Moore Jr., 27, enlisted in 2014 and worked as an ammunition chief for the forces 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

His awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals, Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon and a Certificate of Commendation.

Martinezs awards and decorations included the National Defense Service Medal, the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation and the Meritorious Mast.

Police say they are still investigating the exact cause of the accident.
A 130-acre tract planned for residences and stores in Indian Land will include the first Costco in Lancaster County, a rapidly growing South Carolina community near Charlotte.

Rezoning to accommodate the national warehouse chain was approved by Lancaster County Council in June.

The overall project is called the Exchange at Indian Land and is being developed by Crosland Southeast of Charlotte. The project will include about 700 apartments and townhomes in the first phase as well as commercial and retail businesses.

Costco expects the store will generate $2.6 million in sales tax revenue and $1 million in property tax. Yates Dunaway, senior vice president for Crosland Southeast, told Lancaster County Council members the store will have $200 million in annual sales.

The store will be 156,000 square feet and have a gas station.

Real estate companies advertising the outparcels for the site say the area is projected to have a 5% increase in population each year.

Nearby retailers are Harris Teeter, Publix, Food Lion, Walmart, Lowes Home Improvement, Stone Cinemas, Adli, Lidl, Hobby Lobby, Burlington, Ross, TJMaxx and Homegoods.

In addition, the Medical University of South Carolina has a medical campus in the area.

Costco has locations in Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Greenville, Spartanburg, Charleston and Mount Pleasant.
First Lady Jill Biden, a long-time advocate for military families, spoke to the graduating class of Marines at U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal Friday  the first time in 37 years that a major political figure has visited the South Carolina base, which trains all Marines east of the Mississippi River.

The first lady also served as the parade review official over the graduation ceremony and watched as 199 Marines in Fox Company, 2nd Battalion marched in front of her while families seated in bleachers behind her cheered. Retired officers or congressman typically fill the ceremonial position.

Wearing a colorful dress with vibrant pink flowers, Biden entered the parade deck bleachers and was seated next to Brigadier General Walker Field as the band played military standards complete with the ceremonial drums. The band also added Amazing Grace to the performance.

First Lady Jill Biden makes her way to the podium on Friday, June 30, 2023 at U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. The visit is part of a White House initiative started in 2011 by then First Lady Michelle Obama and Biden called Joining Forces to assist military members and their families through education, employment opportunities and wellness programs.

Bidens visit to Parris Island comes on the 50th anniversary of the nations all-volunteer force and the end of the draft in 1973. Since the end of military conscription, 11 million have joined as active-duty service members with more than 1.5 million men and women serving today across the U.S. Armed Forces.

The choice of service to country, Biden said, is a sacred one.

Thank you, Biden told the Marines. I hope you are proud because we are  your instructors, your families and your Commander in Chief.

About 20,000 recruits come to Parris Island annually for the chance to become Marines by enduring the strenuous 13-week physical and mental program. Along with San Diego, its one of two Marine Corps basic recruit training facilities in the country.

The South Carolina visit also was part of First Lady Jill Bidens White House initiative called Joining Forces, to support those who serve and their families. First Lady Michelle Obama and then Second Lady Jill Biden launched the program in 2011.

Dr. Biden, 72, the wife of President Joe Biden, has traveled to more than two dozen bases since the Biden Administration took office in January 2021 but this was the first time shes reviewed troops in any military branch.

And her visit to Parris Island was the first time an occupant of the White House has stepped foot on Parris Island since 1986, when President Ronald Reagan flew in on a helicopter and spoke to Marines at Leatherneck Square, said Bobby Yarbrough, a chief warrant officer and a Parris Island spokesman.

An estimated 1,800 to 2,000 people attended Fridays graduation, most of them family members eager to see their sons and daughters. The first lady was a bonus.

Twin brothers Rocher Landou, left and Puissance Landou pose for a photo with their mother Alice Landou, center and their sister Belinda Landou on Friday, June 30, 2023 after graduating at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. The brothers wanted to enlist in the Marine Corps after the family immigrated from The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It truly means a lot to me for her to come to my graduation, Puissance Landou said.

A joyous Landou was celebrating with his family  including his brother, Rocher Landou. The 20-year-old twins both graduated in Fridays ceremony. Now these two immigrants from the Congo are U.S. marines.

Rocher considers the chance to become a Marine an awesome opportunity. Few people can do it, he said. Just one percent, Puissance chimed in, adding that hell carry the honor of being a Marine with him for the rest of his life. Hes thankful, Puissance said, for the kind words of the first lady and said shes helped out the Marines and other military branches.

Immediately after the ceremony in the soupy South Carolina heat concluded, Biden was whisked away to a waiting motorcade before boarding Air Force Two to return to Washington, D.C.

Biden arrived at Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort at 4:30 p.m. Thursday where she was greeted by Beaufort Mayor Stephen Murray and his family and Col. Karl Arbogast, the base commander, and Sgt. Major Bryan Alfaro, the senior enlisted Marine.

First Lady Jill Biden is given a ceremonial framed photo after speaking at the graduation ceremony on Friday June 30, 2023 at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. The visit was part of a White House initiative started in 2011 by then First Lady Michelle Obama and Biden called Joining Forces to assist military members and their families through education, employment opportunities and wellness programs.

She then went to Hilton Head Island, where she enjoyed a meal at an island restaurant that White House Spokesperson Beibhinn Steiner declined to identify but noted, it had a view of the ocean.

Biden also spent the night at a hotel on Hilton Head but the location was also not disclosed.

Good morning Marines, Biden told the graduates when she took the podium to polite applause.

Good morning maam, boomed 199 Marines in unison.

I love that, Biden said to chuckles from the audience.

Bidens father, Donald Jacobs, joined the Navy three months after Pearl Harbor was attacked, Biden said.

His service defined his life and hers growing up in suburban Philadelphia. But she didnt fully understand the sacrifice until her son, Beau Biden, enlisted after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Beau Biden was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard and served in the Iraq War. He died of brain cancer in 2015.

First Lady Jill Biden reviews Marines during the Pass in Review portion of the graduation ceremony on Friday, June 30, 2023 at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island. The visit was part of a White House called Joining Forces to assist military members and their families through education, employment opportunities and wellness programs.

Beaus wife, Hallie, served in her own way, Biden said. Their two children also had to adapt when he was deployed to Iraq. Families answer the call of duty, which is why she advocates for the Joining Forces initiative, she said.

Through the Join Forces program, Biden has advocated for increased economic opportunities for military spouses and additional educational programming for children.

God bless you and your families, said Biden, adding, Semper Fi, echoing the Marine motto that is Latin for always faithful.

Update: Shortly after the story was published online, a correction was made to reflect that the Joining Forces Initiative was launched by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden in 2011.
The top Brazilian elections court has voted to ban former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro from office for eight years after finding that he abused his power while president.

Four of the seven members of the court voted that Bolsonaro, who served as the president of Brazil for four years before losing reelection in 2022, abused his power by using government communication channels to campaign and spread doubts about the validity of the election results. One of the members voted against the majority ruling, while two had not submitted their votes as of early Friday afternoon.

Bolsonaro will be able to appeal the ruling to the Brazilian Supreme Court, but if the court upholds the ruling, the former president will be barred from running for office until 2030, when he will be 75 years old.

The case against Bolsonaro centered around a meeting he held in July 2022 in which he used state television, government staff members and the presidential palace to tell foreign ambassadors that Brazils electoral system was rigged.

Judge Carmen Lucia provided the deciding vote that clinched the election courts ruling against Bolsonaro. She said the facts of what happened are incontrovertible.

The meeting did take place. It was convened by the then-president. Its content is available. It was examined by everyone, and there was never a denial that it did happen, Lucia ruled.

Bolsonaro declared that the ruling was an injustice against him.

Show me something concrete I have done against democracy, he told reporters. Perhaps my crime was doing the right thing for four years.

The Washington Post reported that Bolsonaros attorney, Tarcisio Vieira de Carvalho, said before the ruling was handed down that they would appeal to the top court in the country.

The ruling against Bolsonaro marks the first time in Brazilian history that a former president has been suspended from running for office for an elections-related violation. He is also facing additional legal issues, including criminal probes.

The Post reported that Bolsonaros comments and actions led to his supporters storming Brazils Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace on Jan. 8 in a situation that drew comparisons from observers to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol in the United States.

Bolsonaro narrowly lost a runoff election to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last year but refused to concede the race.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Arlington Police Department has closed the criminal case filed against Bishop Michael Olson.

The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth told the Star-Telegram on Friday that the department informed diocese officials that the criminal case against Olson has been closed as unfounded.

The complaints against Olson were brought by the Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, who previously oversaw cloistered nuns at the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington.

Olson had launched an investigation into Gerlachs alleged sexual misconduct with a priest and dismissed Gerlach from the Order of Discalced Carmelites.

Gerlach accused Olson of abuse of power and overstepping his authority. She is suing the bishop and the diocese and seeking more than $1 million in damages. A hearing in the lawsuit was held Tuesday in the 67th District Court in downtown Fort Worth.

The Arlington Police Department announced June 7 that it had received a letter dated May 31 from a local law firm raising allegations about recent actions taken at the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in our city. In response, the department has launched an investigation to determine whether any criminal offenses have occurred, the statement said.

Gerlachs lawyer Matthew Bobo had contacted police about her complaints, which include allegations that Olson and the diocese illegally seized data from her electronic devices before she was dismissed June 1. Police interviewed the nun June 7, according to Bobo.

A representative of the diocese told the Star-Telegram at that time that neither the Bishop nor anyone at the Diocese have been involved in any criminal activity regarding the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity.

The mere fact that Attorney Bobo initiated and made a report to the Arlington Police Department was not unexpected given the aggressive manner he has litigated this ecclesiastical dispute in the press, the diocese spokesperson said.

The diocese also told the Star-Telegram it had alerted police regarding serious concerns about marijuana and edibles inside the Arlington monastery of Carmelite nuns. Photos provided by the diocese show hordes of pill bottles and cannabis products. The diocese said the photos were taken by an informant.

Its not clear whether the Arlington Police Departments criminal investigation into the alleged drug use at the monastery is ongoing.
A secret investigation into alleged sexual abuse at the US Coast Guard Academy, the training ground for the Coast Guards top officers, uncovered a dark history of rapes, assaults and other serious misconduct being ignored and, at times, covered up by high-ranking officials.

The findings of the probe, dubbed Operation Fouled Anchor, were kept confidential by the agencys top leadership for several years. Coast Guard officials briefed members of Congress this month after inquiries from CNN, which had reviewed internal documents from the probe.

Despite credible evidence of assaults dating back to the late 1980s, investigators found that most of the alleged perpetrators were not criminally investigated at the time. Instead, the incidents were handled as administrative violations, and punishments, if they happened at all, were as minor as extra homework or lowered class standings. Sometimes, even those pushed out of the academy were still able to serve in the US military.

As a result, some of the accused ascended to top roles at the Coast Guard and other military agencies.

In contrast, many alleged victims left the academy after reporting their assaults, ending their hopes of a career in the service.

This investigation made clear that the [schools] leadership was more concerned at that time about organizational and [Coast Guard Academy] reputation than about the victims of crimes who were members of our service, a draft of the Fouled Anchor final report from 2019 said.

The US Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. is the training ground for the agency's top officers. - Petty Officer 2nd Class Lauren L/U.S. Coast Guard Academy/FILE

Sexual assault survivors said that what the academy put them through continued to affect their mental health, personal relationships and careers, according to records and interviews with CNN. They detailed suicide attempts, battles with depression and anxiety, emergency room visits and long lists of medications they have used to help them cope with the lingering trauma.

Whose fault is it that he was still in the (Coast Guard) 20 (years) later? If Im sounding frustrated it is because I am, Kerry Karwan, a Coast Guard veteran whose allegations were part of the Fouled Anchor probe, wrote in a 2018 letter she sent to Coast Guard leaders and then-President Donald Trump about her alleged assailant.

I upheld the Coast Guard Corps Values and an individual that assaulted me and other women retired honorably with higher benefits than I didWe are a service that saves people for a living. Id like to think our own service members are people worth saving, Karwan wrote.

The investigation was a historical reckoning of past abuses, but in some ways raises questions about the current culture of the academy and Coast Guard at large. While the agency partially blamed the poor handling of sexual misconduct investigations on outdated views of sexual assault and officials who had left the academy long ago, the Coast Guard continues to struggle to hold suspected sexual predators accountable, as a CNN investigation earlier this year revealed.

Despite findings of wrongdoing against academy officials and former students, Operation Fouled Anchor was quietly closed by agency leaders, many of whom had studied and worked alongside the alleged perpetrators. Two accused perpetrators were discreetly pushed to retire from the Coast Guard, according to internal records reviewed by CNN.

Records show that there were nearly 40 cases where the Coast Guard no longer had jurisdiction over the alleged attackers and local and federal criminal statutes had long run out of time, so no action was taken at all.

The US Coast Guard did not initially respond to CNNs inquiries about the handling of the probe, but said in a statement provided after publication that the probe was not disclosed widely at the time.

We recognize that transparency is critical to building the trust not only of victims, but all cadets and personnel at the Academy, and we are committed, moving forward, to be open and transparent regarding the outcomes of this process and our efforts to prevent and address this scourge, the agency said.

The agency also noted that improvements to sexual assault and harassment policies and investigative procedures had been improved in the years that followed the focus of the report.

The Coast Guard fully recognizes that, by not having taken appropriate action at the time of the sexual assaults, the Coast Guard may have further traumatized the victims, delayed access to their care and recovery, and prevented some cases from being referred to the military justice system for appropriate accountability, it said. The Coast Guard owns this failure and apologizes to each of the victims and their loved ones.

Some alleged perpetrators pushed out of the academy were still able to serve in the US miltary. - David M. Santos/U.S. Coast Guard/FILE

Democratic Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington state, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin sent a letter to the Coast Guard Friday, questioning why the report had been kept secret, even from those in Congress with oversight authority over the agency. The senators expressed concern that substantiated perpetrators may hold security clearances and that two were allowed to honorably retire with their pensions and veterans benefits intact. They requested additional information to help the committee determine if the Coast Guard complied with the law and to inform potential legislative actions.

The senators also questioned whether the Coast Guard failed to use its authority to appropriately discipline individuals who were investigated and remain (or remained) in the Coast Guard.

Operation Fouled Anchor, named after a ships anchor that has become entangled around itself, was launched in 2014 when an academy graduate claimed that her allegations of rape from years earlier had never been investigated. She said school officials pressured her not to pursue the issue. Her alleged rapist had gone on to be a top officer in the Air Force and was the only person to face criminal charges in military court as a result of the probe, but an appeals court ended up ruling in his favor and dismissing the charges, saying that the military had missed its window to prosecute because the Coast Guard waited nearly two decades to investigate the victims allegations.

Investigators found that many alleged victims ended up leaving the academy after reporting their alleged assaults. - Stephen Dunn/AP/FILE

While looking into the womans case, agents determined that her allegations and more than two dozen other reports of misconduct had essentially been buried by academy leaders. And as they continued digging, they unearthed more than 90 potential assaults from the late 1980s to 2006. It is unclear from the documents why the probe did not extend to more recent years. Former cadets recounted stories of awakening in the middle of the night only to find classmates on top of them mid-assault. Some reported being assaulted multiple times by different classmates; others described being attacked by the same man. In one case, a victim had allegedly been left with rope marks on her wrists.

In informal briefings to Senate Commerce Committee staff as recently as this week, Coast Guard officials said the investigation had ultimately identified more than 60 substantiated incidents of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment committed by academy cadets or otherwise that occurred at the academy, according to the senators letter.

The investigation, which involved more than 75 agents, hundreds of interviews and nearly 20,000 hours of investigative work, according to records, found that school leaders routinely failed to report serious allegations to law enforcement, intentionally avoiding the criminal justice system.

There was a disturbing pattern of not treating reported sexual assaults as criminal matters, the Coast Guards draft report reviewed by CNN stated.

In some instances, school officials at the time recommended launching criminal inquiries into alleged assaults only to be overruled by top leadership at the academy, according to records reviewed by CNN.

Documents show how Coast Guard agents cobbled together fragmented pieces of information detailing the academys handling of past reports of sexual assault as administrative disciplinary matters.

Many documents about the alleged assaults were shredded long ago. Agents resorted to flipping through old yearbooks and other student records to track down suspects and victims referenced by only their last names and class ranks in the limited records they did receive from academy officials.

"I lost my career because of this assault. I will never know what my future could have been," one alleged sexual assault survivor wrote to a Coast Guard official in 2019. - Petty Officer 2nd Class Annie Elis/U.S. Coast Guard/FILE

As they interviewed former students who had reported or witnessed abuses, they learned about others who had been too afraid to come forward at the time and attempted to track them down as well. The dozens of academy graduates they ended up revisiting were women, and some men, in their 30s, 40s and even 50s. They were now Coast Guard officers, veterans and mothers.

According to records, some expressed relief that someone was finally listening, and they were hopeful that their alleged perpetrators might be held accountable. Others wanted nothing to do with the investigation, saying it was too painful to revisit what had happened to them  both the initial attacks and the aftermath at the academy. Several said they feared for their safety, not knowing what their alleged attackers would do when they found out the allegations against them had resurfaced all these years later. One said she didnt want her teen daughter to ever learn of what had happened. Another became upset at the mention of her alleged attackers name, with her husband later telling investigators that she was most upset about how her allegations had been handled by the academy and had struggled with depression and distrust of authority for decades since leaving.

From the records agents gathered and interviews they conducted, clear patterns emerged: Alleged victims were blamed for contributing to their assaults by drinking alcohol, or not resisting forcefully enough. Suspected perpetrators had their conduct minimized and excused.

Among the cases documented by the investigation:

A female cadet who reported her classmate for allegedly raping her faced discipline for engaging in lewd acts. An academy official ruled that she did not protest her assailants advances strongly enough. She did not willingly acquiesce to an act of sexual intercourse, the official wrote, but she did not reasonably manifest her lack of consent by taking such measures of resistance as were called for by the totality of the circumstances because she was confused, indecisive, lonely, naive, and sexually inexperienced. Her classmate was allowed to resign without further punishment. She left the school.

A cadet accused of sneaking into a classmates room in the middle of the night, pinning her down and raping her, was allowed by the superintendent to remain at the academy as long as he completed alcohol rehabilitation, counseling and human relations training. The victim was punished for fraternization with a different classmate when the investigation uncovered her spending time in his room.

Academy superintendents significantly minimized punishments for a number of alleged perpetrators, letting them drop out of school instead of facing more punitive outcomes. One superintendent, for example, rejected a recommendation to court martial a cadet accused of assaulting and harassing three female classmates, including the one who had rope marks on her wrists.

Academy officials failed to pursue a criminal investigation against a cadet accused of raping two women even though they found that the alleged assailant had displayed poor judgment and had sexual intercourse with one of the women, a local college student, without her consent. While academy officials found that alleged victim very credible and sincere, they decided that the other accuser  who was an academy cadet  was not credible. She later left the school for medical reasons, with records citing depression, while the alleged rapist was kicked out of the academy, disenrolled for misconduct.

As part of the investigation, agents interviewed 20 people who had served as senior officials at the academy and had a hand in how the cases were investigated and resolved, though some key people had passed away, records show.

Ultimately, Fouled Anchor found that the academys leadership did not adequately investigate allegations as serious criminal matters and hold perpetrators appropriately accountable, according to the draft final report.

They failed to take sufficient action to ensure a safe environment - particularly for female cadets - and failed to instill a culture intolerant of sexual misconduct, the report stated about those at the helm in the 90s and early 2000s.

Despite such a damning conclusion, Fouled Anchor resulted in no punishments for those leaders.

The ability to assign specific accountability was limited because none of these individuals remained subject to criminal or administrative actions, the evidence for the decisions made on these cases (most of which were over 20 years old) was incomplete, and the imprecise nature of the then-existing policies.

As Fouled Anchor came to a close, agents were instructed to apologize to the alleged victims for how their cases had been handled previously and offer them support services. Records show some victims were upset with how Fouled Anchor reopened old wounds only to leave them angry that, once again, more couldnt or wasnt being done.

There is no statute of limitations to my fear or pain. I lost my career because of this assault. I will never know what my future could have been, one woman wrote in a 2019 message to a Coast Guard admiral about the investigation. I will never forget what happened to me and I will never be the person I could have been before this assault occurred.

This story was updated to reflect a statement from the Coast Guard received after publication.

Were you interviewed as part of Fouled Anchor? Do you have information or a story to share about the Coast Guard Academy or Coast Guard past or present? Email melanie.hicken@cnn.com.

CNNs Pamela Brown and Allison Gordon contributed to this report

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
D'Aungilique Jackson of Fresno holds a "Cancel Student Debt" sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court after justices stuck down President Biden's student debt relief program in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)

Mimi Hoang rejoiced when President Biden announced plans last year to cancel thousands of dollars in student debt. The 20-year-old had taken out $30,000 in federal loans to pay for her first year at Southern Oregon University.

It is a real burden for me to know that I carry that much from one year of school," she said.

As she faced the prospect of tripling her loan debt by staying at Southern Oregon, Hoang decided to move back to her familys home in Hayward last academic year and enroll at a community college. Bidens plan would have slashed Hoangs debt to $10,000.

But her hope of relief  and the hopes of millions of borrowers across the country who owe about $1.6 trillion in federal student loans  were crushed Friday when the Supreme Court blocked Bidens plan. In a 6-3 ruling in Biden vs. Nebraska, the conservative majority ruled only Congress could authorize such a large-scale cancellation of government-provided loans, and it had not done so.

Read more: Supreme Court strikes down Biden's plan to forgive millions of student loans

Hours after the Supreme Court decision, Biden announced he would move again to enact debt relief under the 1965 Higher Education Act, a different law from the initial one he used. This process probably will take more time, but Biden believes it is legally sound and offers the strongest path to borrower relief.

The administration also said it would institute a temporary 12-month "on-ramp repayment program" that would temporarily protect borrowers from default or damage to their credit if they miss payments.

Still, for borrowers the Supreme Court ruling comes at a time of financial precarity as they struggle to make ends meet  especially in high-cost regions such as Los Angeles and the Bay Area  with exorbitant rents and rising food and gas prices. The ruling adds intensifying pressure on their personal budget reckoning, with student loan repayments set to restart in October after a three-year pandemic reprieve.

Some borrowers, including those who are the first in their families to attend college, talked of skipping meals to save money, panicking over how to squeeze hundreds of dollars more from tight budgets and returning home to live with parents.

"It's something that still follows me throughout my day-to-day life," Hoang said. "It fills me with a lot of anxiety and stress."

Others expressed disappointment and said they would do their best to manage.

Jemeryas Jordan, 24, was aware of the political forces surrounding the presidents plan. But for a year he had allowed himself to dream. If the court had upheld student loan forgiveness, the TikTok creator could pour money into his content with new camera equipment, microphones and a laptop.

Jordan is in his third term at Los Angeles City College, where he studies filmmaking. So far he's accrued over $5,000 in federal loans, most of which has gone toward paying for off-campus housing. He thinks the resumption of payments will be a jolt for many.

Theres people who are still trying to recuperate and recover from the pandemic, he said. Though disappointed, he is resolved to a future that includes loan payments. Its kind of like, OK, this [debt] is there, and Ill have to get to it when I get to it, he said.

Jordan advised students to understand the severity of taking it out. This is other peoples money and they will come for it.

The Biden administration argued it had authority to cancel the loans as part of its emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic and under a 2003 law called the HEROES Act, passed at the time of the Iraq war. The Supreme Court ruled the act does not allow the administration "to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal.

Read more: What should borrowers do now that Biden's college debt forgiveness plan is dead?

Under the blocked plan, the federal government would have forgiven up to $10,000 in loans for borrowers making $125,000 a year or less and $20,000 for borrowers who received Pell Grants  money awarded to students from families with exceptional financial need. The relief would have applied to loans borrowed on or before June 30, 2022, including those taken out by parents to finance their childrens education.

The plan would have hugely benefited California borrowers, who hold the largest share of federal debt owed by 43 million current and former college and trade school students nationwide. About 4 million Californians hold an average student loan debt of $37,783, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

For the last several years, however, student loan debt nationally has been declining. Among undergraduates at four-year institutions, the average annual federal loan peaked at $6,450 in 2010-11 and dropped to $3,780 in 2021-22, according to the nonprofit College Board. At the University of California, the proportion of undergraduates with federal loans declined from 44.7% in 2010-11 to 23.6% in 2021-22.

The bigger burden is graduate student debt, with average annual loans nearly doubling from an average $11,930 per person in 2001-02 to $21,230 in 2010-11 before slowly declining to $17,680 in 2021-22.

Fewer students are taking out loans in part because grant aid is increasing  from an average of $8,570 per student in 2010-11 to $10,590 in 2021-22  and more families are nervous about amassing debt.

Jacqueline Villatoro, a counselor at West Adams Preparatory Academy, said more students these days in her largely low-income school in Pico-Union don't want to pay for college with loans, fearful about the financial burden after seeing relatives who went to college struggle with debt, she said.

"Any mention of loans, even federal loans, and their parents are very scared to take that leap," Villatoro said.

For those with debt, default is a big worry  especially as repayments are scheduled to restart.

Read more: Anxious about your student loan debt? Beware of offers that are too good to be true

There's going to be a high risk of default for a bunch of borrowers being forced back into a broken student loan system, said Samantha Seng, legislative director and policy advisor at NextGen Policy, a California-based nonprofit.

Defaulting on loans carries serious consequences: Borrowers who struggle to pay could take a hit to their credit, hampering their ability to take out a loan for a home, car and other large purchases. It could also lead to wage garnishment.

Black and Latino borrowers are disproportionately vulnerable to default, according to a 2019 analysis from the Center for American Progress, a policy institute. Thirty-two percent of Black borrowers and 20% of Latino borrowers who entered college in 2011 and were required to start repayment by 2017 defaulted on their student loans, compared with 13% of white borrowers.

You're asking people to mortgage their futures in order to have a future, said Jessica Thompson, vice president of the Institute for College Access and Success, which advocates for college affordability.

Hoang feels the financial pressure. A first-generation Vietnamese American, Hoang said she had to navigate the student loan process on her own. Her mom, a nail salon owner, and her dad, who owns a construction and landscaping company, did not have the financial literacy to help her apply for loans, she said.

And as a teenager, Hoang didn't fully understand how borrowing tens of thousands of dollars would affect her future.

"I was very naive back then. I was like, 'It's a loan, everybody has student debt. It'll be OK,'" she said. "I don't think it's fair at all to have that big of a responsibility ... and have that much debt as an 18-year-old."

Read more: Biden has quietly forgiven billions in student loans despite setbacks for his signature debt plan

Hoang plans to transfer to UC Berkeley in the fall. Financing her education will remain a challenge.

After grants, she expects to pay $8,000 a year to attend Berkeley. She plans to pay tuition using money she saves from her internship in a state senator's office, and some help from her parents. And she plans on living at home and commuting more than an hour to campus to save money.

Hoang said the decision to block student loan forgiveness sends a clear signal to students like her.

The message that theyre throwing out is: We want to keep it this way. We want to keep it so that only people that come from privileged backgrounds, or that have the money to do so, can go to college, she said. They want to keep out minorities and marginalized communities, and keep them uneducated.

Under the debt relief plan, 24-year-old Kevin Rivera would have had $20,000 of his loans forgiven, leaving a $500 balance. As a student at Sacramento State, he worked as a resident advisor, student instructor and at a nonprofit dedicated to bolstering the enrollment of men of color in higher education.

But he still had to take out loans so he could use his wages to help support his family in Long Beach. He pays his own living expenses, and sends money to his mom and two siblings to help with their rent and utilities. Paying to maintain both homes costs him around $1,800 a month.

"If I don't help out my family financially, they wouldn't have a roof over their head," he said. "I can't have that."

Rivera, who graduated in May, landed a full-time position at the nonprofit. The $22-an-hour in pay is more than he earned in college, but his rent will also increase since he can no longer live in student housing. Finding an extra couple of hundred dollars each month to pay back his loans, he said, has induced more stress  and has him second-guessing his future.

Rivera had crafted a budget based on his new salary. He'll now have to go back and take a closer look at his expenses, and look to cut back on money he allotted for meals, restaurants and outings with friends  or redirect money he would have put in savings toward loan payments.

He wants to work as an immigration attorney. But the prospect of piling on more debt to attend law school is daunting.

"I'm going into education to try to further my career, get a better-paying salary," Rivera said. "But when you graduate with that amount of debt, it's kind of like: How much of that salary is going to be going back to paying all that debt?"

Older borrowers, including parents, are also struggling under the weight of their debt  and the resumption of payments. Borrowers who took out parent PLUS loans were eligible for debt relief under Biden's plan.

More than a decade ago, Varela Sanchez took out $9,000 in parent PLUS loans for her daughter, who attended Cal State East Bay for a year before deciding to leave. Before the pause on repayments during the pandemic, Sanchez made loan payments of about $75 a month while working as a TSA officer at LAX. The 51-year-old's entire debt would have been wiped out under the forgiveness plan.

Looking back, Sanchez said she would have encouraged her daughter to attend community college instead of starting at a costlier four-year university.

Sanchez said she has struggled to find full-time work over the last few years and is spending her days caring for her 4-month-old grandson. She doesn't have a permanent home, staying for weeks at a time with her daughter, who works as a security officer, or a friend.

Her goal is to try to scrape together money for at least one repayment when they start again in October. She recently started an Etsy storefront selling baby onesies, and is enrolled in a training program to learn digital marketing.

Everything just exploded in price, she said. Sometimes I would go without a meal or two.

Sadia Khan, 28, had little hope the Supreme Court would rule in favor of borrowers. She graduated in 2021 from UC Berkeley with $6,000 in federal loans. Plus she owes the university $10,000 in back rent for family housing. Adding to her pressure is that she personally borrowed thousands more from family.

She is earning $65,000 a year as a policy coordinator at a nonprofit. Yet she knew she had to cut back expenses. Her gas and electric bill, which previously ran up to $100 per month, has dropped to $20. She slashed her grocery budget in half to about $100 a week, swapping out ready-to-heat meals for lentils, grains and rice. She often eats one meal a day and doesnt turn on the lights in her home until it gets dark.

Even so, she hasnt been able to catch a break: Mold forced her to move out of her Bay Area apartment, setting her back around $8,000 in rent, movers and deposits.

"I've been so stressed and lethargic all the time. It's like I'm going through the motions," she said. "It almost feels like I'm a zombie, just getting through day to day."

On Friday morning, Khan, who was at a work conference, had tried to ignore any news about the ruling. A day earlier, she received a call from Berkeley about a missing payment.

Now she is bracing for her return home, where shell sit down and figure out how much more she can cut. But she is running thin on options. A trip to the fair with her son this year now looks out of reach.

Theres only so many costs you can cut," she said. "Theres only so many sacrifices you can make until it mentally breaks your spirit."

She had urged friends and former classmates to fill out an application for loan forgiveness when Biden announced the plan last year. Now she feels guilty for giving them false hope.

I was getting so many people hyped for it and am now realizing, holy smokes, were screwed, she said.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Cynthia Nixon Takes It All Off For Season 2 Of 'And Just Like That'

And Just Like That season 2

And Just Like That star Cynthia Nixon is baring it all in season two!

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, show creator Michael Patrick King talked about how sex is going to be portrayed in the new season of the Sex and the City sequel series and revealed how Nixon felt about her character stripping down.

And Just Like That seems to be following in the footsteps of its predecessor by continuing to push the boundaries of what people are used to seeing on TV. Season two just kicked off earlier this month and weve already gotten a pegging scene between Nixons character Miranda and her love interest Che, the nonbinary comic played by Sara Ramirez.

Miranda is completely wide open [this season], King explained in the interview. And thats why we brought Che in, because Miranda had been completely shut down and her sex life had died. So, like Carrie, shes now open for business.

Miranda left her husband Steve in season one and has been embarking on a journey to rediscover her sexuality ever since. King said that the new season will put Miranda into a whole new sexual arena.

You have the joy and the comedy of the strap-on and the uncomfortableness of that [in episode one], he said. But also, youre moving her forward because shes not just following, shes driving sex.

In one of the funniest scenes of the new season, Miranda goes into a sensory deprivation tank, but gets salt in her eye and ends up hating her life by the end of it. But King revealed that the only way the scene would work is if Nixon agreed to be head-to-toe naked.

It wouldnt work unless she was all in because what is so funny about the scene is that she goes from loving her new life [in L.A. with Che] to saying, 'Fuck my new life,' King explained. So, I called up Cynthia and I said, Completely naked, would that be okay? And she thought about it, and she goes, Completely? I said, Yes. And she goes, Im sure youll take care of me.

But not all of the actors on the show feel comfortable being nude on screen. Sarah Jessica Parker revealed yesterday on the "Howard Stern Show" that she has always been too "shy" to be naked in front of the camera. I think I just never felt comfortable exposing myself that way, she said.

King also revealed that this time around they are trying to counteract some of the dark and depressing moments that were present in the first season.

I think if last season had to deal with death  and it was what we chose to do, we broke the old show to make a new show, and it was really infused with death, he said, this season was going to be about life, and sex is such a big part of life.
Authorities have launched an investigation into an unattended death at the Sterling Police Department.

The death of a person who was in custody at the department occurred on June 23, according to the Worcester District Attorneys Office.

The person who died hasnt been identified.

Investigators are now awaiting autopsy results and toxicology reports.

Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the DAs office are assisting Sterling police with the investigation.

There were no additional details immediately available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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David Corenswet already revealed how his Superman will differ from Henry Cavills

It turns out DCs next Superman, David Coronswet, explained how his take on the superhero would differ from Henry Cavills years ago.

Coronswets casting in 2025s Superman: Legacy was announced on Tuesday (27 June).

The 29-year-old Pearl star takes on the mantel from British actor Cavill, 40, who began his Superman tenure in 2013s Man of Steel and reprised the role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017).

In a 2019 interview with Entertainment Weekly to promote his role in Ryan Murphys Netflix drama The Politician, Coronswet revealed that his pie-in-the-sky dream role was Superman.

It came to my attention before the internet got a hold of me, he told EW of the comparisons people had made between him and Cavill.

But my pie-in-the-sky ambition is definitely to play Superman. I would love to see somebody do an upbeat, throwback [take on Superman]. I love the Henry Cavill dark and gritty take, but I would love to see the next one be very bright and optimistic, he said.

Henry Cavill (left) and David Coronswet (Getty Images)

DC Studios co-CEO and Superman: Legacy director James Gunn previously told Variety during his casting search: The next Superman has to be someone who has all the humanity that Superman has but hes also an alien. Its gotta be somebody who has the kindness and the compassion that Superman has and be somebody who you want to give a hug.

Also announced on Tuesday was the casting of Lois Lane, Supermans love interest. Rachel Brosnahan, 32, best known for her lead role in the popular Amazon Prime Video period comedy series The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, takes on the part.

Responding to the casting news on Twitter, Gunn called Coronswet and Brosnahan not only both incredible actors, but also wonderful people.

You can find all you need to know about the new Superman star here.

In December last year, it was confirmed that Cavill would not be reprising his role as the superhero, despite being told by the studio to announce his return in October.

Superman: Legacy will be the first film in the new era of the connected DC Universe, followed by Matt Reeves The Batman Part II, which is set for an October 2025 release.

The movie will reportedly tell the story of Supermans journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas.
Good morning, Chicago.

Air quality is gradually improving in the Chicagoland area as levels of PM2.5, the primary pollutant, decrease.

Dont expect clear skies just yet though. It does seem like some degree of haze will linger, Lee Carlaw, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service said yesterday.

More than 20 million acres have burned in Canada as of Thursday and there were more than 500 active fires, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

PM2.5, tiny particles of solids and liquids that are small enough to enter the lungs and bloodstream, creates a plethora of health problems. Its not just in wildfire smoke, either. PM2.5 can be emitted from factories, power plants, diesel and gasoline vehicles, residential fireplaces and wildfires. Search the latest air quality levels near you.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.

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The big blue bikes have in many ways become part of the fabric of Chicago. The bikes are one option for commuters to reach offices, but they have also been used by tourists, residents heading out for errands or social outings and recreational riders who flocked to the bikes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the bike system also faced challenges. Divvy only reached all of the citys 50 wards this year, and advocates say despite progress, not enough has been done to serve majority Black and brown areas that need more public transportation options.

United said it expected to be back on track for the holiday travel weekend, which the carrier is expecting to be its busiest since the start of the pandemic. But by Thursday afternoon, the airline still led OHare and the nation in canceled flights, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

Lawyers for the state at yesterdays hearing stressed that recent Supreme Court decisions, while limiting the governments ability to restrict access to firearms, have left the door open to prohibiting dangerous and unusual weapons.

Widespread rebuke over the decision came quickly from politicians and educators alike in Illinois, who called the decision a devastating setback to equity at institutions of higher education nationwide.

Eddie Phillips, provost and vice president of academic affairs for National Louis University, one of Chicagos leading minority-serving universities, said the ruling reverses decades of progress. I think it sends a clear message that students of color are not seen as important resources and assets to the academic community.

John Boyer, as they say around Hyde Park, is UChicago famous.

The average dean of an undergraduate college serves about five years. Boyer has been dean for four decades. He is, in fact, the longest-serving dean in the 133-year history of the Hyde Park institution. Hes been dean for so long because, as he says, if he left the position after 10 years, the College of the University of Chicago would have never climbed out from beneath a growing tangle of train wrecks. Things had gotten ugly.

The Chicago Bulls enter the most crucial step of their offseason today as free agency opens across the NBA, placing the front office in a position to finally address issues plaguing the last two seasons.

For those interested in the event but not too knowledgeable about auto racing, we asked Mary Kaczor, a former international race car driver and native Chicagoan, to tell us what we need to know.

The city is bustling for the Independence Day weekend, most notably with the NASCAR race in Grant Park but also with concerts, festivals and fireworks all over the place.
COLDWATER  The application went in Friday seeking $800,000 for a downtown Revitalization and Placemaking 2.0 Grant to refresh two blocks of U.S. 12 from Hanchett Street east to Four Corners Park.

Wednesday, the Downtown Development Authority added $100,000 to the $700,000 the city council pledged Monday to the project.

The city suggested $50,000 from the independent taxing authority.

Bikes lanes, landscaping, marked walkways, and more public seating would be added with the corridor improvement program shown here at U.S. 12 and Hanchett Street.

The Michigan Economic Development Commission will decide if it will match the local effort of a plan whose grant application was rejected last year.

This spring, a second round of grants was announced, splitting the grants into regions and giving Coldwater a better chance, Economic Development Director Audrey Tappenden explained.

In the 1980s, Coldwater completed its first upgrade of U.S. 12 downtown.

Prior story Coldwater approves reduced streetscape grant application for U.S. 12

Tappenden said over 30 years had passed, exceeding the 20-year useful life. Sidewalks and amenities are crumbling, she said.

In 2020, a group of stakeholders developed a new plan to revitalize five blocks from Clay Street east to Jefferson Street, divided into two phases at Four Corners Park.

Audrey Tappenden

Each phase was estimated to cost $2 million, with the city hoping for a 50% grant match. Phase 2 will wait for future grants or city funding.

If this grant is awarded, $1.6 million will improve only two blocks on U.S. 12 between Hanchett Street and Four Corners Park.

Rebuilt sidewalks and visible crosswalks and medians built in the streets to calm traffic are in the design.

The design also adds more landscaping, more comfortable space to spend time with greenery, and more public seating, Tappenden said.

The plan adds bike lanes along the street for bike and pedestrian safety.

Mike Caywood

This is a concept not a final design," DDA Chairman Mike Caywood said.

He said there would be more public input depending on final funding and actual costs.

Newly updated cost estimates said the citys share would only cover curb, gutter, and sidewalks so that the DDA contribution would cover landscaping and amenities.

Caywood and Tappenden pointed to $20,000 in the budget used each year for fresh flowers and $20,000 for building facade repair reimbursement as a source of the DDA contribution. The DDA could commit another $50,000 from the $100,000 fund balance.

Lisa Miller, retiring economic development director, said the $600,000 corridor project in the 1980s was bonded by the DDA, as was a 1990s parking lot renewal program.

Since then, tax sources for the DDA declined.

Mayor Tom Kramer expressed concern about bonding for the new work.

Caywood agreed the DDA should, Only do what we can afford to do to put us in best position.

The work wont be complete until 2027 if the grant is approved. That would give the DDA time to allocate the contribution in future budgets from its sources.

With 60 businesses in the area, 6,000 residents within walking distance, and 200,000 yearly visitors, DDA board member Chris Howell said, This is really important it get funded. It will be transformative and revitalized the business district.

After briefly considering a $300,000, then a $200,000 commitment, the final vote was to add $100,000 to the grant application from the DDA.

---Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: DDA adds $100,000 to U.S.12 streetscape grant application
Democrats are taking aim at the common practice of giving a leg up to the children of alumni and donors in the college admissions practice as a key plank of their response to the conservative Supreme Courts decision to eliminate affirmative action in college admissions.

The party seems to be coalescing behind the elimination of legacy admissions as it looks for a way to respond to the ruling. Representatives of the influential Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus all endorsed the idea on a call with reporters on Thursday afternoon, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) are set to introduce legislation eliminating the practice soon.

Studies have shown eliminating legacy preferences, which inherently favor those whose parents went to college or come from wealthy backgrounds, would do relatively little to change the demographic makeup of college enrollments, however, and Democrats and the White House are also looking at other ways to respond to the ruling.

President Joe Biden, speaking shortly after the U.S. Supreme Courts dual rulings striking down the affirmative action practices of Harvard and the University of North Carolina, did not directly call for the elimination of legacy admissions, though he argued that college admissions are tilted against the working class.

Today, for too many schools, the only people who benefit from the system are the wealthy and the well-connected. The odds have been stacked against working people for much too long, Biden said. We need a higher education system that works for everyone, from Appalachia to Atlanta.

The White House said it would work with the departments of Education and Justice to help inform colleges about the ways they can still consider race in college admissions and would host a summit next month for college leaders to discuss how to maintain diverse student bodies.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) addresses the audience May 10 before President Joe Biden speaks at SUNY Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York. Bowman plans to introduce legislation to eliminate legacy admissions in colleges.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) addresses the audience May 10 before President Joe Biden speaks at SUNY Westchester Community College in Valhalla, New York. Bowman plans to introduce legislation to eliminate legacy admissions in colleges.

None of those steps is likely to generate as much controversy as eliminating legacy and donor admissions, which colleges are likely to fiercely defend. Many universities rely on the practice to help lure in donations from alumni and wealthy, status-seeking parents.

Its unfair to have 25% of your admissions to be based on donations or whether your parents went to that school. To continue that at this point has to be called into question, said Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), the chair of the Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) echoed the point. If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous colorblindness claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged, she wrote on Twitter.

If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous colorblindness claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged.



70% of Harvards legacy applicants are white. SCOTUS didnt touch that - which would have impacted them and their patrons.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 29, 2023

The effect of legacy admissions can be major: Some top universities accept more legacy students each year than Black and Latino students combined, and studies have estimated the value of having an alumni parent is equal to an increase of 160 points on an applicants SAT score.

For example, data revealed in the lawsuit against Harvard found that recruited athletes, legacies, children of donors and children of faculty and staff make up 43% of the student body, compared with just 16% for Black students, Latino students and Asian American students combined.

Still, a Duke University study looking at that data found simply eliminating legacy and donor admissions would improve racial and economic diversity but that the increase in diversity resulting from the elimination of legacy and athlete preferences pales in comparison to the diversity benefits stemming from racial preferences.

Notably, the admissions policies in question at Harvard and UNC looked at race as one of a number of factors. Others were legacy and recruited athlete status. The other admissions factors, beyond race, remain untouched by the ruling.

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee, said those practices have become indefensible in a world without affirmative action to balance them, comparing them to the infamous grandfather clauses used to prevent Black citizens from voting after the Civil War.

Its the same discriminatory effect that the grandfather clause had on voting, Scott said. The grandfathers and great-grandfathers are much more likely to be white.

Scott said he would ask Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate other practices he thought had a racially discriminatory effect on admissions, including racially biased standardized testing.

Michael Dannenberg, a former education policy aide to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and a Department of Education official in President Barack Obamas administration, backed other ideas in a recent Slate essay, including requiring wealthy colleges and universities to fund either historically black institutions or community colleges if they do not admit enough working-class applicants.

Related...
The Supreme Courts Friday rulings, which included blows to President Bidens student debt relief plan and LGBTQ rights, lit a firestorm on Capitol Hill, with Democrats decrying the decisions as cruelty and a step backwards and Republicans celebrating the rulings as lawful wins.

The verdicts, which came on the final decision day of the Supreme Courts term, capped off a contentious period for the bench, which included controversial opinions, ethics scandals involving two justices and calls for court reform on Capitol Hill.

Democrats highlighted those three dynamics on Friday, ripping the court for the latest rulings and suggesting hypocrisy on the part of the justices.

After a multi-decade, special interest-funded effort to reshape the federal judiciary, the fanatical MAGA right have captured the Supreme Court and achieved dangerous, regressive policies that they could never attain at the ballot box, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.

This MAGA-captured Supreme Court feels free to accept lavish gifts and vacations from their powerful, big-monied friends, all while they refuse to help everyday Americans, he continued. The ill-founded and disappointing decisions from the Supreme Court are a stark reminder that it will take a sustained effort to rebalance our federal courts and restore the values that have made the United States a beacon for freedom, democracy, equality, and opportunity.

But Republicans hailed the work of the court, led by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts.

I have never been prouder of Roberts Court, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote on Twitter. The Supreme Court is truly standing up for individual constitutional rights and limited government.

In one of the most anticipated rulings this term, the bench struck down the Biden administrations student debt relief plan in a 6-3 decision, handing a defeat to one of the presidents top initiatives and ending months of speculation regarding whether or not the high court would allow the proposal to proceed.

The conservative justices, led by Roberts, concluded that Congress did not authorize the executive branch to forgive the student loan debts, which was estimated to be hundreds of billions of dollars.

Democrats slammed the decision on Friday, arguing that it would further hinder Americans who are struggling financially.

Americans across the country are struggling to purchase a home, start a family, begin a small business and save for retirement because they are saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. The extreme, right-wing Supreme Court decision puts an anchor around the aspirations of millions of young Americans.

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) called the decision cruelty.

The cruelty of this Supreme Court knows no bounds, she wrote on Twitter. At a time when Americans are struggling to make ends meet, they take away the relief provided to millions of student loan borrowers.

Some Democrats zeroed in on the impact Fridays decision would have on Black Americans. According to the Education Data Initiative, Black and African American college graduates carry an average of $25,000 in student loan debt compared to White individuals who graduate college.

The student loans ruling came one day after the Supreme Court gutted affirmative action programs in higher education.

Today, after a devastating ruling gutting affirmative action, the Supreme Court is standing in the way of life-changing student debt cancellation, a kitchen table issue and one that is deeply personal for millions of Black families across America, members of the Congressional Black Caucus wrote in a statement.

Republicans, on the other hand, went after Biden following Fridays decision, arguing that the president misused his executive powers when he announced the student loan forgiveness plan.

The President of the United States cannot hijack twenty-year-old emergency powers to pad the pockets of his high-earning base and make suckers out of working families who choose not to take on student debt, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote in a statement. The Courts decision today deals a heavy blow to Democrats distorted and outsized view of executive power.

Anyone frustrated by todays decision should direct their complaints to the White House, where they knew this executive order would likely be struck down by the courts but did nothing whatsoever to meaningfully address exorbitant costs in higher education, Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) echoed.

GOP lawmakers were also quick to point out a part of Roberts majority opinion that quoted Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). When she was Speaker in 2021, Pelosi declared during a press conference that Biden does not have the power for debt forgiveness.

Republicans ribbed Pelosi over the statement on Friday.

The Court called out Pelosi in its decision, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) wrote on Twitter, quoting the Pelosi portion.

I agree with her for once! he added.

The other decision handed down on Friday delivered a defeat to the LGBTQ equality movement, with the six conservative justices ruling that Colorado cannot require an evangelical Christian web designer to create same-sex wedding websites. The majority opinion  delivered on the last day of Pride Month  said the states anti-discrimination law violates the web designers free speech.

This is a devastating ruling for the LGBTQ+ community, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), who is openly gay, told MSNBC during an interview. We just spent a month celebrating, trying to uplight pride. Already a very dark time for this community where you have attacks happening on our community every day in Congress, in state legislatures, and to have this happen by a true extreme, activist court, to roll back a key protection against discriminating [against] our community, is shameful.

I think this is a very dark day for our community, he added.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the first openly LGBTQ person to serve in the chamber, called Fridays ruling a step backward in our fight to live up to our nations ideal of equality.

This is about fairness and freedom  about whether LGBTQ+ Americans deserve fairness and freedom to be treated just like everyone else, she wrote in a statement. It is simply wrong to discriminate against any American based on who they are or who they love, and Americans agree.

Reaction to the ruling from Republicans, however, was more muted. While some conservative GOP lawmakers hailed the decision as a First Amendment victory  Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) wrote Amen  and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said the ruling ensured no one is forced to say what they dont believe  top Republicans in both chambers remained silent.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
WASHINGTON  Democrats are vowing not to give up on student loan debt relief after the Supreme Court blocked President Joe Bidens forgiveness plan on Friday, denying help to more than 40 million borrowers.

This fight is not over, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a statement. The President has more tools to cancel student debt  and he must use them. More than 40 million hard working Americans are waiting for the help that President Biden promised them, and they expect this administration to throw everything theyve got into the fight until they make good on this commitment.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.), another vocal advocate for student loan debt cancellation, argued that the Biden administration can move to forgive student loans by citing provisions of the Higher Education Act, a 1965 law that established federal aid programs for college costs.

It is very important to note this SCOTUS ruling does NOT remove Bidens ability to pursue student loan forgiveness, Ocasio Cortez tweeted. The Biden Admin can use the HEA (Higher Ed Act)  our position from the start  to continue loan forgiveness before payments resume. They should do so ASAP.

Biden announced on Friday that he would indeed seek to invoke that law to provide student loan relief, calling it legally sound, but adding that it will take longer.

Bidens initial plan would have forgiven up to $20,000 in student loan debt for Pell Grant recipients and up to $10,000 for other borrowers who made less than $125,000 a year in 2020 or 2021. The administration cited his authority to cancel loans under the 2003 HEROES Act, which allowed the president to waive student loan debt terms during a national emergency. In this case, Biden cited the COVID-19 national emergency, which he ended earlier this year.

But the six conservative justices on the Supreme Court disagreed, writing that Biden only had the authority to make modest adjustments and additions to existing provisions to the HEROES Act, not transform them.

In dissent, liberal Justice Elana Kagan ripped the majority opinion for exceeding its proper, limited role in our Nations governance. She wrote that the law allowed the administration to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision and replace the old provisions with new terms and conditions.

The government has previously said that a pandemic-related payment pause will end on Sept. 1, meaning payments will be due in October. As for the forgiveness program, a notice on StudentAid.gov on Friday tells borrowers the U.S. Department of Education is reviewing the Courts decision to determine next steps.

McKenzie Ball of Bozeman, Montana, said he would have had $14,000 in student debt wiped out by the Biden plan. He doesnt have much faith that any Plan B schemes could have the same impact.

Im not going to expect the political process to work in my favor, Ball, 37, told HuffPost. It would have been nice, but I accept the fact that my names on the loan.

Ball works as a sales coordinator for a company that makes outdoor gear. He said he borrowed nearly $40,000 to pay for his degree in political science and spent years in the nonprofit sector before he switched careers to cover the rising costs of Bozeman, where he grew up and would like to be able to buy a house and maybe start a family.

Ball said having to resume forking over around $260 per month will be a significant setback.

Im driving a 2000 Subaru with 200,000 miles on it, its rusted out, and Im going to be putting off buying a new car, Ball said. Homeownership is not something I really expect to have an opportunity to experience anytime soon.

Biden is expected to announce further actions his administration will take to protect student loan borrowers on Friday.

The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning, Biden said in a statement released by the White House. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses  including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.

The Higher Education Act allows the secretary of education to waive loans without specific requirements. Its been used to cancel student debt before, albeit in limited cases. Last year, the Department of Education forgave $6 billion in loans for defrauded students. In 2019, then-President Donald Trumps administration eliminated student loan debt for 25,000 disabled veterans.

But relying on the HEA could face obstacles from the same Supreme Court majority. In his 6-3 opinion on Friday, Chief Justice John Roberts included a note about the limits of relief in the Higher Education Act, which he said pertained only to some public servants, borrowers who have died or become disabled, borrowers who are bankrupt, and those who have been defrauded.

The Education Department announced earlier this month that its three-year moratorium on payments and interest on student loans will end in October. The budget deal Biden signed into law that lifted the debt ceiling included a provision, insisted upon by Republicans, ending the pause.

Democrats said the coming expiration is even more reason for Biden to continue the fight on student loan forgiveness.

The Biden administration has remaining legal routes to provide broad-based student debt cancellation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement on Friday. With the pause on student loan payments set to expire in weeks, I call upon the administration to do everything in its power to deliver for millions of working- and middle-class Americans struggling with student loan debt.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee say they have unearthed a piece of evidence from the 2019 impeachment investigation into then-President Donald Trump that they say rebuts Republican claims of a possible bribery scheme between Joe Biden and a foreign national.

The document, released in a letter from Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the committee's ranking member, to its chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., is a 2019 questionnaire filled out by Mykola Zlochevsky, the co-founder of the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, where Bidens son Hunter once served on the board. Zlochevsky denies ever having contacts with Joe Biden while he was vice president or receiving assistance from his staff while Hunter served on the board.

The questionnaire was given to Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani, who was serving as Trumps personal lawyer. Giuliani had been seeking information about Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential election when Biden was expected to be one of the Democrats who might challenge Trump. Parnas handed over the questionnaire to the House committees investigating the former president, and it was later obtained by the FBI when it seized Parnas phone in 2019. It was never released to the public during the impeachment investigation.

When asked to detail contacts between then-Vice President Biden and his office from 2013 to 2019, Zlochevsky wrote (in all caps): No one from Burisma ever had any contacts with VP Biden or people working for him during Hunter Biden's engagement." When asked whether Biden or his staff assisted Burisma in any way with business deals or meetings, he wrote, NO.

At the time, Parnas forwarded the entire document to Giuliani and another attorney, Victoria Toensing.

Democrats say the questionnaire provides critical context that casts doubt on allegations by Republicans that Biden profited off of his sons business ventures or even received a bribe from a foreign national. In early May, Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a whistleblower informed them that the FBI had a document known as an FD-1023 that included an unverified allegation from a human source who said Biden, when he was vice president, was involved in a bribery scheme involving a foreign national.

During a floor speech in June after viewing the document, Grassley said, The 1023 also indicates that then-Vice President Joe Biden may have been involved in Burisma employing Hunter Biden, though neither Grassley nor Comer appear to have publicly stated that Zlochevsky was the foreign national in question.

In a letter to Comer, Raskin wrote, These statements directly contradict and refute the allegations in the Form FD-1023."

"Mr. Zlochevskys statements are just one of the many that have debunked the corruption allegations against President Biden that were first leveled by Rudy Giuliani and have been reviewed by former President Trumps own Justice Department.

He added that the FD-1023 contains unsubstantiated, second-hand hearsay allegations and that the confidential source behind the information explicitly noted that it is not unusual for Ukrainian business executives to brag and show off and that he could not offer any opinion supporting the veracity of the allegations he was relaying.

Comer, in response, did not comment on the substance of the questionnaire Zlochevsky had filled out and instead called on Raskin to join him in calling for the FBI to make the FD-1023 form public.

This record is not part of the material Rudy Giuliani provided the FBI, he said. This unclassified record stands on its own and memorializes a confidential human sources conversations with a Burisma executive dating back to 2015. The Burisma executive claims then-Vice President Biden solicited and received a $5 million bribe in exchange for certain actions.

"The executive also claims he didnt pay the big guy directly but used so many bank accounts that it would take 10 years to unravel. ... Ranking Member Raskin is rapidly losing credibility as he continues to aid and abet the Biden family coverup.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Denied an abortion, she raised a child: One Mississippi mom shares her story

Denied an abortion, she raised a child: One Mississippi mom shares her story

Laurie Bertram Roberts remembers the emotion that consumed her when, as a 19-year-old single mom of two, she needed an abortion.

Fear.

She was only three months postpartum and recovering from a C-section when she found out she was pregnant again.

She's now 45, but vividly remembers desperately searching for the nearest clinic, poring over every weathered phonebook she could find as her newborn slept in her arms.

The memory of learning that the nearest clinic was an hour away from her mother's Mississippi home, where Roberts lived, still leaves a pit in her stomach.

She remembers frantically trying to scrounge up enough money to pay for the procedure and travel.

By the time she got to the clinic, Roberts had passed Mississippi's 15-week gestational limit that existed at the time.

My check came one day too late, Roberts tells TODAY.com. They literally turned me away.

She could no longer have a legal abortion.

It wasnt even a gut-punch," she remembers. "It felt like someone broke me."

She drove back home, alone.

I cried the whole ride. Oh god, Im about to cry now, she says, breaking down. I havent thought about that drive in 25 years."

It was just so hard, she adds, sobbing. I didnt know what I was going to do.

Laurie Bertram Roberts (Courtesy Laurie Bertram Roberts)

'People ... assume you don't love your child'

When Roberts got pregnant in 1997, abortion was illegal in Mississippi after 15 weeks. Now abortion is totally banned in the state, with limited exceptions.

In the year since a Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v Wade, 23 additional states have banned or severely restricted abortion care.

People want to attack you and assume you dont love your child, says Roberts, who is sharing her story only with permission and encouragement from her daughter, who is now a young adult.

How dare you? I love my child to the ends of the earth. That doesnt make what happened any less unfair.

Twenty-eight million women and girls of reproductive age in the U.S. now live in a state where it's difficult or impossible to have an abortion.

For many of them, the loss of abortion rights has left them in a place Roberts knows all too well: With a baby they weren't ready to care for.

"Research suggests that tens of thousands of people are being forced to carry their pregnancy to term," Noreen Farrell, executive director of Equal Rights Advocates, a non-profit gender justice organization that supports abortion rights, tells TODAY.com.

'I didnt want to leave my kids without a mom'

In 1997, Roberts was living with her mom and surviving off tips as a service industry worker. She barely had enough money to afford a pregnancy test.

"I was also facing the prospect of having my third C-section in five years," she says. "My doctor explicitly told me: 'You could die.'

"I didn't want to leave my kids without a mom."

Her fear of dying in childbirth was not unfounded. In 1997, Mississipi had one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country, and the state continues to be one of the most dangerous for mothers giving birth.

Experts who study demographics and public health say forcing people to carry unwanted pregnancies will cause an increase in the U.S. maternal mortality rate  already the highest of any developed nation, according the the CDC.

Its estimated that US maternal deaths will increase by 24%, Farrell says. For Black women, deaths could rise by as much as 39%.

Laurie Bertram Roberts (Courtesy Laurie Bertram Roberts)

After she was denied an abortion, Roberts says she was thrown into a "mental health crisis," living two lives  she was doing what a pregnant person is "supposed to do" to ensure a fetus is healthy, while hoping and sometimes trying to end her pregnancy on her own.

I had this dual reality that I was living in, where was going to my prenatal appointments but I was also throwing myself down the stairs,  Roberts said. "I rode a bunch of rides at the fair that you cant ride if youre pregnant ... it didnt do anything.

Roberts says she had been anti-choice my whole life, so being denied abortion care was a shock.

I prayed and cried and prayed and cried (in order) to be OK with my decision, she says. Getting the money together ... only to be told that my last hope for making the best choice for my family was gone? I was so worried for my kids.

I dont have a flowery story for you

Before Roberts found out she was pregnant, she had obtained her GED and started taking college courses. She had a plan for her life.

As her pregnancy progressed, she dropped out of school in order to look for jobs to support her two children.

Then, at seven months, she was put on bedrest and could no longer work.

Behind on bills, she ended up homeless and lived out of a hotel room for over a year.

It makes the ground underneath you shift, Roberts said of being forced to stay pregnant. It makes you choose different things ... even the abusive relationship I chose to stay in ... I needed a house. I needed stability ... I was a sex worker. I was a stripper."

Laurie Bertram Roberts (Courtesy Laurie Bertram Roberts)

Roberts wasn't financially able to go back to school until she was 25. It took her longer, she says, to get out of abusive relationships that gave her some semblance of financial security.

Sometimes you have to work with the options that you have, she adds. I dont have a flowery story for you.

According to a study of 1,000 women in 21 states over 10 years conducted by the University of California, San Francisco, when a person is denied an abortion theyre more likely to live in poverty, have a higher risk of experiencing adverse mental health conditions, and are more likely to stay in unhealthy relationships.

We know that the economic consequences will have impacts for generations, Farrell says.

I just didnt want or deserve the trauma

Today, Roberts works as a doula and serves as the executive director of Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund, an organization that provides contraception and helps people access abortion care out of state.

After she was denied an abortion, she says it took her years to work toward her educational and professional goals, but it also gave her a purpose: She didn't want what happened to her to happen to anyone else, including her own children.

At 19, Roberts gave birth to her third child  a healthy baby girl.

Her daughter is now an adult, who knows her origin story.

Shes had an abortion, so she understands why I felt the way I felt, Roberts says. Its not that I didnt want her, theres just a difference between not wanting a child and not wanting a child at that moment."

I just didnt want or deserve the trauma," Roberts adds. "I deserved to be able to choose to have my child when it was safe and right for me.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
The flag of Denmark

Denmark is providing over $190 million in aid to Ukraine, with the funds earmarked primarily for purchasing artillery shells and anti-air missiles, the Danish Defense Ministry announced on June 30.

Read also: Denmark, Netherlands order additional 14 Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine

According to the message, there's a high demand in Ukraine for air defense missiles, various types of ammunition, and transport vehicles for engineering operations. It also noted that part of the funding has been allocated specifically for artillery shells.

"This is part of the aid package for Ukraine, which was discussed today in government consultations with the Foreign Policy Council," the message reads.

Acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen emphasized the significance of the aid package, saying it sends a clear message of Denmark's ongoing support for Ukraine.

"I am pleased that under the EU's auspices, we are jointly procuring artillery ammunition and supplying it to Ukraine at no cost, which is absolutely necessary for Ukraine's struggle for liberation," Poulsen said.

Read also: Denmark, Netherlands, UK, US announce joint supply of air defense systems to Ukraine

He also said Denmark would contribute nearly $44 million for the joint EU procurement of artillery ammunition for Kyiv.

Read also: Norway and Denmark will donate 9,000 additional artillery rounds to Ukraine

"International cooperation is crucial to sustain support for the Ukrainian people's fight for freedom," Poulsen added.

Read also: Denmark can train six Ukrainian F-16 pilots at a time

"Regrettably, the war appears to be prolonging, and with numerous donations, we and our allies are delivering a strong message that we are committed to supporting Ukrainians in the long term."

The aid package was prepared in response to specific needs and requests from Ukraine.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A Lincoln County man is accused of crashing into a patrol car and leading deputies on a multi-county chase. Deputies said they were already familiar with him because of a recent encounter.

Deputies said they stopped a car on Highway 16 in Lincoln County around 8 a.m. Friday because its license plate had expired. The sheriff told Channel 9s Ken Lemon that the deputy recognized the driver to be someone they arrested weeks ago.

The sheriffs office said when the deputy approached the car, the driver refused to roll down his window to speak with them.

ALSO READ: 30-mile chase ends in Burke County, authorities say

According to investigators, the driver backed into one of the patrol cars and then drove away, leading deputies on a pursuit along Highway 16. The chase crossed into Gaston and Mecklenburg counties.

Authorities said the driver crossed the median, hit another car, and then crashed in the woods near Nance Cove Road in western Mecklenburg County.

The suspect, Roan Sterling, 48, was taken into custody at the scene.

Authorities said the driver crossed the median, hit another car, and then crashed in the woods near Nance Cove Road in western Mecklenburg County. The suspect, Roan Sterling, 48, was taken into custody at the scene.

An officer was hurt in the process but the sheriffs office said their injuries were minor and required stitches.

ALSO READ: Man accused of leading police on a chase in stolen tractor across Watauga County

Sterling was charged with felony fleeing to elude arrest, misdemeanor resisting a public officer, misdemeanor reckless driving, misdemeanor speeding, misdemeanor assault on a government official, and improper passing on the right. He was taken to the Lincoln County jail and given a $50,000 bond.

According to the sheriff, during a traffic stop weeks ago, Sterling claimed to be a sovereign citizen and said he didnt need a license or car insurance because he didnt recognize federal or state laws. The sheriff said the car had heavily tinted windows, and the driver also refused to lower his windows or get out of the car.

Because the officer couldnt see inside, they shattered Sterlings passenger window, the sheriff said. The man drove off and officers chased him briefly.

The sheriff said Sterling then drove to the FBI headquarters in Charlotte to claim Lincoln County officers were trying to kill him. The FBI held him there and he was later brought back to Lincolnton and arrested.

(WATCH BELOW: 2 teens killed after police chase ends in Rowan County crash)
Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School School Resource Officer Scot Peterson reacts as he is found not guilty on all charges at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Peterson was acquitted of child neglect and other charges for failing to act during the Parkland school massacre, where 14 students and three staff members were murdered. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  When Florida prosecutors charged former Deputy Scot Peterson for his alleged inaction during the 2018 Parkland school massacre, they faced a major hurdle: no law precisely fit.

So it was not a surprise to legal observers that Peterson was acquitted Thursday of child neglect and other charges for failing to confront the shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Without an on-point statute to base their case upon, prosecutors tried to make the law fit the facts instead of the facts fit the law, lawyers said. That is always a tougher courtroom battle to win.

The Peterson case has always been an uphill climb for the prosecutors, Miami criminal defense attorney David S. Weinstein said. I feel bad for the victims and their families. Their pain will last for a lifetime. For them, the disappointment in the system continues. It was compounded by the state pushing forward on this case, despite the high odds of obtaining a conviction.

But Linda Beigel Schulman, whose son, teacher Scott Beigel, died in the shooting while protecting students, said Friday that prosecutors were always upfront with the victims' families that an acquittal was a distinct possibility. This was the first time a U.S. law enforcement officer was tried for failing to act during an on-campus shooting  there was no precedent to compare the case with.

She said that while she is disappointed in the verdict, she does not blame the prosecutors or the jury  they did their job.

We have a legal system in this country, but it's not always just, Beigel Schulman said.

Florida has well-defined statutes that cover unlawful actions law enforcement officers might commit, such as unjustly shooting or beating a suspect. But none says a school police officer must act while students are being shot.

That is what Peterson was accused of: doing nothing. He has insisted he would have acted, but echoes prevented him from pinpointing where the gunshots were coming from. He had faced a possible lengthy prison sentence if convicted.

The schools on-campus deputy, Peterson, 60, was in his office Feb. 14, 2018, when Nikolas Cruz began his six-minute attack, firing about 140 shots with his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle inside a three-story classroom building.

Peterson and two unarmed civilian security guards arrived at the building within two minutes. Cruz was at the opposite end, killing the last of the 11 people he would murder on the first floor  an unarmed security officer who had opened a door to go after him.

Security video shows Peterson got within feet of another door and drew his handgun, but then backed away, taking cover next to an adjoining building 75 feet (23 meters) away. He radioed arriving deputies to stay 500 feet (152 meters) back.

Meanwhile, Cruz headed up the stairs to the third floor, where he would kill six more beginning 73 seconds later.

Peterson would stay next to the alcove for 40 minutes, long after the shooting had stopped, Cruz had fled and other officers charged inside.

Eight days later, then-Sheriff Scott Israel, who was under political pressure for the shooting, said his video review of Peterson's actions made him sick. Peterson retired and was then retroactively fired. Israel was also fired 11 months later by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis shortly after he took office.

Peterson's attorney, Mark Eiglarsh, has said Israel's comments unjustly set the community against his client. He said Israel never spoke to Peterson to get his side, though they had been friends.

Every one of us erroneously assumed that my client knew that kids were being killed in that building and he just didn't go in. The jurors made it clear through their verdict that couldn't be further from the truth. He did everything he could, Eiglarsh said.

Circuit Judge Martin Fein sealed the jurors' names and none came forward Friday to say whether they believed Peterson or simply didn't think the law fit.

More than a year after the shooting, prosecutors charged Peterson. The most serious counts were child neglect  a charge most commonly levied against parents whose lack of care leads to their child's death or serious injury. To be convicted, Peterson had to be considered a caregiver to the students who were shot  an assertion that caused a skeptical Judge Fein to almost dismiss the case before it got to the jury.

University of Miami law professor Craig Trocino said that if the prosecution's theory were true, every first responder would then be subject to criminal liability for child neglect any time there is a child present at any time an officer is also present.

Bob Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern University's law school, said prosecutors seemed to want to charge Peterson with cowardice under fire, but only the military has such laws. He said prosecutors had no case."

Peterson was being made a scapegoat. While he certainly had some amount of responsibility, every adult who ever came into contact with Nikolas Cruz  parents, foster parents, school administrators, teachers, social workers, etc.  also had some responsibility, he said.

In a statement, Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor's office stood by its decision to charge Peterson, saying there was sufficient evidence.

There was an obligation to address the circumstance and evidence in this case, the acute need for safety in our schools and the special role of school resource officers, the statement said.

Tony Montalto, the president of Stand with Parkland, the group that represents most of the victims' families, said its board will discuss whether to lobby the Florida Legislature to enact a law requiring school police officers to act during a shooting.

There is no reason parents shouldn't expect a school resource officer to protect their children, said Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina died in the shooting.

Pryor told the parents he would support that effort.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Fox Newss Jesse Watters poked fun at a New York City proposal to reduce emissions from coal and wood pizza ovens in a segment Thursday.

In a Fox interview, the presidential candidate joined Watters at a local New York City pizza joint and lamented what he called the citys government overreach, while the two shared a pie.

They want to control your behavior. We saw the same thing with COVID. A lot of that wasnt about your health, they wanted to control your behavior, he said.

Last week, New York City proposed a rule that would require all coal and wood-fired pizza ovens from before 2016 to be fitted with an emissions control device. All new ovens required the device starting in 2016.

New York City is making this ridiculous move to ban coal-fired pizza ovens. Why? Because they say theyre causing global warming, Watters said at the start of the segment.

The rule wouldnt shut down your local pizza place or get rid of their oven, but it could be expensive. Restaurants would be required to at least attempt to install an emissions control device, and report to the city if they were not able.

Emissions control devices would reduce emissions from the ovens by as much as 75 percent.

DeSantis compared it to proposed federal efforts to restrict gas stoves in new construction.

I see a lot of the people leaving New York because of the things that are going on up here, but even I wouldnt believe that they would have dreamt of going after this, DeSantis said, looking at his slice of Margherita pizza. This is a staple of this city.

City representatives said the rule is meant to reduce air pollution in the city for health reasons and can also make a small impact on the climate.

All New Yorkers deserve to breathe healthy air and wood and coal-fired stoves are among the largest contributors of harmful pollutants in neighborhoods with poor air quality, Ted Timbers, a spokesperson for the citys Department of Environmental Protection, said in a statement to CNN.

Watters also questioned DeSantis on his lagging poll numbers; poll averages show DeSantis 20-30 points behind former President Trump for the nomination but still solidly in second place in a crowded field. DeSantis said he wasnt worried and that more support will come with time.

Most people arent paying attention there. I dont expect to see any major shakeup. Were laying the groundwork to be able to do well in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, Super Tuesday, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Millions of gallons of toxic phosphogypsum slurry are currently stored in 25 mountainous stacks near communities in Central and North Florida.

But after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a hotly debated bill Thursday, the state will pilot a study paving the way for one potential solution: Could the fertilizer industrys toxic waste be built into Floridas roads instead?

Phosphogypsum is a byproduct of fertilizer production that contains uranium, thorium and radium and can emit radon, which can cause cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Though current regulations require waste to be stored in stacks, those structures have a long history of spills and environmental destruction across the American southeast, most notably with the Piney Point spill, which sent more than 200 million gallons of polluted water into Port Manatee and Tampa Bay.

The fertilizer industry  namely the Fortune 500 company The Mosaic Co. that dominates Florida phosphate mining  has long advocated exploring potential uses for the waste, often pointing to countries across the world that use it in road construction.

This hasnt ever been put into practice in the U.S., though  for decades, the Environmental Protection Agency has prohibited use in roads. That changed in 2020 under the Trump administration, though approval was quickly in 2021 following outcry.

The governors office didnt respond to a request seeking comment as of Friday morning.

Environmentalists have opposed the proposal, which was dubbed the radioactive road bill during the session. They fear using the waste in road construction could exacerbate water quality issues with potential runoff into the Floridan aquifer, the states primary source of drinking water. Some are concerned for the health of construction workers, too.

Were disappointed Gov. DeSantis put industry profits ahead of our environment and potentially the health of Floridians, said Ryan Smart, the executive director of the Florida Springs Council. This was a terrible legislative session for our environment and growth management. And this is the cherry on top.

A nine-month study with a 2024 promise

With this bill, the Department of Transportation will be able to move forward with a study to evaluate how suitable phosphogypsum is as a road material with a deadline of April 1, 2024. Thats only nine months.

Mosaic, which manages most of Floridas phosphogypsum stacks, touts the study as a win for both the company and the future of toxic waste management. The company, as first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, lobbied for the bill, even throwing its sponsor a fundraiser earlier this month. It continues to try and overturn the EPA rule, according to public records.

Jackie Barron, Mosaics spokesperson, lauded the study as a warranted step forward in a statement.

This allows the state to move forward with fact-finding and research, Barron said. No one wants Florida to fall behind the rest of the world when it comes to potential uses for phosphogypsum.

But not everyone is convinced about the necessity or intention of the study.

Elise Bennett, Florida director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said any study first and foremost should evaluate the impacts to human and environmental health. A lack of emphasis on those topics in the bill are telling, Bennett said.

Its just outrageous to think that even if they were to try to look at environmental and health effects that they could do that in less than a year, she said.

Florida has enough water issues with sea-level rise, increasing storms, algal blooms, which are all issues the government should be focusing on rather than potentially tainting the states water and its aquifer down the road, Bennett said.

Bennett hopes the EPA will continue to prohibit phosphogypsum as a road material  a move needed to keep the Florida Legislature and DeSantis in check. In a statement, an EPA spokesperson confirmed the legislation doesnt impact its regulation, adding that EPAs approval is legally required before the material can be used in road construction.

Theres no new data showing this has become any safer magically overnight, Bennett said. Theres no reason we should remove those precautions of keeping this waste away from people and start scattering it throughout our communities and roads.
ORLANDO, Fla.  In January 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis was proud to announce the one-millionth COVID-19 vaccine given out in Florida.

We did it live on TV, DeSantis told a Newsmax town hall four months later. And I had a 100-year-old WWII veteran, they showed [his] shot, we were all clapping. They were interviewing him, and he just unilaterally said, I want to say one more thing  Florida has the best doggone governor in this country. And I was like, Hey, Ill take that.

Back then, DeSantis often praised the states coordination with the Trump administration, which was partly responsible for the quicker-than-expected development of the vaccines, thanks to its Operation Warp Speed.

For those great historians, please remember that these great discoveries  all took place on my watch! then-President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter in 2020.

Now, the DeSantis and Trump presidential campaigns are squabbling over how each candidate handled the vaccine and lockdowns, particularly amid the worst of the pandemic.

A group backing DeSantis, who has embraced being anti-vax to the point of seeking a grand jury to investigate wrongdoing by their creators, used AI to create a fake image of Trump hugging White House health adviser Anthony Fauci, a hated figure on the right.

We can never allow Warp Speed to trump informed consent in this country ever again, DeSantis said in May in an unsubtle nod to his opponent.

Trump, who has alternated between continuing to take credit for the vaccine and reposting anti-vax screeds on his social media site, has gone after DeSantis for his record on shutdowns in 2020, despite his working in conjunction with the White House at the time.

Ron DeSantis ordered lockdowns, imposed Covid-19 checkpoints, and closed beaches, and despite it all, Florida still had a higher COVID-19 death rate per 100k than New York, the Trump War Room posted on Twitter in May.

Kenneth Goodman, a bioethicist and director of the Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy at the University of Miami, said the sparring would be just another ordinary example of the silly season in American politics if it werent that so many lives were at stake.

In the early days of COVID, we didnt know what we were getting into, Goodman said. And the fact of the matter is, we were making big decisions under uncertainty. That those decisions are now being leveraged for political purposes is especially dispiriting.

He compared the battle over who did less to combat COVID, and the rewriting of that history, to different factions of communists sparring with each other in the 1960s.

The Marxists were trying to be holier than thou, and the Maoists were saying that the Trotskyites werent pure enough, and the Trotskyites were saying to the Marxists, Youre not pure enough, Goodman said.  Now were seeing it on the extreme right.

Shutdowns and phases

DeSantis was initially wary of issuing a shutdown order in the early days of the pandemic in March 2020, instead blaming such shutdowns in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut for driving their residents to come to Florida. He ordered a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine for people from those states, as well as for cars with New York license plates to be stopped at the state border.

On March 20, he issued orders shutting down restaurants except for takeout or delivery, banning non-urgent medical procedures and surgeries, and closing most businesses in Palm Beach and Broward counties. He remained essentially in sync with Trump, who continued to be hesitant to recommend closures.

That all changed a week later when DeSantis cited the presidents change of heart in a meeting to explain why he had reversed course and issued a 30-day stay-at-home order for April.

The president just the other day announced they are going to do a 30-day extension for the current guidelines, DeSantis said, according to CNN. I think it is clear that that represents effectively a national pause. Were going to be in this for another 30 days. That is just the reality we find ourselves in.

Two years later, DeSantis said one of his biggest regrets was not forcefully opposing Trump on shutdowns in 2020.

Knowing now what I know then, if that was a threat earlier, I would have been much louder, DeSantis told a radio host.

At the same event in which DeSantis announced the shutdown, Trump praised DeSantis as a great governor who knows exactly what hes doing.

Now that theyre rivals, Trumps tune has changed. Florida was actually closed for a great, long period of time, Trump said in January.

He added on his social media site, Truth Social, that DeSantis did FAR WORSE than many other Republican governors.

In Florida, restrictions on businesses did continue for much of the summer. Most restaurants operated at 50% capacity until a phase 3 reopening in September, and bars were barred from selling alcohol for months under an order from Halsey Beshears, then-secretary of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

If you dont follow the guidelines, and you pack huge numbers of people indoors that are very close, youre creating an environment that youre going to see more spread, DeSantis said of the alcohol order in June 2020.

At the time, the phased reopening of Florida was controversial amid the surge in cases and deaths in the state over that summer. Many Democratic-led states continued shutdowns into 2021.

Trump claimed this month that then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo did a better job than DeSantis in handling COVID, a claim DeSantis said was full of it.

While New York did have much higher COVID deaths per capita in 2020, at 139 per 100,000 to Floridas 56, Floridas mortality numbers per capita have surpassed them.

Florida had 404 deaths per 100,000 residents compared to New Yorks 397, as of the most recent CDC data available from March 2023.

Pushing the COVID vaccine

Its a particularly great day to be at Tampa General, DeSantis told hospital staff on Dec. 14, 2020. I had the honor of [being] at the loading dock when the first vaccines were received in the state of Florida.

DeSantis was full of praise for the Trump administration as the state received the initial doses of vaccines, which were administered to frontline health-care workers.

This is a really, really significant milestone, he said.  We want to see as much of this rolling off the assembly line and getting into hospitals as we can.

In the first few months of the vaccine rollout, DeSantis crisscrossed the state holding events to promote them.

If you look at the number of people were vaccinating, we keep doing it, man, DeSantis said at an event in Palm Beach in January 2021. I think thats going to save a lot of lives.

In April, DeSantis said Floridians shouldnt be freaking out over the CDCs recommendation to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because of blood clots that occurred in six women.

You also have to balance that against how many people are alive today because they had the J&J vaccine, he said. I mean, theres no question that it saved lives already.

But by then, DeSantis had already held the first of his controversial medical roundtables with proponents of the controversial theory of herd immunity through natural infection. The first roundtables focused on criticizing masks and other anti-COVID restrictions, not the vaccines.

But DeSantis noticeably cut down on his vaccine promotion events after opening up shots to all ages in the spring of 2021. He began citing the breakthrough infections the shots didnt prevent and the vaccines apparent failure to achieve herd immunity.

By that summer, when the Delta variant wave hit Florida, he was instead mostly touting the monoclonal antibody treatment produced by Regeneron.

Asked why he wasnt backing vaccination as fervently as the monoclonals, DeSantis and his staff always pointed to the 50 or so vaccine events he held over the winter and spring.

One month later, DeSantis chose Joseph Ladapo as state surgeon general. Ladapo immediately began questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines, touting research that he said showed troubling safety signals of adverse events from shots.

Critics have claimed Ladapo has used flawed research, leading U.S. health agencies to send Ladapo a letter stating that not only is there no evidence of increased risk of death following mRNA vaccines, but available data have shown quite the opposite: that being up to date on vaccinations saves lives.

A study released in December by the Commonwealth Fund that found COVID vaccines saved more than 3 million lives and prevented over 18 million additional hospitalizations in the U.S.

By the end of 2021, which included the Delta wave over the summer and the beginning of the Omicron wave, Florida had 53,788 COVID deaths.

In December 2022, DeSantis held his latest roundtable to announce a Public Health Integrity Committee made up of professors, researchers and doctors who all have vocally opposed widely held scientific consensus regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

He also asked the Florida Supreme Court to convene a grand jury to investigate the vaccine makers, and the court complied.

Florida now has one of the lowest rates of fully vaccinated residents in the country at just 12%, according to CDC data, with just 31% of those 65 and older fully boosted.

As of May 1, a total of 88,219 Florida residents have died since the pandemic began.

Probably the major reason for DeSantis changing his mind about vaccines was the fact that more and more Republicans were staying in polls that they didnt trust the vaccine, and they didnt like the vaccine, and they were never going to get the vaccine, said Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida.

DeSantis, who unlike many other politicians did not get a vaccine shot on camera, has refused to say if he ever received boosters, a stance Trump has called gutless.

Trump has continued to praise the development of the vaccine on his watch. Last week, he told a radio host it was a miracle that we got it. Operation Warp Speed was an unbelievable thing.

The DeSantis campaign has used footage and quotes of Trumps boasts. On June 3, the DeSantis War Room tweeted about an Iowa voter who told Trump, we have lost people because you supported the jab.

Trump responds by praising the COVID mRNA shots, doesnt acknowledge any of the adverse effects, the account wrote.

The Trump campaign has responded with clips of their own of DeSantis early backing of the vaccine. Each vaccine administered brings a sense of relief and increased hope and optimism, DeSantis says in one video tweeted by the MAGA War Room.

Hard to change minds

Goodman said he was saddened by the campaigns strategies on COVID.

This is definitely through the looking glass, Goodman said. Were used to exaggerations, were used to falsehoods during campaigns. We are not used to this kind of toxic misrepresentation.

The attacks on the vaccines in particular, he said, reveal a serious misunderstanding of public health science.

We get that not everybody who gets the vaccine is perfectly protected, he said. But at the population level, we save lives with the vaccine. And what theyre doing is theyre misrepresenting utterances at the time as if every utterance was infallible.  The world is more complicated than these candidates are able to understand.

Amid the sniping between the campaigns, Jewett said it would be hard to actually change any minds in a GOP primary based on regurgitating COVID history.

Its probably frustrating to Trump and his team that they cant get more credit for helping to develop that vaccine, Jewett said.  If anything, some of his supporters are probably willing to forgive him for that, because they like him for so many other things.

As for Trumps attacks on DeSantis, Jewett said Trump and his team are going to have a very difficult time convincing many Republicans that DeSantis was a shutdown governor.

DeSantis really increased his national notoriety because of his Free State of Florida slogan, he said. Thats an image that a lot of the Republicans around the country already have in their head. And thats going to be difficult for any negative advertising from Trump and Trumps team to shake.

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Scapegoating won't alleviate drug abuse in U.S.

09:22, June 30, 2023 By Zhong Sheng ( People's Daily

Shifting blame is an increasingly common trick being used by the United States over recent years.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against multiple Chinese companies and individuals over allegations they produced and sold chemicals used to make fentanyl. This is another example of Washington's habitual blame-shifting.

U.S. law enforcement personnel ensnared Chinese nationals through a "sting operation" in a third country and blatantly pressed charges against Chinese entities and individuals. This is typical arbitrary detention and unilateral sanction, which is completely illegal.

The act seriously harms the basic human rights of Chinese nationals and the interests of the Chinese companies concerned.

The United States has itself to blame for its domestic drug abuse. Things the U.S. has so far been doing to address its concerns over the drug problembe it pressure tactics, coercion or some kind of illegal operationsare essentially all about scapegoating. This will not work.

China scheduled fentanyl-related substances as a class, the first country to do so in the world, which has played an important role in preventing the illicit manufacturing, trafficking and abuse of fentanyl.

In December 2018, China and the United States agreed to take proactive steps to strengthen cooperation in law enforcement and drug control, including control of fentanyl-like substances.

On May 1, 2019, China announced to add fentanyl-related substances to the Supplementary List of Controlled Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances with Non-medical Use. It marked the first time for China to schedule the whole category of a certain substance as a class to control, which has offered a solid legal basis for the crackdown on fentanyl-related crimes.

China has taken unprecedented efforts and extraordinary measures to govern fentanyl-related issues, to ensure the efficient implementation of policies. The achievements of China's control over fentanyl-related issues demonstrate the country's sense of responsibility.

The United States alleges that China is its main source of illicit fentanyl-like substances, which is in total disregard of facts.

The U.S.-claimed "fentanyl precursors" are ordinary chemicals. According to the common practice across the world, to ensure that the goods imported are not used for illicit purposes is not only the basic responsibility of the enterprises, but also the legal obligation of the governments of importing countries.

Instead of regulating its domestic enterprises and individuals, the United States arbitrarily imposed illegal sanctions on Chinese counter-narcotics institutions. It openly slandered China's counter-narcotics efforts, illegally sanctioned Chinese companies, and even ensnared and charged Chinese individuals.

Such long-arm jurisdiction and bullyism that tramples on international law have further undermined the lawful rights and interests of relevant Chinese institutions and nationals, and seriously undercut the foundation for China-U.S. cooperation on counter-narcotics.

U.S. frequent hyping of fentanyl-related issues is essentially all about scapegoating for its failure in domestic drug control.

The United States faces the most acute challenge arisen from the use of drugs. It has not permanently scheduled fentanyl-related substances as a class yet.

Over recent years, the number of Americans dying from drug and substance abuse has increased dramatically. According to statistics released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June, over 109,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending January 2023.

The International Narcotics Control Board data said that the U.S. is the world's largest producer and consumer of fentanyl-related substances. With five percent of the world's population, the country consumes 80 percent of opioids in the world.

Marta Sokolowska, Deputy Center Director for Substance Use and Behavioral Health in U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, pointed out that the overdose crisis remains one of the most devastating public health epidemics to affect the country.

Drug abuse in the United States is the result of an interplay of economic interests, lobbying, and social and cultural factors.

The U.S. federal and state governments have failed to regulate drugs and substance abuse and even pushed for the legalization of marijuana under the influence of interest groups, resulting in more and more young people becoming victims.

Large pharmaceutical enterprises in the U.S. throw a large amount of money into sponsoring experts and associations to peddle the narrative that "opioids are harmless." What they want is to push for drug legalization and prod pharmacies into promoting drug sales and doctors into the indiscriminate prescription of drugs.

A 2022 research completed by Robin Goldstein and Daniel Sumner, researchers with the University of California, Davis, underlined that one of the pipe dreams behind the legalization push is the intention to make legal cannabis a new cash cow for the government through tax.

Marijuana sales in the United States have exceeded $30 billion in 2022, and the U.S. marijuana market is expected to reach $65 billion by 2030.

Enterprises and organizations profiting from marijuana trade money for power, and form interest groups with politicians, thereby letting drugs and substance abuse unchecked, a striking demonstration of Washington's failure in social governance.

With regard to drug control, the United States must look squarely at its own problem instead of deflecting blame. Attacking and smearing China cannot solve the social malaise of drug abuse in the U.S., but only escalates America's drug issue into a severer social crisis.

The United States should stop shifting the blame, immediately lift all sanctions on Chinese counter-narcotics law enforcement institutions, stop using fentanyl-related issues as a pretext to sanction, indict or offer awards to hunt Chinese companies or nationals, and immediately release the Chinese nationals under illegal arrest.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People's Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun)
Funeral of 14-year-old twins Anna and Yuliia Aksenchenko killed in a restaurant by a Russian missile strike, in Kramatorsk

By Max Hunder

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Outside an apartment block scarred by the missile strike that struck a bustling restaurant in Ukraine's city of Kramatorsk this week, a mother sat still on Friday, resting a pale hand on the head of each of her two dead twin daughters.

Fourteen-year-olds Anna and Yuliia Aksenchenko were among 12 people who were killed when a Russian missile hit a pizza restaurant in the eastern city on Tuesday evening. They had been in the vicinity of the restaurant during the attack.

On Friday morning, the family held a mourning ceremony for them at their apartment several hundred metres away from the site.

The missile came hurtling out of the sky on a balmy summer evening, when the restaurant and its large outdoor terrace were packed with customers.

Three days later, the middle-aged mother of the twins looked completely drained of vitality as she sat by the graves of her daughters in a black leather jacket.

She sat motionless with one hand on each daughter for half an hour, her body slumped and her head bowed.

The woman could scarcely walk, as if incapacitated by her grief. She had to be supported when walking by the girls' father and another relative.

None of the family members were in any condition to speak to reporters, the girls' godfather said.

The girls lay in coffins with open caskets, but were covered with a glistening white and gold sheet.

Mourners said the girls had been dressed in wedding dresses for their burial, a custom in Ukraine for girls who die too young to marry.

Initially unable to find two wedding dresses in a city not far from the front and where wedding parlours are closed, friends and family issued an online appeal for well-wishers to donate two dresses so that the girls could be buried.

"This is a tradition. If girls become angels, go up to heaven before getting married, they are dressed in wedding dresses so they can find their other half there," said Viktoria Kushka, 50, a teacher who taught Anna and Yuliia in first grade.

Speaking in one of the classrooms at the nearby school where the girls studied, Kushka recalled her memories of the girls.

Some of the school's windows had been shattered by the strike.

"I remember them in first grade. They were two little sunshines. With fair hair, always (tied) with a big white ribbon, smiling, big light blue eyes. Always together, always supporting each other."

At the ceremony, a crowd of around 30 relatives, friends and local residents gathered to pay their respects.

(Editing by Tom Balmforth)
Did you hear that? The likely cause of Friday mornings sonic boom across Beaufort County

A sonic boom that rattled homes across Beaufort County Friday morning was likely the result of a SpaceX cargo spacecraft returning to Earth.

The SpaceX Dragon landed off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, around 10:30 a.m. Friday morning. Many Beaufort County residents were likely to have heard and felt the related sonic boom.

The sound waves were strong enough to briefly shake houses.

The Dragon brought 3,600 pounds of scientific experiments to NASA from the International Space Station, according to a press release from NASA. Included were neurological experiments dubbed GRIP and GRASP.

GRIP studies the effects of long-duration spaceflight on humans abilities to regulate grip forces when manipulating objects, while GRASP studies how the central nervous system operations in low gravity environments. Both experiments have been on the ISS for almost six years, the press release said.

Various other samples and investigations awaiting scientific analysis were included in the Dragons cargo as well.

This is the Elon Musk-founded companys 28th completed contract cargo resupply mission to the ISS for NASA.
Discover The Best And Worst U.S. Cities To Start Your Career

With employers currently planning to hire almost 15% more college graduates in 2023 than they did in 2022, now looks to be a good time for those entering the job market for the first time.

But if youre a recent graduate not committed to a particular city, how do you decide where you are going to base yourself at the beginning of your career to give yourself the best possible start?

Many factors come into play when choosing the location for that all-important first job, with the employment market, availability of affordable housing, and commuter-friendliness being three of the most obvious.

These are all key to making that first step on the career ladder, one that will help you lay solid foundations for your future happiness and prosperity.

Youll also want to consider climate, proximity to friends and family, ease of access to airports and other transport links, and whether your preferred leisure activities are readily available.

With so many considerations to take into account, it can be hard to make comparisons between different locations when you are trying to evaluate their relative pros and cons.

Best U.S. cities for new grads

In order to help with the decision-making process, personal finance website WalletHub compared the relative market strength and overall livability of more than 180 U.S. cities.

The research team used 26 different metrics ranging from the availability of entry-level jobs to average monthly starting salary to housing affordability to produce a league table of the best and worstU.S. cities in which to launch your career.

In first position is Atlanta, GA. The city is home to big brands including Coca-Cola, Delta and CNN and known for its thriving hip-hop scene. It is ranked second when it comes to professional opportunities, and seventh on quality of life.

After Atlanta, the research recommends Orlando, FL, Salt Lake City, UT, Columbia, SC, and Tampa, FL, as the next best cities for starting your career.

Nature lovers and ski enthusiasts may find themselves drawn to Salt Lake City, where Security National Life Insurance Co. is looking for a dynamic Commercial Real Estate Underwriter to join the Security National Commercial Capital team.

Three years experience is required, so would suit someone still in the early stages of their career. A degree in economics, finance, real estate or a related field is needed.

In this position, the underwriter will focus on providing detailed analysis of bridge loan requests and will be responsible for engaging with borrowers to ensure receipt of all required documents and give a positive customer experience.

The company is proud of its great company culture and consistently ranks as a great place to work.

Tampa, located on Floridas Gulf Coast, is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and known for its beautiful white sand beaches. This Part Time Associate Banker position at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Tampa Bay could be a good bet for a graduate who is looking to ease into working life.

Offering 30 hours a week, youll help clients with everyday transactions such as deposits, withdrawals, payments, reordering a debit card, setting up a direct deposit or helping to update their address, accurately and efficiently, while complying with all policies, procedures and regulatory and banking requirements.

A thrill seeking lover of theme parks might decide on Orlando as the ideal place to start a career, so they could get to enjoy the rides and fun atmosphere when not working. Imagine being able to visit the Jurassic World VelociCoaster whenever you feel like it?

Live Nation is looking for Client Support Specialists based in Orlando to join its Field Operations team. The work involves building and maintaining relationships with clients to ensure their business objectives are met, and they are able to utilize the various Ticketmaster products and platforms.

Interestingly, while Miami comes out top for career opportunities, its ranked 101st for quality of life, which brings the city to seventh position overall. Washington DC, meanwhile, comes 23rd.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, New York comes bottom of the list in 182nd position, earning itself the dubious honor of being the worst city in the U.S. in which to start your career, thanks to poor entry-level job opportunities and the lack of availability of affordable housing.

It seems that for recent college graduates and those at the start of their career journey, the Big Apple has lost its crunch.

To browse active openings by top recruiters in your chosen field, visit The Hill Jobs Board today

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A documentary cameraman who took a test-dive in the Titan sub said OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was 'flustered' with the submersible's comms going out but tried to 'make light of it'

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and the Titan submersible, which imploded during a June 18 dive to the Titanic shipwreck. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters; Getty Images

The cameraman Brian Weed said he took a test-dive on the ill-fated OceanGate submersible in 2021.

Weed said Stockton Rush got "flustered" when the comms went out and the propulsion system failed.

Rush tried to "make light" of the situation and attempted to reboot the vessel's system, Weed said.

A documentary cameraman who took a test-dive in the Titan submersible said OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush got "flustered" and tried to make excuses when its propulsion system failed and comms went out during a trial run.

Brian Weed, a camera operator for the Discovery Channel series "Expedition Unknown," told the Associated Press that the vessel's communication systems went offline and its propulsion system failed during a May 2021 test-dive. This happened in relatively shallow depths of around 100 feet, Weed said.

"You could tell that he was flustered and not really happy with the performance," Weed said of Rush. "But he was trying to make light of it, trying to make excuses."

Weed added that Rush then tried to reboot the submersible's system. The CEO also attempted to use the vessel's touchscreens to troubleshoot problems with the craft, Weed said.

Weed and his team were working on a documentary project featuring the OceanGate submersible. But the team decided not to take a full dive in the Titan after because of concerns about the safety of the vessel's carbon-fiber hull, among other reasons.

Following the test-dive, Weed's production company asked an unnamed consultant with the US Navy to review the submersible, the AP reported. This consultant warned Weed and his team about the Titan's carbon-fiber hull and raised concerns that it would not remain fully effective with multiple deep dives.

"I felt like every time the vessel goes down, it's going to get weaker and weaker," Weed told the AP. "And that's a little bit like playing Russian roulette."

Josh Gates, the host of "Expedition Unknown," tweeted on June 21 that he "walked away" from the chance to film the OceanGate submersible because of "safety concerns."

"We had issues with thruster control," Gates told "The Today Show" on June 22. "We had issues with the computers aboard, we had issues with comms. I just felt as though the sub needed more time, and it needed more more testing, frankly."

All five passengers on the Titan, including Rush himself, were declared dead after the submersible imploded during a June 18 dive to the Titanic shipwreck.

Representatives for OceanGate did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Insider
What does affirmative action ruling mean for Charlotte universities? Leaders speak out

The Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities across the nation wont be allowed to consider race as a factor when deciding admissions

Schools, including those in North Carolina, are now forced to look for new ways to diversify their student bodies.

As our nations colleges and universities consider their admissions processes in the wake of todays Supreme Court decision, @POTUS calls on them to seize the opportunity to expand educational access for all.



Read more: https://t.co/9FcXInWAae pic.twitter.com/JhyUgRKskD  U.S. Department of Education (@usedgov) June 29, 2023

The nations highest court removed what many considered a precedent that benefited Black and Latino students.

WHAT IS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION?

The original intention of affirmative action was to minimize state-imposed racial segregation, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Because state-sanctioned race segregation in public education violates the Fourteenth Amendments Equal Protection Clause, in certain cases involving a states formerly de jure segregated public university system, a states consideration of race in its higher education policies and practices may be an affirmative obligation, the Congressional Research Service stated.

HOW WILL UNIVERSITIES IN CHARLOTTE BE AFFECTED?

While the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action at UNC Chapel Hill and Harvard University, leaders at many universities have been left disappointed by the decision, The Charlotte Observer reported.

Heres how Charlotte-area colleges responded to the ruling.

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

UNC Charlotte does not use race as a factor in admissions decisions for its undergraduate students, Buffie Stephens, UNC Charlotte spokesperson, said in a statement Thursday.

While the university is currently reviewing the decision, Stephens says the school does not use race as a determining factor for admission in graduate programs, but we will evaluate all processes to ensure they are in compliance with the ruling.

UNC Charlotte remains committed to creating and sustaining a campus environment that inspires all students, faculty and staff to reach their full academic and human potential while fostering a community where all are welcome, safe and respected, Stephens said.

Queens University

At Queens, race is not an explicit factor in making admissions decisions. As the universitys motto is not to be served, but to serve, strategic enrollment and communications, Adrienne Amador Oddi said in a statement. A responsibility to combat the systemic forces that fuel inequity.

Despite todays ruling, Queens University seeks to continue its journey forward while remaining committed to keeping important conversations going along with collaborations across different world views.

It is also important to know that eliminating a check mark does not eliminate race as an element of identity. Our racial identities are a part of each of us. Walking around campus, you see a vibrant and robust tapestry of people with unique identities, each telling a distinct story, Oddi said.

How will this ruling impact Charlottes only HBCU?

Johnson C. Smith University is one of the nations oldest private historically Black universities, with approximately 1,222 undergraduate students.

(JCSU) is an excellent option for Black students seeking a college education in a nurturing environment that affirms their heritage and prepares them to be leaders in the rapidly changing 21st-century workplace, Johnson C. Smith University said in a statement.

JCSU plans to keep an eye on the impact that the Supreme Court ruling has on higher education in the United States.

While JCSU prides itself on rich HBCU traditions and market-driven academic majors in Charlotte, the school says it is committed to providing an affordable, academically rigorous education and vibrant student life programs for all traditional and non-traditional students seeking a college education.
Controversial luxury cruise company Vantage Deluxe World Travel announced Thursday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is falling under new ownership.

United Travel Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of Nordic Hamburg and Heritage Expeditions, has agreed to acquire Vantages assets and provide customers with future opportunities for travel, the company said in a news release.

But what does that mean for Vantages debt and the hundredspossibly thousandsof customers who say Vantage owes them for cancelled trips?

Theres a chance theyre going to see their money, said Woburn bankruptcy attorney Dax Grantham. Theres not a high chance theyre going to get everything back.

Grantham said Chapter 11 is a reorganization of debt and is better for consumers than Chapter 7, in which a company admits it cant make regular payments towards its debt and ceases to exist.

Theyre working with their creditors to try to come up with a plan to help the business survive, Grantham said. The [new buyer] acquiring the assets wants to continue using the name and the intellectual property of the company theyre acquiring. If thats the case, they may not want the bad publicity of all these [Vantage] customers saying, [You owe me money].

Vantage has been under fire for months after hundreds of consumers complained about a lack of refunds for cancelled or postponed trips. The Mass. Attorney Generals Office said it has received at least 1,120 consumer complaints against Vantage since January 1, 2020.

Right now, our office remains focused on resolving consumer complaints and securing refunds for affected customers, an AG spokesperson said in an email.

Earlier this month, the company quietly told its employees all trips through Aug. 28 are postponed, according to an internal memo obtained by Consumer Rescue. Vantage laid off its workers last week.

However, Boston 25 obtained a Vantage email that shows the company was still contacting its consumers about future trips as recently as June 26.

When the complaints from those poor customers were coming in, [Vantage] is still sending out emails to get people to pay for future trips that are never going to run. Where did all that money go? said Steven Grasso, owner of North American Traveler in North Reading.

Grasso said Vantage owes him $30,000 for services provided by his company. Grasso blasted the Mass. AGs Office for not doing more to protect consumers.

Im more angry at the Mass. [Attorney General] than anybody, Grasso said. Vantage has made no statement and the Mass. Attorney Generals Office did not step in and do anything to inform the public.

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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Washington state now has the highest gas prices in the country and theres no doubt the price at the pump is hurting families.

People living in rural parts of the state, especially, cant change their driving habits on a whim. If they live 20 miles away from town, taking public transportation isnt an option. And few people have the means to simply go out and buy a new vehicle  especially a pricey EV.

What makes the price jump more upsetting is that state officials were way off base when they said the new carbon reducing cap-and-invest program wouldnt have much effect on gas prices.

In fact, last year Gov. Jay Inslee said the new state tax on CO2 emissions would have minimal impact, if any on the price of fuel. Pennies. We are talking pennies, he said.

Obviously, thats not the case.

While there are certainly many factors that affect gas prices, Todd Myers, of the Washington Policy Center, notes that our gas prices began to increase faster than other states precisely when the new tax took effect this year.

Surely, thats not just a coincidence.

But when Washington states gas prices recently surpassed those in California and Hawaii, the blame game began.

In an interview with KIRO-TV news in Seattle this week, Inslee blamed corporate greed for the high prices.

He said the oil companies are price gouging Washington state, and he is now proposing a regional approach to the cap-and-invest program to counter that.

Inslee wants to join forces with California and Quebec in the hopes that a regional system would help keep gas prices in check.

Maybe thats a plan that would make a difference, but it cant happen right away. In the meantime its not much help to families taking such a big hit to their budgets right now.

Affordable Fuel Washingtons Dana Bieber spoke with the Tri-City Herald this week and said her group wants answers from state lawmakers.

How did they get it so wrong? she asked. What are they going to do about it?

She claims that the states new cap-and-invest program is three times more costly than what state officials predicted.

Her group has launched an email campaign to encourage legislators to fix the program. The more people who convey their concerns to lawmakers, the more likely adjustments to the program will be made. The email template can be found on the Affordable Fuel Washington website at affordablefuelwashington.com.

Of course, you can send your own email. If you are angry about the situation, the best way to vent is to convey your frustration to state legislators.

Solutions need to be worked out now  long before the January session starts.

Inslee told KIRO-TV that theres no going back, so scrapping the program likely wont be an option.

Reducing pollution is the primary goal behind the cap-and-invest program, and thats clearly worthwhile. The program sets a price on carbon emissions by selling allowances to the biggest polluters in the state. Then that money is directed to combating climate change and promoting clean energy.

The problem is that gas and oil companies who end up paying extra dont allow that cost to affect their profit margin. They pass it down to the consumer.

Sheri Call, president and CEO of Washington Trucking Associations, said the gas hike is hurting farmers and trucking firms that haul agricultural products.

These groups, among others, were supposed to be exempt from the new carbon law, but Call told the Herald it hasnt been working out that way.

She said the exemption needs to come at the front-end, not with paperwork filed later. Many farmers and ag firms fuel up at commercial gas stations and have no way of getting the exemption because they cant track the fuel directly back to the distributor.

This is a terrible flaw in the program that needs addressed as soon as possible. Many family farms are barely making it as it is.

Gas prices are higher than they have ever been in Washington state and the hike came right when the cap-and-invest program went into effect.

No matter how Inslee and others put the blame elsewhere, its apparent there is a correlation between the new program and the price at the pump.

They need to quit pointing fingers and fix the flaws in the program.
Jashad Presley, Dr. Phillips High School defensive back, announced his verbal commitment to UCF on Friday.

The list of his top six schools, which he revealed in May, included Maryland, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Tennessee and Kentucky.

After visiting Georgia Tech and UCF this month, Presley chose to stay close to home.

100% COMMITTED to the University of Central Florida, he tweeted.

Presley is the seventh member of the Knights 2024 class and fourth defensive recruit.

He is the second defensive back, following Seminole cornerback Chasen Johnsons commitment last Friday.

The Orlando native joins a team full of Central Florida locals. Almost 30% of last seasons roster is from the region, 29 of 102 players.

Presley will be the fourth player from Orlando if he follows through with this commitment.

He ranks as the No. 149 prospect in the state of Florida, according to 247Sports, which combines rankings listed by major recruiting services.

All verbal commitments are non-binding until December when the early signing period opens and they can become official.
@dylanmulvaney/via Instagram

Dylan Mulvaney, the trans influencer at the center of a recent controversy roiling beer giant Anheuser-Busch, has something to get off her chest.

The TikTok star posted a lengthy Instagram video Thursday with a slew of new details about the personal and professional effects of a recent right-wing smear campaign against her and the company, which sparked backlash earlier this year after sending her a promotional can of Bud Light adorned with a graphic of her face.

She said the entire incident began when she took a brand deal with a company that I loved to celebrate March Madness and her day 365 of womanhoodbut things immediately turned sour after her single video triggered one of the worst cases of right-wing hysterics in recent memory.

It mustve been a slow news week because the way that this ad got blown up, you wouldve thought I was like on a billboard or on a TV commercial or something major, Mulvaney shared. But no, it was just an Instagram video.

Immediately following the video, prominent far-right figures called for boycotts of the beerwhile a number of others took even more extreme measures. Led by musician Kid Rock, more than a few internet conservatives posted videos of themselves gunning down cases of Bud Light with assault rifles, in apparent protest of Anheuser Buschs minor partnership with a trans person.

Mulvaney said in her Thursday video that she used to have the gifted personalized can around her house, but she realized she had to protect it and hid it so well she can no longer find it. Once she does, however, she joked the can needs to go in a museum, preferably behind bullet-proof glass.

Im bringing it up because what transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined, she said, while fighting back tears. I was scared of more backlash, and I felt personally guilty for what transpired, so I patiently waited for things to get better. But surprise! They havent really.

I was waiting for the brand to reach out to me, but they never did, she added.

An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson told The Daily Beast in a statement that the company remains committed to the programs and partnerships we have forged over decades with organizations across a number of communities, including those in the LGBTQ+ community. The statement did not, however, mention Mulvaney.

The privacy and safety of our employees and our partners is always our top priority, the spokesperson wrote. As we move forward, we will focus on what we do best  brewing great beer for everyone and earning our place in moments that matter to our consumers.

Weeks after the anti-trans blowback began, Anheuser-Busch released a puzzling response in April, in which the company dodged mentions of Mulvaney and claimed vaguely that it never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.

But the company only dug itself a deeper hole after it placed on leave a pair of marketing executives who oversaw the collaboration with Mulvaney. Anheuser Busch was then forced to desperately give away free cases of Bud Light to distributors to make amends following a massive hit to its sales.

It got even weirder when the CEO of Anheuser-Busch completely backtracked and told investors there was no formal ad campaign with Mulvaneyclaiming all they did was send her a customized can not available to the public.

The boycotts then took a 180-degree turn and gay bars began wiping Anheuser-Busch from their own shelves to show support for the trans star, who they believe was deserted by the company.

Ive been scared to leave my house, Ive been ridiculed in public, Ive been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldnt wish on anyone, Mulvaney said in her Thursday video. Im not telling you this because I want your pity, I am telling you this because if this is my experience from a very privileged perspective, know that it is much much worse for other trans people.

For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse in my opinion than not hiring a trans person at all, she continued.

She felt Bud Light gave customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want and that the hate has serious and grave consequences for the rest of the LGBTQ+ community.

Mulvaney also repeatedly emphasized that queer and trans people are customers, too. I have some lesbian friends who could drink some of those haters under the table, she quipped.

To turn a blind eye and pretend everything is ok, it just isnt an option right now. And you might say, But Dylan, I dont want to get political. Babe! Supporting trans people, it shouldnt be political. There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us, Mulvaney said. I know its possible.

She highlighted that caring about the LGBTQ+ community requires a lot more than just a donation somewhere during Pride Month.

Hey, its still Pride Month. So Im going to celebrate being alive, and Im going to celebrate the trans people in my life and the ones I havent met yet, she concluded. And Im going to celebrate the fact that no matter how many thousands of horrible messages, or news anchors misgendering me, or companies going silent, that I can look in the mirror and see the woman that I am and that I love being.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Dr. Amos C. Brown Jr., vice chair of the California Reparations Task Force, right, holds a copy of the book "Songs of Slavery and Emancipation" in Sacramento on June 16, 2022. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

That promise of 40 acres and a mule to freed Black slaves turned out to be short-lived and mostly unfulfilled.

The order, signed by Gen. William Sherman with President Lincolns approval two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, gave Black people what their community leaders said they most wanted: land. The order set aside 400,000 acres along the southeastern coast that had been confiscated from Confederate landowners. (The Army later offered up spare mules.) Thousands settled on the land, but three months after the order was signed, Lincoln was assassinated and his successor, President Andrew Johnson, a sympathizer with the South, overturned it, leaving most of the freed slaves with nothing.

That offer was as close as the federal government ever came to substantial reparations for slavery, one of the worst crimes against humanity in history.

Now, California has become the first state to present a detailed plan for reparations including dozens of policy changes as well as monetary compensation for its residents who can trace their lineage to a Black enslaved person or free Black person who lived in the United States before 1900. The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans released a final report Thursday to the Legislature that meticulously lays out a case for reparations.

It is a sweeping and ambitious attempt to address the enduring legacy of slavery in a place that people dont often think of as having a slavery-corrupted history. But enslaved people were brought to California during the Gold Rush that began in 1848, and though the 1849 state Constitution banned slavery, there was no effort to enforce that ban. In fact, pro-slavery white Southerners held sway in the state Legislature, and state law allowed slave owners to capture enslaved people who had fled to this state.

Read more: Column: The craziest reparations idea you won't find in the California task force's report

A 2020 bill, written by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber when she was in the Legislature, created the nine-member task force to consider this history and the question of reparations. The group met for two years, held more than a dozen public hearings and heard from more than a hundred experts and individuals to help shape the more than 1,100-page final report.

The report alone is a significant achievement and offers a blueprint for other states and Congress to follow. But thats not enough. The Legislature should seriously  and urgently  consider the report's numerous recommendations, which include: a formal apology for slavery; monetary reparations; grants and financial assistance to help Black people buy homes and pay mortgages; free college tuition at California state schools for residents eligible for monetary reparations; and building more parks in Black communities.

The cost for most would be vast  but so are the losses of generational wealth and health suffered by Black people. Financial compensation for victims of horrific injustices is common. The German government paid billions in compensation to Holocaust survivors and individuals with Holocaust-related claims. The U.S. paid out more than $1.6 billion over 10 years to people of Japanese descent who were imprisoned during World War II.

In this case, reparations are intended to address the systemic racism that can trace its roots to the enslavement of Black people. The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, may have abolished slavery but the institution quickly morphed into other forms of subjugation and white supremacy that are still affecting Black people today. So thoroughly have the effects of slavery infected every aspect of American society over the last 400 years, the task force wrote, that it is nearly impossible  to include every piece of evidence or describe every harm done to African Americans.

Generations of Black people have suffered discrimination in every imaginable sphere of life  housing, education, politics, employment, healthcare, in the criminal justice system and more. According to the report, African Americans who tried to vote or assert their rights through courts or in legislation were threatened with violence. The Ku Klux Klan set up local chapters all over the state of California in the 1920s.

Read more: Editorial: Palm Springs bulldozed a Black neighborhood. Compensate survivors

The report paints a devastating picture of racism in the California housing market. Black people were relegated to certain towns or neighborhoods through the use of discriminatory zoning ordinances and federal mortgage policies. Thriving Black neighborhoods were demolished in the name of urban renewal. Government policies helped white Americans accumulate wealth while it put up hurdles to prevent Black people from doing that. Federal and California Homestead Acts essentially gave away hundreds of millions of acres of land almost for free mostly to white families, the report says.

Those policies have had devastating, lasting effects. "A 2014 study of the Los Angeles metro area found that the median value of liquid assets for native born African American households was $200, compared to $110,000 for white households, the report says.

Reparations of some kind are in order for Black Californians today, and most Californians seem to agree. A poll by the Black Policy Project at the Ralph J. Bunche Center at UCLA found that 63% of Californians supported cash reparations  and even higher numbers supported other types of reparations.

The state's lawmakers must start the difficult process of grappling with these recommendations  which ones to keep, which ones to adjust, which ones to cast out. What they should not do is put this report on a shelf and forget about it. It is past time to address the systemic atrocities of racism that have been inflicted on Black people for centuries. California is an excellent place to start.

If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Jair Bolsonaro

Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court has voted 5-2 to bar ex-president Jair Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years.

Mr Bolsonaro was found guilty of abusing his power ahead of last year's presidential poll.

He had been accused of undermining Brazilian democracy by falsely claiming that the electronic ballots used were vulnerable to hacking and fraud.

Mr Bolsonaro's lawyers are expected to appeal against the verdict.

They have argued that his statements had no bearing on the election result.

The ban is backdated to 2 October 2022, when the presidential election took place.

If the verdict is allowed to stand, Mr Bolsonaro will not be eligible to take part in the next presidential election in 2026, but will be able to run again in 2030.

He will also be barred from municipal elections due in 2024 and 2028.

Mr Bolsonaro called the decision a "stab in the back" and said he would keep working to advance right-wing politics in Brazil.

The case against the ex-president revolved around a speech he gave while he was still president in 2022.

On 18 July, he invited foreign diplomats to his residence in the capital, Brasilia, where he falsely claimed that the electronic voting machines used in Brazil were prone to being hacked and open to large-scale fraud.

Mr Bolsonaro maintained that he "simply explained how elections work in Brazil" and did not criticise or attack the electoral system.

But the speech came amid a polarising presidential campaign which saw Mr Bolsonaro being challenged for the top job by his arch-rival, left-winger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The bitterly fought election went into a run-off on 30 October and was won by an extremely narrow margin by Lula.

Mr Bolsonaro never publicly acknowledged his defeat and left Brazil for Florida two days before Lula was sworn in as president.

His supporters, who refused to accept the outcome of the election, stormed Brazil's Congress, the presidential palace and the building housing the Supreme Court on 8 January.
The News

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. didnt run for office before in part because he couldnt afford it.

Thats what Kennedy told then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, when Kennedy was considering running to replace him in 2006, Spitzer, the former New York governor, recalled.

In a meeting in Spitzers office, Kennedy asked whether he could continue to give paid speeches to outside groups while he was attorney general, Spitzer told Semafor. The would-be candidate explained that his responsibilities to his six children from two marriages had left him with expenses that simply couldn't be covered by a government salary.

Spitzer, incredulous, told him that there was no way a top law enforcement officer could go around getting paid for speeches. Kennedy didnt run for office.

Know More

While hes best known for his high-profile role questioning vaccines, hes kept his hand in a wide range of money-making roles. Kennedy is counsel to the powerhouse personal injury law firm Morgan and Morgan, for which hes also cut television ads. And, among other roles, he held a position at a firm that advised on investments for a business that is part of a sprawling corruption investigation into Venezuelas national oil company.

A Kennedy spokeswoman didnt respond to an inquiry about Spitzers recollection.

Ben's view

Spitzers anecdote helps answer one of the great mysteries around Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. why he didnt run for office during his period as a mainstream Democratic celebrity in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Kennedys work cleaning up the Hudson River through the group Riverkeeper seemed almost deliberately crafted for a run at New York State Attorney General, and a move he seriously considered in 2006.

Kennedys presidential campaign nearly two decades later comes without much risk that he wins  and in any case, the $400,000 presidential salary is about twice what the New York AG makes.

Notable
Elk Grove will open a cooling station Friday and through the weekend as dangerous triple-digit heat moves into the Sacramento region.

The Wackford Community Complex, 9014 Bruceville Road, will be open noon to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday to anyone who lacks shelter or adequate home cooling. A limited number of kennels will also be on site for house pets, city officials said.

Elk Grove police will staff the cooling center, the opening of which was triggered by the excessive heat warning issued Thursday by the National Weather Service.

Forecasters in Sacramento have declared a major heat risk to people and animals through the weekend, with temperatures forecast to reach as high as 111 degrees in some Sacramento Valley spots, expected to peak Saturday.

The heat forecast for the area is DANGEROUS to anyone without access to proper cooling & hydration, & to those who will be outside for work/activities, weather service forecasters posted to social media feeds Thursday.

Elk Grove officials are calling on residents to avoid outdoor activities in the direct sun from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., keep hydrated and stay in a cool space. Residents should also avoid area waterways as rivers continue to run cold and fast.

For cooling locations, days and times throughout Sacramento County, please visit 211sacramento.org.

Major Heat Risk is expected for much of the Valley and foothills this weekend. The heat forecasted for the area is DANGEROUS to anyone without access to proper cooling & hydration, & to those who will be outside for work/activities.



Stay safe, stay cool, stay hydrated!#CAwx pic.twitter.com/RWjD0VfYhV  NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) June 29, 2023
Firefighter and EMT William Dorsey lifts a migrant woman suffering from heat exhaustion onto a stretcher near the border city of Eagle Pass on Saturday. A stifling June heat wave in Texas has caused deaths and hospitalizations across the state. Credit: REUTERS/Kaylee Greenlee Beal

A dangerous heat wave that blanketed Texas this month has prompted a public health crisis thats particularly affecting older people and outdoor workers across the state, local and federal health data shows.

At least nine people have died from the heat in one South Texas county, the local medical examiner reported, eight of them older than 60. In sweltering Texas prisons, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, have died of heart attacks or unknown causes in facilities that lack air conditioning.

And in one particularly harrowing incident, a 14-year-old boy and his stepfather, 31, died after hiking in Big Bend National Park last Friday. The stepfather died after crashing his car as he raced to get help after the boy lost consciousness on the trail, while the boys 21-year-old brother attempted to carry himback to the trailhead on a day when temperatures in the area reached as high as 119 degrees, according to the National Park Service.

The unrelenting 100-degree temperatures across the state shattered weather records this month amid a heat wave thats stretching into its fourth week in some parts of Texas. The heat dome is moving east, so Texans could finally see some relief after weeks of oppressive heat.

Such heat waves and the record-breaking temperatures they bring are becoming more common and severe due to climate change, scientists told The Texas Tribune.

Emergency department visits related to the heat also surged across Texas this month as alarmed medical examiners and local public health officials alike are warning residents about health risks from the life-threatening heat.

Heat is one of the most dangerous types of weather, typically killing more people annually in the U.S. than hurricanes, tornadoes or flooding.

Heat waves can have a significant impact on human health, said Jesse Berman, an environmental epidemiologist and an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota. He said the public should keep in mind that although the heat might not seem deadly, its just as dangerous as other types of extreme weather.

Heat waves dont have that major visible impact the way a hurricane or tornado can, but they certainly have major impacts on population in a sneakier way, Berman said.

Thousands of Texans have sought emergency medical care in June related to the heat, data from the Texas Department of State Health Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. Only about half of health facilities report heat-related illness data to the states health department, meaning the real toll on Texans health is almost certainly much worse.

In the last two weeks, a CDC region that includes Texas and the states that border it set three new daily records for the number of heat-related emergency department visits since 2017, the first year for which data is available, according to the CDC.

On June 20, for example, more than 1,100 people per 100,000 emergency department visits were treated for heat-related illness by emergency departments in Texas and its neighboring states, a record high for the region.

Texas state health department does not yet have complete data on how many Texans died from the heat this month. Lara Anton, senior press officer for DSHS, said the state will likely have a more complete picture of the human toll from the heat wave in about six weeks.

In Webb County, where nine people have been pronounced dead due to the heat, the chief medical examiner, Dr. Corinne Stern, begged the public to take precautions at a commissioners court meeting in Laredo earlier this week.

This is heat like weve not seen here before, Stern said. Deaths ruled by heat stroke are ruled accidents, and accidents by definition are preventable.

All of these deaths could have been prevented, she added.

Stern said for each of the nine deaths reported in Webb County this month, she heard family and friends recount how their loved one claimed theyd be okay because theyd endured the heat in the border community many times, or how the deceased person had meant to fix their air conditioning but hadnt gotten around to it yet.

The early-in-the-season heat wave likely left people underprepared, she said.

Our county was caught a little off guard, Stern told the commissioners. These high temperatures are higher than what we normally see, and I think many of us thought, Oh, its just going to be another couple hot weeks in our county.

Dr. Richard Chamberlain, Laredos health director, said that emergency responders noted that the patients homes were extremely hot or that the individual had worked outdoors prior to returning home.

Its an unfortunate situation  any loss of life that is abrupt is concerning, Chamberlain said. Myself and members of the community have become very concerned.

In Hidalgo County, which includes McAllen, emergency rooms are swarming with workers suffering from heat exhaustion and other complications related to the high temperatures. Dr. Ivan Melendez, the health authority for Hidalgo County, estimated about 15-20% of the emergency department patients hes admitted in recent weeks had medical complications related to heat.

For example, Melendez said, he saw a handful of patients this week with heart failure after drinking too much water because its so damn hot. And about a quarter of the psychiatric patients he admitted this month were those who became aggressive or violent, a symptom he attributed to the heat.

When the temperature goes up, you see a lot more hostility, assaults, aggression and domestic violence, Melendez said.

Melendez said that when he was growing up in Hidalgo County in the 1960s, his family didnt have air conditioning, so they used fans and water to cool their rooms. Now, he said, its impossible. Theres no way youre going to sleep without an air conditioner.

In Dallas County, a handful of people with heat exhaustion and heat stroke began to appear in emergency departments in early June.

But by the middle of the month, dozens of people were being rushed to medical help per day. On one particularly hot day when temperatures reached almost 100 degrees, more than 40 people in Dallas County sought emergency care for heat exhaustion or heat stroke, data from hospitals and the Dallas County medical examiners office shows.

In the last two weeks alone, 260 people in Dallas County were treated by emergency departments for heat-related illness, according to data provided by the county. Thats more than four times the number of cases the county had in all of June last year.

Most of the patients in Dallas were men between the ages of 18 and 44, data shows. Christian Grisales, a public information officer for Dallas County Health & Human Services, said that indicates most patients were likely exposed to the heat during the workday.

We are encouraging the community to take [the heat] seriously because the heat can kill them, he said.

Dallas County offers a program to assist low-income households with fixing air-conditioning units or providing air-conditioning window units. We give priority to the elderly, disabled and families with small children, Grisales said.

In Southeast Houston, some residents are taking precautions to avoid the emergency room. Erandi Trevino, 31, said that shes waking up two hours earlier than usual to tend to the nursery that she owns, so that she can avoid the hottest part of the day. Even so, last weekend while she was working in the greenhouse, she said she quickly began to fall ill.

I thought I was going to have a panic attack because of how hot it felt, said Trevino. It was hard to take a deep breath.

Trevino, who is also a coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force, an environmental organization that advocates for better air quality, added that shes also concerned about the health impact of high ozone levels in the Houston area during the heat wave. Heat exacerbates ozone pollution.

Clarification, July 5, 2023: A previous version of this story stated that Dallas County had reported more than 130 cases of heat-related illness in the last two weeks, according data provided by a county public information officer. After the story published, the county determined there was a total of 260 cases of heat-related illness in Dallas County during that time period.

Join us for conversations that matter with newly announced speakers at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, in downtown Austin from Sept. 21-23.

Clarification, July 5, 2023 at 10:27 a.m. : A previous version of this story stated that Dallas County reported more than 130 cases of heat-related illness in the previous two weeks. After the story published, the county determined there had been 260 cases of heat-related illness in Dallas County during that time period.
Employee Verbally Assaulted By Her Manager After She Was Short $1 While Handing Change To Customer  'You'll Never Amount To Anything'

fast food employee, manager

After a fast food employee made a minor mistake while handing change back to a customer, her manager approached, proceeding to degrade and humiliate her. The incident resulted in the employee breaking down in tears, forcing her to momentarily step away from the food counter to compose herself.

Now, the employee is seeking advice from the Internet, asking what her next steps should be to put a stop to her managers mistreatment of her.

The manager whispered 'Youll never amount to anything' in the workers ear after she was $1 short when handing change back to a customer.

Brenda, a fast food employee who started working at a Burger King restaurant in Los Angeles in May 2023, shared that the manager has been cruel to her from the start, often making rude and critical comments to her employee in front of customers.

RELATED: Boss Demands That Employees React To Messages With Emojis That Match Their Skin Tone So He Can Tell Them Apart

Brenda has always tried to ignore her managers insults and focus on her job. However, one instance left her heartbroken and humiliated. She took to TikTok to reveal the experience.

In the video, a tearful Brenda said that after giving a customer their change back, she realized that she was a dollar short. Since she had already closed the cash register, she asked her manager to open it back up with a key so she could give the correct amount of change to the customer.

She goes to the cash register, opens it, and in my ear, she says that I basically dont amount to anything in Spanish, Brenda said. The comment took her by surprise. It made me feel ugly because other times at least she says that out loud where everyone hears the ugliest insults that she just says to me, but this time she said it just directly to me when no one heard.

RELATED: Customer Shames A Drive-Thru Worker Caught Falling Asleep On His Feet In Understaffed Taco Bell  'People Have No Compassion'

While Brenda acknowledged that she shouldn't care what her manager said to her, especially if her words were degrading, this remark was an especially hurtful one that Brenda could not shake off.

After dealing with an unruly customer later in her shift, Brenda had to step away from the counter, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. I stepped aside and I cried in the back, she admitted.

Brenda added in the caption of her video that her manager, whom she referred to as Manager Ingrid, had given her difficulties since she started her job. [She] has been insulting me verbally out loud for any misunderstanding, Brenda claimed.

She believes that some of the mistreatment her manager has thrown at her is due to the fact that she is the only young, female employee. Im the only person she treats this way, she said. She has me working on almost everything while the other employees just get to relax when theres no customers.

Brenda asked for viewers advice, sharing that she has attempted to contact Human Resources to report her manager, but her phone calls have gone unanswered and many of the offices in her location are closed.

I feel helpless. Please if anyone knows of anything I can do please let me know, Brenda added.

RELATED: Worker Deletes Thousands Of Files He Created After Finding Out That The Company That Fired Him For Being Incompetent Is Still Using His Work

Other TikTok users expressed their sympathies and encouraged her to find a new job.

You deserve better, that is not okay. She needs to take a good look in the mirror when saying that to someone else. Work is not meant to be miserable, one user commented.

I come from restaurant management. You dont deserve that at all. No good manager will ever insult their team. Without my crew I am nothing! Stay strong! another user shared.

Others tagged the official Burger King TikTok account in the comments to notify the company about the situation.

RELATED: 4 Rare Signs Of Superior Intelligence To Look For In Yourself

Brenda later shared that she was fired from Burger King.

Just one week after posting her original video, Brenda revealed that she had been suddenly terminated from her job and that her manager had ghosted her.

Managers not only have the responsibility to make sure the business they are in charge of runs smoothly, but that they are treating their employees with respect. In this case, Brenda's manager proved that she should not be in a high place of power.

It appears as though "Manager Ingrid," like many bosses, intend to make their employees feel shame or guilt for doing something wrong. Even something as minute as being $1 short is seen as a "mistake."

Whatever reasons this manager had for berating and verbally abusing her employee, at least now Brenda can find a new place to work, hopefully one where she is treated with respect and dignity.

RELATED: Manager Tells Employees They Won't Be Paid For The Day If They Show Up A Minute Late, But They Still Have To Work

Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.

This article originally appeared on YourTango
The Fort Worth Independent School District lost a small amount of ground in most categories of this years end-of-course STAAR exams, according to test results released Friday.

The release marks the first look at how students fared on the newly redesigned state assessment. State education officials have said that the test should be comparable enough to the version students took in previous years that districts can still use the results to get an idea of what direction students are headed in. But testing experts say that even minor changes to an assessment can affect outcomes.

Fort Worth ISD posted declines in Biology, Algebra I and English II. In Biology, 32% of students met grade level standards this year, down from 36% last year. In Algebra I, 20% of test-takers scored on grade level this year, down from 23% last year. In English II, 39% scored on grade level this year, down from 41% last year.

The district posted gains in English I and U.S. History: 34% met grade level expectations in English I, up from 33% last year, and 60% scored on grade level in U.S. History, up from 56% last year.

Fort Worth ISD officials were unavailable for comment.

Statewide, the percentage of students meeting grade level fell within a point of last years results in all but one category. In English I, schools across the state posted a six-point increase over last year in the percentage of students meeting grade level.

Fridays release only includes results of Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology and U.S. History exams students are required to take before they graduate from high school. State education officials expect to release results of reading and math exams for grades 3-8 in mid August.

This year marked the first time students took a newly reformatted version of the test, meaning results from this years exam arent necessarily comparable to those from previous years. Among other changes, the new version of the test included more short writing prompts and fewer multiple choice questions than the old version. State education officials have said the new exam was designed to more closely mirror the instruction students get in class.

This year also marked the first time students across the state have taken the exam entirely online. While that was a big change for some school districts, others, including Crowley ISD, had already made the shift to all-online testing. Crowleys chief academic officer told the Star-Telegram in April that the district made the move in 2021, when state education officials paused accountability measures tied to the exam and suspended A-F accountability scores because of the pandemic. That pause allowed the district to make the change at a time when there would be fewer risks if everything didnt go well.

In a statement, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said the test is intended to give parents and teachers a clear picture of how well students learned the school years course material.

Working with the input of many Texas teachers, we have redesigned the STAAR test to look more like how students learn in the classroom, he said. We celebrate these results, and also recognize they provide objective information for parents and educators for the year to come.

Results were released Friday for other Tarrant County school districts, as well.

Arlington ISD

Arlington schools posted gains in most categories. In Biology, 48% of students met grade level standards, up from 46% last year. In English I, 44% met grade level, from 40% last year. In US History, 67% met grade level, up from 64% last year.

In Algebra I, 34% met grade level this year, down from 38% last year. And in English II, 47% scored on grade level this year, down from 48% last year.

Northwest ISD

Fridays test results for a mixed bag for the district. In Biology, 74% scored on grade level this year, up from 72% last year. In English I, 71% scored on grade level this year, up from 63% last year. In English II, 70% scored on grade level this year, down from 72% last year. In Algebra I, 52% were on grade level this year, down from 57% last year. And in U.S. History results were flat, with 84% scoring on grade level.

Keller ISD

The district game ground in three categories. In Algebra 1, 61% of students met grade level, up from 56% last year. In Biology, 79% met grade level, up from 78% last year. In English I, 78% met grade level, up from 69% last year.

In English II, 76% met grade level this year, down from 79% last year. In U.S. History, 85% that grade level, down from 86% last year.

Crowley ISD

The district posted gains in three categories. In biology, 42% met grade level this year, up from 41% last year. In English I, 47% grade level this year from 40% last year. In U.S. history, 61% met grade level this year, up from 58% last year.

In Algebra I, 28% Of students met grade level this year, down from 32% last year. In English II, 46% met grade level this year, down from 47% last year.

H-E-B ISD

The district posted gains in two categories and was flat in a third. In Biology, 75% met grade level this year, up from 73% last year.In English I, 72% met grade level, up from 65% last year. In English II, results were flat at 68%.

In Algebra I, 69% met grade level this year, down from 71% last year. In U.S. History, 82% met grade level this year, down from 83% last year.
Chief Justice John Roberts may have written the majority opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court that ended affirmative action on Thursday, but Justice Clarence Thomas may savor the moment the most.

Thomas, the second of only three Black Supreme Court justices in American history, is the courts harshest opponent of affirmative action policies. Despite, or rather because of, his experience of being among the first generation of Black students to benefit from affirmative action policies, Thomas views them with the greatest disdain.

In a solo concurring opinion involving Harvard College and the University of North Carolina, Thomas declared victory and stated his opinion that the precedent in the 2003 case of Grutter v. Bollinger, which had upheld affirmative action, was now dead  something that Roberts did not do.

The Courts opinion rightly makes clear that Grutter is, for all intents and purposes, overruled, Thomas wrote. And, it sees the universities admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes. Those policies fly in the face of our colorblind Constitution and our Nations equality ideal. In short, they are plainly  and boldly  unconstitutional.

Thomas uses his concurrence to bring all of his past opinions to bear to dance on the grave of a policy of racial discrimination that he believes stamped him with the stigma of race ever since he left his home in Pin Point, Georgia.

After attending College of the Holy Cross, Thomas chose to go to Yale Law School. The law school had just implemented an affirmative action policy that set a quota of 10% of incoming classes to be people of color. Thomas was among 12 other Black students in his class.

He has since recounted feeling unnerved by the smiling faces of white liberals telling him that he was there due to their beneficence. He would connect this to a favorite song of his at the time, The Undisputed Truths Smiling Faces Sometimes with its lyrics:

Smiling faces, smiling faces, sometimes They dont tell the truth Smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies

As much as it had stung to be told Id done well  despite my race, it was far worse to feel that I was now at Yale because of it, Thomas wrote in his 2007 memoir.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been a longtime opponent of affirmative action policies.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been a longtime opponent of affirmative action policies.

The white liberal acting out of supposed charity to the Black student was actually just enacting a sort of perverse inversion of the old racism, Thomas would later say. He would frequently equate the policies of racial segregation and affirmative action.

I believe that there is a moral [and] constitutional equivalence  between laws designed to subjugate a race and those that distribute benefits on the basis of race in order to foster some current notion of equality, Thomas wrote in a 1995 affirmative action opinion.

He echoed this belief Thursday in his concurrence supporting the plaintiffs, Students for Fair Admissions Inc.: Then, as now, the views that motivated Dred Scott and Plessy have not been confined to the past, and we must remain ever vigilant against all forms of racial discrimination.

Thomas has long written and opined that affirmative action started from a premise that Black people were inferior and in need of white peoples helping hand. This made white people the central character in the affirmative action narrative while making the Black recipient  and the rest of society  question their achievements, Thomas argued.

[Blacks] owe all their achievements to the anointed in society who supposedly changed the circumstances  not to their own efforts, Thomas wrote in 1995 for The Weekly Standard.

This beneficence from the anointed not only creates doubt and confusion for the Black recipients of affirmative action but also undermines their accomplishments to themselves, their peers and in society at large. It doesnt matter whether a given Black person achieved thanks to affirmative action or not.

Who can differentiate between those who belong and those who do not? Thomas wrote in his opinion in Grutter.

This leaves a question mark over the accomplishments of all successful Black people and marks them with a stigma of inferiority, he reasoned.

The problem of stigma does not depend on determinacy as to whether those stigmatized are actually the beneficiaries of racial discrimination, Thomas continued in Grutter. When blacks take positions in the highest places of government, industry, or academia, it is an open question today whether their skin color played a part in their advancement. The question itself is the stigma  because either racial discrimination did play a role, in which case the person may be deemed otherwise unqualified, or it did not, in which case asking the question itself unfairly marks those blacks who would succeed without discrimination.

As much as it had stung to be told Id done well  despite my race, it was far worse to feel that I was now at Yale because of it."Clarence Thomas, 2007

This all may sound eerily familiar to liberals who have familiarized themselves with contemporary literature steeped in critical race theory, like Ibram X. Kendis book Stamped From the Beginning. Thats because Thomas agrees.

For Thomas, the most important form that racism takes is the stigma or mark it puts on black people, designating them as less worthy or capable than white people.  What distinguishes Thomass jurisprudence is that he accepts these liberal claims about the secret and no-so-secret life of race, while refusing the conclusions that liberals believe must follow from them, the political theorist Corey Robin writes in his book The Enigma of Clarence Thomas.

He rejects what liberals believe must follow  integration, diversity goals, affirmative action, equity  because he says they only serve the interests of white people.

[A]s the universities define the diversity that they practice, it encompasses social and aesthetic goals far afield from the education-based interest discussed in Grutter, Thomas wrote in his concurrence on Thursday.

His opinions on affirmative action are frequently peppered with talk of aesthetics. By this, Thomas means that the aesthetic appearance provided by a diverse student body at exclusive educational institutions serves only the interests of the rising white elite. If diversity means admitting more Black students because they are supposed to bring diverse perspectives, then the people they are bringing those perspectives to are the non-beneficiaries of affirmative action: white people. Therefore, affirmative action for Black people is meant only to help white people obtain an aesthetic air of racial diversity.

It also helps elite schools maintain their exclusivity. Harvard is only Harvard because it admits so few people, after all. Affirmative action provides a tool to increase racial diversity while keeping exclusive admissions policies.

In this way, affirmative action is a solution to the self-inflicted wounds of [an] elitist admissions policy, Thomas wrote in Grutter.

In his concurrence in Students for Fair Admissions, Thomas gathers these arguments and deploys them with great venom at the dissent written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the nations third Black justice. In her own dissent, Jackson not only outlines the history of gaps in opportunity that made affirmative action policies necessary but argues that it is a matter of respect for identity, in contrast to Thomas argument that affirmative action is inherently demeaning.

To demand that colleges ignore race in todays admissions practices  and thus disregard the fact that racial disparities may have mattered for where some applicants find themselves today  is not only an affront to the dignity of those students for whom race matters. It also condemns our society to never escape the past that explains how and why race matters to the very concept of who merits admission, she writes.

[Thomas opinion] demonstrates an obsession with race consciousness that far outstrips my or UNCs holistic understanding that race can be a factor that affects applicants unique life experiences, Jackson continued in a footnote, before concluding: [B]y insisting that obvious truths be ignored, [Thomas] prevent[s] our problem-solving institutions from directly addressing the real import and impact of social racism and government-imposed racism, thereby deterring our collective progression toward becoming a society where race no longer matters.

Thomas, in turn, accuses Jackson of arguing that all outcomes are determined by race and the countrys history of racism. In envisioning this black and white world (literally), Thomas says that Jackson would hand over policy to a self-appointed elite class to use race to sort out the winners and losers.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson sparred with Thomas in their dueling dissent and concurrence in the Students for Fair Admissions cases.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson sparred with Thomas in their dueling dissent and concurrence in the Students for Fair Admissions cases.

Her dissent is not a vanguard of the innocent and helpless, Thomas writes. It is instead a call to empower privileged elites, who will tell us [what] is required to level the playing field among castes and classifications that they alone can divine.

Though they do not say so, Jackson and Thomas may simply not believe in the same end point. Thomas argued in his concurrence and in the past that affirmative action policies hurt Black people by admitting them to schools that are a mismatch.

[T]hose policies sort at least some blacks and Hispanics into environments where they are less likely to succeed academically relative to their peers, Thomas wrote in his concurrence on Thursday, adding, These policies may harm even those who succeed academically.

Instead, Thomas believes that Black students should go to schools where they would not be stamped with the stigma of affirmative action and would find a match to help them succeed. What would that match be? Historically Black colleges and universities demonstrate a marked ability to improve the lives of their students, Thomas wrote in his concurrence.

Why, then, would this Court need to allow other universities to racially discriminate? Thomas asks. Not for the betterment of those black students, it would seem. The hard work of HBCUs and their students demonstrate that black schools can function as the center and symbol of black communities, and provide examples of independent black leadership, success, and achievement.

In his opinions and public comments, Thomas has long talked up the ills of integration and the promise of separation. The whole push to assimilate simply does not make sense to me, Thomas once said.

I am the only one at this table who attended a segregated school, The New Yorkers Jeffrey Rosen reported Thomas to have said during deliberations on a desegregation case in 1995. And the problem with segregation was not that we didnt have white people in our class. The problem was that we didnt have equal facilities.

And instead, Thomas felt that affirmative action simply exposed him to social experimentation by white liberals.

I have been the guinea pig for many social experiments on social minorities. To all who would continue these experiments, I say, Please, no more, Thomas said in a 1986 speech.

As Robin writes in his biography of the justice, Thomas never left behind his Black radical politics of the 1970s. He has instead transmuted them into a deeply pessimistic conservative politics of race. White racism can never be overcome. Efforts to ameliorate historic racial inequalities are actually a new form of white racism and control. Integration is detrimental to Black people. Separation is the ideal.

Jackson, now representing an alternate view from the bench as a Black woman, takes a different view in her dissent when she says that affirmative action programs reflect universities clear-eyed optimism that, one day, race will no longer matter.

Thomas has now achieved one of his great career goals. It remains to be seen whether his vision for the future comes to pass.

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Enjoy watching a street takeover? In Alameda County, it could cost you a $1,000 fine and 3 months in jail

A crowd surrounds an early morning street takeover in South Los Angeles in 2022. A proposed law in Alameda County would impose fines and jail time on spectators of street takeovers. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Large crowds who gather at illegal street takeovers in Alameda County could face jail time or up to $1,000 in fines under a proposed new law that has raised concerns among 1st Amendment watchdogs who worry that it is overly broad and could penalize anyone caught near a street race.

Alameda County joins several neighboring municipalities in the San Francisco Bay Area in trying to tackle the growing problem of street takeovers and crowds gathered to watch dangerous car stunts. In addition to the fine, violators could be sentenced to up to three months in jail. The county Board of Supervisors advanced the ordinance in a first reading by a 4-1 vote and is scheduled to take a final vote July 11.

Cities in Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties all have put similar ordinances in place, according to Tona Henninger, chief of staff with Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley's office.

Miley introduced the motion for the new law and said a sideshow activity  the term for events where people take over intersections to perform dangerous stunts  in the unincorporated parts of the county has escalated in recent years.

"I know the public is painfully aware of the proliferation of sideshow activity that's occurred in other neighboring jurisdictions on freeways, on bridges, in broad daylight and all hours of the day and night. With hundreds of cars, hundreds of participants," Miley said.

Street takeover spectators often gather in the middle of intersections to watch drivers perform car stunts. Sometimes, the frenzy can spill out of the intersection.

In Compton, a crowd watching a street takeover broke into a nearby gas station in April. Drivers have hit and killed spectators after their cars veered into crowds, and some people have been fatally shot while watching takeovers. Officials in Alameda County complain that takeovers have damaged residential neighborhoods in the unincorporated parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Takeovers can play out in the middle of the night on isolated streets or in the day, when other drivers are caught in the mayhem.

Street racing and takeovers have been around for decades, but the practice surged in popularity during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, when city streets had little to no traffic, according to law enforcement.

Other jurisdictions in the state have passed similar laws to discourage spectators at street takeovers  including the city of Los Angeles, which has had a law in place since 2001.

Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez co-wrote Alameda County's proposed ordinance and said the law would give deputies another tool to break up street takeovers. Typically, people from outside the county travel to a sideshow because it's advertised online, Sanchez said. County officials recognized some of the concerns from 1st Amendment advocates, she said.

"This is not going to deter anyone from being able to report out on these incidents," Sanchez said. "This really just gives the Sheriff's Office a tool to address the issue appropriately."

Alameda County Assistant County Counsel Scott Dickey said the ordinance would give law enforcement officers the discretion to go after someone encouraging a sideshow, not necessarily those who are recording the event or who are in the area by accident.

Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods said the very word "spectator" in the ordinance is overly broad, because the law doesn't designate how many people can be allowed to view the event.

"When it comes to the constitutionality of this law, I am concerned," Woods said. "I think there are some ordinances in cities that have been passed where the constitutionality has not been challenged. I anticipate here in Alameda County this one will be challenged."

A spectator must be knowingly and intentionally present at a sideshow  and within 200 feet of the event  in order to be subject to citation or arrest, according to Alameda County officials. Officers responding to a sideshow will have discretion to break up the event, but critics of the law say that sideshow participants typically are already violating the law when they block an intersection or drive recklessly.

"There are laws already on the books to prevent that type of activity," said Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel with the National Press Photographers Assn. He added that citizens who show up to videotape the street takeovers should not be targeted by the law because they can discourage the illegal events by recording who is taking part.

David Loy, legal director with the First Amendment Coalition, urged the county to reconsider adopting the law, saying it violates a person's constitutional right for a narrowly tailored purpose and it doesn't leave any alternatives for someone to record a sideshow.

"When a government agency says, 'We promise not to abuse our power' is when there's cause for concern," Loy said.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The directive aims to protect over a thousand species of animal and fauna across Europe

The European Court of Justice has ruled that the Republic of Ireland broke EU nature laws by failing to protect hundreds of sites.

The long-running case was brought forward by the European Commission in relation to implementation of the EU Habitats Directive.

The court found that the Irish government had failed to designate Special Areas of Conservation for 217 of 423 sites across the country.

The government also neglected to set "site-specific detailed conservation objectives" at 140 sites.

The court awarded costs of the case against the Irish government but the issue of fines was not determined.

The Wicklow Mountains are among hundreds of sites identified as special areas of conservation

The Habitats Directive aims to protect over a thousand species of animal and fauna and 230 characteristic habitat types.

The overall objective is to ensure that those species and habitats are maintained or restored to a favourable conservation status within the EU.

The Irish Wildlife Trust (IWT) said the ruling was a "damning finding against Ireland" that comes as no surprise.

The IWT's campaign officer Padraic Fogarty said it was not seeing changes where it mattered despite some positive initiatives.

"We have whole sectors whose ecological footprints are out of control, particularly agriculture but also forestry, fishing and peat extraction," he said.

Irish Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan said he recognised the importance of the judgement and was examining it with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and in consultation with the attorney general.

"It is important to note that the courts findings refer to the position in January 2019," he said.

"This government has made very considerable progress in recent years," he added.

"I am confident that we will respond to this judgement swiftly with positive and constructive actions in order to bring Ireland into full compliance."
Belgium PM Alexander De Croo said the EU was looking to tax frozen Russian assets (JOHN THYS)

The European Union could raise three billion euros a year for Ukraine's reconstruction by taxing the interest earned by Russian central bank assets frozen in the bloc, Belgium's prime minister said Friday.

"We are working on a windfall tax on profits," Alexander De Croo said after a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

"The estimate is that three billion euros ($3.3 billion) per year could be used for the reconstruction of Ukraine," he said.

The EU has frozen some 200 billion euros of Russian central bank assets as punishment for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

De Croo said that about 90 percent of those funds are held in Belgium, which hosts the headquarters of the international deposit organisation Euroclear.

He said there was a "political consensus" among the EU's 27 leaders to apply the windfall tax.

But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was far more cautious, saying that "there is no proposal that is currently ready for legislation".

"It is all terribly complicated and nobody knows at the moment what is possible," he added.

In the formal conclusions from their summit, the EU leaders said only that they asked the EU's executive, the European Commission, to take work forward "with international partners" on how to use frozen Russian assets.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the executive would soon come forward with a proposal focused "prudently" on targeting the profits from Russian assets.

"It cannot be that Russia destroys vast parts of the infrastructure of Ukraine and is not contributing to the repair and reconstruction," she said.

EU diplomats say that about 100 billion euros of the Russian central bank assets is in cash, earning roughly 3 percent, and that is what would be subject to the tax.

Diplomats say once the commission has come up with a proposal the EU would seek to work with its partners from the G7 to make the measures broader.

The European Central Bank and countries including Germany fear that using the Russian assets could scare off other investors from keeping their funds in euros.

bur-del/raz/js
EU agrees to de-risk from China and debates what this means

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Union leaders committed on Friday to reducing the bloc's dependence on China and debated how to strike a balance between "de-risking" and cooperating in areas such as climate change.

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said finding the right stance was "the million euro question", adding the de-risking strategy followed the EU's painful lesson from reliance on Russian gas, which Moscow cut after its invasion of Ukraine.

"What it basically says is (to) assess are we overly dependent in some way on China in trade and how to reduce so that if something changes drastically in the world we're not left high and dry," he said before Friday's EU summit session.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said de-risking was mainly a matter for companies, which would take a few years to diversify.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte highlighted EU reliance on China during the COVID pandemic for protective equipment such as masks and now for medicines and pharmaceutical raw materials. De-risking, he said, would be a "step-by-step" process.

The 27-nation European Union has since 2019 considered China a partner, competitor and system rival. Its caution has increased over China's more aggressive "wolf warrior" diplomacy and Beijing's closer ties to Moscow.

"We see China more and more as a systemic rival," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said.

EU leaders sought on Friday to present a united front, but there are differences between countries such as France and Germany, with sizeable business interests in China, and Lithuania, on which Chinese has imposed sanctions.

Conclusions for the summit say the European Union will reduce critical dependencies and de-risk and diversify where necessary.

They call on China to press Russia to stop the war in Ukraine and express concern about growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait, while stressing a shared interest in stable relations.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in March that a hardening of China's position required Europe to "de-risk" both economically and diplomatically.

The Commission is also urging EU members to agree to stronger controls on exports and outflows of technologies to military use by "countries of concern", with China clearly in mind.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; additional reporting by Sabine Siebold; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Alison Williams and Andrew Heavens)
(Bloomberg) -- European Union members have failed to reach an agreement on power market reforms, kicking discussions to the second half of the year.

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It wasnt possible on Friday to break a deadlock over subsidies for nuclear energy in proposals, according to people familiar with the situation. The spat is mainly between major nuclear power France on the one side and Germany on the other.

The market reform has already been long-delayed by haggling and the rift shows how difficult it is now for Europe to agree on changes that were an urgent call during the worst energy crisis in decades. Talks will be prolonged as Europe heads into the next heating season.

The EU is overhauling its economy as part of the ambitious Green Deal strategy to reach climate neutrality by 2050. At the same time, its seeking to boost energy security after losing access to Russian gas  a major source of fuel  since the war.

Part of that is a reform is to the blocs power market, but its been strung out as member states seek to defend their interests as each has a different power mix and industries to protect.

The Swedish presidency has failed to find agreement and now it will pass to Spain, which takes over next month.

The main point of contention is how revenues from contract-for-difference subsidies can be used, and whether they should extend to prolonging the life of existing nuclear plants. Contracts-for-difference work by setting a strike price for power generated. If the market price is higher, the operator pays back the excess profit to a central body or government. If the traded price is lower, the generator gets a top up.

Read: EU Seeks to Resolve Deadlock on Power Market Reform on Friday

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At a summit in Brussels on Thursday, EU leaders adopted a statement expressing their readiness to contribute to future security commitments to Ukraine and to consider approaches to such a contribution.

Source: European Pravda referring to the text of the EU summit decision

Details: According to the text of the document, which has been approved by all EU Member States, the European Union and the member states "stand ready to contribute, together with partners, to future security commitments to Ukraine, which will help Ukraine defend itself in the long term, deter acts of aggression and resist destabilisation efforts."

Quote: "In this regard, they will swiftly consider the modalities of such contribution. These commitments will be taken in full respect of the security and defence policy of certain Member States and taking into account the security and defence interests of all Member States. The European Council will remain seized of the matter."

More details: Separately, EU leaders have reaffirmed the EUs readiness to provide sustained military support to Ukraine for as long as needed, in particular through the EU Military Assistance Mission and the European Peace Facility.

They have also praised the progress in the delivery and joint procurement of one million artillery shells and missiles for Ukraine.

The decision specifically underlines the importance of continuing the efforts of EU Member States to assist in meeting Ukraine's urgent military and defence needs, without prejudice to the specific security and defence policies of individual Member States and taking into account the security and defence interests of all Member States.

Background: Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has urged EU partners not to turn the provision of security guarantees to Ukraine into an uncontrolled process.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said that EU countries that remain neutral cannot support the provision of security guarantees to Ukraine.

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said that the best security guarantee for Ukraine is full NATO membership as soon as the war is over.

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The European Union has pledged to continue to work with other countries to ensure the widest possible international support for the key principles and objectives of the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

Source: European Pravda, referring to the text of the EU summit decision

Details: According to the decision, the European Union and its member states pledged to intensify their diplomatic efforts and continue to cooperate with Ukraine and other countries "to ensure the widest possible international support for the key principles and objectives of Ukraines Peace Formula, including through an upcoming Global Peace Summit".

Any initiative aimed at achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine must be based on full respect for its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, as stated in the decision.

Background: In May, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested holding a global peace summit with the participation of as many states as possible to secure their support for Ukraine's Peace Formula.

Last weekend, political and national security advisers from a dozen countries, including the three BRICS members and the United States, met in Copenhagen to discuss key principles for achieving peace in Ukraine.

Following a meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday, the EU suggested that a peace summit on Ukraine could be held by the end of the year.

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(Bloomberg) -- The European Union will on Friday seek to resolve a deadlock between France and Germany over the role of nuclear energy in the blocs power market and pave the way for a deal on a key reform meant to help the shift to a low-carbon economy.

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In a compromise shared with EU governments on Thursday, Sweden proposed a limited possibility of using revenues from the so-called contracts for difference  a way to subsidize renewables  to prolong existing power plants, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. France wants to use such a tool to extend the life of its nuclear fleet.

Another change suggested by Sweden, the holder of the EUs rotating presidency, is to give its 27 member states discretion on how to distribute the revenues to take into account varying national situations while monitoring the effects on the internal market. The provisions aim to help allay Germanys concerns about what it saw as unfair subsidies to Frances atomic sector.

The EU is overhauling its economy as part of the ambitious Green Deal strategy to reach climate neutrality by 2050. At the same time, the bloc is seeking to boost energy security after Russia, its main natural gas supplier, limited shipments of the fuel following Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

Read More: Why Getting Europes Green Deal Going Is So Hard

Sweden wants to secure an agreement before its presidency term ends Friday on a mandate for talks with the European Parliament about the final shape of the reform. The risk is that further delays eventually could stall the talks as political tensions rise ahead of elections to the blocs assembly next spring.

The compromise also includes extending an emergency windfall profit cap until June 30, 2024, and makes all energy sources, including natural gas, eligible for subsidies to provide backup capacity as long as they emit less than 550 grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour.

Plants exceeding the threshold, such as coal-fired power generators, could be exempted if they meet a set of criteria, with procurement of their capacity limited to one year.

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On June 23, Euclid was secured to the adaptor of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The new ESA cosmological mission is getting ready for lift-off with a target launch date of July 1 from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Its an exhilarating and sobering thought: All the planets, galaxies, starlight, and other objects that we can see and measure in the universe make up just 5 percent of existence. The other 95 percent are eaten up by two enigmas, dark matter and dark energy, known to scientists by their apparent gravitational effects on the surrounding universe, but not directly detectible.

On July 1, however, a new European Space Agency mission could help scientists get a little closer to solving the twin mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. The Euclid space telescope will take flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station no earlier than 11:11 a.m. EDT atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. NASA will live stream the launch beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Following blastoff, Euclid will take about 30 days to reach its operational orbit around Lagrange Point 2 (L2), an area a million miles toward the outer solar system where Euclid can maintain a constant position relative to Earth. The James Webb Space Telescope also orbits L2.

[Related: A super pressure balloon built by students is cruising Earths skies to find dark matter]

Once on location and operational, Euclid will begin what is expected to be a six-year mission where it will survey around a third of the sky, carefully measuring the shapes of billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away to catch a glimpse at the ways dark matter and dark energy shape our cosmos. To do that, the roughly 4,600-pound space telescope will use its four-foot-wide primary mirror to collect and focus visible and near-infrared wavelengths of light on two instruments: the VISible instrument camera and Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer, which helps determine the distance to far off galaxies.

The awesomeness of how many galaxies Euclid will be able to measure and at what amazing precisionits just an amazing feat of human engineering, says Lindley Winslow, a professor of physics at MIT who designs experiments to detect dark matter, but is not directly involved with this mission. The fact that we can do precision cosmology is awesome.

The European Space Agency's Cosmic Vision aims to better define dark energy, dark matter, and their role in universal expansion.

Cosmologists, who study the formation, evolution, and structure of the universe, have a model called Lambda-CDM that might explain why everything is the way it is. Lambda is the cosmological constant, the force that appears to be causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate and which scientists believe is related to or manifests in mysterious dark energy. CDM stands for cold dark matter, which interacts with normal matter gravitationally.

Those are the two ingredients that have sculpted the universe that we know, Winslow says. Dark energy drives universal expansion, while in the early universe, it was this cold dark matter that pulled visible matter that we see now into potential wells, that then allowed it to contract and form galaxies and stars.

Lambda-CDM helps us construe a lot of the large-scale universe, according to Winslow, but it doesnt tell us how it fits together with the theory that explains how the small scale universe works: the Standard Model of particle physics. Euclid is one of several attempts to learn more about how the universe expands and revise Lambda-CDM.

What we're really interested in is, can we get more data? Winslow says. And can we find something that Lambda-CDM doesn't explain?

To hunt for that evidence, Euclid will use a technique known as weak gravitational lensing. This is similar to the strong gravitational lensing technique employed by JWST, where the mass of a foreground object, such as a galaxy cluster, is used to magnify a more distant background object. With weak gravitational lensing, scientists are more interested in the way the mass of the foreground objects, including dark matter, creates subtle distortions in the shape of background galaxies.

We're using the background galaxies to learn about the matter distribution in the foreground, says Rachel Mandelbaum, an astrophysicist at Carnegie Mellon University who is a member of the US portion of the Euclid Consortium, a group of thousands of scientists and engineers. We're trying to measure the effects of all of the matter between the distinct galaxy shape and us.

[Related: Astronomers used dead stars to detect a new form of ripple in space-time]

This method will also help them measure the effects of dark energy, Mandelbaum adds. Since dark matter helps all other forms of matter clump together, and dark energy counteracts the gravitational effects of dark matter, by measuring how clumpy matter is over a range of distance from Earth, we can measure how cosmic structure is growing and use that to infer the effects of dark energy on the matter distribution.

Euclid will not be the first large sky survey using weak gravitational lensing to search for signs of dark matter and dark energy, but it will be the first survey of its kind in orbit. Previous studies, such as the Dark Energy Survey, have all been conducted by ground-based telescopes, according to Mandelbaum. Being up in space offers a different advantage.

"Ground-based telescopes see blurrier images than space-based telescopes because of the effects of the Earth's atmosphere on the light of distant stars and galaxies, Mandelbaum says. Euclids view from L2 will be helpful when we're trying to measure these very subtle distortions in the shapes of galaxies.

But dark matter and dark energy are tough enigmas to crack, and scientists can use all the data they can collect, from as many angles as possible. The Vera Rubin Observatory, currently under construction in Chile and scheduled to open in 2025, will host the ground-based Legacy Survey of Space and Time and scan the entire southern sky for similar phenomena. Efforts like these will help ensure the reproducibility of findings by Euclid, and vice versa, according to Mandelbaum.

Euclid is a really exciting experiment within a broader landscape of surveys that are trying to get at the same science, but with very different datasets that have different assumptions, she says. They're going to be doing somewhat different things that give us a different approach to answering these really fundamental questions about the universe.
A European Space Agency space telescope launched this weekend on a SpaceX rocket from Florida will peer back into galactic history to uncover why the universe's expansion is accelerating.

ESA's Euclid spacecraft launched at 11:12 a.m. EDT Saturday on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The mission is designed to answer one of the biggest mysteries about the cosmos. The universe is ever expanding, but that process began ramping up about 6 billion years ago, and no one knows why.

"Dark energy" refers to the mystery cause of the expansion of the Universe, and "dark matter" is the name of what causes the growth of cosmic structures, like galaxies. Scientists are still trying to figure out what dark matter and energy are. This field of study around the changes in our universe is known as cosmology.

It's estimated dark energy makes up 70% of the cosmos and dark matter is 25%, meaning we don't fully understand 95% of what makes up the mass of our universe.

BUILDING BLOCKS FOR LIFE FOUND IN SPACE BY NASAS JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE

According to ESA, the space telescope was designed to answer fundamental questions about the universe, including how the universe's expansion has changed over time and the forces behind it.

Once in orbit, Euclid will live at the second Lagrange Point or L2, about 1 million miles away, with the Earth between the Sun and the telescope, according to the ESA. This is the same orbit as the James Webb Space Telescope and ESA's star-surveyor, the Gaia satellite. The orbit was chosen because it's an excellent way to view the more extensive universe without Earth's shadow interfering.

Euclid has two instruments, a visible-wavelength camera known as the VISible instrument and the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer known as NISP.

Using visible and infrared light, ESA's Euclid space telescope will search for dark energy and its influence on the universe. To achieve this, Euclid will take images, creating a 3D map of one-third of the sky, viewing its evolution over 10 billion years.

NASA is contributing hardware and science team members to the Euclid mission. Japan and Canada also contributed to the mission.

In another four years, NASA will launch another space telescope known as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will also study the origins and changes in the universe.
Everything we know so far about 'The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo' feature film

Taylor Jenkins Reid's bestselling novel "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" is coming to Netflix!

The book, which is a tell-all from a dying Hollywood diva, has an enormous following on TikTok, and fans can't wait to see it on the small screen.

On TikTok, one person made a video about their dream cast for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo," and wrote, "i cant wait for the movieee."

In another TikTok, a fan commented, "omg!!!! cant wait," when they saw a video of Reid talking about the film.

Over on Twitter, people also expressed how they can barely contain their excitement as well.

"I swear to god i need the evelyn hugo movie to be oscar worthy like my life depends on it," one person tweeted.

Another referenced Reid's other book, "Daisy Jones & The Six," which turned into a TV show, and wrote, "Daisy Jones & the Six has been one of my favourite shows this year  cant wait for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo to be made."

Read on to learn everything we know so far about the The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo film.

What will the movie be about?

In a press release, Netflix shared what fans can expect to see in the movie:

"In a long awaited interview with a young journalist, Evelyn Hugo, an aging Hollywood starlet, pulls back the curtain on her seven marriages, and as she tells tales of Hollywood scandals, betrayals, and woe, she unveils shocking truths about her own life and the lives of everyone around her."

Netflix is turning the bestselling novel

Who is cast in the film?

Unfortunately, the cast list for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo has yet to be announced, but that hasn't stopped fans from creating their own dream cast.

Some have rallied around Jessica Chastain to play the lead and have even asked her to sign copies of their book. However, in April, Chastain noted that she's not going to sign any The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo books because it simply "feels wrong."

"Ive been asked multiple times by fans, to sign books that Im not attached to contractually. Because it feels wrong, and like Im taking credit for someone elses work, Ill say I cant sign because Im not doing it. That doesnt mean Ive read a bad script," she tweeted at the time, adding, "There is no news about anything."

But despite her reluctance to sign the book, Chastain told Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" in January she would be interested in reading the script for the film.

Sure, send me a script," she said.

Who will direct the movie?

Leslye Headland will direct the feature film adaptation of Reid's bestselling novel.

Other than this movie, she has worked on "Russian Doll," "Bachelorette," "About Last Night," "Sleeping With Other People" and more.

Who is writing the movie?

Liz Tigelaar is set to write the script for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo." She has credits in "Tiny Beautiful Things" and "Little Fires Everywhere."

Leslye Headland (Jeff Spicer / Getty Images for Disney)

Who will produce the movie?

Reid is set to be an executive producer on the film, along with Margaret Chernin, who is known for producing Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum's 2022 film, "The Lost City."

However, Liza Chasin from 3Dot Productions and Brad Mendelsohn from Circle of Confusion will also act as producers.

Which stars influenced Reid's characters in the book?

In a 2017 interview with Huffpost, Reid said it was inevitable that her character Evelyn was going to have some parallels to the late Elizabeth Taylor, who was married eight times.

You cant write about an iconic Hollywood star of the 60s without bumping up against Elizabeth Taylor, she said. And, obviously, the many marriages is a very striking thing Evelyn and Liz have in common. I tried to craft a realistic portrayal of a deeply glamorous and scandalous woman. And when you do that, youre bound to hit some of the same beats as the great Elizabeth Taylor.

Reid also told PopSugar in 2017 that she drew inspiration from Ava Gardner and Rita Hayworth for Evelyn.

Reid noted that she was very taken with Gardner's book, "The Secret Conversations," which was published well after the actor died. The juicy biography about Gardner's marriages to Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra and Artie Shaw made Reid feel like she could create a similar novel.

She said she thought to herself: 'How great if you could do an entire book that feels like the juiciest part of this Ava Gardner book?' So I started to think about this idea of a fictional memoir of a Hollywood star. Then I got really into the idea that you have a device of her telling her story to someone else and those two stories intersecting in interesting ways.

"I started doing all this research about Hollywood and actresses and various scandals and coverups and all that, which is maybe the most fun research Ive ever done in my life," Reid continued.

As for Hayworth, she said the late star was a "really big inspiration" to her because "she was Spanish, and she came to Hollywood and she was getting roles that werent leading roles the way that she wanted, said Reid.

So she changed her name, and she became Rita Hayworth, the author continued. She went red, she curled up her hairline (to look like) a white woman. She also had that famous line, Men go to bed with Gilda but wake up with me. Those two things I thought could really inform Evelyns life, given Evelyn is Cuban and she has that same decision to make.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A former Trump campaign aide has joined Rudy Guiliani in cooperating with the special counsel in the Department of Justices2020 election probe, according to a new report.

Mike Roman, a senior adviser on Donald Trumps 2020 campaign in charge of Election Day operations, is cooperating with federal prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith in the criminal investigation reviewing the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to CNN.

Mr Roman has reportedly entered a proffer agreement, meaning that he may not have to make an appearance in front of a grand jury but that hell be able to speak to prosecutors in a more informal manner.

Agreements like this tend to mean that prosecutors agree that they wont use whats said in the conversations against the individual in future criminal matters.

Mr Roman received a subpoena from the grand jury several months ago and his phone has been seized. He was part of the attempts to put forward fake electors to support Mr Trump after he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

The investigation has recently focused on the fake electors schemes in seven states that Mr Trump lost in 2020 and what lawyers working for Mr Trump were doing in the aftermath of the election, according to CNN.

Mr Roman has so far not had much contact with the Department of Justice following the seizure of his phone. Conversations about him cooperating with the probe only began recently.

Reports of those conversations come as Gary Michael Brown, Mr Romans former deputy, appeared in front of the grand jury last week.

Mr Roman was previously in discussions with prosecutors about a proffer agreement, The New York Times reported.

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, which was disbanded after the Republican House victory in the 2022 midterms, interviewed Mr Roman as part of its investigation.

While speaking to investigators for the House panel, Mr Roman invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked about his actions after the 2020 election but he did respond to a number of questions regarding what he was doing ahead of election day.

About Mr Giuliani, Mr Roman said: I dont believe I had any interaction with him before the election.

When asked about his contacts with Mr Giuliani after Election Day, Mr Roman said: On the advice of counsel, I assert my constitutional privilege under the Fifth Amendment and respectfully decline to answer the question.

Mr Giuliani has previously met with special counsel investigators on a voluntary basis, CNN noted.
US Vice President Kamala Harris shakes hands with Janet Yellen, US Treasury secretary, left, during the Freedmans Bank Forum. at the US Department of the Treasury in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022. The Treasury secretary renewed her call for enhanced government subsidies for child care, a policy priority the Biden administration failed to win passage for in Congress.

Essence Fest is getting an unexpected guest this year! For the first time ever, a U.S. Treasury Secretary is heading to the annual New Orleans celebration of all things Black. Secretary Janet Yellen will discuss the systemic economic issues facing Black Americans and the administrations efforts to help level that playing field. And what do you know, The Root got an exclusive look at what the Treasury Secretary plans to say!

First things first, lets put this all in a little context. Over the last week, the administration has been touting what they and others have dubbed Bidenomics, i.e., the economic policy ethos of the administration. In a speech on Wednesday, President Joe Biden pitched his vision of Bidenomics, which includes pushing for policies that favor the middle-class and economically disadvantaged instead of the wealthy elite.

Read more

So far, its been hard to sell Biden as strong on the economy. Only 34 percent of Americans approve of Bidens economic leadership, according to the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Proving his economic strength is key to his path to victory. And Biden will need Black voters, a crucial base for him, to buy into his economic vision as well if he plans on winning. And what better place to do that than Essence Fest?

In her speech, Yellen will center on the economic progress made by Black Americans during the Biden-Harris administration. For example, Yellen plans to tout the fact that Black unemployment rates have fallen to historic lows and that the number of Black businesses jumped 9 percent from the start of 2021 to 2022. The administration will also center its work on investing in Black-owned Businesses and banks, which they predict will lead to an increase in lending to Black communities by nearly $60 billion over the next decade.

Yellen will also tout the drop in child poverty in 2021, which experts credit to pandemic-era economic policies, like the expanded child tax credits. Although, its worth noting that Black child poverty dramatically increased again in 2022 once the expanded child tax credits ceased.

The speech wont just celebrate the Biden administrations wins. It will also acknowledge the massive barriers facing Black Americans in the economy, such as housing segregation, lack of resources, and access to wealth.

Its clear that the administration is working hard to make a direct appeal to Black voters, who theyll need in the Presidential election cycle if Biden has any chance at victory!

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(Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump said he might not participate in the Republican Party's first 2024 election primary debate in August and may hold an alternative event, citing his lead in opinion polls and what he claims is the hosting network's bias against him.

In a telephone interview with Reuters, Trump said "possibly not" when asked if he would be at the debate, to be hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee on Aug. 23.

The debate will be the first chance for voters to see the Republican presidential candidates square off against each other.

Trump called Fox News, which he has criticized for not covering his campaign events, a "hostile network" and said he saw little merit in debating candidates like former New Jersey governor Chris Christie who are far behind him in polling.

"Why would I give them time to make statements? Why would I do that when I'm leading them by 50 points and 60 points," Trump said.

National polls have consistently showed him to be the front-runner in the Republican primary race by a wide margin.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this month showed that some 43% of self-identified Republicans said Trump was their preferred candidate, compared to 22% who picked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Christie was at 2%.

Trump has drawn some criticism for previously suggesting he may skip the debate.

Christie, a former Trump ally who is now one of his fiercest critics, has accused the former president of being afraid to join the debates out of fear of losing his lead in the race.

Trump said he was entertaining offers to hold a separate event during the debate or later in the same evening.

"We've had a lot of offers, whether it's a rally or whether it's an interview by somebody else," he said. "Not to be braggadocious but the debate will not be a very exciting one if I'm not there."

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Nathan Layne, Kanishka Singh and Jason Lange; Editing by Kieran Murray and Grant McCool)
The News

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a series of rare public appearances in recent days, less than a week after the Wagner mercenary group's failed uprising against the Kremlin.

The Kremlin released footage of Putin being greeted by adoring crowds in the region of Dagestan, hugging and taking photos with supporters. He also attended a tech exhibition for Russian companies in Moscow, where he scribbled an illustration of a face on an interactive board.

We've curated insightful analysis from experts on what the appearances signal for Putin after his power was challenged over the weekend.

Insights

Putin had made some televised addresses in the days since the Wagner group shot down Russian military helicopters and marched within 200 kilometers of Moscow. But he hadn't made any grand public appearance like the one on Wednesday. He is now attempting "to re-establish the charismatic basis for his waning authority," Sergey Radchenko, historian and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said on Twitter. "Putin in a bunker (who reportedly flees Moscow at a time of a mutiny) doesn't really come across as very charismatic."

The public shows of support were also Putin's way of trying to downplay what happened last weekend, Giorgi Revishvili of the Bush School at Texas A&M University told Semafor. "He wants to act as if nothing happened," he said. "He wanted to show that people love him and he wanted to be with people."

Putin has followed intense pandemic-related rules over the last three years, instituting quarantine periods and avoiding up-close contact with others. The event in Dagestan was a departure from that philosophy, The Washington Post's Mary Ilyushina pointed out.
By Edward McAllister

DAKAR (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Friday to end a decade-long peacekeeping mission in Mali after the West African country's military junta abruptly asked the force to leave "without delay".

Here is a look at MINUSMA's operations in Mali and why they are expected to end come Saturday.

WHY ARE UN PEACEKEEPERS IN MALI?

The 13,000-strong mission was deployed by the Security Council in 2013 to support efforts to restore stability after al Qaeda-linked insurgents and separatists took over parts of the desert north in 2012. French forces initially forced the militants to retreat, but they bounced back. Violent attacks have persisted and spread into neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso, killing thousands and creating one of the world's fastest-growing humanitarian crises. About 170 peacekeepers have died in fighting, the most of any ongoing U.N. mission.

WHAT DOES MINUSMA DO?

MINUSMA has protected major cities and its conflict mediation has helped cool ethnic disputes in rural areas. It provided medical evacuations for Mali's under-equipped army. It has coordinated peace talks between rival armed groups in the north following a 2015 peace agreement known as the Algiers Accords, and was helping arrange elections scheduled for next year. But its operations have been hobbled by restrictions on air and ground movement imposed by Mali's junta since it teamed up with Russian private military contractor Wagner Group in 2021. Access to conflict zones or to investigate the sites of alleged rights abuses was repeatedly delayed or denied, the U.N. says.

WHY ARE THEY EXPECTED TO LEAVE?

Relations with Mali's leaders, who consolidated power in two coups in 2020 and 2021, have frayed. Bamako wanted MINUSMA to play a more active fighting role, while the U.N. wanted more freedom of movement. Mali's government was angered by a U.N. report in May which accused the army and "armed white men" of killing 500 civilians in the town of Moura last year. On June 16, Mali Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told MINUSMA to leave immediately. Before Diop's comments, MINUSMA had been expected to renew its mandate for another year. A draft Security Council resolution asks MINUSMA to start a handover on Saturday and withdrawal of personnel by Dec. 31.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR MALI?

Security experts worry that MINUSMA's sudden withdrawal will lead to more chaos in Mali where the army will be left alone with about 1,000 Wagner fighters to battle the militants. Major towns will be vulnerable to attack. Signatories of the Algiers Accord worry that it could fall apart without U.N. mediation, leaving the north vulnerable to another uprising. International oversight of the conflict, including probes into alleged abuses by all sides, will now likely cease.

(Reporting by Edward McAllister; Editing by Alison Williams)
It can explode: 25 Investigates finds lithium-ion batteries linked to at least 8 fires in Mass.

On a recent June weekday, 30-year-old Catherine Carver got a call she never expected: her apartment building in Medford was on fire.

The cause: a lithium-ion battery for a housemates electronic bike that combusted while charging.

The June 3rd fire was the second linked to lithium-ion batteries in Medford alone in a short time span: the June 3 and April 30 fires together displaced almost a dozen people and sent three to the hospital.

Carver said no one was seriously hurt in the June fire, though a housemate who tried to put out the fire suffered some smoke inhalation.

Carver said she lost quite a bit: the hobby seamstress lost half of her wardrobe of historical costumes, and she could only save five out of 15 antique dolls she collected.

These are things I cant just go out and replace, Carver said.

Carver said the housemate who owned the battery was very safety conscious and lost everything: I never assumed something like this would have happened.

LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES EVERYWHERE

Lightweight and powerful lithium-ion batteries now power everything from e-bikes to scooters to hoverboards, to phones and laptops and vehicles.

But the batteries are increasingly coming under scrutiny as they become ubiquitous: they can cause fires if overcharged, overheated, defective or damaged. Experts urge people to avoid aftermarket or generic batteries and chargers, to store e-scooters outside and to steer clear of items that arent listed by a national recognized testing laboratory.

With lithium-ion batteries, they pack a powerful punch, Medford Fire Chief John Freedman said. Theres a lot of energy stored in these batteries.

The batteries burn at about a thousand degrees  meaning they can easily ignite other household items with lower ignition temperatures.

Fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries can happen rapidly, burn hot and quickly spread around a room, Freedman said  meaning its crucial for people to call 911 quickly and vacate the building once a fire starts.

A homeowner is not equipped to be able to extinguish a lithium-ion battery fire, he said.

According to available data, lithium-ion batteries are causing a tiny fraction of the thousands of fires that Massachusetts sees each year. The state sees about 15,000 structure fires and over 2,000 vehicle fires annually.

So, if you look at the number of lithium-ion batteries that are out there, the incidence of fires is very low, Freedman said.

TRACKING DOWN THE NUMBERS

But when 25 Investigates wanted specific numbers, Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said the state doesnt have a breakdown for lithium-ion battery fires.

So, 25 Investigates reached out to nearly 200 fire departments across Massachusetts.

We found that lithium-ion batteries have sparked 8 fires in the state so far from January through early June: including in Medford, Brockton, Chicopee, New Bedford, Wakefield, and Somerville.

That means Massachusetts is on track to potentially see an uptick in fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries this year: the state reported 13 battery fires of any kind in 2022 overall.

The culprits in those fires:

-Batteries used for an e-bike stored outdoors.

-An electric vehicle.

-Lithium-ion battery-powered scooters left in a first-floor laundry room.

-A laptop battery that overheated and then was smoking.

And the state fire marshals office is investigating whether lithium-ion batteries fueled a ninth fire in February in Stoneham.

Stoneham Fire Chief Matt Grafton said it is possible that RC car batteries reignited a fire at a single-family home.

State Fire Marshall spokesperson Jake Wark said the state has seen numerous fires sparked by any kind of battery from 2018 to 2022.

The number varied from 9 reported in 2018, to 5 in 2019, to 13 in both 2021 and 2022.

Those battery fires have led to civilian and firefighter injuries:

Battery fires left four civilians with injuries in 2018.

In 2021, the state reported seven injuries involving firefighters and one involving a civilian.

And fire officials are issuing urgent warnings about the dangers of lithium-ion batteries, which can spark hard-to-fight fires.

When I see two in a very short span, I think to myself, okay, are they following the manufacturer specs, are they charging them properly? Freedman said.

Freedman said the increasing popularity of lithium-ion batteries could be fueling any uptick.

I think were seeing an uptick because of the increased usage of electric vehicles, e-bikes, scooters, that type of stuff, Freedman said. Were seeing more and more people utilizing these vehicles and its going to increase the likelihood that we will see more.

For 30-year-old Carver, she said shes found a place to stay starting July 1.

Its just the feeling of being adrift, you know, and of having that sense of security and certainty, she said, Even if we didnt intend to stay in this house forever, kind of yanked out from under you. Its not a move you chose to make. Its not an ending you chose to have happen.

She said she encourages people with lithium-ion batteries to be aware of the risk.

The warning labels mostly just say dont leave it plugged in after its done charging, she said. You know, thats not just because its going to drain the battery life, as were all accustomed to and might reasonably assume.

It can explode, Carver said. Its a very real risk.

She said she hopes that manufacturers work harder on improving the safety of lithium-ion batteries and raising more awareness about the dangers.

And a lot of people wish that the manufacturers would be more upfront about this and perhaps make a product that doesnt do this, Carver said.

LEGISLATION IN OTHER STATES

In New York City, city officials told The Associated Press last November that the fire department counted nearly 200 blazes and 6 fire deaths in the past year linked to lithium-ion batteries in devices like electronic bikes and scooters.

New Jersey and New York are both considering bills to ban sales of lithium-ion batteries for E-bikes.

Maryland has a bill to set lithium-ion training and emergency response standards for firefighters.

New York has another bill to study lithium-ion battery safety issues, including the effectiveness of lithium fireproof blankets and a review of the severity of lithium-ion battery fires.

Lithium-ion batteries are also on the agenda of lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

Lawmakers in Congress are also weighing a bill to create a safety standard for lithium-ion batteries in E-bikes. The Consumer Product Safety Commission will be holding a meeting on lithium-ion battery safety July 27.

RESPONSE FROM MA LEADERS

Its unclear whether Massachusetts lawmakers will consider any restrictions on lithium-ion batteries.

State Rep. Paul Donato, whose district includes Medford, said he was concerned about the spate of lithium-ion battery fires in Medford and was looking into the issue.

Gov. Maura Healeys spokesperson told 25 Investigates she was unavailable for an interview.

The attorney generals office declined a request for an interview.

The state fire marshals office will be offering an updated electric vehicle fire class  which deals with the larger lithium-ion batteries  this fall through its academy, according to Wark.

And local fire departments are making sure their firefighters are trained on the dangers of lithium-ion batteries.

West Bridgewaters fire department, for example, is holding a lithium-ion battery training on July 14.

What makes them unique is that they have all of the ingredients internally to support their own combustion, Freedman said. Obviously, lithium itself. Theres an electrolyte in there and there is oxygen on the cathode. So, when the failure happens, it has all the ingredients internal to the device to support the fire. And when they fail, they fail at a high rate. So basically, in a couple of seconds, we have complete disassembly of the device, and it spreads. These batteries end up going all around the room and they can ignite surrounding combustibles.

Think of it like a bunch of batteries all packed into one container, Freedman said. You have one battery that overloads or that fails or has some sort of catastrophic thing where the temperature increases.

Owners of e-bikes who want to charge the devices after a ride should wait for batteries to cool down before charging them, Freedman said.

Its crucial to stick around and wait for the battery to fully charge  and then unplug it immediately. Freedman also warned against letting the battery drain to zero.

Freedman warned against trying to put out lithium-ion battery fires.

Even if you cool it down when its burning, the potential energy is still in the battery, Freedman said. So, if you shut the water off, it can reignite. So thats the uniqueness of lithium. You have to continue to cool it even after its extinguished.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

The state fire marshals office has some tips for the safe usage of lithium-ion batteries:

Be sure you have working smoke alarms installed on every level of your home.

-Only purchase items that are listed by a nationally recognized testing laboratory such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL) or Intertek (ETL).

-Use only the original equipment manufacturers batteries and charging equipment. Aftermarket or generic batteries and chargers may be cheaper but are more likely to pose a burn, fire, or explosion hazard.

-Store scooters and e-bikes outdoors if possible. If you must store them indoors, keep them and their batteries clear of doors, windows, and stairways.

-Charge the battery directly from a wall outlet, not an extension cord or power strip. Place it on a hard and stable surface, not a bed, couch, or pillow.

-Charge only one battery or device at a time and unplug it when its fully charged. Dont allow a charged battery to continue charging.

-If you notice changes to the battery or the device, including damage, an unusual odor, a change in color, too much heat, a change in shape, leaking, smoking, or not keeping a charge, stop using it right away.

-When its time to dispose of the battery, dont put it in the trash. Lithium-ion batteries should be recycled, and you can find a location to take them at https://www.call2recycle.org/locator/.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Extraction 2 star Golshifteh Farahani says she lost After Yang role because of Trump

[Source]

Iranian French actress Golshifteh Farahani has blamed former President Donald Trump for her losing a lead role in the Kogonada film After Yang, regarded by critics as one of last years best movies.

Why Trump is being blamed: In a new interview with Elle, Farahani, who most recently starred in Netflixs Extraction 2, revealed that she was originally cast in the female lead role opposite Colin Farrell.

However, her filming plans were scrapped due to Trumps travel ban. The role went instead to Jodie Turner-Smith.

I have a French passport but my visa took much longer than it used to take because I am born in Iran and I also couldnt make it to that shooting, Farahani said.

More from NextShark: Henry Golding Hints at Why Crazy Rich Asians Sequel Has Been Delayed

About Trumps travel ban: The former presidents travel ban consisted of executive orders that banned incoming travelers from Muslim-majority countries.

The first of them, Executive Order 13769, was signed on Jan. 7, 2017, and blocked the entry of nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Succeeding orders expanded the list of banned countries, with final additions  Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania  coming in January 2020.

President Joe Biden moved to end the bans in January 2021, but After Yang  which starred Justin H. Min and debuted at the Cannes in July of that year  had likely finished production by then.

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Not the first time: Unfortunately, Trumps travel ban was not the first time Farahani found herself limited by politics. She told Elle that she also lost a role in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010).

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For at least a year, a Powell attorney has been waging a verbal attack against a resident via social media.

From the Powell Watch Facebook page, of which he is an administrator, Gary Yashko has launched a fusillade of insults, name-calling and accusations against Greg Bean-DeFlumer, who has returned fire.

The back-and-forth has been relentless, personal and vulgar.

Now Bean-DeFlumer and his wife, Jessica, have sued Yashko for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy and interfering with Bean-DeFlumer's business contacts. He has been on unpaid leave since April after Yashko contacted his information-technology employer, Greg Bean-DeFlumer said.

The Delaware County Courthouse, also known as the justice center, 117 N. Union St,

Because the website's other administrators and moderators failed to stop the verbal attacks, Yashko, 53, and seven others are also named in the lawsuit for "civil conspiracy," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit raises broad questions, some say, about what is permitted on community social media sites and who is legally responsible when dialog turns hostile, vindictive and, potentially, defamatory.

The attacks are "disparaging misinterpretations of the truth in order to make the plaintiffs look unhinged, untrustworthy, unable to serve the public and incompetent," according to the lawsuit filed earlier this month in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.

The lawsuit states that Yashko called Bean-DeFlumer a pedophile and a "wife-beater." However, there are no public criminal records for Bean-DeFlumer in either Delaware Municipal or Delaware County Common Pleas courts to support that accusation.

The lawsuit contends that Yashko knew the accusations were untrue, and yet made them publicly and maliciously.

More: Fox's $787.5 million fake news scandal no reason to make libel a weapon| Expert

During a preliminary injunction hearing to stop the Facebook posts Monday in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, Yashko defended himself, in part, by saying that his comments were intended as satire.

"No reasonable person would read that and think it was factual behavior," Yashko told The Dispatch after the hearing. "Context is everything." He also said the pedophile post was made prior to the one-year statute of limitations to be included in the lawsuit.

Yashko said he was only retaliating for malicious comments made about him.

"I give the way that I get," he said.

Bean-DeFlumer, of Delaware, said the attacks began about two years ago when he responded online to a Facebook post that he said Yashko had sent disparaging a friend of his.

"Ever since then, I've been his favorite target, probably because I'm the first male who has stood up for one of my friends," Bean-DeFlumer said. "I think he just let his anger at being called out by me take over any common sense he had."

As many as 15 women have claimed to be verbally attacked by Yashko, said one of them, Jenny Yoder, who described the abuse as "adults behaving badly and not setting a good example for their kids."

"I think a lot of people are scared," said Yoder. "And it doesn't stop if you don't say something."

"I want him to be held accountable for his actions, to let him know that he is not untouchable," said Jessica Norris, who had to make her Facebook page private to ward off the attacks against her.

The longtime standard for libel is that the language used against someone in the public eye is knowingly false or that it recklessly disregards the truth. That standard applies to the author, but not necessarily to those responsible for editing or publishing it.

Powell Watch has 4,600 members, including moderators who approve or deny member requests and posts within a group. Moderators also may block people from the group and remove inappropriate content. They typically have less access to the page than administrators, according to Facebook's page roles.

Moderators have to be vigilant about potentially defamatory content, said Dublin attorney Jeffrey Perry, whose specialty includes defamation cases.

"If they exercise any kind of editorial control, then they certainly could be liable to defamation," said Perry. "If they are allowing this kind of content to be posted and not taken down, I would assume they would be subject to liability."

The federal Communications Decency Act generally protects companies like Twitter and Facebook from liability in defamation cases, said Columbus attorney Marion Little, who has a specialty in media law.

"But if you assume the mantle of a publisher, that's when you could have problems," he said.

Ohio law outlines "per se" defamation, language "so egregious that they will always be considered defamatory and are assumed to harm the plaintiff's reputation, without further need to prove that harm."

In May, 2016, Yashko posted guidelines for Powell Watch users, stating "If you wouldn't say it to someone in person, at your place of business, to your spouse, children or mother, don't say it here."

Yashko has posted bodycam footage of at least one incident in which police were called to Bean-DeFlumer's home. Bean-DeFlumer said the incident was a misunderstanding related to a dog that had run away from his home and screams by the couple to retrieve it.

The lawsuit states that Yashko has used several aliases on social media to disseminate the attacks including: Perry Yashko, Jeff Rawson, Rico Diogi, Mito Matsumoto, OKEmillyPhallus and OKGregbeatsdefemales.

Bean-DeFlumer had also filed a grievance against Yashko with the Ohio Disciplinary Counsel, a branch of the Ohio Supreme Court that investigates attorney misconduct.

That grievance was dismissed, however, because Yashko's posts were not related to his status as an attorney.

Still, the counsel described a "mutually antagonistic relationship" between the men with both using "highly offensive language."

In addition to seeking damages in excess of $25,000 for each of the counts, the lawsuit asks defendants to publicly retract all the false statements. The lawsuit also requests that Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge David M. Gormley issue a permanent restraining order to prevent further attacks.

Both parties are representing themselves in the lawsuit. Yashko said he "categorically denies everything" in the lawsuit and will soon file a counter claim for damages and retain a lawyer.

"I don't regret defending myself against him," Yashko said. "I was not intentionally and recklessly disregarding the truth."

dnarciso@dispatch.com

@DeanNarciso

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Powell lawsuit raises questions about community social media sites
The Supreme Courts decision to block President Bidens student loan forgiveness plan has sparked deep feelings of frustration, anxiety and even anger for young people, in particular people of color.

Currently, 43 million Americans have student loan debt, totaling more than $1.6 trillion, according to Forbes. But the breakdown of who holds how much debt varies widely depending on gender and race.

Black Americans with bachelors degrees have an average of $52,000 in student loan debt. Forty percent of Black students have debt from graduate school, compared to only 22 percent of white college graduates.

Breaking things down by gender, Women graduate owing an average of almost $22,000, while men owe about $18,880. Black women graduate with an average of $37,558 in debt.

When President Biden announced last August he would be forgiving up to $20,000 in student loan debt forgiveness, millions of Americans breathed a sigh of relief. But anxieties soon rose when the Supreme Court agreed to hear challenges on the legality of the plan.

Now, with the top courts ruling on Friday, many young people find themselves wondering what comes next.

Here are some of the faces of student loan debt in America.

Jada Thompson

Jada Thompson (Cheyanne Daniels)

Jada Thompson, 21, is a rising senior at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She currently has $14,000 in student loans, but she expects that to double this year as her school raises tuition. In addition, that debt would increase drastically if she follows her dream of attending law school.

Thompson told The Hill that student debt forgiveness would have been a relief.

I want to go to law school, so looking at tuition now its like, oh my gosh, its $104,000 a year for me to go to law school, she said. Being in law is not just for me and my family, its for the people in the community. I want to give back to our nonprofit organizations and at this point, it seems like its out of reach. Because of the lack of cancellation of student loan debt, no matter how minimal mine is, its gonna accumulate over the years and the fear of not being able to accomplish things or to give back to my community has really set in today.

Thompson said she has always firmly believed in not only term limits for the Supreme Court, but also age limits. Those feelings have only grown stronger following Fridays decision.

I believe that people who are over a certain age should not be making choices for people in our community, said Thompson. A lot of them are out of touch, especially when you hit a certain economic status.

Thompson describes herself as an extreme advocate for voting and said she plans to vote in 2024, but added she looks at it a little differently now.

This was a promise that was made to us, she said. And this was the main focus of Joe Bidens election. We voted for him in hopes that he would change things, especially with him having Kamala at his side, a Howard University graduate. We expect change and we expect the differences to be made in our community.

Tylik McMillan

Tylik McMillan (Cheyanne Daniels)

Tylik McMillan graduated with $50,000 in student loan debt. For him, forgiveness would have been a chance to begin building a future for both himself and his family.

It would have given me an opportunity to invest, to be able to buy a home, to start a business, said McMillan. I have younger siblings, I have a single mother, a father who is incarcerated, and so I think about what it could have done for my family.

McMillan didnt hold back in expressing his frustrations toward a court he said has deeply impacted Black and brown people all over the nation with its decision this week, including one on Thursday to strike down race-conscious student admissions.

What they did yesterday and today is not about opportunity, its about oppression, said McMillan. Its ludicrous to me  as we talk about shutting down what the voters are demanding.

McMillan said he plans to vote in 2024 because voting has consequences, but he also said the court needs to change to keep up with the overall perspective of the current ideological makeup of America. He wants to see term limits or even expanding the bench.

I think this bench is a drawback to the progress that were trying to make as a nation, McMillian said.

Amari Fennoy

Amari Fennoy (Cheyanne Daniels)

Amari Fennoy holds $58,000 in student loan debt from obtaining her Masters degree. But shes not the only one in her family who would have benefitted from Bidens student loan forgiveness. Fennoy said her mother took out more than $170,000 in parental PLUS loans to help her attend Spelman College, the historically Black womens school.

With Fridays decision, Fennoy said she feels much of her life has been put on hold.

I have taken a pause on thinking about anything in terms of family or home ownership or anything of that nature because I know that I owe student debt, said Fennoy, 26. So today, I am saddened by the news, but Im still here for the fight because I understand that there are other avenues to cancel student debt for myself and my family.

Those other avenues, she said, should come from Biden, whose campaign promised to cancel student debt.

We will continue to mobilize our community, were going to continue to push forward, said Fennoy. Elections have consequences, but the people have power. So were going to use our power to ensure that we elect individuals who are in our likeness, but also ensure that they also push for individuals who actually encompass what we look like as a people.

Despite Fridays loss, Fennoy said she will be casting her ballot in 2024. The importance of voting was instilled in her at a young age, and Fridays decision made clear what is at stake.

My mother would take me to the voting polls with her. When I was 18 I took the day off from school to work the polls, so for me, elections are important, she said. I would never skip because of a situation like this, but its also important to educate other individuals to know, no matter the decision, you still have to get out to vote.

Torrey Rodgers III

Torrey Rodgers (Cheyanne Daniels)

Torrey Rodgers is one of the lucky ones  he doesnt possess any student loan debt. But thats because his mother and other family members took out loans, like parental PLUS loans, to ensure he could go to Morgan State University.

Im here in support of my mother to make sure people like her dont have to do that, Rodgers said. So my friends dont have to do that. And so other people who have a little bit of debt, they can be relinquished so they can do actual purchases that will help them move on with racial equity.

Rodgers isnt alone in his concerns around the impact of student loan debt on the racial wealth gap.

Advocates say student loan forgiveness is a racial justice issue because of the racial disparities in the need for loans. In fact, the NAACP on Friday condemned the Courts ruling because education has long been regarded as a path toward generational wealth, economic liberation, and securing the American dream. Student debt, the NAACP said, is killing that dream.

For Rodgers, Fridays decision was just one in a long line of decisions that have shattered his faith in the Supreme Court.

Its not just student debt. Its affirmative action. Its them saying that you can discriminate against [LGBTQ people], he said. This Supreme Court has made a lot of bad choices in a very small short time and I just want to show discontent. I want to show dissent. This is not just a fun little game, little debate. These are lives youre playing with.

Satra Taylor

Satra Taylor (Cheyanne Daniels)

Satra Taylor is the director of higher education and workforce policy and advocacy for the progressive group Young Invincibles. Though an advocate, she herself has more than $100,000 in student loan debt. Most of that debt was acquired when she sought a graduate degree.

Student loan forgiveness, Taylor told The Hill, is personal for her.

Todays decision is devastating, an emotional Taylor said outside the Supreme Court on Friday. Im the oldest of six, and all of my siblings who went to college would have had their debt wiped out if debt cancellation would have happened.

Taylor is one of many who is concerned about the impact student loan debt has on Black Americans, and particularly Black women.

This is a shameful example of this Supreme Court choosing politics over people, she said.

Taylor said Young Invincibles will continue to push for student loan forgiveness, including more than the $20,000 proposed by Biden. The organization, she said, wants to see a minimum of $50,000 in forgiveness, but the ultimate goal will be debt-free, affordable college.

DAungillique Jackson

DAungillique Jackson (Cheyanne Daniels)

DAungillique Jackson lives in Fresno, Calif., where she works three jobs in the hopes of paying off her $20,000 in student loans. It doesnt help, she said, that the rent increases in her home state have increased dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic, creating additional financial stress.

For me, student debt relief would have meant maybe working one less job, maybe not having to worry about if Im going to pursue a secondary degree, Jackson told The Hill. So this decision was kind of heartbreaking.

Like many others, Jackson was particularly disappointed to see Fridays ruling come after the decision to end race-conscious admissions. With these decisions, she said, the court is sending a troubling message.

It sends a resounding message to Black people, to all people of color, that its okay for us to be in the barracks but its not okay for us to be in the boardroom, she said. All of these together, its a very resounding message to people of color that this government doesnt think were capable of pursuing higher and I disagree with that.

Though shes disappointed with the court, Jackson said she has been organizing for 13 years  no small feat considering shes only 25. But she said organizing has given her a sense of hope in the power of the people.

I can say for myself as a Black queer woman, every single one of these major decisions made by the Supreme Court within this last year have been devastating, she said, referring to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, new limitations on LGBTQ protections and the student loan decision.

Im going to tell every other Black person around me the same message: Though we feel this heartbreak, its not a moment for us to slow down or stop or lose hope, Jackson added. This is the fire we need to keep going and it always will be.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The News

America is waking up on Friday to a post-affirmative action world after the Supreme Courts 6-3 decision. Heres how the major players in Washington and beyond are reacting to the news, and where theyre planning to take things from here in response.

The View From The White House

President Bidens most significant comment: This is not a normal court.

With Dobbs already central to his re-election bid, the comment to a reporter on Thursday is the latest sign Biden is seeking an open confrontation with the conservative justices. The courts popularity plummeted in polls after Dobbs, but FiveThirtyEights Cooper Burton notes some tentative signs its begun to recover.

But what you wont hear the president do is call for an expansion of the court, as some progressives again demanded on Thursday. I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, were going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy, he said during a rare television interview on MSNBC yesterday afternoon.

The court fight could also elevate Vice President Kamala Harris, who has played a significant role responding to its abortion decision. Speaking at the Essence Festival on Thursday, she said the latest decision showed that whatever gains we make, they will not be permanent and must be constantly defended.

The View From The Obamas

The first Black president condemned Thursdays decision, which was authored by three justices appointed by another president who once offered $50 million for his college records while baselessly suggesting that he was a token admission to Columbia University and Harvard Law School who possibly listed his birthplace as Kenya in the application.

The pain of those kinds of race-baiting taunts came across in Michelle Obamas statement, which recalled her insecurities about being dismissed as an affirmative action student in college. While the admissions program was not perfect, she wrote, she strongly supported it: So often, we just accept that money, power, and privilege are perfectly justifiable forms of affirmative action, while kids growing up like I did are expected to compete when the ground is anything but level. Barack Obama said the program allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged.

The View From 2024 Republicans

Donald Trump celebrated the decision as the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for, along with the rest of the field. Senator Tim Scott, the most prominent Black candidate in the race, said on Fox that schools should make sure that all admissions are based on academic scores and end legacy preferences as well.

Ron DeSantis campaign used the occasion to throw a punch, sharing a video of Trump saying he was fine with affirmative action in a 2015 Meet The Press appearance. Its the latest example of DeSantis  who also recently criticized Trumps Supreme Court picks from the right  attacking Trump as a fairweather conservative.

The View From Harvard

The higher education world is already seizing on a major caveat in Roberts decision that some think may leave a path open to continue factoring race into admissions in some form. Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise, the chief justice wrote.

In other words, students can still get a boost if they write a moving essay about their experience with racism. Harvard University called attention to the line in its statement after the decision came down, while President Biden noted it as he called for colleges to adopt a new standard that gave applicants points for overcoming adversity.

Some higher education administrators are predicting a further shift away from quantifiable metrics like standardized tests, which many schools have already made optional, towards more subjective personal evaluations as schools try to maintain diversity in their classes. Will it become more opaque? Yes, it will have to, Danielle Ren Holley, the soon-to-be president of Mount Holyoke College, told the New York Times. Its a complex process, and this opinion will make it even more complex.

The View From Civil Rights Activists

NAACP CEO and President Derrick Johnson said activists would continue to hold leaders and institutions accountable for their role in embracing diversity no matter what and not allow hate-inspired people in power to turn back the clock and undermine our hard-won victories. The decision comes as civil rights leaders are also confronting a backlash on the right against diversity equity and inclusion initiatives in government, corporations, and education.

The View From The Boardroom

Though todays decision only focused on academia, its already raising questions about the future of corporate diversity efforts. It comes at a moment that anti-affirmative action groups are already mounting legal challenges to rules requiring diversity on company boards. Will Hild, executive director of the conservative advocacy group Consumers Research, told the Washington Post the decision would put the wind in the sails of groups like ours, who want to get the woke, racially based hiring and promotion schemes out of corporate America.

America First Legal, the organization founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, has filed a number of complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission accusing large companies of hiring based on race and sex, setting up potential litigation.

The View From The Military

No changes there. The decision exempted military academies from bans on race-based admission, with Roberts noting they have potentially distinct interests in maintaining diversity to foster cohesion between officers and the soldiers under their command.

National security writer Spencer Ackerman argues this undercuts the decisions logic: If affirmative action benefits national security, which is the core of the military's position, then it makes no sense to consider affirmative action harmful or discriminatory in the less-life-or-death circumstances of civilian college admissions.
Authorities said a deputy in Raleigh, Tennessee, stopped Jarveon Hudspeth early Saturday. Initial police reports say the lawman was dragged as Hudspeth tried to flee.

A Black Tennessee family is demanding answers after a deputy killed their kin during a recent traffic stop just four months after Tyre Nichols murder  and in the same county.

Law enforcement said a deputy in Raleigh, Tennessee, stopped Jarveon Hudspeth, 21, early on Saturday. Initial reports from the Shelby County Sheriffs Office indicate that Hudspeth attempted to flee during the stop, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said the deputy became stuck in the cars door and was dragged for about 100 yards.

Charlotte Haggett (left), whose son Jarveon Hudspeth was shot and killed by a deputy from the Shelby County Sheriffs Office early Saturday, urged transparency from officials during a gathering this week outside of the Shelby County Courthouse. With her are Hudspeths sister, Senquel Hudspeth (center), and Martaveon Boone (right), holding a picture of Javeon, his best friend. (Photo by Lucas Finton/USA Today Network)

At some point, the deputy shot Hudspeth, killing him. The deputy sustained injuries in the confrontation and was taken to Regional One Health in critical yet stable condition.

At a news conference Thursday morning, Charlotte Haggett, Hudspeths mother, claimed through tears that the family had not been contacted by the Sheriffs Office to be informed about her sons death.

I just want answers about my son, Haggett said, crying. Its been five days, today, and I havent heard one thing from the sheriffs department. Ive heard not one thing from anyone. Only things that Ive heard about my son is about the criminal activity. My son was never into anything criminal. Is it a crime for my son to be in a flashy car?

Haggett told those assembled outside the Shelby County Courthouse that Hudspeth was an engineering student at Lipscomb University in Nashville who loved cars and would fix his own when necessary.

She said her son was hard-working and had a small group of close friends.

He didnt hang in gangs. He wasnt in large crowds, Haggett maintained. He didnt hang out in clubs. It was him and his best friend every single weekend. Some people thought that he was a square bear because he didnt do anything.

Community advocate Kareem Ali announced Thursday that the family had hired renowned civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.

Ali, a local activist with ties to Crumps legal practice through his involvement in the Tyre Nichols demonstrations, claimed that Hudspeths shooting was comparable to what the whole world witnessed in Nichols death.

On Jan. 7, Nichols was stopped by Memphis police for an alleged traffic violation and was aggressively pulled out of his car by officers. One of them shot at Nichols with a stun gun, but Nichols ran away toward his nearby home, according to video footage released by the city of Memphis and other police records. He died of blunt force injuries to the head after he was beaten, an autopsy report showed.

Ali noted that there hadnt been transparency or body camera footage in Hudspeths case. However, officials narrative is that he was stopped in his neighborhood for a traffic infraction that escalated to him driving away with a Shelby County deputy holding onto the car.

The activist urged Sheriff Bonner, who is running for Memphis mayor, to come forward with moral excellence, the Commercial Appeal reported, and asserted residents can no longer have corrupt leadership that hides and covers up situations and murders of beautiful young, Black children in our community.

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The post Family demands answers after 21-year-old Black man is killed by deputy during traffic stop appeared first on TheGrio.
Father of 4 was drinking 18 beers a day before a near deadly shootout with Pasco police

A Pasco man allegedly was drinking 18 beers a day before getting into a shootout with officers that left him and a woman injured.

The Eastern State Hospital psychiatric evaluation of Jose Jara-Delacruz provided more details into what happened before the Dec. 7 confrontation at the Lakeview Manufactured Home Community on Road 40.

Jara-Delacruz, 49, has pleaded innocent to charges of attempted first-degree murder for holding the woman at gunpoint before shooting at Pasco Officer Ana Ramos.

The woman, Maria Vargas-Gomez, and Jara-Delacruz, were both found wounded following the shootout.

Police have not said whether she or Jara-Delacruz were responsible for Vargas-Gomezs injuries, but according to a state psychologists report police said Jara-Delacruz shot the woman and then shot himself.

Court documents are not clear about the relationship between Vargas-Gomez and Jara-Delacruz.

About two months after Jara-Delacruzs arrest, a judge ordered the state psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he understood the court proceedings.

State psychologist Nathan Henry reported that Jara-Delacruz suffers from an alcohol and amphetamine use disorder, but he now understands the roles of his attorney, the judge and the prosecutor with some explanation. Henry concluded that Jara-Delacruz is competent. His trial is scheduled for Sept. 13.

The Regional Special Investigations Unit, which investigates officer-involved use of force incidents, is continuing its investigation into whether Officer Ramos broke any laws or procedures when she fired her gun during the hostage confrontation.

Pasco shooting

In December, Pasco police were called to the Road 40 neighborhood about 11:45 p.m. for a disturbance. Four Pasco officers, including Ramos, responded.

When officers arrived, they heard the sound of the fight coming from the manufactured home. The door was locked when they tried to enter the enclosed porch.

After opening the door, they allegedly found Jara-Delacruz holding a pistol to Vargas-Gomezs head. As officers challenged the man, he allegedly turned the gun toward them, according to court documents.

Investigators said he exchanged gunfire with Ramos as all the officers started to backed away to safety.

The officers heard more gunfire and returned to see Vargas-Gomez and Jara-Delacruz on the floor.

He reportedly had a wound to his cheek and a broken jaw and was treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle before being returned to the Tri-Cities to face criminal charges.

Vargas-Gomez suffered a head wound but her condition has not been made public.

Alcohol and drug use

The state psychologists report said Jara-Delacruz grew up in Mexico and started living on the street when he was 11. He dropped out of school with a second-grade education and never learned to read or write.

He had no prior criminal history, worked as a field worker and was married more than 20 years with four children.

Jara-Delacruz said he started regularly using methamphetamine when he was 20 but said he stopped five to six years ago. He also used cocaine about three or four days before the confrontation.

He couldnt remember if he used illicit substances before the incident, but he remembered hed been drinking. He told the psychologist he drank for five consecutive months leading up to the attack.

He noted that he was drinking approximately 18 beers per day. At work, he would drink from a bottle of tequila because it was easier to hide, Henry said.

Henry concluded that Jara-Delacruz was able to understand the roles of the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney, after Henry explained them to him.

Mr. Jara-Delacruz demonstrated adequate capacity to understand and retain information that was provided to him regarding legal proceedings, he wrote. There was no evidence of mental disorder or deficit that would be expected to impair his capacity to assist his attorney in his defense.
Manuel Oliver knocked a former school resource officer and his attorney for celebrating after the officer was found not guilty on all charges related to his actions around the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

These guys are celebrating today. He said he got his life back. Theyre going to the Vatican. They thanked the Lord. Apparently their Lord is a different Lord than Joaquins Lord, Oliver, whose son Joaquin died in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, said on CNN.

He decided to give this guy his life back, which is not in any way, in any way, comparable of losing life, he added.

Gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and injured 17 others during the shooting on Valentines Day in 2018  and has been sentenced to life in prison without parole, serving 34 life terms for the victims. The tragedy prompted the survivor-founded gun control movement March for Our Lives.

Scot Peterson, a former school resource officer on duty at the Parkland high school during the shooting, faced criticism over not confronting Cruz. On Thursday, a jury acquitted Peterson of all 11 counts that Peterson was facing related to his actions back in 2018.

The attorney said its been four years of pain. Tell me about that pain  Youre celebrating today for every member of law enforcement, for every police officer, including the Uvalde ones, Oliver said of Peterson, referencing the shooting in Texas last year in which a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at the elementary school. You, Mr. attorney, youre celebrating the fact that this person that obviously, obviously made a mistake and needs to be accountable, is now happy with his life.

I think that the right thing to do, the manly thing to do, the honest thing to do is to walk out of that room quiet. Be quiet. Mr. attorney and Scott Peterson, keep your mouth shut, he continued. Get in your car and go to your perfect life. But dont cry in front of national TV.

Oliver has become an outspoken activist against gun violence in the years since the shooting that killed his son.

He was escorted out of a White House event last year for interrupting President Biden during a speech on the bipartisan gun control bill, and was arrested earlier this year for disrupting a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing on gun regulation.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Fayette school board votes to follow state law on trans bathroom rules. Could it be sued?

Despite protests from the LGBTQ community, the Fayette County school board voted Monday to follow a new controversial state law that prevents transgender students from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

SB 150 was a Republican bill approved by the 2023 General Assembly that supporters said protected school children and opponents said was anti-LGBTQ.

Under SB 150, boards of education must adopt policies to not allow students to use restrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms that are reserved for students of a different biological sex after allowing public comment on the issue at an open meeting.

School districts are required to provide the best available accommodation to students who assert that their gender is different from their biological sex and whose parent or guardian provides written consent.

Under the new law, the accommodation shall not include the use of school restrooms, locker rooms, or shower rooms designated for use by students of the opposite biological sex while students of the opposite biological sex are present or could be present.

Rebecca Blankenship, the states first openly trans elected official, told the school board that because state law Senate Bill 150 is in conflict with a federal ruling, consider that no matter what option you take tonight you will end up likely being sued.

I share your ... pain in having to address this extremely difficult issue that the legislature has foisted upon you, said Blankenship.

In Dodds v. United States Department of Education, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of letting a transgender student use the bathroom corresponding with her gender identity.

The ruling meant that separate is not equal, Blankenship said, and that trans kids can not be segregated in bathrooms.

They cannot be excluded from bathrooms that are gender appropriate. They cannot be required to only use gender neutral bathrooms under the ruling, Blankenship said.

The school board could be sued in state court in violation of SB 150 if they had voted against it or in federal court if they did not follow that ruling, Blankenship said.

Legislators should never engage in policymaking that hurts students and teachers, and we hope that this presents an opportunity for the district to focus on investments in gender-neutral changing, locker, and restroom facilities that benefit all students, not just trans youth, Blankenship told the Herald-Leader.

In response, district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Fayette County Public Schools is committed to following the law and fostering a supportive and safe environment.

Members of the LGBTQ community at a rally Monday had asked the school board to vote against the provision in SB 150 that prevents transgender students from using the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

On Tuesday, advocate Mason Chernosky said, We heard from the board on Monday that they care about trans kids and that they are interested in protecting their right to use bathrooms safely.

We hope going forward that they will make a formal commitment to using funds to build safe, private, gender-neutral bathrooms that will be safe for all students, including trans students to use, Chernosky said.

On Wednesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the portion of SB 150 that would ban gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, for Kentucky transgender youth.

SB 150 also bans gender identity and sexual orientation instruction, but the Fayette school board is following recently announced guidance from the Kentucky Department of Education that suggests the provisions do not have to apply to middle and high school students.
The FBI is tracking swatting incidents in a national database as the dangerous form of prank call becomes more common, the bureau revealed Thursday.

Swatting incidents take place when a person calls the police claiming there is a dangerous person, kidnapping or a mass shooting at a house, hoping for police to respond in force.

The incidents have most commonly targeted internet celebrities and live streamers, but musicians like Rihanna and Justin Bieber have also been victims of swatting. Earlier this year, swatting incidents also became more common at schools.

From my perspective, this is a form of terrorism, former FBI intelligence analyst Jennifer Doebler told NewsNation in March. Dozens of schools were targeted with hoax active shooter threats in a single week in March.

Following that string of false calls, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the FBI to track the incidents more closely and work to prevent them.

These swatting attacks are dangerous, disturbing and downright terrifying for our Western New York students, teachers and parents. We need all federal hands on deck to support local law enforcement and hold perpetrators of these disturbing hoax calls accountable, which is why I personally called the FBI to say this issue needs to be a top priority and I am pushing for more funding and data to counter unique threats like this, Schumer said in April.

In one swatting incident at Harvard University this year, a phone call claimed that four students had taken a woman hostage. Campus police burst into the students house just after 4 a.m., aimed their rifles at the students and temporarily apprehended them.

In 2021, a 60-year-old man from Tennessee died of a heart attack as police raided his house in a swatting attack. An 18-year-old was sentenced to five years in prison for the threat.

Recent advances in technology, including the use of artificial intelligence, have made it more difficult to catch people who commit swatting. Callers can obscure their computer IP addresses and fake voices to mask their identities.

There has been no centralized database to track swatting incidents until now, so the exact number of occurrences is unknown. The Anti-Defamation League estimated there were 1,000 swatting incidents in 2019.

Swatting wastes resources and puts people in danger. These hoaxes take first responders away from actual emergencies, potentially endangering the safety of others, the ADL said.

These online threats are serious; they can and have led to violence. Swatting puts the targets, responding officers, and other community members in harms way and sometimes results in their deaths.

The new FBI database has already tracked 129 swatting incidents since the start of May, according to a statement from the agency.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Fees can add up for kids in Fayette public schools. Latest costs arent dropping.

In Fayette County schools, each student can be charged more than $100 per year in instructional fees depending upon their classes and activities.

A proposal for the maximum amount of school fees that can be charged to students for the 2023-24 school year was approved by the school board at its May 22 meeting.

Fees for the 2022-23 school year are not changing from the maximum fees approved last year.

School fees are another example of how the lack of funding public education leads to inequitable opportunities. From AP (Advanced Placement) classes to book fees, families struggle to support their childrens education, said Fayette parent Penny Christian.

Most classes have fees, along with extracurricular activities and clubs.

How much are fees?

A maximum dollar amount of $120 per elementary student can be charged for all fees during the school year. Several classes in middle schools have a maximum $25 fee.

School supplies requested from parents for students should be for individual students, not classroom cleaning supplies and similar items, according to district policies.

In high schools, maximum fees are set by course and range from $35-$50 each for some classes. In middle schools, the maximum fee per class can range from $15-$25.

For example, the maximum fee for a high school marching band is $250, engineering class is $30 and accounting, $20.

What are fees used for?

The fees help cover costs associated with school functions, like field trips, instructional materials, art supplies and instrument rentals, said district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall.

The money is overseen by each school-based decision making council, she said.

The school board sets a maximum limit on the costs and requires that fees be waived for students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, Deffendall said.

Who makes decisions about school fees?

Members of the Fayette school board annually consider the schedule of instructional fees that schools may charge, said Deffendall.

Specific decisions about fees are made at the school level, Deffendall said.

In a 2009, the Kentucky Office of Education Accountability made several recommendations to strengthen the oversight and accountability of fees and dues recorded in school activity fund accounts.

OEA Deputy Director Marcia Seiler, who worked on the report, said recently that the group has not conducted a follow review of fees since it reported findings in 2009.

Can school fees be waived?

Yes.

At a May school board meeting, school board member Amy Green asked, and Deputy Superintendent Houston Barber confirmed, that students eligible for free and reduced priced lunch get school fees waived. Families should fill out the application forms, found online, and return them to the school principals office.

A student cannot be excluded from participating in any sport, club or extra/co-curricular activity due to the inability to pay a fee. Fundraising is recommended under the districts policy.
Firefighter who adopted baby he found in Safe Haven Baby Box appears on TODAY: 'That was it  I was in love with her'

A firefighter and his wife in Ocala, Florida, are sharing their movie-worthy adoption story.

Vincent and Katie, who wish to only be identified by their first names for privacy reasons, appeared on TODAY June 29 with their 6-month-old daughter, Zoey.

In January, Zoey was placed in a Safe Haven Baby Box at the fire station where Vincent was working an overnight shift. The device allows someone to safely and anonymously surrender a child  no questions asked. When used, silent alarms are triggered to notify emergency responders in the building.

Baby Zoey as a newborn, shortly after she was left in a Safe Haven Baby Box. (Courtesy Vince and Katie)

Vincent recognized the sound immediately and went outside to investigate. Initially, he thought it was a false alarm, but when he opened the box, there was Zoey staring up at him. She was wrapped in a pink blanket.

I picked her up  she wasnt crying, Vincent told TODAYs Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb. That was it  I was in love with her.

At the time, Vincent and Katie were desperate to become parents. They had been struggling for more than a decade to have a baby, and were registered to adopt in the state of Florida.

Vincent accompanied Zoey to the hospital for a mandatory examination and handed her over to the medical staff along with a handwritten letter. In the note, Vincent explained why he and Katie wanted to adopt the baby and become her parents.

When Vincent called Katie to tell her about his night, she burst into tears.

I was like, Dont get too excited yet, Vincent recalled while speaking with TODAY.com earlier this month. My biggest fear was that the note I wrote wouldnt stay with Zoey and shed be gone. It was a very stressful few days.

TODAY's Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie couldn't resist cuddling Zoey during her June 29 appearance on the show with her parents, Vincent and Katie. (TODAY)

Zoey was placed in the stations Safe Haven Baby Box on Jan. 2. By Jan. 4, she was home with Vincent and Katie. The adoption was later finalized in April in an emotional Zoom ceremony.

Before you finalize, anything can happen  and wed experienced that in the past. So when the judge said, You guys are a family, we kind of looked at each other and were like, Were a family! Holy guacamole, were a family! Katie told Savannah and Hoda. So that was easily the best day of our lives.

Savannah described Zoeys adoption story as divine destiny.

God definitely put her in our lives, and gave us the opportunity to adopt her, Vincent replied. Vincent added that he often keeps Zoey up a little later than he should, just so he can rock her and stare at her a little longer.

Probably one of my favorite things to do is just watch her, he said.

Vincent and Katie are forever grateful for Zoey's birth mom, who they have not been in contact with.

We needed each other, Katie noted. And the way we were able to help each other was through that baby box.

They want Zoeys birth mom to know the little girl is loved beyond words. Thats the reason theyre sharing their story publicly.

Its not about me. Its not about my wife. Its not about our journey to have kids. Its not about me being a first responder. Its about this beautiful little girl who was given the chance of life, and that shes been adopted, shes loved and hopefully her birth mother sees it and recognizes that she did the right thing, Vincent said in a pre-taped interview. "She doesnt have to worry anymore. Her daughters taken care of and is loved beyond words.

There are 148 Safe Haven Baby Boxes in the United States, and 31 babies have been safely surrendered, according to the organizations website. Once authorities arrive, the newborn is removed from the boxs bassinet and immediately taken to receive medical attention, before then being placed for adoption.

Monica Kelsey, founder of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, spoke at a press conference in January, the same day that Zoey was surrendered.

We want to address the parents who legally surrendered this infant. And right now, Im going to talk directly to her or him, she said at the time. Thank you. Thank you for keeping your child safe. Thank you for bringing your child to a place that you knew was going to take care of this child. And thank you for doing what you felt was best.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
An overnight two-alarm fire swept through parts of the former Ladd Elementary on Kansas Citys East side, damaging the school building that was scheduled to begin renovations this year.

The fire was reported shortly before 3 a.m. Friday at the former school at 3640 Benton Blvd., which is near 37th Street and Bellefontaine Avenue.

The first firefighters on the scene reported flames coming out of three sides of the three-story, brick school building, according audio of radio traffic captured by Broadcastify.com.

Shortly after arriving, firefighters requested that a second-alarm be sounded to bring extra fire trucks and firefighters to the school to battle the blaze.

Further details about the fire were not immediately available from fire officials.

The former school was built in 1912 and was closed in 2010. Over the years, a handful of proposals to rehabilitate the property either failed or were rejected, mainly due to inadequate financing, The Star previously reported.

In March 2022, the Kansas City Public School District sold the school property to Local Code Kansas City, which planned to renovate the building into a mixed-use development with commercial space for Black-owned businesses and an event space on the first floor and apartments planned for the top two floors.

The project is in its pre-construction phase with its renovation and construction phase scheduled to being later this year, according to the projects website.
First notices of suspicion served on Russians for kidnapping Ukrainian children

The Prosecutors Office of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine served a notice of suspicion on three people, who are accused of kidnapping Ukrainian children and forcibly deporting them to Russia.

Source: website of the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine

Details: 48 children have been forcibly taken from the Kherson orphanage.

Ukrainska Pravda established that Igor Kastiukevich, member of the State Duma of Russia, Vadim Ilmiyev, head of the illegal occupying "Department of Healthcare of Kherson Oblast", and Tetiana Zavalska, acting head doctor of the Kherson orphanage, are suspected of this crime.

According to the investigation, Kastiukevich was in charge of the deportation process. He was responsible for solving the social issues of the population of Kherson Oblast and the issues of children in the occupied peninsula of Crimea.

At first Ilmiev and Zavalska organised the deportation of two children to Russia. The basis for this was allegedly undergoing an examination in a Moscow hospital. Before that, the children were kept in an illegally created by the occupying authorities "childrens home" on the basis of the Kherson Oblast orphanage.

The investigation has established that the children did not need special medical treatment.

On 2 September 2022, unidentified persons took two children and deported them from Kherson to Russia by car.

On 21 October 2022, the staff of the "childrens home", headed by Zavalska on the order of Ilmiev, handed 46 more children over to unidentified persons.

It was happening in the presence and under the control of the member of the State Duma of Russia. The children have been deported to the territory of occupied Crimea. At the moment, their fate remains unknown.

It was member of the Russian Parliament Kastiukevich who controlled the boarding of the children on buses and their transportation when the children were being handed over for their further transfer.

The actions of the suspects were qualified as a criminal offence, violation of the laws and customs of war.

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For the first time, Kentucky has tracked domestic violence data. Heres whats in new report

Kentucky has long had a problem with domestic violence  a 2012 survey found that 45% of women and 35% of men have been victims of domestic violence, according to a new report released Friday, marking the first time the commonwealth has ever tracked the data.

Now the commonwealth will begin to dig into the details with a debut domestic violence report that will set a baseline for police reports, protective orders issues, court cases and other information.

The report was part of Republican Sen. Whitney Westerfields Senate Bill 271, which required the Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center to collect information from Kentucky State Police, Cabinet for Health and Family Service and the Administrative Office of the Courts, and local law enforcement agencies about domestic violence fatalities; domestic violence and abuse; dating violence and abuse; and protective orders issued within the commonwealth.

Before this report, domestic violence advocacy groups had used a newspaper clipping service to keep track of domestic violence homicides.

According to the report, in 2022, charges were filed in district court for 24 cases of attempted murder and 30 murders ruled domestic violence .

The numbers were collected through area development districts; in the Bluegrass Area Development District, which is most of Central Kentucky, there were six cases of attempted murder and nine domestic violence murder charges in district courts.

For 2022, the report also found:

Law enforcement officers filed 38,708 JC-3 forms, those required for reports of any domestic violence

Law enforcement made 8,867 arrests for domestic violence

Kentucky State Police served 16,402 emergency protective orders

Regional domestic violence programs served 16,046 people for domestic violence issues.

The report also tracks the numbers of charges filed, the results of those charges, and gender and ethnicity of those filing domestic violence reports.

Quality data is critical for the criminal justice system as we work to enhance public safety, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Kerry Harvey said. Better data will lead to more effective prevention efforts and will be a useful tool for law enforcement agencies, courts and service providers.

The report includes data from the AOC, including the number of emergency protective orders requests filed, fulfilled and delivered.

Domestic violence advocates had long urged the state to collect these statistics in order to see exactly where the problems were most severe. This 2022 report will serve as a baseline so that trends can be tracked that affect programming.

Kentucky has 15 programs supporting survivors of domestic violence. Also available 24/7 are the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
Here are five lawmakers to watch in the fight for LGBTQ equality

It has been a difficult year for LGBTQ rights advocates in and out of Congress, with 2023 already shaping up to become the worst year on record for anti-LGBTQ state legislation.

More than 490 bills targeting LGBTQ rights have been introduced in 44 states, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). At least 77 have become law, most of them targeting transgender young people.

One lawmaker introduced a resolution last month to recognize and celebrate diverse family units as a way to push back against some of the anti-LGBTQ proposals.

Still, the pathway to full equality is steep.

House Republicans passed the nations first federal ban on transgender athletes this year, in addition to legislation that would require parents to be notified if their child is sharing a school restroom or changing room with a student who is transgender.

Bills to restrict access to gender-affirming health care for transgender youths and adults have also been introduced

None of those bills has progressed in the Democratic-controlled Senate, underscoring the stakes for the 2024 Senate elections.

Here are five lawmakers to watch in the fight for LGBTQ equality.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.)

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.)

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) speaks June 6 during a Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs hearing at the Capitol. (Tierney L. Cross)

Garcia  the first LGBTQ immigrant elected to Congress  was labeled Americas gayest congressman by The Advocate this month, a title he whole-heartedly endorses.

I can confirm thats a hundred percent true, he told The Hill this week.

The first-year lawmaker has emerged as a leading proponent of LGBTQ rights on Capitol Hill, co-sponsoring several pieces of legislation to advance LGBTQ equality.

Garcia last month introduced a resolution to formally recognize and celebrate diverse family units  including LGBTQ families and families who adopt  after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) suggested non-biological parents are not legitimate parents.

And on the House floor this month, Garcia honored American phenomenon and drag queen RuPaul Charles, part of a pledge to protect drag performers amid rising pushback from GOP leaders.

I think for me  you have the first LGBTQ+ immigrant ever elected  I think that, you know, gives me a unique perspective. I certainly think representation is important and so, being like a strong voice  is a responsibility that I take very seriously, Garcia said.

One of his more well-known legislative efforts was a push to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), another openly gay lawmaker who has come under controversy for questions about his background and finances.

Garcia led a group of LGBTQ first-term lawmakers in introducing a resolution to expel Santos in February, noting the New York Republicans controversial claim that he lost four employees in the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. The House ultimately voted to refer the resolution to the Ethics Committee.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) speaks during a House Progressive Caucus press conference on the threat of defaulting at the Capitol on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (Tierney L. Cross)

A co-chairwoman of the Congressional Equality Caucuss Transgender Equality Task Force, Jayapal has fought to protect and advance the rights of transgender Americans since her election to the House in 2017.

Jayapal in March, on the International Day of Transgender Visibility, reintroduced the Transgender Bill of Rights, a sweeping resolution that would strengthen civil rights protections for transgender and nonbinary people in the U.S.

Transgender equality is perhaps more personal to Jayapal than most: Her daughter, Kashika, is transgender. Jayapal shared her daughters identity publicly during a 2019 House hearing on the Equality Act, a bill that would add LGBTQ people to federal nondiscrimination laws.

My beautiful, now 22-year-old child told me last year that they were gender nonconforming, she said at the time. The only thought I wake up with every day is: My child is free. My child is free to be who they are, and in that freedom comes a responsibility for us as legislators to protect that freedom.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) addresses reporters during a press conference on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. (Annabelle Gordon)

Baldwin made history when she was elected to the Senate in 2012, becoming the first openly gay person elected to the upper chamber. Shes been chipping away at glass ceilings since 1999, when she became the first openly gay woman elected to the House.

In 2008, Baldwin co-founded the Equality Caucus, then the LGBT Equality Caucus, with former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay. It was the nations first congressional caucus dedicated solely to advancing LGBTQ rights.

More recently, Baldwin helped shepherd the Respect for Marriage Act through the last Congresss 50-50 Senate.

Baldwin has also been a strong advocate for transgender equality in Congress.

In March, she joined 23 Senate Democrats in introducing a resolution to celebrate the International Day of Transgender Visibility and recognize the achievements and contributions of transgender people worldwide. This month, she reintroduced the LGBTQ+ Data Inclusion Act, which calls for federal mental health surveys to include questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to improve resources and services available to LGBTQ people.

Our government works best when it reflects the people we serve. In order to create inclusive, fair policies that help all people lead healthy, safe, and successful lives, we must have diverse voices at the decision-making table, Baldwin told The Hill in a statement.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.)

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.)

Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) addresses reporters during a press conference on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. (Greg Nash)

Takano, who is one of 12 openly LGBTQ members of Congress, in 2012 became the first out gay person of color elected to Congress and the first openly LGBTQ lawmaker of Asian descent.

Hes used his platform to elevate LGBTQ voices and issues at home and abroad.

In March, Takano challenged a provision of the House Republican Parents Bill of Rights that requires teachers to obtain permission from parents before referring to a student by a different name or pronouns, warning that the measure would disproportionately impact transgender and nonbinary students. It could also put LGBTQ kids in danger of being forcibly outed to unsupportive families, he argued.

This bill forces good teachers to do bad things, Takano, a former high school teacher, said on the House floor in March. It is a fundamental invasion of privacy that puts children in danger.

Takano earlier this month reintroduced the Equality Act, which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.)

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) is seen during the first day of the 118th session of Congress on Tuesday, January 3, 2023. (Greg Nash)

For Jacobs, defending transgender rights on Capitol Hill is essential to the fight for LGBTQ rights. It is a lesson she learned from her two siblings, who are transgender and gender-nonconforming.

Eventually, my siblings pulled me aside and they were like, Look, we dont always want to have to be the ones explaining ourselves. We want you to use your position to educate people so that every time we walk into a room, we arent the ones with the burden, Jacobs told The Hill last week.

And for me, that was an important lesson and why Ive really felt like its my job to step out and make sure that were doing everything we can to respond to the spate of horrible anti-trans legislation were seeing come from state legislatures and from this body, and why Im gonna keep working to make sure that every kid in America can be their true authentic self, she added.

Jacobs  a co-chairwoman of the Transgender Equality Task Force and the vice chairwoman of the Congressional Equality Caucus  officiated her transgender brother Dylans wedding last year, calling it one of the proudest moments of my life in a speech on the House floor.

In March, she introduced legislation to prohibit discrimination in the military and protect transgender service members. It would prevent the enforcement of any future policies targeting transgender health care in the military, including former President Trumps transgender military service ban, which some GOP lawmakers have sought to reinstate.

Jacobs this year also co-sponsored the International Human Rights Defense Act, which would reaffirm the nations role in protecting and promoting LGBTQ rights across the globe.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Five Milwaukee men now face federal charges, accused of robbing postal workers at gunpoint to steal keys and obtain mail

Five of the eight men who were charged in state courts are now facing federal charges after being indicted by a grand jury for allegedly robbing U.S. mail carriers at gunpoint and disrupting interstate commerce.

A federal indictment filed Tuesday accuses four of the men of engaging in a conspiracy by using firearms to intimidate U.S. mail carriers to hand over their master keys and then using the keys to steal U.S. mail from receptacles from October 2022 to March 2023.

State prosecutors said in May that members of the group admitted they obtained the mail to wash checks.

The men have been identified as Huria Abu, 20; Jessie Cook, 19; Hussein Haji, 21; Darrion Allison, 22; Abdi Abdi, 22. All of them lived in Milwaukee.

All of them have been charged with Hobbs Act robbery, a federal law that prohibits robbery that disrupts interstate commerce. Some received multiple counts of the Hobbs Act for each alleged robbery. Other charges include brandishing a firearm to be used in violence, theft of mail and conspiracy.

If convicted, the men could be sentenced from up to 30 years to life in prison.

According to the indictment, here's when and where four armed robberies of U.S. postal workers took place:

October 25, 2022, on the 2500 block of North Richards Avenue

December 7, 2022, on the 3200 block of North Bremen Avenue

February 10, 2023, on the 5200 block of North 27th Street

March 13, 2023, on the 4500 block of North 38th Street

There was a theft of mail April 24, 2023, in the 5900 block of North Teutonia Avenue, according to the indictment.

All state charges against the men are expected to be dismissed.

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: Milwaukee men indicted on charges alleging conspiracy to steal mail
After more than five years of sometimes contentious negotiations, the city of Lexington and a historic Black church in downtown have reached a final agreement on parking for the church.

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council unanimously approved a final agreement Thursday between the church and the city as part of a multi-step negotiation that began in 2018. That agreement includes $1.5 million to construct 85 parking spaces.

Weve worked hard to come up with a plan that is fair to the church and the city, said Mayor Linda Gorton. This agreement is not perfect, but it is a solid step in the right direction.

In December, the council approved $1 million in federal coronavirus relief money to help the historic Black church reconfigure and develop more parking on what was once the Jefferson Street bridge and its properties on Main Street.

The city set aside an additional $500,000 from the general fund for the new parking, for a total of $1.5 million.

The church has been working with CRW engineers on a plan to reconfigure parking on its property so it can get more spaces on the former entrance to the bridge and its properties, which are on both sides of Jefferson Street.

Elder Rorger Cornelius of Main Street Baptist said its been closer to six years since the church began discussions with city and other officials about the churchs lost parking. Church officials have said for years that development in that area means fewer and fewer parking spaces for its congregation, many of whom are elderly. Without sufficient parking, the church would have to move, they have said.

Its going to be a lot of work, Cornelius said of adding the additional parking. Cornelius said they are glad the a final agreement is in place after years of back and forth with the city. Roughly 40 of the 85 spots will be on the former bridge. The remaining 45 parking spaces will be on other parts of the church property.

The Jefferson Street bridge was torn down in 2018 to make room for the expansion of Central Bank Center. The bridge also needed to come down for the planned 10-acre Town Branch Park.

The city spent $90,000 in 2018 to construct temporary parking for the church on the former entrance to the bridge.

A 1920s photo of the Main Street Baptist Church congregation in Frederick Braxton Building museum on the churchs campus. Herald-Leader file photos

What the deal says

As part of the final deal approved Thursday, the city will help make those temporary parking spaces permanent. The right-of-way for the former Jefferson Street bridge will eventually be conveyed to the church.

However, the church must let the public use the 85 parking spaces Monday through Friday when not being used by the church, for a period of 10 years, the agreement says.

The church is obligated to maintain the parking.

If the church were to sell the property before Dec. 31, 2026, it would owe the city $1.5 million, according to the agreement. Moreover, the church cant sell the property without the permission of the city for a period of 10 years.

The church has pushed the city to transfer ownership of the bridge entrance right-of-way for years.

However, the agreement allows the church to sell parking for downtown events.

The church continues to negotiate with Central Bank Center for overflow parking in public garages.

A property marker sits behind Main Street Baptist Church near the Jefferson Street Bridge in Lexington, Ky., Thursday, Sept. 21. 2017. The city of Lexington is attempting to tear down the Jefferson Street bridge to make room for an expanded Lexington Convention Center and a nearly 10-acre park. The new plans will eliminate a parking lot currently being used by Main Street Baptist Church. Alex Slitz/aslitz@herald-leader.com

How it started

The church and Lexington Center Corporation, which oversees Central Bank Center, had a verbal agreement going back decades that allowed the church to use surface parking for its congregation. That surface lot will not be available during construction of Town Branch Park.

In the 1980s, the church wanted to buy property behind the church but ultimately backed off after the city purchased the property for a previous expansion of Rupp Arena, part of the Central Bank Center complex. As part of the church not pursuing the property, then-Mayor Scotty Baesler agreed to let the church use the parking lot.

The agreement was never in writing.

When plans for Central Bank Center and Town Branch Park were announced, Main Street Baptist officials alleged they were never consulted and said without parking, the historic Black church may have to leave its Main Street location, where it has been for more than 150 years.

The Town Branch Park original plans called for using the former entrance to the bridge as one of its main entrances off of Main Street.

Due to the parking snafu with the church, the parks new main entrance will be off High Street.

Park officials announced recently it had reached its fundraising goal of $39 million for the long-planned downtown park that will include a childrens play area, water features, a dog park and a performance space. The park is expected to announce a groundbreaking date later this summer.
Flights from DFW Airport to this European destination are leaving twice daily

Flights from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to Madrid, Spain are leaving daily starting this summer.

Iberia Airways of Spain started flights to DFW Airport in June 2022 through a partnership with Fort Worth-based American Airlines. The service was meant to be a seasonal summer route, but strong demand kept the service going year-round. Flights ramped up even more starting early June.

DFW Airport will have two daily nonstop flights to Madrid-Barajas Airport from June to October  one flight operated by Iberia and another operated by American.

Daily flights with American typically leave at 5 p.m., while flights with Iberia leave around 9:40 p.m. An Airbus A330 aircraft will be used for the nine-hour flight.

Maria Jesus Lopez Solas, Iberias commercial director of network and alliances, said American and Iberia work closely to define commercial and customer plans. The partnership has lasted more than a decade, Lopez Solas said.

We decide how many flights we need for the demand that we have together, Lopez Solas said. We design the products together. We decide the customer experience together to make sure that we can readily serve the different needs from all different segments. We even try to align the loyalty programs.

Including flights to and from DFW Airport, Iberia has more than 120 weekly flights between Spain and the U.S., a 20% increase compared to 2019.

Lopez Solas said Iberia chose to increase frequencies between DFW and the U.S., because North Texas is growing and many customers use DFW for connections.

Were seeing demand for more capacity and more frequency, Lopez Solas said.

Similarly, Madrid is a popular destination for business and leisure travel and oftentimes customers use the airport to connect while traveling elsewhere in Europe, Lopez Solas said.

(Dallas-Fort Worth) is an area that is becoming more and more relevant within the U.S. in terms of growth, industries and the number of people living there, Lopez Solas said. Its a growing area with a lot of potential, and we want to be there.

The ramped up flight schedule began June 1, contributing to American Airlines now 12 daily flight services from DFW to Europe.

Other European destinations include Rome, Paris, Dublin, London-Heathrow, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. American will also operate several flights to other international locations, including a recently resumed nonstop service to Tokyo and services to Seoul, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Santiago.
Donald Santini arrives in Florida after being arrested in California

A Florida murder suspect who featured thrice on America's Most Wanted was arrested after nearly four decades on the run.

Donald Santini, 65, allegedly used 13 aliases to evade arrest for the 1984 murder of a 33-year-old Florida woman, authorities said.

He was serving as the president of a local water board in California at the time of his arrest.

Santini was extradited to Florida where he faces a charge of murder.

He was wanted for the murder of Cynthia Wood, a then 33-year-old going through a divorce with her husband. He was the last person seen with her on 6 June, 1984 before detectives discovered her body, strangled and left in a canal.

"The arrest of Donald Santini brings closure to a long-standing cold case and provides justice for the victim and her family after nearly four decades of waiting," said Sheriff Chad Chronister of Hillsborough County, Florida in a statement.

Authorities said he was identified as a suspect shortly after the murder and he fled Hillsborough County immediately.

Santini has appeared several times on the television show America's Most Wanted - in 1990, 2005, and 2013.

Many agencies, including the FBI, worked extensively on this cold case for years. The search took investigators to Texas, California and even as far as Thailand with no luck until this year.

It was a tip from the Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force that led US Marshals to San Diego County.

Santini was arrested and charged on first degree murder in San Diego before being extradited to Hillsborough County Jail in Tampa, Florida earlier this week.

Cynthia Woods was 33 when she was murdered

He had been living in a small suburb of San Diego called Campo under the alias, Wellman Simmonds.

He even appeared regularly at public board meetings as a president of the local water board, according to officials.

In a 16-page handwritten letter he sent to a local San Diego news station, Santini said "the reason I have been able to run so long is to live a loving respectful life".

He said he volunteered with the Rotary Club, owned a Thai restaurant and ran an apartment block during his years on the run.

He has previously served time in prison for raping a woman while stationed in Germany.

And in 1983, he was charged with aggravated robbery in connection with a convenience store robbery in Texas, his home state.
Florida to open up school vouchers of up to $8K for students

Starting Saturday, Florida will open up school vouchers of up to $8,000 for students to attend any school they want.

As of July 1, parents can choose any school they want to send their child to under Floridas family empowerment scholarship.

For parents, income restrictions and enrollment limits are no more, and the voucher can be used to pay for private school tuition and homeschooling. The money can also be put into an education savings account to be used for school-related costs, such as internet costs. fees for standardized tests, tutoring as well as full- and part-time enrollment in college as a dual enrollment program.

But Thomas Bugos, the president of the Sea Teachers Union in Seminole County, said this bill does not change that much.

Read: Floridas private school voucher program approves more than 150K applications

But it does give a free coupon to anyone thats already paid. So the millionaires and billionaires that are already putting their students in $30,000-$40,000 private schools are getting a coupon for $8,000 or more, Bugos said.

Bugos said its money that will be diverted from public education, where 80% of the students currently go. He said the potential is there to lose $2 billion in the public school system.

Watch: DeSantis Florida school voucher program sees more parents applying for scholarships

Which not only impacts teachers raises, but its also going to impact the students the quality of the education, theyre gonna be able to receive the materials, all the vast majority of technical classes that we have are going to take a huge impact the arts, so band, anything like that are going to lose their funding, or dramatically be reduced, he said.

Teacher Clayton Phillips said it makes school boards the easy target for the wrath of parents.

Read: Florida schools turning to military vets to fill teaching vacancies

The legislature always has an easy excuse. Its not our fault. It was the school board that had to make that decision, not us, even though theyre starving the school board have the money that they need to make the decisions to make it an equitable system for everyone, he said.

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.
Florida woman felt a tap on her paddleboard  and a hammerhead was hot on her tail

Cue the Jaws music.

A South Florida woman had a close encounter with a shark last Sunday, and it was caught on camera.

Malea Tribble, of Fort Lauderdale, was paddleboarding from Bimini in the Bahamas to Lake Worth Pier in Lake Worth Beach to raise money for cystic fibrosis research.

Tribble told West Palm Beach TV station WPBF-Channel 25 that she was in the middle of the 80-mile journey for The Crossing For Cystic Fibrosis when she felt a little bit of a tap on her board, but she assumed it was seaweed.

It wasnt. It was a hammerhead shark, right on her trail.

Video posted to her Instagram and taken by someone in the boat alongside Tribble shows the tense situation up close.

They warn her that the shark is following her.

Come to the side! a man says as she paddles, determined but calm, toward them.

Keep coming, keep coming, says another man. Youre doing good.

A few seconds later, Tribble makes it the boat safely.

It definitely kind of gives you a little bit of like, Oh, my gosh, I cant believe that happened to me,  said Tribble, who ended up getting back out there about 10 minutes later with no issues.

Just like falling in. You fall in, you get back up, she said. You dont sit there and sulk about falling in. You have to just keep moving. Its the best way to kind of move forward.

Piper's Angles will paddle from Bimini, Bahamas, and travel over 80 miles to@LakeWorthBchPBC

. pic.twitter.com/s0GiGm7U7D  T.A. Walker (@timallanwalker) June 15, 2023

The charity organization re-posted the harrowing clip, informing followers about the rare sighting.

We are grateful Malea was not harmed and so proud of the calm and disciplined response the Tribbles had during the situation, said the events founder Travis Suit. We are visitors when we are in the ocean, its really their home, so its to be expected.
Former Charlotte Hornet Devonte Graham pleads guilty to 2022 DWI and awaits sentencing next month

San Antonio Spurs guard Devonte Graham has pleaded guilty to a driving while intoxicated charge stemming from a July 2022 speeding stop.

The Wake County (N.C.) District Attorneys office confirmed the deal Thursday, adding the speeding charge was dismissed. A spokeswoman at the DAs office said the deal was made earlier in the week but she did not know the exact day.

Graham faces sentencing on July 27.

The plea deal was first reported by TMZ.

ALSO READ: Hornets select Brandon Miller over Scoot Henderson with the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft

According to the police report, Graham was pulled over at 2:39 a.m. on July 7, 2022 for driving 63 mph in a 40 mph zone. During the traffic stop, Graham displayed signs of impairment and was taken into custody and transported to the Wake County Detention Center.

Graham submitted to a breath test for alcohol and results indicated a 0.11 BAC (breath alcohol concentration), above the state limit of .08.

The DWI charge is a misdemeanor.

Graham, 28 and a Raleigh native, was playing for the New Orleans Pelicans at the time of his arrest. He was traded to the Spurs and averaged 5.3 points in 53 games with New Orleans this season and 13.0 points in 20 appearances with the Spurs.

Graham played for the Hornets from 2018 to 2021.

(WATCH BELOW: Who did the Charlotte Hornets get on draft day?)
Former Hillsborough resident found guilty of sexually assaulting his student at home

TOMS RIVER - A former Hillsborough resident has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a teen multiple times, starting starting when he was his student at Toms River High School North in 2002, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said Thursday.

Raymond Waters, 71, now of Pawlet, Vermont, was found guilty of five counts of aggravated sexual assault and 13 counts of sexual assault, Billhimer said, for sexually assaulting a minor in Toms River, Barnegat and Hillsborough between September 2002 and September 2004.

Waters husband, Allen Harbatuk, 76, of Hillsborough, had previously been convicted in 2018 of sexually assaulting the teen as well.

More: Raritan man pleads guilty to sexual assault at D&R Canal State Park

The abuse came to light in January 2014, when the victim went to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office to report that he had been sexually assaulted by Waters and Harbatuk from 2002 to 2004.

An investigation found that the victim met Waters in 2002 when he was 14, while Waters was his art teacher at Toms River North, Billhimer said. Waters sexually assaulted the victim at the school, the Joseph A. Citta Boy Scout Reservation in Barnegat and at Waters' then-residence in Hillsborough.

According to Billhimer, the investigation also determined that Waters' husband, Harbatuk, sexually assaulted the victim at the Boy Scout Reservation and the Hillsborough residence. On October 22, 2014, Waters and Harbatuk were arrested at their residence in Hillsborough, taken to the Ocean County Jail and released on bail.

More: Conviction tossed, new trial for NJ man serving 90 years in stepdaughters' sexual assault

On June 21, 2018, Harbatuk was found guilty of sexual assault, Billhimer said. On November 2, 2018, he was sentenced to seven years in state prison.

According to Bryan Huntenburg, a spokesperson for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, the trial was delayed due to Waters' health issues, the COVID-19 pandemic and the attorneys' schedules.

Waters was taken to Ocean County Jail in Toms River pending sentencing, which has yet to be given a date, the prosecutor said.

Jenna Calderon covers breaking news and cold cases in Monmouth and Ocean counties for Gannett..

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Former Hillsborough resident found guilty of sexual assault
Former Texas Sen. Carlos Uresti, convicted for his role in Ponzi scheme, released from prison

Carlos Uresti talks with the media after his sentencing in federal court on June 26, 2018. The former state senator was released from federal prison Friday, his lawyer said. Credit: Robin Jerstad for The Texas Tribune

Former state Sen. Carlos Uresti of San Antonio was released from a federal prison in Bastrop on Friday after serving four years and four months of a 12-year sentence for participating in a Ponzi scheme.

Mikal Watts, Urestis attorney, said in an email to The Texas Tribune that Uresti had checked into a halfway house two hours after his release from prison. A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Uresti would remain in community confinement at the halfway house until his release date on Dec. 12, 2024.

Uresti thanked his lawyers for continuing to work on his case and said his release was a result of good conduct and the federal First Step Act, which aimed to reform federal prison and sentencing laws to reduce recidivism and lower the inmate population in federal prisons.

Im a better man  better than before. I have learned the art of hitting it and pivoting and it has made all the difference in my situation. Through this journey, I have emerged wiser, healthier, happier, and yes, even funnier, he said in a statement provided by Watts. But most importantly, I have achieved a profound sense of freedom where it matters most  within my soul.

Earlier this year, a federal judge reduced Urestis sentence to five years and 10 months, which made him eligible for release in December 2024.

Uresti, a Democrat, served nine years in the Texas House beginning in 1997 and 12 years in the Senate before being convicted of money laundering and wire fraud in 2018 for participating in a Ponzi scheme against investors by FourWinds Logistics, an oil-field services company for which he worked as general counsel.

In 2019, Uresti also pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit bribery for facilitating bribes to a county judge on behalf of a medical services company seeking a contract in the countys jail. He was serving both sentences concurrently.

In his statement, Uresti said he wanted to return to helping people, especially children. As a state senator, he helped create a task force to protect vulnerable children.

Watts, a high-profile San Antonio attorney and friend of Urestis who represented him in the criminal cases, said Uresti will join Watts law firm as a consultant to start a new chapter. Uresti, a former lawyer, was barred from practicing law after his criminal convictions.

As part of his punishment in the Ponzi scheme, Uresti was ordered to pay $6.3 million in restitution to victims.

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorneys office in the Western District of Texas, which prosecuted Uresti, said the office had no information or comment on Urestis release.

Join us for conversations that matter with newly announced speakers at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, in downtown Austin from Sept. 21-23.
Eating local foods might not be as green  or even as local  as we might expect.

A recent piece by The Guardian explored the alleged greenwashing tactics that the grocery industry uses to mislead customers into buying products that they advertise as local that arent actually locally produced.

Statista reported that 95% of single urban households in the United States are willing to pay extra for local food, and 96% would define local foods as being grown within 100 miles of the seller.

However, theres no agreement among stores and retailers on what constitutes local, which means a great deal of local groceries dont meet that 100-mile standard that Americans typically assume.

Most of it is bulls***. Every retailer has a different definition [of local]. Even the retailers themselves will have different definitions, depending on where they are, and the original purpose of localization has totally gotten lost, Errol Schweizer, the former leader of Whole Foods grocery merchandising, told The Guardian.

For example, a Whole Foods store in Oakland sells non-dairy yogurt that the store claims is local because the yogurt company is based in San Francisco. However, the main ingredient of the product, cashews, is sourced from the Ivory Coast and Vietnam, thousands of miles from the region selling the yogurt, according to The Guardian.

Local used to be about climate change and developing strong supply chains and regional food systems. Now its essentially a marketing gimmick, Schweizer said.

Another wrinkle in the local food industry is farmers markets. There are two major reasons why farmers markets arent as helpful as we might like to believe.

The first is that farmers markets only represent a tiny fraction of the overall grocery industry  about $3 billion of a $850 billion industry, according to The Guardian.

The second issue is that farmers markets can sometimes be deceptive in their sourcing. Amber Tamm, a farmworker and floral designer, told The Guardian that she was encouraged to advertise that the food she sold at a farmers market was locally produced, even though she knew it had been shipped from another area.

They knew that this is what customers wanted to hear, she told The Guardian.

One way to avoid being swindled by faux-local grocery retailers is to grow your own produce. Theres no reason to doubt the origin of your fruits and veggies if you pick them yourself.

We can also try to truly shop local by researching and investigating the local products in our grocery stores and farmers markets.

Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more, waste less, and help yourself while helping the planet.
PANAMA CITY BEACH  Tourists and visitors will have multiple opportunities over the next few days to celebrate United States independence.

According to a press release from Visit Panama City Beach, the group is planning four fireworks shows for Independence Day weekend in Bay County. Held Sunday through Tuesday, they are Light Up the Bay, Light Up the Gulf, Freedom Rocks! and the Star Spangled Spectacular. Here's what to know about each.

Visit Panama City Beach is gearing up to host four firework shows in Bay County from July 2-4. They are Light Up the Bay, Light Up the Gulf, Freedom Rocks! and the Star Spangled Spectacular.

"Each year, (Independence Day weekend) brings together residents and visitors in Panama City Beach for an unforgettable celebration on our destination's beautiful beaches," Dan Rowe, president and CEO of Visit PCB, said in the release. "We are thrilled to continue this colorful and festive tradition in Partnership with the city of Panama City Beach, Pier Park and Bay County."

For beachgoers: Calmer conditions ahead? Panama City Beach could see yellow beach flags July 4th weekend

New business: 'A dream come true': Highly anticipated Duplin Winery opens in Panama City Beach

Light Up the Bay

Kicking off the celebrations, this fireworks show over Saint Andrew Bay will occur near Papa Joe's Bayside at 4601 West U.S. 98 in Panama City. It will be held Sunday, and festivities will begin at 8:30 p.m.

"Bring your lawn chair and catch fireworks over the bay, food trucks and live music with family and friends," the release reads. "

Light Up the Gulf

The second fireworks show will take place behind Boardwalk Beach Resort Condominiums at 9600 S. Thomas Drive in Panama City Beach. It will be held Monday, and festivities will begin at 8:30 p.m.

"Panama City Beach will 'Light Up the Gulf' with the beach's largest, private fireworks show," the release reads.

Freedom Rocks

This fireworks show will be held over Grand Lagoon in the Panama City Beach area, and guests are invited to watch from the Treasure Island Marina at 3605 Thomas Drive. It will be held Monday, and festivities will begin at 8:45 p.m.

"Stop by early and dine at any Freedom Rocks participating restaurants (and) take in stunning sunset views ... before fireworks light up the sky," the release reads.

Star Spangled Spectacular

Known as the largest fireworks display along the Gulf Coast, this event will feature fireworks at two locations: the Russell-Fields Pier across from Pier Park and the M.B. Miller Pier near Shipwreck Island Waterpark. It will be held Tuesday, and festivities will begin at 9 p.m.

"Celebrate the Fourth of July with the largest fireworks display on the Gulf Coast," the release reads. "The dazzling show will feature dueling fireworks from the city (Russell-Fields) and county (M.B. Miller) piers."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Fourth of July fireworks shows in Bay County, Sunday through Tuesday
Four people were wounded in an overnight shooting after gunshots were fired at them from a vehicle at a south Sacramento shopping center parking lot, sheriffs officials said.

Authorities first learned of the shooting about 2:20 a.m. Friday, when a wounded man seeking help near the intersection of Florin and Power Inn roads flagged down a patrol deputy, said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a Sacramento County Sheriffs Office spokesman.

Gandhi said three additional victims in the shooting, two men and a woman, were found later at separate hospitals where they had gone on their own to seek treatment. All four victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting.

Investigators believe the shooting occurred in the parking lot of the shopping center just southwest of the Florin and Power Inn intersection. Gandhi said the gunshots appeared to have been fired from a vehicle.

The motive behind the shooting was unclear to investigators, and the victims didnt know who fired shots at them, Gandhi said. The Sheriffs Office on Friday did not have suspect descriptions to release.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Fox News agreed to pay $12 million to settle a hostile workplace lawsuit from Abby Grossberg.

Grossberg alleged she experienced a "sexist" environment at Fox and says lawyers coerced her testimony for Dominion's lawsuit.

She may still play a role in the Justice Department's investigation into Trump.

Fox News has agreed to pay $12 million to settle a hostile workplace lawsuit from Abby Grossberg, a former producer for host Maria Bartiromo and now-former host Tucker Carlson.

Grossberg's attorney Parisis Filippatos confirmed the settlement to Insider. The New York Times first reported on the details.

"While I stand by my publicly filed claims and allegations, in light of today's settlement of $12 million, pursuant to which I have now withdrawn those claims, I am heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously," Grossberg said in a statement. "I am hopeful, based on our discussions with Fox News today, that this resolution represents a positive step by the Network regarding its treatment of women and minorities in the workplace."

Grossberg filed two explosive lawsuits against Fox News in March, leading Fox to fire her.

One lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, alleged rampant workplace sexism. She said staffers on Carlson's show made sexist and antisemitic remarks and plastered photos around the office of Nancy Pelosi in a bathing suit "revealing her cleavage," and that an executive undermined Bartiromo because of her sex.

In the other lawsuit, filed in Delaware state court, Grossberg alleged that Fox News lawyers coerced her into giving false deposition testimony for Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against the network over false election conspiracy theories. She said that, if her deposition testimony was honest, she would have called some Fox News employees "activists, not journalists."

Grossberg withdrew her Delaware lawsuit shortly after Fox agreed to settle Dominion's lawsuit for the record-breaking sum of $787.5 million. Friday's settlement now means that the New York lawsuit will be dismissed if a judge accepts the terms.

"We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation," a representative for Fox News said in a statement.

Grossberg's case threw a wrench in the lawsuit between Dominion and Fox News. She claimed to have  and disclosed some  records appearing to show that Fox News producers and hosts knew that Rudy Giuliani, a central figure in the case, was uncertain about the conspiracy theories he pushed about Dominion. According to her filings, Fox News withheld the records from Dominion as the case went to trial. (A Fox News spokesperson said it complied with all its discovery obligations.)

Court filings from Grossberg's litigation also underscored how tightly wound Fox News hosts were with Republican party officials. Text messages showed how Carlson helped broker the deal that made Kevin McCarthy House Speaker after 14 failed rounds of votes.

Fox News fired Carlson and Wells, a top producer on his show and a defendant in the lawsuit, in April.

Grossberg may still play an instrumental role in another defamation lawsuit against Fox News from Smartmatic, which was also implicated in false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. She is also cooperating with Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith in his investigation into former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Filippatos told the Times.

"I am certain that we will hear much from Abby in the future once she has taken some much-needed personal time to process the momentous events in her life over the past few years," Filippatos said in a statement.

This story has been updated.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg, who said in a lawsuit that she faced sexual harassment from Tucker Carlsons staff members, in New York, April 20, 2023. (Desiree Rios/The New York Times)

Fox News has agreed to pay $12 million to Abby Grossberg, a former Fox News producer who had accused the network of operating a hostile and discriminatory workplace and of coercing her into providing false testimony in a deposition.

Parisis G. Filippatos, a lawyer for Grossberg, said that the settlement concluded all of Grossbergs claims against Fox and the people she had named in her complaints, including former host Tucker Carlson and some of his producers.

Grossbergs legal team filed a request in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday to dismiss a remaining lawsuit against Fox in light of the settlement.

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Grossberg said in a statement Friday that she stood by her allegations, but she was heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously.

I am hopeful, based on our discussions with Fox News today, that this resolution represents a positive step by the network regarding its treatment of women and minorities in the workplace, she said.

Fox News had previously disputed Grossbergs claims. A spokesperson for the network said in a statement Friday: We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation.

Justin Wells, a former senior executive producer for Carlson, who was named in a complaint, said in a post on Twitter: We deny Ms. Grossbergs claims and allegations against Tucker Carlson and his team. Nevertheless, we are glad that Fox has settled this matter and that all sides can move forward.

The settlement with Grossberg is the latest development in a series of legal battles involving Fox. In April, the company agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million, in what is believed to be the biggest settlement figure in a defamation case. Days later, Fox took Carlson, its most popular host, off the air after the companys leadership concluded he was more of a problem than an asset and had to go.

Fox faces a second defamation case by another voting technology company. Smartmatic, like Dominion, says Fox knowingly spread false information about its products, baselessly claiming that they contributed to election fraud in 2020.

The accusations against Fox by Grossberg, 42, sprung partly from the Dominion case. In March, she filed a lawsuit in Delaware, claiming that Fox coerced her into lying in sworn testimony she gave in the case. Grossberg amended her witness testimony before the Dominion trial, presenting another hurdle for Foxs legal team, which had been dealt a series of blows in pretrial rulings.

Grossberg also filed a separate lawsuit in New York that accused Fox and Carlson of allowing a culture of rampant misogyny. She said she had been subjected to sexist and antisemitic harassment during her time as the head of booking on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Fox fired Grossberg four days after she filed the two lawsuits, saying in a statement at the time that she had disclosed privileged information about the Dominion case. She withdrew the Delaware suit in May, but her lawyer said at the time that they planned to refile in New York.

Grossberg joined Fox News in 2019 as a senior producer for host Maria Bartiromo. In August 2022, she moved to Carlsons team as the head of booking.

In her lawsuit, Grossberg said she found a workplace tainted by misogyny and harassment, where male producers were openly sexist to her and her co-workers, made crude jokes and had decorated the space with photos of Nancy Pelosi, then the House speaker, in a swimsuit showing cleavage.

Grossberg never met Carlson, who worked mostly from his homes in Florida and Maine, but she corresponded with him frequently over email, text and video calls. Carlsons staff in New York was led by Wells, the senior executive producer. (Wells was fired by Fox in April.)

After filing her lawsuits, Grossberg drip-fed audio recordings from her time at Fox to other media organizations. The recordings showed, among other things, Carlsons immense influence on the Republican Party; an admission by Rudy Giuliani, lawyer to former President Donald Trump, that he didnt have evidence of voter fraud; and discussions between Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Bartiromo about his attempts to audit the 2020 election results.

Filippatos confirmed that he had been contacted by the office of the special counsel investigating Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and that he and his client were cooperating. At least 90 tapes had been retrieved and Grossbergs legal team was forensically analyzing all of Grossbergs devices in case there were any additional recordings, Filippatos said.

Grossberg said she would not comment further on her accusations against Fox or her time at the company, but would continue to speak out on issues and causes that I believe in, including journalism, equality, dignity and respect in the workplace.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron called on parents and social media platforms to help bring an end to violence that has swept the country since the police killing of a 17-year-old and has resulted in the arrest of hundreds of young people.

Most Read from Bloomberg

A third straight night of unrest Thursday after a teenager was shot in his car in a Paris suburb earlier this week led to damage to municipal buildings such as town halls and libraries in Marseille and the Seine-Saint-Denis area, north of Paris.

A third of the arrests these past few nights concern young or sometimes very young people, Macron said at a crisis meeting with top ministers on Friday. Its the responsibility of parents to keep them at home.

The president said Snapchat, TikTok and several other platforms had been used to organize unrest and pointed to a form of mimicry of violence.

Among the youngest ones, it leads to a sort of departure from reality, and we have the impression sometimes that some of them are living out the video games that have brainwashed them in the street, Macron said.

Read More: These Are the French Cities Hit by Clashes Over Teens Killing

Authorities will work with platforms in the coming hours to have the most sensitive content removed, as well as to establish the identity of those using social media to call for violence, Macron said.

Some festive events and gatherings in tense areas were canceled ahead of further expected protests Friday night, and bus and tramway services across the country will be suspended from 9 p.m. The government is looking to restrict the sale of fireworks and flammable objects.

A concert by French pop singer Mylene Farmer at the 80,000-seat Stade de France stadium, just north of Paris, was also canceled, Agence France-Presse reported.

Street violence Thursday night resulted in attacks on 119 public buildings and 79 police stations, the Interior Ministry said. There were 875 arrests.

What worries us is that rioters are determined to attack institutions under the republic, whether its town halls, nurseries, schools, civic centers or police stations, Matthieu Valet, spokesman for the SICP police union, said in an interview with CNews Friday.

Twelve buses run by Paris-area transport operator RATP were incinerated in a depot on the outskirts of the capital. Some stores throughout the country were also vandalized overnight, including in central Paris.

Anger erupted after Nahel, 17, was fatally shot at close range in his car Tuesday in Nanterre, a western suburb of Paris. Video posted on social media showed two police officers leaning into the car, with one of them shooting as the driver pulls away. Authorities havent released Nahels last name.

The officer who fired the shot was charged with murder and is being held in pre-trial detention. Pascal Prache, the Nanterre prosecutor, said Thursday that his office determined that the legal conditions for the use of a weapon were not met.

Laurent-Franck Lienard, a lawyer for the officer, told Europe 1 radio that the latter believed he needed to shoot.

Nahels mother, identified only as Mounia, said in an interview with France 5 that she did not blame the police.

I blame one person, the one who took my sons life, she said. He saw an Arab face, a little kid. He wanted to take his life.

The unrest has echoes of riots that broke out for weeks in 2005 after two boys died in an electricity substation following a police chase, and has thrown a spotlight on French policing and long-simmering tensions in the countrys poorer suburbs. The government at the time declared a state of emergency that lasted close to two months.

--With assistance from Samy Adghirni.

(Updates with Macron comments and government measures throughout.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
A Dayton non-profit organization offered free microchipping services for pets during the holiday weekend.

>> TRENDING: At least 1 shot, 1 in custody near local Dayton mall

The Humane Society of Greater Dayton invited residents to bring their furry friends to the event, Chippin in the USA, a spokesperson for the organization stated.

The event was to take place at the Humane Society of Greater Dayton location in the 1600 block of Nicholas Road on Wednesday, June 28 to Friday, June 30. The location was scheduled to remain open from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Residents were encouraged to participate in the event because of the benefits that microchipping could provide.

Microchipping your pet is a simple and effective way to protect them in case they ever get lost, the spokesperson said.

Anyone bringing their pet to get microchipped could expect to receive the implant for free until supplies lasted.

Once free microchips were no longer available, the organization would still offer the service at a discounted rate of $15 per pet.

During this period, Humane Society of Greater Dayton also offered to scan previously microchipped pets for free. Scanning microchips could help people retrieve its number and allow them to update their pets information online, ensuring their records were up-to-date.

The Fourth of July is notorious for pets getting lost, and by taking this proactive step, you are increasing the chances of a quick and successful reunion should your furry friend go missing, the spokesperson informed.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is the de facto political wing of the People's Mujahedin (MEK) group outlawed by Tehran (JOE KLAMAR)

An exiled Iranian opposition group said Friday that it would hold a demonstration in central Paris at the weekend after a French court overturned a police ban on the event.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the de facto political wing of the People's Mujahedin (MEK) group outlawed by Tehran, said it would hold the protest on Saturday on Place Vauban in central Paris.

Paris police had angered the group last week by saying the rally had been banned because of the risk of tensions with other Iranian factions and the danger of an attack.

But the Paris administrative court ruled the police ban was "a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom to demonstrate".

The court said it had taken note in particular of the commitment of the organisers to make a significant contribution to ensuring security through a private company.

The demonstration Saturday will come with French police already stretched by the nationwide rioting in the wake of the killing of a teen by an officer that saw hundreds arrested overnight Thursday to Friday.

The NCRI had previously accused France of caving in to alleged pressure from the Iranian authorities as Paris seeks to keep diplomacy with Tehran going in search of a revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.

The NCRI said the court ruling was "a heavy blow to the clerical regime and the policy of appeasement."

It said the ban on the demonstration had wasted time and created problems but "despite all the disruptions, the big demonstration of Iranians will be held on Saturday afternoon".

The group had been hoping in the rally to use the momentum created by protests against the clerical leadership inside Iran that erupted in September after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, arrested for allegedly violating the strict dress rules for women.

The protests inside Iran have abated, but continue sporadically.

The MEK regards itself as the most significant Iranian opposition group outside the country.

A controversial organisation regarded as a cult by detractors, it is far from having universal support among the Iranian diaspora. But it does enjoy the support of several high-profile former US and European officials.

Authorities in 2018 foiled an attack against a major NCRI rally outside Paris. An Iranian diplomat was convicted of terror offences by a Belgian court over the thwarted attempt, but was last month swapped for a Belgian aid worker held by Tehran.

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The police officer, who fired the shot, (C) holds a gun during the reenactment of the crime scene where two men in a car were shot dead during a traffic stop on April 24 by a police officer armed with an assault rifle, at the Pont-Neuf in Paris, on June 17, 2022. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP) (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images) (THOMAS COEX via Getty Images)

PARIS  For years, French police unions argued that officers should get broader discretion over when to shoot at fleeing motorists. Time and again, lawmakers refused.

Finally in 2017, after a string of terrorist attacks, the government relented. Eager to be tough on crime and terrorism, lawmakers passed a bill allowing officers to fire on motorists who flee traffic stops, even when the officers are not in immediate danger.

For politicians, because this was real politics, it was hard to say no, recalled Frederic Lagache, a leader of the police union Alliance Police who pushed forcefully for the law.

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Since that law passed, the number of fatal police shootings of motorists has increased sixfold, according to data compiled recently by a team of French researchers and shared with The New York Times. Last year, 13 people were shot dead in their vehicles, a record in a country where police killings are rare.

The law has come under fresh scrutiny after a police officer killed a teenage driver during a traffic stop this week, shocking the country and igniting street protests and riots. Several lawmakers have called for a repeal or revision of the law.

Union leaders, including those who supported the law, say training on what it permitted was woefully inadequate.

We received no training whatsoever, Lagache said. He and other police officers interviewed in the weeks and months before this most recent fatal shooting said their classes had been mostly online  video tutorials showing the situations in which police officers may or may not shoot  and covered theoretical topics that failed to capture the realities of the field.

We still have colleagues today who open fire because theyre convinced that theyre protected under the law, when theyre not, said Yves Lefebvre, a union leader who helped negotiate the bill. Theres inevitably some collateral damage.

French police officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment on how officers are trained. Union members have an incentive to blame the training, rather than their officers or a law they had supported.

A report last year by the Cour des Comptes, Frances highest public audit institution, showed that nearly 40% of officers failed to comply with a requirement to attend three shooting training sessions. That is separate from the 2017 law and carries no penalties if ignored.

Following the recent shooting, Frances interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, denied that fatal shootings at fleeing motorists increased following the laws passage, a contention that was refuted by the data compiled by the French researchers.

Policing experts and lawyers say the law and the spate of police shootings that followed are the unintended consequences of the French governments response to terrorism and to an increase in threats against police.

The law was passed to achieve expected effects, said Marie-France Moneger, the former head of a powerful police body that investigates police forces, referring to battling terrorism. Then you have the unexpected effects and then you have the perverse effects.

Suicide bombings in Paris in 2015, a deadly truck attack in Nice in 2016 and a firebombing that seriously wounded two police officers that year in suburban Paris prompted calls for tougher security. The bill, which also allowed officers to shoot at fleeing suspects deemed a danger, passed with an overwhelming majority in February 2017.

But firing on moving or speeding cars is a tactic that many cities have banned as too dangerous. New York Police Department officers, for example, have been generally prohibited from firing at cars since 1972.

What France is doing is in many ways an anomaly, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a group in Washington whose members are police executives from major city, county and state forces.

In the past, French police officers were allowed to fire on vehicles only when the officers were in immediate danger, the same right of self-defense as any citizen. Police unions, a powerful political force in France, argued, though, that they should have broader authority to fight crime and rules that matched those of the gendarmerie, a French police force with military status.

Now, police can fire when they believe that motorists are likely to endanger lives while fleeing. Officers, the law says, may use their weapons in cases of absolute necessity and in a strictly proportionate manner.

Catherine Tzutzuiano, a University of Toulon law professor, said the laws wording suggests that officers can use their weapons more easily.

The bill drew heavy criticism from Frances defender of rights, an independent government ombudsman who monitors civil rights, and the National Advisory Committee on Human Rights, a United Nations-affiliated group that advises the French government. Both warned that the laws vague wording might lead to more fatal shootings.

Those shootings increased almost immediately after it went into effect. In the first nine months, police shot and killed five motorists, more than in the five years before the law.

In 2017, the wrong message was sent. We said, Now, you can shoot at cars, Laurent-Franck Lienard, a lawyer who is defending most of the 13 police officers involved in last years fatal traffic stops, said in an interview in February. That was total nonsense. He said most officers involved were young recruits in their mid-20s who received limited shooting training.

Since 2017, Lienard said in the same interview, the situation has improved. Officers are more careful to fire only in self-defense, he said.

Lienard said the officer involved in this weeks shooting, whom he also represents, shot within the framework of the law. That officer has not been identified publicly.

The rising trend in fatal traffic stops since 2017 is really a big issue, which has probably made France the European champion for lethal shootings on vehicles, said Sebastian Roche, a policing expert at the countrys National Center for Scientific Research, who compiled the data and shared it with the Times.

A research paper on the topic is under peer review by an American journal, he said, adding that the underlying figures on shootings and traffic stops come from the French police.

On average, France has recorded one fatal shooting every 2 1/2 months since the law passed, compared with one every 16 months before the law  a sixfold increase.

French authorities and police unions have argued that this surge is driven mostly by a growing number of drivers who refuse to stop and therefore endanger the lives of others. The number of such dangerous refusals to stop recorded by the police doubled from 2012 to 2021, according to official police data.

But that does not explain the sixfold increase in the rate of shootings.

The researchers also ruled out that the surge could be attributed to an overall rise in crime. They noted that, unlike with the French national police, the number of fatal traffic stops had barely increased in the gendarmerie, the French military police force, and in the police forces of Belgium and Germany, two countries with relatively similar homicide rates to France.

Theres no doubt about it, Roche said. The 2017 law giving more powers to the police is the cause of the increase in fatal police shootings.

It remains unclear what training the officer involved in Tuesdays killing had received. In a video of the incident, the officer can be seen on the drivers side of a car, pointing a gun into the vehicle. When the car started to pull away, he shot the driver, who was pronounced dead an hour later. Police have identified him only as Nahel M., a 17-year-old French citizen of Algerian and Moroccan descent.

A French prosecutor said Thursday that, even under the 2017 laws provisions, the officer had not met the legal standard to open fire. The officer was placed under formal investigation on charges of voluntary homicide.

Prominent politicians called for a review of the law. And an editorial in Le Monde, one of Frances leading newspapers, called for changes to the law.

How can a problem that arose in 2017 and has since been confirmed by the facts every year be addressed politically only today, said Marine Tondelier, the head of the French Greens, just because a 17-year-old boy died and we have a video.

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My heart races as I stroll briskly past the U.S. Capitol, sweat dripping down my back. The unforgiving heat does nothing to stem the surges of nervous adrenaline running through my veins.

The grandeur of the place stirs me, yet its ostentation pales in comparison to the weight of the mission I carry: advocating for urgent climate action.

As a 16-year-old from Fresno, I grew interested in learning about environmental issues when I witnessed the beauty of our national parks being threatened and local communities destroyed by a series of wildfires that ravaged central California in recent years. I never imagined my evolving passion for the environment wound send me to the epicenter of American political power  D.C.  in a bid to voice my concerns about the impending climate catastrophe.

My fully funded trip was courtesy of Citizens Climate Lobbys; Im the co-leader of the Fresno Youth Action Team. Were an international organization, with a shared vision to address the climate crisis through meaningful action. Our lobbying efforts specifically focused on clean energy permitting reform, aimed at accelerating the process of building infrastructure for renewable energy sources, and the EICDA, which is designed to place a fee on carbon emissions while generating revenue to be returned to households as a dividend.

My journey to the Capitol, accompanied by fellow CCL members, was dedicated to urging the passage of nonpartisan pro-climate bills. This nonpartisanship is what I admire most about CCL. People can have their own opinions; thats one of the most crucial aspects of democracy. But my fellow lobbyists and I understood that to tackle a problem as momentous as climate change, we all need to come together as a united front.

The importance of this front was underscored during the CCL conference, in the days of preparation leading up to Lobby Day. I encountered some of the most diligent and determined people Ive ever met there. Among them were representatives from Ghana, who taught me that environmental degradation is not just a regional or national crisis, and CCL higher-ups from diverse backgrounds, who taught me that anyone can make an impact.

I had the privilege of meeting with four congressmen and their staffers on lobby day. The meetings were not without their challenges.

While many congressional offices were warm and welcoming, several openly scoffed at the thought of supporting our main requests.

I stuttered at first, but with each meeting  even the most demoralizing ones  I grew more confident in utilizing the skills Id learned as a debater in high school and during the conference. Each skeptical glance and dismissive comment served as a stark reminder of the uphill battle we were fighting.

And each interaction taught me something valuable. The congressmen, even those who disagreed, showed me the complexity of the decision-making process. Each voice had its own priorities, its own concerns. I learned the importance of understanding their perspective, not just promoting my own. As the youngest in the room, I wasnt just representing myself or CCL  I was representing a generation, one that will inherit the consequences of decisions made today.

I finished the trip off with a bang by facing a fear that may even be shared by some congressional members: public speaking. Cracking (dumb) jokes in front of a thousand other CCL members while recounting my experiences was daunting, and perhaps a bit embarrassing, but I am so grateful for the warm reception my comments received.

Today, Im not just a 16-year-old from Fresno, but a climate advocate and youth leader committed to inspiring my generation to act for a more sustainable future.

And I plan to fight for this cause for the rest of my life.
Fresno trailer park residents pleaded for citys help. Now they fear becoming homeless | Opinion

Two years ago, residents of a north Fresno trailer park placed their hopes in local leaders to help them out of a bad situation.

Local leaders, namely the Fresno City Council and a Fresno Superior Court judge, only made things worse.

Today, roughly half as many people live in the former Trails End Mobile Home Park compared to before government help arrived. More than a dozen were evicted by new predatory landlords scheming to turn a quick profit off their plight. Those who remain also face eviction in less than a year, but not before being threatened with rent hikes and all sorts of unpleasantries in the meantime.

How did this happen? It happened because city leaders didnt care, didnt listen, thought they knew better, or some regrettable combination thereof.

What it boils down to is every step of the way, and I mean that very literally, the people in power to make those decisions just ignored the tenants and assumed that we were wrong, said Mariah Thompson, a staff attorney with the nonprofit law firm California Rural Legal Assistance.

Opinion

It was a long line of dominoes.

In 2021, following a couple years of derelict management and multiple trailer fires, one that resulted in a fatality, residents asked the city of Fresno to place Trails End under third-party receivership.

The city agreed. However, the receiver that city leaders recommended to a judge, Mark Adams, came with a checkered history of shady dealings, overbilling and treating the people hes supposed to be helping with disdain.

Myself and another attorney who had worked with (Adams) previously, we literally begged the city to pick someone else, Thompson said. We told him the guy was really bad news, and they said, Yeah, thanks for your opinion. Then as soon as he got into place he started doing exactly what we said he was going to do.

Adams official duties involved cleaning up homeless camps inside the park and forcing residents to bring their trailers and yards up to code. For doing so, his firm received more than $500,000 in fees, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation.

Mark Adams, president of California receivership group tours the Trails End Mobile Home Park in Fresno with members of his team and Fresno code enforcement on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. Fresno County Superior Court has appointed the receiver to remediate the troubled park and bring it under code compliance. CRAIG KOHLRUSS/ckohlruss@fresnobee.com

As residents beg, city chickened out

More crucially, Adams steered the parks eventual purchase by Harmony Communities, a Stockton-based housing management company known for jacking up rents and inventing a fake spokesman (with the name Heywood Jablom) to dodge questions from reporters.

Once again, residents and Thompson begged city leaders for their help with an alternative solution. They went out and found an alternative buyer, one with a solid reputation, but that nonprofit firm needed a few months to assemble a bid. In the meantime, the city couldve simply purchased the park and held onto it for a couple months.

A co-op option was explored, taking advantage of state funding and low-interest loans to help finance the preservation of affordable mobile home parks for conversion to ownership by resident organizations.

City leaders werent interested in those paths. They acted like all they cared about was finding the quickest, easiest solution and putting the matter aside.

We needed just a little bit of time, but they chickened out, Thompson said. They didnt even have the guts to support us, they just wouldnt take meetings. And when the judge turned to them in the courtroom and asked, What do you think I should do? they went, Oh, were not going to have an opinion about it. And that was that.

Over the passionate objections of residents, Trails End Mobile Home Park was sold to Harmony, for $1.7 million, and renamed La Hacienda Mobile Estates. Less than a year later, after enforcing draconian rules that resulted in mass evictions, the company listed the 5.2-acre property on Sierra Avenue near Highway 41 for $4.1 million.

That works out to a tidy $2.4 million profit  provided Harmony gets its asking price and succeeds in evicting the remaining tenants (each of whom own their trailers but lease the space) by April 2024.

The for sale sign outside La Hacienda Mobile Estates in north Fresno. Less than a year after purchasing the embattled trailer park for $1.7 million, Harmony Communities is seeking $4.1 million for the property. MAREK WARSZAWSKI/marekw@fresnobee.com

Mariah knew the truth about Harmony

Standing in the way is Thompson, who is representing almost 20 of them in multiple lawsuits involving wrongful eviction, retaliation and illegal business practices. The company has yet to file a compulsory impact report on the parks closure, ignoring letters from the City Attorneys office.

Harmony lied to the city, too, said Patricia Shawn, a 59-year-old IRS retiree who has lived at the park since 1998. But Mariah knew the truth about that company, and she told the city what was going to happen.

She was told she was wrong because they had promises. Well, look at those promises now. We live in fear every day of being evicted.

The latest evictee is a 77-year-old cancer patient named David with no family or place to go.

He might be on the streets, Thompson said. I dont know.

Residents of La Hacienda Mobile Home Park (former name Trails End) listen to Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld during a meeting at the park on Friday, March 25, 2022. CRAIG KOHLRUSS/ckohlruss@fresnobee.com

City leaders, unsurprisingly, arent eager to take responsibility. Including Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld, who in a March 2022 visit to the park with Mayor Jerry Dyer, assured residents Help is on the way.

The city absolutely did the right thing in intervening, but its unfortunate that Harmony did not follow through on its long-term commitment to keeping and maintaining the park, Bredefeld said.

Unfortunate is one way of putting it.

On one hand, city leaders are willing (and eager) to pour hundreds of millions in state and federal funds into new emergency shelters and affordable housing in order to reduce homelessness.

On the other, they refuse to make a comparatively paltry investment  or take advice  to ensure affordable housing that already exists in Fresno stays that way.

The city is trying to help the homeless while making a bunch of us homeless at the same time, said 76-year-old Patsy Rajskup, who has lived at the park for 33 years. That doesnt make sense.

Sure doesnt.
Hundreds of potential international investors met with top Ukrainian and Western officials in London in late June to discuss how to rebuild the country, ravaged by Russias war.

Those attending the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) were unanimous  Russia should foot the bill.

Said bill is devastatingly large. Ukraine needs at least $411 billion for its recovery, a World Bank report stated in March.

That was before Russia blew up the Kakhovka dam on June 6, unleashing a humanitarian and ecological catastrophe in southern Ukraine.

Every day, the costs of reconstruction rise as Russia continues to kill civilians and destroy infrastructure, and sanctions packages may not be enough to bring in compensation.

So far, the U.S. and its allies have reportedly frozen $58 billion worth of Russian oligarchs assets, including 24 billion euros ($26 billion) in Europe.

The EU also announced the freezing of 200 billion euros ($215 billion) worth of Russias Central Banks assets abroad as of May 25.

Yet, the unanimity stops at seizing these funds, that together account to over $270 billion.

More than a year after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Europes promise to crack down on Russian money fuelling Putins war machine, Western countries still fall short of adequate solutions to use frozen Russian funds to rebuild Ukraine.

The EU is still looking for a solution to confiscate the funds without infringing its own rule of law.

The Russian assets in Europe are a drop in the ocean, Oliver Bullough, a UK journalist and author who has extensively covered corruption and former Soviet Union oligarchs, told the Kyiv Independent.

If this wealth can be confiscated, it's going to take years, he said. And if it is confiscated, what's confiscated won't be nearly enough to rebuild Ukraine.

Browder: West must hand Russian Central Banks $350 billion to Ukraine for reconstruction London-based American investor Bill Browder says people call him the number one enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin and, more recently, an official Friend of Ukraine. Browder has spent the last 13 years campaigning to freeze Putins assets hidden in the West. Now, hes fighting for them t The Kyiv IndependentAnna Myroniuk

Legal hurdle over Russian Central Bank

The EU faces a legal dilemma: it cant legally confiscate frozen Russian assets without infringing on legal property.

Christian Wigand, the EU Commission spokesperson, was adamant about respecting the rule of law.

We need to respect the rule of law and judicial independence because we cannot do the same things that those states that attack our values, Wigand said.

The gut feeling would probably be to say, let's just take this money into Ukraine, he said.

Yet, the EU can't just confiscate the Russian Central Bank assets. Its reserves are protected by Russian sovereign immunity, which makes it impossible to seize without twisting international law.

Security fencing is fitted to surround the super-yacht 'Phi' seized in London Docklands, impounded by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) because of sanctions against Putin associates. The boat's ownership is uncertain, but it is believed to be owned by a Russian businessman with links to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)

Instead, the EU is working on putting these assets to work, which means using the interests created by these assets without seizing them.

What you can do is to work with the interests that you can create, it's money and quite a big sum, Wigand said.

According to an EU document obtained by Bloomberg, the frozen funds generated nearly 750 million euros in interest between January-March this year.

Bullough said the other option was to follow the example of Canada and pass legislation that just makes it easier to confiscate wealth.

That's not very popular in Europe, but that is the other option.

In an interview with the Kyiv Independent, London-based American investor Bill Browder said laws must be rewritten to say that sovereign immunity, of course, always applies, except if a country is guilty of an act of aggression against a peaceful neighbor, in which case, the damages caused by that crime of aggression, should trump sovereign immunity.

It's not a legal issue, it's a political and moral issue.

Confiscating oligarchs money

So far, assets worth 24 billion euros belonging to 1,470 sanctioned oligarchs and 200 legal entities have been frozen in Europe. But to seize them, Western countries must prove that this money is tied to criminal activities.

While sanctions can be used as a foreign policy tool to exert pressure, confiscation falls under a completely different category, Maria Nizzero, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at UKs Royal United Services Institute, said.

When we talk about confiscation, we are talking about expropriating the property of somebody of an individual that, regardless of who we're talking about, is still an individual, she told the Kyiv Independent.

And because of that, that's a criminal justice matter, and therefore, a different type of law, which is the proceeds of criminal activity, needs to come into place.

Obviously, it feels normal to say, Russia is committing atrocities in Ukraine, the oligarchs have been supporting the Kremlin, so why don't we go for it? Nizzero said.

We're talking about applying something that can be used as a precedent for other cases, referring to using confiscation to destroy political opponents in authoritarian regimes.

Pedestrians walk past the yacht "Lady M," owned by Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, docked at Imperia's harbor on March 5, when Italian police seized the yacht after the European Union targeted Mordashov and other Kremlin-linked oligarchs following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by ANDREA BERNARDI/AFP via Getty Images)

In short, one must prove that Russian funds are dirty to seize them, and its a daunting task when faced with the countless shell companies oligarchs use to evade sanctions.

Oligarchs often use a maze of shell companies, offshore trusts, and an army of lawyers to hide the dubious origin of their ill-gotten fortune.

Russian oligarchs have been stealing and hiding this money for 30 years, Bullough said.

They have the best lawyers, the best accountants, the best offshore service advisors helping them, you can't unwind that in a year.

Nizzero echoed Bulloughs statement, advocating for more support for law enforcement to build their cases.

Law enforcement still probably does not have the tools to do it, she said. It's not that oligarchs have stopped doing what they were doing.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska attends the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on June 17. Deripaska is one of the main Russian oligarchs targeted by Western sanctions. (Photo by OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images)

Yet, ahead of the London conference, the UK unveiled legislation on June 19 to keep sanctioned assets frozen until Moscow has agreed to pay compensation to Ukraine.

The new measures require any individual designated under the sanctions to disclose assets held in Britain, as well as a new route for frozen assets to be donated to the reconstruction of Ukraine without resulting in individual sanctions being lifted.

However, according to Nizzero, the focus should be on Russias Central Banks assets and state assets in general rather than on oligarchs, which represent such a tiny, tiny fraction of what's needed for Ukraine.

An aerial view of one of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov's prestigious villas on the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia hit by EU economic sanctions. Italian authorities have seized several villas and yachts owned by wealthy Russians targeted by EU sanctions in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

Enforcing the law

The U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the European Commission launched the Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs (REPO) Task Force in March 2022 to crack down on Russian assets abroad.

The REPO task force coordinates between law enforcement of each country and closely works with Europol and Eurojust to track down dirty Russian money.

But investigating and tracking Russian money is different than indicting someone, Bullough said.

Sanctions just freeze assets, and implementing them depends on local authorities' level of enthusiasm to apply them  which is a different story when an entire nation has been using dubious Russian funds as a piggy bank for decades.

Seizing Russian money implies having proper regulation and law enforcement ready to do so, Bullough said.

The big distinction between the U.S. and the rest is that the U.S. has the law enforcement muscle to move from freezing to seizing in a way that none of the other countries do, he said.

The U.S. amended laws to make it possible to seize Russian assets and hand them to Ukraine in December 2022, but it only applies to assets confiscated for violating American sanctions.

Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev attends a farewell ceremony for ultra-nationalist propagandist Daria Dugina in Moscow. The U.S. Attorney General said on Feb. 3 that he had authorized the U.S. to use seized Russian money to aid Ukraine with assets confiscated from Malofeev after his indictment on sanctions evasions in April. (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev was on the top of the list, which made him the first target of the U.S. policy on May 11, when Attorney General Merrick Garland authorized the transfer of forfeited Russian assets to Ukraine for the first time.

While this represents the United States first transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine, it will not be the last, Garland said, as quoted by Reuters.

In 2014, the U.S. and EU blacklisted Malofeev, founder of Russias propaganda outlet Tsargrad TV, for financing Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine.

In February, after meeting with Ukraines Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, Garland authorized using $5.4 million in confiscated assets.

Investigative Stories from Ukraine: Massive leak reveals how Putins oligarchs evaded Western sanctions imposed due to Ukraine invasion Welcome to Investigative Stories from Ukraine, the Kyiv Independents newsletter that walks you through the most prominent investigations of the past week. If you are fond of in-depth journalism that exposes war crimes, corruption and abuse of power across state organizations in Ukraine and beyond, The Kyiv IndependentAlexander Khrebet

In comparison, the EU is still lagging behind, while trying to sort out the legal hurdle of confiscating Russian assets.

In May 2022, the European Commission suggested that oligarchs should be punished for circumventing sanctions by having their frozen assets confiscated, but the bloc doesnt have those measures.

The procedural review of this proposal is ongoing.

So unless we start seeing major investment in law enforcement by the other, particularly the European countries, it's hard to see that anything substantive will change, Bullough said.

Usual suspects

Western allies must also track down Russian assets to evaluate their actual worth.

The estimate that there are 300 billion euros in blocked assets, announced in October 2022, was only based on the statements of Russia itself, a massive discrepancy worth 100 billion euros.

Yet, reports of frozen Russian money are taking pace, Wigand said, while admitting there is still much to do.

We see momentum, but there is still some homework for some member states, he said, without specifying which ones.

EU member states must report these figures to the task force, however low they might be.

And some EU countries have reported significantly low amounts compared to what their central banks received.

It's the usual suspects, Bullough said. It's Cyprus, for example.

A Russian supermarket in Limassol, Cyprus, on Apr. 21, 2023. Russian money runs deep into Cyprus, known for its lax law and opaque judicial system that attracts oligarchs and dirty money. (Photo by Kostas Pikoulas/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Cyprus has long been considered a tax haven for dirty money due to its opaque financial system and permissive local courts, attracting scores of shell companies to hide money laundering.

On May 4, the EU's Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said Cyprus reported sum seemed to be a little low after the island-nation reported freezing only 100 million euros ($110 million) worth of assets.

Reynders reportedly cited the Cyprus Central Bank saying the country had received 96 billion euros in Russian investments in 2020 alone.

The Cypriot Finance Minister soon announced on May 16 that some 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in Russian-owned assets managed by Cyprus-registered companies had been frozen in compliance with sanctions, Associated Press reported.

The 38 million pounds worth super-yacht 'Phi' seized in London Docklands, impounded by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) because of sanctions against Putin associates during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on March 30. The yacht is believed to be owned by a Russian businessman with links to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. The boat carries the Maltese flag with a registration stating Valletta, a well-known haven for Russian money. (Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images)

Malta also stands out as one of the most reluctant to disclose and freeze Russian assets among EU members.

Reynders expressed surprise on April 27 that Malta had only frozen some 220,000 euros in Russian-owned assets.

Greece also confirmed it had notified the bloc of freezing assets worth 212,000 euros, according to a document seen by Reuters in January.

"Either they don't have much, or they are not doing their job, an undisclosed EU official also told Reuters. Or they have done something but not communicated to us even though they had chances."

Such a lack of transparency is not surprising for Nizzero.

I wouldn't be surprised if they found the proceeds of criminal activities because historically speaking, (Malta and Cyprus) have facilitated and attracted a lot of investment from murky origins.

And thats without accounting for countries that dont apply Western sanctions, such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, Bullough said.

It has been relatively easy for Russians to divert their business interests elsewhere, according to Bullough.

The situation is particularly problematic because Turkey sells citizenship, so it's not difficult to get a new identity via Turkey and carry on as before, which makes it even more challenging to put a hand on Russian assets.

We just have to hope that governments retain their focus on this, you know, on this issue because don't get distracted by other things, Bullough said.

I think all of the easy achievements have been done, he said. And what's ahead is the real hard work, to be honest.

Kyivs frustration boils as flow of Western chips for Russian missiles continues uninterrupted Destroyed apartments, burnt-out cars, lives upturned or extinguished altogether: Russias June 13 missile attack on the city of Kryvyi Rih was, in many ways, nothing out of the ordinary for wartime Ukraine. The evening after the attack, which killed 13 civilians, President Volodymyr Zelensky came o The Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell

Editor's Note: In an email statement to the Kyiv Independent, a spokesperson for Oleg Deripaska denied he was an oligarch, claiming he never acquired any assets from the state, his involvement in politics, and his alleged proximity with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Deripaska built an aluminium, energy and industrial empire from previously state-owned assets privatized after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, with the help of another oligarch, Roman Abramovich.

In 2020, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the agency overseeing U.S. sanctions policy, wrote to Deripaskas lawyers that he was reportedly identified as one of the individuals holding assets and laundering funds on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016, an alleged collusion Deripaska also denied at the time.

Note from the author:

Hello, this is Alexander Query, the author of this explainer; thank you for reading this piece. The road to getting Russian reparations to rebuild Ukraine is long and arduous, but hope dies last.

As Ukraine keeps fighting for justice, we, at the Kyiv Independent, take pride in reporting every step of the way from the ground  but we do need support from our readers to keep us going.

Let us be your eyes and ears by donating or becoming our member.
The federal government is facing an uphill battle in its ongoing crackdown on the vaping industry. And some of its efforts, arguably, may be backfiring.

Since 2020, the number of different e-cigarettes being sold in the US has only continued to shoot up, The Associated Press reports, tripling to over 9,000 variants.

That huge volume is reportedly being driven by a surge in popularity of disposable vapes, the vast majority of which are unauthorized variants from manufacturers in China, often peddled by American companies that buy their stock.

That means we have no idea what exactly is in these illegal vapes  or if they're even safe to consume  but that hasn't stopped them from being sold at convenience stores and gas stations across the country.

Federal regulators are struggling to keep pace, and some of their woes may be self-inflicted. A glaring loophole excluded disposable vapes from the Food and Drug Administration's sweeping ban on sweet and fruity vape flavors popular with teens in 2020.

Ever since, underaged vapers have ditched brands like Juul and have turned to cheap disposables, which now make up 40 percent of the $7 billion e-cigarette market, according to data from the analytics firm IRI obtained by the AP.

As of now, over 5,800 unique disposable vape flavors are being sold, the data shows, a whopping 1,500 percent increase from just three years ago.

Clearly, disposables are a soaring market, and a slew of new and shady companies are churning out hundreds of different counterfeit flavors each month.

Ruthless entrepreneurs are also taking advantage of the fact that foreign manufacturers of prefilled disposables are not required to register with the FDA. As such, these upstarts turn to Chinese manufacturers, who charge as low as $2 per vape for bulk sales of 10,000 or more.

"If you have $5 billion you probably can't start a traditional cigarette company," Robert Jackler, a professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, told the AP. "But if you have $50,000 you can just send your artwork and logo to one of these companies and it will be on a pallet next week."

IRI data shows that one Texas-based brand called Pastel Cartel made more than $240 million from disposable vapes before the FDA banned its Chinese imports, though the brand has appealed this decision.

To add to the heap of health concerns surrounding vapes, how safe these imported disposables are is anyone's guess. Though the FDA has the authority to inspect foreign manufacturers, it rarely exercises this power, with only two Chinese vape manufacturers having been inspected by the FDA so far, according to the report.



As of now, the regulator has blocked imports of Elf Bar, Esco Bar, and Breeze, from China. However, IRI data indicates that this trio made up only 14 percent of disposables sold last year.

Still, American vape companies and manufacturers are far from blameless. Anti-vaping groups have pointed out that vapes sold by Vuse, owned by the Reynolds American tobacco company, were the second most popular with teens last year.

"They want groups like ours to call for a ban on all Chinese vapes so that they can take over the market," Dorian Fuhrman, co-founder of Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes, told the AP.

"Were not calling for that," she added. "Were calling on the FDA to do its job."

More on vaping: Feds Cracking Down on Vaping Companies for "Breaking the Law"
How a Gastonia woman, and others, have their lives improved by volunteers

Pastor Travis Allen, with Carolina Cross Connections, is handed a level as he shows a group of teens how to construct a ramp at a home on South Marietta Street in the rain Thursday morning, June 22, 2023.

Volunteers with Carolina Cross Connection got to work last week building a much-needed porch and ramp onto the back door of a Gastonia woman's home.

Most of our projects are access projects, said Bree Eldridge, a Carolina Cross Connection camp director.

Carolina Cross Connections is a non-profit organization that brings members from churches across North Carolina together to serve different communities.

Some members go to Honduras and others do work in local communities such as Gastonia.

This year, Eldridge oversaw a team of volunteers servicing the Gaston County area from Sunday, June 18, to Saturday, June 24. The team spent three days in the rain working to make it a little easier for Roberta Elliott to get in and out of her South Marietta Street home.

I had been on a waitlist to get some help getting this done for a long time, Elliott said. She and her late husband had not been able to afford the stairs amid other repairs they needed to make to their home, including a new roof and HVAC system.

Elliott didnt stop believing she would get the help she needed.

As long as youve got breath in your body, theres hope, Elliott said.

While Elliott didn't know exactly how she wound up being selected by Carolina Cross Connections, it is likely that she was referred by a community contact, according to Eldridge.

Ansley Robinson, Vickie Robinson and Bree Eldridge stay dry as they look over construction plans as a group from Carolina Cross Connections construct a ramp at a home on South Marietta Street in the rain Thursday morning, June 22, 2023.

There are three ways people can get on the list for these services, Eldridge said. Some people call into the referral line, others are referred by neighbors, and the rest are referred by community contacts like the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to Elliott, this service has been a blessing.

"In this economic time, it's good to have people to help those of us that are less fortunate," she said.

Elliott and Eldrige both agree that this program is impactful for the children participating as well.

This instills qualities in the kids to do good, Elliott said.

Twelve-year-old Lance Lucas shovels mud as he and others with Carolina Cross Connections construct a ramp at a home on South Marietta Street in the rain Thursday morning, June 22, 2023.

Children as young as 12 years old are eligible to participate in the camp. Eldridge herself, fell in love with service, after attending the camp as a teen. Fellow volunteer Margaret Freeman appreciates the new perspective she gains from chatting with those they serve.

The times Ive talked with Roberta, I feel like Ive learned more from her than shes ever going to learn from me, Freeman said.

Campers at Carolina Cross Connection generally complete anywhere from one to four projects per week. Projects can be kind of expensive, Eldridge said. Camp directors and coordinators are required to raise half of their own salary each summer to help offset costs, according to Eldridge.

This year, a grant from Gaston Countys Glenn Foundation also made a donation to help cover the costs of repairs.

Carolina Cross Connection plans to serve Gaston County twice more this summer. Volunteers will be on the job from June 28 to July 8, and again from July 16 to 22.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Carolina Cross Connection making Gastonia's homes more accessible
The gay couple at the center of a lawsuit against a conservative Christian baker who refused to sell them a wedding cake slammed the U.S. Supreme Court for putting a dent in LGBTQ rights on Friday.

In an opinion piece for USA Today, Charlie Craig and David Mullins reflected on the new decision five years after the couple narrowly lost their case before the Supreme Court, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.

The courts 2018 ruling against Craig and Mullins had left broader questions about discrimination and the First Amendment unresolved.

Its new ruling, in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, provided clarity at the expense of gay rights as the conservative court made it easier for businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.

The courts decision allows a business owners rights to trump the civil rights of less-favored minorities. The opinion promotes supremacy at the expense of equality, the couple wrote.

Like the Masterpiece case, the 303 Creative lawsuit also grew out of a religious business owners refusal to serve a gay couple.

But no one had actually been hurt in the 303 Creative case. The gay couple was imaginary. The owner of the website company, Lorie Smith, was merely worried about the possibility she would be asked to create a wedding website for such a client if she started offering to design wedding websites.

Craig and Mullins said that was by design. The right-wing group representing the Masterpiece baker, the Alliance Defending Freedom, was the same group involved in defending the web designer.

The couple said the ADF manufactured the 303 Creative case as something of a legal do-over without the emotional, human component that they brought to the case.

The ADF learned its lesson that when LGBTQ+ people have a chance to share their humanity with the courts and the country, it becomes harder for them to paint a distorted, inaccurate and frightening picture of a predatory community trampling the rights of religious individuals, Craig and Mullins wrote.

David Mullins, left, and Charlie Craig at their Denver home in 2017.

David Mullins, left, and Charlie Craig at their Denver home in 2017.

The courts Friday ruling brings back the fear and feelings of alienation we lived fighting our case, they said.

Both cases involved public accommodations, which refers to businesses that are open to the public. Both were also based in Colorado, which has a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of characteristics including race, gender identity and sexual orientation.

On Friday, the Supreme Court declared that Colorados anti-discrimination law interfered with Smiths First Amendment rights because her creative web design work could be considered speech and the state would compel her to make speech she disagrees with on religious grounds.

In a searing dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the decision opened up a sea of disturbing possibilities, giving the example of a conservative photographer who might refuse to photograph an interracial couple or a funeral home that would refuse to handle the body of a gay man.

It was never about a cake for us, Craig and Mullins wrote. It was always about standing up to homophobia. It was about equality.

Thats what the Supreme Court is supposed to protect. Thats what the words carved into the building itself promise: Equal Justice Under Law.

Related...
Gaze in Wonder at These Stunning Views of the Cosmos

The Milky Way over Pain de Sucre, France.

The cosmos is a hostile but beautiful place; from Earth, its phenomenafrom our Sun and the aurorae it generates to nebulae and distant galaxiesare worth capturing.

The winners of the Royal Observatory Greenwichs Astronomy Photography of the Year competition are set to be announced this September, and in anticipation of the announcement were sharing photos on the observatorys shortlist.

Read more

Dolbadarn Castle, Home of Welsh Princes

A photograph of Dolbadarn Castle in Wales.

Dolbadarn Castle in Wales was built in the 12th century and remains standing. Above it, the Milky Way looms just as it did centuries ago.

Pleiones Daughters

The Pleiades star cluster.

Only the brightest stars in the Pleiades cluster are visible to the naked eye. Thankfully this image was taken using long exposures through a telescope, so plenty of the 1,000-odd stars in the cluster are visible.

Comet 2022 E3 Above Snowy Mount Etna

Mt. Etna with the Green Comet.

Mount Etna is a volcano in Sicily. In this shot, the comet 2022 E3the so-called Green Comet that got so many excited when it made its close approach of Earthflies behind the snowy mountaintop.

On Top of the Dream

The Milky Way over Pain de Sucre, a mountain on the border of France and Italy.

This breathtaking image shows our galaxys cross-section over a mountain that straddles the French and Italian border.

Celestial Equator Above First World War Trench Memorial

A long-exposure image of star trails over Northern France.

Star trails over trenches from World War I make for a weird dichotomy in this long-exposure photograph. The photograph took over five hours to produce.

Sperrgebiet

The Milky Way over an abandoned processing planet in Namibia.

This photo shows part of a ghost town in Namibia. The Milky Way looms an illustrious blue-pink above.

C/2021 A1 (Leonard) in Sky of Israel

A comet over the Negev desert.

A comet named Leonard is seen here over the Negev desert. The comet faded from view in March 2022, when its orbit eventually brought it too close to the Sun. They shouldve named it Comet Icarus.

Mare Crisium: From Light to Dark

The lunar sea Mare Crisium.

This image is made up of two images of Mare Crisium, a lunar sea northeast of Mare Ttanquillitatis.

St. Agnes

The Milky Way over Sicily.



The Milky Way over the isle of St. Agnes.

Taken from St. Agnes, an island southwest of the United Kingdom, this image shows a star-studded portrait of the Milky Way.

The Majestic Tarantula Nebula

A section of the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070)

This stupendous shot of the Tarantula Nebula, which lies 161,000 light-years from Earth, showcases the range of colors present in the nebulas tendrils. The nebula was imaged by the Webb Space Telescope last year.

RCW 58: Wolf Rayet Bubble

A bubble nebula called RCW58.

This is a Wolf Rayet bubble nebula. Wolf Rayet stars are hot, massive stars that are quickly losing their mass. The star is visible here at the nebulas center.

Pandoras Box

The Milky Way looms behind a graffito.

The Milky Way is in the background of this image taken on the Greek island of Naxos. In the foreground is a street art painting of Pandora done by the Balinese artist Wild Drawing.

NGC 3521: Marquise in the Sky

NGC 3521, a spiral galaxy.

The spiral galaxy NGC 3521 looms serenely in this image, captured with two telescopes over a total exposure time of 19 hours. The image was taken from the El Sauce Observatory in Chile.

Solar Flare X1 from AR2994 in Motion

An arresting image of a solar flare.

This image was extracted from a 27-minute timelapse of a solar flare that occurred on April 30, 2022.

Nebulae of the Small Magellanic Cloud

The Small Magellanic Cloud.

This image includes the Small Magellanic Cloud at center, the globular cluster 47 Tucanae at top, and NGC 362, another globular cluster, at left.

NGC 1097 and Tidal Tails

A barred spiral galaxy called NGC 1097.

This is NGC 1097, a barred spiral galaxy that sits about 50 million light-years from Earth. The galaxys spiral arms are remarkably clear in this image, taken with two telescopes and multiple exposures totaling 12 hours.

Eastern Veil: NGC6992/6995"

The Veil Nebula.

This ethereal shot of the cotton-candy-colored Veil Nebula showcases the supernova remnants shape and structure. The nebula is made up of hot gases including oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur.

Cassinified Pluto

A monochrome image of Pluto.

This image of Pluto was produced using NASA data, and was inspired by Cassinis Carte de la Lune (map of the moon) made in the late 17th century.

Arctic Gates

The Northern lights over Arctic Henge.

A shot of the sundial Arctic Henge in Iceland shows the sweeping green aurora above it; the aurora is caused by high-energy particles from the Sun interacting with Earths magnetic field.

Emerald Roots

The Northern Lights over Vestrahorn, a mountain in Iceland.

This shot of the aurora practically turns night into day. At right, the Moon looms a Sun-like orange in the sky.

Curtain of Light

The aurora over Olstind mountain, Norway.

This photograph of the aurora shows the phenomenon over a large Norwegian mountain range.

Aurora Over the Great Pollet Sea Arch

The aurora as seen from Ireland.

The Northern Lights loom behind rocks on the coast of Ireland in February 2023. A coronal mass ejection from the Sun allowed aurorae to be seen farther south than normal.

Radio Polaris

Streaks of stars over a radio telescope antenna at Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory.

In this shot, star trails make delightful arcs in the sky over a decommissioned radio telescope antenna.

The Milky Way

The Milky Way.

The Milky Way as seen from Botswanas Okavango Delta. The region has little light pollution, allowing observers to see the structure with their naked eyes.

Jellyfish Nebula

The Jellyfish Nebula.

This 11-hour exposure taken through a telescope shows the Jellyfish Nebula, a supernovae remnant in Gemini. The stars in the image have been removed to highlight the nebulas other features: large billows of gas and dust.

Solargraph 209 days

A solargraph taken in Bloomingdale, Illinois.

A solargraph of a Burger King in Illinois. Solargraphs are pinhole images that capture the Suns path in the sky. Each streak in the sky is a day of the Suns transit.

Dune

The Milky Way over White Desert National Park in Egypt.

Our galaxys cross-sectionthe Milky Wayis visible in this arresting image taken from White Desert National Park in Egypt.

Dance of the Moons

Jupiter, with two of its moons in the foreground.

Jupiter is a gas giant and the largest planet in our solar system. Here, the world is accompanied by Europa (silvery) and Io (yellow, bottom-left), two of its moons.

Colourful Saturn

The ringed planet Saturn in a recent telescope image.

This shot of Saturn showcases the planets most iconic feature: vast ring structures that surround the gas giant. In this image one can make out the Cassini Division, or the gap between the two main ring structures.

China Space Station Transits Active Sun

The Sun with the transit of the CSS in foreground.

This shot of the Sun includes images showing the China Space Stations transit of our host star.

The Great Solar Flare

The Sun, with a large solar flare on its left side.

This image of the Sun showcases the stars volatility. On its left, a large solar flareabout 435,000 miles long (700,000 kilometers long)spews out from the star.

Grazing Mammoths

An image of the Sun showing a solar prominencean eruption of hydrogen gas.



An image of the Sun showing a solar prominencean eruption of hydrogen gas.

A close-up of the Sun reveals a solar prominence, or an eruption of hydrogen, from its surface. As the photo references, the prominence resembles woolly mammoths ranging the solar surface.

Crescent Moon in a Magical Sunset

A composite image of the moon.

This image is actually a composite of three taken on August 1, 2022, from Argentina. The image shows the moon at sunset.

Ball of Rock

A composite image of the Moon.

This shot of the Moon shows Earths satellite 78% illuminated. It shows off the Moons craters and surface features in sharp detail.

More from Gizmodo

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Click here to read the full article.
U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley on Friday said the United States military "needs to accelerate our modernization" in an effort to compete with China as warfare technology continues to evolve and criticized Russia over its conflict with neighboring Ukraine.

During his remarks at the National Press Club luncheon in Washington D.C., Milley accused Moscow of committing a "direct frontal assault" on the rules-based international order with its "illegal invasion" of Ukraine.

"Our political leaders have said multiple times that our task is to ensure that Ukraine has the support it needs to remain free and independent and we're doing that in order to make sure that rules-based international order holds," he said.

HOUSE GOP MOVES TO SLASH PENTAGON DEI BUREAUCRATS: 'MASSIVE VICTORY FOR THE ANTI-WOKE CAUCUS'

Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, on Friday said the United States military should "accelerate our modernization" to compete with China ambitious goals.

He also said that China was looking to "rewrite" those rules as it leverages its financial power to build up its military. The U.S. should counter Beijing's military ambitions by focusing on what type of conflicts it will face in the future.

"I think the United States military needs to accelerate our modernization," he said. "And it's not so much just the actual modernization, but it's the acceptance of the idea that future war, the fundamental character of war, is actually changing in really significant radical ways. If we, the military, don't adapt ourselves, our doctrine or tactics or techniques, our leader development, our training and talent management, but also the weapon systems. If we don't do that, then we won't have a military that's capable of operating in that future operating environment."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"They want to exceed global U.S. military power by mid-century," he noted of China's military goals.

Milley has made the modernization of the military a primary effort of the Army, going back to his days as the branch's chief of staff.

While discussing Ukraine, he noted that an offensive against Russian forces has made slow but significant advances. The Biden administration has provided billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, which has surprisingly taken the fight to Moscow, frustrating Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.

When asked about the potential supply of cluster munitions to Ukraine, Milley noted that the U.S. considers "all kinds of options."

"So that it's going slower than people had predicted doesn't surprise me at all," he said of Ukraine's ongoing military offensive. "I had said that this offensive, which is going, by the way, it is advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields, etc., you know, 500 meters a day, 1,000 meters a day, 2000 each day, that kind of thing. What I had said was this is going to take six, eight, 10 weeks. It's going to be very difficult. It's going to be very long and it's going to be very, very bloody. And no one should have any illusions about any of that."

"Ukraine is fighting for its life," he added. "It's an existential fight for Ukraine."

When asked about the short-lived rebellion by Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhinn against Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month. Milley said the move is part of internal politics and said ti was too early to tell if Putin was weakened.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the recent stabbing of a university professor and two students in a gender studies class after police revealed the motive was hate-related.

Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, 24, was arrested and charged with stabbing Professor Katy Fulfer, 38, a 20-year-old male student, and a 19-year-old female student at the University of Waterloo on Wednesday. Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell said at a press conference yesterday Villalba-Aleman, an international student, entered the class and engaged in conversation with the professor before attacking her with two large knives without provocation and then attacking two students who were fleeing. Police quickly captured Villalba-Aleman who was found hiding on campus.

Crowell also said Villalba-Aleman admitted to investigators his goal was to purposefully target the subject matter of gender identity and make a statement.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quick to issue a statement upon learning of Villalba-Alemans alleged motives.

I want to make this clear: This heinous violence, and the hate that fueled it, have no place in our country, Trudeau wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. We must  and we will  keep working to build a Canada where everyone is welcome to be who they are, to study what they want, and to be safe from violence.

 (@)

Police did not provide the identity of Professor Fulfer, but her name was revealed in a post to Twitter by Vivek Goel, the University of Waterloo president.

Yesterday, Professor Katy Fulfer and two students in her Gender Studies course were attacked because they were exploring society and gender, Vivek wrote. That this hate-filled attack due to gender expression and identity happened at the end of Pride Month is even more painful.

 (@)

Villalba-Aleman was officially charged with three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and a single count of mischief under $5,000.

All three victims were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Genentech withdraws use of Gavreto in US for a type of thyroid cancer, says partner Blueprint

(Reuters) - Genentech will withdraw Gavreto from use in the United States for treating a type of thyroid cancer as it was not feasible for the Roche unit to pursue the drug for full approval, its partner Blueprint Medicines said on Friday.

The move comes after the Swiss drugmaker took an over $700 million impairment related to the drug last year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had granted accelerated approval to Gavreto in 2020 for treating patients aged 12 years and above with advanced or metastatic RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer who require systemic therapy. A full approval would have required the drug to show clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.

Blueprint said Genentech decided not to pursue the late-stage study required to confirm the drug's benefits due to feasibility after consultation with the FDA.

Genentech previously said the use of the drug in the indication accounts for a fraction of its overall revenue from Gavreto in the United States, according to Blueprint.

Blueprint expects the Genentech decision to have no impact to its collaboration revenue forecast of $40 million to $50 million this year.

Gavreto was jointly developed and commercialized by Genentech and Blueprint Medicines in the U.S. through a deal in 2020. Roche, however, decided to terminate the deal with Blueprint earlier this year. The termination is effective February 2024.

Gavreto has also been granted accelerated approval in other indications like treating a type of lung cancer and another type of thyroid cancer.

The confirmatory studies required to convert accelerated approval for the drug in other indications to full approval are ongoing, according to the regulatory filing by Blueprint.

(Reporting by Raghav Mahobe in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Shailesh Kuber)
Space Weapons Now

Space Force major general David Miller is worried the US could fall behind China and Russia in the space race  and is calling for action instead of waffling about pesky questions like, say, the ethics of space weapons.

If it were up to Miller, as Breaking Defense reports, the US government would've begun building weapons capable of deterring the country's adversaries in our planet's orbit years ago.

"Weve got to... stop debating if its a warfighting domain, stop debating whether there are weapons, and get to the point of how do we responsibly, as part of the joint and combined force, deter conflict that nobody wants to see, but if we do see it, demonstrate our ability to win?" Miller said during an online event put on by the aerospace power-focused think tank Mitchell Institute, as quoted by Breaking Defense.

As a result, the US has to find new ways of "providing capability to find, fix and deny any adversary capability to find and target US forces or allied forces," he added.

It's a surprisingly forceful declaration, especially considering that the Space Force historically has struggled to justify its own existence, let alone be taken seriously.

Sending a Message

Yet its leaders are clearly eager to start building out an arsenal capable of confronting both Russia and China, countries that have made significant strides when it comes to warfare in space, from satellite-based surveillance to anti-satellite weapons.

In a new Mitchell Institute policy paper, Charles Galbreath, a senior fellow at Mitchell and a retired Space Force colonel, argued that diplomacy isn't enough to deter China and Russia, and that the US must find ways to counter China's expanding military space capabilities in particular.

Therefore, Galbreath wrote, the US must adjust its military policies to "direct the development" of counterspace capabilities and "send a clear message to potential adversaries that the United States is serious about defending its interests in space."

These weapons must also be able to defend the country without creating "long-lived debris in space"  which makes sense, considering we're still dealing with the fallout of Russia's anti-satellite test missile test in 2021, which resulted in over a thousand trackable pieces of space junk.

But whether the Space Force will be able to act on these recommendations remains to be seen. At this week's event, Miller argued that while the military branch has made "significant progress," it still hasn't "fielded a globally capable, precision-quality, custody focused space domain awareness enterprise," he said.

And that doesn't exactly bode well, considering that in many ways, that's a big part of its core responsibilities.

More on Space Force: Top Space Force General Confused About Why Space Force Exists
Luke MacGregor/Reuters

Open Society Foundations, one of the worlds most prominent philanthropic networks, is gutting its staff, the organization said on Friday. Founded by billionaire George Soros, the group currently employs about 800 people globally; at least 40 percent of those workers will soon be out of jobs.

Earlier this month, Soros generated headlines after announcing that he was ceding control of Open Society to his 37-year-old son Alexander. The younger Soros quickly declared that he planned to chart a new coursewhile maintaining his fathers core liberal valuestelling The Wall Street Journal that he was more political than his dad.

Open Society issued a vague press release on Friday describing significant changes to the Foundations operating model it planned to implement in the coming months in an effort to become more nimble. A spokesperson for the group told The Daily Beast in an email that those changes would entail significant layoffs.

The Board has directed Open Societys senior leadership to proceed with the work necessary to implement this new approach in accordance with local requirements and obligations to our employees and representatives, the spokesperson added.

Samuel Brunson, who researches nonprofits at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, said the downsizing is not altogether surprising given that Alexander Soros may have different priorities and goals than his father. Its still too early to determine what, if anything, the cuts mean for the charitable sector at large, Brunson continued.

News of the layoffs was earlier reported by Bloomberg.

Open Society Origin Story

George Soros, 92, launched a predecessor to Open Society in his native Hungary in 1984, with the initial goal of encouraging dissent behind the Iron Curtain. Over time, the foundation morphed into a much larger apparatus seeking to promote democratization, education, public health, and the arts. The group has disbursed more than $19 billion in grants over its lifetime, it says.

Soros spent a portion of his teenage years living under Nazi occupation; he and his family were Jewish and survived by obtaining false identity papers, according to an account of his childhood published by Open Society. He emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1947, where he took jobs as nightclub server and railway porter, before landing in the United States in 1956.

Soros made his fortune as a hedge fund manager; in 1992 he famously and controversially made an enormous profit (said to be in the realm of $1 billion) by betting against the British pound, which allegedly helped spark the financial crisis known as Black Wednesday. He was later dubbed the man who broke the Bank of England.

As his influence has grown, Soros has frequently been the target of conspiracy theories and antisemitic attacks. The fact that I have become involved in so many different issues, and have taken controversial positions, is now actually working against me, he said in a 2020 documentary.

According to Brunson, Open Societys influence is pretty significant, but [also] probably less significant than its given credit (or blame) for. Soros has done a lot to preserve democracy, but hes been blamed for every ill that the Right wants a bogeyman for.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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By Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) - Four Georgia families sued the state in federal court on Friday to stop a law that bans transgender youth from receiving hormone therapy, joining a wave of challenges to similar laws across the United States.

The plaintiffs, allowed to proceed anonymously to guard against reprisals, are seeking an injunction to stop Georgia's Senate Bill 140, which prohibits doctors from treating minors with hormone therapy to support their gender transitions.

A host of Georgia state health officials and agencies are named as defendants.

Unlike other states, Georgia does not also ban puberty blockers, typically the first medical intervention for transgender youth, who normally would next receive hormone therapy.

"Allowing transgender adolescents the use of puberty blockers while banning them from receiving hormonal care is constructing a bridge to nowhere," said the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group that helped the families with the lawsuit along with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Republican-led legislatures in 20 states have passed some type of ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Lawsuits have effectively blocked seven of those laws. Decisions on whether to block such bans in Montana and now Georgia are pending.

When the Georgia Senate passed that state's bill in March, the sponsor, state Senator Carden Summers, told the chamber that "we are truly protecting the lives of children by not offering the life-altering drugs and of course the surgeries that are completely irreversible," according to the Georgia Recorder.

Major medical organizations and parents have disputed that argument, calling gender-affirming care medically necessary and sometimes life-saving.

Federal judges have found the bans violate the U.S. Constitution's right to equal protection by discriminating against trans people, as well as parents' right to make medical decisions for their children.

On Wednesday, two more states had their laws enjoined, Kentucky and Tennessee. Federal courts in Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and Indiana previously blocked similar bans on transgender healthcare for minors, and in Oklahoma the plaintiffs reached an agreement with the attorney general to halt enforcement of the state's law.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
The 14th national dance exhibition will be held from July 6 in the city of Ordos in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Performers from 30 provincial-level regions will take part in the event, with more than 80 outstanding works to be presented, ministry official Huang Xiaoju said at a press conference on Thursday.

The high-quality program will cover a wide range of subjects, including traditional Chinese culture, the country's revolutionary history and the process of China's industrial growth, and will demonstrate the vigorous development of the art of dance in China, Huang said.

The productions will have low ticket prices for members of the public, and will also be livestreamed online to make the arts more accessible for a wider audience.
Several families in Georgia sued the state on Thursday over its ban on certain gender-affirming treatments for transgender youth, launching a last-minute effort to block the prohibitions just hours before its set to take effect.

The law signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in March bars licensed medical professionals in Georgia from providing patients under the age of 18 with hormone therapy or surgery related to gender transition. Violations of the legislation could lead to the revocation of a health practitioners license. The ban takes effect on July 1.

Gender-affirming care spans a range of evidence-based treatments and approaches that benefit transgender and nonbinary people. The types of care vary by the age and goals of the recipient, and are considered the standard of care by many mainstream medical associations.

Enacting restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans youth has emerged as a key issue for conservatives, with at least 20 states having limited components of the care in recent years. Advocates who have brought legal challenges against some of the restrictions have had some limited success, including last week, when a federal judge in Arkansas dealt the strongest blow yet to one of the measures when he struck down that states ban.

The Georgia lawsuit was brought in federal court by four transgender youth in the state and their families, as well as an advocacy group whose work includes connecting families of transgender children to local practitioners who provide gender-affirming medical care, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs are being represented by lawyers from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.

The law allows minors who started hormone replacement therapy before July 1 to continue the treatment. None of the minors behind the lawsuit have started the therapy, according to the lawsuit, though all of them are planning to begin the treatment at some point in the future. Two of the minors are currently taking puberty-blocking medication, the suit states.

The Health Care Ban does nothing to protect the health or well-being of minors. To the contrary, the Ban undermines the health and well-being of transgender minors by denying them essential medical care, lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in their 47-page complaint.

The lawsuit argues that Georgias law violates the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution. The plaintiffs are asking a federal judge to order state officials not to enforce the prohibitions as their lawsuit unfolds, as well as declare it unconstitutional.

If the Ban is not enjoined, Plaintiffs will suffer immediate and irreparable harm. Parent Plaintiffs and TransParent Plaintiffs members will be deprived of their fundamental right to obtain safe and needed medical care for their children. And Minor Plaintiffs will be denied the care they need for a serious medical condition, resulting in a cascade of medical, emotional, and psychological harms, the lawyers wrote in their motion for emergency relief from the court.

Our health care providers and families care about nothing more than doing whats best for their patients and children, said Cynthia Cheng-Wun Weaver, HRCs senior director of litigation, in a statement. We are suing to challenge the unconstitutional attacks on transgender youth and their families.

One of the parent plaintiffs in the case told CNN that theyre fighting the law in part so that their family can remain in the state and, when the time comes, get their transgender daughter the hormone therapy she wants.

Its just so frustrating because I do not want to leave Georgia. But I know that no matter what well do what we have to do to get her the care that she needs, the mother, who is identified in the suit under pseudonym Emma Koe, told CNN.

Parents of transgender children, like we know the long-lasting effects of the lack of support, a lack of love, the lack of gender-affirming care, you know, and especially for Amy we want to just make sure that shes happy and that shes thriving and that she gets to be who she wants to be, Koe said, adding that shes encouraged by recent legal victories against similar laws in other states.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Kentucky temporarily blocked part of that states ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth from taking effect. Hours later, a federal judge in Tennessee temporarily halted enforcement of part of that states ban on gender-affirming care for minors in the state.

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Geraldo Rivera used his final appearance on Fox News to praise affirmative action, which was struck down by the Supreme Court as it relates to college admissions this week.

Noting the courts decision was a very controversial decision that will impact many people of color, Rivera said, I was a product of affirmative action over a half a century ago.

When the Ford Foundation and Columbia Journalism School got together to integrate the local news teams in New York, there were no black reporters, no Hispanic reporters, no women. And it was shocking. And that was as late as 1968, 69, Rivera, 79, said Friday during an appearance on Fox and Friends, the networks flagship morning talk program.

So I was selected, I was making news representing a group of Puerto Rican activists, the Young Lords, who had taken over some buildings up in the Spanish Harlem, and I was their lawyer and their negotiator, he continued. And I made a lot of news as their spokesperson. And so I got discovered that way, and they drafted me through the Columbia program, and the rest is history.

More on SCOTUSs affirmative action ruling from The Hill

Rivera announced this week he was leaving Fox after years at the network following his being taken off the networks top-rated program The Five.

The hosts of Fox and Friends threw an on-air going away part of sorts for Rivera, complete with balloons and fake mustaches as a nod to the longtime television news personalitys trademark facial hair.

Rivera has not commented on what his plans are moving forward, or if he will seek a future in the broadcasting business, but in a Twitter message earlier this week he posted a picture of himself shirtless in a pool with the caption, 80 year old contemplating retirement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Geraldo Rivera Roy Rochlin / Getty Images

After over two decades, Fox News veteran Geraldo Rivera is severing ties with the network after supposedly being booted from his post as "one of the lonely liberal voices" on the popular political roundtable show "The Five," The Associated Press reported. "I've been fired from 'The Five,' and as a result, I quit Fox," the TV personality said in a Twitter video post.

Rivera had previously claimed to be "canceled" from the program after a series of charged clashes with his conservative co-host Greg Gutfeld. The feud between the two started after Rivera called out Tucker Carlson shortly after he was fired. "Being odd man out isn't always easy," Rivera tweeted last week. In his recent video, Rivera cited a "growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences and personal annoyances and gripes," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It's not worth it to me." He said that his relationship with his co-workers on the "The Five" was a "reflection of what the country is going through," adding that it was "not an easy job if you take it as personally as I do."

Fox News has not confirmed if Rivera was let go. The network said it "reached an amicable conclusion with Geraldo over the past few weeks." It celebrated his long career on his final appearance on "Fox & Friends" on Friday morning. Rivera said he was "touched" by the tribute but reiterated that he quit because he was fired. Being a Fox News war correspondent "established a relationship with Fox that people would not ordinarily think of as a natural relationship because of political ideologies and so forth  me being more on the progressive side than many of my colleagues." Was Rivera too liberal for Fox, or was the tension on "The Five" too much?

An 'unlikely voice of reason'

Rivera was a "constant showman at Fox News for nearly a generation," David Folkenflik wrote for NPR. "Now, the curtain is falling." In his role on "The Five," he "played the liberal treading water in a sea of conservatives," an assignment that "represented Fox's philosophy of balance." Even though he was supposed to represent a liberal perspective, the "putative lefty" has long been a registered Republican and a self-described friend of former President Donald Trump. Rivera only "broke with Trump" after he refused to accept the 2020 presidential election results. "Nonetheless," Folkenfilk conceded, "he often has been of late an unlikely voice of reason, reminding his conservative colleagues of factual objections to baseless or extreme claims they've made.

Actions contradicted the liberal label

"Since when is Geraldo Rivera a 'liberal' commentator?" Dustin Rowles pondered in a blog for Pajiba. While he can "recall a handful of times he made the news for disagreeing with Donald Trump," he also praised the former president for sending Ghislaine Maxwell well wishes. "But I guess calling out Tucker Carlson's theories about the January 6th insurrection that one time qualifies Geraldo as a 'liberal' commentator on Fox News," Rowles added, "even if he did agree with Trump's decision to build a wall."

Not the first time on-set tensions led to someone quitting

"The Five" was known for being a "sort of 'dinner table' discussion show that airs a range of opinions." Still, as of late, "Rivera's appearances have seemed more combative," Brian Steinburg wrote in Variety. "While Fox News executives have routinely allowed firebrand antics on air," he added, "they have tried to tamp down conflict on "The Five." Another liberal panelist, Juan Williams, similarly left the show in 2021 after a series of "segments that seemed overly argumentative." Still, while Rivera's time at Fox might be over, he still "enjoyed a long career in broadcasting, generating controversy even as he teased TV crowds."

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(Bloomberg) -- Less than a year after German coal giant LEAG unveiled plans to transform its open-cast mines into wind and solar farms, concerns are mounting that it and other lignite miners are exploiting an unfair advantage in the countrys race to go green.

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As Europes largest economy aims to get 80% of its power from renewables by 2030, the government sees the former mining areas as ripe for development and unencumbered by the local protests and glacial approval process that stifles most new green projects. For LEAG and other lignite miners such as RWE AG, its a relatively quick way to secure their business well into a coal-free future.

When LEAG chief executive officer Thorsten Kramer announced his 10 billion ($11 billion) investment plan to become the nations green powerhouse in October, he described the companys post-mining land assets as gold dust. Since then, the company has started construction on Germanys largest floating solar plant in a lignite mine thats being flooded, and last week got the go-ahead to build 17 wind turbines in a former pit, according to LEAG owner EPH, the Czech energy group.

The pace of LEAGs approvals and the scale of investment is ringing alarm bells with smaller green developers as well as local governments in eastern Germany, where the countrys opencast lignite mines are located. The potential conflict was heightened Thursday, when German economy minister Robert Habeck assured LEAG of his full political support in a visit to the companys Jaenschwalde power plant.

The designation of LEAG areas is problematic, said Martin Maslaton, a regional representative for onshore wind industry group BWE. Such considerations are relevant under antitrust law.

Its a sentiment echoed in the states of Saxony and Brandenburg in eastern Germany, where LEAG has its largest operations. We need a diversity of players in the energy transition, according to Gerd Lippold, Saxonys deputy energy minister.

Chaotic Reunification

An even thornier issue is whether the miners have the right to make such a wholesale transformation. In former communist East Germany, land was forcibly expropriated, and post-Cold War restitution was often chaotic. Now, with coal being phased out, some are questioning what obligations the miners have to their lignite legacy.

The land of many people was expropriated for coal, even against their will, for the benefit of the opencast mine operators, said Joerg Heilmann, wind project leader at JUWI GmbH, a renewable energy plant developer. These areas belong back in public hands after the end of their operations and subsequent rehabilitation by the operator.

LEAG says its green plans will help attract more industry and jobs to the traditionally economically weaker east. Every contribution is needed if Germany is to achieve its climate targets, said Kathi Gerstner, a spokeswoman for LEAG.

Thats an important point for central government, which has already mandated the countrys 16 states to designate 2% of their land for wind energy by 2032. Saxony could have immediately met this target by giving it all to LEAG, but due to concerns over the miners dominance, the state pushed for an amendment that such areas can only be counted as half toward the goal.

Germany also proposed putting fast-track approval for lignite wind parks in federal law, something the mining states rejected. But even having such rights at a regional level, the states still face a dilemma: avoid a green monopoly, but risk delaying renewable targets.

In western Germany, where RWE is planning to phase out its lignite business in 2030 and invest 4 billion in renewables, opposition is more muted. Thats mainly because the areas are smaller, and also because the utility has set up wind farms with direct municipal participation.

These cooperations increase local acceptance, RWE spokesman Guido Steffen said.

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A Puyallup man waited 60 years to finally get official recognition as an Eagle Scout.

At age 75, Sam Jones is actually among a select group of older men who had their Eagles pinned on them later in life. Jones says the moment that happened within the last few weeks is a moment hes waited for his entire life.

He sat down with KIRO 7s Ranji Sinha to give more detail and background on what led up to this and why his story with scouting evolved over decades.

Do I stand or do I sit here? I decided to stand, were some of the first words that Sam Jones said in his sit-down with KIRO 7. He was describing the moment at a recent Boy Scouts fundraiser in Puyallup when he revealed himself to be an Eagle Scout. Its something that Jones has weighed in his mind almost his entire life and his decision to identify himself as an Eagle came with some unique circumstances.

The moment was 60 years in the making, and the story goes all the way back to when Jones was member of Boy Scout Troop 147 in Rochester, NY, circa 1958 to 1962. At that time, Jones had earned his way all the way toward an Eagle but he never had a Court of Honor to obtain that Eagle pin.

They said that my family did not represent the model family, said Jones.

Jones said a sponsor of his Rochester troop did not want his single working mother from the housing projects of Rochester as the picture presented to the community of an Eagle Scout family.

I, at that moment, couldnt deny what they are saying. I could not deny what my mother was going through to get me in scouting, said Jone.

Jones said he loved being in the Boy Scouts at that age and that it taught him life lessons. His own mother approved him being part of the Scouts but when Sam did not obtain his Eagle pin, the pain was too much to bear and he did not tell his mother.

So I bottled it, I took it in, Im not going to have my mother feeling bad about this, he said.

Sam Jones did come from a single-parent home where his mother worked two full-time jobs. His mother was determined to buy them a home and get out of housing projects where they lived in the city. Jones also says he never knew his father and met him only once.

While his mother worked, Sam also admitted that he had responsibility for taking care of his younger brother, David. Sam Jones made sure he watched his brother and also made sure he was fed and doing all of his schoolwork.

We never went on vacation as my mother was determined to pull us out of the projects. The Boy Scouts gave me the opportunity to achieve my dreams and complimented my mothers mandate that We (Jones immediate family) were going to make it through discipline, grit, and hand work.

Jones admits he lost out on the honor that usually goes to boys whove achieved Eagle Status, but never truly lost one key feeling.

My love of scouting did not die!

Jones attended the University of Michigan, served in Vietnam, and continued to serve his country living a life that he described as true to the ideals of the Scouts.

To keep myself physically strong, as you see, mentally awake continually, and morally straight with a plum mind for life, said Jones.

Settling in Puyallup, Jones was asked for years by a parishioner at his church to work with Scouts. Many times, Jones refused to help but that did not stop his fellow church member from asking.

The last straw came, according to Jones, when he was asked to attend a local fundraiser for the Boy Scouts, to get him off my back literally I told him Ill go said Jones.

At the fundraiser, Jones says a story about NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong changed him. A chaplain attending the fundraiser described a story of visiting the home of the first person to set foot on the moon and said one of Armstrongs most prominent home decorations was his Eagle Scout Pin. While sharing the story, the chaplain asked for Eagle Scouts at the fundraiser to stand, and Jones stood.

Im proud to be an Eagle because it says you are learning well, you are doing well, you have done well and Im OK with that.

Jones knew he had made Eagle decades ago in Rochester, and also knew there could be records of it happening, but he admitted that he also knew something else: I cant prove it!

Jones says his fellow church member took it upon himself  without any prompting or request  to find Jones records in Scouting. When that parishioner did end up getting the info, he simply handed it to a dumbfounded Jones: He comes up and says, Here is your proof.

That simple record finally lead to Jones getting his Court of Honor with the Pacific Harbours Council of the Boy Scouts. Many of Sams fellow troop members did not live to see it happen. Cindy Jones, who also spoke to KIRO 7 alongside her husband Sam, said it is an honor he shared with his fellow troop members.

I just really admire and wish they could be a part of this. It would be really cool  this has just been a marvel  surreal, she said.

Cindy Jones says obtaining the Eagle is not justice but something else: You know, its completion.

Sam Jones says his entire course in life was set by Boy Scouts. In a case he keeps in his entry hall at his Puyallup home, he keeps his ceremonial swords from his naval service. He also has an Eagle pin from his era in scouting pinned in between them. Jones found the pin at some point and kept it as a reminder to him that he did obtain the Eagle pin even if he did get the Court of Honor ceremony. Now he says he will keep his true Eagle pin, the one bestowed to him at age 75, in that very case. It will be as prominent in his home as it probably is in the home of Neil Armstrong.

Sam Jones says the whole odyssey of obtaining his Eagle Scout honorific has taught him valuable lessons, even at his age.

No matter what the challenge, I say out of the wreck I rise on my honor, Ill do my best, do my duty to God and my country, and obey the Scout laws.

This will not make up all the lost years this Eagle Scout felt, said Mark Crawford, President of the Pacific Harbors Council (PHC). It was inexcusable and insensitive to do this to a young person who learned so much from scouting and used it as motivation to achieve an honorable and useful life serving his country and his community By any measure, Sam is a role model for todays Scouts in the PHC.
Chicago-area gig workers who make deliveries for Walmart say the companys delivery app is being targeted by scammers who use bots to hoard orders on the platform, making it difficult for them to make a living.

The drivers are independent contractors who make deliveries for Walmart using the companys delivery platform, called Spark. Drivers who make deliveries out of the companys suburban Bedford Park, Cicero and Forest Park, Illinois, locations allege scammers have used bots to hoard orders.

Walmart says the use of bots on Spark violates its terms of use and that it investigates reports of bot usage and deactivates drivers who misuse the platform.

Some Spark drivers have been harassed and threatened by the alleged scammers while waiting in the parking lots for orders, advocates and drivers said. Drivers who say theyve been harmed by the use of bots rallied Thursday morning outside the Cicero Supercenter to call attention to the issue.

Guadalupe Castillo, who has been driving for Spark for about two years, said she has to work much longer hours than she used to and still cant make as much money  she no longer makes enough to pay her bills, she said. She attributes the drop-off in business to the drivers who are allegedly using bots, which she first started noticing in January.

Castillo, who lives in Chicagos Back of the Yards neighborhood, said she used to be able to make about $1,000 a week driving for Spark six days a week, working from the morning to early afternoon.

Now, I have to work 12 hours every single day, no days off, Castillo said; sometimes, she cant make half as much as she used to in a week, she said.

Now, I dont spend that much time with my kids, said Castillo, who has a 16-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. I always seem tired. I always seem exhausted.

Some Spark drivers have been threatened, intimidated and harassed by the alleged scammers while working, said Lenny Sanchez, executive director of the Illinois chapter of the Independent Drivers Guild, a workers group that organizes with gig workers.

Many of these workers are undocumented, Sanchez said. And they do fear that if they were to go to police and report these incidents that they would face some sort of repercussions and problems themselves.

Nancy Marcos, another Spark driver, said she used to make between $100 and $150 or so a day driving on the app, but now usually nets between $50 and $80 a day.

I need to work, I need the money, said Marcos, 41, who has been driving for Spark for a year. I just need fairness in the app.

Marcos, who makes deliveries with her two young children in the car, said she and her fellow drivers are primarily concerned about safety because of threats from the alleged bot-using drivers. She said she had a run-in with a driver she suspected was using bots last week.

He stopped in front of me and pulled his window down and started screaming all kinds of crazy stuff to me while I was working with my two babies, Marcos said. Marcos said she couldnt hear what he was yelling because she kept her windows rolled up.

Eric Guzman, 41, who has been driving for Spark for a year and a half, said he was approached by a bot user in the Cicero Walmart parking lot who asked if he wanted to buy access to the bot. It would have cost $150, he said, with additional payments each week to keep using it.

He said no because he was scared his account would get deactivated.

Guzman, who lives in Cicero, said he used to be able to make about $1,500 a week driving but now makes only about $200.

Castillo said she has been reporting problems accessing orders to Spark support over a period of several months. Castillo provided the Tribune with a series of responses she had received from Walmart driver support since February.

We apologize and know (its) frustrating and unfair for other Driver not using Bots. We are investigating these issues, read one message from Walmart support in late May.

The use of bots or apps does violate the terms of service and I can certainly report it. We have heard of this before. Unfortunately, we cannot tell the drivers what apps or websites you can or cannot have on your phones as you are not employees, a message from early June read.

Castillo and Marcos said they and other workers had raised concerns about the alleged bot users to local store management in Bedford Park and Cicero but had not seen the company take any lasting action.

The use of bots is an industry-wide issue and something we take seriously. Using bots on the Spark Driver platform is against the terms of use, and we investigate reports of specific driver bot use and deactivate drivers who are misusing the platform in this way, Walmart said in a statement. We take a proactive and comprehensive approach to identifying and preventing the use of bots on the platform.

Walmart said it had been in touch with area stores including Cicero, Bedford Park and Forest Park stores about the bot issue and had investigated specific reports of bot usage.

We have and will continue to take appropriate action when drivers violate our terms of use, including deactivating certain drivers, the company said. We encourage drivers on the Spark Driver platform to report any suspicious activity, including the use of bots.

The use of bots on gig work platforms has been a known issue within the industry over the last few years, said Marshini Chetty, a computer science professor at the University of Chicago who studies privacy and security.

It is contract work. There arent regular hours, there arent benefits, Chetty said. People feel pressured to try to get what they need to try to make the money that they need.

A January report by researchers with the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign noted that new technology has allowed for growth in platform-based work, with much of that work involving driving.

In a survey of about 500 Chicago-area drivers, researchers found drivers average $30,700 a year in net income from app-based driving after accounting for expenses, with the average driver earning $54,800 in total wage and salary income.

Sanchez said that late last year, drivers who worked for Amazon Flex in the Chicago area reported other independent contractors were using bots to hoard the most lucrative orders on the platform.

After raising the issue with Amazon, Sanchez said, drivers saw their situation improve. Amazon said that earlier this year, it started using CAPTCHAs in the Amazon Flex app to prevent the use of automated services to sign up for deliveries. It has used a photo verification process in the app since 2019.

We have established safeguards and monitoring to ensure blocks are scheduled by humans and not automated services, Amazon said. Additionally, Amazon Flexs Terms of Service make clear that the use of third-party applications or technology to schedule blocks is prohibited.

Grubhub, which responded to questions from the Tribune about how it identifies potential fraud related to bots, said it looks for drivers who may be fraudulently accepting an exorbitant amount of orders during a specific time period.

Instacart said it used a variety of authentication measures, such as periodically prompting shoppers to take photos of themselves to verify their identities, periodically logging shoppers out of accounts and requiring them to log back in and requiring the completion of RECAPTCHA to log into accounts.

Our efforts also include removing and banning bad actors from the platform, taking legal action where necessary, and deactivating shoppers found to be misusing the platform, the company said in a statement. As a result of these measures, weve seen a dramatic reduction in the use of unauthorized third-party apps on the platform.

V.S. Subrahmanian, a professor of computer science at Northwestern University who studies bots, said companies like Walmart could try to address the issue by identifying users that are consistently able to secure disproportionate numbers of orders, he said. They could also try to identify bots by looking at response time.

If some person is consistently hitting the sort of analogue of that Jeopardy buzzer faster than everybody else, in a sub-second, or very, very short time intervals, that suggests that theres something going on here, Subrahmanian said.

Chetty compared companies efforts to curb the use of bots to a game of cat-and-mouse.

You can take down people who are developing these apps or bots, but theres always going to be more, she said.
Google to remove Canadian news links from searches in the country

Google announced it will stop showing links to Canadian news on its products in Canada after the passage of the Online News Act, which requires online platforms to pay content fees to Canadian news outlets.

When the law takes effect we will be removing links to Canadian news from our Search, News, and Discover products and will no longer be able to operate Google News Showcase in Canada, Kent Walker, the president of global affairs at Google and Alphabet, said in a statement Thursday.

Last week, Meta also said it would remove Canadian news from Instagram and Facebook. Google and Meta have pushed back against the Online News Act, soon to be law, which was designed to help struggling news outlets get better compensation from Big Tech.

Google criticized the law, calling it unworkable and the wrong approach to supporting journalism in Canada. Google will also end its Google News Showcase program in Canada, which pays news publishers to curate news stories on Google platforms.

Were disappointed it has come to this. We dont take this decision or its impacts lightly and believe its important to be transparent with Canadian publishers and our users as early as possible, it said.

Google said it helps news publishers make money through ads and new subscriptions that result from exposure on Google platforms.

Lawmakers introduced the act, known as Bill C-18, in response to the rapid decline of local newsrooms in Canada in recent years, when Big Tech profited off online advertising revenues, according to the Ministry of Canadian Heritage.

We want to make sure that the news media and journalists are fairly compensated for their work, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, the bills sponsor, said in a statement last year.

Bill C-18, which was introduced in April 2022, passed Royal Assent, the last step before it becomes a federal law, on June 22. The act will undergo a regulatory process before it is applied, which Google said it plans to participate in.

Canadas bill was modeled on a law in Australia, introduced in 2021, that pushed Google and Meta to pay content fees to Australian news publications. Initially, Facebook removed sharing and viewing of local and international news in Australia, but it restored news access a few days later after negotiations with the Australian government.

In the last three years, several countries have enforced similar regulations requiring tech companies to pay local news organizations for their online content.

In 2021, Google agreed to pay French publications to reuse their content. In 2020, through Google News Showcase, it agreed to pay publications in Germany, Brazil, the U.K. and other countries in a deal worth $1 billion.

Google pulled its news service from Spain in 2014 rather than pay publishers, but it reinstated Spanish news last year after the countrys copyright laws gave news outlets more agency over monetization.

In the U.S., slower progress has been made on efforts to charge Big Tech for news content.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., this month introduced the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, which had stalled in previous years, through the Judiciary Committee. It would support news publishers in negotiating with tech platforms for content fees.

Meta previously spoke against the act, threatening to remove news from its platforms if Congress passed the bill.

A similar bill was introduced in California in March; it would require social media companies to pay a journalism usage fee that includes a percentage of their ad revenue to news publishers.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Barack ObamaKristina Bumphrey/WWD via Getty Images

A Donald Trump supporter and accused Jan. 6 rioter was arrested near the home of former President Barack Obama Thursday, local law enforcement told NBC News.

Taylor Taranto, 37, was first identified by online sleuthing group Sedition Hunters in August 2021 for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. He is being sued by the widow of a Washington D.C. police officer who died by suicide and recently appeared at the sentencing of his co-defendant in the lawsuit, David Walls-Kaufman. The lawsuit alleges both men were involved in the assault of Officer Jeffrey Smith during the insurrection, and both men have denied the accusation.

Walls-Kaufman was arrested last year in connection to the Capitol attack and has already received a sentence. Taranto, however, had not been charged.

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According to his social media accounts, Taranto has been living in a van near the Washington jailhouse in recent weeks. In posts, he has repeatedly pondered why he hasn't yet been arrested in connection to Jan. 6 and has also uploaded a YouTube video of himself inside the Capitol during the attack.

In a statement, Washington police said that Taranto was arrested under an outstanding warrant and been charged as a fugitive from justice but did not specify what the warrant was for. The department said that the explosives disposal team swept the van near where Taranto was arrested, clarifying that the community faces no active threat.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Earlier Thursday, a Truth Social account that uses the same screen name as Taranto's social media accounts re-posted a post from Trump that contains what is alleged to be the address of the Obamas' Washington home and mentions the residence is near a mosque. "Got them surrounded!" the account wrote.

In reviewing Taranto's telegram account, NBC News found that its last post included a link to a website lauding conspiracies about the Obamas' home.

It is not yet clear when Taranto could make an appearance in court, and a spokesperson for Obama did not respond to NBC News' request for comment.

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about the January 6 probe
Gov. DeSantis signed a bill that could pave the way for the use of radioactive fertilizer waste in road construction across the state.

The bill permits the use of toxic phosphogypsum in demonstration road projects in Florida. Critics said this is the first step in a phosphate industry push to eventually use of the waste in roads nationwide.

The Environmental Protection Agency prohibits using toxic phosphate waste in roadway construction because it poses an unacceptable risk to road construction workers, public health and the environment.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

Conservation groups across the Southeast United States urged the governor to veto the bill when Florida lawmakers passed it in May.

On Thursday, DeSantis signed HB 1191: Use of Phosphogypsum into law.

The bill authorizes the Department of Transportation to undertake demonstration projects using phosphogypsum in road construction aggregate material to determine its feasibility as a paving material.

The bill would require the Florida Department of Transportation to complete a study on the feasibility of using phosphogypsum as a material for road construction, with a short timeline and completion date of April 1, 2024.

Read: New immigration rules take effect July 1; what that means for Florida families and businesses

This dangerous plan to pave Floridas roads with toxic phosphate mining waste is an egregious handout to an industry that has a lengthy history of damaging the environment and putting public health at risk, said Ragan Whitlock, a Florida-based attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The EPA currently requires that phosphogypsum be stored in piles called gypstacks that are hundreds of acres wide and hundreds of feet tall.

More than 1 billion tons of radioactive waste are already stored in 25 stacks in Florida.

According to a news release from organizations who opposed this bill, The industry has a demonstrated history of inadequate management when it comes to phosphogypsum waste. The stacks are prone to spills and sinkholes - like the breach at Piney Point and sinkholes at New Wales - that threaten Tampa Bay and the Floridan Aquifer.

Read: Supreme Court overturns Affirmative Action: Heres what it means for students

In 2020 the Trump-era EPA approved the use of phosphogypsum in roads. Following a lawsuit and petition by the Center and other conservation, public health and union groups, in 2021 the agency withdrew that approval.

Putting radioactive phosphogypsum in roads would let the fertilizer industry off the hook for safely disposing of the millions of tons of dangerous waste it creates each year while generating another cash stream for industry giants, the release stated.

Read: Florida lawmakers pass bill allowing radioactive material to be built into Florida roads

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Gov. Newsom doubles state police force in San Francisco to crack down on fentanyl crisis

Avieira Evans of Health Right 360 passes out Narcan at U.N. Plaza in San Francisco on Dec. 17, 2022. (Josh Edelson / For The Times)

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he is doubling the number of deployed state police officers in San Francisco to help combat the fentanyl crisis.

The news comes after Newsom deployed several California Highway Patrol officers and the California National Guard to conduct a drug trafficking enforcement operation in areas of the city most affected by fentanyl, including the Tenderloin, according to a news release from the governor's office. The deployment in May helped the CHP seize more than 4.2 kilograms of fentanyl.

The governor's latest efforts will double the staffing of CHP officers assigned to the city, bring the number to 14.

"Today, Im authorizing a 100% increase in personnel to bolster the impact of this proven operation, as well as authorizing targeted surges to crack down on crime in the city," Newsom said in a news release. "Working alongside our local, state and federal partners, were committed to cleaning up San Franciscos streets.

Newsom has authorized the CHP to strike hot spots. The operations "are expected to target illicit drugs and weapons" and will include some of the 100 new CHP officers about to graduate from the CHP Academy and officers in the CHP's Golden Gate Division.

Over the last several weeks, weve welcomed the California Highway Patrol and National Guard working collaboratively alongside our local agencies to disrupt the drug trafficking and drug markets harming our neighborhoods," Mayor London Breed said in a statement. "To be successful in the long term we need to sustain and expand this work at the local, state and federal levels."

San Francisco Police Department Chief Bill Scott said in a statement that the department "welcomes the assistance from our state partners in combating this deadly drug crisis."

Homeless people are seen in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco on Sept. 24, 2022. (Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)

"Working collaboratively with the CHP, weve seized an unprecedented amount of fentanyl and other deadly narcotics in recent weeks, and I look forward to building on our success," he said.

There were 275 fentanyl-related overdose deaths in the city from Jan. 1 to May 31, a nearly 64% increase from 168 during the same period last year, according to the San Francisco chief medical examiners office.

In May alone, there were 63 fentanyl-related overdose deaths, an increase from 59 deaths in April and 49 in March.

Fentanyl, a substance 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin, has been increasingly added to fake prescription pills and other drugs being sold illegally, according to public health and law enforcement experts.

San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey proposed this month that all retail pharmacies in the city be required to carry naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose if administered in time.

Under the proposal, pharmacies would be mandated to carry at least two boxes of naloxone or face a $1,000 fine.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the Narcan brand of naloxone for nonprescription, over-the-counter purposes, allowing anyone to buy the medication directly from a pharmacy.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Through the "Chinese Bridge" language competition that connects the world, Indian youths can better understand the profound Chinese civilization, thus contributing to the friendly relationship between China and India, a Chinese diplomat has said.

Ma Jia, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in India, made the remarks at the final of the 22nd "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competition in India last week.

The Chinese language competition for foreign college students in India was held on Friday in Mumbai. Vishal Anand from Central University of Gujarat won the top prize and will represent India in the global finals in China.

"I believe that more and more youths in India will learn Chinese inspired by you," Ma told the event.

She said the Chinese Embassy and Consulates-General in India will continue to provide more platforms for Indian students to learn Chinese and facilitate their further studies in China so that they can serve as bridges of communication and messengers of friendship between the two countries.

"To make it to the final is not only the hard work of the contestants, but also the dedication of the teachers and the support from the headmasters," the Chinese diplomat said.

She believed that the Chinese language education in India will open up new horizons, and the mutual learning between Chinese and Indian civilizations will be carried on from generation to generation.
(Bloomberg) -- The UK government was accused of significantly undermining the investigation into its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic by refusing to reveal all of former Prime Minister Boris Johnsons WhatsApp messages with his staff.

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The governments stance effectively leaves the holder of the documents, and not the chair of the inquiry patrolling the boundary of what is relevant, lawyers said in documents given to the High Court in London before a hearing on Friday.

The warning came in response to the governments challenge to an order from its own Covid Inquiry to disclose two years of WhatsApp messages between Johnson and his then colleagues and advisers and his diary and notebook entries.

The case challenging the request was brought by the cabinet office with some reluctance, the governments lawyer James Eadie said in court on Friday. The government has already provided a mass of documents to the inquiry and is committed to effectiveness of the inquiry, he said.

The rare legal showdown between the government and an inquiry it set up is a distraction for new prime minister Rishi Sunaks government as it battles the worst cost of living crisis in decades and the opposition Labour Partys double-digit lead in the polls over his Conservatives.

Sunak was one of the most senior members of Johnsons government through the pandemic, and organized an Eat Out to Help Out plan which, according to research, worsened the pandemic.

The government has asked the court to set out the limits of the inquirys powers to seek disclosures of ministerial conversations. It argues that the court should also rule the inquirys notice that sought the disclosures as unlawful.

The government said the request for the information including irrelevant material was irrational and beyond the powers of the inquiry.

Irrelevant material would be likely to cover material which might be personal or sensitive for a raft of different reasons, the governments lawyers said in the documents given to the court.

Johnson, also a party to the case, has supported the inquiry but wants some of the information to remain confidential.

The former premier wants the governments steps under the microscope, his lawyers said. That is what the public expects and that is what should be done.

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Grad Student Who Was 'In The Wrong Place' Shot And Killed While Studying Plants

A Ph.D. student in botany at the University of California, Berkeley, is being remembered for his kindness, vibrant spirit and insatiable curiosity about the natural world after he was killed while studying plants in Sonora, Mexico.

Gabriel Trujillo, whose research focused on the buttonbush plant and how it might aid in habitat restoration, was shot seven times, his fiancee, Roxanne Cruz-de Hoyos, wrote on Instagram.

On June 23, police found his body in his car hours away from where hed told Cruz-de Hoyos he was going, she said. Cruz de-Hoyos, who had flown to Mexico to find Trujillo after he didnt reply to her calls or messages, later identified his remains, she said.

Local authorities were investigating the shooting, Berkeley officials said in a statement to the campus shared with HuffPost. This is heartbreaking news and campus officials have reached out to his family to offer support and assistance, it read.

No information has been released about a suspect or the circumstances of the shooting. Trujillos father, Anthony Trujillo, told the Associated Press, Evidently he was in the wrong place.

Gabriel Trujillo was pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.

Gabriel Trujillo was pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley.

The U.S. State Department urges Americans to reconsider travel to Sonora because of the potential for violent crime and kidnapping, noting that it is a hub for the global drug trade and human trafficking.

But Sonora held a special meaning for Trujillo. He had been reconnecting to his Indigenous Opata and Nahua ancestry and loved being in Sonora, the traditional homeland of the Opata peoples, Cruz-de Hoyos said. Trujillo also participated in traditional Aztec dance and drumming with the Danza Azteca In Lakech in Berkeley, and the group dedicated a danza ceremony to him on Thursday.

Cruz de-Hoyos, who earned her Ph.D. in the same integrative biology program as Trujillo, said the couple intended to publicly announce their engagement once their custom rings arrived and were planning to start a family soon.

Gabe was a passionate ecologist, field biologist, and advocate for diverse voices in science, the chairs of the Integrative Biology Department said in an email to the department community shared with HuffPost. He was a member of a tightly knit group of graduate students in ecology and his partner is also a member of our campus community. We all face a world that is less bright for this loss.

Gabriels love for culture was infectious.Obituary for Gabriel Trujillo

Trujillos obituary notes his passion for nature and culture and a relentless drive for science.

His deep appreciation for the natural world guided him to explore the wonders of the outdoors, the obituary reads. He found solace in the beauty of nature, always eager to learn and protect the environment he held so dear. Gabriels love for culture was infectious, and he immersed himself in learning about different traditions and customs, always seeking to broaden his understanding of the world.

His father recalled how he shared his love of nature with his five siblings, nieces, and nephew.

A 20-minute hike with me would take an hour because he would show me all the plants and mushrooms, Anthony Trujillo told the AP. He wanted to learn everything about everything.

A funeral for Trujillo will be held in Fenton, Michigan, where his family is from, on July 5. Cruz de-Hoyos organized a GoFundMe to help cover funeral expenses and the cost of returning his body to the U.S. from Mexico.

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Authorities said Devictor Ouedraogo had an altercation with other subway train passengers, including Williams girlfriend, before the fatal incident.

A grand jury has decided not to indict a man who fatally stabbed a fellow passenger on a subway train in New York.

Police said Jordan Williams, 20, stabbed Devictor Ouedraogo, 36, in the chest on a northbound J train on June 13, according to The New York Times. Ouedraogo was pronounced dead at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

According to law enforcement officials, Ouedraogo had an altercation with other train passengers before the incident, including Williams girlfriend. Witnesses reportedly said Ouedraogo threw the first punch.

Jordan Williams is shown in court this month after his arrest for stabbing a fellow passenger on a New York City subway train. A judge released Williams without bail on June 15. This week, a grand jury declined to indict him. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube.com/FOX 5 New York)

Eyewitness News reported that police took Williams into custody several stops from where the incident happened, recovering the folding knife from his possession. They charged him with manslaughter and illegally possessing a firearm.

According to The Times, Oren Yaniv, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney, said their office conducted an impartial and in-depth investigation into the tragic case, which included viewing numerous videos and speaking with all available witnesses. He also said they presented the evidence fairly to a grand jury.

Under New York law, a person is justified in using deadly physical force when they reasonably believe it is necessary to use such force to defend themselves or others from imminent use of deadly or unlawful physical force, he added, The Times reported.

Williams has discussed the incident in interviews since the killing, arguing his case for self-defense. As of Wednesday afternoon, a GoFundMe for his legal defense had amassed over $120,000.

Marina Ouedraogo, Ouedraogos younger sister, disagreed with the grand jury and said she believes dropping Williams charges was wrong.

It is sending a signal that basically any one of us can carry a weapon, she contended. That is basically what we are saying here.

She said her brother, who came to the United States at a young age from Burkina Faso, had labored to support family members back home.

At least five people, including Ouedraogo, have been killed on the citys metro system this year. His death came six weeks after homeless former street performer Jordan Neely was choked to death on an F train.

Although there is a statistically low probability of becoming a victim of crime on a subway train, recent violent incidents have shocked New Yorkers as the system has worked to recover to pre-pandemic ridership levels.

Williams attorney, Jason Goldman, expressed his clients gratitude that the decision was made not to bring charges.

This was a tragic encounter that we can only hope does not become the norm, Goldman said, The Times reported. Jordan and his loved ones are grateful and relieved that the grand jury saw this for what it was.

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The post Grand jury declines to indict Jordan Williams for stabbing, killing NYC subway passenger appeared first on TheGrio.
FILE PHOTO: Men transfer body bags carrying migrants who died after their boat capsized in the open sea off Greece, onboard a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel at the port of Kalamata

Survivors of Greece boat disaster say coastguard rope toppled boat FILE PHOTO: Men transfer body bags carrying migrants who died after their boat capsized in the open sea off Greece, onboard a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel at the port of Kalamata

MALAKASA/KALAMATA, Greece (Reuters) - Survivors of a boat disaster that likely killed hundreds of migrants near Greece have given accounts of traffickers in North Africa cramming them into a clapped-out fishing trawler. They recounted hellish conditions above and below deck, with no food or water.

Some also said the tragic end, when it came, was precipitated by the actions of the Greek coastguard. They have told judicial authorities of a doomed attempt to tow the overloaded trawler that caused the vessel to capsize in the early hours of June 14.

A disastrous coastguard towing attempt was recounted in six of the nine statements from survivors submitted to Greek judicial officials investigating the causes of the tragedy, according to evidence seen by Reuters.

One Syrian survivor said he and other migrants on board the Adriana, which had broken down en route to Italy, screamed "Stop!" after a Greek coastguard vessel attached a rope to the bow of the trawler and began to pull it while picking up speed.

The migrant boat tilted left and right and then it turned upside down, he added.

Three other witnesses said they didn't know what caused the Adriana to capsize. Reuters is not publishing the names of the nine survivors who gave the accounts, which haven't been made public.

The statements of the six witnesses clash with the public statements given by the Greek coastguard and government, which have said no attempt was made to tow the boat and that it overturned when the coastguard was about 70 metres away.

The shipping ministry, which oversees the coastguard, told Reuters it couldn't comment on issues that were the subject of a confidential and ongoing investigation by prosecutors. Greek prosecutors are forbidden by law from commenting on live inquiries.

The nine survivors submitted their accounts on June 17-18 to investigators conducting a preliminary probe into the disaster.  group of suspected traffickers, arrested on June 15 on charges including manslaughter, migrant smuggling and causing a shipwreck, have been jailed pending a fuller investigation that could culminate in a trial. They deny wrongdoing.

The towing episode was also recounted by two other survivors who were separately interviewed by Reuters and asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from Greek authorities. One of them, who gave his name only as Mohamed, described the terrifying moments when the Adriana overturned, which he said came when the coastguard started tugging the boat.

"They quickly pulled us and the boat capsized. It moved to the right, to the left, to the right and it capsized. People started to fall on each other," he said. "People were on top of each other, people were screaming, people were drowning each other. It was night time and there were waves. It was scary."

On June 15 a coastguard spokesperson, responding to local media reports that cited some survivors who said the trawler was towed, publicly denied that a coastguard vessel had attached a rope to the Adriana at any time.

A day later, the coastguard amended its account: it said its vessel had attached a rope to the Adriana to help it draw nearer to communicate. The coastguard denied it had subsequently tried to tow the trawler, saying it had kept its distance.

Nikos Spanos, a retired admiral in the Greek coastguard, told Reuters it was unlikely that a coastguard vessel would have attempted such a dangerous manoeuvre as towing the stricken trawler.

"Its (the coastguard's) aim was to establish a better contact to help the vessel and assess the situation. This is my understanding. Because if they had tried to tow it or anything else, it would have been too risky and this wouldn't have been the right way to do it."

'NO HELP. GO ITALY'

When the Adriana capsized and sank 47 miles southwest of Pylos, in international waters within Greece's search-and-rescue jurisdiction, it was carrying between 400 and 750 migrants mostly from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan, the U.N. refugee agency says.

A total of 104 survivors have been found but rescuers say it's unlikely anyone else will be recovered, dead or alive, in one of the of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean.

The coastguard ship's log was also submitted to the judicial authorities and details two instances two hours apart when the coastguard vessel approached the Adriana, according to the evidence.

At 11:40 p.m. on June 13 the vessel approached the trawler, which had a malfunctioning engine, and tied a rope to the boat to allow it to draw closer and talk to those on board to assess the situation and if they needed help, the log said.

People on board shouted "No help" and "Go Italy" and untied the rope, according to the log which said the Adriana's engine was then restarted and it headed west.

Then at 1:40 a.m., the coastguard vessel was instructed by its operation centre to return to the trawler to inspect its condition after the Adriana had stopped moving.

The coastguard vessel approached to a distance of about 70 metres from the Adriana and heard a lot of shouting, and in under seven minutes the trawler had capsized, according to the log.

See a timeline of the tragedy

$55 EXTRA FOR 'SAFER' DECK

The Adriana set off from a beach in or near the Libyan town of Tobruk around June 10, according to survivors. Before they boarded, the traffickers took away their belongings and threw out bottles of drinking water to make room for more people, survivor Mohamed told Reuters.

Each traveller only had 40 cm of space, a Syrian migrant told judicial authorities, according to the evidence.

All 11 survivors said they paid between $4,500 to $6,000 for the journey, and the smugglers told them they would reach Italy in three days. Three survivors told authorities they paid anywhere from 50 to 200 euros ($55-220) extra for places on the outer deck, considered safer.

They were among thousands of people trying to get to southern Europe this year by setting off in boats from North Africa. More than 50,000 "irregular border" crossings of the Central Mediterranean, most of which begin in Tunisia and Libya, were detected in the first five months of 2023, up 160% from a year ago, according to EU border agency data.

A week after the tragedy near Greece, more than 30 migrants were feared dead after a dinghy headed for Spain's Canary Islands sank.

(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens, Jonathan Saul in London and Riham Alkoussa in Berlin; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Pravin Char)
(Bloomberg) -- The US Supreme Court will take up a major new Second Amendment case, agreeing to decide the fate of a federal law that bars gun possession by people who are subject to a domestic-violence restraining order.

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The justices said they will hear the Biden administrations appeal of a ruling that declared the 1994 law unconstitutional. The administration said the federal appeals court decision threatens grave harms for victims of domestic violence.

The case, which the Supreme Court will consider in the nine-month term that starts in October, will test the reach of the courts year-old ruling establishing a constitutional right to carry a handgun in public. That decision said gun laws can survive only if the government can show a history of similar, or at least analogous, restrictions.

Gun Ruling Giving Domestic Abusers Rights Prompts Garland Rebuke

Lower courts have since used that reasoning to find a bevy of gun laws unconstitutional, including bans on sales to minors, restrictions on people who are under indictment or were convicted of nonviolent crimes and prohibitions on untraceable ghost guns and on weapons with the serial numbers removed.

The high court case involves Zackey Rahimi, who was indicted under the domestic-violence gun law after taking part in five shootings near Arlington, Texas in 2020 and 2021. At the time, Rahimi was subject to a two-year restraining order secured by an ex-girlfriend he was accused of assaulting and threatening. He was sentenced to more than six years in prison after pleading guilty to the federal charge, while reserving his right to appeal.

The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals said that while Rahimi was hardly a model citizen, he was entitled to Second Amendment protections. The panel of three Republican-appointed judges said the federal law lacked a historical analogue, calling it an outlier that our ancestors never would have accepted.

US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administrations top Supreme Court lawyer, told the justices that the 5th Circuit overlooked important historical evidence, including colonial and early state laws that allowed the disarming of dangerous individuals.

Governments have long disarmed individuals who pose a threat to the safety of others, Prelogar argued in the appeal. The 1994 law falls comfortably within that tradition.

Rahimis lawyers say none of the laws invoked by the government are apt parallels.

Those laws did not impose a years-long nationwide ban on all firearm possession against citizens who retained all other rights of full civic participation, Rahimis team argued. They did not threaten imprisonment up to ten years or fifteen years for keeping a gun in the bedroom.

In urging against review, Rahimis lawyers contended the law is sparingly applied, saying the federal government charges fewer than 50 people per year under the statute. The Biden administration countered that the federal background-check system has blocked the sale of firearms to more than 76,000 people because of domestic-violence restraining orders since 1998.

The case could affect state laws as well as the federal statute. An Illinois-led group backing the administration said that almost every state either requires or permits courts to limit firearm access for people subject to domestic restraining orders.

The case is United States v. Rahimi, 22-915.

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H&M's $1.70 crop tops rival prices offered by fast-fashion rival Shein. Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

H&M is selling some crop tops for $1.70.

The prices, which were marked down from $4.99, rival some of Shein's rock-bottom prices.

H&M appears to taking a more aggressive pricing strategy in response to the threat from Shein.

H&M is taking a page from Shein's playbook and slashing the price on some of its tops to a staggeringly low cost of $1.70.

The prices didn't start that low. One of the crop tops, which comes in black and white, was marked down on Friday by nearly 70% from $4.99.

The price cuts appear to mirror one of Shein's core strategies: competing for customers by offering the lowest prices possible.

Shein, the Singapore-based online retailer, first surged in popularity during the pandemic when customers were scouring for affordable retailers. At Shein, consumers found single-digit price tags on hundreds of items. Shein has since emerged as a leading fast-fashion retailer and last year scored a $100 billion valuation that would make it worth more than H&M and Zara combined (though that valuation has since fallen to $66 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported).

Despite concerns about Shein's potential impact on the environment and labor conditions, consumers have continued to flock to the brand: the average Shein shopper is shelling out as much as $100 per month on clothing  60% more than the average US woman. This month, Shein was the most Google-searched apparel retailer, and one of the most downloaded shopping apps in the US, according to data from UBS.

After a period of layoffs and store closings, H&M is showing signs of a rebound, however. The fashion brand's new summer collection has been a hit with shoppers. The company on Thursday reported a 10% sales increase from June 1 to 27, compared to a year earlier.

A spokesperson for H&M declined to comment on when the brand started discounting tops to as low as $1.70. The retailer's price range for tops is roughly $5 to $237, according to a review of its website.

Even as H&M may be picking up more sales, other, cheaper, fashion e-commerce sites are emerging. Now shopping app Temu, a Chinese dollar store, is starting to overtake Shein. In May, US spending on Temu was 20% more than at Shein, Bloomberg reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Colorado Rockies catcher Elias Diaz, front, dives onto a hail-covered tarpaulin after a summer storm packing heavy rain, high winds and large hail swept over Coors Field, Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Denver. Injured Rockies pitcher German Marquez, back, walks away. The Rockies were set to host the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

DENVER (AP)  Elias Diaz of the Colorado Rockies stretched and dove, head first, making quite a splash.

The Rockies catcher wasn't stealing a base or avoiding a tag. Instead, Diaz was sliding on the hail-covered tarp of Coors Field hours before Colorado hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night.

The Denver area was hit with heavy rain, high winds and pea-sized hail, transforming the green outfield grass into ice-covered turf and giving the Boys of Summer a taste of winter.

The conditions prompted Diaz to do a swan dive and others to make snow angels, and left maintenance crews at Coors Field hoisting shovels full of hail and working to restore order to the field. The start of the game was delayed for 1 hour, 50 minutes.

Walkways were covered with the icy mix and crews were left bailing buckets of the frozen and fast-melting slop from the entry to doors to the clubhouse in the home dugout. Across the way underneath the stadium near the visitors' clubhouse, others with squeegees worked to push the water-hail mixture into drains.

Grounds workers using shovels cleared much of the hail pellets from the field, but pockets of the icy precipitation remained visible in the outfield.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
''The Hangover' but kid friendly': Disney+ releases trailer for original film 'The Slumber Party'

[Source]

Disney+ recently released the trailer for its upcoming original movie The Slumber Party.

What its about: The films two-minute trailer, which was shared on June 23, shows Megan (played by Darby Camp), Paige (Emmy Liu-Wan) and Veronica (Alex Cooper Cohen) waking up after a slumber party and realizing that their friend Anna Maria (Valentina Herrera) is missing.

Viewers can expect to see "the hilarious aftermath of a sleepover birthday party hypnotism gone wrong after the girls wake up with absolutely no memory of the night before, the films synopsis states. Now they must retrace their steps to find missing birthday girl Anna Maria and explain why theres a flock of baby ducks in the bathtub, what happened to Megans eyebrow, and why shes wearing unattainable hottie Jake Ramirezs signature black hoodie."

Key people: In addition to Camp, Liu-Wan, Cohen and Herrera, other cast members include Tituss Burgess, Dallas Liu, Paula Pell, Artemis, Ramon Jose Rodriguez, Caroline Valencia and Mike Benitez, among others.

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The film is directed by Veronica Rodriguez and written by Eydie Faye. Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Stephanie Sperberg, Jennilee Cummings, Jake Fuller, Tony Hernandez and John Hodges serve as executive producers.

Reactions: Several people commented on the film's YouTube trailer, with one writing, "I wasn't sold until you showed the bathtub full of baby duckies. Now, I'm hyped!"

"The Hangover but as children, ok I'm interested in this," another user commented.

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"This is like The Hangover but kid friendly," another said.

Release date: The Slumber Party will premiere on Disney Channel on July 27 and will be made available for streaming on Disney+ on July 28.

More from NextShark: Stephanie Hsu and her 'Joy Ride' co-stars are hilarious in trailer for Adele Lim directorial debut

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This is 2023's most popular Sanrio character, according to worldwide poll
illustration of an asteroid in space with earth in the background

Today is Asteroid Day.

There's no need for concern: No dangerous asteroids are predicted to be heading our way. Rather, the United Nations commemorates Asteroid Day every June 30, the anniversary of the famous 1908 Tunguska event , in which an incoming space rock flattened about 800 square miles (2,070 square kilometers) of Siberian forest.

Asteroid Day is an annual celebration of asteroid science  and an annual reminder of how important it is to study these objects to protect future generations of Earthlings from the damage they might cause if they strike the planet.

Related: Potentially dangerous asteroids (images)

illustration of an asteroid in space with earth in the background

The main Asteroid Day festivities are in Luxembourg, with the primary festival there actually occurring on Saturday (July 1). All day long, scientists, space explorers and universities will feature in talks and demonstrations. There will even be an astronauts' autograph session. Asteroid Day will also feature a live broadcast from scientists and astronauts at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). You can watch it in the window above or here .

Asteroid Day is also celebrated by dozens of local events hosted all across the globe. Many are online, including free talks from scientists and astronauts. A number will focus on NASAs recent DART mission, which successfully crashed into and redirected a small asteroid last fall.

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 Salty 'peanut' asteroid may reveal where Earth got its water

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Other events are in person. For example, there's a talk in a museum in Sagamihara, Japan, a childrens space camp in Brisbane, Australia and a star party at a Southern California winery.
Vice President Harris lauded Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksons dissent in the Supreme Courts decision to overturn college affirmative action admissions, calling it one of the most brilliant ever.

Harris slammed the courts decision on Twitter but was asked Thursday at the Global Black Economic Forum to offer some hope looking forward.

In spite of the fact that a 6-to-3 court just undid affirmative action, that there is probably one of the most brilliant dissents any justice of the United States Supreme Court has ever written, and her name is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, said Harris, a former prosecutor.

The courts dual decisions overturning admissions practices at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina now effectively prevent colleges from considering race in admission decisions.

Todays Supreme Court decision is a denial of opportunity. Its not about being colorblind. Its about being blind to history, blind to empirical evidence about disparities, and blind to the strength that diversity brings to classrooms, Harris said on Twitter.

The decision has been derided by universities, liberal activists and the Black community, who claim it will create more barriers for people of color to gain access to higher education.

The best that can be said of the majoritys perspective is that it proceeds (ostrich-like) from the hope that preventing consideration of race will end racism. But if that is its motivation, the majority proceeds in vain, Jacksons dissent reads.

But if that is its motivation, the majority proceeds in vain. If the colleges of this country are required to ignore a thing that matters, it will not just go away. It will take longer for racism to leave us, she added.

More on the Supreme Courts ruling from The Hill

Justice Sonia Sotomayor also wrote a biting dissent.

The Court subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society, Sotomayor wrote.

President Biden said Thursday that the decision is one of a number from the Roberts Court that dont align with the beliefs of the American people.

[The court] has done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any Court in recent history, he said in an MSNBC interview.

Take a look at how its ruled on a number of issues that have been precedent for 50, 60 years sometimes. And thats what I meant by not normal, the president added. Across the board, the vast majority of the American people dont agree with majority of decisions the court is making.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The foreign relations law puts China's attitude on the table

09:35, June 30, 2023 By Global Times editorial ( Global Times

The Law on Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China will come into effect on July 1. It is the first comprehensive foreign relations law in the country since the establishment of the People's Republic of China. It sets out the guiding principles, fundamental positions, and institutional framework of China's foreign work and provides a general regulation for the development of China's foreign relations. China is the first major country to have a foreign relations law, highlighting its distinctive Chinese characteristics. As China increasingly moves closer to the center stage of the world, it has become more necessary to establish a comprehensive legislation in the field of foreign relations. This legislation is not merely a short-term response to external challenges, but is a masterpiece focusing on the development of China's relationship with the world.

Those who have a sincere and positive mindset will find positive aspects in this foreign relations law, including China's development outlook, security concept, concept of civilization, as well as the systematic idea of building a community with a shared future for mankind. The law conveys China's determination to pursue a path of peaceful development, promote the building of a new type of international relations, and construct a community with a shared future for mankind. China advocates for the peaceful resolution of international disputes, opposes the use or threat of force in international relations, and rejects hegemonism and power politics. These principles not only represent China's diplomatic attitude but also serve as solemn legal declarations and practices.

The promulgation of the foreign relations law by China signifies self-improvement under new circumstances and international environments, as well as a transcendence of the old paradigm. Through a complete law, China confirms the peaceful nature of its development and diplomacy, its opposition to hegemonism and power politics, and its openness. No other country has done this before. It is the strongest refutation of the "China threat" theory propagated by the US and the West. China, which breaks the logic of "a strong country is bound to seek hegemony," is setting up a new model of human interaction and has global significance. The stronger China becomes, the greater its contribution to world peace and stability is. As long as countries seek normal relations with China, they will easily perceive China's goodwill and sense of responsibility as a major power from the foreign relations law.

At the same time, this law provides valuable stability to the current global governance system, which is affected by the counter-globalization trend and regional conflicts. For instance, the law explicitly states that the country has the obligation to fulfill treaties and agreements in good faith and clarifies that the country will takes steps to implement sanction resolutions and relevant measures with binding force adopted by the United Nations Security Council in accordance with Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. It can be said that foreign relations law provides an answer from China on how to properly handle the relationship between domestic law and international law. That is to firmly uphold the UN-centered international system and the international order based on international law, thus steadfastly defending international fairness and justice.

Some Western media and public opinion in the US felt nervous about China's foreign relations law and even attempted to discredit it immediately. This reaction is not surprising. Firstly, it is a projection of the US' long-standing history of abusing legal actions. For decades, Washington has repeatedly trampled on international law and norms through the use of "long-arm jurisdiction" under domestic law, imposing illegal unilateral sanctions or intimidation on other countries, causing significant harm to many countries. Now that they see China has enacted such a law, they naturally and subconsciously worry about whether China will use the same means to "retaliate" against the US. In plain terms, this is their habitual double standard and a manifestation of their guilty conscience due to their extensive history of wrongdoing.

Of course, the enactment of China's foreign relations law has a background, which is the increasingly unreasonable suppression of China by the US. Traditionally, China is a country that values harmony and is reluctant to resort to countermeasures. Now, the foreign relations law further demonstrates China's determination to safeguard national sovereignty security, and development interests in a legal form. In this sense, the foreign relations law has teeth. Anyone who deals with China with malicious intent and attempts to infringe upon China's legitimate rights and interests will definitely feel the pain. This point is also very clear.

In international exchanges, law is an indispensable and important part. It is also a reflection of a country's original intention and attitude in dealing with foreign affairs. To some extent, the promulgation and implementation of the foreign relations law demonstrate and strengthen China's strategic transparency. China's diplomacy is open and aboveboard. We hope to be friends with everyone, but we will not tolerate actions that harm China's interest. Whether it is what we support or oppose, we put it on the table. Shouldn't such a great country be trustworthy, lovable, and respectable?

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Organizers and participants of the BLSF campus event take a group photo in Norwich, U.K., June 28, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]



The University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, United Kingdom, hosted a campus event for the Beijing-London Short Film Festival (BLSF) on June 28. Orchestrated by the BLSF Organizing Committee, the event welcomed experts, professors, and students from UEA and the School of Animation and Digital Arts at the Communication University of China (CUC).

The gathering started with a heartfelt welcome from Li Dan, the strategic engagement manager of the UEA Global Office, who introduced the assembly. Eylem Atakav, the associate pro vice-chancellor of Global Engagement and a professor of Film, Gender & Public Engagement at the School of Art, Media, and American Studies, UEA, delivered an inspiring opening speech.

Atakav underlined the significance of the BLSF as a platform for cultural exchange between Norwich and Beijing. Atakav expressed her hopes for more collaboration between the two cities, extending beyond film and television culture into other spheres. She concluded by extending her best wishes for the success of the short film festival.

The BLSF Founder Zhou Jing presents the promotional video "The Central Axis of Beijing" in Norwich, U.K., June 28, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

The BLSF founder Zhou Jing offered a thorough overview of the festival and its aims. These encompass fostering cultural understanding between China and the U.K., establishing a platform for young filmmakers to connect and exchange ideas, and using short films to encourage communication among young people across borders.

In his address, Dr. Thomas Roebuck, associate dean for admissions in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and lecturer at the School of Literature, Drama, and Creative Writing at UEA, shared his memories of working in Beijing while viewing the Beijing promotional videos.

Dr. Roebuck spotlighted Norwich's esteemed recognition as England's first City of Literature by UNESCO in 2012, acknowledging its abundant historical, cultural, and literary heritage. He prompted UEA and Beijing students to imaginatively depict the unique features and customs of their ongoing development through videos and various art forms. He stated that he eagerly looked forward to seeing more exceptional short films from the BLSF.

The BLSF is currently accepting submissions for the 2023 edition of the festival. The festival is open to short films from around the world, and the submission deadline is Sept. 30, 2023.
The Hartland-Lakeside School Board has chosen Tina Johnson, director of benefits administration and wellness for the School District of Janesville, as the Hartland-Lakeside School District's new superintendent.

The Hartland-Lakeside School Board has announced the district's new superintendent.

During a special meeting June 30, board members voted, 5-1, to hire Tina Johnson as the district's new superintendent. Board member Tom Harter cast the singular "no" vote. He did not disclose a reason why.

The board discussed the superintendent's contract in an hour-long closed session before announcing its decision.

Johnson has served as the director of benefits administration and wellness for the School District of Janesville for the past five years, her LinkedIn page says, and was the principal of Rock University High School from 2015 to 2018.

Choice comes after several area superintendent resignations

Former superintendent Nancy Nikolay announced her resignation in January, effective June 30. She did not offer specific reasons for leaving her position.

Hartland-Lakeside School District Superintendent Nancy Nikolay submitted her resignation Jan. 16, which will take effect June 30.

Her resignation came shortly after Arrowhead High School superintendent Laura Myrah announced her retirement in December last year, which will go into effect this August.

More: Lake Country schools superintendent turnover is widespread. But it's similar across Wisconsin.

Since then, Swallow School District superintendent Melissa Thompson announced her resignation in February, and Stone Bank superintendent Ryan Krohn announced his resignation in March.

Superintendent and principal resignations across southeastern Wisconsin have spiked as traditionally nonpartisan schools and school boards have become increasingly politicized since the 2020 elections.

Myrah said in her retirement letter that political agendas, in any direction, shouldn't be influencing classrooms.

"In the field of K-12 education as of late, I see political pressures negatively impacting educators ability to focus on the true mission of schools  educating kids and preparing them for successful learning, careers, and life after high school graduation," her letter said.

More: West Bend's Jill Ries will be Swallow School District's next superintendent

More: Arrowhead High School names Conrad Farner as its next superintendent

Former superintendent finalists withdrew from consideration

Hartland-Lakeside's announcement about Johnson follows a search that included two candidates who withdrew their names from consideration after being named finalists.

Mosinee School District superintendent David Munoz and Iron Mountain Public Schools superintendent Jerry Sardina withdrew from the running in June; neither have cited reasons why. Both are now finalists for the superintendent position in the Menomonee Falls School District.

Before a May 25 board meeting at which Munoz and Sardina were interviewed, a group of 25 parents and staff members held a protest outside North Shore Middle School.

Protesters said the candidates' lack of teaching experience, as well as high staff turnover in Munoz's district, went against what the community wanted in a superintendent.

The board decided to hire an interim superintendent after the candidates dropped out of the race, but the unnamed candidate accepted an offer with another school district "closer to their residence" shortly after, according to the district's site.

Quinn Clark can be emailed at QClark@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Quinn_A_Clark.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hartland-Lakeside School Board names new district superintendent
Liar Liar

A Harvard behavioral scientist, who has extensively studied honest behavior, has been accused of fabricating study results  and yes, the jokes write themselves.

Harvard Business School behavioral scientist Francesca Gino has been placed on academic leave, the New York Times reports, after colleagues found evidence that she falsified data in a 2012 study.

First noticed by a researcher-run blog and later reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the accusations stem from a 2012 paper in which Gino and two other behavioral scientists concluded that people who sign honesty pledges before filling out forms are more likely to be truthful than those who sign them after completing said forms.

The study in question was published by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and featured data from an insurance company that looked into whether clients accurately reported mileage and other key figures.

"There is very strong evidence that the data were fabricated," researchers at the blog DataColada wrote in their then-anonymous 2021 post about the study.

A month after the blog post was published, the journal retracted the offending study.

Excelling

Though the paper itself suggests that its data points were directly submitted by consumers, the bloggers said that an Excel file lead them to believe someone connected to the study had tampered with its results.

As Wharton behavioral scientist Maurice Schweitzer told the NYT, this debacle has created "reverberations in the academic community" because Gino has "so many collaborators, so many articles, who is really a leading scholar in the field."

Other researchers in the behavioral science field told the newspaper that they were shocked by the accusations against Gino, though they ceded that the type of survey-based methodology she uses can inherently produce questionable results.

As with all data-falsification scandals, there's certainly a lot more going on behind the scenes than what has been printed  but given that this specific fiasco is based on research about honesty, it's especially ironic.

More on academic surprises: One in Five Professors Say Theyve Had a UFO Encounter, Survey Finds
A federal judge is allowing North Carolinas abortion ban to take effect. Starting Saturday, women in the state will not be able to get an abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Channel 9s Ken Lemon spoke with a woman who said she got an illegal abortion almost 60 years ago. Betty Gunz said shes concerned about the impact of the new law but shes trying to remain hopeful.

Gunz believes new regulations will force some women to put their lives at risk the way she says she did.

READ MORE: Judges ruling allows nearly all of NCs revised 12-week abortion law to take effect

I know what happens when you get illegal abortions, she said.

Almost 60 years ago, Gunz was a 20-year-old college student in Charlotte. She got pregnant by a man she said had bipolar disorder.

Our lives were very chaotic, and I knew it would not be fair to a child, she said.

In 1965, she had an abortion -- before abortions were legal. She said her injuries were so severe that the men who helped her get that abortion told her boyfriend to do something chilling.

He needed to take me out on a dirt road at night and leave me there, Gunz said.

Instead, he took her to the hospital. But still, she almost died.

Six years later, she became a mother and said she has no regrets about any of it.

READ MORE: Gov. Cooper signs law clearing up several aspects of impending NC abortion law

It was a blessing to my life, Gunz said.

She worries about the restrictions of the new state law, one of which is a requirement that women have two in-person consultations. Gunz believes women past the new 12-week deadline will do what she did.

They can only outlaw safe abortions, she said.

She believes infant mortality rates will skyrocket without the care some clinics provide. And with the new regulations hours from becoming law, Lemon asked how she felt.

I guess Im an optimist because I hope somethings going to happen between now and tomorrow, Gunz said.

She knew that was a long shot. Lawmakers who passed the bill said changing the abortion deadline from 20 weeks to 12 weeks was a compromise that keeps abortion legal in North Carolina while reducing the number of abortions.

PREVIOUS: NC Gov. Cooper on 12-week abortion ban: I will never ever give up fighting

Several other states have banned abortion after six weeks.

Some abortion rights opponents said Friday that they worry the courts will eventually reverse laws limiting abortions.

Some protesters at an east Charlotte clinic said a compromise doesnt work for them, because they say abortion is murder. They fear anything less than a ban leaves the door open for Roe v. Wade to return.

Every piece of legislation that we pass trying to end this -- and the motives are really sincere -- are almost useless cause they are always going to get locked up in court, said Flip Benham with Operation Rescue.

Some told Lemon they do see one benefit from the new law -- They think it may force some clinics to close, making abortions harder to get.

(WATCH BELOW: VP Kamala Harris speaks about reproductive rights 1 year after SCOTUS Roe V. Wade overturn)
Ben Rodriguez cools off with a bottle of water after exercising horses for a customer in Glendale. A heat wave this weekend will push temperatures into the 90s and 100s, especially inland. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

After months of persistently overcast skies and cooler conditions, Southern California is set to see its highest temperatures of the year this weekend as an oppressive heat wave blankets much of the state, as well as parts of Nevada and Arizona.

"This is the first true heat wave of the season," said Rich Thompson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Officials from San Diego to Shasta County are warning about heat-related illnesses and an increased fire risk as temperatures are expected to soar into the triple digits just in time for Fourth of July celebrations.

Forecasters have issued warnings of excessive, dangerous heat throughout the valleys, deserts and foothills in inland regions across the state, with little relief expected in the evenings.

In Southern California, the most extreme conditions will be in the Antelope Valley, David Gomberg, a meteorologist with the NWS, said Friday. "The desert regions are going to be hottest. We're going to have a sharp rise today, but the hottest temperatures will be tomorrow and Sunday."

Lancaster and Palmdale are forecast to hit highs of 107 and 110 degrees over the weekend, and much of the foothills in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties are also expected to reach triple-digit temperatures. The Santa Clarita Valley should expect highs up to 105 degrees.

When a heat wave is incoming, sometimes I hear from friends and others, "Oh! We'll go up in the mountains to cool off, go hiking!" (hello ~90 Julian, Big Bear, Idyllwild ). Not the best idea this time around. Always check the forecast before you go at https://t.co/GJwzeMKZi7 pic.twitter.com/u2d2VEhXCr  NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) June 29, 2023

The warnings came as state officials cautioned Californians about the increased threat of wildfires due to fireworks and drying vegetation.

Standing beneath the blistering sun at the Grass Valley Air Attack Base in Nevada County on Thursday, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Chief Joe Tyler said that although the wet start to 2023 may have delayed the start of fire season, it has not deterred it.

"The abundant rain has produced tall grass and other vegetation thats dried out already and is ready to burn, Tyler said.

Tyler likened this years conditions to 2017, which started similarly wet but later saw dry vegetation and strong wind events that spurred major fires. More than 1.5 million acres burned that year, he said, killing 47 people and destroying 11,000 structures.

This year, there have already been a number of small wildfires, including one in Riverside County on Tuesday that grew to 55 acres and burned at least two structures. The previous week, Cal Fire responded to more than 300 blazes statewide, Tyler said. The agency is fully staffed with fire engines, bulldozers and aircraft ready to respond at the first sign of sparks.

"As the Fourth of July is quickly approaching us, Im asking each of you to be mindful of how quickly a fire can have devastating consequences," he said.

Indeed, an excessive heat warning will be in effect Saturday and Sunday for the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, raising concerns not only about wildfires but also that hot and dry weather "will significantly increase the potential for heat-related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities," according to the National Weather Service.

Overnight lows in many places are not expected to drop below the 70s, which can create dangerous conditions, especially for those without air conditioning or certain health conditions.

Downtown Los Angeles should reach the 80s for the first time in months this weekend, snapping a historic streak of two months without crossing that threshold  the longest on record for May and June. While temperatures began to rise in the Southland on Friday, downtown's high didn't surpass 77 degrees, Thompson said as of Friday afternoon  stretching the record to 61 days.

"Now tomorrow, we've forecast a high of 83, so tomorrow we should break 80 degrees," Thompson said.

Read more: How to stay cool and safe during California's first heat wave of the summer

Along the coast, temperatures should remain significantly more moderate this weekend, peaking only in the 70s, Gomberg said. But conditions a couple miles inland will be drastically warmer, with Burbank expected to reach the upper 90s.

The heat wave is hitting Northern California and the Central Valley first, with an excessive heat warning already in effect Friday until late Sunday for much of the area, including the Northern and Central Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, Kern River Valley, Indian Wells Valley, the lower Sierra Nevada foothills and much of the Mojave Desert. Temperatures across the region there are expected to reach well into the 100s, even as high as 112.

Redding on Friday already hit above 100 degrees, with temperatures expected to keep rising through the weekend. Much of the Bay Area will also see some of the hottest days this year, with highs expected from the low 90s to 105 degrees.

Similar conditions across much of the southeastern U.S. have left that region also under a blanket of oppressive heat, though there it has already dragged on for days.

The worst of California's heat is expected to be short-lived, though, with temperatures dipping slightly by the Fourth of July, Gomberg said.

Read more: The L.A. Times investigation into extreme heat's deadly toll

Monday will still be very warm over the interior but not quite as hot as the weekend, with most places forecast to see a temperature drop of about five degrees by Monday.

"Fourth of July itself well see further cooling, returning closer to normal for this time of the year, Gomberg said. Most of the high deserts and foothills are forecast to drop into the 90s.

But even as temperatures dip, he said, the concern about wildfires will remain, as low humidity, high temperatures and more outdoor and risky activity from the holiday weekend form significant risk factors.

"There is an elevated threat for larger fires," Gomberg said.

Read more: What wet winter? California prepares for peak wildfire season

The threat is so significant that Gov. Gavin Newsom joined Cal Fire officials in Grass Valley to outline a war-like strategy for responding to blazes this season and in the years ahead.

"We live in this new reality where we cant necessarily attach ourselves to some of the more predictive models of the past because of the nature of a world thats getting a lot hotter, a lot drier and a lot more uncertain as it relates to the issue of climate change," Newsom said.

Among the states latest tools is the Fire Integrated Real Time Intelligence System, or FIRIS, which includes advanced aircraft than can deliver real-time updates on fire behavior to crews on the ground.

For the second year in a row, the state will also deploy Fire Hawks  modified Black Hawk helicopters that can fight fires at night.

"It has been a game-changer, said Benjamin Berman, chief pilot of Cal Fires helicopter program. The Fire Hawks can seamlessly transition from fire suppression to hoist-air rescue to vegetation management without any further configuration.

Whats more, the states firefighting portfolio now has about 1,000 mountaintop cameras that can provide real-time, 360-degree monitoring of the states forestlands; pinpoint fire starts using artificial intelligence; and help organize resources for early suppression, Newsom said. Just a few years ago, such monitoring had to be conducted by people in towers.

Fire weather is slightly less of a concern in the San Joaquin Valley because so much of the region has remained moist from this years record-breaking southern Sierra Nevada snowfall, said Dan Harty, a meteorologist with the weather service in Hanford.

Though the snowpack is beginning to dwindle, there is still a chance for high stream flows and snowmelt driven by the heat wave, he said.

Theres not a whole lot left, but itll cause some increases in area rivers and streams, Harty said. That includes the Walker River in Mono County, which may see some flooding, and the Merced River in Yosemite Valley, which is likely to swell but not flood.

But though wildfire poses a persistent threat to Californians, so, too, does extreme heat. Despite the holiday, officials this week reminded people vulnerable to extreme heat  including children, the elderly, pregnant people and people with chronic health conditions  to reduce time spent outdoors as much as possible.

Sign up for Essential California, your daily guide to news, views and life in the Golden State.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Thomas Woldbye will be Heathrows new CEO (Steve Parsons/PA) (PA Wire)

Heathrow airport has selected Thomas Woldbye, who has spent recent months tackling strikes as CEO of Copenhagen Airport, as its new boss.

He replaces John Holland-Kaye, who surprisingly announced plans to quit in February as the airport dealt with industrial action from security staff, which could disrupt Britons summer holiday plans this year.

Holland-Kayes pay for running the airport in 2022 could be as much as 5.25 million, including 4.2 million worth of bonuses. No reason was given for his exit.

Heathrow chairman Lord Paul Deighton said: After an extensive and rigorous review of candidates, the Heathrow Board is delighted to appoint Thomas Woldbye as the next Heathrow CEO.

Leading Britains hub airport is one of the most important jobs in global aviation and the vacancy attracted the best calibre talent from across the world. Thomass achievements at Copenhagen not only mirror Heathrows long-term strategy, but his track record in successfully running a major airport and working closely with stakeholders to secure consensus and deliver positive results stood out in the selection process.

Like Heathrow, Copenhagen Airport has dealt with strikes this year. Norwegian Airlines threatened to pull out of Denmarks biggest air travel hub last month as industrial action led to cancellations.

We need to look at alternative airports that are close to Copenhagen Airport, Geir Karlsen, the head of Norwegian, said last month.

Woldbye said: I am naturally excited and proud, as well as humbled, to have been chosen to lead what is arguably the most famous airport in the world on its future journey.

I have personally experienced how the excellent team at Heathrow has successfully improved both the infrastructure and the service to passengers over the past years to create a strong platform for further success. Heathrow is an important engine for the British economy and inextricably linked to the success of London and the wider UK. I look forward to being part of charting the path for this iconic company.

My ambition will be to make the airport even better for passengers, for airlines, the community and every part of the UK.

Holland-Kaye said: An airport is more than just runways and terminal buildings  its the people who come to work every day to deliver excellent service to our passengers. Its been the privilege of my lifetime to lead our fantastic team.

Ive worked with Thomas over recent years and am a great admirer of his leadership on diversity and sustainability and his championing of the needs of passengers. Im confident that the Heathrow team will be the cornerstone of his success in delivering the best airport service in the world.

Woldbye will take over later this year, with the exact date to be announced later.
Here's when all 8 Ivy Leagues began admitting minorities  and how they're responding to the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling

Students take part in commencement at Harvard University in 2023. Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday to end race-based affirmative action in college admissions.

Ivy League presidents called the ruling "disappointing" and "unwelcome."

Some Ivy League universities didn't admit women and Black students until the '60s, '70s, and '80s.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled in two cases that considering race in the college admissions process was unconstitutional.

The rulings effectively ended affirmative action  a practice in which applicants from groups that have historically been the subject of discrimination, such as women and people of color, are given additional weight in order to increase opportunities for these groups and bolster diversity.

Minorities have long been underrepresented in Ivy League institutions. While some schools, such as Cornell, began admitting women and Black students in the late 1800s, others, like Columbia, didn't admit women until the 1980s.

Here's when all eight Ivy League universities opened their doors to people other than white men  and how they're responding to the Supreme Court's decision.

Dartmouth began admitting Black students in 1824. Women weren't allowed to enroll until 1972.

Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Jay Yuan/Shutterstock

Dartmouth hired its first full-time affirmative action officer in 1975, according to Dartmouth's alumni magazine.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday, Dartmouth's president, Sian Leah Beilock, released a statement regarding the decision.

"While there will be differences of opinion and robust discussion about the ruling itself, we begin the conversation from this common, foundational understanding that a diversity of lived experiences and perspectives enriches discovery and the Dartmouth education  it makes Dartmouth stronger," the statement said, in part. "As an institution with an imperfect history when it comes to embracing diversity, it is important that we not only state our values but that they inspire our actions."

Cornell admitted its first Black student in 1869, and began admitting women and students of color in 1870.

Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Lewis Liu/Shutterstock

According to the Cornell Review, the university began implementing affirmative action in the 1970s, when the school became more selective.

Cornell's president, Martha Pollack, said in a statement that the university was "disappointed" by the Supreme Court's ruling.

"As always, Cornell will follow the law, but within its scope we will remain a welcoming community, with strong core values and an unwavering adherence to our historic founding principle: to be a university where 'any person can find instruction in any study,'" the statement read.

Harvard's first Black student graduated in 1870, and it combined admissions with its women's college, Radcliffe, in 1975.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Scott Eisen/Getty Images

Harvard was founded in 1636. Its first Black student, Richard Theodore Greener, graduated in 1870, but Harvard admitted fewer than 12 Black undergraduates each year up until the 1970s, according to The Harvard Crimson.

The Harvard Annex, later known as Radcliffe College, was founded as a sister school for women in 1879. Radcliffe students began receiving Harvard degrees in 1963. Harvard and Radcliffe combined their admissions in 1975, and Radcliffe was fully absorbed into Harvard in 1999.

"Today, the Supreme Court delivered its decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. The Court held that Harvard College's admissions system does not comply with the principles of the equal protection clause embodied in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act," Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow said in a statement on Thursday. "The Court also ruled that colleges and universities may consider in admissions decisions 'an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.' We will certainly comply with the Court's decision."

The first students of color at Brown graduated in 1877. The first women enrolled in 1891.

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Denis Tangney Jr./Getty Images

Inman Page and George Washington Milford were the first African-American graduates of Brown in 1877. Page went on to serve as the president of four different colleges.

Mary Emma Woolley and Anne Tillinghast Weeden were Brown's first female graduates, earning their degrees in 1894.

"Given Brown's long history of support for affirmative action in admissions, I am deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court ruling that was issued earlier today, which has upended decades of precedent," Brown's president, Christina H. Paxson, said in a statement.

The statement continued: "As we analyze the decisions, I want to underscore that Brown is and will remain firmly committed to advancing the diversity that is central to achieving the highest standards of academic excellence and preparing our students to grow and lead in a complex world."

In 1879, the first Black students enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania. It became fully coed in 1974.

The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. f11photo/Shutterstock

William Adger, James Brister, and Nathan Mossell became Penn's first Black students in 1879. That same year, the college's first Japanese student, Tosni Imadate, graduated as well.

Penn established a separate College of Liberal Arts for Women in 1933, which fully merged with the School of Arts and Sciences in 1974.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling, Penn's president, Liz Magill, and provost, John L. Jackson, Jr., said in a statement, "This decision will require changes in our admissions practices. But our values and beliefs will not change. Bringing together individuals who have wide-ranging experiences that inform their approach to their time at Penn is fundamental to excellent teaching, learning, and research. In full compliance with the Supreme Court's decision, we will seek ways to admit individual students who will contribute to the kind of exceptional community that is essential to Penn's educational mission."

Princeton's first Black students, who graduated in 1947, were part of a Naval Training School. Women could enroll at Princeton beginning in 1969.

Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. John Greim / Getty Images

Four Black students earned Princeton degrees through the US Navy's V-12 program. The first Black student during peacetime at Princeton was Joseph Ralph Moss, who enrolled in 1947.

Princeton's board voted to admit women for a "better balance of social and intellectual life" in 1969, but it wasn't until 2004 that there were an equal number of men and women on campus.

"This morning's opinion is unwelcome and disappointing, but it is not unexpected," Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber said in a statement following the Supreme Court's ruling. "Princeton has been preparing for this possibility with assistance and advice from legal counsel. While today's decision will make our work more difficult, we will work vigorously to preserve  and, indeed, grow  the diversity of our community while fully respecting the law as announced today."

Yale implemented affirmative action in the 1960s, admitting its first group of Black students in 1964 and women in 1969.

Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters

Yale's first-ever Black student was James Pennington, a pastor who escaped from slavery and attended Yale's Divinity School in 1837. However, he was not allowed to officially register for classes, use the library, earn a degree, or even speak in class. The university named a classroom after him in 2016 in a ceremony honoring his legacy, USA Today reported.

Peter Salovey, the president of Yale, wrote in a statement that he was "deeply troubled" by the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action.

"Beyond Yale, and as evidenced by the broad range of voices that joined Yale in submitting amicus briefs in the case, as a nation and global society, we are strengthened by a higher education system that admits and graduates into the workforce diverse and excellent cohorts of students," he wrote. "To the extent today's decisions impede progress in this regard, I believe they have done the nation a disservice."

Columbia's first known Black student graduated in 1906. The college didn't admit women until 1983, making it the last Ivy to do so.

Columbia University in New York, New York. LENS-68/Shutterstock

Pixley ka Isaka Seme was born in South Africa and graduated from Columbia in 1906. An award-winning orator, he went on to found the African National Congress political party eventually led by Nelson Mandela.

The college began actively recruiting and admitting Black students following student protests in the late 1960s, according to the student publication The Current.

Barnard College, founded by Columbia president F.A.P. Barnard in 1889, served as the women's college of Columbia University before it began admitting women in 1983. The first coeducational class graduated in 1987 with women serving as valedictorian, salutatorian, and class president.

"We are reviewing the Supreme Court's decision and will refrain from commenting further until we fully understand its implications," a Columbia University spokesperson said in a statement following the Supreme Court's decision. "As we prepare to comply with the law, our commitment to our values is unwavering. Diversity is a positive force across every dimension of Columbia, and we can and must find a durable and meaningful path to preserve it."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Hiding in plain sight: Police say this man created new ID, started family after running from the law

Investigators say a man that has been on the run for nearly 20 years, and living under an alias in another state, has been arrested.

Antran Hall was considered to be one of the Anderson County Sheriffs Offices most wanted people just across the state line in South Carolina after he was convicted of cocaine trafficking and failure to stop for blue lights in 2006.

He never showed up for his court dates and has been on the run ever since. Over the years, the sheriffs office said he developed a new identity and even started a family.

The investigation shows Hall lived under a fake identity, even tricking his own wife and children that only knew him by his alias name, the Sheriffs Office said in a tweet.

#NEW: #Anderson Co. man using fake identity, and on the run, for 17 years now captured in Michigan. pic.twitter.com/fqRtyS8fda  Anderson Sheriff (@AndersonSheriff) June 29, 2023

Hall was eventually tracked to Detroit and was arrested by US Marshals on Monday.

Eventually, Mr. Hall made a mistake, Deputy U.S. Marshal Doug Leslie told WJBF-TV. We were able to capitalize on his mistake, determine who he was and where he was.

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Marshals told the TV station that they began surveilling Halls home on Sunday and moved in the next day.

We saw an individual matching Halls description leave the residence, get in a vehicle, and they were able to stop him, identify him and take him into custody, Leslie told WJBF.

He is currently awaiting extradition. He is currently being held with no bond.

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Shane Selig often volunteered to help manage the Highland Park Independence Day parade, a typically low-stress job where the biggest threat to public safety occurred when people carelessly walked in front of floats or children darted into the street to grab poorly tossed candy.

These are the so-called dangers that weighed mostly heavily on his mind as he pedaled down Central Avenue on July 4, 2022. The parade had begun about 15 minutes earlier, bringing the usual mix of marching bands, local veterans and politicians that made it one of the most well-attended Fourth of July events along the North Shore.

Thats when Selig heard the pop.

He thought it was a firecracker. Many people assumed it was a firecracker at first, a reflection of how small a role gun violence had played in the affluent community.

Selig swung his bike around and headed toward the sound as spectators ran the other way. He saw someone lying on the ground, showing no signs of life. He started CPR.

The popping sounds continued. He sought cover. A police officer pulled out his gun.

By then, Selig knew.

These werent firecrackers.

He was in the middle of a mass shooting, a mere secondslong attack in which seven people were killed and 48 others injured.

Highland Park will mark the tragedy Tuesday with a series of somber events meant to balance the diverse needs of a community permanently scarred  both physically and emotionally  by the shooting. The day will begin with a remembrance ceremony at City Hall to honor those killed: Katherine Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Jacquelyn Sundheim, Stephen Straus, Nicolas Toledo-Zargoza and Eduardo Uvaldo.

There will be a moment of silence at 10:14 a.m. to mark the first shots fired, followed by a community walk at 11 a.m. down the traditional parade route. There will be no floats, no performers, no official spectators. Attendees must pre-register and pass through metal detectors to participate.

City officials have said the walk symbolizes the communitys desire to reclaim the town and rebuild its resiliency. Those efforts, however, began organically in the days and weeks immediately after the tragedy and continue to grow.

Its rooted in paradegoers like Selig, who returned home from the shooting covered in blood and determined to do something. He has since visited Springfield and Washington, D.C., to advocate for change. He doesnt push for a specific policy, but he feels certain that people should know what assault rifles can do and that fears about mass shootings shouldnt be part of American life.

I wasnt able to save everyone that day, said Selig, a software engineering manager trained in emergency response. But Im still trying to do something.

Other survivors have used their voices in similar ways, pressing lawmakers to pass tougher gun laws. Dozens have filed lawsuits aimed at gun manufacturers, two gun stores, the 22-year-old alleged shooter, Robert E. Crimo III, and his father.

And many of them share their stories  traumatic, painful stories  over and over again, in the hopes that people listen. Each telling, without question, an act of reclamation and rebuilding.

Joe Leslie, his wife and their two young children were watching a military float roll past when the shooting started. He grabbed his oldest daughter, his wife grabbed the younger one, and they began running. The couple lost each other amid the chaos, as they focused solely on getting a child out of harms way.

She dove into nearby bushes. He ran into a nearby Starbucks and sheltered in a large bathroom there, with about 30 other terrified parade attendees.

After about 10 minutes in the coffee shop, Leslie, his 4-year-old daughter and some others ran to a nearby apartment building because they thought it would be safer. They spent about 45 minutes in the buildings stairwell, listening for sounds of more shooting before a woman welcomed them into her apartment, he said.

He tried to keep his daughter calm, an arduous task given the number of people screaming and crying.

I was just telling her that were playing a game, Leslie said. She was freaking out a little, but I downplayed it as best I could. And after a while she calmed down and was vaguely normal about it.

The girl is now 5.

She doesnt know what happened that day, he said. Im sure shell find out in the not-too-distant future, in some way. Well probably have to explain it to her. But for now shes kind of blissfully oblivious.

Leslie, for his part, is frustrated. A native of England, he knows that gun violence is a uniquely American epidemic. He doesnt want to be political, but the statistics are undeniable. The homicide rate from gun violence in the United States is 22 times greater than the European Union and 23 times greater than Australia, according to a 2022 report published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.

Im kind of beating a drum thats been beaten many times, but you compare it to other countries and the numbers tell a story, Leslie said. The reason that I mention this is, that way there is no closure for us from this. I dont feel like this has been resolved. Its not like someone did something and then they were punished. Its like theres an existential threat, always. This is the situation for everyone in the U.S.

Within two days of the shooting, a gun violence prevention group called March Fourth formed. The group held a demonstration in Washington, D.C., on July 13, 2022, with many Highland Park survivors among the 500 participants.

Using a combination of unassailable facts and raw emotion, the organization has since lobbied members of Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.

March Fourth is doing great work and pushing our government in the right direction, said Northbrook resident Carrie Mangoubi, a spectator at the 2022 parade, but it takes time. I just wish that we would have policies in place already to protect the innocent people in our country.

Mangoubi, her husband and their three kids fled the parade scene after hearing people shouting about a shooter just a couple of blocks away. She struggled with PTSD symptoms for a couple of months after the parade, including a racing heart, flashbacks of her family running for safety and persistent fears about her childrens future.

I think the experience made me a lot more aware of different vulnerabilities in our lives, she said. Some we can control. Some we cant control. And we just have to be as careful as possible.

This pervasive threat

Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering has spent the past year addressing those vulnerabilities, as she spoke directly with President Joseph Biden about the need for an assault weapons ban and lobbied lawmakers for tougher laws. A week after the shooting, she stood on the White House lawn and called for a ban on high-capacity magazines like the one used in her towns shooting.

She had been walking in the parade when the first shot was fired, followed by 82 more from three 30-round magazines. She does not believe the tragedy has come to define her city, but it unquestionably is now part of its fabric. Some residents tell her they cannot deal with large crowds, feel unexpected waves of emotion or are startled by loud noises, she said.

Many Americans may have followed the Highland Park shooting on the news for a day or two, Rotering said, but then they returned to their every day lives. People in her town are still living with it.

A traumatic and terrorizing event like this doesnt go away, she said.

The mayor has heard hundreds of stories about irremediable loss and fears like people had never experienced. As a result, city leaders have taken a trauma-informed approach in planning this years Fourth of July commemoration, being careful with words and deliberative in planning how to remember the shooting.

One third grader on a class visit to City Hall asked Rotering if theyd ever again get to celebrate Independence Day. It broke her heart, she said.

And I promised them that, absolutely, we will be able to celebrate the Fourth of July again, but first, we need to remember our neighbors and what they lost last year and then as a community reclaim that space, she said.

Though sensitive to the needs of residents  including members of her family  who were at the parade, Rotering has been aggressive in her support for tougher gun laws. In addition to lobbying at the federal level, she was a strong supporter of a new Illinois law banning the sale of military-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the legislation shortly after its passage, with Rotering standing behind him. Highland Park has had a similar ban since 2013 and it survived a court challenge two years later, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a lower-court ruling upholding the local law.

There are multiple lawsuits arguing the Illinois law is unconstitutional. Rotering has expressed confidence it will survive those legal battles.

The parade shooting, however, proves that states and local communities cannot be lone islands in gun control efforts, she said. She has long argued it will require a national assault ban to address the problem.

For us to think were celebrating freedom when we live with this pervasive threat is not accurate, she said. We are not currently free until these weapons are taken out of the hands of civilians.

While Rotering has taken the fight to Illinois lawmakers and the U.S. Congress, several shooting victims brought it directly to gun manufacturers. Dozens of people who were shot or whose family members were killed have filed a lawsuit against Smith & Wesson, which produced the M&P15 rifle that authorities say Crimo used when he opened fire from atop a building along the parade route.

Gun manufacturers have historically been protected from lawsuits like this under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, a law Congress passed in 2005 that gives gun manufacturers and dealers broad immunity from lawsuits. Attorneys, however, believe they have found an exception that will allow the case to proceed, arguing Smith & Wesson violated Illinois consumer protection laws by using deceptive marketing and advertising to sell the M&P15 as a military weapon to civilians.

It was people like Crimo, the lawsuit contends, that Smith & Wesson targeted as the company sought to make more money through such marketing, which also promised more adrenaline and encouraged consumers to kick brass.

Crimo purchased the weapon online from a Kentucky gun shop and picked up the weapon at a suburban gun store, which facilitated the legal transfer, the lawsuit said. Both businesses knew Crimo had addresses in Highland Park and Highwood, the lawsuit said, and that he was a resident of a municipality that prohibited the possession of such weapons.

The former YouTube rapper has pleaded not guilty to 117 charges, including 21 counts of first-degree murder stemming from the mass shooting. He remains in Lake County Jail pending trial.

His father, Robert Crimo Jr., is named as a defendant because he sponsored his sons application for a gun permit, which is required for gun purchases in Illinois, despite knowing that Highland Park police were called to a Crimo home twice, once because the younger Crimo had attempted suicide and another time because he had threatened family members.

The elder Crimo also faces criminal charges in connection with the shooting, having been charged with seven counts of reckless conduct for helping his son obtain a gun license. He has pleaded not guilty.

Is this what death is?

Lauren Bennett is among the shooting victims who joined the lawsuit, which was filed in Lake County last September. She had just grabbed a cup of coffee and rejoined her family at a prime spot in front of Walker Bros. Original Pancake House when she heard a popping sound and saw something flying.

She felt a twinge at her hip, looked down and saw blood.

Were under attack, she screamed.

She stood up to run. Another bullet hit her in the back. She dove into a bush, separated from her family.

OK, Ive been shot. Am I dying? Is this what death is? she thought to herself.

Time seemed to stall as she hid. She saw bodies on the ground amid pooling blood. Adults screamed and kids cried. It seemed like an entire militia was attacking, she recalled.

And I remember thinking, No, this is not it. Were not done yet, Bennett said.

She jumped up when she saw her husband and two younger sons, 7 and 10 years old, rushing past. Her mother-in-law, who had been shot too, had a candy bag wrapped around her arm. Bennett would later learn her own mother had also been struck by shrapnel.

The family ran to the car and raced to Highland Park Hospital. Bennett was the first patient to arrive, she said. She told emergency department staff what was coming. They checked her vitals, looked at her wounds and put in an IV.

Within minutes, victims began flooding in. Several were more severely injured than Bennett, she recalled.

Her hip wound continued to bleed for the next six weeks. She could walk, but not well. She couldnt be upright for long. It wasnt until over a month after the shooting that the pain began to subside.

Thats when my brain started dealing with the trauma of the day, she said. I had to heal first, and then we could deal with the mind.

As she readjusted, Bennett focused on her kids. She drove out to her 13-year-old sons summer camp in Minnesota, just to show him that I was here, and I was alive. I could stand, I could walk. Mom was gonna be OK.

Therapy has helped, but nothing more than the close-knit family she leans on, she said. They saw what she saw.

In addition to joining the lawsuit, she has pushed lawmakers to pass an assault weapons ban. Each time she tells her story, she relives the fear, chaos and pain of that day.

It is a small price to pay if it leads to change, she said. There arent many people who can look her in the face and say owning an assault rifle is more important than her life or any other life, she said.

She knows some people dont want to hear that.

Ill make them hear it, Bennett said.

Attorney Antonio Romanucci, whose Romanucci & Blandin law firm represents many of the victims and their families, says the shooting has changed his clients lives in a multitude of ways. They see and hear things differently. They live with an anger that does not ebb, he said, and it leaves them uniquely determined.

Not only do they retain that anger, but they want to make damn sure that there is change, Romanucci said. Thats why theyve been to Washington, and thats why theyve been to Springfield. And thats why they visit with the governor and the president of our country, because they want change.

And yet you cant accept it

Some mental health experts say advocating for change can help survivors cope after traumatic events. Tali Raviv, a clinical psychologist and associate director of the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Childrens Hospital, has seen the positive impact advocacy efforts have on people coping with trauma.

The amount of suffering that continues and multiplies from these kinds of incidents is really just devastating, Raviv said. This is the reason I think we all need to be more vocal for advocating for gun control and those kinds of things. I think a really good, healthy way of coping when youve been through something like this is to get yourself involved in advocacy. Whatever that looks like for you, regardless of your political orientation. Doing something to make a change  whether thats advocating for more mental health supports, whether thats advocating for more gun control  whatever that is.

Jon Straus, whose father was killed in the shooting, is among those trying to do something.

His 88-year-old father, Stephen, took his family to Highland Parks Fourth of July parade nearly every year as he raised his family. He loved to be where the action was, so he went by himself last summer and was fatally shot.

In the year since the shooting, Straus has become the primary caretaker for his mother, Linda. He also helped sell the family home where Jon grew up and Linda spent most of her 59-year marriage with Stephen.

Jon Straus isnt sure what hell do this July 4, but he doubts the day will be harder or easier than any day over the last year. Even now, the adjustments continue. At some point, he accepted his fathers death, he said.

And yet you cant accept it, he said. It just kind of gnaws at you, that things ended that way.

He says hes angered, both by his fathers senseless death and the fact that mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States. He has joined others in the lawsuits because, in part, he worries that mass shootings have become so frequent  there were 647 shootings in 2022 in which four or more people were wounded or killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks mass events  that the issue has grown stale.

Its hard for other people to understand how a loved one can be taken away so suddenly and senselessly and how that changes ones life, he said. But he wants them to think about it.

It happens. Are you OK with it or not? he said. And it seems like some people are.

Dr. Brigham Temple, an emergency medicine physician, fled the parade route with his family when he saw high school band members running away. By the time he got to his car, his pager alerted him to the victims en route to the medical center.

Fifteen minutes later, he was in the emergency department running a mass shooting response, one of many similar plans hes made as NorthShore University HealthSystems emergency preparedness director.

As nearly two dozen people arrived at the hospital by foot, car and ambulance, Temple assessed their vital signs and breathing. He checked their wounds and, if they could talk, listened to what they were saying about their injuries.

Between patients, he told the influx of volunteer nurses and physician assistants what to do. He saw more patients that day than he had ever seen, running on adrenaline and awe at the well-coordinated effort executed by a hospital staff that dropped everything to save lives.

In the year since, Temple has attended vigils and visited the downtown intersection where the shooting occurred. He saw the memorials honoring murdered victims, some of whom he had cared for.

The communitys bond helped him recover quickly, he said. Hes excited to see Highland Park move forward, as long as the bigger lessons arent lost.

We should never forget what happens, Temple said. We need to continue to be advocates for peace and safety and caring about each other. But we do have to move past, sometimes, the tragedy.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

eleventis@chicagotribune.com
Highway 18 closed after chase of Kent shooting suspect ends in ravine

A police chase closed all lanes of eastbound State Route 18 in the Snoqualmie area for nearly two hours Thursday night.

It went from South King County to the Eastside after an earlier shooting in Kents East Hill-Meridian area.

Police were called to the Phoenix Court Apartments in the 23900 block of 111th Place Southeast shortly before 4 p.m. The

Officers found a 35-year-old Kent man with several gunshot wounds. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

At about 7 p.m., a Kent K-9 officer saw what he believed to be the shooting suspects car. He tried to pull it over, but the driver sped up and tried to get away.

Because the officer suspected the driver was armed and may have been involved in the earlier shooting, he started a chase.

Police chased the car for several miles, eventually heading east on Highway 18.

The King County Sheriffs Office Guardian One helicopter, King County deputies, and state troopers joined in to help.

While the suspect was on Highway 18 in Snoqualmie, he crashed into another car. The impact sent the suspects car down a steep ravine, where it hit a tree.

But it didnt end there. The driver and a woman who was his passenger got out and ran into the woods.

The woman, who was hurt in the crash, was quickly found by police. State troopers closed the highway at Issaquah-Hobart Road while they looked for the second suspect.

A K-9 team tracked the man and he was taken into custody.

Eastside Fire & Rescue had to rescue one of the two people who had been in the car because the ravine was so steep.

Story continues below

With the help of multiple EFR crews and assistance from Snoqualmie Fire the patient has been extricated from the steep ravine. pic.twitter.com/oYmgFtPZIQ  Eastside Fire & Rescue (@EastsideFire) June 30, 2023

The man was arrested for investigation of vehicular assault, eluding police, and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Kent detectives are investigating the mans possible involvement in the earlier shooting. Police said more charges are likely.

The Thursday afternoon shooting was the second to happen within 12 hours.

The first shooting happened in the morning at an apartment complex on South 272nd Street on Kents West Hill neighborhood.

A man and a woman were shot. Both are in the hospital, and one of them is in critical condition.

No suspect information was released.




Melle Mel was arrested early Monday morning after attending the BET Awards in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

Hip-hop pioneer Melle Mel was arrested Monday on suspicion of domestic violence in downtown Los Angeles where he had attended the 2023 BET Awards.

Los Angeles Police Department officers took Melle Mel, whose real name is Melvin Glover, into custody at 7:45 a.m. in the 900 block of Wilshire Boulevard where the InterContinental hotel is located, according to L.A. County Jail records.

Glover, 62, was booked on a felony domestic violence charge, an LAPD spokesperson told The Times, and released later that afternoon after posting $50,000 bail. Glover's arraignment is scheduled for July 17.

The charges stem from a reported argument at the InterContinental between Glover and an actress and dancer he had reportedly previously dated.

Read more: For domestic violence victims who commit violent crimes, new bill provides hope

In a Rolling Stone report published Wednesday, Glover acknowledged he had argued with the woman, but denied hitting her. The rapper and a representative did not immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment from The Times.

The woman, Jori Jordon, also spoke publicly about the incident  posting a series of videos to her public Facebook account.

In a Facebook Live from her hospital room Tuesday, she said that she met Glover when she was 22 and the two had previously dated. She described the relationship as abusive and called him "a bully," though she said he had never physically attacked her before.

Read more: Amy's story: After escaping domestic violence, sportswriter's ex-wife speaks out to help others

Jordon said Glover invited her up to his room at the InterContinental early Monday morning. The pair just had attended the BET Awards together at Microsoft Theater, as well as an after-party.

While inside the hotel room, Jordon said she turned down Glover's offer for some drinks. She claimed she was sitting on the bed, looking to play music, when Glover hit her in the face.

"I'm just sitting there, I'm chillin', next thing you know, this man goes, 'whack,' with four rings on his finger, and hits me on my eye," Jordon said, adding that she was still recovering from cornea surgery and previously had stitches. "And he popped one of my stitches, so there's a hole in my eye."

Read more: BET Awards 2023 must-see moments: Patti LaBelle's lyric mishap to Quavo, Offset reunion

Jordon said Glover dared her to call law enforcement, which she did. In a separate video taken from inside the hotel room and posted to Facebook Tuesday, LAPD officers can be seen placing Glover in handcuffs. "Mel, I don't want you to go to jail. He chose this," Jordon could be heard saying through tears.

Glover told Rolling Stone he has known Jordon for more than 20 years, and they previously lived together. He said she contacts him when he is in L.A. and claimed she asked to meet him at the hotel.

At one point, Glover said he asked Jordon to leave, but she refused. After an argument, during which Glover said he attempted to escort her out of the room, he acknowledged "something did happen to her eye."

"But I did not punch her," he told Rolling Stone. "With me tussling with her and trying to get her away from me, to get her out of the room, something happened.

Read more: Jonathan Majors to face trial in August on domestic violence charges

Glover said Jordon asked if he could take her to the hospital, but he instead told her to call the police, hoping she would leave. Once officers arrived, Glover claimed Jordon told them he had assaulted her.

She said I punched her in the eye," he said. "She also said she had eye surgery a month ago. Had I punched her in the eye, especially with rings on, she would have had a cut eye. It would have been way worse."

A member of pioneering hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Glover is considered one of the genre's original artists. Performing as Melle Mel, he is best known for rapping the group's 1982 song "The Message." The group wrote the song during the Reagan administration, the economic and drug policies of which critics say exacerbated issues of poverty and incarceration in Black neighborhoods.

Read more: Granderson: Hip-hop is turning 50, and its work is not yet done

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first rap group inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Glover continued performing as a solo act throughout the 1990s.

Glover performed parts of "The Message" at the 2023 Grammy Awards as a part of the show's celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. He is scheduled to appear at another anniversary event in New York on Aug. 11.

That concert celebrates the date in 1973 when Clive DJ Kool Herc Campbell led a back-to-school party inside a recreation room at an apartment building in the Bronx, an event widely credited with helping birth the genre.

Another founding member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five  Glover's older brother, Nathaniel, known by his rapper name, Kidd Creole  was sentenced to 16 years in prison last year for stabbing and killing a homeless man in New York in 2017.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Airbus has, for the first time, delivered an aircraft assembled in north China's Tianjin Municipality to a Philippine airline.

Cebu Pacific on Thursday received a 188-seat A320neo aircraft from Airbus' final assembly line in Tianjin (FAL Asia) to address the growing demand for air travel.

"This is in line with our fleet plan, which aims to support our overall growth ambitions as travel demand continues to recover," said Michael Szucs, chief executive officer of Cebu Pacific.

On Tuesday, Airbus, for the first time, delivered an aircraft assembled in Tianjin to a European client, namely Hungary's Wizz Air.

The two deliveries to international clients within a week showed that FAL Asia has continued to boost its assembling capacity to help meet the demand of more international customers and inject new impetus into the global aviation market, said Christoph Schrempp, general manager of Airbus Tianjin Delivery Center.

Inaugurated in 2008, the FAL in Tianjin was the first Airbus commercial aircraft assembly line outside Europe. Since its first A320 delivery in 2009, Airbus' FAL in Tianjin has delivered more than 600 aircraft over its 14 years in operation.

In April, Airbus announced they are building a second assembly line in Tianjin to expand the production capacity of the A320 family of passenger aircraft to meet the demand of global clients.

By the end of May, the A320neo family had received over 8,700 firm orders from more than 130 customers worldwide.
Whos hiring right now in Fort Worth? Meet your next boss at one of these job fairs

Looking for a job?

Job fairs are a way for people to ask questions, build networking opportunities and meet potential employers.

Many Texans may have been introduced to job fairs in high school, but companies have these events regularly to find new employees. Whether its finding a new job, joining the workforce or re-entering the workspace, job fairs are a good place to start.

Tarrant County will be home to several job fairs over the next month. Heres what to look for:

Job fairs in Tarrant County in July

Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County is hosting an in-person job fair hiring event. Aramark will be the employer at the event, looking for food and administrative service workers.

When: 10 a.m. to noon, July 12

Where: 1400 Circle Dr., Fort Worth

The Arlington center for Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County is hosting a couple of job fair hiring events next month. Shakertins is the employer at both events, with openings to be announced soon.

When: 3-5 p.m. July 13 and 2-4 p.m. July 14

Where: 140 W. Mitchell St., Arlington

Workforce Solutions for Tarrant Countys Arlington center is hosting job fair hiring events in July. Arlington ISD is the employer at two events later next month, with openings to be announced soon.
(Bloomberg) -- A Hong Kong pro-democracy radio station will air its final show Friday evening, ending nearly two decades of broadcasting due to what it called a dangerous political situation.

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Citizens Radio has no choice but to suspend broadcasting, founder Tsang Kin-shing wrote in a post on the stations official Facebook page. Faced with a dangerous change in the political situation, red lines are everywhere.

The broadcaster was founded in 2005 by former legislator Tsang, and famous for shows that were often critical of the authorities. The stations Hang Seng bank account had recently been frozen, Citizens Radio told Bloomberg News via Facebook Messenger on Friday, making operating conditions unsustainable.

The station only had enough money to pay rent until August, Tsang said. A representative from Hang Seng Bank didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, Hong Kong opposition politicians of The League of Social Democrats staged a rally outside of HSBC Holdings Plc to protest a decision by the bank to close accounts of the group and demand an explanation.

Hong Kong authorities have cracked down on free speech in the wake of a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed in June 2020. Two prominent pro-democracy outlets  Apple Daily and Stand News  have shuttered under pressure campaigns from security police, and several journalists are facing up to life in prison for charges under the legislation.

Cedric Alviani, east Asia bureau director of Reporters without Borders, described the stations closure as an irreplaceable loss in a statement.

Alviani added that the broadcasters bank had been refusing to register donations for nearly a year.

We urge the government to stop its policy of harassment against independent media outlets, which have already significantly damaged the territorys international image since the enactment of the national security law, Alviani added.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong's pro-democracy online Citizens' Radio station aired its final show on Friday and will cease operations owing to what its founder described as a "dangerous" political situation and the freezing of its bank account.

Launched in 2005 by veteran activist Tsang Kin-shing, the Cantonese-language broadcaster gained a steady following for its hard-hitting talk shows that were critical of authorities, as well as its years-long campaign for press freedom.

Its closure marks a further erosion of Hong Kong's media diversity, critics say. A China-imposed national security law has already led to the shutting of other liberal outlets including the Apple Daily newspaper and Stand News.

"We had no choice but to suspend broadcasting after tonight's show," Tsang told reporters before the final broadcast in which all of the station's hosts squeezed into a small studio to bid farewell.

"Hong Kong's politics faces a cliff-like change. Even if we invite guests to the programme, they cannot speak freely, because the red line is everywhere."

Authorities have clamped down on dissent in the former British colony and arrested more than 250 activists under the national security law, following a pro-democracy movement in 2019 that drew millions onto the streets.

"Thank you for your support over the past 18 years. Hope to see you soon!" Tsang said.

Hang Seng Bank used different "excuses to freeze his radio station's bank account, he said, including signature problems to block him from receiving donations and withdrawing money.

"Because our resources are very limited, the rent can only be paid until August."

Hang Seng Bank declined to comment.

Jimmy Pang, a host at Citizens' Radio, was defiant during what he called an important night in Hong Kong's broadcasting history. "Mic off doesn't mean we can no longer speak out," he said.

Hong Kong authorities have repeatedly said that media freedoms are respected and enshrined in city laws. The government denies cracking down on dissent but has said the protests in 2019 threatened the stability upon which the financial hub's economic success depends.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF), ranked Hong Kong 140th out of 180 in its annual global media freedom index this year, down from 73 before the national security law was enacted in 2020.

"For nearly two decades, Citizens' Radio has been an emblematic contributor to Hong Kong's independent broadcasting landscape and its shutdown would be an irreplaceable loss for media diversity," the press freedom group's East Asia director, Cedric Alviani, said in a statement.

Citizens' Radio applied for a broadcasting licence in 2005 but it was never granted. It set up FM transmitters at the top of the city's iconic Lion Rock mountain and was raided by the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) for allegedly using an illegal radio transmitter. The station continued to broadcast online.

In 2019, four masked men wielding bats and hammers barged into the station after smashing through its glass door. No arrests were made.

OFCA declined to comment on the closure or erosion of press freedom but said the station was internet-based and "not a sound broadcasting licensee" under telecommunications laws.

A national security case against Apple Daily and its tycoon founder, Jimmy Lai, will begin in September. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment.

In October, a verdict will be handed down in a sedition trial against two editors at the now shuttered Stand News.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" agreement aimed a preserving its freedoms for 50 years.

"I am 67 years old. I don't know if I can witness it," Tsang said. "I hope that young people will continue to stick to their ideals, stick to their beliefs that there will be a tomorrow."

(Reporting by Jessie Pang; editing by James Pomfret, Robert Birsel and Richard Chang)
Founded by veteran activist Tsang Kin-shing (C) in 2005, Citizens' Radio began as an act of civil disobedience against Hong Kong's public broadcasting laws (ISAAC LAWRENCE)

A Hong Kong radio station that has aired pro-democracy shows without a licence for nearly 18 years held its last broadcast on Friday, citing difficulties operating in a "dangerous" political landscape.

Founded by veteran activist Tsang Kin-shing in 2005, Citizens' Radio began as an act of civil disobedience against Hong Kong's public broadcasting laws, which he and fellow activists criticised as overly restrictive of public access to the airwaves.

In its early years, the station aired phone-in talk shows where prominent opposition figures sometimes appeared as guests, tapping into a culture of spirited political commentary.

But Tsang, nicknamed Bull, said Friday that Citizens' Radio had had trouble inviting guests in light of Beijing's tightening grip.

"Hong Kong's political situation today has fallen off a cliff," Tsang, 67, told reporters before the final show, recorded in a cluttered studio within an industrial building.

"If we invite guests, they may not be able to speak freely, because there are so many red lines."

Tsang added that the station could not pay rent beyond August after its bank account was blocked from receiving donations.

After massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019, Beijing imposed a national security law that critics say has silenced dissent and curtailed political freedoms.

More than 250 people -- including activists, lawmakers and journalists -- have been arrested under the security law and three major pro-democracy media outlets have shuttered under pressure.

"I believe in the future, in Hong Kong, it will be hard to have this kind of civil disobedience again," Tsang said of his radio station.

- Civil disobedience -

While Citizens' Radio has not been targeted under the security law, its open defiance of Hong Kong's broadcasting rules meant it had been embroiled in government lawsuits for years.

After their broadcasting licence application was denied, the station set up its own FM transmitters atop the city's famous Lion Rock mountain.

Tsang estimated he and others paid HK$60,000 ($7,700) in fines over the years, and the station had its studio raided and its equipment confiscated by officials more than once.

"I believe the airwaves are a public resource, and should not just belong to the commercial sector or the government," he said on Friday.

But Tsang's attempts to challenge Hong Kong's broadcasting regulations hit a dead-end after his case was dismissed by the top court in 2017.

Emily Lau, former chair of Hong Kong's Democratic Party and occasional guest on Citizens' Radio, said the station contributed to a once-vibrant media scene.

"(The closure) is another reminder that Hong Kong people are really losing many of the things that we used to have," Lau told AFP.

"Now in Hong Kong, you have to look very hard to find channels where people can express their views freely."

Despite its high-profile legal battles, Citizens' Radio has been described as a fringe outlet and the size of its audience remained unclear.

Tsang said every day of broadcasting was "an act of resistance", regardless of audience numbers.

Hong Kong's Office of the Communications Authority declined to comment on the station's shutdown, except to say that the station runs only on the internet.

Tsang on Friday gathered some of the station's hosts for a final hour of laughs and commiseration, and together they bowed to thank their supporters.

"We thank the Hong Kong public, who are clear-eyed and clear-headed," Tsang said.

"Eighteen years is not a short time."

hol/aha
Houston father of 3 left in critical condition after being shot 4 times during Chinatown robbery

[Source]

Houstons Chinese American community is asking the public for help after a father of three was shot four times during a robbery and was left in a critical condition.

What happened: Holam Cheng was returning home from work when he was shot during a robbery in front of his familys apartment in the 9200 block of Bellwood in Houstons Chinatown on Sunday morning, reported ABC13.

According to the Houston Police Department (HPD), Cheng was shot four times during the incident. He was rushed to the Ben Taub Hospital, where he is currently listed in critical condition.

GoFundMe: Chengs daughter, Michelle, has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise funds for her fathers medical expenses and for their familys utility bills. According to Michelle, doctors have determined that they cannot remove all of [the bullets] from Chengs body, "resulting in a permanent disability."

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As you can imagine, our lives have been turned upside down by this horrifying incident, Michelle wrote. My father, the pillar of our family, is now fighting for his life in the hospital, facing a long and arduous journey of recovery.

The emotional and physical toll on him is immense, and the road ahead is uncertain and challenging. Compounding this devastating situation is the fact that no one in our household is currently able to drive or maintain employment. There are 8 people total in our family: 5 children, 2 adults and an elderly. With my father's disability and the pressing need to be by his side during this critical phase, our family's financial situation has become dire.

Arrest and investigation: Police tracked down a vehicle seen outside the apartment on the day of the incident. Cheng then identified Quincy Harold as the suspect from a photo lineup, according to court records.

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Harold was charged with aggravated assault. He is expected to appear in court on Friday. Investigators are reportedly searching for more suspects in relation to the robbery.

Community effort: The Chinese American community and social workers in Houston are organizing to help the Cheng family.

They just want to make sure there is food on the table, and their children have school and education," Chi Mei Lin, executive director of the Chinese Community Center, told ABC 13.

More from NextShark: Malaysian Student Evicted From House in Australia Because of Coronavirus Fears

About the family: Cheng, who worked at a restaurant, immigrated to the U.S. more than 20 years ago with his wife, Jianyun Ke. They currently share an apartment with another restaurant worker to help save money.

"I'm a citizen, American citizen, Ke said. And my husband is supposed to be taking his citizenship exam next week. Now, he can't.

More from NextShark: Facebook Adds New Safety Features, Donates $5 Million for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
(Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn is facing pressure from senior politicians on both sides of the Atlantic to explain why the bank has denied some Hong Kong expatriates access to their retirement funds.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Mike Gallagher, chairman of the US Congress Select Committee on China, and Alicia Kearns, chairwoman of the UK Parliaments Foreign Affairs Select Committee, raised deep concerns about the situation in a letter sent to Quinn on Friday.

The London-based bank has barred Hong Kongers who have quit the Chinese city from using newly-granted British citizenship documents to draw down money held in the Mandatory Provident Fund.

The committees both feel very strongly about protecting the legitimate rights of Hong Kong residents and opposing any attempts to undermine the rule of law in Hong Kong, wrote the politicians. The Financial Times reported the letter earlier.

The lawmakers said HSBC sided with China after the country derecognized British National Overseas passports, which the UK offered to Hong Kongers who wished to leave following Beijings sweeping national security law. The bank has said these documents arent valid proof that customers with MPF accounts had left the former UK colony.

We follow the regulators requirements for processing applications related to early withdrawal of accrued benefits by MPF scheme members, said a spokeswoman for HSBC.

In the case of permanent departure, scheme members are required to provide evidence of the right of abode outside of Hong Kong. The MPFA has published guidance as to what evidence scheme members may rely on and, like all banks, we have to obey the law and the instructions of the regulators, the spokeswoman said.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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Human Rights Watch reports new evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines

Human Rights Watch reports new evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines FILE PHOTO: Combat engineers of pro-Russian troops demine explosives in Donetsk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that it uncovered new evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The group called on Ukraine's government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.

"The Ukrainian governments pledge to investigate its militarys apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians," Steve Goose, Human Rights Watch's arms director, said in a statement.

HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.

Ukraine's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.

Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines "violates international humanitarian law ... because they are inherently indiscriminate," the report said.

Anti-personnel mines are detonated by a person's presence, proximity or contact and can kill and maim long after a conflict ends.

Since Russia's February 2022 invasion, HRW has published four reports documenting the use by Russian troops of 13 types of anti-personnel mines that killed and injured civilians.

The new report is a follow-on to a January report that Ukrainian soldiers fired rockets that scattered thousands of PMF-1 mines in Russian-occupied areas in and around the eastern city of Izium between April and September 2022, when Kyiv's forces recaptured it.

The latest report said that fresh evidence of Ukrainian forces' use of anti-personnel mines in 2002 came from photographs posted online by an individual working in eastern Ukraine that showed warhead sections of Uragan 220mm rockets.

Those rockets each indiscriminately disburse 312 PFM-1S anti-personnel mines, said the report.

Analysis of handwriting on one warhead determined that the first word was Ukrainian for "from," while a second Latin alphabet word related to an organization in Kyiv, which the report did not identify.

The person who headed the organization - also unidentified - had social media posts "indicating that they had donated funds to the Ukrainian military via a non-governmental organization (NGO)."

Photographs of Uragan warheads posted online bearing messages written in Ukrainian were linked to a different Ukraine-based group, the report said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Don Durfee and Grant McCool)
Humans pumped so much groundwater out of the Earth that the planet has begun to wobble detectably on its axis, a new study has found.

On its own terms, the magnitude of the new wobble is slight  a matter of millimeters, which puts it in the same approximate speed category as Earths slowly drifting continents.

But the findings published earlier this month in Geophysical Research Letters show the extent to which human action  in the form of dam construction, groundwater drilling and the burning of fossil fuels  are impacting the very position of the Earth.

They also provide powerful corroboration for something scientists had long suspected but had remained unproven: the staggering depletion of the worlds groundwater reserves over the past several decades.

The scope of the findings released this month were startling. Between 1993 and 2010, the scientists found, human society  and mostly human agriculture  had depleted 2,510 gigatons of water.

Thats the equivalent of 600 cubic miles of lost freshwater, more than five times the volume of Lake Erie or half the volume of Lake Huron.

At that rate, we would run through the equivalent of the 2,900 cubic miles of water that fill Lake Superior by the end of the century.

That speed of depletion reflects a global threat.

Groundwater is the collective term for waters held below ground, largely among the sand and rock of aquifers  distinct from surface water that courses through lakes and rivers.

Across the world  particularly in India and the American West  pumping underground reserves of fossil groundwater has, for the past century, made it possible to grow water-dependent crops despite near-desert conditions.

For dryland growers of thirsty crops  such as the Saudi alfalfa farms expanding into Arizonas Sonoran Desert  groundwater also offers a way around the intractable water politics of the arid West.

Despite stringent restrictions on using the regions diminishing lakes and rivers  most notably the Colorado River  states including Arizona, California, Texas and Nebraska allow landowners broad pumping rights to the water below their land.

The legal reality that groundwater can be used in unlimited quantities  provided its being used for an economic purpose  is at odds with the hydrologic reality of the American West, in which groundwater reserves that took thousands of years to form are being exhausted over decades.

In the massive Ogallala Aquifer, which stretches from North Texas to the Dakotas, 90 percent of water pulled from underground goes to crops and cattle  a demand that is draining that aquifer.

Its inevitable that we are going to run out of water in this region, a West Texas agronomist told The Hill last year.

Parts of the High Plains may run out of groundwater before midcentury, according to KAMR, which is owned by The Hills parent company, Nexstar Media Group.

And in the dense, groundwater-fed farm country of Californias Central Valley, months of heavy rains have done little to counter the impacts of decades of over pumping, according to nonprofit news site CalMatters.

More than 5,000 of the states wells have gone dry in the past decade, Californias Department of Water Resources found.

This local problem scales globally: A majority of the global population is dependent on food exports from trade partners (primarily India, Pakistan and the U.S.) who are spending down their groundwater to grow it, according to Nature, a weekly science journal.

Some countries, such as the USA, Mexico, Iran and China, are particularly exposed to these risks because they both produce and import food irrigated from rapidly depleting aquifers, the Nature study found.

This months study suggests that these local agricultural policies are causing planetary-scale perturbations.

The experiment came as an attempt to solve a scientific mystery more than a century in the making  a question that initially appeared to have little to do with groundwater.

That story begins with the 1891 discovery of the phenomenon called Chandler wobble, named after the amateur Boston astronomer Seth Carlo Chandler, who discovered it.

An actuary by profession, Chandler determined from the position of the stars that the Earths axis  a tilt of approximately 23 degrees  was slightly erratic.

The existence of Chandler wobble was confirmed 70 years later with the dawn of both human spaceflight and the rise of high-tech measuring tools such as atomic clocks and laser ranging.

But it was only with the invention of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in the late 1980s and their rise to dominance over the next 30 years that the wobble became a matter of life-and-death importance in everything from communication and navigation to war.

You cannot do positioning with a GPS unless you know where the rotation axis is inside the Earth, said Clark Wilson of the University of Texas, a co-author on the paper. So for decades, NASA, the U.S. military and major research universities have gotten very good at tracking slight changes in the Earths motion.

How slight? Thanks to those tools, scientists can now track changes in the Earths movement at the millimeter level, Wilson said  about a hundred thousand times the accuracy available to the 19th-century astronomers who started the process. That precision is so exact that it allowed researchers to confirm that North America and Europe are moving apart at a rate of 3 millimeters per year.

But as that dataset of axial tilts grew, scientists began to notice something they struggled to explain: The tilt was shifting, inscribing a slight eastward spiral around the North Pole. And none of the exterior forces on the Earth  the way its spin is impacted by the gravitational pull of the sun, moon and other planets  accounted for the change.

Over the past decade, scientists began to test a new theory: that the change had originated from something within the systems of rock, wind and water that make up the planet. In 2013, Wilson was a co-author on a paper that found that the rapid melting of the polar ice sheets and mountainous glaciers was a partial cause of that eastward motion.

The sheer mass of melting ice, the scientists found, had caused the distribution of the entire Earths weight to shift enough that the pattern of its motion had begun to shift  both from the movement of the water itself and the slow rebounding of the Earths crust as it melted, like a lily pad riding higher in the water after a frog has jumped off.

But the ice melt couldnt account for all that change in direction  leading Wilson and his colleagues across the globe to wonder if human actions might not be the missing ingredient.

In 2010, an international team released estimates that suggested that in the second half of the 20th century, human society had more than doubled the rate at which it was depleting groundwater. The rates of loss had spiked from 126 cubic km (30 cubic miles) in 1960 to 283 cubic kilometers (67 cubic miles) in 2000.

To put that in other terms, the scientists estimated that by the end of the millennium, human society was exhausting the equivalent of two Lake Tahoes every year  or, said yet another way, more than a third of the water drawn out of wells and aquifers ended up gone for good, with the total supply decreasing each year by 2 percent.

This months paper has confirmed that estimate, Wilson said. We were trying to confirm whether the groundwater estimate in the literature had been a good one  and this says, basically, it was pretty good.

(Lead author Ki-Weon Seo was even more succinct: Wow, he told The New York Times, recalling his immediate reaction to the findings.)

Wilson said that two human interventions represented missing, if counterbalanced, puzzle pieces. The mass construction of dams worldwide  with their heavy, crust-displacing reservoirs  had pulled the Earth slightly west, and the loss of groundwater had pulled it east.

In conjunction with the observed motion from ice sheet melting  itself, in large measure, a result of human-caused climate change  the addition of the groundwater loss and dam construction largely explained the wobble in the axis.

There is a possibility that this coastal wobbling is speeding up, as rising temperatures increase the scale of the meltwater pouring off Greenland  although that will take more study, Wilson said. The historical record of Earths water distribution and climate may be written in the drift of the poles, he said.

Before precise record-keeping started, maybe the climate was more stable, or there was less agricultural use of water and fewer dams built, he said. So those are the things wed like to look at.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Hunter Biden, President Bidens son, has reached a settlement in his child support case in Arkansas after a months-long legal battle.

The settlement, announced Thursday in a filing in an Arkansas state court, is the last step in a paternity suit over a child he had with a woman named Lunden Roberts. Its unclear what his updated payments will be, as the information is redacted.

Biden was ordered last month to sit for a deposition under oath to answer questions about his finances. He also asked for his child support payments to be reduced after he reached an original settlement with Roberts in 2020.

As part of the deal, Biden will give some of his paintings to his daughter, which can vary in size with a minimum size of 2424, per the settlement. His daughter will be able to select which paintings will be sent to her or to a gallery designated by Roberts.

The settlement says the net proceeds of any sales of paintings shall be wired to an account designated by Lunden Roberts.

Roberts asked for Hunter Biden to be held in contempt of court and jailed for allegedly not complying with court orders to turn over financial records.

The defendant is playing games with this court, Robertss lawyers wrote in a filing earlier this year. This court should incarcerate the defendant in the Cleburne County Detention Center until he complies with this courts orders and answers discovery.

In the alternative, this court should sanction the defendant as appropriate and just, her lawyers said at the time.

Bidens attorney said he had been paying $20,000 per month in child support, already sending a total of $750,000, CNN reported.

A trial to decide on any potential adjustments to child support payments has been scheduled for late July, according to the outlet.

The news is just an added legal woe for the presidents son, as it was announced early last week that he agreed to plead guilty to tax crimes in a deal with prosecutors. He also reached a diversion agreement relating to unlawful possession of a weapon, according to the filing.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Republicans have kept the president's son in the news with ongoing disclosures of his misconduct.

Hunter Biden at a state dinner at the White House on June 22 for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

When Hunter Biden reached a plea deal with the Justice Department on tax evasion and gun charges, Democrats hoped the embarrassing saga of the presidents son might fade away.

But two days after the plea deal was announced last week, Republicans released claims from an IRS whistleblower that said Hunter Biden in 2017 threatened Chinese business partners in a effort to get them to send him millions of dollars, and implicated his father in the pressure campaign.

President Biden has denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly defended his son, who was in the throes of a drug addiction when he sent the messages. The incident, however, demonstrates that Republicans can likely keep releasing similar allegations of misconduct by the presidents son for some time, to keep the story in the news and hurt Bidens political image leading up to next years presidential election.

What did the IRS whistleblower say?

Gary Shapley, an IRS supervisory special agent since 2018, had already alleged in media interviews earlier this month that the Justice Department slow-walked the investigation into Hunter Biden, which began at the end of 2019.

Shapley alleged in a May 26 interview with Congress that his frustration with the pace of the investigation began in the summer of 2020, when Donald Trump was still president and the Justice Department was run by Trump appointee William Barr.

House Republicans released the transcript of that interview last week. In his testimony, Shapley recounted an alleged WhatsApp message between Hunter Biden and a Chinese businessman named Henry Zhao on July 30, 2017, in which the younger Biden pressured Zhao to finalize a business deal.

I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled, Hunter Biden messaged Zhao.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden with Hunter and Ashley Biden at the University of Pennsylvania's graduation ceremony, where Hunter's daughter Maisy received her degree, in Philadelphia on May 15. (Amanda Andrade Rhoades/Reuters)

Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father.

White House spokesman Ian Sams told Yahoo News, As we have said many times, the president was never in business with his son. Hunter Biden attorney Chris Clark has said that any verifiable words or actions of my client in the midst of a horrible addiction are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family.

Hunter Biden has written in a memoir about his substance abuse problems, which grew worse after the death of his brother, Beau, in 2015 and lasted for at least four years.

Zhao worked with CFEC, a Chinese energy conglomerate with links to the Chinese government. And after Hunter Bidens threats to Zhao, on Aug. 2, 2017, a business deal was signed between CFEC and the younger Bidens company, Hudson West. The deal ultimately paid him $4.8 million over 14 months, the Washington Post reported in 2022.

The WhatsApp messages were obtained by the IRS through a search warrant into Hunter Bidens iCloud account, Shapley said. That search warrant was issued on the basis of what the IRS had found late in 2019, on a laptop computer belonging to Hunter Biden that he was said to have left in a repair shop.

What are Democrats saying?

President Biden, who had left the vice presidency during the time in question in 2017 and was not in any elected office, was asked this week if he was indeed present when his son wrote that message to Zhao.

No, I wasnt, Biden said.

Previously, the White House has said the president has never even considered being involved in business with his family, nor in any overseas business whatsoever.

As for the Justice Departments investigation into Hunter Bidens tax avoidance, Attorney General Merrick Garland held a press conference last week to give his side of the story.

The Justice Department, Garland said, gave David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney from Delaware overseeing the Hunter Biden investigation, complete authority over the investigation and prosecution decisions.

Shapley has contested that, but Weiss himself  who was a Trump appointee  has corroborated Garlands version of events.

I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution, consistent with federal law, the Principles of Federal Prosecution, and Departmental regulations, Weiss wrote in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

John P. Fishwick, a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, told Yahoo News that Garlands press conference was a good first step but that the Justice Department needed to be more aggressive in publicly responding to the Hunter Biden story.

DOJ is always reluctant to talk about decisions theyve made, Fishwick said. I think were left to speculate a little bit on this.  The important thing is to give the American people confidence in the situation.
This photo shows the exhibition area of African foods and agricultural products during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

China and African countries on Thursday proposed the establishment of a liaison mechanism for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) cooperation to strengthen the docking of inspection and quarantine standards and rules, which is key to facilitating African exports of agricultural food products to China.



More than 180 Chinese and foreign representatives attended the China-Africa Sanitary and Phytosanitary Cooperation Forum held on Thursday in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province. A joint statement on the SPS cooperation was issued at the forum.

The China-Africa SPS cooperation information website was also launched at the event. Wang Lingjun, deputy director of China's General Administration of Customs, signed agricultural and food product market access agreements with representatives from Madagascar and Zimbabwe at the meeting.

Wang said the administration will deepen inspection and quarantine cooperation with relevant government departments of African countries, and optimize market access assessment procedures for African agricultural and food products exported to China.

According to the administration's data, the volume of agricultural imports and exports between China and Africa increased from 33.3 billion yuan (4.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012 to 58.6 billion yuan in 2022, with an average annual growth rate of 5.8 percent. In the first five months of this year, the trade volume jumped 20.4 percent year on year to reach 26.6 billion yuan.

African aquatic products, honey, sesame, peanuts, tobacco, wool, cotton, soybeans, coffee and fruits are stably exported to China.

Wang said the administration will continue to expand the types of African agricultural and food products exported to China to help promote the comprehensive and high-quality development of China-Africa trade, and to maintain the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

The forum is among the major themed activities being held during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, which opened in Changsha on Thursday.

Among the 21 pilot free trade zones in China, the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone has been tasked with building a "demonstrative highland" for cooperation between China and Africa.

Hunan has prioritized efforts to standardize the inspection and quarantine of African agricultural products included in deals made at the expo, helping them gain market access to China.

Xu Xiaohua, director of the Evaluation Center of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Promotion Council, said that since the center was established in Changsha last year, it has done significant work to facilitate bilateral trade and cooperation.

Through the World Trade Organization, the center collects market supply and demand information from 54 African countries to provide matchmaking services for Chinese and African enterprises, and to help tackle obstacles that arise in Hunan's free trade experiments.
Republican presidential candidate and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd said that the Supreme Courts ruling on Friday that a Christian website designer cannot be required to provide wedding websites to same-sex couples was uncomfortable but the right call.

This is a decision that makes me uncomfortable, but I think it was the right call, partly because we should protect expression and speech even if it makes us uncomfortable and we disagree with it, Hurd said in an interview with MSNBC.

I personally disagree with the anti-LGBTQ sentiments that were expressed in this case, the moderate Republican candidate added.

While in Congress, Hurd was one of a handful of Republicans to vote in favor of legislation to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ Americans.

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Friday that Colorados anti-discrimination law violated evangelical Christian web designer Lorie Smiths free speech rights by requiring her to create wedding websites for both opposite-sex and same-sex couples, contrary to her religious beliefs.

But, as this Court has long held, the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.

Of course, abiding the Constitutions commitment to the freedom of speech means all of us will encounter ideas we consider unattractive, he added.

However, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned in a biting dissent that the ruling could open the door to discrimination against other groups, suggesting that a website designer could refuse to create a wedding website for an interracial couple.

How quickly we forget that opposition to interracial marriage was often because Almighty God . . . did not intend for the races to mix, she said, quoting the courts landmark decision in Loving v. Virginia that overturned state bans on interracial marriage.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel have not observed any Russian military deployment inside the occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told France 24 from the agencys headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on June 30.

His comments to the French broadcaster come amid reports by the Ukrainian authorities claiming that Moscow was preparing to launch a terror attack on the site.

Grossi asserted that he didnt see that kind of development on the ground, but also that anything can happen  that is what worries me.

The increase in military activity on the frontline amid the Ukrainian counter-offensive adds an additional layer of concern over a situation that is extremely volatile, because the plant is sitting on the front line, Grossi said.

The plant is incredibly fragile and open to damage if there is an exchange of fire.

Read also: Russian invaders leaving Zaporizhzhya NPP amid fears of terrorist attack, says military intelligence

Grossi also commented on his visit to the nuclear plant on June 15 that the situation was serious but stabilizing at the nuclear power plant after the destruction of the nearby Kakhovka dam. Water from the dams reservoir was used to cool its six reactors.

Initials measures were taken by the management of the plant to preserve the needed amount of water, but this will not be enough in the long term, Grossi said.

During a visit to the plant, the IAEA reported on June 21 that no landmines were observed near the facilitys cooling pond, contradicting previous reports.

Threat to Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant  What is known

The head of Ukraines Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said on June 25 that the Russians had completed preparations for a possible terrorist attack at the occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Equipment with explosives was deployed near four of the six reactors, he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on June 22 that Russia is considering a scenario of a terrorist attack at the nuclear plant it has seized, and has prepared everything for this.

The U.S. authorities havent seen any indication that that threat is imminent, but were watching it very, very closely, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said on June 27.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Iconic Kansas City venue hasnt had a concert in decades. Now its going to reopen

The former El Torreon Ballroom, a Kansas City icon that hasnt hosted a concert since 1974, is being renovated into a music venue, the developer said Thursday.

We think the timing is right, said Scott Petersen of the locally based Whitestone Co.

We have new apartment units going up across the street, more commercial developments on the way around the corner, and the streetcar coming in next year. Theres all this redevelopment happening here, and we think this building can again be the crown jewel of the neighborhood.

The second-level ballroom at El Torreon will become a 1,500-capacity venue, set to open in 2025.

The project, estimated to cost $16 million, calls for a 1,500-capacity venue in the second-floor ballroom space, which has a domed, 30-foot ceiling. Whitestone is partnering with the local production company Mammoth Live to design the 23,000-square-foot venue, at 31st Street and Gillham Plaza, and book events.

Sizewise, its smaller than the Uptown, larger than the Madrid  probably closest in this market to The Truman, Petersen said. And because of the dome and the lack of columns, we think we can see certain sporting events there, like pro wrestling and UFC. So, not just live music.

An archival photograph of the El Torreon ballroom sits next to an image of the projected development.

The building is rich with history. Built in 1927 with concrete from political boss and businessman Tom Pendergast, El Torreons second-floor ballroom was a jazz age concert hall that hosted the likes of Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. It closed and became a roller skating rink from the late 1930s to the 1960s, then enjoyed a second musical act in the early 1970s as the Cowtown Ballroom, where stars including Van Morrison, The Byrds and Linda Ronstadt performed. It became the subject of a 2009 film documentary.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, El Torreons first floor was a semi-legal home for the local underground music scene, hosting punk, hardcore and ska bands.

Scott Petersen and his firm, Whitestone Co., are spearheading the redevelopment of El Torreon.

Several developers have taken a run at revitalizing the building over the years. It has been owned since 2014 by Bridgeport, a local church that continues to gather there. Its first floor is currently used as an event space and wedding venue, but the ballroom has been out of use since a roof collapse seven years ago. Fortunately, Petersen said, the church carried insurance, which allowed the ballroom to be fully repaired.

A small concrete sculpture overlooking El Torreons parking lot is part of the original 1927 design.

Bridgeport hired Petersens firm in 2020 to look into restoring the building. The project has since been approved for $5.1 million in state and federal tax credits, and the local community development fund AltCap is applying for millions more from the New Market Tax Credit program. Per an agreement, Bridgeport will transfer ownership of the building to a holding company through which a new nonprofit, Friends of El Torreon, will oversee the restoration and operations of the building.

Developer Scott Petersen said renovations at El Torreon are estimated to cost $16 million. The new venue will feature an open concert space, a VIP area on the upper terrace and two bars.

Petersen said the project will not apply for tax incentives from city agencies.

We will need some gap funding, but between the historic tax credits and the NMTC funds, I think our capital stack is adequate to make this work, he said.

A rendering of the new El Torreon ballroom, expected to open in 2025.

Bridgeport will likely continue to maintain a presence on the first floor, Petersen said, but that level will also be remodeled and updated, with plans for a restaurant or cafe.

In addition to the open concert space, the venue will also offer a VIP area on the upper terrace and two bars.

Construction is expected to begin early next year, with plans for a February 2025 opening.
Imagine Rep. Jane Smith voted against a bill to censor public libraries.

Returning home to her rural Idaho district, she is ordered to appear before the Central Committee, where Party officials pepper her with questions. Her answers are unimportant.

The Central Committee announces the decision it made weeks ago: Smith will be cast out, the fact that she won the support of 70% of voters in the last election notwithstanding.

Because the requirement for wielding power is not loyalty to the people who elected you, but loyalty to the party bosses.

This isnt a scene from the Soviet bloc. Its the Idaho Republican Partys immediate plan for running politics in the Gem State under the guidance of Premier Dorothy Moon, a plan it moved at its summer meeting in Challis to begin implementing with a series of rules.

As Melissa Davlin of Idaho Public Television reported, the party passed resolutions that include allowing central committees to summon, censure and even revoke the right of lawmakers to run as Republicans; revoking the voting privileges of the Young Republicans, College Republicans and Republican Women; supporting a constitutional amendment to allow the party to control the primary; and issuing a vote of no confidence in Gov. Brad Little and a number of Republican House members for failing to support library censorship.

The organizing logic is simple: Whatever power there is, it ought to belong to the Party.

Whatever power these ideologically extreme and power-hungry Party bosses successfully take, it will come at the expense of Idaho voters.

Because policy positions favored by huge numbers of Republican voters in Idaho are formally verboten under the Idaho GOPs official platform.

If a Republican lawmaker doesnt sign on to a proposal to revoke your right to cast a ballot in U.S. Senate elections, theyve violated the GOP platform, which requires support for revoking the 17th Amendment.

If they support the continued existence of some number of grizzly bears or wolves in Idaho, theyve arguably violated it as well.

Or if they dont support a return to the gold standard.

Or if they dont support the repeal of Medicaid expansion.

Or if they dont support nullifying the U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing marriage equality.

Or if they support the right of a child who was raped by a family member to have an abortion, or if they think that such an abortion should be handled in some way other than with a murder charge.

For these and countless other examples of crimethink, the peoples elected officials could be hauled in and stripped of their right to call themselves Republicans by a bunch of people that most Idaho Republican voters have never heard of, much less voted for.

With Idahos most powerful party fully hijacked, the open primary initiative seems to be the best bet for keeping the political process under popular control, precisely because it would diminish the political relevance of parties. It would allow everyone to weigh in on which candidates will face off in the general election, regardless of party, and it would allow voters to rank general election candidates in order of preference, so they wouldnt have to worry theyre throwing their votes away if a third-party candidate is their first choice.

None of this would help people the extremist Party has termed RINOs or secret liberals or any of that nonsense. Conservatives would do well with an open primary and ranked-choice voting system because Idaho is full of conservative voters.

Those elected under such a system would know that it was the people, not the Party bosses, who put them in office. They would know it is the people, not the Party bosses, to whom they answer for their record.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesmans editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser, and community member Mary Rohlfing.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., dont get along.

But if House Republicans try to impeach President Biden or a roster of other Biden cabinet officials in the coming months, a look at how Pelosi handled impeachment questions deserves attention.

Rewind the calendar to 2007. Democrats flipped control of the House in the 2006 midterms. Pelosi faced a wall of pressure from liberal Democrats to impeach President George W. Bush over the war in Iraq.

Pelosi resisted those calls. "Impeachment is off the table," Pelosi said at the time.

TED CRUZ CALLS ON HOUSE TO INVESTIGATE IMPEACHING BIDEN OVER HUNTER ALLEGATIONS: DIRECT EVIDENCE

But Pelosi had a plan to wind down the U.S. commitment overseas. Pelosi instructed then-Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wisc., to start diminishing spending available for the war effort. Control of the purse strings is the ultimate power in Congress. Pelosi and Obey didnt want to cut off troops in the field. But the plan was to dial back funding so the U.S. would leave Iraq sooner rather than later.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Fast forward to the summer of 2019.

BIDEN DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN SON HUNTER'S CHINESE BUSINESS DEALINGS AFTER NEW MESSAGE EMERGES

Pelosi had resisted calls to impeach former President Donald Trump for years over a host of transgressions. Pelosi often reminded House Democrats and her members she supported an investigation of alleged misdeeds and would "follow the facts" wherever they may lead.

Democrats were disappointed in information provided at a summer 2019 hearing with former Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller was coy during his testimony and failed to produce a smoking gun. But some lawmakers observed that Mueller may have left a breadcrumb of clues in his report investigating Trump: impeachment may be an option.

Still, Democrats were reluctant to go there  even though many wanted to do so.

In fact, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, regularly launched efforts to try to impeach former President Trump. While many Democrats admired Greens gusto, they viewed his effort as an unserious sideshow.

Pelosi wouldnt let the House be a part of such a carnival.

That was until word came of the phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Information surfaced that Mr. Trump may have delayed sending previously-approved assistance to Ukraine. But he first pressured Zelenskyy to launch investigations of President Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

No love was lost between the former president and Pelosi. But Pelosi was often a master of understanding where the votes might be on a given issue. She was also mindful of protecting her members from taking a tough vote. Pelosi didnt appear ready for impeachment yet. Certainly after Muellers appearance. But the Trump/Zelenskyy phone call was another matter.

In mid-September 2019, a coalition of seven Democratic freshmen House members penned an op-ed in The Washington Post. They wrote that if the allegations against Trump were true, they would consider it "an impeachable offense."

WHAT A BIDEN IMPEACHMENT FIGHT WOULD DO TO REPUBLICANS, AND THE COUNTRY

All seven authors flipped districts from Republican to Democratic control in the 2018 midterms. The seven had serious national security credentials. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., served in the Army. Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., worked for the CIA. Three served in the Navy: Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., along with former Reps. Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Gil Cisneros, D-Calif. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., was in the Air Force.

The op-ed signaled to Pelosi that centrist, Democratic freshmen from battleground districts were willing to potentially impeach the president. The speaker had protected them and others from what could become a career-defining vote. Pelosi greenlighted a formal impeachment inquiry a few days after the op-ed. The House voted on Halloween to design the ground rules for an impeachment inquiry. And just before Christmas, the House voted to impeach Trump again.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a House vote to impeach former President Donald Trump in January 2021.

The Pelosi-led House moved to impeach Trump just hours after the Capitol riot in January, 2021.

The measure went to the floor swiftly  lacking the weeks and months of hearings which were a feature of the former president's first impeachment. In fact, the House impeached Trump days before his term expired.

Pelosi didnt hold back on impeaching Trump that time because she had the votes. She also wanted to impeach him while he was still in office.

What is past is prologue.

McCarthy may have temporarily circumvented an immediate push by Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., to impeach President Biden before the House abandoned Washington for the July Fourth recess. But this is far from the last time we will see or hear about this debate.

A ROAD TO IMPEACHMENT: HOUSE REPUBLICANS MAY YET IMPEACH BIDEN

And the stark reality is that it may very well wind up in an eventual impeachment of President Biden.

Here are several scenarios which could unfold over the next few months:

The Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are already probing alleged misdeeds of Biden. Boeberts resolution specifically calls for impeachment of the president because of how hes dealt with the border. The House voted to send Boeberts resolution to those panels, preventing an immediate up/down vote on impeachment on the floor.

Watch to see how these committees move. If they amp things up, the House could be headed toward a true impeachment inquiry. That ultimately could result in an impeachment vote later this year. However, it is unclear if the House actually has the votes to impeach Biden.

The Judiciary and Homeland Security committees are probing alleged misdeeds by President Biden.

By contrast, the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees could do nothing with the referral of Boeberts impeachment resolution. Boebert indicated shed force the issue on the floor again. This is a little like Al Greens repeated efforts to impeach Trump. But if Boebert presses the issue, McCarthy could lack the ammo to again sidestep a direct confrontation over impeachment.

That likely means Boebert reintroduces her special resolution to impeach Biden. Either the House votes on that or tables it. A straight vote on impeachment causes big problems among Republicans. Some conservatives truly want to impeach the president. Others like to talk about impeachment but dont really want to tangle with it. Still, other GOPers see impeachment as political kryptonite and want to stay as far away from it as possible. Forcing a vote actually on an issue as explosive as impeachment ignites a GOP firestorm. Of course, voting to table it triggers a political maelstrom among a different set of GOP factions.

Here's another possibility: The committees actually shelve the impeachment effort. The committees might address the impeachment question and conduct investigations. But some Republicans already view the move to send the Boebert plan to committee as an effort to euthanize the enterprise. Some Republicans will breathe a sigh of relief. Others will go nuclear  perhaps against the speaker.

The bottom line: While not yet a formal "impeachment inquiry," the committees have wide latitude to truly investigate allegations which could be potentially worthy of impeachment. The vote to send the Boebert impeachment resolution to committee may have been a fig leaf. But chances are that the House must address impeachment for President of the United States in some form later this year.

The U.S. House of Representatives is likely to address articles of impeachment regarding President Biden.

As we speak, there are various Republicans who hope to impeach Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Washington, D.C., U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves.

In an interview with Fox about impeaching Garland, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., noted that "Kevin McCarthy is not against impeachment at all." Greene observed that "if were going to do it, it needs to be successful."

In other words, just dont deposit a privileged impeachment resolution on the floor and expect members to vote on it, al a Boebert or Al Green.

"The speaker of the House, whether its Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy or anyone  they want to make sure that they have the votes to pass it," said Greene.

Thats a calculus McCarthy may need to figure in the coming months  be it for Biden or the host of other figures listed above.

Pelosi moved the impeachments for Trump once she was confident she had the votes. But McCarthy only has a four-seat majority. Its far from clear how hell handle similar impeachment calls on his watch.
An Indian court has fined Twitter $61,000 after dismissing its plea challenging orders to remove tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government (Constanza HEVIA)

An Indian court on Friday fined Twitter $61,000 after dismissing its plea challenging orders to remove tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

The world's biggest democracy petitions Twitter for content removals more than almost any other country, and the platform regularly takes down or blocks content at the request of Indian authorities.

Friday's decision comes weeks after the company's former chief executive Jack Dorsey said authorities had threatened to "shut down Twitter in India" and raid the homes of its employees if it refused to agree to takedown requests.

The Karnataka state high court in Bengaluru, home to Twitter's Indian operations, dismissed the case and imposed costs of five million rupees ($61,000) after a judge deemed it "devoid of merits", local legal news website LiveLaw reported.

Responding to the verdict, Indian deputy information technology minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar tweeted that platforms operating in the country must "be in compliance with Indian law".

Twitter's India office was contacted for comment.

Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter and stepped down as chief executive in 2021, said this month that Twitter had come under sustained pressure from Indian officials during his tenure.

Chandrasekhar responded at the time by calling Dorsey's accusations an "outright lie."

Twitter said last year that India ranked fourth globally in the number of requests made by a government to remove content -- behind Japan, Russia and Turkey.

In March, the platform blocked the accounts of several journalists during the manhunt for a radical Sikh preacher in the northern state of Punjab.

At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, the government ordered Twitter and Facebook to remove dozens of posts critical of the government's handling of the outbreak.

Rights groups say freedom of expression is under broad threat in India, which has fallen 21 spots to 161 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index since Modi took office in 2014.

Indian authorities have regularly imposed blanket internet shutdowns during periods of unrest, including a four-month outage in Kashmir during a major security operation in the disputed territory in 2019.

ash/gle/qan
FILE PHOTO: An attendant wheels a patient through a hospital in New Delhi

Indian hospitals set investors' pulses racing in post-COVID boom FILE PHOTO: An attendant wheels a patient through a hospital in New Delhi

By M. Sriram

PUNE, India (Reuters) -In Pune city, Indira IVF is teeming with patients ready to spend $1,300 on fertility treatments that few government hospitals offer, reflecting the huge demand for private health care sweeping India, fueled partly by the scary pandemic experience.

Spotting the trend, global investors are scouting the Indian market, and banking and industry sources counted at least nine healthcare chains that are currently in talks to sell stakes.

The economic and demographic changes underway in India led global consultancy PwC to forecast 12-14% annual growth for a private healthcare market currently worth around $48 billion.

"We are seeing more heightened activity than ever before," said Rana Mehta, who leads PwC's India's healthcare practice, adding that he is currently working with more than a dozen private equity (PE) clients on potential deals.

A spokesperson for Indira IVF, which has 115 fertility clinics in India, said it was in the "early stages" of talks over a stake sale.

According to an investor source, it is looking to sell a majority stake valued at $1 billion, and global private equity firm General Atlantic was among the interested parties.

General Atlantic did not respond to a request for comment.

Even in the world's most populous country, many couples need fertility treatment, which is why the Indira IVF chain has become an attractive proposition for potential suitors, as have other specialist healthcare providers.

CARE Hospitals Group, according to another investor source, is in talks to sell a 70% stake to U.S. investment giant Blackstone in a deal valued at $800 million. CARE has 16 facilities in seven cities, and offers top-end 3D laparoscopic surgeries and kidney transplants.

Blackstone declined to comment and CARE did not respond to requests for comment.

MORE ATTRACTIVE THAN EVER

As government hospitals became increasingly overburdened and incomes rose in India's vast middle class, demand for private healthcare rose over the years.

But demand positively boomed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, when India suffered one of the world's worst death tolls from the virus.

"The India healthcare opportunity has always been attractive, but never more than now. COVID accelerated awareness," said Gaurav Sharma, a partner of Bahrain-based Investcorp in Mumbai.

After investing $67 million in India's Clove Dental chain last year, Investcorp expects demand for preventive treatments to rise and is eyeing more deals, especially when assets are in smaller towns and cities.

Indian private equity firm Kedaara Capital invested $150 million in two hospitals recently, and is now evaluating more deals as it sees patients are opting for branded chains for better care, Chief Investment Officer Nishant Sharma said.

Another specialty chain, Centre for Sight, is in talks to sell a stake at a valuation of $200 million, one industry source said. The eye care group did not respond to a request for comment.

The attraction of single specialty hospitals, Sharma said, is that they are smaller in size, require less investment, but can generate superior returns as demand rises.

ASIA'S PACE-SETTER

Striking the largest healthcare deal ever in India, Singapore's state investor Temasek spent $2 billion in April lifing its stake in Manipal Hospitals, one of largest multispecialty chains whose services include cardio and neuro surgeries, by 41% to 59%.

India stands out from the rest of Asia, where there have been far fewer deals for hospitals this year, Dealogic data shows.

In 2022, PE investors spent $3.2 billion buying stakes in hospitals in India.

Thanks solely to the Temasek deal, India accounted for 40% of the private equity investment made in hospitals globally during the first five months of this year.

Separately, hospitals in India have been buying each other at near record rates, with M&As totalling $4 billion in 2022 and $2.2 billion in the first five months of this year.

INSURANCE, PLEASE

While COVID-induced behavioral change is one factor behind the burgeoning demand for private care, India's growing and gradually ageing population, rise in income levels and high disease burden - measuring years lost to lengthy illness or early death - are fundamental reasons why it has become an increasingly desirable option for families who can afford it.

The trends are evident in the financial reports from Apollo Hospitals, one of India's largest chains.

Between 2019 and 2022 Apollo's average daily revenue per bed shot up by a third to $553. And during the same period, the number of annual outpatients rose by 65% to 6.8 million.

The change in Indians' attitude to private health insurance in recent years, which became even more marked during the pandemic, has given confidence to investors looking to put money into the country's healthcare businesses.

In 2020/21, regulatory data shows that premiums for health insurance policies rose 25% to $8.8 billion - the highest for at least five years.

Previously, one of the main considerations for Indians buying health insurance was that it gave them tax breaks, but these days people, like the patients sat in an air-conditioned corridor at the Indira IVF hospital in Pune, appreciate getting what they pay for.

If they had gone to the government hospitals serving the surrounding towns, they would have faced more discomfort, longer queues and would have been unlikely to get the treatment they want.

"Big private hospitals are more reliable," said 35-year-old G. Chavan said as he accompanied his wife to see a doctor. "This place gives some comfort."

($1 = 82.0400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by M. Sriram; Editing by Aditya Kalra & Simon Cameron-Moore)
The embattled leader of Indias main opposition Congress party visited crisis-hit Manipur and met with its displaced residents on Thursday, after his convoy was initially stopped by police near the state capital.

Rahul Gandhis visit comes as the northeastern state grapples with ongoing ethnic violence in which more than 100 people have been killed and tens of thousands more driven from their homes. Internet services have been cut for Manipurs nearly 3 million residents and travel restrictions have been imposed, making it increasingly difficult for people to travel into the state.

The unrest has presented Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a rare image of instability as opposition politicians accuse the government of showing a lack of urgency and failing to abate the violence.

Modi has yet to comment publicly on the situation and has not visited Manipur since the violence erupted in May.

Gandhi accused the BJP of blocking his vehicle from entering the state on Thursday. He eventually flew in to the state capital Imphal later that day.

Landed in Manipur today, where I will be visiting relief camps and meeting the families of those affected by violence that has engulfed the state. I will also be meeting with members of the civil society, he wrote on Facebook. Restoration of peace is the top priority. Manipur needs healing, and only together we can bring harmony.

Indian army soldiers patrol the streets of Manipur on June 7, 2023. - Indian Army/Reuters

The BJP denied it had attempted to prevent Gandi from entering Manipur, saying police had stopped the opposition leaders car for security reasons after protests broke out in the state against his visit.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also claimed that Gandhi is using Manipur as a pawn for his own political gain.

Sensitivity is far more important than stubbornness, Patra said during a news conference Thursday. We are a democratic country, no one stopped Rahul Gandhi from going to Manipur but the administration in the state said that there have been a lot of protests amid the news of (his visit).

Gandhi, former president of the Congress party and the great-grandson of Indias first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, has been the subject of an ongoing legal battle that his supporters say is politically motivated.

He was found guilty of defamation in March and stripped of his lawmaker status in a case related to a speech he made in 2019, in which he referred to thieves as having the same surname as Modi.

The 53-year-old politician is one of the few figures to have the kind of star power and name recognition to challenge the prime minister.

Ethnic violence

Manipur, a lush, hilly state which borders Myanmar, is home to an ethnically diverse group of Sino-Tibetan communities, each with their own language, culture and religion.

It has grappled with ethnic conflicts and insurgencies since Indias independence from British rule in 1947, but the current unrest has seen some of the worst violence in recent years.

Violence broke out in Imphal on May 3 after thousands of students, mostly from the Kuki tribe, took part in a rally against the majority Meiti ethnic community, who were demanding special tribal status that would allow them to buy land in the hills and give them more opportunity for government jobs.

The Meiteis, a largely Hindu ethnic group who account for about 50% of the states population, have for years campaigned to be recognized as a scheduled tribe. If they are given this status, other ethnic groups  many of whom are Christian  say they fear they will not have a fair chance for jobs and other benefits.

The Metei community dominates positions within the state government, and have been privy to more economic and infrastructural advancement than the other ethnic groups.

They live mostly in the more developed but geographically smaller Imphal Valley, while Kuki groups live predominantly in agriculturally rich and geographically larger protected hill districts.

The Kukis fear the change in status could result in their steady removal from a protected area they have occupied for decades and leave them vulnerable to exploitation.

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Indianas top court ruled Friday that the states near-total abortion ban is constitutional and lifted a preliminary injunction that had been blocking the law from taking effect.

Writing for three of the five Supreme Court justices, Justice Derek Molter said the Constitution protects a womans right to an abortion that is necessary to protect her life or to protect her from a serious health risk, but the General Assembly otherwise retains broad legislative discretion for determining whether and the extent to which to prohibit abortions.

All five Indiana Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republican governors.

With the new ruling, abortion will be banned in Indiana, with limited exceptions, as soon as Aug. 1.

In a statement, Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) praised the ruling, saying it was morally justified. Thank you to all the warriors who have fought for this day that upholds LIFE.

However, a second injunction remains in effect as a result of another lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana (ACLU) on behalf of Hoosier Jews for Choice. That suit claims the law violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) adopted in 2015 under then-Gov. Mike Pence (R), an ardent abortion opponent who is running for president.

The plaintiffs in the religious case were granted class-action status, but its not clear how that immediately impacts abortion access given the Supreme Courts ruling. The ACLU contends the injunction applies to all Indiana residents who have sincere religious beliefs that they must be able to obtain an abortion, rather than just the specific plaintiffs in the case.

That state is appealing both the class-action certification and the injunction. The case is set to be heard by the Indiana Court of Appeals in September.

Indiana was the first state to pass an abortion ban after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The GOP-dominated Legislature passed the ban, and Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed it in August.

The ban initially took effect Sept. 15 but was blocked a week later by a state circuit court following a lawsuit by abortion providers.

The providers argued that a womans right to liberty under the Indiana Constitution encompassed a fundamental right to abortion. As a result of the injunction, abortion was allowed to continue up to 20 weeks gestation.

The law bans abortion almost entirely and revokes the licenses of the states abortion clinics.

The ban contains limited exceptions for serious risk to the health or life of a pregnant person, diagnoses of a lethal fetal anomaly, and rape or incest, before 10 weeks post-fertilization. In those cases, abortions are allowed only at hospitals and hospital-owned ambulatory surgical centers.

The law also bans abortion drugs after eight weeks post-fertilization.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Initial autopsy of Wichita man who died in police custody inconclusive, official says

An initial autopsy of a 47-year-old Wichita man who died in police custody on Sunday did not find a cause of death, Kansas Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Melissa Underwood said Friday.

Another more detailed autopsy, which will include additional testing such as toxicology, will take eight to 14 weeks to complete, she said.

Police were called to a shooting around 5:21 a.m. Sunday after Thomas W. Dempsey told 911 he may have killed his wife in an argument, police said.

Officers responding to the home in the 2700 block of North Parkridge found 44-year-old Nicole Dempsey fatally shot.

Thomas Dempsey became unresponsive after being taken into police custody. Medical aid was given but he died at the scene.

The murder suspect died while he was being taken into police custody, Underwood said in an email. This is why (Wichita Police Department) asked us to investigate the incident. Our investigation will determine the cause of death of the 47-year-old male subject. WPD will continue to investigate the homicide of the 44-year-old female subject.

Thomas Dempsey lived at the home where police responded, Underwood said. Nicole Dempsey lived there as well and the two were married, Wichita police said.

Nicole Dempseys death is one of four homicides in the last week. There have been five homicides in June for a total of 17 so far this year in Wichita, according to records kept based on homicides reported by police. There were 23 homicides at this time last year.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement took effect on June 2 for the Philippines, meaning the pact is now active for all 15 members.

A slew of projects are signed between enterprises from RCEP members during the 2023 High-Level Forum for RCEP Economic and Trade Cooperation on June 29, 2023. [Photo courtesy of China Chamber of International Commerce]

The world's largest free trade pact witnessed further progress during the 2023 High-Level Forum for RCEP Economic and Trade Cooperation held in Qingdao, east China's Shandong province. During the forum, a slew of projects were signed between enterprises from member states, spanning various sectors such as construction, aviation charter service, cultural tourism, healthcare, and talent training, aiming for broader and deeper cooperation.

Ren Hongbin, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the China Chamber of International Commerce, highlighted the increasing trade between RCEP members. He observed that the Asia-Pacific region had become a prominent area for global trade and investment.

Data showed that in 2022, trade between China and other RCEP members increased 7.5% year on year to 12.95 trillion yuan ($1.79 trillion), while their investment in China, in actual use, rose 23.1% to $23.53 billion.

Cambodian Ambassador to China, Khek Caimealy Sysoda, stressed that in the face of global economic uncertainties, the RCEP agreement has delivered tangible benefits to regional economic and trade cooperation through comprehensive measures, including reducing trade costs, diminishing or eliminating non-tariff barriers, and promoting the integration of regional industrial and supply chains.

She added that trade between China and Cambodia rose by 17.5% year on year to around $16 billion, and consistent progress has been made in bilateral cooperation in fields like agriculture, textiles and infrastructure.

Glenn G. Penaranda, assistant secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry of the Philippines, noted that the Philippines views RCEP as a catalyst for economic development. It provides not only enhanced market access for their key products but also a platform to attract more investment in essential sectors such as manufacturing, financial services, game development, and e-commerce. He expressed that RCEP can also assist the country in fostering a more robust and beneficial partnership with China based on the Belt and Road Initiative.

Ou Boqian, secretary-general of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, emphasized that the RCEP agreement is the first free trade pact that links China, Japan, and South Korea, significantly contributing to the development of these three countries. She proposed that the three parties and other RCEP members adhere to multilateralism, enhance the division of labor, and broaden collaboration in the green economy, blue economy, digital economy, and other sectors.

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn underscored that the benefits of the RCEP agreement have extended beyond tariff liberalization, as it has also simplified customs procedures, standardized rules of origin, and reduced transaction costs among members. He also urged feedback from businesses in utilizing the RCEP agreement to address on-the-ground challenges.

Zhou Yi, who oversees customs and global trade at Deloitte China, mentioned that the RCEP has stimulated the synergy of supply chains and the integration of resources in the region. Yet, enterprises still need to familiarize themselves with specific local rules and institutions for smoother operations.

During the forum, the Qingdao Initiative of China's Business Community on Promoting the Construction of the RCEP Mechanism and Sharing the Results of Regional Cooperation was launched, aiming to foster broader, deeper, and higher-level collaboration among member countries.

Representatives from China and Australia discuss products at the investment and trade fair on June 29, 2023. [Photo by Xu Xiaoxuan/China.org.cn]

As an associated forum event, an investment and trade fair was held for all 15 members to explore more business cooperation opportunities.
Inmate's allegations of abuse got the attention of Richard Allen's attorneys

Officers transport murder suspect Richard Allen during a hearing regarding sealed documents, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, at Carroll County Courthouse in Delphi, Ind.

Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen's attorneys want to speak with Robert P. Baston, the Westville prison inmate who alleged guards and inmates are tormenting the Allen, who is accused of killing teenagers Libby German and Abby Williams.

Allen's attorney, Brad Rozzi, filed a motion Thursday morning requesting a court order to expedite a meeting with Baston, who on April 28 filed a letter with the court alleging that the abuse.

Allen, 50, is charged with two counts of murder. He is accused of killing the Delphi teenagers on the north banks of the Deer Creek about a quarter-of-a-mile east of the Monon High Bridge on the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2017.

More: Court docket reveals how Delphi teens died, as well as witnesses' names

Allen was arrested Oct. 26 and has been in the Westville Correctional Facility's segregation for safe keeping since Nov. 2. He's being housed in the disciplinary isolation ward.

"Richard Allen is being abused and mistreated along with other inmates in the Westville Control Restrictive Unit Restrictive Housing," Baston wrote in his letter to the court.

"There are corrupt officers and ranking officers calling Richard Allen a kid killer, teasing him that he has a visit from his family, phone is ringing on his GTL-table ," Baston wrote.

Other inmates in nearby cells threatened to kill Allen and told him to kill himself, he wrote.

More: Delphi murder suspect Richard Allen documents unsealed and posted online

More: Westville inmate claims 'corrupt officers' have mistreated Richard Allen

Baston, a convicted child molester serving a 40-year sentence handed down in July 2010, alleges that the Warden, John Galipeau, and ranking officers and prison officers have witnessed other inmates threatening to kill Allen and have not taken steps to stop the threats.

When the Journal & Courier broke this story Wednesday, it contacted Galipeau and the DOC spokeswoman for comment. They never responded.

Baston's claims apparently piqued the attention of Allen's attorneys.

"Attorney Rozzi attempted to set up a visitation account to visit with Mr. Baston prior to the June 13 hearing, but was unable to do so as a result of some technical difficulties," Rozzi wrote in the motion.

Rozzi said a conversation with an attorney for the Department of Corrections suggested he get a court order to "streamline the process."

In the motion, Rozzi requests a private meeting with Baston, much as an attorney/client meeting at the prison.

Rozzi's motion indicates he tried to subpoena Baston for Allen's June 15 hearing at the Carroll County Courthouse, but Baston resisted and was not transported to the hearing, according to the motion.

Since Allen's hearing, Rozzi has received additional letters from Baston, whom Rozzi described as a potential witness in Allen's murder trial.

Special Judge Frances Gull has not yet published an order on Rozzi's motion.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Allegations of abuse got the attention of Richard Allen's attorneys
The real estate market is an ever-evolving landscape, offering immense opportunities for those with the right knowledge and expertise. In recent years, the industry has witnessed both challenges and unprecedented growth. The US market in particular has seen a remarkable upswing, with home prices continuing to soar across the country, with the latest data showing an impressive price surge of 8.8% in December 2022.

As the industry is reverting to its pre-pandemic state, real estate professionals who are able to quickly adapt to the shift can best thrive in this dynamic environment. With a background rooted in entrepreneurship and a deep passion for the industry, Houston-based Boris Sanchez has emerged as one of the leading figures in the real estate scene.

Sanchez showed an entrepreneurial spirit at a young age. From running a food delivery business in school at the age of seven to navigating the challenges of his familys immigration to the United States, he quickly learned the value of adaptability and tenacity.

I like to say Ive had a knack for business since I was a child. But, watching my mother go from a successful attorney to scrubbing floors as a young adult, I learned how quickly ones life can get derailed, Sanchez shares, adding that the value of adaptability was one of the key reasons behind his tremendous success.

As the real estate market constantly evolves, Sanchez has proven himself to be a versatile expert who understands the intricacies of the industry. He has witnessed firsthand the ebb and flow of the market, navigating its fluctuations while building a thriving business.

Sanchez is a multifaceted real estate professional with experience in various aspects of the industry. His work encompasses different areas within the market.

While exploring different realty avenues, Sanchez briefly engaged in property flipping. Commercial properties intrigued me the most. When I bought my first property in 2012, I used unique borrowing methods typically applied to residential home flipping, which is when I found success in the commercial sector, Sanchez shares.

Sanchez wasnt wrong to specialize in the commercial real estate sector, as it has been a fast-growing industry for many years now. In fact, in 2022, it was the 1st ranked real estate and rental and leasing industry by market size and the 5th largest in the US.

As he shifted his attention toward commercial real estate, Sanchez placed particular focus on multifamily properties. This shift paid off handsomely, as his portfolio now boasts an impressive collection of over 500 units. Recognizing the importance of diversifying his investments, however, Sanchez also ventured into the self-storage sector, successfully managing an astonishing 530 units.

Throughout his career, Sanchez embraced many innovative approaches. Unlike many professionals who have tended to turn toward popular investment methods like the BRRRR (buy, renovate, rent, refinance, repeat), Sanchezs unique KISS strategy has garnered significant attention within the industry. The KISS or the Keep Some, Sell Some, Scale method advocates for a balanced approach of keeping some properties for depreciation benefits while selling others to fuel growth.

This strategy encourages progressive growth rather than simply accumulating properties one by one, he explains.

Sanchezs company has experienced remarkable growth since its launch in 2017, and what sets it apart is that it achieved this success without relying on a substantial government loan. With an ambitious vision in mind, Sanchez aims to expand his companys operations nationwide, with a particular focus on the brokerage sector.

When COVID arrived in 2020, our brokerage was still in its early stages, but we were experimenting with deal packaging. At that time, it was a smaller operation with just me and two associates handling everything. In 2021, I restructured the company, let go of one associate, and expanded by hiring more brokers, Sanchez explains.

The company now employs a team of 25 individuals, all united by a shared mission to drive the companys growth and explore new markets.

In the immediate future, Sanchezs attention will be directed toward expanding into southern states such as Florida and Georgia. Sanchez has recognized the potential in these regions, and he seeks to capitalize on the favorable market conditions there. The current market trends indicate rapid growth in the southern and western regions, as they increasingly attract attention away from the coastal areas, he explains.

In addition to becoming a powerhouse in the Texas realty sector, Sanchez has taken things a step further by setting down plans to start an online platform where he would share his tips and advice for young entrepreneurs who are just about to dip into the tumultuous waters of real estate.

The upcoming venture, the Commercial Real Estate University, is expected to be launched in July, and it aims to provide aspiring real estate investors and professionals with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed in the commercial real estate market. The curriculum will not only focus on the technical aspects of real estate investing but also emphasize the importance of a mindset shift and a contrarian approach to stand out in the crowd.

My own path to success was long and winding. Of course, many of us go through similar obstacles, and we all experience various ups and downs, but if theres a chance that my advice will make the path just a bit easier for aspiring entrepreneurs, then it will be worth it, Sanchez shares.

McClatchy newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
Grogue, the national drink of Cabo Verde, is a spirit distilled from sugar cane. Martin Zwick/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

At what point does a craft spirit no longer qualify as craft?

For centuries on the archipelago nation Cabo Verde off Africas west coast, farmers have produced a sugar cane-based craft spirit known as grogue. The liquor  an effervescent spirit with light grassy notes  has a rich cultural legacy and has historically been made in limited quantities by skilled workers using traditional distilling methods.

Weve been studying tensions between some traditional producers and the government, which seeks to more strictly regulate the production of the spirit to popularize it in international markets.

The industrialization of this drink could be a boon for a struggling rural economy. However, some small-scale producers are being forced to close shop, unable to meet new regulatory demands.

A brief history of grogue

The history of grogue reflects the story of the islands themselves.

After the archipelago was discovered by European mariners between 1455 and 1461, the islands became a stopover along Atlantic trade routes, a place for ships to resupply and their new crews to embark. By 1490, Portuguese merchants brought enslaved peoples from the African mainland to grow crops, particularly plantation sugar cane, which largely failed due to degraded soil and lack of consistent rain.

The vast majority of Cabo Verdes sugar cane is grown on the island of Santo Antao. South Africa Gateway, CC BY-SA

Today, 82% of the arable land in Santo Antao, the countrys second biggest island, is still planted with sugar cane, which represents about 30% of the islands GDP. Grogue, which uses sugar cane as its base, doesnt rot and can be kept for years, which makes it an attractive export.

On July 5, 1975, Cabo Verde became one of the last African colonies to achieve independence. The nations newly independent government quickly moved to promote domestic agriculture through subsidies and investment, with unanticipated consequences on the grogue economy.

The decision to subsidize desired staples throughout the islands, such as refined sugar in 1993, resulted in an increase in grogue production  not from freshly pressed sugar cane, but from imported sugar. The glut of industrial sugar impaired the quality and value of grogue and became known colloquially as merdon or the grogue of democracy.

In 2008, the Confrerie du Grogue de Santo Antao, a guild of grogue producers, claimed grogue was being threatened by quality control issues and subsidized imported sugar. The guild lobbied for stricter government regulation to protect grogues legacy and cultural importance.

Regulating grogue

As a result of this lobbying, the government passed laws in 2015 and 2018 to establish rules governing the production of grogue, such as the banning of the use of refined sugar. The regulations considered national and international food standards, environmental protection, public health, and consumer and producer rights.

The law strictly defined grogue as a sugar cane spirit produced in Cabo Verde, specifically from the distillation of naturally fermented syrup that was directly pressed from Cabo Verdean sugar cane.

Once the regulatory apparatus was established after the COVID-19 pandemic, however, many small distilleries were forced to stop production because they couldnt meet the new fermentation, storage and labeling standards.

A machine for crushing sugar cane to make grogue on Santo Antao, the second-largest of Cabo Verdes 10 islands. Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Instead, these farmers sent their relatively meager sugar cane harvests to larger processors, since it was no longer cost effective to produce grogue in small batches, or they left the enterprise entirely.

The new regulations primarily affected artisanal distillers throughout the main island of Santiago, which has more small-scale production sites. Most of the larger producers are in Santo Antao, where 80% of the countrys grogue is made.

Be careful what you wish for

In some contexts, small-batch production represents high quality and care  French cheeses, Italian olive oil and Kentucky bourbon, for example. In others, it signifies cheapness and inferior quality.

Cabo Verdean grogue can possess both elements, leading to highly charged debates over its value.

Almost 35% of Cabo Verdes population participates in agriculture, and a deep and complex agricultural ethos has been cultivated over the centuries in what scholars Aminah Fernandes Pilgrim and Joao Resende-Santos describe as a fading and failing rural economy.

Does scaling up to meet industrial standards hold the key to rural renewal? Or will it create insurmountable barriers for small-scale producers, closing one more path out of poverty?

That is the current conundrum facing Cabo Verde, which has implications for other places where craft spirit production is highly valued as a cultural asset and is scaling up.

Cabo Verde and grogue go hand in hand, and locals, diasporas and tourists seem to broadly support the expansion of sugar cane cultivation and grogue distillation. Many local consumers see grogue as a quality drink thats better than cheaper, imported alternatives. It represents a piece of cultural heritage and is key to rural economic development.

A man distills grogue at a small distillery on Santo Antao. Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

However, our analysis shows that the shift toward industrialization has deep implications for food security and public health.

Farmers producing grogue can use money they earn from grogue to pay school fees and achieve some financial stability.

Yet regulatory efforts to improve quality and consistency of grogue may have inadvertently and negatively affected small producers.

Improperly or illegally made grogue is now being confiscated and destroyed, pushing clandestine producers back underground. Agricultural figures from the World Bank suggest that there may be more grogue being made than available sugar cane to produce it, which indicates that refined sugar is still being used to make poor-quality merdon.

Of course, improperly produced grogue could get people sick. And it goes without saying that any alcohol consumed  regardless of how it is produced  can lead to alcoholism, violence and drunken driving.

Its somewhat ironic that a local grogue guild of artisanal producers lobbied for new legislation to enhance the quality and highlight the cultural significance of their product. These efforts, however, have ended up pushing the smaller outfits  the kind most likely to use traditional methods  out of business, into cooperative arrangements or underground.

On Cabo Verde, all of the elements of craft spirits that make grogue special  a connection to people and place, a unique taste and a symbol of local celebration and identity  are in danger of being lost.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

It was written by: Brandon D. Lundy, Kennesaw State University; Mark Patterson, Kennesaw State University; Monica Swahn, Kennesaw State University, and Nancy Hoalst-Pullen, 3 questions about tequila, answered

For some craft beer drinkers, less can mean more

Brandon D. Lundy receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

Mark Patterson receives funding from the National Science Foundation.

Monica Swahn receives funding from The National Science Foundation.

Nancy Hoalst-Pullen receives funding from The National Science Foundation.
After Wagner Group's short-lived rebellion, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) was tasked with liquidating mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov.

"In any case, all of such potential assassination attempts will not be fast. It will take them some time to have the proper approaches and to reach the stage when they're ready to conduct a huge operation," Budanov told the War Zone media outlet.

"But once again, I'd like to underline that it's a big open question. Would they be successful in fulfilling that? Will they dare to execute that order?"

On June 27, the FSB claimed it had closed the criminal case over Prigozhin's armed insurrection.

Prigozhin launched a "march for justice" against Russian military leaders on June 23 after a missile attack allegedly targeted Wagner troops in Ukraine. His mercenaries occupied Rostov and marched 200 kilometers to Moscow, only to abruptly end the rebellion less than 24 hours after its start.

Petro Burkovskyi: Decoding Prigozhins rebellion The Wagner Groups armed rebellion has displayed little evidence of being a successful challenge to Putins regime, but it has created a strong argument in support of Ukraines accelerated accession to NATO. The military drama that unfolded in Russia from June 23 to 24, orchestrated by Wagner The Kyiv IndependentPetro Burkovskyi

As a result of an undisclosed agreement between Wagner's boss and the Kremlin, Prigozhin and his contractors were allowed to leave for Belarus. Moscow claimed that Wagner mercenaries would also have the opportunity to sign a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry.

According to Russian independent outlet Verstka, citing its sources in Belarus, a military camp for 8,000 Wagner contractors is being constructed at Asipovichy, roughly 200 km from the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

However, Budanov said in the War Zone interview that Prigozhin didn't plan a massive stationing of his troops in Belarus but rather to set up a hub on its territory for logistic purposes and recruitment.

"And what is going to happen next is that the majority of personnel which was previously engaged in fighting in Ukraine will be step-by-step moved to Africa to continue operations there," Budanov added.

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claimed on June 27 that Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus. However, there are still no visual or other confirmations of the Wagner boss' whereabouts.
NEW YORK  Three investors in Donald Trumps media company were hit with insider trading charges Thursday, accused of reaping $22 million in illegal profits based on confidential information they told friends about on a gambling vacation.

Florida men Gerald Shvartsman, 45, Michael Shvartsman, 52, and Bruce Garelick, 52, were accused in Manhattan federal court of securities fraud charges carrying up to 20 years in prison. The feds say they spent millions on stocks in Digital World Acquisition Corporation in October 2021, aware it was about to enter a moneymaking merger with Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social.

Garelick shared information he had access to as a board member of Digital World with the Shvartsman brothers in the alleged scheme, with all three selling their stock for a steep profit weeks after the deal was publicly announced, according to the feds.

The trio illegally advised friends on a trip to Las Vegas and Gerald Shvartsmans employees at a furniture supply store to get in on the action, too, the feds charge.

Trump is not accused of anything nor involved in the case. But it could hurt the lucrative pending merger the company he founded stands to profit from significantly.

The charges were included among four major insider trading cases announced by Williams office, including against a Pfizer employee indicted for buying the pharmaceutical companys short-dated, out-of-the-money call options after he confidentially learned Paxlovid successfully treated COVID-19.

Insider trading is not a quick buck. Its not easy money. Its not a sure thing. Its cheating. Its a bad bet. Its a ticket to prison, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.

And were working quickly to investigate and prosecute anyone who corrupts our financial markets. And well keep at it as long as it takes. You can bet on that.
Iraqis in new protest near Sweden embassy over Koran burning

Female supporters of firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr hold up copies of the Koran during a Baghdad protest against its desecration by a fellow Iraqi in Sweden (Ahmad Al-rubaye)

Several thousand Iraqis gathered near the Swedish embassy in Baghdad Friday for a second day of protests against a Koran burning outside a Stockholm mosque that outraged Muslims around the world.

On Thursday, one group of protesters managed to penetrate the embassy and stay inside for some 15 minutes before leaving when security forces arrived.

On Friday, police closed off the street past the embassy with concrete blocks and the protesters gathered on a nearby avenue.

The demonstration was again organised by supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose movement is not part of the current Iraqi government but still commands huge influence.

The protest came a day after an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight in front of the capital's largest mosque.

Swedish police had granted him a permit in line with free speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over "agitation".

Sadr, in a statement read on his behalf by a cleric at the protest, warned that burning the Koran was "incitement to hatred" against millions of Muslims.

The Koran burning, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, sparked anger across the Muslim world.

Smaller protests also took place on Friday in Iraq's port city of Basra where hundreds gathered in response to Sadr's call, and in neighbouring Iran where dozens demonstrated outside the Swedish embassy in Tehran, AFP correspondents said.

Kuwait on Friday summoned Sweden's envoy over the incident, a day after similar action by Iraq, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.

"It's an insult to the Holy Koran," Iraqi civil servant Nafia Wali Idriss said in Baghdad. "Freedom of expression must not clear the way for sectarianism."

Friday's protesters chose their own bugbears to trample underfoot -- photographs of Momika and the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ+ movement.

"No to homosexuality, yes to the Koran," the demonstrators chanted.

The Iraqi government has called on Sweden to extradite Momika so he can be put on trial in his home country.

The foreign ministry also summoned Swedish ambassador Jessica Svardstrom on Thursday to hear a strong protest against her government's authorisation of Momika's protest.

Sadr movement official, Hakim al-Zamili, said the calling in of the ambassador was not enough and demanded "more concrete measures".

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Friday distanced himself from Momika's protest. "This is a serious security question. There's no need to insult other people," the right-wing premier said.

Momika told a Swedish newspaper late Thursday that he intended to repeat his protest in July. "Within 10 days I will burn the Iraqi flag and the Koran in front of Iraq's embassy in Stockholm," he told Expressen.

tgg-gde/hkb/kir
Hilton Head and Bluffton residents are looking to restore the local chapter of the NAACP after about eight years without the groups presence.

The revival has been spearheaded in part by Richard Hammes, president of the Liberal Men of the Lowcountry, and retired civil rights attorney Richard Ritter. Ritter was previously a committee member of the branch, when it was operational.

In 2015 or around there it kind of lost steam, Hammes said. Then there was no on really to lead it, so it just drifted away.

Several issues affecting Black and Gullah residents have highlighted the importance of a new chapter, Hammes said, like the U.S. 278 constructions impact on Stoney, potential economic constraints on Gullah land owners as the town revamps its zoning, and the ongoing saga of Josephine Wright, a Gullah land owner who is being sued by a construction company that she suspects is trying to force her to sell her land.

To establish a local chapter, Hammes said the NAACP requires at least 50 members and, eventually, the election of leadership, like a chapter president and treasurer. He said hes received word from around 60 people interested in joining the revived group.

The reforming chapter will have its first meeting Friday evening at 6 p.m., at Hilton Heads St. James Baptist Church. Brenda Murphy, president of the South Carolina NAACP State Conference, will attend to answer organizational questions.

Unfortunately, we dont have a leader, but (Murphy) said you dont need a leader right away, Hammes said. Eventually, you need a leader, and then probably some officers, but we havent been able to find anybody at the moment who wants to take this off. Its a task, youve got to find someone whos dedicated and wants to get out there and push some things.

The new chapter would be centered on Hilton Head and Bluffton issues, Hammes said. Other nearby NAACP chapters exists in Charleston and Savannah.

Other local groups have been supportive of reconstituting the local NAACP chapter, Hammes said. Taiwan Scott, president of the islands National Action Network chapter, said hes offered his facilities to the group for use if needed.

Luana Graves-Sellars, founder of Lowcountry Gullah, said native island leaders have also voiced support for the chapters reconstitution.

Its something that the leadership is embracing, Graves-Sellars said. Its something that our community had before, and would be good to have back.
Python 4

Israel may be in the top 10 of global weapons exporters, but, due to political sensitives on both sides, its not necessarily desired that attention is brought to every country that buys its arms. In most cases, that simply means that the details of weapons recipients are not disclosed. However, it seems there is a more covert approach when it comes to certain Israeli-made air-to-air missiles (AAMs), widely judged to be some of the most capable in the world.

Posting on Twitter today, Mike Yeo, an Australia-based defense and aviation reporter, noted how Singapore, for one, flies Block 52 F-16 fighters with Israeli-made Python 4 training missiles apparently disguised as dated U.S.-made AIM-9P Sidewinder AAMs. The post came on the same day that it was confirmed that Singapores F-16 upgrade will provide these jets with the latest Python 5 AAM, which is visually very similar to the actual Python 4, which looks very different compared to an AIM-9P.

https://twitter.com/TheBaseLeg/status/1674386112633253888?s=20

Yeo added that, although there have been rumors for almost 20 years that the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) arms its advanced F-16s with Python 4, they have never been seen, beyond the AIM-9P-lookalike training rounds.

In this guise, the missile is fitted with cruciform-type cropped forward fins, which make it look almost identical to the widely exported AIM-9P  a much less capable weapon of a previous generation. The training missiles also carry a blue band around the body, denoting the fact that they are inert. A live Python 4 is characterized by unique twin sets of closely coupled forward control fins, entirely absent from the training version.

A Brazilian F-5 pair takes off, with a Python 4/AIM-9P-lookalike training round on the furthest aircraft. Brazilian Air Force

In the tweet below, a live Python 4 is seen on a Brazilian F-5 by way of comparison:

https://twitter.com/DPMHAUS1/status/872788516211757056?s=20

An expert eye would soon identify the training rounds as Python, thanks to the characteristic Python 4 seeker head and the overall larger dimensions of the missile body compared to the Sidewinder. However, the fact that live versions of the missile have never been seen in RSAF service is probably enough to preserve the subterfuge.

Rafaels Python family of infrared-guided AAMs was developed based on Israeli Air Force (IAF) experience with first-generation heat-seeking weapons during air combat in the 1960s and 1970s.

The original Python 3 was developed starting in 1978 and entered service in 1982, in time to see combat during the First Lebanon War of the same year, during which Israel claimed as many as 50 aerial victories using the new missile. The Python 3, despite its age, is still carried by frontline IAF fighters today, as you can read about here.

An Israeli Air Force F-15D with a Python 3 captive training round. You can just see the unique fin arrangement of a Python 4 on the other side of the missile rail. KGyST/Wikicommons

While early progenitors of the Python missile were simpler short-range heat-seeking air-to-air missiles, later versions were designed to be used with a helmet-mounted sight, with successive iterations of Elbits Display and Sight Helmet System (DASH). As well as having the ability to be slaved to the radar during the early part of the engagement, the Python seeker can be directed to nearly wherever the pilots head and helmet are pointed.

An F-16 pilot with Elbits Display and Sight Helmet System (DASH). Elbit Systems

Python 4 arrived in IAF service in 1992. This missile is reported to have a 60-degree high off-boresight (HOBS) capability during close-quarters combat and to be able to maneuver at up to 70g; it is also said to be able to make a 180-degree turn after launch to intercept a target behind the launch aircraft. Python 4 also brought external changes, with additional control surfaces. It features a dual-waveband imaging infrared (IIR) seeker and infrared counter-countermeasures (IRCCM).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXxsntm_N10

Its this weapon that was reportedly sold to Singapore, to arm its F-16s, but which has so far only been seen in its inert training form.

An AIM-9P Sidewinder missile preserved at the Royal Thai Air Force Museum. RoyKabanlit/Wikimedia Commons

As well as being carried by Singaporean F-16s, these covert Pythons have been noted on upgraded F-5E/F Tiger II jets flown by both Brazil and Thailand. In these last two cases, its well known that the aircraft in question can be armed with Israeli missiles. For Singapore, however, it remains a closely guarded secret that these lookalike missiles help promote.

https://twitter.com/aag_th/status/1674389755591802883?s=20

As for the latest Python 5, this is externally nearly identical to Python 4 but is further improved, notably in terms of its ability to shoot down targets with smaller signatures, including drones and cruise missiles.

Python 5 mock-up (front) and first-generation Shafrir 1 (back) air-to-air missiles on display. MathKnight/Wikimedia Commons

Video showing a Python 5 turning 180 degrees after being fired to hit a target behind the launching aircraft:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQIWXz4Osj8

Singapore will add the advanced Python 5 to its F-16 fleet thats being upgraded to a standard similar to the F-16V, including the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), and GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB). While the AIM-9X Sidewinder was expected to be integrated too, the RSAF has now opted for the Python 5, and perhaps also additional Israeli-supplied electronic countermeasures pods.

https://twitter.com/TheBaseLeg/status/1674413503153844225?s=20

As to why the Singaporean Python 5 has been disclosed, while details of the Python 4 remain restricted, this is likely because the RSAF is already a known operator of the Rafael Spyder air defense system. This is armed with both Python 5 and radar-guided Rafael Derby missiles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY3PmOkIgWg

The RSAF confirmed that initial deliveries of the upgraded F-16 began in June 2021 and the fleet is being upgraded in phases, allowing the jets to bridge the gap until they can start to be replaced by F-35 stealth fighters.

The RSAF already operates some of the most sophisticated F-16s anywhere in the world, flying a total of 62 jets completed to F-16C/D Block 52 standard and having transferred its surviving, older F-16A/B Block 15 OCU aircraft to Thailand. As well as air-to-air missiles, the RSAFs Block 52 aircraft are equipped with other advanced Israeli-supplied equipment, including avionics, and electronic warfare kit, the latter including equipment housed in the jets enlarged dorsal fairing, similar to that found on the Israeli F-16D Barak.

An RSAF F-16D lands on a public road in Singapore during Exercise Torrent in November 2016. ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images

As to why Singapore, in particular, remains tight-lipped about Israeli defense equipment, this seems to stem primarily from sensitivities in a region of the world in which many nations dont enjoy such cordial relations with Israel. Nevertheless, while Singapores military ties with Israel are low-profile, they are very close. This means the RSAF has received some very advanced arms from Israel, including the Gulfstream G550 Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW) aircraft, four of which were bought from Israel Aerospace Industries.

An RSAF Gulfstream G550 CAEW lands at RAAF Base Darwin, Australia, during Exercise Pitch Black 2012. Owen65/Wikimedia Commons

Other branches of the military have benefited from Israeli arms, too. There have been repeated rumors that Singapore acquired Merkava main battle tanks from Israel, but these vehicles have never been seen. Hiding heavy-duty armor might seem close to impossible, but the same was apparently also the case with Singapores earlier Centurion tanks. Delivered in a special Singaporean version known as Tempest, the existence of these fighting vehicles was only disclosed to the public after their retirement.

With the RSAFs next-generation fighter, the F-35, also being operated by Israel, and also being subject to Israeli modifications, including Israeli-specific weapons, its quite possible that the Singaporean stealth jets might also receive some of those armaments. But if the current Python IV is anything to go by, any such acquisition could well remain a low-profile affair.

Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com
ISW predicts how Ukraine will use intercepted initiative on Bakhmut front

Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have concluded that the recognition of the "strategic initiative" on the Bakhmut front is connected with the desire to use this initiative to an even greater extent.

Source: ISW

Details: The report indicated that Ukraines General Staff has declared that Ukrainian forces have seized the "strategic initiative" on the Bakhmut front, conducting a large-scale offensive there.

According to the ISW, Ukrainian officials now are likely confirming that Ukrainian forces have the initiative in order to give a signal that they intend to use the initiative to a greater extent.

Ukrainian troops conducted offensive operations on at least two other parts (apart from the Bakhmut front  ed.) of the front line and, according to reports, achieved success on 29 June.

The ISW also noted that the Kremlin may intend to take formal control of the Wagner Group and turn it into a state organisation after its armed rebellion, although it is unclear whether the Kremlin has undertaken to adhere to this course of action.

Recent satellite images may have captured the active construction of a possible new Wagner Group base in the Asipovichy district of Belarus.

Military analysts emphasised that fighters from the Wagner Group may be deployed in other places in Belarus. But nothing is particularly unique or interesting about the potential Wagner base in the Asipovichy district.

Quote: "Belarus hosts many training grounds and field camps that accommodated 30,000 Russian soldiers in early 2022  many of which were on the border with Ukraine in Gomel and Brest oblasts.

The Wagner Group in Belarus could use some of these facilities as bases as well as or instead of the rumoured base in Asipovichy."

The ISW also pointed out that Kremlin-linked businessmen may acquire Prigozhin's media empire, probably as part of an effort to destroy his reputation in Russia.

The report noted that on 29 June, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to answer questions about the whereabouts of Army General Sergei Surovikin, which sparked new speculation in the Russian information space.

Experts suggested that Peskov's refusal indicates that Russian officials may conduct investigations into Surovikin.

In addition, Western observers are continuing to speculate about the current location of the Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov after the Wagner Group rebellion.

On the other hand, experts have reiterated that Gerasimov has not appeared in public for a long time even before.

In the opinion of military analysts, it is quite possible that Putin has not yet decided how to fully respond to the Wagner Group rebellion. This also applies to a potential renewal of the command structure of the Russian Armed Forces or a change in Putin's preferences among the military leadership.

To quote the ISWs Key Takeaways for 29 June:

The Ukrainian General Staff stated that Ukrainian forces seized the "strategic initiative" on the Bakhmut front and are currently conducting a broad offensive in the area.

Ukrainian forces conducted offensive operations in at least two other sectors of the front and reportedly made gains on 29 June.

The Kremlin may intend to assume formal control over the Wagner Group following its armed rebellion and turn it into a state-owned enterprise, although it is not clear if the Kremlin has committed itself to such a course of action.

Recent satellite imagery may have detected active construction of a speculated new Wagner Group base in Asipovichy, Belarus.

Kremlin-affiliated businessmen may be acquiring Prigozhins domestic media empire, likely as part of ongoing effort to destroy his reputation in Russia.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to address Army General Sergei Surovikins whereabouts on 29 June, prompting more speculations in the Russian information space.

Western observers continue to speculate about the whereabouts of Russian Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov following Wagners rebellion, although his lack of public appearance is not necessarily indicative of his current official standing within the Russian military leadership

Russian and Ukrainian forces continued limited ground attacks south of Kreminna.

Russian forces continued limited offensive operations along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City front.

Russian forces in early May constructed a dam on the outskirts of Tokmak in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast ahead of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

A Russian BARS (Russian Combat Reserve) affiliated source claimed that Russian forces are moving military equipment to unspecified areas on the east (left) bank of the Dnipro River.

The Crimea-based Atesh partisan group stated that Russian forces are increasing their presence in Armyansk to defend key infrastructure in northern Crimea.

Russian Cossack armed formations are reportedly signing contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) as part of a larger formalisation effort to integrate irregular forces into MoD structures.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Representational: Italian authorities are investigating the cause of the blast (EPA)

Two Italian researchers died after a hybrid car prototype that was being developed with EU funds exploded during a road test.

The researchers were working on the Life-Save project that aimed to turn cars with conventional combustion engines into hybrid vehicles, running at least partly on solar energy.

Maria Vittoria Prati, senior scholar and engineer at Italys National Research Council, and trainee Fulvio Filace were rushed to hospital with severe burns after the prototype blew up in the southern Italian city of Naples last Friday.

Prati, 66, died of complications from third-degree burns on Monday, while 25-year-old Filace, died overnight, according to a spokesperson for the Cardarelli hospital in Naples.

Both Prati and Filace were hospitalised "in very serious conditions" but "there was more hope of saving" Filace "given his younger age," spokesperson Pietro Rinaldi, told Reuters. "But it was not enough," he added.

The duo were test-driving a modified Volkswagen Polo equipped with new technology that would allow drivers to transform their old cars into solar-powered electric vehicles.

Prosecutors are trying to find the cause of the explosion, although their investigation is currently not targetting any specific suspect, news agency ANSA reported.

The research council expressed "great shock and sorrow" for the deaths, adding it had begun an internal audit and was cooperating with the investigations.

It paid tribute to Prati as a brilliant researcher and an authority in the field of the study of emissions and the use of alternative fuels".

eProInn, a spin-off of the University of Salerno in southern Italy that had a lead role in the Life-Save project, was working on retro-fitting conventional cars with solar-hybrid powertrains.

Its patented idea was to equip regular production cars with additional electric motors, charged by a battery and solar panels fitted on the roof and the bonnet.

The project was financed by the European Commission's Life Programme and has received about 1.8m (1.55m) since 2017. Its website was reportedly deactivated following Friday's accident.
The World Economic Forum's 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions concluded on June 29 in Tianjin, China, with attendees striking an optimistic tone.

During the three-day forum, more than 1,500 global leaders from business, government and civil society gathered in the northern Chinese city at a crucial time in the global economic recovery. The meeting  often referred to as "Summer Davos"  marks the forum's first in-person meeting since COVID-19 struck over three years ago.

This year's theme, "Entrepreneurship: The Driving Force of the Global Economy," prompted participants to discuss strategies for navigating global challenges and accelerating innovation and entrepreneurship. Sessions covered a wide range of topics, from global debt and the energy transition to artificial intelligence (AI) readiness and emerging technologies. A total of 25 initiatives were launched and advanced during the forum.

The World Economic Forum's 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as "Summer Davos," was held in Tianjin from June 27-29, 2023. [Photo courtesy of the World Economic Forum]



Communication and win-win solutions

"As a community with a shared future, we must cherish the gains of our cooperation, embrace the concept of win-win cooperation and work together to promote human progress," Chinese Premier Li Qiang said at the opening plenary of the forum.

In an interview with China.org.cn, Chen Liming, chair of Greater China at the World Economic Forum, said: "The premier stressed the importance of openness and sharing. Our hosting of the Davos Forum is an advocacy for seeking cooperation and innovation through dialogue."

"We obviously cannot count on a single forum to solve all the problems such as decoupling and deglobalization," he added. "However, we believe that dialogue and exchange are more substantive ways to solve problems than confrontation and sanctions.

Leah Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Boston-based tech startup Sublime Systems, also underscored the importance of collaboration. She noted Premier Li's frequent use of the term "win-win," and cited climate change as an example of a problem that affects everyone and should be tackled through cooperation.

Ellis also commended the premier's friendly and welcoming message, which focused on defusing tensions and fostering collaboration.

Attendees expressed their appreciation to the forum for providing them with the opportunity to engage in dialogue, foster mutual understanding and explore collaborative prospects.

David Cubbin, manager of German digital surgery platform developer Caresyntax, praised the event for facilitating networking and allowing him to connect with others in the healthcare sector and potential investors. "The forum provides an amazing opportunity for people in the private sector, government, ministries, regulatory bodies, and others to meet," he said.

"It's been a great experience. I am incredibly inspired, and I hope I inspired a couple of people," said Meirav Oren, CEO and co-founder of Versatile, as well as a co-chair of the meeting.

She noted that the forum brings people together to discuss topics like entrepreneurship and innovation, and to address the fragmentation that exists in the world.

As global headwinds persist, engaging with one another in the open exchange of viewpoints, ideas and experiences is more crucial than ever, Brge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum, said at the closing session, expressing his hope that the exchanges will inspire all stakeholders to take action toward shared ambition.

Attendees at the The World Economic Forum's 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, June 27, 2023. [Photo courtesy of the World Economic Forum]

China fuels global growth

Looking to the future, Brge Brende also underscored China's role in global growth. "Even if the world economy is sluggish, with a 2.8% economic growth this year, China is expected to achieve 5.4%," he said. "China, with these numbers, contributes to 36% of the global growth."

Striking an upbeat tone on the economic outlook, Premier Li Qiang said: "Some international organizations and institutions have revised up their growth forecasts for China this year, demonstrating their confidence in China's development prospects. We have full confidence and the ability to achieve the steady growth of the Chinese economy on the track of high-quality development for a long time to come."

Several participants also expressed their trust in China's market and business potential. For example, Tsuyoshi Stuart Oda, founder and CEO of Alesca Life, a Dubai-based agritech company specializing in vertical farming, praised China as an ideal place to start a hardware company. "China has a supply chain for LEDs, electronics and semiconductors, for everything from construction materials and insulation to everything that we need," he said, adding that he had met a lot of potential partners at the forum and planned to launch new projects in Chengdu city and Beijing' Tongzhou district.

Chen Liming, when discussing China's role in driving global economic development, said, "As the world's second-largest economy, a major trading partner for more than 140 countries and regions, China's economic growth has a strong spillover effect."

"We are bullish on the prospects of China's economic development," he said. The chair also acknowledged the foresight of professor Klaus Schwab in recognizing China's potential rapid growth and his decision to bring the Davos Forum to China.

"Moving forward, we hope to further deepen and expand our cooperation with the Davos Forum," Chen said. "We also hope that more Chinese enterprises will participate in this platform, have more opportunities to express their views, exchange and learn from each other, and make progress."
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Sony

Jennifer Lawrence is a prodigious talent. Since her breakout role in 2010s fantastic indie drama Winters Bone, which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination at age 18, shes starred in two of Hollywoods biggest franchises and won rave reviews for her further dramatic turns. By the time she was 26, Jennifer Lawrence had four Oscar nominationsand a win.

Despite being a massive star, Lawrence stepped away from the spotlight for a number of years as her career had taken over, telling Vanity Fair in 2021, I didnt have a life. I thought I should go get one. Shes only starred in four films in the last five years, including Netflixs star-studded Dont Look Up and last years quiet, subdued, excellent Causeway, which she also produced.

It may feel surprising, then, that her latest role feels like a major departure from those last two, and likely everything thats come before it. In the raucous No Hard Feelings, Lawrence plays Maddie, a woman living in Montauk whos struggling to pay for the house her mother left behind. With her home at risk, she applies for a peculiar job shes the perfect fit for: helping 19-year-old Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) come out of his shell, so he can transition from a shut-in to confident university student. To do that, shell have to take his virginity.

But theres a catch. Percy has no idea that his parents set this up on his behalf so Maddie will have to, er, date him, without Percy ever finding out his parents are involved. Yes, its a thoroughly outrageous setup, but whats even more surprising is that Jennifer Lawrences performance in No Hard Feelings is showstoppingly brilliantso fantastic, in fact, that she deserves an Oscar nod.

While many critics are hailing Lawrences great comedic performance in No Hard Feelings, shes played funny before. When she won her Oscar in 2012, at age 22, it was for her role in the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook. But No Hard Feelings is somewhat of a departure to show off Lawrences comedic chops.

While Silver Linings Playbook straddles the line between comedy and drama, No Hard Feelings is the kind of movie we rarely see anymore: a full-throated R-rated raunch fest in the vein of Bridesmaids, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, or Wedding Crashers. Lawrence is so outstanding in this movie that its clear adult comedies are primed for a comeback, and she should lead the chargeand keep doing more of them. Lawrence is the new queen of raunch.

Macall Polay/Sony

Throughout No Hard Feelings, Lawrence exhibits masterful comic timing and a total devotion to physical comedy. In one scene, Maddie is desperate to sleep with Percy so she can get this job over with. To arouse him, she invites him to go skinny-dipping with her on the beach. Its awkward at first, but Maddie lays on the charm; she even gets a sense that her plan may actually be working. But when a group of drunk people emerge on the beach, they interrupt the potentially intimate moment. They also decide its hilarious to steal Percy and Maddies clothessomething Maddie does not take lightly.

Set to Hall and Oates Maneater, a song that Maddie and Percy discussed on their first date, Maddie emerges from the water and races towards the miscreants, launching a full-scale attack on them for stealing her clothes. Shifting from sensitive to searing, Maddie practically transforms into a monster, throwing sand into the eyes of one of the assailants, before beating up the others.

Its a completely chaotic sequence thats riotously funnyone cannot truly feel alive until theyve seen Jennifer Lawrence body-slamming a man on the beach to get her clothes back. Lawrence shows that shes willing to go practically feral for a laugh. It pays off brilliantly, and its the single funniest scene in a film full of laugh-out-loud moments. But her gonzo commitment to physical comedy is taken even further by the fact that shes completely naked throughout. Its the kind of commitment to the bit that the Academy needs to take more notice of.

How Jennifer Lawrence Became Our Greatest Celebrity (Even Though Her Movies Sucked This Year)

But what really makes Lawrences performance so spectacular is how she unveils her character's surprising vulnerability, adding an entirely new dimension to Maddie. Later in the film, Maddie and Percy are on a dinner date. What once felt incredibly uncomfortable now feels natural, as their relationship has developed to a surprising degree. They still havent had sex, but it's clear Percy has genuine feelings for Maddie, even if they arent requited. When the pianist playing in the restaurant takes a break, Maddie tells Percy to play something for her. In a twist of fate, Percy obliges and makes his way to the piano.

There are layers to Maddies stunned reaction. Despite goading Percy into performing at the restaurant, its clear that she never expected him to actually go through with it. Theres a genuine sense of pride behind her smile, as he does walk up to play; Lawrence quietly makes clear how Maddie is bowled over by the fact that shes helped Percy develop the confidence to come out of his shell, in more ways than she thought possible.

But theres also something more surprising. As Percy serenades the restaurant in a stripped-down version of Maneater (the song becomes a recurring joke) its clear that Maddies realizing she sees Percy as more than a friend too. The camera lingers on Lawrences face for what feels like the duration of Percys performance (and he performs the entire song). Its absolutely mesmerizing to watch Lawrence take complete control of her character. Lawrence turns the film on its head, delivering a genuinely moving moment amongst a sea of lunacy.

Macall Polay/Sony

Absolutely nothing about this should resonate. The entire concept of No Hard Feelings is deliberately ludicrous. It exists in a heightened sense of realityby this point, weve already seen Maddie ride on top of a car, get maced, and, yes, tackle a guy while completely nude. This scene should stick out as an abrupt tonal shift. Yet thanks to Lawrences performance (and Feldmans gorgeous vocals), this very silly sex comedy also becomes emotionally engaging.

Lawrence puts so much into a character that a lesser actor may only understand the surface-level comedy of. Instead, she allows us to see the suffering and regret under Maddies hardened, unpredictable surface. The script does well to give Maddie more nuance, going beyond making her just straight-up wild. But Lawrences performance adds a sparkling depth to the character; watching Maddies walls come down in such a subtle, surprising way is utterly enthralling. At this moment, Lawrence allows us to fully empathize with a character that isnt so obviously likable.

As the lines between comedy and drama continue to blur togetherwhether Silver Linings Playbook is a comedy or a drama is arguable, as are many other awards show nomineesall-out, theatrically budgeted comedies seem to be a rarity. They also almost never appear at prestigious award shows like the Oscars. Arguably a single full-on comedy performance has been nominated for an Oscar in the last decade-plus: that of Melissa McCarthy in 2011s Bridesmaids. With No Hard Feelings, its time to make Jennifer Lawrence the next comedian honored for her work.

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Addisons Walk, near Magdalen College, Oxford, looking back toward the college. | Wikimedia Commons

J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis are household names to Christian thinkers.

Tolkien, the author of Lord of the Rings  which is inspiring a new set of movies in the coming years  described the work as a fundamentally religious and Catholic work. National Catholic Register said that Tolkien insisted his work wasnt a formal allegory, but admitted that there was a religious nature to it.

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Known as the father of high fantasy, Tolkien was famous for his pioneering work in English literature, especially when it comes to The Hobbit. A philologist and a scholar, Tolkien was influential when it came to language, and also was a devout Catholic.

In a 1963 letter to Michael Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, In the last resort faith is an act of will, inspired by love. Our love may be chilled and our will eroded by the spectacle of the shortcomings, folly, and even sins of the Church and its ministers, but I do not think that one who has once had faith goes back over the line for these reasons (least of all anyone with historical knowledge).

He continued, ... But the act of will of faith is not a single moment of final decision: it is a permanently repeated final act.

In fact, Tolkiens faith may have inspired Lewis to become Christian.

Lewis was an atheist when he became friends with Tolkien. He was a lover of literature and became a professor of English literature. He was particularly interested in the idea of myth. Through his shared interests with Tolkien, he developed a friendship with him.

Lewis atheism, according to his own writings, was partially due to his belief that God could not create the imperfect world in which everyone lives. Although his family was religious, Lewis became an atheist in his teenage years.

A conversation with Tolkien changed everything.

After Lewis and Tolkien became friends in 1926 over their love of literature, Lewis began chiding Tolkien over his acceptance of the reality of Jesus. According to National Review, Lewis saw Jesus as a myth in the same way that he would have seen Hercules or the Greek pantheon. Lewis had written about the pervasive nature of superstition and saw religion as squarely within that camp.

That is, until he went for a walk with Tolkien.

Lewis recounted his conversion in Surprised by Joy. The pair were walking on the grounds of Oxford University on Addisons Walk, which is along the River Cherwell near Magdalen College. The two were passionately discussing the nature of mythology.

Tolkien argued that mythology is grounded in reality while being creatively imagined. While Lewis agreed with this, he did not feel that the gospels invoked the same passion as other myths. National Review summarized Tolkiens response, The pagan stories, Tolkien insisted, are God expressing himself through the minds of poets: They are splintered fragments of a much greater story. The account of Christ and his death and resurrection is a kind of myth, he explained. It works on our imagination in much the same way as other myths, with this difference: It really happened.

After this conversation, Lewis joined Christianity and became the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.

According to Faith & Culture, Lewis wrote about that night, The story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference  that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is Gods myth where the others are mens myths: i.e. the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call real things.

Lewis, then, joined the Church of England in 1931. The friendship of Tolkien deeply influenced Lewis decision to convert.

Later, Lewis would write, I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

Then, Lewis writing ensued.

He penned fantasy novels such as The Chronicles of Narnia and also was responsible for treatises like Mere Christianity and The Great Divorce. Lewis friendship with Tolkien percolated his literary works  he even dedicated one of his most influential works of literature, The Screwtape Letters, to Tolkien.

Still considered one of the best and most prolific Christian apologists, Lewis journey from atheism to faith has been considered inspiring.

Related

Steven Beebe from Texas State University even stumbled upon an unfinished manuscript that appeared to be jointly authored by Lewis and Tolkien. The manuscript was called Language and Human Nature, and was found in one of Lewis notebooks that he had called Scraps.

Even though Lewis and Tolkien drifted apart as friends, Tolkien went to visit Lewis on his deathbed and wrote about him positively.

Their friendship was a true one. Like Lewis wrote, While friendship has been by far the chief source of my happiness, acquaintance or general society has always meant little to me, and I cannot quite understand why a man should wish to know more people than he can make real friends of.
Was your Jackson County tax assessment sent out late? What that means for your appeal

While thousands of Jackson County homeowners have armed themselves with home comparisons and made appointments to contest their property assessments in recent weeks, other homeowners in the county have been left wondering whether their value notices will ever arrive in the mail.

The assessment departments website states that value notices should be mailed by June 15, but this timeline hasnt proven accurate for some homeowners.

Linda in Brookside, who asked to be identified only by her first name, told The Star that her notice didnt arrive in the mail until Saturday, June 24.

Waiting for notice from the county when friends and acquaintances had received theirs in May is inexcusable, she said, adding that she is now gathering documents to bring to her review meeting. An on-time notice from the county would have helped us avoid working on our information gathering over a holiday weekend.

Linda isnt alone. Other residents have taken to social media to share their experiences of assessments arriving as recently as Tuesday. One, Greg Callaghan of Lone Jack, said this has left him with no time to prepare for a review meeting.

There are zero comps available, he told The Star Thursday, adding that he lives in a converted barn. I will have to wing it (and) try to get assessors to give me their comps and argue its a finished barn, not a mansion.

A handful of commercial property owners have filed a lawsuit against the county for these late notice arrivals, claiming that they violate state law. Callaghan hopes to join the lawsuit as well as appealing his home valuation.

Late value notices may violate Missouri law, lawsuit claims

The lateness of value notices might seem like a minor inconvenience  but for homeowners contesting their valuations, it can reduce the amount of time they have to file an appeal.

Missouri law states that whenever any assessor shall increase the valuation of any real property, he or she shall forthwith notify the record owner on or before June fifteenth of such increase. A recent lawsuit claims that notices received after that date may not be valid.

Its our view that they cannot reassess the properties at this point in time, said attorney Kenneth McClain, who is representing the property owners. The goal of the lawsuit would be to say, hey, you can have your tax based on the properly noticed assessment that you gave in the last time period, but you cant raise it until youve given proper notice.

The lawsuit is currently in its very early stages, and needs court approval to become a class action suit that would include all property owners who received their notices late.

But even if it gets this certification, McClain said that the case will take far longer than the time frame to appeal your property value to the county directly. For that reason, his firm is urging homeowners not to forego this official avenue  even if they hope to be part of the lawsuit.

Its our recommendation to go ahead and file an appeal if you feel like its appropriate, he said.

If you disagree with your property valuation, you must file an appeal by July 10. You can do so on the assessment departments website, where you will also have the options to upload documents, request an interior inspection or make an appointment for an informal review. Some homeowners have also made informal review appointments by calling 1-877-895-9675.

What should I do if my value notice still hasnt arrived?

By this point, most homeowners have received their value notice from the county. But if you havent gotten yours, there are a few options you can use.

Assessment department director Gail McCann Beatty told The Star that those who still need their property value notice should email the assessment department at assessment@jacksongov.org with the subject line Need Value Notice.

Department employees are actively answering emails, and requests for value notices often take priority over more complex requests because they can be completed quickly.

Well take care of those first. We want to make sure we take care of those to give people time to file their appeal, Beatty said.

You can also go onto the assessment departments website and look up the assessed value of your property or any other one in Jackson County  and how much that value has increased over the past five years. You can look up properties by address, the owners name or the parcel number.

Nine-digit parcel numbers represent personal property, usually meaning vehicles. Real estate parcel numbers are 17 digits long with lots of dashes, and usually return three property values: market value, taxable value and assessed value.

The market value shows the assessment departments full valuation of your home, a department employee confirmed to The Star over email. To see the percentage increase of your homes value, look at how the market value in 2023 compares to the market value in 2021.

Do you have more questions about your property value in the Kansas City area? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
Jacksonville Beach Police Department is preparing for the 4th of July Fireworks Celebrations

Jacksonville Beach Police wants to let the beachgoers know what specific things people should know before celebrating the 4th of July in their area.

One of the issues will be traffic on the day of the event. JBPD says it is a larger area where pedestrian and vehicular traffic are expected to be heavy.

Certain travel routes will be limited or blocked entirely to air in a consistent flow of traffic after 5 p.m.

Read: Cost of beer continues to rise going into holiday weekend

Here are some things JBPD asks people to consider before they commute:

 SR A1A will have several turning lanes blocked to aid in the northern and southern flow of traffic.

 Beach Blvd will have limitations at different intersections to aid in the westerly flow of traffic.

 Pedestrians are strongly encouraged to only cross at properly marked pedestrian crossings.

 The main travel route for northbound and southbound traffic along the three beach communities will be SR A1A. A secondary route will be Penman Road to Florida, and then to Mayport Road.

 The main travel routes westbound will be J. Turner Butler Boulevard, Beach Boulevard, and Atlantic Boulevard. A secondary route for westbound traffic will be Wonderwood Drive.

 Please remember there will be delays in both vehicular traffic, as well as pedestrian traffic. If you are coming to the beaches area to enjoy the 4th of July Celebration, preplan your routes and please be patient.

 Please help us keep the Beaches clean.

 The fireworks show will necessitate a beach closure from 100 feet North and 100 feet South of the Pier. No one will be allowed on the oceanfront or in the water in that 2-block Public Safety Zone.

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Read: It would be great if the pool could open: City pools across Jacksonville still closed

Read: Jacksonville City civil rights legend Ben Fraziers funeral to be held next week

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The number of people in the United States identifying as Jamaican because they were either born in the English-speaking Caribbean nation or are of Jamaican heritage has held steady over the last decade, according to U.S. Census figures.

And now Florida, where the Jamaican community began growing in the late 1970s and 80s, has edged out New York as having the largest population of Jamaicans in the U.S. The overall population increased by almost 100,000 people between 2011 and 2021, according to the American Community Survey, which reported the overall Jamaica population in the United States to be nearly 1.2 million compared to about 1 million a decade earlier.

Rupert Rhodd, a Parkland resident who moved to Broward County from New York over 30 years ago and today heads the Coalition of Jamaican Alumni Associations of Florida, says he isnt surprised by the estimated 321, 189 individuals of Jamaican descent who currently call the state home compared to New York population of 311,753.

For one, the state, and South Florida in particular, is geographically closer to Jamaica, an island of 2.8 million people that is less than 600 miles off the Florida coast. Secondly, individuals tend to organize themselves easier here, said Rhodd, who created an umbrella group to bring together splintered organizations that sometimes held similar events on the same day.

That ability to come together has long been at the backbone of the countrys diaspora outreach. Today, the Jamaican government is hoping that Jamaicans abroad can help in the islands economic turnaround, as it considers foreign direct investment to be a key driver of its growth.

Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness, center, on a visit with a child psychologist in the country where violence involving children is increasingly becoming a concern. Courtesy of Office of the Prime Minister

What I see every day, is that there are interests from entrepreneurs and enterprising people from all over the world who are seeing opportunities in Jamaica, and theyre coming to acquire land to set up business, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said in a recent Miami Herald interview.

Holness, 50, said he wants the countrys diaspora, which sent a record $3 billion-plus in remittances back to the island since 2021 from the United States, to come back.

Not just to own homes, which I think is an excellent start, not just to buy our products, Holness said. I want them to come back and set up business here, to take some of the skills that they have developed and hold dear and make something of it here in Jamaica.

That is easier said than done, even he acknowledges. For one, there is Jamaicas bureaucracy, its slow pace of doing business and an institutional framework that still needs modernizing. The country ranks above average in comparison to other Latin American and Caribbean countries, according to the World Banks Doing Business report, but it still lags behind other world economies.

As a government, we are making these deep institutional changes, which will be beneficial to the people of Jamaica, certainly in terms of the establishment of the rule of law, ensuring that we deal firmly and effectively with corruption, increasing the efficiency of the public bureaucracy, increasing financial access, integrating technology in everything that we do to improve service delivery, the prime minister said. That will benefit the local Jamaican who lives here. But it will also be the biggest thing that we can do for the diaspora.

Such changes would be welcome, according to members of the diaspora, who have long struggled on how to be more invested in the island beyond sending cash remittances and food.

Peter Gracey, a real estate broker and entrepreneur who lives in Leesburg in Central Florida, said it is very hard to convince a lot of people who are not already engaged of investing in Jamaica because of... news that keeps coming out, such as the countrys high crime rate.

However, he does believe there are opportunities, one of which has to do with the governments Special Economic Zone Authority, which offers tax breaks and other benefits.

I think that is the area we need to push, he said. You dont have to live in Jamaica to invest; its a new way of looking at things, instead of saying Were going to go to Jamaica and build a house and rent it out. 

Earlier this year, Gracey was elected to the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council as the representative for the southern United States. The goal of the council is to deepen diaspora engagement and offer advice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One of his key initiatives will be to push such investments.

They can do it with small or big investment, and not having to live there, he said. That would eliminate the conversations about how you built something and youre worried about it and youre going to lose it tomorrow. It goes beyond the concerns about crime and all that.

Rhodd, an economist who serves as associate dean in the business school at Florida Atlantic University, said the communitys concerns are real. But that doesnt mean they cannot contribute to the betterment of Jamaica in other ways.

What needs to happen is there needs to be some assurances that when investments goes from the diaspora to Jamaica, the level of risks is somewhat limited, he said. If the returns are there, capital will flow from here to there. But its also about the level of risk.

For now, he believes the best way Jamaicans can contribute to their homeland is through organizing and determining where the strategic needs are, and where they can best have impact.

One of the most important ways in which we can harness resources from the diaspora here to help Jamaica and its different institutions, different areas is to develop good relationships between Jamaicans, Jamaican agencies, Jamaican firms and diaspora people, said Rhodd. Most of us belong to some Jamaican organization.

They want to help, they want to give back as much as possible, he added. They are giving back but there are areas that we could develop more.

The communitys ability to organize, whether to celebrate its independence or to promote its vibrant culture, has long been at the backbone of the countrys diaspora politics, which in 2004 led to the creation of the Diaspora Advisory Board. The precursor of the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council, the advisory board brought together Jamaicans from all walks of life.

Building on that concept, the Global Council today comprises of 14 elected members from across diaspora communities in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Canada and 16 appointed members. Meeting every two years, the council members primary goal is to provide expertise and advice, all with the idea of helping the country advance.

In our diaspora, anywhere in the world, we are less concerned about politics, we are concerned about helping, Rhodd said, whether its our individual schools or schools collectively, or just helping people.
Swamp Thing gets spotted skulking across the swamp.

Now that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is almost here, director James Manfold is ready to head to the swamp. Speaking of, Phoebe Waller-Bridge hopes you haven;t seen the last of Helena Shaw. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds explains the niceties of storming a castle. All thus and mch mre, because the spoilers are battering down the door!







Helena Shaw: The Movie

During a recent interview with Variety, Phoebe Waller-Bridge suggested her Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny character may receive her own spinoff movie sometime maybe, in the future.



Read more

Theres no replacing Indiana Jones in any way. But I feel like the character herselfshe did feel fresh on the page, and there is a sense of, is there room in the world for someone like this? So I do think theres room for a slightly clumsier, bruised, limping female action star, maybe, in the future.





Captain America: Brave New World

Anthony Mackie also spoke to Inverse about the differences between Sam Wilsons new Captain America versus Steve Rogers original.

Its more so about his ability to connect and counsel. Hes not as rash to bear arms as Steve Rogers was. Having a super serum makes you impossible to beat, so your answer to everything is to fight it out. Whereas Sam Wilson can actually die pretty easily. He realized that his ability is not to change the world with force; its about giving people the wherewithal and the recognition that they deserve so that they can make a change. I can go around and beat up people all day; it wont matter. Those people are going to come right back and do the same sh*t.





Swamp Thing

Appearing as a guest on the latest episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via ComicBook), James Mangold discussed his excitement directing a noir- mystery-horror Swamp Thing movie for DC.

Basically, the second I heard DC was going through some leadership convulsion and James was taking over, I just saw it as an opportunity to throw my hat down in the most  I mean I just called them and I said, In all the stuff youre doing, if the idea of me making a gothic horror film, origin story of Swamp Thing fits in, tell me. Its no different speech than anyone else gets with me; I dont have any agenda for a universe, Im not building towards someone joining in some future. Have at it, but Id just be interested in telling, Ive always been interested in doing a version of Frankenstein, basically, and, yet, I feel, Its alive! has been done enough, but Swamp Thing always occurred to me as this wonderful version of a Frankenstein story, much in the way one of my favorite pop films of growing up, RoboCop, the original one. This guy who just wakes up and hes been turned into, he finds hes become this machine, was also something I was fascinated with with Logan, obviously. But, to me, the idea of making almost a noir, mystery, horror film about a guy who wakes up and hes this thing. Theres an amnesiac quality of, How did I get here and who did this to me? So Im envisioning a horror-noir film following a creature that cant be seen, trying to piece together from fragments of memories, what happened and who did it. And none of this runs counter to the Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson and all the great work that went on...Im just framing it up in a new movie context, but thats all they were exploring in these comics and so beautifully.





Venom 3

Tom Hardy also shared a new behind-the-scenes image of himself on the set of Venom 3.

Tom Hardy shared an image at the set of 'Venom 3' pic.twitter.com/1dbTVgaMn5  ScreenTime (@screentime) June 29, 2023





Haunted Mansion

Disney has released 10 new character posters promoting its latest crack at a Haunted Mansion movie.





Empire V

A Russian teenager joins a secret society of vampires who feed on human blood through electromagnetism in the trailer for Empire V.



Trailer: EMPIRE V





The Bondsman

According to Deadline, Kevin Bacon is attached to star in The Bondsman, an action-horror series at Amazon+ from creator Grainger David and showrunner Erik Oleson. The eight-episode first season is said to follow Hub Halloran (Bacon), a backwoods bounty hunter who comes back from the dead with an unexpected second chance at life, and love, and a nearly-forgotten musical career  only to find that his old job now has a demonic new twist. 





Squid Game

Coming Soon reports former Iz*One member Jo Yu-ri, Park Gyu-young, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Lee Jin-uk , Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, and Won Ji-an have joined the cast of Squid Games second season.





From

Bloody-Disgusting confirms From has been officially renewed for a third season at MGM+.





Doctor Who

The latest issue of Production Weekly also suggests the BBC has renewed Doctor Who for a 15th season.





Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Finally, Laan realizes she shouldve eaten something before storming a castle with Pike and MBenga in a clip from next weeks episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.



The Ready Room | Time Travel With Paul Wesley | Paramount+





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

Click here to read the full article.
File: Taylor Taranto, shown on Jan. 6, 2021 during U.S. Capitol riot. / Credit: Government exhibit

Washington  Washington state native Taylor Taranto, arrested near former President Barack Obama's home Thursday with weapons and ammunition in his vehicle, will remain in jail pending a hearing next week, a magistrate judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday.

Taranto was taken into custody on Thursday as a fugitive from justice after U.S. Secret Service agents spotted him within blocks of Obama's residence, law enforcement officials briefed on the matter told CBS News. He was apprehended before entering a restricted security zone around the former president's home.

The 37-year-old Taranto currently faces four misdemeanor counts stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, including illegal entry into the Capitol building and disorderly conduct. Prosecutors said in court Friday that Taranto had previously attended vigils in support of detained Jan. 6 defendants outside the Washington, D.C., jail, but was no longer part of the group. An organizer of the protest told CBS News that Taranto was "asked to leave" earlier this month because of misconduct near the event.

Taranto was taken into custody on Thursday and in his nearby van, law enforcement subsequently recovered two guns, 400 rounds of ammunition, and a machete. No explosives were recovered, but multiple sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News potentially explosive chemicals were also found.

According to a senior law enforcement official, Taranto had been in Washington, D.C., area for a couple of months and was seen camping out in his van near the D.C. jail where many of the Jan. 6 defendants are being held.

Investigators allege in newly unsealed court documents that Taranto attended a rally near the Washington Monument on Jan. 6, 2021, and walked toward the Capitol, where he entered through a door that had been breached by rioters. He is accused of moving through the building and into the Speaker's lobby around the time Ashli Babbit was shot and killed, court papers reveal.

Prosecutors allege Taranto and an admitted member of the Jan. 6 mob, David Walls-Kaufman, "scuffled" with police in the aftermath of the shooting before they were forced out of the Capitol. Once outside, he allegedly remained on Capitol grounds and fought with another rioter, "using his cane to fend them off," according to charging documents.

Taranto and Kaufman are also named as codefendants in a civil lawsuit alleging the pair contributed to the death of former Washington, D.C. police officer Jeffrey Smith, who died by suicide days after he responded to the Capitol breach.

In response to the lawsuit, Taranto admitted he had entered the building but said he was a member of the media and had done nothing illegal. Investigators say in court papers they have no proof of his work in the media and say he was employed as an engineer.

Social media video recovered after the attack shows Taranto saying, "So we're in the Capitolwe just stormed it," investigators said. He later allegedly appeared on a live stream forum discussing the events of Jan. 6 and identified himself in video on-screen, court filings say.

File: Jan. 6 suspect Taylor Tarranto says in live stream on Jan. 6, 2021,

In court on Friday, Taranto appeared wearing a t-shirt and shorts and spoke only briefly in response to questions from the court.

Prosecutors asked Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey, who appeared virtually, to detain the defendant pending a detention hearing and argued he is a flight risk because he has been living in his van since he moved to Washington, D.C.

The government said Friday that investigators have evidence Taranto previously live-streamed himself near a Maryland school in order to "send a shockwave" to the state's Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin.

Taranto's public defender told the judge that Taranto's wife  who still lives in Washington state  was willing to virtually address the court to attest that her husband would be able to live at home again to avoid detention. The defense also offered another alternative to detention  that Taranto could live with his in-laws in Connecticut.

Nevertheless, Harvey ruled that Taranto, a military veteran with no criminal record, would be detained pending his next hearing, scheduled for next week.

The judge added that he had "some concerns about [Taranto's] mental stability," a comment which also drew objections from the defense.

Harvey indicated additional charges could be brought, but reminded prosecutors that none of their recent allegations about Taranto's conduct are listed in the filed complaint.

"Right now, he's charged with offenses from years ago," the judge said to the government, "You'll be busy, I'm sure."

Taranto has not yet been arraigned.

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WASHINGTON  A conspiracy-minded Donald Trump supporter who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested Thursday near the home of former President Barack Obama, a law enforcement official told NBC News.

Taylor Taranto, 37, who was identified by online sleuths in August 2021 and faces a lawsuit from the widow of a Washington police officer who died by suicide, recently showed up at the sentencing of David Walls-Kaufman, his co-defendant in the lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses both men of being involved in an assault on Officer Jeffrey Smith on Jan. 6, 2021, which they have both denied.

Rioter storm the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images file)

While Walls-Kaufman was arrested last year and has already been sentenced, Taylor had not been charged.

In recent weeks, Taranto has been living in a van near the Washington jailhouse, according to his social media accounts, and has repeatedly wondered in online posts why he had not yet been arrested over Jan. 6. Taranto also posted a video of himself on YouTube inside the Capitol during the riot.

Washington police said in a statement Taranto was arrested under an outstanding arrest warrant, though the police department did not specify what the warrant was for, and that he has been charged as a fugitive from justice. Officers had the explosives disposal team sweep his van near where he was arrested, the department said, adding that there is no active threat to the community.

Earlier Thursday, a Truth Social account that uses the same screen name that Taranto uses on other social media accounts re-posted a Trump post that included what is alleged to be the address of Obamas home in Washington and noted that the home is near a mosque. Got them surrounded! the Truth Social account wrote.

NBC News has also been reviewing Tarantos Telegram account. His last post was a link to a website touting conspiracy theories about the Obamas' home.

It was not immediately clear when Taranto would make a court appearance.

A spokesperson for Obama did not respond to a request for comment.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
FREEHOLD BOROUGH, New Jersey  Its been more than two months since Simon Kaitz entered the world.

But the baby boy has never seen his home, has rarely seen his mother and is stuck in Mexico, where he was born.

Simon is the product of a surrogacy birth that occurred 2,500 miles south of New Jersey couple Laura and Sam Kaitz's home and has turned their one-time miracle of life into a weeks-long nightmare of bureaucracy, alleged lies and legal fees.

No one has been able to help us, said Laura Kaitz, 52, a property manager and mother of two older children from a previous marriage. We're frightened and panicking. I want my family home.

Simon was born on April 18 in Mexico City but has been barred from entering the United States ever since, his parents say. They have been told by Mexican and U.S. authorities that he cannot obtain a passport because his birth certificate is not valid.

Sam Kaitz of Freehold Borough with his son, 2-month-old Simon, who he is trying to bring back to the United States from Mexico, where he was born from a surrogate mother.

U.S. officials have regularly warned potential surrogate parents against doing business in Mexico given the lack of oversight in that country and the potential problems that can arise.

Although surrogacy agencies/clinics claim surrogacy is legal in Mexico and actively promote Mexico as a destination for international commercial surrogacy, there is no legal framework for foreigners or same-sex couples to pursue surrogacy in Mexico, a 2021 notice on the U.S. Mexico Embassy website states. As a result, surrogacy agreements between foreign or same-sex intending parents and gestational mothers are not enforced by Mexican courts.

It later notes, If you decide to pursue parenthood in Mexico via assisted reproductive technology (ART) with a gestational mother, be prepared for long and unexpected delays in documenting your childs citizenship.

The couple claims they were misled by the surrogacy agency that contracted to oversee the process and found government blockades from the Mexican courts, United States Embassy and U.S. State Department.

As a surrogate child, Simon was conceived in a laboratory using Samuel Kaitzs sperm and an egg from an anonymous donor. Once fertilized, the egg was placed inside another woman, hired as a surrogate through a Mexican-based surrogacy agency.

The agency, Surrogacy Mexico, finds donors and surrogate mothers and charges a fee to bring the parties together and oversees the process. The Kaitzs said they paid $60,000.

Although he was born seven weeks premature, the couple says Simon is doing well and is living with his father in an Airbnb in Mexico.

But efforts to bring him back home have hit one roadblock after another, they said.

Every time I look at him it makes me so happy and fills my heart with joy, Kaitz said from Mexico City, where he has been since Simons birth. But every time I speak with someone from the (surrogacy) agency it breaks my heart all over again.

Surrogacy Mexico has not responded to repeated requests for comment.

Mexican surrogacy has grown in recent years, according to experts, who point out its often one-third the cost of seeking a United States surrogate. Others said the popularity has grown due to the war in Ukraine, which had also been a popular location prior to the Russian invasion there.

Kristen Armstrong, a San Diego-based lawyer who specializes in foreign surrogacy cases, agreed that difficulties often arise, but said that may be the case in any foreign country.

Surrogacy anywhere in the world can be risky if you are not informed and you are not affiliated or using qualified, experienced and ethical professionals, Armstrong said in an interview. These types of problems that these people have run into is unfortunate, but it has to do with the program or attorneys or someone along the way not being completely educated about the process.

Mr. Kaitz, 37, said he saw the federal warnings when he and his wife began the process more than a year ago but were told by their Mexican lawyer that things had improved.

The U.S Embassy in Mexico did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service referred a request to the U.S. State Department, which sent a link to its website and the general information on surrogacy overseas.

The Kaitzs trouble began when Simons birth certificate was wrongly issued with Ms. Kaitzs name on it as the birth mother, the couple said. Routinely, surrogacy birth certificates name the surrogate mother and the natural father, then the child is formally adopted by the couple.

The Kaitzs said they were told by their Mexican lawyer, who was appointed by the surrogacy agency, that placing Ms. Kaitzs name on the birth certificate would not be a problem. But when they went to get the child a passport, U.S. Embassy officials said it was not valid.

His birth certificate kept being delayed, beyond that they needed to get a (Mexican court) judgement for Laura to be on the birth certificate, Mr. Kaitz said. They said that would not be a problem. But it has been.

He said the U.S. Consulate in Mexico has told the couple that the birth certificate they received was not valid and was not issued by the proper Mexican agency.

They gave us no options, said go back to your lawyers and get a proper birth certificate, Ms. Kaitz said. They wanted to see the surrogacy agreement signed by all parties and we provided them with that and a DNA test that shows Sam is the father.

For subscribers: Fertility treatment costs in the US: Breaking down price ranges for IVF, IUI and more

She said the couple also has signed agreements from the egg donor and the surrogacy mother giving up any rights to the child.

The consulate has had a lot of sympathy for us, they have tried to help us, but they have said that the surrogacy agency should have provided us with a packet of documents and everything we needed to submit, Ms. Kaitz said. They provided us nothing.

The couple recently reached out to Rep. Andy Kim, D-Monmouth, N.J., for help. His office said only that they have been in touch with the U.S. State Department but offered no other details.

Mr. Kaitz, a Newark high school math teacher, said he has met with U.S. officials at least eight times since Simons birth, with other meetings in different Mexican government agencies as well.

It seems like every time I get the embassy what they want they ask for something new, he said. I dont know if it is because they dont know what they need or they are being told something more and it makes it impossible to leave when we do not know upfront what we need. Its been extremely financially stressful, extra time and extra things we are going to have to do because the lawyers didnt do their job right.

While Mr. Kaitz has remained in Mexico, Ms. Kaitz has had to spend most of her time in Freehold Borough watching her other children, 21 and 23, who are on the autism spectrum.

My other kids havent seen their father in over 2 months, she said. And they havent met their little brother.

Mr. Kaitz said the latest request from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, which issues passport to U.S. citizens, is that the couple provide a new DNA sample that can prove he is the biological father, along with proof of his U.S. citizenship and U.S. residency.

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He remains hopeful that will be enough but said he would warn others to be careful before going down the same road.

It will take years off your life, Mr. Katz said. If you are going to do this, you have got to be very level-headed, if you get upset easily you will barely survive. If you do it, do not allow the agency to provide a lawyer for you for any reason, it must be a lawyer you choose.

Joe Strupp is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience who covers education and several local communities for APP.com and the Asbury Park Press. He is also the author of three books, including Killing Journalism on the state of the news media, and an adjunct media professor at Rutgers University and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Reach him at jstrupp@gannettnj.com and at 732-413-3840. Follow him on Twitter at @joestrupp

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Surrogacy snag creates nightmare in Mexico for New Jersey couple, baby
President Joe Biden, whose $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan was struck down by the Supreme Court Friday, said his administration would pursue other measures to ease college debt.

The White House is offering a year-long grace period for people who miss payments and is working on another pathway for relief under the Higher Education Act, a different law than the one Biden had the Secretary of Education used for the initial plan.



Im not going to stop fighting to deliver borrowers what they need, particularly those at the bottom end of the economic scale, Biden said from the White House. So we need to find a new way. And were moving as fast as we can.

Biden had proposed to relieve up to $20,000 for student loan borrowers who received a Pell Grant and up to $10,000 for others depending on their income. The Court ruled 6-3 that the president exceeded his authority.

Federal student loan repayments will resume in October after being repeatedly halted during the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Education Department said. Interest will start to accrue again on Sept. 1. Congress prevented further pauses on repayment as part of the agreement to lift the debt ceiling, which was signed into law this month.

Biden said Friday that there would be an on ramp for borrowers through September 2024. People who miss monthly payments during this time wont be considered delinquent and wont face default or harm to their credit.

Additionally, the administration finalized an income-driven repayment program Friday to halve borrowers monthly payments. Biden said the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan would help a typical borrower save more than $1,000 a year.

All borrowers who are repaying are eligible to enroll later this summer, the White House said. Those who sign up or are already signed for the current Revised Pay as You Earn plan will be automatically enrolled in SAVE.

According to the White House, the repayment plan would:

Cut in half the amount that undergraduate borrowers have to pay each month from 10% to 5% of discretionary income.

Raise the amount of income considered non-discretionary, protecting it from being used in calculating how much a borrower must pay. It means a borrower who is single and making the annual equivalent of a minimum wage does not need to make a monthly payment.

Forgive debt after 10 years of payments, instead of 20, for borrowers who had original loan balances of $12,000 or less.

Not charge borrowers with unpaid monthly interest so their loan balance will not grow as long as they make their monthly payments. This includes those who are eligible for $0 monthly payments.

Biden said Friday that the Court misinterpreted the Constitution in striking down his initial plan.

The court said that Bidens initial plan was not authorized under the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, which allows the government to grant waivers for financial aid in national emergencies.

Invoking the act, the Biden administration had promised to forgive more than $400 billion in debt to alleviate financial distress caused by the pandemic.

About 26 million borrowers applied or were deemed eligible for that forgiveness, including more than 2.3 million Californians, before lawsuits stunted the program, according to the White House.

Federal loans account for more than two-thirds of student borrowing in the U.S, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). About 3.8 million Californians are responsible for more than $142 billion of the nations student borrowing. The total national balance comes to about $1.6 trillion.

The Biden administration has forgiven at least $66 billion for nearly 2.2 million borrowers, including people in public service or who attended certain for-profit colleges, recent Education Department data shows. Biden encouraged borrowers to check the Education Departments website to see what other forms of relief they are eligible for.

It matters, he said.
The 2023 China Internet Civilization Conference will be held in the city of Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province from July 18 to 19, its organizers said on Thursday.

The conference will consist of a main forum, a forum on developing integrity in cyberspace, 12 sub-forums, and a series of themed events, said Niu Yibing, deputy chief of the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission and the Cyberspace Administration of China, at a press conference in Beijing.

The sub-forums will cover topics such as content development, law-based governance in cyberspace, data security, the protection of personal information in cyberspace, and the management of algorithms, international exchanges, digital charity and cultural tourism development.

The two-day event aims to build a platform to present China's ideas for internet civilization, promote experience exchanges and mutual learning, and display related achievements, Niu said.

The conference will be co-hosted by the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, the Central Commission for Guiding Cultural and Ethical Progress, the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the Fujian Provincial People's Government.
The Supreme Court ruled against President Joe Biden's plan to forgive student loan debt for 26 million Americans in a 6-3 decision Friday, ending a program that was intended to ease the financial burden on families.

Biden said Friday that he will pursue canceling student loan debt through the Higher Education Act of 1965, which he said authorizes the education secretary to modify, waive or compromise federal student loan under certain circumstances.

Dominique Baker, a professor of education policy and leadership at Southern Methodist University, supported Biden's plan as a way to remove part of the financial burdens students and their families accrue from pursuing higher education.

"We have a lot of motivation and incentive for people to go to college, and we're telling them that the right decision for your life, for your future is to go to college, but we're also making it more costly for people to go to college," Baker said.

Baker added the high court's decision would be especially detrimental to students of color, who tend to borrow at higher rates, borrow larger amounts and struggle more in paying their debts.

Sen. Cornyn introduces legislation aimed at student debt crisis

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas recently joined four other Republicans to introduce a package of five bills aimed at tackling the country's growing student debt crisis.

"Student loan repayment should not fall on the backs of hardworking American taxpayers, and students should not be getting federal loans for degrees that dont result in better-paying jobs," U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said.

Student loan debt totals more than $1.7 trillion in the United States, according to a recent report from the Education Data Initiative. Nearly 44 million people owe federal student loans, with each person owing an average of $37,338.

Sens. Cornyn, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Chuck Grassley of Iowa introduced the Lowering Education Costs and Debt Act, a package of bills to combat the rising cost of higher education.

Here's how the senators' proposal compares with Biden's student debt relief plan, which includes forgiving loans up to $20,000:

More: Republicans roll out plan to take on student loan debt

Cornyn prioritizes student loan repayment

Cornyn's contribution to the package is the Streamlining Accountability and Value in Education (SAVE) for Students Act, which aims to simplify the loan repayment process.

The bill consolidates the nine student loan repayment options offered by the U.S. Department of Education into two options: a standard 10-year repayment plan and the REPAYE+ system in which earlier forgiveness is provided to low-income, low-balance undergraduate borrowers.

Cornyn's bill seeks to limit loans that would pay for undergraduate programs in which graduates can't earn more than a high school graduate and graduate programs in which former students can't earn more than those with bachelor's degrees. Additionally, it would prohibit the implementation of Biden's student debt forgiveness plan and end the Department of Education's ability to create new repayment plans without Congressional approval.

"Student loan repayment should not fall on the backs of hardworking American taxpayers, and students should not be getting federal loans for degrees that dont result in better-paying jobs," Cornyn said in a statement. "Im proud to join my colleagues in supporting this legislation to streamline this confusing system, save students money, and ensure higher education is accessible to Americans without an out-of-touch loan cancellation scheme."

Will borrowers start defaulting on loans?

If enacted, Cornyn's plan could help solve a large issue Baker said borrowers could experience as a result of the Supreme Court's decision. During the COVID-19 pandemic, student loan payments and interest accrual were paused. The Biden administration announced payments would restart in January, but because of ongoing legal battles over his plan, the payment restart date was delayed.

Borrowers have been used to not paying back their loans, Baker said, in some cases because they figured they could rely on the federal government to forgive their debt. As that's no longer an option, Baker worries the country could see a significant uptick in borrowers defaulting on their loans.

"Defaulting on your student loans is an indicator that you are under financial distress," Baker said. "If we do not cancel a portion of student loan debt, that could exacerbate the financial distress that people are under."

Financial stress leads people to decide against things they would otherwise do, Baker said, like pursue further education, transition to different jobs, get married and have children.

However, James DeNicco, director of Rice University's principles of economics program, said he doesn't believe defaults will drastically rise as a result of Biden's plan being struck down. He estimated the loan forgiveness plan would have saved borrowers about $100 a month in loan payments, which he doesn't think would have made a discernible difference long-term.

"Is it not fun to lose $100 a month? Of course it is," DeNicco said. "But again, like 40% of (eligible borrowers) are in your top two quintiles of earners. I don't think they're going to change their consumption patterns that much having to pay an extra 100 bucks a month."

Biden's student loan forgiveness plan fails Supreme Court test

In August, Biden announced his plan to forgive at least $10,000 in student loan debt for borrowers who make less than $125,000 or are from households that make $250,000 or less per year. Pell Grant recipients are eligible for $20,000 in debt forgiveness.

At the time, up to 43 million people were estimated to be eligible to receive some form of debt relief, with 20 million of those having their loan balances completely canceled. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of student loans would increase by $400 billion in value as a result of the move.

Despite Biden's use of executive authority to enact his plan, the proposal faced harsh political and legal backlash from Republicans and the Supreme Court. In February, the court's conservative majority alluded to its skepticism about Biden's plan and questioned the president's authority to forgive student loans on his own.

'Massive new program': Supreme Court majority signals skepticism over Biden's student loan forgiveness plan

On Friday, a majority ruled that the Biden administration overstepped its power by attempting to forgive $400 billion in student loans lingering during the pandemic.

DeNicco said one of the major problems he saw in Biden's plan was that it wasn't very targeted. He said the debt forgiveness offer applied to too many people and didn't do much to make college more affordable in the future.

"If we're going to continue to encourage debts and deficits, to really alleviate financial burdens, we should be focusing on those who are in the most need, and this bill really is not terribly targeted toward doing that," Denicco said. "They're letting people (who make) up to $125,000 a year single, up to $250,000 as a household, qualify for that. As a single person, especially if you're young, making $125,000 is a lot of money, and I'm not sure it makes sense to have those people in the recipient pool."

How much student loan debt do Texas students, graduates have?

During the 2021-22 academic year, 1,025,249 students received some sort of financial aid for higher education, which amounts to 68% of eligible students, according to a report from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Nearly $12.4 billion was paid out to students from federal, institutional, private and state sources.

Nearly $5 billion in loan aid was provided to students in Texas in fiscal year 2021, mostly from the federal government, according to the report.

The Institute for College Access and Success estimated in 2020 that the average loan amount for college graduates in the class of 2020 in Texas was over $26,000. It was also estimated that 52% of those graduates owed loan debt.

USA TODAY staff writers Ella Lee, Medora Lee, John Fritze, Alia Wong, Chris Quintana, Joey Garrison and Nirvi Shah contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How John Cornyn's, Joe Biden's student debt relief plans compare
John Sherman says no one is waiting on Royals for new stadium. But some say they are

Royals owner John Sherman spoke for nearly an hour Thursday, most frequently trying to slap a fresher coat of paint onto the ongoing stadium project, but the root of this column stems from one sentence.

Five words, actually.

No ones waiting on us, Sherman said.

That came during an eight-minute opening monologue, not once but repeated twice for emphasis, and it took about three seconds for me to scribble it on a notepad and circle and star it.

Why?

Earlier this month, Kevin Hardy and I talked to nearly two dozen people involved in conversations regarding the Royals pursuit of a new stadium  narrowed to locations in the East Village or across the river in North Kansas City  and those five words clash with just about everything those parties shared over the past few weeks.

They placed the to-do list at the feet of the Royals, before Sherman kicked a portion of it back across the table on Thursday. Those are my words. Shermans were not only intentional but carefully-chosen. Same as these: We are the urgent party in this process.

Thus, in an attempt to provide a clearer peek into the process, he illuminated something else:

There is an apparent disconnect in how the Royals believe this is all unfolding and how key political figures believe it is unfolding.

Or who is waiting on whom.

Or the necessary order of operations.

Or, you know, all of the above.

You dont have to squint hard to see the origin of the frustration from those involved, because as Shermans words ring true inside Kauffman Stadium  no ones waiting on us  it is not a sentiment so equally or easily shared outside the building.

In underscoring that no one is waiting on them, the Royals are implying that everyone is equipped to move forward to the next stage of the project  all the while the Royals are actually the ones temporarily stuck in limbo. But the most commonly-stated frustration of those on the other side of the proverbial table is that the Royals have not provided enough information to generate real progress.

Hows that for harmony on a $2 billion project?

These stadium negotiations are rarely smooth  anyone take a look at Oakland recently?  though here in Kansas City, they havent actually reached the contract negotiation stage. So rather than arguing over the particulars, the latest back-and-forth (even if the Royals refrained from using names) implies a difference of opinion for who is waiting on whose particulars.

Shortly after Shermans news conference concluded, for example, I exchanged text messages and phone calls with multiple local political officials to ask if they were still waiting on anything from the Royals before they felt comfortable moving forward.

The replies were unanimous: Yes.

The truth can be that all sides need to learn more to feel comfortable, but lets be real here: One detail is quite evidently absent from the Royals, and its not a fine-print detail.

A site selection. The Royals have not yet determined what city and county in which they plan to build, and therefore which taxpayer base will contribute hundreds of millions.

But several other specifics in a complex process remain outstanding as well. And key operatives view those details as prerequisites to securing a place on a ballot, others for gaining widespread support. Within minutes after Sherman had concluded, the leader of a local advocacy group called Good Job and Affordable Housing for All released a statement about the lack of details for a community benefits agreement.

John Sherman, in a press conference held this morning, said that the Royals expect the benefits to the community to far exceed the public investment when it comes to their new stadium district, but continued to stay silent on what those benefits might be, Terrence Wise, that local leader, said in a statement.

More succinctly: They are waiting on the Royals for more information.

The 750,000 residents in Jackson County and 250,000 more in Clay County probably feel as though theyre waiting to know whether theyll be asked to foot the bill for a portion of the $1 billion stadium.

Look, no one has more motivation to get this all sewn up than the Royals, who stand to financially benefit the moment their address changes. The initial half of that sentence is the point that came across most effectively Thursday. Why would they delay anything? While any perceived deadline on the project is essentially self-imposed, the Royals are the party most keen on making this all happen. The urgent party, Sherman called them.

To that end, Sherman said hes personally met with Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas and Jackson County executive Frank White this week. The Royals are eager to meet with some parties more frequently. Couple that with the sentence of the day, that the Royals insist they are not holding this up, and it makes it evident they are encountering some resistance in their ongoing conversations. Otherwise its unlikely wed ever be talking about the viability of North Kansas City.

They are mum about the exact nature of those roadblocks, other than to say theyre waiting on a few people who arent as urgent, or that they need to have confidence that about the about the financial structure. But there at least some involved in this process who are waiting on the Royals to solve that, whether immediately in their control or not. As the Royals are not inclined to publicly complain about someone whose assistance they might later need, The Star outlined several complications earlier this month. It is, after all, a project that requires unifying several corners of support.

But their counterparts  or partners, as Sherman often referred to them  are still wondering exactly what the project is. And exactly might be the operative word. Because while they understand its general concepts, such as the request for an extension of the Jackson County sales tax as the base funding, they want every last detail, financial and otherwise.

But on that?

Well, theyre still waiting, they say.
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Actor Jonathan Majors is the subject of new allegations of physical and emotional abuse, as the domestic violence investigation involving the actor takes an unexpected turn.

Rolling Stone published a scathing story Thursday revealing its findings following a months-long investigation into Majors past, with more than a dozen sources saying the Creed III star was abusive toward former romantic partners, film crew members, and acting colleagues.

Majors, who also portrays villain Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was arrested in March on charges including aggravated assault and harassment stemming from a domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari. She initially claimed the 33-year-old hit her with an open hand, causing a laceration, and strangled her inside a Manhattan taxibut has since recanted the latter, according to The New York Times.

Majors denied the allegations from the outset and filed his own criminal complaint against Jabbari this past week. Heres what you need to know about where their cases stand, as well as the damning new report.

Whats In the Rolling Stone Article?

According to USA Today, sources told Rolling Stone that Majors emotionally abused a pair of former romantic partners and committed physical abuse during one of the relationships. The two unnamed partners declined to comment for the article, and sources chose to remain anonymous for fear of professional and personal retribution.

Six of Majors former classmates at Yale University, where he attended the David Geffen School of Drama, said he had confrontations with peers and that his intensity could be too much. Additionally, members of the crew for Magazine Dreams, an upcoming film starring Majors set to release in December, said the actor pushed a production member on set and shouted at another.

Majors attorney Dustin A. Pusch called the claims false in an emailed statement to USA Today. These allegations are based entirely on hearsay because neither of the romantic partners referenced were willing to engage with Rolling Stone for the articledemonstrating their outright falsity, Pusch said, adding that sources provided false information to the magazine. We notified Rolling Stone of these errors, but Rolling Stone purposefully ignored those facts and red flags and published the charges anyway.

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What's the Latest on the Criminal Cases?

Majors drew attention for attending a hearing on June 20 with his new girlfriend, actor Meagan Good. There, a judge set the date of August 3 for the case to go to trial and ordered Majors to continue to adhere to the courts full order of protection for Jabbari.

Just two days after the hearing, on June 22, Majors filed a complaint that accused Jabbari of scratching and hitting him while drunk during their March altercation. The New York Police Department issued an investigation card days later that gives probable cause to arrest Jabbari, according to The New York Post.

Majors attorney Priya Chaudhry told the Post he is provably the victim in the investigation. Last week, for the first time, Mr. Majors met with the NYPD to present them with evidence of what really happened on that night, she said. Within hours of viewing the evidence and conducting their own through investigation, the NYPD found probable cause to arrest Grace Jabbari for assaulting Jonathan Majors.



What Are Other People Saying?

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Majors Marvel co-star Anthony Mackie recently offered public words of support for the embattled actor. Mackie, who plays Sam Wilson in the series of superhero films and television shows, said in an interview with Inverse on Wednesday that everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

Thats one of the staples of this country. Nothing has been proven about this dude. Nothing, Mackie said. Thats all I can say. Its crazy where we are as a society. But as a country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

Prior to the investigation, Majors was expected to be a major part of the superhero franchise moving forwardwith his character Kang believed to be the primary antagonist of two Avengers films and part of other projects. Marvel still hasnt commented on Majors arrest or the allegations against him.

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He deserves to be put to death. Keys man sentenced for rape and murder of woman in van

A Florida Keys judge on Thursday agreed with a jurys January decision to sentence a man to death who was convicted of raping, torturing and murdering a woman in his van on the eve of the 2018 Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay, a cop with decades of experience, called the brutality of the Nov. 21, 2018, murder, one of the most heinous crimes weve seen and that the man convicted of the murder  62-year-old Steven Matthew Wolf  is probably a serial rapist and murderer who got away with it for years.

He deserves to be put to death for his actions, Ramsay told the Miami Herald/FLKeysnews.com Thursday.

Judge Mark Jones of Floridas 16th Circuit made the ruling Thursday afternoon, said Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward.

This is a horrific, vicious rape and murder committed by an animal. Hes where he belongs. On death row, Ward told the Herald.

Monroe County sheriffs detectives and statewide prosecutors with the Florida Attorney Generals Office say Wolf kidnapped 51-year-old Michelle Osborne in the Middle Keys city of Marathon, tied up and strangled her with a rope before raping her with two objects.

The county Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as ligature strangulation in combination with anal and genital trauma, according to the State Attorneys Office.

The case was prosecuted by a father-and-daughter team from the Attorney Generals Office  Cristina and Cass Castillo, who could not be reached for comment.

A 12-person jury convicted Wolf of first-degree murder on Jan. 25 and recommended death the next day.

Ward ended up turning the case over to statewide prosecutors  sworn in as assistant Monroe state attorneys  for the trial because hes short staffed. However, his attorneys and investigators worked the case up through the grand jurys 2019 first-degree murder indictment, Ward said.

Wolf was represented by attorneys with the Monroe County Public Defenders Office. Public Defender Robert Lockwood declined to comment on the case when reached Thursday.

A look into the investigation

Prosecutors say Wolf, who lived in Marathon at the time, dumped Osbornes naked body in the woods by the Vaca Cut Bridge on the northern end of the city.

A fisherman found her body that afternoon and called police. Almost a week went by, however, before detectives were able to identify Osborne by matching her fingerprints.

She was homeless and lived in Janesville, Wisconsin, before moving to the Keys, investigators say.

According to online records, she had worked as a substance abuse treatment center manager in Janesville. In the aftermath of her murder, detectives said the crime scene indicated she was dragged off a walking trail into the woods.

They also said the brush where Osborne was discovered looked as though a vehicle had driven through it, and broken automobile parts were found on the ground.

Hours after the discovery of Osbornes body, deputies found a Dodge conversion van parked in the Kmart shopping plaza at 5585 Overseas Highway. It was missing parts similar to the ones found in the woods, and there were branches stuck underneath the vehicle, detectives said.

The black Dodge conversion van belonging to Steven Wolf, who was arrested on a murder charge in the death of an unidentified woman Wednesday, Nov. 21, sits inside the Monroe County Sheriffs Office hangar in Marathon. Police are looking to speak with anyone who may have seen the van in Marathon between Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening.

They found Wolf inside the van. The bed, stove top and hanging clothes were tell-tale signs that the vehicle was also his home.

There was something else inside the van: Blood. Detectives later found blood-soaked sheets thrown out in dumpsters throughout town. They arrested Wolf on a murder charge Nov. 23, 2018.

1977 conviction

Wolf had been accused of murder before, and Ramsay believes he likely was involved in more violent crimes that hes so far never answered for.

This is clearly not a good guy. And thats just what we know of, Ramsay said in January following his conviction. Hes been charged with murder two different times. Is this a serial killer? A serial rapist? How many other victims are there?

He was convicted in 1977 in his native Boise, Idaho, for first-degree murder, according to records released by the Ada County Sheriffs Office in 2018.

Hes accused in that case of strangling an elderly man to death, with the help of three friends, after breaking into his house to steal his $119 Social Security check.

Third Keys death row inmate

With Judge Jones decision, there are now three Florida Keys inmates waiting to be put to death.

Michael Tanzi is accused of kidnapping Janet Acosta, then 49 years old, from Miami on April 25, 2000, while she was sitting in her van on her lunch break. Acosta worked as a supervisor in the Miami Heralds production department.

ID Photo

Prosecutors say Tanzi, who lived in Key West, battered and sexually assaulted Acosta before driving her to the Lower Keys, where he strangled her to death. Before he killed her, he used her ATM card to withdraw money from her bank account. He dumped Acostas body on Blimp Road in Cudjoe Key.

Thomas Overton was arrested in 1997 and sentenced to death in 1999 for killing Missy, 29, and Michael MacIvor, 30, and their unborn child inside their Tavernier home in 1992.

Death Row inmate Thomas Overton was nabbed for the murders due to his moonlighting career as a burglar.

Overton was a service-station clerk who moonlighted as a burglar, police said. He was linked to the crimes after detectives obtained a DNA sample from his blood while he was in custody in November 1994 on a burglary count.

Theories abounded in between the two years of the murders and when detectives arrested him, including that the crime may have been connected to the South Florida drug smuggling scene at the time. But, it turned out, investigators said, that Overton was obsessed with Missy MacIvor and stalked her at the young familys home.
A federal judge will allow a ban on most abortions in North Carolina after 12 weeks of pregnancy to go into effect on Saturday but temporarily blocked one provision included in the law.

US District Court Judge Catherine Eagles on Friday issued a narrow temporary restraining order putting on hold a requirement for doctors to document the location of early pregnancies with ultrasound evidence before prescribing a medication abortion.

Sometimes patients can get to us very early in their pregnancy.  Our standard practice is to evaluate the patient, make sure that medication abortion is reasonable and safe, and then go ahead and start the medication abortion process even if we cannot yet see the pregnancy because the pregnancy is so early, explained Dr. Katherine Farris, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. The way the law is written, it does not allow us to do that, and that is the piece that the judge enjoined  not whether or not we have to perform an ultrasound, but whether or not we have to see the pregnancy within the uterus before we can start the medication abortion process.

The order blocks that provision for two weeks, to allow for further review.

All of the other provisions will be allowed to take effect as scheduled. Eagles noted that the majority of the other measures raised in the lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers had been clarified by a bill signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper on Thursday.

That legislation made significant changes to the sweeping abortion legislation  such as removing conflicting language that set a separate 10-week cut off for medication abortion and clarifications on laws on fetal homicide, doctor reporting requirements and rules surrounding residents who obtain abortions out of state.

Separately, court documents show that both plaintiff and defendant attorneys, as well as state lawmakers, agreed further to a stipulation that that the law will not penalize someone  who advises, procures, causes, or otherwise assists someone in obtaining a lawful out-of-state abortion. For example, people cannot be arrested for driving a person who is past 12-weeks in pregnancy to obtain an abortion in another state where it is legal.

Starting tomorrow, North Carolinians will no longer be able to access abortion after the 12th week of pregnancy, and they will be forced to endure medically unnecessary restrictions that make it harder to get the health care they need even before 12 weeks, said Jenny Black, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.

Our legal challenge forced General Assembly leadership to clean up their mess of a bill, but we never should have had to sue to get clarity on how to comply with this law, Black continued. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic remains committed to providing abortion care to as many people as possible within the unjust and inhumane confines of this abortion ban, and we encourage anyone in need of abortion care to contact us as soon as possible for help navigating this new reality.

As CNN previously reported, legal filings from attorneys representing Republican leadership appeared to confirm the amendment was written to address the Planned Parenthood lawsuit, which flagged multiple inconsistencies and potential constitutional violations in the original text of the abortion law, Senate Bill 20.

Cooper, a Democrat who vetoed the abortion law before the legislatures Republican supermajority voted to override it last month, issued a statement on his decision to sign the bill containing the revisions.

In addition to being dangerous for women, the rushed abortion ban was so poorly written that it is causing real uncertainty for doctors and other health care providers. This bill is important to clarify the rules and provide some certainty, however we will continue fighting on all fronts the Republican assault on womens reproductive freedom, said Cooper on Thursday.

Under current state law, which ends after Friday, abortions are legal up to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The new law, effective Saturday, bans any licensed physician from performing surgical abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. It provides limited exceptions in the case of rape and incest through 20 weeks of pregnancy or in the event of a life-limiting anomaly through 24 weeks.

Under the bill, the procedure could be performed by a physician if a doctor determines an abortion is necessary to avert a patients death  not including psychological or emotional conditions.

The new law prohibits health care providers who object to abortion on moral, ethical, or religious grounds from being required to participate in medical procedures that would result in an abortion.

It also creates several new reporting requirements, adds multiple in-person appointments and examinations by physicians seeking to prescribe or administer abortion-inducing drugs and will prohibit people within the state from mailing such drugs to a pregnant woman.

There are certain changes included in the abortion law that are not set to go into effect until October, such as possible clinic licensing regulations and a requirement that any abortion performed after 12 weeks for a patient with a qualified exception be done in a hospital.

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Mark Ridley-Thomas leaves court during his federal trial in Los Angeles in March. A judge upheld his conviction on Friday. (Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

A federal judge in Los Angeles has upheld the conviction of longtime politician Mark Ridley-Thomas, declining Friday to acquit him of all public corruption charges or grant him a new trial.

In a 17-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer rejected the arguments by Ridley-Thomas' lawyers that the jury's verdict against him on charges of conspiracy, bribery, and honest services mail and wire fraud was based on insufficient evidence, improper statements by the prosecutors or other claimed legal defects.

Fischer noted there was "substantial evidence" of Ridley-Thomas' "corrupt intent" and wrote, "The jury could easily find that Defendant knew he was acting corruptly and dishonestly in structuring the $100,000 donation [to USC] in return for his assistance with" a contract sought by the university.

The decision is a major legal setback for Ridley-Thomas, 68, and clears the way for him to be sentenced later this summer. He faces the prospect of years in prison  a stunning fall from grace for the once-powerful lawmaker.

Representatives for Ridley-Thomas did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in L.A. declined to comment.

Jurors in March convicted the former L.A. City Council member of honest services fraud counts for his sending a $100,000 donation from a campaign fund to USC's school of social work, knowing the university would then route the money to a nonprofit run by his son, Sebastian.

Prosecutors had alleged that the "funneling" of the money was done partly in exchange for his supporting a contract extension sought by USC for a remote mental health treatment program  part of a broader conspiracy whereby Ridley-Thomas extracted benefits from USC in exchange for supporting county business that the university coveted.

Jurors acquitted Ridley-Thomas of fraud charges related to several benefits USC gave his son, including a scholarship, admission to a master's degree program and a professorship.

The former dean of USC's social work program, Marilyn Flynn, pleaded guilty to a count of bribery and is also scheduled to be sentenced this summer.

Read more: Mark Ridley-Thomas found guilty in corruption case

At a hearing this week, defense lawyers had told Fischer that the case against Ridley-Thomas amounted to "a miscarriage of justice" and urged the judge to acquit him or order a new trial.

The defense claimed there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate the lawmaker technically voted on one of the contracts  arguing that the L.A. County Board of Supervisors' meeting minutes did not fully show him voting  and scant evidence that Ridley-Thomas breached his fiduciary duty.

Fischer rejected both arguments, writing that "there is no question" Ridley-Thomas voted on the contract in question. Regarding Ridley-Thomas' fiduciary duty, the judge reasoned that "the taking of bribes or kickbacks is, as a matter of law, a breach of the fiduciary duty owed by a public official."

For the conspiracy charge, the defense claimed there was no evidence showing the "required meeting of the minds" between Ridley-Thomas and the USC dean, but the judge was unmoved.

"The evidence," according to the judge, "shows that there was an agreement between [Ridley-Thomas] and Flynn to provide County business to USC in exchange for Flynn's assistance in concealing the nature and source of the payment between Defendant's campaign fund and United Way's."

Since Ridley-Thomas' conviction, his supporters  clergy, former staff members, lobbyists, friends and a public relations team  have expressed grief, even umbrage, over the guilty verdict. More than 100 people packed Fischer's courtroom this week to watch prosecutors and defense attorneys address the judge.

In advance of the hearing, the group CD10 Voices for Empowerment urged supporters to come to court.

"Public demonstration of support for MR-T remains critically important to illustrate community skepticism about the verdict, the depth of interest in the case, and the strength of solidarity with the defendant," the group wrote on its website.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A federal judge in New York on Thursday denied former President Donald Trump's request to dismiss E. Jean Carroll's original defamation claim against him, ruling his arguments lacked merit.

Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, sued Trump in November 2019 over comments he made shortly after Carroll publicly accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the 1990s. In those statements Trump denied the accusation, said Carroll was "not my type," and suggested she fabricated her accusation for ulterior and improper purposes, including to increase sales of her then-forthcoming book.

"Regarding the 'story' by E. Jean Carroll, claiming she once encountered me at Bergdorf Goodman 23 years ago. I've never met this person in my life. She is trying to sell a new book -- that should indicate her motivation. It should be sold in the fiction section," Trump posted on Twitter.

MORE: Donald Trump sues E. Jean Carroll with his own claims of defamation

Trump argued the case should be dismissed because he is immune from her claim since he was president at the time.

"His theory fails for two reasons," Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote Thursday. "First, absolute presidential immunity is not the only type of absolute immunity that raises separation of powers concerns. Second, and more importantly, 'separation of powers' is not a magic phrase that automatically transforms any issue it touches into an impediment to the exercise of subject matter jurisdiction."

Kaplan also rejected Trump's claim that his denials were part of his official duties as president.

"Mr. Trump did not merely deny Ms. Carroll's accusation of sexual assault. Instead, he accused Ms. Carroll of lying about him sexually assaulting her in order to increase sales of her book, gain publicity, and/or carry out a political agenda," Kaplan wrote. "Even assuming that the president's decision publicly to deny an accusation of personal wrongdoing comes within the outer perimeter of his official duties, it does not follow that the president's own personal attacks on his or her accuser equally fall within that boundary."

PHOTO: E. Jean Carroll walks out of Manhattan federal court, May 9, 2023, in New York. (John Minchillo/AP, FILE)

The civil trial is scheduled for January.

In May, Carroll prevailed in a second lawsuit that alleged defamation and battery. A jury found Trump liable for both and awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.

In a separate filing Thursday, Trump's attorneys argued he deserved either a new trial or a downward modification of the damage payment.

"Consequently, the Jury's $2 million award was clearly motivated by sympathy rather than by evidence of harm, and the Court should grant a new trial as to compensatory damages for the battery claim, or grant a remittitur of such award to an amount no more than $400,000," defense attorney Joe Tacopina wrote.

Trump has also filed a defamation suit against Carroll for continuing to accuse him of rape after the jury in May ruled that he was liable for sexually assaulting her but not raping her as she claimed.

Judge denies Trump's request to dismiss E. Jean Carroll's remaining defamation claim originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Family members and friends participate in a march on July 10, 2022, in support of those killed and injured in the school shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. Credit: Evan L'Roy/The Texas Tribune

A state district judge this week ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to begin the process of releasing records related to the May 2022 Uvalde school shooting that the agency has shielded from the public for over a year.

The decision by 261st Civil District Court Judge Daniella DeSeta Lyttle marks a win for a coalition of news organizations, including The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, which sued the agency in August. The lawsuit sought the release of records that would bring more clarity to law enforcements failed response, including emails, video footage, call logs, emergency communications and forensic records.

The public deserves a full accounting of what happened that day, and were glad that the judge has begun that process, said Reid Pillifant, an associate attorney with Haynes Boone, a law firm that represents the news organizations. Were hopeful DPS wont fight this decision, and well begin the process of providing transparency.

DPS did not directly answer the newsrooms questions, including whether it plans to appeal the courts decision. In a statement emailed to ProPublica and the Tribune on Friday, a spokesperson for the agency said that the litigation is ongoing and that the department will carefully consider its options when a Final Judgment is entered.

Lyttle instructed DPS to submit a detailed list of redactions it wants to make to the public records by Aug. 31. The judge said that the court anticipated discussing the proposed redactions in September.

In its court filings, DPS has argued releasing records could interfere with an ongoing investigation into the shooting. The agency continued to defend this argument during a March hearing, which came months after the agency said its initial report was finished. DPS did not answer questions as to whether its investigation has been finalized. The agency has selectively disclosed some of the information during press conferences and in public hearings conducted by the state Legislature.

Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell joined DPS in fighting the coalitions lawsuit that month. She argued the disclosure could jeopardize any criminal charges she could seek in response to the agencys investigation. Mitchell also claimed that all of the families of the deceased children had told her they supported withholding the records. But lawyers representing the majority of the families argued that was not true and joined the news organizations in support of the release.

These Uvalde families fundamentally deserve the opportunity to gain the most complete factual picture possible of what happened to their children, Brent Ryan Walker, one of the attorneys representing the families, wrote in March.

Mitchell did not respond to questions submitted by ProPublica and the Tribune on Friday.

The coalition has also sued the city and county of Uvalde for similarly withholding an array of records, including the layout of the school, which is set to be torn down. That lawsuit is ongoing.

Laura Lee Prather, a First Amendment lawyer also with Haynes Boone, said she hopes the lawsuit will, in the future, encourage agencies to produce information like 911 calls and body camera footage as quickly as possible.

Thats how you promote trust in law enforcement, Prather said. Its also how you prevent future tragedies.

Join us for conversations that matter with newly announced speakers at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, in downtown Austin from Sept. 21-23.

Correction, June 29, 2023 at 8:26 p.m. : A previous version of this story gave an incorrect date for when lawyers need to submit proposals for final judgement. Its July 14, not July 31.
With hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of delays over the past few days heading into the July Fourth holiday weekend, the blame game has begun for the cause of the issues.

Cancellations and delays have been widespread for the past week with severe and intense weather stretching across the East Coast. Strong thunderstorms and high winds prevented many departures the past few days, which then created a chain reaction of additional delays and cancellations.

More than 250 flights within or coming in or out of the United States have been canceled as of early Friday morning, and more than 1,200 have been delayed, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.

United Airlines has been hit the hardest in the past week, with about 3,000 flights canceled since Saturday. That includes 500 flights Thursday and about 200 more by 10 a.m. Friday.

United CEO Scott Kirby blamed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for the continuing issues. He said in a memo to employees Monday that the FAA frankly failed us this weekend with poor staffing levels. He said the company estimates that 150,000 travelers using United were impacted because of staffing shortages and the agencys ability to manage air traffic.

He said the FAA cut arrival rates by 40 percent and departure rates by 75 percent Saturday, putting everyone behind the eight ball when the weather arrived Sunday.

JetBlue told The New York Times that it struggled to keep its schedule on time because air traffic control limited trips for airlines into and out of New York airports.

The FAA told the Times that it did not have any staffing issues on the East Coast Monday or Tuesday and will work with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem.

Kirby said in the memo that FAA leaders are not to blame, as the staffing issue has been ongoing for years since before they came into their roles.

A report from the Transportation Department released last week found that 20 of the countrys 26 most critical airport facilities were understaffed below the agencys 85 percent threshold as of March 2022.

AAA expects record levels of travel during the July Fourth holiday weekend, surpassing highs set in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Travelers assemble and await the rescheduling of their flights at Newark International Airport on June 27, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey (KENA BETANCUR)

Travel forecasters are predicting record travel for the July 4th weekend, but this year's celebration may also be something of a battle with the elements.

The five-day stretch culminates in Tuesday's Independence Day celebration, a highlight of the US summer calendar, known for barbecues, lazing by the pool and fireworks.

A record 50.7 million Americans are expected to venture at least 50 miles from home in the period heading into July 4th, eclipsing the prior peak of 49 million in 2019, according to the American Automobile Association.

But travelers this week got a bitter taste of the impact of seemingly typical summer weather on the stretched US aviation network.

Intermittent rainstorms, thunder and lightning in New York and other East Coast destinations wreaked havoc, forcing the cancelation of more than 3,200 flights to and from the three major New York-area airports since Monday.

Aviation chaos is only one of the potential buzzkills.

Travelers are also tracking how much of smoky air from Canada moves eastward from the Midwest. And extreme heat in Texas and other states has driven talk of a federal disaster declaration to mitigate public health risks.

New York's LaGuardia Airport drew a hearty crowd early Thursday.

"If you really want to go, you've got to deal with it," said Ellen Coakley on Thursday morning upon landing at LaGuardia Airport from Chicago, where one could smell the smoke from Canadian forest fires.

Jennifer Hamilton encountered "packed" airports as she navigated a newly circuitous itinerary to Costa Rica from Washington after construction on an airport runway canceled her original flight.

After landing at LaGuardia, Hamilton was taking an Uber to JFK Airport where she would fly through Bogota, landing at 12:30 am, if all goes according to plan.

- Paying up -

Travel experts see this weekend's expected historic tourist volume as reflecting favorable factors, including a strong US job market and a moderation in gasoline prices.

More than four-fifths of the travelers over the long weekend will be going by car, benefiting from the 25 percent drop in gasoline prices. But they will likely experience "grief at the grill," as Rabobank said of double-digit price increases on beef, lettuce, soda, white bread and potato chips.

"Consumers have taken some heavy punches but they're still standing," said Tom Bailey, senior consumer foods analyst at Rabobank, adding that the July 4th gathering is a "splurge" item.

Even before the pandemic, travel industry experts described a greater preference for young consumers for experiential consumption compared with earlier cohorts.

If anything, those trends were bolstered by the isolation of the pandemic years, helping to fuel the current go-go spending on hotels, airlines, cruise ships and booking websites.

"Travel remains really robust," said Siye Desta, an equity analyst CFRA Research. "There hasn't been any sign of any pullback in consumer spending in travel, even though prices have meaningfully increased."

- Stormy weather ahead? -

For people traveling this weekend by plane, the biggest worry will be a prolongation of the airport turmoil of recent days.

This week has seen another round of horror stories of flight cancelations, stranded luggage and airport mass sleep-ins that have become a recurring theme in recent years.

United Airlines, the carrier most at center of this week's Big Apple travel nightmare, blamed understaffing of the Federal Aviation Administration for the outsized impact of the storm.

But pilots and flight attendant unions pointed at United management, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN that United had "some internal issues they need to work through."

United reported it is continuing to see "meaningful improvement after an overnight effort to further repair schedules and match separated crews with aircraft," the airline said Thursday.

"As the recovery progresses, delays and cancelations will continue to decline as we head into what we expect to be a very busy holiday weekend," the company said, adding it is watching weather in Denver and Chicago.

Aviation experts note the industry has generally struggled to ramp up capacity to meet post-pandemic need, with personnel shortfalls dogging the system and fewer planes than expected, due in part to delayed deliveries from Boeing and Airbus due to supply chain issues.

"Airlines have less of a buffer today," said Chris Raite, who analyzes aviation at Third Bridge, a research consultancy.

Charles Everett, aviation director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is urging travelers to check with their airline before leaving for the airport.

"We expect similar weather to what we've been seeing," he said. "That's why we recommend people check with their airline."

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Researchers in Shanghai have published a report on high-quality living in the cities of the Yangtze River Delta, aiming to establish a benchmark for people's aspirations and expectations for a better life in the new era.

The report, published by the Shanghai Development Institute of the Shanghai Party Institute of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday, introduces a high-quality living evaluation system with indicators divided into three levels and four dimensions. These dimensions encompass health and green living, life-work harmony and social justice, smart and convenient living, and personal development and life services.

According to Pan Wenxuan, who led the research, the four dimensions focus not only on material improvements but also on enriching spiritual aspects of life. They represent an organic combination of economic, social, cultural, political and ecological aspects.

This report marks the third research report on high-quality living by the research group in recent years. While the previous two reports only covered Shanghai, this one includes 17 major cities in the Yangtze River Delta region, such as Nanjing, Hangzhou and Hefei.

"The Yangtze River Delta region is known for its high living standards and improving the quality of life in the cities of the region will have a demonstrative and leading role in improving the quality of life for people across China," Pan said.

The evaluation results reveal that Shanghai maintains a significant advantage in almost all dimensions, especially smart and convenient living as well as personal development and social justice, making it the city with the highest quality of life in the Yangtze River Delta region.

However, there are areas in Shanghai that still need improvement, particularly in terms of life-work balance and economic growth potential.

In Zhejiang, major cities such as Hangzhou and Jiaxing rank second and third, respectively, among major cities in the delta in terms of quality of life. In Jiangsu, the intercity gap in quality of life among major cities is relatively small, with Nantong, Suzhou and Wuxi at the top.

For major cities in Anhui, the overall quality of life is relatively backward, but certain domains show significant advantages. For example, Fuyang exhibits higher work-life balance, while Hefei ranks among the top major cities in the delta for smart and efficient government services and social justice.

Based on the analysis, the research group proposes ideas and measures to optimize high-quality living in the delta region. They emphasize the need for better utilization of integration and collaboration, including infrastructure connectivity, resource sharing and collaborative governance.

Qiu Zeqi, director of the China Social and Development Research Center at Peking University, commended the research and highlighted the evolution of people's aspirations and expectations for high-quality living as society develops.

The research group's evaluation system reflects these new characteristics and expectations and acknowledges the importance of spiritual enrichment, work-life balance, and mental well-being in addition to materialistic concerns, Qiu said.

"Regardless of the internal divisions within Shanghai's society, whether there is poverty, wealth, ease or hardship, overall, the way of life of Shanghai residents was something that all Chinese people once desired," Qiu said. "I believe that the way of life for people in the Yangtze River Delta can also become a desired lifestyle for Chinese people in this new era, in the digital age."

Yet Qiu also expressed the need to continue exploring what constitutes high-quality living in the new era, as addressing this question properly can establish the Chinese path as a benchmark for other developing countries and the world.

"I believe that the Yangtze River Delta has the opportunity and capability to create not only a high-quality lifestyle for the region but also for humanity as a whole," Qiu said.
Travelers assemble and await the rescheduling of their flights at Newark International Airport on June 27, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey (KENA BETANCUR)

Travel experts are predicting record volumes for the July 4th weekend, with road traffic peaking Friday as Americans contend with the elements to take part in the annual summer celebration.

The five-day stretch culminates in Tuesday's Independence Day celebration, a highlight of the US summer calendar, known for barbecues, lazing by the pool and fireworks.

A record 50.7 million Americans are expected to venture at least 50 miles from home in the period heading into July 4th, eclipsing the prior peak of 49 million in 2019, according to the American Automobile Association.

Increased traffic is expected to boost travel times 30 percent over normal, with the worst conditions in big cities like Boston, Seattle and Washington DC, AAA said.

Air travelers this week also got a bitter taste of the impact of seemingly typical summer weather on the stretched US aviation network.

Intermittent rainstorms, thunder and lightning in New York and other East Coast destinations wreaked havoc, forcing the cancelation of more than 3,200 flights to and from the three major New York-area airports since Monday.

Travelers are also tracking how much of smoky air from Canada moves eastward from the Midwest. And extreme heat in Texas and other states has driven talk of a federal disaster declaration to mitigate public health risks.

"If you really want to go, you've got to deal with it," said Ellen Coakley on Thursday morning upon landing at LaGuardia Airport from Chicago, where one could smell the smoke from Canadian forest fires.

- Paying up -

Travel experts see this weekend's expected historic tourist volume as reflecting favorable factors, including a strong US job market and a moderation in gasoline prices.

More than four-fifths of the travelers over the long weekend will be going by car, benefiting from the 25 percent drop in gasoline prices. But they will likely experience "grief at the grill," as Rabobank said of double-digit price increases on beef, lettuce, soda, white bread and potato chips.

"Consumers have taken some heavy punches but they're still standing," said Tom Bailey, senior consumer foods analyst at Rabobank, adding that the July 4th gathering is a "splurge" item.

Even before the pandemic, travel industry experts described a greater preference for young consumers for experiential consumption compared with earlier cohorts.

If anything, those trends were bolstered by the isolation of the pandemic years, helping to fuel the current go-go spending on hotels, airlines, cruise ships and booking websites.

"Travel remains really robust," said Siye Desta, an equity analyst CFRA Research. "There hasn't been any sign of any pullback in consumer spending in travel, even though prices have meaningfully increased."

- Stormy weather ahead? -

For people traveling this weekend by plane, the biggest worry will be a prolongation of the airport turmoil of recent days.

This week has seen another round of horror stories of flight cancelations, stranded luggage and airport mass sleep-ins that have become a recurring theme in recent years.

United Airlines, the carrier most at center of this week's Big Apple travel nightmare, blamed understaffing of the Federal Aviation Administration for the outsized impact of the storm.

But pilots and flight attendant unions pointed at United management, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN that United had "some internal issues they need to work through."

United has reported some improvement since Wednesday night, but still had more than 200 cancelations and 250 delays Friday morning, more than other major US carriers, according to FlightAware.

Buttigieg described United's disruptions as "elevated but moving in the right direction," adding on Twitter that the FAA "continues to monitor weather and smoke."

Aviation experts note the industry has generally struggled to ramp up capacity to meet post-pandemic need, with personnel shortfalls dogging the system and fewer planes than expected, due in part to delayed deliveries from Boeing and Airbus caused by supply chain issues.

"Airlines have less of a buffer today," said Chris Raite, who analyzes aviation at Third Bridge, a research consultancy.

Charles Everett, aviation director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is urging travelers to check with their airline before leaving for the airport.

"We expect similar weather to what we've been seeing," he said. "That's why we recommend people check with their airline."

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Speaking in front of leading LGBTQ advocates, policymakers and celebrities Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris slammed the Republican lawmakers behind the historic wave of anti-LGBTQ state bills introduced across the country over the past several years.

One of the strengths of our nation has been in our fight for progress, Harris said at a Pride event held at her Washington residence and co-hosted by the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD. A measure of progress is the expansion of rights, not the restriction of rights.

However, she told the crowd, what were up against right now are so-called leaders, these extremists who are trying to do an abrupt, backward march.

But were not having it. Not on our watch, she said.

More than 490 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country this year and an estimated 77 have become law, according to a tally by the American Civil Liberties Union. Republican lawmakers have successfully passed laws to curtail education on LGBTQ issues, restrict some drag performances and ban transition-related health care for minors, among other provisions.

Some of the enacted laws  including an anti-drag measure in Tennessee and an Arkansas law that banned transition-related care for the states minors  have been recently declared unconstitutional in court. However, many of the measures signed into law this year remain in place.

Harris took particular aim at Floridas Dont Say Gay law, which bans the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in public and charter schools. An original form of the law banned instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade before it was expanded last month.

Fundamental, foundational principles, which are rooted in freedom and equality, are at stake, Harris said. We are prepared, each of us, because of our love of country, to stand proudly, and with pride, to fight for what we know is right.

Dove Cameron, left, attends a Pride Celebration hosted by Kamala Harris, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images for GLAAD)

The vice presidents remarks coincide with a surge in threats and attacks of violence targeted at LGBTQ Americans.

There have been more than 350 anti-LGBTQ hate and extremism incidents in the U.S. over 11 months starting June 2022, according to a report released last week by the Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD. A report released last week by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonprofit group that studies extremism, found that more than 200 instances of protests, threats and acts of violence were directed at drag events and performers of drag  which has deep ties to the queer community  from June 1, 2022, to May 20.

Alex Newell performs during a pride event hosted by Kamala Harris, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images for GLAAD)

In the face of anti-LGBTQ legislation and threats of violence toward gay and trans Americans, the Biden administration has taken several steps to push back.

During Pride Month last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that directed federal agencies to expand access to transition-related care and increase LGBTQ inclusivity in American schools. The order also curbed funding for the debunked practice of conversion therapy.

Biden also signed legislation in December to codify federal protections for same-sex marriages, and his administration has consistently urged Congress to pass the Equality Act, legislation that would federally prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ Americans.

Guests attend a Pride event hosted by Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images for GLAAD)

Among the guests at Wednesdays Pride event was White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay person to be a presidential spokesperson. In an interview with NBC News, Jean-Pierre acknowledged the LGBTQ community has come a long way in recent years but said, Theres still a lot of work to be done. She then sent a message to transgender young people, who have been particularly affected by the wave of state bills focused on the LGBTQ community.

You are exactly who you need to be, she said. We have your back, you are enough, and this is an administration that is going to do everything that we can to fight for you.

RuPauls Drag Race winner Sasha Colby, who emceed Wednesdays event, also shared a message of support for transgender youth, saying that her joy and success as a transgender person is not just an exception.

All the things that I thought that I was maybe even ashamed of or things that I didnt want people to know, is actually your power, Colby told NBC News. Its actually the thing that will unlock your courage.

Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, the countrys most senior transgender official, had a hopeful outlook, telling NBC News that she thinks this Pride Month is an inflection point.

I feel a new spirit this Pride, she said. Im feeling very hopeful, positive and optimistic about the future.

Vice President Kamala Harris at Stonewall in New York on Monday. (Matt Lavietes / NBC News)

Wednesdays Pride event came just two days after Harris made a surprise visit to New York Citys historic Stonewall Inn on Monday to commemorate LGBTQ Pride Month. She is the first sitting vice president to visit the site of a 1969 June uprising that is largely credited with being a turning point in the modern gay rights movement.

At the end of her remarks Wednesday, Harris quoted the civil rights leader Coretta Scott King, saying that the fight for civil rights must be fought and won with each generation and declared that Pride is patriotism.

It is patriotic to love our country because we believe in foundational principles, Harris said. We believe in the promise of freedom and equality and justice  that is an expression of our love of our country.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Kelsea Ballerini hit in face with object while performing on stage in Idaho

Kelsea Ballerini temporarily stopped her concert after she was hit in the face while on stage in Idaho.

The country-pop singer gave a show at the Outlaw Field at the Idaho Botanical Garden in Boise on Wednesday (28 June).

During a rendition of her 2022 track If You Go Down, Ballerini was hit in the face with an unidentified object after it was thrown by someone in the crowd.

The singer, 29, was forced to briefly pause her live show as she reacted to the shocking event. At first, she continued playing the acoustic guitar while turning to the back of the stage, before she made a stop hand signal to the crowd and exited.

According to a TikTok from an attendee at the show, Ballerini spoke about the bizarre moment when she returned to the stage.

Can we just talk about what happened? Ballerini addressed the crowd. All I care about is keeping everyone safe. If you ever dont feel safe, please let someone around you know.

If anyones pushing too much or you just have that gut feeling, just always flag it. Dont throw things. You know?

Though the item thrown at the singer hasnt been officially confirmed, some commenters have said it was a friendship bracelet.

Kelsea Ballerini after being struck by an item on stage (Twitter)

Ballerinis official fan account posted a video of the moment on social media with a caption condemning throwing items at or to performers.

Guys. I know we all mean well. We all want to show Kelsea love the best way we know how, and shower her with all the gifts. But throwing things on stage where artists are already so vulnerable is NOT the move.

If you cant hand it to her, there are so many other options. Lord, give it to us! We will make sure it gets to her. But PLEASE dont put her in danger like this. Again, I know you all mean well, but this is becoming a safety issue. We love you guys. We do. But please make it stop.

Guys. I know we all mean well. We all want to show Kelsea love the best way we know how, and shower her with all the gifts. But throwing things on stage where artists are already so vulnerable is NOT the move. If you cant hand it to her, there are so many other options. Lord, pic.twitter.com/oIgy2JDn3V  Kelsea Central  fan account (@KelseaCentral) June 29, 2023

The Independent has approached a representative of Kelsea Ballerini for further comment.

This follows several other recent incidents of female artists being accosted or having random objects thrown at them during their concerts.

Bebe Rexha was struck in the head with a phone during a show in New York, after which she suffered a black eye and required stitches.

Days later, Ava Max was slapped by a stage invader while performing in Los Angeles. Then, Pink was bewildered when a fan threw their mothers ashes on the stage as she performed as part of the British Summer Time festival in Londons Hyde Park.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) suggested on Thursday that young students should look to role models who didnt need affirmative action after the Supreme Court decided to effectively end affirmative action in college admissions.

Look to all sorts of role models who didnt need affirmative action, who worked hard in elementary school, middle school, high school, [who] were admitted to universities because of their achievement, because of the merit of their actions and grades, Buck said on The Hill on NewsNation.

The Colorado Republican was responding to a question about what hed tell young students who might feel, after the Supreme Courts decision, similarly to former President Barack Obama  who said that affirmative action policies allowed generations of students like him and former first lady Michelle Obama to prove we belonged.

Buck said he would tell young students to look at Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, both of whom are Black.

Look to those as role models, as true role models, for how to get ahead, and dont rely on some give-out, give away, from a university or a government, Buck said.

The Court issued decisions Thursday that heavily restrict the use of race as a factor in college admissions, ruling 6-3 against race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Many Republicans have lauded the decision, while Democrats have decried it as a blow to diversity in the college admissions process.

If we want to do something about, and we should do something about, the gap between Black student achievement and white student achievement, we should make sure that we have school choice in the inner cities, we should make sure that we take the teachers unions to task and allow more merit-based opportunities in the inner cities, Buck said.

Asked about the implications of the Supreme Court decision on the private sector, Buck on Thursday also said corporations hiring decisions should be based on merit to avoid discriminating against someone due to their race.

I think there will be implications in the private sector. And what I would say is that equality  the idea that we are going to treat people equally based on merit  is something that corporations should look at also, Buck said.

Thats exactly what these corporations need to do. They need to make sure that they are hiring based on the merit. Discriminating against someone because of the fact that theyre Asian or the fact that theyre white is disgraceful, he said.

NewsNation and The Hill are both owned by Nexstar.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A Frankfort man has been indicted on four charges, including manslaughter, after a fatal crash that happened about one year ago.

Justin Ryan Benton, a 27-year-old Frankfort resident, was indicted last week after a single-car crash in the early morning hours of April 30, 2022 that killed 24-year-old Ashley Nicole Hall, according to court records.

The crash happened at the southern split of I-64 and I-75. Hall was pronounced dead at University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital about an hour after the crash, according to the Fayette County Coroners Office.

Court documents show Benton was charged with second-degree manslaughter, operating a motor vehicle under the influence, operating on a suspended or revoked license and having no or expired registration plates.

Bentons indictment says he was driving under the influence and wantonly caused Halls death.

Court documents say Bentons bond was set at $7,000 last week and posted a few days later. He made his first court appearance Thursday and is expected to have a pretrial conference in August.

Fred Peters, Bentons attorney, said it was a tragic, unfortunate car accident and he does not believe Benton is guilty of second degree manslaughter.
Map of Kenya

Situated on the equator, Kenya is a major economy on Africa's east coast, with tangible links to early humankind.

In the East African Rift Valley palaeontologists have discovered some of the earliest evidence of man's ancestors.

In the present day, Kenya's ethnic diversity has produced a vibrant culture but is also a source of political conflict.

A former British colony, Kenya gained independence after the Mau Mau insurgency of the 1950s.

The origins of the insurgency remain disputed by historians and its conduct became a controversial legacy for independent Kenya. In 2013, the British government paid compensation to claimants who said they had been the victims of abuses by colonial forces fighting the rebellion.

The jihadist movement Al-Shabab, based in neighbouring Somalia, has launched many attacks in Kenya, mostly in the north-east, but also two high-profile and mass-casualty assaults in Nairobi: on the Westgate shopping mall in 2013 and the DusitD2 complex in 2019.

Other pressing challenges include high unemployment, crime and poverty. Droughts frequently put millions of people at risk.

Read more country profiles - Profiles by BBC Monitoring

REPUBLIC OF KENYA: FACTS

Capital: Nairobi

Population: 55 million

Area: 580,367 sq km

Languages: Swahili, English

Life expectancy: 64 years (men) 69 years (women)

LEADER

President: William Ruto

Kenya President William Ruto takes the oath of office at the Moi International Sports Center Kasarani in Nairobi, Kenya, on September 13, 2022

In August 2022, Deputy President William Ruto narrowly won the presidential election. He took 50.5% of the vote. His main rival, Raila Odinga, got 48.8% of the vote

The incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta was not eligible for a third term under Kenya's constitution.

On 22 August, Odinga filed a petition at the Kenyan Supreme court challenging the results, but on 5 September, the Kenyan Supreme Court rejected the challenge and upheld Ruto's victory.

William Ruto had a childhood that epitomises the lives of many poor Kenyans. He went to primary school barefoot, wearing his first pair of shoes at the age of 15.

Mr Ruto ran his campaign under the banner of Kenya Kwanza, Swahili for Kenya First, with a promise to grow the economy.

Kenya's official unemployment rate for 18 to 34-year-olds is nearly 40%, and the economy is not creating enough jobs to absorb the 800,000 young people joining the workforce every year.

Ruto has promised a bottom-up approach to the economy, saying it will benefit the poor who are bearing the brunt of the cost of living crisis that has hit the world following the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

MEDIA

Newspaper stand in Kenya

A handful of major commercial companies dominates the media industry, operating alongside state-owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC).

TV is the main news source in urban areas. Internet use is high by regional standards, driven by the use of mobile devices.

The competitive press scene is the most sophisticated in the region. Newspapers are free to criticise politicians and the government.

TIMELINE

Jomo Kenyatta was inaugurated as president after a bitter struggle for independence from Britain

Some key dates in Kenya's history:

c 3.3 million BC - Evidence of some of the earliest human tools have been found in Kenya, suggesting that it was the cradle of humanity from which descendants moved out to populate the world.

600AD - Arabs begin settling coastal areas, over the centuries developing trading stations which facilitated contact with the Arab world, Persia and India.

1895 - Formation of British East African Protectorate.

1920 - East African Protectorate becomes crown colony of Kenya - administered by a British governor.

1944 - Kenyan African Union (KAU) formed to campaign for African independence. First African appointment to legislative council.

1947 - Jomo Kenyatta becomes KAU leader.

1952 - A mostly Kikuyu guerrilla group, officially the Kenya Land and Freedom Army but more often known as Mau Mau, begins violent campaign against white settlers. State of emergency declared, Jomo Kenyatta jailed, KAU banned.

The Mau Mau rebellion largely ends following the capture in 1956 of its leader Dedan Kimathi but the state of emergency is not lifted until 1960.

1961 - Jomo Kenyatta released and takes part in negotiations on the transition to independence.

1963 - Kenya gains independence, with Mr Kenyatta as prime minister.

1964 - Republic of Kenya formed. Jomo Kenyatta becomes president and Oginga Odinga vice-president.

1978 - Kenyatta dies in office, succeeded by Daniel arap Moi.

1991 - Kenya moves to a multiparty political system after 26 years of single-party rule.

1998 - Al-Qaeda operatives bomb the US embassy in Nairobi, killing 224 people and injuring thousands.

2002 - Al-Qaeda attack on Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa kills 10 Kenyans and injures three Israelis. A simultaneous rocket attack on an Israeli airliner fails.

2002 - Mwai Kibaki wins a landslide victory, ending Daniel arap Moi's 24-year rule

2007 - Disputed general elections are followed by deadly violence.

2009 - Kenya says that at least 10 million people, or one third of the population, are in need of food aid. The government mobilises the military to distribute food, water and medicines to areas hit hardest by drought.

2010 - Kenya joins its neighbours in forming a new East African Common Market, intended to integrate the region's economy.

2010 - New constitution designed to limit the powers of the president and devolve power to the regions approved in referendum.

2011 - Kenya intervenes in conflict in Somalia and subsequently suffers several apparent reprisal attacks, including the 2013 massacre at Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi and the 2015 attack on Garissa University College in the northwest.

2014 - At least 48 people die after al-Shabab militants attack hotels and a police station in Mpeketoni, near the island resort of Lamu.

2017 - A multi-billion-dollar railway line linking Mombasa to the capital Nairobi is opened, it is Kenya's biggest infrastructure project since independence.
Neil Mockford/Getty

Kevin Spacey was accused on Friday of being a sexual bully by prosecutors at his trial in the U.K. over a string of alleged assaults against four men.

The jury in London was also told that the actor delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable and did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification. Spacey, 63, has previously denied 12 charges including sexual assault and indecent assault against the four alleged victims between 2001 and 2013.

The case is just the latest legal hurdle for Spacey, who has dodged allegations of sexual misconduct since actor Anthony Rapp came forward in a 2017 BuzzFeed article to accuse Spacey of sexual assaulting him when he was 14. Rapp later filed a $40 million lawsuit against Spacey, which went to trial in Manhattan federal court last October. A jury in that trial concluded that Spacey should not be held liable for the alleged assault.

As the only accuser to have battled the House of Cards actor in court in the U.S., Rapp told The Daily Beast he was sending strength to the courageous men who are bringing this case to court in London.

A trial is a harrowing experience for victims of abuse, and I sincerely hope these men are served with the proper outcome: that Kevin Spacey is punished for his crimes, Rapp said.

Kevin Spacey Wins Over Jury in Ugly Teen Sex Assault Case

At Southwark Crown Court in London, prosecutor Christine Agnew reminded jurors not to be star-struck by the defendant. He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards, she said. He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men.

She went on to allege that Spaceys preferred method of assault was to aggressively grab other men in the crotch. One of the men allegedly assaultedall of whom were in their 20s or 30s at the time of the incidentsclaimed in one incident that while he was driving Spacey grabbed him so hard he almost came off the road. He then rebuked Spacey and told him never to do it again, alleging that his getting angry simply turned [Spacey] on.

The court also heard that a second man first met Spacey while working at an event in a theater in Londons West End. When no one else was around, he alleged that Spacey asked him questions of a sexual nature including about the size of his genitals and said: Is it true what they say about Black men, do you like it outside? He also claimed Spacey later grabbed his penis with such force it was painful.

A third accuserthe first to make a complaintmet Spacey while auditioning for a role, the court was told. The man said he later asked Spacey for mentoring and, after meeting, went back to the actors apartment. After falling asleep or passing out, the man said he later awoke to find Spacey sucking his penis. He said he pushed Spacey off and, as he left the apartment, was told by Spacey not to tell anyone about what had happened.

The fourth accuser said he was working in a pub that Spacey visited in 2013. The man said he chatted with the actor and told him he was going to another bar later to meet friends. When the alleged victim arrived at the second location, he found Spacey already drinking with his friend group. There, Spacey allegedly put his hand on the mans knee and the knees of others in the group.

The man then later went with one of his friends and Spacey to the house where Spacey was staying where they carried on drinking and smoking cannabis, jurors heard. At the house, the complainant alleged that Spacey kissed his neck twice and said, Be cool, be cool. The man also alleged that Spacey grabbed his crotch before the man pushed the defendant against a wall and said, Sorry, man, I dont bat for that team, before leaving.

Prosecutor Agnew said it may well be that Spacey got a sexual thrill from his alleged aggression. She also said the four accusers did not know each other.

Are they lying? Agnew asked jurors. Have they decided to manufacture allegations against the defendant in order to benefit financially? Is that why theyve come forward? That will almost certainly be suggested to you by those representing the defendant.

Or is it the case, as we the prosecution suggest, that [Spacey] abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him; taking advantage of his popularity and prominence, his illustriousness and influence, she added. Taking what and who he wanted when he wanted.

Spaceys lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, said his client completely denied the accusations. Mr. Spacey is rich and influential, and the flip side of that, amongst your considerations in the case, Gibbs said. What did they want from his wealth and from his influence? And what do they still want, do you think?

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Kevin Spacey arriving at Southwark Crown Court in London this morning - Jordan Pettitt/PA

Kevin Spacey, the Oscar-winning Hollywood actor, is a predatory sexual bully who exploited his illustriousness and influence to attack four young men for his own gratification, a court has heard.

The 63-year-old star of hits including American Beauty, The Usual Suspects and House of Cards, was accused of taking what and who he wanted when he aggressively grabbed and groped the crotches of his victims.

The actor, who is charged under his full name of Kevin Spacey Fowler, delighted in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, and even allegedly sexually assaulted one young man while he was asleep.

The court heard how Mr Spacey, who is an American citizen, had moved to London in 2001 to take up a role at the Old Vic theatre.

But during his time in the UK he is accused of attacking four men in their 20s and 30s during 12 years.

With the defendant sitting in the glass walled dock of Court One at Southwark Crown Court listening intently, prosecutor Christine Agnew KC told the jury that Mr Spacey was an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards.

But warning them against becoming starstruck, she said: He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men.

A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable  a sexual bully.

Kevin Spacey has denied all the charges - Jordan Pettitt/PA

Ms Agnew explained that Mr Spaceys preferred method of assault was to aggressively grab other men by the crotch.

He is also accused of performing a sex act on an aspiring actor who had passed out in his Waterloo apartment.

Ms Agnew said: None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way but he doesnt seem to have cared very much for their feelings  he did what he wanted to do  for his own personal sexual gratification.

The court was told some of the men in the case were suing Mr Spacey in the civil courts. The actors barrister Patrick Gibbs KC, addressed the jury telling them they would need to consider what the true motivations for the complainants coming forward were.

Setting out the prosecutions case, Ms Agnew explained that the first complainant had worked for Mr Spacey in the early 2000s and was in his early 30s at the time.

She said the alleged victim recalled how the actor was very touchy feely and would speak openly about his sexuality.

Ms Agnew said that on several occasions when they were in a car together Mr Spacey had grabbed and groped the complainant in an aggressive way.

It may well be that the defendant got a sexual thrill out of this type of sexual aggression. It is certainly a consistent feature of three out of the four complainants, she said.

It was alleged Mr Spacey had been confident his victim would not tell anyone about the incidents as these events took place 20-years before the Me Too movement.

The man, who cannot be identified, eventually stopped working for Mr Spacey. In 2022 he contacted police after reading about other allegations in the newspapers.

Ms Agnew said: He didnt want it to happen to anyone else and he wanted to support those who had already made complaints.

Turning to the second alleged victim, Ms Agnew said the incident had occurred in 2005 during an event at the Haymarket Theatre in central London.

He claimed Mr Spacey, who smelt of alcohol, had made a series of lewd and sexually suggestive remarks when he walked past him.

The defendant then allegedly put his hand on his leg before later grabbing his crotch with such force it was painful.

The court was told the man pushed him away and said: No Im not like that.

Ms Agnew explained that the third alleged victim was an actor who claimed he had been attacked by Mr Spacey at his London home in 2008.

He was 23 and had auditioned for a part in a play at The Old Vic theatre during which he had briefly met Mr Spacey.

After finishing drama school later that year he had written to Mr Spacey perhaps optimistically hoping to make the most of a loose and relatively remote connection, the jury was told.

He included a photograph of himself, his telephone number and email address. A few weeks later while out with some friends in a north London pub he received a phone call from Mr Spacey who suggested they meet.

They had a few drinks and then went back to the actors apartment in Waterloo where they had a cannabis joint rolled by the defendant.

The complainant said he later passed out on the sofa and when he woke up some hours later his zip was down and Mr Spacey was performing a sex act on him.

Ms Agnew said the alleged victim was in shock and after leaving the apartment went to a bus stop where he sat down and cried.

Ms Agnew said the complainant eventually came forward in 2022. He had read about some other allegations in the United States and wanted to get his story out there.

Turning to the final complainant, Ms Agnew said that he met Mr Spacey in a pub near Oxford in March 2013.

They had begun talking and the defendant had invited the man and his friends back to a property he was staying in nearby on a private estate called The Lakes by Yoo, telling them he had wine, beer and spliffs.

While the complainant was smoking outside the house Mr Spacey had allegedly kissed him on the neck, telling him to Be cool.

Ms Agnew said: As was his predilection he grabbed the victims crotch with his hand and squeezed.

She said the complainant had pushed the defendant against a wall and said: Sorry man I dont bat for that team.

Ms Agnew said the alleged victim had told his father about the incident but only reported it to the police in 2017 when there was publicity about the defendant.

Summing up, Ms Agnew said: Four men, unknown it seems to each other, all make serious sexual allegations against Kevin Spacey Fowler. Are they lying?

Have they decided to manufacture allegations against the defendant in order to benefit financially? Is that why theyve come forward? That will almost certainly be suggested to you by those representing the defendant.

Or is it the case, as we the prosecution suggest, that Mr Spacey Fowler abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him; taking advantage of his popularity and prominence, his illustriousness and influence. Taking what and who he wanted when he wanted.

Mr Spaceys barrister Patrick Gibbs KC, said it would be their job to decide what had been reimagined with a sinister spin and had been made up and twisted.

He said: You will hear some truths, you will hear some half truths, you will hear, I suggest, some deliberate exaggerations and many damned lies.

You will get some insights into fame, both sides, including the way others behave towards you when you have fame.

What were the expectations of the complainants both at the time and later? Mr Spacey was rich and influential. What did they want from his wealth and influence and what do they still want?

What are their true motivations for making the complaints now?

What role has rumour played in the case? What opportunities have emerged from rumour? Has that left him vulnerable to opportunists?

Mr Spacey, who faces three counts of indecent assault, seven counts of sexual assault and two counts of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, denies all the charges.

The case was adjourned until Monday when the jury is expected to hear from the first complainant in the case.



Follow the latest developments below.

12:35 PM BST

Trial adjourned until Monday

Thats all for The Telegraphs coverage of the Kevin Spacey court case.

It has been adjourned until Monday when the jury is expected to hear from the first complainant in the case.

12:30 PM BST

Casey's barrister addresses the jury

Mr Spaceys barrister Patrick Gibbs KC, also addressed the jury, telling them: You will hear some truths, you will hear some half truths, you will hear, I suggest, some deliberate exaggerations and many damned lies.

You will get some insights into fame, both sides, including the way others behave towards you when you have fame.

What were the expectations of the complainants both at the time and later? Mr Spacey was rich and influential. What did they want from his wealth and influence and what do they still want?

What are their true motivations for making the complaints now?

What role has rumour played in the case? What opportunities have emerged from rumour? Has that left him vulnerable to opportunists?

12:17 PM BST

Alleged victim claims he told Spacey 'sorry I don't bat for that team'

Ms Agnew went on: As was his predilection he grabbed the victims crotch with his hand and squeezed.

She said the complainant had pushed the defendant against a wall and said: Sorry man I dont bat for that team.

Ms Agnew said the alleged victim had told his father about the incident at the time but had reported the matter to the police in 2017 when there was publicity about the defendant.

Summing up the prosecution case, Ms Agnew said: Four men, unknown it seems to each other all make serious sexual allegations against Kevin Spacey Fowler. Are they lying?

Have they decided to manufacture allegations against the defendant in order to benefit financially? Is that why theyve come forward  that will almost certainly be suggested to you by those representing the defendant.

Or is it the case, as we the prosecution suggest that Mr Spacey Fowler abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him; taking advantage of his popularity and prominence, his illustriousness and influence. Taking what and who he wanted when he wanted.

12:00 PM BST

Fourth victim alleges attack happened in the Cotswolds

Turning to the fourth and final complainant, Ms Agnew told the jury that the alleged incident had taken place on 31 March 2013 in the Cotswolds.

The jury was told that Mr Spacey had met the alleged victim when he visited a pub near Oxford.

He had invited the man and his friends back to the property he was staying in at a place called The Lakes at Yoo, telling them he had wine, beer and spliffs.

The court was told when the alleged victim had been smoking outside the house Mr Fowler kissed his neck twice telling him to Be cool.

11:46 AM BST

Third victim claims he woke to to find Spacey assaulting him, court hears

Turning to the third alleged victim, Ms Agnew explained that he was an actor, who had come forward to police in October 2017 reporting an incident in 2008.

The court was told that at the time he was 23-years-old and had auditioned for a part in a play at The Old Vic theatre during which he had briefly met Mr Spacey.

After finishing drama school later that year he had written to Mr Spacey perhaps optimistically hoping to make the most of a loose and relatively remote connection.

Ms Agnew explained that he had included a photograph of himself, his telephone number and e-mail address.

A few weeks later while with friends in a North London pub, he had received a phone call from Mr Spacey and they had arranged to meet.

The court was told they had a few drinks and then went back to the actors apartment in Waterloo where they had a cannabis joint rolled by the defendant.

But he said he later passed out on the sofa and when he woke up some hours later his zip was down and Mr Fowler was performing a sex act on him.

Ms Agnew said the alleged victim was in shock and after leaving the apartment went to a bus stop where he sat down and cried.

11:34 AM BST

Victim came forward after reading about other allegations in press

The alleged victim came forward to police after reading about other allegations in the newspapers.

Ms Agnew told the jury: He didnt want it to happen to anyone else and he wanted to support those who had already made complaints.

Turning to the second alleged victim, Ms Agnew told the jury the incident had occurred in 2005 during a charity event at the Haymarket Theatre in central London.

The jury was told the complainant alleged that Mr Spacey smelt of alcohol and looked like he had not slept.

He said when he walked past, the actor made a series of lewd and sexually suggestive remarks and had put his hand on his leg.

He later alleged that Mr Spacey grabbed his crotch with such force it was painful.

The court was told the alleged victim pushed him away and said: No Im not like that.

11:22 AM BST

Spacey was 'very touchy feely'

The court was told that from 2001 Mr Spacey - who is appearing in court under his full name of Kevin Spacey Fowler - worked at The Old Vic theatre, being appointed Artistic Director between 2003 and 2015.

Turning to the specific allegations, Ms Agnew, explained that the first complainant had knew Mr Spacey in the early 2000s.

She said the alleged victim recalled how the actor was very touchy feely and would speak openly about his sexuality.

Ms Agnew told the jury that on a number of occasions it is alleged Mr Spacey had grabbed and groped the complainant in an aggressive way.

It may well be that the defendant got a sexual thrill out of this type of sexual aggression  it is certainly a consistent feature of three out of the four complainants, she suggested.

The prosecutor said Mr Spacey had appeared confident that the alleged victim was not going to tell anyone about the incidents and she reminded the jury that this took place 20-years before the Me Too movement.

11:12 AM BST

Some men suing Spacey in the civil courts

The court was told some of the men in the case were suing Mr Spacey in the civil courts, but she said it would be up to the jury to decide whether they had taken the courageous step to come forward, or if they had come to court simply to jump on a bandwagon or try to capitalise financially on the situation.

She also warned the jurors about becoming star struck because of Mr Spaceys fame saying they must endeavour to remain grounded.

11:02 AM BST

Spacey accused of grabbing men's crotches

Ms Agnew said Mr Spaceys preferred method of assault was to aggressively grab other men in the crotch.

She explained that during the trial the jury would hear from four alleged victims who had been aged in their 20s and 30s when they claimed the assaults had taken place between 2001 and 2013.

She went on: None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way but he doesnt seem to have cared very much for their feelings  he did what he wanted to do  for his own personal sexual gratification.

10:58 AM BST

Prosecution begins

Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC began her opening of the case by telling the jury that Kevin Spacey Fowler is extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards and has starred in many movies and television serials.

But she went on: He is also, the prosecution allege a man who sexually assaults other men.

A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable  a sexual bully.

10:42 AM BST

Spacey in the dock

Mr Spacey is sat in the glass walled dock of Court One at Southwark Crown Court as the jury file into court.

10:29 AM BST

What are the charges?

Kevin Spacey is facing 12 charges relating to four men. They are:

 Three counts of indecent assault;

 Seven counts of sexual assault;

 One count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent;

 One count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

Spacey denies all charges.

10:17 AM BST

Jurors forewarned about case's publicity

Jurors were forewarned that the case would gain wide-spread publicity.

They were reminded that although they may know the actor from film and television, under no circumstances should they research or discuss the case.

10:07 AM BST

Spacey spotted in court cafe earlier today

Ahead of the hearing, Mr Spacey was spotted sitting alone in the cafe of the crown court on the south bank of the River Thames having a coffee.

09:58 AM BST

Prosecution expected to begin outlining case

The prosecution is expected to begin outlining its case on Friday morning after the jury was sworn in on Wednesday.

Mr Spacey is accused of three counts of indecent assault, seven of sexual assault and two of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The allegations relate to a period when Mr Spacey was living in London after being appointed the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre.

The prosecution is being led by Christine Agnew KC and the defence team is headed up by Patrick Gibbs KC.

Mr Spacey denies all the charges.

09:57 AM BST

Spacey arrives at court

Actor Kevin Spacey arrives at Southwark Crown Court today - PA

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Kim Cattrall sees your praise about *that* viral quote you love so much: I stand by that

Kim Cattrall is here to have "fun."

This year alone, she's starred alongside Robert De Niro in the family comedy "About My Father" and is set to appear in a cameo for "And Just Like That...," which premiered June 22  the same day as her latest starring role in the glitzy miniseries "Glamorous."

Recently, she took to Twitter to share a blurry screen grab of her character in the Netflix show, Madolyn, striking a fabulous pose.

"The FUN is back!" she wrote.

One might not be shocked to hear that Cattrall is seeking out "fun," considering her now infamous 2019 interview with the Guardian in which she proclaimed, "I dont even want to be in a situation for even an hour where Im not enjoying myself."

"I stand by that," she tells TODAY.com, nearly four years later.

A screenshot of the her headshot alongside the articles headline resurfaces on Twitter every few months, toeing the line between major pop culture moment and meme.

Just a few days before our interview on June 20, the quote had popped up on Twitter again, receiving a modest 600 likes.

I think about this quote from THE queen @KimCattrall all the time, wrote the Twitter user who shared it.

I think about this quote from THE queen @KimCattrall all the time.  pic.twitter.com/3IiNat9BOi  Cin  (@Allthelxvesm) June 20, 2023

The quote, which has also graced greeting cards, T-shirts and mugs sold online, is often circulated as a joke and shared as an expression of hedonism, the kind often reserved for a celebrity.

Its context reveals a different sentiment. The interview touched on her heartbreak over the death of her brother, who died by suicide in 2018.

I want to choose who I spend time with personally and professionally, Cattrall said in the full quoted paragraph. Its my life. I lost my dad seven years ago, to Alzheimers, and Mum has just turned 90. Ive become aware theres only so much time left.

Now, when asked about the quote and its lasting imprint on the internet, she laughs.

"When I said it, it just made more sense than ever," she tells TODAY.com.

She's seen criticism about how that sentiment only applies to people in her position  but she stands by it.

"We all have that choice  on some level we do," she says.

"I stand by that, especially when things get complicated," she adds. "It's like checking in with yourself and saying, 'How am I feeling right now? Is this right for me? Is this right for now?' ... It gives you some kind of a step back and a perspective on your life."

She didn't set out to make internet history with the quote.

"I said it because it's something that I live by," she says.

It's a motto that comes directly from her own experience and was "hard-won," she says.

"I have been in situations where I thought, 'This isn't the best place for me,'" she says. "And you have to listen to that instinct, it's there for a reason. It's there to protect you."

Feeling protective of 'Glamorous'

Cattrall says she brought some of that life experience to her "Glamorous" character, Madolyn Addison, a former supermodel turned make-up mogul navigating the corporate world while searching for her missing passion.

Her first words on the show sum up the character better than any personality description. As she's scoping out the product placement of her own makeup line at the mall, one of the beauty counter attendants, Marco, spots her through the big hat and sunglasses. As she turns around in slow motion, the music builds, revealing Cattrall's Madolyn.

"It's you," Marco, played by Miss Benny, says in shock. "What do I do, do I bow?"

"Please don't," she says, with a grimace.

Many have been quick to draw a throughline from her iconic "Sex and the City" character Samantha Jones to Madolyn. But Cattrall describes her less as a self-confident single career woman and more like someone trying to claw their way back to the top.

"I wanted her at the beginning to be a little more reserved," Cattrall tells TODAY.com. "She very much is in her head. She's achieved so much. She's broken so many ceilings. And now she needs inspiration."

"Shes always scheming, always working, Cattrall adds. Shes had to be a survivor her whole life.

Other than the fact that Cattrall and Madolyn "look a lot alike," she quips, the actor says her own life has informed the character.

"I'm a woman in my 60s, I've lived in New York most of my life," she says. "So if I'm playing a character who's been in those given circumstances, I want to bring my knowledge to that. I want to make her as smart as she can be, and as daring as she can be, and as individual. And I can make her."

As a result, she is "protective" of the character, a feeling she also still harbors for Samantha.

I dont think Ill ever say goodbye to Samantha, Cattrall told TODAY's Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager in an interview. Shes like a lot of other characters that Ive done over the years. I get very emotionally attached and protective of my characters. She gave me so much and Im so appreciative of her.

Advice on love and career

Both of the principal stars of "Glamorous" find themselves in the classic trappings of a love triangle. Madolyn, between her driver and a mystery man she encounters in an elevator. Marco, meanwhile is torn between the company's resident nerd, Ben, and the uber-fit Parker, who he accidentally shares an Uber with.

Cattrall says Madolyn would tell Marco to slow down.

"Take your time," she says. "Listen to what people say, but look what they do  what are their actions?"

Just like how meeting at the mall flipped Marco and Madolyn's worlds upside down, Cattrall credits some of her favorite words of wisdom to a chance encounter in her life  working with actor Jack Lemmon.

Lemmon, who died in 2001, and Cattrall crossed paths starring in the 1980 drama film, "Tribute."

"He said, 'Do things that scare you. Do things that you don't know if you can do it, and that's how you grow,'" she says. "For me, I want to continue to grow as an actress. I want to keep taking challenges on."

That advice "spurred" her on into her career, she says. But when it comes to sharing her own words of wisdom, she considers how it'd be received.

"I'm always very respectful," she says. "If I feel that there's a situation where I can be helpful or supportive, and if not, I let somebody else figure it out."

She's worked with young casts on several recent projects, including "How I Met Your Father" and 2022's "Queer as Folk."

"I love working with young people because they don't know where the stop signs are, and they create their own," she says. "It's a different world than when I was coming up, thank God, in so many ways."

When it comes to working with members of a different generation, she says she's learned from the approach taken by Robert De Niro.

"He's an actor first. He's coming to the set, and he's looking to play. He wants to be open, he wants to available for what you come up with, which he'll bounce off of. And that's what makes the job really fun," she says.

Kim Cattrall's TBR

Cattrall's current reads are "all over the map right now," she says.

After reading Maggie O'Farrell's "Hamnet" two years ago  "which I just absolutely love," she notes  she started the author's "This Must Be the Place," a 2017 novel about a close-knit family living the Ireland countryside protecting secrets about their past.

She says she's also "dipping into a little bit of 'The Devil Wears Prada," because she saw the movie, but never read the book.

"I also read the recent biography of Anna Wintour, which I found really interesting," she says.

Now, wait. Reading about Wintour while starring as a striving CEO of a makeup company? While "Glamorous" has been compared to media like "Ugly Betty," "The Bold Type" and, yes, "The Devil Wears Prada"  Cattrall says the legendary Vogue figurehead didn't inspire Madolyn.

"I wanted to make Madolyn my own," she says. "I like to take and pick from different things mostly from what I experience as opposed to what I see in movies."

"I also thought that Madolyn had a fantastic sense of humor," she adds. "She didn't come from a cruel place or a dominating place, she came from a place of no compromise, especially where her makeup line was concerned. I can get behind that."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
What to know: Extreme heat kills hundreds of Hajj pilgrims, dozens in southern US

The News

At least 230 Hajj pilgrims died of heat-related injuries as temperatures in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, peaked to 48 degrees Celsius (118 F). Most of the dead were Indonesians.

In the southern U.S., dozens of people have died in Texas and Louisiana as a heat dome  a high pressure region which locks hot air into an area  has stretched on for weeks.

We've curated insightful analysis on what these heat-related deaths tell us about the climate crisis.

Insights

Texans have a long history of dealing with the heat , and an often pervasive attitude is that hot weather is simply a fact of life. But as temperatures soar, it has become clear that the state has entered a new era of extreme heat, journalist Peter Holley wrote. Century-old temperature records are being shattered multiple times in the same week, and the dew point is so high that the air feels similar to that of the jungle, a meteorologist said. 

As climate change progresses, its likely that tropical and subtropical regions will experience dangerous Heat Index levels for a majority of the year by the end of this century, according to a recent study. And even at mid-latitudes  regions like North America and much of Europe  the health consequences of extreme heat are likely to be profound without intervention to curb emissions. 

Historically, extreme cold temperatures have been more likely than extreme heat to kill people each year. But with climate change, that dynamic is shifting: Cold-related deaths are falling, and heat-related deaths are rising. Globally, temperature-related mortality rates are going to stay about the same as climate change continues, but colder, wealthy northern countries will survive the changes while southern countries with inadequate relief from the heat will suffer. 

Know More

According to Saudi Arabian outlet the Saudi Gazette, 215,000 pilgrims sought medical assistance this year, with 4,000 people hospitalized. In total, about 8,400 people experienced heat-related health issues, a health official told the paper.

The heat dome in Texas has rocketed temperatures to among the hottest on the planet. The states power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said that demand for electricity hit a record high this week due to the surge in demand for air conditioning.
The 4th Huangshan Dialogue on UNESCO-designated Sites and Sustainable Development opens in Huangshan, Anhui province, June 29, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Digital technologies are becoming a powerful tool to advance the sustainable development of UNESCO-designated sites, namely World Heritage Sites, biosphere reserves and global geoparks, experts said at an international dialogue.

The 4th Huangshan Dialogue on UNESCO-designated Sites and Sustainable Development opened Thursday in the city of Huangshan, eastern China's Anhui province.

Themed "Digital Technologies Enabling Sustainable Development of UNESCO-designated Sites," the two-day event has gathered over 200 decision-makers, researchers and managers of UNESCO-designated sites from more than 10 international organizations and 20 countries.

Guo Huadong, director of the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage under the auspices of UNESCO and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, addresses the opening ceremony of the 4th Huangshan Dialogue via video link, June 29, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

At the opening ceremony, Guo Huadong, director of the International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, emphasized the need to apply digital technologies for effective management of heritage sites. He also called for international collaboration on interdisciplinary research and capacity building in the digital tech field to address the challenges of natural disasters and human activity.

HIST, as the only UNESCO category II center applying space technologies to the monitoring and conservation of the world's natural and cultural heritage sites, will further contribute to the implementation of the World Heritage Convention and the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in this regard, Guo said.

Qu Xing, deputy director general of UNESCO, addresses the opening ceremony of the 4th Huangshan Dialogue via video link, June 29, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Qu Xing, deputy director general of UNESCO, said via video link that UNESCO has long used space technologies, remote sensing, geographical information systems and other applications in its designated areas, "for instance, to identify threats to World Heritage Sites when access is difficult or impossible."

He added that big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and even smartphone apps are creating new opportunities to achieve such goals.

Qu expressed his thanks to HIST for its great help in using satellite imagery to monitor World Heritage Sites, such as East Rennell in the Solomon Islands and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Tales Carvalho Resende, project officer of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, also called for increasing the use of earth observation for the management and conservation of world heritage.

"Climate change is the fastest growing threat to UNESCO World Heritage Sites," he said. "To address that, satellite imagery can be more powerful than maps in emergency situations, in large areas and in areas of difficult access."

Teresa Patricio, president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, addresses the opening ceremony of the 4th Huangshan Dialogue via video link, June 29, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Teresa Patricio, president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, echoed the opinion via video link, saying that innovative digital technology must be fully harnessed in favor of research, management, education and training, and risk reduction.

"We must put technology at the service of the sustainable use of heritage  in particular for ensuring responsible and diversified cultural tourism development and management that contributes to cultural heritage preservation; community empowerment, social resilience and wellbeing; and a healthy global environment," she said.

Ling Yun (front row, center), secretary of the Huangshan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, at the opening ceremony of the 4th Huangshan Dialogue, June 29, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

The dialogue has been held in Huangshan for four consecutive sessions. Ling Yun, secretary of the Huangshan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that the city has been long committed to the conservation and development of its heritage sites through innovative methods.

She added that as well as using digital technologies to bring life to relics in museums, heritage sites across the city and words in ancient books, the city aims to serve as an example in heritage conservation and development.

Also at the opening ceremony, the 2023 HIST Award on Best Practice in Sustainable Development of UNESCO-designated Sites was granted to the University of Padua in Italy and the Mt. Huangshan Administrative Committee in China for their innovative methods in promoting the conservation, management and sustainable development of UNESCO-designated sites.

Ye Jianqiang, executive director of the Mt. Huangshan Administrative Committee, delivers a keynote speech during the 4th Huangshan Dialogue, June 29, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

Ye Jianqiang, executive director of the Mt. Huangshan Administrative Committee, shared its main methods and successful experience of using digital technologies to enable the sustainable development of Mt. Huangshan, saying it represents a profound reform of the governance system and charts a course for future development.

The opening ceremony also saw the release of an English map on the environmental context of world cultural heritage along the Silk Road. It showcases the distribution of 801 world cultural heritage sites and mixed sites along the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road.

The map will provide reference value for gaining deep insight into the Silk Road as well as the cultural and environmental contexts of heritage sites along it, according to Luo Lei, an associate professor at HIST.

An English map on the environmental context of world cultural heritage along the Silk Road is released at the opening ceremony of the 4th Huangshan Dialogue, June 29, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn]

The dialogue also released the Draft Recommendations on Climate Action for Heritage Conservation, calling for decision-makers and stakeholders to take appropriate contingency measures and use the best available technology to improve resilience and adaptation of UNESCO-designated sites in ways that do not negatively affect their authenticity and integrity.

The 4th Huangshan Dialogue was hosted by HIST, the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, the Aerospace Information Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Huangshan Municipal People's Government, and organized by the Mt. Huangshan Administrative Committee.

Inaugurated in 2014, the dialogue was the first international event to advocate the application of space technologies in the conservation and sustainable development of UNESCO-designated sites.
The Labor Department on Friday issued a proposed rule on exposure to silica dust, a compound linked to incurable respiratory issues and particularly affecting miners.

The proposed rule, announced by the departments Mine Safety and Health Administration (MHSA), will provide to miners protections other industries already have against silica. Long-term exposure to the compound has been linked to conditions ranging from silicosis to emphysema, lung cancer and kidney disease.

Mine operators, under the proposed rule, would be required to keep miners exposure to silica no higher than 50 micrograms per cubic meter of air over an eight-hour shift.

The purpose of this proposed rule is simple: prevent more miners from suffering from debilitating and deadly occupational illnesses by reducing their exposure to silica dust. Silica overexposures have a real-life impact on a miners health, Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health Chris Williamson said in a statement.

Miners like a crusher operator at a California sand and gravel mine or a roof bolter in a West Virginia coal mine should never be forced to choose between preserving their health and providing for themselves and their families. This proposed rule furthers the Mine Acts clear instruction to prioritize miners health, he added.

The announcement follows strident lobbying by a coalition of lawmakers representing states where the mining industry is a major employer.

In November, Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), Mark Warner (Va.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Bob Casey (Pa.) wrote to the MSHA seeking answers on delays in the release of the rule. Last week, the coalition, joined by Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) wrote to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young asking for further information on the delay.

In a statement Friday following the release of the proposal, Kaine expressed satisfaction with the rule and praised acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, whom President Biden has nominated to assume the office permanently.

This is a very positive step forward for the health of our miners, Kaine said in a statement. Between Sus responsiveness on this request and her recent work to reach a labor agreement at West Coast ports, Su continues to be a strong Acting Labor Secretary and I know shell make a great Secretary.

In a separate statement, the full coalition said: After decades of declining rates of black lung deaths, we have seen the number of reported cases rapidly increase over the last 20 years  especially in Appalachia. Americas coal miners have risked their lives to power our great nation for generations, and we are committed to using every tool possible to protect miners from developing debilitating diseases that are entirely preventable.

This story was updated at 2:04 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Russia will emerge stronger after mutiny so no need to fret - foreign minister

Russia will emerge stronger after mutiny so no need to fret - foreign minister Russian Wagner fighters pull out of Rostov-on-Don

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia will emerge stronger after a failed mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries so the West need not worry about stability in the world's biggest nuclear power, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

President Vladimir Putin this week thanked the army and security forces for averting what he said could have been a civil war, and has compared the mutiny led by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to the chaos that plunged Russia into revolution in 1917.

Asked by Reuters if Russia was stable and if he could give assurances to the world that Russia was not slipping into turmoil, Lavrov said Moscow was not obliged to explain anything or give any assurances to anyone.

"If anyone in the West has any doubts, then that's your problem," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow. "Thank you for your concerns about our national interests, but there is no need."

"Russia has always emerged more resilient and stronger after any difficulties - and it is hard to call it anything more than difficulties," he added. "Moreover, we already feel that the process has started."

The foreign minister also said Moscow had doubts about the adequacy of many Western leaders.

Since a deal was struck on Saturday to end the mutiny, the Kremlin has sought to project calm, with the 70-year-old Putin discussing tourism development, meeting crowds in Dagestan, and discussing ideas for economic development.

Many questions remain though. Wagner's Prigozhin has not been seen in public since Saturday evening. Two senior Russian generals involved in the war in Ukraine have not been seen for days either.

NUCLEAR RISK

Asked about the prospects for peace in Ukraine, Lavrov said he felt the West wanted to temporarily freeze the conflict to allow it to build up Ukraine's military.

"It is a schizophrenic situation: they say everything will end with talks but first Russia must be defeated," he said.

Lavrov, who is 73 and has served as Putin's foreign minister since 2004, dismissed Ukrainian statements that Russia was planning some sort of "provocation" involving the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russian-forces control, as "pure lies."

"They say that we will blow ourselves up at a nuclear facility - well, is it necessary to comment on it: it's just pure lies," Lavrov said, adding that Ukraine had confected other such "tragedies" and was "playing with fire".

Lavrov said he had repeatedly reminded United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about establishing the facts about what happened at Bucha, where Ukraine says Russia committed large-scale atrocities last year.

Russian forces, he said, had left Bucha three days before the bodies were found on Bucha's main street. Russia wants the names of those found dead, he said.

Lavrov casts the war in Ukraine as a watershed moment which marks the decline of the West's post-Soviet dominance over world affairs just as China rises.

"A majority of the world does not want to live according to Western rules," Lavrov said.

He added that the West should stop trying to pressure African and Latin American countries over cutting ties with Russia due to the war in Ukraine.

Lavrov called for reform of the U.N. Security Council where he said the West was over-represented to give more representation to Asian, African and Latin American countries.

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Andrew Osborn and Angus MacSwan)
Leader of Russia's Wagner helped boot UN peacekeepers from Mali, US says

By Steve Holland and Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it was concerned about the Russian Wagner Group's destabilizing activities in Africa and accused the leader of the mercenary force of helping to engineer the departure of U.N. peacekeepers from Mali.

The U.S. has information indicating Mali's transition government has paid more

than $200 million to Wagner since late 2021, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

Kirby said Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led an aborted mutiny against the Kremlin last weekend, helped engineer the departure of the United Nations peacekeeping force, known as MINUSMA, "to further Wagner's interests."

"We know that senior Malian officials worked directly with Prigozhin employees to inform the U.N. secretary general that Mali had revoked consent for the MINUSMA mission," Kirby said.

The U.N. Security Council voted on Friday to end the mission. Earlier this month, Mali asked the U.N. peacekeeping force to leave "without delay", citing a "crisis of confidence" between Malian authorities and the decade-long U.N. mission.

Two days before, the country's interim president, Colonel Assimi Goita, said on Twitter he was very satisfied with a phone call he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he described as "direct and sincere".

Kirby said that despite the money paid by Mali to the Wagner Group, which a week ago launched an aborted armed mutiny in Russia, the security situation in the country has not improved.

Kirby's comments marked another step in the U.S. effort to push back against Wagner's influence in Africa. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on four companies in the United Arab Emirates, Central African Republic and Russia it accused of being connected to the Wagner Group.

Kirby said Washington had seen no indication that Wagner was decreasing its intent to exploit African countries, "despite the events of last weekend."

Both Russia and Mali have said Russian fighters there are not mercenaries but trainers helping local troops fight a decade-long insurgency by Islamist militants.

Mali's leaders seized power in a 2021 coup and brought in Wagner after asking a French military mission to leave.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Daphne Psaledakis and Doina Chiacu in Washington and Bate Felix in Dakar; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
Wagner's march on Moscow caused many cheerful reactions from the Ukrainian public. No surprise that we want our existential enemy to turn attention to internal politics and stop brutal aggression.

At the same time, several Western countries made discreet remarks and implied that a divided Russia would pose even more danger. Here are three reasons why Western countries should prepare for post-Putin Russia.

Reason 1: it will happen anyway

Wagner's march on Moscow made Putin a lame duck. People who believed in the power of the Russian government were wondering how Prigozhin could criticize the Russian "special military operation" and stay free, as it is a criminal offense in modern Russia. However, he did not stop with bad words about the army; he compared the president himself with a "delusional grandpa," who can turn out to be an "asshole." Wagner captured Russian officers as hostages and demanded more weapons from Defence Ministry (I do not know if it is worse than badmouthing Putin). Then Prigozhin said that the whole war was a grave mistake and turned his tanks to Moscow.

With all heat on Prigozhin, armed rebellion looked like all-in at first. He captures Shoigu and Gerasimov or dies trying. But the initial aircraft was not able to destroy tank columns, 6 helicopters and a plane were shot down, and the Russian government had no other response. Putin hastily made a video where he looks panicking and condemns the West but doesn't explain how mutiny will be suppressed. He did not even name Prigozhin and Wagner by name while they were taking on the city after another at marching speed. Nobody was willing to die for Putin. Many soldiers, from border guards to police, were greeting war criminals and his ex-convict army because they were stronger.

Putin showed a weakness with the inability to suppress the coup and made an agreement with "traitors." Putin couldn't even make anyone accountable. Valuable Il-22M aircraft and six helicopters shot down by Wagner are totally ignored. This grave weakness implies the probability of success and impunity for future "traitors."

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russian state companies have created more than 30 PMCs. Russian "liberals" have said that these PMCs will be used for power struggles for more than a year. Now, Russian "hawks" with independent media are writing that a new coup is already planned.

Eventually, Putin will leave the presidential chair, one way or another. He is a 70-year-old man in a country with an average male lifespan of 67 years. So betting all on Putin as a great stabilizer of Russia is pointless in the long term anyway.

Reason 2: Putin makes Russia more dangerous

The main fear of Russia is WMD, nuclear weapons to be precise. That without Putin there are "certain groups" that are "uncontrollable" and might use WMD. But where does this "groups" come from and are they the main threat?

Without a long history detour, Russia in late 90-s was a better state. People did not see West as a threat, some kind of liberal reforms happened, nation cared about life more than now, despite being in worse economic situation. When Putin came to power, he took control of media and started fueling militarism and covering up its cost. Putin was the face of the second Chechen war, in which Russia brutally conquered "rebelled province" regardless of the price.

Putin abandoned sailors in "Kursk" submarine and laughed about it. Putins FSB poured gas that killed 130 hostages during Nord Ost crisis. Putin made his Munich The main fear of Russia is WMD, nuclear weapons, to be precise. Without Putin, there are "certain groups" that are "uncontrollable" and might use WMD. But where do these "groups" come from, and are they the main threat?

Without a long history detour, Russia in late 90-s was a better state. People did not see the West as a threat; some kind of liberal reforms happened, nation cared about life more than now, despite being in a worse economic situation. When Putin came to power, he took control of the media and started fueling militarism and covering up its cost. Putin was the face of the second Chechen war, in which Russia brutally conquered a "rebelled province" regardless of the price.

Putin abandoned sailors in "Kursk" submarine and laughed about it. Putin's FSB poured gas that killed 130 hostages during the Nord Ost crisis. Putin made his Munich speech in 2007 condemning all West policies and starting his own cold war. Russian GDP increased 5 times in just 7 years with the help of liberal reform and Western countries buying Russian gas and oil. Yet Putin decided that this was somehow against national interest and returned to the old KGB playbook.

War with Georgia in 2008, Putin's 3rd term in 2012 and harsh internal politics in 2012, and aggression against Ukraine in 2014  these are all Putin's accomplishments that are cruel, brutal, and against Russian wellbeing. Putting gradually turned Russia into a destitute, embittered, militaristic, and aggressive empire full of geopolitical sentiments. He destroyed any opposition that could set Russia on a better path. Yet he preserved some even more brutal people and overpaid propagandists to spread violent messages to show the West: "It's not me; its ordinary people who want your blood. I am a merciful Czar who is governing an obscurant nation".

Since February 2022, Russia degraded more than in the previous 20 years. Putin made the rule: "Support country in the war, support all I do or its treason." He mobilized half a million soldiers turning them into war criminals and embraced economic despair as an incentive to enlist in the army. Putin is personally pardoning convicts who fought for Russia and returning killers and rapists to society. Russian men in depressive regions have no rights, no social guarantees, and $300 as an average salary. From speeches to money incentives, Putin is doing all to get these men into the army and turn them into cannon folders, turn them into killers, and war criminals.

Putin claims the state fully funded Wagner militants, receiving more than a billion dollars since the full-scale invasion. Russian government funds terrorist organizations and publically admits it. Austrian chancellor does not want nuclear weapons to be "in the wrong hands," like there are some other hands except the Russian state with different hand puppets. Coincidentally, Medvedev says the same: "We will not allow nuclear weapons to end up in the hands of gangsters." He said it right between accusing Western countries of Satanism and threatening them with Armageddon.

Lame duck Putin turned his country into a hellhole where warlords are the next logical state of governing. However, even Prigozhin or Girkin publicly are strongly against the use of nuclear weapons. At the same time Russian government, which has a real ability to arm and use WMD, is constantly making threats. Putin is giving everything he can to China and Iran in exchange for support in a lost war. When Iran gets enriched uranium or some kind of nuclear misconduct happens in Russian-controlled territory, remember, it's not just "wrong hands"; it's Putin's Hands.

Reason 3: This is the victory we need

Giving Putin "a way out" does not push him for negotiations. Tanks on the way to Kremlin do. Putin has broken hundreds of agreements with Western countries and sabotaged Minsk agreements for 7 years. However, when its power is in danger, the Russian government can negotiate anything in one day.

Ending the war with Putin still in charge will not solve all problems. We will still have to deal with Russia turning itself into something between Iran and North Korea. It will be a matter of time and type of new aggression against Ukraine.

War of attrition does not make Russian sue for peace. Swift and decisive victory does. The victory shows the total failure of an old empire's ambitions and the strength of the young democracy. The Russian government is rattling nuclear weapons and arming terrorist groups. Break its back, and there will be no "worse hands," no nuclear weapons in it.

Conclusion

We remember Bush's chicken speech in Kyiv just 4 months before USSR ceased to exist. Thatcher and other leaders sent similar messages. West tried to preserve the Soviet Union, an "Evil Empire" on the verge of collapse. Fear of nuclear weapons was one the point then too. Yet Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan have not made any moves within 3 years with nuclear weapons.

Modern Russia has all the evil attributes of the USSR but no plan to democratize. We should not save Evil Empire, and we should not let it reincarnate.
By Joseph Ax, Daniel Wiessner and Tom Hals

(Reuters) - The Supreme Court's decision on Thursday barring race-conscious admissions policies will force universities to find new ways to attract a diverse student body  but experts said such efforts will likely open a new front in what has been a decades-long legal battle over race and college admissions.

The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by the court's five other conservatives, held that giving some minority applicants a boost over others based on their race violated the U.S. Constitution.

But Roberts said admissions officers at colleges could consider "an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise," as long as they do so on an individual basis.

"A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that student's courage and determination," he wrote. "In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual  not on the basis of race."

That provision could make application essays, in which students often write about formative personal experiences, even more important as colleges strive for racial diversity. But the inherent nuance in taking race into account without allowing it to form the sole basis for an advantage creates a gray area that could lead to new lawsuits, experts said.

"The court made very clear that it will not tolerate workarounds or end-runs," said Dayna Bowen Matthew, the dean of George Washington University's law school. "What we can do, according to the court, is we can look at whether an applicant's race gave them 'courage and determination,' and that courage and determination is part of our university's goals."

But Brian Fitzpatrick, a law professor at Vanderbilt University who opposes affirmative action, said he expected some schools to "try to drive a truck through that little paragraph," leading to "years and years" of litigation.

Edward Blum, the founder of the group that brought Thursday's Supreme Court case, made it clear in a statement that he would be watching schools' reaction closely.

"The law will not tolerate direct proxies for racial classifications," Blum said. "We remain vigilant and intend to initiate litigation should universities defiantly flout this clear ruling."

The court's decision also did not explicitly bar schools from employing race-neutral programs to improve diversity.

In California, where voters banned affirmative action for public universities more than two decades ago, the state has spent more than $500 million on alternative approaches, including the use of socio-economic status, geographic location and targeted recruitment at schools with high numbers of minority students.

But such programs could draw legal challenges claiming that schools are simply using other criteria as a substitute for race.

In Virginia, for instance, a coalition of Asian American parents sued a high school that eliminated the use of standardized tests and guaranteed spots for top students at every area public middle school, a change that resulted in more Black and Latino students and fewer Asian American students.

A divided appeals court rejected the parents' claim, but many legal observers say the Supreme Court could choose to take up the case.

"Some of the same groups that have been challenging race-conscious decision-making have also begun to challenge race-neutral measures that are clearly designed to diversify," said Evan Caminker, a law professor at the University of Michigan. "There may be another shoe that some opponents of affirmative action would like to see dropped."

Some employment lawyers also warned that Thursday's decision, while focused on colleges, nevertheless could encourage more legal challenges to corporate diversity and inclusion programs.

Companies typically do not adopt the kinds of practices used by colleges that the court called out in its decision, such as assigning a "plus" to an applicant solely because of their race.

But in practice, corporate programs can sometimes give the appearance of granting preferences to particular groups, and the Supreme Court ruling could fuel opposition to them, said Krissy Katzenstein, a partner at Baker McKenzie in New York who represents employers.

"This is likely to generate additional challenges to (diversity) efforts, and there is language in the decision that will be seized on," she said.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax and Dan Wiessner; Additional reporting by Tom Hals; Editing by Amy Stevens and Daniel Wallis)
The handling and disposition of human bodies raises all sorts of ethical and legal questions. Jupiterimages/The Image Bank via Getty Images

Four individuals were charged with federal crimes in June 2023 related to the unlawful transport across state lines of human remains taken from the Harvard Medical School morgue. This indictment was part of a larger effort by the Department of Justice to shut down a national network of people trafficking in human remains.

Cedric Lodge, who had been the morgue manager until his firing in May, was accused of removing human remains that had been donated to the medical school. According to the indictment, he and his wife, Denise Lodge, shipped those remains to Katrina MacLean, the owner of a store called Kats Creepy Creations, and Joshua Taylor, an individual living in Pennsylvania. Taylor transferred nearly US$40,000 to the Lodges via PayPal, with memos that included head number 7 and braiiiiiins.

As a scholar whose research is centered on the laws regarding the status, treatment and disposition of human remains, I am often asked about the legality and ethics of selling bodies, especially when stories like the Harvard morgue case or a TikTok user selling human bones begin to circulate.

My answers often surprise people.

State by state

It is not illegal to sell human remains under federal law. Thats why the defendants in the Harvard Medical School case were charged with interstate transport of stolen goods, rather than trafficking human remains.

There is actually very little federal law regarding the dead. The most significant is the Federal Trade Commissions Funeral Rule, which requires funeral homes to provide certain disclosures to consumers.

Instead, the vast majority of law respecting the dead is state law, which varies significantly.

By my count, the sale of human remains is broadly and expressly illegal in only eight states: Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Perhaps one reason the Harvard morgue case is being handled by the Department of Justice is that although selling human remains is illegal in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, it does not violate state law in Pennsylvania, where some of the activity took place.

In more than two dozen other states, it is illegal to sell human remains only under certain circumstances. A number of these states make it expressly illegal to sell human remains or organs that were donated for anatomical study, transplantation or medical therapy.

Most commonly, it is illegal to sell human remains that have been unlawfully removed from a place of burial. For example, in North Carolina, it is a crime to knowingly exhibit or sell any human skeletal remains from unmarked burials. However, this specific phrasing means that the North Carolina law could not be applied to a situation like the Harvard case, where the body was obtained from a morgue. Nor could it be applied to the sale of body parts other than skeletal remains.

Up for sale

In fact, it is surprisingly easy to purchase human remains in the United States, even in states where such sales are expressly illegal. There are brick-and-mortar stores, like Kats Creepy Creations in Massachusetts, which sell skeletal remains.

But increasingly, retail traffic in human remains takes place online. The sales of human remains have been banned on Etsy and eBay since 2012 and 2016, respectively, but social networks like Facebook are rife with groups where body parts are sold and traded. One of the defendants in the Harvard Medical School case advertised at least one skull on Instagram.

It is difficult to determine how human remains end up in the retail stream because most body parts for sale have been de-identified. In other words, the seller does not name the deceased person whose remains are being sold and usually does not reveal how the remains were obtained  and there is no law requiring them to do so.

A historian inspects a Civil War-era grave dug up by grave robbers on National Park Service property in Maryland. Katherine Frey/The The Washington Post via Getty Images

There are a few explicitly illegal methods of obtaining human remains in the U.S. Grave robbery, for example, is specifically outlawed in nearly every state. Digging up corpses was a significant problem in the 1800s, when medical schools first began to teach students through anatomical dissection.

When a person dies in the U.S., there are limited legal options for the disposition of their body, which effectively prevents an individual from arranging to sell their own remains.

In every state, remains may be buried, entombed, cremated, donated to science or removed from the state or order to be lawfully disposed of elsewhere. More than half of states have legalized a process called alkaline hydrolysis, also known as aquamation or water cremation, which dissolves the body in a base solution. In seven states, remains may be disposed of via natural organic reduction, also called human composting.

Final gift

If an individual or their family donates remains to science, typically a nonprofit organization or university takes possession of the remains.

The use of those remains varies widely. A medical school like Harvard has an anatomical donation program to obtain intact cadavers to be used in gross anatomy labs and other teaching settings.

However, people sometimes donate to a non-transplant tissue bank, often called body brokers. Given the high costs of funeral arrangements in the U.S., some families donate a loved ones remains to body brokers, who dispose of remains without cost to the family.

Bluntly speaking, body brokers carve up human remains and distribute them to be used in medical therapy or research, with little regulation  the subject of a 2017 Reuters investigation. They do charge for processing and transporting human remains, and one such company, Science Care, generated $27 million in revenue in 2017.

Body brokers are more controversial than university anatomical donation programs, but in both cases, remains are used for medical education or research. The ultimate disposition of remains donated to science is typically cremation.

Human remains donated to science are meant to be disposed of with respect. Team Static/fStop via Getty Images

Seeking justice

If bodies donated to science are not treated with the respect and dignity that the donors were promised by the recipient institution, as in the Harvard Medical School case, there are several possible legal options.

First, there could be federal or state criminal charges in the small number of states that broadly outlaw the sale of human remains.

Second, 30 states outlaw the mistreatment or mutilation of human remains. These criminal laws are generally referred to as abuse of corpse statutes.

Finally, the families of the donors may have a private cause of action against the recipient institution or against people who took the remains without permission. There are two possible tort claims that families could bring: interference with the familys right to respectfully dispose of the remains, known formally as interference with the right of sepulcher, and infliction of emotional harm based on mistreatment of human remains.

I have yet to encounter a person who is not horrified by the treatment of the bodies donated to Harvard Medical School and then diverted into curiosity shops and private collections, especially when I explain that such activities are not clearly illegal in every state.

Respectful treatment of human remains, and of the loved ones they leave behind, appears to be a universal value. Yet there is a clear mismatch between these social norms and the law  for now.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts, from an independent nonprofit. Try our free newsletters.

It was written by: Tanya D. Marsh, Wake Forest University.

Read more:



Tanya D. Marsh 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.
Stephane Cardinale - Corbis - Getty Images

DC's Legends of Tomorrow star Dominic Purcell has taken over the late Ray Stevenson's role in the movie Cassino in Ischia.

According to Deadline, shooting is back underway in Italy after Stevenson's death resulted in a pause to production a month ago. He was hospitalised straight off the set with a sudden illness, before passing away aged 58.

Rome, Naples and the eponymous island are being used for filming many sequences in the movie.

Noam Galai - Getty Images

Related: Legends of Tomorrow boss opens up about Prison Break star's exit

Purcell, who'll also be familiar to Prison Break fans for his time as Lincoln Burrows, is playing the lead character Nic Cassino here, an action megastar knocked off his pedestal by the next generation.

"In an attempt to revive his career, he travels to Italy to make the first-ever 'Neo-Realist' action film with a down-on-his-luck Italian director. When unresolved family struggles resurface, he is forced to reconcile all he left behind on his road to fame," teases a synopsis.

Meanwhile, when news of Stevenson's death first emerged, one of his colleagues from Thor: The Dark World paid tribute to him on social media.

Jeff Spicer - Getty Images

Related: Star Wars new Ahsoka trailer confirms 2023 release date



"So sorry to hear about the passing, far too young, of Ray Stevenson," credits director James Gunn tweeted. "I only knew him a little from shooting post-credits of Thor 2 and a couple [of] interactions at events, but we had some good laughs and he was a joy to work with. His friends and family are in my heart today."

James Purefoy, who appeared alongside the late star in Rome, also posted: "So sad to hear the news that Ray Stevenson, our Pullo in Rome, has passed away. A brilliant, gutsy, larger-than-life actor who filled every part he played right up to the brim. My thoughts are with his family, his lovely wife Betta and their beautiful kids. What a loss."

Cassino in Ischia is yet to receive a release window. Legends of Tomorrow aired on The CW in the US and Sky Max and NOW in the UK.

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Outgoing Mayor Lenny Curry told Action News Jax that he plans to leave something for his successor, Donna Deegan.

He also told us that pension reform was his biggest accomplishment during his eight years in office. Curry also shared with us what he said hed change and what he said is the biggest issue Mayor-elect Deegan will face.

When a U.S. President leaves office, they typically leave a note for their replacement. Action News Jax anchor John Bachman asked Curry if there is any kind of tradition in Jacksonville where he will leave something for incoming Mayor Deegan.

Yeah, Im gonna leave something. And I dont, I havent really formulated it yet. Because I want to, I dont want it to be advice per se. Because when you sit in this chair, you have to be your own person and make your own decisions that may actually be one of the top at the end of the day with all the people that are going to want to give you advice. Its your decision and your decision alone, Curry said.

Read: Life, Work & Talking Turkey: Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry sits down as he prepares to leave office

Curry says his successor faces two big issues right away -- the Jaguars stadium deal, and the ongoing violence in the city.

The perception outside of Jacksonville is that its very dangerous and very violent everywhere in the city. And thats simply not true. So the next mayor is going to have to deal with the real crime that exists, but also the issue that Ive dealt with, which is the perception issue, Curry said.

In his eight years as the Chief Executive of Jacksonville, Curry said his biggest accomplishment is pension reform.

Read: Four years of UFC in Jacksonville: Mayor Lenny Curry reflects on decision to host fight

We had no money before I got in office because the pension costs. The infrastructure budget, the year before I got into office was $20 million. My last infrastructure budget was over $300 million, he said.

During his two terms, there has been controversy, notably the failed attempt to sell JEA.

Bachman asked Curry if there is anything he wished hed done differently during his time in office.

Read: Curry and Deegan present united front ahead of hurricane season

Look, I go, when I decide I want to make a decision to do something, I understand it, I believe its going to work out if it does, he said. If it doesnt, theres going to be consequences. And Im OK with that. I would say, look, I believe you have to fight for what you believe in. And you have to be really aggressive. We would not have passed pension reform, for example, without my go get it kind of nature. But what I have learned over the years is everything doesnt have to be a fight. So I wouldnt say I would do it differently. I say that Ive learned that there are some issues that, that can be dealt with, with a little more delicate hand. And I would probably tweet less.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

Curry is leaving City Hall, but he said hes not closing the political door. Bachman asked what was next. Curry replied, So Im going to do some private sector business stuff I was in business before I got into this office, my oldest is going to college.

When Bachman pressed him on politics, Curry said with two more children at home, any future office would have to be in state.

So I dont know. I wouldnt necessarily say the legislative branch is an absolute no. But I would lean towards more of an executive role, Curry said.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

Bachman replied, So Governor, thats an executive role.

Curry answered, It is.

Of course, we have a Florida governor who is running for President. If he wins, the Lieutenant Governor would finish his term. If he loses, Gov. Ron DeSantis can return to Tallahassee. The next gubernatorial election is in 2026.

To see Bachmans full interview with Curry, watch the video below or go to the Action News Jax YouTube page.

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.
Leopard is just target at front, we need shells and F-16s  Commander-in-Chief

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has said that for successful progress at the front, Ukraine needs more of all types of weapons, significantly more shells and, of course, F-16 fighters to have air superiority.

Source: Zaluzhnyi in an interview for The Washington Post

Details: The media outlet notes that at his command post, Zaluzhnyi has a screen that shows him everything that is in the air at any time  this is the aviation of NATO countries on the western border of Ukraine, Ukrainian planes in the sky over Ukraine and Russian aircraft on the eastern borders.

Quote from Zaluzhnyi: "The number of aircraft that are on duty near our western borders is

twice as much as the number of Russian aircraft devastating our positions. Why cant we take at least a third of it from there and move it here?

Nobody is saying that tomorrow we should rearm and get 120 planes. Why? I do not need 120 planes. A very limited number would be enough. But they are needed. Because there is no other way. Because the enemy is using a different generation of aviation. Its like wed go on the offensive with bows and arrows now, and everyone would say, Are you crazy? But with this question, No, no."

Details: Fighter jets are needed to break the land corridor between mainland Russia and temporarily occupied Crimea that the Russians created in the south of Ukraine. Breaking this connection would significantly affect Russia's ability to replenish its troops.

The media outlet recalls that on the eve of the long-planned counteroffensive, Ukraine first received Western battle tanks, including German Leopards and infantry fighting vehicles.

When the counteroffensive began earlier this month, these tanks and combat vehicles made their battlefield debut. But Zaluzhnyi admitted that several of them had already been destroyed.

Quote from the Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: "We didn't get Leopards to ride in parades or have politicians or celebrities take pictures with them. They came here for the war. And a Leopard on the battlefield is not a Leopard, but a target."

Details: That is why, according to him, Ukraine needs aviation and more shells. Zaluzhnyi speaks about the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, particularly with Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States.

Quote from Zaluzhnyi: "We have an agreement: 24/7, were in touch. So, sometimes I can call up and say, If I dont get 100,000 shells in a week, 1,000 people will die. Step into my shoes."

Details: According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Milley shares all his concerns.

"But its not Milley who decides whether we get planes or not. Its just that while that decision is being made, in the obvious situation, a lot of people die every day  a lot. Just because no decision has been made yet," Zaluzhnyi summed up.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Letters to the Editor: L.A. doesn't need Mono Lake's water  but Mono Lake desperately does

Some of Mono Lake's distinctive tufa towers are seen at the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve near Highway 395. (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: Thank you for Bruce Resnik's essay, "A wet winter began to replenish Mono Lake. L.A. should let it be a lake again."

I opened the Mono Lake Committees Los Angeles office in 1979. At that time, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power consistently opposed efforts to protect Mono Lake. However, visionary, tireless advocacy persuaded Californias Legislature to establish the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve in 1981 and Congress to establish the Mono Basin National Scenic Area in 1984.

Most significantly, the California Supreme Courts 1983 decision in National Audubon Society vs. Superior Court determined that Mono Lakes public trust resources required reconsideration of the lakes water needs.

In 1994, the State Water Board ruled that Mono Lakes water level must rise to 6,392 feet above sea level by 2014. The DWP has failed to comply with that decision. The lake level remains about 12 feet below that mandated level.

In mid-June, I joined several hundred people at Mono Lake to celebrate this internationally significant natural resource. Never before had I seen so much water pouring into Mono from its streams. Wading through Lee Vining Creeks frigid waters as they rushed into the lake was a joyous experience.

It is outrageous that DWP and the State Water Board have failed to meet their commitments. The relatively small amount of water that the DWP takes from Mono Lake is watery "chump change," yet it is priceless for Mono Lakes restoration. Now is the time to stop diversions and restore Mono Lake.

Thomas Cassidy, Arlington, Va.

..

To the editor: Thank you for the important piece explaining why the DWP must stop diverting water from the streams draining into Mono Lake. In addition to all of the reasons cited, there are two more very important points to consider.

First, the tunnel that carries the diverted water south toward Bishop actually captures a lot of groundwater too. In fact, groundwater infiltration into the tunnel accounts for about half of the water obtained from the Mono Basin.

Thus, if the diversions from the streams that feed Mono Lake stop, the DWP will continue to receive half of the water currently taken.

Second, the exposed lake bed causes dust air pollution. Many days the regional dust particulate pollution far exceeds clean air standards. The DWP has spent $2.5 billion attempting to remedy a similar problem at Owens Lake. A similar project will eventually be necessary at Mono Lake.

Raising the lake to the "management level" will clearly lessen this problem. The state water regulator must act now.

Noel Park, Rancho Palos Verdes

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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It was another day in the Hellscape formerly known as America, according to The New Abnormal co-host Danielle Moodie, after the Supreme Court decided to remove affirmative action and eliminate the consideration of race in admissions for elite colleges and universities.

While the ruling was met with fury by members of the public, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was also among its critics, writing a scathing rebuke of the decision in her dissent.

And as the conservative-majority Supreme Court weighs two more important cases, co-host Andy Levy admits: I feel like were in for decades of talking about fantastic Justice Jackson dissents.

Joining the show to discuss the consequences of the decision is Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School and a columnist at MSNBC, who tells Moodie that the ruling will absolutely change admissions policies.

Lets be clear about that we know essentially what happens, which is that the number of students who are Black, the number of students who are Latino, that drops. And that is a practical consequence that we expect to see as a result of this decision.

Theres a Reason Were Seeing Videos of RFK Jr. Shirtless

Plus! Delaware state Senator Sarah McBride, who on Monday announced her candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives to replace fellow democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester, also joins the show. She was the first openly trans person to work in the White House, to speak at the Democratic National Convention, and to be a state senator, though she tells Levy that shes not running to make history.

Im running to make a difference. But, you know, its definitely been a through line in my life that Ive been the first in the spaces that Ive been in, which just shows how fortunate I am, unfortunately, because its all too rare and I certainly believe that its time for people of every background in our country to be represented at every level of government.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that affirmative action policies at colleges and universities violate the Fourteenth Amendment.

Many local historically black colleges like Spelman College and Morehouse College criticized the ruling saying it will affect diversity across all sectors of our society.

I want to major in finance, said Edward Washington, III.

Washington said thats the sole reason why he chose to attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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I thought to employers it would probably be the most enticing applicant profile if I went to M-I-T, said Washington.

Washington said he believes his above-average grades helped him get in, but he also acknowledges other factors.

Im also aware if Affirmative Action wasnt there and given admission counselors dont know everything about their applicants they might see me on a piece of paper and maybe at a glance, I look too similar to other students, he said.

But in a six-three decision on Thursday, the Supreme Court decided to get rid of Affirmative Action, in regards to college admissions.

I was just very disappointed, said Alex Shay.

Alex Shay is a student at Brown University.

He believes race shouldnt be a factor in college acceptance.

Race doesnt affect everyone the same way, so to have a blanket policy where everybodys race is considered no matter what, I dont think thats appropriate, because it impacts people in different ways, said Shay.

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But Morehouse College President Dr. David Thomas said removing Affirmative Action is the wrong move.

This is a travesty for the nation and can have long and enduring negative effects. The estimate at some elite colleges is that the impact of this decision will reduce the black population, student population by 40%, said Thomas.

Eric Tidwell is General Counsel for the Martin Luther King Jr. estate in Atlanta. He graduated from both Georgia State and John Marshall School of Law, which are both (P.W.I) Predominately White Institutions.

He said the Supreme Courts decision goes beyond just college admissions.

If Affirmative Action is gutted in its totality, in its entirety, it may affect employment practices, the rewarding of contracts, and things of that nature. It seems as if were taking steps backward and not forward, said Tidwell.

Morehouse College President Thomas said hes expecting more people to apply at Morehouse because they may not get accepted at other colleges, now that race wont be considered on applications.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
"I look down and see no legs": soldier who lost both legs undergoing rehabilitation in Lviv

Oleh Bubovyi, a 57-year old Ukrainian soldier who lost both legs on the battlefield, is being rehabilitated in the city of Lviv.

He is being prepared for a prosthesis.

Source: First Medical Union of Lviv

Oleh comes from the city of Chortkiv in Ternopil Oblast. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, he worked at a locomotive depot.

When Russia started the full-scale war against Ukraine, he joined the territorial defence as a volunteer, then underwent training and started military service, first on the Kharkiv front and then on the Donetsk front in the east of Ukraine.

Oleh Bubovyi

All photos: First Medical union of Lviv

On 9 March of this year, during a Russian mortar attack, a projectile struck a dugout where Oleh was hiding.

"At first, Oleh did not feel pain; [he was in a state of  ed.] shock. Then he looked down at his legs and did not see them. He tried to put tourniquets on himself but did not manage to do so. He has not bled to death thanks to his comrade-in-arms, who has put tourniquets on both his limbs," the First Medical Union recalls.

Olehs wife Natalia refused to believe in pessimistic forecasts of the doctors

His comrades-in-arms carried the injured soldier to the evacuation point, from which he was taken to a stabilisation point in Donetsk Oblast. After that, Oleh was treated in the city of Dnipro and then in the city of Ternopil.

"I thought I would die in the end, so I gave my wife my wedding ring so that it would remind her of me," says Oleh in response to the doctors words that he was "on the brink of death".

At the moment, he is getting ready for a prosthesis in Lviv. At first, he will have temporary and then permanent artificial prosthesis installed.

After the rehabilitation, Oleh plans to come back to a normal life and start volunteering.

Oleh sees himself as a volunteer in the future

Background: Roman Kovaliuk, a 28-year old Ukrainian soldier who received a shrapnel brain injury as a result of a mine detonation, is being treated in Lviv.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Editors note: The Kyiv Independent spent a day with soldiers from the 80th Separate Assault Brigade in June, and the story is comprised of interviews with them about their experience near Bakhmut. The soldiers are identified by their names or callsigns, and their deployment locations are not revealed for security reasons due to the nature of their job.

DONETSK OBLAST  About 20 soldiers with Ukraines 80th Separate Assault Brigade struggled to drive through the narrow streets on an infantry armored vehicle as they headed to the training.

There are no (cars)! one of them yelled to the driver before turning right at the start of the half-an-hour drive. Go, go, go!

After returning from their intense assault operations near Bakhmut, the soldiers are training every day to recover and prepare for further deployments in the same area. More than a month after Bakhmuts fall to Moscow, Ukraine continues to launch counterattacks on the southern and northern flanks of Bakhmut  forcing Russia to be on defense.

The costly operation near Bakhmut is one of the three axes in Ukraines much-awaited counteroffensive that kicked off in June. Three weeks after its launch, Ukrainian defense officials say the reported progress is only a preparatory step for the main operation.

Preparations are underway for further counterattacks near Bakhmut, according to 24-year-old Deputy Battalion Commander Ruslan. Many units across various brigades deployed near Bakhmut are training as Ukraine braces for a season of offensives.

A platoon commander whose callsign is Matvey, named after his nephew, explained that everything  from psychology training to shooting sessions and movement practice  is aimed at increasing the soldiers chance of survival.

The harder it is in the training, the easier it will be on the battlefield, Matvey said. We are constantly learning because the enemy is also learning, and we need to adapt to its tactics.

Psychology is a key factor that often defines the success of the assault operation, according to the soldiers. Since they work in small groups, its crucial that every member can carry out their tasks even under extremely difficult circumstances  such as when under heavy shelling or seeing comrades killed.

But no matter how much they practice before heading back to the front line, luck is still the major factor on the battlefield, the soldiers say. Even though close-proximity shootouts are common in assault operations, shrapnel wounds account for most injuries.

While working in the gray zones and stepping into Russian-held positions, Matvey says he has a personal goal in mind: To pass down a story to his eight-year-old nephew and godson.

If god willing and I stay alive, he will know about me just the same as I enjoy listening to the stories of my grandfather, who told me about how it was in World War II, Matvey said.

I just want to give him this experience, so its my gift for him.

How assault operations work

Enormous planning takes place before every assault operation to ensure minimal casualties, according to Matvey.

After analyzing the drone-collected intelligence data across the Bakhmut front, the General Staff identifies weak points in Russias defense and lays out plans for assaults in that area.

The plans are then passed down to the assault troops, who carry out the assigned tasks. Matvey explained that the tactics are constantly adjusted because Russian forces get used to them after a while.

The assault is led by a small group of fewer than 10 people, slowly and carefully moving forward across the mined field under heavy shelling. They get sappers help when running into explosive items and blow them up if needed.

No matter how quietly the soldiers try to move forward, its nearly impossible to mute the sound of their footsteps because they are walking on leaves and through the bushes. Russian air reconnaissance drones flying across the Bakhmut front can spot them as well.

Everything needs to be done as quickly as possible, the assault soldiers say. The longer they take to reach Russian-held positions, the higher the chance that Russian mortars and artillery would target them.

Inside Ukraines costly mission to grind down Russia near Bakhmut Editors note: The Kyiv Independent interviewed a few dozen soldiers deployed near Bakhmut and visited their positions in late May and early June. The soldiers are identified by their first names or call signs for security reasons amid the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. NEAR IVANIVSKE VILLAGE, Don The Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima

But navigating through the field is difficult because there are also explosive objects, such as shells that havent blown up yet, on their path. Russian forces have also laid anti-personnel and anti-tank mines to bolster their defense.

The most difficult thing is overcoming ones own fears  this is work, this is preparation, Matvey said.

Reservist soldiers and a medic team are following the leading assault group in each operation, a 31-year-old squad commander whose callsign is Skif, told the Kyiv Independent.

Skif said that his group works in a forest, so the bushes and trees make it hard for the Russian drones to spot them.

But it also means they are advancing forward almost blindfolded, making them more prone to Russian grenade attacks  which can be thrown from 20 meters away, according to Skif. Ukraine also struggled to gather aerial intelligence in the forestry field, making it more difficult to plan operations, he added.

How quickly Ukrainians can capture the positions often depends on Russian soldiers motivation and artillery support, according to Matvey. The Russians can flee, leaving behind a lot of weapons and ammunition, or fight back  in which it all comes down to decisive close-range shootouts over their position.

They (Russian forces) shoot as best they can, knowing that its either you shoot, or you get shot at, Matvey said. And its the same for us.

If the person there is stronger than me, then most likely they will win, not me  I should never underestimate the enemy.

A Ukrainian soldier of the 57th Motor Rifle Brigade is seen inside a tank near the Bakhmut frontline in Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast, on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Ercin Erturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Brain and luck

The success of an assault operation is defined by two factors  whether the set goal was achieved in relation to the casualties, according to Matvey.

Justified and not justified loss  this is what determines our success, he explained.

Bohdan, a 43-year-old taxi driver-turned-soldier from Kharkiv, for example, told the Kyiv Independent that his first day on the battlefield was especially brutal. He said that his group had to pull back because many soldiers were killed and wounded on that April day.

It was really tough, but he went back to the battlefield after a day of break as planned, Bohdan said.

There is enormous stress on the medics, too. Front-line medic Natalia said that she felt that there werent enough medics on the Bakhmut front, and it was extremely difficult to keep up with the evacuation of the wounded.

There are also days when evacuation is not possible due to heavy shelling or fighting, and its morally tough when she cant help the wounded, Natalia said. And evacuating the wounded when she knows that they might not make it is painful, she added.

Its very difficult morally, but I try not to cry so others can continue laughing, Natalia said. (Sometimes) there was no hand, no leg, and no head, and there was a lot of work.

Artem, a 30-year-old machine gunner from occupied Luhansk who first joined the army in 2014, said that what helps in war is brain and luck.

Many of his comrades, who he says were stronger and faster than him, were killed, but he survived to this day because it all depends on where Russian shells fall.

Skif, who leads an assault team despite only joining the army four months ago, estimated that about 80 percent of the casualties for assault troops are due to shrapnel. He said they are under constant heavy shelling during their assaults.

A lot of testing and consideration goes into forming assault teams because not everyone can handle the stress, he said. It wasnt just once when he had to calm his comrades and do their tasks, as well as his own, complicating the already high-stakes operation.

We must know them 100% to be confident in our comrades because each member is very important, the soldier from a now-occupied town near Berdiansk said. Not everyone can withstand this stress since you see corpses and blood, and this is no ones fault.

Skif admitted that he was an unusual example, but he said he accepted death because it's inevitable, whether in the army or in peace life. I havent met a person like me yet, and no one can understand why Im like this, he said.

(Working carefully) doesnt give a 100% chance that you will stay alive, but this increases this chance by a few times, Skif said. I just understand this is a lottery  you can be lucky or unlucky.

Battle for Bakhmut

On a warm day in June, soldiers took turns shooting with AK-47 rifles and checking whether they hit their target about 100 meters away. The goal is for soldiers to improve their aim so they can shoot better, even with quick movements during assault operations.

Another group of infantry practiced throwing hand grenades into the distance. Loud blasts from hand grenades  used during assault operations and cracks of gunfire spread across the hilly slopes at a secret location in Donetsk Oblast.

We are always training when there is an opportunity, said Okhtyrka-native Deputy Battalion Commander Ruslan, who, unlike many others, has been shooting for more than 10 years.

Captain Ruslan said the soldiers werent shooting at the level he would have wanted, but there is no choice, and they are soon to be sent back to the front, again near Bakhmut.

Ruslan believes Russias infantry is rather weak overall, and it doesnt have the capability to advance further after capturing Bakhmut at a high cost, but its incessant artillery poses the biggest threat.

No matter the intensity of the shelling, assault soldiers should complete their tasks and not think about fear, Ruslan said.

Better is possible, worse is impossible, and that's it. You should never pity your life.

It is not a shame to die for your country, Ruslan said as he began walking back to correct the shooting techniques of assault soldiers.

Female commander near Bakhmut fights Russia, gender stereotypes on the battlefield Yuliia Mykytenko, the commander of a Ukrainian air reconnaissance platoon deployed near Bakhmut, has gotten used to seeing surprised faces when doing her job. Though the 27-year-old is a seasoned service member, Mykytenko said she frequently encounters sexist comments on the battle The Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima

______________________________________________________

Note from the author:

Hi, this is Asami Terajima, the author of this article.

Thank you for reading our story. The best part of my job is always meeting incredible soldiers who are so bravely fighting for Ukraine despite knowing the risks. The assault troops are particularly undertaking a high-stakes job, recapturing Russian-held positions one by one under heavy shelling, and it's crazy to imagine that most of them were just civilians who rose up to fight in their country's darkest hour.

To help the Kyiv Independent tell stories of Ukrainian soldiers that may otherwise be untold, please consider becoming our supporter.
The mother of Rose Marie Taylor (pictured here) has filed a federal lawsuit accusing three Alexandria Police Department officers of being responsible for her death. Taylor died on May 30, 2022, after being found unresponsive in her jail cell 11 days before.

Louisiana State Police have an open investigation into the May 2022 death of an Alexandria woman after a pathologist ruled it a homicide.

A federal lawsuit claims Alexandria Police Department officers are responsible for the death of Rose Marie Taylor, who was found unresponsive in her jail cell on May 19, 2022. She died at Rapides Regional Medical Center on May 30, 2022, after her mother, Rosa Lee Taylor, signed a do-not-resuscitate order.

Dr. Christopher Tape, a forensic pathologist who has been accepted as an expert witness for multiple Rapides Parish murder trials, ruled Taylor's cause of death was "complications due to blunt force injuries, with contributions of hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and obesity."

He found the manner of death to be homicide.

No other details about the State Police investigation were available Friday, according to a spokesperson, but the attorney representing Taylor's mother, Jermaine Harris, did release a statement.

"We are pleased to hear that Louisiana State Police is now investigating the death of Rose Marie Taylor," it reads. "We expect a full investigation into this matter and for all those found responsible to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Rose Marie Taylor death: Mother files federal lawsuit alleging daughter's 2022 death caused by Alexandria officers

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The city asked for and was granted extra time  until July 20  to respond to it.

Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood also was named as a defendant, and his response was filed on June 21 by attorney, H. Bradford Calvit. It denies most of the claims made by Taylor's mother, but does admit a deputy told officers Taylor needed to be treated for injuries to her left wrist.

Wood's answer, through its 11 defenses listed, contends "the sole and proximate cause of the incident and injuries" to Taylor were her own fault because she didn't comply with the officers' verbal commands. He is asking the court to rule that he's entitled to qualified immunity.

In addition to the city, three Alexandria officers, Matthew Frost, Brian Frost and Alexander Helminger, are named as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Taylor was visiting her girlfriend in the parking lot of the Seigel Select motel on MacArthur Drive on May 17, 2022, when Matthew Frost and Brian Frost blocked her vehicle. It alleges Taylor wasn't given a reason why officers detained her but does state drugs were found later in one of her pockets.

She was arrested.

Taylor was twice slammed chest first onto the hood of a patrol car, it contends. She also sustained a left wrist injury and told officers she wanted medical treatment for it.

After a deputy at the jail said Taylor needed to see a doctor, Taylor asked for someone other than Matthew Frost to take her to Rapides Regional. Helminger was summoned to drive her, but the lawsuit alleges he and Frost told medical personnel Taylor was refusing treatment.

Body camera footage from the officers does exist, according to the lawsuit, but Harris previously said a decision has not been made on whether it would be released.

No hearings have been scheduled in the lawsuit yet.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Attorney for Rose Taylor's mom says 'pleased' death being investigated
Belaruss authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko is basking in the spotlight as a peacemaker for quickly ending an armed rebellion in Russia, using the crisis to assert his power in an uneasy relationship with Moscow.

Lukashenko is taking credit for getting Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the mercenary group Wagner, to abort his attempt at mutiny against Russias generals. And hes boasting that he convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin to avoid bloodshed by giving clemency to Wagner troops and allowing Prigozhin to take exile in Belarus.

I must say it was painful for me to watch the recent developments in the south of Russia, Lukashenko said in wide-ranging remarks at a military ceremony on Tuesday, detailing what he said was his role to sway Putin against eliminating Prighozin.

The turmoil was thus prevented. Dangerous events that might have taken place were reversed.

The Belarusian president is definitely basking in the glory, said Alena Kudzko, vice president for policy and programming at GlobSec, a Slovakian think tank focused on European security.

He knows very well the power of his position, he got international recognition, and most importantly he knows that Putin owes him, she added.

But this public perception in Russia, Belarus, and around the world that Putin was weak and couldnt handle the conflict himself, is something that Putin is going to remember and will have a grudge against Lukashenko  even though, paradoxically Lukashenko was helpful for him, for sure.

Lukashenko has maintained his grip on power for nearly three decades through brutal repression of any opposition in Belarus. A violent and deadly crackdown in response to protests against his claimed victory in 2020 presidential elections  widely described as fraudulent  marked a new level of brutality for the man who is called Europes Last Dictator.

Maintaining control of Belaruss armed forces is essential for Lukashenko to retain his power and push back against the organized political opposition in exile, as well as armed threats from Belarusian opposition fighters honing their military experience on the frontline with Ukrainian forces against Russia.

These fighters, named the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment (KKR), put out a recruitment video amid the mutiny in Russia as a call to arms for Belarusians to prepare for a takedown against Lukashenko.

We have a huge reserve on the territory of Belarus, which includes active military, reserve military and ordinary citizens, who are ready to act and liberate Belarus from dictatorship and occupation, a regiment member said in a video posted to Twitter.

Soldiers, reservists, Belarusians  wait for our signal! The time of freedom is approaching!

Lukashenko acknowledged these threats in his remarks at the military ceremony, saying the Belarusian opposition in exile have published plans to implement their scenario of an armed mutiny and said the KKR have taken leave of their senses.

The number one task of yours and all people in uniform is to take the necessary measures to prevent the escalation of the situation, Lukashenko said at the ceremony.

You dont have to constantly think about some lofty matters. Leave that to the politicians. You have clear and understandable tasks.

Averting civil war in Russia was in Lukashenkos interest, but his offer to house Prigozhin and Wagner mercenaries presents problems.

Lukashenko has a very sober understanding that this might be dangerous for him, said Kudzko, who is originally from Belarus.

He thinks the Wagner mutiny set an example for others.

Few details are available of the terms of the Wagner surrender in Belarus  or whether the fighters have even arrived.

Putin said he has offered Wagner fighters contracts to join the Russian Ministry of Defense and other security services, but added that those who want to are free to go to Belarus.

The Russian president is also taking steps to dismantle Prigozhins business holdings, a vast and lucrative empire that includes contracts employing Wagner fighters in Syria and African nations, but also interests in extracting and selling precious metals and gems.

The Biden administration on Tuesday issued sanctions against a network of Prigozhin-linked companies engaged in an illicit gold trade that operates out of the Central African Republic and the United Arab Emirates.

Lukashenko will be challenged to keep Prigozhin in line who he described as euphoric while amid his mutiny  and constrain a flank of battle-hardened fighters so that they dont provoke instability inside Belarus or along its borders.

I dont think his primary goal is to provoke NATO countries with Prigozhin, Kudzko said. He knows if they do something unacceptable, the situation can get out of control very quickly. Thats not in his interest.

But Lukashenko has floated using Wagner fighters as trainers for Belaruss military, noting their hands-on combat experience was invaluable.

We need to adopt this experience from  Wagner, Lukashenko said in remarks to his defense minister this week.

This saber rattling extends to nuclear weapons too, with Lukashenko offering conflicting statements over whether Putin has delivered on positioning nuclear arms in Belarus. He has further said that even as Moscow will retain control of the weapons, its not a problem to coordinate a strike if he feels threatened.

NATO-member states on the border with Belarus are raising alarm that the potential presence of Wagner forces raises their security threat level and are calling for the alliance to reinforce the eastern flank.

Poland is planning to increase its military presence close to the border, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said at a press conference in Warsaw on Wednesday, and warned of a new phase of hybrid warfare.

We potentially have a new situation in Belarus with the Wagner presence, he said in remarks reported by Bloomberg.

The situation is dangerous for Ukraine and its also potentially dangerous for Lithuania and us.

Germanys Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin would permanently station up to 4,000 troops in Lithuania to reinforce their border with Belarus, in remarks Monday in Vilnius.

Lithuania, which is hosting the leaders-level NATO summit in Vilnius in July, is celebrating the German move as a huge step in NATO deterrence and forward defense.

Talking to reporters in Brussels on Thursday, Lithuanias President Gitanas Nauseda called Wagner mercenaries serial killers that could emerge in Belarus any moment and no one knows when they could turn against us, the New York Times reported.

For Ukraine, Wagners presence in Belarus and the threat it poses is a distinction without a difference. Putin used Belarus as a staging ground to launch his assault on Kyiv in February 2022 but was ultimately repelled by Ukrainian forces.

Of course, were monitoring the threat from everywhere, since 2014 when Russia attacked us the first time, and especially since Feb. 24, and unfortunately a number of attacks came, including the Feb 24 attack, from the territory of Belarus, Ukraines Ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, told The Hill.

Yes, our intelligence, our military is, of course, monitoring all of that. But there is no difference for us, between the president of the Russian Federation, or the military leaders of the aggressive country, or Prigozhin, or whoever is doing all these war crimes. For us, all of them are war criminals that deserve to be punished.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Much like Justice Sonia Sotomayor, I am the perfect affirmative action baby. English is not my first language. My parents are Colombian immigrants who did not have the opportunity to attend college, and our family income is modest. I am also a Duke University alumna and am entering my third year at Harvard Law School. Despite my history of academic excellence, my educational outcomes have unequivocally been influenced by affirmative action. Although I am incredibly grateful to have gained an education from these distinguished institutions, the reality is that I probably would have fared well even in the absence of these opportunities.

The harsh truth is that policies like affirmative action do not achieve educational equity because they concentrate on high-achieving students who have completed high school and possess the confidence and support to apply to prestigious universities.

Affirmative action fails to expand opportunities for the most vulnerable high school students, such as English learners and students with disabilities, who might never even obtain a high school degree or submit a college application. Both English learners and students with disabilities graduate high school at a rate of 71 percent within four years, compared to non-English learners and students without disabilities, who graduate high school at a rate of 87 percent. Among students with disabilities, Black students with disabilities are 1.5 times more likely to drop out of school than white students with disabilities.

Unlike these students, for me and many of my classmates who benefited from affirmative action, the odds of pursuing higher education were not overwhelmingly against us. Although we may have never imagined earning degrees from the prestigious institutions that have opened doors to exclusive circles and opportunities, for many of us, a college degree and a fulfilling career would have likely been achievable even without the support of affirmative action. Perhaps our state institutions might not have provided us with such generous financial aid packages, and landing a job on Wall Street after graduation with our liberal arts degree might have been more difficult, but we would have managed just fine.

First, most U.S. colleges accept over two-thirds of their applicants. Dont get me wrong, a degree from an elite school can be life-changing, especially for first-generation and low-income students. But the same qualities that bring minority students to elite schools  high academic achievement, resiliency, persistence and creativity in the face of extraordinary circumstances  can make a student successful at any university.

Second, there is a misconception that students benefiting from affirmative action in selective institutions possess significantly lower academic qualifications compared to their non-minority peers, when, in fact, these students are similarly high achieving. According to 7SAGE Law School Admissions Predictor, one of the more reputable and accurate online law school admission predictors based on self-reported student data, an underrepresented minority student with a 3.9 GPA can only score four to five points lower on their Law School Admission Test (LSAT) than a white student to achieve a similar likelihood of getting into Harvard Law School.

Considering Harvard Laws highly competitive median LSAT score of 174 out of 180 for its admitted students, an underrepresented minority student with a 3.9 GPA and an LSAT score in the 87th percentile faces a mere nine percent likelihood of being accepted. There is no question that the students getting into Harvard Law, regardless of race, are high achieving. Even without an affirmative action boost, these students will continue to be competitive applicants at most universities.

In my experiences, I have also recognized the high achieving nature and educational support received by many of my minority peers. Many of us graduated at the top of our high school classes, had multiple Advanced Placement courses on our high school transcripts, and were selected for gifted and talented programs at a young age. Growing up, many of us were fortunate to have had the guidance of at least one mentor, and to this day, a significant number of us are still in touch with at least one teacher. Indeed, we have had to overcome unique obstacles along the way, and we enter prestigious educational spaces with fewer resources than many of our white peers. However, to a certain degree, our success was not unexpected.

We should not judge our nations progress in providing equality of opportunity by the number of minority students represented in the graduating class of an Ivy League school. Instead, we should measure progress by examining the educational experiences of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable student populations in our country.

If affirmative action wasnt expanding educational opportunities for our most vulnerable students, then what was its actual impact? In the Atlantic, Richard D. Kahlenberg credited affirmative action for creating a multiracial aristocracy. Many high achieving minority students graduating from elite schools go on to attain influential positions across a wide range of industries and thus diversify the American upper class. Undoubtedly, the social, economic and political capital provided by elite universities to a small group of minority students has a positive impact on communities of color as graduates from these institutions contribute to bringing about positive changes within their communities. Given this rationale, the benefits of affirmative action seem worthwhile, even if they are only accessible to a select group of high-achieving minority students.

But even this justification is rooted in industry elitism. Why are students of color required to attend prestigious universities, which are historically white institutions, to have a chance at securing positions of influence? If our society truly valued diversity, wouldnt prestigious employers actively seek to recruit a greater number of students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-Serving Institutions?

There is no question that yesterdays Supreme Court decision was a step backwards in promoting diversity in higher education, but perhaps it will encourage us to rethink what it means to achieve racial equity in education and will shift the burden of expanding racial diversity from educational institutions to employers.

Vanessa Agudelo is a third-year student at Harvard Law School and an aspiring education lawyer. She was previously a Diversity & Inclusion Analyst at Goldman Sachs.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
John remembers going to Chick-fil-A in college often.

I went to film school in Savannah, Georgia, and this is going to sound awful, but I was eating it almost every day, John, who asked that we only use his first name to protect his identity, tells TODAY.com. I was obsessed. There are lots of gays at the school I went to and it would be a common thing where I would notice other gays going incognito to Chick-fil-A, trying to get their fix.

John, a 26-year-old gay man who lives and works in the New York City area, says he also used to eat there as undercover as possible. This is due to Chick-fil-As well-documented history of donations to charities with anti-LGBTQ+ stances, as well as current chairman Dan Cathys controversial commentary on same-sex marriage.

I would be in, like, sunglasses and a hat, John says. Unintentionally but subconsciously, I was trying to not be seen by the other gays that might be in the area watching me pull into the drive-thru. I definitely do think that there was some subconscious shame, but now its very conscious.

Around the start of the pandemic, John says he had a change of heart, a year after the Chick-fil-A Foundation said it would donate only to organizations that work exclusively in education, homelessness and hunger, and would no longer be giving to charities that take anti-LGBTQ+ stances after facing backlash.

I mean, things should have been this way all along where were being more culturally conscious, John says, adding that he realized that eating fast food all the time wasnt too good for him, either. I still get those urges, though, like, Oh, my God, Chick-fil-As on DoorDash. I got the money, I want to do it, but I just havent.

And John is far from alone.

The first Chick-fil-A that opened in New York, my friends, and I actually stood in line to eat on opening day, Megan, who also asked that we only use her first name to protect her identity, tells TODAY.com. Megan, a 33-year-old lesbian woman, now lives Oakland, California, but she lived in New York City for a decade. And you know, while were doing this, there were protesters yelling at us across the street holding signs and stuff.

PETA and the LGBT community's

At the time of that Manhattan locations opening on the corner of 37th and 6th in 2015, there were vegan and LGBTQ+ protesters out front protesting the arrival of the chicken chain. And then, born-again Christians came to heckle the protesters themselves.

Certainly I understand that its a really controversial topic, Megan says. I dont know if I would proudly say that I eat Chick-fil-A as a queer person.

I am a 40-year-old gay Black man who for large swaths of his life cared about how others perceived him. Thankfully, I dont care so much anymore, living out and proud (and weird) no matter where I am. That is, until I found myself going to Chick-fil-A for the first time ever, at the start of Pride Month, no less.

My curiosity got the best of me. As I waited for my order in the store, I wondered if my outfit made me look gay for the first time in years. And no, the chicken was not worth that feeling.

John, Megan and I are only three examples of a phenomenon that has simmered under the surface of queer culture for some time now. Gays: Sometimes we eat at Chick-fil-A.

tb to when i ate chick-fil-a on the first day of pride month.. i cant even be mad at myself that shit was so good  ^_ (@wondastars) June 10, 2022

On social media, posts about this taboo take particular hold during Pride Month, when shame is supposed to be banished in favor of celebration. But Chick-fil-A is only closed on Sundays  not all June long.

why me and my friends going to pride today and she stopping at chick-fil-a first like omg i literally did this last year too........  zae (@itszaeok) June 3, 2023

Of course, for some members of the LGBTQ+ community and our allies, eating at Chick-fil-A is the ultimate transgression against our coterie  and when you look at some of the evidence, for a gay person, its hard to argue with.

Reminder if you ate at any Chick-Fil-a in the last year you are excluded from pride by default, but will be punished during wrath month next month   (@coldpizza93) June 1, 2023

Chick-fil-A's controversial history

It all started in 2010, when the WinShape Foundation, a charitable endeavor of Chick-fil-A founder S. Truett Cathy and his family, stated that it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats. The foundations websites Marriage Retreats page explains that its experiences help husbands and wives.

When Chick-fil-A gave over $8 million to the foundation in 2010, WinShape then donated $2 million of the funds it received from Chick-fil-A to seven anti-LGBTQ+ groups, including The Family Research Council, an organization listed as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

This went on for years, including in 2012 when Dan Cathy said that America was inviting Gods judgment for entertaining the idea of same-sex marriage and later said guilty as charged when asked if he thought marriage equality should not exist.

Since then, Cathy has openly voiced his anti-LGBTQ+ opinions and personally donated to anti-LGBTQ+ groups.

All of this has caused intermittent backlash, like the protests at aforementioned New York location, but also in Chicago, Illinois and, more recently, Toronto, Canada, in 2018 and 2019, where people took to the streets and social media to protest the chains planned expansion into the city. The chain has since expanded to five locations in Ontario's capital city.

Students at several colleges and universities also tried to ban the companys restaurants from their campuses, including Northeastern and Davidson College, which succeeded, and NYU, which ultimately voted to keep chicken on the curriculum, so to speak.

Several articles, think pieces and tweets later, Chick-fil-As charitable foundation said it halted its donations to three groups against gay marriage in 2019, including the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

This is even as Cathy has continued to donate (from his personal funds) as recently as 2021 to organizations accused of funding opposition to The Equality Act, which would expand civil protections for LGBTQ+ people. The National Christian Charitable Foundation (NCF) has identified Cathy as one of its high-dollar donors.

On the other side of the coin, there has been recent controversy over Chick-fil-As VP of diversity, equity and inclusion, a position that has existed in the company since July 2021. Conservatives on social media called for a boycott of the chicken chain over the positions existence, with one person tweeting, everything good must come to an end.

Chick-fil-A declined to comment on the record for this story.

So why would a queer person ever decide to eat there?

I have a joke in my standup that is, Gay people got me hired at Chick-fil-A and thats how I started working there, Ryan Leach, 31, a gay comedian and former Chick-fil-A employee tells TODAY.com. There was a small group of us in my hometown, we all knew each other was gay and one of them worked at Chick-fil-A and got the rest of us hired.

Leach says his teen years were spent working in fast food, remarking that he has positive and funny memories associated with working at the chicken chain. So many, in fact, that hes made it part of his act.

One thing that Im not really proud of that I did when I lived in Virginia and I was growing up was I worked at Chick-fil-A for three years. A lot of gay people get mad at me about that, Leach says in a standup routine he posted on Instagram.

Theyre like, What kind of self-respecting gay person would ever work at Chick-fil-A? he continues. To which I would say, Well, Ive never met a self-respecting gay person, but if I did, they probably wouldnt work at Chick-fil-A.

Leach says that growing up poor in a Southern community limited employment options for queer folks, and while he says in his routine that he was not really proud of working at the chain, the reality of how he feels about the Chick-fil-A taboo is a little more complicated.

A lot of us are growing up in very Christian towns and we are the ones who are the most familiar with the infrastructure of evangelical violence in the world, so you dont need to tell us about it, Leach says. When youre telling us that Chick-fil-A is bad, its like, well, we know more about it than you.

Leach also says that the money he earned working at the chain helped him go to college and eventually move to New York, where he now lives.

It seems sort of condescending and shallow because no one can school you on the violence of evangelical Christianity better than a gay who was working at Chick-fil-A, because it was mild compared to the things that we were exposed to as children.

PETA and the LGBT community's

It seems like boycotting Chick-fil-A is a very  like, white, liberal, Im going to do this thing that doesnt actually inconvenience me because I never did it anyways kind of thing, Leach continues. If everyone were to stop eating at Chick-fil-A, who would it hurt the most? Its not going to hurt wealthy white evangelicals  its going to hurt the people who work at Chick-fil-A.

Leach still eats at Chick-fil-A, but since there are only a handful of them in New York, its not as often as when he worked there.

Theres a lot of places I could feel shame working at other than Chick-fil-A, Leach says before listing a laundry list of defense contractors, investment firms and weapons manufacturers that he would be less proud of being on his resume. In reality, being gay at Chick-fil-A was one of the funniest things Ive ever done.

How should queer people feel when they eat at Chick-fil-A?

I often hear from clients (and people in general) that they should be doing/feeling/believing something, and whenever I hear the word should, I ask, According to who? Dr. Dulcinea Alex Pitagora, a NYC-based psychotherapist and sex therapist, tells TODAY.com.

Dr. Pitagora (who uses they/them pronouns) often deals with queer patients and the shame they experience in their practice, approaching conversations with clients in a neutral, nonjudgmental way, encouraging them to think about where the belief comes from and whether or not it aligns with their values. Then, they can make a decision for how they want to act based on their own internal values.

In order to do this kind of introspection, its necessary to be aware of what your values actually are, so sometimes the conversation turns into an exploration of what someones values are, Dr. Pitagora says. There can also be internally conflicting values, in which case prioritization and contextualization of conflicting values comes into play.

Chris, a gay 32-year-old who also asked that we only use his first name to protect his identity, says hes arrived at that decision for himself: He doesnt feel ashamed for eating at Chick-fil-A.

If they had poor animal rights history, I would feel shame, Chris tells TODAY.com. Just for me to get through some of the stigma or the discrimination or the bullying that I encountered as a young boy, its been really important to not feel ashamed. I dont know if its willful denial, or if its really just intrinsic to who I am.

With so many chicken options out there, its so easy not to eat at Chick-fil-A. Why do people still do it?

While not eating somewhere does seem like an easy choice to make, its not an easy choice for everyone, Dr. Pitagora says. Sometimes people cut corners on choices because thats all they have the (mental, financial, etc.) capacity for in that moment, or they have other reasons for their choice that need to be prioritized in that moment. Sometimes the best choice isnt available to make, so we end up making a least-worst choice. For example, eating something rather than eating nothing.

A Chick-fil-A hash brown sits in a packet of Heinz ketchup on April 12, 2021 in Novato, CA. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Dr. Pitagora says another reason someone might feel conflicted about eating at Chick-fil-A but still end up eating there is that they have some attachment to the location, the atmosphere or the food itself which ends up being prioritized over a decision to partake in this particular brand of activism.

Still, other people react in the opposite way  that they feel they should because they dont want to be told what to do, even if its by members of their community for what may be a good reason, says Dr. Pitagora.

Shame thrives off of silence

As you may have noticed, almost every single queer person that spoke with me for this article agreed to under the condition of shielding their identity. Their reasons for this may be slightly different, but the common denominator was a fear of the wrath of every gay person on the internet.

I'll admit, for this same reason, part of me wanted to be the anonymous author of this article.

Were in the middle of a very dangerous time for the queer community, where our safety and autonomy is being threatened because of a political climate that intensifies the closer it gets to the 2024 presidential election, Dr. Pitagora says. Its scary to do nothing about it, and its scary to do something about it.

But, Dr. Pitagora says, Shame thrives off of silence, and the more were silent, the more shame makes us be silent. Its a dangerous loop and efforts must be made whenever possible to interrupt it.

If you have the energy, its always better to talk about taboo issues, even if were not proud of what were saying, otherwise were reinforcing shame by default, they add. Talking about things were ashamed of is the only way to examine our motivations and capacity for change.

We're doing the best we can

Dr. Pitagora says that sometimes we have to conserve our energy by feeding ourselves with food that might not be the best for us either physically, socially or psychologically, in order to have the strength to get through the day. To feel shame is natural, but so is doing what you have to do to make it through the day.

A sign hangs outside of a Chick-fil-A restaurant on May 06, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson / Getty Images)

Because things feel so intense so often due to forces outside the community that feel beyond our control, this can cause infighting within the community between those who feel more should be done by those they decide arent doing enough, Dr. Pitagora says.

My hope is that we can all have grace and be generous and compassionate with each other, and realize that were all probably doing the best we can, and its never going to be enough because we just cant do it all, they add. People outside the community (for example, straight people, Chick-fil-A and others) need to be doing more for the queer community, actually.

As Megan said, she doesn't know if she would say she was proud to eat at Chick-fil-A  but does she feel ashamed?

No, I dont, she says, emphatically. Theres bigger freaking fish to fry, guys.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
French President Emmanuel Macron cut short a trip to Brussels and called a crisis meeting with senior ministers Friday as riots over police brutality escalated on their fourth day.

Nearly 500 buildings were damaged, 2,000 cars were set on fire and 4,000 fires were lit across the country Thursday night alone, Macron said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said police made 667 arrests on Thursday night as police deployments increased.

The riots began after a 17-year-old French-Algerian teen was killed by police at a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday. The shooting set off tensions over long-standing complaints of systemic racism in French policing.

This morning at Matignon with the ministers to take stock of the violence and abuses of the night, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Twitter.

The acts committed are intolerable and inexcusable, she added.

Borne said all options are on the table to stop the riots.

The lawyer for the officer who shot the teen, Laurent-Franck Lienard, said the killing was accidental.

The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family. He is devastated, he doesnt get up in the morning to kill people. He didnt want to kill him, Lienard said on BFM TV.

The officer has been charged with homicide.

In response to riots Thursday, the city of Marseille has banned all public demonstrations and will close down its public transport system after 5 p.m. Marseille is the countrys second-largest city.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Lets say you wanted to construct the absolute best Chicago-style hot dog at home. You already know about the poppy seed-crusted bun. The toppings are easy. Just skip the ketchup in favor of the approved standard seven toppings: chopped onion, mustard, relish, tomatoes, sport peppers, dill pickles and celery salt.

Now all you need is the beefiest, juiciest and most satisfying frankfurter in Chicago. So where do you get that?

You get it in Chicago, for one. For this list, I only looked at sausages produced locally. Thanks to the Union Stock Yards and immigration from sausage-loving countries like Germany, Chicago developed a robust sausage industry early in its history. While some companies have closed or left, there are still a number of places carrying on the fine tradition, from small butcher shops to major sausage manufacturers.

I was able to pick 21 different, Chicago-made hot dogs to try. Im sure there are more, but tracking down this many sausages was more complicated than I imagined.

Not every sausage company has a retail operation, so their products are nearly impossible to purchase unless youre a restaurant. Even when you can purchase sausages, sometimes youre forced to spring for a 5-pound box.

I also spent untold hours figuring out whether certain brands still existed. One brand that didnt make it was the beloved Bests Kosher, which opened in Chicago in 1925, after getting its start in Cincinnati all the way back in 1886. Sara Lee Corp. purchased the company in 1993 before closing it in 2009.

Finally, I spiraled down the hole of what actually qualified as a hot dog. According to Bruce Kraigs Hot Dog: A Global History, the American hot dog was inspired by a few European sausages, including frankfurters and wieners, though the Thuringer might also be a model.

I picked up some wieners from Stiglmeier Sausage Co., an excellent German-style sausage producer in suburban Wheeling. But while the sausage was one of my favorites, it didnt taste like an American hot dog. The wiener wasnt all-beef, like most Chicago hot dogs. Instead, it was made with a mixture of pork, beef and veal. It wants to sit on a plate with potato salad, not fight for room in a bun.

To test the hot dogs, I tasted them boiled, without condiments or buns at first. Then I took my favorites and tried them on a bun, to make sure theyd hold up to Chicagos preferred hot dog-eating method.

After devouring more hot dogs in the past month than anyone should, I have some hard-earned opinions.

First, I believe in the superiority of hot dogs with natural casings. Until the mid-1920s, essentially all hot dogs used natural casings, which come from the inner lining of animal intestines. But in 1925, a Chicagoan named Erwin O. Freund invented an artificial casing that was cheap and could be removed after the hot dog was cooked. It proved immensely popular.

Though the meat mixture could stay the same, these skinless hot dogs have a much softer texture, lacking the audible pop that comes from biting into a natural casing. Skinless hot dogs can still be great, and Ive included one below. But especially when the hot dog is placed in a bun and covered in condiments, the extra texture of the natural casing adds an enticing element to the experience.

Secondly, bigger isnt always better. My preferred hot dog size is referred to in sausage speech as an 8:1, which is eight hot dogs to a pound, or 2 ounces apiece. At this size, you get the ideal mix of textural pop and satisfying juiciness. You can add toppings without needing to unhinge your jaw to take a bite. While 4:1 hot dogs can be great, Ive never enjoyed anything larger. It doesnt help that most big hot dogs are skinless, leading to an overly soft, almost bologna-like texture.

Lets get to the exciting part. Here are my top four hot dogs made in Chicago, in alphabetical order:

Duck Inn Dogs

Looking for the juiciest hot dog in Chicago? That title belongs to the sausage designed by Kevin Hickey, the chef at The Duck Inn. My appreciation for this one also flies in the face of many of my stated hot dog preferences. Each one weighs 4 ounces, twice as big as Id prefer. Plus, instead of an all-beef mixture, it contains pork, beef and, perhaps inevitably for The Duck Inn, duck fat.

But how do you argue with a hot dog where even the smallest nibble tastes meatier than it has any right to be? It also has a natural casing, so you get an incredible snap before a torrent of savoriness erupts, requiring you to frantically look for the closest napkin. The enormous size means its hard to eat if you add a bunch of toppings. But if any hot dog deserves to be served simply with some good mustard and chopped onion, this is the one.

The sausage is produced by Makowskis Real Sausage Co. in Bridgeport, which, spoiler alert, youll see again on this list.

Where to purchase: Marianos (various locations, marianos.com), Standard Market (333 E. Ogden Ave., Westmont; standardmarket.com), Fresh Market Place (2134 N. Western Ave., freshmarketplaceweb.rsaamerica.com), Whittingham Meats (4134 W. 127th St., Alsip; whittinghammeats.com)

Makowskis Real Sausage Co.

Speaking of Makowskis, this Bridgeport operation has been family-owned since 1920. But it feels like its only been in the past five years that its name has become well-known to Chicagos hot dog-loving community. If youve ever sampled the excellent offering at Fixin Franks, found inside select locations of Home Depot, you already know its one of the best in town.

The 8:1 all-beef hot dogs deliver a punch of beefiness, while a slight smokiness hangs in the background. My only criticism is that its a skinless hot dog. Slap a natural casing on this and it would be unstoppable.

Where to purchase: Makowskis Real Sausage Co. (2710 S. Poplar Ave., realsausage.com). Ring the doorbell and someone will happily help you. Unfortunately, the smallest size available is a 5-pound box. This is a lot of hot dogs, but its worth it.

Paulina Market

Bad hot dogs are dry, crumbly and rubbery. Great hot dogs, like the kind served at Paulina Meat Market, are so succulent, they give steak a run for its money.

Paulinas inclusion here isnt much of a surprise. This venerable butcher shop has been refining its craft since 1949, and its textbook natural casing all-beef hot dog has everything you could want: a snappy natural casing, an extra beefy profile, a hint of garlic and a delicate smoke aroma at the end. While Id prefer a slightly smaller size, I would never turn down one of these fantastic sausages.

Where to purchase: Paulina Market (3501 N. Lincoln Ave., paulinamarket.com)

Vienna Beef

Vienna Beef is Chicagos preferred hot dog for a reason. Its an incredibly well-made sausage, especially if you pick up the 8:1 size with natural casings. Sure, the skinless version found in most Chicago-area grocery stores is totally acceptable, but get the natural casing ones if you can. The company has started to package its natural-casing hot dogs, but your best bet is to visit the companys store in Bridgeport.

Bite through the extra-snappy casing, and youll experience an instant rush of beefiness, along with a remarkably luscious texture. An underlying profile of smoke hides in the background, along with a hint of warm spices and sweetness.

Of course, considering how Vienna Beef is the preferred hot dog of most stands, and Ive eaten a few hundred of these over the years, this sausage also tastes like home.

Where to purchase: Vienna Beef Factory Store (3847 S. Morgan St., viennabeef.com)

nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com

Big screen or home stream, takeout or dine-in, Tribune writers are here to steer you toward your next great experience. Sign up for your free weekly Eat. Watch. Do. newsletter here.
Mali and the UN: Why peacekeepers are being told to leave

UN Peacekeepers from Senegal joining the Minusma mission in Mali from Senegal

Mali has told the UN that its 12,000 peacemakers need to leave, after 10 years countering Islamist militants in the country.

Last year, France withdrew its forces after military leaders seized control of Mali and brought in mercenaries from Russia's Wagner group.

Why did the UN send a peacekeeping force to Mali?

In 2013, the UN launched a mission after separatist rebels and Islamist fighters banded together and occupied northern Mali. They hoped to create a separate state.

The UN peacekeepers arrived after 5,000 French troops, who were sent to try and put down the uprising.

The threat from Islamist militants, who have killed several thousand people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, has continued over the years.

While the UN force in Mali has a wider brief to protect civilians and contain the jihadist threat, it is not intended to go on the offensive against militants.

In Mali and across the wider region attacks have been carried out by Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and an al-Qaeda affiliate called Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin.

Another jihadist group, Ansaroul Islam, is active in Burkina Faso, and Boko Haram is active in countries around Lake Chad.

Has the UN mission been successful?

Despite the presence of UN peacekeepers and French troops, who led counter-terror operations, the number of terror attacks in Mali steadily increased, as did the number of Malians joining insurgent groups.

Bar graph of fatlaities in Mali

Over the past decade, more than 300 UN peacekeepers have been killed. It has been described as the deadliest peacekeeping mission in the world.

Russia and China has criticised the mission at the UN, and countries such as the UK and Sweden have refused to provide troops.

Last year, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would withdraw French forces.

He was angry that military leaders - who seized power in 2021 - delayed plans to hold democratic elections. They also invited the Russian mercenary group Wagner to provide an estimated 1,000 fighters to provide security.

At the moment it is unclear whether the recent mutiny by Wagner fighters in Russia will have a bearing on its operations in Mali.

Why does Mali want the UN peacekeepers to leave?

The UN's mandate in Mali is due to expire on 30 June.

The UN's Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, had recommended extending their stay in Mali for another year.

However, Mali's Foreign Minister, Abdoulaye Diop, rejected this, saying the UN force had failed to respond effectively to security challenges.

UN commanders have complained that the Malian government has often interfered with their operations.

Mr Diop also accused the UN mission of "making serious allegations which are detrimental to peace, reconciliation and natural cohesion in Mali".

In May, the UN released a report alleging that during an anti-jihadist operation in central Mali in March 2022, Malian army troops and foreign mercenaries killed 500 civilians.

On Friday, the United Nations Security Council voted to withdraw the peacekeepers over the next six months.
A man who asked his girlfriend to marry him as she exited an airplane bathroom said he originally planned to propose on a beach

Darian Brinkley proposed mid-air on a flight to Cancun, Mexico. Newsflare/Darian Brinkley

A video went viral of Darian Brinkley proposing to his girlfriend outside of an airplane bathroom.

The video received mixed reactions online, with some questioning the post-bathroom proposal.

But Brinkley said he has no regrets. "It's all love," he told Insider.

A loud flush, cramped quarters, and a long line are what you might think of when it comes to airplane bathrooms.

For Darian Brinkley, 43, it was the setting for a major life moment: asking his girlfriend Minita Tanner, 41, to marry him.

Though Brinkley initially assumed it would be just an airplane's worth of people cheering the couple on, it quickly turned into something bigger.

TikTok user @mzzgina13 shared footage of the proposal on Tuesday, and the video has since gained 3.8 million views. It also went viral on Twitter, where more than 13.7 million people have watched Brinkley's proposal as of Friday.

And while thousands of online viewers celebrated the couple, who have been dating since 2019, others questioned Brinkley's decision to ask the question right outside a bathroom.

But Brinkley stands by his proposal, which he told Insider was spontaneous and full of love and laughter.

"If she had to do a number two, that's natural," Brinkley said. "We're clowns anyway."

The couple and flight crew after the proposal. Photo courtesy of Darian Brinkley

Brinkley said the proposal was spontaneous  just like the couple's relationship

A day before flying to Cancun, Mexico, Brinkley picked up an engagement ring.

He told Insider that he was ready to propose to Tanner, and as he ran through ideas, he thought a tropical vacation would be the ideal setting.

"I toyed with the idea of proposing to her in the air because she is a flight attendant and because we do travel so frequently," Brinkley said. But ultimately, he decided a beach proposal might be the smarter decision.

Since Tanner is a flight attendant, the couple flew from Atlanta, Georgia, to Cancun on standby. They ended up seated seven rows apart from one another.

Brinkley started chatting with a flight attendant and a group of women seated near him. He mentioned that he had planned on proposing on the trip, and the flight attendant suggested he do it on the plane.

Brinkley agreed, and the flight attendant got approval from the pilot. Meanwhile, the women around him eagerly got to work at creating "Will you marry me?" signs.

The plan was for the flight attendant to approach Tanner and tell her that she needed her help. But Tanner got up to use the restroom as the flight attendant was walking up to her seat, Brinkley said.

He realized this was his chance, so he followed Tanner to the bathroom and kneeled on the floor, waiting for her to come out.

"I got on one knee and then I was waiting  and I kept waiting," Brinkley said. "That's when I started to knock on the door because everyone was recording and I didn't want her to be in there too long because that might be embarrassing."

After a few seconds, Tanner came out of the bathroom to Brinkley on one knee and a flight full of people recording.

"She started screaming, and I couldn't say any words because she was saying yes and crying," he said.

The couple in Cancun, Mexico, after getting engaged. Photo courtesy of Darian Brinkley

Brinkley said the spur-of-the-moment proposal suited them as a couple.

"The word spontaneous is the definition of our relationship," he said.

There are times that they've woken up in Atlanta and were in Ecuador by the afternoon on an unplanned trip, Brinkley said.

"Everything we do is always on the fly, so it doesn't shock me that this proposal was on the fly," he said.

Screenshots of the viral TikTok video where Darian Brinkley proposes. Newsflare

The video received a mixed response online, but Brinkley said all he feels is laughter and love

As comments on the video flooded in, Brinkley said most of them were positive. Plenty of people congratulated the couple and celebrated their love.

"It's the entire flight's participation that touched me," one user wrote.

One Tiktoker added, "Now this is the kinda effort you rarely see."

"Awww you can see how much he loves her," another TikToker commented.

However, plenty of others were quick to comment on Brinkley's decision to ask post-bathroom.

"Don't anyone ever do this to me ..my bowels be acting UP," a TikToker wrote.

On Twitter, @Bornakang shared the video with the caption, "Imagine taking a dump to come out and everyone recording lol."

But Brinkley said both he and Tanner don't consider the comments negative. If anything, the couple is laughing with the commenters.

"At the end of the day, if that's the worst that people can say, that's nothing," Brinkley said.

Ultimately, Brinkley said the couple sees a proposal filled with laughter and love.

"My goal was to set out in front of an airplane full of people and confess my love, and instead, I got millions of people witnessing how I confessed my love for her," he said. "And you can't pay for that."

Read the original article on Insider
Man charged with assaulting and trying to kiss Muslim lawmaker after Eid prayer in Connecticut

Man charged with assaulting and trying to kiss Muslim lawmaker after Eid prayer in Connecticut

A Connecticut man has been arrested and charged with assaulting a Muslim state representative outside of an Eid al-Adha prayer service.

Rep. Maryam Khan, who became first Muslim elected to Connecticuts House of Representatives last year, was leaving a prayer service Wednesday in downtown Hartford when Andrey Desmond, 30, allegedly approached her making lewd comments, tried to kiss her and then struck her and threw her to the ground, police told NBC News.

Police said Khan sustained minor injuries and received treatment at the scene.

Desmond, of New Britain, Connecticut, was detained by civilians at the scene and was later arrested and charged with third-degree assault, unlawful restraint, breach of peace and interfering with police, the police statement said. Hes being held on a $250,000 bond and is expected to appear in court again on July 17.

No plea has been made, but during Desmonds arraignment Thursday, his attorney said Desmond had a history of mental health issues, including spending six months at an in-patient facility in New York.

Rep. Maryam Khan was elected to the state House last year. (Connecticut House Democrats)

Khan's team told NBC News that she isn't commenting on the incident at this time.

Connecticut Speaker of the House Matt Ritter and Majority Leader Jason Rojas said in a joint statement that theyve been in contact with her and that shes prioritizing recovery.

This traumatic event has been challenging for Representative Khan and her family, and she is currently focused on receiving medical care and is surrounded by her loved ones, they said.

Muslim civil rights leaders in Connecticut expressed disappointment that a hate crime wasnt among Desmonds charges, and theyre calling for authorities to look deeper into the possibility that the attack was motivated by Khans faith.

Connecticuts hate crime crime statute includes threatening, harassing or harming someone based on their perceived race, religion, ethnicity, disability, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Representative Khan and her family were wearing hijabs, Muslim headscarves, said Farhan Memon, chair of the Connecticut Council on American-Islamic Relations. One doesnt have to say the words, Im attacking you because youre a Muslim. ... We hope that instead of simply treating this as an assault, that the state actually brings bias charges.

Desmonds attorney didnt respond to requests for comment.

Andrey Desmond. (WVIT)

Two officers had been stationed at the event the morning of the 4,000-person prayer service, police confirmed, but Memon feels police should have had more of a presence in the area.

We as an organization feel very strongly that there was inadequate police protection, given an event this size, he said. The cops were nowhere to be found when this incident was happening.

But Hartford Police Lt. Aaron Boisvert said the attack occurred almost an hour after the event had ended, and the officers shifts had ended by then. Those that ultimately responded were from a different division, he said.

The officers had already concluded their detail, he told NBC News.

Memon says the Muslim community in Connecticut is shaken by the incident.

People are fearful, he said. If you identify visibly as a Muslim, whether its by wearing a headscarf or having a beard or wearing a kufi hat, is there someone thats going to come and say something, do something? We also live in a time where people can carry guns without permits. So all these things rolled up together make people very apprehensive about being out in the public as Muslims.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Man will serve prison time for Boise stabbing last year. What the judge ruled

A man who stabbed another man in Boise last summer will spend at least 15 years in prison. And depending on his future behavior, he could end up living behind bars for the rest of his life.

A jury found Ryan McCabe, 42, guilty of aggravated battery, use of a deadly weapon in commission of a felony and being a persistent violator after a May trial.

At a sentencing hearing in the 4th Judicial District, Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Tamera Kelly stressed his long and violent criminal history. She said the community needed to be protected from him.

Public Defender Donald Neil Price agreed that McCabe deserved a lengthy sentence but stressed mitigating factors in his past in arguing for a lighter prison term than prosecutors wanted.

On July 14, 2022, Ryan McCabe and Solomon Christensen got into a fight. McCabe stabbed Christiansen, whom Boise police found in a parking lot around 2 a.m., according to previous reporting by the Idaho Statesman. Christiansen was covered head to toe in blood, Kelly said. He needed over 60 staples and undergo surgery, she said, and was left with scarring.

After the incident, McCabe fled to California, Kelly said. Police arrested him there in October, according to previous Statesman reporting.

Kelly said the stabbing fit into a pattern of violent criminal behavior perpetrated by McCabe with little provocation. That history includes assaulting someone with a beer bottle in 2001 and shooting someone in 2011, she said.

Just about every 10 years, the defendant puts someone in the community at risk of death by his choices to use a weapon and to engage in a physical attack upon another person, she said. She asked 4th District Judge James Cawthon to give McCabe 15 years in prison and an indeterminate sentence of life to keep the community safe from him. During an indeterminate sentence, someone could be in prison or on parole depending on their conduct.

We understand that a lengthy prison sentence is warranted in this case, said Price, McCabes defense lawyer.

But Price tried to provide context for his clients actions. McCabe had a good childhood, he said, but when his parents separated, McCabe started acting out and was put in foster care. He spent most of his life in Californias juvenile correctional and adult prison systems.

McCabe was assaulted in 2019, in an incident he did not report, and was left with a serious head injury, Price said. At the time the stabbing occurred, he had recently relocated to Idaho from California to be close to family and make a fresh start for himself.

Price asked Cawthon for a sentence of 20 years, with seven years fixed. But Cawthon said he was concerned about McCabes criminal background.

There is a clear threat to life in your history, he said to McCabe. And he said there was a pattern: McCabes crimes often stop when youre incarcerated and they begin again when you get out.

He gave McCabe a fixed sentence of 15 years in prison and an indeterminate life sentence, as prosecutors requested. He also ordered him not to contact Christensen for 30 years.

The courts primary focus under the law is protection of the community, he said.
Man who stole thousands by posing as coin-cashing employee sentenced to prison

A Nevada man who posed as a coin-cashing company employee to steal thousands of dollars from devices at grocery and other stores in several states was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday, prosecutors said.

Richard Pena, 34, dressed as a worker for a coin-cashing company, pretended to be there to service the machines and then broke into them and then walked out with the coin vaults, the U.S. attorneys office for Oregon said.

The prosecutors office said Pena repeated this ruse dozens of times to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars as he traveled from Las Vegas to Oregon in a van.

Stolen coin vaults located in the back of a rented U-Haul van that was used in the crime. (U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Oregon)

When he was arrested in Washington state in December 2021, sheriffs deputies found 1.5 million coins worth around $133,000 in bags and laundry baskets, according to court documents.

An alert store employee contacted police, which led to the arrest, prosecutors said.

Pena was indicted in March 2022 on charges of conspiracy and interstate transportation of stolen property. He agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy in a plea agreement in February, records show.

Pena was also sentenced to $581,858 in restitution, the U.S. attorneys office said.

Damage to the machines and losses amounted to $715,000, it said.

Coins that were recovered by authorities. (U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Oregon)

The break-ins occurred in 2021. Pena broke into machines from Las Vegas, where he lives, to the Portland area, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.

This was not pocket change. Defendant typically stole thousands of dollars at each store and often hit multiple machines a day, prosecutors wrote.

Federal public defenders wrote in a sentencing memo that Pena was motivated by an untreated substance abuse disorder and that at the time of the crimes he was using a significant amount of methamphetamine daily.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed on the 48-month sentence and the restitution.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Man wanted on January 6-related charges arrested in Obamas DC neighborhood with guns and materials to make explosives

A man with numerous firearms and materials to make an explosive was arrested Thursday in former President Barack Obamas Washington, DC, neighborhood after claiming on an internet livestream that he had a detonator, law enforcement officials told CNN.

Taylor Taranto, who had an open warrant for his arrest related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement. He has been charged with being a fugitive from justice.

Arresting officers requested MPDs Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team to perform a vehicle sweep of the individuals van near the location of the arrest, the MPD said in a statement to CNN. There is no active threat to the community and this incident remains under investigation.

According to law enforcement officials, firearms and materials to make Molotov cocktails were found in Tarantos car. There is currently no indication of a direct threat to the Obamas, law enforcement officials told CNN.

A spokesperson for the Obamas declined to comment.

The United States Capitol Police assisted in the investigation due to a concern for public safety and the potential for violence against Members of Congress, said Jason Bell, acting assistant chief for protective and intelligence operations, said in a statement. The FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Forces is continuing the investigation into Tarantos actions.

Taranto has no fixed address, according to MPD.

Taranto is also a defendant in a civil suit filed by the estate of former MPD officer Jeffrey Smith, who died by suicide in the days following the January 6 attack.

In court filings related to the ongoing suit, Taranto admitted to being inside the Capitol during the attack, but denied any wrongdoing.

The lawsuit alleges that Taranto aided in the attack of Smith during the Capitol riot by handing a cane or crowbar to another rioter, who allegedly used the weapon to attack Smith. Tarantos actions contributed to Smiths death, the lawsuit alleges.

The allegations, Taranto wrote, are made up.

Taranto, in court documents, said he went inside the Capitol that day but claimed he was acting as a press agent who covers left-wing protesters.

Taranto wrote he was allowed into the Capitol without resistance by Capitol police and claimed the doors to the Capitol were open.

He also claimed in court filings that he was assaulted by police inside the Capitol.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNNs Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.

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Manchester man arrested for alleged sex crimes against several children

A Manchester man accused of sexually assaulting several children turned himself into police on Thursday.

50-year-old Wayne Haggie is charged with seven counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault pattern, four counts of sexual assault, one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault, three counts of felony indecent exposure/lewdness, and three counts of certain use of computer services prohibited.

Manchester Police say they received a report in April that a child under the age of 13 had been sexually assaulted by a man she knew, later identified as Haggie.

A subsequent investigation showed Haggie allegedly committed sex crimes against more than one child and allegedly sent them sexually-explicit photos.

He was held on preventative detention and will be arraigned in Hillsborough Superior Court-North.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Heres how many times Folsom police used military-type equipment in the past year

Folsom police are considering the purchase of a tactical robot, city documents said.

In an annual report submitted to Folsom City Council on Tuesday, Police Chief Rick Hillman said that there was one operational use and six training uses of the Robotex avatar tactical robot, a machine that can be sent into unsafe situation and provide audio, video and communication to officers.

The Folsom Police Department was authorized to use certain military equipment in May 2022, according to city documents.

The Police Department does intend on acquiring a new tactical robot within the next reporting period, the documents read. The current robot is outdated and in need of replacement.

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Hillman said a future staff report would be submitted for approval.

A Robotex avatar tactical robot costs the department approximately $26,000, according to Hillman.

The police department did not receive any complaints from the community regarding the deployment of any of the items in this policy, the document said.

Heres what the department has used so far

Since the use of military-type equipment was authorized last year, the department said it has utilized items in several incidents.

These instances include barricaded subjects, high-risk incidents, critical incidents, high-risk building entries and felony vehicle stops, according to authorities.

Police said the equipment has also aided in suspect searches, missing person searches, outside agency assistance and training.

Reported operational uses of military equipment

8 uses of an armored vehicle known as a Bearcat

20 uses of drones

1 of a Robotex avatar tactical robot

2 of a long-range acoustical device

15 of a SWAT rifle

26 of a patrol/officer rifle

17 of a less lethal shotgun

3 of a less lethal munition launcher

2 of a mobile command and communications unit

5 of anti-vehicle barriers

2 of diversionary devices

1 of a less-than-lethal baton

1 of a less lethal bean bag

2 of chemical munitions

No sniper ammunition

Reported training uses of military equipment
Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig have not only joined in on the viral Barbenheimer trend, but they have accepted Tom Cruises mission in taking it two steps further.

Barbenheimer is a new term popularised by eager fans who are preparing to see Barbie and Oppenheimer back-to-back in cinemas on their mutual release date of 21 July.

Although, why stop at just two? On Friday (30 June), Barbie director Gerwig, 39, and lead actor Robbie, 32, added Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One to their lists, copying Cruise who had done the same days earlier.

In photographs shared on Twitter, Gerwig and Robbie stood proudly in front of each films poster holding out their movie tickets.

Mission: Accomplished! the caption reads.

The duos support comes in response to Cruise, who, on Wednesday (28 June), tweeted photos of himself standing with three movie tickets to Harrison Fords newest Indiana Jones sequel, Christopher Nolans war drama and Gerwigs Barbie.

This summer is full of amazing movies to see in theatres, the 60-year-old wrote in the caption.

He congratulated Ford  whose movie debuts today (30 June)  on 40 years of Indy and one of the most iconic characters in history. Read The Independents three-star review of the film here.

I love a double feature, and it doesnt get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie, Cruise added.

Cruise is known for passionately promoting the cinema industry. Earlier this year, Steven Spielberg was filmed telling the actor hed saved Hollywoods ass thanks to his $1.5bn-grossing Top Gun revival, Maverick.

In his newest movie, the seventh film in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Cruise joins forces with Avengers star Hayley Atwell to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens humanity.

For the most part, reviewers have fawned over Cruise and the films breathtaking action sequences. Back in April, the star treated Cinemacon attendees to an epic 20-minute motorcycle chase sequence from the movie, which saw the 60-year-old action star bombing around the Italian capital.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One is out in cinemas on 12 July.
Massachusetts drivers are now able to celebrate one of the most iconic charities in New England and raise money to fight cancer at the same time.

The Red Sox unveiled a new license plate commemorating the Jimmy Funds 75th anniversary and the charitys partnership with the Sox. The new design features the Red Sox Foundation logo with the iconic hanging socks and blue hearts alongside the logos for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund.

The new plate will cost $40 with $28 of the purchase split evenly between the Jimmy Fund and Red Sox Foundation.

The Red Sox Foundation and the Jimmy Fund have had a tremendous impact on the lives of countless individuals and families affected by cancer across Massachusetts and greater New England, said Governor Maura Healey. This charity license plate is a fitting tribute to the 75th anniversary of the Jimmy Fund and the enduring collaboration between these two remarkable organizations. I encourage the people of Massachusetts to proudly display these plates, knowing that their support will make a real difference in the lives of those facing the challenges of cancer.

The Red Sox have partnered with the Jimmy Fund since 1953, raising millions of dollars for cancer research.

The Boston Red Sox/Jimmy Fund license plates are an easy way to make a meaningful impact in the fight against cancer, said Larry Lucchino, Chairman of the Jimmy Fund, Trustee of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Chairman/Principal Owner of the Worcester Red Sox, and President/CEO Emeritus of the Boston Red Sox. Red Sox Nation has this special opportunity to show support from the road, all while helping raise critical funds for the Jimmy Fund and the Red Sox Foundation.

For more information on how to order a charity plate, visit RedSoxFoundation.org/Plates.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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Senior Chinese diplomat meets UN Deputy Secretary-General

Xinhua) 09:44, June 30, 2023

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, in Beijing, capital of China, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, on Thursday in Beijing.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said that China has always firmly supported the cause of the UN as a founding member. China will always be a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order, no matter where China is in history or what stage of development China has reached.

China firmly supports the central role of the UN in international affairs, firmly advocates and practices genuine multilateralism, and firmly upholds the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, Wang said.

Wang said that China has put forward the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative to address the deficits in peace, development, security and governance that the world is facing today. He said this is a response to the most common and urgent aspirations of developing countries and reflects China's responsibility as the largest developing country.

"Development is our common cause," said Wang, adding, "China is ready to strengthen collaboration with all UN agencies and work for the realization of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on time."

Mohammed thanked China for its firm support for the cause of the UN and said that the two sides have carried out in-depth cooperation in areas such as maintaining peace and promoting development.

The UN appreciates and supports China's important initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the Global Development Initiative, said Mohammed. "In the face of many global challenges, we must adhere to multilateral partnerships and look to China for leadership to jointly find solutions."

Mohammed also expressed her hope for strengthened cooperation with China on sustainable development, fighting climate change, desertification prevention and control, digital innovation and other fields.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Mayor Suarez, you want to be president? First, you owe Miami an explanation | Opinion

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has a lot on his plate: campaigning to promote his long-shot presidential bid and, apparently, doing his homework on the Uyghurs, Chinas oppressed Muslim minority and topic of his ridiculed gaffe on talk radio.

Suarez wants to move into the big leagues, but, first, he must address unfinished business in the city that elected him mayor twice. Payments he received from a developer who had business before City Hall have already prompted a federal investigation.

The details of that relationship have become progressively worse as Herald reporters unveil them.

Suarez has contended that he never met with Rishi Kapoor and city staff to discuss Kapoors Coconut Grove real estate project. But the Herald reported Friday the two met at least six times between January 2020 and August 2021, according to city calendar invites. Those records indicate they met over Zoom and in person at the Cocoplum Yacht Club. One of the meetings had home as the listed location. The purpose of those meetings was to discuss a proposed ordinance to change the citys code to facilitate the development. That proposal, however, never became law.

Forgetful mayor

Does Suarez suffer from a rare case of amnesia? He hasnt bothered to explain himself. His office and campaign didnt answer questions from the Herald. Kapoors lawyer told the Herald that Suarez was not working for the company developing the Coconut Grove property when those meetings took place.

Kapoor later paid Suarez $170,000 for consulting work in monthly increments of $10,000  an arrangement Suarez didnt disclose to voters until the Herald unveiled it in May. Suarez said at the time his work for Kapoor was unrelated to City Hall and he was paid to introduce him to new investors.

But internal corporate documents from Kapoors company, Location Ventures, note Suarez would assist in pushing the stalled Coconut Grove project along. After being nudged by the mayors office, a city official single-handedly overrode a zoning hurdle that had delayed construction on Kapoors URBIN development. That official told the Herald this month that it was new information, not preferential treatment, that changed his mind.

Still, any reasonable person would wonder whether Suarez, a lawyer with side gigs  including at a law firm and a private equity firm  is using his power and influence to enrich himself. Faced with such legitimate questions, Suarez decided to attack the messenger. Its all the medias fault. Nothing to see here.

Its not fake news

My local newspaper, which is a liberal organization  and everyone would admit thats the case  has, all of a sudden, assigned three reporters and is now coming up with all these allegations, Suarez told Fox News in early June when host Shannon Bream asked him about the FBI investigation.

Suarez can try to hide behind the fake news defense that has worked, incredibly, for his opponent Donald Trump. But the more information the public learns about his dealings with Kapoor, the more his excuses smack of someone evading responsibility. They are also offensive to the people of Miami, who expect their mayor to put them first. Their tax dollars, after all, are funding an annual full-time compensation package of $130,000 for a part-time mayor.

If Miamis mayor wants to reach the White House, he must first contend with the crisis at City Hall.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who was instrumental in shaping the conservative-leaning composition of the Supreme Court, on Friday hailed the courts decision rejecting President Bidens student debt forgiveness plan as a major victory.

The American people know that the Biden Administrations student loan socialism plan would be a raw deal for hardworking taxpayers. Now that the Supreme Court has rejected the Administrations position in Biden v. Nebraska, they can know that its illegal, McConnell said in a statement.

The president of the United States cannot hijack twenty-year-old emergency powers to pad the pockets of his high-earning base and make suckers out of working families who choose not to take on student debt. The Courts decision today deals a heavy blow to Democrats distorted and outsized view of executive power, he said.

The court struck down Bidens plan to cancel some student debt for millions of people in a 6-3 decision authored by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a concurring opinion supporting the decision. Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas also backed it.

McConnell played a key role in shaping todays court by keeping the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia vacant for a year during the end of then-President Barack Obamas second term in office, giving former President Donald Trump a chance to appoint Gorsuch to the bench in 2017.

McConnell also sped the confirmation of Barrett through the Senate shortly before the 2020 election, while Trump was still in office. She replaced late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the courts ruling disappointing and cruel.

The hypocrisy is clear: as justices accept lavish, six-figure gifts, they dont dare to help Americans saddled with student loan debt, instead siding with the powerful, big-monied interests, he said.

He said he would call upon the Biden administration to do everything in its power to deliver for millions of working- and middle-class Americans struggling with student loan debt.

Biden on Friday said he will announce new policies to help student loan borrowers in the wake of the courts decision.

I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American, he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The US Supreme Court struck down the Biden administrations plan Friday to offer up to $20,000 in student debt relief, leaving more than half a million Georgians back on the hook for their student loans.

Some people think students needed that relief because college has become so expensive, and the loans are too. Others think the students knew what they were getting into and that taxpayers shouldnt have to bail them out.

Jason Jarrett graduated from Georgia State University without any student loans. And while he has mixed feelings about the ruling, he told Channel 2s Richard Elliot that he also doesnt want to have to pay a debt that isnt his.

Adults need to make decisions about their life and understand that these things cost money, and there are debts you have to pay, and its really not for the rest of societys job to pay those debts, Jarrett said.

Samantha Tilley still has student debt from two different universities. While she says getting some debt relief wouldve been nice, she fully expects to pay it off herself.

TRENDING STORIES:

It would have been nice to have been relieved from that debt because it is so expensive. Then, also, too, I feel like, I knew what I was getting into myself, so I feel that its my responsibility, Tilley said.

Georgia Tech freshman Heewon Eum doesnt have any student loan debt yet, but he still doesnt much care for this ruling.

Education should be as accessible to as many people as possible, and by the supreme court striking this down, youre giving more power to an already predatory industry which is student loans, Eum said.

Dekalb elementary school counselor Patrice Samm admitted the relief package would have barely made a dent into her $172,000 of student loan debt.

Still, she told Elliot it would have been nice.

15 years into my career and at almost my maximum earning potential and still dont even make half of what it is I owe, Samm said.

The Biden administration said 1 million Georgians still have some kind of student loan, averaging about $41,000 each.

More than 600,000 already applied for debt relief that now will not come.

IN OTHER NEWS:
The Solomyanskyi District Court of Kyiv has extended the measure of restraint for Metropolitan Pavlo Lebed of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) in the form of round-the-clock house arrest.

Source: Suspilne

Details: Suspilne has reported that the court approved the prosecutor's request to extend the arrest with the wearing of a bracelet for another two months. The defence requested a personal commitment or night house arrest.

The decision to extend the arrest is to be appealed to the Kyiv Court of Appeal.

Previously:

On 1 April, Pavlo Lebid was served with a notice of suspicion for "infringing the equal rights of citizens based on their religious beliefs" and "glorifying participants in the Russian Federations armed aggression against Ukraine".

The Security Service of Ukraine also published recordings of Pavlo's phone conversations and sermons.

Lebid said in the courtroom that he was "against aggression" but made no mention of Russia as a perpetrator.

The court hearing to choose a preventive measure for the Metropolitan was postponed to Monday. Pavlo said he was feeling unwell "because of his sugar level". However, the hearing was later rescheduled for 18:30 on Saturday, with the court agreeing to bring Pavlo in forcibly.

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court in Kyiv placed Metropolitan Pavlo under round-the-clock house arrest until 30 May on suspicion of inciting sectarian hatred and condoning Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

At a court hearing in the Kyiv Court of Appeal on 21 April, Pavlo stated that he was unable to charge the electronic bracelet he was ordered to wear due to the lack of electricity in his home. Nevertheless, the court left him under house arrest.

Background:

In March 2023, the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve terminated the agreement with the UOC-MP on the free use of the monastery in Kyiv. The monks were to leave the monastery and all buildings on 29 March.

The priests of the UOC-MP were supposed to leave the monastery on 29 March, having held their last service there.

However, the abbot of the monastery, Metropolitan Pavlo, said that they did not plan to do so and were filing a lawsuit against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.

He also openly threatened President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and called Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko "possessed by a devilish demon".

On the evening of 29 March, the UOC-MP website reported that the Kyiv Commercial Court had opened proceedings on a lawsuit filed by the Holy Dormition Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery) against the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve over the termination of the lease agreement by the reserve.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Theres a common expression in Miami politics: Everyone knows how to count to three.

Three is the number of city commissioners required to pass legislation with a simple majority. It allows a small group of commission members to hijack the legislative process and intimidate colleagues who dont want to see their priorities killed on the dais.

Miami has been embroiled in a legal battle over how commission seat districts were redrawn last year following the 2020 U.S. Census. In May, a federal judge sided with a coalition of civic groups that argued in a lawsuit that commissioners broke up neighborhoods like Coconut Grove and Flagami for the sake of hitting racial quotas and maintaining the ethnic makeup of the commission. The judge ordered the city to redraw its district boundaries.

Instead of temporarily fixing a broken system by moving district lines, its time for Miamians to demand more.

Miamis City Commission must grow from five districts to seven or nine, as many community advocates suggested to the Herald Editorial Board. The exact number should be part of a discussion we hope to spur.

Miami is the largest city in South Florida. It projects itself as a hub of tech and financial companies rivaling New York and San Francisco. Yet Miami is run like Mayberry. The city has the same number of commission seats as Stuart, a sleepy retirement community on Floridas Treasure Coast, population 18,200. Miami Beach and Hialeah, smaller neighboring cities, have larger commissions.

U.S. Census numbers show Miamis population has grown to almost 450,000 since voters adopted single-member districts in 1997. The population was fewer than 372,000 back then. Miami voters opted for districts because they wanted more diverse representation after the city ended up without a Black commissioner for the first time in 30 years.

Compare Miami to cities of similar size across the country. Tampa (population: 398,000) has seven council members, four of them elected in districts and three at-large. Atlanta (population: 500,000) has 12 council districts plus three members elected at-large. Long Beach, California (population: 451,000), has nine districts.

Power concentration

Size is not the only reason to reform Miamis system of government.

It is not an overstatement to say that a lot of dysfunction stems from how Miami structures its elected body. That has allowed Commissioner Joe Carollo to abuse his position for so long. With few at City Hall willing to stop him, it took a federal jury in June to conclude Carollo weaponized the Miamis code enforcement against two Little Havana businessmen as retaliation for supporting his 2017 election opponent. Carollo has been ordered them pay $63.5 million in damages and is expected to appeal that decision.

Other commissioners and staff must have known this was going on, but Carollo holds 20% of the power on the commission. Add the vote of his ally/frenemy Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and they only need one more vote to control the commission on most matters.

Frankly, [more districts] may be the only thing that saves the city of Miami, J.C. Planas, an election lawyer who was part of an unsuccessful effort in 2020 to recall Carollo, told the Herald Editorial Board. Planas, a former Republican state representative is planning to run for Miami-Dade County supervisor of elections as a Democrat next year.

To be clear, this is not a Carollo problem. If it were, we could wait until he reaches his term limit. Any commissioner can become too powerful. More districts would dilute the power of elected officials who hold too much of it.

Commissioner Joe Carollo, right, speaks with Inter Miami co-owner Jorge Mas during a special meeting at Miami City Hall in 2022. A federal jury found Carollo used his power to retaliate against two Little Havana businessmen who supported his 2017 opponent.

We recognize the arguments against a larger commission. Representatives elected in smaller districts run the risk of focusing too much on parochial issues, like fixing pot holes, and less on big-picture challenges like sea-level rise and mass transit. Diluting the power of commissioners also dilutes the power of the individual communities they represent. But the reasons for more districts are abundant.

The current system has allowed three commissioners elected with a voter turnout of no more than 15% in the past four municipal elections to control decision making for Floridas second-largest city. Miami holds municipal elections in odd years instead of presidential or midterm elections, when voters are more likely to go to the polls. That election calendar guarantees low turnout.

These factors together have created a disconnect between Miamis needs and its government. More voices on the dais will force commissioners to build consensus, leading to better decisions.

City missed the boat

The city is missing the perfect opportunity to enact these changes. The lawsuit and order by federal Judge K. Michael Moore that the city redraw districts boundaries should have kicked off a conversation on the dais. It didnt. The commissioners wouldnt vote to dilute their own power.

On June 14, they approved a new set of five districts that still require court approval. The American Civil Liberties Union and the community organizations that sued the city  among them two NAACP branches and Coconut Grove community group GRACE  have said they will oppose the new maps, arguing it is still gerrymandered.

The new maps also have another problem: They keep the questionable decision of drawing the lines of District 3 to include Carollos Coconut Grove home. The six-bedroom house on Morris Lane previously was in another district, so when Carollo ran for his seat in 2017 he rented a West Brickell apartment to meet the citys residency requirements. The new maps also pushed the home of Diaz de la Portillas opponent in the November elections, Miguel Angel Gabela, outside his District 1.

Its clear that Miami commissioners used the redistricting process to amass and maintain power. A small commission only makes it easier for them to run the city for such personal gain.

The Herald Editorial Board spoke to several of the plaintiffs who sued the city. Although their lawsuit deals with the maps that currently exist, they, too, are having conversations about pushing the city to have seven to nine commission seats.

Our services would be improved, said GRACE board member Clarice Cooper, who lives in West Coconut Grove.

The way forward

Changes to Miamis government system require a city charter amendment, which must be approved by voters. The easiest way to accomplish that would be if the commission put the proposal on the ballot, but theres little appetite for that. The only other way is a citizen-driven referendum. That would require the certification of petition signatures from 10% of registered voters as of the last municipal general election, according to state law. Thats 21,760 signatures based on the 2021 elections.

A citizens initiative needs to be organized and ironclad. Paying signature collectors and mounting a campaign to convince voters could cost upwards of $500,000, Planas said. There may be legal hurdles, too, as the proponents of the Carollo recall learned in 2020.

After the city clerks office rejected a batch of more than 1,900 petition signatures, saying they were delivered too late, the recall committee sued the city. After months of litigation  and a lawsuit by Carollo himself  a district judge ruled the petitions were indeed late. Although they were submitted online before a deadline, they were physically delivered after it.

Its only wise to anticipate Miami City Hall would try to undermine any efforts to increase representation. Its time for Miami to grasp its own future. People who care about the city must take action and start a petition process soon. If Miami wants to be the city of future, it cannot afford a dysfunctional system of government any longer.

This is the first editorial in a series that examines flaws in the city of Miamis structure of governance.
Mayor Francis Suarez worked to draft new law with developer who later paid him $170K

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and his city staff joined forces with developer Rishi Kapoor to draft a new city law that the developer saw as vital for his $70 million Coconut Grove real estate project, according to emails from the mayors office obtained by the Miami Herald.

Kapoor later paid Suarez at least $170,000 for consulting for the developer in regular $10,000 increments dating back to at least 2021.

The mayors financial deal with the developer is currently under federal investigation following a Herald report detailing how an aide to the mayor helped Kapoor sidestep a permitting issue that threatened the viability of the project in 2022.

The newly obtained emails reveal how the relationship between Kapoor and the mayors office began years before the aide made a call to the citys zoning director, who ultimately overrode a code requirement that the building be set back five feet from the property line, paving the way for permitting.

The communications from the mayors office, which date back to 2019, show previously unknown levels of collaboration between the mayor and Kapoors company, Location Ventures, which paid Suarez the $10,000 per month through a subsidiary associated with the Grove project. Although the ordinance did not pass, the joint effort to change the code provides another example of the mayors office working for Kapoors benefit.

Suarez, who is a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, previously told reporters that he had never had any meetings with Kapoor and city staff to discuss the Grove project. But city calendar invites indicate the two met at least half a dozen times between January 2020 and August 2021  sometimes over Zoom but also in person at the Cocoplum Yacht Club, plus one meeting with home as the listed location.

Its unclear from internal company records reviewed by the Herald when Kapoor hired Suarez, but the records show payments started no later than September 2021  one month after the final calendar invite for a meeting with Kapoor that was sent to Suarezs city email.

READ MORE: Mayor for Hire: Francis Suarezs wealth boomed while he promoted Miami as tech capital

The city code, written when housing was cheaper, did not address the kind of modern co-living and micro-units Kapoor and other developers were pitching in 2020 as a creative solution to the citys housing affordability crisis. Emails show Kapoors team went through the mayors office to help shape the proposed update to the code to benefit their vision for bringing the dorm-style housing to Commodore Plaza.

Often, the calendar invites show, the two men were joined by city administrators to discuss the code changes that would facilitate Kapoors project.

Despite their efforts, city records show the ordinance was repeatedly deferred. Opting to move forward without the change to zoning codes, Kapoors team applied for a permit for their Grove co-living project in December 2021.

Internal Location Ventures records indicate Kapoor asked Suarez to meet again in July 2022 regarding the setback problems stalling the permit application process. The city emails do not reference that meeting.

Neither the mayors office nor his campaign responded to the Heralds request for comment.

Kapoors attorney, Brian Goodkind, acknowledged the meetings between Kapoor and Suarez regarding the co-living ordinance, but said Suarez was not working for URBIN  the company developing the Coconut Grove property  in 2020.

Ultimately, the ordinance was not enacted and the Commodore project was modified to avoid the need for the ordinance, Goodkind said. The important part is that the co-living ordinance concept was abandoned long before there was any consulting relationship between URBIN and Mayor Suarez.

Suarez, who is paid $130,000 for his part-time mayoral duties, previously told the Herald that he was not paid to help Kapoor with zoning or permitting issues but rather to introduce the developer to potential investors.

This building at 3162 Commodore Plaza is being redeveloped by Rishi Kapoor, whose company URBIN has paid Miami Mayor Francis Suarez $10,000 a month since late 2021. Last summer, Kapoor asked the mayor to help overcome permitting hurdles.

Barbara Petersen of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a non-profit transparency watchdog, expressed concern over the closed-door nature of the meetings between the mayor and a developer who hired him.

We have no clue what theyre discussing, what hes pushing, whats being offered, Petersen said. It sort of flies in the face of the whole notion of accountability and transparency.

Emails show Kapoors team first reached out to the mayors office in late 2019, securing a crucial meeting with Suarez and his chief of staff to discuss plans for the Commodore Plaza and some code amendments which would be necessary to realize the project.

After at least two meetings between the mayor, city staff and the developer, Kapoors team emailed Suarez a markup of the citys draft co-living ordinance. The comments, written on Aug. 25, 2020, by the companys general counsel  Romy Kapoor  indicated several sections should be rewritten and suggested some of the citys proposed requirements for the type of project the company planned were excessive, particularly regarding the minimum number of parking spaces and bike racks.

Read the marked-up draft legislation sent to the mayors office

In the same email, Kapoors team asked the mayors office to set up a meeting with the Planning Department to finalize this proposed legislation so that URBIN can proceed with its promising residential projects on Commodore Plaza.

Suarezs then-chief of staff, Jeremy Schwarz, responded by saying the mayors team wanted to move forward with the meeting as soon as possible.

Thank you to all very much, Kapoor wrote back to Suarez and his staff.

Bob Jarvis, a Nova Southeastern University law professor specializing in ethics, said that if Kapoor paid Suarez specifically for special privileges and access, the situation would prompt the question is City Hall for Sale?

Youre not allowed to grease the wheels, Jarvis said.

Co-Living Ordinance

In late 2020, then-Commissioner Ken Russell sponsored the ordinance that would allow  and regulate  co-living spaces developed in Miami. Emails show that Russell had also been in contact with Kapoors team over the previous 12 months and received the same marked-up copy of the ordinance as the mayor.

Russell said Suarez never told him about his consulting agreement with the developer lobbying for the effort. He said he didnt remember discussing the ordinance with the mayor, although emails show Russell was invited to at least one meeting with Suarez and Kapoor on the topic.

Russell said he sponsored the proposed change to the code because he saw co-living as one potential solution to the citys affordability crisis.

I think co-living is a really good concept when done correctly, Russell told the Herald.

Instagram posts by developer Rishi Kapoors URBIN Condos brand shows Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (center left) and former-commissioner Ken Russell (second from the left) at the groundbreaking for the co-living project in Coconut Grove.

As a commissioner, Russell said he worked with city staff and various developers  including Rishi Kapoor  to draft an ordinance that would ease the permitting process for co-living projects while also addressing concerns about traffic headaches and parking pressures that detractors worried were the likely result of crowding so many new people into a condo consisting of individually rented rooms.

Russell said he dropped the effort after it was clear there would be no consensus on a path forward.

None of the developers could agree among each other and the planning department couldnt agree. And I wasnt going to push forward until we agreed, Russell said.

City records show the ordinance was deferred repeatedly and finally withdrawn in January 2023. But a similar proposal was then introduced and ultimately adopted by the city commission on June 8, 2023. It was approved with the same minimum parking requirements that caused Kapoors team to balk years before.

Kapoors Coconut Grove project broke ground in January, with Suarez standing beside the developer, both men in hard hats.
Migrant boat disaster: What to know about the tragedy off Greece's coast

The sinking of a dangerously overcrowded fishing boat carrying hundreds of migrants near Greece's coast earlier this month has become one of the deadliest refugee tragedies in recent years, and its already-horrifying death toll is expected to climb.

While just over 100 migrants were rescued at sea, officials have recovered more than 80 bodies and as many as 500 people, including children, are still missing and feared to be dead, according to Greek authorities and United Nations officials. Several men arrested by Greek officials have been accused of smuggling the African and Middle Eastern migrants on the fishing trawler.

The humanitarian catastrophe has shined an international spotlight on the perilous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea that thousands of migrants undertake each month in hopes of reaching Europe, as well as the increasingly strict migration policies adopted by European countries amid mass refugee flows and intensifying migrant resentment domestically. It has also raised questions about the actions, or lack thereof, of Greek authorities before the boat capsized.

Here's what you need to know about the tragedy.

What happened?

On June 13, a plane administered by Frontex, the European Union's border agency, spotted a fishing boat in international waters near Greece that was "heavily overcrowded" and "navigating at slow speed." The agency said it notified Italian and Greek officials of the sighthing and the boat's location.

"The plane was monitoring the fishing vessel for 10 minutes before it had to return to base for refuelling. Frontex offered additional aerial support to Greek authorities on [June 13] but received no response," the agency said in a statement to CBS News. Frontex added that Greek officials asked the agency to instead send a drone to another migrant rescue incident further east, off the coast of Crete.

Video taken by the Frontex plane shows the boat was extremely overcrowded that day, with scores of migrants seen shoulder-to-shoulder on top of the vessel alone. The United Nations migration agency estimated that the vessel was carrying between 400 and 750 migrants.

A undated handout photo provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard shows migrants on a boat before it capsized near the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea, off Greece, June 14, 2023. / Credit: HELLENIC COAST GUARD/REUTERS

The Greek Coast Guard said it asked nearby vessels to assist the fishing trawler, and later dispatched its own boat after being notified of the incident. The Greek Coast Guard said one of its boats reached the location of the distressed trawler during the evening of June 13. According to the Coast Guard, migrants on the boat rejected the assistance offer and said they want to continue their journey to Italy.

In the early morning of June 14, Greek Coast Guard officials said, the fishing boat capsized and sank roughly 47 nautical miles from the coastal city of Pylos on the Peloponnese peninsula. Greek officials have said the boat's engine failed.

The survivors who were rescued were transported to Kalamata, a city on the Greek mainland, the Coast Guard added. In a statement to CBS News, the United Nations refugee agency said the migrants on the boat hailed from Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, the Palestinian territories, Pakistan and Syria. One town in Pakistan lost an entire generation of its young men.

As of June 28, Greek authorities have confirmed rescuing 104 survivors and recovering 82 bodies.

What have the survivors said?

Survivors of the tragedy have told news outlets that the fishing boat was severely overcrowded. Some said the boat began to move after other vessels offered supplies and people on board fought over them.

Other survivors have told news outlets that Greek authorities tried to tow the boat, which caused the vessel to move back and forth. Some of them have partially blamed Greek officials for the tragedy. Greek government officials have so far denied that authorities tried to tow the boat, suggesting that the trawler sank because of the engine's failure and movement by the migrants.

But United Nation officials and other advocates for migrants have said that Greek authorities had a duty to intervene earlier on and get the migrants off the boat, even if they had refused assistance.

Rescued migrants sit inside a warehouse in Kalamata, Greece on June 15, 2023. / Credit: Angelos Tzortzinis/Afp/Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"The duty to rescue people in distress at sea without delay is a fundamental rule of international maritime law," the United Nations refugee agency said in a statement. "Both shipmasters and States have an obligation to render assistance to those in distress at sea regardless of their nationality, status or the circumstances in which they are found, including on unseaworthy vessels, and irrespective of the intentions of those onboard."

In a statement, the Greek government said several questions posed by CBS News were being investigated and could not be answered due to legal restrictions tied to an ongoing probe.

Are these tragedies common?

Yes. Deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea have become increasingly common as the number of people taking to the sea in hopes of reaching Europe has increased.

Syrian survivor Mohammad, 18, who was rescued with other refugees and migrants off Greece after their boat capsized, cries as he reunites with his brother Fadi, who came to meet him from Netherlands, at the port of Kalamata, Greece, on June 16, 2023. / Credit: STELIOS MISINAS/REUTERS

More than 27,000 migrants have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean Sea since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations migration agency. In the first six months of 2023, the agency recorded nearly 2,000 deaths and disappearances of migrants in the Mediterranean. Officials have said these figures are likely undercounted due to data collection limits.

The majority of migrant deaths have occurred in the central Mediterranean, the sea's busiest migration corridor. Frontex, the EU border agency, recorded over 50,000 migrant detections in the central Mediterranean during the first 5 months of 2023 alone, a 160% increase from the same period in 2022.

Over the past decade, individual disasters have claimed the lives of hundreds of migrants. In 2014, roughly 500 migrants died when a boat sank off the coast of Malta.

What are Greece and Europe's policies towards migrants?

Following the arrival of more than 1 million mostly Syrian refugees to Europe in 2015, many countries on the continent adopted more restrictive asylum and migration policies, in part due to the rise of far-right political parties that employed anti-migrant rhetoric to galvanize frustrated voters.

While EU member states still have relatively generous asylum laws on paper, several countries like Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Italy and Greece have sought to stiffen border controls, tighten asylum rules and increase deportations. Even Sweden, which welcomed the highest number of refugees during the 2015 crisis alongside Germany, has recently proposed restricting migration.

The increasingly hardline policies have predominantly targeted new arrivals from Africa and the Middle East. Following the exodus of millions of refugees from Ukraine following the Russian invasion, all European countries, including Poland and Hungary, welcomed the displaced Ukrainians with open arms.

The Greek government, which has complained of shouldering a disproportionate burden of refugee flows due to Greece's position in the Mediterranean and proximity to Asia, has long been accused by human rights officials of mistreating migrants and breaching international law. Reports have documented instances of Greek officials abandoning asylum-seekers, including women and children, at sea, in violation of international refugee law and EU policy.

GOP candidates speak at Moms for Liberty event amid protests

President of GLAAD on Supreme Court ruling: "License to discriminate against LGBTQ folks"

Understanding the Supreme Court's major decisions this term
Mike Pence Says His Kids Are Somehow Proof Affirmative Action Is No Longer Needed

Former Vice President Mike Pence bizarrely pointed to his own white family of college graduates while praising the U.S. Supreme Courts decision Thursday to end affirmative action across most institutions of higher education.

Colleges and universities across the country have had affirmative action policies in place for decades in order to promote more racially diverse student bodies.

Speaking from Ukraine on Thursday, the 2024 Republican presidential contender told MSNBCs Dasha Burns that he was grateful to see the conservative majority that we helped build on the Supreme Court of the United States bring an end to most of affirmative action.

There may have been a time 50 years ago when we needed to affirmatively take steps to correct long-term racial bias in institutions of higher education, Pence added. But I can tell you, as the father of three college graduates, those days are long over.

Mike Pence cites the college experiences of his 3 children to make a case that there is no longer a need for affirmative action. I'm glad Pence's kids didn't experience racial discrimination. pic.twitter.com/OKBt3hpqMV  Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 29, 2023

And Im grateful today that the Supreme Court took us one step back to that America that will judge every man and woman on the content of their character and on their own achievement, and leave race out of consideration of admissions to higher education, Pence said.

Proponents of affirmative action largely envision a future when such corrective policies are no longer needed. But critics of the Supreme Court decision  including the high courts liberal justices  firmly argue that time has not yet come and that Thursdays decision will only serve to hinder progress toward racial equality in the United States. The president of the American Medical Association, for example, said the decision undermines the health of our nation by making it more difficult to raise the numbers of nonwhite medical students; nonwhite medical professionals have been shown to help alleviate health care inequities among marginalized groups.

The Supreme Courts opinions left open the possibility of implementing affirmative action in military academy admissions. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts argued in a footnote that military schools likely have potentially distinct interests from most others, a point Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called particularly awkward.

Related...
Race-based affirmative action is unconstitutional at public and private universities in the United States, the United States Supreme Court decided in a ruling issued Thursday. But that ruling won't affect military service academies -- at least, not yet.

In a 6-3 decision along ideological lines favoring conservative justices, the Supreme Court rejected the long-held premise that race could be used as a consideration during the college admissions process. Race-based policies, collectively often called "affirmative action," have been in place in some form since the 1960s. The majority opinion argued that the policies violated key components of the constitution, including the 14th Amendment that outlines "equal protection" under the law.

However, the Court specifically exempted the military academies from its decision on race-based affirmative action. The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said in a footnote that this policy would not impact how military service academies approached admissions, citing "distinct interests" those institutions have.

"The special nature of military academies and their interests was addressed in an important amicus brief filed in Grutter v. Bollinger almost 20 years ago," said Lawrence Friedman, JD, professor of law at New England Law Boston. "The Supreme Court's decision tacitly acknowledges that."

The Supreme Court's decision allows the academies to continue race-conscious admissions policies that have historically been justified by the need for a diverse officer corps. As of 2022 the Department of Defenses Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion assessed that while 19% of the militarys enlisted personnel were Black, only 8% of its officers were Black.

"The military knows that if you don't get a diverse set of student leaders into commissioning sources, you don't get diverse officer leadership," said Daniel Walker, an Air Force Academy alum and former F-22 pilot. Currently a JD candidate at Harvard Law School, and a member of the Black Veterans Project, Walker said he believed that less diversity in leadership led to a weaker overall force.

Despite the service academy carve-out, the court's decision will still likely impact the officer corps: Military academies are not the only source for commissioning officers. The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) commissions over half of the military's officers in a particular year, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report. Additionally, another quarter of the nation's officers commission via Officer Candidate School (OCS) -- some of whom have no prior qualification beyond a bachelor's degree from an accredited college.

Because both means of entry into the officer ranks depend on the existing pool of college students, restricting efforts to diversify that pool could have a secondary impact of limiting the diversity of incoming officers.

"You have to recruit a diverse student body if you want a diverse officer corps," Walker said.

Walker pointed out students from racial minority groups and women often do not think of themselves as suitable candidates for officer leadership. "The service academies take affirmative actions in the technical, not legal sense, of going out of their way to recruit the diverse leadership the military needs," he said. "Becoming an officer is very difficult. Handicapping colleges isn't going to make it any easier, even if you've left the service academies out of it."

Of the four service academies contacted by Military.com, only one provided a comment on the Supreme Court's decision.

"Today's decision does not apply to military academies. However, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy will continue to ensure that our processes fully comply with the Constitution and the Law," wrote the Coast Guard Academy's public affairs team in an email.

Adrian Bonenberger, an Army veteran and graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, reports for Military.com. He can be reached at adrian.bonenberger@monster.com.
Thousands of Minnesotans were reshuffling their finances and re-evaluating their life goals after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Joe Biden's plan to forgive student loan debt for millions of borrowers.

The ruling came as little surprise to people with debt who had been bracing for the court's ruling, and it landed just one day the justices curtailed the consideration of race in college admissions.

The past two days have felt like "whiplash," said Anthony Tabura, 22, who recently graduated from the University of Minnesota with an engineering degree and has about $27,000 in debt.

"It feels weird knowing that the future of education is kind of in the hands of a few people on the Supreme Court, and in a way it kind of makes you feel a little hopeless," said Tabura, who said the decision will likely affect how many roommates he needs to have and when he starts a family.

About 43 million Americans have federal student loans worth a combined $1.6 trillion. That includes more than a half million Minnesotans who applied or were deemed automatically eligible for the Biden administration's forgiveness program, according to data released by the White House earlier this year.

The ruling came just months before payments on student loans are set to resume following a pandemic pause. That temporary reprieve had given many borrowers a glimpse at what life would be like if they had hundreds of extra dollars per month to put toward things like housing, food, cars or savings.

Biden, a Democrat, unveiled the plan last year to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loans for people making less than $125,000, with the largest amount going to people who received Pell Grants that go to students from low-income families. Estimates on the program's cost ranged from about $305 billion to $430 billion.

On Friday, Biden promised to try to find other ways to provide debt relief, but he cautioned that those processes could take longer.

An opinion poll released last month by Ipsos and USA Today found that Americans were split on the program the court struck down, with 47% supporting it and 41% opposing it. Support was higher, though not universal, among people with student loans.

Mike Linzbach was among the Minnesota graduates who didn't expect to be impacted by the ruling  no matter which way it went.

Linzbach, 41, earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Minnesota and paid off his roughly $20,000 in student debt several years ago.

He said he thinks of it in terms of profit and loss: "You get the profit of having the education, and you get the loss of getting some debt with it," Linzbach said in an interview before the ruling, "but making sure that those things balance out or work in your favor over time is key."

Frances Stevenson, 27, who works for a nonprofit providing social services, worries that organizations already strained by the pandemic will be flooded with additional requests when payments resume.

"When the loans go into repayment, people aren't going to be able to pay them, or they're not going to be able to pay their other bills," Stevenson said.

Stevenson graduated from Luther College, a private school in Iowa, in 2017 and has about $11,000 in student debt remaining, the bulk of which would have been eligible for forgiveness under the Biden plan.

She had been hoping to go to graduate school in 2024 so she could get a master's degree in social work, which would make her eligible for a promotion and higher pay. She still wants to, but she doubts she'll be able to do it in the same timeframe.

John Runningen, a graduate of Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Fergus Falls, is also postponing his plans for further education.

He aims to become a social studies teacher but has about $7,000 in student loan debt, and family obligations have sapped his savings. Runningen, 22, now is taking a "gap year" and putting off a move to Minnesota State University Moorhead.

"I'm not going to be able to afford to go to college this year," said Runningen, the outgoing president of LeadMN, an organization representing students at two-year institutions in the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities. "To stop my education is a difficult decision to make. I know many others are going to have to make the decision, as well."

Reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling was swift and fell largely along party lines.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a Republican who represents a district that runs from the southwestern suburbs of the Twin Cities through St. Cloud, tweeted that he was glad the court "set the record straight" by ruling that the president didn't have the authority to implement the program the way he did.

"Biden's student loan scam would've bailed out the wealthy while forcing taxpayers  including those who didn't go to college  to foot the bill," he wrote.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat who represents Minneapolis and some surrounding suburbs, issued a statement urging the Biden administration to find a way "to follow through on their promise and ensure that working and middle class borrowers do not have their future cut short."

"43 million Americans. That's how many people the rightwing partisan justices on the Supreme Court just condemned to years  sometimes a lifetime  of debt thanks to their own corruption," she said.

In the hours after the ruling, groups representing students and college administrators were already making their pitches for how officials should next attempt to provide relief to students burdened by college costs.

Paul Cerkvenik, president of the Minnesota Private College Council, suggested that substantially increasing state and federal grants "is the best way to address student debt levels."

Carter Yost, government and legislative affairs director for the undergraduate student government at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, expects students will continue to push the White House and Congress for debt relief.

"I don't think this is the final say, and I don't think this is where the fight will end," he said. "Continuing to sound the alarms is important."

Staff photographer Angelina Katsanis contributed to this story.

The Star Tribune is looking for Minnesotans who are willing to talk about how student debt has affected their lives. If you're interested or would like to learn more, please include your contact information in the form below.
A missing operator for the First Avenue South Bridge in South Seattle was found dead in the Duwamish River Friday morning.

Shortly before 7 a.m., the Seattle Fire Department said a water rescue response was in progress for a missing bridge operator  or tender  that may have fallen into the water.

A fireboat was dispatched to the area of South River Street and First Avenue South under the bridge.

Seattle Fire said there were no reports that anyone witnessed the operator falling into the water, but the operator was still missing. By 7:25 a.m., Seattle Fire tweeted that fire units were leaving and the scene was being handed over to Seattle Police and Washington State Patrol.

Minutes later, Seattle Fire said the Coast Guard had found a body in the water that matched the description of the missing bridge operator. Crews at the scene confirmed the person was dead.

Police are conducting a death investigation.
Missouri governor lifts stay of execution for man whose DNA was not on murder weapon

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson has removed a stay of execution for a man whose guilt was called into question after new DNA evidence was discovered.

A stay was issued for Marcellus Khaliifah Williams in August 2017 by former Gov. Eric Greitens, who appointed a board of inquiry to look into the case.

Williams, 54, was sentenced to death in 2001 in the killing of Felicia Gayle, who had been a reporter with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Gayle was stabbed 43 times with a butcher knife in her home. Williams was scheduled to be executed in 2015, but the Missouri Supreme Court stayed his lethal injection, allowing him time to obtain new DNA testing.

DNA testing, conducted in 2016 and using technology that was not available at the time of the killing, shows Williams is not a match for the male DNA found on the murder weapon.

His Aug. 22, 2017, execution was halted by Greitens, who resigned from office nine months later amid several legal and personal scandals.

The board of inquiry presented its report and recommendation to Parson. Its findings are confidential.

On Thursday, Parson signed an executive order dissolving the board and lifting the stay of execution.

This Board was established nearly six years ago, and it is time to move forward, the governor said in a statement. We could stall and delay for another six years, deferring justice, leaving a victims family in limbo, and solving nothing. This administration wont do that. Withdrawing the order allows the process to proceed within the judicial system, and, once the due process of law has been exhausted, everyone will receive certainty.

An execution date has not been set.

Parsons decision was met with swift criticism.

Williams legal team with the Midwest Innocence Project said they were disturbed by Parsons decision and by the secret nature of this process.

Neither the public nor Mr. Williams has seen the recommendation from the Board of Inquiry, Williams attorneys said. Life and death decisions require transparency when the killing is done in our names. Without it, the public can have no faith in our systems or our representatives.

They continued, saying testing excludes Williams as the source of DNA on the murder weapon.

Yet the State seeks to execute him anyway, they said. That is not justice and we will continue to vigorously fight for his freedom and his life.

The Missouri NAACP said the governors stance undermines Missouris moral fabric and promotes a culture of death.

Rod Chapel, president of the state chapter, said it was shocking that the justification for lifting the stay of execution for Williams boils down to a simple sentiment of lets get on with it.

Michelle Smith, co-director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, said they believe Williams is innocent and that his case illustrates a pattern of racial bias.

The Missouri governor intends to take as many lives as he can before leaving office, her counterpart Elyse Max said.

Parson will term out of office in January 2025.

The Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center is shown in this Feb. 7, 2023 photograph. Executions take place at the prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri.

Missouri, Texas, Florida and Oklahoma have carried out the death penalty this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Three people have died by lethal injection this year in Missouri, including Leonard Raheem Taylor, who maintained he was in another state when his girlfriend and her three children were murdered in 2004. He was convicted in 2008 and executed Feb. 7.

Amber McLaughlin was executed Jan. 3 and Michael Tisius was executed June 6.

Thirteen men including Williams remain on death row in Missouri. Johnny Johnsons execution is scheduled for Aug. 1. and a date has been requested by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey for Brian Dorsey.

Four people have been exonerated from death row in Missouri, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Former President Trump and four of his rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination will speak Friday and Saturday in Philadelphia at the national gathering of an increasing influential parental rights organization that's stoked controversy.

Trump, the commanding front-runner in the GOP nomination race, will be joined by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former congressman and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur and political commentator Vivek Ramaswamy in addressing the second annual Moms for Liberty summit.

DeSantis, the first major speaker at the summit on Friday morning, pointed to the protests outside the venue and said "I see that Moms for Liberty is coming under attack by the left, attack by the corporate media, protests out here in the streets. Now you know how I feel everywhere I go. But I want to congratulate you for that because that is a sign we are winning this fight."

And Haley, speaking later on Friday morning, showcased that "I'm a mom, so I can relate to what all these moms are feeling. I mean, we have one job and that's to take care of our families."

The appearances of some of the biggest names among the large field of Republican White House contenders is another sign of the growing clout for the conservative-leaning group, which says it has 285 chapters across 45 states.

"I think it says that parents are a very important part of the future of America and that the candidates care about the issues that parents care about, and they want to make sure that we know that," Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice told Fox News Digital on Thursday during the first day of the confab, which the group calls the Joyous Warriors National Summit.

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THIS 2024 GOP CONTENDER TEAMED UP WITH MOMS FOR LIBERTY

A sign reading "We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT" is seen in the hallway during the inaugural Moms For Liberty Summit at the Tampa Marriott Water Street on July 15, 2022 in Tampa, Florida.

Moms for Liberty was founded two years ago amid the coronavirus pandemic as a "social-welfare" nonprofit group, which means it can engage in political and policy activity without disclosing its donors. The group says its mission is to protect parental rights in education, which they describe as "God-given and fundamental."

According to its website, the mission of the group is to "unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government." It has fought against mask mandates in schools and has targeted critical race theory.

MOMS FOR LIBERTY CALLS EXTREMIST LABEL ABSURD

Justice charged that the fundamental rights of Americans "are under attack right now in America," and that one of the biggest questions we have for these candidates is "how are you going to work to help us to protect our fundamental rights?"

Longtime Republican consultant Ryan Williams spotlighted that Moms for Liberty "has attracted so much attention and is influential given the focus on public school education and cultural issues that are dominating discussion in the Republican Party today."

"Theres a real fear that schools are forcing an agenda on kids," Ryan a veteran communicator and strategist, noted.

The group, which says that it is non-partisan, does have an aligned super PAC that Justice says makes endorsements in school board races, state board of education races and state elected superintendent contests. However, Justice said the PAC had no plans to endorse GOP presidential nomination showdown.

WHO'S IN AND WHO'S ON THE SIDELINES  YOUR GUIDE TO THE 2024 GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION RACE

Justice said that "we invited President Biden" to speak at their summit, but highlighted "we received no response from the White House."

She also noted that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - who is challenging Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination - agreed to speak at their confab in Philadelphia but then canceled.

Moms for Liberty was back in the headlines three weeks ago when it was designed as an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Moms for Liberty and 11 other groups were labeled by the SPLC as "anti-government extremist groups" in its annual 2022 Year In Hate and Extremism report. The report charged that Moms for Liberty can be "spotted at school board meetings across the country wearing shirts and carrying signs that declare, We do NOT CO-PARENT with the GOVERNMENT."

Justice told Fox News at the time that the SPLCs "extremist" label was "absolutely absurd."

A day later, Justice teamed up with Ramaswamy at a Moms for Liberty event in Brentwood, New Hampshire.

Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that he was "proud to be the first GOP presidential candidate to sign the Moms for Liberty pledge" and that he was "privileged to join my favorite hate group and extremist group."

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is joined by Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice, left, at a town hall discussion in Brentwood, New Hampshire, on June 8, 2023.

Justice said the summit's mission is to "unify, educate and empower parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government."

Activists and potential school board candidates from across the country will receive training over the weekend. According to the group's website, some of the workshops cover topics such as "Protecting Kids from Gender Ideology," and "Comprehensive Sex Education: Sex Ed or Sexualization."

The Moms for Liberty summit in heavily blue Philadelphia triggered sparked weeks-long protests ahead of their gathering and drew plenty of criticism from elected officials.

As the summit got underway, the Democratic National Committee charged that "Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy are celebrating the Fourth of July weekend with one of the nations most notorious anti-freedom, history-erasing, book-banning groups."

"While President Biden and Vice President Harris are running to safeguard Americans rights and freedoms, MAGA Republicans are more concerned with catering to right-wing extremists than addressing the real issues that working families face," DNC spokesperson Ammar Moussa argued.

DeSantis, in his speech, pointed to his convincing double-digit gubernatorial re-election victory last November and touted that "in Florida, we have shown what winning looks like. We have beat the left on issue after issue after issue and we were able to deliver the greatest Republican electoral triumph in our states history in November of 2022. This can happen nationally. We will win these battles all across the nation and we will make sure this country, not just the free state of Florida, stands for the rights of parents and for the wellbeing of our children."

The governor showcased his efforts in Florida, including a parental bill of rights, universal education savings accounts "so the money will follow the student and the parent," and enacting curriculum transparency.

He highlighted that "weve launched an initiative to get American civics back in our schools in a very big way. We need to teach kids about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights. We need to teach them what it means to be an American.Were going to do that nationwide to elevate civics as something thats important in American society."

And DeSantis vowed that if elected president, "we will pull the levers that we have available to us to be able to defend the rights of parents."

Haley, in her speech, emphasized that Moms for Liberty are "about freedom."

She argued that "they're not about taking anything away from anyone. They're not about saying that one group deserves something that others don't. They're asking for freedom. Freedom to choose where their children go to school, freedom to know what is being said and taught to their kids in the classroom, freedom to decide how they want to parent and not have school bureaucrats parent."

Fox News James Levinson contributed to this report
Agenda PAC door hangers

In the Marriott in the Center City section of Philadelphia, where Moms for Liberty had booked a room block for its conference, Agenda PAC  the nations sole political action committee that uses aggressive paid communications tactics to hold anti-LGBTQ+ politicians and electoral groups accountable  delivered Please Disturb door hangers.

Representatives from the group reserved a hotel room in the same building where Moms of Liberty had reserved its rooms, the organization said.

At night, activists wandered the hallways of the property and placed hangers on the exterior of all the doors, videos obtained by The Advocate show.

One door sign read, AGENDA PAC Welcomes you to the Gayborhood! with an illustration of two men kissing. Hate has no place in Philly. Get Moms for Liberty out of our city!

The other read, Please disturb. Fascism in progress. Did you know a designated hate group is staying at this hotel?



Moms for Liberty was categorized as an anti-government extremist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center recently. "Moms for Liberty is a far-right organization that engages in anti-student inclusion activities and self-identifies as part of the modern parental rights movement. The group grew out of opposition to public health regulations for COVID-19, opposes LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive school curriculum, and has advocated books bans," SPLC states.

An organizer with Agenda PAC who asked to not be identified tells The Advocate that the action was a success.

It went great, the person said. It actually felt like we were in Ocean's Eleven. We had rented a hotel room and discreetly did the drop around midnight.

They added, We saw a manager with it in hand on the way out.

Last week in Indiana, a chapter of Moms for Liberty released a newsletter that prominently featured a quote by Adolf Hitler. The group first defended the passage before apologizing for using the Nazi leaders words in its messaging.

According to VICE News, Moms for Liberty chapters are associated with extremist groups like the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, sovereign citizen groups, QAnon conspiracy proponents, and Christian nationalists. Several extreme groups and militias allied with Moms for Liberty have joined forces with the parental rights group in recent years, pushing its already radical agenda even further.

If Moms for Liberty thought they would have a quiet weekend, they came to the wrong city, said Tariem Burroughs, the treasurer of Agenda PAC and a queer Philadelphia parent. I am a proud gay man and father, and I am disgusted to see hate groups like M4L interfering in public education. We delivered these door hangers to send a message: your hate is not welcome in Philadelphia, and we will disturb your plot to take over school boards with your radical ideology.

Republican presidential hopefuls, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and former President Donald Trump, spoke at Philadelphias controversial Moms for Liberty summit.

In his remarks at the Marriott in Center City on Friday, DeSantis commended the group for coming under attack by the left, describing it as a sign that we are winning this fight.

In Florida, he pushed to ban instruction about race and sexual identity from classrooms and certain books from school libraries. He also promised to fight the woke as president.

2024 is going to be the year when the parents across the country finally fight back, he said.

In addition, Haley argued against transgender women athletes joining womens teams in sports, an issue that conservatives see as one of the biggest womens issues of our time.

They are literally trying to erase all the progress we have made in all of this time, Haley claimed. We have to fight for our girls.

Trump is expected to speak later Friday afternoon.

Moms for Liberty has established relationships with influential Republican organizations, politicians, and donors to become a significant force in 2024. As of this writing, the group has said it wont endorse any presidential candidates in the primary.

In the past year, the group has grown to include 285 chapters in 45 states, up from three Florida moms opposing COVID-19 mandates in 2021. For his backing of multiple bills the organization supported, Moms for Liberty presented DeSantis with a liberty sword last year.

Moms for Liberty, which held its welcome reception at the Museum of the American Revolution on Thursday, has been the target of protests since arriving in the city of brotherly love.

It is the first time Agenda PAC has launched a nationwide countermove to hate groups like Moms for Liberty that support anti-LGBTQ+ candidates. It is expected that Agenda PAC will announce its list of targeted school board seats in the coming weeks.

Agenda PAC spent five figures on a geo-targeted campaign to slam Moms for Liberty in Center City Philly, reaching an estimated 1.2 million impressions, according to a statement by the organization.

The group's ads, which target Philadelphia near the conference, are intended to raise awareness about the organizations new campaign to affect school board elections nationwide.
VIERA, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - 2023/06/07: A member of Moms for Liberty protests against mandatory face masks for students during the COVID-19 pandemic at a meeting of the Brevard County School Board in Viera. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is for the first time labeling Florida-headquartered Moms for Liberty and 11 other right-wing "parents' rights" groups as anti-government extremist groups in its annual report, released on June 6, 2023. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) (SOPA Images via Getty Images)

Before the Hamilton County, Indiana, chapter of Moms for Liberty achieved national notoriety this month for quoting Adolf Hitler in its newsletter, it was already at war over education in the schools of Indianapolis suburbs.

School board meetings blew up over critical race theory and social emotional learning. A slate of conservative school board candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty faced off last year against a slate opposed to the groups efforts to commandeer the school system. The diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator of Carmel Clay Schools was under attack. Transgender students, or the theoretical threat such students could pose, were suddenly front and center.

It was bad, said Carmella Sparrow, the principal at a charter school in Indianapolis who had moved to suburban Carmel, Indiana, for the public schools but found herself doing battle with Moms for Liberty and its supporters at local school board meetings. They were screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs. You could not conduct any meaningful business.

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The groups reputation for confrontation and controversy is very much intact, but as Moms for Liberty convenes Thursday in Philadelphia, it is doing so not as a small fringe of far-right suburban mothers but as a national conservative powerhouse  precisely because of chapters like Hamilton Countys and their energized members.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-leaning human rights organization, deemed Moms for Liberty an anti-government extremist group this year. But five Republican presidential candidates, including former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, will be addressing its Joyful Warriors National Summit.

Looking forward to seeing all my fellow moms on a mission this Friday at the @Moms4Libertys Joyful Warriors summit, Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and current presidential candidate, wrote on Twitter this week. Nothing will stop us from using the power of our voices to shake up Washington!

The group draws power from its diffusion  275 chapters in 45 states with nearly 115,000 members, it claims  and the social issues that animate it. These include the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues, critical race theory, and school books that it considers pornographic  all of which have captivated the base of the Republican Party.

The vote of the American parent is important, said Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty and former school board member from Indian River County, Florida.

Moms for Liberty almost certainly would not have been formed in January 2021, by three Florida mothers, were it not for the coronavirus pandemic. Disparate parents groups on the right had for years tried to cajole, harangue or even take over school boards, but the pandemic galvanized parental rage  first over school shutdowns, then over mask mandates and finally over curricula that parents could see firsthand through the computer screens their children were glued to.

What COVID did was fast-tracked and expedited the concern about the materials in our childrens education, said Christian Ziegler, chair of the Florida Republican Party, whose wife, Bridget Ziegler, was a Moms for Liberty co-founder. It forced parents to basically become assistant teachers. We all became teacher aides.

Conservatives who flocked to school board meetings in places like Carmel and Franklin, Tennessee, either on their own or under the auspices of local groups like Unify Carmel, soon formed chapters of Moms for Liberty, whose funding sources remain mysterious but seemingly plentiful. As the pandemic receded, issues of race, gender and sexuality rose to the fore among these parents, just as they did in the Republican Party.

Critics of these groups saw their activism as demagoguery, violent threats and opposition to public education masquerading as parental concern. At one meeting of the Carmel Clay Schools board, a conservative protester was arrested after a handgun fell out of his pocket.

Diane Hannah, a Rutgers religion professor and a parent in the school district battling the Hamilton County chapter of Moms for Liberty, said many of the members showing up at school board meetings were not parents of children in the public schools.

The problem is, they have an audience of people who watch Fox News, who read the sensationalist reporting and who dont have kids in the schools, she said, so they believe there are litter boxes for students who identify as cats. They believe that gay kids are bullying straight kids to be gay.

Justice pushed back on that hard, denying any violent intent from her group and accusing opponents of trying to silence conservatives.

Parents came to the schools to express their concern and to try to see what could be done, she said, and instead of the schools listening to the primary caregiver of that child, the person that is responsible for directing the upbringing of the child, they shut them down.

Beyond Ziegler and the Florida GOP, the ties that bind Moms for Liberty, which is ostensibly nonpartisan, to the Republican Party are tight. DeSantis has long been a supporter of the group hatched from his home state, but more moderate Republican voices like Haley and Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, will also be in Philadelphia to lend their support.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the self-funded entrepreneur in the race, already addressed a chapter in New Hampshire this month. He will speak to the national conference Saturday.

The speaking schedule included one Democrat, the anti-vaccine gadfly Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but he backed out Tuesday, citing a family holiday obligation.

The candidates who are going were undeterred by the negative attention the group received when its Hamilton County chapter published a quotation from Hitler in its newsletter: He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.

After initially defending the quote, the chapter was forced to apologize.

We condemn Adolf Hitlers actions and his dark place in human history, Paige Miller, the chapters chair, said in a statement. We should not have quoted him in our newsletter and express our deepest apology.

Miller did not respond to interview requests, but Justice said the swarm of attention only proved how the news media, teachers unions and the liberal establishment were trying to stifle parental voices.

Never in a million years did this mom think she supported Hitler, Justice said. That was maybe naive, but the death threats were getting now  you should see the things people send me. They want to put a bullet in my childrens head because Im a Nazi.

But, she said, the quote pointed to the efforts by the genocidal monsters of history, like Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Hitler, to control their nations youth. She added, This is like a slippery slope here, people. Youve got Joe Biden saying theyre not your children. Theyre all of our children.

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'A monster off the streets': How a dogged detective in an Indigenous woman's slaying led to her killer's sentencing

When the mutilated body of Mavis Kindness Nelson, a Seattle woman who worked at the front desk of a transitional housing center, was found a year ago in a wooded ravine near the University of Washington campus, her family was left with little confidence her killer would be caught.

They knew the statistics surrounding missing and murdered Native American women like Nelson were bleak, particularly in Washington state, where the rate of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women is about four times higher than that of white women.

"I didn't think I was going to be heard then," Ernestine Morning Owl, Nelsons older sister, said this week. "I thought we were going to be alone in all of this."

But an unwavering police investigation led to what advocates raising awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous people say is a remarkable outcome: A suspect  Charles Becker, 33  was arrested in October, pleaded guilty this month and sentenced Friday afternoon to 34 years in prison on charges of first-degree murder, unlawful imprisonment and sexually violating human remains.

The time was based on limited sentencing guidelines because there was no jury trial, but the sexual motivation component could also trigger a review board to impose an additional punishment, authorities said.

Image: Mavis Nelson (Ernestine Morning Owl)

The crisis of Native Americans who disappear and end up killed has gained renewed attention in recent years, and the Justice Department announced this week that it will commit a team of attorneys and coordinators to regions across the West to investigate unsolved cases.

Morning Owl traveled to Seattle, a few hours' drive from her home in Pendleton, Oregon, so that she could attend the sentencing and glimpse at the man who took her sister's life in a manner described as "extreme and disturbing" by prosecutors.

Now, with justice at hand for Nelson, 56, her loved ones want to ensure her death wasn't in vain and other Native families have hope.

"I feel like my sister's voice is speaking through me," Morning Owl said.

Finding the killer

Those who knew Nelson, who had a studio apartment in Seattle but was an enrolled citizen of the Yakama Nation in Washington state, said they had no idea why anyone would want to hurt her. A perpetually smiling woman, they said, she went by the nickname Boots because as a girl, she loved dancing to the Nancy Sinatra song, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin.'"

"I used to think she was so beautiful. But not just beautiful, but so kind and sweet," said Roxanne White, Nelson's friend and founder of a grassroots group in Washington state that advocates on behalf of missing and murdered Indigenous people. "She left a lasting impression with a lot of people."

But the way she was killed belied that warmhearted spirit.

According to charging documents, Seattle police responded to a 911 call and found three trash bags strewn about a ravine and trail below an elevated roadway. It appeared they had been thrown from the road, with one of the bags rupturing on impact. Inside, investigators made a grisly discovery: One bag had organs and flesh; another, dismembered arms and legs; and the third, a head and a torso.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death a homicide by multiple sharp-force wounds. Nelson was believed to have been dead for almost two weeks, although the remains were at the site for about 24 hours. Investigators said they also found synthetic rubber gloves and an unpackaged condom.

Morning Owl said a hummingbird tattoo on her sister's arm helped investigators confirm the victim was Nelson, who at that point had been reported missing to Seattle police.

The case's lead investigator, Seattle Police Det. Josh Rurey, then determined that Nelson had been involved in a domestic violence altercation about a month prior in the neighboring city of Auburn, where local police records also indicated that she said she would take a rideshare back home to Seattle. Morning Owl said that incident involved a boyfriend.

Seattle police later obtained a search warrant of Nelson's home and found empty beer cans, which were examined for fingerprints, according to the charging documents.

Rurey said he had never previously led a homicide investigation involving a Native American victim, but this case stood out to him for the gruesomeness.

With the help of other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, he set out to chase each potential lead. He obtained Nelson's cellphone records and noticed the same number coming up multiple times on the night she had taken the rideshare home. The number, which did not belong to the boyfriend, no longer contacted Nelson after that night.

Rurey submitted a search warrant for the phone number. When the results came back, he had a name: Charles Becker.

Ernestine Morning Owl. (Kari Rowe for NBC News)

Piecing the puzzle together

Becker was already known to law enforcement.

His DNA was in state and federal databases after his arrest in the 2015 death of his 4-month-old son, who was found asphyxiated in the family's apartment after choking on a plastic garment bag, according to Whitman County prosecutors.

The death was ruled accidental, but Becker was charged with second-degree manslaughter and found guilty in 2016. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison  the maximum term given since he had no prior felony convictions, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported.

At his sentencing, the judge rebuked him: "I'm surprised your other children survived as long as they did. It's just outrageous, shocking and sickening."

DNA would prove to be a crucial component in Nelson's case.

A forensics examination of the synthetic rubber gloves found at the crime scene came back with a match to Becker's DNA, Rurey said. In addition, he said, the fingerprints on the empty beer cans collected from Nelson's apartment also matched him.

"I was onto Charles Becker fairly early in this case, but I had to keep an open mind," Rurey said. "Everything kept coming back to him."

Armed with the evidence, investigators took Becker in for questioning in early October. Rurey said Becker was read his Miranda rights and he agreed to be interviewed.

It was during that nine-hour interrogation, Rurey said, when Becker provided firsthand knowledge of details and events that only someone who participated in the crime would have known.

Becker said he knew Nelson and claimed they had a consensual sexual relationship, and admitted to having been with her on the night she died, according to the charging documents.

Rurey said he provided multiple, changing stories about how she died, even suggesting that another person was involved in her death. He then said Nelson's corpse was stored in a bedroom closet, and that he and another person would engage in necrophilia before disposing of her body because it became too degraded.

During the interrogation, Becker claimed he didn't dismember Nelson's body but assisted someone else in doing so, the charging documents say.

Rurey said there isn't any evidence that currently indicates a second person was involved. He said he hopes to interview Becker further to better understand how he came to know Nelson, although it appears they may have worked at the same transitional housing center at one point and had common acquaintances.

Morning Owl believes her sister was friendly with Becker and on the night of the domestic violence incident, she may have reached out to him for support.

"Unfortunately, that kindness was manipulated," Rurey said. "Becker even made the comment, something along the lines of, 'She was too nice.'"

Justice at hand

White, Nelson's longtime friend, said she met Nelson when they lived on the Yakama Reservation about a decade ago. White had been going through personal issues, and Nelson gave her a warm meal and a place to rest.

"We're all happy and grateful that they caught the person," White said. "I hope that he gets the heaviest hand of justice, whatever it is."

The majority of families whom White advocates for don't always receive the same resolute police work, she said. The lack of urgency is exacerbated by an undercount in cases, with Indigenous women misclassified as white or Hispanic; law enforcement often failing to note tribal affiliations in paperwork; and Native communities generally mistrustful of police amid pervasive cases of sexual violence and human trafficking.

While Rurey had not previously worked on a case of an Indigenous victim, he was conscious to tread carefully with Nelson's family and tribe. He traveled to the Yakama Reservation personally in October to deliver the news of Becker's arrest and discuss the case with them.

Morning Owl said how Rurey built a bridge throughout the process was important and necessary.

"Josh has been really good," she said. "He's a super good detective."

Rurey attended Becker's sentencing. He said solving the case was necessary, both in giving Nelson's family solace and also stopping a person who could have killed again.

"We definitely feel like we took a monster off the streets," Rurey said.

Ernestine Morning Owl's impact statement. (Kari Rowe for NBC News)

For Becker's sentencing, Morning Owl wrote a victim impact statement explaining how the loss of her sister has devastated the family. Becker was the type of person whom Nelson would help and befriend, she said, and he betrayed her kindness.

"He took from the world a woman who cared for the wellbeing of those who suffered in their lives," she wrote to the judge. "She showed compassion to those whose lives were impacted by circumstances that had them down and out in need of help. She was there for them."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
a small hexagonal sensor on the surface of the moon

A spider web-like network of earthquake stations is aiming for the moon.

Australian company Fleet Space received funding to develop its Seismic Payload for Interplanetary Discovery, Exploration and Research, or SPIDER, to detect seismic quakes on the moon in the future. The early-stage $4 million AUS ($2.65 million USD) contract is not for an imminent landing mission, but for technology development. The eventual goal is to bring a trio of seismic monitors to the moon for one lunar "day" (14 days on Earth) to help locate valuable resources below the lunar surface.

SPIDER aims to record moonquakes continuously for up to 14 days and will launch "aboard a commercial lander" that has not been selected yet. The test of compact geophysical equipment will be useful not only for the moon, but also for remote environments on Earth or Mars "We are explorers with a mission to revolutionize mineral exploration from Earth to the moon and Mars," the company wrote in a statement.

Related: Moonquakes rattle the moon as it shrinks like a raisin

Fleet Space CEO Matthew Pearson stated that the Australian Space Agency funding will be key to helping his country support the NASA-led Artemis Accords moon program.

"We are poised to be the first Australian technology to touch down on the surface of the moon, supporting humanity's efforts towards [lunar exploration] and aligning with NASA's Artemis program, with a future vision of Martian exploration supporting the hunt for life beyond our planet," Pearson said in a statement.

Australia was one of the first signatories of the Artemis Accords, a NASA framework for moon exploration as well as an effort to establish international peaceful norms for space exploration. (The addition of India and Ecuador in recent weeks brought the number of participating nations to 27.)

NASA aims to bring humans to the moon's south pole in 2025 or 2026 with the Artemis 3 mission, and has funded numerous robotic payloads under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program that may see its first mission touch down as soon as this year. The moon-circling Artemis 2 has a crew in training, and a launch date of November 2024.

Fleet is funded under the Australian government's $40 million AUS ($26.45 million USD) "moon to Mars initiative" aiming to help countries get ready for moon exploration. It's similar to NASA's CLPS or Canada's Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP), to name a couple of Artemis signatories.

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Other recent news by Fleet includes raising $50 million AUS ($33 million USD) in a Series C fundraising round, building out an ExoSphere set of satellites to scan for minerals in Earth orbit, and signing with Australia's Defense Space Command for a demonstrator satellite communications system.

The first lunar seismometers were deployed by the Apollo program astronauts between 1969 and 1972 during several of the program's six successful landing missions. All remaining functional seismometers were turned off in 1977 to save money, despite having a modest yearly cost of $1 million ($5 million in 2023 dollars), according to the New York Times.
Smoke from Canadian wildfires is still wafting south. Conditions for some are expected to improve soon

More than 100 million people are under air quality alerts Friday morning from Wisconsin to Vermont and down to North Carolina as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to waft south, though conditions are expected to improve slowly into the holiday weekend.

Storms Thursday brought some relief from the smoke in parts of the Midwest, and more rain there Friday should provide more. But smoke may dissipate less quickly in the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic, where Fridays storms will be more isolated.

Air quality is expected to improve in the short term as a combination of thunderstorm activity and dispersion of smoke will ultimately result in improving air quality conditions for much of the country heading into the weekend, the National Weather Service said.

More than 500 active wildfires raging across Canada have tanked the air quality across parts of that country and the United States. As of early Friday, Toronto topped a list of the worlds major cities with the worst air quality, followed by Washington, DC, according to IQAir.

Detroit, which topped the same list on Thursday evening, ranked fourth early Friday, while New York City was sixth, the website showed.

On Friday, the United States worst air quality is expected to span from Michigan to Ohio and into the Mid-Atlantic, including Washington, DC.

The air in those areas is expected to be rated a level 3 of 6 unhealthy for sensitive groups or a level 4 of 6 unhealthy on the US Air Quality Index developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Current air quality ratings can be found on AirNow.gov, a partnership of agencies including the EPA.

Unhealthy for sensitive groups typically includes the elderly, young children, those with certain chronic illnesses and outdoor workers.

In New York, a statewide air quality health advisory will remain in effect through Friday, urging residents to take necessary preventative measures  like masking  to stay safe outdoors, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday. With ground-level smoke more visible and air quality continuing to reach unhealthy levels in many parts of the state, we encourage New Yorkers to take precautions to protect their health, she said.

The western and central parts of New York along with the eastern Lake Ontario region are forecast Friday to reach the unhealthy air quality threshold, the governors office said. Other areas in the state could see air rated in the less severe unhealthy for sensitive groups category.

Air quality in New York is at unhealthy levels Thursday due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. - Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

An air quality advisory for New York City was extended until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, city officials said, adding that they do not believe the air quality alert will remain in effect through the weekend.

As of Friday afternoon, officials said they dont anticipate air quality issues hindering Tuesdays fireworks shows but warn that that assessment could change as air quality can only be forecast a day in advance.

Canada Day fireworks in Montreal canceled

Canadas Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia provinces had some of that nations worst air quality Thursday night, according to IQAir.

The impacts of the fires have prompted Canadian officials to cancel Canada Day fireworks in Montreal scheduled for Saturday, though other festivities are planned.

While forecasters werent sure about Saturdays air quality, the cancellation decision was in solidarity, said Stephane Guertin, president of Tandem Communications, the event organizer.

I am just being compassionate to what is going on right now. So, that is why we are canceling it. It is a question of what is going on in the fires and what is in the air right now, Guertin told CNN. There is something bad happening now in the north of Quebec, so we are all together in this. So, its been canceled. We are not going to put something more in the air.

The Toronto skyline is covered by smoke Wednesday at the CN Tower. - Arif Balkan/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record, with scientists warning such intense blazes are becoming more common as the planet warms. Smoke from the flames can travel thousands of miles, putting millions more people in harms way.

Wildfire smoke is particularly dangerous because it contains particulate matter, or PM2.5, a tiny but dangerous pollutant. When inhaled, it can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It comes from sources including the combustion of fossil fuels, dust storms and wildfires. The particulate matter has been linked to health problems including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.

CNNs Michelle Watson and Raja Razek contributed to this report.

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Deana Byrd. (Vanderburgh County Jail)

A mother found her three children unconscious after their babysitter allegedly taught them how to snort pills at her house in Evansville, Indiana.

On Wednesday, it was reported that 24-year-old Deana Byrd offered the children  aged 15, eight, and nine  pills and showed them how to snort lines using a rolled up Ramen noodle cup lid.

According to a probable cause affidavit, which lists the charges against the babysitter, Jessica Nervig arrived at Ms Byrds house around 5pm to pick her children up. She told police that Byrd was sitting on the porch, seeming impaired.

Ms Nervig said she became nervous because she didnt hear her kids inside and rushed into the house to find them. She discovered her 15-year-old daughter was unconscious on Ms Byrds bed, while her sons were unresponsive on the couch.

Although they regained consciousness shortly after, Ms Nervig noted the boys could barely stand and were falling all over the place.

When her daughter awoke in hospital, she told investigating officers Ms Byrd had offered them pills such as Adderall, Klonopin, and Lyrics at around midnight on Wednesday.

She said Byrd showed her how to break open the orange pill capsules and make lines with them to snort, the affidavit read. The 15-year-old said Byrd showed them how to snort the pills using a rolled up Ramen noodle cup lid.

She also said she recalled puking at one point as well as seeing her brothers falling, after the drugs took effect.

Ms Byrd denied the allegations during an interview with police officers, and said she was watching TV and talking to the children from 8.30pm on Tuesday night until 11am the following morning.

Byrd said the eight-year-old, who she calls a**hole, woke up a couple of times to talk to her, according to the affidavit.

She admitted it was possible the 15-year-old had found her pills. All the controlled substances had been prescribed to people other than Ms Byrd.

She has been charged with three counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, drug possession, and theft.

Her bail is set at $20,000 and she has reportedly been ordered not to contact the three children.
Mother Killed In Front Of Kids By Ex-Boyfriend In Spite Of Restraining Order: Police

A California mother was stabbed to death in front of her children by her ex-boyfriend, whom she had filed a restraining order against, police said.

Officers found 30-year-old Eleni Tavau unresponsive, but still alive, in her home on Sunday with multiple stabbing injuries, the Salinas Police Department said in a news release. Two of her children, both toddlers, were nearby at the time, police said.

Tavau was taken to the hospital in grave condition, where she died from her injuries.

Eleni Tavau.

Eleni Tavau.

Police arrested her ex-boyfriend and the father of her children, Rodrigo Bravo, 32, on suspicion of felony child endangerment, violation of probation and violation of a domestic violence restraining order. He turned himself in to authorities less than three hours after Tavau was stabbed, police said.

The Monterey District Attorneys Office didnt answer questions from HuffPost, but online court records showed that Bravo had entered a plea of not guilty.

Brian Johnson, a spokesperson for the Salinas Police Department, told local news outlet KSBW that Bravo stabbed Tavau in front of her children.

And he basically did it in front of them or in the area of the kids, so thatll be one of the charges  because the kids were present, [the] felony [would be] child endangerment, Johnson said.

Tavaus brother Alex Carr told KSBW that when he spoke to his sister hours before her death, she told him she was planning on leaving her boyfriend to move in with him in Reno, Nevada.

She started telling me how he started getting abusive, verbally, mentally and then physical, and she made it seem like, just didnt want anything to do with him, Carr said.

On Facebook, Tavaus father mourned his daughter in several posts honoring her legacy. He shared a screenshot of a post she made in December in which she said that she had had enough of Bravo after previously putting her goals aside to support him.

I may now proceed with my goals, she wrote at the time.

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Related...
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning speaks at a regular press conference in Beijing, China, June 29, 2023. [Photo/Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

China urges the U.S. to stop making irresponsible comments and honor its commitments with concrete actions, a Chinese spokesperson said on Thursday.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the remarks in response to a media report. According to the report, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a recent interview that it is no secret that there are differences between the U.S. and China. The U.S. will continue to stand for its interests, stand up for its values and continue to do things and say things that China doesn't like.

Mao said China is dissatisfied with the comments made by Secretary Blinken.

She said the U.S. pursues a misconceived China policy which stems from a misguided China perception, seeks to block, contain and suppress China and has been attacking and smearing China's image to interfere in China's internal affairs.

What the U.S. has said and done violates the basic norms governing international relations. China has every reason to firmly oppose that, said the spokesperson.

"I would like to stress again that mutual respect is the basic principle for countries dealing with each other and an essential ingredient for China and the U.S. to find the right way to get along," Mao said, adding that China urges the U.S. to stop making irresponsible comments and honor its commitments with concrete actions.
A mom looked back to check on her son; now hes dead along with another driver, GSP says

A Georgia mother faces multiple charges after a crash killed her 2-year-old son and another woman.

Georgia State Patrol and the Bulloch County Sheriffs Office arrested Amanda Craven, 28, on Wednesday for the May 11 crash in Statesboro.

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

Craven was driving on Zettwell Road at Ja Hart Road when investigators say she took her eyes off the road to check on her son.

That caused Craven to crash into Jennifer Jenkins and her car driving on the opposite side of the road, according to troopers. Jenkins, 53, died from her injuries. Cravens son died days later at the hospital.

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Investigators later determined that Craven was driving under the influence at the time of the crash.

On Wednesday, officials booked her on two counts of homicide by vehicle in the first degree, reckless driving, driving on the wrong side of the roadway and DUI less safe and DUI child endangerment.

There were also charges for Craven and her son not wearing seatbelts.

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As Mexican town mourns slain anti-gang leader, brother warns community would take up arms again

Olivia Mora cries over the casket of her brother Hipolito Mora during his wake at his home in La Ruana, Mexico, Friday, June 30, 2023. Hipolito Mora, the leader of an armed civilian movement that once drove a drug cartel out of the western state of Michoacan, was killed Thursday on a street in his hometown. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

LA RUANA, Mexico (AP)  As people mourned the slain leader of an armed civilian defense movement, his younger brother warned Friday that he and others who fought with Hipolito Mora would take up arms again if the government does not provide swift justice.

Mora, a beloved lime grower-turned-vigilante leader, inspires loyalty in the rural west of Michoacan state. And much as they did when he led an uprising a decade ago, residents feel abandoned by the government to the whims of multiple criminal organizations battling over the territory.

If the governor does nothing to get us justice in the next few days and get these (gangsters) out of here, were going to call on the people; were going to take up arms, Guadalupe Mora Chavez, the slain leader's younger brother, said. He said many people had called him offering their support and ready to join the fight again.

There has to be justice, Mora Chavez said. If the government doesn't do it, we are going to do it.

The Michoacan state prosecutors office said Mora was killed Thursday when unidentified gunmen cut off his SUV and his bodyguards pickup truck on a street in La Ruana, his hometown. The assailants opened fire, riddling Moras vehicle with bullets, and then set it on fire, the prosecutors' office said.

Three other men, believed to be members of his security detail, were also killed. Prosecutors said one of the four bodies matched Moras description.

Mora was one of the last surviving leaders of Michoacans armed vigilante movement, in which farmers and ranchers banded together to expel the Knights Templar cartel from the state in 2013 and 2014.

In more recent years, Mora unsuccessfully ran for congress and governor. He continued speaking out about the violent gangs and went back to tending his lime orchards.

His younger brother blamed another homegrown cartel terrorizing the area for Mora's killing. The cartel that is here, the Viagras, were the ones who killed him, Mora Chavez said.

Mora Chavez said he saw armed men driving around La Ruana earlier Thursday and called his brother to warn him. He said his brother told him he was aware.

Mora Chavez, who lives beside a local military base for Mexican army and National Guard troops, said that after seeing armed men in town, he climbed onto his roof to look over a base wall. There was no one inside.

The soldiers had left the base early Thursday and did not arrive at the scene until after the attack, which lasted nearly an hour, he alleged. He does not think it was coincidence.

They left in agreement with them (the attackers) so that they could come him and kill them, Mora Chavez alleged. The townspeople threw buckets of water to put out (the fire) and (the troops) didn't arrive.

The security forces at the base in La Ruana fought to keep the hyper-violent Jalisco New Generation cartel from entering but did nothing against the homegrown Viagras as they extorted locals and taxed everything from tortillas to soft drinks and beer, suffocating local business, the grieving brother alleged.

Mora Chavez said people should remember his brother as a leader who fought for his people, but unfortunately, this government didnt support him. It was against him.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denied the military was in any way involved in Moras death.

Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla had asked Mora to leave La Ruana for his own safety, Lopez Obrador said the governor had told him.

Meanwhile, in the state capital, Morelia, another person who fought alongside Mora read Friday from what he said was a posthumous message from the slain leader.

I said it many times, I knew this day would come," David Cevallos said as he read the words that he said Mora composed at some point before his death. "I said it, I am going to die fighting.

The message also addressed those in power, telling government leaders to focus on the citizens before your campaigns and your pockets.

Don't let my death be in vain, and to my family, my friends, my loyal followers, do what you have to do so that the fight that I started continues being on behalf of a just cause for citizens, Mora wrote.

Back in La Ruana, small knots of people, perhaps 50 in all, gathered quietly on the dirt road outside the home where Moras coffin lay, surrounded by candles and religious imagery.

Many of the mourners  some of whom participated alongside Mora in the 2013 uprising  spoke on condition of anonymity, citing their fear of the drug cartel gunmen who they say still lurk in the area. Mora's brother lamented fear had kept more people from showing up to pay their respects.

One relative drew a long sigh when asked if the yearslong struggle to throw out the cartels was worth it. No, she said, I think it wasnt. Were worse off now than we were.

Lopez Obrador said Moras killing was very regrettable. But he also said that violence in Michoacan state had antecedents. The president then embarked on one of his preferred harangues about how former President Felipe Calderon launched the failed war on drugs from the very state of Michoacan, something Lopez Obrador blames for the violence that continues to plague Mexico today.

Asked during his daily news briefing Friday to comment on Mora's killing, Lopez Obrador said, That is a remnant of the violence that the government sponsored and allowed.

A relative of Mora's who also requested anonymity fearing reprisals brushed off the president's assurance that Mora had been warned he was in danger. This is his town. His lime orchards are here, he was watching them, the relative said. Of course he had to come back. How wouldnt he?

Mora's brother accused the governor of being in bed with the Viagras. Those who govern here are supporting organized crime, he said.

At the spot a short distance away from where Mora died, there was nothing left but a charred patch of dirt street, traces of a tire, someone's eyeglasses and broken glass. The windows of a house facing the street were completely shot up.

There was no visible presence of the National Guard, soldiers or police.

A witness to Thursdays attack who requested anonymity out of fear said the attack had been an ambush. The witness said that while under attack, Mora got out of his armored SUV and returned fire. After he was killed, the attackers set fire to his vehicle and started shouting in celebration.

A video showed gunmen firing from inside a white truck with what appeared to be wood slat sides around its bed. A number of shots from a large caliber gun thunder, followed by rapid fire from a machine gun.

Others in the town felt bereft and unprotected following Moras death.

(Mora) answered for the people, he fought, a retired lime packer said as he and his wife had lunch at a local restaurant. Now who is going to look after us?

___

Fernanda Pesce contributed; Christopher Sherman and Maria Verza contributed from Mexico City.
Indian Land, S.C., mortgage lender Movement Mortgage has agreed to pay $23.7 million to settle allegations of false claims submissions involving federal mortgage programs, authorities said.

Federal prosecutors said Thursday their investigation was triggered by a whistleblowers lawsuit from two former Movement Mortgage workers. They will receive $4 million of the settlement.

The whistleblowers accused the company of underwriting loans for people whose income and other requirements did not meet standards for the Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Affairs loan programs, said attorney Nelson Thomas. Hes a founding partner of the law firm which handled the whistleblowers case, Thomas and Solomon LLP of Rochester, New York.

The alleged conduct dated back to July 2008, and included a period of rapid expansion for the company, Carla Freedman, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York, said in a news release. Movement Mortgage underwrote loans across the country, including in upstate New York.

Mortgage Movement admitted it certified a material percentage of loans that did not meet FHA mortgage insurance and VA home loan guarantee requirements despite inaccurately representing that the loans complied with the requirements, Freedman said.

The company also acknowledged that the agencies would not have insured or guaranteed the loans except for its submission of false certifications, Freedman said.

Todays settlement holds Movement Mortgage accountable for its past violations, Freedman said, while acknowledging that it has taken steps to strengthen its internal controls to ensure future compliance with FHA and VA requirements.

In a statement to The Charlotte Observer, Mortgage Movement said, The US Attorney noted that we took significant measures to stop the practices, both before and after being notified of the United States investigation, and that the settlement is not an admission of any legal liability.

The relevant loans, some dating back 15 years, make up less than a half percent of our total federal loans originated during this time frame, the company said. We believe we have addressed these problems and agreed to the settlement so we can move on and continue to focus on our mission.

Companies like Movement Mortgage that have the authority to originate and underwrite mortgages insured by the FHA or guaranteed by the VA can approve loans without having the government first review them, according to Freedman.

Thats why whistleblowers are so crucial, Thomas said. How is the government going to know that the person lied (in the) application?

Movement was more cooperative and transparent than a lot of other lenders were with the government, Thomas added.

About Movement Mortgage

The company was founded in 2008 by former Carolina Panthers tight end Casey Crawford.

The company has more than 4,500 workers and has an annual loan volume of $30 billion, according to its website. Movement Mortgage also said it has over 775 offices in 49 states.

Its non-profit Movement Foundation has funded a network of charter schools in Charlotte as well as affordable housing and health care initiatives.
Midway through Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, a movie janked up with enough digital effects to rival the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, Harrison Ford gets on a boat. Its a nice, contemplative scene on a diving vessel, sailing to Athens and piloted by Antonio Banderas. Indys traveling, uneasily, with his goddaughter, Helena, played by generously showcased Phoebe Waller-Bridge, chasing after the Dial of Destiny, which the Nazis are likewise chasing to give this movie a reason for being.

Indy reflects on whats in his heart regarding his failing marriage, and who he has lost. The star relaxes into this moment. Ford was 79 when he filmed Dial of Destiny  hes 80 now  and he finesses it just so: with gravitas, banked emotion, glancing heartbreak. Before you know it, youve forgotten how not-special the first hour of Dial of Destiny was. The movie takes a breath, and the second halfs a little better. And that, friends, is what a movie star does for a living.

And just before that unexpectedly effective transition scene on the boat? What do we get as a lead-in? The map! The beloved old-school, on-screen itinerary update, showing where Indys been and where hes going. The Indiana Jones franchise has always loved its map dissolves, that charming remnant of prestige studio pictures but also of the cheaper, grungier, cliffhanging serials Steven Spielberg and George Lucas watched as young boys dreaming of whips, ray guns and plunder.

Dial of Destiny marks the fifth and probable final Indiana Jones movie with Ford front and center. Its also the first one  and you can tell, right away  not directed by Spielberg.

Most of Dial of Destiny takes place in 1969. We meet Indy living humbly, doggedly, alone in New York City on the brink of retirement from his post at Hunter College. Indy and Marion, estranged for a while now, we learn, teeter around the edges of their divorce paperwork, still unsigned.

The screenplay (with four credited writers) patiently grinds through explanations of what Indy calls the ancient hunk of gears everyones after. The gears belong to the Antikythera, both miraculously interlocking halves of it; its the potential world-changing artifact invented by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes, imagined by Dial of Destiny to be a predictor of fissures in time.

The Nazis we meet in the World War II prologue, led by Mads Mikkelsen as the insinuating chief weasel Jurgen Voller, want that dial to re-wage the war theyre about to lose. All this is in the trailer. The movie feels like a two-and-a-half-hour trailer for a better, two-hour version of itself.

In the early WWII scenes, a digitally de-aged Ford and his comrade in archaeology Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) fight for their lives atop a hurtling train. Here is an example of all the latest technology money can buy, but with an enormous caveat. Youre watching a magically younger Harrison Ford, looking a lot more convincing than, say, a young Robert De Niro in The Irishman, but the minute Indy opens his mouth, its the sound of a grizzled 79-year-old actor dubbing his former self.

The movies full of almost-good scenes, such as the tuk-tuk chase in Tangier (not helped by chatbot-level wisecracks) or an artifact auction wherein Indy wields his whip against his newfound adversaries. One quadrant of the new films target audience is being catered to, directly, with the presence of teenage sidekick Teddy, played by Ethann Isidore. You need a kid, obviously, just so Ford can ask at least once: Wheres the kid?

The action doesnt really give you a lift this time around, because were in an effects realm of the overwhelmingly digital, not the reassuringly practical, no matter how far-flung the productions location filming (Scotland, Morocco, Sicily). Its so easy for action scenes to slip from incredible, meaning ridiculous but cool, to not credible, meaning not believable and not especially effective. At his cleverest, Spielberg delighted in a blend of old-school and new-school trickery in the earlier Indy movies; Dial of Destiny director James Mangold blends various tactics, too, but to lesser effect. CGI makes anything possible, but does not make everything advisable. Or fun.

I did like the leap into pure sci-fi hokum at the climax, about which Ill keep mum. Indys most endearing trait remains his automatic reset to grumbly skepticism with each new movie, even after hes seen God melt some Nazis, Thuggees performing heart removal and aliens tangling with Cate Blanchett in Crystal Skull. Dumb as that movie was, Crystal Skull had that terrific motorcycle chase across a college campus, as sharply staged and crisply edited an action scene as Spielberg ever put together. I wish any five minutes of Dial of Destiny achieved the same craftsmanship.

Many will enjoy the new film well enough, for the payoff of seeing Ford, the fedora, the bullwhip and the John Williams Raiders march theme played one more time. At this point in the life of this ol archaeologist, Indys theme song has become not just a sound, but practically a sight to behold  even in a movie that isnt.



'INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY'

2 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: PG-13 (for sequences of violence and action, language and smoking)

Running time: 2:34

How to watch: in theaters


Jonathan Capehart

In "Defending Pride," a new special set to air on the final day of Pride month, out MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart will talk with leaders and celebrities about ongoing efforts to defend LGBTQ+ rights.

Today, MSNBC announced the special and revealed key guests Chasten Buttigieg, out actors Raven-Symone and Juliana Joel, president of the Human Rights Campaign Kelley Robinson, and drag artist Marti Gould Cummings.

In a release, the network shared quotes from these guests' discussions with Capehart, whose weekend shows are staples of MSNBC programming.

On the importance of queer visibility in media, Raven's Home star Raven-Symone said, "If we dont show all kinds of people, then were not doing our job.

In another conversation, Chasten Buttigieg referenced LGBTQ+ book-banning efforts by conservatives, stating, "You're limiting who is going to see themselves reflected in the stories that you read. And then you're also limiting the possibility of creating a more empathetic and compassionate classroom full of students who might be able to see their place in the world a little bit differently."

"You're really sort of limiting opportunities for folks to be bigger thinkers, more compassionate, more understanding, more empathetic, more loving," he continued.

Asked about the importance of queer visibility, Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson told Capehart, "It's so, so, so important. I mean, right now it's not only the bad legislation that we're seeing, but everywhere that we go to feel safe is being targeted."

"I mean, I've heard stories of children's hospitals being threatened with bomb threats," she added, "Targets getting bomb threats because of their allyship with the LGBTQ+ community. They are launching a campaign of fear and violence, and the only way to combat that is with love and visibility."

Other featured guests include Oklahoma Rep. Mauree Turner and Colorado Rep. Brianna Titone.

The full special will air Friday, June 30, on MSNBC at 11pm ET and is available for streaming on Peacock.
How much is too much? Kentucky Power set to raise rates again in Eastern Kentucky | Opinion

In an all too familiar statement, Kentucky Power has filed a comprehensive rate review with the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC). They are requesting to institute changes to increase revenue by 13.6 percent.

The Notice of General Adjustment of Existing Rates shows a proposed 18.3 percent increase in residential service rates and an 8.6 percent industrial general service increase to go into effect in early 2024. Thus, the burden of the revenue request would weigh heavily on residential ratepayers. According to Kentucky Powers records, this would be thirty-five dollars per month for the average residential ratepayer.

Some reasons noted by Kentucky Power for the rate increase are declining population, decreased load, increased costs due to weather events, and to securitize improvements to the Big Sandy plant. Additional information on the proposed rate hike can be found online at https://www.kentuckypower.com/company/about/rates/.

If all goes as carefully crafted by Kentucky Power, this rate increase will no doubt have a negative impact on the budgets of many individuals, families, and businesses in eastern Kentucky. According to the state dashboard, which reflects data on this topic, ratepayers in eastern Kentucky already pay the highest rates in the state.

The following is a response I received from Kentucky Power on the rising cost of electricity, A significant portion of our expenses are fixed costs that do not vary depending on the amount of electricity sold. When we lose customers, fixed costs are spread over fewer remaining customers, causing the price of electricity to increase. The consistent loss of ratepayers, currently at 11,400 lost since 2008, as referenced by Kentucky Power, has frequently been cited as a justification to raise rates.

In 2020 Kentucky Power requested a rate hike that went into effect in 2021, resulting in the following, as quoted from the PSC press release on the matter, For residential customers, the PSC is authorizing a $17.50 monthly customer charge, an increase from $14.00, and an energy charge of .11032 per kWh, the average bill increases $18.59, or 15.46 percent. This was the third billing increase for ratepayers in a five-year period. The increases may have been higher if ratepayers had remained silent.

In addition, adjustments to bills are based on the cost of fuel. According to the PSC, The Fuel Adjustment Clause (FAC) is a mechanism that permits jurisdictional utilities to regularly adjust the price of electricity to reflect fluctuations in the cost of fuel, or purchased power, used to supply that electricity. The FAC has hit many ratepayers especially hard when fuel prices spike.

Unfortunately, the cost of electricity is just too high for many ratepayers. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the percentage of Kentucky customers that had their power disconnected increased by 228 percent in 2022. The national increase was 29 percent. In the first ten months of 2022, over 52,000 Kentucky customers were shut off. In addition, the average electric bill went up 17 percent in the Commonwealth.

Another 18.3 percent increase could equal disaster for many members of our 606 family served by Kentucky Power, especially our vulnerable populations - the elderly, sick, young, and low-income. Electrical service should be affordable and accessible to all, as opposed to only those with a certain degree of financial resources.

There are programs such as the Low Income Home Assistance Program (LIHEAP) that provide federally funded assistance to reduce the costs associated with home energy bills for those who qualify. The funds are not unlimited though. Most ratepayers in eastern Kentucky do not qualify for assistance.

Make no mistake about it, I genuinely appreciate the hard work of those who work at Kentucky Power and the services they provide. At the same time, I am concerned with fairness to ratepayers in eastern Kentucky.

Backed by provisions in KRS Chapter 278, the mission of the Kentucky Public Service Commission is to foster the provision of safe and reliable service at a reasonable price to the customers of jurisdictional utilities while providing for the financial stability of those utilities by setting fair and just rates, and supporting their operational competence by overseeing regulated activities. With Kentucky Power being a monopoly authorized to provide essential services, it is crucial for citizens to partake in the process of the proposed rate increase.

To file public comments in this rate case, include the case number (Case No. 2023-00159 Kentucky Power) within the subject line of your email to the Public Information Officer at psc.info@ky.gov and provide your full name and place of residence in the body of the e-mail; or send via mail to Public Service Commission, 211 Sower Boulevard, Post Office Box 615, Frankfort, KY 40602.

Also, public meetings will be held on this issue. The details will be released soon by the PSC. I will be attending to learn, listen, and express my concerns. I invite others to do the same.

Your voice matters. Please let the PSC know your position on the Kentucky Power proposed rate hike.

Suzanne Barker Griffith is a retired teacher and local community activist in Ashland.
A Philadelphia towing company has been accused of running an organized criminal enterprise which purchased millions of dollars worth of stolen catalytic converters from thieves to sell at a profit, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said TDI Towing purchased $8.2 million dollars worth of stolen catalytic converters from cutters, a name given to the thieves who steal them, and later resold them with an 8% markup.

The converters, which reduce pollution and toxic gas from a vehicles emissions, contain valuable precious metals such as palladium, platinum and rhodium.

Towing company by day, criminal enterprise by night, prosecutors say

In addition to the company, 11 people have been charged in connection with what prosecutors said was the stealing, buying and reselling of more than 25,000 stolen catalytic converters, in addition to other charges, according to Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub.

A nearly yearlong investigation found TDI Towing had been in the business of buying catalytic converters for at least three years, and during that time they bought an average of 175 catalytic converters a week, or 27,300 during those three years, the Bucks County District Attorneys Office said in a statement. TDI employees paid an average of $300 per catalytic converter, the DAs office said.

While TDI Towing advertised itself as operating during daytime hours, people would arrive all throughout the night to sell catalytic converters, according to the DAs statement. The tow yard was so popular with thieves that in one case, a catalytic converter was sawed off from a stolen vehicle right outside the yard.

The investigation revealed that TDI Towing was controlled and operated by Michael Williams, 52, of Philadelphia, the DA said, adding that most of those involved in the alleged organized crime enterprise had a family connection to Williams.

A mugshot of Michael Williams, 52, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. - Bucks County District Attorney

Prosecutors characterized Williams as the king pin of the operation, paying the so-called cutters for stolen catalytic converters. According to prosecutors, at the height of the criminal operation, TDI Towing was spending approximately $10,000 each night on stolen catalytic converters.

Williams is facing several charges related to buying, possessing, and selling stolen catalytic converters, in addition to organized crime and corruption charges, according to court documents.

Williams is accused of purchasing stolen catalytic converters from cutters from 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic caused supply-chain issues, resulting in a market price increase for the precious materials inside, ranging from $1,000 to $7,000 per ounce, Weintraub said.

Williams defense attorney, Bruce Castor Jr., told CNN his client believes hes been treated fairly by Bucks County authorities and will await the outcome of the criminal proceedings. Castor declined to comment further.

According to the DAs office, the company, Williams, six TDI employees and four cutters were charged. Except for one person who is still at large, those charged were arraigned on June 22 and 23. The DAs office said no one has been required to enter a plea ahead of preliminary hearings which are scheduled to begin July 5.

Close-up of catalytic converter in car exhaust system. - Byrd Setta/Adobe Stock

The arrests and charges were the result of thousands of hours of video surveillance, six controlled sales and the collaboration of 27 law enforcement agencies, according to the DAs office. The initial investigation began in Bucks County after law enforcement began looking into the string of stolen catalytic converters there. The investigation led them to TDI Towing in Philadelphia and to other Pennsylvania counties, the DAs office told CNN.

Criminals dont care about borders but when we work together, were not restricted by borders either, Weintraub said during a news conference.

Surge in catalytic converter theft

Catalytic converter theft has skyrocketed around the country in recent years, according to a report from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. In May, the report found there were more than 64,000 catalytic converter thefts in 2022, based on insurance claims data.

It can cost between $1,000 and $3,500 or more to replace a stolen catalytic converter, depending on the type of vehicle, the bureau said.

CNNs Laura Ly contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
A series of explosions rang out in Berdyansk

A series of explosions occurred in the Russian-occupied city of Berdyansk, Zaporizhzhya Oblast on the morning of June 30, Telegram channel Berdyansk Today reported.

Over 10 explosions were allegedly heard and columns of smoke were seen rising over the city. Video of the smoke soon began to circulate on social media.

Read also: Berdyansk rocked by strong explosion overnight

Blasts were also reported in the villages of Osypenko and Novovasylivka.

"Berdyansk residents heard both missiles and air defenses (operating)," Berdyansk Today reported.

 

Citing reports from locals, Berdyansk Today stated that an explosion that occurred a few kilometers from the airport caused "a strong recoil on the ground, so the hit could have been somewhere there."

The Armed Forces of Ukraine later confirmed in a post on Facebook that the Ukrainian military had carried out a strike on the airfield in the suburbs of Berdyansk.

According to the General Staff, the Ukrainian military is continuing its offensive toward Melitopol and Berdyansk. The day before, the Defense Ministry said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had advanced 1.3 kilometers on the Berdyansk axis.

Read also: Blasts rock occupied Myrne, Tokmak in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, Melitopol mayor says

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A deluge of mass distribution emails has once again caused havoc for thousands of soldiers.

On June 26, an Army message of unexplained origin spawned a chain reaction of reply all emails, which soldiers bemoaned on social media.

One recipient, an anonymous special agent with the Armys Criminal Investigation Division, was so flummoxed by the message that they jokingly responded, This is Special Agent [...] from Army CID, anyone who hit reply all is now under investigation. You murdered my inbox.

Alas, public affairs for Army CID declined to comment about the veracity of the senders response.

Just remember folks, wrote a user on a popular Army subreddit, Theres the stupidity of replying all to a thread with a distro with 30K people on it. Then theres the stupidity of replying all to point out your frustration about everyone replying all.

The number of soldiers on the distribution list could not be confirmed, nor could the Army comment on where the email originated or its subject matter.

The Army is aware of the recent emails sent to a distribution list, which went to a subset of the Armys email users, according to Jason Waggoner, an Army spokesperson. The issue has been resolved and the Army is taking steps to prevent similar incidents in the future.

One Reddit poster suggested the original email came from a colonel serving in the Pentagon  a chaplain. However, this information could not be verified.

This man blessed tens of thousands of soldiers, promote ahead of peers, wrote one Redditor in response to the rumor.

The most recent incident, which Military Times Observation Post internally insists on calling the reply-all-pocalypse, hearkens back to a mere six months ago when another reply-all tsunami swept up the Army in a sea of angry emails and, of course, memes.

In February, an Army captain requesting to be left off a distribution list inadvertently replied all to more than 13,000 soldiers with the FA57 Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program. What followed, according to an anonymous op-ed penned by an officer for Military.com was utter chaos as hundreds more began replying all, kicking off a cataclysm of stop replying all emails. Eventually, this lent itself to the proliferation of memes, Rickrolling, and our personal favorite, fake Nigerian prince scams.

While office workers around the world know the scourge of being ccd onto a message chain so profoundly tedious itd make you want to claw your eyes out every time your phone buzzes with a New Email notification, many soldiers found joy in the reply-all battle that ensued.

I love when this happens, wrote one commenter on Reddit. Makes me feel slightly better about my dumpster fire working situation to be like at least I didnt email the entire f----- army today.
'There was mutual respect': Bradshaw Automotive purchased by Anderson Automotive this year

It was a tale of two families when Bradshaw Automotive  the longtime owner of Upstate car dealerships  was purchased early this year by Anderson Automotive Group.

Michael Anderson outside of the Fred Anderson Honda dealership in Greenville. Anderson Automotive Group purchased dealerships in Greenville and Greenville from the Bradshaw family in January.

The Bradshaw family: William Bradshaw bought his first dealership in Greer in 1979. Over the next 43 years, he grew it to 450 employees, five dealerships and two collision repair centers. A son, Wes, and a son-in-law, William Donovan, ran the business with him.

The Anderson family: The third-generation, family-owned and -operated company began in 1955 as a small-town Chevrolet dealer and expanded to 950 employees at eight dealerships in Asheville, Raleigh and Sanford in North Carolina and in Charleston.

After the sale in January, Bradshaw issued a statement praising the company that would take over his dealerships.

Anderson Automotive shares our dedication to giving back to the community, said Bradshaw, whose family is known for its philanthropy. Their commitment to our employees and focus on customer service ensures that customers will continue to experience unparalleled service.

The Bradshaws helped make the transition go smoothly, says Michael Anderson, President and CEO of Anderson Automotive Group, based in Raleigh.

There was mutual respect. Mr. Bradshaw spoke about us in high regard. And we spoke about him in high regard. It was a good fit, Anderson says.

They let us get involved early, introduce ourselves to their people and start developing relationships and answering questions. The Bradshaws were honest and straightforward. Good businesspeople and great people.

Purchasing five dealerships in one market allowed Anderson Automotive to grow quickly and efficiently, Anderson says.

We like markets the size of Asheville, Charleston, Greenville  thriving mid-markets, he says.

The staff is also a plus. Anderson says some employees have been with the company for 30 or 40 years.

The Bradshaws cared about their people. It shows in the culture. Thats a huge advantage. The type of people we want were already in place.

Assimilating so many new employees at one time was a large undertaking, Anderson says.

But in a way, it was easy to change things over to our company. The Bradshaws ran the dealerships on a day-to-day basis. They did not have general managers, he says.

We put in our own general managers from Day 1. We were able to promote people from within our business and give them opportunities. We were able to make an impact quickly and express who we are and how we do things and make quick changes.

Michael Anderson, President and CEO of the family-owned Anderson Automotive Group, with the staff at Fred Anderson Honda.

Customers may not notice changes, especially since many employees have stayed.

Most dealerships will get a facelift. A new Mazda dealership is under construction. The Honda dealership will be remodeled. And the Acura dealership will ultimately get a new building.

The names of the dealerships have changed; they are named after Michael Andersons father, Fred.

Greenville is now home to Fred Anderson Honda, 330 Woodruff Road; Fred Anderson Acura, 2450 Laurens Road; Fred Anderson Infiniti, 2600 Laurens Road; Fred Anderson Mazda, 2512 Laurens Road. Fred Anderson Cadillac and Fred Anderson Chevrolet Buick GMC, 14000 E Wade Hampton Blvd., are in Greer.

Every dealership has a service department. The two collision centers are in Greenville and Greer.

Michaels father set the tone and structure for the company.

Fred Anderson joined the trade at a young age, following in the footsteps of his dad, the companys founder, W.H. Andy Anderson. After growing the business regionally, Fred found greater success when he moved to Raleigh in 1987.

Michael, whose first job was washing cars at the age of 13, says he always knew there was an opportunity to make a career in the family business. After college and a couple of years working for other dealerships, he returned to the company and started his trek up the ladder. He earned an MBA in 2012 from a program designed for family businesses.

Most family businesses struggle because of family issues, not business issues, Michael says. We've worked to manage that. We created a board of directors. We created bylaws. We structured the company so that there would be accountability and good governance.

Michaels sisters serve on the board; a brother-in-law manages IT and marketing. A cousin is the director of parts and service. His father is still involved, but not day-to-day.

He is a mentor. He weighs in on the strategic decisions, Michael says.

The executive team manages the 13 general managers of the dealerships. But Anderson makes time for them, too.

I represent the family and the leadership. They need to hear from me. I need to know people and build relationships, he says.

Anderson doesnt want the company to be perceived as a big business.

Thats part of being a family business. You maintain that identity and stay close to your people.

Its rewarding to create opportunities for the 1,400 people who work for Anderson Automotive, he says.

The general manager who runs the Honda store in Greenville came to work for us when he was 21. He came to work on a moped because he couldnt afford a car, Anderson says.

Now, he's running a substantial business with 150 employees. Creating stories like that means a lot. I take pride in that.

One of the business core values is respect for all people, he says.

I dont think I'm going to change the world by selling cars, but I do think I have an impact on the lives and families of the 1,400 people who work for me.

The Anderson team also plans to uphold its pledge to give back to the Upstate. We do that in all the communities where we have businesses, Anderson says.

The company often works with charities that help women and children in need, as well as causes focused on mental health.

Drive for a Difference is the companys annual giving campaign before the holidays. One month, employees choose the cause. The next month, customers choose the cause by voting. A collective gift is made in December.

The Bradshaws knew that we were serious about helping the community, Anderson says. They felt like that was part of their legacy. They wanted that to continue.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Anderson Automotive purchases Bradshaw Automotive: What to know
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Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene, Chairman of the People's Party of Mongolia and Mongolian Prime Minister, on Thursday in Beijing.

The two sides exchanged views on strengthening inter-party exchanges and cooperation, advancing China-Mongolia cooperation in various fields, and promoting regional peaceful development.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson named Justice Clarence Thomas as the worst thing that affirmative action created as he condemned the Supreme Court decision striking down racial preferences in college admissions.

Johnson excoriated Thomas in an MSNBC interview Thursday and called the decision an unfortunate footnote in this right-wing Supreme Courts legacy.

The worst thing about affirmative action is that it created a Clarence Thomas, who benefited from the program and now is in a position where hes going to deny many young African American talented individuals an opportunity, Johnson said.

Historically, the problem has been that the institutions of higher learning, corporations, companies, and other entities have denied well qualified African Americans and other individuals access in terms of admissions, employment because of their race.

Thomas grew up in a poor Black community in Georgia and won a spot in Yales elite law school. He wrote after graduating that he felt racial preference had robbed my achievement of its true value.

The worst thing about affirmative action is that it created a Clarence Thomas.



 NAACP President Derrick Johnson hammers the U.S. Supreme Court effectively ending affirmative action in college admissions pic.twitter.com/jECJBqrxZ5  The Recount (@therecount) June 29, 2023

Johnson, in a separate statement, declared that hate-inspired people in power wont be allowed to turn back the clock.

Race plays an undeniable role in shaping the identities of and quality of life for Black Americans, he said. In a society still scarred by the wounds of racial disparities, the Supreme Court has displayed a willful ignorance of our reality.

Related...
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announces Blue Origins selection on May 19 to build a human landing system for future Artemis missions to the moon. (NASA Photo / Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will visit Jeff Bezos Blue Origin space venture in Kent, Wash., to get a firsthand look at the Seattle areas growing space industry.

Next Wednesdays Washington State Space Summit will feature a trade show with nearly 20 regional space companies, plus a panel discussion that will focus on the economic opportunities opening up on the space frontier over the coming decade. The summit will be hosted by Sen. Maria Cantwell, the Washington Democrat who chairs the Senate committee that oversees NASA  and who played a leading role in passage of the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act last year.

Washingtons space industry has doubled in just four years, a success story our whole state can be proud of, Cantwell said today in a news release announcing the summit. More than 13,000 Washingtonians work in this growing industry, which will help send the first American woman to the moon and the first person to Mars.

Cantwell said Nelson will see for himself what new investments in the state can deliver for the nation  from high-rate composite aircraft manufacturing to building new space stations. Boeing has been pioneering aerospace applications for carbon composites at its aircraft manufacturing facilities in the Seattle area, while Blue Origin and Marysville, Wash.-based Gravitics are among regional companies working on commercial space stations.

Nelson said that NASAs work with Washington commercial space companies and academic institutions demonstrates the power of investing in America.

He took particular note of the role of Washington state companies in facilitating NASAs Artemis program, which aims to land astronauts on the moon in the 2025-2026 time frame.

NASA partnerships in the state are creating good-paying American jobs and fueling groundbreaking research and technology that will help propel humans back to the moon and onward to Mars, Nelson, a former U.S. senator, said in todays news release. With the help of Washingtonians, NASA will make new and more exciting discoveries while also inspiring the Artemis Generation  the next generation of scientists, engineers, technicians and explorers.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson chats with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., prior to a Senate committee hearing focusing on NASAs budget proposal and priorities in May. (NASA Photo / Bill Ingalls)

Blue Origin is the Seattle areas largest space company, based on employment estimates, and its projects range from the New Shepard suborbital launch system to the orbital-class New Glenn rocket and the Orbital Reef space station concept. In May, NASA awarded $3.4 billion to a team led by Blue Origin to build a crew-capable lunar landing system that would provide an alternative to SpaceXs Starship lander.

Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith will join Cantwell and Nelson for the summits panel discussion. Other industry representatives include Stoke Space CEO Andy Lapsa, Starfish Space co-founder Austin Link and Gravitics CEO Colin Doughan. Nikki Malcolm, CEO and executive director of the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance, will also be there.

The STEM education community will be represented by Jihui Yang, vice dean of the University of Washingtons College of Engineering; Mary Rezac, dean of Washington State Universitys Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture; and Kareen Morales Vincent, an aerospace manufacturing and maintenance instructor at the Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center. In addition, Washington state students have also been invited to sit in at the summit.

Stoke Space, Starfish Space, Gravitics, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., MagniX and Off Planet Research will be among the exhibitors at the trade show.

More from GeekWire:
A nationwide UPS strike is 'imminent.' Here's what to know, and how it could impact you

A UPS driver reaches to blow his truck's horn in support as fellow UPS union members hold a practice strike outside Worldport, the largest sorting and logistics facility in America Wednesday morning in Louisville, Ky. The Teamsters Local 89 represents around 10,000 members in Louisville. Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien called for practice pickets nationwide after claiming UPS presented an "appalling economic counterproposal" to the Teamsters during national negotiations for a new labor contract. June 28, 2023

After two months of negotiations with UPS, the Teamsters, who represent rank-and-file employees, say a nationwide strike is "imminent."

The union walked away from the bargaining table Wednesday and demanded that UPS present its "last, best and final offer no later than June 30."

On June 16, Teamsters passed a strike authorization vote with 97% of union members voting in favor of a strike action, which will allow the union to strike if they deem necessary.

The labor contract between UPS and Teamsters will expire at midnight on July 31 if an agreement is not reached between the two sides.

According to the Teamsters website, most strikes occur only after the expiration of a contract, not during the contract term; however, "strikes can be called at any time if extremely unsafe working conditions occur or if the company has participated in an 'unfair labor practice.' But these types of noneconomic strikes are very rare."

It is unclear if the Teamsters will strike prior to the expiration of the contract.

Heres what you need to know about the negotiations between UPS and the Teamsters and what a strike could mean.

Who are the Teamsters?

The Teamsters are an international union that represents freight drivers and warehouse workers. It was established in 1903 to improve working conditions and the operations of the trade they represent.

In Louisville, Teamsters Local 89 represents roughly 10,000 UPS workers at UPS Worldport, the largest UPS Air hub globally, and at the Louisville Centennial Hub.

What are the Teamsters' demands?

According to Teamsters Local 89, the demands from the union include no more excessive overtime, no more two-tier pay, higher part-time pay, more full-time jobs, job security for feeders and package drivers and video camera and harassment protection.

What will a Teamsters strike mean?

Customers could see slower delivery of goods to households, higher prices on products and shipping, and it would result in yet another breakdown of the modern supply chain, according to the Associated Press.

The last time the UPS Teamsters had a strike was in 1997. The 15-day strike by 185,000 workers largely crippled the world's largest package delivery company, according to a New York Times article from August 1997.

If UPS were to strike today, it would be the largest single-employer strike in U.S. history. In the metro area, about 10,000 UPS workers could potentially strike, and the UPS Airlines pilots who are members of Independent Pilots Association union would support the picket line, just like in 1997.

"If we were forced to go on strike, because UPS didn't want to give these members what they deserve, it would cripple the company, this hub is crucial to UPS and the flow of their business," Avral Thompson, the president of Teamsters Local 89, said Wednesday.

Stephen Piercey, the communications director for Teamsters Local 89 said, if the Teamsters were to enact a legal strike, it would be a 24/7 operation at Worldport, and the roughly 10,000 local union members would rotate picket line shifts.

UPS supports the national and global economy. The company estimates that it "transports more than 3% of global GDP and about 6% of U.S. GDP daily," including everything from home-ordered Amazon packages to business shipments.

Metro area workers at Worldport handle roughly 416,000 packages per hour, most packages are touched twice by a person.

Nationwide, the company employees close to 500,000 workers with roughly 65,000 being UPS drivers. Teamsters represent more than 340,000 of these workers.

Where are UPS and Teamsters in negotiations?

After reaching tentative consensus on 55 non-economic issues, the Teamsters are now focused on economic negotiations including pay, benefits and other financial elements. UPS presented a counterproposal to the Teamsters' initial economic contract on June 22.

Since the presentation of the counterproposal, the Teamsters have taken more direct actions to move UPS at the bargaining table. O'Brien called for nationwide practice pickets, and on Wednesday, Teamsters Local 89 held a practice picket.

"A practice picket is one of the most powerful or aggressive job actions you can take, and it is typically ... the last thing you do prior to a potential legal strike," Piercey said.

The two entities have been in ongoing negotiations since April, and UPS says it remains confident that a new contract will be reached.

"We are making steady progress in our negotiations with the Teamsters on a wide array of issues," said Laura Holmberg, a spokesperson for UPS. "Even so, we are not surprised to see some union members making their voices heard.

"We plan and expect to reach agreement on a new contract before the end of July that is a win for our employees, our company and customers and the union," Holmberg said.

But the Teamsters don't seem to agree.

"The largest single-employer strike in American history now appears inevitable," OBrien said in a tweet.

What happens if an agreement is not reached, and the contract expires?

The union has three choices:

Accept management proposals

Extend the contract expiration date with the joint agreement of the union and management

Declare an impasse and UPS is free to implement its final offer and the union can strike

Contact reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @oliviamevans_

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Everything you need to know about the 'imminent' UPS strike
PETOSKEY, Mich.A public lecture featuring transnational pipeline and energy company Enbridge last week escalated to the assault of an Anishinaabe water protector and allies protesting the controversial Line 5 project.

The event, hosted by North Central Michigan College (NCMC) in Petoskey on June 22, featured an Enbridge representative speaking about the Great Lakes Tunnel Project that would house a section of Line 5 under the Straits of Mackinac.

During the lecture, the environmental protestors entered the NCMC Library Center and were confronted physically by several people attending the luncheon event.

Two videos obtained by Native News Online show protesters being shoved around and grabbed by the shirt collars as they tried to unfurl an Enbridge Out! No Line 5 banner.

In one video, NCMC President David Roland Finley is seen struggling with a protester as he tries to rip the banner away from the protester's hands.

In a second video, provided by the NCMC, former Emmet County Commissioner Charlie MacInnis can be also seen trying to take the banner away and physically pushing protestors back toward the hallway.

MacInnis is seen later in the video grabbing protestor John Woodward by the arms and holding him back while another bystander grabs Woodward under the arms and physically shoves him into the hallway.

Woodward, 30, stated he was there as a concerned citizen and wanted to demand Enbridge cease usage of Line 5 and stop the violence against Indigenous communities.

We showed up to practice our First Amendment rights. And people didnt like what we were saying, Woodward told Native News Online.

One of the Indigenous water protectors who identified himself as Kyle, said that as soon as he and other protestors entered the Library Conference Center and unfurled the banner, they were immediately met with physical altercation.

Hands were put on my neck, I was shoved and tossed into the hallway, said Kyle, a resident of Kalamazoo who asked to keep his identity anonymous for fear of his safety.

He told Native News that his prescription glasses were also ripped off his face and thrown to the ground. Im not sure who it was, because everything happened so quickly  I feared for my safety, Kyle said. He suffered a bruise and fingernail marks on his arm, as well as a bloody gash to his forehead.

I attended to partake in Indigenous responsibilities to help protect the water, Kyle said, Enbridge uses these events to lie to the public about the risks of the pipeline.

The event was part of NCMCs Luncheon Lecture Series which regularly brings in professionals from different fields to discuss their work. A flier for the event states the luncheon was an overview of the planned Great Lakes Tunnel Project beneath the Straits of Mackinac presented by Paul Meneghini, director of community engagement for Enbridge for its Great Lakes region.

Woodward refuted claims from Enbridge that its pipelines provide "an alternative source of safe energy," instead stating the disastrous environmental and social consequences of continued pipeline construction, citing disasters such as the Kalamazoo eruption in 2010.

The event held by NCMC was intended to increase support for the construction of a tunnel that was mandated to cease by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, Woodward said. Enbridge still has yet to comply with the governor's order and continues to operate the seventy-year-old Line 5 under the straits.

Line 5 transports crude oil and natural gas liquids across the U.S.-Canada border and under culturally significant Straits of Mackinac for the Anishinaabek. The project has been met with opposition for years. Recently, 51 different tribes, including all 12 federally recognized sovereign nations in Michigan signed a submitted report to the United Nations Human Rights Council. This report, dated April 4, claims that the Government of Canada is violating the human rights of Indigenous peoples through its continuous support for Line 5.

Carol Laene, vice president of marketing and strategy for NCMC, wrote in a statement, the college personnel and attendees worked to minimize the disruption by removing the banners and notifying Petoskey Public Safety, who arrived promptly on the scene. Also on the scene was a member of the Tribal Police who assisted Petoskey Public Safety.

Laenen went on to write that the protestors were trespassers at the public college, who had not registered for the event.

Woodward stated that he did register for the event and was put on a waiting list. A copy of the registration confirmation was sent by Woodward to Native News Online.

Laenen wrote the video shared with Native News Online by NCMC clearly demonstrates there was no evidence of physical violence leading to anyone being bloody and bruised.

Additional videos and photos obtained by Native News Online show something different, including bruises and cuts that protesters received from the altercation.

Michigan Attorney Holly Bird, descendant of the San Felipe Pueblo Perepucha/ Yaqui/ Apache nations, is legally advising Kyle and other water protectors and protesters who were at the event.

You often dont hear of public colleges that do not allow citizens to exercise their First Amendment rights, Bird said, especially with the vigor in which they (NCMC) did it, I am shocked and appalled.

Petoskey Police Department reportedly were on the scene after the scuffle and issued a trespassing warning to the protesters shortly after they left the campus.

The Petoskey Public Safety did not respond to requests for comment by Native News Online.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The story has been updated to correct the number of videos obtained by Native News Online, which was sent two copies of the same video from different sources.

About the Author: "Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at editor@nativenewsonline.net. "

Contact: news@nativenewsonline.net
Nicaraguan migrant who died in ICE custody had been recommended for release, advocates say

A Nicaraguan migrant who died in immigration custody last week had been recommended for release by an ICE panel last year but remained detained until his death, advocates said Thursday.

Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra, 42, died Friday at a hospital in Jena, Louisiana, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement this week. The preliminary cause of death was reported by hospital medical officials to be cardiac arrest, it said.

An ICE panel recommended that Rocha-Cuadra be released in November, a coalition of immigration advocacy groups said in a statement Thursday. The statement said officials at the detention center declined to release him.

From left, Frank Rocha-Cuadra, and his brother Ernesto Rocha-Cuadra. Ernesto died while in ICE custody last week. (Courtesy Rocha-Cuadra family)

They kept telling him he was going to be released soon, Frank Rocha-Cuadra, who is Ernestos brother and a U.S. citizen, said in the statement from the Shut Down NOLA ICE Coalition. He was guaranteed he was coming home. Our message is, we want to know what happened to our Ernesto and we will not stop until we find out.

The coalition said that according to Rocha-Cuadras attorneys, he had been petitioning for his freedom and was scheduled for an immigration hearing July 9.

Ernestos untimely death raises many questions that should be investigated at the highest levels. This immigrant prison must be shut down, Rose Murray, a senior direct services attorney with the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in the statement.

The statement said that while the details of Rocha-Cuadras death were still unclear, his attorneys say that he never mentioned having heart-related medical issues and that his medical records did not indicate heart-related medical issues, either.

ICE did not immediately respond to request for comment on Rocha-Cuadras case and whether he had been recommended for release.

Immigration authorities apprehended Rocha-Cuadra after he crossed the border near Andrade, California, on April 17, 2022, according to ICE. On April 26, 2022, he was transferred to ICE custody as he waited for his immigration case to play out.

ICE incarcerated Ernesto for over a year during which he suffered extensive time in solitary confinement, the immigration advocacy groups statement said.

Rocha-Cuadras immigration counsel, Homero Lopez, the legal director of the group Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, said, His tragic death after being caged by ICE for more than a year is a reminder of how useless and unnecessary the immigration detention system truly is.

The immigration groups said Rocha-Cuadra was the fifth person to have died in ICE custody at the Jena detention center since 2016 and the 11th during the Biden administration.

ICE said in its statement this week that it notified the Department of Homeland Securitys Office of Inspector General, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility and the Nicaraguan Consulate General in Miami of Rocha-Cuadras death.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Protesters awaiting Donald Trump's arrival in New York in April. The red-blue political divide in America is just one symptom of a deep polarization that challenges newspaper columnists and drowns out considered opinions. (Craig Ruttle / Associated Press)

This will be my last column.

Ive been writing on the op-ed page of The Los Angeles Times twice a week since April of 2020, which means more than 150 weeks and more than 300 columns on everything from Donald Trump and Joe Biden to the uses and abuses of American history, the immorality of out-of-control income inequality, the history of telephone hold music, the new scourge of mosquitoes in Southern California and how the U.S. Constitution got broken. Before that, I was the editorial page editor of The Times for 11 years.

Thats a lot of opinions.

It hasnt been an easy time to be writing about the world. Considered opinion is out of vogue. Readers are angry and polarized. Democracy is in jeopardy, extremism is on the rise and a new Cold War is sneaking up on us. Armies are fighting again in Europe and climate change is bearing down. No one has much patience for nuance or for listening to those with whom they disagree. A belligerent certitude rules the day in the United States, especially on the right but also, too often, among progressives.

In the world of journalism, we live in an era of clicks and financial distress. And in the realm of public opinion, those who yell the loudest are rewarded, as you can see every night on the cable news networks. Civility, compromise, tolerance and other fusty concepts from smoother-running days are mocked as forms of surrender.

Democrats and Republicans increasingly see each other as close-minded, dishonest and less intelligent than other Americans, according to a Pew Research Center report last year. Worse, 72% of Republicans see Democrats as a lot or somewhat more immoral than other Americans, up from 47% in 2016. Sixty-three percent of Democrats say the same about Republicans, up from 35%.

Read more: Nicholas Goldberg: The affirmative action calamity brewing at the Supreme Court

About a year after I began writing the column, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni wrote his final regular op-ed essay. He said he regretted being snide too often, and taking easy shots at political adversaries. He feared that columnists contributed to the toxic tenor of American discourse. And that we too often ignored ambivalence and ambiguity.

I took that to heart and tried not to do the same. Not that I didnt spew my share of outrage  about the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, for instance, and about climate change, political hypocrisy and what I see as the wrong-headed and dangerous policies of ultraconservatives in Washington. But I also tried to speak up on behalf of the kind of reasonable cooperation and rational engagement that might help put American democracy back into working order.

That didnt win everybody over. I still received regular hate mail. Hope you get Chinese virus and suffer for lying to people  really do, wrote one reader. (Admittedly, I had just called Trump vindictive" and irresponsible and averse to complex thinking.) And this one: "Keep your mouth shut, kike." And libturd, pathetic, FOS.

But I also got enough thoughtful responses, including from people who disagreed with my positions, to know there are still Americans who value serious discussion of complicated social issues. My faith in people was battered but not broken.

Read more: Nicholas Goldberg: Dont fall for any third-party baloney. It's the last thing we need in 2024

Looking back at my own mistakes, I sometimes didnt take a strong enough stand, failing to come down firmly on one side or the other. Sometimes nuance, ambiguity and calls for civil discourse are necessary; other times they're merely cop-outs.

The columns I most enjoyed writing were the ones in which I sought to address off-the-beaten-path subjects that didnt lend themselves to easy answers, where I tried to listen with an open mind to different points of view before drawing my own conclusions.

Should Boston let a Christian flag fly from its City Hall? Should the Supreme Court be barred from declaring laws unconstitutional? After 22 years in prison, had a South African anti-apartheid fighter who took early release in return for forswearing violence done the right thing?

One subject about which I could not be open-minded was Donald Trump and those who empowered and embraced him. Trump, Trumpism and the threat they pose to the United States are the defining issues of our era.

Read more: Nicholas Goldberg: Giuliani's sordid story just got worse

When Trump first came into office, I wrote in an editorial series, Our Dishonest President, that what was worrisome about the new president was not so much his positions, policies or ideology  but Trump himself.

He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation, I wrote.

Trumps New York indictment for allegedly falsifying business records, his arraignment this month in the federal classified documents case, his two impeachments  and now his terrifying efforts to regain power  confirm that assessment. His incessant lies and his furious efforts to subvert the 2020 election show he is aberrant and uniquely dangerous.

Perhaps my greatest regret about the column is that I didnt write enough about climate change, which experts believe will lead not only to more of the raging storms, droughts, deadly wildfires and heat waves were already getting used to, but also very possibly to famine, mass migration, collapsing economies and war. It is the greatest threat facing the planet, yet I, like others, have written about it only sporadically, and often as if it were just one of many nettlesome issues like taxes, crime or schools. Perhaps I should have written about nothing else.

Read more: Nicholas Goldberg: Is everybody really happy that Dianne Feinstein is back at her desk?

And a final word about the state of journalism: Many newspapers are shrinking and flailing, local news faces an existential crisis, investigative reporting has been cut back, opinion journalism has too often been reduced to name calling  and objective, fair, credible coverage of events is under attack from the right and left.

These are dangerous developments because it is journalists who provide much of the information and context that enable citizens to participate knowledgeably and effectively in a democracy. Let's stand up and support great reporting where it is still being done.

This column has run its course. Its been an honor to write it. I will miss it. As I move on, I continue to wonder what, when or if something will put us back on track as a country. I am not certain we can continue for too much longer down this path of dysfunction and discord.

@nick_goldberg

If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Congressional Republicans "absolutely should" start the impeachment process for President Joe Biden over whistleblower allegations that there was meddling in a government investigation of his son Hunter, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Thursday.

On Fox News show Gutfeld! host Greg Gutfield asked Haley, "Why can't they start impeachment right now?"

"Well, they absolutely should," Haley replied.

A campaign spokesperson followed-up on Friday, saying that Haley wants lawmakers to conduct oversight that could lead to impeachment.

Nikki believes Congress needs to get to the bottom of whether Joe Biden committed crimes or other impeachable offenses since the Justice Department refuses to do it. That process starts with a Congressional oversight investigation, Ken Farnaso said in a statement.

The comments from Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump, came as House Republicans look to question officials from the Justice Department and the IRS on allegations that there was interference in an investigation into Hunter Biden.

The chairs of the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means committees are seeking interviews with over a dozen officials involved in the investigation of tax-related misdemeanor crimes alleged to have been committed by Hunter Biden.

Hunter Biden and Joe Biden at Fort McNair in Washington (Andrew Harnik / AP)

In discussing the IRS whistleblower, Haley said the person was actually legit.

Youre not talking about just some guy that showed up and decided to say something, Haley said.

Gary Shapley, a supervisory special agent with IRS criminal investigations who has worked for the agency since 2009, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in May, and the committee made the transcript available this month.

Among Shapley's allegations is that David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, sought authority to hit Hunter Biden with broader charges in Washington, D.C., and California, but the U.S. attorneys in those districts wouldnt do so.

The Justice Department has denied the allegations. As both the Attorney General and U.S. Attorney David Weiss have said, U.S. Attorney Weiss has full authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges as he deems appropriate. He needs no further approval to do so, said Wyn Hornbuckle, deputy director of the Justice Department Office of Public Affairs.

Shapley also alleged to the committee that as an investigator for the IRS, he obtained messages Hunter Biden sent on the WhatsApp platform, including one that he read demanding payment from a Chinese businessman named Henry Zhao. In the message, Biden appeared to suggest that he was sitting with his father, then the former vice president, saying, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.

President Biden has denied any involvement with the text message, and an attorney for Hunter Biden said Friday that purported screenshots of the text message are not real and contain myriad of issues.

On Thursday, Haley said: All were asking for is fairness. If Trump did something wrong? Fine. Lets vet it. Lets see what happens. Hes got a jury. He can defend himself. If Biden did something wrong, fine, but weve got to vet it. Theyve got to do it.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a GOP presidential contender who has been more critical of Trump, said Friday that he did not yet think Biden needed to be impeached.

While the whistleblower allegations are serious and must be investigated, impeachment should not be an option until the investigation shows corrupt action by the President," he said in a statement. "Impeachment should not be used as a political weapon, but reserved for serious wrongdoing. The facts should determine what action, if any, Congress should take and impeachment should not precede a thorough investigation.

Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two federal misdemeanor crimes of willfully failing to pay federal income taxes, according to a court filing. He also faces a separate felony gun possession charge that is likely to be dismissed if he meets certain conditions, according to court documents.

His plea hearing is scheduled for July 26. Two sources familiar with the plea agreement for the tax violations have said it includes a provision in which the U.S. attorney has agreed to recommend probation.

Republicans have blasted the agreement as a sweetheart deal.

CORRECTION (June 30, 2023, 7:49 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated Haleys remarks on impeachment. She said Republicans should start impeachment proceedings for Biden, not that they should vote to impeach him. It also misstated the date of Haleys remarks. She spoke on Thursday, not Friday.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Niles mulls requiring permits for parades, saying its for public safety; some raise First Amendment concerns

Niles officials will wait for feedback from the American Civil Liberties Union before considering an ordinance that would require people organizing parades, protests and other gatherings for 50 people or more to obtain a permit and provide a security deposit to hold their event.

Some public commenters at the June 27 village board meeting said the requirements in the proposal would would violate the right to assemble and peaceably protest the government as contained in the First Amendment.

Mayor George Alpogianis said the priority behind the measure was public safety.

Our police department is taking a proactive stance on this instead of a reactive stance; our main priority is the safety of our citizens, he said.

The proposed ordinance requires people organizing an event that will garner attendance from 50 people or more to apply for a permit with the Village Manager or other designated official between 150 days and 40 days in advance, depending on the type of event.

The ordinance would require event organizers to show proof of insurance and put down a security deposit ahead of the event to cover the cost of potential damages.

It also states that no person shall unreasonably hamper, impede or interfere with any parade, public assembly or similar activity or its participants and explicitly prohibits driving through such gatherings except for emergency response vehicles.

It exempts neighborhood parades that have been annual traditions since 1955 or earlier.

Trustee Dean Strzelecki said the ordinance was not meant to stop anybody from assembly and was patterned on neighboring Skokies ordinance regulating parades and public gatherings.

We wanted a little bit more control on where people could march to avoid any conflicts, Strzelecki said. The intent is not to stop anybody from marching.

Niles Police Chief Luis Tigera said there was no particular impetus for the department to submit the ordinance to the village board.

People are reading too much into it, he said. Weve been looking at all ordinances as it relates to gatherings, parades and we just wanted to be proactive and do cleanup on language to ensure that were in concert with the Constitution, with the rule of law.

Skokies parade and public gathering ordinance is almost identical to the measure on the table in Niles. The Niles proposal differs from Skokies ordinance in including a ban on indecent shows, which is not included in the Skokie ordinance.

Tigera said the provision around indecent shows had been added to the measure on the recommendation of the village attorney.

That provision, which states it shall be unlawful for any person to present, exhibit, conduct, or take part in any indecent show, theatrical, play, motion picture, exhibition or other form of public amusement or show prompted two public comments from members of Niles Pride, a community group.

The commenters referenced a recent wave of restrictions on books and other media that include LGBTQ content in states like Florida and Tennessee and said they feared LGBTQ-oriented events in Niles could receive a similar label because the ordinance doesnt lay out what defines indecent.

The rest of the ordinance is bad for so many reasons, about stomping on the First Amendment rights, free speech rights, commenter Pam Wolfe said. For the sake of your friends, your family, anyone you happen to know that happens to be queer, table this, rewrite it.

Commenter Stephanie McDaniel said, We want to have freedom of assembly in Niles. I am a firm believer in the Constitution and the freedom of assembly and I would like to know that this board will take great care to protect those rights.

Niles proposed ordinance also contains a provision stating that any public amusement or show of any kind... calculated to cause or promote any riot or disturbance would be unlawful.

Former Niles Ethics Board candidate Lisa Emmett-Stechman urged the board to pass the ordinance, telling trustees to not be swayed by people who disagreed with them and said she hoped the other commenters agreed that there should be nothing naked, nothing disturbing at parades.

You dont want to see me naked, trust me, Wolfe said from the audience.

When trustees reached the ordinance on their June 27 agenda, Strzelecki moved to table the measure and Alpogianis said trustees were waiting to hear back from the ACLU. Tigera later told Pioneer Press he was prepared to listen to any recommendations from the group.
After Niles residents complain of now being billed for garbage, Board knocks about $5 off $53 bill for seniors

After Niles residents trash talked the villages move to have the garbage contractor send residents individual bills for garbage pickup, the Village Board approved a new agreement with the contractor allowing discounts for seniors and people who use 35-gallon garbage cans.

The amendment to the contract with Groot, the garbage contractor, also provides for two- and three-flat buildings to receive one garbage bill rather than two or three separate bills.

According to the application for a senior discount, residents 62 and older who live in single-family homes or townhomes will be eligible for 10% off their garbage bills.

Residents may fill out senior discount applications and send completed forms and proof of age to Village Hall at 1000 Civic Center Drive, according to village information.

After an application for a discount is approved, it may take three to six months for the discount to appear on a bill, per village information.

The village moved to separate the garbage bill from the rest of the property tax bill in its most recent budget, meaning that residents began making direct payments to Groot in May 2023. The quarterly charge is just under $53.

Residents social media venting prompted Mayor George Alpogianis to address the fiasco with the garbage bill and tell residents at the May village board meeting that the village would explore options for discounts and other ways of making billing more proportionate to the amount of garbage residents need taken away.
No, Biden did not admit to treason in event with Indian prime minister | Fact check

President Joe Biden speaks about the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on June 29, 2023.

The claim: Biden admitted to treason

A June 26 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a clip of President Joe Biden saying he "sold a lot of state secrets" as he is seated next to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other officials.

"#JoeBiden Admits to TREASON!" reads the caption of the post. "My Goodness!"

"The post generated over 8,000 likes in less than a week. Similar posts, including ones from former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have amassed hundreds of interactions on Instagram and Twitter.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

Biden didnt admit that he committed treason in a July 23 roundtable event. The context and tone of his remarks make it clear the state secrets comment was a joke, and he later clarified that he was kidding.

Post misrepresents Biden's remarks at the roundtable event

On June 23, Biden held a roundtable event with Modi, senior officials and CEOs of technology companies to discuss ways for India and the U.S. to partner in designing and developing new technologies.

But Biden didnt admit that he committed treason during the event. Rather, the Instagram post cuts off later comments where Biden indicates his state secrets comment was a joke.

As shown in the post, Biden said at the beginning of the event, according to a White House transcript:

Okay. We  I was just thanking the  anyway, I started off without you, and I sold a lot of state secrets and a lot of very important things that we shared.

He goes on to say, Now, all kidding aside  look, were teaming up to design and develop new technologies that are going to transform the lives of our people around the world, according to the transcript and a longer clip of his remarks.

Fact check: Post wrongly compares firearm offenses of Hunter Biden and Kodak Black

The Associated Press reported that Biden made the joke as he, Modi and the other guests were already seated and reporters were beginning to enter the room.

The post comes amid allegations from House Republicans on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability that Bidens involvement in his familys business dealings were potentially improper or a threat to national security.

USA TODAY reached out to the White House and social media users who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The Associated Press, Lead Stories and Factcheck.org also debunked this claim.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post misconstrues Biden's comment about state secrets | Fact check
You are here: World

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Ethiopia hopes for a positive decision on its application to join BRICS member states, Ethiopian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Meles Alem said.

"We expect BRICS will give us a positive response to the request we have made," he said during a media briefing, as quoted by the ENA news agency. The diplomat emphasized that Ethiopia had formally applied to join the alliance.
No charges for Oklahoma sheriff who talked of killing journalists, prosecutor says

FILE - Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond speaks on Feb. 1, 2023, during an interview in Oklahoma City. McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, who was among several county officials caught on tape discussing killing journalists and lynching Black people, won't face criminal charges or be removed from office, Drummond said Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, file) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)  A sheriff in southeast Oklahoma who was among several county officials caught on tape discussing killing journalists and lynching Black people won't face criminal charges or be removed from office, the state's top prosecutor said Friday.

In a letter to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, Attorney General Gentner Drummond said his office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had completed their investigation and found no legal grounds to dismiss McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy.

There are countless examples of incidents from across the country where public officials make inflammatory comments that spark severe condemnation, Drummond wrote. "Oftentimes the offending official resigns in disgrace. Sometimes the outrage fades and the matter is forgotten.

He added: Regardless, there is no provision of law in Oklahoma to throw elected officials out of office merely for saying something offensive.

Drummond said McCurtain County voters will make the final decision on whether Clardy remains in office and suggested Stitt appeal to voters there and perhaps identify someone to run against Clardy.

Clardy and several other county officials sparked outrage after a local newspaper's audio recording captured them complaining about two of the paper's journalists and knowing hit men and where two holes are dug. Stitt quickly called for the resignation of Clardy, sheriff's Capt. Alicia Manning, District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix. Jennings was the only one to resign.

A message left Friday with the McCurtain County Sheriff's Office seeking comment wasn't immediately returned.

Bruce Willingham, the longtime publisher of the McCurtain Gazette-News, said the recording was made March 6 when he left a voice-activated recorder inside the room after a county commissioners meeting because he suspected the group was continuing to conduct county business after the meeting had ended in violation of the states Open Meeting Act. Chris Willingham, a reporter at the paper, is Bruce Willinghams son.

Bruce Willingham said he believes the local officials were upset about stories weve run that cast the sheriffs office in an unfavorable light, including the death of Bobby Barrick, a Broken Bow, Oklahoma, man who died at a hospital in March 2022 after McCurtain County deputies shot him with a stun gun.

With a population of about 31,000 and bordering both Arkansas and Texas, the county has a long history of lawlessness dating back to days before statehood, but in recent years it has become a tourism hotbed, drawing thousands of visitors from the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

___

Follow Sean Murphy on Twitter: @apseanmurphy
No decision yet on supplying ATACMS to Ukraine  CJCS Milley

ATACMS missile launch

While still considering the move, Washington has not yet decided to transfer ATACMS long-range missiles to Ukraine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, said at a press briefing on June 30.

ATACMS, F-16s or anything else... its a constant review process, Voice of America correspondent Jeff Seldin quotes Milley in a Twitter post.

Read also: Germany will not lead fighter jet coalition as it lacks expertise

These things are on the table. There's no decision at this point.

Commenting on Ukraines ongoing counteroffensive, Milley said the operation going slower than many experts anticipated is part of the nature of war.

War on paper and real war are different; that it's going slower than people predicted doesn't surprise me at all, said Milley, adding that a slow and deliberate advance by Ukrainian forces is underway.

Read also: Sweden will train Ukrainian pilots on JAS 39 Gripen jets

Ukraine is fighting for its life...; sure, it goes a little slow but that is part of the nature of war.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States is close to approving the transfer of ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. Officials have stated that the matter is under consideration at the highest level.

Read also: Ukraine to receive first GLSDB missiles no earlier than autumn  Pentagon

Later on, Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder stated that the decision to provide ATACMS missiles to Ukraine has not been made and he is "certainly not aware of any impending decisions regarding ATACMS."

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
Short Round and Indy in Temple of Doom



Could Short Round return to the world of Indiana Jones?

This July, not only will Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny be playing in a theater near you, Harrison Ford will turn 81 years old. Suffice to say, when the actor who brought Indy, Han Solo, and Jack Ryan to life says this is his last time with the hat and fedora, we believe him.

But Indiana Jones is way too popular of a brand to let it just end, right? Well, when posed that question by Total Film, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy admitted that she knows theres an expectation of something coming in the future, but that the company hasnt begun planning it.

Read more

Were in a culture now where I think that [future projects are] an expectation from the audience, Kennedy said. They think, Oh, thats whats going to happen next. Right now, were all just very focused on just allowing this to have its moment and its time and be complete.

And if we go on and do animation, or we carry on with Short Roundwhich certainly with Ke Huy Quan being so popular now coming off of Everything [Everywhere All at Once]and Phoebe [Waller-Bridge], what a wonderful actress she is, Kennedy continued. So I would never sit here and say, Never say never. But its not something that were in the midst of developing at the moment.

So the takeaway here is there are no plans at this moment, but something could happen in the future. Which makes sense. However, what we find most intriguing about this quote is that Kennedy does acknowledge rumors of Indiana Jones moving to animation, and that she at least has heard about or contemplated a Short Round project. Whether or not either happen, or something with Waller-Bridges Helena Shawwhich would be the most direct idea coming out of the new moviewell see. But, for now, Dial of Destiny is closing not just the chapter on Harrison Fords role, but the character brand.





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.

More from Gizmodo

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

Click here to read the full article.
Jennifer Pervis was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer and has been fighting for her life.

Doctors told the mother of five she went into remission in March, but the cancer came back two months later.

Dare to Live: Local mom who beat breast cancer raising awareness abroad

Pervis, of Johnston County, is now awaiting a trip to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for more aggressive treatment.

She said shes fighting Stage 4 cancer to see her oldest child graduate from high school.

Were desperate to get there because Im desperate for, at least, time, Pervis said.

Her family started selling T-shirts and bracelets with the slogan #NoMatterWhat.

Theyre hoping to raise money for her treatment in Texas.

I know that Im going to heaven and Im okay with it, but I just want my children to be OK, Pervis said. They are my everything and I know being a parent is so hard and they think Im hard on them but thats because I want them to be great members of society.

VIDEO: I dont want to live like this: Cancer patient left homeless after losing job
No qualified applicants for Tarrant County elections chief? Applications say otherwise

As Tarrant Countys Election Commission made its hire for an elections administrator June 16, county Judge Tim OHare made one thing clear to the public  the applicants for the job werent qualified.

In terms of truly qualified applicants, thats debatable, OHare said, and he said the three finalists, including an election integrity activist who sued the former elections chief, were the ones who could do the job. None of them elections office experience, though one was an election judge.

But at least seven people with current or past salaried jobs at elections offices applied, and at least one of those candidates withdrew his application after setting up an interview. Another was never contacted for the job by the Election Commission, the five-person body in charge of hiring the new administrator.

The Star-Telegram reviewed all 52 application for elections chief  including online application forms, cover letters, resumes and recommendation letters  obtained through a Texas Public Information Act request.

There was Brian Hill, an elections director in Fayette County, Georgia, who worked various elections roles and at one point oversaw elections databases for the states 159 counties for the Secretary of States Office.

There was Karen Lawrence, a former assistant elections administrator in Tarrant County who had 13 years of experience working as a director of elections in counties across North Carolina.

There was Norma Townsend, who has worked in the elections software and supply field in Michigan, Illinois and Colorado since 2004.

There was a candidate from Nigeria who has worked for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems for 10 years.

The commission instead went with Clint Ludwig, the countys chief deputy clerk, who has no elections experience.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said these four applicants in particular seemed more than qualified to run elections in Tarrant County.

The biggest factor in terms of being able to be an administrator for elections is having some election experience, he said, adding that the best run elections are run by people who know how to run elections.

Some members of the election commission said some applicants withdrew and there were other situations that led others not moving along in the process.

Hill wrote in an email to the Star-Telegram Friday morning that he was contacted for an interview but decided to withdraw after his interview was scheduled. In another email, he wrote that the move would have been big for him.

Thats all, other than that; I wouldve loved the opportunity, Hill wrote.

Townsend said Friday she was contacted for a background check, but never heard anything from Tarrant County about an interview.

The candidate in Nigeria did not return multiple direct messages on Facebook. When reached Thursday evening by a Star-Telegram reporter via phone, Lawrence declined to comment.

A representative for OHare did not answer questions about why he said there werent qualified candidates for the job. The representative instead sent OHares June 16 press release from Ludwigs hire, and did not respond to an additional email.

Factors affecting interviews

Election commission member Allison Campolo wrote in a text to a reporter Thursday afternoon that certain candidates werent selected for the job because they had only overseen small staff sizes, or they were asked to interview but withdrew, or they couldnt work in the country.

Rottinghaus said that a move from a smaller county to someplace like Tarrant County would make sense.

Any experience beats no experience, he said.

Campolo also said she didnt want to select anyone who was very apparently hyper-partisan.

Campolo did not provide details about Hill, Lawrence and the candidate from Nigeria, but she said she put all three of them on her interview list.

In an email late Thursday, commission member and tax-assessor collector Wendy Burgess said interviews were offered to those with elections experience and that many were considered on their individual merits.

Some interview requests were not accepted by the candidates, some did not suit the candidate timeline and some were interviewed, Burgess wrote. She said Ludwig was the best pick for the job.

The commission, in addition to OHare, Campolo and Burgess, is made up of Tarrant GOP chair Rick Barnes and county clerk Mary Louise Nicholson.

Barnes did not return multiple phone calls and texts for comment. Nicholson was out of town, according to a representative from her office.

When Ludwig was chosen as the new administrator, it sparked concern about the selection process for commissioner Alisa Simmons.

While I am committed to ensuring that Mr. Ludwig receives the necessary education, training, and resources to adapt to his new role, I and others are left hoping that his unrelated work experience will adequately prepare him to oversee elections, Simmons wrote in a press release at the time.

Simmons said Friday she had requested a briefing for all the commissioners court on how the selection process worked for the elections administrator.

Other applicants included Texas GOP executive director John Beckmeyer. Another person from election integrity group True the Vote applied, too.

In an email Thursday evening, Beckmeyer wrote he was called in for an interview but decided to withdraw. He did not respond to multiple emails seeking clarification on why he withdrew.

The applicant from True the Vote could not be reached through a direct message on Facebook and could not be reached by phone or email at the True the Votes Houston office.

Elections administrator leaves

The previous elections administrator, Heider Garcia, resigned in a letter dated April 16 that cited a meeting with OHare and their differences in how to run transparent elections.

In that letter, Garcia wrote that his formula to administer a quality transparent election stands on respect and zero politics and that he would not compromise his values.

Since Garcias resignation, top Democratic officials wrote a letter asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether GOP leaders like OHare had undermined minority voting rights. In addition to Garcias resignation, the Democrats cited the creation of Tarrant Countys election integrity unit.

Justice Department officials have said they would meet with the officials about the letter, though a meeting date has not yet been set.

One of the finalists for elections chief, Karen Wiseman, sued Garcia over public records related to the 2021 mayoral and city council races in Fort Worth. The county was ordered to give Wiseman the documents, and her case was dropped the day interviews for the job began.

During this past Novembers midterm elections, Wiseman, who has been associated with a local election integrity group, also left a note in a Fort Worth voters mailbox inquiring about whether they had voted at a center in Stop Six.

Tarrant is one of 90 Texas counties that participates in countywide voting. Registered voters can cast their ballot at any vote center in the county.

Before the process began to hire a new elections chief, OHare told reporters he would not rule out hiring someone who had ever questioned the results of the 2020 Presidential Election.
The Transportation Department prepared for last years Fourth of July by pressing airlines to reduce the thousands of canceled flights that were tormenting passengers during almost every holiday.

For this Independence Day, DOT's Federal Aviation Administration is taking the flak for contributing to chaos in the skies.

The agency, still struggling with a shortage of air traffic controllers more than three years after the start of the pandemic, sought to lessen the logjam by encouraging airlines to fly fewer planes. But even that Band-Aid solution proved no match for days of summer storms that caused thousands of flights to be canceled or delayed flights this week, especially in the New York City area, where the controller shortage is worst.

Airlines and the Biden administration have no quick way to ease the flight disruptions, which are partially driven by the same lingering after-effects of Covid-19 that have plagued other aspects of the U.S. economy since 2020. But theyre trying to get flights back to relative normal ahead of the holiday weekend  and hoping for good weather.



In the past week alone, airlines canceled nearly 8,000 flights, according to flight tracker FlightAware, a mess that emboldened critics of the Biden administration. The number of flights canceled since Saturday exceeds the total for all of March, according to DOT data .

On Monday, as his company faced mounting cancellations far worse than other airlines at its hub in Newark, N.J., United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told employees in a memo that the FAA frankly failed us this weekend. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also weighed in, saying he will use his perch as the top Senate Republican on the committee overseeing airlines to change how the agency staffs its air traffic controllers.

Staffing at FAAs air traffic facilities in NY is at 54 percent, Cruz tweeted . Yet DOT is blaming weather for delays. Nonsense.

Kirby and Cruz were referencing an especially acute lack of air traffic controllers in the nations busiest airspace around New York City, where flight delays and cancellations can quickly ripple across the country. At Newark Liberty International Airport, a major hub for United, more than 40 percent of all flights on Monday were canceled due to bad weather.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday evening that he disagreed with Kirbys assessment that the FAA failed airlines and passengers. But he acknowledged problems in the New York City area.





The staffing levels there are not at the level I want to see there, Buttigieg said on CNN. They don't leave us with a lot of cushion. If you have a few people call in sick or if you have an unusual event, it really spreads the system thin.

And Buttigieg, without explicitly attacking Kirby, tweeted Thursday that with the exception of United, airlines had returned to a more typical cancellation/delay rate. As of Thursday afternoon, United flights accounted for about 84 percent of those canceled across the country, according to FlightAware.

The FAA responded to Kirbys memo by saying we will always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem.

But on Thursday afternoon, the chair of the United Airlines unit of the Air Line Pilots Association issued a broadside blaming United on the current crop of problems, saying it's a "direct result of poor planning" by the airline's executives.

"The company is dragging its feet on taking any proactive measures to mitigate further delays, including on settling a new contract with us," said Garth Thompson, chair of ALPA's master executive council for United.

Airlines and Republicans arent the only ones pointing fingers at the FAA, an agency that hasnt had a Senate-confirmed leader for over a year. In a scathing report released June 23, the DOTs inspector general ripped the agencys air traffic controller staffing as inadequate, and suggested that the FAA has no real plan in place to fix the problem.

All of that combined, the IG says, means that controller staffing presents a risk to the continuity of air traffic operations. It noted that most of the FAAs critical facilities are staffed below what the agency considers an adequate level of staffing  meaning, at least 85 percent of a facilitys target staffing level. At two of the busiest airspace regions  Miami and New York City  staffing levels are at 54 percent and 66 percent respectively, the IG said.

In addition, Covids march through the controller ranks led to two years worth of training pauses, which exacerbated already long training times for new controllers. Those ramifications arent yet fully known, the report said, because training outcomes vary widely, and it can take more than 3 years to train a controller.

Due to these uncertain training outcomes, FAA cannot ensure it will successfully train enough controllers in the short term, the IG wrote.

Buttigieg and the FAA have repeatedly said they plan to hire 1,500 air traffic controllers this year and want Congress to fund 1,800 controller hires next year. (The agency has about 13,300 controllers, the inspector general says.) But fully training controllers takes years, and many drop out.

Filling the shortfall wont be quick, the former head of the air traffic controllers union said.

Theres no short-term fix because hiring and fully training a controller takes three to five years, said former National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Paul Rinaldi. Covid did exacerbate the problem but at the end of the day its not just a Covid issue, its a two decade-long problem. You cant make an air traffic controller overnight.

The shortage ultimately dates back to President Ronald Reagans mass firing and of striking air traffic controllers in 1981, which the FAA replaced with hires who were all eligible to retire around roughly the same time.

The agency has had varying degrees of success at managing the workforce since, an endemic problem that only worsened during the two years of quarantine. Illnesses during the pandemic slowed training even further  and meanwhile, as in many industries, some people decided to retire.

According to the IG, only about 10,600 of the FAAs roughly 13,300 air traffic controllers are fully trained and certified. The rest are either new hires or at an interim stage of training.

According to NATCA officials, the controller workforce was at a 30-year low even before Covid.

The union supports efforts by lawmakers of both parties to use this years FAA reauthorization bill to beef up hiring of air traffic controllers, including having the National Academy of Sciences study how to address the shortfall.

I think Congress is addressing a lot of the issues when it comes to the staffing, Rinaldi said. But he added, The problem is those studies take years.

The FAA and airlines had anticipated this years problems, especially in the New York City region, and earlier this summer instituted a stopgap solution allowing airlines to accommodate the same number of passengers by flying fewer flights with bigger planes. But that stopgap has proven inadequate over the past week, as strong storms pounded the area and snarled flights.

And another busy travel weekend looms, with the Transportation Security Administration projecting that nearly 18 million people will pass through an airport security checkpoint during the next week. The busiest day, Friday, is projected to see 2.82 million passengers, a figure that would exceed pre-pandemic levels.

Virtually any amount of bad weather, especially in the New York or Florida regions, could test the system yet again.

Beyond staffing, the FAAs own equipment is also vulnerable to failures that cause headaches for passengers. Overheating cables at an FAA facility in Virginia led to about two hours of flight delays on Sunday at Washington, D.C., area airports. Though the delays were minimal compared with the mess in New York, theyve contributed to some of the worst performing days for on-time flights since Southwest Airlines holiday meltdown at the end of last year.

Airline staffing also remains an ongoing challenge, despite efforts from carriers to staff up at levels higher than before the pandemic. When flights are delayed or canceled, crews need to be rerouted, and airlines say that more staff are needed to operate flights now than they were pre-pandemic because more reserves are needed to keep operations flowing if employees get sick.

Airlines for America, a trade association representing major airlines, said its members have been hiring aggressively and reducing schedules to reflect todays operational realities including FAAs staffing shortages. The trade group noted that before this weekends challenges, airlines completed more than 99 percent of flights from Memorial Day weekend through June 24.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents United Airlines flight attendants, said in a memo that the airlines internal crew-scheduling line saw wait times of three hours early this week as crews scrambled to cover flights. AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson later tweeted a photo of flight attendants sleeping on cots as evidence of scheduling issues.

The levels of frustration are high and it feels as if there is no solution in sight  especially for those who have been on duty for extended periods of time, the union said in the memo.
Much of North Carolinas 12-week abortion ban will take effect on Saturday, after a federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked just one provision of the law.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles blocked a provision requiring doctors to document in a medical record the existence of a pregnancy in the uterus when prescribing or administering abortion drugs until July 14.

But, Eagles wrote that the laws other provisions challenged by a Planned Parenthood lawsuit  like conflicting language that set a separate 10-week cut off for medication abortion  were addressed by last minute updates passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper (D) Thursday night.

As a result, the bulk of the law will be allowed to take effect July 1. Eagles wrote that she expects an agreement between the parties to extend the restraining order on the medical records provision beyond July 14 to allow for more briefing.

In addition to being dangerous for women, the rushed abortion ban was so poorly written that it is causing real uncertainty for doctors and other health care providers, Cooper said in a statement announcing he signed the amendment. This bill is important to clarify the rules and provide some certainty, however we will continue fighting on all fronts the Republican assault on womens reproductive freedom.

Cooper vetoed the sweeping abortion legislation when it was first passed, but Republicans were able to override it with a legislative supermajority. Planned Parenthood providers in the state then challenged the ban, citing multiple inconsistencies and potential constitutional violations.

Were grateful that Judge Eagles today granted our request to block that one part of the law on the ground that its unconstitutionally vague. And that ensures much needed consistency for North Carolinians seeking abortion care at least through July 14, said Peter Im, one of the attorneys representing Planned Parenthood.

I want to be clear that this is going to have devastating consequences for North Carolinians, but the judges order will mitigate some of the harm that SB 20 will have on patients lives once it takes effect tomorrow, Im said.

Fridays order clarified that abortion providers can give medication abortion to patients at early stages in their pregnancy.

The original bill said physicians providing drugs for medication abortions needed to verify that the age of the fetus was 10 weeks, even though the law allowed for abortions up to 12 weeks.

The order also clarified that the law does not ban anyone from advising or otherwise helping a pregnant person get a legal abortion out of state after 12 weeks.

The law bans any licensed physician from performing abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. It provides exceptions in the case of rape and incest through 20 weeks of pregnancy or in the event of a life-limiting anomaly through 24 weeks.

The law also requires all patients to have two in-person doctor visits 72 hours apart, and patients who choose medication abortion to schedule a third visit.

While Fridays order blocked the certification component of medication abortions, the law still requires abortion providers to perform an ultrasound at least 72 hours before administering the drugs.

There are 14 abortion clinics in North Carolina, said Katherine Farris, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, and she is not aware of any that will be closing.

Weve been working really hard over the last month to be able to comply with this law and our providers and our staff have been working around the clock to make sure our health centers can stay open, Farris said during a press conference.

We are going to do everything we can to see every patient we can within the confines of this monstrous law and to make sure that patients who cant get access here in North Carolina can find the safest place to receive the health care they desperately need, she added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
FILE PHOTO: South Korea's Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun speaks to the media upon her arrival at the CIQ office, just south of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju

SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea has no intention to "examine" South Korea's Hyundai Group chief's plan to visit the North's Mount Kumgang, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun has been seeking to visit North Korea in August and submitted applications to South Korea's unification ministry, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday, citing an unnamed official at the ministry. Hyundai's late founder, Chung Ju-Yung, was born in North Korea.

In response to the South's media reports, the North said it has "neither been informed about any south Korean personage's willingness for visit nor known about it and that we have no intention to examine it."

"It is the policy of the DPRK government that entry by any personage of south Korea into its territory cannot be allowed," North Korea said in a statement, adding that its policy is unchangeable and will be maintained in the future.

South Korea's unification ministry in a statement expressed deep regret over what it called the North's unilateral refusal, adding that Hyundai's application has been reviewed by relevant ministries and that it would handle the matter taking into account the North's announcement.

Mount Kumgang is on North Koreas east coast near the demilitarised zone separating the two countries. Development there, along with the Kaesong industrial zone, had been the major economic projects of, and a token of rapprochement between, the governments on the peninsula split by the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday picked a conservative scholar and an outspoken critic of North Korea's human rights record as South Korea's unification minister handling relations with Pyongyang.

The nomination is likely to add strain to ties between the two Koreas. North Korea has long rejected criticism of its rights conditions as part of a plot to overthrow its rulers.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang; Editing by Sandra Maler and William Mallard)
Facebook and Instagram suspended accounts belonging to Protect Texas Kids, a nonprofit behind protests against drag events throughout Texas, after the group posted personal information about drag performers on social media.

On Wednesday, Protect Texas Kids shared a series of images on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter identifying the legal names and hometowns of Texas drag queens. Each post is titled GROOMER DRAG QUEEN IDENTIFIED. The posts accuse the queens of advocating for the sexualization of children.

By Friday, the groups Instagram and Facebook accounts were no longer available. As of 2 p.m. Friday, Protect Texas Kids Twitter account remained active.

One of the posts featured Austin-based drag performer Brigitte Bandit, who went viral after testifying against S.B. 12, the new Texas law forbidding sexually-oriented performances in public or in front of children.

Protect Texas Kids post had three photos, including a photo from her performance at a 21 and older bar, which Bandit said was misleading. Her repertoire contains numbers she would not perform in front of children, and she adapts her performance for her audience, she said.

After seeing the post, I was really upset and scared for my safety, Bandit said. I dont know how they got my personal information. Im very careful about what I share online, especially my legal name.

Bandit shared Protect Texas Kids posts on her own social media Thursday and asked people to report the posts for sharing personal information. By about 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. that evening, she said, the groups Instagram account had been taken down. The groups Facebook page went down soon after.

Even though were feeling a little bit of success today, the fact that this is even something that were fighting for is really frustrating, Bandit said. And I really hope that we are able to get through it and and have a better future for all of us, and especially for queer Texans, because we belong here as well.

Bandit said she would like to see the groups Twitter account suspended, as well.

In response to news of the organizations Instagram suspension, Protect Texas Kids wrote on Twitter: Advocating to protect children apparently goes against Instagram community guidelines.

Protect Texas Kids was founded by Kelly Neidert, a University of North Texas grad from Little Elm. Neiderts brother Jake Neidert works for state Rep. Tony Tinderholt and once tweeted that parents who take their children to drag shows should be publicly executed.

Kelly Neidert did not respond to requests for comment.

This isnt the first time a drag protest group has manipulated video or images to bolster support for its political cause. On Monday, the Star-Telegram published a story about a mother who took her kids to a drag show and became the star of a doctored viral video shared by activist Sara Gonzales.
(photo: screenshot)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday it will be dedicating new resources to address the Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) crisis.

Under a new Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Regional Outreach Program, the DOJ will permanently place ten attorneys and coordinators in five regions across the United States to assist in the investigation of unsolved MMIP cases and related crimes while promoting collaboration among federal, Tribal, local and state law enforcement as well as non-governmental stakeholders. The five regions include the Northwest, Southwest, Great Plains, Great Lakes, and Southeast Regions, and MMIP personnel will be located within United States Attorneys offices in the Districts of Alaska, Arizona, Eastern Washington, Minnesota, New Mexico, Northern Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Western Michigan.

Native American communities experience high rates of assaults, abduction and murder. According to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Native women living on reservations are murdered at a rate ten times higher than the national average. Layered jurisdiction, lack of collaboration between law enforcement bodies and systemic apathy have led to thousands of unsolved cases in Indian Country. While there is no comprehensive data on MMIP, the Bureau of Indian Affairs estimates there are 4,200 unsolved MMIP cases.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland acknowledged that tribal communities have been left reeling from the crisis.

This new program mobilizes the Justice Departments resources to combat the crisis of Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons, which has shattered the lives of victims, their families, and entire Tribal communities, Garland said in a statement. The Justice Department will continue to accelerate our efforts, in partnership with Tribes, to keep their communities safe and pursue justice for American Indian and Alaska Native families.

The new regional outreach program was announced during Wednesdays Not Invisible Hearing Commission Hearing in Albuquerque, N.M., where Tribal officials, Native leaders, law enforcement and government officials convened for panel discussions and to witness testimony from Native American community members impacted by the MMIP crisis.

The hearing opened with a prayer by Gil Vigil, an enrolled member of the Tesuque Pueblo and executive director of Eight Northern Pueblos Council. Commission members were seated around four chairs, each chair donning a red skirt in honor of those who have been murdered or are missing. Following the prayer, the commission held a moment of silence members spoke the names of victims, including Daisy Mae Heath of the Yakama Nation, who went missing in 1987 and whose remains were identified in 2008.

The hearing is one of seven held this year across Indian Country as the 37-person Not Invisible Act Committee develops recommendations on improving intergovernmental collaboration on violent crimes in Indian Country and providing resources for survivors and victims families. Information gathered at the hearings will be part of the commissions final report to Secretary Haaland, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Congress in October.

At Wednesdays hearing, New Mexico State Senator Linda Lopez underscored the United States trust responsibility to tribal nations and the need to put federal resources behind the MMIP crisis.

The federal legislatures need to own up to the duty between the federal government and our reservations and Indian Country to make sure we are providing funding to adequately do the work for those who are missing, Lopez said.

Elizabeth Hidalgo Reese, a member of Nambe Pueblo and senior policy advisor for Native American affairs at the White House, acknowledged

the victims and families present at the hearing and how critical their testimony is to create solutions to the crisis.

These hearings are so important, Hidalgo Reese said. Neglect and invisibility are too often the cause or enable violence in our communities ... we need to understand this problem from every angle. We need to explore every possible solution, so we need to hear from all of you.

About the Author: "Elyse Wild is senior editor for Native News Online and Tribal Business News. "

Contact: ewild@indiancountrymedia.com
They do not want our voice: Idaho GOP OKs less power for women, young Republicans

The Idaho Republican Party last week denounced more than a dozen GOP officials, including the governor, for rejecting a bill that would have allowed Idahoans to sue their libraries for having books deemed harmful.

The vote of no confidence was among a handful of rules and resolutions adopted during the annual summer meeting of the State Central Committee. Roughly 200 statewide and local party leaders, from county and legislative district committees, met in Challis to consider new bylaws and resolutions.

The party leaders adopted a new rule allowing central committees  statewide and local governing bodies, similar to boards of directors  to punish elected Republicans who deviate from the GOP platform. They also eliminated voting authority on the partys executive committee for three groups that represent Republican women and young voters. And GOP leaders endorsed a plan to hold a caucus next year to select a Republican nominee for president.

The grass-root Republicans have shown they are very supportive of the Idaho GOPs current trajectory and the direction of the party, Idaho GOP Chairwoman Dorothy Moon told the Idaho Statesman by email. We are true to the Republican platform and the Idaho and U.S. constitutions.

But other party leaders said the new rules will quash dissenting opinions and limit who can wield the partys authority in elections. The party leaders who met in Challis showed they want less voices heard in the Republican Party, said Tracey Wasden, president of the Idaho Republican Womens Federation.

There are rules and resolutions out there that want to narrow down voting, that want central committees to say if youre Republican enough to run or not, Wasden told the Statesman by phone. That isnt the American way. If you want to run for an office, you throw your name in, you run for it and then let the people decide.

Republicans denounced for library bill opposition

The Idaho GOP last week retaliated against Gov. Brad Little and House Republicans for opposing House Bill 314.

The legislation was the latest attempt by hard-right Idaho lawmakers to limit books available in libraries, part of a nationwide trend thats focused on opposition to LGBTQ+ content. House Bill 314 would have allowed the guardian of a child who was able to obtain harmful material from a library to sue the institution for $2,500. Sexual conduct, according to the legislation, included depictions of intercourse, masturbation and homosexuality.

The Idaho GOP last week adopted a vote of no confidence for Little, who vetoed the bill after it cleared the Legislature, and the 14 House Republicans who opposed an attempt in March to override the governors veto.

Dan Bell, youth committeeman for the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, authored the resolution. Bell did not respond to a request for comment.

Moon said the central committee voted to reprimand the GOP officials for their failure to safeguard the well-being of children.

Madison Hardy, Littles spokesperson, said the governor agrees we need to keep harmful materials out of the hands of children, but he doesnt want to limit childrens library access at a time when they need as many resources as possible for reading and learning.

Hardy also noted the Republican-dominated Legislature has supported the governors Idaho First plan to support public schools, provide property tax relief and curb illicit drugs.

Gov. Little vetoed a bill that would have created a bounty system on our libraries and effectively shut down library access to minors, Hardy said by email. The bill also would have devastating financial impacts to our rural libraries.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little takes the podium for an acceptance speech after winning reelection at GOP party at the Grove Hotel in Boise on Nov. 8, 2022. The state party last week passed a vote of no confidence for the governor after he vetoed a bill to create bounties on public libraries.

Rep. Rod Furniss, R-Rigby, one of the 14 legislators denounced in the resolution, tweeted Sunday that House Bill 314 was well intended to keep pornography out of public and school libraries. But the bill was poorly written, and the potential $2,500 civil penalty would ruin most libraries, Furniss said. Furniss did not respond to an interview request from the Statesman.

The State Central Committee also approved resolutions that:

Falsely declared that COVID-19 vaccines are biological and technological weapons;

Called for an investigation into the Idaho Department of Health and Welfares promotion of COVID-19 vaccines and urged the Legislature to reduce the departments funding;

Reiterated the partys support for Idahos abortion ban and urged the Legislature to pursue programs that assist in the care and protection of mothers and babies;

Called for Idahos bipartisan redistricting commission to be disbanded, after claiming that such commissions were created to help establish advantages for Democrats.

GOP plans to hold presidential primary caucus

Republicans also endorsed a plan to hold a March caucus to select a presidential nominee, after a bill from last legislative session included a technical error that eliminated the primary.

Previously, Idaho held its presidential primary in March and all other primary elections in May. House Bill 138 moved the presidential primary to May, an attempt to consolidate the primary elections and save taxpayers about $2.7 million in costs associated with a separate election.

But the bill neglected a mechanism allowing candidates to file for the election, which inadvertently eliminated the presidential primary altogether. A trailer bill, Senate Bill 1186, sought to fix the error, but the legislation failed in the House.

Lawmakers could reconvene to fix the law before next years primary, or leave it up to political parties to come up with their own nomination process.

Theres been lots of conversations trying to figure out solutions, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane told the Statesman by phone. I think there, unfortunately, is a fundamental disagreement between the party and the Legislature on the timing.

Moon lobbied against moving the primary to May during the legislative session. An earlier nomination process compels candidates to focus their time and resources on Idaho, Moon told the Statesman.

A later primary date would mean that candidates wont bother to show up in Idaho at all, as they focus on states that vote earlier and, because of their size, have more delegates to offer, she said. A May presidential primary means Idahos voice is drowned out by the decisions made in earlier primary states, leaving Idaho, and our Republican voters, irrelevant in a national nominating process.

While the state funds and oversees primary elections, political parties bear the cost and responsibility of a caucus. Caucuses cost less  no printed ballots are required  but the time it takes to participate in a caucus leads to reduced voter participation. Voters must attend a caucus in person on a specific date, which means they cant vote early or submit an absentee ballot.

When you have a caucus, you hear less voices, and that is what some people in this party want, Wasden said. They want less voices heard, so their voice has more impact.

McGrane said he and other state leaders would prefer a solution that maintains a ballot election, but national party deadlines are approaching. Republican National Committee rules dictate that changes to primary election dates must be finalized by Oct. 1.

I really want to have the opportunity to vote, and I think thats what we hear from the public as well, McGrane said.

Elected Republicans face censure for defying platform

The GOP party leaders also adopted a new rule allowing central committees to censure elected Republicans who stray from the party line.

The new rule empowers statewide, county and legislative district committees to summon an elected official to answer for substantive violations of party platform or constitutions. After a second violation, a committee can vote to withdraw party support for the official and bar them from using GOP identifiers on campaign material.

The rule allows committees to ensure the accountability of elected representatives to the Idaho Republican platform, Moon said. In more extreme cases, these committees can impose restrictions on the representatives eligibility to run under the Republican name.

Linda Yergler, chairwoman of the Shoshone County Republican Central Committee, co-authored the platform enforcement rule. She also crafted a new rule that eliminated state executive committee voting privileges for leaders of the Idaho Republican Womens Federation, Young Republicans and College Young Republicans. Reached by phone, Yergler declined to comment.

The state executive committee, which includes the state chair, vice chairs and other top party leaders, is responsible for administering party policy and programs. Representatives from the three groups will remain on the committee but can no longer vote on executive decisions.

Wasden, who has been president of the Republican Womens Federation for nearly a year, said her opposition to the primary caucus prompted her demotion. The Womens Federation has 700 members who run campaign offices, raise funds, work at the polls and raise children on Republican values, Wasden said.

We are the workers in this party, Wasden said. They do not want our voice at this time because our voice may be different than the other voices on that committee that they want to control.

Moon said its absurd to say the voices of women and youth have been eliminated in the party.

It is notable that the state central committee has 44 committeewomen, many female county and legislative district chairs, 44 youth committeepersons, and as you know, I am a woman and was elected chair of the state party, she said.
The Supreme Court rejected President Joe Bidens plan to eliminate $430 billion in student loan debt Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

The Supreme Court has struck down the Biden administrations student loan forgiveness plan. In Biden v. Nebraska, the court ruled 6-3 on June 30, 2023, that the secretary of education does not have the authority to forgive US$430 billion of student loans under the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act.

That kills the presidents proposed plan to forgive up to $10,000 in student loans per borrower for those with incomes under $125,000 per year, or $250,000 per year for couples. Under the presidents plan, those who received Pell Grants would have been eligible to cancel up to an additional $10,000 in student loans.

Just hours after the decision, President Biden announced a new effort to forgive student loans under the Higher Education Act of 1965.

To give borrowers time to get back up and running, Biden stated that the Education Department wont refer borrowers who dont pay their student loan bills to credit agencies for 12 months.

Secretary lacks authority

In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts  joined by his five other conservative colleagues  stated The HEROES Act allows the Secretary to waive or modify existing  financial assistance programs under the Education Act, but does not allow the Secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal.

Currently, over 43 million Americans owe $1.64 trillion in federal student loans, with an average balance of $46,000. Student loan borrowers havent had to make payments on their federal loans  or accrue interest on those loans  since March 2020, when the Trump administration put the payments on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roughly 1 in 8 Americans will have to restart loan payments as soon as September 2023. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

But that will change on Sept. 1, 2023, when interest will once again begin to accrue on outstanding student loans. Payments on the actual loans is set to resume in October 2023.

When payments resume, the average student loan payment is expected to be between $200 and $500 per month. For those that resume making their federal student loan payments on time, this may lead to an increase in their credit score, while those that miss the first payment after payments resume can expect their credit score to fall.

Prior to the student loan pause, approximately 7.5 million borrowers  out of 43 million  were in default on their federal student loans.

These borrowers can apply for the Fresh Start program. For borrowers who are behind on their federal student loan payments, this program allows student loan borrowers to reset their loan so they wont be considered past due anymore.

In addition, any negative entries on their credit report due to being behind on their student loans will be removed. About 80% of Fresh Start borrowers enroll in an income-driven repayment plan. Such a plan calculates a borrowers monthly federal student loan payment based on the borrowers income, spouses income and family size. Monthly payments under this plan will not exceed 20% of the borrowers income. Those with larger families and lower incomes have lower monthly payments. Currently, about half of the Fresh Start borrowers pay $0 a month.

It is estimated that student loan borrowers pay about $70 billion a year on their federal student loans. Any economic benefit that borrowers may have gotten from the suspension of student loan payments is likely to have already been absorbed into the economy over the past three years. In other words, any money borrowers had to spend as a result of the student loan pause has already been spent.

With the resumption of student loan payments, there will likely be a small but negative impact on the economy. This reduction in spending on goods and services is estimated to reduce economic growth by about 0.4%

When student loan borrowers begin to repay their loans in October, those dollars will no longer be available to pay for other things like food, rent, clothing or gas. So it wont only hurt the economy, but it will hurt people, too.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts, from an independent nonprofit. Try our free newsletters.

It was written by: William Chittenden, Texas State University.

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William Chittenden 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.
Photo: Photo by MEGA/GC Images (Getty Images)

As Jonathan Majors awaits the start of trial for assault on Aug. 3, new developments are leading to questions about the case. The New York Times is reporting that the NYPD has determined that Majors accuser, Grace Jabbari, is the one who attacked him and that there is enough evidence to support her arrest. The police have reportedly issued an I-card, which alerts officers that there is probable cause to arrest Ms. Jabbari.



Jabbaris lawyer Brad Edwards stated there was no reason to arrest her and that he had seen nothing reliable indicating that any agency has developed a different opinion.

Read more

In fact, we understand the criminal case against Mr. Majors is proceeding as expected, Edwards said. Out of respect for the criminal process and the prosecuting attorneys who will make decisions based on the evidence, we do not intend to respond to rumors.

A police spokesman told the outlet the investigation into the incident was continuing and that no additional arrests had been made.

In March, the Creed III star was arrested and charged with assault and harassment when police were called to a Manhattan apartment and Jabbari stated that Majors assaulted her. She was taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries to her head and neck. The police called the incident a domestic dispute with strangulation, assault and harassment listed among the possible charges when he was arrested.

Since his arrest, the Marvel actors lawyers have maintained his innocence, and recently filed a cross-complaint against Jabbari. Majors attorney, Priya Chaudhry, provided a statement to The Root about the complaint, saying in part, Last week, for the first time, Mr. Majors met with the NYPD to present them with evidence of what really happened on that night. Within hours of viewing the evidence, and conducting their own thorough investigation, the NYPD found probable cause to arrest Grace Jabbari for assaulting Jonathan Majors.

In response to his arrest, the Devotion star has suffered a career setback. He was dropped by his PR and management reps, lost roles in an Otis Redding biopic and the film adaptation of Walter Mosleys novel, The Man In My Basement and was dropped from ad campaigns by the U.S. Army and MLBs Texas Rangers. Marvel Studios has not commented on the actors status or the case.

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Click here to read the full article.
President Biden teamed up with former President Obama to solicit donations from supporters as Bidens 2024 campaign makes a final fundraising push before Fridays deadline for the second quarter.

Obama, who remains widely popular among Democrats, appeared alongside Biden in a 68-second video in which the president laid out five reasons to donate $5 to the campaign.

Biden and Obama explained that the presidents 2020 campaign was powered by grassroots supporters and small donations, highlighted the Biden administrations accomplishments thus far, and laid out the stakes for the 2024 election.

The video was released Thursday, days after Obama joined Biden for lunch at the White House.

Biden and other top White House officials have been traveling to high-dollar fundraisers over the past two weeks in California, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Illinois and elsewhere.

The Biden campaign in July will issue its first fundraising report since the president announced plans to run for reelection in April, and Democrats are hoping to see an impressive haul that shows donors are excited about the prospect of another Biden term.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush told a friend in 2019 that he would 'shut down the company' before he would 'operate an unsafe sub'

Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate Expeditions. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Karl Stanley, a submersible expert and friend of Stockton Rush, expressed concerns about the Titan.

In response, Rush told him he would prioritize the safety of the submersible over his company.

Others have said Rush seemed to really believe in the safety of the Titan.

Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate who died last week when his Titan submersible catastrophically imploded on a dive to the Titanic shipwreck, told a friend in 2019 he would shut down his company before operating an unsafe vessel, according to emails obtained by Insider.

Rush was emailing his friend Karl Stanley, an expert in submersibles who had expressed serious concerns to him about the integrity of the Titan after hearing cracking noises on a dive in the Bahamas that year.

"I think that hull has a defect near that flange, that will only get worse. The only question in my mind is will it fail catastrophically or not," Stanley said in an email to Rush.

On June 18, less than two hours into a dive to the Titanic, the Titan submersible lost communication with its surface ship and went missing, kicking off a major search and rescue mission. Four days later, the Coast Guard announced pieces of the sub had been discovered, suggesting the Titan had catastrophically imploded. All five people on board, including Rush, were declared dead.

"I made it clear after our dive that I will not take nonessential crew, clients or media in the sub until I am confident that the hull is safe," Rush insisted in his response to Stanley. "As I told you before, I cancelled last year's expedition and will cancel this year's, or even shut down the company, before I will operate an unsafe sub."

OceanGate did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the email.

Rush and OceanGate have come under scrutiny for ignoring safety concerns expressed by other experts in the industry. But some who had met Rush said he seemed to truly believe his sub was safe, as evidenced by the fact that he himself was participating in the dives.

CBS reporter David Pogue, who took a dive on the Titan and interviewed Rush for a segment last year, told Insider Rush was "cocky" and that he "cherry-picked the opinions of his experts."

"But I don't think Rush was a con man. He genuinely believed in his design  enough to trust it with his own life many times over," Pogue wrote in a story for New York magazine.

Mike Reiss, a writer and producer for "The Simpsons," who took several dives in the Titan, has also said he believed OceanGate took safety seriously and genuinely believed in their submersible.

"There was one dive we took  as soon as communication went out, we went right back to the surface," Reiss said, adding: "So they're not hot dogs. They're not daredevils here. They take this very seriously."

Still, Reiss said Rush and every passenger on the Titan understood there were risks, noting the waiver he had to sign beforehand mentioned he could die several times.

"They made it as safe as they could make it. They trusted their own lives to it," Reiss said, "but they knew it could end this way."

Read the original article on Insider
OceanGate is still advertising expeditions to the Titanic wreckage on its website

OceanGate's submersible imploded with five passengers on board. Lindsey Wasson/Associated Press

OceanGate is still advertising dives to the Titanic shipwreck on its website.

The deep-sea adventure company is listing two missions to the shipwreck in June 2024.

Earlier this month, one of the company's submersibles imploded with five passengers on board.

OceanGate is still advertising expeditions to the Titanic shipwreck on its website.

The deep-sea adventure company is listing two missions to the shipwreck in June 2024. The website said the 2023 expedition was underway and potential customers should inquire about available dates.

The website also said travelers may be joined by French diver PH Nargeolet  one of the people who died on board the Titan submersible earlier this month.

OceanGate's submersible imploded with five passengers on board, hours into a dive to see the Titanic wreck. The craft lost communication with its surface vessel two hours into its descent, sparking a highly publicized search-and-rescue attempt. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush was also on the craft.

On Wednesday, the US Coast Guard said "presumed" human remains were collected from the Titan submersible wreckage.

Representatives for OceanGate did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside normal working hours.

US and Canadian officials are investigating how and why the submersible imploded.

Significant concerns have been raised about the safety of the craft since it first disappeared and several previous passengers have come forward with issues. Alan Estrada, an actor, said the Titan submersible suffered a communication failure during his trip to the Titanic.

A 2018 lawsuit appeared to show the company was warned about safety issues with its submersible years before the catastrophic implosion. A former OceanGate employee warned the sub's safety could be compromised by poor "quality control and safety" protocols that "paying passengers would not be aware" of, according to the lawsuit .

Read the original article on Insider
Police tape hangs at the scene of a fatal hit-and-run where a pedestrian was killed on the corner of Coatsville Avenue and Main Street in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 15, 2021. The Salt Lake County District Attorneys Office determined that officer Garrett Carter was legally justified in shooting and killing Villatoro. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

A Saratoga Springs police officer was legally justified in shooting and killing a Bluffdale man in December, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday.

Officer Garrett Carter fired two shots at Daniel Coello Villatoro, 31, killing him on Dec. 10, 2022, after investigators say Villatoro did not comply with officers who were trying to arrest him as part of an assault and child abuse investigation.

All officers first tried to use less deadly methods to stop Villatoro, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said Tuesday. Body camera footage from the three officers involved in the incident, along with a recording from Villatoro's front door camera, shows that the altercation occurred in a tight hallway where Villatoro posed an immediate threat to the officers, and that they had reason to believe he may have a gun, Gill said.

At 11:45 a.m. that day, three Saratoga Springs police officers responded to a report of an aggravated assault at the Beacon Hill Apartment complex, 15130 S. Beacon Point Lane in Bluffdale. Saratoga Springs police also provide police service to Bluffdale. Easton Lyons, 17, told officers that his neighbor, Villatoro, had physically assaulted and choked him until he lost consciousness. Marks were visible on Easton's neck, police said.

Villatoro left but came back to the complex an hour later, after which the officers returned, Gill said. Body camera footage shows the officers confronting Villatoro in the parking lot, telling him he was under arrest for assault, which Villatoro denied having done. The footage shows officers asking Villatoro to get on the ground, but he refuses to comply.

Officers in the video follow Villatoro as he runs to his apartment, but all officers stay in the hallway outside the doorway, and Carter uses a Taser to try to stop Villatoro. Tasers take five seconds to recharge, according to Gill's report. As Villatoro ran into his apartment, Carter tried to deploy the Taser a second time to drive-stun Villatoro instead, at which point he somehow lost control of the Taser and it fell into the apartment, the report states.

Body camera footage from a Saratoga Springs police officer shows two other officers confronting Daniel Coello Villatoro on Dec. 10, 2022. The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office has determined that officer Garrett Carter's shooting of Villatoro was legally justified. | Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office

Carter stepped back and retrieved his handgun while the other two officers deployed their Tasers on Villatoro, according to the report. Villatoro then charged at the police officers, holding a small black object that appeared to be a gun but was later identified as Carter's Taser, Gill said.

Villatoro tried to use Carter's Taser on the officers, the report says. Carter fired twice at him, and another officer tried to drive-stun him. The body camera footage shows Villatoro collapsing. The third officer ran to get first aid supplies, but Villatoro was declared dead at the scene, the report states.

Carter refused to provide a statement or be interviewed about the shooting death, according to the report.
COSHOCTON  Despite a recent slowdown Ohio TT is still on track to finish the $5 million broadband project with Coshocton County Commissioners by end of the year, thanks to a new partnership with Agile Networks.

In March, Ohio Transparent Telecom of Zanesville started phase two of the project focused on building new towers to close coverage gaps. Phase one was placing equipment on existing towers. Once finished, Ohio TT should cover about 36,900 residents with 18 sites.

New builds will be south of West Lafayette and County Road 159, the area of County Roads 55 and 23, Keene, Chili and Ohio 93 north of Fresno, Tiverton, New Guilford and Bakersville. Additionally, three other towers will be erected near MARCS towers where equipment couldn't be co-located as originally hoped.

It was thought the first new build would occur in June, but Kyle Yoder of Ohio TT said that will probably not happen in early July. However, that doesn't throw off the overall timeline as Yoder believes the installations and going live with service should be faster than originally projected due to having more personnel for work from Agile Networks. Yoder said getting Agile on board and forming work teams held them up.

"While we got that team oriented with the Ohio TT project it cost a little bit of time, but that's okay, because now we have a big team of resources to help us catch back up in July. We're going to be back on track and finished by the end of the year," Yoder said.

The Canton-based Agile Networks has a decade long history of designing and operating connectivity networks across Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Agile CEO Kyle Quillen was part of an update meeting with commissioners and actually worked with the county on an initial broadband project almost 15 years ago that some customers are still using.

Quillen said Agile had worked with Ohio TT on some other projects. Knowing what they were doing in Coshocton County, it tied in well to its Digital Access Ohio program in conjunction with JobsOhio.

"We saw the synergy between the two and what we could do to help accelerate (the Coshocton project) and what they could do to help accelerate some of the stuff we're doing," Quillen said. "Rather than building two duplicative systems in the same area, let's go ahead and joins forces and see if we can maximize the potential."

Commissioner Dane Shryock said Coshocton County has been underserved for many years where it comes to internet access. Along with commissioners addressing the issue with American Recovery Plan Act funding, he believes the Ohio TT project is encouraging other providers, like AT&T and Spectrum, to look at Coshocton County too.

Additionally, with people moving into the area because of the Intel plant being built in Licking County, Shryock said the western end of the county is getting a lot of notice. However, water and internet access are the main barriers to new builds or new residents in the area.

"There's a relocation of population and people wanting to find places to live on two acres or five acres in the country, but they need water and they need broadband. The western end of Coshocton County appears to be relatively attractive except for those two issues," Shryock said.

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Ohio TT, Agile Networks working together on Coshocton broadband
Oil and gas workers in the South are finding new job opportunities in a surprising career field: Any work is good for me

Europe has been turning to wind energy to meet its power needs for decades now, but in the United States, the industry is basically just getting started.

Luckily, much of the existing infrastructure and workers in the Gulf of Mexico region that previously supported the oil and gas industries could fairly easily make the transition to wind, Bloomberg News reports.

Bloomberg spoke to several oil workers who have seen their job opportunities diminish since oil prices collapsed in 2014, and they all seemed more than amenable to working on clean energy.

[The wind industry] keeps Cajuns working, Gary Chouest, CEO of Edison Chouest Offshore, a shipyard in Louisiana, told Bloomberg.

I care that theres work, shipbuilding project manager Whit Carter told the outlet.

[Ive] been out of work for too long, so any work is good for me, Bernie Dunmiles, a self-described roustabout who sweeps and cleans tanks, added. Im happy to work on wind.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, an offshore wind farm built in the Gulf could create almost 4,500 jobs worth $445 million (though those jobs would only last through the construction phase).

The Biden Administration has also taken decisive action to jumpstart the American offshore wind industry, according to a White House press release. These plans are set to bring in billions of dollars in investments  including $9.8 billion in new investments in 2022 alone.

All of this signals positive change for the nascent United States offshore wind industry and for the oil-turned-wind workers of the Gulf region. The main thing throwing a wrench in the gears of the wind industry right now is opposition from certain politicians, who have latched onto the issue in recent years.

That opposition is having an impact in Texas, where lawmakers have pushed a series of bills that could make it more difficult to generate clean energy in the Gulf of Mexico.

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The McCurtain County Courthouse is seen in Idabel, Okla., on Thursday, April 20, 2023.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond says a county sheriff caught on tape talking about harming journalists committed no crime that would prompt his firing.

In a statement Friday, Drummond said an investigation found no legal grounds to move forward with a process to force McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy from office. Clardy has refused to step down since the recording came to light in April and brought nationwide scrutiny to southeast Oklahoma.

The recorded conversation also included a county commissioner talking about lynching Black people. Residents organized protests to call all officials captured in the recording to step down. Gov. Kevin Stitt had asked Drummond to launch the investigation after Clardy remained defiant.

While I understand this outcome may be frustrating to you after calling for the sheriffs resignation and removal, it is the only appropriate conclusion under the law, Drummond said in a letter to Stitt about what his office had found.

Listen: Full audio released of Oklahoma sheriff discussing killing journalists

Neither Clardy nor Stitt immediately responded to requests for comment Friday afternoon. A previous statement from the McCurtain County Sheriffs Office, which McCardy leads, questioned the veracity of the audio.

Drummond said investigators in his office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had looked for evidence that Clardys conduct had violated Oklahoma laws that spell out official misconduct and grounds for removal. Those grounds include such offenses as willful neglect of duty, corruption and extortion.

But Drummond said that none of the provisions allow state officials to throw elected officials out of office merely for saying something offensive.

Voters in McCurtain County can still choose to oust Clardy, Drummond noted.

The audio clips were made public by the McCurtain Gazette, which identified Clardy and the other speakers. The local newspapers publisher said he had left his recorder behind after a county commissioners meeting because he believed officials were discussing public business in secret.

Commissioner Mark Jennings, who talked about killing Black people, stepped down soon after the recording came to light. Part of his district included predominantly Black neighborhoods in Idabel, the county seat. Another official recorded on tape was jail administrator Larry Hendrix, which has triggered intense scrutiny of the county jail operations.

More: Federal lawsuits portray McCurtain County sheriff's office as cruel, callous

The county sits within the rolling foothills of the Choctaw Nation reservation in the southeast corner of the state. White and Black families started moving to the area after the Civil War. Its nickname is still Little Dixie.

The recording has exposed the countys struggle to wrestle with its segregated past as it tries to establish itself as a tourism hotspot. After the audio clip surfaced, commercials touting the county as an outdoor adventure oasis started airing in Dallas.

Editor's Note: This is a developing story and has been updated.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma investigation finds no grounds to oust sheriff after racist recording
One map shows how many student-loan borrowers could have gotten Biden's debt relief if the Supreme Court hadn't struck it down

Student-debt-relief activists at a rally at the Supreme Court on June 30 in Washington, DC. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

President Joe Biden's student-loan-forgiveness plan was struck down Friday by the Supreme Court.

A White House fact sheet from months ago showed how many people could have benefited.

It showed how many applied or were automatically eligible for relief before applications got paused.

The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's plan to wipe out up to $20,000 in federal student-loan debt for borrowers, which would have eliminated about $430 billion in student loans across millions of borrowers.

A fact sheet from the White House that was published earlier this year showed the number of people in every state, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, who had applied for relief or were automatically eligible before this was blocked by lawsuits. Those who were deemed eligible "had already provided sufficient information to the Department of Education," the sheet said. It added that "the Department was required to stop accepting applications as a result of lawsuits brought by opponents of the program" in November.

The fact sheet said 26 million people had applied or were automatically considered eligible. Over 2 million people in Texas and over 2 million people in California were either deemed automatically eligible or had applied.

"Overall, more than 40 million borrowers would qualify for the Biden Administration's debt relief program," the fact sheet said. "Nearly 90% of the benefits of the relief going to out-of-school borrowers would go to those earning less than $75,000 per year."

These borrowers owe a combined $1.6 trillion, according to the White House.

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the HEROES Act of 2003, which permits the education secretary to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, couldn't be implemented because it was not the appropriate law to carry out this plan.

The court did not strike down student-debt relief entirely, though. The president can pursue alternate routes under different laws. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted Friday that the Higher Education Act was one option for continuing loan forgiveness before October, when payments are scheduled to resume.

Interest on student loans is scheduled to resume on September 1. Repayment could pose challenges to the economy, such as a reduction in consumer spending.

"My Administration's student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic," Biden said in a statement following the ruling.

"I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families," he added.

The Supreme Court's decision came in two separate rulings. The high court ruled that the plaintiffs in one case, US Department of Education v. Brown, did not have standing  but the second case, Biden v. Nebraska, prevailed, and the six GOP-led states had standing to sue on behalf of the student-loan company MOHELA.

Many Democrats slammed the ruling, while vowing to keep fighting for student-loan forgiveness, urging Biden to take unilateral action to get American borrowers relief. Many Republicans celebrated the decision, saying the plan was unfair and unconstitutional.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The 10-strong unit was established last year amid a rise in online crime (Sergei GAPON)

At Denmark's police headquarters, officers have been glued to their computers playing the popular video game Counter-Strike. But they weren't kicking back on a break -- they were tracking crimes on the internet.

In addition to getting paid to game, the online patrol unit is on Twitch, Discord, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, openly letting their presence be known with the aim of making the internet a safer place for both children and adults.

Dressed in uniform when on online patrol, their primary targets are sexual predators and economic criminals.

The 10-strong unit was established last year amid a rise in online crime during the Covid pandemic lockdowns.

"The same way you see a police car driving around in the streets, you can see a police officer with an official name in the online universe," the head of the patrol, Sisse Birkebaek, explained to AFP.

Miriam Michaelsen, a lawyer and founder of the Digital Responsibility association, has long called for police to monitor the internet.

"When you talk to young people, they don't see a difference between the physical world and the digital world, with one exception: they see police all the time on the streets," she said.

"When you see police drive by, it can have an effect both for victims but also for criminals... it's the same online."

- Neighbourhood patrol -

Since its creation in April 2022, "Politiets Online Patrulje" has opened more than 65 cases.

"We see a lot of grooming and attempts to harass youngsters, trying to take money from them, and stealing schemes in the gaming community as well," said Birkebaek.

Several times a month, Jeppe Rimer Torup and his colleagues play CS:GO, Fifa or Fortnite.

Under the names "Officer 1" up to "Officer 4", they game, observe and cultivate contacts, just as if they were on a regular neighbourhood patrol in person.

On Twitch, "we say, 'Hey, we are two officers playing, we need three volunteers from the chat. You can come and play with us'", 36-year-old officer Rimer Torup told AFP.

"Slowly we have been increasing our followers."

They currently have 127,000 followers on TikTok, 23,000 on Twitch, 10,000 on Facebook and 6,000 on Instagram.

They are usually open about who they are, although they do on rare occasions go undercover.

On a typical day, the unit could join a Facebook group "and say, 'Hey, we are from the police and if you want to talk with us or have any questions just fire away," said Rimer Torup.

Most of the time it works, he said.

Since they started, the 10 cops have received more than 5,200 tips.

- Broad support -

In his free time, Rimer Torup runs an e-sport club for teenagers at the Copenhagen city police station, many of whom come from disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

That hobby is separate from his professional work, but does allow him to get to know teens and their concerns.

"There are 10 participants in the e-sport activity. And I think they choose to come because it's fun to play video games... and some need more of a social life," he said.

The six youths taking part during AFP's visit said they follow the patrol's online activities but have yet to interact with it.

"They would be too cool to admit it," joked Rimer Torup.

The patrol's funding is decided on a yearly basis, but Rimer Torup said he hoped it would become permanent.

"I don't think we can solve all the issues with digital violence by having an online patrol like this," Michaelsen said.

"But if we can see that 10, 15, 20 people are being helped in a way that they would not have been helped before, then this has made a difference."

Mikkel Olsen, another member of the patrol, said the unit's work is constantly being adjusted as social media and the internet evolve.

There has been broad consensus over the patrol in Denmark, a progressive society where police are held in high regard.

According to recent statistics, 87 percent of Danes had confidence in the police.

The National Association for Children's Rights told AFP it has "not experienced or been aware of any issues that have caused concern about children's privacy," while the Data Protection Agency said it had no concerns either.

"It's very exciting to be pioneers", beamed Olsen.

cbw/phy/po/lcm
A new fireworks store opened just in time for July Fourth and plans were announced for a new doughnut shop and hotel. Heres a roundup of Centre County business news in June.

Whats opening

Wholesale Fireworks opened at 2000 E. College Ave. at the former Sheetz near Lemont. The permanent fireworks store offers about 350 different products.

Wholesale Fireworks is now open at 2000 E. College Ave., the former Sheetz near Lemont.

Owners Jon and Meredith Houser announced plans to open Bellefonte Brick Studio, an independent Lego store, on July 1 at 104 N. Allegheny St. The stores hours are 10 a.m to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

Dunkin will open a second downtown State College location this fall. The doughnut chain plans a store at 141 S. Garner St., formerly a Starbucks. The Dunkin at 200 W. College Ave. will continue to operate alongside the new store.

A Tru by Hilton hotel is planned in the area of the Benner Pike interchange of Interstate 99. Hospitality Asset Management Co.  also known as Lion Country Lodging  will manage the 98-room property.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held to celebrate the State College Food Banks new location. The food bank expects to move fully into its new space at 169 Gerald St., State College  the former home of Apple Hill Antiques  by March when renovations are complete. Apple Hill Antiques is now open in the former Tubbies Bedroom location at 2221 E. College Ave.

Eyes on the Diamond, 104 W. Main St. in Boalsburg, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate its new ownership. Drs. Whitney Territo and Scott Bauer provide primary care optometry for patients of all ages and treat conditions such as macular degeneration and glaucoma.

Old Pops Corny Village Emporium, 1374 Troy Hawk Run Highway, Philipsburg, held a ribbon-cutting ahead of its official opening in mid-July. Owners Mark and Grace Crompton will sell a wide array of items: local crafts, snacks and coffee in the front of the store; bait and tackle in the back; frozen yogurt in a different section of the shop; and moonshine in an addition to the building modeled after a speakeasy.

Whats closing

Sheetz plans to close its store at 139 S. Pugh St. in downtown State College by the end of July. The location opened in 2015.

Sheetz will close its store at 139 S. Pugh St. in State College by the end of July.

In brief

Big Spring Spirits, which operates out of Bellefontes Match Factory, won double gold at the New York International Spirits Competition for its American Whiskey. Double gold is the highest possible recognition at the competition and is given to spirits that receive gold ratings from every judge. Out of 1,400 entries, only 39 whiskeys were awarded double gold.
Opinion: My 12-year-old trans friend came to my drag pageant. But for her, gender is not a costume

People hold signs in support of drag queens at the WeHo Pride Parade in West Hollywood on June 4. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

About a month ago, I was crowned the first Mx. Pride St. Louis, winning my first title in drag. The most memorable part of this experience for me was seeing Q., a 12-year-old trans girl in the audience.

Ive been in Q.s life since she was 6, supporting her through her parents split, a move to rural Missouri and a confusing  and often tumultuous  exploration of her gender. When I first started performing drag, I invited Q. to peruse my drag wardrobe, and she expressed admiration over a colorful blazer. A few weeks later, I gave it to her for Christmas. She wore it for her seventh-grade school pictures.

One of the things Q. and I have in common is that we move through the world visibly queer and we occupy the liminal, in-between space of gender expansiveness. Onstage, I stuff packers in my underwear and bind my chest. In my everyday life, I mostly present femme, with certain masculine traits such as thick facial and body hair.

Read more: Op-Ed: I'm 16. I went to a drag show. I wasn't traumatized

Its never felt particularly important for me to declare my gender the way I did my sexuality when I first started dating women. Queer, to me, covers my whole identity, and I dont experience the kind of dysphoria that requires medical intervention for me to feel authentic and whole.

But I understand why, at 12, Q. doesnt have the same luxury. She is working with a speech therapist to fight the natural deepening of her voice and she would start taking hormone blockers if she was out to her father. But at the transgender center at St. Louis Childrens Hospital  the only pediatric endocrinologist Q.s mom has access to  consent from both parents is required to receive this type of gender-affirming care.

Q. is also not out to her grandmother or her brother, who mostly lives in another state with his very devout father and stepmother. Q. has privately celebrated legislative victories for LBGTQ+ people, and she has mourned the many bills passing through Missouris government that put queer kids and adults in danger. She is remarkably tuned in to the national conversation and the ways the adults in her life are either fighting loudly for her right to exist, or are silent, or worse. Her mother teaches her how to use mascara and nail polish and takes her to salons to wax the hair on her upper lip, yet its not safe for her to fully emerge.

Q.s mom taught me how to sew when I was preparing for my drag pageant. As we worked with the hoop skirt and glittery tulle, Q. drew quietly in her sketchbook. The design on one of my costumes involved sewing strips of fabric into a pride flag. What is the order of the colors again? Q.s mom asked me.

Q. rushed to her bedroom, emerging a minute later with a pride flag that had been hanging on her wall. For reference, she said, draping the flag so that we could see it as we worked.

Read more: Opinion: Policing drag has a long history. There's a reason politicians are at it again

Before I left that day, I asked Q. if she was coming to the pageant, and her eyes lit up. Am I allowed? she asked, looking incredulously at her mom for confirmation.

Theres no age restriction, I said. You should come.

A few weeks later, at the pageant, I scanned the crowd from behind the stage curtain. Q. was wearing the bright blazer I had given her and sitting beside her mom, mouth agape. Q. didnt pick up her phone a single time for the four-hour pageant, her mom later told me. Thats a big deal.

Back home, with my sash displayed neatly in my living room, I texted Q. to hear what she thought of the pageant. She talked about the cool costumes and the overwhelming queerness of it all. Then, she texted, I just felt at home.

I often think about the difference it would have made for me, in my acceptance of myself as queer, if there had been someone in my life the way I hope I am in Q.s. I also worry I am not doing enough, or that she will come to resent the way drag parodies and satirizes gender. Gender is not a costume for Q., nor a persona she can slip into on Friday nights to make a little cash. Or maybe it is. Maybe the message I saw on a sign at my last trans rights rally is right: All gender is drag.

Gabe Montesanti is the author of the book Brace for Impact and is writing a memoir about drag. @GabeMontesantiAuthor

If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Editors Note: Keith Magee is a theologian, political adviser and social justice scholar. He is chair and professor of practice in social justice at Newcastle University and visiting professor in cultural justice at University College London Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. He also leads Black Britain and Beyond, a social platform and think tank and is the author of Prophetic Justice: Essays and Reflections on Race, Religion and Politics. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.

On Tuesday morning in a suburb west of Paris, a 17-year old French driver of Algerian descent was shot dead at point-blank range by a police officer for failing to comply during a traffic stop.

Keith Magee - Arron Dunworth

The incident has sparked three nights of rioting across France, with some 40,000 police officers deploying overnight Thursday into Friday morning and hundreds of people arrested. The officer has been detained and charged with voluntary homicide.

President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that the killing of the boy, named as Nahel, was inexplicable and inexcusable. That it was inexcusable was beyond doubt, as was evident in the video of the tragedy. The local prosecutor also concluded that there was no legal justification for the shooting.

But I am less certain that Nahels death was inexplicable. I see at least two clear explanations: the national refusal to face up to institutional racism and the ambiguity of Frances laws governing the use of firearms by police during traffic stops.

If this tragedy had taken place in the UK or US, media headlines would have featured the victims ethnicity front and center. But because Nahel died in France, one key contributing factor  the color of Nahels skin  has been almost entirely ignored in the initial barrage of domestic news reports and commentary.

There have been some notable exceptions. Interviewed this week on Sud Radio, Marine Tondelier of Europe Ecologie-Les Verts  the Geen Party  denounced what she called the Americanization of the police in France, adding I have never seen a non-racialized [i.e., White] person get killed for refusing to comply.

On Thursday, prominent anti-racism campaigner Rokhaya Diallo told BFMTV that French police are institutionally racist. However, by even mentioning race both risked immediate backlash. Thats because in France, despite a wave of anti-racism protests in 2020 inspired by the murder of George Floyd, the issue of race remains largely taboo. Discussions about race that happen every day in the US rarely occur there, at least in the official discourse.

France has long claimed to be color blind. Article 1 of its Constitution guarantees the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion  in other words, individual differences are an entirely private matter.

The state purports to see only citizens, all of whom are presumed to share the Republics universal values. A 1978 law goes even further, prohibiting the collection or processing of personal data revealing racial or ethnic origins, political, philosophical or religious opinions. This means that systemic racism in French society is rendered invisible.

Frances significant population of immigrants, mainly from Africa, the Caribbean and Asia, and their descendants have complained for decades that every part of their lives is blighted by discrimination. But when you collect no data whatsoever on how many people of color are excluded by the education system, how many are unemployed, how many live in poverty, how many are underserved by housing and healthcare services, and how many are victims of racial profiling by the police, it is easy to deny that such discrimination exists.

As a result, while racism in society is occasionally recognized  a 2022 report by the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights estimated that 1.2 million people a year were likely victims of at least one racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic attack in France, a country of 68 million people  such attitudes tend to be blamed on random individuals  bad apples who deviate from the norm. Accusations of institutional or systemic racism fall on deaf ears. And who can prove otherwise?

Racism, wherever it occurs, is a curse. As a Black man who has lived both in the United States and in the United Kingdom, I am more likely to be subjected to police brutality. I know this not just because my experience and that of other people who look like me tells me so  but because the data says so. And if I am to face injustice, I want at very least to be able to quantify it, examine it and demand that it be eradicated.

I want to vote for representatives who vow to fight racism, and then hold them accountable by measuring their success or failure. None of this is currently possible in France.

In reality, the myth of the colorblind French Republic amounts to the state-level gaslighting of ethnic minorities, and the nations victims of systemic racism know it. Many people of immigrant, often Black or North African, heritage live in the cites, or suburbs, on the edges of Frances major towns where high levels of economic and social deprivation have created not just a widespread sense of despair, but anger at the injustice of hidden racial inequality.

Racist treatment, particularly of young men of color, at the hands of the police exacerbates this anger, and traffic stops have become a flash point.

In 2017 a new law introduced in the wake of terrorist attacks gave police greater powers to use firearms if a driver failed to comply during a traffic stop and officers felt the individual might go on to harm people in the path of the vehicle.

Campaigners like Nanterre parliamentary representative Sabrina Sebaihi have decried the ambiguity of this law, pointing out the dramatic increase in fatal traffic stops since its introduction. A Reuters investigation found that 13 people died at the hands of police this way in 2022 while Nahel is the third victim this year, stating, the majority of the victims since 2017 were Black or of Arab origin.

The reaction over the past few days and nights to Nahels death shows, perhaps better than any graphs or charts ever could, just how serious racial tensions in the suburbs have now become.

In a regrettable explosion of violence, as well as looting, rioters have deliberately targeted symbols of the Republic  town halls and schools have been set alight, while police officers and firefighters have come under attack. A 6,000-strong march through Nanterre on Thursday began as a dignified homage in Nahels memory led by his mother, but ended in yet more clashes with law enforcement.

The French government should urgently heed calls from Sebaihi and others to clarify the circumstances in which police officers can lawfully use firearms if a driver fails to comply during a traffic stop, and improve training for law enforcement personnel.

Until systemic racism within the French police and the rest of society can be investigated, quantified, and addressed, the names of the poorest, brownest suburbs will continue to be used as code for the racial injustice and tension that cannot be named  and those places will continue to be tinderboxes. And whenever Frances suburbs explode, as they are doing this week, the only victors are likely to be the far right, who will seize the opportunity to sow yet more racial division and anti-immigrant hatred for electoral gain.

The French Republics motto of Liberty, equality, fraternity is an inspiration to democratic nations around the world, including my homeland of the United States. To see those values undermined by a failure to investigate and address systemic racism, leaving so many of its citizens feeling unprotected, alienated, and unseen by the state is not only sad, its inexcusable. Lets hope the tragedy of young Nahels death at the very least sparks a meaningful debate about systemic racism and discrimination in France and how it might be overcome for the sake of every French citizen.

We may never know for certain whether Nahels race was a factor in his killing. But surely, if it is taboo to even ask the question, something is very wrong.

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On Friday and Saturday, the world witnessed something it hadnt since 1991: military vehicles on the streets of Moscow, deployed to defend the Kremlin from what looked like a coup attempt.

In an act of rebellion, Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner private military companya mercenary army that has been fighting on Russias behalf in Ukraineseized a city and military headquarters in southern Russia and began an armed advanced toward the capital, before canceling their plans and turning around.

Jade McGlynn - Jade McGlynn

In the wake of this shocking series of events, an important question lingers: How will Russians view Prigozhins brief rebellion?

To understand that, CNN Opinion interviewed Jade McGlynn, a research fellow in the War Studies Department at Kings College London, whose new book Russias War delves deeply into Russian opinion and how it is formed against a backdrop of state repression and propaganda.

Some of McGlynns takeaways: Opinions are divided over whether Prigozhins coup was a good idea, but some Russians are sympathetic to his motivations; its likely that Russian President Vladimir Putin will react by ordering more attacks on Ukrainian civilians as a show of strength; and its not quite the case that this brief rebellion signaled the beginning of the end of Putins reign.

The following interview, which took place by phone on Sunday, has been edited for length and clarity.

Chris Good: You have spent a lot of time talking to Russians and developing a deep understanding of Russian public opinion. How will Prigozhins rebellion resonate in the Russian public consciousness, in your view?

Jade McGlynn: Partly it depends where were talking about, but in the geographically European part of Russia, theres clearly a division of opinion on whether or not this (rebellion) was a good idea, to put it mildly.

But theres a considerable amount of sympathy, or at least understanding, of why not just Prigozhin but also the Wagner fighters did what they did. Theres a sort of implicit understanding, even among those who condemn the actions, that they did this because theyre unhappy with the way the war (on Ukraine) is being waged and with the corrupt elites who are in charge of the military and who have siphoned away all of the funds, and now ordinary soldiers dont have rations.

Prigozhin leaves a cemetery before the funeral of a Russian military blogger who was killed in a Moscow bomb attack. - Yulia Morozova/Reuters

Ive gotten that sense from talking to people who live around the areas Wagner marched through on their way toward Moscow, from local media coverage and comment boards, and from local Telegram channels.

I think theres really an understanding of what the problems are that Wagner are angry about, or were angry about. But especially now that its all sort of failed in the dust, theres certainly opinion that its very good that it ended. The fear of a civil war, of brother killing brother, is very real.

Good: Throughout Russias full-fledged war on Ukraine, aside from some small protests at the beginning, the most forceful criticism of the Kremlin has come from people who are pro-war, from so-called mill-bloggers who complain that the war is being waged incompetently or not aggressively enough. Prigozhin has railed at military leaders and has echoed some of those ideas. What Russian public sentiments does or can Prigozhin tap into?

McGlynn: Its interesting, and it links back to the reason why we saw people from Rostov (the southern Russian city seized by Prigozhins Wagner forces) bringing bread, baked goods, refreshments to the (Wagner) fighters. One of the points that comes up again and again on local media, on local chat boards, with people I speak to, is the sense that whether or not people agreed with what the Wagner fighters were doing, they saw them as ordinary people, as being from or of the narod, which is like ordinary folk in American English.

I think these sentiments speak to a perceived authenticity on Prigozhins part, which is obviously an attribute in short supply in politics generally, especially in Russian politics, and to the estrangement of many Russians from the political elite. Prigozhin has cultivated this persona.

But its funny, because it also carries many echoes of Putins own image-making, especially if we go back to the early days of his presidency. Its as if, to a certain extent, Prigozhin almost dislodged Putin from that role of what I would call muzhik-in-chief. The muzhik is like a real man; in British English we would say a bloke. And he taps into a sort of anti-elitism, but also a nationalism, and more of an ethno-nationalism that, in my view, will prove very potent forces once theyre unleashed from the stranglehold on political life that currently exists. And we saw glimpses of that on Saturday.

Good: What do you think this means for Putin? According to the best polling we have, hes popular, although its hard to poll accurately in authoritarian countries. The independent Levada-Center reports Putins approval at 82% and Russian support for the war on Ukraine at 76%.

Even before the rebellion ultimately failed and Prigozhin and Wagner turned around, it was being suggested that however this might end up, it wasnt good for Putinthat the fact it had gotten to this point would make him look bad and weaken his hold on power. Do you agree with that?

McGlynn: If we turn to the polling point, yes, there have to be a lot of caveats with polls. Its difficult to know exactly how real the figure of, say, 80% is, but what we do know is that since the full-scale invasion began on the 24th of February last year, Putins approval rating went up considerably, by around 20 percentage points.

So it suggests, at the very least, a rallying around the leader. In general, there have been other kinds of studies, and the consensus is that Putin is pretty popular. However, whether or not that would change quite dramatically, were the circumstances to change quite dramatically, I think thats much harder to guess.

It reminds me of a story about an old lady in 1995, where they ask her, Who would you like to be president? She says, Oh, its (Gennady) Zyuganov, the Communist candidate. And they say, Okay, who are you going to vote for? She says, Yeltsin. But why arent you voting for Zyuganov? She says, Well, Ill vote for Zyuganov when hes president. You just vote for people who are already in power, and theres obviously a whole history of political life and autocracy hidden within that. That would be one point.

But the second point is: Its pretty hard to see any winners right now from this. And I certainly dont think that Putin is one. I dont really share the assertions some are making that this is definitely the end, or the beginning of the end, of Putin. I think its definitely the beginning of a new phasewhether that phase ends up being the end of Putin or a further entrenchment of an even more repressive atmosphere.

I think well only really know over the next days, maybe even weeks. Its also a question what happens in terms of the war on Ukraine. If I were a leader whose authority had just been shaken considerably, and I happened to already have a pre-prepared war ongoing, I would probably turn to prove how much of a strong man I am in that field. So I imagine that will be where he will turn to prove his might, by once again killing Ukrainian civilians no doubt.

Wagner group fighters walk near the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. - Stringer/Reuters

But whilst its very hard to see any winners, this does paint a rather morose picture of what any potential post-Putin Russia would look like, at least in the short and probably medium term, just because there arent really any democratic forces on the ground.

Good: Even before this rebellion, some had said that whoever comes into power after Putin in Russiaeither when he reaches his natural longevity, or if he loses power before thatcould be more nationalistic and more aggressive even than Putin. It sounds like that might be your view of it too.

McGlynn: Obviously its very hard to make any predictions, but it will be the elites that decide (what comes after Putin). We know who the elites are. Theyre not nice guys, and theyre going to want to defend their wealth and their interests.

Lets say theres a competition between some of the more reasonable elites, the so-called systemic liberals who may be facilitating this war (on Ukraine) but are not especially enthusiastic about it, against the securocrats, the true believers. In that case, if you have competition, people are going to need other forms of legitimacy. In that case, theyre going to then go to the people.

And this is probably one of the cases where it actually matters what the Russian people think. In this circumstance, (elites jockeying for power) are going to have to appeal to a nation that is going to be pretty traumatized by the fact that theyre really not going to win this war, certainly not in the manner in which theyve been promised, that has lost tens of thousands of young men, that is quite a poor country in many of the regions outside of Moscow, and theyre going to have to appeal to that sense of aggrieved nationalism, that sense of loss, that sense of humiliation, that Putin has not only whipped up, but also that was there anyway and that will probably be even worse now that theyre losing a war to Ukraine, which in their view should not be an equal adversary. And theyre going to feel obviously besieged by the West. Of course, it doesnt matter that theres a reason why the West is besieging them, theyre just going to feel it that way.

Thats where I think the nationalism will come in. I imagine that anyone who comes to power after Putin will want to look to ethno-nationalism, because it will be there, and it will be a way of kind of managing and whipping up support, and it will also build that sense of victimhood, of aggrievement, of resentment.

Good: In the book, you talk about public opinion in Russia as involving a set of contradictions.

For instance, that the war on Ukraine can be viewed as both existential and dismissible. Putin is popular according to polling numbers, but you mention a perception by Russians that the crimes go unpunished and the criminals stay in power.

A Wagner fighter walks by a tank in Rostov-on-Don. - Reuters

You write that the head of the Levada-Centers sociocultural research department, Alexei Levinson, has observed that whenever Putin starts a warbe it in Chechnya, Ukraine the first time, Ukraine this timehis approval rating rises in the neighborhood of 20 percentage points. A war is being fought but is not going very well, and now you have Prigozhin calling attention to that and criticizing it.

The New Yorkers Masha Gessen has talked about the loneliness of having an opinion, inwardly, when its a totalitarian society and there are pressures to comply.

Do you think of Russia as having public opinion, per se, and how you would characterize that public opinion, or the state of mind of Russians, throughout this war?

McGlynn: Im not sure that any country has public opinion in that sense. Of course there are specific issues, which Masha makes clear, to do with Russia and to do with the atomization of Russian society that perhaps make it especially difficult to speak of public opinion.

But I think its possible for us to say with some certainty that there is not, for example, a strong desire for hyper-liberal market reform in Russia.

There is not a strong desire in Russia to see, for example, a liberalization of LGBTQ rights. These are things that existed before Putin. Similarly, we can talk of an enduring dislike of Ukrainian national identity or Ukrainophobia. So we can talk of certain tendencies.

In terms of having an opinion, yes, it is pretty lonely. Lets say youre trying to make up your mind: Is this a good thing, or is this a bad thing? You might feel, I think its a bad thing that were bombing Ukraine. But you then think about what happens if you go down that road. Do you say something, and then put not only your life, perhaps, into a lot of bother, but also, you know, your childs place at school, your childs place of nursery? Or if you even act in a more outrageous way, lets say by putting up a Ukrainian flag, then your children can even be taken away.

And just the knowledge of that, when youre still at the point of forming your opinionthats a heavy burden. And its hard to be a hero at the best of times, but its especially hard to be a hero if youre not just dealing with your own life, youre dealing with other peoples livesyou know, your childrens lives, your elderly mothers life.

And then at the same point, what you have is the propaganda system kicking in. The propaganda system is not really trying to necessarily convince people. What its trying to do is to give them good reasons why they can think, You know what? Im not sure if we should be bombing, but Ukraine is in the wrong, and we have to do something. Were really just defending ourselves.

Wagner group fighters stand on a Rostov-on-Don city balcony, on June 24, 2023. - Roman Romokhov/AFP/Getty Images

And that comes up, you know, in some really human ways. For example, the number of people Ive spoken to who dont approve of the war but who will still say, What did they expect though, the Ukrainians, by allowing Nazi collaborators to be in power and to stay in power? What were they thinking? (Note: The false notion that Ukraine is governed by Nazis has been a prominent element of Russian propaganda about the war.)

Good: So I wonder of this aborted rebellion: What will Russians see and hear of it? Putin addressed the nation. You cant ignore military vehicles on the streets of Moscow. I wonder if it punctures any of the bubble that Russian propaganda creates.

McGlynn: I think that this bubble is misinterpreted slightly in the West. There is an information bubble, but 40% of Russians use Telegram every single day. (Note: According to the Russian media-monitoring firm Mediascope, as of May, 40% of Russias 143 million people use Telegram daily, and more than 60% use it at least once a month.)

I mainly follow Russian channels on Telegram. And you still get a basic idea of what is happening and some of the things that Russian fighters are doing, including, you know, the bombings of civilians, of residential buildings in Kyiv. Thats on pretty much most of the popular Telegram channels.

Good: We should pause to note that Telegram is a favorite medium of Prigozhin. So hes been on there lodging these complaints in a medium that Russians can access.

McGlynn: Sure, but Telegram is pretty much the most favored medium of a lot of people. Like I said, 40% of Russiansso the opposition use it too. I mean, everybody uses it whos interested in news. So its not kind of Prigozhins thing, but he does use it. And he has followers, but there are people with more followers than he hasfor example including (Chechen leader) Ramzan Kadyrov, who has the most followers of any political Telegram channel. So in terms of the bubble, rather than an information bubble, its more kind of like a cultural framework and way of meaning-making.

Maybe Ill use an anecdote from my own life here. When I was 18, it was the first time I went to Russia, and I was really surprised, because I got into a conversation with somebody who just said that they hated democracythey were just, Well, I hate democracy. And to me, that was just insane, just the idea that anybody would hate democracy, because it didnt make any sense to me, you know, like in my upbringing. Why would you not want at least the right toyou could say, oh well, democracy doesnt work, or you could have lots and lots of complaints about democracy, but just the idea that you wouldnt agree with democracy as a principle, that you have a right to have your say, that seemed completely alien to me. It didnt really make any sense, because it didnt fit with anything that I knew about the world, or values or just anything that I had heard growing upmy entire framework of understanding the world.

And I think the reason why I would use that example is because, you know, to many Russians, the idea that Ukrainians would just, of their own volition, not want to be part of Russia, or not see themselves as culturally close to Russia, or indeed are not culturally close to Russia, that is similarly alien to them.

The idea that Ukraine would be doing any of this out of its own agency, rather than the West trying once again to destroy Russia just like it destroyed the Soviet Unionin that sort of revisionist versionthats much easier to understand. That makes much more sense, not just because its a nicer narrative, though it is, but also it just makes much more sense to them in terms of everything, in terms of popular culture.

So its also about that element of resonance. If youre going to tell somebody a story, you need to make sure that story, you know, makes sense in the way they live their livesin the same way that its boring to read a book if you start and its got loads of words in italics (denoting a foreign language), and its referring to a culture that you really dont understand, youve never come across before, its very easy to become disengaged and for it to just not sink in. Its a similar issue.

As a final point on the information bubblelook, the information bubble isnt that tight, because if it were, first of all, Russia wouldnt have had all of their debates over taking the coronavirus vaccine. Because there was this huge campaign across all of the state-aligned channels to get people to take the (Russian-made) Sputnik vaccine. And secondly, there wouldnt have been so many people believing very British and American conspiracies about Bill Gates and whatnot. You could easily see Russians were not cut off from the West. They can pick and choose, but again, theyll pick and choose what makes sense within their own framework.

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On Tuesday, the Centre County Board of Commissioners approved a Responsible Contractor Ordinance after hearing over two hours of testimony, with a majority speaking in support.

Over the past 10 years, Centre County has made enormous progress. County government has made great strides in modernizing its operations since 2015 and 2019, and completed a crucial salary study last year. Many of our municipalities have set high standards for inclusiveness and environmental responsibility: key measures of the strength of our communities.

In all the progress, though, theres been one glaring absence: progress on workers rights.

In the past five years, weve watched too many employers violate employee rights to stop them from unionizing. Weve gained notoriety as the epicenter of the largest prevailing wage theft case in United States history. Weve seen five worker deaths, making us among the most dangerous counties for workers in Pennsylvania.

There should be no doubt that theres a problem. Anyone that has read the newspaper or watched the local news has seen it reported: allegations of union busting at The Meadows, struggles faced by both union and non-union Penn State employees, reports of the over $20 million dollars in stolen wages recovered for 1,267 Glenn O. Hawbaker employees, and far too many worker deaths.

The problem can be seen in how many people in our communities struggle to get by: in how many people need to work second or third jobs just to make ends meet, who struggle to find secure and affordable housing, who deal with lack of insurance or underinsurance, and who worry about what theyll do if they get an unexpected medical bill.

A lot of what working families need has to come from Harrisburg, where an over decadelong anti-worker majority halted progress on crucial goals like raising the minimum wage. But there has been tangible work to do locally, and too often, that work has gone undone.

That changed Tuesday.

Not only did the Commissioners vote 2-1 in favor of passing a Responsible Contractor Ordinance, but the community turned out in support. Speakers ranged from professors to retirees, non-union construction workers to members of Building Trades unions, and community members simply there to share their support for enhanced worker protections. Some of those speakers didnt have a personal connection to the construction trades, but they drove to Willowbank to fight for their neighbors, and for workers they dont know.

Something changed in our community. Centre County residents, and their elected officials, took a hard look at the state of workers rights in our county, and decided that theres work to do.

The Responsible Contractor Ordinance is limited, despite the grandiose and misleading claims of a minority of detractors. It wont have an impact beyond large county capital projects, which make up a tiny fraction of the construction work in Centre County. No individual policy can fix every problem, and progress comes in stages.

But the ordinances passage, aside from protecting taxpayers, sends an important message: that when youre working on a Centre County job site, your rights matter.

Theres more work to do, both for construction workers and workers across Centre County. Employees in our crucial service industry have too often been taken advantage of, too many workers want the benefits of a union but face the threat of illegal employer retaliation, too many workers lack access to sick leave, and too many student workers are uncertain of or unable to assert their rights on the job.

Some of the issues facing workers will be addressed through advocacy and through organizing, and some will be addressed through policy. That work is waiting  and for the first time, our community is taking it up.

Connor Lewis is a resident of State College Borough and president of Seven Mountains Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO.
Student debt relief advocates gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington in February. (Patrick Semansky / Associated Press)

In striking down the Biden administrations student loan forgiveness program, the Supreme Court ignored one of the most basic principles of law: When the text of a law is clear, it must be followed unless it is unconstitutional.

A federal statute, the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act), explicitly authorizes the Secretary of Education to waive or modify student loan obligations. That is exactly what President Biden did in his loan forgiveness program, but the court, ruling 6-3, decided that he lacked authority under the law to take this step, which would have helped more than 40 million people.

In the early days of the COVID pandemic, then President Trump used the authority under this statute to suspend the need for most borrowers to repay student loan obligations. Biden, on taking office, continued this relief. He then made it permanent, providing up to $20,000 of forgiveness of student loans for those who qualified.

Two lawsuits were filed challenging this action. One was brought by two individuals who did not qualify for relief under the Biden program. The Supreme Court unanimously found that they lacked standing to sue because striking down the Biden program would not benefit them.

The other lawsuit was brought by Missouri and five other conservative states. As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in dissent, none of these state governments would suffer any injury from the Biden student loan forgiveness program. In fact, just last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Texas and Louisiana lacked standing to challenge the Biden administrations change in immigration policy. The court in that immigration law case said that a state cannot sue the federal government just because of an ideological disagreement with the presidents policies.

Based on that principle, the court should have thrown out Missouris suit as well. Yet Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the conservative majority, said the state could sue even though Missouri itself would suffer no costs from the Biden program. Another public agency, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority  which is legally and financially independent from the state  would incur some costs, but those costs dont affect the state treasury. And that agency was not part of the lawsuit.

The court said that did not matter. Instead, Roberts invoked the major questions doctrine, the principle that a federal agency cannot act on a major question of economic or political significance unless it has clear direction from Congress. Roberts said whether the Secretary of Education can give this loan relief is a major question and that Congress was not sufficiently specific in authorizing such relief.

But the statute says the secretary of education has authority to waive or modify student loan obligations. It is the heart of the law, and hard to imagine clearer language than that.

In the striking down the Biden administrations action, the court ignored the statutes plain language. If Congress wants to rewrite the law because it doesnt like the Biden relief, it can do so, but thats not the role of the court.

More broadly, the courts reliance on the major question doctrine is hazardous. Nowhere is major question defined, and by raising it in this case, the court opens the door for challenges to government regulations of all sorts, including health and safety and environmental regulations.

This would allow any party that doesnt like a regulation to demand that it be struck down because Congress wasnt sufficiently specific on that action. It gives courts the power to strike down executive actions that they dont like, which is exactly what happened in this case. As Kagan wrote in her dissent: The result here is that the Court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness. Congress authorized the forgiveness plan (among many other actions); the Secretary put it in place; and the President would have been accountable for its success or failure.

The real-world result is that more than 40 million people, who need debt relief, will not get it because this conservative court decided to reject a policy it doesnt support.

Erwin Chemerinsky is a contributing writer to Opinion and the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. His latest book is Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
In orbit, a shooting war would never really stop.

A violent conflict in Earths orbit could make space far more dangerous for human use long after hostilities cooled, according to a study published on Friday in the journal of Defense and Peace Economics.

The study found that a shooting war that destroyed 250 satellites would fill Earths orbit with more than 25 million pieces of deadly space debris.

Each new fragment would be the size of a marble or larger (1 centimeter, or 0.4 inches), and would be rocketing along at more than 22,000 miles an hour.

Such a conflict would increase the number of deadly space fragments that size  currently, there about half a million in Earths orbit  by a factor of more than 50.

And every single fragment would create a potentially lethal threat to spacecraft, study coauthor Jose Luis Torres of the University of Malaga wrote.

Those risks arent reserved to a full-scale war, the scientists noted.

Every satellite destruction could result in more than 100,000 new pieces of such high-speed shrapnel, the researchers found  which could take as long as 1,000 years to burn up in the Earths atmosphere.

That means a conflict in the planets orbit would raise the chance of the dreaded Kessler Syndrome: an unintended cascade of space-based destruction which would severely limit  or even close off  human use of the orbit.

Thats a situation dramatized in Alfonso Carons 2013 science-fiction film Gravity, Space.com noted  and its one that the theorys proponent says is already underway.

The cascade process can be more accurately thought of as continuous and as already started, former NASA scientist Don Kessler explained about the theory that bears his name.

In such a situation, each collision or explosion in orbit slowly results in an increase in the frequency of future collisions, Kessler added.

In Gravity, Cuaron depicts the syndrome as a row of falling orbital dominos set off by a blown-up spy satellite releasing a cloud of high-speed debris.

That cloud blows up more satellites, creating an ever-growing cloud that eventually takes out the International Space Station itself.

Kessler himself never envisioned the syndrome as a short-term event but rather as a gradual process in which human-caused debris would become  by a process of exponential growth  a bigger threat to space-based activity than meteorites.

But Kessler also published his seminal 1978 work detailing the potential phenomenon decades before China carried out the first anti-satellite missile test in 2007, which Russia followed with its own test in 2021.

The U.S., meanwhile, has banned the practice  in part, perhaps, because of the risk of blowback.

Such anti-satellite missile tests dramatically increase the probability that the Kessler syndrome will occur, the scientists wrote.

While space is infinite for practical purposes, the parts most useful to human civilization are decidedly limited.

The more than 8,000 satellites we rely on for science, navigation and communications are all within about 22,000 miles of the earths surface  with 90 percent within about 3,000 miles.

That makes space analogous to the ocean: an immense whole accessible only through a far more congested  and contested  fringe of usable coastline.

And like the geopolitics of coastal territories in contested seaways  notably the South and East China Sea  those regarding space have been heating up.

The U.S. Space Force  the newest branch of the military  is preparing for conflicts that spill over into space, security news site Defense One reported this week.

That preparation marks a creeping shift away from the understanding written into the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.

The agreement bars the establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapons and the conduct of military maneuvers on celestial bodies.

While the treaty left some gray area  enough to allow space agency NASA to draw from military officers and researchers  even during the Cold War, space remained remarkably peaceful.

Now tensions in Earths orbit increasingly match those below.

When first learning to pilot satellites in the years before Chinas anti-satellite test, I didnt really train against an adversary trying to destroy my satellite or deny its capabilities. That just wasnt required, Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, told Defense One.

But the Pentagon increasingly appears to view space  home to the strategically vital communication, guidance and navigation systems that guide Earthbound weapons  as a logical extension of conflicts on the planet below.

Under the Trump administration  which established the Space Force  the militarys chief of space operations called for an order of magnitude expansion of our ability to protect and defend American interests in cislunar space and beyond.

The Pentagon has also invested in a network of surveillance satellites and is developing the technology to build potential bases for orbit around Earth and the moon. Meanwhile, China and the Pentagon are attempting to find ways to destroy satellites  for aggression or maintenance  without leaving behind debris, an effort that may be motivated by the risk of Kessler syndrome.

In 2021, one Chinese satellite  the space tug SJ-21  grabbed another defunct Chinese satellite in its robotic arms and pulled it a few hundred miles into an unstable super-graveyard drift orbit.

In such a trajectory, the dead satellite will spiral into the Earths gravity well until it burns up against the high friction of our atmosphere  leaving behind no orbital debris.

Such technologies could imply a beginning of grappling-based space conflict, the commander of the U.S. space command told Congress in 2021.

According to military contractor Northrop Grumman, a new generation of U.S. grapplers may be on the horizon  though the contractor only listed civilian applications.

The aerospace company is collaborating with the Naval Research Laboratory to deploy an autonomous robotic arm for spacecraft by 2025.

The arm will be able to grab and manipulate spacecraft that were not designed to be grappled, Bill Vincent, director of the Navy lab, told Breaking Defense.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  The Maine Legislature's budget-writing committee has reached a bipartisan compromise on the remaining $800 million to $900 million in spending in the upcoming budget, providing startup funding for paid family leave, investing more in child care and providing tax cuts for retirees.

The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee began voting after midnight and didn't wrap up until nearly 4 a.m. Wednesday, June 28. The panel adopted the plan on an 11-1 vote.

It's unclear when the full Legislature will take up the spending proposal, which follows approval of a nearly $10 billion essential services budget along party lines in March to prevent a state government shutdown. It's possible the Maine Senate won't reconvene until next week, after the Fourth of July holiday.

The Maine State House is seen at dawn from Capitol Park on Dec. 2, 2020, in Augusta, Maine.

The proposal includes startup costs for a paid family leave program that both chambers support, along with additional spending for child care workers and to boost a child care affordability program. It also includes more money for emergency medical services and a cost-of-living adjustment for state government retirees.

The proposal includes some tax relief sought by Republicans, increasing the annual income tax pension deduction to $30,000 last tax year to $35,000 for all retired Maine residents this tax year, and more in coming years. It also establishes a Maine Dependent Tax Credit that provide a $300 exemption starting in 2025.

These investments make clear what Maine values  our people and families, Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, one of the committee co-chairs, said in a statement Wednesday.

Some had expected bigger tax cuts.

Jacob Posik, communications director for the conservative Maine Policy Institute, said Republicans went from posturing for $200 million to $400 million in tax cuts to winning a paltry $48 million in tax relief for retirees.

Republicans are selling the farm and signing off on this big spending bill for such a small concession. Youre looking at a state government thats never been more flush with cash than it is right now, he said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Paid family leave approved in Maine's budget negotiations, awaits vote
Papua New Guinea map

Papua New Guinea occupies the eastern part of the world's second largest island and is prey to volcanic activity, earthquakes and tidal waves.

Linguistically, it is the world's most diverse country, with more than 800 languages.

Some 80% of the population live in rural areas. Many in the isolated mountainous interior live within a non-monetarised economy dependent on subsistence agriculture.

In 2019, the inhabitants of Bougainville voted to become independent from Papua New Guinea by 2027, but the central government has said it has the final say.

Read more country profiles - Profiles by BBC Monitoring

INDEPENDENT STATE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA: FACTS

Capital: Port Moresby

Area: 462,840 sq km

Population: 8.9 million

Languages: English, Hiri Motu, Tok Pisin, plus 851 local languages

Life expectancy: 63 years (men) 68 years (women)

LEADERS

Head of state: Charles III, represented by a Governor-General

Prime minister: James Marape

James Marape

Parliament elected James Marape prime minister in May 2019, after the resignation of his predecessor Peter O'Neill.

This followed Mr Marape's own resignation as finance minister in April due to differences over a high-value gas deal.

He was re-elected as prime minister following parliamentary elections in July 2022.

MEDIA

A man reads a newspaper reporting on the cancellation of a visit to Papua New Guinea by US President Joe Biden in Port Moresby on May 18, 2023.

Radio is important in Papua New Guinea, which has scattered, isolated settlements and low levels of literacy.

The government operates a national network and provincial stations. The media operate in a relatively free environment, says Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Television coverage is limited mainly to Port Moresby and the provincial capitals.

Read full media profile

TIMELINE

Papua New Guinea lies on the "Ring of Fire", an area prone to volcanic eruptions

Some key dates in Papua New Guinea's history:

50,000BC - First settlers are thought to arrive on New Guinea from Asia.

c. 7000BC - Agriculture independently develops in the New Guinea highlands, making it one of the few areas in the world where people independently domesticated plants

500BC - Major migration of Austronesian-speaking peoples to the coastal regions of New Guinea takes place.

1526 - Portuguese sailor Jorge de Meneses is the first European visitor. He names one of the islands "ilhas dos Papuas" or "land of fuzzy-haired people".

1546 - Spanish explorer Inigo Ortiz de Retes names the other main island New Guinea because the islanders resemble the people of Guinea in Africa.

1800 - Substantial trade networks are active all over New Guinea, with the Kula ring, a ceremonial exchange system, being particularly extensive.

1860s - American and European whalers frequent the Bismarck Archipelago.

1884 - Britain establishes a protectorate over south-east New Guinea, while Germany annexes the northern part of New Guinea.

1884 - Britain establishes a protectorate, British New Guinea (BNG), over south-east New Guinea, while Germany annexes the northern part as German New Guinea.

1895 - Gold is found on the Mambare River. A gold rush leads to hostilities between locals and miners.

1906 - Control of British New Guinea transferred to the newly independent Commonwealth of Australia and renamed the Territory of Papua.

1914 - Australian forces occupy German New Guinea during the World War One.

1921 - The League of Nations grants Australia a mandate to run German New Guinea, which is governed separately from the Territory of Papua.

1920s - A major gold find along the Bulolo river prompts another gold rush.

1942-45 - New Guinea campaign. Japanese forces occupy parts of both territories, pushing east and south. Allied victories in the battles of Milne Bay, along the Kokoda Trail and around Buna and Gona becomes a key turning point of the Pacific War, forcing the Japanese to retreat. Some 216,000 Japanese, Australian, and US servicemen die during the fighting.

1949 - Australia establishes a joint administration over both territories called the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.

1961 - First elections involving indigenous population.

1963 - UN transfers control of West New Guinea (now Papua) to Indonesia.

1964 - A 64-member House of Assembly replaces Legislative Council and for the first time indigenous representatives are elected to the majority of seats in the legislature.

1971 - Country is renamed Papua New Guinea (PNG).

1973 - Indonesia and PNG agree on the position of their border.

1975 - Papua New Guinea attains full independence from Australia.

1975-76 - Separatist revolt on Bougainville island. The constitution is altered so Bougainville and other districts to have quasi-federal status as provinces.

1977 - First parliamentary elections since independence.

1988-98 - Separatist rebels on Bougainville begin prolonged armed struggle against the government. The recently-formed Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), anxious about environmental destruction and unhappy that profits are leaving the island, forces the closure of the Australian-owned Panguna copper mine. About 20,000 people are killed in the fighting.

1994 - PM Sir Julius Chan signs agreement with several Bougainville secessionist leaders which provides a transitional administration in Bougainville. Bougainville Revolutionary Army leaders are not signatories; they continue to fight for full independence.

1997 - Government hires mercenaries from Sandline International to support government troops in Bougainville, sparking an army mutiny and civil unrest.

1997 - Burnham Truce marks the end of the decade-old armed struggle by Bougainville separatists. Countries in the region establish the Truce Monitoring Group to oversee compliance.

1998 - Permanent ceasefire signed in Bougainville by government representatives and secessionist leaders. Australian-led Peace Monitoring Group takes over from Truce Monitoring Group.

2001 - Bougainville Peace Agreement, guaranteeing a referendum in 10 to 15 years on Bougainville's future political status, is signed in Arawa.

2005 - Bougainville elects its first autonomous government. Former separatist rebel Joseph Kabui becomes president.

2019 - Bougainville overwhelmingly votes for independence in a referendum, to take place by 2027. Talks are continuing between the Bougainville and national governments.
Paralyzed boy only wants one thing as reward for acing exam in heartwarming video

[Source]

A 12-year-old boy who is paralyzed from the waist down has gone viral for requesting a gift for his stepmother as a reward for his stellar performance on a recent exam.

What happened: The heartwarming, wholesome moment was filmed by the boys stepmother, surnamed Yu, while she picked him up from school in Anhui province, China, on June 17.

The Douyin video starts with Yu waiting to pick up Hanhan from school. He approaches her while driving his self-propelled PlasmaCar, then tells Yu that he received a top score on an exam.

After Yu asks Hanhan what he wants as a reward, the boy tells her that he only wishes for a portable fan so that she can use it to beat the summer heat while she delivers his lunch to him at school.

More from NextShark: Heartwarming video of young girl caring for her blind parents goes viral

Touched by the boys words, Yu says, The little sapling I planted has now grown up.

Becoming a family: Yu reportedly married into the boy's family after his birth mother abandoned him and his sister when he was only 3 years old. Yu has stayed by his side for years, taking care of his needs and accompanying him to his hospital visits for consultations.

According to Yu, Hanhan became paralyzed from the waist down as a result of a botched test that damaged his nerves after he was misdiagnosed with a rare type of cancer when he was only a few months old.

More from NextShark: Japanese Multiplication Trick is the Best First Thing Youll Learn in 2021

Going viral: Yus video, which captured the hearts of millions online, went viral with 60 million views in just two days.

More from NextShark: Shanghai nursing home resident taken to morgue in body bag is found to still be alive

Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark!

Viral video captures moment 5-year-old is slapped out of his chair by classmate's father in China
A general view of the Canelon Grande reservoir during a severe drought, in Canelones

In parched Uruguay, tensions rise as water levels fall A general view of the Canelon Grande reservoir during a severe drought, in Canelones

CANELONES, Uruguay (Reuters) - At the Canelon Grande Reservoir, a major source of water for Uruguay's thirsty capital Montevideo, water levels have been so low for so long that grass now covers much of what used to be a lake.

"It's bleak," local Mario del Pino said, standing in the middle of the reservoir, surrounded by weeds and cracked dirt.

"Water used to cover everything you can see."

The South American country of 3.5 million people is reeling from its worst drought in 74 years, pushing frustrated residents to depend on bottled water.

Low rainfall has forced water authorities to use water from a saltier part of the Santa Lucia river, which supplies most of Uruguay's drinking water, leaving tap water undrinkable for many.

"It's horrible. You can't drink it," said teacher Adrian Dias, who buys two or three 6.5 liter (1.7 gallon) bottles of water every two weeks. "My wife has hypertension, so it's impossible for her to drink this water for the amount of salt it has."

Anger over water shortages has incited multiple protests on the streets of the capital. At state-owned water utility OSE, graffiti says "there is no drought, just looting."

"There's water, but it's in private hands," reads a banner hanging outside OSE.

Federico Kreimerman, an OSE union leader, said agribusiness was partially to blame for Uruguay's water woes, explaining water from the Santa Lucia River is siphoned off to private reservoirs for irrigation.

"The share of water for human consumption is tiny," Kreimerman said. "Agribusiness entrepreneurs dam the river and use it for themselves."

Earlier this month, Uruguay's government declared a water emergency, exempting taxes on bottled water and ordering the construction of a new reservoir.

The government is also distributing drinking water to vulnerable groups like schools, nursing homes and hospitals, said Gerardo Amarilla, undersecretary at Uruguay's environment ministry.

"The issue is real," said musician Frank Lampariello, after stocking up on bottled water at a supermarket in Solymar, on Montevideo's outskirts. "It's complicated, especially, for the lower classes."

(Reporting by Alejandro Obaldia; Writing by Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Nearly 1,000 people have been arrested across France overnight as police have claimed they are at war while the family of a teenager shot dead by an officer prepared for his funeral on Saturday.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Saturday morning that 994 people had been arrested in the fourth consecutive night of nationwide clashes while 79 were injured.

In turn, police claimed in a leaked intelligence report that they are at wore with savage hordes of vermin intent on attacking them and destroying as much property as possible.

Nahel Merzouk, 17, will on Saturday be laid to rest following an Islamic ceremony close to his home in the north-western Paris suburb of Nanterre, where he was shot in the chest as he sat at the wheel of a stationary Mercedes last Tuesday.

The officer responsible - identified as Florian M., 38 - remains on remand having been charged with murder.

Meanwhile, Nahel Ms mother, identified as just Mounia, told France 5 television: I dont blame the police, I blame one person: the one who took the life of my son.

The UK Foreign Office has warned British tourists about the dangers of travelling in France.

Key Points

Teens mother speaks out for the first time since shooting

UK issues France travel warning after looting across city

UN says shooting a chance to address racism in police

France to halt bus, tram traffic on Friday night following riots - French interior minister

Young man dies after jumping out of building during riots - Rouen Prosecution Office

Britons travelling to France warned of travel disruption

Friday 30 June 2023 12:48 , Matt Mathers

The UK has warned residents travelling to France they could face disruption to road and public transport journeys following a third night of violent protests over the police shooting of a teenager.

Since 27 June, riots have taken place across France. Many have turned violent. Shops, public buildings and parked cars have been targeted. There may be disruptions to road travel and local transport provision may be reduced,  the Foreign Office said in updated guidance.

Some local authorities may impose curfews. Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable. You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place, check the latest advice with operators when travelling and follow the advice of the authorities.

(AFP via Getty Images)

Thousands more police on streets on Saturday

07:33 , Tara Cobham

France deployed 45,000 police officers and some armoured vehicles on the streets on Saturday as riots rocked French cities for a fourth night over a teenager's fatal shooting by an officer during a traffic stop.

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin ordered a nationwide night-time shutdown of all public buses and trams in response to the riots and added 5,000 police to the streets, increasing the number to 45,000 overall.

ICYMI: Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening?

07:00 , Maroosha Muzaffar

President Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home. while his government is considering all options to restore order after rioters torched cars and buildings and looted shops across France in a third night of violence over the police killing of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

There were more than 800 arrests across the country into Friday, with Mr Macron saying a significant proportion of them were you people. Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings. There was also looting reported in a number of locations, including central Paris.

Read the full piece by Chris Stevenson here:

Where are the French riots and why are they happening?

Bus carrying Chinese tourists attacked in France

06:26 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Chinas state-sponsored Global Times reported today that a bus carrying 41 Chinese tourists was attacked in Marseille, France as unrest continued overnight.

Global Times shared a video also on Twitter which showed a bus carrying Chinese tourists moving through the streets cautiously. The window of the bus was visibly cracked.

Meanwhile, it was reported that the riots were slightly calmer on Friday night throughout France.

Teens mother speaks out for the first time since shooting

05:22 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The mother of the teen who was shot at point blank by a police officer in a French suburb has spoken out for the first time.

Nahel Ms mother -- identified as just Mounia --- told France 5 television: I dont blame the police, I blame one person: the one who took the life of my son.

The 38-year-old officer, meanwhile, was detained and charged with voluntary manslaughter on Thursday. The mother claimed that he saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life.

Time for violence must end and be replaced by a time of mourning and reconstruction'

04:48 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The players of the French football team launched a call for appeasement, awareness and responsibility yesterday after days of unrest.

The time for violence must end and be replaced by a time of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction, urged Les Bleus in a statement posted on social media.

Les Bleus said they were shocked by the brutal death of young Nahel but asked that violence give way to other peaceful and constructive ways of expressing oneself.

Emmanuel Macron urges social media to take down most sensitive types of content'

04:40 , Maroosha Muzaffar

French president Emmanuel Macron has urged social media companies to take down the most sensitive types of content that had been posted on TikTok and Snapchat.

The president has asked them to supply authorities with the names of people using their services to organise violence, it was reported.

A spokesperson for Snapchat, meanwhile, said it had zero tolerance for content that promoted violence and hatred.

Macron accuses protesters of exploiting teenagers death

04:09 , Maroosha Muzaffar

French president Emmanuel Macron has accused protesters of exploiting the death of a teenager shot by police at point-blank range.

According to local reports, the president stopped short of declaring a state of emergency but said that more officers would be deployed to contain the violence.

Mr Macron also urged parents to keep rioting children at home.

ICYMI: Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening?

Saturday 1 July 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce

President Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home. while his government is considering all options to restore order after rioters torched cars and buildings and looted shops across France in a third night of violence over the police killing of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

There were more than 800 arrests across the country into Friday, with Mr Macron saying a significant proportion of them were you people. Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings. There was also looting reported in a number of locations, including central Paris.

Chris Stevenson reports:

Where are the French riots and why are they happening?

In pictures: Protesters hold placards in Bordeaux whilst officers stand guard in Lille

Friday 30 June 2023 23:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Paris has now seen three nights of unrest following the killing of a 17-year-old by police officers on 27 June.

The death of the teenager, known only as Nahel, was captured on video and has shocked France, stirring long-simmering tensions between young people and the police in disadvantaged neighbourhoods around the country.

Transport and businesses have been disrupted as a result of the clashes; on Friday (30 June), interior minister Gerald Darmanin asked regional prefects for all bus and tram services to stop from 9pm local time.

Officers stand guard during riots in Lille (REUTERS)

A protester holds a placard reading

Protesters hold placards reading

A writing made with a marker reads

A riot police vehicle passes by a group of detained demonstrators in Lille (REUTERS)

A CRS riot police officer runs past graffiti reading

Recap: Who is Nahel M? The teen shot dead by police in France

Friday 30 June 2023 23:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Clashes first erupted on Tuesday night in and around the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a teenager, identified as Nahel M, 17, was shot during a traffic check.

Nahels last name has not been released by authorities or his family. On Thursday, his mother called for a silent march in his honour in the square where the teenager was killed.

I lost a child of 17-year-old, they took my baby, the mother, who has not been named, said in a TikTok video.

Read more:

Who is Nahel M? The teen shot dead by police in France

Voices: France may be opening the door for the next Trump

Friday 30 June 2023 22:45 , Eleanor Noyce

In 1981, one of the first acts of Francois Mitterrand, the newly elected Socialist president of France, was to abolish the death penalty. The question France is asking today is: has it come back as state-sanctioned policy?

The video footage of a French police officer shooting a 17-year-old teenager dead at point-blank range through a car window has shocked all of France.

Deputies in the National Assembly held a minutes silence. The young mans mother called for a peaceful demonstration, but once again France erupted in anger with 150 arrests last night as police struggled to control the fury of the countrys north African community.

The video footage of a French policeman shooting a 17-year-old dead through a car window has shocked the whole country, writes Denis MacShane:

France may be opening the door for the next Trump | Denis MacShane

Britons warned to avoid violence hotspots as riots and looting shake France

Friday 30 June 2023 22:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Britons have been warned against travelling to hotspots of violence in France as riots threatened to escalate out of control.

Newly-updated Foreign Office advice warns holidaymakers to avoid areas where riots are taking place as the situation becomes unpredictable.

A total shutdown of public bus and tram services was ordered nationwide on Friday night after shops were looted and several city centres were ablaze from protesters setting light to cars and buildings.

President Emmanuel Macron urged parents to keep teenagers at home, saying his government was considering all options to restore order.

Jane Dalton and Simon Calder report:

Britons warned to avoid violence hotspots as riots shake France

In pictures: Protesters clash with police in Marseille, police stand guard at a shopping centre in Paris

Friday 30 June 2023 21:47 , Eleanor Noyce

Protesters have been pictured clashing with riot police in Marseille, southern France amidst widespread unrest following the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old.

More than 600 people were arrested overnight across France during a third night of unrest over the death of Nahel M, who was shot dead by an officer in Nanterre, about 11km northwest of Paris city centre.

Police officers have also been pictured standing guard in Rosny-sous-Bois, in the eastern suburbs of Paris.

Protesters clash with CRS riot police at the Porte d'Aix in Marseille, southern France on 30 June 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

The unrest has come in response to the killing of 17-year-old Nahel (AFP via Getty Images)

Police officers, one holding a rubber defensive bullet launcher LBD 40 (2nd R), stand guard in front of the shopping centre Rosny 2 in Rosny-sous-Bois, in the eastern suburbs of Paris (AFP via Getty Images)

Police officers detain a protester (R) and stand guard in front of Rosny 2 in Rosny-sous-Bois (AFP via Getty Images)

Police officers stand guard in front a fast food restaurant (AFP via Getty Images)

Man dies after falling from building during riots in northern France - authorities

Friday 30 June 2023 21:38 , Eleanor Noyce

A young man died on Friday after falling from the roof of a supermarket in the suburbs of the northern French city of Rouen during overnight riots, local authorities said.

A police source told Reuters on Friday the man had fallen from the roof as the supermarket in the suburb of Petit-Quevilly in the Bruyeres shopping centre, was being looted by rioters.

The public prosecution office earlier told BFM TV that, based on the ongoing investigation, it was not established the store had been subject to a looting attempt.

Reuters could not verify the two accounts. The prosecution office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Frances interior minister said on Friday the coming hours would be decisive as he sent 45,000 police onto the streets following three nights of riots since an officer shot dead a teenager at a traffic stop in a working class suburb of Paris.

Paris police move to clear protesters from central Place de la Concorde

Friday 30 June 2023 21:26 , Eleanor Noyce

Police started clearing protesters from the iconic central Paris square of Place de la Concorde on Friday evening after an impromptu demonstration started amid nationwide unrest following the fatal shooting of a teenager by police.

Clearing operation is ongoing on Place de la Concorde, police said in a statement.

People protest in support of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop, at Place de la Concorde (REUTERS)

French Republican Security Corps (CRS - Compagnies Republicaines de Securite) police officers walk past a graffiti reading

A protester holds a placard with names of victims with the quote

Systemic, I dont know what that means, says CGT Police union figure on racism

Friday 30 June 2023 21:15 , Eleanor Noyce

At the heart of the riots convulsing the racially mixed, working-class neighbourhoods around French cities are long-standing accusations by rights group of systemic racism in the police.

Police unions, and the interior minister with them, say there are only isolated cases of racism and deny it is systemic or widespread.

Yes, there are racists, nobody denies that, Anthony Caille of the CGT Police union told Reuters. But systemic, I dont know what that means.

Because France is officially colour-blind and limits the use of ethnic statistics, it is hard to back up with data the widespread resentment among racial minorities that they are over-targeted by police and discriminated against.

In a significant ruling, the Paris Court of Appeal in 2021 found discrimination was behind police identity checks of three high school students - French nationals of Moroccan, Malian and Comorian origin - at a Paris train station in 2017.

What we see is that it is difficult for magistrates to hand prison time to police officers - France is not an isolated case, in the U.S. and in Nordic countries, there are difficulties to condemn and sanction police officers too, sociologist Sebastian Roche, editor of the Policing and Society journal, said.

After the Yellow Vest crisis of 2018-2019, which saw months of violent protests and a police clampdown, police doctrine and tactics also came under renewed criticism.

A rise in lethal police shootings over the last few years has been linked to a law reform in 2017, which broadens the circumstances in which an officer can use their firearm.

Coming into force in the aftermath of the 2016 Islamist attack in Nice, the law allows police officers to fire if they think the driver is likely to cause harm to people. Critics say that the provision creates a grey zone.

It is completely vague, and it allows to shoot much more freely, said Caille of the left-wing CGT police union.

Reuters analysis: Have there been efforts to reform the police in France?

Friday 30 June 2023 20:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Government ministers that have tried to reform the police in France and to give more independence to its watchdog have done so at their peril.

In June 2020, Macrons former interior minister Christophe Castaner, who hailed from the Socialists, detailed plans to reform the police. These included a ban on the controversial use of chokeholds during arrests, reform of the IGPN police watchdog, as well as a zero-tolerance policy for racism in the police.

After an outcry from police unions, he was replaced by the tough-talking Gerald Darmanin, a former conservative, in a reshuffle a month later.

Either you support the police or you run into trouble, said Franck Louvrier, a former communications adviser to ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy when he was interior minister.

The interior ministry is all about the human factor, the feelings you have for them, because police officers are under attack every day.

A proposal by Darmanin to reform the polices investigative branch angered the police this year, prompting several strikes at an uncomfortable time for the government just as the general public demonstrated against changes to pension rules.

Mothers tragic last words with teenage son shot to death by Paris police sparking days of riots

Friday 30 June 2023 20:17 , Eleanor Noyce

The mother of a teenage boy whose death has sparked furious riots in France has described their last moments together before he was fatally shot in the chest by police.

The 17-year-old, named only as Nahel M and described as a French citizen with Algerian heritage, was shot at near point-blank range on Tuesday as he attempted to drive away from police who had pulled over his Mercedes in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

His death, footage of which was shared to social media, has prompted three nights of intense riots across France, resulting in nearly 900 arrests.

My colleague Andy Gregory has the full story:

Mothers tragic last words with son killed by Paris police sparking days of riots

Tour de France organisers ready to adapt amid riots

Friday 30 June 2023 19:47 , Eleanor Noyce

Tour de France organisers are ready to adjust to any situation amid the riots that have erupted in the country following the fatal shooting of a teenager by police, race director Christian Prudhomme said on Friday.

We are in constant liaison with the State services and we are following the situation and how it has been evolving, Prudhomme told reporters.

Law enforcement officers are designated to ensure security at the end of every stage and questions arose as to whether they could be pulled out of the race to be redeployed to anti-rioting duties.

Depending on what happens we will adapt if needed, said Prudhomme.

The Tour starts on Saturday from Bilbao and will enter France on Monday with a finish in Bayonne and a start from Dax for the fourth stage on Tuesday.

Fans cheer on cyclists on Pike Bidea ahead of the Tour de France (REUTERS)

France to deploy 45,000 police to tackle riots on Friday night - Darmanin

Friday 30 June 2023 19:35 , Eleanor Noyce

45,000 police and gendarme officers will be deployed throughout the country on Friday evening, Frances Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told TF1 television as the country braces for more violence on the streets following the killing of a 17-year-old by a police officer earlier this week.

French police, long unreformed, under scrutiny after teenager shooting

Friday 30 June 2023 19:15 , Eleanor Noyce

The killing of a teenager by a police officer this week has revived long-standing questions about the state of the French police and the inability of consecutive governments to reform an institution bound by powerful unions.

In a country beset by regular bouts of unrest that often draw calls for a crackdown on trouble-makers, it can be hard to criticise a force that is under strain and losing staff.

But experts say the authorities can no longer turn a blind eye to accusations by right groups of rampant racism with the force, racial profiling, and questions about recruitment, training and police doctrine.

What remains constant is a refusal by political powers to act on one of the factors of this explosive cocktail: the police, historian Cedric Mas said on Twitter.

Riots in the US and Britain in the 60s and 80s have led to deep reforms of the police. In France? Nothing for the past 40 years, he said.

Many western governments, from Britain in 2011 to the United States with the Black Lives Matter movement born in 2013, have had to deal with race riots against police over the past decades. But officially colour-blind France has long refused to acknowledge any racial factor was at play.

Although France has introduced about 30 pieces of legislation on law and order in the past two decades, none have included an overhaul of police forces since a 1995 reform that gave broad co-management powers to unions, said Olivier Cahn, a law professor at Cergy University.

From that point on, unions were involved in everything thats co-managed, including the managing of human resources, he told Reuters. The concrete result in following years was unions doing deals with different interior ministers.

Paris shooting: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening?

Friday 30 June 2023 18:47 , Eleanor Noyce

President Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home. while his government is considering all options to restore order after rioters torched cars and buildings and looted shops across France in a third night of violence over the police killing of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

There were more than 800 arrests across the country into Friday. Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings. There was also looting reported in a number of locations, including central Paris.

My colleague Chris Stevenson has the full story:

Where are the French riots and why are they happening?

Travellers warned to be aware of disruptions amid France riots

Friday 30 June 2023 18:18 , Eleanor Noyce

The Government has updated its advice for travellers to France amid rioting across the country.

The incidents follow the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver and have resulted in the arrests so far of 875 people.

The interior minister has ordered a complete shutdown of all public bus and tram services across the country to take effect before sunset on Friday.

Millions of British people visit France every year, with the country a popular summer holiday destination too.

Dominic McGrath reports:

Travellers warned to be aware of disruptions amid France riots

Growing concern among British holidaymakers in France or booked to travel over weekend

Friday 30 June 2023 17:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Concern is growing among British holidaymakers who are already in France or planning to travel there over the weekend.

The Independent calculates that around 260,000 British travellers are booked on flights, ferries and trains to France on Saturday and Sunday.

While most of the unrest has taken place well away from tourist areas, closing down public transport in Paris and other big cities at night will cause significant problems for many holidaymakers.

Britains biggest budget airline, easyJet, says it will allow passengers who are booked to travel on Saturday or Sunday to switch to a different flight without paying the normal 49 fee.

An easyJet spokesperson said: Any customers due to fly to France this weekend who would like to change their plans can contact our customer service team for assistance with their options which includes a transfer to an alternative flight and we will waive the change fee.

Almost all Eurostar trains from London to Paris at the weekend are full, representing around 20,000 travellers.

A spokesperson for Eurostar spokesperson said: Our services to France are currently running as scheduled and normal ticket conditions apply.

We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates on Eurostar.com and Twitter if this changes.

As the Foreign Office is not warning against travel, holidaymakers will not be able to claim if they decide not to continue with their trip to France, or to come home early.

Young man dies after jumping out of building during riots - Rouen Prosecution Office

Friday 30 June 2023 17:49 , Eleanor Noyce

A young man has died after jumping out of a building during riots last night, BFM TV reported on Friday, citing the public prosecution office in Rouen, northern France.

The supermarket on the buildings ground floor had been hit by riots.

France riots: Burnt cars pictured lining the streets in Nanterre, wreckages removed in Nantes

Friday 30 June 2023 17:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Violence has flared in the cities of Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille as well as Paris where 17-year-old Nahel M. - of Algerian and Moroccan descent - was shot dead on Tuesday in the working class suburb of Nanterre. His death, caught on video at a traffic stop, has ignited longstanding complaints among poor, racially mixed, urban communities of police violence and racism.

Videos on social media showed urban landscapes ablaze. A tram was set alight in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses gutted in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.

In Nanterre on the capitals outskirts, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following an earlier peaceful vigil.

Looters ransacked shops including an Apple store in the eastern city of Strasbourg, a local official said. A source told Reuters that several Casino supermarkets had been looted.

The energy minister said several staff of power distribution firm Enedis were injured by stones during clashes. The interior ministry said 79 police posts were attacked overnight, as well as 119 public buildings including 34 town halls and 28 schools.

Burnt cars line the street at the foot of the Pablo Picasso estate in Nanterre, west of Paris on 30 June 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Wreckages of burnt cars being removed in Nantes, western France (AFP via Getty Images)

Workers secure a burnt annex building of the city hall in Nantes, western France (AFP via Getty Images)

Snapchat monitoring riots in France closely

Friday 30 June 2023 17:14 , Eleanor Noyce

Snapchat has zero tolerance when it comes to content that promotes violence or hatred, a spokesperson told Reuters in a reply to French President Emmanuel Macrons request to social media platforms to help tame violence amid riots in France.

We continue to monitor the situation, the spokesperson said.

The riots erupted this week following the killing of a 17-year-old by a police officer.

Macron earlier said social media helped rioters organise themselves but also contributed to mimicking behaviour by some young people, who repeated what they saw online and lost track of reality.

Is it safe to travel to Paris right now?

Friday 30 June 2023 16:54 , Eleanor Noyce

Paris has now seen three nights of unrest following the killing of a 17-year-old by police officers on 27 June.

The death of the teenager, known only as Nahel, was captured on video and has shocked France, stirring long-simmering tensions between young people and the police in disadvantaged neighbourhoods around the country.

But as the French capital is gearing up for its annual influx of summer holidaymakers, is it safe to travel to Paris?

Benjamin Parker reports:

Is it safe to travel to Paris right now?

In pictures: Police officers in riot gear stand guard in Strasbourg, a shopkeeper cleans graffiti from a storefront

Friday 30 June 2023 16:25 , Eleanor Noyce

More than 800 arrests have taken place across France following widespread protests over the police killing of a 17-year-old boy, identified as Nahel, in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings. There was also looting reported in a number of locations, including central Paris.

Looters ransacked shops including an Apple store in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, a local official said on Friday.

French police officers in riot gear stand guard and hold tear gas canister launchers next to the facade of a damaged Apple Store at Place Kleber, in Strasbourg, eastern France, on 30 June 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Riots and incidents occured nationwide after a 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest by police at point-blank range in Nanterre, a western suburb of Paris (AFP via Getty Images)

A shopkeeper cleans a Macron graffiti written on the storefront in Paris, France, 30 June 2023 (EPA)

Pop concert due to take place at Stade De France on Friday called off

Friday 30 June 2023 16:17 , Eleanor Noyce

A pop concert due to take place at the Stade De France on Friday night has been called off due to riots. The news was confirmed by a prefect of the Seine-Saint-Denis Departement, Reuters reports.

Frances national stadium, it is located in the commune of Saint-Denis, north of Paris. It is Europes sixth-largest stadium, with a capacity of 80,698.

Canadian-French pop artist Mylene Farmer had been due to perform there on Friday and Saturday night.

By administrative decision, Mylene Farmers concerts at the Stade de France on 30 June and 1 July have been cancelled, a statement in English on the Stade De France website reads.

We are working on the modalities which will be communicated to you later. We understand your disappointment, but hope to see you again at the Stade de France very soon.

UN says shooting a chance to address racism in police

Friday 30 June 2023 16:15 , Eleanor Noyce

The United Nations rights office has emphasised the importance of peaceful assembly, urging French authorities to ensure that use of force by police is legal, proportional and non-discriminatory.

This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement, spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

The policeman, who prosecutors said had acknowledged firing a lethal shot at the teenager, was on Thursday placed under formal investigation for voluntary homicide - equivalent to being charged under Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions. He is being held in preventive custody.

His lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, said his client had aimed down towards the drivers leg but was bumped, causing him to shoot towards his chest. Obviously (the officer) didnt want to kill the driver, Lienard said on BFM TV.

Some Western governments warned citizens to be cautious.

Americans should avoid mass gatherings and areas of significant police activity, the U.S. Embassy said in a tweet, while UK authorities warned Britons of possible disruption to transport and local curfews.

The unrest has revived memories of three weeks of nationwide riots in 2005 that forced then-president Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency.

That wave of violence erupted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois following the death of two young men who were electrocuted in a power substation as they hid from police.

Looters ransacks Strasbourg stores amid French riots

Friday 30 June 2023 16:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Looters ransacked shops including an Apple store in the eastern French city of Strasbourg amid country-wide riots on Friday, a local official said.

A French police officer in riot gear stands guard holding a tear gas canister launcher next to the facade of a damaged Apple Store at Place Kleber, in Strasbourg, eastern France, on 30 June 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Paris court reverses French police ban on Iranian opposition rally

Friday 30 June 2023 15:55 , Eleanor Noyce

A Paris court on Friday reversed a decision by the French capitals police to ban an upcoming Iranian opposition rally over the risk of an attack, saying it interfered with the basic freedom to protest.

The ruling by the Paris administrative tribunal comes as police are fully stretched amid the worst riots seen across cities in France since 2005 sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager.

The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), political arm of the Peoples Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), has held frequent rallies in the French capital over the years. They have attracted thousands of followers and are often attended by high profile former U.S., European and Arab officials critical of the Islamic Republic.

In a letter signed by Paris police chief on 15 June and seen by Reuters said it could not allow the protest because of security concerns.

That ban came just days after the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of masterminding a plot to bomb the group in 2018 and as Western powers seek to defuse tensions with Iran.

The court said the ban excessively violated the fundamental freedom to demonstrate. The rally will now take place near the French Foreign Ministry in central Paris on Saturday, for a limited period and be confined to one area. The protesters will also provide extra private security, the court said.

In a statement the NCRI welcomed the ruling, which it said denied Iran the opportunity to exploit security concerns under false pretences in order to suppress democracy and freedom of expression.

France to halt bus, tram traffic on Friday night following riots - French interior minister

Friday 30 June 2023 15:23 , Eleanor Noyce

Frances interior minister Gerald Darmanin has asked prefects in the whole country to exceptionally halt public transport with busses and trams from 2100 local time, his office confirmed when asked by Reuters following local media reports.

The move is part of a bundle of measures to ease tensions after heavy riots erupted throughout the country following the killing of a 17-year-old by a police officer.

Bus and tram traffic halted across France on Friday night

Friday 30 June 2023 15:16 , Eleanor Noyce

The French interior minister has asked local prefects across the whole of France to halt all bus and tram traffic on Friday night following widespread riots, Reuters reports.

More follows...

Fear of no end to riots across France after police killing of teen: Its getting worse and worse

Friday 30 June 2023 15:00 , Eleanor Noyce

France is considering all options to restore order after rioters torched cars and buildings and looted shops across the country, in a third night of violent anger over the police killing of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

President Emmanuel Macron, who has so far resisted growing calls to declare a state of emergency, arrived in Paris from Brussels after leaving a European Union summit early to attend a second cabinet crisis meeting in two days.

Anthony Cuthbertson reports from Nanterre, the Paris suburb where 17-year-old Nahel was shot dead:

Fear of no end to riots in France after police killing of teen: Its getting worse

French city of Marseille bans protests this Friday after latest riots in France

Friday 30 June 2023 14:43 , Eleanor Noyce

Marseille, Frances second-largest city, has decided to ban public demonstrations this Friday after last nights latest riots in France, said the local authorities for the city.

All public transport in Marseille will also stop as from 7pm local time this Friday.

Recap: Where are the riots in France and why are they happening?

Friday 30 June 2023 14:30 , Matt Mathers

The 17-year-old, identified as Nahel, was driving a car on Tuesday morning when he was pulled over for breaking traffic rules, prosecutors said. The teenager was too young to hold a full driving license in France.

Police initially reported that one officer had shot at the teenager because he was driving his car towards him. But this version of events was quickly contradicted by a video circulating on social media.

On Thursday, The Nanterre prosecutor said that witness statements, CCTV video footage, amateur video footage, and statements from police offers were being used to piece together the timeline of events from Tuesday morning.

Chris Stevenson reports:

Where are the French riots and why are they happening?

Macron: Keep teenagers at home tonight, president urges parents

Friday 30 June 2023 14:02 , Matt Mathers

Emmanuel Macron is urging parents to keep teenagers at home to quell rioting spreading across France and says social media is fuelling copycat violence.

After a second crisis meeting with senior ministers, the French President said on Friday that social networks are playing a "considerable role" in the spreading unrest triggered by the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old boy.

He said he wants social media such as Snapchat and TikTok to remove sensitive content and that violence is being organised online.

Of young rioters, he said: "We sometimes have the feeling that some of them are living in the streets the video games that have intoxicated them."

Frances President Emmanuel Macron (Stephanie Lecocq /Reuters)

In pictures: Clean-up operation after third night of violence

Friday 30 June 2023 13:35 , Matt Mathers

Tram set alight during unrest

Friday 30 June 2023 12:45 , Matt Mathers

Overnight videos on social media showed urban landscapes ablaze across the country. A tram was set alight in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses gutted in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.

The facade of the adjacent Aubervilliers aquatic centre, where training will take place for the Olympics in 2024, was slightly damaged in the fire, SOLIDEO - the company in charge of the Games infrastructures - told Reuters.

In Nanterre on the citys outskirts, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following an earlier peaceful vigil held to pay tribute to the dead boy.

In the Chatelet Les Halles shopping mall in central Paris, a Nike shoe store was broken into, and several people were arrested after store windows were smashed along the adjacent Rue de Rivoli shopping street, Paris police said.

Transport Minister Clement Beaune told RMC radio early on Friday he did not rule out shutting down the capitals public transport network.

A source told Reuters that several Casino supermarkets were looted across the country.

(AFP via Getty Images)

Government to examine all options to quell unrest

Friday 30 June 2023 12:15 , Matt Mathers

Frances government was set to examine "all options" for restoring order on Friday after nationwide unrest escalated overnight into the most destructive rioting since police shot and killed a teenager at a traffic stop.

President Emmanuel Macron was en route to Paris from Brussels after leaving a European Union summit early so he could attend a second cabinet crisis meeting convened in two days.

The government would examine "all options" for restoring order, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said, calling the violence "intolerable and inexcusable" in a tweet.

"The priority is to ensure national unity and the way to do it is to restore order," she later told reporters during a visit to a Paris suburb.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne meets emergency workers (AFP via Getty Images)

Who is Nahel M? The teen shot dead by police in France

Friday 30 June 2023 11:47 , Matt Mathers

Nahels last name has not been released by authorities or his family. His mother has called for a silent march on Thursday in his honour in the square where the teenager was killed.

"I lost a child of 17-year-old, they took my baby," the mother, who has not been named, said in a TikTok video.

"He was still a child, he needed his mother. This morning he gave me a big kiss and told me he loved me. I told him be careful and I loved him."

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:

Who is Nahel M? The teen shot dead by police in France

People in France becoming afraid over increasing violence

Friday 30 June 2023 11:28 , Matt Mathers

People in France are becoming afraid due to the increasing violence on the streets after the police killing of Nahel M.

Amina Kalache, a journalist who lives in the district where the teenager was shot dead, said the unrest got more intense on Thursday night.

More comments from Ms Kalache below:

"People are very afraid now."



Amina Kalache, a journalist in Nanterre, tells us what she's seen as unrest has erupted across France.



Read more: https://t.co/gYOWrAtx9P



 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/59y8KFJWn9  Sky News (@SkyNews) June 30, 2023

UN says France fatal shooting an opportunity to address racism in law enforcement

Friday 30 June 2023 11:14 , Matt Mathers

The United Nations rights office said on Friday it was concerned by the fatal shooting of a teenager by police that triggered unrest across France.

"This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement," spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

"We also emphasize the importance of peaceful assembly. We call on the authorities to ensure use of force by police to address violent elements in demonstrations always respects the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability."

Firefighters douse the flames of a hotel set on fire on Thursday night (KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)

Macron goes to Elton John gig as Paris burns in mass protests

Friday 30 June 2023 10:25 , Matt Mathers

Emmanuel Macron has sparked anger by attending an Elton John concert in Paris as riots raged in France over the police killing of a teenage delivery driver.

Footage showed him tapping his foot along to the 76-year-old pianist as he performed hits such as Saturday Nights Alright for Fighting and Burn Down the Mission.

Andy Gregory reports:

Macron goes to Elton John gig as Paris burns in mass protests

Watch: Looted Paris shops in ruins amid riots

Friday 30 June 2023 10:19 , Matt Mathers

A video shows shops in Paris ruined after a third night of violent protests over the police killing of a teenager.

Protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police in French streets overnight as tensions grew over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old.

Overnight protesters lit a fire at the city hall of the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and set a bus depot ablaze in Aubervilliers.

Shops were also looted and damaged during the unrest

Clean-up operation underway

Friday 30 June 2023 09:19 , Matt Mathers

The clean-up from yesterdays riots in Nanterre is underway. Its the third morning in a row for municipal workers here, with one telling me he expects to be back again tomorrow morning, Anthony Cuthbertson reports from Nanterre.

Dozens of shopfronts are smashed up, with one bank completely gutted by arsonists. Some fires are still smouldering, and one street alone has six burntaout cars lined up on one side.

"We closed early yesterday, expecting trouble," says Pascal Mitieus, as he picks broken glass from the shattered windows of his salad shop.

"It was calm when I left but by 4pm it had turned to hell. Its getting worse and worse. Its become completely out of control."

Despite the mess its remarkably peaceful here this morning. A few feet from a burned out carousel a man is fishing in the lake, which protesters were using yesterday to wash teargas off their face. "I missed all that," he says. "I was sleeping."

(Anthony Cuthbertson)

Unrest in pictures: Violent protests break out across France

Friday 30 June 2023 08:53 , Matt Mathers

(AFP via Getty Images)

Fireworks explode as policemen stand by during protests in Roubaix, northern France.

(AFP via Getty Images)

Police stand by as material explodes in the Cite Pablo Picasso area of Nanterre, north-west of Paris.

(AFP via Getty Images)

A firefighter puts out a fire during protests in Lille, northern France.

(AFP via Getty Images)

People look at burning tyres blocking a street in Bordeaux, south-western France.

(AP)

Riot police officers charge at youths during a demonstration in Paris.

Schools, town halls and police stations targeted in protests

Friday 30 June 2023 08:43 , Matt Mathers

Schools, town halls and police stations were targeted by people setting fires, and police used tear gas, water cannons and dispersion grenades against rioters, the spokesperson said.

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin on Friday denounced what he called a night of "rare violence".

His office described the arrests as a sharp increase on previous operations as part of an overall government efforts to be "extremely firm" with rioters.

The government has stopped short of declaring a state of emergency - a measure taken to quell weeks of rioting around France that followed the accidental death of two boys fleeing police in 2005.

(AFP via Getty Images)

Where is Nanterre?

Friday 30 June 2023 08:24 , Matt Mathers

Nanterre, where Nahel M was killed, is a working-class district about 11km northwest of Paris city centre.

Protests erupted there after the 17-year-old was shot dead by a police officer and have since spread to the capital and other parts of France.

It has a population of around 95,000.

200 officers injured during clashes

Friday 30 June 2023 08:08 , Matt Mathers

At least 200 police officers were injured during clashes last night, authorities have said.

Fireworks and other missiles were thrown at officers deployed to quell unrest.

Armored police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the teen.

On the other side of Paris, protesters lit a fire at the city hall of the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and set a bus depot ablaze in Aubervilliers.

The French capital also saw fires and some stores ransacked.

EUR-GEN FRANCIA-TIROTEO POLICIA (AP)

Macron to hold second crisis meeting

Friday 30 June 2023 07:45 , Matt Mathers

French president Emmanuel Macron will hold a new government emergency meeting later on Friday after riots erupted for the third night in a row across the country in protest over the deadly shooting of a teen by police earlier in the week, reported BFM TV, citing the Elysee palace.

The meeting will take place at 1100 GMT, added BFM TV.

On Thursday, Mr Macron described the fatal shooting as inexplicable and inexcusable  saying nothing justifies a young person being killed

More below:

Macron calls fatal shooting of teenager by police inexcusable

Recap: Where are the French riots and why are they happening?

Friday 30 June 2023 07:41 , Matt Mathers

The 17-year-old, identified as Nahel, was driving a car on Tuesday morning when he was pulled over for breaking traffic rules, prosecutors said. The teenager was too young to hold a full driving license in France.

Chris Stevenson has more:

Where are the French riots and why are they happening?

Nearly 700 people arrested across France as violence continues for third night over teens killing

Friday 30 June 2023 07:39 , Matt Mathers

At least 667 people across France were arrested till Friday as Paris and other parts of the country burned for the third consecutive night over the killing of a 17-year-old boy.

Riots broke out in and around the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the teen of North African descent, identified as Nahel M, 17, was shot during a traffic check.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:

At least 667 people arrested in France as violence continues for third night

Friday 30 June 2023 07:32 , Matt Mathers

Good morning and welcome to The Independents coverage of riots in France.

More than 600 people were arrested across the country in a third night of violent protests over the police killing of Nahel M.

Well bring you the latest updates on this story as they come in throughout the day.
Scot Peterson reacts as he is found not guilty on all charges - Amy Beth Bennett

A Florida jury on Thursday acquitted a former sheriffs deputy accused of failing to protect students during the 2018 mass shooting at Parklands Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Scot Peterson, the school resource officer on duty when a gunman entered a building on February 14, 2018 and opened fire, killing 17 and wounding another 17, had been charged with 11 counts of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury.

Mr Peterson, 60, put his head on the table in front of him and sobbed with relief as the judge read aloud the not guilty verdict to each count. The jurys verdict spared him what could have been a prison sentence of 97 years.

After the verdict, Mr Peterson told reporters at the courthouse that he would like to talk to the parents of students who lost their lives in the shooting.

If they need to really know the truth of what occurred... Ill be there for them, he said, choking back tears.

In a statement, the Broward State Attorneys Office, which brought the case, repeated its argument that Mr Peterson could have done more to protect members of the school community, and that his inaction had a dire impact on the victims.

For the first time in our nations history, prosecutors in this case have tried to hold an armed school resource officer responsible for not doing his job, the statement said.

Mr Peterson kisses his wife Lydia Rodriguez after he was found not guilty - Reuters

Some parents of victims who attended the trial were also disappointed by the outcome.

All I can say to the members of the jury is, I think your school should hire him to protect your children, said Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was one of the students killed in the shooting. Mr Montalto rejected Mr Petersons offer to talk.

Mr Peterson was armed but never went inside while the shooting was under way, according to the Broward County Sheriffs Office and surveillance video.

He is one of few law enforcement officers ever prosecuted for failing to take action or provide care.

The outcome of the highly unusual case could set a legal precedent and induce prosecutors around the country to refrain charging similar officials with negligence after other shootings.

Mr Peterson did not testify in his trial, which lasted two and a half weeks. A jury in October spared Nikolas Cruz, the gunman in the Parkland shooting, from the death penalty, instead calling for life in prison without possibility of parole.

In May, the United States marked the one-year anniversary of the deadliest US school shooting in nearly a decade, in which a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 children and two teachers and injured 17 others.

Police waited more than an hour to enter and confront the shooter in that case, prompting widespread criticism.

A report by the Texas Department of Public Safety found an Uvalde police officer could have shot the gunman before he entered the school but hesitated while awaiting permission from a supervisor.

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A Florida jury on Thursday cleared a former school security officer who was charged over his failure to confront a gunman who massacred 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, in an emotional trial that left bitter feelings on both sides.

Scot Peterson, who was a Broward County sheriffs deputy and worked as a resource officer at the school in Parkland, was charged in 2019 with seven counts of neglect of a child, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury.

He was found not guilty on all counts. As the first acquittals were announced, an emotional Peterson put his head down on the defense table and openly wept.

The charges carried a maximum potential sentence of 96 years in state prison, the Broward County State Attorneys Office said.

Seventeen students, teachers and staff members were killed Feb. 14, 2018, and 17 more were injured.

Peterson, 60, was the only other person at the school with a gun when the shooter opened fire. He was forced to retire after the shooting.

"We got our life back after 4  years ... and being able to put the truth out of what happened," Peterson told reporters outside court. "It's been an emotional roller coaster for so long."

Scot Peterson after he was found not guilty on all charges at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Thursday, June 29, 2023. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

In a lengthy post-verdict statement, Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor was unapologetic about his office's decision to prosecute Peterson even though no convictions were won.

For the first time in our nations history, prosecutors in this case have tried to hold an armed school resource officer responsible for not doing his job. We did so because we think its important not only to our community, but to the country as a whole," Pryor said.

He addressed anyone who has "tried to make this political."

"It is not political to expect someone to do their job," Pryor said in the statement. "Especially when its the vital job of being a school resource officer  an armed law enforcement officer with special duties and responsibilities to the children and staff members they are contracted to protect."

Peterson was arrested in Broward County after a 15-month investigation found he refused to investigate the source of the gunshots, retreated during the active shooting while victims were being shot and directed other law enforcement who arrived on scene to remain 500 feet away from the building, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School School Resource Officer Scot Peterson during his trial at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Amy Beth Bennett / South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP Pool file)

Pryor thanked jurors for their service but did not stop hammering Peterson.

"Scot Petersons inaction and the misinformation he provided to law enforcement officers had a dire impact on the children and adults who died or were injured on the third floor of the 1200 Building," Pryor said in his statement. "He stood by, leaving an unrestricted killer to spend 4 minutes and 15 seconds wandering the halls at leisure  firing close to 70 rounds and killing or injuring ten of the 34 children and educators who bore the brunt of the massacre."

Outside court Thursday, Peterson maintained only one person was to be blamed for the deaths of 17 people more than five years ago.

"Don't anybody ever forget this was a massacre on Feb. 14," he said. The "only to person to blame was that monster."

Peterson grouped himself with the other police officers and sheriff's deputies who flooded the scene shortly after shots were fired and said law enforcement offers were not at fault.

"We did the best we could with the information we had," he said. "And God knows we wish we had more."

A former student pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder. Last year, a jury spared him the death penalty, recommending that he be sentenced to life in prison without parole.

In an interview with NBC's "TODAY" show about three months after the shooting, Peterson, a 33-year law enforcement veteran, apologized to the families of the 17 victims.

Im sorry, he said through tears.

He said at the time it wasnt fear that kept him from rushing into the school as the gunman stalked the halls with an AR-15. He cited chaos, miscommunication and his assumption that the shots were being fired outside by a sniper.

I didnt get it right, Peterson said. But it wasnt because of some, Oh, I dont want to go into that building. Oh, I dont want to face somebody in there. It wasnt like that at all.

Peterson's lawyer hailed the verdicts as a win for law enforcement.

"We are extremely pleased with the outcome today. But understand something: This is not just a victory for Scot. It's a victory for every law enforcement officer in this country who does the best they can every single day," Mark Eiglarsh said. "How dare prosecutors try to second-guess the actions of honorable, decent police officers."

Even with across-the-board acquittals, Tony Montalto, the father of victim Gina Montalto, refused to believe Peterson was not criminally at fault.

"His inaction contributed to the pain of our entire community, and we don't understand how this jury looked at the evidence that was presented and found him hot guilty," he told reporters outside court.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The US Department of Defense has information that some of the mercenaries of the Russian Wagner Private Military Company are still on the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine.

Source: General Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon Press Secretary, quoted by the Ukrinform news agency

Quote: "On Wagner Group and its disposition, what I would tell you is, right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine."

Details: Ryder also commented on media reports that satellite images of military units in Belarus showed new buildings that could be used to house Wagner PMC fighters.

"I've seen the press reports [...]. Clearly, that's something that we'll continue to keep an eye on," Ryder said.

Ryder has also said that US intelligence would keep monitoring the activities of all Wagner PMC clusters in different regions of the world.

Background:

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A Pasco man wanted for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol was arrested outside the home of former President Barack Obama on Thursday.

Taylor Taranto was said to have gone to Obamas house with materials to make a Molotov cocktail. He had also previously livestreamed threats to public figures. He was eventually chased and arrested by Secret Service agents blocks away, with no reported injuries.

Taranto has an open arrest warrant related to the January 6 attack, and is a co-defendant in a lawsuit from the widow of Metro Police Officer Jeffrey Smith. Smith later died by suicide, and his wife has accused him of assaulting her husband and playing a role in his death.

Taranto has admitted in court filings related to the lawsuit to being inside the Capitol during the January 6 riot, but denied any wrongdoing.

Law enforcement says that he had been in Washington, D.C. for at least the last couple months, and was spotted camping in a van near the jail where a handful of January 6 defendants are being housed.
SPRING HILL  Every time Derek Redmond closes his eyes, he relives the same nightmare. Except it wasnt a nightmare, it was real. He struggles to sleep, saying he just sees the shooting again whenever he tries. His doctors told him that crying could make his eye injuries worse. But after such a gruesome tragedy, he said, sometimes that is the only thing he can do.

Redmond, 45, is a survivor of a May 17 shooting in Spring Hill that took the lives of his father and his dog, left his 15-year-old nephew unconscious for weeks in the hospital and nearly blinded him. It happened at his home on Bathurst Avenue.

Steven Laporta, the man Redmond identified to Pasco County Sheriffs Office deputies as the shooter, was indicted by a grand jury June 9 on charges that include first-degree murder, attempted murder and cruelty to animals. He faces the death penalty.

Laporta, 36, had been a family friend for more than 25 years, according to Redmond. He said that Laporta, known as Pounds, had spent Christmas with the family many years and referred to Redmonds dad as Dad. Laporta even was at the hospital when Redmonds nephew was born.

On May 17, Laporta injected himself with methamphetamine in Redmonds bedroom while Redmond smoked marijuana, according to court documents. Deputies said that after injecting the meth Laporta referred to himself as God and the angel of death.

Eventually, Redmond leaned back in his black leather recliner and fell asleep. The familys 9-year-old pit bull, C.J.  who had been with them since she was a puppy  slept on the floor beside him.

He said Laporta had a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun with him that night. Redmond had a gun in his fathers room. In the past, he and Laporta would sometimes shoot the weapons in the backyard. It was normal, Redmond said, to hear gunshots in their neighborhood as people often fired for fun.

But the sound that jolted Redmond awake wasnt that typical outdoor gunshot. He said he woke up to see Laporta had shot C.J.  her blood was splattered on the walls, and there was a hole in the floorboard from the bullet.

After shooting C.J., according to Redmond, Laporta said, It was her time.

Redmond and his father, John Redmond, 71, angrily told Laporta to leave. He did, briefly.

Redmond said he told his dad to load their gun. He was worried if Laporta would do anything else. John Redmond said there was nothing more to worry about  the family trusted Laporta. So their gun stayed in the bedroom.

Laporta wasnt able to start his truck, so he came back  gun in hand, Redmond said. He said he remembers Laporta pointing the weapon at him, up against his forehead.

As Redmond tried to push the gun away, he says Laporta fired and struck Redmond between his nose and right eye. As he went down to the ground, Redmond was shot a second time, this time the bullet hitting near his right ear.

Redmond said the pain was maybe the worst hes ever felt. He said he couldnt move his fingers or toes at first, and it felt as if someone had put a hot iron in his eye.

I thought I was dead, Redmond said. I didnt think I was going to make it.

On the ground, Redmond could see his father come after Laporta. They wrestled, Redmond said, but his dad wasnt able to get ahold of Laportas gun. Redmond said his dad then tripped and fell over a loveseat in the living room.

Redmond said he could only watch as his dad was shot six times.

Laporta then moved down the hall toward 15-year-old Chase Fishers room, Redmond said, and then he heard gunshots. Two of them. Brittany Schrager, Redmonds stepsister, said the bullets hit the frontal lobe of Fishers brain and went out the parietal lobe on the right side.

Laporta walked back to the front door after Fisher was shot, Redmond said. Redmond was still lying there. He said he was playing dead. But he said Laporta pointed the gun at his head as he walked out. Laporta pulled the trigger, Redmond said, but nothing fired. The clip was empty.

Redmond knows hes lucky to be alive.

After Laporta left, Redmond said he got up and went to check on his dad. He said his father gasped and told him to go check on Fisher.

Redmond did. But by the time he came back to the living room, he said, his dad was dead. He didnt get to say goodbye.

John Redmonds funeral was June 5. Derek Redmond said his dad would always drop everything for others. On the night John Redmond was killed, he had filled a gas can for Laportas empty truck tank.

That was my best friend, Redmond said of his dad. They dont make em no better than that.

Derek Redmond said he used to think survivors guilt wasnt real. But with the flashbacks of that night playing in his mind whenever he tries to sleep, he said he feels so much guilt now.

Id trade spots with either of them every day, Redmond said.

Three days after he laid his father to rest, Redmond showed the Tampa Bay Times the scene. His family had recently finished cleaning blood off the walls. Schrager said that while cleaning, the house smelled like iron.

Redmond doesnt want to be home alone now, saying every little noise scares him. He can hardly even bear to be in his home.

Out behind the house, the remains of a mattress and loveseat could be seen in a firepit. Redmond said Fisher was on the mattress when he was shot, and John Redmond had died near the loveseat.

Redmond has adjusted to his greatly reduced vision  he lost his right eye and only has 5% vision in the left now. He wears an eyepatch with a piece of gauze underneath to protect the empty socket. He has a small lens where his eyeball used to be. Every time he cries, he said, the lens falls out.

He and his family members have also spent the weeks since the shooting visiting Fisher in the hospital.

Schrager said in a text that doctors initially told the family Fisher would never regain consciousness. But in late June, he woke up.

Schrager said the teen cant speak, but he understands people talking to him and is able to respond using his eyes.

You can see the frustration in the tears in his eyes when he tries to speak and is unable to, Schrager said. John made the ultimate sacrifice that night when he fought back and tried to protect his son and grandson and I know he must have had something to do with Chase waking up.

Fisher will be moved to a long-term care facility in Miami, she said.

Chase is absolutely still there and I know he will continue to fight, Schrager said.

Schrager started a GoFundMe page on the familys behalf to help cover funeral expenses and medical bills.
If you love dining al fresco, you might find just your new favorite restaurant patio in South Carolina.

Thats because the state is home to two of the nations best places to eat outside, according to the restaurant review website OpenTable.

Charlies Coastal Bistro on Hilton Head Island joins Sobys New South Cuisine in downtown Greenville on a list of 100 Most Popular Restaurants for Outdoor Dining in America, results show.

To create the list, OpenTable gathered more than 13 million reviews in the year leading up to May. While looking at comments from verified users, it studied U.S. restaurants with a minimum overall score and number of qualifying reviews, according to a report published Wednesday, June 28.

The overall score is made up of unique data points, such as overall diner rating, ... total number of reviews, and regional overall rating, the website wrote. Qualifying restaurants were then scored and sorted according to the percentage of reviews, for which outdoor dining was selected as a special feature.

Why people love the restaurant patios

Among the South Carolina winners was Charlies Coastal Bistro on Hilton Head Island. The restaurant said it focuses on fresh local seafood with a French, Lowcountry twist, so it might not come as a surprise that it had the former name LEtoile Verte  French for green star.

On OpenTable, several people raved about the ambiance of the patio at Charlies Coastal Bistro. Some customers also praised the restaurants takes on escargot and other French classics, helping it earn almost five out of five stars.

Its not the first time the restaurant on New Orleans Road has received wide acclaim. OpenTable named it a top outdoor dining destination on a similar list in 2022, and it more recently ranked among the nations most romantic places to eat, McClatchy News reported.

On the more recent outdoor dining list, the other top-ranking restaurant in the Palmetto State was Sobys. The Greenville restaurant said it offers Southern comfort foods and al fresco seating.

Customers flocked to OpenTable to report that they received top-notch service while having meals outdoors. Many also loved the food, including the fan-favorite crab cake dish.

On its list, OpenTable didnt share the winning restaurants in ranking order but instead organized them alphabetically. The state boasting the highest number of top places to eat outside was California, which had 31 in total.

With many restaurants elevating outdoor dining spaces for summer and beyond, this list represents dining destinations with incredible outdoor  and culinary  offerings, Susan Lee, chief growth officer for OpenTable, said in a news release, adding that outdoor dining was up 19% year-over-year for the first half of June.

These South Carolina burger joints rank among the nations best. Why fans crave them

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Penalty phase continues in trial of Robert Bowers, convicted of killing 11 in Pittsburgh synagogue

The penalty phase continues in the trial against Robert Bowers, the man convicted of killing 11 people inside a Squirrel Hill synagogue in 2018.

PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING TRIAL: FULL COVERAGE 

The defense is trying to persuade a jury to spare his life, while prosecutors are seeking a death sentence.

>>> Tree of Life, community react to guilty verdict in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial

Dr. Richard Rogers, a psychologist from the University of North Texas, testified Thursday that Bowers had grossly psychotic thinking when he planned the attack. He said that Bowers was proud of what he had done, that he saw it as heroic.

We have a reporter in the courtroom. Check back for updates throughout the day.

If you or someone you know is experiencing mental health effects from the trial, go to 1027healingpartnership.org to find help resources. As always, call 911 to report threats.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

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Whats that smell? Smoke from Canadian wildfires emitting particular scent Fayette County man asks dad to borrow gun to take out his mom, prompting SWAT response, police say Bethel Park man accused of using Snapchat to lure 2 underage girls VIDEO: Air quality concerns linger due to Canadian wildfire smoke DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
Pensacola's planning a $3.9M Children's Resource Center, but funding could be in question

Pensacola's proposed $3.9 million Children's Resouce Center may have run into a stumbling block as the Escambia Children's Trust must decide if it will fund the property purchases as part of a funding request.

Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves announced earlier this June that the city would apply for a $3.5 million grant from the Escambia Children's Trust to fund the purchase of the Morris L. Eaddy Lakeview Activity Center and covert it into the region's first children's resource center.

Community Health Northwest Florida is providing an additional $400,000 in matching funds, and the city plans to spend $42,450 on the project.

On Tuesday, the grant proposal went before the Escambia Children's Trust Program Committee. The proposal must clear the committee before the full Children's Trust board of directors can vote on it.

Pensacola plans to seek $3.5 million from the Escambia Children's Trust to buy the Morris L. Eaddy Lakeview Activity Center and convert it into a children's resource center focused on healthcare.

Children's Resource Center proposed: Pensacola looks to Escambia Children's Trust for $3.5 million children's resource center

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Escambia County Children's Trust board member Stephanie White, who sits on the program committee, said the committee wanted more information on the types of services that the center would offer before deciding whether to move the project forward.

"I think it's a great idea, and I hope we can work together to make something work," White said.

White said the committee decided the Children's Trust board needs to decide if the Trust will fund property purchases as a matter of policy.

In January, as the Trust worked out its policies in awarding grants after a false-start the month before, the board voted 7-1 to adopt a policy not to allow grant funding to go toward the construction or renovation of properties as part of grant awards.

Voters approved the creation of the Children's Trust in 2020 vote, and it generates approximately $10 million a year through a 0.5 mill property tax to fund initiatives and services to improve the lives of Escambia County children.

White said the idea for awarding grants is to have the funding go directly toward programming for children.

White said it was unclear if the policy decision on funding property purchases would go directly to the full board or the board's policy committee first.

Children's Trust Executive Director Tammy Greer did not respond to the News Journal's request for comment Thursday.

The city would use the $3.5 million to fund the purchase of the Eaddy Center for $2.9 million from the Lakeview Center. The remaining $600,000 would be used to fund programming and operations of the new center.

Youth mentoring grants approved: Epps Christian Center expands youth mentoring with $250K Escambia Children's Trust grant

Lakeview Center would still use about 871 square feet of the 20,000-square-foot building to provide children with behavioral health services, according to the city's application.

Community Health Northwest Florida would set up a pediatric clinic using approximately 2,000 square feet of the facility.

The city would use the rest of the building under its Parks and Recreation Department to provide programming focused on children, including converting about 900 square feet into a commercial kitchen to provide meals to children.

Reeves said Wednesday the city would continue to pursue grant funding from the Children's Trust.

"We haven't been given any indications that it won't work or that we're in a situation where it's not feasible," Reeves said.

Reeves said conversations are going back and forth between city staff and the Children's Trust staff about the information needed to move the grant forward.

"I feel like we've got a great project that has a lot of partners that are proven entities here that care about children in this community," Reeves said. "And I think it's what would be a really good fit for the use of these dollars that are available and more coming available."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia Children's Trust questions Pensacola children's center funds
Pentagon is not ready to supply Ukraine with ATACMS

The US Ministry of Defence has stated that it has no information about the plans to supply Ukraine with the ATACMS missiles in the near future.

Source: Patrick Rider, spokesperson of the Pentagon, at the briefing on 29 June cited by Radio Liberty

Quote: "I have nothing to announce concerning ATACMS, and I do not know about any forthcoming decisions concerning ATACMS."

Details: The journalists requested that Rider comment on the article by The Wall Street Journal, stating that the US are "close" to the coordination of supplying Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles.

At the end of May Joe Biden, President of the US, addressed a question of whether it is time for the US to supply Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles, saying that "this all is still being considered".

An ATACMS missile has a 300 km action range. The White House is worried that the Armed Forces of Ukraine may launch these missiles on the territory of Russia.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
'We the People' includes all Americans  but July 4 is a reminder that democracy remains a work in progress

When the Constitution was written, the term 'We the People' had a very limited application for voting rights. Antenna/Getty Images

The United States founders firmly rejected King George III and the entire idea of monarchy 247 years ago, on July 4, 1776.

Political power does not come from some absolute authority of a king over people, the founders argued. Rather, political power comes from the people themselves. And these people must agree to any authority governing their society.

This is why the U.S. Constitution starts with the words We the People, and not I, the ruler.

I am a historian, ethicist and media scholar and have studied how people build communities.

Americas founders did not trust everyones ability to equally participate in the new democracy, as laws at the time showed.

But, because of policy changes on issues like voting, the idea of who actually is represented in the phrase We the People has changed over time.

George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and other founders prepare to sign the Constitution in 1787. GraphicaArtis/Getty Images

First steps

In 1776, only white men who owned property had the right to vote.

Few men, who have no property, have any judgment of their own, as former President John Adams wrote in 1776.

As activists  including some women and Black Americans  proclaimed their equality, public education spread, and social thinking shifted.

By about 1860, all state legislatures had lifted property requirement for voting. Allowing only wealthy property owners to vote did not align with the democratic notion that all men are created equal.

While some states, like Vermont, eliminated the property voting requirement in the 18th century, this shift became more popular in the 1820s and the 1830s.

Congress passed the 15th Amendment in 1870, giving Black men and others the right to vote, regardless of race.

But that amendment still excluded some people, chiefly Native Americans and women.

An unfinished history

Despite the 15th Amendment, violence and intimidation in some states still prevented Black men from voting.

State lawmakers also used bureaucratic measures, such as a poll tax, renewed attempts at a property requirement and literacy tests, to prevent African Americans from voting.

The fight over African American suffrage continued for decades, and many courageous Americans protested and were arrested or killed in the struggle to exercise their voting rights.

Thanks to the work of civil rights activists  including John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer and Marting Luther King Jr.  public opinion shifted.

In the 1960s, Congress passed additional legal measures to protect the voting rights of Black Americans. This included the 24th Amendment, which outlawed the use of poll taxes, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibited any racial discrimination in voting.

Womens turn

In 1920, women gained the right to vote with the addition of the 19th Amendment, following another decadeslong struggle.

Womens rights activists made the first organized call for female suffrage at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.

In the following years, suffragists pushed for constitutional amendments, state laws and a change in public thinking to include women in We the People.

Native American rights

Having self-governed for centuries, Native Americans were not legally recognized with voting rights until Congress approved the Indian Citizenship Act in 1924.

While that supposedly gave Native Americans the same rights as other Americans, Native Americans faced the same tactics, like violence, that white racists used to prevent Black Americans from voting.

Like other people excluded from We the People, Native Americans have continued to push for voting rights and other ways to ensure they are included in American self-government.

Making democracy more democratic

In 1971 We the People again expanded, to include younger people, with the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18. The ongoing Vietnam War shifted public opinion, and there was popular support for the idea that someone old enough to die fighting for their country should also be able to vote.

A government once described by Abraham Lincoln as of the people, by the people, and for the people was now going to technically include all of the people.

But equality for women, young people and racially marginalized groups did not change overnight.

Social equality remains far off for many people, including undocumented immigrants, for example, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

While some states have it made it harder to vote in recent years, others have made it easier. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Current limitations to We the People

The government has recognized that citizens over the age of 18 have a right to participate in self-government. But there are still political and legal attempts to restrict peoples ability to vote.

While some states have passed new laws that make it harder to vote in recent years, other states have made it easier.

North Carolina passed new ID requirements in April 2023 that make it difficult for those without current state identification to vote.

Texas, Georgia, Oklahoma and Idaho are also among the states that are deleting some voters from their rolls  if people do not regularly vote, for example.

Arizona has closed multiple polling sites, making it more difficult for some people to vote.

Twenty-five states, meanwhile, including Hawaii and Delaware, have passed laws over the last few years that make it easier to vote. One of these measures automatically registers people to vote when they turn 18.

There are more examples. The bottom line is, voters have fewer protections when it becomes harder to vote, and American democracy is not as democratic as it could be.

The big picture

Voting is not the only form of recognition and participation in a democracy. People can be respected at work, paid what they are worth and treated with dignity. Community members can be treated fairly by police, school officials and other authorities, given an equal opportunity for justice and education to improve their lives.

People can also contribute to the social and economic well-being of a democracy in ways other than voting, doing everything from planting a tree in a public park to attending a political rally.

But the overall expansion of voting rights and a historical understanding of We the People shows that everyone belongs in a democratic society, regardless of wealth, achievement or other differences.

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: Joseph Jones, West Virginia University.

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Joseph Jones 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.
Dave Ramsey reacting to the man's story. The Ramsey Show - Highlights/ YouTube

Mike from Philiadelphia called into "The Ramsey Show" to ask for help paying off his debts.

The policeman told host Dave Ramsey he owed $451,000 between student and home loans.

The call was from 2019 but drove new conversations when it was reposted to TikTok.

A man called into Dave Ramsey's show for financial help saying he had $451,000 of debt and just a $40,000 salary, shocking viewers who saw a clip of the exchange on TikTok.

Mike, 31, from Philiadelphia, called into "The Ramsey Show" to ask for help paying off his debts.

$252,000 of it was student loans, and $185,000 was a home loan. Mike said his friend had recommended Ramsey's show, and he was in dire need of some advice.

"I just don't even know where to start," he said.

The clip is from an episode of Ramsey's show from 2019, but reached a new audience of 3.2 million on TikTok, where it was posted last week. Ramsey didn't give any extra information on how Mike has handled his debt since.

Mike told Ramsey he worked in law enforcement, to which Ramsey then asked how he got into so much debt in the first place.

Mike said he attended a private university on the recommendation of his parents, to study finance, and then switched to criminal justice. He ended up doing a masters degree as well, he said, which "didn't really help my employment eligibility as much as I thought it would."

Ramsey said he was always looking at the ratio of "shovel to hole"  the amount of debt someone is in versus the income they have to get out of it.

Ramsey is an American radio host and evangelical Christian who is best known for his financial advice. He has faced controversy in the past, including accusations in 2021 that his company had a policy of firing employees for having premarital sex. He was also recently been embroiled in a $150 million lawsuit brought by some listeners who say they were defrauded by a timeshare exit company he promoted.

Some people are also skeptical of his legitimacy as a financial advisor, likening him to more of a preacher than an expert on money. However, he remains a trusted financial guru to many. A man recently told Insider Ramsey's advice seven years ago helped him escape $38,000 in car debt.

In the clip, Mike told Ramsey his parents weren't wealthy, and that he was the first in his family to go to college. He said he lived with his girlfriend and her daughter, and he bought the house on a whim when his father passed away.

Ramsey told Mike he was "up a creek" and his "paddle is real small." He said Mike had made two "stupid" financial decisions under the influence of his parents, and "bought things you couldn't afford with money you didn't have because of the influence of those two."

"At 31 years old you're going to have to decide to love your parents but no longer be influenced to do financial decisions based on their opinions," he said. "You cannot please these people any more, they are breaking your butt."

He said Mike was so far in debt he "couldn't breathe."

Ramsey said Mike had two options  get married to his girlfriend and tackle to debt together, or stay separate and sell the house, because they couldn't afford to keep it the way things were going. Mike had to be careful if he went with the first option, he added, because money problems were a huge precursor to divorce.

Mike also had to get his income up, Ramsey said, so he would have more cash to throw at the debt.

"You need that money, because you're broke," he said. Currently, Ramsey said, what Mike had in front of him was a "mathematical nightmare." With the interest on the student loan, Mike could see his student loans double, he said.

"You're not going to have any life for a while," Ramsey said. "Because you both have made a big hole that you're in and you can't get out of a hole while you're digging out the bottom."

People were stunned at Mike's debt on TikTok, saying he had made some very bad decisions. Some, like Ramsey, people blamed his parents for pushing him into the mortgage and university.

"The parental pressure is so unfair," one person wrote in the comments. "He sounds like such a decent person who is trying to make everyone happy but carrying the weight himself."

Others expressed shock at how expensive college tuition can be in the US.

"It's such a crime to let an 18 year old take that much in loans," one person said. "Education should be free like in so many countries in the world."

Read the original article on Insider
Perkasie couple scammed customers out of nearly $118K in furniture scheme: police

An investigation led to the arrest of a husband and wife in an alleged custom furniture scheme that police say duped dozens of customers out of nearly $118,000.

Amanda Smallacombe, 34, and Austin D. Smallacombe, 35, of Perkasie, were arraigned for orchestrating the scam and were charged with a litany of felony offenses, including theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception and receiving stolen property.

Pair worked scam out of Perkasie location

Investigators said the duo operated out of A&A Custom Furniture in Perkasie.

Hilltown Township police received a complaint last July from a resident who said he paid the couple $4,300 that prior January for custom dining furniture.

The customer was told it would take 10-12 weeks for the furniture to be built and delivered, but never received the it. Instead of the furniture, investigators contend the Smallacombes fed the customer a string of lies before ultimately promising a refund.

The customer never received the refund. Investigators allege the couple instead spent the money on personal expenses.

MontCo woman admits vacation scam: Former Montgomery County woman admits to stealing $400,000 in vacation scam

And since receiving that initial complaint, investigators with the Bedminster, Hilltown and Newtown Township police have interviewed more than 40 additional alleged victims who were from Bucks, Berks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia counties.

Many victims submitted large deposits online for the furniture. Investigators said in most cases, the victims didnt receive the furniture they ordered, and, in other instances, they received furniture of very poor quality and with numerous build defects.

Those customers reported loses totaling $117,880.40.

Amanda and Austin Smallacombe charged

The pair were also charged with undertaking deceptive business practices; making false statement to induce agreement for home improvement practices; receiving advance payment for services and failing to perform; criminal use of a communication facility; and criminal conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking.

Amanda and Austin Smallacombe were both committed to the Bucks County Correctional Facility. Austin Smallacombe's bail is set at $900,000 bail with a 10 percent release. Amanda Smallacombe's initially received a $500,000 bail with a 10 percent release, but her bail was later reduced.

Auto body scam in Chalfont: Chalfont Collision center owner faked car damage, accused of $400K insurance fraud, police say

They next have preliminary hearings scheduled for July 10 before Magisterial District Judge Gary Gambardella.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Perkasie couple charged with scamming customers in furniture scheme
Photos of the Titan sub's wreckage support the theory that the carbon-fiber hull failed first, expert says

An annotated image of part of the Titan submersible being moved ashore after its catastrophic implosion under the North Atlantic in June. CBC News/Insider

Onlookers caught glimpses of the Titan submersible wreckage as its crews brought its remains ashore.

These provide clues to what may have happened while a formal investigation is underway.

Though it's difficult to know for sure, an expert said the carbon-fiber hull likely failed first.

Photos of the Titan submersible wreckage support the theory that the vessel's carbon-fiber hull may have led to its catastrophic implosion, an expert told Insider.

The US Coast Guard brought debris from the Titan submersible ashore this week, giving onlookers a brief, imperfect glimpse as it was taken away for analysis.

Jasper Graham-Jones, an associate professor of mechanical and marine engineering at Plymouth University, analyzed footage and photos for Insider.

Though it is impossible to reach a definitive conclusion from these pictures alone, he said the most likely scenario was that the carbon-fiber hull gave way under the enormous pressure of the ocean depths.

Another possibility is that the ship's small front viewport gave way.

Here's why, picture by picture.

1. The titanium structural rings are intact

An annotated picture of the titanium structural rings pulled from the wreckage of the Titan submersible. CBC News/Insider

The picture above, taken by Canada's CBC News, shows structural titanium rings that supported the structure of the submersible. They are intact and, therefore, do not seem to have failed.

OceanGate Expeditions' controversial Titan submersible is thought to have imploded within hours of its descent toward the wreckage of the Titanic on June 18. The five passengers on board the submersible are presumed dead.

A forensic investigation is underway to determine the exact sequence of events and will conduct an exhaustive analysis on the remains to build a conclusive picture. In the meantime, photos, the Titan's own history, and expert opinions give us something to go on.

OceanGate's design of the submersible received heavy criticism over the years, especially for its use of a carbon-fiber-composite hull.

Most submersibles are made out of titanium, and many deep-sea experts told OceanGate that they were wary about the company using carbon fiber, which is not as strong.

The Titan's design featured two titanium rings bound to the carbon-fiber hull. The rings seem to have held firm, Graham-Jones said.

An annotated picture points to the approximate location of the structural titanium rings. OceanGate Expeditions/Reuters/Insider

"It shows that titanium was the right material to use, and linking with the composite was possibly the wrong material to use," he said.

2. The front view port of the submersible seems to have failed

An annotated picture shows footage of the debris being winched off the rescue ship shows the partially covered front viewport. CBC News/Reuters/Insider

The picture, captured by CBC News, shows debris that seems to belong to the front viewport of the ship. There is nothing in the porthole anymore other than the red cable lifting it.

While Graham-Jones said that it wasn't impossible that the salvage operation removed the acrylic viewport to make room for the red cable, he said it wasn't likely.

"They could have lifted it in a bag," without tampering with it, he said.

"It looks to me like it's failed, the window's gone," he said.

Experts also questioned OceanGate's choice of front-view window before the disaster.

An annotated picture points to the front viewport. OceanGate Expeditions/Reuters/Insider

David Lochridge, OceanGate's former director of marine operations, alleged in August 2018 court filings that the company installed a front view port certified to a depth of only some 4,200 feet, or about 1,300 meters  far shallower than the Titanic wreckage it was built to visit.

It's not clear whether the design changed between 2018 and its final mission  but it's clear that the view port was a cause for worry from the start.

An unresolved question, Graham-Jones said, is whether the window failed first, or if another part failed and the implosion blew out the view port.

3. No large slabs of the hull seem to have been recovered

An annotated picture of recovered debris from the Titan submersible pulled up from the ocean floor. Paul Daly/The Canadian Press via AP/Insider.

Graham-Jones said the most telling part of the footage was what you couldn't see: there were no big slabs of the carbon-fiber hull.

The investigators recovered large fragments of the covering of the submersible, a material that was placed above the carbon-fiber hull, pictured above. But they don't seem to have found much of the carbon-fiber hull itself.

An annotated picture of the OceanGate submersible points to the white covering placed above the carbon-fiber hull. OceanGate/Reuters/Insider

It could be that these components happened to not be visible in the images and footage.

But for Graham-Jones, it is a sign the composite-carbon-fiber hull likely failed first.

Graham-Jones said both the window failing and the hull failing would have led to the implosion of the ship. But if the front view port had gone first, the pressure would have been slightly less intense on the hull, so "would probably see bigger pieces of composite there."

A possibility, he said, is that the carbon fiber failed because repeated trips had stressed the material, making small cracks that eventually gave way. This would also explain why the Titan had made trips before without incident.

If such a failure did take place, Graham-Jones said, you would expect "lots of small bits of composite carbon fiber," consistent with the absence of large chunks in the imagery.

4. Also no fragments of carbon fiber attached to other debris

An annotated picture of debris of the Titan submersible. The circle points to an antenna, which is recognizable from a picture of OceanGate's submersible. An arrow points to the metal cage around the debris that would have connected to the hull. Paul Daly/The Canadian Press via AP/Insider.

The picture above, Graham-Jones said, shows tubes and piping that would have been inside the ship. These were encased in a metal cage that would have been bound to the carbon-fiber hull.

"The joint should be strong enough that it goes into the carbon, and so you'd have carbon left on that piece," in many scenarios, Graham-Jones said.

An annotated picture shows the antenna that's recognizable on the debris. OceanGate Expeditions/Reuters/Insider

But it doesn't seem like that happened. The absence of visible carbon fiber on the joints could mean one of two things.

Maybe the joint failed. Graham-Jones said the joining is generally done with epoxy glue, which needs to be applied in a dust-free environment  improper application could lead to problems.

But Graham-Jones said it is probably more proof that the carbon-fiber hull went first, breaking into such tiny pieces that you wouldn't see the remnants on the joints.

Investigators are figuring out the real answer  but slowly

Given the information at hand, the most plausible scenario is that the hull failed first, Graham-Jones said.

Investigators will now be taking a close look at the remains of the ship to determine exactly what happened.

Graham-Jones said that investigators will be "effectively looking under a microscope, at all the parts. And that would actually give you an idea of how it's failed." On Friday, US officials said they would report back in one to two years.

Read the original article on Business Insider
What photos of the Titanic sub debris tell us about its implosion

Images of the wreckage recovered from the Titan submersible at the bottom of the North Atlantic appear to confirm the theory that the vessel suffered a massive implosion under the pressure of the ocean.

Earlier this week, the US Coast Guard brought the debris left by the sub on the ocean floor onto dry land.

Jonas Mureika, a professor of physics at Loyola Marymount University, tells The Independent that calling the implosion catastrophic is referring to the intensity and speed of what took place.

The pressure at that depth (3.8 km) is incredibly high, about 400 times atmospheric pressure. Thats 6,000 pounds per square inch acting on the submarine  atmospheric pressure is roughly 15 pounds per square inch, he noted in an email.

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's, Newfoundland, Wednesday, June 28, 2023 (AP)

If the hull integrity was compromised or weakened in one spot, the inward pressure would quickly cause it to buckle asymmetrically, and the structure would implode because of the inward force. And at those pressures, the inward collapse would have occurred in milliseconds, he adds. But this doesnt mean the debris itself would be crushed in size, just that the pressure was inward.

Dr Joerg Reinhold, a professor at the Department of Physics at Florida International University, added that it seems the pressure vessel of the submersible consisted of a cylindrical hull capped off by two at least somewhat spherical endcaps or domes. One of these includes a viewport. In pictures, it seems the other dome is covered by another shell in the shape of a fin or so.

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. (AP)

From left to right: Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Shahzada and Suleman Dawood. ((Reuters/Jannicke Mikkelsen/OceanGate Expeditions/Getty))

The cylindrical hull seems surrounded by a shell of the same material ... I would expect that these shells do not add to the structural integrity of the hull. That means all the forces from the surrounding water act on the hull inside these shells, he said. I actually expect that the space between the shells and the hull is exposed to water at the same pressure as the surrounding water. It is therefore conceivable that these shells survive in larger pieces.

Dr Reinhold noted that at least one of the domes from the vessel appears to have been found intact.

My understanding is that these are made from titanium and not the carbon fibre material used for the cylindrical hull. Given the spherical shape and the material, I am not surprised that they, or at least one of them, stayed mostly intact, he said.

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's, Newfoundland, Wednesday, June 28, 2023 (The Canadian Press via AP)

Arun Bansil, a professor at the physics department at Northeastern University in Boston, told The Independent that although it seems counterintuitive, large objects do not normally split apart into smithereens in an implosion or explosion.

For example, a pressure cooker usually explodes with the top blown off but the body remaining intact. Initial failure of Titan would have occurred at its weakest links such as defects in the hull. Once a crack opens, however, large pieces of the hull will no longer experience very violent forces and remain more or less intact, he said.

Debris from the Titan submersible is unloaded (AP)

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's, Newfoundland (AP)

Was it an explosion or implosion and how would that have affected the passengers?

Knowing where the accident occurred, the assumption of an implosion makes sense, Dr Reinhold said. Both an implosion and an explosion need some form of stored energy. In typical explosive materials, the stored energy is chemical and is released through a chemical reaction. In the case of a submerged pressure vessel, the stored energy is mechanical  it is released when the surrounding water fills the space of the vessel.

If there is a catastrophic failure of the hull, this energy is first released in an implosion, he notes. Eventually, this will be followed by an outgoing shockwave  otherwise, listening devices would not be able to pick up the sound of the event.

He went on to say that implosions or explosions in water should behave differently than those in air. Air is a compressible fluid while water is an incompressible fluid. I expect the stored mechanical energy to be vastly bigger than any other source of energy on the submersible.

A view of the Horizon Arctic ship, as salvaged pieces of the Titan submersible from OceanGate Expeditions are returned, in St. Johns harbour, Newfoundland, Canada June 28, 2023 (Reuters)

Even if the breach of the vessel would have been triggered by an internal source of energy, the final result will be an implosion, Dr Reinhold said.

Dr Mureika added that an explosion results when there is a sudden release of energy that results in a powerful outward pressure wave. Implosions, on the other hand, are due to an inward pressure differential. This was most certainly an implosion.

A U.S. Coast Guard ship arrives in the harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023 (Paul Daly/The Canadian Press via AP)

That being said, when the air inside the submarine was rapidly compressed, it most likely ignited and created an explosion  like a piston in a car engine  but this wouldnt compare in magnitude to the implosive force, he says.

As for the passengers, because of the time interval for this to occur, as well as the magnitude of the pressure, its very likely they didnt even know what hit them. Its also doubtful they had time to process what was happening unless the implosion was preceded by something like a leak, Dr Mureika adds.

How will the debris be used to determine what happened?

The obvious would be to look at the recovered pieces as well as design drawings and possibly any samples of the materials that the company might still have, Dr Reinhold said.
Mateusz Morawiecki

As a response to the potential deployment of Russian nukes in neighboring Belarus, Poland is willing to host NATO nuclear weapons on its territory, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on June 30, as reported by Polish news outlet Gosc.

"We declare our readiness to act swiftly in this regard; we cannot remain idle while Putin escalates various threats," said Morawiecki.

Read also: Zelenskyy to skip NATO summit if theres no membership invitation for Ukraine, says advisor

He added that the final decision rests with the United States.

"Due to Russia's intention to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, we urge all of NATO to participate more in the Nuclear Sharing program," Morawiecki declared.

Read also: Putin personally ordered the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, Ukrainian intelligence says  interview

On June 9, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would start deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus after July 7-8. Putin further claimed on June 16th that Russia had already transported the first nuclear charges into Belarus.

Read also: Crumbling Russian state has only nuclear blackmail left, Kyiv says

However, Ukrainian Military Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov stated on June 20 that the Russians had not yet moved tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Poland wants to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory

Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Poland, said that his country would like to join the nuclear exchange programme among NATO countries in view of Russia's intentions to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

Source: Morawiecki said this after the summit in Brussels, writes Polsat News, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Morawiecki confirmed that Warsaw is interested in participating in this programme.

Quote: "The final decision will depend on our American and NATO partners. We declare our will to act quickly in this matter," the Polish prime minister said.

Details: Morawiecki stressed that "we do not want to sit idly by while Putin escalates all sorts of threats."

Nuclear sharing is NATO's nuclear deterrence programme. It allows the provision of nuclear warheads to Allies that do not have their own nuclear weapons. Since November 2009, as part of the programme, US nuclear weapons have been deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkiye.

Background:

On 25 May, the defence ministers of Russia and Belarus signed documents on the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.

On Friday 16 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the first Russian tactical nuclear warheads are already in Belarus and the final transfer will be completed by the end of the year.

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Poland wants to join NATO's nuclear weapon sharing program.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says his country wants to join NATO's nuclear weapon sharing program. This is in direct response to Russia's deployment of some of its own nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus. This also comes as Poland is pushing ahead with a massive conventional rearmament effort that was accelerated in the wake of the all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.

Prime Minister Morawiecki made his remarks about Poland's desire to become of NATO's nuclear weapon sharing arrangements in response to a question at a press conference on the sidelines of a European Union in Brussels, Belgium, earlier today.

https://twitter.com/AlexandravonNah/status/1674772948752924679

"The final decision will depend on our American and NATO partners. We declare our will to act quickly in this matter," Morawiecki said, according to Polesat News. "We do not want to sit idly by while [Russian President Vladimir] Putin escalates all sorts of threats."

Putin said earlier this month that Russian nuclear weapons had begun to arrive in Belarus as part of an agreement the two countries cut last summer. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said earlier this week that a " significant" portion of the total number of nuclear munitions that Russia plans to place in his nation have now arrived. Per previous statements from Putin and Lukashenko, these weapons are a mixture of nuclear-capable Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles and air-dropped nuclear bombs, the latter of which the Belarusian Air Force now claims to be capable of employing.

https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1673701429712674823?s=20

This is not the first time Polish authorities have publicly stated their interest in joining the NATO nuclear weapon sharing program in light of Russia's decision to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus.

"There is always a potential opportunity to participate in the nuclear sharing program," Polish President Andrzej Duda said in October. "We have spoken with American leaders about whether the United States is considering such a possibility. The issue is open."

That same month, NATO conducted the annual iteration of its nuclear deterrence exercise, Steadfast Noon, which includes practicing putting the alliance's nuclear weapon sharing plans into action. The Polish military took part in that exercise, but in a supporting role rather than as one of the members that would be actually employing nuclear munitions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONnSpUT9NPs

"We would like to stress that Poland did not strive for the possession of nuclear weapons," a spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of Defense told The War Zone at the time. "As a NATO member, we participate in the Alliance's nuclear policy and are also covered by the guarantees of the Allied Nuclear Sharing program."

At present, NATO's nuclear weapon sharing agreement is entirely centered on U.S. B61-series air-dropped nuclear bombs. The program provides for the forward deployment of these weapons in secure vaults at air bases in multiple member nations under U.S. military control. In a crisis where the alliance approves their use, they would then be loaded onto combat jets belonging to participating countries. NATO aircraft capable of employing these nuclear weapons are known as Dual Capable Aircraft (DCA), referring to the dual nuclear and conventional capabilities.

Specific details about the program are both classified and politically sensitive for many of the participating countries, a number of which do not even publicly acknowledge the presence of American nuclear weapons on their soil. As of last October, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) estimated that around 100 B61s in total were spread across six bases in five countries  Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey. There have been estimates as high as between 150 and 200 bombs in the past.

A map of current and former locations where B61 bombs are located in Europe under NATO's nuclear weapon sharing arrangements and a table breaking down estimated total bombs at each current site. FAS

At that time, NATO had publicly acknowledged seven members of the nuclear sharing program, did not name them. This list is at least understood to include Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States.

Turkey continues to host weapons, but it has long been reported that it is no longer active itself in the nuclear sharing arrangements and no longer operates DCA aircraft. The chill in U.S.-Turkish relations following the attempted coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016 also prompted speculation that the B61s could be withdrawn from the country, but there is no evidence that has happened to date. NATO outright denied a report in 2016 that those bombs had been relocated to Romania.

A satellite image of Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, where U.S. B61 bombs are stored. Google Earth

FAS suggested last year, given the total number of NATO nuclear weapon sharing program participants, that Turkey could still have a reserve role of some kind. It reported at that time that Greece, which no longer hosts bombs or has DCA aircraft, was also among the seven countries, but again in a reserve capacity.

The United Kingdom has also hosted U.S. nuclear weapons under the NATO nuclear sharing agreement in the past, but those bombs were withdrawn by 2007 at the latest, according to FAS. The U.S. military's 2023 Fiscal Year budget proposal included a mention of work to modernize nuclear weapon storage facilities in the United Kingdom, suggesting that there could be plans in the works to redeploy B61 bombs there in the future.

In response to a Freedom of Information request The War Zone submitted last year asking for details about "the current... participation of the United Kingdom in NATO's nuclear sharing arrangements, whether or not the country operates dual-capable aircraft (DCA), and/or whether the country hosts U.S. nuclear gravity bombs of any type," the U.K. Ministry of Defense said it "neither confirms nor denies" any relevant information.

As for the actual bombs that make up the core of the NATO nuclear weapon sharing program, these are currently understood to be B61-3 and/or -4 variants, which American authorities categorize as tactical nuclear weapons. Both are so-called "dial-a-yield" designs where the total explosive force of the weapon can be set before employment. The B61-3 reportedly has eight separate yield settings: 0.3, 1.5, 5, 10, 45, 60, 80, or 170 kilotons. The B61-4 is understood to have fewer that only range from 0.3 to 50 kilotons. You can read more about the entire B61 family here.

A quartet of B61-series bombs loaded on a dolly. DOD

The U.S. military is in the process of replacing the bulk of its B61-series bombs with new B61-12 versions, which include remanufactured components for B61-3s, -4s, -7s, and -10s. They also incorporate new features, most notably a precision guidance tail kit, as you can learn more about here.

U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle combat jets, B-2 Spirit bombers, and some F-16 Viper fighters are certified to employ existing B61 variants. As part of the nuclear weapon sharing agreement, some Belgian, Dutch, and Italian F-16s, as well as German Panavia Tornado swing-wing combat jets, are also capable of dropping these weapons. In order to be able to drop these bombs, the launching aircraft needs to have special modifications to be able to "talk" with the weapons in order to transmit the necessary secure codes to activate them and set the yields via what are known as Permissive Action Links (PAL).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzLwqAuncBQ

The U.S. military has been working to integrate the B61-12 onto the F-15E, F-16, and B-2, as well as the F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, in support of its own requirements and those of NATO. The U.S. Air Force's future B-21 Raider stealth bombers will also be capable of dropping these bombs. Interestingly, at present, the only platforms expected to be able to make use of the new guided functionality of the B61-12 will be the F-15E, F-35A, B-2, and B-21. F-16s will only be able to employ them in their unguided mode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1JGe1jj9u0

Reports emerged last year that the U.S. military was looking to accelerate the fielding of the B61-12 in Europe in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but it's unclear whether or not this has actually started. It is known that fit checks have been conducted to ensure that the new B61 version can fit inside existing secure vaults.

US Air Force personnel load inert B61-12 "shapes" onto the lower rack of a secure vault during a test. Older B61 shapes are seen on the top rack. USAF via DODIG/FOIA

Altogether, at least from a technical standpoint, if Poland is to join the NATO nuclear weapon sharing program, it will need to modify a certain number of its combat jets. The country already operates F-16s that could be configured for this role and is in the process of acquiring F-35As. If it were to physically host bombs inside its borders, it would also need to build the requisite secure facilities. Other relevant security and safety policies and protocols would also need to be implemented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38pGa5ftbCM

It is possible that Poland could join the program on a more truncated timetable by first modifying aircraft and planning to have them operate from NATO bases where B61s are already stored. The country could also serve as a forward staging point for nuclear-armed DCA aircraft.

It of course remains to be seen whether or not Poland will actually join NATO's nuclear weapon sharing program. At the same time, it would align in many ways with the country's existing conventional rearmament, which has further ballooned in the wake of Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine.

Just this week, Poland received its first M1 Abrams main battle tanks from the United States and the country is also in the process of acquiring K2 tanks from South Korea. That latter purchase is just one element of a massive arms deal the Polish and South Korean governments concluded last year that also includes combat jets and self-propelled artillery, along with industrial cooperation agreements.

Some of Poland's first M1 Abrams tanks at the port of Szczecin after their arrival this week. Polish Ministry of Defense

M1s are hardly the only new weapons the Polish are buying from the United States. Poland is on track to become the second-largest operator of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters in the world and U.S. authorities just recently authorized a potential $15 billion-dollar sale of Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, Integrated Battle Command Systems IBCS), and other related material and services. On the air and missile defense side of things, Poland is on track to become the first U.S. ally to field IBCS, a powerful network architecture that can link various weapons and systems together that you can read more about in this past War Zone feature.

Polish personnel train on IBCS at the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. US Army

In January, the Polish government announced its intention to increase the size of its defense budget to four percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), a decision authorities there said was being driven by the conflict in Ukraine. This would make it the highest per-capita spender in NATO, even above the United States. The alliance requires its members to strive for a goal of at least two percent GDP spending on defense, but few members actually meet this target.

Poland has of course seen the potential for spillover from the conflict in Ukraine firsthand, when what was likely a stray Ukrainian surface-to-air missile killed two Polish farmers in November 2022. At the same time, Warsaw has been raising concerns about Russian aggression for years now and its military buildup predates the current fighting in Ukraine or the deployment of nuclear weapons to Belarus.

The Polish government has had its own concerns about security threats emanating from Belarus, as well. In 2021, a crisis emerged along Belarus' borders with Poland, as well as Latvia, and Lithuania, with migrants from the Middle East finding themselves trapped in between. Polish and other European authorities accused the Belruarisan government of weaponizing those individuals to deliberately foment unrest.

Poland stepped up security along its border with Belarus again after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It is now further reinforcing those defenses in light of reports that thousands of members of the Russian private military Wagner are relocating to Belarus following an abortive putsch on Moscow led by the group's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

All told, whether or not Poland ends up hosting nuclear weapons itself, the country is already becoming a major driving force in NATO and European defense and security discussions.

Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com
Police are asking the public for help in locating a missing and endangered woman from Illinois who may be in Seminole County.

Altamonte Springs police said Julie Merar, from Prospect Heights, Illinois, is believed to be in the Altamonte Springs/Casselberry area of Seminole County.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

The 46-year-old was reported missing from Prospect Heights on June 28 and may be a danger to herself, police said.

Merar is described as a white female with pink/red hair, standing 4 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing around 90 pounds.

Read: New immigration rules take effect July 1; what that means for Florida families and businesses

If you have any information, please contact the ASPD at (407)339-2441 or dial 911.

Read: Gov. DeSantis signs bill allowing radioactive material to be built into Florida roads

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.
New poll shows surprising point of consensus for voters from across the political spectrum  broad majorities agree

A poll from Colorado College has found that voters in some predominantly red western states are overwhelmingly in support of clean energy and conservation initiatives, the Los Angeles Times reports.

A recent Conservation in the West poll conducted by Colorado College found that two-thirds of voters in the American west want to see 100% of their energy come from clean, renewable sources like solar and wind in the next 15 years. More than 60% of voters said theyd like their members of Congress to prioritize clean air and water and wildlife habitats and recreation.

The poll spanned more than a decade and surveyed voters in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

This is a somewhat surprising stance, considering 34% of voters polled identify as conservatives, 41% described themselves as moderates, and 22% identified as liberals. Despite their political standing, voters in the poll overwhelmingly supported a number of climate initiatives.

Extreme weather events and strains on local water supplies caused by our changing climate may be the answer to why westerners are shifting their priorities.

The west has faced many climate disasters, including extreme droughts, frequent forest fires, and even the recent severe winter storm.

According to the poll, seven in 10 respondents see the changing climate as a serious issue, four out of five said loss of habitat for wildlife is a problem in their state, and two-thirds said they were concerned over the impact of oil and gas drilling on the Earth.

Those polled also overwhelmingly supported the 30 by 30 initiative, which seeks to protect 30% of Americas lands and waters by 2030.

Unsurprisingly, westerners also backed water conservation initiatives, with 87% of respondents in support of requiring their local governments to determine whether there is enough water available before approving new residential development projects, and six in 10 voters supporting the banning of thirsty grass lawns at new homes.

Part of the reason to do polling like this is to hand a megaphone to the average voter, Dave Metz, who has conducted the survey for 13 years, told the LA Times.

Although our changing climate may be portrayed as a partisan issue, the demand for climate action is far more popular than most people believe it to be.

A 2020 Pew Research Center survey revealed that two-thirds of Americans believe that the government should do more to slow down changing global temperatures and their negative effects, like worsening extreme weather events.

At a time when partisanship colors most views of policy, broad majorities of the public  including more than half of Republicans and overwhelming shares of Democrats  say they would favor a range of initiatives to reduce the impacts of climate change, including large-scale tree planting efforts, tax credits for businesses that capture carbon emissions and tougher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles, the survey found.

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Stella Assange, wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has said her husband's extradition to the United States could be imminent (Handout)

Pope Francis met Friday with the wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, as he nears the "endgame" of his fight against extradition to the United States on espionage charges.

Francis, the head of the worldwide Catholic Church, "received in audience Ms Stella Assange, with family members," the Vatican said in a short statement.

On Twitter, Stella Assange said she and her children had been given a private audience with the 86-year-old Argentine pontiff, adding: "We are overwhelmed."

Julian Assange is in prison in Britain, fighting extradition to the US, where he faces trial for allegedly violating the US Espionage Act by publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010 related to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

He could be sentenced to decades behind bars if found guilty.

During a protest in London against his extradition earlier this month, his wife said his transfer to the United States could be imminent.

"Julian could be a few weeks away from extradition. We don't have a clear timeline, but this really is the endgame," Stella Assange told reporters.

Supporters portray the Australian publisher as a martyr to press freedom.

The 51-year-old has been held since 2019 at the Belmarsh high security prison in southeast London.

He previously spent nearly seven years holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault.

He claimed the allegations were politically motivated, linked to the work of WikiLeaks.

ar/ams/js
The Pope has released a guidebook on AI ethics. Yes, you heard that right.

The supreme pontiff has partnered with Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics to form the Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture (ITEC), a body that, according to its website, is designed to convene "leaders from business, civil society, academia, government, and all faith and belief traditions, to promote deeper thought on technology's impact on humanity."

Think of it as a Vatican-led AI ethics think tank.

Its first order of business is releasing a handbook, called "Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap," meant to help tech companies navigate the many grey areas of AI ethics.

"The Pope has always had a large view of the world and of humanity, and he believes that technology is a good thing," Father Brendan McGuire, a pastor and ITEC advisor, told Gizmodo. "But as we develop it, it comes time to ask the deeper questions."

"Technology executives from all over Silicon Valley have been coming to me for years and saying, 'You need to help us, theres a lot of stuff on the horizon and we aren't ready,'" he added. "The idea was to use the Vatican's convening power to bring executives from the entire world together."

To be fair, the handbook doesn't just focus on AI and machine learning. It also covers other topics like encryption, tracking, and facial recognition technologies.

Still, based on the text, the ongoing AI race certainly seems to be its main inspiration.

"Since I have begun meeting and talking with senior representatives of Silicon Valley, especially those working in the area of artificial intelligence and machine learning, I have been impressed by their desire to maintain high ethical standards for themselves and for their industry," reads an opening chapter of the handbook, penned by the Irish Bishop Paul Tighe.

"This is already clear in the number of initiatives that seek to ensure that technology will be at the 'service of humanity,' 'for good,' 'human centered,' 'ethical by design,' and 'open,'" he added. "This desire to maintain ethical standards reflects both an intrinsic commitment to doing good and a realistic aversion to the risk of reputational damage and long-term commercial harm."

In other words: business leaders are knowingly using these buzzwords to win trust  and make a buck. But how, exactly, do companies actually follow through with those human-centered and "don't be evil" promises? And besides, what does this all have to do with the Pope anyway?

Make no mistake  elsewhere in his chapter, Tighe described the handbook as the "fruit of an unlikely cooperation," and the Catholic Church seems well aware of the fact that their archaic, old-world institution and Silicon Valley couldn't be more different from each other.

That said, the existence of the ITEC could be seen as a sign of AI's real and potentially transformational staying power. After all, His Holiness never published a 140-page guidebook on crypto.

It's also worth noting that the ITEC isn't pretending that its handbook is an effective replacement for government regulation. While we wait for regulators to jump into action  something that could take quite some time  the Institute says that their guidelines can help burgeoning companies keep consumer health and ethics front and center.

That is if they feel inclined to do so.

"Major guardrails are absolutely necessary, and countries and governments will implement them in time," Brendan, who reportedly does not know whether the Pope has used ChatGPT, told Gizmodo. "But this book plays a significant role in fast tracking the approach to design and consumer implementation."

"That's where we're trying to enable companies to meet the standards we need way ahead of time," he added.

More on the Pope and AI: That Viral Image of the Swagged out Pope Is an AI Fake, Dummies
Pope warns Ukraine war seems to have "no end" as envoy returns from Moscow

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Friday there was no apparent end in sight to the war in Ukraine as his peace envoy wrapped up three days of talks in Moscow.

"The tragic reality of this war that seems to have no end demands of everyone a common creative effort to imagine and forge paths of peace," the pope told a religious delegation from the Patriarch of Constantinople.

The Vatican said in a subsequent statement that the pope's envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, had finished his consultations in Moscow, where he had met one of President Vladimir Putin's advisers, Yuri Ushakov, and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.

"(The visit was) aimed at identifying humanitarian initiatives, which could open roads to peace," the statement said. It added that further steps would be taken, but gave no details.

Francis has called repeatedly for an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has destroyed Ukrainian villages and towns, caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people and driven millions more from their homes.

The pope asked Zuppi in May to serve as his peace envoy and the cardinal visited Kyiv earlier this month for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, editing by Alvise Armellini)
The claim: Kodak Black and Hunter Biden faced the same charge, but only Black was sentenced to prison

A June 20 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows screenshots of two articles: one from the Associated Press titled "Rapper Kodak Black gets over three years in prison in weapons case" and another from the New York Post titled "Hunter Biden to plead guilty to federal tax and gun crime charges.

"2 tiers of justice?" reads the post's caption. "Kodak was charged for the same crime. Got over 3 years. Mr. Biden will not serve a day. Feels right? Do FBI agents and federal authorities take cases personally?"

The post generated over 3,000 likes in less than a week. Similar posts, including those shared by Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Republican Florida Rep. Bryon Donalds, have amassed hundreds of interactions on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

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Our rating: Partly false

Hunter Biden, the president's son, was charged with illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, while Kodak Black was charged with falsifying documents to obtain a firearm. While they were charged under the same statute, the charge for each came under different subsections, one based on drug use and the other based on an intent to deceive.

Experts also say the assertion that the two men should have been received similar sentences falls flat because they were not similar defendants: Biden is a first-time offender and Black has prior offenses that factored into his sentence. And if Biden completes a pre-trial program he won't be convicted of the gun offense.

Legal experts say that the two cases are not comparable

On June 20, Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts and participate in a pretrial program to resolve a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug addict, as USA TODAY reported. The program could lead to the dismissal of the gun charge.

The post in question was shared by Bradford Cohen, Blacks lawyer. Black was sentenced to 46 months in prison for falsifying information on federal forms to buy firearms from a gun shop in Florida on two separate occasions in 2019. He reportedly falsified his social security number and lied about being under indictment for a felony offense. Former President Donald Trump commuted Black's sentence before he left office in 2021.

But legal experts said the two firearm cases cant be compared.

Contrary to the posts claim, the two men were charged under different sections of the same statute  18 U.S. Code  922, according to Bennett Capers, a law professor at Fordham University.

Black was charged with 922(a)(6), which makes it a crime to lie to obtain a firearm with intent to deceive, and Biden was charged with 922(g)(3), which makes it a crime for someone who is using an illegal substance to possess a firearm.

The statutory maximum for both subsections is up to 10 years in prison. But any judge would look at the seriousness of the offense, the willful nature of the criminal conduct, the defendants past criminal history, any record of drug abuse or violence and the general background of the defendant when imposing a sentence, according to Joan Meyer, a partner at the law firm Thompson Hine.

In Blacks case, his lengthy record of arrests and crimes factored into his prison sentence, experts said. For instance, he was indicted by a grand jury in 2016 for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, as CNN reported. He later pled guilty to first-degree assault and battery in that case and was sentenced to probation in 2021. Hes also been arrested multiple times and charged with robbery and battery in South Florida, according to the Miami Herald.

His history and the types of charges he faced justified a prison term; in contrast, Biden is a non-violent first-time offender, Meyer said in an email. Biden is not facing the same consequences because the differences between the two do not justify the same treatment.

Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer, agreed.

"Kodak Black had a lengthy criminal history before he was ever charged with that particular crime, including more than one instance on probation, Moss said in an email. His background at sentencing was night and day compared to that of Hunter Biden, even taking into consideration Hunters drug problems.

Fact check: No, Trump was not charged with espionage in classified documents probe

Cohen, Black's attorney, told USA TODAY in an email that both Biden and Black lied on the 4473 form to obtain a firearm, so he believes Biden should get a prison sentence like Black did.

But experts say that's an oversimplification.

There are lots of factors that go into determining what someones offense level is, and thats before we take into account any criminal history, Capers said. Two people who commit the same offense can still have wildly different sentences.

Meyer said that prosecutors were not prohibited from offering pre-trial diversion to Biden.

While prosecutors typically dont offer diversion on gun charges, Biden has no criminal history and was not using or brandishing a firearm, Meyer said. In contrast, Black has had substantial run-ins with law enforcement and his offense and history justified a decent prison term. The disparity between the two is not extraordinary.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media users who shared the claim for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The Associated Press debunked a similar claim.

Our fact-check sources:

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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viral post wrongly compares Hunter Biden and Kodak Black cases | Fact check
Social media posts claim the carbon dioxide released by the record-breaking Canadian wildfires has surpassed human-caused emissions from the past century. This is false; one expert told AFP nearly all vegetation on Earth would have to burn simultaneously to equal 100 years' worth of CO2 from fossil fuels.

"You can TRY all that electric car, solar power, zero emissions BS all you want but the facts remain: When Mother Nature is done with us, WE'LL KNOW IT!," says musician Dave Bray in a June 7, 2023 Instagram post.

The post shares an image of New York's Statue of Liberty surrounded by smoke and text saying: "The amount of carbon that wildfires have put into the atmosphere in the last 3 days ... is more carbon than what the entire, post-industrial, human race has put out in the last 100 years."

Screenshot of an Instagram post taken June 28, 2023

Similar claims circulated elsewhere on Instagram.

Human-induced climate change is intensifying wildfire seasons, scientists say -- and this year's blazes are Canada's largest ever recorded.

Although they have darkened Canadian and US skies with smoke and haze that contain particles harmful to people sensitive to pollution, experts say the comparison made in the posts is inaccurate.

"There is in no way that the Canadian fire emissions would be comparable to the fossil emissions since industry evolution," Junjie Liu, principal scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told AFP. "Even if the whole boreal forest were to be burned, it is not comparable to the fossil emissions during the last 100 years."

According to Joel Thornton, chair of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington, "nearly all vegetation on land across the entire planet would have to burn in a few days to put a similar amount of carbon into the atmosphere as that which has been emitted by human activities burning fossil fuels over the past 100 years."

Mark Parrington, senior scientist at Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), also said the claims did not add up.

"The current fire emissions from Canada for the year-to-date total is approximately 170 megatonnes of carbon (equivalent to about 620 megatonnes of CO2)," he said on June 30 -- a record amount for the region in recent years. But he noted that is still about 61 times less than global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels in 2021 alone.

Human activity produced 36.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency.

"This is a completely absurd statement that is not based on any facts," Werner Kurz, senior research scientist at the Canadian Forest Service, said of the claim shared on social media.

The worst fire season in Canada in 2021 represented "about 43 percent of the emissions from all other sectors" of the country that same year, he told AFP.

Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since 1900, according to data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A screenshot taken June 30, 2023 shows an EPA graphic illustrating the increase of global carbon dioxide emissions in the last century

Similar false comparisons have spread in climate-skeptic circles for years. More of AFP's reporting on environment and climate misinformation is available here.
Biden says he will try new path to forgive student loans after Supreme Court defeat

WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden said Friday that he will pursue canceling student loan debt through an alternative legal authority after the Supreme Court blocked his signature program to eliminate up to $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans.

Biden said his administration will work to forgive student loan debt through the Higher Education Act of 1965, which authorizes the education secretary to modify, waive or compromise federal student loan under certain circumstances.

"In my view, it's the best path that remains to provide as many borrowers as possible with debt relief," he said in remarks from the White House after the court ruled his original plan exceeded executive authority.

"This new path is legally sound," Biden said, but added, "It's going to take longer."

Biden said he directed his administration to "move as quickly as possible under the law."

Just hours after the court's ruling, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona initiated the rulemaking regulatory process through the Higher Education Act.

President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt forgiveness on Aug. 24, 2022.

Biden was under pressure to take swift action following the court's 6-3 decision along ideological lines  which dashed the hopes of 26 million people who applied for student loan cancellation since Biden took the action last August.

Student loan relief is a promise from President Biden to more than 40 million families. It is our chance for dignity," said Melissa Byrne, executive director of We The 45 Million, a coalition that pushed for student loan cancellation. "Failure to deliver student loan relief is not an option.

For months, the White House publicly resisted calls from liberal constituency groups to come up with a Plan B for student loan debt in anticipation of the conservative-majority court striking down Biden's action on student loans.

Even when a majority of Supreme Court justices expressed deep skepticism over Biden's plan during oral arguments in February  signaling they would rule against the president  the White House refused to discuss a potential alternative.

Then came Biden's announcement Friday afternoon.

"I believe the court's decision to strike down my student debt relief program was a mistake, was wrong," Biden said. "But I'm not going to stop fighting to deliver borrowers what they need, particularly those at the bottom end of the economic scale."

Sweeping loan forgiveness plan gutted Supreme Court strikes down Biden proposal to forgive debt for millions of borrowers

How far will the new plan go?

Conservatives justices on the Supreme Court ruled that a federal law called the HEROES Act that allowed the Biden administration to "waive or modify" the terms of student loans did not give the president the power to offer wholesale forgiveness of that debt.

All the details of Biden's alternative route and how far it could go aren't clear.

Biden's original action sought to forgive $10,000 for all borrowers federal student loan borrowers and up to $20,000 in debt relief for low-income Pell Grant recipients. The debt cancellation was only available to borrowers with annual incomes less than $125,000 or from households earning $250,000 or less.

The Education Department generally uses the negotiated rulemaking process to develop policies that affect how the government distributes money meant for financial aid. The government holds a series of meetings with key stakeholders, which could include university leaders, loan servicers, students or others who might be impacted by the decision. That group will attempt to reach a common agreement on the new rules.

President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Friday, June 30, 2023. The Biden administration is moving forward on a new student debt relief plan after the Supreme Court struck down his original initiative to provide relief to 43 million borrowers.

If they do, the government will adopt their guidance. If not, the department will decide if it should move forward with the new policy or could draft its own rule. It will give the public an opportunity to comment before the rules become final.

Relying on the Higher Education Act is not a new idea; some plaintiffs in the case had raised it at the Supreme Court. Two borrowers who sued Biden over student loans claimed in a brief that the only reason the administration avoided relying on it was because of the "lengthy negotiated rulemaking and notice-and-comment" that would be required. In other words, they said, it would take longer.

Cardona said the administration chose the HEROES Act as its initial path because it offered a "quicker" pathway. White House officials stressed the new alternative route could take "months" to roll out following the federal review process and periods for public comments.

Some borrower advocacy groups were skeptical of the president's new plan to deliver student loan relief saying he isn't leveraging every tool he has, and the fresh proposal will take far too long. Others warned that the court's decision, while a setback for loan borrowers, will serve as motivation for young voters to come out for Democrats in the 2024 election.

"Presidents Biden plan was a historic action that would have provided life-changing relief to young people," said Tzintzun Ramirez, president of NextGen America, a progressive advocacy group for young voters. "Instead, Republican and partisan forces worked to obstruct this relief  and we know that young voters will remember this come 2024."

Another reprieve for borrowers on payments

In addition to starting over on student loan forgiveness, Cardona said borrowers who can't make payments when the pause on student loan bills ends in October will have a one-year reprieve on the consequences that come along with missed payments.

Loan forgiveness takes many forms. Only one is blocked.

While interest will begin to accrue on those loans during what the department called an "on-ramp" period from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024, borrowers who don't make payments won't be reported to credit agencies or have their loans referred to collection agencies.The original pause on payments, first instituted under former President Donald Trump at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, also directed that servicers stop their collection attempts.

Does Biden have other options?

Another way legally to achieve the same goal  forgiving up to $20,000 in student loan debt for low- and middle-income households  would be for Congress to act. But Biden lacks the votes for legislative action.

Both bodies of Congress  including the Democratic-controlled Senate  voted to repeal Biden's student loan forgiveness action, forcing the veto pen of Biden to keep his plan alive before the court's decision.

The White House also has touted its previous efforts to cancel debt through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. However, it's limited to borrowers working in the public sector.

Some legal experts have argued Biden could propose a narrower plan that still invokes the HEROES Act, although it likely would have a significantly smaller reach.

Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden unveils new student loan forgiveness plan after Supreme Court defeat
As Pride month ends, heres what Roger Marshall should be sad about, not LGBT flags | Opinion

Senators priorities

I was struck by Sen. Roger Marshalls recent comment, Its a sad state of affairs, referring to the White House displaying an LGBT Pride flag to commemorate Pride month. (June 20, 1A, Marshall seeks to ban Pride flags from fed buildings)

My first thought was: No, its a sad state of affairs when a U.S. senator is incensed about a celebration of people who arent hurting him or his family while gun-toting maniacs roam the country shooting people, and they could hurt him or his family.

And hes doing nothing about it. That is another sad state of affairs.

- Barbara Young, Independence

Unhappy birthdays

Less is not more. Please bring back the celebrity birthdays column that used to appear in The Stars print edition. It listed more birthdays than its replacement from Encyclopaedia Britannica and included ages.

I tried to like the new version, but I dont.

- Jeffery Psota, Kansas City

Distracted driving

Pedestrian safety from drivers has been on my mind this summer, so I thank you for highlighting the concern in the your editorial, Why do so many drivers put pedestrians at risk? on Wednesday. (10A) Beyond the cited factors of speed, road rage, substance use and lack of respect for traffic laws, I add widespread distraction from devices.

A new concern I have is the use of scooters and smaller vehicles, often by children whose peripheral vision is not fully developed and who have not been taught the rules of the road. An unthinkable tragedy would devastate all involved.

If your words, and these, can prevent even one accident, the time and print space is merited.

- Mina Steen, Mission Hills

Trumps time

Did Donald Trump not have time to inspect the documents he was taking to Mar-a-Lago? He should have done that rather than spending time calling all those Republicans to find votes he had not won  one of 30,000-plus other lies he told us.

He should have made time to attend the inauguration of his duly elected successor, President Joe Biden, as all respectful presidents have done.

If Trump wasnt capable of carrying out the duties of the office, he should not have run for it.

Please, America, elect a truthful, capable, respectful candidate in 2024. Lets work to create an America we can love and be proud of, a country that all those around the globe who want democracy can support and work with to make our world a better place for all.

- Marlys Ballard, Overland Park

Yes, flat tax

In praising Kansas Gov. Laura Kellys veto of the Legislatures flat tax proposal, The Stars editorial board endorsed a gut punch to Kansans struggling to make ends meet. (June 7, 8A, Kansas GOP never sold unfair flat tax to voters)

Kansans making between $15,000 and $30,000 a year would have experienced a 5.15% marginal tax rate reduction. Full-time, minimum-wage workers would, in effect, receive a pay raise, while those making less wouldnt pay any state income taxes.

A single-rate tax would relieve Kansans of the burdens associated with tax filing. Americans spend 2.6 billion hours annually preparing their taxes  paying CPAs and attorneys to decipher tax schedules, deductions and credits.

Cutting taxes and maintaining a budget is possible, as 24 states have proved. North Carolina, for example, reduced its income tax rate to a single 4.99% rate and has enacted a gradual reduction of the corporate income tax, all while stabilizing its budget. Kansas $2.3 billion surplus is more than enough to cover the estimated $500 million cost of a single tax rate package.

If Gov. Kelly and Kansas Democrats care about the most vulnerable, they must join efforts to create more prosperity for all.

- Michael Austin, Kansas legislative director, Americans for Prosperity, Topeka
Skills demonstration festival held for the disabled in Jinan, E China's Shandong

People's Daily Online) 09:50, June 30, 2023

A skills demonstration festival for disabled people, the fourth of its kind, is held in Jinan, capital city of east China's Shandong Province from June 27 to 28, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Zhou Jingyuan)

A skills demonstration festival for disabled people, the fourth of its kind, was held in Jinan, capital city of east China's Shandong Province from June 27 to 28. The festival was held in parallel with seventh China national vocational skill competition for persons with disabilities.

The festival had 47 exhibition areas for displaying and selling handiworks made by people with disabilities. This included a comprehensive exhibition area, an exhibition area featuring employment services for people with disabilities, 31 exhibition areas established for Chinese provinces, one exhibition area for the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, one exhibition area for Jinan city, and 12 exhibitions areas showcasing disabled women's skills and handiworks.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Yevgeny Prigozhin

Russian state regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked access to various websites of the media conglomerate Patriot, owned by Wagners Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian media outlet Vazhnye Istorii reported via Telegram on June 30.

Roskomnadzor has updated the list of blocked websites with Prigozhins assets, including RIA FAN, Politika Segodnya, Ekonomika Segodnya, and Narodnye Novosti, all of which were part of the Patriot media conglomerate.

Read also: What happened between Putin and Prigozhin

Russian Telegram channels report that Prigozhin has dissolved the conglomerate, including his infamous "troll farm," and has laid off its employees. According to Meduza, a former executive of Patriot claimed that the oligarch has decided to remove the conglomerate from public life.

Read also: Someone else ordered Prigozhin to halt march on Moscow  Ukrainian official

Previously, reports indicated that the social network YaRus, linked to Prigozhin, would discontinue operations on June 30. According to The Bell, Yuri Kovalchuk, a close ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin who owns the National Media Group, or Victor Shkulev, owner of a network of local municipal websites, might purchase the network. However, Shkulev has since denied these claims.

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Prigozhin's rebellion could have split Russia into two, Ukraines spy chief says

Kyrylo Budanov, Intelligence June 25, 2022.

If the leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had seceded with his rebellion then Russia could have been divided into at least two parts, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with the War Zone published on June 29.

"Had Prigozhin entered an empty Kremlin that day, he would have shown to the public that the Kremlin is empty," Budanov said.

There are no ministers. There are no real high-ranking officials there. They all escaped, and he would demonstrate that there's no authority in power currently in Russia.

"But on the other hand, some officials from St. Petersburg or elsewhere would start claiming that they're the legitimate power which makes a situation of two powers in the country, which immediately would be split."

Budanov said that the fact that an agreement was eventually reached with Prigozhin "bought some time" for the Russian leadership.

Nevertheless, Budanov said he was confident that the position of the Russian government as an "all-controlling pillar of power" has been significantly undermined by Prigozhin's actions, and will never be the same again.

Read also: Russian dictator said to have ordered warlord Prigozhins elimination, but amnesty for Wagnerites  media

Earlier, Budanov commented on Prigozhin's failed rebellion and his decision to "turn back the columns" from outside Moscow, suggesting that Prigozhin was able to be convinced because of his "patriotism," and that Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and others were able to persuade him that his actions would tear Russia apart.

During the same interview, Budanov also said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will do everything possible to reach the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine as of 1991.

"Our position is unchanged in that we will reach the administrative borders of Ukraine as of 1991 anyway," the spy chief said.

When asked if this would happen in 2023, the Budanov replied that "we'll do everything possible to make it this year."

When the interviewer further clarified whether there were any guarantees for such achievements, Budanov argued that "only God can provide such guarantees."

Prigozhin's mutiny in Russia and Wagner's march on Moscow - What is known

Prigozhin announced the beginning of an armed conflict with the Russian Defense Ministry on the evening of June 23, claiming that he wanted to restore justice in Russia.

Read also: Someone else ordered Prigozhin to halt march on Moscow  Ukrainian official

He said that the Russian army struck the mercenaries rear camp. However, a conflict between Prigozhin and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had started months earlier.

For the past few months, the Wagner leader has been persistently demanding the resignation of the Russian defense minister, accusing him of poor management of the Russian armed forces and of not supplying enough ammunition to Wagner forces.

On June 24, Wagner forces seized control over the main military facilities in the cities of Rostov-on-Don and Voronezh. They also shot down seven Russian Air Force aircraft.

Prigozhin then demanded meetings with Russias top military leadership and threatened to advance towards Moscow in a video address shot in Rostov-on-Don.

Putin, in turn, posted a video address saying that the Russian Armed Forces had ordered to eliminate those who led the rebellion.

The Wagnerites convoys nevertheless moved towards Moscow in a march for justice, as Prigozhin called it.

Read also: Criminal case against Prigozhin still ongoing, reports Russian media

The FSB charged Prigozhin with inciting insurrection, while the security forces were preparing to defend Moscow. Putin is believed to have fled the capital, perhaps to his residence in Valdai, northwest of Moscow.

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin as his mercenaries closed in on Moscow, Lukashenkos press office stated, culminating in a deal where Prigozhin agreed to halt his forces advance on the Russian capital  in exchange for dropping charges and changes at the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Soon after, Prigozhin ordered Wagner mercenaries to turn back from Moscow and return to their combat positions.

Reportedly, according to the terms of the deal struck between Prigozhin and Putin, the mercenary leader is meant to decamp to Belarus for the time being.

On June 27, Belarusian dictator Lukashenko confirmed that Prigozhin was already in Belarus.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT-WAGNER

Members of Wagner group sit atop of a tank in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don, on June 24, 2023. President Vladimir Putin on June 24, 2023 said an armed mutiny by Wagner mercenaries was a "stab in the back" and that the group's chief Yevgeny Prigozhin had betrayed Russia, as he vowed to punish the dissidents. Prigozhin said his fighters control key military sites in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. Credit - Roman ROMOKHOV- AFP

The astonishing rebellion of former convict and troll factory owner Yevgeny Prigozhin on June 23 and 24 has unveiled the brittle foundations beneath the surface of Russias power structures. The stifled revolt has shed light on the growing confusion and lack of assertiveness of Russias perennial leader, President Vladimir Putin. Although the illusion of his omnipotence has not been entirely shattered, the carefully constructed image of unity and strength within the regime is starting to show cracks.

Putin has long used the Wagner Group as a counterbalance to the military and assumed that Prigozhin, who was completely dependent on his patronage and state resources, could never pose a political threat to him. Despite gradually being distanced from Putin and his inner circle, the outspoken businessman managed in recent months to accumulate significant political capital as a counter-elite populist. While professing full loyalty to Putin and fervently supporting Russias invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin lambasted the military top brass in charismatic recruitment pitches across Russia, press conferences with war bloggers, and obscenity-laden Telegram rants. Prigozhins exploits in the war, especially his significant contributions to the capture of Bakhmut, enhanced his sense of privilege and emboldened his decision to rebel when he felt cornered.

Prigozhins clumsy, reckless mutiny was neither a blatant power grab nor an attempt to overthrow the regime. Instead, it was born out of desperation. The clash between Prigozhin and the military leadershipRussian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimovhad been escalating for a while, but Putin appeared reluctant to intervene. The feud reached a tipping point after Prigozhin overtly challenged the rationale for the war, accused the army of trying to sabotage the Wagner Group, and impulsively started his march for justice. Recognizing his impending ouster from Ukraine and struggling to sustain the private military company amid the state apparatus turning against him, Prigozhin aimed to capture Shoigu and Gerasimov, draw Putins attention, and force discussions on the preservation of his lucrative enterprise. However, the insurrection unfolded into a crisis and exposed that Putin, long-regarded as Russias unshakable strongman, is increasingly hesitant and misinformed.

Fierce internal strife and deadly turf battles among elites often happen in Russia, but they rarely spill out into the open. Putin seems to have underestimated Prigozhins growing brazenness and burgeoning popularity among the angry pro-war ultra-patriotic camp and the military rank and file in Russia, who see him as a kind of folk hero taking on the establishment. Despite receiving multiple warnings that Prigozhin was getting too erratic, the Russian president sat idly by as the maverick tycoon crusaded against the defense chiefs. Putins apparent disengagement in the lead up to Prigozhins shocking stunt presents a vivid picture of an aging autocrat increasingly detached from the realities of his power structures, unable to mediate disputes within his ranks, and failing to prevent internal power struggles from spiraling out of control.

Read More: What Comes After Putins Rule in Russia

Prigozhins audacious move elicited a surprising degree of paralysis in decision-making within the regime. There was a discombobulated response from the military and security services, and government officials were mainly silent, waiting for a clear signal from Putin. The Wagner Group seized Rostov-on-Don, the logistical hub and nerve center of Russias assault on Ukraine, and came close to reaching Moscow without encountering much resistance. Russias chief propagandists, such as RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, were curiously silent. Some bureaucrats and oligarchs scrambled to leave Russia or depart from Moscow in the midst of the chaos. While elites in Russia were predominantly aligned against Prigozhin and believed he went mad, their reluctance to act decisively without explicit direction from the Kremlin exposed a significant vulnerability of Putins ruling style, which distributes power based on personal loyalty rather than institutional stability.

Putin waited for more than nine hours after he was briefed about the attempted armed rebellion to give a televised address accusing Prigozhin of treason. It took Putin another ten hours to reach a surprising deal with the mercenary boss, reportedly closing a criminal investigation into his mutiny, exiling him to Belarus, and dissolving his mercenary operations in Ukraine. Putin had lost control of the situation, sending shockwaves through the state. Russias power brokers eventually rallied behind Putin, but notably, only after the uprising ended, underlining the crucial role of Putins active engagement in securing elite solidarity.

Notwithstanding his latest setbacks, Putin remains the centripetal force holding the Russian state together. His authority, albeit increasingly questioned, continues to be the central mechanism by which political stability is maintained. It is Putin who sets the national agenda and ultimately holds the reins of Russias power dynamics. In the wake of the upheaval, the regime is making a concerted effort to show elite consolidation and project the image of an unwavering, united front supporting an indispensable statesman.

The Kremlin has orchestrated a series of set piece events in recent days aimed at rewriting the narrative of the insurrection and demonstrating normalcy. Putin vowed to take decisive action and applauded the civic solidarity of the people. Talking heads in Russia are currently painting Prigozhin out to be a traitor, thanking Putin for his strength and wisdom in resolving the crisis with minimal bloodshed, praising him for averting complete chaos and a civil war. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov argued that Russia will come out stronger after the incident. Russians usually feel more comfortable aligning themselves with prevailing narratives espoused by Putins propaganda machine than confronting negative information and difficult news stories. Putin maintains approval ratings at around 82%, and although his public approval is derived more from apathetic obedience than sincere allegiance, the pervasive belief that there is no alternative to his rule remains intactat least for now.

The Kremlins relentless repression of dissenters may intensify, promoting an atmosphere of fear and stoking greater fatigue and helplessness to stand up to the regime. The uprising is already being called a crash test of loyalty in Russia, and purges of alleged Wagner Group conspirators seem to have begun in the military. Following intense speculation about his presumed involvement in the mutiny, the whereabouts of Russian army general and Commander of the Aerospace Forces Sergey Surovikin are currently unknown. Putin may become more brutal and paranoid as the intrigues surrounding the incident are further unraveled.

The rebellion does not suggest a sudden plunge into political volatility in Russia, but it serves as a stark reminder that Putin is not infallible. He has outlived many predictions about his demise before, but the system he built is becoming more fragile as the war goes on. The key question moving forward is whether Putin can manage to restore the perception of his ironclad rule or whether the failed gambit of Prigozhin will serve as a catalyst for more severe domestic challenges threatening the survival of the regime.
The prince of Denmark turned down his state-funded allowance. It's the latest way the royal family is modernizing.

Prince Christian of Denmark said he will not accept his royal allowance when he turns 18. Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

Prince Christian of Denmark won't accept his government-funded royal allowance when he turns 18.

The royal, who is presumed to one day become king, announced he would be focusing on his education.

It's apparently the latest move members of the family have made to modernize the Danish monarchy.

Prince Christian of Denmark announced this week that he won't accept his royal allowance when he becomes eligible for it come October, in a break with tradition.

The royal, who is currently second in line to the throne and will presumably become king one day, announced in a statement on Monday that he would not accept his royal allowance when he turns 18, choosing instead to focus on his education.

"Prince Christian's main priority in the coming year will be the completion of the Prince's upper secondary education," the statement read. "In continuation of this, the Royal Palace will provide information on Prince Christian's further youth and education courses when the time is right."

The palace elaborated, saying that Christian's role as a working royal would be revisited if there is a change in the throne and his father, Prince Frederik, becomes king, or when Christian eventually turns 21.

"Only after this is the expectation that His Royal Highness will participate to a greater extent in official contexts. However, it depends on where the Prince is at this point in his education. Until then, just like today, Prince Christian will only participate in official contexts to a limited extent," the palace continued.

It's the latest way the Danish monarchy is allowing members of the younger generation to forge their own paths

Princess Marie of Denmark, Prince Joachim of Denmark, Prince Henrik of Denmark, Princess Athena of Denmark, Prince Nikolai of Denmark, Countess Alexandra of Denmark and Prince Felix of Denmark in August 2017. Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

The Danish royal family has apparently made moves to modernize in recent months, with Queen Margrethe announcing plans last year to slim down the monarchy.

In September 2022, she said she would be taking away Prince Joachim's four children's prince and princess titles and they would instead receive the titles of counts and countesses. According to a statement from the Danish royal household, the decision, which it said was similar to recent decisions made by other royal families, was made so the children can "shape their own lives to a much greater extent."

Prince Joachim, Queen Margrethe's second son who is sixth in line to the throne after his brother and his brother's children, publicly called out his mother's decision to change his children's titles, while Frederik voiced his support.

"My mother has made this decision alone, because it is what she can do and it is what she wants, and she thought now was the time to make a decision that I also support and see as the right thing to do," Frederik said outside of a Copenhagen school where he attended an event in October 2022, People reported.

"I myself am interested in the Danish monarchy staying lean over time, so I, therefore, support my mother's decision, which she has chosen to make," he added.

Joachim lives in Paris with his family and, later this year, they will be moving stateside to serve under the Ministry of Defense as defense industry attache at the Danish Embassy in Washington DC.

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Three months after news broke that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were asked to leave their UK home, Frogmore Cottage, Buckingham Palace has confirmed that they have officially moved out. On Thursday the annual Sovereign Grant report was released, detailing all of the royal familys spending for the year, and the status of Frogmore Cottage was discussed during a press briefing. We can confirm that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have vacated Frogmore Cottage, said Keeper of the Privy Purse Michael Stevens. He also addressed the funds from the Sovereign Grant (roughly $3 million) which were used to renovate the property before Harry and Meghan first moved there in 2019, and which the couple was asked to pay back after their decision to step down from their royal duties and relocate in 2020.

Safe to say that, as has previously been stated, the duke and duchess have paid for the expenditure incurred by the Sovereign Grant in relation to the renovation of Frogmore Cottage, thus leaving the Crown with a greatly enhanced asset, said Stevens. When the couple first confirmed, in March, that theyd been asked to vacate the Windsor Great Park property, UK tabloid The Sun reported that the reason was so that Prince Andrew, the disgraced younger brother of King Charles III, could move in. When asked about this at the briefing, Stevens declined to comment on whether Andrew will in fact enjoy the newly renovated Georgian-era home.

Harry and Meghan moved into Frogmore Cottage shortly before the birth of their son Archie, but by early 2020, the couple had moved to Canada, later settling at their current home in Montecito, California. A statement put out by the palace at the time declared that Frogmore, which had been given to them by the late Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding present, [would] remain their UK family home.

In the years since Harry and Meghans big move, they have returned to the 10-bedroom stucco home on (somewhat rare, especially for Meghan) visits to the UK, even hosting their daughter Lilibets first birthday party on the property when they were in town for the Queens Platinum Jubilee celebration in June 2022. Harry stayed at the home as recently as the beginning of this month, when he was in the UK to testify in his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers. The Prince is suing the media company for allegedly obtaining information about him via unlawful methods.

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Actor Kevin Spacey arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London, Friday, June 30, 2023. Spacey is going on trial on charges he sexually assaulted four men as long as two decades ago. The double-Oscar winner faces a dozen charges at Southwark Crown Court. Spacey pleads not guilty to all charges. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

LONDON (AP)  Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey got a thrill preying on other men and escalated his behavior from touchy-feely advances to hostile fondling and worse, a prosecutor told jurors Friday during Spacey's sexual assault trial in London.

Spacey is a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable  a sexual bully, prosecutor Christine Agnew said in her opening statement. His preferred method of assault is, it appears, to grab aggressively other men in the crotch.

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges involving four men and allegations that date from 2001 to 2013, when he worked at London's Old Vic Theatre. The charges include sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The stakes for the American actor are high. A conviction could send him to prison, while an acquittal could allow for a career comeback.

Defense lawyer Patrick Gibbs said Spacey denied all allegations of nonconsensual activity and told jurors to ask themselves as they listened to the evidence what  if anything  had occurred when he was with the men. He suggested the alleged victims had other motives and said that Spacey had left himself open to opportunists when he came out as gay in 2020.

What has been reimagined with a sinister spin? Gibbs said. What has been made up or twisted and why and when because all of these allegations happened a long time ago.

He said jurors would hear truths, half-truths, deliberate exaggerations and many damned lies.

Spacey, wearing spectacles and dressed in a light gray suit, white shirt and gold tie, leaned forward behind a window in the dock, listening intently as his lawyer provided a brief overview of the case. Gibbs will present a longer opening statement after the prosecution rests its case.

The actor served as the Old Vic Theatre's artistic director from 2003 until 2015. The four men who have accused Spacey of sexual assault, now in their 30s or 40s, did not know each other, but all had the misfortune to attract his attention, Agnew said.

One victim said he was frequently groped against his wishes by Spacey in the early 2000s, culminating with a day when he was driving and the actor, who had been drinking, grabbed his privates so hard it took his breath away and he nearly ran off the road. He told Spacey to never do that again.

Spacey laughed and commented that his getting angry simply turned him on, Agnew said.

Spacey narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips as Agnew spoke, occasionally jotting notes with a pencil on the pages of a large black binder he carried into court.

During questioning by police last year, Spacey said he was baffled and deeply hurt by those allegations from someone he considered a friend. He said the events had been reimagined into lies.

Agnew said Spacey seemed to be confident the men wouldnt tell anyone  that the word of a celebrity would be more believable than from someone who wasnt famous.

None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey ... in a sexual way, but he doesnt seem to have cared very much for their feelings, the prosecutor said. He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification.

Another man who said Spacey groped him at a charity event in 2005 only told one friend about it until speaking with police in 2017.

Kevin Spacey ... was a star, a golden boy as he put it, Agnew said about the man. "He wasnt sure he would be believed, and even if he had been, he didnt think that he would receive any support."

In his statement to police, Spacey said he hadn't done anything without consent. He said it was entirely possible and indeed likely he had made a clumsy pass but denied grabbing anyones crotch. He suggested some of the men were seeking financial gain.

An aspiring actor who said he reached out to Spacey for career advice ended up at his London apartment drinking beer and smoking marijuana in 2008. He either fell asleep or passed out on the sofa and when he awoke, Spacey was performing oral sex on him, Agnew said.

The man, who was in his early 20s, said Spacey told him not to tell anyone what had happened and not to mention he had been in Spacey's apartment. The man said he was in shock as Spacey held the door open for him to leave, and that he then walked to a bus stop where he sat down and cried.

He decided to speak with police in 2017 after reading about allegations against Spacey in the U.S., Agnew said.

Spacey's career was derailed when sexual misconduct allegations against him arose as the #MeToo movement exploded. He was written off the Netflix political thriller House of Cards, where he played lead character Frank Underwood, a ruthless and corrupt congressman who becomes president. He was cut from the completed film All the Money in the World, with the scenes getting reshot with Christopher Plummer.

A jury of nine men and five women, including two alternates, will decide his fate during the four-week trial in Southwark Crown Court, where he is identified by his full name, Kevin Spacey Fowler. The actor, who has homes in London and the U.S., is free on bail.

Spacey became one of the most celebrated actors of his generation in the 1990s, starring in films including Glengarry Glen Ross and LA Confidential.

He has earned multiple prominent acting awards for the theater, the silver screen and television. He won an Academy Award for supporting actor in The Usual Suspects in 1995 and best actor Oscar for the 1999 movie American Beauty.

Spacey recently had his first film role in several years, appearing in 2022 in Italian director Franco Neros The Man Who Drew God, and playing the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in the biopic Once Upon a Time in Croatia. He also stars in the unreleased U.S. film Peter Five Eight.

He has suggested he would be in demand if he is acquitted.

There are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges, Spacey said in an interview published this month in Germanys Zeit magazine.

Agnew told jurors they would have to evaluate the credibility of the victims and decide if they were telling the truth or manufacturing allegations for profit.

The prosecution suggest that Mr. Spacey ... abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him, Agnew said. Taking what and who he wanted, when he wanted.
Prosecutors are prepared to hit Trump and his allies with new charges, sources say

The Department of Justice is prepared to seek indictments against multiple figures in former president Donald Trumps orbit and may yet bring additional charges against the ex-president in the coming weeks, The Independent has learned.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the department has made preparations to bring what is known as a superseding indictment  a second set of charges against an already-indicted defendant that could include more serious crimes  against the ex-president in the Southern District of Florida.

But prosecutors may also choose to bring additional charges against Mr Trump in a different venue, depending on how they feel the case they have brought against him in is proceeding.

The Independent understands that prosecutors decision on whether to seek additional charges from a grand jury  and where to seek them  will depend in part on whether they feel the Trump-appointed district judge overseeing the case against him in the Southern District of Florida, Aileen Cannon, is giving undue deference to the twice-impeached, now twice-indicted former president.

The team of federal prosecutors working under Special Counsel Jack Smith is currently prepared to add an additional 30 to 45 charges in addition to the 37-count indictment brought against Mr Trump on 8 June, either in a superseding indictment in the same Florida court or in a different federal judicial district. In either case, they would do so using evidence against the ex-president that has not yet been publicly acknowledged by the department, including other recordings prosecutors have obtained which reveal Mr Trump making incriminating statements.

Additionally, it is understood that Mr Smiths team is ready to bring charges against several of the attorneys who have worked for Mr Trump, including those who aided the ex-president in his push to ignore the will of voters and remain in the White House despite having lost the 2020 election.

One of those figures is Mr Trumps erstwhile personal attorney, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Mr Giuliani, whose law license was suspended in New York and Washington as a result of his allegedly making multiple false representations while seeking to help Mr Trump overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, reportedly participated in a voluntary interview with prosecutors working under the supervision of Mr Smith, the Justice Department special counsel whose office brought charges against Mr Trump earlier this month.

Rudy Giuliani reportedly gave a voluntary interview with prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

It is further understood that Mr Giulianis cooperation with prosecutors was undertaken as part of what is known as a queen for a day deal, under which the ex-mayor can avoid indictment for anything he tells prosecutors about during the interview.

This will allow the disgraced former federal prosecutor to avoid some charges, but a source familiar with the matter has said Mr Smiths office will most definitely bring some charges against Mr Giuliani for his work on Mr Trumps behalf in the weeks between the November 2020 election and the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol.

The Independent has also learned that Mr Giulianis proffer session with prosecutors dealt mainly with Mr Trumps machinations during that time period as he sought to find a way to remain in the White House for a second term, even against the will of the voters whod handed Mr Biden the keys to the White House by way of majorities in key swing states, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.

In a statement to The Independent, Mr Giulianis political adviser Ted Goodman said the ex-Trump attorneys meeting with prosecutors was entirely voluntary and conducted in a professional manner but declined to elaborate further on the current status of Mr Giulianis dealings with the justice department.

There's nothing more to say on this matter, he added.

The ex-president and the ex-New York City mayor are also understood to be among the numerous targets in a state-level investigation in Georgia focusing on Mr Trumps efforts to pressure Peach State officials to unlawfully overturn Mr Bidens shock victory there.

That probe, which is being conducted by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis, is expected to result in multiple indictments which could be unveiled as early as next month. Ms Willis, who last year oversaw a special purpose grand jury probe into efforts by Mr Trump and his allies to reverse his loss to Mr Biden in Georgia, is reportedly considering indictments against the ex-president, his former attorney, top Republican figures in the state, as well as Mr Trumps final White House chief of staff, ex-North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows.

Trumps former chief of staff Mark Meadows (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Mr Meadows, who testified before the Georgia special grand jury last year, is also cooperating in the Justice Department probe into Mr Trumps efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Earlier this month, The Independent reported that Mr Meadows had given evidence before a Washington DC grand jury under Mr Smiths supervision as part of an agreement that would see him eventually plead guilty to lesser federal charges in exchange for his testimony against Mr Trump and other figures.

Although Mr Meadows attorney, George Terwilliger, previously vehemently denied that Mr Meadows had entered any pleas of guilty to any crimes in response to that previous report, it is understood that the ex-congressman has signed an agreement with the Department of Justice which memorialises his obligations to cooperate with any prosecution against Mr Trump or others in the ex-presidents orbit in exchange for consideration that will spare him considerable legal jeopardy.

Representatives for Mr Trump and Mr Meadows did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Independent.
Illegal fireworks are a common stressor for Los Angeles' dogs and cats. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Here it comes again, one of the most stressful days of the year for dogs and their owners.

And no, its not the annual trip to the vet. Its Independence Day.

Known for extravagant official fireworks displays and abundant unofficial ones, this holiday poses a threat to animals around the nation  especially in Los Angeles and other big cities. As many dog owners know, our furry friends do not react well to patriotic outbursts in the form of random explosions that continue well into the night.

According to a Crosstown LA report , calls to the Los Angeles Police Department about fireworks spike each year on and around the Fourth. In recent years, Crosstown found, the volume skyrocketed each July from a few hundred calls to more than 2,000.

Dr. Meredith Kennedy, veterinarian and owner of Eagle Rock Animal Emergency, shared a list of tips and tricks to keep your dog safe this holiday weekend. Loud neighborhood Fourth of July fireworks displays are common in Eagle Rock, so Kennedy has seen it all.

Read more: 44 places to watch dazzling Fourth of July fireworks in L.A.

1. Should I confine my dog?

The safest place for a frightened pup is a small, secluded space. It is very, very important that your dog be kept very strictly confined because dogs tend to get scared and theyll jump fences, theyll go blasting through open gates, theyll dig out of the yards because theyre terrified and they dont know what to do, Kennedy said. Keeping them in your home or in a crate makes them feel safer.

2. Should I sedate my dog?

For the more reactive dogs, you can obtain a tranquilizer from your vet to keep them calm. Kennedy recommends acepromazine, dexmedetomidine and trazodone, which are all prescription medications. The time to get them, however, is now. Some of the more eager pyrotechnic connoisseurs set fireworks off during the entire week prior to the actual holiday. Kennedy says that dogs' ears are much more sensitive than ours, and they can likely hear it all.

Read more: How to keep your pets cool in this scorching heat

3. Why is my dog sick?

If your dog starts to vomit and suffer from diarrhea in the next week or two, this may be a stress response. An overstimulated dog may have a physical response to its stressors. This could even result in bloody diarrhea. Another reason for these reactions may be that your dog is getting ahold of human food. This would also make it sick. So when you throw your parties, beware of food left within reach of your dog.

4. What if my dog gets too hot?

Something to watch out for  especially with short-faced breeds such as bulldogs and pugs  is overheating. Unfortunately we lose a fair number of these dogs, even young in age, because they have overheated, Kennedy says. If you have any sort of bulldog, her rule is: No panting for more than 15 minutes. If your dog exceeds this time limit, it may end up with swelling in the back of its throat and start to asphyxiate.

What should you do if your dog has been panting for too long? Move it to a cold room, confine it, put cold water on its legs and paws, set up a fan, put ice cubes in its water, and try to calm it down.

Read more: Earthquake preparedness tips  for your pets: How to keep them safe

5. What do I do if my dog gets hurt?

One common reason dogs are taken to the emergency room on the Fourth may surprise you. Many people put on events for their loved ones, and they sometimes bring their dogs. When there are multiple dogs in the same space and their stress levels are high, this combination, mixed with a lack of supervision, may lead to dog fights. Many of the dogs injured in fights havent gotten their rabies shots, so make sure your dog is up to date on its vaccinations.

To be on the safe side, check the hours that your preferred emergency vet will be open through the coming week.

Another regular occurrence on the Fourth is dogs escaping their homes. If your dog gets out, two resources are the websites for L.A. Animal Services and L.A. County Animal Care and Control . Check out their web pages for the steps you need to take to find your pet.

When a found dog is brought in to L.A. Animal Services, the first thing its staffers do is scan for microchips. If the dog has one, they will contact the owners phone number and send a letter to the address listed. The owner then has seven days to retrieve the dog; if it's not claimed by then, it will be put up for adoption. Dogs without microchips have four days to be recovered.

There is a common misconception among dog lovers that the shelter will euthanize dogs that are brought to them. Animal Services says bringing a dog to a shelter is the best way to reunite it with its family. If you lose your dog, the first thing you should do is look at the shelter website to see if it has your dog.

6. How do I keep my cat safe?

You may be wondering: What about my cat? Many of the same rules apply. Keep them indoors and confined. Kennedy suggests putting them in a carrier and covering it with a blanket or towel. In other words, she says, "Make it look like a cave."

A useful product to have on hand when caring for your agitated cat is a spray sold under the brand name Feliway that mimics the natural pheromones released by a mother cat to calm her kittens.

Read more: A $150,000 'executive protection dog'? Rich L.A. homeowners are snapping them up

Sign up for Essential California, your daily guide to news, views and life in the Golden State.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Daily Beast

Moms for Liberty, the conservative organization thats pushed book bans across the country, descended on Philadelphia this week for a conference filled with pro-Trump swag bags and Joe and the Hoe t-shirts, and speeches headlined by presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis and the Donald himself.

But Philly apparently wasn't going to let Moms for Liberty (M4L) and its MAGA line-up spew their talking points without a fight. Even as the conference kicked off its first full daywith breakout sessions on FAITH OF THE FOUNDERS and the Federalist Papersprotesters marched outside the summit and decried the groups opposition to LGBTQ education and civil rights.

Outside the entrance to the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, security guards and cops monitored a fiery crowd of about 100 people of all ages who chanted into megaphones and jeered the visiting Moms for Liberty. When trans kids are under attack, what do we do... one organizer chanted, and the protesters answered, Fight back!

Portia Maidment and Stella Moore want Moms for Liberty to know that "what school is supposed to do is prepare you for life. And its not serving anybody to promote hatred." The Daily Beast

Two young activists who arrived at the protest on Friday, Portia Maidment and Stella Moore, said they wanted M4L to know that what school is supposed to do is prepare you for life. And its not serving anybody to promote hatred.

The pair, who said they are queer, have been living together in Philly for a year. Maidment just got accepted to medical school and said they hoped to one day provide trans health care, either in the U.S. or in Canada.

Despite the M4L conference choosing Philly for its summit, Moore praised the city for its accepting attitude. It really is a trans and queer city, like we saw during Prideto come here and pretend like we don't exist is just wrong.

Moore moved to Philadelphia when they were kicked out of Brigham Young University after a roommate outed them. BYU officials pulled me into the office, found out I was in a relationship with a woman, and expelled me from school, said Moore, who grew up Mormon.

They took away your scholarship and left you $10,000 in debt for being queer. It was awful, Maidment chimed in.

It was a blessing in disguise, honestly, Moore replied. Im where Im supposed to be now.

Protesters massed outside the Moms for Liberty summit at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. The Daily Beast

Elsewhere at the protest, Travis and Kristina Culver were also determined to spread the message that we want to make sure schools stay inclusive and safe for all kids. The Culvers drove two and a half hours to Philly from Berwick, PA, to attend the protests, concerned about the spread of M4L on their local school board. They said they have a non-binary child who just graduated high school and a 10-year-old at home. Even if our kid wasn't nonbinary, it scares me, the number of LGBTQ kids trying to hurt themselves, Travis said, adding that those kids need to know [M4Ls messaging] is not how people feel. Theyre loved for who they are. And God loves them no matter what.

While many of the protesters were natives of the City of Brotherly Love, others revealed they'd traveled long distances to join the opposition. LaTarndra Strong, Olivia Strong, and Heather Redding drove seven hours from North Carolinagetting up at 3:30 in the morningand showed up outside the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown with signs that declared, We Don't Co-Parent With Fascists, and Klanned Karenhood: Coming For a School Near You.

LaTarndra Strong, who runs a group called the Hate-Free Schools Coalition, said of M4L, I want to make sure that this organization understands that exclusion is never OK. She added, We want to fight against white supremacy theyre not your average PTA. Theyre opening doors to something that's very dangerous for this country.

Dr. Zeke Tayler arrived to protest against Moms For Liberty, who, he said, are an affront to the health of my patients. The Daily Beast

Inside the Moms for Liberty conference, attendees had been parroting the right-wing talking point that protesters like Strong were just paid agitators. But Strong dismissed that notion. Were not paid to be here, she said. For people to come out here and stand against this kind of fascism is absolutely necessary.

In fact, far from being paid to attend, some M4L opponents had taken vacation days off from work in order to show up at the protestslike Zeke Tayler, an anesthesiologist and critical care physician who arrived in his doctor's coat and sported a sign for White Coats Against White Supremacy. He said he was motivated by his Hippocratic oath to do no harm.

Im a doctor and I care about the lives of my patientspeople in my community, around the countryand organizations like Moms for Liberty are an affront to the health of my patients. So I need to show them that they are not welcome in my city and that what they are trying to do is going to make the lives of my patients harder. [Patients'] lives are going to be shortened by what they are trying to do, he said.

The door hangers on each hotel room door in Philadelphia tonight where the Moms for Liberty hate convention is taking place are incredible. pic.twitter.com/KKREKXCLas  Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) June 30, 2023

The vigorous protests against M4L are perhaps a sign of how influential the organization has become in its few short years of existence. Founder Bridget Ziegler was recently appointed by Florida's Governor DeSantis to a board overseeing Disney after the Magic Kingdom pushed back at his anti-LGBTQ agenda. (Her husband, Christian, is also now the chairman of the states Republican party.) And the group has successfully worked to exclude books and educational materials on race and gay rights from Florida schoolsa play that local chapters are trying to institute in other states. On the right, at least, M4L has emerged as a force ahead of the 2024 election: DeSantis, former president Trump, and presidential hopefuls like Vivek Ramaswamy have all treated the conference as an important stop on the campaign trail.

Yet to Tayler, the Philadelphia doctor, the M4L conference is the last gasp of a philosophy in decline. For me, what Moms for Liberty stands for, is that they're losing power. And the reason why I think that's happening is because they are panicking," he said. "And power doesn't panic. This summit is a panic. They're trying to fight back against the social wars that they lost a long time ago.

Theyre the ones being funded, I'm here for free, he added, as the crowd of protesters thronged around him. All these people who are herewe are here out of love.

Protesters turned out in opposition to Moms For Libertys book bans and the groups anti-LGBTQ agenda. The Daily Beast

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Protests are sweeping France. Heres what you need to know

France has been rocked by a wave of protests after a 17-year-old youth was shot by police near Paris on Tuesday, sparking a ban on demonstrations in some cities, travel warnings and reigniting a debate on over-policing in marginalized communities.

Scenes emerged of people setting fires to vehicles and climbing onto buildings with smashed windows, while riot police officers fiercely clashed with demonstrators.

The unrest prompted a crisis response from French President Emmanuel Macron, who held an emergency meeting with ministers as he attempts to bridge divisions and unite the country in his second term.

Heres what we know.

What sparked the protests?

A police officer shot dead the teenager, Nahel, who was of Algerian heritage, during a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre earlier this week.

Footage of the incident captured by a passerby showed two officers standing on the drivers side of the car, one of whom discharged his gun at the driver despite not appearing to face any immediate threat.

The officer said he fired his gun because he was scared the boy would run someone over with the car, Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said.

Prache said that it is believed the officer acted illegally in using his weapon. He is currently facing a formal investigation for voluntary homicide and has been placed in preliminary detention.

Whats happened since?

Protesters have been carrying signs that read the police kill and hundreds of government buildings have been damaged as Nahels death taps into anger over racial bias in the country.

Successive nights of violence across France and its overseas territories have in turn prompted French officials to launch a crackdown, with more than 40,000 police officers mobilized to patrol cities across the country. Since Tuesday, more than 2,000 people have been detained and more than 500 police officers and gendarmes have been injured, according to CNN calculations based on numbers released by the Interior Ministry.

In Paris alone, 5,000 security personnel were deployed. Officers were given powers to quell riots, make arrests, and restore republican order, French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said.

Overseas French territories have also witnessed violent protests. A man was killed by a stray bullet in Cayenne, capital of French Guiana, during riots on Thursday.

Police have also detained at least 28 people in riots in Reunion, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, according to authorities there.

What does this mean for Macron?

Macron gave himself 100 days to heal the country and reset his presidency after weeks of protests against unpopular pension reforms earlier this year. But hopes for a reset are now likely to be hampered by the widespread protests. It has not gone unnoticed that Macron attended an Elton John concert on Wednesday as cars burned and buildings were defaced across the country.

The French government is working to avoid a repeat of 2005, when the deaths of two teenage boys hiding from police set off a state of emergency amid three weeks of rioting.

Macron did cut short his attendance at a European Council summit in Brussels that had been due to last through Friday. He announced a ban on all large-scale events in France, including celebratory events and numerous gatherings, and urged parents to keep their children at home, saying many of those detained were young.

French President Emmanuel Macron (center) held a crisis meeting, in Paris, on Friday, after the police shooting of a teenage boy triggered protests. - Yves Herman/AFP/Getty Images

Macron has also called for social media platforms to help damp down the demonstrations, asking TikTok and Snapchat to withdraw the most sensitive content and to identify users who employ social networks to call for disorder or to exacerbate violence.

What led to the unrest?

Activists believe Nahels race was a factor in his killing, unraveling deep-rooted tensions over police discrimination against minoritized communities in France.

Secularism  known as laicite in French  is a key foundation of French culture, as it seeks to uphold equality for all by erasing markers of difference, including race.

But many people of color in France say they are more likely to be victims of police brutality than White people. A 2017 study by the Rights Defenders, an independent human rights watchdog in France, found that young men perceived to be Black or Arab were 20 times more likely to be stopped by police than their peers.

Accusations of brutality have long plagued French police. The Council of Europe criticized excessive use of force by state agents in a statement earlier this year during protests against Macrons unpopular pension reforms.

Rights groups, like Amnesty International, have accused French police of ethnic profiling and have recommended deep, systemic reform to address the discrimination.

Anti-discrimination campaigners say Nahel's race was a factor in his death. - Family Handout via Twitter

The UN called on France to address deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement, in the agencys first comments since the killing.

In a statement on Friday, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged French authorities to ensure use of force by police to address violent elements in demonstrations always respects the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs later rebuffed the UNs comments, saying: France, and its police forces, fight with determination against racism and all forms of discrimination. There can be no doubt about this commitment.

The use of force by the national police and gendarmerie is governed by the principles of absolute necessity and proportionality, strictly framed and controlled, the ministry added.

Is it safe to travel to France?

As peak travel season gets underway, multiple countries issued warnings to those visiting France, where domestic transport networks have been disrupted.

The Interior Ministry announced that public transportation, including buses and tramways, would shut down across the country by 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET), ahead of a fourth night of expected protests.

Limited curfews were imposed in Clamart and Neuilly-sur-Marne, while some bus services were disrupted in Paris but the Metro system was operating as normal. The Nanterre-Prefecture train station was closed.

In Lille, bus and tramway services were more or less running normally on Friday, with some diversions in place.

In the southern city of Marseille, public transport was due to stop services at 7 p.m.

There was no disruption to the Eurostar service connecting London, Lille and Paris as a result of the protests. French intercity trains are also not affected.

Further afield, the US State Department issued a security alert on June 29 covering France. It suggested monitoring media outlets France24, RFI and The Local for updates.

Meanwhile, Britain issued a travel advisory urging tourists to monitor the media and avoid areas where riots are taking place.

German authorities also advised its citizens to find out about the current situation where you are staying at and avoid large-scale places of violent riots.

CNNs Dalal Mawad, Niamh Kennedy and Lindsay Isaac contributed reporting.

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Several Puebloans outlined their concerns about the pending merger of grocery chain giants Kroger and Albertsons Thursday as Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser stopped through Pueblo for a listening session about the merger.

Kroger and Albertsons announced their plans for the $24.6 billion merger last October. Those who came to Thursday's listening session expressed concerns that the merger could lead to a loss of jobs, increase grocery prices and could create new food deserts in the city. Grocery workers, local activists and politicians were among those in attendance at Thursday's session at the Joseph H. Edwards Active Adults Center, 230 N. Union Ave.

Reyna Carpenter, a United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7 member, told the Chieftain she planned on her current job at the south side King Soopers being her last before retirement. However, she no longer feels her job is secure. She also said she's concerned for her coworkers' job security and her customers' wellbeing.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser speaks during a Kroger-Albertsons merger townhall at the Joseph H. Edwards Active Adult Center in Pueblo on Thursday, June 29, 2023.

"I watch customers come in, from young families to our most senior customers, and they look at the product," Carpenter said. "They look at the meat and see how high the prices are. Most of them leave with just a few items, if any at all ... With this merger, prices are going up and people aren't going to be able to afford the basic necessities to survive and support their families."

During the listening session, Pueblo residents referenced Albertsons' January 2015 acquisition of Safeway, Inc. Within a year of that merger, Pueblo's north side and east side Safeway locations closed. The closing of the east side Safeway led to its census tract becoming an urban food desert, meaning at least a third of its population lives more than a mile away from a supermarket.

Roxy Pignanelli, a teen suicide prevention advocate, said further store closures from the pending Kroger-Albertsons merger will harm youth mental health in Pueblo by decreasing access to nutritious foods.

"We are sitting at a very high teen suicide rate, not only Colorado, but this particular town," Pignanelli said. "To remove options that can improve the wellbeing of a child is heinous."

Pueblo City Council candidates Tom Carrigan and Elvis Martinez both expressed concerns about closures impacting the health of those who rely on pharmacies within neighborhood grocery stores. Carrigan said he used to be able to walk to the east side Safeway to pick up his medication, but now has to drive.

A United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) member holds a sign against the Kroger-Albertons merger during a townhall at the Joseph H. Edwards Active Adult Center in Pueblo on Thursday, June 29, 2023.

"If grandma and grandpa like the people that are working at the pharmacy and don't want to transfer, but they would be forced to transfer and everything  how would that affect the health conditions that they are taking those medications for?" Martinez said.

The legality of Kroger and Albertsons' merger is currently being reviewed by the Colorado Attorney General's Office. Indications that the merger may be in violation of antitrust laws include significant reductions leading to consumers losing choice, consumers paying more, workers losing jobs or workers being paid less, Weiser said.

"If I conclude that this decision violates antitrust laws and is anticompetitive, then I have the authority and the obligation to go to court ... it's possible the companies will try to say, 'We have a solution to the concerns,'" Weiser said. "I will look at it if they do, but given what happened in the last merger of Safeway-Albertsons, there's reason for skepticism that the so-called fix would be effective."

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain atsubscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Colorado attorney general hears Pueblo's concerns about grocery merger
The Putin body double and health rumours that wont go away

Putins health rumours have increased since the start of his war (Getty)

For those familiar with the history of Vladimir Putin, his recent imitation of a rockstar with crowds of adoring fans could be described as surprising to say the least.

In a rare public appearance in the Dagestan region, the Russian president broke from convention to enthusiastically interact with fans in a large crowd, shaking their hands and posing for selfies.

At one point, he was even seen kissing a girl on the cheek, as she pleaded with her mother to snap a picture of him by her side.

In another moment caught on camera, he can be seen shaking hands and adjusting the uniform of an officer, despite never greeting his security team over the course of his two decades in power.

Russia Mutiny Mysteries (Sputnik)

While a Kremlin spokesperson said that Putin could not refuse a greeting with his fans, his recent conduct has raised eyebrows considering his usual reserved and isolated approach.

More importantly, it has fuelled wild speculation that the ageing tyrant is increasingly relying on body doubles for his public appearances.

Infamous for his paranoid stance since the Covid-19 pandemic, anyone outside of Putins close circle of yes men have been forced to abide by strict two-week quarantines in armed state hotels, while Putin has rarely been a leader to physically engage with ordinary Russians.

Paranoid with Covid-19 and assassination attempts, Putin often sits metres away from his guests (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Bizarre pictures have even surfaced of the 71-year-old sitting isolated at a large marble table, metres away from his guests. Recent rumours suggest the dictator resides in underground bunkers, requires visitors to pass through a special tunnel of ultraviolet light and is so paranoid of assassination attempts that his security detail follow him everywhere.

And social media is awash with memes and jokes about his apparent double.

Putin's double showed what he looked like before plastic surgery.



 pic.twitter.com/t3yuL7OE8o  Eva K. (@EvaTrmx86qc7r) June 29, 2023

But what is the truth about the rumours?

Speaking to The Independent, Kyiv-based political strategist Jason Jay Smart said: It would seem quite possible that Putin is using body doubles. Putin has been notoriously cautious about interacting with people since Covid broke-out.

Moreover, there are reports that following the betrayal by Prigozhin, that Putin does not even meet his Security Council without his guards nearby. Given this context, it would seem more likely than not that Putin is using body-doubles to protect himself from sickness as well as from his own citizens.

A recent picture of the dictator with Chechen republic head Ramzan Kadyrov also fuelled rumours as he appeared bloated with mottled skin, with social media users pointing out the differences in height and ear shape.

Kadyrov posted a photo with Putin. Peskov confirmed that the meeting took place yesterday.



In the photo, Kadyrov is very large and overwhelms Putin, who looks very small and old.



By the way, how many days did Kadyrov spend in quarantine before the meeting? Or is it not pic.twitter.com/cfREXOK6qb  Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 28, 2023

This painted a stark contrast to the Putin seen in previous pictures, where he stripped topless to ride horseback or plunge himself into an icy lake.

Bizarre previous photoshoots have shown the President topless in masculine poses (AP2012)

Claims that the tyrant is suffering with poor health first began appearing in 2014, with the Kremlin previously denying that Putin was ill, after reports surfaced that he might be suffering from a form of cancer.

In March last year, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters: Some people say he has cancer and some people say he has brain-fog from Covid. Other people just think hes a complete raging bully.

Experts believe Putin has been weakened by the recent coup attempt led by Yevgeny Prigozhin (Sputnik)

Experts believe that his recent appearance, body double or not, in Dagestan was to demonstrate his popularity in the wake of Prigozhins coup attempt, which saw the Wagner group march to just 200km outside Moscow.

Putin has been significantly weakened by the Prigozhin coup attempt; Thus, his alleged trip to Dagestan, where he shook hands with cheering citizens on the street, is the Kremlins attempt to demonstrate that Putin has strong public support, Mr Smarth said.

The reality is that Putin may have well used a body double in Dagestan and the cheering is more analogous to that when North Koreans encounter their dictator, not to when Americans run into a rockstar. The Kremlin is now desperate to make Putin appear strong and in control - however, it is clear that he is losing control of Russia.

If Putin is using a body double, hes not the first Russian or national leader to do so. Stalin reportedly deployed a double for security reasons, while Hitler, Saddam Hussein and North Koreas Kim Jong-Un have also featured on the list.
Holly Porter, the quadriplegic homeless woman who inspired and co-founded the first sanctioned, self-governed encampment in Sacramento County, moved into a Meadowview apartment Thursday following months of vociferous lobbying for local authorities to secure a permanent home for her.

For 10 months, Porter and her neighbors at Camp Resolution had repeatedly called on Sacramento leaders to house her; Porter and her family had actively sought housing for a year and a half.

Advocates for Holly Porter shut down the beginning of Sacramento City Council on Tuesday and Mayor Darrell Steinberg came from behind closed doors to calm them. For 10 months, Porter and her neighbors at the homeless camp, repeatedly called on Sacramento leaders to house her.

Im very excited, Porter said, sitting in her wheelchair in the sunny ground-floor unit Thursday afternoon, but I just dont think its actually sunk in yet.

After months of delays, she had only just allowed herself to feel happy at the prospect of life indoors.

Porter had been living at Camp Resolution, an encampment on Colfax Street and Arden Way in Old North Sacramento. She and around 60 other residents won a formal lease from the city this spring, guaranteeing they wouldnt be evicted from the site. Though the city has provided trailers, the camp has neither running water nor a connection to the electric grid.

Feeling stressed Holly Porter, who says she rarely smokes, takes a drag off of Monica Gonzales cigarette inside a makeshift tent at Camp Resolution on June 21. She said she was stressed about still not getting housing. Earlier that morning the quadriplegic had a visit from Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and she said he told her to call him directly if she didnt get housed.

This lack of basic necessities made life there difficult for Porter, who has limited mobility and is particularly vulnerable to bad weather.

Her neighbors at the camp as well as outside activists rallied around her. Their demands escalated after City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood and California Homeless Union attorney Anthony Prince signed a letter of understanding March 24 agreeing that the city would work diligently and use all efforts to house Porter within 45 days. Ultimately, 97 days elapsed before Porter received her new keys, and her supporters attended multiple City Council meetings to draw attention to her situation.

At Tuesdays council meeting, Crystal Sanchez, the president of the Sacramento Homeless Union, stepped up to the podium to urge leaders to move Porter into a permanent home.

Crystal Sanchez, president of the Sacramento Homeless Union, speaks during the public comment matters not on the agenda at the end of Sacramento City Council meeting questioning why Holly Porter is not housed as advocates from Camp Resolution hold up a sign in Hollys behalf on Tuesday.

Homelessness: Our urgent human crisis

Follow our ambitious, newsroom-wide series examining the growing problem of homelessness across Sacramento and California in 2023, examining government policy, money, addiction, mental health and more.

If we cant house Holly, who has a disability, who has an income, who has a mother whos a caregiver, she asked, how can we house anybody whos homeless?

At the Meadowview complex Thursday, the mood was jubilant. Porters mother and full-time caregiver, Deborah Casillas, couldnt stop smiling. Tracey Knickerbocker, Porters longtime case manager through the local nonprofit Hope Cooperative, toted three balloons, a shiny red potted anthurium in bloom and a salami-and-cheese platter with a big bow into the apartment.

Standing next to the balloons, Knickerbocker and Casillas hugged. We did it, Casillas said into Knickerbockers shoulder.

Yes, the case manager said. You did.

Deborah Casillas pushes her daughter, Holly Porter, in her chair, alongside Tracey Knickerbocker with Hope Cooperatives. Porter, a quadriplegic who was living in a hospital bed at Camp Resolution, got the keys to her new apartment Thursday, after actively seeking housing for a year and a half.

Next steps after permanent housing: Other basic needs

Now that she has a roof over her head, Porter said shes looking forward to doing everything she couldnt do because being unhoused presented an insurmountable roadblock. In particular, she was excited to get adequate health services.

I didnt get nothing when I was homeless, she said. Thats my biggest goal now, is to get all my medical back in place.

Porter couldnt get a physical therapist to treat her in her tent, even though she has a substantial disability. She couldnt get a power wheelchair, or an electric lift to get her out of her hospital bed. Because they didnt have permanent housing, Casillas could not get paid as Porters in-home supportive services worker, even though Porter needs full-time care.

Additionally, the search for housing and all the attendant bureaucratic hurdles had taken up a significant amount of Porters time and energy.

Once she gets a power wheelchair, she said, shell be able to move around the world much more easily.

I dont plan on staying in here just because Im indoors, she said.

Holly Porter, a quadriplegic who was living in a hospital bed at Camp Resolution homeless encampment, is wheeled around her new apartment by Hope Cooperatives Tracey Knickerbocker on Thursday. Knickerbocker had bought Holly a plant, balloons and assorted deli meats in celebration of her getting her keys and getting housed. Relieved that it finally happened, said Porter who sought housing for a year and a half. Im very excited. but I just dont think its actually sunk in yet.

Even on her move-in day, she had another bureaucratic problem to handle. Porter and Knickerbocker said the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency had agreed to cover her portion of her first months rent, but because she moved in on June 29, she had learned they would only cover the prorated rent for June  and not the $228 shell owe for the month of July.

Porter was hoping to put that money toward setting up her new apartment. The hospital bed in which she spends much of her time could use a new mattress; Casillas needs a bed; and theyll need typical household items such as furniture, linens, towels and cleaning supplies. On Thursday, Knickerbocker and Porter were trying to get Medi-Cals housing assistance program to cover the cost of Julys rent so shed have a little extra money as she moved in.

And for Porter, the bigger fight wasnt over: She said there are too many disabled people living on the streets, and too many barriers to getting them indoors. She plans to continue advocating for systemic change.
(Abu Akkas for The Independent)

Isis caught Covid-19 before most people had even heard the name. It was December 2019, and the young Indian medical student had been working in a respiratory medicine unit in Mangalore when a patient came in with a strange new virus.

This was one of the first cases in their state, and nobody yet knew how to combat the disease. So when Isis tested positive, they were put into total isolation for the next three months.

I had to submit my temperature to the nurse about three times a day, Isis tells The Independent. I got meals delivered. I had to monitor my blood oxygen. I could read, play video games, and thats it.

With nothing else to do, Isis turned to the internet. They made a bunch of new online friends, many of whom were transgender or non-binary. Suddenly, they were forced to consider a question theyd been avoiding for their entire adult life: could they, too, be trans?

That was when I realised that a lot of these people are exactly like me; they went through the same things that I did, says Isis, who asked for their surname to be omitted because their family and colleagues dont know they are non-binary. Now my entire identity was in chaos. I didnt know who I was anymore.

Across the world, untold numbers of people were about to go through a similar process. They were doctors and teachers, students and software engineers, caregivers and the chronically ill; chefs, playwrights, archaeologists, and night shift grocery store managers. All were caught in a titanic collision between history and their own identity.

For Oliver, then a 35-year-old student in California, it came while he was stuck in Canada helping his sister look after her new baby, pushed into a maternal role that made his discomfort with womanhood inescapable and a forced sobriety that meant he could not numb it with alcohol.

For Lia Novaki, attending high school in rural Germany, it came while locked down at home with no lessons and no social life, and nothing but time and space to experiment with new clothes and new ways of seeing herself.

And for Sophia, a British emergency healthcare worker in her late twenties, it came while writing her will as she prepared to join the front line against a dangerous virus whose nature and fatality rates were not yet known.

Id long thought about transitioning, but there were things that put me off, says Sophia, who uses both she and they as pronouns. Suddenly there was a moment of clarity: actually none of this matters. I could die quite soon, and thats it, and at that point its too late...

[Being trans] was something Id only really said out loud to a very small number of people in my life. But at this precise moment, nothing really mattered apart from whether or not I was going to survive this. And if not, then I didnt want to be remembered as somebody I wasnt.

Lia Novaki was attending high school when the pandemic began (Lia Novaki)

Trans people sometimes liken the moment where they truly realise they are trans to the first cracking of an egg as it hatches. Using that metaphor, the Covid-19 pandemic appears to have been a mass egg-cracking event without precedent in history.

The Independent heard from 205 trans and gender-non-conforming people who transitioned during the pandemic, and interviewed 16 directly. 195 of them submitted responses to an online survey created for this article, while the rest were contacted via other channels. Many, including Sophia, asked to be identified only by their first name or a pseudonym for fear of discrimination or exposure.

They lived in countries from Argentina to the Philippines, with ages ranging from their teenage years to their early sixties. 63 per cent of survey respondents said their egg cracked during the pandemic, 68 per cent said they started transitioning, and 6 per cent said they continued a transition theyd already begun.

Their experiences echoed those of trans celebrities such as the actor Elliott Page and the social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who attributed their awakening partly to Covid lockdowns.

Not a single person said the pandemic made them trans. Instead, they described how a global disaster made them confront feelings theyd been suppressing for years  just as it called our bluffs and wrecked our cosy fictions in every other part of society.

Together, they give new insight into a phenomenon that has attracted little popular attention and almost no academic research, yet has been widely discussed among trans people worldwide.

Call it the quarantrans era, or the trandemic, or even the Great Omelette. Whatever its name, it has deep implications not only for the lives of those it touched but for the future role of trans people in society.

This is the story of what happened to our genders since 2020, and why it matters.

1: Like going to war

Before Covid, Isis was simply too busy to think about their gender.

Raised as a boy in a conservative household, theyd known for a long time that something was off, but the chaotic hell of medical school left little time for self-examination. I started applying to extra classes, putting in extra hours at clinic  anything to just avoid being alone with my thoughts, they recall. That is how I avoided this question for a long time.

Almost everyone interviewed by The Independent described a similar stage of repression. Loue Tye, a 23-year-old teaching assistant at a high school in Norwich, England, had concluded they were probably non-binary eight years ago, but kept quiet out of fear they wouldnt be accepted.

Loue Tye takes a selfie (Loue Tye)

For Bex, a 32-year-old graduate student in genetics in New York City, the denial went deeper. Once, she had told her therapist that there was some gender stuff going on but that she didnt want to talk about it. And then, for the next five years, they didnt.

Never mind the recurring daydreams about having to explain to her lab that shed mysteriously woken up as a girl. Or the idle fantasies of getting a chromosome test and finding out she was intersex. Or the thought that if she ever got testicular cancer, shed just get em both off and go from there. Somehow, none of it tripped her gender alarm.

Many people had stories like this. They knew in theory they could be trans, and had many thoughts and feelings that suggested they might be. But, whether due to outdated ideas about what trans meant or sheer magical thinking, they imagined it didnt apply to them.

For cisgender (or non-trans) people, it can be hard to understand the impact of living with repressed gender dysphoria, which goes far beyond the well-worn concept of feeling of being trapped in the wrong body. It makes you say things like: Before the pandemic, I barely had an experience of personhood, let alone gender (Ellie, 22, in Melbourne in Australia). Or: I was dead before, now Im coming to life (Erin, late thirties, in Florida).

Or, as Rey, 21, in Virginia puts it: It feels like everything before the pandemic wasnt even real.

In the spring of 2020, things got extremely real. Sophia and their colleagues were briefed early on about the worst case scenario: mass infection, overloaded hospitals, and consequently mass death.

We knew it was potentially going to be very big and very serious, based on what had happened in other countries, says Sophia. It kind of felt like going to war. It felt like: this is coming over the hill, and it might kill you. And you need to be ready for that. Are you ready?

For Oliver, the answer was a resounding no. On March 11, the day the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a pandemic, he was at San Francisco International Airport on the phone to his sister in Canada, scrambling to figure out whether he should board his flight to see her.

The trip was booked to be five or six days, he recounts. I knew it was gonna be a little longer, but I was like  well, maybe itll be two or three weeks, and then this will all be over. He would not return to the US for nearly two years.

In Australia, then-26-year-old animation studio manager Jasmine Yang, whose egg had cracked in 2019, stuck her first estrogen patch onto her stomach in the break room of her deserted office in Sydney. A burst toilet had flooded her apartment, and strict new lockdown rules introduced on March 31 left her with no other refuge.

On the left, Jasmine Yang in her empty office in April 2020. On the right, Yang celebrating her second year on estrogen by restaging the same selfie (Jasmine Yang)

It was, she recalls, a moment of sublime strangeness. Yeah, my apartment is flooded; yeah, the world is going through a pandemic; and yeah Im sleeping on a s****y office couch. But right now, I have what Ive been waiting 26 years to get, so life is pretty sweet.

Each person had their own story of how Covid disrupted their life. Jack, a 20-year-old trans man, was attending an all-girls school in Ohio when classes switched to Zoom. J, a three-year-old financial crimes investigator in Vermont, US, saw her new dream job travelling the world go up in smoke.

For many, the initial crisis gave way to an eerie calm. Cocooned indoors, cut off from their social networks, they were entering a vast social experiment with a simple if terrifying question: who are you when nobodys watching?

2: Alone on an island

Overwhelmingly, the most common factor that influenced survey respondents transitions  chosen by 162 people, or 83 per cent  was more time alone, prompting or forcing introspection.

My mind felt like my own space, for perhaps the first time ever, says William Cuthbert, a 31-year-old freelance writer and journalist in Lincolnshire, UK. Pre-Covid Id always defined myself through other people and what they would find palatable or likeable. Having those social expectations forcibly stripped away pushed me to start digging inside myself for who I was without them.

Femke, 32, had been trapped for years in a job she despised, scrambling to pay rent on her mouldy little apartment in a large English town. Only when Covid pushed her to quit, and move to a far cheaper house in rural Wales, did she have the emotional energy to start probing her gender issues.

In New York, Bex rode her bike around the deserted streets of lower Manhattan, seeing the National Guard troopers running drills and the refrigerated morgue trucks brought in to manage the flood of bodies. Yet the possibility of her own death only filled her with indifference, even relief. Whats more, she now realised shed felt that way for years.

Searching for a reason to live, she gave in to a recurring thought and painted her nails. It was a weirdly significant moment, she says. I looked down at my fingers, and I liked them. Id never liked my fingers before. I wanted them to always look this way.

This is often how it works when youre not sure youre trans. You try things out, and  perhaps to your surprise  they make you feel good. That gives you the confidence to keep trying things, even if youre not ready to admit where they might lead (which Bex emphatically wasnt).

Lockdown was the perfect cover for such delicate experiments. Never in living memory had so many people been seen so seldom by so few. It was as if some perverse genie had answered the collective prayers of nascent trans people for a safe space in which to grow, in a way none of them would have wanted.

53 per cent of respondents said curtailment of face-to-face socialising as a factor influencing their transition, and 63 per cent cited not having to go out in public. Among them was Leon, a 24-year-old French public sector worker who spent lockdown in a tiny Parisian flat with only his snaggletoothed grey cat Anakin for company.

A self-portrait by Leon, 24, in Paris (Leon (Surname withheld))

Quarantine was as close to the if youre alone on an island and have 100 per cent free and guaranteed successful medical care, what body would you like to have? thought experiment as I could have gotten, he says. There was literally no one to perceive me except my cat, who doesnt care about gender.

Lockdown also relieved many respondents from unwanted duties of gender performance. Several who were raised as women said that no longer having to be feminine at work helped them realise how much they always hated it. A few said it was easier to go out in public when everyone is wearing a mask.

This new freedom was aided by a mass migration to digital and online spaces, where identity is more plastic and trans community is easier to find. 103 respondents, or 51 per cent, cited "reliance on internet for social life", with four people specifically mentioning Nintendos March 2020 smash hit Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Leons cat Anakin (Leon (Surname withheld))

3: Becoming invisible

Not everyone experienced lockdown as a relief. Like all the issues cited by respondents, its impact was complex and individual, affecting different people in opposite or paradoxical ways.

Some found themselves trapped at home with non-accepting or abusive family members, which delayed, sped up, or outright blocked their transition. Coming out was impossible in a full conservative household, says Mariana, a 36-year-old industrial designer in Colombia, who started hormone treatment in 2020 but had to stop when the pandemic devastated her finances.

I couldnt get out of my parents home, so I [couldnt] come out of the closet, and Im still closeted right now. Time passes, and its becoming harder to handle my dysphoria.

Loss of income or work was another factor, cited by 12 per cent of respondents. Some said the pandemic had exacerbated personal problems such as depression, substance abuse, or eating disorders, which pushed them to resolve their gender issues. One person, 32-year-old Maddie in northern California, resolved to transition after having her entire town evacuated due to a wildfire.

A widely-shared comic strip by Tennessee cartoonist Robin Brooks, 34, struck a nerve among pandemic transitioners, showing how the teeming anxieties of 2020 US election overwhelmed her coping mechanisms.

The first half of a comic by Robin Brooks, depicting her trans awakening. Read the second half at her Patreon page. (Robin Brooks, used with permission)

In Vancouver, Canadian border restrictions had turned Olivers expected week-long visit into months of full-time co-parenting with his sister. Outwardly, he looked like a cis a woman, causing both family and strangers to see him as a mother.

Ive always loved kids, but [constantly] being referred to as motherly and maternal in relation to a child felt almost too much to bear, he says. When Id been viewed as feminine before, Id been able to separate myself from it. But something about this situation just put it right in front of my face.

His breaking point came in August 2020, when his brother died unexpectedly. Though the pandemic wasnt to blame, it contributed to his sense that there was no more time to waste. He shaved his head, and got on testosterone.

In this Oliver was not alone. 54 respondents, or 28 per cent, cited ever-present fear of death as a factor influencing their transition. While lockdown may have cracked their eggs, it often took a brush with tragedy to make them take action.

My family members all got Covid in November 2020 except for me, and my grandma almost died. I decided I was done not exploring the things I wanted to explore, says Jason, a 31-year-old call centre trainer in North Carolina.

I had been postponing transition for years until the right moment, when I had graduated from college and become financially independent from my transphobic parents. The pandemic came and I realised I was going to die in the closet, says Rene, a 23-year-old warehouse worker in Argentina.

Im immunocompromised, and I was hospitalised at the height of the pandemic, so I knew that if I caught Covid I could be screwed, says one genderfluid 22-year-old in Oregon. I accepted that I might die. Then I surprisingly didnt, and I got a second chance to live life to the fullest.

By the end of 2020, Covid-19 was better understood, and Sophia was less concerned that she would die. But in emergency departments and intensive care units, shed seen patient after patient pass away with regrets and missed chances.

They were saying goodbye to their families in video calls, and we were holding their hands as they died, because we were the only people who could, says Sophia. All of this really emphasised, for me, the fragility of life and it solidified that there was no point in continuing to live a lie when it could all be snatched away so easily.

4: Was there a quarantrans boom?

Its hard to know whether the pandemic actually increased egg-crackings overall. The population of knowingly trans people has been rising exponentially since long before the pandemic, thanks to the communitys success in sharing information, supporting questioning people, and advocating for greater acceptance.

Data from state-run gender clinics in England and Northern Ireland, made public via freedom of information requests by the British newspaper Metro, shows a massive drop in new adult patients in spring 2020 and then a sustained rise through the end of 2021. In the US, health insurance data showed that the number of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria nearly tripled between 2017 and 2021.

But Jeffrey Cohen, a psychology professor and trans health clinician at Columbia University in New York, cautions that such data is muddied by other factors such as access to healthcare.

We havent seen any studies on that, says Dr Rachel Levine, assistant health secretary to US president Joe Biden and the most senior openly trans government official in US history. While she finds the notion plausible, as a physician and a public health professional she wants harder evidence.

Ruth Pearce, a British sociologist who studies trans healthcare, similarly says that although she has observed the phenomenon anecdotally, she is not aware of any formally published research about it.

Trans support and advocacy organisations  including Gendered Intelligence in the UK, Quarks in Hong Kong, and TGEU, an association of European trans rights groups  expressed a mix of openness and scepticism about the quarantrans hypothesis, but all said there wasnt much hard data to support it.

One group in Moldova, GenderDoc-M, did see inquiries from trans people skyrocket. But most were under 20 years old, suggesting the pandemic simply pushed that specific generation of trans people to crack all at once rather than gradually over the next few years.

Studies of already-out trans people, including by Quarks and TGEU, have found largely negative impacts from Covid-19, which cut off in-person support networks, trapped people in abusive homes, and blocked access to medical care.

Nevertheless, in online trans communities there has been an unmistakable surge in people attributing their self-discovery to the pandemic. Many have embraced the label quarantrans, reportedly coined by trans woman Joelle Tungus. Even if Covid had no effect on the overall numbers, its clear that it profoundly shaped the awakening of a whole generation.

Did you come out during a COVID lockdown?  What The Trans!?  (@WhatTheTrans) October 13, 2022

I have heard more than a couple of stories, says Willow Fae, 36, a Twitch streamer in Alabama who prides herself on creating a welcoming space for questioning people. Throughout 2020 and 2021, roughly two people a week would approach her saying the pandemic had forced them to face their demons about gender.

Yang, who has a large following on Twitter, likewise says she was previously approached two or three times a week by questioning folk, many citing the pandemic.

Some survey respondents said they had seen a similar effect in their circles. I have a lot of trans friends on Reddit, and all their eggs cracked in the pandemic, says Novaki, whose local university LGBT+ group has now ballooned from three to five members to around 160.

So I have this feeling that the pandemic really provided the push we trans people needed to realise what we are.

5: Dominoes

In some ways, what happened to embryonic trans people during the pandemic is just one manifestation of what happened to everyone.

Millions quit their jobs in what became known as the Great Resignation. Psychologists and marriage counsellors say divorces have increased. Some realised they were gay or bisexual, while others learned that they had ADHD.

People changed careers during Covid-19, or they moved across the country, or they broke up with their partner, because they realised  its a big watershed moment in history. May as well make a change while everyone else is making a change, says Yang.

LG, on the US West Coast, puts it this way: The pandemic had us collectively opting out of in-person work for many jobs. We opted out of student loans, we opted into relief programs. And so what if I opted out of gender?

Yet if the Great Omelette did enlarge the trans community, that could give it more political power in future and increase the number of cis people who have trans people in their life.

Mainstream medical groups reject the idea that transness is a delusion spread via social contagion, as some anti-trans activists claim. But the knowledge and confidence necessary to begin transitioning certainly can spread, says Ruth Pearce, and each new trans person who comes out makes it easier for others.

Numerous respondents testified to the importance of trans role models, whether among their friends or on TikTok and YouTube. Some had already seen a second wave of comings-out in their circles, inspired by the first quarantrans cohort.

This is obviously not social contagion, says Bex, who is now finishing her PhD as an out and proud trans woman. But seeing somebody walk down a path you didnt think was possible lets you see that the path is there. From off-camera, her fiancee shouts: Dominoes!

Life outside the eggshell hasnt been easy. Some respondents, such as Isis, are still trying to figure out their gender, uncertain of the path ahead. Many emerged from lockdown into a more hostile world than theyd hoped.

Several said they had struggled to get transition care from overloaded medical systems, while others felt starved of in-person trans connections and overly dependent on social media. 68 respondents, or 35 per cent, said escalating anti-trans rhetoric had influenced their transition, sometimes causing them to hide their transness or stay in the closet.

When Oliver returned to the US in late 2021, strangers yelled at him on the bus, threw plastic bottles at his head, and called him a f****t. He took to drinking  a longstanding problem  which spiralled out of control until finally he checked into a trans-focused rehab clinic in Los Angeles.

For Sophia, these political shifts caused a lasting disenchantment from the country she was once ready to give her life for. It sounds corny to say, but we had this big moment of national unity, almost, where I honestly felt this stuff couldnt come back, they say. Probably for the first time in my life, I truly felt a little bit of patriotism.

Instead, the British government has turned around after Covid and spat in [her] face. She is now planning to leave the UK.

Still, for all the hardship, most people  Oliver and Sophia included  said their lives are now far better for having transitioned. Some expressed uneasy gratitude for the pandemic, mixed with sorrow for what it stole.

Im living my life today with more joy than I could have imagined, but not all people have come out of the pandemic with positive experiences, or at all, says LG. I feel guilty that my life should be happier now after Covid started then before.

In the end, joy is joy, and we take it where we can find it. Just ask Sylvia Denk, a 29-year-old trans woman from Buffalo, New York, whose egg cracked in 2020.

Sylvia Denk and her wife redo their wedding ceremony in late 2021 (Sylvia Denk)

When she married her wife in autumn 2020, still presenting as a man, Covid prevented the big, traditional straight wedding they had planned. But that allowed them to invite friends and family to a redo ceremony in late 2021, with Denk in a wedding dress.

Months earlier, just before Denk started estrogen, the couple had decided to try for a baby in the traditional way. It worked, and their son was born in January 2022.

Ultimately, the pandemic for me was full of second chances, Denk concludes. It gave me a chance to take a second look at gender and what it meant for me, processing feelings Ive had my entire life. It gave me a chance to have a second wedding where I could be the real me. And it gave me the chance to have a son while being a mom.

The Independent is a proud partner of Pride in London and supporter of Pride Month in the US. We are dedicated year-round to writing on issues facing LGBT+ communities across the globe. You can find our latest content here in the US and here in Europe.

This story is dedicated to Riven, who left us too soon. RIP.
Race car driver arrested for driving toward crowd of people at Georgia race track, police say

A Cobb County man was arrested in Floyd County for reckless driving.

According to arrest records, Cass Lee Fowler of Acworth was driving a race car on Sunday.

The statement of criminal charges claims he drove his race car in a reckless manner toward a group of people, and hit someone with the car.

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The listed address of the incident matches the Rome Speedway. Further information on the incident, including the status of the victim, was not available.

Fowler faces charges of felony aggravated assault and reckless conduct, a misdemeanor.

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OTHER NEWS:
In American politics, there is a small group of leaders who are  to borrow a term from Hollywood  hit makers. Everything they touch seems to turn to gold.

There is perhaps no better example of this in Democratic politics than Rahm Emanuel. For those who need a refresher, Rahm is a former Bill Clinton advisor, turned Illinois Congressman, turned DCCC chair, turned Barack Obama chief of staff, turned mayor of Chicago and currently, he is Joe Bidens ambassador to Japan.

In his new posting, Rahm has been at the forefront of new multi-lateral agreements between the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines; he is agitating for allies to stop what he calls Chinese economic coercion; and he has been a key player in a controversial effort to legalize same-sex marriage in Japan.

This week, Rahm joined Playbook co-author and Deep Dive host Ryan Lizza to talk about his role organizing our allies around Putin and China; how hardnose politics is actually great for diplomacy; and why  even when youre dealing with the president of the United States  its still much better to beg for forgiveness, than to ask for permission.


What Will It Really Take To Address The Crisis Of Missing And Murdered Native Americans?

People gather next to a mural by an Indigenous artist for a rally on Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on May 5.

People gather next to a mural by an Indigenous artist for a rally on Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on May 5.

Overthepast few years, theres finally been more light shed on the thousands of missing and murdered Native Americans and Alaska Natives whose stories have gone underreported and uninvestigated, devastating Native families and communities. The disturbing trend, which predominantly impacts women and children, sparked the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, led by organizers who paint red handprints on their mouths to symbolize their solidarity with affected families. The movement has gained tons of awareness, thankfully, due to posts on TikTok.

This week, the Department of Justice finally decided to take action on addressing this crisis. On Wednesday, it announced plans to assign lawyers to a new initiative, called theMissing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Regional Outreach Program, whose sole purpose is to investigate the disappearances and murders of North American Indigenous people.

The murder rate of Native women living on reservations is 10 times higher than the national average, making homicide the third-leading cause of death for Native women.

Days before the DOJs announcement, HuffPost reported on the conviction of a Nevada man who murdered his pregnant girlfriend, Amanda Davis, at her home in 2020. Before Davis was killed, her 8-year-old and 15-year-old children reportedly attempted to protect the woman from her partner turned attacker. Davis three kids were still at the home when police arrived and found her dead in a bedroom.

Davis story is an example of how little attention goes to the brutal erasure of Native American women. This lack of awareness has always come across as apathy from the media, local police and federal law enforcement, as Native American families search for their loved ones without much support from anyone else.

Hopefully, were on the precipice of change. According to the DOJ, its newly assigned attorneys will join on-the-ground investigations in regions of New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Michigan and Minnesota.

Though the true number of missing and murdered Native people is still unclear, the Bureau of Indian Affairs says there are 1,500 Native American and Alaska Native missing people in the FBIs National Crime Information Center database. Also, roughly 2,700 cases of murder and nonnegligent homicide with Native American and Alaska Native victims have been reported to the governments Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

However, the Bureau of Indian Affairs further says that 4,200 missing person and murder cases have gone unsolved, largely due to a lack of investigation amid confusion over jurisdiction and limited resources. This estimate is truly just the tip of the iceberg, given that many cases go unreported.

Under the supervision of the DOJs new program, five attorneys and five coordinators will help provide support in existing cases and ones that continue to arise. During a recent hearing in New Mexico led by the governments Not Invisible Act Commission  a group of Native leaders, law enforcement officials and community members assigned to develop recommendations for the DOJ on missing, murdered and trafficked Native people  family members told the tragic stories of victims, some who disappeared years ago.

Among the commission members who spoke was educator Patricia Whitefoot of the Yakama Nation, whose sister disappeared in the 80s. After decades without answers, a recent DNA test revealed that her sisters remains had been located in a remote area of their reservation. Whitefoot echoed deep frustrations shared by many families who say that a major issue when loved ones go missing is inconsistent communication from law enforcement.

During our lifetimes, weve all witnessed the outrage, morbid curiosity and grief that results when white women disappear or are murdered. All humans who suffer in this way deserve that same attention.

We also just experienced nonstop coverage of the Titan submersible, a vessel that disappeared during a tourist expedition to see the sunken Titanic. The urgency around missing Native people should match the media and government efforts put toward finding Titans five wealthy passengers.

For now, the Not Invisible Act Commission will continue to work with Native communities to develop further recommendations, which will be put in a report due to the DOJ in October. While solutions continue to materialize, well consider this a stepping stone that hopefully leads to some justice.
The EU wants to skim $3 billion a year in interest from frozen Russian assets and give it to Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP

The EU is considering using the interest generated from frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine, per CNN.

The bloc has been considering seizing frozen Russian assets for this purpose since last year.

However, there have been concerns about the legality of such a move.

The European Union is considering using the interest generated from frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine after the war, an EU official told CNN in an interview published on Thursday.

This is one of the ideas the EU has received as the bloc grapples with how to rebuild Ukraine  which would cost $411 billion over 10 years, the World Bank estimated in March. This estimate includes the reconstruction of infrastructure and housing projects.

"It's the best way of using these assets in accordance with EU and international law," Anders Ahnlid, the director general Sweden's national trade board, a government agency, and the head of the EU working group looking into frozen Russian assets, told CNN.

The assets would likely generate about 3 billion euros, or $3.3 billion, each year, he told the network. This means it would take at least 124 years to help rebuild Ukraine if the interest proceeds were the only funding source.

An EU spokesperson confirmed to Insider the bloc is considering drawing off the interest on income generated by Russian assets for the rebuilding of Ukraine. However, the spokesperson was unable to provide any specific figures as discussions are still underway.

Other options that the EU has considered over the last year include seizing Russian assets and reinvesting the proceeds, or taxing their profits.

"We are determined to make sure that Russia pays for the damage caused to Ukraine," the EU spokesperson added to Insider.

While EU authorities have frozen more than $200 billion in Russian assets amid sweeping sanctions against the country, there have been concerns about the legality of simply seizing and using them for the reconstruction of Ukraine, Insider previously reported.

The process of just seizing and selling Russian assets is very complicated from a legal standpoint, Tiffany Compres, an attorney specializing in international law at FisherBroyles told Insider last May.

She explained it's because such a move would require changes in the ownership of the assets, and such processes would vary in different jurisdictions. Seizing state assets would also require the involvement of international bodies such as the United Nations or the International Criminal Court, Compres added.

Even Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen conceded it would be legally contentious to just seize Russian assets, saying in May 2022: "It's not something that is legally permissible in the United States.."

In May 2022, the Kremlin called the notion of seizing $300 billion worth of frozen Russian central bank assets for rebuilding Ukraine "outright theft."

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Shoplifting occurred on average every two and a half to three months at the Shell gas station owned by Rick Chow in the years leading up to the May shooting death by Chow of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton, according to incident reports obtained by The State from the Richland County Sheriffs Department.

Carmack-Belton was falsely accused of shoplifting and then fatally shot outside the gas station May 28. Following the shooting, The State newspaper requested incident reports taken by the Richland County Sheriffs Department between Jan. 1, 2020, and the end of May 2023 at 7441 Parklane Road, where the Shell gas station Chow owns is located.

The Richland County Sheriffs Department provided reports for 55 calls for service at that address during that period.

The reported incidents included 15 thefts, an average of about one every 83 days, or just over four thefts per year.

Of those reports, not one involved a situation in which Chow or his employees were threatened with a gun. One report details a physical assault on Chow and his family in late 2022.

Theft reports

Of the 55 incidents at the store, four were for larceny cases in which a patron was accused of stealing beer or wine and in one case, a handful of newspapers. Nine of the incidents were labeled as shoplifting and also largely included the theft of beer or other alcohol and cigarettes.

In a shoplifting case that occurred Dec. 10, 2021, Chow kicked and pushed a woman suspected of stealing one alcoholic beverage from the store before calling police. When police reviewed video footage that showed Chow kicking and pushing the woman, Chow agreed not to pursue shoplifting charges, and the woman agreed not to pursue charges for third-degree assault and battery, according to the incident report.

In a separate Dec. 2021 incident, a catalytic converter was reportedly taken from Chows truck while it was parked at the Shell station overnight.

In Feb. 2022, a man was seen on camera breaking the stores glass door overnight and stealing a trash bag full of cigarettes.

The 15 incidents in which there was a theft reported at the store between the beginning of 2020 and the end of May 2023 average out to roughly one theft every 83 days.

Broken down further, seven of the theft incidents occurred in 2020  averaging one event every 52 days. Six of the theft incidents occurred in 2021  averaging one event every 60 days.

In 2022, one larceny was reported at the store in addition to the February breaking and entering that resulted in the theft of a large number of cigarettes.

No thefts were reported in 2023 prior to Carmack-Beltons shooting. Twice so far in 2023, the store owners had called police to remove patrons from the store who were previously suspected of shoplifting, but no shoplifting was reported at those times.

The store also called police 16 times since the beginning of 2020 to ask police to remove somebody from the premises, either because the person was panhandling or appeared homeless, or because the person was erratic, according to the incident reports.

Five simple assaults were recorded at 7441 Parklane Road during the three-and-a-half-year period. One incident was between Chow and a customer who in March 2021 refused to wear a mask inside the store and then pushed Chow when Chow followed him outside to photograph his license plate.

Another incident occurred in August 2022 when somebody outside of the store threatened an employee with a knife. That employee declined to talk to law enforcement, saying instead that he would let the streets handle it, according to the incident report.

The other three simple assaults reported at the location were between people either nearby the store or in the parking lot, but the reports did not include details about Chow or his employees.

One incident report detailed how a person walking toward the Shell station was robbed at gunpoint in Feb. 2020, but the incident report did not provide further details about the victim.

On two occasions, patrons of the Shell store called police saying they had been threatened with a gun by an acquaintance while at the gas station. Those incidents did not involve Chow or other store employees.

Escalating calls

After two years without any reported property damage to the store, problems began to escalate at the Shell station in 2022.

On three occasions in 2022, the Shell station was vandalized or property was destroyed. The first incident occurred Feb. 12, 2022, when an older man was caught on camera breaking the stores glass door with a boulder and then filling a trash bag with cigarettes and cigarillos, according to a Richland County Sheriffs Department incident report.

Two months later, a customer became irate when she was told she did not have enough money to cover her purchase. She allegedly began threatening store employees then went outside and kicked a glass door until it shattered, which sheriffs deputies confirmed with security footage, according to another incident report.

In late June 2022, a stray bullet broke one of the stores windows when shots were fired outside the store in the early morning.

The most extreme event to occur at the store in 2022 came on Nov. 22, when a person assaulted Chow, his wife and his son.

The person entered the store and allegedly attempted to steal a Swisher Sweets Cigar. He was then asked by store employees not to take things out of totes inside the store, which triggered an argument, according to an incident report.

Chow and his family told sheriffs deputies the man came behind the counter and assaulted all three of them before Chow pointed his gun at the man and told him to leave. Chow had an open wound on his head that was bleeding heavily, the incident report notes.

Just over six months later, Chow was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing Carmack-Belton over a wrongful shoplifting accusation, the Richland County Sheriffs Department has said.

Prior to 2020, there had been at least two altercations in which Chow fired his gun at people he suspected of shoplifting, according to information previously shared by the Richland County Sheriffs Department.

In 2015, Chow fired six shots into the side of a vehicle after attempting to stop someone from stealing, according to information shared by the sheriffs department. The person had threatened to shoot Chow. No one was injured in that shooting.

In 2018, Chow fired two shots at a person the sheriffs department called a shoplifter and struck the person in the leg. That person was treated at a hospital for the gunshot wound and later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from this incident, according to the department, which did not indicate if the shoplifter had a weapon.

Mr. Chows conduct in the above incidents did not meet the requirements under South Carolina law to support criminal charges, the department said.

The fatal shooting

Chow has owned the store at 7441 Parklane Road since at least 2012, when his LLC Grene Investments SP purchased the property from Sams Mart, according to county property records.

He was arrested May 29 and charged with murder in Carmack-Beltons death. He is now being represented by local criminal defense attorney Jack Swerling. Swerling is also defending Greg Leon, who is currently on trial for allegedly shooting and killing his wifes lover on Valentines Day in 2016.

Carmack-Belton was shot after he entered Chows convenience store around 8 p.m. May 28 and was wrongly accused by the owners of shoplifting, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at the time.

We have no evidence that he stole anything, whatsoever, Lott has said.

The sheriff said the teen at one point removed four water bottles from a cooler but put them back. An argument started inside the store, the sheriff said, and the 14-year-old took off running from the store. Chow, armed with a pistol, and his son chased after the teen, Lott said.

They ran toward the nearby Springtree Apartments off Springtree Drive. Lott said that, during the chase, Carmack-Belton fell down and got back up.

At that point, Chow shot the teen in the back, Lott said.

Following the shooting the Shell station was vandalized. Windows were broken, the name Cyrus was spray-painted on the walls of the building and items were stolen from the store.

Carmack-Belton was laid to rest during a funeral June 3 at Second Nazareth Baptist Church.

Chow has been held at the Alvin S. Glenn detention center since May 29. His bond hearing had been scheduled for this Friday, but will be rescheduled while his attorney is representing another client in a trial.
Carlos Alberto Montaner, the renowned writer, political commentator and syndicated newspaper columnist whose passion for the freedom of his native Cuba never wavered, died Thursday. He was 80.

There was not a day in his life that Cuba was not present, said his daughter, journalist Gina Montaner, from Spain. My father is a man who defended the freedom to live and die, and he wanted to die with dignity on his terms, and he did.

Montaner, who suffered from a degenerative disease, died in Madrid, the city that welcomed him in the 1970s along with his wife, Linda, when they were in their twenties, leaving their homeland behind. There he raised his children and found success as a businessman with Firmas Press and Editorial Playor.

In Spain, he witnessed a historic moment that served as a compass for his dream of freedom for Cuba: the transition from the Franco dictatorship to democracy.

It was a great education to see that transition that he always dreamed of for Cuba, his daughter said. To see how it was possible to go from great hatred and resentment to a national consensus, to turn the page and reach democracy. 

Cuban activist and academic Sebastian Arcos Cazabon called Montaner the first of the public and respected figures in exile to support the peaceful opposition inside Cuba.

He was the first to [say] they are legitimate and we must support them, added Arcos Cazabon, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.

In the 1980s and 1990s while in Cuba, Arcos Cazabon said, he listened to Montaner on Radio Marti and read the columns that he wrote in el Nuevo Herald.

Montaner managed to inspire several generations of Cuban and Latin American journalists with his ideas, his journalistic style, his accurate and friendly speech and his sense of humor.

He was a father, a friend, a guide, a person who put his experience and knowledge at the service of all of us, said journalist and writer Juan Manuel Cao.

Daniel Morcate, a journalist at Univision, praised Montaner for his lucidity, intellectual honesty and his love for Cuba, for democracy and for freedom.

Several media outlets in Spain, the United States, and Latin America ran his columns, including el Nuevo Herald, where at one point he was the editor of the opinion section.

His departure from him is the end of an era of Cuban exile. After the fall of the Soviet empire... we had great hopes of returning to a free Cuba, and we saw him as the ideal president of the nation, in the transition to republican democracy, said journalist Olga Connor, who once worked for Montaner.

Alex Mena, interim executive editor of the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald, highlighted the great and accurate weekly columns by Montaner, which ran for more than 40 years.

With his way of thinking and his extensive knowledge, Montaner analyzed and explained to us how the movements of the world order affect the daily life of those who only want to live in peace, Mena said. As a Cuban exile, he was a defender of freedom and democracy, not only in Latin America, but in the world. We will miss his words.

Montaner wrote more than 20 books, many of them translated into English, Portuguese, Russian and Italian, the Penguin Random House group said in a news release.

Montaners family said there will be no funeral services.

In addition to his children Gina and Carlos and his wife Linda, he is survived by his granddaughters Paola, Gabriela and Claudia.
Prosecutors in Rep. George Santos' case say they have given his defense over 80K pages of material

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP)  Prosecutors said Friday that they have turned over more than 80,000 pages of materials to U.S. Rep. George Santos  lawyers in the federal fraud and money laundering case against him.

The documents weren't publicly released, as is common during this stage of a case. The barely five-minute hearing at a Long Island courthouse focused on the case schedule, with the next court date set for Sept. 7.

Santos didn't speak in court, nor to journalists waiting outside. The New York Republican, known for fabricating key parts his life story, is free awaiting trial.

Santos pleaded not guilty last month to charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign, collected fraudulent unemployment benefits and lied to Congress about being a millionaire.

Prosecutors have charged Santos with 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Taken together, the allegations suggest Santos relied on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself, according to Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for Long Island.

Santos has condemned the federal investigation as a witch hunt, vowing not only to remain in Congress but to seek reelection. Republican leaders have urged Santos not to run again but have deferred efforts to expel the freshman representative that could narrow their slim majority.

About a dozen protesters and a Santos supporter awaited him outside the courthouse Friday.

The critics blasted Republican congressional leaders for letting Santos stay in the House.

"Were now six months with this charlatan as our representative, with no meaningful representation in Congress, said one of the demonstrators, Jody Kass Finkle, who lives in Santos' district.

The group also included a Navy veteran who says Santos stole more than $3,000 that was raised to pay for surgery for the veteran's dog, which subsequently died. The FBI has been looking into veteran Richard Osthoff's claims; Santos has said he's an animal lover who wouldn't let a dog die.

While Osthoff shouted, You killed my dog! at Santos as he left court, supporter Marie Tooker gave the politician a small American flag. She lives in a neighboring congressional district but said she would absolutely vote for him if she could.

What hes being accused of is a grain of sand compared to others' misdeeds, she said, making general allegations of various forms of theft.

Federal prosecutors say Santos misused funds that he raised for his campaign on personal expenses, including designer clothes and credit cards.

He is also accused of lying about his finances on congressional disclosure forms and obtaining unemployment benefits while making $120,000 as regional director of an investment firm, which was later shut down over Security and Exchange Commission allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme. Santos wasnt named in the SEC complaint and has said he was shocked by the allegations.

As part of his bond agreement, Santos must notify the court if he plans to travel outside of New York or Washington, D.C. He said he received permission to do so this week before flying to El Paso, Texas, where he called for increased border security and brushed off questions about the federal investigation.

I might have my fair share of embroilments that the media seems to like, he said in El Paso. That's fair, but I ran to get stuff done.

___

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.
Reports of smoke in California mountains turn out to be dust devil that was caught on camera

HIDDEN VALLEY, Calif.  A dust devil in the mountains north of Los Angeles caused quite the scare Wednesday as witnesses mistook the sight for a column of smoke from a wildfire.

CAL FIRE said firefighters responded to the reports of smoke in the Hidden Valley area but were not able to find a fire.

A review of video from a system of over 1,000 cameras across the Golden State captured the phenomenon and confirmed that what residents witnessed was a dust devil.

The vortex was not on the ground long, and it appeared to form in a rural area of the Santa Monica Mountains.

WATCH: FLORIDA DUST DEVIL SWALLOWS 7-YEAR-OLD CATCHER UNTIL CHILD SAVED BY UMPIRE

A network of over 1,000 cameras designed to alert agencies to smoke caught a unique sight on Wednesday  a dust devil moving through the Santa Monica Mountains.

Dust devils can be confused with tornadoes but are much weaker. They form from surface heating and not thunderstorm activity like tornadoes.

According to the National Weather Service, dust devils are usually spotted between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. when the sun is most intense.

Typically, the events only tower about 500 to 1,000 feet into the sky and only last a few minutes before they dissipate.

There were no other reported sightings of the dust devil in the mountains Wednesday.

If the sighting had been actual smoke, the existence of a wildfire would not have been unusual for late June.

California is approaching the peak of its annual fire season, which usually starts in the late spring and continues through the fall.

A series of atmospheric river events over the winter and spring all but erased the states short-term drought, which could continue to play a role in how active the fire season becomes.

As of late June, about 7,600 acres have burned in the state, which usually averages about 28,000 acres destroyed through the first half of the year, according to CAL FIRE.

WATCH: DUST DEVIL IN NEW YORK CITY RACES TOWARD CARRIAGES IN CENTRAL PARK

Even though the incident was a false alarm, firefighters still thanked citizens for alerting them to the potential of what could have been a serious problem.

"We all were happy to learn that there was no fire, and we thank the concerned citizens for their diligence in reporting it to authorities," CAL FIRE posted on Twitter.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., speaks during a news conference with other House Republican members in Washington. Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday to strike down President Joe Biden's student-loan-forgiveness plan.

Republicans, who had said the plan was unfair and unconstitutional, immediately celebrated.

For borrowers, the ruling means relief may still be far off.

In a rush of consequential decisions, the Supreme Court on Friday ruled to strike down President Joe Biden's plan to give student loan borrowers up to $20,000 in relief. Republican lawmakers  many of whom had been outspoken critics of the plan  were happy to see it.

Senator Bill Cassidy, the ranking GOP member on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said in a statement that the ruling "confirmed what we have known all along: the Biden administration's student loan plan is an overreach of executive power."

"This is an obvious but welcomed ruling," Cassidy added. "President Biden's student loan scheme does not 'forgive' debt, but unfairly transfers the burden from those who willingly took out loans onto those who chose not to attend college or already fulfilled their commitment to pay off their loans."

The decision came in two separate rulings. The high court ruled that the plaintiffs in one case, US Department of Education v. Brown, did not have standing. But the second case, Biden v. Nebraska, prevailed and the six GOP-led states had standing to sue on behalf of student-loan company, MOHELA.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, the GOP chair of the Education and Workforce Committee and an outspoken opponent of Biden's plan, wished "good riddance" to Biden's "illegal, economically disastrous taxpayer-funded bailout for the wealthy."

"I had hoped you would have greater respect for taxpayers and the Constitution, but I am pleased the Court stepped in to hold you accountable," Foxx said in a statement addressed to Biden.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy touted that the relief was "UNLAWFUL," and referenced former Speaker Nancy Pelosi's remarks that the president does not have the power to forgive debt. "I agree with her for once!" McCarthy wrote on Twitter.

Other Republicans took aim at the plan's constitutionality and claims that the relief was unfair, talking points that the GOP seized upon after Biden first introduced the plan.

"The American people know that the Biden Administration's student loan socialism plan would be a raw deal for hardworking taxpayers," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in a statement. "Now that the Supreme Court has rejected the Administration's position in Biden v. Nebraska, they can know that it's illegal."

"Hard-working Americans will not be burdened with increased taxes to pay the bills for those who willingly took onand have yet to pay offdebt," Rep. August Pfluger, a Republican from Texas, wrote on Twitter.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, wrote on Twitter that the loan forgiveness plan was "an unconstitutional power grab" that is "wildly unfair to millions of families who choose to make personal sacrifices to avoid debt." And Senator John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota who serves as minority whip, said in a statement that Biden had put forward an "unserious scheme" to have non-debt-holders subsidize relief.

"Anyone frustrated by today's decision should direct their complaints to the White House, where they knew this executive order would likely be struck down by the courts but did nothing whatsoever to meaningfully address exorbitant costs in higher education," Thune said.

Senator Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, said in a statement that the "bailout was completely unfair to those who saved up and paid off their loans or those who didn't take out loans."

"The truck driver and the waitress shouldn't have to subsidize the theater degree of the tenured professor," Schmitt said.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A joint task force of state, federal and local agencies touted recent efforts to tackle drug trafficking and illegal weapons Thursday that resulted in the indictments of 17 people over the past two months.

Michael Easley, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, said the indictments were part of two separate initiatives, the Violent Crime Action Plan and the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.

It is an impressive lineup of law enforcement and community leaders that comprise this partnership, Easley said.

Easley was joined at the news conference at City Hall by Fayetteville Police Department Chief Kemberle Braden, Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West and Cumberland County Sheriff Ennis Wright. The operations were staffed by members of the Fayetteville Police Department, Cumberland County Sheriff's Office, Cumberland County District Attorney's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Marshal Services and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

During a news conference Thursday at City Hall, U.S. Attorney Michael Easley displays a photo of fentanyl seized in recent months during an ongoing operation to combat drug trafficking in the area.

Easley said that during the investigations, 16 guns, almost 1,500 rounds of ammunition, an ounce of fentanyl, 100 fentanyl/MDMA pills, nearly a kilogram of cocaine, a 2021 Mercedes SUV and a 2022 Cadillac Escalade were seized.

We are here today speaking as one team with one voice with one message  that gun violence and the trafficking of dangerous narcotics in this community will not be tolerated, he said.

Easley said the announcement came now because officials wanted to highlight the danger of drugs and illegal firearms as the summer begins.

We know we are on the precipice of the hot summer months when violence tends to peak, he said.

The 17 defendants face a total of more than 30 federal charges, Easley said.

One area of concern for Easleys team is the use of auto-sear machine gun switches, or giggle switches, which convert semiautomatic Glock handguns into fully automatic machine guns, he said.

This is a tiny switch that fits in the palm of a hand, he said, holding up a picture of such a switch. Shooters should beware  if you commit a crime of violence or a drug trafficking offense and use a switch in your gun in furtherance of that crime, you will face a 30-year mandatory minimum in federal prison.

Eight of the 17 defendants are felons who allegedly possessed firearms, and two were allegedly involved in shootings at Fayetteville hotels, Easley said.

Shooters should beware that the ATF is here with us in the room and that their federal agents and task force officers are fast-tracking shooters for federal prosecution, he warned.

Eight of the defendants face charges of drug trafficking, five of whom are charged with trafficking methamphetamine and three of whom are charged with the armed trafficking of fentanyl, Easley said.

Previous drug trafficking case: Man gets 40 years in prison for dealing drugs out of Fayetteville daycare center in 2018

Recent convictions

Easley also announced the conviction of a group of Fayetteville-based fentanyl traffickers tied to the Sinaloa drug cartel.

The organization used Fayetteville as a hub, securing dozens of kilograms of fentanyl from Chicago, Boston and Atlanta, he said.

West said the indictments fell under three key areas his office is targeting  drug trafficking, illegal weapons and community violence.

Weve had way too much gun violence in our community  senseless murders, senseless shootings that are maiming people, he said. Well continue to aggressively prosecute those cases in whatever jurisdiction is most appropriate.

Easley said his team urges young people to avoid taking street drugs.

Every young person needs to know  this is not 2008. You cannot dabble with drugs in 2023, he said. Fentanyl is laced into everything that we see.

West said education is also crucial in mitigating gun violence.

Theres an education piece to this that they need to understand the dangers of firearms, he said. They also need to quit treating firearms like a fashion accessory. They are not.

Public safety reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Results announced of Fayetteville operations targeting drug trafficking, illegal weapons
The 90s is an overlooked period in contemporary Ukrainian literature  unlike Russias ongoing war against Ukraine  and the setting alone makes Oksana Lutsyshynas award-winning novel Ivan and Phoebe an achievement.



Now available in Nina Murray's English translation from the U.S. publisher Deep Vellum, Lutsyshynas novel is essential reading for those looking to better understand the factors that have shaped Ukraine's post-independence landscape, how they impacted ordinary people, and the challenges Ukraine continues to face today.

Ivan, the titular hero, goes from participant in the Revolution on Granite during his student days to husband in an unhappy marriage without much purpose in life. Where is my fury? Why can I not subsist on that alone? he asks himself. Like many of his peers, Ivan is part of a lost generation struggling to navigate the turbulent years of Ukraine's budding independence.

The Revolution on Granite took place between Oct. 2-17 in 1990. The Ukrainian Student Union, compelled by their dissatisfaction with the Ukrainian parliamentary elections held earlier that year, gathered at Kyivs Independence Square, known as the Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Ukrainian, and declared a hunger strike. Many now refer to it as the first Maidan, given that the Orange Revolution of 2004-2005 and the Revolution of Dignity of 2014 also took place there.

Not every protester was a student, nor did they all partake in the hunger strike, but their ranks rapidly swelled to the thousands in solidarity, with additional smaller protests sprouting up around and outside of Kyiv.



The participants of the Revolution on Granite had a set of demands and primarily wanted to thwart the signing of the New Union Treaty, which aimed to "preserve" the Soviet Union. While the revolution did not play a direct role in achieving Ukraines independence in 1991, it arguably shaped the countrys political climate.



Ivan travels to Kyiv to take part in the revolution. Lutsyshyna does not shy away from exploring the social tensions between Ukrainians like Ivan, who are actively fighting for change in their country, and those who continue to live under the influence of the Soviet "Moloch"  a reference to a demonic ancient deity associated with child sacrifice  keeping a low profile and remaining uninterested in anything beyond their personal lives:



Neither the police nor the passersby could grasp why these young people were sitting in the middle of the squarewere they just common hooligans? No one in the Soviet Union, young people above all, was allowed to have a political opinion other than the one of complete and total approval of the Party and the government. The young were supposed to obey their elders.

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 The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko

Ivan and his peers, despite their unwavering commitment to the cause of Ukraine's national sovereignty, are also facing an additional challenge: coming to terms with their sometimes limited knowledge of Ukrainian culture and history, which is not only a useful but necessary tool for building an independent Ukraine.

This knowledge gap arises from the dominance of the Russian language and culture which were elevated above all others during the Soviet era. As a result, Ivan burned with a sense of grievance, burned so hot he wanted to burst into sobs or punch a wall. How? Why? He knew nothing, he had been told nothing, he was never taught anything, anything at all. He had only been taught there was Moscow.

As it is with any revolution, disagreements continuously emerge between the participants. Meanwhile, a fellow revolutionary confides in Ivan while on the Maidan that he fears not tanks or police brutality, but of the risk of failing to leave a lasting mark on history.



The means by which societal change can be achieved are also a topic of heated debate among pro-independence activists. In a meeting leading up to the revolution, the younger generation of Ukrainian activists is captivated by their elders who survived the brutality of the Soviet secret police and even internment in distant Siberian camps.



However, the brutality they witnessed firsthand also sparks discussions about the use of violence to achieve societal change, including self-immolation or hidden weapon caches. Others advocate for fostering connections with their fellow Ukrainians through more peaceful means.

While the late 1980s and early 1990s have often been described as a time of "freedoms" in Russia, pro-independence activists in Ukraine were targets of surveillance by KGB officers for so-called discretions as insignificant as owning what was perceived as subversive literature. In those times, pro-independence activists worried about informants infiltrating their groups, and threatening them and their loved ones. At one point in the novel, Ivan and the others learn of a friend who is reported to have fallen drunk out of a speeding train, despite knowing for a fact that he did not drink.

After the revolution, Ivan is tormented in Lviv by a former KGB agent who goes by the name of Sashko Petrenko. They first cross paths on the Maidan in Kyiv, and Sashko later attempts to weasel his way into Ivans life. Eventually, Ivan realizes that Sashko is not who he claims to be, but its already too late  he begins to follow him around like a second shadow.



The presence of Sashko becomes such a persistent menace in his life that Ivan isolates himself from friends, including his lover Rose, and immerses himself in fantasies about killing the informant to reclaim some semblance of control over his life. It is not entirely clear to Ivan  nor the reader  which organization Sashko works for, be it a criminal gang or the Russian security service. Regardless, he attempts to wear down Ivan and convince him to initiate him into Ivans circle of fellow Ukrainian activists, resorting to threats against Ivans mother.

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 The Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov

At the point of mental collapse, Ivan retreats from Lviv to his native Uzhhorod: He could still go home, instead of being delivered, like a piece of refuse, from some loony bin. Or as a bloody mess scraped off the pavement under a seventh-floor window. Or a body to be identified after being shoved off a speeding train.

Although the sleepy Transcarpathian city does not offer him the same array of opportunities as Lviv or Kyiv, he relishes in the comfort of home, walking the city that was supposed to be his perdition and feeling, in his words, reborn. Uzhhorod, as depicted by Lutsyshyna, embodies the quintessential traits reminiscent of Ukraine in the 90s, including frequent power outages, frozen salaries, sketchy businessmen, and a thriving black market where wedding shoes could only be found in unconventional places, like a bookstore.

Ivan manages to secure a job working at a local bank, where he meets Maria, the daughter of the banks lawyer. A dark-haired and seemingly shy young woman, Maria adopts the name Phoebe for herself, drawing inspiration from Phoebus, the god of poetry. Despite having interacted with the literary scene during his student days in Lviv, Ivan is perplexed and amused by Phoebes desire to establish herself as a poet.



A romance soon develops between Ivan and Phoebe, and although Ivan has reservations about making a long-term commitment, he succumbs to the pressure of both their parents and agrees to marry her. His opinionated mother constantly reminds him that any mans purpose is to settle down, find a wife, start a family, and build a home  a place he can proudly call his own fortress."



That doesnt stop Ivan from fantasizing about running away on their wedding day. However, an unexpected injury halts his plans. The days leading up to his wedding are a period of mourning where he must drift along the flow of his own life, and exchange the role of a young revolutionary wanting to make history for that of an ordinary, small-town family man.



Ivan and Phoebes relationship quickly begins to deteriorate. Phoebe objects to the patriarchal demands imposed upon her by her husband and mother-in-law, believing that life should not do such things to poets. Rather than pursue a literary career, she never ventures beyond the front yard of their shared home, caring for her child and fulfilling chores assigned by her mother-in-law, consequently becoming more and more withdrawn.



Ivan resents her for the need to assert her individuality: For some reason he had become convinced that with the babys arrival Phoebe would become, like all his friends wives, a happily bustling homemaker who would have no more time for him (or her poems!).



The reader is afforded little insight into Phoebes character from Ivans perspective  he is only interested in conveying his disappointment in her behavior. However, Phoebe attempts to unveil more of herself through monologues that disrupt the novel's narrative, albeit in a torrent of words that are overwhelmed by her desperate need to not only be seen but heard.



Meanwhile, Ivan begins to feel increasingly isolated. Several of his friends leave the country in pursuit of a better life, battle with substance abuse, or meet an early grave. He drifts from one job to the next and questions whether his time on the Maidan had any meaning, not to mention what it means to be a Ukrainian patriot.



After reconnecting with some of his fellow revolutionaries on a trip to Lviv a few years later, Ivan briefly entertains the idea of moving back to the city of his student days. However, he realizes that it would be impossible to do so without his wife and child and decides against it, fearing that Phoebe would find the happiness that she lacks in Uzhhorod and leave him. Despite the fact that they are clearly unhappy, maintaining their marriage is at least some form of agency.



The mounting tension within Ivan, driven by his uncertainty over the future and a persistent failure to articulate his needs  which would arguably grant him much sought-after control over the trajectory of his life  culminates in an unexpected and shocking climax, one that will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression on the reader long after they have finished the novel.



English-language readers have been introduced primarily to Ukraines contemporary male writers. While Serhiy Zhadan, Yuri Andrukhovych, Andrey Kurkov and others possess undeniable talent and wit, Ukraines female writers are particularly adept at delving into the depths of human psychology and unraveling the impact of historical trauma at an individual level.



The publication of Lutsyshynas novel in English translation will hopefully kick off a trend of introducing Western readers to more boundary-pushing, female-driven Ukrainian literature in the years to come.



Ivan and Phoebe is now available from the U.S. publisher Deep Vellum and can also be purchased from most major book retailers.
Police guard the Apple Store against rioters in Strasbourg (PATRICK HERTZOG)

Young rioters went on a daylight looting spree Friday in the French city of Strasbourg, targeting an Apple Store and other shops following the fatal shooting of a teen by a policeman near Paris.

Fearing an outbreak of vandalism, police had earlier locked down access to a shopping mall in the centre of the eastern French city, where one of the Apple Store's entrances is located.

But groups of youths gathered at another entrance to the store, outside the mall, and began to vandalise it, witnesses said.

"They broke two of the store's windows, and we saw gangs of young people going in and coming out, in and out, trying to steal display items," Corentin Flinck, who works in a neighbouring shop, told AFP.

Police used teargas against the looters, he said, as regular shoppers sought refuge inside stores.

Several police arrived to block access to the Apple Stores, and explosions were heard.

Staff at nearby department store Galeries Lafayette lowered metal shutters for protection, as did other stores in the neighbourhood.

Several luxury goods shops had already emptied their window displays, but other shops, selling clothes or shoes, were plundered, an AFP reporter said.

Rioters also damaged a police vehicle.

Eleven people were arrested, according to the interior ministry.

The entrance to the Strasbourg opera house was also damaged, and Friday evening's performance cancelled.

The unrest was sparked by the killing of 17-year-old Nahel on Tuesday in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre.

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Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) is sworn as Assembly speaker at the Capitol in Sacramento with his wife, Christen, and daughter Melina at his side. (Max Whittaker / For The Times)

An unusually long and tumultuous fight for power in the California Capitol finally came to an end Friday as Robert Rivas was sworn in as speaker of the Assembly, claiming one of the most influential positions in state politics more than a year after he first tried to secure the gavel.

Rivas, a Democrat from Hollister, vowed to usher in a new era of unity following a period in which Democrats were bitterly divided over the Assembly leadership, causing a sense of chaos to fester in the lower house.

"We must work with urgency and unity  unity that is backed by mutual trust and respect," Rivas said in his inaugural speech. "Today I pledge to you to do whatever I can to reinforce these values. This approach will allow us to make measurable progress on the most critical issues facing Californians, and it will show the rest of the country that progressive government works."

Rivas highlighted his familys immigrant roots in his speech, telling the story of his grandfather, Servando Flores, who left Mexico for the fertile fields of California. Flores started off picking grapes, joined the United Farm Workers movement to fight for a union contract, and became a vineyard mechanic.

"My family and I, we grew up in farmworker housing, and today I stand before you as a speaker of the California state Assembly," Rivas said to loud applause in the Assembly chamber. "That is the California Dream."

Representing an agricultural swath of Central California rich with strawberry and lettuce fields, Rivas becomes the first speaker in a generation to hail from a rural region. Seven of the last eight speakers were from Los Angeles; the other one was from San Diego.

Rivas symbolizes the hopes and dreams of all those who toil today in our agricultural fields throughout California, that as a result of the hard work and sacrifices of our parents and grandparents, the next generation can also reach the highest places in the California Legislature, said Luis Alejo, a supervisor from Monterey County, which lies in Rivas' district.

Rivas first tried to nab the gavel from then-Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) in May of 2022. But Rendon insisted that the new crop of Assembly members who would be elected that fall should decide the speakership. The standoff led to protracted closed-door negotiations and a deep division between Rendon supporters and those rallying behind Rivas.

Read more: Column: The outcome is still unclear in Rivas and Rendon's fight to be California Assembly speaker

On paper, the two men dont appear very different  both are Latino Democrats and Gen X grandsons of Mexican immigrants. Both men have support from a range of moderate and progressive members of their caucus. The rift was more about leadership style than political differences.

Rivas supporters criticized Rendon's management of the Assembly and believed he was clutching on to power despite having just two years left in office before term limits would force him out. They saw Rivas as a leader for the future.

Rendons supporters feared Rivas would be influenced by his brother Rick Rivas political connections. Rick Rivas is a vice president of the American Beverage Assn., which lobbies for the soda industry, and has served as a political advisor to Govern for California, a donor network largely made up of Bay Area venture capitalists that seeks to counter the sway that public employee unions have in the Legislature.

The feud spilled into the 2022 election, with Rivas supporters pooling donations into a political action committee to support candidates they hoped would support Rivas for speaker. Rivas traveled the state to stump for them, something customarily done by the speaker.

Read more: Commentary: A fight for power in Sacramento tests boundaries of campaign finance law

Days after the November election, Assembly Democrats finalized a plan for Rendon to pass the speakers gavel to Rivas on June 30.

The timing makes Rendon the second-longest serving speaker in California history, bested only by Willie Brown, who famously called himself the Ayatollah of the Assembly when he was speaker in the 1980s and 1990s. But then voters passed a law limiting lawmakers to just three two-year terms in the Assembly (and two four-year terms in the Senate), leading to an era of high turnover in the speakership.

Voters changed the term limit law in 2012, the same year Rendon was elected, to allow lawmakers to serve up to six two-year terms in the Assembly (or three four-year terms in the Senate). That ushered in a new generation of lawmakers who had time to develop more expertise while in office. Rendon led them with a decentralized approach that delegated substantial power to the committee chairs he appointed.

It was a departure from the more autocratic style of prior speakers. As he reflected on his speakership earlier this week, Rendon said he had put up with a lot of stuff, using another word that starts with an s, adding that maybe he shouldnt have been so overly forgiving to the members who dished it out.

I dont always know that I was as quick to punish as I should have, he said Wednesday during an interview with the Public Policy Institute of California.

Rendon helped Democrats earn major policy wins, including increasing the minimum wage , strengthening labor protections for gig and farmworkers , launching universal preschool and broadening a program to combat climate change . Lawmakers modified Californias police use-of-force law under his leadership, expanded renter protections and cracked down on predatory lending practices .

Rendon's most powerful achievement may have been in the political arena, helping to increase the number of Democrats in the Assembly. Under his leadership, Democrats grew to hold three-quarters of the seats, more than the two-thirds supermajority that allows them to pass tax increases and fast-track legislation without any votes from Republicans. The caucus also added enough women and LGBTQ+ members to help the Legislature break diversity records .

But his legacy also includes the chaotic final night of the 2020 legislative session, when he was publicly lambasted and eventually forced to apologize for making Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) come to the Capitol during the COVID-19 pandemic despite recently giving birth . Wicks vote was needed to help pass a contentious housing measure, but Rendon had rejected her request to vote remotely. So she hauled her newborn baby to Sacramento, strapped the infant to her chest and took her spot on the Assembly floor.

Backlash piled on after the housing bill died later that night. Rendon was accused of letting the measure languish for hours before bringing it up for a vote, at which point it was too late for the Senate to finalize the measure before a midnight deadline.

Wicks gained national attention as a symbol of the plight mothers face in the workplace as a photo of her cradling her baby while giving a speech on the Assembly floor went viral. Two years later, she became one of Rivas most critical allies, helping him put together the support necessary to become speaker.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Death Row inmate Rodney Reed was back in Bastrop County District Court Tuesday October 10. 2017 asking Judge Doug Shaver to reconsider testimony from his murder trial in the slaying of Stacey Stites.

Rodney Reeds decades-long fight to prove his innocence has met a screeching halt once again. According to The Associated Press, a Texas appeals court denied his request for retrial based on the claims that there is evidence proving he is not guilty.



In April, Reed was backed by the US Supreme Court ruling last year that stated he should have a chance to push for the testing of crime-scene evidence he claims could prove his innocence. Following that, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans authorized for more legal briefs to be filed in Reeds case regarding DNA testing of the evidence.

Read more

However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals delivered a 129-page ruling stating Reed failed to make an affirmative and persuasive claim that he was innocent and also failed to show the State withheld material defense-favorable evidence at the time of Reeds trial.

Even if all of Reeds post-trial evidence is taken into account, Reed still has not demonstrated that he is more likely than not innocent of Staceys murder, wrote Judge Jesse McClure.

Read a recap of Reeds accusations from AP News:

Reed was condemned for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. Prosecutors say he raped and strangled Stites as she made her way to work at a supermarket in Bastrop, a rural community about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of Austin. Reed, 55, has long maintained that Stites fiance, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the real killer. Reed says Fennell was angry because Stites, who was white, was having an affair with Reed, who is Black. Fennell, who served time for sexual assault and was released from prison in 2018, has denied killing Stites. Reeds attorneys have also accused prosecutors of suppressing evidence.

Nearly every argument Reed has brought to fight his innocence claim has been rejected, from witnesses to physical evidence. Though, his attorney from the Innocence Project, Jane Pucher, said the fight isnt over.

Mr. Reeds conviction and death sentence violates the most central tenets of our Constitution and cannot stand. We will continue to fight for Mr. Reeds freedom and bring him home to his family, Pucher said in a statement per AP.

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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Speaking at a summit for a newly minted hate group, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis laid out his presidential platform.

As president, I will fight the woke in the corporations, I will fight the woke in the schools, I will fight the woke in the halls of Congress. We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. We are gonna leave woke ideology in the dustbin of history where it belongs, DeSantis said in a Friday morning speech at the Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia.

It was a poor riff on Winston Churchills famous wartime speech against the Nazis, delivered in DeSantis characteristic monotone. But it was his biggest applause line at the summit where Moms for Liberty, which recently received a hate group designation from the Southern Poverty Law Center, has gathered for a three-day convention.

How a Border Photo Stunt Could End Up Costing Ron DeSantis

The summits speaker list, which includes DeSantis and Donald Trump, is a flex of political muscle for Moms for Liberty (MfL). In the two years since its founding, MfL has made inroads with politicians like DeSantis and pursued an aggressive political program, championing anti-LBGTQ bills and efforts to restrict education about race and gender.

DeSantis, who is campaigning against Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary, continued his tactic on Friday of attempting to set himself apart from the former president, without actually invoking Trumps name.

DeSantis only references to his primary opponents were indirect, with multiple allusions to past politicians failing to meet their promises.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis got a standing ovation at the Moms for Liberty summit. The Daily Beast

Twenty-twentyfour is the time to put up or shut up on educational issues, he said. No more excuses about why we cant win against the left. No more excuses about why you didnt do what you said you would do. The time to act is now.

The Moms for Liberty crowd was something of an ideal audience for DeSantis. The Florida governors hallmark legislative wins include passing MfL-approved laws restricting LGBTQ care, stifling discussion of race in gender in schools, redirecting money from public to private and charter schools, and gutting protections for educators at Florida universities.

DeSantis is also closely networked with MfLs founders, who launched the group in Florida in 2021. In February, DeSantis appointed MfL founder Bridget Ziegler to a board intended to oversee Disneys Orlando theme parks, after Disney criticized his anti-LGBTQ measures. That same month, Zieglers husband, Christian, was named chair of the Florida GOP. The previous August, MfL awarded a $21,000 contract to a company Christian Ziegler owned.

While DeSantis spoke on stage, however, some audience members appeared to prefer another candidate. MOMS <3 DJT read a flyer that an attendee distributed ahead of the Friday morning breakfast, where DeSantis was the keynote speaker.

Merchandise at the Moms for Liberty summit in Philly included T-shirts about Jesus, Trump, and Joe Biden. The Daily Beast

Trump also appeared to be a favorite among the summits merchandise vendors, which sold t-shirts with slogans like Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president. The shirt hung next to another with the slogan Joe and the hoe gotta go, a short walk from where DeSantis was inveighing against the supposed threat of transgender athletes in womens locker rooms.

Regardless of the summit attendees primary election vote, DeSantis will have scored a major MfL-backed victory on Saturday when his Stop WOKE act goes into effect.

The law, which DeSantis promoted with the help of MfL members, would significantly curtail discussion of race and gender in Florida schools. The act is facing multiple legal challenges on the grounds that it restricts First Amendment rights.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Roseanne Barrs appearance on comedian Theo Vons This Past Weekend podcast has been removed from YouTube for violating its hate speech policies.

This week, a clip of the 70-year-old actor on the podcast went viral as she used the Holocaust and Jewish people to make a point about political propaganda.

Theres such a thing as the truth and facts and we have to stick to them, Barr told Von before adding: And nobody died in the Holocaust either, thats the truth. It should happen  6 million Jews should die right now because they cause all the problems in the world. But it never happened.

As of Friday (30 June), the 14 June episode of Vons podcast is no longer available on YouTube. A message on the platform reads: This video has been removed for violating YouTubes policy on hate speech.

The Independent has contacted YouTube and Barrs representatives for comment.

Barr clarified in the podcast that she was 100 per cent Jewish and added that people should be glad that Jews control the entertainment industry because if Jews were not controlling Hollywood, all youd have was f***in fishing shows.

Her comments have been condemned by many, including Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organisation specialising in civil rights law.

Roseanne Barr (Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Sarcasm or not, Roseanne Barrs comments about Jews and the Holocaust are reprehensible and irresponsible. This isnt funny, Greenblatt wrote in a statement.

And shame on Theo Von for letting it go unchallenged and instead diving into conspiracy theories about Jews and Hollywood.

In defence of his podcast guest, Von posted a four-minute clip of their conversation and claimed that her comments werent meant to be taken literally.

Here is the full clip of Roseanne Barr obviously using sarcasm and satire, he wrote. She is a mensch [a Yiddish term for a person of integrity and morality] and one of the funniest people Ive ever met.

Here is the full clip of Roseanne Barr obviously using sarcasm and satire. She is a mensch and one of the funniest people i've ever met. pic.twitter.com/p0K6pWEqr8  Theo Von (@TheoVon) June 27, 2023

Barr has become known to make controversial remarks in recent years.

Notably, the reboot of her hit Nineties sitcom, Roseanne, was cancelled in 2018 after she sent a racist tweet comparing one of Barack Obamas aides, Valerie Jarrett, to a character from Planet of the Apes.
A Roy man has been arrested after police say he waited in a West Haven backyard until his brother-in-law came outside, then shot and killed him late Wednesday. | Derek Petersen, KSL-TV

A Roy man was arrested Thursday after police say he waited in his brother-in-law's backyard until he came outside and then shot him multiple times, killing him.

Dallas Wade Martineau, 40, was booked into the Weber County Jail Thursday for investigation of murder.

"Dallas Martineau admitted to stalking his victim, lying in wait, and shooting him to death," a police booking affidavit states.

The victim, a 50-year-old man, is Martineau's brother-in-law, the affidavit states. His name has not been released pending notification of family members.

The shooting happened just after 11 p.m. Wednesday at 4679 W. 4350 South in West Haven.

On scene in Weber County this am, where a man was shot multiple times late last night.



That man was rushed to the hospital where he later died.



Weber County is currently investigating.@KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/BwQkUuV6Js  Karah Brackin (@kbontv) June 29, 2023

The victim's son told police his father had gone outside to his back porch to smoke a cigarette when he heard multiple "pop sounds," according to the affidavit. "He looked outside and saw a male standing with his arms outstretched like the male was holding a gun. (The) witness stated that he believes the male might be Dallas Martineau, who lives in Roy."

Weber County sheriff's deputies went to Martineau's home in Roy. When they found him, he informed deputies there was a gun in his truck and he was taken into custody without incident, the affidavit states.

"Martineau confessed to shooting (the victim). He described how he drove to the residence in West Haven with a firearm and how he waited in the back of the house for (him) to come outside. He described listening to conversations (the victim) was having in the home. He admitted that he was already holding the gun in his hands. He stated that when (the victim) started to come outside that they made eye contact and he shot him multiple times," according to the arrest report.

The affidavit says Martineau also admitted to the shooting to "his wife," but it was unclear if it was to his wife or the victim's wife.
Russia attacks Kherson and its oblast in morning, inflicting casualties

Russian artillery attacked a residential area in Kherson on the morning of 30 June, injuring a pensioner and wounding another in the oblast.

Source: Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram

Quote: "A 72-year-old woman was seriously wounded (in Kherson  ed.). She was taken to the hospital with chest and leg injuries, and doctors are providing the victim with the necessary assistance."

Details: A 70-year-old man was wounded as a result of shelling in the village of Mykhailivka, Novooleksandrivka hromada (a hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories  ed.).

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The flag of Kazakhstan

Russia is trying to enlist Kazakh citizens for its war against Ukraine, according to a report by Kazakhstans Kostanay regional prosecutors office, published on June 29.

The report notes a recent surge in social media activity related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including footage from the front lines, and various posts and comments on the issue. Some of this content allegedly calls on citizens of Kazakhstan to join the Russian military in its campaign against Ukraine.

Read also: Kazakhstan delivers oil directly to Azerbaijan, bypassing Russia for first time

The prosecutor's office stated that comments from some social network users, including citizens of Kazakhstan, contained "separatist appeals regarding the territorial integrity of Kazakhstan."

Read also: Russia claims no intent to topple Zelenskyy, Tokayev re-elected in Kazakhstan

There have also been reported attempts by Russians in the Kostanay region to encourage locals to participate in the conflict against Ukraine. The authorities have not provided details on the recruitment methods used or whether anyone involved in these recruitment efforts has been arrested.

Read also: Toilet placed near Zhukov monument in Kazakhstan on May 9  photo

In mid-April, it was revealed that the Committee for National Security of Kazakhstan had opened ten criminal cases related to the participation of Kazakh citizens in military activities in Ukraine.

The prosecutor's office reiterated that in Kazakhstan, the act of recruitment for participation in military conflicts abroad is a criminal offense, punishable by up to ten years in prison.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russian attacks on Sumy Oblast: 74 explosions in one day

The Russians fired on the border areas of Sumy Oblast 10 times on 29 June, with 74 explosions recorded.

Source: Sumy Oblast Military Administration

Details: The Sumy Oblast Military Administration has reported that Krasnopillia, Myropillia and Bilopillia hromadas came under Russian fire (hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories  ed.).

The Russians attacked Krasnopillia hromada with mortars, causing 12 explosions. As a result of one of the attacks, three private households, one private car and one garage were damaged. There were also artillery attacks (six explosions).

The Russians dropped 22 bombs on the Bilopillia hromada. There were also attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems (nine explosions).

The Myropillia hromada was attacked with grenade launchers (25 explosions).

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The Russian invaders have begun to gradually leave the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), and some ZNPP employees have also been instructed to leave the plant by 5 July, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) reports.

Source: DIU on Telegram

Quote: "The latest data indicates that the occupying forces are gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Three employees of Rosatom [a Russian state corporation specialising in nuclear energy], who led the Russians' actions, were among the first to leave the facility.

Ukrainian employees who have signed a contract with Rosatom have also been advised to evacuate. Under the instructions received, they should leave by 5 July."

Details: The Russians advise leaving for temporarily occupied Crimea.

Intelligence reports that the head of the legal department, Mantsurova, chief inspector Shtatsky and deputy head of the station for support, Gubarev, have already left for the peninsula.

The DIU also emphasises that the number of military patrols at the ZNPP and in the satellite city of Enerhodar is gradually decreasing.

Meanwhile, intelligence reports that the Russian occupiers have instructed the personnel who remain at the station to "blame Ukraine in the event of any emergency".

Background:

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Sergey Surovikin

Russian General Sergey Surovikin is not currently under arrest and has been released after interrogation, Russian independent website Vazhnyye Istorii (Important Stories) reported on June 29.

The website referred to two sources close to Russias General Staff and Russias FSB Federal Security Service.

Read also: Prigozhin says Surovikin mediating between mercenaries and Russian Defense Ministry

The sources did not confirm the media reports about Surovikins arrest. The war criminal was interrogated, but then released, the website wrote.

Kremlin propaganda news agency TASS published a statement by the executive secretary of the Public Monitoring Commission, Alexei Melnikov, who claims that Surovikin is not in a pre-trial detention center.

Surovikin was reportedly interrogated over several days regarding his ties to Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner mercenary company, news agency Bloomberg reported on June 29, citing informed sources.

Read also: Russian General Surovikin reportedly arrested after Wagner mutiny

UK newspaper the Financial Times previously reported that Surovikin was arrested after Prigozhins attempted coup failed, indicating a purge of the security forces by the Kremlin regime. The generals daughter, however, denied his arrest in a statement to the Russian Telegram news channel Baza.

Russian English-language newspaper the Moscow Times, citing two sources close to Russias defense ministry, previously reported that Surovikin had been arrested.

According to multiple sources cited by U.S. newspaper the New York Times, U.S. intelligence agencies believe Surovikin had prior knowledge of Prigozhins mutiny.

Read also: A castling of generals: Why Putin appointed Gerasimov in place of Surovikin

In addition, investigative journalism outlet the Dossier Center reported on June 28 that Surovikin had become an honorary member of Wagner mercenary company back in 2017.

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Russian invaders take bodies of two teenage partisans to Melitopol, says human rights activist

Tyhran Ohanesyan and Mykyta Khanhanov, killed by Russians in Berdyansk

Russian invaders have seized the bodies of two 16-year-olds, Tyhran Ohanesyan and Mykyta Khanhanov, who were killed by Russian soldiers in the occupied town of Berdyansk.

Read also: Mother of 16-year-old martyr Tyhran speaks out in interview

Their bodies are now being held in the temporarily occupied town of Melitopol, Olha Reshetylova, coordinator of the Media Initiative for Human Rights, wrote on Facebook on June 30.

Despite the fact that the farewell to Tyhran and Mykyta was planned in Berdyansk for yesterday, they have not been buried yet, she said.

Throughout yesterday, the families were waiting for permission from investigators to take the bodies from the morgue, but they have failed to receive it.

The morgue was surrounded by military personnel throughout the previous day, Reshetylova said.

Today, it became known that the bodies were allegedly taken to Melitopol for examination, she said.

We understand why the Russians are doing it. Theyre trying to hide the traces of their crimes as its obvious from the nature of the injuries that a murder was committed and the boys were shot to death at point-blank range.

Reshetylova called on the invaders to let the relatives of the children say their final goodbyes.

On June 24, the Kremlins puppet governor of Zaporizhzhya Oblast, Vladimir Rogov, announced the murder of two Ukrainian partisans by the Russian forces, calling them terrorists.

Human rights activists claim the boys were shot by snipers. The circumstances of the alleged battle during which they were killed are not yet clear.

Activists reported that the teenagers had been persecuted for six months before the murder.

In particular, Ohanesyan was abducted, detained, and tortured by local collaborators.

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Zaporizhzhya NPP

Russian forces are reducing their presence at the occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant or ZNPP as fears of a potential Russian terrorist attack on the plant grow in Ukraine, Ukraines Main Intelligence Directorate reported on Telegram on June 30.

According to the latest data, the occupying contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, the intelligence said.

Read also: Situation at Zaporizhzhya NPP "extremely fragile, warns IAEA chief

Three employees of Rosatom, the Russian atomic agency, were among the first to leave the power plant, the agency said.

Ukrainian specialists who had previously signed a contract with Rosatom have also been advised to evacuate by July 5, Ukrainian intelligence said.

Read also: Nuclear security specialist on potential terrorist attack at ZNPP

The territory of the occupied Crimea is the recommended destination, the report says.

To date, the head of the legal department Mantsurova, chief inspector Shtatskyi, and power plant deputy on provision Hubarev have left for Crimea.

The number of military patrols is also gradually decreasing on the territory of the ZNPP itself and the nearby town of Enerhodar, the agency said.

At the same time, the personnel remaining at the power plant were instructed to blame Ukraine in case of any emergency situations.

Threat to Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant  What is known

The head of Ukraines Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said on June 25 that the Russians had completed preparations for a possible terrorist attack at the occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Equipment with explosives was deployed near four of the six reactors.

Read also: What will happen if Russia blows up the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on June 22 that Russia is considering a scenario of a terrorist attack at the nuclear plant it has seized and has prepared everything for this.

Earlier, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi warned that the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant threatens operations at the plant. There are alleged risks of losing the necessary water levels to cool the reactors within weeks.

Before that, on June 15, Grossi said the situation at the plant was serious and they are trying to stabilize it.

Read also: IAEA Director General Grossi arrives at Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP

Current water levels in the cooling pond are enough to sustain the plant for up to a year, Ukraines nuclear operator Energoatom has stated.

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Empty cribs at a playhouse in the courtyard of Kherson regional childrens home in Kherson, southern Ukraine - Bernat Armangue/AP

A Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators have been charged with war crimes for allegedly abducting dozens of children, some of them as young as one.

The trio are accused of ferrying 48 orphans from an orphanage in the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson to Russia.

They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine following a wider investigation by the International Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of which visited the Kherson regional childrens home.

It was not a one-day event. 48 children who were in the Kherson regional childrens home were forcibly displaced, deported, Yuliia Usenko, head of the department for the protection of childrens interests in Ukraines Prosecutor Generals office told Reuters.

We dont know how these children are, in what conditions they are kept, or what their fate is.

Russians took children from two orphanages in Kherson - Sky News

Over 19,000 children are believed to have been illegally taken to Russia from Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion 18 months ago, some never to be heard from again.

There is now an international arrest warrant out for President Vladimir Putin, who has been indicted by the ICC in The Hague alongside Maria Lvova-Belova, the childrens commissioner, for the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.

Putin has succeeded in pairing hundreds of these children with Russian families. Adoptions have been finalised and hopes of reuniting families disappeared.

Tetiana Pavelko, a nurse at Kherson regional children's home plays with her adopted daughter Kira at home - Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraines Commissioner for Human Rights, on Friday urged parents not to attempt to personally retrieve their kidnapped children from Russia after several Ukrainians were reportedly arrested while attempting to do so.

Mr Lubinets cited the example of two women who had recently been detained at an unnamed airport in Russia as evidence of the dangers involved.

They were sent by a community organisation, and we learned about their detention from our communication channel in the Russian Federation, he said.

In a separate case involving a different organisation, a grandmother who had been sent to Ukraine died after spending 13 hours with Russias FSB Security Service, Mr Lubinets said.

Vladimir Putin meets with Maria Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children's rights - MIKHAIL METZEL/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Ms Usenko said that many of the children taken from the Kherson home may have been illegally adopted by Russian citizens, or taken to Russian institutions.

According to prosecution documents, it is alleged that the orphans were taken from the Kherson regional childrens home in September and October and relocated to Moscow and Russian-occupied Crimea.

The suspects names have been redacted from the documents but prosecutors believe the individuals are currently in Crimea or Russia. Unlike at the ICC, trials in Ukraine can be held in absentia.

Taken to Crimea

The bulk of the children were taken on October 21 2022 under the supervision of the lead, Russian suspect, the charges said.

They were allegedly loaded onto white Russian Ministry of Health vehicles and taken to Crimea.

Prosecutors shared a video they claimed showed one of the suspects helping to load children in a van marked with a Z - the pro-Russian symbol.

If proven, this is a violation of the laws and customs of war set out by the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The charge is punishable with a prison sentence of up to 12 years under Ukrainian law.

Ms Usenko said: We want to hold accountable all the war criminals, all the people that committed horrible international crimes against our Ukrainian children.

The Kremlin on Wednesday again dismissed allegations that Russia had violated childrens rights in Ukraine and said that, on the contrary, its armed forces were rescuing children from conflict zones.

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Russian forces struck a school in Serhiivka, Donetsk Oblast on June 30, killing two members of staff and injuring six others, the regional prosecutor's office reported.

The prosecutor's office reported that a 56-year-old teacher and a 44-year-old accountant were killed in the attack. Six more employees, including four men aged between 54 and 69 and two women aged 24 and 34, were reported as injured.

According to the report, the attack took place around 11:20 a.m. local time when 12 people were in the school building.

A part of the school building was entirely destroyed and the strike impacted classrooms, offices, and other premises, the prosecutor's office reported.

On the morning of June 30, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko informed that two civilians were injured in the oblast over the past day, one in Avdiivka and another in Serebrianka.
Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defence Council, has said that the civilised world will consider Russia's probable terrorist attack on the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) as "the use of nuclear weapons against the civilian population".

Source: Danilov on the air of Radio Svoboda (Liberty)

Quote: The very fact that these terrorists carry out such a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility will be considered by all civilised countries to be the use of nuclear weapons against the civilian population. Therefore, we will watch very carefully, if God forbid it happens, which reaction would the world have following these events."

Details: Danilov added that the world's reaction to the blowing up of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) "did not correspond to the scale of the terrorist attack that Ukraine suffered".

According to him, Ukraine is currently doing "everything possible and impossible" to prevent this terrorist attack from happening, but the nuclear plant is "in the hands of terrorists" now.

The secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defence Council suggested that some of the Western partners are now explaining to Russia that they should not do it, because the aftermath will be "absolutely catastrophic for the Russian Federation".

Commenting on the likelihood of a Russian terrorist attack at the ZNPP, he noted that it is difficult to say now, because "these people are not predictable, they act outside the boundaries of any norms and rules of the world community".

Danilov recalled that a "big training" was conducted and there was "one more preparation" after the information about the probable terrorist attack in Ukraine. "We have our protocols, our plans, in what way we should act. Now a big exercise took place, another preparation was conducted, in the case of this Russian attack occurring."

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Russians attack Kherson Oblast, a child is among the injured

The Russian forces attacked Kherson Oblast on the evening of 30 June, injuring a family with a six-year-old child in the settlement of Antonivka.

Source: Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of Kherson Oblast Military Administration, on Facebook

Quote: "The Russian army attacked a residential building in Antonivka, injuring a family with a child.

A six-year-old boy was found to have a moderate wound to his leg."

Details: A 79-year-old man and a 42-year-old woman were also wounded in the Russian strike.

The head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported that all the victims were taken to hospital, and doctors are providing them with the necessary medical assistance.

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Russians attack southern oblasts of Ukraine with drones and ballistic missiles

Russian forces attacked the city of Zaporizhzhia on the night of 29-30 June, as well as Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts, using drones and ballistic missiles.

Source: Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Details: At 01:16, the Air Force called on the residents of Zaporizhzhia to stay in shelters due to an attack by Russian Shahed drones.

Previously, the Air Force had warned that there was a threat of attack UAVs being used in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Update: Later, the Air Force reported that Russian forces were attacking Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts using attack drones.

Later, the Air Force reported an attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia with ballistic missiles.

The all-clear was given at 02:24.

Vitalii Kim, Head of Mykolaiv Oblast Military Administration, reported that air defence forces had shot down a Russian target over Mykolaiv, the wreckage of which had fallen on the roof of a residential building, and a fire had broken out.

The fire has been extinguished, and no one was injured.

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All of the vegetation was burned down on Dzharylhach Island, Kherson Oblast, which is temporarily occupied by the troops of the Russian Federation.

This was announced by Serhii Danilov, Deputy Director of the Centre for Middle East Studies

"The invaders completely burned Dzharylhach," wrote Serhii Danilov.

In the comment to Ukrainska Pravda.Life he said that during 28-29 June, a fire occurred in the eastern part of the island, where the main forest plantations are located.

"It looks like there was a large-scale fire that destroyed all the green spaces in the central and eastern parts of the island," the researcher said.

According to Danilov, the island was mostly covered with artificial plantations and forestry.

"There were quite unique landscapes; something similar was on the Kinburn Spit, which also largely burned down. In the spring, there will be grass cover, but without human intervention, Dzharylhach will turn into a sandy island that will be washed away by water," said Serhii Danilov.

Earlier, a number of protests against the ecocide of Russians on the island of Dzharylhach in Kherson Oblast took place in several European cities.

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Russians launch 13 Shahed drones on Ukraine, 10 of them downed

The Air Force destroyed 10 of the 13 Shahed drones launched by the Russian occupiers over Ukraine on the night of 29-30 June.

Source: Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Telegram

Quote: "Air defence units from the Air Force and the air defence of other components of Ukraines Defence Forces have destroyed 10 out of 13 Shahed-136/131 attack drones."

Preliminary reports indicate that there are no casualties, and local military administrations will report on the aftermath."

Details: Russian forces attacked Ukraine from the southeast. They launched 13 kamikaze drones from the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov (PrymorskoAkhtarsk). The invaders also fired 4 anti-aircraft guided missiles from S-300 air defence systems.

The Air Force noted that the Russians attempted to attack military and infrastructure facilities in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

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Russians may have hacked NHS trust with 2.5 million patients

Russia NHS hack

Intelligence officials are investigating a potential Russian cyber attack on an NHS trust with 2.5 million patients.

A notorious ransomware gang has claimed to have stolen huge quantities of sensitive data from Barts Health NHS Trust and given a deadline of Monday before it starts publishing the information.

BlackCat, also known as ALPHV, claimed on Friday to have gained access to employees personal data, such as CVs, as well as financial information including credit card details.

It also said it had citizens confidential documents.

It is unclear whether this refers to patient information, or if the group has successfully hacked the trust.

However, it raises the prospect of those among Barts approximately 2.5 million patient population having their private data released on the dark web.

On Friday the trust, which includes six hospitals and ten clinics in East London, said it was urgently investigating the claims.

The Telegraph understands that The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, is also investigating.

Ransomware attacks use software to either steal or deny the owner access to digital information.

Attackers will sometimes encrypt the files and demand payment in return for a decryption key.

In 2017 the NHS was badly hit by the massive global Wannacry ransomware attack, which brought the health service to a standstill for several days, forcing the frantic relocation of critical patients from stricken hospitals.

BlackCat said it had copied 7 terabytes of data, equivalent to the information that could be stores on more than 10,000 CDs.

However, the gang did not mention an encryption key.

Experts suggested this could indicate that the gang has not encrypted the information and is hoping for a rapid payout by the Trust, which is an increasingly common tactic.

It comes in the same week that details of more than a million NHS patients were reportedly compromised in a cyberattack on the University of Manchester.

The information included records of major trauma patients across the country, including those who had been treated after terror attacks.

It had been gathered by the university for research purposes.

How to | Protect yourself from cyber criminals

BlackCat was first detected in 2021 and is regarded as one of the most sophisticated malwares, with those behind it reportedly compromising roughly 200 organisations between November 2021 and September 2022.

The gang is known to seek to extort their victims in multiple ways, such as making individual ransom demands for the decryption of infected files, for not publishing stolen data, and for not launching a denial of service attack.

Jon DiMaggio, chief security strategist at Analyst1, explained how the criminal group might exploit the data if they have successfully stolen it.

Its unfortunate, but what they will do is repurpose that data for identity theft for financial purposes, he told Tech Monitor.

Theyre going to want to use it for obtaining new lines of credit, credit cards, loans.

There are all sorts of financial scams they can do with it.

A spokesman for Barts Health NHS Trust said: We are aware of claims of a ransomware attack and are urgently investigating.

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Russians struck school in Donetsk Oblast, killing two people and wounding six

On 30 June, Russian troops hit the village of Serhiivka, Pokrovske district, Donetsk Oblast; two people were killed, six more were wounded, and the school was destroyed.

Source: Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office

Details: According to the investigation, on 30 June at about 11:20, the occupying forces of the Russian Federation targeted the village of Serhiivka, Pokrovske district, most likely from a multiple-launch missile system; the territory of a local school was hit.

There were 12 people in it at the time of the shelling: representatives of the administration, teachers and technical staff.

The shelling killed a primary school teacher and the chief accountant.

Six other employees were injured: four men and two women. All of them were hospitalised with mine-blast injuries and shrapnel wounds.

All PHOTOs BY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

Part of the school building is almost destroyed: classrooms and other premises are damaged, and furniture and school equipment are broken.

Prosecutors, law enforcement officers and rescue workers continue to operate at the site of the attack.

Under the procedural leadership of the Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor's Office, a pre-trial investigation has been launched in criminal proceedings on the fact of violation of laws and customs of war (Art. 438.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

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The M23 rebel group remains active in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where civilians have fled fighting

The government's deal to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda risks "downgrading" UK foreign policy, a former cabinet minister has said.

A final report by a United Nations Group of Experts, published earlier this month, concluded that the Rwandans were supporting the M23 rebel group which is active in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is subject to UN and US sanctions.

Justine Greening withdrew 21m in aid funding to the country in 2012 when she was international development secretary after the United Nations first reported that the Rwandans were helping the M23 rebels.

While the US and EU have directly told the Rwandan government to cease its support for M23, a UK regional envoy released a more general statement condemning "external" support for rebels without naming Rwanda.

Rwanda has consistently denied supporting the rebellion.

Ms Greening told BBC Newsnight: "It's important that UK foreign policy and this country's leadership on important matters of human rights atrocities including violence against women is not downgraded as a result of our domestic policy approaches.

"This UN report also underlines the practical complexity and sustainability issues of intertwining the delivery of Britain's asylum policy with any third country, particularly one facing such demonstrable wider regional stability challenges," she said.

The UN report, written for the Security Council, said advances by the M23 group had displaced a million citizens in Kivu province and that in the mineral rich areas where it was active there were "incidents of rape, including gang rape by M23".

It also named Rwandan Defence Force generals and advisers to President Kagame as directing some M23 activity. The Rwandan government has said the report is "concocted".

On Thursday the Court of Appeal ruled that the UK government's Rwanda policy was unlawful.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to take the matter to the UK Supreme Court.

The five-year trial - announced in April 2022 - would see some asylum seekers sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket, to claim asylum there.

They may be granted refugee status to stay in Rwanda. If not, they can apply to settle there on other grounds, or seek asylum in another "safe third country".

The government says the plan will deter people arriving in the UK through "illegal, dangerous or unnecessary methods", such as on small boats which cross the English Channel.

A government spokesperson told the BBC: "Our ground-breaking Migration and Economic Development Partnership will see those who make dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK relocated to Rwanda, where they will be supported to build new lives.

"Rwanda is a safe and secure country, with a track record of supporting asylum seekers."
This constant, petty finger-pointing between the county and the city of Sacramento is exhausting. I want nothing so much as to take a nap and only wake up after theyve worked their squabbles out.

There are 1.5 million people in this county, nearly 10,000 of whom are living in indigency, and not a single one of them has time for government infighting  especially not the several unhoused people who are statistically predicted to die from heat stroke in the next few weeks. Sacramentans need real solutions to a humanitarian crisis thats growing by three people for every one who exits homelessness in this region.

Tuesdays miscommunication at the city of Sacramentos homelessness workshop was embarrassing for everyone involved  but perhaps particularly for the city, as the host and organizer of a meeting that proved so spectacularly unorganized.

Opinion

The city and the county each have their own version of what happened Tuesday. But at the meeting, the council made it sound in chambers as though the county had failed to show up properly prepared for their workshop.

That appears now to have been a vast overstatement.

Apparently, some council members thought Chevon Kothari, Deputy County Executive for Social Services, was going to give the same presentation on homeless services that the County Board of Supervisors had received in late May.

It turns out Kothari only found out she was presenting just two minutes before the meeting started.

I have to first apologize to the council, Kothari said at the podium. We were under the impression that today would just be a workshop on compliance so we did not come prepared with any presentation.

That announcement launched the workshop in an awkward direction. It left certain council members visibly frustrated and confused as to why county staff would come unprepared to present. County staff were understandably frustrated too, feeling attacked for the courtesy of attending a city council meeting and finding themselves under siege due to a lack of clear instructions and a dashed agenda that theyd had no part in forming.

The spectacle did not go unnoticed. Some council members implied County staff were shirking their responsibilities by not making a presentation, and that was unacceptable, Supervisor Rich Desmond wrote in a statement after Tuesdays meeting. That kind of criticism from a partner jurisdiction runs counter to the spirit of the partnership we have created between the county and the city.

The incident underscored yet again the inability of the city and the county to work well together publicly, even while electeds such as Mayor Darrell Steinberg repeatedly insist relations are going well behind the scenes.

Private meetings keep out too many

The city-county 4x2 was established late last year by the city of Sacramento and the county of Sacramento, and so named because it includes four Sacramento City Council members and two Sacramento County Supervisors: Mayor Steinberg, city councilors Eric Guerra, Sean Loloee and Caity Maple, and county supervisors Rich Desmond and Patrick Kennedy. The meetings are private  and thats the whole point.

By placing a minimum of councilors and supervisors in the room, elected officials can legally skirt Brown Act laws and keep the meetings closed to the public. The Brown Act guarantees the publics right (and the medias right, too) to attend meetings of local legislative bodies such as City Council or the Board of Supervisors. If less than a quorum of those members meet, then that meeting is not subject to the law.

We all just have to take it on faith that these meetings are going well, but what were being shown, over and over again, is that the city and county can hardly work together to get a presentation made, much less solve the regions homelessness crisis.

If the city wanted a presentation from county staff, then that should have been made crystal clear to both staffs, not mentioned once in a meeting weeks ago. And if the councilors were surprised when Kotharis presentation didnt happen, then the professional thing to do was to move on and discuss the matter privately, not hang Kothari and county staff out to dry.

Council member Talamantes told me she plans to ask for a regular report from the 4x2 in the future to avoid another incident like this, and I think thats a wise idea. What would be great, too, is if she  and anyone else on the city dais so impassioned  came back from this summer break with a plan to begin to identify where homeless people could actually live. Today, such a map simply does not exist.

That would be a workshop worth attending. Perhaps the county, after some much-needed clear communication from the city, will present the breakthrough.
Sacramento city managers pay was highest in the state last year. Will he get another raise?

Sacramento City Manager Howard Chan earned more last year than any other city manager in California.

Chan earned $493,655 in regular pay in 2022, according to data the state controllers office released this week.

The council in November approved a $400,652 base salary for Chan. The controllers office figure is higher because it includes retroactive pay Chan received for the raise, dating back to Jan. 1. 2022, Chan said. That made Chan the highest paid city manager in the state in regular pay.

Santa Claras city manager came in second in regular pay, at $468,674. Santa Clara is a Silicon Valley town with about 132,000 people where the median home price is around $1.5 million, about $1 million more than the median home price in Sacramento.

Chans total wages hit $547,905, according to the state data because he cashed out his vacation and leave time, as his contract allows.

In total wages, only two city managers earned more than Chan, neither of whom are still serving in their positions. They include the former city managers of Montebello and Palmdale, who each appeared to receive large payouts in 2022 following court settlements related to their dismissals.

Chan declined comment for this story.

It appears the council earlier this week discussed yet another raise for Chan. The council agenda for a closed session June 20 includes an item for negotiations regarding the city manager. Following the closed door meeting, City Attorney Susana Alcala Wood did not announce during the public meeting that the council had taken any action. That means they did not approve another raise for Chan, though they could do so in the future.

Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela was the only council member who voted against Chans November raise. Since then, three new council members have been sworn in. Its unclear if another raise would get the five votes needed to pass.

Under Chans leadership, the city weathered the pandemic without significant cuts or service disruptions, and opened a new convention center and performing arts center downtown. Since 2018 the city has opened 1,100 homeless shelter beds and spaces, costing about $42 million annually. Chan has also come under criticism for annual increases to the the police budget, and for not opening more homeless weather respite centers. Falling trees killed two homeless people during a January storm, and another three unhoused people froze to death in November.

Chan earned about $130,000 more in total wages last year than Sacramento County Executive Ann Edwards, who oversees a roughly $7 billion budget compared to the citys $1 billion.

Chans pay has grown steadily and sharply since 2018, his first full year in office. Back then, he made about $305,000 in total wages.

As of June, Steinbergs base salary is $158,652, while the other eight council members make $99,317. Gov. Gavin Newsoms salary is $224,000.
Investigators are looking for any potential additional victims after a Sacramento County man was arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography  the third time he has been arrested in the capital region on criminal charges involving minors within the past six years.

Aleksandr Antolyevi Rudenko, 28, of Antelope, is a registered sex offender who was arrested earlier this week by sheriffs deputies on a charge of possessing materials depicting sexual conduct involving a child.

Rudenko, who remains in custody at the Sacramento County Jail, appeared for his arraignment Friday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court. Hes scheduled to return to court July 17.

When he was re-arrested Wednesday, Rudenko was out on bail while awaiting prosecution in a Sacramento County sexual assault case. Court records show the judge has ordered a mental health evaluation in that case, but the case has been continued.

As part of their continued investigation, detectives assigned with the Sacramento County Sheriffs Offices Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force determined Rudenko was in possession of child sexual abuse material, sheriffs officials said in a news release.

Rudenko has been known to frequent parks and movie theaters, and to use social media sites to meet meet minors, according to the Sheriffs Office.

In May 2018, the Roseville Police Department arrested Rudenko on suspicion of arranging to meet with a minor with the intent to commit lewd and lascivious acts. Police said at the time investigators received information alleging Rudenko, who was 22 at the time, had made inappropriate advances on minors.

Undercover officers in a police sting operation posed as a 13-year-old girl and contacted Rudenko online. Police said Rudenko arrived in Roseville on May 4, 2019, with the intent to engage in sexual activity with the girl, but he was instead arrested.

Rudenko pleaded no contest to a charge of contacting a minor with the intent to commit a specified sex offense, according to the Placer County District Attorneys Office. On May 9, 2019, he was sentenced to 364 days in the Placer County Jail and ordered to serve four years of probation.

As part of his sentence, the court ordered Rudenko to register with authorities as a sex offender and submit to related searches. In July 2019, the court granted a motion to transfer jurisdiction of his case to Sacramento County.

In August 2022, Sacramento County sheriffs detectives arrested Rudenko on suspicion of sexually assaulting two teen girls, ages 13 and 17. A day after his arrest last year, Rudenko was released from the Sacramento County Jail after posting a $135,000 bail bond.

Investigators asked anyone who was potentially a victim of Rudenko in the past to call the Sacramento County Sheriffs Office at 916-874-5115.
Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho is asking city leaders to clear homeless encampments from sidewalks outside the downtown courthouse.

People are entitled to the fundamental right of fair and equal access to justice, Ho wrote in a letter to Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela June 30, obtained by The Sacramento Bee. But to obtain justice, members of our community require unfettered access to the courthouse and the District Attorneys Office without threats to their safety or well-being.

Over the last year, the DAs office has documented 86 incidents involving homeless people outside the downtown courthouse, located at 7th and H streets, the letter stated. The letter asserts that there is open air drug use and dealing, tents blocking sidewalks and people behaving erratically.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg said the city will clear the camps around the courthouse within two weeks and move them to new spaces opening up at the citys sanctioned campground at Miller Park. Valenzuela, who represents the area, has been leading the effort to get those spaces open.

The presiding judge and the district attorney are right, Steinberg said in a statement Friday. Im working with the city manager to open up the Miller Park Safe Camping no later than two weeks from now. The first priority will be to address the encampments surrounding the DAs office and the courthouse. Those areas will be cleaned.

Specific courthouse incidents

The letter detailed specific incidents where district attorney employees were harmed, threatened or harassed.

While walking back from court, a young deputy district attorney was accosted and struck in the head by an unhoused individual; while returning from a court run to file documents, a female D.A. employee received threats and hateful racial slurs from an unhoused man regarding the Hijab she wore; a fire was recently set in a nearby alleyway; a man exposed his genitalia across the street from the office; a rock was thrown through the window of the G Street Cafe; a man entered the lobby of the D.A.s Office with a hammer, the letter states.

These incidents do not include our daily exposure to feces, urine, broken furniture and trash littering the area. Some sidewalks are inaccessible as rows of tents and other items make walking impossible, thus forcing pedestrians into our busy streets. It is a sad state of affairs when citizens choose to step out into the street over the dangers lurking on our city sidewalks.

The council last year passed an ordinance prohibiting camps from blocking sidewalks. Under that ordinance, there must be a path of at least 4 feet. In photos Ho attached to his letter, it appears that tents were blocking the entire sidewalks outside the courthouse on the date they were taken. The city also has an ordinance barring camps near so-called critical infrastructure, such as near schools, day cares and levees. The courthouse is not considered critical infrastructure.

Members of the Sacramento Community Response team inform campers in October about a new city ordinance that prohibits camps from blocking sidewalks. Hector Amezcua/hamezcua@sacbee.com

What the district attorney wants to see changed

The letter states that Ho does not want to criminalize homelessness, but that he believes the city is not interpreting the 2018 Martin v. Boise Court of Appeals decision strictly enough.

The proliferation of encampments on downtown streets has closed businesses, endangered peoples safety and is slamming the door of justice shut on those that need it most, the letter states. I respectfully ask that you request the Sacramento City Attorneys Office, Sacramento City Code Enforcement and the Sacramento Police Department to consistently enforce existing Sacramento city codes and ordinances to address the public safety concerns that so many people who live, work, and visit downtown see and feel every day. I look forward to further discussion on this matter with you and my office stands ready to assist.

The letter was the second of the week asking for camps to be cleared from around the courthouse.

On behalf of the Court, the thousands of people who use our services and our 416 downtown employees, I respectfully request the Sacramento Police Department increase its presence near our downtown court locations, jury and employee parking lots, and that code violations be enforced, Sacramento Superior Judge Michael G. Bowman wrote in a letter to Steinberg Thursday. More importantly, it is my hope that the burgeoning unsheltered population surrounding the court be connected with the services and support they so desperately need.

During Tuesdays council meeting council members Rick Jennings, Lisa Kaplan and Karina Talamantes introduced an item that would increase enforcement of the critical infrastructure camping ban, as well as of an ordinance that lets the city tow vehicles that have been in the same spot for 72 hours. The council will likely discuss it later this summer.

The city has been under additional pressure regarding its response to homeless camps as a ballot measure went into effect last week. The Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce has accused the city of failing to enforce it, while City Manager Howard Chan said the city is enforcing it.

The District Attorneys Office has gotten involved homeless issues before. Last year under Anne Marie Schubert, the office threatened legal action against the city if it did not clear a camp at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Howe Avenue. The city ended up clearing and fencing it, but only after leasing it to a private entity.
Sacramento heat wave was made three times more likely by climate change, data show

Sacramento is feeling some excessive heat this weekend as weather officials warn of triple digit temperatures, but whats not in the forecast is the impact of atmospheric warming from burning fossil fuels.

This particular heat wave was made three times more likely due to climate change, according researchers with Climate Central, an independent science and communications organization.

Temperatures, expected to reach 109 in Modesto, Fresno and Merced, were made four times as likely.

Climate change has its nasty little fingers on this heat wave, said Climate Centrals vice president for science Andrew Pershing.

With automated research tools used to study global temperatures, Climate Central enables anyone to search their own city and see footprints of the climate crisis on any local weather forecast.

We look at how likely a weather event is in todays world, and contrast that with an estimate of how likely [it] would have been in a world where humans didnt put all this extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Scientists have spent years studying the role of climate change versus natural weather patterns. Now a field called attribution science is beginning to answer whether human carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels has directly altering a weather event.

The tool, called the Climate Shift Index, showed that a record heat wave this week in Texas and across the southern U.S. was made five times more likely by climate change. An El Nino warming pattern is making matters worse.

Sacramento climate activists hope this type of science serves as a wake up call for local governments. Heat waves are the deadliest symptom of climate change, research shows, but California struggles to count fatalities and cities offer little beyond cooling centers.

Climate change is a public health emergency, said Katie McCammon, a volunteer with 350 Sacramento, a local climate advocacy group. People have lost their lives due to climate change and were not willing to talk about that... We need adaptive measures.

Extreme heat takes the heaviest toll on people without enough ways to get cool  things like working air conditioning, tree lined streets or access to swimming pools. Unhoused people and extremely low-income communities fare the worst.

Thats just one reason why Sacramento climate activists gave the city a D+ in its 2023 climate report card. The city has not offered sufficient resources to give extremely low-income and unhoused residents respite from heat waves, the report found.

In South Sacramento, Monica Negrete has a broken A/C unit that requires expensive pipe upgrades in her condo to fix. She was gifted a portable unit to keep her bedroom cool this summer, but wishes her nearby park offered more for to escape the heat.

Why is it that our kids have to go to Elk Grove to cool down? In Elk Grove, they have water parks. Why cant they build that out here We pay taxes, she said. A lot of people cant afford to keep the A/C on 24/7. But you either get heat stroke or cool yourself down.
"The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City," painted by Diego Rivera in 1931. fills the wall of a gallery at San Francisco Art Institute. The institute is selling its campus, with the mural included in the deal. (Jessica Christian / San Francisco Chronicle via Associated Press)

The financially troubled San Francisco Art Institute has put its campus on sale, and the deal includes a building adorned by a multimillion-dollar mural by famed artist Diego Rivera.

Facing a debt of about $20 million, the school at one point considered selling Rivera's "The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City" by itself to stay afloat. But rumors that the mural could be moved out of the school and the city sparked outrage among artists, professors and city leaders. Worried that the artwork could leave San Francisco, faculty and city leaders pushed to keep it exactly where it sits.

Unable to meet its debts, however, SFAI filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection on April 19, and on Tuesday, the real estate company Cushman & Wakefield announced it had been hired to sell the historic campus in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood, including Rivera's 1931 mural.

Built in 1926, the campus includes more than 93,000 square feet in two buildings, along with the school's iconic bell tower, courtyard, library, classrooms and galleries.

"This is a very special landmark property and will make an inspiring home for another education institution, museum or other creative/innovative use," Tom Christian, executive managing director at Cushman & Wakefield, said in a statement.

The school has produced such creative arts luminaries as photographer Annie Leibovitz, director Kathryn Bigelow and painter Kehinde Wiley.

No price has been listed for the entire campus. The sale is expected to bring in a hefty sum, however, since the Rivera mural sitting inside one of the two buildings is estimated in the bankruptcy filings to be valued at $50 million, making it its most valuable asset.

The painting adorns the main wall of the institute's Diego Rivera Gallery.

In the late 1920s, SFAI had sought to commission Rivera to travel to San Francisco and paint a mural, but the Mexican artist's ties and communist ideology made it a challenge to obtain a visa.

In 1930, then-SFAI President William Gerstle helped Rivera obtain a visa and commissioned the work, which is considered a tribute to the industrial worker, according to SFAI.

The painting shows the construction of a city and the making of a fresco, and depicts the various types of people involved in the task, including manual laborers, engineers, artists and architects.

Staying true to his ideals of celebrating the worker, Rivera conspicuously placed construction workers, laborers and artists, with rolled-up sleeves and overalls, higher in the 74-foot-wide painting. The only men wearing suits, the rich and powerful, are placed at the bottom of the work. Rivera, with a brush and palette in hand, is seen off center of the painting with his back to the viewer.

An outsized depiction of a laborer in the mural has a red star on his breast pocket, suspiciously similar to a symbol of communism, but which Rivera insisted was a tobacco label.

When rumors began to surface that SFAI's board of trustees was considering selling the mural, it sparked outrage among its faculty, who said in an open letter that selling and removing the mural would "damage the school's reputation, legacy and position."

"We believe that any sale of the mural resulting in its removal from the Chestnut campus is unconscionable, and we ask for your ideas and resources as we map ways to prevent it," the union representing adjunct professors said in the letter. "We have a predominantly white and extremely affluent board that is seeking to protect its own wealth by selling the work of an artist of color to another white and incredibly powerful buyer."

The "powerful buyer" mentioned by the professors was disclosed as filmmaker George Lucas, who had expressed interest in buying the mural for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art under construction in Los Angeles, according to the New York Times.

"Keeping the mural in place is not just the 'first choice'  it's the only choice," San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Aaron Peskin said in a tweet.

In response, San Francisco supervisors in January 2021 designated the mural a city landmark, which would prevent it from being removed.

Sign up for Essential California, your daily guide to news, views and life in the Golden State.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Lynette Mackey, whose family once resided in the Fillmore district, stands outside their former home (Philip Pacheco)

Lynette Mackey stands in front of her family's former Victorian home in San Francisco's Fillmore district, a onetime vibrant neighborhood that drew touring jazz greats.

But these days, Black Americans like Mackey feel displaced from Fillmore, once dubbed the "Harlem of the West," by urban renewal and public policies.

"That's a perfect example of why we deserve reparations," says Mackey, who is 63.

Her grandfather refused to give up the home to the city, which sought to demolish it. When he died in 1975, the family was forced to sell at a reduced price. Instead of razing the home, the city converted it into public housing.

"I define it as stealing... Now, it's worth millions (of dollars)," says Mackey, a retiree. "You broke up a happy family... Now they're all scattered all over."

Her siblings have moved elsewhere around northern California -- to Oakland, Sacramento and Richmond.

- $5 million if eligible -

The idea of reparations to atone for slavery and inequality perpetuated by systemic racism, while popular at universities, stalled at gaining broad political traction.

The debate changed with the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020: Democrats made it a political issue in several parts of the country.

The city of Evanston, near Chicago, was the first to adopt a plan granting financial aid to African-Americans to renovate their homes, but California now has more ambitious projects.

In 2020, the state became the first to set up a reparations commission. After three years' work, its final report released on Thursday recommends substantial financial compensation.

Although it did not directly suggest a monetary amount, the text proposed a methodology for quantifying harm experienced by California's African-Americans in a number of ways, whether to their health or via "housing discrimination," "unjust property takings," "mass incarceration and over-policing," and devaluation of their businesses.

The sum would come to $1.4 million for a 70-year-old Black resident who had suffered from all forms of discrimination, the report said.

San Francisco also has its own committee -- one that made headlines in March when it proposed $5 million for every eligible African-American resident.

This measure alone would cost $50 billion, or "more than three times the city's annual budget," said local Republican leader John Dennis, who denounced the number as "picked out of the clouds."

"There will be blowback for the Democrat Party, once the Black community again realizes that they were just being played," he said, recalling that after mentioning the creation of a federal commission, US President Joe Biden never followed through.

- 'Never recovered' -

California's own governor, Gavin Newsom, seems reluctant to reach into state coffers.

"Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments," he said in May.

But for many African Americans interviewed by AFP, the financial calculus is inescapable. They feel pushed out of San Francisco, a tech capital where gentrification has caused housing prices to soar.

The Black population has fallen from 13 percent in the 1970s to only around five percent today.

Urban renewal "killed our community and we have never recovered," says 76-year-old jazz musician Sam Peoples. Originally from the Fillmore district, he saw his family lose its store and home, seized by the city when he was young.

One by one, the soul food restaurants and jazz clubs frequented by Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, with whom Peoples's father played the saxophone, have disappeared.

In place of the most famous of these, "Jimbo's Bop City," there is now a hair salon that charges women a minimum of $105 for a haircut.

"We've lost that sense of community. The spine was torn out," Peoples recounts.

"In San Francisco, it wasn't about urban renewal. It was about black removal... It was a form of apartheid," says Amos Brown, a pastor who has preached at the Third Baptist Church in the Fillmore district since 1976.

Despite its progressive facade, California adopted racist policies "like the rest of the nation," adds Brown, a member of the state and city reparations commissions.

At 82, this civil rights activist calls on the Democrats not to shelve the reports of the two bodies for budgetary reasons.

"If you don't have all the money... at least make the commitment, make a down payment," Brown says. "America has got to pay its debt to Blacks."

rfo/tjj/bfm
Santos appears in court for first time since pleading not guilty in criminal fraud case

Embattled Rep. George Santos appeared in federal court on Friday, where prosecutors unveiled they had delivered the defense roughly 80,000 pages of documents earlier this week.

Santos  back in court for the first time since pleading not guilty to a 13-count indictment alleging fraud related to Covid-19 unemployment benefits, misusing campaign funds and lying about his personal finances  showed no emotion throughout the hearing in Long Island, sitting with his hands folded in front of him.

Santos attorney, Joseph Murray, noted that Congress August recess would be a good time to review the cache of documents.

The next hearing will take place on September 7, one week before Congress is back in session. Murray argued he wanted his client to be able to return to session.

Murray told the judge that the defense and prosecutors had a good working relationship, when discussing when to set a next court date.

As he left the table, Santos wished prosecutors a happy fourth of July as he walked out of the courtroom.

He wore a gray suit jacket with gray slacks and a red tie. After court, he was escorted to an elevator by court officers, saying nothing to reporters who peppered him with questions.

Santos was released on bond and ordered to surrender his passport in May after pleading not guilty to 13 federal charges  seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

Santos is currently in his first term representing New Yorks 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of Long Island. His astonishing pattern of lies and fabrications, which stunned even hardened politicos, led top Democrats and some New York Republicans to call for his resignation earlier this year. But Santos has rebuffed those calls and said he plans to seek reelection next year.

Outside of the courthouse on Friday, several constituents from his district spoke about the firehose of garbage and deceit from their representative, calling on Congress to oust him.

We are the victims, Jody Kass Finkel, founder and representative of Concerned Citizens of NY-03, said at a news conference, calling Santos actions a premeditated con.

We fully expect George Santos to go to prison, but that doesnt solve our immediate problem, she added.

Santos has been out on a $500,000 bond since pleading not guilty. A federal judge unsealed the identities of the co-signers of the bond, who were revealed to be his father, Gercino Dos Santos, and his, aunt Elma Santos Preven, court records show.

Neither relative secured the bond with cash or property, but both relatives agreed to be personally responsible for the congressmans compliance with the terms of his release, records show. Both were told that Santos had restrictions he could not violate, including on his travel and not having any communication with four unidentified people. A violation could damage their credit and hinder them from getting a mortgage, and they would owe the government $500,000, according to the court records.

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One of the three Texas Top 10 Most Wanted offenders now back in custody had outstanding warrants in Gray County.

Texas Top 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender Juan Tiofilo Sauseda was arrested in Houston on June 28, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) announced. In addition, Shawn Paul Mueller was arrested in Houston on June 28, and Victor Manuel Gaeta was arrested June 24 in Anthony. A Crime Stoppers reward will be paid in Gaetas capture, DPS said.

Sauseda, 40, was taken into custody by members of the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force with coordination from members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force in Amarillo, including DPS Special Agents. The Houston Police Department assisted in the multi-agency fugitive investigation.

Texas 10 Most Wanted Sex Offender Juan Sauseda was arrested in Houston on June 28.

In 2009, Sauseda was convicted of indecency with a child by sexual contact and subsequently sentenced to 15 years of confinement in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prison. He was last released on parole in 2021 and was required to register annually as a sex offender. He had been wanted since February 2022, when the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles issued a warrant for his arrest for a parole violation. That same day, the Gray County Sheriffs Office issued multiple warrants for Sausedas arrest for failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements. Sauseda's last known address was in Pampa, according to the DPS website.

Mueller, 38, was arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force, including DPS Special Agents. In 2007, Mueller was convicted of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and subsequently received a seven-year sentence of confinement in a TDCJ prison. In 2017, he was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and received probation. In 2020, Mueller was convicted of assault of a family/household member with previous conviction and subsequently received a two-year sentence of confinement in a TDCJ prison. Mueller had been wanted since October 2021, when the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles issued a warrant for his arrest for a parole violation. Additionally, in November 2021, the Galveston County Sheriffs Office issued a warrant for his arrest for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Gaeta, 51, was arrested in Anthony (El Paso County) by members of the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, including DPS Special Agents. The Anthony Police Department assisted in the multi-agency fugitive investigation. In 2005, Gaeta was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to two years of confinement in a TDCJ prison. In 2009, he was convicted of selling, distributing or dispensing narcotics and subsequently sentenced to 51 months of imprisonment in a federal facility, followed by three years of supervised release. Gaeta had been wanted since November 2022, when the El Paso County Sheriffs Office issued a warrant for his arrest for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

In addition, among the current Texas Top 10 Most Wanted sex offenders is Vegas Jarrod Brown, a convicted sex offender required to register every three months who has ties to Amarillo. In 2018, Brown was convicted of two counts of Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact following an incident involving a 14-year-old girl. He was subsequently sentenced to 10 years probation. He also has a criminal history in Florida consisting of arrests for Lewd or Lascivious Behavior with a Child. Since Sept. 24, 2021, the Potter County Sheriffs Office has issued warrants for Brown's arrest for Probation Violation (Original Offense: two counts of Indecency with a Child by Sexual Contact), Sex Offenders Duty to Register, and Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Registration Requirements, the DPS website states.

Texas Crime Stoppers, which is funded by the Governors Criminal Justice Division, offers cash rewards to any person who provides information that leads to the arrest of one of Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives or Sex Offenders. So far in 2023, DPS and other agencies have arrested 22 of Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives and Sex Offenders. In addition, $76,000 in rewards has been paid for tips that yielded arrests.

To be eligible for cash rewards, DPS says tipsters must provide information to authorities using one of the following three methods:

Call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477).

Submit a web tip through the DPS website by selecting the fugitive you have information about then clicking on the link under their picture.

Submit a Facebook tip by clicking the SUBMIT A TIP link (under the About section).

All tips are anonymous, and tipsters will be provided a tip number instead of using a name.

DPS investigators work with local law enforcement agencies to select fugitives for the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives and Sex Offenders Lists. You can find the current lists  with photos  on the DPS website.

The public is warned against any attempts to apprehend these fugitives, as they are considered armed and dangerous.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Authorities arrest 3 fugitives including former Pampa resident
Universities in South Carolina say they are ready to comply with the United States Supreme Courts affirmative action ruling, but many of them did not have such programs for admissions even before the decision.

The June 29 ruling ended more than 40 years of legal precedent and found that affirmative action programs at universities violate the U.S. Constitutions 14th Amendment by discriminating against non-minority applicants.

Previous rulings had allowed affirmative action programs that considered race along with other criteria, but race could not be the deciding factor in a students acceptance.

Thursdays decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, allows for an individuals experience with race or discrimination to still be considered in applications, Roberts said. Universities can consider an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise, Roberts wrote, according to The Washington Post.

In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual  not on the basis of race.

Military academies are exempt from the ruling and will continue to have affirmative action programs.

How does this affect South Carolina schools?

The University of South Carolina, Clemson University and College of Charleston all have affirmative action and equal opportunity policies for hiring practices and participation in university programs, but none of the policies explicitly include admissions practices.

The University of South Carolina remains steadfast in its continuing commitment to compliance with the law and to a campus environment that supports and respects individuals with a variety of life experiences, including first-generation students, active-duty military and veterans, students with disabilities, and those from underrepresented backgrounds, USC President Michael Amiridis said in a statement.

According to USCs most recent policy, affirmative action is an integral part of the universitys mission. The universitys admission policies do not include provisions for race, university spokesperson Jeff Stensland.

We will continue to welcome qualified students who contribute to our diverse university learning environment and embrace a student body that reflects the people and communities that make up our state and our nation, Amiridis said in a statement.

Clemson University takes a holistic approach to admissions, spokesman Joe Galbraith said in a statement.

Clemson will abide by applicable court rulings as we continue to encourage all talented students from South Carolina and elsewhere to attend Clemson, Galbraith said.

A Clemson student organization received criticism in February for hosting an affirmative action bake sale, charging different prices for baked goods based on a customers race.

College of Charlestons enrollment team has been preparing for the decision and its possible impacts, Mike Robertson, senior director of media relations, said.

Now that we have the ruling in hand, we will study it closely and evaluate our next steps, he said.

The Post and Courier reported in 2018 that the College of Charleston had quietly retired its affirmative action practices in the admissions process two years earlier.

Midlands Technical College and other institutions in the states Technical Education System have an open admissions policy under state law, Kevin Floyd, Midlands Techs director of public information, said. He had no indication the Supreme Court ruling would have any effect on the schools policies, he said.

The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education had nothing to contribute in regards to the ruling, spokesperson Mark Swart said.

Several state lawmakers filed a bill in April that would prohibit public colleges and universities from promising admission or benefits to applicants who express opinions on diversity, equity, inclusion or any related issue. This would also apply to employment decisions. The bill is currently in committee.

Politician reactions

Gov. Henry McMaster said Thursday he had not read the courts opinion, but looked forward to doing so.

I think thats the right decision and I think most people do, he said in an unrelated news conference.

When asked about a possible decrease in Black student enrollment, McMaster said he was confident scholarships and other programs would continue to get all our people as far as they want to go in college.

Republican presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Tim Scott released statements supporting the decision, as did U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. Graham, a Seneca Republican, also said the decision was an example of the importance of putting conservative justices on the Supreme Court.

Picking winners and losers based on race is fundamentally wrong, Haley, a former South Carolina governor, said in a statement. This decision will help every student  no matter their background  have a better opportunity to achieve the American Dream.

This is the day we understand that being judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin, is what our Constitution intended, Scott, a U.S. Senator from Charleston, said on Twitter. The decision is good news for every single corridor of this nation and one we should celebrate.

Providing benefits to one group at the expense of another, who have done nothing wrong, has never been fair, Graham said on Twitter. The Supreme Court rightly decided race conscience decisions, pitting one group against another, are wrong. It was a long overdue decision.

The South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus said the ruling would disadvantage a significant number of minority students and was not just a setback for affirmative action but a troublesome impediment to the very essence of the American Dream.

Although not perfect in its application, the decision to bar affirmative action is a gross misstep, the caucus said in the statement. Affirmative action has been a powerful instrument for creating a more equitable society, promoting diversity and inclusivity, broadening perspectives, and fostering a greater understanding among people from all walks of life.

State Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, D-North Charleston, a member of the caucus, reacted negatively to the ruling.

A very disappointing but expected outcome given the makeup of the Court, he said on Twitter. Arguably, the worst thing to come out of the Trump presidency are his SCOTUS appointments.

Background

Supporters of affirmative action maintain those programs ensure diversity in student populations and provide opportunities for historically disenfranchised groups.

Students of color continue to be underrepresented in many of South Carolinas state schools, according to data from the S.C. Commission on Higher Education. Black and Hispanic student enrollment has grown little, if at all. In the fall of 2022, 10% of USCs students were Black, though nearly one-third of South Carolinas population is Black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Clemson does not publish race statistics, but U.S. Census Bureau estimated the campus population as 11% Black in 2022.

Midlands Tech reported 37% of its students were Black as of spring 2022., according to the schools website. The percentage of Black students at the school has held steady between 35% and 36% since fall 2017.
SC man charged with desecration of a body in case involving remains found in a barrel

A 25-year-old man has been charged in connection with a body found in a barrel near an Upstate lake and authorities expect to make more arrests.

Eric Shawn Fetzer of Chesnee has been charged with destruction, desecration or removal of human remains. A $5,000 surety bond was set Friday.

The barrel was found Thursday near the shore of Lake Thicketty in Cherokee County.

Authorities have not revealed the gender of the person who died but believe the death occurred in Spartanburg County.

The Spartanburg County Coroners Office was conducting an autopsy Friday to determine identity.

It is believed the barrel was floating on the lake at some point. The 100-acre lake in Cowpens is open 24 hours a day for fishing.

Spartanburg County Sheriffs deputies were called to a boat ramp near Trout View Road around 1:45 p.m., Thursday, opened the container and found the body.

It appears the body had been in the container for a number of days, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler told Fox Carolina.

Anyone with information is asked to call 1-888-CRIME-SC.
How schools are reacting to the Supreme Courts decision to strike down affirmative action

A person relaxes at Harvard University on Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Cambridge, Mass. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies. | Michael Casey, Associated Press

The higher education community is responding to the Supreme Court decision to strike down affirmative action on Thursday.

Some institutions and experts criticized the courts decision, calling for countermeasures, while others applauded it but expected a tough fight in courts in the future. Meanwhile, polls indicate that Americans are already through with affirmative action.

Here in the Beehive State, the University of Utah released a statement saying that it does not use race or ethnicity as a factor in its admissions process.

Our priority still is to build an environment where our students, current and prospective, see the U as a place where they can pursue their passion and a path to opportunity, said Taylor Randall, University of Utah president.

Utah System of Higher Education also reaffirmed that the Supreme Courts decision will not impact the admissions process in the state, but the organization will continue analyzing the broader impacts of this ruling.

Meanwhile, Westminster University said that regardless of the courts ruling, the school will continue to support and further diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts within the parameters determined by the Supreme Court.

Related

The decision struck down race-conscious policies in two separate cases  Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College in a 6-2 ruling, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina in a 6-3 ruling.

Students for Fair Admissions brought forward both suits last October, and they alleged that the admissions process discriminated against white and Asian American applicants and gave preference to Black, Hispanic and Native American applicants.

Asian American Coalitions Yukong Mike Zhao told reporters outside the Supreme Court Thursday that since the case was filed six months ago, nearly 360 organizations united behind Students for Fair Admissions, the plaintiff in both decisions, as the Deseret News reported. He called it a historic win for Asians and all Americans.

Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow and director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and author of Canceling Justice: The Illiberal Takeover of Legal Education, said that although the court closed the door on racial discrimination with their decision, he expects litigation to continue as universities try to maintain the status quo thats existed for more than 45 years.

Higher-education grandees have long interpreted the courts cautious approval of the temporary use of race (as one of many factors) as a green light for a permanent diversity-industrial complex, Shapiro said. They will not go quickly into the colorblind night of merit-based admissions, but will fight for workarounds to maintain their system of racial spoils.

But its clear that the Supreme Court has no more constitutional patience for admissions officers social engineering or university administrators DEI posturing, Shapiro added.

Whether or not higher education institutions are on the same page, the recent YouGov poll shows that Americans are willing to move past traditional affirmative action.

Nearly 65% of U.S. adults surveyed say that colleges should not be allowed to consider an applicants race, while 35% said that it should be considered and 10% said they didnt know.

Erika George, a law professor at the University of Utah, told the Deseret News that she observed in the ruling that universities arent banned from considering a students personal experience related to race. An exception is also in place for military academies to use race-conscious admissions policies, she added.

She said that Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurrence claimed that the court has for all intents and purposes overruled the precedent set by the 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger  which upheld the use of race in admissions.

But it is worth noting that the other justices have not joined his concurring opinion. This makes me question whether Grutter is expressly overruled given the exception made for military academies and the recognition by the majority of justices that race is not always entirely irrelevant such that an applicant can discuss the role of race in their lives, George said.

With that said, the American Association of University Professors, a union that represents professors across the country, said it will continue to fight against the ruling, according to a statement.

It now falls to the higher education community to protect what we value: ensuring access to higher education for all students, promoting equity in education, and fostering vibrant university campuses characterized by the freedom to learn, teach, and conduct research, the statement said.

College Possible, a nonprofit that helps low-income students with college admissions, made a similar statement. CEO Siva Kumari called the ruling a deeply consequential decision.

Kumari said that it will impact more than 24,000 students served by her organization nationwide.

Weve also witnessed the negative impact of affirmative action bans and restrictions within several of the regions in which we serve students, she said.

Nine states  including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington  have banned race-conscious admissions in recent years.

Evidence-based programs that augment the limited capacity of high school and college staff will continue to play a critical role in a post-affirmative action world, as we have seen in states that have already banned affirmative action in admissions practices, Kumari said, calling upon policymakers, educators and advocates to find new ways to address the root causes that have created barriers to educational opportunity and success.
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Two U.S. schools have confirmed that TIAA, a nonprofit organization that provides financial services for individuals in academic fields, has been caught up in the mass-hacks targeting MOVEit file transfer tools.

Middlebury College in Vermont and Trinity College in Connecticut both released security notices confirming they experienced data breaches as a result of a security incident at the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America, or TIAA. According to its website, TIAA serves mire than five million active and retired employees participating at more than 15,000 institutions and manages $1.3 trillion in assets in more than 50 countries.

Both of the security notices confirm that TIAA was affected by hackers' widespread exploitation of a flaw in MOVEit Transfer, an enterprise file transfer tool developed by Progress Software.

In a statement given to TechCrunch, TIAA spokesperson Chad Peterson confirmed said that the organization wasnt directly impacted by MOVEit, but was also impacted by a breach at one of its third-party vendors using MOVEit Transfer. The vendor, named as Pension Benefit Information (PBI), is used by TIAA for auditing and beneficiary location services.

No information was obtained from TIAAs systems and TIAA systems were not at risk from the MOVEit Transfer vulnerability, Peterson said. We have not observed any related unusual activity from this event involving TIAA accounts.

The mass-hack has so far claimed more than 160 victims, according to Emsisoft threat analyst Brett Callow, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Siemens Energy. Only 12 of these victims have confirmed the number of people affected, which already adds up to more than 16 million individuals.

Trinity College, which uses TIAA as the record keeper for its annuity plan, said in a statement that while its own systems were unaffected by the MOVEit hack, TIAA, with whom Trinity shares student employee data, has announced that its files may be impacted. Trinity said that it shared Social Security numbers and dates of birth with TIAA.

Middlebury College said it had also been notified by TIAA, with whom it shares personally identifiable information, that data belonging to the college had been exposed due to the cyberattack. While it hasnt confirmed exactly what types of data were accessed, Middlebury said it notified college "students, faculty, and staff whose information may have been compromised in the breach.

Middlebury confirmed it was also impacted by a MOVEit attack on National Student Clearinghouse, which resulted in the exposure of student data.

While TIAA notified affected schools of its security incident, the organization has yet to publicly acknowledge the incident. In response to a Twitter user questioning the organizations silence, TIAA responded saying that its offices were closed.

Its not yet known how many organizations have been impacted as a result of the cyberattack on TIAA. TIAA has not yet been listed on the dark web leak site of the Russia-linked Clop ransomware gang, which has claimed responsibility for the ongoing MOVEit cyberattacks.

Updated with comment from TIAA.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) took aim Friday at the Supreme Court over its ruling in favor of a Christian designer who challenged Colorados anti-discrimination law, arguing that the decision by a MAGA-right activist wing represents a giant step backward for human rights and equal protection.

The court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that the states anti-discrimination law violated Lorie Smiths free speech rights under the First Amendment. Smith challenged Colorados law, arguing that requiring her to create same-sex wedding websites would violate her religious beliefs.

Refusing service based on whom someone loves is just as bigoted and hateful as refusing service because of race or religion. And this is bigotry that the vast majority of Americans find completely unacceptable, Schumer said in a statement. By denying LGBTQ+ Americans their fundamental right to nondiscrimination, this decision erodes decades of progress established by the Court, Congress, and public sentiment.

The New York Democrat pointed to the Senates work late last year to codify same-sex marriage after Justice Clarence Thomas noted that the court should reconsider the Obergefell decision that enshrined them in 2015. The Respect for Marriage Act passed with the support of 12 Republican senators and 39 GOP House members, along with almost every Democrat.

Senate Democrats passed the Respect for Marriage Act last summer on a bipartisan basis and we are committed to building off that success, Schumer said.

Rest assured that we will continue to fight to ensure that all Americans  including LGBTQ+ Americans  have equal protection under the law, he added.

The Senate Democratic leader also panned the court for its ruling that nixed President Bidens plan to eliminate more than $400 billion in student loan debt from roughly 40 million borrowers. Schumer pointed to hypocrisy by Thomas in particular, saying that while justices accept lavish, six-figure gifts, they dont dare to help Americans saddled with student loan debt.

This disappointing and cruel ruling shows the callousness of the MAGA Republican-controlled Supreme Court, Schumer said in a statement. The fight will not end here.

He also said that the administration has remaining legal routes to provide broad-based student debt cancellation.

With the pause on student loan payments set to expire in weeks, I call upon the administration to do everything in its power to deliver for millions of working- and middle-class Americans struggling with student loan debt, he added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Schumer slams 'MAGA-captured Supreme Court' that now has led the right to achieve 'dangerous, regressive policies'

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Chuck Schumer unloaded on the Supreme Court after a pair of 6-3 rulings on Friday.

The high court struck a blow to LGBTQ+ rights and axed Biden's student loan forgiveness plan.

The top Senate Democrat called the body a "MAGA-captured Supreme Court."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer derided the Supreme Court on Friday after conservative justices issued a pair of rulings that called into question the future of LGBTQ+ rights and axed President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan.

"After a multi-decade, special interest-funded effort to reshape the federal judiciary, the fanatical MAGA right have captured the Supreme Court and achieved dangerous, regressive policies that they could never attain at the ballot box," Schumer said in a statement.

On Friday, the nation's highest court ended its term by ruling in favor of a Colorado web designer who was fearful of creating wedding websites in the event that she would have to make content contrary to her views, including a potential site for same-sex couples. In another 6-3 ruling, the court's conservatives also found that the Biden administration did not have the necessary authority to approve a roughly $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan without explicit congressional approval. The cases were 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis and Biden v. Nebraska, respectively.



Schumer also referenced recent reports by ProPublica about Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito did not properly disclose lavish gifts they received even when some of their benefactors had business before the court. Both Thomas and Alito have defended their conduct, but the series of reports has created a further cloud over the justices who operate with little oversight amid lifetime appointments.

"This MAGA-captured Supreme Court feels free to accept lavish gifts and vacations from their powerful, big-monied friends, all while they refuse to help everyday Americans," Schumer said.

Schumer appeared to reference his and the White House's brisk pace of confirming federal judges to lower courts. But his statement did not address a renewed progressive outcry to expand the court or to weaken its power. Biden said on Thursday that he continues to view expanding the court as a "mistake."

"The ill-founded and disappointing decisions from the Supreme Court are a stark reminder that it will take a sustained effort to rebalance our federal courts ...," Schumer said.

Not surprisingly, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had a very different response. McConnell was instrumental in blocking then-President Barack Obama from filling Justice Antonin Scalia's seat. After President Donald Trump's election, three more conservatives were confirmed to the high court  including Justice Amy Coney Barrett whose confirmation came just over a week before election day.

"The Court's decision today deals a heavy blow to Democrats' distorted and outsized view of executive power," McConnell said in a statement praising the student loan ruling.

Schumer's past criticism of the Supreme Court has drawn more than just eyebrows. The New York Democrat previously walk-backed criticism of Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch after calling them out by name during a rally on abortion rights outside of the high court in 2020. Schumer's clarification came after Chief Justice John Roberts issued a rare statement slamming "dangerous" rhetoric.

As for the court itself, Roberts issued a preemptive defense in his Biden v. Nebraska ruling, appearing to caution both his liberal colleagues and outside observers. He added that he did not take personal offense to Justice Elena Kagan's scathing dissent.

"It has become a disturbing feature of some recent opinions to criticize the decisions with which they disagree as

going beyond the proper role of the judiciary," Roberts wrote in the last opinion the court released for its term.

He concluded with, "It is important that the public not be misled either. Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Millions of people in the US are under excessive heat warnings

Worker advocates in the US are renewing calls for protections from extreme temperatures, amid a heat wave that has claimed the lives of at least a dozen people.

Cities including Las Vegas and Phoenix are bracing for temperatures of up above 43C (110F) this weekend.

Calls for action intensified after a US postal service worker died in the punishing Texas heat last week.

Eugene Gates Jr, who had delivered mail for the US postal service for more than 35 years, collapsed in a customer's yard and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration is investigating the death, the cause of which has not been formally determined.

The incident has been received as another wake-up call, with Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett urging action to "prevent avoidable deaths such as this".

"I don't care what job that you have - no one should be out in that heat," Mr Gates's widow, Carla Gates, told CBS, the BBC's US news partner.

The US postal service declined to comment to the BBC about what adjustments it was making in places grappling with high temperatures. It said it provides all staff with training about heat-related illness.

Amazon, which faced its own questions after video of one of its delivery contractors apparently swooning in the Texas heat went viral this week, said it adjusts routes to account for heat once the heat index hits 90 degrees.

It said it had started adding up to two hours of additional breaks for drivers in Texas in mid-June as temperatures climbed.

As of Friday afternoon, routes originating out of more than 170 delivery stations across the country were operating with adjustments for various weather-related reasons.

"We're very thankful to report this delivery driver is OK and feeling well. There's nothing more important than the safety and health of our employees and delivery partners, especially during times of extreme temperatures, and we take a lot of precautions to minimize risk," Amazon spokeswoman Maureen Lynch Vogel said.

Workplace deaths due to heat have risen since the 1990s, according to the Department of Labor. It recently reported that 36 people died in work-related deaths due to heat exposure in 2021.

Juley Fulcher, worker health and safety advocate for progressive non-profit Public Citizen, said those figures dramatically understate the problem.

Extreme heat exposes workers to risks

Her organisation, which has petitioned the government to craft national heat rules for employers, estimates that heat exposure is responsible for as many as 2,000 worker fatalities in the US each year and as many as 170,000 injuries - many of them arising from indoor work in restaurants and warehouses, as well as outside jobs.

Heat waves, which typically mean workers get little respite from the heat overnight, intensify the risks, she said.

"It's a huge problem," she said. "Action is long overdue."

Ms Fulcher said national standards should require accommodations such as breaks and water starting at about 80F (26C) - with more adjustments as temperatures rise.

Those kinds of protections are already in place in some countries, such as Germany. The UK does not offer guidance on a maximum temperature at which it is safe to work, but some called for rules to be put in place amid last year's heat wave.

In the US, there are no national rules and just three states currently require employers of all kinds to provide adjustments in response to heat.

A handful of other states have started working on their own measures in recent years, according to Ms Fulcher.

But Texas recently loosened requirements, passing a state law that will nullify local requirements, including ones that would require 10-minute water breaks for construction workers every four hours.

Juan Pedro Munoz, a construction worker in Austin, said he was concerned about losing those protections. In the current conditions, he said he has been advising his team of four to take breaks and drink water every hour.

"It's hot - too hot," the 45-year-old told the BBC in Spanish. "We need time ... so that we don't have to go to the hospital."

While the risks of heat exposure in the workplace have been identified for decades, momentum to put in place protections has only started to gain traction more recently, as a rising number of heat waves and worker incidents raise pressure.

This month, UPS agreed to install air-conditioning in new delivery trucks, a key worker demand made in ongoing contract talks with the Teamsters Union.

Amazon has also invested to upgrade its fleet. It said all of its company-branded delivery vans had air-conditioning, which drivers were encouraged to run during their breaks in periods of extreme heat. Drivers also receive water and other drinks.

In 2021, the US Labor Department started crafting a national rule for employers, after rebuffing a 2011 petition to do so. The rule-making process typically takes years.

The agency also launched the country's first-ever "national emphasis" programme focused on the problem last year, warning that "heat illness - exacerbated by our climate's rising temperatures - presents a growing hazard for millions of workers".

"I am optimistic that [workers] will eventually see these protections," Ms Fulcher said. "I am very concerned that we will not see enough protections, quickly enough."
Scot Peterson, the school resource officer during the Parkland shooting, was acquitted. The failed case will complicate criminal cases for Uvalde parents, expert says

Law enforcement stand watch near a memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2023 in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

On Thursday, a Parkland, Florida, school resource officer was acquitted on criminal child neglect charges.

Broward County prosecutors argued that Scot Peterson was criminally liable after he failed to quickly stop school shooter Nikolas Cruz.

Prosecutors in Uvalde may have complicated or doomed cases if they bring criminal charges, an expert told Insider.

Potential criminal cases against the Uvalde, Texas, police officers who have been criticized for their response to the Robb Elementary mass school shooting could be even more difficult for prosecutors to build, after a former Parkland school resource officer was acquitted on Thursday.

A Broward County, Florida, jury acquitted Scot Peterson of ten child-neglect and culpable negligence charges, after prosecutors and parents of slain Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students had accused him of running away and waiting 45 minutes to confront school shooter Nikolas Cruz.

The result of the highly-publicized case  where Peterson was branded the "Coward of Broward" could dash the hopes of parents and prosecutors seeking to hold Uvalde law enforcement officials, who waited over an hour to engage a school shooter, accountable, a legal expert told Insider.

"This will give some pause in terms of going after law enforcement officials, or these types of school resource officers," Neama Rahmani, the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor, told Insider.

The failure to convict Peterson came months after Broward County prosecutors were unable to secure a death sentence for Cruz related to the shooting.

In Florida, the ten charges alleged Peterson failed to act, and his defense and witnesses argued that Peterson did not know where the gunfire was coming from, or how many students were at threat, according to the Washington Post.

"Generally, there's no legal duty for a failure to act," Rahmani told Insider. "If there is no legal duty, then your failure to act is not criminal by a matter of law."

Broward County prosecutors argued that Peterson had failed in his capacity as a "caregiver," an argument which didn't resonate with jurors, who acquitted him on all counts. That standard is even harder to prove when arguing that Peterson was responsible for thousands of students, Rahmani told Insider.

Uvalde offers some similar legal pitfalls, but also stark differences

As it stands, Texas prosecutors have brought no criminal charges against law enforcement officials who responded to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where 19 students and two teachers were killed.

Frustration has been building in Texas, where the DOJ has been investigating the breakdown in law enforcement response for close to a year, and where officers involved in the response have faced little discipline, per the Washington Post.

"I could see a hesitation in moving forward with criminal charges in Uvalde," Rahmani said. "These are the types of cases that get DAs and others voted out of office if prosecutors lose."

In Uvalde, individual officers could be protected because of the "systemic failure" of the response, Rahmani added. Others could say that they were just following orders.

But a key distinction in Uvalde is that some officers restrained parents, even handcuffing some, as the shooter was inside the building.

Though it may be difficult for prosecutors to go after the individual officers, parents could argue that they were restrained when they had a legal duty to protect their children.

Additionally, prosecutors could point to the fact that Uvalde officers waited 77 minutes to engage the shooter, and were better equipped to stop him than Peterson, with tactical gear.

"There's a strong argument that they did something wrong, but I'm not sure they will be prosecuted for it," Rahmani said.

Read the original article on Insider
Christian Bruckner is the main suspect in McCann case

Scotland Yard ignored a 2008 tipoff about the main suspect in Madeleine McCanns disappearance, one of the key witnesses in the case has alleged.

Helge B, a petty criminal who was friends with murder suspect Christian Bruckner during his time in Portugal, claims that he contacted the Metropolitan Police to give officers what could have been a key piece of information a year after she went missing.

I called Scotland Yard back in 2008 on the Maddie hotline, he told German newspaper Bild. I said I knew someone who was involved and gave them the name. They took my personal details and my phone number. But nothing happened. Nothing! They never called me back.

According to Bs version of events, during a chance meeting at a music festival Bruckner told him that Madeleine didnt scream when she was abducted.

During the conversation, B recalled wondering how Madeleine had disappeared without a trace from the resort town of Praia da Luz, in Portugals Algarve region.

Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007 - PA Wire/PA

Christian had drunk two or three beers and said, She didnt scream. I immediately understood what he was saying. I thought: He knows that. He has something to do with it, he recalled.

B said that he was motivated by seeing coverage of the ten-year anniversary of her disappearance in 2017 to contact detectives again.

His tipoff instigated a new direction of investigation that led to Bruckner being identified as the primary suspect three years later.

B has already appeared on the witness stand against Bruckner, 45, who has previously been found guilty of raping a woman, 72.

Authorities search the area of Arade Dam last month - EPA-EFE/Shutterstock /RICARDO NASCIMENTO

B claims to have found home-videos in Bruckners apartment which showed him sexually assaulting the woman.

The videos have never been found and Bruckners legal team deny that they ever existed.

Bruckner, who is currently in prison in Germany, was living in a camper van near the Praia da Luz holiday resort when three-year-old McCann disappeared.

After years without progress in the case, German prosecutors made the shock announcement in 2020 that they had identified Bruckner as a suspect.

In the most recent developments, investigators probing Madeleines disappearance searched an Algarve reservoir at the beginning of this month, taking away several items that are yet to be publicly identified.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: The Met continues to work with and support colleagues in Portugal and Germany, with their investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

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A Scottish fugitive extradited from Brazil has been convicted for serious organised crime and firearms offences.

James White, originally from Glasgow, pleaded guilty to money laundering, importing millions of pounds of drugs and possessing guns and explosives.

The 45-year-old was arrested in Fortaleza, Brazil, in June 2020 and sent back to Scotland last August.

It was part of Operation Escalade - an investigation into one of Scotland's most prolific organised crime groups.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that White lived a life of luxury funded by his gang's criminal activities.

But he fled Scotland when his associates were arrested during the Police Scotland investigation.

A European Arrest Warrant was issued for White in 2019.

He was initially caught in Italy in 2020 using a fake passport. But police mistakenly let him go and he escaped to South America.

He was found again by armed police in Brazil months later using the name Vincent McCall.

Prosecutor Scott McKenzie said he was a senior member of gang that ran a criminal operation on an "international scale".

The charge - which spanned May 2013 to March 2023 - listed a string of countries including the UK, Italy, Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Brazil.

Mr McKenzie said one of White's chief roles was running the "drugs operation".

"White was responsible for distribution around Europe," he said.

"He spoke fluent Spanish, which assisted the crime group in dealing with associates."

He was linked to a 10m cocaine seizure after an HGV was stopped by Border Force officials in Dover in November 2017.

It emerged 16 other shipments had been made over the previous two years.

The hearing was also told that White was aware of cars and premises used to hide firearms and money.

These included sub-machine guns, Glock pistols, a hand grenade and 1.7m of cash. Anti-surveillance gadgets were also found.

The court heard that White went on to take control of the crime group after the disappearance of James and Barry Gillespie, who had fronted the gang.

In January this year, police said the Gillespie bothers - two of Scotland's most wanted men - may have been killed while on the run in Brazil.

International law enforcement

White's lawyer, Donald Findlay QC, said his guilty plea had prevented a trial lasting "several months".

Since it was launched in 2014, Operation Escalade has seen more than 40 people convicted for involvement in serious organised crime.

Det Ch Supt Vicky Watson said: "The dedicated team of officers have been successfully targeting those involved domestically and internationally for almost a decade.

"A number of the arrests made were only possible due to the support of international law enforcement agencies abroad.

"This co-operation remains ongoing and I am grateful for the assistance of our colleagues."

White is due to be sentenced next month.
Experts say legacy admissions provides economic benefits for universities but does not increase diversity.

Proponents for affirmative action in higher education at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In the wake of the Supreme Courts decision against using race-conscious admissions for college, individuals from across the political spectrum called for the elimination of legacy admissions.

Im directing the Department of Education to analyze what practices help build a more inclusive and diverse student bodies and what practices hold that back, practices like legacy admissions and other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunity, President Biden said following the announcement of the courts decisions on Thursday.

The practice of legacy admissions

Legacy admissions is the process of giving favorable treatment to children of alumni. A 2019 study found that 43% of white students at Harvard were legacies, athletes or related to donors, faculty or staff (often referred to as ALDC, a catch-all term). For years, there have been calls to end that special advantage for students, a benefit that is sometimes called affirmative action for rich white people.

Emilio Castilla, a professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, confirmed this belief in a recent study, finding that legacy admissions is a form of favoritism that benefits predominantly white students.

Its definitely providing a port of entry into colleges and universities by individuals who are also very likely to already be able to get access to education, he told Yahoo News.

According to Education Reform Now, a think tank focused on education policy, legacy admits make up roughly 10% to 25% of admissions at top universities.

People on Harvard Universitys campus in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

Castilla says legacy admissions does not provide entry for students who are more qualified than others, nor does it increase diversity. We found evidence that there are material interests; a lot of these legacy admits typically tend to be coming from richer families that are more likely to donate resources, he said.

Justices from both sides of the political spectrum noted the effects of legacy admissions on Thursday.

[Harvards] preferences for the children of donors, alumni, and faculty are no help to applicants who cannot boast of their parents good fortune or trips to the alumni tent all their lives, wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, in a concurring opinion. While race-neutral on their face, too, these preferences undoubtedly benefit white and wealthy applicants the most. Still, Harvard stands by them.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, cited the ALDC statistics in her dissent, noting that while ALDC applicants make up less than 5% of applicants to Harvard, they constitute around 30% of the applicants admitted each year.

Congressional pushback

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the only Black Republican in the Senate and a 2024 presidential candidate, also called for the end of legacy admissions Thursday, saying, One of the things that Harvard could do to make that even better is to eliminate any legacy programs where they have preferential treatment for legacy kids, not allow for the professors... their kids to come to Harvard as well.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on Capitol Hill on June 13. (Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)

Theyre looking for a way to improve the footprint of Harvard, lets make sure that all admissions are based on academic scores, and not just eliminating affirmative action, but lets look at the legacy programs, Scott added in an interview with Fox News.

Most of the anti-legacy sentiment, however, came from Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., at the Capitol in May. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous colorblindness claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged, she said in a viral tweet. 70% of Harvards legacy applicants are white. SCOTUS didnt touch that  which would have impacted them and their patrons.

Last year, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced the Fair College Admissions for Students Act, a first-of-its-kind bill that seeks to stop universities from giving special treatment to children of alumni and donors.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., said he plans to reintroduce a bill that seeks to stop universities from giving special treatment to children of alumni and donors. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)

Bowman promoted the legislation following Thursdays decision, saying in an MSNBC interview, If were serious about our democracy, equity and equality, end legacy admissions and we can do that in Congress.

Merkley denounced the Supreme Courts decision and said he and Bowman plan to reintroduce the bill soon.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is joining Bowman in reintroducing the Fair College Admissions for Students Act to ensure that money and connections will no longer give an unfair advantage in access to higher education. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Court has never addressed or limited the college selection processes that favor the children of well-established, predominantly white families, he said in a statement. Selecting applicants to universities based off family names, connections, or the size of their bank accounts creates an unlevel playing field for students without those built-in advantages, especially minority and first-generation students.
Two Harvard University students hug outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday in Washington.

Two Harvard University students hug outside of the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday in Washington.

Saturday, June 24, marked the first anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization decision, in which the Supreme Court  in an act of unfettered ashiness  saw fit to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that federally protected abortion rights.

If the high court has any mandate  expressed or otherwise  to protect U.S. citizens, it dropped the ball: Overturning Roe has made it harder for women to seek proper medical care and for doctors to fulfill the Hippocratic oath to do their job. Never mind the fact that the general public is in support of abortion rights  a meaningful aspect of health care is now at the mercy of certain idiotic governors (and, by proxy, some of their idiotic constituents).

But this piece isnt about abortion. This is about how the Supreme Court could start down the path of redeeming itself  and why it probably wont.

This week, the court is delivering some of its biggest decisions of the term before justices head to summer break. Apparently, the court often saves the most contentious rulingsfor the end of the term,and this time is no different.

These decisions will have reverberating social and political effects, with the largest impact on the most vulnerable communities. Unfortunately, the court is the most conservative its been in generations, with six of the nine justices apparently willing to turn the country into the Republic of Gilead, thanks in large part to former President Donald Trumps appointments.

Maybe the high court will pleasantly surprise me, but breath is not being held. Lets look at the issues that will likely have many of us fussing on social media this week and next:

Affirmative Action

I wrote about thisrecently. On Thursday, the court, as expected, axed race-based admissions at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University, effectively ending the practice across the country.

The high court first dealt with these kinds of affirmative action policies in the 1970s, when it voted against the use of race-based quotas. But around half a century later, despite all we know about the positive impacts of affirmative action in schools and the potential negative effects of its abolition, even a diverse court featuring women and ethnic minorities ruled against it.

The court voted along ideological lines, which means I dont even need to look to see how Clarence Thomas voted, given his weird-ass beef with affirmative action.

Unsurprisingly, Black and Latino students will most acutely feel this decision. Expect a tiki torch-laden party or three thrown by white conservatives thrilled to maintain the racial achievement gap.

Student Loans

This is another school-related decision. President Joe Biden endeared himself to many of us, if for no other reason, with his student loan forgivenessprogram, which aims to erase at least $10,000 in debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year and families making less than $250,000.

This plan could impact more than 40 million Americans saddled with student loan debt. But Republicans are obviously in a tizzy because they think its unfair to people who have paid off their loans  hence Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown, two cases on deck for the high court.

Sure, if you take out loans, you should expect to pay them back. But student loans arent quite the same as credit card debt from copping a new pair of Jordans: You earn more money with a college degree, but obtaining one puts you into debt  so sayeth the system.

Cogent arguments exist on either side of the fence, but in a country that generally plays fast and loose with debt, we dont have proof of the long-term impact of student loan erasure.

We do know two things. First, our three years of student loan deferment amid the COVID-19 pandemic didnt tank the economy or the American college system. If anything, the end of the forbearance, expected Sept. 1, will have a detrimental effect on the economy.

Second, the university system is a goddamn racket to begin with. College costs have risen sharply in the past few decades, such that starting an OnlyFans page has become an increasingly attractive proposition for new college graduates. Meanwhile, some of the top universities are sitting on 11-figure endowments. (I chuckle when my alma mater calls asking for money. Then I hang up.)

Im not sure which way the court will go on this, but I simply dont wish to hear baby boomer Republicans who finished four years of college for $27.99 and a pack of No. 2 pencils complain about loan forgiveness.

LGBTQ+ Protections

It might be my imagination, but it feels like this Pride month has been more of a thorn in the boat shoe of the religious right than in recent years. Something about the practice of gender expression has really made these conservatives uncomfortable  its both sad and amusing to watch.

Theyll tack on another win if the court sides with Lorie Smith, the owner of Colorado-based design company 303 Creative, in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. Smith is suing the state for the right to refuse creating wedding websites for same-sex couples, as Jesus apparently prevents her from doing so with a good conscience.

Smith has reportedly never built wedding websites for anyone, so this is one of those ideological battles that she wants to be the face of because  Karen. The problem is that the court voting in Smiths favor may create a precedent that allows businesses, for any reason, to refuse service to marginalized groups.

While Im not sure that private businesses should be forced to service customers theyd rather not, Im in full support of one that utilizes discriminatory practices abdicating its right to any governmental funding or protections. If upset hackers were to get into Smiths business website and front-load it with rainbows and transgender flags, for example, she should have to figure that all out on her own.
SCOTUS rules in favor of Christian designer who refuses to do same-sex wedding websites

The News

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Friday that the First Amendment protects a Christian web designer's right to refuse services for same-sex marriages.

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Lorie Smith had challenged a Colorado law that prohibits businesses from discriminating against LGBTQ people; Smith said her religious beliefs should exempt her from that rule.

Advocacy groups worried that if the court ruled in Smiths favor, it would have a ripple effect on other states' anti-discrimination laws, possibly allowing more business owners to refuse services based on their personal beliefs.

Smith argued she has a constitutional right under the First Amendment to not design wedding websites for same-sex couples.

A day before the ruling, The New Republic reported on apparent inconsistencies in the filings for the case. A court document stated a man named Stewart contacted Smith and asked her to make a website for his wedding. But that man told The New Republic that he never made such a request  and he has been married to a woman for the past 15 years.
CHANGSHA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Even after decades, the vivid memories of her time in Africa remain etched in the mind of 90-year-old Zhang Youming.

Zhang, a retired doctor hailing from central China's Hunan Province, is a pioneering member of the country's first medical aid team to the African continent. During her tenure, she performed nearly 1,000 surgeries, providing invaluable assistance in safely delivering countless African children into the world.

During the ongoing third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Zhang's hometown Changsha, a forum on China-Africa pharmaceutical health development was held. For Zhang, the continuous strengthening of the China-Africa bond evokes vivid memories of her years in Africa.

In her Changsha home, she keeps an album that holds a precious photograph of herself wearing a white coat, radiating joy as she cradled a wide-eyed local girl. This picture was captured during her time providing aid in Algeria, North Africa.

In May 1963, at the age of 30, Zhang was working as a gynecologist at the Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in Changsha. Despite having a two-year-old son at home, she bravely embarked on a mission to provide vital medical aid in Algeria.

There, she treated local patients during the day and studied Arabic at night to better communicate with them. During her stint of two-and-a-half years at a local hospital in Algeria, Zhang performed nearly 1,000 surgeries and developed a deep bond with the locals.

In a significant incident, Zhang became a lifesaver for a particular patient -- a mother struggling with a severe placental condition. Deeply moved by the experience, the woman decided to name her newborn "Chinese" in Arabic, a testament to the enduring bond forged between them.

Since 2014, China's ophthalmology medical team of the National Health Commission has conducted multiple free eye clinics across 11 African countries, including Ethiopia.

Li Yun, an ophthalmologist from Changsha, has participated in four such trips, leading the medical expert team twice to Sierra Leone, where she conducted over 500 cataract surgeries under challenging conditions amid an Ebola outbreak.

"Being able to help patients regain their sight is very inspiring," Li said.

Li and her team also compiled training manuals and conducted ophthalmology teaching sessions for local medical students.

As of 2023, Hunan Province has dispatched 55 rounds of overseas medical aid teams, comprising a total of 677 personnel, since their first mission in 1973. The teams have treated over a million patients, trained more than 9,000 local medical workers, and helped cultivate many medical personnel for Africa.

In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a team of 12 medical experts led by Zhu Yimin, a pediatric specialist and the deputy director of the Hunan Health Commission, was sent to Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea.

Respiratory specialist Sun Shuang, who was also part of the expert team, used a combination of Western and Chinese treatment methods to successfully treat hundreds of patients.

"Medical aid in Africa has built a bridge of friendship between Chinese and African people. I am proud of the Chinese doctors who have traveled a long way to alleviate the suffering of local patients," Zhu said. 
The South Dakota Cattlemens Foundation has contributed $2.4 million to Feeding South Dakota over the last decade in hopes to help the nonprofit's mission of ending hunger in South Dakota.

The foundation's most recent donation of $332,110 came Saturday during a "Prime Time Gala" at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

Ryan Eichler, president of the South Dakota Cattlemen's Foundation, said the event left him speechless and humbled after seeing how the beef industry came together to give.

More: More South Dakota students going hungry after federal free meal program ends

From the bottom of my heart, Id like to say thank you to each and every supporter of this years Prime Time Gala, Eichler said, adding that the donation on Saturday is a testament to how selfless and kind South Dakotans are.

Of the total 12.9 million pounds of food Feeding South Dakota distributed last year, only a little more than 12% of it was animal protein, according to a press release. Protein supplements one's diet by increasing satiety and building and maintaining muscle mass, the organizations said.

High quality protein, like beef, plays an important role in overall health, including weight control, the organizations said in a press release.

Prior to Saturday's donation, funds raised at the Prime Time Gala helped to purchase about 1.3 million pounds or 688 tons of beef for those in need across South Dakota.

Volunteers Lori Schmidt and Jay Bobb pack boxes of food with Feeding South Dakota on Thursday, December 8, 2022, in Sioux Falls.

Lori Dykstra, CEO of Feeding South Dakota, said that without those annual donations, the organization would not have been able to provide nearly 1.5 million pounds of food for those facing hunger in South Dakota.

We are incredibly grateful for a decade of support from the South Dakota Cattlemens Foundation, Dykstra said. These producers are truly neighbors supporting neighbors, which is critical to helping achieve our mission to end hunger in South Dakota.

The foundation also awarded a total of $15,000 in scholarships to five students during the gala. Those students plan to attend South Dakota schools and colleges to study improving beef production and promotion.

This years scholarship awards included $1,000 to Brooklyn Mettler from Menno; $2,000 to Colt Wilkinson from De Smet; $3,000 to Teigen Hadrick from Faulkton; $4,000 to Isabelle Mairose from Kimball; and, $5,000 to Ella Stiefvater from Salem.

More: South Dakota is divided by the Missouri River. Drought has emphasized that for cattle ranchers.

The Fed Cattle Challenge winners were also announced the same night, a challenge for students ages 14-18 to learn about the science and economics of raising cattle that helps develop the next generation of feed yard owners.

Youth awarded from the challenge include Dylan Fouss from Draper (winning $500) from Draper; Harper Kirsch from Platte ($1,000); and, Tayden Mathis from Winner ($1,500).

The impact of delivering beef to South Dakotans, as well as the investment in the education of the next generation, is profound and something every attendee and sponsor is directly responsible for, Eichler said.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Cattlemens Foundation donates $332,110 to Feeding South Dakota
Sea lions aren't acting like themselves  they're more aggressive because of algae bloom in California

Southern California beachgoers are being warned that sea lions are showing unusual signs of aggression as they continue to be exposed to a toxic algae bloom.

Warning signs were placed at Salt Creek Beach and Strands Beach after two reports this week of sea lion-related injuries, a spokesperson for Orange County Parks said.

The first incident occurred at Salt Creek on Monday, when a juvenile told lifeguards that he had been bitten while wading in the water. He was treated and released to a guardian, with the advice to seek additional treatment at an urgent care clinic.

A sign warning people of an aggressive seal/sea lion along the Dana Strands Beach area in Dana Point, Calif., on June 28, 2023. (Courtesy John Kubota)

Lifeguards at Strands Beach were alerted to another injury that evening, but the person involved declined treatment.

Strands Beach closed Tuesday afternoon after reports of an aggressive sea lion emerged, and it reopened Wednesday, the parks department said.

Sick animals

Aggression toward humans is not typical for sea lions, but the mammals are very sick at the moment because of an offshore toxic algae bloom, said John Warner, the CEO of the Marine Mammal Care Center, a nonprofit rescue organization that serves Los Angeles County.

The algae, Pseudo-nitzschia, is consumed by fish, which are then eaten by sea lions. The fish carry a neurotoxin called domoic acid that the algae produces, essentially poisoning the sea lions, Warner said.

"It literally affects their brains, and the behavior of sea lions  especially when the concentrations of domoic acid are quite high  is drastically changed," Warner said. "They become symptomatic in ways that are just unpredictable in terms of their behavior, aggressiveness that we don't normally see."

Trying to confirm location. Seals rest along the shore near the Dana Point area of Los Angeles on June 25, 2023. (NBC Los Angeles)

The bloom has been traced to waters off central California and the northern reaches of Southern California, where warm water and cooler water coming up from the depths, called upwelling, can create ideal conditions for algae blooms.

NOAA Fisheries said in a report this month that the algae bloom is suspected in the deaths of hundreds of California sea lions and close to 60 dolphins in the first weeks of June.

Reports of bites

Justin Viezbicke, the stranding coordinator for NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region in California, said the department does not track sea lion bites in part because of their rarity.

Similar bites have been reported in other Southern California regions, Warner said, including Santa Monica, but most appear to have been in shallow water.

Experts believe the mammals are so sick and scared that they are attacking humans who get too close in their vulnerable state, Warner said.

"None of this has been researched and definitively pointed to that I'm aware of," Warner said. "But putting 2 and 2 together, when you have this very large algal bloom and domoic acid event, it's pretty easy to connect the dots in a way that we're comfortable assuming that these are obviously connected incidents."

Los Angeles County Lifeguards this week urged beachgoers on Instagram to stay at least 50 feet from the sea lions. The post also encouraged anyone who spots a beached sea lion to reach out to the Marine Mammal Care Center.

"Public vigilance is essential and thank you to the work @marinemammalcare has been doing these last few weeks," the post said.

Warner believes people should not fear sea lions but simply understand that approaching them at the moment is not a good idea.

"Sea lions, you know, they're the ubiquitous California ocean wildlife animal that people love. And this is not them," Warner said. "So I don't want this to turn into people viewing sea lions like they do 'Jaws.' ... This is not sea lions' suddenly turning into evil people biters. I don't want people afraid of these animals going forward. This is a really sad event."

The Marine Mammal Care Center is working to rescue and treat sea lions affected by domoic acid exposure. Although there is no standard treatment, the center's website says the animals are hydrated with fluids, antiseizure medication and general nutrition that will not expose them to the toxin.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling effectively ending affirmative action in college admissions, and now, local universities are left trying to figure out what that means for them moving forward.

The battle over affirmative action in Washington state dates back far before this weeks ruling. In 1998, a Tim Eyman-sponsored ballot initiative (I-200) was approved by voters. It banned the state from granting preferential treatment to any group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin related to public employment, public education, and public contracting.

Then in April 2019, the state legislature passed its own initiative to end that ban, before a referendum blocked the legislatures measure from taking effect.

Fast-forward to June 2023, and while affirmative action admissions are still not allowed for public institutions in Washington state, there are still questions for some. Among that group is Seattle University, which operates as a private school.

Todays decision leaves unanswered important and unsettled questions about how the Courts prohibition on the consideration of race in admissions interacts with our constitutional right to the free exercise and expression of our Jesuit Catholic values, Seattle University President Eduardo Penalver said in a written statement. We are actively exploring the implications of todays decisions for those questions.

University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce responded Thursday as well, noting that while I-200 already bars the use of race in admissions for WA public universities, we will review the Supreme Courts action and any impact on the UW.

Yet our mission remains the same, she added, to create an environment of opportunity and belong for all our students.

At the national level, President Joe Biden criticized the high courts decision, saying that the nations colleges should not abandon their commitment to ensure student bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of America.
Security protocols for July 4th on the Esplanade end result of months of planning

The Charles River Esplanade is prepared to welcome hundreds for the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on Tuesday night. The process is a labor of love and the end results of months of planning, security officials said in a press conference Friday morning.

To those planning on coming to Boston Tuesday, I want to assure you we are preparing to welcome you to the special celebration, said Gina Kwon, undersecretary at the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

Agencies such as state police bomb squads, K9 units and drones will patrol the land, sea and air to ensure everyone in attendance will be able to celebrate Americas birthday safely. Spectators will have to pass through metal detectors and bags will be checked by security to enter the esplanade.

Each of the gifted professionals you see will bring diverse expertise to the shared purpose of a superb evening sharing patriotism and love of country, said Kwon.

Although security will be extensive, spectators are also asked to help smooth the process. Visitors should bring as little as possible, to stay alert and report any suspicious activity and to stay hydrated.

The Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular can be viewed on Bloomberg TV and heard on Bloomberg radio from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Tuesday, July 4, 2023.

Keith Lockhart will once again conduct the Boston Pops with performances including patriotic favorites and the perennial musical finale, Tchaikovskys 1812 Overture, followed by a thrilling fireworks display over the Charles River beginning at about 10:30 p.m.

This years Spectacular will feature an impressive lineup of guest artists, including award-winning R&B group En Vogue as headliners.

En Vogue has sold 20 million records worldwide and has won seven MTV Video Music Awards, three Soul Train Awards, and two American Music Awards, in addition to earning seven Grammy Award nominations.

En Vogue is known for hits like Hold On, Free Your Mind, Never Gonna Get It, Giving Him Something He Can Feel, Dont Let Go, and Whatta Man.

Other guests slated to take the Esplanade stage:

Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez

Country duo LOCASH

Three cast members from the Pops recent concert presentation of Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert -- Alton Fitzgerald White, Elizabeth Stanley, and Andrea Jones-Sojola

Several selections with the U.S. Army Field Band and Soldiers Chorus

Rehearsals on July 2 and 3 are closed to the public. Gates will open to the public at 12 p.m. on July 4.

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Next week, Centred Outdoors will offer several guided hikes of the Dutch Alvin Trail as part of its summer series of guided outings and other wellness activities.





The trail, just over two miles long and rated at moderate difficulty, runs through the Rothock State Forest, allowing hikers to explore the Coopers Gap and Chestnut Spring areas.

Along the trail, participants can expect to see Pennsylvanias state flower  the mountain laurel  in addition to hemlocks and tall pines before gently ascending to the ridge. Once at the trails summit, hikers can bask in the clearings of open forest and enjoy views of Broad Mountain and surrounding nature to the west.

Centred Outdoors will offer free guided hikes along Dutch Alvin Trail on Sunday, July 2, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 1-3 p.m., and on Thursday, July 6, from 9-11 a.m. and 11 a.m.-1 p.m. No registration is required prior to any of Centred Outdoors guided hikes.

Guests can park at the Dutch Alvin Trail Parking Lot. Once at the trailhead, or the start of the trail, participants can expect to see a tent set up with information about ClearWater Conservancy and Centred Outdoors and greeters who can answer any last-minute questions and assist with the sign-in process. ClearWaters Assistant Adventure Coordinator Olivia Stas said the welcome table is also stocked with bug spray, tick spray and sunscreen.

Stas or ClearWaters Adventure Coordinator Bridget Whyte will guide the hikes. All Dutch Alvin Trail groups will also be joined by Joe Gyekis, State College Bird Club VP for Programs and Penn State Associate Teaching Professor of Biobehavioral Health, who will talk about mating birds in Pennsylvania this time of year.

Along the trail, Stas said guides will point out different plants, flowers and other signs of life and that all trail-goers are encouraged to ask any questions. She also mentioned that guides will provide extra binoculars for hikers looking to bird-watch.

Its all about going for a walk with people in your community and just being out and enjoying nature together and sharing a little bit about the space, Stas said.

She also recommended that those attending the Dutch Alvin Trail hike bring sturdy shoes, like sneakers or hiking boots; water bottles with at least 32 oz. of water per adult; and any additional desired hiking gear.

For those who may want or need gear but do not have any, ClearWater offers the Centred Outdoors Gear Library, where anyone can rent trekking poles, day packs and child carrier backpacks. Those interested in renting gear should fill out the request form online, and then the trail guide will bring any requested items to the chosen event.

Centred Outdoors also offers free transportation through their shuttle van service for many events, including the guided hikes of Dutch Alvin Trail on July 2 and July 6  though only for the 11 a.m-1 p.m. time slots. Those interested in the service should note that reservations are required and open one week before the event date. More information about the service, reservations and pickup locations can be found on Centred Outdoors website.

Weve always been pretty intentional about making these activities accessible to everybody, but weve put a lot of extra effort into it this season, Stas said.

In addition to offering gear and transportation services, Stas said the team also ensured that the trail passports were all up to date with information like trail accessibility, difficulty and distance so hikers know what to expect.

And though Centred Outdoors offers outings at various difficulties on multiple days, Stas mentioned that the team is always open to suggestions about what trails and accessibility features could be added.

Were always taking suggestions on places to go or things that we can change to make our program more accessible because that is our goal, she said. We want this program to be for everybody to join us in the outdoors.

The Dutch Alvin Trail hike is just one installment of Centred Outdoors guided hikes. More information about upcoming trails and other events can be found at www.centredoutdoors.org/events.

Do you have any questions about hiking/recreation in Centre County that youd like to see answered? Ask Centred Outdoors Strategic Communications Coordinator Andrea Murrell at andrea@clearwaterconservancy.org to have your questions featured in next weeks article.

Grace Miller is a freelance writer for ClearWater Conservancy.
Sega is not for sale, according to company COO Shuji Utsumi. The executive told Bloomberg News that the company isnt open to acquisition talks at the moment, despite rampant speculation that Microsoft was about to swoop in and force a shotgun wedding between Sonic and Master Chief.

Some of these rumors popped up due to a general consolidation trend in the gaming industry, with big fish gobbling up everything in sight. Microsofts one of the biggest fish of all and its been many years since Sega sat on top of the gaming throne, despite remaining a solid developer and publisher. Also, a potential merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard led to the FTC filing an antitrust lawsuit, which is ongoing. During the associated trial, it was revealed that Microsoft had many companies on its wishlist, including Sega. So the rumor mill continued unabated.

Utsumi declined to comment as to whether or not Microsoft approached Sega with an acquisition offer, but touted the great relationship between the two companies. This relationship has been on full display in recent years, with former Playstation exclusives from the Yakuza series to the Persona series showing up on Xbox consoles. A next-gen refresh of Yakuza: Like a Dragon was even an Xbox Series X/S exclusive for a few months before going multi-platform.
A statewide mosquito-borne illness advisory is in effect after four people contracted malaria in Florida.

Mosquito control has been a concern for weeks in Seminole County with an increase in pests breeding in places where water tends to collect.

Seminole County officials have tips on how you can protect yourself.

The Department of Health said they did not have malaria cases reported in Seminole County.

Read: Mosquito season is here: How to protect yourself

Officials said stagnant water from tires, flowerpots and buckets should be drained regularly.

Sharon Wetzl, the manager of Seminole Countys Watershed Management Division, said it could be a breeding ground for disease-carrying mosquitos.

Weve seen an increase in container-breeding mosquitos, Wetzl said. These are mosquitoes that breed anything that can hold water for more than just a few days.

Read: New mosquito species arrives in Florida bringing with it new disease concerns

She said residents could look in their yards and drain the birdbaths.

Wetzl said that because of the rain during this time of year, there are many mosquitoes.

But this year, the group has seen a 60% increase in breeding mosquitoes in the countys urban areas.

Read: Mosquito-borne illness advisory issued by health officials in Orange County

Our mosquito control group is out daily larviciding, which is where we focus on treating for the larva and mosquito control larva in standing waters like ditches, Wetzl said.

She added that the team would go to neighborhoods and catch basins in streets, collecting stormwater and treating those.

The groups are fogging mosquito areas at night as more people will spend time outdoors for the Fourth of July weekend.

The county also asks people to do their part.

If you would like to request mosquito control to come out to your neighborhood, you can put in a request through the countys website by clicking here.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, click here to download the WFTV Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
A person protests outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 29, 2023. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies. | Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press

The two Republican U.S. senators representing Utah voiced their support for a Supreme Court decision released Thursday that strikes down affirmative action in college admissions.

The court said race-based admissions policies are unconstitutional in two separate cases  Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina.

Sen. Mitt Romney reacted on Twitter to President Joe Bidens comment at the end of a press conference about the decision, when he said, This is not a normal Court.

Biden made the statement in response to a question about whether the court is a rogue Court. The reporter asking Biden the question cited comments from the Congressional Black Caucus, who released a statement saying the court has thrown into question its own legitimacy.

Biden claims the Court is not normal, said Romney. But normal is following the Constitution, which does not allow discrimination on the basis of race. Preference for one is prejudice for another.

Biden claims the Court is not normal. But normal is following the Constitution, which does not allow discrimination on the basis of race. Preference for one is prejudice for another.  Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) June 29, 2023

In his remarks Thursday, Biden said he strongly disagreed with the courts decisions and said affirmative action is misunderstood. He called on colleges to take into account the adversity a student has overcome when selecting among qualified applicants.

Biden quoted from the decision, when it said, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race has affected his or her life.

Sen. Mike Lee applauds affirmative action decision

Lee released a statement Thursday in support of the decision, saying the Supreme Court took a significant stride towards a future where college applicants are judged by the content of their character and the strength of their achievements as opposed to the color of their skin.

Lee said he signed on to an amicus brief in support of the petitioner, Students for Fair Admissions, because our institutions of higher education should focus on educating students rather than engaging in social engineering.

He said affirmative action programs have perpetuated inequality rather than rectifying it.

Recently, Lee has spoken out in defense of the court and several of the justices, including Justice Samuel Alito, who he clerked for.

Lee retweeted a tweet from fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, who called out ProPublica, a left-leaning media organization, of taking money from wealthy, progressive donors as they have written pieces accusing conservative justices of ethical lapses.

The Left will always accuse you of what they are actually guilty of.



ProPublica accused Justice Clarence Thomas of being controlled by ultra-rich special interests.



As it turns out, it's actually ProPublica that is funded by a vast dark money network.



The Lefts  Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 27, 2023

Progressive groups are also targeting the court through a recently launched campaign called United for Democracy, which criticizes the court in ads, social media and through other channels of communication.

On the website, the groups call on Congress to, act to rein in the extreme Supreme Court and put power back in the hands of citizens, not a few unaccountable elites. The extremist justices and those who prop them up dont want us to have a voice  but our institutions answer to the people. Its time to reclaim that power.

The campaign is funded by labor unions, environmental groups and pro-abortion organizations.
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 1, 2023. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

WASHINGTON  When an ailing Sen. Dianne Feinstein asked in April to be temporarily replaced on the Judiciary Committee so Democrats could continue the panels work without her while she recuperated from shingles at home in California, Republicans balked, blocking the substitution. Feinstein was forced to return to Washington well before many close to her believed she was ready so her party could continue advancing President Joe Bidens judicial nominees.

Since then, a lingering question has hung over the Senate even as the 90-year-old Feinstein has refused to consider resigning before the end of her term in 2025: Could or would Republicans block Democrats from replacing her on the committee if she did step aside, a departure that would open the door for an appointee chosen by the states Democratic governor to finish her term?

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No definitive answer has emerged  and the proposition may never be tested since Feinstein has said she is not going anywhere. But the question has major implications both for the Senate itself and for California politics.

Should Feinstein resign early, Californias governor would appoint a temporary senator who might then have a leg up in the hotly contested Democratic race to succeed her in January 2025. Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he would name a Black woman, which could work to the disadvantage of other candidates in the race. The idea that an early departure by Feinstein might imperil Bidens judicial nominees has been seen as yet another reason for her to stay.

Still, senators in both parties suggest that that is unlikely, and that Republicans might relent and allow an actual vacancy on the Judiciary Committee, as opposed to a temporary opening, to be filled.

A chief reason is that the Senate is an institution heavily bound by precedent  and a deep-seated reflex to do unto others as they did unto you. Blocking a committee replacement for a lawmaker who has been forced to leave the Senate before her term is over is the type of decision that could come back to haunt Republicans, considering they have older members of their own who might find themselves in such circumstances.

Democrats would then have their opportunity to refuse someone a seat, and they would doubtless take advantage of it if they saw it as justified retaliation. As in other circumstances, the tit-for-tat could quickly escalate into a brawl that would be costly to both parties.

Members on both sides of the aisle say the difference between vacating a seat temporarily and replacing a retiring member is significant, and they believe that Democrats would be allowed to retain their majority on the influential panel.

I cant imagine that happening, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a senior Republican member of the Judiciary Committee, said about the prospect of preventing Democrats from seating a new member on the panel if Feinstein left. I think that would be unsustainable.

He added that the speculation on the matter has to do with California politics and who wants to run to replace her.

In an interview this year on CNN, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the senior Republican on the committee who formally objected to a temporary fill-in for Feinstein, also said he would be in the camp of replacing the person if Feinstein or another senator opened a slot by giving up a seat early.

Not everyone is convinced. Hillary Rodham Clinton, herself a former member of the Senate, helped reignite the issue last month when she said in an interview with Time magazine that she believed Republicans would block a replacement to thwart a push on judges.

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, Clinton said.

And Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a senior Democrat on the committee, fanned the flames again this month, saying on Twitter: The fact is simple: if Senator Feinstein resigns, Mitch McConnell gets to decide whether Democrats have a Senate Judiciary majority.

The suspicion that Republicans could impede a replacement is driven not only by the fact that they blocked a temporary substitute, but also by the reality that Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, is hyper-focused on the makeup of the federal judiciary. He went so far as to block Merrick Garland, who is now the attorney general, from getting a hearing on his 2016 nomination to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama for nearly a year, a position that many saw as far outside Senate norms.

To Democrats, it is not much of a leap to think that McConnell would be more than willing to tie up the Judiciary Committee to slow down confirmation of Bidens judicial picks if the opportunity arose.

McConnell declined to answer questions on the topic, with his staff saying that it was a hypothetical and that Feinstein remained in the Senate and voting. But the general sense among Republicans is that McConnell recognizes that it would break with Senate convention to block Democrats from filling a committee seat if a member left.

Some Democrats also think it is unlikely that Republicans would go that far.

I may be naive, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Judiciary Committee, but I believe they would allow the Judiciary seat to be filled if it was a resignation as opposed to just an absence. I really think a resignation could lead to replacement very quickly.

I dont think you can dismiss the idea of a resignation simply because of the fear that Republicans have been destructive, he added. In the long run, it would be self-destructive because they are going to encounter this problem as well.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the majority leader, said he was not sure what Republicans would do. But given their opposition to Bidens judicial nominees, he suggested they would most likely make it difficult just to impede more confirmations.

Its logical they would pull out all the stops, he said. They might not stop it, but they could certainly slow it down.

For her part, Feinstein has made it clear on repeated occasions that she does not intend to leave before the end of her term, making the whole question moot.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the chair of the Judiciary Committee, also said he did not know what Republicans would do. But he does know what he hopes Feinstein will do as he tries to keep advancing judges.

I would hope that she continues to show up when needed, he said. And shes been very good at that the last several weeks.

c.2023 The New York Times Company
Senior China Diplomat Dispatched to Italy to Keep Nation in Belt and Road Initiative

(Bloomberg) -- China dispatched a senior diplomat to Italy this week, as Beijing seeks to persuade the European nation not to leave President Xi Jinpings flagship global investment pact.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Liu Jianchao, director of the Communist Partys International Department, held meetings with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Senate speaker Ignazio La Russa and former prime minister Massimo DAlema, according to the departments readouts. He also met with group known as Friends of China in Italys parliament, during his three-day visit that began Sunday.

It was the correct decision for China and Italy to sign the Belt and Road, Liu said during a session with business people in Milan this week, according to the official statement.

Italy signed onto Chinas massive BRI in 2019 when Giuseppe Conte was prime minister, becoming the only Group of Seven nation to join the pact. The countrys current leader, Giorgia Meloni, favors leaving the infrastructure initiative, Bloomberg reported in May. Participation will automatically renew in 2024 unless Rome exits the agreement.

Meloni told lawmakers on Wednesday that Italy can have excellent relations with China even without being part of the initiative. There are ongoing evaluations, she said. The issue must be handled carefully and respectfully, also involving the parliament.

Jia Guide, Chinese ambassador to Italy, warned in an interview with Italian news outlet Fanpage last week that there would negative consequences if Rome recklessly decides to withdraw.

European Struggle

Lius appeal to the Italians comes after Chinese Premier Li Qiang earlier this month traveled to Europe in his first overseas trip as Chinas No. 2 official. His meetings with business and political leaders in Germany and France came as the European Union hammers out its position on how to manage economic rivalry with China.

Read more: Chinese Premier Tells German CEOs to Take Lead on De-Risking

Beijing is trying to persuade Europe to take a less hawkish stance than the US, which has imposed a sweeping raft of export controls on China to curb its access to advanced technology.

Italy has been caught in the middle of those escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing, especially in the wake of Chinas support for Russian President Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine. The US has pressured Rome to take a public stance and ditch the BRI pact, according to people familiar with the matter.

Wang Yiwei, a Renmin University professor who specializes in Europe studies, said that given 152 countries had signed onto the BRI, China should have an open mind on Italys decision  noting that it was likely Italian companies who would suffer the most from an exit.

The business community really wants to stay, he added. Otherwise, theyll lose some of the preferential treatment theyve been enjoying as a member country to the initiative.

(Updates with quote from Lius meeting with business people in third paragraph.)

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TEHRAN, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Iran and Russia has agreed to launch direct flights between more cities, Iranian Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) chief said Friday.

Mohammad Mohammadi Bakhsh, who is also the deputy roads and urban development minister, made the remarks in an interview with the official news agency IRNA, commenting on the agreements reached during his visit to Russia in April.

The flights expansion was already on the agenda and will be achieved through the cooperation of the two countries' airlines, Mohammadi Bakhsh added.

He said during the visit, Iran and Russia reached cooperation deals on pilot training and aircraft repair and maintenance.

The CAO head added talks were also held with Russia on recognizing the two countries' aviation standards.

Iran and Russia, both being under the U.S. sanctions, have recently expanded bilateral political and economic relations.

In early April, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali said Iranian and Russian airlines have only operated direct flight between the two countries' capitals. 
President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Friday, June 30, 2023, in Washington. The Biden administration is moving forward on a new student debt relief plan after the Supreme Court struck down his original initiative to provide relief to 43 million borrowers. | Evan Vucci, Associated Press

Both of Utahs Republican senators expressed their support Friday for the Supreme Courts decision to cancel President Joe Bidens student loan program.

In the courts Biden v. Nebraska decision, the majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona did not have the power to forgive student loans under the post-9/11 law used to justify the Biden administrations program.

The HEROES Act gives Cardona some power to modify existing regulations, but does not allow the Secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal, Roberts wrote.

In an official statement, Sen. Mike Lee said the decision is a clear victory over executive overreach, affirming that President Bidens student loan scheme was fundamentally unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court has lifted a 400 billion dollar burden off the shoulders of the hardworking Americans who diligently paid off their student loan obligations or decided to forego higher education, he said.

In tweets from his @BasedMikeLee account, Lee compared Bidens decision to forgive student loans to an episode of The Office, where Michael Scott had promised a classroom full of children  Scotts Tots  that hed pay their college tuition, but later ended up reneging on his promise.

I cant help but wonder how many people feel let down by @POTUSs promise today, Lee wrote. Like Michael Scott, he promised to do something he never had the power to do.

At a press conference Friday, Biden expressed his frustration with the courts decision.

I believe the courts decision to strike down my student debt relief program was a mistake, was wrong, he said.

When asked if he gave borrowers false hope, Biden said he didnt.

What I did, I thought was appropriate and was able to be done and would get done. I didnt give borrowers false hope, he said.

Sen. Mitt Romney expressed support for the courts decision in a statement, and suggested Bidens loan forgiveness program was an attempt to win voters.

What was already an unfair play to induce voters has now been blocked as executive overreach. Instead of working toward real bipartisan solutions to lower higher education costs, the Biden Administration chose a partisan approach that  as the Supreme Court has ruled today  was outside the bounds of its authority and ultimately unsuccessful in supporting our students, he said.
He set fire to his ex-girlfriends clothes, Keys deputies say. Then they saw 6 rifles

A Florida Keys man is accused of setting his ex-girlfriends belongings on fire Thursday, and when Monroe County sheriffs deputies arrived, they said they found a gun inside his house that had been reported stolen.

Jeffrey Neil Hammond, 47, remained in county jail Friday with no set bond on charges of grand theft of a firearm, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and making a bonfire too close to a residence, according to the sheriffs office.

When deputies were called to his home on Scout Key in the Lower Keys around 4 p.m., they found a fire burning outside about 25 feet from the house that contained clothing, cosmetics and other items, sheriffs office spokesman Adam Linhardt said.

The 54-year-old woman, who deputies have not named, said Hammond wouldnt let her gather her things and then began setting them on fire, Linhardt said.

She also told deputies that Hammond owned illegal guns that she said were inside the house.

Deputies found six rifles and a handgun, Linhardt said. One of the rifles was a Weatherby .257 Magnum that was reported stolen in North Carolina, according to the sheriffs office.

After initially refusing to be handcuffed, deputies arrested Hammond and took him to jail, Linhardt said.
LGBTQ groups and allies say theyre outraged and saddened by the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to side with a Christian web designer in Colorado who refused to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings because of her religious beliefs.

In the 6-3 ruling, the conservative-majority court said that forcing designer Lorie Smith to create websites for same-sex weddings, despite going against her religious beliefs, would violate her free speech rights under the First Amendment.

The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands, wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch in the majority opinion. Colorado cannot deny that promise consistent with the First Amendment.

The decision suggests that artists, photographers, videographers and writers are among those who can refuse to offer what the court called expressive services if doing so would run contrary to their beliefs, according to The Associated Press. But thats different from other businesses not engaged in speech and therefore not covered by the First Amendment, such as restaurants and hotels.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote that the symbolic effect of Fridays decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status and that this was the first time in history that the court grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.

Heres what some Florida groups are saying:

 Advocacy group Equality Florida said Fridays ruling is a narrow but shameful erosion of aspects of nondiscrimination protections.

While todays narrow ruling does not change that open to all principle, it creates a foothold for refusing customized, expressive services that would compel the creator to share a message with which they disagree, Equality Florida said in a statement. The Court had an opportunity to do right by nondiscrimination protections and the LGBTQ community, but chose instead to limit those protections. Importantly, the ruling neither creates a broad license to discriminate nor wholesale repeals vital civil rights protections. LGBTQ people deserve to participate in the public marketplace just like everyone else, regardless of this ruling. The LGBTQ community fought bravely for the equal rights that a party to this case objected to recognizing, and we will continue to fight for full equality everywhere.

For decades, the law has guaranteed that businesses open to the public should be open to ALL on equal terms. Today's ruling is a narrow but shameful erosion of aspects of nondiscrimination protections. https://t.co/LunIGFfnRT  Equality Florida (@equalityfl) June 30, 2023

 The Pride Center in Wilton Manors said it was disappointed with the courts ruling but that the unusual nature of the transaction in the case suggests the ruling has no application to the overwhelming majority of businesses providing goods and services ... We are disappointed that the Court today allowed for the first time a limited First Amendment exemption from laws requiring businesses open to the public to offer the goods and services they sell without discrimination. But the unusual nature of the transaction in the case suggests the ruling has no application to the overwhelming majority of businesses providing goods and services.

 From the SAVE Foundation in Miami: Todays ruling by the Supreme Court to allow anti-LGBTQ discrimination, under the guise of freedom of speech, marks a sad day for America. By allowing far-right Christians to weaponize religion to harm others, puts people of all faiths at risk if they are in the minority, the group said in a statement to the Miami Herald. This is a moment to reflect on the consequences of elections, the independence of the judicial system, and on the fragility of our democracy. We are meant to be a country and a democracy that respects and values everyone that lives here.

 This is a victory for all Americans, Anthony Verdugo, founder and executive director of the Christian Family Coalition Florida, told Miami Herald news partner CBS News Miami.
A businessman has won a legal battle against the company created to administer Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme.

Abdul Majid challenged the legality of the retailer handling fees which Circularity Scotland was seeking to impose.

The Scottish Grocers' Federation welcomed a Court of Session judgement which ruled in his favour.

Circularity Scotland went into administration on 20 June.

The joint administrators declined to comment on the ruling.

Earlier this month it was announced the DRS in Scotland was to be delayed until October 2025 at the earliest.

The flagship recycling scheme was meant to launch in March next year.

But Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater told MSPs she had been left with no choice after the UK government excluded glass from the Scottish scheme.

Ten days ago it emerged Circularity Scotland, which was created to manage the scheme, had appointed administrators.

When it is finally introduced, the DRS will see a 20p charge placed on drinks containers which would be refunded to consumers when they return the bottles and cans in a bid to increase recycling levels.

The scheme is now likely to launch at the same time as similar proposals for other parts of the UK

The 13-page court ruling by Lord Young, published on Friday, followed a hearing at the Court of Session in December.

Lawyers for Mr Majid said a 2020 law which was set up to oversee the introduction of the scheme did not give Circularity Scotland the power to determine a reasonable handling fee for the business dealing with the return of the item.

They argued that even if the company did possess that power under the law, the return handling fee had to be based on the costs incurred by the outlet dealing with the returned item.

They said Circularity Scotland's plan for the handling fee to be determined by the costs incurred by every outlet dealing with returned items was wrong.

Mr Majid's lawyers said this view breached European laws on competitiveness and it was unfair on small businesses.

And his legal team said their client would be set to lose a 1,000 a week if the scheme went ahead in its original form.

Lorna Slater, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, has been widely criticised for her handling of the scheme

Lawyers for Circularity Scotland agreed during the hearing that it did not have the statutory power to set the return handling fee.

The organisation also accepted that the law for the scheme meant that businesses like Mr Majid's did not have to accept the fee determined for handling the returned item.

This prompted Lord Young to rule in favour of the submission made by Mr Majid's legal team.

He wrote: "It is accepted by the respondent that it has no statutory power to set the Return Handling Fee for any Return Point Operator.

"It is also accepted that the petitioner is not contractually bound to accept the Return Handling Fee announced by the respondent."

Mr Majid, who runs a store in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, said: "I am absolutely delighted to have won my case, one which I feel in many ways was not just for myself but for the many other retailers who would have been negatively impacted if Circularity Scotland had been able to proceed with their plans for the setting of the retail handling fee.

"From the outset it was clear that there was an issue over the legality of the retailer handling fees but it is not as if this was not pointed out to them.

"I hope the UK government take note of this decision and use it to avoid a similar situation arising in any UK-wide scheme."

The Scottish Grocers' Federation (SGF) welcomed Mr Majid's legal victory but said the case should never have come to court.

SGF chief executive Dr Pete Cheema said: "The Court of Session has held that the way that the Scottish government and Circularity Scotland had set up the Deposit Return Scheme was unlawful and did not comply with the regulations made by the Scottish parliament.

"CSL had no powers to set the fees that it sought to impose on retailers and even if it had, then they had still got it wrong by trying to impose a flat fee on all retailers, despite the difference in costs to the operators.

"This decision essentially stops the DRS progressing in its current form."

Dr Cheema added it was "hugely disappointing" that ministers did not listen to the concerns of its members.

The Scottish government, which was not involved in the proceedings, said Circularity Scotland wrongly applied one aspect of the DRS regulations in setting the reasonable handling fee for retailers operating return points.

A spokesperson added: "The court did not find that the DRS regulations are unlawful, nor did it find that the Scottish government acted unlawfully in setting up DRS or in making the DRS regulations.

"But the Scottish government will consider the decision in this case as well as any implications for the Deposit Return Scheme as we work towards a launch date in 2025 along with other nations in the UK."
AFP's fact-checkers have exposed a slew of cases around the world in which fraudsters impersonated doctors (Denis Charlet)

A Thai doctor endorsing a dubious diabetes treatment, a Filipino physician touting crotch-enhancing underwear, a US doctor sparking off anti-vaccine conspiracies -- they are all victims of identity theft plaguing health professionals.

AFP's fact-checkers have exposed a slew of cases around the world in which fraudsters impersonated doctors, fabricating their comments or endorsements to push out bogus treatments and products or to peddle propaganda.

The trend underscores how medical professionals are often sitting targets for online scammers seeking to profit off disinformation, which leaves their reputations tarnished, provokes harassment and, in some cases, legal challenges.

For ordinary consumers, the growing wave of impersonation scams poses financial risks and often jeopardises access to safe and reliable healthcare.

"I get impersonated (nearly) every month," Thiravat Hemachudha, a Thai neurologist, told AFP.

"These fraudsters want to make money, so they cite renowned or credible health professionals to support their claims."

Thiravat's name has been falsely linked to Facebook ads and posts promoting a range of treatments, from diabetes to penile enlargement. It is unclear who was behind the disinformation, but he warned that it poses "significant threats to consumers' health".

- 'Miraculous cures' -

In the Philippines, consumer Marissa David thought she had found the best cure for a benign lump in her body when she purchased a cream that a Facebook ad said was recommended by popular physician Willie Ong.

But the cream that cost $12.50, a small fortune for the Filipino mother, was ineffective and not endorsed by Ong.

"It's a lesson learned," David told AFP.

"I should not trust so easily, especially if those products are not recommended by a doctor I personally know."

Winston Kilimanjaro Creones Tiwaquen, a Filipino doctor who is also a popular social media influencer, has been impersonated in Facebook pages promoting magnetic underwear, which they falsely claim enlarges male genitalia.

AFP, which has spotted similar impersonation scams in other countries such as Myanmar and Bulgaria, has a global team of journalists who work with Facebook owner Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to debunk misinformation.

AFP has debunked about half a dozen Facebook posts that used doctored videos of Ong or impersonated Tiwaquen, part of a deluge of internet content in the Philippines that promotes "doctor-recommended" quick-fix treatments for even complicated ailments.

"People often seek quick solutions and can fall prey to scams promising miraculous cures or easy remedies -- especially communities that lack access to reliable healthcare services," Patricia Schouker, a fellow at the Colorado-based Payne Institute, told AFP.

"Impersonating doctors gives these fraudsters an air of credibility and trustworthiness."

- 'Stand up to disinformation' -

For doctors such as Natalia Solenkova, a Florida-based critical care specialist, such disinformation triggered aggressive online harassment.

Earlier this year, conservative commentators including American podcast host Joe Rogan amplified a screenshot of a fabricated tweet about the Covid-19 vaccine that used her name and Twitter handle.

"Knowing that he (Rogan) has millions and millions of followers, that felt threatening," Solenkova told the American Medical Association.

"That felt threatening to my career, threatening to my job, threatening to my reputation."

Rogan acknowledged his mistake but not before Solenkova was deluged with hateful messages.

"We (physicians) need to keep organising against disinformation," Solenkova said.

"We need to stand up to this disinformation and this harassment."

Some physicians like Ong, from the Philippines, have also battled legal threats over viral ads for a mixed nuts brand that he had nothing to do with.

The younger sister of the late Philippine president Benigno Aquino III asked Ong to cease and desist from using her name for the product's promotion on his Facebook page, reports said.

Ong clarified in a series of videos in April that the ads came from imposter pages on Facebook.

"I can't believe they didn't know those pages were fake," he said in one video.

"What's happening to me right now is too much... I can't believe it."

Meta says it views the "threat of scams seriously". It faces calls for more vigorous online policing from users and consumer activists.

"Platforms need to invest in robust content moderation systems to detect and remove fraudulent listings and can play a significant role in educating users about the risks," Schouker said.

"Addressing this issue requires a collective effort by platforms, regulators and law enforcement agencies."

burs-ac/tjj/ser
After winning over Christine Brown's children, David Woolley is now scoring some major brownie points with her grandchildren.

The couple, who recently announced their engagement, just spent some quality time with some of their grandkids and Brown shared adorable photos from the fun outing.

"We spent an amazing afternoon @thankspoint with the dinosaurs and some of our grandkids," the "Sister Wives" star captioned the post and added the hashtag #timeofmylife.

Brown's Instagram carousel featured a few solo shots of the kiddos enjoying their time at Thanksgiving Point, a Utah farm, garden and museum. The mother of six also included a few photos of Woolley holding up one of their granddaughters so she could look at the dinosaur exhibit.

Woolleys daughter, Kati Charlene, also shared a few photos from the blended familys outdoor adventure on her Instagram page along with the following caption: I love going home, even if its just for a minute .

The lovebirds enjoyed a fun family outing. (@christine_brownsw via Instagram)

Ever since they announced that they were dating in February, Brown and Woolley have been spending lots of time with their respective families. When they first went Instagram official, Brown described her new man as being incredible with my children and an adorable grandpa.

In April, they made a trip to California with Brown's youngest daughter, Truely, and visited Universal Studios Hollywood together.

Brown also gave Woolley a social media shoutout on Father's Day and thanked him for playing such an important role in her children's lives.

Happy Fathers Day @david__woolley Ive watched how loving, compassionate and present you are with your children and I love how youve shown that to my children as well, she wrote.

It's been a busy couple of weeks for the couple, and Brown just shared a few photos from a vacation they recently took together.

"Went on a trip with @david__woolley and look at the sweet message from a lovely airline attendant," she captioned the post.

The reality star then shared a photo of the thoughtful note, which read, "Ms. Brown (soon-to-be Mrs. Woolley), Thank you so much for choosing to fly Delta! It was so nice to meet you and David. Thank you for showing girls everywhere that we all deserve our prince and to be happy! Wishing you all the happiness in your new marriage!"

Before meeting Woolley, Brown was part of a plural marriage with three other wives and rose to fame as a star of TLC's reality series "Sister Wives." She shares six children with her ex-husband, Kody Brown, who is a father of 18.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
SMALL BITES: Tropical Smokehouse joins forces with Celis Juice Bar for a Neighborhood Cookout in West Palm Beach

This is Small Bites, a South Florida Sun Sentinel feature with tiny tidbits on the food and beverage scene  because we know that sometimes you just dont have room for a long article. You want a little news brief instead, an amuse bouche of information, if you will. Enjoy!

WHAT:

The dynamic duo of Tropical Smokehouses Rick Mace and Celis Juice Bars Alex Celis are hosting the Smoke & Sunset Neighborhood Cookout.

Expect menu items from these Palm Beach County eateries:

In addition to the above food selections, the event will feature Tropical Smokehouses whole pig roasted in Celis Mojo Juice.

EXTRA TIDBIT:

DJ Dubbs will be spinning.

WHEN:

The event will go from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 8.

WHERE:

Head to Tropical Smokehouse, 3815 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach.

COST:

Your $26 ticket covers food. There will also be a cash bar (electric money accepted).

INFORMATION:

Find more details at eattropical.com/upcoming-events.
Maps showing forecasted daily maximum heat index for the US from June 29 to July 1. (Jonathan WALTER)

Extreme temperatures have combined with habitual smog in Houston for more than two weeks, and Erandi Trevino feels the hazardous combination in her body.

"It burns my face. I feel it in my nostrils," Trevino says.

The heat wave sprawling across the southern United States has lasted since June 14, and the sultry air and humidity make for temperatures that feel like they are higher than 40 degrees C (104 degrees F).

Houston, the fourth most populous US city with 2.3 million people, is home to four oil refineries (one of them among the nation's largest), heavy industry, a tangle of highways and plenty of trucks.

"In past years, we may have a heat emergency that lasts typically two, three, maybe four days at the most (but) I've never seen in the last 20 years... where it extends past a week and a half," Porfirio Villarreal, spokesman for the Houston Health Department, told AFP.

Between four and 10 people die each year in the city of Houston from heat-related illness, Villarreal said.

Trevino, 31, an organizer with Public Citizen, lives next to a truck parking lot where exhaust spews constantly.

Fewer than seven miles away (10 kilometers) is the Houston Ship Channel, site of major industrial and petrochemical activity.

The heat and pollution have delivered a one-two blow.

- High ozone days -

"It's absolutely affecting my health, no doubt about it," she said, trucks rumbling behind her home in the southwest of the city.

"In Houston, we're affected by a lot of ground-level ozone... (which) is what happens when pollution and heat combine."

"When we have heat waves here that are 100 degrees (F) for several weeks on end, plus the high levels and spikes and pollution that we have from the industry, then that results in a lot of days with high ozone levels."

Ozone can be good or bad depending on where it exists. Good ozone occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere, shielding humans from harmful ultraviolet rays.

But ozone at ground level is a harmful contaminant, and is caused when pollutants emitted by vehicles, power plants, refineries and other sources chemically react with sunlight, especially in hot weather, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

Trevino, who also is director of the Health Port Communities Coalition, demands that ozone meters be installed near industrial areas of the city. None exist currently.

- Millions affected -

According to the American Lung Association, nearly 120 million US citizens (more than a third of the nation) live in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, with some of them vulnerable to illness and even death.

"I feel like that it is extremely dangerous for our health in the long run, especially for the little ones and the elderly," said Esmeralda Carr, a 32-year-old mother of four and a neighbor of Trevino's.

"When you have a lot of pollution, you end up having more people go to the hospitals. They may have asthma, which is exacerbated by that ozone or that pollution," Villarreal said.

Those most harmed by the pollution are African American and Latino communities, the American Lung Association says.

mav/tjj/bgs
Smoke and heat warnings affect more than 170m in US

Officials in Washington DC have urged residents to take precautions due to poor air quality.

More than 170 million Americans are under either heat or air quality alerts as wildfire smoke and scorching temperatures continue to plague the US.

Air quality across a large part of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic has been deemed "unhealthy" by health officials.

Meanwhile, in the west, cities including Las Vegas and Phoenix are bracing for temperatures of up above 43C (110F) this weekend.

At least a dozen people have died of heat-related causes in recent days.

The poor air quality has been attributed to over 500 active wildfires in Canada that have sent smoke plumes south, even as conditions have improved slightly in parts of the Midwest.

On Friday, the country's worst air quality was expected across a vast tract of land stretching from Michigan and Ohio to the East Coast.

The worst air quality in the US at approximately 09:00 local time (14:00 BST) on Friday was in New York City, followed by Washington DC, Detroit and Chicago, according to IQAir.com.

The Environmental Protection Agency said air in these area was either "unhealthy for sensitive groups" - which include the elderly, young children and outdoor workers - or "unhealthy".

Authorities have declared a state-wide air quality advisory that will remain in effect through Friday. Governor Kathy Hochul urged that New Yorkers "take precautions to protect their health".

In the Washington DC area, concerns over air quality prompted the cancellation of dozens of outdoor events and a warning from local health authorities to avoid strenuous outdoor activities and to consider wearing a mask when outside.

In Canada, parts of the provinces of Ontario, Quebec are most affected by the smoke.

In the Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal regions, poor air quality is expected to persist into the weekend, with conditions beginning to improve into Saturday.

Meanwhile, in the western US, millions of people in Nevada, Arizona and California can expect excessive heat warnings beginning on Saturday, with temperatures in some places expected to rise to 43C.

In Texas, which has seen temperatures above 37C for nearly two weeks, temperatures have begun to drop. Eleven people have reportedly died of heat-related causes in the state's Webb County, which is centred on the city of Laredo along the Mexican border.

"Although a few locations across Central and East Texas may reach advisory criteria, the prevalence of 105F [43C] heat indices will be far less widespread, and our protracted stretch of advisories/warnings for heat will come to an end," the National Weather Service said in a bulletin.

Storms that are expected in other parts of the south are also expected to bring temperatures down over Saturday and Sunday.

Over 700 people die heat-related deaths each year, according to CDC statistics, with another 68,000 people sent to emergency rooms.

Heatwaves have become more frequent, intense and last longer because of human-induced climate change, scientists say.

Some have warned that climate change is also likely to lead to more wildfires and subsequent smoke warnings.

A University of California - Irvine study published on 12 June, for example, found that "an increase in temperatures and dryness has been identified to be one of the major drivers" of summer forest fires.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Leigh Vogel/Getty Images

Justice Sonia Sotomayor blasted the Supreme Court for siding with a web designer who wanted to not serve same-sex couples.

Sotomayor wrote a firey dissent, arguing that high court's decision will lead to LGBTQ+ Americans becoming second-class citizens.

"Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people," she wrote.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor slammed the Supreme Court for siding with a Colorado web designer who argued her constitutional rights were being violated if she was forced to make a website for a same-sex couple getting married, tearing into her colleagues for setting up LGBTQ+ Americans to be "second-class" citizens.

"Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people," Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the court's opinion in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, leading the high court's six conservative members in finding that public accommodation laws cannot supersede a person's First Amendment rights. Sotomayor was joined in her dissent by the court's two other liberals, Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Sotomayor wrote that this is the first time in the nation's history that the Supreme Court has allowed a public business to discriminate against a "protected class" of people. Under federal law, sexual orientation is a protected class that cannot be discriminated against. Friday's decision underlines that such protections are not absolute.

"The opinion of the Court is, quite literally, a notice that reads: 'Some services may be denied to same-sex couples,'" Sotomayor wrote.

Gorsuch devoted large sections of his majority opinion to responding to Sotomayor. He also argued that Sotomayor "conjures out of thin air" that the ruling will allow for very apparent discrimination.

"Our decision today does not concernmuch less endorseanything like the " 'straight couples only' " notices the dissent conjures out of thin air," Gorsuch wrote in a footnote.

Addressing her dissent, Gorsuch argued that Sotomayor ignored the difference between someone wanting to control their own speech versus ensuring the sale of something on equal terms.

"While it does not protect status-based discrimination unrelated to expression, generally it does protect a speaker's right to control her own messageeven when we may disapprove of the speaker's motive or the message itself," Gorsuch wrote in a footnote about the Free Speech Clause in the First Amendment. "The dissent's derision is no answer to any of this."

Sotomayor said the court's opinion will lead to LGBTQ+ Americans and potentially other groups of people receiving unequal treatment without legal recourse.

"What message does that send? It sends the message that we live in a society with social castes. It says to the child of the same-sex couple that their parents' relationship is not equal to others'."

In concluding her dissent, Sotomayor said the future treatment of LGBTQ+ Americans in the public space was not solely decided by the high court. Rather, it is now up to individual business owners to plot the path forward.

"Every business owner in America has a choice whether to live out the values in the Constitution."

Read the original article on Business Insider
BANGKOK, June 30 (Xinhua) -- China's integrated water management approach holds promise in addressing resource management challenges and fostering sustainable development in the Lancang-Mekong countries, said a Thai expert.

Piti Srisangnam, executive director of the ASEAN Foundation, said China's emphasis on comprehensive planning, cooperation, and recognizing the interconnectivity of various sectors and stakeholders has proven effective in water resource management.

"By adopting these practices, several countries can enhance efficiency, promote sustainability, and address water-related issues in sustainable and holistic manners. It can also serve as a model for other countries that share the same river systems and face similar water management challenges," he said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Piti, who is also an associate professor of economics at Thailand's Chulalongkorn University, said sharing China's experiences in long-term planning and infrastructure development, notably from the Belt and Road Initiative, can enable the other countries in the Lancang-Mekong River basin, which includes Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, to strengthen their water infrastructure and build resilience in the face of water-related challenges.

With the use of technologies like drip irrigation systems and precision agriculture, particularly in arid regions, he said, "China has made significant progress in conserving water resources. Sharing these kinds of technologies and practices with other countries can contribute to global efforts in water conservation."

Piti said the Lancang-Mekong River basin, home to rich diversity and ecosystems that are vital to the livelihood of several hundred million people, is facing numerous environmental challenges, from deforestation, habitat loss, and water pollution to the impacts of climate change.

Preserving ecological diversity and protecting endangered species in the Lancang-Mekong River, such as the Irrawaddy dolphin and the Mekong giant catfish, are essential aspects of sustainable water use and long-term water resource health, he said.

"Balancing economic development with environmental protection and sustainable resource management is a complex task that we need to work out and pay more attention to," said Piti, noting that China's experience in balancing economic development with environmental protection can provide valuable lessons for global management.

Knowledge sharing and capacity-building programs within the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) framework through collaborative efforts with organizations like the Jakarta-based ASEAN Foundation can also enhance awareness and cooperation, and this can be applied on a global scale, he added.

By emphasizing the shared history, and culture in the LMC region, it is most important to create a sense of community for the shared future of mankind, striving for common prosperity and leaving no one behind, he added.

Originating from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau in southwest China, the river is called the Lancang River in China and the Mekong River when it flows through the other five countries before emptying into the sea. 
He sought a hitman to kill a 14-year-old boy. Now this Haddonfield man faces prison

CAMDEN - A Haddonfield man has received a 6-year prison term for trying to arrange the murder of a 14-year-old boy.

John Michael Musbach, 34, also must pay a $30,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for New Jersey.

Musbach sought a hitman in 2016 to kill a New York boy whom he had victimized in an online child-pornography crime one year earlier, according to information from the federal prosecutor's office.

More: Borough man awaits sentencing Jury returns verdict in case of Patrick Stedman, Capitol riot suspect from Haddonfield

He wanted to prevent the boy from testifying at a trial for endangering the welfare of a child, authorities alleged.

Musbach paid $20,000 in bitcoin to the operator of a website that offered murder-for-hire services, but the purported "hitman" simply kept the money and did nothing to the boy.

According to a criminal complaint, Musbach made the payment after the website's administrator told him a 14-year-old was not too young to be killed.

When Musbach eventually requested a refund, the complaint says, the "hitman" disclosed his business was a scam. The website administrator then demanded $10,000 to refrain from reporting Musbach to law enforcement.

The complaint does not say whether Musbach paid the additional amount.

Musbach was arrested for the hitman scheme in 2019 after authorities heard from a hacker who had accessed the murder-for-hire website.

Musbach pleaded guilty in February to using the internet with the intent that a murder be committed,

U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez also ordered Musbach to pay a fine of $30,000 at a June 27 hearing in Camden federal court.

He also is to serve three years on supervised release.

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: Haddonfield man going to prison for arranging murder of boy
South African president cleared of wrongdoing in scandal over $580,000 in cash stolen from his farm

FILE  South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa attends a working session with representatives of banks of the "Finance in Common" network during the New Global Financial Pact Summit, Thursday, June 22, 2023 in Paris. A South African public watchdog has cleared Ramaphosa of wrongdoing in the scandal involving the theft of $580 000 in U.S. currency that was stashed in a sofa at his Phala Phala game farm in 2020. (Emmanuel Durand, Pool via AP, File)

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was cleared of wrongdoing Friday by a public watchdog over a scandal involving the theft of more than half a million dollars in U.S. currency that had been stashed in a sofa at his game farm.

Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, whose office holds politicans to account, said Ramaphosa did not violate the ethics code for members of South Africa's executive over the incident, which happened in 2020 but was only revealed publicly last year.

The scandal was seen as the biggest callenge to Ramaphosa's reputation and his leadership of Africa's most developed economy. There is still an ongoing criminal investigation into the incident.

Ramaphosa said $580,000 in cash was stolen. Gcaleka said it was not part of her investigation to confirm how much money was involved and didn't give a figure.

Ramaphosa, 70, was accused of not reporting the theft properly to police in an attempt to cover up the existence of the large sum of cash hidden in furniture at his farm. He said he reported it to the head of his security detail, which is part of the South African Police Services.

In clearing him in her final report on the scandal, Gcaleka accepted that Ramaphosa had reported the crime to the head of his personal protection unit and the contention that he had acted improperly was not supported.

Gcaleka also said there was no evidence that Ramaphosa was guilty of a conflict of interest regarding any income from the business operations of his Phala Phala game farm in the northern Limpopo province.

"The allegation that the president improperly and in violation of the provisions of the executive code exposed him(self) to a risk of a conflict between his constitutional duties and obligations and his private interests arising from his alleged paid work at Phala Phala farm is not substantiated, Gcaleka said at a news conference.

The investigation of Ramaphosa was prompted by a complaint made to the Public Protector's office by the opposition African Transformation Movement Party.

The incident came to light last June when the former head of South Africa's intelligence service, Arthur Fraser, opened a case with police accusing Ramaphosa of hiding as much as $4 million at his farm before it was stolen. Fraser accused the president of money laundering and breaching tax and foreign currency control laws, and attempting to cover up the theft of the cash in an attempt to hide its existence.

Ramaphosa denied any wrongdoing and also disputed the amount of money Fraser claimed was stolen.

Fraser also made other startling claims that Ramaphosa ordered the head of his personal protection unit, Maj. Gen. Wally Rhoode, to undertake a clandestine investigation to recover the money, including the capture and torturing of some of the suspects and later bribing them to keep the incident secret.

Public Protector Gcaleka dispelled those allegations, or even that Ramaphosa knew of details of the investigation by Rhoode.

No evidence could be found to prove that the president was aware of the investigation of the crime by Gen. Rhoode, she said.

The scandal had seriously dented Ramaphosas image as a leader intent on cleaning up South Africa's corruption-tainted government and his ruling African National Congress party.

Questions remain, though, over why such a large amount of money was stuffed into a sofa at the farm. Ramaphosa has not explained why the cash was in the sofa but has said that it was the proceeds from the sale of buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman.

The scandal led to opposition parties calling for Ramaphosa's resignation but they failed in an attempt to start impeachment proceedings against him as his ANC party maintains a majority in the 400-member Parliament.

In December, a report by a parliamentary panel looking into the matter found that Ramaphosa may have broken anti-corruption laws. According to that report, Ramaphosa said the money stolen amounted to $580,000.

The report also questioned Ramaphosas explanation that the money was from the sale of buffaloes as it found the animals remained at the farm more than two years later.

However, the ANC rejected the findings of the report and used its majority in Parliament to block attempts to start impeachment proceedings, paving the way for Ramaphosa to be re-elected as the partys leader. He is expected to seek a second and final five-year term in elections next year.

___

More AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
Drag queens Lumina Klum and Mrs. Tan perform as activists take part in a protest to kick off Pride month in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, June 2, 2023. Credit - Ezra AcayanGetty Images

At first glance, the deeply Catholic Philippines can seem surprisingly LGBT-friendly. In a nation of 110 million people, more than 110,000 showed up last week to Quezon Citys Pride festival, making it by far the largest LGBT congregation in Southeast Asia. The country also ranks highest in the region for LGBT social acceptanceaccording to a 2021 global indexand its made significant strides over the years toward greater inclusivity and equality.

And yet, for more than two decades, a bill that would criminalize discrimination based on ones sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics (SOGIESC) has languished in the Philippines Congress. Year after year, its practically become an annual tradition for legislation on the matter to be reintroduced and rejected, leaving LGBT people in many parts of the country with no legal recourse when theyre discriminated against.

Read more: A Year After Singapore Decriminalized Gay Sex, Its LGBT Community Turns Attention to Family

While many cities across the country have already instituted local ordinances to make SOGIESC-based discrimination illegal, Irish Inoceto, a Filipino LGBT activist and former employee of the Philippine Supreme Court, tells TIME that they have no teeth at all and that she has seen firsthand just how overdue and glaringly necessary such a nationwide law is.

Commuters look on from a bus at activists taking part in a protest to kick off Pride month in Quezon City on June 2. Ezra AcayanGetty Images

Last October, Inoceto received a message on Facebook from an 11th grader just weeks before students were to be required back in classrooms after two years of COVID-prompted remote learning. The student, a transgender woman in Iloilo City, some 280 miles southeast of Manila, had met Inoceto through one of the routine LGBT rights seminars Inoceto facilitated across Iloilo City, where she used to be based. The student, who had attended some classes in person during a hybrid-remote period, told Inoceto that the school principal summoned her personally to say that men should not wear bras; she also said a school security officer policed her uniform. Meanwhile, another student at the same school who also identifies as a transgender woman similarly reached out to Inoceto to tell her that the principal rounded up all the students in her grade and declared that bakla (gay men) with long hair must cut it or be barred from school.

The length of my hair is not the basis for my schooling, the latter student, who is now 19 and requested anonymity for fear of further discrimination, tells TIME.

The situation prompted Inoceto to write to the school on both students behalfs. She cited Iloilo Citys own anti-discrimination ordinance that passed in 2018, but she says her letter was ignored. Only after visiting the principal in person did Inoceto ultimately prevail in getting the school to back down on its attempts to curb both students gender expression. Any relief for Inoceto, however, was short-lived. The ordeal thrust her into the national spotlight and set in motion a saga that would ultimately force her to flee the country, where she continues to advocate for the national anti-discrimination bill to be passed.

Inoceto, who is now 46 years old, has spent half her life watching Philippine legislators fail to create a national anti-discrimination law for the LGBT community. Legislative records show the first version of what would later come to be known as the SOGIE Equality Bill was filed in the Philippine House of Representatives on Jan. 26, 2000. Successive Congresses have seen the bill progress through the legislative process to varying degrees, only to meet the same fate: at best, the entire lower chamber might approve it, only for the upper chamberthe Philippine Senateto let it stall in deliberations.

The most recent version of the bill in the Senate would outlaw SOGIESC-based discriminatory practices like refusing admission to or expelling a person from schools, or imposing harsher than normal disciplinary sanctions on students. If passed, violators may pay a fine as high as 250,000 Philippine pesos ($4,535) or be jailed for as long as six years.

But the bill faces steep political resistance, particularly from Christian fundamentalists who, despite constituting a minority of the population compared to the Philippines overwhelming Catholic majority, represent a potent political force in the country: megachurches have galvanized fiercely loyal followings and fostered political power through electoral endorsements and the fielding of their own candidates.

Read more: In the Philippines, You Can Be Both Openly LGBT and Proudly Catholic. But Its Not Easy

Opponents of the SOGIE Equality Bill have been accused of promulgating disinformation online as well as in the halls of Congress to obstruct its passage.

Two of the most vocal figures in the legislative efforts to block the bill are father and son duo Eddie and Joel Villanuevaa representative and senator, respectively. The elder Villanueva, who is also the founder of the Jesus is Lord megachurch, has describe the bill as imported, saying it doesnt represent Filipino values, while the younger Villanueva has accused the bill of being a precursor to same-sex marriage.

Reyna Valmores, chair of the Philippine LGBT rights group Bahaghari, has attended deliberations of the bill in the Philippine House as a resource person. She tells TIME the hearings can often feel like a circus of disinformation. We have elected officials talking about how the SOGIE Equality Bill is going to legalize bestiality, is going to legalize having sex robots, and some other such nonsense.

Members and supporters of the LGBT community take part in the Metro Manila Pride March in Pasay, June 25, 2022. Jam Sta RosaAFP/Getty Images

Its a matter of debates in Congress, Valmores says. But for many people, its a matter of survival.

Soon after helping the two students in Iloilo City, Inoceto began to be targeted at a national scalehighlighting some of the extreme measures taken by prominent opponents of LGBT advocacy in the country.

Her name appeared in broadcasts from the Sonshine Media Network International, a television station owned by Apollo Quiboloya Philippine megachurch leader who is on the FBIs most-wanted list for charges of sex trafficking women and children. Two anchors of a show on the network, Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Ka Eric Celiz, claimed that Inoceto was a member of the local communist insurgency group and has been using LGBT issuessuch as her opposition to the gendered haircut policyto recruit students from the Iloilo school. (TIME spoke to multiple students who denied that they had been recruited by Inoceto in any way.)

The sudden attention was confusing and frightening: Im an activist, but Im not a big-time activist, Inoceto tells TIME. I work after hours and on weekends on my advocacy. So I was like, Why me? And why issues on trans women students?

People protest a pardon granted to a U.S. marine who was convicted in 2014 of killing a Filipino transgender woman, in Quezon City, Sept. 8, 2020. Ezra AcayanGetty Images

Red-tagginga McCarthyism-like tactic of falsely labeling people as communists historically used in the Philippines to silence critics of the government, which has sometimes even led to victims being killedhas more and more been used against LGBT advocates in recent years. (Valmores from Bahaghari has also been red-tagged.)

Read more: Youve Probably Heard of the Red Scare, Heres the History You Didnt Learn About the Anti-Gay Lavender Scare

After the broadcast, the countrys Commission on Human Rights issued a statement expressing concern over the anchors remarks, adding that the narrative they used only serves to perpetuate the already disadvantageous plight of the LGBT who frequently face stigma, discrimination, and gender-based violence in our society.

But that wasnt the end of it. Inoceto saw her face posted across tarpaulins in the city, and her identity spread on social media. She even says her mother was visited by people who claimed to be police officers, asking her to stop her LGBT activism.

Concerned over the risks to her and her familys safety, Inoceto says she applied for political asylum in France, where she is currently staying. Shes convinced that if the SOGIE Equality Bill had already been passed, she would have been protected from her harassment. Right out the bat I was discriminated [against] because I was working towards inclusion, she says.

Still, despite all the obstacles and dangerous disinformation wielded against the LGBT movement, Inoceto remains hopeful that the anti-discrimination bill in the Philippines will eventually passbut not without sustained pressure put on the groups that are standing in its way. Rights are fought for and won after so much struggle after all, she says. We just need to be stronger. In the meantime, we keep fighting the good fight.
New spa in North Myrtle Beach known for its hot stone massage. Heres how you can get one

If youre looking for a massage in North Myrtle Beach, a new spot has opened in the city.

Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa had its grand opening June 30. The spa had been open on a limited basis the previous month. It is located at 1416 Highway 17 N, Suite 5.

The spa has several services for customers, including prenatal therapy and facials using either CBD, vegan only, or Dermalogica products.

Clients can also receive facials and massages. The establishment is known for its hot stone massage, where a therapist uses a salt stone sourced from Pakistan, and also provides foot massages.

Hand & Stone can accommodate eight individual hour-long facials and massages at once, as well as a couples massage in a special room.

Spa General Manager Allison Webb said the spa is running a special discount for the grand opening through July 4. First-time customers can get any facial or massage for $69.95. The spa also plans to add chemical peels and oxygen lifts by the end of July and cryotherapy in August.

The spa franchise is owned by Traci and Anthony Nocito, who began work on the project in 2022.

The new spa is not the only wellness center coming to the Grand Strand. Webb said the Nocitos are looking to add two more locations sometime this year.
Five months after a fuel tank at a Space Force observatory spilled 700 gallons of fuel atop a sacred Hawaiian volcano, officials are still trying to determine how much of the soil has been contaminated.

In the months since the fuel spill at a facility perched on the 10,023-foot summit of Haleakala, a volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the Department of the Air Force has been working on cleanup efforts with local and federal agencies. In that time, workers had removed an estimated 84,000 pounds of soil, but crews are still working to see how deep the fuel may have saturated into the ground.

"We are taking deliberate actions as we work to safely restore the sacred grounds at Haleakala, while taking into account regulatory and cultural needs at the site," Lt. Col. Phillip Wagenbach, 15th Space Surveillance Squadron commander, said in a press release earlier this month.

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On June 16, a contract was awarded to GSI Pacific, a Native Hawaiian-owned company, which will take soil samples at depths of 40, 80 and 100 feet in an attempt to build an underground "map of fuel contamination depth and breadth," according to a press release.

That work -- the second phase of the cleanup efforts -- was supposed to last for two weeks, but could face delays if there's inclement weather on Haleakala. A Space Force spokesman said Thursday the efforts appeared to be on schedule.

Haleakala is a culturally and religiously significant site for native Hawaiians, according to the National Park Service, and it is considered to be a dwelling for the gods and is a place where priests perform ceremonies.

The Space Force also hired Dane Uluwehiokalani Maxwell, a local born in Pukalani on the slopes of Haleakala, to monitor the excavation and provide cultural advice. Maxwell's grandfather was a notable critic of the space telescopes' early development.

Maxwell told Military.com in a phone interview on Thursday that the progress was steady, but that there were sensitivities that needed to be taken into account with the sacred soil.

"It's going as good as it can for something that has impacted the culture pretty severely," Maxwell said. "I know a lot of new territory is being explored to try to accommodate and work with cultural concerns. It's been a process and is another good exercise; I just wish it wasn't at the expense of a diesel spill."

The spill was blamed on a diesel fuel pump for a backup generator that failed to shut off on the evening of Jan. 29, according to the Space Force. A float -- a piece that helps monitor fuel levels -- inside the fuel tank was defective, the service said.

The Jan. 29 spill was the latest incident that has marred relationships between Native Hawaiian groups and the Department of Defense. Nearly a month after the spill, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall made a 5,000-mile trip from Washington, D.C., to the island and gave a speech saying the situation "harmed our reputation."

Maxwell acknowledged that there's a long history of protest against military construction and the presence of troops on the Hawaiian islands, with the fuel spill on Maui seen as another example of that strife.

"When it did happen, it was just, you know, 'Here's another instance of why we shouldn't have these facilities in our most sacred spaces,''" Maxwell said. "So, there's a lot of angry individuals."

The 700-gallon fuel spill at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex, which is home to the Defense Department's largest optical telescope, according to the Space Force's website, was only a fraction of the 20,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked in a much larger incident at the Navy's Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility near Honolulu in 2021.

At least 93,000 people living in military housing on and around Pearl Harbor were affected by the massive jet-fuel spill. More than 5,000 gallons eventually seeped into the ground and tap water.

That contamination forced thousands to leave their residences, and those who stayed had to rely on bottled water for months. In 2022, the Pentagon announced that the World War II-era bulk fuel farm would be closed and drained.

Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Mastalir, commander of Space Forces Indo-Pacific, told Military.com during the Air and Space Forces Association's conference in Colorado in March that the situation on Maui differed from Red Hill due to the fact that there are no residents and no water sources at the top of the volcano.

But Mastalir added it was still important to repair trust with the Hawaiian community and added, "You rebuild that relationship by spending time and you listening to the local people." He said he has spoken with protesters who have come to the site, as well as numerous community leaders.

"Haleakala is a little bit different than the concern we saw in O'ahu with Red Hill; it's really more about the sacred land upon which we operate," Mastalir said. "Recognizing that that is a privilege, not a right, and recognizing that if the Space Force is going to continue to operate, that we're going to do so responsibly like we have done for the last 30 years."

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Fuel Spill on Sacred Hawaiian Volcano 'Harmed Our Reputation,' Air Force Secretary Says
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was one of the losers during this legislative session, according to Dan Bice.

MADISON - Assembly Speaker Robin Vos indicated Republicans will move to repeal state laws and programs based on race  including a state-run scholarship program for students of color  following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down the consideration of race in college admissions.

"We are reviewing the decision and will introduce legislation to correct the discriminatory laws on the books and pass repeals in the fall," Vos, a Republican of Rochester, tweeted Thursday.

Vos was referring to the Minority Undergraduate Retention Grant program, which provides scholarships ranging from $250 to $2,500 to Black, Native American, Hispanic or Southeast Asian students to attend technical colleges, private nonprofit colleges and tribal colleges.

The Higher Educational Aids Board, which administers the program, did not respond to a request for comment. A similar grant program is available for students of color attending University of Wisconsin System schools.

Research shows Black and Hispanic students are more likely to drop out and less likely to graduate compared to their white peers.

The conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty filed a lawsuit over the scholarship program, including on behalf of a biracial couple who said their son did not qualify. That case is currently in an appeals court.

"I think it was fairly clear before, but now it's doubly clear that any use of race is just not permitted. I don't see how the state could successfully defend that case now," Rick Esenberg, WILL's president and chief counsel, said in an interview.

Esenberg said there is "nothing about (the Supreme Court's) decision that limits it to higher education." WILL believes other state laws and programs with considerations of race are now illegal, including the following:

Awarding state contracts with preferences to race.

Grants to improve health outcomes among certain racial groups.

Dorms and spaces within the University of Wisconsin System intended for certain racial identities.

Various grants that help minority-owned businesses.

In response to the Supreme Court's decision Thursday, the University of Wisconsin-Madison said it would modify some of its admissions practices, including eliminating race as part of its evaluation. But the immediate effects on scholarships and financial eligibility were not yet clear.

A UW-Madison page explaining the impact of the decision said the university would review the decision and seek additional guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and UW Board of Regents to determine the impact on scholarships.

At a press conference earlier Thursday, Vos said the high court's decision "bolsters the idea that race as a predominant factor in making decisions in America today is an outdated notion that should not continue. It shouldn't be for hiring, shouldn't be for promotion, shouldn't be for acceptance into the university."

More: Speaker Robin Vos says he's 'embarrassed' to be a UW System alumnus because of campus diversity programs

Democrats criticized the Supreme Court's decision, warning it would result in further racial gaps in higher education.

"We do not live in a colorblind society, nor do I want to live in a colorblind society. I want them to see a Black man. I want them to see all that comes with me being a Black man, the rich tradition I have, the resilience I hold, and the burden sometimes I have to carry, and I want respect," Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde, D-Milwaukee, said on the Assembly floor.

Vos' plan comes amid a broader Republican push to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts within the University of Wisconsin System. The state budget, which passed both chambers this week, includes a $32 million cut to the UW System in an attempt to eliminate positions related to DEI.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers had previously said he would not sign the budget with the cut to the UW System, but it is unclear whether he still plans to veto the entire budget.

Tyler Katzenberger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Speaker Robin Vos says he'll move to end minority scholarship program
[Source]

Squid Game lead Lee Jung-jae has requested $1 million per episode for Season 2 of the Netflix hit dystopian series, South Korean tabloid Dispatch revealed.

The report: If Lees alleged request is met, the 50-year-old actor would earn a staggering $13 million in total for the 13 episodes of Season 2.

Lee was previously paid $248,000 per episode for Season 1, totaling his salary to $2.2 million.

According to Dispatchs report, Netflix allegedly cannot ignore Lee's hefty salary request due to his significance to the hit series, which collected over $900 million in series-related revenue and became Netflixs most-watched series of all time.

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The actor nor Netflix has confirmed the requested paycheck.

Rumors about casting: Besides the talk surrounding Lees salary, the actor is also being questioned for his alleged involvement in the casting of his close friend and former Big Bang member T.O.P. in Season 2.

However, Lees agency Artist Company denied the rumors. In a statement to Soompi, the agency said:

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We would like to express our position regarding the reports about actor Lee Jung Jaes involvement in the casting of Squid Game 2. Some of the reports that claim actor Lee Jung Jae was involved in the casting of Squid Game 2 are not true. The casting of a project is the authority of the director and the production company. In particular, actor Lee Jung Jae understands more than anyone that due to the great interest in Squid Game 2, many actors work hard to make an appearance, and [the cast members] are decided through audition.

T.O.P, who was previously charged with smoking marijuana, has not confirmed if he auditioned for the role. The 35-year-olds last acting role was reportedly in 2016.

Squid Game Season 2 is set to commence filming later this year. Its official release date has yet to be announced.

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[Source]

Bottles of Sriracha have skyrocketed to as much as $120 on the internet as maker Huy Fong Foods continues to grapple with chili shortages.

Current prices: Earlier this week, it was reported that some supermarkets in California  where Huy Fong Foods is headquartered  have been selling the beloved Asian sauce for about $30, along with a two-bottle limit for each customer.

Meanwhile, online prices have gone exorbitant: Over at eBay, a last standing 28-ounce bottle is currently selling at $48.99, while those looking for a discount can find two 28-ounce bottles selling at $105 ($52.5 per bottle).

Prices are much higher on Amazon, with one seller recently hawking two 28-ounce bottles for $124 ($62 per bottle). Last week, one Twitter user also shared two packs of 17-ounce bottles selling for a staggering $179.99 (about $90 per bottle).

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How its come to this: Before all this happened, a 17-ounce bottle of Huy Fong Foods Sriracha cost $3.99.

But that price tag is long gone as the manufacturer faces an unprecedented chili shortage, which is now in its third year. The problem has been linked to rising temperatures and resulting droughts in California, New Mexico and Mexico, where the company sources its chili peppers.

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The situation has gone so bad that at least one restaurant has reported missing Sriracha bottles from its tables.

What Huy Fong Foods is saying: Unfortunately, there is no end in sight for the chili shortage. Huy Fong Foods said it recently resumed limited production, but there is still a lack of raw materials.

"Although some production did resume this past fall season, we continue to have a limited supply that continues to affect our production. At this time, we have no estimations of when supply will increase," the company said in a statement.

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It also thanked patrons for their continued support: "We are grateful for your continued patience and understanding during this unprecedented inventory shortage. We are currently working on trying to avoid future shortages."

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Bottles of Huy Fong Sriracha are going for as much as $70 on some sites amid a shortage of the popular hot sauce linked to ongoing droughts.

A single 28-ounce bottle is being listed by one eBay seller for nearly $70, while a two-pack of 17-ounce bottles is going on Amazon for around $100 or more from some merchants.

Other brands iterations of the sauce on the sites are notably less expensive, but prices for Huy Fongs authentic version are being driven up by the an ongoing shortage of the chilis used to make the condiment.

The company announced a a shortage of chili pepper inventory back in 2020, and said last year that weather conditions were affecting quality and sparking an even more severe shortage.

The company is based in Irwindale, Calif., and reportedly supplied by chili pepper farms in California, New Mexico and Mexico, areas that have faced drought in recent years.

CBS News reported Thursday that a Huy Fong spokesperson said the company has recently resumed limited production, but is still facing a shortage of raw material and has no estimations of when supply will increase.

The Hill has reached out to Huy Fong for comment.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
St. Helena mother Jamie Bradley-Brun, accused in May of drowning her 6-year-old daughter before attempting to drown her 8-year-old, made her first appearance before a judge Friday morning, during which a number of new details were revealed about the childs death and the mothers arrest.

Beaufort County investigator Todd Duncan testified at Fridays preliminary hearing that the May 19 drowning of 6-year-old Mackaya Bradley-Brun and attempted drowning of the 8-year-old were both done in the homes bathtub. Police had not previously disclosed specifics.

Sheriffs Office investigators obtained warrants for Bradley-Bruns mental health records from Beaufort Memorial Hospital and Beauforts Coastal Empire Mental Health Center, Duncan said, suggesting the murder may be approached in court as an act of insanity. The 1 a.m. call to deputies May 19 was originally characterized as a woman having a mental health episode, Duncan said, but police have not commented on Bradley-Bruns mental state or the motive behind the early morning attack.

Duncan, who responded to Beaufort Memorial Hospital the morning of the incident and interviewed Bradley-Brun, said the mother appeared to be sober and alert in the hours following the alleged murder, coherently answering polices questions in detail. Duncan also said Bradley-Brun confessed to purposefully drowning the 6-year-old girl during a one-on-one interview at the hospital.

Obviously it was a traumatic situation, but she was aware of what she did, Duncan testified.

37-year-old Bradley-Brun waived her right to a bond hearing June 15, according to reporting from WSAV. Charged with murder and attempted murder, she has been in custody at the Beaufort County Detention Center since her May 19 arrest.

Beaufort County investigators interviewed all other occupants of the home on Sam Doyle Drive following the incident, including Bradley-Bruns mother and two surviving daughters. Police also conducted a background interview with Bradley-Bruns husband, the father of her two youngest children, Duncan said.

Circuit Court Judge Robert E. Ferguson Jr. transferred the case to general sessions court. A trial date for Bradley-Brun has not been scheduled, according to 14th Circuit Solicitors Office spokesperson Jeff Kidd.

Family and friends of Bradley-Brun who attended the bond hearing declined to comment on the case.

The Beaufort County Sheriffs Office is investigating the incident alongside the Department of Child Fatalities within SLEDs Special Victims Unit.
"Chinese Bridge" language competition promotes China-India exchanges: Chinese diplomat

Xinhua) 10:09, June 30, 2023

NEW DELHI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Through the "Chinese Bridge" language competition that connects the world, Indian youths can better understand the profound Chinese civilization, thus contributing to the friendly relationship between China and India, a Chinese diplomat has said.

Ma Jia, charge d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in India, made the remarks at the final of the 22nd "Chinese Bridge" Chinese proficiency competition in India last week.

The Chinese language competition for foreign college students in India was held on Friday in Mumbai. Vishal Anand from Central University of Gujarat won the top prize and will represent India in the global finals in China.

"I believe that more and more youths in India will learn Chinese inspired by you," Ma told the event.

She said the Chinese Embassy and Consulates-General in India will continue to provide more platforms for Indian students to learn Chinese and facilitate their further studies in China so that they can serve as bridges of communication and messengers of friendship between the two countries.

"To make it to the final is not only the hard work of the contestants, but also the dedication of the teachers and the support from the headmasters," the Chinese diplomat said.

She believed that the Chinese language education in India will open up new horizons, and the mutual learning between Chinese and Indian civilizations will be carried on from generation to generation.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Yvette Sylla, foreign minister of Madagascar, in Beijing, capital of China, June 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, met with Yvette Sylla, foreign minister of Madagascar, on Friday in Beijing.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said that China and Madagascar have always respected each other, treated each other as equals and carried out mutually beneficial cooperation, and bilateral relations have maintained a steady development momentum.

China highly appreciates Madagascar's adherence to the one-China principle and firmly supports Madagascar in safeguarding its national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and in exploring a development path suited to its own national conditions, Wang said.

China is willing to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, deepen people-to-people friendships, and open up new prospects for China-Madagascar relations, Wang added.

Sylla said that Madagascar firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and supports and is willing to actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and a series of important global initiatives proposed by China. 
After a strike organized by Oklahoma City unionized Starbucks workers that reached across the country, the coffee company agreed to write clear guidelines on decorating stores for Pride month.

The Starbucks Workers United union said it's the biggest Starbucks strike in history, with more than 150 stores and 3,500 workers involved. The union also said it's the biggest strike in U.S. history about queer and trans rights.

In addition to alleging their stores were no longer allowing Pride decorations that have been done in the past, the workers' strike protested alleged changes to the transgender healthcare plan and the company's withholding of benefits from unionized stores.

Oklahoma City Starbucks union workers marching in the OKC Pride Parade while on strike this week to protest some stores inability to decorate for Pride, as well as the company's treatment of LGBTQ+ workers and alleged union busting. Photo Provided

"This has been my first year as a queer employee at Starbucks that we havent been able to put the same level of effort into Pride decor as in previous years," said Niko Melton, an OKC unionized Starbucks worker and organizer of the recent strike. "The lack of proper communication and refusal to bargain was just unacceptable to us, so we decided to take matters into our own hands."

More: OKC metro-area Starbucks stores face prosecution for unfair labor practices, NLRB says

Did OKC Starbucks managers stop workers from decorating for Pride?

Workers in the OKC area stores as well as stores in other parts of the country have claimed that they were not allowed to decorate for Pride Month this year, in contrast to what they have been able to do previously.

In previous years, the workers were able to put up the decorations while on the clock and even given a budget to purchase them.

Sara Trilling, executive vice president and president of Starbucks North America, said in a statement Monday that clarity and consistency are needed when it comes to decorating guidelines. But Trilling denied any policy changes regarding "our inclusive store environments, our company culture, and the benefits we offer our partners."

More: Starbucks strike: Union says workers at over 150 stores to protest over alleged Pride decor bans

Starbucks will issue clearer guidelines on decorating, while providing flexibility for stores to reflect the communities they serve, Trilling said in the statement.

"As we reaffirm our previous commitments and standards, it will be even clearer to all who we are and what we stand for," Trilling said. "No one can take away our legacy and our continued commitment to being a place where we all belong."

Oklahoma City Starbucks union workers went on strike this week to protest some stores inability to decorate for Pride, as well as the company's treatment of LGBTQ+ workers and alleged union busting. Photo Provided

What else do Starbucks union workers want after the strike?

Starbucks workers have a myriad of benefits not common to other workers, including gender-affirming healthcare like gender-reassignment surgery and procedures most insurance providers deem "cosmetic" like top surgery, breast augmentation and hair implants.

But many workers live in states where access to this care is being challenged by legislatures, and Starbucks has not clarified whether its new travel reimbursement for gender-affirming healthcare applies to union stores, according to a letter signed by union workers.

The union is accusing the company of "union busting" by denying many new benefits to union stores, including changes that were petitioned for by those who are now part of the union.

Credit-card tipping is one of those benefits union stores can't access, because Starbucks said it would change the terms of employment and must be brought to the bargaining table.

So far, the company and the union have not reached a first contract, though the first store voted to unionize in December 2021. Now, more than 330 stores have voted to unionize.

"We urge the company to sit down with union partners and bargain with us in good faith, so that we may have the opportunity to take our fates into our own hands," local union workers Melton and Neha Cremin said in a letter signed by more than 300 Starbucks Workers United members.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why OKC Starbucks workers went on strike, what it resulted in
The State Department didnt keep tabs on the carbon pollution associated with flying hundreds of federal officials to the last two global climate summits, the Government Accountability Office said in a report made public Thursday.

Failing to do so ran afoul of a 2021 executive order by President Joe Biden that directed agencies to track the greenhouse gas emissions their operations produce, including official air travel, GAO said.

The report was requested by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who have all criticized the administration's climate policies.

Americans are tired of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. who dont practice what they preach when it comes to protecting the environment, Capito said in an email to POLITICOs E&E News.

The State Department said in an email that the department is working to counter global climate change at scale, an effort that requires face-to-face diplomacy. That includes reducing pollution from the aviation and shipping industries.

We have already seen in recent history that when we don't show up, we cede leadership to others, the department said, alluding to the Trump administrations withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, a move that Biden reversed.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry believes in showing up and doing everything he can to keep 1.5 degrees [Celsius] within reach, the department added. Scientists have warned that exceeding that threshold would mean runaway warming.

The White House declined to comment.

The State Department leads delegations to the annual U.N. climate confabs that include officials from other agencies  including the president in some years. The federal government sent 191 executive branch officials to the 2021 talks in Glasgow, Scotland, and 259 to last years summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, according to a tally included with the report.

In its report, GAO said the State Department didnt analyze air travel emissions for either meeting because it is still working on a methodology for doing so.

GAO recommended that the State Department consistently measure the greenhouse gas emissions created by flying to U.N. climate gatherings in order to align with Bidens goal of a zero-carbon U.S. economy by 2050.

For State and other federal agencies, the first step in meeting these goals is understanding U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from air travel and other sources, including U.S. delegation air travel to U.N. climate summits, the GAO wrote.

In a response to GAO included in the report, State Department Comptroller James Walsh said the department agrees with the thrust of the recommendation. But he suggested that GAO expand its advice to include a request for greenhouse gas accounting for all State Department air travel, not just to U.N. climate conferences.

Ernst, who took the lead in requesting GAO's investigation, said in an email to E&E News that the aim was to highlight the Biden administration's "hypocrisy."

The gas is always greener when youre burning fossil fuels in the name of saving the planet, she said. While giving lip service to greenies, Biden bureaucrats are blatantly emitting the greenhouse gases they demonize. The double standard is clear, and Americans have had enough of this hot air."

Capitos emailed statement echoed that sentiment.

In the Biden administration, the same people who are closing down power plants across the country and forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles are also the ones flying to climate conferences and using fossil fuels without apology," Capito wrote.

GAO pointed to a report by the U.K. government that found that aviation travel to the 2021 conference in Glasgow made up a significant share of the meetings overall carbon pollution.

Those talks were reported to be the highest-emitting climate summit to date, according to numerous outlets.

A report compiled for the U.K. by the sustainable management firm Arup estimated that the Glasgow meeting would result in roughly twice the carbon emissions of the previous conference held in Madrid in 2019.
Key failures by both the Trump and Biden administrations contributed to a chaotic and deadly end to the two-decade U.S. presence in Afghanistan, according to an unclassified State Department review published Friday.

Senior officials did not prepare for worst-case scenarios nor appreciate how quickly the situation could devolve; key leadership roles were not empowered with authority; and firmly held policy positions failed to take into account dissenting opinions, the review detailed.

The report narrowly focused on the State Departments responsibilities during the period when the U.S. was ending its military presence in Afghanistan, offering recommendations on how the agency could better prepare for and respond to extraordinary crises in unstable security environments.

The After Action Review was commissioned by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the aftermath of the U.S. pullout of Afghanistan, which formally ended on Aug. 31, 2021.

The review was conducted over the course of 90 days and included interviews with more than 150 current and former State Department officials at all levels of the organization, and a review of relevant documents and materials, the report notes. The interviews were voluntary, and those interviewed requested anonymity or to not be named in the report, it noted.

It was released with little notice and fanfare in the afternoon of a holiday weekend, when Congress is out of session and the administration is unlikely to face public questioning from journalists at press briefings.

It also comes nearly two years after U.S. officials first committed to critically reviewing the U.S. pullout of Afghanistan. It marked one of the lowest moments for President Bidens term, and contributed to intense criticism of and raised alarm over how the U.S. government prepares for evacuating Americans in times of crisis.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, slammed the State Department for declassifying only half of the full review as another blatant attempt to hide the Biden administrations culpability in the chaotic and deadly evacuation from Afghanistan.

While the U.S. managed to evacuate more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan over the course of two weeks, including more than 85,000 Afghans, the disorganized effort led to a swell of people rushing to the gates of Hamid Karzai International Airport over several days as the evacuation deadline neared. A subsequent suicide bomb blast killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 150 Afghans among the crowds outside the airport.

In this Aug. 24, 2021, file photo provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, families walk towards their flight during ongoing evacuations at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan. More than 30 California children are stuck in Afghanistan after traveling to the country to see their relatives weeks before the Taliban seized power and US forces left, according to school districts where the kids are enrolled. (Sgt. Samuel Ruiz/U.S. Marine Corps via AP, File)

Republicans have faulted the State Department, in particular, for failing to prepare for a worst-case scenario that resulted in more than 100,000 Afghan allies left behind.

The report notes that diplomats serving in Kabul who were forced to shutter their operations at the embassy faced a task of unprecedented scale and complexity to initiate an evacuation plan at the airport.

Overall, the Departments personnel responded with great agility, determination, and dedication, while taking on roles and responsibilities both domestically and overseas that few had ever anticipated, the review noted.

But the review takes to task that senior leadership was lacking in both the Trump and Biden administrations, failing to consider the worst-case scenarios and how quickly they could occur.

When the Trump administration left office, key questions remained unanswered about how the United States would meet the May 2021 deadline for a full military withdrawal, how the United States could maintain a diplomatic presence in Kabul after that withdrawal, and what might happen to those eligible for the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program as well as other at-risk Afghans, the review stated.

The report also noted that the Trump administration had almost no interagency process in its decision-making processes around Afghanistan and that the Biden administration was characterized by an intense interagency process.

Under the Biden administration, the State Department and embassy prepared for a number of contingencies with Bidens commitment to withdraw all U.S. military from Afghanistan, but the absence of a clear State Department lead to coordinate with the Department of Defense hindered effectiveness of planning, the review noted.

U.S. officials concern that the broadcasting of crisis and contingency planning would undermine the stability and security of the Afghan government is also highlighted as inhibiting efforts to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

The review also points out that the State Department lacked Senate-confirmed diplomats in key leadership roles and that while highly capable career officials filled these duties in an acting capacity, it is not the same as having a confirmed official in position.

In particular, the review points out that the position of Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs  the top official critical to the conduct of U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan and South and Central Asia  was filled by a rotation of career officials in an acting role throughout the Trump administration and most of the first year of the Biden administration.

The review described the officials who filled that role as talented career officials but added, No matter how qualified the acting person is, it is not the same as having a confirmed official in position.

The review also pins blame on the Trump administration for failing to process Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) for those who worked alongside U.S. service members over the 20-year course of the war. The group was deemed a priority for evacuations, but many eligible for such visas failed to get to them in time.

The lengthy process requires sign-off at multiple stages of the process, including approval by the embassy, creating a significant backlog that lawmakers warned would fail to dole out visas ahead of the withdrawal.

At the time the Trump administration signed the agreement with the Taliban in February 2020, there was a significant backlog in the Afghan SIV process. That administration made no senior-level or interagency effort to address the backlog or consider options for other at- risk Afghans despite its commitment to a military withdrawal, the department concluded in its report.

But military allies are estimated to be just a fraction of those who were left behind in the evacuation who are considered particularly vulnerable under Taliban leadership, a group that includes those who worked on womens rights or pro-democracy efforts. Many vulnerable Afghans remain in the country, where a lack of diplomatic services makes it difficult to gain entry to the U.S. Others who have fled in hopes of eventually reaching the U.S. likewise have limited pathways to do so.

The report highlights key improvements for the State Department to prioritize that can be applied to future scenarios of complex evacuations in dangerous and unstable security environments.

The AARs [After Action Reviews] recommendations identify the need to plan better for worst-case scenarios, to rebuild and strengthen the Departments core crisis management capabilities, and to ensure that senior officials hear the broadest possible range of views including those that challenge operating assumptions or question the wisdom of key policy decisions.

Under Secretary for Management John Bass said in a statement that recommendations from the review have been put into practice and applied to how the U.S. has been responding to unfolding crises like the outbreak of civil war in Sudan in May, Russias war in Ukraine and other conflict zones.

In a forward, the review noted that those interviewed were still processing the emotional trauma of working to help U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, locally employed embassy staff, and at-risk Afghans leave the country under incredible duress and commended them for dedication and professionalism.

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State warns: Dont swim in these popular Kansas lakes on 4th of July weekend

Four lakes in Kansas have been deemed unsafe for people and pets to enter because of blue-green algae, the Kansas Department of Health says.

Those lakes are Lake Afton in Sedgwick County, Harvey County East Lake, Marion Lake (Reservoir) in Marion County and Webster Lake in Rooks County. They are under a warning status for blue-green algae.

A warning status indicates that conditions are unsafe for human and pet exposure, a news release issued June 29 said. Contact with the waterbody should be avoided.

Harmful algal bloom may look like foam scum or paint floating in the water and be colored blue, bright green, brown or red, the release says.

Toxins from the algae can be transmitted by drinking or inhaling water and by skin contact, the release added.

Symptoms of exposure include rash, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, sore throat and headache.

If a person or dog comes in contact with algae, immediately rinse the area with clean, fresh water, KDHE said. Residents are encouraged to report an illness or health incident of algal bloom through an online form.

The state monitors lakes and reservoirs for blue-green algae and will issue a hazard, warning, watch or lifted status. Current advisories for lakes can be viewed on kdhe.ks.gov/Harmful-Algal-Blooms.
We can steer these into hurricanes. How drones by air and sea help Floridas forecasts

When it comes to forecasting the worlds most powerful storms, the more data you have, the better.

Now, new air and sea drones are helping NOAA hurricane scientists explore the storms from never-before-seen angles.

From pinpointing potentially lifesaving details about storm conditions to answering questions previously unknown to science, the new tech is filling crucial gaps in understanding.

I have so many questions from looking at data over years, said NOAA Hurricane Field Program deputy director Heather Holbach. Holbach has flown through hurricane eyewalls nearly 100 times in pursuit of her research to refine wind speed estimates.

The only way to answer those questions, Holbach says, is with more data from inside the storms  and drones can go where humans cant.

Im super excited to see where this is going to take us, she said.

Take, for instance, the Saildrone Explorer. Its an uncrewed surface vessel  thats a boat-like drone.

The 23 feet-long, 1,000-pound, bright orange drone is solar- and hydro-powered, and its remotely controlled via satellite by teams around the world.

It continuously collects info about its surroundings to provide data points including salinity, water temperature and turbulence, as well as nearly real-time visuals from the oceans surface.

NOAA receives data about hurricane conditons at the oceans surface from a growing fleet of Saildrone Explorer drones being deployed each hurricane season. Ryan Ballogg/rballogg@bradenton.com

Drones go inside hurricanes

Since NOAA began a partnership with the California-based company Saildrone in 2014, the autonomous aquatic data collector has become a major boon for hurricane scientists.

The most valuable thing is we can steer these into hurricanes, said NOAA oceanographer Greg Foltz. Thats unique.

The data that the Saildrone collects from inside the storms fury, where waves can reach 90 feet tall and winds climb to 125 mph, is fed directly into hurricane models.

We hope ultimately to improve the models and improve hurricane intensity prediction, Foltz said.

One particular concern is rapid intensification, or when hurricane winds increase by 35 mph or more in a 24-hour period. Its a pattern that is thought to be increasing with climate change, and more accurate predictions could help forecasters warn communities sooner.

NOAA does not own the vessels. Instead, they pay Saildrone for the data they collect. Saildrone and NOAA collaborate throughout the hurricane season as they plan where to deploy the drones.

This hurricane season, there are plans to send 10 of the drones into the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Two will remain on land for rapid deployment should a hurricane pop up in the Gulf, including one in St. Petersburg.

Applications arent limited to hurricanes. Saildrones and other autonomous tools could also be used to measure changes in ocean conditions over time or harmful algal blooms like red tide, researchers added.

Insights from all angles of the storm

Drone tech and other remote devices are now being used to measure storms at all angles.

Heres a look at some of the tools being deployed by NOAA:

Below the surface: Gliders, battery-powered drones that look like torpedoes, use buoyancy and gravity to glide up and down the water column. They provide water temperature, salinity and other data and can operate for months at a time.

At the surface: Saildrone Explorers cruise where the sky meets the sea  a crucial place in the development of hurricanes. They measure data points like air, water and sea surface temperature, salinity, relative humidity, barometric pressure and wind speed and direction. Last year, the Saildrone provided visuals from a different perspective  inside Category 4 Hurricane Fiona. Being able to see those videos from the Saildrone is just eye-opening because Im very interested in whats happening at the oceans surface, Holbach said.

In the air: Uncrewed aircraft systems, also known as drones, are sent into the layers of the hurricane where NOAAs crewed planes cant descend  heights of about 4,000 feet and below. The drones measure for maximum wind speed, pressure, humidity, turbulence and other factors. Drones in various phases of testing include the Blackswift, a small, lightweight flier, and the larger Altius, both of which penetrate into the storm.





The Anduril Industries Altius drone was successfully flown into Hurricane Ians Category 5 winds in 2022 to retrieve vital forecasting data. A demonstration model is pictured at NOAAs Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland on June 27, 2023. Ryan Ballogg/rballogg@bradenton.com

Last year, the Altius rode into Hurricane Ians Category 5 force winds when the Hurricane Hunter crew had to turn back for safety. The drone lasted 102 minutes and was able to transmit back to the NOAA crew from 130 miles away.

Another new addition to the drone fleet is the Dragoon, an aircraft in the testing phase that can fly for over 26 hours and will be used to monitor the outside perimeter of storms.

Riding the wind: Dropsondes, small tube-shaped instruments outfitted with sensors, are launched directly into the storm from NOAAs crewed aircraft. As they catch a ride on the hurricane express, they report vital info back to scientists.

This hurricane season, NOAA scientists are looking to bring all the helpful tech together in one hurricane.

If we can get the glider, the saildrone and uncrewed aircraft all measuring in the same place at the same time, that gives scientists a really incredible picture of the air-sea interaction with dynamics, said NOAA Corps Captain William Mowitt, who directs the agencys Uncrewed Systems Operations Center.

Data collected by the uncrewed technology will also feed into the Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System  a new forecast model that NOAA is launching this year.

NOAA received $6.9 billion in the 2023 federal budget, with an emphasis on programs that improve the agencys ability to predict extreme weather associated with climate change.

Will drones replace NOAAs Hurricane Hunters?

Are drones taking over for humans in exploring hurricanes? Not any time soon.

With the next generation of NOAAs famous Hurricane Hunter aircraft currently in development, people are still going to be flying into storms for many years to come, said Joseph Cione, lead meteorologist with NOAAs Hurricane Research Division.

However, he predicts a slow transition toward fully uncrewed systems over the next several decades.

For now, NOAA researchers say going into the storm still provides valuable firsthand insights.

Thats one of the things I love about getting on this plane and flying, Holbach said inside of NOAAs hurricane hunting P-3 Orion aircraft, nicknamed Miss Piggy.

I learn so much just from looking out the windows, seeing what it looks like and being able to immediately connect that to the data.

Joseph Cione, lead meteorologist with NOAAs Hurricane Research Division, discusses how drones can help measure conditions inside of hurricanes at NOAAs Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland on June 27, 2023. Ryan Ballogg/rballogg@bradenton.com

A view from inside NOAAs P-3 Orion, a four-engine, crewed aircraft that takes hurricane researchers into the heart of major storms to retrieve data for forecasting and research. Crewed missions are now working in unison with uncrewed devices, like drones, to monitor storms. Ryan Ballogg/rballogg@bradenton.com

NOAA receives data about hurricane conditions at the oceans surface from a growing fleet of Saildrone Explorer drones being deployed each hurricane season.
From Stonewall to Pride, the fight for equal rights has been rooted in resistance led by Black transwomen

An unidentified participant in a New York City Pride March during the 1980s. Mariett Pathy Allen/Getty Images

Its unclear who threw the first brick at Stonewall Inn on that night in New York City that arguably launched the gay rights liberation movement.

As part of queer lore, Marsha P. Johnson, a Black transwoman at the forefront of gay liberation, or Sylvia Rivera, a Latina transwoman, was the first. But based on their accounts of that night of June 28, 1969, neither threw that first brick.

Johnson admitted to arriving after the riots had started, and Rivera explained in an interview:

I have been given the credit for throwing the first Molotov cocktail by many historians, but I always like to correct it. I threw the second one; I did not throw the first one!

The most likely scenario does not involve a brick or Molotov cocktail but rather the pleas of Storme DeLarverie, a mixed-race lesbian.

While she was being thrown into the back of a police car, she asked her queer brothers and sisters, Arent you going to do something?

Because of Mafia ownership and stringent liquor laws, the Stonewall Inn, a popular night spot for the queer community, was an easy target for police raids during the 1960s.

At approximately 2 a.m., New York police officers arrived to clear out the bar at its closing time. Initially, most patrons were cooperative, but as harassment and arrests increased, the mostly queer patrons fought back.

Though the details of the origins of that night remain murky, what is clear is that both Johnson and Rivera were there and would later become anchors of gay rights and queer resistance.

Their protests, as well as the actions of other Black gay people in an earlier and little-known act of defiance, demonstrate how queer women of color were often overlooked but at the forefront of gay liberation.

Despite some social progress, Black transwomen continue to pay the price, sometimes with their lives.

Misperceptions of the Stonewall Riots

As a first-generation Black American and gay professor who researches the intersection of race and health, HIV and queer activism, I look for ways to better teach queer activism during my rhetoric of social movements course.

I have learned that the story of Stonewall became popularized when a movie was released in 2015. But the Stonewall movie was met with harsh criticism for whitewashing the story and omitting the role of Black and Latina queer people.

Gay liberation activist Marsha P. Johnson wears a black sequined jumpsuit during a 1982 Pride March. Barbara Alper/Getty Images

In the movie, a gay white man throws the first brick, but almost every public account of the night discredits this version.

Instead, it was queer people of color, especially gender nonconforming individuals, who led the charge. These individuals and other examples of queer resistance are often erased and forgotten in popular culture.

An overlooked act of defiance

Stonewall was not the first act of public defiance by a gay community.

The Comptons Cafeteria riot took place about three years before Stonewall and nearly 3,000 miles away in San Francisco.

Comptons Cafeteria, located in San Franciscos Tenderloin district, was a popular late-night gathering spot in the 1960s for transgender people, particularly transwomen.

But the cafeterias management and the police subjected these marginalized communities to harassment and constant mistreatment. Transwomen were often arrested under female impersonation laws and faced public humiliation and enduring physical violence.

In August 1966, a pivotal incident at Comptons Cafeteria sparked the flames of resistance.

The documentary Screaming Queens highlights the injustice faced by the trans community at the time, which was mostly women of color engaging in sex work.

After years of enduring mistreatment, a group of transwomen, drag queens and gender-nonconforming individuals decided they had endured enough.

When a police officer attempted to arrest one of the transwomen, she defiantly threw her cup of hot coffee in his face. Within a few moments, patrons overturned a police car.

This act of resistance ignited a spontaneous uprising within the cafeteria and on the streets. By the time it was over, police had arrested dozens of people and beaten countless others.

Although the Comptons Cafeteria riot did not receive the same level of national attention as other events, it had a profound and lasting impact.

Hate still runs rampant

Despite these acts of public defiance and growing public acceptance, transwomen of color repeatedly report higher rates of unemployment, elevated rates of stigma from health care providers, shattered trust with law enforcement and disproportionate rates of HIV and other ailments.

A demonstrator takes part in the Queer Liberation March on June 28, 2020, in New York. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

In addition, the murder of transpeople nearly doubled from 29 deaths in 2017 to 56 in 2021, according to the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety.

The Human Rights Commission notes that Black and Latina transwomen are at the highest risk of violence, with some assailants being able to skirt jail time due to gay/trans panic defense , which enables a suspect to blame their violent reaction on the victims sexuality.

So far in 2023, the murders of Cashay Henderson, a Black transwoman and KoKo Da Doll, the lead actor in Kokomo City, a Sundance Award-winning documentary, serve as tragic reminders of the ongoing violence and discrimination targeting queer people.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts, from an independent nonprofit. Try our free newsletters.

It was written by: Deion Scott Hawkins, Emerson College.

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Deion Scott Hawkins 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.
From triple-digit heat to "large hail" and severe thunderstorms, Americans across the country are in for some potentially dangerous weather as they head into the holiday weekend ahead of the Fourth of July, weather forecasters said.

An oppressive heat wave that has already caused more than a dozen deaths in Texas alone has finally been easing up, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday that "hazardous heat and humidity is still expected to impact locations across the Southeast through Independence Day."

Plus, Americans in some of the regions where Canadian wildfire smoke has blanketed the sky with a haze will continue to see air quality that is moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups over the weekend. That, however, is a significant improvement from the last few days.

Here's what to expect from the weather this weekend:

Thunderstorms, hail, flash flooding

A "slow-moving storm system" over this weekend and into early next week could bring heavy rainfall, severe thunderstorms and other dangerous weather this weekend, the NOAA said.

The mid-Mississippi Valley through the central Appalachians could see clusters of thunderstorms, damaging winds, large hail and flash flooding Saturday and Sunday. The storm system is expected to bring similar risks to the Mid-Atlantic between late Sunday and early Tuesday, potentially dampening 4th of July festivities.

The northern Plains region, the Southeast, Northeast and along the Rocky Mountains region may also see rain and thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday.

US weather watches and warnings map

Heat in the Southeast, California

Hazardous heat and humidity are expected to impact areas of the Southeast this weekend even as temperatures across most of the South should cool to below hazardous. Forecasters also expect "excessive heat" from the Desert Southwest region  the desert areas of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas  to the interior of California.

"Heat-related danger remains elevated due to the longevity of this heat wave," the Storm Prediction Center said.

Dry and hot conditions in Southern California across the desert, lower mountains and interior valley are sparking heat advisories and excessive heat warnings through Monday, the National Weather Service in Los Angeles said. Residents are advised to take extra care to avoid leaving children, pets and elderly people in hot cars. Fireworks are also an added fire ignition risk.

Temperatures in California's valleys will reach almost 110 degrees in the hottest points on Saturday, the Storm Prediction Center said. The Desert Southwest will see temperatures in the 110s.

"The risk of heat-related illnesses will be increased through the weekend," the center said.

The forecast for Tucson, Arizona, on Monday is expected to tie a record set in 1989, the National Weather Service said. On average, the hottest time of the year there is in late June and early July, with an average high of 102 degrees. But on Monday, it's expected to hit 111 degrees, the weather service said.

The upper Midwest will also see above-average temperatures over the weekend and going into the holiday, NOAA said.

Excessive heat warnings were in place in some parts of Tennessee through Saturday, and the National Weather Service in Memphis said Friday that two locations in the mid-South were tied for most oppressive heat Friday afternoon: Tunica, Mississippi, and Union City, Tennessee, with a heat index of 119 degrees.

Norma Hicks walks down Linden Avenue with an umbrella to protect herself from the sun in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Tennessee was expecting extreme temperatures through at least Saturday.

Will hazy air impact fireworks viewing?

Forecasters said the poor air quality from Canadian wildfires could even impact the visibility of fireworks shows in parts of the United States. Some improvement was expected by Sunday and Monday in the Midwest and along the East Coast, but the smoke could get bad again in the Northeast by July 4 as winds come in from the north, NOAA said.

In Montreal, a fireworks show for Canada Day was cancelled Thursday amid poor air quality from wildfires. Fireworks shows around July 4 are known to known to temporarily hurt air quality because of the toxic particulates they give off.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: July 4 weekend weather forecast includes storms, excessive heat
Doctor checking pregnant woman with stethoscopeGetty Images/StefaNikolic

As a fetal surgeon, Dr. Alireza Shamshirsa's job is to give a fetus the best chance of life. Shamshirsa said he works to "push the envelope" to increase life expectancy and quality of life  but of course, as with any job, there are limitations.

"We can't fix everything, we can't do everything," Shamshirsa told Salon. "In the cases that are complex, like fetal anomalies  the ones we know they will suffer for a lifetime  there is the option of termination."

Related

An Ohio high-risk OBGYN on abortion fears come true and life one year post-Dobbs

In other cases, there's the possibility of "selective termination." Say there are identical twins  but one has a fetal anomaly, and a higher chance of passing away in the uterus. In this case, (especially if they are sharing the same placenta), if one twin passed away in the uterus, a sequence of events could kill the other twin. Or it could cause severe to moderate brain damage. In this scenario, selective termination might be the best course of action.

At the very least, termination of a pregnancy is an option that is often discussed in Shamshirsa's line of work, in the context of complex pregnancy cases  and it is often discussed as an option to save a life. But after a decade of working in Texas, the abortion restrictions became too much, as that option to terminate a pregnancy was taken away from these patients roughly a year ago.

"Many of these cases are complex, but the option of having a termination is an incredible option for the family, and we call it an option. We never push anybody to do it, we never force anybody to do it  you have it as an option," Shamshirsa said, adding that removing that choice made it "horrible" for the families he worked with. "When the rules and regulations came up, it pushed me to the point that I decided to move my family after 10 years being in Texas to Massachusetts."

Shamshirsa is part of a larger trend taking place, one in which female healthcare providers can no longer provide quality standard care for their patients because of statewide abortion restrictions. Last year's decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization upheld a Mississippi law that banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The decision gave each state the individual right to enforce their own abortion restrictions, many of which had so-called "trigger laws" with six-week abortion bans. As of July 1, 2022, abortion is completely banned in Texas with very limited exceptions  a fatal fetal anomaly is not one of them. Pregnant women whose fetuses are unlikely to survive childbirth are forced to carry their pregnancies to term or travel out of state for termination.

"It was horrible, we had to tell a patient, 'We don't have the option [to terminate]'"

In light of the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) highlighted stories of physicians who have made the tough decision to leave the red states where they built careers for years, sometimes decades. Shamshirsaz said it became "impossible" to not offer the best standard of care to patients in these complex cases. Due to the transient nature of Shamshirsaz's work, he never knew what happened to patients after he could no longer provide termination as an option, but in some cases, it's likely they were forced to carry on.

"It was horrible, we had to tell a patient, 'we don't have the option,'" Shamshirsaz said. "However, so and so in that state can do it for you, and that means they need to move to another state."

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Similarly, maternal fetal medicine physician Leilah Zahedi-Spung made the difficult decision to leave Tennessee after Dobbs.

"In the weeks that followed, I relived the decision with patients as they realized that the pregnancy they had put all their hopes and dreams into wouldn't result in a live child, but that wasn't a 'good enough' reason to end the suffering of their child in Tennessee," Zahedi-Spung wrote in her personal story shared on ACOG's website. "I cried with families, I took on the brunt of their anger, and I worked hard with colleagues across the South to find places for patients to get the care they needed. I've never backed down from a fight for patient access, but this felt insurmountable."

Zahedi-Spung said she knew that she struggled with the "guilt of leaving."

"But I first must do no harm to myself," Zahedi-Spung said. "I needed to be in a place where I could make a difference without putting my own safety and freedoms at risk."

Dr. Amelia Huntsberger worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist in Sandpoint, Idaho, and is currently in the process of relocating to Oregon. In a phone interview with Salon, Huntsberger said she always felt "called" to provide medicine in a small town with her husband who is also a doctor.

"Patients in rural areas deserve high quality health care, just like people do in other parts of the country, and it's really been our honor and our privilege to serve the community here for the past decade," Huntsberger said. "And it's pretty heartbreaking to us to now be in the position of being forced to leave a state that we thought would be our home, always."

"I crossed my fingers that I was going to be legally safe, saving these patients' lives."

Huntsberger gave her notice at a labor and delivery clinic a few days before it closed its doors. The hospital cited the "legal and political climate" as one reason for its closure. Following Dobbs, Idaho enacted some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, which initially included a complete ban. That first month, Huntsberger recalled having patients come in with ruptured ectopic pregnancies. In an ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, where it has no hope of survival. Once ruptured, major internal bleeding can occur. It's a life-threatening condition.

"I crossed my fingers that I was going to be legally safe, saving these patients' lives by taking them to the operating room and treating their ectopic pregnancy and transfusing blood as needed," Huntsberger said. "It's very stressful. You're doing surgery where somebody's having an active, ongoing hemorrhage, inside their abdomen, that's a high stakes surgery that's already stressful. But then let's add on this nebulous, legal risk."

Since then, the Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that the abortion restrictions do not apply to ectopic or molar pregnancies. Still, Huntsberger said it's been "disturbing" to be put in a position where "instead of just focusing on my patient and what my patient needs, and the care that I've been trained to provide them  in the back of my mind, I'm thinking about my personal liability."

"That is not the position that I want to be in as a physician," she said. "And I think as a patient, I don't want my doctor to think about themselves; I want them to be thinking about me and my care and what I need. It's really uncomfortable."

It's not just doctors leaving  these states are also posed to face recruitment issues, too. According to an analysis from the Association of American Medical College, new doctors applying to residency programs are more likely to avoid practicing in states with abortion restrictions. Indeed, health care workers worry this will worsen maternal health care in these states. States with abortion restrictions already had the highest maternal and infant mortality rates.

"We will see a deficit in the next five to ten years," Shamshirsa said. "People don't want to go and work in these states. And these are states already had deficits of OBGYNs, even before these restrictions."

When asked about what Huntsberger wishes more people understood about being a female healthcare provider in a post-Dobbs world, she said that many things are "interconnected in health and healthcare."

"A lot of times people do not understand the complexity of pregnancy, and I don't think that they often understand medically, what abortion means. For instance, the term for a miscarriage is a spontaneous abortion," Huntsberger said, adding that medically, abortions happen frequently  and people choose to end pregnancies. "From my standpoint, a pregnant patient is in the best position to make decisions about their body, and to determine what level of risk they're willing to take on  that's a decision for a patient to make, there is no room for the government between a patient and their doctor."

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about abortion and reproductive health
The Supreme Court has barred the Biden administration from carrying out its plan to extinguish up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt, and millions of borrowers will continue to struggle under the weight of their loans.

These are students who are lured by aggressive for-profit institutions, whose lofty promises of higher earnings never come to fruition. They are borrowers seeking advanced degrees that are often necessary for low-paying but essential jobs in social work, the classroom or the courtroom.

These are the women who take a break from the workforce to care for family and cant find their way back to the salaries they had before.

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Here are brief sketches of people in other circumstances such as these, who have struggled and whose challenges are likely to continue.

No Degree, but All the Debt

Gina McDavitt, 36, is one of the millions of borrowers with student debt but no degree, a group that is more likely to slip into default.

She tried to put herself through college in her early 20s while working as a bra fitter at Macys and took the most practical path: She started at College of San Mateo, a community college, and had planned to transfer to San Francisco State University.

But the classes required to complete her associate degree werent always offered, which meant she had to wait until they were. In the meantime, the costs of attending rose  but her Pell grant and loan eligibility did not, and she soon had trouble making ends meet.

I was effectively priced out, said McDavitt, who left school with about $3,000 in loans, which ballooned after several deferments. So I have, like, $8,500 worth of student loans that are for a degree that would be free now, she added, referring to programs that make community college free for eligible students. That paired with, I live alone, I have been in the same role for a while and I am in the Bay Area and it is very expensive out here. I struggle.

McDavitt, who lives in Vallejo, California, and works in customer relationship management for a transport company, said she had been passed over for several promotions because she lacked the requisite degree. She recently trained someone who was promoted ahead of her.

As it stands now, the amount of money I make doesnt cover my bills, said McDavitt, whose loans fell into default just before the pandemic took hold. I am a single person making less than $55,000 a year with no degree. The weight of the world is on my shoulders.

McDavitt is eager to start school again but unable to afford it.

When Monica Schmidt, 44, gave birth to her son in 2008, she was finishing a big term paper in her hospital room. Five months later, she received her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix.

She next pursued a masters degree, which would elevate her to nurse practitioner and provide her with the option of teaching. Her husband, a sales manager at a food company, worked during the day while she cared for their children, who were 1 and 4. At night, she worked full-time as a supervisor at a skilled nursing facility while taking classes at Northern Illinois University.

We couldnt afford day care, so we worked opposite shifts, said Schmidt, who lives in Genoa, Illinois, and now works as a nurse in a therapeutic day school.

But after three years of starts and restarts, the juggle became more of a struggle with their young children, and in 2013, she stopped her coursework. The debt, however, was hers to keep. She now owes $64,000, more than half of which is for her graduate work.

Once her payments restart, shell pay roughly $450 a month for the next 25 years, or until her retirement. She has made 52 of the 120 qualifying payments for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, but she would be required to pay roughly $900 a month, an amount her family cannot afford, especially while saving for retirement and her two childrens college educations.

I dont want them to be in the same situation as me, Schmidt said.

A Different Kind of Black Tax

Recent college graduates with student loan debt including Dorien Rogers, 23, face a constant buzz of questions in their heads: Make extra debt payments or start a savings plan? Can I afford to buy a home in the community I grew up in? (In his case, in Montgomery County, Maryland.) What about money to start a family someday?

As a Black man, Rogers is aware that Black people are more likely to have to borrow and that Black women often struggle the most with student loan debt.

Asha Anthony, 20, a rising senior at Howard University, will leave college with a Bachelor of Arts degree in legal communication and about $30,000 in loans. But shes contemplating how shell finance her dream of becoming a civil rights lawyer, which typically requires an additional six figures in student debt.

Shes received help from her mother  who raised three daughters, with the help of her parents, while single  and who will have accumulated at least $30,000 in parental loans by the time Anthony graduates. Yet her mother is still paying down student debt of her own.

I am determined to attend law school because it is a high priority for me, as it is for many young Black people, to be able to attend graduate schools and meet the goals I have set for myself, said Anthony, who grew up in Mesa, Arizona. It is discouraging when thinking about potential costs because my family can only provide so much on top of what I am able.

Rogers also has high aspirations. He took out additional loans last year and began an online masters degree in public administration. At the same time, he was working as a substitute teacher and a DoorDash driver and serving as the president of Marylands youth and college division for the NAACP. He wants to go into politics and sees education as a kind of national mandate, especially for people like him.

Education is a tool to better our communities, and the institutions of higher learning have been pivotal to advance our nation, he said.

With a political science bachelors degree from Salisbury University in Maryland, he cant help but wonder: If legislators chose to assist the countrys banks during the 2008 financial crisis, why dont they believe people like him are worthy of similar investments?

If youre able to forgive debt, youre going to see reinvestment in the economy, he said. Homeownership. Building up credit. Starting more families.

The Parent Trap

Federal PLUS loans for parents are a product tailor-made for trouble, and theres no sign of that changing anytime soon.

Thats because parents can borrow up to the cost of their childs entire education, and it doesnt matter how much they earn. Moreover, lots of schools with high costs but low resources send financial aid notices to students telling them to make up their own shortfalls with tens of thousands of dollars of these loans.

Now, imagine that you have three children, are separated from your spouse and are earning just $11.50 an hour after spending years raising them. That was the predicament the Rev. Joanna Leiserson found herself in when she was living in Spokane, Washington, in 2000 and her oldest child was about to start college.

PLUS loans were the only way to afford the schools that best fit her childrens needs. After years of being unable to afford the payments  she became an Episcopal priest in 2005  and having the debt in forbearance, shes finally in an income-driven repayment program and has consolidated her $157,000 in debt to allow her to enroll in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Her debt would be eliminated if she works another nine years. Otherwise, it could easily be with her until she dies.

It does weigh on me, she said. Im not sure that its true, but it feels like society will pay for it if I dont.

But any taxpayer subsidy is established public policy, based on laws that both Democrats and Republicans signed off on over the years. And then there is the matter of any higher power that might have an opinion on the matter.

I believe that God doesnt weigh in on the specifics of our debts, but rather wants us as a community to consider the policies and the underlying principles and values of our nation and ask ourselves whether they align with Gods values, Leiserson said. Which is a community in which all persons can live sustainable lives of dignity and respect.

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People wait in line to listen to oral arguments at the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Supreme Court struck down Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan by a 6-3 vote.

The majority said six GOP-led states had standing to involve a student-loan company in its lawsuit.

This comes even as MOHELA denied its involvement in the lawsuit last year.

The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan Friday. A student-loan company played a central role in that decision.

By a vote of 6-3, the high court's conservative supermajority ruled on Friday that Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers is unconstitutional and cannot move forward. The decision came in two separate rulings  the court's majority threw out one of the cases, US Department of Education v. Brown, because the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case.

However, the second case  Biden v. Nebraska  succeeded in blocking the president's plan. Six Republican-led states that brought the lawsuit forward argued that the debt relief would hurt their states' tax revenues and the revenue of student-loan company MOHELA, which is based in Missouri, where the lawsuit was filed.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that "the plan's harm to MOHELA is also a harm to Missouri."

"By law and function, MOHELA is an instrumentality of Missouri: It was created by the State to further a public purpose, is governed by state officials and state appointees, reports to the State, and may be dissolved by the State," Roberts wrote. "The Secretary's plan will cut MOHELA's revenues, impairing its efforts to aid Missouri college students. This acknowledged harm to MOHELA in the performance of its public function is necessarily a direct injury to Missouri itself."

MOHELA's involvement in the case has been controversial since the states filed the lawsuit late last year. Following questions from Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, who requested information on the extent to which MOHELA was involved in the case, the student-loan company denied playing any role in filing the lawsuit. Newly released internal emails obtained by the advocacy group Student Borrower Protection Center also show that employees at the company were confused about being named in the lawsuit.

"Just out of curiosity, is MOHELA apart of the lawsuit going on to prevent the loan forgiveness? Are we the bad guys?" one employee wrote in a September email.

Even the conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett appeared skeptical of the states' standing to involve MOHELA in the case during oral arguments in February. At the time, she asked the lawyer representing the states: "Why didn't the state just make MOHELA come then? If MOHELA is an arm of the state, why didn't you just strong-arm MOHELA and say, 'You've got to pursue this suit'?"

Still, she ultimately sided with the court's conservative supermajority in deciding that the interest of MOHELA is the interest of the state. The liberal Justice Elana Kagan, however, blasted MOHELA's involvement in the case in her dissent.

"The most that can be said of the theory the majority selects, proffered solely by Missouri, is that it is less risible than the others," Kagan wrote. "It still contravenes a bedrock principle of standing lawthat a plaintiff cannot ride on someone else's injury. Missouri is doing just that in relying on injuries to the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), a legally and financially independent public corporation. And that means the Court, by deciding this case, exercises authority it does not have. It violates the Constitution."

The conservative supermajority didn't see it that way  and Biden's broad student-debt-relief plan is effectively blocked. There are still alternate routes the president can pursue to get relief to millions of borrowers, such as the Higher Education Act of 1965, but it's unclear what the next steps are. Still, many Democratic lawmakers have made it clear that the road cannot end here.

"It is very important to note this SCOTUS ruling does NOT remove Biden's ability to pursue student loan forgiveness," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. "The Biden Admin can use the HEA (Higher Ed Act) - our position from the start - to continue loan forgiveness before payments resume. They should do so ASAP."

Read the original article on Business Insider
People buy wooden pangolins during a public talk in Windhoek, Namibia, on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Ndalimpinga Iita/Xinhua)

WINDHOEK, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Pangolin Conservation and Research Foundation (PCRF), a non-profit organization with a focus on conservation planning, seeks to open Namibia's first-ever pangolin research centre to protect this endangered species.

Kelsey Prediger, executive director of the PCRF, said Thursday that the centre to be opened in northeastern Namibia would serve as a station to conduct research and aid conservation, and identify threats to the wildlife population. In the past, the team had to set up mobile stations in the wild to conduct research.

"The construction has commenced. The aim is to set up a network for wildlife monitoring, including other species, and host local and international professionals and facilitate student exchange," she said.

Pangolin trafficking has plagued the southern African nation, leading to research interventions such as tagging and camera monitoring to observe the ecology of the pangolins.

"We have tagged eight pangolins in the last two years, with four in 2023 alone," she said.

The PCRF also employs 30 part-time and full-time rangers to safeguard the species. The organization has handled more than 30 pangolins confiscated in the southern African region over the last year.

"The pangolins undergo an intensive rehabilitation program to identify the suitable climatic environment before they are released back into nature," she said.

Meanwhile, the foundation is fusing research with community engagement to promote conservation. A recent study by Tobias Kambongi, a local researcher with the PCRF, assesses local knowledge on the use of pangolins and their parts in Namibia, which shows that traditional patterns and cultural beliefs impact the use of pangolins among the ethnic tribes in Namibia.

According to Kambongi, the local people hunted pangolins for medicine, food and spiritual beliefs.

"Some research respondents indicated that pangolins are traded for money on the black market without dwelling on details. This exacerbates the risk of the species, already under threat," Kambongi said, calling for more research on understanding community needs and developing strategies for wildlife conservation accordingly.

In the interim, community outreach has also become a focus for protecting pangolins. Prediger said that, so far, the PCRF has conducted outreach covering 22 out of 40 villages within Nyae Nyae Conservancy in northeastern Namibia.

"Most locals do not know that pangolins are a protected species; hence, robust community outreach remains crucial to debunk beliefs and drive pangolins from a prime threat status. But we require more funding to educate and equip the research centre," Prediger said. 

Members of the Pangolin Conservation and Research Foundation pose with wooden pangolins during a public talk in Windhoek, Namibia, on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Ndalimpinga Iita/Xinhua)

A man takes a photo of wooden pangolins during a public talk in Windhoek, Namibia, on June 28, 2023. (Photo by Ndalimpinga Iita/Xinhua)
The 6-3 SCOTUS vote on Friday gutted President Bidens plan and hope of student debt relief for over 40 million federal loan borrowers. So what happens next?

Illustration by Yahoo News Visuals

The Supreme Court struck down President Bidens $400 billion student debt relief plan in a 6-3 vote on Friday. Over 40 million federal student loan borrowers would have qualified for some debt cancellation under the plan, and an estimated 20 million borrowers would have had their remaining balance wiped clean.

Bidens plan, which was announced last August, would have canceled up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for all borrowers making less than $125,000 per year (or $250,000 per year for married couples) whose loans are owned by the Department of Education. Borrowers who had a Pell Grant would have qualified for an additional $10,000, for a total of $20,000 in canceled federal student loan debt.

The Supreme Court heard arguments for two cases challenging Bidens student debt relief program. Biden v. Nebraska was filed by six Republican-led states  Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina  who said that the plan threatened a loss in tax revenue for each state. Department of Education v. Brown was filed by the Job Creators Network, a conservative advocacy group, on behalf of two Texas student loan borrowers, Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor, who would not have completely qualified for debt forgiveness under the plan.

Both plaintiffs argued that the Department of Education did not have the authority to provide one-time debt relief under the 2003 HEROES Act, which the Biden administration claimed grants the Secretary of Education authority to alleviate hardships for federal student loan recipients caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Biden v. Nebraska, in a 6-3 vote with conservative justices in the majority, the court ruled in the states favor  bringing an end to the presidents student debt relief plan. The court unanimously voted in Bidens favor in Department of Education v. Brown, concluding that the plaintiffs didnt have legal standing.

Student loan interest and payments were already slated to resume this fall, regardless of the Supreme Courts decision, with interest resuming on Sept. 1 and payments due starting in October.

Yahoo News spoke with Cary Coglianese, a professor of law and professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, and Ashraf Ahmed, an associate professor at Columbia Law School, to help break down the Supreme Courts decision and what it means for student loan borrowers. Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Its almost time to resume student loan payments. Not doing so could cost you (Associated Press) >>>

How will Americans with student debt be affected by todays Supreme Court decision?

Ahmed: We're basically as badly off as we were before this decision came out. When the Biden administration announced this plan under the statutory authority (or power under the law) of the HEROES Act, they opened up applications for everyone to apply for this debt relief. While they were applying for this debt relief, the states came and brought a suit saying this plan exceeds the statutory authority given to the secretary of education under the HEROES Act  i.e. that this is unlawful. At that point, there was a stay put on the plan, which meant the debt can't be discharged, but that people can continue applying and see whether they would qualify under any hypothetical plan if it was deemed lawful. What happened today is that that possibility was squelched, and there will be no debt relief.

Whats next? How will this decision impact future efforts to alleviate student debt in the U.S.?

Coglianese: If the Biden administration or any future administration wants to cancel or relieve former students of their debt, it will require new legislation. So this punts things back to Congress. The Biden administration can't really do it administratively, as they had hoped.

Ahmed: I don't want to say Biden has totally exhausted any powers that the executive branch might have, but you could say it's just very unlikely  it's extremely unlikely  that the Biden administration can make any headway on student debt relief absent Congress passing a statute.

What was the Supreme Court's reason for striking down Biden's student debt plan?

Coglianese: In a nutshell, the court said that Congress had not authorized such a major action and a major cancellation of student debt. This is just a question of whether Congress had given the secretary of education enough authority, and the six members of the court in the majority said that the secretary did not have that authority.

Ahmed: This case is a continuation of something called "the major questions doctrine, which is basically this interpretive rule that the court has adopted over the last five to 10 years or so, especially over the last five years, which constrains the presidency, the executive branch and agencies from taking creative interpretations of past statutes on questions of major economic significance. The major questions doctrine leads the court to be very skeptical of extreme claims of statutory authority over matters of great economic and social importance in the country. And basically at $400 billion, the economic impact here is obviously pretty major. The court says that, in those instances, we need explicit congressional authorization.

Why did SCOTUS rule in Biden's favor in Department of Education v. Brown but against him in Biden v. Nebraska?

Coglianese: The difference between the cases hinged on what lawyers call "legal standing." In order to have a federal court hear a case, a plaintiff needs to have legal standing, and essentially the Supreme Court said that in the Brown case, the plaintiffs did not have standing, but in the Nebraska case they did.

The difference was that in the Brown case, the plaintiffs were loan recipients who were not going to benefit as much under the Biden administration program, and the court said that's not enough of an injury to satisfy the requirement for legal standing.

When it came to the Nebraska case, it wasn't actually Nebraska that had standing but Missouri and a special government-operated student loan institution that was going to be affected. The court said that Missouri's loan authority had the injury needed to meet the standing requirement.

Why did the dissenting justices believe Biden's student debt program should have been upheld?

Ahmed: The dissent is basically saying, "Look, if you read the statute the way we do, the statute does give authority to the presidency, because the Department of Education is a presidential agency. It falls under the executive power. The Department of Education and the secretary of education have the authority to do this thing, to do debt relief.

But the majority has come in and basically decided, No, we don't think that Congress did delegate this authority, because of how we read the statute. And moreover, we're just always skeptical when there are new interpretations of statutory authority that end up having huge economic impact.
Rally in support of student loan debt relief in front of the Supreme Court in Washington

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down President Joe Biden's student debt relief would claw back more than $300 billion in costs associated with the program that were recognized last year, marking a major reduction in this year's deficit - at least on paper.

The court ruled 6-3 on Friday that Biden's unilateral decision to offer up to $10,000 to $20,000 in one-time student debt forgiveness to couples earning up to $250,000 had exceeded presidential legal authority to grant such relief without the consent of Congress. The debt relief program had been blocked by the legal challenges that led to the Supreme Court's decision.

The Department of Education had estimated that the debt relief would cost taxpayers about $30 billion annually over the next decade through foregone loan repayments - about $2.5 billion per month - or about $379 billion over a decade.

The U.S. Treasury last year took a $430 billion charge against fiscal 2022 budget results to cover these costs, as well as an extension of the general COVID-19 moratorium on payments through the end of 2022. The move had the effect of limiting a dramatic reduction in the fiscal 2022 deficit to $1.375 trillion from $2.775 trillion the prior year. The federal fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

Without the advance recognition, the deficit would have fallen below $1 trillion as COVID relief programs ended and revenues surged.

Spokespersons for the Education and Treasury departments did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

SMALLER REVERSAL

Marc Goldwein, senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a fiscal watchdog group, estimated that about $320 billion of the pre-emptive costs would be reversed during fiscal 2023 after the Supreme Court ruling.

The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting an increased deficit of $1.539 trillion this year due to falling revenues and higher spending and healthcare costs. A reversal of more than $300 billion would make it appear that this year's fiscal deficit fell slightly from 2022.

"It's deficit reduction relative to a deficit increase that never really went into effect," Goldwein said. Biden "announced the policy and they weirdly recorded it as having increased the deficit before they implemented the policy in any meaningful way."

The smaller reversal relative to the $380 billion initial cost estimate is due to a recent expansion of income-driven repayment relief, which will cut undergraduate loan repayments by half for many borrowers and drop them to zero for those in a family of four earning less than $62,400.

Many borrowers who would have seen loans forgiven under Biden's plan will now benefit from the more generous income-driven repayment scheme instead, Goldwein said.

Republican lawmakers applauded the ruling as avoiding a "costly and inflationary" policy that would have benefited many college-educated Americans at the expense of others without such degrees.

"If this executive order had been allowed to move forward, every American taxpayer  whether they have student loans or not  would be on the hook to foot the bill," said Republican U.S. Representative Jason Smith, chairman of the House of Representatives' tax-focused Ways and Means Committee.

The cash flow impact of the high court's ruling will be minimal, perhaps adding back about $2 billion in receipts per month that would have been lost had the forgiveness plan been upheld.

Shai Akabas, economic policy director at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said another reason the deficit reduction resulting from the ruling would be lower than the initial cost recognition was because the general student loan repayment moratorium was extended well into calendar 2023 by the Biden administration.

The debt ceiling legislation earlier this month prohibited any further extensions, and the Department of Education has said repayments will resume in October. Along with the canceled debt forgiveness, this will take hundreds of dollars a month out of millions of consumers' pockets and create new headwinds for the U.S. economy, economists say.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Jonathan Oatis)
Student says he commuted by plane from LA to UC Berkeley 3 times a week to avoid Bay Area rent

[Source]

A graduate students unconventional approach to avoiding having to pay expensive rent in the Bay Area while attending the University of California, Berkeley, has gained viral attention online.

The super commuter: The student, who identified himself as Bill in an interview with KTLA, shared his purported strategy in a viral Reddit post in April titled "I survived living in LA and commuting to Cal by plane over the past academic year to save on rent, AMA."

"This is probably one of the craziest things I've done in my life, and I'm so glad I made it through without missing any classes, he told KTLA. That itself is a miracle."

How it started: Writing as u/greateranglia, Bill shared that he had been residing in Los Angeles when he was accepted into a one-year Master of Engineering program at the university.

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Knowing that he would return to L.A. after graduation and having rent he could afford there, he said he devised a plan to eliminate the burden of paying rent in the expensive Bay Area.

I love flying and I have a lot of frequent flyer miles/points from credit card sign up bonus/flying over the past few years. Bay area rent is expensive in general, and my program is only 10 months, so I thought I could get it through commuting by plane.

How it went: During the academic calendar year, Bill claims he commuted between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) at least three times a week.

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He treated the journey as a trip rather than a mere commute, defying the expectations of his classmates who believed he would quit within the first week.

A typical day for Bill purportedly involved waking up at 3:30 am and heading to LAX for a 6:00 am flight to SFO. From there, he would take the 8:30 am Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train to Berkeley, arriving just in time for his 10:00 am classes. After a full day of lectures, he would reverse the commute and reach home in Los Angeles around midnight.

Tracking his expenses: Bill, who documented the costs of his super commute on the travel forum FlyerTalk, revealed that he spent a total of $5,592.66 on commuting between LAX and SFO over the course of his one-year program.

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The breakdown includes $671.29 for BART, $520.00 for parking, $1,948.27 for gas, $39.96 for inflight WiFi, $1,552.10 on Alaska Airlines flights, utilizing 407,500 Alaska miles, $758.24 on Southwest Airlines flights, using 156,945 Southwest points, $71.30 on United Airlines flights, 5,500 United miles, $15.60 on Avianca flights, 6,500 Avianca miles, and $15.90 on Spirit Airlines flights.

Bill calculated that he spent approximately 75,955 minutes on his commute from his 238 flights, in which he traveled a total of 92,089 miles

"YOLO" reasons: Some commenters on Reddit questioned if he actually saved money considering the value of the extra time he spent traveling back and forth.

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In response to one commenter who asked if he was mainly doing it for financial reasons, he wrote: Money is not the only reason. The other reason being yolo and attempt to do something no one has ever done before."
Big changes are coming to how elite colleges choose future students  and how those applicants vie for coveted seats.

A Supreme Court ruling Thursday concluded that Harvard and the University of North Carolina violated the 14th amendment to the Constitution by considering students race as one of many factors in admissions decisions. This form of affirmative action, which is common at the countrys several hundred highly selective institutions, is no longer allowed.

Students of color say the decision is devastating and sharply changes their outlook on the admissions process. It made me wonder immediately, how is this going to affect my senior year? said Rikka Dimalanta, 17, who will be a senior this fall in Los Angeles. If our identity as students isnt going to be taken into account, what else am I supposed to put on my application?

There are other ways for colleges to pursue diversity goals, however, and for students of color to access those institutions, including in some cases by bringing race into the conversation.

Heres an early look at how college admissions could change.

For most colleges, business as usual

Though Thursday's decision is historic, its important to note it won't mean much for many colleges. Of the more than 1,000 institutions that use the Common Application, just 70 admit fewer than 25% of their applicants, CEO Jenny Rickard has said.

And plenty of schools are in one of the states that banned affirmative action in college admissions before this week's ruling, including Arizona, California, Florida and Michigan. Arizona State University quickly declared Thursday that it was one of those institutions that wont be affected. It will have no impact on the diversity of the Arizona State University student body or ASUs commitment to having a student body which reflects the population of the State of Arizona, the university said.

Will affirmative action ruling matter? Thousands of college and universities already accept almost everyone

How the decision affects college admissions tests, essays

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of highly selective colleges began making standardized test scores an optional part of applications. One of the hopes was that it would lead to a more diverse student population. Then when the pandemic hit, test-optional policies became the default for logistical reasons: As of this past spring, submitting SAT or ACT scores was still optional at most schools.

Although studies have shown the shift from these tests has meant only small changes in what the student body looks like at small, private institutions, experts predict the court's affirmative action decision will cement those policies. And that could mean more emphasis on personal statements and essays  an area where race often comes up.

Observers have focused on one line in particular from the ruling: Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.

But the justices also wrote  directly challenging the dissent  universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today.

For any students my age  myself included  this decision doesnt prevent us from talking about the way that race has impacted us," said Aina Marzia, 17, a rising senior in El Paso, Texas, who was infuriated by the court's decision. "Its just that we dont have a box to check for our application this fall.

Protesters gathered outside of the Supreme Court on Thursday following its decision finding that race-conscious admissions policies are unlawful.

Anurima Bhargava, a civil rights lawyer who formerly served with the U.S. Department of Justice, urged future applicants not to shy away from highlighting their racial identity when applying to colleges.

Its not that diversity isnt something that universities can pursue. Its not that you cant tell your own stories, stories of your racial experiences, about your identity or your background, she said in a discussion Thursday hosted by Whiteboard Advisors, a research and consulting firm. How universities are going to take account of that is still going to be a question for them, but its not that students cant tell those kinds of stories.

Jeff Selingo, a higher education journalist who spent a year behind the scenes with college admissions officers, said one next step for those gatekeepers is to deliberate what to make of students whose essays deal with race.

What to know: A breakdown of the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision

What does this mean for legacy admissions?

Another item for college officials to deliberate: legacy admissions, the practice of giving preference to applicants whose family members attended the institution.

Richard Kahlenberg, a progressive scholar who served as an expert witness for the plaintiffs in the Harvard and UNC cases, said he believes at least some elite colleges will abandon the practice now that they can no longer consider race in admissions.

If our identity as students isnt going to be taken into account, what else am I supposed to put on my application? Rikka Dimalanta, who will be a high school senior this fall in Los Angeles

Before, he said, affirmative action allowed them to achieve some racial diversity without necessarily ensuring their campuses were socioeconomically diverse as well. One study found more than half of Harvards students, however racially diverse, for example, came from the top 10% of the countrys income distribution. Another analysis found that 43% of Harvards white admits in 2019 were legacy students, recruited athletes, children of faculty and staff or on applicants affiliated with donors.

Before, he said, affirmative action allowed them to achieve racial diversity without necessarily ensuring their campuses were socioeconomically diverse as well. One study found more than half of Harvards students, for example, came from the top 10% of the countrys income distribution. Another analysis found that 43% of Harvards white admissions in 2019 were legacy students, recruited athletes, children of faculty and staff or on applicants affiliated with donors.

Some highly selective universities, including in states that banned affirmative action, already had stopped practicing legacy admissions. They include the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles. Elsewhere, Texas A&M University and the University of Georgia also have ended the practice.

In remarks denouncing the court's ruling, President Joe Biden also said he is asking the federal Education Department "to analyze what practices help build a more inclusive and diverse student bodies and what practices hold that back, practices like legacy admissions and other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunity."

President Joe Biden speaks Thursday about the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

A shift to using affirmative action  in recruitment

The onus will be on colleges to recruit from a wide range of communities at the front end of the admissions process, said Forrest Stuart, the vice president of enrollment management at Lafayette College.

This is really about building a diverse applicant pool, Stuart said. Theres nothing in the decision that Ive seen that says you cannot ensure that the applicant pool is representative of all backgrounds. Lafayette, a small private college in Pennsylvania where about a quarter of students are people of color, has under Stuarts leadership partnered with community-based organizations to ensure students from underrepresented backgrounds put their names in the hat as well.

It really helps because youre then choosing from a broader base, said Stuart, who expects this affirmative action-esque approach to recruitment to gain more popularity as colleges work to ensure diversity on campus without considering race in the actual admissions process. If your net is cast wide enough and broad enough on the building of your applicant pool, I dont think its going to be as difficult for us  at least at Lafayette.

Biden also encouraged colleges to build a diverse class by factoring in applicants' familys income and where they grew up and to consider students experiences with hardship or discrimination, including racial discrimination.

Counselors: Colleges need to send a new message to students

Without proactive measures like diversifying applicant pools, educators worry, many students who wouldve applied in an affirmative action world will decide its not worth it.

At the American School Counselors Association, Executive Director Jill Cook has been fielding lots of questions. Many counselors are worried students of color will decide against applying to their reach or dream schools because they dont think theyll get in. What if some students choose not to apply at all, perceiving higher education to no longer be a welcoming place? (Legislation seeking to ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs at colleges can make the campuses seem even less inviting.)

There are also high school counselors who worry about the reverse  students overexerting themselves and applying to too many schools because they fear their chances of getting in are reduced after the courts ruling.

David Hawkins, chief education and policy officer for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said his group will continue to urge high school counselors to push students to meet with admissions officers at their schools of interest.

Colleges are looking for a diverse group of students, and the decision should not discourage students at all from applying, Hawkins said. We will be swimming against the tide, and it can be discouraging. But we also want to ensure that students know it wont change the fact that colleges are looking for them.

Some students may take that message to the extreme.

Allen Koh, founder/CEO of Cardinal Education, an educational consulting firm in California catering to the very affluent, said he has seen mostly white clients move to states like Montana and Wyoming to pursue a perceived geographic advantage based on what they see as a desire on the part of elite universities to boast student enrollment from all 50 states.

Harvard calls these states sparse country, and different universities call them different things, he said. But if you think about the sparse population that sparse country implies, the pool of students youre going after isnt very large. So they actually get a significant advantage.

Can anything really replace what the court struck down?

Probably not.

Education experts say universities will likely become less diverse as a result of the ruling, and while the court nonetheless acknowledged the importance of diversity in higher education and left the door open for schools to achieve it through other measures, such efforts could take years to see results  if at all.

Those measures will be expensive and take years to bear fruit, said Jennifer McAward, an associate professor of law at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. In the meantime, we are likely to see a substantial drop in racial diversity at highly selective universities.

Some point to California, where voters in 1996 passed a proposition prohibiting race-conscious college admissions. Despite numerous outreach efforts, University of California system officials have been unable to restore enrollment to levels of diversity representative of the state.

More: Ahead of Supreme Court affirmative action case ruling: Do Harvard, UNC discriminate?

The shortfall is especially apparent at UCs most selective campuses, they wrote in an amicus brief filed to the Supreme Court last summer, where African American, Native American and Latinx students are underrepresented and widely report struggling with feelings of racial isolation.

And even with race conscious admissions for years, Black enrollment in college has dropped nationwide over time.

At elite colleges, admissions will always feel 'arbitrary'

According to Mitchell Chang, a UCLA chancellor and professor of higher education and organizational change and Asian American studies, the decision will do little to make college admissions seem more equitable.

Theres always going to be this sense that its unfair, he said, pointing to the Ivy League and other elite schools that admit fewer than 10% of their students and enroll classes of just a few hundred people. If we remove race-conscious admissions, its not like these institutions are going to accept more students. The numbers and percentages of winners will remain the same.

Someones always going to be upset that they didnt get admitted yet were highly qualified, because in many ways, when youre trying to select between hyper-qualified people, the difference between getting in and rejected is almost arbitrary.

Contact Alia Wong at (202) 507-2256 or awong@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @aliaemily.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College admissions changes are coming after affirmative action ruling
The Big Apple has grown too big for the land it rests on, according to a study released in May showing New York City is sinking under its own weight as the waters around it rise.

Whats happening?

The study, published in Earths Future, finds that the Big Apple, home to more than 8 million people, is sinking at a rate of about 0.4-0.8 inches per year.

Theres a lot of weight there, a lot of people there, Tom Parsons, the studys lead author and a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, told Time. The average elevation in the southern part of the island is only 1 or 2 meters (3.2 or 6.5 feet) above sea level  it is very close to the waterline, and so it is a deep concern.

The researchers calculated the mass of New York buildings and determined their downward pressure on the Earth. They also presented satellite-image evidence of gradual sinking caused by the citys impressive structures.

The buildings in New York weigh 1.68 trillion pounds total, according to the researchers  a mass that The Guardian equated to 140 million elephants (presumably the large African kind).

It wasnt a mistake to build such large buildings in New York, Parsons told The Guardian. [W]eve just got to keep in mind every time you build something there, you push down the ground a little bit more.

Why is New Yorks sinking concerning?

Sinking 0.8 inches per year may not sound like much, but over multiple years, its significant, especially considering that New York is a coastal city prone to flooding  and that sea level rise makes its problems worse.

The average sea level near the southern tip of Manhattan has risen about 9 inches since 1950, as reported by SeaLevelRise.org. The organization, which based its findings on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data through 2017, also mentioned costs over $4 billion for New York sea-level preparations.

Worldwide, NOAA has noted that sea level rose about 3.8 inches since 1993. For U.S. coasts, it projected 10-12 inches of rise between 2020 and 2050.

Experts mostly attribute rising waters to glaciers and ice sheets melting and seawater expanding as the world warms.

A triple threat of sinking, sea level rise, and storms puts New York in increasing flood danger. NOAA reported that NYC flooding could happen 20 times as often by the end of the century. This in an area that already experienced 2012s Hurricane Sandy, which flooded subways and caused 44 deaths and $19 billion in damages, according to the city.

New York is like other places worldwide, dreading sea level rise, storms, and flooding linked to climate change. Indonesia is moving its capital, Jakarta, due to threats of inundation. And the New York study noted that other coastal cities are sinking, too.

Whats being done about the sinking city?

The studys authors aimed to raise awareness that building in coastal areas can increase future flood risks. They suggest developers pay attention to building on firmer ground.

As for sea level rise and storms, these hazards are reasons governments and individuals take action to address climate change. Steps such as using public transit or driving cleaner cars are ways to reduce heat-trapping pollution that worsens the problems. SeaLevelRise.org also has solutions for dealing with rising seas.

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(Bloomberg) -- Rishi Sunak unveiled his long-awaited plan to recruit record numbers of doctors and nurses, as he seeks to win back voters who blame his ruling UK Conservatives for the crisis facing the National Health Service.

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The blueprint to both recruit and retain NHS workers could see an extra 60,000 doctors, 170,000 more nurses and 71,000 more health staff in place by 2036-37, NHS England said in a report on Friday. That will help the service, which assesses and treats everyone in the country an equivalent ten times a year on average, meet the challenges of a growing and aging population, it said.

With the next general election due by January 2025 at the latest, Sunaks NHS workforce plan is effectively a Conservative Party manifesto pledge, given there is little time for it to yield major benefits before voters go to the ballot box. It is an attempt to seize the agenda from the poll-leading opposition Labour Party, which has already set out its own plans to boost NHS numbers.

Read more: Britains Cherished NHS Wrestles With Its Reform or Die Moment

You can trust this government with the NHS, Sunak said in a televised press conference, calling the plan one of the most significant things Ill do as prime minister.

Yet his pledge to boost NHS numbers could also play into Labours hands by taking a favorite Conservative attack line  that Labour overspends and is too wedded to the public sector  off the table. Having founded the NHS after World War II, Labour typically retains more public confidence to protect the service.

The challenge facing Sunak over voter skepticism is exacerbated by the deep-rooted problems within the NHS that have taken hold during 13 years of Conservative-led governments. Waiting lists for routine hospital treatment in England reached a record 7.4 million this month, while an unprecedented wave of industrial action has laid bare the dire state of workforce morale.

There are more than 110,000 vacancies, as more staff leave the NHS to work in countries including Australia and New Zealand. Even the government predicts that number could grow to 360,000 by 2037 without action.

The UK has strikingly low levels of key clinical staff compared to 19 similar countries, the Kings Fund health think tank reported this week. Britain has fewer doctors and nurses per head than most of its peers, and relies more heavily on internationally trained staff, it said.

We havent yet seen the detail of how this funding will be phased  and whether it will be sustained  over many years, Richard Murray, chief executive of the Kings Fund, said of the governments statement on Thursday. Delivery of the wider ambitions of the plan will need sustained investment, and therefore will rest on any future governments throwing their weight behind the strategy, to give the NHS the support and stability it needs.

Sunak sees an improved NHS, which marks its 75th anniversary next week, as essential for the Tories to have a chance of holding onto power. He has made cutting waiting lists  a slogan that was also on his podium during the press conference  one of the five pledges he wants voters to judge him on.

Read More: Sunak Risks Failing on His Five Key UK Pledges at Halfway Point

While he was speaking, radiographers across England announced they would strike for the first time since 2014, underscoring that even as Sunak tries to map out a long-term strategy, the short-term crisis is mounting.

About 600,000 hospital appointments have been canceled since December due to industrial action. Junior doctors in England will strike for five consecutive days over pay next month  the longest single walkout in NHS history. Senior doctors, known as consultants, also plan to strike for two days next month.

The premier insisted the government is making progress, cutting the number of patients waiting more than 18 months for treatment. But he also warned that the government is not about to take out the checkbook to end the strikes. Id ask everyone to recognize the economic context that were in, he said.

He also said the NHS plan will mean there are other things that we cant afford, a reference to his other pledge to restore the public coffers to health.

The NHS strategy, delayed for months amid reports of a row between the Treasury and health department over costs, will be scrutinized carefully by health leaders. They have warned that resolving shortages is not only about recruiting new staff, but working harder to retain existing workers.

Along with more doctors and nurses, the proposal is for trainees to be placed on wards and in practices sooner and for new medical schools to open in areas with the biggest staffing shortfalls.

The aim is to reduce the bill for agency workers which could save around 10 billion ($12.6 billion) between 2030-31 and 2036-37, NHS England said. The government has promised 2.4 billion of additional funding over five years for the expansion of education and training.

Medical bodies including the Royal College of GPs representing family doctors, NHS Providers which speaks for health trusts, and patients group Healthwatch England said they supported the plan. Many, however, were keen to see further detail and some warned over the lack of plans on social care  where elderly and vulnerable people are looked after in the community.

The absence of proposals to mend social care is perhaps the biggest gap, said Sara Gorton, head of health at the Unison union. Without action to fix care, the NHS will have to go on picking up the pieces of that broken system.

Read More: Only Labour Can Fix the NHS, Says Boris Johnsons Vaccine Czar

But its the timeframe set out in NHS plan which reveals the biggest problem facing Sunak: how to stay in Downing Street long enough to enact it. Polls indicate that his push to brand the government as a fresh start is not working, and that its the Tories legacy since 2010 that voters are fed up with.

They should have done this a decade ago, said Labours health spokesman Wes Streeting. Then the NHS would have enough staff today.

--With assistance from Ellen Milligan, Alex Morales and Asad Zulfiqar.

(Updates with Sunak comments from fourth paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) -- Climate Minister Zac Goldsmith quit Rishi Sunaks UK government on Friday with an excoriating broadside against the prime ministers environmental credentials, just a day after he himself was criticized by a Parliamentary panel.

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Goldsmith  a close ally of former premier Boris Johnson  accused Sunak of retreating from environmental pledges, saying in his resignation letter that under his leadership, the UK has visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature.

The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our prime minister, are simply uninterested, Goldsmith, a member of Parliaments upper chamber, the House of Lords, said in his letter, posted on Twitter. This governments apathy in the fact of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable.

UK Climate Progress Runs Off Track as Target Dates Draw Closer

While there is substance to Goldsmiths accusations  the governments own climate advisers criticized its record just two days ago  theres also a sense he quit before he was pushed. He was the only serving minister named in a Privileges Committee report on Thursday, that accused Tory lawmakers of interfering with their investigation into whether Johnson lied to parliament over the Covid-19 partygate scandal.

Sunak drew the link between that report and Goldsmiths resignation in his response to the departing minister.

You were asked to apologize for your comments about the Privileges Committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as a minister of the crown, he wrote in a letter. You have decided to take a different course.

Theres no love lost between Sunak and supporters of Johnson, who blame the current leader for his role in the former premiers departure last year.

MPs are due to vote on a motion to approve the Privilege Committees censure of those lawmakers on July 10. The panel left it up to Parliament to decide any punishment to be meted out onto those named.

Even so, Goldsmiths tirade is damaging to Sunak because with a general election likely next year and the ruling Conservatives trailing Labour by more than 20 points in national polling, voters deem environment one of the most important issues facing the country. His resignation comes after the Climate Change Committee on Wednesday said officials are moving too slowly in enacting the changes needed to hit the UKs carbon emissions targets.

Sunak said Britain can be proud of its record on climate change. The UK has played a leadership role globally and we will continue to do so, he said on Friday in a press conference.

Goldsmith, 48, had a broad ministerial brief covering energy, climate, the environment, overseas territories and the Commonwealth. He was the Conservative Partys candidate for London Mayor in 2016, losing out to Labours Sadiq Khan.

In the two-page letter written to Sunak, Goldsmith said hes been horrified by what he describes as the governments abandonment of commitments to animal rights and the environment. He also warned that the governments stance will affect its electoral prospects.

Even if this challenge leaves you personally unmoved, there is a world of people who do care very much, he wrote. And you will need their votes. Every survey and poll  without exception  tells us that people care deeply about the natural world, about the welfare of other species, about handing this world on better shape to the next generation.

A YouGov survey on June 26 found some 24% of Britons deem the environment one of the most important issues facing the country, ranking behind only the economy, health and immigration. YouGovs most recent polling on voting intention puts Sunaks Tories on 24% versus 46% for Labour.

(Updates with Sunak response starting in fifth paragraph.)

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The Supreme Court on Friday backed a web designer who wants to decline to create websites for same-sex weddings because of her religious beliefs  the latest legal setback for LGBTQ Americans from the high court.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority. The case was decided on ideological lines.

"Laws along these lines have done much to secure the civil rights of all Americans," Gorsuch wrote. "But in this particular case, Colorado does not just seek to ensure the sale of goods or services on equal terms. It seeks to use its law to compel an individual to create speech she does not believe."

In a case that could have profound implications for deciding when businesses may turn away customers, the Colorado website designer argued a state anti-discrimination law couldn't be used to compel her to develop same-sex wedding sites.

It is the latest in a series of cases to reach the court pitting business owners against LGBTQ customers, although this one focused on free-speech rights more than religion.

In a scathing dissent that she read from the bench, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the case involves "a business open to the public [that] seeks to deny gay and lesbian customers the full and equal enjoyment of its services based on the owners religious belief that same-sex marriages are 'false.'"

"The business argues, and a majority of the court agrees, that because the business offers services that are customized and expressive, the free speech clause of the First Amendment shields the business from a generally applicable law that prohibits discrimination in the sale of publicly available goods and services," Sotomayor said. "That is wrong. Profoundly wrong."

Case tracker: Race, religion and debt: Here are the biggest cases pending at the Supreme Court

In Iowa, gay rights advocates decried the decision.

Courtney Reyes, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group One Iowa, said the courts ruling "again grants special treatment to their preferred brand of Christianity."

But Reyes noted the rulings scope is limited to certain types of work.

For the vast majority of businesses, this exception will not apply, she said in a statement. Iowans will continue to have their rights protected in virtually every transaction, but the doubt the court has thrown on such protections will contribute to an erosion of trust even if their carve-out does not extend to such activities.

Keenan Crow, lobbyist for One Iowa, advised same-sex couples in Iowa to double-check with wedding vendors following the decision.

It's hard to determine where that line of expressive versus nonexpressive actually is, and we will likely need further litigation to clear that up, Crow said. What I would tell anybody planning a wedding right now is plan ahead and start having explicit conversations with your vendors about what your wedding consists of and what they're willing to do.

Keenan Crow, a lobbyist for One Iowa who is shown in a 2019 photo, advised same-sex couples in Iowa to double-check with wedding vendors following the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Iowa among two-dozen states that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation

A Colorado law bars public businesses such as hotels and restaurants from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation  the same law that bars discrimination based on race and gender. Twenty-four other states also bar businesses from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

But during oral arguments in December, the court's conservative justices questioned whether a website designer is more like a retail business or more like an artist. Government is generally barred from compelling an artist  or anyone else  to convey a message that they disagree with.

In 2007, Iowa added sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under the states Civil Rights Act. That prohibits businesses from discriminating against an employee or customer because of their gender or sexuality.

A Grimes gallery became the subject of controversy in 2013 when the Mennonite owners denied a same-sex couple the opportunity to get married at their venue. The owners settled with the same-sex couple and refused to hold any more weddings, gay or straight.

The venue closed permanently in 2015, just days before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. Iowa has recognized same-sex marriage since 2009.

Crow, of One Iowa, said the Grimes case centered on religious liberty, rather than the free-speech claims brought by Smith.

There's really no expressive conduct involved here, Crow said. The venue is not speaking in any way. And so, therefore, the outcome of that case is unlikely to change.

Why a Denver web designer took her case to the Supreme Court

Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, a Denver-based website design firm, said she didn't object to serving LGBTQ customers  only same-sex weddings. Because Smith's websites are custom creations, they represent her speech as well as that of her customers, her lawyers argued.

Smith was never approached by an LGBTQ couple seeking a matrimonial website. Rather, she wanted the high court to invalidate the Colorado law before that could happen.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious rights group that represented Smith, said the decision underscored the idea that the government "cant mislabel speech as discrimination to censor it."

The U.S. Supreme Court rightly reaffirmed that the government cant force Americans to say things they dont believe," said Kristen Waggoner, the group's president. "The court reiterated that its unconstitutional for the state to eliminate from the public square ideas it dislikes, including the belief that marriage is the union of husband and wife."

Critics said Smith's argument would allow businesses to skirt anti-discrimination laws.

Todays smug attack on civil rights law will have limited practical impact in the marketplace because few commercial services involve original artwork and pure speech offered as limited commissions," said Lambda Legal Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Pizer. "But todays narrow decision does continue the court majoritys dangerous siren call to those trying to return the country to the social and legal norms of the Nineteenth Century because it jettisons without even acknowledging what was part of the legal test for decades."

The Alliance Defending Freedom has been an active player in Iowa politics.

Lawyers from ADF represented the state in an unsuccessful attempt to allow a restrictive 2018 abortion law to take effect. The group submitted an amicus brief in support of parents suing the Linn-Mar school district over its accommodations for transgender students.

The ADF was also the force behind some of the LGBTQ-related laws passed this year. Sen. Jeff Edler, R-State Center, said the group helped draft Iowas law to prohibit gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.

LGBTQ rights come into conflict with religious beliefs

After a landmark victory in 2015 legalizing same-sex marriage and another win in 2020 that banned workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the outlook for LGBTQ rights at the U.S. Supreme Court has dimmed in recent years  especially when those rights are in tension with the First Amendment's protection of religious freedom.

Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 05, 2022.

The nation's highest court sided with a Catholic foster care agency in Philadelphia in 2021 that declined to consider same-sex couples as clients. And in its decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas suggested it may also be time to "reconsider" same-sex marriage  a notion that prompted a political backlash and bipartisan legislation that requires states to recognize those marriages.

Colorado and its supporters have asserted that a win for Smith could have consequences beyond LGBTQ rights. If a business may decline to create a website for an LGBTQ couple based on an objection to same-sex marriage, they argued, couldn't it also decline to make one for an interracial family?

More: White women benefit most from affirmative action. So why do they oppose it?

But during the arguments in December, several of the court's conservative justices pushed back on that assertion of a slippery slope. Associate Justice Samuel Alito repeatedly referenced a line from the 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage in which the court said "many who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion based on decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises."

In other words, Alito asserted then, the majority in Obergefell v. Hodges recognized legalizing same-sex marriage would present a conflict with religious entities and individuals in a way that race and gender do not.

Those conflicts have repeatedly risen to the high court.

In 2018, a 7-2 majority of the justices sided with a Colorado baker who refused to create a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple. But that decision was focused narrowly on how the state's civil rights commission treated the baker, Jack Phillips. The court did not rule on broader questions about where to draw the line between a business owner's religious freedom and LGBTQ rights.

In a twist in the present case, the Supreme Court declined to hear Smith's religious freedom claim. Instead, it agreed last year to decide only whether Colorado's anti-discrimination law ran afoul of her free speech rights. Many experts speculate that's because the court's conservatives don't have the votes to overturn a controversial 1990 precedent, Employment Division v. Smith, that makes it harder to bring religious claims.

John Fritze is the Supreme Court correspondent for USA TODAY.

Katie Akin is a politics reporter for the Register. Reach her atkakin@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @katie_akin.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court: Web designer may deny services for same-sex weddings
(Bloomberg) -- The US Supreme Courts two Black justices sparred over the meaning and impact of race in dueling opinions on the majoritys decision to curtail affirmative action programs at universities.

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Justice Clarence Thomas accused Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson of having a race-infused world view that falls flat at each step, in an opinion concurring with the courts decision on Thursday, which gutted the use of race in college admission decisions at the University of North Carolina and Harvard College.

Thomas said individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments.

What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them, he said. And their race is not to blame for everythinggood or badthat happens in their lives.

Jackson responded to Thomas in a footnote of her opinion dissenting from the conservative majoritys 6-3 decision. She wrote that Justice Thomass opinion also demonstrates an obsession with race consciousness that far outstrips my or UNCs holistic understanding that race can be a factor that affects applicants unique life experiences.

Read More: Supreme Court Rejects Use of Race in University Admissions

She said Thomas doesnt dispute, nor could he, the origins and continued existence of race-based disparity yet is somehow persuaded that these realities have no bearing on a fair assessment of individual achievement.

Intra-Racial Divisions

It was a striking exchange on affirmative action during a historic term. Never before in the courts history have two Black justices served together.

For a long time, Thomas enjoyed a singular authority when it came to matters of race, said Melissa Murray, a New York University School of Law professor.

With Jackson on the court as its first Black female justice thats no longer the case, Murray said. Shes also an authoritative voice on race and shes contradicting him.

Not only is there an intra-racial division between the two opinions, Murray said theres also gender and generational dynamics at play.

She called the concurrence from Thomas, 75, a meticulous attempt to take down Jackson, 52, one that reads like hes an elder statesman and she is an errant daughter who doesnt know as much as he does.

The opinions highlight the breadth of diversity within the Black community.

Opponents of affirmative action say race cant be given fixed weight because that suggests all Black people think alike, while proponents say the goal is to make sure schools admit a critical mass of racial minorities so they dont feel pressured to be spokespeople for their race, said Kermit Roosevelt, a University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor.

Elise Boddie, a University of Michigan Law School professor, said a critical mass helps convey that there is diversity within the experiences of students of color.

Because the court has shut down considerations of race in higher ed, students will lose the opportunity to see and experience that diversity within diversity, she said.

Personal Experience

Both Thomas and the Supreme Courts first Latina justice, Sonia Sotomayor, attended Yale Law School in the early days of the institutions affirmative action program but have different views on how it affected them.

In speeches and opinions, as well as his 2007 memoir, Thomas shared the view that he found affirmative action stigmatizing. He said he felt like Yale had admitted him because of his race, not his achievements.

Sotomayor, whos also been vocal about her experience, has championed the value of diversity. She said that colleges would overlook capable minority applicants with limited opportunities like her if it werent for race-conscious admissions.

Jackson, however, hasnt expounded on her views on affirmative action until now. She largely avoided the topic at her Senate confirmation hearings despite having served on the Board of Overseers at Harvard where she earned her undergraduate and law degrees.

Jackson recused herself from the challenge to Harvards affirmative action program, but not the case challenging the practice at UNC.

In his opinion, Thomas argued the goal of the Fourteenth Amendment is to ensure equality for everyone regardless of their race and said hes holding out enduring hope the country will live up to that principle.

Elizabeth Slattery, a senior legal fellow at the Pacific Legal Foundation, called his decision uplifting.

He talks about the triumph of the Fourteenth Amendment and the second founding and ensuring that the Civil War meant something, she said.

But Jackson said preventing race from being considered wont make racism go away, that ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more.

While Jackson penned her own dissent, she also joined the main dissent Sotomayor wrote and read from inside the courtroom on Thursday. It was the first time a dissent has been read from the bench in four years.

Sotomayor blasted the majority opinion but tried to provide some guidance for universities going forward.

To be clear, todays decision leaves intact holistic college admissions and recruitment efforts that seek to enroll diverse classes without using racial classifications, she said, adding that colleges and universities can continue to consider socioeconomic diversity and to recruit and enroll students who are first-generation college applicants or who speak multiple languages.

--With assistance from Patricia Hurtado and Tiana Headley.

(Updates with reactions to Thomas, Jackson opinions.)

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The Supreme Court has made its final ruling on student debt relief, ending the almost yearlong uncertainty borrowers have had on the future of their loans.

In a 6-3 decision, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court struck down Bidens plan that would have given up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness for more than 40 million borrowers.

The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

Earlier this month, borrowers also got a concrete answer on the timeline of student loan repayments restarting; the Biden administration declared interest will begin accruing Sept. 1 and payments will resume in October.

Supreme Court strikes down Bidens student debt forgiveness plan

Now that borrowers know the fate of both student debt situations, heres what they should do next:

Access your student loan account

It has been three years since borrowers have had to log into their student loan accounts. During that pandemic pause, some borrowers graduated and havent ever checked their accounts.

Ensuring you know your account information  including which company holds the loans  is important to figure out now, so youre not scrambling near the end.

Even if you were paying student loans before the pause, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) calculates more than 17 million accounts were moved to other servicers over the payment pause. More accounts could be switched in upcoming months.

For example, accounts with FedLoan were moved to other servicers during the pandemic after the company ended its contract with the federal government.

The CFPB predicts that around 30 million accounts will be moved, with some borrowers having easy transitions while others will have to make new logins and re-enter all their information.

Questions? Contact your student loan servicer

If you have any questions regarding your student loans or are looking into different payment options, now is the time to talk to your servicer.

Student loan servicers have been warning for months they do not have enough funding or staffing for their customer service departments in order to meet the expected high demand from borrowers as payments begin or resume.

The Department of Education blames the lack of staffing on inadequate funding from Congress, while opponents say the department has wasted the money on other issues.

To avoid the extremely long waits on the phone lines, borrowers are advised to call now to get their information updated and plans for repayment solidified.

Watch for repayment option changes

The Biden administration is pushing through changes to income-driven repayment (IDR) options.

The changes could allow individuals making less than $30,500 annually, or a family of four making less than $62,400 annually, to have no monthly payments.

Those with higher incomes could also see benefits, as the changes would allow 5 percent of discretionary income per month to go toward student loans, in place of the current 10 percent.

These proposed regulations will cut monthly payments for undergraduate borrowers in half and create faster pathways to forgiveness, so borrowers can better manage repayment, avoid delinquency and default, and focus on building brighter futures for themselves and their families, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said when announcing the proposed changes.

The proposal has already gone through a public comment period, but there have been multiple delays to this proposal in the past. It is likely the changes take full effect for all borrowers in 2024, but that is not yet certain.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
by Nurul Fitri Ramadhani

JAKARTA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian government has tried to ensure that livestock distributed during the Eid al-Adha holiday are safe for consumption as diseases infected livestock in several regions.

Indonesian Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo said on Thursday that all cattle, mainly cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep were "generally safe" as they must have passed various physical checks and been vaccinated by the regional governments to ensure their health conditions.

"This step is taken to ensure that the livestock being sold are in healthy condition and safe for consumption, particularly those to be sold as 'qurban (sacrifice)' for Eid Al Adha," Limpo told reporters in Bogor, West Java province.

Eid al-Adha is one of the largest annual religious days for Muslims worldwide. Muslims usually sacrifice livestock and distribute the meat to their families and poor people as part of religious rituals.

Data from the Agriculture Ministry showed that this year there were 1,849,385 livestock that became sacrificial animals across the country.

Just before this year's Eid al-Adha festivity, the three-day holiday from June 28 to June 30, hundreds of cows had been infected by lumpy skin disease (LSD) since last month, reports said.

Although the disease is not zoonotic or not infectious to humans, it causes major complications to cattle, such as weight loss, decrease in milk production, infertility, and skin damage.

Besides LSD, Indonesia is also still making efforts to fight against the spread of highly contagious Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) disease. The outbreak has occurred since April last year. As of June 23, the country has recorded 4,499 active FMD cases in cows spreading across 18 provinces.

In West Java province, Indonesia's most populous province, the regional government also focused on monitoring the spread of anthrax, a serious infectious disease caused by the bacterium.

Head of the Animal Hospital Unit from the province's Food Security and Animal Husbandry Agency, Yoni Darmawan, said recently that West Java had historical records of anthrax outbreaks.

The Indonesian government also distributed millions of doses of vaccine to cure the infected cows and avoid healthy animals from being infected.

"The livestock that are safe to be sold should have ear tags, meaning they have been vaccinated and have passed through strict screening from local authorities," Limpo said.

In the country's capital city of Jakarta, the provincial government has warned the citizens to throw away the waste of sacrificial animals from Eid al-Adha to proper places.

"Many people often carelessly throw away the waste of sacrificial animals, including the innards and entrails. That could not only spread disease but also damage the environment," Head of Jakarta Environment Agency, Asep Kuswanto, said on Thursday. 
When five conservative justices on the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the right to an abortion in 2022, it signaled a new era for the courts conservatism, one in which none of the rights and policies that emerged from the 20th century appeared safe.

It also spawned a debate over the internal dynamics of that conservative supermajority. Chief Justice John Roberts did not join his fellow conservatives in overturning Roe. Had Roberts lost control of the court to the conservative ultras like Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito? Would he regain control in the next term?

The decisions released at the close of the courts most recent term in June  ending affirmative action in higher education, declaring a new right to discriminate against gay couples and voiding President Joe Bidens plan for student loan debt relief  present a different question: Does it even matter if Roberts is in the drivers seat?

The conservative movement that built this court has long sought to roll back the legal and policy advances meant to blunt historic bigotries and discrimination, as well as the ability of the federal government to aid people harmed by the power of private capital. And they are continuing on that path whether Roberts or the ultra cohort runs the court.

At first, the conservative movement hoped that Ronald Reagans election in 1980 would allow them to sweep away the policies of both the New Deal and the 1960s and 1970s, but they could not consolidate political power to do so through the legislative and executive branches. Instead, they launched a legal movement to win control of the judiciary and enact their policies outside of the political process.

That is what they have done over the last decade. They gutted the Voting Rights Act, first in 2013 and again in 2021. They blew a hole in restrictions on religious prayer in schools in 2022. And, of course, ended protections for reproductive rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. Their progress continued this term.

In ending affirmative action in higher education, the court declared that the 14th Amendment, enacted to protect and advance the rights of Black people after the end of slavery, prevents colleges and universities from taking race into consideration in admissions.

While at first affirmative action in education was implemented to correct the historic wrongs of anti-Black racism, from slavery to Jim Crow segregation and on, it was upheld in later decisions solely on the basis that it increased diversity in a schools student body. The court gutted these precedents, fulfilling an unfinished policy goal that conservatives hoped would come during Reagans two terms in office. Thomas, in declaring those precedents overturned, argued that affirmative action reflected the same naked racism upon which segregation itself was built.

The Supreme Court's conservative supermajority continued its project of enacting the conservative movement's policy agenda.

The Supreme Court's conservative supermajority continued its project of enacting the conservative movement's policy agenda.

By voiding Bidens student loan debt relief plan, the court continued the conservative movements political goal of restraining the executive branchs ability to regulate or alleviate the ills of private capital. To do so, they have developed the sweeping major questions doctrine, which enables the court to decide that the executive branch has exceeded the authority delegated to it by Congress.

This doctrine, as Kagan said in her dissent in the student loan case, makes the court the arbiter  indeed, the maker  of national policy.

When the court deployed the major questions doctrine to kill carbon emissions regulations in 2022, Kagan called it a get-out-of-text-free card that the conservatives can use to void executive branch policies that go against their ideological goals.

What this doctrine provides is the power for the court to single-handedly approve or deny policy that violates the political goals of the conservative movement that appointed it.

The case of 303 Creative v. Elenis presented a newer question to the court beyond the controversies of the 20th century. The legalization of same-sex marriage by the court in 2015 spawned a new direction for anti-LGBTQ reactionary policymaking. In response to anti-discrimination laws passed in states like Colorado, right-wing Christians argued that they held the right to deny service, like baking wedding cakes or making wedding websites, to same-sex couples.

Despite the plaintiff in the case never having made a wedding website for anyone, let alone a same-sex couple, the court ruled that the First and 14th Amendments protect business owners from government coercion to provide service to same-sex couples. Justice Neil Gorsuch argued that allowing this kind of discrimination was actually a recognition of tolerance.

In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, For the first time in its history, [the court] grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.

The conservative movement that brought Reagan to power in 1980 also sought to quash the still-nascent gay rights movement. It failed mightily, but today a growing reactionary force seeks to snuff out that torch with new tools. The courts decision granting the right to discriminate against a protected class based on ones religious beliefs is a potent one.

While these decisions affirmed the courts continued conservative bent, other decisions, particularly coming from the chief justice, have produced encomiums to Roberts reassertion of control.

In two key election law cases, Roberts  along with Justices Brett Kavanaugh and, in one instance, Amy Coney Barrett  joined the liberals against their fellow conservatives. In Moore v. Harper, the court shot down the strongest version of the radical independent state legislature theory that would have removed state courts from reviewing any congressional district maps or state election laws. And in Allen v. Milligan, a 5-4 decision by Roberts found that Alabama violated the Voting Rights Act by failing to draw a second majority-Black congressional district.

The court's increasing conservative bent and ethical scandals have sparked questions about its legitimacy.

The court's increasing conservative bent and ethical scandals have sparked questions about its legitimacy.

While these decisions were cheered for not destroying the Voting Rights Act, not completely gutting checks and balances and not authorizing unchecked minority rule, they simply retained the status quo. That is a status quo that the court had already weakened when it gutted the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 and Brnovich v. DNC in 2021, and removed the federal judiciary from reviewing partisan gerrymandering claims in Rucho v. Common Cause in 2019.

Where the courts conservative bloc has split, it has been on questions of how fast to change the status quo. Roberts  with his background as a political operative  favors a slightly slower schedule than the ultras, but in areas of longtime agreement among conservatives, where there is limited concern about harming the courts legitimacy, and where it is politically advantageous for the Republican Party, he is fine to plow ahead.

The conflict emerged in Dobbs because overturning Roe was both politically disadvantageous to Republicans and potentially harmful to the courts legitimacy. But on an issue like affirmative action, which, unlike abortion rights, is broadly unpopular, its full steam ahead.

Democrats and liberals are now faced with how to confront the court or blunt its decisions. Following the courts affirmative action decision, Biden stated, This is not a normal court. But when asked about proposals by some lawmakers to add seats to the court to counter its conservative drift, he objected.

If we start the process of trying to expand the court, were going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy, that you cant get back, Biden said.

Whether through court expansion or not, the only way for liberals to confront the court and respond to its decisions is through politics. College admissions officers finding ever more byzantine ways to increase minority enrollment is not the answer. Neither are efforts at creating new legal doctrines  or trying to use existing conservative ones  to win in the undemocratic arena of the judiciary.

The courts political goals are clear. It is finishing the realignment that Reagan never completed. But it is vulnerable because the political majority that created the Reagan realignment no longer exists.

The question for liberals is how to build a political majority big enough to counter it. Trying to revive what is lost through the same old means of bureaucratic policymaking and judicial decisions is not the answer. The business of building a majority through politics is the only way to assert the power of the people over the anti-democratic whims of the justices.

As Abraham Lincoln said when confronting the courts horrendous Dred Scott decision: If the policy of the government, upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court  the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having, to that extent, practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.

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The Supreme Court will weigh in on whether people under domestic violence restraining orders can possess guns. The court announced on Friday that it will hear a case on the issue, United States v. Rahimi, in its next term, which begins in October.

The case will be the next test of how far the courts conservative majority will expand Second Amendment rights after a landmark decision a year ago that declared a right to carry guns in public. That decision, which set forth a new, history-focused test for evaluating gun-control measures, cast doubt on the constitutionality of scores of gun laws.

The defendant in the new case, Zackey Rahimi of Texas, admitted to having guns in his home despite being under a restraining order because of allegedly assaulting his girlfriend. After a local court issued the restraining order, Rahimi was involved in multiple shootings, including firing into the air after a fast food restaurant declined a friends credit card, according to The Texas Tribune.

He argued that the federal law banning people under such restraining orders from possessing guns violated the Second Amendment. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and threw out Rahimis guilty plea and prison sentence.

Last June, the Supreme Court overhauled Second Amendment jurisprudence in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen. The courts conservative majority found that a state law controlling who could carry concealed weapons in public was unconstitutional. In that ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas created a new test for determining the constitutionality of gun restrictions: All restrictions must accord with gun laws during Americas founding era.

That new historical test created widespread confusion among the lower courts, as judges reached different conclusions on just how close any particular gun restriction had to be to the gun laws that existed during early American history. The ruling brought into question longstanding federal laws banning drug users, convicted felons, and domestic abusers from possessing guns.

Rahimi will be the courts first chance to clarify just how the new Bruen test should work  and just how closely current gun restrictions must hew to those that existed at the founding era.

David Pucino, deputy chief counsel at Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said his group  which favors stricter gun laws  had expected the court to review Rahimi.

My hope is that the conservative justices will recognize that what were talking about here are the proverbial bad guys with a gun, he said.
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty

On ideological lines, the conservative-supermajority Supreme Court today voted 6-3 to allow a Colorado web designer to refuse to design websites for same-sex couples.

No doubt, Republicans and others on the right will celebrate this decision, 303 Creative v. Elenis, in broad terms: businesses may now turn away the gays.

But Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the Courts opinion, insists otherwise. No, no, no, Justice Gorsuch assures us: you cant turn away the gays, you can only turn away gay weddings.

Supreme Court Might Allow Vendors to Discriminate Against Customers

If you see a distinction there, then the Courts opinion makes sense. If you dont, then its preposterous.

Justice Gorsuch is definitely right on the technical details of the law. The web designer in the case, Lorie Smith, has stipulated that shell make a website for anyone, queers included. What she wont do, though, is make a website celebrating a gay wedding, because she thinks those weddings are false.

So, technically, shes not discriminating against gay people, see? And then the case starts to look different, because Colorado, whose anti-discrimination law protects LGBTQ people, would be forcing her to say things she doesnt believe. This ends up being a free speech case, and the web designer wins.

But Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her dissent, completely refuses this framing. The designer is a business open to the public seek[ing] to deny gay and lesbian customers the full and equal enjoyment of its services. Full and equal enjoymentmeaning, I as a gay person get to utilize those services the same way a straight person does. That makes this case about what, in legal terms, is known as public accommodations because theres no distinction between status and conduct.

Supporters of web designer Lorie Smith and counter-protesters demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building on Dec. 5, 2022, in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty

Can you hang a sign on your door saying No Blacks Allowed or No Jews Allowed? Noeven if you really dont like Blacks or Jews, and even if you have a religious reason for doing so. Likewise here.

Or, in Justice Sotomayors words, quoting an earlier case, 303 Creative cannot define their service as opposite-sex wedding [websites] any more than a hotel can recast its services as whites-only lodgings.

Moreover, Justice Sotomayor continued, Smith isnt just saying she personally wont type the words for a website. Shes saying that her for-profit company, 303 Creative, wants to publicly advertise their services to everyone, but then withhold them categorically from all gay customers.

There were many other ways that Smith could have accommodated her religious beliefs, writes Justice Sotomayor. The company could, for example, offer only wedding websites with biblical quotations describing marriage as between one man and one woman [it] could also refuse to include the words Love is Love if it would not provide those words to any customer. All the company has to do is offer its services without regard to customers protected characteristics.

But of course, thats not really what this case is about.

Americas Tragedy Is Its Culture of FearArmed With Millions of Guns

Smith, and, more accurately, the Alliance Defending Freedom and other Christian Right groups supporting her, wanted to make that broad statement. They wanted to say exactly what Justice Gorsuch says they arent saying: that its OK to turn away the gays.

Which, obviously, is how this opinion will be received. No doubt, the GOP presidential candidates will praise it in their press releases. No doubt, it will be perceived as part of the widespread backlash against LGBTQ (especially trans) equality, and will pave the way for future decisions that expand this right. Everybody knows this. Its how the Supreme Court functions in our society.

Meanwhile, the notion that this case is really about free speech is belied by some logical consequences of the decision. Suppose a web designer publicly refuses to make a website for a mixed-race wedding. Under the Courts logic, that is protected speech. After all, theyre not discriminating against Black or white peopletheyre only refusing to say things about interracial weddings. Speech, not discrimination. Right?

Obviously not right.

The Supreme Court Is Poised to Chip Away at Same-Sex Marriage

But why stop there? Remember this case is also, per Gorsuch, about conduct, not status. So suppose a racist opens a bed and breakfast. They say, Anyone can stay here, but I cant let a Black and a white person sleep in the same bed, since race-mixing is forbidden by God. After all, they might have sex. Conduct, not status, right?

Obviously not right. But if the status/conduct distinction that Justice Gorsuch makes is applicable, and if that distinction lets one weasel out of public accommodation law, it applies as much to the odious B&B owner as to this web designer.

A protester gestures at a man holding signs in support of Lorie Smith/303 Creative as people gather in front of the Supreme Court of the United States on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, in Washington, DC. Kent Nishimura/Getty

But heres a twist: in an odd way, Justice Gorsuchs narrow framing may be of value to LGBTQ people. Because its important to not let our haters define this case.

In 2018, when Masterpiece Cakeshop, the case about a Colorado baker refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, was decided, many journalists and LGBTQ organizations decried it as granting businesses a broad license to discriminate. There may be good reasons for that: raising money, raising awareness, getting people engaged and motivated.

But there are better reasons not to do that.

Neil Gorsuch Might Be the Supreme Courts LGBTQ Rights Savior. But He May Not.

Masterpiece Cakeshop was actually a very narrow case, decided on the faulty way that the bakers claims were adjudicated by a civil rights commission. It did not grant a license to discriminate by any means. But court decisions shape culture. Once everyone agreed that Masterpiece Cakeshop made LGBTQ people second-class citizens, then thats how it was understood in society, even if thats not what it actually said. Our interpretations of these cases affect their impacts.

Likewise here. Even if Justice Gorsuchs distinctions are specious, they are now the law of the land. That means that 303 Creative is about freedom of speech narrowlynot turn away the gays broadly. It is not a license to discriminate, and it is not about limiting same-sex marriage. It does not impact non-speech-related activities, like running a restaurant or offering health insurance to same-sex spouses. It is only about when the state compels someone to write or say something they dont want to say.

So lets take Justice Gorsuch at his wordeven if we think Justice Sotomayor has the better argument. Lets not allow those who want to take away our rights to define this as a big victory for family values. Lets frame it exactly as the Supreme Court has: as about free speech and nothing more. Lets not give our enemies more of our freedom than theyve actually taken away.

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WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court declined Friday to decide whether a permanent voting ban on people convicted of certain felonies in Mississippi violates the Constitution because it was drafted as part of a racist effort to disenfranchise Black voters.

Eleven states, including Mississippi, don't automatically restore voting rights after convicted felons finish their prison sentences, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But voting rights experts say that even among those states, Mississippi is an outlier because of how difficult it is for people to regain the right to vote.

The provision was included in the states constitution after an 1890 convention in which several delegates were clear about their goal. One leader of the group noted flatly that, "we came here to exclude the Negro." The decision from the Supreme Court on Friday leaves in place a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that sided with the state, holing that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate the provisions were motivated by discriminatory intent and that any "racist taint" had been "cured" by amendments to the provision.

As is its usual practice when denying a case, the Supreme Court did not hand down an opinion explaining its decision. But Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a dissent and was joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

"Constitutional wrongs do not right themselves," Jackson wrote. "With its failure to take action, the Courthas missed yet another opportunity to learn from its mistakes."

Background: 'Racist taint.' Will the Supreme Court review a Jim Crow-era voting ban targeted at Black Mississippians?

SCOTUS diversity: The Supreme Court is more diverse than ever. But the lawyers who argue before it? Mostly white men.

At the convention, delegates eliminated the right to vote for people convicted of felonies thought to be "Black crimes. So while burglary, theft, arson and forgery were included as crimes that could wipe out a person's right to vote, murder and rape were not added to the list until 78 years later, in 1968.

What's at issue in the case, Harness v. Watson, is whether the "taint" of a Jim Crow-era law can be "cured" by later amendments. In 1950, the state amended the constitution to remove burglary from the list of crimes. In 1968 the state amended the provision again to include murder and rape. The rest of the prohibition remains as it was in 1890.

Because there is no evidence of discriminatory intent when the state revised the constitution in 1968, Mississippi has argued, the provision is in the clear.

The Supreme Court on May 18, 2023.

Two Black residents of Mississippi, one convicted of forgery and the other of embezzlement  both unable to vote because of the provision  sued in 2017 arguing that the provision violated the equal protection clause. TRoy Harness

Roughly one in seven 1 in 7 Black voting-age Mississippians is disenfranchised, according to the Campaign Legal Center, a watchdog group.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court declines to review Mississippi Jim Crow-era voting ban
(Bloomberg) -- The US Supreme Court told an Ohio court to take a fresh look at a ruling that said a Republican-drawn congressional map was excessively partisan.

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The justices pointed to their June 27 decision rejecting a sweeping effort to transform the ground rules for federal elections. The approach, pressed in that case by North Carolina Republican lawmakers, sought to bar state judges from invoking their own constitutions to strike down gerrymandered maps and discriminatory voting rules.

The June 27 ruling, which centered on the US Constitutions elections clause, included a qualification that said state courts may not transgress the ordinary bounds of judicial review in conducting that review.

Ohio Republicans are making similar arguments as their North Carolina counterparts, seeking to overturn a state supreme court decision that said the disputed map was so partisan it violated the Ohio constitution. Republicans picked up 10 of the 15 congressional seats in Ohio using GOP-drawn lines.

The Supreme Court order doesnt necessarily mean the case will come out differently, but it gives lawmakers another chance before a reconstituted Ohio Supreme Court that has a new Republican appointee and could be more favorable to them.

Unlike North Carolina, Ohio has a constitutional provision that explicitly authorizes the states highest court to strike down excessively partisan voting maps. The provision, approved in 2018 by the Ohio General Assembly and the states voters, says the legislature shall not pass a plan that unduly favors or disfavors a political party or its incumbents.

The provision also sets up an unusual system that shifts responsibility for drawing maps to a redistricting commission if the legislature misses a deadline and then back to the General Assembly if the commission doesnt act within a month.

Although the Ohio Supreme Court issued its decision on July 19 last year, state lawmakers didnt draw a new map for the 2022 election. Senate President Matt Huffman and other Republicans instead turned to the US Supreme Court and indicated they would wait for resolution of that appeal before taking action.

The case is Huffman v. Nieman, 22-362.

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(Bloomberg) -- Chief Justice John Roberts at times has tried to slow the Supreme Courts conservative revolution. But he was in the vanguard Thursday, enshrining his long-held views in a signature opinion abolishing racial preferences in college admissions.

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Roberts 40-page opinion for the court said the Constitution requires the government  and in some cases private entities like Harvard College  to be colorblind, barring racial distinctions whether they benefit minorities or White people.

Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it, Roberts wrote. He blasted his three dissenting colleagues for trying to create a judiciary that picks winners and losers based on the color of their skin.

The ruling, which effectively wiped out precedents dating back to 1978, could mean fewer Black and Hispanic students at the countrys top universities and force hundreds of schools to revamp their admissions policies.

The opinion is the culmination of the chiefs longstanding efforts to limit what he views as unconstitutional uses of race in the educational context, said Roman Martinez, a Washington appellate lawyer at Latham & Watkins LLP and former law clerk to Roberts.

Its a view of the Constitution and its equal protection clause that dates back to Roberts time as a lawyer in President Ronald Reagans administration in the 1980s, and then as President George H.W. Bushs second-ranking Supreme Court lawyer from 1989 to 1993. In those roles, he established himself as a forceful critic of racial preferences.

By the time Roberts joined the court in 2005 as an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, the new chief justice was ready to make bold public statements on the issue.

It is a sordid business, this divvying up by race, he wrote in a 2006 redistricting case. The following year, he said in a school integration case that the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

Things Have Changed

In 2013 he turned those views into a far-reaching ruling that nullified a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law aimed at protecting Black voters at the polls. The ruling gutted a provision that had required states with a deep history of discrimination  mostly southern ones  to get federal preclearance before changing their voting maps or election procedures.

Writing for the court, Roberts said barriers to Black voting, once widespread in the South, had largely disappeared. Nearly 50 years later, things have changed dramatically, Roberts wrote.

Roberts approach toward race has drawn sharp criticism from civil-rights advocates and liberal constitutional scholars.

He has a very simplistic and idealistic vision of race, said Melissa Murray, a professor at New York University School of Law. He embraces formal equality that doesnt really take into account the very many ways in which race continues to shape society.

Roberts pulled back a bit on one front this month when he reinforced the use of the Voting Rights Act to create voting districts likely to elect Black or Hispanic candidates. Roberts joined Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the courts liberals in saying the courts precedents under that law required creation of a second heavily Black congressional district in Alabama.

Greatest Opinion

But his latest opinion put him firmly in the conservative camp. All five of his Republican-appointed colleagues joined his opinion in full, and conservative commentators hailed his reasoning.

The chiefs opinion strikes me as his greatest opinion in his eighteen years on the court, Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center said in a blog post.

Roberts assertiveness on race stands in contrast to his reticence on abortion a year ago, when his five conservative colleagues voted to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Roberts said he would have stopped short of taking that step, bluntly admitting he wasnt sure about the constitutionality of many abortion restrictions.

He wrote at the time that his colleagues  both those in the majority and the dissenters  display a relentless freedom from doubt on the legal issue that I cannot share.

In the affirmative action case, Roberts showed no signs of doubt.

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The Supreme Court just gave the 2024 Biden campaign a powerful pitch: I tried to forgive debts, an unelected court killed it, but I'll do it again if you give me the votes

In this Saturday, May 18, 2019 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign rally at Eakins Oval in Philadelphia. Associated Press

The Supreme Court just struck down the Biden Administration's student loan forgiveness plan.

While a blow to Biden and his presidential legacy, he could still parlay the loss into another presidential victory.

The vast majority of Democrats support student loan forgiveness. He has other ways he could implement it.

On Friday, the US Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. While it's a major blow to many Americans struggling under the weight of their student loans, it could positively affect Biden's reelection chances.

In the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court determined that relying on precedent from the Higher Education Relief Opportunities For Students (HEROES) Act of 2003, was not a lawful way for the Biden Administration to go about offering national student loan forgiveness.

The court, however, did not fully rule out any possibility of a forgiveness plan in the future.

Biden's already said he's against expanding the Supreme Court, so issuing student loan forgiveness via executive authority is likely out of the picture, but he could still get his wishes and implement a similar plan. It'll just need to go through a more supportive Congress, one that he doesn't have at the moment.

We knew this Congress wasn't fond of the move, as seen by a recent GOP congressional push (alongside a handful of Democratic members of Congress) to overturn the plan before the Supreme Court even came to a decision.

Biden will need to take the offensive this election season and not only campaign for himself but also for Democratic candidates who need help crossing the finish line.

While on the campaign trail, Biden can (and likely will) do something most presidents have abstained from doing: speak out against the Supreme Court and its decisions. Biden's broken this rule already and previously voiced his animosity toward the unelected court: when asked if the Supreme Court was a "rogue court" on Thursday following its ruling on affirmative action practices in colleges and universities, Biden simply replied, "This is not a normal court."

Hours later, on television, he doubled down and said the Supreme Court's "done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history."

Running against not merely the eventual GOP nominee but also the conservative Supreme Court itself does come with some advantages, given decisions from SCOTUS on gay rights, abortion access, and now student debt that are out of sync with the median American voter.

This is supported by an NBC News poll from 2022, which found that 46% of registered voters said they were more likely to support a candidate who supported some student loan forgiveness compared to 33% who felt the opposite.

While on the campaign trail, Biden can also genuinely say his administration attempted to follow through on one of its central campaign promises, and point to a historically unpopular and uncooperative Supreme Court and Congress as the reason for its inability to come to fruition.

While he'd certainly get some flack from some for continuing on the path of student loan forgiveness following his Supreme Court loss, a YouGov/Economist poll did find that a narrow majority of US adults either "strongly" or "somewhat" supported canceling up to $10,000 in student loans, including 82% of Democrats.

Unless Biden goes an alternate route, like trying to use the Higher Education Act to go about canceling student debt, then student loan forgiveness likely won't occur during his first  and possibly only  term in office.

The ball's in Biden's court now. If he plays his cards right, he could rally some key constituencies for his re-election, and find loan forgiveness success with a different Congress.

Read the original article on Business Insider
8th Anniversary Of Supreme Court's Obergefell Decision Legalizing Gay Marriage In The United States

Vin Testa, of Washington, DC, waves a LGBTQIA pride flag in front of the Supreme Court Building to celebrate the 8th anniversary of the Obergefell v. Hodges decision that guaranteed the right to marriage for same-sex couples on June 26, 2023 in Washington, DC Credit - Anna MoneymakerGetty Images)

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On the surface, the details of the case seemed plenty narrow: a Colorado web designer who is cool making wedding websites for Mike and Mary but not Mike and Mark thinks Colorados anti-discrimination law could force her to someday do coding that runs counter to her Evangelical Christian faith. She isnt yet in the business of making such pages, no confirmed couples had approached her, and the plaintiff here was a civil rights panel. It was a sketchy case built on a dodgyand maybe fabricatedpremise, but it still wound up on the docket. Yet in the designers view, Colorado and the 29 other states with similar protections for LGBTQ individuals impede her First Amendment rights to preemptively advertise that she wants none of their nuptials joy.

But, look beyond the sepia-toned pages asking a distant cousin the age-old question of beef, fish, or vegetarian entree? Nothing less than the rights of every LGBTQ American to marry their same-sex partner hangs in the balance of a case nominally about hyperscript, links to registries, and social-media links. After all, these things often start narrow and then snowball.

The Supreme Court on Friday decided Lorie Smiths fears were grounded in some version of a paranoid reality. In a 70-page ruling that is a blow for LGBTQ rightsand perhaps a harbinger of even more chipping away to comethe justices decided the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had primacy over any state-level non-discrimination laws. The case, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, was named for Smiths firm and the chair of the state civil rights panel, Aubrey Elenis.

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The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands, the 6-3 majority wrote in a ruling that was as expected as it was foreboding.

Put plainly: states can try to pass local anti-bigotry laws, but national religious liberties still supercede them.

If this case sounds familiar, theres a reason. The last time the Supreme Court faced a case about whether a wedding vendor could discriminate against same-sex couples, then-Justice Anthony Kennedy bent and stretched and craned to find an off-ramp against making any sweeping pronouncements. It was 2018, the right to federal same-sex marriage protections had arrived only in 2015, and Kennedy found himself confronting two pillars of his career: he had written every major ruling projecting LGBTQ rights in the previous decades, but he was also an avowed defender of the First Amendment rights to free expression.

Kennedy, then the center of the High Court, rejected the options before him, deciding against siding with a same-sex couple who had been denied a cake for their Colorado wedding reception and against siding with the baker who said his oven was off-limits to gay couples. Instead, Kennedy detoured to a 7-2 ruling that decided the cake case on narrow grounds that applied only to the dessert at hand. In that case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Kennedy and his co-signers settled that comments deemed hostile to faith made by one of the civil rights panel members warped its credibility to treat the baker fairly.

Days later, Kennedy would announce his retirement from the bench. In the years since, two other Justices have left: Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020 and Stephen Breyer retired in 2022 rather than risk a political paralysis after that years midterms. The Supreme Court, to be understated, has seen a lurch rightward with three appointees from President Donald Trump. (Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016, but Senate Leader Minority Mitch McConnell refused to consider the Election Year nomination of Barack Obamas pick, now-Attorney General Merrick Garland. Joe Biden successfully nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson.) Most major cases are now decided by 5-4 or 6-3 majorities, with the only reliably liberal voices coming from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Jackson. (In a twist, Chief Justice John Roberts has emerged as an unlikely swing vote.)

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But the shift has been noticeable. Consider the fall of Roe v. Wade just a year ago last weekend, ending a half-century of precedent of federal protection of abortion rights. Court watchers predicted a similar seismic movement in the Justices approach to LGBTQ rights, with the hypothetical website question being the first erosion.

During oral arguments in December, Kagan explicitly pressed Smiths attorney on why Mike could marry a Mary but not a Mark in her design shop. The response was that it would be unconstitutionally compelled speech that ran against Smiths right to express herself through silence.

Still, the Justices had signaled that they were more sympathetic to Smithor at least had the numbers to help her cause to victory. To listen to more than two hours of questions, it was clear that the conservative Justices seemed to treat creative companies like Smiths as a stripe apart from, say, hotels or restaurants core to public accommodations.

Since then, activists and court watchers have been warning this was a plausible outcome and one unlikely to stop with wedding websites.

With few exceptions, the Supreme Court is typically reluctant to make sweeping reversals of rights, at least not suddenly. On the way to the 2015 Obergefell case that made marriage equality the law of the land, there were two cases decided the same day in 2013: one that was narrowly about Prop 8, a 2008 California ballot initiative halting same-sex marriages, in Hollingsworth v. Perry, and a case that questioned whether lesbian couples enjoyed the same inheritance rights as everyone else in United States v. Windsor. In both cases, LGBTQ advocates had reasons to celebrate. The rulings came on the exact anniversary of the 2003 ruling Lawrence v. Texas that overturned sodomy bans and legalized sexual activities between consenting LGBTQ adults.

And, in complete honesty: Obergefell didnt put an end to all discrimination against LGBTQ Americans. Plenty still was and is still legal, such as in relation to housing and employment. And the same-sex marriage bill last year that President Joe Biden signed into law still leaves plenty of gaps for rights to be skimmed if not slashed.

As conservatives have been gunning for Obergefell, this case about a website was seen as a door-opener, the kind that could be used in future terms to revisit marriage rights. Just a few weeks ago, when Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the nations highest-ranking Senate-confirmed gay member of the Biden Administration, joined TIMEs Washington Bureau for a wide-ranging conversation, he was blunt: I mean, Roe fell and that was the law of the land for longer than Ive been alive. Nothing is safe. Especially right now,

After all, Roe had been the law for 49 years; marriage rights have been around just eight years, making it far easier to ditch. And dont think the anti-LGBTQ rights groups dont know how much easier Obergefell might be to make a blip in history books. The ruling in 303 Creative LLC just confirmed that fear.

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A key route for having all or some of your student loan debt erased was blocked Friday by the Supreme Court.

The ruling, disheartening for millions of people who would have been eligible for loan forgiveness, kills President Joe Biden's sweeping plan for cutting student debt. So far, the administration hasn't said if it has an alternative plan for mass student loan forgiveness, but a White House official said after the ruling that "the president will have a lot more to say today" and "he's not done fighting yet."

Borrowers can still turn to smaller options for relief that are unaffected by the decision, however, including others expanded with less discord in the Biden administration. And several state-level options are even offered by some of the very places whose challenges helped dismantle Bidens plan.

There are options for public service workers, people who have been misled by their colleges or whose institutions closed, as well as plans to cut monthly payments based on borrowers income. Consistent payment over time can lead to shedding the remainder of a balance in the long run. Some programs are just for teachers and health care workers or veterinarians. Others target people who commit to living in rural parts of the country.

Americans are split on debt forgiveness, as Supreme Court gears up to rule on student loan cases

Federal loan forgiveness plans still standing

Together, these programs already have led to billions in forgiven student loan debt and could erase billions more. They are intended to be long-term changes rather than a one-time fix, although none address something the federal government has little power to control: the cost of tuition, housing and other expenses that lead students to run up eye-popping sums of debt in the first place.

President Joe Biden speaks about student loan relief at Delaware State University last fall in Dover, Del.

Republicans in recent months, however, have raised questions about some of the Biden initiatives, including changes to income-driven repayment. On Wednesday, Senate Republicans introduced five bills related to higher education and student loans, including one that would condense nine different student loan repayment options.

At the opposite end of the political spectrum, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, introduced a bill that would make community college cost-free for all students and eliminate tuition and fees at four-year institutions for lower-income Americans.

State-based plans for student loan debt forgiveness

Nearly every state has its own student loan forgiveness plan, and many have more than one. Each program differs, but most are narrowly tailored to a single industry or profession, such as medicine, teaching, law enforcement, farming or for working in places with a dire need for their services. Some require working in a job for a required length of time.

Republicans have a plan on student debt: This is what they are proposing

States with these programs include the Republican strongholds of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina, which sued the Biden administration over student loan debt forgiveness, claiming the president overstepped his authority.

A few examples:

CONTRIBUTING: Joseph Garrison, Nirvi Shah, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Student loan forgiveness axed by Supreme Court. What options are left?
The Supreme Court on Friday let a lower court ruling stand that sided with a transgender woman who contested that her rights were violated in jail when she was deprived of her hormone treatment.

Kesha Williams, who was incarcerated for six months in 2018, was initially placed on the womens side of the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center in northern Virginia, but was moved to the mens facility after the centers deputies learned she was transgender.

Williams, at that point, had transitioned more than a decade earlier and had also been receiving hormone replacement therapy to treat her gender dysphoria for more than a decade. At the mens facility, Williamss treatment was routinely withheld by jail officials, often for weeks at a time, according to court documents, causing severe emotional and mental distress.

Williams in 2020 sued Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, along with a nurse at the jail and a deputy, alleging the jail had violated both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act in failing to appropriately treat her gender dysphoria.

After a lower court sided with Williams, Kincaids office appealed to the justices. The court declined to take up the case in a brief, unsigned order Friday, letting Williamss victory stand.

In a public dissent authored by Justice Samuel Alito and joined by Clarence Thomas, the two conservatives said they would have taken up the case rather than waiting to see how other lower courts to grappled with the issue.

This decision will raise a host of important and sensitive questions regarding such matters as participation in womens and girls sports, access to single-sex restrooms and housing, the use of traditional pronouns, and the administration of sex reassignment therapy (both the performance of surgery and the administration of hormones) by physicians and at hospitals that object to such treatment on religious or moral grounds, Alito wrote.

Kincaids office argued that gender dysphoria  severe distress stemming from a mismatch between a persons gender identity and sex assigned at birth  is not a disability as defined by the ADA, because it is not caused by a physical impairment.

The ADAs definition of disability specifies does not include gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments, including transvestism and transsexualism.

But the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that Williamss gender dysphoria diagnosis was a distinct condition from gender identity disorder, which is no longer recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and therefore the ADA applied.

The APA eliminated that diagnosis in its 2013 update to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, replacing it with gender dysphoria  a diagnosis that did not exist when the ADA was adopted in 1990.

Unlike a gender identity disorder diagnosis, which is characterized by a gender incongruence  a disparity between a persons experienced gender and their sex assigned at birth  gender dysphoria relates specifically to the clinically significant distress that arises from the feeling that a persons gender identity does not match their assigned sex.

Reflecting this shift in medical understanding, we and other courts have thus explained that a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, unlike that of gender identity disorder, concerns itself primarily with distress and other disabling symptoms, rather than simply being transgender, 4th Circuit Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote in last years decision.

Alitos dissent called several aspects of the courts reasoning troubling.

In short, the Fourth Circuits ruling leaves a great many people and institutions under the looming threat of liability, forcing them to change their behaviorbehavior that may be deeply rooted in moral or religious principlesor face an unending stream of lawsuits. If it is at least possible that the ADA does not require these results, we should be willing to resolve the question now rather than later, Alito wrote.

Kincaids attorney in the request to the justices wrote the courts review is necessary to avoid the judicial rewriting of a federal law.

This case raises important questions of statutory interpretation in an area of tremendous social and political importance, they wrote.

Williams responded by urging the court to not take up the appeal. She asserted that Kincaid had not challenged a second rationale that supported the lower courts decision: Even if gender dysphoria was a gender identity disorder, the ADA still applied, because Williams had adequately pleaded that it resulted from physical impairments.

The Fourth Circuits decision reflects the straightforward application of well-settled principles of statutory construction. No further review is warranted, Williamss attorney wrote.

Updated at 1:30 p.m. ET.

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"My family and all relatives are very proud that I have an opportunity to work on a big project like this," said Kaifa Keosingthong, a 24-year-old Lao engineer working at the maintenance center of the Laos-China Railway.





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Supreme Court to take up major Second Amendment case next term

Supreme Court to take up major Second Amendment case next term

The Supreme Court on Friday said it will weigh whether a federal ban on gun possession for people under domestic violence restraining orders is constitutional, setting up a major Second Amendment case for the courts next annual term.

In a brief, unsigned order, the justices agreed to hear the Justice Departments appeal of a ruling that invalidated the ban.

Last summer, the justices ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen issued the biggest expansion of Second Amendment rights in a decade, which set the stage for the case at hand in the next term.

Federal law prohibits various categories of people from possessing firearms, and many of the provisions have become entangled in challenges in the lower courts following that landmark ruling.

The dispute now before the justices involves the criminal case of Zackey Rahimi, who is contesting the federal law after Texas placed him under a restraining order after he assaulted his girlfriend and threatened to shoot her. Months later, police searched Rahimis home in connection with an unrelated investigation and found a rifle and a pistol.

A federal grand jury indicted Rahimi for possessing a firearm while being under a domestic violence restraining order, and he began fighting the charge as a violation of his Second Amendment rights. After his argument was rejected, Rahimi proceeded to plead guilty and was sentenced to 73 months in prison.

Then, the Supreme Court handed down the Bruen decision.

Justice Clarence Thomass majority opinion changed the test that lower courts had used to decide whether gun regulations complied with the Second Amendment. The conservative majority ruled that firearm regulations must be consistent with the nations historical tradition.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals withdrew its ruling in Rahimis case and went on to strike down the crime he was charged under as unconstitutional, invalidating it in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi based on the high courts decision.

The Justice Department then appealed the case to the Supreme Court.

Rahimi had asked the Supreme Court to stay out of the case, arguing it was too early for the justices to get involved, as he noted his case was one of the first federal appeals court rulings to apply the Bruen decision.

As the Court surely anticipated, lower courts are now hard at work applying the new historical framework and revaluating firearm restrictions that were previously upheld under intermediate scrutiny and deference to legislative judgment. Many important cases have been argued and await decisions, Rahimis attorney wrote in court filings.

The Justice Department opted against waiting for more cases to percolate, arguing the provision was constitutional and necessary to reduce violence, contending the nations historical tradition allows the government to disarm people who are dangerous.

Governments have long disarmed individuals who pose a threat to the safety of others, and Section 922(g)(8) falls comfortably within that tradition, the Justice Department wrote in its request. The Fifth Circuits contrary decision misapplies this Courts precedents, conflicts with the decisions of other courts of appeals, and threatens grave harms for victims of domestic violence.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Supreme Court Makes Anti-LGBTQ+ Ruling, Goes Against Student Loan Borrowers After Gutting Affirmative Action | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Supreme Court capped off a week of monumental rulings with two high-profile decisions that could have major ramifications across the country. In one case, the court decided that private businesses can deny services to same-sex couples based on religious freedom objections. In another case, the court struck down President Joe Bidens plan to provide student loan forgiveness.

"Expressive" goods can be refused based on religious beliefs

The court issued a 6-3 decision on Friday declaring that Colorado entrepreneur Lorie Smith, the owner of the company 303 Creative, could refuse to provide websites for same-sex couples as the business expanded into providing wedding services. The six conservative justices held that, despite a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, the creation of a wedding website is an example of an expressive good, and refusing to do so based on religious beliefs is therefore covered by the first amendment protection of free speech. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion that because of the ruling the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.

Biden's student loan forgiveness program has been canceled

In the second major conservative-leaning ruling Friday, the six conservative justices declared Bidens student loan forgiveness plan unconstitutional. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the majority opinion, held that the massive Biden forgiveness plan  which proposed forgiving amounts up to $10,000 or $20,000 for millions of qualified applicants  was beyond the scope of the president to implement. Biden had argued that the powers given to the president to pause student loans, which began during the Trump administration, also gave him the power to forgive these amounts; the court, however, ruled that such a multibillion-dollar plan needed congressional approval. Although Biden has objected to the courts ruling and vowed to find other ways to aid student borrowers, millions of whom had already signed up for his now-banned forgiveness program, the courts decision is a significant defeat for one of Bidens major policy proposals.

Conservative court makes its mark again

Both Friday rulings were made by the six justices who were appointed by Republican presidents, including three that were appointed under then-President Donald Trump. This conservative majority has mostly issued rulings in line with the Republican agenda, including repealing Roe v. Wade and banning affirmative action in college admissions. These latest rulings will further bolster the conservative political agenda and motivate liberals who seek to reform the court in light of its conservative drift and ethics scandals.

Given the massive impact that the Supreme Courts rulings are having across the nation, these decisions will only add to the political polarization and competition that have been at the forefront of public life in the country.
The six conservative justices on the Supreme Court ruled that President Joe Bidens student loan debt forgiveness plan is unconstitutional on Friday.

The 6-3 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts means that the 26 million Americans who signed up for the debt forgiveness program will no longer have their debt partially or fully wiped away.

Biden announced his plan to forgive up to $20,000 in student loan debt for more than 40 million loan holders in August 2022. The plan authorized $20,000 in relief to Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 in relief to other borrowers who made less than $125,000 a year in 2020 or 2021. In authorizing the forgiveness plan, Biden cited his authority under the 2003 HEROES Act, passed in the wake of 9/11, to waive or modify student loan debt terms during a national emergency  in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the court disagreed. Roberts opinion  joined by conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett  declared that Biden lacked the authority under the HEROES Act to eliminate student loan debt.

We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to waive or modify existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up, Roberts wrote.

The authority to modify statutes and regulations allows the Secretary to make modest adjustments and additions to existing provisions, not transform them, he added.

Roberts further stated that the modifications to student loan payments were not moderate or minor, as his definition of modify required. Instead, they created a novel and fundamentally different loan forgiveness program.

The ruling also declared the debt forgiveness plan to be in violation of the courts so-called major questions doctrine.

This doctrine allows the court to declare an executive branch policy that the court thinks wasnt authorized by Congress to be unconstitutional if a majority of justices agree that it is too major a policy. Its application is highly subjective.

The major question doctrine acts as a get-out-of-text-free card that conservative justices make magically appear whenever they see an executive branch policy that goes against their ideological goals, Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent in the 2022 case of West Virginia v. EPA.

While the HEROES Act rather plainly states that the president may waive or modify the terms of student loan debt held by the government, the courts conservatives decided that Congress did not mean that the president could forgive debt. The plan to provide debt relief was unconstitutionally major.

The court concluded that [t]he basic and consequential tradeoffs inherent in a mass debt cancellation program are ones that Congress would likely have intended for itself, Roberts wrote, quoting from the West Virginia v. EPA decision.

In dissent, Kagan  joined by liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson  ripped the majority opinion for exceeding its proper, limited role in our Nations governance.

Some 20 years ago, Congress enacted legislation, called the HEROES Act, authorizing the Secretary of Education to provide relief to student-loan borrowers when a national emergency struck, Kagan wrote.

That law allowed the secretary to do only what was necessary to alleviate the emergencys impact on affected borrowers ability to repay their student loans, she added.

The secretary could waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision and replace the old provisions with new terms and conditions, Kagan wrote.

That may have been a good idea, or it may have been a bad idea, she noted. Either way, it was what Congress said.

But instead, the Court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness, Kagan wrote.

The majoritys cardinal error is reading modify as if it were the only word in the statutory delegation, Kagan said. Rather, it must be read as one part of a couplet: waive or modify, with waive meaning eliminate.

Would Congress have given the Secretary power to wholly eliminate a requirement, as well as to relax it just a little bit, but nothing in between? Kagan asked. The majority says yes. But the answer is no, because Congress would not have written so insane a law.

In applying the major questions doctrine, Kagan declared that the Court puts its own heavyweight thumb on the scales, by questioning who has the authority to make such significant calls.

The answer, as is now becoming commonplace, is this Court, Kagan wrote.

The major questions doctrine as deployed by this majority, Kagan stated, makes the court the arbiterindeed, the makerof national policy.

That is no proper role for a court, Kagan wrote. And it is a danger to a democratic order.

Roberts strenuously disagreed, arguing back at Kagan: The dissent is correct that this is a case about one branch of government arrogating to itself power belonging to another. But it is the Executive seizing the power of the Legislature.

Kagan also argued that the court should not have issued a decision in the case at all because the state plaintiffs could not prove a harm from the debt relief plan and, therefore, lacked standing to sue. The majority opinion, however, granted standing to Missouri after it argued that the student loan debt servicer MOHELA would not be able to make certain payments to state government coffers due to the relief plan.

In a separate opinion on a challenge to the policy brought by two students, the court dismissed the case for lack of standing.

The Biden administration previously refused to put forward a Plan B in case the court invalidated the program.

On Friday afternoon, Biden announced that his administration had begun the process of seeking student loan debt relief under the authority granted in the Higher Education Act.

As for courts decision, Biden said: I think the court misinterpreted the Constitution.
A sign reading Student Debt is seen outside the Supreme Court, Friday, June 30, 2023, as decisions are expected in Washington. A sharply divided Supreme Court has ruled that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loan debts for millions of Americans. Conservative justices were in the majority in Fridays 6-3 decision that effectively killed the $400 billion plan that President Joe Biden announced last year. | Mariam Zuhaib, Associated Press

The Biden administrations initiative to partially relieve billions of dollars of federal student loan debt is unconstitutional, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision Friday.

The decision has far-reaching consequences for some 44 million Americans who owe a combined $1.7 trillion for their education, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Student loans are one of the highest sources of debt for Americans, second only to mortgages. The Biden administration plan would have wiped out more than $400 billion in student loan debt.

The loan forgiveness plan sought to relieve $10,000 of federal student loan debt for borrowers who earn less than $125,000 annually and up to $20,000 for those who went to college on Pell grants.

Chief Justice John Roberts, for the majority, wrote: The Secretarys comprehensive debt cancellation plan cannot fairly be called a waiver  it not only nullifies existing provisions, but augments and expands them dramatically.

However broad the meaning of waive or modify, that language cannot authorize the kind of exhaustive rewriting of the statute that has taken place here, the opinion stated.

Biden, in a statement, vowed, This fight is not over.

Delivering remarks at the White House late Friday afternoon, Biden announced a different path to provide federal student loan debt relief, an approach that would rely on the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Biden said the new approach is consistent with Fridays Supreme Court ruling to provide student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible as quickly as possible.

The law will enable Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to compromise, waive or release loans under certain circumstances, the president said. He described the path as legally sound but acknowledged it would take longer.

In my view this is the best path that remains to providing as many borrowers possible with debt relief. Im directing my team to move as quickly as possible, Biden said.

Utah educator Sarah Reale, who owes some $40,000 in student loans after earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from a public university, said she was disappointed in the decision, but I believe in the process and these checks and balances were seeing play out.

Reale, who teaches at Salt Lake Community College and is the colleges director of digital marketing, said the cost of higher education and the burdens on students who seek to improve their lives and circumstances need to be reevaluated.

Students need access to higher education without the cost and weight of a lifetime of debt, she said.

The decision means that borrowers targeted by Bidens plan will receive no relief. Payment obligations paused during the pandemic will start anew in October.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes responded to the ruling in a statement: The idea of forgiving school loans for a select group of college borrowers is unfair and offensive to the countless Americans who avoided loans or who have repaid their own school loans, often at great personal sacrifice and hardship.

He continued, The only thing worse than the absurdity of the loan forgiveness program is the illegality of it. By law, any program that cancels $400 billion of outstanding loans is not something the executive branch can decide on its own. No president, whether Republican or Democrat, may take more authority upon himself than the Constitution bestows.

In the fall of 2022, Nebraska and five other states filed a lawsuit in Eastern Missouri U.S. District Court challenging the forgiveness program, asserting that it violates the separation of powers and Administrative Procedures Act.

The district court dismissed the challenge, finding that the states lacked judicial standing to sue. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined the forgiveness program pending the appeal.

The Supreme Court granted certiorari and heard arguments in Biden v. Nebraska in February, announcing its decision Friday.

The majority opinion said the Education Department overreached statutory authority when it offered waivers.

From a few narrowly delineated situations specified by Congress, the Secretary has expanded forgiveness to nearly every borrower in the country. The Secretarys plan has modified the cited provisions (of the statute) only in the same sense that the French Revolution modified the status of the French nobility  it has abolished them and supplanted them with a new regime entirely.

Justice Elena Kagan, in a dissenting opinion, wrote that the Supreme Court acts as though it is an arbiter of political and policy disputes, rather than of cases and controversies.

Kagan wrote that the Supreme Court once again substituted itself for Congress and the executive branch  and the hundreds of millions of people they represent  in making this nations most important, as well as most contested, policy decisions.

Patrick Holman-Hart, another Utahn with student loan debt, said the Supreme Courts decision was disappointing and will have far-reaching impacts for individuals and households.

For young professionals like myself, weve worked hard to do what we can to succeed and taking out loans has been one of, if not the only ways, to be able to attend college because of family income and circumstances. Costs have skyrocketed and a college education isnt just something you can work your way through anymore, he said.

Holman-Hart said he hopes that the Biden administration will develop solutions and options to make repayment viable.

Christopher Peterson, professor in the University of Utahs S.J. Quinney College of Law, said one frustration with the ruling is, while the majority opinion said the Biden administration lacked authority under the statute to provide broad relief, the Supreme Court didnt really give much guidance on what kind of a modification or waiver it would deem to be permissible.

Congress could, conceivably, modify the statute, but that appears unlikely, given the deep divisions between and within the legislative bodies, he said.

Its difficult to get anything through Congress, especially in particular the U.S. Senate, where most changes in the law, you have to have 60 votes, not 50 or 51. Its difficult for 60 U.S. senators to ever agree on anything in this day and age, he said.

Utahs senators, meanwhile, hailed the ruling.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said the Biden administrations student loan forgiveness plan was an unfair play to induce voters that has now been blocked by the Supreme Court as executive overreach.

Romneys statement continued, Instead of working toward real bipartisan solutions to lower higher education costs, the Biden administration chose a partisan approach that  as the Supreme Court has ruled today  was outside the bounds of its authority and ultimately unsuccessful in supporting our students.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said the Biden v. Nebraska decision was a clear victory over executive overreach, affirming that President Bidens student loan scheme was fundamentally unconstitutional.

Lee said the Supreme Court lifted a $400 billion burden off the shoulders of the hard-working Americans who diligently paid off their student loan obligations or decided to forego higher education. Thankfully, the Supreme Court was able to check this unbridled overreach and ensure that this foray into socialized higher education will not stand.

Bidens statement said, The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses  including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.

In August 2022, Cardona attempted to issue loan forgiveness under the HEROES Act, a post-9/11 statute enacted to modify or waive student loan requirements for individuals in military service.

According to an earlier statement from the Utah Attorney Generals Office, which helped author two friend-of-the-court briefs submitted on behalf of 17 states, The states argued that the HEROES Act does not authorize the Secretary of Education to issue mass cancellations of student loans. The HEROES Act of 2003 only permits the Secretary of Education to waive or modify student loan requirements in limited circumstances. The Secretarys attempt to exercise power of such vast economic and political significance requires clear Congressional authorization.

According to public opinion polls conducted for the Deseret News and the Hinckley Institute of Politics, a majority of Utahns disapproved of the Biden administrations plan for partial loan forgiveness.

Fifty-five percent of 801 registered Utah voters polled by Dan Jones & Associates in March said they disapproved of the Biden administrations plan for partial loan forgiveness, while 42% said they approved and 3% said they dont know.

The poll, conducted March 14-22, 2023, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points.

Related

Related

While the courts ruling has implications for thousands of individual Utah borrowers, it is unclear what direct impact the decision poses for the state.

The Utah Board of Higher Education voted in 2021 to sell the Federal Family Education Loan Program portfolio administered by the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority, which means the state is no longer in the student loan processing business.

Proceeds from the sale have been placed in a legislatively created permanent endowment that will fund college scholarships and other programs through interest earnings. At the time, the proceeds of the sale of the portfolio were estimated to be $260 million and $300 million.
Lorie Smith, a Christian graphic artist and website designer in Colorado, right, accompanied by her lawyer, Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom, second from left, speaks outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Dec. 5, 2022, after her case was heard before the Supreme Court. | Andrew Harnik, Associated Press

The Supreme Court on Friday offered significant new protections to business owners who dont want to express support for same-sex marriage, ruling that the First Amendment protects them from sharing messages that go against their own beliefs.

The 6-3 decision in favor of a Colorado web designer expands the possibility of receiving exemptions from public accommodations laws, which aim to end discrimination against various groups, including the LGBTQ community. Justices in the majority said that, while important, civil rights laws cannot be used to trample free speech rights.

The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands, wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch in the majority opinion.

Related

The courts three liberal justices dissented, arguing that the ruling in favor of the web designer threatens civil rights protections nationwide.

Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class. ... That is wrong. Profoundly wrong, wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the dissent.

A statement from GLAAD said the decision does not reflect a country that supports LGBTQ people and recognizes that our relationships are equal, valid and valued.

This decision will bring harm and stigma to LGBTQ families and is yet another example of a Court that is out of touch with the supermajority of Americans who believe in fundamental freedoms and know that discrimination is wrong, the statement said.

The case stemmed from designer Lorie Smiths desire to begin offering web design services to engaged couples. She filed the lawsuit after being advised that if she refused to work with LGBTQ couples for religious reasons, shed likely be found in violation of Colorados public accommodations law, which prohibits various forms of discrimination.

Smith, who is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, argued that the law violates her free speech rights by forcing her to express support for gay marriage through the creation of LGBTQ wedding websites. She said creative professionals should control what messages they communicate through their work.

In a press conference after the decision was released, Smith called the ruling a victory not just for me, but for all of us.

She said she was happy to design websites for anyone, including members of the LGBTQ community, but said she wanted to be able to choose projects based on what would be said on the website.

When considering a potential project, I always look at the message being requested, never the person requesting it, she said. My canvas is on paper, sometimes pixels, and I cherish the freedom to craft messages and celebrate things that Im passionate about.

Her attorney, Kristen Waggoner, the president, CEO and general counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, said, Today after enduring seven years of government censorship, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Lories favor and upheld free speech. The court held that the First Amendment prevents Colorado from forcing Lorie to say a government message that she doesnt believe and that the government cannot misuse the law to eliminate ideas and dislikes from the public square.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican, released a statement, applauding the decision.

Today the Supreme Court has safeguarded Americans right to exercise our faith in the public square by prohibiting Colorado from forcing citizens to either speak as the state demands, even if it violates their religious beliefs, or face sanctions, he said.

I was proud to have signed an amicus brief supporting Lorie Smith of 303 Creative and her constitutional right  and that of her fellow Americans  to decline to speak or act in violation of her religious beliefs.

 Read my full statement on the Supreme Courts Decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis below  pic.twitter.com/og2sW6NnOw  Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) June 30, 2023

In his opinion, Gorsuch wrote: The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.

Colorado officials had argued that exempting business owners with faith-based objections to same-sex marriage from public accommodations law would undermine the point of nondiscrimination protections. The goal of the law is to protect vulnerable communities, including the LGBTQ community, not to limit the free speech or religious freedom rights of people like Smith, they said.

Colorados arguments prevailed in the lower courts, which ruled the state could limit the rights of business owners in the service of preventing discrimination. But in February 2022, the Supreme Court agreed to weigh in on the case.

In the majority decision overturning the lower courts, Gorsuch wrote that Colorado seeks to compel this speech in order to excis(e) certain ideas or viewpoints from the public dialogue, and that the lower court recognized that the coercive (e)liminati(on) of dissenting ideas about marriage constitutes Colorados very purpose in seeking to apply its law to Ms. Smith. ... But while the Tenth Circuit thought that Colorado could compel speech from Ms. Smith consistent with the Constitution, this Courts First Amendment precedents teach otherwise.

Under Colorados logic, the government may compel anyone who speaks for pay on a given topic to accept all commissions on that same topic  no matter the message  if the topic somehow implicates a customers statutorily protected trait. ... Taken seriously, that principle would allow the government to force all manner of artists, speechwriters, and others whose services involve speech to speak what they do not believe on pain of penalty. The Courts precedents recognize the First Amendment tolerates none of that.

Gorsuch said that the court also has a compelling interest to protect Americans civil rights, but said while the government can compel businesses to serve all people through public accommodation laws, it cannot compel expressive work product, because that is a form of compelled speech, which is contrary to the First Amendment.

The First Amendments protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy. In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance, he wrote.

During oral arguments in December, the justices considered Smiths plight and whether its possible to rule for her without weakening civil rights protections nationwide. Much of the discussion focused on how to balance the rights of business owners and customers and how to figure out what types of creative services represent a form of protected speech.

Court watchers predicted the conservative justices, at least, would rule for Smith, while trying to place limits on what types of business owners could seek exemptions from public accommodation laws in order to reduce the potential for future conflict, as the Deseret News previously reported.
While the court ruled unanimously against plaintiffs in the Department of Education v. Brown case, it ultimately ruled 6-3 in favor of the plaintiffs in the Nebraska case, putting a stop to the presidents debt relief program.

The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Bidens student loan debt forgiveness program on Friday, denying significant debt relief for millions of student borrowers.

The Supreme Courts decision comes nearly a year after President Biden launched the student debt relief program to eliminate upwards of $20,000 in debt for eligible borrowers, as theGrio previously reported.

Bidens efforts to support borrowers were halted when the Supreme Court granted certiorari to hear two cases, Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown, to determine whether he had the authority to create the student debt relief program.

Student loan borrowers and advocates gather for the Peoples Rally To Cancel Student Debt During The Supreme Court Hearings On Student Debt Relief on February 28, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Peoples Rally to Cancel Student Debt )

While the court ruled unanimously against plaintiffs in the Department of Education v. Brown case, it ultimately ruled 6-3 in favor of the plaintiffs in the Nebraska case. The decision in the Nebraska case was decided across ideological lines.

The conservative justices, led by the written opinion of Chief Justice John Roberts, argued that the HEROES Act that Education Secretary Miguel Cardona relied upon to issue broad debt cancellation does not give him the authority to do so.

The high court concluded: The HEROES Act allows the Secretary to waive or modify existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, but does not allow the Secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal.

Jonathan Petts, the co-founder of Upsolve, a non-profit organization that aims to assist citizens with their finances, told theGrio that Bidens program wouldve greatly benefited Black and brown borrowers.

Many borrowers are struggling to just put food on the table, he said. Borrowers took out student loans with an implied promise that theyd be able to get jobs from this debt after college, and that hasnt happened because of COVID and our economy and the place that its in.

Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross told theGrio that Bidens program needed to prevail because student debt is crippling a lot of Black borrowers.

Student loan debt prevents people or helps them to put off things like buying a home, things like buying a car, things like moving out of their parents homes, she said.

Student loan debt has particularly for women and Black women, saddled them with this absorbing amount of debt that they cannot climb over[Black women]] in the workplace earn less on average than our white male counterparts, said Cross.

She added, Two-thirds of the $1.7 trillion in student loan debt that is held in this country is held by Black womenthis is something that is keeping this population back.

For months leading up to the Supreme Courts decision, Republicans launched efforts to permanently stop Bidens student loan debt program from moving forward.

WASHINGTON, DC  AUGUST 24: U.S. President Joe Biden, joined by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, speaks on student loan debt in the Roosevelt Room of the White House August 24, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Earlier this month, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told theGrio, he was shocked by his conservative colleagues conduct towards the student loan debt crisis.

House Republicansdo everything possible to subsidize the lifestyles of the wealthiest people in this country and undermine the ability of everyday Americans, including students, to pursue the American dream, said Jeffries.

He added that Congress will continue to stand up for middle-class folks, working familes, students, young people and older Americans and the left behind.

Petts told theGrio that now that the moratorium on student loans is coming to an end in August, matters are only going to worsen for borrowers.

They just have no ability to make a dent in their student loan debt, he said.

TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Supreme Court rules against Bidens student loan debt forgiveness program appeared first on TheGrio.
People on both sides of the debate rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, Dec. 5, 2022.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that businesses have the right to refuse to serve same-sex couples if the owners believe doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The ruling comes courtesy of a case with Lorie Smith, a Colorado web designer who wanted to sell her wedding websites but not to same-sex couples.

According to the civil rights law in Colorado, businesses that serve the general public ban owners from turning down customers because of their sexual orientation. Smith claimed that obeying that law would force her to promote views that go against her religion.

Read more

In a December interview, Smith remarked: The artwork that I create is speech. It matters not to me how an individual identifies. Whats important to me is what message is Im being asked to create and design for. And those messages must be consistent with my convictions.

The conservative-majority Supreme Court agreed with Smith and ruled 6-3 in her favor. The high court says the designer has a First Amendment right to refuse to design custom wedding websites for same-sex couples. The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.

Colorado cannot deny that promise consistent with the First Amendment. Gorsuch also wrote that All of us will encounter ideas we consider unattractive, and that tolerance, not coercion, is our Nations answer. President Biden was disturbed by the ruling and urged Congress to pass the Equality Act.

While the Courts decision only addresses expressive original designs, Im deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans, the statement from Biden read. More broadly, todays decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations  including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.

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The Supreme Court ruled Friday that Colorado cannot require an evangelical Christian web designer to provide same-sex wedding websites.

The court found that the states anti-discrimination law violates Lorie Smiths free speech rights under the First Amendment by demanding she creates same-sex wedding websites if she wants to do so for opposite-sex unions. Smith argued the requirement violated her religious beliefs.

The decision narrows states ability to apply public accommodation laws to artists, dealing a significant blow to LGBTQ advocates.

Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the majority opinion, writing for himself and the courts five other conservatives.

But, as this Court has long held, the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong, Gorsuch wrote. Of course, abiding the Constitutions commitment to the freedom of speech means all of us will encounter ideas we consider unattractive.

The courts three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented.

Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people. The Supreme Court of the United States declares that a particular kind of business, though open to the public, has a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class. The Court does so for the first time in its history, Sotomayor wrote.

As Colorado and other states in recent years added LGBTQ protections to their anti-discrimination laws, various wedding-service providers have filed court challenges asserting violations of their First Amendment rights.

The disputes have left judges grappling with how far states can go in regulating businesses conduct before they unconstitutionally interfere with artists religious beliefs or compel their speech.

If anything is truly dispiriting here, it is the dissents failure to take seriously this Courts enduring commitment to protecting the speech rights of all comers, no matter how controversialor even repugnantmany may find the message at hand, Gorsuch wrote.

Smith, a graphic designer, wanted to expand her website design company, 303 Creative LLC, to provide wedding websites. But she didnt want to create websites for same-sex marriages, believing it would be a violation of her religious beliefs as a Christian. She also wanted to post a message on her companys site indicating that view.

But Colorados public accommodation law prohibited businesses that serve the public from discriminating on protected characteristics, including sexual orientation.

If you have ever taken advantage of a public business without being denied service because of who you are, then you have come to enjoy the dignity and freedom that this principle protects, Sotomayor dissented, also warning the majoritys logic could be applied to justify racial discrimination.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, no less than anyone else, deserve that dignity and freedom, she continued. The movement for LGBT rights, and the resulting expansion of state and local laws to secure gender and sexual minorities full and equal enjoyment of publicly available goods and services, is the latest chapter of this great American story.

Five years ago, the Supreme Court took up a similar challenge to Colorados law from Jack Phillips, who owns a cake shop a few miles away from Smith. Colorados civil rights commission had sued him for refusing to make a custom wedding cake for a gay couple.

The justices ultimately sided with Phillips on narrow grounds, leaving the question of whether the public accommodation law violated the First Amendment unresolved.

Before her planned expansion, Smith sued a group of Colorado officials. Smith argued enforcing the law against her would violate her constitutional rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.

Lower courts sided with Colorado. The justices agreed to hear Smiths appeal, but the court limited its intervention to only consider her free speech arguments.

Twenty Republican state attorneys generals, roughly 60 Republican members of Congress, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and various other religious groups wrote briefs backing Smith before the high court. The Biden administration backed Colorado and participated in oral argument, urging the justices to let the lower ruling stand.

The request was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign, other LGBTQ advocacy groups, 137 members of Congress, 21 state attorneys general and the American Bar Association.

Updated at 4:36 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Supreme Court on Friday greatly expanded the rights of people who want to discriminate against same-sex couples in a case involving an amateur website designer who was never even asked to make a website for a same-sex wedding.

In 303 Creative v. Elenis, amateur web designer Lorie Smith asked the court to grant her the right under the First Amendment to refuse service to gay and lesbian couples due to her Christian religious beliefs. But Smiths request was wholly speculative. She had not been hired to make a website for a same-sex couple and, therefore, had never refused such work. In fact, shes never made a single wedding website.

Despite the underlying claim being totally made up, the court sided with Smiths religious liberty argument. In a 6-3 vote, the courts conservatives ruled that a civil rights law in Colorado that bars anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination violated Smiths First Amendment speech rights. In doing so, they made it much easier for businesses to discriminate. A new wave of litigation further expanding discrimination is likely to follow.

Smith had claimed that Colorados anti-discrimination act, which prohibits denial of goods, services or facilities because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, national origin, or ancestry, violated her First Amendment rights by requiring her to take commissions with what she said was a message she did not agree with  specifically, websites celebrating the weddings of same-sex couples.

The court agreed. In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, the First Amendments protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy. In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance.

If she wishes to speak, she must either speak as the State demands or face sanctions for expressing her own beliefs, he wrote.

The opinion of the Court is, quite literally, a notice that reads: "Some services may be denied to same-sex couples."Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by the other two liberal justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented in another blistering opinion.

Five years ago, this Court recognized the general rule that religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage do not allow business owners and other actors in the economy and in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law, she wrote. Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.

By issuing this new license to discriminate in a case brought by a company that seeks to deny same-sex couples the full and equal enjoyment of its services, the immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status, Sotomayor wrote. In this way, the decision itself inflicts a kind of stigmatic harm, on top of any harm caused by denials of service. The opinion of the Court is, quite literally, a notice that reads: Some services may be denied to same-sex couples.

Five years ago, the court ruled in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which began from a substantially similar premise: A same-sex couple had gone to a cake designer and attempted to commission a cake for their wedding. The designer refused, saying that providing services for same-sex weddings violated his religious beliefs and that designing cakes was a form of artistic expression of those beliefs.

In that case, the Supreme Court largely dodged the main question of whether the designer had the right to refuse to offer a gay couple the same service he offered straight couples  instead ruling narrowly that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had not judged the designers religious views neutrally.

Fridays much broader ruling opens the door for more discrimination. Other businesses with an expressive service could be permitted to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, should they claim that providing their services constitutes speech or messaging they disagree with.

Civil rights groups are already raising the alarm in response to the broadness of the ruling. The Courts decision opens the door to any business that claims to provide customized services to discriminate against historically-marginalized groups. The decision is fundamentally misguided, the ACLUs legal director David Cole said in a statement.

At the same time, the majority opinion takes space to note that, as a rule, states may take measures to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination, and many states have done so by expanding their anti-discrimination laws. This is entirely unexceptional, Gorsuch wrote.

States may protect gay persons, just as [they] can protect other classes of individuals, in acquiring whatever products and services they choose on the same terms and conditions as are offered to other members of the public. And there are no doubt innumerable goods and services that no one could argue implicate the First Amendment, Gorsuch writes. States are generally free to apply their public accommodations laws, including their provisions protecting gay persons, to a vast array of businesses.

However, the court holds that when a state public accommodations law and the Constitution collide, there can be no question which must prevail. In this case, the First Amendments freedom of speech includes the right to decline expressive services to LGBTQ+ individuals.

The First Amendment does not entitle petitioners to a special exemption from a state law that simply requires them to serve all members of the public on equal terms, Sotomayors countered in her dissent. Such a law does not directly regulate petitioners speech at all, and petitioners may not escape the law by claiming an expressive interest in discrimination.

In a Friday afternoon statement, President Joe Biden condemned the courts ruling. While the Courts decision only addresses expressive original designs, Im deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans, he said. More broadly, todays decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations  including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.
Supreme Court rulings likely to intensify calls from the left to 'pack' the Court

Supreme Court rulings likely to intensify calls from the left to 'pack' the Court

The ruling Thursday on affirmative action, the rulings Friday for a web designer to refuse to design same-sex websites and the decision to strike down President Bidens student loan forgiveness plan will likely ignite calls by the left to expand or "pack" the composition of the High Court and impose terms for Supreme Court justices.

Calls to change the makeup of the Supreme Court have come from the left following appointments of more conservative justices under former President Donald Trump. Though Congress has taken no concrete steps to dilute the power of justices appointed by Republican presidents, recent high profile rulings against the Biden administration have already inspired renewed calls to add more justices to the bench.

"People dont have to live under constant fear of the Supreme Court. We cant sit on our hands while these justices carry out the bidding of right wing organizations," wrote Democratic Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith in a tweet Friday. "Expand the Court."

SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF COLORADO GRAPHIC DESIGNER WHO REFUSED TO CREATE SAME-SEX WEDDING WEBSITES

The Supreme Court has recently ruled on affirmative action, a web designer's refusal to design same-sex websites and a federal loan forgiveness plan.

Biden has not endorsed the idea of expanding the court, even after establishing a commission to study the proposal. He told MSNBC's Nicole Wallace on Thursday that expanding the court would "politicize it, maybe forever, in a way thats not healthy."

However, he also stated his view that the current court is "too young and too conservative," and could harm the country with its rulings.

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The left's grievances against the makeup of the Supreme Court have roots in recent and distant history. Liberals accuse conservatives and Trump of "stealing" at least two seats and perhaps the Supreme Court, tipping the balance of power among the nine justices.

When Trump surprised Democrats with his 2016 election win, the stage was set to change the ideological makeup of the high court.

THOMAS BLASTS JACKSON'S RACE-INFUSED WORLD VIEW IN SUPREME COURT RULING OUTLAWING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had refused to allow former President Barack Obamas pick for the Supreme Court to even have a hearing in 2016 after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Obama had nominated current Attorney General Merrick Garland to succeed Scalia, but McConnell and then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, blocked Garland.

McConnell argued that the Senate should not confirm a justice in a presidential election year.

After Trump won in 2016, McConnell then shepherded to confirmation Justice Neil Gorsuch to succeed Scalia in the spring of 2017. In fact, McConnell used the "nuclear option" in the Senate to avoid a Democratic filibuster of Gorsuch. Democrats first used the nuclear option to sidestep filibusters for nominations besides Supreme Court justices in 2013. However, McConnell then detonated the nuclear option, just to muscle Gorsuch onto the High Court. Otherwise, Democrats  still smarting from the Garland experience  could have filibustered Gorsuchs nomination.

The Senate had never filibustered a Supreme Court nomination. However, the Senate did filibuster the promotion of late Justice Abe Fortas from Associate Justice to U.S. Chief Justice in the late 1960s.

McConnell again relied on the nuclear option to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the fall of 2018.

After the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, McConnell ignored what he said in 2016 about confirming justices in a presidential election year, and pushed through the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett days before the 2020 presidential election.

BIDEN SHOOTS DOWN SUPREME COURT EXPANSION, SAYS COURT COULD BE POLITICIZED IN WAY THAT IS NOT HEALTHY

Some Americans are pushing to change the fundamental makeup of the Supreme Court.

So, liberals are livid over the composition of the Supreme Court and thus the rulings. That is why they are pushing for changing the fundamental makeup of the Court. The size of the Supreme Court is set by statute, not the Constitution, and theoretically could be expanded.

Liberals are still upset that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of former President George W. Bush over Democratic nominee Al Gore in the disputed election of 2000. Because of that, Bush was able to secure two seats on the Supreme Court: U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts in 2005 and Justice Samuel Alito in 2006.

The Judiciary Act of 1789 created a Supreme Court comprised of six justices. Congress added a seventh justice in 1807. The Court grew to nine justices in 1837.

The size of the Supreme Court has always been political. In 1863, Congress added a 10th seat to the Supreme Court for President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln never filled that seat, but there was fear that President Andrew Johnson may alter the court. So, Congress shrunk the size of the Supreme Court to seven justices in 1867. Once Johnson was gone, Congress switched the number back to nine for President Ulysses S. Grant.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to "pack" the Court in 1937  adding justices for every member of the Supreme Court who was over the age of 70. Thus, FDR hoped to install six of his own justices on the Court, but the public was opposed, and the Senate Judiciary Committee emphatically torpedoed the plan.
CHANGSHA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- South Africa doesn't buy the "de-risking" rhetoric about China, but sees a lot of opportunities in cooperation with the world's second-largest economy, a South African envoy has said.

"Among the new fields we need to enhance our cooperation are digital economy and e-commerce," said South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Students from many African countries are coming to China to learn knowledge and experience about e-commerce and online trade, which are developing fast in China, said the ambassador, who travelled to Changsha in central China's Hunan Province, which boasts strong cooperative links with Africa, to attend the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo held from Thursday to Sunday.

The expanding scope of cooperation is a testament to the longstanding and flourishing economic ties between the two countries, said Cwele, who conducted a live-streamed sales event to promote African specialties among local citizens before talking with Xinhua here on Wednesday.

Data released by the Chinese government showed that from January to December 2022, the trade volume between China and South Africa amounted to 378.8 billion RMB (52.2 billion U.S. dollars), representing a year-on-year growth of 8.5 percent.

China has also maintained its position as South Africa's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years, while South Africa has been China's largest trading partner in Africa for 13 consecutive years.

"We see the booming trade as a win-win situation which keeps growing," Cwele said. "And the massive growth in bilateral trade has been translated into direct benefits to our people."

As an important participant in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), South Africa, the ambassador said, has seen positive results since it joined the initiative in 2015.

"More Chinese companies are coming to South Africa to invest heavily in fields like infrastructure," he said, adding that the construction of roads and bridges by China has not only facilitated connections of different regions and transportation of goods within the country, but also strengthened the economic links among different countries of the whole continent.

South Africa welcomes more Chinese companies to participate in the African country's development and cooperate with local companies in critical sectors including digital technologies and 5G, said Cwele.

On the "de-risking" approach toward China peddled by some China-bashers in the West, the ambassador said bluntly, "We don't buy it."

"It doesn't exist," he said, "because China never tries to change our culture, never tries to change our way of life or doing business, and never tries to change our political system."

"Chinese companies are creating jobs in South Africa; Chinese people are helping us to modernize our economy; Our companies are making good profits from China," Cwele said. "So we are happy with the relationship with China, and we will continue to encourage it." 
Same-sex marriage supporter Vin Testa, of Washington, DC, waves a LGBTQIA pride flag in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building as he makes pictures with his friend Donte Gonzalez to celebrate the anniversary of the United States v. Windsor and the Obergefell v. Hodges decisions on June 26, 2023 in Washington, DC.



The Supreme Courts latest decision in 303 Creative v. Aubrey Elenis is a continuation of other recent decrees allowing for potentially more discrimination in college admissions.

Time for another round of the Supreme Courts newest game show: Who Should Be Discriminated Against Next? On Friday, the court decided 6 to 3 in the case of 303 Creative v. Aubrey Elenis, agreeing that the First Amendment protects website designers who choose to discriminate based on their clients sexual orientation.

The case centered on a Colorado-based web designer who has proclaimed she did not wish to make wedding sites for gay couples because of her religious beliefs. The decision comes just a day after the court offered decisions that could potentially shield cyberstalkers from prosecution and gut affirmative action in colleges.

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In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote: The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor decried the heartbreaking majority opinion for opening up discrimination against a protected class. She said that the backlash to the movement for liberty and equality for gender and sexual minorities has led to reactionary exclusion.

Justice Sotomayor, dissenting: "Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class. ... Our Constitution contains no right to refuse service to a disfavored group." pic.twitter.com/kav5qWcku3  Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 30, 2023

The case goes back to 2016, when founder of graphic design firm 303 Creative LLC Lorie Smith said she wished to decline to offer any wedding website services to same-sex couples. She and the conservative Christian advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom sued in federal court against Colorados Anti-Discrimination Act. The law prevents businesses from discriminating against patrons or even using any communication that implies certain people are unwelcome based on sex, gender, race, and so on. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in September last year.

The thing is, the case has long been controversial because parts of its premise arewellludicrous. For one, Smith did not have any messages discriminating against same sex couples on her site at the time she helped file the original lawsuit. Much of the cases arguments revolved around other, similar litigation from artists demanding that they can discriminate against gay couples like the infamous decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Reports from inside the courtroom saw justices argue back and forth about First Amendment implications, with conservative justice Samuel Alito making points about similar discrimination based on religion.

The original petition in 303 Creative v. Aubrey Elenis references a gay couple only referred to as Stewart and Mike. According to the doc, the pair contacted Colorado-based web designer Smith in 2016 to help make a website for their wedding and said they would love some design work for our invites, place-names, as well as potentially a website.

As The New Republic reported the day before SCOTUS decision, the person named Stewart listed in the court docs never sent that inquiry. At the time he supposedly sent it, he had been married to a woman for around a decade. For some reason, the person who was only referred to as Stewart had his name, email, and phone listed on the petition even though he had no real connection to it. He wasnt even living in the same state as Smith when he supposedly asked for website help.

According to court docs, that inquiry from Stewart was sent just a day after the ADF helped Smith file the suit. The New Republic noted that the inquiry wasnt included in the original lawsuit, but was only added after defendants tried to get the suit dismissed on the grounds Smith hadnt suffered any real injury.

In a statement to The Guardian, the ADF called their suit a pre-enforcement lawsuit, a hallmark of civil rights litigation, because no one should have to wait to be punished before challenging an unjust law.

The lawsuit was originally dismissed in September 2017, but Smith and the ADF appealed. While the court had cast doubt that Stewart and Mike were by necessity both men, the ADF complained the likelihood they werent was miniscule. The SCOTUS petition harped on the Stewart inquiry as one of the only real examples of a gay couple seeking a marriage website from Smith.

Even if Stewart was making up his claims, its the only example the case used to say that this would indeed be a problem for web designers with certain discriminatory religious views. This case was just an extension of Masterpiece Cakeshop, though with the added intent of enshrining the ability to discriminate services online. Now, despite all that, anti-gay evangelists can publicly proclaim they dont offer services to gay people online.





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The Supreme Court on Friday sent an Ohio redistricting case back to the states top court, in light of a decision it delivered earlier this week on a similar case in North Carolina.

Ohio Republicans had appealed to the nations highest court after several sets of congressional maps had been tossed out last cycle by the Ohio Supreme Court, though the officials didnt have enough time to implement news ones.

Ohio Republicans had sought to have their case upheld by the Supreme Court, using the independent state legislature theory, which claims that state legislatures to have near-total control over how federal elections are handled and how congressional maps are drawn.

But the Supreme Court quashed a similar case Tuesday where Republicans in North Carolina used the theory as reason for readopting Republican-drawn congressional lines that had been struck down by the state Supreme Court ahead of the 2022 midterms.

The developments are noteworthy given North Carolina and Ohio are among some of the countrys last swing states  though theyve trended more heavily Republican in recent election cycles  and a ruling in favor of the independent state legislature theory would have helped solidify the states as more solidly Republican.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Washington  The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a Christian graphic artist from Colorado who does not want to design wedding websites for same-sex couples, finding the First Amendment prohibits the state from forcing the designer to express messages that are contrary to her closely held religious beliefs.

The court ruled 6-3 in favor of the designer, Lorie Smith, in the case known as 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. All six conservative justices sided with the designer, while the court's three liberals dissented. Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the majority opinion.

"The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands," Gorsuch wrote.

"If [Smith] wishes to speak, she must either speak as the State demands or face sanctions for expressing her own beliefs, sanctions that may include compulsory participation in 'remedial ... training,' filing periodic compliance reports as officials deem necessary, and paying monetary fines," he said, referencing the penalties for violating Colorado's public accommodations law. "Under our precedents, that 'is enough,' more than enough, to represent an impermissible abridgment of the First Amendment's right to speak freely."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor read her dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, from the bench  a relatively rare act meant to underscore deep disagreement with the majority. It was the second time she has read a dissent aloud this term.

"Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class," Sotomayor wrote.

Members of both sides of the debate stand in front of the Supreme Court on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The dissenting justices said the majority's decision gives businesses a "license to discriminate."

"[T]he decision itself inflicts a kind of stigmatic harm, on top of any harm caused by denials of service," Sotomayor wrote. "The opinion of the Court is, quite literally, a notice that reads: 'Some services may be denied to same-sex couples.'"

The decision from the justices is the latest in a string of successes for religious organizations and individuals who have sought relief from the high court and its conservative majority. It also resolves a lingering question, left unanswered since 2018, of whether states can compel artists to express messages that go against their beliefs in applying their public-accommodation laws.

The Supreme Court has now said states cannot, as forcing artists to create such speech would violate their free speech rights.

Kristen Waggoner, who argued on behalf of Smith, cheered the decision and reiterated that Smith's decisions to create speech hinge on the message being requested, not who is making the request.

"The court reiterated that it's unconstitutional for the state to eliminate from the public square ideas it dislikes, including the belief that marriage is the union of husband and wife," she said in a statement. "Disagreement isn't discrimination, and the government can't mislabel speech as discrimination to censor it."

President Biden, meanwhile, criticized the court's ruling and said he is concerned it could lead to discrimination against LGBTQ Americans.

"In America, no person should face discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love," the president said in a statement. "The Supreme Court's disappointing decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis undermines that basic truth, and painfully it comes during Pride month when millions of Americans across the country join together to celebrate the contributions, resilience, and strength of the LGBTQI+ community."

Smith's religious objection to same-sex weddings

The case was brought by Smith, who said her Christian beliefs prevent her from creating custom websites for same-sex weddings. Smith started her web design business, 303 Creative, roughly a decade ago, and wants to expand to create websites for weddings. In addition to wanting to design websites to express God's "design for marriage as a long-long union between one man and one woman," Smith also wants to post a message explaining why she cannot make custom websites for same-sex weddings, which states that doing so compromises her Christian beliefs and tells "a story about marriage that contradicts God's true story of marriage."

But refusing to design custom websites for a same-sex wedding, and detailing why she plans to do so, could violate Colorado's public-accommodation law.

The state's law prohibits businesses open to the public from refusing service because of sexual orientation and announcing their intent to do so. Smith has not yet created any wedding websites or been asked to do so for a same-sex wedding, but argues Colorado's law violates her free speech rights since the state is forcing her to express a message she disagrees with.

Smith filed a lawsuit against the state, but lost in the lower courts. A federal appeals court said that while her wedding websites are "pure speech," the state had a compelling interest in ensuring access to her services.

Smith appealed to the Supreme Court, and the justices considered during oral arguments in December whether states like Colorado can, in applying their public accommodations laws, compel an artist to express a message they disagree with.

The latest Supreme Court dispute over LGBTQ rights

The dispute was one of several to land before the justices in the wake of its 2015 landmark decision establishing the right to same-sex marriage that raised the question of whether a business owner can refuse service to LGBTQ customers because of their religious beliefs.

In 2018, the high court sided with a Colorado baker who was sued after he refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding, but did not address whether a business can deny services to LGBTQ peple. Instead, the Supreme Court said the state's Civil Rights Commission was hostile to baker Jack Phillips' religious beliefs in violation of the First Amendment.

In the years after, the Supreme Court declined to clarify whether states could force religious business owners to create messages that violate their conscience. But the court's rightward shift, solidified by former President Donald Trump's appointment of three justices, raised concerns that the Supreme Court would erode LGBTQ rights by allowing businesses to deny services to LGBTQ customers.

Interest rate hike may not be certain as data shows prices, consumer spending easing

How Supreme Court decisions could affect political campaigns

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Its payback time.

For two decades, social conservatives, Christian Nationalists, and the Religious Right held their noses and voted for Republicans, no matter what. They often disagreed with both the party as a whole and with candidates individually (the Mormon Mitt Romney, for example) And they often didnt get what they wanted, from prayer in schools to the abolition of the death penalty.

But the Christian Right knew one thing. While many on the Left said that theres no difference between the two major parties, the Right knew that whoever controls the White House and the Senate eventually controls the courts. And in a changing America, that is where progress could be rolled back.

Now, those decades of patience are paying off. Last year, of course, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, returning the control of womens bodies to overwhelmingly male state legislatures in the name of protecting the lives of fetuses  a theological claim now writ into the laws of a dozen states.

But this year, the Courts 6-3 supermajority continued to deliver. It ended affirmative action in university admissions, which the GOP has wanted to do for fifty years. It invented a new rule, the major questions doctrine, out of whole cloth, and used it this week to invalidate President Bidens student loan forgiveness program  another decades-long dream of Big Government Is The Problem conservatives. And it chipped away at LGBTQ equality, ruling that businesses could refuse to offer services to gay people if those services could be considered speech.

This is what caring, or not caring, about elections looks like. Social conservatives were willing to put up with just about anything in order to get what they wanted, while progressives canceled electable candidates and refused to sully themselves for voting for imperfect ones. The Right won, and the Left lost.

This is not to let the Democratic Party off the hook. Had it stuck to its guns on issues important to its base  fighting corporate power, for example, instead of kowtowing to Wall Street, Big Tech, and Big Pharma  maybe the base wouldnt have stayed home so often. Had it put forward younger, more dynamic, and less-white leaders, maybe progressives would feel energized rather than uninspired.

And, to be sure, the deck is indeed stacked. Since 1992, Democrats have won the popular vote in all but one presidential election, yet the Electoral College (and Senate) disproportionately favor less populous, rural states which tend to tilt Republican.

But overall, the Right had the wider, longer vision. And now victory is theirs, rewarding decades of patience and compromise with a series of windfalls.

Moreover, the Supreme Courts conservatives no longer give a fuck, to use the legal terminology. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, its two most extreme members, have engaged in clearly problematic, if not outright corrupt, behavior, accepting large gifts (and yacht trips and fishing trips  what is it about conservatives and boats?) from parties with interests before the Court, and, in Thomass case, creating at least the appearance of bias by refusing to recuse himself in cases regarding the January 6, 2021, insurrection, to which his wife has deep ties.

Their responses? From Alito, cries of victimization, and from Justice Thomas, simply ignoring the issue. Because these justices know that they have life tenure, that theyre not going to be impeached, and that there are no binding ethical rules governing their actions. They just. dont. care.

The response from the Democrats has been pathetic.

On MSNBC this week, President Biden said that the Court does not represent America, that its rulings are out of step with our countrys deepest-held values.

So what is he going to do about it? Nothing.

Of course, with divided government, theres not much that can be done. But he could at least propose mandatory ethics rules for Supreme Court justices. He could propose term limits, which unlike stacking the court are more neutral in application but which would lower the stakes of Supreme Court appointments. And most importantly, when his own commission studied the crisis at the Court, he could have done something, instead of nothing, which is what his administration did.

Now, to be sure, the Court has not fulfilled every conservative dream. It struck down the independent state legislature theory, which would have given state legislatures unchecked control to govern and even set aside presidential elections. And it struck down a North Carolina voting map that was heavily gerrymandered toward Republicans.

But as I argued when the case was decided, the independent state legislature wasnt a conservative idea  it was a radical MAGA one. Numerous actual conservatives lined up against it, recognizing it as anti-democratic and not grounded in the text of the constitution.

And arguably, Chief Justice Robertss opinion invalidating that North Carolina map had the effect of justifying his radical pruning of the Voting Rights Act. Like the tree in the childrens book The Giving Tree, hes chopped down its branches and sawed off its trunk  but look, you can still sit here on the tree stump!

Most importantly, while its easy to get lost in the political and legal issues, these and many other court decisions affect real people.

For example, if recent history is any guide, there will be fewer Black students in elite universities eighteen months from now, because, on average, schools with high Black populations are underfunded, Black students are more likely to grow up in areas with high levels of crime and instability, and a thousand other factors (health, nutrition, income, job opportunities) contribute to a situation in which the playing field for seventeen-year-old college applicants simply is not equal.

This doesnt mean, as Justice Thomas said in his preposterous caricature of Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksons dissent, that Black people are victims or that other people dont also experience oppression. I just think of my own child and the children of my similarly-privileged kids, with their SAT tutoring and safe, suburban schools, and its ludicrous to imagine that the compelling state interest of equal opportunity will be met just by letting the chips fall where they may. This is America.

And that is one example. Arguably, the conservative-supermajority Supreme Courts greatest hits are still to come. Armed with the major questions doctrine, it may well strike down a bevy of environmental, health, and public safety laws. God knows what it will do on the Second Amendment. And, lest anyone think that overturning Roe v. Wade was its final statement on womens rights, conservative organizations are preparing challenges to the constitutional rights to contraception and even no-fault divorce.

Because if theres one thing that America needs, its more women trapped in abusive marriages and forced to have more babies. I guess thats two things.

Of course, its quite justifiable to be angry at religious and social conservatives, especially if youre queer, non-white, or female, or if you care about someone who is. But you gotta hand it to these theocrats: they outplayed us. They compromised, took the long view, turned out their base time and time again, and swung the Senate and thus the courts. Now its our turn.

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The Supreme Court on Friday blocked the Biden administrations student debt relief plan in a 6-3 decision, stopping more than 40 million borrowers from receiving loan forgiveness and delivering a major defeat to one of the presidents key campaign promises.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for himself and his five conservative colleagues, ruled that Congress had not authorized the executive branch to forgive the debts that are estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars.

The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not, Roberts wrote.

We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to waive or modify existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up, Roberts continued.

More on SCOTUSs student loans ruling from The Hill

The high-stakes decision will likely limit President Bidens options to deliver on his commitment to cancel $10,000 of student loans for low- and middle-income borrowers.

Bidens plan would have canceled up to $20,000 in loans for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 for other borrowers, if the individuals income is below $125,000. The income limit was doubled for married couples.

In a dissent, Justice Elena Kagan, writing for herself and fellow liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, chastised the majority for exceeding its proper, limited role. Kagan read portions of the dissent aloud from the bench, a rare occurrence saved for when justices want to highlight their viewpoint.

The right answer is the political branches: Congress in broadly authorizing loan relief, the Secretary and the President in using that authority to implement the forgiveness plan. The majority instead says that it is theirs to decide, Kagan wrote in dissent.

Anticipation had been building that the courts conservative majority would strike down the plan. During oral arguments in February, several justices expressed doubt about the Education Departments authority to unilaterally forgive hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt.

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The cases against the program were brought by two groups of challengers: six GOP-led states and two individual borrowers, with both groups arguing that the administration exceeded its authority.

The administration attempted to justify the debt relief by tying it to the national emergency established during the public health crisis from COVID-19.

It cited the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act, a law Congress enacted after 9/11 as the nation went to war. The legislation gives the Education secretary authority to waive or modify federal student aid programs when deemed necessary in connection with a national emergency.

Roberts wrote that the debt cancellation could not be deemed a modification nor a waiver.

He also invoked the so-called major questions doctrine, which the court has used on multiple occasions in recent years to require that Congress give clear authorization for the executive branch to implement matters of vast economic and political significance.

The HEROES Act provides no authorization for the Secretarys plan even when examined using the ordinary tools of statutory interpretationlet alone clear congressional authorization for such a program, Roberts wrote.

Supporters of student debt relief are seen June 30 outside the Supreme Court

Supporters of student debt relief are seen June 30 outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The court struck down President Bidens student debt relief plan and ruled in favor of a Christian designer in free speech case involving same-sex wedding websites.

The court previously leveraged the doctrine to strike down an Obama-era power plant rule, the federal eviction freeze during the pandemic and the Biden administrations vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers.

Despite the justices skepticism, a sliver of hope had remained for debt relief advocates that they might find neither set of challengers had legal standing to bring their lawsuits in the first place.

The court unanimously found the two individual borrowers had no legal standing, tossing their challenge in a decision authored by conservative Justice Samuel Alito.

But in a separate decision involving the states, the conservative majority said at least Missouri had standing, citing MOHELA, a major student-loan servicer and quasi-state entity.

More from The Supreme Court

MOHELA did not challenge the debt relief plan in court, but Missouri asserted that it could sue on the loan servicers behalf and that it would suffer revenue losses if Bidens plan went through.

The Secretarys plan harms MOHELA in the performance of its public function and so directly harms the State that created and controls MOHELA, Roberts wrote. Missouri thus has suffered an injury in fact sufficient to give it standing to challenge the Secretarys plan.

Kagans dissent rejected Robertss argument.

While the forgiveness plan has been in limbo for months, White House officials remained mum on what other options or Plan B they would consider in place of the program. Biden is expected to deliver remarks Friday in which he will announce new actions to protect student loan borrowers.

Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts arrives before President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the Capitol, Feb. 7, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Although the 2024 election is more than a year away, some argue a lack of promised student debt relief will be particularly off-putting to young voters, a key demographic for the Democratic Party.

And another set of challenges arises, as many in Bidens own party felt his student loan plan didnt go far enough.

Before Biden announced his student debt relief plan in August, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) urged him to use executive authority to cancel up to $50,000 of debt, which Biden has said numerous times he does not agree with.

Biden did, however, commit during his campaign to canceling $10,000 of student loans for low- and middle-income borrowers.

FILE  President Joe Biden speaks about student loan debt relief at Delaware State University, Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, in Dover, Del. The White House on Friday worked to salvage its $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan that was struck down by the Supreme Court, trying to keep President Joe Bidens campaign promise to provide relief amid fears they could take their frustrations out on Democrats in next years election. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Though his critics on the left stayed quiet when Biden announced his plan in order to show a unified front, that grace period is likely now over.

Advocates are already displeased with Biden after he made a deal with Republicans to avoid an economic default that included a hard deadline on resuming student loan payments.

The payments were originally tied to the Supreme Court decision, set to restart 60 days after June 30 or 60 days after the courts decision, whichever came first.

While advocates were hopeful they could get the pause extended if the court struck down debt relief, Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) solidified 60 days after June 30 as the end date for the pause in their deal on the debt ceiling, killing any chance for another extension.

The Department of Education has confirmed interest on student loans will begin in September, and payments will resume in October.

In the administrations own arguments at the Supreme Court, it said turning back on payments without relief could lead to massive delinquencies. Student loan servicers also have said they do not have the resources they need to ensure a smooth transition to restarting payments.

The situation will also be taken advantage of by Republicans, who opposed any student loan relief from the outset and were thus given a major win by the Supreme Courts decision.

Updated at 11:47 a.m. ET.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
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The Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Joe Bidens signature initiative to cancel student loan debt for more than 40 million Americans.

The Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Student Act of 2003 (HEROES) program would have forgiven eligible borrowers of up to $20,000 each, costing some $400 billion overall, but it was blocked by an appeals court in October.

The justices were split on the decision 6-3, with the conservative majority saying the presidentand his secretary of educationdo not have the authority to unilaterally act without congressional approval.

The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion. It does not. We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to waive or modify existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up.

In making his case, Roberts cited former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, noting that the California Democrat said in July 2021 that people think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.

The case hinged on ones particular reading of the HEROES Act, with Republicans largely interpreting the version of the act passed by Congress as not allowing for Bidens debt relief plan. The majority of Democrats, however, argued that the act clearly gave Biden all the leeway he needed to cancel student debt.

Congress authorized the forgiveness plan (among many other actions); the Secretary put it in place; and the President would have been accountable for its success or failure, Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent for the courts liberal wing. But this Court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides, because (so says the Court) that assistance is too significant.

Indeed, Kagan argued, The Courts first overreach in this case is deciding it at all. She also noted that there was nothing personal in the dispute here.

Roughly 26 million people applied for relief under the program, and about 16 million had already been approved by the Department of Education. Interest will begin accruing again in September, and payments will be due beginning in October.

Unsurprisingly, reaction among pols was mixed and hewed closely to party lines.

On the right, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) applauded the end to a massive giveaway to the wealthy, who benefited disproportionately from Bidens scheme. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) tweeted that her constituents should not be forced to pay for coastal elites to get their PhD in gender studies.

BREAKING NEWS: The extreme right-wing Supreme Court majority just struck down up to $20,000 in relief for millions of Americans. Let me be clear: @POTUS had the authority to cancel student loan debt. This is a terrible decision and we will fight back. pic.twitter.com/D43T0MxJrI  Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) June 30, 2023

Across the aisle, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) posted on Twitter, Let me be clear: @POTUS had the authority to cancel student loan debt. This is a terrible decision and we will fight back. And Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote, This disappointing and cruel student debt ruling shows the callousness of the MAGA Republican-controlled Supreme Court. The fight will not end here. The Biden administration has remaining legal routes to provide broad-based student debt cancellation.

Pelosi decried the crisis of debt she said will hold people back from buying homes and starting businesses.

Wrongly, the Majority Opinion in this case ignores the convincing arguments on the Presidents legal authority that were made in the last year by the Department of Education and by former House Education Committee Chairman George Miller, she said. (A source close to Pelosi told The Daily Beast on Friday that her 2021 statement cited by Roberts was a response to what was at the time a theoretical scenario, but that her thinking had evolved in the time since.)

In a statement, the Legal Aid Society said the Supreme Courts ruling amounts to a de facto salary cut that will hit regular Americans hardincluding those who help the less fortunate in other, workaday courtrooms.

Public defenders and civil legal services employees often shoulder exorbitant amounts of student loan debt, which impedes their ability to remain in public service, pay rent, raise a family, and save for the future, the organization said.

A USA Today/Ipsos poll released in May showed 47 percent of Americans were in favor of federal student loan forgiveness of up to $20,000 for those from low-income families, and up to $10,000 for others. Just under 40 percent said they supported loan forgiveness for those earning less than $125,000 a year, or married couples earning under $250,000. But only 29 percent of those polled said they approved of broad student loan relief for all borrowers, regardless of income.

The ruling came a day after the conservative-majority court struck down affirmative action admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, calling them racially biased.

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Washington  The Supreme Court on Friday invalidated President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, ruling that a 2003 federal law does not allow the program to wipe out nearly half-a-trillion dollars in debt.

The 6-3 decision by the court's conservative majority derails a major campaign pledge from the president, denying relief to roughly 40 million Americans who stood to have up to $20,000 in student debt wiped away under the plan.

In a statement, the president said he believed the decision was "wrong" and "disappointing." Mr. Biden then announced his administration will pursue debt relief through the Higher Education Act and has created a temporary "on-ramp" period, during which borrowers will not be considered in default for late or missed payments, beginning Oct. 1 and lasting for one year.

"I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families," Mr. Biden said. "My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American."

The court's student loan ruling

Before striking down the plan, the Supreme Court first said Missouri, one of the six states that challenged the lawfulness of the plan, had the right to sue, known as legal standing. That finding allowed the court to consider whether the secretary of education had the power to forgive student loan debt under a law known as the HEROES Act.

The court, in a majority opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, said the law does not grant the secretary that authority.

"We hold today that the act allows the secretary to 'waive or modify' existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up," Roberts wrote.

The court invoked the so-called "major questions" doctrine in part of its ruling, a legal theory that holds there must be clear congressional authorization for an executive branch agency to decide an issue of "vast economic or political significance."

The "economic and political significance" of the loan forgiveness plan, Roberts wrote, "is staggering by any measure."

"Today, we have concluded that an instrumentality created by Missouri, governed by Missouri, and answerable to Missouri is indeed part of Missouri; that the words 'waive or modify' do not mean 'completely rewrite'; and that our precedent  old and newrequires that Congress speak clearly before a Department Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy," he concluded.

Roberts ended his opinion by noting that the disagreement among the court's members should not be mistaken for disparagement. "It is important that the public not be misled either," he cautioned. "Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country."

Justice Elena Kagan authored the dissenting opinion, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson and summarized from the bench. "In every respect, the court today exceeds its proper, limited role in our nation's governance," she wrote.

The dissenting justices split from the majority regarding not only the legality of the relief plan, but also with its finding that the states had the right to sue. In deciding the case at all, Kagan said the court overreached.

"The result here is that the Court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness," Kagan said.

In a separate opinion, the Supreme Court unanimously said a pair of Texas borrowers who also challenged the program lacked standing to bring their suit, and tossed out their case.

The student loan relief plan

The decision from the high court is a major defeat for Mr. Biden as he pursues reelection. He pledged during his 2020 campaign that his administration would forgive at least $10,000 of federal student loan debt.

Mr. Biden moved to fulfill that promise last August, when he announced his plan to forgive up to $10,000 in student debt for eligible borrowers earning less than $125,000 annually. Qualifying Pell Grant recipients, who are students with the greatest financial need, would have had up to an additional $10,000 in relief.

Roughly 40 million Americans were eligible for the relief announced by the president last August, 20 million of whom would have had their loan balances erased altogether, according to White House estimates. More than 26.2 million people applied for the program, and over 16 million of those applications were approved before the Department of Education was forced to stop accepting applications due to the legal challenges.

The Trump and Biden administrations paused federal student-loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and borrowers will resume making payments this fall.

The Department of Education relied on the 2003 HEROES Act as its legal justification for wiping out roughly $430 billion in debt. The law authorizes the education secretary to "waive or modify" student financial assistance programs for borrowers "in connection" with a national emergency, such as the pandemic.

Legal challenges

A group of six red states  Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina  as well as the two borrowers from Texas filed two separate lawsuits, arguing the debt relief exceeded the administration's authority.

In the challenge from the states, a federal district court in St. Louis dismissed the case, finding they did not have the legal standing to bring the suit. But an appeals court blocked the loan forgiveness program, finding that Missouri was harmed from the financial losses the debt cancellation inflicts.

The appeals court focused its decision on the Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri, or MOHELA, a state-created entity that services federal student loans, finding that the financial impact on the loan servicer due to the debt discharge threatened financial harm to Missouri.

For the second case from Texas brought by borrowers Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor, dubbed Dept. of Education v. Brown, a federal district court found the borrowers satisfied the requirements for standing and ruled the plan is an unconstitutional exercise of Congress's legislative power. A federal appeals court declined to reinstate the program.

Brown does not qualify for debt relief, as her loans are held by commercial entities, and Taylor is eligible for $10,000 in loan forgiveness.

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The Supreme Court building glows in the night as a lone Supreme Court Police Officer walks the steps in the overnight hours of March 18, 2020. Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Supreme Court struck down Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan.

It ruled that the relief under Biden's current plan is illegal and cannot move forward.

Student-loan payments are scheduled to resume in October.

The Supreme Court has officially ruled that President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan is illegal and cannot move forward.

On Friday, the nation's highest court dealt a devastating blow to Biden's plan, announced at the end of August, to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers who are Pell Grant recipients making under $125,000 a year, and up to $10,000 in student debt for other federal borrowers under the same income cap.

It ruled that the HEROES Act of 2003, which gives the Education Secretary the ability to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, was not the appropriate law to carry out this relief and therefore cannot be implemented. It did not, however, strike down student-debt relief entirely, meaning there's still room for the president to pursue an alternate route under a different law.

These rulings were long-awaited. In November, two conservative-backed lawsuits succeeded in pausing the implementation of Biden's debt relief plan, just one month after applications for the loan forgiveness opened up. One of the lawsuits, Biden v. Nebraska, was filed by six Republican-led states who argued the debt relief would hurt their states' tax revenues, along with the revenue of student-loan company MOHELA. And the other lawsuit, US Department of Education v. Brown, was filed by two student-loan borrowers who sued because they did not qualify for the full $20,000 amount of relief.

This decision came in two separate rulings. The high court ruled that the plaintiffs in one case US Department of Education v. Brown, did not have standing  but the second case, Biden v. Nebraska, prevailed and had standing to sue on behalf of student-loan company, MOHELA.

Many Democratic lawmakers  and the Biden administration  have long maintained confidence in the legality of broad student-loan forgiveness. After the relief was paused, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona extended the student-loan payment pause through 60 days after June 30, or 60 days after the Supreme Court issued its final decision on the legality of the relief, whichever happens first. He said in a statement at the time that "callous efforts to block student debt relief in the courts have caused tremendous financial uncertainty for millions of borrowers who cannot set their family budgets or even plan for the holidays without a clear picture of their student debt obligations, and it's just plain wrong."

"We're extending the payment pause because it would be deeply unfair to ask borrowers to pay a debt that they wouldn't have to pay, were it not for the baseless lawsuits brought by Republican officials and special interests," he said.

The Education Department confirmed interest on student loans will resume on September 1, with first payments for borrowers due in October. However, the debt ceiling bill Biden recently signed into law included a provision suggested by Republican lawmakers to codify the end of the student-loan payment pause, meaning that Biden cannot further extend the relief in connection with COVID-19. While the law allows the president to implement another extension should a future emergency warrant it, it ensures student-loan payments will resume this year no matter what.

"In spite of our opponents' best efforts to sabotage our work to support student borrowers, we are fully committed to helping borrowers successfully navigate the return to repayment with the pandemic now behind us," an Education Department spokesperson told Politico.

But some Democratic lawmakers and advocates aren't so sure. Reps. Ro Khanna and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been among the Democrats who have publicly pushed Biden to extend the pause should the Supreme Court strike down the broad debt cancellation.

"Resuming student debt payments in the middle of an affordability crisis is unconscionable. President Biden needs to deliver on his promise to cancel student debt," Khanna wrote on Twitter.

Ocasio-Cortez previously said in an interview with Politico that it's "very important the administration has a plan that is an actual response in the event of" the Supreme Court overturning student-debt relief.

"Is the president prepared to re-administer the loan forgiveness program? And I think this is the most crucial question," she said. "Or do they just take whatever it is laying down and say, well, it's canceled. We're not going to do anything else... That, to me, is going to be a major, major, tipping point."

It's unclear at this point what will happen next for borrowers. Democrats will likely push the president to pursue in alternate route for debt relief  some have floated using a different authority under the Higher Education Act  but it looks like borrowers will soon resume payments without the reduction to their balances they were hoping for.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected President Biden's plan to forgive millions of student loans, ruling that the nation's chief executive does not have the legal authority to waive more than $400 billion owed to the government.

The Biden administration had asserted its right to cancel the loans as part of its emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic and under a 2003 law called the HEROES Act, passed at the time of the Iraq war.

In a 6-3 vote in Biden vs. Nebraska, the court's conservatives said only Congress could authorize such a large- scale cancellation of government-provided loans.

Writing for the conservative majority, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said: "The HEROES Act allows the Secretary [of Education] to 'waive or modify'" provisions of the student aid laws, "but does not allow the Secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal."

The court's conservatives are highly skeptical of government agencies that claim the power to make major changes in the law or to spend large sums of money without the approval of Congress.

Roberts called the cost and scope of Biden's plan "staggering by any measure." He cited a University of Pennsylvania study that estimated the plan would "cost taxpayers 'between $469 billion and $519 billion,' depending on the total number of borrowers" it covered.

Members of the media interview a demonstrator for student loan forgiveness outside the Supreme Court on Friday after conservative justices struck down President Biden's debt relief program. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

In dissent, liberal Justice Elena Kagan wrote: "In every respect, the Court today exceeds its proper, limited role in our Nations governance. ... The result here is that the Court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness."

She argued that Congress had indeed authorized waiving student loans in the face of a national emergency, and that it was the conservative justices who were rewriting the law.

In response, Roberts fired back: "The dissent is correct that this is a case about one branch of government arrogating to itself power belonging to another. But it is the Executive seizing the power of the Legislature."

Biden said Friday that he strongly disagreed with the court's decision. He vowed to keep fighting, and announced that he would reintroduce large-scale student debt relief by invoking a different law.

Advocates of forgiving student loans argue that the Higher Education Act of 1965 gives the U.S. secretary of Education broad authority to "compromise, waive or release" students' federal debts.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Biden declined to offer further details about who would qualify or how much relief borrowers would receive under his new plan, but said he believed it was "the best path that remains to provide for as many borrowers as possible."

"Today's decision has closed one path," he said. "Now we're going to pursue another."

The president also announced plans for a 12-month "on ramp" repayment program for borrowers who may not be able to afford payments when they resume this fall. The program would temporarily remove the threat of default or of harming a borrower's credit, he said.

The heavy burden of student loans had become a major issue for Democrats.

As a candidate in 2020, Biden promised to forgive up to $10,000 in student loans for many young borrowers, but he did not seek legislation on the issue from Congress when it was under Democratic control.

Last year, with the end of pandemic in sight, he joined Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to announce that the government  as part of its COVID-19 response  would forgive $10,000 of most outstanding student loans, and up to $20,000 for borrowers from low-income families.

About 26 million borrowers applied for relief.

But the policy's legal status remained in doubt. The HEROES Act says the Education Department may "waive or modify" any provision of government-funded student loans for any borrower affected by "a war or other military operation or national emergency."

Supporters of student debt relief were assured by President Biden on Friday that he would keep fighting to forgive federal loans. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Lawmakers said at the time that their aim was to extend temporary relief to those who were called to serve in Iraq, and to make sure they were not "in a worse position financially" due to their service.

In March 2020, President Trump declared a national emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and his administration suspended the required payments and accrued interest on outstanding students loans. These suspensions remain in effect and have cost the government more than $100 billion.

Biden decided to go further, saying the cost of higher education had skyrocketed and left many students with crushing debts. The White House said his plan to forgive some or all of millions of loans would "provide more breathing room to Americas working families as they continue to recover from the strains associated with the COVID-19 pandemic."

But attorneys for Nebraska and five other Republican-led states sued over the plan, arguing the president was "unlawfully invoking the COVID-19 pandemic to assert power beyond anything Congress could have conceived."

In defense of the plan, the Biden administration's lawyers said Congress had indeed authorized the Education Department to "waive or modify" any provision of the student aid programs. The attorneys also argued that the states had no standing to sue because they were not harmed by the president's decision to forgive loans.

But a federal appeals court in St. Louis sided with the Republican-led states and blocked the loan cancellation program from taking effect. In December, the Supreme Court refused to lift that order, but agreed to hear the administration's appeal in late February.

Led by Roberts, the court's conservatives said they were highly skeptical of the notion that the 2003 law or the pandemic gave the administration authority to wipe away millions of loans.

On Friday, the justices said the state of Missouri had standing to sue because its higher education financing agency would lose an estimated $44 million in fees if the loan forgiveness took effect.

"This financial harm is an injury in fact" and gives Missouri standing to sue, Roberts said.

Times staff writer Courtney Subramanian contributed to this report.

Get the best of the Los Angeles Times politics coverage with the Essential Politics newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Supreme Court Strikes Down Student Loan Relief. Heres What That Means For You

Student Debt Cancellation Protest Outside of the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 28: People gather during a protest in support of student debt cancellation as the Supreme Court begins oral arguments outside of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday February 28, 2023. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post via Getty Images) Credit - The Washington Post via Getty Im2023 The Washington Post

The Supreme Court voted to strike down President Joe Bidens student loan forgiveness plan on Friday, putting an end to a plan that could have wiped over $400 billion in student loan debt for some 42 million Americans.

In a 6 to 3 vote, the opinion of the conservative justices prevailed, declaring Bidens plan to forgive up to $20,000 in debt for some borrowers unconstitutional. The Courts liberal JusticesSonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, but that was not enough to overturn the decision.

The nine-member court first heard oral arguments for two student-loan related cases in late February as they assessed whether provisions in the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students (HEROES) Act gave Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona the statutory authority to forgive loan debt.

The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority opinion. We hold today that the Act allows the Secretary to waive or modify existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up.

More than 16 million borrowers were approved for loan relief before it was put on pause by the two federal court rulings, and another 26 million people had applied.

Now, borrowers can expect their student loan interest to resume on Sept. 1. Payments will start to be due in October, as the debt ceiling deal signed on June 3 prevents the Biden Administration from extending the student loan debt moratorium without Congressional approval.

Heres what the Supreme Courts decision means for you:

Why was student loan forgiveness overturned?

In Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown, justices were assessing whether the stipulation in the HEROES Act that allows the Secretary of Education to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provisions of financial assistance programs to ease financial hardship during a national emergency applied to the administrations relief program.

COVID-19 is the most devastating pandemic in our nations history and it has caused enormous disruption and economic distress, argued Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar during Februarys oral arguments. Two Secretaries across two administrations invoked the HEROES Act to suspend interest and payment obligations for all Americans with federally held loans. But, if that forbearance ends without further relief, its undisputed that defaults and delinquencies will surge above pre-pandemic levels.

The Court was also assessing whether plaintiffs had legal standing to sue. In Biden v. Nebraska, which was filed by six states, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled that Missouri had standing to sue based on the financial harm Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) would endure.

The Court, however, ruled that the Department of Education did not have the jurisdiction to forgive student loan debt under the HEROES Act, saying that it was an unlawful act of presidential power lacking explicit Congressional approval.

The one-time student loan debt relief plan would have forgiven up to $10,000 for most borrowers, and up to $20,000 for some Pell Grant recipients, whom the Education Department argued were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The result here is that the court substitutes itself for Congress and the executive branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the dissenting opinion. This court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides, because that assistance is too significant.

Is there another proposition in place for forgiveness?

Experts previously told TIME that President Biden could push for loan relief through the Higher Education Act of 1965, which scholars say grants Biden the authority to issue student loan forgiveness.

The Department of Education has not yet revealed whether the administration will pursue other avenues for student loan forgiveness.

What about other student loan proposals Biden announced?

In addition to broader loan relief, the Biden Administration also proposed a number of other changes that would prove beneficial for borrowers.

Among those includes a plan to cut monthly payments in half for borrowers enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan. The Department of Education officially brought forward these proposed changes to the REPAYE income-driven repayment plan in January. Under that proposal, borrowers would only have to pay 5% of their discretionary incomethe income left over after a persons basic necessities are paid offas opposed to 10%. Changes to the income-driven repayment plan will be finalized later this year, according to the Education Department, but its unclear where the plan stands currently.



How should borrowers prepare to start paying off their loans?

As student loan payments resume for the first time in three years, experts suggest borrowers begin to prepare for the transition into making monthly payments.

Student loan advisors that previously spoke to TIME suggested that borrowers first log into their account on studentaid.gov so they know the type of loan they have, who their loan servicer is and how much they owe. Borrowers should also ensure that the contact information on their account is the most up-to-date in case their loan servicer attempts to contact them.

Some borrowers may be eligible for an income-driven repayment plan, which could make their monthly payment as low as $0 a month. Borrowers can see their payment alternatives by using the Federal Student Loan Simulator. If a borrower has an unexpected hardship that prevents them from repaying their loans, they can apply for a forbearance or deferment, though experts say that borrowers should steer clear of these options if possible.

What happens if a borrower doesnt pay off their student loans?

If a borrower misses a payment by the due date, their loan becomes delinquent. Their account remains under that status until they pay what they owe, make changes to their loan repayment plan by enrolling in another program, or apply for deferment or forbearance. If a borrowers loan remains delinquent for 90 days or more, a loan servicer will report it to national credit bureaus.

For most types of loans, if a borrower does not make payments for 270 days their debt will automatically go into default. (If you have a Federal Perkins loan your loan may be in default if you do not make a payment by the due date.)

Once a loan is in default borrowers cannot receive deferment or forbearance, and their loans accelerate, meaning a borrowers entire loan balance with interest immediately becomes due.

Defaulting damages a borrowers credit score, affecting their ability to purchase a house, car, take out another credit card and more. The federal government also has the authority to take money from your wages, and withhold tax refunds and social security payments to collect funds towards a borrowers student loans.
ADDIS ABABA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti railway has seen the passing of 1,824 passenger trains with the transportation of nearly 530,900 passengers during its five and half years of operation, an Ethiopian government official disclosed Friday.

Alemu Sime, minister of Transport and Logistics, made the remarks while addressing a high-level meeting themed "China-Ethiopia Building Belt and Road." The roundtable meeting brought together senior Ethiopian government officials, Chinese diplomats in Ethiopia, officials from the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway Share Company, heads of different think tanks, as well as media leaders, among others.

The Ethiopian minister said the 752.7-km Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway, also known as the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, is a landmark railway line connecting Ethiopia and Djibouti and a flagship project under the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, and an important early harvest of China-Africa cooperation.

He said the railway has played an important role in promoting the economic and social development of Ethiopia and improving people's living standards.

Since the official opening of commercial operation in January 2018, the railway has operated 1,824 passenger trains with nearly 530,900 passengers, and 6,133 cargo trains with about 7,328,500 tonnes of cargo, Sime said.

According to the minister, the railway's total operating revenue has been also maintaining an average annual growth rate of more than 35 percent, vividly illustrating the high quality of jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative.

"The Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway is not only a transportation line, but also an economic corridor and a road to prosperity. It has opened up a railroad corridor to the sea for Ethiopia, effectively driving the development of industrialization and urbanization along the route," he said.

Noting that the railway has assisted Ethiopia in transporting more than 100,000 tonnes of fertilizer and wheat as well as other urgent supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sime said "the railway effectively assures the supply of livelihood and agricultural supplies in Ethiopia, demonstrating its great value."

Sime, in particular, singled out the experience-sharing mechanism for enabling Ethiopian and Djiboutian youth with electrified-railway technologies.

"What I appreciate more is that the Chinese team also upholds the concept of 'Better teach a man how to fish than give him fish,' and passes on Chinese railway expertise to the people of Ethiopia and Djibouti without reservation," he said.

During the construction and operation of the project, the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway has provided 55,000 jobs for Ethiopia and Djibouti, and trained more than 3,000 railway professionals, laying a solid foundation for the development of the railway industry in Ethiopia and Djibouti, according to Sime. 
Supreme Court strikes down student loan forgiveness. When do NC borrowers have to pay?

The Supreme Court rejected President Bidens student loan forgiveness plan that wouldve canceled or reduced loans for millions of Americans.

The 6-3 decision was made in a ruling Friday, with conservative justices in the majority, Associated Press reported.

The program, announced in August 2022, wouldve granted up to $20,000 in debt relief to Pell Grant recipients with loans held by the Department of Education and up to $10,000 in debt relief to non-Pell Grant recipients.

In Charlotte, the average student loan debt is $26,453, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.

Regardless of the SCOTUS decision, the clock has already started ticking for a three-year pause on federal student loan payments to end after Congress passed a law preventing further extensions of the payment pause.

Starting Sept. 1, student loan interest will resume, and payments will be due starting in October.

But there are other options to clear your college debt.

Other options for loan forgiveness for Charlotte borrowers

There are multiple types of forgiveness for federal student loans:

Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Those employed by a government or not-for-profit organization may be able to receive loan forgiveness. PSLF forgives the remaining balance on direct loans after borrowers have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a repayment plan while working full-time.

Teacher loan forgiveness: Those who teach full-time for five consecutive academic years in a low-income elementary school, secondary school, or educational service agency may be eligible for forgiveness of up to $17,500 on direct loans or Federal Family Education Loan program loans.

What is the difference between forgiveness, cancellation, and discharge?

The terms forgiveness, cancellation, and discharge mean nearly the same thing, but theyre used in different ways, according to the Federal Student Aid website.

Forgiveness or cancellation: If youre no longer required to make payments on your loans due to your job.

Discharge: If youre no longer required to make payments on your loans due to other circumstances, such as a total and permanent disability or the closure of the school where you received your loans.

You can find a full list of other options for getting federal student loan debt canceled or discharged on the U.S. Department of Educations financial aid website.
How Supreme Court Striking Down Affirmative Action Will Impact Students | Ryan Herron

The U.S. Supreme Court has voted to strike down affirmative action  meaning colleges and universities will no longer be able to consider race as a factor in admissions decisions. Justices ruled that affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which ensures equality between all U.S. citizens. Heres how the ruling will affect students.

First up, what is affirmative action?

Affirmative action refers to the use of policies, legislation and programs used to improve educational and employment opportunities for members of marginalized groups. It considers an applicants race, sex, gender, religion, national origin and disability to ensure that a group gets equal access to opportunities.

Affirmative action policies largely started being introduced in the 1960s to help combat discrimination in the workplace. In 2003, the Supreme Court allowed schools to consider race when making admissions decisions.

Supporters of affirmative action have noted that these policies help underrepresented groups have equal access to high education institutions. Critics have argued that affirmative action is a form of racial discrimination against people who arent part of marginalized groups.

Nine states have previously banned affirmative action at public universities, including Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.

What effect will it have on college admissions applications?

One of the immediate effects of the ruling is that many students are reconsidering applying to competitive colleges, as applicants are scrambling on how to proceed with their applications. Analysis conducted by The Washington Post concluded that enrollment by minorities would most likely decrease at top institutions.

David Hawkins, the chief education and policy officer for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, urged students not to be discouraged.

Colleges are looking for a diverse group of students, and the decision should not discourage students at all from applying, he said, according to USA Today. We will be swimming against the tide, and it can be discouraging. But we also want to ensure that students know it wont change the fact that colleges are looking for them.

Applicants should also know they can still discuss how race has affected their life via their college admissions essays.

Its not that you cant tell your own stories, stories of your racial experiences, about your identity or your background, Anurima Bhargava, a civil rights lawyer who formerly served with the U.S. Department of Justice, said. How universities are going to take account of that is still going to be a question for them, but its not that students cant tell those kinds of stories.

How the ruling could impact HBCUs.

Some HBCUs are expecting an increase in college applications following the Supreme Court ruling, according to Axios.

As the largest organization exclusively supporting the Black college Community, we invite allies to join us in our ambitious mission to create a more equitable society, Harry L. Williams, the president of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, an organization that supports public HBCUs, said in a statement.

Since their inception, HBCUs have always been agents of equity, opportunity, and excellence in education. Going forward, HBCUs will continue to serve as vehicles of upward mobility for their students, engines of economic growth for their respective communities and a locus of intellectual discourse and scholarship on issues ranging from genetic research to social justice.

A concern is a lack of funding for HBCUs, which have already seen an increase in enrollment in recent years. According to Eddy Carder, an assistant professor of constitutional law and philosophy at Prairie View A&M, schools will need additional resources, including building, space and technology.
Photo Illustration by Kelly Caminero / The Daily Beast / Getty

Maybe Chief Justice John Roberts should change his title to Chief Social Engineer in light of the Supreme Courts insistence on telling Americans how they should live. Todays 6-3 striking down of President Joe Bidens federal student loan forgiveness plan is the latest example of the high courts steady expansion of its authority.

At issue in the two cases decided by the Court today was President Bidens desire to continue the relief afforded to student loan borrowers by a pause in student loan repayments under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students law (HEROES Act), by having the Secretary of Education forgive student loan debt amounting to some $400 billion dollars.

Two plaintiffs challenged the plan to forgive this amount, which would have benefited 40 million Americans.

The Supreme Courts Decision on Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination Is Incoherent

The first group of plaintiffs were two borrowers who did not qualify for relief. The Court rejected these two borrowers claims as lacking the standing to bring a challenge.

The second group of plaintiffs comprised six Republican states. The Court decided those states had proper standing to bring the challenge, overlooking such issues as the fact that the Missouri state agency tasked with administering student loans did not join the lawsuit. In fact, internal emails from that agencythe Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA)indicate that its own employees were baffled by the Missouri attorney generals argument that MOHELA was harmed by the loan forgiveness plan.

The Justice Department had also green-lit the plan after preparing a legal memorandum concluding that the HEROES Act authorized the Secretary of Education to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision applicable to the federal student loan program.

Undeterred by such inconvenient facts and legal analysis, Chief Justice Roberts authored a majority opinion finding that the Biden administration was committing a separation of powers constitutional violation by having its Education Department modify or waive regulations pertaining to federal education loans.

The 6-3 vote was in strict conformity with ideology and party affiliationas all six conservative justices (Roberts, Barrett, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Scalia, Thomas) joined the majority while the three liberal justices (Jackson, Kagan, Sontamayor) dissented.

At the heart of Roberts legal reasoning was his attack on the Secretary of Educations ability to modify and waive regulations relating to federal student loans. Reasoning that the federal student loan program was a creation of Congress, Roberts had to conclude first that the Secretary Education was not merely modifying the student loan program, but writing laws.

To do this, the chief justice relied upon the non-legal definition in Websters Third New International Dictionary (2002) which defines modify as making more temperate and less extreme.

Unsurprisingly, Roberts concluded that forgiving the debt of 40 million Americansamounting to some $400 billionexceeds the Websters dictionary definition of modify, even though the total federal student loan debt owed by Americans is about $1.6 trillion.

Biden Already Has Congress OK to Cancel Student Loan Debt

Also unsurprisingly, Roberts did not rely upon plain English definitions of waiver to attack the Education Departments ability to waive loan repayments. That definition is to relinquish (something, such as a legal right) voluntarily. But since that definition would not have helped his conclusion, Roberts instead relied upon legal precedent reining in executive powers.

In so doing, he added on to the list of cases in which SCOTUS has asserted itself as being the body that gets to decide issues for the executive branch. It has overruled the EPA on climate change regulations and overruled the CDC on vaccine requirements and eviction moratoriums.

The decision also overlooks the fact that those who would most benefit from this relief are borrowers whose total indebtedness would have been wiped out by the forgiveness. Many of those borrowers are also the ones who struggle the most with student debt, often facing situations like needing advanced degrees to advance in the work force and having been victimized by predatory for-profit institutions who lured them into student debt.

In short, the high court expresses its disdain for the realities faced by working people and substitutes its ideas of what is best for society, in lieu of institutions like the Education Department that are actually tasked with educational policies.

How America Fell Out of Love With Affirmative Action

SCOTUSs increasing boldness in showing off its elitist mentality is also evident in Roberts odd choice of analogies in his opinion. Like his colleague, Justice Alito (who reached back to the 17th century to rely upon the reasoning of the English witch-hunting jurist Matthew Hale), Roberts also reached back to earlier centuries for an analogy to what the 21st-century U.S. Department of Education sought to do.

Opined Chief Justice Roberts: the Secretarys plan modified the cited provisions only in the same sense that French Revolution modified the state of the French nobilityit has abolished them and supplanted them with a new regime entirely.

The chief justice misses the irony in his own analogy. Today, it is the United States Supreme Court that takes it upon itself to abolish the authority of the executive branch and supplant it with a regime of unreviewable judicial authority.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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(Bloomberg) -- The US Supreme Court tossed out President Joe Bidens plan to slash the student debt of more than 40 million people, rejecting one of his signature initiatives as exceeding his power.

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The justices, voting 6-3 along ideological lines, sided with six Republican-led states that sued to challenge the program, which by one estimate would have cost $400 billion over 30 years.

Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts said the administration was seizing the power of the legislature by trying to cancel so much student debt.

Biden, facing renewed pressure from lawmakers and loan-relief advocates, announced Friday he was pursuing an alternative way to cancel debt under a different legal rationale. But that may also face legal challenges. For now, the high court ruling strips him of an accomplishment as he looks toward his reelection bid next year.

Student loan payments are set to resume in October after a three-year pause. Millions of people could fall behind on their debt.

This fight is not over, said US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and proponent of the relief plan. The president has more tools to cancel student debt  and he must use them.

The three liberals in dissent said that the states lacked the legal right to challenge the loan relief and that Congress authorized the forgiveness plan. In every respect, the court today exceeds its proper, limited role in our nations governance, Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the dissenters.

Read more: An Aggressive Supreme Court Reshapes US as Its Standing Erodes

The conservative-dominated Supreme Court has thwarted Bidens agenda on multiple occasions. The court stopped Biden from blocking evictions during the pandemic and requiring workers to get Covid vaccines or regular tests. The justices have also slashed the Environmental Protection Agencys power to address climate change and protect wetlands.

Bidens plan would have forgiven as much as $20,000 in federal loans for certain borrowers making less than $125,000 per year, $250,000 for households.

Bidens student loan bailout unfairly punished Americans who already paid off their loans, saved for college, or made a different career choice, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. Americans saw right through this desperate vote grab, and we are thankful that the Supreme Court did as well.

The administration contended the student-loan program was authorized by a 2003 law that gives the education secretary special powers when responding to national emergencies. The law, known as the Heroes Act, says the secretary can waive or modify provisions to ensure that debtors are not placed in a worse position financially because of a national emergency.

Roberts said that law doesnt give the education secretary power to rewrite that statute from the ground up.

Roberts invoked the major questions doctrine, a legal concept that has become a potent tool under the current court for limiting the power of federal agencies and departments. The high court has said the executive branch needs clear congressional authorization before taking actions that have sweeping political and economic significance.

The states  Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, and South Carolina  and two borrowers challenged the program in separate cases. The court said separately the borrowers lacked standing. The Biden administration argued that all the challengers lack standing to sue because they arent being directly harmed by the policy.

State Standing

Roberts said the states had standing because of the impact on the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, a nonprofit, state-created entity that by law must contribute to a fund Missouri uses to pay for projects at public colleges. MOHELA itself wasnt involved in the suit.

The secretarys plan will cut MOHELAs revenues, impairing its efforts to aid Missouri college students, he wrote. This acknowledged harm to MOHELA in the performance of its public function is necessarily a direct injury to Missouri itself.

Kagan blasted that reasoning, saying the states have no personal stake in the loan-forgiveness program.

They are classic ideological plaintiffs: They think the plan a very bad idea, but they are no worse off because the secretary differs, Kagan wrote.

The state case is Biden v. Nebraska, 22-506.

--With assistance from Janet Lorin and Emily Birnbaum.

(Adds that Biden announced new plan for debt relief. An earlier version corrected the date repayments restart in fifth paragraph.)

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The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a Colorado anti-discrimination law violates the First Amendment free speech rights of a website designer who doesnt want to make wedding websites for same-sex couples because she objects to marriage equality. But the entire case is a farce, because the designer has never made a single wedding website and thereby hadnt been sanctioned by the stateand she may have even lied about a gay couple ever requesting her services. But none of that stopped the conservative supermajority from using a case brought by a notorious Christian legal firm to open a literal Pandoras box of discrimination.



The opinion in 303 Creative v. Elenis was 6-3, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing the majority. Gorsuch argued that the Constitution bars the Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees. Justice Sonia Sotomayor authored the powerful dissentjoined by Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jacksonin which she wrote that the immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status.

Read more

Advocates had warned that this case was about much, much more than LGBTQ rights. Sotomayor underscored that fact in chilling detail, noting how businesses wouldnt even need a religious objection to refuse people based on race, disability status, and more, because this case was brought on First Amendment grounds. She wrote:



The decision threatens to balkanize the market and to allow the exclusion of other groups from many services. A website designer could equally refuse to create a wedding website for an interracial couple, for example. How quickly we forget that opposition to interracial marriage was often because Almighty God. . . did not intend for the races to mix. Loving v. Virginia, 388 U. S. 1, 3 (1967). Yet the reason for discrimination need not even be religious, as this case arises under the Free Speech Clause. A stationer could refuse to sell a birth announcement for a disabled couple because she opposes their having a child. A large retail store could reserve its family portrait services for traditional families. And so on.

She argues that the decision creates social castes, like segregation under Jim Crow. The unattractive lesson of the majority opinion is this: Whats mine is mine, and whats yours is yours. The lesson of the history of public accommodation laws is altogether different. It is that in a free and democratic society, there can be no social castes. And for that to be true, it must be true in the public market.

Gorsuch waves away these claims in the majority, writing, The dissent even suggests that our decision today is akin to endorsing a separate but equal regime that would allow law firms to refuse women admission into partnership, restaurants to deny service to Black Americans, or businesses seeking employees to post something like a White Applicants Only sign. Pure fiction all. Gorsuch is basically claiming that the liberal women are being hysterical.

Sarah Kate Ellis, the CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement that the decision will bring harm and stigma to LGBTQ families and is yet another example of a Court that is out of touch with the supermajority of Americans who believe in fundamental freedoms and know that discrimination is wrong.

Back to how we even got to this horrific ruling: Lorie Smith is a Colorado website designer who sued the state over its anti-discrimination law because she claimed it would make her accept gay clients. Again, she doesnt make wedding websites, and it appears no same-sex couple has ever asked her to do so. Smith is represented in the case by rabidly anti-LGBTQ Christian legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom, the same group behind the lawsuit that overturned Roe v. Wade and, and the active litigation over the abortion pill and transgender athletes in school sports. ADF also litigated 2018's Masterpiece Cakeshop, and they didnt get the ruling against Colorado they wanted, so they took another shot with Smith. (303 Creative is the same case where Justice Samuel Alito asked a hypothetical question that he thought was a stunning checkmate to libs: Does the Colorado law mean that a Black Santa photography business cannot refuse a child whos dressed up in a Ku Klux Klan outfit? The states lawyer said of course it can, because being a KKK supporter isnt a protected class like race, sex, gender, or disability status.)

Ellis said the case was part of a coordinated effort from groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom to leverage corrupt, extremist justices to roll back rights of marginalized Americans.

And while todays absurd decision is nominally about businesses being able to refuse same-sex couples on free speech grounds, no one should think for a second that groups like ADF dont have their sights set on overturning or otherwise gutting marriage equality. Almost exactly a year ago, Justice Clarence Thomas threw out the welcome mat for challenges to the 2015 case Obergefell v. Hodges. Alliance Defending Freedom isnt going to stop here, and this Supreme Court seems all too eager to do their bidding.

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The Supreme Court on Friday declined to hear a challenge next term to a Mississippi Constitutional provision that prohibits certain felons from voting.

Passed during the Jim Crow era to disenfranchise Black voters, the provisions racist origins are undisputed. But a lower court ruled that discriminatory intent was cleansed by two amendments passed decades later.

Roy Harness and Kamal Karriem, whose forgery and embezzlement convictions, respectively, prevent them from voting under the provision, appealed the decision to the justices in a request backed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union.

In a brief, unsigned order, the justices declined to take up the dispute to decide whether the provision violates the 14th Amendments Equal Protection Clause. That means the current law will remain in place.

Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by fellow liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, publicly dissented from the order, noting that the court had similarly declined to take up the issue 125 years ago.

And this Court blinks again today. So, at the same time that the Court undertakes to slay other giants, Mississippians can only hope that they will not have to wait another century for a judicial knight-errant. Constitutional wrongs do not right themselves. With its failure to take action, the Court has missed yet another opportunity to learn from its mistakes.

The original 1890 law prevented people from voting who were convicted of nine crimes, all selected because of a belief that Black voters were more likely to commit them.

Sixty years later, Mississippi voters dropped burglary from the list, but it added murder and rape in 1968.

Harness and Karriem had cited a decades-old, unanimous Supreme Court decision that struck down a similar disenfranchisement provision in the Alabama Constitution. In that case, the court ruled laws are inherently unequal if they were enacted with the intent of discriminating against Black voters.

The duo contended the same argument applies to the eight original crimes that remain in Mississippis provision, which was enacted 11 years earlier. The remaining crimes are bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretenses, perjury, forgery, embezzlement and bigamy.

But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the GOP-led Magnolia state, finding that Mississippi voters purged the provisions racist portion when they passed the two amendments. The court further ruled the present-day version would have been passed in its current form without racial motivation.

This Court has never hesitated to step in when lower courts have failed to enforce this Courts Fourteenth Amendment precedents guaranteeing critical rights of civic participation. It should not hesitate now, Harness and Karriem wrote in their request to the justices.

They contended the provision continues to discriminate against Black residents, noting that about half of the roughly 50,000 individuals disenfranchised between 1994 and 2017 were Black. Mississippi pushed back, arguing that the provision disenfranchises Black and white convicts at roughly the same rate.

They cannot vote because the attendees to Mississippis 1890 Constitutional Convention conspired to eliminate African American voting and thereby cement white political power in the State, and because Mississippi has taken no action in the intervening years to separate the disfranchisement provision from the delegates invidious plan, Harness and Karriem wrote.

Mississippi further urged the Supreme Court to not take the case, arguing it did not present a split among the nations federal appeals courts, a common reason the justices take up cases.

That decision is correct, it does not implicate any circuit conflict, and this case is a poor vehicle for this Courts intervention. The petition should be denied, their brief continued.

Updated at 12:19 p.m.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
It has been another controversial year for the conservative U.S. Supreme Court. As a result of a decision that allows business owners to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people under the guise of free speech, legal experts warn that the decision will have repercussions that will change American society for years to come.

In 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, the court ruled 6-3 in favor of a Christian web designer, making it legal on free speech grounds for businesses that provide custom or expressive services to decline to provide services if doing so was against their beliefs, paving the way for further discrimination against LGBTQ+ people.

The owner of 303 Creative, Lorie Smith, challenged a Colorado law prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ+ customers.

Colorados Civil Rights Division argued that Smith couldnt deny service to LGBTQ+ couples and that the business must accept all customers, regardless of sexual orientation. However, using a hypothetical situation, Smith was arguing she should not be forced to design wedding websites for LGBTQ+ clients, which violates her religious beliefs and her right to free expression.

Smith filed the lawsuit to prevent the state from enforcing its antidiscrimination law against her. Her complaint is preemptive, as she has not yet designed wedding websites or turned away same-sex couples. However, the Supreme Court agreed to hear it.

One of the unusual aspects of this case was the absence of a discrimination complaint. In fact, Smith sued to advertise that she would not create wedding websites for same-sex couples.

The courts conservative majority opinion was authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting. According to the Supreme Court, the First Amendment protects businesses from violating their consciences. Smith claimed that making a wedding website for same-sex couples violated her religious beliefs and compelled her to, in essence, speak in a way that she could not support.

Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance, Gorsuch wrote.

Sotomayor took her colleagues to task in a scathing rebuke within her dissent.

Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class, Sotomayor wrote.

Vice President Kamala Harris blasted the Supreme Courts ruling in a statement.

When you walk into a restaurant, a hotel, or any business open to the public, you are entitled to be served free from discrimination, she wrote.

For years, our nations civil rights laws have helped to make that ideal more real. The Supreme Courts ruling in 303 Creative v. Elenis departs from decades of jurisprudence by creating an exception to protections against discrimination in public accommodations, Harris added. On the last day of Pride Month, the Supreme Court has paved the way for businesses across our nation to discriminate in the name of free expression  against the LGBTQI+ community, racial and religious minorities, the disability community, and women.

The vice president at the Constitutional Accountability Center, Praveen Fernandes, tells The Advocate that the conservative justices in the 303 Creative case are misguided.

There are so many reasons that this ruling is problematic, but the primary one for me as a matter of law is that the court conservative majority invented  out of whole cloth  an exception to the public accommodations laws that states across this nation have used to prevent discrimination and delivery of goods and services, he says.

Fernandes notes that this ruling does not give corporations the right to refuse services or goods to people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Companies like Target, Office Depot, and FedEx Office, which provide a standard array of products or that provide duplication services for otherwise generated documents, should not feel free to try to discriminate since the ruling is relatively narrow in its scope.

If were to take the court at its word and if were to look at the decision on its narrowest terms, the conservative majority on the court crafted an exception for businesses like 303 Creative, which offered expressive and customizable services. Its hard to think of something like just simply Xerox copying something as being expressive, Fernandes says.

I think there is a concern that under the logic of the courts opinion today, as a similarly expressive service or lets just say 303 Creative itself, a business like 303 Creative could say, Were not going to do website design for interfaith marriages. Religion is certainly one of the protected categories in this Colorado public accommodation statute. So thinking of other protected categories, they could say, Were not gonna do services for interfaith marriages [or] were not going to do website design services for interracial marriages.

He warns that the implications of the ruling could be much more comprehensive.

Arguably, if you wanted to have a birth announcement website or a website for the christening of your child [businesses] could say, Well, were not going to do such website services for unmarried couples because we dont believe in people procreating outside of the institution of marriage. So I think there are concerns of a similar sort of small expressive customizable businesses looking at other protected classes and saying, We no longer have to comply with the public accommodation protections that were enacted a long time ago to protect these people, and were going to try to bootstrap these denials of services into the courts opinion today.'

The director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, Josie Caballero, is distressed by the courts ruling.

Every time the Supreme Court issues another corrupt extremist decision, the court loses more legitimacy, and the American people have to pay the price, Caballero says.

The 6-3 extreme supermajority is making policy decisions both from the bench and limiting the freedom of people across the country, she adds. Their power grab is showing no signs of slowing.

Stasha Rhodes, the campaign director for United for Democracy, a group pushing for Congress to "rein in" the high court, also denounced the justices ruling.

For decades, our laws have affirmed the basic principle that businesses open to the public should be truly open to the public so that every American has equal access to the commercial marketplace, Rhodes wrote.

In its decision today, the Supreme Court once again ignored longstanding precedent to impose its own right-wing ideological biases on our country, granting businesses the right to discriminate against LBGTQ+ individuals and opening the door to more discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, women, people with disabilities, and against people based on their faith, Rhodes continued. As extremists on the Supreme Court try to warp our laws and constitution to reflect their agenda, United for Democracy will keep sending this message: Congress, its time to act and check the power of this extreme Supreme Court.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the ruling.

This ruling on LGBTQ+ rights by the MAGA-right activist wing of the Supreme Court is a giant step backward for human rights and equal protection in America, he wrote on Twitter. We will continue to fight to ensure that all Americans  including LGBTQ+ Americans  have equal protection under the law.

 (@)

In a statement, Schumer added, Refusing service based on whom someone loves is just as bigoted and hateful as refusing service because of race or religion. And this is bigotry that the vast majority of Americans find completely unacceptable. By denying LGBTQ+ Americans their fundamental right to nondiscrimination, this decision erodes decades of progress established by the Court, Congress, and public sentiment.

Alejandra Caraballo, an instructor at the Harvard Cyber Law Clinic, did not hold back in her reaction to the decision and what it means moving forward.

The Supreme Court just made this legal for creative professions to put up on their windows in 303 Creative, she wrote on Twitter alongside a sign reading, No gays allowed.

 (@)

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the first out gay Senate-confirmed Cabinet official, also criticized the conservative justices opinion.



Discrimination is wrong. Using religion as an excuse to discriminate is wrong - and unconstitutional. The Courts minority is right: the Constitution is no license for a business to discriminate. Todays ruling will move America backward, he wrote.

 (@)

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker in 2018 who claimed that making cakes for same-sex weddings violated his rights. That ruling was narrow and only applied to his situation.

The Christian baker, Jack Philips, recently lost an appeal in a new case where he refused to make a birthday cake for a transgender person.
Kentucky universities defiantly said that they remain committed to maintaining diverse student bodies despite Thursday's Supreme Court decision barring the consideration of race in admissions.

The 6-3 decision was returned in a challenge to affirmative action policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University.

In a statement, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto said: Based on our initial understanding, it appears that the Court has restricted the consideration of race with respect to admissions and scholarships. However, it appears we can consider an applicants discussion of how race has affected their life.

He said UK, which calls itself the state's flagship university, will fully comply with the law but at the same time, we will remain focused on our priority as an institution  to be a community of care, compassion and belonging for everyone, regardless of who they are and regardless of how someone defines their humanity and identity.

That is the right thing to do for our university," he said, "and the right thing to do for Kentucky.

University of Louisville spokesman John Karman said that as the "most diverse non-HBCU among Kentuckys public colleges and universities, U of L will continue to be committed to diversity among students, faculty and staff.

Celebrating our differences and learning from one another only makes our university and our society stronger, he said. Through legally permissible means, we will continue to foster and sustain an environment of inclusiveness that empowers all to achieve their highest potential.

Jason Cissell, assistant vice president for communications at Bellarmine University, said the private Louisville school takes  and will continue to take  a holisitic approach when reviewing applications for admissions to ensure that every application receives consideration based on factors that take into account their accomplishments inside and outside the classroom."

We remain fully committed to providing students from all backgrounds a transformational educational experience focused on affordability and accessibility. Through our comprehensive efforts to attract students from varying geographic, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, we anticipate welcoming the most diverse first-year class in the universitys history this fall. In welcoming more diverse students to our community, we strive to provide an inclusive environment that fosters a sense of belonging and supports every opportunity for their academic and interpersonal success.

Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green sent a message to its students Thursday saying:

At WKU, our admissions decisions are based on an applicants academic achievement and do not incorporate demographic characteristics  including race  in determining an applicants eligibility for admission. As such, this ruling does not affect the universitys admission practices.

"However, we remain committed to positioning our institution as one of access and opportunity, a university that strives to attract students of all backgrounds to ensure that every person who wants to pursue a WKU degree is able. We work diligently to make sure that each student we recruit finds their place on campus, experiences a sense of belonging, and ultimately leaves our university with a meaningful educational experience and a degree that serves them well.

"Our tireless work to make sure that every student has access to the WKU experience has led to significant increased opportunities for underrepresented minority (URM) scholars in our region and beyond.

Centre College, a private liberal arts school in Danville, said in a statement it would ensure "that we remain in compliance with federal law" but added that it will continue to build "an inclusive community."

"To engage with fellow students, faculty, and staff from varied backgrounds and with different experiences is at the very heart of a liberal arts and sciences education. Our community flourishes when we are agile, open to new ideas, engage with people who have different identities and pursue our curiosities."

More: Louisville's jail has seen suicides, overdose deaths; Oldham County's hasnt. Heres why.

Courier Journal reporter Eleanor McCrary contributed to this report. She can be reached at EMcCrary@courier-journal.com. Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 396-5853 or awolfson@courier-journal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Supreme Court affirmative action ruling: Kentucky universities react
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Alex Wong/Getty Images; Jemal Countess/Getty Images for TIME.

The Supreme Court struck down Biden's student loan forgiveness plan in a 6-3 decision on Friday.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts cited comments by ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"People think that [the President] has the power for debt forgiveness," she said in 2021. "He does not."

In a 6-3 decision authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan.

And in doing so, he cited someone you wouldn't necessarily expect: former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Roberts cited comments she made during a press conference with reporters on July 28, 2021, when she argued that Biden didn't have the power to enact the forgiveness program on his own.

"People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not," she said at the time. "He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress."

The former speaker later supported Biden's plan when he announced it in August 2022, calling it a "bold action" and a "strong step in Democrats' fight to expand access to higher education."

Reached for comment, a spokesman for Pelosi did not directly addressing Roberts' citation of her words.

But in a statement later on Friday, Pelosi said that the Court "cruelly denied more than 40 million Americans deeply needed student debt relief" and was allowing "crisis of debt to continue holding back families from buying homes, starting businesses and making ends meet.

She also said that the court had ignored "convincing arguments" on Biden's legal authority.

"President Biden is to be commended for his action to ease the student loan burden, which disproportionately harms women and people of color," said Pelosi. "Energized by our commitment to equity, justice and opportunity, the fight is not over."

The Supreme Court Friday decision came in two separate rulings. The majority ruled that one of the cases, US Department of Education v. Brown, did not have standing to sue the federal government. However, the second case that sought to block Biden's debt relief  Biden v. Nebraska  succeeded in striking down up to $20,000 in relief for borrowers. The case was filed by six GOP-led states that argued the relief would hurt their states' tax revenues, along with the revenue of student-loan company MOHELA.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion that the states had standing to involve MOHELA in the case, and that Biden did not use the proper legal authority to enact this relief.

Importantly, this ruling did not strike down all forms of student-loan forgiveness. It just ruled that Biden cannot cancel student debt using the HEROES Act of 2003, which gives the Education Secretary the ability to waive or modify student-loan balances in connection with a national emergency, like COVID-19. Some Democratic lawmakers have argued Biden can instead use the Higher Education Act of 1965 to cancel student debt, which does not require a national emergency.

It's unclear what the next steps are for relief  but Biden vowed in a Friday statement that "I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Supreme Court's conservatives are solidly in control, but not quite as predictable as last year

The Supreme Court justices see themselves as guided by law, not politics. In opinion polls, most Americans are not convinced. (Olivier Douliery / AFP via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court's conservatives were solidly in control as they ended this year's term with major rulings against college affirmative action and President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan while upholding a Christian web designer's right to refuse work involving gay marriages.

All six conservatives were in the majority in those rulings, while the three liberals dissented. It looked like a replay of last year when the court overturned the right to abortion and expanded gun rights.

But for much of rest of the term, the justices sounded a different note.

They were not quite as predictable or as aggressively activist as some on the right would prefer and many on the left feared. The old-fashioned conservative virtues of restraint and moderation reappeared at times.

They voted for the status quo on voting rights, elections and immigration enforcement. And they steered away from what Justice Neil M. Gorsuch referred to as "government by lawsuit."

The two most frequent dissenters for most of the year were not its liberals, but Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., the two who occupy the court's right flank.

They have been in the spotlight because of their free and undisclosed vacation trips with billionaire Republican donors. Perhaps it is no coincidence their colleagues were glad to separate from them this year.

Over their dissents, the justices rejected Alabama's challenge to the Voting Rights Act and its commitment to giving Black voters a chance to elect a representative of their choice. They dismissed a potentially sweeping GOP claim that partisan state lawmakers had unchecked power over the elections for members of Congress and the president.

They rejected lawsuits from Texas state attorneys seeking to block Biden's immigration enforcement plan.

They upheld a California animal welfare law against a lawsuit brought by Midwest hog farmers. And they kicked out a lawsuit from the Texas state attorneys to strike down the Indian Child Welfare Act that seeks to keep Native children with tribal families.

In their most significant emergency order, they voted in April to put an indefinite hold on a ruling that would have overruled the Food and Drug Administration and taken abortion pills off the market.

Antiabortion groups had sued before a conservative judge in Amarillo, Texas, contending abortion pills were dangerous, and they had won there.

But the Biden administration appealed, and the high court blocked the ruling from taking effect. Alito and Thomas dissented.

Why the change from last year on so many fronts?

One explanation might be that the justices, or at least some of them, were shaken by the public reaction to the rulings last summer, particularly the overturning of the landmark abortion ruling Roe vs. Wade.

For months, the court itself appeared to be under siege. The building was closed to the public and surrounded by high metal fences. There were heightened worries about security, especially after a California man carrying a gun was arrested outside of the home of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

In the evenings, protesters regularly marched and chanted outside the homes of the conservative justices. That, too, continued for months.

In public comments, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Alito bristled at the suggestion that the right-leaning court lacked "legitimacy."

You may disagree with our decisions, they said, but do not accuse the justices of being driven by politics, not law.

Read more: Public approval of Supreme Court has plummeted; term limits may be the solution

In opinion polls, most Americans are not convinced. They said they think the court is driven by politics, not law.

Justice Elena Kagan, a liberal dissenter from last year, took her dissents public and agreed with the critics. Speaking at several legal conferences, she said the court had itself to blame.

"The way the court retains its legitimacy and fosters public confidence is by acting like a court," she said, not by doing things "that seem to people political or partisan."

When the new term opened last fall, several justices said they were looking forward to a quieter year.

For their part, the justices see themselves as serious-minded jurists guided by law, not ideologues or partisans. They often talk about how they are unanimous or nearly so in deciding a large percentage of their cases. Unlike in the House and Senate, compromise and working out disagreements is still seen as a virtue at the court.

No single justice was responsible for the apparent shift to the middle in several key cases.

The chief justice took the lead in the voting rights and election cases, and Kavanaugh cast a key vote to join him.

Kavanaugh and Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote opinions throwing out two Texas cases based on standing.

And Gorsuch spoke for the court, joined crucially by Barrett, to uphold California's animal welfare law.

Despite all that, the term ended once again with the justices fiercely divided along ideological lines. On the issues of race and religion, they have strongly held views, and there is no middle ground.

On affirmative action, they wrote opinions, concurrences and dissents that ran to 237 pages.

Thomas and Jackson, the court's two Black justices, delved deeply into American history and came to opposite conclusions.

Thomas said the 14th Amendment made Americans equal under the law without regard to race, while Jackson said the Reconstruction amendments aimed to overcome the legacy of slavery by helping Black people achieve equality.

On Friday, Roberts and Kagan argued back-and-forth over whether Biden was following the law or breaking it by promising to forgive student loans in the wake of the COVID-19 national emergency.

But when the gavel sounded, it was time for the justices to head off for a summer recess.

Get the best of the Los Angeles Times politics coverage with the Essential Politics newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
YAOUNDE, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Boko Haram, a terrorist group, has abducted 13 people in Cameroon's Far North region, local sources said Friday.

The hostages, including women and children, were abducted Wednesday night in the Gore Kendi locality of the region as they were celebrating Eid al-Adha, one of the most celebrated festivals on the Islamic calendar.

"We only learned today (Friday) that they (hostages) are with Boko Haram. Boko Haram is demanding that we pay 10 million xaf (about 16,500 U.S. dollars) for their release," a family member of one hostage told Xinhua by phone on condition of anonymity.

Security forces have begun an operation to rescue the hostages, a military source said.

Boko Haram has been operating in Cameroon's Far North region since 2014. 
Protest of student debt ruling

While much of the LGBTQ+ communitys attention is focused on the Supreme Courts 303 Creative decision today  and rightly so  the courts decision striking down President Joe Bidens student debt forgiveness program is concerning as well.

In its decision for Biden v. Nebraska, the court ruled 6-3, in a conservative-liberal split, that Biden and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona did not have the authority to enact the debt forgiveness measure, which would have canceled $430 million in student debt. The court said authority to establish such a program lies with Congress, although the Biden administration argued that it had the power under an existing law, the HEROES Act.

The ruling means that 20 million borrowers who were eligible to have their loan balances completely erased will soon have to start making payments, The Washington Post notes.

The ruling will disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ and Black Americans  and those with multiple marginalized identities, David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, tells The Advocate.

Hundreds of thousands will be negatively affected by this, he says.

The NBJC cites various studies that show LGBTQ+ and Black Americans having a greater student debt load than their straight and white counterparts.

LGBTQ+ adults are more likely to have federal student loans than non-LGBTQ+ ones  35.4 percent versus 23.2 percent, according to a 2021 report from the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law.

Other research notes that Black Americans have more than $25,000 more in student debt than white ones, and that 20 years after starting college, the median debt of white borrowers has been reduced by 94 percent, while Black borrowers still owe 95 percent. This is due in part to the persistent wealth gap between the races.

The Supreme Courts ruling ignores the growing cost of higher education, which is crucial to unlocking employment opportunities and increasing earnings, Johns says. And debt forgiveness can also help people achieve dreams that dont involve a pay raise.

Johns points out that he was able to pursue a career in government and activism due to a previous student loan forgiveness program. This enabled him to cope with taking a pay cut when he segued from teaching in the public schools to working as a senior adviser to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions before he joined the NBJC.

Johns called on Congress and the president to take steps to address the student debt crisis, such as cancellation of interest, increased investment in historically Black colleges and universities, and other targeted relief programs.

He further urged action to reform the Supreme Court, although his organization hasnt taken a stand on, for instance, expanding the number of justices. The Biden administration should do whatever it thinks appropriate to effect change at the court, he said. This includes helping to move along the many stalled nominations to lower federal courts, from which Supreme Court justices are often drawn. Given recent negative decisions on LGBTQ+ rights, affirmative action, reproductive freedom, and more, this is the time to act, Johns said.

The National LGBTQ Task Force is also speaking out on the student debt decision.

The student loan case is a queer issue because education costs are more acute for middle- to low-income people in this country, the Task Force tells The Advocate via email. Thats especially true for queer students who may not have help from families. Economic injustice hits queer people and especially trans people the hardest. The student loan case decision is yet another setback for our communities who have been historically excluded and marginalized in this country.

The Point Foundation, which offers scholarships to support LGBTQ+ college students in paying for their education, said that student debt is intimately tied to LGBTQ+ lives.

Student debt is an LGBTQ issue. LGBTQ students disproportionately incur greater debt than their straight, cisgender peers," the executive director and CEO of Point Foundation, Jorge Valencia, said in a statement. "Students and graduates are in critical need of the financial reprieve proposed by the Biden Administration's plan, so today's ruling takes away the hope of relief for students already saddled with an unequal share of the debt burden. This decision hamstrings our countrys capacity to fight for equity because it hinders LGBTQ students from pursuing their academic and professional goals. It slows our nations future leaders from bringing this country into the future."
People rally in Washington, D.C., in February in support for President Biden's student debt relief plan. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

For the record:

2:22 p.m. June 30, 2023: An earlier version of this article reported that Americans hold a total of about $1.7 trillion in federal student loan debt. Americans hold $1.6 trillion in federal student debt.



When President Biden announced his plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loans for some borrowers last August, he framed it as part of a multipronged approach to ease the burden on loan holders and prevent a wave of defaults.

Now, in the final months of the federal student loan repayment pause, its clear much of that safety net will not materialize.

The Supreme Court on Friday blocked Bidens debt forgiveness plan, and his administration is still finalizing an overhaul of a program that allows borrowers to pay only a small portion of their discretionary income toward student loans. Several third-party companies contracted by the Department of Education to collect debts have laid off staff, cut call center hours or stopped handling student loans.

Read more: Supreme Court strikes down Biden's plan to forgive millions of student loans

The Biden administration now faces an unprecedented task: helping tens of millions of borrowers make payments in a student loan system thats been dormant for three years.

Nothing like this has ever been attempted in the history of consumer finance, said Cody Hounanian, executive director of the Student Debt Crisis Center, which advocates for debt cancellation. It is a huge, monumental task that is going to face roadblocks and obstacles along the way.

Federal student loan payments have been paused and interest has not accrued under a forbearance program that has been extended several times under former President Trump and Biden.

After several false starts, the Biden administration has been legally blocked from extending the payment suspension due to provisions in the deal he signed last month to raise the debt ceiling. Student loan interest will begin accruing on Sept. 1, and loan payments will be due starting in October.

Biden announced Friday that he will begin a new regulatory process to enact student debt relief under the 1965 Higher Education Act, a different law than the one he originally used.

Although the new path may take longer, Biden said he believed it was legally sound and the best path that remains to provide for as many borrowers as possible.

To ease borrowers into repayment, he said his administration is creating a temporary 12-month on-ramp repayment program, which he said was not the same as the repayment pause. He encouraged borrowers who can afford to pay their monthly bills to do so but said the new program would temporarily remove the threat of default or damage to borrowers credit.

Todays decision has closed one path, the president said as he stood next to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Now were going to pursue another.

Borrower advocates and administration officials are bracing for a rocky return to repayment.

When Biden announced his student loan debt cancellation plan last year, he said, By resuming student loan payments at the same time as we provide targeted relief, were taking an economically responsible course.

Under the blocked plan, the Department of Education would have forgiven up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for people making less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 for married couples. People who received Pell Grants for low-income students would have been eligible for an additional $10,000. The administration estimated that nearly 40 million people would have qualified to have their debt reduced or eliminated by the proposal.

In addition to cancellation, Biden touted changes the administration was making to programs designed to help lower borrowers monthly payments or get their loans forgiven.

The biggest proposal is the Department of Educations overhaul of one of its income-driven repayment programs. Under new proposed regulations released in January, the threshold for what counts as discretionary would be raised from income above 150% of the federal poverty level to 225%. Borrowers with undergraduate debt would owe just 5% of their discretionary income each month, down from 10%.

Individuals making less than $30,600 a year (or $62,400 in a family of four) would owe nothing each month on student loans. Borrowers whose monthly payments dont cover accrued interest would have it waived.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the plan would cost $230 billion over the next 10 years.

The plan will be finalized sometime this year, Undersecretary of Education James Kvaal told a House panel in May.

Opponents of the plan say that it may entice students to borrow more and encourage colleges to charge more in tuition.

Bidens student loan policy has focused not on widespread cancellation but on improving the complex web of safety-net programs available to help borrowers, often by undoing policies implemented by Trumps Education Department.

The Biden administration has approved tens of billions in loan cancellations for people who say they were defrauded by their colleges and made it easier for people who have permanent disabilities to discharge their loans.

The Education Department also has made it easier for people who work in public service or nonprofit work, such as teachers, nurses and social workers, to get their loans canceled through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. More than 615,000 public servants were approved for $42 billion in forgiveness through the program, the department announced in May.

But the bulk of federal student loan debt  about $1.6 trillion held by 43 million Americans  wont be canceled anytime soon.



Without loan cancellation or a new income-driven repayment plan, many borrowers will return to a loan system nearly identical to the one that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic.

I think of the payment pause as a tourniquet, said Persis Yu, deputy executive director and managing counsel at the Student Borrower Protection Center. The problem is you cant just release a tourniquet; you have to actually do the repair. And we havent done that.

A lot has changed for borrowers in three years. Some have moved and havent updated their contact information with their loan servicer. Some have new loan servicers. Some were behind on their loans before the repayment pause, while others have higher or lower incomes that will affect their monthly balances. Millions of borrowers who have graduated since 2020 will be making their first student loan payments later this year.

Read more: Anxious about your student loan debt? Beware of offers that are too good to be true

At the core of the student loan system predicament is the disparity between the size of the challenge and the resources available. The Federal Student Aid office received $800 million less than it requested from the government heading into this year, as Republicans in Congress blocked funding that could be used to implement loan cancellation. That has led to fewer resources for contracts with loan servicing companies, which have scaled back just as demand is about to explode.

Federal loan servicers such as Navient and Great Lakes have exited the student loan market and transferred their portfolios to other companies. About 44% of student loan holders will have to work with a new servicer when payments resume, according to a June report by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

The loan repayment system wasnt designed to handle millions of people returning to payment at the same time, said Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a trade association for organizations that service student loans. He encouraged borrowers to reach out to servicers now.

If we can flatten the curve of demand on the student loan servicing environment by having people reach out in June, July and August  we can mitigate some of the pressures that are going to come to the system, Buchanan said.

Biden reiterated Friday that he believed his student debt relief program would have benefited the economy, allowing Americans burdened with student debt to buy homes, launch businesses or start families. He called the high courts decision to strike down his student debt relief program a mistake and said millions of other Americans were disappointed.

The president dismissed a question about whether he gave borrowers false hope.

I didnt give borrowers false hope. But the Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given and its real, real hope, he said.

Asked if he overstepped his executive authority, Biden told reporters he thought the court misinterpreted the Constitution.





Get the best of the Los Angeles Times politics coverage with the Essential Politics newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Your slice of the headlines in Ukraine. Daily. Friday, June 30, 2023.

 Russian general Surovikin detained and interrogated  report

Russian General Sergey Surovikin has been interrogated over several days regarding his ties to Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group, Bloomberg reported on June 29, citing informed sources.

 Russias FSB and Ministry of Defense locked in intensifying conflict  Ukrainian intelligence

The ongoing conflict between two of Russia's main security forces  the FSB security service and the Defense Ministry  has escalated and is now in an active phase, Ukrainian Military Intelligence spokesman Andrii Chernyak said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine on June 29.

 Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives in Kyiv

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in Kyiv on June 29, to join the International Working Group on the ecological damage from the war and assess the environmental impact of military actions, including from the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP and reservoir.

 US inclined to supply Ukraine with ATACMS missiles  report

The United States is reportedly on the verge of approving the transfer of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), a long-range missile system, to Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported on June 29, citing several U.S. and EU officials.

 Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina in hospital after Kramatorsk missile strike

Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina was injured and hospitalized as a result of a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, on June 27, PEN Ukraine, a civic organization of Ukrainian authors, confirmed on Facebook on June 29.

 Russian-built dam near occupied Tokmak causes flooding, satellite imagesshow

Russian invasion forces have built a dam on the outskirts of occupied Tokmak in Zaporizhzhya Oblast, presumably to use flooding tactics against Ukraine's counter-offensive, open-source investigative outfit Bellingcat reported on June 29.

 Zelenskyys office calls out Russia's threatto destroy Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant

There is a possibility that the Russian military will destroy the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, as the aggressor state has a "propensity for terrorist warfare," advisor to the head of the Presidents Office Mykhailo Podolyak said on June 29.

 Almost 80% of Ukrainians have close relatives or friends injured orkilled since Russian invasion  poll

An absolute majority of Ukrainians  78%  have close relatives or friends who have been injured or killed due to the Russian invasion of the country, according to a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) survey released on June 29.

 Macron says NATO should give shape to Ukraine's accession prospects

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on NATO to "shape" Ukraine's future accession and put it on a "concrete" path to post-war membership in the alliance, pan-European news website Euractiv reported on June 29.

 Only one-third of Russians would reverse Putins decision to invade Ukraine, survey shows

Only 35% of Russian citizens would reverse Russian dictator Vladimir Putins decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to the results of a new survey conducted by the Russian Field sociological company on June 16-19.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
A suspected January 6 rioter was arrested after being spotted running towards Obama's house. He had multiple weapons and materials to make an explosive, law enforcement officials alleged.

Washington D.C. home of former president Barack Obama. Robin Knapp/picture alliance via Getty Images

A man was spotted running towards Obama's house, law enforcement officials told CBS News.

The man, Taylor Taranto, has an open warrant on charges stemming from the January 6, 2021 riot.

On Friday, a federal prosecutor said Taranto had over 400 rounds of ammunition in his van.

A Trump supporter who was arrested outside former President Barack Obama's house this week had a machete and 400 rounds of ammunition in his van down the street, a federal prosecutor said Friday.

Law enforcement officials had said Thursday, immediately following the arrest, that Taylor Taranto, 37, also had materials to make an explosive device similar to a Molotov cocktail, CBS News reported. He was seen by Secret Service agents several blocks away from Obama's house in Washington, DC.

A Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) spokesperson told Insider that officers and federal law enforcement partners arrested Taranto. The department requested an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team to "perform a vehicle sweep" of the van that was near the arrest location.

An MPD spokesperson said in an email that Taranto had been charged with being a fugitive from justice pursuant to an arrest warrant but did not specify what the warrant was for.

At a court appearance on Friday, a federal prosecutor said that the search of Taranto's van had revealed a machete and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, per NBC News. Taranto went to Obama's home after the address had been posted on Truth Social by former President Donald Trump, the outlet reported, noting that Taranto had shared Trump's post.

Taranto is also facing a slew of charges related to his participation in the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

Several months after January 6, 2021, online sleuths identified Taranto as one of the participants of the riot, HuffPost reported. One of the pieces of evidence included Taranto admitting on social media that he was at the Capitol, according to a Facebook post viewed by HuffPost.

Taranto is also facing a lawsuit that was filed by Erin Smith, the widow of Metropolitan Police Department officer Jeff Smith who was inside the Capitol building at the time of the riot.

According to the lawsuit, Smith was struck in the head with a "cane or crowbar" that Taranto is alleged to have handed to another rioter.

Smith died by suicide nine days after the incident.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Sydney the happy-go-lucky pitbull is all about joy. She needs a new home

Happy-go-lucky is a lovely way to describe Sydney, one of the dogs available for adoption at the San Luis Obispo County Animal Services shelter.

Even though shes been homeless since January, she sees rainbows and buttercups wherever she goes.

Sydney loves life and wants to share that feeling with everyone she meets.

Because of this, she has many dog pals and loves people of all ages.

Sydney is an affectionate girl whos all about joy. She has no idea shes remained homeless for all these months for reasons that are out of her control.

Some prospective adopters consider 5-year-old Sydney too old.

Others have a no pit bull criteria when looking for a new four-legged family member, so they never have the opportunity to meet Sydney and discover her wonderful temperament.

These are true challenges that have been exacerbated by Sydney not being a good match for cat lovers and having a slight limp due to arthritis.

Fortunately, this doesnt reduce her joy in going for walks, her thrill at chasing lizards or her happiness at being alive.

Indeed, Sydney doesnt see any obstacles because she believes every person is her pal and today is fabulous.

To give Sydney a break from kennel life, a volunteer took her into foster care.

While there, Sydney celebrated being a part of a family, showed she had good house manners, and truly loved being around children.

Sydneys waiting for the next happy adventure to begin. She just needs someone with a big heart and open mind to welcome her home.

How to adopt a pet

For more information about Sydney (ID No. 290020), call the volunteer line at the San Luis Obispo County Animal Services shelter at 805-781-4400, extension 6, or visit slocounty.ca.gov/aserv. The shelter is located at 865 Oklahoma Ave. off Highway 1 in San Luis Obispo.

The full-price adoption fee is $85 for cats and $130 for dogs, plus a $30 county license fee for dogs, if the adopters are San Luis Obispo County residents.

The adoption fee includes a new collar, a spay or neuter operation, basic vaccinations, a microchip and eligibility for a free veterinary check within San Luis Obispo County. Cats also are tested for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus, and adopters receive a carrier.
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Eleven Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Friday morning, an unofficial barrier between the two sides, Taiwan's defence ministry said, as China ramps up military pressure on the democratic island.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory despite the island's objections, has complained in recent years of almost daily missions by the Chinese air force, often in the southwestern part of its air defence identification zone.

A total of 24 Chinese war planes including fighter jets and bombers were spotted near Taiwan on Friday morning from around 8 a.m. (00:00 GMT), the defence ministry said, adding five Chinese battleships also joined a "joint war readiness patrol."

Taiwan sent aircraft and ships to warn away the Chinese activities, while missile systems monitored them, the ministry said, using standard wording for its response.

A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters the Chinese activities on Friday were likely a reaction to the visit to Taipei made by a U.S. congressional delegation led by the chair of House Armed Services Committee Mike Rogers.

China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, in April staged drills around the island in anger at President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Taiwan's government strongly objects to China's sovereignty claims and vows to defend itself if China attacks the island.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday approved the potential sale of ammunition and logistics supply support to Taiwan in two separate deals valued at up to $440 million.

(Reporting By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Lincoln Feast.)
Anthony Bruce, pictured in Manhattan Beach, California on July 20, 2022, holds the official Bruce's Beach property deed at a ceremony returning ownership to descendants of a Black family that had the land stripped from them nearly a century ago (DAVID MCNEW)

California should pay substantial financial reparations to African-Americans to compensate for the legacy of US slavery and systemic racism, a committee report published Thursday said.

The state, known for being one of the nation's most liberal, became the first to create a task force dedicated to the issue of reparations in the wake of George Floyd's death in 2020 and amid the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

After three years, the committee's final 1,100-page report recommends that California's legislature "make a substantial initial down payment on reparations" and organize a public apology.

Although it did not directly suggest an amount of compensation, the text proposed a methodology for quantifying the harm experienced by California's African-Americans.

Black Californians, the report said, had experienced harm in a number of ways, whether to their health or via "housing discrimination," "unjust property takings," "mass incarceration and over-policing," and devaluation of their businesses.

The sum would come to $1.4 million for a 70-year-old Black resident who had suffered from all forms of discrimination, according to the report.

"Reparations for African-Americans are appropriate, they are warranted, they are necessary, they are needed," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, adding that he hoped the legislature would "take these determinations seriously and carefully consider how to translate the proposals before them from the page in reality to action."

The topic of reparations remains a touchy subject in the United States, particularly given the sums of money that are often proposed. In March, a city-appointed reparations committee in San Francisco provoked controversy by recommending that $5 million be paid to each eligible African-American.

According to polls, a majority of Americans are opposed to the idea, and conservative Republicans have seized on the topic to accuse their Democratic opponents of "wokeism."

While California was admitted to the United States in 1850 as a free state -- meaning slavery was not legal -- many white settlers nonetheless kept their enslaved workers when moving to the area, according to the report.

The document also highlights that the Ku Klux Klan was active in the state, and that segregation occurred in California as elsewhere in the United States.

Any law approved by the legislature would also have to be signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has expressed reservations about the idea of financial compensation.

"Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments," Newsom said in May.

rfo/bfm/acb
People in one New Smyrna Beach neighborhood say theyre upset about a large homeless camp near their homes.

They said they hear a lot of drunken parties, see people setting fires and other people getting aggressive.

They say its all happening in a wooded area owned by both the city and county just off State Road 44.

Residents have reported everything from hearing people screaming in the middle of the night to fires being set.

Police say its a complicated issue.

Read: New Smyrna Beach proposes building restrictions in historic neighborhoods

You obviously just cant arrest your way out of homelessness, Deputy Chief Christopher Kirk said. What we do is we try to get all these people the proper resources they need, try to associate them with any institutions that can help them and then for our statutes and ordinances we hold them accountable.

Drone 9 flew over the land and spotted several tents from above.

We are terrified because we are not exactly sure who is back there, one neighbor said.

Read: Deputies: Woman charged with DUI after driving her car into the water at New Smyrna Beach

But we do know how theyre getting there. Channel 9 watched several people walk or ride bikes down a path just off State Road 44, each of them carrying tons of supplies.

Its not that any of us want anything bad to happen to any of these folks, neighbor Ruthie Erb said. We just want them to get some help.

Police said a homeless liason officer is out in the area almost daily working to help the people living in the woods.

Officers said they had meetings with the county this week to talk about ways to resolve the issues since the property is on both city and county land.

Photos: Pickup truck plows through New Smyrna Beach restaurant

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.
Teslas new car is expected to be its cheapest model yet  heres when you can purchase get the budget-friendly EV

Tesla Motors says it is gearing up to launch its first truly low-cost electric vehicle (EV), unofficially referred to as the Model 2. Expected to debut in 2025, the budget EV will come with an MSRP between $25,000 to $30,000  making it one of the lowest-priced EV models to hit the U.S. market.

Currently, Teslas most affordable car is the Model 3, which now starts with an MRSP of around $39,000.

Teslas Model 2 is expected to be a hatchback, with the company offering options and upgrades similar to those available for its mid-priced cars and trucks  such as battery upgrades and service subscriptions.

While Telsa manufactures its more expensive cars in the U.S., the affordable EV is likely to be manufactured primarily at Teslas forthcoming factory in Monterrey, Mexico, with some production potentially also taking place at its facility in Austin, Texas.

Tesla uses a vertical integration strategy  designing its own batteries, software, and equipment, which helps control costs.

Plus, Lars Moravy, Teslas Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, told investors during the companys March 1 investor day event that the Mexican factory choice  along with the use of larger, flat batteries that double as the cars floor  will help to streamline the EV assembly and reduce costs by as much as 65%.

Still, some budget car manufacturers like Honda and Hyundai are skeptical about Teslas proposed price point.

At this moment, a $25,000 [battery-powered EV] is difficult without compromising driving range, Hyundai told CNBC in a statement. Eventually, Hyundai expects [internal combustion engine] and [battery electric vehicle] models to reach price parity, but the exact timing is still unclear.

That said, there are plenty of other EVs  like the Chevy Equinox EV and the Vinfast VF7  that are aiming for future price points in the same range as the Model 2.

Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.
The Texas Department of Public Safety must begin the process of releasing documents related to the deadly Ulvade school shooting last year, a judge in Austin has ruled.

On Thursday, district court Judge Daniella Deseta Lyttle ruled in favour of a group of news companies that argued the departments refusal to release records related to the shooting at Robb Elementary School last May violated state law.

On 24 May 2022, a gunman entered the Uvalde school and killed 19 fourth-graders and their two teachers while holed up in two conjoining classrooms.

The lawsuit was brought by a media coalition comprised of local, state, and national outlets, seeking information about the botched response of law enforcement officials who waited in the hallway for more than an hour before confronting the shooter, Salvador Ramos.

As per Thursdays ruling, the DPS must provide recordings and transcripts of 911 calls, body cam footage, dashcam videos from police vehicles, and details of the training public safety department officers received, among other things.

The judge said the department must provide a list of redactions to the court by 31 August. A hearing on their proposal is expected in September.

In a statement to the Texas Tribune, the plaintiffs attorney Laura Lee Prather said: As officials continue to shield nearly all information related to the Uvalde tragedy, on the basis of an investigation that has already concluded and a purported prosecution that has yet to materialise, we are thrilled by the courts ruling that recognises the publics right to know what happened that day.

A Texas House committee slammed law enforcements abysmal response to the shooting, when nearly 400 heavily-armed officers waited 77 minutes as Ramos terrorised the children, between the ages of nine and 10, on that tragic day in May.

The House committee was tasked with uncovering what happened during the shooting and, in its damning report published last July, criticised the police officerss lackadaisical approach to neutralising Ramos.

The report said it was plausible that some of the childrens lives might have been saved if they had received medical attention sooner.

The media outlets lawsuit against DPS was filed last August.

Ms Prather, a First Amendment lawyer, previously said the DPS offered inconsistent accounts of how law enforcement responded to the Uvalde tragedy, and its lack of transparency has stirred suspicion and frustration in a community that is still struggling with grief and shock.

She added the department had refused multiple requests for information by news organisations such as CNN, The New York Times, ABC, CBS, and the Texas Tribune  even though its clear under Texas law that the public is entitled to have access to these important public records.
Farmers harvest Chinese red chilies on the outskirts of Kasur district of Pakistan's east Punjab province, June 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Chao)

by Misbah Saba Malik, Jiang Chao

KASUR, Pakistan, June 30 (Xinhua) -- In a yard brimming with red chilies strewn everywhere on the ground under the blazing summer sun in Kasur district of Pakistan's east Punjab province, Maryam Bibi and other women laborers were busy making each piece of chili get ample exposure to sunlight and dry up in time.

"We turn them three to four times a day so that they get dry after being soaked in the summer sun, they get fully ripe and dry in five weeks, and when we hear the sound of dried seeds rattling inside the pod, we pack them in bags and put them in storage, Bibi told Xinhua in the remote village of Jamber.

This year, Pakistani farmers and laborers are happy to get a bumper harvest of Chinese red chilies and expect to get good profits as the yield is double that of other varieties of pepper available in Pakistan.

The project is a part of a large-scale agricultural cooperation between Pakistan and China in the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is currently underway after the success of the first phase focusing on infrastructure and power projects.

Launched in 2013, CPEC is a corridor linking Pakistan's Gwadar Port with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and is touted as a game changer for Pakistan by local experts.

Advancing cooperation in the agricultural sector, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and Sichuan Litong Food Group have established a company and carried out a red chili contract farming project in 2021, with model farms across Punjab.

In talks with Xinhua, Xi Jianlong, the Chinese manager from CMEC at Pakistan-China red chili contract farming, said that the Chinese variety is compatible with local soil and the overall hot climate of Punjab province conduces to the growth and nourishing of the Chinese chili variety.

He added that the cooperation benefits numerous individuals, including landowners, farmers, and laborers.

"Last year, we had created more than 2,000 jobs in Pakistan and generated an output value of approximately 770,000 U.S. dollars," he said, adding that when the crop is harvested and dried, they directly buy it from the farmer, without involving any middlemen.

He further said that this year, they planted chili on about 750 acres of land from where about 1,500 tons of chili were harvested, and during the process of cultivation to harvest, the Chinese company not only transferred knowledge and technology to locals but also utilized the rural labor force.

Talking to Xinhua, Muhammad Ammar Asghar, an agronomist working with the CMEC, said that most of the farmers hired by the landowners are uneducated. In order to help the landowner get high yield, the Chinese company provided complete assistance and guidance to the farmers through agronomists and agriculture technicians.

"We translate scientific language into the local language and help farmers get more benefit from the advanced studies done by Chinese researchers ... We make sure that they learn the Chinese style of managing the farms and get the knowledge of the right time and quantity of using fertilizers, pesticides, and water. Initially, it is hard for them to learn, but gradually they get used to it and manage things very well," Asghar said.

The agricultural practices in Pakistan are predominantly traditional and lacking in modern techniques. Local farmers strongly believe that the knowledge sharing from China will extend beyond the contract farming projects, leaving a broader impact as the laborers acquire valuable skills that can be utilized in various other settings.

Rao Shahab, one of the landowners who cultivated the chili with the cooperation of the Chinese, said that this year he experimented by planting chili on seven acres of land, and was so impressed by the yield that he is planning to cultivate it in a bigger area next year.

"The Chinese variety is high yielding and disease resistant. After seeing it blooming at my farm, many other farmers are also showing interest in cultivating it because it is a cash crop with a great export value, and I see Pakistan as a big producer of Chinese chili in the future," he said.

Talking about the contribution of CPEC in transforming Pakistan's agricultural sector, Shahab, a barrister by profession, said that Chinese cooperation is crucial for modernizing Pakistan's agriculture and uplifting the livelihood of local farmers.

"China can help Pakistan by providing high-yielding seed and transferring technology. If China establishes processing units for value-added services for Pakistani agriculture products, it will be a win-win situation for both countries," Shahab added.

The Chinese manager said that the CMEC will not limit the project to the supply chain, but in the future they will initiate the industrialization process, generating scores of employment opportunities and giving benefits to Pakistan in terms of taxation and strengthening foreign exchange reserves.

"The future endeavors will focus on establishing a chili processing industry, emphasizing the industrial and value chains ... Our goal is to make substantial contributions to the CPEC while introducing advanced agricultural industrialization to Pakistan," the manager said. 

Farmers dry Chinese red chilies at a yard on the outskirts of Kasur district of Pakistan's east Punjab province, June 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Jiang Chao)
A grand jury in Texas has decided not to charge rapper Travis Scott after 10 people suffocated to death in the crowd at his Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas, in 2021.

The Houston grand jury met on Thursday, June 29, to consider criminal charges for Scott and several others involved in the tragedy but ultimately decided to return a "no bill," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a press conference.

When a grand jury returns a "no bill" decision, it means they've decided there's not enough evidence of guilt to support a criminal charge.

In a statement to NBC News, Scott's attorney Kent Schaffer wrote that the grand jury's decision "confirms what we have known all along."

"Travis Scott is not responsible for the AstroWorld tragedy," Schaffer said. "This is consistent with investigative reporting by numerous media outlets and federal and state government reports that have squarely placed the onus for event safety crises on organizers, operators and contractors  not performers."

Schaffer added that Scott was "inaccurately and wrongly singled out, despite stopping the show three separate times and being unaware of the events as they were unfolding."

Schaffer concluded that he hopes for future "government efforts" to help stop "future heartbreaking tragedies like AstroWorld from ever occurring again."

Travis Scott performs onstage during the third annual Astroworld Festival at NRG Park on November 05, 2021 in Houston, TX. (Rick Kern / Getty Images)

In her press conference, Ogg said that the prosecutors had worked with local police for 19 months to review thousands of hours of footage and testimony from the event to put together the presentation for the grand jury.

After Ogg's announcement, two detectives from the Houston Police Department walked press through some of their findings and showed footage of the crowd the night of the incident.

They highlighted how all of the deaths had happened in one area of the concert's general admission section in small pockets that would have been difficult to see from the stage or the walkways where security and EMS were stationed.

"Just to be clear, this was not a crowd stampede. This was not a stage rush. This was not a crowd surge. This was a slow compaction or constriction," Detective Michael Barrows said, adding that the deaths had happened in small, isolated "crowd pockets."

"A crowd pocket is an area where the crowd is succumb to pressure leading to an isolated collapses within the crowd," he said. "(Crowd pockets) are, in fact, areas where crowds have collapsed and on each other and also know that even mere feet away that concertgoers were not able to distinguish what was happening at their feet."

According to NBC News, 10 people ranging in age from 9 to 27 died in the incident, which happened at NRG Park in November 2021.

Fire Chief Samuel Pena told a news conference at the time that people started panicking once others "began to compress toward the front of the stage."

"That caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries. People began to fall out, become unconscious, and it created additional panic," he said.

"It was scary, like, genuinely," one attendee, Alleighya Odom, told NBC News at the time.

Odom noted that the packed crowd felt like a "force on my back," and they saw "people on the ground" looking "scared, eyes wild, like, 'Please help me.'"

In response to the tragedy, which injured thousands, Scott took to Twitter to say that he was "absolutely devastated by what took place."

My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival," he said.

I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need, Scott added. Thank you to Houston PD, Fire Department and NRG Park for their immediate response and support. Love You All.

In the months following the incident, a spokesperson for Scott  who hosted the festival  told NBC News that the rapper was unfairly blamed for the tragedy.

Its very clear that the tide is turning as the authorities and public conversation has been focused on concert operators and security contractors rather than performers, the spokesperson said in a statement at the time, adding all signs point to a strong comeback for Scott.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
[Source]

Police in Thailand have concluded their investigation into Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, the woman accused of murdering 14 people with cyanide.

The cyanide serial killer: Sararat, 36, faces about 80 criminal charges, including 14 counts of premeditated murder, for killing 14 people in eight provinces by allegedly mixing cyanide into their food between 2015 and 2023, according to Thai police.

This is a historic case in Thailand. Even Jack the Ripper from the UK did not kill this many, Deputy Police Chief Surachate Hakparn said, noting that the nation will tighten regulations on access to cyanide.

Sararat, who is pleading not guilty, was also charged with cyanide poisoning, forgery and theft. Investigators will reportedly file the case to the Attorney General for prosecution on Friday.

More from NextShark: China's Mystery Virus' Now Found in Thailand, Japan

Spate of poisonings: Sararats spate of poisonings surfaced after she was investigated for the sudden death of her friend, Siriporn Khanwong, in Ratchaburi province in mid-April. An autopsy revealed traces of cyanide in the victims body, leading investigators to link her to other cyanide poisoning cases.

Sararat allegedly poisoned 15 victims, including her ex-boyfriend and two female police officers. Fourteen victims died, while one reportedly survived.

Her motive: According to police, Sararats victims were all people she owed large sums of money to or people she stole from to fund her online gambling addiction.

More from NextShark: Jocelyn Yow, 25, Makes History as California's Youngest Mayor of Color

Sararat is accused of swindling a total of more than $140,000 from her victims before luring them for a meal to poison them.

Covering up the murders: Sararats former husband, a high-ranking police officer named Vitoon Rangsiwuthaporn, was also linked to the alleged murders.

Vitoon, who faces charges of fraud and embezzlement, was arrested on suspicion of covering up Sararats murders after he was noted to have picked her up after she allegedly killed her ex-boyfriend. 

More from NextShark: Former Kpop star Seungri receives 3-year jail sentence, Twitter reacts

Sararat, who is held at the Central Womens Correctional Institution, was denied bail by the court. She was reportedly sent to the hospital after having a miscarriage in prison earlier this week.

Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark!

'We are in America': BCD Tofu House diner goes on racist rant because Apple Pay wasn't accepted
The UKs Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) plans to perform an in-depth probe into Adobes acquisition of Figma, the agency announced today (via The Wall Street Journal). Citing concerns about a substantial lessening of competition for screen design software, it plans to move into a phase two investigation. However, its giving the companies five business days to offer legally binding proposals to address the concerns; if their response doesnt satisfy the CMA, the probe will begin. Adobe announced its plans last year to buy its smaller rival for $20 billion.

The CMA found that Figma has established a substantial share of the market for screen design software and that Adobe has been continuously investing in and competing in this segment, the UK agency, which recently rejected Microsofts proposed $75 billion purchase of Activision, wrote today. The CMA found that competition between Figma and Adobe has driven investment in updating and developing screen design software, and this important rivalry could be lost if the deal goes ahead. It described Figma as an emerging competitive threat to the Photoshop maker, expressing concerns about the reduced innovation that could come from Adobe scooping up an upstart competitor. The agency said its concerned the acquisition could lead to higher costs and fewer / less innovative products.

Adobes purchase of San Francisco-based Figma, founded in 2012, would be the largest-ever acquisition for the 41-year-old design behemoth. In Sigmas 11 years on the market, it has established itself as a popular tool for vector-based design. The cloud-based software specializes in remote collaboration and is a direct competitor to Adobes XD and Illustrator products. At the time of the acquisition, Adobe said it wanted to bring features from its Creative Cloud suite into the collaborative software while incorporating more of Figmas team-focused features into its core products  predictably framing it as a win-win for customers. The company added it was deeply committed to keeping Figma an independent company while insisting there was no plan to change its pricing  including its free tier.

Were worried this deal could stifle innovation and lead to higher costs for companies that rely on Figma and Adobes digital tools  as they cease to compete to provide customers with new and better products, said Sorcha OCarroll, the CMAs Senior Mergers Director. Unless Adobe can put forward viable solutions to our concerns in the coming days, we will move to a more in-depth investigation.
Thousands protest in Iraq for a second day over burning of Quran in Sweden

Supporters of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raise the Quran, the Muslim holy book, in response to the burning of a copy of the Quran in Sweden, during open-air Friday prayers in Basra, Iraq, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/ Nabil al-Jurani)

BASRA, Iraq (AP)  Thousands of followers of a firebrand Iraqi Shiite cleric rallied in major cities in Iraq on Friday, condemning the burning of a Quran during a protest in Sweden earlier this week. Some of the demonstrators called for expulsion of the Swedish ambassador from Iraq.

At the rallies in the capital of Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, followers of Muqtada al-Sadr, a cleric with a large grassroots following and political leader, burned Swedish flags and rainbow LGBTQ+ pride flags and chanted Yes, yes to Islam and No, no to the devil.

Addressing the crowds in a speech in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City, Friday prayers preacher Sayyid Sattar Batat, called on Iraqi authorities to if necessary, expel the Swedish ambassador and cut all diplomatic relations with them.

The protests came a day after hundreds of protesters briefly stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad.

On Wednesday, a man who identified himself in Swedish media as a refugee from Iraq burned a Quran outside a mosque in central Stockholm.

An Iraqi security official said the man was an Iraqi Christian who had previously fought in a Christian unit of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a collection of mostly Shiite militias that were incorporated into the countrys armed forces in 2016. The official spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.

Swedish police had authorized the protest, citing freedom of speech, after a previous decision to ban a similar protest was overturned by a Swedish court.

The act, coming during the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, drew widespread condemnation in the Muslim world. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday suggested that the incident would pose another obstacle to Swedens bid for NATO membership.

Iraqi officials have called on Sweden to extradite the man who had burned the Quran for prosecution in Iraq.
The News

Actor Kevin Spacey is in court in London this week over allegations that he sexually assaulted four men between 2001 and 2013. Spacey has pleaded not guilty to the 12 charges against him.

Court was in session for just over an hour Friday, Britains Sky News reported, and the prosecution outlined its case against Spacey.

The trial will continue Monday and is expected to last four weeks.

Know More

Spacey a sexual bully, prosecution says

In her opening statement, prosecutor Christine Agney told jurors that Spacey is a sexual bully, and warned them not to be starstruck by the Oscar-winning actor as the trial progressed. You must keep yourself grounded and true to the oath, she said.

The actor believes he will be hired immediately if he is cleared of charges

In a recent interview with German magazine Zeit, Spacey said that while it would be difficult to rehabilitate his image if he is cleared of the charges against him, he believes some Hollywood directors are sympathetic to him. I know that there are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London. The second that happens, theyre ready to move forward, he told the magazine.

Defense tells jury to be wary of spin

Defense attorney Patrick Gibbs also spoke in court Friday, unusual in the U.K. where the defense does not generally make opening statements. He warned the jury about spin from the prosecution, and alleged that details had been either deliberately exaggerated or made up entirely.

Step Back

In October, a U.S. jury found Spacey not liable in a civil case brought by Anthony Rapp.

Rapp alleged that Spacey had climbed on top of him during a drunken encounter in 1986, when Rapp was 14. More than a dozen men have accused Spacey of sexual misconduct since 2017.
Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday and slammed ecocide happening during Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Thunberg traveled to Kyiv to participate in a working group concentrated on the ecological damage that has come from the war. The working group includes Thunberg, European Parliament Vice President Heidi Hautala, former Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Margot Wallstrom and former Irish President Mary Robinson.

I do not think that the world reaction to this ecocide was enough, Thunberg said.

She said Russian soldiers have been deliberately targeting the environment and civilians lives and livelihoods.

Ecocide is defined as the mass destruction of ecological systems with long-lasting effects.

The working group is responsible for analyzing the environmental damage that has come from the war, creating mechanisms to hold Russia accountable for the damage and taking efforts to rebuild.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said in a tweet that the environment has been a silent victim of the war but should not be. He said about 30 percent of Ukraines landscape has been contaminated with explosives, and more than 2.4 million hectares  nearly 6 million acres  of forests have been damaged.

Kostin said the destruction of Ukraines Nova Kakhovka dam earlier this month is the most significant environmental disaster in Ukraine since the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl during the 1980s in the time of the Soviet Union.

The dam is on a critical front line in the fight between Russia and Ukraine and supplied water to much of the country. Ukraine has accused Russia is destroying the dam in panic as Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive.

Kostin said Ukraine is the first country to prosecute ecological crimes on a wide scale and is investigating 15 incidents considered ecocide under the countrys criminal code.

We call for strengthening international efforts to investigate and prosecute Russias war crimes against the environment and to ensure that the aggressor pays for the enormous damage caused by these crimes, he said.

Zelensky thanked the working group for an extremely important signal of support.

The Associated Press contributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Greta Thunberg in Kyiv

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg criticized the world's reaction to the demolition of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) dam, calling it insufficient, during a visit to Kyiv on June 29, Reuters reports.

"I do not think that the worlds reaction to this ecocide was enough," Thunberg said.

Read also: Who and what may suffer most from Kakhovka dam destruction  expert interview

We have to talk louder about it, we have to raise awareness about what is going on.

The international working group on the environmental consequences of the war, which includes Thunberg, was tasked with assessing the damage done to Ukraines environment and developing mechanisms to bring Russia to justice.

Read also: Photos reveal drastic changes to Kakhovka Reservoir as water levels drop

The meeting was attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who thanked the groups members for their visit, describing it as "an extremely important signal of support."

Read also: New Maxar satellite images reveal damage after explosion at Kakhovka dam

Thunberg pledged to engage representatives of environmental NGOs to draw attention to the ecological consequences of the war waged by Russia.

On June 15, Thunberg joined Ukrainians who held a rally at the UN office in Bonn, Germany, to protest the Russian attack on the Kakhovka dam.

During the night of June 6, Russian forces, which have occupied the town of Nova Kakhovka forover a year, exploded the dam, completely or partially flooding downstream cities and towns along the Dnipro River, including the regional capital of Kherson.

President Zelenskyy called Russia's attack on the Kakhovka HPP the largest man-made environmental disaster in Europe in decades.

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
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty

New federal financial aid rules will shake up the beauty industry on July 1, 2023, and an even bigger change could come in 2024.

The U.S. Department of Education will start by closing a loophole in the 90/10 rule, which requires for-profit colleges and vocational schools to derive at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources other than Title IV funds, like Pell grants. (One Tennessee cosmetology and barbering school has announced its closure as a result.)

But education entrepreneur Debbie Carlson will not have to worry. Her Minneapolis-based makeup school, Faces Etc of MN, does not depend on federal funds to operate, nor does it rely on state licensing programs to drive admissions. Her students enroll voluntarily because they have decided it is best for their careers. Often, they sign up to fill gaps in their education after completing state-mandated cosmetology programs.

Cops Love ImmunityUntil Theyre the Ones Abused by Police

In 2007 when we opened, 99 percent of the people who came to the school were beauty students who were disgruntled with their education, Carlson says.

Complaints about for-profit colleges and vocational training are common nationwide, prompting the push for financial aid reform.

Currently, many schools stay under the cap by using the GI Bill and other military education funds, which are not part of Title IV. Starting in July, military education funds will count as part of the 90 percent.

More disruption could come in July 2024, if regulators follow through on plans to revive and revamp an Obama-era rule known as gainful employment. This rule, repealed under President Donald Trump, would require for-profit institutions to produce graduates who earn more than adults with only a high school diploma. Graduates also would need a healthy debt-to-income ratio.

An Associated Press analysis shows nearly two-thirds of for-profit cosmetology programs would fail to reach those benchmarks. Research from our public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, explains why.

Nationwide, cosmetology students are more likely to take out loansand to take out larger loans than the average student across all federal aid-eligible U.S. universities, colleges, and vocational schools. Cosmetology programs also rarely graduate students on time, delaying workforce entry and increasing the size of student loans.

Im Pro-Second Amendment. But if the Libs Want to Get Rid of It, Heres What Theyd Have to Do.

Put simply, its a debt trap.

Regardless of what happens at the federal level, states must look in the mirror to find the real source of problems. Much of the blame can be traced to occupational licensing laws, which single out beauty professionals for disproportionate levels of government-required training.

School owners like the steep educational requirements. They lobby to keep the long hours in place because more time means more money for them.

Education is important. But, nationwide, states are mandating a flawed one-size-fits-all approach to cosmetology programs, which delays careers longer than necessary. Many times, beauty professionals must spend more time in the classroom than licensed workers doing jobs more closely related to public health and safety.

Emergency medical technicians, for example, can work in life-and-death situations with as little as 110 clock hours of instruction. Cosmetologists need 1,000 to 2,100 clock hoursoften more than 10 times as much as EMTs. Salon apprenticeships are sometimes available as an alternative. But participants typically must train for at least twice as long as beauty school students, making the option impracticable for many people.

Beauty students are also often required to learn skills they do not plan to use. A student who only wants to cut hair, for example, cannot graduate without also spending time and money learning to give facials and paint nails.

Why Are Democrats Making It Harder to Hire Child Care Workers?

All this schooling costs an average of $16,000 for tuition alone. Expecting anyone to find this kind of money is a stretch, considering the average starting income for cosmetologists is just $26,000 per year nationwide.

Beauty schools cash in on the ugly system, but Carlson finally fought back in Minnesota. Working with state lawmakers in 2020, she helped create a licensing exemption for makeup artists and hairstylists. More reforms like these are needed.

States should repeal unnecessary licensing requirements and give beauty professionals more control over their training.

Artists should not have to jump through unnecessary hoops that exist to pad the pockets of those in power in our industry, Carlson says.

Meagan Forbes is an attorney at the Institute for Justice, and Daryl James is an Institute for Justice writer in Arlington, Virginia.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Two weeks after the submersible tragedy, Yahoo UK rounds up the major developments in the past few days.

Five people died after the Titan submersible imploded last month. (Getty Images)

The Titan submersible used to visit the shipwreck of the Titanic was an "accident waiting to happen", a former employee warned five years ago.

Five people were killed last month when the submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, imploded off the coast of Canada.

The five men who died were British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son, Suleman, 19; British billionaire explorer Hamish Harding, 58; French deep sea diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, and OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, 61.

Yahoo News UK rounds up the key developments we have learned about the doomed submersible in the past few days...

'Accident waiting to happen'

David Lochridge, OceanGate's former director of marine operations, was sacked after he raised concerns about the safety of the submersible.

The New Yorker reported that, in an email in January 2018 to deep sea exploration specialist Rob McCallum, Lochridge wrote: I would consider myself pretty ballsy when it comes to doing things that are dangerous, but that sub is an accident waiting to happen.

"Theres no way on Earth you could have paid me to dive the thing.

Referring to Rush, Lochridge wrote: I dont want to be seen as a tattle tale but Im so worried he kills himself and others in the quest to boost his ego.

Debris from the Titan submersible was unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic. (The Canadian Press/Alamy)

CEO 'dismissed a loud bang'

It has also emerged that Rush once dismissed a loud bang heard from the Titan submersible.

During a speech to OceanGate staff and passengers for a segment filmed for the BBC's Travel Show last year, Rush said: "It's an open book here.

"We want everyone going into this fully informed. This is an experimental sub. This is a dangerous environment."

He then told a story about a crew member hearing a bang while the submersible was on the surface, but Rush said: "Not a soothing sound, but on the surface."

He added: "Almost every deep-diving sub makes a noise at some point."

Subway branch criticised

A Subway branch in the US has been criticised for making a joke about the fatal accident.

A billboard outside a branch in Georgia said: "Our subs don't implode."

A spokesperson told US media: "We have been in contact with the franchise about this matter and made it clear that this kind of comment has no place in our business."

@SUBWAY this is at your store in Rincon, GA. Not only is it distasteful, its just sad. Do better. #subway pic.twitter.com/PfgABPU8ML  Amanda Butler (@Amanda72118560) July 2, 2023

The final moments

Those on board spent their final moments in darkness listening to music, the wife of one of the passengers has said.

Christine Dawood, whose husband and son died in the expedition, described the hours leading up to the fateful voyage in an interview with the New York Times that was published on Sunday.

She said her husband and son were instructed to wear thick socks and hats to keep warm in the submersible.

She said passengers were told to load up their favourite music onto their phones to play through a Bluetooth speaker in the submersible, although Rush had banned country music.

Suleman Dawood, left, and his father, Shahzada, died during an expedition to the Titanic. (Family handout)

They were warned the descent would be in total darkness to save the submersible's battery power and headlights for when they reached the site of the Titanic shipwreck.

Dawood said passengers were told they would pass bioluminescent creatures.

She was on board support ship the Polar Prince with daughter Alina, 17, when contact was lost with the submersible about one hour and 45 minutes into the dive.

Read more: Grandfather pays tribute to 'amazing father and son' who died on Titanic submersible

She said her husband was "like a vibrating toddler" because he was so excited about the trip.

After a presentation in the run-up to their submersible trip made by Nargeolet, Dawood said her husband turned to her and said: "Oh, my God, this is so cool."

(Clockwise from top left) Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman; diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet; OceanGate founder Stockton Rush and British explorer Hamish Harding. (PA, Alamy, Reuters)

Oceangate Expeditions advertising trips

In the wake of news that the Titan had suffered a catastrophic implosion underwater, OceanGate Expeditions' website appeared to have been taken down.

But it was subsequently made live, and as of 3 July information on expeditions to the Titanic included two 2024 dates - 12-20 June and 21-29 June.

The information on the eight-day expedition says: "Follow in Jacques Cousteaus footsteps and become an underwater explorer  beginning with a dive to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. This is your chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary.

The first glimpses of the debris of the Titan sub were seen on Wednesday. (The Canadian Press/AP)

As of 30 June, the OceanGate Expeditions website appeared to be advertising more potential trips to the Titanic. (OceanGate Expeditions)

"Become one of the few to see the Titanic with your own eyes."

It says "intrepid travellers" will sail from the Atlantic coast of Canada for an 8-day expedition to dive on the wreck that lies 380 miles offshore and 3,800 meters below the surface.

Human remains found

Presumed human remains have been found within debris recovered following the implosion of the Titan.

In a statement, the US Coast Guard said US medical professionals will now formally analyse the remains.

Speaking after the evidence was recovered, the Marine Board of Investigations (MBI) chairman, Captain Jason Neubauer, said: I am grateful for the coordinated international and inter-agency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths.

The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy.

There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) previously said they are looking into the five deaths.

Wreckage pulled from ocean

Images from St Johns in Canada on Wednesday showed a crane unloading the Titan wreckage from the Horizon Arctic ship in the citys harbour.

The US Coast Guard said the five major pieces of the sub have been found so far in a large debris field near the bow of the Titanic.

Presumed human remains were found on the debris of the Titan sub. (The Canadian Press/Alamy)

Pictures appeared to show the subs porthole with its window missing and titanium end caps from the vessel.

Large clumps of wires could be seen jutting out of the debris, which will now be studied to determine exactly what happened on board the doomed sub.

Read more: Titan submersible: What happens next? (PA, 4 min)

Pelagic Research Services  whose remote operating vehicle (ROV) discovered the debris fields  said on Wednesday its team is still on mission.

A statement read: They have been working around the clock now for 10 days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones.

Watch: Father and son who died on Titanic submersible were 'best friends'
Titanic sub update: Details about design of submarine may reveal how it imploded as human remains found

The innovative design of the Titan submersible may have led to its downfall, experts have said.

The elongated design of the sub combined with the repeated stress the hull faced over the years could have contributed to the implosion that occurred on Sunday, 18 June.

Each time OceanGate Expeditions sub went for a dive, the five-inch thick hull could have developed tiny cracks.

This might be small and undetectable to start but would soon become critical and produce rapid and uncontrollable growth, Jasper Graham-Jones, an associate professor at the University of Plymouth told Associated Press.

Five people were killed in the sub, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diving expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood.

The analysis of the submersibles structure comes after the US Coast Guard announced presumed human remains were discovered in the wreck of the Titan submarine.

The remains will be brought back to the US and analysed as part of the wider international investigation into what went wrong during the catastrophic voyage to the Titanic shipwreck earlier this month.

Key points

First photos of Titan wreckage released

US Coast Guard recovers presumed human remains from sea floor near Titanic sub debris

Hamish Hardings friend reveals race to get ROV to site of doomed sub

Mother of teenager killed in Titanic sub implosion gave up spot for excited son

Why we are obsessed with the missing Titan submarine, according to experts

Deep sea rescue company boss gets emotional describing Titan search

15:00 , Ariana Baio

Edward Cassano, Pelagic Research Services CEO, held back tears as he described the moment the Titan submersible search and rescue turned into a recovery.

Just hours after arriving, Pelagic Research Services found debris from the imploded sub and relayed the information to the victims families.

Mr Cassano was speaking to press at the conclusion of the search, when he said: We have to apologise - there are a lot of emotions, and people are tired.

Watch: Deep sea rescue company boss gets emotional describing Titan search

The ROV that discovered the debris

13:00 , Ariana Baio

Pelagic Research Servicess remotely-operated vehicle (ROV), Odysseus, was flown-in to the site of the Titanic wreckage to assist in the international search for any sign of the five passengers or the Titan.

Odysseus is one of the few ROVs that can reach the depths where the Titanic wreckage sits at 12,500 feet (3,700 metres). Until Odysseus was able to reach the ocean floor, the US Coast Guard and US Navy were unable to determine where the sub went or if it had surely imploded.

Odysseus (Pelagic Research Services)

Titanic actor Lew Palter dies

11:00 , Ariana Baio

Lew Palter, the actor best known for his role as Isidor Straus in James Camerons 1997 epic Titanic, died aged 94 on 21 May.

Palter died on 21 May of lung cancer at his home in Los Angeles, his daughter, Catherine Palter, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Watch: Janet Street-Porter questions morality of Titanic submarine tourism

09:00 , Ariana Baio

Actor who took Titanic sub reveals how it ran out of batteries mid-voyage

07:00 , Ariana Baio

A Mexican actor who last year undertook an undersea voyage on the same Titanic-bound Titan submersible that has gone missing said he was lost in the depths of the sea for two hours.

Alan Estrada said the battery of OceanGates Titan submersible drained mid-voyage, forcing the vessel to return to save the lives of its passengers.

The Youtuber said he secured a $125,000 excursion to see the worlds biggest shipwreck last July, after getting delayed by a year for unspecified reasons. The price, which was paid for by a sponsor for the trip, had doubled by then to $250,000.

My biggest concern was obviously losing my life, Mr Estrada said. All the people who made this expedition  we are aware of the risks we are taking. Its not a surprise.

A spokesperson for the mothership which launched the missing submersible defended OceanGate, saying it runs an extremely safe operation after questions were raised about safety. The submersible Titan is run by OceanGate.

Sean Leet, co-founder and chairman of Horizon Maritime Services, which owns the Polar Prince mothership from which Titan was launched, said: OceanGate runs an extremely safe operation.

Inside the Titan submersible

05:00 , Ariana Baio

The vessel weighs 10,432kg in total and can travel at a maximum speed of three knots, made possible by Four Innerspace 1002 electric thrusters.

The tourists and scientists who typically ride in it are able to look out via a large viewport window, their perspective enhanced by Sub C Imaging 4k Rayfin exterior cameras that capture the surrounding marine environment in a live feed that is displayed on a large digital display.

There is little by way of comfort inside but there is a toilet, although privacy is limited because it is situated right next to the viewing window.

Most astonishingly, the craft is controlled by a generic video games controller  specifically a Logitech F710 Wireless PC Gamepad from 2011, according to gaming expert Matthew Ruddle  and, rather than using a GPS for navigation, it communicates with a tracking team aboard a surface ship, in this case the Polar Prince, via text messages.

Titan prepares to launch from its submersive platform on a test run (OceanGate/YouTube)

Head of Titanic sub recovery team dodges question about OceanGate

04:00 , Ariana Baio

Since the Titan submersible imploded, killing five people aboard, the subject of extreme tourism has been highly debated online and by professionals.

But when the CEO of Pelagic Research Services, the company that helped oversee the recovery mission of the submersible, was asked what his thoughts were on the trips OceanGate took to the Titanic he claimed he did not have a strong opinion.

I dont necessarily have an opinion on that, its a strong investigation going on right now, Edward Cassano said in a press conference on Friday.

Mr Cassano helped lead the team of people from Pelagic Research Services who used their remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to find the debris from the submersible last week.

During the press conference, he became visibly upset when speaking about the five people who died while on a trip to view the Titanic wreckage and asked people to remain respectful about the tragedy.

But despite being part of the widely-viewed search, rescue and recovery mission, Mr Cassano did not express negative thoughts on extreme tourism.

Explorers, people who seek to be on the ocean to go to depth, its very compelling, Mr Cassano said. We certainly share those desires, our whole company is designed to support research and design at depth.

It was a passion and a joy for exploration, he added.

Canadian police weigh criminal investigation over Titan sub disaster

03:00 , Ariana Baio

Police in Canada announced on Saturday that they are considering a criminal investigation over the deaths of five men in the Oceangate submersible implosion.

Superintendent Kent Osmond of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Newfoundland and Labrador said law enforcement were in the early stages of the probe.

Following the US Coast Guards announcement earlier this week that debris from the submersible was located and all five on board were presumed dead, we will now look at the circumstances that led to those deaths, Mr Osmond said, at a press conference.

Such an investigation will proceed only if our examination of the circumstances indicate criminal, federal or provincial laws may possibly have been broken.

The Independent reports:

Canadian police weigh criminal investigation over Titan sub disaster

OceanGate got $450,000 in Covid pandemic aid

02:00 , Ariana Baio

OceanGate, the company behind the ill-fated Titanic sub, received more than $450,000 in aid during the Covid pandemic.

The Washington-based company received $447,000 in loans and the government forgave it $450,074, with interest.

The Payment Protection Program loans were made through Washington Trust Bank and approved on 10 April 2020 when the company had 22 employees, according to a ProPublica database.

How the deep-sea tragedy unfolded

01:00 , Ariana Baio

Sunday (18 June)

The Polar Prince icebreaker sailed around 900 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, where it set anchor.

The five-person crew was dropped into the ocean in their 22-foot long submersible vessel, the Titan, around 8am EST the submersible was launched, according to the US Coast Guard

One hour and 45 minutes later, the vessel lost contact with the Polar Prince.

According to the Coast Guard, the sub was meant to surface at 3pm EST.

When it failed to resurface, the crew raised the alarm with authorities at 5.40pm EST.

Monday (19 June)

On Monday morning, authorities revealed the Titan was missing and a large-scale search operation had been launched.

At 1.30pm, the US Coastguards Northeast tweeted that a C-130 Hercules reconnaissance aircraft had been dispatched to search for the Titan. P8 Poseidon aircraft with underwater sonar capabilities joined the search on Monday afternoon.

Tuesday (20 June)

OceanGate confirmed that its chief executive and founder Stockton Rush is aboard the submersible as a member of the crew.

A Canadian Aircraft P3 Aurora joined the effort, as the search area expanded to 10,000sqm.

During the press conference on Tuesday, Captain Frederick said there were around 40 to 41 hours of oxygen left on the submersible.

He said that a unified command of multiple agencies had been formed to tackle the very complex problem of finding the vessel but so far this had not yielded any results.

Wednesday (21 June)

According to internal e-mail updates sent to Department of Homeland Security leadership, the Canadian aircraft detected banging noises every 30 minutes.

The US Coast Guard on Wednesday morning said: Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV (remote operating vehicles) operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises.

Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue.

Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard confirmed that the vessel had less than 24 hours of oxygen supply left. He also acknowledged that officials do not know if crews will be able to rescue the people on board even if they do manage to find the sub before the oxygen runs out.

Thursday (22 June)

The air supply on the missing Titanic tourist submarine came down to its last hours, as rescue workers continued their increasingly desperate search for the five stranded passengers.

Soon after that deadline passed, officials announced a debris field had been found in the search area.

Five crew members were later confirmed to have died after the Titanic tourist submarine suffered a catastrophic explosion.

Family of billionaire explorer on Titanic sub say instant death from implosion was best outcome

Saturday 1 July 2023 00:00 , Ariana Baio

Kathleen Cosnett, the cousin of explorer Hamish Harding who died in the submersible trip to the Titanic says his death as the vessel imploded was the best outcome compared with the crew slowly running out of oxygen.

Elon Musk suggests the connection between Starlink and the sub was a 'psyop

Friday 30 June 2023 23:00 , Ariana Baio

Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter and SpaceX, responded to a tweet made by Snopes, suggesting the connection between Starlink and the sub was a psyop.

The company operating the sub, OceanGate Expeditions, previously tweeted their appreciation for Mr Musks Starlink service  provided through SpaceX  which allowed them to access the internet while adventuring in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Despite being in the middle of the North Atlantic, we have the internet connection we need to make our #Titanic dive operations a success - thank you @Starlink! the company tweeted earlier this month.

Mr Musk responded to a tweet made by Snopes post pointing out that he is the CEO of SpaceX, which provides the Starlink service.

You cant even run a good psy op  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 21, 2023

An 1851 maritime law protected the Titanics owners in court. Could OceanGate use it too?

Friday 30 June 2023 22:00 , Ariana Baio

The owners of the Titanic sought to limit liability following the ships sinking by petitioning under 1851 legislation. The owners of the submersible lost on its dive to visit that famed ships wreckage may do the same thing

Sheila Flynn reports:

An 1851 maritime law protected Titanic owners in court. Could OceanGate use it too?

Watch: Search and rescue company boss visibly emotional describing Titan search

Friday 30 June 2023 21:30 , Ariana Baio

Voices: The Titanic submersible disaster was an accident waiting to happen

Friday 30 June 2023 21:00 , Ariana Baio

Whether the Titan is missing because of deficiencies in design and construction or because of mistakes made by its operator  Rush  may be lost to history if the submersible is never found. The lesson of the Titanic, however, is that it can be both. Had Captain Edward Smith reduced the ships speed, perhaps it could have navigated the icy waters better. Had the ship been equipped with enough lifeboats for passengers, or had fewer of the watertight compartments been breached, perhaps more lives could have been saved.

Skylar Baker-Jordan writes:

The Titanic sub disaster was an accident waiting to happen | Opinion

MrBeast claims he turned down trip on Titanic submersible

Friday 30 June 2023 20:30 , Ariana Baio

Popular YouTuber MrBeast, whose real name James Donaldson, claimed that he turned down a trip on the Titanic submersible.

On Twitter, Mr Donaldson wrote: I was invited earlier this month to ride the Titanic submarine, I said no. Kind of scary that I could have been on it. has claimed that he turned down a trip on the Titanic submarine.

I was invited earlier this month to ride the titanic submarine, I said no. Kind of scary that I could have been on it pic.twitter.com/bQUnaRiczA  MrBeast (@MrBeast) June 25, 2023

He shared a screenshot of what appears to be a message sent to his phone, which reads: Also, Im going to the Titanic in a submarine late this month. The team would be stoked to have you along.

CEO of Pelagic Research Services says recovery costs a lot"

Friday 30 June 2023 20:00 , Ariana Baio

When asked how much the recovery operation in the Titan submersible will cost, Pelagic Research Services CEO Edward Cassano said A lot.

Mr Cassano declined to give a specific number or even a range but when a reporter asked if it was in the millions or billions Mr Cassano responded with, sure.

Watch: Teenage Titanic submersible victim's mother shares last words she shared with son

Friday 30 June 2023 19:30 , Ariana Baio

Sub recovery company asks people to respect the seriousness of events

Friday 30 June 2023 19:00 , Ariana Baio

Edward Cassano, the CEO of Pelagic Research Services, asked people to Recognise the seriousness of the event and respect the death of the victims of the Titan submersible incident and their families.

Mr Cassano swallowed back tears while giving a press conference on Friday regarding the recovery of the imploded submersible.

Recognise the seriousness of the event and respect the death and range of emotions, certainly most important the friends and family of the Titan, and all of those in the response, Mr Cassano said.

Pelagic Research Services says it was wild joining submersible search

Friday 30 June 2023 18:45 , Ariana Baio

The CEO of Pelagic Research Services (PRS), Edward Cassano, described what it was like for his company to join the search and rescue operation for the Titan submersible.

It was wild, Mr Cassano said during a press conference on Friday (30 June).

Mr Cassano said PRSs ship was nearly 200 feet shorter than the research vessel Deep Water which was already on site looking for the Titan submersible.

PRS had one of the only remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) that was capable of reaching the ocean floor where the Titanic wreckage was and finding debris from the sub.

Watch: Titan submersible search ends as debris recovery company holds press conference

Friday 30 June 2023 18:02 , Ariana Baio

Live: Titan submersible search ends as debris recovery company holds press conference

Florida couple drop lawsuit against OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush

Friday 30 June 2023 17:30 , Ariana Baio

A Florida couple who sued Stockton Rush for refusing to refund their $210,000 deposit for a Titanic shipwreck tour have dropped the lawsuit after the OceanGate Expeditions CEO was among five to die in a catastrophic implosion last week.

Marc and Sharon Hagle filed a lawsuit in February claiming Rush had repeatedly cancelled a deep-sea dive they had booked on the Titan submersible in 2018.

After Rush was confirmed to have died on the Titan during an ill-fated trip to the famed North Atlantic shipwreck on Sunday 18 June, the couple said the honour, respect and dignity of the victims were more important than their claim.

Like most around the world, we have watched the coverage of the OceanGate Titan capsule with great concern and enormous amount of sadness and compassion for the families of those who lost their lives, the Hagles said in a statement to Fox 35.

In light of these tragic events, we have informed our attorneys to withdraw all legal actions against Stockton, the statement read.

Father and grandfather of submersible victims give teary tribute to victims

Friday 30 June 2023 17:00 , Ariana Baio

Hussain Dawood, the father of Titan submersible victim Shahzada Dawood and grandfather of Suleman Dawood, gave a touching tribute to his son and grandson in a prayer video.

In this situation what does a father say? And a grandfather? Mr Dawood said wiping tears from his face.

Mr Dawood said Shahzada and Suleman were so excited about going to see the Titanic and praised their spirits of exploration. He recalled that they convinced the family to visit Antarctica with them this coming winter.

Hussain Dawood & family with painful reflections on the loss of son & grandson in the submersible tragedy! May Allah bless the departed souls and give fortitude to the bereaved family to bear this loss! pic.twitter.com/PEg52zLF5v  Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNj) June 30, 2023

They are an amazing father and son, Mr Dawood said.

Previous passengers recall ill-fated Titan

Friday 30 June 2023 16:30 , Ariana Baio

Talk to someone who rode on the Titan submersible, and theyre likely to mention a technological glitch: the propulsion system failed or communications with people on the surface cut out. Maybe there were problems balancing weights on board.

I 100% knew this was going to happen, said Brian Weed, a camera operator for the Discovery Channels Expedition Unknown show.

Mr Weed went on a Titan test dive in May 2021 in Washington states Puget Sound as it prepared for its first expeditions to the sunken Titanic. Mr Weed and his colleagues were preparing to join OceanGate Expeditions to film the famous shipwreck later that summer.

They quickly encountered problems: The propulsion system stopped working. The computers failed to respond. Communications shut down.

Stockton Rush, the OceanGate CEO, tried rebooting and troubleshooting the vessel on its touch screens.

You could tell that he was flustered and not really happy with the performance, Mr Weed said. But he was trying to make light of it, trying to make excuses.

Republican Senator shares conspiracy theory about submersible

Friday 30 June 2023 16:00 , Ariana Baio

After the implosion of the Titan submersible, several people began sharing their conspiracy theories about the national attention the incident received, including Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn.

The GOP Senator floated an idea about the timing of the US Coast Guard revealing the sub had imploded on her Twitter.

If the U.S. Navy suspected that the Titan Submersible imploded just hours after it began its voyage, why did the Coast Guard wait until Thursdaythe same day the IRS whistleblowers testified before Congressto make their announcement to the public? Ms Blackburn wrote on 23 June.

Ms Blackburns tweet insinuates that the Coast Guard, and possibly the US Navy, waited to reveal the submersible had imploded until after a Congressional hearing.

If the U.S. Navy suspected that the Titan Submersible imploded just hours after it began its voyage, why did the Coast Guard wait until Thursdaythe same day the IRS whistleblowers testified before Congressto make their announcement to the public?  Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) June 24, 2023

However, in reality, the US Navy detected an acoustic anomaly shortly after the sub lost contact with its surface ship and relayed that information to the US Coast Guard in the search and rescue mission.

The Navy and Coast Guard were unable to definitively say the sub had imploded as the acoustic anomaly was not enough evidence. When they discovered the physical debris, they were able to make a more concrete conclusion.

Physicist calls for pause on all tourist trips to Titanic wreckage

Friday 30 June 2023 15:30 , Ariana Baio

A physicist has called for an end to all the tourist voyages to the Titanic wreckage after four days of frantic search for the Titan submersible ended and experts said all five people on board died in an implosion.

Michael Guillen, a former Harvard University physics instructor who himself had a near-death experience near the Titanic wreckage, said the ocean is a merciless beast and the Titanics wreckage is a sacred ground where all activities should cease.

Certainly, we need to stop, pause all trips to the Titanic, I believe, and figure out, you know, what kind of restrictions should we place, he said in an interview with GB News.

This is not a joyride. This is a serious business. The ocean is a merciless beast, really. Its ready to swallow you up.

Shweta Sharma reports:

Physicist calls for pause on all tourist trips to Titanic wreckage

Watch: Passenger who took 2021 trip to see Titanic says submersible 'was not safe'

Friday 30 June 2023 15:00 , Ariana Baio

No estimated timeline in Titan sub investigation

Friday 30 June 2023 14:30 , Ariana Baio

The US Coast Guard revealed there is a substantial amount of work to be done in the investigation of the Titan submersible implosion to ensure this type of event does not occur again.

On Wednesday, presumed human remains were found as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was conducting a search of the submersible wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near the Titanic.

However, US Coast Guard Chief Captain Jason Neubauer said there was a lot of work to be done before they could give a conclusive analysis of when they will determine what happened.

There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again, Mr Neubauer said.

It is unclear what the timeline will be for the investigation.

Friend of British billionaire reveals desperate race to get remote vehicle to site of doomed Titanic sub

Friday 30 June 2023 14:00 , Andrea Blanco

A family friend of a British billionaire who perished in the tragic implosion of the Titan last week has shared her desperate efforts to help in the failed rescue of the submersibles crew.

Several investigations by international maritime agencies have been launched to determine the potential malfunctions that led to the deaths of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British pilot Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzeda Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman.

Before hopes of a miracle rescue were dashed when debris from the Titan was found 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic on 22 June, the US Coast Guard had led a frantic four-day search for the missing crew with help from American, Canadian and French deep-sea robots and ships. The agency had warned before the tragic developments that even if the sub was located, there was no guarantee that a rescue operation would be successful due to the conditions on the ocean floor.

Read more.

Imploded Titanic submarine seen for first time as pieces recovered from sea floor

Friday 30 June 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco

Debris from the Titan was brought ashore by deep-sea robots on Wednesday as the US Coast Guard continues recovery operations following the subs catastrophic implosion.

The Titans wreckage was seen for the first time in pictures after the Coast Guard announced on 22 June that ROVs (remotely-operated vehicles) found its chambers in a sea of debris 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic, roughly 12,000ft below the ocean surface.

Read more:

Imploded Titanic submarine seen for first time as pieces recovered from sea floor

WATCH: James Cameron likens Titan submersible tragedy to Titanic

Friday 30 June 2023 12:00 , Andrea Blanco

Titan submersible wreckage recovered from water after fatal implosion

Friday 30 June 2023 11:00 , Andrea Blanco

(The Canadian Press via AP)

(The Canadian Press via AP)

(AP)

Presumed human remains found in debris from Titan submersible  US Coast Guard

Friday 30 June 2023 06:00 , Andrea Blanco

Medical professionals will formally analyse presumed human remains recovered from the wreckage of the Titan submersible.

The US Coast Guard (USCG) said it received debris and evidence from the sea floor at the site of the deep-sea vessels fatal implosion, which killed five people.

British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board the vessel near the wreckage of the Titanic, alongside OceanGate Expeditions chief executive, Stockton Rush, and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Read more:

Presumed human remains found in debris from Titan submersible  US Coast Guard

WATCH: Titan submersible wreckage brought ashore after fatal implosion

Friday 30 June 2023 04:00 , Andrea Blanco

Teen who died on Titanic sub brought Rubiks cube with him to break world record

Friday 30 June 2023 02:00 , Andrea Blanco

The teenager who died on the Titan submersible took a Rubiks cube with him because he wanted to break a world record, his mother has said.

Christine Dawood told the BBC her son Suleman, 19, was so excited to try and solve the puzzle 3,700 metres below the ocean surface.

Meanwhile, his father Shahzada, a businessman, was so excited he was like a child at the prospect of seeing the Titanic wreckage.

He had applied to Guinness World Records and his father, who also died, had brought a camera with him to capture the moment.

Ms Dawood said her son loved the famous square puzzle so much that he carried it with him everywhere and dazzled onlookers by solving it in 12 just seconds.

Titanic to return to Netflix on 1 July

Friday 30 June 2023 01:00 , Andrea Blanco

The 1997 blockbusterTitanic will return to Netflix in July - just weeks after a doomed expedition to the ocean liners resting place on the oceanfloor.

The movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet is returning to the streaming platform on 1 July, according to HuffPost, along nearly 100 other titles.

The Independents report:

Titanic to return to Netflix on 1 July

Inside the dangerous world of explorer tourism for the thrill-seeking super rich

Friday 30 June 2023 00:00 , Andrea Blanco

The trend of the worlds wealthiest paying above the odds for high-risk adventures is nothing new.

Gabriella Le Breton investigates the elites age-old obsession with discovering the furthest  and most dangerous  corners of the globe.

Inside the dangerous world of explorer tourism for the super-rich

Debris from the Titan brought back ashore

Thursday 29 June 2023 22:29 , Andrea Blanco

Large pieces of debris from Titan were transported to St Johns harbour on Wednesday by the Horizon Arctic ship, where they were seen being unloaded by a crane. The Coast Guard announced just hours later that medical professionals will formally analyse presumed human remains found on the debris.

Speaking after the evidence was recovered, the Marine Board of Investigations (MBI) chairman, Captain Jason Neubauer, said: I am grateful for the coordinated international and inter-agency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths.

The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy.

There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.

Friend of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush warned him about succumbing to pressures of [his] own creation

Thursday 29 June 2023 21:23 , Andrea Blanco

Emails obtained by Insider show an exchange between Mr Rush and Karl Stanley, the owner of another dive expedition company.

Mr Stanley shared concerns about a large cracking sound during a two-hour dive aboard the Titan in the Bahamas.

I dont think if you push forward with dives to the Titantic this season it will be succumbing to financial pressures, I think it will be succumbing to pressures of your own creation in some part dictated by ego to do what people said couldnt be done, Mr Stanley warned.

Widow who lost husband and son to Titanic sub implosion pays tribute to 'best friends' at memorial

Thursday 29 June 2023 20:50 , Andrea Blanco

The widow of a Pakistani tycoon who lost both her husband and son after their submersible imploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean has opened up about her grief.

More than a week after all five passengers on an expedition aboard the Titan sub were killed, their families continue to reel from the tragedy as international marine authorities have launched multi-agency probes to determine what caused the catastrophic implosion.

Speaking at a televised memorial on Tuesday, Christine Dawood, whose husband Shahzada Dawood and 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood were among the victims, said the expedition to the Titanic meant the world for father and son, who she described as true explorers who bonded over their love for adventure.

These two best friends embarked upon this last voyage, their final journey together, Ms Dawood told Sky News through tears. These past few days have been incredibly challenging as a family ... Emotions from excitement to shock to hope and finally despair and grief.

Will OceanGate face legal action?

Thursday 29 June 2023 19:50 , Andrea Blanco

Prior to embarking on the journey, the five passengers signed liability waivers accepting that it could result in death.

But, despite this, the waiver may not shield OceanGate from potential lawsuits by the victims families.

Timothy E Allen, an attorney and former Secret Service agent, said in a statement to The Independent that waivers wont protect the company if it turns out there was defects with the sub.

Submarines operate in a high-pressure environment, and any flaws or weaknesses in the construction, design, or materials used can potentially lead to catastrophic failures such as implosion, he said.

If it can be established that the implosion was caused by inherent defects in the mechanics or engineering of the submarine, the responsible party may be held liable, even if a waiver was signed.

Safety investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada made inquiries on Titans main support ship, the Polar Prince, after it docked in St Johns harbour on Saturday. The US Coast Guard has also convened a marine board that is tasked with conducting an investigation and issuing a report.

The TSB said it has inspected, documented, and catalogued the materials from the debris of Titan for its safety investigation. The safety body said its investigation team has taken possession of the deep-sea vessels voyage data recorder, which has been sent to its engineering laboratory in Ottawa for further analysis.

US, UK, and French authorities will work together in accordance with international agreements, as they are substantially interested states under the International Maritime Organisation Casualty Investigation Code.

Voice recordings under scrutiny in Titanic sub implosion investigation

Thursday 29 June 2023 19:20 , Andrea Blanco

Guard-appointed expert boards probe into the catastrophic implosion of the Titan submersible last week.

American and Canadian marine authorities have announced investigations into the circumstances that led to the vessels malfunction after its chambers were found in a sea of debris 1,600ft from the wreck of the Titanic.

US Coast Guard Captain Jason Neubauer, who is chairing the investigation, said during a press conference on Sunday that he has summoned a Marine Board of Investigation, the highest level of investigation conducted by the Coast Guard. The boards role is to determine the cause of the tragedy in order to pursue civil or criminal sanctions as necessary.

Voice recordings between the Titan and its mothership Polar Prince will be reviewed by investigators. The motherships crew is also being interviewed by different agencies.

Investigators with the Coast Guard have mapped the accident site and salvage operations are expected to continue, Cpt Jason Neubauer said. Once the investigation is wrapped  a timeline has not been laid out  a report with evidence, conclusions and recommendations will be released.

What was the banging noise picked up in search for Titanic sub?

Thursday 29 June 2023 18:51 , Andrea Blanco

An implosion that killed five crew onboard the Titan submersible is now the focus of investigations by agencies from four countries.

The sub was destroyed less than two hours into a dive to the Titanic shipwreck on 18 June, claiming the lives of OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Secret US Navy listening devices detected an anomaly near the Titanic shipwreck soon after the Titan departed from its support ship the Polar Prince, which is believed to be the moment sub suffered a catastrophic implosion of its carbon fibre hull.

A desperate search for survivors continued for four days until a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) found a debris field that was later identified to be parts of the missing submersible. Hopes had been raised when the US Coast Guard revealed that sonar devices had detected banging sounds coming from the search zone, a vast area of the North Atlantic Ocean twice the size of Connecticut.

The source of the banging sounds has not been identified, but experts have put forward several theories about their possible origin.

Read more.

OceanGate website is still featuring trips to the Titanic wreckage after deadly sub implosion

Thursday 29 June 2023 18:17 , Andrea Blanco

The company that operated the doomed submersible that imploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean is still advertising expeditions to the Titanic wreckage on its website.

The Independent reports:

OceanGate website is still featuring trips to Titanic wreckage after sub implosion

Why we are obsessed with the missing Titan submarine?

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:20 , Andrea Blanco

We all can relate to that feeling of being trapped somewhere or being in the water or experiencing that level of uncertainty, Dr Justin DArienzo  a clinical psychologist in Jacksonville, Florida and former US Navy psychologist told The Independent.

What makes it so relatable is that we all could imagine being helpless with other humans and not know what to do.

The search for the submersible captured the attention of millions, as phrases such as Titan and hashtags like #OceanGate dominated Twitters top trending and TikTok For You Pages.

People paying $250,000 to go into a tube thats going to go underwater, there is some obsession with rich and famous people. Were sensitized to voyeurism in that regard, says DArienzo. We quickly follow people who we see are powerful; we give them more leeway. Theres a reason that we follow the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

WATCH: Relatives of Titanic victims criticise dark tourism of submersible tours

Thursday 29 June 2023 15:50 , Andrea Blanco

Hamish Hardings family friend reveals desperate race to get remote vehicle to site of doomed Titan

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco

A family friend of a British billionaire who perished in the tragic implosion of the Titan last week has shared her desperate efforts to help in the failed rescue of the submersibles crew.

Tracy Ryan, a close friend of Hardings wife Linda, has now revealed that she was working behind the scenes trying to get a remote-operated submarine capable of reaching the Titanic wreck to join the search for the doomed Titan.

The Independent reports:

Friend of British billionaire reveals desperate efforts to assist rescue

Wreckage of doomed sub may reveal cracks signifying cause of implosion, expert says

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:34 , Andy Gregory

Investigators examining the recovered wreckage of the doomed Titan submarine will likely look for cracks which could signify what caused it to implode, a professor in mechanical and marine engineering has suggested.

Dr Jasper Graham-Jones, of the University of Plymouth, told The Sun that an electrical disaster may have occurred after parts of the vessel began to leak.

This could have been an electrical catastrophe. It could have been corrosion, it could have been a fire. Any leakage of water coming through to the electrics could lead to failure as well, he told the paper.

He added: Some of the pipes and parts that lead outside could have begun to leak. If you have a wire going outside, then those wires going through land could actually start to leak. They could have corroded.

While the passengers may have been aware of a very minor leak, the noise reportedly picked up by US military equipment indicates a more sudden implosion, he said.

The crack could be brittle, or ductile, and related to fatigue and de-lamination. By scanning under an electron microscope, you can see the fatigue and confirm the speed and direction of the cracks, he told the paper.

Nine looming questions in Titanic sub catastrophe

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:00 , Andrea Blanco

Desperate search for the missing Titanic submersible came to a tragic end when debris was discovered deep in the ocean. But, we still dont know many crucial aspects of the doomed voyage.

The Independents Rachel Sharp, Io Dodds and Bevan Hurley report:

These nine questions remain unanswered in the Titanic sub catastrophe

WTCH: US Coast Guard convenes Marine Board of Investigation into loss of Titan Submersible

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:00 , Andrea Blanco

OceanGate sub pilot job opening sparks backlash on TikTok

Thursday 29 June 2023 07:00 , Andrea Blanco

A job advert posted by the company that operated the doomed Titanic submersible that imploded last week in the Atlantic Ocean has sparked backlash on social media.

TikTok users have hit out at the since-deleted job posting by embattled OceanGate Expeditions, following the tragedy that killed all five of its passengers. According to the advertising featured on the companys website and on Indeed, OceanGate was accepting applicants for a sub pilot position.

The company noted that it had an urgent opening and was looking for committed individuals with a combination of strong mechanical and interpersonal skills, and experience working with submersibles and boats as well as operating complex systems to support dive operations, Insider reported. Among other requirements, applicants were asked to be comfortable in a confined space and be able to fit through a 28-inch diameter ring.

OceanGate not only hosted tours to the wreck of the Titanic, but also to the Azores Archipelago in Portugal and to the Bahamas. One pilot, one content expert and three mission specialists  or fee-paying passengers without any previous experience needed  participated in every dive, according to the companys website.

The post was removed sometime on 23 June, a day after the US Coast Guard confirmed that the vessels chambers were found 1,600ft from the wreck of the Titanic on the ocean floor, but not without being noticed by furious sleuths that criticised the timing.

WATCH: Titanic submarine: What happened?

Thursday 29 June 2023 06:00 , Andrea Blanco

What was the banging noise picked up in search for Titanic sub?

Thursday 29 June 2023 05:00 , Andrea Blanco

An implosion that killed five crew onboard the Titan submersible is now the focus of investigations by agencies from four countries.

The sub was destroyed less than two hours into a dive to the Titanic shipwreck on 18 June, claiming the lives of OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The Independent Bevan Hurley reports:

What was the banging noise picked up in search for Titanic sub?

Why did the Titanic sub implode?

Thursday 29 June 2023 01:00 , Andrea Blanco

In the days after OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush and his four-paying crew members went missing on their dive to the wreck of the Titanic, experts had several theories as to their fate.

But what exactly caused the Titan to implode? While we dont yet know the truth of what happened, we do know enough to have some idea of what might have sealed the subs fate.

The Independents Io Dodds:

Why did the Titanic sub implode?

US Coast Guard recovers presumed human remains from sea floor near Titanic sub debris

Wednesday 28 June 2023 23:45 , Josh Marcus

The US Coast Guard has recovered presumed human remains from the sea floor near the debris of the doomed Titanic sub and will now carry out a formal analysis of it.

The announcement was made hours after large pieces of the submersible Titan, which was destroyed in a catastrophic implosion near the wreck of the famed liner, were lowered onto a Canadian pier after being salvaged from the depths of the Atlantic.

Graeme Massie is following all the latest details of the investigation for The Independent.

US Coast Guard recovers presumed human remains from near Titanic sub debris

Presumed human remains found amid submarine debris, Coast Guard announces

Wednesday 28 June 2023 23:43 , Josh Marcus

According to the US Coast Guard, presumed human remains have been found amid the wreckage of the TITAN submarine, which imploded earlier this month on a voyage to the Titanic ship wreck, killing five people.The remains will be transported to a port in the US for futher analysis, the military branch said in a press release on Wednesday. The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy, Marine Board of Investigation chair Captain Jason Neubauer said in the statement. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the TITAN and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.

Teen who died on Titanic sub brought Rubiks cube with him to break world record

Wednesday 28 June 2023 22:50 , Andrea Blanco

The teenager who died on the Titan submersible took a Rubiks cube with him because he wanted to break a world record, his mother has said.

Christine Dawood told the BBC her son Suleman, 19, was so excited to try and solve the puzzle 3,700 metres below the ocean surface.

The Independents Gwyn Wright reports:

Teen who died on Titanic sub brought Rubiks cube with him to break world record
Tourists visit the Patuxay Park in the Lao capital Vientiane on June 30, 2023. Laos welcomed more than 1.1 million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2023, representing an increase of 204 percent compared to the same period in 2022. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

By Chanthaphaphone Mixayboua, Zhang Jianhua

VIENTIANE, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Laos welcomed more than 1.1 million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2023, representing an increase of 204 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

The largest number of visitors came from Thailand with 430,979, followed by 224,461 from Vietnam and 223,350 from China.

The sharp increase in the number of foreign tourists follows the full revival of international travel in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the travel options offered by the China-Laos Railway, Lao Minister of Planning and Investment Khamjane Vongphosy said at the fifth ordinary session of the National Assembly (Ninth Legislature) of Laos on Monday.

Some 1.6 million domestic and foreign tourists took trips in Laos in the first four months of 2023, representing a major increase over the number of tourists recorded in the same period of 2022.

More than 485,000 of them were Lao nationals, accounting for 81 percent of the half-year target. The Lao government hopes the figure will rise to 600,000 in the first six months of 2023.

Laos recorded 1,294,388 tourists visiting the country in 2022. Most international visitors came from Thailand, Vietnam, China, South Korea and the United States, according to the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

"Our tourism town has been very quiet for a few years because of the pandemic. Now there are a lot of tourists, especially during the weekend. I am delighted to see an increase of both domestic and international visitors," Khampha, a food vendor in Vangvieng, a tourism town in Vientiane province, told Xinhua on Sunday.

Laos is placing its hopes on the China-Laos Railway as a means of transporting tourists to some of the country's most popular attractions, Phonemaly Inthaphome, director of the Tourism Development Department under the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, said at a meeting held on June 8 to discuss the Visit Laos Year 2024.

Sengxay, an employee at a store selling tour packages in Vangvieng, told Xinhua last Sunday that there had been a noticeable uptick in visitors since the China-Laos Railway came into service in 2021 and the Lao government reopened the country to foreign travel in May 2022.

"Not only Lao people, but many foreign tourists are also excited to take a train traveling in Laos," he said.

The railway is a very popular means of transport and passes through the provinces of Luang Prabang and Oudomxay, which have many places of interest to tourists in northern Laos.

"After experiencing adventurous activities in Vangvieng, many people take a train to Luang Prabang to enjoy a small charming town surrounded by rivers and mountains, and its ancient temples and scenic rural landscapes," Sengxay said.

The start of cross-border services on the China-Laos Railway increased the arrival of tourists from China. The Lao government expects that China's resumption of outbound group tours will be a strong boost to the Southeast Asian country's tourism industry.

As the China-Laos Railway serves as a crucial tourism infrastructure, Lao authorities estimated that around 368,000 Chinese travelers will visit Laos in 2023, up 21 percent from last year.

Speaking at a meeting on preparations for Chinese tourists held on May 26, Lao Deputy Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Ounthuang Khaophan said the Chinese tourism market is a great source of revenue and because of this, many countries have been engaged in promotion schemes to attract Chinese tourists.

A huge boost to the growth of this market is the China-Laos Railway, which enables fast and convenient travel between Laos and China, while more flights between Lao capital Vientiane and a number of Chinese cities are opening up, further facilitating international travel, Ounthuang said.

Tourism authorities and operators in Laos have improved services at hotels, guesthouses and restaurants, and added more facilities at tourist sites to provide more convenience for visitors.

In addition, the Lao government has organized promotional campaigns to attract tourists, including Visit Laos-China Year and Lao Thiao Lao (Lao Visit Laos program), attracting many visitors, especially from China.

In 2023, the Lao government has made tourism a top priority in efforts to revitalize the economy and aims to attract at least 1.4 million foreign tourists. 

Tourists visit the Patuxay Park in the Lao capital Vientiane on June 30, 2023. Laos welcomed more than 1.1 million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2023, representing an increase of 204 percent compared to the same period in 2022. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

Tourists visit a night market along the Mekong River in the Lao capital Vientiane on June 30, 2023. Laos welcomed more than 1.1 million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2023, representing an increase of 204 percent compared to the same period in 2022. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)

A woman takes photos for a boy in the Patuxay Park in the Lao capital Vientiane on June 30, 2023. Laos welcomed more than 1.1 million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2023, representing an increase of 204 percent compared to the same period in 2022. (Photo by Tamon Huengmeexay/Xinhua)

Monks walk by the That Luang Stupa in the Lao capital Vientiane on June 30, 2023. Laos welcomed more than 1.1 million foreign visitors in the first four months of 2023, representing an increase of 204 percent compared to the same period in 2022. (Photo by Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua)
If You Use A Toothbrush Cover, We Have News For You

Despite appearances, toothbrush covers and cleanliness do not always mix.

Despite appearances, toothbrush covers and cleanliness do not always mix.

There are lots of helpful travel gadgets on the market, ranging from high-tech tracking devices to simple products like a toothbrush cover.

But even though toothbrush covers are a popular staple  both while youre on a trip and even at home  you might want to reconsider using one extensively. Below, dentists break down everything you should know.

Whats the problem with toothbrush covers?

Covering a toothbrush with a toothbrush cover is a bad idea because the toothbrush cover traps moisture around the bristles, which is perfect for the proliferation of bacteria and fungus, Dr. Jordan Brown, a dentist based in St. Petersburg, Florida, told HuffPost.

The oral cavity is covered with hundreds of species of bacteria like Streptococcus mutans and Granulicatella adiacens.

When you brush your teeth, some of those bacteria are present on your toothbrush, even after properly rinsing it off with water, said Dr. Aierress Davis, a dentist in Augusta, Georgia. By placing your toothbrush in a cover and creating a moist environment, you directly promote bacterial growth, which isnt a good thing.

This proliferation of germs is especially likely if you place your toothbrush in the container while the bristles are still wet.

Now, there isnt much research that shows bacteria growing on a covered toothbrush causing harm to patients, but it is always better to allow your toothbrush to air dry after use, Davis noted.

And although the potential for serious harm hasnt been thoroughly researched, using a toothbrush cover can have some negative impacts.

If you continue to use that same brush, it can lead to an increased risk of halitosis (bad breath), tooth decay (cavities), and abscesses (mouth infections), Brown said.

So should you toss your toothbrush cover?

Theres no need to use toothbrush covers for daily use inside the home, Brown said. If youre worried about feces particulates from your flushing toilet you can either close the lid or move your toothbrush as far away from the toilet as possible.

Indeed, the American Dental Association advises patients not to routinely cover or store toothbrushes in closed containers, and the dentists who spoke to HuffPost echoed this advice.

I tend to not recommend toothbrush covers unless you can really make sure the bristles of the toothbrush are completely dry before placing the toothbrush in the container, said Dr. Richard Lipari, a dentist who practices in Chappaqua, New York.

While dentists dont recommend using a toothbrush cover on a daily basis, they have slightly different thoughts when it comes to travel.

Its not a bad idea to protect your toothbrush while traveling, Davis said. Personally, I believe toothbrush covers should only be used while traveling. I dont want my makeup or skincare products touching my toothbrush bristles.

Although she used to wrap a paper towel around the bristles of her toothbrush, she now uses a travel case to keep it clean and prevent direct contact with other toiletries or packed items. The other experts similarly advised only using a larger carrying case that encompasses the whole brush, rather than a little bristle head cover, if you want to protect it while traveling. Just make sure it isnt still wet or damp when you pack it.

You can definitely use a toothbrush cover to travel, but it should really only be used during transport and while the toothbrush is dry, Lipari said. While youre on vacation or at your destination you should try to leave the toothbrush out of the case.

What else should you do to keep your toothbrush clean and sanitary?

Looking beyond cover hygiene, there are other important steps you should take to ensure your toothbrush is as clean and sanitary as possible

Keep it away from your toilet because if you flush the toilet with the lid open, poop particulate will find its way onto your toothbrush, Brown advised.

You might also want to keep it out of the way of the sink, especially if with a shared bathroom, Lipari said.

You dont want your toothbrush directly next to where other people may be brushing their teeth or washing their hands to avoid any contamination, he explained.

Make sure youre changing your toothbrush or replacing the bristles frequently as well. Brown recommended doing this every three to four months, while Lipari suggested every two to three months.

Make sure youre changing out your toothbrush every six months  at most, Davis said. If you look at your toothbrush, you can often tell when the bristles look worn or fuzzy. If that happens before six months, change it out. Not only for potential bacterial growth but for function; its not working at its optimal capacity with worn bristles.

Regardless of timing, youll also probably want to change out your toothbrush or toothbrush head after recovering from an illness as well.

Rinse your toothbrush after you finish brushing your teeth, Brown urged. Store your toothbrush vertically so the water drains off the brush. Avoid sharing your toothbrush with others  that can spread viruses and bacteria. And if you use a holder, make sure youre cleaning it too!

Rinsing your toothbrush after every use should remove any visible debris from the bristles.

If youre extremely concerned, there are toothbrush sanitizers available for purchase that can reduce the amount of bacteria that remains on your toothbrush, Davis said. But no product will eliminate all of the bacteria on a used toothbrush.

Related...
The U.S. militarys highest appeals court ruled Thursday that troops do not have the right to a unanimous verdict in criminal trials, upholding a disparity between military and civilian courts that dates back to the countrys founding.

The 5-0 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces means American service members remain the countrys only constituency not afforded the same constitutional rights as defendants in civilian courts.

The lack of such a right has been a central component of a series of landmark Supreme Court military justice cases, the judges wrote in the 19-page opinion. It would be disingenuous for this court to ignore over a century of consistent guidance from the Supreme Court about the applicability of the Sixth Amendment to military trials.

The decision affirms an earlier ruling by the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals in U.S. v. Anderson, a 2020 case in which Master Sgt. Anthony Anderson was found guilty of two counts of attempting to sexually abuse a child.

Starting in 2018, Anderson had sent lewd messages and photos to Sara, a fake 13-year-old created by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations on the anonymous messaging app Whisper. He also tried to discuss sex with a real 15-year-old female student at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, for which he was not charged.

Andersons defense counsel had asked the court to either require a unanimous vote for conviction, or to announce whether the vote was unanimous if the jurors found him guilty. The judge denied that request.

Anderson was convicted by a panel of officers and enlisted airmen. At least three-quarters of a court-martial jury must agree whether a defendant is guilty or not, per the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

He chose to be sentenced by the military judge and received 12 months of confinement; reduction to airman basic, the Air Forces lowest enlisted rank; and a dishonorable discharge.

The Air Force appellate court later agreed with the judges decision not to require a unanimous conviction; Andersons team argued it violated his rights to due process and a jury trial afforded by amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Bill Cassara, a civilian lawyer representing Anderson at his court-martial, did not comment on the case by press time Friday.

Don Christensen, a retired Air Force colonel who served as the services chief prosecutor, said the verdict calls the military justice systems fairness into question.

Unanimous verdict is the gold standard of justice, he said. The military is kind of stuck in 1775 in the way they view this.

Thursdays ruling formally answers a question that has loomed over courts-martial since the countrys founding. Because of how the laws governing the U.S. militarys rules and responsibilities were written, the U.S. Supreme Court and uniformed judges view the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial as a feature of civilian courts, not the military justice system.

The U.S. Supreme Court first ruled in 1972 that convicting a defendant in a split decision violated the Sixth Amendment. The court banned non-unanimous verdicts in state criminal cases in 2020, leaving the military as the only jurisdiction that allows them.

Andersons team argued that because the Supreme Court hasnt yet heard a direct plea on the matter, the military appellate court could step in to create a new precedent. But the judges didnt buy it.

They pointed as far back as the 1775 Articles of War, which called for convictions by majority vote, and the subsequent U.S. Supreme Court cases that have nodded to that standard in rulings on civilian matters. A jury doesnt need to issue a unanimous verdict to be impartial, they added.

Government lawyers have argued that split verdicts can be more efficient and avoid pressuring lower-ranking jurors to defer to their superiors to reach a consensus.

Christensen blasted those as outdated excuses, saying the military can afford to hold retrials in case of hung juries and should trust its members to do the right thing. He now works at Solomon Law Firm, which specializes in federal employment cases.

We expect the lowest enlisted member in the military to be able to tell a four-star general that I will not obey an unlawful order,  he said. I dont think its too much to ask  that junior members would be able to push back against senior members if they didnt think someone should be found guilty.

Andersons team could still appeal to the Supreme Court as a last resort. But the panel rarely agrees to hear military justice matters, Christensen said. He believes the justices would side with the government in Andersons case.

Without resolution through the judiciary, it falls to Congress to mandate unanimous courts-martial verdicts. Failure to do so will continue to erode confidence in the military justice system, Christensen said.

This is one of the last remaining issues  that both the defense and prosecution, when theyre being honest, realize  needs to be changed, he said.
A tourist who caused outrage in Italy after carving names into a wall at Romes Colosseum has been identified as a fitness trainer living in Britain.

The identification was made using photographic comparisons, said Italian carabinieri.

They did not identify the suspect, saying only that the man and his girlfriend were a couple who are resident in England.

However, he was named by the Daily Telegraph as Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old fitness instructor and delivery driver who is originally from Bulgaria and lives in Bristol.

He was filmed by an onlooker etching his and his girlfriends name into a wall of the 2,000-year-old monument last Friday. Wearing a blue floral print shirt, he used a key to write Ivan + Hayley 23 in full view of the public.

An angry bystander who filmed the incident asked: Are you serious, man?

The video, titled A*****e tourist carves name in Colosseum in Rome, was uploaded to YouTube and went viral.

Italian police will send a note to the suspects home in England to inform him that he is under investigation, according to Il Messaggero, though it is unclear what will happen next.

It was reported that the man could face a fine of up to 15,000 (12,850) and a prison sentence of up to five years if convicted of defacing the historical monument.

Colosseum, also named the Flavian Amphitheater, is a Unesco world heritage site (PA Archive)

Romes Colosseum is a Unesco world heritage site where gladiators fought with one another and also battelled wild animals including lions, leopards, bulls and ostriches. Its construction began under the reign of the emperor Vespasian in the first century AD.

The Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano thanked the police for identifying the alleged suspect of the uncivilised and absurd act committed at the Colosseum.

It was an act that offended those around the world who appreciate the value of archaeology, monuments and history, he said. Now I hope justice will take its course by rigorously applying the laws.

Visitors take photos of the Ancient Colosseum, in Rome (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The minister said that the government was considering a law that would impose stringent punishment on those found guilty of defacing or damaging the countrys historical and cultural heritage sites.

Those who cause damage will pay, he said.

In 2014, a Russian tourist was fined 20,000 (17,000) for engraving a K on a wall at the site, and given a suspended four-year jail sentence.

Italian tourism lobby Federturismo, backed by statistics bureau ISTAT, has said 2023 is shaping up as a record for visitors to Italy, surpassing even pre-pandemic levels that hit a high in 2019.
Trans patients share what it's like to seek health care: 'Treated without any humanity'

A few weeks ago, River Smith visited his primary care doctor in the Tampa Bay, Florida, area because he needed a new prescription for testosterone and the estrogen blocker he takes as part of his gender-affirming care. Thats when he learned some news that upset him.

They werent prescribing any medication, the 40-year-old tells TODAY.com. With the laws just passing  they were waiting for the Florida medical board to come up with their plan of action.

In May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that made headlines for banning trans children from receiving gender-affirming care. But the new legislation also added restrictions for trans adults, such as requiring trans patients to sign an "informed consent" form to access gender-affirming care, and that all transitioning care be provided in person and overseen by a physician, per the Associated Press.

These changes have created barriers for trans patients as many see nurse practitioners and use telehealth, the AP reported. The Florida Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine voted in June to temporarily allow gender-affirming care in certain circumstances but have an upcoming vote in order to enforce the new law.

While many people think of gender-affirming care as medical procedures, such as hormones and surgery, it includes "anything that affirms someones gender identity, Dr. Juanita Kay Hodax, co-director of the Gender Clinic at Seattle Childrens, previously told TODAY.com. Using a patient's preferred name and pronouns or helping them through their social transition are also examples, she says.

Leading medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society and the American Psychiatric Association all are in favor of providing gender-affirming care. The AMA in particular calls such care "medically necessary."

In recent weeks, Smith says he's heard online from trans and nonbinary people from across his state struggling to get their prescriptions and other care. When Smith couldnt receive his medications, he scrambled find a solution. Then a new panic settled in: He had a hysterectomy scheduled for July and worried it would no longer happen.

I reached out to my surgeon, he says. I expressed my concerns.

Smith's doctor assured him the surgery would still take place and even helped him access testosterone and an estrogen blocker so he would have enough medication for the next few months.

Still, Smith fears that one day he won't be able to get his medication.

What am I supposed to do? he says. Im putting my trust that everythings going to be OK. Of course, in the back of my mind, Im still (wondering) how the laws are playing out.

What its like accessing care

At least 19 states have laws restricting gender-affirming care, most of them targeting minors, according to the Human Rights Campaign. But trans people say that even in states without legal barriers, finding a comprehensive and respectful health care provider remains challenging.

I find myself having to do a lot of my own homework and making sure that Im getting what I need, Allie, 28, a trans woman, who lives in Brooklyn and requested her last name not be used for her safety, tells TODAY.com. Even the doctors (who provide) hormones ... theyre not as on top of the research.

There are a couple of doctors that I found that I really love that are collaborative and open to ideas and understand the science, she continues. Then there are other doctors who (aren't).

Allie goes to a community health center for primary care, where doctors prescribe her hormones. But sometimes she feels like just a number.

There is one doctor there who essentially is just trying to cycle patients through, she says. He switched me from injectable estrogen to pills because he didnt want to test me as often.

She didnt feel the new hormones aligned with the kind of transition I wanted.

The results yielded from both are very different, she adds. Theres just a lot of mental gymnastics that go into understanding the motivations of your doctors.

Seeking medical care for an injury or cold often feels dehumanizing, Allie says.

I dread going to the doctor so much, outside of transition-related doctor appointments, she says. Im going to basically be treated without any humanity and just with a total lack of respect for both the name that I use and just for me as a person.

Rebecca Ammons, 57, a trans woman who lives in Tacoma, Washington, calls seeing a new provider "the most nerve-wracking experience" because its hard to know if the staff will harbor transphobic views, use the wrong pronouns or call her by her deadname (her birth name, which she stopped using as part of her transition).

Recently, she visited the eye doctor for new glasses, and the intake information asked for all the medications she takes. Ammons understood they wanted to make sure her prescriptions werent impacting her eye health. But she worried that if she listed that she takes estrogen and a medication for an enlarged prostate, then the provider would automatically know she is a trans woman  and that would change how staff view and treat her.

I dont care whether Im being clocked or identified as trans," she tells TODAY.com. "(Im worried about) what kind of attitude am I going to face? Theres a certain level of anxiety and fear that I have to work through in order to be able to go in and say, I deserve to have these services and be welcomed.

This fear sometimes prevents Ammons from seeking necessary medical care. She had a failed root canal and needs a new dentist. Yet, shes worried that when disclosing her medical history, shes opening herself up for questions or judgements.

The medical notes about me as Im getting referrals, Ive come across even recently some really offensive terms, she says. I dont care whether or not someone agrees with my decisions.  Treat me with the same respect that you would expect to be treated.

Ammons, who served as a chaplain in the Army and is now retried, has experience working in hospitals. In some ways, this helps her navigate health care systems to receive care. Although when it comes to interpersonal experiences, she often feels uncomfortable and finds herself explaining her body to doctors and nurses.

I feel I need to prepare (them) for something thats going to look different, she says. I dont know whether or not they need it, but it becomes this point of stress.

One of Smith's most memorable, negative experiences at the doctor involved a nurse, who knew he was trans, telling him about a trans friend of hers who was unable to medically transition.

Shes like, Im glad hes not able to get it and that he has to stay this way. I dont agree with this, Smith recalls. I was trying to educate her about how somebody with gender dysphoria feels. Its not fun at all.

Barriers to care

Experiences like Smith's, Ammons' and Allie's align with what Dallas Ducar, CEO of Transhealth, a facility serving trans and gender diverse patients, sees as one of the biggest factors that lead to poor treatment of trans and nonbinary people in health care settings.

"There's a lack of ... understanding of gender-affirming care or even just how to generally treat a transgender individual" among health care workers, Ducar tells TODAY.com. Many, many individuals have a lack of awareness on very basic things, like names and pronouns and just treating people with human dignity.

Dr. Jerrica Kirkley, founder of gender-affirming telehealth company Plume, adds that "cultural competence" with trans and gender diverse people "is important for all on the health care team, regardless of what their role is."

"The actual discrimination and bias occurs could be from the clinician, but theres so many points in the chain that we have to walk through, from the front desk to maybe even a greeter before that," she adds.

Whats more, there arent enough doctors, nurses and clinics providing gender-affirming care to meet the need, Dr. Blair Peters, assistant professor in the division of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Oregon Health and Science University's School of Medicine, tells TODAY.com.

Were still nowhere near having an adequate number of providers that are well trained for the whole communitys needs," he says.

This means that, across the U.S., there are concentrated centers" where there are experts with experience in gender-affirming care, but such facilities are usually only in large cities and have yearslong waitlists, Peters says. There may be one or two providers for an entire region or a state or a county.

Trans people also are less likely to seek preventive care or visit a doctor when they notice symptoms worsen, Peter explains. And when they do seek treatment, or even when getting routine care, they're likely to face what is known as "trans broken arm syndrome."

Ducar describes it as a phenomenon where the health care provider, consciously or not, assumes that all manners of medical issues are a result of the person being trans, or (they) become so focused on the individuals identity that the health care provider does not actually care appropriately for the medical needs. Those biases really impact the ability of the provider to identify any serious condition.

And trans people of color may face even more barriers due to their race.

If you think of the plight of a Black, trans woman trying to access health care, theres so much bias, Peters says. Theres often a lot of preconceived notions or judgements ... and thats a really hard thing when youre also vulnerable ... because you have an issue that you need help with.

Despite the legal and social challenges for trans people seeking health care, experts are hopeful for the future.

Take health insurance. Recently, Kirkley says she's seen more health insurance companies interested in serving trans patients.

"These companies are actually reaching out and saying, Hey we want to make sure our trans members are taken care of, how do we do that? she says. That was not happening even three years ago."

Some medical educational programs, such as at Harvard and University of Louisville, are incorporating LGBTQ health into their curriculum, and Peters has noticed medical students and residents looking for ways to incorporate gender-affirming care in their practice, no matter their specialty.

Theres so many LGBTQ+, queer, transgender medical students now that go on to work for the community, he says. At the general medical student level, a lot of increased education about LGBTQ+ health issues and gender-affirming care is really medical student-driven. (They're) saying, Hey, this is really important, and this is part of medicine, and we need to be taught this.

Moments of hope

Allie is undergoing facial feminization surgery after finding a surgeon who feels affirming and supportive. Shes excited for the procedure and her new surgeon.

He is considerate of my needs, she says. He has a basic respect for me as a person, which seems like it should be something that all doctors have, but I have found that not to be the case.

Allie also sees a shift with younger providers being more understanding and supportive.

Ammons says she is blessed and privileged" to have a great doctor in the Veterans Affairs health system. Since first transitioning, she has seen a shift in the care she receives.

The Veterans Administration has come a really long way, she says. The work they continue to do to understand best practices for the trans, nonbinary community (is good).

When Smiths stepchildren notice the effects of the gender-affirming care he receives, it makes him happy.

My kids saying, Oh ... youre looking more like a boy, and stuff like that just makes me feel better, he says.

While Smith and his wife have looked into moving states, with shared custody of the children, its not easy.

Another reason why I havent quite left Florida yet is because I want to stand up and fight first, he says. Even though its scary.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
A makeshift memorial for the concertgoers who died in a stampede during a Travis Scott performance at the 2021 Astroworld Festival in Houston, seen four days after the concert. Credit: REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare

A Houston grand jury decided Thursday not to indict rap star Travis Scott and five others on criminal charges related to the deaths of 10 people at the 2021 Astroworld Festival in Houston when multiple fans collapsed in a massive crowd.

The grand jurys decision to no bill  meaning to not proceed with criminal charges based on the evidence it heard  the six individuals on all counts arrived nearly 20 months after Scotts Nov. 5, 2021, music festival at NRG Park that injured hundreds. Scott, an artist known for intense concerts, performed for about an hour as some fans pleaded for help.

In this instance, the grand jury of the 228th district court of Harris County found that no crime did occur, county District Attorney Kim Ogg told reporters Thursday. That no single individual was criminally responsible.

The event drew wide scrutiny as numerous warning signs that preceded it  among them concerns about sufficient event staff, a security gate breach early in the morning on the day of the concert and lapses of communications as revelers suffered  slowly became clear in the days and weeks following the catastrophe.

Scott still faces many lawsuits from hundreds of people who attended and were injured in the disarray. A lawyer representing some of those victims on Thursday vowed to keep seeking accountability.

"While we are incredibly disappointed that Mr. Travis Scott will not be indicted on charges stemming from the senseless tragedies and chaos that occurred at Astroworld, we are undeterred and will continue fighting every day on behalf of the hundreds of injury victims  who simply intended to attend a concert for a night of fun  to ensure responsible parties are held accountable in the ongoing pursuit of justice, Kevin Haynes said in a statement.

Following the event, Gov. Greg Abbott created a task force to study ways to enhance security at Texas concerts. The task force issued a nine-page report on concert safety in April 2022. Though the report contained factual inaccuracies, it made several recommendations to improve safety including that organizers should establish a unified, on-site command and that there should be stricter permitting processes, among others, for similar events.

On Thursday, Houston police investigators who led the 19-month probe said all 10 deaths, which include two concertgoers younger than 15, occurred in a specific area of about 8,200 square feet near the main stage where Scott performed, according to their review of video footage and witnesses accounts.

The detectives said a key factor in the deaths was overpopulation in that specific section of the festival grounds that led to a slow constriction in the area that eventually resulted in fans becoming trapped within the crowd.

They determined, investigators said Thursday, that a key cause for that compaction was that fans had started gathering near the stage hours prior to the main performance in anticipation of seeing Scott, who was headlining his own festival.

The crowd further grew after a performance that preceded Scotts set ended and concertgoers who had been at a stage across the grounds walked to the already-packed area in front of the main stage.

The Harris County medical examiner had ruled the cause of death for the individuals as compression asphyxia and ruled the manner of death accidents.

Houston police Chief Troy Finner said the department plans to release an over 1,000-page criminal offense report produced by investigators, a move he called unprecedented and an effort to be transparent.

This incident was very complex, Finner said. You cant stand up here in two minutes and tell everything that happened. To the families, first of all and most importantly, but to the public and everybody else: You can read it and see the challenges that everybody faced that night.

William Melhado contributed to this report.

Join us for conversations that matter with newly announced speakers at the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, in downtown Austin from Sept. 21-23.
A West Richland woman was sentenced to a year and three months in federal prison for fraud related to COVID-19 loans intended for small businesses struggling during the pandemic.

Jimia Rae Cain, 52, also must pay back about $337,000 she received in two federal loans.

She had previously asked that she be allowed to not repay $265,000 of that under a loan forgiveness program.

I cant underestimate how serious these offenses are, said Judge Mary K. Dimke, during a sentencing hearing Thursday in the Richland, Wash., courthouse.

The nation was in crisis during the pandemic and businesses were on the verge of going under, she said. Congress threw a lifeline to small businesses, relying on peoples honesty, to get money to struggling businesses as soon as possible, she said.

The seriousness of Cains behavior was compounded by the fact that loan programs under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, ran out of money before many deserving small businesses in Eastern Washington could not get federal loans, Dimke said.

Cain first applied for a CARES Act Economic Injury Disaster Loan for her purported company, Americore, in July 2020. She received a low-interest loan for $71,900.

The next month she applied for a CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program Loan and received about $265,000, which she later applied to have forgiven.

In applying for the loans she made fraudulent claims and in some cases fabricated documents to support the claims, according to court documents.

For the larger loan she claimed to have seven employees and a monthly average payroll of $106,000. She backed that up with written payroll summaries and a federal unemployment tax return she created for the loan application.

But Americore was not an active business, she did not file federal tax returns and had no employees, revenue or payroll prior to 2020, according to court documents.

She also claimed that her only prior convictions were for minor vehicle violations, but she had multiple other prior convictions, including fraud and multiple gross misdemeanor convictions that made her ineligible for the loans, according to court documents.

Her application to have the PayCheck Protection Program loan forgiven was denied in March 2022 because Cain did not submit required IRS documents. No such documents had been submitted to the IRS.

Request for no prison time

Dan Fruchter, assistant U.S. attorney, requested a prison sentence of one year and six months.

He said in court documents that Cain created a fictitious business to defraud the federal loan program, while hundreds of thousands of small businesses closed, many to never reopen, and millions of Americans were out of work due to the impacts of the pandemic.

Cains attorney, Jennifer Barnes of Yakima, asked for five years probation and no prison time for Cain.

I do take full responsibility for my actions, Cain told the judge Thursday.

She and her attorney said she had an undiagnosed mental illness at the time she applied for the loans and was self medicating with alcohol.

But since diagnosed she has gotten appropriate medication, and she is in a good mental state and not abusing alcohol, she said. She also has a job.

It is like starting over to find out I need medication, she said.

Dimke commended Cain for the work she had done to turn her life around.

But the sentence must reflect the seriousness of the crime, the judge said. She pointed out that Cain had spent nearly two years making numerous false statements and manufacturing paperwork to secure the loaned money.

When Cain finishes her prison sentence she faces three years of probation.

She pleaded guilty to a charge of false, fictitious or fraudulent claims.

COVID loan strike force

The Eastern Washington U.S. Attorneys Office created a strike force to root out and combat pandemic-related fraud.

Holding those accountable who abused these programs is critical to the strength and safety of our community in Eastern Washington, said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref. The strike force works to ensure that limited resources are used to protect our local small businesses and the critical jobs and services that they provide for the community.

The CARES Act provided billions of dollars in aid during the pandemic, with the vast majority not paid back. That includes hundreds of millions of dollar disburses in Eastern Washington, according to the U.S. attorneys office.

In addition to the strike force, the case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General of the Small Business Administration and the Department of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
A trial date has been set for North Miami Beach Mayor Anthony DeFillipo who is accused of illegally voting three times last year in a district where he was not allowed to cast a ballot.

Through his attorney, DeFillipo pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Friday. The trial is scheduled for Sept. 5.

READ: North Miami Beach looking for a way forward after a string of controversies

DeFillipos attorney Michael Pizzi said the allegations against his client were false and he plans to file a motion to dismiss the case. Today begins the road to Mayor DeFillipos exoneration and vindication, Pizzi said in a statement.

DeFillipo was arrested on May 31 at his North Miami Beach condo on allegations he voted outside his registered area three times. The arrest came amid allegations that DeFillipo lives in Davie, which he has repeatedly denied. The North Miami Beach city charter requires elected officials to live in the city.

Despite filing documents to update his address with the North Miami Beach clerk in 2021, he did not change his address with the Department of Motor Vehicles until December 2022, according to an arrest warrant. Florida law requires a change be made within 30 days. DeFillipo also had not changed his address with the Miami-Dade County Elections Department until after he voted in the elections, the warrant said.

RELATED: North Miami Beach mayor arrested on charges related to voting irregularities

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said her office used cell phone data to track DeFillipo driving from Davie to North Miami Beach, where he cast ballots to vote in elections in August, October and November.

A week after his arrest, Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended DeFillipo from his post. A special election to fill DeFillipos seat has not been set.
I tried Guy Fieri and Gordon Ramsay's quick burger recipes, and the best one was easier to make

I made Guy Fieri and Gordon Ramsay's 10-minute burgers to see who had the best recipe. Pictured is Fieri's burger. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider/Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Caesars Entertainment/Amy Sussman/Getty Images

I made both Gordon Ramsay and Guy Fieri's 10-minute burger recipes.

Fieri's is simpler than Ramsay's recipe, which features way more ingredients and steps.

I loved both burgers, but Fieri's took the top spot in my celebrity-chef showdown.

The holiday weekend is here, which means it's the perfect time to fire up the grill  or griddle  and make some delicious burgers.

I love trying new burger recipes. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Whether I'm trying Obama's favorite or a Brooklyn classic, I love sampling different restaurant burgers.

But I also love whipping them up at home, and I've turned to two legendary celebrity chefs to give me guidance on how to make the perfect burger.

Guy Fieri and Gordon Ramsay both have 10-minute burger recipes, so I decided it was time for a little showdown.

Gordon Ramsay and Guy Fieri both have popular burger recipes. Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Vegas Uncork'd by Bon Appetit/Gerardo Mora/Getty Images for Planet Hollywood Observatory

I discovered Ramsay's bacon cheeseburger recipe in his newest cookbook, "Ramsay in 10," which includes 100 recipes that only take 10 minutes. The "MasterChef" star calls this recipe his "quickest burger ever."

Meanwhile, it was Fieri himself who gave me this recipe when I asked him for his top burger tips.

"This may be a more complicated answer than you bargained for, because it's not just about a burger recipe," Fieri told me. "It's about the execution of the whole deal. You can get down with whatever toppings you want, but the basics have to be covered."

I whipped up both Ramsay and Fieri's recipes at home to decide who truly had the best  and quickest  burger. Here's how it all went down.

Fieri's burger is all about the classic ingredients.

Fieri's burger includes brioche buns, pickles, and American cheese. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

To make Fieri's perfect burger at home, you'll need:

Ground beef (Fieri recommends 80% lean, 20% fat)

American cheese slices

Brioche buns

Lettuce

Tomato

Onion

Pickles

And there's very little prep.

First I cut my tomatoes and onion. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

All you have to do is get the veggies ready. Fieri told me it's important to shred the lettuce, slice your tomato, and "cut those white onions so thin that they only have one side."

Per Fieri's recommendation, I also buttered the buns and popped them into the oven so they could get nice and toasty.

Then I made my patties.

I seasoned my patties with salt and pepper. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

I seasoned my ground beef with salt and pepper, then shaped it into balls.

Once my patties were ready, I threw one on the griddle and smashed it with a spatula.

Fieri recommends smashing the patties to half an inch thick. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Fieri said it was essential that I cook my burgers "on the hottest griddle or cast iron pan you can get."

"You smash it down hard, we're talking a half-inch thick," he added.

The Mayor of Flavortown also told me it was important to let my patty crisp up to "get all that delicious caramelization going." I waited until the sides of my patty got crunchy before I flipped it over.

After flipping my patty, I added the cheese.

Fieri told me American cheese melts really well on patties. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Fieri loves using American cheese slices on burgers because "they melt really well," he told me.

Then it was time for Fieri's special cheese-melting trick.

I used a pie tin to help melt the cheese without overcooking my burger. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

First, I sprayed some water around my burger. Then, per Fieri's instructions, I had to place "some sort of dome or metal bowl" over my patty.

"That steam will melt your cheese before you overcook your burger," he told me.

I didn't have a metal bowl on hand, so I used an old Marie Callender's pie tin I found in my parents' kitchen.

My cheese looked perfect.

The cheese melted perfectly. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Less than 10 minutes had gone by and it was already time to build my burger.

Constructing my burger was super easy.

I placed my patty in the bottom bun, then added all the veggies. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

I placed my patty on the bottom bun, then added the tomato, onion slices, and pickles. I placed the shredded lettuce on the top bun and voila  I was done!

Fieri's burger tasted just as good as it looked.

I couldn't believe how juicy Fieri's burger tasted. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

What impressed me most about Fieri's burger was how juicy it tasted, even without a single condiment. The patty  which was perfectly cooked  truly stood on its own. It had just the right amount of crispiness and was packed with flavor.

The brioche bun added a nice hint of sweetness to the overall taste, and the beautifully-melted cheese tasted almost buttery. The burger was pure perfection.

Read my full review of Guy Fieri's perfect burger here.

Ramsay's burger has quite a few more ingredients than Fieri's.

Ramsay's burger includes bacon, cheddar cheese, and red chili. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

To make Ramsay's cheeseburgers at home, you'll need:

Ground beef

Brioche buns

Bacon

Cheddar cheese

Egg yolks

Frozen red chili

Tomato

Onion

Little Gem lettuce

Mayonnaise

Sriracha

First I prepped my burgers.

I added two egg yolks to my patty, plus the chili. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

I added 16 ounces of ground beef into a bowl  enough to make four burgers  along with two egg yolks. I then sprinkled salt and freshly ground black pepper on top, along with one grated frozen chili.

I used my hands to mix everything together and made four patties that were each around 1-inch thick.

"Remember that the thicker you make the patties, the longer they will take to cook," Ramsay writes in his book. "So if you want these on the table in under 10, press your burgers until they are a little thinner for a quicker cooking time."

I drizzled some vegetable oil on my griddle and threw my patties on top.

I cooked my patties with the bacon and onion slices. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

I let my patties cook for four minutes over medium-high heat, seasoning them with some more salt and pepper.

Then I added my bacon and onion slices, increased the heat to high, and let everything cook together.

As my burgers cooked, I prepped Ramsay's special sauce.

I quickly whipped up Ramsay's sriracha mayonnaise sauce. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

I simply mixed four tablespoons of mayonnaise with two teaspoons of sriracha in a small bowl, along with some salt and pepper.

I also toasted my buns and prepped my veggies.

Prepping my veggies was also simple. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

I sliced one tomato and washed some Gem Lettuce leaves for the bottom of my burgers. I also toasted my buns in the oven for about two minutes.

Then I flipped the burgers, bacon, and onions.

I let my bacon, onion, and patties cook for another five minutes. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

I let them cook for another five minutes. Since my bacon and onion slices were ready before my burgers, I took them off the griddle and placed them on a plate lined with a paper towel.

It was time to add the cheese  and Ramsay uses the same trick as Fieri.

Ramsay uses the same trick as Fieri to melt the cheese. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Ramsay also recommends covering the patties with something to help the cheese melt. But, unlike the Mayor of Flavortown, he doesn't spray the burger with water first.

Instead, Ramsay's recipe instructed me to first add some butter to the griddle and place the cheese slices on top of my burgers. Then he recommends covering the patties with a lid or upturned saucepan. I used a metal bowl, which perfectly covered two of my patties.

The cheese looked absolutely beautiful.

The cheese once again came out perfect. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

This is such an easy trick, and clearly worked really well for both Fieri and Ramsay's burgers. I now consider it an essential part of making a great cheeseburger at home.

Once my patties were ready, I built my burgers.

First I added the veggies before placing my burger on the bun, along with the bacon. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

First I spread some of Ramsay's sriracha mayonnaise on my bottom buns. Then I added the Gem Lettuce, tomato, and onion slices, plus my cheeseburger and bacon.

After I threw a few more onion slices on top and spread more sauce on my top buns, my burger was ready to go.

Ramsay's burger looked straight out of a restaurant.

Ramsay's burger looked super impressive. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

There's no denying how impressive this burger looks, and it tasted great, too. The patty was plump and juicy, and I loved the kick of heat from the sriracha mayonnaise and grated chili.

The bacon and onion also gave some nice crunch and savoriness, while the tomato and lettuce added a dose of freshness.

Read my full review of Gordon Ramsay's perfect burger here.

Both Fieri and Ramsay have fantastic burgers, but it's the Mayor of Flavortown who takes my top spot.

Me with Guy Fieri's burger. Anneta Konstantinides/Insider

Fieri pulls off his incredible flavor with far less work and prep than Ramsay's recipe. While you've got to keep track of quite a few different steps to make Ramsay's burger happen in 10 minutes, Fieri's recipe is far simpler  and still delivers fantastic results.

Plus, I couldn't believe Fieri's burger tasted so good without any sauce or condiments. I've found his burger to outshine those I've had from places like Five Guys, and it's comparable to the gourmet burgers I've tried all over New York  for a fraction of the cost.

But at the end of the day, you really can't go wrong with Ramsay or Fieri. Either way, you're going to have one very delicious burger.

Read the original article on Insider
Trump campaign official cooperates with Jan. 6 prosecutors as they eye charges against Rudy Giuliani, report says

A top 2020 campaign official for former President Donald Trump is reportedly cooperating with prosecutors investigating his effort to overturn his election loss as special counsel Jack Smiths team zeroes in on Rudy Giulianis role in the scheme.

Mike Roman, who led election day operations for Trump, has agreed to answer questions from the special counsels prosecutors investigating Trumps plan to stay in power and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Roman had previously invoked the Fifth Amendment when he testified before a grand jury about his role in Trumps post-election effort and especially the plot to appoint fake slates of pro-Trump electors from states that President Biden won

Now, the campaign aide has agreed to cooperate and tell prosecutors what he knows in hopes of avoiding being charged for his own role in the scheme, CNN reported late Thursday.

Prosecutors have taken a keen interest in Giulianis leading role in the fake electors plot, along with other senior Trump lawyers like Sydney Powell and John Eastman.

Giuliani has also answered questions from Smiths prosecutors in a similar meeting as he reportedly scrambles to avoid being charged in the case.

But Smith most definitely plans to hit the ex-mayor with some charges even if he can avoid some counts by cooperating, The Independent reported.

Giuliani was mostly asked by prosecutors about Trumps role in directing the fake electors scheme as he sought to figure out a way to stay in office despite losing to Biden, the paper said.

That suggests that Smith is weighing whether to give Giuliani some measure of immunity from prosecution in exchange for what would be blockbuster testimony against his ex-boss.

The investigation into the election scheme and Jan. 6 is separate from the probe into the hundreds of classified documents that Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving office and refused to return to the feds.

Trump was indicted on 37 counts including mishandling classified documents and obstructing the investigation, along with longtime body man Walt Nauta.

Smith is considering hitting Trump with up to 45 charges in several federal jurisdictions in the documents probe, The Independent said, including some based on multiple incriminating tapes of Trump discussing the documents.

Trump also faces a Georgia state investigation into his election interference plot in that state. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has signaled that she plans to charge Trump or others in August.
Trump on Chinese base in Cuba: Id give them 48 hours to get out

Former President Trump said he would give China a 48-hour window to abandon its spy base in Cuba, threatening severe tariffs on Chinese goods.

Id give them 48 hours to get out. And if they didnt get out, Id charge them a 100 percent tariff on everything they sell to the United States, and theyd be gone within two days. Theyd be gone within one hour, Trump said in a Reuters interview Thursday.

Trump made tough China policy key to his reelection bid in 2020, and he is doing so again in 2024. Politicians from both parties have shared concerns over the Chinese base, which government officials confirmed exists earlier this month and has been on the island since at least 2019.

The facility allows China to eavesdrop on electronic communications, including satellite communication, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which revealed the site.

The American public needs to be assured that their government unequivocally condemns this escalation, and is working to do everything in its power to counter it, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) wrote this month.

While we understand the sensitive nature of this matter, Congress also requires greater transparency and clarity about these developments, they added.

A conflict over the spy base wouldnt be the first time Trump suggested tariffs on China. He implemented harsh tariffs on certain Chinese goods during a looming trade war with the economic powerhouse in 2019. Some of those tariffs were left in place by President Biden.

Republicans have called Biden too weak on China. The White House said the U.S. has taken steps to mitigate spying efforts in Cuba.

We communicated over the weekend; this is not a new development that Chinas been trying to achieve some intelligence gathering capabilities in Cuba, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier this month.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
ISLAMABAD, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday that his government's stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 3 billion U.S. dollars will help in bringing economic stability and growth to the country.

Addressing a press conference in the eastern city of Lahore, the prime minister said the IMF executive board is scheduled to meet in mid-July to accord formal approval, which has already been achieved at the staff level.

Earlier on Thursday, the IMF announced the staff-level agreement on policies to be supported by a stand-by arrangement, adding that it will support the authorities' immediate efforts to stabilize the economy from recent external shocks, preserve macroeconomic stability and provide a framework for financing from multilateral and bilateral partners.

The prime minister said the agreement with the IMF was inevitable for the country and that his government is committed to completing this program while making efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in the future.

Sharif said his government is leading dedicated efforts by all the state institutions to execute an economic revival plan to stabilize the economy by enhancing investment in agriculture, mining and information technology, and by increasing exports.

On the occasion, the country's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said Pakistan will receive 1 billion dollars soon after the approval by the IMF executive board in mid-July. 
Trump documents at Mar-a-Lago U.S. Department of Justice via Getty Images

Six days after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022 and removed boxes of classified documents he had refused to turn over, Trump issued a statement claiming all the documents he retained were declassified under a "standing order" he had issued when he was president. National security experts and former Trump administration officials were highly skeptical of the claim, and Bloomberg News reported Thursday that, in fact, no order was ever filed with the relevant federal agencies.

Some of those documents are at the center of the 37 felony counts the Justice Department has filed against Trump.

Bloomberg's Jason Leopold had filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department's national security division soon after Trump issued his statement, seeking a copy of Trump's standing order. The government said it could neither confirm nor deny that such a document existed, citing the ongoing criminal case against Trump.

On Thursday, after a court ruling in a similar case in Massachusetts threw out that rationale for withholding the information, government attorneys told Bloomberg that each agency "possesses no records responsive to your request" for Trump's alleged order.

The "standing order" claim is only one of many explanations Trump has given for his allegedly unlawful retention of highly classified documents. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Wednesday that based on his long acquaintance with Trump, he believes Trump just creates new lies about the documents each timed he's backed into a corner. The government's case against Trump doesn't require that the documents be classified in any case, only that they contain sensitive national security information.

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Former President Donald Trumps legal problems off the campaign trail and aversion to directly addressing the issue of abortion appear to have done little to damage his support among the religious right.

Trumps appearance at the Faith and Freedom Coalitions Road to Majority Conference last weekend was a reminder to his challengers of his significant strength with the voting bloc, which will be critical for any Republican who wants to win the primary and general election.

But evangelical leaders argued the voting bloc is not entirely sold on backing Trump for the nomination, and candidates who want to peel off evangelical voters will have to earn their support.

A lot of people like Trump and like what he did as president. So hes familiar, and theyre familiar and he was received well, said Timothy Head, executive director for the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Theyre as interested or more interested in who can win who carries the same values and policies, Head added. They liked what they had with Trump, and now theyre assessing, is there anything even better? I think thats the competition thats unfolding.

Trump earlier this year suggested evangelical leaders were showing signs of disloyalty by waiting to endorse his third White House campaign as other candidates entered the race.

But last weekends conference in Washington, D.C., underscored Trumps enduring support with the religious right. He received multiple standing ovations during a speech that lasted more than an hour, while other 2024 candidates were limited to roughly 30 minutes or less for their own remarks.

Chris Christie, one of those 2024 candidates, was booed by the crowd when he used parts of his speech to directly attack Trump and his character.

And North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson drew applause when he used his remarks at the conference to endorse Trumps White House bid.

The marriage between Trump and evangelical voters has often seemed like an odd one given the former presidents frequent attacks and name-calling of opponents, his comments on an Access Hollywood tape about groping women and the allegations he paid a porn star to keep an affair quiet.

But the evangelicals have turned out for Trump in both elections where hes been on the ballot, with 77 percent of white, evangelical protestants voting for him in 2016 and 84 percent of them backing him in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center.

No president has ever fought for Christians as hard as I have, Trump said in his speech at the conference.

The support is largely owed to Trumps policy record, with Trump enacting measures to protect religious freedom while in office, nominating three conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, and relocating the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a move that won plaudits among the religious right.

Its been very interesting to watch how the center of gravity in the pro-Israel community has shifted from it being overwhelmingly a Jewish concern to a top issue among the evangelical Christian community, said Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

Trump raised the bar on that issue as he did on so many others, Reed added.

Still, most major evangelical leaders who backed Trump during his previous campaigns have held off on endorsing, and other candidates are working to make inroads with religious voters that will help shape the GOP primary.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has been a fixture in the evangelical community for years. He speaks openly about his faith, and he has made his support for abortion restrictions central to his campaign platform.

The Hill Elections 2024 coverage

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) has taken a similar approach, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was warmly received by attendees at the Faith and Freedom conference last weekend.

One Republican strategist who is not aligned with any candidate running for president said DeSantis in particular needs to lay down a marker that we will compete aggressively and effectively for voters of faith and that he has a good message and a strategy to win their support.

Evangelical voters make up a majority of the GOP electorate in Iowa, which hosts the first caucus on the primary calendar next year. Candidates like Pence are investing significant time and resources in Iowa in hopes of using it as a springboard to overtake Trump and win the partys nomination.

The way that we sometimes say it at Faith and Freedom is you cannot win the White House with only evangelical voters, but you cant win it without us, Head said. So in that regard, you have to, in order to fully maximize their participation, they have to not just believe in you, but really buy in.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Donald Trump has lost his bid to throw out the first defamation lawsuit brought against him by E Jean Carroll.

On Thursday, US district judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan rejected the former presidents claims that he had absolute presidential immunity from the civil case, paving the way for the magazine columnist to pursue around $10m in damages from him.

The former president had claimed that he had absolute presidential immunity from the lawsuit and that many of his statements about the magazine columnist were protected under free speech rights because they were his opinion.

He argued that Ms Carroll consented to his statements by purposely waiting decades to go public, until he was in the White House, leaving him no choice but to defend himself.

Ultimately, he said the case should be thrown out.

On Thursday, US district judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan dismissed this claim saying there was no merit to his argument and that Mr Trump surrendered absolute presidential immunity as a defence by failing to assert it years ago when the lawsuit was first filed.

The judge also reminded Mr Trump that presidential immunity is not a get-out-of-damages-liability-free card that allowed him to say or do anything he wanted even if that conduct is disconnected entirely from an official function.

Judge Kaplan added that he also took into consideration that Ms Carroll is now 79 years old and has been pursuing these claims against Mr Trump for the last three-and-a-half years.

There is no basis to risk prolonging the resolution of this litigation further by permitting Mr Trump to raise his absolute immunity defense now at the eleventh hour when he could have done so years ago, he said.

Ms Carrolls attorney Robbie Kaplan, who is unrelated to the judge, welcomed the ruling, saying that it confirms that once again, Donald Trumps supposed defences to E Jean Carrolls defamation claims dont work.

E Jean Carroll outside court following the verdict in the second suit (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

She added: Todays decision removes one more impediment to the January 15 trial on E Jeans defamation damages in this case.

Mr Trumps lawyers did not immediately comment on what marks the latest blow to his legal battle with Ms Carroll.

The ruling is in relation to the first of two defamation lawsuits Ms Carroll filed in 2019 when she first came forward with allegations that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room in Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996.

She said that she and Mr Trump randomly bumped into each other and they got chatting, before Mr Trump pinned her against a wall in a dressing room and sexually assaulted her.

Mr Trump repeatedly stalled proceedings in the lawsuit but  after New York state passed the Adult Survivors Act taking away the statute of limitations on rape allegations  she filed a second suit.

In a trial for the second suit, a jury found that Mr Trump did sexually abuse Ms Carroll and that he then defamed her when he denied it. The jury did not find Mr Trump liable for rape. Ms Carroll was awarded $5m in the verdict.

This week, the former president countersued Ms Carroll in that case, claiming that she defamed him in a CNN interview after the verdict where she doubled down on the rape accusation.

Ms Carroll meanwhile has already brought new defamation claims against Mr Trump in that case after he continued to deny the assault took place despite the verdict.

Additional reporting from Wires
Turlock groundwater agency secures $9 million grant. What will it use the money for?

A water agency that serves part of Stanislaus and Merced counties is using a grant of nearly $9 million to work on sustainable groundwater management.

Its efforts include evaluating alternative cropping practices and opportunities for floodplain reconnection.

We knew that we were going to have to cut back on pumping, said Mike Tietze, general manager of the East Turlock Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency. And that necessarily meant land conversion.  Our view really was that the concepts that we came up with were concepts that are sound and that we would implement regardless of if we get the grant, and we got the grant of $8.89 million.

As part of the state Department of Conservations Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program, four organizations received a combined $35 million. The grant funding aims to support regional transitions to sustainable groundwater management.

With its award, the East Turlock agency plans to reduce groundwater demand and increase recharge to provide environmental and economic benefits. The member agencies of the East Turlock agency are Stanislaus County, the Ballico-Cortez Water District, the Eastside Water District, Merced County and the Merced Irrigation District.

Wet winters like 2023s are crucial to recharging aquifers

The Turlock agencys proposal focuses on transitioning agricultural land for new uses.

David Shabazian, director of the California Department of Conservation, noted the importance of floodplain reactivation, one of the strategies the agency hopes to implement. In wet years like 2023, floodplain reactivation can help recharge aquifers while also reducing the demand for water, according to Shabazian.

The agency also will identify possible sites for orchard swale rewilding, a form of ecological restoration. This will target low-lying marshy areas in orchards and transition these sites toward a more sustainable landscape. Combined with other mechanisms, like check dams, this strategy can help retain water and decrease the rate of runoff, according to Tietze.

More of that water will be held for a longer period of time and released more slowly, so that downstream we should see a flood severity improvement, Tietze said.

The agency also will evaluate potential solar power projects on agricultural land.

Ward Burroughs, Eastside Water District Chairman and an almond farmer, said that for farmers, land is not just about the money it produces. This plan will help farmers utilize resources as they figure out a way to use that land to get better results.

A presentation accessible online and given during the Turlock agencys meeting Thursday, June 22, highlighted various benefits the land repurposing strategy considers. Some of these benefits involve recharge, reduction in demand, improved water quality and climate change resilience.

This substantial funding represents a significant step towards our goal of securing reliable and sustainable water supplies for the communities in Senate District 4, Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil said in a press release. The East Turlock Groundwater Sustainability Agency has consistently demonstrated its dedication to addressing water challenges, and I am confident that this investment will propel their efforts to new heights.

To bring this plan to life, the East Turlock agency will work with Sustainable Conservation, a nonprofit focused on solving environmental challenges in California, to incorporate multi-benefit strategies. Tietze noted that Sustainable Conservation is helping the agency to refine a groundwater resource assessment tool.

The Merced Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agency also received the MLRP grant. According to Tietze, leaders from Merced and the East Turlock agency are considering what working together may look like.

Groundwater is nearly half of Turlock Subbasins water supply

Shabazian grew up on a farm on the east side of Turlock and emphasized the value the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program can provide communities in agricultural areas.

Thats really where the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program is important because it is about supporting communities through different ways of using the landscape when you are unable to irrigate those lands the way you have in the past, Shabazian said.

The Turlock Subbasin is listed as a high priority basin, according to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Basin Prioritization Dashboard. According to the database, 49% of the subbasins total water supply was groundwater.

Alvardo-Gil also emphasized the importance of local and regional strategies. Out of the four recipients of the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Programs recent round of funding, three are in the Central Valley, which has experienced intense falling groundwater levels.

Shanna Atherton-Bauer, land conservation programs manager for the Department of Conservation, described the East Turlock agencys plan as representative of other applications the state received.

This application really brought together multiple partners in the region to think about this work, Atherton-Bauer said. Not just water agencies, but organizations that are interested in habitat and conservation.

Over 200,000 people live in the Turlock subbasin, according to the SGMA dashboard.
After a year of turmoil, Broward schools got some good news this week in the area that matters most  student achievement.

Results from the new Florida Assessment of Student Thinking, or FAST, show that Broward students showed impressive growth during the school year, and the district even surpassed neighboring Palm Beach County in overall results.

We are on cloud nine, because our students, teachers, principals and leadership teams throughout the district far and wide exceeded expectations, and we have reason to celebrate, Interim Superintendent Earlean Smiley said a news conference Thursday.

The results from the final tests in May show Miami-Dade and Broward leading among the six largest districts in the state.

In the language arts portion of the test for students in grades kindergarten to 10, Miami-Dade led with 53% of students proficient, followed by Broward (52%), Palm Beach (50%), Orange (49%), Hillsborough (48%) and Duval (44%). The statewide average was 50%.

For math in grades kindergarten to eight, Miami-Dade led with a 59% proficiency rate, followed by Broward (57%), Palm Beach and Orange (both 55%), Hillsborough (54%) and Duval (50%). The statewide average was 56%.

The results came at the end of a tumultuous year in Broward marked by the release of a scathing grand jury report, the removal of four School Board members and the forced separation on two occasions of a former superintendent. The chaos continued Thursday morning when a meeting to approve the contract for incoming Superintendent Peter Licata was abruptly canceled because only three of nine board members attended.

The team kept the focus on student achievement and the results are here, Smiley sad. We still have some work to do. We still have some challenges, but the foundation is firm and strong.

This was the first year of the FAST, which measures students progress three times a year, rather than the once-a-year tests of years past such as the Florida Standards Assessment and before that the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

The new approach to testing worked, Broward school officials said.

I think having that data throughout the year allowed us to really focus on which benchmarks and standards the students needed the most help on so we were able to use that information  to help really make sure we were focusing on where our students needed the most assistance, said Emily Gonzalez, principal of Seminole Ridge Middle in Plantation.

Miami-Dade officials were also heralding their test results.

One must consider the impact of the pandemic, the influx of foreign-born students entering our school district and the adoption of new educational standards and a new state assessment program. Formidable! Jose Dotres, superintendent of Miami-Dade, tweeted Friday.

The results were more mixed for Palm Beach County, which for years has been one of the top-performing large school districts. This year, it was in the middle of the pack.

Mike Burke, superintendent for Palm Beach County schools, said the new test was an adjustment for students, teachers and staff.

As a District, we celebrate the gains achieved and are digging deep into the student performance data to identify opportunities and strategies for improvement, Burke said in a statement. We remain committed to serving and supporting every student in the upcoming school year. Im confident the experience gained from this first year of implementation will help foster greater success in the 2023-24 school year.

Browards lead over Palm Beach County is especially notable since Broward, long a B-rated district, has strived to mirror the success of its A-rated district to the north. It was even a factor in why the School Board recently hired Licata, a regional superintendent in Palm Beach County.

Being in Palm Beach County, you know anything but an A is a failure. Thats just the way it is, Licata told a community panel that interviewed him June 14.

The state will issue grades this year although they will come out later than normal this year, in November, and wont be a factor in accountability measures since its the first year of the test. Smiley chose not to overpromise based on this years results.

It is almost unprecedented the first time out to hit the ball that far, she said. We didnt get a home run. But you need to stay tuned for next year. With Dr. Licata on board and this team, look out, A. Here we come.
Last year, Twitter sued India over orders to block content within the country, saying the government had applied its 2021 IT laws "arbitrarily and disproportionately." Now, India's Karnataka High Court has dismissed the plea, with a judge saying Twitter had failed to explain why it delayed complying with the new laws in the first place, TechCrunch has reported. The court also imposed a 5 million rupee ($61,000 fine) on the Elon Musk-owned firm.

"Your client (Twitter) was given notices and your client did not comply. Punishment for non-compliance is seven years imprisonment and unlimited fine. That also did not deter your client," the judge told Twitter's legal representation. "So you have not given any reason why you delayed compliance, more than a year of delay then all of sudden you comply and approach the Court. You are not a farmer but a billon dollar company."

Twitters relationship with India was fraught for much of 2021. In February, the government threatened to jail Twitter employees unless the company removed content related to protests by farmers held that year. Shortly after that, India ordered Twitter to pull tweets criticizing the countrys response to the COVID-19 pandemic. More recently, the government ordered Twitter to block tweets from Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that claimed India was an example of a country where freedom of the press is on the decline.

Those incidents put Twitter in a compromising situation. It either had to comply with government orders to block content (and face censorship criticism inside and outside the country), or ignore them and risk losing its legal immunity. In August, it complied with the orders and took down content as ordered.

The court order follows recent comments from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, saying that India threatened to raid employees homes if it didn't comply with orders to remove posts and accounts. In a tweet, India's deputy minister for information technique called that "an outright lie" saying Twitter was "in non-compliance with the law."

Twitter filed the suit around the same time that Elon Musk started trying to wiggle out of buying Twitter. Since then, Twitter has often complied with government takedown requests  most recently in Turkey, where it limited access to some tweets ahead of a tightly contested election won by incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Two Dutchess County men were among four defendants arrested in connection with a federal insider trading case announced this week.

Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, identified them as Slava Kaplan, 45, of Hopewell Junction, and Paul Feldman, 48, of Poughquag. They were arrested on Thursday. Two other defendants, Joseph Dupont, 44, of Rehoboth, Mass., and Shawn Cronin, 43, of Dighton, Mass., surrendered to authorities of Thursday.

Cronin is police chief in Dighton and was placed on leave.

According to the U.S. Attorney's office, Dupont, a vice president at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, learned on Jan. 31, 2020 that the company was about to acquire Portola Pharmaceuticals. In April 2020, before that was publicly announced, Dupont shared material non-public information about the acquisition with Cronin, who was a childhood friend.

According to the U.S. attorney's office, Cronin in turn shared that non-public information with Kaplan, a friend who was also known to Dupont. Kaplan in turn shared that information with Feldman, a friend and colleague.

When Alexion's acquisition of Portola was publicly announced on May 5, 2020, Portola's stock increased significantly in value. Cronin, Kaplan and Feldman sold their shares of Portola and call options for Portola stock, reaping millions of dollars of illegally obtained trading profits, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

The U.S. Attorney's office estimated that Feldman, Kaplan and Cronin collectively made more than $2.2 million with the knowledge of the material non-public information Dupont allegedly misappropriated from his employer.

Feldman was charged with six counts each of securities fraud under Title 15 and tender offer fraud, one count of securities fraud under Title 18, and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and tender offer fraud.

Kaplan and Cronin were charged with three counts each of securities fraud under Title 15 and tender offer fraud, one count of securities fraud under Title 18 and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and tender offer fraud.

All three face potential maximum sentences of 70 years in prison if they are convicted on all counts.

Dupont was charged with one count each of Title 15 securities fraud, tender offer fraud and Title 18 securities fraud. He faces a maximum potential sentence of 65 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, Poughkeepsie Journal and The Journal News/lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Two Dutchess County men charged in federal insider trading case
Tyler Perry tells 93-year-old woman trying to save home he will help you fight

Tyler Perry tells 93-year-old woman trying to save home he will help you fight

Atlanta media mogul Tyler Perry is stepping up to help a 93-year-old woman who is fighting to keep her home that has been in her family since the Civil War.

Josephine Wright told WSAV-TV that developers are trying to force her to sell her land.

A lawsuit by Bailey Point Investment Group names Wright and the propertys co-owner and Wrights former daughter-in-law, Delores Wright, WSAV said. Bailey Point is developing land right behind her home.

The investment company is trying to develop 27 acres of land around Wrights property.

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Bailey Point contends Wright is blocking their progress. They filed a lawsuit saying parts of Wrights home are on their property, and that they have the paperwork to prove it, among other issues, WSAV reported.

Wright told WSAV that she already paid to move a shed, which cost about $1,900 and got rid of a satellite dish. The developers say her porch is still on land they own.

Wright said the developers made offers to buy her land and she told WSAV that when she turned them down, they started harassing her.

Perry posted about Wright on his Instagram page, saying Ive pretty much been a fighter all my life, said 93-year-old Josephine Wright. Well, that makes two of us. Ms. Wright, please tell [me] where to show up and what you need to help you fight.

Perry is no stranger when it comes to his kindness and generosity, especially in the Atlanta community.

In February, Channel 2 Action News reported on how Perry was making a 750,000 donation to assist low-income seniors with their property tax payments through the Invest Atlanta Partnership nonprofit.

Perry has hosted food giveaways in time for Thanksgiving and has helped out numerous organizations that have fallen victim to criminals.

As for Wright, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help pay for her legal fees.

RELATED NEWS:
The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Los Angeles County of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and risking disenfranchising voters. (Associated Press)

The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Los Angeles County of repeatedly failing to ensure that voters with disabilities can get into polling places and vote centers and cast their ballot during recent elections.

In a federal complaint filed Thursday, the department alleged the county routinely violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and risked disenfranchising Angelenos with vision and mobility disabilities.

Since 2016, the DOJ has regularly surveyed county voting locations and ballot drop boxes during elections, according to the lawsuit. Each time, it said it found places that dont meet standards set by the ADA.

Prosecutors said that even though federal officials brought shortcomings to the county's attention, local officials failed to fix them, which repeatedly hampered residents' ability to vote. The alleged problems include a lack of accessible parking for vans and steep ramps without handrails.

Voting is a fundamental right, and we will do everything we can to ensure that it is not limited or denied to anyone in our community, said U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada in a statement. Through this lawsuit, we demand that Los Angeles County afford individuals with disabilities an opportunity to participate in the countys voting program that is equal to that provided to nondisabled individuals.

The lawsuit cites one voter who uses a wheelchair  referred to only as D.G.  who said she struggled to access a polling place located at a Chatsworth senior facility during the August 2019 special election.

During that entire voting process, no polling staff or official from that polling place ever assisted D.G. in curbside voting, the lawsuit said. D.G. reported feeling dismayed and frustrated by her treatment at the polling place and that she felt as if she had lost her freedom to vote privately and independently like everyone else.

The department asked for a court order requiring the county to comply with the ADA and develop a plan to fix the violations within a month.

The county, which typically declines to comment on ongoing lawsuits, released a statement saying it disputes the allegations and has worked with voters with disabilities to design the countys voting services.

County officials said theyd been working with the DOJ since last month to address the shortcomings and avoid a lawsuit, but that the discussions were abruptly abandoned.

I am disheartened by this action despite our good faith efforts to reach agreement on a reasonable settlement. The assertions made in the media release do not reflect the voting model or service delivery provided by Los Angeles County, said Dean Logan, the county's registrar-recorder, in a statement. That said, we remain committed to addressing accessibility issues in an equitable and effective manner.

Sign up for Essential California, your daily guide to news, views and life in the Golden State.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
U.S. farm agency told to investigate worker complaints at Maryland research complex FILE PHOTO: Employees filing federal complaint alleging unsafe work conditions stand outside USDAs Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland

By Leah Douglas

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has ordered the Department of Agriculture to investigate worker complaints about poor management and safety hazards at its flagship Maryland research facility, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Reuters exclusively reported in May that workers at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), USDA's largest research facility, had filed a complaint with the OSC alleging that unsafe conditions, including broken ventilation equipment and fire alarms, were impeding their research and exposing them to risks.

The agency closed a major research building at the facility for repairs shortly after the Reuters story was published.

After reviewing the worker complaints, the OSC, which protects federal whistleblowers, found a "substantial likelihood of wrongdoing" at BARC and has referred the matter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for an investigation, according to a letter sent from OSC to the workers on Thursday and seen by Reuters.

"USDA takes the health and safety of our employees very seriously," said an agency spokesperson. "We will immediately investigate these allegations."

The agency has 60 days to conduct the investigation and submit a report to the OSC, the letter says. Federal law empowers the OSC to require agency investigations.

After the report is submitted, the OSC will send it and other materials to the President and congressional oversight committees, according to a process outlined on the OSC website.

"Our union and its members at USDA welcome this news and action from the Office of Special Counsel," said Ward Morrow, assistant general counsel at the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents BARC workers. "Employee safety, and the safety of critical research, are at stake."

(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Mark Potter)
European agencies drop COVID-19 aviation health safety protocol

Xinhua) 10:17, June 30, 2023

Photo taken on Dec. 8, 2022 shows an exterior view of the headquarters of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)

Despite formally retiring their COVID-19 health and safety measures for aviation, the ECDC and the EASA still encourage passengers, crew members, aviation stakeholders and national competent authorities to continue to focus on proper ventilation, hygiene measures and respiratory etiquette.

STOCKHOLM, June 29 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 health and safety measures for aviation were formally retired by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Thursday.

Passengers wearing face masks are seen at the departure hall of Paris Orly Airport near Paris, France, June 26, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)

The Aviation Health Safety Protocol (AHSP) was issued by the two agencies in May 2020, and aimed to promote a harmonized approach to measures on COVID-19. The protocol also aimed to reduce disturbance to flight operations while ensuring safety for the European population, ECDC said.

The decision to retire the protocol was taken in the light of decreasing and stable trends regarding COVID-19 in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) since March 2023. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on May 5 that "COVID-19 is now an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)."

A staff member checks the COVID-19 green pass of a passenger at Fiumicino airport in Rome, Italy, on Sept. 1, 2021. (Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua)

However, the two European agencies still encourage passengers, crew members, aviation stakeholders and national competent authorities to continue to focus on proper ventilation, hygiene measures and respiratory etiquette.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 29)  A Remate Online photojournalist and his three family members were wounded after a shooting incident in front of their house in Quezon City, authorities reported Thursday.

According to the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), the incident happened at around 3 p.m. in Barangay Masambong, while the victims were about to enter their residence.

Police said the 37-year-old Joshua Abiad, believed to be the gunmen's target, sustained two gunshot wounds in the body. Abiad was onboard a Ford Everest with his seven relatives when the incident transpired.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Press Club president Lily Reyes said Abiads four-year-old nephew is now in critical condition after being hit by a bullet in the head, while his eight-year-old nephew cannot be operated on because the bullet is embedded in his backbone.

The QCPD said there were at least two unidentified male suspects who immediately fled onboard a silver Toyota Vios and a motorcycle heading towards Del Monte Avenue in Quezon City after firing their guns towards the victims vehicle.

The police report added that a 47-year-old bystander within the area was also hit by a stray bullet. QCPD said thorough investigation and continuous manhunt operation is being conducted against the suspects.

NCRPO Press Club Chairman Raoul Esperas said Abiad was a regular signatory of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in drug busts as required by law.

Law enforcers need the presence of mandatory witnesses  the media and representatives from the Department of Justice  during drug operations, in line with the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2022.

Reyes condemned the ambush and said they are already coordinating with Abiads family to help determine the motive and the people behind the incident.

In a statement on Thursday, the NCRPO vowed to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the suspects and bring them to justice.

"This heinous act is an attack not only on the individuals involved but also on the freedom of the press and the values we hold dear as a society," the NCRPO said in a statement.

"We stand in solidarity with the media community and vow to protect their rights and ensure their safety," it added.

Authorities reminded the public to remain vigilant and report any information that may help the investigation.
U.S. will allow drugmakers to discuss Medicare drug price negotiations FILE PHOTO: Walmart administers COVID-19 vaccines as part of Federal Retail Pharmacy Program in West Haven

By Michael Erman and Patrick Wingrove

(Reuters) -The U.S. government on Friday revised its guidance for its Medicare drug price negotiation process, allowing drug companies to publicly discuss the talks, but did not make major changes likely to convince drugmakers to end their suits seeking to halt the program.

The program was established under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which President Joe Biden signed into law last year. It will for the first time allow Medicare, the government health insurance program for millions of Americans age 65 and older, to negotiate prices on prescription drugs, beginning with the ones on which it spends the most.

In September, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will select 10 of the Medicare program's costliest prescription medicines and negotiate price cuts to go into effect for 2026.

Merck & Co, Bristol Myers Squibb, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the leading industry lobby have filed separate suits against the U.S. government over the program, claiming it is unconstitutional.

The confidentiality provision included in the original guidance released in March was one issue raised with the program by the lawsuits, but not the only one. That guidance precluded drug makers from talking about the negotiations and required them to eventually destroy data received from CMS.

"We are doing everything that we can in implementation to make sure that this is a voluntary process for manufacturers to negotiate with us directly," CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said at a press conference.

Both Merck and Bristol Myers argue in their suits that the price negotiation would force drugmakers to sell their medicines to Medicare at huge discounts, below market rates. They assert this violates the Fifth Amendment, which requires the government to pay reasonable compensation for private property taken for public use. They also made First Amendment claims.

"We are reviewing the guidance, but it does not and cannot change the fundamental constitutional problems with the statute that Congress enacted," Merck said in a statement.

Industry group the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) made an additional claim that the price negotiation program violates the U.S. Constitution's Eight Amendment, which protects against excessive fines.

"The very few substantive changes to the final guidance demonstrate CMS saw this as a box checking exercise, not an opportunity to mitigate the negative impacts this price setting policy will have," PhRMA said in a statement.

The Medicare agency also did not substantially change provisions that six industry sources told Reuters in May contradicted and unlawfully extended the IRA, including the bar set for whether a drug has competition.

The drugmakers "don't want the government having any say in prices," said Tahir Amin, an attorney and executive director of executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), a consumer group that advocates for lower drug prices.

Amin said he does not personally find the drug industry's legal arguments convincing. Still, if they're able to get one of their suits in front of the current Supreme Court, "there's a real possibility that they might at least strip away some of the aspects of the IRA."

Americans pay more for prescription medicines than any other country. The Biden administration's drug pricing reform aims to save $25 billion annually by 2031 through price negotiations for the drugs most costly to Medicare.

(Reporting by Michael ErmanEditing by Mark Potter and Nick Zieminski)
Navajo Technical University graduates. (Photo/NTU)

In a historic ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday decided colleges and universities cannot use race for consideration for admissions.

The ruling struck down affirmative action in public higher education institutions. In Thursdays decision, the court ruled on admission practices at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

Using the 14th Amendment as the basis of his argument, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the two universities' programs violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," in his 6-3 majority opinion on both cases: Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard, and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina.

President Joe Biden, a long-term supporter of affirmative action, pushed back on the Supreme Courts decision.

We cannot let the decision be a permanent setback for the country, the president said during remarks at the White House after the decision was announced.

American Indians and Alaska Natives technically are not considered as being part of a race, but rather part of a political entity. However, university and college admission officials often do not know this. As a result, Thursdays decision will impact American Indians and Alaska Natives in the future.

The American Indian College Fund wrote in a statement that affirmative action has provided worthy American Indian and Alaska Natives and other diverse students with the opportunity for an affordable higher education.

The four organizations that comprise the National Native Scholarships Providers (NNSP)  American Indian College Fund, American Indian Science and Engineering Society, Cobell Scholarship Program administered by Indigenous Education, Inc., and Native Forward Scholars Fund  issued the following statement on Thursday evening:

We affirm that our students are citizens of Tribal Nations, thus possessing political status and citizenship rooted in the government-to-government relations of Tribes to the federal government. Their citizenship is separate from and woven with their Indigenous identities. Indigenous identity (American Indian and Alaska Native) is an identity that often provides pathways and supports for higher education access and success and can, therefore, be impacted by this ruling.

The education advocates also included a message for Native youths in the statement.

We also want to share a message with the youth in our many Indigenous nations across the country: Do not be discouraged. You belong where you dream to be. Your dreams are the fuel that will lead you to accomplishing your potential. You are worthy, you are more than deserving, and we are here for you, because we are depending upon your brilliance to lead and innovate in the future.

The group called for better access and more acceptance of Native culture, writing: The NNSP calls upon higher education institutions, policymakers, supporters of Indigenous education, and students to ensure our nations campuses are accessible to all, our students are welcome, and Native cultures and contributions are embraced. The United States is a better country when all voices are represented and included throughout all of societyincluding education.

The National Congress of American Indians called the ruling "exceptionally disappointing" because, in part, it encourages "Native students to repress their culture and assimilate to Western ways of knowing."

In a statement, the NCAI wrote: "Today's Supreme Court decision on affirmative action is exceptionally disappointing and fails to take into account the realities centuries of destructive policies can have on a population. By encouraging Native students to repress their culture and assimilate to Western ways of knowing, the Federal governments educational policy fostered a spirit of alienation amongst Native youth that has carried across generations and stifled academic achievement--particularly with respect to postsecondary institutions. While everyone deserves to be considered on their merits, it does more harm than good to ignore the fact that Native people were subject to genocide, colonization, and assimilation. Only when these realities are confronted head-on will meaningful progress be made, which is why the National Congress of American Indians will continue to fight to bring visibility to these issues and look for solutions to ensure future generations have access to the education so many of our past generations did not."

About the Author: "Levi \"Calm Before the Storm\" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net."

Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net
Gabriel Trujillo conducts field research for his doctorate in Arizona. His research across North America led him to the Mexican state of Sonora, where he was shot dead. (Roxanne Cruz-de Hoyos / Associated Press)

For Gabriel Trujillo, the trip wasn't just about searching for plants  it was about finding his roots.

The 31-year-old botanist and UC Berkeley doctoral student regularly journeyed to foreign lands for work. This month, it was the Mexican state of Sonora, where he hoped not just to advance his academic pursuits but reconnect with his Opata Indigenous heritage by visiting his ancestral lands.

Botanist and UC Berkeley doctoral student Gabriel Trujillo and his fiancee, Roxanne Cruz-de Hoyos, right, had trekked from Michigan to Mexico in search of a flowering shrub called the common buttonbush. The couple met through Berkeley's Integrative Biology graduate program. (Roxanne Cruz-de Hoyos via Associated Press)

It meant working away from his fiancee, Roxanne Cruz-de Hoyos, whom he met through Berkeley's Integrative Biology graduate program. Still, Trujillo was excited. When he spoke to Cruz-de Hoyos the morning of June 19 from his Airbnb in the Sonoran town of Tonichi, he said he planned to go solo into the field to look for cephalanthus occidentalis, a flowering plant also known as honeybells or common buttonbush.

His body was found in a ravine three days later, not far from the car he had driven from his home in Oakland. He had been shot and killed, Mexican authorities said.

"He was a true naturalist," Cruz-de Hoyos said. "He cultivated life every moment with his hands."

Cruz-de Hoyos and Trujillo traveled across the U.S. and other parts of the globe, collecting plant samples as part of their studies. They were seldom apart when doing their field research and shared a home with hundreds of plants they grew from seeds.

But she was unable to make the trip to Sonora because of the demands of her own research.

"If we're not together, we would always share our location, so I can see where he is," Cruz-de Hoyos said in an interview Friday. "But by the afternoon, by the evening of June 19, I hadn't heard from him. I knew something was wrong."

She contacted the person who rented him a room. They said Trujillo's belongings were there and that his car was gone.

Cruz-de Hoyos flew down to Sonora and contacted the authorities. She filed a missing person's report and notified Trujillo's advisors, friends and family.

The Sonora prosecutor's office said Trujillo was found on a stretch of road leading to the town of Yecora. Prosecutors referred to Trujillo only by his first name, but said they found his 2009 black BMW wagon and other forensic evidence at the scene. Officials determined he was shot days earlier.

Cruz-de Hoyos identified Trujillo, and his father, Anthony, accompanied his body back to the United States.

"Thank God I was able to retrieve him, because a lot of people do not get to have that," Anthony Trujillo said in an interview.

The last time he had spoken to his son was the day before he went missing: Father's Day.

"He was trying to learn more about his ancestors, about where we come from," Trujillo said. "He had plans to cultivate a garden in that area."

Trujillo was in the fourth year of his doctoral program at UC Berkeley. University officials said they learned of his death June 23.

"Local police authorities are investigating," UC Berkeley said in a statement. "This is heartbreaking news and campus officials have reached out to his family to offer support and assistance."

Gabriel Trujillo was "a passionate ecologist, field biologist, and advocate for diverse voices in science," UC Berkeley faculty said. (Roxanne Cruz-de Hoyos via Associated Press)

Faculty members in the Department of Integrative Biology called Trujillo "a passionate ecologist, field biologist, and advocate for diverse voices in science."

"He was a member of a tightly knit group of graduate students in ecology and his partner is also a member of our campus community. We all face a world that is less bright for this loss," faculty members said in an email to students and staff.

During his trip, Trujillo planned to study the common buttonbush to see if it could be used for wetland habitat restoration. As an Indigenous person, he felt he was meant to be a good steward of the land, Cruz-de Hoyos said. The two participated in ceremonies around missing or murdered Indigenous persons, especially the Two-Spirit community  people who identify as having both a masculine and feminine spirit.

"I think that's something he would want to mention," she said.

In an obituary prepared by his family, Trujillo is described as having a "passion for nature and culture and a relentless drive for science. His deep appreciation for the natural world guided him to explore the wonders of the outdoors. He found solace in the beauty of nature, always eager to learn and protect the environment he held so dear."

In a GoFundMe to raise funds for funeral services, Cruz-de Hoyos wrote "Nican Ca," which translates to "here is" or "he is here" in the Nahuatl language.

"I think we both found in each other a kind of mirror, a very special connection that neither of us had found before," she said.

The U.S. Bureau of Consular Affairs has advised travelers to reconsider travel to Sonora, which borders Arizona, due to crime and kidnappings. The agency's travel advisory says the border state is a key location for drug cartels and human trafficking networks, with widespread violence.

About 1,000 miles east of Sonora in another border town, four Americans were caught in a drug cartel shootout in the city of Matamoros earlier this year. The four Americans were kidnapped shortly after they crossed the border, according to Mexican officials. Mexican authorities rescued two of the Americans and found the bodies of the two other victims in a wooden shack in the outskirts of Matamoros.

The group said they traveled from South Carolina to Mexico for cosmetic surgery.

Trujillo had traveled across the globe as a field researcher, including to other parts of Mexico. But this trip seemed different to Anthony Trujillo because his son would be alone for most of the trip.

But "there was nothing that was going to stop him."

"He loved plants, he loved bugs, and he loved people. He loved life. He was always trying to get other people, his younger family members, out into nature, to stomp around with him," he said. "He had a magnetic smile. I'm just so proud of him."

Times staff writers Kate Linthicum and Cecilia Sanchez Vidal contributed to this story.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
UK, Australia and Canada want reversal of Israel approval of new West Bank settlement units

FILE PHOTO: Ozzy Jackson, an 18-year-old settler carries buckets at Kedar Sheep Farm near the Jewish settlement of Kedar

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain, Australia and Canada have called on Israel's government to reverse a decision to approve new settlement units in the West Bank, saying they are "deeply concerned" by an ongoing cycle of violence.

This week, Israel approved over 5,700 new settlement units in the West Bank and earlier this month instituted changes to the settlement approval process which facilitate swifter approval of construction.

"The continued expansion of settlements is an obstacle to peace and negatively impacts efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution. We call on the Government of Israel to reverse these decisions," the foreign ministers of Britain, Australia and Canada said in a joint statement.

Violence has been surging in the West Bank, including deadly clashes in Jenin, a fatal shooting by Palestinians near a Jewish settlement, attacks on Palestinian villages by rampaging settlers, and rare use of Israeli air power against militants.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
US actor Kevin Spacey denies a string of sexual offence charges against him (Daniel LEAL)

Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey was on Friday described as a "sexual bully", as prosecutors opened their case against him in London for a string of sexual offence charges.

"Kevin Spacey Fowler is an actor; many of you will already know that," lawyer Christine Agnew told a jury at Southwark Crown Court, using the star's full name.

"He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards. He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men."

Agnew said Spacey, a two-time Academy Award winner for "American Beauty" and "The Usual Suspects", did not respect personal boundaries or space.

He was "a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully", the lawyer alleged in her opening speech.

"His preferred method of assault is it appears to grab aggressively other men in the crotch. On one occasion things went further than that."

Spacey, 63, denies three counts of indecent assault, seven counts of sexual assault, and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

He also pleaded not guilty to a further charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The alleged offences, against four men who cannot be identified under English law, are said to have occurred between 2001 and 2013.

Agnew said Spacey had dismissed some of the allegations as "quite simply made up", and others that they were consensual.

mhc-phz/jwp/yad
Girl looking at a smartphone

Children will be better protected online under amended internet safety laws, the government insists, despite concerns around privacy.

The Online Safety Bill will require age verification on services that publish or allow pornographic content.

But digital rights groups say there is a lack of transparency around the tools and how they collect people's data.

Tech minister Paul Scully admitted "no bit of legislation is ever going to be perfect" but said it was "flexible".

The proposed amendments will mean user-to-user platforms, such as social media sites, that allow pornographic content will have to use age-checking technologies that are "highly effective" in identifying whether a user is a child or not - for example, estimating someone's age from a selfie.

Other methods include checking official ID, bank statements or voice recognition tech - which would then notify that the person wishing to access their service, who is anonymised, is over 18 years old.

'Is our data being stored?'

Digital rights campaigners are not convinced that people's privacy will be protected.

Age assurance tech is being "introduced in quite a draconian way", said Dr Monica Horten, policy manager for freedom of expression at Open Rights Group. She said there needed to be more consideration of the risks that come with forcing websites to verify the age of their users.

"Some of these systems use facial scanning techniques to identify people's age. The processing of the collection of large pools of children's biometric data by private companies, with no governance structures in place, is something that all parents should be very worried about.

"We don't know how these systems work. Is our data being stored? Who has access to it? If so, are they processing it?" she said.

The bill will give the communications regulator Ofcom powers to fine tech companies, block access to sites and also see the introduction of criminal liabilities for executives of companies who fail to co-operate.

Iain Corby from the Age Verification Providers Association said he welcomed the bill's requirements but "with five million adult websites, the government still needs to give the regulator better powers to enforce at scale before the bill is finalised".

Concerns have also been raised that the requirement for users to provide official documentation could lead to discrimination against certain socio-economic groups, who are more likely to lack these documents.

Ofcom guidelines

Mr Scully rejected criticism that the legislation could mean vital sexual health education content could be blocked.

"I want to reassure people working in those areas that they won't be harmed by this bill," he said.

Mr Scully added it would be up to Ofcom to decide on the guidelines in determining "what is and what isn't available for under-18s".

Children are being exposed to online pornography from as young as nine, according to research. By the age of 13, around 50% had been exposed to it.

Some teenagers simply lie about their date of birth to get round age restrictions on websites.

Mr Scully said the amendments would "stop the majority of children - who don't look for VPN or don't look for other ways around this - just to be able to almost trip over access to pornography, which is the case at the moment".

Raft of changes

The UK has been grappling over how to protect social media users, and in particular children, from harmful content without damaging free speech.

New measures will also seek to hold top executives personally responsible for keeping children safe on their platforms, the government said, after agreeing to toughen the bill in January with the prospect of jail time for tech bosses.

Other changes to the bill will allow regulators to obtain information on a child's social media use if requested by a coroner, which will help bereaved families understand any possible influence of online activity in their death.

The tech industry, including firms like Apple, have criticised sections of the Online Safety Bill, particularly provisions that could be used to make messaging services break end-to-end encryption in order to scan for child abuse material.

The government said there would be no further amendments to that part of the bill before it is voted on.

The bill, which is possibly months away from being passed, will be voted on next week in the House of Lords.
Over the course of the day, Ukrainian troops struck 6 areas where Russian military manpower, weapons and equipment were concentrated, 3 ammunition storage points, 24 artillery systems at firing positions and an electronic warfare station of the occupiers.

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

Details: According to the General Staff, the Air Force carried out 10 strikes on clusters of Russian military personnel and 1 strike on a Russian anti-aircraft missile system.

Over the course of the day, the Russians launched 8 missile and 34 air strikes, fired 40 times from multiple-launch rocket systems at positions of Ukrainian troops, and settlements.

Unfortunately, civilians were killed and wounded, and more than 20 civilian residential buildings and 1 educational institution have been damaged.

The likelihood of missile and air strikes across Ukraine remains high.

The Russians continue to focus their main efforts on the Lyman, Bakhmut and Marinka fronts, and heavy fighting continues. There were 18 combat clashes over the last day.

The situation on the Volyn and Polissia fronts remained unchanged. No signs of formation of offensive groups have been detected.

Certain units of the Armed Forces of Belarus are performing tasks in areas bordering Ukraine. Combat training and coordination of the Russian Armed Forces units before their deployment to the areas of combat operations in Ukraine are ongoing at the country's training grounds.

The Russians maintain a military presence on the Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts. They fired mortars and artillery at more than 10 settlements.

On the Kupiansk front, the Russians carried out unsuccessful offensive actions on Novoselivske, Luhansk Oblast. They conducted an airstrike near Kyslivka, Kharkiv Oblast. Putnykove, Fyholivka, Dvorichna, Masiutivka, Kupiansk and Kyslivka in Kharkiv Oblast came under artillery and mortar fire from the Russians.

On the Lyman front, the Russians conducted airstrikes near Bilohorivka in Luhansk Oblast and Spirne and Rozdolivka in Donetsk Oblast. More than 10 settlements came under artillery fire.

On the Bakhmut front, the Russians conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the areas of Bohdanivka and Khromove in Donetsk Oblast. They also conducted an air strike near New-York in Donetsk Oblast. About 15 settlements came under Russian artillery fire.

On the Avdiivka front, with the support of aircraft, the Russians conducted unsuccessful offensive actions in the areas of Avdiivka and Pervomaiske. They shelled over 15 settlements.

On the Marinka front, Ukrainian defenders repelled all Russian attacks in the vicinity of Marinka. At the same time, the Russians launched an airstrike near the town. They fired artillery at about 10 settlements.

On the Shakhtarsk front, the Russians conducted airstrikes in the areas of Blahodatne and Zolota Nyva in Donetsk Oblast. They shelled about 15 settlements.

On the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts, the Russians are focusing their main efforts on preventing the advance of Ukrainian troops. They conducted an airstrike near Antonivka, Kherson Oblast. They shelled over 40 settlements.

According to the General Staff, the Russian occupiers continue to loot and use the civilian medical infrastructure facilities of the occupied settlements to provide medical care to their wounded soldiers. In Novopskov, Luhansk Oblast, Russian troops loaded furniture from the maternity hospital onto military vehicles and took it to an unknown destination, and the territory of the maternity hospital is being converted into a field hospital.

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Iranian drone Shahed-136

Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 13 Shahed-136/131 drones and four S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles used in ground attack mode during the night of June 29-30, the Ukrainian Air Force reported on Telegram.

Ukrainian defense forced successfully intercepted 10 of the UAVs. They were launched from the east coast of the Sea of Azov.

Read also: Russia has sufficient Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Ukraine daily

The Russians attacked military and infrastructure facilities in Zaporizhzhya Oblast. Early reports indicate that there were no casualties.

The Shahed-136 is an Iranian-made kamikaze drone that was first introduced in 2020. In mid-July 2022, a Russian delegation traveled to Iran where Iranian colleagues presented these unmanned aerial vehicles.

In September 2022, a Shahed-136 was shot down for the first time in Ukrainian airspace near the town of Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast.

In October 2022, the Russian military launched the largest number of UAVs of this type into Ukrainian airspace, with 238 drones participating in the attack. Over 19 days in May 2023 - 154 drones were launched, and in January 2023 - 108. The maximum number of downed Shaheds in one day was 45.

Read also: Three Ukrainian manufacturers awarded $1 million each for Shahed drone countermeasures

As of May 20, 2023, a total of 885 Shahed UAVs had been intercepted over Ukraine.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Ukraine may have to give up part of territory to stop war  Trump

Former US President Donald Trump has said that Ukraine may have to give up some territory to Russia to stop the war.

Source: Trump in an interview with Reuters

Details: The politician has not ruled out that the Ukrainian authorities might have to cede some territory to Russia in order to end the war, which began with the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops 16 months ago.

In addition, he said that the Russian president was "somewhat weakened" by the Wagner PMCs rebellion and that the US should use this moment to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

"I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war," Trump said.

"I think the biggest thing that the US should be doing right now is making peace  getting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace," Trump added.

Background: Regarding the war crimes charges brought against Putin by the International Criminal Court last March, Trump said that his fate should be discussed when the war is over, "because right now, if you bring it up, you're never going to get peace, you're never going to get a settlement."

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KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine will receive $1.5 billion from the World Bank to support reconstruction and recovery, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.

The funds will be provided with guarantees from the Japanese government and channeled to support social security and economic development, Shmyhal, whose country has been invaded by Russia, said on the Telegram messaging app.

"In particular, the loan will help support subsidies for internally displaced people and pension payments," Shmyhal said.

Ukraine relies on financial aid from its foreign partners to be able to cover its budget deficit. The finance ministry said it had received $3 billion in budget support from Ukraine's partners in June, with 40% of it provided as grants.

On Thursday, the International Monetary Fund's board completed its Ukrainian loan review, allowing Kyiv to immediately withdraw $890 million for budget support.

The government hopes for a modest economic recovery this year after the economy shrank by about one-third in 2022 because of Russia's war on Ukraine, and is working with foreign partners to secure financing for so-called 'fast' recovery.

Ukraine is rebuilding schools, hospitals, roads and bridges and implementing repairs in the energy sector despite continued fighting in the south and east of the country.

(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Writing by Olena Harmash, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The remaining drug case of former senator Leila de Lima has been re-raffled to the judge who acquitted her last May.

In an order issued on Thursday, Muntinlupa court Branch 204 Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara confirmed that the case was reassigned to him after the accused Ronnie Dayan, Joenel Sanchez, and Franklin Bucayu sought the inhibition of the judge from Branch 256.

The three said Judge Romeo Buenaventura failed to disclose that he is the brother of Atty. Emmanuel Buenaventura, who previously assisted Dayan in the execution of his affidavit which the accused later said was coerced.

READ: Muntinlupa judge inhibits from De Lima's drug case after impartiality questioned

Buenaventura recused himself from De Lima's drug case last June 16. He was also the same judge who denied De Limas bail plea.

The former senator already filed her motion for reconsideration.

Alcantara, meanwhile, dismissed De Limas second drug case after a key witness recanted his statement.

READ: Muntinlupa court acquits De Lima in 2nd drug case

Alcantara has set the status hearing and presentation of the prosecutions evidence on July 7.
CIA director William Burns reportedly called Russian spy chief Sergei Naryshkin in the aftermath of failed mutiny by the Wagner group.

The phone call to the head of Russias foreign intelligence service was to assure Kremlin that the US had no role in the Wagner groups aborted rebellion, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal said.

The US wasnt involved, one official said about the CIA message to the Kremlin. This is an internal Russian matter,

The White House declined to comment, saying they will not get into specifics of individual diplomatic discussions.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of extremely active weeks ahead as Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive to reclaim territories from the Russian army.

He said the counteroffensive is making progress in all directions, adding that his forces have killed 21,000 Wagner troops in a separate interview.

Earlier, a leading think tank said Vladimir Putin may take formal control of Wagner forces in Ukraine  and beyond  following the failed rebellion by the mercenary group.

Key Points

CIA director called Kremlin to say that US had no role in Wagner mutiny

Putins forces being pushed back in all directions

Wagner still in Ukraine after pulling out and mutiny debacle, says Pentagon

Yevgeny Prigozhin was told Wagner would no longer be fighting in Ukraine'

Russian general Sergei Surovikin arrested after Wagner rebellion - report

Death toll rises to 12 in Ukraine's Kramatorsk after Russian strike

Countdown has begun for end of Putin, claims Volodymyr Zelensky aide

CIA director called Kremlin to say that US had no role in Wagner mutiny

03:46 , Shweta Sharma

CIA director William Burns dialled Russian spy chief Sergei Naryshkin in the aftermath of failed mutiny by the Wagner group to assure Kremlin that the US had no role in it, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Mr Burns phone call to his counterpart, who is the head of Russias SVR foreign intelligence service, took place earlier this week. It was the highest-level contact between the two governments since the attempted mutiny, the Wall Street Journal said.

It comes after president Joe Biden said on Monday the brief uprising by Russian mercenaries against the Kremlin was part of a struggle within the Russian system and that the United States and its allies were not involved in it.

Ukrainian president says 21,000 Wagner troops killed by his forces

05:00 , Shweta Sharma

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces have killed 21,000 Wagner troops so far and thousands have been injured.

His comments came in an interview with the Spanish news outlet El Mundo on Thursday.

Mr Zelensky said over 80,000 Wagner group mercenaries have been injured in the fighting.

Belarus leader says nuclear arms will not be used

04:30 , Shweta Sharma

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said the Russian tactical nuclear weapon deployed in his country would never be used.

The Belarusian president, in an address marking his ex-Soviet states national day, said the stationing of the weapons in Belarus was my firmest initiative.

As we move along, we become more and more convinced that they (the weapons) must be stationed here, in Belarus, in a reliable place, Mr Lukashenko told a gathering in a large hall in an online broadcast by the state BelTA news agency, with many present waving red and green national flags.

I am certain that we will never have to use them while they are here. And no enemy will ever set foot on our land.

Russias foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday the deployment did not violate the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 as Russia retained control over the weapons. He told Russias Tass news agency the deployment had been forced on Russia.

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

03:00 , Eleanor Noyce

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraines military was largely reliant on Soviet-era weaponry, from tanks to artillery to fighter jets.

While that arsenal helped Ukraine fend off an assault on the capital of Kyiv and prevent a total rout in the early weeks of the war, billions of dollars in military assistance has since poured into the country, including more modern Western-made weapons.

Ukraines counteroffensive, now in its early stages, could offer a glimpse of whether and to what extent the newer weapons systems have strengthened Kyivs ability to stand up to Russia.

Read the full story:

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Mapped: Has Ukraine made advances against Russia?

02:00 , Eleanor Noyce

With Russias invasion of Ukraine raging for 16 months, Ukraine is now pushing back with its long-awaited counteroffensive that has already recorded a number of gains.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Ukrainian troops for advancing in all sectors, having spent the day presenting awards to front-line soldiers in the east and south.

Today in all sectors, our soldiers made advances. It is a happy day, Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, which was delivered from a train after visiting two frontline areas.

Read more:

Mapped: Has Ukraine made advances against Russia?

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

01:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russias special military operation in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russias neighbour needed to be demilitarised and de-Nazified, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putins warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Thomas Kingsley and Joe Sommerlad report:

Heres why Putin really invaded Ukraine

ICYMI: Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Saturday 1 July 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce

The Biden administration is considering sending controversial cluster munition warheads to Ukraine, with people familiar with the matter revealing that an official announcement is expected soon.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced an additional $500m in military aid for Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armoured vehicles and missiles for their air defence system. These reinforcements are intended to fortify Ukraines counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

On Thursday, a US official told CNN the White House is now also considering sending the munitions  something that would have a significant battlefield impact.

Read more:

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Detention of Russian director and playwright extended for 2 months

Friday 30 June 2023 23:00 , Eleanor Noyce

A Russian court on Friday extended the pretrial detention of a theatre director and a playwright facing charges of justifying terrorism, the latest move in a relentless crackdown on dissent in Russia that spiked after the start of the war in Ukraine.

The court ordered Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theater director, and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk held until 10 September; they have been behind bars since early May.

Authorities claim a play they staged, Finist, the Brave Falcon, justifies terrorism, which is a criminal offense in Russia punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Read more:

Detention of Russian director and playwright extended for 2 months

UN votes to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali after a demand from military junta

Friday 30 June 2023 22:01 , Eleanor Noyce

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali as demanded by the countrys military junta, which has brought in mercenaries from Russias Wagner Group to help fight an Islamic insurgency.

Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa, has grappled with the insurgency for over a decade. It has seen its relations with the international community become strained in part because the ruling junta brought in the Wagner mercenaries who also have been engaged in Moscows war in Ukraine and were part of a short-lived mutiny against Russias military last week.

Edith M. Lederer reports:

UN votes to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali after a demand from military junta

Russia reducing military presence and personnel at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Ukraine

Friday 30 June 2023 21:31 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia is reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraines military intelligence agency has claimed  with Kyiv having accused Moscow of plotting a terrorist attack at the facility.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) said the number of military patrols were gradually decreasing around the vast site of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, and in the nearby city of Enerhodar. Meanwhile, personnel remaining at the plant  which is occupied by Moscows forces  had been told to blame Ukraine in case of any emergency situations.

According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, GUR said on the Telegram messaging app.

Chris Stevenson reports:

Russia reducing military presence at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Ukraine

Poland fears Wagner in Belarus could destabilise region - FT

Friday 30 June 2023 21:04 , Eleanor Noyce

The Wagner group, which has relocated to Belarus, could use migrants from Africa and other places where the paramilitary group operates to destabilise Central and Eastern Europe, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing Jacek Siewiera, head of Polands national bureau of security.

ICYMI: What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Friday 30 June 2023 21:02 , Eleanor Noyce

British defence minister Ben Wallace announced that the top-tier, air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles lent to Ukraine were striking targets with precision as the country continued to fight off Russias full-scale invasion clocking nearly 500 days.

The Storm Shadow missile has had a significant impact on the battlefield, Mr Wallace said in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday this week, marking the first public acknowledgement of the missiles use in the continuing war.

Its accuracy and ability to deliver successfully the payload, as sent and designed by the Ukrainians, has been almost without fault, the defence minister said.

Read more:

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

The US is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, says America's top military officer

Friday 30 June 2023 20:31 , Eleanor Noyce

The United States is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, the top American military officer said Friday.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. has been thinking about providing the munitions for a long time. He noted that Russian troops are using them on the battlefield in Ukraine and that Ukrainian forces have received cluster bombs from other allies and have deployed the arms.

Milley said at the National Press Club that discussions are continuing. The Ukrainians have asked for it, other European countries have provided some of that, the Russians are using it, Milley said. Theres a decision making process ongoing.

Read more:

The US is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, says America's top military officer

Russia's top diplomat Lavrov sees no reason to extend Black Sea grain deal

Friday 30 June 2023 20:01 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia said on Friday it saw no reason to extend the Black Sea grain deal beyond 17 July because the West had acted in such an outrageous way over the agreement, but assured poor countries that Russian grain exports would continue.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative last July to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Moscows invasion of Ukraine - something it calls a special military operation - and its blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

The deal allows food and fertiliser to be exported from three Ukrainian ports - Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi (Yuzhny). The agreement has been extended three times.

The attitude of the West towards this deal is outrageous, Lavrov told reporters, pointing specifically to the positions of the United States and Britain.

Lavrov said one of the last straws for Russia was an attack on the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, an attack he blamed on Ukraine which has in turn accused Russia of damaging it.

I dont see what arguments there can be by those who would like to continue the Black Sea initiative, Lavrov said.

The United Nations on Friday said it was concerned no new ships had been registered under the Black Sea deal since June 26 - despite applications being made by 29 vessels - and called on all parties to to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay.

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Friday 30 June 2023 19:25 , Eleanor Noyce

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraines military was largely reliant on Soviet-era weaponry, from tanks to artillery to fighter jets.

While that arsenal helped Ukraine fend off an assault on the capital of Kyiv and prevent a total rout in the early weeks of the war, billions of dollars in military assistance has since poured into the country, including more modern Western-made weapons.

Ukraines counteroffensive, now in its early stages, could offer a glimpse of whether and to what extent the newer weapons systems have strengthened Kyivs ability to stand up to Russia.

Read more:

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: Small advances have colossal meaning

Friday 30 June 2023 19:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries over the weekend raised hopes that the turmoil in Russia would dramatically propel Ukraines offensive to recapture territory occupied by Moscow.

The rebellion humiliated Russias president Vladimir Putin and rattled his regime as forces marched on Moscow, before turning around after a last-minute deal, meaning the Kremlin did not have to redeploy troops from Ukraine to tackle the insurgency.

Ukraine is mounting attacks in a number of areas along the 965km (600 miles) frontline, but that progress will not be easy. A Ukrainian colonel told The Independent his countrys forces have to deal with multiple lines of defence constructed by the Russians in the build-up to the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraines army about Kyivs counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow  and hard-earned:

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences: Small advances have colossal meaning

Donetsk region school suffers direct hit, two dead, say Ukraine police

Friday 30 June 2023 18:55 , Eleanor Noyce

A Russian missile attack on Friday on a village school near the frontline in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region killed two women, including a teacher, and injured six, Ukrainian police said.

The 56-year-old primary school teacher and a chief accountant, 44, died in the strike on the village of Serhiivka, Ukrainian police said. Twelve employees were the buildings only occupants, the prosecutors office said. Ukrainian schools were not in session for students on Friday.

Russian troops, in a direct hit, destroyed a school where civilians were located, Ukraines national police said in a statement.

The Donetsk region prosecutors office said four men aged 54 to 69 and two women aged 24 and 34 were injured and taken to hospital, and that it had launched an investigation into the attack.

Reuters was unable immediately to verify details of the attack.

Police shared a video showing a motionless, bloodied person being lifted into an ambulance, and a woman being extracted from extensive ruins.

Groups of men, some in civilian clothing, others emergency workers in helmets, and uniformed police, walked atop the ruins, searching for survivors. Two men carefully laid a piece of green army fabric over a body.

The police said paramedics helped rescue two women from the rubble and that occupying Russian forces were responsible for the attack, which was preliminarily assessed to have been caused by an Iskander missile.

In pictures: Relatives of fallen Ukrainian servicemen attend rally in Kyiv

Friday 30 June 2023 18:27 , Eleanor Noyce

Relatives of Ukrainian servicemen killed in battle have attended a rally at Independence Square in Kyiv demanding the creation of a National Military Cemetery.

Some families of fallen Ukrainian soldiers have complained about a lack of progress in its creation amid a shortage of places to, in their view, provide their loved ones with an honourable burial.

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

Ukrainian counteroffensive slower than predicted, but advancing - US Army's Milley

Friday 30 June 2023 18:20 , Eleanor Noyce

The Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces is going slower than people had predicted, but is making steady progress, U.S. Army General Mark Milley said on Friday.

Its going slower than people had predicted. Doesnt surprise me, Miley told an audience at the National Press Club. It is advancing steadily, deliberately, working its way through very difficult minefields, et cetera.

UN concerned no new Black Sea grain deal ships since 26 June

Friday 30 June 2023 18:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The United Nations said on Friday it is concerned that no new ships have been registered since 26 June under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine.

We call on the parties to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay, U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

Indias PM reiterates call for dialogue and diplomacy' in discussions with Putin

Friday 30 June 2023 17:54 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation around Ukraine and how Moscow had resolved an armed mercenary mutiny in a telephone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the Kremlin and New Delhi said.

Moscow said that Modi had expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leaderships decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday.

The Indian government said Putin, who will also join Modi on Tuesday for a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, informed the prime minister about the recent developments in Russia during their conversation.

The call comes after the United States and India declared themselves among the closest partners in the world last week during a state visit to Washington by Modi.

India has not condemned its old ally Russia over the invasion of Ukraine and have urged both sides to resolve their differences through diplomacy. Modi told Putin last year that todays era is not an era of war.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM (Modi) reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, New Delhi said in a statement.

The boss of Russias Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, shocked the world by leading Saturdays armed revolt, only to abruptly call it off as his fighters approached Moscow.

Indias national security adviser, Ajit Doval, also spoke to his counterpart Nikolai Patrushev on Wednesday on the failed mutiny, an Indian security establishment source said.

India remains dependent on Moscow for its defense needs and has sharply increased its imports of cheap Russian oil, frustrating the West.

Ukraine hopes to win over LatAm through Spain's EU presidency

Friday 30 June 2023 17:25 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukraine hopes to use Spains rotating EU presidency to try to gain influence in Latin America, where several countries have opposed Kyivs efforts to retake territory occupied by Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Spanish media.

Speaking on Friday on the eve of a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as he kicks off the six-month rotating presidency, Zelensky said several unspecified countries had blocked an invitation extended to him by Sanchez to take part in an EU-Latin American summit in Brussels between 17 and 18 July.

We have a peace formula, and Pedro has supported us a lot. He has a constant dialogue with Latin America and they listen to him, its a fact. But Ill say frankly that some Latin American countries are blocking the decision and this invitation, he said in remarks from Kyiv aired by state broadcaster TVE.

I want them not only to join the peace formula, but to stand against war, he added.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva irritated Western countries earlier this year when he suggested the West had been encouraging war by arming Ukraine.

In the interview, Zelensky also asked for a concrete plan for his country to join NATO.

Ukraine has been working with allies to build broad international support for a peace blueprint without territorial compromises.

Senior officials from Ukraine, G7 countries, the EU and nations such as Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey met on Saturday in Denmark for talks on the concept, and said they had made some progress, but any summit to endorse a document was at least months away.

Ukrainian and Western officials aim to rally a broad coalition behind the Kyiv government - including major countries that have decided not to give Ukraine military aid or impose sanctions on Russia - to increase diplomatic pressure on Moscow.

A week after an armed rebellion rattled Russia, key details about it are still shrouded in mystery

Friday 30 June 2023 16:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Did mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin have inside help from the military and political elite in his armed rebellion that rattled Russia?

A week after the mutiny raised the most daunting challenge to President Vladimir Putins rule in over two decades, key details about the uprising are still unknown.

Uncertainty also swirls around the fate of Prigozhin and his Wagner private military forces, along with the deal they got from the Kremlin, and what the future holds for the Russian defense minister they tried to oust.

Finally, and perhaps the biggest unknown: Can Putin shore up the weaknesses revealed by the events of last weekend?

Read more:

A week after an armed rebellion rattled Russia, key details about it are still shrouded in mystery

Russia to raise salaries for military by 10.5% - decree

Friday 30 June 2023 16:25 , Eleanor Noyce

The Russian government will increase salaries for military servicemen by 10.5% from 1 October, a government decree published on the official web portal showed on Friday.

The move comes days after an abortive armed mutiny by the mercenary Wagner Group, which briefly took control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and marched towards Moscow in what its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said was a protest against incompetence and corruption in Russias top brass.

The key players in last weekend's armed rebellion in Russia

Friday 30 June 2023 16:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Key players in events stemming from last weekends armed rebellion in Russia include mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Gen. Sergei Surovikin.

The Associated Press reports:

The key players in last weekend's armed rebellion in Russia

Russian watchdog blocks media outlets linked to Prigozhin - Kommersant

Friday 30 June 2023 15:51 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked media outlets linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary group which staged a brief mutiny last Saturday, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Friday.

Russian authorities have not outlawed the Wagner group following the abortive mutiny but under a deal that ended the crisis, its fighters have been given the option of being integrated into Russias regular armed forces, joining their leader in exile in Belarus or returning home.

Putin and Modi discuss Ukraine, armed mutiny on phone call - Kremlin

Friday 30 June 2023 15:25 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation around Ukraine and how Moscow had resolved an armed mercenary mutiny in a telephone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the Kremlin said.

It said that Modi had expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leaderships decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday.

Windfall from Russia's frozen assets in Europe could be $3 billion a year - Belgium

Friday 30 June 2023 14:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Belgiums prime minister said on Friday the windfall profit from Russias frozen assets in Europe could provide 3 billion euro ($3.27 billion) a year to rebuild Ukraine.

While there is political consensus among European leaders to use these assets to pay for the reconstruction, the legality of how to extract these profits is complex and still needs to be researched in depth.

Were working on a method based on windfall profits ... If we find a stable legal platform we could use it for Ukraine, PM Alexander de Croo told journalists at the European Council summit.

A windfall profit system will be developed and the current estimation is that the total returns could be 3 billion euro a year.

The bloc has said it has frozen more than 200 billion euros ($217.78 billion) of Russian central bank assets in reaction to Moscows invasion of Ukraine. Another 30 billion euros of Russian oligarchs private assets were also immobilised.

Mr De Croo said the bloc could not touch the assets themselves without jeopardising the financial system since they are cross-maintained between central banks. A large portion of the frozen assets are in Belgium.

The Commission is working on it. It needs to be seen what the right legal basis is to do but we will be coordinating between different countries, he said.

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Friday 30 June 2023 14:30 , Matt Mathers

The Biden administration is considering sending controversial cluster munition warheads to Ukraine, with people familiar with the matter revealing that an official announcement is expected soon.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced an additional $500m in military aid for Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armoured vehicles and missiles for their air defence system. These reinforcements are intended to fortify Ukraines counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Russia will emerge stronger after mutiny - Lavrov

Friday 30 June 2023 14:00 , Matt Mathers

Russia will emerge stronger after a failed mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries so the West need not worry about stability in the worlds biggest nuclear power, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

Asked by Reuters if Russia was stable and if he could give assurances to the world that Russia was not slipping into turmoil, Lavrov said Moscow was not obliged to explain anything or give any assurances to anyone.

"If anyone in the West has any doubts, then thats your problem," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow. "Thank you for your concerns about our national interests, but there is no need."

"Russia has always emerged more resilient and stronger after any difficulties - and it is hard to call it anything more than difficulties," he added. "Moreover, we already feel that the process has started."

Mozambique Russia (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service)

Poland detains Russian hockey player on suspicion of spying

Friday 30 June 2023 13:28 , Matt Mathers

Polish authorities have detained a Russian hockey player competing in a top Polish league on suspicion of spying, officials have said.

"Russian spies are falling one by one," said Zbigniew Ziobro, justice minister and chief prosecutor, on Friday.

"A spy who operated under the guise of an athlete was caught."

Mr Ziobro said the suspect played for a first league club and was the 14th member of a spy network to be arrested in the Nato country.

The National Prosecutors Office said the man, who was arrested on June 11, is accused of participating in an organised crime group and acting on behalf of foreign intelligence against the interests of Poland.

Such acts are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Watch: Military expert explains how Ukraines new Storm Shadow cruise missiles workwill

Friday 30 June 2023 13:04 , Matt Mathers

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: Small advances have colossal meaning

Friday 30 June 2023 12:20 , Matt Mathers

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraines army about Kyivs counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow  and hard-earned.

Read the full piece here:

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences: Small advances have colossal meaning

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Friday 30 June 2023 12:05 , Matt Mathers

British defence minister Ben Wallace announced that the top-tier, air launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles lent to Ukraine were striking targets with precision as the country continued to fight off Russias full-scale invasion clocking nearly 500 days.

Powered by a turbo-jet engine, the 1,300kg Storm Shadow travels at speeds of more than 600mph, is just over five metres long and has a wingspan of three metres.

After launch, the weapon, equipped with its own navigation system, descends to a low altitude to avoid detection before locking on to its target using an infra-red seeker.

Arpan Rai and Cameron Henderson report:

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Ukraine brings first charges for deporting Kherson orphans

Friday 30 June 2023 11:45 , Matt Mathers

Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson, some of them as young as one.

They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine, which says more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory, officials told Reuters.

The charges brought by Ukraines prosecutors follow a wider investigation carried out in cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of which visited the Kherson Childrens Home.

"It was not a one-day event. 48 children who were in the Kherson Region Childrens Home were forcibly displaced, deported," Yuliia Usenko, head of the department for the protection of childrens interests in Ukraines Prosecutor Generals office told Reuters. "We dont know how these children are, in what conditions they are kept, or what their fate is."

Russia Ukraine War Hidden Orphans (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Human Rights Watch reports new evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines

Friday 30 June 2023 11:12 , Matt Mathers

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that it uncovered new evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The group called on Ukraines government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.

"The Ukrainian governments pledge to investigate its militarys apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians," Steve Goose, Human Rights Watchs arms director, said in a statement.

HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.

Ukraines embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.

Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines "violates international humanitarian law ... because they are inherently indiscriminate," the report said.

Cambodia Ukraine Demining (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Friday 30 June 2023 10:30 , Matt Mathers

Ukraine troops are advancing in all directions, the countrys deputy defence minister has said.

If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions, Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television.

Kyiv launched its counteroffensive earlier this month and has since retaken control of a cluster of villages in southeast Russia.

Hanna Maliar, left (Washington Post photo by Erin O'Connor)

Kremlin could take formal control of Wagner

Friday 30 June 2023 09:53 , Chris Stevenson

Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin may seek to take "formal control" of the Wagner mercenary group and turn it into a state-owned enterprise in the wake of the armed uprising over the weekend  with the group operating in countries such as Syria, Mali and the Central African Republic in addition to Ukraine.

Sergei Vershinin, the Russian deputy foreign minister, reportedly flew to Syria to tell Bashar al Assad, the president, that Wagner will no longer operate as an independent organisation in the country, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.

Representatives of the Russian foreign ministry also reportedly told Faustin-Archange Touadera, president of the Central African Republic, and Malian leadership that Wagner will continue operations in their respective countries, it added.

"Putin claimed on June 27 that the Kremlin 'fully funds' and 'fully supplies' Wagner, and Russian officials may use Wagners existing status as a state-financed and supplied organisation to complete its formal nationalisation," the thinktank said in its latest update.

"The nationalisation of Wagner would likely aid in the Russian Ministry of Defence's effort to subsume existing Wagner personnel into the regular Russian Armed Forces through contracts.

"The Kremlin may intend to assume formal control over the Wagner Group following its armed rebellion and turn it into a state-owned enterprise, although it is not clear if the Kremlin has committed itself to such a course of action."

Footage appears to show explosions in Berdyansk

Friday 30 June 2023 09:13 , Matt Mathers

Video shared online appears to show explosions in the occupied city of Berdyansk.

On the Telegram messaging app, one of the Russian-imposed leaders in occupied Zaporizhzhia, Vladimir Rogov, shared the clip with this message:

According to preliminary data, the Ukrainian armed forces militants tried to strike this morning with Storm Shadow missiles.

The series of explosions heard is the result of the work of the Russian air defence, which successfully repelled an enemy attack on civilians on the outskirts of the city.

The clip has not been independently verified:

Didnt realise storm shadow missiles had the ability to draw Z letters. This footage from occupied Berdyansk this morning. pic.twitter.com/FdZv0zkux4  Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) June 30, 2023

Russia reducing personnel at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - Ukrainian intelligence

Friday 30 June 2023 08:56 , Matt Mathers

Russia is gradually reducing the number of personnel at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southern Ukraine, Ukraines military intelligence agency said on Friday.

It did not say why some people had left and Reuters could not independently verify the information. Russia, which has occupied the plant since March 2022, did not immediately comment on the assertion.

Kyiv accused Russia this month of planning a "terrorist" attack at the nuclear plant involving the release of radiation. Moscow denied the accusation.

"According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) said on the Telegram messaging app.

GUR said that among the first to leave the nuclear power station were three employees of Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom who had been "in charge of the Russians activities".

Russia Ukraine (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Russias true military expenditure uncertain due to lack of transparency

Friday 30 June 2023 08:12 , Matt Mathers

Russias true military expenditure remains uncertain due to a lack of transparency, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

The MoD said in a statement: In a June 2023 report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) assessed that Russias military spending budget for 2023 is around 6.6 trillion rubles (USD $85.8bn).

This equates to about 4.4 per cent of Russian GDP compared with 3.6 per cent in 2021, before the invasion of Ukraine.

Russias true military expenditure remains uncertain due to a lack of transparency, including the use of classified budget lines, which account for approximately 22 per cent of the Russian Governments total budget.

Although only part of the defence budget is spent on the war in Ukraine, the increase in spending highlights the cost of Russias activity in Ukraine.

In addition, Russia almost certainly faces extra direct budgetary defence costs due to the war, including security expenses in the occupied regions and defensive measures in regions bordering Ukraine.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 30 June 2023.



Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/ILW5iqvR7b



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/dVxlihVbhS  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) June 30, 2023

Hungary opposes EU plan to grant more money to Ukraine -PM Orban

Friday 30 June 2023 07:52 , Matt Mathers

Hungary rejects the European Commissions plans to grant more money to Ukraine and is not willing to contribute additional money to finance the EUs increased debt service costs, prime minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.

Orban, speaking on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, said it was a "ridiculous" request from the Commission that Hungary should contribute more money, when Budapest - along with Poland - has not received funds from the EUs Recovery Fund amid a rule of law dispute.

The European Union will provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros ($54.30 billion) in aid for 2024-27, the blocs president said on June 20. This comes after a review of the EUs 2021-27 shared budget, which has been depleted by the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and an energy crisis. High inflation and interest rates have also doubled debt-servicing costs.

"One thing is clear, we Hungarians ... will not give more money to Ukraine until they say where the previous around 70 billion euros worth of funds had gone," Orban said.

"And we find it utterly ridiculous and absurd, that we should contribute more money to finance debt service costs of a loan, from which we have still not received the funds we are entitled to get."

Hungary CPAC (MTVA - Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund)

Ukraine eyeing edge as Russian army distracted by infighting

Friday 30 June 2023 06:52 , Arpan Rai

Ukraines troops were given a boost of morale last week by an armed rebellion in Russia that posed the most significant threat to President Vladimir Putins power in more than two decades.

After postponing the ambush on Vladimir Putins fighters, Ukrainian commanders decided one recent night that conditions were finally right.

A battalion of Kyivs 129th brigade pressed ahead, advancing stealthily on unsuspecting Russian soldiers, in darkness.

By the time the Russians situated along the front line realized they were under attack, it was too late.

Ukraines recapture of the small village of Neskuchne in the eastern Donetsk region on June 10 encapsulates the opening strategy of a major counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

Small platoons bank on the element of surprise and, when successful, make incremental gains in territory and battlefield intelligence.

We had a few scenarios. In the end, I think we chose the best one. To come quietly, unexpectedly, said Serhii Zherebylo, the 41-year-old deputy commander of the battalion that retook Neskuchne.

Yet how the revolt by Wagner Group mercenaries under the command of Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin affects the trajectory of the war remains to be seen.

Ukraine aims to wear down and outsmart a Russian army distracted by infighting

New evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines seen, says HRW

Friday 30 June 2023 06:25 , Arpan Rai

Fresh evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022 has emerged from the war-hit nation, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

The evidence comes from Ukrainian forcess use of anti-personnel mines in 2002 came from photographs posted online by an individual working in eastern Ukraine that showed warhead sections of Uragan 220mm rockets.

The Ukrainian governments pledge to investigate its militarys apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians, Steve Goose, Human Rights Watchs arms director, said in a statement.

The group called on Ukraines government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.

HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.

Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.

Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines violates international humanitarian law... because they are inherently indiscriminate, the report said.

Mystery surrounds fate of Russias General Armageddon in wake of Wagner mutiny

Friday 30 June 2023 05:21 , Arpan Rai

Russias most senior generals have dropped out of public view after the failed mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries  with speculation swirling in Moscow that at least one of them has been detained.

That man is General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed General Armageddon by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

Armed forces chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov, has also not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday when mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin demanded Mr Gerasimov be handed over. Nor has he been mentioned in a defence ministry press release since 9 June.

A New York Times report, based on a US intelligence briefing, said on Tuesday that Mr Surovikin had advance knowledge of the mutiny and that Russian authorities were checking whether he was complicit.

Read the full story here:

Mystery surrounds fate of Russias General Armageddon in wake of Wagner mutiny

Wagner still in Ukraine after pulling out and mutiny debacle, says Pentagon

Friday 30 June 2023 04:38 , Arpan Rai

Pentagon has said Russian mercenary Wagner Group is operating in Ukraine despite pulling out of the war-hit nation and claiming to hand over control to Russian defence ministry fighters last month.

...on Wagner Group and its disposition, what I would tell you is, right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said.

He was answering a question in press briefing on a new home for Wagner Group in southern Belarus as per the satellite image from a former military base.

As it relates to Belarus, I dont have any updates to provide on that front. Ive seen the press reports that youre talking about. Clearly, thats something that well continue to keep an eye on, he said.

The official added that in terms of the future of Wagner Group, its a question best addressed by Russia.

That's really a question best addressed by Russia, which of course, as you know, funds the Wagner Group, and how they will be employed going throughout the rest of this, this conflict and  and elsewhere around the world, since, you know, as your colleague highlighted earlier, they also conduct operations in Africa, as well as Syria. So that's something that we'll continue to keep an eye on. It's just too early to tell right now, he said.

Trump says aborted mutiny somewhat weakened Putin

Friday 30 June 2023 03:59 , Arpan Rai

Former US president Donald Trump said his ally Vladimir Putin was somewhat weakened by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

You could say that hes (Putin) still there, hes still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people, he said.

I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war, Mr Trump, a long-time admirer of the Russian president, said.

The Republican leader did not rule out conceding of territory to Russia, which it has captured in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, by Kyiv, adding that the continuing war needs a negotiator.

Mr Trump and Mr Putin were allies during his tenure at the White House.

Everything would be subject to negotiation, if he were president, Mr Trump said, but added that Ukrainians who have waged a vigorous fight to defend their land have earned a lot of credit.

I think they would be entitled to keep much of what theyve earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we dont have that right now, he said.

Ukraine holds drills in Zaporizhzhia to prepare for radiation leaks from Russian-held nuclear plant

Friday 30 June 2023 03:00 , Joe Middleton

Dressed in white and yellow protective suits and armed with devices to detect radiation levels, Ukrainian emergency workers took part in a drill Thursday to prepare for a potential risk of radiation leakage from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Dozens of civilians joined the drill on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, located around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the nuclear power plant, Europes largest.

In a tent set up to provide first aid, emergency workers practiced hosing people down with soap and going through the motions of administering treatment to individuals who play-acted victims from possible radiation-affected areas.

Ukraine holds drills in Zaporizhzhia to prepare for radiation leaks from Russian-held nuclear plant

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: Small advances have colossal meaning

Friday 30 June 2023 02:00 , Joe Middleton

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraines army about Kyivs counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow  and hard-earned

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences: Small advances have colossal meaning

Mary Dejevsky - In the wake of mutiny, Putins weakened but far from finished

Friday 30 June 2023 01:00 , Joe Middleton

After a dramatic weekend, Putin is back in the Kremlin, doing staged walkabouts and wants the world to know that he is in charge, writes Mary Dejevsky. Whilst its tempting to conclude his days are numbered, its important to resist the spin

In the wake of mutiny, Putins weakened but far from finished | Mary Dejevsky

Mystery surrounds fate of Russias General Armageddon in wake of Wagner mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 23:59 , Joe Middleton

Russias most senior generals have dropped out of public view after the failed mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries  with speculation swirling in Moscow that at least one of them has been detained.

That man is General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed General Armageddon by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

Armed forces chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov, has also not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday when mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin demanded Mr Gerasimov be handed over. Nor has he been mentioned in a defence ministry press release since 9 June.

Mystery surrounds fate of Russias General Armageddon in wake of Wagner mutiny

Prigozhin face masks on sale in St Petersburg

Thursday 29 June 2023 23:00 , Sam Rkaina

The Wagner fighters - who have spearheaded some of Russias military actions in Ukraine - were cheered enthusiastically by residents in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday when they briefly took control of the southern Russian city. President Vladimir Putin described their actions as treason and a stab in the back.

People have also been purchasing other regalia, such as keyrings, on Wildberries rival Ozon.

Very beautiful and original keyring, wrote one five-star reviewer. In memory of all those in Wagners ranks who died.

Large numbers of Wagner fighters - including many former convicts granted their freedom in exchange for serving in Ukraine - have been killed on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Wildberries and Ozon declined to comment on Thursday on the surge in merchandise prices.

Elsewhere, Prigozhin face masks were on sale in St Petersburg, alongside those of Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny.

Under Saturdays deal that ended the mutiny, fighters of the Wagner group were allowed to join their leader Prigozhin in exile in Belarus, to be integrated into Russias regular armed forces or to return to their families.

Prigozhin (PRIGOZHIN PRESS SERVICE)

Prices for Wagner merch surge after mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 22:00 , Sam Rkaina

Online prices for merchandise bearing the insignia of Russias Wagner group - a human skull against a black and red backdrop - have shot up since its abortive armed mutiny, with buyers posting five-star reviews and support for the mercenaries.

Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin sent an armed convoy on a 1,200-km (750-mile) charge towards Moscow in protest over what he said was the incompetence and corruption of Russias military leadership. A deal brokered by the leader of Belarus abruptly halted the mutiny late on Saturday.

E-commerce leader Wildberries weekly price breakdowns showed how costs have risen. A patch depicting the skull that can be sewn onto clothes fetched 525 roubles ($6) in the period June 25-29, up sharply from 294 roubles during June 18-25.

Due to the situation in the country, the purchase was spontaneous, wrote one buyer, Tatiana.

Prices for a black T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a Wagner fighter holding a violin jumped this week to 1,650 roubles from 1,236 roubles.

On a review of a Wagner flag on Wildberries, one buyer, Vladimir, said: The Wagner Private Military Company is the best. Good luck to you guys. The flag is excellent.

Russia Belarus Wagner

Questions over whether Zelensky will attend Nato summit

Thursday 29 June 2023 21:00 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine believes its fight against Russias invasion demonstrates it is worthy of NATO admission and has also shown it is already a key part of transatlantic security.

One of the subplots in the summits run-up is whether Zelensky will attend.

The Ukrainian leader has said he sees no point in going to the summit if Kyiv is not given a signal at the meeting. His chief of staff said this week that Zelensky would decide on the eve of the summit whether or not to go.

His absence would overshadow any show of Western unity at the summit. The West has poured in vast amounts of military and financial assistance to help Ukraine hold its own against Russias February 2022 full-scale invasion.

But not turning up would also deprive Kyivs leadership of valuable face time with the leaders of Ukraines staunchest backers.

The final outcomes of major summits are typically the product of long-running negotiations and are often finalised shortly before the summit formally begins.

If there is no result at the Vilnius summit, he doesnt have reason and time to go, said Zhovkva.

Asked what the threshold was for Zelensky to attend, Zhovkva cited a speech to parliament in which the Ukrainian leader spoke of the importance of courage in todays world.

The president will not travel ... to the summit if the leaders will tend to or will show a deficit of courage, while Ukraine with all its courage, will and strength and high morale is fighting against Russian aggression, he said.

Zhovkva pointed to the cases of Finland and Sweden who applied for membership last year. Finland has already since become a member.

When Finland and Sweden submitted an application for membership last year, immediately in June last year the allies responded to the application ... inviting them to membership with NATO, he said.

Asked how close Ukraine was to receiving an invitation now, he said: We are closer than we were half a year ago. And still some time is left; much time is left in reality...

Ukraine wants invite to join Nato

Thursday 29 June 2023 20:00 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine wants to receive an invitation to begin the process of joining NATO at the military alliances summit next month, and President Volodymyr Zelensky will not attend if leaders do not show courage, a presidential aide said on Thursday.

Chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva told Reuters that Kyiv wanted the July 11-12 NATO summit in Vilnius to deliver a response to the application for NATO membership that Ukraine filed on Sept. 30 last year. This application is now on the tables of the leaders of NATO allies.

The Vilnius summit would be a very good start to respond to this application. And by respond, we mean invitation for membership, which is only the first stage, he said.

Kyivs allies are divided over how fast Ukraine should join NATO and some Western governments are wary of any move that might take the alliance closer to war with Russia.

In an interview in the heavily guarded presidents office in the Ukrainian capital, the Zelensky aide said Kyiv recognised it cannot join the 31-member bloc while Russia is waging war on Ukraine.

What we are asking for is to start the procedure, he said, banging the table at one point to drive his point home.

Mary Dejevsky - In the wake of mutiny, Putins weakened but far from finished

Thursday 29 June 2023 19:00 , Sam Rkaina

After a dramatic weekend, Putin is back in the Kremlin, doing staged walkabouts and wants the world to know that he is in charge, writes Mary Dejevsky. Whilst its tempting to conclude his days are numbered, its important to resist the spin.

If the minute-by-minute dramas of last weekend in Russia seem both a long way away and a long time ago, that is because a great many people want you to think that, or want you to see it in a new light. I can hardly remember a single episode in recent years that has passed so quickly from reality to myth  and competing myths at that.

But first, what is the actual situation in terms of politics and power now that the immediate dust has settled? Vladimir Putin is back in the Kremlin and wants you to know that he is in charge; that his authority is intact, and that he remains determined to run Russia and continue the war against Ukraine.

Click here for Marys full view.

Russian ambassador rules out Swiss-mediated peace talks

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:56 , Andy Gregory

Russia could not accept any Swiss-hosted peace summit on Ukraine after it joined European Union sanctions against Moscow, the Kremlins ambassador has said, claiming that Switzerland had lost its reputation for neutrality.

Earlier this month, Volodymyr Zelensky had suggested in a speech to the Swiss parliament that the country could act as a mediator.

But in an interview with Le Temps newspaper, Sergei Garmonin said Russia would not accept that Switzerland, which traditionally has served as a location for high-level talks between feuding powers, host such a summit.

Swiss representation and mediation are out of the question, Mr Garmonin said. Switzerland has unfortunately lost its status as a neutral state and can no longer act as a mediator or as a representative of interests.

Ukraine ready for challenges posed by Russia after Zaporizhzhia drill

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:29 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine is ready for the challenges Russia posed, its deputy energy minister has said, as Kyiv conducted nuclear disaster drills near the Zaporizhiza power plant  where it claims Russia may be planning a terrorist attack involving the release of radiation.

Yuriy Malashko, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region that includes the plant, said the drills in Zaporizhzhia city and the district around it were intended to coordinate the response of all services to an emergency situation at the plant.

Footage broadcast by Reuters showed rescuers in yellow and white protective gear and gas masks, using dosimeters to check passenger cars and trucks for radiation levels and then cleaning wheels before vehicles underwent additional decontamination at specialised washing points. A man on a stretcher was brought into a medical tent as sirens blared.

Of course, it is scary. I fear for my family, my child, What do we do? It is very scary, Tetyana, 45, told the news agency of the threat of a real disaster as rescuers checked her for radiation in the drill.

Officials and civil defence forces worked on scenarios that might follow a nuclear disaster, and on how to inform and evacuate the population.

We have assumed the worst scenario, in which the contamination zone will be bigger than 50 kilometres. This would mean four regions would be affected, Yurii Vlasenko, a deputy energy minister, said, adding that the results of the drill were good and Ukraine was ready for the challenges Russia posed.

Officials attend anti-radiation drills for case of an emergency situation at Zaporizhzhia (REUTERS/Stringer)

Nato members closing in on compromise on Ukrainian accession, says US ambassador

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:04 , Andy Gregory

Nato members are closing in on a compromise on Ukraines membership aspirations which may set out how Kyiv could join the military alliance, Washingtons ambassador has said.

Ukraine has been pressing Nato to declare at a summit in Vilnius next month that Kyiv will join the alliance soon after Russias war comes to an end and to set out a roadmap to membership.

The US diplomat, Julianne Smith, said she was confident Nato would agree on a text that went beyond a declaration in Bucharest from 2008, which said Ukraine would join the alliance but did not say when or how.

Most of us feel confident that we are going to be able to come to an agreement that will reflect where we are and that the Ukrainians will believe and feel is something above and beyond restating Bucharest, Ms Smith told reporters.

Ms Smith said the text on Ukraine, intended to be issued as part of a communique at the Vilnius summit, was still under negotiation and she declined to share precise language. But asked if it could address the question of how Ukraine would join the alliance, she replied: It could, yes. I think thats possible.

Ms Smith said the text could be agreed before the summit, to which Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited.

Nato should consider allowing Ukraine to skip key membership requirement, says Ben Wallace

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:45 , Andy Gregory

Nato should look at allowing Ukraine to bypass a major requirement for joining the alliance, Britains defence minister Ben Wallace has said.

Any move to ditch or circumvent the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as part of its pathway to joining the alliance  which is designed to help candidates meet certain political, economic and military criteria  could speed up Kyivs accession.

I think we should absolutely look at skipping the Membership Action Plan, Mr Wallace said at a joint press conference alongside his Canadian counterpart in London.

But of course, we have to put some realism in this space that there are 31 members of Nato now and, you know, we have to all move together.

Mr Wallace said he could not guarantee agreement on that step ahead of next months Nato summit in Lithuania, but said it could be possible to remove other barriers to their membership.

Visiting Ukraine steels my resolve to do my part, says Pence

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:22 , Andy Gregory

Visiting Ukraine steels my resolve to do my part, US presidential hopeful Mike Pence has said, as he became the first Republican candidate to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky.

The former vice president has been a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin and full-throated supporter of Ukraine, as he challenges his former boss Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, who has declined to say that he wants Ukraine to win the war, instead calling for a negotiated solution.

Mr Pence currently trails Mr Trump by over 30 points in most polls among Republican primary voters, who will chose next year's candidate.

Prigozhin mutiny will have visible aftershocks, say Western leaders

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:07 , Andy Gregory

Yegnevy Prigozhins shortlived mutiny has shown deep cracks in Vladimir Putins regime and will cause visible aftershocks, Western leaders have claimed, as they gathered for a meeting in Brussels.

The mutiny we saw at the weekend demonstrates that there are cracks and divisions within the Russian system. At the same time, it is important to underline that these are internal Russian matters, said Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg on arrival at the summit.

EU leaders agreed. This showed deep cracks in Putins system. This mutiny of last weekend will also have aftershocks that we will see, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania insisted it was all the more reason to take a robust posture toward Vladimir Putin.

Some colleagues sometimes say that a strong Putin is less dangerous than a weak Putin. I dont agree with that. We have to move forward and be decisive, because now is a crucial moment of history, he said.

Mike Pence meets with Zelensky in Kyiv, report claims

Thursday 29 June 2023 15:37 , Andy Gregory

Former US vice president Mike Pence has met with Volodymyr Zelensky in a visit to Kyiv, NBC News reports.

Mr Pence formally launched his US presidential campaign earlier this month, in doing so taking on his old boss Donald Trump, after their relationship came to a bitter end during the 6 January riots at the Capitol building in Washington.

(Getty Images)

Two civilians killed in Russian shelling of Kherson refuge point, authorities say

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:49 , Andy Gregory

Two people have been killed and two others wounded in Russian shelling of a refuge for civilians known as an invincibility point in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Thursday, the regional governor said.

Two local people were killed and two more are in hospital in moderate condition, governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

Satellite images of Belarus military base chime with reports of new facilities for Wagner

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:30 , Andy Gregory

Satellite images of a military base southeast of the Belarus capital Minsk appear to show new facilities have been set up in recent days  suggesting that a base for Wagner is being swiftly constructed.

Russian outlets have reported that Wagner could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 50 miles from Minsk.

Images captured by the European Space Agencys Sentinel 2 satellites on Tuesday show rows of long structures in the nearby village of Tsel, in a field which had appeared empty just a fortnight prior.

A satellite image appears to show new facilities set up recently, at a military base in Tse (European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2/Handout via REUTERS)

(via REUTERS)

EU security assurances would be in addition to military support, says Dutch PM

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:09 , Andy Gregory

The European Union still needs to decide the shape and form of the security assurances it wishes to give Ukraine, Dutch premier Mark Rutte has said, as he arrived at todays meeting in Brussels.

This European track would be additional [to military support], Mr Rutte said.

We will have to discuss how far it goes, and if it would be lethal or non-lethal support. And we have to take into account that several EU countries are not a member of Nato.

Neutral EU states object to security assurances for Ukraine, says Austrian chancellor

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:48 , Andy Gregory

EU countries with a neutral foreign policy object to giving Ukraine outright security assurances, Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer has said, ahead of a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels.

For us as neutral states it is clear we cant give security guarantees like that. Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus have made it clear they have objections, Mr Nehammer told reporters.

The role of the neutral states needs to be explicitly taken into account. We will certainly discuss this and we will find formulations that will be acceptable for us as well.

BRICS summit to go ahead in South Africa despite Putin arrest warrant

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:29 , Andy Gregory

South Africa has announced it will host the BRICS bloc summit in August as planned, amid speculation that it may move to China so that Vladimir Putin can attend in a nation not obliged to arrest him on war crimes accusations.

South Africa has a duty as a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Mr Putin if he attends the talks between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, due to an arrest warrant over the deportation of children from Ukraine  which he denies.

Just 12 days after president Cyril Ramaphosa met with Mr Putin in Moscow, South Africas international relations department has now confirmed the summit will go ahead in South Africa from 22 to 24 August.

A spokesperson for the international relations department declined to comment to Reuters on whether or not Mr Putin will attend, with the departments minister revealing on Tuesday that the Russian president had not yet replied to an invitation sent prior to the ICCs charges in March.

Chinese president Xi Jinping, Indias prime minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are all said to be planning to attend.

British satirical newspaper takes aim at Putin-Prigozhin tensions

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:11 , Andy Gregory

Seizing the chance for a rare moment of levity in coverage of Ukraine, British fortnightly Private Eye has taken aim at the aborted coup by Putins chef, Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Satirising an oft-used picture of Mr Prigozhin serving Mr Putin dinner, the magazine shows the Wagner chief serving up coup of the day, as the president complains of terrible feud.

I wondered which Putin pics would be the Eyes choice of cover this week - all of them ! pic.twitter.com/fCBuL9Bs03  MichaelWhite (@michaelwhite) June 29, 2023

Russia claims generals killed in Kramatorsk strike which left four children dead'

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:55 , Andy Gregory

Russia claims to have killed two Ukrainian generals and 50 military officers in the attack on a Kramatorsk restaurant, which Kyiv authorities said had killed 12 people, including four children, two of them 14-year-old twin sisters.

Officials initially blamed the strike on an S-300 missile, a surface-to-air weapon that Russias forces have repurposed for loosely targeted strikes on cities, but the National Police later said Iskander short-range ballistic missiles were used  raising the prospect of a war crime under the principle of proportionality.

Yulia and Anna Aksenchenko, who were 14 years old, are said to have been among those killed in the Russian strike (Kramatorsk City Council)

Kramatorsk is a front-line city which houses the Ukrainian army's regional headquarters. The pizza restaurant was frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers, as well as locals.

At least 61 people were wounded in the attack, which also damaged 18 multi-story buildings, 65 houses, five schools, two kindergartens, a shopping center, an administrative building and a recreational building, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Despite these reports, Russias defence ministry sought to claim on Thursday that two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 Ukrainian military officers had been killed in the strike, insisting that a temporary Ukrainian army command post had been hit in Kramatorsk.

Top EU diplomat suggests long-term Ukraine Defence Fund

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:29 , Andy Gregory

The European Union needs to consider turning the European Peace Facility that has been used to fund weapons for Kyiv into a more permanent tool to arm the country in the long term, the EUs foreign policy chief has suggested.

We talk about security commitments. From my side, it means military support for Ukraine has to have a long haul ... during the war and after the war, Josep Borrell told reporters as he arrived for an EU summit in Brussels.

So the European Peace Facility for Ukraine maybe has to become a Ukraine Defence Fund  the training has to continue, the modernisation of the army has to continue.

Prigozhin told Wagner will no longer fight in Ukraine, Russian MP claims

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:11 , Andy Gregory

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been told that he will be deprived of financing if his mercenaries do not sign contracts with the defence ministry, state news agencies have cited a senior parliamentarian as saying.

Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, an influential politician who chairs the lower house of parliament's defence committee, said Mr Prigozhin had refused to sign the contracts and was subsequently told that his mercenaries would no longer fight in Ukraine, Tass reported.

Ukraine conducting nuclear disaster drills near Zaporizhzhia plant, says regional governor

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:54 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine has started nuclear disaster response drills in the vicinity of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, regional officials said, where Kyiv has accused Moscow of planning a terrorist attack  which the Kremlin denies.

Yuriy Malashko, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region which includes the plant, which is Europes largest, said the drills had begun in the city of Zaporizhzhia and the district around it.

Similar exercises started in the neighbouring Kherson region, Kherson region governor Oleksander Prokudin said.

The purpose of the event is to coordinate the actions of all services in case of a real threat of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, he said Telegram, urging residents to remain calm.

Mr Prokudin said various officials and civil defence forces were working jointly on scenarios that might follow a nuclear disaster, and on how to inform and evacuate the population. Authorities were testing alert systems.

Kremlin says it does not know whereabouts of General Armageddon'

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:25 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has declined to answer questions about General Sergei Surovikin, who is claimed in reports to have been arrested for having knowledge of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhins weekend rebellion.

The former commander in Ukraine, nicknamed General Armageddon for his wanton tactics during the Syrian war, has been absent from view since Saturday, when he appeared in a video appealing to Mr Prigozhin to halt his mutiny.

He had looked exhausted in that video and it was unclear if he was speaking under duress. There have since been unconfirmed reports that he is being questioned by the security services.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred questions about Surovikin to the defence ministry, which has so far not made any statement about him.

Asked if Mr Surovikin still had Vladimir Putins trust, Mr Peskov said that, as commander-in-chief of Russias armed forces, Mr Putin worked with the defence minister and the chief of the general staff.

Mr Peskov said he did not have information about Mr Prigozhins whereabouts at the present time.

Strong support for Putin remains among Russians, Kremlin insists

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:06 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has insisted that there is continued strong support among Russians for its war in Ukraine and for Vladimir Putin.

Asked by reporters about a survey suggesting there was an equal number of people who supported negotiations to end the 16-month military operation in Ukraine and those who favoured continuing the conflict, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: The data we have show something quite different - dominant support for the special military operation and for the president.

The main thing for Russians is achieving the goals before us which were formulated by the president, he added.

Full report: Russia arrests General Armageddon over knowledge of Wagner mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:35 , Andy Gregory

A top Russian general has reportedly been arrested for having knowledge of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhins weekend rebellion.

General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed General Armageddon by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, has been missing since Saturday when Wagners troops launched an armed revolt.

The 56-year-old second-in-command of the Russian armed forces is said to be under interrogation. Apparently, he [Surovikin] chose Prigozhins side during the uprising and they have gotten ahold of him, the Moscow Times quoted a source as saying.

My colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has the full report:

Russia arrests General Armageddon over knowledge of Wagner mutiny

Aircraft shot down by Wagner played key role in orchestrating Russian troops in Ukraine, says UK

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:24 , Andy Gregory

A command and control aircraft reportedly shot down by Wagner during its aborted mutiny played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces in Ukraine and will undermine Moscows ability to coordinate its troops, Britains Ministry of Defence has claimed.

In its latest update, the ministry said: On 24 June, air defence forces of the Wagner private military company reportedly shot down Russian military helicopters and an Ilyushin Il-22M airborne command post aircraft.

The Il-22M is part of a relatively small fleet of up to 12 aircraft, heavily utilised for both airborne command and control, and radio relay tasks. These special mission aircraft have played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces in their war against Ukraine.

As high value assets they have operated within the safety of Russian airspace, far beyond the range of Ukrainian air defence systems.

The loss of this aircraft is likely to have a negative impact on Russian air and land operations. In the short term the psychological shock of losing a large number of aircrew in this manner will almost certainly damage morale within the Russian Aerospace Force.

In the longer term, there is a possibility that current tasking levels may have to be reduced to safely manage the remaining fleet. This will likely undermine Russia's ability to command and coordinate its forces, particularly during periods of high tempo operations.

Kyiv advancing slowly but surely on frontlines as Russia bringing in best reserves'

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:03 , Andy Gregory

Kyivs forces are advancing slowly but surely on the front lines in Ukraines east and southeast  and around Bakhmut  senior military officials have said.

Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzhniy told top US general Mark Milley that his forces had succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative, and told him about weapons and demining equipment required by Kyivs forces.

Ukraines defence forces are proceeding with their offensive action and we have made advances. The enemy is offering strong resistance, while sustaining considerable losses, Zaluzhniy wrote on Telegram.

Defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov told the Financial Times that the liberation of a group of villages was not the main event in the offensive.

His deputy Hanna Maliar noted advances towards the occupied cities of Berdiansk and Mariupol, telling a national broadcaster: Every day, there is an advance. Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure.

She cited the recapture this week of the village of Rivnopol in the southeast, saying mopping up operations were complete and that the army was now well dug in  with the Russian military now diverting forces to both Bakhmut and the southern front.

They are redirected their paratroops and assault brigades to both the south and the east, she said. They are bringing in their best reserves now.

A Ukrainian service member fire a machine gun at a training ground near a frontline in Donetsk (REUTERS)

Watch: Footage shows of scale destruction after Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

Thursday 29 June 2023 09:45 , Andy Gregory

Kramatorsk death toll rises to 12

Thursday 29 June 2023 09:22 , Andy Gregory

Rescuers have pulled another body from the ruins of a restaurant in Kramatorsk, taking to 12 the death toll following a Russian missile strike, Ukraines emergency services said.

Three children were among the dead, while 60 more people were wounded, the authorities said.

(National Police of Ukraine via AP)

EU shouldnt lower the bar to accommodate Ukraine, says Danish finance minister

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:54 , Andy Gregory

Denmark supports EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans but geopolitical circumstances did not justify skating over governance reforms, finance minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen has said.

The EU risks importing instability if it relaxes its standards on democracy and corruption to hasten the accession of Ukraine and other candidate countries, Mr Rasmussen told the Financial Times.

Asked about Ukraines membership in the EU, Mr Rasmussen said that EU shouldnt lower the bar but instead help Ukraine with investments and assistance to help it align with the blocs standards, the FT reported.

Although Ukraine met two of seven conditions to launch the EU membership process, an EU official familiar with the blocs recommendations to Ukraine told Reuters that some key judicial reforms were needed.

In 2019, the European Commission proposed changes to the system for letting new countries into the EU to give existing members more say, after countries including France and Denmark objected to the expansion of the EU to include six countries in the Balkans.

Mr Rasmussen said Denmark had reversed its position and was even open to internal EU reform, including more majority voting, to accommodate new members.

Papal envoy to meet Patriarch Kirill in Moscow, say reports

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:27 , Andy Gregory

Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, will meet in Moscow on Thursday, the state-backed RIA news agency reported.

It comes a day after Mr Zuppi discussed humanitarian issues with Vladimir Putins foreign policy adviser, according to the Kremlin.

EU leaders to debate Russia mutiny today

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

EU leaders will debate today the repercussions of the aborted mutiny in Russia as they pledge further support for Ukraine in its war against Moscows invasion.

At a summit in Brussels, the leaders will also talk with Nato boss Jens Stoltenberg and discuss what role the EU could play in Western commitments to bolster Ukraines security.

Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas said the leaders were certain to discuss Saturdays dramatic abandoned mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, even though it is not on the agenda of the summit or mentioned in drafts of its written conclusions.

It will definitely come up, she told reporters in Brussels on the eve of the two-day summit.

The West should not be swayed and continue to support Ukraine and bolster its own defences, Ms Kallas said.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, struck a similar note.

Ever more in these circumstances, we will reassert our commitment to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through sustainable financial and military assistance, he wrote in a letter inviting leaders to the summit.

Footage shows aftermath of Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

Thursday 29 June 2023 07:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Residents in Ukraines eastern city of Kramatorsk are dealing with the aftermath of a Russian missile attack on a crowded pizza restaurant.

Footage shows the destruction on the streets of the city, which are covered in debris following the deadly attack on Tuesday evening.

The strike killed at least nine people, including three children, authorities said Wednesday, as rescue workers continued searching in the destroyed buildings rubble.

Another 56 people were injured, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

Footage shows scale of destruction after Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

US sanctions gold companies suspected of supporting Wagner mercenaries

Thursday 29 June 2023 07:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The US moved on Tuesday to punish companies accused of doing business with the infamous Russian mercenary army known as the Wagner Group, following the groups insurrection attempt within Russias borders.

The move is not thought to be specifically related to the coup, however, instead being a response to Wagners participation in some of the bloodiest fighting taking place within Ukraine, where Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion last year.

A statement from the Treasury Department faulted companies in Africa and the Middle East for participating in a gold-selling scheme in violation of US sanctions to fund the Wagner Groups ongoing activities. One executive at Wagner, Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov, was also slapped with individual sanctions on his financial dealings.

John Bowden has more.
Kakhovka HPP

The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine has assessed the cost of the direct damage caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and dam to be worth at least $2 billion, the press service of the ministry reported on June 30.

The analysis by experts from the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the President's Office, and the Kyiv School of Economics, includes losses in the housing and utilities sector, as well as energy, agriculture, transportation, environment, and industry.

"We continue to record the damage and calculate the losses caused by Russia's demolition of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam," said Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.

The housing stock of Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts suffered serious losses. Direct damage from the flooding of private homes and related infrastructure is estimated at $950 million. More than a quarter of the total amount of damage  $586 million  is related to the destruction of the hydroelectric power plant itself, which will have to be built from scratch.

Read also: Who and what may suffer most from Kakhovka dam destruction  expert interview

Svyrydenko said that the Ministry of Environment has separately assessed the environmental damage to be worth at least $1.5 billion. One of the ministrys top priorities now is to provide the affected regions with clean drinking water.

"The budget committee has approved the allocation of $41 million (UAH 1.5 billion) for the construction of main water pipelines," said Svyrydenko.

The experts provided a breakdown of approximate estimates of losses in various industries. They include:

Housing: $950 million in losses. About 20,000-30,000 houses in Kherson Oblast and more than 500 private houses in Mykolaiv Oblast are estimated to have been flooded.

Energy sector: $624 million in losses. The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant was destroyed and cannot be restored, with damage of $586 million in the total losses of the sector. The cost of a new hydroelectric power plant will reach $1 billion.

Transportation and infrastructure: $311 million in losses. More than 290 kilometers of roads were damaged by the flood.

Industry: $105 million in losses, 28 large industrial facilities located on the right and left banks of the Dnipro River were flooded.

Read also: 20,000 animals may have died due to Kakhovka dam destruction, Ukraine says

Agriculture: $25 million in losses.

Environment and ecology: $1.5 billion in losses. About 150 tons of oil leaked during the dam explosion. The salinity level of the Black Sea near Odesa is almost three times lower than normal.

On June 6, at about 3 a.m., Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and dam.

As a result, 80 settlements were flooded and 16,000 people had to be evacuated.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Russias actions an act of ecocide.

The Office of the Prosecutor General has opened proceedings under the articles of the Criminal Code on Ecocide and Violation of the Traditions and Customs of War.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The perpetrator was arrested in Kharkiv

Ukraines SBU security service has detained three Russian agents in the city of Kharkiv who were collecting intelligence to help guide missile strikes on the city, the security service reported on Telegram on June 30.

The suspects also collected intelligence on the whereabouts and movement of Ukrainian forces in the region, primarily those units involved in the counter-offensive on the eastern front.

The suspects reportedly collected data on the movement and storage sites of foreign weapons and ammunition, and sent them to Russian security services.

A former lecturer at a local military college turned out to be one of the agents. He was recruited at the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The SBU officers found mobile phones and computer equipment with evidence of correspondence between the perpetrators and their Russian handlers.

Read also: SBU detains Kharkiv-based top Russian spy monitoring Ukrainian military

The suspects have been charged with treason committed under martial law and remanded in custody without bail. They face life imprisonment if convicted.

Earlier on June 12, Ukraines SBU detained one of Russias top intelligence agents, who was operating a network that collected data on Ukrainian defenses near the Russian border.

The SBU also detained a Russian agent in the southern city of Mykolayiv on June 22, who was guiding missiles to target local factories, as well as leaking intelligence data on the movement of Ukrainian military equipment.

He faces 12 years in prison.

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Ukraine is closer to receiving ATACMS from the U.S.

Ukraine appears to be a step closer to obtaining the U.S.-produced Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) short-range ballistic missiles, which can hit targets at about 200 miles away with a significantly more powerful kinetic punch than any other precision guided weapon in Kyiv's arsenal today.

Close, is how Ukrainian Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov described to The War Zone Kyivs timeline for obtaining the long-range weapons system that the Biden administration has so far refused to provide. Budanovs take comes after The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported that the Kyiv has recently received "positive signs" of such a transfer from Washington.

https://twitter.com/Flash_news_ua/status/1674470125762748417

Kyiv had received positive signs in recent weeks that the U.S. had come around on the ATACMS system, the Journal said it was told by a senior Ukrainian defense official.

Ukraine has long sought ATACMS to strike deeper into Russian-held territory, in particular targets on the Crimean peninsula occupied since 2014. In addition to being a base to launch drone attacks, the peninsula is also home to Russias Black Sea Fleet, several air bases and serves as a symbol of Vladimir Putins imperialistic intentions. Being able to hit targets in Crimea could help Kyiv achieve its long-stated goal of liberating it along with the rest of the country still occupied by Russia.

The value of such long-range strike weapons was likely shown on June 22, when the Chongar Bridge, a key span linking Crimea and Kherson Oblast, was hit. Russian officials claimed the bridge was struck by a U.K.-provided Storm Shadow air-launched, conventionally armed cruise missile.

https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1671955067958689797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1671955067958689797%7Ctwgr%5E6352d5c87a89b970b7e8f61bce9e4547a998a0cc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_\u0026ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraine-strikes-key-bridge-to-crimea-hints-at-more-long-range-attacks

Those weapons, with an officially stated range of at least 155 miles (the non-export configuration is nearly double that), were recently praised by British Defense Minister Ben Wallace for their effectiveness.

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1673603434694553601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1673603434694553601%7Ctwgr%5E59eb34f0a85f01c09e6307034046c07d31f5c030%7Ctwcon%5Es1_\u0026ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Fukraine-situation-report-u-s-replenishes-kyivs-bradley-fighting-vehicle-force

But ATACMS can strike even hardened targets far away, including the Kerch Bridge, Putins prized $4 billion span linking Crimea with Russia attacked last fall.

Officials said that the matter is pending approval at the highest levels and that the deliberations could continue while the U.S. assesses the situation on the ground in Ukraine, the Journal reported. Officials in the U.S. and Europe have seen signs, however, that previously reluctant quarters of the U.S. government, namely the White House, have come to see an urgent need to bolster Ukraines fight in the coming weeks.

The Pentagon on Thursday said there was nothing imminent about the delivery of ATACMS to Ukraine.

I don't have anything to announce regarding ATACMS, and certainly, I'm not aware of any imminent decisions as it relates to ATACMS, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagons top spokesman told reporters, including from The War Zone, on Thursday.

The Biden administration has expressed three main hesitations in providing ATACMS to Ukraine. One is concern that Kyiv will use them against targets within Russian territory, something it has repeatedly avowed it would not. Another is a matter of how many the U.S. has, as it weighs their need in potential future conflicts. There are also significant concerns that giving Ukraine ballistic missiles would be viewed as a major escalation and could widen the war.

https://youtu.be/Ipr_hPAcR_Q

Lockheed Martin has produced about 4,000 ATACMS in various configurations over the past two decades, according to Politico. Some have been sold to allied nations, which bought the missile for their own multiple rocket launcher systems, while about 600 were fired by U.S. forces in combat. Some of these may have been retired from service or fired in training and testing, as well. ATACMS is seen a critical weapon that would be needed in a peer conflict. Until its successor - the Precision Strike Missile (PSM) - arrives in large numbers, the existing inventory is viewed as strategically important to maintain.

Asked whether the U.S. was holding off giving ATACMS to Ukraine until there are enough PSMs on hand to backfill that critical resource, Ryder said we're going to constantly look at a variety of capabilities based on what Ukraine's most urgent needs are we'll just continue to keep that dialogue open.

Clearly, ATACMS would give Ukraine an additional edge, something that would be a big help to strike against Russian logistic nodes as its nearly month-old counteroffensive grinds on at heavy cost.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, also appears closer to providing Ukraine with cluster munitions. You can read more about such munitions - like the controversial 155mm Dual-Purpose Conventional Improved Munition (DPICM) artillery cluster shells - and what they could bring to the table for Ukraine here.

CNN is reporting that U.S. officials told it a final decision is expected soon from the White House. If approved, the weapons could be included in a new military aid package to Ukraine as soon as next month.

These would undoubtedly have a significant battlefield impact, a US official told CNN.

https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1674547844093562880

We will update this story when there is more news to report about ATACMS and cluster munitions.

Before we head into the latest news from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can catch up on our previous rolling coverage here.

The Latest

On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces continue to advance slowly but surely on the front lines in the east and southeast of the country, according to senior military officials. They also confirm that Ukrainian troops are also making progress around Bakhmut, which was the scene of months of heavy fighting earlier in the conflict before the city fell into Russian hands.

In the words of Ukrainian commander-in-chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative. Zaluzhnyi was addressing the chair of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley.

https://twitter.com/Belsat_Eng/status/1674354231497687040

Meanwhile, further details of Ukrainian advances came from the countrys Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar, who in a national television interview described advances in sectors in the south around the Russian-occupied cities of Berdyansk and Mariupol. Every day, there is an advance, Maliar said. Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure.

In the direction of Berdyansk, in particular, Maliar claimed that Ukrianian troops have advanced by 1,400 yards.

In a more detailed description posted on her Telegram channel Thursday, Maliar also pointed to ongoing offensive operations that are continuing in the directions of Melitopol and Bakhmut.

She described success in gnawing away at every meter of land from the enemy in a heavy duel.

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1674476675583582229

As for Bakhmut, here Russia is trying to hold the occupied positions, carries out counterattacks, but gradually retreats after suffering losses, Maliar said.

In general, it is hot again in the Bakhmut direction, fierce battles continue, she added. The enemy pulls up reserves there and clings to Bakhmut with all its strength.

https://twitter.com/ukikaski/status/1674369472872718337?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

Meanwhile, the deputy minister of defense confirmed that Russia is continuing its offensive in the direction of Lymansky, Avdiyivskyi, and Mariinsky, albeit unsuccessfully.

Maliar also provided an update on the fighting around Rivnopil, one of the latest in a cluster of villages in Donetsk Oblast that are being liberated in the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

In the direction of RivnopilVolodyne, our forces are successful, now they are entrenched on the achieved lines and inflict serious losses on the enemy," Maliar said. In fact, the offensive potential of the enemy is bled to death, destroying equipment, warehouses, control points, and personnel.

https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1674517300190363649

The status of Russian Gen. Sergei Surovikin, commander of the Aerospace Forces and erstwhile ally of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozin, remains somewhat up in the air.

A day after the Moscow Times reported Surovikin was arrested for his role in Prigozhins aborted mutiny, Financial Times and The Associated Press report that he is being detained.

Surovikin is believed to have been detained days after mercenaries staged a revolt inside Russia, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday, citing U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.

Financial Times added that it remains unclear whether Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russias invasion force in Ukraine and head of its aerospace forces, has been charged as a plotter in the uprising or simply detained for interrogation, and where he is being held.

https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1674393673839128577

The man known as General Armageddon for his brutal bombardment tactics in Syria that he later carried out in Ukraine, could be in a world of trouble.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Surovikin knew about Prigozhins plot in advance. Thursday, CNN reported that it saw documents indicating Surovikin is a VIP member of Wagner.

The documents, obtained by the Russian investigative Dossier Center, showed that Surovikin had a personal registration number with Wagner, CNN reported.

As it pertains to press reports involving the potential detainment of Russian military personnel. I don't have anything to provide from the podium on that, Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Thursday.

Meanwhile, Budanov, the GUR honcho, told us earlier Thursday that he does not have enough information to know Surovikins status. You can read more about that in our interview here.

https://twitter.com/haltman/status/1674465592034701332

The Polish government announced today that it expects to get funds from the European Union to strengthen its eastern border, as it seeks to tighten security in a direct response to the presence of Wagner troops in Belarus.

It is difficult for us to exclude today that the presence of the Wagner group in Belarus could pose a potential threat to Poland, which shares a border with Belarus, a threat to Lithuania  as well as potentially to Latvia, the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, said today during a visit to Kyiv.

The move comes as satellite images emerged showing a build up of Wagner forces in Belarus, according to Reuters.

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1674395369570983937

More strengthening of the Polish Armed Forces is also coming in the shape of U.S.-provided M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks. The first 14 of these tanks, a companys worth, arrived at the port of Szczecin yesterday.

In a statement, Mariusz Baszczak, the Polish Minister of Defense, said: In April last year and January this year, I signed two agreements with our American partner for the acquisition of 366 Abrams tanks for the Polish Army. Today, the first Abrams tanks are already on Polish soil. This is an important day in the history of the Polish Army [and] an important day in the history of Polish-American cooperation. We have achieved so much in such a short time.

https://twitter.com/Poland_MOD/status/1674080819336413186?s=20

The Polish Army is slated to receive another two companies of Abrams this year, and another full battalion in 2024. Eventually, Poland will receive 116 M1A1s and 250 of the more advanced M1A2 SEPV3 versions of the Abrams.

The first Polish crews have already trained on the tanks with the U.S. Army. At first, tankers from the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade, part of the 18th Mechanized Division, responsible for the security of eastern Poland, have been trained on the new tanks. The training unit, known as the Abrams Academy, has already received 28 secondhand M1A2 SEP V.2 Abrams, acquired under a separate deal, and operated by U.S. Army instructors in Poznan.

Of the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade, Baszczak said: So, theyre about to take over these tanks and theyre going to be equipped, and theyre going to be a truly impenetrable barrier  Our task is to deter the aggressor, to prevent the aggressor from invading Polish territory, he added.

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1674018545070424065

Meanwhile, one possible source of additional tanks for Ukraine has been closed off, for now, with the Swiss Federal Councils decision to block the transfer of Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks.

In a complicated arrangement, the 96 Leopard 1A5s had been purchased from the Italian Ministry of Defense in 2016, by RUAG, a Swiss state-owned defense company. The tanks had since been held in storage in Italy. In 2022, German defense firm Rheinmetall asked RUAG whether it could purchase the tanks before refurbishing them and then delivering them to Ukraine.

The Swiss Federal Council yesterday deemed the transfer of the tanks to be incompatible with the countrys policy of neutrality and its rule of law. Such a sale would, in particular, be in contradiction with the law on war material and would lead to a change in Switzerlands policy of neutrality, the council said.

The decision has led to some controversy among Swiss lawmakers, with a number pushing for a change in policy that would allow re-export of Swiss-made weapons to countries at war, specifically in the case of providing defense against Russias invasion of Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1674270683986030595

More from Switzerland, now, with Russia ruling out the country as a potential location for peace talks. While Switzerland has been resistant to approving exports of arms to Ukraine, Moscow argues that the Alpine country has lost its status as a neutral state due to its support for European Union sanctions on Russia. This was confirmed by Sergei Garmonin, Russias ambassador to Switzerland.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier this month invited Switzerland to host a global peace summit on Ukraine.

https://twitter.com/amandarivkin/status/1674434954036649984

With Taiwan retiring its HAWK anti-aircraft systems today, we asked the Pentagon if those weapons might be eventually transferred to Ukraine, which already is using donated HAWKs.

Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, referred us to Taiwan.

https://twitter.com/ryankakiuchan/status/1674397013818093568?s=20

Ukraine continues to receive foreign donated munitions, in this case Serbian M62P10 120mm high explosive fragmentation mortar shells.

https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1674485823348023301?s=20

Russia meanwhile, continues to build cope cages in an attempt to protect its armor against Ukrainian drones. In this image below, a T-72B tank has a roof screen that looks a lot like a lanai seen over pools in Florida.

https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1674479174814146573?s=20

There is also video of nearly a dozen Russian BMPs so equipped rushing to the front lines near the Dnipro River.

https://twitter.com/region776/status/1674431854915772416?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

If you want to see the struggles of war and the desperate fight troops have to save their comrades, watch this video of Ukrainian forces working frantically to dig out one of their cadre from a collapsed trench.

https://twitter.com/seveerity/status/1674472607024832513

You can also watch Ukrainian forces clear a trench in this video below.

https://twitter.com/anno1540/status/1674456338485719045?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A

Russia continues its bombardment of Ukraine, with more civilians being killed and injured in recent shelling.

The regional governor responsible for the city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, reported two people killed and two wounded by Russian shelling of a civilian refuge today.

Russian shelling in the Ukraine-controlled portion of Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine, has meanwhile led to a pause in the distribution of humanitarian aid in the village of Nevske.

https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1674421712837042183

Meanwhile, the Russian MoD has also posted new claims about one of its more notorious recent strikes on a civilian target in Ukraine. According to the Russian state-run RIA state news agency, the ministry now says that the missile attack on the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, which targeted a pizza restaurant, resulted in the deaths of two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 officers. But such claims are to be taken with large doses of skepticism as Russia routinely exaggerates its battlefield victories.

While there is no independent verification of this claim, the Ukrainian authorities stated that the missile attack killed 12 people, including four children, while a further 56 people were injured. Rescue operations at the site of the strike have now been completed.

On Wednesday, the Kremlin and Russian Ministry of Defense had claimed the strike  involving two Iskander missiles  was aimed at military targets.

https://twitter.com/newsfromukr/status/1674536365713760257

More questionable Russian claims also relate to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine, Europe's largest. In a statement today, Moscow described a constant threat of provocations from Ukraine relating to the power plant, which is in Russian-controlled territory.

Located close to the front line of fighting, the power plant has long been a cause of concern, including from the U.N. Atomic Energy Agency, with both sides shelling in the vicinity.

Earlier today, Budanov, the head of Ukraine's GUR, reiterated his take that Russia has rigged the plant with explosives to create a disaster by cutting off the supply of water needed to cool the reactors. You can read more about that and more in our interview here.

However, contrary to Budanov's claim, International Atomic Energy Agency Director (IAEA) General Rafael Grossi told the FRANCE 24 news outlet that he "didn't see that kind of development" on the ground, but also added that "anything can happen, that is what worries me."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov today said that inspectors had recently been at the site to check on the plants safety.

Meanwhile Ukrainian emergency workers were taking part in drills to practice how to respond if the power plant was hit by a Russian strike.

On Telegram, the governor of Kherson, Oleksander Prokudin, explained: The purpose of the event is to coordinate the actions of all services in case of a real threat of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

https://twitter.com/Reevellp/status/1674354529301671939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1674354529301671939%7Ctwgr%5E2e220690fce5de4f505edda2b781de30170407fd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_\u0026ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedrive.com%2Fthe-war-zone%2Frussia-plotting-to-assassinate-prigozhin-ukraines-spy-boss-tells-us

And finally, a Ukrainian soldier offers a one-finger salute to Russia in this video of a captured T-72B tank.

https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1674396488921653248?s=20

That's it for now. We'll update this story when there's more news to report about Ukraine.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
Ukraine wants to show results on the battlefield before the NATO summit  Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with foreign media that Ukraine wants to "show results" on the battlefield before the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania on 11 July.

Source: RTVE

Quote: "Before the summit, we have to show results, but every metre costs a life."

Details: During the conversation, Zelenskyy also admitted that the plans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to launch a counteroffensive against Russia have slowed down in recent months: "heavy rains continue for a very long time, and this has slowed down some processes."

In this regard, he called on European partners to continue providing arms support to Ukraine: "This autumn we launched a counteroffensive and we needed a result. We were counting on certain things, but the artillery arrived late."

Quote: "We stopped because we couldn't move forward. Moving forward meant losing people, and we didn't have artillery...

We are very careful in this regard. Fast things aren't always safe. If I am told that two months will pass and thousands of people will die, or three months and fewer people will die, of course, I will choose the latter... Between time and people, the most important thing is people."

Details: The President also assessed the position of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his international image in the world.

In particular, Zelenskyy said that "Putin is in more danger than I am," because "only the Russians want to kill me, and the whole world wants to kill him".

Answering a question about US support for Ukraine and a possible change in US foreign policy if the Republican Party wins the 2024 elections, Zelenskyy expressed confidence that they will continue to support it.

Quote: "We are very grateful for this support. Whoever the American people choose, they will understand us. The main thing is not to lose the support of these two parties. The United States is a leader in arms and finance, and we cannot lose that.

There are issues on which we have different points of view, but in any case, Biden supports the Congress, and both parties support him."

At the same time, Zelenskyy added that there are "dangerous signals" from "some representatives of the Republican Party," but they "will deal with it".

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Ukraine war latest: Ukraine lacks necessary equipment but still advances, Zaluzhnyi says in rare interview

Key developments on June 30:

Zaluzhnyi: Advances daily despite lack of necessary Western equipment

Ukraine to strengthen northern borders, Zelensky says

EU wants interest from Russian money to help Ukraine

Ukraine's forces advance daily by "at least 500 meters" during the summer counteroffensive despite the lack of military hardware like F-16 fighter jets, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi told the Washington Post.

General Zaluzhnyi said the counteroffensive is "not a show," commenting on some complaints of Ukraine's slow progress at the front.

"Every day, every meter is given by blood," Zaluzhnyi said.

The commander-in-chief mentioned NATO's doctrine, where air superiority is established before launching an offensive, comparing advancing without modern fighter jets to fighting with "bows and arrows."

He added that Russian artillery fire outnumbers Ukraine's several times.

"Without being fully supplied, these plans are not feasible at all," Zaluzhnyi told the Washington Post. "But they are being carried out. Yes, maybe not as fast as the participants, the observers, would like, but that is their problem."

Ukraine launched its counteroffensive on June 8 in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, having limited success so far, with several settlements liberated from Russian control, including territories occupied since 2014.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on June 28 that the main Ukraine's attack is yet to come.

The Institute for the Study of War reported on June 29 that the announcements from top Ukrainian officials indicate Ukraine has seized the strategic initiative in advance on Bakhmut in eastern Donetsk Oblast. Ukraine reportedly will leverage the advantage in a broad offensive.

Nevertheless, Russia still has "powerful forces" of up to 50,000 troops and over 300 tanks and 330 artillery systems in the Bakhmut direction, the Eastern Command spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi said on June 30.

Counteroffensive underway: We overestimated Russians and underestimated ourselves Editors Note: The Kyiv Independent introduces soldiers interviewed for the story by their first names or callsigns due to security reasons. DONETSK OBLAST  Islams mind was empty of thoughts and feelings as he crawled carefully towards the Russian trenches near Siversk, with grenades prepared.  The Kyiv IndependentIgor Kossov

Wanger threat

Ukraine will strengthen its northern borders amid reports of Wagner's redeployment to Belarus, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on June 30.

The Kremlin-controlled Wagner Group launched an armed rebellion against Russian military leadership on June 23. During a day-long rebellion, the mercenaries managed to seize the Southern Military District headquarters in the city of Rostov and marched toward Moscow.

As a result of an undisclosed agreement between Wagner's founder and the Kremlin, reportedly brokered by Belorussian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, warlord Prigozhin and his mercenaries were allowed to move to Belarus to avoid persecution.

The Russian outlet Verstka, citing its sources in Belarus, reported a military camp for 8,000 Wagner troops under construction at Asipovichy, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Ukraine's border.

However, Ukraine's Military Intelligence Chief Kyrylo Budanov said on June 30 that Prigozhin didn't plan a massive stationing of his troops in Belarus and expected to redeploy the mercenaries to Africa.

Prigozhin needs Belarus as a hub for logistic purposes and recruitment, Budanov said.

After the announcement that Wagner troops will move to Belarus, Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania called for reinforcement of NATO's eastern flank in response to the alleged transfer of the Wagner Group mercenaries to Belarus.

The U.S. Defense Department continues to see Wagner Group mercenaries in Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder told reporters during a June 29 briefing.

"Right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine," Ryder said.

Ryder said it is "too early to tell right now" in what capacity the Wagner Group will operate for the duration of the war.

Belarus Weekly: Lukashenko brags about saving Russia; Wagner boss ends up in Belarus Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko claims Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus several days after his day-long insurrection in Russia. Meanwhile, Lukashenko denies claims that camps for Wagner mercenaries are under construction in Belarus. Russian President Vladimir Put The Kyiv IndependentMaria Yeryoma

EU leaders want Russian money to work for Ukraine

EU leaders are in favor of a plan to impose a tax on profits generated by the frozen assets of the Russian Central Bank to aid Ukraine's reconstruction, Bloomberg reported on June 30.

The profits from frozen Russian assets reportedly could generate up to $3.3 billion in cash and securities.

The EU seeks to gain the backing of the G7 countries and has discussed the plans with the U.S. The U.K. already backed the idea, according to the report.

Nevertheless, the plan still faces legal obstacles, as the generated profits from the sanctioned assets will ultimately belong to the Russian state.

The EU has been exploring options for using over $200 billion of frozen Russian Central Bank assets to aid Ukraine.

Although Brussels assessed that it could not legally confiscate the funds, the EU officials have been discussing how to at least use the profits generated from these assets to send them to Ukraine.

Some U.S. lawmakers support a more direct approach and have proposed a bill to confiscate Russian sovereign assets to bolster Ukraine's reconstruction efforts.

The European Commission has pledged on June 22 to provide financial support of up to $54.7 billion (50 billion euros) to Ukraine from 2024 to 2027. This funding aims to ensure macro-financial stability, facilitate recovery and reconstruction efforts, and promote the country's modernization while implementing crucial reforms on the EU integration track.

On April 20, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal informed that up to 60 countries have pledged to help rebuild Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages. Over 300 settlements have already signed around 1,500 individual agreements with various parties on the reconstruction, Smhyhal said.

The total damages in Ukraine caused by Russia's war have reached almost $143.8 billion, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
Ukraine's top general, Valery Zaluzhny (l) (Vadym MAZIUKYN)

Ukraine's counteroffensive plans are hobbled by the lack of adequate firepower, from modern fighter jets to artillery ammunition, the country's military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny said in an interview published Friday.

Zaluzhny told The Washington Post he is frustrated by the slow deliveries of promised weaponry from the West.

It "pisses me off" that some in the West complain about the slow start and progress to the long-awaited push against Russian occupying forces in the country's south, he said.

Zaluzhny said his Western supporters would not themselves launch an offensive without air superiority, but Ukraine is still awaiting F-16 fighters promised by its allies.

"I do not need 120 planes. I'm not going to threaten the whole world. A very limited number would be enough," he told the newspaper.

"But they are needed. Because there is no other way. Because the enemy is using a different generation of aviation," he said.

He also complained he has a fraction of the artillery shells that Russia is firing, The Washington Post reported.

Zaluzhny said he is in constant contact with Western partners, like Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley, who are keenly aware of his needs.

But Milley alone can't make the decision, and the delays are deadly, Zaluzhny said.

"It's just that while that decision is being made, in the obvious situation, a lot of people die every day -- a lot. Just because no decision has been made yet."

"This is not a show," Zaluzhny said.

"It's not a show the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every meter is given by blood," he said.

Speaking later Friday in Washington, Milley said the United States and allies were working hard to supply Ukraine.

"We are giving them as much help as humanly possible," he said.

Milley said the United States was still in talks on providing Ukraine with F-16s and ATACMS, precision missiles that could more than double the range Ukraine forces are able to target.

He acknowledged that some people had expressed impatience with the pace of the counteroffensive.

The counteroffensive "is advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields," Milley said.

"Sure, it goes a little slow but that is part of the nature of war," he said.

"War on paper and real war are different," he added.

pmh/acb
Ukrainian PEN and Truth Hounds issue a statement regarding the shelling of Kramatorsk, in which writer Victoria Amelina was injured

PEN Ukraine, a Ukrainian non-governmental organisation established to protect freedom of speech and authors' rights, and Truth Hounds, an organisation which collects evidence of war crimes committed in Ukraine, issued a joint statement regarding the Russian missile attack on Kramatorsk on 27 June, in which writer Victoria Amelina was injured. [Amelina is professionally associated with both organisations  ed.]

"On June 27th, 2023, Russia committed another war crime, sending an Iskander missile with a highly explosive warhead at Ria Lounge restaurant in Kramatorsk, a city in the Eastern part of Ukraine.

At least 12 people are confirmed dead, and 60 are wounded. Three children were among the dead, including two twin 14-year-old girls.

Among the people severely wounded in this crime is our dearest colleague Victoria Amelina: a brilliant award-winning, worldwide known Ukrainian writer and human rights activist," the statement reads.

The organisations also confirmed that Colombian writer Hector Abad Faciolince, former High Commissioner for Peace Sergio Jaramillo and journalist Catalina Gomez, who were in the restaurant together with Victoria Amelina at the time of the shelling, were slightly injured.

Victoria Amelina accompanied the Colombians on a trip to Donbas. Photo: @ricarospina / Twitter

After the attack, representatives of the Truth Hounds, joined by Amelina at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, interviewed witnesses of the shelling. They noted that there were no military facilities near the place of the strike. At the time of the attack, about 40 people were dining in one of the city's most popular restaurants. The investigators also established that the foreigners whom Russian propagandists called "mercenaries" were actually volunteers and journalists.

"In our opinion, the attack on the Ria Lounge restaurant may qualify as a war crime pursuant to Article 8(2)(b)(ii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Alternatively, such an attack may be qualified under Article 8(2)(b)(i) or Article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute of the ICC," the statement reads.

The site of the rocket attack in Kramatorsk. Photo: Radio Svoboda

Ukrainian PEN and Truth Hounds called on citizens of all countries, human rights activists and cultural organisations to speak on all possible platforms about Russia's crimes and call on the governments of their countries to apply extraterritorial justice mechanisms against the terrorist country.

Russia struck Kramatorsk with two Iskander missiles on the evening of 27 June. The Russians hit a cafe in the centre of the city, near which many people were. Currently, 12 people are known to have been killed by the strike, including 3 children, and 60 were wounded.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Ukrainian soldiers say US Bradley IFVs saved their lives. In old Soviet armored vehicles we would all probably be dead after the first hit.

A US-supplied M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle at a position near the front line in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, June 26, 2023. REUTERS/Rfe/Rl/Serhii Nuzhnenko

Ukrainian soldiers said their lives were saved by the US-supplied Bradley IFVs they were riding in.

One soldier said that if they were in a Soviet carrier "we would all probably be dead after the first hit."

He said of the Bradley: "Thanks to it, I am standing here now."

Ukrainian soldiers said that US-supplied Bradley infantry fighting vehicles saved their lives when they came under attack during a recent counteroffensive against Russian forces.

The two soldiers, Serhiy and Andriy, told ABC News that they were hit early on in the offensive  which started this month  by a combination of mines, high-caliber guns, and attack drones.

Andriy, who drove one of the fighting vehicles, said that he and some of his comrades were in a Bradley when they came under fire as they approached Russian positions: "We were hit multiple times."

"Thanks to it, I am standing here now," he said, adding: "If we were using some Soviet armored personnel carrier we would all probably be dead after the first hit."

The vehicle behind him was also hit by a drone, killing his unit's commander, ABC News reported. It's not clear what kind of vehicle the commander was in.

Andriy said that after they got hit "almost all of my guys were concussed, and they were really disoriented." But they were able to get out of the vehicle and find cover.

ABC News reported that Andriy was hospitalized for concussion, but left the hospital the next day, found the abandoned Bradley on the battlefield, and drove it away after finding its engine still worked.

Serhiy said he was also driving a Bradley nearby when it was badly hit, but that he and his comrades escaped any major injuries.

"It's a very good car if you are inside. I've checked on myself and on my team. Only one guy had a concussion," he said.

The soldiers are part of Ukraine's 47th brigade, according to ABC News, which is fighting near Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine.

The strength of Bradleys is well documented.

Bradleys are stronger than the Soviet-era infantry fighting vehicles Ukraine was relying on earlier in Russia's invasion, Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said on Twitter earlier this month.

He added that their destruction is also much less likely to result in the deaths of those inside.

Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, shared photos earlier this month of what she said was a Bradley that took a direct hit from a Russian Grad rocket system, but that was able to keep going without suffering casualties.

Even so, open-source analysis by Dutch website Oryx said in mid-June that 16 Bradleys had been destroyed, damaged, or abandoned in Ukraine.

The US has sent 109 Bradleys to Ukraine, and this month pledged to send 30 more.

The armored vehicle moves on tracks rather than wheels, is armed with a 25 mm M242 Bushmaster chain gun and a 7.62 mm M240C machine gun, and can transport around 10 soldiers.

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder described it as "not a tank, but it's a tank killer."

Serhiy and Andriy told ABC News that Ukrainian troops were also often able to recover Bradleys after Russian attacks, and in one case a Bradley was recovered and its parts used to repair two other Bradleys.

While Ukraine is getting modern weapons and ammunition from Western partners, many Ukrainian soldiers still have to rely on Soviet-era weaponry.

Analysts told Insider's Chris Panella earlier this month that Western countries' hesitation in giving more weapons to Ukraine is likely hindering Ukraine's counteroffensive efforts, and gave Russian forces "a lot of time to build up their defenses."

Read the original article on Business Insider
UN says France fatal shooting an opportunity to address racism in law enforcement

Aftermath after a third night of riots between protesters and police in France

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations rights office said on Friday it was concerned by the fatal shooting of a teenager by police that triggered unrest across France.

"This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement," spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

"We also emphasize the importance of peaceful assembly. We call on the authorities to ensure use of force by police to address violent elements in demonstrations always respects the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability."

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The Sandiganbayan has convicted Janet Lim-Napoles, former Davao Del Norte Rep. Arrel Olano, and others of graft, malversation, and bribery in relation to the misuse of the solons Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) worth 7.72 million in 2007 when he was still in Congress.

EXPLAINER: What you need to know about the PDAF scam

In a decision promulgated on June 30, the graft court found Napoles, said to be the mastermind behind the scam, Olano, Technology and Livelihood Resource Center employee (TRC) Ma. Rosalinda Lacsamana, each guilty in three cases of graft and three cases of malversation.

Two private individuals linked to non-government organization controlled by Napoles were likewise convicted in the courts decision, namely: Evelyn De Leon of the Philippine Social Development Foundation Inc. (PSDFI) who was convicted on two counts of graft and two counts of malversation; and Mylene Encarnacion of the Countrywide Agri and Rural Economic Development Foundation, Inc. (CARED) who was convicted in one case each of graft and malversation.

The convictions stemmed from Olanos endorsement of the PSDFI and CARED as project partners back in 2007. They then assisted in implementing livelihood projects for barangays throughout the former representatives legislative district. These projects were then funded through Olanos PDAF.

Napoles, Olano, and Lacsamana were ordered to return a total of 15,440,000 to the government, or twice the amount misused. They were sentenced to six to 10 years for each count of graft and 10 to 16 years for each count of malversation.

De Leon was ordered to return to the government 11,660,000. Encarnacion was asked to pay 3,780,000 in indemnity.

Olano, a congressman from 2001 to 2010, was also convicted of one count of direct bribery after the court found that he had accepted a 3,175,000 bribe for his endorsement of non-government organizations controlled by Napoles.

He was also slapped with a fine of 9,525,000 and will face an additional four to nine year prison imprisonment on top of the sentencing for his graft and malversation charges.

Meanwhile, former Department of Budget and Management officials Mario Relampagos, Rosario Nunez, Lalaine Paule, and Marilou Bare; former TRC officials Dennis Cunanan, Francisco Figura, Marivic Jover, and Consuelo Espiritu were acquitted in all graft and malversation cases as the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

In 2019, the Sandiganbayan First Division affirmed Napoles' plunder conviction for the misuse of P224 million of Senator Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.'s PDAF. and sentenced her to 40 years in prison.

She was also convicted on two counts of graft and two counts of malversation in relation to the misuse of the late former Davao Del Sur 1st district Rep. Douglas Cagas PDAF.

However, she was recently acquitted in 16 counts of graft over the misuse of the PDAF funds of Revilla.

READ: SB acquits Janet Napoles in 16 cases over PDAF scam tied to Sen. Revilla; convicts her in 4 other cases
UN votes to end its peacekeeping mission in Mali as demanded by the country's military junta

FILE - United Nations forces patrol the streets of Timbuktu, Mali, on Sept. 26, 2021. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday, June 30, 2023, to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali as demanded by the countrys military junta, which has brought in mercenaries from Russias Wagner Group to help fight an Islamic insurgency. (AP Photo/Moulaye Sayah, File)

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to immediately end its peacekeeping mission in Mali as demanded by the countrys military junta, which has brought in mercenaries from Russias Wagner Group to help fight an Islamic insurgency.

Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa, has grappled with the insurgency for over a decade. It has seen its relations with the international community become strained in part because the ruling junta brought in the Wagner mercenaries. The mercenaries have also been engaged in Moscows war in Ukraine and were part of a short-lived mutiny against Russias military last week led by the Wagner group's founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The French-drafted resolution, adopted by a 15-0 vote, terminates the mandate of the peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMA as of Friday. It orders the mission to start the withdrawal Saturday of more than 15,000 personnel, to be completed by the end of the year.

U.S. deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis expressed regret at the military governments decision to abandon the U.N. mission. He also said that some domestic actors in Mali are calling for harassment of peacekeepers and urged the mission to ensure the safe and orderly transfer of U.N. facilities and equipment to U.N.-designated places.

The U.N. has a responsibility to minimize the risk that its assets fall into the hands of those looking to destabilize Mali, or bring harm to its people, including violent extremist organizations and the Wagner Group, he said.

British Ambassador Barbara Woodward expressed regret that Mali wanted the peacekeepers to leave at a time when the region is facing increasing instability and humanitarian needs.

And we do not believe the partnership with the Wagner Group will deliver long-term stability or security for the Malian people, she said.

Meanwhile, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby expressed deep concern at Wagners destabilizing activities in Africa, especially Mali and Central African Republic.

He told reporters in Washington that U.S. information indicates the Malian transition government has paid over $200 million to Wagner since late 2021. Despite the payments, he said, security hasnt improved and terror attacks and violent crime have increased in central Mali.

Kirby also claimed that Prighozin helped engineer the speedy departure of U.N. peacekeepers to further Wagners interests.

We know that senior Malian officials worked directly with Prighozin employees to inform the U.N. secretary-general that Mali had revoked consent for the MINUSMA mission, he said.

Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in the West African nations northern cities the following year, with the help of a French-led military operation. But they regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its allies.

The U.N. peacekeepers came in a few months later in what has become one of the most dangerous U.N. missions in the world. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres paid tribute to the 309 MINUSMA personnel who lost their lives in the service of peace during 10 years the mission was deployed in Mali, his spokesman said.

Mali has been ruled by a military junta following two coups, starting in 2020, led by Col. Assimi Goita, who now runs the country.

The resolution welcomes Goitas commitment to organizing free and fair presidential elections in February 2024 and ensuring the return to constitutional order the following months  commitments that DeLaurentis and other council members said the transitional government must keep.

The councils decision to end the U.N. mission followed a demand by Malis Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop to the Security Council on June 16 that the peacekeepers leave the country, claiming they failed in their mission to restore security. There is a crisis of confidence between Malian authorities and MINUSMA, he said.

Following Friday's vote, Diop told national broadcaster ORTM that ""many Malians" had requested the withdrawal and called the peacekeeping mission a threat to our country.

He said it wasn't a hasty decision but the result of the government's desire to take charge of its own affairs and the strengthening of its military and security forces.

The United Nations needs support of governments for its peacekeeping missions to operate.

Russias deputy U.N. ambassador Anna Evstigneeva told the council Moscow supports the transitional governments aspiration to take full responsibility and play the leading role in stabilizing the Malian state. She said Russia will continue providing comprehensive bilateral support to Mali to normalize the situation in the country.

Malis U.N. ambassador, Issa Konfourou, told the council after the vote that while MINUSMA didnt achieve its fundamental goal of supporting the governments efforts to secure the country, the people and the government in Mali would like to applaud its contribution in other areas, especially humanitarian and social assistance.

Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said that while MINUSMA was not authorized to fight militants, it did provide protection to civilians from the jihadis.

Attacks are most likely to increase now in the areas where U.N. peacekeepers provided regular patrols since the Malian army remains underequipped to provide adequate protection, Lyammouri said.

The U.N. mission also played a critical role in mediating between the Malian government and separatist Tuareg rebels. Ely Dicko, a sociologist at the University of Bamako, said that one of the consequences of the vacuum the peacekeepers will leave may be the resumption of hostilities between the government and the Tuareg rebels.

Daniel Forti, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said the withdrawal is going to be a massive undertaking for the whole U.N. and for Mali" and both have a lot to lose if it isn't done in a consensual and united way.

___

Associated Press writer Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali, contributed to this report.
Sukrew





Body by Sukrew

British-based underwear company Sukrew is not letting Pride month close without celebrating its 10th anniversary and unveiling new styles.

Sukrew, founded by Kingsley Hamilton and available from the U.K. to the U.S. to China and many places in between, is known for tight fits that accentuate bulges. The underwear is available in briefs, jocks, thongs, trunks, and a "fetish" version sans crotch, and the company also sells swimwear with similarly form-fitting styles. Hamilton describes the cut of his underwear and bathing suits as containing "ergonomic pouches," "dynamic shapes," and "thoughtful fabric choices."

For the company's 10th anniversary, Hamilton announced a new "super low-rise brief," along with a singlet ("perfect for partying"), and a mesh vest/short set  the shorts have a shaped pouch and are see-through, but designed to be worn with underwear.

We aim to create underwear that makes you look and feel sexy without restriction or discomfort," Kingsley says in a statement. "Weve never compromised on comfort, providing underwear with sex appeal that can be worn all day long.



Check out more styles here and below.
Esteban Hernandez (R) and Irene Galicia (L) hug their son Gabriel Hernandez in Queens, New York (Yuki IWAMURA)

Twenty-five years after her son left Mexico for the United States, Irene Galicia was finally able to hug him when she traveled to New York as part of a family reunification program for undocumented migrants.

"He hasn't changed much!" exclaimed the frail 80-year-old woman as she and her husband embraced their son Gabriel Hernandez. "I am happy to have seen my son again before I died."

Having traveled all the way from the town of Tetelcingo, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Mexico City in the state of Morelos, Galicia told AFP she worried she would not recognize her son after such a long time apart.

"He got married, left and we haven't seen him since," said her husband Esteban Hernandez.

Some 30 Mexican families took part in the family reunification event, which was organized by the Chinelos Migrant Club of Morelos in New York -- with the blessing of US authorities.

Elderly parents like Galicia, whose children are among the millions of undocumented migrants living for decades in the United States, can apply for temporary visas to finally see their loved ones.

Tears, laughter and hugs abounded on Sunday as the Hernandez-Galicia family met up at a center in Queens, a huge multicultural borough of New York.

Gabriel Hernandez said he feared never seeing his parents again, especially when they both contracted Covid during the pandemic.

The 44-year-old admitted to being so nervous ahead of the meeting, that he had trouble eating and sleeping.

But with his wife and two of their four children -- one of whom is a sailor in the US Navy -- Gabriel was all smiles, saying the reunion was a blessing.

"I am whole now," he said.

- Supporting families back home -

Like other nationalities, undocumented Mexicans in the United States work, pay taxes and sometimes own their own homes, said Aurora Morales, coordinator of the Chinelos Migrant Club, which organized the reunion.

And more than half of them have been living in the United States for more than 17 years, according to Claudia Masferrer, a demographer at the College of Mexico (Colmex).

Like Gabriel Hernandez, they send money to support families back home.

According to data from Mexico's National Statistics Institute (Inegi), some 4.6 million Mexican households receive an average of $380 a month from relatives working in the United States.

Last year, US-based Mexican immigrants, as well as their first- and second-generation children -- some 37.2 million people -- sent a record $58 billion to Mexico, up 13 percent over 2021, according to the Mexican central bank.

And in the first quarter of 2023, remittances were up 11 percent year-on-year.

- 'See my children grow up' -

Morales says her group has helped reunite 5,000 families since 2017, operating under a commitment to US authorities that the elderly people will return to Mexico after a few weeks.

The organization works with people from remote areas in Mexico who barely know how to read and write, helping them obtain a passport, apply for a visa and overcome other bureaucratic formalities, Morales said.

"The general agreement is that these people are not going to stay, that these people are going for humanitarian reasons, to visit their relatives, from whom they have been separated for many years, but they are going to return to Mexico," said Masferrer, the Colmex professor.

That will include Demetria Garcia Solano -- who finally made it to New York after five unsuccessful attempts at obtaining a visa.

The 64-year-old was at last able to meet the many members of her family living in the United States: six of her seven children, who left Mexico in their teens, as well as five grandchildren, her mother and five brothers and sisters.

"I would have loved to come (before), I would have seen my children grow up," she told AFP.

With tears in her eyes, she described the pain at being so far away, for so long: "It hurts a lot."

burs-af/nr/des/md/acb
FILE PHOTO: econd session of negotiations for the new global plastics treaty in Paris

UNESCO member states give green light to US return, Blinken says FILE PHOTO: econd session of negotiations for the new global plastics treaty in Paris

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - UNESCO's member states backed the United States' return to the United Nations' cultural organization almost five years after then-President Donald Trump ordered an American withdrawal, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

"I am encouraged and grateful that today the (UNESCO) membership accepted our proposal, which will allow the United States to take the next, formal steps toward fully rejoining the organization," Blinken said in a statement.

UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - is best known for designating and protecting archaeological and heritage sites, from the Galapagos Islands to the tombs of Timbuktu.

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris-based organization in 2018 over accusations of anti-Israel bias and mismanagement. Most of UNESCO's activities are not controversial - but issues such as resolutions about how religious sites should be run in Jerusalem have been highly charged.

UNESCO's director-general, Audrey Azoulay, has said those issues were now a thing of the past after finding consensus between Israeli and Palestinians.

The U.S. State Department indicated in a letter dated June 8 that it wanted to rejoin UNESCO in July as a full member and that it intended to repay $619 million in arrears in installments over several years.

The member states approved the U.S. return at an extraordinary session this week, Blinken said on Friday.

The 2018 pullout by the United States - which had provided a fifth of UNESCO's funding - threw the organization into turmoil.

Israel also pulled out of UNESCO following Washington's departure. At this stage, there are no negotiations for its return, Azoulay has said.

U.S. law forbids Washington from funding U.N. bodies that have admitted Palestine as a full member. The American return to UNESCO was enabled after a waiver from Congress earlier this year, which will be in effect until the end of 2025.

UNESCO was founded in the ashes of World War Two to protect humanity's common cultural inheritance.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Eric Beech and Jonathan Oatis)
A woman hands manicure implements to one of her employees in a nail salon.

This article was originally published in El Paso Matters.

Jessica Sotelo was three courses shy of an associate degree in criminal justice from El Paso Community College when she opened a small nail salon in May 2018 on the Westside.

Her goal was to make enough money to put herself through college.

Instead, the then 20-year-old entrepreneur put aside her academic dreams to focus on her business, The Nail Club. Today, Sotelo has two salons and plans to open a third. She also has taken the initial steps to return to EPCC this fall to complete her degree.

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According to an April 2023 report published by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the number of adult Texans in July 2021 with some college credits but no higher education credential rose to more than 2.6 million, which was a 4.5% increase from the previous year. That was bigger than the national growth of 3.6%.

Sotelo wants her associate degree because she likes to finish what she starts, but she also plans to enroll at the University of Texas at El Paso at some point to pursue a bachelors degree in finance or accounting to support her business. Her immediate goal is to build a cosmetology team that can manage her salons when she is not there.

I wanted to work and go to school, but then the business was successful, said Sotelo, who tried to do both as she set up her first salon during the spring 2018 semester. It didnt work.

Experts believe the pandemic and more employment opportunities with higher wages were among the main reasons behind the increased number of Texans with some college, no degree or credential (SCNDC). For others, the reasons may have included health issues, a lack of funds, or changed responsibilities at home. Higher education leaders hope that many of those people will return to continue or complete their academic journeys.

Tom Fullerton

Tom Fullerton, UTEP professor of economics and finance, said it was important for students to complete their degrees or technical certifications because that complete package will enhance their knowledge and make them stronger candidates for jobs where degrees and credentials are needed.

But Fullerton was not dismayed by the increased SCNDC numbers. He referenced a recently published Texas A&M study that showed the percentage of Texans who drop out of high school fell to 15.2% in 2021 from 19.3% in 2012. He said more people finish high school, enroll in college, learn what they need to get a job, and leave college to enter the workforce.

Once they get a job, they dont necessarily see the benefit of finishing a college degree, which can be expensive, Fullerton said.

The UTEP professor said that in a service sector, information-age economy, many jobs do not require technical certification or a college degree, but they may involve training beyond high school. Experts have stated that by 2030, up to 70% of all new jobs will require some post-secondary education.

The fact that they are taking additional education credits above and beyond secondary school increases their productivity and increases the overall labor force quality for the state, Fullerton said.

Mark Garrett Cooper, a professor of media studies at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, wrote in a recent opinion piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education that a college degree does not always mean that graduates have the skills an employer wants.

Anyone paying attention to the non-academic job market will know that skills, rather than specific majors, are the predominant currency, he wrote.

A big concern

Those behind the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center study countered that it was important to change the SCNDC trend because the U.S. will face a skilled-worker shortage as more employees retire.

According to the 2021 U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey, the most recent data available, El Pasos population age 25 and older was 542,747. Of that number, 21% had some college, but no degree. Almost 35% had an associate degree or higher.

Related

New Data: Female College Enrollment Drops at Twice the Rate of Male Students

While neither EPCC nor UTEP provided the numbers of their stop outs, both shared some of their efforts to contact those former students and entice them to return.

EPCC expanded its Recruitment Services in fall 2020 to include a small, but growing call center that contacts students who have been out of school for a year. The call center clerks are especially interested in those students who are close to earning their degree or credential. In some cases, it could be as close as 15 credit hours for a 60-hour degree.

Depending on the reasons for stopping out, the center will try to connect the student with the campus office to address the situation. For example, if the issue was financial, the student will receive information about the availability of additional Pell grants, scholarships or other financial aid. For students with time conflicts, an adviser may suggest a multidisciplinary studies degree tailored to their interests and their earned course credits.

Right now, (stopped-out students) are doing OK because wages are up, but whats going to happen when the workforce changes, and (employees) dont have a credential behind them, said Carlos C. Amaya, vice president of Student & Enrollment Services. I think thats a big concern.

Amaya added that a growing number of returning students, especially males, are enrolling in courses for credentials or for an associate of applied science degree, which involves specific technical skills, so they can enter the workforce quickly.

The University of Texas at El Paso created in 2021 its Enrollment Success Center, an arm of the Division of Student Affairs, to provide stopped-out students with helpful information about financial aid and course advice as well as re-enrollment. A university spokesman said that in fall 2022, the institution used all its efforts to re-enroll more than 1,800 students who had stopped out of UTEP.

This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Related

Black Community College Enrollment is Plummeting. How to Get Those Students Back
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther, left, and Joe Motil, right, who is challenging Ginther's reelection bid in the November general election.

A Columbus Department of Public Safety official touching the arm of a mayoral candidate while asking him to leave a city event to which he had not been invited is not a crime in Ohio, a special prosecutor has determined.

"He was touched on the arm, but that doesn't make it assault," said Brad Nicodemus, a prosecutor for the city of Whitehall who was asked by the Columbus City Attorney's office as an independent party to review the April 28 incident at a press conference at the James G. Jackson Columbus Police Academy.

Joe Motil, 67, a Democrat who is the sole candidate on the November ballot facing incumbent Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, had filed a criminal misdemeanor assault complaint against Glenn McEntyre, a former Columbus TV reporter who is assistant director and media spokesperson for Public Safety.

The incident occurred during a press conference that Ginther and others were holding on the issue of rising city gun violence.

Motil, who had not been invited to the media event, never claimed to have been injured in any way. He says McEntyre approached, asked him to step out into the hallway and informed him he had to leave the event.

When Motil responded to McEntyre that the police training facility was a "public building," Motil alleges McEntyre grabbed his arm and informed him he had to leave, saying it was a press event and that Motil was not a member of the media.

"He grabbed me. He grabbed my arm, and for no reason," Motil said in May. "I told him to get his (expletive) hands off of me and don't (expletive) touch me again, and he let go."

While the fact that a building is owned by the public doesn't mean that the public has unfettered access to it, Motil said he believed the Ginther press conference to be a "public event," and that he had attended other such events without incident.

Generally, for the incident to be an assault, the person initiating the contact must intend to do physical harm, or actually do physical harm, Nicodemus said in a telephone interview Friday. While some forms of touching may be "unwelcome," that doesn't automatically make it assault, he said.

Ginther's campaign said in a written statement in May: "It's unfortunate Mr. Motil attempted to engage in an unfounded and petty political stunt in an attempt to gain attention. ... It's clear Joe just wanted to create distractions" that diverted from the gun violence message of the event.

The Ginther campaign had no further comment, spokesman Cameron Keir said.

"Although I was not physically harmed, my civil rights were willfully violated," Motil said in a prepared statement. "Those who claim to enforce the law in Columbus, and who are legally responsibly and paid by our tax dollars, apparently feel that it is all right for public officials to make physical contact with any citizen they wish without cause or any consequences."

McEntyre has declined to comment. Nicodemus said he spent five hours on the case, and doesn't plan to bill the Columbus City Attorney's office for that work.

wbush@gannett.com

@ReporterBush

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Special prosecutor: Columbus mayor candidate Joe Motil not 'assaulted'
The Biden administration is considering giving Ukraine cluster munitions, a U.S. official confirmed Friday.

NBC News first reported that Washington was leaning toward providing dual purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs) to Kyiv, with an announcement that could come as early as July.

A U.S. official told The Hill that no decision has yet been made but, the U.S. is considering DPICMs for the Ukrainians.

Designed during the Cold War-era, DPICMs are surface-to-surface warheads designed to explode and send multiple small munitions over a wide area to cause maximum damage.

Since last year, Ukraine has asked the United States for the weapons but Washington has held off due to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty that bans the transfer, use and stockpiling of the cluster bombs.

More than 100 countries, including U.S. allies, have signed the 2008 treaty due to the risk of unexploded bombs injuring or killing civilians, constituting a war crime.

The United States, Ukraine and Russia, however, are not signatories to the agreement, with multiple reports of Moscow having used DPICMs in its invasion of Ukraine.

Joint Chiefs of Chairman Gen. Mark Milley on Friday was pressed on the Pentagons considerations while speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., though he had little to offer.

Im not going to get out in front of decision making by the president, Milley said when asked whether the U.S. would send Ukraine cluster bombs.

We consider all kinds of options. . . . theres a decision-making process ongoing and its a continuous ongoing process. To my knowledge, I dont know of a decision yet.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
US envoy for Iran has security clearance suspended amid probe into misuse of classified information

The US special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, had his security clearance suspended pending a review of allegations he may have mishandled classified information, said US officials.

Mr Malley, who has been leading Biden administrations efforts to revive the faltering Iran nuclear deal and resolve issues related to detained Americans in Iran, in the meantime is placed on unpaid leave, reported CNN.

"I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon, he said confirming the reports in the local media.

Two State Department officials said the agencys Bureau of Diplomatic Security was leading the inquiry, which revolves around Mr Malleys handling of classified documents. The officials said they learned of Mr Malleys change in status from paid to unpaid leave on Thursday, shortly after questions about his status were raised at the State Departments regular afternoon briefing.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said earlier Thursday that Mr Malley officially remains in his post but is on leave and that his deputy, Abram Paley, is currently leading the Iran portfolio as the acting special envoy.

It remains unclear when Mr Malleys leave began.

Mr Malleys whereabouts have raised questions since he skipped a classified congressional briefing on Iran on 16 May. At the time, State Department officials told lawmakers that Mr Malley was on "extended personal leave" and suggested that his absence might be related to a family health issue.

A close personal friend of secretary of state Antony Blinken, Mr Malley was appointed soon after US president Joe Biden took office in 2021. He had been tasked with trying to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after then-president Donald Trumps 2018 decision to abandon the pact and reimpose US sanctions on Tehran.

Under Mr Trump, Mr Malley worked for the International Crisis Group during which he met on several occasions with Iranians and Palestinian officials with whom US officials are barred from having contact.

He helped craft the 2015 nuclear deal and, earlier in his career, was deeply engaged in former president Bill Clintons failed 2000 effort to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace.

During the Obama administration, Mr Malley served as a National Security Council aide and was closely involved in the negotiations over the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Having failed to revive the deal, the United States has held talks with Iran to try to ease tensions by sketching out steps that could limit the Iranian nuclear program, release some detained US citizens and unfreeze some Iranian assets abroad, Iranian and Western officials said earlier this month.

Additional reporting from the wires
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital.

The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Koreas Defense Ministry said in a statement. The bombers flyover is the latest in a series of temporary U.S. deployments of strategic assets in South Korea in response to North Koreas push to expand its nuclear arsenal.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korean waters for the first time in six years. The USS Michigans arrival came a day after North Korea resumed missile tests to protest previous U.S.-South Korean drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said the B-52 bombers deployment boosted the visibility of U.S. strategic assets to the peninsula. It said the allies have been demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and will continue joint drills involving U.S. strategic bombers.

On Sunday, more than 120,000 North Koreans participated in mass rallies in Pyongyang to mark the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. During the rallies, officials and residents delivered speeches vowing merciless revenge against the United States over the war while accusing the U.S. of plotting an invasion on North Korea.

The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war. The U.S. stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression by North Korea.

Since its June 15 launches of two short-range ballistic missiles, North Korea hasnt performed any further public weapons tests. But the U.S. bombers deployment could prompt it to launch weapons again in protest.

Enhancing regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula was part of agreements reached between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit in Washington in April. Biden stated at the time that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would result in the end of whatever regime took such action.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea. The allies have responded by expanding their military exercises.

In late May, a North Korean launch of a rocket carrying its first spy satellite ended in failure, with the rocket plunging into waters soon after liftoff. North Korea has since repeatedly said it would attempt a second launch, saying its crucial to build space-based surveillance system to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility.
US may announce supply of cluster munitions to Ukraine in July  NBC News

The United States is considering providing Ukraine with cluster munitions and may announce this decision in early July.

Source: NBC News, citing two senior US officials, as reported by European Pravda

Details: A third official said that the US was considering providing Ukraine with dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs) but declined to give any timeframe for an announcement.

DPICMs are surface-to-surface munitions that explode and disperse multiple small submunitions or bombs over large areas, causing greater damage than single projectiles.

These may include shaped charges for piercing armoured vehicles, or they can shatter into pieces, making them deadlier and more dangerous for personnel.

Some human rights groups are against their use due to concerns that unexploded bombs could explode after combat, potentially injuring or killing innocent civilians.

Ukraine has been asking the US for DPICMs since last year, but the idea has been opposed because of an international treaty that prohibits the transfer, use and stockpiling of these weapons.

The United States, Ukraine and Russia are not signatories to this treaty, but more than 100 countries have signed up to it, including many US allies.

The United States developed cluster munitions during the Cold War and subsequently stockpiled large quantities of such ordnance, many of which are now approaching the end of their shelf life.

DPICM ammunition can be fired from artillery systems that the US has previously provided to Ukraine.

Background: This week, a bipartisan group of members of Congress sent a letter asking the Biden administration to supply Ukraine from its "untapped, vast arsenal".

Media reports suggest that the United States has also come close to making a decision to provide Ukraine with ATACMS long-range tactical missile systems.

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  House ways and means committee chair Joey Salceda said he wants to look into the contract signed by the Department of Tourism (DOT) with a private entity for the governments latest tourism campaign Love the Philippines.

I will ask them where is the FGD [focus group discussion], where is the EPG [eminent persons group], and right now after six months where is the UAI, usage, attitude and image. So basically, we need to have a data-based, and a science-driven accounting for it, he told CNN Philippines The Source on Friday. .

DOT Secretary Christina Frasco told CNN Philippines on Thursday that 49 million was spent for the creation of the brandings logo; the conduct of global, regional, and local studies; and other components of the campaign.

According to the bid notice abstract, the procurement of consulting services for a marketing campaign for the rebranding of the Philippines Tourism Brand has an approved budget of 250 million.

The terms of references, meanwhile, indicated that the six-month project has an approved budget of 50 million.

Frasco earlier said that the contract was awarded to DDB Philippines Inc.

Salceda said he may ask his questions regarding the campaign once the DOTs 2024 budget is heard at the lower chamber.

Following the announcement of the new tourism branding, the Albay representative expressed his frustration after the iconic Mayon Volcano was not included in the promotional video.

Based on past experience, the national tourism campaign has an impact on the local tourism industry of an area since such contents are being used overseas to promote the country, Salceda said.

The lawmaker also responded to Cebu 5th district Rep. Vincent Franco Frasco who said that the over 50 notable mountains and volcanoes of the Philippines are represented in the DOT LOVE logo.

If you want somebody to do something like an ad, you will not ask him to do one more thing before, you know, responding to the stimuli. So, you mean to say, I will say Mayon is there, look for it. Ano yan (What is that), crossword puzzle? Salceda said.

For tourism, I think its more important that, immediately, the beauty and the iconic character of a particular attraction should be clear from the start, he added.

Frasco has said that the latest tourism campaign wants to promote destinations that are less-known among tourists. As she recognized the value of the Mayon Volcano, the tourism chief assured Salceda that subsequent promotional contents under Love the Philippines will give more highlight on what the regions can offer travelers.
Moms for Liberty emerges as a force in the 2024 U.S. presidential election

Moms for Liberty emerges as a force in the 2024 U.S. presidential election Protest against Moms for Liberty in Philadelphia

By Jarrett Renshaw and James Oliphant

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) -Top rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Friday addressed the national conference of Moms for Liberty, appealing to the conservative parents-rights advocacy group with vows to bolster education and keep discussion of gender identity out of the classroom.

"Don't mess with America's moms," former President Donald Trump told the crowd in Philadelphia, calling the group a "grassroots juggernaut."

The appearance of Trump and rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley at the summit served as a testament to the weight their campaigns are placing on race- and gender-based cultural issues related to education heading into next years nominating contests.

Culture war issues have animated parts of the Republican base, and the Republican rivals are hoping to appeal to parents of school-age children, particularly suburban women, an important voting bloc in U.S. presidential elections.

Trump, the front-runner in the race to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden, said he was best positioned among the field to win suburban women.

"You know what they want?" he said. "They want peace. They want lower taxes. They want good education."

Trump vowed to "take historic action to defeat the toxic poison of gender ideology to restore the timeless truth that God created two genders, male and female."

DeSantis, Florida's governor and Trump's closest challenger, talked up his record on education, telling the crowd how he backed legislation expanding the state's private-school voucher program. He also defended removing books with sexuality and gender identity themes from public school shelves in Florida.

"To use U.S. tax dollars to bring that type of garbage into our schools is fundamentally wrong and has no place," he said.

Several hundred people from liberal advocacy groups protested outside the hotel where the event was held on Friday. Before the program, activists from Agenda PAC, an LGBTQ advocacy group, left hangers on doors of hotel rooms that read, "Please Disturb. Fascism in Progress."

Launched in 2021 at the height of the pandemic, Moms for Liberty increasingly has played an active role in helping to elect conservative members of local school boards, while also lobbying state legislatures for measures such as Floridas law that prohibits the teaching of gender-identity concepts to elementary- and middle-school students.

The Republican candidates' courting of the group's members signifies its arrival as a major conservative player in national politics. Its summit is being sponsored by longtime right-wing policy shops such as the Heritage Foundation and the Leadership Institute, which trains candidates for office.

Tina Descovich, a Florida-based co-founder of the group, said the organization will not endorse a Republican candidate in the primary, but instead insist that candidates pledge to support its agenda of advancing policies that increase "parental involvement" and "defend against government overreach."

The candidates know that the No. 1 issue domestically right now is the attack on parental rights and the educational failure in our country, Descovich said.

COURTING MOMS

No presidential candidate has worked harder to align himself with the group than DeSantis, who has made limiting transgender rights and railing against progressive education policies central to his campaign.

Volunteers sporting shirts with the groups logo were seen working recently at DeSantis presidential campaign events in Iowa. DeSantis' wife, Casey DeSantis, will campaign solo in Iowa next week as part of a new "Mamas for DeSantis" outreach effort, his campaign said on Friday.

Kerry Gillespie, 46, who said she had been battling what she termed overreaching school policies in her Maryland neighborhood, said at the Moms for Liberty event that she is supporting DeSantis in the primary.

The person has to go beyond lip service and have a track record where you can see their accomplishments, Gillespie said.

Other Republican candidates also are cozying up to Moms for Liberty, which now claims 120,000 members in 44 states.

Tim Scott, a U.S. senator of South Carolina, recently sponsored a fundraiser for the group in his home state. In May, Mike Pence, the vice president under Trump, was bracketed by members of the group as he railed against an Iowa school districts gender transition plan.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, publicly defended Moms for Liberty after the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, labeled it an anti-government extremist organization.

Members of the group have also shown up at Trumps rallies, bearing their signature shirts.

Critics of Moms for Liberty, including national civil-rights groups, said its focus has moved beyond pandemic-related learning issues toward embracing an anti-LGBTQ and anti-diversity agenda that has brought about measures in several states restricting what can be taught in schools and books they term objectionable being pulled from library shelves.

This is not about ideology, said Jazmyn Henderson, a transgender woman with the advocacy group ACT UP. We are talking about trying to wipe a community of people out of existence, about trying to force us back into the shadows.

Tia Bess, Moms for Liberty's national director of engagement and a Black woman, pushed back against criticism that the organization is a hate group.

Do I look like a racist to yall? Bess said. Its time to stop the division and stand up for our kids."

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Nathan Layne in Philadelphia and James Oliphant in WashingtonEditing by Colleen Jenkins, Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
The US absence tore a big hole in UNESCO's financing (ALAIN JOCARD)

The United States on Friday rejoined UNESCO, which it had quit during the Trump administration, despite opposition from Russia and China.

Former president Donald Trump announced in 2017 that he was pulling the United States out of UNESCO, accusing the body of bias against Israel. The decision took effect in 2018.

An extraordinary session of the UN body's General Assembly on Friday voted overwhelmingly for the return of the United States. A total of 132 members voted in favour, 10 against while 15 abstained.

"It is so important for us to rejoin, to be part of this very very important multilateral organisation," Denise Bauer, the US ambassador to France told AFP.

"We are just incredibly grateful for the leadership that was shown by key members," she added.

Dissenting voices included Iran, Syria, China, North Korea and Russia, whose delegates appeared to be trying to delay the vote through several statements on procedure and amendments.

The United States, a founding member of UNESCO, was a major contributor to its budget until 2011, when the body admitted Palestine as a member state.

That triggered an end to the contributions under US law, leading up to the formal withdrawal announcement six years later.

- 'Actually matter' -

Audrey Azoulay, a former French culture minister who has headed UNESCO since 2017, made it a priority of her term to bring the US back.

"This is a great day for UNESCO and for multilateralism," Azoulay said on Friday.

"Thanks to the momentum it has recovered these past years, our organisation is again moving towards universalism with the return of the United States," she said.

Several member states also expressed satisfaction with the result. Until the suspension of its contributions in 2011 -- the US paid about 22 percent of UNESCO's budget, or $75 million.

But the US Congress, then fully controlled by the Democratic Party of current President Joe Biden, in December paved the way for the United States to restore funding, setting aside $150 million in the budget.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in March that the US absence from UNESCO was letting China write rules on artificial intelligence.

"I very much believe we should be back in UNESCO -- again, not as a gift to UNESCO, but because things that are happening at UNESCO actually matter," Blinken told a Senate committee when he presented the budget.

"They are working on rules, norms and standards for artificial intelligence. We want to be there," he said.

- Not the first time -

The US had already withdrawn from UNESCO in 1984 -- under president Ronald Reagan -- and rejoined the organisation after almost 20 years in October 2003.

"The United States has already withdrawn twice. We're not sure how many more times we're expected to welcome them back," a North Korean diplomat told AFP, asking not to be identified by name.

The US is in membership arrears amounting to $619 million, owed for the period of 2011 and 2018 -- more than the agency's annual budget estimated at $534 million.

Washington will make payments over coming years to UNESCO to cover its debt, the organisation said.

Paris-based UNESCO is the United Nations' educational, scientific and cultural organisation.

Its work includes compiling a list of world heritage sites, defending press freedom, promoting sustainable development and running education programmes.

In addition to renewing its regular payments to the organisation, the US has pledged to make voluntary contributions towards education initiatives in Africa, programmes promoting the memory of the Holocaust and the protection of journalists, Azoulay said Friday.

jf/jj/ach
Marines with the 24th Expeditionary Unit guide a woman and child during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 18, 2021 (Isaiah CAMPBELL)

US officials were inhibited during mass evacuations from Afghanistan in 2021 by a lack of clear decision-making, an absence of centralized crisis management and confusing public messaging, an internal report found.

Completed more than a year ago but released only Friday at the start of a holiday weekend, the State Department report called for reforms including appointing a single person in charge during future crises and insulating contingency planning from political considerations.

The so-called After Action Review was ordered by Secretary of State Antony Blinken after outrage over the chaotic scenes from Kabul in August 2021 as Taliban fighters quickly seized control following the end of the 20-year US military presence.

The report praised the end result of the evacuation -- the pullout of 125,000 people, including 6,000 private US citizens, who were rushed out by the US military after it took charge of the international airport.

But it said that the operation faced a "major challenge" as senior officials in President Joe Biden's administration "had not made clear decisions" ahead of time about which at-risk Afghans to assist.

"Constantly changing policy guidance and public messaging from Washington regarding which populations were eligible for relocation and how the embassy should manage outreach and flow added to the confusion and often failed to take into account key facts on the ground," it said.

In a memo to State Department employees to mark the report's release, Blinken credited the "extraordinary courage, ingenuity and dedication" of staff on Afghanistan and promised to follow up on recommendations for improvements.

"Indeed, the lessons learned have already helped guide our responses in Ukraine, Sudan, and other places," he said.

- Taken by surprise -

The report, based on more than 150 interviews with current and former officials, noted that Biden inherited a backlog of visa cases from his predecessor Donald Trump's administration, which both agreed with the Taliban movement on the US withdrawal and staunchly opposed non-European immigration.

The report pointed to a sharp contrast in styles between the administrations with a "relative lack" of planning among government agencies under Trump and then an "intense" process under Biden, who was nonetheless taken by surprise by the speed of events.

In line with a previous internal study, the report said that most US estimates predicted that the Western-backed Afghan government would persevere "for weeks if not months."

"Crisis preparation and planning were inhibited to a degree by concerns about the signals that might be sent, especially anything that might suggest the United States had lost confidence in the Afghan government and thus contribute to its collapse," it said.

Among recommendations, the report called for the State Department to "insulate contingency planning and emergency preparedness from political concerns."

It said that evacuation plans should be made routine, reducing the impact if news of such preparations were to leak out.

The United States recently was reported to be planning evacuation plans for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, leading the White House quickly to make clear that the preparations did not indicate fear of imminent war.

A senior US official said that parts of the report remain classified, pointing to security concerns.

The official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said that the State Department has already acted on recommendations including by identifying people who would respond to future crises.

sct/sst
FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Supreme Court Building is seen in Washington

By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a bid by President Joe Biden's administration to defend certain Securities and Exchange Commission in-house enforcement proceedings in a case that could broadly undercut the power of federal agencies.

The justices took up the administration's appeal of a lower court's decision that struck down certain SEC enforcement proceedings as unconstitutional for violating the right to a jury trial and infringing on presidential and congressional powers. The case involves hedge fund manager George Jarkesy, who the SEC had fined and barred from the industry after determining he had committed securities fraud.

The case represents the latest legal attack against the actions of the SEC, which enforces various federal laws that protect investors. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has signaled skepticism toward expansive federal regulatory power.

The justices in 2018 faulted the way the commission selected its in-house judges, and in April allowed targets of actions by the SEC and other regulators to immediately mount challenges to agency processes in federal court.

The SEC in 2011 began investigating Jarkesy, who had set up two hedge funds with his Houston-based investment advisory firm, Patriot28 LLC. The funds had about 120 investors and roughly $24 million in assets under management.

The SEC charges against Jarkesy and his firm proceeded before an in-house judge. The agency upheld the judge's findings that Jarkesy and his firm violated the Securities Act of 1933 and other laws in various ways, including misrepresenting the identity of the funds' auditor and value of the holdings.

The agency ordered them to pay a $300,000 civil penalty and Patriot28 to disgorge nearly $685,000 in ill-gotten gains, and barred Jarkesy from the securities industry.

A key issue in Jarkesy's case is whether the SEC's power to seek monetary penalties for securities fraud through in-house adjudications before administrative law judges, instead of in federal court, violates the right to a jury trial under the U.S. Constitution's Seventh Amendment.

The 5th Circuit in 2022 threw out the SEC's decision against Jarkesy, finding its proceedings illegally deprived him of his right to a jury trial.

The 5th Circuit also concluded that the SEC had been given too much power to choose to bring cases in-house or in federal court, and that the administrative judges job protections make them too difficult to remove from office, infringing on constitutional powers given to the president.

Paring back the regulatory authority of federal agencies - which can enforce laws and rules in important areas such as energy, the environment, climate policy and workplace safety - has been a major goal of many business and conservative groups, which complain about what they call the "administrative state."

In two rulings hemming in federal agency powers, the court in May and last year limited the U.S. Environmental Protect Agency's regulatory reach, making it harder to protect wetlands and issue sweeping regulations involving greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
U.S. Supreme Court takes up case of web designer who objects to same-sex marriage

US Supreme Court deals blow to LGBT rights in web designer case U.S. Supreme Court takes up case of web designer who objects to same-sex marriage

By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) -In a blow to LGBT rights, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority on Friday ruled that the constitutional right to free speech allows certain businesses to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings, a decision that the dissenting liberal justices called a "license to discriminate."

The justices ruled 6-3 along ideological lines in favor of Denver-area web designer Lorie Smith, who cited her Christian beliefs against gay marriage in challenging a Colorado anti-discrimination law. The justices overturned a lower court's ruling that had rejected Smith's bid for an exemption from a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors.

Smith's business, called 303 Creative, sells custom web designs, but she opposed providing her services for same-sex weddings.

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the ruling that Colorado's law would force Smith to create speech that she does not believe, in violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

"Were the rule otherwise, the better the artist, the finer the writer, the more unique his talent, the more easily his voice could be conscripted to disseminate the government's preferred messages. That would not respect the First Amendment; more nearly, it would spell its demise," Gorsuch wrote.

"The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands," Gorsuch added.

The court's three liberal justices dissented. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, "Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class."

Sotomayor added, "By issuing this new license to discriminate in a case brought by a company that seeks to deny same-sex couples the full and equal enjoyment of its services, the immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status. In this way, the decision itself inflicts a kind of stigmatic harm, on top of any harm caused by denials of service."

The decision by the court, on the final day of rulings in its term that began in October, comes at a time when laws targeting the rights of transgender and other LGBT people are being pursued by Republican legislators in numerous conservative-leaning states.

The case pitted the right of LGBT people to seek goods and services from businesses without discrimination against the free speech rights, as asserted by Smith, of artists - as she called herself - whose businesses provide services to the public.

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, criticized the ruling.

"In America, no person should face discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love," Biden said in a statement, adding that he fears the ruling could invite more discrimination.

"More broadly, today's decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations - including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith and women," Biden added.

The justices in recent years had backed LGBT rights in major cases, though the court has since moved rightward. A 2015 decision legalized gay marriage nationwide. A 2020 ruling found that a federal law barring workplace discrimination protects gay and transgender employees.

PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS LAW

Smith, who lives in the Denver suburb of Littleton, is an evangelical Christian who has said she believes marriage is only between a man and a woman. She preemptively sued Colorado's civil rights commission and other state officials in 2016 because she said she feared being punished for refusing to serve gay weddings under Colorado's public accommodations law.

Smith called Friday's ruling a victory for all Americans, adding, "Colorado can't force me or anyone to say something we don't believe."

Sotomayor warned that the ruling could cause a ripple effect of discrimination, particularly since the case was decided on free speech grounds, rather than religious rights.

"A website designer could equally refuse to create a wedding website for an interracial couple, for example ... A stationer could refuse to sell a birth announcement for a disabled couple because she opposes their having a child. A large retail store could reserve its family portrait services for 'traditional' families. And so on," Sotomayor wrote.

Friday's decision followed one in 2018 in which the justices ruled in favor of a Denver-area baker who refused based on his Christian views to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

Public accommodations laws exist in many states, banning discrimination in areas such as housing, hotels, retail businesses, restaurants and educational institutions. Colorado first enacted one in 1885. Its current Anti-Discrimination Act bars businesses open to the public from denying goods or services to people because of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and certain other characteristics.

Colorado argued that its Anti-Discrimination Act regulates sales, not speech, to ensure "equal access and equal dignity." Smith thus is free to sell whatever she wants, including websites with biblical passages stating an opposite-sex vision of marriage.

Kelley Robinson, president of LGBT civil rights group Human Rights Campaign, called Friday's decision "a deeply troubling crack in our progress and should be alarming to us all."

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
Photograph: Nathan Howard/Reuters

The supreme court has ruled against the Biden administrations $430bn student debt forgiveness plan in a blow to up to 40 million borrowers in the US.

In a 6-3 decision, the conservative-leaning supermajority of justices ruled that the 2003 Heroes Act, passed in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, does not authorize Bidens debt forgiveness plan.

The law gave the secretary of education authority to make changes to any provision of applicable student aid program laws in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US.

The decision strikes down a major tenet of the Biden administrations program, with the 2024 election quickly approaching.

Of the group of states suing the administration, led by Nebraska, the court determined that at least Missouri had standing  a sufficient legal case showing harm to the plaintiff  to sue given its implementation of Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (Mohela), one of the largest holders and servicers of educational loans in the US.

In the opinion, delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court found that the debt forgiveness plan would cut into Mohelas revenue, impairing its effort to aid Missouri college students.

This acknowledged harm to Mohela in the performance of its public function is necessarily a direct injury to Missouri itself, said Roberts.

The court further ruled that the Biden administration could not justify using the Heroes Act for its spending on the student-loan forgiveness plan. Roberts wrote that the authority to modify statutes in the act allows for modest adjustments and additions to existing regulation  not [to] transform them.

Roberts added that the modifications by the Department of Education created a novel and fundamentally different loan forgiveness program that expanded forgiveness to nearly every borrower in the country.

The liberal-leaning justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson all dissented.

In a sharp dissent, Kagan accused the court of overreach, saying: In every respect, the court today exceeds its proper, limited role in our Nations governance.

Kagan argued that the states did not have a right to sue, noting that the courts first overreach was deciding it at all.

She said: The plaintiffs in this case are six states that have no personal stake in the secretarys loan forgiveness plan. They are classic ideological plaintiffs: they think the plan a very bad idea, but they are no worse off because the secretary differs.

Kagan then defended the merits of the debt forgiveness program, including that two secretaries serving under two separate presidents have used the 2003 Heroes Act to suspend loan repayments, including during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the Biden administration adding a debt forgiveness provision.

In light of the ruling, the Biden administration was expected to announce new actions on student loans, reported CNN and Reuters, citing White House sources.

The case, Biden v Nebraska, against the plan was originally brought by a coalition of six Republican-led states  Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina  arguing that Congress should have approved any student loan debt cancellation plan and that the Biden administration and the US education department were abusing emergency authority.

Under Joe Bidens loan forgiveness plan, announced last August, $20,000 per person of federal student debt would have been forgiven for borrowers who were Pell grant recipients and up to $10,000 of debt would have been forgiven for other borrowers.

In order to qualify for debt forgiveness under this initiative, individual borrowers could not earn more than $125,000 annually and married couples filing taxes jointly could not earn more than $250,000.

Millions signed up but the plan was immediately challenged in court and eventually reached the supreme court, which mulled the constitutionality of the initiative.

The courts decision, after hearing oral arguments in February, underscores the limits of executive power and that the president cannot always unilaterally enforce legislation by executive order without congressional approval.

The Biden administration is considering alternative pathways to forgiving federal student loan debt, but has not explained how that will be achieved.

Student loan repayments, which were paused since the Covid-19 pandemic and again several times while the program was being litigated, are due to resume later in October.
Graphic designer Lorie Smith argued she could not serve same-sex couples because of her Christian faith

The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a graphic designer who has refused to create wedding websites for same-sex couples.

Lorie Smith, from Colorado, argued she could not serve same-sex couples because of her Christian faith.

Colorado state law prohibits businesses open to the public refusing service because of sexual orientation.

But the Supreme Court now says artists cannot be compelled to express messages against their religious beliefs.

The landmark case in the United States' top court on Friday pitted the rights of LGBT people to seek goods and services without discrimination against free speech rights.

All six conservative justices sided with the designer, while the court's three liberals dissented.

The majority opinion of the court is that the First Amendment, which protects free speech, blocks Colorado from forcing the designer to create endorsing messages with which she disagrees.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who delivered the majority opinion, wrote: "The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands."

But Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the three dissenting justices, said: "Today, the court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class."

She added: "Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people."

President Joe Biden criticised the ruling and said he feared it could weaken long-standing laws and invite more discrimination.

"In America, no person should face discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love," Mr Biden said in a statement.

Ms Smith, who lives in the Denver suburb of Littleton and runs web design businesses 303 Creative, is an evangelical Christian who has said she believes marriage is only between a man and a woman.

In 2016, Ms Smith filed a lawsuit that sought to block the state's public accommodation law. After two lower courts sided with Colorado, the case headed to the Supreme Court which has now sided in her favour.

There have been question marks over whether there was ever an actual request to 303 Creative to provide a website for a same-sex couple.

But according to legal expert Katherine Franke, director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia University, it does not matter whether any request had been made.

"What she was seeking is called a pre-enforcement order," she said.

"Whether that was a legitimate or fabricated request for a wedding site, it doesn't matter because nothing in the court's opinion turns on whether she was actually asked to serve under the Colorado law."

Like Colorado, most US states have similar anti-discrimination laws in place.

The case has highlighted a partisan rift in the US, with President Biden's administration and 20 largely Democratic states standing behind Colorado in arguing that a ruling in Ms Smith's favour could have far-reaching consequences.

Civil rights groups and scholars have warned that it would potentially open the door to other forms of discrimination, including racist, sexist and anti-religious views.

Meanwhile, some 20 Republican-leaning states, along with various religious groups, had voiced their support for Ms Smith.

The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States

A similar case in 2018 centred on a Colorado-based baker, Jack Phillips, who argued that being legally required to create a cake for a same-sex wedding violated his rights to free speech and religious freedom.

The Supreme Court ruled narrowly in his favour, finding that Colorado failed to show tolerance for Mr Phillip's beliefs.

The court, however, left open the question of whether states can apply public accommodation laws more generally.

The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States, acting as a final arbiter of the law and interpreter of the US Constitution.

All justices are nominated by the President and confirmed by the US Senate.
FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen in Washington

By John Kruzel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday decided - for now - not to weigh in on the legality of judges increasing prison sentences for criminal defendants based on charges for which they were acquitted - a practice that critics have said violates basic constitutional rights.

The justices turned away appeals in cases that would have given them an opportunity to prohibit the consideration of "acquitted conduct" in sentencing decisions in criminal cases.

Four justices on Friday said the issue raised important questions but signaled they would await pending action by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a bipartisan panel responsible for crafting U.S. criminal sentencing policy, before addressing the issue.

The commission in January proposed amending federal sentencing guidelines to prohibit judges from considering a defendant's acquitted conduct with only narrow exceptions. The commission has not yet voted on the measure, which has been opposed by U.S. Justice Department.

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that "this court may need to take up the constitutional issues presented" if the commission does not act on it soon. Three conservatives - Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett - made a similar statement.

At issue is whether this practice violates the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment due process protections and Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury.

Numerous criminal defendants have asked the justices to revisit a 1997 Supreme Court ruling that said a jury's verdict of acquittal does not prevent a sentencing judge from considering conduct underlying an acquitted charge.

Juries must determine whether a charge has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt - the burden of proof in U.S. criminal cases - in order to convict a defendant. But judges during sentencing can consider the facts underlying acquitted charges if they were proved by a preponderance of the evidence at trial, a lower burden of proof matching that used in civil cases.

For example, if a defendant was convicted of armed robbery but acquitted of kidnapping, judges could consider increasing the sentence for armed robbery if they believe the facts underlying the kidnapping charge were demonstrated by a preponderance of the evidence.

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has said the practice undermines the role of the jury in criminal trials and violates the due process rights of defendants.

Some current and former Supreme Court justices have questioned whether judges should be permitted to extend a defendant's prison sentence based on acquitted conduct.

(Reporting by John Kruzel; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham)
The News

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Joe Bidens massive student debt forgiveness plan, which would wipe up to $20,000 in debt for millions of borrowers.

With a 6-3 decision split on ideological lines, the court's conservative majority sided with six GOP states that had argued the White House had overstepped its legal authority. Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson of the high court's liberal wing dissented.

The White House argued it was acting legally under the 2003 HEROES Act, which allows the Department of Education to waive or modify student loan programs in response to a national emergency.

"The Secretary asserts that the HEROES Act grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote as the main author of the opinion.

The decision deals an enormous blow to a signature piece of Bidens economic agenda that was a key component of his 2020 presidential campaign. The student loan cancellation program was set to provide financial relief for individual borrowers earning below $125,000 and $250,000 for households.

We've curated smart analysis on the far-reaching impact of the Court's decision.

Insights

The impact of the ruling will be far-reaching. The approximately 26 million Americans who applied for loan forgiveness will have to pay their balances in full. About half of them would have seen their student debt loans fully canceled under Biden's plan.

Friday's decisions reinforced the ideological divide on the court, following some other decisions this term in which liberal and conservative justices aligned with one another.

Democrats widely denounced the ruling, with Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon criticizing what he called a "far-right extremist Supreme Court." Even before the decision, progressives and advocacy groups had been pressing the Biden administration to pursue a Plan B if needed. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday called on officials to try the cancellation effort again under the Higher Education Act, through which the government could theoretically order the Department of Education to stop collecting student loan payments.

Republicans, meanwhile, cheered the ruling , having long contended that Biden overreached with the sweeping cancellation. Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, one of the states that sued to stop the plan, called it an "illegal scheme" that was unfair to those who have paid off their student loans.

The political ramifications of the ruling remain to be seen. Semafor's Benjy Sarlin points out that it's an open question whether those who are denied debt relief will be "motivated to vote in response and who they blame."

Know More

Biden's plan has been in legal limbo for months after a barrage of lawsuits, including from six GOP-led states, sought to overturn it. Conservative advocates claimed the White House couldnt take sweeping executive action without buy-in from Congress.

The conservative justices had expressed skepticism over the forgiveness plan, while progressive groups argued the states had failed to show theyd been harmed by it.

In a separate case in which individual borrowers challenged the plan, the court ruled unanimously that they did not have standing to bring the suit, meaning they failed to prove they'd be harmed by the policy.

Meanwhile, the Education Department announced that it'll restart student loan repayments in October with interest accruing starting Sept. 1.
The US Supreme Court has struck down US President Joe Biden's proposal to wipe out billions in student debt.

The 6-3 ruling effectively cancels the plan, which would have forgiven about $10,000 (7,800) per borrower - and up to $20,000 in some cases.

The decision affects the loans of more than 40 million Americans.

It has left the US public "angry," Mr Biden said. He pledged to put in place new measures to reduce university debt using other existing laws.

The loan forgiveness plan has been in limbo since some conservative states sued, arguing the president overstepped his authority. The Supreme Court agreed.

In the wake of the decision, Mr Biden spoke from the White House, saying: "I know there are millions of Americans in this country who feel disappointed and discouraged or even a little bit angry. I must admit I do too."

But he vowed to work with the Department of Education to find other means to help people ease the financial burden.

"Today's decision has closed one path. Now we're going to start another," he said.

The total federal student debt has more than tripled over the past 15 years, rising from about $500bn in 2007 to $1.6tn today.

Last year, the US Treasury took a $430bn charge to cover $300m in costs associated with the loan forgiveness programme, as well as additional costs associated with an extension of a Covid-era moratorium on payments through the end of the year.

The Biden administration faced plaintiffs in two separate cases, one involving six Republican-led states - Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina - and the other involving two individual student loan borrowers.

In both cases, plaintiffs argued the executive branch did not have the power to so broadly cancel student debt.

The Supreme Court ruled the two individual borrowers did not persuasively argue they would be harmed by the loan forgiveness plan, effectively ruling that they had no legal standing to challenge the Biden administration's proposal.

America's student debt graphic

During arguments in February, the Biden administration said that under a 2003 law known as the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or Heroes Act, it had the power to "waive or modify" loan provisions to protect borrowers affected by "a war or other military operation or national emergency".

In its ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that while the act allows Mr Biden's education secretary, Miguel Cardona, to "make modest adjustments and additions to existing provisions, not transform them".

Justice John Roberts wrote that the modifications made by the Biden administration "created a novel and fundamentally different" loan forgiveness programme that "expanded forgiveness to nearly every borrower" in the US.

He added that the administration's use of the Heroes Act "does not remotely resemble how it has been used on prior occasions".

The high court's ruling fell along ideological lines, with its three liberal judges dissenting.

In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that "the result here is that the court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness".

"Congress authorised the forgiveness plan... the [education secretary] put it in place; and the president would have been accountable for its success or failure," she wrote.

"But this court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits of the plan (so says the court) that assistance is too 'significant'".

The White House had previously estimated that almost 90% of US student borrowers would have qualified for relief under the plan.

"This decision is going to impact a lot of people in this country. But it's disproportionately going to impact people who are already historically marginalised," Ranen Miao, a 22-year-old recent graduate told BBC News outside the Supreme Court.

"The people who take out student loans are not the children of millionaires and billionaires. They're the children of working families," added Mr Miao, who declined to disclose how much student debt he has.

Clegg Ivey told CBS, the BBC's US partner, the Supreme Court had "made the right decision" and that he disagreed with the Biden administration's approach to the issue.

"I have student loans and I certainly would have benefited," he said. "But if that's what we want, let's talk to our congressman. Congress... should actually do its job."

Polling data shows that support for the student loan forgiveness proposal largely fell along political lines.

One poll conducted by Marquette Law School in May found that 31% of Republicans favoured the proposal, compared to 69% of independents and 87% of Democrats.

The Supreme Court's ruling on Friday was swiftly applauded by senior Republican lawmakers.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the loan initiative is "unlawful" and would mean that Americans without student loans "are no longer forced" to pay for those who do.

In total, approximately 43 million people in the US owe money for student loans - or about one-in-six US adults with at least some post-secondary education.

Federal reserve data shows that the median student loan is about $17,000. About 17% of borrowers owe less than $10,000, while about 7% owe over $100,000.

Among those on the high end of the debt spectrum is Satra Taylor, a part-time student and campaigner for the group Young Invincibles who owes about $103,000. She told the BBC she expects the figure to grow as she continues a doctoral programme.

"My family does not come from generational wealth. I had no other option but to take out student loans to ensure I could put food on my table and pay my rent," she said.

"I'm deeply saddened by this decision... but I'm also hopeful that President Biden will ensure student debt cancellation happens."
Kampala, Uganda (CNN)  In between leading Sunday services at All Saints Cathedral in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, Rev. Canon John Awodi declares vehemently that homosexuality is a sin that must be repented of, adding that it is against the order of God.

Homosexuality is not natural, it is unnatural. That is the stand of the church here. It is unbiblical, it is unnatural, the Anglican cleric told CNN.

These themes have become a common thread in his sermons and interviews, especially since Ugandas Anti-Homosexuality Act was signed into law last month.

The act outlaws gay marriage in Uganda, punishes same-sex acts with life imprisonment, and calls for the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality  which includes sex with a minor or otherwise vulnerable person, having sex while HIV positive and incest.

After initially wavering and sending the bill  which is widely popular with lawmakers, Christian and Muslim leaders in Uganda, as well as commentators on social media  back to parliament for review, President Yoweri Museveni eventually signed it into law in May, leading to global criticism, existential dread within the LGBTQ+ community, and legal challenges.

Nowhere is safe

It dehumanizes us as human beings, it doesnt treat us as citizens. We are literally criminals and we are illegal in our own space that we call home. Nowhere is safe for any queer person living in Uganda, Joan Amek, co-founder of Rella Womens Foundation, told CNN.

Even though she created a safe space and shelter for lesbian, bisexual, and queer women through her organization, she says, she herself faces eviction from her rented apartment by the end of July. She believes it is because of her sexuality and prominence in queer activism, even though her landlord didnt explicitly say so but her suspicions rose after a neighbor tipped her off.

I have had myself being chased away from where Im staying, she said.

Returning to her parents house was not an option either. My mum stands in solidarity with me but from a distance. When we had the conversation that I had been evicted, she didnt say you can come home she just said oh, sorry, Ill pray for you. How is prayer going to help? Amek asked.

In recent weeks, disturbing videos have surfaced showing mounting hostility towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals in Uganda since the reintroduction of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

In one video, verified by a consortium of civil society groups called the Strategic Response Team (SRT), a transgender woman is marched naked on the streets while a jeering crowd follows, and a lesbian couple endures ridicule from neighbors, among other forms of public shaming.

At least 300 human rights violations against suspected homosexuals have been reported in Uganda arising from the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, the SRT told CNN. As it investigates them, the SRT says it submitted a list of 50 verified cases to a judge while seeking an injunction against the law.

They include cases of evictions, so-called corrective rape, outing, termination from employment, blackmail, threats of violence or physical attacks and incidents of mob justice, according to SRT.

However, opposition lawmaker Asuman Basalirwa, who introduced the 2023 bill, dismissed the latest reports of human rights violations as distortions and fabrications.

He told CNN the allegations were completely false, and backed the law.

Who has been fired from their jobs? Who has been evicted from their houses? This is a very innocent law. No one has been targeted, he said.

My life is hell

Nash Wash Raphael, a 30-year-old transgender man, says he was attacked on the night Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Act. He was left with a broken ankle and relies on crutches to walk while it heals.

This was not the first time Raphael had faced violence; he says it was the ninth assault since his transition. Raphael describes his life as hell, and says he attempted suicide when pictures of him and his partner were leaked and went viral. While they werent intimate photos, they still outed him.

I feel like I should take my own life as there is nothing else Im left to protect. This is my second year on hormones, and I was supposed to get my top surgery next year, but all this has been shattered, and I cant even afford it, Raphael said. Top surgery refers to the procedure to remove breast or chest tissue.

Raphael says he no longer walks during the day, afraid that he might get attacked again.

After getting fired from his job for not wearing traditional womens clothes, he tried casual jobs in Dubai and Saudi Arabia and hawking baked goods in Kampala but says he couldnt keep his identity hidden for long.

He says his Muslim family disowned him and he remains in contact only with his youngest sister out of six siblings. His father told CNN that Raphael is his daughter who has refused to come home.

My life is actually useless to them. I literally tell myself that I dont have a family in this world. The same God that created them has a reason why he made me the way I am, Raphael says, his voice breaking.

Promoting homosexuality penalized

The new law states that a person who promotes homosexuality commits an offense and is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years.

It also requires Ugandans to report suspected homosexuals or violations of the law to the authorities.

On Musevenis recommendation, the law prescribes rehabilitation for convicted homosexuals to change their sexual orientation, even though scientists say so-called conversion therapy is harmful and ineffective.

Ugandan lawmakers, who overwhelmingly supported the bill, railed against the supposed recruitment of young people into homosexuality, pedophilia and grooming.

Basalirwa, the lawmaker, told CNN he had met with people who had been recruited but had, in his words, counseled out of it.

I want to disagree with the people who say homosexuality is a Western concept. No, it is not. Weve lived with homosexuality here in this country, in Africa. What is foreign is recruitment and promotion. Thats un-African, he said.

Human rights advocates say that the offense of promotion of homosexuality could be weaponized against activists, journalists, or any ordinary citizen.

Someone can accuse anyone of being queer and theyll get arrested. And next thing you know, you could be spending up to life in prison, Amek told CNN.

Cutting ties with the Anglican Church

Amek has grown accustomed to the dangers of her work, after she says her organizations offices were raided by police three times, forcing them to move to a new shelter for vulnerable queer women.

It is the cost of continuing to operate in a conservative Ugandan society where homophobic messaging emanates everywhere from churches and mosques to the highest political offices, Amek said.

The Church of Uganda openly defied the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and supported the Anti-Homosexuality Act, accusing the global head of the Anglican Church of misinterpreting the Bible.

Welby wrote to the leader of Ugandan Anglicans expressing his grief and dismay for at that support, but it fell on deaf ears. The Church of Uganda says it will separate from the Church of England over their differences on the issue of homosexuality.

The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 is a revival of a previous version nicknamed the Kill the Gays Bill that Ugandas parliament passed in 2014 but which was blocked in court on a technicality. This current law is also being challenged in court.

Amek understands that she risks jail time by speaking up, but she persists, saying it is worth it. I dont want to be a martyr and die. But I want to stand strong for protection of the LGBTIQ generation and community now, but also for the future, she said.

Silence equals death. And regardless of whether I stay silent or not, theyll still kill us, theyll still criminalize us.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Uganda passed one of the worlds harshest anti-gay laws. LGBTQ people describe living there as hell.'"
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken delivers remarks at a Pride reception at the U.S. Department of State in Washington

US top diplomat Blinken to discuss Haiti crises with country's premier U.S. Secretary of State Blinken delivers remarks at a Pride reception at the U.S. Department of State in Washington

By Daphne Psaledakis and Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss political, security and humanitarian crises in Haiti with Prime Minister Ariel Henry next week, a State Department official said on Friday.

Blinken will travel to Guyana and neighboring Trinidad and Tobago on July 5-6, the State Department said. While in Trinidad and Tobago, Blinken will meet with Henry, who took power in July 2021 days after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Blinken would discuss a range of priorities on the Caribbean trip, including food and energy security, climate resilience, regional security and migration management, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti, Barbara Feinstein, told reporters.

Blinken will attend the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government meeting and its 50th anniversary celebration in Trinidad and Tobago.

"The Secretary will urge Prime Minister Henry to work urgently with Haitian stakeholders to enlarge the political consensus and fashion a political path forward that returns Haiti to democratic order," Feinstein said.

Blinken will also reaffirm U.S. support for the Haitian National Police and for the deployment of a multinational force and/or peacekeeping operations.

"With regard to a multinational force, it remains the United States position that that is critical, that we ought to respond as a global community to the Haitian peoples call for enhanced security assistance given the untenable situation on the ground," Feinstein said.

Several Caribbean leaders have spoken up in support of a multinational force, she said, and Blinken looked forward to a broader conversation with the leaders, including Henry.

Since last year, Henry has called for an international force to rein in gangs that control large parts of the country, fueling a humanitarian crisis that has displaced tens of thousands.

The United States has pushed Canada to take a leading role, but countries have been wary of sending troops in support of the unelected government of Henry, who has in turn said security must be established to hold credible elections.

Asked about Trinidad and Tobago's request for the U.S. to amend the terms of a license authorizing the joint development of a promising offshore gas field with Venezuela, Feinstein said "we are certainly open to further conversations with Trinidad and Tobago on this issue to see what can be done to improve energy security in the region."

In Guyana, Blinken will meet on July 6 with President Irfaan Ali to discuss issues including food and energy security and decarbonisation.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Arshad Mohammed and Rami Ayyub; editing by Paul Grant and Grant McCool)
By Jonathan Stempel and Jack Queen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. government has urged an appeals court to uphold Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.

In a Thursday night filing with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, federal prosecutors said none of Maxwell's legal arguments about the fairness of her trial undermined their case, or justified a dismissal or new trial.

"The government's evidence at trial established that over the course of a decade, Maxwell facilitated and participated in the sexual abuse of multiple young girls," prosecutors said.

Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Maxwell, had no immediate comment.

Maxwell, 61, is behind bars in Tallahassee, Florida, after a Manhattan jury convicted her in December 2021 on five charges for recruiting and grooming four girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.

Her accusers have said she and Epstein at first made them feel welcome in their orbit, before Epstein began demanding sexualized massages. Hundreds of women have said he abused them.

In her appeal, Maxwell, daughter of late British media mogul Robert Maxwell, accused prosecutors of making her a scapegoat because Epstein was dead and "public outrage" demanded that someone else absorb the blame.

Prosecutors rejected her claims that they waited too long to bring charges, and that Epstein's 2007 non-prosecution agreement arising from alleged abuse at his Palm Beach, Florida mansion also immunized her.

They also said the trial judge had discretion to conclude that Maxwell's jury was fair and impartial, though one juror failed to disclose during pre-trial questioning that he had been sexually abused as a child.

"This case does not present the extraordinary circumstances that justify overturning a jury's verdict based on an error during voir dire," prosecutors said.

Epstein committed suicide at age 66 in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell, while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

Others who were friendly with him have seen their reputations tarred or ruined, among them Britain's Prince Andrew and former JPMorgan Chase executive and Barclays chief executive Jes Staley.

JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, which both had Epstein as a client, are paying a combined $365 million to Epstein's accusers over their work for him. The U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home, is also suing JPMorgan.

Maxwell is eligible for release in July 2037, with credit for good behavior and the two years she spent in jail before being imprisoned.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Jack Queen in New York; edting Robert Birsel and David Gregorio)
Chinese honor guards take formation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 28, 2023 (Jade GAO)

US intelligence warned companies operating in China Friday over the impact of Beijing's new counter-espionage law coming into force on July 1.

The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) said the law, which aims to protect China's national security secrets, gives Beijing "expanded legal grounds for accessing and controlling data held by US firms in China."

The NCSC said the new law is ambiguous on what fits into the definition of national security secrets, but believes Beijing is taking an expansive view that could include information companies use as a normal part of their business.

US companies and individuals could "face penalties for traditional business activities" if Chinese authorities label them espionage or says they are assisting foreign sanctions on China, the NCSC said in an advisory notice.

"The laws may also compel locally-employed PRC nationals of US firms to assist in PRC intelligence efforts," it said, referring to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The new law expands on previous laws governing national secrets, and comes as relations between Beijing and Washington are deeply strained over military tensions and deep economic competition.

NCSC said the law expands China's definition of espionage from covering state secrets to any documents or data that the government says could be labelled national security-related "due to ambiguities in the law."

The law could "create legal risks or uncertainty for foreign companies, journalists, academics and researchers," it said.

The law comes amid more pressure from Beijing on foreign advisory firms operating in the country.

In March police closed the Beijing office of US due-diligence firm Mintz Group and arrested five local staff members.

The following month, US consulting giant Bain & Company said employees at its Shanghai office had been questioned.

The new law has spooked foreign and domestic firms as they try to decipher authorities' intentions -- and crucially, pinpoint what is off-limits.

"Companies are scrambling to figure out protocols to protect their staff. But the definitions are so vague," an employee of a major international auditing firm told AFP in May.

"No one knows whether they have crossed a line or not, or where the red line is."

pmh/tjj
People walk on the beach of the Great Salt Lake in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 17, 2023. Gov. Spencer Cox has invited Utahns to participate in a day of prayer and thanksgiving on Sunday, July 2, 2023, following a historic winter. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is once again asking residents for a day of prayer over the Beehive States water, this time on the heels of a historic winter that brought much of the state out of extreme drought.

On Thursday, Cox declared Sunday, July 2, as a day of prayer and thanksgiving in Utah, asking faith leaders across the state to offer prayers of thanks after a winter that dropped as much as 900 inches of snow in parts of the Wasatch Mountains.

I believe prayer can be a powerful tool, Cox said. There is real power in people of all different faiths and backgrounds uniting together and pleading for help from a higher authority than our own. I also believe that people who pray for water will conserve water, and we need to continue to conserve.

For the last two years Cox has asked constituents to unite in prayer to ask for help with the drought.

According to the U.S. drought monitor, Sevier, Piute and parts of Garfield, Iron, Beaver Wayne and Millard counties are currently experiencing moderate drought. But most of Utah is currently either not in a drought, or listed as abnormally dry.

Cox first called on Utahns to pray for rain in June 2021  that same week, most of the state was in either exceptional or extreme drought, the most dire rankings.

Related

Some praised the governor, but he was also met with online vitriol, with scores of social media users calling on Cox to do more than pray to address the drought.

Over the past years we asked Utahns to join us in praying for water. It worked. Utah saw a record-breaking winter and our reservoirs are filling up! Cox said on Twitter. We believe that theres nothing more powerful than people for all different faiths and backgrounds uniting together and expressing gratitude.

Im grateful for the prayers and conservation efforts of Utahns during the worst drought in our states historyand for the record snowfall we received this year. While there is still more to do, I hope we can pause and give thanks together this weekend for the miraculous winter. https://t.co/PWkPvw3Jx9  Spencer Cox (@SpencerJCox) June 29, 2023

Despite the rosy picture painted by the drought monitor, Cox reminded Utahns to not get complacent. Scientists warn the above-average precipitation is prompting new growth that could turn into wildfire fuel later in the summer. And although the Great Salt Lake has risen about five feet thanks to runoff, one exceptional winter does not mean the lake is saved.

Im grateful for the prayers and conservation efforts of Utahns during the worst drought in our states history  and for the record snowfall we received this year. While there is still more to do, I hope we can pause and give thanks together this weekend for the miraculous winter, Cox said.

Related
Veterans Affairs officials unveiled preliminary plans to build a new cutting-edge cancer care and research center in California with Stanford University as part of new public-private partnership efforts approved as part of sweeping toxic exposure legislation approved last summer.

Construction is still years away, but VA officials touted the announcement as a sign of what the future of department health care could be: groundbreaking research that benefits not only veterans suffering from the wounds of war, but also the country as a whole.

This will allow us to partner with every powerhouse academic center in the country, if we do this right, said Dr. Shereef Elnahal, VA Under Secretary of Health, during a press event at the Stanford Medicine campus on Friday. For research, training, and care delivery, its all one bucket of cancer care that veterans deserve.

According to VA statistics, more than 50,000 new cancer cases are reported to department registries annually. Elnahal said because of other health issues related to military service, veterans often face worse health outcomes from those diagnoses than patients without any military background.

Deadline looms for vets to get retroactive toxic exposure benefits

Stanford officials said they conduct about 1,000 new clinical trials with cancer patients annually. The goal of the new joint center would be to bring those efforts together with existing VA research projects, and use the combined resources to speed up results and expand workloads.

This center will provide our entire community, both veterans and non-veterans, access to cancer care thats informed by the best possible science and research, said David Entwistle, president and CEO of Stanford Health Care. And whats more, well be able to serve as a beacon of hope for millions of patients and their families who will receive that difficult diagnosis.

Details of construction timing, project costs and facility staffing still need to be worked out between federal officials and university leaders. Elnahal acknowledged the work is still in its very early stages, but said he hopes to open the doors to the new center in the next five years.

Fridays partnership was made possible through the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (better known as the PACT Act) signed into law last August. That measure is best known for a massive expansion of disability benefits for veterans who suffered toxic exposure injuries during their time in service, including 12 types of cancer linked to prolonged inhalation of burn pit smoke in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the legislation also included new authorities for VA leaders to work with private institutions on research and medical care. Department officials said the Stanford project will serve as a model for more partnerships to come.

My message to veterans is this: know that we are doing this in service of making medical care even better and more accessible to you over time, Elnahal said.

VA officials are spending the next month conducting a public awareness campaign on the PACT Act in an effort to get more veterans to sign up for medical care and benefits. More than 660,000 veterans have applied for benefits in the last 11 months, and the department has paid out more than $1.4 billion to eligible recipients so far.
(Bloomberg) -- President Nicolas Maduros quest to gain control of roughly $2 billion in Venezuelan gold held in the UK suffered a setback Friday when the English Court of Appeal dismissed his administrations appeal and sent it back to the Commercial Court.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal introduced by the Maduro government and said the Commercial Court needed to determine the future course of the case, on the grounds that opposition leader Juan Guaido is no longer recognized by the UK government as the president of Venezuela, according to the decision.

The gold, which is stored in the vaults of the Bank of England, represents a significant chunk of Venezuelas $5.2 billion in international reserves, excluding special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund which the country cant currently access.

Maduro and Guaido have been fighting in court to gain control of the gold. The legal battle grew complicated after Guaido, who in 2019 was recognized as Venezuelas legitimate president by dozens of governments worldwide, was removed from his post by allies in January, creating uncertainty over who represents the countrys interests.

Maduro received permission in September to appeal a London judges ruling holding that decisions by Venezuelas Supreme Court, which backed the government-controlled central bank boards rights to access the gold, could not be recognized. The change to Guaidos recognition doesnt alter that decision, the appeals court said Friday.

Read: London Court Gives Venezuelas Maduro OK to Appeal in Gold Case

The clear next step is for the Commercial Court to consider the impact of these changed circumstances including Her Majestys Government de-recognition of Mr. Guaido following the recent political events in Venezuela, said Sarosh Zaiwalla, Senior Partner at Zaiwalla & Co., who is representing Maduros appointed central bank board in the case.

The situation calls for an enquiry to establish who, in the absence of a formal recognition from the UK government, is to be regarded as governing Venezuela, he added.

--With assistance from Nicolle Yapur.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - - A retired Venezuelan general who says he was involved in a plot to oust President Nicolas Maduro has pleaded guilty to U.S. charges of assisting Colombia's FARC rebel group, court records showed on Friday.

Cliver Alcala had been set to go on trial in federal court in Manhattan starting July 10 on charges he and other senior Venezuelan government officials - including Maduro - conspired with the FARC to ship cocaine to the United States.

Alcala pleaded not guilty to those charges shortly after surrendering to U.S. agents in Colombia in 2020. He pleaded guilty earlier this week to two counts of providing material support to a terrorist group and illicit transfer of firearms, court records showed.

"General Alcala accepted an extensively negotiated plea agreement in which he has pled guilty to lesser offenses not contained in the indictment against him  providing material support to the FARC when he was a Venezuelan general. This resolution does not include any narcotics offenses," Alcala's defense team said in a statement.

The United States considered the FARC, which disbanded in 2016 as part of a historic peace deal, to be a terrorist group.

Alcala's lawyers said he supported the FARC as "part of the foreign policy of his country as directed by the civilian government."

Alcala retired from Venezuela's military in 2013 and went on to become a vocal critic of Maduro, a socialist accused by Washington of corruption, human rights violations and election-rigging.

In court papers last October, Alcala said he met with the Central Intelligence Agency multiple times between 2017 and 2020 to discuss a planned revolt aimed at ousting Maduro. His lawyers said his involvement in the plot meant he could not have been conspiring with Maduro to ship cocaine.

The CIA declined to comment at the time.

Maduro dismisses U.S. criticism of his government as a plot to oust him in a coup and take control of the OPEC nation's vast oil reserves.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from running in upcoming elections, causing more tension in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential vote.

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Machados ban, like those slapped on other leading opposition figures including former governor and twice presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, on the face of it seeks to keep her out of next years race. In practice, however, she and other candidates are ignoring the bans and hoping the government has to reverse them eventually.

The announcement comes just two weeks after the government began a controversial restructuring process of the electoral body, prompting the opposition to plan primaries without its support. The move to render Machado ineligible appears to be an attempt to discourage opposition voters.

Machado called the ban useless in remarks delivered earlier Friday at a rally in the late Hugo Chavezs hometown of Barinas.

It only shows one thing: they know theyre defeated, Machado said. Id tell the regime, despair is a very bad adviser, and it seems theyre very desperate because they only make mistake after mistake.

Political Rights

The government announced the ban in a letter from the Comptrollers office to lawmaker Jose Brito who had requested the information on Machados status Monday. She is to be barred from holding public office for 15 years retroactive from 2015, said the letter, dated June 27 but disclosed Friday.

According to the Comptrollers office, Machado made errors and omissions in her asset disclosures, and failed to justify roughly half of the funds she administered. The government also said she was linked to several corruption plots headed by former interim President Juan Guaido. They also accused her of complicity in the economic blockade and sanctions over Venezuela.

The US State department said banning Machado deprives the Venezuelan people of basic political rights, according to a statement by spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Venezuelan government efforts to remake the electoral body are cause for concern as they hamper its independence and credibility, the State Department said.

Even Colombia President Gustavo Petro, a Maduro ally, criticized the move.

It is clear that no administrative authority should take away political rights from any citizen, Petro said in a tweet following the announcement.

The OAS General Secretariat challenged the decision and demanded conditions for a free and fair vote in 2024. The regime resorts to barrings and proscriptions to cling to power and liquidate any semblance of democracy, it said in a statement.

Recent polls show Machados popularity has been on the rise and she is currently leading 14 candidates vying to challenge President Nicolas Maduro in the 2024 election. The latest survey by Caracas-based firm ORC Consultores showed her with 46.4% of voter intention in May, up from 35.4% in November.

This may be a desperate attempt to curb the support Machado is receiving from people on her way to the primaries, said Oswaldo Ramirez Colina, head of ORC Consultores. According to recent studies by his firm, eight of 10 primary voters dont care that their candidate is ineligible, they would still vote for him or her.

Capriles, one of Machados main contenders, said Machados ban was illegitimate, unjustified and unconstitutional.

(Updates with US State Department comment in eighth, ninth paragraphs)

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The year she graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mary Tobin was part of the largest cohort of black women in the schools history, to that point. There were about 25, out of more than 1,000 students.

West Point sucks for everybody, Tobin says. But her experience had its own challenges. Among other indignities, she was taunted by a classmate who told her she was only admitted because of affirmative action; other classmates, she recalls, hung a Confederate flag for her to find the day she was in charge for room inspection.

Still, as the daughter of a student who protested to desegregate lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee, Tobin saw her time at West Point  plus 10 years in the Army and two tours of Iraq  as her own contribution to a longer-term project of making the country a more equitable place. I grew up with this idea that the wrongs that you see, you must address, she says.

For Tobin, the Supreme Courts decision on Thursday declaring affirmative action unconstitutional, while carving out an exception for military academies, was a step backwards for that project. Exempting military academies from the decision, she says, telegraphed an unmistakable message to her and other veterans from marginalized communities: This is all youre good for.

What that decision said to me was: It is okay for black and brown officers to be produced in these institutions of higher education for the purposes of defending and or dying for their country, if necessary. However, we do not deem it important to ensure that there is a diversity of doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, artists.

More bluntly, Tobin, a board member of the Black Veterans Project, says: Were good enough to get into institutions where we might have to die for this country. But were not good enough to get into institutions that can train us to save the lives of black and brown families and children.

By exempting the nations military academies, like West Point, from its decision, the Courts conservative majority acknowledged that the government has a compelling interest in the racial diversity of military leadership, while insisting it has no interest in diversifying other kinds of leadership.

For Lindsay Church, executive director of Minority Vets, the message was clear. All of this is just continuing to prove that people are expendable. Its not about actually ensuring true equity, Church says, adding that the decision is another example of how we have continued to pillage the resources of black and brown communitiesWeve been over-recruiting in these communities to begin with  especially for the lower enlisted ranks.

Church said she agreed with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who declared in a searing dissent: The Court has come to rest on the bottom-line conclusion that racial diversity in higher education is only worth potentially preserving insofar as it might be needed to prepare Black Americans and other underrepresented minorities for success in the bunker, not the boardroom.

In Tobins view, the Courts decision is a slap in the face of my mothers service to this country, as well as my service It is incredibly insulting to the millions of black veterans who have served this country voluntarily because they believed in the promise of this country.

It is pretty tough sometimes to live in a country that you love so much you would die for, but it doesnt love you back, she says. Its really, really tough to swallow that.

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A visitor at Yellowstone National Park scrambled away in shock after she ignored warnings and put her hand into a steaming hot spring

The Silex Spring in Lower Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Jon G. Fuller/VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

A woman at Yellowstone National Park ignored warnings and put her hand into a steaming hot spring.

A video captured by another visitor showed the woman scrambling away after, shouting, "It's hot!"

Hot springs have "injured or killed more people in Yellowstone than any other natural feature," per the NPS.

A woman at Yellowstone National Park ignored warnings and dipped her hand into one of the park's famous hot springs, only to scramble away in shock when she realized how hot the water was.

Another visitor caught the incident on video, and it was later uploaded to the Instagram account TouronsofYellowstone.

The account, which takes its name from the words "tourist" and "moron," posts videos of visitors doing stupid and dangerous things at Yellowstone National Park.

In the clip uploaded last Wednesday, a man and a woman can be seen standing by the edge of a hot spring after veering off the boardwalk.

"It's stupid," a man said in the background of the video.

As other visitors stared, the woman rolled up her sleeves, crouched on the ground, and tried to inch closer to the water.

When she realized she couldn't reach it on her own, she held on to her companion's arm for support. She then dipped her right hand into the pool of water that had steam rising off of it.

After touching the water, the woman quickly got to her feet and scrambled away from the hot spring, yelling, "It's hot! It's very hot!"

The video was accompanied by a caption from the original visitor who filmed the video.

"Ok, I would have called these people in but couldn't find a ranger or service but here's a guy and I'd presume his daughter at what I thought said Silex Spring in Fountain Paint Pot trail. I told him that was a bad idea and they shouldn't get off the boardwalk. His response was 'Whatever man.' So I hit record," the caption read.

The National Park Service says on its website that Silex Spring has an average temperate of 174.7 degrees Fahrenheit, or 79.3 degrees Celsius, and last erupted in 2006.

The Flower Paint Pot trail is also part of Yellowstone's still active volcano, and visitors must "stay on the boardwalk at all times," per the NPS.

Yellowstone National Park's safety rules strictly prohibit activities such as touching, swimming, and soaking in the hot springs, stating that "hot springs have injured or killed more people in Yellowstone than any other natural feature."

The US Geological Survey also said Yellowstone's near-boiling hydrothermal waters were the park's "gravest threat to visitors."

More than 20 people have died from burns suffered after entering or falling into Yellowstone's hot springs, per the NPS.

In November 2016, a man from Oregon dissolved after he slipped into a Yellowstone hot spring while looking for a place to soak. When rescuers tried to retrieve his body the next day, they couldn't find his remains, per CNN.

In October 2021, a 20-year-old woman suffered second-degree burns after she rushed into a hot spring at Yellowstone while trying to rescue her dog. The hot spring that she entered, Maiden's Grave Spring, has an average temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit, per the NPS.

In August last year, Insider reported that a shoe with part of a foot still in it was found floating in the 53-foot-deep Abyss Pool in the West Thumb Geyser Basin area.

Yellowstone National Park did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of regular business hours.

Read the original article on Insider
(CNN)  Astronomers have been able to hear the celestial hum of powerful gravitational waves, created by collisions between black holes, echoing across the universe for the first time.

Their observations reveal that the waves  including some that slowly undulate as they pass through our Milky Way galaxy  occur at different frequencies and oscillate for decades.

The discovery could help scientists better understand cosmic phenomena like supermassive black holes and how often galaxies merge.

Gravitational waves, initially predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916, are ripples in space-time that were first detected in 2015.

Astronomers found the waves by tracking pulsars, or the dense remnants of cores belonging to massive stars after they explode in a supernova, across the Milky Way. Pulsars are like stellar lighthouses, rapidly spinning and releasing beams of radio waves that seem to pulse when viewed through Earth-based telescopes. Pulsars can spin hundreds of times each second, and the stable precision of the pulses makes them as reliable as cosmic clocks.

When gravitational waves pass between Earth and a pulsar, the radio wave timing of the pulsar is disrupted. Einstein theorized that gravitational waves would stretch and compress space as they moved across the universe, affecting how radio waves travel. This means some of the pulses reach Earth a fraction of a second earlier or later than expected.

More than 190 scientists set out to discover the frequencies of gravitational waves as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves collaboration, also known as NANOGrav.

They tracked the radio waves from more than 60 pulsars for 15 years using three large radio telescopes: the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (which is no longer operational), the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Very Large Array in New Mexico.

Their findings appear in a study published Wednesday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Searching for a celestial choir

The newly detected gravitational waves are the most powerful ever measured. They were likely caused by collisions of supermassive black holes and carry about a million times as much energy as the singular events detected in recent years that resulted from black hole or neutron star mergers.

Its like a choir, with all these supermassive black hole pairs chiming in at different frequencies, said study coauthor and NANOGrav scientist Chiara Mingarelli, assistant professor of physics at Yale University, in a statement. This is the first-ever evidence for the gravitational wave background. Weve opened a new window of observation on the universe.

The gravitational wave background, a kind of cosmic noise that has long been theorized but never detected, is made up of ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves. As black holes collide across the universe, these waves all hum and resonate together in the background.

Gravitational waves travel at the speed of light, but the astronomers realized a single rise and fall of one of the waves could take years or decades to pass by due to the space-time ripple effect.

Were using a gravitational-wave detector the size of the galaxy thats made out of exotic stars (pulsars), which just blows my mind, said study coauthor Dr. Scott Ransom, staff astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, in a statement.

Our earlier data told us that we were hearing something, but we didnt know what. Now we know that its music coming from the gravitational universe. As we keep listening, well likely be able to pick out notes from the instruments playing in this cosmic orchestra, Ransom said.

Combining these gravitational-wave results with studies of galaxy structure and evolution will revolutionize our understanding of the history of our Universe.

Cataclysmic collisions

Scientists believe supermassive black holes are largely responsible for creating the gravitational wave background. Supermassive black holes exist at the centers of most large galaxies. But as galaxies merge, eventually their black holes begin to orbit around each other.

These massive objects, containing billions of times the mass of our sun, dance until they collide. When they do, ripples spread out from the host galaxy and eventually reach our own.

Its estimated that hundreds of thousands, or perhaps millions, of pairs of supermassive black holes exist across the universe.

At one point, scientists were concerned that supermassive black holes in binaries would orbit each other forever, never coming close enough together to generate a signal like this, said study coauthor Dr. Luke Kelley, assistant adjunct professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and chair of NANOGravs astrophysics group, in a statement.

But now we finally have strong evidence that many of these extremely massive and close binaries do exist, Kelley said. Once the two black holes get close enough to be seen by pulsar timing arrays, nothing can stop them from merging within just a few million years.

But the researchers acknowledge its not out of the realm of possibility that there are multiple origins for the gravitational wave background, just as there are alternative explanations of how the universe began. The team will continue to study the gravitational wave background and attempt to isolate individual sources to determine their origins.

The gravitational wave background is about twice as loud as what I expected, Mingarelli said. Its really at the upper end of what our models can create from just supermassive black holes. Whats next is everything. This is just the beginning.

Additionally, scientists using telescopes across Europe, India, China and Australia reported similar findings also released on Wednesday. Combining data from NANOGrav with international collaborators can provide a broader picture of the gravitational wave background, the researchers said.

Our combined data will be much more powerful, said study coauthor Stephen Taylor, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University, who currently chairs the NANOGrav collaboration, in a statement. Were excited to discover what secrets they will reveal about our universe.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Astronomers hear the celestial choir of gravitational waves for the first time"
The News

Four years ago, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was an English teacher and translator living in Minsk with her political activist husband. Today, shes Belaruss leader-in-exile who has a sharp warning for the West about Russian mutineer and mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhins recent move to her homeland in eastern Europe.

Prigozhin and his men wont stay quiet or contained in Belarus, she told Semafor in an interview on Wednesday from Brussels. But theyll serve as a praetorian guard for Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and potentially launch strikes on Ukraine from bases in the former Soviet republic.

We actually should watch closely what will be the consequences of the situation for Lukashenko himself because, as far as I understand, he doesn't know what to do with Prigozhin now, Tsikhanouskaya said. Hes explaining it to the Belarusian people: These Prigozhin troops will educate the Belarusian army or the Belarusian military officers, how to fly, how to control helicopters. But I think the only thing that these Prigozhin thugs can teach is to how to rape, how to murder, how to kill people.

Lukashenko asserted himself last Saturday as a self-proclaimed peacekeeper when he brokered the end of Prigozhins attempted mutiny against Russias military leadership. After a string of calls with Lukashenko, Prigozhin agreed to stop his march on Moscow in exchange for safe passage to Belarus and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreeing to drop treason charges against the Wagner Group commander and his men.

Tsikhanouskaya said that she doesnt think Lukashenkos intervention was driven by altruism, or a sincere desire to prevent bloodshed. Lukashenko was scared, but not for the fate of the Kremlin. He was worried only about his own power, she said. He knew that if Russia, with the Kremlin, starts collapsing or scrambling, Lukashenko will be the next  He wanted to save himself.

Step Back

Tsikhanouskaya emerged on the global stage in July 2020 when she stood in for her jailed husband, Sergei Tikhanovsky, to challenge Lukashenko in presidential elections. The strongman seemed to discount the prospects of a female candidate and allowed her to campaign.

But electoral monitors and most Western governments concluded Lukashenko systematically rigged the vote and then arrested many opposition leaders in its wake. The European Union and U.S. never recognized the results, and slapped sanctions on Belarusian officials allegedly involved in executing the fraud. She was sentenced in absentia by a Belarusian court this March to 15 years in prison for high treason and conspiracy to seize power.

Tsikhanouskaya fled first to Poland, and then Lithuania, from where the 40-year-old now leads a government-in-exile, called the United Transitional Cabinet. She told Semafor that she covertly maintains contact with a network of sympathetic Belarusian government officials, military officers, and civil society leaders to monitor events. She said shes specifically focused on gauging the entrance of Wagner fighters into her country and assessing whether theyre being activated for military purposes. Satellite images obtained by news organizations this week appeared to show a new military base being constructed for Wagner south of Minsk.

We have our people's intelligence inside the country, people watching closely which cars are coming to Belarus  and if such a big quantity of people will arrive to our country, she said. But we don't have such evidence yet.

Tsikhanouskaya has been pressing Belarusians to resist Russias growing military presence in their country, which includes the stationing of forward troops and the expected deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. The opposition leader wrote recently about how the Belarusian underground is staging increasingly aggressive operations to sabotage the Russian war machine. This included a March drone attack on a Kremlin surveillance aircraft stationed at the Machulishchy airfield near Minsk.

Tsikhanouskaya today is pushing the international community to stop engaging the Lukashenko administration and recognize her United Transitional Cabinet. She said her organization has made advances: She attended the Council of Europe Summit in Iceland last month, and has had a regular dialogue with the Biden administration, including a meeting and phone call with Biden himself. But she said the international communitys isolation of the Lukashenko regime hasnt been uniform enough, and the opposition has yet to rightfully fill the void.

Wonderful, so lets move further, Tsikhanouskaya said. And this is what I want to see from the world: Dont legitimize Lukashenko yourself and dont leave an empty chair instead of the voice of Belarus.

Next Steps

The leader-in-exile also said that the West needs to significantly ratchet up even more financial pressure on Lukashenko and his cronies because theyre finding loopholes in the sanctions regime and plugging into the Russian and Chinese economies. Tsikhanouskaya is hoping the U.S. Treasury will impose the broader sectoral sanctions on the Belarusian economy that have proven punishing for Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

She also said shes been surprised that the U.S. and NATO havent expressed more alarm about Russias plan to station nuclear weapons in her country. (Tsikhanouskaya said its unclear if theyve already arrived.) She said Western defense officials may have concluded that such a deployment wont significantly alter NATOs security strategies against the Kremlin. But she said it could significantly strengthen Lukashenkos position and make him believe hes immune to outside pressure.

Belarus returned the Soviet Unions nuclear weapons in 1994 as part of its Western-backed transition to independence that sought to safeguard the stockpile. Now, when we become hostages of Russia, your position is not clear and decisive, she said.

Finally, she stressed that dictatorships around the world  including Belarus, China, Iran, and North Korea  are increasingly working in concert, and Western democracies need to respond in kind. What I see is that dictatorships are united at the moment  They make a coalition, she said. Thats why its time for democracies, powerful democracies, to stay united as well.

Notable
The Wagner rebellion weakened Putin  and may have reduced the threat of nuclear war

Russian President Vladimir Putin oversees the training of the strategic deterrence forces, troops responsible for responding to threats of nuclear war. ALEXEI BABUSHKIN/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Image

The Wagner rebellion weakened Russian President Vladimir Putin, experts say.

His reduced standing could make him even less likely to order a nuclear strike in Ukraine.

The revolt showed that some in the military might not even carry out such an order.

Ever since its "special military operation" became a grueling slog of a war, the Russian government has periodically reminded the world that it is a nuclear power determined to use all means necessary to secure its existence.

Its underlying philosophy hasn't changed, experts say  on paper, Russia's policy on nukes is not so different than the United States'  but the saber-rattling has had a clear implication: back off, and don't help Ukraine take back annexed territory, or the Kremlin could go a little crazy.

In 2022, such aggressive posturing was widely viewed as weakness.

Russia wasn't necessarily losing the war it started, but it wasn't winning, either. Threatening to make life unlivable in Ukraine, and possibly the world, was a desperate card being played by a government that, whatever its faults, continued to be led by a rational actor whose primary interest is rebuilding an empire, not kickstarting armageddon. It was falling for that rhetoric that risked making the world a scarier place, in the view of some experts, because it would demonstrate that such existential threats are an effective substitute for diplomacy.

The brief rebellion led by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries last week revived fears over Russia and nuclear weapons, raising the prospect that a couple thousand convicts turned soldiers-for-hire could themselves control the fate of the world.

But the fallout of what looks to have been an aborted coup d'etat is that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been gravely weakened, if not overthrown, with Wagner's largely unchallenged march toward the capital suggesting that the strongman may not enjoy absolute power after all.

One Western intelligence official said the episode had so diminished Putin, and demonstrated the limits of his prior authority, that it had "reduced the threat of nuclear conflict," the Wall Street Journal reported, "since subordinates would be less likely to enact his orders."

Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, told Insider that's a take he hadn't heard before  but could well be true, with the caveat that even Russia's elite seems not to fully grasp what happened with the Wagner revolt and why.

That said, "if the lack of armed opposition to the Wagner 800-kilometer insurgency happened because Russian armed forces refused to obey orders to stop him, then that could hypothetically mean that they might also refuse orders to carry out other military tasks, including nuclear operations," according to Kristensen, at least in the case of using nukes in Ukraine.

US officials stress that while Russia's occasional nuclear brinksmanship can be alarming, it appears to be purely rhetorical.

"We haven't seen any change in Russia's nuclear posture," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS in a June 25 appearance, a remark that comes not only after the Wagner revolt but Russia's decision to place some tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of planning to sabotage the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. On the eve of Prigozhin's rebellion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was planning a "terrorist act" there, with his country's military intelligence service claiming that Russia, which seized control of the plant last year, has drafted a plan to blow up the facility, a la the Kakhovka Dam  a claim that Russia has flatly denied.

It's an open question whether any Russian commander or intelligence officer would be willing to carry out any nuclear-related order from a man at the top of a wobbly regime, barring a literal NATO attack on Moscow. And it may well be that Putin himself is aware of this, further reducing the threat of an impulsive annihilation, according to Pavel Podvig, an expert on Russia's nuclear arsenal with the United Nations' Institute for Disarmament Research.

"It's not that the subordinates would disobey," Podvig told Insider. "It's just that giving an order like this requires the president to be in a very strong position."

For more than 20 years, Putin projected that image of strength, at home and abroad. Now, though, he presides over a failing war that itself spawned a failed insurrection, prompting Russians and foreigners alike to wonder if he is really in control. And that may have made the unthinkable even less likely.

Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com

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A pro-Kremlin activist holds a poster with an image of Russian President Vladimir Putting and the words in Russian 'We are with him and for the sovereignty of Russia', near the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Ordinary Russians are starting to question the war in Ukraine, a Russian blogger told Insider.

The Wagner Group's weekend rebellion has stoked doubt among civilians, Natalia Konstantinova said.

"People start asking questions. You say it's going to be three days and we are almost two years here," she said.

As Russian President Vladimir Putin tries to maintain a facade of strength in the aftermath of the Wagner armed rebellion, ordinary Russian civilians are beginning to question their leaders  and their country's presence in Ukraine, a Russian content creator told Insider.

Natalia Konstantinova, a 34-year-old Russian blogger who lives in Saint Petersburg and creates content focused on Russian culture, said the weekend uprising has prompted even some of the staunchest pro-war Russians to reconsider the purpose of their country's war in Ukraine.

Konstantinova, who has been critical of the war since its onset, acknowledged she is likely more informed about the realities of the conflict than most Russian citizens, thanks to her English-language skills and appetite for Western news. She doesn't presume to speak for all her countryfolk, but her observations on life since the Wagner revolt offer insight into the slow-shifting Russian attitudes toward the war.

"People start asking questions. You say it's going to be three days and we are almost two years here," Konstantinova said, recounting Putin's original plan to capture Kyiv in just three days.

Chaos struck Russia last week when Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of Russia's mercenary Wagner Group, led an armed revolt against the Russian defense ministry after months of publicly castigating the country's military leaders.

Thousands of Wagner troops-for-hire marched toward Moscow on Saturday before Prigozhin eventually turned his forces around, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed. The Kremlin agreed to drop criminal charges against the one-time Putin ally in exchange for his exile to neighboring Belarus, though the specifics of the tenuous peace-deal remain unclear.

For the majority of typical Russian citizens, the Wagner uprising came as a "huge shock," Konstantinova told Insider.

"They have no idea what's on the brains of people on the frontline," she said.

Konstantinova said she's noticed skepticism among Russian civilians festering for months now.

"You say we go to denazify Ukraine; you say they are our enemies," she said of Russia's leaders. "But why do you send people who aren't trained?

Reports from the frontlines suggest many Russian draftees have been sent to replenish the fight in Ukraine with little training and faulty equipment in a battle being waged on Putin's propagandist lies.

Konstantinova said she's seen doubt growing among Russians since the spring when Prigozhin first started speaking out about the troubles his soldiers were facing on the battlefield, slamming the Russian defense ministry for withholding ammunition from his troops.

Prigozhin escalated his rhetoric last week as he readied his mercenary troops to revolt, publicly casting doubt on Putin's purported motive for sending troops into the country in the first place.

On the surface, life has changed very little for most Russians since their country went to war, Konstantinova said. Those who live close to the Ukrainian border or who had a loved one drafted may have felt the true impact of the conflict, but scores of others have not yet been forced to face it, she said.

Russian leaders continue to project a narrative of calm control even in the face of chaos, Konstantinova said, echoing their platitudes: "Everything is under control as always, everything goes by the plan."

Konstantinova traveled to Mariupol with several other Russian citizens in December of last year, delivering electric heaters to Ukrainian citizens still living in the decimated and frozen city. During her time in the Donbas, she said she had the opportunity to speak with Russian soldiers who had been drafted to fight in the war.

@natashasrussia Day 2. We spent just hanging out around Mariupol, because our trucks with heaters were stuck on the border.  original sound - Natasha from Russia

"What you hear from Prigozhin when he started speaking openly, it's basically what's in the mind of usual guys who sit there in the trenches," Konstantinova told Insider.

Prigozhin claimed Russian soldiers in Rostov allowed Wagner troops to enter the region without strife, while photos and videos showed residents in Rostov-on-Don apparently cheering for the mercenary fighters as they entered the city.

"So when Putin says there was no support for Wagner, it's absolutely fake information," Konstantinova said. "There is a lot of support for Prigozhin among lower class of officers."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Walter Slipe, the long-running Sacramento city manager known for his reserved demeanor and efforts to help transform the economic future of the capital city, died June 14 at his home in Granite Bay. He was 90.

Brittany Dean, a granddaughter, said he died after suffering a stroke.

Slipe took over the top administrative job in 1976 after joining the city several years earlier. He held onto the role until 1993, retiring as Sacramentos second longest-serving city manager.

During his tenure, the city grew rapidly and added attractions, like the Sacramento Kings, that has helped it become more of a destination for arts, entertainment and food.

Sacramento City Manager Walter Slipe, left, confers with Councilman Joe Serna during a city council meeting in November 1989. Slipe, who served as Sacramentos city manager between 1976 and 1993, survived many years of changing council members. He died June 14 at the age of 90.

Phil Isenberg was mayor when Slipe became city manager. Isenberg said Thursday picking him for the position was the councils smartest move. Slipe, he said, helped navigate the city through tough times, including the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, which limited property tax revenue.

His tenure says it all, said Bill Edgar, who worked as an assistant city manager under Slipe. He later succeeded him in the role. He was able to weather those storms.

Those storms included criticism that Slipe was too secretive with information and deliberate with his decisions. A failed deal to bring the then-Los Angeles Raiders to Sacramento led to complaints about his performance, as did his dealings with developers. He survived attempts by some city council members to oust him from his job.

One of the developers he was particularly close with was Gregg Lukenbill, a part-owner of the Kings when the team moved to Sacramento.

I was nobody without Walter Slipe, he said.

Walter Slipe sits at his post in City Council chambers in an undated photo. The citys second-longest city manager, who oversaw rapid growth of the capital city between 1976 and 1993, died June 14 at the age of 90.

Walter James Slipe was born on March 13, 1933, in New York. His father was a chauffeur and his mother was a homemaker. He grew up in Long Island and later graduated with an economics degree from Columbia University, according to a family obituary.

Slipe was drafted into the Army in the 1950s and served for three years. He worked in counterintelligence and as a paratrooper. He received a masters degree in city planning from the University of California, Berkeley, the obituary said.

Lukenbill said Slipes background in both economics and city planning made him an effective leader. He had a national vision for Sacramento that helped shape the city into what it is today, he said.

Adding: He really was a world-class city manager.

Despite his large role, Slipe was described as quiet and restrained.

Walt would be exasperated at people but he would never let it show, Isenberg said.

Retiring Sacramento city manager Walter Slipe was given a retirement dinner and roast at the Community Center, attended by a large crowd of friends, family and co-workers. Prior to the dinner Slipe spoke to many of the attendees including former city fire chief Ray Charles. Walter Slipe died June 14 at his home in Granite Bay. He was 90.

Even when he really liked something, he was careful to not display too much emotion. It was a trait he learned from his mother, said Dean, his granddaughter.

If he said something wasnt bad, it was considered a high compliment. Still, there were many things he enjoyed doing.

Dean, 34, recalled spending evenings with Slipe and his wife, Marilyn. They would talk over pizza and watch movies together.

He especially liked Humphrey Bogart and would often listen to jazz and Frank Sinatra. He and Dean had a friendly competition over who would get to lie on the floaty in the pool.

He always had a tough outer shell, but when you got to know him he had a soft side that not a lot of people got to see, Dean said.

Slipe is survived by Marilyn, two children, three step-children, 14 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

Dean was not related to Slipe by blood, but said her grandfather treated her as if she was. When Dean graduated from college, Slipe took her back to New York for a trip. They visited his old home and Columbia together.

Still, Slipe could be private with those he was closest with.

On his 80th birthday he went skydiving. Dean and other family members only learned about it after the fact.

We were mortified, Dean said.
More than anything, Joanna Rilang just wants to hug her daughter, Alyssa Jones, and tell her that she loves her.

Alyssa, a 14-year-old with a heart of gold, her mother said, disappeared from her familys Boise apartment over a month ago and is the subject of a missing person investigation by the Boise Police Department.

Rilang has been working to locate her daughter ever since, handing out posters, tracking down leads on social media and enlisting the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a Virginia-based nonprofit that works with families and law enforcement to help locate missing kids.

But answers elude her. Since Alyssa disappeared, Rilang said, she has been fielding suspect messages from people claiming to know the whereabouts of Alyssa  whom Boise police are considering a runaway person  or saying Jones is ready to come home. On Saturday, Rilang said, she plans to load her belongings onto a trailer, walk away from her Boise lease and follow Alyssas trail herself.

Im just a mom trying to find my kid, Rilang said. I just want to know if shes OK.

Alyssa, 14, was reported missing by her mother May 21. One of the familys pet bearded dragons, Juliette (middle right), went missing with Alyssa

Alyssa lights up a room, mom says

Alyssa has long brown hair and brown eyes and stands 5 feet, 5 inches tall. Shes an outdoorsy teen who loves to draw, Rilang said, and she can sketch just about anything. She wants to be an artist. She loves to go camping. She has five siblings, the youngest three  Madison, 11, Xaden, 10, and Mercedes, 6  still living in Boises Liberty Park neighborhood.

When her youngest sister has nightmares, Rilang said, she jumps in bed with Alyssa.

When she walks in a room, it just lights up, she said.

But Alyssa has schizophrenia and depression, which grew worse after her stepfather was incarcerated last year. Alyssa earned good grades in eighth grade at Fairmont Junior High School  almost all As and Bs, Rilang said  but started having trouble focusing, missing classes and getting nightmares. Rilang said she kept Alyssa home more often out of concern and worries she was too strict.

Rilang last saw her daughter the night of May 20. When she got home from work, a commercial cleaning job at Automated Maintenance Services, she did her laundry and lay down in bed for the night. Alyssa came into her room, gave her a kiss and told her she loved her, Rilang said.

The next morning, the family woke up around 11 a.m., Rilang said, planning to go to Lucky Peak Reservoir to collect rocks for the enclosures of their pet bearded dragons Juliette, Juliette II and Spike. When Alyssas youngest sister, Mercedes, went to Alyssas room to wake her up, she wasnt there. Juliette, the largest of the reptiles  who Rilang said is 2 feet long  was gone from her terrarium.

Rilang knocked on neighbors doors and called everyone she thought Alyssa could be hanging out with to see whether her daughter was visiting them, she said. But Alyssa wasnt anywhere to be found  and one friend told Rilang that Alyssa had talked about running away.

Thats when Rilang called the police.

Boise police took a runaway person report that day, said spokesperson Haley Williams, and officers continue investigating leads and exploring other options to locate her. When the department receives a missing person case, she said, officers enter the childs name into the National Crime Information Center database, which alerts law enforcement agencies across the country if an officer comes across the person  for example, in a traffic stop or welfare check.

Officers talk to as many people as possible to form a picture of where a missing person might be going, Williams said, and they investigate any locations that come up. If they receive a lead that someone might be in a residence out of state, for example, Boise police contact officers within that jurisdiction to visit the property. Officers continue to follow new leads on Alyssa, Williams said.

Thats still very active at this time, she said.

A few days after Alyssa went missing, Rilang said, she emailed the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The center provides emotional support for families, distributes posters online and through a network of businesses, and conducts searches of social media and public databases to generate leads it shares with law enforcement, among other services.

When the center receives a report of a missing person, said Leemie Kahng-Sofer, the director of case management for the centers Missing Children Division, a case manager is immediately assigned. The investigator gathers information about the child, including possible companions and medical conditions, and uses it to determine what resources to deploy from the center.

If a child has a life-threatening condition or appears to have been enticed by a stranger online, the center can send a member of a team of retired law enforcement officers with specialty training to assist law enforcement with the search.

The most visible tool wielded by the center, Kahng-Sofer said, is the missing person poster, often displayed in gas stations and Walmart. Thats on top of posting photos on social media and contacting news outlets. Any leads are shared with police.

We never give up hope, she said.

Rilang said shes handed out about 50 posters in Boise. The poster has reached thousands of people online, she said, and its heartwarming to see Alyssa in local news coverage.

Its touching to see that people actually do care, she said. And Im hoping that somebody will know something.

Mom takes matters into her own hands

The last few months have been disorienting for Rilang, she said, because tips shes found through social media have led to dead ends. Since she posted her daughters disappearance on Facebook, she said shes had people reach out with screenshots of Alyssas social media accounts and say they know where she could be, but the tips havent panned out.

In one instance, Rilang said, someone claiming to be a friend of Alyssas messaged Rilang on Facebook, said he knew where Alyssa was and sent an address for a house in Los Angeles. When she called police in the area with the tip, Rilang said, they found a house for sale with no one there. The same person messaged her last week and said Alyssa was on her way home  but she never showed, Rilang said.

Most recently, a mother of one of Alyssas friends shared a social media post purporting to be from Alyssas account with a self-portrait of Alyssa in what appeared to be her grandmothers house in California, Rilang said. Law enforcement has not confirmed that Alyssa is with her grandmother, Williams said.

It scares her that Alyssa isnt on her medication for schizophrenia, Rilang said, and that her depression might cause her to hurt herself. She said shes frustrated because she feels like the only tips being generated in the case come from her, not Boise police.

So Rilang is trading in her 2005 Chevy Tahoe and 2015 Chrysler Town and Country to make a down payment on a Ford Expedition that can fit her kids and travel long distances. On Saturday, she said, shes planning to load everything she owns into a travel trailer and start by driving down to the California home.

She doesnt know how big she was to us, Rilang said. She meant a lot to this family and were lost. We want her home.

Anyone with information about where Alyssa is or whom shes with should contact the Boise Police Department. The department can be reached at (208) 377-6790.
Watch: Father of bride goes viral for heartwarming speech on her wedding day

[Source]

A Singaporean father has gone viral on TikTok for delivering a tear-jerking speech at his daughters wedding.

About the clip: On June 18, TikTok user Kylie Yeo (@spongliee) posted a two-minute video about her fathers speech.

My dad made me cry at my wedding, the video's onscreen text says before clips of Yeos father talking to the groom can be seen.

Im passing my precious daughter to you, Yeo's father says before expressing his wishes for the couple, such as happiness and everlasting love.

More from NextShark: Dramatic rescue video shows trapped elephant calf and mother saved from manhole in Thailand

If one day you ever have a change of heart that you dont love my daughter anymore, please dont hurt her," he tells the groom. "Just bring her back to me and give her back to me.

At the end of the video, Yeo, her father and the groom can be seen crying and drying their eyes with tissue.

The very first time I saw my Dad cry, Yeo wrote in the description of her post.

More from NextShark: Nail spa bans staff from speaking Vietnamese in front of customers, docks up to $100 from pay

Going viral: Yeos TikTok video quickly went viral and now has over 6.3 million views and more than 767,000 likes.

Another TikTok user shared a shortened version of Yeos video, receiving over 30 million views and more than 4.6 million likes.

More from NextShark: Poop teaches kids finance in extremely popular textbook on backorder in Japan

Reactions: Several TikTok users commented on Yeos post and shared that her fathers words also made them cry.

I am bawling. When he said please dont hurt her, just bring her back to me ugh I lost it. Completely lost, one user wrote.

I just recovered crying from the pls dont hurt her short clip and now Ive got the full one. Im bawling again, another user said.

More from NextShark: Amid erratic behavior and arrest, grandson of S. Korean ex-President Chun Doo-Hwan gains admirers

The part that made me cry was the part where he told him that if he doesnt want her anymore, send her back, another shared.
Watch friendly creature visit boaters in Australia. Right place at the right time

Colleen Smetham and her husband, Paul, were enjoying lunch on their boat in King George SoundAustralia, when they encountered a special visitor: a southern right whale that came to say hello.

It seemed to be heading our way, Smetham told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in a June 29 interview. So we pulled the anchor up just thinking in case it gets caught up in the rope, or we need to disappear quickly.

But Smetham and her husband didnt need to disappear. Instead, their newfound friend spent about 20 minutes swimming around their boat, she wrote in a Facebook post.

These types of interactions when whales investigate are priceless. Beautiful, gentle, intelligent, one person commented on the post.

Thats heaven, another person commented on Facebook.

Smetham described the creature as very friendly in her post.

It was just so calm and gentle and really curious. It didnt even glance at the boat, Smetham told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. We were in the right place at the right time and met the right whale.

King George Sound is on the southwestern coast of Australia.

Southern right whales

Southern right whales are found throughout the Southern Hemisphere and are considered endangered under the Endangered Species Act, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The massive creatures can grow to be between 43 and 56 feet long, and they can weigh up to 176,000 pounds, NOAA said. The whales have stocky dark bodies and can have white bellies, chin patches and callosities on their large heads. They dont have a dorsal fin.

The species migrate seasonally, spending their summers in high-latitude feeding areas and winters in low-latitude breeding grounds, according to NOAA.

Photographer taking orca pictures captures something special near Canada. Take a look

Boat of tourists spots rare creature in mesmerizing moment near Portugal. See it

Humpback whale found tangled in a shark net off Australia. Watch its daring rescue

Drones search for whale carcass instead discovers pleasant surprise. See the video
Watch Putin draw a weird face on a smart board as Russia tries to act like everything is normal after Wagner went rogue

Russian President Vladimir Putin draws on a multimedia blackboard as he tours an exhibition of perspective Russian brands before the plenary session of the Strong Ideas for a New Time forum, in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin made two public appearances this week just days after the Wagner Group staged a revolt.

The Russian president's sudden accessibility seemed to be an effort to maintain a facade of control.

But military experts told Insider that the coup could be the beginning of the end of Putin's reign.

Putin appears to be on the prowl for good publicity in the aftermath of the Wagner Group's armed uprising.

The Russian president made two public appearances this week just days after the Wagner mercenary group, led by former Putin-ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, staged an armed revolt against the country's defense ministry.

The sudden over-saturated public presence of Putin seems to be part of Russia's strategic attempt to pretend everything is totally fine as it fights a flailing war in Ukraine and tries to manage its own civil strife back home.

Thousands of Wagner troops-for-hire marched toward Moscow on Saturday before Prigozhin eventually turned his forces around, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed. The Kremlin agreed to drop criminal charges against Prigozhin in exchange for his exile to neighboring Belarus, though the specifics of the tenuous peace-deal remain uncertain.

Military experts told Insider that the Wagner coup could very well be the beginning of the end for Putin's multi-decade reign.

On Thursday, the Russian president attended the Agency for Strategic Initiatives forum, where he toured an exhibition of award-winning concepts for new national brands that can substitute Western products, according to Russian state media agency Tass.

In a Telegram post, Russian state news agency TASS shared video of Putin interacting with the NexTouch interactive touch screen.

With pen in hand, the president doodled a bizarre human face replete with squiggly-lined skin, three strands of hair, and giant ears.

Then, he signed his name beneath the masterpiece.

The Thursday appearance came one day after Russian state television broadcast Putin meeting "hundreds of people" in Derbent, Dagestan.

Putin's unusually-friendly behavior  shaking hands with civilians and posing for photographs  stands in stark contract to the chaos that gripped Moscow on Saturday

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. (Download it here.)

Hosted by Jane Pauley

WATCH THE FULL JULY 2 EPISODE!

A rescued sea turtle at the New England Aquarium embarks on its unusual journey south. / Credit: CBS News

COVER STORY: Helping endangered sea turtles, by air | Watch Video

Because of changing ocean temperatures, hundreds of sea turtles have been washing up almost dead onto New England beaches. And while local aquariums have been successful at nursing the majority of them back to health, they don't have room to care for all of them. That's where the volunteer pilots of the not-for-profit Turtles Fly Too have come to the rescue. Correspondent Lee Cowan reports on how these creatures, including the endangered Kemp's Ridley turtles, are being given a second chance.

For more info:

Turtles Fly TooMassachusetts Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Wellfleet, Mass.New England Aquarium, BostonDivision of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery, Padre Island National Seashore, Texas (National Park Service)Texas Sealife Center, Corpus Christi, Texas



ALMANAC: July 2 (Video)

"Sunday Morning" looks at important historical events on this date.

The News and Reporter, in Chester, S.C., has just two reporters on staff. But they've joined a consortium of South Carolina papers that can expand their coverage of state and local news. / Credit: CBS News

JOURNALISM: Extra! New strategies for survival by South Carolina newspapers | Watch Video

In South Carolina in 2020, ten local newspapers folded their print editions, and those that remain are often shoestring operations. But some papers are bucking the trend, either by hiring staff, or collaborating with other papers to expand their coverage and investigate corruption in local governments. And readers are supporting them for providing news they can't get anywhere else. "Sunday Morning" senior contributor Ted Koppel looks at how journalists are maintaining small-town papers at a time when industry trends are pessimistic.

For more info:

The Post and CourierThe Uncovered ProjectThe News and ReporterThe Voice of BlythewoodReport: "The State of Local News 2022" (Northwestern/Medill)Thanks to the Charleston Library Society

The Wonder Wheel opened on New York's Coney Island boardwalk in 1920. / Credit: CBS News

AMUSEMENTS: The history of Ferris wheels: What goes around comes around | Watch Video

In 1893 up-and-coming engineer George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. created an attraction for the world's fair in Chicago: A giant, steam-powered wheel on which passengers could gently ride to a height of 250 feet for a spectacular view. These days, Ferris Wheels (or observation wheels) are all the rage. Correspondent Roxana Saberi spins the story of their origins, and takes a ride on some of the most notable Ferris wheels around.

GALLERY: Early photos of amusement parks

For more info:

Deno's Wonder Wheel, Coney Island, N.Y.Dream Wheel, East Rutherford, New JerseyCentennial Wheel, ChicagoChicago History Museum"Stop That Yawn" by Caron Levis, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (Atheneum Books for Young Readers), in Hardcover and eBook formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org

Tom Bodett - writer, radio personality, Motel 6 spokesman, and carpenter. / Credit: CBS News

SUNDAY PROFILE: Tom Bodett crafts his third act | Watch Video

He was young when he almost died, in an accident involving an electric utility cable and a considerable height. But Tom Bodett, by his accounts, went on to become a pretty good writer (of more than a dozen books and audiobooks), an NPR essayist, and Motel 6 spokesman. And now, at 68, Bodett has found another calling, as a woodworker. He talks with correspondent Faith Salie about crafting a new life in Brattleboro, Vermont.

ESSAY: "Life at the Workhouse" by Tom Bodett

The writer and radio essayist prefers spending time in his shop, and says the true goal of any woodworking project is: Leave with the same number of fingers you started with.

For more info:

bodett.comHatchSpace, Brattleboro, Vt.





PASSAGE: Remembering Alan Arkin (Video)

Jane Pauley looks back on the career of Oscar-winning actor Alan Arkin, who died Thursday at age 89.



SUNDAY JOURNAL: An unprecedented week at the Supreme Court | Watch Video

The Supreme Court has issued its ruling on the future of affirmative action, followed by Friday rulings that block President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, and allow a Colorado website designer to refuse service to same-sex couples, based on her religious convictions. CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa has the details about the decisions, and their fallout.

For more info:

Adam Harris, The Atlantic

Jazz musician Louis Armstrong in New York City, July 1946. / Credit: William P Gottlieb Collection, Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

MUSIC: Remembering Louis Armstrong | Watch Video

Through his style and musicianship, Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) became a worldwide icon of jazz, as well as an innovative interpreter of popular music. Correspondent Kelefa Sanneh tours the new Louis Armstrong Center in Queens, where the legacy of the beloved jazz musician is explored. He also talks with jazz pianist Jason Moran, curator of a new exhibition on Armstrong; and filmmaker Sacha Jenkins, director of the documentary "Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues."

For more info:

Louis Armstrong Center, Queens, N.Y. (opens July 6)Louis Armstrong House Museum, Queens, N.Y.Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation"Louis Armstrong's Black & Blues" is available on Apple TV+Watch a trailer here:

HARTMAN: A trumpet call against Alzheimer's (Video)

About three years ago Larry Kingsley's wife, Georgeanne, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Using music to stay connected with her, the North Carolina man dug out his old trumpet and began playing for strangers on the street, with Georgeanne at his side. Every dollar he collected was donated to Alzheimer's research. Correspondent Steve Hartman reports on how one man's love prompted him to make a difference.

ART: Ansel Adams: Capturing the majesty of nature | Watch Video

Photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984) created unparalleled images of the American West at a time when photography was not universally appreciated as a fine art. Today Adams is the most recognizable name in nature photography, and his landscapes have been acclaimed for their soulfulness. Correspondent Conor Knighton visits an exhibition on the artist's work, "Ansel Adams: In Our Time," currently on view at the de Young Museum in San Francisco; and visits Adams' home in Carmel, Calif., where his dark room has been preserved by his son, Michael Adams.

For more info:

The exhibition "Ansel Adams: In Our Time" was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in partnership with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; it is currently on display at the de Young Museum, San Francisco (through July 23)The Ansel Adams Gallery



COMMENTARY: Celebrating America's other Independence Day: July 2 | Watch Video

On July 2, 1964, President Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act, which ended our nation's apartheid system. Mark Updegrove, president & CEO of the LBJ Foundation, looks back on a watershed moment in American democracy when segregation was finally made illegal.

For more info:

LBJ FoundationLBJ Presidential LibraryCBS News coverage: The Long March For Civil Rights

NATURE: John Muir Wilderness (Extended Video)

We leave you this Sunday amidst the solitude of the John Muir Wilderness in California. Videographer: Scot Miller.

WEB EXCLUSIVES:

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Photographer Ansel Adams (YouTube Video)

In this "Sunday Morning" interview originally broadcast September 9, 1979, CBS News correspondent Ed Bradley talked with acclaimed photographer Ansel Adams, then the subject of a major touring exhibition of his spectacular landscape images. Bradley also visited the darkroom at Adams' Pacific Coast home in California, where the perfectionist judges and rejects prints made from his negatives. Bradley also talked with the Museum of Modern Art's curator of photography John Szarkowski about Adams' distinctive eye.



NATURE: The American West - Extended cut (YouTube Video)

Sit back and enjoy expansive views of the American West, from the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast, courtesy of our "Sunday Morning" videographers.



FROM THE ARCHIVES: Alan Arkin on "Little Miss Sunshine" (Video)

Academy Award-winning actor Alan Arkin, who won acclaim for performances both comedic and heartfelt, died on Friday, June 30 at the age of 89. In this profile that aired on "CBS Sunday Morning" February 11, 2007, the character actor talked with correspondent Jerry Bowen about his start in music; how joining the Second City improv comedy group "saved" his life; and about the Sundance hit "Little Miss Sunshine," for which Arkin would win the Oscar that year for best supporting actor.

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.

DVR Alert! Find out when "Sunday Morning" airs in your city

"Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. (Download it here.)

Full episodes of "Sunday Morning" are now available to watch on demand on CBSNews.com, CBS.com and Paramount+, including via Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon FireTV/FireTV stick and Xbox.

Follow us on Twitter; Facebook; Instagram; YouTube; TikTok; and at cbssundaymorning.com.

You can also download the free "Sunday Morning" audio podcast at iTunes and at Play.it. Now you'll never miss the trumpet!

Lindsay Gorman says context is "really important" in differentiating AI-generated images

UC president Michael Drake use of affirmative action in their system "has been removed"

Full interview: Former Vice President Mike Pence on "Face the Nation"
CrowdStrike 24

The CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa is a festival of the worlds greatest supercars running flat-out, door-to-door for 24 hours, rain or shine. And it usually rains.

Yeah, 70 GT3 cars of equal specs on the track together is action-packed, let's say that, said Patrick Long, who called us from Belgium the day before the race.

Long is driving a GMG Motorsports 992 Porsche GT3R in the race, but the grid is packed with the greatest supercars ever made: Mercedes-AMG GT3, McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, BMW M4 GT3, Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, and Ferrari 296 GT3.

And while most of the drivers are not as famous as those in F1, they are just about that good in talent.

CrowdStrike 24

Most of the drivers at the front of the grid are all factory guys, and they are F1 talent that you've never heard of that make a living with BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Ferrari, and they're all just absolute, top-of-the-top specialists. It's a really cool environment.

Among the drivers you have heard of, in addition to Patrick Long, is nine-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, driving a BMW M4 GT3.

Pole for this years race was set at 2:16.880 by Porsche GT3R driver Matteo Cairoli in a rain-effected qualifying session. The F1 lap record at Spa is still held by Lewis Hamilton at 1:42.252, set in dry conditions.

The race starts Saturday, July 1 at 4:30 Belgium time, 10:30 a.m. EST, 7:30 a.m. PST. You can watch is live here:

https://www.crowdstrike24hoursofspa.com/watch-live
(CNN)  China has unveiled a sweeping foreign relations law enshrining its right to impose countermeasures against actions that it deems a threat  in Beijings latest bid to bolster its position amid strained relations with the West.

The law, approved on Wednesday and entering into force July 1, comes as Chinas authoritarian government pushes back against what it sees as American efforts to suppress its development, following US export controls on some high-tech goods and efforts to reduce reliance on Chinese suppliers in sensitive sectors.

The two countries have entered a period of deep suspicion and tension that marks a low point in their relations, even as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing earlier this month in an effort to stabilize ties.

The new law stresses its right to take corresponding countermeasures and restrictive measures against acts that violate international law and norms and that endanger Chinas sovereignty, security and development interests, according to a copy of the text published by state media.

It is Chinas first foreign policy legislation of this scope and lands as Xi Jinping  the countrys most powerful leader in decades  has seen his drive to amplify Chinas power and influence on the world stage clash with concern from the US and other nations over Beijings ambitions and increasingly assertive foreign policy.

The legislation was approved by a top decision-making body within Chinas rubber-stamp parliament on Wednesday. Its chairman Zhao Leji hailed the law as having great significance for safeguarding the country and supporting national rejuvenation  a nod to Xis vision for a powerful, modern China.

The release comes amid new challenges in foreign relations, especially when China has been facing frequent external interference in its internal affairs under the Western hegemony with unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction, Chinas state-run tabloid Global Times said.

It provides a legal basis for the diplomatic struggle against sanctions, anti-intervention and long-arm jurisdiction and enriches the legal toolbox to safeguard national interest, the outlet added, citing experts.

In recent months, the United States has blacklisted Chinese companies over their alleged participation in surveillance programs and Russias war in Ukraine, pushed allies to restrict semiconductor exports to China, rallied other advanced economies to counter Beijings economic coercion and de-risk supply chains  amid concerns about a security challenge posed by Beijing.

Chinese officials have viewed this as a direct attack. When meeting with Blinken earlier this month, Xi told the US envoy that Washington must not hurt Chinas legitimate rights and interests or deprive it of its legitimate right to development.

Beijing has also long decried Washingtons use of economic sanctions as a tool of US foreign policy and in 2021 enacted an anti-foreign sanctions law aimed at combating overseas measures imposed on Chinese interests.

And Beijing has even begun imposing sanctions of its own.

In February, China sanctioned US defense firms Lockheed Martin and Raytheon ostensibly over arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy the ruling Communist Party claims but has never controlled.

Xis worldview

The new law, however, doesnt appear to add any additional anti-sanctions tools, according to Suisheng Zhao, director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at the University of Denvers Josef Korbel School of International Studies.

This is the first comprehensive foreign relations law  but it (reads) more like Xi Jinpings foreign policy declaration, Zhao said, adding that its release comes at a moment when Xi is focused on countering what it sees as US efforts to contain China.

In order to counter the Western containment, Xi tries to mobilize everything available to him  including so-called legal instruments, he said.

The new legislation also enshrines the promotion of several of Xis signature foreign policy initiatives on global security, development and civilization into law, and affirms Chinas stated opposition to hegemony and power politics.

While the party, not the state, is ultimately in charge of Chinas policy in general, the law also explicitly places control of international relations into the hands of the ruling Communist Party. It names the party committee focused on foreign affairs as responsible for such decision making  following a trend of the consolidation of power across society and industry by the party and its leader.

The party, not the government, runs Chinas foreign relations. If this was mainly an unwritten shared understanding before, this is now codified into hard law, said Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist with the Australian National Universitys Taiwan Studies Program.

This and the inclusion of Xis global initiatives in the law is the Chinese leaders way of reminding officials to obey the top leaderships orders and be consistent with the top leadership on foreign policy, Sung said, pointing to times when Chinas so-called wolf-warrior diplomats have been seen as overstepping or missing the mark.

The law also includes Chinas pledge to promote high-level opening-up of its economy, development of foreign trade and and encouraging and legally protecting foreign investment.

In recent months, a campaign against consulting and due diligence firms has unnerved foreign businesses in China.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang stressed a similiar message at a World Economic Forum summit in the city of Tianjin this week and during a trip to Europe earlier this month, where he also pushed back on countries efforts to de-risk their supply chains by reducing reliance on China in certain sectors.

Amid concerns about tensions with the US and its own domestic economic woes, China has increased its engagement with Europe in an attempt to repair relationships that fractured when it failed to condemn Russias invasion of Ukraine.

But in the meantime, they would not want to make any concessions, said Zhao in Denver. And for Xi,because he has so many domestic troubles, he cannot afford to show any weakness.

Thats why he has to move forward on all fronts  including those legal documents to demonstrate his position and his determination to defend Chinas so-called national interest, he said.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "China unveils sweeping foreign policy law as Xi consolidates power  and aims to counter the US"
[Source]

Journalist Weijia Jiang was elected as the new president of the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA), making history as the first woman of color voted for the role.

WHCA president: After a total of 387 ballots were submitted, Jiang, a senior White House correspondent for CBS News, was announced as the winner of the at-large seat on the WHCA Board for 2023 to 2026, where she will serve as the associations president from 2025 to 2026. Jiang beat out her opponent Francesca Chambers, from USA Today, after earning 251 votes.

Jiang will succeed NBC News Kelly ODonnell (2023- 2024) and will be followed by Politicos White House correspondent Eugene Daniels (2024-2025).

Thank you, WHCA colleagues for your support and faith in me, Jiang said in a tweet. I know that its a tremendous responsibility, and I will treat it as such. As the first woman of color to take on this role, I will do my part to ensure that Im not the last.

More from NextShark: Update: Alleged Nanjing Massacre photos discovered in Minnesota pawn shop debunked

About WHCA: The WHCA is an organization of journalists that ensures robust news coverage of the White House and the U.S. president. It was created by journalists on Feb. 25, 1914, to fight for openness and transparency in every operation of the presidency after President Woodrow Wilson threatened to stop holding presidential news conferences.

More from NextShark: Michelle Yeoh reveals she won Miss Malaysia to shut her mother up

Covering the White House is an honor and a privilege, Jiang wrote on Instagram. It is the assignment of a lifetime, but it comes with plenty of challenges. I want to channel my frustration over a growing lack of access and communication into something productive.

About Jiang: Jiang, who was born in Xiamen, China, immigrated to West Virginia with her parents when she was 2 years old. At the age of 13, she found her passion for broadcasting when she became a student reporter and anchor for Channel One News in Los Angeles.

Jiang joined CBS News in 2015 and has covered the White House since 2018, including major stories from the Trump and Biden administrations. She previously made headlines when former President Trump told her to keep your voice down during a White House press conference in 2020.

In 2023, she won an Emmy award for her contributions to CBS Mornings. Jiang is also an active member of the Asian American Journalists Association.
A child walks on the debris left by an explosion following a missile strike on a civilian neighborhood in Bakhmut, Ukraine

Vladimir Putins first public appearance after the weekends aborted mutiny was a video address to an International Youth Industrial Forum in Tula. He skipped over mentioning Wagners actions, instead proclaiming young peoples role in building strong Russian industry in the future.

His speech was almost certainly pre-recorded before the conference. But two thoughts struck me about its timing.

One, in the context of the mutiny, he appeared weak. I called some teenagers I know in Lviv to ask them for their reaction to the rebellion. They told me the crazy events had only hardened their support for Ukrainian troops. Nastia, 16, said young people were stirred to fundraise to ensure every Ukrainian soldier returns to their home alive.

Two, it aggrieved me: here was Putin, a man with an arrest warrant issued by the ICC for the unlawful deportation of children, describing young lives as the bedrock of a nations growth, when last week at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023 (URC2023) co-hosted by the British Government, children and young people were barely mentioned.

While much has been reported about the 19,499 children President Putin stands accused of deporting to Russia, the general public is unaware of how broken childhood is in Ukraine.

Unicef estimates 82 per cent of Ukrainian children currently live in poverty. More than half of the 7.5 million child population has been displaced  2 million in other countries. Separated from family and friends, many live on hand-outs in temporary accommodation.

Some 1.5 million children are at risk of mental health issues with long-term implications. More than 1,500 under 18s have been killed or injured.

In education, less than a third of schools are delivering in-person learning. About 3 million children have been attending online classes full or part-time for more than a year. They study with a parents mobile phone, in bomb-shelters, or in secret in Russian-occupied territories.

Their plight is largely silent and the countrys recovery will fail if they are overlooked. Of course, Rishi Sunaks call at the conference to bolster Ukraines economy with rapid investment and innovation should indirectly benefit children. But solutions need to be child-specific. The only way for decision-makers to really understand what childhood recovery should look like is to observe and ask children themselves, and those who advocate for them.

Thankfully a childs voice was at least present at a Chatham House side-event last week, when Save the Children screened an animation telling the recollections of ten-year-old Margarita from Mariupol.

Her account is narrated in plain, childish language without dramatic description, which somehow renders the tale more disturbing. Combined with the thoughtful graphics by Ukrainian illustrator Anna Ivanenko, and direction by BAFTA award-winning Jonathan Hodgson, the film evokes Margaritas full sensory experience. We experience the traumatic events from a childs viewpoint  visual and audible impressions on memory that Margarita cannot rationalise.

Tanks and cars are ablaze by the roadside as Margaritas family flee. Smoke columns on the horizon. Condensation on a soldiers breath makes us shiver as we feel how cold was the night when the family had to sleep in their car. Bombs thud in the distance, air raid sirens wail, siblings sob. Like Margarita, we are given no time to dwell on the moment she is nearly killed.

I took the dishes to the kitchen and my sister said: No, stop! And at that moment a shell hit our house. I dont know what would have happened to me if Id been there.

Margaritas family finds safety in Dnipro, but her three-year-old brother Misha suffers for months. He cannot sleep. He trembles and is afraid of the dark.

The story is personal, but its perspective universal. Millions of Ukrainian children have such terrifying testimonies and this is what URC2023 delegates should have had in mind.

Just to scratch the surface, recovery needs investment in childrens healthcare, especially child-specific mental heath. Ukraine must rebuild more than 3,060 bombed schools, get its education reform programme New Ukrainian School back on track and modernise kindergartens.

About 105,000 children lived in 700 state-run orphanages before the full-scale invasion, though more than 90 per cent have a living parent. The government must fulfill a pledge made in April to replace the system with family-based care.

Children can also be part of the recovery design. Child participation in post-conflict reconstruction helped promote peace in countries including Sierra Leone, Guatemala and South Africa. An anthology, Seen, but not Heard: Placing Children and Youth on the Security Governance Agenda, argues that people in positions of authority should both acknowledge and respond to the concerns of children. This way they achieve full potential as active agents within society.

If Ukraine is to build back better as the URC2023 tagline claimed, a goal to raise healthy and educated children who have a seat at the decision-making table must be at its heart.

Gabriella Jozwiak is an award-winning freelance journalist working on issues and policies affecting children and young people.

You can listen to her interview on the Telegraphs daily podcast Ukraine: The Latest here. With over 30 million downloads, its your go-to source for all the latest analysis, live reaction and correspondents reporting on the ground.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.
West Nile virus is ramping up. These are the Sacramento areas where activity is increasing

West Nile virus activity is ramping up in local mosquito populations: The Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control District announced Thursday that 14 mosquito samples and one dead bird have tested positive for the disease.

The mosquito and West Nile virus season is definitely underway, and it is important for residents to be mindful and prevent mosquitoes from breeding in their backyard, said Gary Goodman, the district manager. Everyone should take the necessary precautions to avoid being bitten.

Goodman said that, so far, the West Nile activity is concentrated in urban areas. The district is closely watching an area of south Sacramento near Elder Creek and Florin roads, just west of Power Inn Road.

The California Department of Public Health issued a warning to state residents Thursday, noting that record rainfall over the winter months has led to increases in mosquito populations, raising the risk that people will get one of the diseases transmitted by these insects.

The notices come as the Central Valley heads into a heat spell, with temperatures expected to exceed 100 degrees on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Mosquito eggs hatch faster in warm temperatures, Goodman noted, and the larvae can develop in all types of containers  flowerpots, old car tires, buckets and even old bottle caps  where there is standing water.

We continue to ask for everyones cooperation in draining all backyard mosquito sources and wearing an effective mosquito repellent when spending time outdoors, he added.

CDPH advised using an insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or IR3535. DEET can be used safely on infants and children 2 months of age and older, according to public health officials.

Mosquitoes typically are more active in the early morning and evening, officials said, so its especially helpful to wear protective clothing and repellent if youre outside during these times. If you encounter large numbers of mosquitoes or day-biting mosquitoes, contact the vector control district for help with tracking the source and abating the threat.

You can fill out a service request at fightthebite.net or call 800-429-1022 to get help. To report a dead bird, fill out an online form at westnile.ca.gov or call 877-968-2473.

CDPH recommends that residents check doors and windows to ensure they have tight-fitting screens to keep out mosquitoes. Repair or replace screens with tears or holes, the agency said.

In addition to West Nile virus, various species of mosquitoes can transmit other illnesses such as Zika virus, dengue, malaria, St. Louis encephalitis virus and yellow fever.
Where is Kristin Smart? Scientists say they found human remains evidence in SLO County yard

Paul Flores conviction for murdering Kristin Smart closed one chapter in the 27-year-old mystery, but it didnt answer her familys most enduring question.

Where is Kristins body?

Solving that final part of the crime remains a top priority for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Office, and as it turns out, others as well.

Joining the effort are an environmental engineer, a scientist, a former FBI chemist and former prosecutor, who have banded together to look for Smart themselves.

Their findings from an innovative soil study  first reported by the Los Angeles Times  come from a familiar location: The backyard of Susan Flores, Paul Flores mother.

The team believes they have discovered evidence of a human decomposition event emitting from Susan Flores yard, but so far, no further known investigation by law enforcement has occurred there and the Sheriffs Office isnt commenting because the case remains active.

Susan Flores lawyer, Jeffry Radding, did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls asking for comment on the findings, and when a Tribune reporter visited Flores home to ensure she had a chance to address the allegations, her boyfriend, Mike McConville, took a photo of the reporter and threatened to call the police.

Cal Poly student Kristin Smart was 19 when she went missing after an off-campus party on Memorial Day weekend in 1996. On Oct. 18, 2022, Paul Flores was found guilty of murdering Smart after walking her back to the red bricks dorms after the party.

Kristin Smart knocked on soil testers door in college, he says

Tim Nelligan was in his junior year studying civil and environmental engineering at Cal Poly in 1996.

One week, he said, a tall blond woman knocked on his door  he lived off-campus  asking to use the phone. He let her in, she used their landline, then someone took her back to the dorms.

Then, about a week and a half later, that same woman was on the news. She was missing.

That was quite a shock, he told The Tribune.

He continued to follow the case over the years as he entered his environmental engineering career.

Fast forward to 2019: Nelligan had been an environmental engineer for two decades and owned Katahdin Environmental Corporation in San Clemente. One of his specialties, he said, is remediation, or reversing or stopping environmental damage, such as cleaning up storage tanks leaking underground.

Tim Nelligan stands next to one of the holes they created in Marcia Papichs yard to measure human decomposition molecules in February 2020, showing the hole he dug was 5 feet down. They were testing for evidence in the search for Kristin Smarts body.

He said he is very familiar with detecting volatile organic compounds underground and wondered if he could use that technology to help locate Smarts body.

Volatile organic compounds are gas molecules that have a high vapor pressure and low water solubility, according to the EPA. Many are human-made chemicals that are used and produced in the manufacture of paints, pharmaceuticals and refrigerants, while others emit from the natural decomposition process of living organisms.

Cal Polys motto is Learn by Doing, Nelligan said. So really, I was committed, and I decided Im going to do this.

Soil near Susan Flores yard tests positive for human decomposition molecules, team says

Nelligan reached out to Steve Hoyt, who was a Cal Poly lecturer in 1996 and received a doctorate in environmental science and now works as an environmental chemist in San Luis Obispo.

Hoyt founded Environmental Analytical Service, a lab that specializes in testing for volatile organic compounds in air and soil vapor, according to his companys website.

The two identified which molecules to test for based on research from a 2017 study that isolated the odor of death, as well as 2004 and 2008 studies that analyzed the odor of human remains and created a database of the volatile organic compounds emitted from those remains.

A 2015 study also found that volatile organic compounds expended from a decomposing human body were distinguishable from those that came from decomposing animals.

Environmental engineer Tim Nelligan installed soil vapor probes into Marcia Papichs Arroyo Grande yard in March 2023 to test for signs of human decomposition. Papich lives next door to Susan Flores, and he was testing for evidence of human decomposition in the search for Kristin Smarts body.

Hoyt told The Tribune the two selected 50 volatile organic compounds that were specific to the decomposition of human remains, based on the research.

Studies identifying the specific compounds expended from human remains date back two decades, most with the goal of creating tools to better train cadaver dogs.

Then, Nelligan and Hoyt set out to the home of Marcia Papich, who owns the house next door to Susan Flores on East Branch Street in Arroyo Grande. Papich agreed to let the two test the soil near the back fence, which she shares with Flores yard.

Their first test was in February 2020.

Nelligan said the two applied the same methodology that would be used if they were looking for vapor from an underground leak, only they specifically tested for the molecules that are present when a human body decomposes. It involves drilling several holes as much as five feet deep across an area and measuring the levels found in each one.

The method is industry standard for testing in the EPA, but, to Nelligans and Hoyts knowledge, this is the first time it has been used to detect human remains.

Nelligan said the pair applied an unbiased scientific approach to the testing and took control samples in other areas near Flores yard. They were prepared for the test to come back without any human decomposition molecules detected.

But the opposite happened.

The results from that first test showed there were several volatile organic compounds consistent with a decomposing human body concentrated at the border of Papichs and Flores yards.

I was shocked at the number of compounds, Hoyt told The Tribune. These are pretty unique compounds. They form like a fingerprint.

The pair tested the area again in December 2020, August 2021, and March 2023. All yielded the same result: Molecules only present when a human body decomposes were present next to Susan Flores back fence.

The two used computer modeling to create heat maps that showed red zones spreading into Papichs yard from beyond the fence line where volatile organic compounds were found at levels of more than 3,100 parts per billion in the soil in their highest concentrations.

Computer modeling from a team of scientists show how soil vapor sampling discovered human decomposition compounds in Marcia Papichs yard at 523 East Branch street, adjacent to Susan Flores fence and home at 529 East Branch St., in August 2021. The data shows compounds were found at more than 300 parts per billion in the soil in the red zone.

Computer modeling from a team of scientists show how soil vapor sampling discovered human decomposition compounds in Marcia Papichs yard at 523 East Branch street, adjacent to Susan Flores fence and home at 529 East Branch St., in March 2023. The data shows compounds were found at more than 300 parts per billion in the soil in the red zone, matching earlier results from two years prior.

Theres something compelling about this site that keeps bringing us back, and we keep finding the same results over and over again, Hoyt said. It means that, you know, its just not some fluky thing that happened once.

According to their data, more than 90% of the volatile organic compounds found when a human body decomposes were detected near the fence. The only compounds that were not detected were those associated with decomposing flesh, which would not be expected this long after Smarts disappearance, Nelligan said.

The men said sent their research to former FBI chemist Brian Eckenrode, who authored two of the studies that helped them isolate compounds to test for and later accompanied them on the March sampling. They said Eckenrode helped confirm their results and joined the team in 2021 when he retired from the FBI.

Eckenrode, who is now an associate professor in analytical chemistry at George Mason University, told The Tribune the method the two men used to collect human remains vapor was similar to what he used when he was collecting data for his research.

This is just the first time a method like this is being used in a case, he said.

The former FBI chemist attended the March 2023 test, where he helped collect more controls and confirm data from various test sites.

Tim Nelligan using a hand auger to dig a test hole in Marcia Papichs yard in December 2020. He was testing the soil for evidence of human decomposition in the search for Kristin Smarts body.

He said when anything decomposes underground, soil acts like a trap when it comes to the chemicals that are emitted, so they could be present for decades.

One of his studies at the University of Tennessee Knoxvilles Body Farm, Eckenrode said, included a body that had been decomposing for 20 years, and it yielded similar results to what Nelligan and Hoyt found near Susan Flores yard.

According to computer modeling of the data done by the team, volatile organic compounds were concentrated at the center portion of the fence shared between Papich and Susan Flores.

The amount of compounds and their concentration suggest it is likely a human decomposition event occurred in the area, Eckenrode said.

Alleged molecules are in area that had never been searched, podcaster says

Former prosecutor Tim Perry has since joined the men to help them communicate with law enforcement. He told The Tribune that after reviewing the mens work, 99 out of 100 prosecutors would authorize a search warrant.

Now its just the Sheriffs Offices option whether they want to leverage the science or not, he said.

According to his personal website, Perry served as assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California from 2008 to 2014. He then was appointed to Gov. Gavin Newsoms chief of staff and deputy homeland security adviser at Californias Office of Emergency from 2019 to 2020 before later being appointed to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under President Joe Bidens administration, serving as chief of staff for Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2021 to 2022.

Tim Nelligan, right, stands with Steve Hoyt, center and his son, Mason Nelligan, as they install soil vapor probes in Marcia Papichs yard in December 2020. They were testing for evidence of human decomposition in the search for Kristin Smarts body.

The men have shared their findings with the Sheriffs Office and the Smart family.

In a text message with The Tribune, Stan and Denise Smart said they admire the teams commitment and scientific approach.

We long to lie her to rest in the presence of those who love and cherish her along with those who continue to work to this day to bring her home, they said. Our hope is that NO stone will be left unturned!

The Sheriffs Office said it cannot comment on the case because This case is on appeal and as such, it is still considered an active investigation.

San Luis Obispo County sheriffs Det. Greg Smith did tell the Los Angeles Times that the department is investigating the work to determine whether it might be useful in the case. Chief Deputy Nathan Paul also told the Los Angeles Times that sheriffs officials have been in touch with the FBI about the research.

The leading theory  and the theory Paul Flores was convicted on  was that at some point Smart was buried beneath Ruben Flores deck before she was moved in February 2020. Its unclear how the mens findings will affect that theory.

The men also shared their findings with Chris Lambert, host of the Your Own Backyard podcast, which investigated the case. Lambert told The Tribune the findings were interesting.

Because Kristins body is still outstanding, its compelling to me, he said. But Im careful and always cautiously optimistic with this stuff because its not definitive and its not tied to Kristin.

Lambert noted that Susan Flores yard has been searched twice over the past 27 years  once in 2000 by the Sheriffs Office and again in 2007 during the civil suit.

Lambert, who has obtained documents from the 2007 search, said he didnt know much about the results of the Sheriffs Office search in 2000, but said it was thought to be not thorough, adding that there was no intention to dig the yard at that time.

A large portrait of Kristin Smart in graduation attire is on display at a candlelight vigil for the missing woman in Arroyo Grande.

The 2007 search, however, did allow digs. Ground-penetrating radar, which is used to detect underground anomalies to isolate a potential excavation area, was used in the search, but it could not go within two feet of the fence dividing Flores yard from Papichs, Lambert said.

To Lamberts knowledge, the area near the fence has never been searched.

To make it more interesting, Lambert said, the Flores family had installed two planter boxes adjacent to the fence in June 1996, about a month after Smart disappeared. Lambert said he knows this because Paul Flores said in his interview with investigators in June 1996 he had to help clean up concrete at his mothers house.

Susan and Ruben Flores also both mentioned installing the planter boxes in their civil depositions, he said. Its also the area where former tenants of Susan Flores said they thought they heard an electronic watch beeping, Lambert said.

Lambert says he would like to see the findings followed up on by law enforcement, but understands there are restraints in what evidence can be used to obtain search warrants, especially since the findings are using a new approach.

He added that the data analyzed by Nelligan, Hoyt, Eckenrode and Perry indicates there was a human decomposition event in that area, which means it could be ancient just as much as it could be Smart.

Theres still so much we dont know about what happened, he said.

Lambert said its important to not jump to conclusions and try to make the findings fit into the prosecutions theory or the timeline as its currently known.

Because Kristins body has still not been recovered, anywhere that theres compelling evidence of where she could be I would like to see followed up on, Lambert said. Obviously, if its connected to the Flores family and the Flores family are suspected of having her body or moving her body, I would like to see those properties crossed off and thoroughly searched.

When it comes to the work theyve done, Nelligan said he hopes the data is compelling enough for the Sheriffs Office to take action.

He added that the team hopes to continue this work beyond Smarts case to help with other missing persons cases and cadaver dog training.
Where are wildfires burning in Canada right now?

Where are wildfires burning in Canada right now?

There are 881 wildfires burning across Canada including one blaze which ignited on Monday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).

Hundreds of wildfires continue to rage across provinces and territories causing air quality to plummet in the US and Canada. Some 577 fires are currently out of control, according to CIFFC.

The climate crisis, caused by emissions from fossil fuels, is driving larger, more frequent and erratic wildfires around the world.

Two firefighters died while fighting blazes in Canada in recent days. One male firefighter from Fort Liard in Canadas Northwest Territories died from an injury sustained while tackling a blaze near his community, authorities said on Sunday. Devyn Gale, a 19-year-old female firefighter, was also killed by a falling tree near Revelstoke, British Columbia while battling blazes.

Canadian officials have warned that this could be the countrys worst wildfire season on record and smoke would be a problem all summer.

There have been 4,148 fires so far this year in Canada, destroying more than 38,000 square miles - an area three times the size of Belgium.

Smoke returned to large parts of the US Midwest and Northeast on Monday but is yet to reach levels seen in June when plumes darkened skies and made it difficult to breathe in at least 20 states and large parts of Canada.

On 7 June, New York City shot above 400 on the Air Quality Index (which runs from 0-500)  a hazardous level of pollution that bathed the city in an eerie orange haze.

Public health officials advised all people to stay indoors and wear masks outside to limit their smoke inhalation.

The wildfires have been exacerbated by drought conditions across Canada. According to the Canada Drought Monitor, ten provinces have experienced abnormal dryness.

Rising global temperatures, due to emissions from burning fossil fuels, is fuelling larger and more frequent wildfires.

This article has been updated on Monday, 17 July
Why flight delays, heavy traffic could wreak havoc during the July 4th weekend

Millions of travelers are set to take flight this weekend ahead of Independence Day after a week of turbulent conditions that led to thousands of delays and cancellations.

Experts expect the bulk of air travel to take place this weekend into next Tuesday with the busiest day on Friday, when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to screen 2.8 million passengers.

July 4 travel plans? Flight delay blame game has begun

Overall, TSA projects that it will screen around 17.7 million passengers from June 29 through July 5. Fridays projected passenger numbers would make it the busiest day on record.

But the pattern of cancellations and delays stemming from harsh weather conditions and wildfire smoke could stretch into the weekend and hamper travel plans for thousands.

Difficult weather conditions earlier this week terminated or delayed thousands of flights along the East Coast. More than 4,000 domestic and international U.S. flights were canceled on Tuesday and Wednesday.

From Monday through Wednesday, more than 24,000 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware.

The disruptions stretched into their fifth straight day on Thursday, where more than 8,000 flights were delayed and 767 were canceled, FlightAware data shows.

Where air traffic is heaviest

People wait in a TSA line at the John F. Kennedy International Airport on June 28, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

Airports in New York, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C. were among the transit points experiencing the most delays and cancellations on Thursday, and more than 500 flights were delayed at Chicagos OHare International Airport alone, according to the data.

Meanwhile, wildfire smoke from a spate of Canadian wildfires has created air quality concerns in cities throughout the country. And the effects of the wildfire smoke, which has already led to cancellations, could snowball into the weekend and further impact holiday travel.

Flight disruptions stretch into fifth day

Several airports have grounded flights already this week due to the wildfire smoke from Canada. If these conditions continue or worsen, we could see flights impacted throughout the holiday weekend as well, Lindsay Schwimer, consumer travel expert at Hopper, told The Hill.

With high volumes of passengers expected to travel over the holiday weekend, any further delays or cancellations will have an even stronger ripple effect on travel disruptions across the country, Schwimer added.

Hoppers estimate puts the total number of travelers higher than the TSA projection at around 24 million, with around 3.7 million passengers each day. Return flights will be busiest on July 5, when Hopper expects 3.5 million people to return home.

The travel site is predicting that airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles will be the busiest.

How to avoid an airport nightmare

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Still those traveling by air and expecting potential chaos have options to prepare, Hoppers Schwimer said. Travelers might consider adding a buffer day to their plans or schedule their trip around the earliest flights of the day.

But Hopper recommends if a person is already at the airport when their flight is canceled, immediately head to customer service and call an airline representative while in line.

Flight disruptions stretch into fifth day

And Christie Hudson, head of public relations for the travel website Expedia, echoed that preparation during the busy holiday season is key.

Bottom line, it never hurts to be prepared for disruptions or delays during the busiest travel weekend of the summer, she said. Especially with some of the factors were seeing like wildfire smoke creating uncontrollable conditions.

Plan for traffic jams

(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Meanwhile, record travel is also expected on the ground over the weekend, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA). The organization is projecting that 43.2 million Americans will cover 50 miles or more by car  a 2.4 percent increase over last year.

Weve never projected travel numbers this high for Independence Day weekend, Paula Twidale, senior vice president of AAA Travel, said in a press release. What this tells us is that despite inventory being limited and some prices 50% higher, consumers are not cutting back on travel this summer.

AAA data shows that gas prices heading into the major travel weekend ticked down to around $3.54 per gallon.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Photo illustration by Tom Messina using Getty Images; texturefabrik (Textures)



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Although physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and President Harry S. Truman were both pivotal figures in the development and use of the atomic bomb during World War II, the two men only met in person one time. It didnt go well.

Accounts differ as to the exact words spoken, but the October 25, 1945, meeting exemplified the contrasting feelings both men had regarding the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the future of atomic weaponry. Oppenheimer famously claimed to have blood on his hands, during his meeting with Truman, a comment that infuriated the president.

Blood on his hands; damn it, he hasnt half as much blood on his hands as I have. You just dont go around bellyaching about it, Truman said, according to the book Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center by Ray Monk. He called Oppenheimer a cry-baby scientist and said, I dont want to see that son of a b in this office ever again.

Two Men, Two Different Attitudes

Getty Images

Oppenheimer is famous for having said the Trinity testthe first successful atomic bomb detonation on July 16, 1945reminded him of words from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita: Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. But shortly after, Oppenheimer didnt look very contemplative to those around him; he looked like he was celebrating.

Ill never forget his walk; Ill never forget the way he stepped out of the car, physicist Isidor Rabi said, according to Monk. His walk was like High Noon This kind of strut. He had done it.

But Oppenheimers feelings of elation following Trinity and the bombing of Hiroshima three weeks later changed after the bombing of Nagasaki, which he found unnecessary from a military perspective. On the contrary, he was a nervous wreck after the second attack on August 9, 1945, and distressed by the growing reports of casualties, according to Monk.

Truman, on the other hand, maintained for the rest of his life that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved hundreds of thousands of Allied lives by hastening the end of the war. He repeatedly defended himself against arguments that a demonstration of the bomb in an uninhabited area might have forced Japans surrender without loss of life.

The president cannot duck hard problems; he cannot pass the buck, Truman said in 1948. I made the decision after discussions with the ablest men in our government and after long and prayerful consideration. I decided that the bomb should be used to end the war quickly and save countless lives, Japanese as well as American.

Meeting for the First Time

In August 1945, Oppenheimer wrote to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson expressing his concerns about the military and political consequences of atomic weapons. The following month, Oppenheimer was offered what Monk called a golden opportunity to play a role in the control of atomic energy policy: a one-on-one meeting with the president of the United States.

Oppenheimer entered the Oval Office on October 25 at 10:30 a.m. Truman knew him by reputation as an eloquent and charismatic figure and was intrigued to meet the celebrated physicist face-to-face, according to the book American Prometheus: The Triumph & Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin.

Get the latest from Biography.com delivered straight to your inbox.

After introductions by the new Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson, the only other person in the room, Truman began by asking for Oppenheimers support for the proposed May-Johnson bill, which would have given the U.S. Army permanent control over atomic energy. The first thing is to define the national problem, then the international, Truman said, according to Bird and Sherwin.

After an uncomfortable silence, during which Truman impatiently awaited a response, Oppenheimer finally said, Perhaps it would be best first to define the international problem. This meant, unlike the president, Oppenheimer felt the first step was to prevent the spread of atomic weapons through international controls over atomic energy, according to Bird and Sherwin.

The conversation only became more terse from there. At one point, Truman asked Oppenheimer to guess when the Soviet Union might develop their own atomic bomb. According to Monk, when the physicist said he didnt know, Truman smirked and confidently boasted that he knew the answer: Never.

Blood on my Hands

Getty Images

Oppenheimer felt Trumans answer was utter foolishness. As he and his fellow scientists at the Los Alamos Laboratory had previously warned, Oppenheimer knew the technology for using the energy released from nuclear fission to make a bomb wasnt something that could be kept secret, and Russia would eventually unlock it, according to Monk.

Oppenheimer already felt Truman had erred by being secretive with the Russians and gaining their trust in preparation for international collaboration of atomic weapons, Monk wrote. The physicist felt Trumans glib comment only confirmed his fears that the United States planned to bully the Soviet Union with their new weapon, rather than work toward arms control.

Noticing Oppenheimers hesitation, Truman asked what was wrong, prompting Oppenheimer to infamously respond: Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands. The comment infuriated Truman, who later said of his response, I told him the blood was on my handsto let me worry about that, according to Bird and Sherwin.

In later years, Truman embellished the story of the meeting even further. At one point, he claimed he sarcastically responded to Oppenheimer, Never mind, itll all come out in the wash, according to Bird and Sherwin. In another telling, Truman claimed he offered Oppenheimer a handkerchief, saying, Well here, would you like to wipe your hands?

Regardless, it effectively marked the end of the meeting. The last thing Truman said as he ushered the physicist out the door was, Dont worry, were going to work something out, and youre going to help us. However, Oppenheimer knew he had offended the president, and any chance of collaborating with him in the future was now lost, according to Bird and Sherwin.

Although often known as charming and persuasive, Oppenheimer could be antagonistic with authority figures, according to Bird and Sherwin. Oppenheimer left Washington a chastened man, they wrote. His attempts to insinuate himself into the top levels of U.S. politics had failed, and in making them, he had alienated the politically active scientists he had hoped to lead.

Nevertheless, Truman awarded Oppenheimer a presidential citation and a Medal for Merit in 1946, with Stimson saying the development of the atomic bomb was largely due to his genius and the inspiration and leadership he has given to his colleagues.

See Oppenheimer in Theaters on July 21

Based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, Oppenheimer follows the story of the nuclear physicist known as the father of the atomic bomb. The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer, and Matt Damon as Manhattan Project Director Leslie Groves Jr., along with Gary Oldman as President Harry Truman. Directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer releases in theaters on July 21.



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Nikki Haley branded several fundraising emails as a response to former president Barack Obama, contrasting his comments on race with her own vision.

And then there is former President Donald Trump, who was largely focused on his own legal travails, which have proven a successful fundraising motivator for him in the past.

The Republican presidential candidates appeals for cash came fast and heavy ahead of a key fundraising deadline this Friday. And they revealed the issues that are motivating small-dollar Republican donors to part with their cash.

Emails that rail against President Joe Biden, wokeness and the left were most common across the field, according to a POLITICO analysis of more than 200 emails sent by presidential campaigns in the past month. There were still plenty of yard signs and apparel giveaways, too.

Small-dollar fundraising has long been a strength for Trump, the 2024 frontrunner. But the language used in fundraising emails also provides insight as to how the other candidates are trying to distinguish themselves online.





GOP campaign fundraising pitches share some ideas. Every candidate had sent emails or text messages that criticized Biden and called for a secure border, a POLITICO analysis found, tuning into an issue that Republican voters have prioritized.

The policy issue helps candidates seem like they're talking to constituents, not just asking donors for money," said one GOP fundraising consultant.

Mentions of children, kids or family were also frequent  sometimes in a biographical context as candidates sought to lay out a positive picture for voters, but more frequently as an attack on transgender care and education aimed at firing up the Republican base.

DeSantis has leaned heavily into the culture war issues  which have become central to his campaign  such as the repeated emails mocking the idea of men getting pregnant. Some transgender men do become pregnant. DeSantis also sent more emails mentioning woke than any other candidate.

Trump heavily fundraised off his June indictment over mishandling of classified documents, with more than a dozen messages slamming the Justice Department and proclaiming his innocence in the case. In a June 28 email, he called his arrest the single worst encroachment by the federal government in American history.

Rival candidates were quick to defend Trump in public. But they were loath to mention him in their fundraising appeals. The former president, by contrast, took several shots at DeSantis in fundraising emails, often under the nickname DeSanctimonious.

Candidates who have trailed in the polls were more likely to lean into positive or biographical fundraising emails. Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott all had at least one email in June that included the phrase American dream.

One thing that was notably absent was abortion. Pence was the only major presidential candidate to use the phrase pro-life in fundraising emails. While the issue of abortion has been a major driver for Democratic fundraising, most Republican candidates have not mentioned it at all in their fundraising appeals, a reflection of how the backlash to the Dobbs decision has vexed the GOP field.



Candidates other than Trump have largely shied away from claims that a donation would be matched or amplified by a separate donor  a commitment several campaigns said they made out of respect for donors, as matching donations are usually impossible.

Candidates who have yet to publicly announce they have met the Republican National Committees 40,000 donor threshold for the upcoming debates issued simple appeals for contributions of as little as $1. Candidates who have met the donor qualification also continue to give away bumper stickers, yard signs and apparel in exchange for donations.

And some fundraising emails recognized the awkwardness of the repeated ask. A message from Scotts campaign on Wednesday noted that the fundraising numbers he is set to report will be viewed as a signal of strength.

I hate asking for money. It's my least favorite thing to do because I know how hard you work for your paycheck, the email said. But if you could chip in again, $5, $15, $50 or more before the clock strikes midnight on Friday I would be so grateful.
Why todays borrowers will have to wait seven years longer to pay off the mortgage

House

Home buyers will now have to wait an extra seven years to pay off their mortgages, analysis shows.

The average first-time buyer today will be paying off their loan until the age of 64  the oldest age since records began in 2005, according to data from trade body UK Finance.

New homeowners are older than ever  33  and taking out the longest-ever mortgage terms of 31 years on average.

In April 2005, people were getting on the property ladder at the age of 31 with 26-year mortgages.

Interest payments on mortgages now make up 16pc of their incomes  the highest level since 2008.

Adrian Anderson, of broker Anderson Harris, said many mortgage borrowers were taking out longer mortgage terms to compensate for a jump in mortgage rates.

The average two-year fixed rate mortgage has jumped from 2.59pc in June 2021 to 6.37pc, according to data company Moneyfacts.

A first-time buyer taking out the average loan of 196,000 will now pay an extra 5,040 in annual mortgage repayments compared with two years ago, according to broker L&C Mortgages.

Mr Anderson said: Many borrowers are now stretching the mortgage over the longest possible term that the bank will consider.

A lot of people will be taking their mortgage up to age 70, which most banks will accept.

He said some lenders are even giving out mortgages that last until borrowers are 75 to 80, particularly in cases where their jobs do not require physical labour and it is likely they would be able to keep working.

He warned homeowners will end up paying more in interest over the course of their loan by choosing this option.

House prices have soared in relation to incomes in recent years, which has increased the amount that people are borrowing to buy a home.

First-time buyers were taking out mortgages of 105,000 in 2005  nearly half of todays average loan size of 197,000.

Mark Harris, of broker SPF Private Clients, said: First-time buyers are getting older because they have to save for longer. Some are also just coming out of university with student debt and are having to repay that first.

House prices, particularly in London and the South East, are just out of reach for so many people. Theyre putting their mortgage on to a longer term to make it more affordable.

It is not just first-time buyers who are taking out longer-term mortgages.

Mr Harris said he was seeing homeowners increasing their loan lengths when they are remortgaging in an effort to bring down payments.

Typically, homeowners who want to extend their mortgage terms or switch to interest-only payments have to change lenders to do so, but this is changing.

Last week Jeremy Hunt met with lenders and announced new measures to help homeowners.

He said borrowers will be able to change their mortgages to interest-only or extend their mortgage terms with no questions asked. They will also be able to return to their original deal within six months.

Mr Harris said this was something that homeowners could previously request from their existing lender but it was more challenging to secure such a change without moving to a different provider.

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FILE - This aerial photo shows the movie set of "Rust," at Bonanza Creek Ranch, Oct. 23, 2021, in Santa Fe, N.M. Prosecutors are accusing the weapons supervisor on the film set where Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer of drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the filming of Rust, saying she was likely hung over when she loaded a live bullet into the revolver that was used by the actor. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP)  Special prosecutors in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust asked Friday to shield the name of a witness from public disclosure as they pursue charges against a movie weapons specialist.

Prosecutors said in court filings that the witness is prepared to testify that film set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed handed off a small bag of narcotics to the witness after returning from an interview at a police station. But they said the witness worries about being harassed by media and blacklisted by the industry.

Gutierrez-Reed is fighting charges of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering as the sole remaining defendant in the case after prosecutors dropped an involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin in April. Prosecutors can still refile charges against him, however.

Baldwin was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killed her and injured director Joel Souza on Oct. 21, 2021.

In a new court filing, prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said the testimony about a drug transfer will support allegations that Gutierrez-Reed attempted to prevent law enforcement from obtaining evidence related to the handling of the firearm prior to the shooting.

The witness is afraid that if they testify, they could be shut out by the film industry for coming forward with information about the defendant, the court filing said. "They wish to keep their identify from the public for as long as possible.

The evidence tampering charge was filed last week against Gutierrez-Reed. Prosecutors have alleged that she was drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the filming of Rust and was likely hungover on the day a live bullet was loaded into the gun Baldwin used.

Gutierrez-Reeds attorney Jason Bowles criticized prosecutors' efforts to bring forward a secret witness.

A secret witness appears 20 months later? With no actual corroboration or evidence? And the state wont identify the person? he said. This is a throwback to the secret, star chamber prosecutions in England in the 15th century that were abolished.

Bowles has called tampering accusations against his client retaliatory and vindictive" and an example of character assassination.
Paris (CNN)  More than 400 people were arrested across France on Thursday as a wave of protests swept the country for a third night following the fatal police shooting of a teenage boy that was captured on video.

Frances elite police force, the RAID, were deployed to the cities of Bordeaux, Lyon, Roubaix, Marseille and Lille, to help contain the protests.

Confrontations flared up between protesters and police in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre  where the 17-year-old named Nahel was killed days before  and in the southern port city of Marseille.

Amid burning debris, vengeance pour Nael appeared to be spray painted on a wall in Nanterre, which translates to revenge for Nael in reference to the slain teenager and using an alternative spelling of his name, according to footage from the suburb.

A bank was set on fire in Nanterre, according to photographs from the scene, and 15 people have been taken in for questioning by police after a march held in memory of the teenager turned violent.

Protesters threw fireworks at police officers in Marseille, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV, while footage from the northern city of Lille showed fires burning on streets and running riot police officers. Six people were taken in for questioning after participating in a protest banned by authorities in Lille, the regional authority said in a Facebook post.

At least 421 people were arrested in the protests across France from Thursday night into Friday morning, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFMTV.

More than half of those arrests took place in the Paris region, in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, BFMTV reported, citing Paris police.

Earlier, Darmanin said police were instructed to intervene systematically and expressed support for the police officers and firefighters who are doing a courageous job.

Authorities had hoped to avoid a repeat of the scenes that played out Wednesday night, when police stations, town halls and schools were set alight in various cities and about 150 people were arrested. The Interior Ministry earlier said it planned on deploying 40,000 police officers across the country Thursday  including 5,000 in Paris  to quell any potential unrest.

The unrest broke out Tuesday, hours after a police traffic stop in Nanterre resulted in the killing of Nahel. Over the course of a chaotic night, 40 cars were burned and 24 police officers injured, French authorities claimed. The police officer was put under formal investigation for voluntary homicide and placed in preliminary detention, BFMTV reported Thursday.

On Thursday, an estimated 6,000 people, according to BFMTV, joined a march to honor Nahel led by his mother in Nanterre.

Many wore shirts emblazoned with justice for Nahel, while others shouted the slogan. Some were seen holding signs saying the police kill. A lawyer for the family on Thursday confirmed the spelling of the boys name as Nahel; he was initially identified as Nael.

Buses and tramways in Lille shut down after 8 p.m. local time, according to BFMTV, and a couple of Parisian suburbs have installed curfews.

Bus and tram services were also suspended in the Ile-de-France region, which includes Paris, from Thursday night, the local transport authority said. Government ministers were asked to postpone non-urgent travel and remain in Paris due to the protests, a government source told CNN on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity citing French professional norms.

The violent scenes seen over the past two days have raised concerns that Nahels death could lead to a level of unrest and rioting not seen since 2005, when the deaths of two teenage boys hiding from police sparked three weeks of rioting and prompted the government to call a state of emergency.

Anger at police brutality

The video of Nahels killing has sparked a similar level of shock and anger across France, touching a particular nerve among young men and women of color who feel that they have been discriminated against by police. A 2017 study by the Rights Defenders, an independent human rights watchdog in France, found that young men perceived to be Black or Arab were 20 times more likely to be stopped by police than their peers.

Many of these individuals are simply tired, journalist and racial equality activist Rokhaya Diallo told CNN.

People know and have been speaking about police brutality and have not been heard, she said.

Video of the shooting in Nanterre surfaced on social media shortly after the incident took place Tuesday morning. The clip shows two police officers standing on the drivers side of a yellow Mercedes AMG, one near the door and another near the left front fender. As the car attempts to drive away, one officer is seen firing his sidearm.

The bullet that hit Nahel pierced his arm and chest. After fleeing the scene, the car crashed into a stationary object at a nearby plaza. Nahel was in the car with two others at the time of the incident. One passenger in the vehicle was taken into custody and later released, while another, who is believed to have fled the scene, is missing, authorities said.

The local Nanterre prosecutor, Pascal Prache, said Thursday that the officers testified both drew their weapons and pointed them at the driver to dissuade him from restarting the engine. The officer who fired his weapon said, according to the prosecutor, that he was scared the boy would run someone over with the car. However, Prache said it is believed the officer accused of shooting and killing Nahel may have acted illegally in doing so.

Lawyers for Nahels family slammed the decision not to pursue charges over alleged false statements, claiming the officer said in his initial declaration that young Nahel had tried to run him over with the vehicle. CNN has asked the French national police for a response to the allegations against the unnamed officer.

Prache said that Nahel had been known to authorities for a previous breach of rules, but it is not clear what law or orders that pertains to. The teen was expected to appear before a juvenile court in September.

Laurent-Franck Lienard, the lawyer of the officer accused of shooting Nahel, told French radio station RTL that his client acted in compliance of the law.

In another interview with BFMTV, he said that any accusations his client lied in a statement were false as he had never made a written statement and that his verbal testimony did not contradict the facts.

He claimed his clients prosecution was political and being used as a way to calm the violent tensions.

As to the deadly incident, Lienard said police officers had struggled for 30 seconds to detain the driver while the car had stopped. He added that his client feared for the safety of the public as the car had nearly hit pedestrians before the start of the video.

Lienard said his client was not the person in the video who shouted, Ill put a bullet in your head, while also suggesting that might not have been what was said.

He added that his client was devastated by Nahels death and he did not want to kill him. He committed an act in a second, in a fraction of a second. Perhaps he made a mistake, justice will tell, Lienard said.

Macron and other government officials, including Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, have called for patience to allow the criminal justice system to run its course.

We need calm for justice to carry out its work, Macron said Wednesday. We cant allow the situation to worsen.

Rallying public support and goodwill, however, is likely to be difficult for Macrons government given how much political capital it spent in the first half of 2023 pushing through unpopular pension reforms, which sparked months of mostly peaceful mass protests.

Acknowledging the governments massive unpopularity, Macron gave himself 100 days to heal and unite the country. That deadline is up on July 14, Frances national day.

Addressing allegations of institutional racism in France is particularly challenging given the countrys unique brand of secularism, which seeks to ensure equality for all by removing markers of difference, rendering all citizens French first. In practice, however, the vigorous adherence to French Republicanism often prevents the government from doing anything that would appear to differentiate French citizens on the basis of race, including collecting statistics.

Racial and religious data, where available, typically comes from private institutions, and extra care is typically taken by politicians to avoid circumscribing racial motives to state institutions.

On a general level, people tend to think there is no racism in France. And its one of the reasons people are so angry, because they feel and experience racism on a daily basis, said Diallo, the anti-racism activist. Despite that, they still face institutions, public discourse, and media which still say that there is no racism and that the race debate does not belong in France. And thats the reason people are so angry and so outraged.

Government officials have so far not broached questions of racism in the police. Leaders of opposition left-wing parties have focused their criticisms on police violence rather than racism. Government spokesman Olivier Veran told BFMTV that anger against the state itself, however, is unjustified.

It is not the republic that killed this young man, Veran said. It is one man who must be judged if the justice system deems it necessary.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "Third night of violent protest sweeps France after 17-year-old shot dead by police."
The woman accused of shooting an El Paso Uber driver had her bond split as her lawyer claimed the driver told her he was taking her to Juarez and she had a "founded fear" she was being kidnapped due to national news coverage of the violence in Mexico.

Phoebe Copas, 48, of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, is facing a murder charge in connection with the fatal shooting of Uber driver Daniel Piedra Garcia, 52, about 2:20 p.m. June 16 as they drove on U.S. 54 southbound in South-Central El Paso to Speaking Rock Entertainment Center, 122 S. Old Pueblo Road.

Phoebe Copas, 48, of Tompkinsville, Kentucky, is accused of shooting an Uber driver.

Copas, who was wearing a red jailhouse jumpsuit, appeared in court Thursday during a virtual bond hearing.

El Paso County Magistrate Judge Antonio Aun granted Copas a split bond, meaning her originally $1.5 million surety bond was changed to a $500,000 surety bond and a $1 million personal recognizance bond, also known as a PR bond.

Copas will have to pay the $500,000 to be released from jail. She also will have to sign an agreement to follow court ordered conditions on the $1 million PR bond but won't have to pay any money for that portion.

The conditions include attending all court hearings, not possessing firearms and not violating any laws. She is currently held in the El Paso County Jail in Downtown.

Copas' lawyer Matthew Kozik claimed Piedra told his client that he was taking her to "la feria," or the fair, in Juarez. She then told Piedra she didn't want to go to Juarez and to stop the car, but he continued to drive toward a port of entry and increased the speed he was driving at, Kozik said.

More: El Paso Walmart mass shooter: What to know before July 5 federal sentencing

He said his client was in fear of her life because of her knowledge of violence and kidnappings in Juarez, and seeing highway signs on U.S. 54 showing exits to Juarez.

During the hearing, Kozik showed news articles reporting on violence in Juarez, including stories about drug cartels and kidnappings. He also showed photos of where the shooting happened and traffic signs showing the highway led to Juarez.

"Her fears of going to Juarez were founded," Kozik said.

Copas allegedly grabbed a silver and brown handgun from her purse and shot Piedra in the back right side of his head, a complaint affidavit states.

A GoFundMe account was created to help raise money for the family of Daniel Piedra Garcia, an Uber driver who died after being shot by a passenger June 16 on U.S. 54 southbound in South-Central El Paso.

Kozik claimed Copas had told Piedra to let her out of the car once he allegedly said he was taking her to Juarez. The lawyer added that Copas attempted to open the car's door to jump out, but the doors were locked by the driver. She also attempted to jump out the window but the window wouldn't go down, Kozik said.

She then fatally shot Piedra in order to protect herself from being kidnapped, Kozik claimed.

Copas took a photo of Piedra after he was shot and sent it to her boyfriend via text message before calling 911, the affidavit states.

The affidavit filed by El Paso Police Department officers left out key details, Kozik claimed. The details included that she first tried to call 911, but the call wouldn't connect, so she then called her boyfriend, the lawyer said.

He added that Copas only took the photo of Piedra's body and sent it to her boyfriend before calling 911 because her boyfriend did not believe she had shot someone.

More: Teen, man wounded in shootings in far East El Paso, San Elizario

El Paso County District Attorney's Office prosecutor Shantal Ortega countered that if the call to 911 didn't go through the first time, then how did the call to her boyfriend go through?

She added that Copas' belief she was being kidnapped was "unreasonable" and no facts were presented by the defense during the bond hearing that proved she was being kidnapped.

"Simply because this is a border city and there may be signs showing miles away from some port of entry, it is unreasonable that she wouldn't have come across that before as she was in a border city she had been to before," Ortega argued. "We know from her boyfriend that he told her to call 911. Her first reaction was to take a photo and send it to her boyfriend, and then call 911."

Kozik and Ortega argued over a previous arrest Copas had in Kentucky involving firing a gun during a domestic violence incident.

A Kentucky grand jury declined to indict her in that case, so it was dismissed, meaning Copas had no criminal record, Kozik said. He added Copas has had no other interactions with the law.

Ortega countered that the incident showed Copas was violent and had shot a gun at a person before.

Myra Lopez holds a picture of a young Daniel Piedras Garcia at his vigil at Memorial Park on June 23. He was fatally shot on U.S. 54 southbound while driving for Uber on June 16.

During the bond hearing, more than 10 people testified on behalf of Copas. The testimony came from family and friends.

Copas' mother, Ana Johnson, testified Copas was a loving mother and a good person. She added Copas was "outgoing, friendly and would do anything to help people."

Copas' daughter has medical issues and needs her mother, Johnson said.

Copas' boyfriend, J.C. Knott, testified the gun was his and that Copas was legally carrying the gun.

He testified he could not answer if Copas actually knew of violence occurring in Juarez. Knott added he believed Copas was trying to save her own life when she shot Piedra.

Copas originally was charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. She then was charged with murder after Piedra was removed from life support June 22 and died.

The aggravated assault charge is being dismissed, Ortega said.

Aaron Martinez may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com or on Twitter @AMartinezEPT.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Woman accused of fatally shooting El Paso Uber driver gets split bond
A 28-year-old woman who left a Kansas City bicyclist dead on the roadside near Longview Lake in August was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison.

Kyrie Fields, of Oregon, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty in Jackson County Circuit Court to leaving the scene of a fatal crash and tampering with a motor vehicle. Judge Justine Del Muro sentenced Fields to four years for each felony conviction, with the sentences to run simultaneously.

On Aug. 27, around 6:15 a.m., Kansas City police officers were dispatched to a fatal hit-and-run crash at Longview Road and View High Drive  along the Longview Lake Loop bike route in south Kansas City.

Crash investigators found that the bicyclist, 43-year-old Charles Criniere, had been struck from behind by a vehicle, parts of which were found near the crash site. Criniere was declared dead at the scene.

Family previously told The Star that Criniere was an avid bicyclist who routinely went out on rides Saturday mornings before his kids woke up. He was a father of 10 children, a church deacon and a middle-school teacher.

Charles Criniere is pictured with his wife, Megan, and nine of their 10 children. Criniere was killed in a hit-and-run crash Sat. Aug. 27, 2022, when he was struck by a vehicle while riding his bicycle in Kansas City.

Detectives used vehicle parts left near the crash site to narrow down the make and model of the vehicle: a white Acura MDX.

They found that an SUV of that type had been towed from a residence in Lees Summit shortly after the crash.

Witnesses interviewed at the Lees Summit home told police Fields parked in the garage and claimed to have struck a deer. A tow truck came to the house on Aug. 28 and dropped the SUV off in Grandview.

The detectives were also informed by Grandview police that an SUV of that type had been found set on fire in an apparent act of arson on Aug. 28, the day after the fatal crash. Car parts from the crash site were later matched to the burned vehicle, according to court documents.

Fields was arrested Sept. 12. During a police interview, she said she was driving and her boyfriend was in the passenger seat when she was in a hit-and-run crash.

She allegedly admitted to being high on Percocet  an prescription opioid commonly abused by addicts  when she took her eyes off the road. She said she looked up as she struck a bicyclist and then drove to a friends house.

She told police the car she was driving was stolen and that she had kept it for a period of months. She did not have a valid license or motor vehicle insurance, according to court documents.

Prosecutors charged Fields in September with the two felony counts she was convicted of Thursday. Under Missouri law, she faced maximum sentences of 7 years in prison for each conviction.
Woman steals nearly $20,000 from her 96-year-old great-grandma in Missouri, feds say

A 96-year-old great-grandmother was defrauded by her own great-granddaughter in Missouri, authorities said.

Now, the 35-year-old great-granddaughter has pleaded guilty to a felony count of bank fraud, according to a June 28 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.

In her signed plea agreement, the St. Louis woman said she obtained her great-grandmas credit union account number and personal identifying information sometime before Dec. 2, 2022.

She then added her cellphone number and email address to her great-grandmothers account, authorities said, and she got online access. The account had a balance over $22,700 at the time.

On Dec. 2, 2022, she transferred $2,000 to someone else, authorities said. The next day, she opened an account for herself at the credit union and began transferring her great-grandmothers money to her account.

From Dec. 2 through Jan. 19, she withdrew $26,700, according to the plea agreement. But on Jan. 6, authorities said she re-deposited $7,500, leaving a loss of $19,200.

The womans defense attorney did not comment to McClatchy News regarding the plea agreement or allegations.

Prosecutors and the defense have agreed to recommend a three-year prison sentence in addition to restitution, according to the release.

Daughter cashed in on dead moms benefits for years in Pennsylvania, feds say

Woman leaves ill mom with $5 in savings after stealing $400,000, Oregon officials say

Woman stole her in-laws life savings for down payment on a home in Montana, feds say
World Economic Forum did not propose using artificial intelligence to write Bible

Social media posts say The World Economic Forum (WEF) wants to use artificial intelligence (AI) to create a universal bible. This is false; the WEF never made such remarks and the words of a historian are misconstrued to support this claim.

"A top official with the World Economic Forum (WEF) has called for religious scripture to be rewritten by artificial intelligence (AI) to create a globalized 'new Bible,'" says a June 13, 2023 Instagram post.

The claim originated from a Slay News article published on June 10 headlined: "WEF Calls for AI to Rewrite Bible, Create 'Religions That Are Actually Correct.'"

Screenshot of an Instagram post taken June 29, 2023

Screenshot of the Slay News website taken June 29, 2023

Similar claims can be found online on platforms including Facebook, Twitter and TikTok and in other online articles.

The WEF, an international organization that lobbies politicians, businesses and cultural groups, is a frequent target of misinformation.

This recent claim is similarly false, as posts misrepresent remarks made by Israeli historian and author Yuval Noah Harari and incorrectly label him an official at the WEF.

"The World Economic Forum never called for AI to rewrite the Bible and never made any statements about banning the Bible or calling for a new world religion," WEF spokesperson Yann Zopf told AFP on June 28, 2023. "These are false claims to discredit the important work that the World Economic Forum does on serious global challenges."

AFP searched the WEF's websites and reputable media outlets and found no evidence the organization made any such comments regarding AI and the Bible.

WEF 'top official'

Harari, who is described as a "top official" in many of these posts, has never held a leadership role at the WEF. While he has participated in WEF events (archived here and here), he has no other ties to the organization.

"Please note that Mr Harari is neither an employee nor an adviser of the World Economic Forum," Zopf said.

AFP found no mention of Harari on the WEF's leadership page (archived here), which lists its chairman, board and executive committee members.

His profile on the WEF website (archived here), introduces him as a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the History Department and the author of several books.

Screenshot of the WEF website taken June 29, 2023

Misinterpreted quotes

In addition to not representing the WEF, the remarks made by Harari have been misconstrued.

Indeed, he discussed the subject of AI's potential to "make decisions" and "generate new ideas" in a May 19, 2023 interview, in Lisbon with Pedro Pinto, a Portuguese-American journalist. However, he did not propose for AI to write a new bible, instead, he used this example to demonstrate the technology's capabilities.

Here is what Harari said in the interview according to the full-length video (archived here):

"AI can create new ideas. Can even write a new Bible."

"You know, throughout history religions dreamt about having a book written by a superhuman intelligence, by a non-human entity. Or every religion claims 'our book, all the other books of the other religions, humans wrote them. But our book - no, no, no, no, no - it came from superhuman intelligence."

"In a few years, there might be religions that are actually correct. Just think about a religion whose Holy Book is written by an AI. That could be a reality in a few years."

AFP attempted to contact Harari for comment but a response was not forthcoming.

AFP has previously debunked other false and misleading claims about the WEF here, here, here and here.
BBC

The BBC has released the trailer for series 2 of World on Fire.

A lot of familiar faces return from series 1 in addition to some new ones, as the story follows World War II across Britain, France, Germany and India.

We've got The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison back as Stan, joined by fellow returnees in Cucumber's Cel Spellman as Joe, The Crown's Lesley Manville as Robina, The Little Mermaid's Jonah Hauer-King as Harry, Eryk Biedunkiewicz as Jan, Zofia Wichlacz as Kasia, Julia Brown as Lois, and Eugenie Derouand as Henriette.

BBC

BBC

Related: World on Fire star and writer reveal whether characters are based on real people

Meanwhile, we've got Line of Duty and Quiz's Mark Bonnar as Sir James Danemere, Runaways' Gregg Sulkin as David, Resident Evil's Ahad Raza Mir as Rajib, and Miriam Schiweck as Marta.

As we see in the trailer, parts of series 2 will see RAF bombers try and destroy the German bombers looking to destroy Manchester, while other plotlines will see British troops join the Indian Sappers and Australian Diggers to fight what the synopsis calls "a very different kind of combat."

BBC

BBC

Related: I'm a Celebrity's Emily Atack reunites with Inbetweeners co-star Blake Harrison

Harrison said a while back that he is genuinely surprised that people still watch The Inbetweeners, despite it coming to an end in 2010.

"You'd be amazed at how young some kids are when they do watch it," he said. "I've seen it. People come up to me, 'He loves the show.' I'm like, 'How old is he?' 'He's nine,'" Blake said. "I'm [thinking], 'What are you doing? You're not being a good parent.'

"I'm surprised it's still being watched now, if I'm honest. We filmed it in 2007 with series one, and the fact that 14 years later, it's still being shown and there are still teenagers now watching it and enjoying it... that to me is really surprising."

World on Fire series 2 will consist of six hour-long episodes, and will drop on BBC One and BBC iPlayer soon. Series 1 has returned to the service and can be streamed in full now.









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Thirty-three summers ago, Yusef Salaam was convicted of crimes that he didnt commit. He did not rape a jogger in Central Park. He reached adulthood in prison, like the rest of the Central Park Five, all of whom had their convictions vacated after another man confessed to the crime. And on Tuesday, Salaam won the Democratic primary for a seat on New Yorks city council.

Ive been able to use my pain and turn it into purpose, Salaam said in an interview this week, after defeating a longtime council member endorsed by Mayor Eric Adams. What pushed everything over was people knowing I was so close to the pain  that I was, in fact, one of them. I'm one of the people who had been left behind.

Salaam, whod left New York after leaving prison in 1997, returned to Harlem and was approached to run for something. He had 10 children, decades of criminal justice advocacy, and some priorities, like getting the Manhattan District Attorneys office to review more closed cases. And he was worried about Harlem, seeing people who need to be repaired injecting themselves with drugs and sleeping outside of expensive apartment buildings.

He launched his campaign in February, laying out a progressive agenda: more affordable housing, baby bonds to build generational wealth, and protecting criminal justice reform from the current backlash. His first political conflict  the full-page ads that Donald Trump bought, in 1989 calling for him and four other boys wrongfully accused of rape to be executed for their crimes.

In 2016, Salaam called Trump the firestarter of a public smear campaign. Given multiple chances to apologize, during that campaign and his presidency, Trump never did. In fact, he continued to suggest they were guilty and that the city was wrong to settle a civil rights lawsuit over their treatment. (The Trump campaign didnt respond to a question about Salaams win.)

Yet Trump would become an unwilling ally of Salaams campaign. On March 30, when Trump was indicted by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Salaam responded with a tweet: Karma. The candidate got a surge of media coverage and endorsements.

On June 8, with early voting underway in New York, Trump was indicted again, and Salaam got more coverage, contrasting the way the justice system treated him with how it was handling a former president. Over the course of the race, the Salaam campaign clocked nearly 4,500 articles that mentioned their candidate. Just 90 mentioned Inez Dickens, the 73-year old state legislator and former council member Adams and other high-profile Black Democrats endorsed over Salaam.

When all of the stars line up, you can't control that, Salaam said. There is a statement in Islam: There's no movement except by the permission of God.

David's view

Stories like Salaams had powered the movement for police and criminal justice reform. Momentum for that cause ebbed in 2021, with Adams victory, and receded again in 2022, when Republicans made gains across New York while relentlessly blaming bail reform and other changes, like the end of stop-and-frisk, for rising crime.

But on Tuesday, Salaam triumphed over a better-connected Democrat whod raised more money, and over skepticism that someone whod spent years outside the city could represent the district now.

It's not what you do when you tweet, it's what you do on the streets, Adams had said at a rally for Dickens.

Well-known progressive groups, like the Working Families Party, stayed out of the race, but Salaams story  honed by decades of public speaking and writing  was indelible. Reporters who walked precincts with him saw him get recognized, constantly. Dickens tried to outflank him on tricky issues, echoing Adams on how red states were creating an adversarial situation between the asylum seekers and the Blacks by shipping migrants up to the city.

That narrative was very false and unjust for migrants, Salaam said. The language I heard from the other side was, like, We don't know their criminal history. These were families that were traveling with their children. They were fleeing oppression, they were fleeing murder. They were fleeing because of the conditions of the countries that they were in. And they walked tremendous distances to get to the borders of America, to be arrested, and to be put in prison as they waited for their paperwork.

The city showed it could solve for a migrant influx, he said, by converting a prison in the district into temporary housing. Its next question should be how to solve for homelessness. Salaam was concerned by the reaction to the killing of Jordan Neely, a mentally disturbed subway performer, and the rush by some Republicans to call the U.S. Marine who had put him in a chokehold a good Samaritan.

We can go right to the good book, and we can read about what a good Samaritan is, Salaam said. A good Samaritan wouldn't relieve a person of their life.

Some of the work ahead, said Salaam, was already knowable. Rikers Island was scheduled to close. Bail reform, which Republicans had campaigned to repeal, was still in effect. He would be advocating to keep reforms in place.

We might find another Kalief Browder right now on Rikers Island, someone who needs to be released from prison because they were there unjustly, said Salaam, referring to a Black teenager whose imprisonment, and subsequent suicide, led to a series of prison reforms. We might find people who are in prison, in jail right now, who have the ability to be released because they were charged with petty crime, they just couldn't afford their bail. They're in prison, their families are being broken apart, they're in jeopardy of losing their jobs.

And then there was Trump, whod be on trial as Salaam took office. Donald Trump gets the opportunity to stay out of jail and defend himself because of the color of his skin, right? he said. He has the complexion for acceptance; therefore, he should be afforded every right under the law, the right to due process. We didn't get that same treatment. My response has been to put up a mirror, not just to Donald Trump, but to America.

Notable
New York Times blasted as 'racist' for predicting affirmative action ruling will make colleges 'whiter'

New York Times blasted as 'racist' for predicting affirmative action ruling will make colleges 'whiter'

The New York Times was widely criticized by conservatives on social media Thursday over a tweet that said the Supreme Courts decision rejecting affirmative action would make colleges "whiter and more Asian."

"Breaking News: The Supreme Court rejected affirmative action at Harvard and UNC," the newspaper tweeted Thursday following the Supreme Courts 6-3 decision striking down affirmative action.

"The major ruling curtails race-conscious college admissions in the U.S., all but ensuring that elite institutions become whiter and more Asian and less Black and Latino."

The tweet immediately drew criticism from conservatives, who called the tweet racist due to the implication that minority students wont be able to compete with White students.

SUPREME COURT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASE: HOW CALIFORNIA SEES ITS IMPACT

The New York Times building on 8th Avenue in New York City.

"The New York Times appears to be inferring that black and brown people are too stupid to get into a colleges on their own merit," Timcasts Josie Glabach tweeted.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"Show us on the doll where equal protection under the law touched you, NYT," Federalist CEO Sean Davis tweeted.

ASIAN-AMERICAN STUDENT WITH 1590 SAT SCORE REJECTED BY 6 ELITE COLLEGES, BLAMES AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

The nation's highest court handed down the historic ruling on affirmative action Thursday and rejected the use of race as a factor in college admissions as a violation of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

Chief Justice John Roberts said for too long universities have "concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."

Justice Clarence Thomas, the nations second Black justice, who had long called for an end to affirmative action, wrote separately that the decision "sees the universities admissions policies for what they are: rudderless, race-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the decision "rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress."

In a separate dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the courts first Black female justice, called the decision "truly a tragedy for us all."

Associated Press contributed to this report
The New York Times suggested 'Death' as one of six ways you can still get your student debt cancelled after Supreme Court ruling

The New York Times building on April 29, 2023 in New York City. Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

The Supreme Court struck down Biden's student debt forgiveness plan on Friday.

Within the hour, the NYT published an article on "Six Ways You Can Still Cancel Your Federal Student Loan Debt."

One of the options proposed by the Times? Death.

Within one hour of the Supreme Court striking down President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan, the New York Times published an article detailing six different ways that individuals can still have their student debt cancelled in light of the ruling.

"There are still plenty of ways to get your student debt wiped away," the article noted. "What follows is a list of ways to eliminate your federal student loan balance aside from paying in full."

Among the "list of ways" presented by the Times: death.

"This is not something that most people would choose as a solution to their debt burden," the article noted, before going on to explain that student loans are indeed cancelled when the borrower dies.

Similarly, loans that parents or other relative took out to pay for their dependent child's education are forgiven upon death.

"If you're a young adult wondering about the federal PLUS loans your relatives took out to pay for your education, you may be wondering whether the debt dies with the person or people who take it on," the Times noted. "It does. The federal government will not make a claim on their estate, and you will not inherit the balance."

Other options presented by the Times included income-driven repayment, enrolling in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, petition the government if they believe they were misled by their school, and seeking loan discharges based on bankruptcy or disability.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for the New York Times said they "don't have any comment to offer" but that there would soon be a "slight update to the text of the article."

And after the initial publication of this article, the Times updated the original article, removing the word "six" from the headline and amending the framing of the "Death" heading to "Debt Won't Carry On."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Young Royals

Production has come to a close on the final season of Young Royals, and its handsome stars shared a message with fans to celebrate the end of the journey.

Omar Rudberg and Edvin Ryding, who play Simon and Prince Wilhelm respectively in the popular show, appeared in a video posted to the official Netflix Twitter on Wednesday.

We just wanted to let you know that Young Royals and season three is done, Rudberg said.

Weve had such a great time. I think one of my favorite moments from this season is shooting the final scene, added Ryding, prompting Rudberg to chime in with his own spoiler-free appreciation for the time they spent shooting out in the woods all night.

Anyway, we just wanted to say thank you so much for all of your supporting us throughout the years and we really look forward to you seeing this season, Ryding continued. We think youre going to love it.

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Young Royals is a Swedish series that premiered on Netflix in 2021. It follows Prince Wilhelm as he attends boarding school and falls in love with another student, Simon, and all of the drama that ensues.

The show was renewed for a third and final season last Decemberbittersweet news for fans. Three seasons is more than most LGBTQ+ shows on the streaming platform get, and co-creator Lisa Ambjorn made it clear at the time that the hope had always been to end the story after three parts.

Because of the fans dedication to our story, we get to tell the last one, she said in a press release. The ending has been clear to me from the start and Im so thankful and honored to get to finish this saga as intended.

The first two seasons of Young Royals are currently available on Netflix, but a premiere date for season three has yet to be announced.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, has said opinions expressed in the West that Ukraines counter-offensive is going slower than expected anger him.

Speaking in an interview with U.S. newspaper The Washington Post on June 28, Zaluzhnyi noted that his troops have gained some ground  even if its just 500 meters  every day of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Read also: All Ukrainian commanders optimistic about Ukrainian counter-offensive, Zelenskyy says

This is not a show, Zaluzhnyi said in his office at Ukraines General Staff headquarters.

Its not a show that the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every meter, is paid for with blood.

Without (Ukraine) being fully supplied (with military equipment from the West), these plans are not feasible at all.

But they are being carried out. Yes, maybe not as fast as the people at the show, the audience, would like  but thats their problem.

Read also: Long way to go before victory, says Zaluzhnyi

For Ukraines counter-offensive to progress faster, Zaluzhnyi says he needs more  of every type of weapon.

He expressed frustration that while his biggest Western backers would never launch an offensive without air superiority, Ukraine still has not received modern fighter jets, but is expected to rapidly take back territory from the occupying Russians all the same.

His troops also should be firing at least as many artillery shells as their enemy, Zaluzhnyi said, but have been outshot tenfold at times because of limited resources.

U.S. newspaper the New York Times earlier reported that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is worried that the progress of the Ukrainian counter-offensive at the initial stage is behind schedule.

Read also: Russian military sees almost 5,000 casualties in one week of Ukrainian offensive

In addition, two Western officials and a senior U.S. military official told CNN that in its early phases, Ukraines counter-offensive is experiencing less success and Russian forces are showing more competence than Western assessments expected.

Ukraines counter-offensive: Latest

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar reported that the Ukrainian Defense Forces are continuing their offensive on the Bakhmut, Melitopol, and Berdyansk sections of the front, and are making progress. Ukrainian forces have advanced 1.3 kilometers toward Berdyansk she said.

Over the past week, as part of the Ukrainian militarys counteroffensive, the Russian invasion armys losses exceeded Ukrainian losses by eight times, Malyar added.

Read also: Ukraine already liberating settlements in the most grandiose offensive operation since WWII

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that progress since the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive campaign is slower than we would like, but that Ukraine will move forward as it sees fit.

Malyar reported on June 15 that the offensive was continuing on several fronts. The Ukrainian army was slowly but surely advancing and inflicting significant losses on the invaders, she said.

Earlier, the head of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, predicted that the Ukrainian counter-offensive would see difficult and fierce battles.

Commenting on the pace of Ukraines counter-offensive, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said that the Russian invasion forces in Ukraine had invested a lot in defense structures.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
(CNN)  There are very few winners in the climate crisis, but scientists are pretty sure theres going to be at least one: Mosquitoes.

These insects  annoying at best, deadly at worst  thrive in warmth and humidity. As climate change ushers in more frequent and more severe heat waves, as well as storms and floods that leave behind pools of stagnant water in which most breed, its boom time for mosquitoes.

For the first time in decades, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of several locally acquired cases of malaria in the United States  news that has thrust mosquitoes into the spotlight. While its too soon to know whether these specific cases are connected to climate change, scientists have been warning that malaria could become more common in the US as temperatures rise there.

It has raised fresh concerns about mosquitoes pushing into regions they have not been in for generations  or ever  and what that might mean for the spread of the deadly diseases they transmit.

Rising temperatures allow mosquitoes to grow faster and live longer. Whereas before they would die out during harsh winters in many places, now they have a greater shot at surviving and more time to build up their populations. Heat also speeds up the time it takes for a parasite or virus to mature inside a mosquito.

The hotter the temperature gets, the shorter that process becomes. So not only are these mosquitoes living longer, but theyre potentially becoming infectious sooner, said Oliver Brady, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

They gain other benefits from heat, too. When its hotter, more people tend to be outside in the morning and late in the afternoon  prime time for mosquitoes.

Heat is also pushing cities to increase their amount of green space, which has a vital cooling effect but could also provide ideal new breeding grounds for the blood-sucking insects.

In the US, the number of mosquito days  those with the hot and humid conditions they love  has increased across the country, according to a recent analysis from Climate Central, a nonprofit research group.

Researchers looked at data spanning more than four decades in nearly 250 locations and found that more than 70% of them had become more hospitable to mosquitoes.

While most of the approximately 200 mosquito species in the US are harmless, there are about a dozen which can pass on diseases to humans, including chikungunya, dengue, zika and West Nile viruses.

While serious mosquito-borne diseases recmain rare in the US, other countries are not so lucky.

In sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria has had devastating consequences, climate change is helping mosquitoes expand their range significantly, according to recent research.

Malaria-transmitting Anopheles mosquitoes have, on average, moved to higher elevations by around 21 feet a year and southward by nearly 3 miles a year, a Georgetown University report found.

Its a pace that follows climate change and could have significant consequences for areas that have never experienced malaria before and are likely to be unprepared, said Colin Carlson, a global change biologist at Georgetown University and co-author of the report.

Dengue fever is another potentially deadly disease, which is poised to increase in a warmer world.

Also known as breakbone fever, it causes fever, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and diarrhea and, in some cases, internal bleeding and death. There is no cure or specific treatment for dengue, leaving sufferers little choice but to ride out the symptoms.

Peru is currently grappling with the worst outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever on record, which has infected around 150,000 people and killed more than 250.

Experts have said that unusually high levels of rainfall and warmth have provided ideal conditions for the mosquitoes. While scientists are yet to assess the role climate change has played in the outbreak, Carlson said the links seem clear.

Im not a betting man, and I would put money on when we go and do that study, it will be climate change, he said.

Now dengue is knocking on the door of Europe and the US.

A billion new people will be exposed to the right weather conditions for dengue transmission, and most of those people are in Western Europe and the United States and temperate China, said Carlson.

There have been locally spread outbreaks in Texas, Florida, Hawaii and Arizona. And last week, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warned that the Aedes albopictus species  which can transmit dengue and chikungunya  is pushing northwards and westwards in Europe as climate change grips the worlds fastest warming continent.

What is surprising is the speed of the spread, Celine Gossner, principal expert in emerging and vector-borne diseases at the ECDC, told CNN. In just a decade, the number of regions where this mosquito is established has increased three-fold, she said.

Even with this new exposure, however, the US and Europe are unlikely to see huge outbreaks, or large numbers of fatalities from dengue virus.

The story of future change is really more about big increases in areas that already have dengue, thats going to get much worse, Brady said. He pointed to China and parts of India as particularly at risk. Thats a really scary situation because vast numbers of people live in these areas and even minor changes could potentially be catastrophic, he said.

Communities already on the front lines of the climate crisis are always going to be most affected by mosquito-borne disease, and that is where investment should be directed, said Shannon LaDeau, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies.

But the shift of mosquito-borne diseases into regions like the US and Europe is still likely to be a shock.

Folks that live in the temperate zone are going to see their way of life change pretty dramatically because theyve never had to worry about it before, LaDeau told CNN.

The climate crisis is not all upside for mosquitoes. Some places may simply be getting too hot.

Theres some threshold after which the chemistry in their body just doesnt function anymore, LaDeau said. The bad news is that these places are likely to be getting too hot for humans, too.

There is still much that remains unknown about how mosquitoes will react to the climate crisis. The relationship between climate change and disease is complex, Gossner said.

We know a lot about how temperature changes mosquitoes ability to transmit disease, a small amount about how quickly mosquitoes are moving to new places and very little about whether overall mosquito populations are growing, Carlson said.

Scientists are working to develop tools to be able to better assess the link between mosquito-borne diseases and climate change.

In the meantime, there are ways people can protect themselves from risk, including wearing mosquito repellent, putting screens on windows and doors and getting rid of any stagnant water from places like flowerpots and gutters.

Scientists are also working on high-tech methods to reduce populations. A project in Florida has been trialing a genetically modified mosquito designed to pass on a lethal gene that kills female mosquitoes  which are the ones that bite.

Other experiments involve using wolbachia bacteria, which can prevent viruses replicating inside a mosquito, making them less likely to transmit viruses.

There are also vaccines on the horizon for diseases such as dengue and malaria. Thats a really big deal, said Carlson. But whether these will be shared equitably around the world is another question, he added.

Its a long road to try to understand how better to use those tools. But theres a lot of hope on the horizon, Brady said.

Ultimately, tackling climate change will have a huge impact.

The path the world takes on reducing planet-heating pollution will lead to very different futures for mosquito-borne diseases, Brady said. Aggressive [climate] mitigation would be by far the lowest risk.

This story was first published on CNN.com, "The mosquito era: As the world warms, these insects are thriving  and bringing disease"
FILE PHOTO: New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta speaks during a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva

New Zealand manages China relationship carefully, works to avoid being caught in rivalry -Foreign Minister FILE PHOTO: New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta speaks during a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva

By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand is carefully managing its relationship with China and must avoid getting pulled from pillar and post amid the strategic rivalry between China and the United States, the Pacific nation's foreign minister said on Friday.

Nanaia Mahutas comments come as Chris Hipkins nears the end of a six-day visit to China leading a trade delegation, which included meetings with China President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang focusing on economic partnership and trade.

Hipkins has faced domestic criticism for not spending more time during his visit raising New Zealand's concerns about human rights violations in Xinjiang.

China's a complex relationship that we manage very carefully, Mahuta said in an interview with Reuters.

She said Hipkins' focus on trade did not shift New Zealand foreign policy but shows New Zealand has a range of interests with China.

In a statement after Hipkins' meeting with Xi, there was no mention of human rights concerns or the Taiwan Strait. Both were noted in the readout of the meeting between former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Xi in November 2022.

I'm under no shadow of a doubt that trade and economic issues would have been discussed, human rights issues, the war in Ukraine, Mahuta said.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for China's embassy in New Zealand said last week that during the past five decades, "through joint efforts and based on mutual respect, seeking commonality while shelving differences" the relationship between the two countries had come a long way.

New Zealand has long been seen as a moderate or even absent voice on China in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.

The country's tone on security and China's growing presence in the South Pacific toughened last year after China and the Solomon Islands struck a security pact.

Mahuta said the Hipkins visit to China after her own in March reinforces the delicate nature of the relationship.

Mahutas trip came under scrutiny this week when The Australian said she had received an hour-long dressing down from her counterpart. She has described the meeting as very robust. At the meeting, she said, she noted deep concerns regarding the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.

She said China and New Zealand could have difficult conversations about issues on which they disagreed.

Weve maintained diplomatic dialogue with China through some pretty tough times, she said without elaborating.

She said more broadly that foreign policy and geopolitical challenges were growing increasingly complex, including the impact of climate change on countries, the war in Ukraine and the huge number of refugees who need to be resettled.

We have a challenge in the Pacific region, in terms of strategic rivalry between two big nations, she said. New Zealand is in a position where we want to ensure that we're not being pulled from pillar to post, that we're managing significant relationships in a way that we that we can assert our interests.

We're a democratic nation. We believe in open, transparent, democratic principles. And we continue to align ourselves with those who hold the same values."

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the Ukrainian military for liberating Zmiinyi (Snake) Island in the Black Sea from the Russian invaders. Exactly one year has passed since this event.

Source: Zelenskyy's evening address

Quote: "Today is the first anniversary of the liberation of Zmiinyi Island from the Russian invaders. It is one of our major victories...

I am grateful to everyone who freed Zmiinyi! Defence Intelligence, together with other elements of the Defense and Security Forces of our country, conducted this operation. Defence Intelligence and the SSU [Security Service of Ukraine  ed.] Alpha special unit, the Naval Forces and the army aviation of the Ground Forces Command, the Air Force aviation and our strong border guards. Thank you!"

Details: The president reminded that no one expected Ukraine to be able to "provide security to Zmiinyi Island," and therefore to a significant part of the Black Sea water area. But the Ukrainian soldiers did it.

Quote: "Russian terrorists needed Zmiinyi to destroy the entire south of our country, our beautiful Odesa and other cities. Our soldiers stopped them and drove them out of Zmiinyi. Ukraine and Ukrainians are much stronger than anyone thinks about us. Sometimes stronger than we used to think about ourselves."

More details: Zelenskyy also honoured the memory of the fallen Heroes who gave their lives for this Ukrainian victory.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, on 29 June had a phone conversation with Alejandro Giammattei, President of Guatemala.

Source: Zelenskyys press service

Details: Zelenskyy thanked his Guatemalan counterpart for the declaration in support of Ukraine in the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS), initiated by him and voted for by the majority of the members of the organisation.

The Ukrainian President has also expressed his gratitude for the regional leadership of Guatemala in the Core Group on the creation of a special international tribunal for the prosecution of the crime of aggression committed by Russia.

The two leaders coordinated their efforts before future international events, mainly with the aim of implementing the Peace Formula, and discussed possible formats of organising the Ukraine  Latin America summit.

Zelenskyy and Giamattei paid attention to security cooperation. Among other things, they had a discussion about sending specialists and mine-clearing equipment.

The Ukrainian leader has invited his Guatemalan counterpart to pay a visit to Ukraine.

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Zelenskyy: During the day, we made progress on all fronts

Following the meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the Ukrainian military made progress on all fronts of active operations on Friday.

Source: Zelenskyys evening speech

Quote: "During this day, we also have made progress in all directions of our active actions."

Details: The President has said that the supply of ammunition for artillery in the east and south of Ukraine was discussed at the meeting.

He has promised to up the supply further.

Background: Earlier it was reported that the meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff also heard reports from the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine on the situation in Belarus. It was decided to strengthen the northern front.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has chaired a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, which, in particular, decided to strengthen the northern front.

Source: Zelenskyy on Telegram

Details: There were reports from Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander of the Ground Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Tavriia Operational and Strategic Group Oleksandr Tarnavskyi and Commander of the Joint Forces Serhii Naiev.

Quote: "Situation on the battlefield; there is progress. Reinforcement of our operations with additional artillery systems and shells. There were separate reports by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine on the situation in Belarus. We keep it under constant control.

The decision of the Staff was to instruct Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhnyi and Commander of the Pivnich (North) Naiev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this front."

Background:

Earlier, Oleksii Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, said that at the next meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, the deployment of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus would be discussed.

At the same time, according to Ukrainian intelligence, the Wagnerites do not plan to deploy to Belarus en masse.

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Zelenskyy says we should take advantage of Prigozhin's rebellion to kick Russians out from Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that the rebellion of Wagner Group mercenaries shows the weakness of Russia and Ukraine should take advantage of this.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with RTVE

Quote: "The rebellion and advance of the Wagner Group soldiers means that the country [Russia  ed.] is weak and they are not in control of difficult situations. They are not aware of what is happening. They are not in control of everything."

Details: Regarding the recent events in Russia with the rebellion and the following agreement with the Wagner mercenary group, Zelenskyy assured that they are a sign of the Putin's governments "weakness".

According to the Ukrainian leader, this situation is an opportunity that his army should use, "There are several Putins with different surnames. The situation is weak, and we must use it to kick the enemy out of our land".

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Zelenskyy to skip NATO summit if theres no membership invitation for Ukraine, says advisor

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not attend the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 11-12 if the alliance does not invite Ukraine to begin the process of joining, the presidents chief diplomatic advisor Ihor Zhovkva told news agency Reuters on June 29.

The president will not travel to the summit if the leaders show a deficit of courage, while Ukraine with all its courage, will and strength, and high morale, is fighting against Russian aggression, Zhovkva said.

Read also: Macron says NATO should give shape to Ukraine's accession prospects

If there is no result at the Vilnius summit, he doesnt have reason and time to go.

Read also: NATO summit in Vilnius to approve long-term aid package for Ukraine, bringing membership closer  Stoltenberg

When asked how close Ukraine was to receiving an invitation to membership, he said: We are closer than we were half a year ago. And yet, some time is left; much time is left in reality...

Zhovkva pointed to the cases of Finland and Sweden who applied for membership last year. Finland has already received membership.

When Finland and Sweden submitted an application for membership last year, immediately in June last year the allies responded to the application ... inviting them to membership with NATO, he said.

What we are asking for is (just) to start the procedure, he said.

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BEDFORD  After hearing from more than a dozen residents opposed to a planned manufacturing building and workshop on U.S. 460 in the New London area of Forest, the Bedford County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Monday to deny the rezoning application.

Accupoint Surveying Design, LLC on behalf of Burnopp Metal, LLC sought changing the 9-acre parcel from Low Density Residential, R-1, to General Commercial, C-2, to allow the facility. A crowd that included 17 speakers during a public hearing Monday opposed the rezoning, voicing concerns over increased traffic, noise, pollutants, negative effects on property values and incompatibility with the surrounding area.

Jacob Burnopp, the property owner, needed the rezoning and a special use permit, which failed to move forward after the boards denial, to establish industry Type 1, retail and storage uses on the site adjacent to 11325 E Lynchburg Salem Turnpike. He said the goal was to manufacture metal roofing products indoors on land fronting the highway.

We feel like it something that is needed in this area, Burnopp said. One of the main purposes of this building is the view. We want it to be a very good looking building. We want to draw in some public and have some really nice storefront.

He said the facility would not be unsightly or detrimental to the surrounding area as far as noise or smoke.

We want to make it customer-friendly and having this space on [U.S.] 460 will be our advertisement, Burnopp said.

A few supervisors pressed Burnopp on why he bought residential-zoned property with a zoning intention that wasnt yet authorized by county officials and asked if he considered an industrial and business park nearby. Burnopp said he spent hundreds of thousands on the property and he would have to spend more to locate in the business park.

I just dont feel like its my responsibility because you got a bad deal, Supervisor Mickey Johnson told Burnopp of changing the zoning.

I dont want to do anything that makes us poor neighbors, Burnopp said.

Many who spoke were from the Somerset Meadows residential community near the site. Joyce Duntil, who lives on Colby Drive in that neighborhood, said residents have worked hard to build their homes and take pride in their properties in a residential-zoned area to protect it from commercial and industrial projects. The planned facility is too close to those homes and is better suited on commercial-zoned property, multiple residents said.

Why would the board even consider rezoning when there far more suitable areas nearby that would not infringe on the comfort of residents, Duntil said. This would be very unhealthy and disruptive to our daily lives.

Jose Aguirre, of Colby Drive, said he moved to his current home several years ago for a better quality of life that would be threatened by the project.

We are first account witnesses of the impact of over commercialization and industrialization near residential areas in northern Virginia, Aguirre said. We wanted to get away from that type of lifestyle and living.  These types of operations need to be away from residential areas such as ours.

Seana Gunn said her backyard overlooks U.S. 460 and the project borders her land. She and her husband fell in love with the scenery and expressed concern with noise pollution and other effects.

After working long hours at our jobs that pay Bedford County taxes we feel we have a right to enjoy our home, Gunn told the board. Were always happy to see another business come to Bedford County. However, this one belongs in an industrial park or a larger parcel that does not back up to residential neighborhoods, especially one that is growing and has tons of families. Our health, our childrens health and our property values are relying on you.

Robert Stanley, a Colby Drive resident, said he worked in the sheet metal industry for 38 years.

I can tell you its not a pretty sight, Stanley said. I just dont want to live in this type of environment. No. 1 is the noise.

Jon Dutil said he and his family built their house in Summerset Meadows more than two years ago and saved money to build there to not be near such an industrial use.

It would be detrimental to our lives, he said. We just really cannot have this in our backyard.

Hugh Bugg, of Colby Drive, said he feels sorry for Burnopp but the zoning doesnt work in his favor.

This is heavy manufacturing going against R-1. That just doesnt happen, Bugg said.

Jennifer Lampley, a resident in that area of New London, said she has nine people in her household, and one of her five children has asthma.

We should not be afraid to breathe the air around our homes, Lampley said.

David Durochek, a business owner, said the properties alone that border Burnopps property are assessed at more than $5 million combined.

These zoning laws are put into place to protect situations just like this, Durochek said. Everybody bought there, built these million dollar houses there knowing that was residential. You couldnt build this there. And so its basically wrong to rezone it at that point.

Durochek said he is pro-businesses but the site doesnt work for the proposed use and he hopes it can get approved at another site.

Its definitely trying to put something there thats not supposed to go there, Durochek said.

Burnopp said he doesnt see houses working out at the property.

Some kind of business needs to go there, Burnopp said. It will bring jobs to the community. It can be an asset to all of these people.

Johnson said he thinks Burnopp was misled when he bought it as far as the future zoning. Supervisor Charla Bansley said she is pro-business, favors more jobs and wishes Burnopp all the best in finding a more suitable location.

I just agree with the neighbors that this industrial use is out of place in this neighborhood, Bansley said.
William M. Perrow, a Forest resident and supervisor of finance for Bedford County Public Schools, is running to become Bedford County's new treasurer in the Nov. 7 election.

Perrow, a 2007 graduate of Rustburg High School, is the only candidate who filed to run for the seat, according to the Bedford County Registrar's Office.

"I've always enjoyed finance," Perrow said in a phone interview. "I feel like I can be a great asset to the citizens of Bedford as we move forward with a new accounting system."

A Campbell County native, Perrow said he and his wife moved to Bedford County in 2021. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree from Lynchburg College, now the University of Lynchburg, and worked at BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) prior to joining BCPS, he said.

He also serves as chair of the board of directors for Central Virginia Federal Credit Union.

Perrow said he looks forward to serving Bedford County residents as a whole.

The county treasurer is responsible for collecting all real estate and personal property taxes, handling all revenue for the county and for investing all county funds, according to the county's website. Kim Snow, the current treasurer, has served in the position since March 2018.

A graduate of Liberty High School in Bedford and Radford University where she earned her bachelor's degree in finance, Snow previously served as the director of accounting and finance for the Fostek Corporation in Bedford.

 Justin Faulconer
, Jun 29 ( indiatimes.com ) - The sight of men occupying spaces that should be for women is unfortunately not uncommon, and a recent incident has captured global attention, shedding light on the true state of gender equality in society.

Representatives from the Group of Seven (G7) nations met in Nikko, Japan, for a two-day summit focused on gender equality and women's empowerment. The agenda covered a wide range of topics, including sexual violence, LGBT rights, and economic imbalances.

The participating countries pledged to address the wage gap, enhance women's representation in executive and managerial positions, and promote gender equality. However, the summit brought unexpected embarrassment for Japan as it was the only country represented by a man. ...continue reading
The chief executive officers of Japans deal-hungry megabanks are earning a fraction of their global peers, showing how the nation still frowns upon outsized pay packages even with profits forecast near a record.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. CEO Hironori Kamezawas total compensation was 257 million yen ($1.8 million) for the year ended in March, including stock awards, according to a filing by Japans largest bank. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. CEO Jun Ohta received a total of 186 million yen, while Mizuho Financial Group Inc.s chief Masahiro Kihara was paid 146 million yen.

The size of their paychecks is dwarfed by compensation in the US and other major markets. JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon was paid $34.5 million last year, while HSBC Holdings Plc CEO Noel Quinn took home $7.1 million. In Singapore, DBS Group Holdings Ltd.s Piyush Gupta was awarded about $11 million.

The Japanese banks relatively meager pay came after they posted some of the highest profits in recent years and embarked on a string of deals to beef up their presence across Wall Street. Culture plays a role in Japan, as lenders tend to be viewed as semi-public entities, while the infusion of government funds during the nations financial crisis in the late 1990s has left its mark. ...continue reading
The two Far East financial hubs take a comprehensive approach to overseeing crypto, and are likely to attract businesses from around the world.

As CoinDesk publishes its list of global crypto hubs, there are two striking omissions. Tokyo and Hong Kong are very publicly welcoming crypto at a time when other jurisdictions, notably the United States, are sending a far less friendly message. So why didnt they make the list? One possible reason is that even though neither are new to crypto, both retreated from the spotlight for some period of time. But now, Japan and Hong Kong are poised to become increasingly important players in the crypto world.

Lets start with Japan, which is actively trying to position itself as a Web3 powerhouse. To be clear, Japan is hardly a newcomer. But after the cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck was hacked in early 2018, the country went into something like hibernation. Regulators tightened the reins, and the mood in the crypto community was not particularly upbeat.

Now, Japan is clearly back. Regulators learned lessons from the Coincheck hack and that of Mt. Gox before it, and put in place safeguards to protect users. So when much of the crypto world was reeling from the collapse of FTX, FTX Japan users were relatively protected. Some politicians in Tokyo are actively seeking to lay out clear rules of the road for crypto. ...continue reading
Former President Donald Trump will visit Council Bluffs on July 7 and deliver remarks at the Mid-America Center.

According to Trumps website, doors will open at 10 a.m. at 1 Arena Way, and the former president will speak at 1 p.m. Tickets are available on his website.

The announcement did not give details about Trumps remarks, but the 45th president is currently running for reelection. He launched his third bid for the White House last year.

Trump is facing several GOP contenders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others. President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in 2020, is seeking reelection.
A Council Bluffs woman was sentenced to five years in prison following her plea of guilty to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
MANZANILLO, Mexico (AP)  An Australian sailor who had been adrift at sea with his dog for three months has been rescued by a Mexican tuna boat in international waters, the fishing vessel's owner said Monday.
Salvation Army Maj. Jesus Trejo welcomed a large group of citizens and government officials at Thursdays groundbreaking ceremony for the new Salvation Army facility to be located in the old post office building at 401 N. 4th St. Renovations on the building, which has been vacant since 2015, are slated to begin in August, with completion expected in 2024.
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Industrial internet creates new prospects for China's manufacturing industry

10:18, June 30, 2023 By Peng Xunwen ( People's Daily

In factory workshops, robots are precisely producing parts; on roads, autopilot vehicles are running to accumulate data under different traffic scenarios; on industrial cloud platforms, enterprises trade with each other idle production capacity and equipment.

Automated guided vehicles are running in an intelligent factory in Jinhua, east China's Zhejiang province. (People's Daily Online/Hu Xiaofei)

In today's China, the industrial internet is promoting in-depth integration between the digital economy and the real economy, creating new prospects for industrial production.

In a pile driver factory of Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer Sany Group in Changping district, Beijing, there stood several machines that were dozens of meters high.

"These are rotary drilling rigs we manufactured. Each of them weighs nearly 100 tons and can drill to a depth of over 100 meters," said Yin Yanhu, head of the factory's production technique department.

These giant devices were manufactured in a huge workshop, where various robots controlled by a few workers were busy working in the production line neatly arranged. Different from traditional laborers, these workers were more like "taking care" of the robots, ensuring that those smart machines functioned properly.

Yin told People's Daily that machines were mostly manufactured by human labor in the past, and it took about a month to make a rotary drilling rig. At that time, there used to be over 1,000 workers in the factory, and the annual output was more than 3 billion yuan ($414 million).

"In 2019, the factory started the digital transformation. Now it takes only around a week to manufacture such a rotary drilling rig, and the annual output has jumped to more than 7 billion yuan," Yin said, adding that hundreds of workers have become versatile and turned into engineers that can perform physical tasks and program.

A worker inspects an automated workshop in Yancheng, east China's Jiangsu province. (People's Daily Online/Chai Junwei)

The key to the factory's digital upgrading lies in a system developed based on the industrial internet platform Rootcloud. Yin called it the central controlling system of the factory, a "brain" for manufacturing.

To manufacture a rotary drilling rig, for example, the system can rapidly assign required tasks to each flexible production line, work island, equipment and worker. The whole workflow is digitally driven, from order generation to delivery, Yin said.

In the factory, machine parts are welded, moved and assembled by robots. Rootcloud works nonstop to analyze the industrial data collected from over 36,000 sampling sites, so as to generate the optimal parameters for each procedure and machine model, and optimize the workflow to the maximum extent.

The factory was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a "lighthouse factory" in 2021.

According to statistics recently released at the 2023 Industrial Internet Conference, the scale of China's industrial internet industry has exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan. Besides, 240 influential industrial internet platforms have been listed, serving more than 260,000 enterprises. Rootcloud is one of them.

Recently, Rootcloud unveiled three versions of its industrial internet operating system tailored for smart factories, digital enterprises and intelligent chains. As the core of the platform, the operating system, after seven years of application verification, is able to virtualize industrial equipment in an online space and provide a sound environment where enterprises develop and run their applications.

Wood floors are manufactured by a robotic arm in an intelligent workshop of an enterprise in Ganzhou, east China's Jiangxi province. (People's Daily Online/Zhu Haipeng)

At present, the operating system is providing industrial internet services for nearly 1,000 relevant enterprises.

Co-founder and CEO He Dongdong of Rootcloud said that data from traditional industrial information systems are distributed in a layered structure, and the transmission of data is completed in a bottom-up manner layer by layer.

However, he said, in digital factories built by the industrial internet operating system, data can be exchanged more frequently and efficiently, and the cost of developing industrial applications is lower.

On the industrial internet platform Laohuyun, or TigerCloud, authorized enterprises can not only check other enterprises' data, but also make purchases, sell products, launch training sessions, and carry out maintenance activities. Just like a "social network" for industrial enterprises, the platform boasts annual transactions of tens of billions of yuan.

XCMG Hanyun, an industrial internet platform launched by Chinese heavy machinery manufacturing company XCMG, has been connected to more than 400,000 sets of equipment. It obtains data through instruments developed based on China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System. The platform currently provides services for tens of thousands of enterprises in some 80 industries.

Yu Xiaohui, head of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, told People's Daily that China's industrial internet is entering a new phase featuring large-scale development. Industrial internet will become an important approach and infrastructure leading the manufacturing industry toward more digitalized and higher-end development that is smarter and greener, Yu said.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun)
The third edition of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off Thursday in the city of Changsha (Hunan province, centre), with the participation of Morocco.

The Moroccan delegation taking part in this event held from June 29 to July 2 under the theme Common Development for a Shared Future, is led by the minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour.

Organized under the auspices of the Chinese ministry of Commerce and the government of Hunan province, this exhibition is an ideal opportunity for the Moroccan delegation to examine ways of developing cooperation on the African continent, both with Chinese officials and African partners, in order to support Africas economic development.

Morocco is taking part in this exhibition with a digital stand highlighting the Kingdoms African leadership in the economic, commercial, and environmental fields, with particular emphasis on the automotive, renewable energies, pharmaceuticals, and textiles sectors.

The stand also highlights the Kingdoms efforts to combat climate change and eliminate carbon emissions.

It puts forward Moroccos position as a key player linking Africa to the world, thanks to the Kingdoms concrete achievements in terms of infrastructure, its investment in high value-added sectors, its stability consolidating its status as a reliable destination for investment, as well as its political and economic choices which have made the Kingdom a leader among African countries promoting development within the continent.

The Moroccan participation also aims to highlight the Kingdoms position as a first-class industrial and export platform, with a view to accelerating foreign investments.

In addition, this participation aims to showcase Moroccos successful experience in economic transformation, which has made the Kingdom a reliable destination with strong investment and export potential.

In this respect, the Moroccan stand showcases the Kingdoms attractiveness promoted under Morocco Now brand, in order to establish a competitive platform capable of improving business climate, particularly in light of the reforms carried out by the Kingdom in accordance with the enlightened vision of King Mohammed VI aiming to consolidate Moroccos leadership among emerging countries.

The annual China-Africa Economic and Trade Expos ambition is to establish a new mechanism for economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa, and to serve as a new platform for economic and trade initiatives between the two parties.

This years edition features forums on a range of topics, including health cooperation, drug development, and quality infrastructure interconnection.

China is Africas largest trading partner and the fourth largest investor in the continent, according to the organizers.

Cooperation between China and African countries is expanding into emerging areas such as digital infrastructure, green development, aviation and space exploration, they added.

The number of exhibitors taking part in this years edition has increased by 55% compared to the previous edition, to reach 1,350 exhibitors. The value of potential agreements and other cooperation projects under discussion within the framework of the Expo amounts to 10.7 billion dollars, according to organizers.

According to official data, trade between China and Africa reached 282 billion dollars in 2022, with exports to Africa increasing by 11.2% year-on-year to 164.5 billion dollars, while imports rose by 11% to 117.5 billion dollars.

In the first four months of 2023, Chinese direct investment in Africa reached 1.38 billion dollars, up 24% year-on-year.
A British court has ruled that a government plan to send asylum-seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda  designed to deter migrants from crossing the English Channel is unlawful.

Court of Appeal judges said Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country where migrants could be sent, but  in a partial victory for the government  added that a policy of deporting asylum seekers to another country was not in itself illegal. The ruling has still delivered a blow to the Conservative administrations pledge to stop migrants making risky journeys across the English Channel. The government is likely to challenge the ruling at the UK Supreme Court, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying that while I respect the court I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions.

Sunak has pledged to stop the boats  a reference to the overcrowded dinghies and other small craft that make the journey from northern France carrying migrants who hope to live in the United Kingdom. More than 45,000 people arrived in Britain across the Channel in 2022, and several died in the attempt. London and Kigali agreed more than a year ago that some migrants who arrive in the UK as stowaways or in small boats would be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed. Those granted asylum would stay in the East African country rather than return to Britain. Rwanda says it still supports the deportation plan despite the Appeal Court ruling.
The Paris Assize Court found a former Rwandan gendarme guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during a slaughter of innocent civilians in his home country in the spring of 1994 and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The Paris court was merciless in sentencing the 66-year-old Philippe Hategekimana, naturalized French under the name Philippe Manier, to life imprisonment when it found him guilty of virtually all the charges against him. He was prosecuted for participation in a criminal conspiracy to prepare the crimes of genocide and other crimes against humanity. There is no statute of limitations for genocide and crimes against humanity. The former chief warrant officer of the Nyanza gendarmerie in southern Rwanda acknowledged the reality of the genocide but denied any involvement in its implementation.

Manier was accused of participating in or encouraging the murder of dozens of Tutsis in the Butare prefecture, including the mayor of Ntyazo who resisted the implementation of genocide in his commune. According to the prosecution, he ordered and supervised the erection of several roadblocks intended to control and kill Tutsi civilians.

Hategekimana fled to France after the genocide, obtaining refugee status and then French nationality. The trial, which opened last month, was the fifth such trial in France of an alleged participant in the massacres. More than 800,000 people were killed between April and July 1994, according to UN figures, most of them from the Tutsi minority.
Cote dIvoire will soon have its own national Data center and administrative digital city under two agreements signed between the African country and Cybastion Institute of Technology, a consortium of companies based in the U.S and member of U.S Chamber of Commerce.

Amadou Coulibaly, Cote dIvoire Minister of Communication and Digital Economy signed the deals with Thierry Wandji CEO of Cybastion Institute of Technology in the presence of president of the U.S.-Africa Business Center (USAfBC) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The deals will bring together all government structures involved in the Digital Economy on a single site, and to secure government data in a backup data center.

For T. Wandji, the agreements will enable Ivoirians attain a true digital revolution.

Both the Ivorian government and Cybastion started talks for the two agreements in December 2022, after a first Memorandum of Understanding between the two sides. Coulibaly is on a U.S tour to meet with various investors and present the Ivorian digital projects. He will wind up the tour on July 2nd.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has indicated that the European country wants to remove its troops from Mali more quickly while maintaining order amid calls by Malian authorities for the removal of the UN mission from the country.

Germany has 1,000 soldiers stationed near the northern town of Gao and is assigned to gather reconnaissance for the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA.

Berlin has started pullout of its troops after several western countries accused Malian authorities of collaborating with Wagner private security company, accused of human rights violation in the West African country.

The European economic power house has sought to complete withdrawal by May 2024. However Malian authorities have demanded the UN Security Council to terminate immediately the mandate of MINUSMA that they charge for failing to bring security to the West African country.

The mission was created in 2013 and tasked to stabilize a state under a serious jihadist threat, and to protect civilians.

The latest draft resolution from France on Wednesday, reports say, suggests the Security Council will terminate MINUSMAs mandate under resolution 2640 (2022) as of June 30 2023.

The mission per the draft resolution would cease its activities on July 1 to focus on the withdrawal, with the objective of completing this process by 31 December 2023.
Burkina Fasos media regulator, CSC, has suspended for three months French television LCI for airing wrong information on the security situation in the West African country struggling with terrorism.

The decision came following popular show known as 24h Pujadas, linfo en question in which the regulator accused the journalist Abnousse Shalmani of making false and baseless remarks on the security situation in Burkina Faso and the Sahel region.

Jihadists are advancing at full speed in the absence of any State in the conquered localities, Shalmani is quoted as saying by CSC. She also, according to the regulator, indicated that 40% of the territory is occupied by the jihadists.

Nearly 90,000 civilians called Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) are being used as cannon fodder to protect Burkina Fasos military against the terrorists, she is also quoted as saying.

The CSC slammed the remarks arguing that they are baseless and lack objectivity and credibility. In a statement, the regulator also indicated that the channel is suspended with immediate effect on the package of channels of any distributor of payable audiovisual services.

Some of this information is likely to create unrest among the population and undermine the necessary collaboration between the army and civilians to safeguard the Burkinabe homeland, the regulator added.

LCI, a private television of French media holding company TF1 Group, is the third French media to be suspended by Burkina Faso authorities in connection with the security situation in the country. In March, the CSC suspended sine die State-run France24. In December it also suspended Paris-controlled radio RFI.
The latest short-lived Wagner mutiny that shook Russia, which occurred barely a week after Algerian Presidents visit to Moscow, will have weakened both Abdelmajid Tebboune and Gen. Said Chengrihas Russophile wing of the army, said a London-based think-tank.

What happens in Russia could have major implications for Algeria. After Tebbounes visit, it seemed clear that, despite his previous criticism of the Wagner Group in Mali, he had committed Algeria to helping Russia in the Sahel and especially Mali, according to an analysis published by Menas Associates, a research center which provides actionable intelligence to decision-makers and investors.

The strong implications of Tebbounes New Strategic Partnership with Russia is that it would support Moscows interests in Mali, said the report, noting that this support could have taken Algeria into disastrous situations, and especially because only a few days earlier the Malian junta had ordered the MINUSMA peacekeeping forces to leave the country.

Statements of Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov and intelligence reports suggest that Moscow will maintain the Wagner forces in Africa, albeit perhaps under a new command structure, possibly tied to the Defense Ministry. Lavrov has confirmed that Wagner will continue to operate in both Mali and the Central African Republic.

However, if Russia does take more direct control of the Wagner Group forces in Africa, and if Algeria is drawn into supporting them, the implications for both countries in terms of international law will be profound, warned the UK experts, saying that the other possible scenarios that could develop in Mali under such circumstances also pose potentially serious implications for Algerias own security.

Equally, if the Wagner forces are withdrawn  and if the UN peacekeeping forces also do so as the Malian junta has insisted  the field will be left wide open to the jihadist forces of the Etat Islamique au Grand Sahara (EIGS) and Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), which could have huge security and geo-political implications for Algeria, said the report.

Besides any possible punitive actions against Algeria by the US and, less likely, the EU for seemingly siding with Russia, the main implications of Prigozhins rebellion for Algeria is likely to come from the Sahel and especially Mali, underlined the analysts.

For many Algerians, as well as the international community, Tebboune is seen as having hitched his cart to the wrong horse. Even before the 24 June uprising of Wagner group, it was evident that Tebbounes visit to Russia had set back Algerias relations with both France and Germany.

The situation with the U.S. however remains ambivalent largely because Washington sees the Algerian regime as something of a necessary evil that needs to be kept in place as the alternative is chaos as has happened in Libya.

So, the goal of U.S. policy is to try and contain the Algerian regime which is now is blocked over the issue of a second mandate for President Tebboune as the army high command and General Mohamed Toufik Mediene are reportedly opposed to a second term.

A major feature of this impasse is Tebbounes determination to prevent the emergence of any possible challengers to his re-election. Meanwhile, Chengriha has highlighted the risk of military engagements with Morocco and ordered deployment of troops close to the southern Moroccan frontier.

Some experts believe that the Algerian army chief wants to take his country to the brink and even engage Moroccan forces in a bid to tighten further his grip over power and strengthen his own position as the countrys new strongman.
DeSantis makes no bones about his strategy to out-demagogue other Republicans on crime. Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images

If you value your health and safety, you dont want to stand between Ron DeSantis and any available opportunity to show that hes the meanest MAGA SOB in the 2024 presidential contest. His own Republican-controlled Florida legislature found that out this week when he vetoed a very modest criminal-justice reform bill that had near-unanimous bipartisan support.

The legislation simply made it possible for people who had charges dropped, were found not guilty or were arrested but not ultimately charged to expunge their records, making it possible for them to get jobs, loans, and other things a criminal record might prevent, NBC News explained. The bill passed the Florida Senate unanimously and the Florida House by a vote of 107-2. The chief sponsor, Republican state representative David Smith, was apparently blindsided by the veto and declared that he was disappointed (hes a backer of DeSantiss presidential bid). Expunging arrests for someone never convicted of a crime, after all, is hardly a soft-on-crime measure since, so far as we know, the people affected never committed a crime in the first place.

DeSantis did not bother to explain his veto, but his advisers all but admitted that it had nothing to do with Florida criminal law and everything to do with his determination to strut and posture as a candidate well to the right of Donald Trump on this and other issues, NBC News reports:

His office did not respond to a request seeking comment.

Some of the governors advisers, however, said the move was consistent with the message he wants to send as a tough-on-crime presidential candidate.

Another DeSantis supporter said signing the bill into law could have sent mixed signals and opened him up to criticism since hes been vocally against Trumps First Step Act.

The reference here is to DeSantiss earlier demagogic attacks on the modest bipartisan legislation put together by Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in 2018 that combined prison reforms backed by Republicans (including DeSantis when he was in the House) with a few very basic federal-sentencing reform measures. Without question, Trump has exaggerated the boldness of the First Step Act. It was one of his calling cards in reaching out to minority voters in 2020, but DeSantiss description of it as a jailbreak bill is even more ludicrous. It passed the Senate by a 87-12 margin and the House by 358-36. The most it could be called is a down payment on real criminal-justice reform.

But to Team DeSantis, any legislation thats not brutal in its treatment of anyone who even might be guilty of a crime represents the California and Soros prosecutors view, as one of the governors advisers puts it now. And the broader context is a struggling presidential campaign that has chosen to outflank Trump on the right wherever possible (notably on abortion policy, COVID-19 precautions, and crime) and treats Florida as an ultra-MAGA experiment station where woke goes to die and any hint of liberalism is crushed by the remorseless governor.

In explaining the appeal of Trumps openly nasty personality to his fan base, journalist Adam Serwer once observed that the cruelty is the point. It looks like DeSantis understands that and is competing to show how callous he can be. Too bad if you are a Floridian seeking compassion.
New York abortion-rights protesters. Photo: Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

The struggle going on in states around the country over abortion policy since the Supreme Courts 2022 decision reversing Roe v. Wade is often about whether abortion will remain legal. But in New York, theres no real threat to the pre-viability abortions protected by Roe, and state lawmakers have added additional protections for those needing abortion services and those who provide them (e.g., state health-care funds can be used to pay for abortions, and private health-insurance plans are required to cover them). Most recently, the Legislature approved a bill authorizing New York physicians to prescribe abortion pills to patients in states where they are currently banned or restricted.

But it never hurts to enshrine even the most politically secure rights in state constitutions. New York Democrats, moreover, understand that a ballot measure to do just that could significantly enhance turnout by their partisans in a 2024 election when they hope to flip a number of U.S. House seats. The Democratic-controlled Legislature, in cooperation with Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, has twice passed a proposed Equal Rights Amendment that would significantly expand the New York Constitutions Equal Protection Clause, as Politico explained last year:

The amendment [adds] new protected classes to the state constitutions existing Equal Protection Clause  which prohibits discrimination based on a persons race, color, creed or religion  to bar intentional government discrimination based on a persons ethnicity, national origin, age, disability or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes and reproductive health care and autonomy.

The amendment will appear on the November 2024 general-election ballot in New York, and an array of organizations aligned with the Democratic Party have agreed to make major investments in promoting it, Politico now reports:

Left-leaning New York groups pledged $20 million Thursday to support a change to the New York State constitution to protect abortion rights that will be on the 2024 ballot  something they believe will boost turnout for Democrats in key swing House districts.  The coalition released a memo on its investment Thursday, which says it believes that the constitutional amendment will bolster turnout across the state, particularly in six battleground House districts, five of which are held by Republicans. With a razor-thin margin standing in the way of the majority, Democrats think this strategy will help them flip control of the House next year.

New York Democrats point to the ripple effect of an abortion-rights ballot measure in Michigan in 2022, which was given a lot of credit for their party winning trifecta control of that battleground states government. More generally, aside from Michigan, pro-choice forces posted a winning streak on abortion ballot tests in red states (Kansas, Kentucky, Montana) and blue (California, Vermont) alike in 2022. Theres no particular reason to think it wont continue in 2024, especially in states like New York with strong popular pro-choice majorities.

The Empire State isnt the only jurisdiction mulling 2023 or 2024 ballot measures on or including abortion rights. Pro-choice activists in Florida, Ohio, and South Dakota are working to secure ballot access for constitutional amendments overturning their states restrictive abortion laws. In Ohio and Missouri, anti-abortion groups are trying to raise the threshold for ballot initiatives to a supermajority to help stem the tide. Meanwhile, despite what happened in 2022, anti-abortion legislators in Iowa and Pennsylvania are battling to secure their own ballot initiatives overturning pro-choice state judicial decisions protecting abortion rights.

For the foreseeable future, reproductive rights in any one state will depend on the interplay of legislatures, courts, and voters. New York Democrats hope they can all be aligned to produce a lasting victory for their cause at home and for their party in Albany and Washington, D.C.
Just calling balls and strikes? Not so much anymore. Photo: Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images

Lawyers ostensibly deal in rules  their identification, their development, their application  but as the conservative majority on the Supreme Court demonstrated on Friday, the process can easily be manipulated to reach your desired outcome if you create new rules out of whole cloth, or if you contrive an exception so large that the rule is practically meaningless.

In different ways, that is what happened in two major decisions released by the Court on Friday  one in which it threw out President Joe Bidens $400 billion student-loan debt-relief program (Biden v. Nebraska), and another in which it concluded that a woman who claims to want to design websites for weddings is free to discriminate against same-sex couples because of her supposed religious convictions (303 Creative LLC v. Elenis). Both cases were decided 6-3, with the liberal justices in dissent.

The purported legal analysis in these cases offered by the conservative justices is straightforward.

In Biden v. Nebraska, the question was whether Bidens student-loan debt-relief plan fell within the terms of a statute that allows the secretary of Education to waive or modify student-debt laws in a national emergency  as Donald Trump declared the COVID-19 pandemic to be in 2020. Under Biden, the agency announced that it would reduce and eliminate certain tranches of student debt pursuant to that statutory power.

Writing for the conservative majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concludes that the federal government has that power to waive or modify relevant provisions but not to rewrite that statute from the ground up. In his telling, the power allows for modest adjustments and additions  whereas the Biden administration functionally replaced the old rules with radically new text.

Lets take a step back here, because it used to be the case that conservative judges broadly held firm to a series of legal doctrines that would ordinarily have made this a pretty easy win for the administration.

First, the Courts conservatives have claimed to be committed textualists  focused first and foremost on what the statutory text says, rather than substituting their own policy judgments.

Second, they had supposedly made their peace with the so-called Chevron doctrine, which has historically required courts to defer to federal agencies legal interpretations of their own statutory authority provided that those interpretations are at least reasonable.

And third, they have claimed to exercise judicial restraint by recognizing the unique power afforded to the two representative branches of the federal government  the executive and legislative branches  and by narrowly interpreting rules on who has standing to sue so that politically disgruntled actors cannot go to court to litigate policy disagreements with the government under the guise of a legal dispute.

All of this was essentially tossed aside in the student-debt decision. Instead, Robertss decision relies on a legal doctrine that did not exist until he made it up last year. Under this new so-called major questions doctrine, the Court is now free to disregard what used to be the ordinary rules of statutory interpretation that govern executive-agency action if enough justices believe that the economic and political significance of the asserted authority passes some undefined threshold, in which case the agency must act pursuant to a clear delegation from Congress. In other words, if the conservative justices believe that the federal government has overreached as a policy matter, then they apply a narrower and less forgiving standard of review.

The conceptual framework is a recipe for what Roberts and the five other conservative justices did in Biden v. Nebraska  throwing out government programs if they want to.

The second major ruling from the Court on Friday was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined again by the five other conservatives. 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis involved a website designer who said that she plans to make websites for couples who are getting married. She has yet to actually do this, but as Gorsuch writes, She worries that, if she enters the wedding website business, the State [of Colorado] will force her to convey messages inconsistent with her belief that marriage should be reserved to unions between one man and one woman.

What this really means is that the state might actually enforce an anti-discrimination statute that prohibits businesses from denying the full and equal enjoyment of their goods and services to customers based, among other things, on their race or sexual orientation. In other words, the state might force the designer to comply with its civil-rights laws by creating websites for same-sex couples as well as heterosexual couples.

That would, of course, fall well within a long line of jurisprudence since the Civil Rights Era that holds that people who run businesses cannot pick and choose their clients based on their personal prejudices, whether it is because they do not like Black people or, as in this case, because they are supposedly adhering to their religious views in discriminating against gay people.

Gorsuchs analysis, however, goes something like this: The designers beliefs are a sincerely held religious conviction. The creation of a wedding website is a form of speech  a unique creative process that also reflects the personal expression of the designer (insert eye roll here, particularly if you have ever actually seen a wedding website in your life). Thus, forcing the designer to comply with Colorados civil-rights law would violate her First Amendment rights because a state cannot force someone who provides her own expressive services to abandon her conscience and speak its preferred message instead.

You might be tempted to view this as a neutral and principled extension of the Constitutions accommodation for religious preferences, but some actual facts are useful here. As Xiao Wang, a legal analyst from Northwestern Law School, recently explained, the conservative justices have made it much easier in recent years for litigants to invoke their religious beliefs as a ready path to disobey laws without consequence.

In fact, these sorts of claims have proliferated in recent years, and plaintiffs have often won. Meanwhile, the burden of proof for the government  that it is not unduly interfering in religious practice  has become much harder to prove. In other words, the scales have tilted in favor of religious objectors  and, in particular, conservative Christian objectors.

The result is something like a civil-rights cheat code: You can evidently refuse to comply with all sorts of laws if you can devise some religious claim to justify your position.

In 2005, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts used a metaphor at his confirmation hearing that has often been praised and repurposed since, but that was misleading even then. His role as a judge, he said, is to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat. More recently, the phrase has come in for some very well-deserved mockery as the Court has continued its sharp rightward turn following Trumps appointments to the bench.

On Friday, the conservative majority, Roberts included, demonstrated just how hollow his proclamation was back then  by tossing out one of Bidens signature domestic-policy initiatives on the basis of a legal doctrine that they made up about half an hour ago, and by blowing a gigantic and easily gamed hole in our countrys civil-rights laws. Meanwhile, Biden himself seems to have belatedly discovered just how radical this Court actually is, notwithstanding his administrations decision to take a pass on any meaningful effort at Court reform.

Now that they have thrown out a central pillar of his domestic policy agenda, perhaps he will rethink matters. Happy Fourth of July.
Photo: Xinhua/Xinhua/Shutterstock

The U.S. Supreme Courts conservative supermajority has again wielded its power to single-handedly upend American politics, issuing late-term decisions to end affirmative action (Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard), cancel President Bidens massive student-loan forgiveness program (Biden v. Nebraska), and allow creative businesses to deny service to same-sex couples (303 Creative LLC v. Elenis). The three 6-3 rulings come a year after the same Court rescinded the constitutional right to an abortion. Below are updates on the unfolding fallout as it happens.

The First Amendment as wrecking ball

At Slate, Joseph Pace points out that the 303 Creative decision is but the latest example of the Courts conservatives weaponizing the freedom of speech:

The First Amendment was once an indispensable tool for protecting the rights of the marginalized. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, subversive artists and anti-war dissidents invoked it to neutralize state efforts to muzzle their voices. Civil rights groups and unions used it to invalidate laws enacted to criminalize protest and intimidate activists. Its no exaggeration to say that, without the shield the First Amendment provided, many progressive legislative endeavors would have been strangled in the cradle. The Roberts Court, however, has turned that shield into a wrecking ball, using the First Amendment to take aim at the very laws that were enacted to protect the vulnerable. 

303 Creative is the logical continuation of this trend. It ignores the contextthe tragic history and continuing discriminationthat necessitated Colorados law in the first place. And it adopts an absolutist, almost fetishistic view of First Amendment that turns free speech into a trump card, real-world consequences be damned.

Kagan v. Roberts

A blistering dissent line from Justice Kagan says "a court acting like a court" would have found a lack of standing on student loan case "and stopped."  Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) June 30, 2023

Notable that Kagan's dissent in the student debt case did not merely accuse the majority of misreading the Constitution. She wrote that the majority "violates the Constitution."



Justices often accuse other branches of violating the Constitution. Here, Kagan said, WE violated it. pic.twitter.com/aS7oXWA0dZ  Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 30, 2023

The liberal justices dissent in the student debt decision has made some waves, even earning a rebuke from Chief Justice John Roberts:

Roberts swipes at Kagan, saying it's "disturbing" "to criticize the decisions with which they disagree as going beyond the proper role of the judiciary." He says it's "disagreement" not "disparagement" and "any such misperception would be harmful to [SCOTUS] and our country."  Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) June 30, 2023

New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie notes that Kagan appears to be signaling shes had enough:

Its a remarkable statement. To say that the Supreme Court can violate the Constitution is to reject the idea that the court is somehow outside the constitutional system. It is to remind the public that the court is as bound by the Constitution as the other branches, which is to say that it is subject to the same checks and balances as the legislature and the executive. Kagans dissent, in other words, is a call for accountability. For Congress, especially, to exercise its authority to discipline the court when it oversteps its bounds.

Democrats may or may not get this particular message. But John Roberts heard it loud and clear. It has become a disturbing feature of some recent opinions to criticize the decisions with which they disagree as going beyond the proper role of the judiciary, he wrote in his opinion. It is important that the public not be misled either. Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country. For Roberts, the problem isnt that the Supreme Court is overstepping its bounds, its that one of its justices has decided that shes had enough.

More legal battles over wedding services are likely

The New York Times Charlie Savage explains how the 303 Creative decision may prompt more legal battles over other providing expressive services for same-sex couples:

The ruling leaves unanswered what other services related to marriages  like printing invitations, photographing a ceremony, providing flower arrangements, catering food, bartending or renting out space  qualify as expressive enough to allow their providers to refuse to serve L.G.B.T.Q. couples under the First Amendment. That ambiguity suggests that the decision may pave the way for more court fights, rather than being the last word on disputes over the scope and limits of when business owners may discriminate against same-sex couples based on their personal beliefs.



The bullshit at the heart of 303 Creative v. Elenis

Voxs Ian Millhiser writes that the case should have never even been considered by the Court:

The frustrating thing about this case is that it involves an entirely fabricated legal dispute. Again, Lorie Smith has never actually made a wedding website for a paying customer. Nor has Colorado ever attempted to enforce its civil rights law against Ms. Smith. Indeed, in its brief to the Supreme Court, Colorado expressed doubt that its anti-discrimination law would even apply to Smith. Yet Gorsuchs majority opinion repeatedly paints Smith as a hapless victim, oppressed by wicked state officials who insist that she must proclaim a dogma that she denies. 

These facts matter because federal courts, including the Supreme Court, do not have jurisdiction to decide hypothetical cases. As a unanimous Supreme Court held in Texas v. United States (1998), a claim is not ripe for adjudication if it rests upon contingent future events that may not occur as anticipated, or indeed may not occur at all. So the Court should have told Smith to go away and come back when she had a real dispute with the state of Colorado.

At the New Republic, Melissa Gira Grant reported Thursday that the actual legal dispute the case is based on seems to have been make-believe, as well:

Long before the Supreme Court took up  the 303 Creative v. Elenis case, concerning a Colorado web designer named Lorie Smith who refuses to make websites for same-sex weddings and seeks an exemption from anti-discrimination laws  there was a couple named Stewart and Mike. According to court filings from the plaintiff, Stewart contacted Smith in September 2016 about his wedding to Mike early next year. He wrote that they would love some design work done for our invites, placenames etc. We might also stretch to a website. Stewart included his phone number, email address, and the URL of his own website  he was a designer too, the site showed.

This week, I decided to call Stewart and ask him about his inquiry  It took just a few minutes to reach him. I assumed at least some reporters over the years had contacted him about his website inquiry to 303 Creative  his contact information wasnt redacted in the filing. But my call, he said, was the very first time Ive heard of it.

Yes, that was his name, phone number, email address, and website on the inquiry form. But he never sent this form, he said, and at the time it was sent, he was married to a woman.

Bidens knocks Court decision, announces new plans for student-loan borrowers

The president said during a Friday afternoon press conference that the Supreme Court made the wrong decision and defended the plan they invalidated. I think the court misinterpreted the Constitution, he said, blaming Republicans for the plans demise and vowing that he was not going to stop fighting to deliver borrowers what they need, particularly those at the bottom end of the economic scale.

Biden also announced new measures to help student-loan borrowers, including:

An alternative path to offering student debt relief via a rulemaking process which would enable the Secretary of Education to compromise, waive or release loans under certain circumstances under powers granted by the Higher Education Act. Biden insisted the plan was legally sound but would take longer to implement. In my view, its the best path that remains to providing as many borrowers as possible with debt relief, he said.

When student loan repayments restart on October 1 following the three-year pandemic pause, there will be a temporary 12-month on-ramp program for borrowers that protects them from defaulting on their loans or damaging their credit, should they be unable make their scheduled repayments. Per a White House statement : While payments will be due and interest will accrue during this period, interest will not capitalize at the end of the on-ramp period. Additionally, borrowers will not be reported to credit bureaus, be considered in default, or referred to collection agencies for late, missed, or partial payments during the on-ramp period.

For student-loan borrowers enrolled in the income-driven repayment plan, the monthly cap on discretionary income they pay toward their student debt will be reduced to 5 percent from 10 percent. In addition, loan forgiveness will now be offered to those borrowers if their balance is $12,000 or less after they had made payments for 10 years, down from 20 years. They will not be charged with unpaid monthly interest, either, so long as they make their monthly payments.

Next term, SCOTUS will decide whether alleged domestic abusers can own guns

NBC News reports:

The justices agreed to hear a Biden administration appeal in defense of a federal law that prohibits people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing guns. In doing so, the justices will examine how broadly they will interpret their landmark ruling a year ago, powered by the courts conservative majority, that for the first time recognized that the Constitutions Second Amendment includes a right to bear arms outside the home.

The Courts conservatives are making it up as they go along

Intelligencer contributor Ankush Khardori responds to Fridays decisions:

Lawyers ostensibly deal in rules  their identification, their development, their application  but as the conservative majority on the Supreme Court demonstrated on Friday, the process can easily be manipulated to reach your desired outcome if you create new rules out of whole cloth, or if you contrive an exception so large that the rule is practically meaningless.

Read the rest of Ankushs column here.

Biden expected to announce new student-debt-relief measures

Biden on SCOTUS student debt decision: "The fight is not over," says he will "have more to announce" this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/u9MYGOZ5OM  Michael Stratford (@mstratford) June 30, 2023

Progressive lawmakers are already renewing their pressure on Biden to do more for student-loan borrowers:

The same Supreme Court that overturned Roe now refuses to follow the plain language of the law on student loan cancellation. This fight is not over. The President has more tools to cancel student debt  and he must use them.  Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 30, 2023

It is very important to note this SCOTUS ruling does NOT remove Bidens ability to pursue student loan forgiveness.



The Biden Admin can use the HEA (Higher Ed Act) - our position from the start - to continue loan forgiveness before payments resume. They should do so ASAP. https://t.co/inV3yWsDwB  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 30, 2023

The Supreme Court only killed one part of the Biden administrations student-loan-relief plan

Intelligencers Kevin T. Dugan explains:

The Supreme Court ruling is not the end of the student-loan relief. When the White House first announced its plan, it essentially had three parts: the onetime debt wipeout, a free community-college tuition program (which was DOA in Congress almost as soon as it was proposed), and a plan to expand access to other relief and grant programs that already existed. Its that last part thats been doing much of the work. The Department of Education has erased $66 billion in debt since 2021 for people who work in public service, easing  or totally wiping out  the federal student-loan debts of 2.2 million people. More than a million other people have had their debts from for-profit colleges and scammy vocational schools zeroed out. Measures like these work in smaller, less spectacular amounts, and can seem like mere bureaucratic tinkering at the margins, but the relief they can provide over time will soon add up to far more than a single-shot program.

Read the rest of Kevins post here.

Colleges, advisers, and applicants are scrambling to adjust to a world without affirmative action

The Washington Post talked to a number of people impacted by the Supreme Court ruling, noting how teenagers of all backgrounds are reconsidering their shot at getting into competitive colleges and that admissions counselors are rethinking how students should discuss their race in application essays. Furthermore:

The disappearance of affirmative action from American colleges and universities will probably diminish minority enrollment at top schools across the country, a Washington Post analysis concluded. The Post reviewed 30 years of race and ethnicity data from the eight states that ban race-based admissions policies in higher education and found that selective schools saw dips in Black and Hispanic enrollment, while less selective public universities saw an increase in those student populations.

This post has been updated.
Trump has no problem denying inconvenient facts. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

House Republicans make no bones about arguing that they are justified in considering impeachment resolutions against President Joe Biden and his appointees as an act of vengeance for the two Democratic-led impeachments of their once and probably future leader, Donald Trump. But two particularly servile House GOP members, Republican conference chair Elise Stefanik and the ever-outrageous Marjorie Taylor Greene, want to go even further by eliminating any record that the Trump impeachments of 2019 and 2021 ever happened. As Reuters reports:

Greenes two-page resolution would expunge the 2019 impeachment, saying he was wrongfully accused of misconduct. Stefaniks six-page measure would overturn his 2021 impeachment on grounds that his opponents failed to prove that he committed high crimes and misdemeanors.

Greenes resolution follows one introduced in 2022 by then-House member Markwayne Mullins, who is now a senator. Somebody has to carry on the tradition, I guess.

Expungement, as the American Bar Association explains, is a very specific concept in criminal law:

In law, expungement is the process by which a record of criminal conviction is destroyed or sealed from state or federal record. An expungement order directs the court to treat the criminal conviction as if it had never occurred, essentially removing it from a defendants criminal record as well as, ideally, the public record.

It is important to clarify that expungement is not forgiveness for committing a crime  that is a legal pardon.

Most often, expungements are offered to minors so that they arent haunted the rest of their lives for first-offense arrests for DUIs. The ABA notes there is no federal statute for expungement; orders to expunge records are almost always conducted by state authorities in pursuance of state laws. And as Republican-friendly legal scholar Jonathan Turley of Georgetown University told Reuters, expungement of an impeachment makes no sense because impeachments arent criminal procedures:

[Turley] noted that the U.S. Constitution contains no provision for expunging impeachments.

It is not like a constitutional DUI. Once you are impeached, you are impeached, Turley said in an email.

So what Stefanik and Greene are trying to do is closer to a simple whitewash than anything based on legal precedents. It would make a hash of the constitutional scheme if every House impeachment resulting in a Senate acquittal meant the impeachment wasnt warranted in the first place.

Some defenders of the 45th president may argue that a 1837 Senate vote reversed an earlier censure of Trumps hero, Andrew Jackson. But censure, unlike impeachment, isnt a constitutionally sanctioned procedure; its just an expression of a judgment by one or both congressional chambers that can be reversed without doing violence to the historical record. Additionally, its never happened in the subsequent 186 years.

If the Stefanik-Greene resolutions gain any traction, it might cause an uncomfortable moment for Trump presidential rival Ron DeSantis. While the Florida governor has no problems with defending Trump against Democrats and the criminal-justice system, he did just veto a bill expanding expungements of arrests in Florida where no conviction occurred, apparently on grounds that such a step would make him look soft on crime. Arguably presidential crime, proven or simply alleged, should be no exception to that general rule.
A 21-year-old who was convicted of manslaughter after shooting and killing his mother at their Cusseta home in May appeared in court on Thursday.

Hunter Austin Walls, who has been incarcerated for 28 months, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered him to pay court costs and attorney fees for the death of Stacey Walls. He will be transferred to Kilby Correctional Facility for classification and will serve out his sentence at one of Alabamas prisons, said Lee County District Attorney Jessica Ventiere.

Im truly sorry for my actions that happened that day, Hunter Walls told Judge Christopher Hughes. I didnt intend for nobody to get hurt besides myself.

In court, Hunter Walls family, including his aunts, cousins and sister, pleaded with Hughes to be lenient with the sentence and said what happened was a tragic accident.

Hunter Walls attorney, Mark Carlton, told Hughes that he had no intent to kill his mother. He also reminded the judge that the jury believed it was an accident and that Hunter Walls didnt have any malice intent.

Lee County Assistant District Attorney Madison Grantham told Hughes that she disagreed that it was an accident and reminded the judge that the jurys verdict defined the incident as a reckless act. She also said evidence was presented before the court that there was an ongoing altercation between Walls and his mother.

If this defendants own mother was not safe from him and his actions, then who in this community really can be safe from him?... At the end of the day this was a killing. It was a killing with a deadly weapon, Grantham said.

Hunter Walls family was upset with the sentence and declined to talk to reporters.

During the May trial, evidence presented showed that Hunter Walls sister made the call to the Lee County Sheriffs Office reporting that her brother had shot their mother, according to the Lee County District Attorneys Office.

Officers found Hunter Walls on the scene when they arrived, and arrested him. He was 19 at the time.

Witnesses testified that Walls had been arguing with his mother, the argument turned physical and he shot her, according to a release from the DAs office.

During the preliminary hearing in February 2021, LCSO investigator Robert Kloeti said Hunter Walls and his mother got into an argument over taking out the trash. He left the house, but he came back forcing himself in through the front door.

According to Kloetis testimony, Stacey Walls attempted to stop her son from entering by blocking the door with her foot, which resulted in a broken ankle. Kloeti said the mothers foot was almost completely amputated.

It was broken at the ankle and was protruding through the skin, and there was very little skin left, Kloeti said at the 2021 preliminary hearing. I believe [the injury resulted from] shoving on the door, trying to keep the door shut.

After Hunter Walls entered the home, he pointed a gun at his own head and threatened to take his own life. A witness told law enforcement that Stacey Walls grabbed the gun, they fought over it, the gun went off and she was shot in the face, Kloeti said.

Hunter Walls dropped the gun, his sister picked it up, hid it and called 911. When law enforcement arrived, Walls surrendered and first responders pronounced Stacey Walls dead on the scene.
Cant Hardly Wait is the best teen comedy of all time and Ill go to my grave with this!



It just turned 25. Im so old

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I agree. It came out when I graduated eighth grade and I was like, omg this is what high school will be like. I saw it in theatres twice.

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7th grade for me and I saw it in the theater too! I can prob quote the entire thing lol Ive watched it so many times

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Never heard of it, never seen it and it came out when I was a teen! It's definitely on the list for this weekend, just need to find it on streaming

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I have to simply agree. For the soundtrack alone...

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I love it because its of my teen time but gawd damn theres that one F drop that just did not age well.



Gen Z, brace yourself. It was the 90s.



Edited at 2023-06-30 04:55 pm (UTC)

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It is SO underrated!!!

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i recently rewatched dazed and confused and after years of thinking it was overrated, i reversed my opinion. i wish more character driven, well-written, stylistically directed movies like it got made. studios butcher too many good stories.

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All great choices though missing Say Anything and A Goofy Movie, end of school classics :)

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Love both of those!















Edited at 2023-06-30 01:27 am (UTC)

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Ive never seen all of say anything just like a few scenes where and there .

Should I watch it?

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Confession, Ive never actually seen all of Say Anything. I should have included a goofy movie but I wanted to stick with live action.

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Happy to see Dazed and Confused included. Its one of my favorite movies of all time.

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this southern hemisphere erasure

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I'm glad you see us, Joe.

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I am, as ever, a man of the people

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We're used to it at this point

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Can't hardly wait had a great soundtrack. I swear there were so many iconic soundtracks in the 90s

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"Summer School" used to be my family's go-to for the beginning of summer. The scene where they prank the new teacher with horror props was my fav.







"Is that your blood?"

"Noooooo!"

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Yesss. I still love this movie

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I haven't watched it in ages, but I think I still have the DVD... time for a rewatch.

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It's such a small part, but the part that always cracked me up is when the girl doing driver's training finally passes her test and tries to get out the car with her seatbelt still on and gets snapped back in. It gets me every time. The horror scene is awesome though, excellent choice.

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It wasn't until years later that I found out why that one guy was marking "C" for everything on the test as time ran out. In multiple choice (or multiple guess, as we called it in High School) "C" is most likely to be the correct answer.

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Ya know what Im glad they hired 30+ year olds for the Aubrey plaza movie.



Edited at 2023-06-30 01:51 am (UTC)

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Im just whelmed with this list tbh

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I've never even heard of the Aubrey Plaza movie...



Dazed is one of my all-time faves, and Booksmart is such a great recent comedy. American Pie! That soundtrack.



(I'm watching Infinity Pool, and I might watch one of these after it's done...)

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The To Do List is ridiculously underrated, I will die on this hill.

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My favorite nostalgic summer-vacation movie is Now and Then. I wanted to be Christina Ricci, since (like all of my friends at the time) I had a crush on Devon Sawa, and she got to kiss him in TWO movies!!!!!

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Now and Then is fucking ICONIC. I was so mad that they did Christina dirty and had her grow up into Rosie.

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Yeah, that casting made NO sense. The adult scenes were just bad and should have been cut, IMOOO.

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Oh definitely. I put that in a different category of a strictly summer movie cause we never see them in school. Also I was totally jealous of Christina Ricci too! I used to rewind that kiss scene in Casper over and over.

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Apparently, Roberta was supposed to be a lesbian but they changed her into having a boyfriend and living in sin. I adored Roberta as a kid and I rewatched the fuck out of the movie when I was a kid. And I loved Casper when he said, "Can I keep you?" AHHHH!!!!!!

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there were like two years where i'd rent this movie at least once a month from Blockbuster, i was OBSESSED. still an amazing movie!

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No, but actually Booksmart is a casual comfort movie for me. Does Carrie count?

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Love Can't Hardly Wait!! 92%, A-man-DUH, the beer is bad, Denise Fleming is a tampon, YOU'RE WHITE... I have seen it so many times. I had a huge crush on Seth Green, and considered myself the Lauren Ambrose character bc obviously. Definitely due for a rewatch.



Also really liked Fast Times, which I only saw for the first time fairly recently. It's 40 years old, yet it touches on basically everything and is pro-choice.



Still need to see Dazed and Confused at some point - I feel like that one's been on my to-watch list for a loooong time.



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Phoebe Cates was such a dream girl

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Okay OP has influenced me into putting CHW on right now!!

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I too had a crush on Seth Green and thought I was like Lauren Ambrose's character lol. So predictable but whatever, I love this movie.

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"She be like 'You don't know 20 different ways to make me call you Big Poppa' cuz I don't yo."



That movie is SO quotable.

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Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

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That last day of school feeling was always fun

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Agree!! No real classes, just people talking and signing yearbooks, and the seemingly endless possibilities of summer. I was such a nerd, though, I cried at graduation!



My hs friend who was in town mentioned our 20 (!!!) year reunion is in September. Like I knew it had been a while, but whew.

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Several developing countries have made it clear that they will not be able to undergo a green transition without the help of stronger economies. International agencies have repeatedly echoed the need for greater financing in the worlds poorer countries to develop global renewable energy capacity, respond to the rising energy demand, and transition away from fossil fuels to fulfil climate objectives. And yet, once again, their pleas are not being met, with a multitude of developed nations failing to live up to their promises.

For hundreds of years, since the industrial revolution of the 1700s and 1800s, Europe and North America have been contributing heavily to the worlds greenhouse gas emissions. It is only in recent decades that scientists have fully understood the negative impact that industrial activities and transportation have had on the planet, and called on countries around the world to reduce their carbon emissions. Meanwhile, several developing nations worldwide have been responsible for only a minuscule percentage of these emissions due to a lack of industrialisation. Now, as developed nations have the privilege to be able to call for a green transition, some of the worlds poorer economies are expected to simply follow suit, at a time when they could be modernising their economies through industry and, in some cases, the development of a fossil fuels sector.

Developing countries typically have limited access to energy, and, according to the OECD, many are now being asked to prioritise a low-carbon transition over economic growth  having to choose between development and a green transition. Lily Odarno, Director of CATFs Energy and Climate Innovation Program, Africa, explained, We are seeing Europe scramble to meet its energy needs. We are seeing a region in the world that was advocating not to fund further investment in fossil fuels in the developing world now begin to scramble around these same places for the very same resources that were to be taken off the table. The hypocrisy of these actions demonstrates the injustice of the situation, as developed nations are asking weaker economies to focus on decarbonisation over development  potentially forgoing their industrial and energy potential, as rich states continue to rely on fossil fuels and contribute heavily to carbon emissions.

At present, around 81 percent of green investment is financed by the private sector in high-income countries, compared to just 14 percent in emerging and developing countries. And many of these countries cannot afford to publicly finance major new renewable energy projects, particularly as many developing state governments are in debt. At the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris this month, developing nations called for a transformation of the global financial system. The summit was aimed at accelerating reform efforts to provide trillions of dollars in funding for climate change through a debt forgiveness plan. But by the end of the summit, little appeared to have been achieved.

Some progress was accomplished via reforms helping to address climate change, with aims for global taxes on shipping, aviation and potentially on wealth to fund climate action. However, climate campaigners believe little decisive action was agreed upon that would make a difference now. At present, at least 52 countries are in debt distress and are facing some of the worst climate emergencies in the world.

The World Bank has agreed to put debt repayments on hold for countries facing climate disasters, although only on new loans. Meanwhile, the U.K. will do the same for existing loans to 12 countries in Africa and the Caribbean. A grant of $100 billion will be divided across low-income countries through an instrument known as special drawing rights (SDRs), a form of currency provided by the International Monetary Fund, with financing coming from France, Japan, and the U.K., among others. The U.S. may contribute a further $21 billion if approved by Congress.

But several state leaders are once again highlighting the inability to achieve net-zero emissions and support a global green transition without greater help from the worlds developed economies. Malaysias Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, stated: They expect developing countries like Malaysia to do it on our own which is not realistic. He added that developed nations have to understand that the transition takes time and takes investments and that they have to play their part. Further, A drastic step would be at the expense of our education, health and development. But in terms of commitment, it is there. The transition plan is there. The energy transition has started, has begun. The International Renewable Energy Agency predicts that Malaysia will have to double its renewable energy transition investments to at least $375 billion to meet its 2050 net-zero emissions goals.

Meanwhile, Indias Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has repeatedly called for greater support from some of the worlds richest countries to achieve Indias green transition. India has huge renewable energy potential, as well as a massive population and rapidly increasing energy demand, and yet it does not have the funds to develop all its green energy potential. In 2021, Modi called on developed countries to set a target of contributing at least 1 percent of their GDP to green projects in the developing world. Yet, Indias ambitious green transition roadmap remains highly underfunded.

Developed nations that underwent industrialisation centuries ago have made their bed when it comes to carbon emissions, and yet it seems that low-income countries are expected to lie in it. Several poorer nations are now having to choose between developing their economies and funding a green transition, with richer economies offering little in the way of financing for a shift to green. Unless major action is taken to support cleaner industrialisation and the development of major renewable energy projects across the developing world, many countries are unlikely to be able to contribute effectively to the global green transition.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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The situation in Libya is dangerously close to coming full circle for the oil industry, with the authorities in the east threatening another oil export blockade in protest against the use of energy revenues by Tripoli (the western authorities). The head of eastern-based House of Representatives (HoR), Osama Hammad, accused the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) of definitively siding with the Government of National

The legal dispute between Iraq and Turkey, which led in May to the halting of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) only oil export pipeline, taking 450,000 bpd off the market, could face further delays in restarting due to infighting in the Kurdish parliament. This week, 50 MPs resigned from Iraqi Kurdistans parliament in protest against a court decision that ruled a year-long election postponement was unconstitutional. Fighting amongst parliamentarians from the two leading parties (the KDP and the PUK) turned physical recently, with MPs throwing water bottles at each other and breaking out into fistfights. The Kurds are said to have lost some $2 billion since Turkey turned the pipeline off over an illegal dispute with the Iraqi federal government. In the meantime, reports have emerged that the Iraqi government has been sending KRG oil to Mosul (controlled by the federal government) rather than to Erbil (Iraqi Kurdistan) for refining. This oil is being redirected for domestic Iraqi consumption.

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict

The legal dispute between Iraq and Turkey, which led in May to the halting of the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) only oil export pipeline, taking 450,000 bpd off the market, could face further delays in restarting due to infighting in the Kurdish parliament. This week, 50 MPs resigned from Iraqi Kurdistans parliament in protest against a court decision that ruled a year-long election postponement was unconstitutional. Fighting amongst parliamentarians from the two leading parties (the KDP and the PUK) turned physical recently, with MPs throwing water bottles at each other and breaking out into fistfights. The Kurds are said to have lost some $2 billion since Turkey turned the pipeline off over an illegal dispute with the Iraqi federal government. In the meantime, reports have emerged that the Iraqi government has been sending KRG oil to Mosul (controlled by the federal government) rather than to Erbil (Iraqi Kurdistan) for refining. This oil is being redirected for domestic Iraqi consumption.

The situation in Libya is dangerously close to coming full circle for the oil industry, with the authorities in the east threatening another oil export blockade in protest against the use of energy revenues by Tripoli (the western authorities). The head of eastern-based House of Representatives (HoR), Osama Hammad, accused the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) of definitively siding with the Government of National Unity in Tripoli and said outright that plans are afoot to create a judicial guard to stop exports and take control of some $16 billion in revenue. There were also unverified claims following this threat that the GNU forces carried out a drone strike on Russian Wagner mercenaries' positions at the Al Khadim airbase (Russia has long supported eastern strongman General Haftar).

Control of oil and oil revenues was at the heart of the last blockade by General Haftar, leading the Libyan National Army (LNA) from the east. Libyas eastern government accuses Tripoli of misusing oil revenues and failing to provide any actual services to Libyans. Libya is now producing 1.2 million bpd and has recently unveiled plans to ramp up to 2 million bpd in 3-5 years, assuming it is not held hostage to another oil blockade/civil war (a repeat of 2020).

Discovery & Development

Chinas most expansive deepwater oil and gas pipeline is in its second and final stage of development. The trunk pipeline is 115.5 km long, and 20 in diameter. The next step is cleaning the inside of the pipeline, pressure testing, and surveying seabed conditions along the pipelines route. It is the longest ultra-long, ultra-high, suspension-span submarine pipeline in China. Peak annual output for the Shenhai-I project will be 4.5 bcm.

Drilling success stories in Guyana continue to pile up, this time with Frontera and CGW, which have discovered oil at its Wei-1 well. Wei-1 is in the Corentyne block, and is the second well in that block. Samples are due to be verified by a third-party laboratory within the next few months. It is the next consortium after Exxon/Hess to move into the development phase following exploration.

Imerys will now mine for lithium in the UKs Cornwall to the tune of 200,000 tonnes per year by the end of the decade. Imerys said the site could possibly supply lithium for 2/3rds of Britains EVs by 2030or 500,000 EVs. Imerys said the project is a game changer and would reduce Europes reliance on imported lithium.

Serica Energys North Eigg prospect in the North Sea has been deemed non-commercial in a disappointing development for the company that thought the prospect could hold as much as 60 million barrels. Serica will head into its second license term for the project, but only so it can complete the abandonment process for the well.

Perenco has completed its 3,800 bpd South Kole Marine project in Cameroons Rio del Rey Basin. Perenco already produces 35,000 bpd in Cameroon before the SKM project.

Deals, Mergers & Acquisitions

Indonesias state-run Pertamina and Malaysias state-run Petronas will be jointly acquiring Shells interest in the Masela gas project in Indonesia as Shell looks to divest its 35% stake.

Italian Eni will partner with Var Energi (Enis Norwegian subsidiary in which it has a 63% stake) to acquire London-based Neptune Energy for $4.9 billion in an all-cash deal. This represents the largest oil and gas acquisition in Europe in years. Neptunes assets are largely natural gas assets in the UK, the Netherlands, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, and Australia.

The UKs Aston Martin luxury vehicle maker will partner with California-based Lucid EV maker (a sometimes-languishing EV producer backed by Saudi money) to create a luxury electric vehicle. The Saudi sovereign wealth fund (PIF) is also a major shareholder in Aston Martin (along with Chinas Geely). Lucid will get a 3.7% share in Aston Martin in the deal.

TRP Energy is considering a potential ~$1.5-billion sale of Permian oil and gas operations, apparently hoping to capitalize on high demand for acreage in the Texas basin. Nothing has been announced officially, with Reuters citing unnamed sources.

On the lithium playing field, Bolivia has signed $1.4 billion in investment agreements with Russian state-run Rosatom and Chinas Citic Guoan Group to develop the Latin American countrys massive, untapped battery metal resources. This is the second deal this year, after Chinas CATL battery maker cut a deal with Bolivia.
Brent crude prices are set for their first monthly improvement this year, but on a quarterly basis, the international benchmark will record yet another decline.

For West Texas Intermediate, June would mark the second month of gains this year, after April, but on a quarterly basis, the U.S. benchmark will also book a decline.

Bloomberg reports that for Brent crude, this quarter will extend the losing streak to four quarters in a row, which is the worst record for the benchmark in more than 30 years.

For WTI, Bloomberg noted, this last quarter will mark the first back-to-back string of losses since 2019. According to Reuters, the quarterly decline for the U.S. benchmark would be 7%, while for Brent crude, the decline would come in at 6%.

"A significant upward revision (of U.S. GDP data) adds to the list of positive economic surprises in the US lately, with economic resilience aiding to calm some nerves around recession concerns, at least for now," IG analyst Yeap Jun Rong said in a note quoted by Reuters.

Bloomberg, meanwhile, quoted RBC Capital Markets as forecasting that apathy will set in for the balance of the year despite an expected uptick in prices as refinery maintenance season ends.

The biggest drivers of the bearish sentiment on oil markets included aggressive monetary tightening from central banks in some of the worlds biggest consumer nations, notably the United States and the European Union, resilient Russian oil exports, and weaker-than-expected Chinese economic growth. Persistent fears of a recession also contributed significantly to the dominant sentiment despite the positive economic surprises noted by IGs Rong.

These positive surprises, and the revised U.S. GDP figures specifically, may not be such good news for oil prices, after all, as noted by ING analysts in a note from earlier today. According to them, stronger economic growth could lead to more rate hikes.

Growing expectations of further hikes is one of the factors which is capping the upside in the market, while on the downside, the belief that OPEC+ will take further action if there is significant further weakness provides a floor to the market, Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in the note.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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So, there was a peaceful resolution here, and it forebodes a major crisis for Putin who will have a very difficult time regaining the power he has

Under normal circumstances, Prigozhin would have been... canceled. But these arent usual circumstances. Since his forces are primarily responsible for any gains made in the war in Ukraine, he has been a necessary evil for Putin, and along the way, has amassed far too much power. That was made clear by how the mutiny was quashed. It wasnt really quashed at all; a deal was made with Prigozhin in which he withdrew to Belarus (because Lukashenko actually brokered the deal) and all charges against him were dropped and there was no punishment at all (neither for Prigozhin nor his mercenaries) - yet. In other words, both were forced to make a concession.

By way of context, Wagner mercenaries (with zero resistance) made their way from their positions in Ukraine across the border to Rostov-on-Don (in southern Russia). There, they took control of Russian military headquarters, took two Russian generals hostage, and then pushed on toward Moscow.

Despite having quelled a mutiny, Russia is still not far from the edge of a civil war. The conflict between Wagner's head Prigozhin and Putins defense ministry is reconcilable only in the form of a major concession to Prigozhin that would give him power Putin will not want him to have. This was only the first mutiny, and likely not the last.

Despite having quelled a mutiny, Russia is still not far from the edge of a civil war. The conflict between Wagner's head Prigozhin and Putins defense ministry is reconcilable only in the form of a major concession to Prigozhin that would give him power Putin will not want him to have. This was only the first mutiny, and likely not the last.

By way of context, Wagner mercenaries (with zero resistance) made their way from their positions in Ukraine across the border to Rostov-on-Don (in southern Russia). There, they took control of Russian military headquarters, took two Russian generals hostage, and then pushed on toward Moscow.

Under normal circumstances, Prigozhin would have been... canceled. But these arent usual circumstances. Since his forces are primarily responsible for any gains made in the war in Ukraine, he has been a necessary evil for Putin, and along the way, has amassed far too much power. That was made clear by how the mutiny was quashed. It wasnt really quashed at all; a deal was made with Prigozhin in which he withdrew to Belarus (because Lukashenko actually brokered the deal) and all charges against him were dropped and there was no punishment at all (neither for Prigozhin nor his mercenaries) - yet. In other words, both were forced to make a concession.

So, there was a peaceful resolution here, and it forebodes a major crisis for Putin who will have a very difficult time regaining the power he has lost. In an attempt to regain some reputational ground, Putin has now taken to the airwaves to indicate that an investigation will be launched into the $1 billion in state funds over the past year for the war in Ukraine, in addition to another $1 billion he gathered from his catering company during the same time period.

The fact that Prigozhin launched a mutiny suggests to U.S. officials that some in the Russian military establishment had advance knowledge of the mutiny and supported an overthrow of the Russian militarymost notably, the former top commander in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin (arrested on Wednesday), who had previously been praised by the Wagner chief. A second general believed to have been siding with Wagner, Valery Gerasimov, has also not been seen since and may have been arrested, as well. This suggests more difficult decisions for Putin in terms of a potential purge of the military, which in turn, could negatively impact the battlefield in Ukraine for Moscow. It is clear that Prigozhin would not have attempted his mutiny had he not understood that he had some support within the Russian military establishment, which is composed of various factions in rivalry. (Prigozhins main point here was to undermine Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, for whom the mutiny is a massive embarrassment and a failure of his leadership, and ensure the installation of a general not aligned with Shoigu and friendly to Wagner).

Ukraine will certainly move to take advantage of these newly exposed vulnerabilities in the Russian military structure.

Beijing threw its support behind Putin because Putin has (even though barely) managed to control the narrative here, which is being spun and the quashing of a mutiny. But Beijing is not loyal to Putin, per serather to the idea of Moscow as a bulwark against the West. China is not interested in betting on the losing side here but will bide its time. Beijings seemingly calm and cool attitude is likely shrouding the reality of its anxiety.

For NATO, the positioning of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus represents an additional potential threat to neighboring EU/NATO countries, which will be the focus of the upcoming NATO summit in mid-July.
- Whilst oil revenues continue to flow in relatively unchanged despite the price caps, Russias gas revenues plunged 45% year-on-year and amounted to only 8.3 billion in the first five months of this year.

- Having pumped some 150 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas to Europe, Russias invasion of Ukraine has sealed off most of the European markets from Gazprom, painfully denting government revenue.

- At the same time, Chinas state-owned companies have traded over 1300 Dubai partials in the Platts Dubai/Oman window, the second highest on record, with Unipec rising to become a primary seller and PetroChina heading the list of buyers.

- Chinese refiners have resumed purchases of North Sea crudes as several VLCCs have loaded in past weeks, with a whopping 54 million barrels of West African oil having been fixed to Asia in June.

- A strong Middle Eastern benchmark is largely coming from Saudi Arabias 1 million b/d production cut pledge as well as higher availability of US crude in Europe pushing down the NW European market.

- The Brent/Dubai exchange of futures for swaps spread, a key indicator of arbitrage from Europe to Asia, narrowed to a 2-year low recently and slightly even dipped below zero this week.

1. Defying Weakness in WTI and Brent, Dubai Soars to Prominence

- The Brent/Dubai exchange of futures for swaps spread, a key indicator of arbitrage from Europe to Asia, narrowed to a 2-year low recently and slightly even dipped below zero this week.

- A strong Middle Eastern benchmark is largely coming from Saudi Arabias 1 million b/d production cut pledge as well as higher availability of US crude in Europe pushing down the NW European market.

- Chinese refiners have resumed purchases of North Sea crudes as several VLCCs have loaded in past weeks, with a whopping 54 million barrels of West African oil having been fixed to Asia in June.

- At the same time, Chinas state-owned companies have traded over 1300 Dubai partials in the Platts Dubai/Oman window, the second highest on record, with Unipec rising to become a primary seller and PetroChina heading the list of buyers.

2. Russian Government Sees Gas Revenue Collapse on Lower Exports

- Having pumped some 150 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas to Europe, Russias invasion of Ukraine has sealed off most of the European markets from Gazprom, painfully denting government revenue.

- Whilst oil revenues continue to flow in relatively unchanged despite the price caps, Russias gas revenues plunged 45% year-on-year and amounted to only 8.3 billion in the first five months of this year.

- Despite the hurried infrastructure build-out towards China, Russia still has no customers for about 90 bcm, prompting a further 13% year-on-year drop in gas production in January-May 2023.

- Faced with limited export outlets, Moscow is now seeking to increase domestic consumption of gas, supplying the fuel to Central Asian neighboring countries and building out a gas trading hub in Turkey to circumvent EU bans.

3. As Oil Industry Continues to Hoard Oil Reserves, Not Every Barrel Will Be Produced

- Total global recoverable reserves now stand at 1,624 billion barrels, up 52 billion barrels compared to last year, according to Rystad Energys recent note.

- Assuming 20% of any additional warming will come from incremental oil utilization, it is believed that 0.2 C of additional warming by 2100 would be coming from the production of this crude.

- Most of the worlds recoverable oil is in low-emission producers such as Saudi Arabia (271 Bbbls), the US (192 Bbbls), or Russia (143 Bbbls), but Canadas 127 Bbbls might be difficult to unlock, considering its upstream emission intensity is 6 times higher than Saudi Arabias.

- Incidentally, Canada is also the country with by far the largest proven reserves vs production ratio, at 20.5 years of current output readings which is twice the global average.

4. Slackening Domestic Market Sets the Stage for Chinese Diesel Export Spree

- Following several months of meager product exports, Chinese refiners are expected to ramp up diesel exports over the upcoming weeks as margins and cash premiums have been improving.

- According to Chinese sources, diesel exports will soar above 800,000 metric tonnes in July, a 70% increase compared to this past month, despite refiners having already used up 75% of their allocated export quotas.

- After a protracted maintenance season in May-June, Chinese refiners are now back to producing as much diesel as they can, fervently expecting the next batch of product export quotas.

- According to Kpler data, the main destinations for Chinas diesel exports are the Philippines, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, with state-owned PetroChina being the key supplier.

5. Global Exchange-Registered Copper Stocks Drop to 15-Year Lows

- Copper inventories held in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses dropped to 77,050 metric tonnes, with available tonnage less than half of that, enough for to supply the global market for 11 hours.

- In total, combined stocks registered with the London, Shanghai, and Chicago exchanges totaled just 165,000 metric tonnes at the end of last week, the lowest since 2008 and down 22% since the beginning of this year.

- Drained inventories have briefly pushed the LME three-month copper futures to a two-month high of $8,868/mt last week but have since retreated to $8,400/mt, driven by a belief that a lot of copper is sitting in private stocks.

- Countering the narrative of weak copper demand, cash premiums are still the highest theyve been this year, with the LME cash-to-three-months spread showing a backwardation of $31/mt.

6. Canadian Energy Stocks See Record Payouts Before Taxes Kick In

- High commodity prices are spurring a record surge in Canadian buybacks and dividends, with the countrys S&P/TSX Composite Index showing the biggest-ever payout ratio relative to the S&P 500 Index.

- S&P/TSX Composite-listed stocks are currently offering a 5.4% payout yield thanks to the double effect of high dividends and frenzied buybacks, more than 100 basis points above US stocks.

- Canadas four largest oil producers  CNR, Cenovus, Suncor, and Imperial Oil  have spent $16 billion on buybacks in 2022, speeding up the purchases due to an incoming 2% federal tax on them.

- Even though higher taxes and lower commodity prices amidst flagging Chinese demand should lower the overall tally of payouts to $140 billion next year, the yield is still to remain above 4% for the foreseeable future.

7. China Becomes Worlds Renewable Powerhouse

- China is on track to reach its renewable energy targets five years early, with its wind and solar capacity set to reach 1,371 GW by 2025 amidst an easing of supply chain bottlenecks.

- This year alone China will add 154 GW of solar, 55.7 GW of onshore wind and 8.3 GW of offshore wind capacity, accounting for almost half of global renewable additions.

- Simultaneously, Chinese coal production is expected to hit its 2025 target of 4.6 billion tonnes this year, with January-May output coming in at 1.91 billion tonnes, up 5% year-on-year.

- With the worlds largest wind turbine producer Siemens expecting another $1 billion loss this year, losing 30% of its market value over the past 5 years, Chinas wind companies might be gaining the upper hand.
via the Jamestown Foundation

Azerbaijan has proven to be a reliable partner of NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization], declared President Ilham Aliyev in December 2021 during his visit to NATO Headquarters in Brussels. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed this statement by referring to Azerbaijan as a valued partner. Stoltenberg supported his assertion by referencing Azerbaijan`s strong military cooperation with Turkey, its gas supplies to several NATO member states, as well as the countrys contribution to the NATO mission in Afghanistan (President.az, December 14, 2021).

August 2021. Afghanistan. As the United States and its allies evacuate the war-torn country during the Talibans subsequent takeover, soldiers of two countriesTurkey and Azerbaijan, both Muslim-majority nationsdefend the critical Hamid Karzai airport and secure the successful exodus of government personnel and nongovernmental organization, dubbed the Kabul airlift (Caspian Post, August 16, 2021). Azerbaijani and Turkish soldiers stay in the country until the end and are among the last military personnel to depart. In offering his gratitude, Stoltenberg thanks Azerbaijanin addition to the United States, the United Kingdom and Turkeyfor its central role in securing the airport (Azernews, August 21, 2021).

Azerbaijans contributions to the NATO effort started in 2002 with 22 peacekeepers and rose to 120 by the time of the withdrawal. In addition to ground support, Azerbaijani units had facilitated the Afghanistan-bound supply logistics for the allied forces by securing the transit routes for around 40 percent of the needed military cargo (Caspian News, August 26, 2021).

Established in 1992, relations between Azerbaijan and NATO have evolved over the decades, with the former having participated in various programs of the military bloc, including the Partnership for Peace program and the NATO-led missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo (Nato.int, August 25, 2021). At some point, especially when other states in the post-Soviet space, such as Georgia and Ukraine, actively aspired to become members of the alliance, Azerbaijan`s path seemingly diverged from its fellow GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) partners: In truth, Baku never sought NATO membership and instead opted for equidistance from rivaling blocs (Top-center.org, March 18, 2021). Such a balancing policy was designed to maintain room for maneuver amid the growing confrontation between Russia and the West as well as to avoid irritating the Kremlin, which was quite sensitive about the NATO-bound paths of Georgia and Ukraine.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan, through its bilateral relations with Turkey, enjoys an almost de-facto security guarantee from a NATO memberas some Azerbaijani experts put it, an indirect NATO umbrella (Top-center.org, June 15, 2021). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an even announced in June 2021 that a Turkish military base could be set up in Azerbaijan under the recently signed bilateral Shusha Declaration, aimed at strengthening the two countries defense partnership (EurAsian Times, June 17, 2021)a message that was received in Moscow with a great deal of irritation and discomfort (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, June 18, 2021).

Close relations with Turkey have enabled Azerbaijan to modernize its armed forces and bring them closer to NATO standards (Report.az., December 5, 2022). During the Second Karabakh War, this modernization, coupled with state-of-the-art weaponry from diverse sources (including NATO members), proved itself more effective than the Armenian Armed Forces, a Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member that stuck with Soviet/Russian military philosophy and technology.

Emboldened by this triumph, and perhaps due to Russias invasion of Ukraine, Azerbaijan has been more enthusiastic in expanding cooperation with NATO in the past year and a half, with this deepening of ties positively assessed by senior officials of the alliance (Turan, April 29, 2022).

As such, mutual visits have indeed intensified over that period. In December 2021, Aliyev visited NATO Headquarters, declaring that Azerbaijan is very happy to have a high level of interaction with NATO (President.az, December 14, 2021). Aliyevs foreign policy advisor, Hikmat Hajiyev, has joined a number of meetings with NATO officials in Brussels, most recently in May 2023 (Report.az, May 2). The NATO secretary generals special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, Javier Colomina, has been to Azerbaijan four times since 2021. During his most recent trip to Baku, Colomina met with Hajiyev and Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov (Report.az, May 26), as well as Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov, to discuss practical cooperation as well as joint defense planning and review processes. The NATO officials previous visits included meetings with Aliyev (President.az, April 28, 2022) and Hasanov in April 2022 (Mod.gov.az, April 29, 2022), as well as with Bayramov in October 2021 (Mfa.gov.az, October 18, 2021) and January 2023 (Mfa.gov.az, January 19).

Furthermore, in November 2022, Baku hosted NATO Days, which aimed to strengthen the alliances close cooperation with Azerbaijan, a key partner nation as described on the official NATO website (Shape.nato.int, November 28, 2022). As part of the proceedings, a delegation headed by Rear Admiral Gunnstein Bruasdal, deputy chief of staff for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Partnerships Directorate, visited Azerbaijan`s military facilities, held a series of meetings and congratulated the Azerbaijani Forces for their excellent progress, where various force components have successfully achieved full operational capability, through our Partnerships Operational Capability Concept scheme. The chief of staff of NATO Allied Land Command, Lieutenant General Mustafa O?uz, also paid a visit to Azerbaijan in March 2023 (Trend, March 9).

During an interview in December 2022, Colomina stated that Azerbaijani-NATO cooperation had returned to pre-pandemic levels and that the two parties were working to develop a new partnership framework document, called the Individually Tailored Partnership Programme (or ITPP), which should set us on an ambitious course for the years to come (APA, December 19, 2022).

According to a senior NATO official, Azerbaijan successfully uses NATO cooperation tools and is among the most active countries in these programs. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry keeps a list of the NATO tools and programs its military has taken part in, such as the Individual Partnership Action Plan, activities within the Planning and Review Process, the Operational Capabilities Concept, the Defense Education Enhancement Program, as well as the Science for Security and Peace Program (Mod.gov.az, accessed June 24).

Azerbaijan`s closer military cooperation with Turkey and NATO is evolving simultaneously with Bakus drift away from Moscow: Several Russian-made Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jets in the Azerbaijani Air Force have been modernized (following NATO standards) by Turkey, rather than Russia (Ordu.az, May 12; see EDM, May 30).

Within these positively developing relations, each side has its concerns as well. While not engaged directly in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace negotiations and the Karabakh issue, NATO nevertheless fully supports mediation efforts by the United States and European Union but has raised concerns about the protests and Azerbaijani-installed checkpoint along the Lachin road (Nato.int, January 20; APA, May 2). For its part, the Azerbaijani side is troubled about possible military aid to Armenia, which is a member of the Russian-led CSTO, by individual NATO states, such as France (Azertag; Reytinq, May 13).

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While these concerns will be addressed, it is apparent that Azerbaijan has opted for deepening its cooperation with NATO. In turn, the alliance also seems keen in taking advantage of the growing level of interaction between the two sides amid the tense Russian-Western confrontation.

By Leyla Aslanova

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The oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta has ended a partnership with a Chinese private equity fund, which was ready to invest $10 billion in natural resources in the province, a spokesperson for Albertas government has told Reuters.

Canada and China have seen their bilateral relations worsen since 2018, when Ottawa arrested Huaweis executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the U.S. China later arrested two Canadian citizens who were accused of spying. The Canadians were released in 2021, as was the Canadian executive, but the Canada-China relations remain strained.

It was not immediately clear whether the end of the Alberta governments partnership with Chinese private equity fund Can-China Global Resource Fund (CCGRF), based in Hong Kong, was a direct consequence of the strained relations. Nor was it clear when the government of Canadas top energy province called off the partnership, Reuters reports.

This partnership no longer exists, Karlee Conway, Director of Communications of the Alberta Industrial Heartland, told Reuters in an emailed statement.

Commenting on the end of the partnership, Lynette Ong, Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto, told Reuters, I cannot confirm this is directly related to bilateral relations, but it could indeed be a product of the increased tensions between the two countries.

The fund, CCGRF, completed raising its first phase of equity capital in 2013 with available commitments of $10 billion in subsequent phases from its international investors. The fund was the result of bilateral discussions between the governments of Canada and China to encourage the establishment of an independent fund to assist with the responsible investment of public and private capital from China into the Canadian natural resources sector, it says on its website.

The investors in the fund included Canadian mining group Hunter Dickinson, Switzerland-based commodity trading group Mercuria, and China Exim Bank, which is the largest export credit agency globally with more than $200 billion in overseas lending.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Austrias Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg will not be attending next weeks OPEC conference in Vienna after the cartel once again excluded reporters from some of the biggest news organizations from covering the event that will include industry leaders and officials, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

The dispute between OPEC and several media organizations arose early in June, when reporters from Reuters, Bloomberg, and The Wall Street Journal were not accredited to cover OPECs meeting on June 3-4 at OPECs headquarters in Vienna.

In early July, Vienna will host the 8th OPEC International Seminar, which will be held in the Hofburg Palace, owned by the Austrian state. Speakers will include OPEC officials and ministers, as well as the chief executives of Saudi Aramco, TotalEnergies, Eni, Oxy, Halliburton, Vitol, Hess Corporation, Petrobras, and OMV, among others.

OPEC has withheld media access to the conference for Reuters, Bloomberg, and the Journal, too.

For the sake of market transparency, we strongly advocate for OPEC to allow journalists from relevant global news outlets to attend, Bloomberg said in a statement.

So, Austria, formally the host of the event, will not be represented by its foreign minister, FT reports.

According to a speaker for Schallenberg cited by FT, the foreign minister believes that media freedom including coverage of political developments is a cornerstone of any democratic society.

The office of Schallenberg told FT the ministers decision not to attend the OPEC event was a result of a scheduling conflict, but highlighted the role of press freedom.

OPEC hasnt publicly commented on why it has blacklisted the three media organizations. Saudi Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, has reportedly instigated the media ban, FT has reported.

At OPECs latest meeting in early June, the OPEC+ alliance agreed to extend the current production cuts through 2024, while Saudi Arabia announced a unilateral 1 million bpd cut for July.

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The Biden Administration has rejected a petition from hundreds of environmental organizations to consider rulemaking with which to end oil and gas production on public lands by 2035.

The Center for Biological Diversity and more than 360 other U.S. climate and conservation groups petitioned in early 2022 the Biden Administration requesting that the Secretary of the Interior promulgate regulations establishing a maximum production rate and a phasedown of existing onshore and offshore oil and gas production from public lands and waters.

Laura Daniel-Davis, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Land and Mineral Management at the Department of the Interior, said that the Administration rejects the petition and it couldnt dedicate its limited resources to establishing a phase-down program.

This Administration shares your concerns regarding the urgency of the climate crisis and is directing its limited resources in an effort to address them, Daniel-Davis wrote in a letter to the organizations.

The campaigners responded to the rejection of their petition, with Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity saying,

To claim that the Biden administration doesnt have the resources to take real climate action on federal fossil fuels is vacuous and beyond hypocritical.

This is the definition of lip service. The administration acknowledges the urgency to address climate change and meanwhile avoids every opportunity to take meaningful action on the fossil fuels under its control, McKinnon said.

Hallie Templeton, legal director for Friends of the Earth, added, The U.S. and the world need bold action to phase out fossil fuels. We will keep fighting and holding federal officials accountable.

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The Biden Administration continues to pursue a clean energy future for America, but it has recently angered environmentalists with approvals of oil and gas projects. One of the latest such approvals was the Administration giving the green light to ConocoPhillips to develop the Willow oil project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), allowing three out of five proposed drill sites.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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UK energy firm Centrica has nearly doubled the storage capacity of the largest natural gas storage site in Britain, the owner of the top energy provider British Gas said on Friday.

The storage facility Rough, which is 18 miles off the coast of East Yorkshire, stopped storing gas in 2017.

However, amid the energy and gas crisis last year, the UK and Europe found themselves scrambling to procure gas ahead of the winter.

So Centrica reopened in October its Rough natural gas storage site to boost the UKs storage capacity by 50% ahead of the 2022/2023 winter.

At the time of reopening in October 2022, Rough was able to store around 30 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas for UK homes and businesses.

Since then, Centrica has done further engineering work and invested more in the facility, which will now be able to store up to 54 bcf of gas, boosting the UKs energy resilience for the coming winter. This would provide the equivalent volume of gas to heat 2.4 million homes over winter, the company said.

Despite having connections with Norway and other European countries for pipeline imports, as well as three LNG import terminals, the UK still has some of the lowest levels of gas storage in Europe at 12 days average or 7.5 peak winter days, compared to Germany at 89 days, France at 103 days, and the Netherlands at 123 days, Centrica noted.

Rough is not a silver bullet for energy security, but it plays a critical role in increasing capacity and supply confidence over the winter months, Centrica Group Chief Executive, Chris OShea, said in a statement.

Centrica reiterated its long-term plan for the Rough storage siteto turn it into the worlds biggest methane and hydrogen storage facility.

The company is ready to invest $2.5 billion (2 billion) to repurpose the Rough field, but it needs the right regulatory support framework to do so.

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This world class North Sea asset has the potential to help the UK economy return to a position of being a net exporter of energy once again, OShea said.

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Chinese oil and chemicals giant Sinopec has started producing green hydrogen from its first such production plant in the country, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.

Sinopecs first green hydrogen plant in Kuqa city in Xinjiang in the northwest has the capacity to produce 20,000 metric tons of hydrogen annually and it is using solar power for the water electrolysis, Xinhua added. The green hydrogen produced at the Kuqa plant will supply Sinopecs Tahe refinery in the Xinjiang area and will replace there the hydrogen produced from natural gas.

China has set a target to produce 100,000 to 200,000 tons of green hydrogen annually, along with around 50,000 hydrogen-fueled vehicles by 2025, as it aims to transition towards renewable energy.

Development of hydrogen is an important move for energy transition and a great support for China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, Wang Xiang, the deputy director of the High Technology Department at Chinas National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said last year.

China targets to have its emissions peak by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060, a decade later than most of the pledges of the developed economies.

Earlier this year, Sinopec said it plans to build the first 'West to East' green hydrogen transmission line in the country.

The company will construct a 400-km (248 miles) pipeline from Inner Mongolia's Ulanqab to Beijing to transfer hydrogen from renewable energy projects in the northwestern region to cities in Chinas east. The pipeline, set to have an initial capacity of 100,000 tons per year, will also have ports to grant access to new potential hydrogen sources.

Sinopec has also embarked on the world's largest project to use green hydrogen to produce coal chemicals. The project, valued at approximately $830 million, is set to be built in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. The facility will produce 30,000 metric tons of green hydrogen and 240,000 tons of green oxygen each year.

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As oil prices hover underneath the $75 for a Brent barrel, OPEC has likely found itself stuck with the extra supply cuts it took onmainly Saudi Arabiaa hedge fund manager told Bloomberg on Friday.

It would be too damaging to prices to remove it at this time, given the fragility of sentiment, hedge fund manager of Black Gold Investors LLC said.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia voluntarily agreed to downsize its production targets by another 1 million barrels per day for the month of Julyalthough it could be extended. Oil prices reacted by jumping up, but the effects were not long-lasting. Today, crude oil prices are lower than they were prior to the announced cut, putting OPEC in a tricky position.

In the runup to the OPEC meeting, Saudi Arabias Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman warned traders once again against taking a speculative bet against oil. He made similar threats back in 2020. Im going to make sure whoever gambles on this market will be ouching like hell, he said at the time.

Indeed, OPECs cuts they announced back in April hurt short sellers when prices rallied. This time, however, the warning ahead of time likely muted the response to Saudi Arabias generous production cut.

OPECmost importantly Saudi Arabiais working against disappointing economic data out of China.

Brent prices are just a hair under $75 per barrel today, but recent estimations from the International Monetary Fund suggest that Saudi Arabias fiscal breakeven for crude oil is more than $80 per barrel.

Saudi Arabias extra cuts go into effect in July, and prices could tick up as supply tightens. After all, the IEA has predicted that crude oil supply will exceed demand by 2 million bpd in the second half of this year.

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By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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New Mexico regulators have fined a Texas-based oil and gas company with more than $40 million for violating emissions standards and air quality rules.

The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) announced this week separate, but significant, enforcement actions against Ameredev II, LLC and affiliate Ameredev Operating, LLC, an Austin, Texas-based oil and gas production company, for egregious violations of state rules and permitting requirements.

NMED issued an Administrative Compliance Order to Ameredev for violations of state rules, including significant excess emissions of five regulated air pollutants from five facilities in Lea County.

NMED identified five Ameredev facilities that actively extracted oil and natural gas without any means to transport the gas to a midstream pipeline as required by New Mexico state law. Instead, Ameredev chose to flare the natural gas, releasing an amount of CO2 equivalent to heating 16,640 homes for one year. As a result of the flaring, Ameredev emitted over 7.5 million pounds of excess hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compound emissions, the regulator said.

Ameredev is a Texas-based exploration and production company that exploited public health for profit, Environment Secretary James Kenney said.

Ameredevs management team have shown blatant disregard for our right to breathe clean air and now they must be held accountable.

The Administrative Compliance Order requires the company to pay a civil penalty $40.3 million to the State of New Mexicos general fund, cease and desist all excess emissions from its facilities in accordance with applicable regulations, and seek permits reflective of the equipment and operations on-site. The New Mexico regulators also required the Texas-based firm to hire an NMED-approved independent, third-party auditor to assess all Ameredev facilities in New Mexico, and to undertake projects to mitigate excess emissions.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com

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WASHINGTON  House Republicans requested voluntary testimony Thursday from almost a dozen Justice Department officials involved in the investigation of President Joe Biden's son Hunter as GOP lawmakers widen their scrutiny into what they claim is improper interference by the agency.

Leaders of the Republican controlled House Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means committees asked in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland for nine officials from the Justice Department and two from the FBI to appear for the interviews to address recent allegations made by two IRS employees who worked on the federal investigation into Hunter Biden's taxes and foreign business dealings.

"Recent startling testimony from Internal Revenue Services whistleblowers raises serious questions about the Department's commitment to evenhanded justice and the veracity of assertions made to the Committee on the Judiciary," Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, James Comer of Kentucky and Jason Smith of Missouri wrote in the letter.

The individuals named in the letter include David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware in charge of the investigation, as well Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf of Delaware and the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves. Garland said last week that the Justice Department will not object to Weiss testifying to Congress.

The request comes about a week after Biden, 53, reached an agreement with the government to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses. The plea deal would avert prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as Biden adheres to conditions agreed to in court.

Days later, the House Ways and Means Committee, led by Smith, voted to publicly disclose congressional testimony from the IRS employees.
The GOP has prided itself as being the law and order party. Time and time they have accused Democrats of being soft on crime. But it depends on who commits the crimes. Yeah, if a young teenager in Omaha, Kansas City or St. Louis steals a car, shoots someone on the street, robs a bank, etc.  throw the book at them. But white collar crime and former President Donald Trump, well leave him alone. He is something special, he is above reproach and Trump has the nation's best interest at heart.

Really? If Mr. Trump had the nation's best interest at heart he never would have hid classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, bathroom, in his office space, etc., and showed them to others who were at his Mar-aLago home.

Mr. Trump now fades a 37-count indictment from the feds and the charges would put anyone else behind bars for a long time.

The only Republican thus far who deserves any kudos is former GOP presidential nominee Sen. Mitt Romney, who praised the DOJ's efforts noting Donald Trump did it to himself.

Real law and order means you apply the law to everyone the same way. You can't have the law apply differently to different people due to political considerations. The law is the law and no one is above it, including former President Donald Trump.
The Tobacco Education & Advocacy of the Midlands drew a full house for its annual community recognition luncheon at CHI Health Midlands hospital in Papillion on Thursday, June 22.

According to a news release from the group, the community "has seen a dramatic increase in youth vaping," with Nebraska youth e-cigarette current daily use is 14.1% in 2022.

Caroline Bennett  community outreach specialist with the Washington, D.C.-based Truth Initiatives community and youth engagement team  presented her keynote address on the epidemic of teenage vaping and its intersection with youths mental health.

T.E.A.M. presented awards to individuals, businesses and organizations for their efforts within commercial tobacco control and prevention. Awards presented were:

 Advocate of the Year: State Sen. Tony Vargas

 Outdoor Recreation Facility of the Year: Scatter Joy Acres

 Partner of the Year: Tobacco Free Lancaster County

 Leadership Award: Mike Francis

 Organization of the Year: Historic Downtown Plattsmouth Association

 Leadership Award: Kayla Kill

T.E.A.M. is a community coalition of more than a hundred members that work together to reduce the negative impact of commercial tobacco in Sarpy and Cass counties. The coalition, based in Papillion, meets virtually on the fourth Thursday of the month at 11:30 a.m. To register to join a meeting or become a member, visit teamtobaccofree.org.
When officials with an Omaha bank last month foreclosed on the defunct Kremer Funeral Home, they were surprised to learn they were taking possession of more than just the building.

Inside, they came upon 55 sets of cremated remains.

It speaks to the disarray surrounding the longtime Benson funeral home after it suddenly closed earlier this year.

Now Omahas Braman Mortuary has stepped in to help reunite those remains with families. While all the cremated remains included identification of the deceased, in some cases, the accompanying paperwork listing family contacts is missing. Braman is asking anyone whose loved ones remains could be among those left behind to contact them.

Our goal is to get the loved ones back home to their family members, said Ryan Gray, funeral director manager with Braman.

Travis Sheffield, the owner and manager of Kremer, said he believed all the remains found in the home were for families who simply over the years did not claim them. He said he had been reluctant to dispose of them, which he legally had the right to do.

In the end, he said, the bank foreclosure forced him to leave the business before he could do anything about the remains.

I just never wanted to dispose of those remains that people did not want, he said. I didnt feel comfortable disposing of them on my own.

Kremers sudden failure also raises questions of what it means for individuals and families who had prepaid funeral arrangements. But in short, such arrangements are held with an insurance company and should be protected.

Kremer remains licensed to do business, though Sheffield said he essentially stopped taking business in February.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has the power to license and discipline funeral homes. A spokesman said the department does not confirm or deny whether its investigating a home.

Kremers demise represents the death of an Omaha institution that dates to 1936. Housed at 63rd and Maple Streets in a church built more than a century ago, its tower features an old-style neon sign and has long been a familiar landmark on Bensons main street.

Sheffield went to work for Kremer in 2012 and bought it in 2016. And until recent years, it regularly received positive online reviews for good, no-nonsense service and reasonable prices. Sheffield often personally handled arrangements.

But the homes operations seemed to begin to slip before completely unraveling earlier this year.

In December 2021, state records show the home was cited for failure to dispose of an embalmed body within 30 days of death. Sheffield signed a compliance document with the state, offering assurances it would not happen again.

Sheffield said he felt the state should never have intervened in that case. He said the body had been transferred from another home, and an autopsy also complicated completion of the cremation.

But soon other problems arose.

In early 2022, customers in online reviews cited instances where Sheffield failed to deliver copies of death certificates to families that had paid for them. It was the first possible sign of financial problems.

Sheffield attributed the ultimate failure of the business to the fact that he served a number of families in need, not raising prices for years to make services affordable for them.

I was in it to help people, he said.

By December last year, customers reported that they were finding Kremers doors locked during business hours and that they werent being notified when cremated remains were ready for pickup.

In January 2023, the home filed for bankruptcy, listing more than $2 million in debts, including unpaid taxes to Douglas County and the IRS. The filing was later dismissed when the home failed to follow up with documentation.

It appears the home performed its last cremation in February, and its last scheduled funeral service was in early March.

That same month, a customer reported in a post to the Better Business Bureau that more than three months after the death of her father-in-law, the home still had not transferred his cremated remains to Omaha National Cemetery, a burial place for area veterans. She reported that when she reached Sheffield and asked where the remains were, he replied, I dont know what to tell you.

Other customers subsequently complained to Omaha TV station WOWT that they were trying to pick up cremated remains and could not reach the business.

Sheffield said Thursday he had to leave the office around that time because his father suffered a stroke. He said the financial problems had left the business short-staffed, with only him and one other worker. He also denied ever saying he did not know where remains were, always accounting for them.

Sheffield eventually did open the business to allow families to claim remains. He said he contacted all families, and as far as he knew, all who wanted to claim remains did so before he left.

Unfortunately, the bank forced me to leave the property, he said.

In late May, Omahas Commercial State Bank, which held a $1.8 million mortgage on the property, took possession in foreclosure proceedings.

During an initial inspection, boxes and a few urns holding cremated remains were found in two locations  in the chapel and in an embalming room.

It was a surprise to say the least, a bank spokesman said. It was kind of heartbreaking that they werent distributed.

Bank officials expressed gratitude that Braman was willing to step forward to collect the ashes and seek to find the related families.

Bramans Gray said its actually not unusual for a funeral home to find itself in possession of ashes weeks after a cremation. Sometimes families indeed simply fail to pick them up.

What makes this case unusual, though, is the sheer number held by Kremer.

Having this many is extremely abnormal, Gray said.

It seems possible some or most of the remains found at Kremer had long before been abandoned there. But Gray said its also possible there are remains from families who had difficulty reaching anyone at the home during its troubled last weeks.

Regardless of the reason, families will be able to pick them up at Bramans 72nd Street location, no matter the status of their account with Kremer.

A lack of records left at the business makes it difficult to know how many people had prepaid services with Kremer. But those who bought them should be fine.

They should be able to simply take their paperwork to another funeral home and transfer the insurance policy, Gray said. Omaha funeral homes are already hearing from customers who had made arrangements through Kremer.

The Nebraska Department of Insurance is also aware of the situation. It said in a statement anyone with questions can contact the departments complaints division at 877-564-7323.

Braman plans to soon start contacting the families of those whose cremated remains it has records for. In cases where records arent found, it is hoping families come forward.

If ashes remain unclaimed by later this fall, they will be handled the same way Braman and other funeral homes traditionally do.

Around Nov. 1 each year, St. Mary Magdalene Cemetery, one of five cemeteries in Omaha run by the Catholic archdiocese, holds an All Souls Day prayer and burial service. Mortuaries with unclaimed cremated remains and families with remains they dont know what to do with can have them interred that day in the mausoleum crypt free of charge.

The cemetery typically interns the remains of 30 to 100 in the service each year, said Lance Zimmerman, family service manager with Omahas Catholic cemeteries. But it appears that number could be up this year.

Oh my goodness, Zimmerman said when told of the 55 remains discovered at Kremer. He added: Wed be happy to accommodate.

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Fridays decision from the Supreme Court to kill President Joe Bidens student loan forgiveness plan has left Nebraskans divided as loan payments are expected to resume this fall.

Local residents are on both sides of the $400 billion plan, which would have canceled or reduced federal student loan debts for an estimated 232,100 borrowers in Nebraska, along with millions of Americans.

The Supreme Court announced its 6-3 decision Friday, saying the Biden administration overstepped its authority. The court said an endorsement from Congress would be needed to begin such an expensive program.

The forgiveness program would have canceled $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would have had an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

Now borrowers can expect loan payments to resume in October, though interest will begin accruing in September, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Biden, who once doubted his own authority to offer student loan forgiveness, said later Friday that he would push ahead with a new debt relief plan while blaming Republican hypocrisy for the decision that wiped out his original effort.

The president said he would work toward a new path for student debt relief, using the Higher Education Act, which he called the best path that remains to provide for as many borrowers possible with debt relief. He also moved to create an on-ramp that would help ease the risk of default for students who fail to make payments when the current pause ends.

Nebraskans who supported the loan forgiveness argue that it would have relieved the heavy financial burden of college debt from people who are already struggling to make payments or would allow them to put money into other expenses, such as buying a house.

Jacob Cole, who has been a teacher for two years at the Bancroft-Rosalie district in northeast Nebraska, accumulated $6,300 in debt after having to pay for room and board his freshman year at Wayne State College. He said he would have had to pay more if he didnt make cost-saving decisions later on.

I became a commuter for the remaining three years at (Wayne) because I did not want to rack up $30,000 in student debt. I also received a Pell Grant each year. This, along with scholarships, was not enough to pay for my first year of college, Cole said. I am a registered Republican, but I supported this policy to wipe away up to $20,000 in student loans. While this is not a widely supported plan within the GOP, I believe it is essential to help pull low-socioeconomic status individuals out of poverty.

Like other borrowers, Cole also stopped making payments during the pause on federal student loans in case his entire debt would have been forgiven if Bidens plan had been passed.

For now, hes hoping to receive some aid through student loan forgiveness options for educators in Nebraska. He said he applied for a reduction in his loans and is waiting to see whether he was approved.

Alec Rome, who graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln last year, said that while scholarships were able to cover his tuition, his partner racked up $20,000 in debt.

My thoughts on this ruling are pretty simple: It is the cherry on top of a garbage sundae that was this last year for the Supreme Court, Rome said. (My partner) was hoping to have (her loans) forgiven, but knowing the state of politics, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that a day like this might come.

Fridays decision follows a lawsuit led by Nebraska and signed by five other states that was filed in September. While supporters of Bidens plan argued a 2003 law, known as the HEROES Act, allowed him the power to forgive student loans, the state officials said the action would be an overreach of executive power.

Several Nebraska government officials have expressed their opposition to Bidens plan since the lawsuit was filed.

The question of student loan burden is now back to where it belongs  Congress. Our elected federal representatives are closest to the people, have the power of the purse, and are entrusted with the responsibility of tackling difficult policy issues, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers said in an official statement.

Hilgers also said during a Friday press conference that Congress would have to answer questions that arose out of Bidens plan, such as the concern for people who dont have debt yet but are planning on going to college this fall or in a few years.

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer also said Friday that the courts decision was a victory for common sense and will ensure that Americans who didnt go to college or have already paid their student loans arent bearing the debts of others.

This is a common point from other Nebraskans who are against Bidens plan.

Omaha resident Bill Pulte and his wife had to pay off her student loans for 10 years before she was able to enroll in graduate school. Pulte said though this came in the form of a $200 monthly payment, he still doesnt support a widespread forgiveness plan.

I am not a fan of the government paying off debts incurred by individuals. Government was established to protect citizens, but not from themselves, Pulte said. If the government wants to protect people in terms of education practices, they should do it by guaranteeing low interest loans and allowing these loans to be taken at higher income levels.

Taygen Vicary, who has been paying off student loans for 20 years, said the Supreme Court made the right decision.

While Id love for the loans to just disappear, thats a bit ridiculous when I knew what I was doing when I agreed to borrow money, Vicary said. The thought that burdening the taxpayer with paying for my education is ludicrous. While this means I still have money to pay, I am pleased common sense won out.

Rome said even if other borrowers were upset by federal loan forgiveness, the benefits for low-income residents would have outweighed the negatives.

We can argue all we want about semantics and if previous borrowers are unfairly affected by student debt relief, but the cost that this will place upon not just the middle and lower class is significant, Rome said. This debt relief would have helped the bottom 80% of earners the most in order to escape from this cycle.

For Kathleen Clark, an Omaha nurse, student loans are a huge part of why her family still lives paycheck to paycheck even in a two-income household. She said she graduated with her bachelors degree in 2012 and still has about $50,000 to pay off. Her husband also has his own student loans.

Daycare for two children is over $2,000 a month and my student loans alone are over $500 a month. Our cars are paid off and we do not live lavishly by any sense of the word, so those are areas we are fortunate enough to not have added to our monthly expenses, Clark said. But the fact that two well paid professionals have to live so frugally is shameful. The student loan forgiveness would not have wiped away my debt, but it would have made a huge impact in our familys life.

This is also the case for Dallas Hartwell, who graduated from UNL a decade ago with $35,000 in loans.

Ten years later, my wife and I are top 5% earners, Hartwell said. We pay 50% in taxes and over $9,000 a month in just housing, child care and insurance. I now owe $50,000 in student loans. Its crazy we consider ourselves lucky.

The problem of the student loan system itself is something officials should focus on, said Joseph Collins, who graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in May.

Collins said while he has $27,000 in loan debt, he borrowed the money with the full intention and responsibility of paying it back.

There is an entire generation of college students that continue to be straddled with debt and its holding us back from goals like starting families, buying houses and contributing towards retirement, Collins said. Congress needs to find a solution besides allowing students to take on tens, or hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, and they need to help current students get a grip on making repayments. This forgiveness proposal was the equivalent a Band-Aid on a crack in the Hoover Dam.

This report includes material from the Associated Press.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of June 2023
A yearlong investigation into alleged voter fraud in recent Sarpy County elections found no instances of election fraud, voter suppression or criminal wrongdoing, according to a report issued Friday by the Sarpy County Attorneys Office.

Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said the investigation was spurred by his office receiving a total of 57 complaints regarding the countys 2020 general and 2022 primary elections. Fifty-two of these complaints were collected by what Polikov called an organized group of citizens, who identified themselves as members of the Nebraska Voter Accuracy Project.

After Polikov received the complaints in May 2022, he contacted William Black, a former investigator with both the Douglas County Sheriffs Office and the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office. Black was hired to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations, and he conducted 54 interviews with complainants and witnesses.

Blacks 32-page report says that allegations of mail-in ballot fraud, early voting fraud, ballot drop box fraud and the intentional miscounting of ballots were unsubstantiated.

The investigation could not substantiate the claims of fraud put forth with the information available, the report says. No state political party or organization, county party, campaign, or candidate for office in the above referenced elections has come forward to lodge a complaint similar to the allegations.

The cost of the investigation was more than $88,000. Polikov said the funding came from his office.

The investigation did reveal two instances of poll worker misconduct, as well as two instances of voters who no longer lived in Sarpy County voting in the jurisdiction.

The first instance of poll worker misconduct included a worker writing down voter information directly from the pollbook. While the information in the pollbook is public record, there are specific procedures that must be followed to obtain that information. The poll worker was found to have violated the Sarpy County Election Commissions policies.

The second violation of policy was a poll worker who thanked voters for bringing ID with them to vote, even though there was no voter ID law in Nebraska at the time. Another worker was concerned that this statement could inadvertently or purposely lead to voter intimidation or suppression by creating confusion amongst voters.

There were also two people who were found to have voted in Sarpy County despite having moved to a new county. Because these voters did not vote twice in two jurisdictions, there was no intent to commit voter fraud, Black said.

Black and Polikov said that the results of the investigation should bring Sarpy County residents confidence in their election processes.

It brings me a lot of confidence, quite frankly, that at least in these two elections we looked at, we didnt see any fraud, Polikov said at a press conference Friday. But keep in mind that were working forward, and still have to make sure to chase down leads and ideas and theories to make sure that we are not corrupted.

The Nebraska Voter Accuracy Project, which submitted the majority of complaints, represents itself as a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the accurate counting of all votes. Multiple links on the organizations website reference claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that Nebraska elections are among the most crooked and fraudulent.

Questions about election accuracy and integrity have increased since 2020, when former President Donald Trump claimed, without evidence, that the election was stolen from him.

Historically, Nebraska has not had widespread issues with its elections.

Secretary of State Bob Evnen has pushed back on claims of voter fraud. In response to concerns raised by some Nebraskans, Evnen put together a PowerPoint presentation last year titled: Fake vs. Fact: Setting the Record Straight about Nebraskas Elections.

Photos: Sarpy County Pools Open for the 2023 Season
Southwest Airlines will add a weekly nonstop flight between Omaha and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, next January, the Omaha Airport Authority announced Thursday.

The flight will leave Eppley Airfield at 12:30 p.m. each Saturday beginning Jan. 13 and arrive at 4:40 p.m. The return flight will leave from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport at 1:55 p.m. and also will land at 4:40 p.m.

Southwest began service to Omaha in 1995 and is currently the largest airline serving Eppley, with about 37% of the airports market share, according to the federal Bureau of Transportation.

Fort Lauderdale will be the airlines 13th nonstop destination from Omaha, including Atlanta, Chicago-Midway, Dallas-Love Field, Denver, Houston-Hobby, Las Vegas, Orlando, Phoenix, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.-Reagan National from Omaha. Southwest also provides seasonal service to Nashville and Tampa.

Southwest has more than doubled their number of nonstop destinations from Omaha in the last eight years, said Steve McCoy, the airport authoritys chief information and development officer, in a statement, calling it a testament to passenger demand in Omaha driven by the strong local economy.

Last year, about 4.5 million passengers used Eppley, the airport authority said. Eight airlines fly about 70 flights per day to 31 nonstop destinations.

Close Deb Haman, who works for the Omaha Airport Authority, dusts the airport's "Welcome to Omaha" sign after the morning rush at Eppley Airfield. Departure screen during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Arrival and departure screens during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Travelers check in for their flights during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Passengers head inside Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. A security checkpoint during the midmorning rush at Eppley Airfield in January 2018. Construction of the airports new rental car and parking garage area at Eppley Airfield on January 23, 2018. Construction of the airport's new rental car and parking garage area at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. Rendering of the parking structure that is being added to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Neb. The mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. An escalation of travelers during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Arriving travelers await their luggage at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Busy days at Eppley Airfield in Omaha Deb Haman, who works for the Omaha Airport Authority, dusts the airport's "Welcome to Omaha" sign after the morning rush at Eppley Airfield. Departure screen during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Arrival and departure screens during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Travelers check in for their flights during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Passengers head inside Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. A security checkpoint during the midmorning rush at Eppley Airfield in January 2018. Construction of the airports new rental car and parking garage area at Eppley Airfield on January 23, 2018. Construction of the airport's new rental car and parking garage area at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. Rendering of the parking structure that is being added to Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Neb. The mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on January 23, 2018. An escalation of travelers during the mid-morning rush at Eppley Airfield in Omaha. Arriving travelers await their luggage at Eppley Airfield in Omaha.
LINCOLN  The number of abortions performed in Nebraska rose roughly 6% between 2021 and 2022, including a spike in the number of women coming from other states, according to a new report.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services reported Friday that the state logged 2,507 abortions in 2022, up from 2,360 in 2021. Among those in 2022, more than 500 of them were for patients living outside Nebraska.

By comparison, the number of abortions performed on Nebraska residents decreased from 2,068 in 2021 to 1,981 in 2022.

Aside from Nebraska, Iowa had the highest number of patients listed at 146, but that actually marks a decrease from 2021 when the state had 160. Other states  like Kansas, Texas, Missouri and Oklahoma  saw much larger increases, with each of them reporting 12 or fewer abortions in Nebraska for 2021, but between 30 and 120 in 2022.

All of these states have been embroiled in similar abortion battles as Nebraska in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last summer. Unlike Nebraska, many of them enacted restrictions within the same year as the ruling.

Planned Parenthood North Central States recently reported that the organization has recorded an 11% rise in second-trimester abortions, largely due to an increase in women traveling out of state to seek the procedure.

State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston and other anti-abortion advocates said the new numbers cement their suspicions that a lack of action from Nebraska last year made it an abortion destination state. However, abortion rights supporters said it proves that women will go to these lengths because abortions are necessary medical care.

This just shows abortion is a necessary health care procedure, said State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, a leading abortion rights supporter in the Nebraska Legislature. Its not something that opponents are ever going to be able to ban outright, all they end up doing when they restrict access is they make abortions less safe.

The 2022 numbers reflect a time when abortions were banned past 20 weeks post-fertilization in Nebraska, which is no longer the law. The Legislature recently passed a bill that bans abortions at 12 weeks based on gestational age, which took effect immediately after Gov. Jim Pillen signed it in May.

Karen Bowling, executive director of the Nebraska Family Alliance, said the new restrictions will likely impact the number of women traveling from other states for abortions.

Nebraskas taken the next step in becoming a sanctuary for life, Bowling said.

Since Roe was overturned, anti-abortion lawmakers in Nebraska have been trying to increase the states restrictions. Before the ruling, lawmakers tried to pass a total ban that would take effect upon the ruling, but that was struck down during debate. Lawmakers considered holding a special session last fall to consider a 12-week ban, but then-Gov. Pete Ricketts rejected it, citing a lack of support for the proposal.

Earlier this year, lawmakers proposed another measure (Legislative Bill 626) that would have banned abortions around six weeks of pregnancy, but it failed to overcome a filibuster. The 12-week gestational ban was added as an amendment to a different bill (LB 574) once LB 626 failed.

Initially, anti-abortion lawmakers and Pillen resisted the 12-week proposal, arguing that it wouldnt reduce enough abortions. They based this on Nebraskas abortion statistics for 2021, which showed about 85% of the states abortions that year happened beyond the six-week mark, while only about 13% happened after 12 weeks gestation.

The latest numbers havent changed that much. The 2022 data shows about 15% (380) of abortions happened at 12 weeks or later, while 85% (2,143) happened between six and 12 weeks, based on gestational age.

Though the 12-week ban will keep the majority of abortions legal based on last years numbers, Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha  another abortion rights supporter  said it adds an unnecessary barrier to lifesaving medical care.

Often, life-threatening complications dont turn up until later stages of pregnancy, Cavanaugh said. In those cases, Cavanaugh said women will either be forced to go out of Nebraska for treatment, or put themselves and their doctors in a difficult situation where they have to determine whether the circumstances qualify under LB 574s exceptions.

Since the passage of the 12-week ban through LB 574, Pillen has vowed to continue pushing for further restrictions until abortions are completely outlawed in Nebraska. Albrecht said she also hopes to pass increased restrictions in the future.

I echo Governor Pillen when I say that Nebraska is committed to becoming an even more pro-life state and we wont stop until every baby and mother is protected from the predatory abortion industry, Albrecht said in an email.

But first, LB 574 must overcome a lawsuit that could revert the state to its 20-week ban if the plaintiffs succeed. Bowling, with Nebraska Family Alliance, said the outcome of the case will also influence Nebraskas abortion statistics for 2023.

The frequency of Nebraskas abortions have ebbed and flowed over the last two decades. The state recorded more than 4,100 abortions in 2000, after which numbers steadily dropped to a low of about 1,900 in 2016. Since then, overall numbers have been steadily rising again.

The reasons patients sought abortions havent changed much between 2021 and 2022, with the most common reason being no contraception used, followed by contraception failure, mental health concerns, socioeconomic reasons and maternal physical health concerns.

Another abortion rights supporter, Sen. Jen Day of Omaha, said the numbers dont show the full story. Each abortion included in the report represents a different situation a woman went through to lead to the procedure.

Every single one of those is a story, Day said.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session
LINCOLN  The State of Nebraska closed Thursday on the sale of a 46.71-acre campus that once housed a juvenile offender treatment center for girls in Geneva.

State officials announced that the former Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center campus was sold for $299,000 to JoMax Sackschewsky, a resident of York who already leases about half of the campus as farm ground.

The states Vacant Building and Excess Land Committee declared the grounds and buildings vacant and excess in July 2021 and the 100,121 square-foot complex was offered for online auction in November last year. The auction closed in December with a single bid.

Sarah Skinner with the Department of Administrative Services, said the property had been appraised at $630,000, more than twice the amount it brought at auction. But she said selling the property will save taxpayers more than $600,000 per year.

The campus significant annual operating costs to the state justified accepting that bid, she said.

Skinner said the closing was timed so the state could find and lease office space in Geneva for state call center employees who have been working out of the former administration building. Those employees work for the Department of Health and Human Services to help process applications for Medicaid and other public assistance programs.

Geneva City Administrator Kyle Svec said he has lots of questions about the future of the property, which has been an important fixture in the community. He said city leaders had explored ideas for acquiring the campus and repurposing the buildings but were unable to reach an agreement with the state.

As a city, were just hoping it turns out to be good for the city, he said, adding, We definitely want to keep those jobs in town.

Attempts to reach Sackschewsky were unsuccessful.

The sale closes a troubled chapter in the history of the Geneva institution, which opened in 1892 as the Girls Industrial School. It went through numerous changes through the years, including some periods of serving both boys and girls.

But by August 2019, staff shortages, inadequate programming and rapidly deteriorating buildings combined to create a crisis at the facility. HHS officials moved the girls out for safety and put them at the formerly male-only juvenile offender facility in Kearney.

Initially, HHS renovated one of the Geneva housing units that had become uninhabitable so it could be used for a girls facility again. Then officials said they would leave most of the girls at Kearney and would reopen the Geneva campus on only a small scale to serve girls transitioning back into the community.

They switched gears again in 2020, announcing that they would instead use part of the former Hastings Regional Center campus for the female juvenile offenders. The plan included returning the Kearney campus to boys-only and leaving the Geneva center closed.

HHS also launched a center in Lincoln for male and female offenders with especially severe behavioral and mental health problems.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of June 2023
The Senator representing Lagos West, Solomon Adeola, on Wednesday said the Revenue Allocation Formula should be reviewed by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission to pave way for effective implementing of the recommended N30, 000 minimum wage across all tiers of government.

Adeola, who is also Chairman, Senate Committee on Local Content, stated this in his contribution during a meeting of the Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Minimum Wage chaired by Senator Francis Alimikhena to consider the Minimum Wage Bill proposed by the Federal Government.

The Senator, who supported the recommended N30, 000 contained in the National Minimum Wage Bill, noted the law when passed must be implemented by all the three tiers of government.

He said: I am in support of the recommended minimum wage as it will go a long way in cushioning the challenges faced by workers. However, there must be no excuse for non- implementation by any tiers of government across the federation.

It is in this wise that I call on the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission to begin a process that will lead to the review of the Revenue Allocation Formula for all tiers of government to be able to pay the minimum wage when passed into law.

The Lagos West Senator also supported the sanctions contained in the bills for indolent workers noting that while supporting the minimum wage for workers and improve welfare packages, the Civil Service at all levels must perform at its best as they are critical in the delivery of dividends of democracy to the people.

The Senate Ad Hoc Committee is expected to submit its report for the passage of the bill to the Senate in plenary on Tuesday, March 19th, 2019 .

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Indications have emerged to the effect that a storm is brewing within the All Progressives Congress (APC) caucus of the House of Representatives, especially returning and newly elected members.

The reason, according to a highly placed source, is that incumbent speaker, Yakubu Dogara, whos currently in the opposition is holding meetings with aggrieved APC lawmakers.

The source, who asked not to be named, also told Daily Independent that the leadership of the APC is aware of Dogaras scheming and is monitoring its members and their activities building up to June.

While the source did not mention how many APC lawmakers were holding meetings with Dogara and who they are, he, however, stated that a major contender for the seat of speaker from the North Central, Ahmed Idris Wase, was also approached by the group for meetings with Dogara, but has serially stayed away.

I can tell you that they have tried severally to get Wase to attend the meetings, but he kept dodging them. One of them even said the speaker is considering him for the deputy speakership position if he aligns with him, but Wase has refused to attend, he said.

Probed to name the members attending the meetings with Dogara, the source said he could only say that many APC members from other zones are not happy with the partys apparent favouritism towards the South West.

He said reactions and protest against the move are reasons why many members are declaring their intentions to run for the office.

Recall that on the day Femi Gbajabiamila, a top contender in the speakership race and a possible anointed candidate of the party, declared to run, another lawmaker from North Central, Muhammed Umar Bago from Niger, also declared his intention to run.

Since Bago and Gbajabiamilas declarations, another North Central lawmaker, John Dyegh from Benue has also joined the race.

Dyegh, formerly touted to head the speakership campaign of Idris Wase, declared during the week in a twist of event many have described as a protest against the partys arm twisting tactics, as well as the manner Wase has kept the North Central caucus in the dark regarding recent developments they got wind of.

It was said that Wase whom the caucus was rooting for was being offered deputy speakership position to run with Gbajabiamila, but didnt deem it fit to inform the caucus and keep them on the same page.

Asked if Dogara has hijacked the caucus, the source declined to comment.

He, however, said, All I can say is that many members are not happy with what the party leadership is doing with the zoning arrangements, and theyre realigning.

Dogara is said to have the support of the 123 PDP members with promises of better deals for them if they could also bring their friends on the APC side to his camp.

The speaker is said to have waited with bated breath whilst working underground to see cracks in APC walls and exploit same to his advantage, as it was in 2015.

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Stakeholders have been urged to unite in their efforts to eliminate child labour in the country.

The charge was given by speakers at a seminar by the Oyo State Steering Committee on Child Labour in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The final draft of the State Action Plan (SAP) on child labour elimination was presented at the event.

Speaking on Impact of child labour responses in agro communities, the Head of Leaf, British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), Oluwakayode Oshodi, decried the prevalence of child labour in the agricultural sector.

He attributed it to the limited understanding of the impact of child labour by the rural folks, which underscores the need for training and heightening their awareness on the malaise.

The agricultural sector is one where child labour is prevalent. There is a thin line between helping a parent and exposing a child to child labour, he said.

He noted that parents who engage their children and wards in child labour see it as a short-term and cost-saving benefit failing to realise the long-term effects.

Speaking on BATN efforts to eradicate child labour, he said the company always ensured that its farming partners and stakeholders understood the impact of their decisions on child labour. BATN also conducts regular spot checks on their farms to ascertain compliance with its child labour policy.

We ask farmers to share with us evidence of the childs school attendance and take steps to reward members who are compliant through our annual Farmers Productivity Awards, he added.

The Chairman, Oyo State Steering Committee on Child Labour (SSCCL) and controller, Federal Ministry of Labour, Mr. Ogunbiyi Adewole,said the meeting was to validate the final draft on the state action plan on child labour elimination. He noted that the ministry and state government were working with stakeholders to achieve the mandate.

The Secretary, Oyo SSCCL, Marcus Williams, while giving a summary of the State Action Plan (SAP) on child labour, said it provides the roadmap for the National Policy on the Elimination of Child Labour in Oyo State.

He listed the key thematic areas of the plan as policy, legal framework and assessment; child protection; awareness campaign; monitoring and evaluation, among others.

On best practice on child labour elimination, Williams identified gradual integration of victims and rehabilitation as pivotal to the achievement of positive results.

There is a lot that goes into re-integration of victims. Gradual integration is very important in the elimination of child labour. Therefore, stakeholders need to understand the dynamics of gradual integration and must work together in this regard, he added.
Former Kaduna Senator, Shehu Sani has asked President Bola Tinubu to go ahead and probe the administration of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

Sani said Tinubu should ignore Buhari and go ahead with probing the past government and recover looted funds.

He said if the president failed to probe the past government, there would be consequences sooner or later.

The former lawmaker made the call in a tweet on his handle on Thursday.

Sani wrote, Tinubu should ignore Buhari and go ahead and probe the past Government and recover looted funds.

If President Tinubu failed to go after looted funds, looted funds will come after him sooner or later.

Tinubu should ignore Buhari and go ahead and probe the past Government and recover looted funds.If President Tinubu failed to go after looted funds,looted funds will come after him sooner or later.  Senator Shehu Sani (@ShehuSani) June 29, 2023

Recall that a few days ago, a social media report had it that when Buhari and Tinubu met in London last week, the former pleaded with his successor not to probe his cabinet members.

However, Buharis Spokesman, Garba Shehu has since debunked the report and described it as fake.

In other news, Kanyi Daily reported that a French firefighter Jonathan Vero has broken the world record for running the longest distance in full-body burn without oxygen.

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President Bola Tinubu expressed his reliance on the spirit of freedom and determination during his visit to Ogun State, Nigeria. The visit took him to the palaces of Oba Sikiru Adetona, the paramount ruler of Ijebuland, and Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland, in Abeokuta, the state capital. During his interactions, Tinubu shared his experiences leading up to the presidential election held on February 25, 2023.

Despite facing hurdles, Tinubu maintained hope and optimism, believing in his chances of achieving victory. One of the challenges he highlighted was the ineffective implementation of the cashless policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Reflecting on the period leading up to the election, Tinubu recalled his concerns about fund confiscation and the shortcomings of the cashless policy.

During his visit to Oba Adetonas palace, Tinubu sought wisdom and guidance. He invoked the spirits of freedom and determination, symbolized by Emi lokan, in order to overcome the obstacles he faced during the election campaign.

Mike Adenuga, President Bola Tinubu at the palace of the paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona in Ogun State on June 29, 2023. Photo: Nosa Asemota

Addressing the crowd, President Tinubu spoke candidly about the difficulties encountered, stating, Our monies were confiscated. The cashless policy didnt work; it was terrible then. I realized that, I came to Ogun State to invoke the spirit of freedom which we are noted for. He further emphasized the importance of the spirit of Baba Emilokan, known for his bluntness and decisiveness. Tinubu credited this spirit for providing guidance and strength throughout the challenges. Additionally, he underlined his unwavering determination, affirming that the election would proceed and victory would be attained, regardless of financial resources.

President Tinubus visit to Ogun State and his interaction with the revered traditional rulers showcased his resilience and belief in the values of freedom and determination. These qualities, deeply ingrained in the spirit of the Nigerian people, played a significant role in his ability to navigate the obstacles faced during the 2023 presidential election.

As Nigeria continues its democratic journey, the experiences shared by President Tinubu serve as a testament to the strength and determination required to overcome challenges and achieve success in the political landscape.
The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday, hosted President Bola Tinubu at the Lagos House, Marina.

Sanwo-Olu was joined by his predecessors, former governors Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode.

This was the first time since Ambode left office in 2019 that all the four governors of the state since 1999 would be seen together at a public event.

The governor, in his speech, expressed his delight to welcome the President to the place he (Tinubu) calls home.

He lauded the President for the steps taken so far within his first 30 days in office, saying that it was indeed a season of renewed hope.

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Im also proud to say that this is a tenure that began with a promise of change and within a short while, that change were beginning to see.

Mr President, your ascension to the highest office in the land was greeted with great hope and high expectationsand I am proud to say that within a month you have indeed earned your position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, Sanwo-Olu said.

He expressed heartfelt gratitude on behalf of all Lagosians to the President and pledged that Lagos is standing right behind youwe stand in solidarity with your leadership.

Present at the event were the Presidents wife, Oluremi; Vice President Kashim Shettima; Senate President Godswill Akpabio, among other dignitaries.
-We ll work together to make Nigeria work, Tinubu woos governors

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

Former governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, has made a remarkable return to the frontline politics  he (Ambode) broke the jinx on Thursday after meeting President Bola Tinubu in Lagos.

The duo met at a reception organised by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in honour of Tinubu.

Ambodes presence at the event marked the first time he would be visiting Sanwo-Olu at state House since he left office over four years ago as Governor.

Acknowledging Ambodes presence at the event, Tinubu said, . Im glad to see Ambode. Thank you Akin!

The event was held to welcome Tinubu, who was visiting the state for the first time as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the Sallah break.

Tinubu had on Tuesday, returned to Lagos after seven-day trip abroad.

Recall that there were speculations over strained relationship between the incumbent Governor, Sanwo-Olu and his immediate predecessor, Ambode over the controversial manner he (Ambode) was displaced as governor, denying him of a second term in office.

Also, Sanwo-Olu, recently visited Ambode in his Epe residents on the ocassion of his birthday where they exchanged pleasantries.

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The Grand Reception had in attendance prominent personalities, which included: Deputy Governor, Dr Femi Hamzat, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, And Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola and Minister of Works and Housing, former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Business magnate, Aliko Dangote, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, Tajudeen Olusi, chairman Lagos State Governors Advisory Council, GAC. All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftains, among others.

We ll work together to make Nigeria work

Meanwhile, President Tinubu has stressed the need for governors across party lines to work with his administration at the federal level to make Nigeria work again for the upcoming children and future of the country.

Tinubu, while addressing the gathering, expressed his gratitude for the sincere support and trust they reposed in him before, during and after the elections.

According to him, This is a challenging time for us all and we must try our best to change it for the better. All I want to say here today is to say thank you all.

Thank you for spreading the understanding to Nigeria people. On the economy, we need to take the steps to stop the bleeding of our fathers resources and the speedy action on fuel subsidy. We had no choice.

We are re-engineering the economy through effective control management of our resources in order to meet the obligations we owe Nigerians. We are on.

Am assuring you (Governors) that we will be working with all of you and the 25 million Nigerians. We can not afford to go down the lane of being Father Christmas to the neighbouring countries. We cant just afford the fuel subsidy and is eating our foreign exchange, yes we can share our benefits.

Thats why you elected me. you chose me to bring about necessary changes that will benefit not only you but your grandchildren and our tomorrow. We havent started.

We have to re-engineer our fiscal system of the country. We have to practice true federalism. We will work together, run open door policy that will save Nigeria from the brink to a resilient economy.

We have to make Nigeria work again. You will see reward in this country, we will prosper fir the sake of our children and the future of Nigeria. Im glad to see Ambode. Thank you Akin!

Earlier, the President had visited The Awujale of Ijebu Kingdom, Oba Sikiru Adetona and later Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III.
The Kaduna State Police Command has arrested 503 suspects for various degree of offences relating to banditry, cattle rustling, culpable homicide and related crimes.

Spokesman of the state command, DSP Muhammed Jalidge, said that the Command arrested all suspects within the space of one month.

Some of the suspects paraded by the police include Ismail Mohammed of Maijere Village, Saminaka in the Lere local government area of the state, the suspect said to have kidnapped and later killed his brother, Kabiru Mohammed, even after collecting N120,000 as ransom from the family.

The police spokesman said that operatives of the command succeeded in recovering several weapons and cash money from the suspects.

He explained that, The Police Command in its duties of securing the lives and properties of law-abiding citizens of Kaduna State, has succeeded in arresting five Hundred and three (503) suspects for various crimes which include; armed Banditry, armed Robbery, handsets/handbags snatching, cattle rustling, culpable homicide, rape, shop breaking, theft, vandalization of rail tracks and other related crimes.

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The Ogun State police have apprehended a young lady, going by the name Alice, for her alleged involvement in the fatal stabbing of Ayinde Isreal, her married lover. The incident occurred in the Itori Ewekoro area of the state.

According to information gathered by Kanyi Daily, Isreals wife had left for their familys residence to celebrate the Ileya festival, taking their one-year-old child along. Seizing the opportunity, Isreal extended an invitation to his illicit partner, inviting her over to his matrimonial home.

A reliable source disclosed that an argument broke out between the two, escalating to a point where Alice reportedly resorted to using a knife. Tragically, Isreal sustained a fatal stab wound to his neck during the altercation, which transpired on the evening of Tuesday, June 27.

The gentleman was married, and his wife had departed for his familys home to celebrate the Ileya festival. However, on the very same day, he brought his side chick to their marital residence, the source revealed.

He and the side chick encountered issues, leading to the girl stabbing him in the neck. We rushed him to two different hospitals, but unfortunately, he succumbed to his injuries, the source added.

Presently, the suspect is in custody at the Ifo police station in Ogun State, as investigations into the incident are underway. The tragic event has left the community in shock, as residents grapple with the disturbing news of a life lost in a domestic dispute.

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By Joshua Chibuzo Andrew, Owerri

Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Samuel Nnaemeka Anyanwu has appealed to his Aides and members of the party not to insult those that left PDP in pursuit of personal gains.

Anyanwu said that by consistently writing or speaking against them on the media, those absconded from the party would be feeling some signs of relevance when in actuality, they are not.

He said that what would be of importance to them is how members of the party could be in unity with all members including aggrieved ones.

The party Governorship flag bearer gave this charge Thursday while addressing Ward Chairmen, Women/Youth Leaders, LGA Chairmen and zonal Vice Chairmen of PDP from across the 305 Wards, 27 local governments and three political zones in the state at his campaign office, along Okigwe Road, Owerri.

According to Anyanwu, what every genuine member of the PDP should do now is to sensitize the public on the need to embrace the party as part of efforts to make Imo Safe again.

Anyanwu further told them that his reason to contest the number one position in the state was to secure every component parts of Imo state from the stranglehold of insecurity and ensures that the people who are already on exile return back to their respective homes.

While commending the partys reconciliation committee chairman, Hon Bonny Ebili for working assiduously to unite party members, also maintained that his efforts to make PDP one formidable family will never be overemphasized.

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Akinwunmi Ambode, the former governor of Lagos state, has made a remarkable return to frontline politics.

He broke the jinx on Thursday after meeting with President Bola Tinubu in Lagos. The meeting took place at a reception organized by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in honor of Tinubu.

This marked the first time Ambode visited Sanwo-Olu at the state house since he left office over four years ago.

Tinubu acknowledged Ambodes presence at the event and expressed his gladness to see him.

The event was held to welcome Tinubu, who was visiting the state for the first time as the President of Nigeria.

There were speculations of a strained relationship between Sanwo-Olu and Ambode due to the controversial manner in which Ambode was displaced as governor.

However, recent visits and exchanges of pleasantries between the two suggest a possible reconciliation.

The grand reception had several prominent personalities in attendance, including Deputy Governor Dr. Femi Hamzat, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and business magnate Aliko Dangote.

President Tinubu emphasized the need for governors across party lines to work with his administration at the federal level to make Nigeria work again for the future of the country.

He expressed gratitude for the support and trust given to him before, during, and after the elections and highlighted the importance of re-engineering the economy and practicing true federalism.

Tinubu assured the governors that they would work together to save Nigeria from economic challenges and make the country prosperous for the sake of future generations.

By Popular Demand . Former Governor @AkinwunmiAmbode greets Mr President @officialABAT ..  pic.twitter.com/7akGqft7iB  Jubril A. Gawat (@Mr_JAGs) June 29, 2023

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Nollywood actor, Yul Edochie has reacted to the drama trailing Afrobeats superstar, Davido and his alleged baby mamas.

KanyiDaily recalls that an American lady, Anita Brown, also known as Ninatheelite, recently accused Davido of impregnating her and asking her to get rid of the unborn child.

Another French lady, Ivanna Bay also accused Davido of getting her pregnant while expressing her disappointment after finding out that she was not the only woman carrying his child.

Reacting via his Instagram page, Yul Edochie expressed a sentiment that no one is inherently better or holier than anyone else, as everyone hides their flaws while silently judging him.

The actor, who has been under criticism since he cheated on his wife, May Edochie, with actress Judy Austin, wrote, Nobody good pass, nobody holy pass Everybody just hide their own, dey judge me since.

Meanwhile, Nigerian Journalist, Kemi Olunloyo claimed that Chioma Rowland has been hospitalized because she is battling serious depression over Davidos alleged infidelity.

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President Bola Tinubu-led government has reportedly lifted the ban on the importation of vehicles through land borders.

KanyiDaily recalls that the previous President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had closed the land borders between Nigeria and Cotonou, Benin Republic, and subsequently prohibited the importation of vehicles through that route.

However, Ibrahim Musa, the Director of Road Transport in the Ministry of Transportation, announced that the federal government has approved the reopening of the Seme border for vehicle imports.

According to Daily Trust, Musa made this disclosure during an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting between officials from Nigeria and Benin.

The decision to lift the ban was prompted by complaints from freight forwarders who operate at the border, and the development is expected to have a positive impact on economic activities in the region.

During a visit by the ECOWAS Monitoring Team to the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post, Musa said, I was here with the former minister of state for transportation when the freight forwarders pleaded that the border should be reactivated for the free movement of goods and services.

The former minister made us prepare a memo to that effect. It was considered and sent to the government.

The Customs Area Controller of Seme Border Command, Dera Nnadi, also commented on the development, noting that the revenue of the service had decreased since the ban on vehicle imports through land borders was implemented.

KanyiDaily recalls that the President Bola Tinubu-led Government had also introduced a new fee of N1,000 to be paid annually by all motorists for the verification of their Proof of Ownership Certificate (POC).

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By Uche Nworah, Ph.D

If you believe that the long vehicular convoy seen in a viral video is actually that of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as alleged, then you will believe anything.

I am not the Presidential spokesperson, neither am I the spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress. I am making this intervention as a concerned member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who watched the same video like everyone else.

Social media false flags have helped in making some Nigerians very gullible. The President was returning to Lagos after trips to Paris and London for a planned welcome reception (home coming) by the Lagos state government. Lagos being his home, and a state where he once governed, it was natural that the state government, the political party APC and the Presidents friends, associates and family members mobilised (as we say in politics) for his grand return. It was just nothing but show of political and grassroots strength in Lagos, the Presidents home base. Party and family members, Lagos government officials and associates of the President deployed their personal vehicles to join the convoy. There is nothing to this, really. Just storm in a tea cup!

Uche Nworah, Ph.D is the National Secretary and Director of Media of APC South-East Strategic Engagement Forum (ASESEF)

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By Izunna Okafor, Awka

It was a moment of panegyrics, as people from all works of life gathered to bid the last farewell to the former Dean of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and Pioneer Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Awka, Late Archbishop Maxwell Chukwunweike Samuel Anikwenwa.

The Eucharistic burial service, which held at the St. Faiths Cathedral, Awka, Anambra State capital on Thursday, was presided over by the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, His Grace, Most Rev. Henry Ndukuba, with over over fifty Bishops and clergymen from different dioceses across Nigeria and dignitaries present to honour the Late Archbishop of the Province of the Niger.

Speaking at event, Most Rev. Ndukuba described Late Anikwenwa as a selfless, humble, and principled servant of God who devoted his time, intellect and resources to the service of God till death.

While highlighting the various achievements and attributes of the late Archbishop that stood him out, he further noted that the deceased was always punctual at events, even as he also recounted his numerous legacies in the church, community leadership and nation building.

Archbishop Anikwenwa loved God and his people. He lived life of sacrifice and servanthood. He cherished Church Missionary Society (CMS) and Anglican heritage.

He was a good team player, invested in people, and left indelible legacies. As a good soldier that fought till the end, hes looking forward for the eternal reward, incorruptible crown, he Primate Ndukuba said.

On his own part, the Labour Party Presidential Candidate for the 2023 General Election, Mr. Peter Obi, described late Anikwenwa as a true servant of God who also contributed immensely in nation building through his selfless service to God and humanity.

He said, Archbishop Anikwenwa was not only a pastor of God. He was a great Nigerian who contributed meaningfully beyond his pastoral work of God in building a better Nigeria.

If you know him well, hes involved in advocating for a better Nigeria, good governance and everything. He was a great Nigerian, a great Igbo man. And, for me, I had even expected much more than what is happening here today, he said.

Earlier in his sermon, the newly-elected Dean of Church of Nigeria and Archbishop of the Niger Delta Province, Archbishop Blessing Enyindah who hailed the life of Anikwenwa, comforted the mourners over the demise of the Archbishop, while urging them to keep their trust in God as the disciples of Christ did when he was departing.

Archbishop Enyindah, who recounted the hardship and challenges that confront Nigerians today, also advised them to remain faithful to God in the Christian race, while also assuring them that God sees both in the open and in the secret, and will surely reward everyone accordingly.

Also speaking, the Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, represented by his deputy, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, reiterated his administrations stand advocacy for ecumenism, which, he said, Archbishop Anikwenwa also exemplified and propagated during his lifetime.

He further commiserated with the family of the late Archbishop, while also encouraging them to take solace in the fact that the deceased lived a good life, served God and humanity well, and left indelible legacies.

In a vote of thanks, the Archbishop of the Province of the Niger and Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of f Awka, Archbishop Alexander Ibezim also testified of Pa Anikwenwas outstanding lifestyle, and equally recalled his conversation and encounter with him before his death, during which he handed some important documents over to him.

Archbishop Ibezim, who thanked God for Pa Anikwenwas life and the success of his burial; and also appreciated every individual, group and association who attended or contributed in one way or the other to the success of the burial; while also praying God to bless and reward them abundantly.

Former Governor of Anambra State, Dame Virginia Etiaba; the Senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial Zone, Senator Victor Umeh; the Speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze; the State Chief Judge, Justice Onochie Anyachebelu; among other dignitaries were also present at the event.

Archbishop Anikwenwa, an Anglican prelate, was born in Anambra State in 1940, and educated at Trinity Theological College, Umuahia.

He was ordained Deacon in 1964 and Priest in December 1966. He served in Onitsha and Freetown. He was appointed the first Bishop of Awka in 1987. He was made Archbishop of the Niger in 2000. He was also Dean of the Church of Nigeria.

He retired as Bishop of Awka, Archbishop of the Niger and Dean of the Church on 22 November 2010.

Anikwenwa died on March 13, 2023, at the age of 83.

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By Izunna Okafor, Awka

The leadership of Abba Community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra have raised an alarm over the unannounced whisking away of an indigene the community, Chief Pius Nweke, from the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS), Onitsha Correctional Centre, where he was remanded, to an unknown destination.

The President-General of the Abba Town Union (A.T.U.), Mr. Ekwuagana Alexander, raised the alarm in a press release issued to newsmen in Awka, in which he also noted that the indigenes disappearance from the correctional center had constituted a serious source of worry to the family and the entire Community.

The PG went memory lane to narrate the circumstances surrounding Chief Nwekes conviction, and how he was recently transferred from Awka Correctional Centre to Onitsha Correctional Centre on the approval of the court. He also narrated how he was eventually whisked away from the Onitsha Correctional Centre on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, by a group of armed persons led by the Controller of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Awka Correctional Centre, Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick.

He further lamented that Chief Nweke, who is also an industrialist and MD/CEO of the Best Aluminum Manufacturing Company, had earlier been denied access to his family, friends, personal physician, and legal practitioners while he was at the Onitsha Correctional Centre.

While noting that the torments Chief Nweke was subjected to and his recent transfer from the correctional centre to an unknown destination may not be unconnected with the age-old land dispute between Abba Community and Ukpo community; the PG, in the press release, further speculated that the Controller of the Correctional Centre, Mr. Patrick who led and videotaped the operation, might have been working as a paid agent of person(s) from Ukpo Community who are working behind the scene to see that Chief Pius Nweke dies in custody so that they can take the said disputed land, having seen Nweke as one of the frontline helpers of his Abba community in the litigations affecting the land.

He also warned that the Nigerian Correctional Centre should be held responsible if anything happens to Chief Nweke.

Titled Whisking Away of Chief Pius Nweke (Ikemba): The Nigeria Correctional Service Is to Be Held Responsible Should Anything Untoward Happen to Him, the statement read fully:

On Tuesday, 27th June 2023, a group of armed personnel led by the Controller of the Nigerian Correctional Service Awka Correctional Centre, Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick purportedly acting on the instructions of the Controller-General of the Nigeria Correctional Service whisked away Chief Pius Nweke (an Abba son and the holder of the title of Ikemba of Abba Town) from the Onitsha Correctional Centre where he is an inmate to a destination yet to be established.

Preliminary inquiries suggest that Chief Pius Nweke may be on his way to Kuje Correctional Centre, FCT Abuja and the reason for this sudden movement is yet not clear. Since he was whisked away, the members of the family of Chief Pius Nweke, his lawyers, friends and well-wishers have not been able to establish contact with him.

It is recalled that the Federal High Court, Awka presided over by Honourable Justice Dr. Nnamdi O. Dimgba had on 14th June 2023 sentenced Chief Pius Nweke (Ikemba) to ten (10) years imprisonment with an option of Thirty Million Naira (N30,000,000) fine for the offence of unlawful possession of a firearm and another three (3) months imprisonment without option of fine for the offence of unlawful possession of ammunition which sentencing was preceded by an earlier conviction of Chief Pius Nweke.

Subsequent to the conviction of Chief Pius Nweke, the trial court revoked his bail and remanded him at the Correctional Centre Awka to await the sentencing hearing scheduled at a later date by the Honourable Court.

In the meantime, an application made on notice to the prosecution, filed on the 2nd day of June 2023 and seeking the relief of the Court for the transfer of Chief Pius Nweke from the Nigerian Correctional Service Correctional Centre Awka to Nigerian Correctional Service Correctional Centre Onitsha upon materials in the affidavit in support of the application including consideration about his health, the trial Court graciously granted the application of Chief Pius Nweke on the 7th day of June 2023 and this was without any objection by the prosecution. This order of the Honourable Court was served on the Controller, Correctional Centre, Awka on the 8th day of June 2023.

As a consequence, after the sentencing of Chief Pius Nweke on 14th June 2023, he was taken straight to the Correctional facility at Onitsha consistent with the subsisting order of the court for his transfer to the facility.

While Chief Pius Nweke was an inmate in the Correctional facility at Awka, the Controller, Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick was wont to deny Chief Pius Nweke access to family, friends, personal physician and legal practitioners claiming that he was acting on superior orders.

It is instructive that the Controller of the Correctional Centre Awka, Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick to the best of our knowledge does not have a previous personal relationship with Chief Pius Nweke.

This circumstance gives us reason to believe that he is and has been working as a paid agent of the person(s) from the Ukpo community working behind the scene to see that Chief Pius Nweke dies in custody so that they can take the large parcel of Agu Abba land belonging to Abba community which Chief Pius Nweke is one of the frontline helpers of his Abba community in the litigations affecting the land.

Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick was not pleased or in fact, incensed by the order of the court granting the transfer of Chief Pius Nweke from the Nigerian Correctional Service Correctional Centre Awka to the Nigerian Correctional Service Correctional Centre Onitsha that he refused to comply with the order from the day the order was served on him. Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick appeared determined to set himself on a collision course with the court order if not for the intervention of the sentencing hearing that cropped up whereupon Chief Nweke was moved to the Correctional facility at Onitsha on commitment and in compliance with the order to the disappointment of Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick.

It was therefore not a surprise that Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick personally led the operation of the transfer of Chief Pius Nweke from the Correctional Centre at Onitsha to God knows where. Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick was seen taking pictures of the inmate movement of Chief Pius Nweke which he will send to his sponsors for more reward.

We are minded to wonder what could have otherwise motivated the top management of the Nigeria Correctional Service to have acted so brazenly and without regard to the subsisting order of the Federal High Court, Awka which in clear and uncertain terms had commanded the transfer of Chief Nweke from Awka to the Correctional facility at Onitsha.

Where the Correctional Service is not agreeable to an order of the court on the place of custody of an inmate, the Service is under obligation in line with the rule of law to approach the court for a review of its order instead of acting in a manner capable of undermining the rule of law, the foundation of our democracy by their transferring Chief Nweke outside its Onitsha facility when it has not been established that Chief Nweke was unruly or security risk to the Custodial Centre.

If Chief Nweke was neither unruly, troublesome nor a security risk what could have prompted Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick to procure the Controller-General of the Nigeria Correctional Service to DECREE his transfer without regard to his health which was one of the reasons for the order of the Federal High Court if not to please his paymasters, jeopardize the health of Chief Nweke and possibly bring about his death? We have it on good authority that Mr. Chukwuemeka was fully mobilized by the Ukpo community to do this hatchet job.

The travails of Chief Pius Nweke (Ikemba) and the people of the Abba community are not unconnected with their Agu Abba land dispute which the Ukpo community joined in 1985 as a party.

When the matter started before the Nigerian civil war, the dispute was between the Abba and Ukwulu Communities. Then, the Ukpo community testified in favour of the Ukwulu community and Ukwulu lost. The case had to start all over after the war because the judgment delivered some days after Biafra had been declared was nullified by a decree of the Federal Government.

The men and women of the Abba community have become endangered species when they rejected a monetary offer coming from Prince Arthur Eze to forego their patrimony. Ever since June 2019, various institutions and apparatus of Government both at the State and Federal levels have been deployed to subjugate, victimize, intimidate, and harass men and women of the Abba community to stampede and pressure them to abandon their quest to reclaim their ancestral home.

Many have been locked up in police custody in Awka and Abuja; some have been charged to different Courts in Anambra State on trumped-up charges. The Abba community market and farmlands have been overrun with the popular Abba Junction being renamed with the complicity of State Government officials. Even the name Abba was not allowed to appear in the State Government mounted signposts to indicate direction to Abba homeland.

In 2021, the President General of Abba Town Union was abducted in his office by men later identified as officers of the former SARS, Awkuzu. He was kept in the custody of SARS and later Custodial Centre Onitsha for a cumulative period of 82 days.

The Abba community where Chief Nweke hails from is deeply worried that the life of Chief Pius Nweke is in grave danger by the undue interest of the top management of the Nigeria Correctional Centre and Mr. Chukwuemeka Patrick in particular in this matter. The constant attacks on Chief Pius Nweke are to subdue him to bow before a Pharaoh having been thought to be the arrowhead of the opposition of the Abba community in the litigations for the defence of their ancestral home.

Chief Pius Nweke, even at the time of his conviction, and for more than forty years before his conviction, is a well-known industrialist who has in his employ, over 1,500 staff, with many people under his scholarship programme.

He is the Managing Director of Best Aluminum Manufacturing Company Ltd  a foremost Aluminum Manufacturing Company east of Niger. He is happily married with children and has an aged mother to look after.

We want the world to be notified that the Nigerian Correctional Service is to be held responsible for any ill health, impairment or death happening to Chief Pius Nweke (Ikemba).

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By Izunna Okafor, Awka

The Labour Party Presidential Candidate for the 2023 Nigeria General Election, Mr. Peter Obi, has advocated for the spirit of sacrifice and exemplary leadership among public office holders in the country.

Obi stated this on Thursday while fielding questions from newsmen at the burial service of former Dean of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and former Archbishop of the Province of the Niger, Late Archbishop Maxwell Chukwunweike Samuel Anikwenwa, which held at the St. Faiths Cathedral, Awka, Anambra State capital.

The LP presidential candidate described the late Archbishop as a true servant of God who made great sacrifices, led by example, and contributed immensely in nation building through his selfless service to God and humanity.

He said, Archbishop Anikwenwa was not only a pastor of God. He was a great Nigerian who contributed meaningfully beyond his pastoral work of God in building a better Nigeria.

If you know him well, hes involved in advocating for a better Nigeria, good governance and everything. He was a great Nigerian, a great Igbo man. And, for me, I had even expected much more than what is happening here today, he said.

Obi who attested that Nigerians are suffering, further harped on the need for public office holders to uphold the spirit of sacrifice, lead by example, and be at the forefront of the suffering in the country.

He said, The present Nigeria requires that all those who serve and lead must do so by example.

The behavior, character and public conduct must be in consonance with what society requires today. We cannot continue to preach for people to sacrifice without sacrificing.

The sacrifice must now start from the leaders, visibly, measurably at all times, because the people are suffering; and we must now be at the forefront of the suffering.

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The PUNCH reports that Point of Sale agents in Lagos State are set to increase their rates.

The agents will soon begin to charge customers N500 for N10,000 cash withdrawals.

This is after the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, announced a new price list for PoS transactions on Channels Televisions Business Morning programme by the Public Relations Officer, Lagos Chapter, Stephen Adeoye, on Friday.

According to him, the associations price list is to eradicate price discrepancies in the industry.

He said, Let me tell you the price list, N1000N2,400 will be N100 for withdrawal. N3500 to N4000 will be N200; N4,100 to N6,400 will be N300; N6,500 to N7,900 will be N400; N8500 to N10,900 will be N500; N11,000 to N14,000 will be N600; N14,500 to N17,900 will be N700; N18,000 to N2000 will N800 for withdrawal.

Like we said, depending on your location, you can also step it down for people depending on the circumstances. But it should not go more than this.

He further stated that for deposits and transfers, agents can now charge N100 for N1,000 to N4,900; N200 for N5000 to N10,900; N300 for N11,000 to N20,900; N400 got N21,000 to N30,900; N500 for N31,000 to N40,000; and N600 for N41,100 to N50,000.

Adeoye said the chairman of the Lagos chapter of the association, David Abiodun, recently released the new price list to excos at a symposium. He noted that the purpose of the list was to curb the activities of agents that were still overcharging their customers.

He said, Although, we agreed that depending on ones area, they can lower the charges. But it should exceed these new prices. This is why we expect everyone to paste it in their locations so that customers can see it.

Commenting on how the association intends to enforce its price list, the PRO states that it will leverage its relationship with the police and a task force in their area of operations.

Adeoye explained, To enforce this new price list is easy because we have a good relationship with the Lagos State Command, Police Force, and all the DPOs in the area. Very soon a task force will be set up in each zone so that they will work along with it.



Today, someone can get a PoS and start working, but we would soon get to everyone. Registered members have a number and certificate, and we have a good collaboration with the CBN both in Lagos and in Abuja. AMMBAN is part of meetings around financial inclusion.



So, enforcing this will be easy for us. We have zones in almost all the local governments. So, our task force in each zone will locate those who are there. We also have our website, and everyone has to register.

In January, National President, AMMBAN, Victor Olojo, told The PUNCH that the association did not have any plans to increase its service charges. In February, the Central Bank of Nigeria released emergency telephone numbers where Nigerians could report PoS agents charging above N200 for withdrawal of amounts up to N10,000.
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has warned the federal government that more multinational companies will leave the country if the proposed hike in electricity tariff is implemented.

President of MAN, Francis Meshioye, who gave the warning while speaking to newsmen, noted that some international manufacturing firms had already exited the country due to the harsh operating environment including power crisis, adding that any further hike in tariff would lead to an exodus of companies, and thus called on the government to reconsider the move.

Recall that various public notices from some of the electricity distribution companies, DisCos, had stated that the electricity tariff would be raised by about 30 to 40 per cent for selected categories of consumers with effect from July 1, 2023.

They have, however, backtracked on their earlier announcement of a tariff hike, stating that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had yet to approve the hike.

Meshioye stated: In every system theres always a core structure and this includes the elements that make up the total cost spent in generating your revenue. Now, what we experience as manufacturers is that energy cost is a major cost in processing our products.

The downsizing of businesses in Nigeria, for instance, shows that businesses are not doing very well. So this power issue and other things have made some manufacturers, particularly international businessmen to relocate from Nigeria to other countries.

Therefore anything to reduce this energy cost will be very beneficial both to manufacturers and the masses in general. So it (power) is a high cost to us, and a major driver in terms of cost. At the same time, it could lead to other things.

It is one of the things that make some manufacturers to seek to move their business to another region and site their factories there. It is not the only reason, but, of course, it is one of the major ones.

On other reasons that might make manufacturers to exit Nigeria, Meshioye said: We have the unpredictability of the foreign exchange rate. In a business model, the more predictable the forex, the better you are. But the availability of the forex itself is another thing. All these are problems that border manufacturers.
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The Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) has directed telecommunications companies in Nigeria to deactivate phone lines unused for six consecutive months for Revenue Generating Event (RGE).

The commission gave the directive in a customer guideline document titled: Draft Quality of Service Business Rules, released to network providers to improve customer experience.

The document was made available to journalists on Friday.

The document read: A subscriber line may be deactivated if it has not been used, within six months, for a Revenue Generating Event (RGE), and If the situation persists for another six months the subscriber may lose their number, except for a network-related fault inhibiting an RGE.

READ ALSO: NAEng honours NCC with platinum award for performance

The NCC also ordered the telecommunications companies to ensure customers in their walk-in centres were attended to within 30 minutes. It also reviewed the wait time for customers on a helpline to five minutes.

For customer care centres, waiting time to be physically attended to by relevant staff at customer care centres is 30 minutes.

The licensee shall provide means of measuring the waiting time, starting from the time of arrival at the premises. Lines should not be more than three times; maximum number of rings before a call is answered by either an IVR machine or a live agent should not be more than five; and where a customer decides to speak to a live agent, the maximum duration allowable on the queue/IVR should be 5 minutes before answer.

READ ALSO: NCCs Danbatta urges global investors to seize opportunities in Nigerias thriving telecom sector

Lines should not be more than three times; maximum number of rings before a call is answered by either an IVR machine or a live agent should not be more than five; and where a customer decides to speak to a live agent, the maximum duration allowable on the queue/IVR should be 5 minutes before answer.

However, in exceptional cases where a live agent may be unavailable within five minutes to answer the call, a customer should be given an option to hang up to be called back within a maximum time of 30 minutes.

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Customer care lines that can be accessible through 21 free access numbers and if 1 number then it should accommodate multiple other network calls at the same time, it added.
Victor-Bryan Nwala

A Nigerian doctor, Victor-Bryan Nwala has taken to social media to enlighten the public on the dangers of using saliva during s*xual intercourse.

This has sparked interactions on social media with the headmasters expressing their displeasure due to the dangers they could be exposed to.

He wrote;

The bacteria in saliva are very different than the bacteria in your vagina, Saliva also contains digestive enzymes that break down food. When you introduce these bacteria and enzymes into your vagina.

The result can upset your vaginal microbiome and leave you susceptible to developing a yeast infection or bacterial vaginosis.

Any STI in the throat or mouth can be transmitted to the genitals through saliva, In other words, if your partner has an active herpes lesion for example, using their spit to make things slick could leave you with genital herpes.

This scenario happens more than you might thinkand its the most common way genital herpes is contracted. Even if you dont see a cold sore on or around their mouth, the virus can still be transmissible.

Herpes can present with blisters or sores, but it can also present asymptomatically,.

Herpes isnt the only oral STI you could contract. Gonorrhea, chlamydia, HPV, syphilis, and trichomoniasis can also all be transmitted to the genitals through saliva, And like herpes, these infections may not have any symptoms.

Using saliva as lube provides a perfect storm to alter the vaginal or anal ecosystem enough to trigger one of these infections,.
Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed has submitted names of 9 commissioners to the House of Assembly for confirmation.

Among those on the list is the former Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, Dr Ladan Salihu, who is from Bauchi Local Government.

Salihu, who is also a temporary spokesperson to the governor, disclosed the list of nominees on his official Facebook page on Thursday.

According to him, the commissioner- nominees will be screened by lawmakers before are assigned portfolios.

The Nation gathered that this is the first batch of the nominees while 11 more are expected to be nominated subsequently by the governor.

READ ALSO: Bauchi Governor swears in 20 LG Caretaker Chairmen

Mr. Salihu, formerly Zonal Director, Kaduna Zonal station of Radio Nigeria, was appointed Director General in February 2014 by the then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

Also on the list is Alh Nura Manu Soro, a philanthropist from Ganjuwa Local Government in Bauchi state, who recently set up a 100 million Scholarship fund scheme as part of efforts in reducing the rate of out-of-school children in the state under his charity organisation (Nura Manu foundation).

Others are: Prof. Adamu Ahmad (Ningi Local Government); Pharmacist Samaila Burga (Tafawa Balewa Local Government) and Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki (Warji Local Government).

Also nominated were Hon. Auwal Jatau (Zaki Local Government); Muhammad Sadiq (Dass Local Government); Abdulkadir Muhammed (Chika Soro Alkaleri Local Government) and Hajiya Hajara from Itas/Gajara Itas from Itas/Gadau Local Government.




President Muhammadu Buhari

Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday said people killing others while shouting Allahu Akbar are wicked and are not Muslims.

Buhari, who spoke when he visited Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in eight local governments of Katsina State who were displaced by armed banditry, commiserated with the victims.

Buhari was at the camp to sympathise with the victims from Batsari, Safana, Danmusa, Kankara, Jibiya, Sabuwa, Faskari and Dandume local government areas.

According to him, All those whose activities is to kill people and saying Allahu Akbar are lying because God is not wicked. You cant carry bomb or gun, sword or knife to go and kill innocent somebody and say Allahu Akbar. This implies that you either dont believe in God or you dont know what you are saying.

There is a popular Hausa adage which says its the rat in the house that tells the rat outside that there is fish in the house, so within yourselves, your neighbours and even your relatives there are informants.

I am here to sympathize with the entire people of the state over the unfortunate incidents that have been claiming lives of innocent people, he said.

The president said that the bandits that have been killing people should not claim to be true Muslims.

Islam did not give individuals the right to kill others without following due process in the court of law.

The Federal and states government will do everything possible to eradicate all forms of insecurity in the nation as soldiers and police have been given all the necessary support by the government.

We are doing our best to checkmate the activities of armed bandits and insurgents in the country.

Earlier, Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina said: We have assembled some of the victims, and their representative comprising their traditional, religious and community leader before the president.

The communities living along the fringes of Rugu Forest across these eight LGAs had to contend with series of recurring incidents of armed bandits, he said.

In his remarks, the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir, called on the rural people not to hoard informations about the bandits.

Kabir advised the rural people to always pass information about the armed bandits to their traditional rulers or the security agencies for action.

Eight local government areas of the state had been experiencing the activities of armed bandits and cattle rustlers for the past two years.
Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), retired Col. Hammed Ali, says the closure of Nigerias borders by Federal Government was undertaken to strengthen the nations security and protect its economic interests.

Ali speaking during a meeting with border stakeholders, comprising freight forwarders and security agencies at Seme, said that the closure was not intended to hurt anyone but to protect the nations interests.

Ali was accompanied at the meeting by Nigerias Ambassador to Benin Republic, Kayode Oguntuase, Comptroller General Immigration, Mohammed Babandede and Brig. Gen. E.A Ndagi, Coordinator of Joint Border Security Exercise, among others.

The NCS boss said that lots of things had gone wrong regarding compliance with transit of goods, adding that the border closure was to ensure that things were streamlined so that all stakeholders could be back to doing the right things.

The idea is to ensure that the protocol that is involved in transit of goods and trade facilitation is adhered to so that we will all live and complement each other.

The operation is undertaken to ensure that we get things back in perspective; we know the right thing, it is well written, we are all aware of it, we used to practise it, so we must go back to that.

Ali said that the freight forwarders were critical stakeholders at the borders and urged them to ensure compliance with the rules regarding transit of goods.

We cannot do business without you but compliance is lacking between you and our officers. Most of the things we do, we dont comply with rules and thats why we end up with weapons, Tramadol that killed our children.

We end up with ammunition that bandits use to kill our people; we dont manufacture ammunition in this country, if we do it is only from one source and that source is well protected and documented.

But today, we have seen many of this ammunition in Nigeria, where are they coming from.

They have compromised with some of us and some of you and I say to our officers; that weapons, that bullets you facilitate in transiting into Nigeria, you dont know who will take it.

The bandits, the armed robbers had no choice, your mother, my children, your sisters might be shot by that weapon, the customs boss said.

He called for support and cooperation of the stakeholders to ensure the nation is protected.

We need your support, we need your cooperation and understanding, our national interest is over and above any issue, he said.

The joint-border security exercise, code-named Ex-Swift Response, which was ordered by the Federal Government, commenced on Aug. to secure Nigerias land and maritime borders.

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The Nigerian Army said it has recruited 5,000 soldiers to strengthen the fight against insecurity in the country.

Abayomi Olonisakin, Chief of Defence Staff, disclosed this at the passing out ceremony of the new soldiers.

Olonisakin assured Nigerians that the military will not rest until the country was safe from threats of Boko Haram terrorists, armed bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements.

He also gave an assurance that the security challenges the country is currently facing will soon be a thing of the past.

He said, Nigeria is currently facing numerous security challenges occasioned by activities of Boko Haram terrorists, armed bandits, kidnappers and other criminal elements.

But I wish to state that these security challenges will soon come to an end as we will not rest.

Today marks yet another chapter in the history of this great institution and the country in general.

I am glad that depot Nigerian Army has continued to evolve innovative ways of improving the standard in the training of personnel for the Nigerian Army.
There will be no military lockdown of Nigeria on Friday as being reported by some media platforms, as part of measures to contain coronavirus epidemic, the Army has said.

Col. Sagir Musa, acting Director Army Public Relations, described the reports as false and misleading.

The reports were designed by certain mischievous elements to create chaos, panic and disaffection in the society, Musa said.

He said the document quoted was a proactive directive for the Nigerian army to prepare for possible escalation of the COVID -19 based on the happenings around the world on the pandemic.

He said the promoters of the reports had some ulterior motives.

The misinterpretation that government is locking down the entire country and pulling out the army by Friday, March 27, is utterly false and bias, the NA considers the publication and negative interpretation being given the content of the classified document containing information meant for the army personnel as a violation of the Official Secret Act.

Musa gave the assurance that the Nigerian army would continue to be professional, proactive and responsive in support of the constitution, democracy and government.

He said this will be in line with its constitutional mandate of providing aid to civil authority.

The mischief of some unpatriotic few will not dissuade the Nigerian Army from working with sister services, the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to keep Nigeria safe, he said.
Bishop Ignatius Kaigama

Bishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja Catholic Diocese has said that the Coronavirus pandemic has reduced humanity to the same level, Vanguard reports.

The disease has reduced us to one level. The mighty and small nations have all been reduced to the same level with all feeling the hit and unable to do much about it, Kaigama said on Sunday, while addressing newsmen after celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass.

The Mass was celebrated in an empty Church after the few members that turned up for Service were asked to leave the Church following governments order banning any gathering.

The measure is part of the efforts to contain the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic ravaging several parts of the world.

Kaigama, while lamenting the hardship humanity was going through as a result of the disease, said that it had forced humanity to see everyone as equal and helpless without God, the creator.



The pandemic has taught us that we must come together to conquer the ills of the society.

All nations, big or small, developed and undeveloped, poor and rich, have seen that technology cannot do much. Everyone is running from pillar to post in search of safety.

Clearly, it is a new beginning for humanity. It means we must return to the golden rule of love and respect for one another. Above all, it has shown that God is on the throne and all must return to Him, he said.

Kaigama commended the Federal Government for putting in place measures to contain the disease, but urged handlers of palliative measures to ensure they reached the poor, the hungry and the helpless.

He particularly advised those saddled with sharing items meant for the vulnerable people against the temptation to seek to gain from the global misfortune.



It should never be about what we can gain from the situation. It should be about what we can contribute to the system, he said.

The Archbishop also urged Nigerians to obey the stay-at-home order of the Federal Government.



No one should dare the government. No one should accuse government of being harsh because it has locked up the cities. All the measures are for the safety of all and we should be seen as being respectful of constituted authority, he said.

He urged Christians to pray for an end to the scourge and urged those saddled with implementing the lockdown order to handle Nigerians with respect and civility.

Security personnel should not intimidate people on the highway. There should be no extortion, he said.

Kaigama commended the media for leading the fight against the spread of the virus, saying that the sacrifices of newsmen had made them a great asset to the country.



The media has remained our great bridge, getting relevant and authentic information to link those at home with those on the field in the collective war against the pandemic.

God will continue to bless the journalists and strengthen them in their roles of building a strong society fortified with the right information to make informed decisions, he said.

The Bishop also prayed God to reward and bless medical workers who were sacrificing their comfort, and even lives, to give professional help to the sick in the fight to rid Nigeria of the pandemic.

He challenged Nigerians to trust and rely on God, at this critical time.



Even though it is a tragedy, this period is also a providential one in the sense that we are learning to trust God and rely on Him more than before.

God has the final word, not man, whether he be president or a well-endowed scientist. Man cannot be omnipotent as God. If we served God partially, haphazardly or indifferently in the past, we must develop a much deeper spiritual communion in the solitude of our homes, he said.




The Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje has made public, more information about the identity of the states index coronavirus case.

The Governor disclosed that the infected person is a 75-year-old retired civil servant and former Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

As previously reported by Naija News, Kano State on Saturday, reported its first confirmed case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) infection.

Giving further updates on the development, Governor Ganduje disclosed that the state government took the blood samples of 10 suspected cases to Abuja three days ago in which nine came out negative, while that of the former Ambassador was positive.

He is a 75-year-old retiree and former Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He travelled to Kaduna, Lagos and Abuja, and came back to Kano on 25 March, 2020, Ganduje stated.

The Governor further added that, today, it is confirmed that we have a case of COVID-19 in Kano.

The former Ambassador has no history of travelling abroad in recent times, but medical reports confirmed that he has health complications.

The patient has already been taken to Kurna Dawakin Kudu Isolation Centre where he is receiving adequate attention.

Speaking further on measures put in place by the government to contain and manage the disease, the Governor, who spoke at the Government House, ordered that tricycles in the state will henceforth be allowed to carry only one passenger as part of measures to prevent the escalation and further spread of the virus.

In his words, Indeed, it is a sad moment for us. This is an occasion that we are not happy with. I am unhappy to inform the people of Kano State that today (Saturday), we got a patient who tested positive for COVID-19.

Ganduje confirmed the state has adequate facilities to manage the situation and efforts have been activated to trace all those that might have had contact with the index case.

There in kurna Dawakin Kudu, we have 70 beds, ventilators and other facilities. What we are doing now is to trace those he has contacts with.

We learnt that he attended a marriage ceremony, we are trying to get those who he had contacts with at the marriage ceremony. We also learnt that he attended Mosque last Friday, we are also tracing those who had contacts with him.

He also confirmed that a Private Hospital where the former Ambassador had gone for normal treatment before he was found to be COVID-19 positive has been shut down and all contacts traced.

He urged members of the public to adhere strictly to directives as given by the health experts to contain further spread of the coronavirus infection.

Social distancing in places of worship should be strictly observed. We must take drastic actions.

In the markets, business will no longer be as usual. We will hold a meeting and find out those markets that must operate. We must remain in our homes so as to save lives.

People should bear with us. We know that the measures we are taking are hard, but the public should bear with us.

We have made adequate arrangements for protective items for our doctors, nurses and other health workers.

 We are also working out some remunerations for our frontline doctors and nurses, he stated.

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Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano state has sacked the states commissioner for works and infrastructure, Engineer Muazu Magaji.

The commissioner was fired over his unguarded utterances against the late chief of staff to President Buhari, Abba Kyari, a statement signed by the commissioner for information, Muhammad Garba, disclosed.

Ganduje said the commissioner, as a public servant, ought to have respected the office by refraining from any act capable of rendering it to disrepute, The Nation reports.

President Buharis personal assistant on new media, Bashir Ahmad, had said on Twitter that the sacked commissioner was publicly celebrating Kyaris death on his Facebook page.

I am really disappointed and pained by the Kano State Commissioner for Works, Engr. Muazu Magajis remarks on Mallam Abba Kyaris demise, the commissioner was seen publicly celebrating the death on his Facebook page. I hope @KanoStateNG and @GovUmarGanduje will call him to order, Ahmad tweeted.

After the commissioner was sacked, Ahmad said: The Governor has taken an action, the Commissioner has just been sacked following his unguarded utterances.

According to a statement from the Kano State Government House, late Abba Kyari had led a life worthy of emulation by serving his country to the best of his ability.

The post Ganduje sacks Commissioner over unguarded utterances about late Kyari appeared first on .

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NORMAL  The Jelani Day Foundation will host its second annual All White Remembrance Dinner on Saturday, Aug. 26, in the Brown Ballroom at Illinois State Universitys Bone Student Center.

Doors will open at 5 p.m., with the event beginning at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 for adults and $25 for students with ID; they will be available on eventbrite.

The night aims to celebrate the life and legacy of Jelani Day and highlight the endeavors JDF have been working on and towards over the last year, according to a Justice for Jelani Day Facebook post announcing the event.

Day, a 25-year-old graduate student from Danville who was studying speech pathology at ISU, went missing Aug. 25, 2021. His car was found the next day in Peru, nearly an hour north of Bloomington-Normal, and his body was found along the Illinois River there Sept. 4.

Days body was not publicly identified by the LaSalle County coroner until Sept. 23. The coroner determined Days cause of death as drowning but noted the manner in which Day entered the water was unknown.

The Jelani Day Foundation launched in August 2022 with the mission of Supporting Families of Missing Minorities. The foundation has previously stated it will be at the forefront of the fight for change and equity to ensure families of color have the help and momentum needed during the search for their missing loved ones.

The Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, 201 Broadway in Normal, will serve as the host hotel for the event. Mention The Jelani Day Foundation when booking your reservation.

For more information about the All White Remembrance Dinner, email thejelanidayfoundation@gmail.com.

Watch Now: Jelani Day Foundation launched with an All White Affair 082922-blm-loc-1day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-2day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-5day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-6day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-7day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-8day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-9day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-10day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-12day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-13day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-14day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-15day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-16day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-17day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-18day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-20day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-21day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-24day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-25day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-26day.JPG 082922-blm-loc-27day.JPG
BLOOMINGTON  A Bloomington man has been charged with violating Illinois' gun owner law.

Keyonta K. Hunter, 21, is charged with violation of the Illinois Firearm Owner's Identification Card Act, Class A misdemeanor.

According to court documents, Hunter is accused of knowingly possessing firearm ammunition without having been issued a Firearm Owner's Identification card.

Hunter was arrested late Wednesday after officers responded to a call about shots fired around the 300 block of Riley Drive.

Bloomington police said Thursday that Hunter had been arrested on a preliminary felony charge of unlawful possession of firearm ammunition by a felon. However, the State's Attorney's Office only filed a misdemeanor charge against Hunter.

His bond was set at $1,500 with 10% to apply, and an arraignment was scheduled for July 12.

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 Melina Aguilar Carlos D. Cregan Wayne M. Damron Terrance L. Ford Stanley M. Miller Darryl R. Vinson Jarvis K. Heads Wesley M. Noonan Brad Carter Brian K. Burnett Kenneth D. Downey Kenyon J. Bones
BLOOMINGTON  A Bloomington woman was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to a charge related to her involvement in a DUI crash in 2020.

Destiney M.J. Bates, 30, was charged in June 2020 with two counts of failure to give information after a motor vehicle crash involving injuries and three counts of aggravated driving under the influence, as well as two misdemeanors for driving while never having been issued a license and driving a vehicle with revoked or suspended registration. She was also cited for traffic violations.

When she was initially charged, prosecutors said witnesses had reported seeing Bates drive through a stop light south of downtown Bloomington, causing a crash with another vehicle, and they said she was seen leaving the scene. The driver of the other vehicle was treated for injuries at a local hospital.

After failing to appear for a plea hearing in 2021, Bates was back in McLean County custody this month and pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of failure to give information after a motor vehicle crash involving injuries and one count of aggravated DUI.

The remaining charges were dismissed.

According to online court records, Bates was sentenced to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on each charge, with credit for 132 days served, and to one year of mandatory supervised release.

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 Melina Aguilar Carlos D. Cregan Wayne M. Damron Terrance L. Ford Stanley M. Miller Darryl R. Vinson Jarvis K. Heads Wesley M. Noonan Brad Carter Brian K. Burnett Kenneth D. Downey Kenyon J. Bones
NORMAL  The Normal Police Department is joining the Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois State Police in a campaign to urge motorists to stop speeding through the month of July.

According to an NPD news release, patrols will be stepped up in Normal and across the state from July 6 to 31.

Speeding is dangerous and a direct cause of accidents, Normal Police Chief Steve Petrilli said in the release. Our officers will be actively enforcing speed violations in an attempt to create public awareness to the dangers of speeding and to reduce traffic accidents in our community.

This campaign is made possible through federal traffic safety funds administered by IDOT.

Photos: Emergency crews train on air disaster readiness at Bloomington airport 061222-blm-loc-1training.JPG 061222-blm-loc-2training.JPG 061222-blm-loc-3training.JPG 061222-blm-loc-4training.JPG 061222-blm-loc-5training.JPG 061222-blm-loc-6training.JPG 061222-blm-loc-7training.JPG 061222-blm-loc-8training.jpg
BLOOMINGTON  University leaders across Illinois on Thursday pledged that their efforts to achieve diverse campus communities would not be limited by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down affirmative action.

Many said their processes would not be affected by the ruling, which declared that race cannot be a factor in college admissions. Still, they expressed concerns about the decision that the Illinois Board of Higher Education characterized as an attack on people of color, especially Black people.

The board said affirmative action was never a robust solution to inequality, but "merely a tool intended to chip away at an enormous obstacle."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the decision a "travesty" that reversed nearly 45 years of precedent that advanced equity in higher education.

Pritzker said the Supreme Court ruling sets us back, but in Illinois we will continue to uplift our students of color  promoting inclusion and expanding access through record-levels of funding for higher education institutions and our MAP Grant Program, so that every student has the opportunity to earn a degree.

To students of color, he said, you belong in our institutions. And no archaic ruling will ever change that.

Continued commitments

Illinois State University does not use race as a factor in admissions, said Jana Albrecht, associate vice president for enrollment management.

To fulfill its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, the university visits high schools and works with community-based organizations to reach prospective students, she said. The university's goals, mission and vision will not change with the ruling, but she acknowledged the possibility that prospective students of color may be discouraged by Thursday's decision.

"I think thats a real concern and a possible outcome of this," she said, "which is why its important for our admissions office in our university, and for our faculty and staff, to reach out to students and let them know we are a welcoming environment and we absolutely want them at our institution."

Southern Illinois University also does not consider race in its admissions, but campus leaders were "deeply concerned" by the court's decision, university leaders said in a statement Thursday.

"Todays ruling coupled with similar decisions in several states across the country, may embolden critics of diversity and reverse generations of progress at colleges, universities and the nation," said the statement from the university board, President Dan Mahony, chancellors of both campuses and dean of the school of medicine.

The University of Illinois system also issued a joint statement from its president and chancellors, stressing a continued commitment to diversity. They pledged that the university would "continue to open its doors wide to all deserving students  including those for whom opportunities may have been unfairly limited."

It was unclear to what extent the university's current processes would be affected by the ruling. The leaders pledged to "carefully review the specifics" and take steps to remain in compliance with state and federal laws.

Western Illinois University President Guiyou Huang stressed that the institution would continue to "support all students' ability to secure a college degree in an environment that celebrates diversity and inclusion."

"We stand with our peer institutions of higher education who have issued statements announcing their commitment to continue striving to close equity gaps for Black, Latinx, low-income, working adults, rural students, and all marginalized communities," she said.

Doug Freed, director of undergraduate admissions, said the institution does not factor race into its admissions decisions.

Eastern Illinois University, in a statement, also emphasized its commitment to access and opportunity.

"Our longstanding mission embraces diversity and inclusion, attributes we know are fundamental to a deeper understanding of ourselves and greater respect for each other," the university said. "These commitments are foundational in EIUs vision to advance engaged citizenship through personal connections and interpersonal experiences."

'Not unexpected'

Northern Illinois University President Lisa Freeman described Thursday's decision as "not unexpected," but she said it nonetheless "deals yet another shockwave of frustration, pain and fear for marginalized communities."

She said the university does not use race as a factor in undergraduate admissions and would remain compliant with the law, but its mission would not change.

"Our student body reflects our longstanding commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and our university communitys recognition of such," she said. In fall 2022, roughly 20% of NIU students were Latinx, 17% Black, 6% Asian and 46% white.

Georgia Nugent, president of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, said she recently attended an annual meeting with the Annapolis Group, an organization of roughly 130 liberal arts colleges, where they discussed the potential consequence of the Supreme Court ruling.

The general consensus of those in attendance was that the schools at risk of being affected are the Ivy League schools where there are extremely low acceptance rates for a large pool of applicants, Nugent said.

The conclusion that we came to is that the places that are really going to be affected by this decision are the Harvards and Stanfords of the world, where they are so deluged with applications that they need to employ factors to sort those applications out, Nugent said. We dont have that.

Nugent said Wesleyan has about a 50% acceptance rate and offers programs and scholarships to foster equity and provide opportunities. It has a total enrollment of roughly 1,500, of which roughly 9% of students were Hispanic, 7% were Black and 7% were Asian as of fall 2022.

Kent Barnds, chief enrollment officer at Augustana College in Rock Island, said he suspects that the decision would have little impact on institutions like the private liberal arts college with enrollment of roughly 2,300.

I don't think that probably anyone in higher ed was especially surprised by this decision," he said Thursday. "I think probably there were many in higher ed who were disappointed by the decision."

Still, he and others in higher education are still trying to gain a full understanding of the potential implications.

I think that there is unlikely to be a big impact, he said. Because this decision is across the whole higher ed landscape, there is this thought that it will have wide ripple effects  and there is some evidence that when race is no longer a factor that's considered, sometimes the racial composition of an enrollment or a class can change.

Barnds, who oversees all enrollment management functions, said the college does not use an affirmative action program in its admissions process  nor will it need to change any policies in wake of the decision.

We've practiced what is referred to as, 'Holistic Admission,' and that's certainly what many private colleges do, he said. We're looking at multiple factors of how a student can contribute to our community.

Millikin University leaders also do not anticipate much, if any, affect on admission procedures. Stacey Hubbard, dean of admissions and financial aid, said the Decatur college does not consider race as a component when making admission decisions.

"One of Millikin's core values is inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, and we have historically attracted a diverse population of applicants due to the academic and co-curricular activities we offer," she said, adding that one initiative of the Decatur institution's strategic plan involves "nurturing a welcoming and inclusive campus environment with a goal of fostering a sense of belonging for all who engage with Millikin."

Eureka College President Jamel Wright said in a statement the school  which is the alma mater of former President Ronald Reagan  does not consider race in its admissions process but remains committed to values of diversity, equity and inclusion.

As an institution founded by abolitionists that was the first college in the state of Illinois to admit men and women on an equal basis, Eureka College values our students diverse experiences and backgrounds, Wright said in the statement.

Olivia Allen, Brendan Denison, Mateusz Janik, Les O'Dell, Kelsey Watznauer, Valerie Wells and Drew Zimmerman contributed to this story.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
CHICAGO  Testing during the past three years revealed nearly a million Illinoisans get their drinking water from municipal wells contaminated with toxic forever chemicals at levels exceeding state health guidelines.

Another 1.4 million people in the state depend on private wells, including scores in the Chicago suburbs. But there has been no systematic approach to determine if any of them are unknowingly ingesting chemicals that build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases and take years to leave the body.

As far as the state is concerned, it is up to individual well owners to decide if its worth spending $500 or so to test their water for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS.

In one of only three instances when local and state health officials have stepped in, they found it difficult to persuade well owners on the south side of Rockford to get their water tested for free, even after being told some of the highest PFAS concentrations in the state had been detected nearby.

These are huge challenges we face in the modern world, said Dr. Sandra Martell, administrator of the Winnebago County Health Department. How do we ensure our communities have access to safe drinking water, and how do we get people to take steps to protect themselves?

Nearly every American has PFAS in their bodies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Babies are born with the chemicals in their blood.

Scientists are finding that tiny concentrations of some forever chemicals can trigger testicular and kidney cancer, birth defects, liver damage, impaired fertility, immune system disorders, high cholesterol and obesity. Links to breast cancer and other diseases are suspected.

Yet PFAS remain largely unregulated. Manufacturers, users and sewage treatment agencies are fighting to keep it that way.

Corporations and government agencies potentially responsible for contaminating water sources have spent the past year and a half lobbying against state regulations that would impose the first limits on six PFAS in groundwater throughout Illinois.

If enacted, the standards would open the door to legal action by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and private lawsuits intended to force the cleanup of contaminated sites and steps to ensure well owners have safe water.

Bad news

Besides the Rockford neighborhood, several private wells are known to be contaminated in nearby Rockton, where PFAS-laden firefighting foam was sprayed after a 2021 explosion leveled a Chemtool lubricant factory.

Mike and Kacy Krause are among the Chemtool neighbors who were evacuated. Late last year, officials from the Illinois EPA and county health department knocked on the couples door and asked if they could collect water samples from their well.

The request wasnt unusual, Mike Krause said. Shortly after moving in 20 years ago, he said, the Krauses discovered they had bought a house within a federal Superfund site, the governments designation for the nations most polluted industrial properties.

State officials have routinely tested wells in the Wright Kiles Blackhawk subdivision since the early 1980s after finding cancer-causing solvents in groundwater near a former Beloit Corp. factory that manufactured papermaking equipment. But last year was the first time the state came looking for PFAS.

The Krauses and their neighbors got the results in April. For many, the news wasnt good.

It was just ridiculous, said Mike Krause, a construction contractor.

Levels of one forever chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), were as high as 130 parts per trillion  65 times higher than the 2 ppt limit proposed by the state.

The states proposed limit for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) is 7.7 ppt. Testing in the Blackhawk subdivision found levels nearly four times higher.

PFOS once was used widely in firefighting foam and PFOA sometimes was an unintentional byproduct of foam manufacturing. Levels of both chemicals were generally highest at homes on Watts Avenue close to the Chemtool site.

Mike Krause blames the company for the 12 ppt of PFOS and 5.5 ppt of PFOA the state found in his well. It doesnt take a genius to figure out where it came from, he said, noting his family has sued Chemtool and has been drinking bottled water since being notified of the test results.

State and local officials arent so sure. The now-destroyed Chemtool factory was built on the site of the former Beloit Corp. facility, and groundwater in the area generally moves to the southwest, toward the Rock River and away from nearby homes, said Kyle Rominger, chief of the Illinois EPAs land bureau.

No clearly identifiable (PFAS) plume, Rominger said. No smoking gun.

Unknown sources of PFAS

There could be other, still unknown sources. For decades, PFOA, PFOS and hundreds of related chemicals were (and some still are) used in industrial processes and in products such as carpets, clothing, cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, fast-food wrappers, food packaging, microwave popcorn bags, paper plates, pizza boxes, rain jackets and ski wax.

Results from testing in the Sandy Hollow area of Rockford were just as confounding.

The local health department asked state officials for assistance after the Illinois EPA found high levels of PFOA and PFOS in wells dug for the Family Manufactured Home Community near U.S. Route 20 and Illinois Route 251. As the health department went door to door reaching out to more than 50 nearby homes on private wells, the Illinois EPA sampled monitoring wells from the Southeast Rockford Groundwater Plume, another Superfund site.

Like the Beloit Corp. site in Rockton, the one in Rockford has been in the Superfund program for decades. In 1990, about 200 homes and businesses accepted bottled water provided by the U.S. EPA to protect them from harmful solvents dumped by industries in the area, and the city later hooked up several hundred homes to the municipal water supply.

When the state tested for PFAS last year in the Superfund monitoring wells and in several remaining private wells, they found the highest levels were outside the plume of solvents. It is unclear at this point how forever chemicals seeped into the wells.

It would be great to find a source and stop it right there, said Martell, the Winnebago County health administrator. For now we are going to have to deal with immediate action people can take, in particular when it comes to protecting young children who are more vulnerable because their bodies are still developing.

That means more people using water filters, Martell added, and eventually getting them connected to municipal sources of water.

State officials said there are no plans to test for PFAS in private wells near the 43 other Superfund sites in Illinois or near communities where forever chemicals have been detected in municipal wells. Without PFAS-specific regulations directing them to look for the chemicals in groundwater, state officials said, they have no legal authority to do so.

By contrast, Michigan had tested more than 6,000 private wells at least once by the end of last year. Officials in that state were among the first in the nation to address PFAS contamination after high levels of the chemicals were found near a former Air Force base and in residential wells close to a former tannery.

The Illinois Department of Public Health encouraged the states well owners to check its website to learn more about water filters certified to remove PFAS. The department also provides a list of laboratories approved to test for the chemicals.

Companies reach settlements

Government action to protect Americans from PFAS has been slow-coming in part because chemical manufacturers kept secret what they knew about the dangers.

Documents unearthed during lawsuits show top executives at Minnesota-based 3M knew as early as the 1950s about the harmful effects of forever chemicals the conglomerate pioneered after World War II. 3M didnt begin telling the U.S. EPA what it knew about PFOA and PFOS until 1998  more than two decades after Congress approved the nations first chemical safety law.

Until this year the chief manufacturers, 3M and DuPont, had paid nearly $2 billion combined to settle PFAS-related lawsuits without accepting responsibility for contaminated drinking water or diseases suffered by people exposed to the chemicals. 3M has long maintained the chemicals are not harmful at levels typically found in people.

Last Thursday, 3M announced the company will pay at least another $10.3 billion to settle thousands of other claims accusing the company of contaminating public water systems with forever chemicals. DuPont and two other companies earlier said they had brokered a $1.19 billion settlement in the same cases, filed by cities and water systems across the nation and consolidated in a South Carolina federal court.

The money is expected to be paid out over time to test for and treat PFAS-contaminated water. 3M said earlier this year it will stop making the chemicals by 2025.

3M agreed in November to test private wells and public water systems near one of its PFAS manufacturing plants in Cordova, Illinois, where for decades it discharged the chemicals into the Mississippi River without limits about 15 miles upstream from the Quad Cities.

A Chicago Tribune investigation found the Illinois EPA knew more than a decade ago about PFAS-contaminated wells in and around the 3M plant. The state agency allowed 3M to enter a voluntary cleanup program and later signed off when the company said it was powerless to reduce its PFAS pollution, according to records and emails obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.

The Tribune also identified more than 1,600 other potential sources of PFAS in Illinois through a national analysis of industry codes designating the type of products manufactured or used. Only California, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Florida have more facilities on the list of suspected polluters.

More than 60% of the Illinois facilities are in Chicago and its suburbs, the Tribune found. There is at least one potential industrial source in 85 of the states 102 counties, yet there are still no limits on the amount of PFAS pollution released into the air or discharged into sewers.

Back in Rockton, the state found two PFAS in a municipal well but at concentrations well below health guidelines. Low concentrations of arsenic and radium also have been detected over the years.

The results prompted Dan Enderle, a teacher at the local high school, to install a reverse osmosis system in his home to remove any contaminants that pass through the municipal treatment plant.

While the levels have been below legal requirements ... we decided to invest in a filtration system, said Enderle, who has lived in Rockton for 20 years and plans to stay.

Closer to Chicago, several residents on private wells in southwest suburban Homer Glen said they feel fortunate they installed reverse osmosis systems years ago at the same time their wells were dug into the local aquifer.

Joe Turrise, a retired Nabisco machinist, has had his own water treatment system since 1997. Back then the chief concern was taste, he said, but the system is even more appreciated since the dangers of PFAS and other contaminants became more widely understood.

It is a little expensive when you consider you need to replace the filters at proper intervals, Turrise said. But you cant put a price tag on good, clean water.
Senate President Don Harmon told Public Radio talk show host Brian Mackey in late June that some of the most prominent business association leaders had punched us in the nose after the Senate Democrats devised what he called a good faith solution to solve problems created by the states super-controversial Biometric Information Privacy Act. Harmon also claimed the Senate Democratic proposal the business groups attacked was very friendly to the business community that has been asking for these changes.

Companies routinely collect biometric data like facial recognition and fingerprint scans. But, in Illinois, thats illegal unless the companies first obtain informed consent. Lots of lawsuits have been filed as a result and businesses want relief.

The Illinois Supreme Court all but begged the General Assembly earlier this spring to take another look at the law in its ruling against the White Castle company. That ruling could ultimately cost the burger chain as much as $17 billion for collecting employee fingerprint scans.

The Illinois Retail Merchants Association, the Illinois Manufacturers' Association and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce held a press conference with other business leaders near the originally scheduled end of the spring legislative session to denounce the Senate Democrats proposal in no uncertain terms. Illinois Manufacturers' Association President and CEO Mark Denzler, who has not exactly been known for vitriol, claimed the proposal would make the problem even worse. The legislation, Denzler claimed, will only increase abuse of this law by trial attorneys who have filed thousands of claims under the statute.

The three business groups either refused to respond to Harmons comments, or, in one case, didnt respond at all.

Senate President Pro Tempore Bill Cunningham, who helped lead the negotiations and is also not generally known for his temper, said he was even more upset than Harmon after the business groups press conference. He said he reached out to them and said the Democrats were trying to draft a pro-business piece of legislation, and since they claimed the bill would make matters worse, he and the Senate Democrats decided to not run any bill during the spring session and maintain the status quo.

The Supreme Court ruled that the legislative intent of BIPA was to penalize each and every collection of employee biometric information. With large numbers of White Castle employees being scanned several times a day for five years, thats how we ended up with a $17 billion penalty, Cunningham said. The Democratic proposal wouldve specifically changed the law to base the penalty on the number of employees, not the number of scans. But they also increased the penalty from $1000 to $1500, which the business groups denounced as well.

Opponents of the BIPA law claim the original state statute has little to nothing to do with the real world. The idea behind the law is to protect people against having their biometric data stored and even traded without their knowledge or permission. After all, an online password can be changed after a data hack, but people cant just change their fingerprints to protect their identities.

All true, the critics say, but the fingerprints that are used to verify timecards, etc. arent kept or stored after they are scanned. Instead, the fingerprints are immediately converted into a set of numbers using a proprietary algorithm.

The only biometric information utilized by employers to identify employees is an encrypted string of numbers, systemically created as a result of the mathematical algorithm, according to a white paper released last week by Littler, a pro-employer law firm. There is no biometric identifier being stored or disseminated, and, therefore, it is virtually impossible to reverse engineer an employees original fingerprint.

Cunningham said he heard a theory from a Republican lawmaker that the business groups have been told by the corporate defense bar that theyre confident they can get the state law overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, so there was no reason to settle for a compromise at the state level. I have no idea if that's true or not, Cunningham said, But it's a better explanation that I can come up with.

Another person close to the issue said the Senate Dems ordered the handful of people involved with the talks to not communicate with anyone outside the room. The business groups, this person claimed, werent experts on the topic, so it wasnt until the actual legislation surfaced when experienced business lawyers could see what was going on, and thats when everything fell apart. Cunningham said that while they took input from others, the big lobbying groups were what they were most concerned with.
Muslims in Sudan have been celebrating Eid al-Adha amid the sound of gunfire despite a ceasefire announced by the warring military groups.



Residents have told the BBC heavy artillery and airstrikes were heard in Khartoum state.



"It doesn't feel like Eid," said Zahra Saeed, adding that the streets are "empty" and that people are "scared".



"Last night I couldn't sleep because of the sounds of the gunfire," Ms Saeed added.



Others say they are too afraid to even attend the outdoor prayers which are normally a central part of the day: "For the first time in my life I didn't go," said 22-year-old former medical student Walaa Ibrahim.



Instead, many people prayed in their own homes.



"Now the airstrike is being carried out, they don't respect people, they don't respect the importance of... such occasions," the ex-student added.



Sudan is currently in its 10th week of a war which started in April, amid a power struggle between the country's military and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).



Since then, more than 500,000 people have fled Sudan, according to UN figures from just over a week ago, while roughly 2.2 million people have fled their homes within the country.



Precise figures on the number of people killed in the fighting are difficult to establish, but it is believed to be well over 1,000, including many civilians caught in the crossfire.



As well as the fighting, many Sudanese are also struggling to celebrate Eid properly because they don't have enough money.

Source: BBC









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After a three-day strike, petroleum haulage truck drivers in Ghana have called off their industrial action after receiving assurances from the authorities.



The Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union and other haulage associations went on strike on June 26 after complaining that poor road conditions were a health and safety issue and also creating damage to their vehicles.



This had caused fuel shortages in some areas due to the disruption to supply.



To address the issue, the Ministry of Roads and Highways has assured the tanker drivers that infrastructural works will commence on the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) Kpone Road in Tema.



The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako-Attah, stated that roads within the Tema Heavy Industrial Area are currently being constructed.



However, he acknowledged that the construction progress has been slower than anticipated due to engineering challenges and the need for accuracy.



He emphasized that the government has not abandoned the project and that the contractor is already on site.



The tanker drivers had accused the Minister of neglecting his duty to construct and refurbish the roads, claiming that the poor condition of the roads endangered their lives due to the hazardous materials they transport.



As a result, they went on strike on June 26, demanding immediate action.



Sunday Alabi, the National Vice Chairman of the Tanker Drivers Union, mentioned that the commitment to patching potholes at TOR to Kpone has made them soften their stance.



The National Chairman of the Union of Tanker Drivers, George Nyaunu, clarified that their strike targeted the Minister of Roads and Highways, not the President.



He justified their industrial action by highlighting the Ministers alleged negligence.



In response to the drivers demands, the Minister of Roads and Highways assured them that the government has awarded the contract for the road construction and that the contractor is already working on site.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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The Chamber of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) has issued a directive to its members to suspend power supply to the national grid starting July 1, 2023.



This decision comes in response to the governments failure to address the outstanding arrears owed to the IPPs.



In an email sent to its members and obtained by a section of the media, the Chamber instructed each IPP to nominate nothing and not declare an availability to the System Operator from July 1 to July 8, 2023.



The deadline for the shutdown was set by the IPPs after their demands for a 30 percent interim payment of the arrears were not met.



The Chamber of IPPs consists of prominent companies such as Sunon Asogli, Cenpower, Karpowership, AKSA, Twin City Energy, and CENIT, which collectively control 47 percent of Ghanas total power generation mix and contribute 67 percent of the countrys thermal power.



These IPPs argue that the outstanding debt, amounting to approximately $1.73 billion in cedis since January 2021, has severely impacted their ability to access working capital. This has hindered their operations and prevented them from financing essential supplies, particularly those priced in foreign currencies, such as chemicals for water treatment in thermal generators.



Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, the Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors, and Bulk Consumers (CIPDiB), expressed concerns about the lack of resources to continue power generation beyond June 30.



Despite their efforts to negotiate with creditors and stakeholders, the IPPs have reached a point where they cannot sustain the supply without payment.



The IPPs have also rejected proposals for debt restructuring, as they cannot justify the situation to their lenders and continue operations amidst mounting financial strain.



The power crisis caused by the IPPs suspension of power supply could have far-reaching consequences for Ghanas energy sector and the country as a whole.



The government must address the outstanding arrears and work towards a sustainable solution to ensure the continuous supply of electricity to meet the needs of businesses and households.



Time is running out, and immediate action should be taken to resolve the arrears dispute to prevent further disruptions to Ghanas power supply.

Source: dailyguidenetwork.com









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Ghana's ambitious healthcare initiative, known as Agenda 111, which aims to construct 111 health facilities across the country, is making significant progress.



The Agenda 111, part of the grand vision for Ghanas healthcare sector by the Akufo-Addo administration, the realization of which will ensure that 101 outstanding districts will be provided with hospitals, 6 Regional Hospitals for the newly created regions, 1 Regional Hospital in the Western Region, 2 Psychiatric Hospitals in Kumasi and Tamale as well as 1 National Psychiatric Hospital in Accra is making remarkable strides with 88 of them at different levels of completion.



During a press briefing on Thursday June 29, 2023, in Trede where the President first cut sod for the commencement of the project, Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Nsiah Asare and the Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, provided updates on the status of the project.



They announced that 88 out of the intended 111 projects are currently underway and progressing as planned.



Dr. Nsiah Asare highlighted the meticulous planning and management of the project. He said the initiative subdivided into eight zones, each with an average of 14 sites. At each site, a dedicated team of consultants, including architects, civil engineers, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, and biomedical engineers, are ensuring the smooth execution of the construction process.



He said this is to ensure government delivers quality health infrastructure that will serve the health needs of Ghanaians for generations to come.



"We are committed to delivering high-quality healthcare facilities that meet the needs of every Ghanaian. The subdivision into zones and the appointment of specialized consultants for each site demonstrate our determination to achieve this goal," stated Dr. Nsiah Asare.



He stated that several facilities, including a district hospital and polyclinics in the Western Region are nearing completion with the expansion and equipping of selected facilities under the much-touted agenda also slated for completion likely by the end of this year.



He said the hospitals being constructed under the Agenda 111 programme will offer a range of facilities, including state-of-the-art surgical theatres for maternity, obstetrics and gynecology, male, female, pediatric, and isolation wards, among others. Further, accommodation will be provided for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel within the hospital premises.



Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah who took his turn to provide further updates on the ongoing construction works expressed satisfaction with the progress made thus far. He emphasized the government's dedication to improving healthcare infrastructure nationwide.



He indicated that the government is well on track to fulfill its promise of expanding and enhancing the healthcare sector in Ghana.



"The remarkable progress of the Agenda 111 project is a testament to our commitment to bridge the health inequality gap and strengthen the health system in Ghana. We are steadfast in our resolve to provide high-quality healthcare services to all Ghanaians," Minister Oppong Nkrumah affirmed.



He said government considers Agenda 111 as the most significant investment in healthcare infrastructure in the country since independence and will not relent in the provision of these hospitals.



This, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah called on the local beneficiary communities to lend their unwavering support to the projects as government accelerates efforts to roll out the health infrastructure development programme across the country.



He said this will ensure the seamless integration, effective utilization, and optimal functionality of the hospitals when completed.

Source: Peacefmonline com









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Three contractors involved in the construction of health facilities under the governments much-touted Agenda 111 project have been terminated.



This was announced by the Presidential Advisor on Health, Dr. Nsiah Asare, during a press briefing on the progress of construction works in Trede, in the Ashanti Region on Thursday, June 29, 2023.



According to Dr Nsiah Asare, the government's commitment to delivering high-quality healthcare facilities necessitated taking decisive action against contractors who failed to meet the required standards and perform their contractual duties hence, the termination of these contracts.



"We have terminated the contracts of three contractors due to non-performance and failure to meet the required standards. As we have indicated, we will not compromise on the standards of these hospitals and the construction timelines which is why we have moved quickly to terminate the contracts of these contractors," said Dr. Nsiah Asare.



While specific details about the terminated contracts and the contractors involved were not disclosed, Dr Nsiah Asare emphasized that the government took this step to ensure the successful implementation of the Agenda 111 projects.



He said the termination serves as a demonstration of the government's dedication to upholding rigorous standards and holding contractors accountable for their performance.



Providing updates on the project's status so far, Dr. Nsiah Asare revealed that out of the intended 111 projects, 88 are currently underway and making remarkable strides.



He stated that several facilities, including a district hospital and polyclinics in the Western Region, are nearing completion with the expansion and equipping of selected facilities also slated for completion likely by the end of this year.



He said the hospitals being constructed under the programme will offer a range of facilities, including state-of-the-art surgical theatres for maternity, obstetrics and gynaecology, male, female, pediatric, and isolation wards, among others. Further, accommodation will be provided for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare personnel within the hospital premises.



This, Dr. Nsiah Asare, reaffirmed the government's commitment to the construction of these hospitals. He said the government considers Agenda 111 as the most significant investment in healthcare infrastructure in the country since independence and will not relent in the provision of these hospitals.



The Agenda 111 project aims to bridge the healthcare gap in Ghana by providing hospitals to 101 outstanding districts, along with additional regional and specialized hospitals. The facilities being constructed will offer state-of-the-art surgical theatres, wards, and accommodations for healthcare personnel, among other essential features.

Source: Peacefmonline com









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Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has announced that three new Young Leaders will join Generation17 - an initiative in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) - to support young changemakers working to achieve the 17 Global Goals. The addition of these three Young Leaders will help educate people about critical global challenges and the solutions needed to deliver a more prosperous future by 2030.



We are thrilled to welcome these three innovative leaders to the Galaxy community and Generation17, said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics. These Young Leaders will inspire the Galaxy community to make positive changes in their daily lives, with their dedication to harness technology and open possibilities for a more equitable future. Each embodies the ingenuity and innovative spirit that we need to engage more people in helping to achieve the Global Goals.



The New Young Leaders



For the first time, Samsung and UNDP conducted an open call that rallied thousands of passionate young people from all over the world to apply to join Generation17. This new group of Generation17 Young Leaders, chosen from a competitive pool of candidates, will add new perspectives to the initiative and their projects will bring forth new solutions in education, skills and training and health equity.



Zubair Junjunia (United Kingdom): Social entrepreneur and founder of ZNotes - a global learning platform enabling fair and equal access to education that has impacted four million students globally. "I was inspired to build an education platform after witnessing the uneven playing field of education. We must empower youth to create an equitable education system, which is why I am excited to join Generation17 and bring awareness to global education challenges and inspire young people to stand up for causes they believe in.



Priscilla Efe Johnson (Nigeria): Gender equality activist working to de-stigmatise womens health through Xari Africa - a female-led organisation providing girls with access to reproductive and sexual health resources. Reproductive and sexual health is everybodys business. This fight, this passion, is personal. That is why I am thrilled to be selected as a member of Generation17, working in partnership with Samsung and UNDP to elevate my voice and expand access and education to womens healthcare across the globe.



Mock Yi Jun (Singapore): Education leader and co-founder of Advisory Singapore - a youth-led charity dedicated to empowering young people from all walks of life to make informed career and education choices. Every person, no matter their background or socio-economic status, deserves a chance to pursue their aspirations, Generation17 is the perfect platform to enable more young people like me to empower individuals to take their education and career journey into their own hands.



Amplifying Youth Leadership on a Global Stage



Samsung and UNDP launched Generation17 in October 2020, with the mission to magnify the voices and impactful work of young people accelerating progress for the Global Goals. Since the launch, Samsung and UNDP have gathered 17 Young Leaders across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America working on issues that encompass all 17 of the Global Goals.



Together, Samsung and UNDP provide the Young Leaders with mentorship and the latest Samsung Galaxy technology as well as access to agenda-setting events and other opportunities to elevate their platforms and connect with their peers and cross-sector, global decision makers. Generation17 Young Leaders have participated in various events, including Samsungs Unpacked, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, UN ECOSOC Youth Forum, Stockholm +50 and the United Nations General Assembly.



"To achieve the Global Goals, we need authentic action from young people  those on the frontlines of todays most pressing issues  to build back progress and support for each goal, said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. Through our partnership with Samsung, we aim to foster the growth of these Young Leaders as they address critical issues such as the climate crisis and human rights concerns to build a more resilient society.



Generation17 is grounded in Samsung and UNDPs commitment to leverage technology as a force for good. The two organisations first partnered in 2019 to create the Samsung Global Goals app - an education and donation-based mobile app that informs people about the Global Goals and encourages them to take action just by using their Galaxy devices. Since then, the app has been installed on nearly 300 million Galaxy devices worldwide, including smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. It has enabled the Galaxy community to generate more than $10 million USD for UNDPs work to promote environmental and social resilience around the world.

Source: Peacefmonline com









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Presidential candidate hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Hon. Alan Kyerematen is set to engage Party delegates in series of cluster meetings throughout the country as part of his robust campaign tour to garner support for his presidential bid.



The former Trade and Industry Minister will engage every single delegate of the Party to detail his Great Transformational Plan (GTP) ahead of the Partys November 4, 2023 Presidential primaries.



A press release, issued by Hon Yaw Buaben Asamoa, Press Secretary to Hon Kyerematen, announcing the tour said, the ground-breaking cluster delegates meetings will see the presidential-hopeful engaging with over 200,000 NPP delegates.



The cluster constituency delegates meetings will also showcase Hon Kyerematen's commitment to sharing ideas with the people and working together with them for victory in the November primaries and the national elections in 2024.



"This innovation is expected to change the dynamics of Aspirant and Delegate interactions, giving diverse delegates from different constituencies a unique opportunity to meet, fraternize, and share experiences from differing perspectives", the release said.



The cluster engagements will commence on Monday, 3rd July 2023, from the Greater Accra Region and from there move to the other regions.

The cluster meetings with delegates is fashioned along constituencies with contiguous borders and common characteristics.

This strategic arrangement aims to maximize interaction and cooperation among party members.



They will help delegates and the presidential hopeful together, "devise winning strategies towards the A4P goal of building a strong partnership for power between the NPP and the public," the release stated.



It added that "participation in the durbars is expected to lift the spirits of the delegates and the rank and file of the Party, renewing hope that 'Together, We Will Win' the 2024 General and Presidential Elections to transform the fortunes of Ghana."



Alan Kyerematens profile as a former Trade and Industry Minister adds weight to his bid as a presidential candidate hopeful for the NPP, as majority of party members see him as the best candidate to the 2024 presidential elections.

Source: Peacefmonline









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Professor Smart Sarpong, a Senior Research Fellow of the Kumasi Technical University, has commended the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for winning the Assin North by-election.



The Assin North by-election, held on Tuesday, June 27, was seen to be a critical election to decide which party would control the country's legislature since if the New Patriotic Party had won, they would have widened the majority gap in the Legislative House.



But things didn't turn out the way the ruling party had expected as their candidate, Charles Opoku, lost the by-election by polling 12630 votes representing 42.15% while the National Democratic Congress' candidate, James Gyakye Quayson polled 17245 votes representing 57.56% to clinch victory.



Speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Prof. Smart Sarpong lauded the party stating they upped their game during the by-election unlike their conduct in the 2020 general elections.



He applauded them for having a well-planned collation process in the Assin North by-election and encouraged them to replicate their good works in the 2024 general elections.



He appealed to the party not to repeat the mistakes they made during the 2020 elections, stressing "they should improve on the collation process. We plead with them that, for 2024, they should be able to complete their collation. It shouldn't be that they could do 5 Regions and their system crashed. No!"



Watch video below





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Anthropogenic aerosolsaerosols originating from human activityand greenhouse gases, or GHGs, have helped modulate the storage and distribution of heat in oceans since the industrial age. Isolating and quantifying the effects of both forcers using coupled climate model simulations, a University of California, Riverside-led team has found that anthropogenic aerosols and GHGs have played distinct roles in the world's oceans in shaping the pattern of heat uptake, redistribution, and storage.

The researchers found aerosol-driven changes in ocean circulation and associated interbasin heat transport are more effective in altering oceanic heat distribution than those driven by globally increasing GHGs.

"A better understanding of the effects of individual anthropogenic forcings on oceanic heat redistribution and its implications for regional sea level change will help develop climate mitigation strategies," said Wei Liu, an assistant professor of climate change and sustainability in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, who led the study published in Nature Geoscience.

Anthropogenic aerosols and GHGs have been suggested as main drivers of climate change. The team's results advance the understanding of their effects.

Anthropogenic GHGs have increased steadily during the "historical period," from around 1850 to the near-present. Anthropogenic aerosols, on the other hand, first increased during this period, but then started to decline starting in the 1980s due to air quality legislation in some parts of the world.

The researchers primarily used the following coupled climate model simulations that were run over the historical period:

HIST-AERmodels are driven solely by human-induced aerosol changes during the historical period.

HIST-GHGmodels are driven solely by human-induced greenhouse gas changes during the historical period.

HISTmodels are driven by all the forcings, including human-induced aerosol and greenhouse gas changes, land use, and volcanic eruptions during the historical period.

piControlall the forcings are set to preindustrial time levels.

"In the aerosol-forcing scenario, interbasin heat exchangethe heat exchange between ocean basinsis comparable to ocean heat uptake changes in modifying the stored heat," Liu said. "This is especially seen in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans. Under the greenhouse-gas-forcing scenario, interbasin heat exchange is far less important than ocean heat uptake changes. This may be due to the fact that in this scenario ocean circulation effects are strongly offset by temperature shifts."

Liu explained that interbasin heat exchange is important for heat redistribution among basins, which can influence regional climate change manifested, for example, in sea level rise.

"Since the past century, rapid sea level rise has been one of the most serious threats and will continue to be so going forward for at least another century," he said. "Sea level rise is not globally uniform but regional in distribution. Regional and coastal sea level changes, as well as changes in extremes along coastlines, may raise societal concerns, such as the relocation of coastal communities and potential harm to natural resources and infrastructure along the coast."

Shouwei Li, the first author of the paper and a graduate student in Liu's lab, explained why the study found oceanic heat distribution can be changed more effectively by aerosol-driven changes in ocean circulations and related interbasin heat transports than by changes brought on by globally increasing GHGs.

"This may be related to the difference between distributions of aerosols and GHGs," he said. "The increases of well-mixed GHGs are global while changes in aerosols are mostly enhanced in the Northern Hemisphere due to more human activities and industries."

The research team also used observations for comparisons with their model results.

"We found the oceanic warming from model simulations closely matched observations," Liu said.

Liu and Li were joined in the research by Robert J. Allen of UCR, Jia-Rui Shi of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Laifang Li of Pennsylvania State University. The research paper is titled "Ocean heat uptake and interbasin redistribution driven by anthropogenic aerosols and greenhouse gases."

More information: Shouwei Li et al, Ocean heat uptake and interbasin redistribution driven by anthropogenic aerosols and greenhouse gases, Nature Geoscience (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-023-01219-x Journal information: Nature Geoscience
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

This chart plots the progress of a random sample of the 88,958 NSW students in our study across all their NAPLAN reading tests. It shows students starting with below average NAPLAN results are making more progress from Year 3 to Year 9 compared with students who start above average. Credit: Sally Larsen

If students have poor academic results early in school, do they continue to fall further and further behind as they move through their education?

The intuitive answer to this question is yes. This perception is fuelled by relentless media reporting about falling standards in Australia, and claims about "widening gaps" between advantaged and disadvantaged groups of students.

The 'Matthew effect'

If achievement gaps do widen as children develop, this would be evidence for what researchers call the "Matthew effect." This theory, first described by Canadian psychologist Keith Stanovich, proposes students who start with poor academic skills early in school make less progress over time compared with their higher-achieving peers.

Referencing a verse from the Bible's Book of Matthew, Stanovich argued children who initially had strong skills should become even stronger over time, because academic skills build on each other. (Or, as Matthew put it, "For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.").

According to this argument, higher-achieving students have an extra advantage over time because their skills, knowledge and ability will snowball, allowing their progress to accelerate relative to less able students.

But is this phenomenon universally true? Not necessarily, according to our latest research on Australian students.

Our research

We have a unique advantage in Australia because our national NAPLAN tests are designed to track students' progress over time. So results on one test can be directly compared to the next or the previous one. This is rare internationally, and very powerful for answering questions about development.

Our research examined patterns growth in literacy and numeracy in two states. We looked at 88,958 New South Wales students (who were in Year 3 in 2012), and 65,984 students in Victoria (who were in Year 3 in 2011).

We matched NAPLAN reading comprehension and numeracy results for each student from Year 3 through to Year 9. We examined reading and numeracy, as these two skills form the basis of learning in many other areas of the curriculum.

Our findings

Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence of the Matthew effect in either reading or numeracy among students sitting NAPLAN tests in NSW or Victoria.

Instead, we found the reverse pattern, called "compensatory growth".

That is, students starting with below average NAPLAN results are making more progress from Year 3 to Year 9 compared with students starting above average. This compensatory growth pattern was seen in both reading and numeracy, but was particularly strong in reading.

While surprising, our research aligns with findings from a 2014 meta-analysis of Matthew effects research in reading.

This earlier study examined all longitudinal research on reading development across primary school. Studies were drawn from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Greece, Canada, Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and the combined sample included 425,685 students. Matthew effects were only observed in a quarter of the included samples.

Our research is the first in Australia to build on these findings and examine reading and numeracy development in state-wide data using individual student scores across the NAPLAN years. The research is published in the journal Contemporary Educational Psychology.

Given the widespread beliefs about widening gaps, our results should be reassuring. Although, our findings also indicate the highest achieving students do not make as much growth in NAPLAN as their lower performing peers.

But what does this mean for high achievers?

There is a popular perception teachers are not effectively teaching students basic skills. But our research suggests students who begin with poorer literacy and numeracy skills are supported by classroom teachers, and do make progress over time.

However, while our results indicate poorly performing Year 3 students do "catch up" somewhat, a small proportion of students still fail to meet minimum standards for literacy and numeracy by Year 9. Ongoing efforts to identify and support these students in secondary school is vitally important.

On the other hand, our results also suggest students who begin with high achievement in NAPLAN reading and numeracy tests in Year 3 are not making the amount of progress to Year 9 they are capable of.

While both NSW and Victoria have clear policies and resources for teaching high-ability students, it is difficult for teachers to enact them if the majority of classroom time is focused on struggling students.

Perhaps the progress of high-ability students is not a high priority for schools once these students have attained the basic skills expected of their age group. Further research in Australian schools is needed to identify the reasons for underachievement relative to potential for high-ability students.

Nevertheless, our finding that struggling students can make good progress over time rather than falling further behind should be a cause for optimism among educators and the community.

More information: Sally A. Larsen et al, Matthew effects in reading and mathematics: Examining developmental patterns in population data, Contemporary Educational Psychology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2023.102201

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Keichousaurus - Live reconstruction of two Keichousaurus. Credit: Takumi

Fossil skeletons have long fascinated researchers as a window to prehistory. But so far, little is known about details of sexual development in extinct creatures. An international team of researchers from China, Germany and Japan, with significant participation from the University of Bonn, reports on the puberty of Keichousaurus in the journal Current Biology. This is a small marine viviparous reptile that lived about 240 million years ago in what is now China.

Deer antlers, peacock feathers, and lion's mane are known as expression of sexual dimorphism. These are distinctly different physical characteristics between the sexes of a species. These visually noticeable differences usually appear only after the animal reaches adulthood, and they provide important information for understanding growth and reproduction.

In today's animal world, "sexual dimorphism" often appears at puberty, which represents the attainment of reproductive capacity or sexual maturity. However, in some species, especially reptiles, it is difficult to detect the onset of sexual maturity. Differences between the sexes usually show up here only in coloring or body size. Both are difficult to prove from fossils.

The present study focused on Keichousaurus, a species discovered in Triassic sedimentsdating back to about 240 million years agoin southwestern China. This species is known for its large number of specimens, including specimens with embryos, and its obvious sexual dimorphism. For instance, males of this species grew significantly larger than the females. Furthermore, adult males of Keichousaurus have much more robust upper arm bones (humeri), which also look quite different from those of females. In cross-section, the humerus of a male is triangular and that of females is round-oval.

Studies of bone tissue now indicate differential deposition in males, resulting in a triangular cross-section. In contrast, females retained an oval cross-section similar to that of juveniles. The deposited bone tissue before, during and after puberty also provides important insights into growth and sexual development in this group.

Bone compactness and growth rate analyses confirm rapid growth to puberty. Differences in growth rate and maximum attained body size are strategies of the sexes to ensure survival to reproductive maturity and success with the opposite sex. For instance, females of Keichousaurus apparently found larger males more attractive than smaller males. Males that grew faster than others were therefore more likely to reproduce successfully. The observed increase in bone density after the end of puberty in both sexes corresponds to a slowing of growth, suggesting a shift of energy from growth to reproduction.

The transformation of the humeri midshafts in males corresponds to an enlargement of the muscle attachment sites, suggesting more robust forelegs. Keichousaurus males may have been subject to higher demands from territorial fighting. This put more stress on their front legs. Strong forelegs could also possibly have been advantageous in copulatory posture during the mating process. The interplay of endogenous hormonal regulation during puberty and external pressure stimuli probably jointly contribute to the morphologic change of the male humerus during this phase.

More information: Qiang Li et al, Puberty in a Mesozoic reptile, Current Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.05.073 Journal information: Current Biology
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The Earth at night. What will it look like 100 years from now? Credit: NASA-NOAA

Concern over global light pollution is growing. Astronomers are noticing its growing effect on astronomical observations, just as predicted in prior decades. Our artificial light, much of which is not strictly necessary, is interfering with our science.

But there's more than just scientific progress at stake. Can humanity afford to block out the opportunities for wonder, awe, and contemplation that the night sky provides?

We've all seen satellite images of Earth at night, with glittering interconnected cities lit up like strings of holiday lights. These images show us how our global civilization has grown, how we've made progress, and how advanced we've become. But in reality, what we're seeing is also light pollution. And we're beginning to pay a price for that pollution.

In January 2023, the Globe at Night organization released a paper based on 10 years of data on the night sky. The data wasn't from satellitesan important point that we'll get to laterit was from citizen scientists spread around the world.

Globe at Night published a research article showing that the night sky is getting 10% brighter each year. Each year, more of the sky's dimmest stars are being drowned out by sky glow from streetlights, traffic lights, and other sources. For more and more people around the globe, the sky shows fewer and fewer stars, never mind the grand arch of the Milky Way.

Globe at Night gathered over 50,000 individual naked-eye observations of the night sky, where they asked citizen scientists to find the dimmest stars. The decrease in dim stars visible in these observations over the ten-year effort indicated a steadily brightening sky.

If the Globe at Night paper was a rallying cry, other researchers are responding. A pair of researchers have released their own brief paper that acts as a kind of addendum to the Globe at Night paper. They are Fabio Falchi from the Applied Physics Department at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and Salvador Bara, an independent researcher in Spain. Falchi is also affiliated with the Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute in Italy.

Satellite data paints a less worrying picture, but satellites have a different perspective. They can only measure the light that reaches them and only in wavelengths their instruments are tuned to. But the light that reaches them is not necessarily the light that drowns out the sky from the perspective of people on the Earth's surface. That's why the Globe at Night effort eschewed satellite data in favor of citizen scientists spread around the globe.

Forecasts based on satellite data predicted that light pollution will increase by 2% each year, but the Globe at Night effort showed that the actual number is 10%. That's a huge discrepancy, and it means that light pollution will double in fewer than eight years. That number should seize everyone's attention, but why the discrepancy? Why can't high-tech satellites get it right?

"Part of this discrepancy could be explained by the impossibility of these satellites to detect the blue light, emitted in great quantity by the LED light that started to be used outdoors about 10 years ago," the pair of researchers write. "These satellites are also not able to see well the light emitted mainly horizontally, such as that from the increasing number of ultra-bright LED billboards and lighted buildings' facades."

Falchi and Bara urge the building of next-generation satellites that can overcome this weakness. Multi-band sensitivity is necessary, as are " multi-angle monitoring capabilities," according to the pair.

They're not the only ones. In 2020 a group of researchers tackled the issue in a paper titled "Remote sensing of night lights: A review and an outlook for the future." One of the authors was Christopher Kyba, who also co-authored the paper from Globe at Night.

In that paper, the authors agree with Falchi and Bara that we need satellites that can sense the rapidly spreading LED lights. They also point out that we need a better understanding of angular patterns of light emission. They don't stop there. "Perhaps most importantly," they write, "we make the case that higher spatial resolution and multispectral sensors covering the range from blue to NIR are needed to more effectively identify lighting technologies, map urban functions, and monitor energy use."

That's great. Detailed, robust data is part of any genuine effort. But we already know that light pollution is increasing. "People, media and politicians are used to associating artificial light thaumaturgical properties on road safety and personal security that it seems not to merit," the pair of researchers point out. "So, year after year, more and more light is installed to light up the night."

What can we do about it?

Something in the human psyche wants to eliminate darkness. We want comfort, safety, convenience, and an overall sense of well-being and prosperity. There's nothing wrong with creating safety if well-lit areas can combat crime, but is more and more light the answer? Is there a point of diminishing returns? Not only for us but for the natural world?

"Life on Earth evolved with sunlight during the day and starlight and the Moon, when present, during the night," Falchi and Bara write. "If we introduce in ecosystems artificial light to levels that surpass, even by thousands of times and more, the level experienced in natural conditions, animal behavior will change consequently." Increased night-time lighting could disrupt predator-prey relationships, change mating behavior, and even help drive some populations or species to extinction.

It's not just star-gazing and the natural world that's paying a price for light pollution. Science is taking a hit, too, as observatories near urban centers have faced the light pollution problem head-on. Take the case of the 100-inch Hooker Telescope at the Mt. Wilson Observatory near Los Angeles.

From its completion in 1917 up to 1949, it was the largest aperture telescope in the world. But as light pollution increased, it became more and more difficult to perform useful astronomical observations. The light was extinguishing faint stellar images, and it kept getting worse. Finally, in 1985, in direct response to the growing artificial light problem, the Hooker Telescope was mothballed.

This was no small matter. The telescope was in good working order and had played an important role in establishing extra-galactic distances, figuring out the nature of spiral galaxies, and establishing the expansion of the Universe, among other scientific endeavors. Other instruments at the Mt. Wilson Observatory are still operating, but the Hooker Telescope's potential was eliminated by excessive sky-glow.

Nobody thoughtful would say they want species driven towards extinction and powerful telescopes shuttered while they're still effective. Nobody thoughtful wants sky-gazing curtailed, either. But one of the main problems in this issue is our prosperity. As lighting becomes cheaperand LEDs are cheaperwe're putting up more and more lights and illuminating roads and streets that never needed it before. What can be done?

We're not likely to go on a mass campaign of streetlight removal, for example, but people have tried other things. "Attempts to control light pollution have been carried out in the last decades in several places, at local up to national level," Falchi and Bara write. These attempts haven't been successful, even when lights are pointed so that they only shine below the plane of the horizon. "This approach is not sufficient, as any new light, even if shielded, will add pollution to the night environment after being reflected off the surfaces intended to be lit," they explain.

Instead, we need to put caps on lighting just like we do on other forms of pollution. The authors point to the Clean Air Act in the U.S. as an example, which limits the use of air contaminants like cancer-causing solvents and toxic fuel additives.

It's axiomatic that human activities will affect nature. But that doesn't mean we can put the blinders on and just accept it. Light pollution might not seem like a big deal in a world enduring the growing catastrophe of the global climate crisis. Can't we just go on the internet and see the sky in far more detail, and even from different parts of the globe? Sure, but computer monitors are not the same as sitting out under the sky, gazing and letting your mind take it all in. Those activities form memories we reflect on, and that stir something inside of us.

Astronomy divorced from humanity's natural spirit is an impoverished venture. Without simple star gazing, and the way it can engage our imaginations, and our sense of wonder and awe, most of us might not even care about the science of astronomy.
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Duckweed surrounding a lily pad. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

One of the most abundant plant proteins on earth, rubisco may be coming to a plate near you soon.

But the enzyme that plays an important role in photosynthesis will look less plantlike and more like a steak or egg and may even be an ingredient in cookies and cakes.

In April, a Dutch company called Rubisco Foods received confirmation from the European Food Safety Authority that the concentrations of the protein derived from duckweed, the tiny and ubiquitous pond weed, is safe for consumption.

The Washington Post on June 17 featured a California-based company called Plantibles that is marketing a powder derived from rubisco as a substitute for eggs in baked goods and has begun experimenting with it as an ingredient in plant-based sausages, chicken and steak.

With the rubisco hype heating up, Northeastern Global News spoke with Northeastern University food policy safety expert Darin Detwiler on the promise and potential pitfalls of consuming the plant-based protein.

Saving the planet, and your health

Harvesting duckweed, the most common commercial source of rubisco, to make powder for food products is not emission-free, but is more environmentally friendly than raising animals for meat, says Detwiler, an associate teaching professor of food policy.

The EPA says 37% of methane emissions from human activity are the direct result of livestock and agricultural practices, with a single cow producing between 154 to 264 pounds of methane gas a year.

The production of plant-based meats already on the market has 49% fewer emissions than traditional meats, Detwiler says.

Since duckweeda tiny plant sometimes called pond scumis grown all over the world, the idea that it could be a readily available source of rubisco protein holds environmental promise.

In addition, Detwiler says, "consuming less red meat can mean lowering the risk of heart disease and even lowering the risk of certain cancers."

Compared to undercooked meats, plant-based proteins pose less of a risk for foodborne illness, he says.

The idea of developing another source of plant-based protein likely also appeals to animal welfare advocates, some of whom call for more humane butchering practices while others seek to end all consumption of animals.

"We know that this is going to appeal to some consumers, especially vegan and vegetarian consumers," Detwiler says.

Plant-based protein foods are often highly processed

While rubisco from duckweed is not believed to contain allergens, the same might not be said for the ingredients that go into making it taste like meat or eggs, Detwiler says.

"When we're talking about plant-based meats, we're talking about highly processed foods. We're also talking about many more ingredients.

"It's not just the rubisco. It is all the other ingredients that are being put into it to give it shape, form, taste and texture and all these different things."

Plant-based protein products that contain soy fillers are exposing people to a common allergen, Detwiler says.

He pointed to plant-based "Just Egg," which, unlike chicken eggs, contains a host of ingredients including mung bean protein isolate, baking powder, cornstarch and coloring.

"Essentially, it is an artificial egg," Detwiler says.

And "all these things are always high in sodium and even higher in saturated fats, especially when they are trying to mimic meat."

Regulatory gaps in the food industry

Detwiler has lectured on the regulatory gaps in the food industry, especially in areas overseen by the FDA, which is all food other than the meat and poultry foods inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"You don't have FDA inspectors in the plants at all," Detwiler says. "They rely on state inspectors."

Consumers too often serve as "the canary in the coal mine" for new food products, he says, pointing to food subscription service Daily Harvest selling French lentil and leek crumbles that sickened consumers.

The FDA said in February that protein-rich tara flour was likely behind the spate of illnesses.

Buy it at the grocery store instead of online

Detwiler advises people seeking out new products such as those made with rubisco to purchase them from major retailers who do a cost-benefit analysis that generally tilts in the direction of food safety before stocking items on their shelves.

Plant-based proteins are a great idea, as a destination, he says.

"But the journey is extremely important," Detwiler says. "That means that as good as rubisco could be, in the end it's only as good as the journey the company takes in terms of making sure they've tested it and (met demands for) regulatory compliance."
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Jitendra Kumar, a paramedic checks the oxygen level of his patient who is suffering from a heat stroke after carrying him in an ambulance from his home in village Mirchwara, 24 kilometers (14.91 miles) from Banpur in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Saturday, June 17, 2023. Ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers in rural India are the first line of care for those affected by extreme heat. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

Siren blaring, Sunil Kumar Naik's ambulance tore across a dry and rocky countryside blasted by dangerous midday heat, rushing to check on a vomiting and dizzy 30-year-old man with possible heat stroke. As soon as they reached the man's village, Naik's paramedic partner guided the stricken man into the ambulance, then checked his pulse and oxygen levels as Naik sped back to the public hospital.

With barely a moment to drink some water and splash their faces, the men were dispatched again, this time to pick up a pregnant woman who had gone into labor as the temperature soared to 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 Fahrenheit). And so went another furious 12-hour shift in India's increasingly deadly summer, when Naik and paramedic Jitendra Kumar sometimes find themselves hurrying to as many as twice the usual number of calls.

Extreme heat is fast becoming a public health crisis in India, with more than 150 people dying during the latest brutal heat wave in June. Prolonged heat waves, sometimes classified as a slow-onset disaster, are one of the deadliest consequences of global warming that India faces. The government estimates nearly 11,000 people have died during heat waves this century, yet experts say such figures are likely a vast undercount.

Banpur, a village of about 13,000, lies in the mostly poor Bundelkhand region deep in India's interior. It's arid and stony, with little tree cover to protect people in one of the nation's hottest regions. Naik and Kumar make up one of two ambulance crews that cover the village and surrounding area, carrying patients to the government-run public health center. The state and federal governments help fund the not-for-profit ambulance service, making it a free lifeline for patients.

Jitendra Kumar, a paramedic who travels in ambulance, washes his face with water to cool himself off after dropping a patient at Lalitpur district hospital, in Banpur, in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Saturday, June 17, 2023. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

"I consider every patient my family member. I don't care if it is hot or if I am hungry, I go on a mission to get the patient out and transport them to the hospital," said Naik, whose only protection from the heat and dry, hot winds is a white cotton towel wrapped around his head. "It is difficult for me driving the vehicle in extreme heat, but it is nothing compared to the hardships of a patient in a medical emergency."

Health experts say the heat can kill slowlyand quickly. The quick way could be through simple heat stroke, while a slower death may result when people who already have serious health conditions suffer through extended heat, said Dileep Mavalankar, former head of the Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar.

Mavalankar was instrumental in developing India's first heat action plan, for the city of Ahmedabad in 2013, three years after more than 1,300 people died during a heat wave there. The plan set out guidelines that included issuing a heat alert when temperatures rose past 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 Fahrenheit), educating people such as outdoor laborers, farmers and others exposed to heat about the risks they face, and providing resources to local health centers and hospitals to deal with heat-related illnesses.

Sunil Kumar Naik drives his ambulance to pick up a patient who is suffering from a heat stroke in Mirchwara village, 24 kilometers (14.91 miles) from Banpur in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Saturday, June 17, 2023. Ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers in rural India are the first line of care for those affected by extreme heat. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

"When a cyclone happens, everyone is on alert, and they act immediately but there is little awareness or action to deal with extreme heat," Mavalankar said. "There needs to be a media blitzkrieg, local governments should warn people to stay indoors and make their hospitals ready to deal with heat-related cases," he said.

Aditya Valiathan Pillai of the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi think tank, recently studied India's readiness to respond to extremely hot weather. He said such planswhich include cooling centers and health care assistance - are essential to saving lives.

Climate experts say that heat waves are here to stay, and India needs to prepare better to deal with their consequences. A study by World Weather Attribution, an academic group that examines the source of extreme heat, found that a searing heat wave in April that struck parts of South Asia was made at least 30 times more likely by climate change.

Jitendra Kumar, a paramedic, center, talks to a patient, left, who is suffering from a heat stroke before carrying him to his ambulance from his home in village Mirchwara, 24 kilometers (14.91 miles) from Banpur in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Saturday, June 17, 2023. Ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers in rural India are the first line of care for those affected by extreme heat. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

Yet poorer regions like Uttar Pradesh, where Banpur lies, may have a plan on paper but not the ability to carry it out.

"The afflicted population is vulnerable because it lacks resources and has insufficient infrastructure to handle severe temperatures," said Anjal Prakash, a research director at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and author of several U.N. climate reports. "The construction of efficient early warning systems, public awareness campaigns about heat-related hazards, the provision of adequate healthcare facilities, and targeted assistance to vulnerable populations are only a few steps that need to be taken immediately."

In Banpur, the paramedic Kumar shares lodging in guest quarters at the hospital with several others. With only an old fan for cooling, he's frequently sweating before his work day begins. The ambulance has air conditioning, but it is "no match for the temperature outside," Kumar said.

Jitendra Kumar, a paramedic who travels in an ambulance, brushes his teeth in a room he shares with several others at the district government hospital quarters, in Banpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers in rural India are the first line of care for those affected by extreme heat. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

Jitendra Kumar, a paramedic who travels in an ambulance, sweats while he gets ready for duty in a room he shares with several others at the district government hospital quarters, in Banpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers in rural India are the first line of care for those affected by extreme heat. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

Sunil Kumar Naik, an ambulance driver, bathes as he gets ready for the day, in Banpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers in rural India are the first line of care for those affected by extreme heat. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

Jitendra Kumar, a paramedic, gets ready for duty in a room he shares with several others at the district government hospital quarters, in Banpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers in rural India are the first line of care for those affected by extreme heat. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

Sunil Kumar Naik, an ambulance driver, prays after taking a bath as he gets ready for the day, in Banpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Sunday, June 18, 2023. Ambulance drivers and other healthcare workers in rural India are the first line of care for those affected by extreme heat. Credit: AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

He and Naik skip lunches most days. When they find time, they eat under whatever shade they can find. They earn a little more than $150 a month, hardly enough to support their families given rising costs. Naik has three young children and Kumar sends most of his income to his wife and parents, who live 350 kilometers away.

Despite the hardships, they make the best of what they say is a difficult job.

"I feel proud of my work," Kumar said. "The more critical the patient, the more challenging it becomes for us to save their life. I feel happy that I can save lives and help people."

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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C 3 PC molecules and Fe atoms formed Sierpinski triangles on Au(111) through three-fold coordination interactions. After dosing CO molecule, the stable coordination Fe(C 3 PC) 3 motifs changed to Fe(C 3 PC) 4 with an axially bonded CO molecule, which transformed STs into one-dimensional chains. Different to the coassembly of CO with Fe(C 3 PC) 4 , CO 2 molecules induced the structural transformation through a molecular catassembly process. Credit: Science China Press

Many molecules assemble into crystalline or disordered glassy structures on surface. With certain assembly approaches, specific molecules can be made to form ordered yet aperiodic structures, such as fractals and quasicrystals. Sierpinski triangles (STs) have been prepared on surfaces and in solutions through halogen bonding, metal-organic coordination, hydrogen bonding, and covalent bonding interactions.

A comprehensive understanding of the growth mechanisms of these fascinating structures is essential for their controlled fabrication on surfaces. Studying their structural transitions may be helpful in this respect. However, reversible transitions between crystalline and fractal structures are still challenging.

A study led by Prof. Yongfeng Wang, Prof. Shimin Hou, Dr. Yajie Zhang (School of Electronics, Peking University) and Prof. Richard Berndt (Institut fur Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel) found that STs were transformed to 1D chains assisted by CO and CO 2 molecules. The paper is published in the journal National Science Review.

C 3 PC molecules and Fe atoms formed STs on Au(111) through three-fold coordination interactions. After dosing CO molecule, the stable coordination Fe(C 3 PC) 3 motifs changed to Fe(C 3 PC) 4 with an axially bonded CO molecule, which transformed STs into one-dimensional chains. The chains were reverted to STs by annealing of samples. The structure transition could also be realized by CO 2 molecules and on the Au(100) substrate. Different to the coassembly of CO with Fe(C 3 PC) 4 , CO 2 molecules induced the structural transformation through a molecular catassembly process.

The coassembly and catassembly methods might be used to tune other metal-organic structures on surfaces. The catassembly theory was first proposed by Prof. Tian's group of Xiamen University. Then research of catassembly on surface was explored in the early stage by Prof. Kai Wu and Prof. Wei Xu. In this study, the intermediate process of catassembly was visually observed for the first time through the variable temperature experiment, and the mechanism of catassembly was further clarified. This also provided a new way to explore the growth of more special structures in the future.

More information: Chao Li et al, Structure transformation from Sierpinski triangles to chains assisted by gas molecules, National Science Review (2023). DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwad088
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Experimental setup monitoring cane toad breathing in the photonic labs of the University of Sydney Nano Institute. Scientists used a new 'photonic radar' to create high-definition radar to accurately monitor cane toad vital signs. Credit: The University of Sydney

Constant monitoring of vital health signs is needed in a variety of clinical environments such as intensive care units, for patients with critical health conditions, health monitoring in aged care facilities and prisons, or in safety monitoring situations where drowsiness can cause accidents.

This is now mostly achieved via wired or invasive contact systems. However, these are either inconvenient or, for patients with burns or for infants with insufficient skin area, are unsuitable.

Scientists at the University of Sydney Nano Institute and the NSW Smart Sensing Network have now developed a photonic radar system that allows for highly precise, non-invasive monitoring. The research is published in Nature Photonics.

Using their newly developed and patented radar system, the researchers monitored cane toads and were able accurately to detect pauses in breathing patterns remotely. The system was also used on devices that simulate human breathing.

The scientists say this demonstrates a proof of principle for using photonic radar that could enable the vital-sign monitoring of multiple patients from a single, centralized station.

The University of Sydney Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and lead for this research Professor Ben Eggleton said, "Our guiding principle here is to overcome comfort and privacy issues, while delivering highly accurate vital sign monitoring." Photonic radar can remotely and accurately monitor the breathing of cane toads. Sydney Nano scientists say the system could be adapted for monitoring vital signs of humans in hospitals or aged-care facilities. Credit: Sebastian Zentilomo/University of Sydney

An advantage to this approach is the ability to detect vital signs from a distance, eliminating the need for physical contact with patients. This not only enhances patient comfort but reduces the risk of cross-contamination, making it valuable in settings where infection control is crucial.

"Photonic radar uses a light-based, photonics systemrather than traditional electronicsto generate, collect and process the radar signals. This approach allows for very wideband generation of radio frequency (RF) signals, offering highly precise and simultaneous, multiple tracking of subjects," said lead author Ziqian Zhang, a Ph.D. student in the School of Physics.

"Our system combined this approach with LiDARlight detection and ranging. This hybrid approach delivered a vital sign detection system with a resolution down to six millimeters with micrometer-level accuracy. This is suitable for clinical environments."

Alternate approaches to non-contact monitoring have typically relied on optical sensors, using infrared and visible wavelength cameras.

"Camera-based systems have two problems. One is high sensitivity to variations in lighting conditions and skin color. The other is with patient privacy, with high-resolution images of patients being recorded and stored in cloud computing infrastructure," said Professor Eggleton who is also the co-Director of the NSW Smart Sensing Network.

Radio frequency (RF) detection technology can remotely monitor vital signs without the need for visual recording, providing built-in privacy protection. Signal analysis, including identification of health signatures, can be performed with no requirement for cloud storage of information.

Lead author and PhD student Ziqian Zhang (left) and Professor Ben Eggleton in the photonics labs of the Sydney Nanoscience Hub. Credit: Stefanie Zingsheim/University of Sydney

Co-author Dr. Yang Liu, a former Ph.D. student in Professor Eggleton's team, now based at EPFL in Switzerland, said, "A real innovation in our approach is complementarity: our demonstrated system has the capability to simultaneously enable radar and LiDAR detection. This has inbuilt redundancy; if either system encounters a fault, the other continues to function."

Conventional RF radar systems, which rely entirely on electronics, have narrow RF bandwidth and therefore have lower-range resolution. This means they cannot separate closely located targets or distinguish them in a cluttered environment.

Relying solely on LiDAR, which uses much shorter light wavelengths, provides improved range and resolution, but has limited penetration abilities through objects such as clothes.

"Our proposed system maximizes the utility of both approaches through integrating the photonic and radio frequency technologies," Mr. Zhang said.

Working with collaborators and partners in the NSW Smart Sensing Network, the researchers hope this research provides a platform to develop a cost-effective, high-resolution and rapid-response vital sign monitoring system with application in hospitals and corrective services.

"A next step is to miniaturize the system and integrate it into photonic chips that could be used in handheld devices," Mr. Zhang said.

More information: Ziqian Zhang et al, Photonic radar for contactless vital sign detection, Nature Photonics (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41566-023-01245-6 Journal information: Nature Photonics
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Male fertility patterns by cognitive ability (CA), birth cohort, and age. (a) The difference between weighted and unweighted average birth cohort IQ scores, with weights given by cohort fertility. In panels (a) and (c), the vertical dashed line separates cohorts with fully observed fertility from those with imputed fertility at high ages. The bars are 95% credibility intervals. (b) The expected lifetime fertility rate by CA score group for men in three cohorts, along with 95% credibility intervals. (c) The cumulative fertility rate of each CA stanine across the lifespan, with the lowest and highest stanines emphasized, and with the vertical dashed line for the 1980 cohort separating the model results for the ages with observed and imputed fertility. The unscored group is shown as a dashed line. Cohorts vary in size: 32 792 (1950), 29 949 (1965), 24 529 (1980). Credit: Biology Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0172

A pair of economists at the Ragnar Frisch Center for Economic Research in Norway has found that men who score higher on IQ tests tend to put off having children longer than men who score lowerand yet they still mange to have more children than their lower-scoring associates. In their study, reported in the journal Biology Letters, Bernt Bratsberg and Ole Rogeberg analyzed population data for males in Norway living between the years 1950 to 1981.

In their study, the researchers included more than 900,000 Norwegian males, all of whom had undergone military conscription IQ tests as teenagers. They found that men scoring in the top 20% on the IQ tests waited on average until they were 27 years old before having their first childand they had on average 1.8 offspring. They note that it is likely that IQ plays an indirect role in childbearing for men in Norway.

They point out, for example, that men who score well on their IQ test tend to be more likely to go to college, which can lead to delayed parenting, as can beginning a career at a later age, after college, than men who do not attend college. And men who go to college tend to make more money later in life than men who do not, allowing them to afford the costs associated with raising children.

Bratsberg and Rogeberg also note that regardless of the economic reasons for the differences in having children, there remain systematic differences in fertility and timing due to cognitive differences in men in Norway, with high-scoring men clearly delaying having children and low-scoring men having children sooner, but having fewer of them. These trends remained stable over time.

Prior research has shown that couples having children later in life can be problematic on a socioeconomic scalesperm count and delivery issues become more of an issue as a man ages, as does a man's ability to physically care for a child. Also, children born to men age 45 and up have a much higher risk of fathering children with autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. Also, the risk of miscarriage goes up for women who deliver babies fathered by older men.

More information: Bernt Bratsberg et al, Stability and change in male fertility patterns by cognitive ability across 32 birth cohorts, Biology Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0172 Journal information: Biology Letters

 2023 Science X Network
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:

Erandi Trevino stands outside her home, located next to a parking lot where trucks park and idle in Houston, Texas on June 27, 2023.

Extreme temperatures have combined with habitual smog in Houston for more than two weeks, and Erandi Trevino feels the hazardous combination in her body.

"It burns my face. I feel it in my nostrils," Trevino says.

The heat wave sprawling across the southern United States has lasted since June 14, and the sultry air and humidity make for temperatures that feel like they are higher than 40 degrees C (104 degrees F).

Houston, the fourth most populous US city with 2.3 million people, is home to four oil refineries (one of them among the nation's largest), heavy industry, a tangle of highways and plenty of trucks.

"In past years, we may have a heat emergency that lasts typically two, three, maybe four days at the most (but) I've never seen in the last 20 years... where it extends past a week and a half," Porfirio Villarreal, spokesman for the Houston Health Department, told AFP.

Between four and 10 people die each year in the city of Houston from heat-related illness, Villarreal said.

Trevino, 31, an organizer with Public Citizen, lives next to a truck parking lot where exhaust spews constantly.

Fewer than seven miles away (10 kilometers) is the Houston Ship Channel, site of major industrial and petrochemical activity.

The heat and pollution have delivered a one-two blow.

Maps showing forecasted daily maximum heat index for the US from June 29 to July 1.

High ozone days

"It's absolutely affecting my health, no doubt about it," she said, trucks rumbling behind her home in the southwest of the city.

"In Houston, we're affected by a lot of ground-level ozone... (which) is what happens when pollution and heat combine."

"When we have heat waves here that are 100 degrees (F) for several weeks on end, plus the high levels and spikes and pollution that we have from the industry, then that results in a lot of days with high ozone levels."

Ozone can be good or bad depending on where it exists. Good ozone occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere, shielding humans from harmful ultraviolet rays.

But ozone at ground level is a harmful contaminant, and is caused when pollutants emitted by vehicles, power plants, refineries and other sources chemically react with sunlight, especially in hot weather, the Environmental Protection Agency says.

Trevino, who also is director of the Health Port Communities Coalition, demands that ozone meters be installed near industrial areas of the city. None exist currently.

Millions affected

According to the American Lung Association, nearly 120 million US citizens (more than a third of the nation) live in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, with some of them vulnerable to illness and even death.

"I feel like that it is extremely dangerous for our health in the long run, especially for the little ones and the elderly," said Esmeralda Carr, a 32-year-old mother of four and a neighbor of Trevino's.

"When you have a lot of pollution, you end up having more people go to the hospitals. They may have asthma, which is exacerbated by that ozone or that pollution," Villarreal said.

Those most harmed by the pollution are African American and Latino communities, the American Lung Association says.

 2023 AFP
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

This mosquito was documented in 2022 by citizen scientists in Texas; it was the first iNaturalist observations in the U.S. of mosquito Aedes scapularis, an invasive species that causes yellow fever. Credit: Lawrence Reeves

Researchers at the University of South Florida are urging the public to take photos of mosquitoes and share them to help track and mitigate the potential spread of malaria. The Florida Department of Health has issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness advisory after four confirmed cases of malaria in Sarasota County. An additional case has also been reported in Texas.

Ryan Carney, assistant professor of integrative biology, and Sriram Chellappan, professor of computer science and engineering, developed mosquitodashboard.org, which utilizes data provided by ordinary citizens and artificial intelligence to identify the location and species of disease-carrying mosquitoes.

The public dashboard serves as an aggregation of data from multiple smartphone apps, including NASA's GLOBE Observer, iNaturalist and Mosquito Alert, where people are encouraged to be "citizen scientists" and upload photos of any mosquitoes that they find. The data from each app is displayed on the dashboard, which features an interactive map that allows users to analyze mosquitoes near them and around the world.

"It would be phenomenal for citizen scientists in Sarasota County and beyond to download and use our partner apps," Carney said. "Citizen scientists with smartphones can serve as extra sets of eyes to help monitor these malaria mosquitoes, in locations and at a scale otherwise impossible via traditional mosquito trapping methods. Importantly, by contributing valuable data on exactly where these malaria mosquitoes are found in their community, everyday citizens can help guide local mosquito surveillance and control programs."

Mosquito Alert. Credit: University of South Florida

By leveraging the photos uploaded, the team has gathered more than a half million images, allowing their artificial intelligence algorithm to better identify mosquitoes in the adult and larval stagea critical element to mitigating mosquito-borne diseases. By identifying the species of mosquito, the team can determine its potential for carrying diseases and alert local authorities.

"Advances in artificial intelligence algorithms yield novel technologies for accurate, fast and large-scale surveillance of malaria-spreading mosquitoes," Chellappan said. "The impact of these technologies is significantly amplified when fueled by data from the general public, the consequence of which greatly strengthens our fight against malaria."

These technologies have proven successful locally and globally. In Tampa Bay, the team recently examined the abundance and ecological drivers of Aedes aegypti, a mosquito that carries dengue, yellow fever and Zika. They hope their study, published in the Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association, will serve as a framework for leveraging mosquito abundance data to inform habitat models and local control efforts. With that, the team will further examine the abundance of mosquitoes capable of transmitting malaria in Florida and Texas.

"Ultimately, the strategy is to further deploy our arsenal of next-generation digital technologies to enable more accurate and precise surveillance and control of mosquitoes carrying deadly diseases in Florida and beyond," Carney said.

More information: Johnny A. Uelmen et al, A Habitat Model for Disease Vector Aedes aegypti in the Tampa Bay Area, Florida, Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association (2023). DOI: 10.2987/22-7109
Inner Mongolia to host national dance exhibition in July

Xinhua) 13:07, June 30, 2023

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The 14th national dance exhibition will be held from July 6 in the city of Ordos in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Performers from 30 provincial-level regions will take part in the event, with more than 80 outstanding works to be presented, ministry official Huang Xiaoju said at a press conference on Thursday.

The high-quality program will cover a wide range of subjects, including traditional Chinese culture, the country's revolutionary history and the process of China's industrial growth, and will demonstrate the vigorous development of the art of dance in China, Huang said.

The productions will have low ticket prices for members of the public, and will also be livestreamed online to make the arts more accessible for a wider audience.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
By Alpha Abu, Chernor Alimamy Kamara & Nasratu Kargbo

President Julius Maada Bio has been re-elected for a second 5-year term, defeating his closet challenger Dr. Samura M.W. Kamara of the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC).

In his address to the nation, following the announcement of the results, President Bio made a conciliatory gesture saying we must reunite in pursuit of common goal: enhancing peace, prosperity and progress of Sierra Leone.

The announcement late Tuesday afternoon by Chief Electoral Commissioner Mohamed K. Konneh confirmed President Bios victory in the first round of voting that took place on Saturday 24th June, sparking wild celebratory scenes in Freetown and other parts of Sierra Leone.

Bio polled 1,566,932(one million, five hundred and sixty-six thousand, nine hundred and thirty-two) votes or 56.17% of valid votes, while Dr. Kamara got 1,142,262 (one million, one hundred and forty- eight thousand, two hundred and sixty-two) votes-41.16%.

Eleven other Presidential Candidates belonging to smaller parties shared the rest of the percentage votes.

The day before, Konneh had announced provisional presidential results which placed Bio in a comfortable lead.

However, there have been mixed reactions from Sierra Leoneans after Bio was declared the winner.

Cecil Eustace Betts, a supporter of the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) noted that President Bios victory is one of the best things to have happened to him this year. He said he believes the Presidents agenda of Free Quality Education will continue so that the people of Sierra Leone will realize what he is capable of doing.

He hoped to see a new change in the countrys economic situation and for the prices of basic commodities to decrease. He told the opposition supporters that no one is a loser and should know that it is the country that wins. He urged everyone to come on board and embrace peace for the progress of the country.

Another SLPP supporter, James Kalokoh noted that President Bio has proven as someone to be trusted as he promised the party victory and he delivered it. He urged the President to ensure that he improves the job market, saying if people are engaged in their jobs, they will abstain from political discourse.

He also called on President Bio to strengthen vocational institutions for those that are not fortunate to go to universities.

Kalokoh called on the opposition to join the ruling government to work for the interest of the country. He said as the election has ended, everyone should realize that Sierra Leone is the only country they can call home and that they should all embrace peace and leave politics to the politicians.

A supporter from the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party, Mohamed Sulaiman Koroma stated that the majority of the party supporters including him are not happy over the outcome of the election result announced by ECSL.

He said President Bio is not new for the people of the country, saying he is not foreseeing any significant change in the President would do throughout his tenure. He stated that the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar keeps soaring which has caused high prices of goods.

Koroma went on to say that the election results have proven that the electorates votes are no longer important, citing press statements from the European Union, U.S Embassy, and the National Election Watch (NEW) which he said spoke about lack of transparency in the process.

He hoped the President will provide more jobs for the people of the country as he graduated two years ago without a job. He advised the winners not to make the country unstable for the losers.

Mariama S.Bampia another APC supporter said she was down after the pronouncement of the election results, which saw her pressure shoot up, and had to play music to calm down her nerves.

She referred to video footage posted on social media by the First Lady, Fatima Bio assuring the country that her husband will in the next five years work for the people of Sierra Leone. She hoped the President will work towards the development of the entire country and not just SLPP strongholds.

She also urged SLPP supporters not to disturb APC supporters, to avoid an outbreak of violence.

Politico reached out to residents around the Hastings/Kossoh Town Communities

Salifu Conteh a resident of Wellington east of Freetown said: The people made a choice through the ballot box but unfortunately due to some reasons African politics has been played, and they didn't listen to the choice of the people.

When asked which areas he would like the administration to work on, he stated that the government has a lot to work on, but emphasized the need for government to provide basic amenities such as electricity, water, good medical facilities, and a booming economy, stressing that this will improve the lives of citizens.

Highlighting other things that should be addressed, Kanu said the administration should ensure that the citizens fundamental human rights are not violated. For the past five years we have seen authorities violate our human rights, which on some occasions has led to deaths, loss of property, imprisonment, and instability in the country, Kanu said.

Politico also reached out to residents around the Hastings/Kossoh Town Communities- east rural Freetown.

One of them Maseray Kamara said the election was peaceful, despite reports of people being beaten, claims of ballot stuffing, and other elections-related violence.

We hope in the next five years it will be a change for the better, I pray they do more in order to reduce the economic suffering of the people, she said. She called on all Sierra Leoneans to remain peaceful, adding that politics should not divide people.

Another resident Martha Saccoh expressed excitement, stating that she was pleased with the results. She explained that the government has done so much and that it is only right that President Bio is given more time to continue his good work.

Saccoh explained that the hike in prices of commodities should not be blamed on the government, and claimed the past APC government caused extreme damage to the countrys economy, adding that the Ukraine-Russia war just worsened the situation.

Speaking on areas she would like the government to focus on, Saccoh explained that the government should place emphasis on monitoring the implementation of projects that theyve undertaken across the country. She cited as an example the Kossoh Town Hastings Road project, which according to her has been two years since it started and was yet to be completed. She noted that the stipulated timeframe for the projects completion was long overdue.

She added that the President should appoint people who can work with him in developing the country, adding that areas such as tourism, and internal affairs should be looked at, explaining that a lot of good things can be achieved if the right people are placed in the right place.

Copyright  2023 Politico (28/06/23)
MILLVILLE  The local judge who alleged Latinos were being discriminated against by the citys municipal court practices is suing the state judiciary for damages for alleged retaliation.

Judge Jason Witcher contends the state judiciary retaliated against him for protected conduct and violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination by not providing him proper medical accommodation, according to a lawsuit filed last Friday in Mercer County Superior Court.

The lawsuit alleges the retaliation stems from Witchers efforts to address alleged prejudice by court personnel against defendants with Latino-sounding surnames. The prejudice consisted of court employees requiring defendants with Latin last names to appear in person for court, without providing a chance for a virtual hearing.

Those virtual hearings have become widely used since the COVID-19 pandemic. The states chief justice ruled in favor of allowing virtual appearances to continue after pandemic-related maneuvers to promote social distancing faded.

The state Administrative Office investigated the claims and found Witchers allegations unsupported by evidence. However, better use of an interpreter was recommended.

The office does not comment on open litigation, spokesperson Pete McAleer said.

The lawsuit alleges the retaliation against Witcher and the offices failure to accommodate his medical needs have caused him mental stress.

Witchers legal team asserts the retaliation included a virtual court hearing in January being canceled because the judge failed to review the docket.

Thomas M. North, the presiding judge for Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties, questioned Witcher on Jan. 10 if he reviewed a docket for the following days session, according to the lawsuit.

During his over a decade-long career as a Judge, Plaintiff was never asked, let alone required, to review dockets before a court session, the lawsuit says.

Witcher replied by saying he didnt, leaving North to say he would call someone to see what should be done about the Jan. 11, 2023, session, the lawsuit states.

After Witcher went to bed, North, in a text message, informed him the hearing was canceled, the lawsuit states.

In a follow-up email confirming the cancellation, North allegedly told Witcher, You continue to publicly allege issues with scheduling in the Millville Municipal Court. I have yet to see any issues, and every time I invite you to identify an issue, you are unable to do so or simply ignore my requests.

NJ fairly, fully handles weak claim of bias at Millville court Claims of ethnic discrimination, especially when made by a government official, must be take

North also allegedly told Witcher because he did not review the docket, I am troubled that you refuse to perform your job, the lawsuit states. A story later published by the New Jersey Law Journal about the alleged exchange caused Witcher humiliation and embarrassment.

The lawsuit also alleges Witcher suffered a seizure-like response during an in-person court session because medical accommodations allowing him to preside over the courtroom remotely were taken away.

Witcher suffers from Crohns disease, the lawsuit says. He was diagnosed in 2021.

To accommodate the condition, Witcher was permitted to hear cases virtually through his computer, but the state directed him to appear at the courthouse for all court proceedings, the lawsuit says. The move was made in light of Witchers comments about racism in the municipal courts practices, the lawsuit contends.

Witcher was suspended briefly but returned, the lawsuit says.

To protect his health, Witcher was forced to resign from judgeship beginning Aug. 1, the lawsuit says.

Report finds no bias in Millville court vs. Latino defendants MILLVILLE  The state Judiciary did not find evidence of bias by city Municipal Court staff 

Witcher preceded over other municipal courtrooms in South Jersey, including Bridgeton.

He began municipal court duties in 2010, the lawsuit says.
One of New Jerseys largest Fourth of July parades will be livestreamed on the morning of the holiday.

The Smithville Fourth of July parade is scheduled to kick off at 9 a.m. Tuesday and run until approximately 11 a.m. The annual parade will run east on Smithville Boulevard in Galloway to Moss Mill Road and then west on Moss Mill Road to Historic Smithville.

A livestream will run on The Press of Atlantic Citys website throughout the event for those who cannot make the parade, or want to watch a replay after.

Meteorologist Joe Martucci and Noreaster Nick Pittman will co-host the parade, taking you through the more than 170 marching units and full festivities. The livestream will also be available on their respective Facebook channels.

Jim Eberwine, a notable Atlantic County figure whose roles have included National Weather Service Meteorologist, Absecon Emergency Management Coordinator, New Jersey Emergency Preparedness Associations conference co-founder and more, will be the grand marshal.

The forecast calls for a dry morning in the town without excessive humidity. Temperatures will rise into the 70s and 80s.

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ATLANTIC CITY  A much-anticipated grand opening of Showboat's waterpark turned to disappointment and confusion Friday, as the park lacked needed state permits.

The Island Waterpark at Showboat had planned to open Friday morning, but the doors remained closed. Details remain uncertain, but the latest word on Friday afternoon was that the park would not open until after the July 4 holiday.

Officials said the project lacked needed permits to open, although developer Bart Blatstein, whod built the $100 million waterpark as a complement to his Showboat Hotel, said the delays were due to his desire to be make the project perfect.

Friday afternoon, a state official confirmed said the park was still in the approval and permitting process, which she said was moving ahead.

"The Island Waterpark at Showboat rides are currently in the approval process," state Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman Lis Ryan said in a statement on Friday. "DCA is working in cooperation with the waterpark owner to ensure the ride documentation submittal, review, and approval process is followed and completed."

Atlantic Countys state lawmakers got involved in the issue as well, said Joe Berg, a spokesman for the 2nd Legislative District team of Sen. Vince Polistina, and Assemblyman Don Guardian and Assemblywoman Claire Swift.

Polistina said Friday afternoon that Showboat officials were hoping to have an inspector visit the waterpark on Saturday.

With such a large investment into the city, the Atlantic County Republican senator wondered why the state couldnt do more to have the park prepared for its opening.

I dont know why we didnt get that, but were trying to do everything we can to get it done, he said.

Blatstein initially told a news outlet that he believed the park could open by Friday afternoon. Later he told another outlet it would open Saturday.

"I want everything just right," Blatstein said. "It's going to be here for decades."

By 5 p.m. Friday, the parks doors remained closed and Blatstein wasnt talking to reporters.

The Showboat owner and Tower Investments CEO then sent out a press statement:

You only have one chance to make a first impression. I've decided to open ISLAND Waterpark on July 7. This is the worlds largest indoor beachfront waterpark and a destination that will last many decades so I want to ensure everything is perfect. We are so looking forward to sharing this whole new realm of family entertainment on the world famous Atlantic City Boardwalk. We cant wait for our guests-both kids and adultsto experience this paradise and enjoy it all year round.

The delay is likely a blow to Blatstein's plans to open for the July 4th holiday market for the Jersey Shore.

The indoor waterpark offers 120,000 square feet of water slides, pools, a roller coaster, lazy river, food and other amenities for kids and adults. The waterpark will also have a retractable roof, making it usable year-round.

"The permit application is processed and a permit to operate is issued by DCA for each ride," Ryan said. "Once a permit to operate has been issued, the ride owner must schedule a required inspection where a DCA ride inspector inspects the ride in person to ensure it is safe to operate. The ride can open upon successful completion of the onsite inspection."

Blatstein undertook the waterpark as a part of improvements he's made to the former casino hotel. The Showboat was purchased by his company, Tower Investments, from Stockton University in 2015.

City officials have hailed the waterpark as a needed investment to diversify the Jersey Shore town's offerings outside of its famed beaches and casinos.

Showboat's highly anticipated waterpark opening will not take place as intended Friday morning, a spokesperson for the resort said.

But, the park's developer and Showboat owner Bart Blatstein said he's still hoping for a 5 p.m. opening time Friday.

"It's a Bart issue," said Blatstein, explaining why the morning opening didn't occur. "I'm not opening the waterpark until it's perfect."

Blatstein undertook the $100 million waterpark as a part of improvements he's made to the former casino hotel. The Showboat was purchased by his company, Tower Investments, from Stockton University in 2015.

Initial reports Friday morning indicated the park's failure to open was due to it not securing a state license in time.

Blatstein, however, said the delay was his decision.

City officials have hailed the waterpark as a needed investment to diversify the Jersey Shore town's offerings outside of its famed beach and gambling market.

"I want everything just right," Blatstein said. "It's going to be here for decades."

The indoor waterpark offers 120,000 square feet of water slides, pools, a roller coaster, lazy river, food and other amenities for kids and adults. The waterpark will also have a retractable roof, making it accessible year-round.
VINELAND  A motorcyclist and his passenger were both killed when their bike was struck by an oncoming car on Friday night.
(Photo : NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden denied the allegations that he was involved to his son, Hunter Bidens foreign deals.

President Joe Biden denied involvement in his son Hunter Biden's business dealings in China.

A reporter questioned Joe Biden about recent allegations that his son's text messages suggested the president was in the room with him during negotiations with another party.

Hunter Biden Foreign Deals

"No, I wasn't, and I - no!" Biden shouted in response.

The denial pertains to a text message from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, the CEO of Harvest Fund Management, in which Hunter claims he was with his father to exert pressure on Zhao to fulfill a commitment.

Nearly a year after reports of a purported voicemail from President Joe Biden to Hunter in which he allegedly discussed his son's international business transactions surfaced, testimony from a whistleblower regarding the investigation into Hunter Biden was made public.

The Justice Department announced earlier this month that Hunter would plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax in exchange for an agreement that is expected to keep him out of jail.

Additionally, the president's son consented to a pretrial diversion agreement for a distinct charge of possession of a firearm by an illegal user or addict of a controlled substance, WCSI reported.

According to one attorney, the release of a new WhatsApp discussion between Hunter Biden and a Chinese businessman is indicative of a particular pattern of behavior.

In a recent agreement between his attorneys and the Department of Justice (DOJ), the president's son pled guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses. According to reports, he will also avoid prosecution on unlawful gun charges by adhering to certain provisions based on his addiction and substance abuse history.

He, his father, and other members of the Biden family have been a top priority for House Republicans, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy and the Oversight Committee led by Representative James Comer, for alleged criminal malfeasance relating to Hunter's role on the board of Ukraine gas company Burisma and receiving millions of dollars from Chinese companies.

Tuesday, the Twitter account for the Oversight Committee shared a new WhatsApp message sent by Hunter Biden to Gongwen ("Kevin") Dong on August 3, 2017. Dong is an employee of CEFC, an energy corporation affiliated with the Chinese Community Party.

BIDEN FAMILY COVER-UP



In a WhatsApp exchange dated 8/3/2017, Hunter Biden tells CEFC associate Gongwen Dong, aka Kevin:



"The Biden's are the best I know at doing exactly what the Chairman wants from this [partnership]."



CEFC is a CCP-linked Chinese Energy Company. pic.twitter.com/ZzRvpMeuNn  Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 27, 2023

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, wrote in an op-ed for Fox News that the most recent WhatsApp message violates the law "neither confused nor frenzied. In fact, it contains all the clarity and directness that the Bidens have denied the American people."

Turley had previously expressed concern regarding a July 30, 2017 WhatsApp message sent from Hunter's iCloud account to Chinese businessman Henry Zhao. While Comer and other Senate Republicans, such as Charles Grassley, have focused on the Biden family and conducted numerous investigations, their evidence has remained scant or nonexistent.

Per Newsweek, the pair pointed to a previously redacted FBI document as a smoking gun, though both have admitted that information regarding alleged recordings made by a Burisma executive regarding Hunter remains scant.

Read Also: Putin's Goons Interrogate 'General Armageddon,' Russia President Reportedly Fears Firing 'Dangerous' Defense Minister

Hunter Biden's Laptop

Meanwhile, the FBI learned of Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop containing incriminating data for the first time in October 2019, according to an IRS memo.

Gary Shapley, a senior IRS Criminal Investigation official, penned the memo in 2020. It reveals that senior law enforcement officials stewed on the treasure trove of evidence from the First Son's computer for months before handing over snippets to investigators working on the case.

It also directly contradicts an open letter published by 51 former intelligence officials weeks before the 2020 presidential election, in which the laptop was deemed to have "all the classic hallmarks of a Russian information operation."

According to Daily Mail, Shapley and his subordinate, who are both recent Congress whistleblowers, believe that almost three years later, they still haven't received all the data on the hard drive, which could incriminate not only Hunter, but also his father.

Shapley informed lawmakers that his document, dated October 22, 2020, was a record of a meeting that day with his IRS Criminal Investigation team, FBI cyber forensics specialists, and prosecutors heading the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden.

Over the course of three pages, it details when the FBI first obtained Hunter's laptop, which he had left at a Delaware computer repair shop, how investigators established that it belonged to the First Son and had not been tampered with, and how IRS special agents were forced to wait months to obtain emails that could have aided their investigation.

Related Article: Joe Biden Takes Orders From China Amid Russian Crisis, Donald Trump Claims

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A Bettendorf woman is facing charges in connection with the death Monday of 36-year-old Julius Yvette Figures in East Moline.

Sophia L. Powell, 31, is charged with one count each of aggravated reckless driving, a Class 4 felony under Illinois law that carries a prison sentence of one to three years, and reckless driving, a Class A misdemeanor that carries a jail sentence of up to one year, East Moline Police Chief Jeff Ramsey said.

Powell turned herself into the Rock Island County Jail on Thursday. She was arrested and booked on the charges. Her bond was set at $20,000, or 10%.

Several traffic citations also are pending, Ramsey said.

Rock Island County Circuit Court electronic records did not indicate Friday if Powell had made first appearance on the charges. When that hearing takes place, the judge will schedule a preliminary hearing in the case.

Ramsey said that at 9:06 p.m. Monday, officers were sent to the 800 block of 19th Street to investigate a vehicle versus pedestrian crash.

Figures was found to have suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to Genesis Medical Center, Silvis, where he died.

Ramsey said Powell remained on the scene after the crash and was interviewed by investigators and taken to the hospital for evaluation. She was released at that time pending further investigation of the crash.

The Moline Police Departments Accident Reconstruction Division assisted in the investigation.

The incident remains under investigation. East Moline Police ask that anyone with information about this incident to call the East Moline Police Department at 309-752-1555, Crime stoppers of the Quad Cities at 309-762-9500, or submit an anonymous tip via the P3 Tips mobile app.

A derailed train lays on the ground next to train tracks
The city of Davenport will no longer record its public comment portion of City Council meetings, city staff said Thursday, citing what they called "libelous or defamatory statements" at meetings.

In the month after the building at 324 Main St. partially collapsed, leaving three people dead and dozens displaced, residents have leveled pointed criticisms of Davenport officials, staff and council members during public comment at Wednesday night council meetings.

Residents have criticized the city for failing to warn residents of the building's condition or preventing the collapse, alleging that some officials appeared absent from the emergency response or callous to the community's concerns. A few at the podium have accused officials of corruption, hiding significant information or failing to distribute aid. Several have called on council members to resign.

Some residents complained during public comment on Wednesday that friends or family watching meetings at home would see the livestream go dark, with an error message, during public comment. Videos for the council meetings would then be available in full online in the days after the meeting.

Asked about the complaints, Chief Strategy Officer Sarah Ott wrote in an email to the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus that the city would "no longer record the public comment portion of our meetings."

Ott wrote that the timeline for implementation of these changes was "still yet to be determined."

"The City of Davenport values input from our residents, and we encourage the public to attend City council meetings to ensure their voices are heard. At the same time, there is no place for libelous or defamatory statements in civil discourse and the City does not condone them," Ott wrote. "By publishing such comments on City platforms, the city can be exposed to legal liability. Therefore we will no longer record the public comment portion of our meetings. All other portions of City council meetings will continue to be recorded and published, as has been our practice."

Several lawsuits have been filed against the city, building owner Andrew Wold, Bi-State Masonry and others.

Iowa law does not require a government board to livestream or record its meetings, said Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. But, the FOI Council has advocated that technology such as livestreaming meetings enables more people to engage with their local governments.

"Yes, there are people who sometimes go too far, but there are ways government officials can deal with people like that without shutting off everyone's access to these citizen comments," Evans said. "And frankly, I think being able to receive public criticism is in the job description for elected officials and top-level city administrators.

"It sure seems like city officials want to restrict to the fewest number of people possible, those who hear any criticism of the City of Davenport's handling of events leading up to, and after, the collapse of The Davenport," Evans said. "While that may be legal, it's certainly not keeping with the spirit of the open meetings law."

City ratifies $3 million in expenses from building collapse

The Davenport City Council ratified $3 million in emergency costs related to the building collapse in downtown Davenport.

In a unanimous vote Wednesday, council members ratified emergency contracts for demolition and investigative services as well as $500,000 related to the public safety response after 324 Main St. partially collapsed.

That amends city's budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30 for unanticipated costs related to the building collapse. It includes "any currently known costs associated with the response to the partial building collapse and is anticipated to build in enough flexibility for any additional costs that may be incurred before the end of the fiscal year (June 30)," Ott wrote in an email last week.

Typically, cities must advertise for and collect bids for public contracts, but the city used its emergency purchasing authority to enter into agreements with vendors to accelerate a time-consuming bidding process, Ott said previously.

Included in the $3 million is:

A $1.2 million emergency contract with demolition company D.W. Zinser for assisting during recovery operations and demolishing, dismantling and removing the building structure.

$500,000 for public safety response.

Other contracts, including investigative firms SOCOTEC Engineering and White Birch Group to investigate the cause of the collapse.

City staff have said they don't anticipate the cost of contracts with SOCOTEC Engineering or White Birch Group to exceed $100,000, which is why they weren't on the agenda for approval like the D.W. Zinser contract.

Davenport City Attorney Tom Warner has indicated the city would seek reimbursement from the property owner at 324 Main St., Andrew Wold, for the demolition costs incurred by the city.

"Our end game, if you will, even if we get paid from the federal government to do this, is to go after the property owner," Warner said at Wednesday's meeting.

One resident during public comment, Ezra Sidran, criticized the city's processes for entering into the investigative contracts. He pointed to the website of the White Birch Group, LLC, which is an unsecured site and some pages of which had filler text. He called the site an example of unprofessionalism.

White Birch, LLC, is a Chicago company incorporated in Illinois since 2016. The manager listed in state records is Scott Nacheman, a licensed architect in Illinois and Indiana, who helped lead an investigation into the 2011 collapse of a stage at the Indiana State Fair for engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti Inc.

Nacheman also is a structural specialist for Indiana Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1, and, according to his LinkedIn, has responded to commercial building failures following hurricanes, earthquakes and the Joplin tornadoes.

Canadian wildfires continue to affect air quality
CHICAGO  The state of Illinois will offer credit monitoring and a call center for hundreds of thousands of people whose private data was compromised in a cyberattack by a global ransomware group last month.

The state will send out notices this week to people eligible to sign up for the credit monitoring, according to the Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology. Only people whose data was part of the breach will get the call center phone number, the state said.

The move comes in response to a late May attack by a global ransomware gang called CL0P that is thought to have exploited a vulnerability in the states MOVEit Transfer file-sharing software. The state estimates data for 390,000 people was affected.

The state will offer credit monitoring services for 12 months with Experian. Its designed to provide identity theft detection, identity restoration and identity theft insurance for those whose data was compromised, according to the state.

There is no indication anyones compromised information has been used fraudulently, the state said in announcing the credit monitoring and call center.

Other victims of the May 31 attack included the BBC, British Airways and Nova Scotias government, according to The Associated Press.

The attack on Illinois computer systems was contained within three hours, according to the state.

The Department of Innovation & Technology removed the hackers out of the states systems by securing the servers that were compromised and immediately implementing steps to protect against future attacks, the state said.

Ransomware is malicious software that infects a computer system. Those behind ransomware then demand money to allow the system to work properly again or threaten to post sensitive information online if they dont receive payment. A spokesperson with Gov. J.B. Pritzkers office earlier this month said the hackers did not seek a ransom from the state.

This is not the first time Illinois state government has been hit by a ransomware group.

In early 2021, the state attorney generals office was infiltrated by another Russian cybergang. That attack came after an audit warned that weaknesses in cybersecurity potentially left sensitive information on the agencys computer network susceptible to cyberattacks and unauthorized disclosure.

Chicago Tribunes Dan Petrella contributed.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term
A Davenport man accused of a fatal 2021 shooting must serve up to 15 years in an Iowa prison in relation to the killing.

Scott County authorities initially accused Demarco D. Gray, 29, of first-degree murder, alleging he killed Jeremiah Martinez-Brown, 25, on Sept. 5, 2021, in the 2200 block of North Nevada Avenue in Davenport, according to previous reporting. They also accused him of dominion/control of firearm/offensive weapon by felon.

On Wednesday, District Court Judge Joel Barrows sentenced Gray to up to 10 years on a charge of voluntary manslaughter and up to another five years for the count of felon in possession of a firearm, according to court records. The two sentences must be served back to back but Gray will get credit for the time he has spent in jail while the case was resolved.

Gray pleaded guilty to the charges in April, according to Scott County court records. The plea was the result of an agreement with the Scott County Attorneys Office.

Photos: Historic Downtown Davenport
A Scott County judge has sentenced a former Scott County correctional officer to probation in relation to a burglary case.

County authorities accused Kevin Michael Delveau, 33, of Davenport, of breaking into a home early on the morning of Oct. 18, 2022, in the 1100 block of East Columbia Avenue in Davenport. Once inside, he confronted an occupant of the home, police said, adding he was intoxicated at the time.

Delveau initially faced charges of first-degree burglary and domestic abuse assault-first offense, according to Scott County court records. In April, Delveau pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and the domestic abuse charge as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

On Thursday, District Court Judge Joel W. Barrows sentenced Delveau to up to 10 years in prison on the burglary charge, but suspended the sentence, court records state. Delveau instead must complete up to three years of probation.

Delveau received his sentence on the domestic abuse charge on April 10, when he entered his plea. District Court Judge Meghan Corbin sentenced him to 30 days in jail with credit for time served. All but 48 hours of the jail time was suspended.

At the time of the incident in October, Delveau was a county correctional officer, Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane said. He had been with the county since 2018 but was on administrative leave after the case was opened against him.

Lane said in April that Delveaus county employment had since ended.

Landmark Supreme Court cases and Chief Justices of the time Landmark Supreme Court cases and Chief Justices of the time Marbury v. Madison McCulloch v. Maryland Dred Scott v. Sandford Plessy v. Ferguson Korematsu v. United States Cooper v. Aaron Mapp v. Ohio Engel v. Vitale Gideon v. Wainwright New York Times Company v. Sullivan Miranda v. Arizona Loving v. Virginia Terry v. Ohio Tinker v. Des Moines Roe v. Wade US v. Nixon Goss v. Lopez Regents of the University of California v. Bakke New Jersey v T.L.O. Texas v. Johnson Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health Bush v. Gore Grutter v. Bollinger Lawrence v. Texas Roper v. Simmons District of Columbia v. Heller Citizens United v. FEC National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius Obergefell v. Hodges Department of Commerce v. New York Rucho v. Common Cause Bostock v. Clayton County R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen Kennedy v. Bremerton School District Brown v. Board of Education
Quad-Cities area colleges and universities do not anticipate to be directly impacted by Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in college admissions, but some wonder about the overall implications for higher education.

In a split ruling Thursday morning, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, claims both programs violate the Equal Protection Clause and "lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping and lack meaningful end points."

The case came to SCOTUS after Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. (a nonprofit membership group aiming to rid race and ethnicity from college admissions) filed suit against Harvard and UNC's affirmative action programs back in 2014, with years of lower court adjudication in between.

Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, a Republican, celebrated the decision in a statement, saying college admissions should be judged on merit.

As Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the decision, 'eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.' College applicants should be judged on their merit, not on the color of their skin, Hinson said.

As some applaud the ruling, others  like dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor  think upending affirmative action "rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress" toward educational equity.

Iowas three public universities are not likely to be affected by the ruling. The University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa use a standardized rubric called the "Regent Admission Index" to determine undergraduate admissions. The index considers GPA, courses taken in core areas and ACT scores, and it does not factor in the applicants race.

University of Iowa spokesperson Jeneane Beck said the universitys graduate and professional programs had their own criteria for admissions, and officials will be reviewing the ruling to ensure their recruiting and admissions standards align with best practices.

As a leading research university, Iowa benefits from recruiting and retaining individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences, Beck said. So, the university will continue to focus on creating a campus culture that provides everyone the opportunity to contribute and reach their full potential.

Western Illinois University Director of Undergraduate Admissions Doug Freed said the university did not factor race into its admissions decisions, so the ruling should not have an impact on WIU's process.

In a statement, WIU President Guiyou Huang said the university would adhere to legal requirements and follow expected forthcoming guidance in making any needed adjustments.

WIU's office of Justice, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity will also continue its work, Huang said.

"We stand with our peer institutions of higher education who have issued statements announcing their commitment to continue striving to close equity gaps for Black, Latinx, low-income, working adults, rural students and all marginalized communities," Huang said in the statement.

Kent Barnds, chief enrollment officer at Augustana College in Rock Island, suspects little impact on colleges like Augie.

At the same time, he and others in higher education are still trying to gain a full understanding of the ruling's possible impact.

I think that there is unlikely to be a big impact, he said. Because this decision is across the whole higher ed landscape, there is this thought that it will have wide ripple effects  and there is some evidence that when race is no longer a factor that's considered, sometimes the racial composition of an enrollment or a class can change.

Barnds, who oversees all enrollment management functions at Augie, said the college did not utilize an affirmative action program in its admissions process  nor would it need to change any policies in wake of the decision.

We've practiced what is referred to as holistic admission, and that's certainly what many private colleges do, he said. We're looking at multiple factors of how a student can contribute to our community.

While Augies application process notes a prospective students race or ethnicity, Barnds explained, admission does not hinge on these specific points.

We value and have been working for many, many years to build a diverse community at Augustana, he said. We hope to continue to value and cherish diversity, but admissions decisions themselves have not been made along racial lines, or based on race in the traditional format of affirmative action.

However, he does question whether race will remain on the Common Application, which Augie also accepts.

I thought it was very interesting that the decision very clearly  at least in my view  does not say that race is no longer valuable or valued in the admissions process, Barnds said.

To him, the SCOTUS ruling left some pretty specific breadcrumbs on how students could voluntarily discuss race in an admissions essay or application question.

... As long as they're discussing how race has impacted them personally. That was, sort of, an interesting aspect of the opinion itself, Barnds said.

Augie will continue striving to be the most diverse institution it can be, he said.

I don't think that anyone in higher ed was especially surprised by this decision, Barnds said, noting how some were likely disappointed. We believe that diversity is important to higher ed. We believe diversity is important to our community.  We think there's great educational benefit to that.

St. Ambrose University declined to comment for this story.

Lee Enterprises' Caleb McCullough and Drew Zimmerman contributed reporting.

Photos: Augustana College 163rd Commencement Augustana College Class of '23 Saturday at the Vibrant Arena at The Mark.
(Photo : Senate Television via Getty Images)

The United States Supreme Court has ruled to reject raced-based college admissions, saying that the process employ it in a negative manner.

The United States Supreme Court has divided lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, after ruling against race being a factor in college admissions.

Democratic officials have denounced the extraordinary decision as a blow to civil rights, and Republicans praised it as a long overdue step toward a colorblind culture. For a long time, the left has supported affirmative action, calling it a crucial, if imperfect, effort to rectify the centuries of race-based injustice.

Supreme Court Rejects Race-Based College Admissions

On the other hand, Republican lawmakers have criticized the concept of race-based admissions as being outdated and simply discriminatory. GOP officials have argued that race-based admissions undermine a merit-based education system and deny opportunities to other groups of students.

Arguments from both parties were on full display on Thursday morning when Democrats and Republicans weighed in on the historic decision of the nation's highest court. In a statement, Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that thanks to the Supreme Court's decision, no American will be denied educational opportunities anymore because of their race, as per The Hill.

He added that students can now compete based on equal standards and individual merit. The Republican lawmaker also noted that the decision would make the college admissions process fairer and be able to uphold equality under the law.

On the other hand, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said that the court's ruling had placed a giant obstacle in the United States' route toward racial justice. He argued that the "misguided decision" reminds America there is still a way to ensure everyone is treated equally.

The Supreme Court's decision, as well as the reactions from both parties, highlight the stark differences in stances between lawmakers regarding the issue of racial equality and the federal government's role in helping to ensure it is delivered.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was the one who wrote the 6-3 majority decision and said that race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina "unavoidably employ race in a negative manner," according to the New York Times.

Read Also: Supreme Court Denies Wild Election Theory But Keeps Door Open on 2024 Legal Challenges

Addressing Racial Equality

Roberts said that universities could consider how race has affected a person's life, a topic they could write about in an application essay. However, he argued against schools using such considerations as a covert means of racial selection.

In his decision, the chief justice said that universities might not simply establish through the application essays or other means the regime they hold unlawful today. On the other hand, Justice Sonia Sotomayor summarized her dissent from the bench, which was a rare move suggesting she profoundly disagreed with the court's ruling.

Justice Clarence Thomas, in a lengthy concurrence, criticized the use of affirmative action policies in colleges and universities. He described the process as "rudderless, raced-based preferences designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes."

Sotomayor was joined by Justice Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson against the ruling, saying that the decision only works to remove decades worth of precedent and momentous progress, said CNN.

Related Article: Ron DeSantis Seeks Delay of Disney Trial, Prioritizes 2024 Elections

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After recent rains, Scott County lifted its burn ban Friday morning.

The Scott County Emergency Management Agency announced it had lifted the ban on open burns as "the danger to life and property in Scott County, Iowa, has been reduced enough to remove the Countywide Burn Ban."

The lifted ban, which was requested June 2, comes ahead of July 4 festivities. See the state fire marshal's website for fireworks safety tips.

Cities on the Iowa side of the Quad-Cities limit the use of fireworks to just a few hours on July 3 and 4. Davenport limits firework discharge to between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. on those days. Bettendorf's hours are 2 p.m. to 11 p.m.

On Tuesday, Scott County was in a "moderate drought" according to the most recent update to the National Weather Service's drought monitor. That designation means there's some damage to crops and fire risk is high.

Thunderstorms showered the Quad Cities area on Thursday and Friday, with the Community Collaborative Rain, Hal and Snow Network reporting one spot in Davenport having received 1.49 inches of rain between 5 a.m. Thursday and 5 a.m. Friday. Other amounts in the area were around 1 inch.

Parts of northeast and southeast Iowa as well as western Illinois as of June 27 were under "severe drought," which is categorized by damage to crop and very high fire risk.

Four counties in Iowa still have burn bans, including Clinton and Cedar counties, according to the state fire marshal's website.

Close City of Davenport workers a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. City of Davenport workers a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. Brian Burkholder, who works for the City of Davenport Natural Resources Department, uses a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline to ignite a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. In this file photo, Brian Burkholder, who works for the city of Davenport Natural Resources Department, uses a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline to ignite a controlled burn Thursday at Fejervary Park in Davenport. To see more photos, go to qctimes.com/gallery. City of Davenport workers a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. City of Davenport workers a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. Photos: Controlled Burn in Davenport City of Davenport workers at a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. City of Davenport workers a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. City of Davenport workers a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. Brian Burkholder, who works for the City of Davenport Natural Resources Department, uses a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline to ignite a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. In this file photo, Brian Burkholder, who works for the city of Davenport Natural Resources Department, uses a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline to ignite a controlled burn Thursday at Fejervary Park in Davenport. To see more photos, go to qctimes.com/gallery. City of Davenport workers a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016. City of Davenport workers a controlled burn at Fejervary Park in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday November 16, 2016.
To make up for missed deadlines by the state, Iowa Auditor Rob Sands office for the first time has churned out single audit reports for each of Iowas public universities to spare them from threats of federal sanctions and to assure they comply with financial reporting mandates.

In a May 23 letter to the U.S. Department of Education, Sands office committed to doing the single-audit reports  and to keep doing them annually for each university going forward  to avoid future delinquencies or concerns about delayed reporting.

Because we do not anticipate the Department of Administrative Services, State of Iowa to be able to complete the (annual comprehensive financial report) in a timely manner to permit issuance of a statewide single audit by the March 31 deadline, we have agreed with the universities to prepare individual single audit reports in future years, Deputy Auditor Ernest Ruben wrote to the federal government. We have every expectation those reports will be issued as required.

The problem, as first reported by Laura Belin with the Bleeding Heartland blog, is tied to the Department of Administrative Services responsibility to prepare financial documents and a draft of the annual comprehensive financial report.

Typically, the state submits that information and a draft report to the auditors office for an independent audit, allowing the auditor to complete his work on the recently-wrapped budget years annual report by Dec. 31. The auditors office then issues an internal control letter within 60 days and a statewide single audit by the federal deadline of March 31.

The chain of events is important, according to Sands office, as his statewide single audit report cant happen until the annual report is finished.

But given turnover within the Department of Administrative Services, the steep learning curve for new employees, new human resources software and the complicated nature of preparing the states financial statements, a data delay began months ago.

While the (generally accepted accounting principles) team has been working to complete these items, their progress must significantly improve or the state risks significant delays in receiving federal funds, according to a March 2 letter from the auditors office to state Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen. Such delays could have serious consequences.

Go-round

In May, the U.S. Department of Education notified Iowas public universities that failing to submit compliance and financial audits on time might jeopardize some of the institutions certifications and result in additional monitoring for a minimum of five years, according to the auditors office.

As a go-round, the auditor got to work on the single university audit reports  completed and filed this week.

In a statement, Board of Regents spokesman Josh Lehman said, We look forward to working with the auditor on the timely completion of individual single audits going forward, and anticipate compliance with federal regulations.

Sand, Iowas only Democrat elected statewide, in a statement levied criticism at state Republican leadership for the delays.

Despite billions of dollars in surplus, the governor and Republican legislative majorities responsible for your tax dollars have for years undervalued their own financial management team that prepares the material that we review for required audits, he said. The bottom line is we cannot audit what we have not been provided.

In a statement, Department of Administrative Services spokeswoman Tami Wiencek said, The ACFR is being finalized and will be delivered to the Auditor's Office in mid-July for its review. DAS is reviewing the process of compiling the report to ensure its timeliness going forward."

The governors office declined to comment, but noted Gov. Kim Reynolds received the highest grade for fiscal responsibility among the nations governors in a report issued last year by the conservative group the Cato Institute.

Delays arent new

Although the state auditor hasnt before filed single audit reports for the universities to account for statewide financial reporting delays, Sand said the delays arent new.

In 2020, according to the auditors office, delay of the states single audit caused significant concern for state agencies and universities, who were on the cusp of federal agencies withholding federal dollars due to the delay in issuance.

Last year, because of the pandemic, federal officials offered an automatic extension through Sept. 30, 2022 to file the states single audit.

No such extension is available this year, according to the auditors office.

The auditors office did not find "instances of non-compliance or material weaknesses related to major programs on any of the three state campuses.

According to the audits:

The University of Iowa spent about $699.4 million in federal funds in the 2022 budget year, up $62.5 million or 10 percent over the previous year. Funding tied to pandemic-related supports like the American Rescue Plan Act accounted for $89.7 million, an increase of $21 million.

The University of Northern Iowa spent about $68.8 million in federal funds in the last budget year, a decrease of about $14.3 million or 17 percent from the prior year. Funding tied to the pandemic accounted for about $13.6 million, down $9 million from the previous year.

Iowa State University spent about $420.1 million in federal funds, up $51.8 million or 14 percent over the previous year. Pandemic-related funding accounted for $82.5 million, which was up $46.5 million over the prior year.

Photos: St. Ambrose University Commencement Saturday at Vibrant Arena at The MARK
A protest march planned for downtown Rapid City on Independence Day prompted outgoing Mayor Steve Allender to release a public safety message Wednesday afternoon, asking the public to stay out of the area and report any suspicious behavior.

NDN Collective planned their March Toward Justice for 4 p.m. July 4, starting at the corner of Kansas City Street and East Boulevard. According to the Facebook event, the purpose is to walk in solidarity against police violence.

The outgoing mayor said the location of the march is not coincidentally, close to the Public Safety campus, the Pennington County Jail, and so on.

NDNs Facebook lists a statistic that there have been 63 police shootings in South Dakota since 2006. The South Dakota Attorney Generals website lists all police shootings since 2006. Their list currently shows 65.

By Friday afternoon, 57 said they were attending the event and 190 said they were interested.

A petition with seven demands linked to the event had garnered 756 signatures by Friday afternoon.

The demands were to end the killing of Indigenous Peoples by the police;" an immediate civil rights inquiry into the Rapid City Police Department and Pennington County Sheriff's Office;" release of all body camera footage: We demand that all body camera footage be released to the public within seven days of any incident involving police violence; removal of School Resource Officers (SROs); rescind SB4: We urge the repeal of SB4, which criminalizes youth; defund the police and increase community controlled education programming and funding; and third-party investigations of police and sheriff's office.

Together, our collective voice will amplify the demands of our community and propel us towards the accountability we seek, reads a portion of the event description.

Allender released the public safety statement on Wednesday, ahead of a Thursday press conference where both Allender and Mayor-elect Jason Salamun spoke with the media.

The conference was Allenders last time officially addressing the city before he hands over the office to Salamun, who will be sworn in on July 3.

Right now you've got the outgoing mayor of a city alerting the public of a public safety incident that's going to happen on the first full day of the new mayor's duties, so it is awkward. However, this threat exists, Allender said.

The statement released ahead of the press conference stated the city has a permitting system that allows entities to work with the city to find solutions for marching routes, blocking of traffic when necessary and securing other resources when appropriate.

NDN Collective did not apply for a permit and have not responded to attempts from officials to work with them, Allender said.

What we know from the group NDN Collective is that they do not cooperate with the government. They do not apply for permits, they do not tell us of their plans. In fact, in the past, they've been outwardly deceptive of their planning, Allender said, adding that although just a march is being advertised we dont think thats the extent of it.

Allender said the group has held training seminars to teach others how to protest through the use of blockades, tactical media and climbing.

We think theres going to be more demonstration activities that are going to highly inconvenience or otherwise put the public at risk. They will likely block traffic on major roadways. This will cause a disturbance in the traffic flow, Allender said.

Potential traffic disruptions would cause fire trucks, ambulances and police cars to reroute. He said the holiday is extremely busy for public safety, so public safety resources will be depleted.

There will be no one, no firefighter, paramedic, police officers sitting around doing nothing on these holidays. Its a very busy time for us, Allender said. There may not be any or many of them who have the day off, so were expecting that this is going to be a very expensive demonstration for taxpayers.

Allender asked for the publics help in reporting any suspicious activity they see on the 4th of July and stay away from where the march is planned.

My advice is for the public to stay away from these areas to keep your eyes and ears open and to communicate with authorities, so that we can do as much mitigation as practicable, he said.

Although Allender wont be near the demonstration because he plans to be relaxing with family and friends, the Mayor-elect said he plans to be there to help law enforcement.

My first day will not be easy. I will not be grilling out in my backyard or on my deck. Instead, I will be positioned with the police department making sure that they have the support and resources they need as well as our other partners to make sure that Independence Day remains peaceful and lawful for all citizens, Salamun said.

NDN Collective said they plan to hold a press conference of their own at 10 a.m. Monday near the Public Safety complex to address their demands.
On Fathers Day 2017, Heather Brehmers two teenage daughters were on their way to meet their parents at Angostura Reservoir near Hot Springs. Faith, 16, was in the passenger seat and had taken her seatbelt off to apply mascara.

They flipped their vehicle end-over-end.

Faith was severely injured  fractures in her spine, cerebral contusions, internal bleeding and a stroke  when Brehmer and her husband arrived at the scene. Heather  at the time a nurse with Black Hills Life Flight in Hot Springs  knew her daughter was a critical patient.

EMTs that showed up didnt have the equipment or certification to do what was needed to save her life  but they helped stabilize her until Life Flight arrived from Hot Springs. Heather, helping, called it an emotional and crazy day.

I justI just prayed to God, please let my daughter liveI just knew she was in bad shape, Brehmer said.

After two-and-a-half weeks in the hospital, Faith walked away  bruised, but alive. Shes now a mother herself.

If Life Flight would not have been there to intercept her, I really don't believe that she would be alive today, Brehmer said.

That Hot Springs base that saved Faiths life closed in 2019. Since then, the Rapid City base was the only medical helicopter serving western South Dakota.

That is, until June 7, 2023, when  after lots of research and a powerful presentation  Life Flight returned to Hot Springs.

Operated by AirMethods, the leading air medical provider in the United States, Black Hills Life Flights new Hot Springs base partnered up with the Ambulance Service. Its the only crew in South Dakota where EMS and Life Flight operate in the same building, according to AirMethods Account Executive Darryl Crown, who called it a great opportunity for cooperation.

The building that houses both operations was built only a few years ago with help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Governors Office of Economic Development. Hot Springs Ambulance Service Director of Operations Jacki Conlon has been with Hot Springs for 13 years. She said theyre so thankful for all the investment made in South Dakotas emergency medical services.

I couldn't tell you how important all of the initiatives are that Governor Noem and the Department of Health have done for EMS in South Dakota. It's needed, she said. And to be able to be recipients of these cardiac monitors, and do this telemedicineits saving lives. It's really neat to be able to see how everything just kind of keeps on getting better and better.

During the 2022 legislative session, Noem and state lawmakers approved funding initiatives investing up to $20 million in EMS care in South Dakota.

The shiny Bell 407, parked on a tarmac and backdropped by the luscious green hills, carries a three-person crew  a pilot, nurse and a flight paramedic. Paramedics work 24-hour shifts, and pilots 12. The base has everything they need to feel right at home  sleeping quarters, a kitchen, laundry and lockers plus a common room. Some live locally, others commute from Rapid City.

The helicopter will eventually carry blood  a cooler for which is located inside the base for now  and they can administer it in-flight.

The AirMethods operations control center is based in Denver  a setup so advanced the Federal Aviation Administration based their OCCs on it, a point of pride for AirMethods staff.

Hot Springs Ambulance and Black Hills Life Flight held a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the grand opening of the base, with South Dakota Secretary of Health Melissa Magstadt Thursday.

The strategic location of this space is not a coincidence. Hot Springs is a place of breathtaking landscapes, said AirMethods senior vice president of sales Tony Raymond. However, it is also a region that presents unique challenges when it comes to accessing urgent medical care. This new air medical base will bridge that gap and ensure air medical critical care can swiftly reach those in need.

Conlon called the new helicopter another resource in the growing area, something that will allow faster response to rural communities dotted across western South Dakota.

Secretary Magstadt was given a full tour of the helicopter and its operations, including putting on a flight suit and trying out all the different seats.

What's on the inside of this is an entire ICU, she said. Where no longer do you have to wait for the patient to be flown from hospital A to hospital B, but the care is actually taken right to the patientand it's initiated before they get off the ground.

Hot Springs Ambulance also has a new life-saving resource  Avel  which Magstadt got to test-run. Avel is a telemedicine service that connects ambulance crews with board-certified doctors, nurses and clinicians in the field. Once the crew calls, theyre connected through video and audio, helping document care and advising local hospitals of arrival. Conlon said its an extra set of hands during a busy, important situation.

Its part of the funding allotted in 2022. Right now, Hot Springs only has Avel in one ambulance  but theyre hoping to get funding to connect all four of their units.

(Editors Note: this story has been corrected to reflect the number of personnel on a flight crew.)
Officials with Rapid City, Pennington County and the Bureau of Reclamation held a press conference Wednesday to inform the public about high water levels from Pactola and Deerfield Reservoirs and the resulting increased stream flows in Rapid Creek.

The City of Rapid City, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manage the reservoirs for city, irrigation, fisheries, wildlife, recreation and flood control purposes.

The Bureau and Corps of Engineers control additional releases to balance the managed water storage in the reservoir to maximize city and irrigation uses. They also help manage potential flood events and decrease the risk of damage to the reservoirs and downstream bans.

"The City's part in this partnership is for the operations of maintenance," Rapid City Water Superintendent Eric Boyda said. "We have staff that are out at the reservoirs that do the maintenance."

Recently, Pactola inflows went up to 140 CFS and at Deerfield, they reached 35 CFS.

The stored water levels in Pactola Dam are nearly identical to last years levels but the amount of water running into the reservoir from the watershed above it, called the inflows, is higher than last years inflows around this time last year.

The watershed is a surface drainage area above a specified point on a stream that drains into or past it.

Rapid Creek above Canyon Lake has discharged 174 cubic feet per second (CFS) which is the volume of water that passes a given point within a given period of time. One CFS is about 7.48 gallons of water per second or 448 gallons per minute of stream flow.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the Creek above Canyon Lake is in the 76.31 percentile range which falls into the above normal percentile class ranging from 76-90.

This percentile indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it. A river discharge at the 90th percentile is equal to or greater than 90% of the discharge values recorded on a specific day of the year during all years that have measurements.

Rapid Creek below Pactola Dam is flowing at 138 CFS, falling into the 77.43 percentile also in the above normal class.

The stream flows are higher through Rapid City because its a combination or releases from Pactola Reservoir and inflows from other rivers or streams between the reservoir and Rapid City.

Rapid Creek above Canyon Lake was almost three feet deep Thursday. The flood stage for the area is seven feet.

Below Pactola Dam, the creeks flood stage is at 8.05 feet with the flood stage being 14 feet.

The Bureau and Corps of Engineers will make water releases to regulate the flow downstream, ensuring city and irrigation use. They usually make release changes in the morning and wait until the next day, regardless of weather in the area.

It gives people a better understanding of what were trying to do, Ginger Wessels, civil engineer for the Bureau of Reclamation, said of why they were holding the conference. That we do try to consider everything, but we do have some guidelines we have to follow.

Release changes cannot be adjusted more than 20 to 25 CFS a day.

As the reservoir elevation goes up, water releases also have to be increased. They try to match releases with the maintained inflow.

The Bureau usually sees a peak inflow when a storm comes through the area, but they will wait to see where to maintain the inflow after the rain passes to see if there are any release changes that need to be made.

They monitor these inflows above the reservoir on USGS gauges.

After a storm, Bureau of Reclamation will continue releasing at a certain level until drainage areas dry out. Drainage areas are specific locations around stream beds that fill with water during storms. Once drainage areas dry out, the maintain release will increase, dropping the reservoir elevation about half a foot to have room for the next storm.

With increased water levels and fast-moving waters, residents should remain cautious in and around Rapid Creek.

People are also advised to not walk, jog, bike or even drive through flooded areas, such as low-lying areas on the citys bike path.

If you see those flooded waterways after an event that happens to come through Rapid City or the surrounding areas, it's always good to just avoid those, said Capt. Ryan Ricke of Rapid City/Pennington County Water Rescue Team.

The public can monitor the discharge in CFS of the Rapid Creek stream on USGS's current water data website at waterdata.usgs.gov/sd/nwis/rt. Officials say that monitoring weather and being aware of whats happening in the area is important.

With the Rapid City Pennington County Emergency Management, the Public Safety Hub also provides public safety impacts of roadways that could flood over.
It just might rain on your parade this Fourth of July  but it depends on when and where youre celebrating.

Warm, dry weather returned to western Montana late this week and will likely continue through Independence Day, closing out a June that began warm but turned cooler and rainy. On Friday, the Fourth of July forecast looked to be warm and sunny in the Missoula vicinity, but for some places included a chance of afternoon thunderstorms providing potential natural fireworks.

After rain gave way to sunny skies scattered with clouds and temperatures in the 70s on Wednesday, more summer-like weather began Thursday, with sunny skies and a high of 88 degrees in Missoula. On Friday, the National Weather Service predicted a daily high of 90, which would best Junes hottest day so far: 89 degrees on June 7.

In Missoula, the agency predicted a high of 90 degrees Saturday, 87 degrees Sunday, 86 degrees Monday and 80 degrees on the Fourth of July. Overnight lows were predicted to range from the mid-50s to low 60s. The agency foresaw sunny days and nights through Monday night, with a chance of afternoon thunderstorms on the Fourth.

The forecast was similar in Hamilton, but with highs and lows 24 degrees cooler than in Missoula. As of Friday, the forecast did not include afternoon thunderstorms in Hamilton for the Fourth of July.

Kalispell was forecast to hit a high of 87 degrees Saturday, 82 degrees Sunday, 79 degrees Monday and 73 degrees on the Fourth of July, with overnight lows in the low to mid-50s. A chance of afternoon thunderstorms was predicted for Monday and the Fourth of July.

Libby was forecast to have a slightly hotter weekend and holiday: 90 degrees Saturday, 87 degrees Sunday, 88 degrees Monday and 86 degrees on the Fourth. Lows there were forecast to be in the upper 40s to low 50s. Skies were predicted to remain clear through the Fourth of July.

Summer arrives

The abrupt shift from a wet spring to hot and dry summer aligns with historical trends.

According to National Weather Service records, May and June are normally the wettest months around Missoula. But July and August are normally the driest.

On average, the area sees 1.77 inches of precipitation in May and 2.44 inches in June. This year, May brought 2.57 inches to Missoula. As of noon Friday, the final day of June, Missoula had recorded 2.1 inches for the month.

Precipitation normally drops off sharply to an average 0.85 inches in July and 0.83 inches in August.

Historically, the average daily high temp in May is 66.2 degrees, and in June its 73.2. This May was unusually warm, with an average high temp of 74.9 degrees. June has also been slightly warmer than average, with an average daily high of 76.6 degrees.

June began with daily temperature swings well warmer than normal. Daily highs and lows were above normal for all but one day from June 113 before dropping to slightly below normal through June 21 and average since then.

Historically, Julys high temps average 85.4 degrees, Augusts 84.3 degrees.

Outlook

Beyond the Fourth, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center predicted Thursday that far-western and northwestern Montana would likely have above-average temperatures through the middle of July, which is likely to be accompanied by above-average precipitation. Meanwhile, central and southeastern Montana were forecast to have a wetter and colder first half of July than normal, with the likelihood of below-normal temps and above-normal rainfall increasing farther southeast.

For the summer as a whole, a June 15 outlook from the agency predicted above-average temperatures for western and south-central Montana, with above-average temps most probable along the states western and southwestern border with Idaho.

But if Montana does receive the predicted above-average precipitation the next few weeks, it could delay the beginning of peak wildfire risk in the state. Wildfire season in western Montana generally begins in earnest around mid- to late July. But wildfire scientists say that more precipitation into that time can reduce wildfire risk longer into summer than normal.

For Carl Seielstad, an associate professor of fire at the University of Montana and the fuels program manager at the National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis, Fourth of July is a litmus test for wildfire season. He told the Missoulian in late May, My rule of thumb is, if we get to the Fourth of July and fireworks are being lit on the Fourth of July without fear of starting large fires, then were shaping up for a pretty normal fire season.

But if the base of (Mount) Sentinel is crispy brown by Fourth of July, he cautioned, then the fire season may be shaping up to be extraordinary.

More broadly, the National Weather Service foresaw unusually dry and hot conditions this summer for the Pacific Northwest, particularly Washington. The National Interagency Fire Center expects above-normal wildfire conditions in Washington, Oregon and northern Idaho this summer, as well as in northwest Montana in August and September.
Kathmandu, Nepal, June 30, 2023: Construction Business entrepreneur Hari Narayan Rauniyar, who is also a former lawmaker, has been arrested by the police on Friday.





Nepal Police source has confirmed that a team deployed from the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office arrested him from Kathmandu on Friday. However, Nepal police has not officially disclosed yet about his arrest.




The queso craze is coming to Midlothian.

Torchys Tacos, the Texas-based chain that brought massive crowds out when it opened a location in Short Pump in January, is offering free tacos, queso and beer samples from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at its new location at 1315 Huguenot Road.

The location officially opens at 10 a.m. Wednesday. The first 100 people in line then will get a T-shirt that will allow them to get free green chile queso for a year.

Mike Rypka, who grew up in Virginia, started Torchys in a food trailer in Austin, Texas, in 2006. Today, the chain is known for its damn good tacos, fresh queso and full bar at each location. There are about 100 in 14 states, including in Richmonds Carytown and Short Pump as well as Charlottesville.

The Carytown location opened in February.

The Midlothian location has a 3,860-square-foot dining room and a 764-square-foot outdoor patio. It sits adjacent to the Raising Canes chicken restaurant at 1321 Huguenot Road that opened earlier this year.

PHOTOS: Torchy's Tacos
Records obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch show that the owner of a Shenandoah County farm from which nearly 100 horses were rescued in June had previously been investigated for animal cruelty. Some of the horses are recovering in Richmond.

Shenandoah officials arrived at Riverview Farms, a thoroughbred and Paso Fino horse breeding facility in Quicksburg, on June 15 after receiving complaints of at least 100 malnourished horses living in poor conditions, the Shenandoah Sheriffs Office said. A search warrant and affidavit from the incident identify Rose Ann Harper Howell as the owner of the farm, which spans approximately 30 acres.

After deputies viewed poor living conditions, they found several severely malnourished horses with visible hip bones, ribs, and little fat cover, the Sheriffs Office said in a Facebook post.

Along with law enforcement and animal control officials, four teams of veterinarians, volunteers and representatives from equine rescue organizations Central Virginia Horse Rescue, Shenandoah Valley Equine Rescue Network and Hopes Legacy assisted in rescuing 98 horses from the farm.

Stacy Franklin, executive director of Central Virginia Horse Rescue who helped get the animals, said all of the horses were identified as thoroughbreds with ages ranging from 6 months to over 20 years old. While 98 horses were taken from Howells property, volunteers with rescue organizations including SVERN and Hopes Legacy said between 100 and 130 horses were found living on the farm, but an official count has not been released.

The rescue concluded on June 19 when the last horse was safely transported off the property, Franklin said.

Its absolutely heartbreaking, Franklin said. It was an emotionally long and hard four days.

Howell could not be reached for comment after several attempts via phone and email. No charges have been filed.

Its just horrible it got to this point

The seizure was the third of its kind this year and second-largest to ever take place in Virginia, surpassed only by a 2015 rescue where 101 horses were taken from Peaceable Farms in Somerset, said Shannon Ott, executive director of SVERN.

In March of this year, officials removed 17 horses from a farm in Fauquier County owned by Amanda Stanton and, in February, as many as 15 horses from a Goochland County farm owned by Byrd Rareshide.

Veterinarians use a metric called the Henneke Body Condition Scoring System to evaluate a horses health based on the amount of fat on a body. Scores usually range from 1 to 9, with 1 being extremely thin, 9 being obese and the average being 4-6, said Dr. Kate Moga, a veterinarian who treated the horses that were rescued.

BCS scores for the horses rescued from the property ranged from 0.5 to 5 and most horses scored a 2, Franklin said.

Among the several signs of malnourishment was the sand colic from which many of the horses suffered. Colic is a common equine gastrointestinal issue that can be as minor as passing gas or near fatal. Sand colic is a version of colic that occurs when horses accidentally ingest sand while eating and is prevalent in regions with sandy soil like Florida, Moga said. A horse can also contract sand colic while trying to graze in areas where there is very little food, grass or hay available.

Volunteers including Jamie Hemp with Hopes Legacy said horses were found living in stalls covered in manure with little to no bedding. Moga said horses she examined had lice and needed dental treatment and that their hooves were in poor condition.

It looked like they had not seen a farrier in at least six months, Moga said. Its just horrible it got to this point.

Just days after the rescue, Maya Proulx, executive director of Hopes Legacy, said each of the 98 horses was transported to safe facilities where they could receive rehabilitative care thanks to an outpouring of support from the equestrian community.

The groups that rescued the animals each took in several horses and assisted in finding foster homes for the ones they could not care for. Richmond Animal Care and Control also fostered four horses in available stalls they had, said Christie Chipps Peters, director of the organization.

We had four open stalls in the (Richmond Police Department) barns and asked them to send us the worst ones, Chipps Peters said. There was a clear inability to provide enough food for them.

RACC announced on Facebook on June 23 that one of the four horses they fostered  a chestnut filly named June  was euthanized under anesthesia. June had been hospitalized and receiving treatment from veterinarians with the Woodside Equine Clinic for complications related to sand colic. Vets said they found almost 30 pounds of gravel and sand in Junes large intestine and performed colic surgery  which is a major procedure even for horses at a healthy weight.

June was compromised beyond what we felt comfortable putting her through, RACC wrote in the Facebook post. We are mad and sad and angry and thankful all at the same time, and above all we hope she is running free in heaven.

As of June 28, officials said the investigation into the most recent rescue is still ongoing and no charges have been filed.

Recovery could take many months

Sheriffs officials investigated Howell for animal cruelty and failure to provide food, water, shelter or veterinary care to animals in 2020, according to 13 pages of case documents from the incident obtained from the Shenandoah Sheriffs Office through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Deputies and a registered veterinarian arrived at another farm owned by Howell in Mount Jackson on the morning of Feb. 26, 2020, after receiving reports of malnourished horses, Shenandoah deputies wrote in the incident report.

After inspecting the facilities and horses, officials found at least 30 horses on the property with signs of lice and BCS scores ranging from 1 to 3, according to the incident report.

There was some hay, grain and water found to be available to the horses, but it was not enough to sustain the number of horses on the property, according to reports from the veterinarian investigating.

Deputies returned the following day to count and catch the remaining horses with low body scores on Howells property. But because the horses had not been handled in a long time, it was unsafe to catch them, the reports said.

At least 14 horses were signed over to the Sheriffs Office, and rescue organizations helped foster horses taken from the property, according to the incident report.

Dozens of thoroughbreds and Paso Finos were found, and approximately 30 Paso Finos were taken from Howells property, said Hemp, who also helped with the 2020 rescue.

One of the horses that remained on Howells farm died in an accident during a farrier visit months after the rescue.

No charges were filed related to the incident. This is because while officials found unhealthy horses, their condition was not poor enough to warrant bringing charges against Howell, sheriffs officials said. Instead, a plan was put in place for officials to perform regular inspections of the horses remaining on Howells property.

According to Virginias animal cruelty laws, charges can be brought against someone who deprives an animal of food, water and veterinary treatment.

Deputies returned to the farm at least six more times throughout the following year to perform welfare checks on the horses, according to the incident report.

Finding consistent improvements in the amount of food made available to the horses and improvements in their conditions, the case was closed, according to the incident report.

Officials recognized Howell as the owner because of past complaints about the care of horses at the farm, according to the incident report.

Court records also show that Mathias Brothers Inc., a Virginia-based feed company whose grain was found on Howells property, filed a contract suit against Riverview Farms. Representatives from Mathias Brothers declined to comment on the suit.

Representatives from the rescue organizations said it could take months for the horses to fully recover and that while their foster wait lists are filling up, they are accepting donations.

Close Jim's parking lot on Grace between 3rd and 4th streets. This November 1926 images shows the view down Grace Street, the Fifth Avenue of Richmond, near Third Street downtown. Merchants in the district were anticipating a number of large buildings, including a new Loews Theatre, for the thriving thoroughfare. This July 1961 photo shows the corner of Second and Grace streets in downtown Richmond. At the time, the local parking board recommended the corner for a parking garage to help expand capacity in the area. This August 1964 image shows Southern Bank & Trusts main office at Second and Grace streets in downtown Richmond. A Wells Fargo bank branch occupies the site today. In January 1950, the Bank of Virginia branch at Fourth and Grace streets in downtown Richmond was just days away from its opening ceremonies. In January 2017, the building became home to Champion Brewing Co. In September 1977, the former Flair Inc. womens clothing store at Fifth and Grace streets in downtown Richmond was closing. The building would soon house Worths, another womens clothier. In 2016, Secret Sandwich Society opened in the space. This May 1957 image shows a stretch of businesses along Third Street between Broad and Grace streets in downtown Richmond. Among them were a locksmith, optician and beauty salon. Cafeteria plans August opening - The new cafeteria of Hot Shops, Inc., a corner shop in the Grace Street Parking, Inc., garage at Seventh and Grace Streets, probably will be ready for occupancy in August or September, Edwin Hyde, president of the parking facility disclosed yesterday. Hyde said that Doyle & Russell, the contractors are rushing the finishing work on the cafeteria. It will seat approximately 300 persons and will contain the latest in cafeteria equipment, Hyde said. June 10, 1951 12-11-1965 (cutline): Surge of Christmas shoppers heads for Richmond stores today. This view is near the corner of Fifth and Grace Streets. 02-12-1957: Grace Street 07-24-1949 (cutline): Grace Street between Fourth and Fifth was deserted on a usually busy Saturday afternoon while Richmonders sought cooler spots. 12-22-1962 (cutline): City streets became crowded yesterday as some offices closed early. Traffic was slow moving on slush-covered Grace Street after 4 p.m. 05-05-1963 (cutline): The same view today found one child-toting woman coatless in warm but wet and windy weather...The temperature was in the 60s. 08-18-1953 (cutline): Trees planted a year ago on Grace Street appear to be flourishing. 11-28-1959: Grace Street 08-19-1966: Grace Street 12-01-1962: Grace Street 01-15-1953: Grace and Fourth Streets 02-12-1957: Grace Street 09-23-1958 (cutline): Parking garage, other business were built in 1950. May Co. and Hot Shoppes Cafeteria occupied first floor space. 12-13-1954: Grace Street 09-03-1954: Grace Street 11-28-1959: Grace Street 08-18-1953 (cutline): A year ago last week, the city trimmed some of the trees in the 700 block of West Gracee Street. The cutting provoked sharp woods of complaint from some of Richmond's tree lovers. The city said the trimming was all for the best. Grace Street. Year unknown. From the Archives: Scenes from Grace Street A look back at Grace Street in downtown Richmond. Jim's parking lot on Grace between 3rd and 4th streets. This November 1926 images shows the view down Grace Street, the Fifth Avenue of Richmond, near Third Street downtown. Merchants in the district were anticipating a number of large buildings, including a new Loews Theatre, for the thriving thoroughfare. This July 1961 photo shows the corner of Second and Grace streets in downtown Richmond. At the time, the local parking board recommended the corner for a parking garage to help expand capacity in the area. This August 1964 image shows Southern Bank & Trusts main office at Second and Grace streets in downtown Richmond. A Wells Fargo bank branch occupies the site today. In January 1950, the Bank of Virginia branch at Fourth and Grace streets in downtown Richmond was just days away from its opening ceremonies. In January 2017, the building became home to Champion Brewing Co. In September 1977, the former Flair Inc. womens clothing store at Fifth and Grace streets in downtown Richmond was closing. The building would soon house Worths, another womens clothier. In 2016, Secret Sandwich Society opened in the space. This May 1957 image shows a stretch of businesses along Third Street between Broad and Grace streets in downtown Richmond. Among them were a locksmith, optician and beauty salon. Cafeteria plans August opening - The new cafeteria of Hot Shops, Inc., a corner shop in the Grace Street Parking, Inc., garage at Seventh and Grace Streets, probably will be ready for occupancy in August or September, Edwin Hyde, president of the parking facility disclosed yesterday. Hyde said that Doyle & Russell, the contractors are rushing the finishing work on the cafeteria. It will seat approximately 300 persons and will contain the latest in cafeteria equipment, Hyde said. June 10, 1951 12-11-1965 (cutline): Surge of Christmas shoppers heads for Richmond stores today. This view is near the corner of Fifth and Grace Streets. 02-12-1957: Grace Street 07-24-1949 (cutline): Grace Street between Fourth and Fifth was deserted on a usually busy Saturday afternoon while Richmonders sought cooler spots. 12-22-1962 (cutline): City streets became crowded yesterday as some offices closed early. Traffic was slow moving on slush-covered Grace Street after 4 p.m. 05-05-1963 (cutline): The same view today found one child-toting woman coatless in warm but wet and windy weather...The temperature was in the 60s. 08-18-1953 (cutline): Trees planted a year ago on Grace Street appear to be flourishing. 11-28-1959: Grace Street 08-19-1966: Grace Street 12-01-1962: Grace Street 01-15-1953: Grace and Fourth Streets 02-12-1957: Grace Street 09-23-1958 (cutline): Parking garage, other business were built in 1950. May Co. and Hot Shoppes Cafeteria occupied first floor space. 12-13-1954: Grace Street 09-03-1954: Grace Street 11-28-1959: Grace Street 08-18-1953 (cutline): A year ago last week, the city trimmed some of the trees in the 700 block of West Gracee Street. The cutting provoked sharp woods of complaint from some of Richmond's tree lovers. The city said the trimming was all for the best. Grace Street. Year unknown.
A former teacher at Hungary Creek Middle School has been indicted on charges of sexual acts between an adult and a teen.

Henrico County authorities charged Megan Pauline Jordan, 25, of Chesterfield County, with eight counts of carnal knowledge/statutory rape and two counts of indecent liberties.

Henrico police said in a statement that they were made aware in early June of potentially inappropriate acts between an adult and a student. The incidents are believed to have occurred during the 2022-23 school year, police said.

Police collaborated with the Henrico Commonwealths Attorneys Office and gathered enough information to seek indictments against Jordan, officials said.

Jordan appeared in court Friday and remains in the custody of the Henrico Sheriffs Office without bond. Police say no additional details will be made available as the investigation remains active.

Messages left with the school principal and district superintendent were not immediately returned Friday.

Henrico police are asking anyone who may have been affected or has additional information to contact Detective Grant at (804) 501-7700 or make an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.

From the Archives: Richmond buildings that are no longer around
(Photo : Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Sweden under fire after an Iraqi man was seen burning a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, during a protest.

Sweden is under fire by Iraq after an Iraqi man was captured on video burning a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, during a protest authorized by law enforcement.

Iraqi officials have called the incident "racist" and "irresponsible," which was done under a heavy police presence. The man who burned the holy book was identified as 37-year-old Salwan Momika, who fled to Sweden several years ago.

Sweden Condemned After Iraqi Man Burns Quran

On Wednesday, Momika stomped on the Quran before holding it up and burning a few pages of the book before Stockholm's largest mosque. Law enforcement personnel granted the man a permit for the protest in line with free-speech protections.

However, police later said it had already opened up an investigation into the Quran burning, which sparked anger in the Muslim community. The incident happened as religious worshippers celebrated the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Late Wednesday, the Iraqi government issued a statement that strongly condemned the "repeated acts of burning copies of the holy Quran by individuals with extremist and disturbed minds," as per Alarabiya News.

The statement wrote that the vile acts demonstrated what officials called a hateful and aggressive spirit against the principles of freedom of expression. The Iraqi government added that the move was not only racist but also promoted hatred and violence.

The government added that such irresponsible actions directly conflicted with the values of respect for diversity and the beliefs of others. Furthermore, Morocco has criticized the burning of the holy book and decided to recall its ambassador to Stockholm late on Wednesday.

In a statement, Morocco said that the burning of the Quran was a new offensive and said that it was an irresponsible act that disregarded the feelings of more than a billion Muslims worldwide. It added that the act was done during a sacred time of the great pilgrimage to Mecca and the blessed feast of Eid al-Adha.

Read Also: Walt Nauta Arraignment in Classified Docs Case Delayed

Protesters Gather Outside Swedish Embassy in Baghdad

The situation has become worse as dozens of people stormed the compound of the Swedish embassy in the capital of Iraq, Baghdad. The crowd gathered outside the embassy on Thursday after a powerful cleric called for an "angry protest" in response to the burning of the holy book in Sweden, according to BBC.

Some have posted video footage on various platforms showing the protesters walking inside the embassy courtyard. A photographer at the demonstration scene noted that the crowd briefly entered the building and stayed there for roughly 15 minutes before fleeing after local security forces were deployed to control the protest.

A few people at the protest set fire to a rainbow-colored flag representing the LGBTQ community. Many others were seen holding the Quran and portraits of al-Sadr and chanted, "Yes, yes to the Quran."

Swedish police said that despite the foreign policy consequences, the security risks and consequences related to the burning of a copy of the Quran were not enough to be used as a basis to reject the application for the protest on Wednesday, said Aljazeera.

Related Article: Russia Arrests General Following Wagner's Failed Mutiny in Crack Down of Dissent

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Gov. Glenn Youngkin has nominated three new members to Virginia Commonwealth Universitys board of visitors, a move that could impact the universitys diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and its cost of attendance.

Youngkin tapped Rooz Dadabhoy, Steven DeLuca and Gurpreet Sandhu to VCUs board. The 16-member body has final say over university matters, such as the cost of tuition, the size of the budget and who serves as president.

Board members generally serve a four-year term that can be renewed for an additional four years.

Youngkin also renominated Anthony Bedell, who joined the board last year on a one-year term to fill a vacant seat.

Dadabhoy, a Glen Allen resident, is CEO of Data Concepts, an IT consulting firm. DeLuca, from Richmond, is a vice president and head of state and local affairs for Capital One. Sandhu, from Manakin-Sabot, is CEO of The Sandhu Group LLC, which operates restaurants in the Richmond area.

Since Youngkins election, Republicans in the state have shown an interest in controlling spending on the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts of universities and their cost of attendance. The cost for students has been another primary concern. Last year, Youngkin asked schools to keep their tuition costs flat, and schools followed his request. This year, his administration asked them to keep tuition hikes at 3% or less.

Stepping off the VCU board are Carolina Espinal, who is vice rector; Alexis Swann; and Dr. Shantaram Talegaonkar. All three were appointed by then-Gov. Ralph Northam. Espinal and Swann were eligible to be reappointed, but Youngkin declined to do so.

Todd Haymore, a managing director at law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, becomes rector, or head, of the VCU board. Andy Florance, CEO of CoStar Group, becomes the vice rector.

The outgoing rector, Ben Dendy, will remain on the board for one more year.

At the College of William & Mary, Youngkin named retiring Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City County, who has long shown an interest in how colleges compete against one another for students. Norment, who holds a law degree from William & Mary, also has taught law and government at the school.

At James Madison University, Youngkin chose Carly Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, 2016 GOP presidential hopeful and head of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation board of trustees.

At Old Dominion University, Youngkin named to the board former Virginia first lady Susan Allen, wife of former Gov. George Allen.
Seven Richmond residents are suing in hopes of stopping a real estate developer from blasting the bedrock near their homes, which they say already have suffered damage.

The defendant, Riverside Southcliff LLC, bought 2.5 undeveloped acres in the leafy Forest Hill neighborhood, where it intends to build eight new houses, according to the suit. In order to connect to the citys utility lines, the developer attempted to break through the underground rock.

That has already damaged multiple homes, the plaintiffs say, sinking one houses foundation and causing the chimney to collapse.

With the attempt to break through the rock unsuccessful, the developer intends to blast the rock with explosives. The neighborhood residents say blasting is rare in a residential area and would further damage their homes.

Plaintiffs and their neighbors have grave concerns about the impending explosive blasting since they have already sustained serious damage to their homes, the suit states.

The plaintiffs won an injunction Monday, minutes before blasting was scheduled to begin, and a hearing is scheduled for Friday morning in Richmond Circuit Court.

On a winter day, when the leaves have fallen from the trees, residents of Riverside Drive can see down the steep hill all the way across the James River, a few hundred feet away.

In 2018, Burt Pinnock, one of the developers, told residents he planned to build his dream home on the vacant space. Pinnock, chairman of the board for architectural firm Baskervill and a member of the citys Planning Commission, did not respond to a request for comment.

Beneath the homes, which were built as far back as the 1830s, is a type of rock called Petersburg granite, which is gray and blue with pink specks and is believed to be hundreds of millions of years old. It is found in Petersburg and other parts of central Virginia.

And, apparently, its tough to break. Construction crews worked from October to February in an attempt to cut the rock in order to connect to the utility lines under Southcliff Road. An excavator outfitted with a hydraulic hammer has tried to bust the rock.

Sending tremors into the ground, the process has already damaged residents homes, the plaintiffs say.

Brian and Mari Lee McClure, two of the plaintiffs who live nearby on New Kent Avenue, say the foundation of their 100-year-old cottage sank 3 inches, and their chimney has collapsed. An inspector for JES Foundation Repair said months of the efforts to break the rock could have opened up a new fault line or sinkhole  or both  which could explain the drop in their foundation. The chimney damage likely was not caused from natural settlement, the inspector said.

Another plaintiff, Anne Wright, said cracks have developed in her plaster walls. Lee and Mary Catherine Chaney, who also live nearby, said their 1929 home has sustained cracks to its plaster and damage to the mortar and brick because of the effort to bust the rock.

The developer has turned to blasting, the plaintiffs say.

There is more rock than our geotechnical report indicated, Pinnock wrote on Facebook last month, according to the suit, adding that the approach they tried was too disruptive.

The project became delayed, Pinnock said, according to the suit, because the rock blasting company was occupied at the site of CoStar Groups new office tower in downtown Richmond.

On Thursday, an excavator belonging to Blasting Services Inc., a Rockville-based company, performed work on the vacant lot.

It is not completely clear how much rock would need to be blasted, but it appears the utility lines will need a tunnel as deep as 17 feet connecting several hundred feet to Southcliff Road, said Aubrey Ford, a nearby resident who is not a plaintiff.

Given the damage that has already occurred, the residents worry blasting will be even worse. The plaintiffs are asking the developer to pay up to $1 million per home for repairs.

Earlier this month, rumors spread around the neighborhood that the workers planned to blast the rock, Ford said. So neighbors inquired to city officials, including City Council member Kristen Nye.

The officials initially responded that the city had not approved a permit for blasting. Then on June 20, a neighbor speaking to a construction worker was told the crew did, in fact, have a permit and intended to begin blasting that day at 3 p.m.

City officials, it turned out, had approved the permit. The residents quickly hired a lawyer, Hayden Fisher, who asked the blasting be delayed so he could request an injunction.

The Richmond Fire Department postponed the blasting until this past Monday, June 26. That morning, a Richmond judge ordered a temporary injunction and scheduled a hearing for Friday.

Nye had asked city permitting offices to notify her when the permits were approved, but she never received those notifications, she said. When the residents learned blasting was imminent, she helped secure the delay so residents could be properly notified.

"My office will continue to advocate for our neighborhoods, and I encourage anybody with questions / concerns about city issues to reach out to us directly," she said.

The residents say they are open to the development project continuing if the developer can break the granite without damaging nearby homes.

Photos: Smoky haze hovers over American cities
The Supreme Courts decision striking down the use of affirmative action in college admissions could affect Virginias most competitive colleges, such as the University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary.

The majority of students at those schools are white, and it is possible the decision will increase the number of white and Asian students and decrease the number of Black and Latino students.

UVa considers race among many other elements of an applicants story, said Brian Coy, a spokesperson for the university.

We use a holistic admissions process that considers applicants as whole people, and it is often the case that a students race, like many other characteristics, is a part of the story that led them to the place from which they seek admission to UVa, Coy said. The university does not have quotas for the number of Black or Latino students  or any other characteristic  it seeks to admit.

Applicants remain free to use their college essays to explain how race shaped them as a person, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion. Students can say how race motivated them or how discrimination impacted them, and colleges are free to consider students statements. The onus is shifted to the applicant, who will have to explain the role of race in his or her life.

The states other competitive schools, including the University of Richmond and Washington and Lee University, are majority-white. A spokesperson for William & Mary did not explain how the college does or does not consider race, and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia does not track how colleges consider race, a spokesperson said.

What kind of impact the decision will have on colleges likely depends on how heavily the college weighs race as an admissions factor, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at UR.

UR President Kevin Hallock said the university will closely review the opinion and consider its implications for the schools admissions process to ensure compliance with the courts decision.

While the Courts decision affects the admission practices of many colleges and universities and, thus, one aspect of enhancing diversity, it does not change our ongoing commitment to building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive University community and ensuring that all Spiders feel as though they belong in our web and can fully and authentically participate in University life, Hallock said in a statement.

Similarly, Washington and Lee, which has a 19% acceptance rate, said through its spokesperson Drewry Atkins Sackett: We will adjust our admissions policies and practices to be fully compliant with the reinterpreted law, while continuing to work to attract and support an increasingly diverse community at W&L.

UVa will do everything within the legal limit to recruit and admit a diverse class of students, school President Jim Ryan and provost Ian Baucom said in a statement.

Our commitment to diversity, in short, is not diminished, even if our ability to pursue that goal is constrained, they said.

Zyahna Bryant, who graduated from UVa this spring, said the Supreme Court decision feels like taking steps backward.

She recalled her senior year of high school when she was accepted to UVa. Her classmates questioned how she was accepted and assumed it was because she is Black. Bryant was an honors student who participated in several extracurriculars and served as class president.

If you sit in a room with Black women who go to top (predominantly white universities), they will tell you that this is kind of a common attack that we are always on the receiving end of, which is you didnt earn your spot, and you got here because of your race,  Bryant said. So to me, this decision is not unexpected. Its not surprising, but it is still very upsetting.

She said the Supreme Court decision should be an invitation to think of alternatives to affirmative action.

The reality is that we know that a lot of these systems are very fragile, Bryant said. These factions that are put into place for progress can always be taken away.

For most colleges in the state, the decision seemingly will have little effect, because most colleges already admit the vast majority of applicants.

Last year, Virginia Commonwealth University accepted 92% of its high school applicants, and James Madison University admitted 86%.

A spokesperson for VCU declined to comment.

Virginia college stats

In Virginia, colleges are not as diverse as the population at large. According to a 2021 report, Black and Latino residents make up 34% of the states college-age population but fewer than 25% of college students.

And most minority college students are bunched at just a few schools, including George Mason University, Old Dominion University, Virginia State University and Norfolk State University.

Wes Bellamy, chair of the political science department at Virginia State University in Ettrick, said the Supreme Courts decision is abhorrent, but he hopes it will be a catalyst for more Black students to attend historically Black colleges and universities like VSU.

I do hope that students of color, and more specifically African American students, recognize that we dont have to go into spaces in which were not wanted, Bellamy said. Historically Black colleges and universities, the Virginia States of the world ... are absolutely vital for being a home ... for students who want to be in a space in which they feel comfortable.

We dont need the Supreme Court to make Black kids feel welcome in higher education. We have what we need, and Im hoping that this is a clear sign that students need to go where theyre valued.

Black and Latino students made up 10% of Virginia Techs undergraduate population from 2016 to 2018, and UVas population was 13% Black and Latino at the time. Colleges have generally become slightly more diverse since then.

In Virginia, Black students are less likely to enroll in college and more likely to head to for-profit schools that offer short-term certificates. Latino students are more likely to choose community college.

Colleges often do not publish the number of Black and Latino students who apply, so it is difficult to tell if minority students do not apply, are not accepted or choose to go elsewhere, the report said.

In 2020, UVa offered acceptance to 1,100 Black students, according to The Washington Post. But only 24% of them chose to enroll, according to university data, which is far less than the schools yield for the entire class, which was 39%.

Implications

The implications of the ruling are not yet clear, Tobias said. He said families could use the decision as an opportunity to challenge the admissions policy at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, a controversy that has made national news.

Earlier this year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond sided with the school, which in 2020 scrapped its admissions test and now gives weight toward students who are economically disadvantaged or still learning English. The process does not take race into account, the school said.

Under the new policy, the number of Black and Latino students increased, and the number of Asian students dropped. Critics of the policy say more Asian students would be admitted if merit was the sole factor.

Other questions remain, such as whether schools will stop asking applicants for their race. And if a school were to violate the law, how would one prove it?

Jon Becker, an associate professor of educational leadership at VCU, said he expects more institutions to waive SAT and ACT requirements in the student application process.

Thats one way to achieve the sort of diversity that (some colleges and universities) sought to achieve, Becker said.

Research shows the tests tend to favor wealthy, white students who can afford costly prep courses and take the assessment multiple times. Critics say the standardized tests act as a racist academic barrier for Black, brown and low-income students. In Virginia, 52 colleges and universities offered test-optional admissions last academic year, according to the nonprofit FairTest, which advocates for test-free college admissions.

Performance on the ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT is closely tied to race and socio-economic status, FairTest executive director Harry Feder in a statement. With the new Supreme Court requirement to eliminate race-conscious factors, efforts to de-emphasize standardized exam scores in admissions and financial aid must accelerate.

Roberts rules

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the courts majority that the schools consideration of race in admissions by Harvard University and the University of North Carolina fails the courts strict scrutiny test, in part, because the schools good intentions are not measurable, because making race a plus factor for one applicant hurts a competing applicant, and because the schools consideration of race is open-ended, with no identified end point.

Because Harvards and UNCs admissions programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points, those admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause, Roberts wrote.

At the same time, nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected the applicants life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university.

Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. This Nations constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.

Becker, the professor of educational leadership at VCU, urged the reexamination of the term affirmative action in the context of Thursdays Supreme Court decision.

The decision constrains how universities can consider race in admissions processes, but affirmative action is more than that ... If a student has a legacy, the university is still free to affirmatively act on that. If the student is a child of a wealthy donor, the university is still free to affirmatively act on that, Becker said. Universities make decisions based on certain things. This decision doesnt end all of affirmative action  it ends the use of consideration of race in admissions.

The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus issued a statement to express deep outrage over the courts decision, calling it a setback in our ongoing fight for racial equity and social justice.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican and the first Black woman elected to statewide office in Virginia, said in a statement: I applaud the Supreme Courts landmark ruling today that will ensure college admissions are based on a students merits, not the color of their skin.

Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-4th, the first African American woman in Virginias congressional delegation, posted on Twitter that Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksons dissent, which accused the majority of let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, was a must-read dissertation on why affirmative action is a still necessary redress of the impact of 300 years of slavery and Jim Crow that is consistent with the 14th Amendment.
Hundreds of new laws take effect Saturday, ranging from naming the Chincoteague Pony as the states official pony to one saying drivers must move over a lane for disabled vehicles.

After more than two decades of trying, one of the 2023 General Assembly sessions biggest new initiatives, setting minimum staffing ratios for nursing homes, has a delayed effective date: July 1, 2025.

But the July 1 start date for new laws includes several with significant impact on Virginians daily lives.

Here are a few:

Pocketbook bills

A major reform of how Virginia regulates the electricity monopoly Dominion Energy is cutting power bills  by more than $7 off a benchmark 1,000 kilowatt-hour, $137 monthly bill. It does so by ending three surcharges. Down the pike, it clears the way for a program to ease the impact of Dominions pass-through of fuel costs to ratepayers and gives the State Corporation Commission more power to see if the utilitys base rate is justified, a move the legislations advocates say should bring down that rate, which accounts for about two-thirds of a monthly bill.

Landlords who rent more than four units must give tenants at least 60 days notice of plans to raise rents when leases have an option to renew or have an automatic renewal provision.

At work

Employers will not be able to pay new employees who have disabilities less than the minimum wage.

Employers cannot enforce nondisclosure or confidentiality agreements that conceal details of a sexual harassment claim.

A new state Department of Workforce Development and Advancement aims to boost Virginias job training and job-finding services by consolidating workforce program evaluation and data sharing; the new department also takes charge of apprenticeship programs.

Employers cannot use employees Social Security numbers on any ID card or access pass.

Employers with more than 50 employees have to provide up to 60 days unpaid leave for live organ donations, including bone marrow donations.

People with 85 various occupational and professional licenses from other states will be able to get on a fast track for Virginia licenses.

Health

Licensed midwives may now administer drugs and devices that come within the scope of their practice.

Pharmacists can refill insulin prescriptions in an emergency, using information on the container label if the prescriber cannot be reached.

For health insurance plans that will be sold this fall providing coverage for next year, health insurers will have to cover hearing aids for minors for up to $1,500 every 24 months.

Health insurers will no longer be allowed to charge higher premiums for smokers.

Patients can go to telemedicine services to provide continuity of care when their previously established doctor or health care provider is unavailable.

Families

Guardians of incapacitated people must visit the individuals they are responsible for at least three times a year, and at least once in person.

Parents can allow their kids to play or walk home from school or engage in other activity without adult supervision if that play or activity is appropriate for the childs age and abilities. Parents can allow such activities without running the risk of being accused of abuse or neglect unless such lack of supervision is so extreme that it endangers a childs health or safety.

A new state program will promote and support placements of children with relatives in order to avoid foster care.

Spouses will not be liable for medical care if their spouse has died.

Fathers have to share the costs of pregnancy and delivery.

Consumers

All providers of services with automatic renewal provisions or that offer free trials that then automatically kick over into a paid service have to give customers 30 days notice that they can cancel.

Companies that provide services they say can improve a consumers credit or win an extension of credit must now give customers a complete and accurate statement of their right to receive annual free copies of their credit reports from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies.

Sales tax will no longer be charged on the labor involved in diagnosing motor vehicle repair work and emergency roadside service.

The Joint Commission on Technology and Science is to recommend ways for people to opt out of unwanted telephone solicitation calls and text messages.

The Attorney General can now investigate entities believed to violate state consumer finance law if those entities are not licensed by the State Corporation Commission.

Cannabis product labels must now list all active and inactive ingredients, the total percentage and milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol included in the product, and the number of milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol in each serving. They must also have child and safety warnings in a conspicuous font and comply with any requirements imposed by the Board of Pharmacy.

Driving

Motorists must now move over and slow down when passing a stopped car or truck that has flashing hazard lights, that has set up flares or that has set a warning sign.

Modification of headlights so they look blue is banned.

Housing

Tenants can end a lease and receive a full refund of all deposits and rent paid if, when they move in, the apartment or house is a fire hazard or serious threat to safety and health, including infestation of rodents, lack of heat, running water, electricity or sewage disposal.

Crime

People who make prank emergency calls  swatting  that result in the dispatch of police or other emergency personnel are now subject to a punishment of one to five years in prison if such a call results in serious bodily injury, and a penalty of one to 10 years if someone is killed as a result. The term swatting is derived from the SWAT teams that often respond as a result of such calls.

It will now be a felony to team up with another person or people to steal from more than one store, even if each theft is small enough to be a misdemeanor ($1,000 or less). Organized retail theft is now subject to a prison term of five to 20 years.

It will also now be a felony to threaten in writing or by electronic message to disseminate, sell or publish nude images of another person, or of another person engaged in a sex act. This is now subject to a prison term of one to 10 years. If the other person is less than 18, the prison term can be up to 20 years.

And it is now against the law to sell or buy a catalytic converter detached from a motor vehicle, except by or from scrap metal dealers. Judges and juries can now assume that a person with such a detached catalytic converter got it illegally.

Property

Judgment liens on real estate that could otherwise stall or stop a sale or transfer can now be released by a settlement agent if creditors do not respond to notices or cannot be found.

Taxes

The state Tax Commissioner will have to offer installment plans so taxpayers can pay for what they owe over a term of up to five years.

Mental health

People whose mental health crisis appears to be result of intoxication can be held under a temporary detention order of a hospital emergency room for treatment (instead of being transported to a mental health hospital or ward and held for 72 hours).

People held under a temporary detention order who are awaiting transport to a mental health facility can be released ahead of the orders 72 hours if they no longer meet the criteria for involuntary commitment.

Foster care

Students at public colleges and universities who have aged out of foster care can now stay in school housing at no cost between school sessions and during vacations, since they would otherwise have no place to go.

History

New historical site signs are authorized for Green Book locations. These are the hotels, guest houses, service stations, drugstores, taverns, barbershops and restaurants that were listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book as safe for Black Americans traveling during the Jim Crow era.

Close Gov. Glenn Youngkin listens to George Daniel on Jan. 25 as he tries some Brunswick stew on Brunswick Stew Day at the Capitol. Next to Daniel are, from left, Dylan Pair, stewmaster Kevin Pair and Austin Pair. The yearly event returned to the Capitol for the first time since the pandemic began. Del. Cliff Hayes, D-Chesapeake, takes photos of his colleagues in the Virginia House of Delegates on Jan. 24 at the state Capitol. Lawmakers head to committee meetings Jan. 19. Democratic senators cheer as Clerk of the Senate Susan Clarke Schaar swears in new Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, on Jan. 18 at the state Capitol. Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, is photographed outside the Senate chamber Jan. 18 after he was sworn in at the Virginia state Capitol. Rouse won a special election to succeed Republican Jen Kiggans, who was elected to Congress in November. Rouse's win increased the Democrats' edge in the Senate to 22-18. Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, and Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, share a laugh during Tuesday's session. Senate pages, from left, Aaven Dudley, Nataniel Dunster and Connor Wotring are seen in the Senate on Jan. 19. Members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. (blue) and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (red) fill the floor around Jean-Antoine Houdons marble statue of George Washington. The two groups were among those visiting the state Capitol in Richmond on Jan. 13. Lobbyists listen during a meeting of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Jan. 30 at the Pocahontas Building. Sens. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax City, left, and Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, react Jan. 26 to the vote tally on a Petersen bill dealing with preservation of trees in the town of Vienna. The Senate passed the bill on a 33-7 vote. A group from Portsmouth listens to a speaker during a rally against gun violence at the Bell Tower in Capitol Square on Lobby Day on Jan. 16. Lawmakers head to committee meetings on January 19, 2023. EVA RUSSO/TIMES-DISPATCH Del. Jackie Hope Glass, D-Norfolk, brings style to the House floor Jan. 17 during the General Assembly session at the state Capitol. Gov. Glenn Youngkin attends the Virginia March for Life on Feb. 1 in Richmond. Youngkins Virginia job approval rating hit 57% in February  five points better than in November  according to a poll from Roanoke College. Senate pages (from left) Aaven Dudley, Nataniel Dunster, and Connor Wotring are seen in the Senate on January 19, 2023. Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, takes a moment during a General Assembly session at the state Capitol in Richmond on Jan. 20. Del. Briana Sewell, D-Prince William, takes a photo of Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, and other members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. after a Jan. 24 news conference in the Pocahontas Building. McClellan and other Democrats spoke of their support for a proposed state constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom. James States Manship of Thornburg came dressed as George Washington to the gun-rights rally at the Bell Tower in Capitol Square on Lobby Day, Jan. 16. PHOTOS: Through Our Lens - Virginia General Assembly Visual Recap first part The first part of the visual recap from 2023 Virginia General Assembly Gov. Glenn Youngkin listens to George Daniel on Jan. 25 as he tries some Brunswick stew on Brunswick Stew Day at the Capitol. Next to Daniel are, from left, Dylan Pair, stewmaster Kevin Pair and Austin Pair. The yearly event returned to the Capitol for the first time since the pandemic began. Del. Cliff Hayes, D-Chesapeake, takes photos of his colleagues in the Virginia House of Delegates on Jan. 24 at the state Capitol. Lawmakers head to committee meetings Jan. 19. Democratic senators cheer as Clerk of the Senate Susan Clarke Schaar swears in new Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, on Jan. 18 at the state Capitol. Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, is photographed outside the Senate chamber Jan. 18 after he was sworn in at the Virginia state Capitol. Rouse won a special election to succeed Republican Jen Kiggans, who was elected to Congress in November. Rouse's win increased the Democrats' edge in the Senate to 22-18. Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham, and Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, share a laugh during Tuesday's session. Senate pages, from left, Aaven Dudley, Nataniel Dunster and Connor Wotring are seen in the Senate on Jan. 19. Members of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. (blue) and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (red) fill the floor around Jean-Antoine Houdons marble statue of George Washington. The two groups were among those visiting the state Capitol in Richmond on Jan. 13. Lobbyists listen during a meeting of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee on Jan. 30 at the Pocahontas Building. Sens. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax City, left, and Creigh Deeds, D-Bath, react Jan. 26 to the vote tally on a Petersen bill dealing with preservation of trees in the town of Vienna. The Senate passed the bill on a 33-7 vote. A group from Portsmouth listens to a speaker during a rally against gun violence at the Bell Tower in Capitol Square on Lobby Day on Jan. 16. Lawmakers head to committee meetings on January 19, 2023. EVA RUSSO/TIMES-DISPATCH Del. Jackie Hope Glass, D-Norfolk, brings style to the House floor Jan. 17 during the General Assembly session at the state Capitol. Gov. Glenn Youngkin attends the Virginia March for Life on Feb. 1 in Richmond. Youngkins Virginia job approval rating hit 57% in February  five points better than in November  according to a poll from Roanoke College. Senate pages (from left) Aaven Dudley, Nataniel Dunster, and Connor Wotring are seen in the Senate on January 19, 2023. Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, takes a moment during a General Assembly session at the state Capitol in Richmond on Jan. 20. Del. Briana Sewell, D-Prince William, takes a photo of Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, and other members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. after a Jan. 24 news conference in the Pocahontas Building. McClellan and other Democrats spoke of their support for a proposed state constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom. James States Manship of Thornburg came dressed as George Washington to the gun-rights rally at the Bell Tower in Capitol Square on Lobby Day, Jan. 16.
Huge crowds lined both sides of the tracks as this northbound CSX crosses England Street

11 year old train enthusiast Brycen Wolfe on Bon Air patiently waits for the next locomotive

Hanover Concert Band Flutist Carolyn Elliott breaks out her Casey Jones outfit for the 2018 Ashland Train Day

Ashland takes to the rails with annual Train Day

ASHLAND -- Ashland Train Day is back again for 2018. This years event was held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, at the Ashland Train Station at 112 N. Railroad Ave. in Ashland.

Sponsored and coordinated by Ashland Main Street Association, the annual event draws thousands of train enthusiasts to Ashland from all parts of the Richmond region.

The railroad-themed event is organized with the entire family in mind.

Railroad music and songs with will performed at the CSX Stage. There also will be miniature childrens train rides, childrens games and activities, model trains (Lego, wooden and electric), model train racing, memorabilia displays, a locomotive moon bounce, food- and railroad-related vendors, and Train Day mascots, the Engineer Bears.

Ashland Train Day is presented free of charge.

Since 2012, Ashland Kiwanians have provided significant volunteer service support for the event, and, in 2013, expanded Kiwanis participation as volunteers to include members from the Richmond Young Professionals Club, as well as many members of their sponsored Key and CKI clubs.

In addition to treating Train Day as one of the larger community service projects, the Kiwanis Club of Ashland operated its fundraising Hobo Diner, serving hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and water/soft drinks to hungry event attendees.

For more information, go to www.AshlandTrainDay.com. Follow on Twitter at @AshlandTrainDay.
In the pantheon of Virginia political has-beens, theres a special place for powerful legislators defeated in primaries they were supposed to win, if only to preserve the influence of the lobbyists, business leaders and local officials who supported them.

Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, is the latest initiate.

The co-chairman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee was denied renomination in June to Stella Pekarsky, a member of the Fairfax County School Board with progressive cred thats a must in the D.C. suburb. Barkers throw in Richmond made him the darling of big-dollar interests, but that made him a bigger target back home.

Barkers defeat  seemingly augured by General Assembly redistricting that triggered a torrent of retirements and left him with a tiny sliver of his old seat  complicates important public business that came to a screeching halt because, it turns out, he was running for his political life: revisions to a state budget for the spending year that begins Saturday.

A deal shouldve been done in February, but partisan impasse pushed on-again, off-again talks into overtime, now approaching five months.

In the nearly 60 years that Virginia has been two-party competitive, primaries have spotlighted internal competition that can signal shifts  some lurching, others subtle. In this years primaries, Democrats were seen as leaning further left; Republicans as more deeply rooted on the right.

Larry Sabato, the political analyst at the University of Virginia whose doctoral dissertation in 1977 examined the rise and fall of the primary as the preferred candidate-selection process of the segregationist Democrats who commanded the state for most of the 20th century, said the primary isnt the only factor in felling supposed titans.

But the body count was more substantial in redistricting years than in most others, including both retirements caused by the line-drawing and outright primary and general election defeats, Sabato said by email.

This is when intra-party ideological shifts were prevalent, and vacancies allowed new waves of liberals for the Democrats and conservatives for the Republicans to join the legislature. Democrats had regular primary bloodletting, while Republicans, having avoided primaries in favor of conventions, only got in the swing of things in the late 1980s and 1990s.

History is replete with examples of both:

* In a 1969 primary, Reginald Pettus, the elected prosecutor in Charlotte County  in the heart of Virginias rural Southside, bulwark of the ruling conservative Democratic regime  defeated the chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee, John Daniel.

Daniel, who, according to press accounts, had been ill in the run-up to the primary, was a symbol of the old guard that lorded over the House of Delegates and Virginia Senate. Though  at 68  he was young compared with the chairmen of other top committees, some of whom were in their 80s.

Pettus would serve one term. Because of redistricting two years later, Charlotte County was lumped with more heavily populated Halifax County. Pettus opted not to oppose in the primary Frank Slayton, a Halifax Democrat who would become one of the legislatures leading mental health advocates.

* In a 1985 Democratic primary, also in a Southside district, Watkins Abbitt Jr., son of a longtime congressman and wheel horse of the conservative establishment, toppled a House committee chairman and lieutenant of then-Speaker A.L. Philpott, D-Henry.

The race with Del. Claude Anderson was bitter and personal, at times focusing on the circumstances surrounding the death of one candidates wife and the drinking habits of the other.

As chairman of the House committee responsible for redistricting, Anderson had been in the thick of the struggle over new boundaries that would expand Black representation in the 100-member chamber. Abbitt would eventually become an independent, caucusing with House Republicans. He served 26 years, retiring in 2012.

* Also in 1985, in a demonstration of Black political muscle in a Portsmouth-based House district, Kenneth Melvin defeated in a Democratic primary longtime Del. L. Cleaves Manning, who was in line to become Appropriations chairman. The rap on Manning: He may have been influential, but he was inattentive of his constituents, sometimes not answering his telephone.

Melvin was a member of the House until 2010 and became a judge in the circuit court of Portsmouth, also hometown of Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, who  in an incumbent-on-incumbent Democratic primary  last month defeated another Senate leader, Lionell Spruill Sr. of Chesapeake, head of the elections committee.

* In a 2007 Republican primary on the Peninsula, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Marty Williams of Newport News was blocked for renomination by Tricia Stall, an anti-tax activist whose one-note campaign focused on Williams support of a $1.4 billion tax increase for schools, human services and police won by Democratic Gov. Mark Warner.

In the general election, Stall was perceived as a conservative extremist, setting up a win by Democrat John Miller and a Democratic take-back of the Senate that gave Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, a bit of leverage with the Republican-controlled House still wincing over the Warner tax hike three years earlier.

That Williams would fall because of a tax increase was a reminder hed been elected to the Senate in 1995 by attacking the imperious Democratic incumbent, Hunter Andrews of Hampton  chairman of the finance committee  for single-handedly stopping an income-tax cut proposed by Gov. George Allen, a Republican.

* Among giant killers, the late Democrat A. Donald McEachin is in a league of his own, defeating in a 1995 primary the center-right chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Bob Ball of Henrico County and, 12 years later, a 30-year senator and senior member of the finance committee, Benjamin Lambert III, also of Henrico.

McEachins victories underscored three forces shaping elections, some of which can have a disproportionate impact, particularly in thinly attended primaries: demographic change, philosophical tension and personal pique.

McEachin, a Black trial lawyer later elected to Congress, dispatched Ball in a majority-Black district redrawn in 1991. Lambert, who was Black, was doomed against McEachin because he endorsed Allen for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2006. Allen was deeply unpopular with Black voters, more so after the macaca moment that sunk his candidacy.

Primary-losing incumbents may be gone but  because of their ignominy  theyre not forgotten.

A look at some of the new Virginia laws that started this month UTILITY BILLS NOTICE OF RENT INCREASES AT WORK CRIME FAMILIES DRIVING
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that Virginia FREE is part of the Capital Access Alliance. The organization is no longer part of the alliance. This version has been corrected.

Call it a turf war waged in the air above Northern Virginia, with politicians across the country piloting the dogfight.

Airlines serving Virginias two largest and busiest airports are dueling in Congress and through a barrage of advertisements over pending legislation to loosen restrictions on the number of flights and destinations allowed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County, just across the Potomac River from the U.S. Capitol.

A coalition led by Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is pushing for changes that it contends would promote competition and lower prices for consumers, as well as more convenience for travelers in Washington and along the Interstate 95 corridor. It is also looking for a larger share of the market at Reagan National, where American Airlines is the dominant carrier.

United Airlines, with a major hub at Washington Dulles International Airport, is leading a coalition that strongly opposes the proposed changes, which it argues would overwhelm operating capacity at Reagan National. They say it would result in more delayed flights and fewer options for cities within the 1,250-mile perimeter established more than 50 years ago to shift long-distance flights to more spacious Dulles in eastern Loudoun County.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has joined the states congressional delegation in trying to ground the legislation, alleging that it is a threat to state investments in the airports, managed by the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority since 1987. They are aided by Marylands two U.S. senators, Democrats Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, who say regional control of flights also is essential to protecting Baltimore-Washington International Airport on the other side of the Capital Beltway.

A flourishing @Dulles_Airport and @Reagan_Airport are key elements in a thriving Virginia, Youngkin said in a recent post on Twitter. The balanced two-airport system these premier aviation hubs comprise should be preserved and strengthened, not undermined.

A flourishing @Dulles_Airport and @Reagan_Airport are key elements in a thriving Virginia. The balanced two-airport system these premier aviation hubs comprise should be preserved and strengthened, not undermined. https://t.co/nJ3Q6Oc222  Governor Glenn Youngkin (@GovernorVA) June 12, 2023

Rob Damschen, the governors deputy communications director, said Reagan National and Dulles are key partners in Virginias economic engine and operate with oversight from a single governing entity that understands the balance and needs of the region.

The current proposed rule changes, based on just one of these entities in isolation, fundamentally misunderstand the complimentary structure of this partnership and the benefit to Virginians and all travelers passing through the commonwealth, Damschen said in a statement to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

The Direct Capital Access Act, or DCA (mimicking the airport code for Reagan National), is pending in Congress both separately in the House of Representatives and potentially as part of the five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. The airport is one of three in the country subject to flight restrictions because of capacity, along with John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports in New York.

The slot and perimeter restrictions date to 1969, but Congress has intervened before, carving out limited exemptions to long-distance flights between Reagan National and 10 cities in the West, and adding more than 50 flight slots at the airport in the past 23 years. The legislation, proposed by Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., would add up to 28 flights at Reagan National.

The FAA said last month that it takes no position on long-haul flights using narrow-bodied jets at Reagan National, but warned that the proposed additional flights would likely have a negative impact on operational performance and consumer experience at the airport, which it said is already one of the most prone to delays in the country.

Virginias opposition to the legislation is led by U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats and former Virginia governors, as well as members of the states congressional delegation, who say the changes also would undermine the recent extension of Metro train service to Dulles.

The Virginia delegation is sticking together on this and saying no, said Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st, who represents parts of the Richmond area and previously much of the I-95 corridor through Fredericksburg.

But the Capital Access Alliance, the coalition pushing for legislation, touts endorsements by former Virginia political leaders, including Gov. Jim Gilmore, a Republican who served from 1998 to 2002.

Gilmore, in an opinion column in The Washington Post on Thursday, derided the slot and perimeter restrictions on flights at Reagan National as an antiquated, mid-century regulation that continues to hamper the airport.

He said the rules force travelers, especially in the West, to use connecting instead of direct flights to reach their destination and drive up the costs of travel for government, private business and individual travelers who have to pay their own way.

Indirectly responding to a contrary editorial by his Republican predecessor, Gov. George Allen, Gilmore said, I fully agree that Congress should not involve itself in airport operations. Indeed, it appears to have done so only at Reagan National.

Allen, who as a U.S. senator threatened a filibuster to block a similar push for additional flights 20 years ago, called the proposed legislation an overstep in an opinion column the Post published.

I feel as strongly today about the issue as I did then, when I told them they had no business intruding into our airports operations  nor theirs in Phoenix, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Dallas or anywhere else, he wrote.

The legislation also received public backing from former Virginia House Speaker Bill Howell, a longtime Stafford County resident who says additional flights and destinations would benefit the people and businesses along I-95 whom he represented for more than 30 years in the General Assembly.

Its time for Congress to update this anti-competitive rule and allow the free market to best regulate flight options from airports, Howell said in an opinion column published by The Washington Examiner.

That is not the view of the Coalition to Protect Americas Regional Airports, which includes Richmond International Airport. The airport has not had flights to Reagan National for 20 years, spokesman Troy Bell said, but it offers up to four connecting flights a day to Dulles.

Some or all of these flights could be at risk  reducing the access options to or from Richmond  if the options out of (Dulles) were reduced, Bell said.

Proponents dispute suggestions that adding long-haul flights at Reagan National would diminish service to smaller regional airports. The only way a flight gets cut is if the airline itself cuts it, said Brian Walsh, spokesman for the coalition advocating the changes.

But Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, who represents localities along the I-95 corridor from Caroline County to Prince William County, sides with opponents.

Right now, (Reagan National) already has the busiest runway in the country  and opponents of this legislation have successfully made the case that a perimeter extension would actually reduce flight options for Virginians, particularly the number of regional, short-haul flights, Spanberger said in a statement.

The overriding question is whether Congress should make decisions about Virginia airports, said RICs Bell.

Airports in general make local decisions about strategies and investments, he said. This local influence is critical for airports to run effectively and efficiently.

PHOTOS: Richmond International Airport
Virginias main economic development agency is expanding on a traditional role for such bodies  generating sales leads  to develop expertise in what businesses need to locate or expand here.

One sign of that is in the Virginia Economic Development Partnerships new operating plan and its call for an expert focus on three core areas, broader than the usual way economic development agencies usually target their efforts  such as VEDPs current list of 14 different kinds of business.

The three core sectors are knowledge work, manufacturing and the transportation and logistics sector.

All three are areas where the state sees major job growth, and they include many of the partnerships current, if traditional, target industries, such as the manufacturing businesses on its list  advanced materials, aerospace, automotive, semiconductors, indoor agriculture, food and beverage processing, offshore wind, drones and wood products.

The idea is that different kinds of manufacturers have common needs, and the core sector experts will need to know these, be able to pitch how Virginia meets these  and be able to let policymakers know if infrastructure, regulatory or tax issues are concerns.

Another key push is what the partnership plan calls a whole-of-government approach to economic development.

This means working closely with the states new workforce development department, schools and colleges, and local and regional economic development departments.

We want state-of-the-art economic development, by even better integrating with other partners to realize the full potential of the commonwealth, said Jason El Koubi, president of the partnership.

The plan calls for expanding real estate programs, taking advantage of increased state funds for developing sites for business relocation and expansion and by collaborating with the private sector.

One major goal is to make Virginia an exporter of business services  that is, to encourage firms that serve clients outside the state, as well as local firms, as several of Virginias major employers, such as Glen Allen-based Markel Group does with its multibillion-dollar specialty insurance operations.

The partnership wants to further develop its top-ranked customized incentive program for hiring and training workers that can be a key attraction for business thinking of opening up in Virginia or expanding existing operations here.

Its goals for fiscal year 2024 include generating 13,000 jobs and $4 billion of new investment by business, as well as helping businesses make new international sales of $900 million and supporting some 8,000 jobs linked to international trade.

PHOTOS: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin made an economic development announcement about Plenty Unlimited Inc. Gov. Youngkin Gov. Youngkin Gov. Youngkin Gov. Youngkin Gov. Youngkin Gov. Youngkin Gov. Youngkin Gov. Youngkin Gov. Youngkin
Education is the first and most prominent legacy that we leave to our children. Our childrens futures can either be made by a quality education or it can be broken by a bad one. Perhaps most importantly, its impact  good or bad  will last a lifetime.

Over the past few years, we have heard from concerned parents who feel that they do not know what is being taught, what is being read, and what problems their children may be encountering on a day-to-day basis while in school. We as legislators should be listening and taking action.

Parents should play a more pivotal role in their childrens education. While this statement should not be considered shocking or even remotely political, my Democratic friends have shown little regard for parental involvement, while some have been outright dismissive of the notion. Two years ago, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe infamously said the quiet thing out loud, stating the following: I dont think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.

In reality, Virginia law reinforces the importance of parental involvement by explicitly stating a parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parents child. Yet, in practice, parents across Virginia have felt increasingly powerless due to the diminished role that they play in the educational needs of their children.

Parents denounced Democrats flippant disregard toward them by voting to restore a Republican majority in the Virginia House of Delegates two years ago while also electing Glenn Youngkin  who made it resoundingly clear that parents matter  as governor.

The Senate  whose members seek re-election every four years instead of two  remained a Democratic majority.

Upon regaining the majority in the House of Delegates, Republicans introduced commonsense legislation that promotes parental involvement in their childrens education.

This winter, we promoted legislation aimed at providing more information to parents. For instance, we supported legislation to ensure parents are aware of explicit reading material in school libraries that may be deemed inappropriate for children. By involving parents in what should be a critical area of the parenting process, the legislation aimed to ultimately protect children both in and out of the classroom. Unsurprisingly, Senate Democrats defeated the measure.

Meanwhile, teachers have been left in the lurch to recover control of their classrooms. Disruptive classrooms make it harder for teachers to do their jobs, as shown by a recent Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission study that underscores the severity of the issue: 56% of those surveyed in our schools said behavior is a very serious issue, while 24% called it a serious problem. My House Republican colleagues and I supported legislation that would have empowered teachers with the support they need to allow them to better handle discipline in their classrooms. Democrats in the Senate defeated this measure as well.

Finally, as students continue to recover from learning loss brought on by the pandemic and virtual classrooms, there is a general need to restore excellence in Virginias public schools. Recent reports from the Department of Education related to student test scores show a clear and immediate need for more resources for our students to succeed. That starts with providing more support and financial resources to public schools.

House Republicans answered that call by providing more funding to school systems. We also advanced legislation, House Bill 2269, that earmarks specific unspent federal funds to invest in our students and combat learning loss, but Senate Democrats killed the proposal. Fortunately, we did pass legislation, House Bill 1526, that expands proven and effective reading support to more students across Virginia.

Clearly, the blockade from Senate Democrats leaves a significant amount of work on the table. Parenting is hard enough and should not be encumbered by an educational system that deliberately leaves parents out of the process. Teachers and students deserve more support. Rest assured, House Republicans are aware of the issues and will continue to take action.

Close A workman showers sparks as he cuts a steel beam inside the shell of the General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. The shell of the General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. A photo (bottom part of frame) of part of the original General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition hangs on the construction fence just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. The shell of the General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. The shell of the General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. Demolition continues on the General Assembly Building, here framed in an archway of Old City Hall in Richmond, VA Thursday, March 15, 2018. Work is being done on the roof of the General Assembly building Wednesday, March 7, 2018. Work is being done on the roof of the General Assembly building Wednesday, March 7, 2018. The statue of George Mason appears to be watching workmen as they dismantle the General Assembly Building near the State Capitol in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. The statue is one of several founding fathers that circle the equestrian statue of George Washington in Capitol Square. The statue of Thomas Jefferson, who desigened the State Capitol in Richmond, VA appears to be keeping a close eye on construction workers as they work on the facade of the old General Assembly Building across from Capitol Square Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. the statue is one of several that ring the equestrian statue of George Washington in Capitol Square. The equestrian statue of George Washington at Capitol Square in Richmond, VA, appears to be pointing to workmen on a scaffold who are in the process of cleaning the Virginia General Assembly Building Friday, Oct. 31, 2003. The equestrian statue of George Washington appears to be pointing to part of a crane that is being used to demolish the General Assembly Building, background at Capitol Square in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018.The building will be replaced by a new modern structure over the next 4 years. Crews worked Thursday on the roof of the General Assembly Building, which is being demolished, as Andrew Lewis statue stood guard several hundred yards away in Capitol Square. Work continues on the General Assembly Building at Capitol Square in Richmond, VA Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. G. Paul Nardo, clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates, checked one of chairs, surplus items, at General Assembly Building in Richmond on Friday, June 30, 2017. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building before it is gutted and razed this year to make way for a new legislative building. 7/3/2017: House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. 7/3/2017: House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD Clocks and projectors are some of the surplus contents at the General Assembly Building. 7/3/2017: House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD Chris West, right, carries a life-sized cardboard photo of retirnig Del. James P. "Jimmie" Massie, IIID-Henrico, out of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, past lobbyist Tripp Perrin and others waiting to get in to take advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. West served at Director of Policy and Communication for retiring House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, and now has the same position for incoming Speaker M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights. Mark E. Smith, Executive Director for State Government Relations for George Mason University, carried a sign out of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as he took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished.As a lobbyist for a college, Smith has spent many hours in the House Appropriations committee room. Freddie Meyer, left, and his daughter Meredith, right, carry items they purchased out of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as they took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Two lines of people wait to pay for items purchased iinside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as they took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. A long line of people wait to enter the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, and advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Karla W. Boughey, Executive Director of the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation, carries a sign and looks at lamps to purchase in the basement of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as she took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Caleb Capaz carries a lamp and a large check while he rides an elevator inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as he took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Former delegate Bob Brink shows off an item he bought inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as he took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. A long line of people wait to enter the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, and advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Matt Maguire, left, Hunter Bonton, center, and Chip Shover, right, all students at Christopher Newport University, laugh as they take a women's restroom sign from the wall inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017. They were taking advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Shover was a former legislative page. A framed portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., beside a gun-related bumper sticker, were two of the items for sale inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017. House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, looks out of his office on the 6th floor of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, the last day of the 2017 legislative session. The General Assembly Building will be torn down in early summer to make way for a new building to house members, staff and committee rooms. The State Capitol is seen through the center window. A note written on a wall of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, the last day of the 2017 legislative session. The General Assembly Building will be torn down in early summer to make way for a new building to house members, staff and committee rooms. View of General Assembly building complex slated for be demolished. 2/23/2017: A life-size photo of Del. Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax, is among the items packed to move from his General Assembly Building office to the Pocahontas Building while the General Assembly Building is demolished and a replacement built. BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH A life-size photo of Del. Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax, is among the items packed to move from his General Assembly Building office to the Pocahontas Building while the General Assembly Building is demolished and a replacement built. BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH Del. C. Matthew Fariss, R-Campbell, generated attention on Wednesday with a handwritten sign on the eighth floor of the General Assembly Building referring to a bill to give landowners more power to keep hunting dogs off their property. The bill failed in the House this month. PATRICK WILSON/TIMES-DISPATCH Del. C. Matthew Fariss, R-Campbell, generated attention on Wednesday with a handwritten sign on the eighth floor of the General Assembly Building referring to a bill to give landowners more power to keep hunting dogs off their property. The bill failed in the House this month. PATRICK WILSON/TIMES-DISPATCH Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, asked the price of a clock at a "yard sale" run by pages on Wednesday in the General Assembly Building. Proceeds were to benefit FeedMore and its Central Virginia Food Bank. PATRICK WILSON/TIMES-DISPATCH Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, asked the price of a clock at a "yard sale" run by pages on Wednesday in the General Assembly Building. Proceeds were to benefit FeedMore and its Central Virginia Food Bank. PATRICK WILSON/TIMES-DISPATCH Kelly Gee (left), chief of staff for House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, and Nicole L. Brenner, a lobbyist, wrote messages Tuesday at the Virginia General 5/17/2017: The House of Delegates has begun moving its offices in p PHOTOS: Demolition of the General Assembly Building in downtown Richmond A workman showers sparks as he cuts a steel beam inside the shell of the General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. The shell of the General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. A photo (bottom part of frame) of part of the original General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition hangs on the construction fence just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. The shell of the General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. The shell of the General Assembly Building now undergoing demolition just outside Capitol Square in Ricmond, VA Friday, March 30, 2018. The building will be replaced with a new structure to house General Assembly members, staff and committees. Demolition continues on the General Assembly Building, here framed in an archway of Old City Hall in Richmond, VA Thursday, March 15, 2018. Work is being done on the roof of the General Assembly building Wednesday, March 7, 2018. Work is being done on the roof of the General Assembly building Wednesday, March 7, 2018. The statue of George Mason appears to be watching workmen as they dismantle the General Assembly Building near the State Capitol in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018. The statue is one of several founding fathers that circle the equestrian statue of George Washington in Capitol Square. The statue of Thomas Jefferson, who desigened the State Capitol in Richmond, VA appears to be keeping a close eye on construction workers as they work on the facade of the old General Assembly Building across from Capitol Square Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018. the statue is one of several that ring the equestrian statue of George Washington in Capitol Square. The equestrian statue of George Washington at Capitol Square in Richmond, VA, appears to be pointing to workmen on a scaffold who are in the process of cleaning the Virginia General Assembly Building Friday, Oct. 31, 2003. The equestrian statue of George Washington appears to be pointing to part of a crane that is being used to demolish the General Assembly Building, background at Capitol Square in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018.The building will be replaced by a new modern structure over the next 4 years. Crews worked Thursday on the roof of the General Assembly Building, which is being demolished, as Andrew Lewis statue stood guard several hundred yards away in Capitol Square. Work continues on the General Assembly Building at Capitol Square in Richmond, VA Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018. G. Paul Nardo, clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates, checked one of chairs, surplus items, at General Assembly Building in Richmond on Friday, June 30, 2017. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building before it is gutted and razed this year to make way for a new legislative building. 7/3/2017: House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. 7/3/2017: House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD Clocks and projectors are some of the surplus contents at the General Assembly Building. 7/3/2017: House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH House Clerk G. Paul Nardo checks one of the chairs at the General Assembly Building. The state is selling off the surplus contents of the building before it is gutted and razed to make way for a new legislative home. "People want a piece of history," Nardo said. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/TIMES-DISPATCH Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch Clocks and projectors are among the items up for sale at the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/Times-Dispatch A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD A frame with names and room numbers of General Assembly Building is one of the surplus contents of the General Assembly Building. DANIEL SANGJIB MIN/RTD Chris West, right, carries a life-sized cardboard photo of retirnig Del. James P. "Jimmie" Massie, IIID-Henrico, out of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, past lobbyist Tripp Perrin and others waiting to get in to take advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. West served at Director of Policy and Communication for retiring House Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, and now has the same position for incoming Speaker M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights. Mark E. Smith, Executive Director for State Government Relations for George Mason University, carried a sign out of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as he took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished.As a lobbyist for a college, Smith has spent many hours in the House Appropriations committee room. Freddie Meyer, left, and his daughter Meredith, right, carry items they purchased out of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as they took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Two lines of people wait to pay for items purchased iinside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as they took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. A long line of people wait to enter the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, and advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Karla W. Boughey, Executive Director of the Virginia Veterans Services Foundation, carries a sign and looks at lamps to purchase in the basement of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as she took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Caleb Capaz carries a lamp and a large check while he rides an elevator inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as he took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Former delegate Bob Brink shows off an item he bought inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, as he took advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. A long line of people wait to enter the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017, and advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Matt Maguire, left, Hunter Bonton, center, and Chip Shover, right, all students at Christopher Newport University, laugh as they take a women's restroom sign from the wall inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017. They were taking advantage of the sale of items before the building is demolished. Shover was a former legislative page. A framed portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., beside a gun-related bumper sticker, were two of the items for sale inside the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA Tuesday, July 11, 2017. House of Delegates Speaker William J. Howell, R-Stafford, looks out of his office on the 6th floor of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, the last day of the 2017 legislative session. The General Assembly Building will be torn down in early summer to make way for a new building to house members, staff and committee rooms. The State Capitol is seen through the center window. A note written on a wall of the General Assembly Building in Richmond, VA, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, the last day of the 2017 legislative session. The General Assembly Building will be torn down in early summer to make way for a new building to house members, staff and committee rooms. View of General Assembly building complex slated for be demolished. 2/23/2017: A life-size photo of Del. Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax, is among the items packed to move from his General Assembly Building office to the Pocahontas Building while the General Assembly Building is demolished and a replacement built. BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH A life-size photo of Del. Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax, is among the items packed to move from his General Assembly Building office to the Pocahontas Building while the General Assembly Building is demolished and a replacement built. BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH Del. C. Matthew Fariss, R-Campbell, generated attention on Wednesday with a handwritten sign on the eighth floor of the General Assembly Building referring to a bill to give landowners more power to keep hunting dogs off their property. The bill failed in the House this month. PATRICK WILSON/TIMES-DISPATCH Del. C. Matthew Fariss, R-Campbell, generated attention on Wednesday with a handwritten sign on the eighth floor of the General Assembly Building referring to a bill to give landowners more power to keep hunting dogs off their property. The bill failed in the House this month. PATRICK WILSON/TIMES-DISPATCH Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, asked the price of a clock at a "yard sale" run by pages on Wednesday in the General Assembly Building. Proceeds were to benefit FeedMore and its Central Virginia Food Bank. PATRICK WILSON/TIMES-DISPATCH Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, asked the price of a clock at a "yard sale" run by pages on Wednesday in the General Assembly Building. Proceeds were to benefit FeedMore and its Central Virginia Food Bank. PATRICK WILSON/TIMES-DISPATCH Kelly Gee (left), chief of staff for House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, and Nicole L. Brenner, a lobbyist, wrote messages Tuesday at the Virginia General 5/17/2017: The House of Delegates has begun moving its offices in p
A professor and two students were stabbed in their gender studies class at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

According to the police, they have already taken the suspect under their custody after what they consider a "hate-motivated incident."

Professor, 2 Students were Stabbed in a Canadian University

As per CNN, a 24-year-old student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario has been charged with aggravated assault after stabbing a professor and two students in a gender studies class on Wednesday.

The university vice president James Rush says that the "shocking attack" occurred amid a lecture in the class Philosophy 202 - Gender Studies. The New York Times reports that the study covers "the construction of gender in the history of philosophy through contemporary discussions."

One of the university's students, Yusuf Kaymak, who was attending the same class wherein the incident occurred, narrated what he witnessed.

He told CTV News that a man suddenly walked into their class and bluntly asked their professor if he was the prof. From there, he pulled a knife. Then, the students, including Kaymak, "ran out." After they got outside, they saw a gruesome scene wherein a student was bleeding from his arms after someone stabbed him.

Kaymak estimates that there were roughly 40 students inside the gender studies class when the appalling attack occurred.

However, as the Los Angeles Times reports, the wounds of the victims, according to the police, were non-life-threatening. Since they have taken the suspect in their custody, the Waterloo Regional Police Service Supt. Shaena Morris says, "There is no further threat to public safety either on campus or outside in the broader community."

The University of Waterloo announced on Twitter that it canceled classes at Hagey Hall for Wednesday evening. But despite that, the rest of the classes and operations on the campus remain the same.

Read Also: Idaho College Murder: Autopsy Report Sheds Light on Horrifying Death of 4 Victims

Police Charged 24-year-old Student Suspect

According to The New York Times, Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, an international student at the university, faces multiple charges.

The Waterloo Regional Police confirmed in a statement that they charged the 24-year-old suspect with assault with a weapon, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and mischief.

Waterloo Regional Police Service Chief Mark Crowell said in a press conference that it is "sad and disturbing" that the gender studies class attack happened in time for the Pride month celebration this June. He adds that he hopes the incident pushes everyone to unite amid celebrating diversity and inclusivity.

The University of Waterloo, which has more than 40,000 students, is one of the best technology educational institutions in Canada and the entire world. Meanwhile, the authorities have not determined the stabbing incident's motive.

Related Article: Man Stabs Pit Bull to Death in Central Park After Argument With Dog Walker

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Coba ejidos reach agreement with government for archaeological zone

Tulum, Q.R.  Ejidos from the community of Coba met with government officials to reach an operating agreement for the archaeological zone. The two sides met Tuesday.

Ejidos held a meeting with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) General Director Diego Prieto Hernandez, Governor Mara Lezama and Tulum Mayor Diego Castanon Trejo.

Both sides met to iron out an agreement for the operation of the archaeological zone that will also see around 70 million invested from the federal Promeza Project.

Both sides have agreed to publicly open site in the coming days with new rates and that through the Program of Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza), around 70 million pesos will be invested to rehabilitate the spaces inside the enclosure.

The Ejidos, who have been charging an entry fee of 100 pesos since November of 2021, will move their ticket office to the main entrance of the parking lot from where the INAH will reactivate its standard fee of 90 pesos per person.
Cozumel authorities seize vehicles circulating without proper documentation

Cozumel, Q.R.  Elements of the Transit Subdirectorate of Cozumel set up inspection points around the island Thursday. The operations were carried out in coordination with the Mobility Institute of the State of Quintana Roo (ImoveQroo).

Cozumel delegation and elements of the Mexican Navy carried out vehicle inspections in order to detect irregular documentation. The operation was headed by Police Officer Telly Caamal Hau and the head of Cozumel ImoveQroo Cozumel, Anuar Garcia Garcia.

Both moved around the island with two Cozumel inspectors setting up roadside inspection filters on Avenida Juarez between 125 and 140 Streets. There, vehicles were stopped for driver and vehicle documentation reviews.

In this type of operation, cars and motorcycles of individuals as well as companies are reviewed verifying that the drivers have a current drivers license, as well as the current license plates and then, depending on the case, they request the review of the vehicle license to detect any type of anomaly, the agency explained.

Motorcycles, cars, a van and one motorcycle taxi were seized for lack of proper documentation. Photo: Policia Cozumel June 29, 2023.

As a result of the one-day operation, the transit sub-directorate seized eight motorcycles, three cars and a van for lack of documentation, licenses and up-to-date license plates. ImoveQroo removed one motorcycle taxi from circulating on public streets due to lack of permission to operate.
Extortionist leader of Playa del Carmen related to Mamitas manager murder captured

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  Another person believed involved in the 2022 murder of a Playa del Carmen club manager has been captured. Late Thursday, Raciel Lopez Salazar, Acting Head of the State Attorney Generals Office, reported on the capture of Raul Z.

He was arrested in coordination with the Anti-kidnapping Unit of the State of Hidalgo. Salazar reported that Raul Z is being investigated for his probable participation in the murder of the manager of the Mamitas Club in Playa del Carmen.

Raul Z was captured in Pachuca, Hidalgo. The Quintana Roo FGE had previously issued a 500,000 peso reward for information leading to his whereabouts. However, Salazar says that Raul Z was located and arrested due to an ongoing investigation between authorities of Hidalgo and Quintana Roo.

A 500,000 peso reward was being offered for information on his whereabouts. Photos: FGE QRoo

Raul Z, a well-known generator of violence in the state, is the alleged leader of a network of extortionists in the municipality of Solidaridad and is related to the murder of the manager of the Mamitas Club in Playa del Carmen, which occurred in January 2022, Salazar reported.

After his arrest in Hidalgo, he was transferred to Quintana Roo to be made available to a judge in Playa del Carmen.

In January of 2022, Mamitas Beach Club manager Federico Mazzoni was shot and killed inside the bathroom of the restaurant. His attackers were captured on surveillance cameras belonging to the club.

The first arrest in the attack took place in March of that year, which was followed by a second arrest in September. Arrest warrants for other suspects in the case were issued in January of 2023.
Pair profiting from exotic animals arrested from Isla Mujeres tourist area

Isla Mujeres, Q.R.  Police of Isla Mujeres arrested two men Thursday who were found profiting from exotic animals. The arrests were made on the islands busy Rueda Medina Avenue.

Elements of the Directorate of Public Security and Municipal Transit were on a tour around 2:00 p.m. when they received a request for support from Inspection and Collection.

At the height of the Ballyhoo restaurant on Rueda Medina Avenue, they had located people profiting from exotic animals on public roads in Playa Centro, Isla Mujeres Police said.

Upon arrival at the scene, two males were demanding payment from a family for having been photographed with a green iguana and a Burmese python. When the men were asked for their permits to trade on public roads, they began to disturb public order since they did not have them, Policia de Isla Mujeres reported in a statement.

Personnel from the Department of Environment and Ecology went to the site to request the documentation for the use of wildlife and the accreditation of legal origin, but neither men had the documentation.

A Burmese python and green iguana were being used as photo props for paying tourists. Both reptiles were seized by the Department of Ecology. Photos: Policia de Isla Mujeres

Police proceeced to arrest 22-year-old Fernando N and 35-year-old Jesus Ismael.

The Department of Ecology said that both the green iguana and the python were being exposed to high stress due to constant handling, noise and sun exposure, combined with the fact of being locked in small plastic boxes.
Police make arrest in deadly road rage murder

Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Q.R.  Police have arrested a suspect for a road rage murder in the municipality of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. On Thursday, the State Attorney Generals Office reported the capture of Victor B who was apprehended on an outstanding arrest warrant.

The FGE says Victor B was arrested for the shooting death of the driver of a motorcycle after he threw a rock at a car he was traveling in.

According to the FGE, on May 23, 2023, the victim was riding his motorcycle through the streets of the Plan de Ayala neighborhood of Felipe Carrillo Puerto at which time he was hit by a compact car.

The victim fell off his motorcycle and onto the pavement. When he got up, he threw a rock at the car that hit him. Victor B, who was a front-seat passenger in the car, got out and shot the motorcycle driver several times, killing him.

Victor B is currently being held in a Chetumal prison.
Quintana Roo preparing to meet housing demand in four municipalities

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  The Secretary of Urban Development, Armando Lara De Nigris, says the state is preparing to meet its housing demand. He says they are preparing a program that will benefit families from Cozumel, Benito Juarez (Cancun), Puerto Morelos and Mahahual.

Governor Mara Lezama has given instructions to attend to the housing needs of families from Quintana Roo, so we are working to make it available to those who need it the most through a Housing Lots and Services program, Lara De Nigris said.

The program will consist of meeting a demand for housing lots with services. He specified that in Cozumel, the demand is around 600 lots, in Puerto Morelos 1,300 and in Cancun, it is more than 4,000.

He reported that for Mahahual, they do not have a figure as of yet, but are working on it because they recognized that the demand for housing is high.

He says families in the program will be offered lots established by law, which are 6 by 18 meters. He said that they already have subsidies from state government and have requested program subsidies from the federal and municipal governments.

He said they are also looking for agreements with notary associations so that the cost to register the lots is affordable.

Secretary Armando Lara reported that they will start the program in the municipality of Puerto Morelos first, which will likely be announced toward the end of July. The program will be be extended to the other three municipalities in the second half of the year.

Secretary Armando Lara reported the number of housing applications registered in Sedetus (Desarrollo Territorial Urbano Sustentable) alone is more than 2,500 and recognized that projects such as the Maya Train and Tulum Airport will further increase population growth.

From that, he says the demand for housing will be even greater, for which reason the Governor has given the instructions to work on solutions to provide services.
Seed and fertilizer program benefits over 1,000 Tulum farmers

Tulum, Q.R.  More than a thousand producers from the Mayan Zone of Tulum were beneficiaries of the Fertilizantes del Bienestar program. Bags of fertilizer and corn seed were distributed between countryside farmers by the municipal government of Tulum.

Municipal Trustee, Maria Teresa Arana Sanchez, representing Mayor Castanon, supervised the deliveries to producers. More than 14 tons was distributed between residents of Chanchen, Chanchen Palmar, Hondzonot, Sahcab Mucuy, San Juan and other towns in the Mayan Zone.

The Director of Economy for Tulum, Bady Gomez Soberano, said the program will benefit more than 1,000 farmers.

Bady Gomez Soberano participated in the delivery program. Photo: Ayuntamiento de Tulum June 28, 2023.

This is a Segalmex program coordinated with Sedarpe and the City Council. It supports more than a thousand Tulum producers and is carried out based on a schedule.

Around 200 producers per day are being supported with help provided by Mayor Diego Castanon Trejo, he explained. The local farmers are being assisted with poultry manure fertilizer and corn seeds.

Earlier this week, a similar program was carried out in the municipality of Jose Maria Morelos with 22 tons of corn seed being delivered to local farmers as part of a self-sufficient program.
Episode 96: If you follow local government, whether in big cities or small towns, youll undoubtably hear debates about parking. There is often little agreement about how to pay for parking, how much to require and where to put it.

The recent book by Henry Graber, Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World, is taking a critical look at our countrys obsession with parking.

The hosts discuss why such policies can hurt cities and often cause a lack of affordable housing.

Links to stories discussed during the podcast:

America has eight parking spaces for every car. Heres how cities are rethinking that land, by Daniel Baldwin Hess and Jeffrey Rehler, Fast Company

Why the U.S. builds more three-car garages than one-bedroom apartments, by Connor Donevan, Christopher Intagliata and Juana Summers, National Public Radio

About the hosts: Scott Rada is social media manager with Lee Enterprises, and Richard Kyte is the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
" " Large portions of Canada, Russia, Norway, Finland and Sweden fall within the Arctic Circle's borders. So does the majority of Greenland, which is pictured here. MB Photography/Getty Images

We all depend on sunlight, but unless you live at the equator, you won't get the same amount of it every day. Ours is a tilted world, friends. Like all the planets in this solar system, Earth rotates around an axis, an imaginary line between its North and South poles. At the same time, it orbits the sun, finishing a new lap every 365.25 days.

That cosmic ballet is an intricate dance. Relative to its pathway around the sun, Earth's axis is tilted at a 23.5-degree angle. If it weren't for that helpful tilt, seasons as we know them wouldn't exist. The skewed axis is also responsible for one of the world's most astonishing places: The Arctic Circle.

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Geographers define the circle as everything at or above 66 degrees and 34 minutes north latitude. (Put simply that means the exact dividing line falls between the 66th and 67th parallels in Earth's Northern Hemisphere.)

It's a region marked by strange hours. Throughout this area, the center of the sun never climbs above the horizon during the winter solstice  the shortest day of the year. Here, the skies can be dark at high noon or sunny at midnight. Yet life persists. The Arctic Circle encompasses 4 percent of the global surface. And for hundreds of thousands of people, it's also home sweet home.

Now That's Interesting Twilight comes in three categories: civil, nautical and astronomical twilight. Respectively, these occur when the sun's geometric midpoint is 6, 12 and 18 degrees below the horizon. Of the trio, astronomical twilight is by far the dimmest.
(Photo : Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The former sheriff's deputy involved in the Parkland high school shooting in 2018 was found not guilty on all charges against him.

A jury acquitted a former Florida sheriff's deputy involved in the Parkland shooting on all counts, including child neglect and culpable negligence.

The former Broward County sheriff's deputy, Scot Peterson, was found not guilty on all counts related to the Parkland high school shooting five years ago. These include seven counts of child neglect and three counts of culpable negligence.

Parkland Shooting Deputy Found Not Guilty on 10 Counts

The charges were related to the deaths and injuries of 10 people on the third floor of the building where the tragic shooting occurred. Peterson was also freed of responsibility from one count of perjury for claiming to the police that he only heard a few gunshots and saw no children fleeing the crime scene.

The case against Peterson came after he was accused of failing to confront the gunman during the shooting and instead chose to back away from the building. His behavior was revealed immediately after the incident, and critics, including some fellow police officers, said he was too scared to face a heavily armed gunman, as per the New York Times.

The former sheriff's deputy's actions resulted in outrage across the Parkland community, and he was cast as the central character in a morality tale about cowardice and law enforcement's duty to protect children. The father of one of the shooting victims told Peterson to "rot in hell," and national media outlets gave him the moniker the "coward in Broward.

The shooting incident resulted in the death of 17 people and the injury of 17 others and was found to be conducted by a former student of the school. Last year, authorities sentenced the suspect to life in prison in the same courtroom where Peterson was acquitted of all charges on Thursday.

The former sheriff's deputy was the lone armed resource officer assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the massacre on Feb. 14, 2018. The 60-year-old was seen crying on Thursday as Judge Martin S. Fein of the Broward County Circuit Court read the verdict on his case.

Read Also: Ron DeSantis Seeks Delay of Disney Trial, Prioritizes 2024 Elections

Failure To Protect the Victims

Following the verdict, Peterson said he wanted to talk to the parents of the students killed during the shooting. According to BBC, he said they needed to know the truth of what happened that day and added that he would be there to support them.

Despite the verdict, the father of Gina, Tony Montalto, whose daughter was one of the victims of the tragic shooting, said that he still blames Peterson for not trying to stop the incident. He said that the only thing he could say to the jury was to let the former sheriff's deputy work at their kids' schools to protect their children.

The jury that handed out the verdict on Peterson's case heard testimony that when the shooting occurred, the former sheriff's deputy, who was armed at the time but was not wearing body armor, stayed inside an alcove that was adjacent to the school building for 30 or 40 minutes until the shooting ended.

It also came as prosecutors used a novel legal theory against the defendant, saying that as the school's assigned deputy, he was legally a "caregiver" to the establishment's students. This was a requirement for Peterson to be found guilty of child neglect, said the Associated Press.

Related Article: Professor, 2 Students Stabbed in Gender Studies Class at Canada University

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Credit: FAU/Georg Pohlein

An intelligent suit is being designed with the hope that it will significantly improve rehabilitation in patients after a serious spinal cord injury. The AI-supported solution will be developed over the next three years by researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg (FAU) working in collaboration with Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University Hospital. It combines electrical simulation of muscles with support for movement using artificial tendons, and reacts to patients' intended movements.

Injuries to the spinal cord as a result of traffic or sport accidents, tumor operations or infections have a dramatic impact on the lives of those affected. Daily activities like eating and drinking, getting dressed or personal hygiene are no longer possible, or if so, then only to a very limited extent.

However, injuries like this are not necessarily irreversible. For example, if the long nerve fibers are not separated entirely from the brain, some remnants of motor control remain. "In such cases there is a good chance of regaining at least some mobility," explains Prof. Dr. Claudio Castellini from the Chair of Assistive Intelligent Robotics at FAU. "The potential for regeneration is particularly high in the first twelve months after the injury, when new neurons can be generated and new networks created."

Standard treatment does not exploit the full potential

The rehabilitation of arm and hand function is mainly based on the repeated execution of mobility exercises, where patients are required, for example, to grasp a cylinder and move it to a certain place. Patients are supported by qualified therapists, or at times also by robots. The methods used include functional electrical simulation (FES), in which electrodes trigger targeted muscle contractions, as well as exoskeletons or suits. These are orthoses that support and assist movement using pulley mechanisms or inflatable air chambers.

"Although great progress has been made in recent years, the therapies which are currently available do not correspond to the principles of motor learning," Castellini explains. "Firstly, especially weak muscles are not targeted sufficiently, and secondly, patients are not actively encouraged to execute useful motor exercises. Our experience has shown that this leads to patient engagement waning over time." Combined with the fact that current rehabilitation measures are not sufficiently tailored to patients' individual requirements and abilities, this means that the full potential for treatment is not fully exploited.

Integrated suit recognizes intended movements

Over the next three years, Claudio Castellini aims to work together with the Institute of Computer Science at Heidelberg University and the Department of Experimental Neurohabilitation at Heidelberg University Hospital to develop a suit that is hoped to significantly improve the success of therapy after spinal cord injuries. The Exo-Suit consists of a compression jacket, arm cuffs and gloves and combines the support systems available to date such as FES and pulley mechanics, but has one special addition: AI-supported recognition of patients' intended movements.

"Integrated sensors measure muscle activity," explains Marek Sierotowicz, a doctoral candidate involved in the project. "Self-learning algorithms take this input and use it to calculate the patient's intended movement and adjust the assistance systems accordingly." Specifically, this means that the AI tells the FES system and the Exo-Suit where muscle contractions should be triggered or pulleys tautened in order to support the intended movement.

Monitoring intention allows targeted and gentle therapy

FAU is predominantly responsible for developing methods to perceive the patient's intended movements. For this to work, researchers first have to construct a complete virtual model of the anatomical structure of the muscles and skeleton and train it accordingly. "We will carry out our initial tests with people who are not disabled and gather as much data as possible," says Sierotowicz. "The better we train AI, the more reliably we will be able to recognize movement patterns and the more accurately the assistance systems will be able to work in the future."

That is not only necessary for precise movement support, the intelligent interplay between EFS and robotic pulley systems also ensure a more gentle treatment. Experience has shown that using FES alone requires a high intensity of simulation and patients often find it unpleasant. Researchers are convinced that their invention will lead to a significant improvement in the success of rehabilitation after a spinal cord injury.

Provided by FriedrichAlexander University ErlangenNurnberg
 New report highlights the "promise of targeted home confinement with electronic monitoring" | Main | In final order list of Term, Supreme Court grants cert on big new Second Amendment case and denies/punts cert on acquitted conduct cases 

June 30, 2023

Lots of notable prison news and notes as a busy month winds down

The month of June (and really all of the first half of 2023) have felt especially busy and dynamic, and I am hoping for a bit of a break as a holiday weekend and week mark the start of July. But, before the calendar turns, I thought a big round up of some notable prison stories I noticed recently  some good, some bad, some ugly  was in order. And so:

From Al Jazeera, "Solitary confinement is still widespread in US prisons and jails"

From the Alabama Political Reporter, "Another incarcerated person dies in ADOC Facility, death numbers continue to rise"

From Alaska Public Media, "Smuggling cases point to need for better drug treatment in Alaska prisons, advocates say"

From the AP, "Thousands more prisoners across the US will get free college paid for by the government"

From the Detroit News, "Michigan prisons ordered to allow faith group that believes in race separation"

From Forbes, "Bureau Of Prisons Changes In Works To Comply With First Step Act"

From GBH News, "In 'historic' moment, MCI-Framingham prisoners testify live at moratorium hearing"

From The Hill, "Around 760,000 people in prison will be eligible for free college with Pell Grant expansion"

From the Los Angeles Times, "California promises better care for thousands of inmates as they leave prison"

From the New York Times, "Man Down!: Surviving the Texas Heat in Prisons Without Air-Conditioning"

From the Post and Courier, "More respectful living conditions: Initiative at SC prisons found to reduce violence"

From the Tampa Bay Times, "People in Florida prisons will get free calls for good behavior in new program"

From the Urban Institute, "Debunking Four Myths about the Prison Building Boom Supporting Mass Incarceration"

From VTDigger, "The Deeper Dig: A spate of deaths focuses attention on Vermont prisons and the Department of Corrections"

From Wired, "Inmates Need Internet to Prepare for Life After Prison"

June 30, 2023 at 09:18 AM | Permalink

Comments

Something from Sonia:

"I suppose the Heart of Atlanta Motel could have argued that Black people may still rent rooms for their white friends." Capitalizing "Black" but not "white." She is truly awful.

Posted by: federalist | Jun 30, 2023 10:13:20 AM

Something from federalist: off-topic feelings

Posted by: Doug B | Jun 30, 2023 10:18:11 AM

A Supreme Court Justice, who, oh by the way, believes in the right to discriminate against whites, decides to write drivel.

Posted by: federalist | Jun 30, 2023 10:27:44 AM

Doug,

Not really off topic. It shows her mindset, which is definitely important regarding her opinions on the court.

Where is the lefts intellectual giant like Clarence Thomas?

Posted by: TarlsQtr | Jun 30, 2023 11:00:47 AM

Since I have never been sure whether it is the Federal Sentencing Guidelines or the federal sentencing guidelines, I tend not to view capitalization choices to be indicative of who is or is not an "intellectual giant." That said, I do agree that how people write can reveal a "mindset," though generally I try to pay more attention to the substance rather than the style of what is getting said. Still, I have certainly seen plenty of examples in plenty of settings of pronouns and word choice and even capitalization and fonts proving triggering. I guess even a shift key can be a microaggression to some.

And, of course, the post is about prison stories, not Justice Sotomayor or even the work of SCOTUS. That's mostly what I meant by "off-topic."

Posted by: Doug B | Jun 30, 2023 11:20:27 AM

"I guess even a shift key can be a microaggression to some."

Sophistry.

Posted by: federalist | Jun 30, 2023 12:00:20 PM

Doug --

It's "Sentencing Guidelines" when you're talking about the stuff written and published by the USSC, but "sentencing guidelines" when you're talking about the subject of determinate sentencing in general. The former is a proper noun and the latter isn't.

We always aim to be helpful.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Jun 30, 2023 5:06:40 PM

Post a comment
 Former Ohio House speaker gets max federal prison sentence of 20 years for political corruption | Main | Lots of notable prison news and notes as a busy month winds down 

June 29, 2023

New report highlights the "promise of targeted home confinement with electronic monitoring"

The Niskanen Center today released this short new report, title "Safer, Smarter, and Cheaper: The promise of targeted home confinement with electronic monitoring," authored by Greg Newburn, Richard Hahn and Matthew Bulger. Here is its summary:

Under the CARES Act, signed into law in March 2020, Congress temporarily expanded the authority of the federal Bureau of Prisons to place prisoners in home confinement. As of May 27, 2023, BOP had placed 13,204 individuals into home confinement under that authority. As of May 1, just 22 of those people had been returned to prison for committing a new crime. Congress should pass legislation to establish a program modeled after CARES Act home confinement. This legislation should make home confinement a default sentence for offenders who meet certain criteria and provide sentence enhancements for crimes committed while on home confinement. Additionally, Congress should empower BOP to modify supervision and behavioral expectations; adopt swift and certain sanctions for non-criminal rule violations; test different eligibility criteria; and incorporate graduated reintegration to ease the transition from supervision to freedom. Research evidence from both the U.S. and abroad suggests home confinement is an effective and appropriate alternative to imprisonment for lower-risk offenders. A modified home confinement program would lead to substantial savings that could be reinvested in police to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate dangerous criminals who would otherwise remain free, and help BOP better manage the population of prisoners housed in federal facilities.

Some prior recent related posts:

June 29, 2023 at 08:17 PM | Permalink

Comments

Despite the fact that the vast majority of the conduct it covers in the'real' world is, in fact, guilty, this seems like an overbreadth challenge in the 1st amendment context, where the argument is that the statute sweeps too much innocent action along with the guilty. drive mad

Posted by: Drive Mad | Jul 10, 2023 5:15:46 AM

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The actor also said tourists would want to see something 'uniquely Singapore' when they visited.

Darren Lim says pasar malams have a lot of foreign food and have lost their local flavour. (Photos: Instagram/darrenlim72, Getty Images)

For those who were fortunate enough to check out a pasar malam (Malay term for night market) in previous decades, these hold a special place in our hearts.

The familiar scent of fried food, the aroma of tutu kuehs, the vendors hawking their products loudly and carnival games - the experience unites people from all walks of life in the heartlands.

So its unsurprising that local actor Darren Lim has an opinion about the way pasar malams have changed in recent years.

While filming for variety show Pasar Malam Stars earlier this month, the 50-year-old spoke to Lianhe Zaobao about his pasar malam memories.

My parents were busy and it was difficult to bring the kids out to play. So whenever theres a pasar malam, Ill get my mum to bring me there, he recounted.

Sounds familiar? We guess not. For many locals, the pasar malam was a way to get out and bond with our family.

But pasar malams now are different though, he pointed out.

The night markets now have a lot of foreign food - like Taiwanese snacks and Arab kebabs. It feels like its lost a little local flavour and is different from my childhood memories.

Lim even told AsiaOne that he was a little disappointed and that tourists want to see something uniquely Singapore when they visit a pasar malam.

For the episode that Lim, and wife Evelyn Tan, were participating in - alongside celebrity couple Jeffrey Xu and Felicia Chin - the theme was sweet love.

In accordance with the theme, the couple decided on selling heart-shaped kaya toast (coated with eggs and deep fried) and a red ruby drink.

While the latter might not be exactly a local drink, Tan (a former Mediacorp actress) did add some water chestnut to her recipe.

According to Lim, his kaya toast garnered great reviews.

It might not be that much of a stretch, though, considering that he can cook. Lim runs a yacht rental business and personally cooks for his passengers.

He also previously hosted the Mediacorp variety show A Night Under The Stars, where he invited celebrities and their kids out for outdoor activities, which saw them camping and cooking.

Pasar Malam Stars is slated to premiere on Channel 8 in January 2024.

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In New Things On The Block, we've got all the latest lifestyle news happening in Singapore and around the world.

New Things On The Block covers all the latest lifestyle news you need to know at the tip of your fingers.

MCM x Crocs collab

MCM x Crocs collab is here! (PHOTO: MCM)

German luxury house MCM steps up its footwear game for Spring/Summer 2023, introducing a re-edition of its iconic collaboration with global footwear brand, Crocs. Referencing MCMs upcoming collection palette featuring brights such as white & lime green as well as earth tones featuring khaki and black, the limited edition launch is designed with the signature mini-belt bag over both Classic Clog styles.

Inspired by MCMs archival Belt Bag silhouette, the mini-belt bag is crafted in MCMs black & white Visetos and features a 3-in-1 modular design which is interchangeable by shoe, and can be detached and worn as a fashion accessory.

It's not the first time Crocs has partnered with a luxury brand; the footwear brand has also collaborated with Balenciaga, Beams, Disney, Marvel and Peanuts.

Shop Crocs here

L'Occitane's Almond Hotel pops up at Raffles City

L'Occitane's Hotel pops up at Raffles City Singapore. (PHOTO: L'Occitane)

L'Occitane Singapore is hosting its largest pop-up event at Raffles City, featuring a range of sensory experiences that showcase their popular Almond, Immortelle, and Haircare products. Registered guests will experience an immersive walk-through of a beautiful Almond Forest in Valensole and Immortelle Field and Suite. In between the experiential rooms, guests can explore a 5 Essential Oils Bar, where they will learn about the brands hair care range and meet a 'hair care mixologist' for a bespoke hair care consultation; and the Almond Spa, where they get to be pampered using some of L'Occitane's bestselling Almond products.

(L to R): The writer with the tree she digitally planted in the background; L'Occitane's pop-up special travel kit is up for grabs. (PHOTO: Reta Lee/Yahoo Life Singapore)

At the end of the walk-through, guests can visit the Gift Shop to purchase any of the products they have experienced during their journey. Do note that Sign-up is only valid for visitors aged 16 years old and above. Children below the age of 12 would require parental or guardian supervision throughout the experience. You will also need your smartphone to scan a QR code which allows you to unlock a Room Key to enhance your experience at the Almond Forest.

General Information

Date: 28 June to 9 July 2023 (10am to 10pm daily)

Location: Raffles City Singapore, 252 North Bridge Rd, #01-01, Singapore 179103 (Nearest MRTStation: City Hall MRT)

Admission: Free

Duration: The full experience will take around 40 to 60 minutes.

RSVP: Register on https://bit.ly/LOCSGHotel

Shop on Lookfantastic Singapore

Glow like gold with Bio-essences new ambassador South Korea actress Lee Sung-kyoung

Now you know Lee Sung-Kyoungs beauty secret.

Glow like gold with Bio-essences new ambassador South Korea actress Lee Sung-kyoung. PHOTO: Bio-essence

Shop Bio-essence revamped line

Known for her beauty that caused the fall of empires, Cleopatra was said to luxuriate in gold to achieve her unrivalled beauty. For centuries, Romans, Egyptians and the Japanese have been in on the secret of using gold on the skin to achieve skin benefits. What if we were to tell you that a beauty brand has unlocked golds benefits with its gold-infused skincare range? Bio-essences revamped Bio-Gold line pairs the worlds most precious metal with top-notch technology to develop its upgraded formula. Infused with 24K Bio-Gold, Nano Gold Peptide and Bio-energy Complex, Bio-essences revamped Bio-Gold line leaves skin not only hydrated by glowing and plumped. Fronted by the radiant South Korean actress Lee Sung-kyoung, best known for her roles in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo and Dr. Romantic 2, she brings her approachable elegance, versatility and sophisticated talents to the skincare brand.

Let your skin glow like Lee Sung-kyoung with Bio-essence

Glow with Bio-essence. PHOTO: Bio-Essence

Now that you are in on Lee Sung-kyoungs skincare of choice, you can now glow like Lee Sung-kyoung with the Bio-essence revamped Bio-Gold line. In an exclusive chat with Yahoo Life Singapore, we got the South Korean beauty to reveal her beauty routine and secret to her radiant skin. Heres what she has to say,

I ensure I remove my makeup thoroughly and use a good cleanser. Followed by Gold Water which will give me the benefit of toner and essence. For me, having good skincare products will increase the efficacies of active ingredients and give me better skin results, hence I am very selective of the skincare products I use.Bio-essence ambassador Lee Sung-kyoung on her beauty routine

And on her personal experience with the revamped Bio-essence range, the brand ambassador shares, The brand's uniqueness is that it contains Bio Energy Complex which is their unique proprietary formula that boosts the skins ability to repair, renew and replenish itself. Hence, giving you healthy skin from within. As a Brand Ambassador, Im using various products from Bio-essence. Can you see my skin? I feel that my skin is more glow and hydrated than before.

Who doesnt wish to maintain youthfulness for longer? Follow Lee Sung-kyoungs skincare routine with the Bio-essence Bio-Gold 24K Gold Water, Bio-essence Bio-Gold 24K Rose Gold Water, Bio-essence Bio-Gold 24K Gold Pearl-C Micro Illuminator, Bio-essence Bio-Gold 24K Gold Eye Power Illuminator, Bio-essence Bio-Gold 24K Gold Day Cream SPF25/PA+++, and the Bio-essence Bio-Gold 24K Gold Night Cream.

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Bio-essence is available at Shopee and Watsons.

3 new bars in Singapore to put on your list

L to R: Plume, Mixology Salon, Jungle Ballroom (Photo: Stephanie Zheng)

It's an exciting time for cocktail lovers in Singapore, with multiple new bars opening with incredible concepts and yummy concoctions for a definite good night out. Here are three we went to recently.

1. Jungle Ballroom

Located in the newly opened Mondrian Hotel in Duxton area, Jungle Ballroom features a themed menu with Southeast Asian ingredients such as longan, banana leaf, young mango, turmeric, black sesame, ginger and more. The menu takes you on a journey through the forest based on where you can find those ingredients, from the Jungle Canopy (where you might enjoy a View From the Treetops), to the Understorey (here, you may discover a Rose-hued Waterfall), to the Forest Floor (where you may stumble on The Lost Ruins).

2. Mixology Salon

Cocktails made with Japanese precision and creativity, Mixology Salon is a long-term pop-up concept in Intercontinental Robertson Quay. They specialised in tea cocktails, which are some of the hardest ingredients to get right; too short/long a brewing time, too hot/cold the water, too harsh the mix, and you may lose the multi-faceted flavours of the tea leaves. And got it right they did, producing cocktails after cocktails with balanced flavours and easy drinkability. It's not a place meant for a party night out, but thrives as a quiet, sipping, contemplative cosy corner with close friends.

3. PLUME

Located in Pan Pacific Singapore, expect IG-friendly cocktails inspired by the plumage of birds in Southeast Asia. PLUME's cocktails might look pretty, but they're also potent and yummy ones. Definitely don't miss the bar snacks, while small in portions, packed a satisfying punch in terms of taste.

Shop local at Fairprice for the freshest produce

Support local at Fairprice (Photo: NTUC Fairprice)

Did you know that you can find over 100 homegrown, local farm fresh products and ready-to-eat products stocked in Fairprice, proudly made in Singapore? Look out for them while browsing the grocery shelves at Fairprice, from rooftop-grown vegetables to barramundi harvested in Singapore.

In line with Singapores 30 by 30 goal, which aims to produce 30% of her nutritional needs locally up from the current 10%, by the year 2030  it's a good time to ensure that our local farmers and suppliers get the visibility they deserve.

Shop on Fairprice now

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Here is the in-town acreage youve been waiting for. Come on over & seize your opportunity to own this Home situated in a highly desirable area with picturesque views of rolling hills. This traditional two-story home sitting on 2.27 acres has charm & offers so much space. This home features 6 beds, 4.5 baths, 3 car attached garage, & 4 car detached garage, must see! Classic 2 story architectural design with a timeless curb appeal & a half circle driveway brings guests right to the front door where they are welcomed and enter a grand foyer with volume ceiling. As you pass through the living room youre immediately drawn to the French door which takes you outside on the covered deck with amazing views! Adjacent to the living room is the Chefs Kitchen with some serious capacity to entertain and seat a crowd. Custom Alder cabinets, stainless steel appliances, ample cabinet space, a oversized center island with a breakfast bar, a cozy breakfast nook, and a very quaint dining space with a French door leading you to the front porch! The main floor also has a fabulous laundry room with sink and built in cabinets( what a dream), a guest bath, and a spare bedroom\office. Left of the foyer you will find the main floor master suite complete with a nice size walk in closet, French door leading you to covered deck, and a en suite master bath. Double sink vanity, walk in tile shower, jacuzzi tub framed by columns and has a very spa like feel. Going upstairs? Take your pick of staircase because theres a front grand staircase & a back of the house access too, how convenient! Upstairs has 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, & a nice bonus room which is currently a great toy room. Downstairs in the walkout lower level youll love the wet bar area open to family room with cozy fireplace & daylight windows. A billiards area is just off the family room as well as a 3\4 bath & another bonus room with endless possibilities but is currently a hobby room. Come see this one of a kind and truly unique Home.
SIOUX CITY -- Authorities have arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with a fatal shooting on Sioux City's near north side Monday.

The Sioux City Police Department said in a statement that Yasin Ahmed Abdi was arrested at 3:30 p.m. Friday for the death of Marlon White-Eyes, 36.

At 6:40 p.m. Monday, officers responded to a report of a shooting in the area of 14th Street and Ingleside Avenue.

White-Eyes, who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, was taken by ambulance to MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center, where he later died.

An altercation between several people occurred before the shooting, according to police.
SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for having sexual contact with a minor female on numerous occasions.

Ronnie Reynolds, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Woodbury County District Court to two counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Reynolds will be required to register with the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for life and also serve a lifetime special sex offender sentence after he completes his prison sentence. If he were to violate terms of the special sentence, he could be sent back to prison.

The Iowa Department of Human Resources reported a possible sexual abuse case to Sioux City police on Jan. 14, 2022. A police investigation revealed that Reynolds had sexual contact with the minor in her bedroom in 2021 from June 27-July 6, and more than 20 encounters were discovered.
(Photo : Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

White women are among the fiercest opponents of affirmative action despite being the group that benefits most from the process throughout its history.

The Supreme Court recently rejected affirmative action in college admissions, a decision that White women generally support despite being the ones who benefit most from the process.

One of the supporters of the recent decision is Abigail Fisher, whose dream school was the University of Texas, Austin. The resident was from Sugar Land, Texas, and was able to earn a 3.59 GPA in high school and had a score of 1180 on the SATs.

White Women Benefit Most From Affirmative Action

However, despite her grades, she needed help to secure a slot for the highly selective UT Austin in the fall of 2008. When the school denied her admission, Fisher's hopes and dreams were struck down.

The woman sued the school in response, arguing that applicants of color, whose racial backgrounds were included as a component of the university's holistic review process, were less-qualified students compared to her but were able to displace her.

Students who can graduate in the top 10% of any Texas high school are immediately granted a slot at UT Austin. Several other students are evaluated through a holistic review process.

This process includes a race-blind review of essays and creating a personal achievement score based on leadership potential, honors and awards, work experience, and special circumstances with socioeconomic considerations, such as race, per Vox.

On the other hand, a few students are accepted through provisional slots that include attending a summer program before the fall. Under these terms, one Black student, four Latino students, and 42 other White students with lower scores than Fisher were accepted into the university.

The school also rejected 168 African-American and Latino students with better scores than Fisher. Court documents showed that even if Fisher received a perfect personal achievement score that included race, she still would have been able to qualify under the university's admission rubric.

Read Also: Supreme Court Denies Wild Election Theory But Keeps Door Open on 2024 Legal Challenges

Fighting Against the Process

Furthermore, when Fisher applied for the class of 2012, the university's admission rate for non-automatic admits was more competitive than that of Harvard University. But the White woman has fought for her stance in court for the last seven years.

While many people associate affirmative action with efforts to end racial discrimination, scholars argue that the greatest beneficiaries of such a process are White women. The group is considered to be more educated in modern times. According to USA Today, it makes up a bigger part of the workforce as a result of affirmative action policies.

Furthermore, White women were found to have made inroads into corporate leadership that people of color and women of color generally have not. And on Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action admissions policies from Harvard University and the University of North Carolina.

One study conducted in 1995 showed that 6 million women, the majority of whom were White, had jobs that they did not have otherwise if it were not for the help of affirmative action. According to the Time, another study showed that women could make greater gains in employment at companies that do business with the federal government.

Related Article: Supreme Court Rejects Raced-Based College Admissions, Dividing Lawmakers

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SIOUX CITY  A Moville couple has appealed a judge's ruling dismissing their challenge of the constitutionality of a state law allowing underground pipeline company surveyors to enter private property.

Vicki and William Hulse will hope the Iowa Supreme Court overturns District Judge Roger Sailer's May 30 order in which he found the law constitutional. Lawyers for the Hulses filed a notice of appeal Wednesday in Woodbury County District Court.

The Hulses had filed a counterclaim challenging the constitutionality in September, a month after Navigator Heartland Greenway sued them to gain a temporary injunction allowing survey crews to enter their farm land north of Moville that was in the path of Navigator's proposed liquid carbon dioxide pipeline. Vicki Hulse had twice refused to allow surveyors to enter the land.

Sailer last fall denied Navigator's request for a temporary injunction, and a one-day trial on the matter was held in March.

In his May ruling, Sailer dismissed Navigator's petition for an injunction because, he ruled, the company had failed to notify William Hulse of its intent to survey the land. Navigator had sent a single legal notice to the couple at their Moville mailing address, but did not notify William Hulse, who lives in the Iowa Veteran's Home in Marshalltown and has dementia and Parkinson's disease.

A Navigator spokesman said after the ruling the company had no current plan to send new notices to the Hulses or do any survey work on their property.

In that same ruling, Sailer dismissed the Hulses' constitutional challenge. It was in contrast to an earlier ruling in Clay County, where, in a similar lawsuit and counterclaim, District Judge John Sandy ruled the same statute was unconstitutional. Navigator is appealing Sandy's ruling.

A judge in Hardin County in May ruled the statute was constitutional, and the landowner has filed a motion to have the judge reconsider the ruling.

Navigator has applied for a state permit to build a pipeline through five states, including Iowa, that would collect carbon dioxide from ethanol and fertilizer processors in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Illinois, convert it to liquid form and transport it under high pressure to an Illinois site, where it would be pumped thousands of feet beneath the surface. Many Iowa landowners have refused to grant surveyors access to their land or sign easements, and the company depends on Iowa's law allowing surveyors the right to complete surveys if landowners don't voluntarily agree to them.

The pipeline would run approximately 900 miles through 36 Iowa counties, including Woodbury, Clay and Butler counties. Other Siouxland counties include Plymouth, Lyon, Osceola, O'Brien, Cherokee, Dickinson and Buena Vista in Iowa and Dakota, Dixon and Wayne counties in Nebraska.

It's one of two carbon pipelines proposed to run through the region.
NEW YORK  President Joe Biden closed out an end-of-quarter campaign blitz Thursday with a pair of Manhattan fundraisers hosted by Wall Street power brokers, a funding push designed to put Biden on strong financial footing for a 2024 White House contest expected to set spending records.

The pair of evening events are Bidens ninth and 10th fundraising receptions of the past two weeks, numbers matched by Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff. The Biden campaign has been mum before the July 15 reporting date about how much he has raised at the often freewheeling gatherings but is confident about the size.

The reason Im standing here is in large part because of you all, Biden said to a small crowd gathered in a high rise overlooking Central Park. Im not the essential man, but I represent the essential country.

The president is also marshaling the whole of the Democratic Party to dial for dollars, enlisting help from Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois as well as former President Barack Obama, among others.

Obama is featured in a new campaign video to encourage small-dollar online donations before Friday's donation deadline. Biden allies insist that despite polls showing lagging enthusiasm among the Democratic base for the 80-year-old president, his party is solidly behind him.

Ive been doing this for a really long time for a number of presidents and presidential candidates, said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul, major Democratic donor and co-chair of Bidens campaign. Ive never seen from top to bottom, the Democratic enterprise kick into gear this way, from President Obama, governors, senators, congressmen, just across the board  hes gotten outstanding support.

Aides say they are trying to motivate donors, especially small-dollar contributors, to dig deeper early on.

The recent blitz was also a function of Bidens official duties, Katzenberg said, adding that his first, second and third job is to run the country. Biden had foreign trips in April and May, and the weekslong showdown over raising the nations debt limit kept him in Washington. He is set to travel to Europe next month, giving the campaign a narrow window before the historically slow summer season to fit in donor events.

While the first quarter is widely viewed as a benchmark of campaign strength, Katzenberg said there is "no urgency right now for Biden to raise or spend vast sums because he lacks a credible primary threat and the election is 16 months away. Still, Biden is aiming to make a statement with the early totals.

Katzenberg said there were very optimistic signals for the Biden campaigns ability to comfortably exceed its 2020 fundraising levels, including strong numbers of first-time Biden donors. Other campaign aides and allies have grown more bullish about the soon-to-be-reported total.

The president's fundraising events, closed to cameras and with limited media access, feature a far less guarded Biden than the public often sees. He sometimes uses them to test a new campaign line or dish out more candid remarks than in formal events.

On Thursday, he started as he often does, behind the lectern then shifting to a preferred handheld microphone. He talked about his climate agenda, leaning on the lectern as he talked about how he's brought both unions and environmentalists together to talk about climate change.

Did you ever think that would happen? he asked.

Other times, he roams the room and speaks more directly to guests. And he makes a personal nod to the hosts. On Thursday, he talked a lot about climate change  his host, Mark Gallogly, is a former hedge fund investor and climate activist.

During a May fundraiser at the New York home of Greek American shipping magnate George Logothetis, Biden noted that the lessons he learned from his family as a child werent any different than if my mom had been Bidenopoulos instead of Finnegan.

Though his aides make it a point not to engage with prospective 2024 opponents, Biden often does not shy away at these events from criticizing the Republican candidates, from Donald Trump on down.

Biden's sometimes rambling remarks are full of anecdotes about his lengthy time in public office, peppered with references to issues such as tougher gun restrictions and abortion rights that animate Democrats. In more intimate settings, where cameras are barred, the president can open up. For example, he made a rare reference to his personal views on abortion when speaking about the issue at a separate Chevy Chase fundraiser on Tuesday.

Im a practicing Catholic, Biden said. Im not big on abortion, but guess what? Roe vs. Wade got it right. At the same event, he misspoke when talking about the Ukraine war, referring instead to Iraq.

At a fundraiser last week, Biden caused a diplomatic dust-up after calling Chinese President Xi Jinping a dictator  a comment coming hours after Secretary of State Antony Blinken had met Xi as part of a bid to thaw tensions between the countries.

He wants to shake every hand and chat with everyone, Katzenberg said. When theres something that is on his mind, hell say it  and you know, thats what makes him authentic.
WASHINGTON (AP)  As a Black student who was raised by a single mother, Makia Green believes she benefited from a program that gave preference to students of color from economically disadvantaged backgrounds when she was admitted over a decade ago to the University of Rochester.

As a borrower who still owes just over $20,000 on her undergraduate student loans, she had been counting on President Joe Biden's promised debt relief to wipe nearly all of that away.

Now, the student loan cancellation plan has been dismantled by the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions. Both policies disproportionately help Black students. To Green and many other people of color, the efforts to roll them back reflect a larger backlash to racial progress in higher education.

I feel like working people have been through enough  I have been through enough, said Green, a community organizer. From a pandemic, an uprising, a recession, the cost of living price going up. I deserved some relief.

The rulings could also have political consequences among a generation of young voters of color who took Biden at his word when he campaigned on canceling debt.

Despite todays upsetting ruling, we demand that the Biden Administration delivers on the promise of student loan debt relief, said NAACP President Derrick Johnson, in a statement. Education has long been regarded as a path toward generational wealth, economic liberation, and securing the American dream. Lets be clear  student debt is killing that dream.

The president's plan forgave up to $10,000 in federal student debt for borrowers, and doubled the debt relief to $20,000 for borrowers who also received Pell Grants. About half of the average debt held by Black and Hispanic borrowers would have been wiped out, according to the White House.

Six Republican-led states filed a legal challenge questioning whether the president, a Democrat, had authority to forgive the debt. On Friday, the Supreme Court held the administration needed Congress endorsement before undertaking so costly a program.

Biden later Friday announced a new plan to cancel student debt, using a different justification from the one struck down earlier in the day. It uses a provision of the Higher Education Act allowing the education secretary to waive student loans. The plan would likely face another legal challenge.

In the affirmative action cases, the court was considering the use of race-conscious admissions policies that many selective colleges have used for decades to help build diversity on their campuses. The cases were brought by a conservative activist who argues the Constitution forbids the use of race in college admissions.

Together, the cases are crushing to Black Americans, the Rev. Al Sharpton said.

The reality is race plays a factor in admissions, from pre-K to post-doctorate, and institutions just saw their best tool for fairness outlawed, Sharpton said.

On student loans, Sharpton said: Generations of Black youth were sold a bill of goods that higher education was a pathway out of poverty  only to be saddled with crushing debt that never lets them see their dreams fully realized.

Both cases focused on policies that address historic racial disparities in access to higher education, as Black borrowers tend to take on disproportionately more debt to afford college, said Dominique Baker, an education policy professor at Southern Methodist University.

Backlash to racial progress tends to follow periods of social change and advancement, Baker said. In a study published in 2019, Baker found states were more likely to adopt bans on affirmative action when white enrollment at public flagship universities dropped.

These are policy tools that have an explicit aim around reducing the power of white supremacy, Baker said. The two court challenges, she said, can be seen as linked backlash to two attempts towards racial justice.

Green, who grew up in a low-income household in Harlem, New York, graduated from Rochester with about $40,000 in federal loan debt. Some of that was erased under a public service forgiveness program when she completed two terms with Americorps, and she whittled it down further with monthly installments until the government paused repayment due to the pandemic. Payments will restart Oct. 1.

Green said she sees both court cases as connected to conservative attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Critics say opposition to such programs is rooted in questions of fairness and in white grievances over the advancement of nonwhite people.

This is white supremacy at work, Green said. This is a long tactic of conservative, white supremacist-leaning groups to use education and limit Black peoples access to education, as a way to further control and oppress us.

In the 1960s and 1970s, many colleges developed affirmative action plans to address the fact that many predominantly white schools struggled to attract people from historically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. Policies were also created to promote greater inclusion of women.

Since the late 1970s, the Supreme Court had three times upheld affirmative action in college admissions on grounds that institutions have a compelling interest to address past discrimination that shut nonwhite students out of higher learning. Justices had also agreed with arguments that more diverse student bodies promoted cross-racial understanding.

Some students and advocates worried about how the ruling would affect diversity on campuses.

Tarina Ahuja, a rising senior at Harvard College, said being part of a diverse student body has been a crucial part of her undergraduate experience. She recalled classes where students discussed their lived experiences on topics such as police violence, colonialism and labor movements  discussions that would have fallen flat without a diverse range of student perspectives.

In anticipation of a ruling against race-conscious admissions, some colleges have been considering adding more essays to get a better picture of an applicants background  an approach seemingly endorsed by Thursday's Supreme Court ruling. Others have been planning to boost recruiting in racially diverse areas. But in states that have already banned affirmative action, similar efforts at selective colleges have largely failed to maintain diversity gains.

Jonathan Loc, a graduate student at Harvard who helped organize teach-ins in support of affirmative action, said that for students of color, it's impossible to speak about their lives without mentioning race, whether through hardships faced or simply their pride in their cultural heritage.

I grew up as the son of refugees in a low-income community and a single-parent family burdened with the model minority myth, he said. But I think that that kind of narrative also helps me to be an Asian American focused on racial justice, focused on making sure that everyone who has a unique story related to their racial background or any background has that story heard.

It will be important for colleges to find ways to show they see the students as more than a number on paper, said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

We need the schools to say, 'Look, the court says we cant consider race, but we still see you,' said Hewitt, whose organization defended affirmative action before the Supreme Court in October.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story misstated the restart of student loan payments. They start on Oct. 1.

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Annie Ma and Aaron Morrison are members of AP's Race and Ethnicity team. Follow Ma on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/anniema15. Follow Morrison on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.
Phillips immediately encountered Wilson in the driveway, and he began firing at her with a handgun, according to the release. Phillips returned fire using her police-issued sidearm from inside her police cruiser.

Phillips then exited the cruiser, using the cruiser as cover as Wilson continued to fire at her, the release said. Phillips continued to return fire, striking Wilson in his legs.

Wilson then ran out of ammunition and threw his handgun under the police cruiser, according to the release. The handgun was located in the driveway behind the police cruiser.

After backup arrived, Phillips provided medical care to Wilson, including applying a tourniquet to an injured leg, the release said.

Phillips sustained a minor injury to her arm while returning fire from inside her cruiser, though it's unclear what caused the injury, Lt. Neal Bonacci said.

Phillips was interviewed by the Police Department's Involved Investigations Team, and her statement was consistent with other witness statements and the evidence found at the scene, the release said. The incident also was captured on Phillips' body camera.

After the incident, Phillips' police cruiser was found to have rounds from Wilson's handgun impacting the front windshield and driver's side window and door. Phillips' K-9, Taz, was not deployed in the incident and was not injured.

Wilson has been booked into the Douglas County Jail on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder, use of a weapon to commit a felony and terroristic threats, according to jail records. He was first taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries.
SIOUX CITY -- The Saturday in the Park Festival announced Thursday that "enhanced procedures" will be implemented at entry points to the park for attendees. The festival is Saturday at Grandview Park.

All attendees' bags will be searched at the entry gates; attendees are asked to bring only small bags to the festival containing only essential items, festival organizers said in a press release.

This protocol has become the standard and music and sporting events nationwide and its time for us to implement these enhanced procedures at SITP as well, said David Bernstein, festival co-producer said in a statement. The fest is free so we ask people not to bring any food or beverages or any other unsafe items and instead support the vendors at the festival who greatly help to keep it free.

The two main entrances, at 24th Street and Grandview Boulevard, and at Stone Park Boulevard, will have "bag free express lanes," according to the press release. Attendees with bags may experience "minimal delays" in entering the festival, especially late afternoon and early evening.
In a defeat for gay rights, the Supreme Court's conservative majority ruled Friday that a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples.
This week, for the first time in many years, Fox News announced an official reboot of its weeknight prime-time lineup. The reboot was more of a reshuffling, I suppose. Rather than bring in any fresh faces or take a chance on new talent, the network just rearranged some existing pieces, like a Scrabble player frantically trying to make something legible out of an all-consonant draw. Seems like a pretty low-effort revamp to me, but, hey, if your audience is willing to let you play BRTGSVX as a word, I suppose theres no reason to rack your brain for anything better.

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As a result, the new Fox News will look and sound a whole lot like the old Fox Newswith a few key differences. Alleged funnyman Greg Gutfeld will move his eponymous late-night show from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m., which may prove a tougher time slot for his weird, alienating riffs. Gutfelds move bumps Laura Ingraham up by three hours, from 10 p.m. to 7 p.m., where she will now serve as the opening act for inexplicably popular dope Jesse Watters, who moves from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sean The Survivor Hannity stays right where he belongs in the 9 p.m. slot, where his perfervid populist rants play well with the fake news fanatics.

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All four anchors can be counted on to advance the networks long-standing war against woke liberal elites while minimizing the sort of actually deranged editorial excursions that might leave Fox News open to a very expensive lawsuit. Go, team!

Related from Slate Luke Winkie Why Is Pat Sajak So Mad? Read More

The changes were catalyzed by three main factors, the most important of which is the networks recent and alarming prime-time ratings slump. Though Fox News still draws the best ratings of all cable news networks, its prime-time ratings are way down relative to its own past performance. In June, for example, Fox News almost got beat in prime time by MSNBC, which would have been sort of like the Washington Generals beating the Harlem Globetrotters because the Globetrotters decided to suit up Brian Kilmeade instead of any actual good players.

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The second factor is related to the first: the networks abrupt decision, in April, to sever ties with popular host Tucker Carlson, whose sneering brand of internet-brained xenophobia and rousing Jan. 6 denialism gave him great clout with viewers and the Republican Party but put him at odds with Fox honcho Rupert Murdoch, who prefers his hosts to be a little more pliable. Though Carlson lost the internal power struggle with Murdoch and Fox executives, it was a bit of a Pyrrhic victory for the network, which has foundered since Carlsons exit.

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The third factor, I believe, involves the networks recent $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation lawsuit related to Foxs role in spreading baseless claims of vote fraud after the 2020 election. The massive Dominion settlement was the result of an unforced error by Fox, which exercised insufficient editorial control over some of its Trumpiest voices in the months after President Biden won. With Donald Trump leading the pack of GOP presidential contendersand with his weird grievances having gotten even weirder and grievancier since 2020you can be sure that Fox News wants to make sure that its hosts can be trusted to show some editorial discipline and avoid any further expensive liability.

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With these factors in mind, the networks prime-time moves sort of start to make sense. Fox News wants hosts who will draw ratings but who wont rock the boat; marquee talents who are nevertheless aware of their own expendability. Every single member of the networks new prime-time lineup fits the bill. Watters and Gutfeld have done well in their solo time slots, and continue to do very well as co-hosts of Foxs world-beating panel show The Five; its not entirely stupid to presume that their popularity will carry over to these more prominent time slots. Gutfeld is a former mens magazine editor who hosted a bizarre overnight show for Fox before vaulting to prominence as a panelist on The Five. The network eventually gave him his own funny late-night talk show, and it was Foxs most interesting programming decision in years. While Gutfeld has done very well in the 11 p.m. time slot, his first taste of true television success came to him relatively late in lifethe host is 58which implies, to me, that he does not take it for granted. Gutfeld surely knows that he will never find commensurate success at any other cable network.

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The career of Jesse Watters is in many ways a testament to the enduring power of white male privilege in an allegedly woke era. Watters is a man of few talents. To judge by his body of work, hes not particularly smart, or funny, or insightful; he evinces the milky smugness of the bullys dumb henchman in some lame 1980s slobs-vs.-snobs comedy. And yet while this clear mediocrity might serve to devastate some other aspiring anchors career trajectory, Watters keeps on climbing the ladder at Fox News. He got his start as a production assistant for Bill OReilly, first found fame conducting irritating ambush interviews for OReillys show, and now has taken over his old bosss former time slot. While Watters is just as conservative and self-satisfied as OReilly and Carlsonhis two immediate predecessors in the 8 p.m. hourtheres nothing messianic about him. He will do what hes told and will be glad for the chance to be paid handsomely to do so.

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Laura Ingraham initially tried and failed at a television career back in the early Obama yearsher first Fox News show, Just In, didnt even last a monthbefore Fox News gave her a second chance back in the early days of the Trump administration. Her show has done fine at 10 p.m., but anyone elses show would also have done just as fine in the same time slot; shes a perfectly cromulent culture warrior who has never made for must-watch television. But her whole contemptuous church lady thing might actually play well at 7 p.m., a time when all the other contemptuous church ladies out there are still awake. Sean Hannity, for his part, is the consummate company man, a necessary force of continuity in the networks prime-time lineup. Well liked internally, Hannity has been at Fox News literally since Day One, and you can probably count on him to keep fulminating against Hollywood perverts and the woke media every weeknight until the very end of time.

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When Roger Ailes came up with the idea for The Five many years ago, he famously cast the show not for specific individuals, but for character types: the funny guy, the leading man, the leg. Ailes told his initial hosts that they were about to become very rich, but that they were also all extremely replaceable, which has proven to be true: The show has cycled through co-hosts even as its ratings have stayed strong and gotten stronger. Now, the networks prime-time lineup is more or less constructed around The Fives casting model, with anchors who know that they owe their TV careers to Fox News and not their own personal brands. Going into the 2024 campaign season, Fox News prime time is now filled with people who will toe the line. If they dont, well, they can always try to join Tucker Carlson on Twitter.
I once made the mistake of complimenting an animation director on their movies visual style, and they immediately bristled. I dont know why everyone focuses on the drawing, they responded, long enough ago that I can only paraphrase. We spend so much more time working out the story. Its natural to focus on what makes animated movies obviously different from live action because the process that creates the images is so distinct, but so is the process of generating their scripts, which can more closely resemble the inside of a television writers room than a solitary figure tapping away at a laptop. What distinguished the movies of the Disney renaissance and the best years of Pixar wasnt so much how they lookedthe original Toy Story and the original Little Mermaid both have some awfully janky bitsas their mastery of a classical story form that was dying out in the live-action world. Watching Beauty and the Beast or Finding Nemo was like living through a second golden age of Hollywood, living in a world where what film historian Thomas Schatz called the genius of the system still worked, producing movies that breathed life into old formulas, that felt both fresh and comfortingly familiar.

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I flashed back to that conversation when I reached the end credits of Nimona, the adaptation of ND Stevensons graphic novel that appears on Netflix this week. The movies screenplay has only two authors, but credit for its story is spread across a whopping seven of them. Considering that those seven writers previous movies include Kubo and the Two Strings, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Big Hero 6, the assemblage of talent might be considered, if not precisely a dream team, at least a squad of hardened professionals you can trust to get the job done, thoroughly and efficiently. And Nimona, which was directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane, is nothing if not professional: smartly designed, elegantly executed, each plot development honed to its finest point. Yet the experience of watching it is largely a hollow one because its thorough competence cant offset the overwhelming lack of inspiration or personalityespecially when compared with its source material.

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Stevensons graphic novel, the story of a villainous knight who joins forces with an impish shape-shifter, has been parsed, with its creators blessing, as an allegory of trans identity. (Stevenson identifies as transmasculine, nonbinary, and bigender.) The knight and his nemesis, Ballister Blackheart and Ambrosius Goldenloin, are former lovers, and Nimona is a magical being who, although they usually take the form of a human girl, can change their physical presentation at will, which means that their very nature is to transition. The movie makes the relationship between Ballister (Riz Ahmed) and Ambrosius (Eugene Lee Yang) more explicit and more present-tensethey hold hands and even kissand brings Nimonas trans-ness much closer to text than subtext, repeatedly reminding the audience that they are not a girl. In one heartbreaking flashback, Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz) takes on the form of a doe-eyed, long-haired little girl in order to play with another child, the magical equivalent of trying on feminine drag, only to be rejected after the other child grasps Nimonas true nature. In another scene, an exasperated Ballister, watching Nimona transform, exclaims, And now youre a boy. To which Nimona responds, I am today.

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By the standards of mainstream animated movies aimed at a young audience, these are modest milestones: Laikas ParaNorman included an explicitly gay character in 2012, and even Disney ended years of exclusively gay moments by featuring a gay couple in last years Strange World. (Nimona was originally a product of Blue Sky Studios, but when Disney purchased Fox and shut down both Blue Sky and the movie, Netflix stepped in to get it over the finish line.) Nimonas resistance to gender categories is a potent symbolic seed, but its denatured by what the movie has done to the rest of Stevensons story. The books Nimona is less a misunderstood outcast than a force of nature, not just mercurial but actively murderous, and Ballister is a brooding bank thief whose ex-lover deliberately cut off his arm in a fit of jealousy. The movies Ballister, whos rebranded from Blackheart to Boldheart, is a valiant scrapper who is about to break centuries of tradition by being the first commoner elevated to a knighthoodbasically the hero of any late-20th-century movie about a working-class kid showing up the snobsand is mistaken for a villain only after he is framed for murder. The graphic novels characters frequently take surprising turns, in part because it was published on the web as Stevenson was still working out the story, but the movies characters progress along paths so worn that you dont respond to them so much as relive the memories of the last movie that took you down them.

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Radical adaptations are often the best ones, so its not Nimonas lack of fidelity that makes it underwhelming. Its that the movies writers threw out almost the entirety of their source material only to replace it with a prefabricated plot that subsumes the specificity of Stevensons story into a generic parable of teenage difference, complete with the requisite DreamWorks-esque pop-culture references. (Its one thing to create a world in which quasi-medieval knights also watch zombie movies, another to throw in pandering gags about curly fries and subway musicians playing Careless Whisper.) The graphic novel is lumpy and oddly structuredthe final 3 of 11 chapters occupy fully half the bookbut part of what makes it engrossing is how hard it is to know whats coming next. The movie takes gay and trans-coded characters and slots them into a story weve seen a million times before, about misunderstood monsters and fear of the Other, and that makes the details of their sexual orientations and gender identities seem almost beside the point. Like Pixars Elemental, Nimona seems to proceed from the assumption that focusing on diverse protagonists relieves the movie of the need to train its creative energies on any other area.

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The trouble is that when you put the nuances of character up against the power of a familiar story, the story wins every time. The movies Nimona is gender-fluid, but theyre also capable of changing into creatures we dont even have names for, which makes the matter of their gender somewhat moot. (Does that city-wrecking kaiju identify as a boy or a girl?) Ballister isnt morally ambiguous, just the victim of a setup, and even the most Nimona-phobic jerks are won over in the end. Its a product of the system, but the genius is nowhere to be found.
The Supreme Court just undid what was meant to be a signature achievement of President Joe Bidens presidency: a student debt forgiveness plan that would have provided relief to 43 million Americans. The presidents own lukewarm handling of the issue contributed to its fatebut on Friday, he promised quick action to make up for it.

Biden announced two new programs, in part to provide debt relief before federal student loan repayments resume in October. Payments have been on pause for the last three years, as part of a pandemic relief measure.

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First off, the Secretary of Education is initiating a rulemaking process that will lean on the Higher Education Act as a pathway to issuing debt relief. Many progressive lawmakers have been calling on Biden to use this strategy for some time now, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Harvard Law School even examined the secretarys authority to cancel federal student loan debt and found that HEA does allow for unrestricted authority to create and to cancel or modify debt owed.

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Biden wasnt clear on exactly how his administration would leverage HEA for issuing student forgiveness, emphasizing only that it would take some time to sort through.

Second, Biden introduced a new, temporary 12-month on-ramp repayment plan that wont penalize borrowers for missing monthly payments, now that the moratorium is set to expire. If a borrower does miss a payment, their loan status will not be considered delinquent, they wont be placed in default, and it wont be reported to credit or debt collection agencies.

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Related from Slate Alexander Sammon How Biden Blew His Own Student Debt Relief Plan Read More

These new efforts come in addition to changes the Biden administration has already committed to, like a revamped income-driven repayment program. Eligible borrowers with federal undergraduate loans will have their monthly loan payments reduced to only five percent of their discretionary income, down from the current 10 percent. Any unpaid interest on these loans will also be paid for by the federal government, so a loans balance cant grow over time. Another big change for the IDR program: loan balances of $12,000 or less can be forgiven after 10 years of payments, instead of the current 20 year rule.

The Biden administration has also already canceled $6 billion in federal loans for students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges and vocational programs.
This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slates coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We consider this piece so essential that were making it free for all readers. Sign up for the pop-up newsletter to receive our latest updates, and support our groundbreaking work when you join Slate Plus.

The Supreme Court struck down Joe Bidens student debt relief plan in a 63 decision on Friday that rewrites federal law to create a bespoke, extra-textual prohibition on the large-scale cancellation of student debt. Chief Justice John Roberts decision in Biden v. Nebraska blazed past a clearly insurmountable standing problem to scold the president for even trying to use the law according to its own plain terms in order to offer mass debt relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also chastised Justice Elena Kagan for her disturbing suggestion, in dissent, that the majority had gone beyond the proper role of the judiciary. The decision boils down to the chief justices obvious disdain for student debt reliefwhich is perhaps why he interpreted Kagans criticism as, in his words, a personal affront.

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Bidens now-dead plan would have canceled $20,000 in debt for Pell Grant recipients and $10,000 in debt for other students, so long as their income is below $125,000. The president authorized the plan via the HEROES Act, which states that the Secretary of Education may waive or modify the usual rules pertaining to student loans in connection with a national emergency. Bidens administration reasoned that the COVID pandemic was a national emergency (which it was) that put many, many borrowers in a worse financial position than they were in before (which it did), hampering their ability to pay off loans. So, Bidens Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, sought to waive or modify certain repayment requirements for the class of borrowers most affected by the public health crisis. (The Trump administration also used the HEROES Act to freeze student loan repayment during the pandemic.)

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Related from Slate Richard L. Hasen Theres a Time Bomb in Progressives Big Supreme Court Voting Case Win Read More

The biggest question in the case was whether anyone could establish standing to challenge the program in the first place. After all, the federal government itself holds this debt, and no one is obviously injured by the government helping somebody else by erasing their debt. (In a separate case decided on Friday, the court unanimously held that two people who oppose the plan had no standing to sue.) Missouri tried to get around this problem by fixating on MOHELA, a corporation created by the state that services student loans. The Missouri attorney general asserted that MOHELA would suffer financially because of Bidens planwhich turns out to be falseand that the state itself could represent its interests in court. A key flaw in this reasoning is that MOHELA is an independent entity from Missouri that could have sued to defend its own interests, but refused to do so, and even refused to help Missouri represent it in court. (State officials had to file public records requests to obtain key information because MOHELA did not want to participate in this case at all.)

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Roberts didnt care about any of that. MOHELA is an instrumentality of Missouri, he wrote, and Bidens plan will cut MOHELAs revenues. (Again: provably false!) So, according to Roberts and the courts five other hard-line conservatives, the state had established standing. From there, he easily concluded that the HEROES Act did not authorize large-scale debt relief, citing the courts recently invented major questions doctrine. Nothing this textualist court decided in this case is because of the plain text of the statute, mind you. As Justice Elena Kagan pointed out in a frankly heroic dissent, the law clearly tells the education secretary: Feel free to get rid of a requirement or, short of that, to alter it to the extent you think appropriate. To avoid this conclusion, Roberts applied the major questions doctrine, which allows the court to ignore the words of a law when they believe, in their subjective judgment, that the executive branch is trying to answer a major question beyond what Congress authorized. The basic and consequential trade-offs in mass debt relief, Roberts speculated, are ones that Congress would likely have intended for itself.

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Kagan pulled no punches in response. From the first page to the last, todays opinion departs from the demands of judicial restraint, she wrote. At the behest of a party that has suffered no injury, the majority decides a contested public policy issue properly belonging to the politically accountable branches and the people they represent. She skewered the idea that Missouri and MOHELA are interchangeable, citing the Missouri Supreme Courts own declaration that they are not. And she eviscerated the majority for wielding the major-questions sword to overrule legislative judgments that belong to the political branches.

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That is a major problem not just for governance, but for democracy too. Congress is of course a democratic institution; it responds, even if imperfectly, to the preferences of American voters, Kagan wrote. And agency officials, though not themselves elected, serve a President with the broadest of all political constituencies. But this court? It is, by design, as detached as possible from the body politic. That is why the Court is supposed to stick to its businessto decide only cases and controversies, and to stay away from making this Nations policy about subjects like student-loan relief. Instead, on Tuesday, the majority chose to override the combined judgment of the Legislative and Executive Branches, with the consequence of eliminating loan forgiveness for 43 million Americans.

That is a real injury. It is one that millions of Americans will feel on Friday, as the Education Department sends out emails informing student borrowers: Sorry, we can no longer cancel thousands of dollars of your debt, because the Supreme Court said so. People will be rightly furious. People will rightly want to take action. But the Supreme Court has insulated itself from political repercussions. And until that changes, the student debt crisisand many other national crises deemed to implicate major questionswill balloon forever.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met yesterday with German Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius to discuss a range of global security issues.

They reaffirmed their countries' commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through the continued provision of security assistance.

READ NEXT: Statement from Vice President Kamala Harris on the Supreme Court Ruling in Moore v. Harper

They reviewed preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius.

They also discussed efforts to expand partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, noting the importance of bolstering global resilience and countering the challenges posed by the People's Republic of China.

READ MORE: Readout of White House Celebration of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act and the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
On Friday, the Supreme Court dashed President Bidens student loan debt cancellation program, striking down a popular policy that was announced to much fanfare in August of last year. A flagship Biden accomplishment, one often cited as part of Democrats shock overperformance in the 2022 midterm elections, it would have delivered between $10,000 and $20,000 of debt relief to 43 million Americans with student loan debt.

The announcement came in two separate decisions. The first, Department of Education v. Brown, was so glaringly weak that even this right-wing court couldnt find a way to justify it. In Brown, the plaintiffs claimed injury based on the fact that they were denied a public comment period to ask for more relief. Thus, they said, the remedy was to toss out the entire loan forgiveness program for everyone. The court unanimously held that the plaintiffs lacked standing, but its borderline scandalous that the case even made it all the way to the Supreme Court in the first place.

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The second decision, Biden v. Nebraska, was what the court used to kill off the debt relief program in a 63 decision. The case was barely stronger than Brown. Six red states teamed up to bring a case against the student relief program by focusing on the supposed plight of a Missouri state loan servicer called MOHELA. The alleged injury in the case was based on the notion that MOHELA would lose revenue as a result of debt cancellation, and therefore would eventually be unable to repay money into a Missouri state school fund.

But there were gaping holes in that argument. For one thing, MOHELA did not file, solicit, or participate in the case at all. MOHELA executives were not involved with the decision of the Missouri Attorney Generals Office to file for the preliminary injunction in federal court, according to a letter sent by MOHELA to Missouri congresswoman Cori Bush. The group found out about the casein which they were the central partyvia news coverage.

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Related from Slate Mark Joseph Stern John Roberts Says Elena Kagans Student Debt Dissent Is a Personal Affront Read More

Thats only the tip of the iceberg: As David Dayen wrote in the American Prospect, MOHELA hadnt made payments for the last 15 years into the school fund it was allegedly possibly going to be prevented from keeping afloat. And according to MOHELAs own financial documents, the loan servicer had no plans to pay into it in the future.

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Still, as this session has shown repeatedly, the Supreme Court wont let the facts get in the way of its agenda-setting.

Theres no doubt the court was looking for any opportunity to kill Bidens flagship program, but Democrats also played a major role in their own undoing. Roberts not only objected to the Biden teams interpretation of the law, the chief justice cited public comments from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying she didnt believe Biden had unilateral authority to erase student debt as part of his argument.

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The legal justification put forward by the Biden team revolved around the HEROES Act, a law passed in 2003. The White House reasoning was that COVID put many borrowers in a worse financial position, preventing them from paying off loans. Thus, certain repayment requirements for a certain class of borrowersthose whose income was below $125,000could be waived or modified.

Chief Justice Roberts did not find that persuasive. He also cited Bidens remarks that he believed the pandemic [was] over during summer 2022 to help make his case. Bidens ending of the COVID state of emergency while the student loan relief program was still tied up in court likely didnt help; ending the student debt payment pause as part of the debt ceiling deal probably hurt, too.

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Among the problems was the programs rollout, which opened the door for this decision in the first place. When the program was announced in late August 2022, it came with this stipulation: No individual making more than $125,000 or household making more than $250,000the top 5% of incomes in the United Stateswill receive relief.

That meant the White House had to put together a screening process, code a website, and process the applications to verify eligibility. None of that was in place when the relief program was announced, and though the White House moved relatively quickly, two months elapsed before the applications were processed.

Those months proved decisive. It was a window of time that gave the conservative judicial apparatus time to kick into high gear, desperately seeking out plaintiffs and some semblance of a legal theory to prevent the aid from going into effect while shopping around for favorable judges and districts to get those cases up to the Supreme Court.

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The best they could come up with were Brown and Missouri, both feeble cases by any measure, but enough in the end for this court, in its activist conservative state, to get the job done. The program was frozen before any debt relief went out the door. Still, while its never safe to assume that this court wouldnt do something even more radical, its unlikely they would have reinstated peoples already forgiven debts in their decision today if it had been fully accomplished.

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If the administration had taken seriously the nature of the current-day court, it could have implemented relief on the day the program was announced and just applied it to everyone with debt. Its not exactly clear how many undeserving rich debtors would have gotten relief in that instance: The White Houses guidance said that 43 million Americans would benefit from their program, while the total number of Americans with student loans hovered around 45 million. According to another estimate, 97 percent of student loan borrowers are low- or middle-income. Losing relief for 43 million to prevent 2 million high earners from getting aid for fear of the political blowback was, frankly, a bit silly.

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Related from Slate Sherrilyn Ifill The Supreme Courts Breathtaking Hubris Is on Full Display Read More

Now, the political consequences of not being able to deliver on this pledge are calamitous. Bidens support among young voters is perilously low; its sinking desperately with Black and Latino voters as well. One recent focus group found Hispanic voters saying that they could not point to one single thing Biden had done to improve their lives. Those demographics are among the most likely to be burdened with student debt, a major reason the NAACP called out the Biden administration publicly over its decision to end the payment pause two weeks ago. By some estimates, 90 percent of Black students and 72 percent of Latino students have student loans.

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Student debt cancellation is extremely popular: Over 60 percent of likely voters support the Biden administrations plan to provide up to $20,000 in student loan debt relief, according to recent polling from Data for Progress and the Student Borrower Protection Center. For a desperately unpopular president, this programand real resultscould be decisive in making up Bidens margin in 2024.

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The good news is there are still avenues to be pursued. There are other laws, like the Higher Education Act of 1965, which give the administration authority to simply not collect federal student loan payments. (That process is called settlement and compromise.) But the options that have been floated internally, like a muscled-up income-driven repayment program, are pitiful and politically inscrutable in comparison to the straightforward act of debt cancellation.

The fight is not over, Biden said in a statement after the Supreme Court ruling on Friday. Citing disappointment with the decision, the statement said: I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families.

But the job for Biden only gets more difficult from here. If he wants to run a political campaign on anything resembling student loan debt cancellation, hes going to have to get creative, aggressive, and real about the Supreme Court in a way he hasnt before.
This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slates coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. We consider this piece so essential that were making it free for all readers. Sign up for the pop-up newsletter to receive our latest updates, and support our groundbreaking work when you join Slate Plus.

In many of the classes I teach as a university professor, the need for a discussion of race consciousness arises at some point during the semester. Usually, there are only two or three people of color in the room, and occasionally Im the only one. Wouldnt it be better if we stopped paying attention to a persons race, a white student may ask, given the history of racism in our society? Its a good question, the kind I welcome, one worth exploring with young people eager to learn more about others as well as about themselves.

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Chief Justice John Roberts and five other conservative justices didnt seem to benefit from such a lesson while they were students at their respective institutions of higher learning. With their ruling in SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina on Thursday, they overturned decades of precedent upholding affirmative action by brandishing the simple logic of an earnest sophomore.

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Ironically, in that ruling to overturn affirmative action in a challenge involving Asian American students claiming the institutions discriminated against them, the Supreme Court completely botches its critical discussion of another major anti-Asian discrimination case. Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it, Roberts asserts in his opinion of the court, proceeding to quote one very specific precedent that holds that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment applies without regard of race, or color, or of nationality, one that is universal in [its] application.

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That precedent is Yick Wo v. Hopkins, a foundational case for constitutional law as the first Supreme Court case to apply the equal protection clause. Its worth understanding the history of the case to understand how the Roberts Court warped its meaning in SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina. Yick Wo was a Chinese immigrant who arrived in California in 1861 and established a laundry business that he ran for more than 20 years. In 1885, he was imprisoned for violating a San Francisco city ordinance aimed at shuttering Chinese laundries. The next year, the court ruled that the targeted enforcement of the ordinance violated the constitutional rights of Yick Wo and Chinese laundrymen like him.

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Related from Slate Sherrilyn Ifill The Supreme Courts Conservatives Are Breaking History and Our Future Read More

In addition to the importance of Yick Wo to equal protection cases since thenit has been cited more than 150 timesRoberts suggests that it has a special relationship to SFFA v. Harvard. He cites it four times in his opinion. Discriminating against Chinese people in the U.S. was wrong in the 19th century, and it is wrong now, he implies, when Harvard discriminates against Asian Americans with affirmative action. But Roberts himself is wrong when he associates the rationale behind affirmative action with the racist logic of anti-Chinese ordinances. Why?

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This is the conversation I have with my students. Is paying attention to race, and then acting on that information, tantamount to racism? The answer, obviously, is no. The simple reason is that the rationale behind race consciousness isnt always the same, despite what Chief Justice Roberts believes.

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For example, consider redlining, the lending policy created by the Federal Housing Administration that racially segregated the countrys cities by marking certain districtsmostly nonwhite, predominantly Blackas undesirable and unworthy of financing. Whats the rationale for this race-conscious decision? I ask. Students can take a moment to respond, but eventually one volunteers that it is the stereotype that Black people arent responsible members of a community. Is it a moral or correct rationale? I continue. They shake their heads no. A perceptive student sometimes adds that the reason can be boiled down to a single word: hate.

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Now consider another race-conscious community assembled by state actorsthe Congressional Black Caucus. Whats the rationale behind it? Is it hatred of white people? Of course not. It doesnt take long for undergraduates to agree that the CBC is conscious of race for an entirely different reason than were the architects and proponents of redlining. The rationale for its existence is not state-sponsored racism but fighting it. In fact, in 2020, one of its members, Rep. Yvette D. Clarke, sponsored House Resolution 829, whose purpose is Acknowledging the history and lasting impact of the Federal Governmentcreated problem of redlining and the responsibility of the Federal Government to address such impact. So it is with affirmative action.

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The remediating function of affirmative action was reborn in the 1960s, shortly before the Fair Housing Act of 1968, partly because redlining and housing inequality were widening the wealth gap between Black and white Americans, and the children of white homeowners grooved into a much easier path to college. The G.I. Bill of Rights, which underwrote college educations and home mortgages for white veterans, mainly, was affirmative action for whites, according to political scientist Ira Katznelson, producing generational wealth for many of those families.

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These gulf-sized gaps, writes Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her dissent to SFFA v. University of North Carolina (Jackson recused herself from SFFA v. Harvard), have indisputably been passed down to the present day through the generations.

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Back to Yick Wo. The courts opinion in that case struck down a law that was found to be applied and administered by public authority with an evil eye and an unequal hand. Yet this ruling didnt mean that the law of the land was suddenly colorblind. In the same decade that it sided with Yick Wo, the U.S. also prosecuted a near-total exclusion of Chinese immigrantsthe first immigration ban based on racethat lasted until 1943. Roberts disingenuously implies that colleges and universities, like Yick Wos persecutors, discriminate with an evil eye and an unequal hand. The record in the case and the history of affirmative action demonstrate this is not so.

Like the students rejected from Harvard and recruited by right-wing activist Edward Blum, Yick Wo is an Asian whose race Roberts has weaponized to advance his policy position of colorblindness. Yick Wos civil disobedience was a fight against white supremacy. The same is true of policies meant to ameliorate the effects of the worst discrimination faced by Black Americans, as laid out in devastating detail by Justice Jackson. The fights are of a piece. Black Americans struggled and died to win civil rights that paved the way for the 1965 Hart-Celler Act that ended a racist quota system, the abolition of which benefitted immigrant families like my own.

Roberts eschews such righteous race consciousness, knowingly conflating racism with fighting racism to enable his colorblind fantasy. His callow opinion of the court is sure to feed the confusion over what talking about race means in our politicized climate, endangering students and teachers alike, from elementary through graduate school.
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On Friday, the Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination laws, carving out a First Amendment exception any time a law compels a business to express a message about sexual orientation with which it disagrees. In the words of Justice Sonia Sotomayors dissent, the opinion is, quite literally, a notice that reads: Some services may be denied to same-sex couples. 

The case, 303 Creative v. Elenis, was manufactured by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian law firm that opposes LGBTQ+ equality in all walks of life. 303 Creative is a for-profit Colorado business owned and operated by Lorie Smith, who opposes same-sex marriage. No same-sex couple has ever tried to hire Lorie Smith to create a website for their wedding. Represented by ADF, however, she filed a preemptive lawsuit demanding a First Amendment right to turn away any same-sex couples who request a wedding website. So the case is built entirely on hypotheticals, and there is no real record to speak of.

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Justice Neil Gorsuchs 63 opinion for the court got around this problem by insisting that Smith faces a credible threat of enforcement because Colorado acknowledges that it will enforce its civil rights law. He went on to declare that Colorado seeks to compel speech Ms. Smith does not wish to provide, speech that would be celebrating marriagesthose of same-sex couplesof which she does not approve. (The state insists that it would not compel Smith to actually design a wedding website but merely to sell a preexisting template to all customers; Gorsuch simply dismissed this claim, while simultaneously criticizing the state for its ostensible eagerness to punish Smith and other anti-gay business owners.) He applied various precedents limiting the states ability to compel expression, including Boy Scouts v. Dale (which gave the Boy Scouts a right to exclude gay people) and West Virginia v. Barnette (which gave Jehovahs Witness schoolchildren a right to opt out of the pledge of allegiance).

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Related from Slate Sherrilyn Ifill The Supreme Courts Conservatives Are Breaking History and Our Future Read More

The difference between those decisions and 303 Creative, of course, is that this case involves a commercial enterprise, not private individuals or expressive associations. Thus, as Sotomayor wrote in dissent, Friday marks the first time in its history that the court has granted a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class. Never before has the court held that the government cannot compel commercial enterprises to serve all customers equally on constitutional grounds. This issue was litigated during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and the Supreme Court unanimously found no First Amendment right to discriminate in public accommodations. (The court also declined to do so in 2018s Masterpiece Cakeshop, but as the dissent pointed out, the courts personnel has changed dramatically since then, with two new Trump-appointed justices having filled the seats previously held by Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.)

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Moreover, Sotomayor pointed out, Colorados law is aimed not at an individuals ideas about sexual orientation, as Gorsuch suggested, but at how they impose these ideas on potential customers in a marketplace that the state wishes to remain open to all. The statute targets conduct, not speech, for regulation, she wrote, and the act of discrimination has never constituted protected expression under the First Amendment.

Gorsuch, in response, tried to draw a line between discrimination based on status and discrimination based on message, claiming that the First Amendment protects only the latter. Smith, he concluded, was not discriminating against gay people because of their sexual orientation; she was refusing to express a message about sexual orientation that she does not believe. Free speech does not cover status-based discrimination unrelated to expression, he wrote, but it does protect a speakers right to control her own message. That distinction favors Smith because she says she will serve gay clients, just not those who are getting married. Sotomayor replied that this logic would be amusing if it were not so embarrassing, quipping that, on Gorsuchs logic, a racist hotel could argue that Black people may still rent rooms for their white friends.

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Gorsuch also trotted out the parade of horribles that would allegedly follow from a ruling against Smith: Taken seriously, he wrote, Colorados position would allow the government to force all manner of artists, speechwriters, and others whose services involve speech to speak what they do not believe on pain of penaltyrequiring, for instance, a male website designer married to another man to design websites for an organization that advocates against same-sex marriage.

However, in a conciliatory passage, Gorsuch also acknowledged the vital role public accommodations laws play in realizing the civil rights of all Americans. He expressed approval for LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination laws as a general matter, writing that states may protect gay persons just like any other class in acquiring whatever products and services they choose on the same terms and conditions as are offered to other members of the public. Sotomayor was not convinced. By issuing this new license to discriminate in a case brought by a company that seeks to deny same-sex couples the full and equal enjoyment of its services, she wrote, the immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status. In this way, the decision itself inflicts a kind of stigmatic harm, on top of any harm caused by denials of service.

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Sotomayor also speculated that every anti-gay business owner will now attempt to recast their discrimination as expression to secure a First Amendment right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. She cited various examples of recent anti-gay discrimination, including a funeral home that refused to cremate and hold a memorial service for a gay man. Is a memorial service expressive conduct now shielded by Constitution? Perhaps so.

In truth, this decision was probably inevitable from the moment that Gorsuch held, in 2020s Bostock v. Clayton County, that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ+ employees. The justice rarely hands down a progressive victory without a conservative follow-up limiting its scope, and on Friday, he delivered big-time. In Gorsuchs view, businesses have no general right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ peopleexcept when they do, which is when they call that discrimination expressive conduct.

Today, Sotomayor wrote, is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people. She is correct. 303 Creative will haunt every same-sex couple seeking any kind of service to celebrate their weddingor their engagement, or the birth of their child, or any other aspect of their lives. Suddenly, they have lost the protections of civil rights law, and are at the mercy of individual businesses. Gorsuch cast his decision as a victory for civil rights. But this is emphatically not what the Civil Rights Movement fought for.
This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slates coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court this June. Were working to change the way the media covers the Supreme Court. Sign up for the pop-up newsletter to receive our latest updates, and support our work when you join Slate Plus.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court subtly transformed the rights of religious workers in America. Under the guise of clarifying a nearly 50-year-old precedent, the court held that companies are guilty of discrimination unless they accommodate employees from any policies that burden their religious practices. A company can still defend itself by showing that an accommodation would impose an undue hardship, but the court has made it more difficult to meet that standard. The result is likely to be a wave of litigation, with employees, especially those with conservative religious beliefs, suing their employers to block corporate policies that they disagree with.

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The courts decision might look like a win for workers rights, but its really part of a broader strategy within a conservative legal movement that has soured on corporate America. As private actors, for-profit businesses arent constrained by constitutional rights like the freedom of speech and free exercise of religion under the First Amendment. In many states, a company can fire you for refusing to complete diversity training, to treat LGBTQ+ coworkers and customers with respect, to get vaccinated, and other conduct that some religious conservatives find intolerable.

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Legal conservatives had begun to argue that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law prohibiting employment discrimination, gives workers powerful rights to be exempt from company policies that conflict with their religious beliefs. But until today, conservatives faced a legal obstacle. In 1977, the court interpreted Title VIIs prohibition on religious discrimination narrowly. In TWA v. Hardison, Larry Hardison asked his employer, the airline TWA, for a religious accommodation allowing him to take off from work on Saturdays to observe the Sabbath. The court denied Hardisons claim, holding that any accommodation that imposed more than a de minimis cost on an employer amounted to an undue hardship under Title VII. In practice, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and many lower courts held employers to a higher standard, giving employees access to reasonable accommodations, but not the even-more-stringent standard conservatives now seek.

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Related from Slate Richard L. Hasen Theres a Time Bomb in Progressives Big Supreme Court Voting Case Win Read More

Fast-forward 46 years, and the court is relitigating its decision in Hardison. In Groff v. DeJoy, a postal worker objected to working on Sunday and demanded to have that day off for religious observance. This time, all the justices agree that undue hardship means something more than de minimis burdens. Rather than explicitly overrule Hardison, the court now says what undue hardship really means is that employers must grant religious accommodations unless they can show substantial increased costs to their business.

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What counts as substantial increased costs? The court doesnt say, but the justices unanimity on that standard masks serious disagreements about the kinds of workplace policies that can satisfy it. At least initially, those disagreements will be worked out in lower courts, some of which have aggressively applied federal law to privilege conservative religious interests in the workplace. And those courts will be encouraged by Groffs dicta that Title VII gives [religious practices] favored treatment, rather than requiring mere neutrality.

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Although the issue in Groff is sympatheticno one objects to giving workers a reasonable accommodation to observe their SabbathJustice Alitos opinion for the court invites more controversial cases and provides little guidance about how to resolve them. Employees have previously asserted a right to workplace proselytization and to condemn diversity and inclusion efforts (and their co-workers behavior). Weve seen cases involving refusal to work with women and intentional misgendering of fellow employees. Groff is likely to boost an already robust anti-vaccine campaign, giving health care workers and other employees a legal weapon against ordinary vaccine requirements. As has become typical in the Supreme Court, motivated lower court judges seem likely to ignore the burdens on faceless co-workers and managersand their familieswho will bear the brunt of these accommodations, suffering imposition of religion, sexist behavior, and preventable illnesses.

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Even as the rights of religious employees expand, another conservative strategy for pushing back on so-called woke corporations seeks to allow religious employers to impose their religious views on employees and customers who dont share them. The court has already produced two blockbusters in this series. First, it held that Hobby Lobby was entitled to exercise its corporate conscience to deny insurance coverage for contraceptives. And then the court allowed Masterpiece Cakeshop to turn away same-sex couples looking for wedding cakes. On Friday, the court made it a trilogy by declaring that 303 Creative, a web design company, has a free speech right under the First Amendment to refuse service for same-sex weddings.

But the case with the most explosive potential was decided just last week by a federal court of appeals. In Braidwood Management Inc. v. EEOC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit held that a for-profit management services company has a free-exercise right under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to fire employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. You might have thought that the same federal law, Title VII, that protects the religious postal worker in Groff would also protect LGBTQ+ employees of companies like Braidwood Management. But it turns out that, at least in the 5th Circuit, Title VII only protects you if your employer doesnt raise religious objections to who you love or how you dress.

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Critics of the Supreme Court sometimes say that the justices are pro-business. But when it comes to religion, that isnt quite right. They are pro-business when companies are defending the views of religious conservatives, and they are pro-worker when employees are defending the views of religious conservatives. The common themeand the underlying strategyis to privilege the rights of religious conservatives over the rights of others. If a religious company objects to the reproductive rights of its employees, it will find help in the Supreme Court. And if religious employees object to the policies of progressive employers, they know where to turn. But progressive religious employees are unlikely to find help from the courts. And companies with policies of diversity and inclusion or public health promotion will see lawsuits seeking to limit their policies and rights whenever religious conservatives disagree with them. (See also the Supreme Courts other big decision on Thursday in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and SFFA v. University of North Carolina to ignore the amicus brief pleas of 74 major American corporationsincluding some of the most blue-chip companies in the countrythat the court not do away with affirmative action in higher education.)

Conservatives often defend religious exemptions in the workplace as promoting pluralism. In some cases, there are good reasons to grant accommodations. But together, Groff, Hobby Lobby, and Braidwood diminish pluralism by establishing a particular brand of corporate religion. In the hands of this Supreme Court, federal lawsTitle VII, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the First Amendmentfavor the religious and moral views of some employers and employees over others and enable them to impose their beliefs throughout the economy. The result isnt so much a loss for big business, but a win for conservative religion.
For the past couple of years, the armed forces in the United States have had a problem: They cant seem to find enough soldiers. This is not a secret. The Army has missed its recruitment goal by 25 percent. Military leaders went to Congress a few months back to ask for more money to get troops in the door. They talked about doing more intense outreach and telling their story better. And then, Sen. Tammy Duckworth brought up something else: Why not make it easier for immigrants to join up?

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This is the sort of suggestion that makes Sofya Aptekar sit up and take notice. Aptekar is a sociologist at the City University of New York. She says immigrants have always been a vital part of the military workforce. Shes even seen recruiters with camouflage business cards in multiple languages that they can pass out. In military lingo, immigrants are talked about as force multipliers. They often have language skills that are useful, Aptekar said. Youre kind of getting more for the price of one.

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Right now, since the armed services, like every other employer, are facing a labor shortage, it makes a kind of sense that military leaders would want to lean on noncitizen soldiers. It was the Air Force that ramped things up first, awarding citizenship to a handful of basic training graduates just this spring.

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On Thursdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Aptekar about what a renewed push to enlist immigrant soldiers will really meanfor military recruitment and for the soldiers themselves. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Mary Harris: So immigrants have always been an important part of the U.S. military. Since when? Can you explain their importance?

Sofya Aptekar: Since the Revolutionary War. The state militias had people born in Europe who were fighting in them. And throughout U.S. history, immigrants played a very important role as military labor. And, for example, in the 19th century, you see immigrants recruited in the military using cash bounties. In some of those conflicts, as many as half of the troops were foreign-born. And their recruitment allowed the U.S. to avoid drafts.

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Is that always how it works? The recruitment of people from outside of the country allows you to keep other people at home.

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It often works that way. It wasnt necessarily that they were recruiting people from outside of the U.S. There were immigrants already in the U.S. that were often pretty precarious economically and socially, and were more likely to accept these cash bounties because they really needed them. And then if enough of them did so, then you could forgo a draft, which protects the native-born folks from having to serve in the military. That is a common pattern throughout U.S. history.

Talk to me about modern-day efforts to ramp up recruitment of immigrants. My understanding is that 2008 marked a really big change in terms of how immigrants could enter the military and what that could look like for them.

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Several interesting things happened around then. So until right about 20072008, getting citizenship through the military is actually quite difficult because the immigration process is a lot of paperwork, appointments, fees. Its very hard to combine with a military life where you are moving around, you may be abroad. Its hard to take a day off and drive six hours to a USCIS office for an interview. In reality, a lot of people just had to wait until they were done with their service to actually even go through it. And then you see, right around then, policies are developed and put in place to facilitate the naturalization process, which you can also use for recruitment and say, like, Hey, look, theres a new program called Naturalization at Basic Training, where you build in the naturalization process into the very, very intense basic training.

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So youre collapsing something that could take years into something much shorter.

Months, yes. At basic training graduation, you would also have a naturalization ceremony.

My understanding is that there were notable success stories that the military pointed to from this programpeople who got citizenship while they were in the military and then went on to be very prominentlike, won a silver medal for the United States in the Olympics in Brazil. They did things that the military pointed to and said, Look, we did this.

Yes. And that actually has to do with a second important policy development at this time, and that is the start of the short-lived Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest program. That program recruited primarily college students and college graduates, people with, often, advanced degrees, who were immigrants, and they were not legal permanent residents. They were actually on temporary visas, usually student visas, sometimes employment visas. In some cases, they were asylum-seekers, but the vast majority were foreign students.

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So, you youre having people enlist with a masters degree, sometimes with a Ph.D., and its quite competitive. Those immigrants are very interested in enlisting because for them, if they want to stay in the United States, theyre going to hope an employer is going to sponsor their H-1B visa. Then, they might wait 20, 25 years to even become a legal permanent resident, and a lot of them may not be successful. And when they enlisted through MAVNI, they essentially skipped decades of waiting in the immigration system. And they went from having a student visa to being a U.S. citizen, sometimes at the end of basic training.

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That ended in 2016, stranding a lot of MAVNI applicants in really stressful legal limbo, where for yearsand for some of them its still ongoingthey are not sure whats going to happen. Some of them have become undocumented because their status has expired. Some of them are worried that they will have to go back to countries like Pakistan, where the fact that they attempted to enlist in the U.S. military is causing their families to be targeted.

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In 2016, what happened? I mean, obviously, Donald Trump was elected. How did he and the people who worked under him see this program of increased military involvement for immigrants?

I have to say that it predates Trump a little bit. And in terms of immigration policy in general, there are unfortunately far more continuities between the different administrations than we like to think. What happens in 2016 is there is concern about security threats through this program. And a lot of the immigrants who enlisted through MAVNI are from China. India was another big one. And so, they impose really high-level security screenings on people in this program that are just impossible to pass for immigrants. But then, with the Trump election, we do see a change, not just for that program, which ended, but for immigrants in the military in general.

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How?

The Trump administration imposed a 180-day waiting period before one was allowed to apply for naturalization through the military route.

Thats like half a year.

That puts an end to Naturalization at Basic Training. You cant do that because now you have to wait 180 days. Naturalization rates plummet. And at the same time, in 2017this is very striking to methe denial rates for people applying for citizenship through the military are actually higher than for people applying as civilians.

Wow. Because the idea is that youre recruiting immigrants, and its worth it to them to join the military because getting citizenship is easier. Youre saying thats not the case.

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In 2017, the denial rates for the military were higher than they were for civilians. So immigration attorneys were saying, Youre better off applying as a civilian. And that is part of the general criminalization of immigrants in the United States, where you have every part of the immigration process seen as an opportunity by the U.S. government to identify immigrants that it can deport. Theyre looking at your file, and theyre looking to find something wrong. A photocopy that looks iffy. People have immigration journeys that last decades. For a lot of people, their cases are not straightforward. So, that can lead to your case being reviewed for years or it can lead to a denial of naturalization.

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How much of this bureaucratic messiness is the Biden administration now trying to unwind?

Not enough. Its a good sign that the Naturalization at Basic Training program has restarted. It doesnt seem to have naturalized too many people at this point, but it is now again possible. Given that it exists in a larger system where immigrants are just increasingly criminalized, its not enough.

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Youve interviewed 72 people as part of your research. People who joined the military as immigrants. You write about how theres this myth that being in the armed forces will unite people because theres this sameness to being a soldier. But you said that doesnt really happen when youre an immigrant soldier. How would you characterize what does happen? Like, are they more vulnerable in some way because they stand out?

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Yes. The military is incredibly hierarchical, and there is research that shows that its not a colorblind institution, in the sense that there is discrimination in promotion. There is discrimination in the military justice system. Immigrants are entering this hierarchy and this system of discrimination. And on top of that, they are not just racialized in a specific way; they also may not speak English fluently, or speak English with an accent, and they stick out and are seen by many that they work with and who supervise them as potential threats. Some people manage to use the experience for personal advancement or social mobility in their lives. But these experiences leave certain types of scars for people, even those who ostensibly have the markers of success.

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One of the people you spoke with was an immigrant from Peru named Miguel. How did his experience challenge your assumptions?

That was a fascinating interview because in just one story, he destroyed so many stereotypes that I think are commonly held about immigrants in the military. A lot of our conversation has been about citizenship as an incentive to join the U.S. military. And for people like Miguelnot his real name, by the way, a pseudonymthat was not why he enlisted. He said he didnt even think about it.

Why did he join?

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Masculinity had a lot to do with it. He was floundering in college. There was a cool guy in his class who was a veteran, who was, like, a macho man. And Miguel, at that point in his young life, was struggling with what it means to be a man and experiencing certain pressures from male members of his family who had served in the Peruvian military. And he saw that as a way to have an adventure and become a man. And thats not an uncommon experience for men in the military in general. So, citizenship was not something that was top of his mind at the time. Even more striking, though, is that he really equivocated about becoming a citizen years later. He was eligible. He could have become a citizen, and it took him years of going back and forth thinking about it and not being sure.

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Why wasnt he certain?

He felt a strong attachment to Peru and an identity as an Indigenous American in the greater Americas. And for him, becoming a citizen was this symbolic step that had negative connotations. He spoke about the role of the U.S. military in South America. He had that negative analysis, and it held him back. Eventually, he did become a U.S. citizen. And he told me he was proud to be a U.S. citizen, but it was years of not being sure that he wanted to do it, even as he was a Marine.

Youve also made it clear that just because youve served in the military doesnt mean youre not at risk for deportation. Can you tell me about Jack, one of the people that you spoke to, and what his experience says about what it means to serve and how serving wont necessarily spare you from being kicked out of the country?

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There are thousands of deported veterans. And I spoke to Jack, who lives in northern Mexico. His story was one that in many ways is typical of deported veterans. And in other ways, its not. He was another person who actually did not care about getting U.S. citizenship when he enlisted, even though he knew about that incentive. But in his case, he had grown up as a Mexican American youth being viciously bullied in the predominantly white environment in his school. And that made him not want to become a U.S. citizen for a while. And so, he enlisted for, again, other reasons; in his case, primarily economic. He spent six years in the military, suffered some injuries that will continue to affect him.

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After he separated from the military, he had a drug case. As any immigrant without U.S. citizenship, if you are convicted of a category of crimes that are called aggravated felony, which is an incredibly wide category of crime that could be anything from murder to a forged checkif youre convicted of aggravated felony, then you become deportable. So, he got a drug case.

He was selling? He was using?

He wouldnt tell me, and I wouldnt press. At that point, he was in criminal proceedings and in immigration proceedings at the same time. He did not have enough money to hire lawyers to help him with both. So, he chose to spend the limited money he had gathered from his family to pay for an immigration lawyer. Meanwhile, his public defender told him to plead guilty, and he pleaded guilty in this drug case, and then there was no recourse in the immigration courts because he had pleaded guilty. And then he was deposited on the Mexico side of the U.S. border.

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He didnt grow up there, right?

No, he barely spoke Spanish. And he had a really difficult time accessing his full rights as a Mexican citizen because he couldnt get an ID. He wasnt able for months to even prove that he was a Mexican citizen in order to access any services or rights in Mexico.

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I think its worth just saying out loud that I dont think the story of a veteran struggling with drugs in some way is a rare one. But if that person is a U.S. citizen, their treatment would be much more oriented toward going to the VA system and getting substance abuse help or whatever it is they needed. And obviously they would stay in the United States.

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Exactly. And the deported veterans were quick to point that outall the ways that they were cut off. There are special programs in the criminal justice system, in the civilian world, for veterans to help with things like substance abuse disorder connected to criminalized activity. Special programs that you might access if you werent then put in immigration detention. You also get cut off from your benefits. So in Jacks case, if I recall correctly, he was 50 percent disabled from his service. So, that comes with disability payments. And for years, he couldnt access those disability payments because he would have to go in person.

And he couldnt get into the U.S.

Yeah, he cant cross the border, so hes not getting the disability payments. And that is quite common with deported veterans, that they struggle with getting the payments to which theyre entitled as veterans in another country. And health care services, too. Theres no VA in Mexico.

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Youre not giving me a lot of optimism about the U.S. governments expansion of immigrant recruitment for the military. Did you speak to anyone for whom being recruited to the military worked and they felt like it was a positive experience?

If we define worked in the narrow sense of This helped me pay for college, I got my college degree, and now I have a good job, and Im living the lifestyle I was hoping to live, there were certainly immigrants that I spoke to who would say that. Yet, there were other costs and complications to the simpler success stories. Even if we just expand to consider physical health. One really striking thing for me was just how pervasive and normalized physical injury was in the military. In some cases, especially with the MAVNI soldiers, they would hold back from seeking adequate help or would play down and push through the pain even more than is normalized because they were worried about their citizenship and worried about the scrutiny they faced as immigrants. So, that did not improve their health to not address some of the things that were happening to their bodies. Its hard to just isolate those parts of the stories from that narrow definition of success.
See the progress scientists in Slovakia have made in recent months.

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If you are a budding wedding planner, you might want to learn a thing or two about the recently announced Slovak Scientist of the Year's area of research. Men will soon be able to receive a better prostate cancer diagnosis.

This article is supported by the ESET Foundation, whose annual ESET Science Award recognises exceptional scientists.

Another mission Slovak engineers have participated in has been launched into space.

Meanwhile, the Slovak Academy of Sciences is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Act on the Slovak Academy of Sciences, which has defined the foundations and form it exists in today.

The Slovak Spectator asked the scientists about their research and how it can contribute to society  and in this summary you will learn about the progress they have made.

This overview of the successes in Slovak science will be regularly compiled. To stay up to date with what scientists in Slovakia and Slovak scientists around the world are doing, subscribe to the Slovak Science newsletter, which will be sent to readers free of charge four times a year.

Not your usual graphs

If you are a budding wedding planner, you might consider picking up graph theory. Well, graphs are not just bars in voting preferences polls. In maths, graphs consist of two elements - vertices and lines called edges that connect two such vertices.

According to mathematician Martin Skoviera, the subject of research are the structures that arise - the relationships between the vortices represented by the edges.

Say a lot of chemicals need to be stored in a warehouse, but for safety reasons, some cannot be in the same room due to the risk of an explosion  this problem can be solved using a graph.

In May, Skoviera was named the 2022 Slovak Scientist of the Year for his contributions to graph theory. In an interview, he talks about his work and the successes of Slovaks in the field.

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Related article Martin Skoviera: Graph theorist connecting the unconnected Read more

Improved cancer diagnosis

Slovak researchers from the company Glycanostics have come up with new method for the detection of prostate cancer. The uniqueness of the diagnostic method lies in determining the structure of glycans, or complex sugars.

The current standard is the PSA test. However, it is unreliable, with a low accuracy of around 68 percent, meaning the analysis may leave the urologist unable to decide whether the increased values of PSA are due to inflammation, a benign disease, or cancer. This is usually followed by a biopsy, and generally 73 percent of procedures turn out negative, or in other words were unnecessary.

In comparison, the new method allows for the very precise detection of even early-stage cancer, quick and reducing the number of false positive results.

Recently, the method was clinically tested in the EU. Men can already pay for the test in selected ambulances. Glycanostics expect the availability of the method to increase by the end of 2023.

Learn more about the method in an older interview with the Eset Science Award laureate and company founder.

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Related article The Slovak chemist who wants to help men avoid a painful procedure Read more

Additionally, Glycanostics has recently received 2.5 million in funding to develop the screening technology for other types of cancer such as breast, pancreatic and lung.

Leaving a mark in space

In the middle of April, the JUICE space probe was launched into space. Its goal is to study Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, three of Jupiter's so-called Galilean moons. Each is thought to contain huge oceans of liquid water under their icy surfaces.

Onboard the spacecraft are many scientific instruments, one being an instrument worked on by Slovak researchers and engineers from the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Kosice.

Called the Particle Environment Package, or PEP, the device is designed to study the magnetosphere of Jupiter and how it interacts with its moons.

However, the magnetosphere captures a large number of charged particles that can penetrate the shielding of the probe and result in false detections by the instruments. The Slovak engineers created a detector that allows the false detections to be discounted.

Related article

Related article From Kosice to Ganymede: Slovak engineers are leaving their mark in space Read more

Overview of other research and development activities in universities:

The Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its foundation. Today SAV ranks with standard European scientific institutions in terms of both level and focus. Read more. In a 2022 interview, SAV head Pavol Sajgalik talks about how science in Slovakia has changed in the last decades.

Today SAV ranks with standard European scientific institutions in terms of both level and focus. Read more. In a 2022 interview, SAV head Pavol Sajgalik talks about how science in Slovakia has changed in the last decades. The prevalence of HIV, selected blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections in migrants in Slovakia; Comenius University; lead scientist Alexandra Brazinova . The aim of the project was to map the incidence of Hepatitis B and C, HIV and Syphilis among foreigners in Slovakia. People coming to Slovakia from other countries are more susceptible to several diseases, including those that can be prevented by vaccination.

. The aim of the project was to map the incidence of Hepatitis B and C, HIV and Syphilis among foreigners in Slovakia. People coming to Slovakia from other countries are more susceptible to several diseases, including those that can be prevented by vaccination. miRNA as potential biomarkers in adolescent major depression disorder; Comenius University; lead scientist Juraj Mokry. The pathophysiological mechanisms of depression are still not completely known and certain differences between children and adults are assumed. Since up to one third of patients do not respond to therapy, the goal is to find measurable parameters that would contribute to the diagnosis and determine its prognosis and response to therapy. Read more.

The pathophysiological mechanisms of depression are still not completely known and certain differences between children and adults are assumed. Since up to one third of patients do not respond to therapy, the goal is to find measurable parameters that would contribute to the diagnosis and determine its prognosis and response to therapy. Read more. Continuous monitoring of suicide mortality in the Slovak population; Comenius University; lead scientist Alexandra Brazinova. The article presents an overall slightly declining rate of suicide mortality in Slovakia. However, undetermined intended deaths are significantly rising and is several times higher than the rest of the EU. Moreover, there is a high probability that suicides have been included in the latter group. Read more.

The article presents an overall slightly declining rate of suicide mortality in Slovakia. However, undetermined intended deaths are significantly rising and is several times higher than the rest of the EU. Moreover, there is a high probability that suicides have been included in the latter group. Read more. Why are snowdrop flowers turned downward? Comenius University and SAV; lead scientist Pavol Prokop. The spring snowdrop is special because its flower is turned downwards. Since it is an insect-pollinated species, the flower should, among other things, be able to attract pollinators and be turned upwards. The team of scientists wanted to investigate why it is the other way around with the spring snowdrop. Read more.

Other Slovak science stories on Spectator.sk:

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: When it comes to teaching artificial intelligence to use the Slovak language, researchers face a drawback. With a relative absence of data in the language, it is difficult to train. That is where the efforts of Slovak researchers from the Technical University of Kosice come in.

MEN'S HEALTH: Prostate cancer is the most common oncological disease in men. A urologist from the town of Martin has joined an international team of researchers with the goal of improving the treatment so that it is more comfortable, precise and without side effects.

INTERVIEW: In 2020, Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier made history when she picked up the first science Nobel Prize ever won by solely two women. The Slovak Spectator talked to her about the microbial universe, the mistaken belief that humans are at the top of the food chain, and the potential for a bacterial, or fungal, pandemic.

FESTIVAL: Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May, and biologist Jane Goodall who studied primates, are two of the many names that the Starmus festival, which combines science, art and music, will bring to Slovakia next year in May.

This article is supported by the ESET Foundation, whose annual ESET Science Award recognises exceptional scientists.
What science in Slovakia has been up to, weekend tips for events, transport changes in Bratislava.

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Good afternoon. Here is the Friday, June 30 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes.

President praises pupils, teachers

President Zuzana Caputova greets children at the end of the school year. (Source: TASR)

Today, more than 680,000 pupils receive their end-of-year report cards. From July 1, summer vacation begins and will last until August 31. As Friday, September 1 is a public holiday, the next school year will begin on Monday, September 4.

Included in the number of pupils are more than 10,000 Ukrainian children who continue to attend Slovak schools.

"I congratulate everyone on their report cards. Of course, life does not depend on one such card, it is just a feedback that says that if someone did not succeed at first, they can improve in the future," said President Zuzana Caputova, who visited a primary school on Zeleznicna Street in Bratislava's Vrakuna borough.

She also praised all the students who created an inspiring, friendly and supportive environment in their classes. "Because it is also very important for us to be empathetic and sensitive to each other," she concluded.

According to the Slovak Chamber of Teachers, the 2022/2023 school year was a confusing one due to the rotation of several ministers. It lamented that education itself is once again at the lower end of society's interests.

More stories from The Slovak Spectator website

If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, buy our online subscription with no ads and a print copy of The Slovak Spectator sent to your home in Slovakia. Thank you.

FEATURE STORY FOR FRIDAY

What has science in Slovakia been up to?

A potential insight in every test tube. (Source: Unsplash/Louis Reed)

Slovak engineers have participated in another space mission. In addition to a probe heading to Mercury, this time it's the Juice spacecraft, which is bound for Jupiter and its moons.

Moreover, Slovak Scientist of the Year was announced, the Slovak Academy of Sciences celebrates its 70th anniversary, and researchers are improving prostate cancer diagnostic tools. Learn more by clicking here.

EVENTS FOR THE WEEKEND

How about the Summer Gala or an Italian Market?

The new building of the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava. (Source: SME - Marko Erd)

Read our selection of 10 events that will take place in Bratislava over the coming days.

In other news

From Saturday, July 1 until the end of August, public transport in Bratislava will operate based on the 'Workdays - school break' schedule. Additionally, as of Saturday, all fares are set to rise.

Additionally, as of Saturday, all fares are set to rise. As of Friday, hundreds of paediatricians are resigning from outpatient emergency departments , citing excessive workloads and insufficient numbers of doctors. They are also demanding that their working hours be respected (as they have to attend emergency wards mandatorily after working hours), the right to rest after work, and health protection, among other things. Parliament has not backed their suggestions to improve the situation.

, citing excessive workloads and insufficient numbers of doctors. They are also demanding that their working hours be respected (as they have to attend emergency wards mandatorily after working hours), the right to rest after work, and health protection, among other things. Parliament has not backed their suggestions to improve the situation. Only a few days remain for political parties to submit their candidate lists ahead of the snap elections at the end of September. According to the Interior Ministry, so far more than 11,800 voters have requested to vote by mail from abroad, most of them from the Czech Republic and Great Britain, but also from Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Learn more about voting from abroad here.

The beginning of the harvest in Nitra Region. (Source: TASR)

WEATHER FOR THE WEEKEND:

It will be mostly cloudy throughout the weekend.

On Saturday, occasional showers and storms are expected, especially in the west of Slovakia. Daily temperatures will be between 25C and 30C. A level 1 storm warning applies to the entire country.

On Sunday, occasional showers or more persistent rain are expected, especially in the north and east of Slovakia, where a level 1 storm warning will continue to apply. Daily temperatures will be between 23C and 28C. (SHMU)

Thank you for subscribing and reading. It means a lot to us.

P.S. If you have suggestions on how our news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.

Follow The Slovak Spectator on Facebook, Instagram (@slovakspectator) and Twitter (@slovakspectator).
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Russian UN Envoy Blasts Kiev's 'American Masters' For Tacitly Fueling Conflict

Russian UN Envoy Blasts Kiev's 'American Masters' For Tacitly Fueling Conflict

On Thursday, Russia's UN Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia addressed the Security Council.

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The US should instruct its 'vassals' in Kiev to end the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian envoy said.Kiev has no weapons of its own left, and even though Kiev is gambling on Ukraine's mobilization reserve, this will run out, Russia's UN Permanent Representative emphasized. Vassily Nebenzia laced into Western envoys at the UN Security Council for being disgruntled that the mutiny attempt in Russia had failed. "Today, some of you attempted to bring up last week's events in Russia. Some of you were visibly disgruntled over the fact that the events did not go according to the way you liked and did not snowball into sedition in Russia, and had no chance of snowballing into sedition, as we now understand. Although you and your flunkies in Kiev were hoping for that, watching the developments on the edge of your seats," Nebenzia said.The envoy also pointed out that Russia has no intention of blowing up the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, as explained in a letter calling on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to compel Kiev to abstain from provocations.The Russian mission sent the letter to all UN Security Council members earlier in the day. Nevertheless, the Kiev regime continues with its incitement and false flags despite numerous UN Security Council meetings held at the request of Russia and despite the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure the nuclear station's safety and security at the behest of Russia, the letter said. The aforementioned provocations are occurring amid Washington's recent congressional resolution considering any radioactive contamination in Ukraine as a reason to launch a political-military response by NATO - a move that would escalate the Ukrainian crisis to unprecedented levels, the letter cautioned.The diplomat also stressed that the collective West has gotten out of touch with reality and is purposefully inciting a direct confrontation between the nuclear powers. "Having become completely detached from reality, the West is deliberately provoking a direct confrontation between nuclear powers," he said.Russia's UN Permanent Representative pointed out that the chance for peace in Ukraine in the spring of 2022 was missed because of the US and the EU, so now the conditions for a settlement will be different for Kiev.

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Alliance Divided: NATO Members Positions on Ukraine Joining Bloc

Alliance Divided: NATO Members Positions on Ukraine Joining Bloc

Moscow has spent a decade-and-a-half warning that Ukrainian membership in the Western alliance would radically undermine Russias security, and European security in general. Whats the position of individual NATO members on Kievs ambitions to join the alliance? Read Sputniks explainer to find out.

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France abandoned its long-held position on holding off on a Ukrainian bid to join NATO last week, resolving to support Kievs membership to try to pressure Moscow to the negotiating table as Ukraines summer counteroffensive sputters.The Russian Foreign Ministry blasted the reversal, warning that it may lead to tragic consequences for security in Europe and around the world.Whats Wrong With Ukraine Joining NATO?It all started in 2008 and the NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, were bloc members formally welcomed the Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership expressed by the Western-backed Ukrainian government of Viktor Yushchenko. Two years later, Yushchenko lost a bid for reelection, and Viktor Yanukovych was elected president, announcing a policy of bloc neutrality, saying Kiev would neither join NATO nor the CSTO, (i.e. the Russian-led alliance). Four years after that, in 2014, Yanukovych was ousted in a US and EU-backed coup, with the crisis sparking a civil war in the Donbass, and Ukraines post-coup authorities ultimately signing a constitutional amendment cementing Kievs aspirations to join NATO in 2019.Russia, weary of NATOs creeping expansion in Eastern Europe starting in the late 1990s onward, despite promises to Moscow in 1990 and 1991 that the alliance wouldnt push one inch east of a reunified Germany, warned of the consequences of potential Ukrainian membership in the bloc. In December 2021, President Putin pointed out that the neighboring countrys membership in NATO would allow the alliance to put missile systems in Ukraine with a four to five minute flight time to Moscow.The same month, Russia tabled a pair of comprehensive security proposals designed to radically reduce tensions between Moscow and the West, proposing legally-binding measures not to deploy troops, missiles, warships and other weapons in areas where they may be perceived as a threat to the other party, and crucially, no Ukrainian membership in NATO. The alliance rejected the proposals, reiterating that the bloc would not give up its so-called open door policy for membership. Several weeks after that, after Russian intelligence detected preparations by Kiev to launch an all-out assault on the Donbass, Russia kicked off its special military operation.Why Would Ukrainian Membership in NATO Be Especially Dangerous Now?According to NATOs own rules for membership, countries with unresolved territorial disputes with neighbors, or unresolved internal conflicts, cannot join. They must also adhere to certain democratic values (i.e. multiparty elections, press and religious freedom, etc.). Ukraine today doesnt meet any of these criteria.Moreover, as independent observers have warned, dangling the possibility of Ukrainian membership in the alliance now could escalate the Ukrainian conflict into a world-ending nuclear war, since Moscow cannot and will not accept such a scenario.How Does NATO Decide on New Members?The North Atlantic alliance has 31 members. Formally, important decisions are taken collectively and by consensus. That, in theory, means a single country could hold up a candidates application for membership. In practice, the ability to do so depends largely on a countrys political, economic and military weight, and the ability of its leaders to resist the directives of its allied big brothers.For example, alliance heavyweight Turkiye  which fields the second largest standing army in NATO after the United States, has been able to hold up Swedens application to join the alliance, citing security concerns related to Stockholms support for Kurdish militias which Ankara considers terrorists, plus tensions over the Swedish governments apparent tolerance for Quran burnings.On the other end of the spectrum is Macedonia, a tiny Balkan country which ranks 28th of 31 in GlobalFirePowers ranking of NATO countries military capabilities, which was literally forced to change its name (!) to the Republic of North Macedonia just for the privilege of joining the Western bloc.In other words, NATOs consensus decision-making sounds fair in principle, but in practice is reminiscent of the quote from George Orwells Animal Farm about all animals [being] equal, but some [being] more equal than others.Whos for, Whos AgainstThe United States, which helped instigate NATOs eastward expansion in the 1990s, and holds the final say on all important policy matters (the post of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe has been held by and American since the alliance was founded in 1949) firmly supports Ukrainian entry into the bloc.Earlier this month, President Biden confirmed that the door for Ukrainian membership in NATO was open, but assured that he was not going to make it easier for Kiev, which still needs to take some steps to prove itself. I think theyve done everything relating to demonstrating the ability to coordinate militarily, but theres a whole issue of is their system secure? Is it non-corrupt? Does it meet all the standardsevery other nation in NATO does, Biden said.Britain, Americas most loyal European ally, also firmly supports Ukraines membership in the alliance. Ukraines rightful place is in NATO, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told US media recently. We want to make sure that we put in place security arrangements for Ukraine for the long term, so that we send a very strong signal to Vladimir Putin that were not going anywhere, Sunak said. We are here to stay and we will continue backing Ukraine, not just now but for years into the future.Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has been even more resolute, suggesting Kiev should be allowed to skip carrying out a Membership Action Plan  the custom-tailored roadmap for alliance membership providing instructions on the steps a country needs to take to join the bloc.Ankaras position on Ukraines future vis-a-vis NATO is among the vaguest. While Turkiye has supported NATOs open door approach to enlargement and has provided military aid to Kiev, the Turkish government has also sought to maintain political neutrality, offering its services as a mediator, and enjoying the economic fruits of maintaining economic cooperation with both sides of the conflict over the past year-and-a-half.Ankara clearly realizes the political weight it carries inside the alliance, both because of its large armed forces, but also its strategic position straddling Asia and Europe. Turkiyes NATO allies, on the other hand, understand that they cannot just steamroll over Ankaras interests (with an attempt to bully and sanction Turkiye into submission after it bought a Russian air defense system in 2017 failing miserably).Germany, the European Unions industrial powerhouse, has also taken a muted position on Kievs NATO aspirations. Earlier this month, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told alliance colleagues that Ukraine cannot become a member of the bloc while its in a state of conflict. NATOs open door policy remains in place, but at the same time, it is clear that we cannot talk about accepting new members in the midst of a war, she said.Ordinary Germans, who had enjoyed the fruits of economic cooperation with Russia before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, and who are now bearing a large share of its economic fallout, are firmly opposed to the prospect of Ukrainian membership in NATO. A recent poll found that only 27 percent of respondents would agree to Kiev joining the bloc, with 54 percent opposed. 55 percent also called for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end the bloodshed.Prior to last week's surprise reversal, Paris's position was virtually identical to Berlin's, with France indicating that there could be no question of Ukraine joining the alliance amid the raging conflict.Most of NATOs middle tier powers, including Italy, Poland, Canada and Greece, have expressed support for Ukraines eventual membership in NATO. Earlier this week, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani recommended that a special NATO-Ukraine Council be created at the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius to facilitate further negotiations. Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda has personally spearheaded a diplomatic push within the alliance in Ukraines favor. Ottawa announced earlier this month that Ukraine should join as soon as conditions allow for it, and Greece has also offered its support, warning however that Athens provision of military assistance to Kiev has its limits.Spain, one of the last countries to join NATO before the end of the Cold War, has been enigmatic about its position. In an interview with local media earlier this week, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez evaded a direct answer on whether Madrid would support Ukraines ambitions. At the Bucharest Summit many years ago, it was established that Ukraine would have its place in NATO. This is not open to discussion, but one must understand the complexity of talking about a country thats at war, Albarez said. The diplomat expects the issue to be discussed at the summit in Vilnius, and a decision on the matter taken responsibly, with a clear signal needing to be sent to Kiev on its future.Finland, which joined NATO in April 2023 after nearly 80 years of bloc neutrality, has promised Kiev all-round support in the conflict against Russia "for as long as it takes." Last month, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has said that "in the long term, Ukraine's place is in NATO and the West, and also in the European Union." As for more immediate prospects "that's something that needs to be discussed very carefully with the foreign policy leadership in Finland, but also with NATO allies, very carefully," according to Orpo.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230621/dangling-nato-membership-in-front-of-kiev-will-escalate-conflict-may-end-in-nuclear-war-1111368454.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230527/russian-air-defenses-destroy-kievs-uk-supplied-storm-shadow-cruise-missiles-1110640471.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230629/ukraines-military-intel-complaining-partners-are-calling-for-violent-offensive-1111537031.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230628/us-obsessed-with-idea-of-inflicting-strategic-defeat-on-russia---embassy-1111515212.html

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Australian Garage Sale APCs Pawned Off on Kiev Worse Than Useless

Australian Garage Sale APCs Pawned Off on Kiev Worse Than Useless

Australia announced a $110 million AUD ($74 million US) military aid package to Ukraine this week including 28 M113 armored vehicles, 28 MAN 40M medium trucks, and 14 special ops vehicles. Unfortunately for ordinary Ukrainian troops, experience has shown Aussie vehicles to be worse than useless against Russian forces.

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alexei leonkov

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A scandal is brewing in Australia over Canberras decision to pawn its Vietnam War-vintage military equipment off on Kiev, with local military experts questioning how the aid that has been announced could possibly add up to $110 million AUD, while opposition leader Peter Dutton said its frankly embarrassing that Australia is sending equipment to Ukraine thats so clearly not fit for purpose.The media has had a field day attacking the Albanese government, characterizing the assistance  particularly the M113s, as absolute obsolete boneyard vehicles from the Vietnam War era that would have little impact on the Ukrainian battlefield. Other observers said Canberras stingy hand-me-down aid is fueling perceptions of Australia as using Ukraine as a dumping ground.Dutton suggested that instead of sending the 1964-vintage M113s, Canberra should give Kiev its newer Hawkei light four-wheel-drive protected mobility vehicles, produced by Thales Australia, and ramp up production so that Australias own military doesnt go without.Is the M113 Really That Bad?The M113 is a fairly old armored personnel carrier on a tracked chassis, which has participated in many conflicts, not just the Vietnam War, but also the wars in the Persian Gulf, and other military campaigns involving the United States and its allies, veteran Russian military expert Alexey Leonkov, editor of Arsenal of the Fatherland magazine, told Sputnik. They were generally successful in these wars, as well as local conflicts which we can characterize as colonial wars. That is, the losses were not so great, the observer explained.In other words, the expert noted, if the main purpose of an armored transport is to safely deliver troops to the frontline, in the case of the M113, doing so is possible only by happy accident, and if Ukrainian forces dont happen to run into heavily-equipped Russian forces.Ultimately, Leonkov said, Australia, the US, NATO, and the West in general have indeed used Ukraine as a dumping ground for their armored junk, allowing them to clear out inventories as the military-industrial complex ramps up production of modern equipment. Theyre profiting on it. But of course, this is profit gained on the blood of Ukrainian service members. But Australia, like other countries supplying weapons to Ukraine, is absolutely not interested in this.Recent reports that Australia sent over AUD $70 million of its military assistance to Ukraine without formal approval, declarations, or export permits is further confirmation of such profiteering, since shipping junked vehicles to Ukraine is cheaper than having to recycle them domestically, according to Leonkov.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230626/australia-to-allocate-another-74-million-in-military-support-for-kiev-1111465418.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230627/top-australian-diplomat-voices-disappointment-with-criticism-of-aid-package-to-kiev-1111500144.html

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Former United States Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine to visit President Volodymyr Zelensky and show his support to Kyiv against Russia's aggression.

Former United States Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky, setting himself apart from the GOP and breaking traditions with the Republican Party.

The Thursday visit was meant to reinforce Pence's support for Kyiv amid its ongoing war with Russia. In a statement, the Republican lawmaker, who is one of the candidates for the GOP presidential nomination, said that there is a need to ensure that the US government provides the Ukrainian military with what it needs to push back Moscow's military troops.

Mike Pence Makes Surprise Visit to Ukraine

Pence said that they would make it clear to Russia, China, and other countries that seek to redraw international lines by force, that the free world will not tolerate such actions. He argued that the free world would band together to fight for freedom.

The former vice president's sudden visit to Ukraine comes as he seeks to set himself apart from former United States President Donald Trump and other 2024 GOP presidential candidates. He aims to emphasize his support for continued US military aid to Kyiv, as per the Washington Post.

In Pence's announcement speech held earlier this month in Iowa, he criticized Trump for calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a "genius." He also referenced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' description of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia as a simple "territorial dispute," a statement that the governor later took back.

The former vice president said that he knows the difference between a genius and a war criminal and between a territorial dispute and a war of aggression. So far, Pence is the only GOP presidential candidate to visit Kyiv, and his surprise trip to the region took place a few days after Putin held back a rebellion conducted by the Wagner mercenary group.

Pence's stance on the matter comes as a recent Pew poll showed that 44% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe that the US is providing too much aid to Ukraine. A national poll in June from Quinnipiac University, on the other hand, showed that 52% of Republicans viewed continued support for Ukraine as being in the US's national interest.

Read Also: Sweden Under Fire After Man Burns Quran During Protest

Show of Support for Kyiv Against Russia

Amid his trip to Kyiv, Pence will also visit sites of atrocities in the early stages of the war between Ukraine and Russia. These include Irpin, Bucha, and Moschum, and he will later meet with Zelensky inside the presidential palace in the country's capital, according to ABC News.

During Zelensky's nightly address, he thanked Pence for expressing his support and noted that American aid was crucial for Kyiv. The former US vice president added that supporting Ukraine advances the interests of freedom and America's national interest.

On the other hand, Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, refused to answer whether or not he wanted Ukraine to win against Russia in the war. Furthermore, the Republican businessman declined to call Putin a war criminal, arguing that doing so would only make it more difficult to end the war between the two countries, said the New York Times.

Related Article: Russia Allegedly Plans to Assassinate Wagner Leader

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The decadeslong conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh flared up in September 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s. Hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered trilateral ceasefire declaration signed in November 2020.

The two former Soviet states agreed to the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region. Since then, there have been occasional clashes along the border.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/eu-leaders-say-concerned-over-tensions-in-taiwan-strait-committed-to-one-china-policy-1111581747.html

EU Leaders Say Concerned Over Tensions in Taiwan Strait, Committed to One China Policy

EU Leaders Say Concerned Over Tensions in Taiwan Strait, Committed to One China Policy

European Union leaders are concerned about the highly tense situation around the Taiwan Strait, but reaffirm the bloc's commitment to the One China policy, according to the document outlining the results of a two-day summit in Brussels out on Friday.

2023-06-30T13:37+0000

2023-06-30T13:37+0000

2023-06-30T13:37+0000

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china

taiwan

taiwan strait

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European Union leaders are concerned about the highly tense situation around the Taiwan Strait, but reaffirm the bloc's commitment to the One China policy, according to the document outlining the results of a two-day summit in Brussels out on Friday. Meanwhile, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said the EU should have its own approach to China, knowing that transatlantic partners have a "very strong view" on the issue. The European Council convened for a two-day summit in Brussels from June 29-30 to discuss, among other things, the latest developments in the Ukrainian conflict, EU-NATO cooperation and the bloc's relations with China in light of the upcoming meeting between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in July. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated in the summit. Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing regards the island as its province, while Taiwan maintains that it is an autonomous entity but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official foreign contacts with Taipei and regards Chinese sovereignty over the island as indisputable.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230628/china-models-total-war-scenario-amid-beijing-washington-tensions-over-taiwan--1111525384.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/european-council-on-foreign-relations-europe-becoming-us-vassal-1111560920.html

European Council on Foreign Relations: Europe Becoming US Vassal

European Council on Foreign Relations: Europe Becoming US Vassal

A new report by the European Council on Foreign Relations argues that Europe is becoming vassalized by the US empire.

2023-06-30T04:01+0000

2023-06-30T04:01+0000

2023-06-30T10:31+0000

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European Council on Foreign Relations: Europe Becoming US Vassal A new report by the European Council on Foreign Relations argues that Europe is becoming vassalized by the US empire.

Mark Sleboda, Moscow-based international relations security analyst, joins us to discuss Ukraine. Switzerland rejects call to send tanks to Ukraine. Also, Sergey Lavrov says that Russia is in a fight against the world.Misty Winston, radio host and free speech and press freedom activist, joins us to discuss President Biden's health problems. 68% of US voters have worries about President Biden's health. Also, President Biden referred to the conflict in Ukraine as Iraq, and John Kerry danced around the legality of the Iraq invasion on French television.KJ Noh, peace activist, teacher, and writer, joins us to discuss China. It appears that decoupling from China is not on the European agenda. Also, China is offering the US a military cooperation deal.Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents, joins us to discuss articles from the Black Agenda Report. Oceangate is just another example of how the wealthy kill people worldwide. Also, human suffering worsens in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Laith Marouf, broadcaster and journalist based in Beirut, Lebanon, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Sweden is getting heat from the Muslim world for allowing state-sponsored Quran burning. Also, a Palestinian journalist who was accused of anti-semitism and fired in Germany won her court case.Linwood Tauheed, associate professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, joins us to discuss the economy. The Federal Reserve argues that big banks would survive a massive economic shock. Also, Congress is pushing to tie Medicaid to work.Regis Tremblay, an American citizen in Crimea, joins us to discuss Europe. Evidence is coming out that a large number of Ukrainian soldiers and foreign mercenaries were killed in a Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk.Netfa Freeman, host of Voices With Vision on WPFW 89.3 FM Pan-Africanist, and internationalist organizer, joins us to discuss Latin America. Nicaragua is interested in joining BRICS. Also, Venezuela repudiates the International Criminal Court as a tool of US imperialism.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, ukraine, ukraine counteroffensive, biden's health problems, iraq invasion, oceangate, democratic republic of the congo, quran burning in sweden, medicaid, strike in kramatorsk, nicaragua in brics
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/former-pentagon-analyst-sweden-should-reconsider-turmoil-it-would-become-part-of-in-nato-1111585447.html

Former Pentagon Analyst: Sweden Should Reconsider Turmoil It Would Become Part of in NATO

Former Pentagon Analyst: Sweden Should Reconsider Turmoil It Would Become Part of in NATO

A new rift has opened between Muslim-majority Turkiye and Sweden, where a legal protest was allowed to take place involving the public burning of a Quran.

2023-06-30T18:15+0000

2023-06-30T18:15+0000

2023-06-30T18:15+0000

michael maloof

sweden

turkiye

nato

quran

ukraine crisis

military

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Ankara and Stockholm already have a rocky relationship as the Scandinavian state seeks to join the NATO alliance, but Turkiye has conditioned its assent for Swedens admission based on the ending of its support for Kurdish nationalist groups that Ankara considers terrorist organizations.Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the US Office of the Secretary of Defense, told Sputnik that both Sweden and NATO should consider what benefit is gained by adding the Scandinavian state to the alliance, especially given the kind of tensions that further NATO expansion to the East is likely to create in the region.Maloof explained that NATOs policy seems to be to contain Russia at all costs, never mind anybody else and what their political considerations might be. I think it's been damaging for Europe generally to have this kind of an expansion. It certainly has alarmed [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to the point that he basically said it's a red line if you do it in Ukraine, and they attempted that, and we saw the reaction, it had to do with fundamental security.The former Pentagon official noted that Sweden has traditionally been unaligned and that neutrality was important for Sweden before, adding that ought to remain that way. Stockholm already has its own security arrangements with other Scandinavian countries separate from the NATO alliance, and expanding that to include 31 other states across Europe can have repercussions.Maloof noted that after Erdogans recent election victory, he can hold up Swedens admittance to NATO indefinitely.And in the case of Victoria Nuland in the Biden administration, who is number three in the State Department, she and the other neoconservatives would love to see Russia dismantled with regime change. But we've seen their previous efforts at regime change not only in Iraq, but also in Libya and they were disastrous, total disasters. And they admitted there was no second-day plan, if you will, when that occurred, he noted.In the case of Russia, Russia has more nuclear weapons than the United States. Why the United States does not want a stable Russia is beyond me, I don't understand that, just by virtue of the fact they have those nuclear weapons. What is their point in wanting to bring down Russia and maybe even partition it? There is no rhyme or reason. There is no foreign policy basis for it.Maloof noted that Sweden offers very limited overall ability to the NATO alliance, apart from perhaps land for more military bases.Their contribution to NATO would be minuscule. It's a country of relatively few people. It's got geographical advantages, and if it works in combination with the other Scandinavian countries, it can become somewhat of a force, but certainly nothing to overwhelm Russia, unless they get some tremendous NATO assistance. But I think politically, it would hurt Sweden to go the NATO route. I think Finland will probably regret it as well in time, he forecasted.He noted the effect that joining NATO has had on Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which are former Soviet republics and share a border with Russia, including severing long relationships and isolating Russian-speaking populations in those countries.The question is, how seriously does Sweden want to be a member? Are they being pushed into it? Do they realize what it would mean to give up their official neutrality position, especially with Russia? Do they want to cut off all ties? Do they want tense relations with Russia in the future? They are a border country. There's no question about it. There is some border of Sweden with Russia. Do they want to have that kind of tension with Russia in the future?Ultimately, Maloof noted that Washington needs Turkiye a lot more than it needs Sweden, especially since Ankara is independent-minded enough to make its departure from the US orbit a possibility if its not properly wooed by the West.I think that even though Turkiye is a member of NATO, Turkiye is also very prominent in the establishment of the multipolar world order, which Russia and China are now creating, along with Iran. Because Turkiye, along with Iran, together form very valuable economic corridors for the multipolar world order along with the Belt and Road Initiative, the New Silk Road, he said, noting that many of the partner countries are in BRICS and that there are now some 40 countries that want to join BRICS. When you put them all together, they're going to constitute more than half the population of the world.Maloof added that this acceleration has been created by the conflict in Ukraine and the Wests response to it, from which much of the Global South in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, has abstained from joining in Washington's condemnations and sanctions.We're going to be seeing a lot of geopolitical changes, I would say, within the next decade. And they're going to be mind-blowing in some aspects. And I think Sweden has got to determine whether it wants to be in the midst of that potential turmoil or not. Certainly, it's going to be under pressure from its neighbors. There's no question about it. I think that Turkey's objections, for now, hopefully has given Sweden some reason for pause and considering whether it wants to go the NATO route or not, and whether it's worth it to them.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230628/hungarian-parliament-will-reportedly-not-ratify-swedens-nato-bid-before-fall-1111534796.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/french-cabinet-orders-deployment-of-gendarmerie-armored-vehicles---reports-1111588306.html

French Cabinet Orders Deployment of Gendarmerie Armored Vehicles - Reports

French Cabinet Orders Deployment of Gendarmerie Armored Vehicles - Reports

The French cabinet ordered the deployment of armored vehicles of the gendarmerie due to the ongoing mass riots in the country, a local broadcaster reported on Friday, citing a law enforcement source.

2023-06-30T18:43+0000

2023-06-30T18:43+0000

2023-06-30T18:43+0000

world

france

emmanuel macron

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protests

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French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has ordered to deploy four Centaur vehicles, as well as 14 VBRG  armored wheeled vehicles of the gendarmerie, the source was quoted as saying by the broadcaster. In addition, the government ordered the cancellation of all major events in the country. The report also said that 150 people had been detained for rioting in Paris. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said during a government meeting on the ongoing unrest that the country's internal ministry was using "additional means" of crowd control. He stressed that law enforcement was acting quickly and appropriately to manage the situation. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has asked Paris authorities to impose a temporary ban on the sale and transportation of fireworks, petrol canisters and other chemical and highly flammable substances from 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) until the riots subside. He also said on social media that the next few hours will be "decisive" for the situation. The minister thanked all agencies involved in riot control for their "bravery, composure and professionalism" and expressed the government's full support for their actions. He added that additional personnel and equipment would help them "protect the republic and its values." France experienced a third night of violence on Thursday after the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy of North African descent on Tuesday morning sparked massive protests on the outskirts of Paris. The officer who shot the teen during a traffic stop in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and is in custody. Borne said that she had held a crisis meeting Friday morning at her official residence in Paris to "take stock of the violence and abuse of the night." She called the riots "inexcusable" and reiterated her support for law enforcement. Darmanin said 667 protesters had been detained overnight. Transport Minister Clement Beaune said about 20 buses had been torched in the Ile-de-France region south of Paris, including 12 that were burned to ashes in the commune of Aubervilliers. Le Parisien daily reported that more than 3,800 fires had been raging across France during the night of unrest. Hundreds of public buildings and almost 2,000 cars had been damaged in what French authorities described as acts of vandalism. Some of the protesters were reportedly as young as 12.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/french-unrest-over-police-brutality-whole-country-in-flames-1111570150.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/what-ignited-assaults-on-police-stations-arson--calls-for-vengeance-in-france-1111566411.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/imf-greenlights-handover-of-890-mln-to-ukraine-amid-faltering-counteroffensive-1111564194.html

IMF Greenlights Handover of $890 Mln to Ukraine Amid Faltering Counteroffensive

IMF Greenlights Handover of $890 Mln to Ukraine Amid Faltering Counteroffensive

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Thursday that it had approved the release of a $890 million installment of aid for Ukraine.

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2023-06-30T07:01+0000

2023-06-30T07:01+0000

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The much-heralded Ukrainian counteroffensive may be floundering, but that has not stopped the West from persistently flushing millions down the sinkhole that this assistance for Kiev has become.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on Thursday that it had approved the release of a $890 million installment of aid for Ukraine. The loan is the second tranche granted to the authorities in Kiev, and part of a package worth $15.6 billion that the Washington-based global moneylender greenlighted back in March. In line with the first installment, in April, Ukraine received $2.7 billion. After completing its first review of the extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Ukraine, the IMF announced on June 29 that the Kiev regime had "made strong progress in their commitments under the program amid difficult circumstances. Ukraine is eligible to receive yet another $890 million tranche from the IMF in October, assuming that it meets the requisite conditions, including anti-corruption reforms.Ukraine had initially submitted its EU bid early last year, but its European ambitions have yet to acquire any tangible prospect. Seven conditions were laid out by the European Commission in June 2022, with EU leaders subsequently declaring Ukraine a candidate country to join the bloc. However, Brussels has repeatedly underscored that the highly complex and technical process can drag on for years.News about the IMF loan comes against the backdrop of the ongoing faltering Ukrainian counteroffensive, which has reportedly left the Kiev regime's Western handlers disappointed. They would ostensibly like to see the billions-worth of military assistance they donated to the ongoing proxy war against Russia in Ukraine be used for more impressive gains.The authorities in Kiev are said to be increasingly infuriated at how their Western partners are calling for more intense operations. "Certain partners are telling us to go forward and fight violently, but they also take their time delivering the hardware and weapons we need," a source in the Ukrainian military intelligence was cited as saying in a UK media report. US General Christopher Cavoli has also been cited as acknowledging that Ukraines counteroffensive is struggling against Russias defenses.The flow of military assistance to Ukraine continues unabated, nonetheless. The US Department of Defense on Tuesday announced a package of additional military aid for Ukraine worth $500 million, including 30 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 25 Stryker armored personnel carriers, Stinger anti-aircraft systems, as well as more munitions for Patriot defense systems and HIMARS systems. Despite all the weapons pouring in to bolster Kiev, its forces struggle against Russia's elaborate defenses, including infantry trenches, anti-personnel and anti-tank minefields, anti-tank dragons teeth, earthen beams, and so on.Ukrainians are being sent to the battlefield "like lambs to the slaughter" during Kiev's so-called 'counteroffensive,' Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council, Vasily Nebenzia said on June 29. The Russian envoy underscored that the collective West has become detached from reality and is purposely provoking a direct confrontation between the nuclear powers.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230629/ukraines-counteroffensive-struggling-against-russias-defences-top-nato-general-says-1111541246.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230628/why-more-us-bradley-armored-vehicles-wont-boost-ukraines-counteroffensive-1111520165.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/indian-pm-modi-expresses-support-for-putin-over-june-24-events-1111581900.html

Indian PM Modi Expresses Support for Putin Over June 24 Events

Indian PM Modi Expresses Support for Putin Over June 24 Events

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the recent aborted mutiny attempt in Russia on June 24, the Kremlin said on Friday.

2023-06-30T13:40+0000

2023-06-30T13:40+0000

2023-06-30T13:40+0000

world

narendra modi

vladimir putin

russia

india

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the recent aborted mutiny attempt in Russia on June 24, the Kremlin said on Friday."At the initiative of the Indian side, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens in connection with the events of June 24 of this year," the Kremlin said in a statement. "In addition, Narendra Modi informed [Putin] about his international contacts, including his recent visit to Washington," the Kremlin said, adding that the sides also talked about the conflict in Ukraine.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221113/sabre-rattling-and-friendshoring-failing-us-strategies-to-break-india-russia-links-1104044927.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/kievs-counteroffensive-creates-additional-safety-concerns-at-zaporozhye-npp---grossi-1111562370.html

Kiev's Counteroffensive Creates Additional Safety Concerns at Zaporozhye NPP - Grossi

Kiev's Counteroffensive Creates Additional Safety Concerns at Zaporozhye NPP - Grossi

The Ukrainian counteroffensive creates an "additional layer of concern" about the safety of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi said Thursday.

2023-06-30T02:56+0000

2023-06-30T02:56+0000

2023-06-30T02:54+0000

world

dmitry peskov

kiev

ukraine

international atomic energy agency (iaea)

counter-offensive

zaporozhye

zaporozhye npp

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"When I visited [the ZNPP], I could see that the first initial measures were taken by the management of the plant to preserve the amount of water, which is already contained in a cooling pond in the adjacency of the plant," Grossi told the French media."We have this additional layer, if you want, of concern over the situation which is in and by itself extremely volatile because, as you know, this plant is sitting on the front line ... so it is obvious that, in the context of the ongoing counteroffensive and the military activities there, the combats there, the plant is incredibly, you know, fragile and open to damage in case of an exchange of fire there," he added.Earlier Thursday, Kiev announced large-scale exercises to work out actions in case of a possible emergency at the ZNPP in the regions of Dnepropetrovsk and Nikolayev, as well as in parts of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions controlled by Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the exercises, that threats of provocations by the Ukrainian side were constant, which was demonstrated by the sabotage at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, adding that IAEA representatives have recorded Russia's efforts to ensure safety at the ZNPP during their recent visit to the plant.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230629/nebenzia-russia-has-no-intention-to-blow-up-npp-demands-end-to-kievs-provocations-1111561252.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/lavrov-on-mutiny-attempt-a-mere-tussle-and-nothing-more-1111569134.html

Lavrov on Mutiny Attempt: A Mere 'Tussle' And Nothing More

Lavrov on Mutiny Attempt: A Mere 'Tussle' And Nothing More

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted mutiny could hardly be described as more than a "tussle".

2023-06-30T09:45+0000

2023-06-30T09:45+0000

2023-06-30T10:06+0000

russia

sergey lavrov

alexander lukashenko

vladimir putin

russia

southern military district

russian ministry of defense

federal security service

moscow

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Sergey Lavrov, the nation's diplomacy chief, said that Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted mutiny could be described as nothing more than a "tussle". Lavrov also stressed that Moscow would deal with the consequences created by the events on its own.The top diplomat stressed that Russia is not obliged to provide an explanation to anyone regarding its internal affairs, emphasizing that Moscow acts transparently.On Friday, June 23, forces from the Wagner Group seized the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, following accusations leveled against the Russian Ministry of Defense for allegedly striking the group's camps. Both the Russian military and the Federal Security Service denied these allegations. On Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed that he had spent the entire day negotiating with Yevgeny Prigozhin, as agreed upon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a result of the talks, the Wagner group leader accepted Lukashenko's proposal to halt the movement of his troops in Russia and take measures to de-escalate the situation. Putin guaranteed that Wagner group personnel would have the opportunity to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, return home, or move to Belarus.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230626/putin-mutineers-wanted-russian-soldiers-to-kill-each-other-kiev-wanted-the-same----1111480880.html

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(Photo : CORNELIUS POPPE/NTB/AFP via Getty Images)

The US State Department had approved the transfer of F-35 fighter jets, munitions, and related equipment to the Czech Republic in a transaction valued at up to $5.62 billion.

The US State Department today approved the prospective transfer of 24 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters manufactured by Lockheed Martin as well as a vast array of weapons, parts, and

The 24 aircraft will be of the CTOL (Conventional Take Off and Landing) variety, also known as F-35As, which the United States Air Force primarily deploys.

Czech Republic Buys US F35 Fighter Jets

The Czech Republic made its F-35 ambitions known a year ago when it proclaimed its preference for the fifth-generation American aircraft over the F-16 or the Gripen fighter manufactured by Saab. Currently, the Czech air force operates Gripens, as per Breaking Defense.

The prospective agreement disclosed today also includes a variety of missiles, bombs, electronic warfare, radio capabilities, "classified software," and software development. Also included in the transaction are 25 Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 engines.

Today, the State Department reported that the deal's ultimate cost would likely be less than $5.6 billion, "depending on final requirements, budget authority, and signed sales agreement(s), if and when they are consummated." It is also conceivable, albeit unlikely, that the US Congress will oppose the agreement.

If the transaction is finalized, the Czech Republic will join nine other foreign military purchasers and seven foreign "partners" of the United States in the F-35 program. The State Department approved the transfer of small-diameter explosives for use on the Norwegian F-35 jet just one day prior to this announcement.

According to Reuters, the primary contractors are Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. The Czech government announced its intention to purchase 24 F-35 aircraft to replace Gripen fighters leased from Saab AB in Sweden.

The package also includes a spare engine, 70 AIM-120C-8 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAMs), assorted munitions, support equipment, spares, and technical support, according to the Pentagon. The notification does not indicate that a contract has been signed or that negotiations have concluded, despite State Department approval.

Read Also: Putin's Goons Interrogate 'General Armageddon,' Russia President Reportedly Fears Firing 'Dangerous' Defense Minister

Next Generation Fighter Jets

Despite their immense wealth and a decades-long history of purchasing advanced fighter aircraft from the United States, none of the Arab Gulf states have acquired fifth-generation stealth fighters manufactured in the United States.

If they are unable to acquire the American-made F-35, they may pursue other fifth-generation fighters or join a multinational effort to develop one; however, technical and political obstacles may make their quest for stealth aircraft lengthy.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, the leading and wealthiest Arab Gulf states, and three of the United States' top 10 arms customers have each requested to purchase the F-35. During the past three decades, these three countries have purchased numerous advanced F-15 and F-16 variants.

However, Washington has only expressed willingness to sell them F-35s under specific conditions. After establishing diplomatic relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords, the UAE reached a historic agreement for 50 F-35s and 18 MQ-9 Reaper drones in January 2021 for a staggering $23 billion.

However, Abu Dhabi suspended negotiations in December of the following year, citing what an Emirati official termed onerous conditions imposed to safeguard American technology from Chinese espionage. It is unclear whether negotiations will resume in the near future, as per Insider.

In exchange for potentially establishing official ties with Israel, Saudi Arabia has also requested various concessions from the United States, such as fewer restrictions on arms sales. It is unclear, however, whether the Saudis desire F-35s as part of this proposed arrangement.

It is unlikely that the United States would sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia or Qatar if they did not join the Abraham Accords or a similar normalization initiative in the future. This leaves the Gulf states with various non-American options that do not appear auspicious, at least in the near future.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced on March 1 that it would join the Future Air Capabilities System program, which is developing a six-generation fighter aircraft dubbed the Tempest.

The United Kingdom released a statement clarifying that its cooperation with Saudi Arabia was "distinct" from British multinational efforts to develop combatants of the next generation.

Related Article: US Targets Wagner Through Sanctions on Gold Firms Suspected of Funding Mercenary Group's Operation

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/macron-to-convene-another-crisis-cabinet-meeting-on-friday-over-french-riots---reports-1111572894.html

Macron Leaves EU Summit for Crisis Cabinet Meeting Amid Unrest in France

Macron Leaves EU Summit for Crisis Cabinet Meeting Amid Unrest in France

French President Emmanuel Macron will hold another meeting of a government crisis group on Friday to discuss the mass protests that erupted across the country after a teenager was shot dead by a police officer, French media reported, citing the Elysee Palace.

2023-06-30T09:32+0000

2023-06-30T09:32+0000

2023-06-30T09:43+0000

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Macron is expected to lead a meeting of the interdepartmental crisis group on the situation in the country, according to media reports. The French president will hold another meeting of a government crisis group on Friday to discuss the mass protests that erupted across the country after a teenager was shot dead by a police officer, French media reported, citing the Elysee Palace.The meeting is expected to take place at 1 p.m. Paris time (11:00 GMT), a French broadcaster reported, adding that Macron would probably have to cut short his trip to the EU summit in Brussels so as to take part in the emergency meeting. On Thursday, the French president also convened a crisis meeting with senior cabinet members over riots in the country. The French authorities do not exclude the introduction of a state of mergency due to the unrest after police shot dead a 17-year-old teenager during a traffic stop, this is one of the hypothetical options, French Minister Delegate for the City and Housing Olivier Klein said on Friday.The first hypothetical option is to mobilize the forces of the adult population to restore order, the official added.More than 660 people have been detained in France overnight as a result of violent protests, which erupted after police shot dead a 17-year-old teenager during a traffic stop, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Friday.Previous reports indicated that over 400 people had been detained during the protests.Protesters broke windows and set fire to the office of the Credit Mutuel bank in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, a Sputnik correspondent reported. The French authorities sent special police forces to the site to deal with the demonstrators. The forces are also using helicopters to monitor the situation in the city.The French capital has also been damaged, with the rioters looting at least two stores, including a Nike boutique, French newspaper Le Figaro reported, citing police sources. In the city of Nantes, the protesters also tried to ram a Lidl supermarket using a car, the report said.Moreover, in the city of Grenoble, demonstrators fired pyrotechnic devices at several buses, forcing employees to stop the operation of public transport, French media reported.To deal with the protests in the Old Port of Marseille, the police were forced to use tear gas, dispersing not only the rioters, but tourists as well.The authorities of the southeast-central French region of Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes decided introduce a number of restrictive measures to ensure public safety amid the ongoing unrest.Nahel M., a 17-year-old French teenager, was shot dead in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday morning after he refused to comply with police instructions during a traffic stop. Media reported that the teenager had been driving a rental car without a driver's license and broke several traffic rules. The incident sparked protests across France, with over 660 people already detained as of Friday morning. French authorities have called on the protesters to calm down, adding that the incident would be investigated in a just and proper manner. Macron said on Thursday that the shooting was "inexplicable and inexcusable," but also slammed the violent protests in the country as "unjustifiable" and called for calm.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230629/videos-clashes-in-paris-suburb-of-nanterre-intensify-over-killing-of-teenager-1111535302.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/more-evidence-shows-use-of-banned-landmines-by-ukrainian-forces---human-rights-watch-1111579536.html

More Evidence Shows Use of Banned Landmines by Ukrainian Forces - Human Rights Watch

More Evidence Shows Use of Banned Landmines by Ukrainian Forces - Human Rights Watch

The Human Rights Watch has urged the Ukrainian government to comply with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and to investigate its armed forces for using internationally banned antipersonnel landmines.

2023-06-30T19:25+0000

2023-06-30T19:25+0000

2023-06-30T19:45+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

steve goose

ukraine

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human rights watch

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A new report by the HRW has added another dimension to allegations of Ukrainian forces' use of prohibited landmines in its conflict with Russia. "Since publishing a report in January, Human Rights Watch has uncovered additional evidence regarding Ukrainian use of these indiscriminate weapons during 2022," the report said.Earlier, in a statement published by the HRW in January, the Ukrainian army was accused of repeatedly shooting rockets bearing thousands of PFM-1 mines - also known as "petal" or "butterfly" mines - into Russian territory between April and September 2022, leading to civilian casualties.Despite being a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva, the HRW cites evidence of Kiev forces using PFM-1S antipersonnel mines, resulting in civilian casualties. The deployment of prohibited landmines by Ukrainian forces underscores the potential for atrocities in the heat of the conflict.Ukraine, following the Soviet Union's disintegration, found itself possessing a vast arsenal of antipersonnel mines. Kiev successfully eliminated over 3.4 million of the devices between 1999 and 2020, having signed the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention on February 24, 1999, and ratifying it on December 27, 2005. As of 2021, according to official Ukrainian reports to the UN, approximately 3.3 million PFM mines, primarily housed in 9M27K3 220mm rockets, have yet to be destroyed. Unfortunately, in the light of past instances, as recorded by Human Rights Watch in May 2023, the accounts of an individual working in Izium, Kharkov region, eastern Ukraine, found several artillery shells while clearing farmland. Close inspection of the shells revealed identifiable markings - 9N128K3 warhead portions of 9M27K3 Uragan 220mm rockets, which each carries 9N223 blocks, or stacks, of 9N212 PFM-1S antipersonnel blast mines manufactured in 1986. The finding corroborates the culpability of Ukrainian forces in violating the Mine Ban Treaty. The mines are known to be hazardous as they can be dispersed en masse through rockets. Their small and harmless appearance has historically led to severe injuries among unsuspecting civilians, including children.As per an Amnesty International report in August 2022, Ukrainian armed forces have been implicated in jeopardizing civilian lives by positioning bases and deploying weapon systems within inhabited residential zones, including schools and hospitals, in their response to Russian advantages in firepower. The controversial approach infringes upon international humanitarian law as it converts non-military structures into possible military targets. In 19 various towns and villages, Ukrainian forces were found operating from within civilian areas and utilizing civilian infrastructure for military purposes. The alarming trend was substantiated by Amnesty's Crisis Evidence Lab, which used satellite imagery analysis to confirm multiple instances of such tactics.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220830/eu-hatched-ukrainian-army-training-mission-idea-long-before-escalation-of-conflict-borrell-admits-1100168402.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/papal-envoy-patriarch-kirill-discuss-humanitarian-steps-on-ukraine-settlement---holy-see-1111576764.html

Papal Envoy, Patriarch Kirill Discuss Humanitarian Steps on Ukraine Settlement - Holy See

Papal Envoy, Patriarch Kirill Discuss Humanitarian Steps on Ukraine Settlement - Holy See

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Popes peace envoy to Ukraine, and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia have discussed humanitarian initiatives that can facilitate a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, the Holy See said on Friday.

2023-06-30T11:36+0000

2023-06-30T11:36+0000

2023-06-30T11:36+0000

russia

patriarch kirill

pope francis

ukraine

russia

holy see

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Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Popes peace envoy to Ukraine, and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia have discussed humanitarian initiatives that can facilitate a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, the Holy See said on Friday."He [Zuppi] had a fruitful meeting with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, to whom he conveyed greetings from the Holy Father [Pope Francis] and with whom he also discussed humanitarian initiatives that could contribute to a peaceful solution [in Ukraine]," the Holy See said in a statement. The results of Cardinal Zuppi's two-day visit to Moscow will be presented to the pontiff, the statement added.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/quran-burning-europe-has-gone-completely-mad---losing-its-mind-say-oman-diplomat-1111575288.html

Quran-Burning Europe Has Gone Completely Mad - Losing Its Mind, Says Oman Diplomat

Quran-Burning Europe Has Gone Completely Mad - Losing Its Mind, Says Oman Diplomat

Swedish police had authorized a protest action involving the burning of a Quran near the main mosque in Stockholm. The incident took place on the day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson commented on the police decision, saying was "legal but inappropriate."

2023-06-30T12:29+0000

2023-06-30T12:29+0000

2023-06-30T13:15+0000

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Hilal al-Siyabi, an Omani diplomat and former ambassador, expressed his views on the Quran-burning incident in Sweden while speaking to Sputnik Arabic. He stressed that Sweden's decision to allow the Quran to be burnt shows a lack of respect for the beliefs of Muslims around the world, especially when it is done on the auspicious first day of Eid al-Adha.The Omani diplomat said he found it difficult to understand what Western politicians, diplomats, and officials were thinking, adding that Sweden - having once been seen as a neutral country and generally viewed positively in the Arab world - is now facing an inevitable shift in international relations because of the alarming rise of Islamophobia.Al-Siyabi added that he was surprised at how little reaction there had been from Muslims living in Sweden since they are the nearest victims of such actions. Although he does not condone violence, he said that the actions of the Swedish authorities may ultimately have unpredictable consequences, not only affecting relations with Muslim countries, but also jeopardizing stability within Sweden.Al-Siyabi pointed out that Sweden's desire to join NATO is likely to be hampered by its allowing the Quran to be burnt since joining the bloc relies on the unanimous support from all members and Turkiye is most likely to withhold its approval of Sweden's NATO membership.The recent incident of Quran burning in Stockholm, the latest in a series of insults to Muslim believers, received widespread outrage from various nations and organizations. Algeria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Lebanon, Russia, Syria, Turkiye and Uzbekistan were joined by Ahmed Aboul Gheit - Secretary-General of the Arab League - and Jassim Mohamed Al-Budaiwi, Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, in expressing their condemnation. In addition, the foreign ministries of Jordan and the United Arab Emirates summoned Sweden's ambassadors to deliver formal protest notes.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/irans-foreign-ministry-says-summoned-swedens-charge-daffaires-over-quran-burning-1111563765.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/russia-sees-no-grounds-for-grain-deal-extension---lavrov-1111569890.html

Russia Sees No Grounds for Grain Deal Extension

Russia Sees No Grounds for Grain Deal Extension

Russia does not see any real grounds for the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

2023-06-30T09:25+0000

2023-06-30T09:25+0000

2023-07-17T11:38+0000

ukraine

sergey lavrov

russia

moscow

the united nations (un)

grain

black sea grain deal

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Russia does not see any real grounds for the extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday. Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN reached an agreement on July 22, 2022 to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships carrying food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. On May 18, 2023, Russia extended the deal, called the Black Sea Grain Initiative, for 60 days, until July 17.Addressing the issue of Ukrainian children who are located in Russia the Russian foreign minister saud they can go back to their parents if they show up or make such a requestd.The Russian minister also said that some 200 Ukrainian children were taken in by families in Russia, but this was not an adoption. In addition, Lavrov said that Ukrainian children have been evacuated to safe regions in Russia.There is no need for Moscow to maintain the same volume of diplomatic contacts with the West, as it was before it declared war on Russia "by the hands of Ukraine," Sergey Lavrov added."To be honest, I do not even see the need in the same amount of diplomatic contacts now as it was in normal times  before the West declared war on us through the hands of the Ukrainian Nazi regime," Lavrov said at a briefing.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230614/kremlin-says-russia-can-withdraw-from-grain-deal-after-its-termination-1111149597.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/russian-forces-repel-five-ukrainian-attacks-in-donetsk-direction---mod-1111576869.html

Russian Forces Repel Five Ukrainian Attacks in Donetsk Direction - MoD

Russian Forces Repel Five Ukrainian Attacks in Donetsk Direction - MoD

The Russian armed forces have repelled five Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk direction in the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.

2023-06-30T11:42+0000

2023-06-30T11:42+0000

2023-06-30T11:42+0000

russia's special operation in ukraine

volodymyr zelensky

donetsk

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russian defense ministry

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According to the ministry, the Ukrainian forces have continued to make attempts to attack in Donetsk, South Donetsk, Krasny Liman and Kupyansk directions. The Ukrainian military lost up to 160 soldiers in the Donetsk direction and up to 120 soldiers in the South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, the ministry added.Ukraine's much-touted counteroffensive kicked off after months of delays over a lack of military supplies from Western donors. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that progress was "slower than desired." Oleksiy Danilov, head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, conceded on Wednesday that a military campaign was "not a walk in the park."

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/scotus-decision-striking-rebuke-to-trump-as-legal-battle-trudge-along-1111557889.html

SCOTUS Decision: 'Striking Rebuke' to Trump as Legal Battle Trudges Along

SCOTUS Decision: 'Striking Rebuke' to Trump as Legal Battle Trudges Along

As Donald Trump's legal problems piles up, the Moore v Harper ruling curbs state legislatures' power over federal elections, leaving room for federal oversight.

2023-06-30T18:02+0000

2023-06-30T18:02+0000

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In a significant decision, the Supreme Court has rejected the "independent state legislature theory," diminishing state legislatures' nearly unlimited power to regulate federal elections. The ruling in Moore v. Harper serves as a preventive measure against a recurrence of the controversial aftermath of the 2020 election, which saw concerns raised about the potential manipulation of future elections. Speaking to Sputnik, former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Fein explained "the importance of the decision as a practical political matter."While the ruling restricts the powers of state legislatures, it does not remove federal oversight. The Supreme Court left room for federal intervention in cases where there is a potential distortion of state law by the judiciary, indicating that the federal government bears the responsibility for safeguarding against state judiciaries manipulating their laws to influence elections. The verdict by SCOTUS is reported by media sources as a "striking rebuke against Trump" in a 6-3 judgment.In a separate matter, concerns have been raised among Republican politicians regarding the recent indictment of former President Donald Trump by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, with some arguing that it is politically motivated. The charges stem from actions taken before Trump's presidency, specifically related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The prosecution's use of an untested legal theory to justify these payments has faced scrutiny. This unfamiliar legal territory raises the possibility that a judge could dismiss the case or reduce the severity of the charges.Nobody in their right mind would believe that [District Attorney Alvin] Bragg would be going after John Smith or even John Edwards on a case like this. Its obviously an example of Get Trump...and its so, so dangerous, Alan Dershowitz, professor of law, emeritus at Harvard Law School, opined on Megyn Kellys show.A media source has suggested that Trump's attention from prosecutors due to his high-profile status is perceived as potentially distorting the justice system. While the legal implications of the indictment are modest, its significance has been amplified due to Trump's fame. But proving selective or malicious prosecution entails high legal hurdles, necessitating substantial evidence of improper motives and examples of others evading charges for similar actions.Fein, however, cautions that Trump's approach to legal proceedings, characterized by his disregard for legal advice and propensity to treat courtrooms as political stages, could lead to severe legal consequences.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230614/docs-trump-being-prosecuted-for-possessing-should-not-be-secret-from-american-people-1111163000.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/scotus-rules-against-affirmative-action-and-the-white-house-defends-bidenomics-1111560504.html

SCOTUS Rules Against Affirmative Action and the White House Defends 'Bidenomics'

SCOTUS Rules Against Affirmative Action and the White House Defends 'Bidenomics'

On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including Greta Thunberg visiting Ukraine, and the marriage rate hitting a record low in America.

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SCOTUS Rules Against Affirmative Action and the White House Defends "Bidenomics" On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including Greta Thunberg visiting Ukraine, and the marriage rate hitting a record low in America.

Carmine Sabia - Writer and Editor at Large at SabiaReport.com | Canadian Wildfires are Targeting Minorities, Affirmative Action for College Admissions, and the Democrats Attack the SCOTUSMark Frost - Economist, Professor, Consultant, and Libertarian | Ghost Notes, Trickle Down Economics, and The War Against the War In the first hour, Lee spoke with Carmine Sabia about the Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, diversity is America's strength, and the problem with minimum standards. Carmine commented on the Democrat's anger towards the Supreme Court and the end of affirmative action for college admissions. Carmine discussed the Associated Press article on Canadian wildfires and the wildfires affecting American minorities.In the second hour, Lee spoke with Mark Frost about supply-side economics, bottom-up economics, and Joe Biden's mental faculties are failing. Mark explained why the Biden administration being one of the all-time worst administrations in American history. Mark explained the problems with the American economy and how countries around the world see the US dollar.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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Shooter Dies in Hospital

The national of Tajikistan who shot dead two security officers at the airport has died in hospital, the General Police Inspectorate of Moldova said on Monday.

The shooting incident took place on June 30 after the Tajik national was denied entry to Moldova. As the 43-year-old was being escorted to the airport's zone for deportations, he grabbed a pistol from one of the officers and fatally shot a border guard and an airport security officer, as well as injured one passenger, Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said.

"Tajik citizen Rustam Ashurov, accused of killing two people at Chisinau airport, died in hospital 15 minutes ago," the police said on Telegram
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/uks-conservative-party-split-deepens-as-zac-goldsmith-tenders-resignation-1111585304.html

UK's Conservative Party Split Deepens as Zac Goldsmith Tenders Resignation

UK's Conservative Party Split Deepens as Zac Goldsmith Tenders Resignation

In a move that has deepened divisions within the Conservative Party, Lord Zac Goldsmith has resigned as a minister over allegations of interference in the Partygate inquiry.

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The Tory Party is showing signs of internal fissures as Zac Goldsmith relinquished his ministerial role - minister of state for overseas territories, Commonwealth, energy, climate, and environment. In a pointed critique of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's leadership, he delivered a scathing condemnation of the PM's alleged nonchalance towards environmental concerns, which comes amidst growing unrest within the party.The resignation comes on the heels of a tweet on June 9 by Goldsmith, which was widely criticized by members of Parliament for undermining a Commons investigation into Boris Johnson's Partygate scandal, branding the committee a "kangaroo court" and likening the probe to a "witch hunt," a comment that the government said was "incompatible with your position as a Minister of the Crown."While the prime minister expressed full confidence in Goldsmith, pressure from opposition parties, including Labour and the Liberal Democrats, had mounted for his removal. They had accused him of intimidating MPs investigating the Partygate row.In the ensuing political fallout, Jim McMahon, Labour's shadow environment secretary, criticized Prime Minister Sunak's leadership. He described Sunak's approach as "weak," and remarked that "this 'simply uninterested' Prime Minister cant even lead his own team, let alone the country." Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats took aim at the prime minister's lack of decisive action, implying that he should have dismissed Goldsmith from his position much earlier.Goldsmith's resignation highlights the increasing divisions within the Tory ranks, centered around allegations of unfulfilled commitments on environmental matters and a perceived lack of concern from the head of government. With internal conflicts within the party on the rise, the impact of this development on its future direction remains uncertain.

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China makes great progress in combating trafficking in women and children: expert

Xinhua) 13:29, June 30, 2023

GENEVA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- China has attached great importance to protecting the rights of women and children and has made great progress in combating trafficking in women and children, a Chinese expert told the ongoing 53rd session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

During an interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on human trafficking, Bianba Lamu, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a member of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, said that the number of cases of human trafficking crimes in China dropped by 88.3 percent from 2013 to 2021.

She attributed this achievement to the Chinese government's great efforts and the implementation of a multi-sectoral mechanism, increased international cooperation, and the contribution of anti-trafficking forces from all sectors of Chinese society.

She said that China recognizes that the fight against human trafficking is a systemic project that requires joint efforts.

"China strives to establish and improve the integrated working mechanism involving prevention, combat, rescue and resettlement, to tackle the root cause of the problem and address it in a comprehensive manner," she said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Days after Google Pixel Fold's release, the new foldable phone is already facing reports of janky folding displays.

Several users have taken to social media and online forums to complain about screen damage.

Google Pixel Fold Users Report Broken Displays

In a world where technology constantly pushes the boundaries of innovation, foldable phones have emerged as the latest trend. The newest kid on the block is the Google Pixel Fold, which started shipping on June 27. It seeks to rival the leading contender, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.

However, as per Android Central, numerous Pixel Fold users are promptly reporting cases of damaged folding screens. The issue seems to arise when the device is repeatedly folded and unfolded, which is precisely what a foldable smartphone is designed for.

One user, Ron Amadeo of Ars Technica, reported that his Pixel Fold's screen malfunctioned after merely four days of use. He believes a small piece of debris may have gotten into the phone's hinge and damaged the display.

Besides Ars Technica's writer, other users have reported similar issues. One user on Reddit says that their Pixel Fold's screen developed a bright pink line after being folded a few times. Another Redditor reveals that the screen protector on the foldable display has begun peeling already. The common issue among users is the small dents visible on the OLED.

Read Also: Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg: Google Bard AI Predicts Cage Fight's Winner

Is There a Durability Issue?

To be fair, it is still too damn early to rule out whether the Pixel Fold has a widespread durability issue. However, the early reports are certainly concerning.

It is worth noting that Foldable phones are already known to be more fragile than traditional smartphones. To be precise, the highly popular Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip still receive various reports of broken displays, including screen cracks and wonky hinges.

The Verge asked the search giant about the broken screens. However, the phone maker failed to address the janky display complaints.

Instead, The spokesperson of Google, Alex Moriconi, only urged Pixel Fold owners to report the broken displays to their support team. He says, "We recommend anyone having an issue reach out to support to investigate."

On top of that, The Verge notes that the tech juggernaut announced its plans to offer iFixit's DIY screen repair kit soon. Given that, the phone just recently started shipping to its first customers. The do-it-yourself kit for its $2,000 foldable has yet to hit the stores.

Related Article: Google AI Search Engine Reportedly in the Works: Here's What to Expect from 'Magi'

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230630/watch-ka-52-alligator-helicopter-in-action-during-special-op-1111573865.html

Watch Ka-52 'Alligator' Helicopter in Action During Special Op

Watch Ka-52 'Alligator' Helicopter in Action During Special Op

The Russian Defense Ministry has released video footage showing the crew of a Ka-52 reconnaissance-strike helicopter destroyed two Ukrainian armored vehicles with guided missile strikes.

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The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage showing the crew of a Ka-52 reconnaissance-strike helicopter destroying two Ukrainian armored vehicles with guided missile strikes.Ukraine launched its much-touted counteroffensive in early June after a number of postponements. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly said that Ukrainian troops are trying to advance in the South Donetsk, Artemovsk (Bakhmut) and Zaporozhye directions, but without success.

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Dreamfair Zenfire has been playing tug of war with her stablemate over the past three starts and on Thursday evening (June 29) at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park, the Marc Campbell trainee won the battle in the $3,500 Fillies and Mares Preferred Pace.

Campbell drove Dreamfair Zenfire from post five in the feature class of six pacers. Campbell eased into fifth off the car, continuing fifth through the quarter in :27.4 and half in :57.1. He pulled his right line on a first-over approach to the top, sitting second on the outside at the three-quarters in 1:25.4. Dreamfair Zenfire pushed to the top and was met by Campbell's second feature entry, Plain Jane, down the stretch. After a battle in the lane, Dreamfair Zenfire came out on top over last week's winner Plain Jane (Corey MacPherson) in 1:54.2. Acefortyfourdome (Jason Hughes) was third.

Ryan and Everett MacLeod of Souris, P.E.I. share ownership of the Sunfire Blue Chip mare, who paid $4.10 to win.

Mile Hill Willie (Gilles Barrieau) captured the $3,100 Open Trot class with a 1:58 victory over Jessiejesorjessica (David Dowling) and Incredible Two (Kenny Arsenault). Paul Morrison co-owns and trains the track record holding stallion for co-owner John Breau of Shediac Cape, N.B.

It was all systems go for Sugar Bowl as the mare remained undefeated in Atlantic Canada.

Jason Hughes was in the bike of his trainee in the Race 13 finale on Thursday evening as Sugar Bowl led at every call to win in 1:55.4 over You Aint Dolly (Adam Merner) and Better Be In Love (Dale Spence). Tommy Collings of Mount Stewart co-owns the Sweet Lou mare with Brian MacPhee as she extended her perfection to four straight in the $2,700 class.

Hughes also won with Windemeregotmuscle (2:06) for trainer Danny MacDonald and Summer Lovin (1:58.1) from his own barn.

The Melissa Rennie stable doubled up winning with Checkers Pride (Merner) in 1:59.4 and Woodmere Rollily (1:57) with both horses co-owned by Marsha Knox of Stanhope, P.E.I.

Live harness racing continues Saturday afternoon (July 1) at 1 p.m. at Red Shores Summerside for a special Canada Day program. Action returns to Charlottetown on Sunday. Post time is 12:30 p.m.

To view Thursday's harness racing results, click the following link: Thursday Results - Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park.

(With files from Red Shores)
Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins is free on a personal recognizance bond following his arrest this week on 13 federal criminal charges in an alleged bribery scheme.

Among the conditions of his release, set by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville, Jenkins was to report to his pretrial services officer upon release Thursday.

The sheriff was also ordered to ensure that all firearms in his residence are secured in locked storage during any home visit by the pretrial services officer.

Other conditions of his release are that he not get a passport and to refrain from excessive alcohol use. Jenkins signed court documents acknowledging that he would appear for all court proceedings and if convicted, surrender to serve any sentence imposed by the court.

The court ordered Jenkins to follow any federal, state and local laws while on release and to cooperate in collection of a DNA sample if so authorized.

According to the 38-page indictment unsealed June 29, from at least April 2019 through this year, Jenkins, 51, accepted cash bribes totaling at least $72,500 from Rick Tariq Rahim, 55, of Great Falls; Fredric Gumbinner, 64, of Fairfax County; James Metcalf, 60, of Manassas; and at least five others, including two undercover FBI agents.

In return, Jenkins appointed them as auxiliary deputy sheriffs, a sworn law enforcement position, and issued them Culpeper County Sheriffs Office badges and identification cards, according to the indictment. The three named men, Northern Virginia businessmen, were also charged in the federal probe.

The defendants were booked into custody Thursday by the U.S. Marshals and FBI at the federal courthouse in Charlottesville, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

A jury trial in the case is set for Sept. 7 in Charlottesville before Senior Judge Norman Moon.

Another condition of Jenkins release is that he avoid all contact regarding the case with the three co-defendants as well as any person who may become a victim or potential witness in the investigation, including his brothers, Johnny Jenkins, chief jailor of the Culpeper County Jail and Michael Jenkins, also a Culpeper County Sheriffs Office employee.

The three co-defendants pleaded not guilty in the case Thursday in federal court. Arraignment was not held for Jenkins on Thursday, pending an appearance by his attorney. Jenkins told the court he had retained counsel, Mark Schamel, who was unable to attend the hearing.

Schamel, a partner in Washington firm Venable LLP, did not return requests for comment in the case. The Culpeper County Sheriffs Office also has not responded to requests for comment.

Jenkins announced his bid for a fourth term in office in the November election earlier this month.
Culpeper was recently ranked No. 6 on a list of the 10 Truly Underrated Towns in Virginia that Deserve to be Explored. While popular tourist destinations like Richmond and Williamsburg often steal the spotlight, there are numerous underrated towns in Virginia that are worth exploring, according to a June 22 story at TheTravel.com, by Ansa Javiad. Culpeper beat Fredericksburg, technically a city, which came in at No. 7. In the top spot was Middleburg, situated in the heart of Virginia wine and horse country in Loudon County. From the quaint charm of Staunton and the historic allure of Abingdon to the scenic landscapes of Harrisonburg and the cultural vibrancy of Fredericksburg, Virginia is brimming with lesser-known treasures, according to the list. Get ready for a journey to unveil these lesser-known places, each with its own unique character and captivating attractions. Its time to step off the beaten path and uncover the true essence of Virginias hidden gems. Rounding out the list are Cape Charles, Floyd, Lexington, Smithfield, Harrisonburg, Abingdon and Staunton. For here, the listing states, Culpeper is a historic town in Culpeper County, Virginia. Founded in 1759, the town played a significant role during the American Civil War, with several battles and skirmishes occurring in the surrounding area. The towns downtown area features well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century architecture, with the main street lined with boutique shops, restaurants, art galleries and historic landmarks offering a glimpse into its rich past. Culpeper is known for its wineries and craft breweries allowing visitors to enjoy wine tastings and tours at various vineyards. The town also hosts several festivals and events throughout the year including the Culpeper Air Fest featuring aerial displays showcasing vintage and modern aircraft, according to

. Popular attractions listed were the Culpeper History Museum, Lake Pelham, Old House Vineyards in Stevensburg and Rockwater Park, home to the countys only public splash park. Last year, the Culpeper town council approved changing Lake Pelham, named for a Confederate, to Lake Culpeper. The town is still waiting to install the new signs at Lake Culpeper Adventures, its watercraft rental site next to Ole Country Store & Bakery on U.S. Route 29.

Culpeper was recently ranked No. 6 on a list of the 10 Truly Underrated Towns in Virginia that Deserve to be Explored.

While popular tourist destinations like Richmond and Williamsburg often steal the spotlight, there are numerous underrated towns in Virginia that are worth exploring, according to a June 22 story at TheTravel.com, by Ansa Javiad.

Culpeper beat Fredericksburg, technically a city, which came in at No. 7.

In the top spot was Middleburg, situated in the heart of Virginia wine and horse country in Loudon County.

From the quaint charm of Staunton and the historic allure of Abingdon to the scenic landscapes of Harrisonburg and the cultural vibrancy of Fredericksburg, Virginia is brimming with lesser-known treasures, according to the list. Get ready for a journey to unveil these lesser-known places, each with its own unique character and captivating attractions. Its time to step off the beaten path and uncover the true essence of Virginias hidden gems.

Rounding out the list are Cape Charles, Floyd, Lexington, Smithfield, Harrisonburg, Abingdon and Staunton.

For here, the listing states, Culpeper is a historic town in Culpeper County, Virginia. Founded in 1759, the town played a significant role during the American Civil War, with several battles and skirmishes occurring in the surrounding area.

The towns downtown area features well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century architecture, with the main street lined with boutique shops, restaurants, art galleries and historic landmarks offering a glimpse into its rich past.

Culpeper is known for its wineries and craft breweries allowing visitors to enjoy wine tastings and tours at various vineyards. The town also hosts several festivals and events throughout the year including the Culpeper Air Fest featuring aerial displays showcasing vintage and modern aircraft, according to TheTravel.com.

Popular attractions listed were the Culpeper History Museum, Lake Pelham, Old House Vineyards in Stevensburg and Rockwater Park, home to the countys only public splash park.

Last year, the Culpeper town council approved changing Lake Pelham, named for a Confederate, to Lake Culpeper. The town is still waiting to install the new signs at Lake Culpeper Adventures, its watercraft rental site next to Ole Country Store & Bakery on U.S. Route 29.
Storms coming out of Chugwater and Hawk Springs, Wyoming, led to tornados and hail in the Panhandle on Friday, June 23.

The primary storm tracked through Chugwater to Hawk Springs to Scottsbluff. Its what we call a cyclic tornadic thunderstorm. It periodically produces tornados that drop down and then back up, said Rob Cox, National Weather Service in Cheyenne, Wyoming, meteorologist.

The secondary storm produced more hail from pea to softball size. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research Extension and Education Center had some of the larger hail damage vehicles, the greenhouse, and many of the plots with various crops.

One of the crops at the extension center hit hard was the winter peas, in a research study led by Dipak Santra, Nebraska Extension alternative crop breeding specialist.

It was a beautiful-looking field, I was so happy last week, he said. I came on Saturday morning, and everything was flat.

The winter peas were in the flowering stage, and many had pods, but after the hail, the plants are a loss. Santra had some other plots of spring peas, which were not as far along in growth and could still produce a decreased yield. He cautions growers with peas to be on the lookout for bacterial blight.

Anytime enough plant material or foliage is lost, it increases the chance of bacterial or fungal disease.

Its always possible, but the disease had to be present before it would spread around, said Bob Harveson, Nebraska Extension plant pathologist.

With the damage to plants, the likely challenge will be bacterial, such as bacterial wilt and common blight. Harveson said both are distributed through winds, debris, or splashing water.

The dry edible beans at the extension took the biggest hit but look to be okay, and the Mitchell plots are good. Another problem the extension and area growers will need to be aware of is weeds.

Weeds germinate better when there is not any vegetation above them, said Nevin Lawrence, Nebraska Extension integrated weed management specialist. With the defoliation that did occur, we can expect more weed germination.

The lack of a canopy could mean applying a soil residual herbicide to prevent weeds. Lawrence said, depending on your last herbicide application. You may already have an effective herbicide applied. If not for corn and sugar beets, herbicides include Dual and Warrant, and in dry edible beans, post-emergence growers can use Outlook.

If you decide to replant, Lawrence said growers should be aware of replanting restrictions if they go from corn to dry bean or wheat.

The center, like many farmers, has crop insurance on some of its plots.

Producers who have crop damage from the storm should be in close contact with their crop insurance agent, said Jessica Groskopf, Panhandle Ag Economist. Once a field has been inspected by an adjustor, options for management of affected fields will be more clear.

For more information on hail and crops, visit disaster.unl.edu/ or cropwatch.unl.edu/hail-know/hail-storm-0.
SEWARD, Neb.  On May 6, Concordia University, Nebraska awarded undergraduate and graduate degrees to more than 300 graduates. The class of 2023 was honored during undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremonies.

At the ceremony, Concordia Nebraska President Bernard Bull encouraged graduates to embrace opportunities with a combination of boldness and humility while using their gifts, talents and abilities to serve God and others.

Quinton Janecek, of Gering, earned a Bachelor of Science-education degree.

Michelle Gramling, of Scottsbluff, earned a Master of Education degree and Becky Jo Wylie, of Scottsbluff, earned a Master of Education degree.
Two people were arrested on felony drug charges following a traffic stop by the Iredell County Sheriffs Office this week on River Highway in Mooresville.

Mandy Leigh Hampton, 50, of Aransas Pass, Texas, was charged with felony possession of a Schedule I controlled substance, felony possession of methamphetamine, felony maintaining a vehicle for sale or use of controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. A magistrate set bond at $8,000.

Trinity Timogene Johnson, 45, of Kings Mountain, was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Johnson was also charged with being a fugitive in North Carolina due to a felony warrant from Louisiana for vehicle theft. A magistrate set bond at $80,000.

Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell, in a news release, said that Sgt. David Souther stopped a Nissan Rogue on River Highway, Mooresville, for a traffic violation. He said the driver, Hampton, was extremely nervous and sweating profusely.

Iredell County Sheriffs Office Deputy James Kent arrived on the scene along with Mooresville Police Officer James Ramey and K-9 Kato.

K-9 Kato performed an open-air sniff and gave a positive indication on the vehicle for the odor of a narcotic, Campbell said. Upon search of the vehicle, 16.46 grams of psychedelic mushrooms and three grams of methamphetamine were located, he said.
(Photo : MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Israel's Mossad spy agency announced that it had "apprehended" an Iranian conspiring to assassinate an Israeli in Cyprus.

Israel's Mossad spy agency announced on Thursday that its agents in Iran had apprehended the alleged leader of an Iranian assassination squad that was planning to assassinate Israeli businesspeople in Cyprus.

The Mossad, which rarely communicates with the media, reported that the individual had provided investigators with a detailed "confession." According to the report, the information was relayed to authorities in Cyprus, where security services dismantled the cell.

Mossad Busted an Alleged Plot Against Israelis in Cyprus

Breaking: In a counter-terrorist operation on Iranian soil, the Mossad apprehended the head of a terror cell which planned on attacking Israelis in Cyprus, thwarting the attack.



Senior Mossad official: "We will reach whoever foments terrorism against Jews and Israelis around the pic.twitter.com/UKZDVQNe11  Israel   (@Israel) June 29, 2023

The Israeli claim could not be immediately verified, and neither Iran nor Cyprus immediately responded. Israel views Iran as its greatest adversary, citing the Iranian government's calls for Israel's destruction and support for militant organizations hostile to Israel.

In addition, it accuses Iran of attempting to develop a nuclear weapon, which Iran denies. Israel is believed to be responsible for a series of attacks on Iranian nuclear experts and facilities inside Iran over the years. Israel strikes Iranian targets frequently in neighboring Syria, as per AP News.

Israel revealed five years ago that the Mossad had seized from an Iranian warehouse a vast collection of documents pertaining to Iran's nuclear program. Israel released footage on Thursday of a man it identified as the leader of the Iranian cell, Yusef Shahabazi Abbasalilu, stating that he received his directives from Iran's potent Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Moreover, he claims that he scouted the target and photographed the target's residence in Cyprus, but escaped the Mediterranean island nation and returned to Iran after learning that police were searching for him. It was unclear whether the individual spoke under duress.

The statement comes after the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded "the thwarting of an Iranian terrorist attack against Israeli targets in Cyprus" on Sunday, without providing any additional information.

Read Also: New Disturbing Hunter Biden Text Messages Prove Family's Corruption Scandal

Iran's Nuclear Program

Local media, citing unverified sources, reported a foiled plot to attack Israeli or Jewish targets by suspects operating from an unrecognized statelet in the north of the divided Mediterranean island. Cypriot authorities have declined to comment on the matter. AFP was unable to verify a Mossad-distributed video in which a man claiming to be Abbasalilu describes his arrival in Cyprus and plans to murder an Israeli with the assistance of "Pakistanis" there.

According to Al Arabiya, the individual then recalls being instructed by his Iranian superiors to return to Iran because Cypriot authorities were pursuing him.

"As a result of the intelligence he provided to investigators, the cell was dismantled in an operation by the Cypriot security services," Mossad said, noting "a string of arrests in Cyprus last week."

The Israeli spy agency stated that it had uncovered "a continuing endeavor to carry out terrorist attacks and injure Israelis and Jews worldwide."

Per WION, Iran denies Israel's allegations that it is attempting to acquire nuclear weapons. Netanyahu stated at a military ceremony on Thursday that Israel would not be constrained by any international agreement regarding Tehran's nuclear program, adding, "We will retain our right and responsibility to defend ourselves independently against any threat."

Related Article: US Approves $5.62 Billion Sale of F-35 Stealth Fighter as Biggest Arms Buyers Look for Next Generation Fighter Jets

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A female inmate is receiving medical attention after jumping from a moving vehicle Thursday afternoon near the Wye at Tennant Way and northbound Interstate 5 near Kelso.

According to Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Matt Beaulaurier, the woman was being transferred from Clark County to Wahkiakum County.

Wahkiakum County Undersheriff Gary Howell said the woman, who was wearing restraints, exited through a partially open window of a Ford F-150 truck driven by a Wahkiakum County corrections officer.

Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Will Finn also told The Daily News the woman jumped from a vehicle driven by a Wahkiakum County employee.

Howell said the woman was picked up on a warrant in Clark County for a fourth-degree domestic violence assault charge.

Beaulaurier said the woman's injuries were traumatic, and she was transported by Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue to St. John Medical Center in Longview.

One ambulance, a fire engine from Cowlitz 2, plus another fire engine from Longview Fire responded to the incident, he added.

Her medical status is unknown at this time.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include details on incident.
MORTON  Sara Smiley and husband Jason Sawyer own a woodworking shop in downtown Morton where they sell topographic maps and niche furniture.

Smiley is a board member on the Lewis County Dignity Guild, a nonprofit that hosted this years Lewis County Pride event and provides signs frequently seen across the county that read rural Americans against racism and Pride flag-colored signs that read Lewis County Welcomes Everyone.

Smiley and Sawyers shop window is adorned with the signs and Pride flags. Out front, they have a rainbow bench called The Buddy Bench. The week of June 13, someone vandalized their window.

Then, early in the morning on Saturday, June 24, the business was one in a string of four locations significant to the Dignity Guild that were vandalized: four full-sized windows were smashed in.

At the other three sites, a rainbow-painted fence in Chehalis, The Friendship Fence, was splattered with black paint; the organizations new headquarters in Chehalis near the county courthouse had several windows broken; and a flagpole that hosted a Pride flag was bent and the flag stolen.

I feel pretty confident this was a hate-inspired crime, Smiley said.

Sawyer chimed in: Im going to say straight-up, this is a hate crime. This was a targeted attack on people who are advocates for LGBTQ and anti-racist people in the area.

The U.S. Department of Justice website states federally and often on the state level, hate crimes are defined as crimes motivated by bias against the victims perceived or actual race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability.

The department lists vandalism as a common hate motivated crime  defining hate as not necessarily rage and severe dislike, but as criminal motivation from bias.

Sawyer said there was recent vandalism at a business neighboring theirs in Morton where, according to a police report, the culprit reported he was mad about the gay stuff.

Smiley and Sawyer both felt sure the vandalism was because of Smileys affiliation with the Dignity Guild.

According to the guilds President Kyle Wheeler, the timeline of the four locations are sequential, the first was around 1 a.m., the second around 1:30 a.m., the third at about 1:45 a.m., and the shop window in Morton was broken at approximately 2:28 a.m.

Sawyer and Smiley have video footage of the incident from surveillance cameras and said there were two adult men involved in the window-smashing with a third person keeping watch. The Morton Police Department investigated on the day of the incident, and the business owners intend to provide the department their video footage this week, the duo said.

At the time of the event, a Morton police officer did not definitively categorize the investigation as one into a hate crime, Sawyer said, but he was hoping that after a full rundown of that mornings events, the department may change its mind.

It needs to be prioritized as a hate crime, Sawyer said.

Asked if the vandalism, which began with the bench being spray-painted several months ago, would deter the shopkeepers from placing LGBTQ+ advocate signage in their windows again, Smiley said, No. Were not going to stop supporting and advocating for people. We knew this was a risk.

In a statement, the Dignity Guild wrote, We will not be intimidated or deterred from our mission or our communities. Law enforcement reports have been filed in all cases.

Work parties for repairing the various locations have been scheduled. The first, in Morton, was being held at noon on Monday. The Friendship Fence in Chehalis will be repainted by a work party beginning at 8 a.m. on Friday.

The Dignity Guild is accepting donations through its website for the various sites repairs. Smiley and Sawyer said they may also open a crowdfunding account in the weeks to come in order to add more security to the business.

Our community needs to rally. Morton, those in Chehalis, neighbors and people who are a part of this larger community. I just dont want us to feel afraid for any of us to have any opinion that we have, Sawyer said. We dont all agree and thats the beautiful thing.
The rumble of dump trucks and smell of dark soil filled the air on Spirit Lake Memorial Highway on Thursday, as bright-vested crews worked to quickly fix the damage done by what officials called an uncommonly destructive debris slide last month that wiped out a key access point to Mount St. Helens.

PHOTOS: South Coldwater debris slide cleanup near Mount St. Helens Close WSDOT project engineer Paul Mason talks about clearing debris from the South Coldwater Slide from Spirit Lake Memorial Highway on Thursday, June 29. The landslide moved about 300,000 cubic feet of dirt downhill causing a washout at milepost 49. An excavator cleans debris from the north side of the washout zone on Thursday, June 29. Debris fell 2,000 feet from the adjacent hillside. Scarsella Brothers, Inc. employees work to install culverts at the site of the South Coldwater Slide on Spirit Lake Memorial Highway on Thursday, June 29. Currently there is no access past the winter gate, or milepost 45.2. WSDOT contracted Scarsella Brothers, Inc. to clear debris and stabilize the slope above Spirit Lake Memorial Highway. They began work on Thursday. An excavator dumps debris into a scalping screen to sort rocks from the soil. The material will then be used to build up the embankment. Paul Mason, of the WSDOT Chehalis office, talks to reporters about the destruction of the South Coldwater Slide and the plan to clean up the debris and rebuild the roadway. Culverts are installed to help prevent future washouts. There were no culverts installed under the 30-year-old roadway before the incident. +8 +8 +8 +8 +8 +8 +8 +8 +8 +8

The Washington State Department of Transportation, under an emergency contract, is overseeing the efforts to clear debris that destroyed an 80-foot bridge and both lanes of the road leading to the Johnston Ridge Observatory on State Route 504.

The observatory is closed for the summer, said Gala Miller, Gifford Pinchot National Forest's public affairs officer.

WSDOT crews are hoping to reopen full public access to the road by spring 2024. Under the 30-day emergency contract, crews will install two new drainage pipes where the bridge once stood and build a one-lane detour road visitors can use to get around.

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The slide happened May 14, when 300,000 cubic yards of material skated down the hillside, taking out trees and some concrete with it, all within a half-hour.

WSDOT project engineer Paul Mason told reporters Thursday the slide happened fast, with 120 dump-trucks-worth of debris pouring down the hillside every minute.

"If you were standing right here when it happened, you were sinking in," Mason said. "Having those 300,000 cubic yards of debris from one slide is definitely not common."

The roads around Spirit Lake Memorial Highway are blocked to the public. The triangular-shaped closure area starts roughly at the Hummocks Trailhead and ends just west of the still-open Harry's Ridge boundary, according to an updated map provided by the U.S. Forest Service.

The area is now much more stable, Mason said. The U.S. Forest Service shrunk the original closure area two weeks ago, according to a news release.

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Crews have made good progress on finishing the emergency project, Mason said, which was approved through state and federal authorities and allowed them to swiftly hire a contractor to start excavation.

The state has a list of contractors it turns to when emergencies like this happen, Mason said; they chose Scarsella Brothers, Inc. for this particular project.

Mason said he estimates the current project to cost roughly $500,000  paid for with state funds that are set aside for natural emergencies like this one  and spans 2 to 3 acres. They hope to get the expense reimbursed through the federal government at some point.

This project is a short-term solution, he said. Both state and federal officials will have to work together in the next year on establishing better-protected structures in case a landslide like this happens again.

"We do not have funding, we do not have a design," Mason said. "There are a lot of questions about what we'll be able to do in terms of long-term solutions."

Miller said the slide closed the Johnston Ridge Observatory indefinitely  only one day before it was set to open for the spring and summer, according to a previous report in The Daily News. This will result in lost revenue for the U.S. Forest Service, revenue that goes toward upkeeping facilities, paying staff and providing other services.

"It will be closed for the rest of the summer," Miller said, "which means we won't have any of that fee collection for 2023. That also means we won't have as many services in 2024."

The U.S. Forest Service said in a news release the closures will not affect any trail or Coldwater Lake access in the area, but those wishing to hike or bike on the South Coldwater Trail should stay on the shoulder of the highway.

People can still visit the Mount St. Helens Science and Learning Center at Coldwater between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily; the Forest Learning Center on 17000 Spirit Lake Memorial Highway; and the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake at 3029 Spirit Lake Memorial Highway.

The Hummocks Trail also recently reopened, and if hikers want to undertake an 11-mile round trip, they can hike up to the closed observatory.

"We don't want the message to be, 'Don't come,'" Miller said.

Mason said weather played a role in the slide, with the region experiencing an unusually cold, wet winter followed by abruptly hot, dry weather. The sudden change in temperature and humidity likely loosened some of the debris.

Mason said there was no unusual seismic activity recorded before or after the slide, adding, "It wasn't an earthquake or anything like that."

The landslide started about 2,000 feet above where the bridge once stood, Mason said.

"It would have been breathtaking to see," Mason said, "and thankfully, no one was hurt."

Long-term fixes will have to wait while crews finish installing the culverts and detour roads, Mason said.

WSDOT must work with the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to secure permits and design new plans, he said.

The Institute hosts educational school trips up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, but after the slide, Miller said several schools canceled out of an abundance of caution. The food truck that stood outside the observatory will have to move.

Still, the U.S. Forest Service has pivoted and will set up a makeshift observatory out of the Mount St. Helens Science and Learning Center, Miller said. They quickly installed new facilities and will provide as many of the services as they can considering the circumstances.

"I think it's an interesting time for all of us," Miller said.
Microsoft President Brad Smith on Thursday talked up the benefits of regulating artificial intelligence and how the U.S. software giant can help, reiterating a message to a Brussels audience that he delivered in Washington last month.

Together with Twitter-owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Smith has sought to court regulators and lawmakers with calls for regulating AI, a technology that has drawn massive public interest with the arrival of Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Big Tech has shared suggestions on how best to regulate AI, which could help to blunt some of the impact of such rules on their business.

The European Union is working out the details of rules known as the AI Act, a global first that could set the benchmark for other countries.

"Our intention is to offer constructive contributions to help inform the work ahead," Smith said in a blogpost. He subsequently reiterated his message at a conference in Brussels.

He said Microsoft's five-point blueprint for governing AI, which includes government-led AI safety frameworks, safety brakes for AI systems that control critical infrastructure and ensuring academic access to AI aligns with the EU's proposed legislation.

Smith also urged the EU, the United States, G7 countries, India and Indonesia to work together on AI governance in line with their shared values and principles.
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new virtual reality (VR) app which takes users on a journey back in time to ancient Greece where they are able to experience first-hand what it was like to consult with the Greek god Zeus at the Oracle of Dodona has been developed by a team of academics led by the University of Bristol.

The aim of the project is to enhance historical understanding of ancient Greek oracle consultation and to explore the role of VR technology in classrooms, museums and cultural settings. It also aims to provide insights and a richer understanding of sensory processing and brain activity in users of VR.

An oracle was a site where ancient Greek men and women asked the gods to answer questions about the past, the present and the future often writing down their questions on lead tabletsmany of which have survived to the present day.

Dodona in Epirus, north western Greece, was one of the oldest oracle sites dating back to the second millennium BCE with some of the earliest accounts describing Dodona as an oracle of Zeus. It was considered second only to the more famous Oracle of Delphi in reputation and remained an important religious sanctuary until the rise of Christianity during the late Roman era.

The VR experience draws on ancient evidence to imagine a visit to the oracle of Zeus at Dodona in 465 BCE. Users can choose one of three pathways to meet other pilgrims and hear their stories, before they are able to pose their own questions to the priestesses of Zeus.

Project lead Professor Esther Eidinow from the University of Bristol's Department of Classics and ancient History said, "Oracles helped ancient society to cope with uncertainty and risk. We are focusing on the oracle at Dodona because thousands of questions have survived from the site, written on lead tablets.

"They show that the oracle was consulted not only by community leaders, but also by ordinary men and women, including enslaved people. Studying Dodona can help us to understand their experiences better: both how they responded to uncertainty, and how they related to the gods.

"This project can help us to better understand both ancient and modern experiences ancient experiences of a religious ritual and modern experiences of an immersive historical environment." Credit: University of Bristol

While creating the app, the team consulted with a range of potential users involving them in its design and development. This included sessions with visitors at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

Professor Kirsten Cater from Bristol's Department of Computer Science, said, "In order to create the best VR experience we involved teachers, students, and museums in the design process through co-production, as well as supporting them as users of the final product.

"This approach could have significant findings for enhancing the design and effectiveness of digital cultural experiences, specifically immersive experiences, for use in museum/heritage and educational contexts."

Dr. Michael Proulx from the University of Bath's Department of Psychology, added, "This creative study of ancient history will allow us to make cutting-edge advances in the psychological use of modern technology.

"In examining the experience of an oracle, our methods are revealing what it is like to feel present in that place and momentalmost like a form of time travel to better understand the past.

"This will also help with future VR development as we'll have a richer understanding of the role of multisensory processing and integration to help make VR seem real. The nature of the oracle experience, being something novel for modern people, provides a good basis for creating other virtual experiences outside of our daily lives."

The Virtual Reality Oracle experience is available for free download across multiple platforms. A version compatible with Google Android-based smartphones can be downloaded from the Google Play store and combined with widely available cardboard VR headsets to provide a low-cost entry-level virtual reality experience.

Users of the Meta range of VR headsets (e.g. Quest / Quest 2) can download the app directly from the Meta Store.

A 360-degree video version that is compatible with desktop computers and tablets can be found online via YouTube. For more information and additional support, visit http://www.vroracle.co.uk/experience
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Credit: World Scientific

Artificial Intelligence, beyond the hype and hysteria in headlines today, plays a growing role in daily life and businesswith uses ranging from predictive text to Netflix recommendations to the detection of bank fraud.

Much of that progress is thanks to researchers on the cutting edge of complex scientific exploration.

And there is more to come.

At UC Riverside, a team of four scientists has laid out their vision for using machine learning to maintain, improve and design some of the most sophisticated scientific equipment on Earth.

"Using AI to tackle major scientific challenges not only has the potential to advance science, but also to trickle down to solving problems in everyday life," said Vagelis Papalexakis, associate professor of Computer Science and Engineering at UC Riverside. "GPS being a great example."

A chapter on the UCR team's vision was published in April 2023 by World Scientific in the book "Artificial Intelligence for Science: A Deep Learning Revolution."

Chapter 7, "Machine Learning for Complex Instrument Design and Optimization," explores how AI can refine, improveeven revolutionizelarge-scale scientific experiments. The idea is to leverage machine learning to simulate, computationally, an immense range of possibilities for operations and designnot only saving time, money and resources through efficiencies and comprehensive improvements, but also exploring counterintuitive designs and ideas.

"That sounds futuristicand that is the hope," Papalexakis said. "We are asking, "What is the promise of AI?'"

His co-authors are Barry C. Barish, Nobel Laureate, California Institute of Technology professor of Physics emeritus, and UCR distinguished professor of Physics and Astronomy; Jonathan Richardson, UCR assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy; and Rutuja Gurav, a Ph.D. candidate at UCR in computer science.

Their approach could enhance the design and operation of elaborate engineering, including the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory. LIGO, managed by Caltech, comprises two sets of two 2.5-mile-long laser beams, in Washington state and Louisiana, that detect gravitational waves from cosmic phenomena such as pairs of black holes merging that emit no light and thus can't be observed visually.

Gravitational waves help scientists understand the mysteries of space, the origins of the universe and fundamental laws of physics. LIGO itself has opened a new frontier in astronomy, with findings so groundbreaking that Barish, the former director of LIGO, shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.

"Advances in experimental physics rely on our ability to develop highly complex state-of-the-art instruments," Barish said. "Machine learning is playing a larger and larger role in the conception, design and the implementation of such advanced experimental facilities. It is fair to say that AI is becoming a full partner in making new discoveries in physics."

The new research envisioned would, for example, help scientists learn how to improve or even design end-to-end instruments in ways that improve their sensitivity and resilience to real-world sources of error, such as environmental noise.

"Instead of doing this in a lab, AI would do the heavy lifting of testing potential designs and finding one that works best" for LIGO's massive infrastructure, Papalexakis said. "It's a computational way of simulating things that will aid significantly in the design of large-scale experiments."

Such approaches would tap and adapt the technology that runs emerging public platforms such as ChatGPT and Bing AI, with large implications for scientific discovery and everyday innovation.

The scientists noted that using AI to test, model and improve large scientific systems would not displace researchers or engineers.

"Frontier experiments like LIGO are incredibly complex instruments, with dozens of interdependent control systems and thousands of data channels," Richardson said. "Our hope is that AI advances, such as those being pursued at UCR, will be able to recognize hidden associations in this sea of data that could diagnose operational problems. This, in turn, would inform new ways that we, as human physicists, can make physical changes that improve the performance of the detector."

The research grew from a student's fascination and a fortuitous meeting.

Gurav, a graduate student working in Papalexakis' computer science lab, brought a fascination with isolating gravitational waves from other noise. Then, a public lecture at UCR four years ago by gravitational-wave expert Barish led the group to meet, talk and collaborate on the project.

Gurav praised her UCR mentors and said, "It is wonderful to see our work included in such an amazingly diverse collection of ideas on applied AI for natural sciences. It marks a special milestone in my rather unconventional Ph.D. journey as an aspiring computer scientist who is deeply interested in exploring applications of machine learning to advance the frontiers of scientific discovery."

Now that the chapter has been published, Papalexakis said, "I feel proud and a little terrified." Publicly laying out research directions for complex scientific study brings "a sense of responsibility that we don't take lightly. But I'm excited that people believe these things are worth investigating."

More information: Alok Choudhary et al, Artificial Intelligence for Science (2023). DOI: 10.1142/13123
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An Indian court has fined Twitter $61,000 after dismissing its plea challenging orders to remove tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

An Indian court on Friday fined Twitter $61,000 after dismissing its plea challenging orders to remove tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

The world's biggest democracy petitions Twitter for content removals more than almost any other country, and the platform regularly takes down or blocks content at the request of Indian authorities.

Friday's decision comes weeks after the company's former chief executive Jack Dorsey said authorities had threatened to "shut down Twitter in India" and raid the homes of its employees if it refused to agree to takedown requests.

The Karnataka state high court in Bengaluru, home to Twitter's Indian operations, dismissed the case and imposed costs of five million rupees ($61,000) after a judge deemed it "devoid of merits", local legal news website LiveLaw reported.

Responding to the verdict, Indian deputy information technology minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar tweeted that platforms operating in the country must "be in compliance with Indian law".

Twitter's India office was contacted for comment.

Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter and stepped down as chief executive in 2021, said this month that Twitter had come under sustained pressure from Indian officials during his tenure.

Chandrasekhar responded at the time by calling Dorsey's accusations an "outright lie."

Twitter said last year that India ranked fourth globally in the number of requests made by a government to remove contentbehind Japan, Russia and Turkey.

In March, the platform blocked the accounts of several journalists during the manhunt for a radical Sikh preacher in the northern state of Punjab.

At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021, the government ordered Twitter and Facebook to remove dozens of posts critical of the government's handling of the outbreak.

Rights groups say freedom of expression is under broad threat in India, which has fallen 21 spots to 161 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index since Modi took office in 2014.

Indian authorities have regularly imposed blanket internet shutdowns during periods of unrest, including a four-month outage in Kashmir during a major security operation in the disputed territory in 2019.

 2023 AFP
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Environmental activists protest against the Japanese government's decision to release treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, near a building which houses the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 30, 2023. The letters read, "Radioactive water in ground facilities." Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

The chief of the U.N. nuclear agency will visit Japan next week to meet with Japanese leaders and see final preparations for the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, officials said Friday.

Japan's government hopes the visit by International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Mariano Grossi will add credibility to the discharge plan. It has been strongly opposed by local fishing groups and by neighboring South Korea, China and some Pacific Island nations over safety concerns.

Grossi will visit Japan July 4-7, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said. He is expected to meet with Hayashi, Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and visit the Fukushima plant, which was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

"Japan attaches great importance to the efforts of the IAEA, which serves an important role in promoting nuclear nonproliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. We hope to further strengthen ties between Japan and the IAEA through this visit," Hayashi said.

The plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, has completed construction of the equipment needed for the planned release, and Japanese regulators were finishing their final inspection on Friday. If everything goes well, TEPCO is expected to receive a permit in about a week to begin the discharge, though the starting date is still undecided, according to the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Environmental activists in Seoul, South Korea, protested on Friday outside the Japanese Embassy against the plan.

To ease overseas concerns, Grossi is expected to visit South Korea, New Zealand and the Cook Islands after his visit to Japan, during which the IAEA is expected to release its final report on the wastewater release plan.

Environmental activists protest against the Japanese government's decision to release treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, near a building which houses the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, June 30, 2023. The signs read, "Oppose to release treated radioactive water from the Fukushima." Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

Japan has sought support from the IAEA to gain credibility for the plan and ensure that safety measures meet international standards. IAEA has dispatched several missions to Japan since early 2022.

All of its interim evaluation reports have been positive and similar results are expected in its final report. The organization has said it has no power to make any decision for the Japanese government, including stopping the wastewater release.

Kishida told Cabinet ministers at a meeting Friday about the water discharge that they should continue efforts to ensure safety and counteract any negative rumors by releasing full explanations, Hayashi said.

Government and utility officials say the wastewater, stored in about 1,000 tanks at the plant, must be removed to prevent accidental leaks and to make room for the plant's decommissioning. They say the treated but still slightly radioactive water will be diluted to levels safer than international standards and will be released gradually into the ocean over decades, making it harmless to people and marine life.

Some scientists say the impact of long-term, low-dose exposure to radionuclides is unknown and the release should be delayed or contained in cement for use in construction materials. Others say the release plan is safe but call for more transparency in sampling and monitoring of the release.

The government says some false documents have been circulated, including one alleging that Japan pressured the IAEA to remove negative information from its final report.

"The IAEA is aware of the existence of the forged documents," Hayashi said. "The IAEA's comprehensive final report is a document prepared under the responsibility of the IAEA, and the Japanese government is not in a position to manipulate its contents," he said. "I would like to stress that we are firmly opposed to any attempt to undermine the independence and neutrality of the IAEA with false information."

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
An anonymous man can be seen going across a street in the brief video posted to Twitter.

As a form of protest against how the UK government is managing climate change, members of 'Just Stop Oil' have glued themselves to numerous streets and stopped traffic.

'Just Stop Oil' Protesters Throwned With Milk for Blocking the Road

(Photo : by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)

Just Stop Oil climate activists, backdropped by The Shard, march slowly over London Bridge on June 27, 2023. Just Stop Oil wants the government to end all new oil and gas exploration and has promised not to let up in its protests until it does so.

And now, it's obvious that some people have had enough after a horrific video of activists getting milk thrown on them surfaced.

There are other Just Stop Oil members ahead, and one tries to give the man a pamphlet. After responding "no," the man with the camera crosses the street, which is blocked by yet another protester gathering. He then throws a milk bottle in their direction and pours it over the head of a young man holding a sign, as reported by LADBible.

Thousands of people have watched the video since it was posted to social media, and some have endorsed the man's behavior. This happened after a motorist struck a protester blocking a road with their vehicle. A car seemed to run over a protester in North London in a video that went viral online as they sought to block traffic.

The driver pushed their foot down, running over one of the protesters' feet because they didn't feel like waiting for them to be removed from the road. The automobile then sped away from the incident.

After the video went viral, Just Stop Oil published it and remarked that they thought "inflammatory language" from politicians and commentators was to blame for the outcome.

Read Also: Climate Change Causes Europe To Warm More Than Twice Any Other Country in Last 30 Years

How the UK Government is Handling Climate Change?

The UK government has several policies in place to tackle climate change. The Climate Change Act 2008 sets a legally binding target for the UK to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

The Carbon Price Floor is also set, a minimum price for carbon emissions in the UK. It is designed to encourage businesses to reduce their emissions by making polluting more expensive.

The Renewable Heat Incentive provides financial incentives for businesses and households to switch to renewable forms of heat, such as solar thermal and biomass. A government-backed deal, The Green Deal, helps homeowners and businesses make energy-saving improvements to their homes and businesses.

The UK government's handling of climate change is a complex issue. There are several factors to consider, including the economic impact of climate change policies, the public's willingness to change their behavior, and the availability of new technologies. However, the UK government has taken some important steps to tackle climate change and is committed to doing more in the future.

Related Article: Climate Change Threat: UN Agency Warns of Reaching Critical Warming Threshold Within 5 Years

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
In 2025, Texas A&M University will receive six new electric buses and three new electric charging stations as part of a $9.65 million Brazos Transit District grant through a federal Department of Transportation grant, according to Texas A&M Today.

The new buses will replace six outdated diesel ones while providing the university with a more economical mode of public transportation.

According to Texas A&M Today, the acquisition of the new buses is part of A&M Transportation Services goal of providing sustainable transportation.

The Federal Transit Administration Buses and Bus Facilities/Low or No Emissions grant was submitted through a partnership between the university and the Brazos Transit District.
(Photo : Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Burisma CEO accused of bribing with the Bidens said "no one" at his business had any communication with Joe Biden when he was vice president.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee has released evidence that puts serious doubt on GOP assertions that the FBI overlooked evidence that President Joe Biden took a bribe from a Ukrainian oil billionaire while vice president.

Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin wrote to House Oversight Committee head James Comer saying Congress had information "that clearly contradicts the claims" against Biden in an FBI form that Republicans have used to accuse the president of corruption.

Is Joe Biden Bribery Accusation a Lie?

Rudolph Giuliani, the disgraced former New York City mayor, flew to Ukraine in 2019 to help then-president Donald Trump find information on Biden, who was planning to run for president in 2020.

Giuliani and his allies met with FBI agents to accuse Biden of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to pressure Ukraine's then-president, Petro Poroshenko, to remove Viktor Shokin in the Obama administration's last months.

Shokin later claimed that this was the reason he was fired, and Republicans-most notably Giuliani-have called Biden's work urging Poroshenko to fire him a personal errand, even though he was expressing the wishes of the US government, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and other Western entities.

Per The Independent, an FBI informant said that Burisma's founder, Mykola Zlochevsky, paid the then-vice president $5 million to campaign for Shokin's termination.

The Burisma founder maintained years ago that his business never had any interaction with the older Biden, according to a transcript of a conversation with Zlochevsky that Giuliani associate Lev Parnas presented to Congress during the first impeachment of Trump.

The transcripts were from a 2019 interview with Burisma CEO Mykola Zlochevsky, who paid Hunter Biden $50,000 monthly to participate on the board. Zlochevksy founded Burisma. Ukrainian energy ministry. He fled the country on corruption accusations.

Republicans claimed that Zlochevsky, a Burisma businessman, paid Hunter and Joe Biden $5 million each during the Obama-Biden administration to convince the Ukrainian government to remove prosecutor Victor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma.

President Biden has long claimed he pressured the Ukrainian government to remove Shokin for corruption. According to Daily Mail, he boasted in 2018 that he threatened to withhold foreign aid if they did not.

Read Also: US Approves $5.62 Billion Sale of F-35 Stealth Fighter as Biggest Arms Buyers Look for Next Generation Fighter Jets

Hunter Biden's Foreign Deals

Republicans want the FBI to release an FD-1023 document from a paid informant detailing Zlochevsky and the Bidens' plot to hide the money's origins through 20 shell firms.

Raskin is countering with a three-page transcript of a July 7, 2019, conversation from the 2019 Trump impeachment investigation. Raskin stated the Oversight Committee got Zlochevsky's taped discussions with Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas' transcripts.

Zlochevksy is also probed about Hunter's meetings with State Department officials, including now-Sec. Antony Blinken, in May and December 2015. A 2015 Hunter Biden laptop email shows Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi praising Hunter for meeting his father at a charity function.

Raskin claims that FBI agents inspected the FD-1023 as part of Rudy Giuliani's corruption charges and found nothing worth investigating. Raskin is using what the committee has to debunk Republican claims, even if the FBI has not confirmed that.

Comer stated that Raskin's transcript did not refute the FD-1023's statements and denied that Giuliani made them. If Ranking Member Raskin feels the FD-1023 form is pointless, he should join us in asking the FBI to release it. Ranking Member Raskin lies again about the FBI's Biden bribery record. Rudy Giuliani didn't provide the FBI with this record.

Comer said he saw the FD-1023, in which a Burisma official says then-Vice President Biden asked and received a $5 million bribe for specific acts. The CEO claims he paid "the big guy" indirectly using so many bank accounts that it would take ten years to untangle.

Related Article: New Disturbing Hunter Biden Text Messages Prove Family's Corruption Scandal

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Covenant Partners LLC bought a new position in Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD  Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 57,396 shares of the banks stock, valued at approximately $150,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Banco Bradesco by 51.0% during the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 10,984 shares of the banks stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 3,712 shares during the period. Dubuque Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Banco Bradesco during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Banco Bradesco during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Banco Bradesco by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 14,657,820 shares of the banks stock valued at $38,403,000 after acquiring an additional 438,000 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in Banco Bradesco by 178.7% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 7,219,937 shares of the banks stock valued at $18,880,000 after acquiring an additional 4,629,179 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.54% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Barclays dropped their price objective on Banco Bradesco from $3.50 to $3.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $11.93.

Banco Bradesco Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE BBD opened at $3.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.86. The firm has a market cap of $35.65 billion, a PE ratio of 10.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.73. Banco Bradesco S.A. has a twelve month low of $2.34 and a twelve month high of $4.16.

Banco Bradesco (NYSE:BBD  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The bank reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.07. The firm had revenue of $9.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.43 billion. Banco Bradesco had a return on equity of 11.66% and a net margin of 9.54%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.12 EPS. Analysts expect that Banco Bradesco S.A. will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banco Bradesco Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 8th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.0039 per share. This is a positive change from Banco Bradescos previous monthly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.05 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 3rd. Banco Bradescos dividend payout ratio is currently 19.35%.

Banco Bradesco Profile

(Free Report)

Banco Bradesco SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services to individuals, corporates, and businesses in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Banking and Insurance. It provides current, savings, click, and salary accounts; real estate credit, vehicle financing, payroll loans, mortgage loans, microcredit, leasing, and personal and installment credit; debit and business cards; financial and security services; consortium products; auto, personal accident, dental, travel, and life insurance; investment products; pension products; real estate and vehicle auctions; cash management, and foreign trade and exchange services; capitalization bonds; and internet banking services.

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In response to pressure from the United States to limit sales of high-tech components to China, the Dutch government on Friday unveiled new regulations limiting exports of specific advanced semiconductor equipment.

Only a "very limited" number of businesses and product types will be impacted, according to Schreinemacher, and China was not named.

As a result of the new regulations, ASML, a Dutch firm that is a significant equipment supplier to manufacturers of computer chips, declared that it will not alter its financial guidance, as reported by Reuters.

The New Regulations

The regulations are anticipated to take effect on September 1 and will require businesses that produce sophisticated chipmaking equipment to apply for a license before they can export it.

The statement was accompanied by a technical document outlining the equipment that will require a license.

The United States and two allies with robust chip equipment industries-The Netherlands and Japan-agreed, at a high level to tighten restrictions in an effort to hinder Beijing's capacity to produce its own chips. This led to the creation of the list.

The second-most advanced "DUV" product line, which is used to make computer chips, will require a license, according to ASML, the largest technology business in Europe.

It specifically mentioned its 2000 series "and subsequent" models and stated that it didn't anticipate the rules to materially affect its financial projections. The most cutting-edge EUV equipment from ASML has never been delivered to China.

Following the news, ASML's shares fell 3.6 percent, while those of its smaller rival, ASM International, fell 1.8 percent.

Export Restrictions to Start in October

On the basis of national security, the United States placed export restrictions in October on shipments of American chipmaking tools from American businesses like Lam Research and Applied Materials to China. It also encouraged other nations with significant suppliers to follow suit.

(Photo: ROBERT VOS/AFP via Getty Images) Veldhoven, NETHERLANDS: Eric Meurice, the CEO of the ASML Holding NV of the Netherlands, the world's leading provider of lithography systems for the semiconductor industry, gives a press conference on 17 January 2007 in Amsterdam to present its company's 2006 results.

China condemned the action, which is part of escalating tensions between the two nations that have involved everything from 5G technology and purported spy balloons to relations with Taiwan.

Read also: US Ban on Chip Export Against China Risks Stagnation of Crucial Semi-Conductor Development to Global Growth

The Tensions Between US and China

The United States and China have been engaged in a long-running rivalry over chipmaking, with both countries vying for dominance in the global semiconductor industry. The stakes are high, as semiconductors are essential for a wide range of products, from smartphones to cars to military equipment.

The US has long been a leader in chipmaking, but China has been making rapid progress in recent years. In 2020 China surpassed the US as the world's largest chip market. China is also investing heavily in chipmaking and is expected to become a major player in the global semiconductor industry in the coming years.

The US is concerned about China's growing dominance in the chip market. They believe that China could use its chipmaking power to achieve strategic goals, such as developing military technology or disrupting the US economy.

In response to these concerns, the US government has imposed a number of restrictions on chip exports to China. The US has also been encouraging its allies to do the same and the Dutch government's decision to restrict chip exports to China is the latest example of this trend.

The tensions between the US and China over chipmaking are likely to continue in the years to come. The outcome of this rivalry will have a significant impact on the global semiconductor industry and the global economy as a whole.

Related article: US Chip Gear Supplier Claims that China Rival Has Been Spying for 14 Months

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Russia allegedly approved a nuclear power plant detonation plan in Zaporizhzhia.

This was shared by a Ukrainian military intelligence directorate (GUR). The GUR claims that the Russian government is already reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility.

Will this alleged Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant detonation be another Chornobyl disaster?

Russia Allegedly Approves Nuclear Power Plant Detonation Plan

According to The Guardian's latest report, some employees at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are already relocating to Crimea.

Read Also: US Approves $5.62 Billion Sale of F-35 Stealth Fighter as Biggest Arms Buyers Look for Next Generation Fighter Jets

The GUR said that several Rosatom representatives also left the nuclear power facility.

The military intelligence added that Ukrainian staff who signed contracts with the Russian state nuclear energy agency and stayed at Zaporizhzhia were told to evacuate by Monday, July 3.

Although this is quite alarming, former senior engineer Oleksiy Kovynyev said that the explosion is expected to only lead to a partial nuclear meltdown.

This means that it won't be like the Chornobyl disaster in 1986. Instead, the ZNPP detonation will be similar to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

In short, most of the radiation caused by the explosion would be contained within the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility.

"In a normal situation, they are absolutely safe. If you wanted, you could destroy them. You could shell several times," added Kovynyev.

Will the ZNPP Detonation Really Happen?

The Kyiv Post reported that the Ukrainian military intelligence directorate who shared the alleged ZNPP detonation plan is Kyrylo Budanov.

During an interview, the Ukranian military intelligence leader confidently said that the Russian government already fully drafted and approved the ZNPP explosion plan.

Budanov added that the only element missing in the plan is the go-signal for the Russian troops.

"Then, it can happen in a matter of minutes," said the Ukrainian military intelligence leader.

If you want to learn more details about the alleged Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant detonation activity of Russia, you can click this link.

Related Article: Putin's Goons Interrogate 'General Armageddon,' Russia President Reportedly Fears Firing 'Dangerous' Defense Minister

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Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer Company Limited (OTCMKTS:SHWGF  Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $1.73 and last traded at $1.73, with a volume of 0 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $1.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday, May 22nd.

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Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer Price Performance

The companys fifty day moving average is $1.73 and its 200-day moving average is $1.67.

About Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer

Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer Company Limited engages in the research and development, production, wholesale, and sale of medical devices in the People's Republic of China. It operates through Medical Device Products, Orthopaedic Products, Interventional Products, Pharma Packaging Products, Blood Management Products, and Others segments.

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Solstein Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:FMX  Free Report) by 7.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,172 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,778 shares during the quarter. Fomento Economico Mexicano makes up about 2.3% of Solstein Capital LLCs holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Solstein Capital LLCs holdings in Fomento Economico Mexicano were worth $2,587,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano during the 1st quarter worth $5,600,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 62.5% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 491,177 shares of the companys stock worth $46,755,000 after buying an additional 188,951 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 52.1% during the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,061 shares of the companys stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 1,734 shares during the period. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 7,694 shares of the companys stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 3,441 shares of the companys stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period.

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Fomento Economico Mexicano Price Performance

NYSE:FMX opened at $110.59 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $102.26 and a 200-day moving average of $92.24. Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. has a 52 week low of $58.73 and a 52 week high of $111.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Increases Dividend

Fomento Economico Mexicano ( NYSE:FMX Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 28th. The company reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $9.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. Fomento Economico Mexicano had a net margin of 10.38% and a return on equity of 10.53%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. will post 4.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 5th were given a $1.0138 dividend. This represents a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 4th. This is a boost from Fomento Economico Mexicanos previous semi-annual dividend of $0.85. Fomento Economico Mexicanos dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.49%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FMX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 92 Resources reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from $103.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from $102.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, March 27th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano in a report on Friday, March 3rd. They issued a buy rating for the company. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Fomento Economico Mexicano from a reduce rating to a hold rating and increased their price target for the company from $84.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $109.05.

Fomento Economico Mexicano Company Profile

(Free Report)

Fomento Economico Mexicano, SAB. de C.V., through its subsidiaries, operates as a bottler of Coca-Cola trademark beverages. The company produces, markets, and distributes Coca-Cola trademark beverages in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.

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Solstein Capital LLC cut its holdings in shares of Danaher Co. (NYSE:DHR  Free Report) by 33.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,067 shares of the conglomerates stock after selling 539 shares during the period. Solstein Capital LLCs holdings in Danaher were worth $269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Danaher during the first quarter valued at $25,000. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC acquired a new position in shares of Danaher during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. acquired a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. My Personal CFO LLC purchased a new stake in Danaher in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Private Ocean LLC boosted its holdings in Danaher by 1,485.7% in the 4th quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 111 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 75.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 9,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.27, for a total transaction of $2,436,512.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 91,423 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $22,423,319.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Joakim Weidemanis sold 9,934 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.27, for a total transaction of $2,436,512.18. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 91,423 shares of the companys stock, valued at $22,423,319.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Raskas sold 19,847 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $228.50, for a total transaction of $4,535,039.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 38,673 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,836,780.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,466 shares of company stock valued at $8,103,781 over the last three months. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Danaher Price Performance

NYSE DHR opened at $237.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $235.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.67. The stock has a market cap of $175.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.80. Danaher Co. has a 52 week low of $221.22 and a 52 week high of $303.82.

Danaher (NYSE:DHR  Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The conglomerate reported $2.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.26 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $7.06 billion. Danaher had a return on equity of 16.70% and a net margin of 22.40%. The firms revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Danaher Co. will post 9.43 EPS for the current year.

Danaher Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 30th will be given a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. Danahers dividend payout ratio is 11.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DHR shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Danaher from $289.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. SVB Securities initiated coverage on Danaher in a report on Monday, May 1st. They set an outperform rating and a $300.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Danaher from $270.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Bank of America cut Danaher from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $310.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on Danaher from $325.00 to $300.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $294.06.

About Danaher

(Free Report)

Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The Biotechnology segments offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services; lab filtration, separation, and purification; lab-scale protein purification and analytical tools; reagents, membranes and services; and healthcare filtration solutions.

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A hazardous chemical found in the Roanoke River has made its way to Smith Mountain Lake, more than 40 miles downstream from the likely source.

Testing by the Virginia Department of Health detected GenX, a so-called forever chemical used in the manufacture of many consumer products, in lake water that is treated and distributed to customers in the surrounding area.

The concentration was 5 parts per trillion, below a government health advisory that recommends no more than 10 parts per trillion over a lifetime of consumption.

Nonetheless, the Western Virginia Water Authority wrote in a June 15 letter to its customers in the area that it wanted to make you aware of this test data.

It came as little surprise that GenX has lasted so long and spread so far after being released into the South Fork of the Roanoke River from a company in Montgomery County.

They are called forever chemicals for a reason, Mark Barker of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League said of GenX and other PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, that do not break down naturally in the environment.

Prolonged exposure to PFAS can increase the risk of some cancers, compromise the bodys immune system and cause reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or high blood pressure in pregnant women, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The water authority was recently informed of the Health Departments tests, which were part of a statewide effort to determine how widespread the man-made chemicals are in public drinking water supplies.

A water treatment plant at the lake is operated by the authority in partnership with the Bedford Regional Water Authority. Smith Mountain Lake is the primary source of drinking water for customers in the Westlake and Scruggs Road areas of Franklin County.

This drinking water is filtered and disinfected prior to going to our customers, and the water system is in full compliance with all drinking water standards, the letter stated.

Last year, the authority identified ProChem, an industrial water management company, as the source of contamination from its Elliston location on the banks of the Roanoke Rivers south fork.

Equipment tainted with GenX was being cleaned by ProChem in a process that generated waste water which was inadvertently sent to a public treatment plant, the company has said, and then released into the river.

ProChem stopped servicing the equipment last September, and levels in the river have gradually decreased.

GenX was first discovered in 2020 in Spring Hollow reservoir, about 5 miles downstream from ProChem. Concentrations in Spring Hollow and the Roanoke River, which supplies the reservoir, were well above the 10 parts per trillion threshold set by the EPA.

A carbon filtering system has reduced the level. The most recent samples of treated drinking water, taken June 9, show a concentration of 5.4 parts per trillion.

But other tests show that GenX is still present upstream of Spring Hollow, prompting the water authority to stop pumping water from the Roanoke River to fill the reservoir.

As a result, water levels have dropped steadily over the last year. Despite the recent rains, the reservoir was at 37.2 feet below full pond Tuesday, meaning that it has about 58% of its capacity remaining.

The water authority has reduced by half of the amount of water it distributes from Spring Hollow, which goes to about 12,800 customers, most of them in Roanoke County.

To make up the difference, more water has been drawn from Carvins Cove, which has tested negative for forever chemicals previously and again in the Health Departments latest sampling.
A fellow went to the hospital to visit his dying business partner. Suddenly the dying man began to speak.

John, he said, before I go I must confess some things. I know I am going to die. I want you to know that I robbed the firm of $80,000 several years ago. I sold our secret formula to our competitors, and also, John, Im the fellow who supplied your wife with the evidence that got her a divorce and cost you a small fortune.

John murmured, Thats OK, old man. Im the guy who poisoned you.

Im writing today about the theme of trying to make sense of suffering. The story I started with today is a light-hearted introduction to a very serious subject. The confessions of the two men do make sense of much of their suffering. But I know I have a hard time with the whole theme of the pain we experience in life. Its a very important subject to discuss and think about.

When it comes to suffering we are all in the same biological boat. From our first childhood bruise to our last breath, we all know the subjects of pain and suffering.

The life of Christ can teach us about how we might cope with suffering. Some think Jesus could cope because he didnt experience pain the same as we do. The whole point of Jesus coming to earth was to show us that Jesus experienced the whole range of what it is to be human. On the cross Jesus was teaching some of his greatest lessons. He let us know he experienced the pain of loneliness, when he said, My God, My God why have you forsaken me?

Jesus used suffering in a way that is uncommon to most of us. Rather than stonewalling against it, Jesus turned suffering, pain and loneliness into a laboratory of love and sacrifice. There seem to be only two philosophies of suffering: First that it can give courage; it tempers and purges. The second is that suffering degrades, impedes and spoils. The scriptures hold to the first view and would teach us, through the example of Christ, that suffering not only can be a life-preserver but it also can be endured with dignity.

Father Damian was a Belgium missionary who went to serve 600 lepers on a small island near Honolulu, Hawaii. He was dreadfully lonely as the only healthy man on the island. One day he spilled some boiling water on his foot but felt no pain. He knew it was a moment of self-revelation  he also was a leper. A strange joy surged in his heart. He rang the church bell to draw all the people. He spread his arms and said, Fellow lepers, my fellow lepers.

Prayer: Our Lord, may we follow your example to use all of life as an opportunity to show grace and love. Amen.
The United States flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over the Korean Peninsula Friday in its joint aerial drills with South Korea. The latest show of force followed after North Korea staged an anti-US rally to commemorate the beginning of the Korean War.

In a statement, the South Korean Defense Ministry said the B-52 flyover was part of a series of temporary US deployments of strategic assets in the country in response to the North's expanding nuclear weapons program. It added the B-52 deployment boosted the visibility of US strategic assets to the peninsula, demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and would continue joint drills involving US strategic bombers.

While North Korea has not made any public weapons tests since June 15, the deployment of US bombers could be a reason for them to resume missile testing.

Read Also: North Korea Slams Official Responsible for Failed Spy Satellite Launch, Calls Shortcoming the 'Gravest Failure'

US President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol made an agreement to enhance the "regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets" to the peninsula during their Washington summit in April.

Two weeks ago, the US deployed its Ohio-class nuclear-powered guided missile submarine USS Michigan to South Korean waters for the first time in six years after Pyongyang resumed missile tests to protest previous US-South Korean drills, which it perceived as a pretext for an invasion. Michigan is capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles aboard.

In late May, North Korea attempted to launch its first spy satellite in orbit, which ended in failure. Pyongyang has repeatedly said it would attempt a second launch, saying it was crucial to build a space-based surveillance system to cope with what it called US hostility.

Related Article: North Koreans Rally to 'Annihilate' US in Annual Commemoration of Korean War

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Former vice chief of HCMC tax department given 4-year jail term

By Tri Duc Fri, June 30, 2023 | 11:07 pm GTM+7

Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh, former vice chief of the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department, was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday for "violating rules on state asset management" in the Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation scandal.

Other defendants, also former staff of the tax department, were given sentences ranging from suspended 30-month jail terms to four years behind bars for helping Hanh and for their "lack of responsibility, causing serious consequences".

Nguyen Vu Bao Hoang, former general director of Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation (Thuduc House), was sentenced to six years in jail for "fraudulently appropriating property" and "violating accounting rules, causing serious consequences".

Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh in court in HCMC on June 6, 2023. Photo courtesy of Young People newspaper.

The court said Hanh and the tax officers had wrongly approved tax refunds 15 times for Thuduc House and neglected signs of tax management risks, causing a loss of VND365 billion ($15.5 million) to the state. Hanh and the other defendants had admitted to their violations.

The heaviest punishments of 30 years in jail went to Tran Nhat Thanh and Mac Van Nguyen, two of Trinh Tien Dung's accomplices, the mastermind behind the crime.

Overall, 67 defendants were given 13 suspended jail terms, five financial penalties, and 49 jail terms.

Thuduc House has already paid back VND365 billion ($15.5 million), so some defendants were given reduced sentences.

From 2016 to 2020, Trinh Tien Dung, currently a fugitive, directed people to set up "ghost" companies in Vietnam and abroad to take advantage of a state policy that encourages enterprises to export electronic components with a tax rate of 0%.

The investigative agency said that Dung had hooked up with officers in District 1, 3, and 5 tax departments; then together with Luu Thi Ngat, director of Khanh Hung Company, used 16 "ghost" companies to issue false VAT invoices, legalizing input for Thuduc House, Southwest Saigon Company, and Hoang Nam Anh Company to receive VAT refunds.

Dung is still on the run, the investigation agency will handle his crimes in a separate case as soon as he is arrested.
Foxconn licensed to invest $246 mln in Quang Ninh province

By Tri Duc Fri, June 30, 2023 | 11:05 am GTM+7

Quang Ninh province granted investment certificates to two projects proposed by Apple supplier Foxconn with total registered capital of $246 million on Thursday, just 12 hours after the applications were submitted, rather than the usual 14-day process.

Quang Ninh Acting Chairman Cao Tuong Huy (front, right) grants investment certificates to Foxconn at a ceremony in the northern province on June 29, 2023. Photo courtesy of Quang Ninh newspaper.

The 6.3-hectare FECV Foxconn Quang Ninh factory, with an investment of $200.24 million, is set to enter operation in January 2025, employing 1,200 people. The factory will manufacture and assemble electronic components, chargers, and charger controllers for electric vehicles.

The 4.1-hectare FMMV Foxconn Quang Ninh plant, with an investment of $46 million, is scheduled to enter operation in October 2024, employing 700 people. It will manufacture components for communications and IT products.

Both projects are located in Song Khoai Industrial Park. The facility, invested by Thailands biggest industrial developer Amata, is looking to attract $1 billion in 12 projects this year, raising the total investments in the park to $2.6 billion. Amatas three operational IPs in Vietnam are the 513-hectare Amata City Bien Hoa and 410-hectare Amata City Long Thanh, both in Dong Nai province near Ho Chi Minh City, and the 710-hectare Amata City Halong, also known as Song Khoai Industrial Park, in Quang Ninh.

Speaking at the ceremony, a Foxconn executive lauded the northern coastal provinces business and natural environment, especially leading the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) for six years in a row.

Logo of Foxconn, a world's top electronics production contractor. Photo courtesy of the firm.

The PCI 2022, released by the VCCI and USAID on Tuesday, is the 18th edition of the ranking based on the business environment and improvements to administrative procedures in cities and provinces across Vietnam.

In reply, Quang Ninh Acting Chairman Cao Tuong Huy appreciated Foxconns investment and called on the Taiwan-based giant to invest more in the province. With the new projects, Foxconn now has three projects in Quang Ninh province with total registered capital of $300 million, or 10% of its total investment in Vietnam, the executive added.
Retired American naval officers join Vietnam-focused energy firm

By Van Minh Fri, June 30, 2023 | 2:18 pm GTM+7

Texas-based project development company Energy Capital Vietnam (ECV) announced Friday it was forming a maritime security council with the participation of two retired senior naval officers.

The council will identify, inform and incorporate the implementation of international best standards and practices for safe and secure maritime trade; inform and assist applicable policy development; and promote ECVs development mission and values within Vietnam, the company said in a release.

Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, U.S. Navy, retired will join former Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius on the advisory board of the Houston headquartered company. Vice Admiral Sean A. Pybus, U.S. Navy, retired will join the newly created maritime security council, which will be chaired by Admiral Locklear.

Admiral Samuel Locklear (left) and Vice Admiral Sean Pybus. Photo courtesy of ECV.

ECV will have additional experts join Admiral Locklear and Vice Admiral Pybus on the council in the coming months, the company said.

We are beyond privileged to have Admiral Locklear and Vice Admiral Pybus advising us, said David Lewis, chairman and CEO of ECV.

Their counsel will be paramount as we continue to develop vital infrastructure that supports economic growth and Vietnamese energy sovereignty. As a military veteran, it is my deepest honor to welcome such elite and distinguished leaders to our team, he added.

ECV says it is a platform for direct investment into energy and infrastructure in Vietnam.

It sees Vietnams Power Development Plan VIII (PDP VIII), issued on May 15, as a significant step toward greater energy security and the achievement of the countrys 2050 carbon neutrality goal.

In a May 23 statement, Lewis had said: This plan opens the door to foreign investment. It reflects the Vietnamese governments thoughtful deliberation and analysis on how best to allocate their scarce resources towards areas and efforts that yield the highest impact.
Shareholders attempt to oust new Eximbank chairwoman

By Huong Dung Fri, June 30, 2023 | 11:01 pm GTM+7

A group of shareholders in private Vietnamese lender Eximbank has asked the board of directors to dismiss Do Ha Phuong, who was elected chairwoman only two days ago.

Phuong had been nominated by the group as the new chair of Eximbank for the 2020-2025 term to replace Luong Thi Cam Tu.

Tran Hoang Ninh, a representative of the group, said Phuong had shown signs of abusing shareholders' trust for personal gain.

In a proposal sent to the board of directors, Ninh claimed that Phuong had arbitrarily convened a board meeting and voted to elect a new board of directors and dismiss the chairperson on Wednesday without the group's consent.

The group informed the banks board of directors, supervisory board, and CEO of the termination of their authorization and nomination, and proposed removing Phuong from the board of directors.

Do Ha Phuong was elected the new chair of Eximbank on June 28, 2023. Photo courtesy of the bank.

Also on Friday, the State Bank of Vietnams (SBV) banking supervision agency requested the head of Eximbanks supervisory board to clarify the contents related to the convening of a board of directors meeting on June 1 and procedures for personnel replacement under the June 28 announcement, and report the results no later than July 3.

Phuong has a master's degree in finance from the UK's University of Westminster and a bachelor's degree in accountancy from the U.S.'s George Mason University. She has held senior management and executive positions at domestic and foreign credit institutions.

From May 2007 to November 2011, she held the positions of tax consultant, auditor and senior financial consultant at EY. After that, she worked as a financial advisor for the representative office of Coffey International Development in Hanoi.

In December 2012, she was appointed director of financial structure, debt structure, and credit risk at Vietnamese private lender VIB, and held the position until December 2017.

Phuong then left VIB to join Lotus Finance Company Limited as a financial advisor. In May 2018, she co-founded VNInvest Partners Co., and was its CEO until 2023.

Eximbank recorded a pre-tax profit of over VND900 billion ($39 million) in the first quarter of 2023, up 16% year-on-year.

Speaking at the bank's annual general meeting of shareholders on April 15, chairman Tran Tan Loc said in 2023, its pre-tax profit is expected to grow 34.5% to VND5 trillion ($213 million).

On the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange, Eximbank's EIB closed at VND21,250 ($0.9) on Friday, up 1.19% against the previous session.
Have you ever attended a really big outdoor music festival?

Not the Du Quoin State Fair or a concert weekend at the Shawnee Cave Amphitheatre, but a multi-day event featuring dozens of bands at an even larger site.

The prospect of purchasing tickets and attending a big festival is exciting to think about. Some of them are remembered as cultural events that defined a generation, like Woodstock, Monterey Pop or Lollapalooza.

Romanticism aside, enjoying music at a large festival also usually involves dealing with certain additional unpleasant realities.

While promotions for the event may include your current favorite artist listed as part of the lineup, it typically includes no mention of important details like the availability of bathroom facilities, vehicle parking or prohibited items.

Today's domestic and worldwide concert tours are managed by companies like Live Nation and Clair Global, the latter of which was your humble narrator's employer for a couple exciting years.

Back in the spring of 1969, two entrepreneurs answering a newspaper ad were the producers of the three-day concert weekend that came to be known as Woodstock.

A Music Historicity installment from June of last year detailed the event.

Poor planning led to site preparation not being fully complete by the opening date of the festival, which was August 15, 1969. The stage had been built but there were no ticket booths or fencing around the area.

By whatever unknown logic or calculation, organizers were expecting 50,000 attendees to their "Aquarian Exposition," as it was billed.

When it was all over, the number of concert-goers was estimated to have been 450,000 to 600,000.

Without adequate bathing facilities, Woodstock attendees stripped down and jumped in a nearby pond.

With ten times the expected crowd, music fans slept in their sleeping bags wherever they found ground space. Food also was a problem.

"What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000," San Francisco peace activist Wavy Gravy said to the crowd on the second morning of Woodstock.

Both old hippies and Gen-Xers who weren't even born yet can agree that the 1969 Woodstock festival featured a lineup of amazing bands: Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Winter, the Grateful Dead and many more.

Over 250,000 music fans traveled to Ontario, California on April 6, 1974, for a one-day event labeled California Jam.

It's significant because the event reportedly was profitable for the organizers and had adequate water and other facilities.

Performers at California Jam included Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, the Eagles and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, among others.

The US Festival, in 1982 and 1983, held near San Bernadino, California, aspired to fix many of the problems associated with large music concert events.

Along with concert promoter Bill Graham, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak set out to combine technology with music events. He established a live satellite link with the Soviet Union to foster goodwill through the multi-day concerts.

Some of the performers at the 1982 event included The Police, Talking Heads, the Ramones, the Cars, The Kinks, Tom Petty and the Grateful Dead.

The lineup in 1983 included The Pretenders, Joe Walsh, Van Halen, The Clash, Wall of Voodoo, the Stray Cats and many others.

The US Festival had excellent amenities, as YouTube documentaries report, but lost millions of dollars for the promoters.

Since 1991, a four-day music festival known as Lollapalooza has proven successful. After being a touring festival for its first six years, the annual concert has been for the last 23 years held at a lakefront venue in downtown Chicago.

As opposed to some festivals with a certain theme of music genres, Lollapalooza features a variety of bands and styles. Performers for this year's event, taking place the first weekend of August, include headliners Billie Eilish, Karol G, Kendrick Lamar, The 1975, Odesza, Tomorrow X Together, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lana Del Rey. Other featured artists include Yung Gravy and Carly Rae Jepsen.

In total, nearly 400 bands will be performing simultaneously on several stages. While it will be an amazing lineup of talent, parking in downtown Chicago is always a challenge.

By the way, I was fortunate enough to work on the concert crew for two Lollapalooza events a few years back. It was a gas!

Billed as the largest music festival in the world, Milwaukee Summerfest features dozens of big-name performers on a dozen stages. The event, which began on June 22, goes until July 8.

Some of the headliners at the current Summerfest include James Taylor, the Zac Brown Band, Eric Church and NLE Choppa.

After attending several Milwaukee Summerfests, I think they do a great job with their festival experience. Parking is easy, there are plenty of bathrooms, there's a ski lift tram to ride high above the entire festival site and basic daily admission is just $26.

In terms of the most in-person attendees for a concert, it's documented that over 3.5 million people were at (or near) a New Year's Eve 1994 Rod Stewart performance that took place at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

But if you consider today's ability to stream concerts on the computer, the event known as Live Aid eclipses all.

On July 13, 1985, musicians Bob Geldolf (Boomtown Rats) and Midge Ure (Ultravox) organized the benefit concert at Wembley Stadium in London, England, to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia.

It's reported that in addition to the 72,000 attendees in London, over 89,000 were at a simultaneous Live Aid event at John F. Kennedy stadium in Philadelphia.

Other same-day concerts also were held in Australia, Austria, Canada, Japan, the Soviet Union, West Germany and Yugoslavia. With satellite and television simulcasts, the total audience experiencing Live Aid that day was estimated at 1.9 billion.

An amazing lineup of performers at the London and Philadelphia shows included the Beach Boys, Black Sabbath, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Elton John, Elvis Costello, Eric Clapton, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Queen, The Who, Tom Petty, U2 and many more.

The event reportedly changed humanitarian priorities for many governments and also raised about $208,275,000  worth $588,681,000 today.

Are inconveniences like parking, long lines and other restrictions worth it for a big festival experience? To me, the answer is yes!
CARBONDALE  SIH has announced that beginning Saturday, July 1, 2023, they will no longer require a COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment. The decision comes with the official end of the public health emergency and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reversal of the vaccination requirement.

SIH will also cease asymptomatic pre-admission COVID-19 testing on July 1.

SIH established the COVID vaccination requirement in accordance with federal and state guidance to protect employees and our vulnerable patient population, said Dr. Marci Moore-Connelley, chief medical officer. SIH was in a much different place in 2021 in terms of high regional transmission rates, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, ventilator usage and deaths. We also had rapidly evolving, limited treatment options. Today, were in a much stronger position with low transmission levels, admissions and treatments.

The statistics show:

The SIH daily positivity rate at the height of COVID was 39%. Today, its between 1 and 3%.

SIH COVID hospitalizations peaked at an average of 70 patients a week. Today, the average is four patients per week.

SIH ICU admissions averaged 11 per day. Today, that average is one or none.

As of June 26, SIH had 3,415 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, some more than once, for a total of 3,701 admissions. The average age of COVID-19 patients was 63.58 years. They ranged in age from under one year to 107 years. Of those COVID-19 patients, 376 died.

SIH followed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Illinois Department of Public Health guidance throughout the pandemic.

These agencies have shifted from the emergency response to incorporating COVID activities into routine public health practice. Vaccination, however, remains the most important tool in preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death, Dr. Moore-Connelley said.

While the COVID-19 vaccine requirement is ending as a condition of employment, SIH encourages employees and the public to remain up to date with COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

For additional questions, contact SIH Lead Communications Coordinator Rosslind Rice at 618-534-2848.
One of the axioms of entrepreneurship is to find a need and fill it. That is exactly what Mike and Angela McClelland are doing with Happy Tails by Sampson in Anna.

Longtime dog owners, the recently retired couple longed for a new venture and they sensed a need for dog grooming, boarding and training in Union County. Working with a pair of established and respected area professional groomers, the pair launched their business earlier this year, and the hunch appears to have been correct  and they havent even started offering dog training yet.

Weve already had a tremendous response to the grooming side of the business, explained Mike McClelland. Its been more than we expected. When we were going to open, it was with two groomers and within a month we knew that wasnt enough, so we hired two more.

He said the success of the business has been built on providing good customer service and the reputation of the companys staff members as well as the overall need for their service in the area.

I am so lucky to have this level of talent in the building, he said of the staff. I believe I have the four best groomers in the state of Illinois. They are wonderful.

McClelland said Happy Tails by Sampson  Sampson in honor of a dog who was part of the family for many years  offers all-inclusive services.

We dont nickel-and-dime you to death with add-ons like Do you want the nails done? Do you want cologne for your dog? Or how ear-cleaning is an extra charge. About 90% of our grooming services fall under a couple of levels of services, where customers get all of our services in that tier, he explained.

He said a bath includes nails, ear cleanings as well as a check and expressing of glands if necessary.

A grooming includes all of that plus a haircut based upon the owners wishes. We groom to what you want and if we come across anything else, well address it, he said, adding the services are actual grooming sessions not what he called shave downs.

Response to boarding services has been good too. Sometimes they get close to the facilitys full capacity of four large dogs and nine small canines.

The business will also offer obedience training soon. McClelland, who has completed 14 weeks of certified training at the Academy of Pet Careers in St. Charles, Missouri, said he hopes to begin sessions later this summer in fear-free obedience and scent work.

He also is already considering developing a larger outdoor space.

We want a place to take dogs out from boarding and grooming and let them play and have fun. We might also use it as an area to do group training sessions, he said.

Happy Tails by Sampson is located at 139 E. Vienna St. in Anna. The business is open 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monday - Saturday and can be reached at (618) 614-8909.
ELKVILLE  A new bakery is getting attention in Southern Illinois. Glen Rose Bakery, owned by Hannah Elias of Elkville, is showing up at the Carbondale Farmers Market and as a pop-up store.

Elias started the bakery during the pandemic. She started selling her goods at the Carbondale Farmers Market in April 2022.

I offer specialty cookies, brownies and cinnamon rolls, Elias said. Her cinnamon rolls, cookies and brownies are so big you might have to break them in half.

I assume everybody wants a massive cinnamon roll as big as your head, Elias said.

All her current items are prepared in her home kitchen, then individually wrapped.

Those offerings vary from week to week. Elias said she cooks what inspires her or uses what is in season in Southern Illinois.

I just kind of roll that way, Elias said.

The bakery is named using the middle names of her father and grandmother (her fathers mother). Their names are Charles Glen and Sheila Rose, so the bakery is Glen Rose Bakery.

Elias first learned to bake with her grandmother, then with her father. She wanted to honor them for creating the inspiration.

Baking is a truly God-given talent, she said.

While her family inspired the baking, Elias is a trained chef, having attended culinary school in the Napa Valley in California. One of the things she was trained to do is farm-to-table, using local goods to create a meal on the farm.

Using local products is important to Elias. Her father is an organic farmer in Wisconsin.

If I wont feed it to myself or my son, I wont feed it to my customers. I have very high standards, Elias said.

One important person in the bakery is her son, who turned five-years-old on June 9. He claims to be her taste tester. His favorite treat is one of her sprinkled sugar cookies. Elias said he only gets one each week.

She has three people who are honest with her about the taste of her products. They help her fine-tune her recipes.

Elias is purchasing commercial equipment and plans to open a store-front bakery. She is not taking loans, but purchasing everything up front. She believes she will be able to do the same with a building.

Hopefully, Ill be purchasing property soon. Carbondale is my goal, but I really dont have a location. Its wherever God leads me, Elias said. I know theres a piece of property out there and it will be ready when Im ready.

She will add French pastries, such as croissants and other pastries, when she has a building.

For now, youll find Glen Rose Bakery at the Carbondale Farmers Market. She said to look for the sign with dates 1942 (Sheila Rose), 1964 (Charles Glen) and 1992 (Hannah) for generations of sweetness.

For more information about Glen Rose Bakery, visit www.glenrosebakery.com.
DE SOTO  On June 21, Chef Lasse Sorenson posted the sad news on the Toms Place Facebook page. His historic fine dining restaurant would close on July 2. July 1 would be their last day.

Well folks it has been an interesting journey for Mary Jane and I to own Tom's Place for 25 years. We met a lot of interesting people and made a lot of friends but unfortunately all good things come to an end. The struggles of owning a restaurant has been overwhelming in the last three years and we just don't have the energy or the health to continue so we have decided to close the restaurant on July second said the Facebook post.

This is my lifes work, Sorenson said while sitting at the bar at Toms Place on Thursday morning. After COVID, we never got back to be as successful as I wanted to be.

Several things have made the restaurant business difficult, especially for a fine dining establishment.

SIU had 27,000 students when I came here, Sorenson said.

The university did about $100,000 of business at the restaurant a year. That disappeared with shrinking enrollment.

They had two or three dinners a week for pharmaceutical groups. They would bring in healthcare workers and buy dinner and drinks and gift certificates. Laws changed and that is no longer allowed.

The restaurant also had an older customer base. Those people came to Toms every weekend on Friday or Saturday nights and brought their families. Over the years, they have moved on or have passed away.

Sorenson started trying to offer some more affordable options at the restaurant, like pasta night. Toms served two kinds of pasta one night a week. The cost of an entree was $9 before COVID. During their last pasta night in June, the price was $18.

There were people not interested in $100 dinners, Sorenson said.

He said the difference in meals at Toms Place is they are prepared with high quality and fresh ingredients by a chef. Diners at a chain restaurant are not getting that same quality of ingredients.

Also, Mary Jane has had some health issues. Lasse Sorenson said she was a server, hostess and bar tender, so he had to replace her with three employees.

Im just grateful for my time here, Sorenson said.

Toms Place gets its name from the first owner of the restaurant, Tom Endsley. Endsley opened the restaurant in 1921 as a speak-easy. If you believe the stories told about the place, it was a gangster hideout and has a history of bootlegging and gambling.

Endsley owned Toms Place for 27 years. Sorenson wanted to last longer than he did.

I am the eighth owner and I had it the second-longest, Sorenson said.

For those who want one last meal at Tom's, you are too late. The restaurant is sold out through Saturday. You cannot get a seat in the restaurant or bar.

Food is Love, a St. Louis-based food show on PBS starring Sorenson, started three years ago. Sorenson said he has given it about 25% of his attention and has gotten three Emmy nominations.

A friend asked him to consider how successful the show could be if he gave it more of his attention. He told Sorenson the show is a once in a lifetime opportunity and Sorenson is not giving it his all.

I would like to do a Food is Love in Southern Illinois. Public television is funded by businesses and its viewers, Sorenson said, adding that he hasnt had much response from Southern Illinois for funding.

What frustrates Sorenson is that customers will wait for a table at a restaurant in St. Louis for 30 minutes on a Monday. But most Southern Illinois restaurants cannot even open on Mondays. Its the challenge of operating in a rural area.

Sorenson regrets what closing does to his employees, especially those who have worked with him a long time.

Over the years, weve had some great employees and we still have great employees. Some have worked here for years and years, Sorenson said.

A few employees left after Sorenson announced the restaurant would close. He had several former employees offer to come in to work this last week. One is Tom Brummer, assistant director of facilities and operations at Touch of Nature Center, who is working the last four days of the restaurant. Another is Jason Buna.

Sorenson said he owes a lot to his sous chef Blake Squibb. Squibb is on maternity leave, and that made Sorenson realize how much he depends on him.

I think I am ready emotionally. I used to love to come to work. Now, not so much, Sorenson said.

The Sorensons are leaving Toms at a good point. They hope someone will decide to take over the restaurant. Lasse Sorenson said it would be good for someone wanting to try their hand at a farm to table restaurant.

For now, they have not made the decision to sell the restaurant or the home and the 10 acres that go with them.
CARBONDALE  Ellie, a transgender woman living in Florida, knew nothing about Carbondale until she began looking for a new place to live. Thanks to a partnership between Rainbow Cafe and CARE (Carbondale Assembly for Radical Equity), Ellie and her partner are now members of the Carbondale community.

Ellie said she saw the writing on the wall when it came to anti-transgender bills before the Florida legislation.

There was a likelihood they would pass because we were seeing the same things in Arkansas, Tennessee and all over the country, Ellie said. It wasnt just trans issues. It was also anti-immigration and anti-black.

The couple decided Florida wasnt a safe place anymore and began looking for a new place to live. Illinois was one of those places. They connected with CARE and learned about Carbondale.

They looked at the cost of living, rent prices, crime statistics and population.

It sounded like an ideal spot. We packed the car and drove up, Ellie said.

What they found in Carbondale was a welcoming, caring and giving community.

Part of their move was financed by the Rainbow Cafe-CARE partnership. Ellie said they helped arrange and pay for a small storage space.

Initially, the couple had planned to pull a small U-Haul trailer behind their car. When they went to get the trailer, they found out that a hitch for the trailer would be an additional expense. In fact, it priced the trailer out of their budget, so the assistance from Rainbow Cafe made a big difference.

They also got help in ways that did not cost as much. For example, Rainbow Cafe allowed them to use their address when applying for jobs. They also guided Ellie toward places hiring and helped with her job search.

They helped us get on our feet, really. I found a temporary job, then a more permanent job, Ellie said, adding that her partner is also working.

Carrie Vine of CARE and Rainbow Cafe said a group of people wanted to help those living in states where laws were changing, such as Florida, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio and Kansas. They put their heads together and came up with CARE.

Vine said they are helping people financially, but they are also doing case management types of work, too. They are talking about resources available and what its like to live in Carbondale.

CARE is interesting because people from all walks of life came together to help people, Vine said, adding that includes college students, healthcare workers, church members and others.

A lot of people are contacting CARE about moving to Carbondale. Vine said the people they are talking to are scared to leave their homes. Ellie and her partner are one of two families who have already made the move.

Vine said Carbondale is a safer place, and that it also has gender-affirming care available at the Choices clinic. Another clinic is expected to open in September that also will provide gender-affirming care.

To help with their efforts, CARE is hosting two fundraisers.

The first will be Drag Bingo with hosts Faim Lee Jewls and Lumber Jill from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Friday at Starbucks in Carbondale. Games are free but donations will be accepted for CARE.

The CARE Auction and Music Fundraiser will be from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday at the Unitarian Fellowship in Carbondale. The event will feature lots of art and local musicians. Keisha Lo of Bake Me Happy will cater the event. Tickets are $20 and will be available at the door.

For more information, visit the Rainbow Cafe LGBTQ Center website at www.rainbowcafe.org.
A rare copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which might have been purchased for 30p, might sell for up to 5,000 at auction.

Twelve publishers turned down the first book in JK Rowling's Harry Potter series before Bloomsbury printed just 500 hardcover copies in 1997.

Finding first editions is more difficult than a Potter quest because 300 of those volumes were given to public libraries. Because of this, authentic first editions have the ability to change the base metal coins they were purchased with into pure gold, just like the Philosopher's Stone.

An avid collector of books and memorabilia from Staffordshire rescued and purchased this version from Wolverhampton libraries, as reported by The Guardian. The deceased man, who started trading in books and memorabilia while still in school, passed away earlier this year.

He would go to church fairs and jumble sales and return with a stack of annuals or comics, according to his sister. He packed literally everything into hundreds of boxes for his move four years ago, much of which went into containers.

The book was discovered after a crew from Richard Winterton Auctioneers searched through the owner's things after his sudden death at age 55.

It has clearly been read, which is most appropriate for one of the first few novels that contributed to the early success of Harry Potter, which, of course, quickly developed into a worldwide sensation, according to Winterton.

Read also: 'Harry Potter'-Based College Course is the Real Deal

The Value of First Edition Books

First-edition books are often more valuable than later editions for a number of reasons. First, they are rarer. The first edition is the first printing of a book, and there are typically fewer copies of the first edition than of later printings.

Second, first editions are often more collectible. They are often signed by the author or have other special features, such as original dust jackets. First editions can be more valuable because they are often considered to be more valuable by collectors.

(Photo: by NEIL HANNA/AFP via Getty Images) Hand-written notes by author J.K. Rowling are pictured inside a rare first edition of her book 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'm displayed at The National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, on June 26, 2017.

The value of a first-edition book can vary depending on a number of factors, including the author, the title, the condition of the book, and the demand for the book. Some first-edition books can be worth thousands of dollars, while others may only be worth a few hundred dollars.

The Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (UK first edition, first impression) is the first edition of the first book in the series, and it is extremely rare. There were only 500 copies printed, and most of them were sent to libraries. A copy of this book sold for 69,000 in 2022.

Related article: 'Harry Potter' Star Daniel Radcliffe Welcomes His First Child With Partner Erin Darke

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
With a vibrant purple hue, a meme-able mascot and limited window of availability, McDonalds had all the ingredients to turn its Grimace milkshake into a viral sensation.

What the company likely did not intend was for the shakes success to come from TikTok users playing dead.

Since the debut of the Grimace shake earlier this month, TikTok users have been excitedly ordering the shake, released in honor of McDonalds character Grimaces birthday, and then pretending to die on camera after consuming the purple beverage. They often dump the shake over their convulsing bodies, apparently signaling that Grimace, that bumbling bestie of Ronald McDonald, killed them.

McDonalds was probably hoping for viral success, though perhaps not by way of disturbing faux-deaths. The TikTok videos have been viewed millions of times this month, drawing eyes to McDonalds latest culinary gambit  even if users are abruptly throwing it up afterwards.

What may seem like negative expression is actually a positive reflection of their ability to connect with a generation, said Matthew Prince, an adjunct professor of social media and influencer marketing at Chapman University in California. Its getting the views, its getting the laughs and, as the viral trend grows, its getting the sales.

The purple shake is the latest attempt at viral food

McDonalds made the Grimace shake available beginning on June 12, which is apparently Grimaces birthday. (Reports indicate that Grimace is 52 years old.) Grimace himself announced the treat in a takeover of the companys social media accounts.

The rollout seemed in line with other recent McDonalds marketing schemes to build cultural credibility and capitalize on virality. The eatery has collaborated with musicians like J Balvin and Travis Scott on celebrity-approved meals and even teamed up with buzzy streetwear brand Cactus Plant Flea Market to release exclusive collectible Happy Meal toys for adults, including a mold of everyones favorite purple blob.

Even before collectors were reselling the limited-edition designer toys, McDonalds has played with scarcity and limited availability: Its Shamrock Shake and McRib are often only available for a few weeks each year, if that, and theyve become cult menu favorites.

The Grimace shake, though, has become more infamous than beloved. In a typical Grimace Shake TikTok, an enthusiastic young person, Grimace shake in hand, will wish the big purple mascot a happy birthday before taking their first sip. Cut to: The TikTok-er, in the throes of death, splayed in a puddle of purple liquid. Sometimes theyre playing dead in an abandoned building or a dark street or draped over a McDonalds sign. Sometimes they even appear to vomit purple before succumbing to death by shake.

Grimace has a history of villainy

Grimace wasnt always a happy-go-lucky amorphous creature. When he was first introduced in the 1970s, commercials referred to him as the evil Grimace, a four-armed purple blob who used his many limbs to abscond with cups of milkshakes, according to Food & Wine. Even in those commercials, though, the bumbling thief never attempted to poison or murder anyone who got in his way.

When ad execs realized that Grimace was frightening young potential consumers, they softened the character, dropping the evil from descriptors and lopping off one of his sets of arms. Soon, benevolent Grimace was just a triangular lump in Ronald McDonalds gang of fast food lovers, and the villainous Hamburglar filled Grimaces former role.

McDonalds still isnt certain exactly what Grimace is, though. In 2014, the companys corporate Twitter account told a fan that, per the characters lore, he is the embodiment of a milkshake or a taste bud.

The ambiguity surrounding Grimace, as well as his villainous past, seem to have made him a suitable template for meme-making.

How the Grimace shake gambit paid off

By offering a novel menu item in a photo-friendly purple hue and tagging it to an infamous character, McDonalds had a menu item designed to draw wild reactions. Frankenfoods  that is, weird, limited-edition foods that stretch the definition of edible  are often successful for fast food joints, CNN reported in 2018, citing Taco Bells Doritos Locos Tacos (tacos in a Dorito-flavored hard shell) and Burger Kings Whopperito (a burger wrapped in a tortilla) as two popular food mash-ups that generated buzz and attention from consumers.

While the Grimace shake is tamer than those offerings  its a berry-flavored milkshake, so its more akin to Heinzs green ketchup than a nauseating mustard-flavored ice cream  its still a gambit. It seems to have worked  the hashtags #grimaceshake and #grimace had amassed nearly 640 million views and more than 750 million views, respectively, by Wednesday afternoon on TikTok.

Its unconventional success is fitting for an unconventional product. Prince, the Chapman University professor, told CNN that what seems like weird viral ploys to some is just good brand engagement reflective of a young generation. The Grimace shake speaks, somehow, to Gen Zs humor and cultural interests, he said.

When reached for comment, McDonalds referred CNN to a tweet from Grimace: meee pretending i dont see the grimace shake trendd, along with a photo of the purple one himself, eyebrows raised.

Every major fast-food chain, ranked by customer satisfaction Intro #23. McDonald's #22. Popeyes #20. Jack in the Box (tied) #20. Taco Bell (tied) #19. Wendy's #16. Sonic (tied) #16. Dairy Queen (tied) #16. Dunkin' (tied) #12. Subway (tied) #12. Burger King (tied) #12. Little Caesars (tied) #12. Panda Express (tied) #9. Arby's (tied) #9. Papa Johns (tied) #9. Five Guys (tied) #5. Chipotle (tied) #5. Panera Bread (tied) #5. Pizza Hut (tied) #5. Starbucks (tied) #3. KFC (tied) #3. Domino's (tied) #2. Jimmy John's #1. Chick-fil-A
BLOOMINGTON  University leaders across Illinois on Thursday pledged that their efforts to achieve diverse campus communities would not be limited by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down affirmative action.

Many said their processes would not be affected by the ruling, which declared that race cannot be a factor in college admissions. Still, they expressed concerns about the decision that the Illinois Board of Higher Education characterized as an attack on people of color, especially Black people.

The board said affirmative action was never a robust solution to inequality, but "merely a tool intended to chip away at an enormous obstacle."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the decision a "travesty" that reversed nearly 45 years of precedent that advanced equity in higher education.

Pritzker said the Supreme Court ruling sets us back, but in Illinois we will continue to uplift our students of color  promoting inclusion and expanding access through record-levels of funding for higher education institutions and our MAP Grant Program, so that every student has the opportunity to earn a degree.

To students of color, he said, you belong in our institutions. And no archaic ruling will ever change that.

Continued commitments

Illinois State University does not use race as a factor in admissions, said Jana Albrecht, associate vice president for enrollment management.

To fulfill its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, the university visits high schools and works with community-based organizations to reach prospective students, she said. The university's goals, mission and vision will not change with the ruling, but she acknowledged the possibility that prospective students of color may be discouraged by Thursday's decision.

"I think thats a real concern and a possible outcome of this," she said, "which is why its important for our admissions office in our university, and for our faculty and staff, to reach out to students and let them know we are a welcoming environment and we absolutely want them at our institution."

Southern Illinois University also does not consider race in its admissions, but campus leaders were "deeply concerned" by the court's decision, university leaders said in a statement Thursday.

"Todays ruling coupled with similar decisions in several states across the country, may embolden critics of diversity and reverse generations of progress at colleges, universities and the nation," said the statement from the university board, President Dan Mahony, chancellors of both campuses and dean of the school of medicine.

The University of Illinois system also issued a joint statement from its president and chancellors, stressing a continued commitment to diversity. They pledged that the university would "continue to open its doors wide to all deserving students  including those for whom opportunities may have been unfairly limited."

It was unclear to what extent the university's current processes would be affected by the ruling. The leaders pledged to "carefully review the specifics" and take steps to remain in compliance with state and federal laws.

Western Illinois University President Guiyou Huang stressed that the institution would continue to "support all students' ability to secure a college degree in an environment that celebrates diversity and inclusion."

"We stand with our peer institutions of higher education who have issued statements announcing their commitment to continue striving to close equity gaps for Black, Latinx, low-income, working adults, rural students, and all marginalized communities," she said.

Doug Freed, director of undergraduate admissions, said the institution does not factor race into its admissions decisions.

Eastern Illinois University, in a statement, also emphasized its commitment to access and opportunity.

"Our longstanding mission embraces diversity and inclusion, attributes we know are fundamental to a deeper understanding of ourselves and greater respect for each other," the university said. "These commitments are foundational in EIUs vision to advance engaged citizenship through personal connections and interpersonal experiences."

'Not unexpected'

Northern Illinois University President Lisa Freeman described Thursday's decision as "not unexpected," but she said it nonetheless "deals yet another shockwave of frustration, pain and fear for marginalized communities."

She said the university does not use race as a factor in undergraduate admissions and would remain compliant with the law, but its mission would not change.

"Our student body reflects our longstanding commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and our university communitys recognition of such," she said. In fall 2022, roughly 20% of NIU students were Latinx, 17% Black, 6% Asian and 46% white.

Georgia Nugent, president of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, said she recently attended an annual meeting with the Annapolis Group, an organization of roughly 130 liberal arts colleges, where they discussed the potential consequence of the Supreme Court ruling.

The general consensus of those in attendance was that the schools at risk of being affected are the Ivy League schools where there are extremely low acceptance rates for a large pool of applicants, Nugent said.

The conclusion that we came to is that the places that are really going to be affected by this decision are the Harvards and Stanfords of the world, where they are so deluged with applications that they need to employ factors to sort those applications out, Nugent said. We dont have that.

Nugent said Wesleyan has about a 50% acceptance rate and offers programs and scholarships to foster equity and provide opportunities. It has a total enrollment of roughly 1,500, of which roughly 9% of students were Hispanic, 7% were Black and 7% were Asian as of fall 2022.

Kent Barnds, chief enrollment officer at Augustana College in Rock Island, said he suspects that the decision would have little impact on institutions like the private liberal arts college with enrollment of roughly 2,300.

I don't think that probably anyone in higher ed was especially surprised by this decision," he said Thursday. "I think probably there were many in higher ed who were disappointed by the decision."

Still, he and others in higher education are still trying to gain a full understanding of the potential implications.

I think that there is unlikely to be a big impact, he said. Because this decision is across the whole higher ed landscape, there is this thought that it will have wide ripple effects  and there is some evidence that when race is no longer a factor that's considered, sometimes the racial composition of an enrollment or a class can change.

Barnds, who oversees all enrollment management functions, said the college does not use an affirmative action program in its admissions process  nor will it need to change any policies in wake of the decision.

We've practiced what is referred to as, 'Holistic Admission,' and that's certainly what many private colleges do, he said. We're looking at multiple factors of how a student can contribute to our community.

Millikin University leaders also do not anticipate much, if any, affect on admission procedures. Stacey Hubbard, dean of admissions and financial aid, said the Decatur college does not consider race as a component when making admission decisions.

"One of Millikin's core values is inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, and we have historically attracted a diverse population of applicants due to the academic and co-curricular activities we offer," she said, adding that one initiative of the Decatur institution's strategic plan involves "nurturing a welcoming and inclusive campus environment with a goal of fostering a sense of belonging for all who engage with Millikin."

Eureka College President Jamel Wright said in a statement the school  which is the alma mater of former President Ronald Reagan  does not consider race in its admissions process but remains committed to values of diversity, equity and inclusion.

As an institution founded by abolitionists that was the first college in the state of Illinois to admit men and women on an equal basis, Eureka College values our students diverse experiences and backgrounds, Wright said in the statement.

Olivia Allen, Brendan Denison, Mateusz Janik, Les O'Dell, Kelsey Watznauer, Valerie Wells and Drew Zimmerman contributed to this story.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term Jesse White.JPG JB Piitzker 13 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 12 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 11 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 10 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 9 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 7 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 5 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 3 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 2 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 1 010923.JPG Juliana Stratton 1 010923.JPG Stratton 2 010923.JPG Alex Giannoulias 1 010923.JPG Alex Giannoulias 2 010923.JPG Michael Frerichs 010923.JPG 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball Tiffany Mathis 1 011023.JPG dance gov 7 010923.JPG dance gov 13 010923.JPG dance gov 12 010923.JPG dance gov 11 010923.JPG dance gov 10 010923.JPG dance gov 9 010923.JPG dance gov 8 010923.JPG
A 33-year-old Bowman man is guilty of impregnating a 12-year-old.

Sheldon Santell Harrison, of Moss Street, pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor on Monday.

Circuit Judge Ed Dickson sentenced Harrison to 20 years in prison.

After he serves 15 years of active time in prison, the remainder of his term will be suspended to five years of probation, 1st Circuit Assistant Solicitor Catherine Hunter said.

A nurse at Summerville Medical Center reported last year that a 13-year-old had just given birth at their facility, an incident report states.

The girl told medical staff that she didnt know she was pregnant and hadnt received any prenatal care, the nurse said.

The girls mother told Bowman Police Chief Kevin Pendarvis that she didnt know her daughter was sexually active and pregnant until the day before her grandchild was born, the report states.

Harrisons warrant accused him of sexual battery with a 12-year-old on multiple occasions between May 2021 and August 2021 and fathering a child with the girl.

The sexual battery took place at Harrisons home, the warrant states.

Under South Carolina law, first-degree criminal sexual conduct typically applies when victims are 11 and under, while the second-degree charge can apply when the victim is between 11 and 14.

Hunter said the victim in this case is doing fine.
The Orangeburg County School District is partnering with Voorhees University to help fill classroom vacancies.

The partnership will provide 30 individuals with two pathways to become certified during the 2023-2024 school year.

The individuals will have to commit to teach in the district for three years.

There will be an initial focus on certification in math and science.

One option is for a certified teacher to take a 14-month, 36-hour program through Voorhees to obtain a master's degree and certification in other areas.

The partnership will not cost the school district or program participants and will be funded by Voorhees, OCSDs Human Resources Director of Certified Personnel Dyisha Taylor said.

If a teacher is certified in elementary, through this program he or she may have the opportunity to get certified in an alternative area, Taylor said.

The program will be offered to teachers and support staff members who have degrees but may be interested in obtaining a masters degree.

The program will provide participants with virtual support sessions to encourage interest in the program.

The second free option will provide individuals not interested in going through the 14-month program the ability to take a certification path only and not receive a master's degree.

We all know that finding math teachers, science teachers, social studies and English teachers  those are difficult positions to fill, but we have some elementary teachers that now that they have been doing it, they love math, OCSD Superintendent Dr. Shawn Foster said.

This is an opportunity for them to get a master's degree and move into one of those hard-to-fill math vacancies and then we can hire an early childhood elementary because they are easier to find than those specialty areas like mathematics, he said.

Foster said the district's human resources department has been tasked with looking at a succession plan and the average age of the district's math teachers. The 30 slots will be filled based on the needs of the district.

We have to be strategic on how we do those things and try to backfill so when we have a high number of math teachers in secondary exiting, we have individuals in the pipeline that we can push in there to fill those difficult vacancies," Foster said.

He praised the innovation of the district's human resources department in filling the district's vacancies.

Certification areas in the program will include:

 Middle-level math

 Middle-level science

 Secondary biology

 Secondary chemistry

 Secondary math

 Secondary physics

 Special education multi-category

Additional content areas are available based upon request.

All program participants will receive a science, technology, engineering, math/computer science micro-credential through Voorhees.

OCSD Coordinator for Retention and Recruitment Dr. Sharon Hampton said an information session has already been held between university and school district leaders.

The selection process for the cohort will be done in August.

The program will be kicked off in September.

Foster said the program will allow teachers an opportunity to receive a pay increase with their advanced degree.

In other matters, trustees unanimously approved the district's code of conduct. School officials say there are no significant changes to the code.

Prior to approval, trustees discussed the need to make sure that parents and students understand the expectations found in the districts code of conduct.

Discussion also revolved around the importance of school security and the clear bag policy procedures.

Foster said data will be gathered and shared with the board and public on how effective the school bag searches have been in reducing violations.

The board will also seek to change the student expulsion appeal process from a 5-day to a 10-day appeal to better align with the districts code of conduct policy.

Trustee the Rev. R.L. Poppy Brown said the key to improving conduct is in the home.

Parents, we need your help. We need your help with your children, Brown said.

Foster acknowledged OCSD has challenges like other districts, but said the school district has great teachers and great students.

We are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, Foster said. But students are not running rampant.

That is so far from the truth. Our teachers bust their butts day in and day out. We have some successful and bright spots that will blow your mind. We have beautiful children and an outstanding staff, he said.

In other business:

 The district gave unanimous first reading approval to a policy providing paid parental leave for teachers when they welcome a new child via birth, adoption or fostering.

 Trustees gave unanimous second and final reading to a policy related to employee credit card use.

Some employees have district credit cards, but theres not a concrete policy in place related to credit card usage. The policy was sent down by the South Carolina School Boards Association. Foster said a handful of employees have credit cards.

There has been no misuse of credit cards, Foster said. This is a matter to continue to get better and firm up policies and practices in this regard.

 The district will hold its convocation Wednesday, Aug. 2 at 9 a.m. in South Carolina State Universitys Smith-Hammond-Middleton Center.

 Foster thanked everyone for another successful school year. The district graduated about 700 students.

 Foster encouraged parents to continue to engage their children in the spirit of learning during the summer.

 Trustees recognized the success of student athletes from Lake Marion High School, Bethune-Bowman Middle High School, Edisto High School, Branchville High School and Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School.

 Trustees recognized Edisto Elementary Schools Briana Berry as the 2022-2023 Rookie Teacher of the Year. Berry's class has demonstrated academic progress, with 150% typical growth in iReady results.

 OCSD Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Andress Carter-Sims was recognized for her service. She will be retiring from the school district.

 OCSD Assistant Superintendent for Operations Bob Grant was recognized for his service to the school district. Grant will be leaving to work for a Columbia school district. The June meeting was his last.

 The board approved its 2023-2024 board meeting calendar. The board will continue to meet monthly. Trustee Mary Ulmer was opposed.

 Trustee Idella Carson requested public comment be moved closer to the start of board meetings rather than the end.

It is not fair to keep the public in here to end of our board meetings, Carson said. We are breaking policy.

Chair Ruby Edwards said she intends to keep the board meetings as they are, but she is willing to discuss the matter at a later time. Edwards said the public comments were placed at the end of meetings to allow the public to comment on matters brought up during meetings.

 There will be no school board meeting in July. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at 102 Founders Court in Orangeburg.
John Ballah has had a rounded exposure to the law and judicial processes here.

John Ballah, a lawyer and former police officer took his experience and knowledge to a higher level this week.





Ballah took up duties as Magistrate at the Kingstown Magistrate Court on Monday, shortly after taking the Oath of Office at Government House.





Up to the time of his magisterial appointment, Ballah headed the Legal Research and Policies Unit of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF), and held the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP).





His appointment came about three months after Senior Magistrate Rickie Burnett was elevated to the post of High Court Judge, leaving the Kingstown Magistrates Court without a magistrate, triggering concerns in some circles as to when sittings there would resume.





Ballah had been a member of the local constabulary for 20 years and worked in almost every division of the police force, including the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). He was at one point attached to the Major Crime Unit (MCU), a Unit in the CID.





He was admitted to the local bar in 2016 and later worked at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), as an attorney for the Crown, for about two years.





He resumed duties as a police officer during the La Soufriere volcanic eruptions in 2021, to assist with the relief efforts, and was later tasked with setting up the Legal Research and Policies Unit of the police force.





However, Ballah continued to assist the DPPs Office, and was part of the prosecuting team led by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Karim Nelson, in the Veron Primus murder trial, securing a conviction on July 18, 2022.





His appointment as a magistrate means that Ballah will join Magistrate Bertie Pompey, who serves the Georgetown district, as one of two former police officers who have risen to the magistracy.





Pompey was a retired deputy commissioner of police when he was called upon to serve as a magistrate.





Ballah, meanwhile, will become the only public servant in the magistracy. All the others are employed on contract.
Gregory Linton, a Dominican who was the Caribbean Agricultural Research and development Institute (CARDI) representative in St. Vincent and the Grenadines since 2017, died from a single gunshot to the head.





This was confirmed by a postmortem report.





Lintons partially decomposed body was discovered on Monday, June 19, in his blue Toyota Hilux, license plate number CD67, in the vicinity of the Kingstown Preparatory School (KPS).





The police made the discovery after they visited the scene on being alerted by a man, named unknown, that there was a dead body in a vehicle parked near the KPS.





Police confirmed last week that they had detained that man for questioning.





A reliable source told THE VINCENTIAN that Lintons licensed firearm was, up to Wednesday, missing.

The Dominican, said to be 43 years old, resided at Glen.





CARDI confirmed that in recent times he had been involved in the implementation of the Regional Coconut and Sweet Potato projects in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
As the third night of demonstrations rocked France after the deadly police shooting of a young boy was caught on camera, more than 400 people were detained throughout the nation on Thursday, June 29.

To assist in suppressing the unrest, the RAID, France's elite police squad, was sent to the towns of Bordeaux, Lyon, Roubaix, Marseille, and Lille.

Riots Continue for Third Consecutive Night

Protesters and police officers clashed in the southern port city of Marseille and the Paris district of Nanterre, where a 17-year-old named Nahel was slain days earlier.

Video from the neighborhood shows a wall covered with burning rubble and the words "vengeance pour Nael" (revenge for Nael) spray painted on it.

Photos from the site show that a bank in Nanterre was set on fire during the memorial march. The police have detained 15 persons in connection with the incident.

Footage from the northern city of Lille showed flames blazing on streets and rushing riot police personnel, while BFMTV media said that protesters in Marseille tossed fireworks at police officers. The regional office of Lille claimed in a Facebook post that six persons were detained for interrogation after taking part in an illegal demonstration.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told BFMTV (via CNN) that at least 421 people were taken into custody in rallies around the country on Thursday night and the next morning. According to the Paris police, more than half of those arrests happened in the Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, and Val-de-Marne departments in the Paris area.

Darmanin previously said that police had been ordered to "intervene systematically" and voiced his admiration for the police and firemen who are doing a courageous job.

President Emmanuel Macron will reportedly attend a crisis meeting for a second consecutive day on Friday, June 30, in light of the violence that occurred on Thursday night.

Also Read: WATCH: France Protests Flare Up, 77 Arrested as Nael M's Death Sparks Fury in Parisian Suburbs

Police Shooting of Teenager Leads to Unrest

Hours after Nahel was killed by police during a traffic check in Nanterre on Tuesday, June 27, protests erupted in the area. French officials said that 24 police officers were hurt and 40 vehicles were destroyed during the turbulent night.

According to BFMTV's Thursday report, the police officer has been placed on preliminary arrest and is formally being investigated for voluntary homicide.

Nahel's mother organized a march in Nanterre in his honor, which was attended by as many as 6,000 people.

Many people were wearing T-shirts that said "Justice for Nahel," while others were chanting the phrase. On their signs, several protesters said, "The police kill."

Concerns have been voiced that Nahel's murder may provoke riots on a scale not seen since 2005 when the deaths of two adolescent boys fleeing from police caused three weeks of unrest and led to a state of emergency being declared by the government.

Also Read: Paris Shooting Update: Death of Nael Leads to Riots-Forcing France to Deploy Thousands of Police

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder announced the appointment of three people to the Charter School Authorizing Board in a Thursday press release.

The creation of the board stems from a statute passed in the 2023 state legislative session. The goal of the board is to approve high-quality public charter schools in the state, the release states.

The board will be comprised of eight members total. Three other members will be appointed by Gov. Mark Gordon and will be joined by the dean of UWs College of Education and the chairman of the State Board of Education.

Degenfelder tapped Cindy DeLancey, Joseph Feiler and Mitchell Schwab to serve on the board.

DeLancey, of Cheyenne, is the President of the Wyoming Business Alliance and the Wyoming Heritage Foundation. DeLancey is a UW law school graduate and has served as a special assistant United States Attorney. Gov. Matt Mead appointed her as an ENDOW Rural Council member, and Gov. Gordon appointed her to be on the Educational Attainment Executive Council.

Feiler, of Casper, is a career and technical education teacher who has served for 35 years in Natrona County School District No. 1. Feiler has been a grant evaluator for the Carl Perkins Grants and chairman of the Wyoming Association for Career and Technical Education scholarship committee.

Schwab, of Afton, is an attorney at Denali Law. Schwab was an executive at Charter one, LLC, which is charter school management company. Schwab is a Wyoming native and graduated from the University of Wyoming.

I am honored to appoint these members of Wyomings inaugural charter school authorizing board. Public charter schools are a critical tool to increasing school choice for students and their families. Every student learns differently, and they deserve choices in an education that best meets their individual learning needs, Degenfelder said in the release.
THE prospect of opportunities and growth were the two recurring themes of participants of the Trade and Investment Convention at the Centre of Excellence in Macoya, yesterday.

Over 200 participants from a wide range of industries took to their respective booths on what would have been the first day of the convention.

Some told the Express they hoped to form partnerships while others simply came intending to generate sales of their products and services.

Anil Ramsaran of SAP Electrical Services Limited said the company does domestic and commercial wiring.

The company also imports light-emitting diode (LED) lights, solar lights and solar fans, he said.

For those who may own a hybrid vehicle, he said, the company also sells and installs electric vehicle chargers.

Kemby Ross-Jones of Rent My Tutor at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Academy said it offers online classes at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. She stressed, What makes us different is that we offer personalised services to students. She said, We have had 100 per cent success at the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examinations level.

She said the academy was started at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 because students were falling behind in their academics due to the switch from the physical classroom to the virtual classroom.

Representing Nestles Natures Heart brand was Michelle Stanisclaus, who said the brand offered products such as almond milk and juices. She said even though the brand was an international one all the products offered locally were produced locally.

Stanisclaus said the newest product in the almond milk line of products was the almond-coffee flavour with was launched last month.

Promoting compressed natural gas (CNG) upgrades to vehicles was Dumore Enterprises Ltd.

One of the booths representatives Rajiv Ramessar said the company offered conversions on both gasoline and diesel vehicles. He added that his company hoped through their booth to promote CNG as the cheapest, cleanest fuel in the country. He said the company also hoped to make business-to-business connections and to encourage companies to convert their fleet of vehicles to CNG so that they could save on their transportation costs. He noted that he had attended the convention for the past five years and that this year generated the greatest number of people on the first day.

Attendee Nalini Akal a dancer, actress, artist and filmmaker said she attended in hopes of networking and soliciting sponsorship for her art form.

She said she believed it was important for those involved in the arts to go to events such as the convention because of the sponsorship potential and other service suppliers that could be interested in promoting their products at events.

People bypass the arts as something they put into events but really and truly the art really encompasses the culture of Trinidad and Tobago.

The thing is we are not even using an iota of our potential for the arts, she said.

Akal said she hoped by networking she could find opportunities for the exportation of the arts.
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With concerns rising that more than 100 Venezuelan migrants who were held at a bar in St Jam
As the Fourth of July Weekend comes in full swing and passengers in US airports have been greeted with canceled or delayed flights, a joke from the Federal Aviation Administration's Twitter account about unruly passengers did not help stranded and frustrated passengers.

The FAA tweeted Tuesday afternoon (June 27) a meme depicting a Wheel of Fortune puzzle spelling out "unruly passengers."

"There's nothing puzzling about bad behavior on a flight - it doesn't fly and can cost you big [money] or jail time," the FAA tweeted.

Several passengers have aired their disappointment with the FAA for taking light of a potentially bad situation.

A Denver International Airport passenger named Corinne told Fox News of her disappointment with the FAA's tweet. "They're tweeting while people are losing money, losing wages," she added.

Debby, a stranded Iceland-bound passenger in Denver, also called the FAA out by [getting their] act together. "They should be helping us, not making fun of us," she said. "[It j]ust seems like they could be better organized."

The FAA did not respond to Fox News regarding its comment about the tweet.

July 4th Weekend Flight Delays

According to airline tracker Flight Aware, more than 9,000 flights have been canceled and another nearly 116,000 delayed since Monday (June 26), with United Airlines alone making up 500 cancellations at Denver, one of the world's busiest airports in the world.

Janette, who was traveling to New Orleans, blamed the airlines themselves for not allowing her to find an alternative flight after her initial one was canceled. "I think they are overbooking and not taking the time to consider the customers," she said.

She ultimately decided to abandon her cruise vacation.

Meanwhile, Amy's flight was rescheduled six times, but her flight was ultimately canceled in the middle of the night, causing her to not fly to Syracuse for her aunt's memorial. Her bags were also lost.

"All my family is there, and we can't get there," she said.

Read Also: American Airlines Secret Policy Might Disappoint You-Here's Why

United Slams FAA for Cancellations

United Airlines blamed its cancellations on weather and the FAA's staffing constraints. In a statement, the airline said conditions are improving as they have "all hands on deck" to fix the situation, hoping it could be "on track to restore" operations for the holiday weekend.

The FAA denied the claim.

In a memo to staff, United CEO Scott Kirby accused the FAA of failing them, highlighting that the agency reduced arrival rates at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of United's hubs. The FAA responded by telling Fox News they would "always collaborate with anyone seriously willing to join us to solve a problem."

"With the exception of United, airlines have recovered to a more typical cancellation/delay rate as of this morning, after the severe weather earlier this week," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted Thursday.

Related Article: San Antonio Airport Worker Dead After Being 'Ingested' by Plane Engine

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Honourable Minister, the announcement that migrant children will be allowed into schools in September is excellent news for all who believe in social justice and the human rights of the child. As we welcome migrant pupils into our schools, we are presented with an opportunity to turn around our countrys education system to account for and correct the psychologically violent colonial inheritance of a raceand colour-based hierarchy.
With summer in full swing, we plan to spend as much of it as possible outdoors. Preferably in a comfy chair or on a blanket with plenty of food and drink. Bread, cheese and wine will do, of course.

When we want to go all out, we turn to the delicious memories of a recent tapas tour of Spain.

Tapas, those small tasty bites of savory foods, make great picnic fare. There are many combinations suited for transporting in coolers and enjoying chilled or at room temperature. The menu easily expands to accommodate the guest count and hunger levels.

Tapas can be practically anything spread on bread, skewered on a wooden pick, served as a cold salad or warm off the grill or out of a small cazuela (clay dish). Our favorites tend to be those served on small plates for sharing--either with a spoon or on slices of bread.

The first recipe, a delicate creamy salad, known simply as ensaladilla (or ensaladilla Rusa  Russian salad), captured our hearts at a tapas bar in Santiago de Compostela. There, this classic dish of cooked potatoes and carrots, cut into pretty, small pieces and mixed with green peas and mayonnaise, is piled high alongside thick slices of bread. At home, the salad turns out to be the perfect tapas party cornerstone.

Chickpeas, mixed with caramelized onions, arrive warm in clay baking dishes in Spains traditional tapas restaurants. We ate them with a spoon and scooped up all the oily goodness on the bottom of the dish. Often, grilled sliced octopus or chunks of best-quality tinned fish are added for a heartier dish. These are great served with sliced bread either warm or at room temperature.

We nearly inhaled a super-simple tomato appetizer one evening in San Sebastian at a bright, modern-looking tapas bar. Juicy, ripe tomato wedges seasoned with fruity Spanish olive oil and coarse salt arrived in a shallow bowl. Thankfully, tomato season will be around here for many weeks--well vary the dish by changing the oil to suit our tastes.

Thinly sliced Spanish ham, sandwiched between slices of buttered baguette, can be made a couple of hours in advance, then individually wrapped. Sliced sausages, tinned sardines, assorted cheese and pickles round out our picnic offerings. Other nibbles could include grilled shrimp, grilled vegetables on skewers and deviled eggs. Of course, bowls of olives and roasted nuts are welcome. Baskets of sliced hearty bread fill in the gaps.

Serve tinto de Verano (summertime red wine) with the tapas  simply fill a wine glass half full with fruity red wine (over ice if you wish). Then top off the glass with sparkling lemonade or lemon soda water. Garnish with a slice of lemon.

TAPAS-STYLE PICNIC MENU

Creamy potato, carrot and pea salad*

Sliced grilled sausages

Spicy chickpeas and onions*

Tomato salad *

Spanish Iberico ham (or prosciutto) on buttered baguette slices or buns

Tinned sardines

Assorted pickles and olives

Assorted cheese

Sliced French bread or sourdough bread

Creamy Potato, Carrot and Pea salad

Ensaladilla

Creamy potato, carrot and pea salad

Makes 6 servings as part of a tapas menu

6 medium-size golden potatoes, about 1 pound total

6 to 8 skinny carrots, 8 to 10 ounces total. peeled

2/3 cup (3 ounces) fresh shelled or thawed frozen peas

2 shallots, finely diced or 1/4 cup finely diced red onion, rinsed, drained

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or unseasoned rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon each: Dijon mustard, salt

Chopped fresh chives or green onion tops

1. Peel potatoes if desired. Cut into 1/2-inch thick slices. Cut slices into 1/2-inch wide sticks. Cut sticks into 1/2-inch dice. Put diced potatoes into a microwave-safe bowl. Add 1/2 cup water and cover tightly with lid or plastic wrap vented at one corner. Microwave on high (100% power), stirring once or twice until potatoes are fork-tender, 5 to minutes. Let stand 5 minutes. Drain.

2. Slice carrots into 1/4-inch thick coins. Put carrots into a microwave-safe bowl. Add 1/4 cup water and cover tightly with lid or plastic wrap vented at one corner. Microwave on high (100% power), stirring once or twice until carrots are fork-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir in peas. Let stand covered 5 minutes. Drain.

3. Put shallots into a large bowl. Stir in mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard and salt. Mix well. Stir in drained potatoes, carrots and peas. Serve garnished with chives. (Salad can be refrigerated for up to three days; serve at room temperature.)

Spicy Chickpeas and Onions

Makes 6 servings as part of a tapas menu

1 large sweet onion, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch wide wedges

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon each: salt, ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 cans (15 ounces each) chickpeas, drained, rinsed

Finely grated rind and juice of 1 small lemon

Chopped fresh parsley

1. Cut onion through the stem end into 1/4-inch thick wedges. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet until hot; add onion. Cook and stir until the onion is soft and golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

2. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, salt, cumin and crushed red pepper. Cook and stir until flavors are blended, about 2 minutes. Stir in drained chickpeas. Cook and stir until chickpeas are well coated with the mixture and very hot, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon rind, juice and parsley. Serve warm or at room temperature. (This keeps in the refrigerator, covered, up to four days.)

Tomato Salad

Makes 6 servings as part of a tapas menu

6 ripe round tomatoes, cored, about 1 1/4 pounds

2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin Spanish olive oil

1 tablespoon garlic oil, avocado oil or pistachio oil

Coarse (kosher) salt

Sliced French bread or sourdough

1. Cut each tomato through the stem end into six or eight wedges. Put the wedges into a serving bowl. Refrigerate, covered, up to a day.

2. Just before serving, drizzle with the oils and toss gently to coat the tomatoes with the oil. Sprinkle generously with salt. Serve at room temperature. Pass bread to soak up all the tomato juices.
Hows it growing folks?! Welcome back to another new episode of Here Weed Go!, the podcast issuing a public health message that its just a matter of time before marijuana makes its way into your life!

So, in the age of the pandemic, this podcast is of the belief that knowledge, when paired with good data, is power. That logic applies to public health initiatives as well.

In the case of marijuana and other recreational drugs, however, patients and consumers within those communities and industries are rightfully skeptical of public health programs and initiatives.

And who can blame them? Look at the infamous DARE program of the late 80s and 90s. Two generations of school children and young adults were given the Just Say No talk taught to lump cannabis into the same category as much harder substances when it came to consequences and health detriments.

And those consequences, when they werent coming in the form of unfair and unjust criminal charges (usually worse for minorities), were usually overexaggerated when it came to physical and health related effects.

Still, its disingenuous to suggest that consuming cannabis, especially habitually, is all rainbows, lollipops and thumbs up from your doctor for a clean bill of health.

For some people, there are health- and psychological-related risks and issues that come with cannabis consumption. But its not like the over-dose fears drilled into third graders during their after recess DARE session.

To help talk to me about what a modern, state-sponsored and funded public health campaign aimed at educating the public about marijuana usage, Here Weed Go! spoke with Dr. Benjamin Brady director of education and policy initiatives at the University of Arizona's Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center.

The Center was the recipient of a $1 million grant from the Arizona Department of Health Services, the state agency in charge of regulating marijuana, to develop a program that promotes awareness and respect for Arizonas marijuana laws and to encourage responsible use of cannabis.

You can read more about the grant in host Eddie Celaya's story on TucsonMarijuanaGuide.com, but in there conversation, Dr. Brady clears the smoke around what a public health campaign created around marijuana usage should sound and look like in this day and age, how public health education has evolved since Nancy Regan smashed those eggs, and just how he and his colleagues will be able to measure if the public has finally wised up when it comes to weed.

MORE INFO

For more on Dr. Benjamin Brady: https://publichealth.arizona.edu/directory/benjamin-brady

For more on University of Arizona's Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center: https://cpac.arizona.edu/

For more on the $1 million grant to CPAC from the Arizona Department of Health Services: https://tucson.com/marijuana/ua-pain-center-wins-1-million-grant-from-state-for-new-cannabis-education-program/article_fd433883-34ac-57a9-940b-4a033ca7a8a1.html

For more Here Weed Go! podcast episodes: https://omny.fm/shows/here-weed-go

To subscribe to the Here Weed Go! Southern Arizona Newsletter: http://tucne.ws/hereweedgo
If you ever wanted your very own shipping container, youll soon get the chance, courtesy of former Gov. Doug Duceys short-lived effort to build a border wall out of them.

But you wont get your pick of color, you have to arrange to have it shipped, and the seller  the state of Arizona  is warning that they arent in the greatest shape.

Youll also have to wait your turn until after government agencies and nonprofit organizations get first crack at them, expected to occur by Oct. 1.

Still, there should be plenty left of the approximately 2,200 shipping containers that Ducey had the state purchase so he could erect miles of containers to fill gaps left in the border wall started by former President Donald Trump.

And the asking price is far less than the state paid to buy them last year, even without considering the $100 million in taxpayer funds spent to erect them.

Ducey was forced to agree to remove the containers  at the cost of another $76 million of taxpayer funds  after the U.S. government sued the state for trespassing on federal property.

So now the state is stuck with all of these containers it bought solely for the project, which now are simply gathering dust on the grounds of the state prison in Tucson.

Its trying to get rid of them  suggesting they can be repurposed for housing, offices or classrooms  to recoup some of those expenses.

Gaps led to no-bid contract

Trump promised to build a big, beautiful wall between the United States and Mexico but there were still gaps when he left office at the end of 2020. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden called an immediate halt to further construction.

Last July the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it had authorized Customs and Border Protection to seal some of the openings, including a 3,820-foot gap near Yuma.

That didnt stop Ducey, Trumps fellow Republican, from issuing an executive order just weeks later, directing those gaps be filled with a line of 130 shipping containers, stacked two high, at state expense.

Ducey later announced a separate and more extensive contract to fill a 10-mile gap along the border south of Sierra Vista in Coronado National Forest. His administration also gave a no-bid contract to AshBritt Management & Logistics.

All that came to a halt when Ducey, after being sued, agreed just days before he left office in December to remove the containers. The state agreed to pay AshBritt even more money to undo what it had just put up.

Corrosion and other damage

The containers range in age from 10 to 20 years.

The most expensive one the state is offering is 40 feet long, eight feet wide and eight-feet-six-inches tall. Its listed as Grade C, which means the exterior will have extensive corrosion with a multitude of dents and may have prior repairs or patches, and the interior has markings, scratches and corrosion.

That will set you back $2,000.

If one with extensive corrosion or holes, as well as major damage, is OK, there are some Grade D 40-foot containers for $1,500.

Need something smaller? A Grade C 20-foot container will set you back $1,000 while $500 will buy a Grade D in the same size.

But there are only about 100 of these smaller sizes available.

Mostly bought for storage, so far

The state Department of Administration, which is marketing the items, says they can be used for housing, offices, classrooms or other occupancy.

But, depending on where they are put and how they are used, there are a host of other hurdles, such as oversight from local officials and zoning. Any plans to take the containers to a facility to be converted to housing for placement offsite requires that the facility to be licensed and certified by the Arizona Department of Housing.

So far, though, that hasnt been the interest of takers.

Virtually all of the approximately 100 containers already snatched up have been bought by other state agencies that want them for storage, said Megan Rose, spokeswoman for the Department of Administration.

But the Herald/Review reports that Bisbee Public Works Director Matt Guerney has ordered 13 Grade C containers in different sizes.

He said they are needed for storage space for equipment and supplies for parks, streets, sewage, sanitation and the fire department.

The price tag for Bisbees order is $27,820.

State to take a big loss

If the state gets rid of all the containers, it will be at a loss  even discounting the construction costs.

The Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, which made the purchase, doesnt have a breakdown of what each container cost. But the total price tag was more than $13.8 million.

Even assuming all the containers being offered for sale are 40-foot Grade C, that would put the maximum recouped at just $4.2 million. The final figure is likely to be less, given there are less expensive Grade D containers and smaller ones.

Daniel Scarpinato, who was Duceys chief of staff, told Capitol Media Services his former boss stands by the project.

He said it served its purpose, resulting in a commitment by federal officials to start closing gaps.

This effort was never meant to be a permanent solution, Scarpinato said. But it did result in getting the (Biden) administrations attention when almost nothing else would.

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs press aide, Christian Slater, has a different take.
PHOENIX  Public schools across Arizona will be inspected regularly to make sure they meet minimum standards to educate students under a new executive order issued by Gov. Katie Hobbs.

And in a separate order, Hobbs formed a committee to update the minimum standards to 2023 levels to, among other goals, ensure the schools have the necessary security to protect students during a campus shooting.

The state was already required to do those things after losing a series of lawsuits a couple of decades ago.

Until now, however, compliance has been spotty at best. That meant projects ranging from roof repairs to upgrading security with fences and doors that lock from the inside got done only in school districts with the resources.

Hobbs said that was unacceptable. The overall minimum standards were drafted more than 20 years ago and school inspections have been irregular, she said.

A childs ability to attend a safe and secure school should not depend on their zip code, she said in a written statement.

Attorney: Not enough to end lawsuit

An attorney representing school districts and education advocates said these two orders, alone, wont end the lawsuit they filed against the state in 2017 for failing to comply with a series of Arizona Supreme Court rulings that it is up to the state to provide a general and uniform school system.

What that will take, said Danny Adelman of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest, is getting the Republican-controlled Legislature to allocate what he said are hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to fund both existing standards and the new ones to be crafted by the Hobbs-ordered committee.

Getting that funding is likely to take a court order as lawmakers have, for years, fought all efforts to have a court tell them what are their constitutional obligations.

Last year, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin rejected claims that he has no right to rule on the legality of the formula legislators decide to use to finance the funding of new schools and repairs for existing ones. Martin said it clearly is within the purview of the courts to determine if the state is complying with the Arizona Constitution.

The case is now set for trial next year.

A question hanging in the balance is: What is the legally required minimum to keep students in Arizona not only safe but in conditions suitable for learning?

Lax safety cited

Some of whats at issue is basic, such as ensuring schools have the money to fix minor problems like leaky roofs before they become expensive major repairs. But Adelman said some standards that were considered acceptable 20 years ago are now outdated.

Exhibit No. 1 is the safety and security guidelines.

After Sandy Hook, the state studied reasonable things that schools should implement to keep their kids safe, he said, referring to the 2012 shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that left 20 children and six adults dead before the assailant took his own life.

Its things like single point of entry, decent fencing, cameras in some instances, a door that prevents people from outside the campus getting directly to children without having to get buzzed through, Adelman said.

Only thing is, Adelman said, state officials didnt put any of these in the guidelines and so, the state never funded them.

He said districts with the financial capacity to borrow money through bonds with voter approval and tax local residents did implement some of these things.

But others lack the resources. Weve got pictures of them like having to loop a chain around a door, Adelman said.

They didnt even implement things like you could lock the door from the inside so a teacher doesnt have to open her door in an active shooter situation to lock it.

History of litigation

The issue of the states role dates back to 1994.

Under the system in place at that time, school districts raised and borrowed money for all new construction and repairs through local property taxes.

That year the high court said the system created illegal disparities between rich districts and poor ones.

Some districts have schoolhouses that are unsafe, unhealthy and in violation of building, fire and safety codes, wrote Justice Frederick Martone for the high court. There are schools without libraries, science laboratories, computer rooms, art programs, gymnasiums and auditoriums.

At the same time, Martone said, there are schools with indoor swimming pools, a domed stadium, science laboratories, television studios, well-stocked libraries, satellite dishes and expensive computer systems.

The justices declared the funding system illegal and told lawmakers to come up with a fix.

In 1996, the Legislature agreed to put $100 million into a special fund that could be tapped by poor districts for construction needs. Lawmakers also agreed to provide another $30 million a year for nine more years.

The Supreme Court found that plan flawed, too, saying it did not meet the constitutional requirement for a general and uniform school system.

A 1997 alteration provided more cash. But here, too, the justices said that was not enough, saying the state still wasnt meeting its constitutional obligations.

Underfunded school needs

Lawmakers eventually created the School Facilities Board, which was supposed to pick up every districts construction and repair needs.

But legislators never came up with a new source of revenue to fund the potential $300 million annual price tag, instead absorbing the cost into state governments general fund.

That worked only when the economy was good and revenues were increasing. When the Great Recession hit and state tax collections tanked, one of the casualties was money for the board.

The result has been that districts needing schools or major repairs that cant wait for a state grant once again have to turn to their local voters for bond approval. That brings the funding system back to what the Supreme Court previously found illegal.

That led to the 2017 lawsuit. Even with that pending, Adelman said, lawmakers this year provided only $200 million of the $350 million in needs identified by the School Facilities Board.

He said while safety and security are crucial issues, theyre not all that schools need.

In modern classrooms its just different than when everybody had a little desk and the textbooks were all in the desk, Adelman said. That means different space requirements.

And not all of it is related to the physical layout.

The last time a committee met to look at whats needed, he said, one of the findings was there should be a computer for each student. The problem is, they didnt provide any funding along with that, Adelman said.

He said that while some schools were able to use federal COVID relief dollars, none of that is permanent.

Lack of regular maintenance

Then theres the issue of the buildings themselves.

The current system essentially requires schools to apply for grants to fix major problems. Aside from the fact that there hasnt been enough money allocated to fulfill all those requests, Adelman said it is a short-sighted approach.

He said whats needed  and what lawmakers originally promised more than two decades ago  are regular payments to districts to use for basic maintenance on things like roofs and air conditioning systems.

If you let school districts have some money they could use to keep their schools in good shape  then you can address things before its an emergency, Adelman said. Instead, there isnt funding for regular maintenance, meaning that what started out as small problems become big ones.

Because of the system that exists right now, we are spending at the worst possible time at the highest possible cost, he said.

He gave as an example the repainting of schools on a regular basis to keep them watertight.
LOS ANGELES  Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for "Little Miss Sunshine," has died. He was 89.

His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father's death through the actor's publicist on Friday. "Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man," they said in a statement.

A member of Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" and peaked late in life with his win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit "Little Miss Sunshine."

More than 40 years separated his first Oscar nomination, for "The Russians are Coming," from his nomination for playing a conniving Hollywood producer in the Oscar-winning "Argo."

In recent years he starred opposite Michael Douglas in the Netflix comedy series "The Kominsky Method," a role that earned him two Emmy nominations.

"When I was a young actor people wanted to know if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny one," Michael McKean tweeted Friday. "I'd answer 'Which kind is Alan Arkin?' and that shut them up."

Arkin once joked to The Associated Press that the beauty of being a character actor was not having to take his clothes off for a role. He wasn't a sex symbol or superstar, but was rarely out of work, appearing in more than 100 TV and feature films.

His trademarks were likability, relatability and complete immersion in his roles, no matter how unusual, whether playing a Russian submarine officer in "The Russians are Coming" who struggles to communicate with the equally jittery Americans, or standing out as the foul-mouthed, drug-addicted grandfather in "Little Miss Sunshine."

"Alan's never had an identifiable screen personality because he just disappears into his characters," director Norman Jewison of "The Russians are Coming" once observed. "His accents are impeccable, and he's even able to change his looks.  He's always been underestimated, partly because he's never been in service of his own success."

While still with Second City, Arkin was chosen by Carl Reiner to play the young protagonist in the 1963 Broadway play "Enter Laughing," based on Reiner's semi-autobiographical novel.

He attracted strong reviews and the notice of Jewison, who was preparing to direct a 1966 comedy about a Russian sub that creates a panic when it ventures too close to a small New England town.

In Arkin's next major film, he proved he could also play a villain, however reluctantly. Arkin starred in "Wait Until Dark" as a vicious drug dealer who holds a blind woman (Audrey Hepburn) captive in her own apartment, believing a drug shipment is hidden there.

He recalled in a 1998 interview how difficult it was to terrorize Hepburn's character.

"Just awful," he said. "She was an exquisite lady, so being mean to her was hard."

Arkin's rise continued in 1968 with "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," in which he played a sensitive man who could not hear or speak. He starred as the bumbling French detective in "Inspector Clouseau" that same year, but the film would become overlooked in favor of Peter Sellers' Clouseau in the "Pink Panther" movies.

Arkin's career as a character actor continued to blossom when Mike Nichols, a fellow Second City alumnus, cast him in the starring role as Yossarian, the victim of wartime red tape in 1970's "Catch-22," based on Joseph Heller's million-selling novel.

Through the years, Arkin turned up in such favorites as "Edward Scissorhands," playing Johnny Depp's neighbor; and in the film version of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross" as a dogged real estate salesman. He and Reiner played brothers, one successful (Reiner), one struggling (Arkin), in the 1998 film "The Slums of Beverly Hills."

"I used to think that my stuff had a lot of variety. But I realized that for the first twenty years or so, most of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their environment, foreigners in one way or another," he told The Associated Press in 2007.

Other recent credits included "Going in Style," a 2017 remake featuring fellow Oscar winners Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, and "The Kominsky Method." He played a Hollywood talent agent and friend of Douglas' character, a once-promising actor who ran an acting school after his career sputtered.

Born in New York City's borough of Brooklyn, he and his family, which included two younger brothers, moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. His parents found jobs as teachers, but were fired during the post-World War II Red Scare because they were Communists.

He studied acting at Los Angeles City College; California State University, Los Angeles; and Bennington College in Vermont, where he earned a scholarship to the formerly all-girls school.

He married a fellow student, Jeremy Yaffe, and they had two sons, Adam and Matthew.

After he and Yaffe divorced in 1961, Arkin married actress-writer Barbara Dana, and they had a son, Anthony. All three sons became actors: Adam starred in the TV series "Chicago Hope."

At Second City, he worked with Nichols, Elaine May, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara and others in creating intellectual, high-speed impromptu riffs the fads and follies of the day.

"I never knew that I could be funny until I joined Second City," he said.
WASHINGTON  Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, is believed to have been detained days after mercenaries staged a revolt inside Russia, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday, citing U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Its not clear whether Surovikin faces any charges or where he is being held, reflecting the opaque world of the Kremlins politics and uncertainty after the revolt.

His reported detention comes days after Wagner Group mercenaries took over the military headquarters in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and were heading toward Moscow in what appears to have been an aborted insurrection.

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has spoken positively of Surovikin while criticizing the countrys military brass and suggested that he should be appointed the General Staff chief to replace Gen. Valery Gerasimov.

The New York Times reported this week that U.S. officials believe Surovikin had advance knowledge of Prigozhins plan to stage the revolt.

The White House and the Kremlin declined to comment.

Surovikin, who has longtime links to Prigozhin, hasnt been seen since the start of the rebellion when he posted a video urging an end to it.

A Russian military blogger, the Moscow Times, and the Financial Times reported that Surovikin, who is also the commander of the Russian air force, was arrested.

There has been intense speculation that some top military officers may have colluded with Prigozhin and may now face punishment for the mutiny that briefly sent a virtually unchallenged march toward Moscow that Putin labeled treason and a stab in the back.

Alexei Venediktov, former head of the Ekho Moskvy, a prominent independent radio station that was shut down by authorities after Moscow invaded Ukraine, said Surovikin and his close lieutenants havent been in contact with their families for three days, but stopped short of saying that he was detained.

Another prominent military messaging channel, Rybar, which is run by a former Defense Ministry press officer, reported a purge in the ranks was underway as authorities looked into allegations that some could have sided with Prigozhin.

Surovikin has been linked to Prigozhin since both were active in Syria, where Russia has waged a military action since 2015 to shore up Syrian President Bashar Assads government and help him reclaim territory after a civil war.

While Prigozhin had unleashed expletive-ridden insults at Shoigu and chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov before last weeks mutiny in which he demanded their ouster, he has continually praised Surovikin and suggested naming him to replace Gerasimov.

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on whether Surovikin had been arrested.

Asked by the AP if the president still trusts Surovikin, he replied that Putin works with the defense minister and the chief of the General Staff and referred questions about officers to the Defense Ministry. He also referred all other questions about Surovikin and his status to the ministry.

As to whether Putin considers it necessary to dismiss military officials who had links with Prigozhin, Peskov said the issue isnt my prerogative, and I have nothing to say on that.

The bald, fierce-looking Surovikin, who was nicknamed General Armageddon by Western media for his brutal tactics in Syria and Ukraine, was credited with shoring up Russian defenses after Moscows retreat from broad areas of Ukrainian territory last fall amid a swift counteroffensive by Kyiv.

Named by Putin in the fall to lead Russian forces in Ukraine, Surovikin presided over the bombing campaign that targeted Ukraines power plants and other vital infrastructure but failed to knock out power supplies.

In January, Putin replaced him with Gerasimov, putting the General Staff chief in charge of the Russian battle in Ukraine. Surovikin was demoted to the position of Gerasimovs deputy.

Gerasimovs own fate also is unclear after the abortive mutiny. While Shoigu showed up at several events attended by Putin, Gerasimov was mysteriously absent.
South Africa: Task team to ensure speedy rehabilitation of Metz Dam

Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister, Judith Tshabalala, has ordered the establishment of a task team to work around the clock in a coordinated manner to ensure that the Metz Dam in Limpopo is rehabilitated and to ensure the safety of communities living adjacent to the dam.

Tshabalala visited Ga-Sekororo on Thursday to assess the state of the dam, amid safety concerns.

The Metz Dam is classified as a Category II Dam with a safety risk in terms of the National Water Act, 1998 (Act no 36 of 1998). It is situated on the farm Metz 75 in Ga-Sekororo within the Mopani District Municipality, falling under the Olifants Water Management Area.

Tshabalala said the Department of Water and Sanitation; Limpopo Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA) and the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (LDARD) have joined forces to ensure the rehabilitation of the dam.

Prior to the site visit, the Deputy Minister held a meeting with the Limpopo provincial government where a task team with representatives from all the departments was established to work towards the rehabilitation of the dam.

A service provider was just appointed recently, and we need to give them space to do their job the best way they know how, but we need to move with speed to have this matter sorted. We are working on very short timelines where the contractors must do their research and come back and tell us what they found, Tshabalala said.

She said stakeholders are exploring avenues to make sure the dam remains clean and safe for other uses, as it is currently easily accessible and foreign substances can be thrown into the dam.

Since 2018, the department has been in constant communication with the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, as owners of Metz Dam, to fix the poor state of the facility which poses a serious risk to surrounding communities.

The department opened a criminal case against Limpopo Department in December 2021, after it failed to positively respond to directives concerning the dam and the risks it poses to downstream communities.

Tshabalala said the case is ongoing and the intergovernmental meeting is part of the mediation process to resolve the matter.

Opening the case is part of our administrative functions and responsibility. Yes, the case is ongoing and the state attorney has advised for mediation, hence the bilateral with the provincial government to come up with amicable solutions to this longstanding dispute, Tshabalala explained.

The Deputy Minister said no study has necessitated the demolishing of the dam, and that other avenues need to be explored for the rehabilitation of the dam.

It no longer serves as irrigation only, people are using it for other uses, including a hospital that takes water from the dam, treats it and uses it. We should not be hasty to say it should be demolished due to the serious use of the dam, she said.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-06-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Lotus flower with two receptacles found in SW China's Yunnan

People's Daily Online) 13:39, June 30, 2023

A wild pink lotus flower with two carpellary receptacles recently photographed at the Puzhehei scenic spot in Qiubei county, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo/Li Guowen)

A wild pink lotus flower with two carpellary receptacles was captured by photographers at the Puzhehei scenic area in Qiubei county, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao autonomous prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province on June 28.

The blooming season of rare varieties of wild versicolor lotus flowers at the scenic spot lasts from late May until the middle of September every year.

In the past, twin lotus flowers on one stalk, lotus flowers with two colors, lotus flowers with three colors, twin lotus flowers with two colors, and twin lotus flowers with three colors, were spotted at the scenic area.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Harvard has enlisted the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) in preparation for next year's offering of the university's most popular coding course. This means that AI has landed a new job!

The Harvard Crimson, the official school newspaper, reports that the Introduction to Computer Science (CS50) course at the Ivy League university would use a ChatGPT-like technology designed to assist both human professors and their students beginning in September.

Harvard's CS50 Bot

The CS50 bot is designed to be a more approachable alternative for a human lecturer by providing instant answers to common student inquiries.

In a report by the New York Post, CS50 instructor David J. Malan stated, "Our own hope is that, through AI, we can eventually approximate a 1:1 teacher:student ratio for every student in CS50." This means that they will have access to software-based tools that are available around the clock and can help each student learn at his or her own pace and in a way that is most effective for them.

In the future, the CS50 bot at Harvard will utilize an AI model to aid students with tasks including debugging, program design criticism, explaining obscure code or error messages, and answering specific inquiries.

Unlike ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, which Malan describes as "currently too helpful," the CS50 bot will guide students toward a solution rather than just providing one.

It was noted in the report that Harvard's adoption of an AI policy occurred just a few months before the introduction of the AI tool.

Of course, CS50 would be the first course at the institution to adopt its own version since it is the most popular computer course offered. Malan referred to the CS50 robot as "an evolution of that tradition."

Nevertheless, the lecturer cautioned that students should be prepared for early versions of the CS50 bot to underperform or even offer false answers. "We'll make clear to students that they should always think critically when taking in information as input, be it from humans or software."

Yet, Malan ensured that the tools would continue to improve based on comments from educators and students.

Malan noted that CS50 course personnel have already been utilizing software tools to make their tasks simpler. He is optimistic that improvements to the AI tool would allow academics to spend less time grading.

See Also: 'What is Mankind?': SoftBank Boss Masayoshi Son Has Revelation Thanks to ChatGPT

Blurred Barriers

AI has been welcomed with wide arms at Harvard, just as such online technologies have begun to blur the boundaries between the virtual and the real.

Catfishers have rushed to the platform to utilize the capability to lure victims into online relationships with bots. It was reported that child sexual assault perpetrators are selling AI-generated malicious content.

And in a different case, a New York federal judge fined ChatGPT AI lawyers for referencing bogus AI-generated cases in court filings.

See Also: Lawyers Using ChatGPT Fined by Judge for Citing Fake AI-Generated Cases

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP)  Prosecutors said Friday that they have turned over more than 80,000 pages of materials to U.S. Rep. George Santos  lawyers in the federal fraud and money laundering case against him.

The documents weren't publicly released, as is common during this stage of a case. The barely five-minute hearing at a Long Island courthouse focused on the case schedule, with the next court date set for Sept. 7.

Santos didn't speak in court, nor to journalists waiting outside. The New York Republican, known for fabricating key parts his life story, is free awaiting trial.

Santos pleaded not guilty last month to charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign, collected fraudulent unemployment benefits and lied to Congress about being a millionaire.

Prosecutors have charged Santos with 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Taken together, the allegations suggest Santos relied on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself, according to Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for Long Island.

Santos has condemned the federal investigation as a witch hunt, vowing not only to remain in Congress but to seek reelection. Republican leaders have urged Santos not to run again but have deferred efforts to expel the freshman representative that could narrow their slim majority.

About a dozen protesters and a Santos supporter awaited him outside the courthouse Friday.

The critics blasted Republican congressional leaders for letting Santos stay in the House.

"Were now six months with this charlatan as our representative, with no meaningful representation in Congress, said one of the demonstrators, Jody Kass Finkle, who lives in Santos' district.

The group also included a Navy veteran who says Santos stole more than $3,000 that was raised to pay for surgery for the veteran's dog, which subsequently died. The FBI has been looking into veteran Richard Osthoff's claims; Santos has said he's an animal lover who wouldn't let a dog die.

While Osthoff shouted, You killed my dog! at Santos as he left court, supporter Marie Tooker gave the politician a small American flag. She lives in a neighboring congressional district but said she would absolutely vote for him if she could.

What hes being accused of is a grain of sand compared to others' misdeeds, she said, making general allegations of various forms of theft.

Federal prosecutors say Santos misused funds that he raised for his campaign on personal expenses, including designer clothes and credit cards.

He is also accused of lying about his finances on congressional disclosure forms and obtaining unemployment benefits while making $120,000 as regional director of an investment firm, which was later shut down over Security and Exchange Commission allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme. Santos wasnt named in the SEC complaint and has said he was shocked by the allegations.

As part of his bond agreement, Santos must notify the court if he plans to travel outside of New York or Washington, D.C. He said he received permission to do so this week before flying to El Paso, Texas, where he called for increased border security and brushed off questions about the federal investigation.

I might have my fair share of embroilments that the media seems to like, he said in El Paso. That's fair, but I ran to get stuff done.
ATLANTA (AP)  Parents of four transgender children have filed a lawsuit challenging a Georgia law set to take effect Saturday that bans most gender-affirming surgeries and hormone replacement therapies for transgender people under 18.

The law passed along party lines this year by the Republican-majority General Assembly and signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp was hotly contested, with Democrats, parents and medical providers making impassioned arguments against it. Georgia is one of at least 20 states that have enacted laws that restrict or ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, with most currently facing lawsuits.

The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday night, asks a judge to permanently block the law. U.S. District Judge Sarah Geraghty set a hearing for Wednesday on an accompanying motion to prevent the law's enforcement while the legal challenge plays out.

The Georgia law, Senate Bill 140, does allow doctors to prescribe puberty-blocking medications, and it allows minors who are already receiving hormone therapy to continue.

Supporters argue the law will prevent children from making decisions they could later regret.

But opponents say it will have devastating effects on young people, who are making decisions under parental and medical supervision. They argue the law further marginalizes people who are already prone to taking their own lives at disturbingly high rates.

The federal lawsuit was filed by the parents of four transgender girls and by TransParent, an organization that supports parents and caregivers of transgender children. The suit was filed on their behalf by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

They argue the law violates the fundamental rights of parents to make medical decisions to ensure the health and well-being of their children and violates the guarantees of equal protection by denying transgender youth essential, and often lifesaving, medical treatment based on their sex and on their transgender status.

The lawsuit names state health officials as defendants.

Kara Richardson, a spokesperson for Attorney General Chris Carr, said Friday morning that they hadn't received the suit yet.

That said, the Attorney General will do his job, which includes defending laws passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, she wrote in an email.

Puberty blockers are only intended to be used for a few years. Delaying puberty for longer carries risks, including keeping their bodies from developing bone density which generally happens during puberty, the suit says.

If the law goes into effect, young people already on puberty blockers will not be able to proceed to hormone therapy. That means they will have to choose between the negative consequences of prolonged use of that medication or stopping the medication and going through puberty to develop secondary sex characteristics that do not match their gender identity, the lawsuit says.

For those not already on puberty-blocking medication, the law discourages doctors from prescribing it at all because allowing a young person to take such medication until they turn 18 is not a viable option under the appropriate standards of care, the lawsuit says.

Prohibiting access to necessary medical care is just cruel, Southern Poverty Law Center Attorney Beth Littrell said in a statement. "Laws like this are predicated on prejudice, misinformation, and manufactured fears, and they are as indefensible as they are unconstitutional.

The families who sued have asked the court to let them proceed under pseudonyms because of concerns about their privacy and safety.

Some families said the law would force them to make the disruptive choice to uproot their families to move to a state that allows their children to receive the health care they believe is necessary for them to live happily and thrive.

Gender-affirming health care is best-practice, evidence-based medical treatment that is necessary for the health and happiness of many transgender youth, said ACLU of Georgia legal director Cory Isaacson.

The lawsuit is the latest to target bans on gender-affirming care, after a wave of legislation passed in conservative-led states.

A federal judge struck down Arkansas ban as unconstitutional, and federal judges have temporarily blocked bans in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Oklahoma has agreed to not enforce its ban while opponents seek a temporary court order blocking it. A federal judge has blocked Florida from enforcing its ban on three children who have challenged the law.

The states that have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP)  Prosecutors said Friday that they have turned over more than 80,000 pages of materials to U.S. Rep. George Santos  lawyers in the federal fraud and money laundering case against him.

The documents weren't publicly released, as is common during this stage of a case. The barely five-minute hearing at a Long Island courthouse focused on the case schedule, with the next court date set for Sept. 7.

Santos didn't speak in court, nor to journalists waiting outside. The New York Republican, known for fabricating key parts his life story, is free awaiting trial.

Santos pleaded not guilty last month to charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign, collected fraudulent unemployment benefits and lied to Congress about being a millionaire.

Prosecutors have charged Santos with 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Taken together, the allegations suggest Santos relied on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself, according to Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for Long Island.

Santos has condemned the federal investigation as a witch hunt, vowing not only to remain in Congress but to seek reelection. Republican leaders have urged Santos not to run again but have deferred efforts to expel the freshman representative that could narrow their slim majority.

About a dozen protesters and a Santos supporter awaited him outside the courthouse Friday.

The critics blasted Republican congressional leaders for letting Santos stay in the House.

"Were now six months with this charlatan as our representative, with no meaningful representation in Congress, said one of the demonstrators, Jody Kass Finkle, who lives in Santos' district.

The group also included a Navy veteran who says Santos stole more than $3,000 that was raised to pay for surgery for the veteran's dog, which subsequently died. The FBI has been looking into veteran Richard Osthoff's claims; Santos has said he's an animal lover who wouldn't let a dog die.

While Osthoff shouted, You killed my dog! at Santos as he left court, supporter Marie Tooker gave the politician a small American flag. She lives in a neighboring congressional district but said she would absolutely vote for him if she could.

What hes being accused of is a grain of sand compared to others' misdeeds, she said, making general allegations of various forms of theft.

Federal prosecutors say Santos misused funds that he raised for his campaign on personal expenses, including designer clothes and credit cards.

He is also accused of lying about his finances on congressional disclosure forms and obtaining unemployment benefits while making $120,000 as regional director of an investment firm, which was later shut down over Security and Exchange Commission allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme. Santos wasnt named in the SEC complaint and has said he was shocked by the allegations.

As part of his bond agreement, Santos must notify the court if he plans to travel outside of New York or Washington, D.C. He said he received permission to do so this week before flying to El Paso, Texas, where he called for increased border security and brushed off questions about the federal investigation.

I might have my fair share of embroilments that the media seems to like, he said in El Paso. That's fair, but I ran to get stuff done.

Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.
WAR IN UKRAINE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Washington was expected to reduce India's dependence on Moscow for arms, economic ties and technology as New Delhi and Washington try to strengthen the Quad partnership, which also includes Japan and Australia, to contain growing aggression from China.

India considers Russia a time-tested ally from the Cold War era with key cooperation in defense, oil, nuclear energy and space exploration. The partnership has become complicated as Moscow builds closer ties with India's main rival, China, in part because of the war against Ukraine.

Here's where things stand with India-Russia ties.

What's India's stance on Russia's war on Ukraine?

India has so far avoided voting against Russia or criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

Facing pressure from the United States and European nations, Modi told Putin in September, "Today's era is not an era of war." He said democracy, diplomacy and dialogue had kept the world together.

Modi and Putin met in September on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the city of Samarkand, in Uzbekistan.

How did India develop ties with Russia?

India started building a strong relationship with the then-Soviet Union in the mid-1950s during the Cold War, then strengthened those ties over conflicts with Pakistan.

The Soviet Union helped mediate a cease-fire between India and Pakistan to end the 1965 war over control of the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.

Then, during India's war with Pakistan in December 1971, the Soviet Union used its veto power to support India at the United Nations, while the U.S. ordered a task force into the Bay of Bengal in support of Pakistan.

India and the Soviet Union signed a treaty of peace, friendship, and cooperation in August 1971. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it was replaced by the Treaty of Indo-Russian Friendship and Cooperation in January 1993.

Is India dependent on Russian arms?

India started looking for Soviet arms after its bloody war with China in 1962.

In the early 1990s, the USSR represented about 70% of Indian army weapons, 80% of its air force systems, and 85% of its navy platforms.

India bought its first aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya, from Russia in 2004. The carrier served in the former Soviet Union and later in the Russian navy.

India's air force operates more than 410 Soviet and Russian fighters, comprising a mix of imported and license-built platforms. India's inventory of Russian-made military equipment also includes submarines, tanks, helicopters, submarines, frigates and missiles.

India has been reducing its dependency on Russian arms and diversifying its defense procurements, buying more from countries like the U.S., Israel, France and Italy. Experts say it could take 20 years to get over its dependence on Russian supplies and spares.

How much Russian oil is India buying?

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States and European nations set a cap of $60 a barrel for Russian oil to control Moscow's rising revenue. India's oil purchases from Russia rose sharply despite the sanctions.

Indian officials defended buying oil from Russia, saying the lower price benefits Indian consumers.

Russian oil now accounts for almost 20% of India's annual crude imports, up from just 2% in 2021, according to Indian media reports.

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell recently suggested that the EU should take a harder line on India reselling Russian oil into Europe as refined fuel.

India says its understanding of the EU regulations is that Russian crude, if substantially transformed in a third country, is not treated as Russian anymore.

How are India's ties with the US and Europe?

India, with the world's second-largest army, fourth-largest air force and seventh-largest navy, is trying to develop into a defense manufacturing hub, but it lacks a strong industrial base for military equipment.

India's been acquiring new technologies and reducing reliance on imports.

Under Donald Trump's administration, the U.S. and India concluded defense deals worth more than $3 billion. Bilateral defense trade increased from near-zero in 2008 to $15 billion in 2019, including long range maritime patrol aircraft, missiles and drones.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed upgrading the partnership with India during his visit to New Delhi in early June.

Joint production and manufacture of combat aircraft engines, infantry combat vehicles, howitzers and their precision ordnance were discussed in May at a meeting of the U.S.-India Defense Policy Group in Washington.

Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden announced an agreement Thursday that will allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with India-based Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines for Indian aircraft in India and the sale of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones.
Before Parker Millsaps mobile phone rang, he and the guys in the band were discussing Tom Waits movie cameos.

When youre on an 8,000-mile road trip, you have plenty of time to talk about things, so why not Waits movie career? Waits often popped up in Francis Ford Coppola projects, including the shot-in-Tulsa films The Outsiders and Rumble Fish.

Millsap, an Oklahoma music artist, is on his way back to his home state for a couple of performances. Hes performing July 1 at the Vanguard and July 14 at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival.

The Tulsa gig will wrap up a string of West Coast-and-back tour dates in support of a new Millsap album (Wilderness Within You) released in May.

Millsap was raised in Purcell (his family has four generations of roots there) but now is based out of Nashville. The current tour route is sort of a triangle from Nashville to Seattle to San Diego and back to Nashville. Hes seeing the country in a 15-passenger van with the back two rows of seats taken out to accommodate gear.

On the day of a phone interview that was scheduled to promote the Oklahoma homecoming, Millsap was en route to a tour date at the Troubadour. Its a famous West Hollywood venue. Its this famous: Don Henley and Glenn Frey met there. Carly Simon met James Taylor there. Taylor performed Carole Kings Youve Got a Friend there for the first time. The Byrds performed Bob Dylans Tambourine Man there for the first time. Elton John made his U.S. debut there. The band formerly known as Mookie Blaylock debuted a new name  Pearl Jam  there. Cheech and Chong were discovered at the Troubadour. So was Waits.

So, playing the Troubadour is big-time stuff (it wasnt Millsaps first time there), but Millsap is at a point in his career where he is a veteran of historic stages, including Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry.

You can trace everything back to a little stage at The Deli on campus corner in Norman.

Millsap said he didnt really benefit from big breaks during his career. Moreso, he had smaller breaks that had a cumulative impact. The first of those was landing a steady gig at The Deli, where he performed Tuesday sets of original songs and covers (including some Waits songs) for about three years.

At that time, I was just stoked to have a gig at all, Millsap said. When I got The Deli gig, I was like, all right. I made it. I am going to make $50 every time I play this gig. Thats pretty great.

On-the-job training there helped Millsap learn how to be a performer and how to workshop songs and how to play to different crowds  four regulars at the bar or 100 people when the venue is packed out and the crowd is into the music.

It was a really great place to cut my teeth and learn how to do a show, he said. It was low enough pressure that it wasnt stressful. I got a lot of performing hours under my belt.

Millsap, in continuing to recap important moments during his career advancement, talked about the events that led him to a record deal and an instance when he was summoned to perform at a songwriter-in-the-round event in Nashville.

Somebody got sick and wasnt able to do it, and I got called last-minute, so I drove out to Nashville and did a showcase with, like, three other songwriters and ended up meeting my eventual manager there, Millsap said.

He helped me get a great booking agent and got me set up and on my way in my career.

Good news for Millsap: His work earned respect almost immediately. His self-titled 2014 album and a follow-up record both went to No. 1 on the Americana chart.

An ultimate sign of respect came in 2016 when Elton John shared this on social media: Last night in Atlanta I saw one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Parker Millsap and Sarah Jarosz. Both were astonishingly good. And their respective musicians too. It restored my faith in music. Bravo to you both.

The music legend also invited Millsap to jam. Elton John and Millsap teamed up for Dont Let the Sun Go Down on Me during a 2016 Apple Music Festival in London.

During a 2018 interview with Billboard, Millsap said he initially declined Elton Johns calls because he didnt recognize the number and suspected he was being spammed.

I was on my buddys farm that same day, and my manager called me and said, Do you have service? Eltons gonna call you later today. Be somewhere where you have service!  and I was in the middle of Tennessee, Millsap said in the Billboard story. We were on our way to Home Depot to get some equipment to build something on the farm, and the truck broke down on the side of the road, and then Elton magically calls. It was kind of a weird day.

Returning to the Vanguard should make for a familiar day. Millsap had a CD release show at the Vanguard for his self-titled album nine years ago.

I think this will be like my fourth time playing the Vanguard, he said, adding that he is excited to come back.

I just love Tulsa. Ive got a lot of friends in Tulsa, so any time we are in Tulsa I get to see all my buddies there and I have a great time.

Millsap said he is performing songs from all across his catalog and not just material from the new album.

About that new album: I love it. Im really proud of it. For people who have been around following me since The Deli, there is a lot on it that is pretty similar to what I was doing at The Deli as far as singing songs with an acoustic guitar. The record also goes a bunch of other places. ... Its really all over the place, but I feel like thats how life feels sometimes. It feels honest to kind of make something thats all over the place.

The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today.
A former Tulsa Catholic priest has been sentenced to serve seven years in an Illinois prison after he pleaded guilty this week to sexually abusing a 10-year-old in 2001.

Based on Illinois sentencing guidelines, Kenneth Lewis, 61, probably will serve about 2 years of the sentence, his attorney said in an interview with the Tulsa World.

Lewis was charged in 2018 with multiple counts related to the alleged sexual abuse of a then 10-year-old boy in a suburban Chicago hotel in 2001.

He pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of aggravated sexual abuse in Cook County (Illinois) Circuit Court as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Stephen Komie, Lewis attorney, said his client apologized to the victim in court Thursday.

An Evanston, Illinois, police spokesman told the Tulsa World in 2018 that the assault occurred when the then-priest accompanied the boy and his family on a trip from Tulsa to the Chicago suburb.

A prosecutor told the court Thursday that Lewis used his position as a priest in the late 1990s and early 2000s to become a part of the lives of the victim and his family.

The family reported the incident in 2004, but prosecutors declined to charge Lewis at the time, according to Tulsa World archives.

In 2017 an Evanston police detective reopened the investigation, which culminated with a warrants being issued for Lewis arrest.

Lewis, who was ordained in 1991 at Holy Family Cathedral in downtown Tulsa, had faced accusations of inappropriate behavior with boys in 1993, according to Tulsa World archives. Those allegations involved physical contact with boys while he was associate pastor at St. Marys Catholic Church in Tulsa.

Then-Bishop Edward J. Slattery investigated at that time and removed Lewis from his position at St. Marys, according to World archives.

Lewis was sent to a psychiatric treatment facility for evaluation. He returned to active ministry in Tulsa in 1995 under the condition that he not be alone with minors.

Lewis resigned from the ministry in 2002 when the past allegations against him resurfaced during the national sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, according to Tulsa World archives. Later that year, then-Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris looked into the early 1990s allegations against Lewis but declined to file criminal charges, citing the statute of limitations.

Meanwhile, the youths family went to an Illinois court to file a civil lawsuit in March 2007 against Lewis and the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa. That case was settled in 2010, according to Tulsa World archives.

They also settled a civil case filed in 2009 in Tulsa County District Court against the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa and Lewis.

Komie said Lewis pleaded guilty to a crime that requires him to serve half the term.

That means he serves 3 years, plus he has an automatic six months good-time credit off his sentence, Komie said.

So its liable to be a 2 year sentence with ultimately (Lewis going) to a halfway house, assuming he is alive at the time, Komie said, noting that Lewis has a severe heart condition.

Komie said the judge ordered that Lewis serve his sentence at an institution that is within an hour of a cardiac care center. If you cant get to a cardiac center within an hour, your survival chances go way down, he said.

Komie said that at his Thursday court hearing Lewis thanked the court for the time spent on the case and apologized for any pain or suffering he caused the victim.

It took from 2002 to the present to reach a resolution of the case, and during that entire period of time, Ken was rehabilitated and enjoyed being able to overcome the reasons that brought him to court, Komie said.

Komie said Illinois prisoners are sentenced to serve either 100%, 85% or 50% of their prescribed prison term depending on the crime type.

Homicide convicts serve 100%, while very serious sexual assault cases serve 85% of the term, Komie said. In Lewis case, Komie said, counts that would have required serving 85% of the sentence were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

In addition to serving a seven-year prison term, Lewis was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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The city of Tulsa will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling that the city lacks the jurisdiction to cite tribal citizens for traffic violations in the city limits within the Cherokee Nation and Muscogee Nation reservations, Mayor G.T. Bynum announced Friday.

Today, I have authorized our attorneys to request that the United States Supreme Court hear this case and give all parties clarity so we can move forward, Bynum wrote on a Facebook post just before noon.

Bynum said the appeal was necessary to determine whether city ordinances apply to everyone in Tulsa.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday determined that the city of Tulsa did not have jurisdiction to cite a tribal citizen for speeding within the city limits of Tulsa since the crime also occurred within the Muscogee Nation reservation.

The U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark 2020 McGirt ruling determined that the Muscogee Nation reservation still existed because Congress had never explicitly abolished it.

The ruling has since been expanded to include the Cherokee Nation and seven other tribes.

Most of the city of Tulsa is within the Muscogee Nation and Cherokee Nation reservations.

The appellate court ruled that a 19th century, pre-statehood law called the Curtis Act did not grant the city the jurisdiction it needed to cite someone regardless of their race or tribal affiliation, as it claimed.

The case decided this week involved Justin Hooper, a Choctaw Nation citizen, who was cited for speeding in 2018 by the Tulsa Police Department.

Hooper paid the $150 citation but appealed his guilty judgment in Tulsa federal court after his request for post-conviction relief with Tulsa Municipal Court was denied.

After a federal district court judge sided with the city of Tulsa, Hooper filed his appeal with the Denver-based appellate court.

The appellate court on Wednesday rejected the citys claim that the Curtis Act gave it jurisdiction over all people, including tribal members, determining that the law had not applied to Tulsa since Oklahoma became a state in 1907.

Federal and tribal courts, not a state, generally have jurisdiction over crimes committed by tribal citizens on tribal land.

The appellate court ruling drew praise from area tribal leaders and scorn from Gov. Kevin Stitt, who issued a statement condemning the ruling.

Stitt also posted a meme on social media Thursday that depicted two different speed limit signs on the same poles  one a 75 mph speed limit and below it a 100 mph tribal speed limit.

Above the meme Stitt wrote: We cant have two sets of rules for Oklahomans  its that simple.

Bynum, in his post, said while it was a good thing that portions of Tulsa have been determined by the U.S. Supreme Court to still reside within the Muscogee and Cherokee reservations, the McGirt ruling at its root has brought into question many of the foundations of our systems of government.

Hoopers attorney, John M. Dunn, said Wednesday that the appellate court ruling did not mean tribal citizens could evade traffic citations within the city of Tulsa.

Rather, concerns that Tulsa police can no longer enforce traffic laws when they involve tribal citizens are imagined, he said.

We believe that the 10th Circuit opinion was correctly decided, Dunn said Friday. We will look forward to seeing the city in Washington (D.C) and hearing the Supreme Court say the same thing.

Dunn said Tulsa police officers can still issue citations to tribal citizens because they are cross-deputized as officers with both the Cherokee and Muscogee Nations.

The traffic codes in each of these two tribes match almost identically what Tulsa or what Oklahomas traffic codes are, Dunn said Wednesday. So, instead of grabbing the ticket book that says Municipal Tulsa, it will be the Tribal Court of the Creek Nation or the Tribal Court of the Cherokee Nation, Dunn said.



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OKLAHOMA CITY  A state investigation into the McCurtain County sheriff, reportedly one of several local officials caught on tape making racist comments and discussing murdering two reporters, has found no grounds for his removal from office.

Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations probe into Sheriff Kevin Clardy found no evidence of criminal misconduct or other acts that would be statutory grounds to remove the embattled official from elected office.

The McCurtain Gazette-News this spring published articles alleging that Clardy and several other local officials were caught on audio tape discussing killing two local journalists and lynching Black people. The newspaper also published audio recordings of said conversation.

McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings, whom the newspaper alleged was part of the conversation, resigned shortly after the incident became national news. Clardy, Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix and Sheriffs Office Investigator Alicia Manning  the other parties who allegedly were part of the conversation  resisted calls for their resignations.

The McCurtain County Sheriffs Office accused a Gazette-News journalist of illegally recording the conversation. The office also alleged that the audio recording was altered, a claim the journalist has denied.

After Clardy resisted calls for his resignation, Gov. Kevin Stitt asked Drummond to investigate whether the sheriff could be forcibly removed from office.

The governor stands by his call for Clardy to resign, said Stitt spokesman Abegail Cave.

Sheriff Kevin Clardy has a duty to protect and serve the people of McCurtain County, she said in a statement. Instead, he chose to brazenly advocate for violence against Black Oklahomans and members of the media. He failed to keep and preserve the peace of McCurtain County  a duty with which McCurtain County voters entrusted him. This is a willful neglect of duty.

Clardy did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Although the outcome of the investigation may be frustrating, inaction is the only appropriate conclusion under the law, Drummond wrote in a letter to Stitt.

There are countless examples of incidents from across the country where public officials make inflammatory comments that spark severe condemnation, Drummond wrote. Oftentimes the offending official resigns in disgrace. Sometimes the outrage fades and the matter is forgotten. Regardless, there is no provision of law in Oklahoma to throw elected officials out of office merely for saying something offensive.

Ultimately, McCurtain County voters will decide whether Clardy remains in office, Drummond wrote.

He encouraged Stitt to use his bully pulpit to advocate for a change in leadership in the McCurtain County Sheriffs Office.

You have demonstrated a formidable ability to endorse candidates who go on to win their elections, Drummond wrote. If you are resolved to see a new person serving in that office, then I encourage you to identify and endorse a candidate in the upcoming election.

County sheriffs across the state will be up for reelection next year.



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Tulsas 2024 mayoral field got a little thinner this week as City Counselor Phil Lakin Jr. decided to join former Attorney General John OConnor and former state Rep. Carol Bush on the sidelines.

I considered it strongly, but there was no way for me to continue my role at TCF and run for mayor, said Lakin.

Besides representing Council District 8 since 2011, Lakin is chief executive officer of the Tulsa Community Foundation, which provides assistance to some 1,500 nonprofit organizations and is associated with the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

Lakin said Friday he is the luckiest guy in the world to be at TCF and a member of the Tulsa City Council.

The wind storm last week reminded me how much Ive enjoyed working directly with Tulsans to solve problems, he said.

Although no one has formally declared their candidacy to succeed two-term Mayor G.T. Bynum next year, several are known to be leaning into the race to varying degrees.

Among them are state Rep. Monroe Nichols, Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith, City Councilor Jayme Fowler and state Sen. Dave Rader. All confirmed their interest Friday.

Rader said Friday he hasnt decided but is thinking about it. Entering the mayors race would mean not seeking a third term in the Senate from District 39 in south and midtown Tulsa.

Keith, Nichols and Fowler all indicated strong interest.

Tulsa mayoral elections are nonpartisan, but Nichols and Keith are Democrats, and Rader and Fowler are Republicans.

Bynum is not term-limited but has said he will not seek a third four-year term.

Candidates will not formally file for the race until next June, with the first round of elections on Aug. 27, 2024. A runoff, if needed, would be Nov. 5, the same day as the next presidential election.

Tulsas next mayor  the citys 41st  would be sworn into office Dec. 2, 2024.

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OKLAHOMA CITY  The Oklahoma Supreme Court was asked Friday to toss out a recently enacted law that raised licensing fees for those in the medical marijuana business.

Jed Green, founder of Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action, and three companies filed suit against the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, asking the court to find House Bill 2179 unconstitutional. The companies are a grower, a dispensary and a processor.

Gov. Kevin Stitt signed the measure on May 26, 2022. It took effect June 1.

The suit alleges that the law is a revenue-raising bill that should have passed the Legislature by a supermajority based on the provisions of the 1992 State Question 640, a constitutional amendment.

It passed the Senate with the three-fourths requirement but fell short of that threshold in the House, the suit alleges.

It also alleges that the law was enacted one day before the Legislature adjourned, in violation of a requirement that revenue-raising measures be enacted prior to the last five days of the session.

The Legislatures hike in the fee structure represents an extraordinary leap in the amount of revenue that the State will collect through medical marijuana business licensing, the suit says.

It alleges that although the bill refers to the funds as fees, they are in fact taxes. The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority already receives a 7% excise tax on retail sales of marijuana, the suit notes.

Our challenge to HB 2179 is about more than cannabis, Green said in a statement Friday. This is a constitutional question that affects every Oklahoma taxpayer. We are respectfully requesting that the court consider our plea.

The suit also alleges that the measure violates the constitutional prohibition against special laws.

Grower, processor, dispensary and testing laboratory licenses are a class of medical marijuana business licenses, the suit says. But HB 2179 does not operate uniformly across that class of licenses. The measure creates a tiered licensing system and fee-tax schedule against growers and processors, but not against dispensaries and testing labs. This is discriminatory.

Annual fees would range from the current $2,500 to more than $50,000.

Under the terms of the law, processor license fees are determined by volume and range from $2,500 to $40,000. Dispensaries pay $2,500 to $10,000, based on annual sales. Testing laboratories pay a flat $20,000.

The suit says the petitioners stand to suffer economic harm with the increased fees.

The measures impact on Petitioners is direct, immediate and substantial, it says.

The suit seeks to have the law declared unconstitutional and void and bar its enforcement.

Our medical marijuana program has been revenue-positive since day one, Green said. It has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue the last five years. The license fee increases on our industry are not needed to support regulation.



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10 things that are still illegal under Oklahoma's medical marijuana laws Cant get a prescription for marijuana Cant use marijuana in the workplace or be impaired on the job Cant transport marijuana across state lines Can't get a doctor's recommendation inside a dispensary Can't try the product while shopping Cant smoke marijuana where tobacco also prohibited Can't give marijuana away Cant drive while impaired on marijuana Cant possess an excessive amount of marijuana Can't smoke where you're told not to Check out our latest digital-only offer and subscribe now
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has agreed to readmit the United States as a member state after the governing board voted 132-10 Friday, the Associated Press reported.

According to Washington officials, the US would again become an official member of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken or a designee formally accepted the invitation.

Among those who opposed the US readmission were the Russian, Palestinian, and North Korean delegations. The session was adjourned due to fatigue on the part of UNESCO interpreters. Other countries that opposed the proposal were Belarus, China, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Nicaragua, and Syria.

Read Also: US Nuke-Capable Bombers Fly Over Korea After Pyongyang Staged Anti-US Rallies

US Returning to UNESCO a Second Time

The Biden administration announced early in June that it would apply to rejoin the organization due to China's influence and hegemony following its departure in 2017 under President Donald Trump after the organization was alleged to hold an anti-Israel bias.

The previous decision was triggered when UNESCO voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011, resulting in both the US and Israel withdrawing their financial support to the organization.

The White House added it has requested $150 million for the 2024 budget to go toward UNESCO dues and arrears, with future arrangements being planned to pay the US's full debt worth $619 million. The payments would make up a significant portion of UNESCO's $534 million annual operating budget.

UNESCO plays a major role in setting international standards for artificial intelligence (AI) and technology education worldwide.

The US previously withdrew from UNESCO in 1984 under the Reagan administration due to the organization being viewed as mismanaged, corrupt, and used to advance Soviet interests. It rejoined in 2003 during former President George W. Bush's presidency.

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A federal jury found a former Tulsa legislator guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Wednesday in connection with a fatal motorcycle accident at Lake Eufaula State Park last year.

Danny Gene Dan Kirby, 65, remains free on bond while awaiting sentencing, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office in Muskogee.

The jury found Kirby guilty in connection with the death of Sheryl Bichsel, 56.

Bichsel was a passenger on Kirbys motorcycle July 23 when he lost control and crashed while leaving the Fountainhead Marina Bar in Checotah, according to court documents.

Bichsel died the next day after being taken by helicopter to a Tulsa hospital, according to court records.

A blood test later revealed that when the crash occurred Kirby was under the combined influence of alcohol, marijuana, tramadol, trazodone, amphetamines, citalopram and oxycodone and was unable to complete field sobriety tests administered by an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Kirby, who was a Eufaula city councilor at the time, was prosecuted in federal court because he is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the death occurred within the Muscogee Nation.

A grand jury indicted Kirby on the single involuntary manslaughter count on Feb. 15, and Kirby resigned from the Eufaula City Council in March.

Testimony in his trial began Monday and concluded Wednesday with the jury verdict.

Kirby served four terms in the Oklahoma House of Representatives as a Republican from Tulsa. He resigned in March 2017, shortly after being reelected to a fifth term, following allegations of sexual harassment at the Capitol. He denied wrongdoing.



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OKLAHOMA CITY  The Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs has paused plans to close a state-run veterans home in Talihina amid questions about whether state law prohibits closing the home prior to the opening of a new facility in Sallisaw.

The decision comes nearly one week after the Oklahoma Veterans Commission voted 5-0 to close the Talihina facility by October, more than a year before the anticipated opening of a new veterans home in Sallisaw.

When state lawmakers passed a law in 2018 authorizing the Department of Veterans Affairs to build a new veterans home, the legislation stipulated that the Talihina veterans facility would continue until such time as its operations are transferred to a new home, which the agency later decided would be in Sallisaw. But lawmakers removed that stipulation from state law a few years later.

Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs officials are reviewing the law after some lawmakers conveyed to them the original intent of the legislation.

I think being on pause right now is appropriate until we figure this all out, said Greg Slavonic, interim executive director of the state Department of Veterans Affairs.

Although the law has changed in recent years, the original intent of the legislation is important, said Rep. Jim Grego, R-Wilburton. The original bill authorizing construction of a new veterans home likely wouldnt have passed the Legislature if it werent for the language stipulating that the Talihina facility, the Oklahoma Veterans Home, couldnt close until the new facility opened, he said.

A vocal critic of the decision to fast-track the closure of the Talihina home, which is in his district, Grego said hes encouraged to see the Department of Veterans Affairs hold off on taking further action. Veterans Affairs officials are making an effort to listen to lawmakers and get input from others who have raised concerns about this decision, he said.

The Veterans Commission voted last Friday to close the Talihina facility sooner than anticipated because the state is losing roughly $500,000 each month operating the 175-bed facility, which housed only 36 residents last week. Eight residents have transferred to other facilities since the vote, meaning the Talihina home is at a 16% occupancy rate, Slavonic said.

Although the Sallisaw home originally was intended to open next month, the likely opening date has been pushed back 18 months due to construction delays and cost overruns. The facility now is expected to open in early 2025.

The state is estimated to lose more than $9 million if the Talihina home remains open through 2024, Slavonic said in an interview Thursday.

Members of the Veterans Commission balked last week at the idea of having to ask the Oklahoma Legislature for additional funding next year after previously seeking $21.7 million in additional appropriations for the Sallisaw project and roughly $10 million more due to a budget shortfall at the agency.

Slavonic did not say when agency leaders will decide whether to move forward with the closure of the Talihina facility. He said the Legislature may be willing to appropriate additional funds to keep it open until the Sallisaw home is complete.

I dont know what lies ahead, Slavonic said. My crystal ball isnt that clear. But we want to do right by the veterans that are there and the employees.

Residents were offered the chance to move to any of the states six other veterans homes. The facilities closest to Talihina are located more than two hours away in Claremore and Sulphur.

About 84 state employees and 38 contract workers are employed at the Talihina veterans home, the towns second-largest employer.

Veterans Affairs officials estimate that closing the Talihina facility will cost about $3.9 million, much of which would go toward employee severance and other costs related to the reduction in workforce.

Sen. Warren Hamilton, a veteran whose district includes Talihina, said lawmakers are working with the Department of Veterans Affairs to find a better solution.

I am confident that future plans will ensure that our veterans receive the care they need and that their lives are not unduly disrupted during this time of transition, Hamilton said in a news release.



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Gov. Kevin Stitt asked 14 tribal governments on Thursday to extend for one year their tobacco compacts with the state of Oklahoma, while his Twitter account displayed a message that easily could be interpreted as insulting to them.

The compact offer essentially would maintain the status quo of compacts that expire this year but with more specific language concerning the tribes taxing jurisdictions. Thats the key point for Stitt, who is concerned that tribes will attempt to extend those jurisdictions.

On Monday, the Oklahoma Senate failed by one vote to override Stitts veto of a legislative bill that would extend for one year the compacts as written. Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Edmond, said he would try again when more members are available to vote on the override attempt. Nine members missed Mondays vote.

The state received $57 million from tobacco compacts last budget year, but most of the compacts expiring in 2023 are with smaller tribes. The Osage Nation is the largest tribe on this years list.

Stitts aggressive pursuit of compact terms more favorable to the state, especially in gaming, has contributed to tense relations with the tribal governments. Initially, he sought more money from Indian casinos while advocating general tax cuts.

Since the 2018 McGirt decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled narrowly that the Muscogee Nation  and by extension several other (but not all) reservations in eastern Oklahoma  was never legally dissolved, Stitt has warned that the state could lose the ability to effectively govern.

That includes taxation. Stitts immediate purpose with the tobacco compacts is to get tribal governments on record as not seeking to extend their jurisdictions.

Currently, the tribes receive 50% of taxes collected on tobacco products sold on tribal trust land  land held in trust by the federal government for the benefit of Native Americans.

Stitts concern is that the McGirt decision could lead to attempts by tribes to extend their jurisdiction on all taxation, and other matters, beyond trust land to the entirety of their historical reservations.

That concern was highlighted earlier this week when the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Choctaw Nation citizen could not be prosecuted for speeding in a Tulsa municipal court.

On Thursday, Stitts Twitter account tweeted a picture of speed limit signs reading Speed Limit/75 and Tribal Speed Limit/100.

The ruling, however, does not preclude Tulsa police officers from ticketing tribal members.

Because the Tulsa Police Department and most local law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma are cross-deputized with tribal agencies, officers can still stop and ticket lawbreakers who are tribal members, but they have to do it on behalf of the proper tribal or federal agencies, which can be cumbersome.

Tribes receiving Thursdays compact offers were: Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Wichita and Affiliated Tribes of Oklahoma, Wyandotte Nation, Quapaw Nation, Pawnee Nation, Ottawa Tribe, Tonkawa Tribe, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Comanche Nation, Citizen Pottawatomi Nation, Osage Nation, Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.

Osage Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear responded to Stitts offer with a promise to refer the matter to the Osage Nation Congress, Tax Commission and attorney general.

We are looking for an agreement which benefits the people of the Osage Nation with proper deference to the legal rights of the state of Oklahoma, Standing Bear wrote.



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From December 2019: Oklahomas gaming tribes declined Gov. Kevin Stitts proposed compact extension
Time remains for the Oklahoma Senate to override Gov. Kevin Stitts veto of legislation that would renew tribal tobacco compacts. They need to do so.

By a vote of 31-8 on Senate Bill 26x, the Senate failed to reach the legal two-thirds majority threshold but also demonstrated significant support for the compacts. The House approved the override by the wide margin of 88-8.

Tobacco compacts with Native American tribes located in Oklahoma brought in about $57 million last fiscal year, according to a story from Tulsa World reporter Carmen Forman. Legislation passed the House and Senate to extend tobacco and vehicle registration compacts by a year. The Senate did not take up the vehicle registration veto.

Stitt vetoed the legislation, claiming hes the only elected official with the power to negotiate state-tribal compacts. Legislative leaders disagree. The Oklahoma Supreme Court in two separate cases, found that Stitt exceeded his authority when negotiating compacts with tribal nations.

Other revenue tribes have paid to the state of Oklahoma through compacting in the past fiscal year includes $191.5 million from gaming fees and $24 million from motor vehicle licensing and registration compacts with the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee nations.

Compacts have historically been the best avenue for partnerships between the sovereign tribal nations and state government. These have allowed each government to act independently and share in profits.

Stitt, a Cherokee citizen, has been feuding with tribal nations since he entered office and wanted tribes to pay higher fees in the gaming compacts. A court decision determined those compacts automatically renewed. Tension escalated after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in McGirt found that boundaries in Indian Country were never de-established, creating a shift in law enforcement jurisdictions.

In December 2021, Stitt did not renew the hunting and fishing compacts with several tribes. The state lost $35 million, including a match in federal dollars for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, according to Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, who called that a stupid decision.

The tribes continue to issue their own licenses. So, it is only Oklahoma that loses out when compacts are not renewed.

Oklahoma has a unique co-existence with sovereign nations within its borders. Strong partnerships with the tribal nations has made for a better Oklahoma. Tribes contribute millions through the state compacts but also put money into rural communities to bolster education, health care and infrastructure.

Stitt has not shown success in developing relationships with the tribal leaders. If these compacts are not renewed, Oklahoma loses, and ties between the state and tribal nations continue to fray.

We believe the legislative leaders have a better path forward. Senators need to return at the end of July to ensure the states relationship with tribal nations remains intact.

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Thai Hung Corporation in Thai Binh Province, northern Vietnam on Wednesday inked a cooperation agreement with German firm Roding Mobility to research and manufacture mini electric vehicles (EVs) in the Southeast Asian country.

Roding Mobility will provide technical consultancy, supervise the product research and development process, including designing, piloting, and manufacturing products, and transfer technology to Thai Hung.

The Vietnamese company will manufacture mini EVs, distribute them to the Vietnamese market, and export the products to other markets.

Thai Hungs auto factory is scheduled to begin operations in the last quarter of this year and launch its products next year.

A Wuling HongGuang Mini EV that Thai Hung Corporation imported into Vietnam in 2022. Photo: Thai Hung

The two sides will develop mini cars which meet European standards. Thai Hung expects to manufacture 6,000 city cars in the first three years of the project

The company will later develop two more EV models.

In total, Thai Hung will launch three EV models under its own brand.

Last year, Thai Hung began importing Wuling HongGuang Mini EVs from China for research purposes.

TMT Motors, a Vietnamese auto firm, began manufacturing Wuling HongGuang Mini EVs in Vietnam this week and has plans to begin distribution in September or October this year.

Thai Hungs EVs will face fierce competition from the VF 3 model of VinFast. Photo: VinFast

Thai Hung was established in 2006 and restructured to become an EV startup in 2020 through its electro-mechanical manufacturing factory project.

The Thai Binh Peoples Committee approved the project, which aims to assemble and manufacture two- and three-wheel EVs as well as electric cars, on January 8, 2020, before adjusting it on December 30, 2022.

The factory has a capacity of 15,000 vehicles per year, including 5,000 electric cars.

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Portcoast Consultant Corporation, the consulting unit and investor of the Can Gio international transshipment port project in the namesake outlying district of Ho Chi Minh City, has publicized the design for it, which requires an estimated investment of nearly US$5.4 billion.

Portcoast said it had assessed the impact of the project on the environment in line with the law.

The port will be developed in the Cai Mep Estuary with favorable connectivity with navigational channels and waterways.

Shipping activities are plentiful on the Cai Mep-Thi Vai shipping route, so the development of a transshipment port will not affect the current ecosystem in the area.

The port will be developed on Phu Loi Islet in Can Gio District, Ho Chi Minh City, which is isolated from adjacent areas and has favorable connectivity with navigational channels and waterways.

The project will be isolated from the core zone of the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve and protected marine areas in Ho Chi Minh City, which is completely appropriate to the national environmental protection strategy.

Modern technology will be employed during the port construction, thus reducing the impact on the environment.

An aerial view of Phu Loi Islet in Can Gio District, Ho Chi Minh City. The area is in the buffer zone of the Can Gio Mangrove Biosphere Reserve.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has submitted a study of the port project to the municipal Peoples Committee.

Upon completion, the port will play a great role in the development of the marine economy in the southern key economic zone and the country as a whole and help Ho Chi Minh City maintain its position as a logistics hub in the region and develop its sea transport.

The port is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs, contribute VND34-40 trillion ($1.4-1.7 billion) to the state budget per year, and attract huge investment from enterprises to develop modern infrastructure facilities.

The project can be connected to the Vietnam East Sea through the Vung Tau-Thi Vai shipping route. Ho Chi Minh City also has favorable weather conditions for the port operation with an average annual temperature of 26.8 degrees Celsius and experiences a small number of large storms.

The city will use the most advanced technology to operate the Can Gio international transshipment port. Equipment at the port will use electricity, thus minimizing environmental pollution. A specialized terminal operating system will be employed to optimize the management and operation of the port.

The city will prepare for the development of the port until 2024, construct it from 2024 to 2026, and put it into operation in 2027. The port will be capable of receiving mother ships up to 250,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT), feeder ships with a tonnage of 10,000-65,000 DWT, and barges up to 8,000 metric tons.

The investor will fund the port, auxiliary facilities, and a logistics service center, while the capital for traffic and other technical infrastructure will be sourced from the state budget and other legal capital resources.

The Can Gio international transshipment port, when in place, will attract huge investment from enterprises to develop modern infrastructure facilities, create jobs for some 6,000-8,000 laborers on the spot and tens of thousands of employees in logistics services, and contribute VND34-40 trillion ($1.4-1.7 billion) to the state budget per year.

The port will be developed on an islet to which no road has been built. By 2030, Ho Chi Minh City will have built Can Gio Bridge linking Can Gio and Nha Be Districts, expand Rung Sac Road in Can Gio, and connect the road with the Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway.

The city will later develop roads connecting the port with Rung Sac Road, an elevated road along Rung Sac Road, and a metro line connecting the Can Gio sea urban area and the citys fourth metro line planned to stretch from District 12 to Nha Be District.

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What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Politics

-- Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Thursday received a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headed by Sanjaya Panth, deputy director of the IMFs Asia and Pacific Department, who are on a working trip in Vietnam for Article IV consultation, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

-- Vietnam and China concurred to actively promote strategic connectivity, accelerate joint work in building a high-quality 'Belt and Road' initiative, strengthen connectivity on border roads and railways, build a multi-modal and efficient logistics system, accelerate the upgrading and connectivity of their border infrastructure, and promote smart border cooperation, according to a joint statement both sides issued following Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to China and attendance at the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum in Tianjin from June 25 to 28.

Society

-- A military court in Vietnam on Thursday sentenced a former Coast Guard commander to 16 years in prison for embezzlement in siphoning off US$2 million from military procurement deals.

-- Vietnam is prepared and will have an appropriate approach to the EU Deforestation-Free Regulation, Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said on Thursday.

-- Authorities in Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam have just approved a project to build a bridge over the local Tam Giang Lagoon at a cost of more than VND1 trillion (US$42.4 million).

Business

-- Vietnam's economy expanded 3.72 percent in the first half of this year, according to the General Statistics Office.

-- The U.S. exported almost US$4 billion worth of agricultural products and food to Vietnam in 2022, Consul General Susan Burns said at a ceremony to launch a program to promote American food in Vietnam on Thursday.

Sports

-- Vietnam place 95th in the world and 15th in Asia, according to the latest FIFA rankings announced on Thursday.

World News

-- "France saw unrest spread to major cities in a third night of riots on Thursday as President Emmanuel Macron fought to contain a mounting crisis triggered by the deadly police shooting of a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent during a traffic stop," Reuters reported.

-- "One of the world's most common artificial sweeteners is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month by a leading global health body, according to two sources with knowledge of the process, pitting it against the food industry and regulators," according to Reuters.

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A military court in Vietnam has given a 16-year jail term to a former Coast Guard commander for embezzlement in the case of siphoning off over US$2 million from the military procurement budget.

After three days of hearing, the Hanoi Military Court on Thursday announced sentences for Nguyen Van Son, 59, former lieutenant general and former Coast Guard commander, and his six accomplices in the case of embezzlement of VND50 billion ($2.1 million) that happened four years ago.

Besides Son with a 16-year verdict, former Lieutenant General Hoang Van Dong received a sentence of 15 years and six months, while three former major generals Doan Bao Quyet, Pham Kim Hau, and Bui Trung Dung got 15 years in prison each.

Dong was political commissar of the Coast Guard Command and Quyet was Dongs deputy, while Hau and Dung were both deputy commanders of the force.

Two remaining defendants, former Senior Lieutenant Colonel Bui Van Hoe and former Colonel Nguyen Van Hung, were sentenced to 12 years and 10 years in jail, respectively.

All the seven defendants were found guilty of embezzlement and they were prohibited from holding management and leadership positions for 3-5 years after serving their sentences.

According to the indictment, the Ministry of National Defense allocated VND450 billion ($19 million) to the Coast Guard Command for its annual budget in February 2019, and the command then earmarked one-third of the amount to the Technical Department, headed by Hung, for purchasing equipment and materials.

Two months later, Son discussed with Dong, Quyet, Hau, and Dung a plan to appropriate VND50 billion from the grant allocated to the said department and all of them agreed to the plan.

Son directed Hoe, then deputy head of the Coast Guards Finance Department, to cut the maintenance and repair budget for four Coast Guard areas and hand over a total of VND29 billion ($1.2 million) from the cutdown to the technical department, raising the departments budget to VND179 billion ($7.6 million).

In early May 2019, after signing a decision to officially allocate the total procurement budget of VND179 billion to the technical department, Son ordered Hung to deliver VND50 billion from the budget to the Coast Guard Command.

After Hungs delivery of the sum, Son kept VND10 billion ($423,000) from it for himself and gave the same amount to each of Dong, Quyet, Hau, and Dung.

All the embezzled money had been recovered from these five former generals before the hearing, the court said.

The courts judge described the case as particularly serious as the defendants blatantly violated financial management regulations and severely tarnished the image of the Coast Guard force.

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The Vietnamese Ministry of Transport has granted approval for phase 1 of the Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai Expressway project, which will run 50 kilometers from the southern metropolis toward the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan greenlighted investment in the Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai Expressway project at a recent meeting with representatives from various ministries, the Peoples Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, and the Peoples Committee of Tay Ninh Province, which borders Cambodia.

Tuan gave a nod to project research results presented by the Southern Transport Engineering Design Inc. (TEDI South), which proposed that the new expressway begin at Ring Road 3 in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City and run parallel to National Highway 22 before ending five kilometers from the Moc Bai border gate in Ben Cau District, Tay Ninh Province.

The first 23.7 kilometers of the expressway will be situated in Ho Chi Minh City while the remaining 26.3 kilometers will traverse Tay Ninh Province, according to a pre-feasibility study report submitted by the Peoples Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for appraisal.

The first phase of the project will be developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) model with a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract.

It will feature four lanes and allow vehicles to travel at a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

Total investment needed for the project will sit at over VND16.7 trillion (US$708.5 million), inclusive of interest during the construction period.

Of the total, over VND7.4 trillion ($313.8 million) will be sourced from a state budget earmarked for site clearance, and the rest will be mobilized by the investor.

The investor of the project will recoup capital over 18 years and one month.

Regarding connecting the Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai Expressway with Cambodias under-construction Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway as per a memorandum of understanding signed between the Vietnamese Minister of Transport and the Cambodian Minister of Transport and Public Works in 2017, authorities in Tay Ninh had previously expressed their concerns over its necessity and feasibility.

The Peoples Committee of Tay Ninh stated that the infrastructure in the vicinity of the Moc Bai border gate has received substantial investments to fulfill the infrastructural requirements for the trading of goods in the province for the next seven to eight years.

Meanwhile, the proposed linkage with Cambodia would lead to a rise in the projects investment expenses due to the extended route length, thereby influencing the feasibility of conducting investment research using the PPP investment format.

Additionally, the under-prepraration state of related plans poses challenges for the timely initiation of such a road connection.

Therefore, the Ministry of Transport has opted to pursue further research and collaboration with Cambodian authorities to develop an optimal plan for connecting the Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai and Phnom Penh-Ba Vet Expressways in the future, instead of the present time.

In addition, the ministry urged the Peoples Committee of Tay Ninh to promptly devise an investment plan for the expansion of roads in the Moc Bai border gate area, in order to accommodate the growing demands of trade and increased traffic resulting from the operation of the two expressways.

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The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously voted on Friday (June 30) to end its decade-long peacekeeping mission in Mali at the request of the country's military junta. The West African country's abrupt request for the end of the mission was a move the US suspected to be the doing of Russia's Wagner Group.

In the request, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told the Security Council there was a "crisis of confidence" between the UN peacekeepers and Malian authorities.

The council adopted a French-drafted resolution asking the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) to begin "the cessation of its operations, transfer of its tasks, as well as the orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal of its personnel, with the objective of completing this process by Dec. 31, 2023."

13,000 peacekeepers are reported to leave after the Mali government collaborated with Wagner in 2021.

UN peacekeepers are credited with playing a vital role in protecting civilians against the Islamist insurgency, which killed thousands. The sudden pullout of peacekeeper troops could lead to more bloodshed as Mali's under-equipped army is no match to militants controlling the country's northern and central deserts, even with the assistance of Wagner's 1,000-strong force.

Read Also: Russia Arrests General Following Wagner's Failed Mutiny in Crack Down of Dissent

US Blames Wagner for UN's Pullout in Mali

Wagner is still reeling from its failed mutiny on June 24 when they aborted its march to Moscow and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was exiled into Belarus with a portion of his contractors.

Meanwhile, the White House national security spokesperson John Kirby accused Prigozhin of engineering the departure of UN peacekeepers in Mali, saying it has information indicating Malian authorities have paid more than $200 million to Wagner since 2021.

"We know that senior Malian officials worked directly with Prigozhin employees to inform the U.N. secretary-general that Mali had revoked consent for the MINUSMA mission," he told reporters.

However, Russian deputy ambassador to the UN Anna Evstigneeva told the UNSC that Mali made a "sovereign decision" to end the peacekeeping mission to the country, saying Moscow would continue to provide "comprehensive support" to the country for "normalizing the situation" on a bilateral basis.

"We would like to confirm our support for Bamako in its aspiration to take full responsibility and play the leading role in stabilizing the Malian state," she said.

What Happens Next?

The Malian government did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment, but its UN ambassador Issa Konfourou told the UNSC it would remain "vigilant in ensuring compliance" with the withdrawal timeline.

"The government regrets that the Security Council continues to consider the situation in Mali as a threat to international peace and security," the ambassador said.

The UNSC authorized MINUSMA to continue responding to imminent threats of violence to civilians "within its immediate vicinity" and to continue with the safe and civilian-led delivery of humanitarian assistance until Sept. 30. It also asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Malian government to fully cooperate during the peacekeeper withdrawal, something Konfourou confirmed Thursday (June 29).

Related Article: Russia Allegedly Plans to Assassinate Wagner Leader; Prigozhin Now Staying in Windowless Hotel

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
As many as 32 sites along rivers and canals across Ho Chi minh City have been battered by land erosion, including eight critically-eroded zones, negatively affecting 1,328 households, according to the municipal administration.

Thus far, the city has earmarked VND3.474 trillion (US$146.8 million) for building anti-erosion embankments in 23 of the 32 affected locations.

The Peoples Committee has also asked the Department of Transport to develop a plan to build embankments to protect the Dong Nai and Can Giuoc riverbanks from erosion.

As for currently under-construction anti-erosion projects, investors were told to speed up efforts to appraise and complete work on them in order to protect both humans and property.

The administrations of Thu Duc City, under the jurisdiction of the southern metropolis, and districts citywide have had to warn local residents living in erosion-prone areas of possible risks, regularly examine vulnerable sites, and propose erosion control measures to authorities.

Completed anti-erosion projects must be handed over to operators in order to fully exploit the benefits of the projects, the municipal administration said.

Below are photos of some erosion-hit locations in Ho Chi Minh City:

Many houses encroach on the erosion-hit Giong Ong To canal in Thu Duc City, June 29, 2023. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

According to the municipal administration, local houses near Giong Ong To Bridge, which spans over the namesake canal in Thu Duc City, are located in a critical zone for land erosion, where local forces had set up an erosion warning sign. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Multiple locations in Binh Thanh District were put on a list of severely-eroded areas. Recently, part of a 120m-long embankment in Thanh Da Peninsula was eroded, prompting 13 affected households to take an emergency evacuation. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

A birds-eye view of the eroded embankment in Thanh Da Peninsula, June 29, 2023. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

An erosion-hit embankment in Thanh Da Peninsula. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

Authorities cordon off an erosion-hit area in Thanh Da Peninsula. Photo: Chau Tuan / Tuoi Tre

A riverside house is damaged by land erosion facing Phuoc Loc Bridge in the outlying district of Nha Be. Photo: Phuong Nhi / Tuoi Tre

The city has planned to build anti-erosion embankments near Phuoc Loc Bridge in the outlying district of Nha Be. Photo: Phuong Nhi / Tuoi Tre

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Vietnams Ministry of Health has received 590 vaccine refrigerators donated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with UNICEF, as part of their support to further improve cold chain systems for routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the countrys hard-to-reach communes.

USAID and the U.S. government are proud to continue our strong collaboration with the government and people of Vietnam in jointly addressing the national and global challenge of infectious diseases, Dr. Myat Htoo Razak, USAIDs senior global health security advisor, said at the handover ceremony in Hanoi on Thursday.

Dr. Razak said both USAID and UNICEF value the partnership with and commitment from the government of Vietnam, particularly the Ministry of Health and the National Expanded Immunization Program.

The vaccine refrigerators -- HBC-80 model -- will be delivered to 590 remote communes in 12 provinces in the northern and central regions of Vietnam, according to a joint media release issued by USAID and UNICEF the same day.

The model can maintain cold conditions for vaccines that must be stored at a temperature range of two to eight degrees Celsius, which is required for the majority of vaccines managed under the National Expanded Immunization Program.

Each refrigerator, with a storage capacity of 61 liters, will be able to store enough vaccine doses for routine immunization and targeted COVID-19 vaccination in the communes.

These facilities are essential to ensure that vaccines are safely stored and delivered at the commune level, enabling children to be vaccinated as soon as they are due  instead of waiting to collect vaccines from a higher-level storage facility that is far away, said Maharajan Muthu, chief of child survival and development at UNICEF Vietnam.

He affirmed that UNICEF is committed to supporting the strengthening of the health system not only at the national level but also at the community level.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, which started hitting Vietnam in early 2020, USAID and UNICEF worked with the Ministry of Health to bolster communication campaigns providing useful information for the public, as well as to support the infection prevention, control, and response efforts.

USAID said it would continue assisting Vietnam in enhancing the capacity of immunization systems in the coming time.

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Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan highlighted Vietnams readiness and commitment to adhere to the European Union Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR) at a conference held in Hanoi on Thursday afternoon.

Hoans ministry collaborated with the EU delegation to Vietnam and the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) to organize the 'Deforestation-Free Coffee Production and Supply in Compliance with European Union Regulation' conference in response to the EUDR that was approved by the European Parliament on May 16.

According to the new regulation, 100 percent of some of Vietnams agricultural products, particularly coffee, imported into the European market must have GPS data at farm level which can be used to assess the risk of deforestation through remote sensing monitoring systems.

At Thursdays conference, officials and professionals shared an overview of the requirements of the new EUDR, and the opportunities and challenges that the regulation may bring to Vietnam's coffee sector.

They also proposed solutions to support the coffee sector in meeting the standards set by the new regulation within the 18-24-month preparation period set by the EU.

In addition, the organizers presented a national action plan for the Vietnamese coffee sector to comply with the EUDR for the first time to key representatives of the industry and relevant international organizations.

The action plan includes stages of building a public-private partnership, promotion and advocacy, technical solutions, a dialogue channel between Vietnam and the EU, and resource mobilization.

The European Union Deforestation-Free Regulation, which is expected to take effect from December 2024, will directly affect stakeholders in the supply chains of wood products, rubber, and coffee, as well as impact the livelihoods of farmers, especially the smallholding farmers who make up the majority of Vietnam, Hoan emphasized.

Supply chains will face many challenges particularly in terms of location data, traceability, monitoring systems, and deforestation-free supply chain management.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development considers compliance with this regulation not only necessary to meet the requirements of the EU market for exporting key commodities, but also an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of Vietnams agricultural development strategy toward transparency, responsibility, sustainability, and green growth.

Delegates show a memorandum of understanding aimed at developing the coffee industry in a deforestation-free approach they signed at the conference on Deforestation-Free Coffee Production and Supply in Compliance with European Union Regulation held in Hanoi on June 29, 2023. Photo: C.Tue / Tuoi Tre

Furthermore, Hoan expressed great appreciation for the cooperation and assistance provided by the European Union, which has made a substantial contribution to the agricultural sector transformation in Vietnam.

The pioneering initiatives of the European Union, such as the Green Deal, From Farm to Fork, and Circular Economy, have served as a source of inspiration and valuable references for Hoans ministry, guiding the development of strategies for sustainable agriculture, rural development, and sub-sector plans.

Hoan proposed that the EU share its previous experience and successful models for small-scale enterprises to help them comply with the EUDR.

He also requested that the EU support the development and implementation of the Green Growth Project for Vietnams coffee industry.

In response, Florika Fink-Hooijer, general director of the Directorate-General Environment of the European Commission, said that the EU is committed to supporting Vietnams sustainable development.

Fink-Hooijer shared her belief that through mutual effort, the EU and Vietnam can work toward addressing environmental challenges more effectively, contributing to the overall well-being of Vietnamese citizens and the preservation of the countrys unique natural heritage.

Tran Quynh Chi, regional director of Asia landscapes at IDH, pinpointed the EUDR as a fundamental shift for the entire industry toward transparency and sustainability.

She also voiced her organizations commitment to cooperating with central and local partners to carry out synchronized activities in response to the EUDR in Vietnam.

In addition, IDH will continue calling on domestic and foreign companies and organizations to participate in and contribute to the action program, thereby creating crucial impacts on responsible production, resource protection, and social security, Chi said.

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Authorities in Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam have given the go-ahead for a project to build a bridge over the local Tam Giang Lagoon at a cost of more than VND1 trillion (US$42.4 million).

The bridge construction was one of multiple projects approved at the 12th sitting of the provincial Peoples Council for the 2021-26 tenure on Thursday.

The 1.4-kilometer-long bridge project will connect Phu Da Town and Vinh Xuan Commune in Phu Vang District upon completion.

The project, whose capital will be sourced from the local budget, is scheduled to get off the ground in 2024.

The province will open the bridge to traffic in 2028, according to the Thua Thien-Hue Peoples Committees proposal.

The traffic systems connecting Hue City and Phu Da Town with coastal communes mainly include aging and narrow roads, said a representative from the provincial administration.

The poor traffic connectivity between the western and eastern banks of the lagoon has slowed down the socio-economic growth of Vang District and coastal communes, particularly in terms of sea tourism development.

When in place, the bridge will not only help facilitate goods transport and traffic, but also shorten the travel distance between coastal communes, and the town and city.

Thua Thien-Hue Province currently has five bridges over the Tam Giang  Cau Hai lagoon system.

The lagoon system stretches 68 kilometers in Phong Dien, Quang Dien, Phu Vang and Phu Loc Districts, and Hue City.

This is the largest brackish lagoon system in Southeast Asia, news site VnExpress reported.

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7NEWS Spotlight this Sunday features an investigation into a dangerous religious group, known as Providence, and hears true stories of the women who escaped a dangerous cult.

Weve been investigating this cult for six months and it has led us across Australia, to the US and South Korea, said correspondent Sarah Greenhalgh. When we started, we knew there were serious allegations of coercive control and various forms of abuse, but we had no idea just how sinister this organisation is. What weve uncovered now involves the sex trafficking unit of the Australian Federal Police.

Providence was founded in 1978 by self-professed messiah Jeong Meong-Seok (JMS). The group claims to be a Christian religious movement with more than 40,000 Korean members and a presence in more than 70 countries including Australia. The churches weve visited in Melbourne and Sydney are just like those in South Korea  theres no signage, no lists of services, certainly no standard, open door church policy. Instead, the faithful meet behind frosted glass, using secret pin codes for access.

Providence is a cult. And the impact it has had on so many young womens lives is enormous.

They were two young Aussie women, enticed by faith and friendship, welcomed into a community made to feel safe and loved. But things quickly changed.

This week, in a 7NEWS Spotlight global investigation, for the first time the chilling true stories of the women who escaped a dangerous cult.

Branded as a religious movement, Providence has been operating in Australia since 1997, and is accused of recruiting young women in local shopping centres and universities then brainwashing them to travel to South Korea to become spiritual brides of a convicted rapist.

Spotlight has uncovered allegations of sexual assault, sex trafficking and brainwashing by the outfit which is registered as a charitable organisation in Australia.

7NEWS Europe correspondent Sarah Greenhalgh this week joins the 7NEWS Spotlight team and, in a world first, travels deep inside the secretive cult compound in South Korea to confront the leaders.

7:40pm Sunday on Seven.
Next week on The Project are Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, Cate Blanchett, Warwick Thornton, Dolly Parton and G Flip.

In an Australian television first, dont miss The Sunday Project as international action superstar Tom Cruise joins us in our Sydney studio to chat about reprising his role as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible  Dead Reckoning Part One. The Mission: Impossible star power continues when co-stars Simon Pegg and Hayley Atwell also join us Sunday night ahead of the films premiere.

Then catch the Mission: Impossible  Dead Reckoning Part One premiere in Sydney, as Georgie Tunny and Hamish Macdonald bring all the colour, excitement and celebrity interviews live from the red carpet on Monday.

The stars keep coming on Tuesday when Hamish chats to actress Cate Blanchett and writer-director Warwick Thornton about their new film The New Boy, and Waleed Aly speaks to country singing sensation Dolly Parton about her highly anticipated new album Rockstar in her only Australian prime time interview on Wednesday.

Wrapping up the week, G Flip joins us at the desk on Friday ahead of their upcoming Aussie tour.

6:30pm Sunday  Friday on 10.
Nikhat Fatima, TwoCircles.net

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Maulana Abdul Qayyum Nadvi, 47, opens the Mirza World Book House on Jinsi Road in Aurangabad, Maharashtra at 10 am every day, with children lined up outside to rent and buy books.

Nadvi sits at the counter and politely asks one of the children which book he wants.

Nadvis bookstore offers books on Urdu literature, and Islamic history for students of all ages, from nursery to postgraduate.

Distributing Piggy Banks To Get Children Save Up for Buying Books

In an age where every child is glued to smartphones watching Instagram reels and YouTube shorts, Nadvi came up with an idea to get children into the habit of reading and owning books.

The idea is simple  distribute piggy banks to school children and advise them to save their pocket money and after a month buy books of their choice from their savings. The maulana, on a designated day, takes books that appeal to the children to the school and the children break open their piggy banks and buy the books.

The culture of reading books is vanishing today, he said, adding that his goal is to attract more youngsters into the habit of reading.

Origin of the Idea

Nadvi told TwoCircles.net that the Aurangabad Expo and the citys Book Fair management asked him to promote the book fair and improve book sales in Aurangabad. That is how Mirza came up with the idea of distributing piggy banks to the schoolchildren. When the fair comes around next month, the kids will have enough money to buy books at the fair, he said.

This practice is not a burden because students save from their parents pocket money, Nadvi explained.

Nadvi recalls having earthen piggy banks that he and his siblings used to break open when they became full of coins and notes. They used to spend their money on Niyaz (a religious offering to God) and the rest on books of their choice.

Piggy Bank Idea Well Received by Schools: Nadvi

Nadvis idea was well received by the school administration wherever he went. Even the teachers are aware that todays students have stopped reading anything other than their school syllabus books, he told TwoCircles.net.

According to Khan Jameel Ahmad, principal of Aurangabads Amanullah Motiwala Urdu High School, Nadvis efforts are helping his students in developing the habit of reading.

I have seen the children from our school saving money in piggy banks to buy books, Ahmad said, adding that it makes him happy.

Since 2023, Nadvi has distributed over 48,500 piggy banks to students at 30 English and Urdu medium schools, both private and public. One piggy bank costs him 5 rupees.

He intends to give away at least one lakh piggy banks to students at various schools throughout the city. These piggy banks were purchased with his own money and some were donated to him by friends.

The great accomplishment, according to Nadvi, would be if schools came forward and planned to distribute piggy banks to their children.

How Mirza World Book House Came Into Being

At the age of 25, Nadvi founded Mirza Bookstore in 2002. He considers opening a bookstore to be a watershed moment in his life. I am fortunate that my hobby has become my livelihood, he told TwoCircles.net.

Nadvi, who now runs the largest bookstore in Aurangabad, describes the journey as difficult.

For at least six years, Nadvi cycled around the city, selling books from school to school and door to door.

Getting inside schools to sell books was difficult at first, he added. He used to spread a cloth on the floor at the local school gate and arrange his books there while waiting for the students. Slowly the children began to show interest and bought the small story books.

According to Nadvi, after a while, even the school staff began purchasing books from him. Nadvi became noted for stocking books that were not available at the citys other bookstores. I used to get books by ordering them from Delhi and other cities, he explained.

Selling Colourful Urdu Books

He used to give the books to the school and college teachers on credit, which made them like him. And they recommended Mirza to others.

Nadvi claims to have sold Bacchon ki Duniya, an illustrating Urdu book that is always in demand for a paltry ten rupees.

I just had to tell the kids that this book would cost them two packets of chips or one samosa, and they gladly paid 10 rupees for it, he said, adding that he sold over one lakh copies of the book in just 60 days.

He said children are drawn to colourful books and that traditional Urdu books are black and white and lack attractiveness.

Promoting Urdu Through the Read and Lead Foundation

In 2018, Nadvi founded the Read and Lead Foundation (RLF) with some of his like-minded friends who were concerned about preserving and promoting the Urdu language.

Nadvis daughter Maryam Mirza even built a Mohalla library in their home in 2021 using 150-odd books she possessed, some of which were donated by her father, through the Read and Lead Foundation (RFD). She put them in a cupboard on their balcony in Baijipura and asked the children to spend their evenings reading storybooks.

Maryam Mirza has till date set up 32 Mohalla libraries. Some books are donated by the foundation, while others are being purchased by Mirza with donations from donors.

Nadvis efforts for preserving Urdu through the foundation have not gone unnoticed. He received the Shaan- e- Aurangabad award in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2023 by the Aurangabad Jeddah Association. The Maharashtra Urdu Academy and the Telangana Urdu Academy have both awarded him. Many other organisations have felicitated him for his efforts to promote Urdu and reading culture.
It's undeniable that AI, specifically generative AI, has been making its way into several industries, and the best we can do right now is to prepare by learning about it. One way to prove that you have knowledge of it is through Microsoft's certification program.

Generative AI Training

Several businesses have been impressed with the capabilities of generative AI, so much so that there are already instances when employees are replaced with them. Then again, big techs claim that although jobs are replaced, more are created because of the technology.

Microsoft is now offering a program that allows people to train and learn more about using generative AI. It even comes with a certification after finishing the course. The new program is part of the company's AI Skills Initiative, according to Engadget.

This adds a bit of an advantage to those who don't want to lose their jobs to tools like ChatGPT by learning to operate them instead. The course can be found on LinkedIn, and what's better is that the entire program is absolutely free.

The course will teach users to input the most effective prompts to generate the best results. It could also serve as a quick introduction course to those who are still not familiar with generative AI, which can be helpful since it is progressing quickly.

Other than the basic uses, the course will also teach participants about responsible AI frameworks. There is a training toolkit that can be downloaded as well for trainers to use, along with a separate course specifically made for people who mean to teach about AI.

The course is limited to English right now, but more are said to be released in the coming months. Microsoft intends to release the course in other languages like Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese.

This comes as the first Professional Certificate on Generative AI available in the market, and it could gain applicants points when they apply to a company that already uses generative AI in the business.

Read Also: Lawyers Fined $5,000 After Using ChatGPT to Cite Cases

Why You Should Participate

A certification could prove useful when you plan to pursue a career that could potentially use generative AI. The course can also provide you with a useful skill you can use yourself, given that generative AI can open a lot of possibilities.

Since AI is mostly used as an optimizing tool for business, knowledge about it can also help you with areas like design research and copy generation, as mentioned by Accenture. It enhances efficiency in business process automation and boosts productivity as well.

Of course, the generative AI certification will not guarantee an advantage over competing applicants, nor will it keep companies from solely using generative AI without someone managing it, but it's still a good card to have.

There have been some unlucky circumstances for certain employees. For instance, there have already been cases where copywriters were laid off as they were replaced by ChatGPT. Then again, it's the same chatbot that caused a lawyer to get a $5,000 fine.

Related: Copywriter Claims That Company Replaced Her with ChatGPT
A week has now passed since Yevgeny Prigozhin's aborted armed rebellion against Moscow erupted. So where is the Wagner chief now? What about Dmitry Medvedev?

Vladimir Putin survived the mutiny by Wagner Group fighters, but experts say his grip on power is now weakened. And a lot of questions remain unanswered.

Are shadowy moves and countermoves playing out behind the walls of the Kremlin? Are people manoeuvring in an unseen struggle for power?

Nuclear plant move 'may show Putin knows Russia vulnerable' - Ukraine war latest updates

What's more, a number of key figures are still unaccounted for following Prigozhin's failed power grab last weekend.

Yevgeny Prigozhin - Wagner boss... and new Belarus resident?

The hotdog vendor-turned-prison recruiter was allowed to go and live in Belarus and receive amnesty, along with his troops.

Well, according to the Kremlin that is. Confusion remains over whether he will face a criminal case for his defiance of Putin.

So where is he? A private jet linked to Prigozhin landed in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, on Wednesday morning.

And Aleksandr Lukashenko, president of Belarus and a Putin ally, did say this week Prigozhin is in the country.

However, his exact whereabouts are likely to remain unclear.

Earlier this week, Prigozhin did break his silence in an 11-minute clip in which he defended his so-called "march for justice".

"We started our march because of an injustice," he said.

But explaining why the advance was abandoned, Prigozhin said he did not want to shed Russian blood - and insisted that he had no intention of overthrowing the government.

Prigozhin also insisted that he is still receiving words of support from civilians - and some of his fighters were greeted with flags.

Read more:

Russia 'cutting numbers' at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Ukraine has recaptured land held by Russia since 2014, UK says

General Sergei Surovikin - has Russia's 'savage' commander been arrested?

Regarded as a Soviet hero for his service in Afghanistan, Surovikin is now at the centre of questions over his whereabouts - and his allegiance.

Nicknamed "General Armageddon" by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, Surovikin has been serving as deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

As Prigozhin's uprising unfolded, he called out to Wagner's fighters telling them to return to base and obey Vladimir Putin.

A New York Times report, based on a US intelligence briefing, said on Tuesday he had advance knowledge of the mutiny and that Russian authorities were checking if he was complicit.

Now he is believed to have been detained, the Associated Press is reporting.

The White House and the Kremlin declined to comment.

It's not clear whether Surovikin faces any charges or where he is being held, reflecting the opaque world of the Kremlin's politics and uncertainty after the revolt.

Dmitry Medvedev - A sunny getaway in Oman?

The former Russian president has been among the most vocal supporters of the war in Ukraine, regularly making bold threats against the West.

During the Wagner march on Moscow, Medvedev warned of the risk of nuclear weapons falling into the mercenary group's hands.

"The history of mankind hasn't yet seen the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons under control by bandits," he said.

"Such a crisis will not be limited by just one country's borders, the world will be put on the brink of destruction."

Medvedev is believed to have travelled to Oman in the aftermath of the crisis, but it remains unclear why.

He has not posted publicly on his Telegram for several days. In his last post, on Saturday, 24 June, he said the "most important thing" was to defeat "the external and internal enemy".

"Split and betrayal - the path to the greatest tragedy, a universal catastrophe. We won't allow it. The enemy will be defeated! Victory will be ours!"
Harrison Ford dons the fedora and the leather jacket for a fifth and final time in James Mangolds Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny, the first Spielberg-less Indy. And its not the final hurrah we were hoping for...

It starts with a promising prologue, which features one of the best action set pieces in the series. The 1944-set first act has a younger Indiana Jones (an impressively de-aged Ford) and his pal Basil Shaw (Toby Jones) in the middle of a Nazi looting session in a burning fort. Were in the dying days of World War II and the beleaguered fascists are desperately looking to secure some occult trinkets for the Fuhrer, including the Lance of Longinus - the blade that drew Christs blood. However, the films true MacGuffin soon comes to the fore, as Nazi Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) understands that true power resides in Archimedes temporal contraption, the Antikythera, halved in two so that the whole may never fall into the wrong hands.

Cut to 1969, when an aging Indy is living in a small New York flat, complaining about his beatnik neighbours making too much noise with their hippy music, and making sure his morning coffees are Irish. The grumpy Dr. Jones, who is on the verge of retirement, has also been served divorce papers from Marion (Karen Allen), who was not able to cope with the grief of their sons death.

The monotony of his current life is quickly broken with the appearance of his goddaughter Helena Shaw aka: Wombat (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Shes on a mission of her own to continue to her pop Basil's search for the Dial. Much like John Hurts Harold Oxley in the previous adventure, 2008s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Basil was driven insane by his research, believing that the Antikythera could predict fissures in time. The sizeable snag is that shes not the only one looking for the steam-punk prize, as Voller  who has since helped the US win the space race  wants to get his Nazi mitts on the mythical object.

Cut to: Helena persuading Indy to join her on a globetrotting adventure to Morocco, Greece and Syracuse in order to go out with a bang, back in the saddle  Im not selling this, am I?

Youre not wrong, Wombat.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Lucasfilm Ltd.

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny starts off well, continues serviceably during the predictable fetch quest, and utterly fowls it up by the last act. Its not a complete disaster, but you genuinely wonder what the writers were mainlining when they came up with their barmy showdown, which completely wastes Mikkelsens efforts and feels like a cross between a Doctor Who episode retooled by the writers of The Magic School Bus.

The thematic of time is taken way too literally, and while more charitable viewers may see a heroically audacious swerve to be applauded, its hard not to curse the squandered build-up and bemoan the fact the line Ive learned that its not what you believe in but how hard you believe in it wasnt handled with more care. Or intelligence.

The alien payoff 15 years ago in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull suddenly dont feel so naff.

Theres still plenty to admire in The Dial of Destiny: the repetitive action sequences do remain very slick; the de-aging technology doesnt deliver the predictable uncanny valley / ice-cream face that audiences have been subjected to in countless movies attempting to rejuvenate their stars complexions for a flashback sequence; and this instalments theme of the passing of time (mostly) works. Mangold shines in understanding how to handle an aging icon in his twilight years, having given Wolverine a banger of a send off with Logan. The director handles bittersweet nostalgia well, acknowledging that our heros skills have been impacted by the passage of time, loss and regret; theres a poignancy to his weathered mentality.

And Ford, 80, is sprightly and his impressively cut grandad bod is to be applauded.

Harrison Ford has still got it at 80 - shame the rest of the film can't rise to his level - Lucasfilm Ltd.

His character is also given brief moments to dwell on death. When his colleagues or friends meet a grizzly end, none of it is taken for granted like it may have been before. My friend just got murdered, he snaps at Helena at one point, showing a man whos dodged his fair share of bullets and realises that it's a minor miracle hes gotten this far. Punching Nazis does take it out of you.

Its in these moments that you remember why the Indiana Jones franchise is so beloved, and why the character remains iconic: he is relatable, fallible, and never superhuman. But while Ford gives it socks and confirms once again that its not the years, its the mileage, his never-not-entertaining swansong is truly ruined by a four-way screenplay (Mangold, David Koepp, Jez and John-Henry Butterworth) that clearly couldnt figure out how to say goodbye properly. At least, not ridiculously.

Yesterday belongs to us, says Voller during the incriminating final act.

That much is true  well always have yesterdays Raiders of the Lost Arc, the unfairly maligned Temple of Doom and the wonderful The Last Crusade. And you cant fault Ford for his stellar efforts in another legacy sequel which sees him bid farewell to another cinematic icon, after Deckard (Blade Runner 2049) and Han Solo (Star Wars: the Force Awakens).

However, if weve secured yesterday, today is decidedly a let-down that belongs to four writers who should have known better than to cackhandedly mess with the laws of time, and who should not have allowed Indiana Jones to limp into the sunset.

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny is out in cinemas now.
PARIS (Reuters) - A Paris court on Friday reversed a decision by the French capital's police to ban an upcoming Iranian opposition rally over the risk of an attack, saying it interfered with the basic freedom to protest.

The ruling by the Paris administrative tribunal comes as police are fully stretched amid the worst riots seen across cities in France since 2005 sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager.

The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), political arm of the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), has held frequent rallies in the French capital over the years. They have attracted thousands of followers and are often attended by high profile former U.S., European and Arab officials critical of the Islamic Republic.

In a letter signed by Paris police chief on June 15 and seen by Reuters said it could not allow the protest because of security concerns.

That ban came just days after the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of masterminding a plot to bomb the group in 2018 and as Western powers seek to defuse tensions with Iran.

The court said the ban "excessively violated the fundamental freedom to demonstrate". The rally will now take place near the French Foreign Ministry in central Paris on Saturday, for a limited period and be confined to one area. The protesters will also provide extra private security, the court said.

In a statement the NCRI welcomed the ruling, which it said denied Iran "the opportunity to exploit 'security concerns' under false pretences in order to suppress democracy and freedom of expression."

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Jon Boyle)
The incident that took the lives of five people during the deep dive tour to the Titanic wreck has been all over the news and social media since it happened. The submersible's parts have since been recovered, and experts will investigate it to learn more about the events that transpired.

Debris Recovered

The US Coast Guard announced that the rescue operation gas ended after nearly a week. The mangled remains of the Titan submersible have been recovered and were unloaded at a Canadian Coast Guard pier in Newfoundland.

Based on the videos and photos of the recovered pieces, the wiring within the marine vehicle was exposed and individual pieces were wrecked. The company that led the recovery, Pelagic Research Services, said that it has already completed the operation.

What is left to do now is for experts to examine the debris to shed light on what happened before, during, and after the implosion. The pieces would be sent to a US port where they will be analyzed by the Marine Board of Investigation, according to The New York Times.

A formal analysis will be conducted along with medical experts to study the "presumed human remains" that were also recovered within the wreckage. Underwater vehicle designer J. Carl Hartsfield said that vital information could be recovered from the debris.

The main subjects will be focused on during the investigation: the point of failure of the submersible, how the materials the submersible was made of like carbon fiber and titanium were connected, and if there was any data that can be salvaged.

Although, it was said that it was highly unlikely that the submersible had a central data recorder for a disaster, much like the black box of a plane should it suffer a crash. Still, there are other sources like sonar footage or hard drives.

It would be a while before the investigation could yield results. According to Hartsfield, it could take around 18 to 24 months. The highest level of investigation in the Coast Guard will be conducted with the help of other national and international agencies.

Read Also: MrBeast Tweets About Turning Down Titan Submersible Trip

The Catastrophic Implosion

Several experts say that the implosion would have been instantaneous that it all happen in just a few milliseconds. The intense water pressure in the depth that were in would have crushed the submersible so quickly that it already happened before they knew it.

The US Navy actually detected an anomaly through their acoustics system, which suggests that the Titan submersible imploded the moment it lost contact with the surface vessel. Bob Ballard, a part of the team that found the Titanic, said that the implosion "literally shreds everything."

The submersible already went through two dozen dives, and although it could be seen as proof of success, marine engineer Jasper Graham-Jones said that the repeated stress on the hull may have contributed to the eventual implosion, as mentioned in WDSU.

The stress could've caused many outcomes like delamination, which is when the carbon fiber hull is split horizontally. Northeastern University physics professor, Arun Bansil said that the pressure of the force would've been like a whale biting a person.

Related: Titanic Submersible Parts Found After 'Catastrophic Implosion'
HA NOI  Phenikaa Group and South Korean Kakao Mobility have agreed to foster technology cooperation on mobility platforms including autonomous driving, high-precision mapping, and artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

This consensus followed a Memorandum of Understanding inked recently between the two companies in the capital. Phenikaa Group announced the partnership on Tuesday.

Kakao Mobility and Phenikaas collaboration will be initiated primarily in the mobility as a service (MaaS) sector, where they possess mutual strengths. Under the MOU, Kakao will share its platform development expertise to support Phenikaas goal to have the best MaaS platform in South East Asia.

The two businesses are also planning a joint research project in future mobility, covering major technologies including autonomous driving, HD mapping, and AI, which are the core strengths of Phenikaa-X - an affiliate of Phenikaa Group.

The two parties also aim to make inroads into the Southeast Asian region by leveraging and connecting each others technologies and services. Specifically, Kakao Mobility will consider integrating the BusMap app of Phenikaa MaaS into its platform, offering support for Vietnamese visitors to Korea.

Both companies are committed to developing autonomous driving and AI technologies, which are crucial elements of future industrial infrastructure, said Ryu Gung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility.

He added that the two companies would embark on this broad-spectrum collaboration to advance the mobility industries in Korea and Viet Nam while boosting bilateral tourism flows by meeting the mobility demands of their visitors.

Le Anh Son, Deputy Director of Phenikaa Group cum CEO of Phenikaa-X said: In recent years, Phenikaa Group has been focussed on developing smart transportation, including core technologies related to autonomous vehicles, high-definition maps and bus management systems."

"Cooperation in researching and developing products is an important step to promoting each party's strengths. Phenikaa Group hopes that Kakao Mobility will become a strategic partner to jointly bring the most advanced products for smart transportation to the market," Son said.

Phenikaa Group has a wide presence across industrial production, technology, education, scientific research, medical healthcare and trade.

The group has also expanded its investment, especially in smart mobility by building upon Phenikaa-X, its robotics & autonomous driving subsidiary, and Phenikaa MaaS, which operates BusMap, Viet Nams most popular public transportation app.

Phenikaa-X was founded by a research lab of Phenikaa University, Phenikaa Groups academic institution, and showcased the country's first level-4 self-driving vehicle in 2021.  VNS
The company has joined hands with the government and healthcare authorities to create value through innovation in areas where there are high unmet medical needs.

Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnams general manager, Cyndy B. Galimpin, talks about the companys achievements and vision for the market.

How does Boehringer Ingelheim's purpose connect to the company's achievements in the last 25 years?

Our purpose at Boehringer Ingelheim is Transforming Lives for Generations. Transforming lives signifies the influence of our work in the healthcare sector and beyond, while for generations emphasises our long-term approach and dedication, which underlines our focus on sustainability. We focus on two primary sectors: human pharma and animal health.

We have pioneered treatments for various diseases, including hypertension, cardio-renal metabolism, respiratory issues, oncology, and diabetes.

We take great pride in our Angels Initiative, which assists hospitals worldwide in becoming stroke-ready to provide prompt and effective treatment for stroke patients. In Viet nam, Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam partners with the Vietnam Stroke Association (VNSA), HCM Stroke Association (HSA) and hospitals to improve stroke care. Last year 120 hospitals joined the Angels Initiative, and 98 became stroke-ready. More than 44,000 patients in Viet Nam have been positively impacted by this initiative so far.

We recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Medical Service Administration to optimise healthcare outcomes for patients. This partnership aims to improve the quality of diagnosis, treatment and management of cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, pulmonary, and other non-communicable diseases.

The MoU also hopes to add cost-effective value to treatments and contribute to improving the quality of life for patients.

Is Boehringer Ingelheim expecting any milestones in Viet Nam this year?

This year marks the 25th anniversary of our human pharma division and the 15th anniversary of our animal health division in Viet Nam.

Moreover, the MoH has granted approval for our SGLT2 inhibitor to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death and hospitalisation due to heart failure. This development will benefit more patients and enhance treatment of heart failure, which the National Institute of Cardiology estimates affects 1-2 per cent of the population.

We also anticipate receiving future approval for the treating patients with chronic kidney disease. Prompt treatment increases the likelihood of recovery, which is a goal shared by all involved.

Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam has focused greatly on sustainable development. What has it done to achieve this?

Sustainability has always been part of Boehringer Ingelheim and is closely aligned with our companys vision and mission. We strive to step up our contributions towards health for people and animals, healthy communities and a healthy planet  for our own generation and those that will follow us.

We believe that when animals are healthy, people are healthier too. The Rabies vaccination for the community campaign in Long An is a continuing collaboration with local authorities and Boehringer Ingelheims partners to eliminate rabies in the region. The programme has vaccinated more than 12,000 dogs and cats in the past three years.

Last year we donated office equipment worth more than US$10,000 to a non-governmental organization that takes care of children with disabilities to help enhance their learning opportunities.

We also promote employee engagement through internal events such as our annual Value Through Innovation Day, during which our teams in Ha Noi and HCM City supported less fortunate people, rescued animals and cleaned the environment.

Our business in Viet Nam is progressing to achieve the group's commitment of carbon neutrality in all operations (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030. Scope 1 covers all direct emissions on company sites, and Scope 2 adds all emissions from energy purchases. We are transitioning towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and single-use plastic throughout our operations, and are collaborating with partners to impact our value chain.

What is your development strategy for the next few years?

Boehringer Ingelheim's development strategy for Viet Nam is focused on making a positive impact for many years. As a family-owned company, we are driven by innovative approaches to address the unmet medical needs of generations of patients. Our goal for the next five years is to double the number of patients we reach and focus on developing our employees by providing opportunities for talent to grow within.

Boehringer Ingelheim Vietnam has grown from 50 employees to around 350 in 25 years across both our human pharma and animal health divisions. We are honoured to be recognised as one of the 15 Global Top Employers and as a Top Employer in Viet Nam for the fourth consecutive year.
HAI PHONG  Chairman of the Hai Phong municipal People's Committee Nguyen Van Tung on Friday hosted a local reception for a delegation of officials from several Korean conglomerates who came to explore the northern city's investment environment.

Tung told his guests that as one of the five centrally-run cities in Viet Nam, Hai Phong is an important port city and a hub of the country's economy, culture, health care, education, science, trade, and technology. The city covers a natural area of 1,507sq.km and has a population of over 2 million people. In recent years, Hai Phong has been one of the localities with the highest growth rate nationwide. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, the city managed to sustain its two-digit growth trajectory.

The city ranked third among 63 cities and provinces in the 2022 Provincial Competitiveness Index, and the second in the administrative reform index.

In the first half, its industrial production rose by 12.28 per cent annually while gross regional domestic product grew by 9.94 per cent, ranking third nationwide. Cargo throughput via its seaports reached 69.10 million tonnes and 3.47 million people visited the city, including around 500,000 foreigners.

According to him, Hai Phong has numerous advantages in attracting foreign investors, including having all five types of transportation systems (maritime, road, railway, aviation, and inland waterways). It boasts the largest seaport system in the northern region. The Cat Bi International Airport meets the 4E standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, allowing it to accommodate some of the world's largest aircraft.

The city is now home to 872 foreign-invested projects worth US$26.15 billion. The Republic of Korea takes the lead in terms of the number of registered projects and value, reaching 179 projects worth over $10 billion.

Tung suggested that in the near future, the delegation would introduce more capable Korean investors and firms to the city, step up all-around and sustainable cooperation in areas where the RoK has strength and Hai Phong has potential, such as high-tech industry, real estate infrastructure, tourism and resorts, research and development centres, innovation and technology transfer, aviation, and health care.

Furthermore, they should focus on developing a complete ecosystem for Korean enterprises and the Korean community in Hai Phong while providing support to strengthen Korean language training in schools across the city, he said.

The host added that Hai Phong could allocate roughly 1ha of land for the construction of an oncology hospital in the city. If the investor requests a larger area of 5ha, the city is also capable of meeting the demand immediately.

Hai Phong is committed to creating the most favourable conditions for Korean investors to do business effectively in the city, he said.  VNS
HA NOI  Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and President of the National Council of Switzerland Martin Candinas had a meeting in Ha Noi on Friday, sharing the view that the two countries should further step up economic, trade, and investment links.

Dien appreciated Switzerlands assistance for industrial and energy projects, international economic integration, and small- and medium-sized enterprises of Viet Nam, describing this as a precious resource for the Southeast Asian countrys development and integration process over the past years.

Candinas, who is paying an official visit to Viet Nam from June 27 to 30, said Switzerland always attaches importance to and wishes to further enhance bilateral cooperation, especially in economy and trade, and that it is working hard towards the signing of a free trade agreement (FTA) between Viet Nam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which gathers Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

Both sides shared the view that bilateral relations in economy, trade, and investment have been growing well in the recent past but still have much potential, and the two countries should further promote these ties.

The signing of an FTA that the parties concerned have negotiated for more than 10 years will be a prerequisite and also a useful tool for their enterprises to grasp opportunities for development cooperation, facilitate trade in goods, and boost bilateral investment flows, they said.

On this occasion, Dien and Candinas discussed directions for trade, investment, and development partnerships in the coming time so as to reinforce links in innovation, green economy, and sustainable development.

The Minister also called on the President of the Swiss National Council to support Viet Nams efforts to attract high-quality investment, especially in the industries that Switzerland is strong at and Viet Nam has demand for.

He asked the European country, with its advantages and experience in automation, precision mechanics and high technology, will increase investment in projects of those sectors in Viet Nam to help connect the latter with global production and supply chains.

Dien also asked for help with the development of fundamental industries in Viet Nam such as the material, chemical, mechanical, supporting, processing, and manufacturing industries, adding that Swiss investment in these sectors should be made in tandem with manpower training and technology transfer to help Viet Nam reach the sustainable development goals.

Concluding the meeting, the two sides agreed to continue reinforcing partnerships in the fields of Switzerlands strength and Viet Nams demand. They also affirmed the determination to step up the signing of an FTA between Viet Nam and the EFTA to create breakthroughs in bilateral trade and investment.  VNS
HCM CITY  Shinhan Bank Vietnam Limited on Thursday (June 29) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BC Card Company to establish a strategic collaboration in the development of acquiring business in Viet Nam.

BC Card, founded in 1982, is the largest provider of credit card services in South Korea.

It has promoted the country's cashless society and provided a variety of financial services, digital products, and modern payment products with high security in the Korean market for the past 40 years, leveraging its core competencies in card issuance, card payment processing, and card brand marketing services to end users.

With strengths in technology solutions and experience in providing card processing systems for card payments, it will provide terminal equipment and develop new features to meet the needs of Shinhan Bank's customers, such as merchants and stores.

Shinhan Bank will establish a merchant sales network, and develop products and services exclusively for customers using the payment service provided by the two parties, along with related regulations and policies.

The bank aims to bring the most modern and convenient solutions to customers who are merchants and buyers, and allow them to connect and accept cashless payment via multiple platforms such as POS and e-commerce to meet the growing demand for digital payment.

A representative of Shinhan Bank said the bank seeks to engage in acquiring business for customers and merchants, accelerate the development of digital payment services, and promote the Vietnamese Governments cashless payment policy.

With experience and know-how in the Southeast Asia payment business, BC Card and Shinhan Bank will together promote the acquiring business successfully in Viet Nam, BC Cards representative said.

Last year, through a partnership with NAPAS, BC Card launched a service allowing Vietnamese cardholders to make payment through the BC Card merchant network in South Korea.  VNS
HCM CITY  Thailand continues to be a favoured choice among Vietnamese travellers, observing an uptick in the number of visitors from Viet Nam, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

Thailand has witnessed a significant influx of Vietnamese visitors, with nearly 440,000 arrivals recorded from January 1 to June 23," said a spokesperson from TAT.

The number is expected to reach 500,000 by the end of June, which is nearly 50 per cent of the number in the entire 2019, the year before COVID began, said the spokesperson.

HCM City-based Vietravel said it hoped to take more than 14,000 Vietnamese visitors to Thailand this summer, or 66 per cent of the 2019 number.

Pham Van Bay, deputy director of the Vietravel office in Ha Noi, said Thailand remained a popular destination among Vietnamese due to its affordability and hospitality.

With the demand to visit Thailand surging, his company planned to diversify its tour offerings, he said.

This summer Vietravel Ha Noi planned to launch Thai tours with direct flights to Phuket, Koh Phi Phi Island and Phang Nga Bay with accommodation at high-class resorts, he said.

Tran Thi Bao Thu, communication director of Vietluxtour, said Thailand had one of the highest rates of returning visitors, with many people choosing to visit every three to five years.

Pham Quy Huy, director of KiwiTravel firm, told Viet Nam News it was relatively easy for Vietnamese tourists to travel independently to Thailand due to its 'convenience' and 'simplicity' compared to other popular destinations such as the US, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Europe.

"Communication, shopping and commuting in Thailand are relatively straightforward, with some Thais even speaking Vietnamese," he said.

The increasing number of Vietnamese independent travellers to Thailand can be attributed to the convenience of language, direct flights, and affordability.

According to TAT, the majority of Thailands foreign tourists come from Asian nations including Viet Nam, Malaysia, China, and India, with Viet Nam being one of the top six markets.

Despite the impact of the pandemic, Thailand received 470,000 tourists from Viet Nam last year, or almost half the pre-pandemic figure.

Vietnamese tourists can fly directly from major cities such as HCM City, Ha Noi, a Nang, a Lat, Phu Quoc, and Nha Trang to Thai hotspots such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket.  VNS
HCM CITY  Autograph Collection at Vinpearl Landmark 81 is welcoming Japanese chef Kazushi Iwane, executive chef of famous Japanese restaurant Mai at the spectacular Westin Tokyo, for a guest chef dinner series named Umami Japan this May and June.

Umami, means essence of deliciousness in Japanese, and is one of the core five tastes besides sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. It describes the balance of the meaty, savory deliciousness that deepens flavor.

Umami Japan, boasting two months of Japanese-themed buffet and a special two-week visit by Chef Kazushi Iwane, is part of Guest Chef Dinner Series initiated by Oriental Pearl and aims to bring to Vietnam a line-up of culinary masters from Marriotts famous restaurants around the world.

Chef Iwane, a Kaiseki expert, will be dropping in for a two-week visit at Oriental Pearl, the sky-high restaurant of Autograph Collection, from May 11 to May 20 to showcase his artful Japanese signature dishes served in buffet style while the Japanese-themed buffet will continue until the end of June.

From May 11 to June 30, Oriental Pearls buffet line will be enhanced with traditional and modern Japanese dishes as well as premium seafood, Vietnamese specialties and international dishes.

Born in Saitama Prefecture of Japan, Chef Iwane dedicated his entire career to Japanese Kaiseki cuisine. Trained in his hometown and also in leading Kaiseki establishments in Ueno and Ginza, Iwane joined The Westin Tokyo in 2003. He is best known for his simple yet sophisticated approach in which the combination of top-notch ingredients, seasonal narrative and bespoke presentation orchestrates a poetic culinary experience unique to the time of the year.

During the two-month promotion, guests can taste the magic of umami in every dish of Japan's incredible cuisine created by Chef Iwane, served in buffet style.

Apart from fresh sashimi, nigiri and sushi, the guest chef will treat diners to a range of delicate dishes made from the finest ingredients and cooked by traditional Japanese methods such as: Hokki, clams and cabbage marinated with dried fish flakes, broiled salmon and avocado mixed wasabi, fluffy grilled crab with fresh cream, wagyu sukiyaki Don rice bowl and so much more.

Umami Japan and seafood buffet with Saigons best views from the 66th floor of Viet Nam's tallest building, Landmark 81, will be served during dinner with reservations highly recommended.

The dinner buffet is priced at VN1.8 million++ inclusive of soft drink, water, tea and coffee on Thursday, Friday and Sunday while it is at VN2.2 million++ inclusive of soft drink, water, tea and coffee on Saturday with live music.

Vinpearl Landmark 81, Autograph Collection is located at 720A Dien Bien Phu Street, in HCM Citys Binh Thanh District. For reservations, call 028 39718888.  VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nam and China have issued a joint press statement on the occasion of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhs official visit to China and attendance at the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Tianjin from June 25-28.

During the visit, PM Chinh met with Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping and held talks with Premier Li Qiang. He also had meetings with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China Zhao Leji, and Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Wang Huning.

The two sides have informed each other about the situation of their respective parties and countries, engaging in in-depth discussions and reaching important shared understandings on deepening the Viet Nam-China comprehensive strategic cooperation in the new context; as well as on international and regional issues of mutual concern.

They agreed to continue effectively implementing the joint statement on further deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Viet Nam and China, which was issued during Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trongs visit to China last year.

They agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and strengthen party-to-party, government-to-government, and parliamentary exchanges between countries. They agreed to enhance mutual learning and exchange experiences in promoting the cause of socialism building and seeking distinctive modernisation paths in each country. They vowed to promote the overall coordination role of the Viet Nam-China steering committee for bilateral cooperation in deepening exchanges and collaboration in such key areas as diplomacy, defence, law enforcement, trade and economy, and culture.

Viet Nam considers the development of relations with China as a strategic choice and top priority, while China views Viet Nam as a priority direction for its neighbourhood diplomacy. Both sides said they will engage in in-depth discussions on related specific measures.

The two sides concurred to actively promote strategic connectivity, accelerate joint work in building a high-quality "Belt and Road" initiative, strengthen connectivity in border roads and railways, build a multi-modal and efficient logistics system, accelerate the upgrading and connectivity of their border infrastructure, and promote smart border cooperation. They will step up mutual learning and exchange between their state-owned enterprises; explore opportunities to foster bilateral and multilateral cooperation in key mineral sectors. Viet Nam pledges a favourable business climate for Chinese enterprises investing in the country.

The two sides agreed to enhance friendship exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between localities, especially border ones, raise the awareness of the two countries' people, especially youths, about the bilateral friendship, and well organise exchange programmes, including the Viet Nam-China Youth Friendship Meeting, the Viet Nam-China border people festival, and the Viet Nam-China People's Forum.

They will seriously materialise important common perceptions reached by leaders of the two Parties and countries, and the Agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues, satisfactorily control disagreements at sea, foster maritime cooperation, and work together to maintain peace and stability in the East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea).

Viet Nam and China will also push ahead with the comprehensive and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and on the basis of negotiation and consensus, soon reach a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS).

The Vietnamese side affirmed that it consistently supports the One-China principle.

On the basis of equality and mutual respect, the two countries will cooperate in human rights issues, promote dialogue and international cooperation in this field, and resolutely oppose the politicisation of human rights issues.

The two sides consented to persist in true multilateralism, work together to safeguard international justice and fairness, and enhance coordination in major international and regional issues.

They will maintain coordination and mutual support within international and regional frameworks such as the United Nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, ASEAN-China Cooperation, and Mekong-Lancang Cooperation, while effectively implementing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Viet Nam supports China's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in accordance with standards and procedures of the agreement.

During the visit, the two premiers witnessed the signing of cooperation documents in market supervision, smart border gate development, and less-sensitive sea-related fields.

The two sides shared the view that the official visit to China by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was a great success, helping deepen the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, for peace, stability, and development in the region and the world at large.

PM Chinh has on the occassion invited Premier Li Qiang to visit Viet Nam. The Chinese leader accepted the invitation with pleasure.  VNS
BEIJING  Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court Nguyen Hoa Binh on June 29 held talks with President of the Supreme People's Court of China Zhang Jun in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

At the talks, Binh affirmed that Viet Nam always attaches importance to the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, and appreciated the growing relationship between the two supreme courts in recent years.

He thanks the Supreme People's Court of China for its close cooperation, especially in sharing information and documents related to judicial reform.

To further promote the supreme courts' collaboration, Binh suggested the two sides strengthen information sharing and exchange of experience on court building and judicial reform.

Meanwhile, Zhang said that his agency is willing to join hands with its Vietnamese counterpart to perfect the two nations' judicial cooperation mechanism, contributing to deepening China-Viet Nam comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

After the talks, the leaders of the two supreme courts witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memoranda of Understanding on cooperation between the Court of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the People's Courts of Viet Nam's Lang Son and Quang Ninh provinces.  VNS
HA NOI  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Thursday received a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headed by Sanjaya Panth, Deputy Director of the IMFs Asia and Pacific Department, who are on a working trip in Viet Nam for Article IV consultation.

Expressing his satisfaction with the results of the cooperation between Viet Nam and the IMF, PM Chinh stated that the Vietnamese Government always listens to and highly values the evaluation opinions and policy advice from the IMF. The report by the Article IV consultation team is one of the important sources of input information for the making and implementation of policies by the government, ministries and sectors.

The IMFs consultation and policy dialogue activities have supported the Vietnamese government in formulating stable and effective socio-economic development policies, especially during the COVID-19 crisis and the current global instability, PM Chinh said.

The IMF delegation congratulated the country on its positive economic and social achievements, particularly after the pandemic.

They noted that global growth prospects are relatively weak, but the Asian region, including Viet Nam, sees more favourable ones and can serve as a global growth driver. The Vietnamese economy is expected to grow better in the last months of 2023 and this growth momentum is likely to be sustained and bolstered in the coming years.

The government leader expressed the desire for the IMF to continue providing competent Vietnamese agencies with training programmes and technical support in economic, financial, and monetary management, and statistics.

He proposed that the team and IMF Resident Representative Office in Viet Nam further enhance policy advisory activities for the Vietnamese government and agencies. The PM also expressed his hope and confidence that the already good relationship between the sides will be increasingly consolidated and strengthened and that the IMF will continue to accompany Viet Nam in its future development process.

Under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country's economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board.  VNS
Virgin Galactic's suborbital space plane is ready to prove itself.

The company is set to conduct the first fully commercial flight of its SpaceShipTwo space plane, VSS Unity, along with proving its research capabilities that could help experts learn more about medicine, astronomy, and physics.

People interested in watching the launch can do so online.

VirginGalactic SpaceShipTwo First Commercial Launch

Virgin Galactic had made its final preparations for its SpaceShipTwo's first commercial launch, which will lift off on June 29 at around 11 AM EDT, according to Space.com.

The company is planning to launch its VMS Eve mothership aircraft under the mission Galactic 1 with the VSS Unity space plane attached from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The company expects that Unity will separate from the mothership nearly an hour later, per Space News.

It would then ignite its hybrid rocket motor for suborbital flight and land back at the spaceport.

Unity will be carrying four passengers, namely: Walter Villadei and Angelo Landolfi of the Italian Air Force, Pantaleone Carlucci, Italy's National Research Council, and Colin Bennett, a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor. Bennett, who will assess the research flight experience during this flight, was on Unity's July 2021 flight - the same one that carried company founder Richard Branson.

Virgin Galctic's first commercial SpaceShipTwo launch also serves as a research mission - it will carry out 13 experiments for collecting biomedical and cosmic radiation data and studying fluid dynamics in microgravity. Villandei and Landolfi plan to conduct these experiments during the flight, with Bennett helping them in the background.

Read More: Airbnb Makes Barbie's Malibu DreamHouse Rentable Again

Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs and research operations at Virgin Galactic, mentioned that SpaceShipTwo's first commercial launch being a research mission is perfect because it showcases that Unity is another lab environment producing science and technologies the company can invest into the people back on Earth. Simply put, Virgin Galactic wants to demonstrate the space plane's microgravity research capabilities, which serve as another source of potential revenue alongside private tourist spaceflight services.

Interestingly, Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier mentioned in a statement that the SpaceShipTwo's launch would usher in " a new era of repeatable and reliable access to space for government and research institutions for years to come."

Weirdly enough, some people likened SpaceShipTwo's first commercial launch to the doomed OceanGate Titan sub, with some people on social media raising concerns over the mission, per the New York Post.

Virgin Galactic has yet to respond to these concerns.

How To Watch Virgin Galactic Launching SpaceShipTwo

People interested in watching Virgin Galactic launching SpaceShipTwo on June 29 can do so at Space.com, courtesy of the company. It will also live stream the launch for free online on its official website and YouTube through its official channel on the video-sharing platform.

Unlike NASA, the company doesn't seem interested in broadcasting pre-launch events, meaning that viewers will only get to the space plane launch from the space station and the immediate events after it.

Related Article: Virgin Galactic Suspends Its Space Tourism Flights Once More - When are They Set to Take Place?
HA NOI  Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Friday meet Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), who is on a working visit to Viet Nam.

Welcoming the first visit of ILO leader since Viet Nam joined the organisation in 1992, PM Chinh expressed his appreciation for the support the ILO has provided over the years, especially in assistance with the research and drafting of the country's first Labour Code in 1994, as well as subsequent revisions in 2012 and 2019.

In addition, the technical support provided by the ILO in implementing projects on occupational safety, social insurance, labour relations, child labour reduction and gender equality has been very effective and played an important role in Viet Nam's social development process.

Regarding Viet Nam's situation, PM Chinh stated that the country is building and developing based on three pillars: socialist rule of law state, democratic socialist orientation, and market-oriented socialist direction.

Viet Nam is also building an independent and self-reliant economy that is actively integrating deeply, efficiently, and comprehensively into the international community.

In this process, Viet Nam places people at the centre, making them the subject, goal, motivation, and resource of the development, he said, adding that Viet Nam does not trade progress, social justice, and the environment for mere economic growth.

Viet Nam is committed to innovation towards balancing and harmonising economic and social development, increasing labour productivity, expanding and strengthening the social security system, reforming the labour market system and labour law, and ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of workers, PM Chinh told the guest.

Viet Nam has a relatively large labour market with 52.3 million workers, and the quality of employees is getting better, the economy basically ensures sufficient employment for workers.

Viet Nam has made significant progress in labour and trade union issues, with the legal system on labour and social security being continuously improved and the management of the labour market being increasingly effective.

ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo expressed his pleasure to meet with PM Chinh, admired and congratulated Viet Nam on its impressive development, including achievements that seemed impossible, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ILO leader said that ILO and the United Nations consider Viet Nam as a model of effort and development for other countries to learn from.

He hoped and believed that Viet Nam would continue to develop to have more resources to spend on social security.

Informing PM Chinh of his successful meetings with the Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs ao Ngoc Dung and the Chairman of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour Nguyen inh Khang, Director-General Houngbo expressed his commitment to continuing to support Viet Nam in all labour and employment-related issues.

He also suggested that Viet Nam actively participate in ILO initiatives related to labour and employment, and expressed his desire to cooperate with Viet Nam to implement ILO and UN initiatives on Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, especially by combining the advantages of both sides to promote balanced development in terms of economy, society, and environment.

Thanking and agreeing with the views of the ILO Director-General, PM Chinh said that as a member of the ILO, Viet Nam has participated in and fulfilled its tasks well, fully implementing the international commitments that Viet Nam has joined, and continuing to study and approve international labour standards.

PM Chinh stated that global issues must have a global and people-centred approach, especially ensuring fairness and justice.

Affirming Viet Nam's support for ILO and UN initiatives, PM Chinh suggested that ILO continue to support Viet Nam in improving the legal system on labour, thoroughly reforming the social insurance system and wage policy to develop harmonious, stable, and progressive labour relations.

He also asked ILO to continue to implement technical assistance projects for Viet Nam in the context of the world's rapid changes in science, technology, and increasing non-traditional challenges.  VNS
HA NOI  Founded to combat drug crime in the nation, the Drug Crime Investigation Police Division under the Ha Noi Police has its work cut out for it.

With a resolute spirit, they lead the fight against drug trafficking. Since its establishment on December 19, 1997, the unit has destroyed many large-scale illegal drug trafficking rings, seized objects of evidence, and arrested hundreds of criminals, contributing to protecting the peoples society.

As an experienced scout in the division, Captain Cao Tuan Anh, said that drug-related crimes are increasingly sophisticated and cunning.

They're not above any tricks, including bribery, threats, revenge and fierce resistance.

A drug enforcement policemans bravery is to overcome himself, he said as quoted by the Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) newspaper.

Senior Colonel Pham Quynh, deputy head of the division still remembers the time when he broke an illegal drug trafficking ring led by Ta Anh Tuan from Moc Chau District, Son La Province and Nguyen Hong Quan from Ha Noi.

The reconnaissance unit spent many sleepless nights to understand the offenders behaviour and routines. Their meals were made of just bread and water.

At dawn on a day towards the end of 2017, Tuan drove a car from Son La to Ha Noi at high speed, using evasive techniques to avoid being followed.

When two reconnaissance teams asked him to stop the car, Tuan sped away, dragging two motorbikes along with him and crashing directly into a police car blocking in front of him. We quickly broke his window with a hammer, and didn't give him time to disperse the evidence," said Quynh.

Another typical case relates to the violation of regulations on the management of prescription drugs.

It was led by the director of a pharmacy in Thanh Son District in Phu Tho Province, Nguyen Thi Quynh.

The division arrested 12 people and seized more than 154,122 addictive prescription pills.

This was a typical example of violating regulations on drug management.

Through the case, many loopholes and shortcomings were uncovered in the management of narcotic drugs and psychotropic drugs.

After that, the division advised the Ha Noi People's Committee to direct concerned departments to strengthen the management and control of those drugs.

Colonel Tran Quyet Thang, head of the division, said that in the difficult and challenging struggle over the past 20 years, together with the criminal investigation force, the Drug Crime Investigation Police Division uncovered more than 40,000 cases, and arrested more than 67,000 offenders.

Confiscated objects of evidence include more than half a tonne of heroin, nearly 330kg of synthetic drugs, more than 15kg of cocaine, 326kg of opium, 100kg of cannabis and dozens of firearms, the newspaper reported.

The division continues to discover drug trafficking cases by air and even using the post office, highlighting sophisticated methods for moving illegal narcotics around the country.

Education on these matters work has been promoted by the division in coordination with local police forces.

This has raised awareness for all classes of people about the harmful effects of drug addiction.

The masses have provided a great amount of valuable information to denounce drug crimes, helping the police force to dismantle drug-related networks, groups and dens.

The division is highly appreciated by the Ministry of Public Security for its role in the advancement of this method.

The Drug Crime Investigation Police Division has led the emulation campaign "For National Security".

It has been awarded the first-class Victory Medal on three occasions. It was also awarded the third-class Victory Medal in 1999, 2000 and 2004. The division has been awarded five certificates of merit by the Prime Minister.

This month, it was honoured to be one of six units to receive the noble title of Hero of the Peoples Armed Forces.

This is a worthy reward, recognising their dedication, ingenuity, courage, and resolute spirit to fight against drug crimes.  VNS
The flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam are forecast to increase in the second half of the year as the downturn has been improved in recent months, experts have said.

Only a few days after Do Nhat Hoang, Director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), announced that many large-scale projects, including billion-USD ones from Republic of Korea (RoK) firms are waiting to enter Vietnam, Hai Phong authorities on Jun 26 handed over a licence to LG Innotek Vietnam Hai Phong Co., Ltd. to add over 1 billion USD to its project in the northern port city, raising its total investment to over 2.05 billion USD.

However, the sum has yet to be counted in the total amount of FD in Vietnam in the first six months of 2023 when the additional capital poured into underway projects was recorded at 2.93 billion USD, down 57.1 per cent year on year.

The reasons behind the decline include a lack of expansion of big projects, while a large amount of the added capital recorded in the first half of 2022 at 6.82 billion USD.

However, insiders noted that the situation has been improved, as the total FDI that Vietnam has attracted in the first six months of this year has reached 13.43 billion USD, a decrease of only 4.3 per cent year on year, a lower level than a downturn of 7.3 per cent in the five months, 17.9 per cent in the four months, and 38.8 per cent in the three months.

While the added capital fell sharply, the newly-registered capital in the first six months of this year increased strongly at 31.3 per cent to 6.94 billion USD, and the capital poured in capital contribution and share purchase deals also surged 76.8 per cent to over 4 billion USD.

Once the capital injected in LG Innotek project is recorded, the chance for FDI in Vietnam to reverse is high.

Particularly, in the first half of this year, 10.2 billion USD of FDI was disbursed, up 0.5 per cent year on year.

Hoang said that the increase in the disbursement rate showed the efficiency of the Governments efforts to support businesses in implementing their projects.

However, according to Hoang, although many large-scale firms are showing interest in Vietnam, they have remained cautious in giving final decisions.

He said that Japanese and RoK investors have tended to slow down in making investment decisions to consider internal problems of the economy and the USs encouragement of investors to switch production chains from China to other countries.

Meanwhile, investors from Taiwan (China) are flocking to Vietnam, especially in the fields of electricity, electronics, technology and electric vehicles. Chinese firms are also establishing new production facilities outside the country to make full use of the host countries advantages.

Right after Chinas reopening, Chinese investors have flocked to Vietnam. In the first six months of this year, China ranked third in terms of registered FDI in Vietnam with 1.95 billion USD, and ranked first in the number of new projects, accounting for 18 per cent of the total 1,293.

Polytex Far Eastern Vietnam Ltd from Taiwan plans to invest an additional 250 million USD in Vietnam in the third quarter of 2023, raising its total investment to over 1 billion USD. Meanwhile, Cheng Loong, also from Taiwan, is implementing the second phase of its 1-billion-USD project in Vietnam.

Xiamen Hithium Energy Storage Technology and Growatt New Energy from China are also reportedly considering to invest a total of 1 billion USD in Vietnam.

These are positive news, and if realised, the FDI flows into Vietnam will increase remarkably in the coming time.

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Pham Truong Tam, director of the Hung Yen Industrial Zones Management Authority, stated that the local authorities have been focusing on enticing investment into the province, securing positive results in terms of funding for its industrial zones (IZs).

Out of 17 planned IZs, 11 have been accepted and certified for investment. They cover an area of 2,873 hectares and boast a total investment surpassing $1.02 billion. Alongside the funds going into the IZs, there are positive signs when it comes to investment into the manufacturing plants within them.

Since 2020, the IZs in Hung Yen have drawn more than $2.2 billion, including $558 million in 2020, $611 million in 2021, and $730 million in 2022  the current record level.

In the year to date, Hung Yens IZs have welcomed $327 million in investment funds.

By May, the provinces IZs were home to 520 ongoing investment ventures, with a total registered capital surpassing $7.1 billion.

The foreign-led projects in local IZs are concentrated on several industries, such as electronic devices, metal component manufacturing, food processing, textiles, and apparel, among others.

The most capital-intensive foreign-invested projects are Toto Vietnam Co., Ltd.s sanitation equipment manufacturing project worth $403 million, Kyocera Vietnam Co., Ltd.s various projects with $379 million in investment, and Mektec Co., Ltd.s motherboard manufacturing facility at $300 million.

One of the differentiating factors of FDI compared to other sources of investment is the accompanying technologies offered by the foreign investors.

FDI is creating many jobs for the local workforce in Hung Yen and the surrounding area

These high-tech projects not only help to drive the local economys development, but also serve as a learning experience for domestic businesses in the application of modern technologies from developed economies.

The engagement of foreign businesses across the board is an important factor in the modernisation of Hung Yens economic structure.

FDI helps accelerate exports, improve provincial budgets, and increase the regional GDP. In 2022, Hung Yens regional GDP rose by 12.84 per cent, with approximately $4,420 per person, and the domestic budget revenue exceeded $121.7 million.

The engagement of foreign businesses across the board is an important factor in the modernisation of Hung Yens economic structure.

In the first quarter of 2023, Hung Yens economy expanded by 8.14 per cent on-year, ranking 12 out of the 63 localities across Vietnam.

Among those, industrial manufacturing inched up by 6.59 per cent, and the services sector had an impressive recovery, with retail increasing by 111.15 per cent.

By the end of May, gross industrial production had increased by 0.04 per cent, with that of manufacturing rising by 0.29 per cent.

Aside from bringing funds, foreign-invested projects brought in new technologies, enabling Vietnam to manufacture products that could not previously be made in the country. Several new sectors and products have been created by leveraging these new technologies.

Besides this, imported technologies have minimised the need to import specialised goods in many sectors such as oil refining, construction material manufacturing, and consumer electronics.

Another benefit is workforce modernisation, as many personnel are now capable of performing specialised roles with modern technologies. The jobs created with these new roles also encourage the education of the local workforce.

Job creation in Hung Yen specifically, and across the whole of Vietnam in general, is one of the most significant contributions that come from overseas funding. To date, Hung Yen provides stable jobs for more than 78,000 labourers.

Alongside that, many jobs have been created as a side effect of the industrialisation process, namely those in services and support sectors.

The labour force in foreign-led companies is often of higher quality compared to the domestic workforce, thanks to training either taking place in local units or at companies stationed abroad.

On June 27, Tran Quoc Van, Chairman of Hung Yen People's Committee, met with Sumitomo Corporation from Japan at the headquarters of the committee.

Sumitomo Corporation meeting with Hung Yen's leaders on the potential expansion of its investment

At the meeting, a representative of Sumitomo Corporation thanked Hung Yen for providing the necessary conditions for Japanese companies to operate, and expressed a desire to expand Thang Long II Industrial Zone.

Thang Long currently has 104 foreign-invested projects, with the total registered investment capital at $3.27 billion. The majority of investors come from Japan, including Kyocera, Hoya, Nippon, Daikin, Toto, Panasonic, and more, attesting to the fact that Hung Yen is an attractive destination to international corporations.

Assessing the importance and the positive impact of FDI in Hung Yen, Chairman Van said, "Hung Yen has been, and will continue to be, focused on creating compelling conditions for the development of large-scale IZs with modern technologies."

This is a central strategy and our number-one priority to further attract investment, especially from abroad. This will support our goal of achieving fast, sustainable, and environmentally friendly development. We are also committed to streamlining our policies and improving local infrastructure to further support foreign businesses, concluded the chairman.

With a clear direction and strategy for investment development, Hung Yen proves an ideal destination for domestic and international investors, turning its goal of becoming an industrialised locality by 2025 into a real possibility.

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A US$263.9 million International Development Association loan to Vietnam to support the country's efforts to achieve an inclusive, green, and digitally-driven economic recovery was approved by the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors on June 29.

Electronics production at Katolec Vietnam in Quang Minh Industrial Park, Hanoi. Photo: Pham Hung/The Hanoi Times

This financing is intended to facilitate reforms that will support households and businesses and promote the expansion of renewable energy in the country.

The loan is the second and final tranche of a Development Policy Financing (DPF) series of two operations, following a $221.5 million operation approved in 2021.

While the full impact of this operation is expected to be felt in 2024, the DPF series has already supported significant achievements.

In 2021, more than 140,000 businesses benefited from a tax relief package, providing them with essential support. In addition, subsidized childcare was provided to more than 85,000 children, helping to promote gender equality in the workplace.

The availability of government services online has also doubled, increasing accessibility and convenience for citizens.

Going forward, the institutional and policy reforms supported by this operation will facilitate business recovery by enhancing the tax environment, supporting the financial inclusion of vulnerable households, and increasing access to quality childcare services.

To spur green and digital development, the reforms supported by the DPF focus on procurement, digitizing public administration, scaling up renewable energy, and bolstering the financial sustainability of the power sector. Moreover, reforms supported by this operation are expected to improve public service delivery to households and businesses.

Reforms supported by this credit will strengthen Vietnam's ongoing recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent commodity price shocks while paving the way for more inclusive, greener, and digital-friendly development, said Carolyn Turk, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam. We look forward to working with the government to implement these reforms and support Vietnam to achieve its development goals.

Hanoi Times
22 June 2023, Munich, Germany: Ginlong (Solis) Technologies, one of the global leaders in inverter production, successfully showcased its cutting-edge storage and inverter solutions at Intersolar Europe, the world's leading exhibition for the solar industry, held on 13th-14th June. Solis presented a wide array of products at Intersolar Europe, catering to residential, commercial, industrial (C&I), and utility-scale solar applications.

The exhibited solutions included 6th generation S6 and S6 Advanced Hybrid storage inverters. These residential-focused inverters, recently launched by Solis, received positive feedback from the installers due to their advanced functionalities and seamless integration with photovoltaic energy storage systems and connectivity to other energy sources such as generators.

Another residential product on display was the brand new Solis S6-GR1P(0.6-0.8)K-UM Ultra Mini inverter series, specifically designed for the German balcony market. This series showcased Solis' commitment to meeting regional requirements and broader market expansion based on positive feedback from the audience.

On the commercial side, Solis presented a new Solis S6-EH3P(29.9-50)K-H energy storage series: the latest innovation in C&I scale energy storage. Offering battery flexibility and meeting the demand for 1200kWh energy storage applications, this series garnered significant interest from visitors as it can be extensively used in various scenarios.

Solutions for utility-scale projects were widely discussed, and Solis 350kW three-phase string inverter showcased Solis' ability to meet market demand by maximising PV power plant yields while reducing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). This joins the 255kW as the newest addition to the Solis utility range.

Travis Snyder, Product Manager at Solis Europe, expressed his satisfaction with the conference, stating, "Intersolar Europe provided an excellent platform for Solis to unveil new products that the market has eagerly awaited. The introduction of the S6-EH3P(29.9-50)K-H energy storage series generated significant interest from the audience, and we received numerous inquiries about the launch dates for the S6 hybrid inverters specifically tailored for the European market."

The Solis booth at Intersolar Europe drew a diverse range of customers, who particularly praised the price-to-quality ratio of Solis products. The positive reception and feedback underscored Solis' commitment to delivering reliable, cost-effective solutions.

Claire Gardner, Marketing Manager at Solis Europe, emphasised the importance of direct customer interaction, stating, "Our Solis booth truly stood out at Intersolar Europe, as we had a diverse team capable of speaking 15 languages. Having technical experts at the booth to directly address audience inquiries and exchange ideas made our brand more approachable, familiar, and local. We received valuable feedback from new customers, highlighting the significance of our service and technical support."

As a global manufacturer, Solis combines its scale and pricing advantages with localised operations, ensuring strong product availability, customisation, and service support. The company's extensive R&D team of over 500 members, coupled with high-tech digital factory guarantees future-proof products that meet increasing demand.

For more product information please visit: www.solisinverters.com

About Ginlong Solis

Established in 2005, and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (300763. SZ), Ginlong (Solis) Technologies is one of the largest and most experienced global solar inverter manufacturers. The company provides cost-effective solutions for homes, businesses and large-scale power plants; delivering value at every level of the solar supply chain and appealing to homeowners and businesses, as well as electricity producers and renewable energy investors globally. Combining a global supply chain with world-class R&D and manufacturing capabilities, validated under the most stringent international certification, Ginlong optimises Solis inverters for each regional market, serving and supporting its customers with a team of local experts. The company aims to work with stakeholders to accelerate the world's journey towards a more sustainable future.

Please visit www.solisinverters.com
Early this year, a delegation of 27 enterprises from China and Taiwan led by Michael Lu, chairman of the Board of Directors of Tripod Technology Group, visited the province to survey investment opportunities.

Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has seen strong development of seaports and seaport services, making them a key economic pillar

Lu said that to expand and develop the high-tech electronics industry, specifically, the production of printed circuit boards, Chinese and Taiwanese enterprises are expected to invest in manufacturing plants in Vietnam.

According to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, many big projects invested in by Japanese, South Korean, Singaporean, and Thai businesses have been working successfully. Many of them are planning to expand existing ventures, as well as develop new ones.

With the advantages of developed seaports, transport infrastructure connectivity, and the potential for industrial development, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has become an enticing destination for many of the world's giants.

Statistics from the Ministry of Planning and Investments Foreign Investment Agency show that the province now ranks fifth nationwide in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI), with 537 projects. It is forecast that FDI inflows to the locality will continue to increase in the years to come.

The advantage of seaports and transport connectivity

Ba Ria-Vung Tau has a coastline of about 305km. In the west, it has large bays and rivers which are favourable for the development of a deepwater port system, maritime services, shipping, logistic, and coastal industrial parks (IPs).

Since the establishment of the province in 1991, it has consistently set growth targets associated with the effective exploitation of sea-based key economic sectors.

By 2030 Ba Ria-Vung Tau will mobilise domestic and international investors in developing infrastructure and increasing the operational efficiency of Thi Vai - Cai Mep port sea to be a large logistics center for the region

The province has seen strong development of seaports and seaport services, making them a key economic pillar. The Cai Mep-Thi Vai port area now has 24 operational projects, and is the only area that is capable of container handling with eight container ports in operation with a total designed capacity of 8.4 million TEU per year.

Cai Mep-Thi Vai is also the only port area in Vietnam, and one of the 19 others in the world, capable of accommodating container vessels of over 200,000 deadweight tonnage. It is also the only one in Vietnam receiving container vessels directly from the EU and the Americas.

Currently, domestic cargo accounts for more than 90 per cent of the total volume through southern port clusters, with the main source of goods coming from Ho Chi Minh City, the southern provinces of Binh Duong, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and the Mekong Delta region.

The domestic market is expected to continue to be a key development driver for southern port clusters in general and Cai Mep-Thi Vai in particular over the coming period.

According to John Campbell, manager of Savills Industrial Services, Ba Ria-Vung Tau not only offers competitive rents and infrastructure that is suitable for medium to heavy industries, but also has access to a developed seaport cluster.

The Cai Mep-Thi Vai international port cluster is a great alternative to the crowded port system of Ho Chi Minh City. With a length of 20km, it welcomed more than two million TEUs in 2020, and is receiving great support from the government to ensure it becomes an important shipping centre by 2045.

Ho Kim Lan, general secretary of the Vietnam Seaports Association said, Seaports are important infrastructure components for the economic and social development of the country, and as such, they enjoy certain privileges for continued and undisturbed operations, and are prioritised for further development. The annual growth rate of cargo volume going through the port system normally reflects the GDP growth rate of the locality.

To date, Ba Ria-Vung Tau is the only place in the country that has been working on digital transformation in the management of seaport infrastructure, with 10 digitalised ports. The port system and port logistics services have become an important economic sector in the province, contributing increasingly to regional GDP growth, local budget revenue, and the development of supporting industries, trades, and services.

To promote the potential of the marine economy and create stronger conditions for investors, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has focused on developing the infrastructure connecting the port system.

Many important roads connecting the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port system have been invested in to synchronously connect with the coastal economic corridor, such as the 991B, the road behind My Xuan port, Long Son-Cai Mep road, the DT994 from Bien Hoa-Vung motorway to National Motorway 51, and others to nearby economic zones.

It collaborates with cities and provinces to develop regional transport connectivity such as Beltway 4 connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port area, Long Thanh international airport, and IPs and urban areas in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Long An.

It also works with the Ministry of Transport to study the development of the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau railway route, with priority given to a connection with Cai Mep port to improve multimodal links.

By 2030, Ba Ria-Vung Tau will mobilise domestic and foreign resources to continue developing infrastructure, increasing the operational efficiency of the Cai Mep-Thi Vai port sea and developing it into a large logistics centre for the region. There is a desire to establish a free trade zone in the Cai Mep area.

Significant room for industrial development

According to the latest planning from the government, Ba Ria-Vung Tau seaport is identified as one of two special seaports in the country, functioning as a gateway port and an international transshipment hub.

Resolution No.24-NQ/TW from the Politburo on socioeconomic development and the assurance of national defence and security in the southeastern region to 2030, with a vision to 2045, also proposes solutions such as completion of investment in the coastal road system through Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and Ho Chi Minh City.

To promote the potential of the marine economy and create stronger conditions for investors, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has focused on building the infrastructure connecting the port system with the nearby economic zones

With this vision and its coastal advantages, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has been developing the industrial sector associated with seaports, focusing on in-depth industrial development to create products that are competitive in both regional and global markets, helping businesses participate more deeply in the global value chain.

According to local statistics, Ba Ria-Vung Tau now has 15 IPs with 544 valid investment ventures, including 274 domestically invested projects, and 270 benefitting from overseas funding.

IPs attract a variety of industries such as mechanical processing, engineering, the manufacture of products from steel, plastic, rubber, and paper, electrical-refrigeration products, and yarn making.

With plenty of room for industrial development, the province has become an ideal destination for businesses, especially foreign-invested enterprises. Along with them, many private domestic companies have been choosing the destination to develop new projects and make expansions.

They include the Phase 2 investment expansion of the Southern Petrochemical Complex worth $5.5 billion, the expanded Phu My Fertiliser project, and others.

In November 2022, the province granted investment licences and cooperation documents to 10 projects with a total capital of over $8.4 billion.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau will continue to develop large IPs in Xuyen Moc, Dat Do, and Phu My. It will focus on in-depth industrial development and become a model of environmental protection. By 2030, the province will invest in four new high-tech IPs, which are expected to be located in Chau Duc district and cover a total area of 5,700 hectares.

Chairman Nguyen Van Tho said, The province will continue to improve the business climate, promptly and fully implement mechanisms and policies to support investors, regularly hold dialogues between provincial leaders and businesses to solve difficulties quickly, and help with effective project implementation.

According to the provincial People's Committee, it will focus on attracting investment in large-scale industrial projects with high added value. The goal is to use modern technology, save land and energy, and be environmentally friendly and less labour-intensive. There is a desire to promote the development of supporting and specialised industries, especially those associated with the advantages of seaports.

Ba Ria  Vung Tau attracts big investment The province was able to attract investment in big projects in 2018, many of which lined up with the provinces goals, according to Ba Ria  Vung Tau Provinces Department of Planning and Investment.

Ba Ria  Vung Tau to develop modern seaports, logistics services A workshop was held in the southern province of Ba Ria  Vung Tau on June 18 to seek ways to develop seaports and logistics services, which are important components of the local economy.

Regional connectivity advantage transforms Ba Ria-Vung Tau into tourism hotspot With a convenient location in the southern key economic region and only one hour and 30 minutes away from Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has much potential in its tourism development.

Selective investment adds to attraction of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Located in the southern key economic region with outstanding advantages in resources for socioeconomic development, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province continues to persevere with the goal of selective investment attraction for large projects, creating spillover effects and promoting other industries to follow.

Resolution provides Ba Ria-Vung Tau development spark A national conference took place last week in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau to implement Resolution No.154/NQ-CP on the action programme for implementing Resolution No.24-NQ/TW of the Politburo on socioeconomic development and ensuring of national defense and security in the southeast region to 2030 and a vision to 2045.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang says administrative regulations and procedures in investment and business should be simplified and reformed first. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  Administrative regulations and procedures in investment and business should be simplified and reformed first, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang said at a recent meeting on administrative reform and improving the efficiency of policy consultation to the Government and the PM.

The Government Office on June 29 issued a notice on the Deputy PMs conclusions at the meeting, which pointed to limitations in the work and the causes like the low sense of responsibility of some agencies, especially of their leaders, loose coordination between agencies, and a lack of decentralisation.

Quang emphasised the need to streamline administrative procedures in the areas directly relating to production and business activities and people's life such as construction, real estate, taxation, customs, electricity, energy, agricultural production and processing, export-import, education-training, and health care.

Ministries, agencies and localities must also fully and accurately publicise procedures on the national database on administrative procedures, the Deputy PM said.

Other tasks include assessing the quality of services, and regularly supervising performance by relevant officials and agencies, and strictly handling wrongdoings.

The Ministry of Justice, legal affairs divisions in ministries and ministry-level agencies, and Justice Departments of provincial-level People's Committees must further strengthen the verification of administrative procedures in proposals, projects and draft legal documents to ensure that only those procedures which are really necessary, reasonable and legal are promulgated.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is assigned to coordinate with the Government Office and other ministries and agencies in reviewing and proposing plans on consolidating inter-sectoral organisations, including the PMs policy advisory group. The work must be done within next month.

The Government Office is tasked with working together with relevant ministries and agencies to devise a plan on major administrative reforms from now to the end of this year, which will be submitted to the PM in July.

The Deputy PM also instructed the Government Office to submit a proposal to the Prime Minister on the establishment of a task force on administrative reform of the PM, which will instruct, monitor and push the implementation of programmes, plans and projects on administrative reform, identify difficulties and obstacles and remove them in a timely manner, prioritising pending ones.

Quang also urged upgrading the national database on administrative procedures in the third quarter of this month.

Reform imperative to tackle red tape in business Despite efforts of the government in administrative reforms and simplification of business conditions, enterprises are still struggling with cumbersome procedures.
These four areas are heavily affected by the Nam Son waste complex  the largest such facility in the country. With this programme, Diageo Vietnam aims to work with local authorities to improve the quality of water, thereby positively impacting the lives of local people.

In 2022, the company also donated 49 water purifiers to underprivileged people in Ba Vi, creating opportunities for them to access better quality drinking water.

Le Thi Hai, vice president of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee in Soc Son district shared, We sincerely thank DVL and its partners for their timely and practical actions to support affected households. Having access to clean water will improve peoples health and allow them to take better care of their families.

Huynh Thi Thanh Truc, director of corporate relations at Diageo Vietnam said, Water preservation and environmental protection are the top priorities at Diageo, and are essential to our long-term business operations. We hope these water purifying systems will help bring clean water to households. This project also represents part of Diageo's commitment to continuously contribute to improving the quality of life in Vietnam.

Since 2012, Diageo has implemented the Water for Life programme globally as a corporate commitment in its social responsibility goals and sustainability vision to 2030.

A series of clean water supply systems, including new clean water wells, pumps, and concrete tanks, have been donated to households and primary schools in remote areas in Vietnam. In addition to donating water purification systems, DVL has also coordinated with local authorities and partners to raise awareness about sanitation and environment protection.

Diageo Vietnam donates $130,430 to help thousands get free vaccination Foreign-backed beverage firm Diageo Vietnam Ltd. has recently donated VND3 billion ($130,430) in response to the fundraising appeal Making COVID-19 Vaccine Contributions with Tuoi Tre.

Diageo Vietnam selected among Best Companies to Work for in Asia in 2021 For the first time, Diageo Vietnam (a subsidiary of Diageo, the owner of internationally prestigious brands such as Johnnie Walker, Mortlach, and Singleton) has been recognised as one of the Best Companies to Work for in Asia in 2021 by HR Asia, the leading publication for HR professionals across the continent.
Dogs are seen in a flight heading to Jeju Island with their families, May 19. Joint Press Corps



By Lee Yeon-woo



One in four Korean households include pets and that number is only expected to grow. Yet, unlike other relevant markets showing continuous growth, insurance firms are struggling to expand the pet insurance market.



As of 2022, the rate of pet owners who purchased pet insurance was below even 1 percent, standing at 0.8 percent.



Pet owners complain that the coverage provided by pet insurance often falls short of expectations despite significant monthly payments, while insurance firms blame legal barriers for their restricted services.



According to insurance industry sources, Thursday, insurance firms are paying utmost attention to whether a revised bill mandating veterinarians to issue medical records to pet owners will pass the National Assembly this time.



The current Veterinarians Act mandates vets to write medical records but does not enforce them to issue or allow pet owners to view these records. Therefore, if vets choose not to disclose the records, pet owners have no way of finding out which medicines or treatments have been administered to their pets.



For insurance firms, this lack of transparency has been considered the largest barrier to expanding the pet insurance market. Despite the market being touted as a blue ocean, firms find it difficult to assess claims based solely on receipts if medical records are not provided.



"Without the records, it's hard to assess the insured amount accurately. To avoid financial losses, the coverage inevitably becomes conservative," an official from the insurance industry said.



For instance, some pet owners falsely claim reimbursements by reporting that their pet received gum surgery, when it actually underwent scaling, a procedure not covered by the insurance.



The veterinarians association also cites potential drug abuse as a reason for opposition. As a significant number of veterinary medicines can be easily purchased without a prescription, they are concerned that the disclosure of detailed medical records could lead pet owners to self-medicate their pets.



Amid this tug-of-war, Rep. Her Eun-a from the governing People Power Party proposed a revised bill earlier this month, which would require the disclosure of medical records under certain circumstances. There is a high chance it could get approval as it underwent prior discussions with the government and the veterinary industry. However, the insurance industry does not consider the measures to be satisfactory.



According to a recent report from the Korea Insurance Research Institute, the rates of pet owners who have purchased pet insurance are 40 percent in Sweden, 25 percent in the U.K. and 14 percent in Norway. The pet insurance market in Japan is also estimated to reach 1 trillion won.



"Authorities need to drive a policy of standardizing the diverse treatment systems across vet clinics and mandating the issuance of medical records," the report wrote.


Tai Yeap Wai, Southeast Asia general manager of Eaton

Can you tell us about the breakthrough innovations Eaton has brought to Vietnam so far?

At Eaton, our long-lasting goal is to improve people's lives and the environment with power management technologies that are more reliable, efficient, safe and sustainable. The Technology Day in Vietnam is part of Eaton's global strategic growth initiative, which brings together Eatons partners and end-customers to experience Eatons intelligent power management solutions. For this years Tech Day, Eaton has brought innovative upgrades to existing products and enhanced efficiency to optimise energy consumption in today's power development and operation industry.

With electrical equipment and electrical cabinets, Eaton has come up with modular designs to meet customer needs and optimise costs. We offer software solutions for efficient energy management.

We believe in an 'Everything as a Grid' approach where every energy source is connected and supported to stabilise the whole network, including the national electrical grid. This is also a modern solution for unlocking the potential of the energy transition to create a low-carbon future for houses, businesses, and communities.

When applying this approach, our customers can monetise previously under-used backup power assets. This ultimate solution uses countless new concepts and technologies for renewable energy and batteries, electric vehicle charging systems, and many more. Everything is interconnected and managed by our intelligent management software system. Through its power management technologies and services, Eaton can help its customers effectively manage electrical and mechanical power more safely and efficiently.

An example is our long-term partnership with Microsoft to develop 'EnergyAware' uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) technology, enabling energy-intensive industries to help stabilise the grid and contribute more to renewable power. In fact, 'EnergyAware' UPS technology could ultimately prove instrumental in reshaping the overall power generation industry as its implications are significant, both for the grid and for data centre operators. Eatons technology also allows Microsoft to store excess power generated for its data centres from renewable sources and potentially sell it back to the grid.

Microgrid energy solution is another focus that we want to highlight. The microgrid is connected to the grid and the loads are powered by a power mix. To achieve the goal of managing the entire system smoothly and synchronously, it is necessary to have a smart software solution managing all of those things well.

What are the most crucial industry segments for Eaton's expansion in Vietnam?

Eaton operates across a diverse range of industries, including aerospace, automotive, construction, data centres, energy, manufacturing, mining, oil and gas, renewable energy, and utilities. However, Eaton in Vietnam places significant emphasis on data centres, and the electrical and industrial sectors.

We have observed that Vietnam's demand for safe and stable data centres has seen robust growth. Eaton provides modular, or standalone UPS solutions that are highly reliable and easily scalable, keeping business agile and helping to manage the growing data centre demand. Our offered solutions are popular among Vietnams big network providers and telecoms companies.

Eaton's energy storage systems are one of our strengths. This is an essential component enabling communities and businesses to access a safe, reliable, and efficient solution to support the electrification of transportation. It means that energy storage enables homeowners, businesses, industrial facilities, and cities, as well as data centres, to store energy whenever it is available and release it when needed.

What are Eatons competitive advantages?

UPS is often referred to as the 'heart' of the electrical system in data centres. As a major supplier of power management systems, Eaton can help with a comprehensive UPS range. These systems boast a compact design and offer an unrivalled level of power at all times. Our compact UPS provides a range of benefits such as energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

By bringing together an innovative mix of hardware and software, Eaton offers intelligent integrated solutions that prioritise safety and security.

Our Microgrid controller intelligently manages multiple sources, including solar, energy storage and generation and utility supply, to ensure power continuity for short and long-term utility interruptions. This solution also benefits the environment, which is part of Eatons responsibility to lower carbon emissions.

What benefits can the 'Everything as a Grid' approach bring to the Vietnamese market?

Vietnams energy demand continues to grow, and the country is confronted with the challenges of limited domestic resources and the complexity of managing capacity.

In the coming decades, the energy sector will face an increasingly complex array of interlocking challenges  economic, geopolitical, technological, and environmental. At Eaton, we pride ourselves on being a leader of the energy transition. Weve applied the 'Everything as a Grid' approach to the transition from fossil fuels to renewables and are unlocking a low-carbon energy future. Weve been helping customers safely add more renewables, storage, and electric vehicle infrastructure to their energy mix to become more sustainable and resilient while lowering energy costs.

What is Eaton's development strategy for Vietnam?

Vietnam has established itself as a stable, high-growth destination for international business and foreign investment. Our business is growing well in Vietnam, but we still a lot more room for growth.

As an intelligent power management company, Eaton is dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power, today and well into the future. By capitalising on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalisation, were accelerating the planets transition to renewable energy and helping to solve the worlds most urgent power management challenges.

Eaton enters distributor partnership with IDC Saigon Eaton, a global power management company, has just announced its partnership with Saigon Informatics Development Company, a leading IT distributor in Vietnam.
At the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi  Five Vietnamese universities keep their places in the QS World University Rankings 2024 recently released by the UK-based education organisation Quacquarelli Symonds.



Specifically, the Duy Tan University is positioned at 514; the Ton Duc Thang University is in the group 721-730, the Vietnam National University (VNU) - Hanoi and VNU - Ho Chi Minh City both are in the 951-1000 group; and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology is placed in the 1201-1400 category.



In this edition, the QS WUR 2024 ranks a total of 1,499 universities, with 83 entering the list for the first time, out of the 2,963 universities from 104 countries and territories.



It is the 20th year that the QS has published this rankings, with three new criteria and changes in weighting for three out of the six existing criteria.



In Southeast Asia, Malaysia takes the lead with 28 ranked universities, followed by Indonesia with 26, Thailand 13, Vietnam 5, the Philippines 5, Singapore 4, and Brunei 2.



Although with four higher education institutions on the list, Singapore still shows its leading position in the region with two universities named in the top 30 in the world.

17 Vietnamese universities enter URAP rankings The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), a Turkish non-profit organisation, has honoured 17 Vietnamese universities for their outstanding academic performance globally in 2022.

Five Vietnamese universities named in Best Global Universities Rankings 2023 Five Vietnamese universities have been listed in the 2023 edition of the Best Global Universities Rankings published by the US News & World Report, which includes 2,165 across 95 countries worldwide.
Pham Truong Tam, director of the Hung Yen Industrial Zones Management Authority, stated that the local authorities have been focusing on enticing investment into the province, securing positive results in terms of funding for its industrial zones (IZs).

Out of 17 planned IZs, 11 have been accepted and certified for investment. They cover an area of 2,873 hectares and boast a total investment surpassing $1.02 billion. Alongside the funds going into the IZs, there are positive signs when it comes to investment into the manufacturing plants within them.

Since 2020, the IZs in Hung Yen have drawn more than $2.2 billion, including $558 million in 2020, $611 million in 2021, and $730 million in 2022  the current record level.

In the year to date, Hung Yens IZs have welcomed $327 million in investment funds.

Fifty businesses from Taiwan have visited to consider investments in IZ No.5 in Hung Yen

By May, the provinces IZs were home to 520 ongoing investment ventures, with a total registered capital surpassing $7.1 billion.

The foreign-led projects in local IZs are concentrated on several industries, such as electronic devices, metal component manufacturing, food processing, textiles, and apparel, among others.

The most capital-intensive foreign-invested projects are Toto Vietnam Co., Ltd.s sanitation equipment manufacturing project worth $403 million, Kyocera Vietnam Co., Ltd.s various projects with $379 million in investment, and Mektec Co., Ltd.s motherboard manufacturing facility at $300 million.

One of the differentiating factors of FDI compared to other sources of investment is the accompanying technologies offered by the foreign investors.

FDI is creating many jobs for the local workforce in Hung Yen and the surrounding area

These high-tech projects not only help to drive the local economys development, but also serve as a learning experience for domestic businesses in the application of modern technologies from developed economies.

The engagement of foreign businesses across the board is an important factor in the modernisation of Hung Yens economic structure.

FDI helps accelerate exports, improve provincial budgets, and increase the regional GDP. In 2022, Hung Yens regional GDP rose by 12.84 per cent, with approximately $4,420 per person, and the domestic budget revenue exceeded $121.7 million.

The engagement of foreign businesses across the board is an important factor in the modernisation of Hung Yens economic structure.

In the first quarter of 2023, Hung Yens economy expanded by 8.14 per cent on-year, ranking 12 out of the 63 localities across Vietnam.

Among those, industrial manufacturing inched up by 6.59 per cent, and the services sector had an impressive recovery, with retail increasing by 111.15 per cent.

By the end of May, gross industrial production had increased by 0.04 per cent, with that of manufacturing rising by 0.29 per cent.

Aside from bringing funds, foreign-invested projects brought in new technologies, enabling Vietnam to manufacture products that could not previously be made in the country. Several new sectors and products have been created by leveraging these new technologies.

Besides this, imported technologies have minimised the need to import specialised goods in many sectors such as oil refining, construction material manufacturing, and consumer electronics.

Another benefit is workforce modernisation, as many personnel are now capable of performing specialised roles with modern technologies. The jobs created with these new roles also encourage the education of the local workforce.

Job creation in Hung Yen specifically, and across the whole of Vietnam in general, is one of the most significant contributions that come from overseas funding. To date, Hung Yen provides stable jobs for more than 78,000 labourers.

Alongside that, many jobs have been created as a side effect of the industrialisation process, namely those in services and support sectors.

The labour force in foreign-led companies is often of higher quality compared to the domestic workforce, thanks to training either taking place in local units or at companies stationed abroad.

On June 27, Tran Quoc Van, Chairman of Hung Yen People's Committee, met with Sumitomo Corporation from Japan at the headquarters of the committee.

Sumitomo Corporation meeting with Hung Yen's leaders on the potential expansion of its investment

At the meeting, a representative of Sumitomo Corporation thanked Hung Yen for providing the necessary conditions for Japanese companies to operate, and expressed a desire to expand Thang Long II Industrial Zone.

Thang Long currently has 104 foreign-invested projects, with the total registered investment capital at $3.27 billion. The majority of investors come from Japan, including Kyocera, Hoya, Nippon, Daikin, Toto, Panasonic, and more, attesting to the fact that Hung Yen is an attractive destination to international corporations.

Assessing the importance and the positive impact of FDI in Hung Yen, Chairman Van said, "Hung Yen has been, and will continue to be, focused on creating compelling conditions for the development of large-scale IZs with modern technologies."

This is a central strategy and our number-one priority to further attract investment, especially from abroad. This will support our goal of achieving fast, sustainable, and environmentally friendly development. We are also committed to streamlining our policies and improving local infrastructure to further support foreign businesses, concluded the chairman.

With a clear direction and strategy for investment development, Hung Yen proves an ideal destination for domestic and international investors, turning its goal of becoming an industrialised locality by 2025 into a real possibility.

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.

OCOP products stimulate Hung Yens agriculture The development of OCOP products aims to bolster the potential of restructuring and stimulating Hung Yens agricultural sustainability.

Foreign investors optimistic on added property attraction Vietnams property market is still attractive to the foreign community, but it is necessary to continue to improve its legal landscape, information transparency, and data availability to create further enhancements for foreigners to invest.
On June 25, the event brought together over 100 healthcare professionals to discuss effective treatment solutions for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (uHCC) and lung cancer.

Vietnam has witnessed a significant surge in the burden of cancer, with lung cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma being major concerns. The joint conference served as a platform for healthcare professionals to exchange knowledge, insights, and experiences regarding the latest advancements in cancer immunotherapy treatments.

Vietnam observed 182,563 new cancer cases in 2020. According to Globocan 2020, the number of new cases of liver cancer stood at 26,418 and lung cancer accounted for 26,262.

Dr. Do Anh Tu, deputy director of K Hospital, emphasised the significance of such conferences, "With the increasing burden of lung cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma in our country, it is crucial that we unite as healthcare professionals to share knowledge and expertise. This conference provides a unique platform for us to collectively work towards improving patient outcomes and advancing cancer care in Vietnam."

Immunotherapy and personalised treatment in the management of uHCC and lung cancer were a focus at the conference, with many promising results that could bring hope to patients. Research findings have demonstrated that immunotherapy helped to reduce the risk of death for advanced HCC by 42 per cent compared with standard care.

Lennor Carrillo, general director of Roche Pharma Vietnam, expressed his enthusiasm about the joint conference, "As a global leader in healthcare, Roche is dedicated to collaborating with partners to enhance the lives of patients and promote better health outcomes at a lower cost to society."

"We are privileged to join forces with K hospital in organising this impactful scientific conference, firmly believing that the exchange of valuable experience and effective treatments shared through this forum will significantly contribute to improving the overall outcomes for cancer patients. Together, we can make a meaningful difference in advancing cancer care and transforming the lives of those affected by this disease," concluded Carrillo.

The joint conference on cancer immunotherapy therapies by Roche Pharma Vietnam and K Hospital served as a testament to their commitment to addressing the rise of cancer in Vietnam.

By fostering collaboration, sharing expertise, and exploring innovative treatment solutions, the event is expected to pave the way for improved patient care and better outcomes for individuals battling uHCC and lung cancer.

DKSH, Roche extend partnership in Vietnam DKSH Business Unit Healthcare, a market expansion services provider for companies seeking to grow their healthcare business, in June signed an extended agreement with Roche Vietnam to strengthen its business growth.

Roche Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City Oncological Hospital continue to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment capacity in Vietnam On March 25, Roche Pharma Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh City Oncological Hospital (UB) signed an MoU to improve the professional capacity of the medical staff at the hospital and strengthen cooperation with domestic and foreign oncology organisations and experts for the benefit of patients and the community.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) and Sanjaya Panth, Deputy Director of the IMFs Asia and Pacific Department at the meeting (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on June 29 received a delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headed by Sanjaya Panth, Deputy Director of the IMFs Asia and Pacific Department, who are on a working trip in Vietnam for Article IV consultation.

Expressing his satisfaction with the results of the cooperation between Vietnam and the IMF, PM Chinh stated that the Vietnamese Government always listens to and highly values the evaluation opinions and policy advice from the IMF. The report by the Article IV consultation team is one of the important sources of input information for the making and implementation of policies by the government, ministries and sectors.

The IMFs consultation and policy dialogue activities have supported the Vietnamese government in formulating stable and effective socio-economic development policies, especially during the COVID-19 crisis and the current global instability, PM Chinh said.

The IMF delegation congratulated the country on its positive economic and social achievements, particularly after the pandemic.

They noted that global growth prospects are relatively weak, but the Asian region, including Vietnam, sees more favourable ones and can serve as a global growth driver. The Vietnamese economy is expected to grow better in the last months of 2023 and this growth momentum is likely to be sustained and bolstered in the coming years.

The government leader expressed the desire for the IMF to continue providing competent Vietnamese agencies with training programmes and technical support in economic, financial, and monetary management, and statistics.

He proposed that the team and IMF Resident Representative Office in Vietnam further enhance policy advisory activities for the Vietnamese government and agencies. The PM also expressed his hope and confidence that the already good relationship between the sides will be increasingly consolidated and strengthened and that the IMF will continue to accompany Vietnam in its future development process.

Under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country's economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board.

Vietnamese, RoK leaders attend Vietnam-RoK business forum Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Yoon Suk Yeol attended the Vietnam-RoK Business Forum in Hanoi on June 23, with over 500 delegates representing associations, corporations and businesses of the two countries taking part.

PM meets Vietnamese community in China Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met representatives of Vietnams representative offices and the Vietnamese community in China on June 25 afternoon, within the framework of his official visit to China and his attendance at the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The scene of the landslide, where rescue operations are underway. Two people were killed and two houses have been completely buried. - VNA/VNS Photo Chu Quoc Hung

Da Lat - Two people were killed in a landslide that hit Da Lat City, Lam Dong Province, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The two victims were a husband and wife who migrated from Phu Yen Province to work in construction.

As of early Thursday afternoon, rescue work was ongoing to recover the body of the female victim.

The landslide occurred after a nearby concrete embankment broke in heavy rain, causing four homes to be buried. Two houses were completely destroyed, while two others are partly buried by the soil, with one at high risk of collapse.

According to initial information, the incident occurred around 2.30am.

Phan Thi Huynh, 70, living in an alley right next to the landslide area, said a loud noise woke her up.

Other residents rushed out and found several houses buried under soil and rocks.

Huynh's daughter, Vo Thi Linh Phuc, immediately called the Rescue Team and the People's Committee of Ward 10 for help. Rescue workers arrived shortly after, broke through the wall and took victims to the hospital.

Five people have been rescued from a house by the local Fire and Rescue Police Department, and were taken for emergency treatment at Lam Dong General Hospital.

Leaders of the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee and the Da Lat City People's Committee were present on-site to lead the rescue operation.

The recent heavy rain also caused landslides in many other areas of the city.

In Ward 3, landslides have occurred on Dang Thai Than Street, Dong Da Street, Trieu Viet Vuong Street, An Binh Street, 3/4 Street, causing varying degrees of damage, including the collapse of three houses, one person injured, and fallen trees. A minor landslide occurred in Ward 5.

Talking about the causes of landslides that have taken place in many localities, including Lam Dong, experts said that due to heavy rain, water temporarily disintegrates the links of soil, rock, and roots of trees as well as vegetation.

Due to the construction activities, when there is extreme heavy rain, the water has no place to seep in, and will pour into the lowlands. The drainage system and streams will become overwhelmed and cause flooding, according to experts.

A majority of landslides are caused by human overexploitation of forests. Construction activities at the foot of the mountain can also affect landslides indirectly.

According to Head of the Weather Forecasting Department, National Center for Hydrometeorological Forecasting, Nguyen Van Huong, recently Lam Dong has experienced frequent rains leading to the soil and rock to be saturated with water.

Landslides can happen at any time regardless of day or night, he said.

When it occurs at night, there is no precaution, so the damage is often great, Huong said.

As part of the efforts to improve the quality of landslide warning bulletins, the centre will increase the application of artificial intelligence technology as well as develop an impact warning system and warn of risks caused by landslides, among many others.

On Thursday, the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control issued an official document, requesting relevant authorities to overcome the consequences of floods, flash floods and landslides in Lam Dong.

Accordingly, Lam Dong authorities were requested to urgently send forces to search for buried people, organise the relocation of people, and put up warning signs around the landslide area, as well as visit the victim's family.

They also must assess and determine the cause and extent of continued landslide (if any) as well as propose handling measures while supporting the restoration of houses, and helping affected people stabilise their lives.

The Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and Search and Rescue of Lam Dong were asked to closely monitor bulletins related to warning and forecast about heavy rains and risk of flash floods, landslides, as well as inform authorities and people to actively prevent and minimise damage.

Korean man dies after crashing into power pole in Da Lat resort city Police in the resort city of Da Lat in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on March 27 announced that a Korean tourist died on March 25 after his motorbike crashed into a roadside power pole.
Organised by GLP-SLP, a global business builder, owner, developer, and operator of logistics, real estate, data centres, renewable energy, and related technologies, the event addressed the growing market demand and expansion plans of customers.

According to Kent Yang, chairman of SLP Vietnam and a veteran of GLP China management, Vietnam is in the right place at the right time.

There are many synergetic opportunities that can be created between Vietnam, China, and other countries. We want to be impactful and actively engage, lead, and help the process, said Yang.

The event drew a large turnout from key logistics, industrial, manufacturing, and retail partners. With insights from industry experts, the event provided a unique platform to share Vietnam's advantages and opportunities as a business destination.

Attendees included representatives from COSCO, J&T, Pinduoduo, Best Logistics, China Post Group, UPS, CTS International Logistic, IKEA, and Good Farmer.

Many of these companies expressed keen interest in establishing or expanding their presence in Vietnam, recognising GLP-SLP as their trusted partner of choice. They recognise Vietnam has firmly established itself as an attractive destination for international business and foreign investment, with robust fundamentals, with the region's fastest-growing economy.

As businesses increasingly seek alternative investment options in Asia, Vietnam has emerged as an ideal choice due to its proximity to China. The country serves as an attractive alternative base for establishing manufacturing and logistics centres near traditional Chinese hubs, reducing costs and minimising supply chain disruptions.

With operations spanning 17 countries globally, GLP possesses a vast global network and expertise to build businesses and deliver solutions that create value for its partners. GLPs extensive experience, presence, and resources in China, coupled with SLP's local insights and operational excellence, positions SLP Vietnam as the one-stop partner and solution provider for investors and businesses looking to establish and thrive in Vietnam.

GLP-SLP has a long-term vision to grow with Vietnam and aims to be the bridge between influential investors and Vietnam.

In early 2022, SLP closed the $1.1 billion Vietnam Logistics Development Fund, one of the largest logistics development funds in Southeast Asia. SLP currently has nine projects in the greater Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh area, with a total buildable area of more than 900,000 square metres.

GLP launches $1.1-billion Vietnam Logistics Development Fund GLP, a global investment manager and business builder in logistics, data infrastructure, renewable energy, and related technologies, on January 22 officially announced the establishment of GLP Vietnam Development Partners I (GLP VDP I), with an investment capacity of $1.1 billion.

SLP and GLP focus on ESG integration SEA Logistic Partners (SLP) and its joint venture partner GLP have incorporated strict environmental, social, and governance criteria in their strategies and due diligence to ensure sustainable development across their operations in Vietnam.

SLP commences construction of its third project in Vietnam SLP has officially commenced construction of the first phase of the SLP Park Xuyen A in My Hanh Bac commune in Long An province's Duc Hoa district on February 24.
The PDP8 which was approved in mid-May for the first time has introduced a new generation source called flexible generation into the future capacity mix, starting with 300MW by 2030 and increasing significantly up to 46,200MW by 2050. This presents opportunities for Wartsila to tap into the trend of flexible generation in Vietnam.

Wartsila has actively promoted flexible ICEs in the Vietnam market

Since its inception in Vietnam in early 2000s, Wartsila has successfully built around 10 power plants running on internal combustion engines (ICEs) in Vietnam, supporting industrial customers with reliable electricity. When the first feed-in tariff (FiT) for solar was issued in 2017, the company foresaw that there will be a strong demand for a new source of flexible generation in the power system as the share of renewable energy increases in the future.

Already from 2018, Wartsila engaged with all the stakeholders in the industry, including policymakers and private sector to share their global experience in modelling power systems, to recommend a decarbonization roadmap, to raise the importance of adding flexible assets into the system, and to introduce the latest ICE technologies and solutions.

We are extremely glad to see that Vietnam has well recognised the importance of flexible generation in the PDP8 and the vital role that ICE as a flexible generation technology plays in supporting the country's energy transition," said Thanh Pham, a country manager of Wartsila.

Flexibility is critical for any power system with a high share of renewables. Flexible power plants running on ICEs are needed to balance the intermittency of renewables and ensure the system stability when there is no sun or wind for several hours and days. Currently, the North of Vietnam is experiencing a short-term challenge to meet its electricity demand, which could have a great impact on the economic growth of the region.

Wartsila has the track-record and proven solutions to respond to challenges like this. Over the last few years, we have built many modular ICE power plants in the nearby markets such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Cambodia on a fast-track basis to help alleviate the power shortage issue," Thanh added.

The multi-unit ICE power plants to provide operational flexibility to the power system

Vietnam is clearly the hotspot in the Southeast Asia region that has one of the highest electricity demand growths and also the fastest renewable energy penetration over the last five years. Asia is also a significant market for Wartsila as the company has installed about 2,200 power plants running on ICEs to provide fast electricity supply to meet the increasing demand and also balancing capacity to support the stability of the power systems.

Last October, Wartsila announced that the company would build a new 100MW gas power plant using 10 Wartsila 34SG ICEs in Japan. The fast-starting ICE engines will provide the grid balancing and peaking capabilities needed as Japan is aiming to increase its share of energy from renewable sources to 36-38 per cent by 2030.

The plant will participate in the new cross-regional balancing, which was launched in 2021 by the governmental authority to bridge the gap between electricity demand and supply. It will also replace a 100MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) that was formerly located on the project site.

Cost reductions possible with Wartsilas expertise The energy market landscape is in transition and moving towards more flexible systems with a rapidly increasing share of renewables, declining inflexible baseload generation, and wider applications of storage technology. Jaakko Eskola, president and CEO of Finlands Wartsila Corporation, told VIRs Phuong Thu on how it can assist the country in achieving its renewables goals.

Vietnam's smooth transition to net zero by 2050 Wartsila has revealed that renewable-based power systems, backed by grid balancing engines and energy storage, can enable Vietnam to reach net zero by mid-century whilst cutting the levelled cost of electricity (LCOE) by 20 per cent when taking into account future carbon taxes.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP)  A New Jersey political consultant who had two hitmen kill a colleague for $15,000 was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison on Thursday.

Sean Caddle, a 45-year-old former Democratic campaign consultant, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit murder-for-hire in the killing of Michael Galdieri, whose apartment was set on fire after he was fatally stabbed in 2014.

U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez sounded skeptical of Caddle's acceptance of any responsibility, saying it sounded as if he was trying to save his own skin by cooperating with prosecutors in a separate tax and wire fraud case that led to a guilty plea from a former top aide to the state Senate president.

This is one of the most unusual and certainly one of the most heinous crimes Ive encountered as a judge, Vazquez said.

Caddle, who had been out of prison on house arrest, was led away by U.S. Marshals after the hearing. He appeared before the judge in an untucked button-down shirt and khakis. He didn't speak, following the advice of his lawyer Edwin Jacobs, other than to tell the judge he wasn't going to comment.

Two of Galdieri's relatives, who declined to give their names, stood shoulder to shoulder in the courtroom as one read a statement from the family.

How could I effectively articulate the impact that it has on you, that your brother was murdered and his apartment set on fire? the woman said.

She described a feeling of complete stupidity and regret over crying in Caddle's arms after her brother's death. She said she thought at the time that he was a friend of their family.

The case captured attention when prosecutors announced Caddle's guilty plea in early 2022, apparently solving the mysterious death of Galdieri, the son of a former state senator, eight years earlier. Former Democratic state Sen. Raymond Lesniak, for whom Caddle worked for years, called it the most bizarre thing I've ever experienced in my life."

And this week, prosecutors finally revealed a motive for the hit: Caddle told prosecutors he wanted him dead because Galdieri was threatening to extort money from him in exchange for not exposing wrongdoing Galdieri claimed Caddle committed through his political consulting business. Just what the wrongdoing might have been or how much money Galdieri allegedly sought has not been made public.

Prosecutors got a lucky break when one of two ex-convicts who pleaded guilty to a 2014 Connecticut bank robbery told authorities  unprompted  that he had information about a murder that same year. George Bratsenis was later sentenced to 16 years and Bomani Africa to 20 years after they ultimately pleaded guilty to helping Caddle with the murder.

Bratsenis and Africa had met while in a New Jersey prison where Caddles now-deceased brother, James Caddle, also was serving time.

Bratsenis told authorities that he went to work for Caddle, who invited him to his Jersey City home for dinner in March or April of 2014. Caddle told him he was aware of his extensive criminal history and asked if he could find someone to commit murder for $15,000, Bratsenis said.

Caddle said he wanted Galdieri dead within a month and gave Bratsenis up to $4,000 upfront, according to prosecutors.

On May 22, 2014, the Bratsenis and Africa drove together to the apartment of Galdieri, who had been expecting Bratsensis because they had discussed robbing drug dealers together, authorities said.

Not long after letting the men in, Galdieri was fatally stabbed by both men and they doused his home in gasoline and set it on fire, according to authorities.

A day later, Bratsenis and Caddle met in the parking lot of a diner where Caddle paid him the remaining money. He didn't bring enough initially, however, and had to withdraw more from the bank account of his political consulting business, prosecutors said.

Interviewed about Galdieris death that same day, Caddle told prosecutors about Galdieri's drug use but did not disclose his role in the killing, they said.

Prosecutor Lee Cortes, speaking in court Thursday, described Caddle's assistance was useful and significant, but the severity of his crime couldn't be overlooked.

Caddle had a lifelong friend murdered in cold blood. Thats one of the most serious crimes that can be admitted, he said.

A prosecutors memo describes Caddle as cold-hearted and says he even attended the repast after Galdieris funeral.

Prosecutors sought a 15-year sentence even though life in prison is the minimum for conspiracy to commit a murder-for-hire that results in a death. Some of the sentencing memo was redacted, but prosecutors noted that Caddles history didnt include other violent crimes and said he cooperated with investigators.

It became clear in court Thursday that Caddle's cooperation helped lead to a guilty plea in November, when a former top aide to the state Senate president admitted to tax and fraud charges related to political consulting he did with Caddle. By inflating political invoices, the former aide made $107,800 and failed to pay taxes, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors described how Caddle had numerous meetings with them and handed over documents and recordings, without which charges in that case would have been difficult to bring.

They also said, recommending that he be sent straight to detention after the sentence, that his time of cooperation had reached a conclusion.

The family member who stood alongside Galdieri's sister said he was pleased at the sentence, flashing a thumbs up when asked for his reaction.

Im just happy theres a justice system today and not a legal system, he said.
gettyimagesbank



US, France, Taiwan and Canada reel from foreign intervention in their elections, and what makes you think Korea will be an exception? Experts ask



This is the first in a two-part series highlighting election and cyberattacks as the nation will hold National Assembly elections in April next yearED.



By Kang Hyun-kyung



It all began with an anonymous whistleblower who uploaded a statement titled, "A Korean Chinese Tells the Truth," in an online chatroom on March 1, 2020, six weeks before the 2020 National Assembly elections.



Identifying himself as a Korean Chinese living in South Korea, the author claimed that like fellow Chinese keyboard warriors also known as "daetgeul budae" in Korean, he uploaded misinformation and fake news on several different internet websites in return for payment to influence public opinion in favor of China.



He accused China of having interfered in Korean elections held both at the national and local levels for many years through an internet opinion manipulation group consisting mostly of Han Chinese students studying in South Korea. He also claimed that China aims to put South Korea under its control to fulfill its ultimate goal of surpassing the United States as the world's No. 1 economy.



His testimony went viral on the internet, infuriating South Koreans.



In response, South Korean bloggers, social media users and other internet users teamed up on a fact-finding mission in an effort to verify what he had said was true. If it turned out to be true, they vowed to hunt down the Chinese.



As part of their cyber operations, some South Koreans shared comments containing hate speech about Chinese in several different online communities. The comments included a link, explaining it would usher them to a presidential petition calling for an end to hate speech and discrimination against Chinese and urging them to sign up to make their voices heard.



The link was fake. Instead, it led to an anti-China website, not the presidential petition site as was claimed.



Hours later, several online comments written in broken Korean were uploaded onto the websites. One of them read, "Na-neun gae-in-iyo," or "I'm an individual" in English.



South Korean internet users claimed those comments in broken Korean were concrete evidence proving that the authors were Chinese posing as South Koreans and had uploaded misinformation and fake news on social media and internet communities to manipulate public opinion in favor of a pro-China political party and their candidates, ahead of the April 15 National Assembly elections.



The online comment, "I'm an individual," topped the most searched phrase list on the nation's largest internet portal, Naver, at the time. Young internet-savvy South Koreans launched another operation to raise awareness of China's alleged interference in South Korean elections.





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Lee Ji-yong, a professor of Chinese Literature at Keimyung University in the southeastern city of Daegu, said China has approximately 30 million "paid online commentators" responsible for spreading propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on the internet.



About half of them depend on the job for a living, according to Lee.



The Chinese online workers are called "Wumao" or the "50 Cent Army" as they get 0.50 Chinese renminbi for every post.



In South Korea, Lee claimed that Korean Chinese were mobilized to do that work.



About 700,000 Korean Chinese currently reside in South Korea mostly for work. The actual number will be much higher if undocumented Korean Chinese are included.



Lee warned of China's and other state actors' meddling in South Korean elections, stressing that the National Assembly elections to be held in April next year could be their target.



"China and North Korea are the two almost certain countries that will interfere in next year's elections," he said with confidence during a recent phone interview with The Korea Times. "I have no doubt that they will interfere in the elections to influence vote outcomes in their favor."



He said the Yoon Suk Yeol government would have already become a target as the South Korean president, who took office on May 10, 2022, has reiterated a stalwart position to strengthen the South Korea-U.S. alliance amid an intensified U.S.-China rivalry.



The ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on June 8 agreed to launch an inquiry into North Korea's recent cyberattacks on the National Election Commission and nepotism allegations that rocked the election board. But the two parties have yet to reach an agreement on when to start the investigation.



Chinese foreign interference in elections poses a grave threat to several different countries, particularly in the West.



Canada is the latest country reeling from the fallout of allegations that China meddled in Canadian federal elections held in 2019 and 2021 following a flurry of related media reports based on intelligence documents.



In February, The Globe and Mail detailed how China interfered in those elections based on "secret and top-secret reports" produced by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and shared by senior government officials.



Appearing on a podcast on Feb. 27, Robert Fife, one of the two journalists who broke the exclusive story, said the CSIS documents that he viewed raised concerns about China's election interference and the targeting of Canadians through "hacking, bribery and sexual seduction."



He said the CSIS documents are secret briefs about Chinese interference operations in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections held in Canada, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals won.



Fife added that the documents have been shared with the Five Eyes intelligence allies. The five allies of the intelligence alliance he referred to are the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada.



The Canadian journalist said the CSIS also shared the intelligence reports with France and Germany.



"I think this is largely because they are having similar problems with the Chinese interference operations in their countries and also in the electoral process," he said.



A Russian military hacker group launched a complex cyberattack on Emmanuel Macron's presidential campaign in 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice said in October 2020.



Trudeau said China attempted to meddle in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections, but its operations were unsuccessful and did not affect the election outcomes.



China denied the allegation.





Election workers count votes cast to elect lawmakers during the April 15 National Assembly elections in the tabulation center in Seoul's western district of Yeongdeungpo on April 15, 2020. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul



Cybersecurity expert Choi Sang-myung, also known as Simon Choi, said South Korea is exposed to increasing risks of cyberattacks, particularly from North Korea, as the totalitarian country ratcheted up efforts for various malware and phishing attacks this year. ?



"We've experienced a lot of cyberattacks from North Korea this year alone. We were told that the North operates a phishing site, which looks like Naver, to steal the personal data of people who visit the site. Media outlets, government agencies and other institutions have been under attack from the North," he told The Korea Times.



"Their malware and phishing attacks are indiscriminate and deliberate. In the past, they targeted a limited number of people, mostly those who are in government. But these days they hack almost every Korean and Korean institution, so it's fair to say almost every South Korean is subject to cyberattacks from North Korea."



Choi, the founder of IssueMakersLab, an online group consisting of malware experts that successfully tracked the entire 7.7 DDoS attack by North Korea in 2009, explained the damaging consequences South Korea could face in the event North Korea deliberately uses the stolen information.



"The North Korean hackers can use that information to log on to South Koreans' email accounts and leave comments in internet communities, pretending to be South Koreans. With that information, they can also launch more active operations to influence South Korean voters in choosing candidates. They can run their own blogs and upload writings," he said. ?



With the stolen data, he said the North could manipulate public opinion in its favor to affect the elections.



State actors launch covert operations to influence the election outcomes of other countries in their favor. Considering this, Choi said Russia is another country that may attempt to meddle in the 2024 National Assembly elections.



South Korea's relations with Russia have deteriorated since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. South Korea sided with U.S. and its allies to support Ukraine.



Russia intervened in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by disrupting public opinion and spreading misinformation about then-Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. It also hacked election boards and companies that provided election-related machines and their software to tamper with election outcomes.



The Russian military hacker group also hacked hundreds of computers used during the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The international intelligence community said the Russian hacking operation was in retaliation against the International Olympic Committee, which banned Team Russia from competing in the Winter Olympics due to doping violations.



Russia used a "false-flag" tactic to make it look like North Korea was behind the hacking attack.



Russia denied the allegation.




ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  A search for a stolen Albuquerque food truck led to the discovery of a stolen vehicles cache in a neighboring county, including other food trucks and a trailer with a hot air balloon, according to authorities.

James Nance, a Socorro County Sheriffs Office spokesperson, said a 64-year-old man found living at a chop shop in a stolen camper trailer, was arrested after deputies found seven vehicles previously reported stolen. Chop shops are places where stolen vehicles are stripped down for their parts.

The search also turned up a trailer with a hot air balloon that was reported missing in May in Albuquerque.

Officials in Socorro County told news outlets Thursday that someone reported seeing the missing La Riva's New Mexican Food food truck in a rural area north of Albuquerque.

Some of the food trucks discovered belonged to people in Albuquerque, Belen and Rio Rancho and were stripped for parts.

Troy Bradley, a pilot with the Rainbow Ryders, told KOB-TV that the balloon had flown in last month's Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta before it was taken.

Officials said it is likely the man was not acting alone, but did not disclose any other details.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP)  Two men were killed in separate late night confrontations with Florida law enforcement officers following traffic stops.

In Tampa, police responded to a report of a shot fired in a nightclub parking lot. When they stopped a vehicle matching the description of one that had left the scene, a 42-year-old male passenger fired multiple rounds at the officers. The officers returned fire, killing him. The 37-year-old female driver was not injured. Neither officer was injured in the exchange of gunfire, Deputy Police Chief Calvin Johnson said during a news conference.

Police did not release the names of the man who was killed or the woman who drove the vehicle.

In nearby Polk County, another traffic stop resulted in deputies fatally shooting a man during a traffic stop late Thursday.

Sheriff Grady Judd said the incident began in neighboring Highlands County, as deputies there began pursuing a car that ran a stop sign.

As they approached Polk County, they were preparing to stop the pursuit since it was only for a traffic infraction, Judd said. But they got a 911 call from a woman who said she was inside the vehicle.

They continued another 11 miles (about 18 kilometers) until the car stopped. Deputies and a SWAT team began negotiations with 37-year-old passenger Raymond Martinez, who was smoking meth as he talked to deputies, Judd said.

Martinez told them he had two handguns and that a baby and a woman were inside the car. Deputies later learned that there was not a baby in the vehicle, the sheriff said during a news conference. Martinez asked for water and negotiators asked if he would let the woman and baby go in exchange for a drink.

He said no, but agreed give up a magazine full of ammunition and one of the two handguns he claimed to have, the sheriff said. He finally agreed to let the woman go get the bottle of water.

When she got out of the car, deputies rushed in and grabbed her. Martinez tried to drive the car away but tires got stuck and he started shooting. He hit Polk County Deputy Samuel Yates in the shoulder. The deputy is going to recover, Judd said.

It was a heck of a shootout for a few minutes, Judd said.

The woman were not injured. Martinez died at the scene.

A task force will investigate the shooting in Polk County, Judd said.

The Tampa officers involved in the other shooting will be placed on routine administrative leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates.

This story has been corrected with the sheriff saying that the suspect led deputies to believe a baby was also inside the car. There was not a baby in the car.
Waco colleges say the Supreme Courts ruling to strike down affirmative action in college admissions will not affect their policies directly. However, officials say affirmative action, while not race-based, will continue to exist, and the absence of race-conscious consideration is bound to have negative effects on disadvantaged students.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 6-3 vote that Harvard University and the University of North Carolinas admissions policies violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The clause is meant to oust discrimination, calling for equal treatment of individuals regardless of their race, religion, gender and other characteristics.

The ruling reverses race-conscious tactics used by many universities to increase diversity on their campuses and years of Supreme Court findings that affirmative action, if deployed legally, is acceptable.

Affirmative was meant to ease disparities in in employment and education caused by the nations history of discrimination against minorities.

Waco NAACP President Peaches Henry said if discrimination did not exist and if qualified people of color were not denied access to jobs and education, affirmative action would not exist. As long as racism and discrimination continues, and as race continues to drive segregation in neighborhoods and schools, the idea that people can be indifferent to race is ludicrous, she said.

Affirmative action continues to exist because we cannot rely on colleges, universities, government agencies and employers to enact admissions or hiring policies that embrace diversity, equity and inclusion, she said.

Many opponents of affirmative action in schools believe admission should only be based on criteria relevant to an applicants qualifications, skills and academic merit. Some say admitting or preferring minority students based on their race is discriminatory in itself, and could disadvantage white students.

In 1996, a case involving Cheryl Hopwood, a white woman, marked the first win for opponents of affirmative action, after she and three white men sued the University of Texas at Austin for their rejection from the law school. They claimed the schools racially segregated application system also violated the equal protections clause.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned a district court judges decision upholding race-conscious admissions and ruled state universities in the 5th Circuits jurisdiction could not consider race in admissions decisions.

The Texas Legislature later created the Top 10% Plan to mitigate the effects of the ruling against affirmative action, automatically admitting Texan students in the 10% of their high school graduating class to public state universities.

Court rulings in the years since have also upheld admissions systems that consider race as a factor alongside others indicators of background and measures of academic standing, unlike the system the University of Texas used in the 1990s that involved separate admissions pools.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the courts decision Thursday against affirmative action that both Harvards and the University of North Carolinas admission policies violated the Constitution because they lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereo- typing, and lack meaningful end points.

Though disappointing, the Supreme Courts decision on affirmative action is not surprising, Henry said.

Henry said the decision should not be seen in isolation, and rather as the latest installment in a long line of actions taken in the United States to roll back minority rights.

She also said affirmative action in education and employment is not merely racial and has existed for decades in forms that have historically benefitted white people, demonstrated through the favoritism of legacy students, students from families who are major donors and those who have other connections. College admissions will not suddenly be only merit-based, as these other forms of affirmative action continue to stand, she said.

This unstated notion that African Americans who are being admitted are inferior to other students, as though we are admitting students who are unqualified, thats not the case, she said.

Justice Clarence Thomas concurring opinion says while the 1866 (Civil Rights) Act used the rights of white citizens as a benchmark, its rule was decidedly colorblind, safeguarding legal equality for all citizens of every race and color and providing the same rights to all.

Henry argues that the notion that the country has ever been colorblind is disingenuous.

According to the Texas Tribune, the only Texas public university to be directly affected by the decision is the University of Texas at Austin, and several private schools in Texas will be affected.

Waco-area schools report no effect on their admissions policies, but the ruling stands in the way of opportunities for students who cannot control the background thy come from and may not fit the top 10% mold, said Claudette Jackson, accommodations and Title IX director at McLennan Community College.

Jackson said the decision will not affect MCCs open-admission policy, where students who apply and submit the proper paperwork will be accepted. However, the change could have more negative implications for disadvantaged and minority students seeking higher education without benefits, she said.

For MCC and other colleges that employ open admission, no, Jackson said. But for students seeking entrance into colleges and universities that would otherwise not be available to them because they are not a legacy, do not come from families who are donors, who received the best education that was available to them even if it does not reach the standard of another district just miles away, yes.

Jackson said although race is one way to promote diversity, if students know their administration is there for them and can relate to their same struggles, such as being a first-generation or low-income student, skin color may not be a limiting factor, and diversity in a population is built from many different experiences coming together.

There are so many other identities that can bring diversity, race just tends to be the most visible one and the one our society has grappled with the most, she said.

Baylor University said in a statement that the Supreme Courts decision will also not have an impact on its policies or practices, as it uses a holistic approach, incorporating student qualifications including grade point average, class rank, academic achievements, extracurricular activities, personal essays and letters of recommendation.

While race is not a factor in our admissions decisions, we remain committed to identifying, evaluating, admitting and retaining students who bring a variety of experiences and perspectives to the campus community, the university said in an email.

Henry said the African American community understands its never a one-and-done situation when it comes to rights. She said the NAACP will continue to always stand ready to fight for their rights, and part of the defense will be teaching others that how they vote influences those in power to make these decisions.
A Waco man returned to jail Wednesday after the jury hearing his burglary with intent to commit sexual assault trial remained split, five to seven, after 5 hours of deliberation.
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man is facing up to life in prison after a federal jury found him guilty of methamphetamine charges following trial this week.

Jurors found Jeffery Turner, 48, guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and two counts of distribution of methamphetamine. The verdict was came Wednesday following three days of testimony and an hour and a half of deliberations.

According to prosecutors, Turner sold meth out of his home and worked with others who helped him get ice methamphetamine from various sources of supply in Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and California. Law enforcement also bought methamphetamine from Turner in two controlled buys.

Turner remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment, a $10 million fine, and a lifetime of supervised release following any imprisonment.
LONDON  Prince Harry's lawyer put a price tag Friday on the prince's lawsuit accusing the publisher of the Daily Mirror of hacking his phone and using other unlawful means to dig up dirt on the early years of his royal life: $406,000.

The Duke of Sussexs lawyer submitted the proposed legal award at the conclusion of courtroom proceedings in the first of Harry's cases against the British tabloid press to go to trial.

Attorney David Sherborne said in closing arguments this week that there was hard evidence Mirror Group Newspapers employed journalists who eavesdropped on voicemails and hired private investigators to use deception and unlawful means to learn about Harry and other celebrities.

"These methods were the tried and tested tools of the tabloid trade, Sherborne said.

Mirror Group Newspapers, which has paid more than $127 million in other phone hacking lawsuits over the years, denies any wrongdoing in Harry's case. It says it used legitimate reporting methods to get information on the prince.

Andrew Green, a lawyer for the publishing company, said the evidence at trial didnt support the prince's claims and that the allegations unfairly tarnished the reputation of Mirror journalists.

Justice Timothy Fancourt plans to issue a verdict later in the year.

The trial against the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People is one of three hacking lawsuits Harry brought. The publishers of the Daily Mail and The Sun have sought to get the cases against them tossed out, arguing they were submitted after a time limit to file suit expired.

Harry's grudge with the news media is personal and runs through his memoir, Spare. He blames paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana, and he said intrusions by journalists led him and his wife, Meghan, to leave royal life for the U.S. in 2020.

Reforming the British media is one of his stated missions in life.

In taking the newspapers to court, Harry broke with a royal family tradition of never complain, never explain," and he said his legal actions went against the wishes of his father, King Charles III. He was the first senior member of the royal family to testify in court in more than 130 years.

I believe that phone hacking was at an industrial scale across at least three of the papers at the time, he asserted in the final of his two days testifying in the High Court. That is beyond any doubt.

Green, however, punched holes in Harry's testimony, pointing out multiple examples of when information reported by the Mirror had previously appeared elsewhere or come from official sources  including an interview with the prince himself.

Harry alleged that Mirror used unlawful means to produce nearly 150 stories on his life between 1996 and 2010, including about his romances, injuries and alleged drug use. He said the reporting had caused him great emotional distress.

The trial focused on 33 articles. Mirror denied using unlawful reporting methods for 28 and made no admission in the remaining five.

Harry is seeking the most money  $31,750  for a December 2003 story in Sunday People that detailed a disagreement with his older brother, Prince William, about whether to confront their mother's former butler for penning a tell-all book about her.

Mirror Group said it relied on a confidential source for the article and there was no phone hacking evidence.

If the judge finds some or all of the articles resulted from unlawful acts, Mirror suggested a potential award of $46,990, Sherborne said.

Mirror Group apologized unreservedly for one instance where it hired a private investigator for a story about Harry partying at a nightclub in February 2004. Although the article, headlined Sex on the beach with Harry, wasn't among those examined at trial, Mirror Group said he should be compensated $635.

Photos: William and Harry through the years
The secret door to Kyochon F&B's newly opened flagship store, Kyochon Pilbang, in central Seoul's Yongsan District / Courtesy of Kyochon F&B





By Kim Jae-heun





Local fried chicken franchises are opening unconventional flagship stores to attract young customers and foreign tourists amid falling demand for online food delivery services, company officials said Thursday.





Kyochon F&B, operator of Kyochon Chicken, opened its flagship store, Kyochon Pilbang, in central Seoul's Yongsan District on June 8. It has a speakeasy bar concept with a traditional Korean interior design aesthetic that reflects current dining trends popular among young people.





"We introduced Kyochon Pilbang to show a new side of our brand to millennials and Generation Z customers. Since we are a franchise operating company, we have always needed to promote our brand," a Kyochon F&B official said. "We also want to make it into a new tourist attraction for foreigners, who love Korean-style fried chicken."







The flagship restaurant offers premium foods that are slightly more expensive than its existing dishes. Its prices range from 26,000 won ($19.75) to 39,000 won. The store also created a private room for customers to enjoy Omakase-style fried chicken for 59,000 won per person.







People eat at Goobne Play Town in western Seoul's Mapo District, Monday. Korea Times file





Goobne, operated by GN Food, has decided to target young customers with a cost-effective menu at its newly opened flagship store Goobne Play Town in western Seoul's Mapo District on June 15.







The menu has an exclusive item called Goobne Roasted Chicken, which is sold for only 9,900 won. It is relatively cheap compared to the average prices of local fried chicken franchises, which are set at nearly 20,000 won nowadays. It also has a "happy hour" discount for limited items during certain times, on a daily basis.







Another prominent characteristic of Goobne Play Town is that it has space for musicians and dancers to perform and entertain.







The four-story building has a to-go special shop on the first floor and a playground on the second. The third floor has media art and photo zones and the fourth has a creative studio for people to enjoy various exhibitions.







"We aim to create various cultural contents at Play Town while developing it into a community space where anybody can come and enjoy," a GN Food official said.







The menu of Genesis BBQ's flagship store, BBQ Village, located in southeastern Seoul's Songpa District, has over items including not only fried chicken but also pasta, pizza, baked goods and caffeine beverages.







The restaurant stays open until 2 a.m. so that its customers can show up late and still have the option to eat a variety of foods.







Its average daily sales already increased more than 40 percent compared to when it first opened last December, and it usually sees lineups of 100 people waiting to get in on weekends.







"We have many foreign tourists visiting our flagship store after they shop at nearby Lotte World. Our BBQ Village in Songpa District is big enough to take 40 to 50 customers at once, which is its strength in holding large groups of tourists," a Genesis BBQ official said.


WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court has sent shockwaves through higher education with a landmark decision that struck down affirmative action and left colleges across the nation searching for new ways to promote student diversity.

Leaders of scores of universities said Thursday that they were disappointed by what they see as a blow to diversity. Yet many also voiced optimism that they would find new ways to admit more Black and Hispanic students, despite evidence that eliminating the practice often leads to steep enrollment decreases among them.

President Joe Biden said he disagreed with the decision and asked the Education Department to explore policies that could help colleges build diverse student bodies. He also pushed against policies like legacy preferences  admissions boosts given to the children of alumni  that tend to help white, wealthy students.

"We should never allow the country to walk away from the dream upon which it was founded," Biden told reporters. "We need a new path forward, a path consistent with the law that protects diversity and expands opportunity."

Yet evidence from states that previously outlawed affirmative action show it will be a daunting challenge.

As an alternative to affirmative action, colleges from California to Florida have tried a range of strategies to achieve the diversity they say is essential to their campuses. Many have given greater preference to low-income families. Others started admitting top students from every community in their state.

But years of experimentation  often prompted by state-level bans on considering race in admissions  left no clear solution. In states requiring race-neutral policies, many colleges saw enrollment drops among Black and Hispanic students, especially at selective colleges that historically have been mostly white.

At Amherst College, officials had estimated going entirely race-neutral would reduce Black, Hispanic and Indigenous populations by half.

"We fully expect it would be a significant decrease in our population," said Matthew McGann, Amherst's director of admission, earlier this year.

Facing a conservative Supreme Court that appeared skeptical from the start, colleges have been preparing for a rollback. Some were considering adding more essays to get a better picture of an applicant's background, a strategy invited in Thursday's Supreme Court ruling.

"Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant's discussion of how race affected the applicant's life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court's conservative majority.

Other colleges were planning to boost recruiting in racially diverse areas, or admit more transfer students from community colleges.

The court took up affirmative action in response to challenges at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. Lower courts upheld admission systems at both schools, rejecting claims that the schools discriminated against white and Asian American applicants. But at Supreme Court arguments in late October, all six conservative justices expressed doubts about the practice, which had been upheld under Supreme Court decisions reaching back to 1978, and as recently as 2016.

Nine states already have banned affirmative action, starting with California in 1996 and, most recently, Idaho in 2020.

After Michigan voters rejected it in 2006, the University of Michigan shifted attention to low-income students.

It sent graduates to work as counselors in low-income high schools. It started offering college prep in Detroit and Grand Rapids. It offered full scholarships for low-income Michigan residents. More recently, it started accepting fewer early admission applications, which are more likely to come from white students.

Despite those efforts, the share of Black and Hispanic undergraduates hasn't fully rebounded from a falloff after 2006. And while Hispanic enrollments have been increasing, Black enrollments continued to slide, going from 8% of undergraduates in 2006 to 4% now.

The campus is drawing more low-income students, but that hasn't translated to racial diversity, said Erica Sanders, director of undergraduate admissions at Michigan.

"Socioeconomic status is not a proxy for race," Sanders said.

At the same time, some of Michigan's less selective colleges have fared better. At nearby Eastern Michigan University, the number of students of color increased, reflecting demographic shifts in the state. It illustrates what experts say is a chilling effect seen most acutely at selective colleges  students of color see fewer of their peers at places like Ann Arbor, prompting them to choose campuses that appear more welcoming.

Growing up in Ann Arbor, there was an expectation that Odia Kaba would attend the University of Michigan. When her application was deferred, she started at Eastern Michigan with plans to transfer to Ann Arbor her sophomore year.

By then, Kaba was getting daily texts from her sister, who attended U-M, describing the microaggressions she faced as a Black student on campus. Rooms went silent when she walked in. She was ignored in group projects. She felt alone and suffocated.

"Why would I go to U of M?" Kaba, 22, remembers thinking. "I'm just going to be stuck with people that don't look like me, can't relate to me, and with no way to escape it."

Kaba stayed at Eastern Michigan and graduated with a degree in quantitative economics this year. Even though it's a mostly white campus, Kaba said she found pockets of diversity that helped make her comfortable.

The University of California also saw enrollment slides after a statewide ban in 1996. Within two years, Black and Hispanic enrollments fell by half at the system's two most selective campuses, Berkeley and UCLA. The system would go on to spend more than $500 million on programs aimed at low-income and first-generation college students.

History of affirmative action in higher education History of affirmative action in higher education 1946: 85% of Black college students attended poorly funded Black schools 1961: JFK signs an executive using the phrase affirmative action for the first time in its modern context Late 1960s: Civil Rights Movement prompts elite universities to prioritize greater diversity in admissions 1972: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act amended to include educational institutions 1978: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 1996: California and Texas ban affirmative action in college admissions 2003: Grutter v. Bollinger 2016: Fisher v. University of Texas 2022: Supreme Court hears Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard History of affirmative action in higher education 1946: 85% of Black college students attended poorly funded Black schools 1961: JFK signs an executive using the phrase affirmative action for the first time in its modern context Late 1960s: Civil Rights Movement prompts elite universities to prioritize greater diversity in admissions 1972: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act amended to include educational institutions 1978: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 1996: California and Texas ban affirmative action in college admissions 2003: Grutter v. Bollinger 2016: Fisher v. University of Texas 2022: Supreme Court hears Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard
To make up for missed deadlines by the state, Iowa Auditor Rob Sands office for the first time has churned out single audit reports for each of Iowas public universities to spare them from threats of federal sanctions and to assure they comply with financial reporting mandates.

In a May 23 letter to the U.S. Department of Education, Sands office committed to doing the single-audit reports  and to keep doing them annually for each university going forward  to avoid future delinquencies or concerns about delayed reporting.

Because we do not anticipate the Department of Administrative Services, State of Iowa to be able to complete the (annual comprehensive financial report) in a timely manner to permit issuance of a statewide single audit by the March 31 deadline, we have agreed with the universities to prepare individual single audit reports in future years, Deputy Auditor Ernest Ruben wrote to the federal government. We have every expectation those reports will be issued as required.

The problem, as first reported by Laura Belin with the Bleeding Heartland blog, is tied to the Department of Administrative Services responsibility to prepare financial documents and a draft of the annual comprehensive financial report.

Typically, the state submits that information and a draft report to the auditors office for an independent audit, allowing the auditor to complete his work on the recently-wrapped budget years annual report by Dec. 31. The auditors office then issues an internal control letter within 60 days and a statewide single audit by the federal deadline of March 31.

The chain of events is important, according to Sands office, as his statewide single audit report cant happen until the annual report is finished.

But given turnover within the Department of Administrative Services, the steep learning curve for new employees, new human resources software and the complicated nature of preparing the states financial statements, a data delay began months ago.

While the (generally accepted accounting principles) team has been working to complete these items, their progress must significantly improve or the state risks significant delays in receiving federal funds, according to a March 2 letter from the auditors office to state Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen. Such delays could have serious consequences.

Go-round

In May, the U.S. Department of Education notified Iowas public universities that failing to submit compliance and financial audits on time might jeopardize some of the institutions certifications and result in additional monitoring for a minimum of five years, according to the auditors office.

As a go-round, the auditor got to work on the single university audit reports  completed and filed this week.

In a statement, Board of Regents spokesman Josh Lehman said, We look forward to working with the auditor on the timely completion of individual single audits going forward, and anticipate compliance with federal regulations.

Sand, Iowas only Democrat elected statewide, in a statement levied criticism at state Republican leadership for the delays.

Despite billions of dollars in surplus, the governor and Republican legislative majorities responsible for your tax dollars have for years undervalued their own financial management team that prepares the material that we review for required audits, he said. The bottom line is we cannot audit what we have not been provided.

In a statement, Department of Administrative Services spokeswoman Tami Wiencek said, The ACFR is being finalized and will be delivered to the Auditor's Office in mid-July for its review. DAS is reviewing the process of compiling the report to ensure its timeliness going forward."

The governors office declined to comment, but noted Gov. Kim Reynolds received the highest grade for fiscal responsibility among the nations governors in a report issued last year by the conservative group the Cato Institute.

Delays arent new

Although the state auditor hasnt before filed single audit reports for the universities to account for statewide financial reporting delays, Sand said the delays arent new.

In 2020, according to the auditors office, delay of the states single audit caused significant concern for state agencies and universities, who were on the cusp of federal agencies withholding federal dollars due to the delay in issuance.

Last year, because of the pandemic, federal officials offered an automatic extension through Sept. 30, 2022 to file the states single audit.

No such extension is available this year, according to the auditors office.

The auditors office did not find "instances of non-compliance or material weaknesses related to major programs on any of the three state campuses.

According to the audits:

The University of Iowa spent about $699.4 million in federal funds in the 2022 budget year, up $62.5 million or 10 percent over the previous year. Funding tied to pandemic-related supports like the American Rescue Plan Act accounted for $89.7 million, an increase of $21 million.

The University of Northern Iowa spent about $68.8 million in federal funds in the last budget year, a decrease of about $14.3 million or 17 percent from the prior year. Funding tied to the pandemic accounted for about $13.6 million, down $9 million from the previous year.

Iowa State University spent about $420.1 million in federal funds, up $51.8 million or 14 percent over the previous year. Pandemic-related funding accounted for $82.5 million, which was up $46.5 million over the prior year.

Photos: St. Ambrose University Commencement Saturday at Vibrant Arena at The MARK 052023-qc-nws-sau-603 052023-qc-nws-sau-608 052023-qc-nws-sau-604 052023-qc-nws-sau-607 052023-qc-nws-sau-606 052023-qc-nws-sau-605 052023-qc-nws-sau-609 052023-qc-nws-sau-630 052023-qc-nws-sau-614 052023-qc-nws-sau-617 052023-qc-nws-sau-611 052023-qc-nws-sau-631 052023-qc-nws-sau-087a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-626 052023-qc-nws-sau-636 052023-qc-nws-sau-618 052023-qc-nws-sau-014a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-124a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-627 052023-qc-nws-sau-612 052023-qc-nws-sau-629 052023-qc-nws-sau-637 052023-qc-nws-sau-633 052023-qc-nws-sau-621 052023-qc-nws-sau-119a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-638 052023-qc-nws-sau-622 052023-qc-nws-sau-615 052023-qc-nws-sau-624 052023-qc-nws-sau-619 052023-qc-nws-sau-610 052023-qc-nws-sau-620 052023-qc-nws-sau-623 052023-qc-nws-sau-063a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-632 052023-qc-nws-sau-616 052023-qc-nws-sau-097.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-661 052023-qc-nws-sau-044a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-074a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-144a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-665 052023-qc-nws-sau-668 052023-qc-nws-sau-664 052023-qc-nws-sau-672 052023-qc-nws-sau-669 052023-qc-nws-sau-662 052023-qc-nws-sau-663 052023-qc-nws-sau-658 052023-qc-nws-sau-159a.JPG 052023-qc-nws-sau-670 052023-qc-nws-sau-137a.JPG
CEDAR RAPIDS  As drifting smoke from ongoing wildfires across Canada create curtains of haze causing unhealthy air quality throughout Iowa and the Midwest, environmental activists and Democratic lawmakers worry local efforts to regulate and improve air quality could be at risk under a new state law.

Weve had ozone problems the last two days, and if we have special problems causing ongoing concerns, and then you have external issue like the Canadian wildfires, it may make sense for local communities to say to their local industries, Hey, lets do something different so as not to not exacerbate, or add to, impaired air quality, Pam Mackey-Taylor, director of the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, said Wednesday.

A provision in a budget bill passed by lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds that takes effect Saturday repeals a portion of Iowa Code that allows counties air pollution control regulations to be more strict than those of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Senate File 558 provides funding to the Iowa DNR and the state Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The budget bill removes language that allowed local communities to have ordinances, rules and standards more strict than rules and standards adopted by the state. Lawmakers, in the same budget bill, also restricted funding for water quality monitoring and open space maintenance.

The change could affect local efforts in Linn and Polk counties to improve air quality. They are the only two counties in Iowa that have been given delegation by the Iowa DNR to conduct air pollution programs in their jurisdictions. The local programs are focused on air quality monitoring, permitting and enforcement of emission limits.

Linn County has operated an air quality program since the 1960s, which predated the Iowa DNR. We were commissioned by the- (now-defunct) State of Iowa Department of Environmental Quality in August of 1974, said Wanda Reiter Kintz, air quality branch manger with the Linn County Public Health.

The Air Quality Branch operates a network of air monitors throughout Linn County. The monitors continuously measure pollutants in the outdoor air to track pollution trends over time, show whether outdoor air meets federal air quality standards and help county officials determine if the air is healthy to breathe.

The branch also conducts permitting and compliance checks of county businesses and industries and construction operations, and issues fines for violations. County officials also regulate and issue permits and fines for violations of open and agricultural burning.

Kintz said county officials still are assessing how the new law will affect the countys air quality program. She said county officials plan to meet with Iowa DNR representatives in August to discuss the new law and Linn Countys operations.

However, Kintz said county officials are concerned the change could restrict some of its permitting and enforcement activities.

For example, like the Iowa DNR, Linn County reviews and approves preconstruction air permitting in Iowa. New facilities must be designed to meet emissions standards and not result in a violation of ambient air quality standards. Facilities meeting state and federal requirements are issued construction permits, which also include operating requirements to assure continued compliance. That includes the use of generators, where the state may not have regulations.

Like the state, Linn County also regulates the open burning of yard waste, garbage and debris, but imposes fines for first, second and subsequent violations that are not spelled out in state law.

It could affect our ability to issue certain permits and conduct investigations and enforcement activities, which ultimately could affect our air quality here in Linn County, Kintz said. We want to improve and make sure the air quality is acceptable for everyone, including those with respiratory ailments like asthma and COPD so they can breathe clean air as well. Thats the whole impetus behind these regulations.

State Rep. Norlin Mommsen, a Republican from DeWitt who floor managed the bill in the Iowa House, said the change arose from a desire to create uniformity across the state in how air quality regulations are handled. He compared it with previous legislation signed into law in the state that prevents cities and counties from enacting a ban on lightweight plastic shopping bags, and preventing cities and counties from enacting local minimum wage hikes that exceed the statewide minimum wage.

Mommsen said the issue arose when a manufacturer moved from a neighboring county into Polk County and began building a new facility, only to find out after construction began that Polk County had more stringent air quality standards. Mommsen said he could not recall the name of the business or the particulars of issues that arose over construction of the facility, other than issues were eventually resolved.

A Polk County air quality official could not be reached for comment.

Mommsen also disputed possible concerns that the change to Iowa Code would prevent Linn County from continuing to issue fines for violations of open burning.

I think they should still be able to do that, he told The Gazette. Were trying to create consistency for the business world across the state. Its as simple as that.

Local Linn County Democrats, including Reps. Art Staed and Sami Scheetz, objected to the provision.

It effectively prevents them from (enforcing) many ordinances in references to fires and open burning in the county outside of the Cedar Rapids area, Staed asserted. They couldnt restrict burning  particularly when there is air quality issues such as with the current smoke from the Canadian wildfires wafting over Eastern Iowa.

Air quality in Cedar Rapids deteriorated from moderate to unhealthy in recent days, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys Fire and Smoke Map.

If they dont feel the DNR policies are strict enough, then we need to look at the state as a whole for all Iowans, Mommsen said.

Mackey-Taylor, with the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, argues a one-size-fits-all approach hinders cities and counties from being able to respond to their unique needs and circumstances in their communities to address air quality issues.

The collection of businesses and industries may be different, requiring different responses and solutions, Mackey-Taylor said. So it really ties the hands of Linn County and Polk County to be aggressive in improving air quality. If you want consistency across Iowa, then dont allow the counties to have their own programs. But it makes sense to have local entities being able to do their own regulations, because they know best whats on the ground for their local communities.  Maybe the state is lax and we need something better in Linn County, and we should be able to do that.

Extreme weather is disrupting Amtrak's trains  and its climate benefits Extreme weather is disrupting Amtrak's trains  and its climate benefits
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Sharing some fabulous rooftop bars in Hamburg in this post. This beautiful port town in Northern Germany and its stunning skyline is an absolute must-see!

Everyone always raves about the parties in Berlin and Munich, but theres something extra special about the flourishing nightlife in Hamburg. It feels like a secret club that only the locals know aboutand I was so happy to be in on it.

One of the best ways to experience Hamburgs famous nightlife is to take in the cityscape from one of its many rooftop bars. Whether youre looking for a romantic evening or an all-out party atmosphere, these venues offer a unique perspective on the city that I just know youll love.

Without further ado, here are my top picks for the best rooftop bars in Hamburg.

Visiting Hamburg soon? Find the best activities through GetYourGuide.

The Best Rooftop Bars in Hamburg

Image via Campari Lounge

If the skies are clear, then I highly recommend heading to Campari Lounge. The sunsets are out of this world.

This cocktail lounge and rooftop bar are both comfortable and fashionable. Youll have an excellent panoramic view of Hamburgs skyline and a beautiful perspective of the sailboats that sail along Lake Alster. Its picture-perfect, to say the least.

When the weather is good, you can visit the terrace with a comfortable lounge area and a bar serving champagne, wine, and a variety of specialty cocktails inspired by Campari.

If you enjoy your cocktails on the more bitter side, then get ready to have a good night out at Campari Lounge.

Image via HERITAGE Hamburg Rooftop Bar

HERITAGE Hamburg Rooftop Bar is one of my favorite rooftop bars Hamburg has to offer. Its located at the design hotel Le Meridien and has two floors, and the aesthetic is just so yummy.

It features an indoor lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows and an outdoor terrace that offers panoramic views of Alster Lake.

The rooftop bar is modern and stylish, perfect for enjoying the city from above. Whether you prefer indoor seating or airy summer sessions on the outdoor terrace, HERITAGE Hamburg Rooftop Bar is a great choice year-round.

At the HERITAGE Rooftop Bar, you can choose from a wide range of expertly made cocktails that blend local and exotic flavors for a unique taste experience. Your tastebuds will be poppin.

The bar is open every night and has great service along with a lively atmosphere, making it the perfect place to meet up with friends while enjoying great drinks and stunning sunset views.

Image via Top Seven by Grand Elysee Hamburg

The Grand Elysee Hamburg is a longstanding 5-star hotel that recently added a new feature in 2020the Top Seven rooftop bar.

The Top Seven roof boasts comfortable lounge furniture, elegant bar stools, and stunning views of Hamburgs picturesque cityscape.

Imagine looking down upon the cobblestone streets with a spritz in hand. Youll think youre in a fairytale.

During spring and summer, you can quench your thirst by indulging in creative signature cocktails, fizzy drinks, a sparkling glass of champagne, or maybe something from the Gin Tonic collection, complemented by a tasty tapas selection. Its the perfect afternoon in Hamburg.

Image via Sky & Sand Beachclub

Located in the heart of Hamburg and just a stones throw away from the city center, Sky & Sand Beachclub is one of the most popular rooftop bars.

It has a stunning outdoor terrace that offers panoramic views of the city. On a sunny day, you can relax with some tropical drinks while taking in sweeping views of the harbor.

As you might have guessed, the decor of this venue follows a beach theme and it has a real holiday vibe to it. The floor is made of Fiji sandyeah, get ready to sink your toes into it. They also have a small rooftop pool.

After having a drink or two, you wont be able to tell that youre in the center of Hamburg.

Heavens Nest is a rooftop bar that offers a little bit of everything, but everyone goes for the breathtaking panoramic view of the city and the surrounding area. Itll have you feeling like youre in the clouds.

Sadly, the rooftop terrace is only open daily during the summer season, but right below it is Clouds restaurant and bar, open year-round.

Both are great options, but if you can go during the summer, I highly recommend it!

The rooftop bar has standing cocktail tables, lounge sofas, and some comfortable daybeds. During the day, its pretty laidback, but at night it turns into a huge rooftop party.

The drinks menu is extensive and includes mouth-watering cocktails, lots of champagne, and wines. Plus, they also serve some delicious light bites to keep you going throughout the night.

Image via Puzzle Bar

The Puzzle Bar is located on the rooftop of the Campus Tower in HafenCity.

It has both indoor and outdoor seating options that provide amazing views over the city. You can enjoy the view through panoramic windows or from the al-fresco terrace on the 15th floor.

The bar has a modern and chic design, giving you the feeling of being in a glamorous location. Plus, its open year-round, so if youre visiting during winter, this is still the place to be!

Chef Kevin Fehling, the only Hamburg native to have received three Michelin stars, opened up Puzzle Bar and has really nailed the concept of great food in a casual way.

The menu includes some luxurious street food, but the real highlight is the creative handcrafted cocktails. Youre going to love it.

Image via TWOSIX Food & Rooftop Bar

Get ready to see as far as your eye will let you at TWOSIX Food & Rooftop Bar.

Located on top of the Radisson Blu Hotel, almost 400 feet high. Its the tallest rooftop bar Hamburg has to offer. I hope you dont mind heights!

The rooftop has a combination of a stylish indoor lounge and an airy outdoor terrace. You can enjoy stunning panoramic views of the city from this bar.

During the summer, I really love a good gin drink, and at TWOSIX, you can choose from 26 different types of ginhow am I supposed to pick one? They also have 26 high-quality wines for my non-cocktail drinkers.

The rooftop restaurant has a calm and laid-back atmosphere, making it a great spot to relax after a day of sightseeing or a cute little romantic date with your boo-thang. You really cant beat enjoying a cocktail this high over Hamburger!

Hows that for some amazing rooftop bars in Hamburg to check out? I hope youve found this list helpfullet me know what you think and any new places I should check out the next time Im in Hamburg!

Tag me on Insta (@wtfab) if you visit any of these bars so I can live vicariously through your night on the town!

Planning a trip soon? Check out my other travel content here.

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FAQs

What is the tallest rooftop bar in Hamburg? The tallest rooftop bar is TWOSIX Food & Rooftop Bar which is located on top of the Radisson Blu Hotel, at almost 400 feet high. What rooftop bar in Hamburg has sand on the floors? Sky & Sand Beachclub is one of the most popular rooftop bars in Hamburg. The bar has a beach theme with a real holiday vibe to it. The floor is made of Fiji sand and theres also a small rooftop pool. Are rooftop bars in Hamburg open year-round? Some rooftop bars, like HERITAGE Hamburg Rooftop Bar, are open year-round because they have both indoor and outdoor seating. Other bars only have outdoor seating so they are only open during the summer. Be sure to check the bars website or social channels before visiting for operating hours.
Brian Gallini, Dean of the College of Law, has announced that three faculty members will be recognized for their outstanding teaching, research, and service through their appointment to new faculty positions. Professor Caroline Davidson will be appointed to the Norma J. Paulus Professorship in recognition of her impressive scholarship which serves to advance the legacy of Norma Paulus LLB62. Professor Paul Diller will be appointed as the inaugural Roscoe C. & Debra H. Nelson Distinguished Faculty Scholar, which highlights his excellence in scholarship. Associate Dean & Professor Karen Sandrik will be appointed to the Maynard & Bertha Wilson Professorship, recognizing both her scholarly contributions and her continued commitment to innovation in experiential education.

Willamette Law is pleased to honor each of these professors contributions to the College in addition to their broader contributions to legal education. The ongoing generosity of the alumni community makes it possible for the entire law faculty to continue to support students as well as pursue excellence in teaching and scholarship. Vice President for Advancement Shelby Radcliffe shares that, on behalf of the Willamette community, we are so grateful for the donors who support our faculty with their philanthropy - their gifts are an investment in excellence in teaching, research, and service. These exceptional faculty will be an important part of the College of Law and our students success for years to come.



With gratitude to the donors who have made it possible to honor these three professors, the College of Law looks forward to the impact these appointments will have on the law school.

Caroline Davidson - Norma J. Paulus Professorship

Professor Caroline Davidson will be appointed to the Norma J. Paulus Professorship. This Professorship was established in 2011 from funds contributed by both Norma Paulus, LLB62, as well as Fred Paulus JD26, who was the uncle of Norma Pauluss husband. Although she did not graduate from college, after working as a legal secretary for two Oregon Supreme Court Justices, she decided to attend law school. She graduated from Willamette Law with Honors before practicing for several years. As a state representative in the early 70s, she was instrumental in the enactment of Oregons Bottle Bill as well as in Oregons ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. She was also the first woman elected to statewide office in Oregon, serving as secretary of state from 1977-1985. She went on to serve as Superintendent of Public Instruction for almost a decade, as well as serving in a wide variety of other public interest roles. Paulus was an active alumnus at Willamette for the duration of her career, serving on the Willamette Board of Trustees from 1978 to 2005, and became a Life Trustee.

In honor of Paulus pioneering work in the law, and consistent with stewarding the legacy of that work, Professor Davidsons five-year appointment recognizes that her teaching and scholarly work advances the legacy of Norma Paulus career.

Davidson joined the College of Law in 2008 bringing extensive international experience. Davidson is an internationally renowned scholar and focuses her research on international and comparative criminal law and human rights. As a visiting scholar at the University of Chile from 2017-19, she conducted field research on domestic Chilean prosecutions for dictatorship-era atrocities. In recent years she has focused on sexual and gender-based violence. She received a Fulbright award and spent the 2023 spring semester in Colombia conducting research on the treatment of sexual and gender-based violence in Colombian courts. In particular, her work compares the approach toward sexual and gender-based violence taken at the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a special transitional justice mechanism established as part of the Colombian peace agreement, with that of the ordinary criminal justice system. Recognizing how her scholarship has contributed significantly to the national and international legal canon, Davidson received the College of Laws 2023 Robert L. Misner Award for Faculty Scholarship. American University Law Review, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, and St. Johns Law Reviewto name but a few illustrative examples.

Across Professor Davidsons career, she has consistently made impressive contributions to the national scholarly dialogue, to hundreds of fortunate students in the classroom, and to College of Law and University service. I am so pleased to announce this appointment in recognition of those contributions alongside those she no doubt will make in the years ahead, shares Gallini.

Paul Diller - Roscoe C. & Debra H. Nelson Distinguished Faculty Scholar

Professor Paul Diller will be the inaugural Roscoe C. & Debra H. Nelson Distinguished Faculty Scholar. The Roscoe C. & Debra H. Nelson Distinguished Faculty Scholar position was generously funded by the Nelsons to recognize and support the College of Laws excellence in faculty scholarship. Roscoe Nelson III JD73 worked for the Multnomah County D.A.s office before practicing with his father at Nelson and Nelson, where he still practices today. Roscoe Nelsons father, Roscoe Nelson Jr., served as an important mentor, friend, and business partner  an inspiration for Roscoe Nelsons commitment to giving back to the legal community. His fathers lifetime of legal excellence and countless examples of fearless public advocacy are a shining example of Willamettes motto Not unto ourselves alone are we born. The Nelsons generosity will allow the College of Law to honor faculty members, such as Diller, for years to come. More immediately, their investment in the College of Law will assist in supporting Dillers ongoing scholarly work, which will benefit students, faculty, and the legal community.

Diller joined the College of Law in 2005 and has taught courses in property, state and local government, and public health law. He also is the Director of the Certificate in Law & Government. Diller has written extensively about state preemption of local authority, as well as the structures underlying that dynamic, such as partisan gerrymandering. Most recently, he has examined the constitutional and other legal issues that have arisen in states and cities responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in their use of emergency authority.

This five-year appointment both celebrates and supports Professor Dillers work, which has been downloaded thousands of times, has been cited by courts and other scholars alike, and has been published in a range of top law reviews, including the University of Richmond Law Review, Washington University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and the Boston University Law Review. This year alone, Diller has published two articles including Emergency Rule: A New Paradigm for State and Local Governance? in the Fordham Urban Law Journal and Training a Public Accommodations Lens on Vaccine Passports in the Lewis & Clark Law Review. As a dedicated scholar, Dillers research made a significant impact on the legal community.

It is an overwhelming privilege to recognize Professor Diller, whose transformative scholarship has appeared in an impressive number of journals across his distinguished career. The care with which he approaches his work is both commendable and admirable, and I look forward to continuing to follow and support his important work, Gallini says.

Karen Sandrik - Maynard & Bertha Wilson Professorship

Associate Dean & Professor of Law Karen Sandrik will be appointed to the Maynard & Bertha Wilson Professorship. The position was established in 1993 for the benefit of the College of Law. Maynard Wilson JD40 practiced law for forty years in Cottage Grove, Oregon. As a pillar of his community, Wilson and his wife, Bertha, devoted their lives to giving back, which inspired their ongoing generosity to the Willamette Law community. In honor of their memories, this five-year appointment both celebrates and supports Sandriks academic work and her commitment to advancing the College of Laws instructional program in experiential education.

Sandrik joined the Colleges faculty in 2012 and currently serves as Associate Dean for Faculty and a Professor of Law. Sandrik teaches courses on contracts, secured transactions, sales, deals, IP Law, patent law, and IP transfer. An exceptional scholar, Sandriks research focuses on the intersection of commercial law and intellectual property. Most recently, her writing seeks to address problems with patent law, specifically patent licensing, patent damages, and innovation incentives, by employing the lens of contract law and the Uniform Commercial Code. Her work has appeared in a variety of top journals, including the Tulane Law Review, SMU Law Review, Louisiana Law Review, and Miami Law Review, among others.

In her commitment to expanding the Colleges experiential education offerings, Sandrik continues to look for innovative ways to incorporate experiential components to existing courses alongside building out new experiential courses. In the fall of 2022, Sandrik co-taught a one-of-a-kind Intellectual Property Law and Practice course with Professor Andrew Gilden which was a highlight amongst students.

That course was only the most recent example of her creative and innovative work in the legal classroom. Her extremely popular Deals class frames legal issues around transactions rather than doctrinal areas. She brings in outside lawyers, bankers, accountants, real estate professionals and other business experts to provide case studies and context. Students examine deals including family succession plans, joint collaborations between a biotech and a pharmaceutical company, and an acquisition of a software company. The course quickly became a popular draw after it was first launched in 2018, and boasts long waiting lists of interested students every time it is offered.

Gallini emphasizes that its nearly impossible to convey in just a few sentences how big of an impact Dean Sandrik has had on our institution. I hope this new appointment helps to both recognize and celebrate that impact, particularly as it relates to supporting her creative efforts to help our students develop the skills necessary to be successful in the practice of law.
A primary energy provider in Baraboo may increase energy rates soon and city officials are looking into ways to address this.

The citys common council entered a committee of the whole session on Tuesday to discuss possible rate hikes from Alliant Energy and possibilities for keeping rates lower for city residents and businesses. This stems from a May rate increase application by Alliant Energy and two other Wisconsin utilities submitted to the state Public Service Commission.

Baraboo City Administrator Casey Bradley said Alliant Energy rate hikes could result in $148,000 in additional city energy costs.

This is going to have a significant impact on residents as well as businesses, Bradley said during the Tuesday session.

According to a memo Bradley distributed to council members, Alliant is proposing electrical rate increases of 8.4% in 2024 and 5.4% in 2025. The company is also looking to increase gas charges by 6.3 percent in 2024 and holding flat for 2025.

Bradley said in the memo that if the PSC approves the rate hike, the city would have experienced an increase of more than 14% for and more than 17% for electricity over the past three years.

Alliant is proposing a pretty significant rate increase, said Bradley, adding that Alliant increased gas and electricity charges by four percent in 2022. Its going to have a substantial impact on the city.

Natural gas prices increased in 2022, which is prompting Alliant to continue increasing its rates in order to recoup lost profits from that year, according to Bradley. City Alds. Tom Kolb and Joel Petty, representing Districts 2 and 5, suggested a resolution opposing the rate increases.

I think thats kind of astronomical, said Petty. The city has to take a stance not only for itself and its operation, but also our community members. These increases are out of line.

Along with rate increases, Alliant is also looking to implement net metering. Net metering, according to renewable energy nonprofit RENEW Wisconsin, is a billing policy incentivizing citizens who use solar energy to power their homes or businesses. It provides energy bill credits for excess solar energy added to the power grid.

Bradley said the council has suggested looking into creating a city-owned utility as a possible alternative to Alliant, which he added is the only provider in the area. The city will also look into cost-saving measures such as reducing power usage, but he said such savings get smaller with each rate increase absorbed by the city.

Alliant spokesperson Tony Palese said the rate adjustments would add roughly $13 a month to average customers electric bills in 2024 and $5.80 in 2025. Gas bills would increase roughly $5.30 per month for next year and hold flat for 2025.

Weve put a significant emphasis on maintaining fair and competitive rates and our recent rate review filing with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) holds overall electric and gas bill adjustments to single digits year-over-year, said Palese in an email.

Alliants Clean Energy Blueprint seeks to transition to cleaner, more cost-effective and diverse energy, he said. The plan expands solar options for customers and doubles funding for energy efficiency programs like home weatherization.

Guided by our strategic plan and purpose-driven strategy, our rate review filing includes necessary investments that support sustainability and resiliency while keeping customer value top of mind, Alliants JP Brummond said in a statement.

Palese added that when factoring in the 2024-25 rate plan, Alliant customers experience an average electric rate increase of 4.4 percent year over year from 2015 to 2025 and a 2.1 natural gas rate increase over the same time span.

John Ellington, who represents the 6th District, inquired about alternatives. Bradley said a public hearing process regarding the issue could come in August and additional public comments in September. A final decision on rate increase approval is likely in November, according to the administrator.

The unfortunate thing is that there wont be a decision by the PSC prior to us having our budget for the city, said Mayor Rob Nelson. Were going to have to make an estimate on what we think the PFC is going to decide.

9th District Ald. Kathleen Thurow recommended that a resolution opposing the increases be sent to the PSC. Bradley said he will also testify to the PSC on behalf of the city.

The city will hopefully have 2% net new construction for 2023, which will allow for between roughly $160,000 and $200,000 in new revenue, according to Bradley. This additional funding would be largely spent on energy costs if the rate hikes are approved.

This one increase is going to be really detrimental to the city, said Bradley.

Close Atlantic Plant Maintenance millwrights repair the steam turbine at Alliant Energy's West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. Plant Manager Paul Gregor, left, and project manager Bob Newell inspect blades on a steam turbine at the West Riverside Energy Center. Exhaust gases from twin combustion turbines heats steam to drive a third generator, making the plant more efficient. Plant Manager Paul Gregor describes the combined cycle process used to create electricity from natural gas at Alliant Energy's new West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. Unlike a traditional coal-fired generator, the plant can ramp up or down in a matter of hours. Blades on the General Electric steam turbine at the West Riverside Energy Center are exposed while millwrights work to fix design flaws. An Atlantic Plant Maintenance millwright repairs the steam turbine at West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. Atlantic Plant Maintenance millwright Logan Ashby cleans the steam turbine at the West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. The turbine is being repaired to fix design flaws covered by warranty. Exhaust gases from twin combustion turbines is used to create steam that powers a third generator at the West Riverside Energy Center. The combined cycle design captures more than 47% of the energy released when natural gas is burned. Wrenches hang in a shipping container that serves as a toolbox for millwrights working on the steam turbine at West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. Exhaust stacks at the West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit were painted in red and white stripe in an homage to the former Rock River plant. A 4.4-megawatt solar field produces a portion of the electricity needed to run the West Riverside Energy Center, a 725-megawatt natural gas-powered plant in Beloit. The West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit began producing electricity in May 2020. The 725-megawatt plant burns natural gas to power three generators. Photos: The view inside Alliant Energy's West Riverside power plant Atlantic Plant Maintenance millwrights repair the steam turbine at Alliant Energy's West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. Plant Manager Paul Gregor, left, and project manager Bob Newell inspect blades on a steam turbine at the West Riverside Energy Center. Exhaust gases from twin combustion turbines heats steam to drive a third generator, making the plant more efficient. Plant Manager Paul Gregor describes the combined cycle process used to create electricity from natural gas at Alliant Energy's new West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. Unlike a traditional coal-fired generator, the plant can ramp up or down in a matter of hours. Blades on the General Electric steam turbine at the West Riverside Energy Center are exposed while millwrights work to fix design flaws. An Atlantic Plant Maintenance millwright repairs the steam turbine at West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. Atlantic Plant Maintenance millwright Logan Ashby cleans the steam turbine at the West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. The turbine is being repaired to fix design flaws covered by warranty. Exhaust gases from twin combustion turbines is used to create steam that powers a third generator at the West Riverside Energy Center. The combined cycle design captures more than 47% of the energy released when natural gas is burned. Wrenches hang in a shipping container that serves as a toolbox for millwrights working on the steam turbine at West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit. Exhaust stacks at the West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit were painted in red and white stripe in an homage to the former Rock River plant. A 4.4-megawatt solar field produces a portion of the electricity needed to run the West Riverside Energy Center, a 725-megawatt natural gas-powered plant in Beloit. The West Riverside Energy Center in Beloit began producing electricity in May 2020. The 725-megawatt plant burns natural gas to power three generators.
France's President Emmanuel Macron, left, speaks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 29, 2023. Attendance by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and a video address by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Thursday's European Union summit will underscore the importance that the 27 EU leaders attach to protecting their eastern flank from Russian aggression and beefing up Ukraine's defense capabilities.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theater director, left, and Svetlana Petriychuk, a playwright, sit in a cage prior to a hearing in a court in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, June 30, 2023. A Russian court on Friday ordered pretrial detention for a theater director and a playwright facing charges of justifying terrorism, the latest move in a relentless crackdown on dissent in Russia that spiked to unprecedented levels since the start of the war in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Vladimir Kondrashov)
Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of actor Kevin Spacey, center, in the dock as he listens to Christine Agnew KC, right, at Southwark Crown Court, London, Friday, June 30, 2023. Spacey is going on trial on charges he sexually assaulted four men as long as two decades ago. The double-Oscar winner faces a dozen charges at Southwark Crown Court. Spacey pleads not guilty to all charges. (Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP)
General Ports Windfarms

A new 800,000 programme of support that will benefit small businesses and help get young people into green energy jobs has been announced by Freeport East this week.
Fourth of July tradition calls for lighting up the grill. But there's no rule that says you have to stick to hot dogs and hamburgers.

In a bid to up our game before hosting the annual backyard barbecue, we asked some of the Bay Area's best open flame experts to share their favorite recipes for grilling.

International Smoke's Korean-Style Barbecue Ribs (Brandon Tran) Love Korean-style barbecue and Ayesha Curry? These ribs are gonna be your jam. "We dry-marinate the ribs for 12 hours, and this marinade produces a great sticky bark when the ribs are cooked," Curry says. To prepare this recipe successfully, she reminds readers to "...budget time to cook on two separate days in order to maximize flavor with the overnight marinating process." // International Smoke, 301 Mission St. (SoMa), internationalsmoke.com You will need: Korean-style dry rub (recipe below)

Korean-style wet rib glaze

Fresh baby-back pork ribs Korean-style dry rib rub: 2 tbsp gochugaru - Korean chili flake

 tbsp toasted sesame seed, white, ground in blender

 cup dark brown sugar

4 tbsp kosher salt

1  tbsp garlic powder

1  tbsp onion powder Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to completely combine. Set aside. Korean-style wet rib glaze: 3 tbsp garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 cup fresh scallions, peeled, coarsely chopped

1 1/16 cups ginger, peeled, coarsely chopped

 cup gochujang chili paste

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp (packed) brown sugar

2 tbsp sugar, granulated white

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

 cup toasted sesame seeds

2 tbsp peanut or grapeseed oil Pulse scallions, garlic, and ginger in a food processor until finely chopped. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add scallions, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring often, until softened, and starting to stick to bottom of pan, about 4 minutes. Add gochujang, white sugar, brown sugar, soy sauce, and sesame seeds and stir until smooth. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often to prevent scorching, until thick, 5 - 10 minutes. Remove sauce from heat; season with salt. Transfer mixture to a food processor (preferably a Vitamix blender) and blend until fully incorporated and smooth. Transfer to heat-safe storage container. Set aside. Ribs preparation: 2 racks fresh baby back pork ribs (about 2 pounds each), trimmed, thoroughly patted dry

1 tbsp Hawaiian red salt to finish

 cup scallion slices Method: Rub ribs with the wet glaze and dust with Korean dry rib rub spice mix. Let stand on a cooling rack on sheet pans, uncovered, on the top shelf of the refrigerator until the next day. The following day, to cook your ribs to tenderness, you'll need to use indirect heat on your grill. If you're using a charcoal grill, heat your chimney of coals and then empty them all onto one side; if you're using a gas grill, turn up the burner on only one side. Place the ribs on the opposite side, over indirect heat, so they can cook low and slow. The goal is for the closed grill to maintain a temperature of 250 degrees. Forget about them for 3 to 4 hours. Remove from the smoker and baste with part of the Korean-style wet rib glaze. Rest for 10 to 12 minutes. To serve, cut into portions and re-brush with more wet glaze. To garnish, sprinkle red salt, sesame seeds, and scallions on the ribs prior to plating.

4505 Burgers and BBQ's Harissa Chicken Wings (Allie McElwee) You may have tasted these alreadythe harissa chicken wings make occasional appearances on the menu at 4505 Burgers and BBQ. And according to chef Ryan Farr, "These wings are perfect for a backyard barbecue!" "The harissa dry rub adds a new dimension to the typical chicken wing," adds Farr, who serves them with a mayonnaise-based white barbecue sauce, also known as Alabama white sauce, which is popular throughout the Southeast. "While it's great on all kinds of BBQ, it especially shines with smoked chicken, and it's stellar on chicken wings," Farr says. // 4505 Meats, 705 Divisadero St. (NoPa), 4505burgersandbbq.com You will need: 2 cups harissa dry rub* (recipe below)

chicken wings, flats and drums divided, tips reserved for stock

lemons cut into wedges

 bunch picked cilantro

2 cups house white BBQ (recipe below) *Harissa is a North African spice that people often associate with a paste, but this recipe will let you make a dry seasoning powder to toss on your wings before popping them on the grill. Harissa dry rub:  cup sea salt

 cup ancho powder

 cup granulated garlic

 cup paprika

 cup cayenne

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp coriander

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp chipotle

1 tbsp caraway

1 tbsp red pepper

1.5 tsp fennel

1.5 tsp dry spearmint Mix together all ingredients and set aside. House white BBQ sauce: 2 cups mayonnaise, preferably Helman's or Best Foods

2 tbsp pickled jalapeno liquid (from a jar or can)

 tsp salt

 tsp pepper

 tsp ground coriander Mix together all ingredients and set aside. Method: Preheat grill to medium heat. Toss wings with extra virgin olive oil and Harissa spice in a large bowl, and place wings on the grill in a single layer. Turn wings occasionally, and cook through until skin is crispy, 20 to 35 minutes. Platter wings and top with cilantro. Serve with lemon wedges and house white BBQ sauce on the side.

Bird Dog's Grilled Avocado with Ponzu (Eric Wolfinger) "This is the most California dish I've ever made in my life," admits chef Robbie Wilson of Bird Dog in Palo Alto. "We are so blessed with avocados in California, and we like to use them in unique ways while they are in season." Putting them on the grill was only natural. "We light a fire every day at the restaurant because, let's face it, everything tastes better over wood. Why not avocados?"

When you cook an avocado, it becomes buttery"like the most tender piece of meat you've ever had." Then, a half-salty, half-acidic Ponzu sauce provides the perfect balance. A note about ripeness: When selecting avocados for the grill, Wilson suggests channeling Goldilocks. "Choose ones that are not too soft, and not too firm. The fruit should just give a little to the touch. If it feels soft like guacamole, run away. You are better off erring on the side of too firm than too soft." // Bird Dog, 420 Ramona St. (Palo Alto), birddogpa.com You will need: 4 Haas avocados

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp freshly grated wasabi or horseradish

1 batch ponzu sauce (recipe below) or good-quality store bought

salt and pepper to taste Ponzu sauce: 1 piece kombu seaweed (3 x 2 inches)

1 to 1.5 cups bonito flakes (katsuobushi)

 cup plus 2 tbsp soy sauce

 cup lemon juice

 cup plus 1 tbsp mirin

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp rice vinegar Combine all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for one to two days to develop taste; strain well after one day. If you like more dashi flavor, keep it in refrigerator for two to three days and then strain. The ponzu sauce keeps in the refrigerator for six months. Mirin is often available in small bottles at Whole Foods and Safeway. Method: Preheat the grill as if you were cooking a steak. Cut each avocado lengthwise in half and separate. Carefully remove the pit. With a large spoon, scoop the fruit out of its skin and brush each side with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place the avocado flat side down and grill to mark. (the idea is to mark each avocado, not actually cook) Gently turn over and grill until barely warmed through. Fill each cavity with the Ponzu sauce and serve with freshly grated wasabi.

DOSA's Grilled Peaches and Cream (Courtesy of DOSA) Grilling peaches intensifies the flavor of the fruit, which makes chef Arun Gupta's sweet-and-smoky dessert more than the sum of its parts. "The heat from the fire concentrates the sugar, and the bitterness of the slightly burnt edges accentuates the natural sugars of the peach," he says.

The fresh peaches in this dessert add acid as well as texture, while the cardamom, yogurt cream, and cashew chikki impart nutty flavors, creaminess, and complexity. If you have never tried a grilled peach, you are in for a special treat. Note: While you could use substitutions for jaggery (light brown sugar) and ghee (clarified butter), Gupta recommends paying a visit to your local Indian grocery store for the real thing. Rose water is typically available in Safeway and Whole Foods. // Sadly, Dosa has closed it restaurant locations, but you can still make this tasty dessert at home. You will need: 1.5 pounds fresh peaches

yogurt cream (recipe below)

cashew chikki (recipe below) Yogurt cream: 2 cups cream

 cup sugar

1 cups yogurt

 tsp rose water (half cap full)

1 tsp ground black cardamom Beat cream, sugar, rosewater, and cardamom in mixer until very soft peaks form - just enough to barely hold shape. Fold in yogurt. Makes about 1.5 quarts. Cashew chikki: 1 cup cashews

 cups jaggery

1 tbsp ghee Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spread cashews onto a baking tray and toast in an oven until golden brown (8 to 10 minutes) at 325F. Once cool, lightly pulse cashews in a food processor until crushed. (Make sure to not pulse them fully into a powder.) Next, heat ghee in a saute pan and add jaggery, cooking 3 to 4 minutes on medium high heat until jaggery is fully dissolved and starts to thicken slightly. Add crushed cashews and continue to cook until jaggery mix evenly coats all the nuts. Pour out onto a greased baking surface and let cool. Pulse in food processor and use to garnish as desired. Keep sealed in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a month. Grilled peaches: 1 pound peaches cut into quarters

 pound peaches diced

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp olive oil

 tsp cinnamon powder

 tsp powdered cloves

1 tsp cardamom powder Method: Preheat grill to medium high. Toss peaches with sugar, olive oil, cinnamon and cardamom and place cut sides on grill over medium high flame. Once cut side is sufficiently charred (it can be a little black) flip peach onto other cut side and repeat the process. Carefully remove grilled peaches and toss with fresh diced peaches. Divide into serving bowls and garnish with a tablespoon of yogurt and and a teaspoon of cashew chikki.





This article was originally published in 2018.
Fireworks on the Fourth of July fill most Americans with feelings of pride, patriotism and joy. But fireworks often fill dog owners with anxiety instead of awe, and dread instead of delight. 

Neil Zevnik, 70, is one of those dog owners. A retired private chef who lives in Eustis, Florida, he has his heart break every year for Pearl, his 8-year-old, 120-pound rescue dog. Despite her massive size  shes half Labrador retriever, half Saint Bernard  she cowers at every crack, pop, bang and boom. 

The sound of fireworks terrifies Neil Zevnik's dog Pearl. Courtesy of Neil Zevnik

We experience major problems here because Floridians are very fond of their fireworks, explains Zevnik, who says Fourth of July fireworks in Central Florida typically begin several days before the holiday and often last for several days after. Pearl gets terrified. Her eyes get very wide. She wont go more than 6 inches away from me. And if it gets really bad, she tries to climb up onto me  which isnt feasible at her size.  Shes just miserable. 

Zevnik and Pearl arent alone. Several studies have found that many dogs have a negative reaction to fireworks. A 2021 study by British dog welfare and training organization the Kennel Club found that as many as 80 percent of dogs are afraid of fireworks. The same study found that the number of dogs that go missing increases by 100 percent during fireworks season. 

Its very common, says veterinarian Alex Schechter, founder of Burrwood Veterinary in Royal Oak, Michigan. My own dog, actually, is one that is scared of fireworks and thunder, so I deal with this constantly. 

If your dog is scared of fireworks, you probably already know it. But stress might be more apparent in some dogs than others, according to celebrity dog trainer and Rover.com expert Nicole Ellis. Things to look for, she says, include anxious panting, lip-licking, pacing, whining and trying to escape through doors or windows. 

Shaking is one of the biggest signs, Ellis notes.

The reason for pets stress is simple: sound. Although dogs are best known for their superior sense of smell, they also have super sensitive hearing. So when fireworks start popping, so do pups ears. 

Dogs can hear sounds that are farther away  up to four times farther away than we can  but they also can sense higher-frequency sounds, which means theyre receiving a lot more auditory stimulation with things like fireworks, says holistic veterinarian Lindsey Wendt, owner of Crystal Lotus Veterinary Care, a Los Angeles-based veterinary practice specializing in integrative medicine. Plus, we all have to remember that dogs have no context for why these sounds are occurring. 
Today you search for flights, hotels and rental cars online  and look to pop culture, social media and the internet for inspiration on your next vacation. Artificial intelligence-infused chatbots are an emerging option to provide travel planning assistance. These tools are something to consider, but keep in mind that theyre not the only options.

You just might plan your future domestic or overseas adventures with a major assist from a chatbot like OpenAIs ChatGPT or other so-called generative AI tools.

These buzzy AI systems, which despite the hype are still in their relatively early days, are trained on vast amounts of human-generated data from across the web, what geeks refer to as large language models, or LLMs.

The idea is that youll have a conversation with an AI bot the same way you may ask the help of a friend or travel agent to conjure up day-to-day itineraries and spark suggestions of great places to visit, prompted by whatever you tell it.

To begin, you might type something like:

Ive got two weeks, am traveling with elderly parents and want to visit national parks.

What are the top 10 fly fishing lodges in New Zealand?

I have six days and want to visit accessible places in and around Prague with my grandfather, whos on a low-salt diet.

Create a one-week itinerary in the UK around a Beatles theme or Shakespeare.

Deeper into an exchange, you can get practical information, such as what transportation options are available between the airport and your hotel, or what its like driving somewhere.

We look at AI as the catalyst thats going to bring travel out of the dark ages, says Ross Borden, chief executive of travel guide publisher Matador Network, which recently surveyed 1,400 travelers and found that more than a third are likely to employ AI to research or plan travel within the next 12 months.

Matador launched an upstart conversational bot called GuideGeek, initially via the WhatsApp messaging platform, powered by tech from OpenAI.

In April, the travel site Expedia launched an iOS-only chatbot in beta that is based on ChatGPT, with Android to follow. Expedia also has a ChatGPT plug-in, but its only available on the OpenAI site to people who subscribe to a $20 per month ChatGPT Plus service.
Ukraine's NATO aspirations to be discussed after Vilnius summit: Stoltenberg

Xinhua) 14:16, June 30, 2023

KIEV, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said that Ukraine's aspirations to join the alliance will be discussed after the NATO summit in Vilnius, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency reported.

"After the NATO summit, we will discuss Ukraine's aspirations for NATO membership. And I am absolutely sure that the allies will send a very strong message of support to Ukraine," Stoltenberg was cited as saying.

All allies agree that NATO's door is open and Ukraine will become a member of the alliance, Stoltenberg said.

He stressed that only Ukraine and NATO will decide when is the right time to extend the full invitation for Ukraine to join.

Stoltenberg noted that the decision of the European Union (EU) to grant Ukraine candidate status has an impact on the discussions that are underway within NATO.

On June 23, 2022, EU leaders accepted Ukraine as a candidate for membership in the bloc.

The Vilnius NATO Summit is slated for July 11-12 in Lithuania.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
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The Quicksilver of the 'X-Men' movie franchise is set to team up with the 30 Seconds to Mars lead vocalist in the upcoming third installment of 'Tron' series.

Jun 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Evan Peters has been added to the cast of "Tron Ares". The "American Horror Story" star - who takes on the role of Quicksilver in "The X-Men" movies - will appear alongside Jared Leto in the third film in the "Tron" franchise.

The motion picture could start shooting in August in Vancouver if there isn't a SAG strike, according to Deadline.

Joachim Ronning is to direct the movie, in which Leto will star as lead character Ares, a manifestation of the Tron program. It's not yet known who Peters will portray in the film, but he is expected to take on the part of either a gamer in the human world, or a soldier in the virtual realm.

In January, it was revealed Leto had signed up to star in the third film in the franchise, 13 years after the sequel, "Tron: Legacy", was released. It starred the original 1982 film's lead actor Jeff Bridges alongside Garrett Hedlund and Olivia Wilde.

"Tron: Legacy" hit cinemas 28 years after the original film, which told the story of a computer hacker who is transported into a computer program called the Grid and forced to take part challenges. The sequel was directed by Joseph Kosinski, but plans for him to helm the third instalment were scrapped in 2015 after years of development.

A further attempt to revive the franchise again in 2020, with director Garth Davis in charge, also floundered before getting off the ground again with a push from Leto, who is also listed among the third film's producers, alongside Emma Ludbrook and Jeffrey Springer.

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The 'Rocketman' actor decides to step away from Instagram because he realizes he has started to get addicted to the social media and found it a hindrance.

Jun 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Taron Egerton plans to take a break for the rest of the year from social media. The "Rocketman" actor is distancing himself from his Instagram account because he is finding the app increasingly "addictive" and he wants to use his time in better ways.

"I'm going to take a break from social media for a while. While I'm not sure why I'm making a big declaration about it, I just think it's hard to break away from a cycle that I've grown to find a bit addictive and this is me making a commitment to myself," he wrote on Instagram.

"I've gotten myself into a place where I spent too much time scrolling and I actually feel like my ability to sit and be present and read books and watch movies and even seek out the company of people I love is eroding as a result."

The 33-year-old actor is also concerned his Instagram use is serving as an "impediment" to him doing his best work. He continued, "I feel a bit removed from myself. And with regards to work, I know I am capable of more and IG is one of several impediments to getting me there."

"Thanks everyone for saying such nice things all the time; I so appreciate it but I just need to not read the thoughts of strangers for a while; I'm not really sure this stuff is very good for any of us."

Taron captioned his post by indicating his social media break will last throughout 2023, and urged his fans to also take a break from their phones now and again. He wrote, "Have a great rest of your year everyone. And if you're anything like me remember to leave your f****** phone in the other room a bit more often."

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A Texas grand jury has decided not to indict the 'SICKO MODE' rapper in a criminal investigation of a deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld festival that killed 10 people and injured many.

Jun 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Travis Scott (II) has been cleared without criminal charges for the Astroworld tragedy. On Thursday, June 29, a Texas grand jury declined to indict the rapper in a criminal investigation of a deadly crowd surge at the 2021 Astroworld festival that killed 10 people and injured many.

Scott's lawyer Kent Schaffer confirmed that the Harris County grand jury had met and decided not to indict his client on any criminal charges stemming from the concert. The lawyer, however, claimed that it's unknown what charges that the jury initially considered.

"He never encouraged people to do anything that resulted in other people being hurt," Schaffer said. He added that the decision is "a great relief."

Schaffer then showed sympathy for the victims and their families, though he stressed, "But Travis is not responsible. Bringing criminal charges against him will not ease their pain." The rapper's lawyer additionally noted that the ex-boyfriend of Kylie Jenner will not be testifying for the case.

The "SICKO MODE" emcee also issued a statement following the decision. "Travis Scott will not be charged with criminal charges or any wrongdoing for his involvement with Astroworld festival," his representative told TMZ.

The rep continued, "Today's decision by the Harris County District Attorney confirms what we have known all along - that Travis Scott is not responsible for the Astroworld tragedy. This is consistent with investigative reporting by numerous media outlets and federal and state government reports that have squarely placed the onus for event safety crises on organizers, operators and contractors -- not performers."

"While waiting patiently for the District Attorney's decision to not file charges, Travis Scott has been inaccurately and wrongly singled out, despite stopping the show three separate times and being unaware of the events as they were unfolding. Now that this chapter is closed, we hope for the government efforts to focus on what is most important - stopping future heartbreaking tragedies like Astroworld from ever occurring again," the statement concluded.

Fans, meanwhile, thought that Scott should be held accountable for the tragedy. "People literally died. Why is this man not behind bars for being responsible of these tragic deaths what happened at astroworld was traumatic yet he gets away with it why," one person tweeted. Someone else said, "People literally were dying and he didn't stop once," referring to a viral video showing Scott continuing his performance after casualty declaration.

"He may be cleared but the fact he saw ambulances and people laying unconcious and he kept on singing is enough to prove HE AIN'T S**T. Like how do you support someone who don't care about his fans," one other commented. Echoing the sentiment, another added, "idc what anyone says my stance on this hasn't changed since it happened. there's absolutely no way he didn't see/hear people screaming and literally dying from up on that stage w/ all those lights shooting into the crowd. he's guilty and so is his team."

Some others jumped to the rapper's defense. "He's literally a rapper it should've been management's responsibility to take care of safety anyway," a fan noted. "Wasn't his fault to begin with," one other similarly wrote.

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Although the likes of John Boyega and Porscha Coleman have shared positive updates on their co-star, the 'Ray' actor is said to be 'working hard to recover.'

Jun 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Jamie Foxx isn't close to being back on his feet, more than two months after he was hospitalized due to a "medical complication" in Atlanta. The actor is reportedly "still not himself" although his colleagues have recently shared positive updates on his condition.

"He is getting the best care and working hard to recover right now, but he is still not himself," a source tells PEOPLE, noting that those closest to the 55-year-old star remain tight-lipped about his health situation. "He has the tightest circle around him," the source adds.

John Boyega and Porscha Coleman were among those who recently spoke on Jamie's condition. At the Hollywood premiere of his and Jamie's film "They Cloned Tyrone" on Tuesday, June 27, John revealed that his co-star finally picked up the phone.

"He finally picked up the phone. Thank you, bro. He's doing well," said the British actor. "And then, you know, we (are) just giving him the privacy, and we can't wait for his return. I gave him the well-wishes directly. I gave him all the well-wishes. So I'm just gonna be waiting until he comes back out here. So take your time, Jamie. We love you, bro."

Datari Turner, who co-produced "They Cloned Tyrone" with Jamie, also said his friend is recovering and expects to be in front of the cameras again soon. He shared, "He's doing amazing. I promise you. Doing really, really good. (Our director) Juel (Taylor) talked to him yesterday. John Boyega talked to him yesterday. He's in really, really good shape and spirits. And he'll be back on the screen. He'll be back to work very soon."

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Porscha said on the red carpet of the 2023 BET Awards of her "Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!" co-star, "I've talked to people very close to Foxx. [He] is doing well. I hate that the media outlets kept running with the narrative of what was going on without having the proper information."

Noting that Jamie has "always valued his privacy," the actress added, "Once I heard the news, of course, I reached out, but how Foxx is doing it is how Foxx should be doing it. He's resting, he's well. And he's going to be back. Trust and believe."

Jamie was rushed to the hospital in April in the middle of production for his new movie "Back in Action". On May 12, amid conflicting reports about the nature of Jamie's condition, his daughter Corinne Foxx said that her father "has been out of the hospital for weeks, recuperating" and was able to play pickleball.

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The 'Super Gremlin' emcee is quickly defended by other fans after someone suggests that he accepts his punishment after being arrested for missing a drug test.

Jun 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Kodak Black isn't always taking his fans' advice well, especially not from a person who wishes him jail. The rapper has been mad at a fan who told him to "go back to jail and sober up" following his recent arrest for missing a drug test.

The Pompano Beach native was on Instagram Live on Thursday, June 29 when someone made the unwarranted advice. After seeing the comment which said that he needs to accept his punishment, the "Zeze" hitmaker said, "Damn, what kind of person are you?"

"This muthaf***a said: 'You need to go back to jail and sober up, Yak, for real, for real,' " the 26-year-old read the fan's comment, before clapping back, "Why do you feel like that's the answer to my whatever you feel like? Why do you feel like that's the answer to my whatchamacallit?"

After the video was reposted on other social media accounts, many expressed their concerns for Kodak, whose real name is Bill Kahan Kapri. "I just had to stop what I'm doing to pray for him he doesn't not look like he's doing okay . Ppl are bold asf," one person wrote.

A second supportive fan chimed in, "This made me sad I just wanna give him a hug & ask him is he ok?" A third added, "I genuinely hope he gets better. I really like him as a person and artist because it seems like all he wants is peace and happiness."

Some others blasted the fan who suggested that Kodak goes back to jail, with one arguing, "Did y'all forget the amount of trauma he experienced in jail? He needs rehab and therapy not jail." One other person noted, "We're all fighting our own battles. Always be kind, guys.. it literally cost you nothing to be kind. We don't know what this man is going through or what he went through in prison. Be kind. Spread Love."

Kodak surrendered himself to authorities on Monday after an arrest warrant was issued for him earlier this month because he failed to take a mandatory drug test. He was booked at the Broward County jail, but was released in less than an hour after paying $175k, the difference between his original bond and his new bond.

The judge increased his bond from $75,000 to $250,000, but Kodak's lawyer saw this as a win for his client because the hip-hop star now will be able to travel and tour without the trouble of checking in with pretrial services.

Kodak was previously arrested in July 2022 for possession of a controlled substance without prescription and trafficking. At that time, cops claimed they found upwards of 31 oxycodone pills in his car in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

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Social media users are leaving thirst comments after pictures surface online of the 'Politician' star showing off his manhood in black boxer shorts during the filming of his movie 'The Greatest Hits'.

Jun 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - David Corenswet is already gaining new fans, shortly after he's announced as the new Superman. While people have not gotten a glimpse of the actor as the Man of Steel, many are drawn by his NSFW snaps.

Following his casting announcement in James Gunn's "Superman Legacy", pictures are making their way online of the 29-year-old hunk flashing his huge bulge in black boxer shorts. He was frolicking on the beach with his co-star Lucy Boynton during the filming of their upcoming movie "The Greatest Hits" in San Pedro, CA. last October.

The "We Own This City" star went shirtless in the set pictures, showing off his bulging biceps and torso while shooting a PDA-filled beach scene with Boynton. But it was his giant manhood that drew attention the most as social media users couldn't help lusting after him after seeing the images.

"Oh my god, I'm pregnant," someone left a thirst comment on Twitter. Another cheekily wrote, "the new superman is gonna be HUGE." A new fan added, "Never liked superman but suddenly I'm a huge fans."

"Superman d**k out here rearranging lungs," a fourth person cheekily said. Another enthused, "I would like to see how hard is going to be to carry the entire new franchise in there," while someone else shared what they anticipated from the upcoming Superman movie, "Big d**k superman doesn't mess around with Lex Luthor just snaps his neck in the first ten minutes of the movie."

Fans left thirst comments on David Corenswet's manhood pictures.

The Hollywood Reporter unveiled earlier this week that Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan have nabbed the two lead roles in "Superman Legacy". They are reportedly cast as Clark Kent a.k.a. Superman and his love interest Lois Lane respectively.

According to the report, Gunn, who is set to direct the upcoming film, and his DC co-chair Peter Safran made the decision after shooting screen tests over the weekend of June 17, with Nicholas Hoult and Tom Brittney also in contention to play Clark Kent and his alter ego, and Emma Mackey and Phoebe Dynevor shortlisted for the Daily Planet reporter.

"Superman: Legacy" is currently scheduled for release on July 11, 2025, with filming expected to take place next year. Further cast members, including who will play Lex Luthor and The Authority, will be announced later.

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Meanwhile, series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk reportedly has 'forfeited all intellectual property rights and received no residuals' though Netflix raked in nearly $1 billion from the popular series.

Jul 1, 2023

AceShowbiz - Following the massive success of "Squid Game", actor Lee Jung-jae apparently thinks that he deserves a bigger payment. A new report claimed that he's requested for Netflix to pay him a $1 million/episode for the upcoming season 2 of the series.

"Netflix cannot afford to overlook Lee Jung-jae's request," Korean news outlet Dispatch revealed on Friday, June 29. "Lee Jung Jae asked Netflix seeking a substantial guarantee of over 1 million dollars per episode, which means his appearance fees will amount to a staggering total of over 13 million dollars (given the 13 episodes)."

While "Squid Game" success benefits Netflix and its cast members, it's reportedly not the case for series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. According to Los Angeles Times, he "forfeited all intellectual property rights and received no residuals" though Netflix raked in nearly $1 billion from the popular series.

The article explored the broader exploitation of South Korean creators in the streaming age, discussing "why and how [Netflix have] been able to buy so much high-performing content for so cheap." Reporter Max Kim additionally pointed out that the huge profit from "Squid Game" debut season, which cost about $2.4 million per episode to produce, increased the streamer's value by an estimated $900 million.

Back in October 2021, Hwang was asked if he had become as rich as the $38 million winner of the series' fictional, brutal competition. To the question, he told the Guardian, "I'm not that rich. But I do have enough. I have enough to put food on the table. And it's not like Netflix is paying me a bonus. Netflix paid me according to the original contract."

Netflix recently announced the full cast for season 2 of "Squid Game". Joining returning stars Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun and Gong Yoo are Im Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Sung-hoon and Yang Dong-geun. The ensemble also includes Park Gyu-young, Jo Yuri, Kane Ae-sim, Lee David, Lee Jin-uk, Choi Seug-hyun a.k.a. T.O.P. and Roh Jae-won.

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'The Last Duel' star, the 'Extraction' hunk and the 'Hunger Games' actor are captured on camera partying together with a group of family and friends in the Greek island of Mykonos.

Jun 30, 2023

AceShowbiz - Matt Damon has apparently decided to enjoy summer together with Chris Hemsworth and Liam Hemsworth in Greece. The leading men of "The Last Duel", "Extraction" and "The Hunger Games" were unraveled to have had a blast during a vacation in the Greek island of Mykonos.

In photos making its way online on Thursday, June 29, the three Hollywood hunks could be seen partying together. The trio were also joined by Matt's wife Luciana Barroso, Liam's model girlfriend Gabriella Brooks and their other friends.

One photo in particular captured Matt being sandwiched in between Chris and Liam who had their arms wrapped around the older actor's shoulder. Another displayed Matt hugging his wife Luciana with one hand while his other hand was holding a bottle of drink.

At one point during the party, Matt and Luciana were also caught happily dancing. In the meantime, Liam was packing on the PDA with his girlfriend Gabriella. One snap displayed him placing his one hand on her side while she had her hand resting on his chest as they leaned for a kiss.

Matt, Chris and Liam's Greece getaway did not come as a surprise. The trio have been known to be close with each other. Back in January 2018, Chris' wife Elsa Pataky revealed that their families know each other and get along really well.

"Chris has been a big fan of Matt Damon, me too, and then when I met his wife Im even more a fan of his wife," she told PEOPLE at the time. "They are such amazing people. We have three kids, they have four kids, so we ended up making the same plans because everything we do we do with the kids, so it's easier to do things with people that understand you."

"And they are very adventurous too, so we were just on holiday in Costa Rica," she further spilled. "We told them about it and they went and loved it and then we went together and had a great time and we've become really really good friends. The [Damons] came here for Christmas and we were all together and it was a really inspirational time."

Elsa additionally recounted. "We created a lot of things and a lot of ideas. A few friends, we got together and we felt like we had to have something to remind us of those great moments we stayed together, and we decided to get a little tattoo [of three dots on their pinkies] all together and we say, 'We'll have to do one every year.' "

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On the occasion of World Social Media Day, popular tea brand Brooke Bond Red Label along with their creative agency Ogilvy, have launched a beautiful film, called Red Label - Indias favourite Social Network.

The film draws a parallel between social media lingo such as likes, shares, friend requests, reposts and trends with everyday moments across India, positioning a cup of Red Label tea as an enabler to bring people together. While the world celebrates Social Media Day while being glued to their favourite social media apps, the film reminds people that a cup of tea is Indias original social network, enabling conversations forever.

The heartwarming film spotlights everyday slice-of-life moments that bring together people from all walks of life over a humble cup of tea, making it the original social network.

Watch the ad film:

https://youtu.be/UPv5XPTL0uU

Elaborating on the campaign, Shiva Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Food and Beverages, Unilever South Asia, said, Tea is Indias favourite Social Network. While this is obvious in hindsight, it is a refreshing way to pay tribute to Indias favourite drink. It is only befitting that Indias No. 1 tea brand, Brooke Bond Red Label, does this. With its characteristic warmth, Brooke Bond Red Label brings out the uncanny applicability of social media terms to a cup of tea. We are excited to launch this campaign on World Social Media Day and hope that it resonates with all Indian chai lovers.

Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmarkar, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India, added here, This campaign is 13 years old! Our strategy partner Prem had shared this insight with us, back in 2010. Even today, it is super relevant. That is the power of this insight, but that is also the power of tea. A simple but well-made cup of tea is the glue our country bonds over. Friends are made, friendships are rekindled and this tea time is truly a time for togetherness. We love the way our director, Nobin Datta, has captured this. We hope the country loves it as much we do.

Campaign Credits

Brand: Brook Bond Red Label

Client: Hindustan Unilever

Brand Team: Shiva Krishnamurthy, Sayan Bhattacharya

Creative Team:

Chief Creative Officer: Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Kainaz Karmarkar, Sukesh Nayak

Executive Creative Director: Akshay Seth

Group Creative Director: Chinmay Raut

Senior Creative Director: Sourabh Dubey

Account Management:

Executive Vice President: Nikhil Mohan

Vice President: Shrenika Ajeet

Account Director: Padma Badodekar

Group Account Manager: Radhika S. R. Bhatnagar

Planning Team:

Chief Strategy Officer: Prem Narayan

Vice President: Karishma Gupta

Group Head Planning: Aatman Pawar

Junior Planner: Kunjal Unadkat

Production House: Little Lamb Films

Director: Nobin Dutta

Producer: Siddhi Bhopale

Creative Producer: Bauddhayan Mukherji
Social Media Day is a global event celebrated on June 30th each year. It's a special day to appreciate and acknowledge how social media has changed the way we communicate and connect with others all around the world.

On this day, people come together to celebrate the positive impact of social media in helping us stay connected, share ideas, support causes, and exchange information instantly. It's a time to recognize the benefits of social media and encourage responsible and ethical use. Social Media Day is a way to celebrate the cool things that social media has brought to our lives and the way it has made our world more connected.

Pogo

Discovery Kids

Kotak Securities

Universal Music India

Parle

Mother Dairy

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UKs Iconic Urbanwear brand, French Connection along with Myntra, announces the suave and multi-talented actor, Siddhant Chaturvedi as its first brand ambassador in the country. The campaign featuring Siddhant showcases the brands new range of fashion fits and the ad campaign is visible across regions and various mediums.

Siddhant has made a promising start to his acting career with stunning performances in Inside Edge, Gully Boy, Gehraiyaan and Phone Bhoot. With a slew of exciting movie projects lined up and a thriving fan base, the actor is sure to leave a mark in the minds of the audiences. With him at the helm, French Connections new campaign is set to build stronger brand salience with its young and sophisticated audience cohorts across top metros and tier 1 cities in the country.

The campaign is rolled out nationally and has been extensively promoted across social media channels to reach the brands target audience, which largely comprises young, bold spirited shoppers. The ad campaign highlights the new season collection, centered on the theme- Find your connection- The visual montage featuring Sidhant emphasizes on people expressing their individuality through their fashion choices and showcasing their authentic self each day with confidence.

Digital ad film:

The 35 second ad film, titled Find your connection revolves around our protagonist, Siddhants daily routine which involves interacting with people from all walks of life. His everyday style and mood are complemented by the outfits he wears. He exudes confidence wherever he goes flaunting the latest French Connection collection. Through his dressing and style, the protagonist is able to express his individuality each day and is able to bring his most authentic self to the people he is connected with.
Globally renowned premium professional hair tech brand, LOreal Professionnel announced the launch of its all-new revamped iNOA hair color. The first ever no-ammonia hair color in the market, launched in 2009, has now been reformulated by the brand leveraging the Oil Delivery System, making it 60% oil- based. The brand also introduced the My Hair [iD] app that provides an AI powered professional color diagnosis and virtual try on. To bring this innovation to life and educate the community, the brand is launching a 360-degree marketing campaign on digital, social media, outdoor, inuencers, premium salons, and multi-city events.

The digital film explains the features of iNOA alongside talking about the revolutionary My Hair Id that lets consumers try on various hair colors before committing to one.

The campaign film has been released on social media and has already garnered 1.8 MN views on YouTube alone.

The online communication was further translated to an on-ground series called Look and Learns in 13 cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bengaluru with an ambition to train 6500 Hairdressers on using the My Hair Id for a professional diagnosis. The brand is now working with a full roster of beauty, tech, and social media inuencers to drive the awareness and adoption of their Virtual Try on app.

Sharing her thoughts, Mathilde Barthelemy-Vigier, General Manager  LOreal Professionnel India said, LOreal Professionnel has been a pioneer in developing the professional beauty market, investing in groundbreaking research, technological advancements, and innovations. The launch of the new iNOA is our next big step to establishing our vision of providing science-backed innovations and technological breakthroughs. While we have improved the formula for an improved sensorial experience for the consumers, iNOA is truly now at the forefront of tech with the launch of an all-new hair color diagnosis & consultation app - My Hair [iD]. The app will change the way we consult for color, empowering our Pros with tech that truly elevates them & the consumers.

Commenting on the launch, Aditi Anand, General Manager Marketing - LOreal Professionnel India said, Clean and personalized beauty are the top two barriers to hair coloration in India today. trends in India. With the new INOA launch, we are not just elevating but transforming the consumer experience with professional in -salon coloration.

INOA is our biggest launch of this year in the professional hair color category, and we will support maximum amplication through a 360-marketing push across all consumer touch points like Digital, Inuencers, Outdoors, LOreal partner salons and more. We are also working with a host of digital publishers including Meta, inMobi, inshorts and mCanvas among others to build awareness around the My Hair [ Id] through rich media innovation s and AR powered tech solutions.
The first half of the year 2023 has been a rollercoaster ride, with an accelerated adoption of generative AI, AI chatbots, and digital innovations. This is bringing in new operational efficiencies, stronger strategies, a far greater emphasis on building deep bonds with various stakeholders and consumers. In keeping with the current market ecosystem, technology and a human approach are seen as going hand in hand.

Adgullys TRENDING NOW series has been presenting important insights from key industry leaders, who highlight the major trends and developments that they see dominating the industry in the current times.

In conversation with Adgully, Varun Ganjoo, CMO & Co-Founder, Baazi Games, speaks about key trends dominating the gaming industry this year, how brands are elevating their offerings, the introduction of Self-Regulatory Bodies, and more.

Key trends dominating gaming industry in 2023

Online gaming is a sunrise sector that is already growing at a CAGR of 28-30% in India. Currently, all brands are trying to grab eyeballs for user attention and brand recall through various marketing initiatives and campaigns. In an era where everything is digital, the kind of experience that brands are providing becomes very critical and that experience has to be 360 and not just related to gaming. The overall touch points of the brands need to be seen.

Also, owing to the increasing penetration of smartphones and 5G deployment in the country, I firmly believe that the next set of growth in online gaming will be witnessed in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. And this is something that was reflected in the participant profiles of the National Poker Series 2023 as well. We recorded significant participation from non-metros like Kolhapur, Nautanwa, Jabalpur, Ranchi, Darbhanga, Katihar and Chamba, among others.

Another aspect that I believe will dominate this industry is educating players constantly on responsible gaming. And now with government intervention, the conversation around responsible gaming will get more loud and clear. The introduction of self-regulating organisations will help reiterate and govern that real money gaming platforms are skill first and not based on chance.

Major expectations

With projected revenue of $5 billion by 2027, the gaming industry is sitting at an inflexion point. Understanding the potential and the projected growth, I believe now is the time for brands to elevate their offerings and extend seamless solutions that are backed by technology and laden with safety features. While this is something that we at Baazi Games actively do, we are also at the forefront of launching interesting tournaments to reiterate how online games like Poker are similar to any traditional sport that requires skill and perseverance.

In terms of major expectations from the sector in the coming year, I believe a lot is about to change for the online gaming/ RMG industry with the introduction of Self-Regulatory Bodies. We are happy to see the progress going towards a positive direction for the industry and we are very positive that the whole narrative of the industry is about to change very soon, making us one of the most thriving and celebrated sectors in India.

Having said that, we will continue to work towards building a safe and secure gaming ecosystem in India that will make online gaming safer than ever before.

Key focus areas for Baazi Games in 2023

So far, 2023 has been a marquee year for the brand. The first quarter saw the launch of PokerBaazi 3.0 (Our major annual tech and product update that made all the difference), which extended a more immersive and elevated user experience. This was followed by the announcement of the National Poker Series India, which saw an overwhelming response in terms of both participation and recognition from the users. I believe that we have built momentum for the year and are now focusing on maintaining and bolstering it further.

Our clear focus is to keep offering the biggest tournaments in the country and to give a product experience which is the best not just in India, but globally.
Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 30.06.2023 - The head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) will visit Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan from 3 to 9 July 2023 to discuss a number of issues of mutual interest. Discussions will focus on bilateral relations, regional development, cooperation in multilateral forums, Switzerland's economic presence and regional water management.

Mr Cassis will visit Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan to promote Switzerland's interests and discuss the overall geopolitical situation and development prospects in the region. The trip will also be an opportunity to discuss the three countries' relations with their neighbours, particularly in view of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and the repercussions of the precarious situation in Afghanistan.

Meetings in Astana and Tashkent to focus on development and economic cooperation

Mr Cassis will first visit Kazakhstan, before travelling to Uzbekistan. Economic ties between these two countries and Switzerland are growing stronger. Mr Cassis will attend the reopening of the Swiss honorary consulate in Kazakhstan's economic capital Almaty, where he will meet a group of Swiss business leaders.

Discussions will also focus on the Bretton Woods institutions, as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both members of Switzerland's voting group. Security policy will also be discussed with these two OSCE member states.

Regional water management is another important item on the agenda. The Blue Peace Central Asia initiative was launched in 2014 to promote dialogue between the nations of Central Asia in the face of growing competition for water resources, which is fuelling political tensions and increasing the risk of conflict. Both the Kazakh and Uzbek governments have embarked on major water sector reforms that have enhanced their national water policies. The visits will allow Mr Cassis to discuss these reforms with political leaders and will include briefings on the progress achieved by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation's water management projects.

The talks in Uzbekistan will also be an opportunity to take stock of the first stage of implementation of the agreement on the restitution of illicitly acquired assets signed in Bern on 16 August 2022. Working closely with Uzbekistan and the UN, Switzerland is committed to ensuring that these assets will benefit the people of Uzbekistan.

A number of official meetings at ministerial level are scheduled in Astana and Tashkent. In addition to his counterparts, Mr Cassis will also meet with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan.

Strong signal of solidarity with Pakistan

Mr Cassis will visit Pakistan on 8 July at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The visit underscores Switzerland's strong solidarity with the country following the worst floods of the century in 2022. Pakistan is one of the countries that are most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change.

In addition to the members of his official delegation, Mr Cassis will be accompanied by National Councillors Greta Gysin (Swiss Green Party/Ticino), Elisabeth Schneider-Schneiter (The Centre/Basel-Landschaft) and Christian Wasserfallen (FDP.The Liberals/Bern).

Address for enquiries

Nicolas Bideau

Head of FDFA Communication

Tel. +41 79 667 69 15

nicolas.bideau@eda.admin.ch



FDFA Communication

Federal Palace West Wing

CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland

Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55

E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

Twitter: @SwissMFA

Publisher

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html




Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

Bern, 30.06.2023 - Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin will visit Brazil from 3 to 9 July with a large economic and science delegation. The focus of the trip will be a meeting with Brazilian Vice President and Minister of the Economy Geraldo Alckmin and the free trade agreement between EFTA and Mercosur. A further aim of the visit is to strengthen cooperation in education, research and innovation. A total of three memoranda of understanding are to be signed.

Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (EAER) will be accompanied on the visit by State Secretaries Helene Budliger Artieda (SECO) and Martina Hirayama (SERI), and by Vice Presidents of the Foreign Affairs Committees Hans-Peter Portmann and of the Council of States Marco Chiesa. The economic delegation will comprise more than 30 people from Switzerland, who will be joined for certain items on the agenda by representatives of Swiss companies with subsidiaries in Brazil. The science delegation will include representatives from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse, the ETH Board and the Leading House for the Latin America Region.

Expanding business and innovation cooperation in Sao Paulo

The first stage of the visit will take the delegation to Sao Paulo on 4 and 5 July. As part of a forum on infrastructure and the race to net zero, Federal Councillor Parmelin will meet with Tarcisio de Freitas, the governor of Brazil's economically most important state by far. Three memoranda of understanding will be signed there: on expanding cooperation in the field of business and innovation between Switzerland and Sao Paulo, on cooperation between the export and investment promotion agencies Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) and InvestSP, and on cooperation in the field of innovation between Swissnex (the Swiss global network for education, research and innovation) and the national service for industrial training, SENAI. On the agenda are also meetings with the federation of industries of the state of Sao Paulo, FIESP, the research foundation of the state of Sao Paulo, FAPESP, and with three universities.

Several ministerial meetings in the capital Brasilia

In the capital Brasilia, Federal Councillor Parmelin will meet to exchange views with Vice President and Minister of the Economy Geraldo Alckmin, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira and Minister Rui Costa, President's Chief of Staff, at a forum on investment and innovation in infrastructure and sustainability on 5 and 6 July. Further meetings are planned with Minister of Finance Fernando Haddad, Minister ad interim for Science, Technology and Innovation Luis Manuel Rebelo Fernandes, and various research funding organisations. In addition, Mr Parmelin will award the first prize for sustainability and innovation to a Brazilian and a Swiss company at a high-level event.

Mercosur agreement and further cooperation possibilities in Rio de Janeiro

The last stage of Mr Parmelin's visit to Brazil will see the delegation in Rio de Janeiro from 6 to 8 July. There he will open a panel discussion on business, trade, innovation and sustainability, focusing on the EFTA-Mercosur free trade agreement. The official meetings will include talks with the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Claudio Castro, and the mayor of the city, Eduardo Paes, on cooperation possibilities in the fields of business and science.

Strengthening cooperation

The aim of the official meetings is to strengthen economic and trade relations and promote opportunities for Swiss companies in the infrastructure sector in Brazil. At the same time, Mr Parmelin seeks to advance the process of concluding the free trade agreement between EFTA and Mercosur. Switzerland is interested in actively participating in the G20 activities under the Brazilian presidency in 2024 and in expanding cooperation in the areas of education, research and innovation. With a view to the COP30 world climate summit, which will take place in Brazil in 2025, the potential for cooperation in the areas of sustainability and innovation will also be discussed.

Brazil is by far Switzerland's most important economic partner in Latin America with a trade volume of CHF 4.2 billion in 2022, a level of Swiss direct investment of CHF 7.7 billion and more than 65,000 staff employed by Swiss companies. A double taxation agreement has been in place between the two countries since 2022. In 2019, negotiations on the EFTA-Mercosur free trade agreement were concluded in substance. Brazil is also one of the six focus countries in the Federal Council's mandate of April 2021 to improve access for Swiss businesses to large-scale foreign infrastructure projects.

Brazil is Switzerland's most important partner in Latin America in the areas of research and innovation. A bilateral agreement on scientific and technological cooperation has been in place since 2009. Direct cooperation between research and innovation actors in both countries are supported by a variety of instruments. Together with its Brazilian partner agency, Innosuisse organises bilateral calls for cooperation projects. Between January 2016 and June 2023, around 190 SNSF project grants involved collaboration with researchers in Brazil. The cooperation instruments of the Leading House for the Latin America Region at the University of St Gallen and the presence of Swissnex in Brazil further help to strengthen collaboration.

Switzerland also supports numerous initiatives in Brazil to increase environmental protection and promote sustainability. These include support for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for the promotion of the bioeconomy and the protection of the Amazon, as well as the UNDP programme for sustainable agriculture.

Address for enquiries

GS-EAER Communications

info@gs-wbf.admin.ch

+41 58 462 20 07

Publisher

Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

http://www.wbf.admin.ch



Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research

http://www.wbf.admin.ch




Federal Department of Justice and Police

Bern, 30.06.2023 - On 5 and 6 July, Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider will be on a working visit to Poland and Slovakia, two countries neighbouring Ukraine that have taken in large numbers of refugees. Ms Baume-Schneider will visit several aid projects for Ukrainian refugees that are co-financed by Switzerland. She will also meet her counterparts in both countries for bilateral exchanges.

The trip will focus on exchanges with authorities, international organisations and NGOs on how the two countries are dealing with the large number of people from Ukraine seeking protection, Swiss support under the Migration Framework Credit of the second Swiss contribution to EU member states particularly affected by the conflict in Ukraine, and EU reforms in the area of migration and asylum.

In Poland on 5 July, Ms Baume-Schneider will visit a UNICEF project in odz. Switzerland supports the reception, integration and protection of refugee children in foster families there through UNICEF. Ms Baume-Schneider will also exchange views with Deputy Minister of the Interior Pawe Szefernaker and with various international organisations and NGOs active on the ground.

In Slovakia on 6 July, Ms Baume-Schneider will visit the Gabcikovo Humanitarian Centre, which houses around 1,000 Ukrainian refugees, and the Innovation Centre of the Faculty of Education at Comenius University in Bratislava, which trains social workers. Switzerland supports the protection and integration of refugee children in Slovakia through UNICEF, and the above-mentioned education project at Comenius University as the main sponsor together with the USA. Ms Baume-Schneider will also meet State Secretary Lubomir Sablica in Slovakia and various NGOs working on the ground.

Accompanying Elisabeth Baume-Schneider on the trip will be National Council members Corina Gredig (GLP/ZH), Niklaus-Samuel Gugger (EVP/ZH), Pierre-Andre Page (SVP/FR), Jon Pult (SP/GR) and Celine Widmer (SP/ZH) in addition to the members of her official delegation.

Address for enquiries

FDJP Communication Service, info@gs-ejpd.admin.ch, T +41 58 462 18 18

Publisher

Federal Department of Justice and Police

http://www.ejpd.admin.ch






spa capital



of Asia and the market for pools is expanding rapidly, mainly due to the increasing number of expatriates, the ongoing rise in tourism and significantly higher living standards. ASEAN Pool & Spa Expo is a part of Asia Pool & Spa Expo, which is enjoying the reputation of "Oscar" in the global pool & Spa industry.





As it is well known

, Asia Pacific is the fastest-growing region in pool & spa market and grows with the highest CAGR during the forecast period. As the one and only industry trade show in Southeast Asia, ASEAN Pool & Spa Expo is scheduled to be held in IMPACT Exhibition Centre. Bangkok, Thailand, which is a good platform for International players to tap into the regional market.





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A Mobile woman is in jail, accused of stabbing her own daughter over money.

According to Mobile police, officers were summoned to University Hospital about 1:40 p.m. after a report of a female who had been assaulted.

Officers arriving at the hospital learned the victims mother had been in a verbal altercation with her daughter, demanding the daughter hand over some money.

When the daughter said no, the mother stabbed her. The victim had been transported to the hospital in a personal vehicle for treatment of a non-life-threatening injury.

The mother, identified as 51-year-old Sharon Ann Bumpers, was taken into custody and booked into Mobile Metro Jail on a charge of 1st-degree robbery. She remained in jail as of Friday afternoon.

Bumpers, who goes by aliases including Sherry Denise Taylor and Sherry Denise Wallace, has twice previously been arrested on 2nd-degree theft of property charges, according to jail records.
The Miss Alabama competition is well under way, with two nights of preliminaries completed before Saturdays finale.

A total of 42 women are vying for the state title, along with scholarship money and the chance to move on to the Miss America pageant.

READ MORE: Miss Alabama 2023: Meet 42 women competing for this years crown

Preliminary events held this week, Wednesday through Friday at Samford Universitys Wright Center, will give each contestant a chance to strut her stuff in talent, evening gown, health and fitness and on-stage interview segments. The contestants also chat with the judges this week during off-stage interviews and showcase their community service initiatives.

Preliminaries also help to determine the semi-finalists wholl compete on Saturday in the pageant finale. Lindsay Gaines Fincher, Miss Alabama 2022, will crown her successor that evening.

Thursdays preliminary winners were:

Abbie Stockard, Miss Trussville , earned the top score in the talent competition. Stockard, 20, performed a contemporary dance routine to You Say. Shes from Birmingham and a student at Auburn University, majoring in nursing. Her community service initiative is Be the Change -- Find a Cure: Cystic Fibrosis Awareness.

Emma Terry, Miss UAB, earned the top score in the evening gown competition. Terry, 20, is from Leeds and attends the University of Alabama at Birmingham, majoring in accounting. Her community service initiative is Stomping Out ALS One Step at a Time. It aims to raise awareness of ALS, a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, and increase funding for research.

Wednesdays preliminary winners were:

Abby Sosa, Miss Southern Hospitality , earned the top score in the talent competition. Sosa, 19, performed a dance routine to Stone Cold. Shes from Cullman and a student at the University of Alabama, majoring in nursing. Her community service initiative is Bridging the Gap, which encourages collaborations between nonprofit organizations and Latino and Hispanic people.

Brianna Burrell, Miss Baldwin County, earned the top score in the evening gown competition. Burrell, 25, is from Mobile. Shes a graduate of the University of South Alabama, where she majored in political science. Her community service initiative is SAVE-A-STEM, which encourages engagement in science, technology, engineering and math for students of color and underfunded schools.

Thursdays preliminary event included performances by Lindsay Fincher and Elaina Burt (Miss Alabamas Teen 2023). Kelly Jones Carr, Miss Alabama 2001, was the emcee for Thursdays event.

New this year is a Peoples Choice Contest that allows the pubic to vote online for their favorite contestants in advance of the Miss Alabama finals. Each vote costs $1. The contestant with the most votes will earn a spot among the top 13 finalists on Saturday. Voting runs through Friday evening, according to the PageantPlanet.com.

Judges for this year are McNeil Chestnut, Morgan Smith, Chika Kaba Maatunde, Nanette Pearson Swenson and Chuck Steelman.

RELATED: Miss Alabama: Photos of every winner since 1950

IF YOU GO:

The Miss Alabama 2023 competition is set for June 28-July 1 at the Samford Universitys Wright Center, 872 Montague Drive in Birmingham. Preliminary competitions are set for Wednesday through Friday, June 28-30, at 7 p.m. The finals are scheduled for Saturday, July 1, at 7 p.m.

Single tickets are $45-$55 Wednesday through Friday, $63-$75 on Saturday. Season tickets (for all four nights) are $105-$145. Visit the Miss Alabama website or call 205-871-6276 for more info.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  Native American tribes in Maine took an important step toward greater sovereignty as the state Legislature voted to let most federal laws apply to Wabanaki tribes, putting them on the same footing as other federally recognized tribes across the country.

Both the Maine House and Senate approved the bill with enough support earlier this month to overcome a potential veto of the bill.

Today signifies a landmark victory in the pursuit of Wabanaki self-determination, Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis said Thursday in a statement. The Penobscot are one member of the Wabanaki Nations, which encompasses Indigenous peoples living in what is now Maine.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has opposed the bill, sponsored by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, expressing concerns that it could lead to confusion and lawsuits. Her office had no immediate comment on the legislative action.

Tribes in Maine are set apart from the other 570 federally recognized tribes across the country because of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, which stipulates theyre bound by state law and treats tribal reservations much like municipalities. That 1980 settlement for the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet, along with a 1991 agreement for the Mikmaq, set the tribes apart from others in the country.

In March, tribal leaders in Maine used their first address to the Maine Legislature in two decades to call for greater autonomy after a sovereignty proposal stalled last year.

Lets take a small step, placing the Wabanaki tribes on the same footing as the other 570 federally recognized tribes across the country, Republican Rep. Mark Babin of Fort Fairfield said on June 21, speaking in support of the proposal at the Maine State House in Augusta.

Rep. Aaron Dana, who is the Passamaquoddy tribal representative, cited a specific example to show how the current system is failing: After pipes froze at a health clinic during a cold snap, his tribe was not able to seek direct aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency like others could have done in the same situation.

He thanked lawmakers for their bipartisan support for the proposal. Both sides of the aisle understand tribal issues are not partisan issues, theyre Maine issues, he said Thursday.

Senate President Troy Jackson said the Legislatures action makes strides in repairing tribal relationship after previous symbolic gestures and empty promises.

This is by no means the end of our work to respect our neighbors inherent rights and restore this vital relationship. But it is an enormous step in the right direction, he said.

 By DAVID SHARP Associated Press
One man was killed and another wounded in a shooting Thursday evening in Brookside.

The Jefferson County Coroners Office identified the slain man as David Lynn Frazier. He was 43 and lived in Birmingham.

Police Chief Henry Irby said officers were dispatched just before 6 p.m. to the public housing community on Village Circle on a report of a person shot.

When officers arrived, they found two adult males had sustained wounds. Frazier was pronounced dead on the scene at 6:26 p.m., and the other was taken to an area hospital.

Irby said the shooting appears to be domestic-related. This was an isolated incident and theres no further threat to the community, he said.

No arrests have been announced.

The deadly shooting is Brooksides first homicide in recent memory.

No community is immune from crime now,  Irby said.
One suspect was killed and another injured in a shootout with Alabama State Troopers during a pursuit on Interstate 65 in Montgomery County.

The incident began just before 2:30 p.m. Thursday when authorities said troopers initiated a traffic stop on a stolen 2018 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck in Autauga County.

Trooper Sgt. Jeremy Burkett said the driver of the Dodge Ram attempted to elude troopers and the chase was on.

During the pursuit, Burkett said, the driver of the Dodge causes two traffic crashes before wrecking and overturn near the 173-mile marker in Montgomery County. Gunfire was then exchanged between someone in the pickup truck and troopers.

Burkett said one of the trucks occupants was killed and the other was taken to the hospital.

No officers were injured.

The entire ordeal lasted about 12 minutes.

Burkett said the investigation is ongoing and, once complete, will be turned over to the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office.
An assistant principal at a Birmingham high school has been arrested on shooting and domestic violence charges.

Hueytown police on Friday said Fallin Lakeil Ladd, 40, is charged with shooting into an unoccupied vehicle and third-degree domestic violence.

Ladd is an assistant principal at Jackson-Olin High School.

According to Hueytown police, officers responded at 5:30 p.m. on June 18 to the 100 block of Fairy Avenue on a report of shots fired. When they arrived, they determined that a domestic violence situation had taken place and that a female fired shots at an unoccupied vehicle.

On June 20, they obtained warrants against Ladd. She was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 4:30 p.m. June 20, and released at 11:09 p.m. after posting $13,000 bond.

School officials confirmed Ladds employment but declined further comment.

According to Jackson-Olins website, Ladd is an instructional leader on the administration team.
Christine King Farris was always the delicate one among the children of Martin Luther Daddy King Sr.

She spent the first two weeks of her life crying, according to a painful account in her fathers autobiography.

Born in the upstairs bedroom of what is now known as the King Birth Home, on Auburn Avenue, her doctors were baffled and her parents had no answers to why their first-born was suffering so much.

They watched through tears as her tiny body trembled violently.

Then.

She just stopped crying.

When I didnt hear her anymore I rushed into the house and found her wide-eyed and at ease in her body. I just stared. Like that, it was over, just stopped, King Sr. wrote in Daddy King: An Autobiography.

Now, sometimes when I recall those frightening first days of Christines life, I feel that the illness, as severe as it was, may have strengthened her for the inordinately heavy responsibilities which would become a daily part of her adult years.

Willie Christine King Farris, the last sibling of Martin Luther King Jr. and a retired professor at Spelman College, has died. Her family announced her passing on Thursday. She was 95.

Our family mourns the passing of my aunt, Willie Christine King Farris, said Martin Luther King III. As the eldest sibling of my father, Martin Luther King Jr., Aunt Christine embodied what it meant to be a public servant. Like my dad, she spent her life fighting for equality and against racism in America.

Bernice King, CEO of the King Center, said in a tweet that her aunt would always be cherished.

An extraordinary educator. My fathers sister. One of the co-laborers with my mother in founding The King Center, Bernice King said in her tweet. Phenomenal Woman. Inspiring Human. She survived and thrived.

The Delicate One

She was the delicate one.

But she might have also been the strongest.

That strength and sense of responsibility Daddy King wrote about carried the Atlanta native for close to a century as a front-line witness to some of the civil rights movements most glorious and most painful acts.

In 1968, she was in a bathroom at the Atlanta airport about to board a plane to Memphis with her sister-in-law Coretta Scott King when Mayor Ivan Allen came and told them, that Dr. King has died.

A year later, it was her younger brother Alfred Daniel (A.D.) who drowned mysteriously in his own swimming pool.

Finally, in 1974, in the very Ebenezer Baptist Church that her family had built, her mother  whom she had leaned on so much through the tragic deaths of her brothers  was gunned down as she played the organ at the beginning of Sunday services by a young Black man who told authorities he was on a mission and hated Christianity.

So many things have happened, Farris said in a 2007 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution marking her 80th birthday. You dont question anything, but I wonder why am I the one that is left. God must have me here for something.

Willie Christine King was born Sept. 11, 1927, to Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Christine Williams King into one of Atlantas leading Black families.

Her grandfather, Adam Daniel Williams, was the pastor of Ebenezer and the first president of Atlantas NAACP chapter.

Her father later assumed control of the church and emerged as one of Atlantas most powerful Black figures, fighting for equal pay for Black teachers. Her mother was a choir organist, and her two brothers would at times co-pastor Ebenezer with their father.

As a daughter of a prominent Atlanta family, Farris, enrolled at Spelman College and graduated in 1948, the same year her brother, who she referred to as ML, graduated from Morehouse College.

She would earn a masters degree from Columbia University and go on to teach at Spelman 48 years, retiring in 2014 as a tenured professor and director of the learning resources center.

She so revered and respected the college that even as a professor she never walked on the grass, a lesson she learned as an undergraduate.

On being humble

Despite Farris family lines, celebrity, and stature as a college professor, she was never one to seek a public profile. This is how she wanted it, despite the fact that she wore the same square face as her more famous brother and shared his measured Baptist drawl of a preacher.

As a rising matriarch of one of the most significant Black families in American history, she chose to spend her life in the background, supporting first her parents, then her two brothers and finally her sister-in-law, Coretta Scott King, as they shined.

My father and parents taught us to be humble, she said in 2007. That was part of the family way. I never felt the need to push out.

But she was always there, even after all of them had gone, bearing the weight of the family name.

Bearing Witness

All families have their share of tragedies. But few figures have worn a public burden as heavily as Farris  even when she was doing it in the shadows.

In 1958, it was Farris who traveled to New York City with Coretta after her husband had been stabbed in a failed assassination attempt.

A decade later, it was Farris who flew to Memphis to claim her brothers body.

In 1969, she and her father were the first on the scene after A.D. drowned.

Still, five years later, in what she called the worst day of my life, she was sitting in Ebenezer watching and listening to her mother play The Lords Prayer, on the organ when a deranged man walked in and shot her to death.

She was the first person that King Jr.s son, Dexter, called when his sister Yolanda died in 2007 of a heart attack.

Daddy King died in 1984 at the age of 84. Coretta Scott King died in 2006 of cancer.

Telling her story

Navigating her own story, Farris wrote several books, including My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and her memoirs, which despite all of the family tragedy is filled with hope and success as she quietly built her own career while raising her family.

There were some low-key public appearances. She was the vice-chair and treasurer of the King Center, the Atlanta-based center devoted to the teaching of Kings nonviolent philosophy, which she helped build with Coretta in 1969. For several years, wearing one of her big hats, she presided over the King Day service at Ebenezer Baptist Church to mark his birthday and national holiday.

She was also active for several years in the International Reading Association, as well as the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Beside her for those years Isaac Farris Sr., a dashing entrepreneur she met at a wedding reception in the late 1950s. Issac Farris was the deejay, and a young Christine King arrived at the reception with a date  a young preacher in the mode of her brothers and father.

Isaac Farris said in 2007 that, as preachers are wont to do, Christines date headed straight to the kitchen to get a plate of food. Isaac headed straight to Christine.

Christine was very striking, and she had a different presence that attracted me, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2007. It was difficult for me to take my eyes off her.

Christine and her date took Farris home that night, since he didnt have a car. But it wouldnt be the last time they saw each other.

They married Aug. 19, 1960, with King Jr. and A.D. King performing the ceremony.

Issac Newton Farris Sr. died in 2017, at the age of 83.

The couple had two children, Isaac Jr., and Angela. Farris only grandchild Farris Christine Watkins was Pudding Pie to her.

My father always taught us to keep the faith and keep looking up, Farris said in 2007.

Through all of the tragedy, I knew that God was in charge. There must be some purpose.

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2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A Huntsville mans dog was reportedly eaten by a 15-foot alligator in the Hays Farm area.

WAFF is reporting the incident happened within walking distance of Grissom High School. The father told the station the dog was taken by the alligator while his two sons were outside with the familys golden retriever.

According to the man, he and his family have only lived in the area for three months.

Reactions on social media ranged from skeptical to amused.

Monte Shearer on Facebook wrote, Okay this is the ponds around Jackson Bend Drive. Im sorry swamp water turned into ponds.... 15 Feet!? Ive heard that from a guy before. If theres a 15 alligator I guess we will see soon. Please leash your dogs and explain to your children . (Aint no way its that big)

Julie Carpenter wrote that when she moved to Huntsville, she didnt know to watch out for alligators.

But we do, Carpenter wrote. And I dont think theyre going anywhere so were just going to have to ask our friends in Florida how to deal with them.

Nolan Renfro doubted a manhunt would eradicate alligators in the area.

Once this one is gone another gonna take his place how about keep your dog away from the water when you KNOW theres a damn gator in it if you live in Huntsville and dont know we have gators by now whatever happens is on YOU, Renfro said.

Alligator sightings in Madison County have been on the rise in recent years, and Hays Farm in particular, with many in the surrounding area documented on social media. In May, Madison police responded to reports of a 6-foot alligator off Zierdt Road lounging in front of the brick sign for the Mountain Brook subdivision. The gator was later transported to a less populated area.

According to Outdoor Alabama, the American alligator is the only species of alligator in Alabama, and its population is typically larger in the southern half of the state, in wetlands and natural lakes. But sightings in the northern half of Alabama are increasing, and may indicate a northern expansion, the site says.

Alligator hunting season is limited to five zones in south Alabama.

More alligators in Alabama:

Alligator spotted on Dauphin Island earlier this year not unusual

Check out this 10-foot alligator spotted in North Alabama in April

Alligators in South Huntsville? Some want them gone, others say leave them alone
Police are investigating a shooting in south Birmingham that sent one male to the hospital.

The victim told officers he was driving near Center Street and Second Avenue South just after 3:30 p.m. Thursday when someone began firing shots at his vehicle, said Sgt. LaQuitta Wade. He realized he was shot in the back and drove to UAB Hospital.

The citys gunfire detection system  Shot Spotter  registered at about 12 rounds fired, Wade said.

Police arent sure where the shooter was standing when the shots were fired. No one is in custody.

The victims injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Authorities say the remains of a woman missing since 2021 have been identified after their discovery in Little River Canyon, and an additional person has been charged in connection with her death.

The DeKalb County Sheriffs Office said a search team on Wednesday found the remains of Mary Elizabeth Isbell at Little River Canyon National Park.

Fischer Rescue Squad, DeKalb County Sheriffs Office, Fort Payne police and fire, investigators with the DeKalb County District Attorneys Office and law enforcement with the National Park Service participated in the operation.

The discovery came after a tip received on June 20.

Once the remains were located, Jacksonville State Universitys Center for Applied Forensics was contacted to document and recover them. The remains were sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences Huntsville Laboratory for an examination and identification.

Today, on what would have been her 39th birthday, the body was identified as that of Mary Elizabeth Isbell, also known as Mary Elizabeth Wright, a Hartselle woman missing since October 2021. She was reportedly living in DeKalb County at the time of her disappearance.

Still seeking information about an open Missing Person case! Mary Elizabeth Isbell Wright Date of Birth: June 30,... Posted by Hartselle Police Department on Tuesday, February 8, 2022

On Sunday, DeKalb County investigators charged Loretta Kay Carr, 45, of Fort Payne, with capital murder-kidnapping. Court documents allege Carr pushed Isbell off a cliff in October 2021.

Today Sheriff Nick Welden announced that Jessie Eden Kelly, who is currently in custody in Pennsylvania awaiting extradition to Missouri on felony charges, has been charged with capital murder in connection with the case. Authorities expect Kelly to be extradited to Alabama sometime this summer.

Isbell was reported missing by her ex-husband on Dec. 27, 2021. Detectives with Hartselle police used phone records to determine she had been living in the DeKalb County area on Lookout Mountain. A search of her residence and vehicle turned up physical evidence - including signs of a struggle - which was entered into a national database.

At an afternoon press conference, DeKalb County authorities called the crime brutal and inhuman. An investigator said the two suspects knew the victim through another person and had been suspects from the beginning. Though investigators suspected Isbells body was somewhere in the area of park, they were unsure of its exact location until they received information from one of the suspects.

Authorities believe Isbells death occurred sometime between the evening of Oct. 18 and the early morning of Oct. 19, 2021.

Weldon thanked the Pennsylvania State Police Corry Barracks, Huntsville Search Dog Unit, State of Alabama Aviation Unit, the Jackson County Sheriffs Office, Fischer Rescue Squad and all the volunteers who helped during the investigation.

Each individual played an important role in bringing Beth home and holding those responsible for this horrific crime accountable, Weldon said. We would ask that you pray for Beths family and give them privacy as they navigate through this difficult time.
Its the last day of the week and the last day of the month. That means a clean slate on Monday, right?

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Money questions

Since former state lawmaker Fred Plump pled guilty to federal charges related a a kickback scheme and named two co-conspirators, veteran state Rep. John Rogers, a Birmingham Democrat, identified himself and his personal aide as being named in the indictment.

Rogers has not been charged with anything and has denied any wrongdoing.

There are a couple of news updates since attention has shifted in Rogers direction, from AL.coms Hannah Denham and Joseph D. Bryant:

The administrator of the Jefferson County Community Service Fund, which lawmakers use to hand out donations to groups, said that Rogers had allocated more than $15,000 to the Urban League out of the fund and was expected to deliver a check. This seemed to surprise Urban League CEO William Barnes, who said he never received a check, never asked for the money, and We dont want a check to be recut to us, certainly under these circumstances. Varrie Johnson, Rep. Rogers assistant and caretaker, was indicted this week on charges of theft and identity theft. Prosecutors allege she has collected nearly $88,000 in her parents retirement benefits since they died.

Downtown Mobile

Construction has begun on a building in downtown Mobile that will change the citys skyline, reports Margaret Kates for The Lede.

An estimated 800 will work in the new office building for the Army Corps of Engineers. The buildings going up on the Mobile Civic Center site and is expected to be completed by early 2025. Later on there will be an accompanying parking garage, and the Civic Centers renovation is being designed.

A long-term vision here is also to connect the civic center to the waterfront, which means itll be connected the Outlaw Convention Center, the cruise terminal and GulfQuest Museum. Plus, once the Bayway is replaced its expected that therell be more destination space on the waterfront.

Snakebite

A popular TV meteorologists daughter was bitten by an apparent copperhead snake, reports AL.coms Leada Gore.

Jason Simpson of WVTM in Birmingham said his 9-year-old daughter was recovering at Childrens of Alabama.

Quote, She will be OK, but shes got some healing to do. Thank you for your prayers.

Before working at WVTM Simpson was in the Huntsville market at WHNT.

Something squirrelly

Were going to end the week on one that might stay with you a while.

Mobiles Bienville Square is full of squirrels. Theres even a Mardi Gras group called the Mystic Squirrels of Bienville. Whether you think squirrels are cute or a bit gamey, we do know they can damage trees and wiring. So a while back the city hired somebody to trap and remove some of them.

AL.coms John Sharp reports that a mystery briefly arose upon reports that all the male squirrels removed had been castrated. Every one of them.

And there has been a long-held belief that squirrels mother often castrate their young. (I told you this might stay with you).

But now, enter biologists. And they say its a myth.

John Koprowski is the dean of the School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming and considered one of the top squirrel guys around. He explained that, except during breeding seasons, the squirrel parts in question shrink up and withdraw into the abdomen.

Which makes sense: A varmint that scurries through trees to escape predators doesnt need to be getting caught on anything.

Hot as the Fourth of July

Parts of Alabama are forecast for triple-digit temperatures today -- we came pretty close Thursday -- so were reminded to again stay inside or in the shade, hydrate, and check your vehicles for kids and pets.

Good news, though: The heat is expected to ease up a bit before Tuesdays Fourth of July holiday. Meaning itll be like typical Alabama summer hot instead of atypical Alabama summer hot.

Quoting

This is a Marshall-led program. Make no bones about that.

-- Lisa Watson-Morgan, landing system program director, earlier this month at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville as Blue Origin joined the team in preparation for Americas return to the moon.

According to current expectations, a fly-around return to the moon by astronauts could happen next year, and humans might step onto the lunar surface as early as 2026.

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Some cities in Alabama are planning to install safety devices at fire stations that will allow parents to securely and anonymously surrender infants into the custody of the state.

On June 1, the Alabama Legislature passed a bill expanding the state law allowing the surrender of infants. That law, in place since 2000, is intended to stop babies from being left in dumpsters and unsafe places. It allowed parents to legally surrender infants up to three days old at hospitals without being charged with abandonment.

The new law will expand that by allowing infants to be surrendered at fire stations that operate around-the-clock with emergency personnel. The new law authorizes Safe Haven Baby Boxes, secured portals in the exterior walls of fire stations, where infants can be placed and immediately retrieved by emergency workers inside. And the new law allows the surrender of infants up 45 days old, instead of the three day-limit.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Donna Givens, a Republican from Loxley and a first-year lawmaker, said she got the idea from a similar bill that passed this year in Mississippi. Givens bill, HB473, passed the House and Senate without a dissenting vote and was signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. It takes effect Sept. 1.

Kids to Love, a private foundation in Madison that gives a wide range of services to foster children, including homes, adoption placements, and education, worked with Givens on the legislation and will provide the first 10 Safe Haven Baby Boxes in Alabama through an anonymous donor.

Lee Marshall, founder and CEO of Kids to Love, said Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Madison, Gadsden and Scottsboro have committed to using the boxes. Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby said he wants to make one available in Baldwin County. Marshall said the goal for Kids to Love is for the 10 donated boxes to be placed strategically around the state.

We wanted to give women another option to safely place their baby somewhere if they decided not to parent. And thats really why we wanted to have the baby box legislation in Alabama, Marshall said.

Givens said the new law will save lives, prevent tragic choices by young women who think they are unable to care for their babies, and make newborns available to couples who are eager to adopt.

Number one and most important, saving babys lives, Givens said. Number two, its saving the mother from making the mistake of her life that she will regret for the rest of her life. And number three, its putting a baby in these loving couples arms that desperately wants a baby.

Alabama is one of 17 states that have authorized the use of the boxes, created by Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Inc., which is based in Indiana. Nationally, there are 153 boxes in use. Thirty-two infants have been surrendered through the boxes since the first was installed in Indiana in 2016, according to Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Inc. The organization operates a 24-hour hotline for mothers in crisis,

Marshall said the expanded Alabama law and the availability of Safe Haven Boxes removes potential obstacles to the safe surrender of infants.

The way that our current law was written was when someone, probably a mom, wanted to surrender a child, they had to physically walk into a hospital and hand that baby over to hospital officials, Marshall said. We just felt like that was a deterrent for women to be able to safely, successfully, but also with complete anonymity, to be able to do that. So many other states have put the baby box into place and theyre having great results. And so we just felt like it was time to give women in Alabama another choice.

When a Safe Haven Baby Box is opened from the outside, an alarm alerts emergency workers inside the fire station. A second alarm sounds when an infant is placed in the box. A third alarm sounds when the box is closed. It automatically locks, preventing reopening from the outside.

The emergency staff will take the infant to a hospital for evaluation and notify the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR), which will take custody of the child. DHR will contact law enforcement to determine if the child has been reported missing. The child will be placed in foster care as a first step toward a permanent home.

DHR worked with Givens on the bill and supported it.

Without a doubt, this bill will reduce the risk of harm to infants by giving parents more choices and more time to surrender newborns safely in times of crisis, DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner said. Representative Givens has done a tremendous service for our youngest Alabamians by sponsoring this important legislation and carrying it across the finish line. We thank Representative Givens for her insight and passion for these vulnerable babies.

Givens said she believes Alabamas ban on abortions, which took effect when Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, will create more need for options for young women to safely surrender newborns. Givens said since she started working on the bill she read and heard stories that reinforced her belief that it can save lives, including one story about a baby who was surrendered less than an hour after birth.

If youre placing a 30-minute old baby in one of these boxes, this was a baby they never intended to keep for whatever reasons, no judgement there, Givens said. So this is a baby that would have ended up somewhere else that maybe would not have had a true success story. And thats the whole purpose of these boxes is to allow a life to be saved, Alabama being a pro-life state, which Im very thankful for.

Being a pro-life state there needed to be a next step. Were encouraging these mothers, dont abort your baby, have your baby. So this 30-minute old baby that was placed in a box shows that these boxes are needed and are necessary. Because this perhaps could have been not a good ending to this story.

Foley Fire Chief Joey Darby said he hopes to have a Safe Haven Baby Box installed at the citys fire station just off Alabama 59, the busy highway to the states beaches. The station is near the South Baldwin Regional Medical Center. Foley said he will have to seek approval from the city council. But he said he has always considered the fire department a safe haven, and the new law creates another important way it can serve that purpose.

We hope its something that never has to be used, Darby said. But in reality, we know that if its just that one case that makes the difference in a baby and eventually an adults life, we want to be that safe haven.

Steven Millhouse, public information officer for Mobile Fire & Rescue, said the city has requested three of the 10 Safe Haven Baby Boxes. Millhouse said the department will pick the most strategic locations among the citys 18 fire stations. He said the department is preparing new policies and procedures for paramedics and firefighters and will take advantage of training provided by Safe Haven Baby Boxes Inc.

Givens said there are many reasons why young women can be in a situation where they might consider surrendering their child. Examples, she said, include young women who are away at college, become pregnant, and do not want their parents to know. Another would be a young woman living in conditions that would be dangerous for an infant. Another would be women who are pregnant as the result of rape.

Increasing the window for allowing the surrender of infants from three days to 45 days is important, Givens said. For example, it will give women more time to consider their decision and determine whether they can provide a safe home.

I only have one child and I cant imagine having to go through the decision that some of these are making or feel led to make, Givens said. So I certainly do not want to judge anyone because Ive not walked in their shoes.

Givens said she knew some parents who surrender a newborn, even safely, will regret it.

But maybe, on the other side, on the flip side of that is, they know it would be a bad environment, or not a safe environment, and so theyre making these decisions, and to me thats a decision made out of love, Givens said. That they want the baby to have a better chance.
The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Bidens sweeping plans to dismiss billions in student loans on Friday.

The justices ruled 6-3 that the program was an unlawful exercise of presidential power since it had not been approved by Congress.

President Joe Biden plans to announce new actions Friday to try and salvage what has been a key White House initiative. It is unclear what those plans will include but will likely be an effort to expand existing forgiveness programs such as those for borrowers who work in public service.

Bidens plan would have canceled up to $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households earning less than $250,000. People who received Pell Grants in college would have been eligible for up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness. The plan would cost some $400 billion.

READ MORE: USPS is making changes to your mail, starting July 9

Two cases before the court  Biden v. Nebraska and the Department of Education v. Brown  challenged Bidens authority to dismiss federal student loans.

No matter the SCOTUS ruling, millions of borrowers will soon have to begin repaying loans due to the end of a payment pause first put in place at the start of the COVID pandemic.

Starting Sept. 1, interest on student loans will resume. Payments will follow in October, though the exact date will depend on the servicing company. The Department of Education is expected to give more details in the next few months on the specifics of the restart.

The Biden administration previously said the student loan payment pause would be lifted the SCOTUS ruling or two months after June 30. That scheduled was later tweaked to the September/October dates.

READ MORE: Student loan payments will restart in October, Department of Education confirms
Supreme Court justices have ruled that President Joe Biden did not have the authority to pursue a sweeping student loan forgiveness program.

Biden wanted to erase $10,000 in federal student loan debt from the accounts of millions of Americans. Biden also proposed canceling an additional $10,000 for those who received federal Pell Grants to attend college.

The court agrees with conservative states who argued that the HEROES Act does not authorize the debt forgiveness plan.

Critics who sued said the administration did not have the authority to put taxpayer money toward student loan forgiveness. Some critics also said the program helped many people who have college degrees and higher earning power at the expense of people who did not or could not go to college.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, more than 1 in 13 student loan borrowers are currently behind on other payment obligations, a rate higher than before the student loan pause started in March 2020.

Student loan interest will start accruing on September 1 and payments will restart in October.
Authorities have released the name of a man killed in an exchange of gunfire with Alabama State Troopers during a three-county police chase.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on Friday identified the slain man as Isaias Garcia. He was 35 and lived in Texas.

The incident began just before 2:30 p.m. Thursday when authorities said troopers initiated a traffic stop on a stolen 2018 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck in Autauga County.

Trooper Sgt. Jeremy Burkett said the driver of the Dodge Ram  now identified as Garcia - attempted to elude troopers and the chase was on.

During the pursuit, Burkett said, Garcia caused two traffic crashes in Elmore County before wrecking and overturning near the 173-mile marker in Montgomery County.

Garcia was pronounced dead on the scene. His passenger, 46-year-old Terrell Dry Jr., of Palmetto, Ga., was injured and taken to Baptist Medical Center South for treatment.

No officers were injured. The entire ordeal lasted about 12 minutes.

During the chase, Burkett said, Garcia struck a pickup truck driven by 63-year-old David G. Vaughn of Deatsville. Vaughn also was injured and taken to Baptist Medical Center South.

Also during the pursuit, authorities said, Garcia struck a Hyundai Tuscon driven by Ashley L. Ofield, 38, of Millbrook. Ofield was not injured.

Burkett said the investigation is ongoing and, once complete, will be turned over to the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office.
Warrior Met Coal engaged in unfair labor practices by not providing the United Mine Workers of America with requested information during collective bargaining talks during what was Alabamas longest strike.

That was the decision rendered by National Labor Relations Board Judge Melissa Oliverio in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

In a 68-page opinion, Oliverio ruled that Warrior Met violated labor law by failing to respond to the unions information requests, and failing to provide, or unreasonably delaying responses to requests, some going back to March 2021.

The information was necessary, she said, to determine whether the company was truly able to pay the Unions demands.

After a union demonstrates the relevancy of the requested information, the burden shifts to Respondent to establish that the information was not relevant, did not exist, or for some other valid and acceptable reason could be furnished to the requesting party, Oliverio wrote. When an employer bases its bargaining position on an asserted inability to pay, the union is entitled to request and review the employers financial records to assess the employers representations about its dire financial condition.

Attempts to reach Warrior Met for comment were not immediately successful.

The UMWA praised the decision, saying it validated the unions contention that Warrior Met was not bargaining in good faith.

We appreciate this ruling, because it validates everything we have been saying about this company for more than two years now, UMWA International President Cecil Roberts said. This company caused this strike by not bargaining in good faith, it extended the strike for nearly two years by not bargaining in good faith, and it continues to violate the law today.

About 250 miners returned to work at Warrior Met Coal on March 2, after the UMWA made an unconditional return to work offer earlier this year,

About 1,100 union members walked off the job back on April 1, 2021 in a strike for better pay and benefits that they say were part of an earlier contract negotiated under Warrior Mets corporate predecessor. According to the union, concessions to keep the company afloat back in 2016 were not restored in subsequent contract offers.

Warrior Mets refusal to bargain in good faith has caused so much hardship to so many workers, families and communities for the last two years, Roberts said. We have been saying for more than two years now that we have been ready to sit down and bargain an agreement in good faith with Warrior Met. It should now be clear to all that the company never intended to do any such thing. Perhaps now, it finally will.
The largest wood pellet producer in the world broke ground this week on what will be its largest facility yet, located in rural west Alabama.

Enviva, an energy company that specializes in producing wood pellets that can be burned to generate electricity, broke ground Wednesday on a massive new pellet mill in Epes, Ala., in Sumter County. It is expected to create 100 direct jobs and support 250 indirectly.

The fact that the worlds largest wood pellet producer is building its largest production facility to date here, in Sweet Home Alabama, is yet another testament to our nation-leading business climate and world-class workforce, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said at the ceremony.

Envivas significant commitment at the Port of Epes will undoubtedly breathe life into a community and region eager for new, long-term opportunities. It truly is an exciting day for West Alabama, and I sincerely appreciate Envivas decision to plant roots here in our great state.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey gave remarks at the groundbreaking for an Enviva Wood Pellet Plant Wednesday June 28, 2023 in Epes, Ala. (Governors Office /Hal Yeager)Alabama Governor's Office

According to Enviva, the company has acquired more than 300 acres in the Epes Industrial Park on the Tombigbee River in Sumter County. When completed, the facility will be able to produce 1.1 million metric tons of pellets per year. The plant is expected to open by mid-2024 and reach full production in 2025.

The wood pellet or biomass industry has emerged in recent years as a way for other countries reach renewable energy or climate goals.

Many countries in Europe and Asia consider biomass a carbon-neutral energy source if the trees are replanted after being harvested, because the freshly planted trees will eventually recapture carbon, removing it from the atmosphere.

Serious doubts linger about that claim.

A 2018 study in scientific journal Environmental Research Letters found that burning wood pellets for energy releases more carbon than burning coal, because burning wood is less efficient. The study also calculated that it would take between 44 and 104 years for freshly planted trees.

Still, the increased global market for wood pellets has created an industry across the Southeast, and Alabama is a major part of that.

In addition to the Enviva operation, a competing company called Drax recently opened its second pellet mill in Alabama, a $100 million facility in Demopolis, in Marengo County. The other Drax mill in Alabama is in Aliceville, in Pickens County.

All these pellet mills are bringing needed jobs and economic activity to rural parts of the state that desperately need them, a fact acknowledged by politicians on both sides of the aisle.

I am proud to see more economic development and job creation in Sumter County, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, said in a news release.

It is imperative for the prosperity of Alabama that we continue to deliver more resources and opportunities directly to the people that need them most. I am thrilled to see Enviva is doing just that by providing even more jobs to our rural communities through this expansion.
An Alabama high school teacher turned herself in to authorities Thursday amid allegations she had inappropriate communications with a student.

Heartlee Pittman, a 25-year-old teacher at New Brockton High School in Coffee County, was charged on a count of being a school employee distributing or soliciting obscene material to or from a student -- a misdemeanor --, the sheriffs office said.

Authorities received a report of possible inappropriate communications between a teacher and a student under 19 years old at New Brockton High.

The investigation yielded an arrest warrant for Pittman, who lives in Troy.

She was booked into the Coffee County Jail on $1,500 bond.

Further information was unavailable.










English News China, Africa work together to build community of health for all

Alwihda Info | Par peoplesdaily - 30 Juin 2023



African countries are looking forward to and have faith in deepening China-Africa health cooperation. In early 2022, the Neurological Center of the China-Guinea Friendship Hospital was completed in Conakry, capital of Guinea after nearly three years of construction. A training session was held by the Chinese side, which trained multiple neurological experts for Guinea. In February this year, a program under the China-Africa paired cooperation mechanism was launched in Liberia, which gives the two sides an opportunity to cooperate on the studies of cardiology.

By Zou Song, People's Daily China-Africa health cooperation is an important part of China-Africa cooperation. In 1963, China's first medical team was dispatched to Algeria, marking the beginning of the country's medical assistance for Africa. Over the past six decades, generations of Chinese medical workers have written a series of moving stories with their wisdom, dedication and even lives, constantly consolidating the friendship between China and Africa.



One of the longest and most effective cooperation projects that involves the greatest number of African countries is the dispatch of Chinese medical teams.



From offering outpatient service and free clinics to providing medical training, and to setting up specialized hospitals in Africa, batches of Chinese medical workers have worked to benefit local people with their medical proficiency and medical ethics, making important contributions to building a China-Africa community of health for all.



The headquarters building of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was completed in January this year in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The China-aided modern structure is of important significance for improving Africa's capability in disease prevention, monitoring and epidemic response.



Over the years, China has jointly launched public health cooperation projects on the prevention and control of malaria, bilharzia and yellow fever with Tanzania, the Comoros and other countries and international organizations.



In 2014, China dispatched over 1,000 clinical and public health experts to join the fight against the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa. After the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the country sent expert teams and temporary pandemic-relief teams to 17 African countries and instructed medical assistance teams in some 40 African countries to help local communities get through difficulties.



China has actively launched COVID-19 vaccine cooperation with African countries and improved the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in Africa through donation and joint production.

Tshilidzi Bethuel Munyai, member of the Parliament of South Africa, called self-sufficient supply of vaccines a cornerstone of Africa's public health, saying China has always been helping Africa achieve this goal.



China-Africa health cooperation has been included in the 10 major cooperation projects, eight major initiatives and nine programs under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).



At the 8th Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC held in 2021, China announced that it would provide another one billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa, undertake 10 medical and health projects for African countries, and send 1,500 medical personnel and public health experts to Africa. This has significantly boosted the confidence in and injected strong impetus into China-Africa health cooperation.



Monique Nsanzabaganwa, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, said Africa and China have reaped fruitful results in their health cooperation, which is a vivid example of China's commitment to its promises.



China takes it as a priority to help African countries enhance medical specialty. As of 2021, China had helped 18 African countries establish 20 centers in different medical specialties, covering cardiology, critical care medicine, trauma and endoscopy. Paired cooperation mechanisms had been established between the Chinese side and 45 hospitals in 40 African countries. Besides, China had trained 20,000 African medical personnel. African medical workers' skills and African countries' medical systems have been constantly improved thanks to the joint efforts made by both Chinese and African sides.



China has aided a general hospital in Niger, which is the largest in the country and one of the largest in West Africa. The hospital serves as an important base for China-Niger health cooperation.

Director of the hospital's cardiology department Saidou Labo said through paired cooperation, China has helped the Nigerien side build a national cardiology and neurology center and donated advanced medical equipment, medicines and consumable items to Niger.



"China also helps us improve our clinical capability through regular skill training," he said.



African countries are looking forward to and have faith in deepening China-Africa health cooperation. In early 2022, the Neurological Center of the China-Guinea Friendship Hospital was completed in Conakry, capital of Guinea after nearly three years of construction. A training session was held by the Chinese side, which trained multiple neurological experts for Guinea. In February this year, a program under the China-Africa paired cooperation mechanism was launched in Liberia, which gives the two sides an opportunity to cooperate on the studies of cardiology. At present, a respiratory and critical care medicine cooperation program between China and Zimbabwe is well underway.



Guided by the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035, health cooperation has become another example of China-Africa cooperation and will lead to bigger success in building a China-Africa community of health for all.



Dans la meme rubrique : < > Lancang-Mekong cooperation media summit kicks off, aims at brighter future China sees high value-added economic growth in H1 Small zippers come with big time technologies Pour toute information, contactez-nous au : +(235) 99267667 ; 62883277 ; 66267667 (Bureau N'Djamena)
Our cousins across the pond apparently have jumped on the woke bandwagon and the Muslim Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is leading the charge.

In fact, Sadiq Khan's staff have been banned from calling people 'men and women' as part of a new inclusivity drive.

Pictured is an example of some of the banned phrases issued to staff working for the London Mayor's office.

In the guide's section on gender, staff was told: 'Avoid using "men and women" - say "people" or "Londoners". 'Similarly, instead of ladies and gentlemen' say something that doesn't exclude non-binary people.' The memo reportedly goes on to say the terms male and female are 'dated and medicalised' and that 'female humans are called 'girls and/or women', male humans are called 'boys and/or men'. Workers are also told that 'not all women have periods' and to use the phrase 'people affected by period poverty' as some trans men and non-binary people may have periods too. Staff working for Mr. Khan must no longer call someone a 'non-English speaker' because it portrays them as flawed and defective'. Instead, Greater London Authority employees must refer to them as Londoners with English Language needs'. Unconscious bias training is mandatory for all new staff at the Greater London Authority (GLA). The GLAs inclusive language guide was last updated in April 2022. A spokesperson for the GLA said: 'This guide is about encouraging precision, offering recommendations and highlighting things for staff to consider, not banning words.

In 2020, Sadiq Khan introduced Lets Talk About Race training to ensure that the GLA would be a committedly anti-racist organization. Sherelle Jacobs asserts that Sadiq Khan has mastered the art of woke populism.

In 2021 Sadiq Khan was accused of reducing Londons history to politics after unveiling the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm to review landmarks in the capital. The project has already come under fire from politicians concerned that important figures, i.e., Winston Churchill, could be erased from history by unelected activists on the task force.

Moreover, Sadiq Khan has stood up for United States Rep. Ilhan Omar and the rest of The Squad as he joined dozens of British politicians in condemning U.S. President Donald Trumps blatant unashamed racism against the four Democratic congressional representatives.

Writing on Twitter. . . Khan said the four women represent hope for the future. The Mayor, who like Omar is Muslim, added that their home is America, but their message crosses borders.

Furthermore, Megan G. Oprea has written that although Sadiq Khan is not an Islamist himself, he has supported radical Islamic clerics and has participated in events sanctioned by Islamists and pro-Palestinian groups that support violent jihad.

Thus, the following question needs to be asked. Why would a Muslim leader follow radical leftist ideology when it goes against Muslim teachings? After all, Muslims are strongly protesting against the radical LGBT/Gender ideology being forced on their children in schools.

In actuality [f]or far too long, Western liberals have taken hardline Muslims as their allies, ignoring the fact that Islam regards LGBT values as an abomination, punishable by death.

Daniel Greenfield explains that Islamic teachings were always incompatible with the sexual politics of its new leftist allies. Muslim Brotherhood groups, eager to capitalize on their newfound status after 9/11, avoided directly addressing those issues. CAIR signed letters and appeared at events alongside gay rights groups like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Muslim candidates running for public office even invoked sexual identity



In fact, Rep. Ilhan Omar has an entire page dedicated to the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights. But local Muslim officials are breaking away from the rainbow coalition.



In actuality, [t]he Democrats believed that they could build a rainbow coalition, a majority of minorities that would swamp the nation, overthrow the old America and replace it with their new alliance. The strategy appeared to be working as long as the minorities were united by their opposition to a majority. But the cracks are spreading, and not just among Islamists and gay rights activists.



There are those Muslims who have clearly called out other Muslim leaders who politically support LGBT since it is forbidden by Islamic law; in other words, haram.

Not entirely unexpected, the irony is that many Muslims are learning that the so-called Progressives have never really been their allies. Rather, Muslims in America have begun to understand that Far Left Democrats see them as nothing more than useful idiots to help promote their diversity agenda.

Clearly, Sadiq Khan has chosen his side with the end result that his Leftwing buddies will force pride flags and LGBT pornography in schools on everyone. On the other hand, as Greenfield points out,

the Islamic hardliners with a Muslim majority will force sharia on everyone. That is what happens in a country that has abandoned both its traditional consensus on values and its respect for individual beliefs leaving regions with a choice between female genital mutilation and transgender mastectomies, between marrying 7-year-old girls and grooming first graders.

Either choice is unacceptable since each group professes an ardent desire to eviscerate American freedom, target Jews and Israel and fundamentally change the character of America.

It remains to be seen how this tangled web plays out.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com
There are many things on this Earth are said to be contributing to global warming; cars, planes, plastic, and apparently pizza. New York City has ordered pizzerias that use coal and wood fired ovens to crack down their carbon emissions by 75%. Wood and coal fired stoves are apparently one of the largest contributors to air pollution and that this is just a common sense rule according to NYC Department of Environmental Protection spokesman, Ted Timbers.

This regulation will require pizzeria owners to buy expensive emission control devices, with one Brooklyn owner already paying $20,000 for an air filter. About 100 restaurants will be affected by this new rule. These restaurants have to hire engineers or architects so that they can determine whether or not they can actually install these controlled emission devices. If the restaurant cannot bring 75% of their carbon emissions down, they either need to bring it down by 25% through practice or provide a reason as to why they cannot install emission controls.

Obviously, many people were not happy about it. Scott Lobaido, conservative artist, bought boxes of pizza to New York City Hall and went on a rant shaming New York ending with, Youve heard of the Boston Tea Party, well this is the New York Pizza Party! Give us pizza or give us death while finally throwing boxes of pizza over the gates of City Hall. Dave Portnoy, whos known for doing pizza reviews on One Bite Pizza Reviews, posted a short on his personal channel titled, I Will Not Let NYC Ban Coal Fired Pizza Ovens cursing the new rule. You think shutting down like 10 to 15 pizza places is going to make a fucking differenceLeave the fucking pizzerias alone! This is no longer political, its personal.

Pizza is literally the pride of New York, and theres not much else to be proud about there, lately. Pizza is part of their history. Pizza is the one thing that New York and Chicago compete over, other than which city has the craziest criminals. When tourists come there, one of the first things they want to do is try the pizza and the city wants to rob them the taste of a classic New York, exquisitely delicious coal oven pizza because of climate change. Its ironic how politicians give most importance to issues that people care the least about because it requires the least amount of work.

Half of NYC cant afford basic needs. Crime is up 34% from 2018. NYC is literally sinking into the ground every year because of the sheer mass of people and skyscrapers. Mayor Eric Adams wants residents to house illegal immigrants because there are so many of them that are being sent from the US-Mexico border. New York is going after not even 100 pizzerias, yet 70,000 of its people are homeless. But its really nice to know that the government has its priorities straight.

Governor Kathy Hochul wants to achieve zero emission electricity by 2040 but is funded by members of the Tisch family, a family that has business in offshore drilling. Mayor Eric Adams wants to reduce the citys carbon emissions from food by 33% by 2030 and blames climate change for NYCs poor air quality but also rode on a private jet to Puerto Rico with a Bitcoin billionaire. John Kerry literally justified his use of private planes because the elites apparently do more to help the planet. Personally, I dont really care if people drove SUVs or go on private jets, but my issue is when people, especially public figures continuously lecture the public on rules they should abide by while also abiding by their own rules in private. So instead of going after the elites, corporations, and other countries, who not only contribute the most to global warming but are also the ones who can most afford to stop it, we are going after small businesses and everyday people. Fewer than a hundred pizzerias represent the soul of New York, yet theyre paying the biggest price for politicians and environmentalists that want to say they did something meaningful.

Everyone loves pizza. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and even Libertarians who hate everything. This is where the American people draw the line and theyve already drawn it many times before. The public outrage was so great that Im convinced that people would much rather bomb the entire North and South Pole than give up pizza. If there is one thing thats going to unite this country, its going to be the New York Pizza Party of 2023.

This new rule is a prime example of the government slowly chipping away at our individual freedoms under some kind of doomsday guise. The moral of the story is, if you ever feel stupid, just know that New York City tried to ban the most delicious pizza.

Photo (c) Chris Hennes CC By 2.0 license
The occasion of Thomas Sowells 93rd birthday offers an opportunity to share with folks who are only recently becoming acquainted with him the best starting place for understanding the basic outlines that define Sowells analysis of social problems.

Because it puts forward one of Sowells most important lessons in my opinion, namely his hypothesis that much of Western political debates are predicated on one of two predominant worldviews, what Sowell refers to as the constrained and unconstrained visions, reading his A Conflict of Visions as a good place for the new student to start. As he progresses through this and Sowells other works, it will be clear that the constrained vision informs Sowells analysis of a host of controversial issues, from economics to race and discrimination to history and cross-cultural comparisons. If I had to point to just a handful of topics the dedicated student of Sowell is likely to pick up, they would be

The amelioration or eradication of human social problems is not realistic, much less attainable. The best we can do is reduce such problems by (a) leaving individuals, groups, or associations to work out compromises as they see fit -- given that they are best positioned to know how certain actions will affect their lives in both the short- and long-run -- rather than depending on the so-called expertise of third parties who have neither the history nor institutional knowledge needed to decide a best course from a litany of options, or -- when compromise is ineffective because of the size and complexity of the problems -- (b) carefully enacting and implementing policies that, at the very least, do not exacerbate social problems. As Sowell succinctly puts it, and I paraphrase, There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs. Ones brilliance or giftedness in one domain, or area of expertise, does not mean that that person is qualified to speak authoritatively in some other domain. Both Marc Chaikin and Jim Rogers might be quite knowledgeable about particular aspects of economics, generally, and financial and commodity markets, specifically, but their competence in those areas do not, for instance, translate into competence regarding the feasibility of so-called renewable energy sources replacing fossil fuels. It takes considerable knowledge, Sowell has written, just to realize the extent of your own ignorance. A corollary is that knowledge in society is dispersed widely, both across individuals and time, having been attained through trial and error across many generations, but often unequally among the various peoples of the world and among individuals within specific communities. Only the hubristic person believes that all knowledge is somehow resident in him or in a select class of enlightened human beings informed only by unaided reason. A theory about how human beings should behave because of some policy that has been enacted into law will never correspond to reality because people are not, as Sowell likes to say, inert blocks of wood. Politicians may pass any number of laws and bureaucrats may deploy all sorts of rules; neither, however, may expect that the targets of such laws and rules will respond to them uniformly. Human beings respond to all sorts of incentives based on where each is in life, the cultural orientations inculcated in them, and various other constraints.

The aim of much gun control legislation, for instance, is supposedly to keep firearms out of the hands of those who would use them for nefarious purposes.The law themselves, however, are typically aimed at the transaction between legitimate gun sellers and potential lawful purchasers.At no point does it appear that lawmakers even consider that there would be illegitimate gun sellers and potential lawless, i.e., criminal, purchasers who make a mockery of the law.That is, insofar as the criminal who desires a firearm is forbidden from lawfully purchasing one, he will seek to obtain one illegitimately in whatever way he can.

Having absorbed these lessons with several supporting examples, the new students of Sowell will be prepared to consume social science data with a more critical eye. Attempts to elicit emotions designed to provoke unthinking social action will give way to calm, measured analysis that does its best to consider a host of alternative outcomes when such unthinking social action is set in motion. Facts will matter more than feelings.

I encourage the new student of Sowell to investigate a few resources with which they are likely unfamiliar, however, before they move on to engaging other thinkers of either the constrained or unconstrained vision. Each will deepen his understanding of Sowell's contributions to public policy and economic debates.

Interest in Sowells body of work portends good long-term outcomes for U.S. society if new students of Sowell go beyond reactions and engage Sowells body of work for themselves, and if they share their new understanding of political and economic matters with others in their social circles.

D. Diego Torres is senior analyst at a large community college system in Texas.

Image: Basic Books
Another pride parade month has come and gone. My very upscale, very safe, very woke suburb held its annual Pride Parade a couple weeks ago, both conducted and attended by privileged people who have never known oppression and never will. They likely couldnt name a single historical activist (other than Harvey Milk, maybe) or tell you what happened at Stonewall, and they certainly arent keen on comparing the status of the LGBTQ++ crowd here in white supremacist America against, say, their status in the remoter regions of the non-West BIPOC world.

Needless to say, I dont attend the event. Sandwiched as it is between the Womens Suffrage Parade and the Abolish Slavery Parade, I find the Pride parade to be just another cookie cutter rerun of todays activists fighting their ancestors causes. And peppered between the youthful activists are their parents, dull cogs in the Party machine whose intellectual prowess never plumbs deeper than aping the catchphrases du jour. Like the sniveling Parsons in Orwells 1984, theyd actually be proud of their kids for turning them over to the authorities for any violation of groupthink. As for the businesses and churches who cling to the bandwagon, their motives derive solely from a desire to not upset the State which, for anyone paying attention, is one of the hallmarks of true fascism.

To be fair, my town does try to keep the parade family-friendly, even if some of the attention-starved attendees dont. The same cannot be said for the big city parades  amorphous crude orgies designed solely to shock the tattered remains of civil society. I thought the whole point of the parade was to show that gay people are normal adults trying to peacefully live their lives, not overgrown children who never matured past their Marilyn Manson phase. Far be it from me to read the minds of gay people, but if there were a Straight Pride parade that consisted of unsightly heterosexuals clawing nakedly over each other in mindless, animalistic fornication, you can bet that neither me nor my kids would be in attendance to celebrate. If you get your kicks from gyrating your bared nether regions in the faces of grade schoolers just to stick it to Traditional Family Inc., then your motivation is grounded in the very spite and hatred you claim to oppose, and you are the problem.

But the problem goes beyond glorified smut. Whatever less-offensive cause the Pride Parade once represented has morphed into a vehicle for ideological conformity to which, sooner rather than later, the consequences for not raising your fist and chanting with the crowd will reverberate beyond social media bans. And such conformity extends well beyond the realm of sexuality. Two Minutes of Hate is always a 24/7 endeavor.

At recent Pride parades, bans have been imposed on Jewish symbols. Elsewhere, uniformed police were prohibited from inclusion and instead, they were admonished to acknowledge their harm. At yet others, lesbians were attacked as bigots and Nazis for being biological women who are sexually attracted towait for itother biological women. We are currently witnessing the slow motion exclusion of the LGB in favor of the T, and gay Americans are realizing that, like the blacks and women and Latinos and Jews and working class whites before them, they were simply used by the Left as disposable pawns through which to secure permanent political power. In Canada, the powers that be have already removed the L, the G, and the B, from the ever-evolving acronym (which is now, for the moment, 2STNBGC), effectively jettisoning the first three letters that brought the whole thing into existence. Theyve served their purpose, and are now being erased.

Maybe genial bakers in Colorado were never the threat.

To the Left, yesterdays martyr is often todays oppressor. This is an undisputed fact that has played out like clockwork in every leftist upheaval, starting with the storming of the Bastille and showing no signs of stopping with drag queen story hours. Being simply gay in America is no longer edgy and risque. Its boring and bourgeois. And as the Overton window shifts ever leftward, gay America is being relegated to the same category of irredeemable wretches as the rest of us ultra-MAGA semi-fascists. It would do transgender activists well to understand the Lefts playbook, lest they get too comfortable atop their intersectional perch. They wont remain there for long.

Petty tyrants are no longer thin men with cropped haircuts in brown shirts marching in crisp formation. Theyre now corpulent androgynes with knee-high rainbow socks shrieking for the cancellation of anyone with whom they disagree. They march with the fanatical certainty that they are 100% right about everything all the time, and that they possess the moral authority to enact their will through censorship and violence. Sexuality no longer has anything to do with it. To the true believers, it never did.

There is a macabre scene in the screen adaptation of Ray Bradburys Something Wicked This Way Comes. The protagonists, two young boys, discover that the villain Mr. Dark is using his traveling carnival not to entertain people, but to enslave their bodies and destroy their souls. One day the carnival holds a parade down Main Street, led by Mr. Dark himself, who can be seen constantly scanning the crowd with his predatory eyes. The boys run to join the parade until they coldly realize that its not actually a parade. Its a search. For them. The nonconformists who have seen through the deceptions and illusions and understand the carnival for what it is.

Pride Month is becoming a search for nonconformists. You can still get away unnoticed by skipping the parade, but why dont you have a Love Is Love yard sign? Why do you not send email signatures with your pronoun preferences? Why doesnt your social media account have a rainbow flag next to your name? Why are you buying Coors Light at WalMart rather than Bud Light at Target? You dont have a problem with your 2nd grader identifying as non-binary, do you? Do you?

My town doesnt have a parade for Memorial Day. My town doesnt have a parade for Independence Day. My town doesnt have a parade for Thanksgiving. My town certainly doesnt have a parade for Christmas. But my town has a big, loud, officially approved, unofficially mandated, Pride parade. And Pride itself, quietly but with impressive rapidity, has morphed from a single parade into an entire month. Biden officials are pressing to extend it throughout the summer. You can read this and roll your eyes, or you can read this and see a dystopia thats a lot closer than we expected.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
Hypocrisy runs in the mixed-race veins of Barack Obama. He accused S.C. senator Tim Scott, who is black, of lacking legitimacy and credibility because he is a Republican. As I point out in my book, The Rubbish Hauler's Wife versus Barack Obama, the former president was, is, and continues to be a fraud.

Tim Scott, gentleman that he is, responded: "Whenever the Democrats feel threatened, they pull out  drag out  the former president [Obama], have him make some negative comments about someone running, hoping that their numbers go down."

Obama said recently in an interview with David Axelrod that people, like Scott, fail to qualify their optimism of opportunities in America for ethnic minorities with "an honest accounting of our past and our present."

Why Obama feels he can attack Scott is beyond me. Scott is actually a black man; Obama is not. He was not the first black president because we have never had a black president. Has everyone forgotten that his mother was white? That makes Obama the first biracial president.

Scott was born in South Carolina. His parents divorced when he was seven, leaving him and his brother to grow up in working-class poverty, along with their mother. They moved into his maternal grandparents' house. He was raised under the good influences of his grandfather and also a man who owned a nearby Chick-fil-A restaurant.

Scott's life story is that of the American dream: work hard, and anyone can succeed  regardless of color.

Obama has no past with a black history. He can't even identify with blacks and comes across as fraudulent when he attempts to. He was raised in Hawaii, where the black population today is 1.88%.

Obama spent the first year of his life in Seattle, where his mother was going to school. With the exception of the four years he lived with her in Indonesia, from age six to ten, he spent the time through his high school years in Hawaii living with his white grandparents.

When Obama was at the exclusive Punahou school in 1999, he wrote in an essay: "Hawaii's spirit of tolerance might not have been perfect or complete. But it was  and is  real." He was one of six black students in the K12 school then. Even his marijuana-smoking buddies, the Choom Gang, were white.

Obama's life story is 180 degrees opposite to Scott's, but Obama feels he has the right to talk about the black experience in America? Obama has been handed everything his entire life and never even associated with blacks until he needed their votes.

When he went to college, his roommate at Occidental was Pakistani. Obama has no honest accounting of a "black past or present." The only thing Obama knows of black American is what pops up on a teleprompter.

Susan Daniels has been a licensed private investigator in the state of Ohio for thirty years and is president of Susan Daniels & Associates. Her memoir, The Rubbish Hauler's Wife versus Barack Obama, is available at Amazon.com.

Image: Trump White House.
A few weeks ago, Hollywood actress, presumed leftist, and we can only assume "historical scholar" Barbara Hershey posted the following tweet with the text:

It didn't start with gas chambers. It started with one party controlling the media. One party controlling the message. One party deciding what is truth. One party censoring speech and silencing opposition. One party dividing citizens into "Us" and "Them" and calling on their supporters to harass "Them" It started when good people turned a blind eye and let it happen.

This raises a host of questions, since she is referring to the far-left National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party  starting with the fact that it's her side as the "one party controlling the media," and exemplified by the study from the Media Research Center that the "Nets Spend 491 Minutes on Trump Indictment, 0 Seconds on Biden Burisma Bribery" a few weeks ago, and the recent video from PragerU (waiting two beats for a leftist to chime in for the 20 millionth time that it's not a real university) on how the national socialist media eviscerated its credibility by abandoning objectivity while faking it all along with Russian Collusion and the Death of Journalism.

It follows that with the national socialist media dominating the press, they also are the "one party controlling the message."

The same people who dominate the media have also set themselves up as fact-checkers for themselves and everyone else. And lo and behold, they tend to bestow the best ratings on their media sources as "truthful," while they like to apply the "misinformation" label to pro-freedom media sources.

Yes, this makes the far left the "One party deciding what is truth." Just don't ask them about the sum of 2 + 2, vaccine effectiveness, or what a woman is. And of course, this "one party" can't abide what it calls "misinformation" and thus is the "one party censoring speech and silencing opposition."

Unfortunately, two factors make this even more insidious.

One is that we've gotten used to being censored online. It used to be scandalous when one of the nation's social media corporations did this. Now it's become normalized.

The other thing is that the far left uses its trivial distraction tactic to mislead from what it is doing  in this case, making false claims about book bans. This mendacity on the left's part helps it cover its actions.

Leftists just repeat their lie over and over, and it becomes the "truth."

We're not sure what she meant by "us" and "them," but who can forget that infamous video of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) calling for people to harass members of President Trump's administration?

What is truly amazing is that Ms. Hershey failed to recognize her side in all of this. How does someone like that account for the fact that the far left dominates the media?

Given that she is part of that system, how do people like that even start a screed like that, thinking the pro-freedom right controls the media?

The major newspapers  New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, etc.  are all clearly on the left, if not the far left, with only a few that are centrist or lean right.

It's the same story with the cable channels  CNN, MSNBC, etc.  that are dominated by the nation's socialist viewpoint, with one, FOX, being at best right-leaning.

The rest of the media show the same dominance by the far left, so where does she think the pro-freedom right is the "one party controlling the media"?

The dirty little secret of the 2020 election was not only the massive loss of electoral integrity, but the fact that one key piece of information was purposefully withheld from the people.

Then, of course, there is one issue the far left never mentions in its issue projections, one issue that makes it crystal-clear that the far left shares the side of history with the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party and any other authoritarian collectivist down through history.

That is the fact that they all share the common trait of wanting to disarm the people and empower themselves. Aside from a few rare and meaningless trivial distractions, it's the far left that constantly obsesses over gun confiscation. This was seen with the Nazis, the USSR, and the Democrats. They can play the projection game all they want with other issues, and those who know the facts know that these are absurd. But when it comes to the issue of gun confiscation, they have nothing to say. They just have to keep quiet and hope no one notices.

Do you find it interesting that even the far left can't help but compare itself to the Nazis?

D Parker is an engineer, inventor, wordsmith, and student of history, the director of communications for a civil rights organization, and a longtime contributor to conservative websites. Find him on Substack.

Image: Barbara Hershey. Credit: The Kennedy Center via YouTube, CC BY 3.0 (cropped).
The diverse opinions issued in the Supreme Court's ruling yesterday striking down affirmative action in college admissions pretty well confirms Justice Clarence Thomas's assertion that black people are individuals, and as individuals, they have different experiences. All one has to do to see that is look at the dissenting opinion of his junior colleague, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is also black, and compare it to his own.

In STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC., Plaintiff, v. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA the Court ruled 6-3 against affirmative action in college admissions, based on a series of lawsuits brought by largely Asian-American students from Students for Fair Admissions, who charged they were being systemically discriminated against based on the color of their skin, owing to the schools' admissions rulings that there were "too many" of them even though their applications demonstrated outstanding merit. (There also was a similar case against Harvard by the same plaintiffs that the Court ruled the same way on, which Jackson recused herself from).

Thomas argued forcefully in what has been described as an "epic" concurring opinion by the lawyers at Legal Insurrection, that black people cannot be pigeonholed, cookie-cuttered, or summed up with little check boxes substituting for merit, and he went after Jackson for saying so:

Yet, JUSTICE JACKSON would replace the second Founders vision with an organizing principle based on race. In fact, on her view, almost all of lifes outcomes may be unhesitatingly ascribed to race. Post, at 2426. This is so, she writes, because of statistical disparities among different racial groups. See post, at 1114. Even if some whites have a lower household net worth than some blacks, what matters to JUSTICE JACKSON is that the average white household has more wealth than the average black household. Post, at 11. This lore is not and has never been true. Even in the segregated South where I grew up, individuals were not the sum of their skin color. Then as now, not all disparities are based on race; not all people are racist; and not all differences between individuals are ascribable to race. *** Accordingly, JUSTICE JACKSONs race-infused world view falls flat at each step. Individuals are the sum of their unique experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. What matters is not the barriers they face, but how they choose to confront them. And their race is not to blame for everythinggood or badthat happens in their lives. A contrary, myopic world view based on individuals skin color to the total exclusion of their personal choices is nothing short of racial determinism. JUSTICE JACKSON then builds from her faulty premise to call for action, arguing that courts should defer to experts and allow institutions to discriminate on the basis of race. Make no mistake: Her dissent is not a vanguard of the innocent and helpless. It is instead a call to empower privileged elites, who will tell us [what] is required to level the playing field among castes and classifications that they alone can divine.

What he was saying in his concurring opinion, which was atypically read out loud by him, was obvious enough by his very own life -- as was Jackson's dissenting opinion.

Brown Jackson laid out a slew of "expert" statistics, such as the impact of historical red-lining and the ongoing disparities in health care outcomes for the lack of achievement now seen in the black community, arguing that affirmative action in college admissions would supposedly remedy it, unwittingly admitting that there was a merit problem to start with. Perhaps she can name one black hospital located in a black urban area with all affirmative-actioned black medical personnel that makes the top rankings in hospitals.

In her furious dissent at Thomas and the Court majority, she wrote:

"With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat," Jackson wrote. "But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life."

Irrelevant in law to what? And what's this legal 'fiat' she speaks of? Legal means laws, and laws are passed by legislatures. Fiat can only be done by a dictator. Letting people into universities on the basis of race over merit no matter what the law says about equal protection is where the 'fiat' is.

What she described in that series of Jim Crow laws starting on page 70 of her opinion is obviously outrageous to any decent person today, but the laws that created those problems were scrapped years ago. The problems remain. Jackson argues that that's why black people are behind, though she certainly didn't mention the direct cause of the lack of black merit in education which takes us directly to the affirmative action issue, which is that black children are forced into failing public schools run by dishonest teachers' unions with no choice in the matter and can't get out. (My sister, who's an admissions chief at a well-regarded private college has told of sad cases of obviously striving young people from these neighborhoods who still can't measure up to kids in normal educational environments and having to turn them down as a mercy gesture because they won't be able to keep up with the other students. That is sad stuff. Other schools let them in on affirmative action grounds and cynically don't care if they fail. Other schools still will pass them onto the highest levels of education through affirmative action, where the problems continue).

It was the standard argument of the establishment, which Jackson is and always has been very much part of.

Thomas in his concurring opinion, focused on individual merit, individual achievement, and the possibility that people can rise up if they can be judged on merit rather than handed the crutches of affirmative action, which actually hobble them.

Maybe that's because that's his "lived experience" speaking. Unlike Jackson, who grew up in an upper middle class environment with two high-achieving black parents, Thomas got no privileges whatsoever in his life, not even that of speaking the English language, given that his native tongue was Gullah, a black dialect of the outer islands of the southeast coast of the U.S. All he ever got were just a few educational opportunities that he maximized because he was taught to work hard by his grandfather who raised him in the depths of Jim Crow-South Georgia.

His Wikipedia entry reads:

Thomas was born on June 23, 1948, in Pin Point, Georgia. Pin Point was a small, predominantly black community near Savannah founded by freedmen after the Civil War. He was the second of three children born to M. C. Thomas, a farm worker, and Leola "Pigeon" Williams, a domestic worker.[8][9][10] They were descendants of enslaved people and spoke Gullah as a first language.[11] Thomas's earliest known ancestors were slaves named Sandy and Peggy, who were born in the late 18th century and owned by wealthy planter Josiah Wilson of Liberty County, Georgia. Thomas's father left the family when Thomas was two years old. Though Thomas's mother worked long hours, she was sometimes paid only pennies per day, struggled to earn enough money to feed the family, and was forced to rely on charity. After a house fire left them homeless, Thomas and his younger brother, Myers, were taken to live in Savannah with his maternal grandparents, Myers and Christine (nee Hargrove) Anderson.[14][a] Thomas experienced amenities such as indoor plumbing and regular meals for the first time while staying in Savannah.[8] Myers Anderson had little formal education but built a thriving fuel oil business that also sold ice. Thomas has called Anderson "the greatest man I have ever known".[14] When Thomas was ten years old, Anderson started taking the family to help at a farm every day from sunrise to sunset.[14] He believed in hard work and self-reliance, and counseled Thomas to "never let the sun catch you in bed". He also impressed upon his grandsons the importance of a good education.[8]

He later did benefit from affirmative action in its early days -- and it didn't help him. This paragraph is devastating:

From 1971 to 1974, Thomas attended Yale Law School as one of twelve Black students. He graduated with a Juris Doctor degree "somewhere in the middle of his class".[39] He has said that the law firms he applied to after graduating from Yale did not take his J.D. seriously, assuming he obtained it because of affirmative action.[41] According to Thomas, the law firms also "asked pointed questions, unsubtly suggesting that they doubted I was as smart as my grades indicated".[42] In his 2007 memoir, he wrote: "I peeled a fifteen-cent sticker off a package of cigars and stuck it on the frame of my law degree to remind myself of the mistake I'd made by going to Yale. I never did change my mind about its value."

Since he did have merit because of his hard work, that handicapped him, as well as hit his self-esteem and it was something he could do nothing about. No wonder he would rather that admissions systems always be matters of merit.

Jackson, though, with her glib enumerations of various inequalities seen in the black community on average (Thomas couldn't stand that averaging seen in affirmative action admissions, given the range of individual black experiences, which pretty well wipes out individual experience), came from a very different background:

That's a pretty privileged background, well insulated from the impoverished situation of the black applicants she describes. Did she ever know any discrimination? Doesn't sound like it, because if she did, she would have talked about it. She mentions having ancestors she didn't know much about in Georgia -- which is even more insulation from the reality that Thomas knew firsthand.

Her experience with affirmative action was interesting too:

Might that counselor have been counseling against her applying to Harvard because she wasn't all that good? Or that the counselor was measuring her by the standard of white applicants who didn't get in? And might the fact that she got in suggest that she got in was because of affirmative action? Maybe yes, maybe no -- she does seem quite educated and sharp in her dissenting opinion in many ways. But her opinion is like a parroting of activist talk instead of the case that was put in front of her.

And it's notable that she uses stereotypes in her hypothetical example of James the privileged white princeling legacy admit and John the poor black striver as her extreme examples. How many cases out there are like that, particularly when the issue is the shutout of Asian-American students with top SAT scores> While legacy admissions are another problem that's got to go, that's a separate issue. It's that juxtaposition of extremes through comic-book-style cutouts that doesn't reflect the real world of subtlties and differences of individuals that Thomas wrote about and argued could only be resolved by absolute standards of merit and equal application of the laws and rules.

Jackson in her dissenting opinion with two cookie-cutter stereotypes ignored what Thomas didn't ignore in his -- that other people who are neither black nor white, such as Asian-Americans, are being caught up in this cookie-cutter dichotomy of affirmative action intended to punish whitey and uplift black applicants. Jackson noted in her dissent that both James and John can be admitted, the school only used "whole person" criteria, but utterly ignored that the guy who didn't get admitted as both James and John sailed in, was the high-achieving Asian-American kid, who got no mention whatsoever in Jackson's summary.

The Asian kid was a non-person, not part of this -- and his hard work and merit didn't matter.

Thomas cared about that kid -- the hard worker, the kid who got his merit through hard work the same way he did -- and made the ruling for him. Everyone can achieve merit if they work hard, he effectively argued. Nobody can change the color of their skin, or the past history of wrongs that have since been righted.

That was what Jackson's background and legal logic never understood. She's trapped in a leftist bubble of permanent victimhood for black people, despite not being any sort of victim herself. Thomas is a victim who broke out of that victimhood and achieved his own merit despite the odds against him. What irony we have here -- and proof indeed that Thomas's assertion that all individuals, even those in the same race categories (which I am sure he abhors) are individuals and different ones at that.

Image: Twitter screen shot
Somewhere in Moscow, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin must be laughing.

After all, wasn't he 'weakened' by the recent military mutiny by the mercenary group Wagner PMC, which reached a fizzling end?

That was the consensus of the western elites in the wake of that to-do.

According to Joe Biden:

President Joe Biden told CNN on Wednesday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has absolutely been weakened by the short-lived mutiny over the weekend. ... Its hard to tell but hes clearly losing the war, Biden told reporters on the White House South Lawn, mistakenly referring to the war in Iraq instead of Ukraine. Hes losing the war at home. Hes become a bit of a pariah around the world. And its not just NATO, its not just the European Union, its Japan, he added. Asked again if Putin is weaker today than he was last week, Biden said: I know he is.

Here's an tut-tutting analysis from Reuters a few days ago:

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A failed mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin rams home the European Unions need to protect itself from trouble abroad. Leaders meeting this week in Brussels are already thinking in more geostrategic terms. But until they act as a bloc they will lack clout. The short-lived uprising by mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin has weakened Putin, and could help Ukraine in its ongoing counteroffensive against Russia. However, it has also raised the prospect of more chaos, unpredictability and danger on the EUs frontiers

Really? Europe seems to be doing pretty well on that front on its own.

Here's what's doing in one of the big pillars of Western civilization:

Frances President Emmanuel Macron has chaired a second crisis meeting of senior ministers in consequtive days in the wake of a third night of rioting following the police killing of a 17-year-old boy, identified as Nahel, in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. There were more than 800 arrests across the country into Friday. Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes through the night that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings. There was also looting reported in a number of locations, including central Paris. Authorities also re fires or skirmishes in multiple cities overnight, from Toulouse in the south to Lille in the north  although the nexus remained Nanterre and the surrounding areas. The French government is considering "all options" for restoring order, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said, calling the violence "intolerable and inexcusable" in a tweet. "The priority is to ensure national unity and the way to do it is to restore order," she later told reporters during a visit to a Paris suburb.

Sound like maybe that guy has been "weakened" too?

Speaking of "weakened."

Contrasting the two incidents will undoubtedly be called comparing apples to oranges, they'll say, but it's pretty instructive, actually.

Putin had a problem with a military mutiny of mercenaries he allowed to operate in Russia and apparently got the president of Belarus to talk the leader of the revolt, Yevgeny Prigozhin, down from the ledge. Whatever was going on under the surface over there, Putin came out with a speech, spoke in uncompromising terms with no apologies offered, called Prigozhin a "traitor" to the motherland, and compared the disorder to the nightmare of Bolshevism that descended upon Russia in 1917. After that, Prigozhin mysteriously stopped his march on Moscow, turned around, and returned to his army to its "camps" with himself going into exile.

Problem over, and even with whatever else may be going on, at least one can say there was no bloodshed.

Macron, by contrast, who leads France, has allowed in millions of illegal immigrant invaders and stuck then into suburban banlieues which amount to free housing for them, much the same way New York City is doing. One bad police incident, and violent riots are now spinning out of control across his country. Illegal migrants and their teenaged anchor children imported in and are now leading an invader's mutiny of their own, burning cars and buildings, looting shops, closing transit, prompting travel advisories -- this report says they had been hanging out by the Nike store to express their call for 'justice' which tells us what this was really about -- and residents say they expect at least ten days of this. Macron, unlike Putin, has groveled and apologized to the rioting migrants, as well as arrested the cop involved in the shooting, apparently thinking that that will placate them, which of course is only emboldening them. No Putin-style speech from him.

Tell us again that Putin is the "weakened" one, what with this kind of burning-car lootfest show going on in France?

Seems everyone's got some kind of problem with allowing certain kinds of invaders to exist which now threaten public order in these countries, with the "weakening" of leaders pretty much all over. Some leaders, such as Putin, have a pretty good idea how to take care of it. Some, such as Macron, don't.

Bottom line here is that the West has no business smugly claiming that Putin alone is somehow 'weakened,' not with these kinds of self-own problems going on, which nobody in the West has the resolution to solve.

Image: Screen shot from Twitter video.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the U.S. ruled that affirmative action, or race-based college admission decisions, of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina is unconstitutional.

According to Chief Justice John Roberts:

Because Harvard's and UNC's admissions programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points, those admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause.

Harvard University officials reacted negatively to the Supreme Court's decision, releasing a statement declaring:

We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences. That principle is as true and important today as it was yesterday. So too are the abiding values that have enabled usand every great educational institutionto pursue the high calling of educating creative thinkers and bold leaders, of deepening human knowledge, and of promoting progress, justice, and human flourishing.

Michelle Obama, an intelligent woman who nevertheless probably benefited from affirmative action  and legacy college admissions thanks to her talented brother  also expressed her opposition to the Supreme Court decision.

Back in college, I was one of the few Black students on my campus, and I was proud of getting into such a respected school. I knew I'd worked hard for it. But still, I sometimes wondered if people thought I got there because of affirmative action. It was a shadow that students like me couldn't shake, whether those doubts came from the outside or inside our own minds. But the fact is this: I belonged. And semester after semester, decade after decade, for more than half a century, countless students like me showed they belonged, too. It wasn't just the kids of color who benefitted, either. Every student who heard a perspective they might not have encountered, who had an assumption challenged, who had their minds and their hearts opened gained a lot as well.

In other words, she inadvertently degraded herself, admitting she was chosen not for her academic prowess, but for her different "perspective."

Agreeing with his wife, former president Barack Obama (D) added:

Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society. But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of America's key institutions  it gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table. In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision, it's time to redouble our efforts.

Unfortunately, Obama is correct in stating "generations of students ... had been systematically excluded from most of America's key institutions." But do such talented people as the Obamas really have "to show we more than deserved a seat at the table"? A "table"-deserving applicant wouldn't need affirmative action.

But "redouble ... efforts" for race-based affirmative action is certainly on the agenda, in spite of/because of yesterday's decision. There are ways of getting around the Supreme Court ruling, as both Chief Justice Roberts and the Harvard faculty noted.

The Court also ruled that colleges and universities may consider in admissions decisions "an applicant's discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise."

So, some advice to the many Asian-American and Jewish students and others who are rejected from colleges merely because admitting them would destroy the institution's "diversity," among other evasive reasons: take your talents and your brains elsewhere. Better, don't even bother applying to such narrow-minded, bigoted institutions. Instead, seek out and attend those schools that value you for being you.

And take your money with you.

If you really, really want to/must attend a school which endorses racial standards among other admissions criteria, OK, do it. But don't let their bigotry affect you.

Photo credit: US Embassy, New Delhi, CC BY-ND 2.0 license.
Its been a busy two days as the Supreme Court ended its 2022-2023 term. The three most noteworthy opinions ended affirmative action (although with a dangerous caveat), limited executive authority to erase debt, and struck a blow for free speech. Because all three are completely normal in analysis and effect, theyre rather uninteresting. Whats more interesting are the dissents, which predict what a leftist-controlled future will look like.

The first case of note was Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. The Court held that race-based college admissions violate the letter and spirit of the Constitution, especially the Fourteenth Amendment. If Chief Justice Roberts, who wrote the opinion, had stopped there, that would have been great. Race as a consideration in college admissions (and, indeed, one could argue, hiring for any job) would be dead in the water.

Sadly, because this is Roberts, and hes a squish, he added squish language to the decision:

At the same time, as all parties agree, nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.

Image: United States Supreme Court justices.

We know how that works. In California, affirmative action has, technically, been dead for a while, thanks to the fact that voters hate it. What colleges and universities do, instead, is make those lived experiences central. That is a substitute for race, as Erwin Chermerinsky, the hard-left dean of Boalt Hall, the law school at UC Berkeley, explains about faculty hires:

EXCLUSIVE: Berkeley Law School dean Erwin Chemerinsky explains how he has secretly enacted a policy of racial discrimination in faculty hiringwhich is illegal in California.



"If I'm ever deposed, I'm going to deny I said this to you." pic.twitter.com/GYgtNZfhtb  Christopher F. Rufo  (@realchrisrufo) June 29, 2023

Predictably, the three hard-left female justices (two of whom are affirmative action hires) reacted badly to the ostensible end of affirmative action. Justice Jackson, as already noted, relied on a flawed study to bolster her position. If you want a look at how faulty this reasoning is, just read Justice Thomass concurrence.

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR apparently believes that race-conscious admission programs can somehow increase the chances that members of certain races (blacks and Hispanics) are admitted without decreasing the chances of admission for members of other races (Asians). See post, at 5859. This simply defies mathematics. [snip] As [Jackson] sees things, we are all inexorably trapped in a fundamentally racist society, with the original sin of slavery and the historical subjugation of black Americans still determining our lives today. Post, at 126 (dissenting opinion). The panacea, she counsels, is to unquestioningly accede to the view of elite experts and reallocate societys riches by racial means as necessary to level the playing field, all as judged by racial metrics. Post, at 26. I strongly disagree. [snip] Yet, JUSTICE JACKSON would replace the second Founders vision with an organizing principle based on race. In fact, on her view, almost all of lifes outcomes may be unhesitatingly ascribed to race. Post, at 2426. This is so, she writes, because of statistical disparities among different racial groups. [snip] Put simply, the fate of abstract categories of wealth statistics is not the same as the fate of a given set of flesh-and-blood human beings. [snip] Worse still, JUSTICE JACKSON uses her broad observations about statistical relationships between race and select measures of health, wealth, and well-being to label all blacks as victims. Her desire to do so is unfathomable to me.

Theres more, and its all brilliant. Put simply, Thomas, who grew up in abysmal poverty under Jim Crow, is a humanist and a realist. Jackson, the cosseted daughter of an upper-middle-class household, is a racist and a fantasist. Thats all you need to know.

In Biden v. Nebraska, Chief Justice Roberts wrote an unexceptional opinion arguing the obvious: The Constitution does not give the executive, via the Secretary of Education, the unilateral ability to rewrite legislation to diminish or cancel tens of millions of student loans, costing taxpayers around $500 billion.

Again, it was Kagans dissent that was illuminating. First, she says that, just because states are affected by the Secretarys actions doesnt mean they get to complain. Roberts did not agree with Kagans logic:

.@varadmehta Kagan has permanently lost Roberts by embracing the deranged rhetoric of Sotomayor this term. Bad news for the moderate progressives. pic.twitter.com/JTix3ND9oy  Matheson Mayotte (@RightFren) June 30, 2023

Substantively, Kagan argues that the ability to waive or modify legislation under specific and limited circumstances was a license for the executive to rewrite the statute. This is how leftists view the administrative state. Once given a mandate, it can do anything. Kagan argues that the statute applies to all individuals affected by a national emergency and, darn it, everyone was affected, so there you have it, carte blanche to change the law. Of course, everyone was affected by COVID, including the taxpayers who would be burdened with this regulatory overreach. But really, who cares when youve got the votes of student deadbeats?

Perhaps the most interesting decision is 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, which reaffirms Americans right to be free of coerced speech. The complainant, a devout Christian in Colorado, wanted to make personalized wedding web pages. However, she was afraid that, just as it did to Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakes, the state would sanction her and force her into a reeducation camp for refusing to make websites for same-sex weddings. Gorsuch, writing for the Supreme Court, agreed with her.

This is not a situation in which a store is refusing to sell widgets to gay people. It is, instead, a situation in which an individual would be forced to use her skills to express ideas with which she strongly disagrees. That is the essence of state-coerced speech, and it violates the First Amendment. The decision is about three times longer than it needs to be, but it makes the point.

Sotomayors dissent abandons rationality. As far as shes concerned, not forcing people to engage in expressive acts that constitute speech pretty much means LGBTQ++ people will die (and I exaggerate only slightly):

Around the country, there has been a backlash to the movement for liberty and equality for gender and sexual minorities. New forms of inclusion have been met with reactionary exclusion. This is heartbreaking.

Nothing more clearly reflects Sotomayors mindset than this sentence, complete with scare quotes:

A business open to the public seeks to deny gay and lesbian customers the full and equal enjoyment of its services based on the owners religious belief that same-sex marriages are false.

The disdain for traditional Christian belief drips from Sotomayors keyboard. And her disdain for the Constitution is there, too:

As I will explain, the law in question targets conduct, not speech, for regulation, and the act of discrimination has never constituted protected expression under the First Amendment.

The conduct, in this case, is speech, because its expressive. Its not like a sign in a general store saying, LGBTQ+ people may not buy our goods, which is purely discriminatory conduct. And again, the government doesnt get to control speech, no matter how its expressed.

Sotomayor struggles. Gorsuch slapped her back nicely:

Oh, this is just brutal from J. Gorsuch responding to J. Sotomayor's dissent. pic.twitter.com/i4PnUNVlkt  Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) June 30, 2023

The majority on the Supreme Court got all three cases right, although Roberts may have undercut Students for Fair Admissions so badly that it swiftly becomes irrelevant. And while its amusing to read the emotion-laden, irrational dissents, Id like to remind all of you that the left spells out its positions and never abandons them. If conservatives are not vigilant (which means getting their act together by 2024), the leftist justices vision will soon be the law of the land.
If you are bad at shopping and dont know the right products to get, Bing AI-generated buying guides are here to help. Possibly, with this feature, a lot of online shoppers will turn to AI for shopping guidance. The announcement of this feature was made on the Microsoft Bing blog a few hours ago, and it goes beyond telling you the right products to get.

Everybody likes a fair deal while shopping in a physical store or an online store. Microsoft knows this, and they train their Bing AI to find and display the best deals on a product to shoppers. But it doesnt also stop there, it also gives a brief rundown on the reviews of the product.

As you know, reviews on products vary from one online store to the other. So, the Bing AI will bring you a summary of all reviews from each store, so you can better decide where to purchase the product you want from. Now the big question is how you can get to start using this amazing AI-generated shopping feature.

Allow Microsofts Bing AI-generated buying guides to assist you while you shop online

Microsoft says that their aim with this new feature is to bring more joy to shopping for users of Bing and Edge browsers. They are doing this by simplifying the shopping process by giving users what they need when they need it. Also, sorting out the right price and the best deals on products that users are shopping for.

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This will entail bringing shopping features like coupons, cashback, and so much more to users. Accessing this AI-generated shopping experience is quite easy and doesnt require much effort. All users need to do is identify a niche where what they are shopping for will fit, for instance, baby toys.

Now type that phrase into the Bing or Edge search box, and the AI will pull up the best picks for you. These picks will also bring into consideration various price ranges, allowing shoppers to pick the best for their budget. While shopping, users can engage the Bing chatbot from the sidebar to suggest what to consider in the products they are looking out to purchase.

The chatbot will also offer insight into what other shoppers think of a particular product. With its price match feature, the AI will monitor the products price and notify you once it drops. If you should purchase the AI-generated recommendations, then itll track your purchase.

This feature is already rolling out to Bing and Edge browsers on PC and mobile. Its full benefits will be made available gradually from one region to another. If you are a core Chrome user, then you should know that Google also has something similar.
A couple of days back, we got our first look at Samsungs upcoming Fan Edition phone Galaxy S23 FE. The devices design may have already put off a few prospective buyers, and its reported charging speed likely wont help change their minds. The new FE phone wont charge faster than 25W. Worse yet, the retail box will come sans the charging adapter, a practice that Samsung has expanded to budget phones as well.

The Galaxy S23 FE recently popped up on a Chinese certification website (3C). The listing doesnt explicitly name the phone, but the mentioned model number SM-S7110 is long associated with the upcoming FE phone. The certification reveals that the device boasts 5G cellular connectivity and has a maximum power input rating of 9V and 2.77A (via). In simpler terms, thats 25W of maximum charging speed. The documents also add that the phone is sold without the power adapter.

We never expected Samsung to ship the Galaxy S23 FE with a charger, nor did we hope for faster charging speed. The Korean firm has shown no interest in the numbers game as far as the charging speed is concerned (well talk about cameras later).

But, an upgrade in this department could make a few people look past its design. If the leaked renders are accurate, the Galaxy S23 FE wont look any better than the Galaxy A54 5G. No phone in this price segment should feature such thick and uneven bezels.

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Galaxy S23 FE rumored specs

Rumors about the Galaxy S23 FE have been coming for a while now. Samsung is expected to equip the phone with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The Exynos 2200 will reportedly power the phone globally, paired with the AMD-powered Xclipse 920 GPU. Thats the same CPU and GPU pair used on the Galaxy S22 series last year. The device will get 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.

Coming to cameras, the Galaxy S23 FE wont give you the bonkers 200MP shooter found on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Instead, Samsung will offer the 50MP sensor that the base Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ use. We are expecting a 12MP ultrawide camera, an 8MP 3x zoom lens, and a 12MP selfie camera to go with the primary shooter. Other highlights include a 4,500 mAh battery, an under-display fingerprint scanner, Wi-Fi 6, and NFC. Stay tuned for more details about the Galaxy S23 FE, including its price and launch date.
With less than a month to go before its next Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung is busy gathering necessary regulatory certifications for its new products. The company has recently picked up multiple regulatory approvals for the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Flip 5, and the Galaxy Tab S9 series. The two foldables have been certified by the FCC in the US, while the Fold model has also received the NBTC certification in Thailand. The new tablets have also popped up on the NBTC certification website.

The FCC has certified both the US and global versions of the Galaxy Z Flip 5, with model numbers SM-F731U and SM-F731B, respectively. But as of this writing, only the global version of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 has surfaced on the FCC website. It carries the model number SM-F946B. As usual, these certifications dont reveal much about the devices. Some standard stuff like support for mmWave 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, NFC, 45W wired charging, wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging. Nothing surprising or unexpected here.

Its a similar story with the Galaxy Z Fold 5s NBTC certification as well. It doesnt tell us any specifics about the device apart from its model number SM-F946B/DS (via). The DS at the end confirms dual-SIM support in the country. FCC documents also mentioned dual-SIM support for the phone in other markets. The listing on the Thai regulatory bodys website also goes on to name the product, i.e., Galaxy Z Fold 5. Likewise, it names the Galaxy Tab S9 (SM-X716B) and Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra (SM-X916) as well.

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Samsung will launch these Galaxy devices in late July

As of this writing, the NBTC doesnt appear to have certified the Galaxy Tab S9+ and the Galaxy Z Flip 5. But those should follow soon. Samsung would be looking to wrap up the certification work as quickly as possible. It has already obtained FCC certifications for the Galaxy Tab S9 series and the Galaxy Watch 6 series. Some of these products have received regulatory approvals in other markets as well. The Korean firm will unveil them all during its Galaxy Unpacked event at the end of July. On July 27, to be precise.

This years Galaxy Unpacked is happening in Samsungs home country South Korea, as opposed to the US location of the previous major events. Although not officially confirmed, we should at least get two foldables, three tablets, and two smartwatches from the company this time. A new pair of TWS earbuds doesnt seem to be coming next month. Stay tuned for more information.
If you didnt already know, last week the Canada Online News Act went into effect. This particular act is set to anger certain big tech companies with new promoting platforms. Google, one of these big tech companies, is already showing how angry it is by blocking Canadian local news from its platform.

Well, Google is not the only one taking this stand, as Meta is also set to do something similar. However, this bill is set to take effect in about six months, giving these tech firms time to adjust. So why is it already getting some backlash months before it takes full effect?

The response from Google and Meta alike is a result of the requirement of this said bill. Both tech firms are totally against the idea that this bill is pushing and arent willing to collaborate. Google has called this bill unworkable and they are not considering giving it a second thought. Lets now delve a bit into the details of the Canada Online News Act and why its getting on the nerves of big tech firms.

Canada Online News Act doesnt sit well with Google and can affect local news circulation

With the Online News Act, Canada demands that big tech firms with new promoting platforms pay news providers. This sounds like a bill will favor lots of Canadian news outlets since theyd get paid for their news. But big tech firms with news promoting platforms like Google dont find this request sensible.

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Kicking against this bill, Google is now blocking Canadian news outlets from their platform. This action from Google is detrimental to not only the news outlets as businesses but also the Canadian government. You might be wondering how this will affect news outlets in Canada, as well as the countrys government.

Well, Google accounts for the majority of the news traffic within Canada as well as other regions. News outlets rely on Googles platforms to make the news they carry reach the public. Also, the government relies on most of Googles platforms to get information out to their citizens faster.

So by blocking Canadian news on its platform, Google is making things a bit tight for citizens of this country. Meta is also planning to do the same and restrict the flow of Canadian news on its platforms. These two platforms are only doing this to fight against the bill that doesnt favor their businesses.

There is no telling how long Google will keep Canadian news out of its platforms. But there is a need for the parties involved in the making of this bill to reach an agreement with Google and Meta concerning this matter. More information on this matter will be made available in the coming weeks.
More than 300 companies took part took part in MWC Shanghai 2023, but a few big names were conspicuously missing. Samsung, Qualcomm, and Ericsson all skipped the mobile communications industry event, which concluded today at the Shanghai International Expo Centre in China. Samsungs absence, in particular, has raised eyebrows amid souring relations between China and South Korea.

MCW Shanghai is an annual trade show organized by GSMA, the same association that also organizes MWC Las Vegas and MWC Barcelona. While the MWC brand remains synonymous with the Barcelona event, the regional events in China and the US also see active participation from major stakeholders of the tech industry every year. Samsung hadnt missed the Shanghai event since at least 2017.

But it was a no-show from the Korean behemoth this year. Unlike Qualcomm and Ericsson, Samsung showed no interest at all in MWC Shanghai 2023. The former two companies had originally booked stands as an exhibitor in the event but later canceled the plans. Moreover, they were among the 15 major corporate sponsors of the mega exhibition. Senior executives from Qualcomm and Ericsson also attended the event and were naming featured speakers.

Its assumed Samsung decided to skip MWC Shanghai amid tensions between South Korea & China

Its unclear why Samsung decided to skip MWC Shanghai 2023. The company didnt respond to requests for comment from South China Morning Post, while GSMA also had no explanation for its absence. But this came amid rising tensions between South Korea and China. The two countries havent been on the best terms for the past few years, but their relations have gotten worse lately.

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The South Korean government recently denounced China for committing a serious diplomatic discourtesy. This came after an unnamed Chinese official said that South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeols comments on Taiwan amounted to verbal meddling. The US-China trade war has also affected the tech supply chain between the two Asian tech stalwarts. Samsungs absence from MWC Shanghai 2023 didnt help the cause.

That said, Samsung didnt show great interest in MWC Barcelona 2023 either. It did participate in the event, which took place in February end, but the eight stands it booked didnt exhibit anything notable. Many other companies, including some big names, brought their latest innovations to the event. So Samsung skipping the Shanghai event may not have anything to do with the relations between South Korea and China. Or maybe it has; well never know.

But what we know is that Samsung is preparing for a major hardware launch event of its own. The company will unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 foldables, Galaxy Tab S9 series flagship tablets, and Galaxy Watch 6 series Wear OS smartwatches at the end of July. The big Galaxy Unpacked event will take place in South Korea on July 27. We will keep you posted with all the announcements at the event.
As of the writing of this article, OpenAI is in the midst of a pretty big legal battle. A firm in California is claiming that OpenAI violated the privacy of its users while training its chatbot ChatGPT. Because of this claim, and how much data the company gathered for its chatbot, this could have some major implications for OpenAI and other AI companies. The question is: Is OpenAI in the wrong in this situation?

Whats the case about?

Once you look at what this case is about, its easy to get a grasp of the gravity of the situation. Now, AI is like a human brain; it needs to be trained. It needs to be taught. Companies feed tons of data into their LLMs (Large Language Models) so that they can learn. The more the LLMs know, the more helpful they can be. Google is one of the leading AI companies because it has access to a billion tons worth of data through Google search, Android, etc.

In the case of ChatGPT, it also uses an LLM that needs to be trained; and the company trained it using a ton of data. The issue lies in some of the places where it got this information. The company used a plethora of data from the internet. This includes a bunch of data that people uploaded without giving consent to be used by an AI chatbot.

Were talking about articles, blog posts, short stories, screenplays, poems, social media posts, etc. The list goes on and on. Since ChatGPTs knowledge goes so far back, theres no telling how much of peoples data has been used to train ChatGPT. The lawsuit says that this information was obtained without the consent of the original poster.

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This is why OpenAI is in hot water. The sheer scale of information that OpenAI fed into ChatGPT is gigantic. If the court finds that the company is at fault, then it could mean bad news for AI in general.

So, is OpenAI in the wrong?

Its the wild west out there for AI, as lawmakers are still figuring out how to regulate it. While theyre battling with the legality of AI, the average Joes are dealing with the morality of it. Is OpenAI in the wrong for using so much data to train ChatGPT?

One could argue yes.

A big part of this argument comes from the controversy with AI-generated art. Theres an ongoing protest against this technology because it gives people the ability to instantly create images with nothing but words. Just like with ChatGPT, AI image generators need to be fed images of art from human artists. Many human artists dont want their art to be used to train these image bots.

Well, think about people having their written content used to train ChatGPT. Just like how image generators can put artists out of business, chatbots can put writers out of business as well. Chatbots can generate articles, short stories, scripts, blog posts, etc. in a matter of seconds. Why hire and pay a human writer when you can just have your content generated? Understandably, human writers who spent years developing their craft would not want their content used to train the very machine that could put them out of their job.

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These are people who need to put their work out there to make a living. Journalists post their articles on public websites, writers make blog posts for companies public websites, etc. They do this to share their craft with the readers and hopefully inspire other writers. They didnt sign on to have their work scraped and used to train AI chatbots.

Others can argue no

There are two sides to this argument. When artists, writers, and musicians post their work online, they run the risk of having it used for other purposes. Its not much different from having your content stolen and plagiarized. Creators put their content out with the understanding that it could be lifted and used for some other purposes.

The conversation gets even more hairy if the content is not protected by copyright. If your content is freely available on the internet for anyone to grab, then OpenAI could be within its right to use it to train ChatGPT.

If OpenAI loses the case, it might be a good thing

Those of you using ChatGPT to write your essays and such are most likely rooting for OpenAI to win the case. However, if the company loses the case, it might not be the worst thing. Sure, OpenAI will face a financial loss, which isnt great for the company. However, if the court wins this case, it could help push AI regulation forward.

As stated before, its the wild west out there for AI regulation. Lawmakers are scrambling to rein in AI development and make sure that it wont have any negative effects. Peoples right to their content has never been more in jeopardy as AI image generators and AI chatbots are popping up all over the place. Content from all over the internet is being swooped up and used for these LLMs, and theres no way to put a halt to it.

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If OpenAI loses this case, then it will bring this issue to the forefront. It will get people talking about how these LLMs are getting their information. People are crying to have AI regulated at this point. Its causing people to lose their jobs. Independent creators are being 1-upped by talentless folks who generate content and market it. Someone can easily whip up an AI-generated song and market it on Spotify. Imagine pumping out an entire album in one day or a week and gathering income from it.

The same thing goes for AI artists and AI authors. It might already be too late for most people. Were still just learning the potential of generative AI technology; this includes the potential for bad.

Only time will tell

At this point, were still waiting on the results of the case, so its hard to tell whats going to happen. Well need to wait and see how this case develops to know the future of the technology. A case like this could definitely have some major ramifications for AI.
The English Revolution of the 17th Century stands as one of the first great bourgeois revolutions in history. In only a few decades, it shattered the rotting feudal system and paved the way for the development of capitalism worldwide. For Marxists, these decades are full of lessons.

We are often told that English democracy is the product of a peaceful, gradual agreement between King and Nation. And indeed, that the English Revolution was no revolution at all, simply a bloody squabble over religion that went too far (and was nicely resolved a decade later in the Restoration).

But the truth is, as Trotsky wrote, that Parliamentarianism was not born on the Thames by a peaceful evolution, nor was it the fruit of the free foresight of a single monarch, but in fact was the result of a struggle that lasted for ages, in which one of these kings left his head at the crossroads.

The Parliamentarians waged a revolutionary war against the King, driven forward by and clad in religious zeal. Their victory resulted in the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords, as well as the establishment of a republic: the Commonwealth.

The defeat of the Crown was a historical necessity, the inevitable outcome of the rottenness of the old feudal order. And yet, even as Charles head was struck from his shoulders, they had no clear idea of what they would put in place of the absolutist monarchy. This would have to be worked out in the years and decades to follow.

Presbyterians, Puritans, and Independents within the Long Parliament  the parliament that sat during the years of the war  would find themselves at loggerheads around this question. Some sought a compromise with the king, and indeed all the institutions of feudalism. Some sought to go further, advocating for the establishment of a radical, puritan republic.

Weaving through these events is Oliver Cromwell, a cavalry commander who ended up playing the role of both stalwart leader of the revolution, and defender of private property.

World turned upside down

Britain during Charles repressive reign was a hotbed of dissent. Those found guilty of sedition religious or otherwise  were publicly flogged and imprisoned. This only spurred on radicals of all stripes, who put up with any humiliation in their quest to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The whole nation was a tinderbox waiting to explode.

Britain during Charles repressive reign was a hotbed of dissent / Image: public domain

Lenin once described revolutions as festivals of the oppressed and the exploited. This certainly holds true for the English Revolution.

Radical religious sects flourished in this period. The streets were awash with pamphlets and preachers detailing utopian societies that should be constructed. They identified the struggle for the right to freedom of religion with the struggle against aristocracy, the king, the church, and the whole rotten order.

In the white heat of the revolution, the bourgeoisie was able to place itself at the head of the masses, in the fight for what they coined the Good Old Cause. But when Charles was captured in 1646 and the dust settled, the class divisions within the revolutionary camp began to sharpen. The question now posed was what society should be built, and who should run it?

Centuries of religious dominance in society meant that the class antagonisms of the revolution were cloaked in the guise of religion. Religious factions can be understood as early political parties, each expressing varied class interests.

The idle aristocracy predominantly associated with the Catholic-lite High Anglican Church. Fighting against this in parliament were the Presbyterians, representing the conservative big bourgeois, as well as the Puritans and Independents, representing the radical layers of the petty bourgeoisie.

New Model Army

In order to win the war, parliament had raised the first genuinely professional standing army seen in Britain in a thousand years, the New Model Army (NMA). In the feudal period, all armies had been militias raised by local lords, and paid mercenaries. But now a single army, under one flag and with one uniform, was raised up and trained.

They were recruited from the most radical layers in society, and were all the more dangerous because they were fighting for something. As Cromwell once said: I will raise such men as have the fear of God before them and make some conscience of what they do; and I warrant you they will not be beaten.

Bringing together these layers into a tight-knit unit of collective struggle, which promoted freedom of debate, turned the army into a hotbed of radical democratic ideas. This was the first genuinely revolutionary army in history, combining radicalism with military prowess.

Undoubtedly this army was decisive in the Parliamentarian victory. But under conditions of peace, this now became very dangerous for the conservative Presbyterians in the Long Parliament. Having been the force that crushed the Royalists through waging a revolutionary war, the army naturally began to assert its own radical interests.

This clashed with the Presbyterians, who sought compromise with the King. Having slapped the King on the wrist, the big bourgeois were keen to put the whole conflict to bed in order to focus on their own landed properties and commercial interests. As we shall see, they saw danger to their property in pressing further with the revolution.

Cromwells army of radicals was an imminent threat to their authority. Having served its purpose in winning the war, they now needed it disbanded, at any cost.

Deadlock

The question of which way forward was posed all the more sharply when Charles escaped from custody. This prompted a second shorter civil war which ended in another parliamentary victory in 1648. The old ruling class had been defeated, its system shattered, and yet the new ruling class was totally split.

As it became clearer that compromise with Charles was not on the table, the majority in the Long Parliament still sought some kind of deal, creating a stalemate.

The paralysis of the Long Parliament revealed that what seemed to be the new State, set up to govern the country, turned out to hold no power at all.

Engels once explained that, in the final analysis, the state can be reduced to special bodies of armed men in defence of definite property relations. Nothing reveals the truth of this more than the events that followed.

Just months after Prides Purge, on 30 January 1649, King Charles I was executed / Image: public domain

Only the NMA, and its de-facto leader, Oliver Cromwell, held such power. Cromwell understood this perfectly and so was sure to purchase the soldiers loyalty by agitating around the issue of pay. Meanwhile, the Long Parliament was fighting a rearguard battle, trying desperately to disband the NMA.

This backfired. At the end of 1648, Colonel Pride of the NMA surrounded the parliament and barred the Presbyterian MPs from entry, essentially banishing the big bourgeois from political power.

What was left would be termed the Rump Parliament. The big bourgeois and landowners, who were naturally conservative, needed to be taken out of power for their own good in order to carry the revolution to its logical conclusion.

Just months after Prides Purge, on 30 January 1649, King Charles I was executed. With this, the stage had been set for the domination of the sword over parliament.

It was necessary to use the power of the Army to break the deadlock and move the revolution forward. It would not be Colonel Pride that would pick up that mantle, however, but Oliver Cromwell.

Over the next decade, Cromwell was to blaze a trail of bourgeois reformation, completely upending the old order. He used the army to strike blows against both the conservative elements of the bourgeois and the old aristocracy, but also the radical elements who got too big for their army boots. England would never be the same.

Bonapartism

This phenomenon, the domination of the sword over society  emerging from a deadlock in the class struggle  represents what Marxists describe as Bonapartism, where the state balances between the classes and strikes blows on both sides.

But, as Trotsky explained, "the sabre has no independent programme [and] represents in the social sense, always and at all epochs, the government of the strongest and firmest part of the exploiters". The NMA, under Cromwell, represented the tool of the most clear-sighted and decisive elements of the revolutionary bourgeoisie.

In order for Cromwell to use the army in this way, however, he first had to purge it of its dangerous elements. The most radical of these were the Levellers, a revolutionary democratic current with a lot of influence amongst the rank and file.

Led by Agitators (their elected representatives) in the army, they had drafted the Agreement of the People, calling for freedom of worship; legal equality for all men; and the right to vote for all men aged 21 and over. Many of the demands first put forward by this Agreement would later be replicated in the Peoples Charter of 1838.

But Cromwell did not intend to enfranchise every man in England, only the bourgeois in whose interests the revolution had been made. And he understood the risks of letting the revolutionary tide run out of his control. A crackdown followed, with leaders either executed or shipped out to Ireland.

The resulting Leveller rebellion (the Banbury mutiny) was swiftly crushed by a force led by Cromwell personally.

To a bourgeois historian, such an apparent change of heart may seem nonsensical, perhaps attributed to Cromwell simply being a megalomaniac. Such a superficial analysis tells us nothing.

This was precisely Cromwells historic role, to carve out a path between the classes in order to clear away any obstacles to the bourgeois revolution.

Kingdom of the bourgeoisie

With the radicals put to heel, the Rump Parliament, under Cromwells watchful eye, carried out many of the tasks of sweeping away the old feudal fetters that were blocking the development of capitalism. One of the first acts of the Rump in 1649 declared that:

Cromwells historic role was to carve out a path between the classes / Image: public domain

You are to use all Good wayes and meanes for the securing advancement and the encouragement of the trade of England and Ireland, and the dominions to them belonging.

Royal monopolies were broken up, and merchants allowed to invest wherever they saw fit. The feudal particularism that had long acted as a straitjacket to the nascent bourgeoisie was cast aside.

Vast tracts of land that were expropriated from Royalists and the Church during the war were auctioned off, often to wealthy merchants and rich landlords who would then carry out enclosures and develop capitalist agriculture on the freed-up land. This was a deliberate policy, a key element in the development of capitalism.

The 1651 Navigation Act asserted the Commonwealths monopoly over its shipping and trade, bringing it to war with the Dutch Republic. The Commonwealths victory would act as the central plank of the future British Empire, allowing for the unbridled expansion of capitalism across the seas.

The 1649 conquest of Ireland saw the country fully subjugated in just four years, with Cromwell returning after the first. It was here that Britain consolidated its domination over its first colony and honed the brutal means of divide and rule that it would export across the globe and use to dominate its colonies with an iron fist.

In reality, the Kingdom of Heaven that the revolutionaries were building proved decisively to be the kingdom of the bourgeoisie.

Crisis in the Rump

Whilst Prides Purge cleared the most obstinate layers of the Parliament and allowed for many of the tasks of the revolution to be achieved, the political crisis of the past would soon rear its head once more.

The Rump proved to be notoriously corrupt, with the war offering a plethora of opportunities for profiteering and plundering of the state. It was immensely unpopular amongst both the public, who read all about the various scandals in the press, and the army, who were frequently shortchanged when it came to pay.

The army demanded that a new parliament be called, elected on a broader suffrage than before. To maintain his balancing act, Cromwell was keen to oblige.

The Rump was always intended to be a temporary solution, promising to produce a new constitution and then dissolve itself. But, on 20 April 1653, it resolved not to dissolve and decided that it would oversee its own re-election.

Cromwell responded with a fiery speech, followed by a troop of musketmen who escorted out the MPs. As they passed by Cromwell, he insulted each one for their sins, saying to one that ye have no more Religion than my horse!.

Once more Cromwell would wield the sword decisively, this time to sweep away a rotten parliament that had outlived the progressive role that it once held.

Despite the theatrics of the event, it did little to solve the underlying issue: the new class contradictions which had been unleashed by the revolution.

Praise God!

The Barebones Parliament was named after one of its members, Praise-God Barebones / Image: public domain

What came next was a nominated assembly of 140 people, selected by the army grandees on Cromwells request. This would be known as the Barebones Parliament, named after one of its members, Praise-God Barebones, notable for his intense religious fervour.

Whilst the majority of the assembly was conservative, there was a very energetic radical minority that quickly got carried away with its radical bourgeois programme. The most notable debate was around the question of tithes, the tax levied to fund the clergy, a key pillar in the maintenance of the feudal system.

Despite the abolition of the episcopacy  the hierarchical power of the bishops over the church  tithes remained. The most radical of the Puritans wished for them to be abolished and for complete freedom of religious association to be established.

When leaning on the radicals, Cromwell had alluded to this in the past. However, to abolish tithes proved a step too far.

The bourgeoisie saw in the prospect of the abolition of tithes a threat to all property. The conservatives accused the Barebones faction of endeavouring to take away their properties by taking away the law, to overthrow the ministry by taking away tithes and settling nothing in their rooms.

The familiar splits quickly paralysed the Barebones Parliament. This time, it would be the conservative majority which would march to Whitehall to relinquish powers back to Cromwell.

And so, on 12 December 1653, for the second time that year, Cromwell would utilise the army to dissolve the gridlocked parliament.

Oliver Cromwell, saviour of property

By 16 December 1653, Cromwell had been proclaimed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. When being sworn in, he pledged to rule upon such a basis and foundation as by the blessing of God might be lasting, secure property, and answer those great ends of religion and liberty so long contended for.

The dissolution of the Barebones Parliament and the establishment of the dictatorship of one man shattered any remaining illusions as to what the Good Old Cause was really about. Cromwell had taken the Revolution through all barriers. Now it was time to hold it back. Commenting on this, Engels would remark that Cromwell is Robespierre and Napoleon rolled into one.

His personal dictatorship, in which he, as Lord Protector, assumed more powers than any King, marked the end of the English Revolution.

Cromwell was not consciously a bourgeois revolutionary, and like everyone else, thought in terms of religion. Regardless of this, he was able to best embody the historic necessity of capitalist development, answering decisively a question that had been posed many times over the previous 100 years.

Despite the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 after Cromwells death two years before, things could never go back to how they were. The bourgeoisie remained firmly in the driving seat.

Two traditions

Despite attempts to downplay the significance of the Commonwealth, it was an integral period in establishing the foundations of British capitalism. In just eleven years, the British bourgeoisie had hammered into it the traditions and methods that would allow it to dominate the globe. It wasnt until the late 19th Century that its dominant position would begin to crumble.

However, a second tradition also flourished in this period: the revolutionary tradition. Groups such as the Levellers fought heroically to push the revolution as far as they could.

These groups were crushed, not due to lack of courage, but due to the low level of the productive forces. They consisted of the lowest levels of the petty bourgeoisie. They did not hold the power of the whole economy in their hands, as the proletariat of today does. In fact, the proletariat existed only in an embryonic form, as was the case with industry.

The conditions for a higher form of society, for socialism, now exist in abundance. The proletariat has left its embryonic stage and now exists as a truly international class, billions strong.

Whereas the revolution of the 17th century was  and only ever could be  bourgeois, the revolution of the 21st century will be firmly proletarian. Rather than replacing one exploitative elite with another, such a revolution will shatter the foundations of class society altogether, laying the basis for a communist society.

The traditions of the English working class lie not with reformism, and pacifism of all stripes, but with the revolutionaries of the New Model Army. This will be proven in the coming decades, which will turn the world upside down once again.
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 30 - A decade ago, Croatia became the then 28th member of the European Union. The country has achieved its strategic goals, but membership has led to a significant population outflow. In the meantime, neighbouring countries are still in the waiting room.

Negotiations.

After ten years of waiting, joining the EU on 1 July 2013 was one of the most important events in Croatian history and, together with NATO membership achieved four years earlier, the country's most important foreign policy goal since independence.

However, this might have been the last EU enlargement for many years, as none of the candidate countries is close to membership.

Croatia's negotiations took longer than for any other current member state, five years and nine months. They were conditional on full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY), which insisted on the arrest of General Ante Gotovina. The negotiations were burdened by the cooperation with the ICTY in The Hague and Slovenia's blockade due to a bilateral border dispute, as well as by enlargement fatigue in the existing member states at that time.

Croatia applied for membership on 21 February 2003, official candidate status was granted on 18 June 2004, and negotiations started on 3 October 2005. The last of the negotiating chapters was closed on 30 June 2011.

Great progress, but not swift enough.

Today, after ten years of EU membership, many strategic goals have been achieved, among them joining the Schengen area and the eurozone, as well as Croatia's first Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2020. Brussels also supported the country in connecting its southernmost exclave with the construction of the Peljesac Bridge.

With a downward trend in public debts, the country has good fiscal results. The government even projects debt to drop below 60 percent next year, which is the ratio allowed under the Maastricht criteria. Nevertheless, before its accession to the EU, Croatia's economy fell into a recession that lasted more than six years. The total decline in real GDP in the period from 2009 to 2014 amounted to 12.6 percent. GDP only exceeded the 2008 level again in 2019.

Another problem is the big gap between the country's capital Zagreb, which has a GDP of 131 percent of the EU average, and the eastern counties, which have a GDP that is below 40 percent of the European average. Zagreb generated 34 percent of the national GDP in 2018, while the majority of the population (67 percent) lives in areas where GDP per capita is below 60 percent of the European average.

Population outflow.

Croatia lost nearly 10 percent of its population due to emigration in the past decade. Better work and life conditions in richer member states, but also the labour shortage - particularly in Germany, which has more than two million job vacancies - led to a serious population outflow.

However, for Croatia, there are several signs that the trend of moving and leaving the country has slowed down, but it hasn't stopped yet. The experiences of other countries show that immigration and emigration balance each other out once the level of economic development reaches about 80 percent of the EU average, which Croatia is close to achieving with 73 percent at the moment.

Potential growth is negatively affected by population decline and low productivity, but reforms that would lead to more efficient public administration and a better judiciary would have a positive effect. To reach the European average in the foreseeable future, Croatian growth would have to be much faster than it is now. Nevertheless, the benefits of EU membership become apparent when Croatia is compared to some other former Yugoslavian countries that are doing less well economically.

EU enlargement perspective for the region.

All Western Balkan countries except Kosovo have been granted candidate status: Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022, Albania in 2014, Serbia in 2012, Montenegro in 2010 as well as North Macedonia in 2005.

Although the Russian attack on Ukraine brought some changes in the enlargement policy and geopolitical aspects are again at play, it is difficult to imagine further enlargement without a reform of the decision-making process, which is already difficult with the present 27 member states.

As for the countries of the Western Balkans, at the summit in Thessaloniki in 2003, the EU promised them that they would become members when they met the conditions. Twenty years later, only Croatia and Slovenia are EU members, even though Brussels continues to emphasise its commitment to enlargement and the countries of the Western Balkans emphasise that membership is their strategic goal.

Recently, seven member states called for the Western Balkan countries to speed up their accession to the EU. In a statement, the seven, led by Austria, warned that the enlargement process has been too slow and has not delivered enough tangible results for the people in the region. In light of the war in Ukraine and tensions in Kosovo, they also warned against the danger of instability in the region.

Slovenia pushing for 'courageous political choices'.

Slovenia is one of the countries that strongly advocates the integration of the Western Balkan countries into the European Union. On the 20th anniversary of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki, Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar, Prime Minister Robert Golob and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon issued a joint statement reiterating continued support for the countries of the region on their path to the EU. They recalled that many opportunities have been missed on both sides since the 2003 Summit. "The initial enthusiasm for reform in the Western Balkans seems to have waned somewhat over the past two decades," they wrote. At the same time, they said, the EU was facing its own problems, and enlargement was not always a priority. "It is clear that this process is fundamentally a strategic choice and not a technical exercise. () Courageous political choices are needed," they stressed.

The bloc is aware that it cannot leave the Western Balkans and the countries of Eastern Europe to the influence of other actors who do not share the values on which the EU is based. For this reason, there is the idea to bring the Eastern European countries closer to the EU's single market and increase pre-accession aid.

Western Balkan integration is geopolitical interest of the EU.

"Croatia waited for a decade. The success of any post-Cold War membership is crucial in justifying the need for any further membership. Each enlargement towards the Western Balkans renews the need to develop a mechanism to prevent the spillover of unilateral and bilateral disputes and interests to the multilateral level of the European Union," said Lejla Ramic-Mesihovic, head of the Department for International Relations and European Studies at the International BURCH University.

She added that in many ways this limited the geopolitical plans and interests of the European Union, but also endangered the level of security and stability of the Western Balkans, which regarded the European Union as the most desirable geopolitical haven.

Spain's EU Presidency gives hope.

Spain takes over the EU Council presidency on 1 July with its sights set on the Western Balkans. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited all the countries in the region, except Kosovo, last summer, while his Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares recently expressed his desire to strengthen Spain's relations with the Western Balkans. In October, the Spanish foreign minister will probably bring together the heads of diplomacy of each EU country with their counterparts from the Western Balkans.

Kosovo remains the most sensitive issue for Spain in the process of EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans. The refusal of Spain and four other member states - Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia and Romania - to recognise Kosovo's independence from Serbia in 2008 complicates Pristina's prospects of joining the bloc, although the Kosovar authorities applied for candidate status late last year. Moreover, Spain is the only country in the Schengen area that does not recognise visa-free travel for citizens with Kosovar passports, despite the support of the European Parliament and other Schengen countries for visa liberalisation. Kosovo was the last country in the Western Balkans to get this visa scheme in April of 2023.

In 2019, then Kosovar President Hashim Thaci urged Madrid to recognise Kosovo's independence, arguing that "Spain is not Serbia, because it is not governed by a Slobodan Milosevic, and neither is Catalonia Kosovo." Serbia expects the Spanish Presidency to focus on enlargement.

"Given that discussions are taking place at the highest level of the EU on a possible reform and improvement of the enlargement policy, the fact that Spain is a country traditionally friendly to this policy is certainly encouraging," said Milena Lazarevic from the European Policy Centre.

Due to Spain's firm stance on not recognising Kosovo, she doesn't expect that the Spanish government will put Kosovo's application for membership on the agenda.

Meanwhile, the situation in northern Kosovo remains tense after the recent violent clashes between NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers and ethnic Serbs in the town of Zvecan. The ongoing escalation has frozen the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, that resulted in the Ohrid agreement for the normalisation of the relations last March. Serbs - who account for about six percent of Kosovo's population - boycotted last month's elections in northern towns where they are a majority, allowing ethnic Albanians to take control of local councils despite a minuscule turnout of under 3.5 percent of voters.

Many Serbs are demanding both the withdrawal of Kosovo police forces and of the ethnic Albanian mayors they do not consider their true representatives. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade has refused to recognise it, effectively preventing Kosovo from having a seat at the United Nations.

The content is based on news by agencies participating in the enr, on this occasion AFP, ANSA, EFE, FENA, HINA, STA and Tanjug. (ANSA).


An allegation that former Conservative mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski groped a TV producer in Downing Street a decade ago will not be investigated by the Cabinet Office.

Mr Korski quit the contest after television producer Daisy Goodwin made a formal complaint over the alleged incident in No 10, when Mr Korski was a special adviser to then-prime minister David Cameron.

Ms Goodwin told the Times that a senior official in the Cabinet Office had informed her that there were two options  to refer it to the police if it was a criminal matter or do nothing given that Mr Korski no longer worked in Government.

Daisy Goodwin (Ian West/PA)

She told the paper that the response was disappointing.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: The Cabinet Office has been approached by an individual in relation to this matter and they have been directed to the relevant authorities for such allegations.

Mr Korski, who pulled out of the race to become the Conservative mayoral candidate on Wednesday, has categorically denied the claim.

He said he was quitting with a heavy heart because the allegation was becoming a distraction.

Ms Goodwin had previously complained about the Cabinet Office complaints process, describing it as harder than trying to get a telephone engineer.

She had used an article in the Times newspaper to name Mr Korski in relation to the allegation.

The Conservative Party has confirmed the race will go ahead with the two remaining candidates, Mozammel Hossain and Susan Hall, with hustings taking place as scheduled from June 12 to July 3, despite calls for the selection process to be reopened.
A nine-year-old child is the youngest unaccompanied migrant to be accommodated in a hotel by Home Office officials after crossing the Channel and arriving in England, a High Court judge has been told.

Mr Justice Johnson heard a high proportion of asylum-seekers initially accommodated in hotels are unaccompanied children under 16.

He was given Home Office figures while overseeing a preliminary hearing in a High Court case centred on the use of a hotel to house unaccompanied children, involving the Government department and Brighton and Hove City Council.

The council is challenging a Home Office plan to re-use a hotel in the Brighton area from which migrant children have previously gone missing.

Bosses have taken legal action against Home Secretary Suella Braverman and want a judge to rule that the hotel should not be used.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is being challenged over the use of the hotel to house child migrants (PA)

They say children could be targeted by criminals and abusers.

Mr Justice Johnson was told the Home Office had stopped using the hotel but is planning to use it again.

A trial is expected to take place later this summer.

Mr Justice Johnson heard Kent County Council and a childrens rights organisation are planning similar legal action relating to the accommodation of unaccompanied migrant children in hotels.

He heard that both Brighton and Kent councils are concerned the placement of unaccompanied migrant children in hotels puts them in a position where they are breaching, or would breach, their legal obligations relating to the care of youngsters.

The judge indicated all three cases might be considered together.

He asked a barrister leading the Home Office legal team the age of the youngest child to be initially accommodated in a hotel.

Kent County Councils barrister told the court the local authority tries to house more children than it is obliged to (PA)

Lisa Giovannetti KC told him the youngest had been nine.

Mr Justice Johnson asked: You have put a nine-year-old child in a hotel?

Ms Giovannetti indicated the child had been in a hotel for 24 hours before moving to more suitable accommodation.

The judge then asked how many under 16-year-olds have been accommodated in a hotel for more than 48 hours.

Quite a high proportion are under 16, said Ms Giovannetti. Maybe 40%.

Stephanie Harrison KC, representing Brighton council, told the judge: Children who are under 16 who are not in accommodation that is regulated  it is not only unlawful, it is a criminal offence. That encompasses the gravity of the situation.

Kent councils barrister Hugh Southey KC told Mr Justice Johnson: Some local authorities are trying to do all they can to comply with their obligations.

They are attempting to accommodate more children than they are obliged to  Kent is one of them.

Other local authorities are not. They are taking trivial numbers of children.

A Home Office spokesman said later: Due to the rise in dangerous small boats crossings, the Government has had no alternative but to urgently use hotels to give unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving in the UK a roof over their heads.

The wellbeing of children and minors in our care is an absolute priority. Robust safeguarding and welfare measures are in place at all temporary hotels to ensure children are safe, secure and supported as we urgently seek placements with a local authority.
The Governments commitment to creating 20,000 new prison places by the mid-2020s is significantly behind schedule, the Prison Reform Trust has said.

By June 5 this year, 5,202 new places had been created  including Britains newest prison HMP Fosse Way in Leicester  according to a new report published by the trust.

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice last month revealed more than 85,000 inmates are now locked up in England and Wales, and the number is projected to reach 93,200 by 2024.

The Government faces an immediate crisis in prison capacity, Mark Day, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust said, as he called for new ways to reduce demand on the system.

HMP Fosse Way, the new Category C prison in Leicester (Jacob King/PA)

Mark Day, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: England and Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe of 141 per 100,000 head of population. The prison population has risen by 80% in the last 30 years.

The growth in the use of longer sentences, particularly at the more serious end of sentencing, has been one of the chief causes of the rise in the prison population over the past 30 years.

Other factors include the increasing number of indeterminate sentenced prisoners, the changing offence profile of the prison population, and growing numbers of people being recalled to custody.

More recently, population pressures have been fuelled by the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers leading to more people coming before the courts.

The end of pandemic, with courts working through the backlog of cases that built up during lockdown, has also placed additional pressure on the system. One of the legacies of this period is a remand population of around 14,600 people  more than one in seven in prison. This represents a 45% increase in just three years, and is at near-record level.

The Government now faces an immediate crisis in prison capacity which it simply cannot build its way out of.

The Government urgently needs to look at ways to reduce demand on the system and give it the breathing space it desperately needs. It should start by limiting the use of short sentences and reducing the remand population, as well as increasing the uptake of and entitlement to home detention curfew.

Steve Reed MP, Labours shadow justice Secretary, said re-offending has been allowed to run rampant.

He said: Our prisons are now full, forcing judges to give non-custodial sentences, leaving dangerous criminals to roam the streets.

Rishi Sunaks Conservatives chaos in the criminal justice system is leaving the public at risk.

Hundreds of rapid deployment cells have been rolled out at HMP Norwich and HMP Hollesley Bay, the Ministry of Justice said.

And the news comes six months after the Government announced Operation Safeguard, which allows for the use of up to 400 police cells to hold people overnight when there is not enough space in a local prison.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said he was confident the 20,000 target could be met.

He told the Today programme on Friday: There are three further prisons where there are planning applications, well know much more by the end of the year as those planning appeals come on.

But weve got two that are done, theres another one being built and those further ones will come on, as I say precisely when they come on will depend on the planning process.

Meanwhile, a new bill became law this week which gives prison governors the power to release prisoners with mental health issues, substance misuse problems or who have far to travel home, on a Wednesday or Thursday instead of a Friday, when they would have just hours to access critical support before services shut for the weekend.

The Offenders (Day of Release from Detention) Bill received Royal Assent on Thursday and will end the damaging race against the clock for prison leavers to get the help they need, the Ministry of Justice said.

Only prisoners who pass security checks will be considered eligible for release, with the final decision taken by prison governors when the Act comes into force in the coming weeks.

The next new prison will be HMP Millsike, which is being built next to HMP Full Sutton in East Yorkshire.

Planning approval is being sought for three other prisons across the country.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: We have always been clear that delivery dates are contingent on external matters, including planning permission, but we remain committed to building these prisons as quickly as possible.

More than 5,000 of the additional 20,000 prison places we are creating have already been delivered, including the brand new HMP Fosse Way which started accepting prisoners on time in May.
A man and a teenager have been stabbed to death in north London, sparking a double murder probe.

The boy, believed to be 15, was found with stab wounds after police were called to Elthorne Road, Islington, at 11.33pm on Thursday.

He was pronounced dead at the scene just after midnight, the Metropolitan Police said.

A man, aged 23, also suffered stab injuries and was taken to west London hospital where he died.

Officers have informed the next of kin of both victims. They are being supported by specially trained officers.

Formal identification and post-mortem examinations will be carried out at a later date.

A third victim, believed to be aged 28, was also found at an address in the Archway area.

He had suffered a stab wound and was taken to a north London hospital where he remains. His condition is not thought to be life-threatening.

There have been no arrests yet, the force said.

Police believe a large number of people were present when the attack took place and are urging witnesses and those with information to come forward.

The Specialist Crime Command has launched an investigation. A crime scene is in place and enquiries are ongoing.

A Section 60 order granting police additional stop and search powers has been authorised.

Chief Superintendent Andy Carter said: My thoughts are with the families of the two victims who have suffered such an unimaginable loss in this shocking and unacceptable incident.

We will support our colleagues as they investigate and members of the public will see an increased policing presence in the area.

I urge anyone who has information that can help us establish exactly what has happened to approach those officers or contact us immediately. A man and boy have lost their lives and we must now work together to identify those responsible and remove them from our streets.

Anyone who has information that could help police should call 101 or tweet @MetCC ref CAD 9383/29 Jun.

To remain anonymous call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
The Duke of Sussex should be awarded up to 320,000 in compensation over the alleged misuse of his private information by a tabloid newspaper publisher, his lawyers have told the High Court.

Harry, 38, is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles  the Daily and Sunday Mirror and Sunday People  were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called blagging or gaining information by deception, and the use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

In a court document released to the media on Friday  the final day of a trial in London  the dukes legal team set out its suggestions for the amount of money Harry could receive if a judge rules in his favour.

Harry alleges 147 stories from 1996 to 2010, published by MGN titles, used information obtained through unlawful means.

The articles cover the dukes relationship with his family and ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a few injuries and illnesses, his military service and allegations of drug use.

Some 33 articles, dated between 1996 and 2009, were selected for examination during the trial of Harrys and others contested claims against the publisher.

In the document, the dukes lawyers suggested he could be awarded up to 320,000 if his case is successful in relation to all of these 33 stories.

The Duke of Sussex with his barrister, David Sherborne, previously gave evidence at a High Court trial in central London (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The duke may also be awarded more if the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, concludes Harry is also entitled to aggravated damages, for additional distress or injury to feelings arising from the nature of the alleged wrongdoing.

Harry has previously told the court that MGNs alleged intrusion into his life contributed to a huge amount of paranoia in his relationships.

In his witness statement, the duke said that he found it very hard to trust anyone, which led to bouts of depression and paranoia.

The highest amount sought for one article is 25,000 in relation to a December 2003 story in the People.

The double-page article reported a disagreement between Harry and his brother William, now Prince of Wales, about whether to meet former royal butler Paul Burrell over his ongoing exposes about our mother.

Harry claims the articles author was a habitual commissioner of private investigators and that the reported phrase two-face shit he used to describe Mr Burrell could have been taken from a voicemail.

MGN has claimed the information came from a confidential source who specialised in royal matters and there was no evidence of phone hacking.

The Duke of Sussex previously told the court how alleged intrusion into his life had led to paranoia (Aaron Chown/PA)

Harrys lawyers also suggest he could be awarded up to 20,000 in relation to a front page Mirror story in January 2002 entitled Harrys cocaine ecstasy and GHB parties.

The article claimed that some of the dukes friends had taken hard drugs in front of him, including ecstasy, cocaine and GHB, reporting that the then Prince of Wales  now the King  was terrified.

Harry said in his evidence to the court that it is not clear to me where the defendants journalists could have possibly obtained these quotes from.

However, MGN deny unlawful activity and said there is no evidence of phone hacking.

MGN has told the trial that it denies that 28 out of the 33 articles involved unlawful information gathering and that it was not admitted for the remaining five articles.

The publisher claims the stories came from a range of sources, including information disclosed by royal households or other royals, freelance journalists and news agencies as well as confidential sources with extensive royal contacts.

Its lawyers have said the duke should be awarded up to 500 in damages for one admitted instance of unlawful information gathering in February 2004.

Andrew Green KC, for MGN, previously told the trial that it unreservedly apologises to the duke for this occasion and that it accepts he was entitled to appropriate compensation.

Harrys case is being heard alongside similar claims by actor Michael Turner, known professionally as Michael Le Vell (James Manning/PA)

The barrister said that it was admitted that a private investigator was instructed, by an MGN journalist at The People, to unlawfully gather information about his activities at the Chinawhite nightclub one night in February 2004.

Mr Green said that there was a People article published in February 2004 giving the recollection of a woman Harry spent time with at the club, but later told the court that it was not one of the 33 stories selected for the trial of Harrys claim, so it is not alleged that this instruction led to the publication of his private information.

The barrister also said MGN had set out the appropriate award should the judge find any of the articles complained of were the product of unlawful activity.

According to Harrys lawyers, MGN had suggested a potential total figure of 37,000.

MGN lawyers have also argued that there is nothing significant in Harry and others claims to warrant any award of aggravated damages.

In written arguments they add that the court should ensure any award is proportionate, saying that figures proposed by the claimants would be grossly disproportionate given the absence of evidence and relatively limited interference in their private lives.

Harrys case is being heard alongside similar claims by actor Michael Turner, who is known professionally as Michael Le Vell and best known for playing Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, actress Nikki Sanderson and comedian Paul Whitehouses ex-wife Fiona Wightman.

MGN is largely contesting the claims and denies that any of the articles complained of resulted from phone hacking, while contending that the vast majority did not arise from any other unlawful activity.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson has backed the UK Covid Inquiry in its High Court clash with the Government over his unredacted WhatsApp messages, diaries and notebooks.

The Cabinet Office is bringing a judicial review of inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Halletts order to release the documents, arguing it should not have to hand over material which is unambiguously irrelevant.

Lawyers for the department argue the inquiry does not have the legal power to force ministers to release documents and messages it says cover matters unconnected to the Governments handling of Covid.

At a hearing in London on Friday, Sir James Eadie KC, representing the department, said the challenge was brought with some considerable reluctance, but Lady Halletts demand was so broad it was bound to catch a large amount of irrelevant material.

Lady Hallett contends the Cabinet Offices position undermines her ability to carry out the inquiry properly and would have serious implications for all public inquiries.

In written arguments put before the court on Mr Johnsons behalf, his lawyers said he has no objection to the inquiry having the unredacted material, subject to appropriate security and confidentiality arrangements being in place  which he has been assured of by the inquiry.

Mr Johnson, who is an interested party in the case, along with his former adviser Henry Cook, is asking the court to reject the Governments challenge.

Lord David Pannick KC, representing the former prime minister, said: Mr Johnson considers that it is appropriate that the chair has all documents that she reasonably considers are potentially relevant to her ongoing investigation, and that that is consistent with the objectives of the inquiry, which Mr Johnson announced in May 2021.

He said Mr Johnson adopts part of the legal submissions put forward by Lady Hallett to the High Court, adding: First, not only does the defendants interpretation promote the purpose of the legislation and the inquisitorial nature of public inquiries, it is also consistent with the objectives of this inquiry.

The Royal Courts of Justice in central London (Nick Ansell/PA)

In establishing the inquiry, Mr Johnson said in terms he wanted the states action to be placed under the microscope and that the inquiry must be free to scrutinise every document.

That is what the public expects and that is what should be done.

Lord Pannick said the inquiry should not be impeded in this process by technical debates as to perceived relevance.

He added: For the inquiry to carry out its objectives, and for the public to have confidence that it is doing so, it must be for the chair, and not for the Cabinet Office, to decide what material is potentially relevant.

The Government took the highly unusual step of launching the challenge earlier in June and the move attracted criticism after days of public wrangling between the Cabinet Office and Lady Halletts probe after she rejected its argument the material was not relevant in a May ruling.

Boris Johnson wearing a face mask during the coronavirus crisis (Adrian Dennis/PA)

Sir James said in written arguments that the powers conferred on inquiries by the Inquiries Act 2005 do not extend to the compulsion of material that is irrelevant to the work of an inquiry, and that notices for evidence must be limited by reference to relevance.

The row with the inquiry centres around Mr Johnsons WhatsApp messages, diaries and personal notebooks, which the former prime minister handed over in late May to the Cabinet Office in unredacted form.

Court documents filed on June 1 revealed the WhatsApp messages passed to officials are only from May 2021 onwards because of a security breach involving an old mobile phone belonging to Mr Johnson.

The former prime minister wrote to the inquiry after the Cabinet Office launched the judicial review, saying he was more than happy to hand over his unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks directly to the inquiry.

The hearing, before Lord Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Garnham, is due to conclude on Friday and the judges are expected to give their ruling at a later date.
Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey abused his reputation and fame to become a sexual bully, a court has heard.

The Hollywood star, standing trial under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, is accused of sex offences against four men who had the misfortune to attract the attention of the predatory actor, a jury was told.

Southwark Crown Court heard Spacey, 63, took what and who he wanted, when he wanted  and was described as a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space and delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable.

The actor, known for his roles in House Of Cards, American Beauty and The Usual Suspects, is set to argue the allegations contain half-truths some deliberate exaggerations and many damned lies.

Opening the case for the prosecution on Friday, Christine Agnew KC told the jury panel of 14 they will hear from four men during the trial, who were all aged in their 20s or 30s at the time of the alleged offences.

She told jurors: Kevin Spacey Fowler is an actor; many of you will already know that.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC opened the case against Spacey on Friday (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards.

He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men.

A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully.

Miss Agnew added: During the course of this trial you will hear from four men  four men who are not known to each other but who had the misfortune to attract the attention of the predatory Mr Spacey Fowler.

Spacey, described by one of his alleged victims as a star, a golden boy, denies 12 charges, including sexual assault and indecent assault.

Miss Agnew told the jury: We, the prosecution, suggest that Mr Spacey Fowler abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him; taking advantage of his popularity and prominence, his illustriousness and influence.

Taking what and who he wanted, when he wanted.

Jurors were warned by Miss Agnew not to be star struck by the Hollywood star, and to keep yourself grounded and true to the oath that you have taken.

Kevin Spacey was described by the prosecution as a sexual bully (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

As she detailed allegations made by one of the complainants, Miss Agnew said it may well be that Spacey got a sexual thrill from the aggression he is alleged to have used against the man.

The prosecutor said the defendant had engaged in inappropriate and unwelcome touching with him, before it allegedly progressed to occasions when Kevin Spacey Fowler would actually grab and grope him.

Another of Spaceys alleged victims, who met him at a West End theatre in 2005, recalled the actor making crude and seedy sexual remarks before grabbing him in an aggressive manner, Miss Agnew said.

The complainant said he was grabbed with such force it was painful and that he pushed him away, saying no, Im not like that.

Miss Agnew added that Spacey simply laughed after the complainant pushed him away.

The prosecutor said a third complainant recalled feeling vulnerable and thinking that perhaps this was just how people in the acting world acted following an alleged encounter at Spaceys flat.

Miss Agnew said the aspiring actor, who had written to Spacey before the incident, recalled he had either fallen asleep or passed out at the flat and after an alleged unwanted sexual advance from the actor, the complainant sat and cried at a bus stop at 5am.

The prosecution said Spacey engaged in an awkward man hug with a man he met at a pub in Oxford when the pair were at a property where the actor was staying, before the defendant kissed his neck twice while saying be cool, be cool.

Miss Agnew said the defendant then grabbed the man sexually before the alleged victim left the property in a bit of a panicky state.

The prosecutor said Spacey is set to argue that two of the complainants were motivated by financial compensation and that he either had no recollection of the alleged encounters or they were consensual.

Following the conclusion of the prosecutions opening speech, Spaceys defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC asked the jury to consider what of the evidence has been reimagined with a sinister spin and made up or twisted.

He said: You will soon hear, I suggest, some truths, you will soon hear some half-truths, you will also hear, I suggest, some deliberate exaggerations, and you will hear many damned lies.

The actor pleaded not guilty in January to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The two-time Academy Award winner also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The trial continues.
The King will receive a specially-made ceremonial sword next week when he travels to Edinburgh.

On Thursday, craftsmen unveiled the new sword, named The Elizabeth after the late Queen.

The King is to be presented with the Honours of Scotland at a national service of thanksgiving at St Giles Cathedral on July 5, but will be given the new sword on the Monday before.

The Elizabeth is to fill the gap left by the Sword of State, otherwise known as the Papal sword, which has not been used at public events in recent years due to its deteriorating condition.

The sword was designed by Mark Dennis, an advocate from St Andrews.

The late Queen at Balmoral in Scotland (Jane Barlow/PA)

The swords design takes inspiration from both thistles and the Scottish landscape.

Mr Dennis said: Theres never been anything like it before.

It was a concept and the concept was simply this: it had to work.

It had to work as a ceremonial sword, so its overall dimensions are about the same as the papal sword, but it also had to be entirely different.

So the nature of it, the fact that the hilt and the quillings are a swirling thistle youll never have seen before on another sword.

Gilded as it is, it looks appropriate. It looks like a sword of state.

Mr Dennis said he wanted to create something that truly represents Scotland, not with the scotty dogs and whisky bottles and things, but really integrally the land, the symbols and the sense of Scotland.

Engraved on one side of the blade is the Royal motto, In my defens God me defend, and Nemo me impune lacessit, the motto of the Order of the Thistle, is engraved on the other.

Mr Dennis is certain the King will be happy with the specially crafted blade.

He said: Were going to be presenting it to him on Monday and I think he will say, well, this is very nice.

He loves craftsmanship and itll be the craftsmen, the people who made it, who are there to present it to them.

Our Elizabeth, to become his. So I think it will be a wonderful moment for us.

Alan Beattie Herriot, the sculptor who was commissioned to create the swords hilt, was originally asked to fashion two swords around eight years ago, but says the idea was shelved as the project was deemed too political.

It was not until the late Queen died last year when the Scottish Government approved the creation of a new sword in her honour.

Mr Herriot said: I personally think that the people of Scotland should be really proud that they still have the ability, the craftspeople to produce something as lovely as this.

This is a beautiful object  and its very Scottish. As Mark has said. its not about scotty dogs, its not about tartan or whatever, but it is symbolically, its of Scotland. Thats what I think about it.

Mr Herriot travelled with a small group to the Isle of Iona to source the stone that would eventually be used as an integral part of the sword pommel.

Asked if he thinks the King will like the sword, he said: Hes a very cultured man and I think hes actually going to love it.

I think hell be very complimentary  theres not a great deal not to like about this piece.

It really is quite spectacular and I think it does the job as they say, so I think hell be delighted and hell be very interested in how it was put together and the story behind it.

And I think also hell be delighted that its for his coronation.

Paul MacDonald, a swordsmith of 25 years, was one of the key team members involved in creating The Elizabeth.

Asked about how he felt after being asked to create the sword, he said: I could say a little intimidating, because I realised the significance of it was one thing, but also working as a collaborative with different craftsmen was another level.

We had to keep various wheels turning and moving at the same time, but challenges aside, it was such a special honour all the way through from start to finish.
Less than 3% of university students will be affected by the ongoing nationwide marking boycott, the chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) has said.

Raj Jethwa said latest survey data from Thursday showed 2.6% of students  roughly 13,000 of the half a million students due to graduate this year  would be affected by the boycott, and the vast majority of staff are working hard to mitigate its impact.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at 145 universities across the UK have refused to mark exams or assessments since April 20, in a dispute with the UCEA over pay and working conditions.

The UCU has said it will continue until employers make an improved offer, meaning some students could face delays in learning their final results or receive no degree classifications.

Queens University in Belfast struck an agreement with the UCU on Wednesday, with marking now to be completed by August 7 and an additional graduation ceremony planned, the first local settlement reached in the dispute.

Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Mr Jethwa said: The boycott is a fundamental issue right now. Clearly the stumbling block is a difference in perception about what is affordable.

He added the UCEA had clearly set out its position before the boycott began and that the situation never needed to be like this.

Concerns have been raised over the quality of marking students will receive for their work (Alamy/PA)

When asked about the hindrance the boycott may have on students job prospects after graduation, Mr Jethwa said there had been a great degree of flexibility shown by employers.

Other concerns raised around the boycott include the quality of marking students will receive for their work, and whether international students will have to re-apply for visas if they are left without their results as accreditation.

Professor George Boyne, vice-chancellor at University of Aberdeen and UCEA board member, said: I dont think theres a concern about quality, but I do think there is research that has been sacrificed to prioritise the marking.

Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said it is working with the Home Office on the issue and is reasonably confident things are moving in the right direction.

The marking and assessment boycott began on April 20, when the UCU hit out at what it described as a real-terms pay cut, working conditions including increasing casualisation, pay gaps and unmanageable workloads.
New research has revealed that hallucinating someone is standing behind you could be an early sign of Parkinson's disease. (Getty Images)

Thinking that somebody is standing behind you when theyre not could be an early sign of Parkinsons disease, a new study has suggested.

Experiencing a strong sensation that a person is behind you, when no one really is, is known as a presence hallucination, which could be a frequent but under-reported predictor of the condition.

While patients may ignore strange experiences and pass them off as a side effect of medication, researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, warned they appear in a third of Parkinsons patients before the onset of trembling and other motor symptoms typically associated with the brain disease that worsens over time.

Once the motor symptoms have started, hallucinations affect half of all patients.

Writing in Nature Mental Health, experts discovered patients recently diagnosed with the disease who experience the hallucinations are more likely to have a rapid cognitive decline.

The disease is traditionally defined as a movement disorder, with typical motor symptoms including resting tremor, rigidity and slow movements, but it also leads to a wide variety of non-motor symptoms.

By focussing on early signs like hallucinations, the team hope to challenge the current reality that Parkinsons is often diagnosed too late, limiting the availability of successful preventative and disease-modifying therapies.

It took Michael J. Fox years to share he had Parkinson's disease publicly. (Getty Images)

Michael J. Fox, 61, recently shared the story behind his ongoing health battle with the condition in a Netflix documentary.

He was first diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's in 1991, dealing with it privately to begin with, but eventually the father-of-four found peace in going public.

He officially retired in 2020 after struggling to learn lines  though this far exceeded the timeline doctors had originally given him.

Despite his acceptance of his diagnosis, he said honestly: "Parkinsons is still kicking my ass. I wont win at this. I will lose." But, he added, "Theres plenty to be gained in the loss."

The actor recently experienced a fall on stage at a fan event, prompting him to admit he was in "intense pain" due to his condition.

Other celebrities who have spoken about living with Parkinson's disease include Jeremy Paxman, Ozzy Osbourne and Billy Connolly.

Jeremy Paxman was diagnosed with Parkinson's after a doctor noticed his symptoms on TV. (Getty Images)

What is Parkinson's disease?

Parkinson's disease is a condition where parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years, explains the NHS website.

It is caused by a loss of nerve cells in the substantia nigra (a part of the brain), which leads to a reduction in dopamine (known as one of the 'happy hormones').

More specifically, dopamine also helps to regulate the movement of the body, with a lack of it responsible for many of the symptoms of the disease.

Who is most at risk of Parkinson's disease?

It is unclear exactly what causes the loss of nerve cells that leads to Parkinson's, but many experts think it is a result of a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

While Parkinson's can run in families due to 'faulty genes' being passed on by a parent, it is rare for it to be inherited this way.

Parkinson's disease affects roughly one in 500 people, according to the NHS. Most people with the condition start to develop symptoms when they're over 50. That said, around one in 20 people also first experience symptoms when they're under 40.

Men are slightly more likely to get the disease than women.

A tremor can be a telltale sign of Parkinson's disease. (Getty Images)

Parkinson's disease symptoms

There are three main symptoms of Parkinson's, which are:

involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body (known as a tremor)

slow movement

stiff and inflexible muscles

Someone with Parkinson's disease can also experience a variety of other physical and psychological symptoms, including:

depression and anxiety

balance problems (this may increase the chances of a fall, which could help to explain Paxman's accident, for example)

loss of smell (known as anosmia)

sleeping problems (insomnia)

memory problems.

The 'Parkinson's mask'  previously referred to by Paxman  is known as 'facial masking' or 'hypomimia', which links to the stiffness of muscles some people experience.

Nurse Linda, from the Parkinson's UK helpline, explains on the charity's website that the lack of dopamine in the brain can stop your facial muscles from working how they used to.

When this happens, people can look like they have a blank expression, even if they are experiencing a strong emotion. Having a Parkinson's mask is a common symptom and it doesn't mean someone with the condition is necessarily feeling low or depressed  they just can't use their facial muscles to correctly express themselves.

Many people with Parkinson's also report problems with apathy (lack of interest) and motivation, which means they might not respond to emotions like they used to.

Don't delay in speaking to your doctor if you're worried about potential symptoms of Parkinson's disease. (Getty Images)

Help with Parkinson's disease

If you are concerned you have any Parkinson's disease symptoms, see a GP.

While there is no cure, you can help manage Parkinson's by:

taking medication

staying active

monitoring your symptoms

exploring different therapies

in some cases brain surgery

For more information on the condition:

Visit the NHS website's section on Parkinson's disease

Visit the Parkinson's UK website, the main support and research charity for the disease or contact them on the free helpline 0808 800 0303 or email on hello@parkinsons.org.uk

Parkinson's disease: Read more

Additional reporting PA and SWNS.

Watch: Billy Connolly on dealing with Parkinson's disease: Comedian says he has learnt to 'hypnotise' his hand when it shakes
A minister accused of being part of a campaign to undermine an inquiry into Boris Johnson has resigned, criticising Rishi Sunaks apathy towards the climate crisis.

In a scathing letter on Friday, Lord Zac Goldsmith took aim at the Prime Minister directly for being simply uninterested in the environment, and said his position had been made untenable.

However, the PA news agency understands he quit as a minister after being told to apologise for his alleged role in putting improper pressure on the Privileges Committee investigation into Mr Johnsons partygate denials to MPs.

The departure comes after the cross-party panel named Lord Goldsmith as one of eight parliamentarians who had launched attacks on its work, which ultimately found the former prime minister lied to Parliament over the scandal.

Writing to Mr Sunak, the Tory peer said: Prime Minister, having been able to get so much done previously, I have struggled even to hold the line in recent months.

The problem is not that the Government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested. That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.

He added: This Governments apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable. 

Lord Goldsmith had been a minister at the Foreign Office, with the environment, climate and energy in his brief.

It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govts apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down pic.twitter.com/KDJKN3i6ER  Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) June 30, 2023

In a report on Thursday accusing parliamentarians of a campaign to interfere with its work, the Privileges Committee cited a retweet posted by Lord Goldsmith in June which suggested it was a witch hunt and a kangaroo court

Exactly this, Lord Goldsmith, who was handed his peerage by Mr Johnson, had added. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.

The committee said the Commons should consider whether the actions of MPs involved, including staunch Johnson loyalists Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, amounted to contempt of Parliament, as well as what further action to take.

Mr Sunak refused to answer questions about Lord Goldsmiths resignation when asked as he left a hospital visit in Cambridgeshire on Friday.

Downing Street on Thursday said Mr Sunak had full confidence in Lord Goldsmith despite the follow-up reports findings.

But the committee also said the upper chamber should be made aware of its findings and consider what action to take.

Labours shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: Rishi Sunaks weakness is laid bare as 24 hours after he refused to condemn Zac Goldsmith, Goldsmith scathingly condemns him.

This simply uninterested Prime Minister cant lead his own team, never mind lead the country.

The Conservatives are in disarray  with mortgages soaring, NHS waiting lists rocketing, and in their own words: Apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face.

The Liberal Democrats said the Prime Minister should have had the guts to sack Lord Goldsmith the day before his ministerial resignation following his brutal censure.

Sarah Olney, the partys Treasury spokeswoman, said: This Conservative chaos is never-ending.

Every day brings more resignations and scandal in this depressing Westminster soap opera.

Rishi Sunak should have had the guts to sack Zac Goldsmith yesterday when he was brutally criticised by the partygate watchdog. Sunak is clearly too weak to control his own party.
Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti have split up less than one year after being crowned the winners of Love Island.

The pair were announced as the winning couple on the popular ITV reality show in August of last year, after securing nearly two thirds of the public vote.

In an announcement on his Instagram story on Thursday, Sanclimenti said that the pair were no longer together but that he wished his former partner nothing but the best.

@ekinsuofficial & I are no longer together, he said.

I am grateful for the memories and opportunities we shared together and I wish her nothing but the best.

I would like for everybody to respect this decision during this difficult time, I will continue to support Ekin in any way possible.

Culculoglu is yet to address the break-up publicly.

It comes just three days after the pair were pictured together at the London premiere of Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny.

Over the past 10 months the couple had announced they were moving in together, and featured in an ITV spin-off show in which they explored their home countries of Italy and Turkey.

Sanclimenti previously advised future Love Island contestants not to go into the villa hoping for fame but because they actually want to find someone.

Appearing on ITVs Good Morning Britain (GMB) in January, he told contestants to be yourself.

Ekin-Su Culculoglu (left) and Davide Sanclimenti arrive for the UK premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Ian West/PA)

Dont go there for fame but because you actually want to find someone, he said.

If you are a genuine person and you actually want to find someone for love and the right person is there you will have an amazing experience.

Love Island 2022 runners-up Luca Bish and Gemma Owen previously announced their own separation in November, less than four months after leaving the villa.
Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwells arguments for overturning her sex trafficking conviction fall far short of justifying quashing the jurys verdict, US Government lawyers have said.

The 61-year-old was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to massage rooms for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June last year.

Maxwell was convicted of luring young girls to Epsteins massage rooms for him to abuse (US Department of Justice/PA)

Maxwell indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had faded, distorted and motivated memories.

Her attorneys also claimed she did not have a fair trial after it emerged one of the jurors, Scotty David, also known as Juror 50, had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused in the jury questionnaire.

But US Government lawyers have urged the Second Circuit Appeals Court to uphold Maxwells conviction.

In response to the arguments about Mr David, the US Governments attorneys said: Judge Nathan conducted a thorough inquiry and determined that Juror 50s inadvertent errors on the jury questionnaire did not undermine Maxwells right to a fair trial.

Maxwell does not meaningfully engage with Judge Nathans careful opinion, instead suggesting that Juror 50s testimony at the hearing was patently absurd.

The US Government attorneys said Maxwells arguments fall far short of establishing Judge Nathan abused her discretion in her decision not to overturn the jurys verdict.

The former socialite also argued the US government breached a non-prosecution agreement by bringing the charges against her  claiming the agreement immunised Maxwell for these offences.

But the US prosecutors said Maxwell has no right to invoke the protections of a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) because she was not a signatory or a third party to the agreement.

Prosecutors argue Maxwells appeal submissions fall far short of justifying overturning the jurys verdict (US Department of Justice/PA)

In her appeal submissions, the disgraced socialite said the court had refused to correct the jurys misunderstanding of elements of the charges  meaning she was convicted of crimes with which she was not charged.

But the US Government said Judge Nathan found that the original jury instructions and the Governments summation captured the core of criminality charged in the indictment.

Maxwell also urged the appeal court to resentence if she was not granted a new trial.

But the government attorneys said her sentence was not unfair and that her arguments to the contrary were so cursory and undeveloped that they should be dismissed.

Jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as dangerous during her three-week trial, and were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epsteins various properties for him to sexually abuse.

Her lawyers have until July 27 to respond the US Governments submissions.

Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020, despite numerous attempts from her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The death was ruled a suicide.
Heathrow airport has appointed Thomas Woldbye as its new chief executive.

Mr Woldbye, currently the boss of Denmarks Copenhagen airport, will replace John Holland-Kaye when he steps down later this year after nearly 10 years in the role.

Heathrow chairman Lord Deighton said: After an extensive and rigorous review of candidates, the Heathrow board is delighted to appoint Thomas Woldbye as the next Heathrow CEO.

Leading Britains hub airport is one of the most important jobs in global aviation and the vacancy attracted the best calibre talent from across the world.

Thomass achievements at Copenhagen not only mirror Heathrows long-term strategy, but his track record in successfully running a major airport and working closely with stakeholders to secure consensus and deliver positive results stood out in the selection process.

Mr Woldbye has served as chief executive of Copenhagen airport since 2011.

Heathrow said he put customers and colleagues at the heart of the airports transformation, turning it into the powerhouse transport hub of northern Europe.

He forged strong links with the Danish government and fostered partnerships with airlines to drive investment and development, the west London airport added.

Mr Woldbye said: I am naturally excited and proud, as well as humbled, to have been chosen to lead what is arguably the most famous airport in the world on its future journey.

I have personally experienced how the excellent team at Heathrow has successfully improved both the infrastructure and the service to passengers over the past years to create a strong platform for further success.

Heathrow is an important engine for the British economy and inextricably linked to the success of London and the wider UK.

I look forward to being part of charting the path for this iconic company. My ambition will be to make the airport even better for passengers, for airlines, the community and every part of the UK.

Mr Holland-Kaye, who will remain in post until Mr Woldbye starts later in the year, said: An airport is more than just runways and terminal buildings  its the people who come to work every day to deliver excellent service to our passengers.

Its been the privilege of my lifetime to lead our fantastic team.

Ive worked with Thomas over recent years and am a great admirer of his leadership on diversity and sustainability and his championing of the needs of passengers.

Im confident that the Heathrow team will be the cornerstone of his success in delivering the best airport service in the world.
The boss of Severn Trent has called on other UK utility firms to position themselves as social purpose companies to appease the Labour Party and head off any future threat of nationalisation.

In an email to other industry chiefs, Liv Garfield called on other bosses to bring together a new taskforce to cooperate with Labour.

It comes as the sector faces intense scrutiny amid fears over financial instability at Thames Water, which has raised questions over the financing of the industry.

Ministers have already held talks to prepare themselves to seize control of Thames Water if necessary, according to reports, as the UKs largest water company continues to seek new funding.

Liv Garfield, chief executive officer of Severn Trent (Veuve Clicquot/PA)

In the highly confidential email, first revealed by the Evening Standard, the CEO asked other utilities bosses to join an off-the-record roundtable.

Ms Garfield added: Whilst it is clear Labour will not include nationalisation in its next manifesto, they are also not keen on entering into the election race championing the status quo.

The leadership thinks there is room for improvement and, politically, there is significant pressure to do something about utilities.

One idea we believe might be attractive to the Labour leadership is re-purposing utilities and utility networks into a new breed of declared social purpose companies  companies that remain privately owned, who absolutely can (and should) make a profit, but ones that also have a special duty to take a long-term view.

It also comes after reports in the Times earlier this week that suppliers are drawing up plans which could increase household water bills by as much as 40%.
The worlds largest airliner is returning to Birmingham airport as Gulf carriers ramp up capacity.

Emirates will resume using its 615-seater Airbus A380s from Saturday for one of its two daily return flights between the West Midlands airport and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The vast majority of A380s around the world were put into storage at the height of the virus crisis, sparking speculation they would never return due to the existence of more fuel-efficient aircraft.

But the models ability to carry more passengers than other commercial planes means they are making a recovery.

Meanwhile, airline Saudia will start serving Birmingham airport from Sunday with three return fights per week to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Qatar Airways will return to the airport on July 6 following a three-year absence due to the virus crisis, with daily return flights to Doha, Qatar.

Birmingham airport is hoping the moves mean more passengers will view it as an alternative to London terminals.

It expects to serve around 12.5 million passengers during the current financial year and plans to increase the annual figure to more than 18 million within a decade.

The airports chief executive, Nick Barton, said: Direct connectivity with the Middle East has never been better for our business and leisure customers.

Emirates, Qatar and Saudia are all major global players connecting Birmingham airport directly to their hub airports, each with impressive onward networks variously serving Australasia, Africa and the Far East.

Mr Barton cited Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Accenture and HSBC as some of the global brands which have recently established headquarters in Birmingham.

He went on: Emirates, Qatar and Saudia see Birmingham and the West Midlands as a British region home to six million people, with an economy the size of Hungarys, on a strong trajectory of growth, and with future economic potential not yet fully realised.

The draw of the West Midlands strengthens further still when one considers the opportunities offered by the new HS2 railway, which, once operational in the early 2030s, will connect London directly to the Birmingham airport terminal in a barely conceivable 32 minutes.

Thats a game-changer.

Emirates UK divisional vice president Richard Jewsbury said: Were excited to be bringing back our iconic A380 aircraft back to Birmingham.

The return will make it easier to connect more passengers to popular long-haul destinations including Thailand, Australia and of course the vibrant city of Dubai for summer and beyond.

As well as meeting increased customer demand, businesses across the region will be able to take full advantage of the cargo capacity.

Were extremely proud of our partnership with Birmingham airport and our ongoing commitments to the wider Midlands region.
A mother who stabbed her eight-week-old baby son twice through his heart has been told she must serve at least 20 years in prison for the murder.

The 31-year-old was also given a concurrent sentence at Belfast Crown Court for the attempted murder of her two-year-old daughter.

The defendant, who cannot be named due to reporting restrictions, wept in the dock as the sentence was delivered by Judge Donna McColgan KC.

The mother stabbed her children in their Belfast home on the evening of Tuesday July 27 2021, and whilst her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter survived, her eight-week-old son died.

She had accepted she stabbed the children but denied the charges. She was convicted of murder and attempted murder in March.

The judge said she accepted the defendant had been in an abusive relationship and may have been suffering from moderate depression at the time.

Addressing a sentencing hearing on Friday, Judge McColgan said: I have concluded that she is a dangerous offender within the terms of the legislation.

But for the intervention of police who attended at the scene, the medical staff at the house and the hospital, we would currently be dealing with the deaths of two very young children.

The judge asked that her remarks about the actions of police officers be passed on to PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne.

Setting out the background to the case, the judge said police had attended the defendants home after receiving a phone call from her partner.

She said they discovered a harrowing scene at the house.

The officers found the defendant sitting on the bed holding her screaming daughter by the head. The baby boy was on the bed in a lifeless state.

A police constable made repeated attempts to administer CPR to the baby.

The judge said the constable had given evidence during the trial that the mother had said to him: I wouldnt worry about him, hes dead. I stabbed him.

Judge McColgan said the woman had made allegations of abuse about her partner and he had been excluded from the home.

Police seized a diary written by the defendant from the kitchen.

The judge said one entry read: I choose to take our lives for everything you did to us. You got to the point of leaving your children for another woman.

A defence barrister told the court the case was a tragedy of immense proportions.

Detective Inspector Gina Quinn said the case was totally distressing (Niall Carson/PA)

PSNI Detective Inspector Gina Quinn said it had been a totally distressing case.

She said: Police, who were called to a house in Belfast that evening, found the woman with her two injured children.

The baby boy, who was just eight weeks old, had sustained two stab wounds to his chest.

Paramedics transferred the little one to hospital but, tragically, he was pronounced dead later that evening.

The young girl had also been stabbed in the chest.

She was transferred to hospital and survived, thanks to emergency, life-saving surgery.

Both children had been stabbed by their mother  a parent who should, of course, have been loving, caring and protecting.

This has been a totally distressing case.

A tiny and innocent life was taken in senseless and tragic circumstances.

I would like to thank our partners in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children who fought so hard to try and save the lives of both children.

The family have had their whole world turned upside down.

They have lost an opportunity to see one of the children grow up, while the surviving child has lost her brother.

There is nothing I can do or say that will undo this loss or begin to ease their pain.

My thoughts, and that of the investigation team, are with the surviving child, the family and the wider community who have all been affected.

In a statement, the childrens father said: Words cannot describe what my family and I have been through.

We never got to see my son grow up, but will never forget him.
Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey is a sexual bully who delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a court has heard.

The Hollywood star, 63, was described by the prosecution as a man who sexually assaults other men as he stood trial at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.

Christine Agnew KC told the court: Kevin Spacey Fowler is an actor; many of you will already know that.

He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards.

Kevin Spacey arriving at Southwark Crown Court for his trial (Jordan Pettitt/PA)

He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men.

A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully.

Spacey, described by one of his alleged victims as a star, a golden boy, denies 12 charges, including sexual assault and indecent assault.

Ms Agnew said the jury will hear from four men during the trial, all aged in their 20s or 30s, who attracted the attention of Spacey.

She said: None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way, but he doesnt seem to have cared very much for their feelings.

He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification.

What does the defendant say in answer to these allegations?

Well in relation to some he suggests that they are quite simply made up.

In relation to others, he accepts that there was a sexual encounter between him and the other man but asserts that anything that took place would have taken place with the consent of the other man.

The prosecutor warned jurors not to be star struck by the actor  urging them to keep yourself grounded and true to the oath that you have taken.

As she detailed allegations made by one of the complainants, Ms Agnew said it may well be that Spacey got a sexual thrill from the aggression he is alleged to have used against the man.

The prosecutor said the defendant had engaged in inappropriate and unwelcome touching with the man, before it allegedly progressed to occasions when Kevin Spacey Fowler would actually grab and grope him.

Another of Spaceys alleged victims recalled the actor making crude and seedy sexual remarks before grabbing him in an aggressive manner.

The complainant said he was grabbed with such force it was painful and that he pushed him away, saying no, Im not like that.

Ms Agnew added that Spacey simply laughed after the complainant pushed him away.

The prosecutor said a third complainant recalled feeling vulnerable and thinking that perhaps this was just how people in the acting world acted following an alleged encounter at Spaceys flat.

Ms Agnew said the man recalled he had either fell asleep or passed out at the flat and after an alleged unwanted sexual advance from the actor, the complainant sat and cried at a bus stop at 5am.

The fourth alleged victim said he and Spacey had engaged in an awkward man hug at a property where the actor was staying, before the defendant kissed his neck twice while saying be cool, be cool.

Ms Agnew said Spacey then grabbed the man sexually before the alleged victim left the property in a bit of a panicky state.

The prosecutor told the jury that the defendant was interviewed by the Metropolitan Police in New York in May 2019 about three of the complainants allegations, before a further interview about the fourth complainant in November 2022.

Ms Agnew said Spacey is set to argue that two of the complainants were motivated by financial compensation and that he either had no recollection of the alleged encounters or they were consensual.

Concluding her opening remarks to the jury, prosecutor Ms Agnew said Spacey had abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him.

She told the jury: Four men, unknown it seems to each other, all make serious sexual allegations against Kevin Spacey Fowler. Are they lying?

Have they decided to manufacture allegations against the defendant in order to benefit financially?

Is that why theyve come forward  that will almost certainly be suggested to you by those representing the defendant.

Or is it the case, as we the prosecution suggest, that Mr Spacey Fowler abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him; taking advantage of his popularity and prominence, his illustriousness and influence.

Taking what and who he wanted when he wanted.

The actor pleaded not guilty in January to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The two-time Academy Award winner also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
The chair of a refugee group who is fundraising for her members to attend a Pride parade said the march will be a confidence-boosting experience to affirm and celebrate asylum seekers of the LGBTQ+ community.

Sarah Cope, chair of Queer Refugees Unite, which is a support group for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum in the UK, has set up a Go Fund Me to raise money to take 40 of its members to celebrate Pride at the London Pride Parade.

Ms Cope said the experience cant be overstated as it will allow LGBTQ+ refugees to take part in the parade, particularly as many cannot afford to attend the event, and spoke of the significance of the trip.

Its just really important that they go to pride for a lot of reasons. One is that all of these people have had to keep who they are a secret all their lives up until this point, the 45-year-old from Hertfordshire told the PA news agency.

Asylum seekers get an absolute pittance from the government in terms of money they receive to live on so its not really enough for travel expenses.

Queer Refugee Unite members will carry their own banners and t-shirts to London Pride Parade (Sarah Cope)

We needed money for t-shirts and for peoples expenses, travel expenses, because they are based all over the UK.

To raise awareness of the countries where being part of the LGBTQ+ community is illegal, the group will attend the event wearing t-shirts designed by one of the members depicting the words Queer Refugees Unite written across a drawing of the globe.

Ms Cope said the image of the planet represents the members who come the across the world from some of the countries where its still criminalised if youre gay or trans.

She hopes the march will highlight the need to support the huge issue of asylum seekers who are routinely disbelieved by the Home Office for being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The rights that we sometimes take for granted here, dont apply to everyone across the world, and indeed in this country asylum seekers who are LGBTQ+ are routinely disbelieved by the Home Office, and detained and sometimes forcefully deported, she said.

Thats a huge, huge issue. It should be a huge LGBT issue  its not, but I think it should be.

She also wants the march to recognise the 70 countries where homosexuality is outlawed, particularly as some of her members are said to have had awful traumatic experiences for expressing their sexuality in their home country.

This is the 51st year of the Pride march in London and we have secured so many rights along the way for LGBTQ+ people, there are countries in the world where if you are gay or trans, your life is at risk if youre found out, she said.

All of these members have had awful traumatic experiences in their countries of origin, which is why theyre here in the UK.

She hopes that attending the parade will be a confidence boost for Queer Refugees Unite members.

To be able to go and march with 30,000 [people] and having spectators of up to one and a half to two million giving them that affirmation and celebrating who they are, its just such a huge, huge experience such a confidence-boosting experience. It cant be overstated, she said.

Thousands of people march in Londons Pride Parade, with more than a million spectators, which is a huge opportunity for LGBTQ+ refugees, says Sarah Cope (Matt Alexander/PA)

She added that the event will also help to gain evidence of their asylum claims.

(Members) have to evidence their claims, in terms of they are out as gay or trans in this country. Its a way that they can gain evidence as well, incidentally, for their asylum claims, she explained.

Ms Cope said she was moved by peoples generosity and expressed her gratitude to those who have donated to the fundraiser.

We couldnt do it without the fundraiser, so thats why were grateful to those who donated, she said.

People have been really generous. Weve been really moved by how much people have given and its just made all the difference.

For more information or to support the challenge visit www.gofundme.com/f/help-queer-refugees-unite-get-to-london-pride
A primary school in Croydon has been fined 35,000 after a young boy was left with critical burns when his nativity costume caught fire during the schools annual carol concert.

St Thomas Becket Catholic Primary School was found guilty of health and safety failings by a jury at Southwark Crown Court earlier in June.

In December 2019 the boy, then aged seven, had been in a line of pupils each holding a lit candle in Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Bingham Road, Croydon, when his homemade sheep costume caught fire, the court heard.

The fire was extinguished with some difficulty and the child received first aid at the scene before he was taken by air ambulance to hospital.

At hospital it was estimated that he sustained burns on 45% of his body, resulting in life-changing injuries that will leave him dependent on third party care for basic needs.

Judge Philip Bartle fined the state school 35,000 for breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974  more specifically for failing to properly assess the risk involved and failing to take reasonably practical steps to minimise or eliminate the risk.

The judge also ordered that the school should pay 25,970 in prosecution costs and that victim compensation should be dealt with by the civil courts.

In two impact statements read out in court, the childs parents described the excruciating pain that their son, who no longer attends the school, has been through and is still going through.

They both commented on the life-threatening nature of their sons injuries, with the mother saying she thought the worst when the boy was in hospital and his father saying he is lucky to be alive.

The court heard they were waiting for their son to emerge in the church when people started running outside and screaming, which the father described as feeling like a bomb had gone off.

The mother said her sons best friend said he was on fire, prompting her to force her way back into the church.

Both parents found their son standing screaming in a bucket of water in the church, the court heard.

His father said the image has been tattooed in his mind.

The court heard how the young boy underwent countless surgeries and hospital appointments, which are continuing three years later.

I protect my son from every look from a stranger when we are out together, the father said. I walk in front of him to protect him from the glares of others. I think of him growing older in such a cruel world.

It overwhelms me to think that my son will never know what a normal life is.

The mother said a school should be a trusted place for parents and children and would never expect her childs school to expose him to life-threatening danger like this.

I havent stepped in a church since and I dont think I ever will, she said.

Judge Bartle said of the boys parents: Their love for (their son) and their dedication to his welfare shine out from all they say.

I acknowledge the selfless devoted care that they have given to him.

In defence of the school, the court heard that the board of governors apologises to the family, that the school has a good health and safety record and that it has banned the use of candles.

Following the incident the London Fire Brigade issued a warning against the completely unnecessary hazard of candles when it comes to children and school plays, and said LED or electric candles should be used.

Health and Safety Executive inspector Sarah Whittle said: This was a shocking and scary incident that could have so easily been avoided.

Common sense alone should have been enough to see the risk.

Mitigation in this case would have been the substitution of wax candles for flameless ones, thereby reducing the risk to zero.

This was a step the school took after the incident, but by then it was far too late for a young child who will be forever affected by this.

The importance of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment has never been made so clear.
Prosecutors are set to open their case against Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, who is charged with sex offences against four men.

The Hollywood star has previously denied 12 charges, including sexual assault and indecent assault.

On Wednesday, a jury panel of 14 was selected to hear the prosecutions opening speech as Spacey watched on intently from the dock at Southwark Crown Court.

Kevin Spacey watched intently from the dock as jurors were selected (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

Christine Agnew KC is due to tell jurors about alleged offences between 2001 and 2013.

The actor pleaded not guilty in January to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The two-time Academy Award winner also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

Before the jury panel was selected for the trial, Mr Justice Mark Wall told prospective jurors: I am sure the defendant will be gratified to know that many of you will know his name or have seen his films.

The judge said the case has quite obviously attracted a lot of media attention, but that they must avoid this coverage where you can.

Spacey has an address in Waterloo, south London, but also lives in the US, where he has family and a dog.

Spacey smiled and waved as he arrived at court on Wednesday (Aaron Chown/PA)

In a preliminary court hearing in June, Spaceys lawyer, Patrick Gibbs KC, said his client strenuously denies any and all criminality in this case.

The actor is known for starring in House Of Cards, American Beauty and The Usual Suspects, and was the artistic director at The Old Vic theatre in London between 2004 and 2015.

Spacey is on unconditional bail and Ms Agnew is due to open the case on Friday.
Public confidence in the justice system is at risk of being undermined by the courts and tribunals service amid delays to key reforms, MPs have warned in a scathing report.

The agency has almost burnt through its entire budget to deliver a programme that is just over halfway complete, chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Dame Meg Hillier said.

Many of the issues relate to the introduction of His Majestys Courts and Tribunal Services (HMCTS) so-called Common Platform  a controversial new case management programme aimed at modernising the system.

The rollout of the platform has added significant stress to staff already under pressure to reduce court backlogs, the committee said.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which represents HMCTS workers, have previously staged walkouts over the scheme, which they say has been complicated to use and forced them to work long hours.

PAC said the courts and tribunals service had consistently underestimated the scale and complexity of reforms, including the platform, leading it to fall behind on estimated deadlines.

HMCTS pushed back its timetable for the Court Reform Programme (CRP) for a third time in March and now expects complete delivery of the Common Platform in March 2025  a year later than planned.

Despite having just 120 million left of its 1.3 billion budget, it has only completed 24 out of 44 reform projects, PAC said.

The committee also voiced concerns that HMCTS does not yet fully understand how some changes are affecting victims, other court users or the publics access to justice.

It made five recommendations, including for the service to outline how it intends to improve engagement and transparency with staff and stakeholders and what it is doing to assure itself that its plans are now realistic.

In assessments completed by November last year, the service identified concerning disparities in the way divorce and probate services perform for different user groups, such as ethnic minorities.

But it is yet to make any changes based on these findings, PAC found.

HMCTS plans to publish some of its findings in autumn 2023, but it will continue to risk undermining public confidence in the fairness of the justice system if it does not increase the pace at which it takes action in response to their findings, the report said.

Dame Meg Hillier MP, chairwoman of the committee, said: Our courts were already stretched thin before the pandemic, and the backlogs now faced pose a real threat to timely access to justice.

These are services crying out for critical reform, but frustratingly HM Courts & Tribunals attempts appear in some cases to be actively hindering its own staffs ability to carry out their jobs. In particular, the roll-out of the Common Platform digital system was a blow upon a bruise for pressured court users.

We would expect HMCTS to appreciate by now that complex reform such as this cannot be properly implemented while failing to engage with those impacted, but our report paints a picture of a service now rushing to introduce its plans following multiple delays. HMCTS has now burnt through almost its entire budget for a programme of reform only a little over halfway complete.

The Government told us that the complexity of managing some of these reforms was like redesigning the jet engine while it is in flight. It must explain how it intends to land the plane.

The committees concerns were echoed by the Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales.

Reform is long overdue but mustnt be done in a way that adds to the burden on judges, court staff, solicitors and barristers who are already overstretched. Neither should it make the long delays faced by court users worse, Law Society president Lubna Shuja said.

Feedback from our members has been that the speed of change and the number of changes all at once has been problematic. Technology can drive efficiency in courts, however, rolling out unfinished or untested software drives delays and costs, as we have seen with Common Platform. Completion dates of projects still in development should be adjusted so they are realistic and achievable.

Such projects should only be launched in full once they have been fully tested and evaluated. For example, the online public family law service had functionality issues which led to significantly delayed cases because it hadnt been sufficiently tested.

An HMCTS spokesperson said: We are modernising our courts so they are fit for the 21st century and the digital services we have introduced have been used over two million times.

The Common Platform is a vital part of this reform, replacing old systems that are fragmented and unsustainable, but we have listened to our staff, partners and those using the system in order to make its rollout smoother.

We will consider the findings of this report and are already acting on many of its recommendations, including ensuring were using lessons learned so far to improve the remainder of the programme.
A suspected rapist wanted by authorities in the US called a fellow inmate of HMP Edinburgh to the witness stand on the final day of evidence in his extradition hearing.

The hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court has been ongoing since Monday in order to decide whether Nicholas Rossi, 35, who has claimed to be a victim of mistaken identity, can be extradited to America.

On Friday, William King, 59, gave evidence by video-link on Rossis treatment in prison.

He told the court: Hes been treated abysmally. He was left on the floor and told, Get up, you can f****** walk.

He pleaded for help, he has been refused.

Nicholas Rossis wife Miranda Knight has been in court for the hearing (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Nurses say there is nothing wrong with him.

Sheriff Norman McFadyen warned Rossis defence lawyer, Mungo Bovey KC, that the witness was giving a monologue and that if he did not stay to the point he would be stopped.

It came on the final day of evidence before the closing submissions in the lengthy extradition battle that has been ongoing since December 2021.

The case has been characterised with frequent delays, but a decision on whether Rossi can be extradited is expected following the conclusion of the current hearing.

Nicholas Rossi leaves Edinburgh Sheriff Court after his extradition hearing (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

There was a last-minute attempt to keep the case open in order for further evidence for the defence to be heard.

But Sheriff McFadyen refused the motion.

On Friday afternoon, closing submissions from both the defence and the crown were expected.

But Rossi appeared to be unwell as Mr Bovey came to the end of his closing submission.

The public gallery was ordered from the court room while a medic checked him over and found his oxygen levels to be below that of a normal person.

However, he did not require any further medical attention.

Mr Bovey moved that extradition should not go ahead based on Rossis deteriorating health and mobility.

He claims to have used a wheelchair since August 2020.

Mr Bovey said: The conclusive point is that he is still in a wheelchair and there is no suggestion that would be coming to an end.

Additionally, Mr Bovey pointed to the delays in the allegations of rape being brought to the attention of the authorities in Utah.

The lawyer also said Rossi would have difficulty in functioning in family and social domains.

Rossis wife, Miranda Knight, who married him while he was using the name Arthur Brown, has been present at all of the court proceedings to date.

Mr Bovey said in Rossis defence: He married in the UK to a UK citizen and lived here with her and was looked after by her.

Mrs Knight is present here in your lordships court and has been present throughout.

She has been markedly loyal and devoted.

Sheriff McFadyen refused an application for bail saying that Rossi represents a significant flight risk.

The hearing has been adjourned until July 12 when the closing submission of the crown will be heard.
Boris Johnson said it was time to get Rwanda done, as he warned that the legal row over the scheme could ground flights until 2025.

The former prime minister used his Daily Mail column to endorse ministers commitment to the scheme and plans to appeal, after Court of Appeal judges rebuffed the argument that Rwanda could be considered a safe third country.

The decision was the latest setback in Rishi Sunaks bid to stop the boats  one of his flagship pledges.

Mr Johnson, whose Government proposed the plan, said that now flights to Rwanda may not go ahead next year as he played on his famous 2019 slogan Get Brexit Done.

In his column, he wrote: We always knew that it would be difficult, and when I launched the scheme on April 14 last year, I was explicit that it would take time, and that it would face many legal challenges and reverses.

I also said that it might be necessary to take further steps and, if required, to change the law.

The time has now come to do this. I have every hope that the Supreme Court will follow the opinion of the Lord Chief Justice, and quash the decision of the Court of Appeal.

But we must be realistic. There is now a good chance that the laws delays will be so severe that no illegal arrivals will be sent to Rwanda this year, and perhaps not even next year.

Mr Johnson said that such a situation would be intolerable and suggested it was time for Parliament to intervene.

He wrote: The Government has the power, under Schedule 3 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004, to ask Parliament to deem Rwanda a safe country. That has not so far been done and it should now be done  immediately.

Yes, of course there would be a row. The House of Lords might well be difficult  but we have been here before.

It is time for the Government to settle the legal position.

It is time  with a large remaining majority  for Parliament to determine that Rwanda is safe, bust the evil people traffickers, stop the boats, recapture the spirit of 2019 and get Rwanda done.

Mr Johnson also played down suggestions from some Tory MPs that the UK should seek to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in order to push ahead with the scheme, which has been criticised by opposition parties and campaigners.

There are some who argue that we should immediately quit the European Convention on Human Rights; and though I can certainly see the attractions of this  it would take time, and cause divisions, and would not solve the immediate problem raised by this case, he wrote.
The SNP says it is on course to meet its deadline to submit audited accounts, but they will contain a qualification.

The party appointed new auditors in May ahead of an Electoral Commission deadline on July 7, when the party must submit its accounts or face a fine by the regulator.

Members of the SNP national executive committee (NEC) met on Thursday evening and approved the accounts.

On Friday, the party said: The audit contains one qualification relating to one stream of income due to administrative processes, resulting in a limitation in scope of the audit.

New auditors were appointed after Humza Yousaf became leader of the SNP (Jane Barlow/PA)

There is no suggestion that the accounts do not present an accurate picture of the partys financial position.

This relates to missing documentation for membership, donations and raffle income for 2022 and 2021.

When auditors are fully confident in an organisations financial reporting their audit is said to be unqualified, if they have concerns about an area it is said to be qualified.

AMS Accountants Group was appointed as auditors after it emerged the partys previous auditors had stood down last year.

Humza Yousaf only found this out after he became leader in March.

The most recent accounts are expected to be published by the Electoral Commission at a later date.

SNP treasurer Stuart McDonald said the party will meet its obligations on its accounts (House of Commons/PA)

MP Stuart McDonald was appointed party treasurer following the resignation of Colin Beattie, who was arrested and released without charge amid the ongoing police investigation into the SNPs finances.

Mr McDonald said: Im pleased to confirm that the Scottish National Partys accounts have been approved by NEC for the year 2022 and we are in a position to meet our statutory obligations.

The SNPs main source of income remains our membership  which we are immensely grateful for.

He said the party had made administrative changes in line with auditors recommendations which would contribute to the SNPs ongoing governance review ordered by Mr Yousaf.

Mr McDonald added: Against the backdrop of a Tory-made cost-of-living crisis and a decade which has seen eight election campaigns, the people-powered SNP campaign has faced challenges but we are optimistic of a return to surplus in the next set of accounts and will be more than ready for the next electoral challenge.

The party has said it always keeps a careful online record of all income and there is no suggestion of misappropriation of funds.

The Scottish Conservatives said the audit qualification suggested murkiness in the SNPs finances.

Party chairman Craig Hoy said: Almost every time theres a question about their behaviour or finances, the relevant documents or minutes of meetings dont exist, or need to be dragged out of them.

Now their new auditors  that they only managed to secure at the 11th hour, having spammed accountancy firms across the country  have had to qualify their sign-off of the accounts by saying documents about cash are missing and that they cant satisfy themselves about completeness of income.

This would amount to a shocking lack of transparency in any organisation.

From a party in government, it is a disgrace that surely calls their credibility and probity into question.

The Electoral Commission said it had not yet received the SNPs accounts but it would publish them as soon as practicable.

While political parties have submitted qualified accounts before it is not common
Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey allegedly made a series of advances on four men who did not want to be touched by him in a sexual way, a court has heard.

The offences are alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013 when the men were aged in their 20s and 30s.

Here are the allegations, all denied by the actor, heard by the court:

:: The first complainant recalled the actor being very touchy feely with him over a series of interactions in the early 2000s, jurors heard.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC said this behaviour eventually escalated to Spacey grabbing and groping him in an aggressive way.

Miss Agnew added it may be that the defendant got a sexual thrill out of this type of sexual aggression.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC with Kevin Spacey behind her at Southwark Crown Court (Elizabeth Cook/PA)

:: A second complainant was said to have met Spacey at an event in a West End theatre in 2005 where the actor made crude remarks to him.

Jurors heard Spacey put his hand on the complainants leg before later grabbing him in a sexual way with such force it was painful.

Miss Agnew said that Spacey simply laughed after the complainant pushed him away.

:: Jurors went on to hear about a third complainant, an aspiring actor, who wrote to Spacey in 2008.

The court was told the pair met up in London and ended up in the actors apartment.

The complainant fell asleep or passed out, which he later said was unusual for him, and woke up to an unwanted sexual advance from the actor, jurors heard.

Miss Agnew said he made his way to a bus stop at 5am where he sat and cried.

:: A fourth complainant was said to have met Spacey in a pub near Oxford.

Later at a property where Spacey was staying, the actor gave him what he described as an awkward man hug.

Spacey allegedly kissed the mans neck twice during the hug while telling him be cool, be cool, before grabbing him intimately.

The complainant pushed the actor against the wall and told him he did not bat for that team before leaving in a bit of a panicky state.
Rishi Sunak has refused to guarantee the first flight to Rwanda would take off by the end of the year after his asylum policy was dealt a blow by an appeal court ruling.

The Prime Minister instead said its a matter for the courts when pressed when flights would take off in the coming months.

But he insisted he is entirely confident in the Rwanda policy as ministers prepared to appeal against a court decision blocking asylum seekers being deported to the east African nation.

It comes despite previous suggestions from within the Government that planes forcibly removing migrants that arrive within the UK from unauthorised means could take off by the end of summer.

Asked whether the first flight to Rwanda will take off this year following the Court of appeals ruling, the Prime Minister said during a press briefing on Friday: The policy of this Government is very simple it is our country, our Government who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs, and I will do what is necessary to make sure that happens.

He said: We are confident in our case. The High Court agreed with us, the Lord Chief Justice agreed with us.

Rwanda doesnt even have returns agreements with other countries and they have provided a set of safeguards and assurances to us about the treatment of refugees that will be sent there that we believe are strong.

The High Court and Lord Chief Justice agreed with that, so we will seek permission to appeal this case to the Supreme Court and we remain entirely confident that what were doing is right.

And it is also fair, because there is nothing moral or compassionate about allowing the current system to continue. People are needlessly dying as they try and make these crossings, they are exploited by criminal gangs.

If you spend any time with the people, as I have done, who are in the Channel picking people up, seeing the conditions they are subject to, seeing what children are subject to, (you) would find it very hard to justify maintaining this system.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was confident in his policy (Frank Augstein/PA)

In a majority decision on Thursday, Court of Appeal judges overturned an earlier High Court ruling which found Rwanda could be considered a safe third country.

Boris Johnson backed the Government position on Friday, using his Daily Mail column to draw on his famous 2019 Brexit slogan and argue that it was time to get Rwanda done.

Expressing concern about the potential for lengthy delays, the former prime minister suggested it was time for Parliament to intervene to help settle the legal position.

The Government has the power, under Schedule 3 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004, to ask Parliament to deem Rwanda a safe country. That has not so far been done and it should now be done  immediately.

Yes, of course there would be a row. The House of Lords might well be difficult  but we have been here before.

Labour said the decision showed the Governments efforts were completely unravelling.

In the 161-page ruling following the appeal in April, Sir Geoffrey Vos and Lord Justice Underhill concluded deficiencies in the asylum system in Rwanda mean there is a real risk asylum seekers could be returned to their home country and face persecution or other inhumane treatment when they may have a good claim for asylum.

More than 50,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since the Government signed the Rwanda deal over a year ago.

It comes just days after Home Office figures showed the Government could spend 169,000 on every asylum seeker forcibly removed to a third country such as Rwanda.

Nearly two in five people would need to be deterred from crossing the Channel for the Illegal Migration Bill to break even, according to the economic impact assessment published on Monday.

The 169,000 cost includes flights and detention, as well as a 105,000 per person payment to third countries, though the sum is an estimate not based on the true cost of the commercially sensitive Rwanda scheme.
The team behind the deep sea robot which eventually helped locate wreckage from the Titan submersible  following a fatal implosion which killed five people  had been hoping they were on a rescue mission, a company executive has said.

British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board the deep-sea vessel, alongside OceanGate Expeditions chief executive Stockton Rush and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Edward Cassano, chief executive of Pelagic Research Services, said his crew were laser-focused on rescue when they became part of massive search operation earlier this month in the mid-Atlantic after a tourist submarine went missing during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic.

Edward Cassano speaks during a news conference (Carolyn Thompson/AP)

Mr Cassano told reporters at a press conference in New York: We were focused on the job at hand  thats what we do and that is what all of these people do. We were laser-focused on rescue.

Officials announced OceanGate Expeditions submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion after a piece of the vessel was discovered near the bow of the Titanic. The wreckage was then recovered from the ocean floor.

The Odysseus 6K, a remote-operated vehicle from Pelagic Research Services, made the discovery and helped in the recovery effort.

The underwater robot helped in the initial search for the Titan and continued to map and document the area as it searched for debris.

Mr Cassano said his team had been among a fleet of ships when they arrived at site, and they soon became the primary identified asset to affect rescue.

He said: Our plan of rescue was to, immediately upon finding Titan, latch on to her as quickly as possible and begin recovery.

There were protocols in the event of viability and non-viability. It was wild.

We were moving assets under the integration and coordination of incident command and the team on Deep Energy  but because we were primary, they were asking us to make the decisions about how the various assets would move.

When we did discover the wreck of the Titan, different sets of protocols went through.

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic (Paul Daly/The Canadian Press via AP)

Pieces from the sub were unloaded in St Johns, Canada, on Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has said it is looking into the five deaths.

Safety investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada made inquiries on Titans main support ship, the Polar Prince, after it docked in St Johns harbour.

The Titan submersible lost contact with tour operator OceanGate Expeditions an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent to the wreckage, with the vessel reported missing eight hours after communication was lost.
A Belfast teenager shot dead by British soldiers in 1975 was entirely innocent, a coroner has ruled.

A fresh inquest into the death of Leo Norney, 17, concluded with the finding that he was shot dead by Lance Corporal John Ross MacKay.

The former Black Watch soldier died in 2015.

Coroner Patrick McGurgan found it was likely Mr Norneys killing was a deliberate act, and that Mr MacKay had expressed his intention to waste someone on September 13 1975.

He said the other soldiers with Mr MacKay shot into a Mini car and gave false accounts of what happened out of fear of him to cover up what happened, concocting a story they were being fired on and returned fire.

He was also critical of the Ministry of Defence, saying Mr MacKay had been convicted of a violent offence and served time in prison prior to the killing of Mr Norney, adding the soldier posed a risk to the public.

I am satisfied that the deceased Leo Norney was an innocent young man who happened to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time walking home from a night out and was shot dead by Lance Corporal MacKay, who planned to waste someone that very evening and expressed his thought to others in the patrol, he said.

He added that the shooting was unjustified and it had been covered up by members of the patrol.

Mr Norney, a Post Office worker, was shot after getting out of a taxi at Shepherds Path in the Turf Lodge area of West Belfast.

He died after being struck by three bullets.

His family applauded in Belfast Coroners Court as Mr McGurgan found Mr Norney had been entirely innocent.

There was applause at Belfast Coroners Court from the family of Belfast teenager Leo Norney as a coroner found he was entirely innocent and was deliberately shot dead by a soldier in September 1975. pic.twitter.com/dvIIP3AdNG  Rebecca Black (@RBlackPA) June 30, 2023

Delivering his findings, Mr McGurgan said he felt evidence given to the inquest by an Army veteran, referred to as M2, who had been in Mr MacKays patrol, to be impressive.

M2 changed his evidence from the time, telling the inquest he had done so out of fear of Mr MacKay.

He has accepted that he has given previous false accounts and now feels that the Norney family deserves to know the truth, he said.

I am satisfied that his evidence to this inquest represents an accurate description of the events leading up to, during and after the shooting dead of the deceased Leo Norney.

Mr McGurgan said Mr MacKay was at best a strong personality and at worst a bully who was aggressive and unpredictable and who was able to intimidate his patrol as well as individuals above him.

There was a failure (by the MoD) to consider the risk of putting a soldier with a conviction background and on release from prison two months earlier in charge of patrolling a civilian area, he said.

Whilst the death of Leo Norney was not directly foreseeable, the risk posed to the public by MacKay was identifiable. There was insufficient supervision of MacKay.

Mr McGurgan went on to find that had Mr MacKay been supervised, Mr Norneys death could have been prevented.

The coroner said he previously made a referral in the case to Northern Irelands Public Prosecution Service, and said he will share the inquest findings with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

He went on to say he wanted to acknowledge the dignity shown by the Norney family throughout the inquest.

Counsel for the Norney family Fiona Doherty KC described the findings as devastating and thanked the coroner.

The original inquest into Mr Norneys death in 1976 returned an open verdict.

The family of Leo Norney comment outside Belfast Coroners Court (Claudia Savage/PA)

Mr Norneys family welcomed the coroners findings.

Speaking outside court, his niece Linda said: Leo was only a boy of 17. He had just got out of a taxi and was going to meet his girlfriend.

Leo was not armed. He did not pose a threat to anyone. He was shot in cold blood and his shooting is unjustified.

However the British Army did not just kill Leo. They also murdered his good name.

Later that night after the soldiers returned to their base, they concocted a false story which blackened Leos name for almost 50 years. They said that Leo was a gunman and that Leo had opened fire on them.

Today, that narrative has been exposed for the deceit and lies that it is, and Leos good reputation has been restored.
Britains armed forces are too small and unable to fight intensively for anything other than a very brief period, a former defence chief has warned.

Lord Stirrup, who served as head of the Armed Forces between 2006 and 2010, delivered a withering assessment of the state of the UKs ability to respond to military threats as he raised concerns over investment.

Government figures show there were 188,820 service personnel in the UK forces as of April 2023, a decrease of 3.8% compared with the previous year.

The combined full-time trained strength of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, and the full-time trade trained strength of the Army was 133,570, a decrease of 2.4% since April 2022.

Speaking during a debate on UK defence policy, independent crossbench peer Lord Stirrup told the House of Lords: Our ability to defend our own airspace, to achieve air superiority over the battlespace, and to contribute effectively to the defence and  if necessary  restoration of Nato territory are all at risk.

Our bases and infrastructure in the UK, including our under sea infrastructure, are vulnerable to long-range attack and the concentration of our forces in fewer locations means that we lack the resilience we once had.

Meanwhile, the course of the current conflict in Ukraine has underscored the importance of air superiority. Fail to achieve it and you risk something resembling a First World War battlefield on the ground.

Our own ability to field an armoured division that can fight effectively and enduringly in high-intensity conflict has become something of a national embarrassment as well as a strategic weakness.

All three services have some good equipment but they lack many key enablers and, most importantly, adequate stocks of the appropriate weapons to fight intensively for anything other than a very brief period.

The Royal Navy, Army and air force are all too small but enabling our current force structure to undertake sustained operations must be our highest priority for investment.

This is not just a matter of more money for the defence budget, we must also strengthen and expand the western defence industries that weve allowed to atrophy over the many years of budgetary cuts and upon which we and the rest of Nato rely for our sustainability.

Lord Stirrup, who was commissioned into the RAF in 1970, said more predictable, longer range procurement plans are needed to secure private sector investment in those industries.

He said he expected the Government to argue it has delivered the largest increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.

Lord Stirrup said: Well, that may be true but it follows and only partly ameliorates some of the largest cuts made by the same Government.

Its rather like pushing someone into a river and then claiming credit for helping them to keep their head temporarily above water.

We need serious and sustained and increased investment in our military capability and sustainability, and that investment must be focused on our ability to fight and win in Europe and northern waters.

The Royal Navy aircraft carrier and flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Lord Craig of Radley, chief of defence staff from 1988 to 1991, said the UKs defence capabilities and strength are not as they should be as he cited budget cuts over more than 30 years and poor performance in procurement.

He later said: Defence needs long-term attention, real growth and greater cross-party support. What we now have is tissue paper thin.

Defence minister Baroness Goldie said: The defence equipment plan is public, it lays out I think an exciting combination of spend and equipment.

Lady Goldie referred to recent remarks from Lord Houghton of Richmond, chief of defence staff from 2013 to 2016, as she said: I thought he very astutely was pointing out that we need to get away from becoming fixated on necessarily a single force or a particular part of a capability.

The trick now is to know how we amalgamate this holistically to deliver the capability effect that we need to address threat.

On funding, Lady Goldie said: The Prime Minister has pledged, when economic circumstances improve, to raise to 2.5% of GDP our defence spending. I think this is a welcome boost in very difficult economic circumstances.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace earlier this week told MPs that the military will require a greater share of public spending and it couldnt be needed quicker.

Mr Wallace said spending on the Army is 20% higher since I have started as Defence Secretary, adding: I have made sure that a greater proportion of that spend is spent on catching up and modernising the armed forces that has been neglected all the way back to Afghanistan and Iraq.
A woman has been jailed for causing the death of an elderly patient who she attacked on a hospital ward, repeatedly banging her head on the floor.

Philomena Wilson, also known as Brenda, was a patient at City Hospital when she launched the unprovoked assault in January 2021, West Midlands Police said.

Birmingham Crown Court was told Vidya Kaur, 83, died three weeks after the attack, in which she sustained a fractured skull.

The incident took place at City Hospital in Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)

Police said nurses and another patient who tried to help the victim were also attacked, receiving minor injuries.

Wilson, 56, who has an acute mental disorder, had been admitted to hospital after being arrested for assault and wounding, and initially claimed to have no memory of the fatal assault.

Wilson, from Radnor Road, Handsworth, pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility in April this year and was jailed for seven years on Friday with an extended licence period of five years.

Detective Inspector Michelle Thurgood, of West Midlands Police, said: Our thoughts remain with the elderly ladys family after losing their loved one in such terrible circumstances.

They have had to wait many months for justice and I hope this finally brings them some closure.
Rishi Sunak has accused Lord Zac Goldsmith of resigning with a scathing attack on the Governments environmental apathy after refusing to apologise for a campaign to undermine an investigation into Boris Johnson.

The ally of the former prime minister dramatically quit his Foreign Office role on Friday, accusing Mr Sunak of being simply uninterested in tackling the climate crisis.

However, the Prime Minister hit back by making clear that Lord Goldsmith had been asked to apologise over his comments about the Privileges Committee inquiry that found Mr Johnson lied to MPs with his partygate denials.

Mr Sunak noted the Tory peer decided to take a different course but said the apology was necessary because his remarks were incompatible with his position as a minister.

Lord Goldsmith, who was handed his peerage by Mr Johnson, announced his resignation a day after being named by the Privileges Committee as one of eight parliamentarians who had launched attacks on its work.

In a second statement following his resignation for clarity, the Tory peer countered Mr Sunak by claiming he was happy to apologise for sharing his views on the inquiry and accused No 10 of misleading briefing.

Writing to Mr Sunak, the Tory peer who had the environment in his brief as a minister in the Foreign Office, said he had been able to get so much done previously but has struggled even to hold the line in recent months.

The problem is not that the Government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested, Lord Goldsmith wrote.

That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.

This Governments apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable.

Mr Sunaks attempt to portray his Government as working to fix the problems in the NHS with a workforce plan on Friday was rocked by the resignation.

Thank you for your letter. I accept your resignation, Mr Sunak responded to Lord Goldsmith.

You were asked to apologise for your comments about the Privileges Committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as a minister of the crown. You have decided to take a different course.

Hours later, Lord Goldsmith wrote: In response to some misleading briefing from Number 10, Id like to make clear I am happy to apologise for publicly sharing my views on the Privileges Committee.

I firmly believe our Parliamentary democracy can only be strengthened by robust exchange and scrutiny and Parliamentarians should of course be free to be critical of its reports & proceedings.

But as a Minister I shouldnt have commented publicly.

Number 10 asked me to acknowledge that and made clear there was no question of my being sacked if I did so. I was  and am  happy to do so.

Mr Sunak was forced to defend his proud track record at a Downing Street press conference on the NHS, saying the UK will continue to play a leadership role globally on the environment.

In a report on Thursday accusing the group of MPs and peers of a campaign to interfere with its work, the Privileges Committee cited a retweet posted by Lord Goldsmith in June which suggested it was a witch hunt and a kangaroo court.

It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govts apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down pic.twitter.com/KDJKN3i6ER  Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) June 30, 2023

Exactly this, Lord Goldsmith had added.

There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.

Downing Street sources told the PA news agency Lord Goldsmith was asked to apologise on Thursday afternoon after featuring in the damning report.

Until he quit, Downing Street had been saying Mr Sunak had full confidence in him as a minister despite the findings.

The committee said the Commons should consider whether the actions of MPs involved, including staunch Johnson loyalists Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, amounted to contempt of Parliament, as well as what further action to take.

Labours shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: Rishi Sunaks weakness is laid bare as 24 hours after he refused to condemn Zac Goldsmith, Goldsmith scathingly condemns him.

This simply uninterested Prime Minister cant lead his own team, never mind lead the country.

The Conservatives are in disarray  with mortgages soaring, NHS waiting lists rocketing, and in their own words: Apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face.

The Liberal Democrats said the Prime Minister should have had the guts to sack Lord Goldsmith the day before his ministerial resignation following his brutal censure.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a press conference in Downing Street in London, as the NHS (Frank Augstein/PA)

Sarah Olney, the partys Treasury spokeswoman, said: This Conservative chaos is never-ending.

Every day brings more more resignations and scandal in this depressing Westminster soap opera.

Rishi Sunak should have had the guts to sack Zac Goldsmith yesterday when he was brutally criticised by the partygate watchdog.

Sunak is clearly too weak to control his own party.

Mr Johnson and his allies have been creating a steady stream of headaches for Mr Sunak, with the former prime minister resigning as an MP in anticipation of the Privileges Committee report.

Nigel Adams followed him out of the Commons, setting up two challenging by-elections for the Conservatives at a time when they are trailing far behind in the polls.

Ms Dorries, perhaps Mr Johnsons staunchest ally, also announced her intention to quit with immediate effect but is yet to do so formally as she seeks answers over the peerage she never received.
Over the past 50 years, artists including Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Jenny Holzer and Robert Rauschenberg have been chosen by the luxury car company to use a BMW as their canvas, each adorning one of the famous BMW Art Cars in their signature style.

Now, Ethiopian American artist Julie Mehretu, known for her work in abstract painting, has been chosen to create the companys next Art Car. Her artwork, painted on a BMW M Hybrid V8, will be on the track at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in June 2024.

The first BMW Art Car was painted in 1975 by the American sculptor Alexander Calder after French racing driver Herve Poulain brought the idea to BMW. Poulain drove the Calder-painted BMW 3.0 CSL at Le Mans that year. In 1977, Roy Lichtenstein covered a BMW 320 Group 5 in the graphic stripes and dots he was renowned for; Warhol painted a BMW M1 in 1979 with textured, pastel brushstrokes.

The first woman to take on a BMW Art Car was South African artist Esther Mahlangu, who in 1991 painted a 525i sedan. In 1996, Holzer covered a BMW Le Mans race car in the words Protect Me From What I Want, among other provocative phrases.

Esther Mahlangu's Art Car featured the bold colors and geometric patterns used in the traditional arts and crafts of the Southern Ndebele people. - Enes Kucevic/BMW

Mehretus will be the 20th BMW Art Car. Her practice frequently draws inspiration from architecture and busy urban settings, featuring intricate juxtapositions of lines and shapes  inspired by technical drawings and building plans  and, sometimes, splashes of color or deep darkness. Her work has also addressed themes such as migration, colonialization and globalization.

Critics often highlight the sense of humanity apparent in her innovative, abstract works. Theres movement and complex emotion. Mehretu is best known for large-scale pieces, like an eighty-foot-long mural she created for the lobby of the Goldman Sachs building in Manhattan. Its busy and bright with colored shapes overlaying dark straight lines; the red, yellow, blue and green forms appear to be actively shooting out across the huge wall. Other works, like Mogama (A Painting in 4 Parts), are grayer and more pensive but retain a soft, rippling sense of motion.

She is represented by the Marian Goodman Gallery, which describes her body of work on its website as a dynamic visual articulation of contemporary experience, a depiction of social behavior and the psychogeography of space.

Mehretus practice in painting, drawing and printmaking equally assert the role of art to provoke thought and reflection, and express the contemporary condition of the individual and society, the gallery added.

Julie Mehretu, pictured here with one of her works. - Josefina Santos/BMW

Mehretu was born in 1970 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to an Ethiopian father and an American mother. Seven years later, the family moved to the United States to escape a brutal civil war then-raging in the country. In 1997, she earned a Masters of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design; she is currently based in New York.

She has received widespread acclaim for her work, and prestigious awards including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2005 and, in 2015, a US Department of State Medal of Arts Award.

She was unanimously selected for this project by a jury of prominent gallery and museum directors.

Madeleine Grynsztejn, Pritzker Director at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and a member of that jury, described Mehretu as the perfect artist to take on the BMW Art Car in a statement. For years, Julie has painted speed and for a long time worked very successfully at scale, Grynsztejn said. To merge her work with the shape and form of a speeding vehicle is really an alignment of perfection.

Mehretu spent time with the BMW racing team at 24 Hours of Daytona in Daytona Beach, Florida this past January, attending a racing event for the first time.

"I've loved cars for most of my life, as toys, as objects, as possibilities," Mehretu, pictured here at the Daytona International Speedway, said in a statement. "It is from that space that I'm really excited to be working on the next BMW Art Car more than anything. - Julian Kroehl/BMW

The number of times the cars are going around for 24 hours, that kind of endurance the immense number of people that are part of making that happen, the kind of collaborative work of it  all of that was so exhilarating, Mehretu said at an event held at New York Citys Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on Wednesday night.

The BMW M Hybrid V8, a plug-in hybrid, is a track-only racing car created to compete in the international endurance racing circuit. Designed and engineered in collaboration with the Italian race car manufacturer Dallara, its low and wide with an enormous rear wing and a large vertical rudder.

While she hasnt decided, yet, exactly what shes going to paint on the car, Mehretu said she was impressed with the speed and motion of the cars racing at Daytona and the way they blurred past at incredible speeds. The M Hybrid V8, specifically, will likely reach speeds over 200 miles per hour at Le Mans.

Its like the social fabric of our moment. Its something thats indiscernible, its unstable, its something that we cant quite grasp, she said, and that blur and uncertainty is something that I really want to explore in this space.

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FILE PHOTO: A Fox News channel sign is seen on a television vehicle outside the News Corporation building in New York City, in New York

By Helen Coster and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Fox Corp has settled for $12 million a lawsuit by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg, who had claimed gender discrimination and accused the network's lawyers of pressuring her to make misleading statements in the Dominion Voting Systems case, her lawyer Tanvir Rahman said on Friday.

The deal follows Fox's April 18 agreement to pay Dominion $787.5 million to settle the voting-technology company's defamation suit in Delaware.

A week later, on April 25, Fox announced that it had parted ways with Tucker Carlson, the conservative host whom Dominion had accused of allowing debunked election-fraud claims about the firm to air on his show, while casting doubt on the plausibility of those claims in private messages that emerged in legal filings.

Grossberg was the head of booking guests for Carlson.

We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation," a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement.

Grossberg said in a statement: "While I stand by my publicly filed claims and allegations, in light of today's settlement of $12 million, pursuant to which I have now withdrawn those claims, I am heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously.

Grossberg was fired after filing her lawsuit on March 20 in federal court in Manhattan. She had worked for Fox since 2019.

In firing her, Fox said her legal claims were "riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees."

In seeking unspecified monetary damages, Grossberg claimed to have been subjected to a hostile and discriminatory work environment. She accused Fox among other things of gender and religious discrimination as well as pay equity violations.

She had also sought unspecified damages in a similar lawsuit in Delaware Superior Court, which she dismissed in May.

Grossberg said that during preparation with Fox lawyers for her September 2022 deposition in the Dominion lawsuit, she felt coerced and intimidated into not saying anything that would make her become Dominions star witness.

Dominion had sued Fox seeking $1.6 billion for promoting false vote-rigging claims involving the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Had the Dominion case gone to trial, Grossberg could have been a key witness.

Grossberg said Fox subjected her to sexism, misogyny and antisemitism.

Carlson was among the defendants in Grossberg's Manhattan lawsuit. The program on which Grossberg worked, "Tucker Carlson Tonight," was the top-rated prime-time U.S. cable TV news show.

Grossberg claimed that Carlson made derogatory comments toward women, and cited incidents such as Carlson's staff discussing whether Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, was "hotter" and better at sex than Republican opponent Tudor Dixon.

Grossberg alleged that on her first day on "Tucker Carlson Tonight," she discovered many photographs of octogenarian then-House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi shown in a plunging bathing suit, revealing the Democrat's cleavage, on her computer and elsewhere throughout the office.

She also alleged that a member of Carlson's staff called Grossberg into his office and asked her whether Maria Bartiromo, whom she had worked for before Carlson, was having sex with Republican Representative Kevin McCarthy, now the U.S. House speaker.

Grossberg alleged that an executive for Carlson's show once remarked that the "mother's room," an office designated for network employees to pump breast milk, was a "waste of space" and should be replaced with a "room of tanning beds for the guys to tan their testicles."

(Reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Leslie Adler)
Veteran television host Geraldo Rivera announced he was quitting Fox News after claiming he was fired from the programme The Five.

Rivera revealed the news in a Twitter video filmed aboard a speeding boat off Long Islands Jones Beach as he appeared to struggle keeping the camera steady.

Im not going to be on The Five, he said. Ive been fired from The Five.

And, as a result of that, I quit Fox.

Rivera said he will have more to say about leaving the network during the Fox and Friends programme on Friday morning.

Rivera joined the network in 2001 and became a host of The Five a year later. The show became Foxs most-watched programme, averaging more than three million viewers last year despite airing in the late afternoon and not prime time.

His departure comes more than a week after the host said that his time at The Five was coming to an end as being the odd man out isnt always easy.

But he would still be a correspondent at large, as his contract expires in January 2025.

Bumpy day on the North Atlantic. Anyway, I got fired from @TheFive so I quit Fox. After 23 years tomorrow Fox and Friends could be my last appearance on the network. Thanks for the memories. pic.twitter.com/74Qgalz8sF  Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) June 29, 2023

Rivera told Associated Press that a growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences were not worth his time at Fox.

It has been a rocky ride but it has also been an exhilarating adventure that spanned quite a few years, he told the agency. I hope its not my last adventure.

He added that Fox management didnt race after me to say, Geraldo, please come back following his decision to quit.

Geraldo Rivera joined Fox News in 2021 (Getty Images)

At the show, which has four conservatives and one rotating liberal, Rivera alternated with the liberal voice with Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr, a former congressman from Tennessee.

Once a supporter of former president Donald Trump, Rivera split up with him following the former presidents false claims over the 2020 presidential election.

He maintained that under no circumstances do I think Donald Trump should be president of the United States again and thats an important message I am committed to bringing to the American people between now and November 2024.

He said even though the shows large viewership would make it look like a prominent place for him to deliver that message, but you can imagine the friction that role by definition would provoke.

Im 80 years old, he said. I dont want the friction. The Five is too intimate a place and it gets too personal.

Posting his shirtless selfie last week, Rivera, who would celebrate his 80th birthday on 4 July, said 80 year old contemplating retirement.

80 year old contemplating retirement pic.twitter.com/Uk0y0ZG8yn  Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) June 23, 2023

It comes amid increasingly bitter and frequent clashes between The Five co-hosts. Last month network star Greg Gutfeld mocked Rivera for criticising Tucker Carlson following his ouster from the network. Rivera had called Carlsons conspiracy theories about the January 6 riots on the US Capitol bulls**t.

Rivera responded by saying that he has been cancelled from upcoming shows broadcasts and said he was sure theres a good reason for keeping him away.

In a statement, Fox News said: We reached an amicable conclusion with Geraldo over the past few weeks and look forward to celebrating him on Fox & Friends Friday morning which will be his last appearance on the network.
Pilots board fighter jet at twilight

China Military Online) 14:55, June 30, 2023

Pilots assigned to an aviation brigade of the air force under the PLA Southern Theatre Command board a fighter jet prior to a round-the-clock flight training exercise in late June, 2023. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Hao Hunan)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
An attorney for Hunter Biden says purported screenshots of a text message from Hunter Biden to a potential Chinese business partner where he refers to Joe Biden  a message that has been the subject of intense scrutiny following statements made by an IRS whistleblower  are not real and contain myriad of issues.

Abbe Lowell, who is one of Hunter Bidens attorneys, made the statement in a letter to Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has interviewed the whistleblowers. The letter was obtained by NBC News.

IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley told the committee under oath that, as an investigator for the IRS, he obtained messages Hunter Biden sent on the WhatsApp platform, including one in 2017 that he read demanding payment from a Chinese businessman named Henry Zhao.

In the message, Shapley said, Biden appeared to suggest that he was sitting with his father, then the former vice president, saying, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction.

Attorneys for Shapley said in a statement, Biden family lawyers have resorted to intimidation before  reportedly threatening federal prosecutors with career suicide if they charged Hunter Biden  so this attempt to intimidate our client and the oversight authorities scrutinizing the politicization of that case is no surprise.

Lowell writes that the screenshots of the message as tweeted by Smith, both include a photo of Mr. Biden not from 2017 but from the White House Easter Egg roll in April 2022 (long after the purported message was sent); both images portray the message in a blue bubble, when WhatsApp messages are in green; one image super-imposed the Chinese flag for the contact ID, when surely that was not how a text or contact was kept; and one purports to be a screenshot with the '. . .' of someone composing a text (as in Apples iMessage) when that does not happen on WhatsApp.

He writes, In short, the images you circulated online are complete fakes.

Lowells letter takes issue with what he says are "self-styled IRS 'whistleblowers'" who he says are "claiming that title in an attempt to evade their own misconduct" and to "feed the misinformation campaign to harm our client, Hunter Biden, as a vehicle to attack his father."

Lowell added, These interviews were orchestrated recitations of mischaracterized and incomplete 'facts' by disgruntled agents who believed they knew better than the federal prosecutors who had all the evidence as they conducted their five-year investigation of Mr. Biden.

The letter from Hunter Bidens counsel comes after last weeks release of transcripts by the House Ways and Means Committee. As NBC News reported, Shapley told the committee that U.S. Attorney David Weiss sought authority to charge Hunter Biden in two federal districts with charges broader than the tax-related misdemeanors that the presidents son agreed to plead guilty to last week, according to a 212-page transcript of Shapley's interview.

Shapley said Attorney General Merrick Garland was not telling Congress the truth when he asserted in earlier testimony that Weiss, who is based in Delaware, had the authority to charge in other jurisdictions, including California and Washington, D.C. Shapley said bringing charges in those districts is not something the U.S. attorneys there, who were appointed by President Joe Biden, would do.

The Justice Department denied Shapleys assertions.

Lowell concludes his letter with, Chairman Smith, it is easy when a committee does not operate with fairness and thoroughness and an adherence to rules and procedures to forward a false political narrative.

Hunter Biden is expected to plead guilty in late July to two misdemeanor tax crimes as the result of a yearslong federal criminal investigation. He denies any wrongdoing associated with any of his foreign business dealings.

The IRS has previously denied comment on the allegations raised by Shapley.
By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's bid to dismiss the first of writer E. Jean Carroll's two lawsuits accusing the former U.S. president of defamation for denying he raped her in the mid-1990s.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan found no merit in Trump's arguments that he deserved absolute presidential immunity, and that many of his statements about Carroll were opinion and thus protected.

The judge also rejected Trump's claim that the former Elle magazine columnist "consented" to his statements by purposely waiting decades to go public, until he was in the White House, leaving him "no choice" but to defend himself.

Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said: "We disagree with the court's decision and will be taking the appropriate steps to preserve all viable defenses."

The case is separate from last month's verdict by a federal jury in Manhattan that Trump pay Carroll $5 million for defamation and sexual abuse, after Trump in October 2022 similarly denied their alleged encounter. Jurors did not find that Trump raped Carroll.

Carroll's lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, said Thursday's decision "confirms that once again, Donald Trump's supposed defenses to E. Jean Carroll's defamation claims don't work."

Now 79, Carroll drew Trump's ire in June 2019 when she accused him in New York magazine, as she was preparing to release her memoir, of having attacked her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.

That prompted Trump, 77, to say he had not known Carroll, that she was not his "type," and that she lied to drum up book sales.

BEYOND THE 'OUTER PERIMETER'

In his 46-page decision, Kaplan said Trump waited too long to raise the absolute immunity defense, and that it would be unfair to Carroll to let him do so now and further delay the 3-1/2-year-old case.

The judge also said Trump's criticism of Carroll went beyond "the outer perimeter of his official duties" as president.

"Mr. Trump does not identify any connection between the allegedly defamatory content of his statements -- that Ms. Carroll fabricated her sexual assault accusation and did so for financial and personal gain -- to any official responsibility of the president," Kaplan wrote. "Nor can the court think of any."

Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is appealing the $5 million jury verdict.

On Tuesday, he countersued Carroll, claiming that she defamed him in a CNN interview one day after the May 9 verdict by saying, "oh yes he did, oh yes he did," when asked about the jury finding that he did not commit rape.

Carroll's original lawsuit is scheduled for a Jan. 15, 2024, trial.

She is seeking at least $10 million in damages. Kaplan this month let her amend her lawsuit to add Trump's comments from a CNN town hall following the jury verdict, in which he called her account "fake" and labeled her a "whack job."

The case is Carroll v Trump, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-07311.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool)
Mandatory evacuations are underway in Palo Pinto County, where a wildfire has burned up 1,000 acres of land with 30% containment near Possum Kingdom Lake, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.

The orders for mandatory evacuation are in place for Gaines Bend, Hells Gate and Sportsman World as the fire actively moves toward Gaines Bend, threatening more than 150 homes, the forest service warned Thursday evening. The evacuation order remained in effect Friday after overnight efforts to construct a fire line for containment.

The fire remained at 1,000 acres and 30% containment Friday morning.

Residents of those areas being evacuated are cautioned to remember the 5 Ps of evacuation: people, pets, (important) papers, priceless items and personal items. Evacuees are advised to take all of those with them along with anything they will need for 48 hours away from home.

The fire service said in a news release that when people evacuate their homes in time, crews can focus efforts on saving property.

When people ignore evacuation orders issued in response to wildfires, it can endanger the unevacuated residents and the firefighters who are trying to save them, as well as make it more difficult for crews to primarily work on preventing the fire from destroying homes and other property.

A shelter has been set up at First Baptist Church of Possum Kingdom, 13461 N. Highway 16 in Graford. On Friday morning, no residents were using the shelter yet. Officials said many were likely staying with family, or their houses near the lake are vacation homes that they arent currently using.

Texas state troopers block off entry to the Gaines Bend area on Friday, June 30, 2023, during a mandatory evacuation due to a wildfire.

Ricky Hunter, director of the Palo Pinto Office of Emergency Management, said Friday that while crews made good progress in fighting and containing the fire overnight, its important to observe the evacuation order that is still in effect. Anybody who doesnt leave the area under the order not only puts themselves and first responders in increased danger, they risk being cut off from help entirely.

We might not be able to get to them or they may not be able to get out if they dont leave now, Hunter said. Theres limited access to these areas, so if the fire cuts that access off, we may not have the ability to get residents out and to safety later on.

The fire, which started Wednesday in the same area where last year a blaze tore through 1,500 acres and threatened homes, is showing extreme behavior as a result of wind speeds across the fire area, the forest service said. It spurred an order Thursday from Gov. Greg Abbott, sending state firefighters to support local authorities.

Local authorities called for the forest services assistance around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, when the fire, since dubbed the Storage Fire, had spread to 200 acres and was 0% contained. By 3:40 p.m. Thursday it tore through 600 acres. Less than two hours later, it was up to 1,000 acres.

At around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, the Texas A&M Forest and Fire Service issued a Temporary Flight Restriction to provide a safe environment for firefighting aircraft.

Fire activity diminished after retardant was dropped from aircraft, authorities said in an update at 9:15 p.m. Thursday.

A street sign is coated by fire suppressant dropped from aircraft Friday, June 30, 2023, in Palo Pinto County.

The blaze started west of State Highway 16 and just north of U.S. Highway 180. Bulldozers began digging a fire line for containment and by 10 p.m. Wednesday had achieved 20% containment of the fire with 450 acres lost. Overnight, fire crews conducted tactical burning to further strengthen the fire line.

By 7:20 a.m. Thursday, firefighters managed to reach 40% containment of the then-511 acre fire. But because of high wind speeds in the area and despite aerial resources that have been brought in to assist with fighting the blaze, the affected area has continued to grow and dropped down to 30% containment.

More than 150 homes are under mandatory evacuation orders as a 1,000-acre fire rages through Palo Pinto County.

The fire service released an aerial photograph around 3:40 p.m. Thursday that showed a massive area scorched and turned white and gray by the fire intersected by roads the flames have jumped. Large plumes of smoke were rising from at least two areas.

Abbotts order for state assistance has seen the deployment of more than 15 personnel, aerial resources for firefighting and heavy equipment such as bulldozers, according to a news release. An additional two crews, numbering 30 firefighters, have been deployed from the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System. Theyll come with 10 fire engines and a water tender.

The Texas National Guard has also been sent with 15 personnel and Blackhawk military helicopters equipped with fire suppression capabilities.

Blackhawk military helicopters equipped with fire suppression capabilities are helping fight a wildfire in Palo Pinto County.

The news release from Abbotts office said that excessive heat over the past two weeks has left swaths of North, Central, Southeast, Southwest and South Texas with wilting, dry grass that makes for dangerous fire conditions.

The governor has also raised the Wildland Fire Preparedness Level to Level 2, according to the news release.

Last year, the wildfire in Palo Pinto County dubbed the Lazy Fire burned up 1,500 acres and threatened but didnt damage homes in the Possum Kingdom Lake area. That fire led to authorities shutting down Texas 16 at U.S. Highway 180 in the county as thick juniper fueled the blaze.

A hilltop was burned by last years wildfire at Possum Kingdom Lake in North Texas. A new fire covering about 1,000 acres is raging in the area on Friday, June 30, 2023.

The area is no stranger to devastating fires and evacuations.

In addition to the fire last year, the Possum Kingdom Lake subdivision The Cliffs was ravaged by a fire in 2011. Named the 101 Ranch Fire, it left the rubble of 39 homes in its wake.

One of those property owners, Larry Anderson, told the Star-Telegram in 2011 that he barely escaped the flames that burned up more than 6,500 acres with his life.

Theres a lot of devastation out there, Anderson said at the time. Theres 200-year-old trees gone. Its not a pretty sight.

State and local officials are especially worried about the conditions throughout Texas that are conducive to wildfires heading into the July 4 holiday. The dry, hot conditions make accidental ignition of uncontrolled blazes from fireworks and other celebratory activities more likely.

Texans are encouraged to limit activities that could cause sparks for accidental fire ignition and to make an emergency plan and keep emergency supplies on hand.

This is a developing story. For the latest updates, sign up for breaking news alerts.
On Florida's Gulf Coast, there's an area prone to constant rip currents that pull people offshore  so safety is the number one priority.

Daryl Paul runs Panama City's Beach Safety Division, and said it'll be all hands on deck this holiday weekend.

"We're having everybody in the Panama City Beach Fire Department assist us. Bay County is calling people in. Bay County Parks and Rec are bolstering their staff," said Paul.

So far this year, there have been at least 60 "surf zone fatalities" nationwide, with the most reported deadly incidents at Panama City Beach, according to the National Weather Service. Seven people died over nine days just this month at Panama City Beach.

Lifeguards use a flag system to warn beach goers of danger, but Paul says many tourists ignore the warnings, and spotting a rip current for the first time can be tough.

"One thing I did notice this last past couple of days was just people just blatantly disregarding the warnings of the lifeguards," said Paul.

Even though flags and signs are constantly up, beach personnel try their best to educate people about rip currents.

SEE MORE: Understanding rip currents: How to stay safe if caught in their grip

Paul says lifeguards are paramount to preventing rip current drownings. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said rip currents kill 100 people every year.

Greg Dusek, a senior scientist at NOAAs National Ocean Service, said the number one thing people can do to stay safe is to swim near a lifeguard.

"Your chances of drowning at a lifeguarded beach are like one in 18 million," said Dusek.

According to the reported numbers, nearly all of the people involved in drownings have been male. And at Panama City Beach, some of the drownings involved bystanders going out to rescue someone else caught in a rip current.

Dusek says the best thing anyone can do to help someone caught in a rip current is to stay on land, get a lifeguard and call 9-1-1.

"We don't want people to be a victim trying to save someone else," said Dusek.

But Paul says with only 12 lifeguards on his team, two of them part-time, they try to bolster their ranks with seasonal employees  but could desperately use more help with the 100,000 tourist visitors each day.

"Hallandale Beach, South Florida, they have 0.8 miles. The chief has the same amount of staff that I have for 9.6. That should put things into perspective about how many lifeguards you need per mile," said Paul.

SEE MORE: Former NFL player Ryan Mallett dies at 35 after drowning accident
WASHINGTON (AP)  Federal regulators are looking to crack down on fake reviews and other deceptive internet practices.

The Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule Friday that would ban paying for reviews, suppressing honest reviews, selling fake social media engagement and more. Businesses would also be prohibited from running company-controlled websites that claim to be independent, and other deceptive practices like review hijacking, which makes reviews for one product appear like they were written for significantly different ones.

If the proposed rule is approved, following a 60-day public comment period, violators could face hefty penalties.

Our proposed rule on fake reviews shows that were using all available means to attack deceptive advertising in the digital age, Samuel Levine, director of the FTCs Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. The rule would trigger civil penalties for violators and should help level the playing field for honest companies.

In Friday's notice to proposed rulemaking, the FTC noted that it already considers fake reviews and other deceptive actions to be unlawful  but that the new bans may increase deterrence against these practices, allow for civil penalties and help get financial compensation to victims, the agency said.

Estimates about the portion of reviews online that are fake range from 4% to more than 30%, according to researchers at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles' Anderson School of Management. According to 2021 numbers from the World Economic Forum and CHEQ, fake reviews impact some $152 billion in global spending each year.

In addition to FTC efforts to tackle fake reviews in the past  which include multi-million-dollar settlements with online retailers  more companies say they are now taking deceptive online practices seriously.

In July of last year, for example, Amazon filed a lawsuit against administrators of more than 10,000 Facebook groups it accused of coordinating fake reviews in exchange for money or free products  and on Tuesday, the company announced four additional lawsuits against fraudsters attempting to mislead Amazon customers and harm Amazon selling partners by facilitating fake reviews.

Earlier this month, Google announced legal action against a bad actor who posted over 350 fraudulent Google Business profiles and tried to boost them with more than 14,000 fake reviews, the company said.

The FTC's Friday proposal follows the agency's November announcement to explore rulemaking.
By Alistair Smout and Sachin Ravikumar

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain set out on Friday a new workforce hiring plan for England's state-run National Health Service (NHS), seeking to tackle staff shortages that have exposed the system to huge pressures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A beloved institution at the centre of Britain's post-war national identity, the NHS has endured a winter of crisis, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cutting patient waiting lists one of his five priorities for the year.

"This government is making the largest single expansion in NHS education and training in its history," Sunak said in a statement. "This is a plan for investment and a plan for reform."

The NHS has about 112,000 vacancies, a gap that could more than triple by 2037 without action, the health service said in the statement, outlining 2.4 billion pounds ($3 billion) of government investment over five years.

By 2031, the NHS aims to double medical school training places to 15,000, increase by 50% the number of doctor training places and nearly double the number of adult nurse training places.

After the COVID pandemic, when NHS staff were applauded for their work treating the sick, doctors and nurses have been striking over poor pay amid discontent over inadequate staffing that many say hinders their ability to do their jobs.

The workforce plan tries to address some of those problems after a winter crisis caused by backlogs in treatment following the pandemic, staff absences, and delays in discharging patients, resulting in ambulances queuing outside hospitals.

Alongside other staff retention measures, the plan will help give the NHS an extra 60,000 doctors, 170,000 nurses and 71,000 allied health professionals by 2036/37, it said.

NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard welcomed "a once in a generation opportunity to put staffing on sustainable footing for the years to come".

Sunak has acknowledged that overall waiting lists for treatment will continue to rise into the second half of 2023, though he has said the number of people waiting more than 18 months for treatment had fallen, and ambulance response times had also improved.

The plan was welcomed by politicians and health experts, with Richard Murray, head of the King's Fund health policy charity saying it could prove a "landmark moment" but a sister scheme was needed for the broader social care sector.

"A national focus on training, and reform, with some initial financial commitment from government to back the plan, should start to place the NHS workforce on a sustainable footing," he said.

The opposition Labour Party welcomed the proposals but said they should have been delivered a decade ago.

($1 = 0.7932 pounds)

(Reporting by Alistair Smout, Editing by William Maclean)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  It was a report two years in the making  one that details how California, a state that never officially sanctioned slavery, can confront decades of policies that have kept Black residents from living in the neighborhoods they choose, being treated fairly at doctor's visits and building generational wealth.

California's reparations task force completed its work Thursday and turned more than 100 recommendations over to the Legislature, the first work of its kind in the U.S. The nearly 1,100-page document recommends the state formally apologize and suggests how to calculate monetary reparations.

Here's what the task force examined:

HOUSING DISCRIMINATION

The report recounts California policies that have kept Black families from retaining property and living in certain neighborhoods. The effects of redlining, which led to Black families being denied home loans; and eminent domain, where residents' property was seized by the government, still linger, the report states.

The panel recommended returning property unjustly seized from Black residents. It also urged lawmakers to offer property tax relief to African American homeowners living in historically redlined neighborhoods.

OVERPOLICING AND MASS INCARCERATION

The task force condemned policies and practices that have led to Black Californians being disproportionally stopped by police, killed by law enforcement or imprisoned.

Recommendations include ending the death penalty, banning cash bail, requiring anti-bias training for police officers and funding education for more African American prospective lawyers. The panel also called on lawmakers to bar searches by law enforcement based on a person's consent alone.

HEALTH HARMS

The committee urged lawmakers to address disparities in maternal mortality and treatment for substance abuse. Members also called for lawmakers to set aside money to research rising suicide rates among African American youth.

Another suggestion is to fund wellness centers in historically Black neighborhoods to address mental health issues and refer patients for psychiatric or medical care.

PAYMENTS

The recommendations include paying Black Californians who lived in the state while certain discriminatory policies were in effect. The task force voted to limit eligibility to people descended from free or enslaved Black people living in the United States by the end of the 19th century. The panel stopped short of endorsing a fixed dollar amount for individuals. But the members recommended calculations from economists projecting the state is responsible for more than $500 billion for overpolicing, mass incarceration and housing discrimination.

AGENCY

The task force recommended creating an agency to implement and oversee reparations programs and help people research their family history to find out if they may be eligible for compensation.

NEXT STEPS

Any policy changes must come through legislation signed by the governor. State Sen. Steven Bradford and Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, both Los Angeles-area Democrats on the task force, have both said they plan to introduce legislation. Bradford has previously cautioned that it would be difficult to get large cash payments approved.

___

Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @sophieadanna.
BEIJING (Reuters) -China's President Xi Jinping will attend and deliver a speech at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) via video link on July 4, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday.

India, as the chair nation of this year's summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State, announced in May that it would hold the event in a virtual format.

Defence and foreign ministers of the bloc attended in-person meetings in India this year.

The SCO is a political and security union of countries spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia.

Formed in 2001 by Russia, China and former Soviet states in Central Asia, the body has been expanded to include India and Pakistan, with a view to playing a bigger role as counterweight to Western influence in the region.

Kazakhstan will take over the presidency of the SCO after the July summit.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Ethan Wang; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Gerry Doyle)
WARSAW (Reuters) -The European Union gives more support to countries outside the bloc like Turkey to help them deal with migration than it gives to its own members, the Polish president said on Friday.

The bloc's largest eastern member is opposed to an EU deal designed to share out the responsibility for looking after migrants and refugees and says the EU has done too little to help it deal with refugees. The EU rejects this criticism.

Warsaw plans to hold a referendum on whether to accept the deal.

"I don't understand why the European Commission and European institutions spent billions of euros to help Turkey when it took in a million Syrian migrants, but they were not willing to help Poland, which took in millions of refugees from Ukraine," Andrzej Duda told private broadcaster Radio Zet.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday that he would present a plan for "safe borders" in Brussels, calling for border agency Frontex to be reformed and for more funds for countries tasked with securing the EU's external borders.

The Polish government objects the EU migration deal saying it would be forced to either accept additional migrants on top of the 1.5-2.0 million refugees it estimates it has taken in from Ukraine, or pay other countries who take them in.

European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson told Polish private broadcaster TVN24 on Thursday that countries like Poland which face migration pressures would not be forced to accept additional migrants under the deal and would not have to make payments to other countries.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Marek Strzelecki; editing by Jason Neely)
LAS VEGAS (AP)  A teenager has been sentenced to 16 to 40 years in Nevada state prison after pleading guilty earlier to charges including attempted murder for an attack more than a year ago on a female Las Vegas high school teacher that left her with multiple injuries.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday to sentence the 17-year-old to 22 to 55 years behind bars, but Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen Delaney said she was balancing the seriousness of the crime with other factors.

The defendant also pleaded guilty in April to attempted sexual assault and battery with use of a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm in plea deal that avoided trial in the after-school attack at Eldorado High School. Other charges against him were dropped.

The Associated Press has not named the teen because of his age nor the teacher because of the nature of the crime.

The defendant apologized in court and said he regretted what he had done. His court-appointed lawyer, Tyler Gaston, told the judge his clients behavior was caused by side effects of an asthma medication he took that caused mood changes, night terrors and hallucinations, the Review-Journal reported.

The teacher did not return to her job and told the judge that she felt mentally and physically imprisoned since the attack in April 2022, which happened after classes had ended for the day.

Las Vegas police said the teacher was punched and choked into unconsciousness and the student fled the high school campus before another school employee found the teacher and summoned police and medical help. The school serves about 2,000 students several miles (kilometers) east of downtown Las Vegas

The teenager was arrested later that day, and the woman was treated for multiple unspecified injuries, police said.

The attack was one of several examples of school violence that led to passage by the Nevada state Legislature and the signing by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo this year of a law known as the Safer and Supportive Schools Act.
By Heekyong Yang and Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean chip executive imprisoned over industrial espionage charges rejected allegations he had sought to build a copycat chip factory in China with sensitive information developed by Samsung Electronics.

In a handwritten letter to Reuters, his first comments to media since he was detained on May 25, Choi Jinseog elaborated on his defence plan and said the allegations against him regarding the Xian plant were not substantiated.

Prosecutors earlier this month indicted the former Samsung executive for illegally obtaining secret information to build a semiconductor plant only 1.5 km (1 mile) from a Samsung factory in Xian, China.

Choi is in custody at a detention centre in Suwon, a city south of Seoul where Samsung has its headquarters. He previously denied all the charges through his lawyer.

In the letter, Choi said the factory was planned for Taiwan's Foxconn, for early test production of DRAM memory chips, while Samsung's plant in Xian was designed to manufacture NAND flash memory chips.

Choi said DRAM process technology is more than 30% different from making NAND flash chips because it is more complicated, and some equipment used in manufacturing both chips is also different.

"They use different equipment and the layout of (Samsung's) NAND flash chip equipment is really of no use for us," Choi said in the letter.

Several semiconductor industry experts interviewed by Reuters, who aren't involved in the case, confirmed there are differences in processes and equipment used for NAND and DRAM production, without specifying them precisely.

Samsung declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigations.

Neither Foxconn or companies contracted build the Samsung plant were accused of any wrongdoing.

Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, referred Reuters to earlier comments where it said it was "aware of speculation" around the case but doesn't comment on ongoing investigations.

"We abide by laws and regulations governing jurisdictions we operate in," Foxconn said.

SECRET DATA

According to an unreleased 18-page indictment, reported earlier by Reuters, prosecutors allege Choi planned to build a DRAM factory in Xian for Foxconn, and illegally used secret data his company's employees obtained from workers of two Samsung contractors.

A NAND flash chip is a storage chip that retains data even when a device is turned off, unlike a DRAM chip which loses data when the power is off. Both are used in smartphones, computers and many other electronic devices.

Prosecutors claim Choi poached "a large number" of employees from Samsung and its affiliates and pressured several employees to obtain secret information involving management of special semiconductor "clean rooms", plus factory blueprints and layouts, to shorten construction time for the planned China factory.

Choi's lawyer, Kim Pilsung, says this information is non-sensitive data easily accessible to those in the chip supply chain. Prosecutors argue they are "core national technology" protected by law and their theft caused more than $200 million in damages to Samsung.

NOT XIAN

Choi sent the letter to Reuters via his adviser who recently visited him. The adviser, also a close friend, requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Choi confirmed the letter was genuine, according to Roh Hwa-wook, another long-time friend of Choi, who visited him on Thursday.

In his letter, Choi said his plan was to build a research and development chip line and he didn't need to copy Samsung's chip facilities designed for mass production.

The plant, known as a fab, was never built after Foxconn pulled out, Choi and his lawyer said.

"What we were planning to build was a R&D fab and there is no R&D fab at (Samsung's) Xian plant. When there is no R&D fab to copy, there is no reason to copy," Choi said.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the content of Choi's letter ahead of his trial scheduled for July 12. They have said the focus of the case is illegal acquisition and use of sensitive information, which Choi denies.

Choi also rejected the claim by prosecutors that it was Xian where he wanted to build the alleged copycat factory, saying the plan was to build a plant in Qingdao after weighing several cities including Xian.

Neither the Qingdao or Xian city governments responded to Reuters' request for comment.

Choi's lawyer Kim said he plans to seek bail, citing Choi's health condition after he underwent a heart procedure earlier this year.

Choi's adviser said the accused felt "cornered" and "distraught" by the industrial espionage charges, which are viewed by several chip industry experts interviewed by Reuters as part of South Korea's efforts to slow China's progress in chip manufacturing.

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Ju-min Park; Additional reporting by Josh Ye in Hong Kong and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Lincoln Feast.)
A California judge has dismissed a civil lawsuit that grassroots racial justice activists from around the U.S. brought last summer against a foundation with stewardship of the Black Lives Matter movements charitable endowment worth tens of millions of dollars.

Black Lives Matter Grassroots Inc., a collective of organizers, claimed Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation Inc. had raised donations off the work of city-based BLM chapter, then defrauded the public and shut activists out of decision-making.

In dismissing the lawsuit, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick sided with the foundations lawyers, who argued that local BLM activists failed to prove they were entitled to the raised funds or that the foundations leaders had siphoned off millions of dollars for nefarious purposes, among other unproven allegations.

The fraud claim against the foundation was, in part, based on the alleged misrepresentation of a $6 million Los Angeles-area compound purchased with donated funds. The foundation says the property, which includes a home with six bedrooms and bathrooms, a swimming pool, a soundstage and office space, is used as a campus for a Black artists fellowship. BLM chapter organizers say the donated funds were never intended for use that way.

If the fraud allegations were premised upon misrepresentation rather than concealment, the complaint fails to sufficiently allege the how, when, where, to whom, and by what means the representations were tendered, Bowick said in a court order issued Tuesday.

Melina Abdullah, co-founder of BLM Grassroots, said Thursday that the group was stunned and dismayed by the courts dismissal order. A lawyer for the local organizers said an appeal would be filed immediately.

As always, the work of Black Lives Matter continues, regardless of the court ruling, Abdullah said in a statement.

In response to the ruling, the BLM foundation said it also will move forward with its work.

We have stayed true to our principles, philanthropic duties, and organizational focus despite countless blatant fabrications, misrepresentations, and innuendos of misdeeds lodged against us, reads a statement the foundation released Wednesday night.

It filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit under Californias Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation statute, or anti-SLAPP. The law is meant to prevent plaintiffs from using the courts as a way to intimidate people and organizations that are exercising their free-speech rights.

Justin Sanders, an attorney for BLM Grassroots, said the legal basis of the ruling is a terrible example of the letter and not the spirit of the law being followed.

The local organizers complaint, filed in state Superior Court last September, had singled out foundation board secretary Shalomyah Bowers and his firm, Bowers Consulting. Bowerss firm was brought in by BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, before her resignation as head of the organization in May 2021, to help the organization build out infrastructure.

The foundation had been financially supporting BLM chapters in the U.S. and Canada, but it desperately needed help amid an unprecedented wave of monetary support and public attention, following the murder of George Floyd by police in 2020. After receiving $90 million in donations between 2020 and 2021  and spending $37 million on grants, real estate, consultants, and other expenses  the foundation invested $32 million in stocks.

The foundation ended the 2021-2022 fiscal year with roughly $30 million in assets.

Its 2020-2021 IRS filings show Bowerss firm received $2.1 million to provide operational support, including staffing, fundraising and other key services  that was the lions share of what the organization spent on consultants in that fiscal year. But local organizers failed to prove in court that either Bowers or his firm siphoned several millions of dollars in fees from donated funds, as their lawsuit alleged.

These specific allegations against Bowers were confusing and unintelligible, Bowick wrote in the court's dismissal order.

A separate statement issued by Bowerss firm said the BLM board secretary was deciding how to seek accountability for how the lawsuit affected him and his business.

In a public letter to BLM Grassroots released after the court ruling, the foundation opened the door for mending the relationship with local BLM organizers.

The problems we face as a community are too great for us to be divided, the letter reads. The only way to deal with the critical issues of police brutality, ending state sanctioned violence, economic prosperity for Black people, and achieving a world where Black people across the Diaspora thrive, experience joy, and are not defined by their struggles, is if we heal the past and re-imagine the future."

____

Aaron Morrison is a New York-based member of AP's Race and Ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/aaronlmorrison.
(Reuters) - General Motors said on Friday it had acquired Algolion Ltd, an Israel-based software startup that helps detect problems in batteries.

GM said Algolion's software will help the Detroit automaker bring to the market a "cost-effective" early hazard detection system at a quicker pace.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, comes at a time when automakers are investing billions in manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) and rushing to develop batteries - which represent up to 50% of an EV's price tag - that can power an automobile for a longer duration.

It also comes as safety authorities urge U.S. automakers to improve battery standards after a series of events where vehicles have caught fire due to defective modules.

Algolion has developed a software that uses data from EV battery management systems to help identify anomalies in cell performance and provide early detection of battery hazards including "thermal runaway propagation events", GM said.

A thermal runaway is a rapid and unstoppable increase in temperature that leads to fires in EVs.

Algolion, founded in 2014, will join more than 850 employees at GM's Technical Center in Herzliya, Israel.

Shares of GM were up 1% in afternoon trade on Friday amid a rise in broader markets.

(Reporting by Priyamvada C in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
By Karolina Tagaris, Lefteris Papadimas

MALAKASA/KALAMATA, Greece (Reuters) -Survivors of a boat disaster that likely killed hundreds of migrants near Greece have given accounts of traffickers in North Africa cramming them into a clapped-out fishing trawler. They recounted hellish conditions above and below deck, with no food or water.

Some also said the tragic end, when it came, was precipitated by the actions of the Greek coastguard. They have told judicial authorities of a doomed attempt to tow the overloaded trawler that caused the vessel to capsize in the early hours of June 14.

A disastrous coastguard towing attempt was recounted in six of the nine statements from survivors submitted to Greek judicial officials investigating the causes of the tragedy, according to evidence seen by Reuters.

One Syrian survivor said he and other migrants on board the Adriana, which had broken down en route to Italy, screamed "Stop!" after a Greek coastguard vessel attached a rope to the bow of the trawler and began to pull it while picking up speed.

The migrant boat tilted left and right and then it turned upside down, he added.

Three other witnesses said they didn't know what caused the Adriana to capsize. Reuters is not publishing the names of the nine survivors who gave the accounts, which haven't been made public.

The statements of the six witnesses clash with the public statements given by the Greek coastguard and government, which have said no attempt was made to tow the boat and that it overturned when the coastguard was about 70 metres away.

The shipping ministry, which oversees the coastguard, told Reuters it couldn't comment on issues that were the subject of a confidential and ongoing investigation by prosecutors. Greek prosecutors are forbidden by law from commenting on live inquiries.

The nine survivors submitted their accounts on June 17-18 to investigators conducting a preliminary probe into the disaster.  group of suspected traffickers, arrested on June 15 on charges including manslaughter, migrant smuggling and causing a shipwreck, have been jailed pending a fuller investigation that could culminate in a trial. They deny wrongdoing.

The towing episode was also recounted by two other survivors who were separately interviewed by Reuters and asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from Greek authorities. One of them, who gave his name only as Mohamed, described the terrifying moments when the Adriana overturned, which he said came when the coastguard started tugging the boat.

"They quickly pulled us and the boat capsized. It moved to the right, to the left, to the right and it capsized. People started to fall on each other," he said. "People were on top of each other, people were screaming, people were drowning each other. It was night time and there were waves. It was scary."

On June 15 a coastguard spokesperson, responding to local media reports that cited some survivors who said the trawler was towed, publicly denied that a coastguard vessel had attached a rope to the Adriana at any time.

A day later, the coastguard amended its account: it said its vessel had attached a rope to the Adriana to help it draw nearer to communicate. The coastguard denied it had subsequently tried to tow the trawler, saying it had kept its distance.

Nikos Spanos, a retired admiral in the Greek coastguard, told Reuters it was unlikely that a coastguard vessel would have attempted such a dangerous manoeuvre as towing the stricken trawler.

"Its (the coastguard's) aim was to establish a better contact to help the vessel and assess the situation. This is my understanding. Because if they had tried to tow it or anything else, it would have been too risky and this wouldn't have been the right way to do it."

'NO HELP. GO ITALY'

When the Adriana capsized and sank 47 miles southwest of Pylos, in international waters within Greece's search-and-rescue jurisdiction, it was carrying between 400 and 750 migrants mostly from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan, the U.N. refugee agency says.

A total of 104 survivors have been found but rescuers say it's unlikely anyone else will be recovered, dead or alive, in one of the of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean.

The coastguard ship's log was also submitted to the judicial authorities and details two instances two hours apart when the coastguard vessel approached the Adriana, according to the evidence.

At 11:40 p.m. on June 13 the vessel approached the trawler, which had a malfunctioning engine, and tied a rope to the boat to allow it to draw closer and talk to those on board to assess the situation and if they needed help, the log said.

People on board shouted "No help" and "Go Italy" and untied the rope, according to the log which said the Adriana's engine was then restarted and it headed west.

Then at 1:40 a.m., the coastguard vessel was instructed by its operation centre to return to the trawler to inspect its condition after the Adriana had stopped moving.

The coastguard vessel approached to a distance of about 70 metres from the Adriana and heard a lot of shouting, and in under seven minutes the trawler had capsized, according to the log.

See a timeline of the tragedy

$55 EXTRA FOR 'SAFER' DECK

The Adriana set off from a beach in or near the Libyan town of Tobruk around June 10, according to survivors. Before they boarded, the traffickers took away their belongings and threw out bottles of drinking water to make room for more people, survivor Mohamed told Reuters.

Each traveller only had 40 cm of space, a Syrian migrant told judicial authorities, according to the evidence.

All 11 survivors said they paid between $4,500 to $6,000 for the journey, and the smugglers told them they would reach Italy in three days. Three survivors told authorities they paid anywhere from 50 to 200 euros ($55-220) extra for places on the outer deck, considered safer.

They were among thousands of people trying to get to southern Europe this year by setting off in boats from North Africa. More than 50,000 "irregular border" crossings of the Central Mediterranean, most of which begin in Tunisia and Libya, were detected in the first five months of 2023, up 160% from a year ago, according to EU border agency data.

A week after the tragedy near Greece, more than 30 migrants were feared dead after a dinghy headed for Spain's Canary Islands sank.

(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens, Jonathan Saul in London and Riham Alkoussa in Berlin; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Pravin Char)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is not nearing an attack on Iran's nuclear sites, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's national security adviser said on Friday, as talks between Tehran and Washington have sought to cool tensions.

Tzachi Hanegbi said it was still unclear what will come of talks Israel's main ally the United States has held with Iran in recent weeks in an effort to outline steps that could limit Teheran's nuclear program and de-escalate tensions.

Nonetheless, no agreement would obligate Israel, which views a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat, Hanegbi told Channel 13 television. Asked whether an Israeli decision on a preemptive strike against Iran was any closer, Hanegbi said:

"We are not getting closer because the Iranians have stopped, for a while now, they are not enriching uranium to the level that in our view is the red line."

Hanegbi added: "But it can happen. So we are preparing for the moment, if it comes, in which we will have to defend the people of Israel against a fanatic regime that is set on annihilating us and is armed with weapons of mass destruction."

Netanyahu has set a "red line" on Iran's uranium enrichment at bomb-grade 90% fissile purity. Iran has ramped up enrichment to 60% purity in recent years.

Having failed to revive a 2015 nuclear deal that had capped Tehran's enrichment at 3.67%, Iranian and Western officials have met to sketch out steps that could curb its fast advancing nuclear work.

The 2015 agreement limited Iran's uranium enrichment to make it harder for Tehran to develop the means to produce nuclear arms. Iran denies it has such ambitions.

Then-U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the pact in 2018 and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy. Tehran responded by gradually moving well beyond the deal's enrichment restrictions.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan would welcome the European Union's lifting of restrictions on food imports imposed after a 2011 nuclear accident triggered by a major earthquake and tsunami, a government spokesperson said on Friday.

The Nikkei newspaper reported earlier on Friday that the EU was in the final stages of lifting all restrictions on Japanese food. It did not identify its sources.

The bans have been in place since the earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant on Japan's east coast north of Tokyo, triggering multiple meltdowns.

"We understand that there are some positive moves towards lifting restrictions, which we as the Japanese government welcome," spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told a daily news conference in Tokyo.

He said he hoped the easing of restrictions would help with the reconstruction of areas that were devastated in the nuclear disaster.

The 2011 earthquake and tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people on a stretch of Japans Pacific coast. The meltdowns at the nuclear plant forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.

The report on the lifting of restrictions comes a week before International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Mariano Grossi is due to visit Japan to present his agency's findings on the safety of a Japanese plan to release water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean.

Japan plans to release 1.3 million metric tons of water that has been exposed to radiation inside the destroyed power plant, after removing most of its radioactive elements.

The water to be released, which has been mainly used to cool damaged reactors, will have traces of tritium, an isotope that is hard to remove from water.

The IAEA has been conducting a safety review of the plan since 2021. It said it would inaugurate an office in the Fukushima plant during Grossi's visit.

(Reporting by Sakura Murakami and Kiyoshi Takenaka; editing by Robert Birsel)
NEW YORK (AP)  Former President Donald Trumps claims that absolute presidential immunity and free speech rights shield him from the defamation claims of a New York columnist were rejected Thursday by a federal judge.

The writer, E. Jean Carroll, can continue to press claims that Trump owes her at least $10 million in damages for comments he made before and after she won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict against him last month, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in a written opinion.

Trump tried to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds that he is entitled to absolute presidential immunity, his statements were not defamatory and that his statements were opinion protected by free speech rights.

Kaplan said Trump surrendered absolute presidential immunity as a defense by failing to assert it years ago when the lawsuit was filed. The lawsuit was delayed until recently as appeals courts considered legal issues surrounding it.

Trump countersued Carroll this week, claiming that she has libeled him by continuing to insist that he raped her even after a jury found otherwise.

After a jury returned its verdict last month in Manhattan federal court, Trump made comments on a CNN town hall that prompted Carroll to assert new defamation claims in a 2020 defamation lawsuit.

The jury award resulted from a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit filed last November after New York state temporarily enacted a law allowing sexual assault victims to sue for damages resulting from attacks that occurred even decades earlier.

Trump's claims in the CNN broadcast mirrored statements he made while president in 2019 when Carroll published a memoir in which she claimed Trump raped her in the dressing room of a luxury midtown Manhattan department store in spring 1996.

Within hours of excerpts from the book being published in a magazine, Trump denied a rape occurred or that he ever knew Carroll.

Mr. Trump did not merely deny Ms. Carrolls accusation of sexual assault, Kaplan wrote. Instead, he accused Ms. Carroll of lying about him sexually assaulting her in order to increase sales of her book, gain publicity, and/or carry out a political agenda.

The judge said the main purpose of presidential immunity was to avoid diverting the president from public duties, but it was not a get-out-of-damages-liability-free card that permits the president to say or do anything he or she desires even if that conduct is disconnected entirely from an official function."

Kaplan said he took into consideration that Carroll is now 79 years old and has pursued claims against Trump for 3 1/2 years.

There is no basis to risk prolonging the resolution of this litigation further by permitting Mr. Trump to raise his absolute immunity defense now at the eleventh hour when he could have done so years ago, he said.

In rejecting claims that Carroll's lawsuit was about protected speech, Kaplan explained how libel and slander are handled in the courts and why Trump's statements could be construed to fit the legal definition for defamation, including that a jury had already found it so.

Trump's lawyers did not immediately comment.

Attorney Robbie Kaplan, who represents Carroll and is unrelated to the judge, said in a statement that the judge's ruling confirms that once again, Donald Trumps supposed defenses to E. Jean Carrolls defamation claims dont work."

She added: "Todays decision removes one more impediment to the January 15 trial on E Jeans defamation damages in this case.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
(Reuters) -A Florida jury on Thursday acquitted a former sheriff's deputy accused of failing to protect students during the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Scot Peterson, the school resource officer on duty when a gunman entered a building in Feb. 14, 2018 and opened fire, killing 17 and wounding another 17, had been charged with 11 counts of child neglect, culpable negligence and perjury.

Peterson, 60, put his head on the table in front of him and sobbed with relief as the judge read aloud the "not guilty" verdict to each count. The jury's verdict spared him what could have been a prison sentence of 97 years.

After the verdict, Peterson told reporters at the courthouse that he would like to talk to the parents of students who lost their lives in the shooting.

"If they need to really know the truth of what occurred... I'll be there for them," he said, choking back tears.

In a statement, the Broward State Attorneys Office, which brought the case, repeated its argument that Peterson could have done more to protect members of the school community, and that his inaction "had a dire impact" on the victims.

"For the first time in our nation's history, prosecutors in this case have tried to hold an armed school resource officer responsible for not doing his job," the statement said.

Some parents of victims who attended the trial were also disappointed by the outcome.

"All I can say to the members of the jury is, I think your school should hire him to protect your children," said Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was one of the students killed in the shooting. Montalto rejected Peterson's offer to talk.

Peterson was armed but never went inside while the shooting was underway, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office and surveillance video.

He is one of few law enforcement officers ever prosecuted for failing to take action or provide care. The outcome of the highly unusual case could set a legal precedent and induce prosecutors around the country to refrain charging similar officials with negligence after other shootings.

Peterson did not testify in his trial, which lasted two and a half weeks.

A jury in October spared Nikolas Cruz, the gunman in the Parkland shooting, from the death penalty, instead calling for life in prison without possibility of parole.

In May, the United States marked the one-year anniversary of the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a decade, in which a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 children and two teachers and injured 17 others.

Police waited more than an hour to enter and confront the shooter in that case, prompting widespread criticism.

A report by the Texas Department of Public Safety found an Uvalde police officer could have shot the gunman before he entered the school but hesitated while awaiting permission from a supervisor.

(Reporting by Julia Harte, editing by Deepa Babington)
By Steve Holland and Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it was concerned about the Russian Wagner Group's destabilizing activities in Africa and accused the leader of the mercenary force of helping to engineer the departure of U.N. peacekeepers from Mali.

The U.S. has information indicating Mali's transition government has paid more

than $200 million to Wagner since late 2021, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

Kirby said Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led an aborted mutiny against the Kremlin last weekend, helped engineer the departure of the United Nations peacekeeping force, known as MINUSMA, "to further Wagner's interests."

"We know that senior Malian officials worked directly with Prigozhin employees to inform the U.N. secretary general that Mali had revoked consent for the MINUSMA mission," Kirby said.

The U.N. Security Council voted on Friday to end the mission. Earlier this month, Mali asked the U.N. peacekeeping force to leave "without delay", citing a "crisis of confidence" between Malian authorities and the decade-long U.N. mission.

Two days before, the country's interim president, Colonel Assimi Goita, said on Twitter he was very satisfied with a phone call he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he described as "direct and sincere".

Kirby said that despite the money paid by Mali to the Wagner Group, which a week ago launched an aborted armed mutiny in Russia, the security situation in the country has not improved.

Kirby's comments marked another step in the U.S. effort to push back against Wagner's influence in Africa. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on four companies in the United Arab Emirates, Central African Republic and Russia it accused of being connected to the Wagner Group.

Kirby said Washington had seen no indication that Wagner was decreasing its intent to exploit African countries, "despite the events of last weekend."

Both Russia and Mali have said Russian fighters there are not mercenaries but trainers helping local troops fight a decade-long insurgency by Islamist militants.

Mali's leaders seized power in a 2021 coup and brought in Wagner after asking a French military mission to leave.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, Daphne Psaledakis and Doina Chiacu in Washington and Bate Felix in Dakar; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
This post contains spoilers from Season 2, Episode 3 of "And Just Like That..."

Since time immemorial  or at least since Annie Hall  pop culture has loved to send tightly wound New Yorkers to the West Coast and watch them squirm uncomfortably in the sunshine.

In Season 2, And Just Like That... followed this hallowed tradition by relocating TVs most polarizing couple  lawyer-turned-grad student Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and nonbinary comedian Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez)  to Los Angeles while the latter makes a sitcom pilot.

At first, the couple seems to be enjoying a honeymoon phase fueled by bouts of hot-tub sex, strap-on experimentation and a charming rental house with a pool. But cracks quickly appear in the relationship. Miranda, who left her stagnant marriage to Steve (David Eigenberg) to be with Che, finds herself with too much free time on her hands and wondering how well she really knows her partner. After volunteering to clean up a beach in Malibu and promptly losing her phone in piles of seaweed, Miranda gets a ride home from Lyle (Oliver Hudson) who turns out to be Ches estranged husband. (The couple never officially divorced.)

Read more:'And Just Like That...' was a jolt for 'Sex and the City' fans. For Season 2, they have suggestions

Meanwhile, Che is struggling with the pressures of making a semi-autobiographical broadcast sitcom and is forced to go on a diet, rewrite their ethnic heritage and cry in a maudlin scene with their onscreen dad (played by Tony Danza).

In this weeks episode, Chapter Three, Mirandas phone goes off in the middle of Ches pilot taping, interrupting a pivotal scene: Its Brady calling from Europe, distraught after a breakup. Che is furious that Miranda, of all people, spoiled her big moment, but ultimately supports Miranda as she races back to New York to help her despondent son.

And just like that, the couples California fantasy bubble bursts.

California as Edenic bubble

Astute fans of Sex and the City will recall that the show traveled to L.A. for a two-episode arc in Season 3 that made much of the supposed cultural differences between the two cities. (Carrie dates an impostor posing as a big-time agent, while Miranda is horrified to discover that her old friend, a late-night writer now working on a sitcom, spits up everything he eats after a few chews.)

It was kind of ballsy to take Miranda away from New York for three episodes, but it was worth it because I knew it would be evocative and cool and authentic, said "And Just Like That..." showrunner Michael Patrick King, who lives in L.A.

The goal of these three episodes, set in locations including Neptunes Net, the Comedy Store and the Warner Bros. lot, was to capture two contradictory aspects of the city: its intoxicating, Garden of Eden-like natural beauty  the [Henri] Rousseau painting of it all  contrasted with the harsher realities of Hollywood and the buzz saw of creating TV pilots.

Read more:Kim Cattrall agreed to 'And Just Like That' gig if Max pulled off this 'SATC' reunion

On one side, you have this lush, fertile garden, he said. And on the other side, you have, like, a mulch machine.

Miranda has that experience that a lot of New Yorkers have when they first arrive in Los Angeles, said Nixon. Specifically, where it seems like a dream, and kind of too good to be true. And then, of course, it is too good to be true.

Even the house where Miranda and Che are staying  a picturesque bungalow with a lush garden tucked away behind a larger home  was meant to evoke a fantasy version of Southern California, said King. When I first moved to L.A. from New York, I had an experience like that. It felt like the opposite of New York, which is why I went to L.A.  for the flora and fauna, and the hummingbirds and the hot tubs. (Adding to the impression of L.A. as an escape, this episode depicted New York as overrun with violent crime.)

Che and Miranda are going throughtheir second and third adolescence with each other in Los Angeles, said Ramirez. They're both fish out of water. We get to see how they navigate that individually and together, which makes for a lot of awkwardness and rich comedy moments.

About that backlash

AJLTs California arc also allowed the show to explore Ches more vulnerable side and bring some much-needed dimension to a divisive character who  perhaps you heard?  faced major backlash in Season 1. The pot-smoking podcast host sparked countless memes and lit up group chats across the country, with many fans furious that Miranda blew up her marriage to Steve.

For their part, Ramirez thinks fans upset about Che should take it up with the writers.

Its interesting how many conversations this character has brought, Ramirez said. I think it's great that people have critiques, that people have thoughts about the writing. I encourage people to talk to the writers about that. That is who they need to be conveying this to.

My concern is more about real-life queer, trans and nonbinary people. How are we translating all this energy, all this time and all this effort we're putting into these conversations about a fictional character? How are we translating that into how we show up in the real world? Because we need to care about that too. People are being legislated out of existence.

Similarly, Nixon thinks the reaction was rooted in discomfort with nonbinary people, paraphrasing actor Lea DeLaria, When butchness or nonbinariness is put out front and center, it freaks people out.

King was puzzled by the extent to which Che was blamed for the affair with Miranda. He contends that Che was merely the match and Miranda was the bonfire.

One of the goals of Season 2, he said, was to explore the collateral damage of Mirandas decision to, as he put it, follow her heart instead of her head for the first time in her life.

We wanted to let people see who else Che is. I felt like everybody judged a book by the cover. So we wanted to open the book and show new sides to Che, he said.

Yet even Ramirez acknowledged that Che got away with so much in Season 1.

We needed to see them confront some uncomfortable things, said the actor. I always wondered why Carrie never spoke to Che about [having sex] with Miranda [in her kitchen]. There was a lack of accountability.

What's so cool about Sex and the City is the original had this way of exposing life as this roller-coaster ride, where just when you think you've had a win, you get a pie in the face two seconds later. Che got a lot of wins. And in Season 2, we're gonna see a lot more pies in the face.

Into the buzz saw of showbiz

Being in L.A.  and especially working in Hollywood  dredges up insecurities that Che managed to keep hidden back in New York.

The biggest complaint that I heard is that Che is way too cocky and too sure of themselves and too confident, said King. Well, nothing will shake you up more than a pilot, especially when its a pilot based on your own personal legacy. It's just a perfect storm for challenges.

Che is excited about making a show about their life, but gets caught up in a system that wants to flatten their identity in order to make a lot of other people happy, said Ramirez, who was a regular on Greys Anatomy for more than a decade and related to some of the pressure their character faced.

I worked in Los Angeles for a really long time, and my biggest challenge was around my internalized fatphobia, around the size of my body and the various shapes that I felt I had to contort myself into in order to succeed. When we tap into that part of Ches storyline, that was familiar territory for me.

The point of having Mirandas phone go off in the middle of Ches pilot was to show the difference between a televised family scene and Miranda's real family drama, said King.

Nixon believes that Miranda, who always put her professional and family life first, was in flight mode when she left for California.

I think Miranda's sojourn in L.A. was a little bit of running away  running away from responsibility, running away from 'What am I going to do with the rest of my life?,' running away from ex-husband, who I'm still married to, and his incredible shock and anger with me, said Nixon. There was a fantasy happening.

Its not clear what the future holds for her relationship with Che, but it was time for her to return to New York and address unresolved family matters.

Most importantly, said Ramirez, its what the boss wanted.

I don't think Michael Patrick King wanted us in L.A. that long.

Sign up for L.A. Goes Out, a weekly newsletter about exploring and experiencing Los Angeles from the L.A. Times.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis on Friday granted an audience to the wife of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who is behind bars in Britain and battling extradition to the United States.

"The Holy Father has received in audience Mrs. Stella Assange, with family members," a Vatican statement said, with no further details.

Stella Assange tweeted that her family was "overwhelmed" by the private audience, with a photo of herself dressed in black in St. Peter's Square and the hashtag #FreeAssangeNOW.

She is fronting the campaign to have her husband released, but the Vatican did not say if this was discussed in the meeting or if Francis expressed any support for it.

A Vatican spokesman said papal audiences are private affairs.

Assange is wanted in the U.S. over the release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010. His supporters see his prosecution as a politically motivated assault on journalism and free speech.

Washington says the release of the documents had put lives in danger.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Gavin JonesEditing by Keith Weir)
Proponents for affirmative action in higher education at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

In the wake of the Supreme Courts decision against using race-conscious admissions for college, individuals from across the political spectrum called for the elimination of legacy admissions.

Im directing the Department of Education to analyze what practices help build a more inclusive and diverse student bodies and what practices hold that back, practices like legacy admissions and other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunity, President Biden said following the announcement of the courts decisions on Thursday.

The practice of legacy admissions

Legacy admissions is the process of giving favorable treatment to children of alumni. A 2019 study found that 43% of white students at Harvard were legacies, athletes or related to donors, faculty or staff (often referred to as ALDC, a catch-all term). For years, there have been calls to end that special advantage for students, a benefit that is sometimes called affirmative action for rich white people.

Emilio Castilla, a professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, confirmed this belief in a recent study, finding that legacy admissions is a form of favoritism that benefits predominantly white students.

Its definitely providing a port of entry into colleges and universities by individuals who are also very likely to already be able to get access to education, he told Yahoo News.

According to Education Reform Now, a think tank focused on education policy, legacy admits make up roughly 10% to 25% of admissions at top universities.

People on Harvard Universitys campus in Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

Castilla says legacy admissions does not provide entry for students who are more qualified than others, nor does it increase diversity. We found evidence that there are material interests; a lot of these legacy admits typically tend to be coming from richer families that are more likely to donate resources, he said.

Justices from both sides of the political spectrum noted the effects of legacy admissions on Thursday.

[Harvards] preferences for the children of donors, alumni, and faculty are no help to applicants who cannot boast of their parents good fortune or trips to the alumni tent all their lives, wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, in a concurring opinion. While race-neutral on their face, too, these preferences undoubtedly benefit white and wealthy applicants the most. Still, Harvard stands by them.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, cited the ALDC statistics in her dissent, noting that while ALDC applicants make up less than 5% of applicants to Harvard, they constitute around 30% of the applicants admitted each year.

Congressional pushback

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the only Black Republican in the Senate and a 2024 presidential candidate, also called for the end of legacy admissions Thursday, saying, One of the things that Harvard could do to make that even better is to eliminate any legacy programs where they have preferential treatment for legacy kids, not allow for the professors... their kids to come to Harvard as well.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on Capitol Hill on June 13. (Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images)

Theyre looking for a way to improve the footprint of Harvard, lets make sure that all admissions are based on academic scores, and not just eliminating affirmative action, but lets look at the legacy programs, Scott added in an interview with Fox News.

Most of the anti-legacy sentiment, however, came from Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., at the Capitol in May. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous colorblindness claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged, she said in a viral tweet. 70% of Harvards legacy applicants are white. SCOTUS didnt touch that  which would have impacted them and their patrons.

Last year, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced the Fair College Admissions for Students Act, a first-of-its-kind bill that seeks to stop universities from giving special treatment to children of alumni and donors.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., said he plans to reintroduce a bill that seeks to stop universities from giving special treatment to children of alumni and donors. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)

Bowman promoted the legislation following Thursdays decision, saying in an MSNBC interview, If were serious about our democracy, equity and equality, end legacy admissions and we can do that in Congress.

Merkley denounced the Supreme Courts decision and said he and Bowman plan to reintroduce the bill soon.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is joining Bowman in reintroducing the Fair College Admissions for Students Act to ensure that money and connections will no longer give an unfair advantage in access to higher education. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Court has never addressed or limited the college selection processes that favor the children of well-established, predominantly white families, he said in a statement. Selecting applicants to universities based off family names, connections, or the size of their bank accounts creates an unlevel playing field for students without those built-in advantages, especially minority and first-generation students.
A sign reading "cancel student debt" is seen outside the Supreme Court, Friday, June 30, 2023, as decisions are expected in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

WASHINGTON (AP)  A sharply divided Supreme Court on Friday effectively killed President Joe Bidens $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts for millions of Americans.

The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, said the Biden administration overstepped its authority with the plan, and it leaves borrowers on the hook for repayments that are expected to resume in the fall.

Biden was to announce a new set of actions to protect student loan borrowers and would address the court decision later Friday, said a White House official. The official was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of Bidens expected statement on the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The court held that the administration needed Congress' endorsement before undertaking so costly a program. The majority rejected arguments that a bipartisan 2003 law dealing with student loans, known as the HEROES Act, gave Biden the power he claimed.

Six States sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancellation plan. We agree, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote in a dissent, joined by the courts two other liberals, that the majority of the court overrides the combined judgment of the Legislative and Executive Branches, with the consequence of eliminating loan forgiveness for 43 million Americans.

Loan repayments will resume in October, although interest will begin accruing in September, the Education Department has announced. Payments have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic more than three years ago.

The forgiveness program would have canceled $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would have had an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

Twenty-six million people had applied for relief and 43 million would have been eligible, the administration said. The cost was estimated at $400 billion over 30 years.

Advocacy groups supporting debt cancellation condemned the decision while demanding that Biden find another avenue to fulfill his promise of debt relief.

Natalia Abrams, president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center, said the responsibility for new action falls squarely on Bidens shoulders. The president possesses the power, and must summon the will, to secure the essential relief that families across the nation desperately need, Abrams said in a statement.

The loan plan joins other pandemic-related initiatives that faltered at the Supreme Court.

Conservative majorities ended an eviction moratorium that had been imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and blocked a plan to require workers at big companies to be vaccinated or undergo regular testing and wear a mask on the job. The court upheld a plan to require vaccinations of health-care workers.

The earlier programs were billed largely as public health measures intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. The loan forgiveness plan, by contrast, was aimed at countering the economic effects of the pandemic.

In more than three hours of arguments last February, conservative justices voiced their skepticism that the administration had the authority to wipe away or reduce student loans held by millions.

Republican-led states arguing before the court said the plan would have amounted to a windfall for 20 million people who would have seen their entire student debt disappear and been better off than they were before the pandemic.

Roberts was among those on the court who questioned whether non-college workers would essentially be penalized for a break for the college educated.

In contrast, the administration grounded the need for the sweeping loan forgiveness in the COVID-19 emergency and the continuing negative impacts on people near the bottom of the economic ladder. The declared emergency ended on May 11.

Without the promised loan relief, the administrations top Supreme Court lawyer told the justices, delinquencies and defaults will surge.

At those arguments, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said her fellow justices would be making a mistake if they took for themselves, instead of leaving it to education experts, the right to decide how much aid to give people who would struggle if the program were struck down.

The HEROES Act has allowed the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans in connection with a national emergency. The law was primarily intended to keep service members from being hurt financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Biden had once doubted his own authority to broadly cancel student debt, but announced the program last August. Legal challenges quickly followed.

The court majority said the Republican-led states had cleared an early hurdle that required them to show they would be financially harmed if the program had been allowed to take effect.

The states did not even rely on any direct injury to themselves, but instead pointed to the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, a state-created company that services student loans.

Nebraska Solicitor General James Campbell, arguing before the court in February, said the Authority would lose about 40% of its revenues if the Biden plan went into effect. Independent research has cast doubt on the financial harm MOHELA would face, suggesting that the agency would still see an increase in revenue even if Bidens cancellation went through. That information was not part of the court record.

A federal judge initially found that the states would not be harmed and dismissed their lawsuit before an appellate panel said the case could proceed.

In a second case, the justices ruled unanimously that two Texans who filed a separate challenge did not have legal standing to sue. But the outcome of that case has no bearing on the court's decision to block the debt relief plan.

___

Associated Press writers Collin Binkley and Colleen Long contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court
Whitney Jean Alim, a 27-year-old educator in Chicago, dreamed of buying a house sooner with the room in her budget from President Joe Biden's student loan cancellation plan. It would have cut in half the $40,000 she owes on loans taken out for college and a master's degree.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the forgiveness plan, dashing the hopes of Alim and millions of other borrowers who were expecting their student debt would be reduced or wiped out entirely.

Literally this morning, I felt like: Damn, I just lost $20,000, said Alim, who learned of the decision from a reporter.

For borrowers around the country, the ruling brought bitterness and frustration, even for those who anticipated the plan's rejection by the conservative justices. Some fought back feelings of despair.

The student loan forgiveness program would have eliminated $10,000 in debt for those making less than $125,000. Households earning less than $250,000 were also eligible. Pell Grant recipients would have had an additional $10,000 in relief. Forty-three million borrowers would have been eligible, the administration said.

Conservative opponents of the debt relief objected to the cost, estimated at $400 billion over 30 years, and said it was unfair to Americans who had already repaid their debt or did not go to college. Supporters of Biden's plan said it would boost the economy and narrow the racial wealth gap, given the disproportionate amount of student debt held by borrowers of color.

After the ruling, Biden announced a 12-month grace period to help borrowers who may struggle when payments restart. Biden, who promised debt forgiveness during his presidential campaign, also plans to pursue a new plan for cancellation, but with a different legal justification from the one struck down by the Supreme Court. Its not entirely clear yet how the plans will work.

Brittany Bell Surratt, of Washington, D.C., said she wasnt surprised at the court's ruling. But she said the news left her disheartened at the future for Black Americans like herself, especially coming a day after the court ruled against affirmative action in higher education.

We have been systemically discriminated against in so many ways, and this goes hand in hand with the affirmative action decision, she said. Thats a choice, and its intentional and deliberate and conscious.

Bell Surratt, 37, said she was not making payments while student loans were frozen during the pandemic because she was saving up for her 17-year-old son, who plans to attend college next year. Her student loans totaled about $47,000 originally, but currently she owes over $65,000, with interest. When payments resume Oct. 1, she expects to spend about $800 a month. Thats a mortgage in a lot of places.

Nicholas Richard-Thompson, a communications coordinator for the mayors office in Aurora, Illinois, was at his desk when he saw a student loans news alert flash across his phone. Although he was not surprised by the ruling, it left him feeling defeated.

To finance his education, Richard-Thompson now has nearly $100,000 of debt. As one of the youngest children of older parents, Richard-Thompson said he could not have pursued higher education without taking out loans.

Richard-Thompson said that the recent string of Supreme Court decisions rolling back progress for women, LGBTQ+ communities and people of color were a product of a Democratic Party that has been unwilling to take a bold stance on the issues.

These are consequences from their politics of the last 20 years, Richard-Thompson said. Unless they diverge greatly, its going to continue and get worse.

Alim said the degrees she and her peers financed with loans have not paid the dividends they had been led to expect.

I just think that education in America is not really worth it. Its not becoming worth it, she said.

When student loan repayments start again in the fall, she'll have to find $500 a month to make payments on her loans. That money could have gone toward saving to buy a home, she said.

Elizabeth Shoby, a 33-year-old artist in New York City, says the courts decision deprives her family of financial relief that was much needed. Bidens plan would have canceled $10,000 of the $70,000 in debt she borrowed for a graduate degree in fine arts.

My husband and I have a pretty tight budget, Shoby said. Our incomes are quite maxed out in terms of our current debts, mortgage, payments, etcetera. And I think both of us know that another $400 a month payment is just  we cant really foresee right now where thats going to come from.

Kerrianne Troesch, a rising junior majoring in communications at Pennsylvania Western University, would have gotten nearly $10,000 in student loan debt cancelled from her freshman year of college alone. Troesch, 20, has already resigned herself to an expected $60,000 in student loan debt after she graduates.

Troesch, who is also an organizer with a nonprofit called Rise that advocates for affordable education options, considered not going to college at all, but felt then her only options would be minimum-wage jobs.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't, because youre going to be racking up debt no matter what, she said.

___

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___

Associated Press writers Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix, Claire Savage in Chicago and Collin Binkley in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. Ma reported from Washington and Lurye from New Orleans.
Kashish Bastola, right, hugs fellow Harvard student Nahla Owens outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Thursday after the court struck down race-based affirmative action in college admission decisions. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

In another major reversal, the Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action policies at colleges and universities that use race as a factor in deciding who is admitted.

In a pair of decisions, the six conservative justices ruled that Harvard, the nation's oldest private college, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the oldest state university, were illegally discriminating based on race and violating the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the Constitution forbids treating people differently based on their race.

"The entire point of the Equal Protection Clause is that treating someone differently because of their skin color is not like treating them differently because they are from a city or from a suburb, or because they play the violin poorly or well," he wrote.

Read more:A lot of what you've heard about affirmative action is wrong

In dissent, liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson accused the majority of ignoring America's history as well as continuing racism today. Our country has never been colorblind," Jackson wrote.

"Today, this court stands in the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress," Sotomayor wrote, joined by Justice Elena Kagan. "The court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter."

While the ruling will force many universities, including their law and medical schools, to change admissions policies, it won't prevent them from pursuing diversity or giving extra consideration to students who have overcome hardships or discrimination.

Affirmative action supporters and opponents trade chants outside the Supreme Court on Thursday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

School officials are likely to focus on a passage near the end of the chief justice's 40-page opinion:

"Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise," Roberts wrote. "A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that students courage and determination. Or a benefit to a student whose heritage or culture motivated him or her to assume a leadership role or attain a particular goal must be tied to that students unique ability to contribute to the university. In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual  not on the basis of race."

The vote was 6 to 3 in the North Carolina case and 6 to 2 in the Harvard case, from which Jackson, a former member of Harvard's Board of Overseers, recused herself.

Affirmative action, like abortion, has been a target of the conservative legal movement for decades, and the court's liberal precedents on these two major issues were put in danger when President Trump and Senate Republicans succeeded in appointing three new justices.

The impact of the rulings is likely to be limited in California, however. The University of California and the California State University systems are prohibited from using race as an admissions factor under a ballot measure approved by voters in 1996. In 2020, voters rejected a measure that would have overturned the 1996 ban.

Eight other states have followed California's lead in forbidding race-conscious admissions policies at state universities, including Michigan, Florida and Washington.

But the ruling in the Harvard case extends that prohibition to private universities, including Stanford and USC.

Read more: 'We're really worried': What do colleges do now after affirmative action ruling?

President Biden joined many Democrats and progressives in slamming the majority opinion.

"I strongly, strongly disagree with the court's decision," Biden said in remarks at the White House. "Discrimination still exists in America. Today's decision does not change that."

He proposed new guidance for colleges in the wake of the decision, urging them to take into account the adversity a student has overcome in the admissions process. "We need a new path forward, a path consistent with the law that protects diversity and expands opportunity," he said.

A protester flies American flag during a rally with other members of the Asian American Coalition for Education outside of the Supreme Court of the United States on Thursday. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

In its opinion, the high court criticized rulings dating to 1978 that held that universities had a compelling interest in seeking racial diversity on campus and could consider the race of Black and Latino students as a plus factor when choosing among well-qualified applicants.

Those precedents had remained under challenge from conservatives, who argued that the Constitution and the civil rights law prohibited discrimination based on race, even where the consideration of race was intended to increase diversity and correct past injustices.

A group called Students for Fair Admissions, created by financier Edward Blum, accused Harvard of discriminating against Asian American applicants in favor of Black and Latino applicants. He then filed a separate lawsuit against UNC for similar discrimination.

Those suits lost in the lower courts. Judges said the two universities had made careful and limited use of race in seeking a diverse class of new students.

Read more:Opinion: Affirmative action isn't hurting Asian Americans. Here's why that myth survives

But the Supreme Court, with six conservatives, voted last year to take up the appeals.

Blum hailed the outcome as a long-sought victory. The Supreme Court's opinion "marks the beginning of the restoration of the colorblind legal covenant that binds together our multiracial, multiethnic nation," he said. "The polarizing, stigmatizing and unfair jurisprudence that allowed colleges and universities to use a students race and ethnicity as a factor to admit or reject them has been overruled."

Times staff writer Courtney Subramanian in Washington contributed to this report.

Get the best of the Los Angeles Times politics coverage with the Essential Politics newsletter.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
The Supreme Court. (Mariam Zuhaib/AP)

The Supreme Court officially wrapped up its term this week with a flurry of rulings ahead of the high courts summer recess.

While some of the decisions handed down in closely watched cases against affirmative action, LGBTQ+ protections and President Bidens student debt relief plan came as no surprise given the courts 6-3 conservative majority, the final weeks of rulings included a few unexpected outcomes.

Yahoo News spoke with Paul Collins, professor of legal studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, about some of the most surprising  or surprisingly liberal  decisions of the term.

Voting rights: Allen v. Milligan

Evan Milligan, plaintiff in Merrill v. Milligan, an Alabama redistricting case, outside the Supreme Court on June 8. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

The case: Plaintiffs argued that Alabamas state congressional map, which was drawn from 2020 census data, had just one majority-Black district when it could have had two, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which bars discriminatory voting practices based on race. The challengers alleged that GOP state lawmakers deliberately designed the map, which was used during the 2022 midterm elections, to dilute the power of Black voters, who make up 27% of the states population.

The decision: In a 5-4 decision on June 8, the Supreme Court left Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act intact and said Alabamas congressional district map should be redrawn before the 2024 election. A court order says the state Legislature must enact a new map by July 21, 2023.

Why the decision was a surprise: Collins said this case was the most surprising ruling of the term for him. Historically, Chief Justice Roberts (who wrote the opinion) has not been a big fan of the Voting Rights Act, so it was somewhat surprising to see him write this opinion and to also determine that the Voting Rights Act had in fact been violated by the state of Alabama, Collins told Yahoo News.

Election regulations: Moore v. Harper

Demonstrators rally for voting rights outside the Supreme Court on Dec. 7, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The lawsuit: North Carolinas GOP-led state Legislature argued that the state Supreme Court, with a Democratic majority at the time, overstepped its authority when it invalidated the states 2022 congressional map. The case brought by North Carolina lawmakers asked the justices to adopt an obscure legal theory known as independent state legislature theory, which says that state legislatures have near-total control over federal elections.

The decision: On June 27, the Supreme Court issued a 6-3 ruling that rejected the fringe theory, ruling that the North Carolina Supreme Court didnt violate the Constitution when it rejected the states 2022 congressional map.

Why the decision was somewhat surprising: The conservative majority court essentially handed a win to liberal advocates on election law in this decision, but Collins said it was not entirely surprising. Even in the conservative legal movement, [the independent state legislature theory] is not taken that seriously by folks in the mainstream of that movement. So if the court embraced the independent state legislature theory, it really wouldve been a very strong signal that states are more or less free to violate the voting rights of Americans without judicial overview, Collins explained.

Native American child adoptions: Haaland v. Brackeen

Women embrace after the Supreme Court upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act, June 15. (Minh Connors/Washington Post via Getty Images)
Former President Trump said Thursday the U.S. should mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine now that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been "somewhat weakened" by the Wagner Group's defiance.

Trump spoke to Reuters in an interview Thursday that covered the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, as well as his thoughts on China's new spy base in Cuba. The former president  who is the current front-runner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination  was adamant that the U.S. must actively confront Russia and China.

"I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war," Trump said of the conflict in Ukraine.

Peace has been elusive as Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive to recapture territories Russia seized in the opening stages of its invasion 16 months ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded that Russia cease hostilities, withdraw its forces and restore Ukraine's complete territorial integrity in a 10-point peace plan proposed last year  which Russia flatly rejected.

PENTAGON ADDRESSES RUMORS OF RUSSIAN MILITARY PURGE FOLLOWING SHORT-LIVED WAGNER MUTINY

Then-President Trump, left, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a news conference in Helsinki Monday, July 16, 2018. Trump is now calling for the U.S. to mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine as he runs for president in the 2024 election.

Trump suggested that Kyiv might ultimately have to concede some territory to Russia to end the war. He said everything would be "subject to negotiation", if he were president, but that Ukrainians who have waged a vigorous fight to defend their land have "earned a lot of credit."

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"I think they would be entitled to keep much of what they've earned, and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we don't have that right now," he told Reuters.

President Biden and NATO allies have firmly sided with Ukraine and called on Russia to relinquish territories it seized in the eastern part of the country. Biden has called Putin a "pariah" for invading Ukraine and said the Russian leader is "losing the war at home," as evidenced by mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived rebellion on Saturday.

Trump agreed with Biden that Putin looks weaker in the aftermath of the mutiny.

PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL PENCE MEETS WITH ZELENSKYY IN UKRAINE IN SURPRISE TRIP

Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declared a "march for justice" on Saturday to oust senior Russian military commanders. He called off the rebellion in fewer than 24 hours after Putin vowed to crush the rebels.

"You could say that he's (Putin) still there, he's still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people," he said.

However, while some analysts hailed Prigozhin's rebellion as the end of Putin's reign, Trump cautioned against regime change in Russia, arguing, "you don't know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse."

The role for the president, Trump said, is to play peacemaker.

"I think the biggest thing that the U.S. should be doing right now is making peace  getting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace. You can do it," Trump said. "This is the time to do it, to get the two parties together to force peace."

PURGE: TOP RUSSIAN GENERALS GERASIMOV AND SUROVIKIN ARE REPORTEDLY MISSING FOLLOWING WAGNER MUTINY

Then-President Trump, left, delivers remarks at a Keep America Great rally in Phoenix on Feb. 19, 2020. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony in Jerusalem on Jan. 23, 2020 commemorating the people of Leningrad during the Second World War Nazi siege on the city.

Turning to another major U.S. adversary, Trump took a hardline stance on China's new spy base in Cuba, which is to be installed just 90 miles of the U.S. coast. He said a Trump administration would give Beijing 48 hours to shut the plans down or face new tariffs on Chinese goods.

As president, Trump adopted a tougher stance on China while claiming a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping that soured over the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'd give them 48 hours to get out. And if they didn't get out, I'd charge them a 100% tariff on everything they sell to the United States, and they'd be gone within two days. They'd be gone within one hour," Trump told Reuters.

However, the former president would not say whether the United States would lend military support to Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

"I don't talk about that. And the reason I don't is because it would hurt my negotiating position," he said. "All I can tell you is for four years, there was no threat. And it wouldn't happen if I were president."

Reuters contributed to this report.
By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights office said on Friday it has updated a list of companies doing business with Israeli settlements, removing 15 companies from the database that were no longer involved but retaining most of the international firms.

The long-awaited update comes at a time of surging violence in the West Bank in the past 15 months including deadly clashes during army raids in volatile cities like Jenin, a spate of fatal attacks by Palestinian gunmen against Israeli settlers, and rampages by groups of settlers in Palestinian villages.

However, the U.N. list was limited in scope due to budget restrictions and the rights office was only able to review the original list of 112 companies, spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a press briefing.

Most of the firms named in the database when it was set up were domiciled in Israel but it also included international firms listed in the United States, Britain and France, among others.

Packaged food maker General Mills was one of only two international firms removed from the list. Among those that remained were online travel sites Booking.com and Expedia and home-rental company Airbnb.

None of the companies were immediately available for comment. The U.N. rights office said that only 13 of the 112 companies listed cooperated on its update, without naming them.

"By updating this list, unfortunately once again the (Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights) and the Human Rights Council are further entrenching themselves as a partial actor in the region, serving those pursuing a discriminatory agenda against Israel," Israel's diplomatic mission in Geneva said. Its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the previous version, as did Washington, which has long protested the "disproportionate attention" given to Israel by the Geneva-based council.

The database was mandated by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2016 but was not released until 2020. Civil society groups say the database is an important tool to ensure transparency around business activities in the West Bank and to prompt companies to rethink their activities in the occupied territories.

However, Human Rights Watch said it was disappointing that the U.N. had failed to undertake the work needed to identify additional businesses and called for investigations to continue.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; editing by Matthias Williams, David Evans and Louise Heavens)
By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - UNESCO's member states backed the United States' return to the United Nations' cultural organization almost five years after then-President Donald Trump ordered an American withdrawal, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

"I am encouraged and grateful that today the (UNESCO) membership accepted our proposal, which will allow the United States to take the next, formal steps toward fully rejoining the organization," Blinken said in a statement.

UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - is best known for designating and protecting archaeological and heritage sites, from the Galapagos Islands to the tombs of Timbuktu.

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris-based organization in 2018 over accusations of anti-Israel bias and mismanagement. Most of UNESCO's activities are not controversial - but issues such as resolutions about how religious sites should be run in Jerusalem have been highly charged.

UNESCO's director-general, Audrey Azoulay, has said those issues were now a thing of the past after finding consensus between Israeli and Palestinians.

The U.S. State Department indicated in a letter dated June 8 that it wanted to rejoin UNESCO in July as a full member and that it intended to repay $619 million in arrears in installments over several years.

The member states approved the U.S. return at an extraordinary session this week, Blinken said on Friday.

The 2018 pullout by the United States - which had provided a fifth of UNESCO's funding - threw the organization into turmoil.

Israel also pulled out of UNESCO following Washington's departure. At this stage, there are no negotiations for its return, Azoulay has said.

U.S. law forbids Washington from funding U.N. bodies that have admitted Palestine as a full member. The American return to UNESCO was enabled after a waiver from Congress earlier this year, which will be in effect until the end of 2025.

UNESCO was founded in the ashes of World War Two to protect humanity's common cultural inheritance.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Eric Beech and Jonathan Oatis)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital.

The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Koreas Defense Ministry said in a statement. The bombers flyover is the latest in a series of temporary U.S. deployments of strategic assets in South Korea in response to North Koreas push to expand its nuclear arsenal.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korean waters for the first time in six years. The USS Michigans arrival came a day after North Korea resumed missile tests to protest previous U.S.-South Korean drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said the B-52 bombers' deployment boosted the visibility of U.S. strategic assets to the peninsula. It said the allies have been demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and will continue joint drills involving U.S. strategic bombers.

On Sunday, more than 120,000 North Koreans participated in mass rallies in Pyongyang to mark the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. During the rallies, officials and residents delivered speeches vowing merciless revenge against the United States over the war while accusing the U.S. of plotting an invasion on North Korea.

The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war. The U.S. stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression by North Korea.

Since its June 15 launches of two short-range ballistic missiles, North Korea hasnt performed any further public weapons tests. But the U.S. bombers deployment could prompt it to launch weapons again in protest.

Enhancing regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets" to the Korean Peninsula was part of agreements reached between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit in Washington in April. Biden stated at the time that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would result in the end of whatever regime took such action.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea. The allies have responded by expanding their military exercises.

In late May, a North Korean launch of a rocket carrying its first spy satellite ended in failure, with the rocket plunging into waters soon after liftoff. North Korea has since repeatedly said it would attempt a second launch, saying its crucial to build space-based surveillance system to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility.
By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) -When liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black woman to join the U.S. Supreme Court, she was expected to bring a different view on racial matters than Justice Clarence Thomas, its only other Black member and a staunch conservative.

That dispute was front and center on Thursday when the two justices publicly battled in sharply worded, dueling opinions as the court, in a blockbuster decision, effectively ended affirmative action policies in which colleges and universities consider race as a factor in student admissions. Such policies have been used by many schools for decades to boost their numbers of Black and Hispanic students.

Jackson and Thomas, reflecting a deep divide in the United States, diverged on how race must be treated in the law. Jackson promoted its use to reduce entrenched inequalities. Thomas contended that the U.S. Constitution is colorblind.

Thomas wrote a concurring opinion accompanying the ruling that said Jackson's "race-infused world view falls flat at each step." Thomas suggested that instead of treating people as the sum of their experiences and challenges, Jackson myopically focuses on "racial determinism."

Jackson countered that it is Thomas who "demonstrates an obsession with race consciousness."

"Our country has never been colorblind," Jackson wrote in her dissenting opinion, which was joined by the two other liberal justices.

George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin called the exchange "fascinating," noting that "they draw such different conclusions from the same history, even though both agree that Jim Crow (past segregation policies aimed at Black Americans in some states) and slavery were horrible forms of oppression at odds with Founding ideals."

"To some extent, the struggle that's going on is - who speaks for the Black community on this court?" Cornell Law School Professor Michael Dorf said. "Part of the undercurrent in his (Thomas's) response to Justice Jackson is that, 'She doesn't speak for all Black people, and she certainly doesn't speak for me.'"

The ruling - powered by the court's conservative majority and written by Chief Justice John Roberts - held that the Harvard and UNC policies violated the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which promises equal protection under the law. The provision was ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the American Civil War and the emancipation of Black people who had been enslaved by white people in Southern states.

'OSTRICH-LIKE'

Jackson, who was appointed last year by Democratic President Joe Biden, portrayed the ruling as "ostrich-like," one that would "make things worse," not better.

"The only way out of this morass - for all of us - is to stare at racial disparity unblinkingly, and then do what evidence and experts tell us is required to level the playing field and march forward together, collectively striving to achieve true equality for all Americans," Jackson wrote.

"It is no small irony that the judgment the (court's) majority hands down today will forestall the end of race-based disparities in this country, making the colorblind world the majority wistfully touts much more difficult to accomplish," Jackson added.

Jackson traced the history of racism that persisted from slavery to the present day, preventing Black Americans from gaining wealth and excluding them from opportunities in education and professional life. Jackson noted, for example, that white families' median wealth is eight times that of Black families.

Jackson, 52, said the majority's decision will widen gaps between students and "delay the day that every American has an equal opportunity to thrive, regardless of race."

Thomas, who is 75 and has served on the court since 1991, delivered a defense of colorblindness - that the Constitution prohibits actions that treat minorities differently, regardless of their intent. Much of what Thomas wrote on Thursday was directed at Jackson.

"As she sees things, we are all inexorably trapped in a fundamentally racist society, with the original sin of slavery and the historical subjugation of black Americans still determining our lives today," Thomas wrote.

"The panacea, she counsels, is to unquestioningly accede to the view of elite experts and reallocate society's riches by racial means as necessary to 'level the playing field,' all as judged by racial metrics," Thomas added.

Thomas cited his personal experience in supporting his arguments: "Even in the segregated South where I grew up, individuals were not the sum of their skin color. Then as now, not all disparities are based on race."

In a footnote to her dissent, Jackson responded to Thomas's critique, suggesting that he misconstrued her arguments.

"Justice Thomas ignited too many straw men to list, or fully extinguish," Jackson wrote.

Jackson added that Thomas refuses to see the "elephant in the room" - that race-based disparities continue to impede achievement for a great number of Americans.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
By Daphne Psaledakis and Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss political, security and humanitarian crises in Haiti with Prime Minister Ariel Henry next week, a State Department official said on Friday.

Blinken will travel to Guyana and neighboring Trinidad and Tobago on July 5-6, the State Department said. While in Trinidad and Tobago, Blinken will meet with Henry, who took power in July 2021 days after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Blinken would discuss a range of priorities on the Caribbean trip, including food and energy security, climate resilience, regional security and migration management, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti, Barbara Feinstein, told reporters.

Blinken will attend the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government meeting and its 50th anniversary celebration in Trinidad and Tobago.

"The Secretary will urge Prime Minister Henry to work urgently with Haitian stakeholders to enlarge the political consensus and fashion a political path forward that returns Haiti to democratic order," Feinstein said.

Blinken will also reaffirm U.S. support for the Haitian National Police and for the deployment of a multinational force and/or peacekeeping operations.

"With regard to a multinational force, it remains the United States position that that is critical, that we ought to respond as a global community to the Haitian peoples call for enhanced security assistance given the untenable situation on the ground," Feinstein said.

Several Caribbean leaders have spoken up in support of a multinational force, she said, and Blinken looked forward to a broader conversation with the leaders, including Henry.

Since last year, Henry has called for an international force to rein in gangs that control large parts of the country, fueling a humanitarian crisis that has displaced tens of thousands.

The United States has pushed Canada to take a leading role, but countries have been wary of sending troops in support of the unelected government of Henry, who has in turn said security must be established to hold credible elections.

Asked about Trinidad and Tobago's request for the U.S. to amend the terms of a license authorizing the joint development of a promising offshore gas field with Venezuela, Feinstein said "we are certainly open to further conversations with Trinidad and Tobago on this issue to see what can be done to improve energy security in the region."

In Guyana, Blinken will meet on July 6 with President Irfaan Ali to discuss issues including food and energy security and decarbonisation.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Arshad Mohammed and Rami Ayyub; editing by Paul Grant and Grant McCool)
Caston CCC member Mr Misheck Manyere, who defied his party and filed his nomination papers for the Marondera Central Constituency, has refused to withdraw his candidature, ignoring the partys 24-hour ultimatum for him and others to do so.

The party endorsed Mr Caston Matewu as the candidate for the constituency for the August 23 harmonised elections, but Mr Manyere believes he is the one who was selected by the CCCs controversial selection panel to represent the party.

Mr Manyere and Mr Matewu then successfully filed their nomination papers, a decision that has exposed the senior party officials for their preference of a hugely discredited candidates selection system.

Over 40 candidates defied the CCC and filed their nominations under the party banner, resulting in some constituencies and wards having two or three CCC candidates.

This was after the secretive candidate selection system under which party leader Nelson Chamisa single-handedly selected his croonies to stand on the party ticket became chaotic. The selection was so chaotic to the extent that the candidates who had been listed as having a chance of representing the party only knew their fate almost at the close of the nomination court.

This resulted in the CCC candidates literally invading nomination courts throughout the country when they realised time was running out, forcing Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officers to spend hours after the official closing time attending to them.

The CCC has now threatened legal action against candidates who filed their nomination using the partys name, saying they had no clearance.

But the candidates say their papers were in order and they were the ones chosen in their areas to contest.

In an interview yesterday, Mr Manyere said he was not fazed by the threat, and will not withdraw his application.

He said party supporters had endorsed him.

Mr Manyere accused the partys preferred candidate Mr Matewu of misrepresenting that he won the partys opaque selection process.

During the selection process, I had huge numbers who nominated me and he had a few people who nominated him, said Mr Manyere. I have people, more people than him and these are the people who are telling me not to withdraw. Citizens love me.

I will not withdraw my candidature. I will be representing CCC in Marondera Central Constituency and I will win. Matewu will not win because he does not have any people. Soon I will be embarking on election campaigns for CCC across the constituency.

Mr Manyere dismissed reports from some CCC quarters that he forged signatures and that Forever Association Zimbabwe, a Zanu PF affiliate, helped him file his nomination papers.

Who forged those signatures? Those who were authorised to sign are the ones who signed for me; so it is the party that signed, he said.

No one forged anything. There is no FAZ in all this. I dont even know anyone from FAZ.

For me, double candidacy in Marondera Central Constituency was all caused by Matewu.

Mr Matewu could not be reached for comment as the provided mobile number went unanswered, while WhatsApp messages were not responded to. Herald
By Michael Martina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. on Friday warned about a new Chinese counter-espionage law, saying American and other foreign companies in the country could face penalties from Chinese authorities for regular business activities.

Chinese lawmakers this year passed a wide-ranging update to Beijing's anti-espionage legislation that goes into effect on July 1, banning the transfer of any information related to national security and broadening the definition of spying.

China this year has also cracked down on U.S. consultancy and due diligence firms, a move business lobbies have said unnerved foreign investors in the world's second largest economy.

The U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) said in a bulletin that China viewed outbound flow of data as a national security risk, and that the new and existing laws could compel companies' locally employed Chinese nationals to assist in Chinese intelligence efforts.

"These laws provide the PRC (People's Republic of China) government with expanded legal grounds for accessing and controlling data held by U.S. firms in China," the NCSC said.

"U.S. companies and individuals in China could also face penalties for traditional business activities that Beijing deems acts of espionage or for actions that Beijing believes assist foreign sanctions against China," it said.

It said the ambiguities of the law meant that "any documents, data, materials or items" could be deemed relevant to Chinese national security, also putting journalists, academics and researchers at risk.

China's embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has emphasized national security since taking office in 2012. Suspicion in China of the U.S. and its allies has grown as the U.S.-China rivalry has intensified, yet Beijing has insisted it is opening up to overseas investment.

U.S. officials have told Reuters that since the enactment of the Chinese law in April they have received a flood of questions from businesses and other groups about the risks of traveling to China.

The U.S. State Department also updated its travel advisory for China on Friday. The "risk of wrongful detentions" is among its warnings for Americans to reconsider travel to the country.

U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns has said Beijing's targeting of U.S. firms was politically motivated and that Washington would push back.

(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
In anticipation of the end of affirmative action, officials at Occidental College, above, have partnered with more community organizations to recruit from high schools with large numbers of students underrepresented in higher education. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision Thursday striking down affirmative action has intensified angst among many higher education leaders who say extending access to a diversity of students could become a challenging, high-cost and labor-intensive effort steeped in uncertainties.

Many also fear that applications from Black, Latino and other students of color will drop, and say a key priority will be to assure those students that they matter and that campus commitment to diversity remains strong.

"We're really worried about private colleges and universities and what it means for representation," said Christopher Nellum, executive director of the Education Trust-West, a nonprofit organization focused on education equity. "Young people, particularly young people of color  are going receive this as a message that they don't belong."

The sweeping decision eliminated the use of race in admissions decisions nationwide for the first time since the high court allowed the practice in 1978 to promote diversity. Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit opposed to racial preferences, alleged that Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate constitutional guarantees of equal protection by considering race in admissions decisions  and that the Ivy League campus specifically discriminates against Asian Americans.

Read more:Supreme Court strikes down race-based affirmative action in college admissions

The high court agreed in a majority opinion written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. The ruling noted that the appellate court found Harvard's affirmative action program resulted in fewer admissions of Asian American students and that the Ivy League campus' assertion that race was never used as a negative factor in selections "cannot withstand scrutiny."

But Roberts also wrote that "nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected the applicants life," which will continue to allow students to write about their backgrounds in college essays. Roberts added, however, that institutions must consider that background in the context of applicants' "quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university" and treat them based on experiences as individuals, not on the basis of race.

The decision won't directly affect the University of California or California State University. State voters banned affirmative action at public campuses by approving Proposition 209 in 1996.

Many campus leaders at public and private universities expressed disappointment with the decision, saying the court ruling had removed an essential tool to help create diverse classes. But they assured students of color that they had earned their place in college and vowed to continuing building a welcoming culture for all.

"USC has long understood that excellence and diversity are inextricably intertwined," USC President Carol Folt said in an Instagram statement. "This decision will not impact our commitment to creating a campus that is welcoming, diverse, and inclusive ... where differing backgrounds and points of view are embraced, where ideas collide, beliefs are challenged and innovation thrives."

Some college officials worry about the cost of such efforts  or whether their state leaders have the political will to carry them out.

The ruling comes at a time of deep financial pressures in higher education, with decreasing enrollment and family questions over the value of a high-cost college education during economically tough times.

UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo said the UC system exemplifies how to build diversity without using race as a factor in admission, and noted other campuses also can do so using geography, income or other factors. He supported the court decision, saying past rulings that allowed race to be considered "caused disaster"  such as those affirming school segregation, denying citizenship to people of African descent and justifying the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

"It restores the fundamental promise of a colorblind Constitution," Yoo said.

But more than 80 private institutions in the state have been free to consider race in admissions decisions, and many have watched the growing challenges to diversity initiatives with alarm.

"All of us are very frustrated that narrow political considerations are threatening to change the way that we teach and learn and the conditions under which our students learn  and that's a tragedy," said Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr. "I feel like we're being driven by a political environment that increasingly feels that race is a dividing force in our country."

Starr and other college leaders pointed out that only a small number of highly sought-after institutions consider race as a factor in apportioning seats.

Read more:A lot of what you've heard about affirmative action is wrong

Among 1,364 four-year institutions, according to a 2019 Pew Research study, only 17 admitted fewer than 10% of applicants  including Stanford, Harvard and Yale  and 29 accepted between 10% and 20%, including USC.

In reality, most institutions accept the majority of students who apply  looking primarily at grades and transcripts to evaluate whether they have a good chance of succeeding, said Martin Van Der Werf of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

But he and others said the high court decision still carries a powerful punch because of how it will be perceived.

"Symbolically it ... sends a signal of what's important and whether people are being treated fairly across the board," Van Der Werf said. "What they will take away from it is that we no longer have a commitment in this country to try to use college admissions as a way to right centuries of wrongs against people from different racial and ethnic groups that have never really had as fair a shake in this country."

Another potential effect, he said, would be perpetuating the advantages of those from privileged backgrounds. Students at more selective colleges have higher graduation rates and powerful alumni networks that often result in enhanced careers and earnings. If fewer disadvantaged students have access to them, they could lose out on those lifelong benefits, he said.

"Are we reserving our most selective colleges for the people who are most likely to succeed anyway?" Van Der Werf said. "That goes against the ideals that the higher education system of this country sets for itself."

Read more:The most lucrative majors? Some community college grads can outearn elite university peers

Some Black and Latino students fear that axing affirmative action will decrease their numbers and make college life even more alienating.

Kailyn Wilkerson, a Cal State Long Beach senior, said she is often one of just a few Black students in her political science courses and feels extra pressure to maintain high grades so others don't question her place at the university.

"Just because I am there, I don't always feel like I'm supposed to be there," she said. Wilkerson plans to apply for doctorate and law school programs. The ruling is already shaping her calculus on where she applies  she's now considering historically Black universities, where she will be welcome.

Maggie De Leon, an Asian American rising senior at Downtown Magnets High School, said she thinks all students will get a fairer shot at college admissions without race as a consideration. De Leon, whose college resume features a 4.3 GPA, seven Advanced Placement classes and election as class president two years running, said she hopes her achievements will be evaluated on an equal basis as other applicants'.

With affirmative action in place, she said, "People will look and see you're part of a demographic that historically has been in college so they won't want to take you because they're looking for a different kind of applicant. It takes away from my educational opportunities."

Jennifer Zeller, a 55-year-old Korean American college admissions counselor in Beverly Grove, believes the ruling will help Asian American students and lift aspirations in the college admissions process.

Were seeing Asian Americans who are stellar in so many other spheres. Theyre leaders, stellar musicians, athletes, doing tons of community service. They are doing everything right, and theyre still not getting in, she said. If they werent Asian, you just have this instinct that they would have gotten in with the same credentials.

The California experience

The University of California has long been a laboratory for experimentation in how to build diverse college classes without using race. In 1998, the first admission year after the passage of Proposition 209, the number of California Black and Latino first-year students plunged by nearly half at UCLA and UC Berkeley.

Since then, UC campuses have made notable strides. Black and Latino students increased to 43% of the admitted first-year class of Californians for fall 2022 compared with about 20% before Proposition 209. For the third straight year, Latinos were the largest ethnic group of admitted students at 37%, followed by Asian Americans at 35%, white students at 19% and Black students at 6%.

UC enrollment still does not fully reflect the states racial and ethnic makeup, however, falling particularly short with Latinos.

At UCLA, the number and share of California first-year Black and Latino students fully rebounded by 2021 from the precipitous fall after Proposition 209. Black students grew to number 346, or 7.6%, compared with 259, or 7.3%, in 1995. Latino numbers grew to 1,185, or 26%, from 790, or 22.4%, during that same period.

But the progress has taken substantial time, effort and resources. UCLA devotes up to $2 million annually to recruit applicants in diverse communities and convince them to accept their admission offers.

Read more:California banned affirmative action in 1996. Inside the UC struggle for diversity

Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, the chief architect of UCLA's rebound effort who recently retired as vice provost of enrollment management, said the university worked with Black churches and L.A. Unified schools in underserved neighborhoods, created early academic outreach programs, offered more scholarships for low-income students and sent top-level officials to visit schools.

Overall, the UC system has spent an estimated half a billion dollars on its diversity efforts. The work has included two major reforms: an admission guarantee to top-performing students at most high schools and a comprehensive review process that uses several factors  including special talents and location of home and high school  in addition to grades and coursework to evaluate applicants.

But moving from an admissions process based on quantitative metrics such as grades to a holistic evaluation of multiple factors takes time and resources. UC Riverside, for instance, is in a transition process that will have taken a few years to complete and entail hiring additional application readers, said Veronica Zendejas, director of undergraduate admissions.

One Oakland-based nonprofit, College Track, begins working with promising students in middle school and provides them with tutoring, test prep, college advising, leadership development and other services to help them graduate from college. But the cost over a decade can amount to $100,000 per student, said Shirley M. Collado, the nonprofit's president.

Such efforts deliver clear results  but their cost and complexity are daunting, said Angel B. Perez, chief executive of the National Assn. for College Admission Counseling.

"If we learned anything from California, state institutions have to invest a lot of money to meet some of their diversity goals," he said. "But California is an outlier. There's just not the same kind of resources or political will in other places that there is in California. The admissions officers are feeling like, 'Well, what resources will I be given to do this work?' There's a lot of nervousness with a lot of unknowns."

Many institutions may not be able to afford to use income as a proxy for race in the way UC and other campuses with large public budgets or private endowments have, Perez said. Although enrolling more low-income students increases racial and ethnic diversity, that strategy also requires more financial aid. California has a large financial aid program, but most other states are less generous, he said.

The challenge ahead

Some college officials also are questioning whether the ban on affirmative action will go beyond admissions to affect race-based financial aid, academic support programs, campus resource centers or ethnic-themed housing.

In anticipation of the Supreme Court decision, the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities sent resources to member campuses to help them prepare for the end of affirmative action. Colleges and universities were advised to take an inventory of programs or policies that deal with race and ethnicity, including scholarships, and encouraged to conduct legal reviews of how any programs might have to change.

Copeland-Morgan, however, advised institutions not to overreact to the ruling by pulling back from anything that involves race or ethnicity, as many California campuses did immediately after passage of Proposition 209. Targeted recruitment is still allowed in the state, she said.

But UCLA makes a point to not only connect with students from underepresented racial and ethnic groups but also those from rural areas, low-income and immigrant family backgrounds, former foster youth, first-generation scholars and others who may need more information about how to prepare for competitive college admissions.

Race-based financial aid or other campus programs might eventually be subject to challenge, some experts said, but admissions is likely to remain the main focus for now.

As for admissions, campuses already are considering how to move forward after affirmative action.

Starr said Pomona will probably expand its recruiting outreach to focus more heavily on local high schoolers as well as student-athletes and military veterans. The campus also will work even more closely with community colleges to attract transfer students and enhance pipeline programs that help prepare high school students for competitive college admissions, she said.

At Occidental College, campus officials have partnered with more community organizations to recruit from high schools with large numbers of students underrepresented in higher education, said Maricela Martinez, vice president of enrollment. But she worries that such students will no longer feel welcome.

To what extent it will impact our work on our campus, its hard to know, she said. My biggest fear is that itll discourage students from applying.

Kristen Soares, president of the Assn. of Independent California Colleges and Universities, expressed similar concerns. Although 60 of the association's 80-plus campuses are designated "Hispanic-Serving Institutions" with Latino students making up at least a quarter of their enrollment, she said the court ruling could create a "chilling effect" that would discourage more underrepresented students from applying.

A lot of work just goes into ensuring that we recruit and retain diverse undergraduates, she said. Its going to make our work more difficult.

The impact of the decision could be felt as early as this summer at campuses that admit students on a rolling basis, and as graduate schools finalize their rosters for the fall.

Theyll have to immediately make some changes, Soares said.

Times staff writer Jeong Park contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
It's lunchtime in Houston, yet there is seemingly no traffic in the city's urban core. Pedestrians aren't rushing past each other, and few cars dot the city's roads. The more than 2 million people who live in the city have seemingly vanished in the blink of an eye. So, where did everybody go?

"When people come to Houston, and see downtown Houston, they're amazed by the buildings, but they wonder where all the people are," Stephen Fox, an architectural historian and lecturer at Rice University, told Reuters. "And you have to come and explain that there are alternatives to the sidewalks in Houston."

According to the City of Houston, the tunnels began as a way to connect two downtown movie theaters. Over time, the operation significantly expanded, creating the large underground cityscape you can now visit today, assuming you can find one of the staircases and elevators that take you to the subterranean downtown.

"Tourists tend not to find the tunnel system. They tend to walk around street level, looking for where everything's at," Vanessa Lopez, a tour guide with Houston's Astroville Tours, said. "Lots of people will mention before joining us on tour that downtown Houston looks like a ghost town."

Areas in the tunnel closer to Buffalo Bayou, the slow-moving waterway that bisects the city, are especially prone to flooding, Lopez explained.

The tunnels have flooded during tropical systems in the past. Tropical Storm Allison in 2001 flooded several parts of the tunnel, disrupting the worst-hit businesses for months, according to a report by the city. The tunnels ended up serving as "an effective conduit" for floodwaters, taking on some of the water that might have otherwise flooded downtown.

FILE- In this Aug. 29, 2017, file photo, highways around downtown Houston are empty as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey overflow from the bayous around the city in Houston. With three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes and drought, supersized weather disasters tallied a record high bill for America last year: $306 billion. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Houston is considering building more underground tunnels -- tunnels that would not be for shops and businesses but for the sole purpose of storing water when wet tropical systems like Allison or 2017's Hurricane Harvey hit the area, according to The Texas Tribune.

Houston's weather is notorious for being extreme due to stifling humidity levels and tropical downpours that pop up over the city - and it is the nasty weather conditions that make the current tunnel system so popular.

In the summer, Houston's average high temperature in late July and early August, the hottest time of the year, is 96 degrees Fahrenheit, with AccuWeather RealFeel Temperatures regularly climbing into the triple digits due in part to the persistent humidity.

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Lucia Herron, a shopkeeper who owns GreenWorks Flowers, a floral shop located in the tunnel, said Houston's less-than-ideal weather makes the tunnel system a popular place for the city's residents.

"Too much rain or too much heat is what makes these types of places functional for everyone," Herron said. "So it's fabulous to have the tunnel, it allows them to communicate between buildings, for the food, for the gifts, for anything they need, because if you go through the tunnels, you have anything you need."

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Pizzas in a wood-fired pizza oven. (Getty Images)

The New York Post ignited a controversy Sunday when it published a story titled NYC rules crack down on coal-, wood-fired pizzerias  must cut carbon emissions up to 75%. The article accused climate change activists of threatening a beloved culinary staple.

But the regulation proposed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection would not actually apply to carbon emissions. It would instead require businesses with coal- and wood-fired ovens to hire a professional engineer or registered architect to assess the feasibility of installing emission controls on the cook stove to achieve a 75% reduction in particulate emissions. Such emissions, like soot, have been shown to be harmful to human health.

The Posts mischaracterization of the pending regulation was repeated by outlets including the Daily Beast, the Daily Mail, the Blaze, National Review and the Washington Examiner. On Tuesday, Fox News (which, like the Post, is owned by Rupert Murdochs News Corp) aired 52 minutes of coverage of the Post's pizza story. One conservative activist lobbed slices of pizza at New York City Hall on Wednesday, shouting, "Give us pizza or give us death.

The Daily Caller attributed the rule to climate extremists, and Twitter owner Elon Musk complained that the utter BS regulation wont make a difference to climate change.

While the proposal could impact how some pizza restaurants in the city operate going forward, the focus on climate change is misplaced.

The proposal is intended to clean up local air

Arturo's, a famed Greenwich Village restaurant that makes coal-oven pizzas. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The text of the proposed rule does not mention climate change, climate pollution, global warming or carbon.

Particulate pollution and carbon pollution are not the same thing, the newsletter Heated explained. Particulate pollution refers to the tiny pieces of solids and liquids that we can breathe into our lungs.

Whether its from a wildfire in Canada or a pizza oven in New York City, particulate matter can cause health problems ranging from respiratory irritation to heart attacks.

How the rule would work

If an assessment finds it is feasible to install pollution controls, they would have to be added within six months. Paul Giannone, owner of a pizza restaurant in Brooklyn that installed the technology in 2019, told the Post it cost $20,000. (A restaurant could instead switch to an electric or gas oven, but commercial models may also cost more than $10,000.)

If the assessment finds that a reduction of 75% is impossible, the professional assessor either finds a way to reduce emissions by 25% or explains to the city why no emissions controls can be installed.

Although many articles presented the rule as already being in effect, it has not been finalized, and some local politicians are calling for revisions or subsidies to ease the financial burden on restaurants.

Why the rule is being proposed

A pizza coming out of the oven. (Getty Images)

The rule is part of the implementation of a law passed by the New York City Council in 2015.

Were talking about the wildfires and bad air from Canada? Workers with these coal- and wood-oven-fired pizzerias are breathing in a wildfire every day, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who wrote the bill when he was on the council, told the Post.

Who is affected

Some commentators claimed that the majority of the citys pizzerias use wood- or coal-fired ovens, but the proposed rule would apply to only under 100 restaurants, according to the Post. The New York City Department of Health says there are 1,315 pizza restaurants in the five boroughs, so less than 8% of them would be affected.

No surprise, that is incorrect. The majority of pizza places in NYC do not use wood burning ovens. Those that do and have added filters find that (1) the pizza is still great and (2) their neighbors are happier bcs they don't smell the smoke all day long. Go back to Colorado. https://t.co/e5cZqEBZPU  Jo Anne Simon   (@JoAnneSimonBK52) June 27, 2023

The filtration system is in the smokestack, not the oven

One unnamed restaurateur was quoted by the Post saying that pollution controls would result in ruining the taste of the pizza, totally destroying the product. Similar concerns were expressed by commentators such as Piers Morgan.

But removing pollution from smoke doesnt change the taste of the food in the oven. Air filtration systems are already widely used in Italy (although pizzeria owners there have also objected to the cost of installing them).

If someone is trying to say that putting the scrubber in changes the flavor of the pizza, theyre just trying to save themselves $20,000, Giannone said. No, it doesnt affect whats going on inside the oven.

Giannone said that adding the filter was a huge hassle but that his neighbors have stopped complaining about the smoke from his shop since he installed it.
By Lucy Craymer

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand is carefully managing its relationship with China and must avoid getting pulled from pillar and post amid the strategic rivalry between China and the United States, the Pacific nation's foreign minister said on Friday.

Nanaia Mahutas comments come as Chris Hipkins nears the end of a six-day visit to China leading a trade delegation, which included meetings with China President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang focusing on economic partnership and trade.

Hipkins has faced domestic criticism for not spending more time during his visit raising New Zealand's concerns about human rights violations in Xinjiang.

China's a complex relationship that we manage very carefully, Mahuta said in an interview with Reuters.

She said Hipkins' focus on trade did not shift New Zealand foreign policy but shows New Zealand has a range of interests with China.

In a statement after Hipkins' meeting with Xi, there was no mention of human rights concerns or the Taiwan Strait. Both were noted in the readout of the meeting between former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Xi in November 2022.

I'm under no shadow of a doubt that trade and economic issues would have been discussed, human rights issues, the war in Ukraine, Mahuta said.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for China's embassy in New Zealand said last week that during the past five decades, "through joint efforts and based on mutual respect, seeking commonality while shelving differences" the relationship between the two countries had come a long way.

New Zealand has long been seen as a moderate or even absent voice on China in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance.

The country's tone on security and China's growing presence in the South Pacific toughened last year after China and the Solomon Islands struck a security pact.

Mahuta said the Hipkins visit to China after her own in March reinforces the delicate nature of the relationship.

Mahutas trip came under scrutiny this week when The Australian said she had received an hour-long dressing down from her counterpart. She has described the meeting as very robust. At the meeting, she said, she noted deep concerns regarding the human rights situation in Xinjiang and the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong.

She said China and New Zealand could have difficult conversations about issues on which they disagreed.

Weve maintained diplomatic dialogue with China through some pretty tough times, she said without elaborating.

She said more broadly that foreign policy and geopolitical challenges were growing increasingly complex, including the impact of climate change on countries, the war in Ukraine and the huge number of refugees who need to be resettled.

We have a challenge in the Pacific region, in terms of strategic rivalry between two big nations, she said. New Zealand is in a position where we want to ensure that we're not being pulled from pillar to post, that we're managing significant relationships in a way that we that we can assert our interests.

We're a democratic nation. We believe in open, transparent, democratic principles. And we continue to align ourselves with those who hold the same values."

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
By Olena Harmash

KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ordered top military commanders on Friday to strengthen Ukraine's northern military sector following the arrival of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus.

He said Ukrainian intelligence and security forces had reported on the situation in Belarus, Ukraine's northern neighbour, at a meeting of top military and political leaders.

"The decision...is for Commander-in-Chief (General Valeriy) Zaluzhnyi and 'North' commander (General Serhiy) Naev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this direction," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

He did not mention Wagner Group boss Prigozhin in the brief post on Telegram.

Prigozhin flew from Russia into exile in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal negotiated by President Alexander Lukashenko that ended his mercenaries' mutiny in Russia on Saturday.

Media have reported that Wagner could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 90 km (50 miles) from the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

After pushing Russian forces out of northern regions last year, Ukraine took steps to tighten the defence of its border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia.

"Right now, there is no direct threat of offensive actions from Belarus and Russia in the zone that is the responsibility of the Northern Group of Forces," Naev said.

But he said moves to strengthen Ukraine's defence capabilities were needed in the event of a growing threat, and added: "Our intelligence does not stop work to obtain information."

Zelenskiy said the situation in other frontline areas, supplies of artillery and shells, and advances by Ukrainian troops against Russia's occupying forces were also discussed at Friday's meeting.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said earlier on Friday that Ukrainian troops were advancing in all directions of the counteroffensive they began against Russian forces this month.

"If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions," she told Ukrainian television.

"In the south, we are moving with varying success, sometimes there are days when it is more than a kilometre, sometimes less than a kilometre, sometimes up to 2 kilometres," she said.

Reuters was unable to verify the situation on the battlefield. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has not acknowledged the Ukrainian gains and has said Ukraine's military are suffering heavy casualties.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
WASHINGTON (AP)  House Republicans on Thursday requested voluntary testimony from nearly a dozen Justice Department officials involved in the investigation of President Joe Biden's son Hunter as GOP lawmakers widen their scrutiny into what they claim is improper interference by the agency.

Leaders of the Republican-controlled House Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means committees asked in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland for nine officials from the Justice Department and two from the FBI to appear for the interviews to address recent allegations made by two IRS employees who worked on the federal investigation into Hunter Bidens taxes and foreign business dealings.

Recent startling testimony from Internal Revenue Services whistleblowers raises serious questions about the Department's commitment to evenhanded justice and the veracity of assertions made to the Committee on the Judiciary, Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, James Comer of Kentucky and Jason Smith of Missouri wrote in the letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The individuals named in the letter include David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware in charge of the investigation, as well Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf of Delaware and the top federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves. Garland said last week that the Justice Department will not object to Weiss testifying to Congress.

A department spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter but declined further comment.

The request comes about a week after Biden, 53, reached an agreement with the government to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses. The plea deal would also avert prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as Biden adheres to conditions agreed to in court.

Days later, the House Ways and Means Committee, led by Smith, voted to publicly disclose congressional testimony from the IRS employees.

The testimony from Greg Shapley and an unidentified agent detailed what they called a pattern of slow-walking investigative steps and delaying enforcement actions in the months before the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.

It is unclear whether the conflict they describe amounts to internal disagreement about how to pursue the investigation or a pattern of interference and preferential treatment. Department policy has long warned prosecutors to take care in charging cases with potential political overtones around the time of an election, to avoid influencing the outcome.

The Justice Department has denied the claims and said Weiss, appointed to his job when Donald Trump was president, had full authority over the case.

The letter provided a deadline of July 13 for the department to begin scheduling the individuals for transcribed interviews. It said that if the deadline is not met, the committee chairmen will resort to using a congressional subpoena to force cooperation.

Beyond Hunter Biden, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee led by Comer has undertaken a broader review of the Biden family's finances and foreign dealings, issuing dozens of subpoenas to business associates and financial institutions.

Republicans have focused much attention on an unverified tip to the FBI that alleged a bribery scheme involving Joe Biden when he was vice president. The unsubstantiated claim, which first emerged in 2019, was that Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor in order to stop an investigation into Burisma, an oil-and-gas company where Hunter Biden was on the board.

Democrats said in a letter Thursday to Comer that the Justice Department investigated the claim when Trump was president and closed the matter after eight months, finding insufficient evidence that it was true. Democrats highlighted the transcript of an interview with Mykola Zlochevsky, Burisma's co-founder, in which he denied having any contact with Joe Biden while Hunter Biden worked for the company.

Mr. Zlochevskys statements are just one of the many that have debunked the corruption allegations," said the committee's top Democrat, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin.
The 140m deal to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda has been ruled unlawful, in a major blow to the governments pledge to stop the boats.

It lost the latest stage of the long-running legal battle over the plan after Court of Appeal judges concluded the African nation is not a safe country. Flights will remain suspended ahead of a showdown at the UK Supreme Court.

Rishi Sunak said he believed the Rwandan governments assurances that there would be no risk to asylum seekers, adding: While I respect the court I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions.

Follow The Independents live blog on the latest developments followingt he ruling

Rwanda is a safe country ... we will now seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeal granted an appeal by asylum seekers selected for deportation, who were backed by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), on the grounds of Rwandas safety but dismissed other arguments.

The outgoing lord chief justice, Lord Burnett, said: The High Courts decision that Rwanda is a safe third country is reversed. Unless and until the deficiencies in its asylum processes are corrected, removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda will be unlawful.

He said the decision implies no view whatever about the political merits or otherwise of the Rwanda policy, which has already seen Kigali paid 140m and the government spend more than 1m on legal costs.

Judges found that ministers were wrong to rely on unevidenced assurances from Rwanda that seriously deficient processes would be improved. They found that:

the Home Office ignored the past and the present situation in favour of promises by Rwanda

it failed to probe the disappearance and death of migrants sent to Rwanda under a previous deal with Israel, and a mass shooting of refugees by police during a 2018 protest

the government responded to damning evidence from the UN Refugee Agency with statements dependent on information from the Rwandan government

Home Office officials were too ready to accept assurances which were unevidenced

Rwanda does not have systems in place to legally and safely process asylum seekers from the UK

The Rwanda plan is a core part of the prime ministers pledge to stop small boat crossings, and an important pillar of the new Illegal Migration Bill, which aims to see all small boat migrants detained and deported without asylum claims being considered.

The PM previously told parliament that no flights would leave for Kigali until legal challenges had been resolved, and that will take several more months.

Without the Rwanda agreement, the government currently has nowhere to deport asylum seekers.

Yvette Cooper, Labours shadow home secretary, said the court judgment shows that Rishi Sunak has no plan to fix the Tories small boats chaos and his only idea is completely unravelling.

Time and again, ministers have gone for gimmicks instead of getting a grip, and slogans instead of solutions, while the Tory boats chaos has got worse, she added. The Rwanda scheme is unworkable, unethical and extortionate, a costly and damaging distraction from the urgent action the government should be taking.

The ruling was celebrated by refugee charities, who called for the government to scrap the policy once and for all, and instead invest in Britains asylum system and clearing record backlogs.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: The threat of being sent to Rwanda has been causing huge distress, anxiety and trauma to those we work with, who have already been through so much.

We hope that the government will take this opportunity to rethink its approach, which would cause great human suffering and damage the UK's reputation as a country that values human rights and offers those claiming asylum a fair hearing on British soil.

Suella Braverman extended the deal in March, to cover modern slavery victims as well as asylum seekers (PA)

Yolande Makolo, a spokesperson for the government of Rwanda, said it takes issue with the ruling that Rwanda is not a safe country for asylum seekers and refugees.

Rwanda remains fully committed to making this partnership work, she added. When the migrants do arrive, we will welcome them and provide them with the support theyll need to build new lives in Rwanda.

A group of 10 asylum seekers from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Sudan and Albania challenged the Rwanda policy on eight grounds. Lawyers representing the Asylum Aid charity unsuccessfully argued that the way people are selected for the scheme and given the opportunity to resist deportation is unlawful.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) also intervened in the battle, telling the Court of Appeal that safeguards in the agreement signed by Priti Patel in April 2022 do not exist or have never been used, and that it had never known Rwanda to treat asylum seekers in the ways promised.

Lord Burnett reconsidered the case with Sir Geoffrey Vos and Lord Justice Underhill, after the High Court ruled in December that the Rwanda deal was lawful.

They were divided on the issue of whether Rwanda was a safe country to receive asylum seekers, and made a majority ruling with the Lord Chief Justice dissenting.

Demonstrators outside the Royal Courts of Justice during the legal battle (PA)

Sir Geoffrey and Lord Justice Underhill found there were substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk that persons sent to Rwanda will be returned to their home countries where they faced persecution or other inhumane treatment, when, in fact, they have a good claim for asylum.

The two judges said their conclusion was based on evidence that the countrys system for deciding asylum claims was inadequate, and that assurances given to the UK do not establish that the necessary changes have taken place.

Lord Burnett, however, said assurances given by the Rwandan government were sufficient to ensure that there is no real risk of asylum seekers being returned to countries where they face harm.

During a hearing in April, the Court of Appeal was told that the Home Office breached several legal duties in deciding that Rwanda was a safe country to receive refugees, and failed to properly investigate the outcome of a similar deal with Israel which operated from 2013 to 2018.

A barrister representing men selected for deportation described Rwanda as an authoritarian one-party state, which imprisons, tortures and murders those it considers its opponents.

The court heard that asylum seekers previously sent from Israel were detained without the opportunity of claiming asylum, disappeared, smuggled to Uganda and some died while attempting to journey towards Libya.
A Texas grand jury determined rapper Travis Scott was not criminally responsible for the crowd crush that killed 10 people and injured thousands more at his 2021 Astroworld music festival, authorities announced Thursday.

The Harris County grand jury weighed and declined criminal charges against Scott and five other people related to fans' deaths, District Attorney Kim Ogg said at an afternoon news conference.

"It is tragic that 10 innocent people were killed while trying to enjoy an evening of music and entertainment, something many of us do routinely and without a second thought to our safety. But a tragedy isnt always a crime, and not every death is a homicide," Ogg said in a statement. "This grand jurys determination has no impact on the many civil lawsuits pending."

Ten people were killed Nov. 5, 2021, at Houstons NRG Park, including 9-year-old Ezra Blount, when a crowd of about 50,000 people began pushing toward the stage. The other victims were ages 14 to 27. They all died from compression asphyxia.

Nearly 2,400 people required medical treatment.

Travis Scott attends the

Scott's attorney Kent Schaffer said Scott and his actions have been inaccurately portrayed, adding that Scott stopped the show three times and was unaware of the events as they unfolded.

"Todays decision by the Harris County District Attorney confirms what we have known all along  that Travis Scott is not responsible for the AstroWorld tragedy," Schaffer said in a statement. "This is consistent with investigative reporting by numerous media outlets and federal and state government reports that have squarely placed the onus for event safety crises on organizers, operators and contractors  not performers."

Robert Hilliard, an attorney for Ezra Blount's family, said in a statement Thursday that the family was disappointed.

"There is clear culpability and gross negligent conduct committed by these various civil defendants directly resulting in deaths and serious injury," Hilliard said. "Though disappointed the grand jury declined to find this conduct was criminal, Ezra Blounts family will continue and wait for their day in court. A Harris County jury, once given an opportunity to see the damning evidence leading up to causing this tragedy, may very well return a record Texas verdict against these defendants.

Attorney Kevin Haynes, whose firm Kherkher Garcia LLP is representing hundreds of people injured at the concert, said they are "incredibly disappointed" in the outcome, but will continue efforts to ensure responsible parties are held accountable in the ongoing pursuit of justice.

After the festival, which Scott hosted, he said in a video that he could not have imagined the severity of the situation at the Houston concert.

"Im honestly just devastated, Scott said on Instagram.

He later spoke to radio host Charlamagne Tha God, saying: At the end of the day, these fans are like family, so you feel like you just lost something. You do these shows, honestly, for people to have the best experience.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed accusing Scott and the concerts organizer, Live Nation, of negligence. Scott issued a general denial of the claims in 2021 and asked for multiple suits to be dismissed.

His lawyer said Thursday that Scott is ready to look forward.

"Were really relieved and grateful that this is over. Its been a long 18 months for Travis. Hes lost out on a lot of opportunities," he said, adding, "So now, hopefully, hes free to move forward with his career and resume some of these things that he had been doing before."
Three men from Forever Associates Zimbabwe (FAZ) on Wednesday allegedly abducted and threatened to kill Munamati Village head in Ward 8 Gutu Central, Wilfred Munamati, for receiving ten bags of cement donated by a local CCC candidate for use in the construction of a flat bridge across a stream in the area.

Munamati, who did not realise he was talking to The Mirror, confirmed the abduction.

He pleaded with The Mirror not to publish the story for fear of being killed. He said he was taken to CIO offices at Mpandawana Growth Point, where FAZ members threatened to beat him up before they ordered him to take back the donation to the CCC candidate. According to his recorded statement to The Mirror, he was warned that he would disappear.

Munamati was instructed to receive donations from the Zanu PF candidate for the constituency and Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Winston Chitando and ordered to wait for that cement only.

He was released two hours later after pleading that he would surrender back the cement. He was forced to go back home on foot.

Handichatoibati cement yacho, aaa unofira mahara, unonyura. Ndaitotaurirwa zvekuti unonyangarika. Pakatoipa hapana kumira zvakanaka. Tava kutongoita madollar dollar totsvaga cement. (I am not touching that cement any more. I dont want to risk my life because I was told that I would disappear. We will go back to our original plan to get a dollar each from volunteers in the village, said Munamati.

Leonard Machinya, an unemployed youth from Machinya Village in the same ward, is said to have led the FAZ group.

However, Machinya confirmed that Munati was in Gutu, but denied ever taking Munamati and said he came alone.

We never took him. He came alone. I dont know what he wanted. I never saw him, said Machinya.

CCC candidate for Gutu Central, Matthew Takaona, confirmed that he pledged to donate cement when he attended a funeral of a fellow Catholic near Maregedze Primary School on Sunday. He then bought the cement, and it was delivered the next day.

I attended a funeral of a fellow Catholic who died in the area. It was announced at the funeral that President Mnangagwa donated 20kg of meal-mealie to the bereaved family through FAZ, which was a very good gesture. The village head, however, then pleaded with villagers to pay USD1 each to buy three bags of cement for the construction of a flat bridge across a stream that made it almost impossible for vehicles to reach the homestead of the funeral.

I realised that the three bags were too few and I pledged and delivered 10 bags of cement the next day and am surprised that villagers are being ordered not to use it, said Takaona.

Takaona said the FAZ gang committed a crime by forcing Munamati to go with them.

This gang is guilty of a crime. This is abduction and a serious crime. FAZ has no right to force people into their cars. Police must arrest these youths before this behaviour escalates into worse political violence. The village head must report the matter to Police, said Takaona.

Munamati said he was picked up by FAZ at his home and bundled into a vehicle. He was taken to the CIO office at Gutu Police Station at Mpandawana. He was interrogated there by three men.

However, villagers who talked to The Mirror vowed not to return the cement. They said that they were going to start work on the bridge this week.

We have been asking the council to build this flat bridge since independence and has done nothing. We cannot miss this opportunity. We will not return the cement. We will start building the bridge this week.

We dont need politicians who only think about themselves and are anti-development, said a villager who declined to be named for fear of reprisals.

Sources said a group of villagers held a meeting over the matter yesterday and resolved to go and see Machinya.

Leonard is the son of Machinya, a late prominent businessman with retail shops dotting the district, including at Mpandawana Growth Point. Masvingo Mirror
By Gabriella Borter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In 1998, the year a voter-approved measure barring the use of race-conscious admissions policies for public colleges and universities in California took effect, the percentage of Black, Hispanic and Native American students admitted at two of the state's elite public schools plummeted by more than 50%.

Those figures for UCLA and the University of California, Berkeley, offer a cautionary tale for administrators at schools around the United States after the Supreme Court on Thursday struck down race-conscious admissions policies.

The court's decision in cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina will bring new urgency to efforts by schools to maintain or increase racial and ethnic diversity in their student populations, according to interviews with senior administrators at a dozen colleges and universities in the weeks ahead of the ruling.

"We cannot afford as a nation to regress on our goals to create an educated and equitable society," said Seth Allen, head of admissions at Pomona College in California. "So it's incumbent on higher education to figure out how to work collectively together to ensure that we're not furthering the enrollment gap among different groups of students."

Many selective U.S. colleges and universities for decades have used some form of affirmative action to boost enrollment of minority students, seeing value in having a diverse student population not only to offer educational opportunity but to bring a range of perspectives onto campuses.

Affirmative action refers to policies that favor people belonging to certain groups considered disadvantaged or subject to discrimination, in areas such as hiring and student admissions.

A March 2023 study found if the U.S. Supreme Court banned the consideration of race in admissions, enrollment of minority groups at selective colleges will likely stall or decline - even if the schools give more weight to factors such as class.

So schools have been exploring numerous options on how to diversify the student body. Even before the ruling, administrators said they were drafting strategies to expand their recruitment of diverse applicants, remove application barriers and increase the rate of minority students who accept their admissions offers.

An official at Rice University in Houston said the school will lean on student essay responses to ensure it admits students from diverse backgrounds.

Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored Thursday's ruling, said universities may still consider student writings in personal essays about "how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise."

The president of Skidmore College in New York said connecting with high school counselors will become "more important than ever" to broaden the school's applicant pool.

Many schools said they already have waived fees, made standardized testing optional and are looking to improve financial aid offers - steps that could help boost minority enrollment.

All of the administrators said their plans could change to comply with the Supreme Court's decision in the Harvard and UNC cases. Some acknowledged that whatever steps schools take to circumvent a ban on race-conscious admissions policies might face legal challenges of their own.

"We're likely to see a whole new generation of lawsuits arise from the new admission standards that will be adopted by colleges and universities," said Danielle Holley, current dean of Howard University School of Law in Washington and incoming president of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

Lawsuits backed by an anti-affirmative action conservative activist accused Harvard and UNC of unlawful discrimination in student admissions either by violating the U.S. Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law or a federal law barring discrimination based on race and other factors.

UNC was accused of discriminating against white and Asian American applicants. Harvard was accused of bias against Asian American applicants. The schools denied these allegations.

GOING LOCAL

Many of the school administrators said they plan to focus resources on recruitment.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion on Thursday that the majority opinion left intact holistic college admissions and recruitment efforts that sought to enroll diverse student bodies without using racial classifications.

Admissions officers said they were broadening their outreach to high schools and community-based organizations in neighborhoods with lower incomes and educational attainment - places often populated by racial minorities.

Yvonne Berumen, vice president of admissions at Pitzer College in California, said her team might run essay workshops at high schools in those targeted zip codes - postal regions - in hopes of generating applications.

Chris George, dean of admissions at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, said high school data from national organizations like the College Board, which offers information on neighborhood income and housing stability, will help guide which high schools the college sends representatives to visit and the recruitment events they attend.

Community-based organizations that identify local students who show academic promise and help them apply to college will be crucial partners for identifying and recruiting potential applicants from diverse backgrounds, the administrators said.

"They become extensions of our recruiting and admissions team in many ways, and we're seeing each year a bigger and bigger percentage of our students come from those community-based organizations," said Kent Devereaux, president of Goucher College in Maryland.

Administrators at schools located in or near major cities, including Pomona College near Los Angeles and Sarah Lawrence College in New York, said they would hope to draw more students from racially diverse local high schools and take more transfer students from local community colleges.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Additional reporting by Donna Bryson; Editing by Will Dunham, Colleen Jenkins and Aurora Ellis)


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Antonio Macias, 61, sits alongside his dog Ryder, 7, at a cooling center in 2022 in Sacramento. After the death of his wife, Macias said he lost everything and was sleeping outside city hall. He was more concerned about the heat impacting his dog than himself. I want to work but I have no one to take care of my dog, he said. His wife died of cancer and she used to care for the dog when he was working as a painter, he explained at the time.
Cambodias strongman used to post a lot in his Facebook account, including explicit threats to the opposition. For this reason, the platform decided to suspend him. Now he threatens to ban the social media platform from the country. Ahead of next months election, Hun Sen has turned to Telegram and TikTok where monitoring is less stringent.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews)  Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sens Facebook account was deleted yesterday while, his Telegram channel today carried a post, saying that he would block access to the platform in the country to stop exiled opposition politicians from communicating with Cambodians.

This may not be as trivial as it might seem at first glance. The issue began when Facebooks owner, Meta Platforms, said that it would suspend Hun Sen's account for six months after he posted a video threatening to have opponents beaten.

As a result, I have decided to stop using Facebook, on which I have more than 14 million followers. I have requested my assistant to delete my Facebook account immediately. And I will also inform the company to delete my name from Facebook," he wrote on Telegram where he has 855,000 subscribers.

Among the reasons that led him to this decision, the prime minister cited imitations of his profile, while a government spokesman justified the use of Telegram by saying that it is more popular in Cambodia and offers better translations from Khmer than Facebook.

In fact, Cambodias strongman, who has been in power for almost 40 years, sought to pre-empt Facebooks move.

More importantly, although this may seem trivial, Hun Sen deleting his Facebook page means around 7 years of public records, documents and political history was wiped out, tweeted journalist Ananth Baliga.

If all his ministries delete their Facebook pages, more publicly accessible documents will be lost, with little chance of retrieving them from other sources.

Hun Sen posted a video filmed in January in which he targets critics of his party, the Cambodian People's Party, which won all seats in parliament in the last election and will not face any challenge in next month's vote since the main opposition party was banned.

After the video was flagged for inciting violence, Meta Platforms oversight board ruled that Hun Sen's remarks violated community standards.

The company's moderators determined that the remarks violated its community standards but left the video online because of its newsworthiness.

The oversight board later ruled that this decision was wrong and that the content should be taken down, a ruling that is binding. In view of this ,the board recommended that the prime ministers Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended.

Hun Sen joined the social media platform in 2015 after one of his main opponents, Sam Rainsy, now in exile, successfully used it to reach out to younger voters.

In a recent speech, Hun Sen warned his exiled opponents, you are using Facebook for communications, we could block Facebook.

Until he pulled out, the Cambodian leader used his Facebook account to post a wide variety of content, from family photos and tourism promotion to policy announcements.

Now, to reach Cambodians, sometimes with threatening messages, he is using mostly Telegram and TikTok, which are less stringently monitored.
by Alessandra De Poli

The Indian government has banned imports for low-cost ones (mostly Chinese) lighters to save a key sector in arid Tamil Nadu. Local companies employ more than 100,000 people, 90 per cent women. Phillumenists are also happy because of decorated boxes are part of Indian popular culture.

Milan (AsiaNews)  India has banned imports of lighters priced less than 20 rupees to the delight of mostly women workers in match factories and matchbox collectors, called phillumenists.

The new measure, which came into effect yesterday, applies to pocket, gas-powered, refillable, and non-refillable lighters, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade announced in a statement.

In September 2022, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin urged the central government to save the local matchbox industry that directly employs over 100,000 people, 90 per cent women.

"The industry is a vital engine of economic growth in a region that is arid for agriculture. You will be already aware that the matchbox industry earns foreign exchange revenue of around 400 crore (4 billion, US$ 49 million) through exports," Stalin said in a letter addressed to Union (federal) Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal. One crore denotes 10 million.

According to V. S. Sethurathinam, National Small Matchbox Manufacturers Association Secretary, 350 companies in Tamil Nadu, plus 1,500 packaging units, make more than 5,000 bundles per day, among the cheapest in the world.

One in three matchboxes at home and abroad is Indian-made. But competition from countries like Pakistan and Indonesia, rising costs for raw materials, and labour action (several strikes, especially in the districts of Tuticorin and Virudhunagar) have made it harder to export.

For the chief minister, sales have also fallen due to the availability of Chinese disposable lighters, which cost only 10 rupees (compared to 400 for a matchbox) and can replace 20 boxes, but also generate large amounts of plastic waste with a negative impact on the environment and health.

Experts warn that lighters from China are sometimes illegally imported as "empty lighter cases" to get around restrictions on importing inflammable substances.

In addition to women workers, phillumeny enthusiasts are likely to welcome the import ban. Matchboxes are in fact part of Indian popular culture thanks to the many designs on the outer labels.

One of those enthusiasts is Gautam Hemmady, in Delhi, who started collecting matchboxes in 2012 and now owns some 25,000, while Rohit Kashyap, in Chennai, has a collection of 80,000 from more than 100 countries.

As with stamps and coins, matchboxes commemorate historical events.

Shreya Katuris Instagram account  @artonabox  shows her collection of thousands of boxes account. She was so taken by the boxes that she wrote a dissertation on Indian matchboxes, with the first made in India in the early 20th century by Japanese immigrants.

Before that, matchboxes came mostly from Sweden, the first country in the world to make phosphorus-based safety matches.

At first, the small boxes  first made of wood and then of cardboard - reproduced themes similar to those of foreign manufacturers, but, as the pro-independence movement gathered steam, more and more Indian references began to appear, like Bhaarat Maata (Mother India), along with Indian animals, gods, maps, political figures and later actors and actresses thanks to the popularity of Indian cinema that later became Bollywood.

Starting in the 1990s many boxes illustrated certain historical events, like the launch of the Tata Nano, a car sold exclusively in the Indian market, and the inauguration more recently of the Delhi Metro.

Nowadays matchboxes can be bought in stalls, but for phillumenists the most valuable are the empty ones found on the side of the road.

Shreya Katuri's sister nearly got into an accident when she jumped out of a car in mid ride to pick up a matchbox she saw on a footpath.

While some collectors hope to open a museum soon, several companies, including publishing houses, take inspiration from matchbox designs, which, although a bit kitschy and extravagant, continue to be appreciated by many aficionados.

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The mutiny led by Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has not only had repercussions in Russia. After reaching an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin has been forced into exile in Belarus, along with many other members of the paramilitary group.

As a result of the uprising and the more than visible tensions between Russian military leaders, Wagner will no longer participate "in hostilities" in Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's Military Intelligence Directorate, told the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper. Budanov described the Wagner group as the "most effective" Russian unit, recalling its ability to achieve success at "any cost".

PHOTO/Concord Group Telegram channel - Yevgeny Prigozhin and his soldiers in Bakhmut

Prigozhin's militia has been involved in some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict, winning major victories in places like Bakhmut, where sharp disagreements between Wagner and Russian Defence Ministry leaders, whom Prigozhin accused of failing to supply his mercenaries with sufficient weaponry, came to the fore.

Andrei Kartapolov, head of Russia's Defence Committee, has also confirmed that Wagner's fighters will stop fighting in Ukraine after Prigozhin refused to sign contracts placing Wagner within the Defence Ministry. Therefore, according to Kartapolov, the paramilitary organisation will no longer receive state funding. In a recent speech following Wagner's mutiny, Putin acknowledged that Russian coffers had for years financed Prigozhin and his men, who have been accused of war crimes in several countries around the world.

However, although no longer involved in the fighting in Ukraine, there are still Wagner fighters in parts of southern Ukraine, as well as in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder revealed.

Wagner in Africa

Prigozhin's mercenaries are leaving Ukraine, but are strengthening their presence and influence on the African continent. As announced by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the agreements signed between several African countries, such as the Central African Republic, and the Wagner group will be maintained. In CAR, Lavrov also noted that the Russian Defence Ministry has had "several hundred" military advisors working with their Central African counterparts for some time. Lavrov also referred to recent events in Russia, stressing that his country "always emerges more resilient and stronger from any difficulties".

Following the mutiny and withdrawal in Ukraine, Wagner will now focus on his operations in countries such as Mali and the Central African Republic, although Russian mercenaries are or have been in countries such as Mozambique, Libya, Guinea, Guinea Bissau and Sudan. Through Wagner's presence, Moscow gains influence on the continent to the detriment of Western nations. In addition to seeking and strengthening new alliances, the Kremlin also looks with interest to the rich natural resources of some of these countries, such as Sudan, where Wagner members have been involved in gold mining in several of the country's mines.
SUV

The first one to shine under the spotlight was the smallest crossover from the luxury division to date  the 134-hp Lexus LBX presented in Milan, Italy, as the premium hybrid-powered counterpart of the XP210-series Toyota Yaris Cross. Then the company moved stateside and featured a double ensemble to prove its powerhouse claims with the 2024 TX and 2024 GX 550.The former is also an all-new, first-ever introduction as the sibling of the 2024 Grand Highlander that will also be produced in Princeton, Indiana, on the same unibody TNGA-K platform but with slightly more powerful common engines (2.4-liter turbo gas plus hybrid option) as well as a flagship TX 550h+ plug-in hybrid mating the 3.5-liter 2GR-FXS V6 with electricity to obtain a combined output of 406 hp. Then there was also the latter, the third generation of the rugged off-road luxurythat is now riding on an all-new platform  body-on-frame TNGA-F shared with the J310 Lexus LX, among many others.As it turns out, Lexus' decision to stray away from the previous iteration's styling and also adopt a different design direction compared to the flagship LX was applauded by everyone  fans and critics alike  and all around the world. That's no easy feat, especially since the parent company Toyota has big plans for the series, which could inspire the next generation Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (250) that is rumored to arrive not just in Europe but also signal the nameplate's comeback to North America, too.Anyway, it is already safe to say that the GX had a tremendous impact, both in the real world as well as across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. As far as the latter is concerned, virtual artists tried to imagine it involved in various scenarios  as an even greater off-roader, pickup truck, and more. The good folks over at YouTube's AutoYa info channel were a bit subtler, though. Instead of giving it extreme 4x4 capabilities or deriving it into a new body style, they simply took care of stuff like the unofficial visual configurator for colors  both inside and out.Now they are at it again and now have quickly imagined the CGI looks of the potentially upcoming 'Black Line' edition for the Lexus GX 550 because we all know that many folks  especially in America  love the dark and menacing stance of vehicles that could easily become Darth Vader's ride. As such, the changes are subtle yet impactful for the "most stylish and aggressive" hypothetical trim  there's no chrome anywhere on the body and in the cabin  just black all over the place. So, do you dig it or not?
It's no secret anymore that the new Moon exploration program run by the U.S., Artemis, will not limit itself to just sending people up there and getting them back, like we did with Apollo. This time, humanity is going to the Moon to stay, and that means, in a nutshell, the incipient colonization of an alien world.

It also means a lot of challenges lie ahead. That's because, unlike when it comes to short visits, semi-permanent or permanent stays on the Moon require a lot of logistics to keep a base up and running.One of the most important aspects to take into consideration is the generation and distribution of power in a place that experiences freezing, weeks-long nights.Although the Artemis missions take center stage when it comes to our renewed interest in the Moon, NASA has a bag full of side projects and programs meant to advance our push for a lunar civilization. As far as energy is concerned, the program is called Watts on the Moon Challenge.Launched in September 2020, it aims to "come up with new technologies to address" power generation and distribution on the Moon. It's a fairly advanced program and NASA pushed it even further earlier this week by announcing the short list of participating partners.After it kicked off this Phase 2 Level 2 in the summer of last, NASA now trimmed down the list of competing ideas even further, and announced the names of the ones that will move to Phase 2 Level 3 (and receive further funding of $400,000 each).First on the list is the Ohio State University in Columbus and its Electric Moon idea. It is centered around cable transmission of power, backed by modular, multilevel conversion. It's a kind of cable transmission that proved during testing it is possible to move power "with an energy load large enough to support a television and sound system."The University of California, Santa Barbara, proposes something called the High Efficiency Long-Range Power Solution. The idea of this group aims to allow power hardware to operate within a wide temperature range, solving some of the issues that come from lunar day and night conditions.The Michigan Technological University in Houghton came up with the idea of adapting rovers to move around the surface of the Moon and deliver power to where it's needed by means of a battery. Called Tethered Mechanism for Persistent Energy Storage and Transmission (TEMPEST), the concept should literally connect power infrastructure elements by means of rovers.The single private company accepted in this Phase , Orbital Mining Corporation, is working on a DC-to-DC converter system capable of surviving the lunar nights.All four groups have until 2024 to get something ready for testing in a simulated lunar environment. At the end of the tests, two winners will be declared and take will take home a total of $1.5 million in NASA prizes.
Launched in 2011 as a rival to the similarly-sized five-door versions of the BMW 1 Series, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Audi A3 Sportback, and the discontinued Volvo V40, the Lexus CT was related to the era's Auris. It came with an electrified powertrain before it was cool to have such models and was given a facelift for the 2014 model year when it added an interpretation of the spindle grille. The second mid-cycle refresh came out in 2018 and brought additional novelties.In theory, Lexus' CT had all the premises to make it to a new generation: direct rivals in the forms of the models mentioned above (albeit not stateside), electrified power, and modern tech gear. In practice, Toyota's premium car brand decided to pull the plug on it last year for good and to focus on crossovers and SUVs because these are the best moneymakers these days. Thus, the nameplate remains buried for now, and even if it returns (there is no indication that it will do that), chances are it will be used on a future high-rider.Lexus still has the means to make a new CT. After all, they can always build it on the same platform as the latest-gen Toyota Corolla , namely the TNGA-C, which is also shared with the Corolla Cross, C-HR, Prius, and Lexus UX. And it was the Corolla and the UX that served as inspiration for the latest renderings showcasing what a possible modern-day CT might look like as imagined by Theottle, sprinkled with the design of the LBX.The pixel manipulator recently took to the online realm to reveal a pair of digital illustrations of the car. The model has a softer design compared to the real thing, a modern interpretation of the spindle grille and full-width LED taillights. Between us, it doesn't look that good, nor in a side-by-side comparison with the CT, but we think it would sell with the correct powertrain, better quality materials, and a price tag slightly north of the Toyota Corolla.A possible new Lexus CT would be the entry-level point to the company's low-slung lineup and would cost less than the IS, which has an MSRP of $41,235. The 2023 Toyota Corolla starts at $21,700 before destination and dealer fees, and a correct price tag for the hypothetical CT would be in the region of $30,000. But would you buy one if they gave it another shot?
It's common knowledge that the United States shot down a Chinese spy balloon that flew over its territory early this year. No one pointed a finger. After all, the US military motto is "This We'll Defend." While you can never put a price on the safety of your citizens, the high-clearance decision comes with dire consequences straining already rigid relations between the two governments.

Chinese spy balloon did not collect information over US, Pentagon says https://t.co/NEW13ig1Jl pic.twitter.com/NVGLXGyu3F  Reuters (@Reuters) June 29, 2023

As it turns out, the Chinese spy balloon that spent a week hovering over the United States and Canada did not collect any information about the territory. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said the assessment analysis showed no data was collected by the Chinese flying vessel.According to the spokesman, the American military alleviated intelligence collection by the balloon. "Certainly, the steps we made contributed," he added.Before the takedown, the US military detected the flying vessel approaching from the west on January 28. According to authorities, it was flying over the Aleutian Islands and had a payload that they suspected was being used for surveillance purposes.According to initial reports by US officials, it was reported that the Chinese balloon had a considerable payload of electronics, and there were concerns that the Asian government was collecting information flying over sensitive military installations in the territory.At first, the Chinese government denied any operations with the balloon, saying it was a weather apparatus. As you'd expect, the US didn't take their word for it, and on February 4, an F-22 Raptor was ordered to take it out The decision to gun down the flying balloon wasn't an easy one considering it didn't pose any threat to the nation. Still, an AIM-9X sidewinder missile ended its estranged mission on the coast of South Carolina. Its debris was picked up from the Atlantic Ocean, and the military has been assessing its contents ever since.Chinese Foreign Ministry claimed that the Asian country did not violate American airspace or territory, adding that it was a smear attack by the media and some politicians in the territory.Even though the incident caused a strain on the two countries, forcing Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a diplomatic trip to Beijing. Still, both governments chose to keep a clear line of communication."As you heard at that time, we were aware that the balloon has intelligence collection capabilities," Pat Ryder told reporters during a press conference. He confirmed that it did not collect any data while transiting over the United States.The Wall Street Journal reported the air vessel allegedly used American technology. However, during the press conference, General Ryder did not confirm the reports but said that China drones had used off-the-shelf American equipment in the past.According to a Reuters report , the Chinese balloon spent a week flying over US territory and Canada before it was taken down by a military fighter jet.
As promised since the last test flight it conducted back in May, private space company Virgin Galactic has performed this week its first commercial spaceflight. What it means is that, for the first time, the company took up to the edge of space and then safely back home paying customers.

The crew of the flight, which will go down in history as Galactic 01 , took off from New Mexico on June 29, onboard the VSS Unity spacecraft, in its turn attached to its carrier plane. The aircraft climber to an altitude of 44,500 feet (13,563 meters), where it released the Unity.The spacecraft accelerated to a top speed of Mach 2.88 (2,210 mph/3,557 kph), and kept climbing until it reached a top altitude of 52.9 miles (85 km). That's beneath the generally agreed limit to space, which is the Karman line, at 62 miles (100 km), but still high enough for the crew to perform the experiments they were sent up there to perform.That would be a total of 13 experiments, covering a wide range of fields, from biomedicine to thermo-fluids dynamics. None of them has sufficiently been detailed, but if some interesting developments occurred, it's likely well hear more about them in the near future.As for the commercial crew that took this first flight, it was not comprised of solely civilians, like the ones to follow will, but by Air Force personnel as well.More precisely, members of the Italian Air Force and National Research Council of Italy were on board: Colonel Walter Villadei and Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi from the Italian Air Force, and National Research Council engineer Pantaleone Carlucci. They were accompanied by Virgin Galactic's own Collin Bennet, at his second trip on the Unity already.Now that the hurdle of the first commercial spaceflight was cleared, Richard Branson's company is planning the second one for the end of August. The names of the people in the crew were not announced yet. After Galactic 02, Virgin plans to conduct monthly flights, effectively opening the doors to space tourism.As a reminder, a trip up on the Unity spaceship is not cheap. As listed by the company operating these flights, the experience will set one back $450,000, meaning not all civilians will get to taste the blackness of space firsthand.The huge sum of money covers not only the flight, but multi-day training as well, and even preparation retreat at Spaceport America for the daring soul and an undisclosed number of family and friends.We're anxiously waiting to see how Virgin's main competitor in this segment, Blue Origin, will respond. Jeff Bezos' company hasnt lifted anything off the ground since September 2022, when one of its uncrewed New Shepard rockets failed seconds after launch.
30 June 2023 08:30 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

Murders, violations of human rights, racism, Islamophobia - all these events that are against the principles of humanity and democracy are still taking place in France.

A 17-year-old Algerian teenager was killed by police in Nanterre, France. The racial incident was not received unequivocally by French society. Despite the police arrest, riots continue in France; barricades were erected, cars were set on fire, and there were clashes with the police.

However, neither Western nor European institutions comment on all these events.

On the contrary, instead of being ashamed of such dirty deeds, they accuse Azerbaijanis of "barbarism", on fighting against terrorism and the military provocations of Armenia on its sovereign territory at the world level.

What is happening in France and its foreign policy is a paradox. While defending Armenia for the sake of personal interests, I wonder what the Macron government is thinking, which lets the internal tension take its course... or in the worst case scenario, will all this lead to the fall of Macron's rule, which ignores human rights?

"Well, of course, this is a wake-up call for the authorities and the Macron regime. Although we saw that during the first term of office there were protest movements like the Yellow Vests, but this did not lead to his downfall. Probably, and in this case, it is unlikely that something like this will happen. But in any case, this is a serious indicator of tension in French society. In principle, Macron will not be able to do anything about this. This situation will continue to escalate."

Belarusian philosopher, publicist and political analyst Aleksey Dzermant said in a comment on the racial incident in France for Azernews.

Commenting on President Macron, the expert called him little capable. "He says beautiful words, but in reality he does nothing; relieve tension, negotiate with migrants and representatives of other religions and peoples. Macron is more of a fake politician. But for France it will end badly. If such politicians continue to rule the state, problems will accumulate. And in the future, this can lead to a crisis and stressful state," political analyst said.

Talking about the reasons, the expert said that Western and European institutions operate in a regime of double standards.

"As for abroad, especially the post-Soviet space in Asia and Africa, they can make a huge problem out of this, but they see nothing at home. So they allegedly appropriated a monopoly for themselves, to judge everyone else, but they believe that they can do whatever they want. This applies to both Europe and the US. You need to stop believing that they can objectively evaluate something. And then they would first deal with their problems. But they do not do this, they look for problems in others, overexaggerate it. Therefore, in this case, this is a very hypocritical and cynical policy on their part," Dzermant added.

Speaking about the deep relations between France and Armenia, the expert pointed out that there is a serious Armenian lobby in France.

"Therefore, I think that their policy in this case is not objective. Support one side, but do not try to understand it. Probably, France uses Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora for its own purposes. And we know that their goals are aimed at franchising not only with Azerbaijan, but also with Turkiye, and with Islamic countries. Maybe even manipulated diasporas act in their own interests. But this does nothing to pacify and resolve the conflict," the expert opined.

According to Dzermant, the change of power in France will not eliminate internal problems. On the contrary, the tension in France will reach an even higher level. The only way to do this is to reach a common agreement between the people and the authorities and eliminate some principles that undermine democracy, as well as problems such as human rights and racism.

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Rena Murshud is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva

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30 June 2023 13:00 (UTC+04:00)

Rena Murshud Read more

At a time when the world is struggling with global warming and environmental problems, Armenia is doing the exact opposite. As is know, Armenia has started to illegally build a new metallurgical plant in the territory of Arazdayan, which borders Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan AR, with the help of foreign forces. And the most dangerous thing is that this plant is being constructed in an area close to the Aras river flowing across the territories of neighboring states. this completely violation of the agreement based on the United Nations' ESSPO Convention, and ecologically it poses a serious threat to the territory of Azerbaijan as well as Iran.

"I think before any Development in a given Country Consultantion need to be made and the Community should be at forefront of to give their views."

Stephen Anguva, the Shikoli National Coordinator Network of TB Champions, Kenya commented on the processes, speaking to Azernews.

"The presence of Hundreds of potentially toxic substances in the environment, cause serious harm to the water, air, soil and even food, which is consumed by human beings," Stephen told.

According to him, the issue of environment and health is the most important aspect of our life, therefore if anyone pollutes the environment then the effects are immediately seen in human health.

The expert told that the world is boud up with the oxygen, the air we breathe therefore any discharge of toxic chemicals will affect other countries in the region and accross the world. For this reason, during the construction of the plant, first of all, any danger to human health should be taken into consideration and serious consultations should be conducted in this area.

According to another expert in environmental science Maryam Danesh from Washington and Lee University USA, there can be various reasons for the perceived lack of decisive action, including complex geopolitical dynamics, ongoing diplomatic efforts, or differing priorities among nations.

In a comment for for Azernews, Marryam emphasized that a global challenge to solve the problem can play a paramount role.

"A global call for action can be beneficial in raising awareness and encouraging Western forces, as well as the international community, to address ecological crises with greater attention and urgency," the expert said.

Maryam also underlined that adequate prevention of problems often involves a combination of measures such as education and awareness, promoting sustainable practices, enforcing regulations, fostering international cooperation, and addressing crux of a matter through responsible decision-making at all levels.

To recall, Armenia has started to illegally build a new metallurgical plant in Arazdayan territory, which borders Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan AR, with the help of foreign forces.

What is dangerous is that this plant is being built in an area close to the rivers flowing into the territories of neighboring states, and all the toxic waste from the plant is a real potential threat to the pollution of flowing rivers. Another dangerous point is that during the construction of the plant, Armenia directly decided to build the plant illegally without notifying the governments, and consulting with Azerbaijan and other countries in accordance with the United Nations' Espoo Convention. At present, the step taken by Armenia knowingly or unknowingly seriously damages the ecological structure of not only Azerbaijan, but also Iran, through whose territory the Aras river flows. The Azerbaijani side demands that Armenia construct the plant outside the Aras River far from the border, in the depth of country's territory.

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Rena Murshud is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @RenaTagiyeva

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30 June 2023 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan held bilateral negotiations on June 27-29 at the George Schultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. While in Washington they met with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Azernews reports, citing MFA.

The Ministers and their teams continued progress on the draft bilateral Agreement on Peace and the Establishment of Interstate Relations. They reached an agreement on additional articles and achieved mutual understanding on the draft agreement, meanwhile acknowledging that the positions on some key issues require further work.

Both Ministers expressed their appreciation to the US side for hosting negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and their commitment to continue their negotiations.

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30 June 2023 14:05 (UTC+04:00)

French Ambassadress to Azerbaijan Anne Boillon has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, Aznews reports.

The ambassadress was asked to clarify the recent meeting between President Emmanuel Macron and representatives of Armenia's Dashnaktsutyun party and the Armenian lobby in France and statements in the press about some of the opinions expressed by the French president at this meeting.

It was brought to the attention of the ambassadress that the French side should clarify these statements made on behalf of Macron.

Thus, representatives of Dashnaktsutyun party and the Armenian lobby in their statements in the media, quoting Emmanuel Macron, noted that, immediately after the Chisinau meeting, the French president said that he was more active in the "Karabakh issue" than Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, and would further strengthen this activity.

In response, the ambassadress said that she had no information on this issue.

The Azerbaijani side is waiting for Paris to confirm or refute the opinions expressed on behalf of Emmanuel Macron. If they are confirmed, it is possible that official Baku will take appropriate steps at the diplomatic level.

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30 June 2023 15:10 (UTC+04:00)

According to the instructions of the Azerbaijan Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, the graves of Shehids were visited in Baku and other regions of Azerbaijan, Shehids' family members and warriors who lost their health during military operations were also visited on the occasion of Gurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha).

At the meetings, it was noted that the families of Shehids, warriors deprived of health, and war veterans are always in the spotlight of the state. The congratulations of the leadership of the Defense Ministry were conveyed and holiday gifts were presented to them.

The Shehid families and warriors who lost their health during military operations expressed their gratitude to Supreme Commander-in-Chief Mr. Ilham Aliyev and First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva and the leadership of the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry for the attention and care shown to improve their social and living conditions, and to solve their problems.

As part of the events, orphanages were also visited by military personnel and various gifts were presented to the children.

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30 June 2023 08:00 (UTC+04:00)

Turkiye will never yield to provocations or threats, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, a day after a copy of the Muslim holy book the Quran was burned in Sweden.

We will eventually teach Western monuments of arrogance that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought, Erdogan told members of the Justice and Development (AK) Party via a video message.

Turkiye will show our reaction in the strongest way until a determined fight against terrorist organizations and enemies of Islam is carried out, he added.

As much as those who commit this crime, those who allow it under the guise of freedom of thought, those who turn a blind eye to this baseness will not achieve their goals, the president said.

On Wednesday, an Iraqi national burned a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran, outside a mosque in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.

On June 12, a Swedish appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to overturn a ban on Quran burning, ruling that police had no legal grounds to prevent two Quran burning protests earlier this year.

In February, police refused permission for two Quran burning attempts, citing security concerns, after far-right Danish politician Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm in January.

Later, two individuals who attempted to stage provocative actions outside the Iraqi and Turkish embassies in Stockholm appealed the decision.

In April, the Stockholm Administrative Court reversed the decision, ruling that security risks were insufficient to restrict the ability to demonstrate.

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30 June 2023 20:15 (UTC+04:00)

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday told the countrys Parliament the Governments ambition was to turn Georgia into an "aviation hub in the region and serve not only direct flights but also large flows of transit passengers, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.

In his annual report on the Governments work, the PM told lawmakers the goal would require having the best, international-class airport in the region, which will also be a transit and logistics centre with high-level passenger and cargo terminals.

He said the Government was considering two options for achieving the goal - expansion of the existing Tbilisi International Airport or construction of a completely new facility on the territory of a former airfield in Vaziani outside the capital.

He said the former option had more disadvantages, and added his team wanted to launch works on the eventually selected project in 2024.

He also told MPs the Government would finance the construction of the long-delayed project of a deepwater port in the Black Sea town of Anaklia, with works beginning this year.

He claimed a serious investor had expressed interest in the project, without divulging details of the talks.

Garibashvili also highlighted the joint work involving governments of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan for the development of the Middle Corridor - a logistics route connecting Central Asia and China to Europe via the South Caucasus.

We have a specific roadmap, and we know exactly what Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan should do in turn [to develop the route until 2027], he said, adding the roadmap included work for creating a proper railway, port and road infrastructure.

Speaking about improving connectivity in Georgia, Garibashvili also noted an infrastructural reform aiming for setting up of modern bus stations across the country by 2025.

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30 June 2023 20:50 (UTC+04:00)

Iran's full-scale admission to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the signing of a memorandum of commitment by Belarus to join the SCO is scheduled for July 4 at the Council of Heads of State of the organization, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday, Azernews reports, citing TASS.

"At the upcoming July 4 meeting of the Council of Heads of State [of the organization], Iran's full membership will be formalized, and a memorandum of commitment by Belarus will be signed, which will also launch the procedure for its full accession to the Shanghai [cooperation] organization," he said.

Furthermore, Lavrov stated that the group also welcomes new dialogue partners. "From now on, the SCO space, taking into account both new members and dialogue partner states, stretches from Europe and the Middle East to South and Southeast Asia," he added.

The declaration establishing the SCO was signed in Shanghai in June 2001 by six states: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The organization currently also includes India and Pakistan.

This year, New Delhi presides over the SCO. The summit of the organization is set for July 4. The meeting of the SCO leaders would take place in an online format, as previously stated by the Indian Foreign Ministry.

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30 June 2023 23:35 (UTC+04:00)

According to the Statistics Agency, for five months of 2023, electric vehicles from 10 foreign countries were imported to Uzbekistan, Azernews reports, citing Uza.uz.

Uzbekistan imported the largest number of electric vehicles from China  3,480 and Hong Kong  256. In addition, 42 electric cars were imported from Germany, 16 from the UAE, 11 from South Korea, and 6 from the United States.

In 2022, Uzbekistan imported 2,180 electric vehicles from abroad for $69.8 million.

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Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 76F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 76F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Intercapital Property Development ADSIC with its registered office in Sofia, Bulgaria ("ICPD") announces that on 30 June 2023 it entered into an agreement with an Authorised Adviser, i.e. uczynski i Wspolnicy Sp.k. with its registered office in Warsaw, Poland. The purpose of the agreement is to implement the imposed disciplinary measure referred to in  1(2)(a) of Resolution No. 659/2023 dated 26 June 2023 of the Warsaw Stock Exchange Management Board, consisting of the obligation to cooperate with the Authorised Adviser with regard to the fulfilment by ICPD of the disclosure obligations set out in the Alternative Trading System Rules and to monitor the correctness of the fulfilment by ICPD of these obligations, as well as to provide ongoing advice by the Authorised Adviser to ICPD with regard to the functioning of ICPD's financial instruments in the alternative trading system on the NewConnect market. The concluded agreement enters into force on 1 July 2023 and is valid until at least 30 June 2024.Legal basis: 3 sub-paragraph 1 item 9 of Appendix No. 3 to the Regulations of the Alternative Trading System - Current and periodic information provided in the alternative trading system on the NewConnect market.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/aftco-awards-62923.html

Fishing Industry News

Image

SANTA ANA, Ca., June 29, 2023  AFTCO continues its strong conservation heritage by providing support for five Conservation Grants to B.A.S.S. Nation Clubs in 2023. The contribution for this year amounts to $25,000 spread across the five recipients. AFTCO's total contributions to this program have now exceeded $120,000 since its start in 2018. The following five grant recipients have been selected from the pool of applicants for 2023:

1. Central Tennessee Lake Improvement Project with Tennessee B.A.S.S. Nation

2. Iowa B.A.S.S. Nation Release Trailer with Iowa B.A.S.S. Nation

3. Kentucky and Barkley Lakes Cypress Tree Planting Project with Kentucky B.A.S.S. Nation

4. New York B.A.S.S. Release Boat Refit with New York B.A.S.S. Nation

5. Upper Bay, Maryland Stocking Program with Middle River Bass Anglers

These programs will provide support for stocking bass, establishing habitats, and ensuring that tournament fish are returned to lakes and rivers in the best possible condition. These programs are all being coordinated locally with the aid of B.A.S.S Nation chapters, governmental fishing agencies, local businesses, and the valuable support of volunteers and youth organizations contributing their labor. These grants are a great example of the efforts our B.A.S.S. Nation clubs are putting forth to enhance the fishing in their local lakes and reservoirs. Our state chapters are blessed to be associated with a company like AFTCO that takes conservation to heart. That continued commitment to the B.A.S.S. Nation and to the fishery resources that our sport depends on is unmatched. - Gene Gilliland, B.A.S.S. Conservation Director

The first project in Tennessee is centered around placing fish habitat in Normandy and Center Hill Reservoirs. Both lakes have seen significant loss of habitat. The AFTCO grant will be used for education on proper habitat as well as the placement of fish attractors in those lakes by the Tennessee B.A.S.S. Nation in conjunction with the TWRA, TBN High School Team, and TBN Adult Clubs along with donations from local businesses. This project is expected to put between 1000-2000 structures into these lakes.

The second project will bring a new release trailer to the Iowa B.A.S.S. Nation. This trailer will be critical to return tournament fish safely to lakes and rivers in Iowa and surrounding states. Many of those include summertime events with higher water temperatures where safe release is even more critical. The AFTCO grant will be used to aid in the construction of this new trailer in 2023. The trailer will be used at dozens of events each year, including youth tournaments to safely release fish and distribute their release across the body of water. Iowa B.A.S.S. Nation will operate and maintain the trailer.

The goals of the third project are to improve bass and sunfish spawning habitat and decrease siltation by increasing shoreline stability through the planting of bald cypress trees in Lake Barkley. The Kentucky B.A.S.S. Nation is directing the program in conjunction with USACE and KDFWR with the labor being provided by a mix of adult and youth volunteers. The goal of this project is to plant 675 bald cypress trees that are native to this area and provide great habitat and erosion control.

The New York B.A.S.S. Nation has successfully operated a tournament release boat for many years. This fourth AFTCO grant will be used to refit and update the current release boat allowing it to provide better service in the coming season. Their boat is used at over 10 events each season and is operated by youth volunteers and New York nation members. The boat has safely returned thousands of fish back to New York waters and this refit will help it continue to provide top notch fish care in this region.

The final grant recipient in 2023 is the Middle River Bass Anglers. They will be using the grant funds to aid in a stocking program for Chesapeake Bay. There was a devastating fish kill in the Middle River in 2015. The Middle River Bass Anglers with support from the DNR and local business purchase adult bass from a DNR supported vendor to replenish bass populations in this area. Volunteers will distribute the adult bass throughout the three bodies of water.

AFTCO has been fortunate to work with great partners at B.A.S.S. and all their passionate B.A.S.S. Nation state chapters. Together weve been able to make a big impact to enhance these fisheries across the country and give back to both the resource and the angling community. - Matt Florentino, AFTCO Marketing Director
The ASC market has shifted in the last decade with consolidation between ASC chains and more surgery center development overall, but the percentage of independent surgery centers overall hasn't drastically shifted.

Around 70 percent of surgery centers are independent, according to VMG Health, which has decreased only a few percentage points in the last decade.

Healthcare overall is more consolidated with fewer independent hospitals and physician groups either joining together to form regional networks, selling to a hospital, or accepting private equity investment. But there is still ample opportunity for surgeons in some specialties to open and succeed with independent ASCs.

What will happen in the next five years?

"Overall, healthcare continues to see significant consolidation, but ASCs should be somewhat less impacted related to the ability of physicians to own their own facilities, up to 100 percent of a facility," said Adam Bruggeman, MD, CEO of Texas Spine Care Center in San Antonio. "Certificate of need states will see higher consolidation while states without certificate of need should see less consolidation when compared to the consolidation we see in the hospital market."

Todd Currier, administrator of Bend Surgery Center in Cody, Wyo., echoed Dr. Bruggeman's sentiment. He thinks consolidation will grow but not as rapidly as in the past.

"As more and more physicians are employed through a health system, I foresee independent ASCs continuing to join forces with health systems, management companies or both. Growth will come from both acquisition and development of new centers," said Mr. Currier.

Andrew Lovewell, CEO of Columbia (Mo.) Orthopaedic Group and The Surgical Center at Columbia Orthopaedic Group thinks independence will continue to reign supreme.

"As a bold prediction, I think we will see more independent ASCs stay the course and we could even see some ASCs break away from the management conglomerates," Mr. Lovewell said. "The big five  USPI, AmSurg, HCA, SCA, and Surgery Partners  will continue to consolidate through acquiring the smaller management companies in the space but it will stall past that. The reason for the stall is that the uptick to standardizing processes is so long. Coupling the breadth and depth of disparate systems in ASCs makes the consolidation process even harder."

Michael Patterson, president and CEO of Mississippi Valley Health, predicts an uptick in ASC consolidation as the industry matures and there is more emphasis placed on high quality, low cost care.

"As ASCs continue to align with their physician partners, it would be expected that alignment through formalized partnerships will continue to develop. It's an exciting time to be in the ASC space and we look forward to continuing the evolution of meeting the healthcare needs of our communities and doing so in an easily accessible and cost effective manner," Mr. Patterson said.

Health systems now more than ever need a robust outpatient strategy and are seeking guidance in a variety of sources. Some are partnering with national ASC chains to develop their networks, such as Minneapolis-based Allina Health's partnership with SCA Health or Regent Surgical Health's partnership with St. Louis-based Ascension, while other health systems are opening their own or joint venture centers with local physicians.

"Hospitals will continue to acquire ASCs as they attempt to hold on to total joint and spine cases that are migrating to that setting. In addition, labor shortages and tight margins will encourage consolidation to aid in staffing and administrative efficiencies. On top of this, we are likely to see continued vertical integration in healthcare with more players becoming interested in ownership of ASCs to better control the delivery and costs of healthcare," said Vishal Mehta, MD, president and managing partner of Fox Valley Orthopaedic Institute in Geneva, Ill.

Vivek Mohan, MD, a spine surgeon with Orthopaedic Spine Institute in Hoffman Estates, Ill., said he thinks the ASC industry will grow substantially in the next decade, especially with the interest of private equity companies.

"I predict venture capital and private equity money will help spur the rapid growth of ASCs in the next three to five years," he said. "Within 10 years, many surgery centers will likely be consolidated either regionally or nationally to maximize profitability and streamline delivery models for each pathway  joint replacements, spinal fusions, etcetera. Surgeons need to be vested in ASCs now to come out ahead at the end."
Novartis has agreed to divest its "front of eye" ophthalmology assets to global health company Bausch + Lomb in a $2.5 billion deal, including $1.75 billion in cash upfront.

The deal encompasses medications including Xiidra, a treatment for dry eyes disease; SAF312, a therapy for ocular surface pain; and AcuStream.

Novartis will receive milestone payments of up to $750 million for anticipated future sales of Xiidra, SAF312 and OJL332, a TRPV1 antagonist in preclinical development, according to a June 30 press release. Novartis will continue to supply Xiidra to patients for a time on behalf of Bausch + Lomb via transitional agreements.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2023, subject to regulatory approval and conditions.
The following hospitals and health systems have announced or shared plans for raising workers' pay since June 21.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list.

1. Members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association approved a new 18-month contract agreement with Boston-based Tufts Medical Center. The contract, approved June 26, includes a 10 percent across-the-board increase, immediately after contract ratification, in the first subsequent paycheck. It also includes an additional 2.5 percent increase in both February 2024 and September 2024.

2. Members of the Service Employees International Union at Las Palmas and Del Sol medical centers in El Paso, Texas, will receive pay increases under a new, recently approved contract. Under the new contract, which expires in May 2026, the Las Palmas and Del Sol hospitals' hourly minimum wage increases $1 per hour to $13.50 per hour, according to a union news release shared with Becker's. The contract also includes a 6.4 percent compounded wage increase by 2026, as well as a 1.5 percent "market equity adjustment" to increase the pay of high demand jobs.

3. Members of Professional Resource for Nurses approved a tentative agreement with Mountain View, Calif.-based El Camino Health. According to the deal, which is posted on the union website, the agreement includes a 16 percent pay increase for nurses over three years.

4. Members of the California Nurses Association and its affiliate, Caregivers and Healthcare Employees Union, approved new three-year contracts at USC Arcadia (Calif.) Hospital. According to CHEU and the CNA, the contracts include comprehensive wage increases.

5. Workers at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland (Calif.) approved new three-year contracts with management. According to the NUHW, the new contracts include across-the-board raises of 13 percent for all workers over the life of the contract, as well as additional raises for more than 30 worker classifications.

6. Members of the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU voted to ratify a new contract for resident physicians at the Burlington-based University of Vermont Medical Center. The contract includes a total base salary increase of 20 percent over two years and seven months, according to a June 21 news release from the hospital. It also includes additional compensation for moonlighting and unplanned backup shifts, and education and meal funds for each resident.

7. Members of Einstein Nurses United, an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, approved a new three-year contract with Jefferson Health Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia. Under the new deal, nurses will receive average pay increases of 9.5 percent the first year of the contract, in addition to improved experience-based wage increases and improvements to union members' overall benefits package, according to PASNAP.
Wilmington, Del.-based Henrietta Johnson Medical Center is notifying patients of exposure to Delaware Health Network's data breach.

Delaware Health Network is an EHR management provider. The network reported on April 5 that an unauthorized individual accessed its systems and was able to copy specific files.

On May 22, Delaware Health Network told Henrietta Johnson Medical Center that some of its patient data may have been impacted.

In a June 27 filing with HHS, the hospital reported 500 affected individuals from the hacking incident.

Affected patient data includes full name, date of birth, ethnicity, medical record number, diagnosis code, lab information and health insurance information.
Winchester, Va.-based Valley Health is saluting its patients and staff for sticking with it through the challenges of the pandemic with a new marketing campaign, Little Black Book reported.

The six-hospital system that spans Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland recently debuted the ads themed, "Here's to You. Here's to all of us who call this region home," according to the June 29 story. They are appearing on cable and connected TV, online video, YouTube and digital displays. Valley Health used ad agency Doe-Anderson.

"We want to show all the strength and resilience of our teams at Valley Health as well as thank our community by saying, 'Here's to you!'" Carrie Manuel, director of marketing and communications at Valley Health, told the news outlet.
For one Texas facility, the decision to convert to a rural emergency hospital came down to survivability.

Anson General Hospital, located in a city with about 2,200 residents, had experienced three years of financial losses. The hospital's patient volume had also declined to about 1.7 inpatients a week, on average, partially due to factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Our numbers drastically declined, and we knew that this was our only hope to stay open," Chief Nursing Officer Anna Doan, BSN, RN, told Becker's.

Last fall, CMS announced the final rule for the emergency rural hospital designation, which took effect Jan. 1, 2023.

The designation was intended to offer financial help to struggling rural hospitals and give these facilities an opportunity to close infrequently used inpatient beds and focus on providing outpatient and emergency department services.

Rural emergency hospitals may participate in the Medicare program and receive payment for items and services furnished on or after the Jan. 1 effective date, according to a CMS guidance. The agency defines "rural emergency hospitals" as facilities that convert from either a critical access hospital or a small rural hospital that had no more than 50 beds on Dec. 27, 2020, and "don't provide any acute care inpatient hospital services (other than post-hospital extended care services provided in a distinct part unit licensed as a skilled nursing facility)."

Anson General was not eligible to be a critical access hospital and began assessing the possibility of becoming a rural emergency hospital in summer 2022.

"We have two full-time physicians, and then we have about four [advanced practice] providers, and they were all on board knowing that this was probably our only hope," Ms. Doan said. "We knew that we would lose inpatient services and swing bed services if we were able to convert, but we knew that the hope for us was to be able to go to REH."

CEO Ted Matthews retired from the hospital more than a decade ago and returned to helm the facility in February. He said the hospital continued looking into the process of becoming a rural emergency facility and received help from a West Texas firm to submit paperwork to CMS.

"We filed our application in early January, and on March 30, we received notice that we were, effective March 27, a rural emergency hospital. So that happened quickly for us, and we were glad it did," Mr. Matthews told Becker's.

Under the rural emergency hospital designation, CMS pays hospitals an additional 5 percent over the payment rate of the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System for rural emergency hospital services, according to an agency fact sheet. Mr. Matthews said Anson General received its first monthly payment in April, of about $273,000.

While there have been financial benefits to the new designation, there have also been challenges, Ms. Doan said. This included decreasing staff by about 17 percent. Anson General now has 55 full-time employees.

"That primarily did affect nursing services because we would not be having inpatients or swing beds anymore," Ms. Doan said.

She also said the new designation "will become personal to the community" during busier months in the fall and winter.

"Those are going to be times when it really becomes personal to them that their family members are not going to be able to be hospitalized here for over 24 hours," she said, adding that the nearest hospital to Anson General is more than 30 miles away. That's where patients will be transferred if they need higher-level care.

Anson General still has an emergency room and radiology lab, and offers outpatient therapy. The hospital also has a rural health clinic that sees about 800 patients a month.

"I feel like we are utilizing all the services that we are able to still continue with. We're trying to utilize those to the max," Ms. Doan said.

Mr. Matthews added: "We have embraced this new identity. What it allowed us to do is continue to provide access to care. We were the only hospital at one time. Jones County had three hospitals, and we are the lone surviving hospital. And if we had to close, there would have been no hospitals in the county."

He said Anson General is also looking toward the future, including the possibility of doing some surgeries.

"We're thinking about doing that. And so we have this new identity, but we're still very focused on expanding services and meeting the needs of our community," Mr. Matthews said.








Healthcare is lagging behind other industries in generative artificial intelligence adoption, but increased investments in the technology could soon change that, Politico reported June 29.

According to the report, there have been $20 billion in generative AI investments in the health sector, with most of the money funneling into AI that can aid clinicians, as well as life sciences.

Justin Norden, MD, partner at investment firm GSR Ventures and adjunct professor of medicine at Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine, told the publication that the lag is due to the fear healthcare has of adopting new technologies.

"Healthcare systems are like nuclear facilities. They don't want to change. They need to keep running," Dr. Norden told the publication. "There's often fear of change and adopting new tools."
Eighty hospital CEOs exited in the first five months of 2023, according to a June report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. And that number continues to climb  Becker's reported 10 retirements, resignations and firings this month.

These hospital and health systems CEOs left the helm in June, or made plans to:

1. Joseph Landsman Jr. is retiring as president and CEO of the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. Keith Gray, MD, will succeed him.

2. Cindy Carstens, BSN, will retire as CEO of Stewart Memorial Community Hospital in Lake City, Iowa, on Dec. 31.

3. Bob Wright is retiring as CEO of Newman Regional Health in Emporia, Kan., in the fall.

4. Brian Kirk was released from the CEO role at Norton (Kan.) County Hospital after being put on administrative leave and later reinstated. Kellen Jacobs, the hospital's rehabilitation manager, was named interim CEO.

5. Scott Kashman is leaving his role as market president for St. Dominic Health Services and CEO of St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, Miss.

6. Tiffany Murdock, DNP, MSN, resigned as CEO of Singing River Health System, which has hospitals in Ocean Springs, Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss.

7. John Boyd, PsyD, resigned as president and CEO of Oconomowoc, Wis.-based Rogers Behavioral Health.

8. Win Brown, president and CEO of Gardner, Mass.-based Heywood Healthcare for the past 12 years, will be leaving the system.

9. Josh Tinkle, acting CEO and chief operating officer of Northern Arizona Healthcare, was placed on administrative leave and ultimately left the hospital. David Cheney, who was set to assume the permanent CEO title, pushed up his start date as a result.

10. Ben Davis resigned as CEO of Osceola Regional Health Center in Sibley, Iowa, to helm Glencoe (Minn.) Regional Health.
Hospital CEO exits in the first few months of 2023 were up 72 percent from the same time frame in 2022. As hospitals search for someone to take the helm, some argue that they should look inward  particularly, toward nurse leaders.

Nurse leaders already possess many of the skills needed to run a hospital: compassion, dedication and an in-depth understanding of how policies trickle down to affect caregivers and patients. This perspective is particularly vital during the nursing shortage, as RNs heighten demands on executives.

These 14 hospitals and health systems recently bought into that value and tapped a CEO with a nursing background:

Note: This list was updated June 30.

1. Karen Tracy, RN, was named CEO of Rochelle (Ill.) Community Hospital.

2. Laureen Driscoll, MSN, RN, was named chief executive for the Providence South Division, which includes 17 hospitals in Northern and Southern California.

3. Chris Blair, BSN, was named CEO of Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville (Ark.).

4. Jenny Hardee, BSN, was named CEO of McLeod Health Dillon (S.C.).

5. Fred Valtairo, BSN, RN, was named CEO of Placentia-Linda (Calif.) Hospital, part of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare.

6. Pablo Velez, PhD, RN, was named CEO of El Centro (Calif.) Regional Medical Center.

7. Tom Clancy, PhD, RN, was named president and CEO of Mercy Iowa City (Iowa).

8. Crystal Hayden, DNP, RN, was named president and CEO of the Kinston-based University of North Carolina Health Lenoir.

9. Lori Rakes, RN, was named CEO of Piedmont Cartersville (Ga.) Medical Center, part of Atlanta-based Piedmont.

10. Archie Drake, BSN, was named CEO of Detroit-based Children's Hospital of Michigan.

11. Dawn Unruh, MSN, RN, was named CEO of Artesian Valley Health System in Meade, Kan.

12. Maralyn Militello, BSN, RN, was named the final CEO of Lockport, N.Y.-based Eastern Niagara Hospital, which is set to close in late summer.



13. Lori Price, RN, was named president and CEO of Mishawaka, Ind.-based Franciscan Health's central Indiana region.

14. Caitlin Miller, BSN, RN, was promoted to president and chief hospital executive at Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, N.J.
Scenery of two rivers meeting at Liujiaxia Reservoir in China's Gansu Province

(People's Daily App) 15:19, June 30, 2023

See the Yellow River where it is a mix of half clear and half muddy.

The Taohe River, an important tributary of the upper reaches of the Yellow River, is often turbid due to sediment collected while flowing through the Loess Plateau in western Gansu Province.

When the Taohe River converges with the Liujiaxia Reservoir in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, a strong contrast between the turbid water and the clear water occurs in the reservoir, presenting a mosaic of azure water and surging yellow sand.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Michelle Lee, CFO of Baltimore-based University of Maryland Medical System, has stepped down from the position.

Joseph Hoffman III, who retired from the system last year, will serve as interim CFO while a search for a permanent replacement is conducted, according to a June 30 UMMS news release.

Ms. Lee has served as CFO since 2018 and has been with the system since 2000, according to the release.

"Michelle has been a supporter of our most ambitious projects, including new capital investments at member organizations, while also pushing for fiscal stewardship that would allow us to deliver on our commitment to our communities," UMMS President and CEO Mohan Suntha, MD, said in the release. "We are grateful for all that she has done for our system and our patients, and we wish Michelle the very best in her future endeavors as she pursues other opportunities.

Mr. Hoffman served as CFO of University of Maryland Medical Center, the system's flagship academic hospital, before retiring in 2022, according to the release.
Pay is one perk of becoming a healthcare CEO, but it takes time and dedication to reap.

Chief executives of pharmaceutical and health insurance companies were among the highest-paid of the largest U.S. companies in 2022, according to the Equilar 100. Some worked at the same company their whole lives, moving through the ranks. Others hopped from place to place. One began his career as a salesman, while another never obtained a college degree. Only one holds the highest seat at a company they founded themselves.

However, there were a few common threads throughout their origin stories: roles at Aetna, Eli Lilly and the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand, and degrees from Columbia University.

Here are the career paths those 11 CEOs took to reach the pinnacle of their pay grade:

Albert Bourla, PhD. Chair and CEO, Pfizer

Total compensation: $30,543,706

Received his doctorate in the biotechnology of reproduction at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's Veterinary School, in the same Grecian city where he was born.





Joined Pfizer within eight years of graduating, serving as a doctor of veterinary medicine and technical director for its animal health division in Greece.





Immigrated to the U.S. in 2001 and held multiple executive roles at Zoetis  then known as Animal Health, Pfizer's pet and livestock drug manufacturing division  eventually overseeing its Europe, Asia and Asia Pacific division.





Transitioned from animal sciences and became president and general manager of Pfizer's Established Product Business Unit in 2010. Was promoted to group president of global vaccines, oncology and consumer business in 2014; group president of Pfizer Innovative Health in 2016; and chief operating officer of Pfizer in January 2018.





After one year in the COO role, he was elevated to CEO.

Richard Gonzalez. Chair and CEO, AbbVie

Total compensation: $25,847,971

Attended the University of Houston from 1972 to 1973, but was not granted a degree for his program in biochemistry. He was also a research biochemist at the University of Miami School of Medicine.





Served Abbott Laboratories for 30 years  holding multiple top leadership roles in its medical products businesses  before the company separated from Abbvie in January 2013.





Between 2002 and 2007, his credentials were misstated on Abbott Laboratories regulatory filings; he is not known to hold a university degree. In 2007, he briefly retired from his role as chief operating officer of Abbott Laboratories.





Assumed the top role at Abbvie in 2013.

Joseph Zubretsky. President and CEO, Molina Healthcare

Total compensation: $22,131,256

Earned his bachelor's in business administration from the University of Hartford (Conn.).





Began his career at Coopers & Lybrand, eventually becoming a partner of its national insurance practice.





Moved on to hold two executive vice presidencies with separate insurance companies and become a partner of a global private equity firm.





Joined Aetna as chief financial officer and held the role for six years. He was promoted to other positions within the enterprise, including CEO of its Healthagen Holdings subsidiary and senior executive vice president of its largest flagship business unit.





Served as president and CEO of the Hanover Insurance Group.





Took the top role at Molina Healthcare with 35 years of experience under his belt.

Daniel O'Day. Chair and CEO, Gilead Sciences

Total compensation: $21,621,253

Received a bachelor's degree in biology from Washington, D.C.-based Georgetown University and a Master of Business Administration from New York City-based Columbia University, one decade apart.





Began his career as a commercial salesman for the Swiss biotech research company Roche. After eight years in sales, he was promoted to director of human resources.





Moved through the ranks at Roche over 32 years, ultimately becoming chief operating officer of the diagnostics division, chief operating officer of the pharma division, then CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals.





Left Roche Pharmaceuticals after three years at the helm to lead Gilead Sciences.

Robert Ford. Chair and CEO, Abbott Laboratories

Total compensation: $21,452,566

Received a bachelor's from Boston College and an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.





Joined Abbott's diabetes care business. Eventually became executive vice president of medical devices and led the company's diabetes care, cardiovascular and neuromodulation businesses.





Led Abbott's integration of St. Jude Medical in 2017, the company's largest acquisition at the time.





Was promoted to president and COO of Abbott in 2018, then CEO in March 2020.





Was named chair of the board in addition to the CEO title in December 2021.

David Ricks. Chair and CEO, Eli Lilly

Total compensation: $21,398,135



Earned a Bachelor of Science from West Lafayette, Ind.-based Purdue University and an MBA from Indianapolis-based Indiana University.





Joined Eli Lilly as a business development associate and moved into management positions in U.S. marketing and sales.





Was promoted to general manager of Lilly's operations in Canada and China, then returned as president of the company's largest affiliate, Lilly USA.





Became president of Lilly Bio-Medicines, the company's largest business unit at the time, in 2012.





Was named CEO of Eli Lilly in January 2017 and elected chair of its board of directors in June 2017.

David Cordani. Chair, president and CEO, the Cigna Group

Total compensation: $20,965,504

Received a Bachelor of Business Administration from College Station-based Texas A&M University and MBA from the University of Hartford.





Became a senior auditor for Coopers & Lybrand.





Transitioned to the Cigna Group in 1991, holding various regional leadership positions including president of Cigna Healthcare and controller for Cigna Corp.





Was named president and chief operating officer of the Cigna Group in June 2008.





Assumed the top role, chair and CEO, in June 2009.

Gail Boudreaux. President and CEO, Elevance Health

Total compensation: $20,931,081

Earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Hanover, N.H.-based Dartmouth College and an MBA from Columbia University.





Served Aetna for 20 years, eventually becoming senior vice president of group insurance.





Spent six years with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois as executive vice president for external operations, then president.





Transitioned to the presidency at UnitedHealthcare in 2008, and was named CEO in 2011.





Became president and CEO of Elevance Health in 2017.

Giovanni Caforio, MD. Chair and CEO, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Total compensation: $20,053,032

Got his MD at the University of Rome in Italy.





Began his career as a clinical research associate for Abbott Laboratories in Rome  then moved up the ranks for 12 years, eventually becoming the company's general manager, Portugal.





Joined Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2000 as vice president and general manager, Italy. Ascended to senior vice president of Europe marketing and brand commercialization in 2004, then held a variety of SVP roles in U.S. and global oncology.





Was named president of U.S. pharmaceuticals in 2011, and became chief commercial officer in 2013.





Assumed the chief operating officer position in 2014 and was promoted to CEO one year later.





Was named chair of Bristol-Myers Squibb in May 2017 in addition to his CEO title.

Stephane Bancel. CEO, Moderna

Total compensation: $19,363,648

Obtained master's degrees in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota and CentraleSupelec in France. Earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.





Served as a sales and marketing director for in vitro diagnostics company bioMerieux.





Joined Eli Lilly as a supply chain manager and ascended the ranks for five years, eventually becoming country manager of Belgium.





Returned to bioMerieux for a four-year term as CEO.





Founded Moderna in 2011.

Kevin Lobo. Chair and CEO, Stryker

Total compensation: $18,563,214
Christus Health will acquire Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center in Alamogordo, N.M., effective July 1.

Gerald Champion Regional is an independent, nonprofit, sole community level III trauma hospital. It employs or contracts with approximately 160 providers and 1,000 staff and conducts more than 30,000 ER visits, 150,000 clinic visits and 4,000 admissions per year.

The New Mexico hospital inked a letter of intent to join Irving, Texas-based Christus Health in early May with the goal to finalize the combination by early summer.

Norm Arnold, chair of the Gerald Champion Board of Trustees, said the hospital began seeking a partner 18 months ago and reached out to 27 organizations before deciding on Christus, a nonprofit, Catholic system with more than 60 hospitals.

"This is a generational event that builds on our previous 74 years of service to ensure that we will be resilient and continue to thrive, providing the very best in clinical care to our community," said Gerald Champion CEO Jim Heckert, who will remain in the role under CHRISTUS ownership.
Rather than banning the use of generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, healthcare providers should make their employees know how to deploy it with patient privacy in mind, a cybersecurity expert wrote in SC Magazine.

Generative AI has already shown potential in healthcare to reduce physician workload and support clinical decision-making for breast screenings, Will Long, chief security officer of cyber firm First Health Advisory, wrote in the June 29 article. But some companies have moved to ban the technology; for instance, Samsung Electronics did after an engineer uploaded sensitive company code to the platform.

"ChatGPT and other AI tools can deliver a host of benefits to healthcare operations," Mr. Long wrote. "While the risks surrounding generative AI could raise the alarm on possible risks to company secrets or reputational harms, with effective, well-established governance controls, healthcare organizations can reap the benefits of the supportive tool with minimal risk."

He suggested training employees on not inputting company data or protected health information into large language models like ChatGPT and assigning a committee or team to govern the use of AI within the organization.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing Beaumont Hospital, in Wayne, Mich., alleging it failed to accommodate a registered nurse with a disability.

The lawsuit, filed June 29, contends that the hospital refused to transfer the nurse to a vacant position to accommodate a medical work hours restriction. Instead, the hospital had the nurse apply and compete with other candidates for openings, according to the lawsuit. After several months of applying, the nurse earned a new position that allowed her to work less than 32 hours a week. EEOC alleges the hospital's actions violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The commission filed the lawsuit against the hospital after failing to reach a prelitigation settlement. The suit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the former employee, along with injunctive relief.

The hospital denies the suit's allegations.



"We made numerous accommodations for this former team member. Discrimination of any kind did not occur," a Beaumont spokesperson told Becker's. "We are committed to providing reasonable workplace accommodations for team members while also maintaining a workforce sufficient to care for our patients."
Alan Reznik, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Connecticut Orthopaedics in Hamden, connected with Becker's to discuss how ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence programs will evolve in healthcare.

Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Dr. Alan Reznik: The question is, "Can generative AI like ChatGPT be useful in medicine and how will it change the way we practice in the future?"

Machine learning AI and various other computer algorithms are already being used in radiology, pathology, data analysis and EKG readings. ChatGPT is the latest version of AI applications and represents a new pathway for processing information through a large language model. In its current form, generative AI can predict the next word or sentence needed in a sequence when queried on a topic. It can uniquely use its analysis of a huge amount of human created writing or data to produce what a human might say when asked the same question or put into a given scenario. As a predictive model, it can put information together in a unique way.

There is little doubt it will be used in medicine to assemble data, aid in physician guided diagnosis, and help educate patients as to diagnosis, treatments, and/or clinical options. It has already been shown it can act as a conversational companion, friend, interviewer and role play partner. These actions could help teach clinical interviewing skills and even treat depression. Since there is no clear understanding yet of all its capabilities and many of its responses may not be 100 percent factual, there is real caution required as it is applied. Guardrails are needed; data used for training may need to be assessed for bias; and for many clinical applications, there may need to be a specific human supervisor requirement to protect patients from conversations going sideways.
CMS updated its Open Payments data June 30, including information on how much orthopedic and spine device companies paid to partnering physicians and institutions.

The Open Payments data has tracked financial compensation over $10 from medical device and pharmaceutical companies since 2016. The most recent data published was reported for the 2022 calendar year.

Below is the amount of money seven orthopedic device companies disclosed in payments to physicians, clincians and healthcare organizations in the last year.
From learning to helping patients get back to their day-to-day lives, being a spine surgeon has several perks.

Philip Louie, MD, spine surgeon and medical director of research and academics at the Center for Neurosciences and Spine at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle, told Becker's his three favorite parts about being a spine surgeon.

Question: What is your favorite part about being a spine surgeon?

Dr. Philip Louie:

1. Get people back to what they enjoy! For many of these patients, we, as spine surgeons, have the opportunity to play a role in a major health decision and potential surgical intervention. Pain, numbness, tingling and/or weakness can be debilitating. We may not be "saving a life" in its literal form, but we get to help people regain their lifestyles.

2. We are always learning. Spine care continues to evolve and our understanding of anatomy, and pathologies continue to grow. We are always working to get better at what we do and find ways to improve the care that we provide. This motivation to continually improve allows us to be lifelong learners in a field that will never become dull. Both from a physical and mental standpoint.

3. We get to lead/teach and work alongside teams. Taking care of spine patients requires a village. It is incredibly rewarding to work alongside colleagues who share similar passions and are working in different ways to accomplish similar goals. Some team members are trainees (students, residents, fellows, etc). The ability to impart knowledge to the next generation of spine surgeons (and providers in general) is fulfilling on so many fronts.
The end of the government's Energy Price Discount Scheme on July 1 means higher bills for many of us, the Consumer Council has warned

Consumers have been urged to shop around for energy as the end of government support piles up to 300 a year onto bills.

The Consumer Council warned the public that the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) runs out tomorrow.

Since November, the EPG has meant that bills are lower than they would otherwise be.

But with wholesale energy prices dropping, the government has been winding down support since January.

The end of the support piles an extra 328 onto the annual bills of customers of gas supplier firmus energy in the Ten Towns gas network and the Greater Belfast areas.

For gas customers of SSE Airtricity, even though the company announced a price cut of 12.2% from July 1, their annual bills are going up by around 134 because of the end of the government support.

And customers who are supplied with electricity by SSE Airtricity, Electric Ireland and Budget Energy, will see average bills rise by around 127 per year.

But customers of the main electricity supplier Power NI will see their bills go up by just 49 a year, as the company had announced a 7.1% tariff fall.

And there will be no change for customers of Click Energy as the company has cut its tariffs to off-set the end of the government support scheme.

Raymond Gormley, head of energy policy at The Consumer Council, said: Nearly all energy companies will change their tariffs on 1 July, so we recommend that consumers shop around to ensure they are on the most appropriate tariff to suit their needs.

To support consumers with the switching process, the Consumer Councils website has an independent energy price comparison tool to help them get the best deal.

The main reason tariffs are changing is because the Government EPG Scheme, which had subsidised our bills over the winter and spring, has been reduced to zero.

He said the ending of the support was unfortunate as prices were still double the pre-pandemic norm.

However, the UK government is maintaining the scheme in place until April so that it can be revived if necessary, Mr Gormley said.

He said anyone whos struggling to pay their energy bills or top-up their meters should contact their supplier.

We also encourage consumers to think about ways they can reduce their energy costs through energy efficiency and, if possible, try to budget over the summer months to help cover energy costs during the coming winter.
From Stendhal in Limavady to Electric Picnic in Co Laois, these are some of the artists to sound out this summer

Festival season is upon us and with that comes the opportunity to discover some fresh new local artists to add to your playlist.

The Belfast Telegraph has gathered a list of some of the newest artists bursting onto the festival scene in Northern Ireland and potentially set for bigger things in the months and years to come.

Leo Miyagee

Leo Miyagee was born in Zimbabwe, he moved to London with his mother when he was three-years-old and later moved to Northern Ireland at the age of 13.

If you are a fan of hip hop or rap, Leo Miyagee is definitely one to watch out for.

He released his latest EP, Camus, in May and has spoken of his excitement to perform at multiple festivals over the summer.

Im feeling great ahead of Stendhal, Im just grateful Im finally getting a run at the Irish festival circuit as Im also playing All Together Now and Electric Picnic, Leo said.

He is hopeful that his career will continue to flourish.

Im very optimistic about the future of my career. Im going to continue to push my newly released EP and Im doing a UK and Ireland tour in November, including a gig at the Limelight in Belfast on the final leg of the tour.

Things are going well now, Im slowly building support and I look forward to seeing what happens next, Leo said.

Leo Miyagee

Red Eye Pariah

For fans of Biffy Clyro, Arctic Monkeys, Kings of Leon and Jamie T  Red Eye Pariah offer an energetic new sound.

The Antrim band is made up of Joe Dawson on drums, Sammy Stevenson on guitar and vocals, Deano Kelly on guitar and vocals and Alex Close on bass.

The band is quickly growing in popularity, having recently performed their biggest headline show to date at a packed-out Limelight in Belfast.

The four-piece is now ready to pull out all the stops in their performances this summer.

To say were excited is an understatement. This is our second time playing the Stendhal and were thrilled to be back, Alex said.

Last year we played the Wooly Woodland stage for our Stendhal debut.

The massive turnout for our set was completely unexpected and the audience blew us away.

People were climbing trees just to see the stage which was nuts but it put a big smile on our faces. Were hoping for a repeat of that energy on The Air Stage this year, Alex added.

The band is hopeful they can continue to flourish and grow their fan base.

Coming up this side of summer weve a July packed full of festivals and then well be focusing on getting a UK tour together in the coming months, Alex said.

In November well be celebrating the second anniversary of our first live show and weve something very special planned for that as well so keep your eyes peeled.

Red Eye Pariah

Tramp

Tramp is an alt indie punk band made up of four friends  Sianna Lafferty on guitar and vocals, Fionnbarr Doran on guitar, Ellie McFadden on bass and Ciaran Steamy McCay on drums.

Were just a couple of Derry, Donegal and Tyrone natives who like making music, Ellie said.

The band promises a sound that offers something for everyone.

We actually find it hard to pin down one genre, people can expect a different blend of genres when listening to our music, Ellie added.

We tend to be individually inspired by a different range of artists like Big Thief, Pixies, Sinead OConnor to name a few. Sometimes well sneak in a few covers by legends like Girls Aloud, Talking Heads or System Of A Down.

Were so so chuffed and excited to have been asked to play Stendhal.

Some of us have played before with different artists but never all together.

Theres always a bit of nerves playing somewhere different but were buzzing to get to see all the other amazing artists playing, Stendhal always has so many cool and talented performers.

This year, the band is hoping to gather more fans from across the UK and Ireland.

In the near future we have a few gigs across Ireland, including heading to Dublin and Cork for the first time this summer.

Later this year were heading to play across England, Wales and Scotland.

Were looking forward to playing places weve never played before, but its hard to beat playing in your local scene, because the music scene has a strong sense of support.

Each member of the band has a true passion for music and they hope this comes across to their fans.

It can be hard to make a living from music alone but we plan to keep trying as long as we can, she added.

We appreciate and love making music and playing together so were going to keep at that.

TRAMP Band

PiNKSLiPS

If you are interested in hard rock then PiNKSLiPS are definitely the band for you to look out for.

The band was formed during the pandemic by friends, Gerry Norman (on vocals and guitar) David McGaughey (on guitar and vocals), Shane Watters (on drums) and Carl Gilmore (on bass).

After a year of mishaps, incidents & personal setbacks PiNKSLiPS finally made their live debut at Vault Artists Summer Festival in August 2022, following up with a headline show at the Look North! festival, and a gig at the famed Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast.

The band hasnt released any singles of their own yet but are ready to give the performance of a lifetime at Stendhal this summer.

We cant wait, we are extremely excited for this summer, said David.

We are hoping to release two singles by the end of the year but we havent got anything out yet, so we chanced our arm and we are delighted that Stendhal decided to take a chance on us and we hope to impress them and our audience.

PiNKSLiPS

Robocobra Quartet

Robocobra Quartet arent technically a new band  they have been on the music scene in Northern Ireland since 2014 but if you havent heard of them and are interested in hearing an experimental new sound from a local band then you should definitely check them out.

Their shows really have a fluid line-up, with six musicians tagging in and out to make up the live touring quartet.

We like experimenting and going against the grain, said lead drummer and vocalist, Chris W Ryan.

Robocobra Quartet swaps between musicians, Chris W Ryan (drums, voice), Nathan Rodgers (bass), Ryan Burrowes (bass, sampler, keys), Tom Tabori (soprano sax, sampler, keys), Peter Howard (tenor sax, alto sax) and Thibault Barillon (tenor sax).

The band aims to evoke the likeness of Fugazi, Talking Heads and contemporaries such as Black Midi, Squid and BadBadNotGood.

They play a blend of jazz and punk to some these might seem like polarising genres of music but to Robocobra Quartet they flow seamlessly together.

They both come from the same world, Chris said.

The band are performing at Stendhal this year and are aiming to grow their fanbase at festivals across the UK and Ireland this summer.

It should be good, we are all looking forward to the summer, its going to be a busy time for us, Chris added.

We just want to keep doing more of what we are doing now.
The Teal Monkey, Dublin Road, Belfast. www.thetealmonkey.co.uk

What is the Dublin Road for these days? A few years ago it was Belfasts Golden Mile, a dazzling little strip packed with bars and restaurants. Even during the Troubles, the Dublin Road had a thing going. Who can forget the allumette chips in lEscargot or the glamour of Pips, Dempseys and the Elbow?
The mother was jailed for a minimum of 20 years today (Friday)

The boys mother must serve at least 20 years in prison for his murder.

A young girl who survived an attempted murder bid by her mother and witnessed her baby brother being fatally stabbed was left so traumatised that she re-enacted the moment on her dolls, a court heard.

The woman stabbed her eight-week-old son to death then tried to murder his two-year-old sister

The 31-year-old mother  who cannot be named for legal reasons  wept in court on Friday as she was jailed for a minimum of 20 years.

She was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court by Judge Donna McColgan KC.

At the conclusion of the seven-week trial in March, the jury returned a majority guilty verdict concerning the murder of the baby and unanimous guilty verdict regarding the attempted murder of the little girl.

During the trial, the jury watched bodyworn police footage from officers who responded to a 999 call on the evening of Tuesday July 27, 2021.

The videos showed the accused sitting on her living room floor in handcuffs and bleeding from self-inflicted wound to her neck and chest.

Whilst one officer was seen removing the bloodied, injured and crying girl from the living room, a colleague can be seen lifting the baby boy from a bed.

The woman can be heard saying: "I wouldn't worry about him, he's dead. I stabbed him."

The officer said "the baby's still warm but I can't feel a pulse" before placing him gently on the floor then starting to perform CPR on the hard surface.

The footage also captured a policeman attempting to drive the injured girl to hospital in a PSNI car before handing her over to paramedics.

Both youngsters were rushed to the accident and emergency department at the Royal Victoria Hospital for children and were treated as they lay side-by-side in the resuss room.

Read more NI woman found guilty of murdering baby son and attempting to murder daughter

Whilst the young girl was successfully treated for a stab wound to her chest, her baby brother was pronounced dead at 9pm.

As she sentenced the 31-year-old, Judge McColgan spoke of the "exceptionally high" breach of trust by the mother and the "extreme vulnerability" of the very young child.

She also spoke of the lasting impact the incident has had on the young girl, who is now four and who lives with foster carers.

Judge McColgan revealed that after reading reports on the youngster, she has re-enacted the incident during play-time and stabbed a doll with a pair of toy scissors.

Regarding the trauma suffered by the little girl, the judge said: "The defendant had just stabbed her eight-week-old baby twice through his heart. She then stabbed (the girl) in the same general area.

"But for the intervention of police who attended at the scene, the medical staff at the house and the hospital, we could currently be dealing with the deaths of two very young children."

Judge McColgan paid tribute to the emergency services both at the scene and in hospital who made "tireless and unrelenting efforts" to save both children and to the surviving girl's foster carers.

Following her arrest for attacking her children, the defendant made the case that she stabbed her children then turned the knife on herself as she wanted them all to die together.

She also wrote a series of entries into a diary hours before the double-knife attack which appeared to be written to her partner.

In one note she said 'I chose to take our lives for everything you did to us. You got to the point of leaving your children for another woman.

'All you wanted was to have arguments so you could have reasons to leave and be with your woman.'

During subsequent police interviews, she made references about her partner's use of drink, drugs and prostitutes. She also claimed he beat and sexually abused her and that his family threatened to shoot her.

When asked by a detective what she was thinking at the time, she said: "I wanted to kill all three, all of us so that (their father) could have a happy life together with his new woman.

"This was the only solution that came to my mind."

Her mental state was the subject of careful consideration during the trial, with Judge McColgan saying that it was agreed the defendant was suffering from mild to moderate depression at the time.

Also under scrutiny during the hearing was the nature of the relationship between the woman and the children's father, who the jury heard had an extensive criminal record.

Judge McColgan said that whilst she accepted the father was "at the very least a most unsavoury character", he was not present in the family home on the day of the double knife attack.

The judge said she had deemed the defendant as a dangerous offender and one who should have provided her "two innocent children" safety.

As the minimum 20-year sentence was imposed the defendant - who cried throughout the hearing - started sobbing loudly and this continued as she was led from the dock and back into custody by prison staff.

She will have to serve the full term in prison before she is considered eligible for release by the Parole Commissioners.

Following the sentencing the father of the baby said in a statement issued via the PSNI said he will never forget the youngster.

The man said: "Words cannot describe what my family and I have been through.

"We never got to see my son grow up, but will never forget him."

Detective Inspector Gina Quinn, from the PSNIs Major Investigation Team, said the youngster were attacked by a woman who should "loving, caring and protecting."

The senior policewoman said: "This has been a totally distressing case. A tiny and innocent life was taken in senseless and tragic circumstances.

"I would like to thank our partners in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children who fought so hard to try and save the lives of both children.

"The family have had their whole world turned upside down. They have lost an opportunity to see one of the children grow up, while the surviving child has lost her brother.

"There is nothing I can do or say that will undo this loss or begin to ease their pain.

"My thoughts, and that of the investigation team, are with the surviving child, the family and the wider community who have all been affected."
A Slovakian national was remanded into custody on Friday after he attempted to abduct a young girl in Co Armagh

A man was remanded into custody today accused of attempting to abduct a young girl in Co Armagh .

Appearing at Craigavon Magistrates Court by video link from police custody, 33-year-old Marek Burietta was charged with five offences following an incident in the Brookehill area of Lurgan on Wednesday.

The Slovakian national, of no fixed abode, was charged with attempted abduction of a child, kidnapping, possession of an offensive weapon  namely a knife  in a public place, attempted indecent exposure and attempted sexual assault of a second female.

The defendant continually interrupted the proceedings and the Slovakian interpreter told District Judge Trevor Browne, the defendant was saying that he didn't understand.

She translated him as saying: There are some discrepancies. First of all, there are five charges  that is so much discrepancy compared to yesterday. I don't agree with these charges.

Giving evidence, a police officer said he believed he could connect Burietta to each of the charges.

The defence solicitor told the court notwithstanding that the defendant completely denies all of these offences there is no application for bail.

When the prosecutor asked for a four-week adjournment, Burietta interrupted the court again, saying, according to the interpreter: I completely disagree with showing my genitals or some sex advances.

Remanding Burietta into custody, Judge Brown adjourned the case until Friday July 28.
A west Belfast drug dealer found with almost 100,000 in cash was jailed today (Friday) for 20 months.

Belfast Recorder Judge Patricia Smyth told Gareth Cullen that he will spend a further 20 months on supervised licence on his release from prison.

Passing sentence, Judge Smyth told Cullen: "Drugs destroy lives and those who willingly play a part in the trade will be severely punished.''

The 35-year-old, of Glenvale Street in the Shankill area, pleaded guilty to charges of being concerned in the supply of cocaine, possessing cannabis and two counts of possessing criminal property.

Belfast Crown Court heard that police searched Cullen's home on May 20, 2021, and during the operation a package containing 13.1 grammes of cocaine was thrown out of a rear upstairs window.

A further 4.57 grammes of cannabis and weighing scales were found in kitchen. 1,430 in cash was seized from the house, including 1,000 in a wallet beside a bed.

"The evidence of the extent of your drug dealing came from your phone and your bank account information,'' said Judge Smyth.

"This showed a substantial amount of drug dealing and a total of 97,392.80p went through your bank account in two-and-a-half years.

"The bank statements showed frequent payments into your account from third parties which were consistent with payment for drugs.''

The Belfast Recorder said an examination of text messages on his mobile phone "demonstrated that you were dealing in cocaine''.

Cullen provided a mostly no comment interview with police but said that some of the money seized belonged to a neighbour.

The judge noted that Cullen had 17 criminal convictions on his record, nine of which were for drug offences, including one for possessing Class C drugs with intent to supply in 2013.

He also has convictions for possession of a firearm and offensive weapon which the judge said "obviously related to your involvement in the drug trade''.

"I am told by the prosecution that your involvement was dealing at a street level, although it was clearly commercial.

"You were acting on behalf of more sinister elements who ensured your protection so that the drug trade could flourish.

"There is no evidence of a lavish lifestyle or trappings of wealth but you did receive a fraction of the proceeds which paid for your drug habit. You have an entrenched addiction to cocaine.

"You were a necessary part of the operation and trust was reposed in you and you were carrying out these offences over a lenghty period of time.

"Your relevant record is evidence that you did so knowing very well the consequences of your actions.''

Judge Smyth ordered the destruction of the seized drugs and drug-related paraphernalia.

She added that the cash recovered will be donated to Addiction NI "to help those who seek help for their addictions''.
After being diagnosed with a brain tumour aged 12, walking away with a degree in computer science could not have been further from the thoughts of the family of Ulster University graduate Lauren Monaghan.

But thats just what she achieved yesterday, despite the road to higher education being anything but smooth sailing.

Lauren said she always took a keen interest in computers and maths and loved learning about how computer programmes work.

Her decision to apply to Ulster University was inspired by her software development teacher in school, who rated the course, and encouragement from her friends who were already in their first year and enjoying the student experience.

I was diagnosed with a very rare brain tumour at age 12, Lauren explained.

Soon after, I went through two surgeries, with the second leading to a number of complications and further medical conditions.

I had to take time out of school to travel to the US for trials and treatment, as well as to adjust to new medications to keep my body functioning.

I still have rough days coping with the complications of my tumour, but Ive learned to adapt and make the most of the good days.

Battling through her health issues, Lauren worked with a tutor from home to continue her studies and to ensure she didnt fall behind her classmates. It was at this stage that she was advised by her consultants to leave education after her GCSEs  but this wasnt in Laurens plan.

Despite the doctors advice, I knew I wanted to keep going. I wanted to do my A-levels and go on to higher education, she added.

The number of complications after the surgery and radiotherapy treatment were challenging, but I worked hard to catch up with classmates and get the grades I needed to move on to the next stage of my education.

Lauren was on track to sit her A-levels when another health issue, not connected to the brain tumour, was discovered and, as a result, she had to be held back a year.

After receiving the necessary treatment, Lauren went back to school to sit her A-levels and was successful in her application to study at Ulster University in 2019, where she found her lecturers very supportive and who helped make the transition easier, along with Student Wellbeing.

In the first semester of her first year, Lauren enjoyed university life and her mum made the trip a few times a week from their home in Ballymoney to bring her to the Derry/Londonderry campus.

But then the Covid-19 pandemic struck during semester two and Laurens learning was moved online for the remainder of year one and all of year two.

In first year, Lauren joined Procraftination, an arts and crafts society based on the Derry/Londonderry campus, to meet people and get involved in the social side of university life.

When things moved online, Lauren became chairperson in her second year, hosting Zoom meetings throughout lockdowns.

Lauren and the other Procraftination members would stick to using household materials for their crafts, to make things as easy and accessible as possible.

After completing a placement as a software engineer in her third year, Lauren returned to campus for her final year. She then had her very first job interview, with incredible results.

I was contacted on LinkedIn to apply for a two-year graduate programme at Citi, she revealed.

It was my very first graduate job interview, so I was quite nervous. But Im delighted to say I was successful and I am due to start my role this September as a graduate software intern.
Controlled explosions carried out as police investigate day of disruption in Portrush

Police at the scene of a road closure at Hopefield Avenue near where a suspicious object has been found. (Credit: Geoffrey Moffett/ECCAG)

An Alliance councillor whose home was targeted in a hoax security alert said he will not be deterred from his work.

Peter McCully, who was only elected to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council last month, was targeted in one of two incidents in Portrush.

Two hoax devices were left outside homes in the Hopefield Avenue area.

The objects, which were wrapped in Pride flags, were discovered following a call to police the previous day.

The Alliance Party condemned the incidents as reckless violence.

Mr McCully said it was a shocking and very disruptive event for his family and a second party colleague, who was also targeted.

The PSNI said a number of controlled explosions were carried out by ATO.

The alerts ended at approximately 4.30pm on Friday.

Detective Chief Inspector Hamilton said: The hoax devices have now been recovered and will be forensically examined. The placement of these devices has caused untold disruption to the lives of local people, many of whom have had to leave their homes while we made sure the area was safe for them.

Those responsible care nothing for the impact they have on communities nor do they care about the fear and uncertainty their actions cause.

Such attempts to intimidate and threaten are completely unacceptable.

"Detectives are now robustly investigating and would ask anyone with information, or anyone who may have captured footage in the area of Hopefield Avenue, to please get in touch.

Cllr Peter McCully

Mr McCully told the BBCs Talkback: Portrush is a welcoming and inclusive place and to have this type of incident occurring on our doorstep is obviously tarnishing the reputation of the town."

Mr McCully said he did not want to speculate about the presence of a Pride flag with the hoax device.

However, he said a "toxic culture" had emerged around LGBT issues in recent weeks.

"I feel this is almost an escalation of that, he added. We have seen a number of incidents recently and it does have the impact of almost normalising these types of actions.

"It's clear that we are facing a rising tide in prejudice of LGBT people and we need to come out strongly and condemn that.

Mr McCully said it represented an attack on democracy.

He added: "I have only recently been elected  I was elected back in the local government election a number of weeks ago.

"From talking to my local colleagues and also my wider party colleagues, the safety of candidates was very much a concern of people going forward, so it does have a chilling effect.

"I obviously have a mandate from the people of Causeway DEA (district electoral area) to be their representative and this type of action will not put me off, it will not deter me from speaking out on the matters that matter to them, and also representing Alliance values in Causeway DEA and Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

It is understood the hoax device was left close to where prominent LGBT activist Mark Ashton lived in Portrush and comes a month ahead of the Causeway Pride event due to take place in the town on August 5.

Alliance said the hoax alerts were appalling.

"Alliance can confirm these security alerts involved a hoax device at the home of Councillor Peter McCully and another alert at the home of a former party councillor, said a spokesperson.

"We utterly condemn those behind these appalling attacks and call on all other parties to do likewise. Nobody should face this kind of threat when simply doing their job.

"In addition, local residents have been left facing huge disruption due to their irresponsible actions of a few who represent nobody other than themselves.

"This has echoes of both the dark days of our troubled past and more recent times, when homes and offices of Alliance elected representatives were targeted for once again simply doing our job. The addition of a Pride flag adds an extra sinister edge.

"It is clear some are still not getting the message this reckless violence is not welcome in Northern Ireland. We urge anyone with information on these incidents to contact police with it immediately."

Scott Cuthbertson, Director of LGBTQIA+ advocacy group The Rainbow Project said: "We are deeply concerned to hear the reports of a security incident in Portrush last night where two suspicious objects were allegedly wrapped in a pride flag. Our thoughts are with all those caught up in this incident.

We understand the alarm this incident will cause to LGBTQIA+ communities in Northern Ireland, and will be working to understand what has happened by liaising with the relevant authorities.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell said he had spoken to Mr McCully following the incident.

"Those behind the targeting of Peter McCully do not represent people in Portrush. This attempted intimidation must be condemned, he said.

"Earlier this morning, I visited the scene and sought to speak with Peter and assure him of my thoughts at this difficult time not only for him but those close to him.

"The scene remained sealed off so I relayed my support to police at the security cordon.

"There was never any place for this type of bully tactics in democratic politics and trust those behind this act will be brought to justice.

East Londonderry MLA Caoimhe Archibald said those responsible for the incident showed total disregard for the community.

"This is senseless behaviour that has served only to cause chaos for residents and demonstrates a total disregard for the community," she said.

Those responsible for these incidents have absolutely nothing to offer our society, it needs to stop now. I understand the police are now treating this incident as a hate crime."

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said: I totally condemn this act of hate and bigotry. We need to root out this type of hatred from Portrush and everywhere.

Belfast SDLP councillor Seamas de Faoite said it was deeply disappointed to see LGBT+ representatives targeted.

"This is a despicable attack on the LGBT+ community and an elected representative, he said.

"This must be condemned in the strongest possible terms and I send my full solidarity to Peter McCully and an Alliance colleague who was also targeted.

He added: These fascists need to realise that they are in a tiny minority and allow people to live in peace.
The Paramilitary Crime Task Force conducted searches on Friday.

Police conducted searches on Friday in the area

A number of items have been seized after police conducted searches on properties in the Newtownards area as part of an investigation into suspected drugs criminality linked to loyalist paramilitaries.

Detectives from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force conducted two searches at properties on Friday June 30 linked to the ongoing feud between rival drugs groups across Ards and North Down.

Detective Sergeant Foley said: Officers conducted two searches at properties in Newtownards, one at the Tara Crescent area and one at the Donaghadee Road area.

"A number of items were recovered and taken away for further forensic examination.

"We will continue in our work to disrupt those involved in criminal activities and reduce the harm they cause in our communities.

Anyone with information which could assist us can contact police on 101, or submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/.

"You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org.
Causeway representative Peter McCully targeted in security alert weeks after election

Police at the scene of a road closure at Hopefield Avenue near where a suspicious object has been found. (Credit: Geoffrey Moffett/ECCAG)

Controlled explosions have been carried out on two suspicious devices by ammunition technical officers in Portrush as a day long security alert ended.

On Thursday evening, a suspicious device was discovered in the Hopefield Grove area of the town, with a second device discovered earlier today.

Both devices were wrapped in Pride flags.

A PSNI spokesperson said a full public safety operation was implemented and controlled explosions were carried out by ATO. The alerts ended at approximately 4.30pm.

Detective Chief Inspector Hamilton said: The hoax devices have now been recovered and will be forensically examined. The placement of these devices has caused untold disruption to the lives of local people, many of whom have had to leave their homes while we made sure the area was safe for them.

Those responsible care nothing for the impact they have on communities nor do they care about the fear and uncertainty their actions cause.

Such attempts to intimidate and threaten are completely unacceptable. Detectives are now robustly investigating and would ask anyone with information, or anyone who may have captured footage in the area of Hopefield Avenue, to please get in touch by calling 101 and quoting incident number 1829 of 29/06/23.

It came as a councillor whose home was targeted in a hoax security alert said he will not be deterred from his work.

Peter McCully, who was only elected to Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council last month, was targeted in the incident in Portrush.

A suspicious item was wrapped in a Pride flag. It was later declared a hoax. Police are treating the incident as a hate crime.

The Alliance Party condemned the incident as reckless violence.

Mr McCully said it was a shocking and very disruptive event for his family and a second party colleague, who was also targeted.

On Friday homes in the Portrush area were evacuated following the discovery of a second suspicious object. Police ATO vehicles are also understood to be at the scene.

Mr McCully told the BBCs Talkback: Portrush is a welcoming and inclusive place and to have this type of incident occurring on our doorstep is obviously tarnishing the reputation of the town."

Mr McCully said he did not want to speculate about the presence of a Pride flag with the hoax device.

However, he said a "toxic culture" had emerged around LGBT issues in recent weeks.

"I feel this is almost an escalation of that, he added. We have seen a number of incidents recently and it does have the impact of almost normalising these types of actions.

"It's clear that we are facing a rising tide in prejudice of LGBT people and we need to come out strongly and condemn that.

Mr McCully said it represented an attack on democracy.

He added: "I have only recently been elected  I was elected back in the local government election a number of weeks ago.

"From talking to my local colleagues and also my wider party colleagues, the safety of candidates was very much a concern of people going forward, so it does have a chilling effect.

"I obviously have a mandate from the people of Causeway DEA (district electoral area) to be their representative and this type of action will not put me off, it will not deter me from speaking out on the matters that matter to them, and also representing Alliance values in Causeway DEA and Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.

It is understood the hoax device was left close to where prominent LGBT activist Mark Ashton lived in Portrush and comes a month ahead of the Causeway Pride event due to take place in the town on August 5.

Alliance said the hoax alerts were appalling.

"Alliance can confirm these security alerts involved a hoax device at the home of Councillor Peter McCully and another alert at the home of a former party councillor, said a spokesperson.

"We utterly condemn those behind these appalling attacks and call on all other parties to do likewise. Nobody should face this kind of threat when simply doing their job.

"In addition, local residents have been left facing huge disruption due to their irresponsible actions of a few who represent nobody other than themselves.

"This has echoes of both the dark days of our troubled past and more recent times, when homes and offices of Alliance elected representatives were targeted for once again simply doing our job. The addition of a Pride flag adds an extra sinister edge.

"It is clear some are still not getting the message this reckless violence is not welcome in Northern Ireland. We urge anyone with information on these incidents to contact police with it immediately."

Scott Cuthbertson, Director of LGBTQIA+ advocacy group The Rainbow Project said: "We are deeply concerned to hear the reports of a security incident in Portrush last night where two suspicious objects were allegedly wrapped in a pride flag. Our thoughts are with all those caught up in this incident.

We understand the alarm this incident will cause to LGBTQIA+ communities in Northern Ireland, and will be working to understand what has happened by liaising with the relevant authorities.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell said he had spoken to Mr McCully following the incident.

"Those behind the targeting of Peter McCully do not represent people in Portrush. This attempted intimidation must be condemned, he said.

"Earlier this morning, I visited the scene and sought to speak with Peter and assure him of my thoughts at this difficult time not only for him but those close to him.

"The scene remained sealed off so I relayed my support to police at the security cordon.

"There was never any place for this type of bully tactics in democratic politics and trust those behind this act will be brought to justice.

East Londonderry MLA Caoimhe Archibald said those responsible for the incident showed total disregard for the community.

"This is senseless behaviour that has served only to cause chaos for residents and demonstrates a total disregard for the community," she said.

Those responsible for these incidents have absolutely nothing to offer our society, it needs to stop now. I understand the police are now treating this incident as a hate crime."

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said: I totally condemn this act of hate and bigotry. We need to root out this type of hatred from Portrush and everywhere.

Belfast SDLP councillor Seamas de Faoite said it was deeply disappointed to see LGBT+ representatives targeted.

"This is a despicable attack on the LGBT+ community and an elected representative, he said.

"This must be condemned in the strongest possible terms and I send my full solidarity to Peter McCully and an Alliance colleague who was also targeted.

He added: These fascists need to realise that they are in a tiny minority and allow people to live in peace.
Fire at Primark in Belfast on August 28, 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott for Belfast Telegraph)

Two companies were today fined a total of 160,000 over the blaze at Primark Bank Buildings store in Belfast almost five years ago.

Bennett Management Contractors (GB) Ltd, of Central Street, London, and AF Roofing, of Knocknastooka, Grange, Youghal, Co Waterford, both pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to ensure the health and safety of employees at work.

The companies further admitted failing to ensure the safety of workers not in their employment.

Judge Philip Gilpin fined each company 80,000 for the health safe breaches.

Imposing the sentences on the firms, the judge said: The fines must reflect the means of the companies and also reflect the public's disquiet at the harm caused by the offence.

Judge Gilpin added that it was fortunate no one was injured in the fire which was as a result of well-planned evacuation procedures which were already in place by Primark management prior to the fire.

He said Bennett Management had four weeks to pay the fine given it has an annual turnover of over 30m.

Judge Gilpin said that given AF Roofing had a much smaller annual turnover, he would allow the company a longer period to pay the fine: 20,000 by December 31, 2023; 30,000 by December 31, 2024 and 30,000 by December 31, 2025.

A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service said it carefully considered all the available evidence submitted by HSENI and took decisions to prosecute the three companies.

"None of the offences allege that the health and safety failings caused the fire, but that employees and non-employees were exposed to risks to their health or safety as a result of the failings uncovered in the investigation, added the spokesperson.

"The defendants accepted that such failings occurred.

Belfast Crown Court heard that on August 28, 2018, a crane driver raised the alarm about seeing smoke on the roof of the Primark Building on Royal Avenue.

A witness on the street also spotted smoke coming from behind the building's iconic clock and went into the store to alert staff.

Prosecuting barrister Philip Henry said that three employees of AF Roofing  a qualified roofer and two trainees one of whom was a fire marshal  were working on the roof of the building.

He told the court that at around 11am, they left the site for a tea break and two of them went to a nearby Tesco Metro store and the third went to the canteen.

The workers maintained that before leaving the site for their break they had turned off the pilots on the hot torches.

Mr Henry said after the alarm was raised, workers on site tried to put out the fire with extinguishers but eventually the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) was contacted who took over the scene.

There were approximately 1,300 to 1,500 people evacuated from the building, including 104 Primark staff and 75 construction workers, explained the prosecutor.

The rest were members of the public who had been shopping. Thankfully there were no injuries or fatalities.

A total of 302 firefighters attended the blaze along with 64 appliances. The fires spread quickly and was devastating to the building and took several days to extinguish.

The fire was eventually extinguished after three days.

He said Bennett Management was the principal contractor with overall responsibility for the site and had been employed by Primark to carry out the multi-million pound refurbishment work at the historic building.

In turn Bennett Management employed AF Roofing, a specialist roofing and cladding firm, as a sub-contractor to carry out works on the roof.

AF Roofing, the court heard, was to fit new insulation boards on the roof and cover it with felt using heat from a gas-powered blow torch.

Mr Henry said a risk assessment carried out by both companies days before the work started was ineffective in identifying risks  no checks were made of what was underneath the roofing where the work was to be done.

Although a hot works permit was secured for using the blow torches, AF Roofing did not submit it or have it approved by Bennett Management. It was left in the AF Roofing work van.

The permit stated that there should be a 'fire watch on the building after the work was completed for one hour.

However, it did not state there should be a continuous fire watch throughout the day.

But Mr Henry said that this was inadequate as there should have been a continuous watch on the works during tea breaks or at lunchtime.

Both companies accepted a significant failing in their duty of care which goes to the heart of this case and to the heart of this sentencing exercise.

Health and safety is a serious business, added Mr Henry.

Brian Fee KC for Bennett Management told the court: This was a significant adverse event in relation to Belfast and the disruption it caused to the city centre and people going about their everyday business.

He said that unlike other health and safety cases, there is no fatality in this case or anyone seriously injured. In fact there was no injury to any person.

Mr Fee added that despite the companies failings, Primark continued to use Bennett Management to complete the works at Bank Buildings and other ongoing Primark projects.

Bennett Management has taken steps to ensure that what happened in this case in terms of failings in its regulatory requirements will not happen again.

Charles MacCreanor KC said that since the fire, AF Roofing had engaged consultants to improve its safety standards and risk assessments.

"This is not a fly-by-night company. This is a company that is trying to do its best in both work and health and safety. It is saying that 'one can always do better when it comes to health safety'.

It accepts its failings, and this is a blot on its copy book. But it has taken on board all the lessons to be learned from this.

It has now implemented a new system for hot works where tea and lunch breaks are now staggered for employees so there is a continuous fire watch on site.

Both defendants can count themselves fortunate that there were no fatalities, added Mr MacCreanor.
This picture of Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein was shown to the court during her sex trafficking trial (US Department of Justice/PA)

Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwells arguments for overturning her sex trafficking conviction fall far short of justifying quashing the jurys verdict, US Government lawyers have said.

The 61-year-old was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to massage rooms for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June last year.

Maxwell was convicted of luring young girls to Epsteins massage rooms for him to abuse (US Department of Justice/PA)

Maxwell indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had faded, distorted and motivated memories.

Her attorneys also claimed she did not have a fair trial after it emerged one of the jurors, Scotty David, also known as Juror 50, had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused in the jury questionnaire.

But US Government lawyers have urged the Second Circuit Appeals Court to uphold Maxwells conviction.

In response to the arguments about Mr David, the US Governments attorneys said: Judge Nathan conducted a thorough inquiry and determined that Juror 50s inadvertent errors on the jury questionnaire did not undermine Maxwells right to a fair trial.

Maxwell does not meaningfully engage with Judge Nathans careful opinion, instead suggesting that Juror 50s testimony at the hearing was patently absurd.

The US Government attorneys said Maxwells arguments fall far short of establishing Judge Nathan abused her discretion in her decision not to overturn the jurys verdict.

The former socialite also argued the US government breached a non-prosecution agreement by bringing the charges against her  claiming the agreement immunised Maxwell for these offences.

But the US prosecutors said Maxwell has no right to invoke the protections of a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) because she was not a signatory or a third party to the agreement.

Prosecutors argue Maxwells appeal submissions fall far short of justifying overturning the jurys verdict (US Department of Justice/PA)

In her appeal submissions, the disgraced socialite said the court had refused to correct the jurys misunderstanding of elements of the charges  meaning she was convicted of crimes with which she was not charged.

But the US Government said Judge Nathan found that the original jury instructions and the Governments summation captured the core of criminality charged in the indictment.

Maxwell also urged the appeal court to resentence if she was not granted a new trial.

But the government attorneys said her sentence was not unfair and that her arguments to the contrary were so cursory and undeveloped that they should be dismissed.

Jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as dangerous during her three-week trial, and were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epsteins various properties for him to sexually abuse.

Her lawyers have until July 27 to respond the US Governments submissions.

Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020, despite numerous attempts from her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The death was ruled a suicide.
A demonstrator runs on the third night of protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, France (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

Protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police in French streets overnight as tensions grew over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old.

More than 875 people were arrested and at least 200 police officers hurt as the government struggled to restore order on a third night of unrest.

Armoured police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars which had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the boy identified only by his first name, Nahel.

A relative of the teenager said his family is of Algerian descent.

Nahel will be buried on Saturday, Nanterre mayor Patrick Jarry said, adding that the country needs to push for changes in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Theres a feeling of injustice in many residents minds, whether its about school achievement, getting a job, access to culture, housing and other life issues  I believe we are in that moment when we need to face the urgency (of the situation), he said.

The unrest extended as far as Belgiums capital Brussels, where about a dozen people were detained during scuffles related to the shooting in France and several fires had to be tackled.

In several Paris neighbourhoods, groups of people hurled firecrackers at security forces. The police station in the citys 12th district was attacked, while some shops were looted along Rivoli street, near the Louvre museum, and at the Forum des Halles, the largest shopping centre in central Paris.

In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police sought to disperse violent groups in the city centre, regional authorities said.

Similar incidents broke out in dozens of towns and cities across France.

Some 40,000 police officers were deployed to quell the protests.

National police said a total of 875 people were detained overnight, including 408 in the Paris region alone.

Around 200 police officers were hurt, according to a national police spokesperson.

No information was available about injuries among the rest of the population.

Police stand amid firecrackers on the third night of protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, France (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin on Friday denounced what he called a night of rare violence.

His office described the arrests as a sharp increase on previous operations as part of an overall government efforts to be extremely firm with rioters.

The French government has stopped short of declaring a state of emergency  a measure taken to quell weeks of rioting around France that followed the accidental death of two boys fleeing police in 2005.

But Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne suggested on Friday the option is being considered.

President Emmanuel Macron left early from an EU summit in Brussels, where France plays a major role in European policymaking, to return to Paris and hold an emergency security meeting.

The German government on Friday said it is monitoring the unrest in France with some concern but it is up to French authorities and the public there to tackle the issue.

The police officer accused of pulling the trigger on Tuesday was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.

Preliminary charges mean investigating magistrates strongly suspect wrongdoing but need to investigate more before sending a case to trial.

The shooting captured on video shocked France and stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

The detained police officers lawyer, speaking on French TV channel BFMTV, said the officer is sorry and devastated.

The officer did what he thought was necessary in the moment, Laurent-Franck Lienard told the news outlet.

He doesnt get up in the morning to kill people, Mr Lienard said of the officer, whose name has not been released as per French practice in criminal cases.

He really didnt want to kill.

Mr Prache said officers tried to stop Nahel because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish license plates in a bus lane.

He allegedly went through a red light to avoid being stopped and then got stuck in traffic.

The officer who fired the shot said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car as Nahel tried to flee, Mr Prache said.

Nahels mother, identified as Mounia M, told France 5 television she is angry at the officer who killed her only child but not the police in general.

He saw a little Arab-looking kid; he wanted to take his life, she said, saying justice should be very firm.

A can burns in the Paris suburb of Nanterre (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our childrens lives, she said.

Nahels grandmother, who was not identified by name, told Algerian television Ennahar TV her family has roots in Algeria.

Algerias foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Thursday that grief is widely shared in the North African country.

Anti-racism activists have renewed complaints about police behaviour.

We have to go beyond saying that things need to calm down, said Dominique Sopo, head of the campaign group SOS Racisme.

The issue here is how do we make it so that we have a police force that when they see blacks and Arabs, dont tend to shout at them, use racist terms against them and in some cases, shoot them in the head.

A helicopter above the Paris suburb of Nanterre (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

Race was a taboo topic for decades in France, which is officially committed to a doctrine of colourblind universalism.

But some increasingly vocal groups argue that this consensus conceals widespread discrimination and racism.

A car burns during protests (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

Deadly use of firearms is less common in France than in the United States, though several people have died or been wounded by French police in recent years, prompting demands for more accountability.

France also saw protests against racial injustice after George Floyds killing by police in Minnesota.

The protests in Frances suburbs echoed 2005, when the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traore and 17-year-old Zyed Benna led to three weeks of riots, exposing anger and resentment in neglected housing projects.

The boys were electrocuted after hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois.

In Geneva, the UN human rights office said it is concerned by Nahels killing and the subsequent violence and said allegations of disproportionate use of force by authorities in quelling the unrest should be swiftly investigated.

This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement, spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

Ms Shamdasani said the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern in December about the frequent use of identity checks, discriminatory stops, the application of criminal fixed fines imposed by the police or law enforcement agencies, that they said disproportionately targets members of certain minority groups.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been cleared of wrongdoing by a public watchdog over a scandal involving the theft of more than 500,000 dollars in US currency (394,375) stashed in a sofa at his game farm (Emmanuel Durand/AP)

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been cleared of wrongdoing by a public watchdog over a scandal involving the theft of more than 500,000 dollars in US currency (394,375) stashed in a sofa at his game farm.

Acting public protector Kholeka Gcaleka, whose office holds politicians to account, said Mr Ramaphosa did not violate the ethics code for members of South Africas executive over the incident, which happened in 2020 but was only revealed publicly last year.

The scandal was seen as the biggest challenge to Mr Ramaphosas reputation and his leadership of Africas most developed economy.

There is still an ongoing criminal investigation into the incident.

Mr Ramaphosa said 580,000 dollars (457,475) in cash was stolen.

Ms Gcaleka said it was not part of her investigation to confirm how much money was involved and did not give a figure.

Mr Ramaphosa, 70, was accused of not reporting the theft properly to police in a bid to cover up the existence of the large sum of cash hidden in furniture at his farm.

He said he reported it to the head of his security detail, which is part of the South African Police Services.

In clearing him in her final report on the scandal, Ms Gcaleka accepted Mr Ramaphosa had reported the crime to the head of his personal protection unit and the contention that he had acted improperly was not supported.

Ms Gcaleka also said there was no evidence that Mr Ramaphosa was guilty of a conflict of interest regarding any income from the business operations of his Phala Phala game farm in the northern Limpopo province.

The allegation that the president improperly and in violation of the provisions of the executive code exposed him to a risk of a conflict between his constitutional duties and obligations and his private interests arising from his alleged paid work at Phala Phala farm is not substantiated, Ms Gcaleka said at a press conference.

The investigation of Mr Ramaphosa was prompted by a complaint made to the Public Protectors office by the opposition African Transformation Movement Party.

The incident came to light last June when the former head of South Africas intelligence service, Arthur Fraser, opened a case, with police accusing Mr Ramaphosa of hiding as much as four million US dollars (3.15 million) at his farm before it was stolen.

Mr Fraser accused the president of money laundering and breaching tax and foreign currency control laws and trying to cover up the theft of the cash in an attempt to hide its existence.

Mr Ramaphosa denied any wrongdoing and also disputed the amount of money Mr Fraser claimed was stolen.

Mr Fraser also made other claims that Mr Ramaphosa ordered the head of his personal protection unit, Major General Wally Rhoode, to undertake a clandestine investigation to recover the money, including the capture and torturing of some of the suspects and later bribing them to keep the incident secret.

Ms Gcaleka dispelled those allegations, or even that Mr Ramaphosa knew of details of the investigation by Maj Gen Rhoode.

No evidence could be found to prove that the president was aware of the investigation of the crime by Gen Rhoode, she said.

The scandal had seriously dented Mr Ramaphosas image as a leader intent on cleaning up South Africas corruption-tainted government and his ruling African National Congress party.

Questions remain, though, over why such a large amount of money was stuffed into a sofa at the farm.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte welcome Cyril Ramaphosa, centre, before dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris earlier this month (Michel Euler/AP)

Mr Ramaphosa has not explained why the cash was in the sofa but said it was the proceeds from the sale of buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman.

The scandal led to opposition parties calling for Mr Ramaphosas resignation but they failed in a bid to start impeachment proceedings against him as his ANC party maintains a majority in the 400-member Parliament.

In December, a report by a parliamentary panel looking into the matter found that Mr Ramaphosa may have broken anti-corruption laws.

According to that report, Mr Ramaphosa said the money stolen amounted to 580,000 US dollars (457,475).

The report also questioned Mr Ramaphosas explanation that the money was from the sale of buffaloes as it found the animals remained at the farm more than two years later.

However, the ANC rejected the findings of the report and used its majority in Parliament to block attempts to start impeachment proceedings, paving the way for Mr Ramaphosa to be re-elected as the partys leader.

He is expected to seek a second and final five-year term in elections next year.
Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat (center) talks to reporters after accompanying his partys newly elected House of Representatives members to report to the Parliament in Bangkok, June 27, 2023.

Thailands Parliament will convene on Monday with top prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat facing an uncertain path to power because of opposition in the upper house to his plan to amend the nations royal defamation law.

Pitas Move Forward Party won a surprise election victory in May on the back of its reform agenda, trouncing parties in the pro-royalist government that have ruled the country in some form or another since a military coup nine years ago.

The partys liberal campaign promises, which include plans to rewrite the constitution, end business monopolies and modernize the justice system and security forces, have antagonized the countrys traditional ruling elite.

Move Forwards ambition to amend the Lese-Majeste law, which it says has been abused by the current government to silence criticism, is shaping up as its biggest hurdle to forming a government.

Pitas eight-party alliance, including the populist Pheu Thai Party, has only 313 seats in the 750-seat bicameral legislature  short of the combined number of 376 required to govern.

Rules enshrined in a military-drafted constitution mean the alliance has to overcome 250 votes held by the junta-appointed upper house, which is stacked with conservative-leaning senators.

Pitas very high popularity means the alliance will push his bid for prime minister as far as possible, said Nuttakorn Vititanon, a professor in the faculty of political science and public administration at Chiang Mai University.

But what complications may arise after this are uncertain in the long run, he added.

According to Nuttakorn, if Pita fails to win enough support in the Senate, a new coalition led by Pheu Thai, including parties in the current government such as Palang Pracharath, could be formed farther down the line.

House speaker squabbles

In the past week, jockeying for cabinet seats and key parliamentary positions, including for speaker and deputy roles, has revealed tensions within the alliance.

Pheu Thai, the populist vehicle for the Shinawatra dynasty, is at loggerheads with Move Forward over who will take the post of speaker in the coalition.

Move Forward won 151 parliamentary seats in the election, while the more favored Pheu Thai came second with 141.

Pheu Thai has proposed that the two parties be allocated 14 cabinet seats each, with it taking the House speaker role and Move Forward entitled to the prime ministers position.

But Move Forward has nominated MP and deputy leader Padipat Santipada, a 42-year-old veterinarian, as the new house speaker, saying it is their right as the party with the highest number of seats.

Attempts to find a compromise on the issue have failed so far. This week, a meeting between the two parties was postponed largely because of disagreement over the nomination.

All eight parties in the alliance are scheduled to meet on Sunday, with Parliament set to select a speaker on July 4.

Nuttakorn said the position of house speaker was important for two main reasons: the ability to push through laws and control the vote for prime minister.

Remember that the constitution allows the senators a term of five years, he said.

So, these senators can vote for the PM for another year. And if the senators do not vote for Pita, the house speaker can continually propose Pitas name for prime minister until the senators term ends.

This is in conflict with Pheu Thais stance that the second largest party should be given a chance [to form government].

While the spat has dominated domestic headlines in recent days, party leaders insist the alliance is still united.

We have the right to exit the deal but its not legitimate, Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew told reporters on Thursday at Pheu Thais headquarters in Bangkok.

Twenty-five million people bundled us with the Move Forward. They are like our parents. We entered an arranged marriage.

Election complaint

Winning over at least 63 votes in an unelected Senate is not the only hurdle Pita faces in his bid to form a government.

The 42-year-old, a Harvard-educated former executive at Southeast Asian superapp Grab, is also facing potential disqualification as an MP over an electoral complaint.

The Election Commission has launched an investigation  which could take up to a year  into whether he knowingly applied to be an MP candidate while holding shares in a media company, which is prohibited under electoral laws.

Pitas investigation will not delay voting for the prime minister, said Don Hormmanee, an independent political analyst and former researcher at Chiang Mai University. He can be disqualified by the Election Commission should he be found guilty, though.

Pita has denied any wrongdoing and said he was confident in beating the complaint against him.

A similar complaint following the 2019 general election resulted in Move Forwards predecessor Future Forward being taken to court, with leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit losing his seat in parliament over his ownership of shares in the V-Luck Media Co. Ltd.

The court later disbanded Future Forward over a loan Thanathorn made to the party, leading Pita and other members to establish Move Forward ahead of this years election.
Bennington, VT (05201)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. High 76F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening followed by a few showers overnight. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.
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Be careful of how you conduct online searches and have a clear understanding of what you are providing before clicking "enter, cautions columnist Elliott Greenblott.
This Story in History is selected from the archives by Jeannie Maschino, The Berkshire Eagle.
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The pain from the abrupt closure of the hospital nearly a decade ago is still felt in the community and among its former staff, but the recent news of re-opening plans brought excitement and some, like Martha Rodriguez, to tears.
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data.
North Adams may soon have a hospital once again: BHS announces plan to reopen North Adams Regional Hospital Berkshire Health Systems will pursue a critical access hospital designation for the former North Adams Regional Hospital, aiming to get 25 inpatient beds. The reopening would restore a hospital for some 30,000 residents in the Northern Berkshires and southwestern Vermont.

While searching The Berkshire Eagles archives from March 2014, one might notice an editorial simply headlined A gloomy day. Nearly a decade later, most folks in Northern Berkshire know exactly what those three words are referring to: the sudden and devastating closure of North Adams Regional Hospital.

It seems fitting, then, to characterize today as a hopeful day, given the news that North Adams Regional Hospital has a real chance of being resuscitated as a Northern Berkshire institution and a critical point of health care access for tens of thousands of regional residents.

After Northern Berkshire Healthcares abrupt bankruptcy and collapse in early 2014, Berkshire Health Systems later that year bought the NARH campus. BHS converted the campus into Berkshire Health North and over the years restored some of the services available to Northern Berkshire residents, including emergency and some outpatient procedures. But many care options remained unavailable, as lagging federal reimbursements complicated BHS ability to revive all services previously available at NARH. For Northern Berkshire residents, that means having to traverse a big chunk of the county to get to BMC in Pittsfield or heading to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vt., for inpatient care.

This week, though, BHS announced that shifting federal regulations allow the North Adams campus to be designated as a critical access hospital, which entails increased federal reimbursement for hospitals providing care in rural areas. Previously, those regulations held that hospitals could not be eligible for such a designation if located within 35 miles and along the same federal highway as another hospital.

(NARHs footprint is only 25 miles away from BMC via Route 7.)

That distance rule has been loosened, however, making the North Adams campus newly eligible for the critical access hospital designation and thus cost-based reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. That would help BHS restore many inpatient services in North Adams without operating at a loss. BHS plan includes up to 25 beds on a medical-surgical floor, which would give Northern Berkshire residents access to treatment for chronic medical conditions or post-operation care without heading to Pittsfield or Bennington and back  a big difference for all living in the region but especially those with tight schedules, mobility issues and/or lacking transit options.

It also would mean an infusion of good jobs in a region desperate for growth  another potential boost to the health of the greater North Adams community.

We know many of our Northern Berkshire neighbors are all too familiar with the hardships of a health care desert. While BHS plan still needs state and federal approval, the new opportunity for a critical access hospital designation is a shot in the arm for the desperate hope of an entire community that has endured years of despair and frustration since NARHs closure.

Given the struggles in accessing adequate nearby care for this and other rural regions across the country, one could be forgiven for wondering why the federal regulations regarding reimbursement for rural hospitals took so long to change  but later is better than never. Kudos to BHS for being ready with a plan of action when the regulations did change, and credit where its due to Northern Berkshire community stakeholders who have pushed through years of disappointment and desperation to advocate for improving their neighbors access to care.

Thanks to those parties, this is not a gloomy day but a hopeful one  and it feels good to have reason for hope that we might soon see a revitalized North Adams Regional Hospital open its doors.
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(James 1:2-7)

We all can attest to going through trials, from the mild to the unbelievable. But in the eyes of God, trials are what grow us in the best possible way. James speaks of trials at the start of chapter 1, describing for readers how to view trials from Gods perspective:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).

As we learn to endure through hardships, we know that God uses these circumstances to grow in us patience, wisdom, and trust for what He is doing in our lives. Blessings also come when trials have concluded. However, some may still struggle with doubt over the trials they are experiencing, so James advises us what to remember in difficult situations:

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind (James 1:5-6).

Dont let doubt get the best of you when facing trials, but instead realize you can ask the one who knows the outcome of the trial you are facing for guidance and wisdom on what to do.

Lesson 2: Do Gods Word, Dont Just Speak It

James 1:22-25

Its one thing to say godly words and insight to others; its entirely different to actually walk those words out. That is why James is adamant toward the end of chapter 1 that we should not just be speakers of Gods Word, but actually do what we speak of.

But be doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was (James 1:22-24).

As James explains to his readers, when we only hear Gods Word and do not do what it says, we are like a man seeing who he is in a mirror but then forgetting himself as soon as he leaves walks away. In other words, we see who we are to be as Christians when we hear the Word, maybe even when we speak the Word, but when it comes to actually doing the Word, we seem to have forgotten what we learned.

When we speak and do Gods Word, it becomes a part of us and changes us forever.

Photo credit: Getty Images/alphaspirit
Bryan Kohberger, left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (Ted S. Warren/Associated Press, Pool)
As women prioritise education and career pursuits, the average age of first-time mothers globally has surpassed 30, leading to potential risks associated with pregnancies at older ages.

While these decisions could result in higher risk pregnancies, innovation in medical technologies which offers cutting-edge, non-invasive testing to identify foetal risks early on, can provide women with a greater sense of comfort should they decide to delay pregnancy.

Reasons abound such as general increasing costs of living, and a desire to focus initially on career building for the growing trend toward later life pregnancies. Whatever the cause, these choices are resulting in a higher proportion of women becoming pregnant after the age of 35.

According to Liani Smit, a medical geneticist working with Mediclinic Precise - an approach to healthcare that uses an individuals genetic profile to customise their health management plan chromosomal abnormalities are common and can occur in up to 1 in 150 live births.

Informed decision-making

The risk for some chromosomal conditions, such as Down syndrome, increases with maternal age, but chromosomal conditions can occur in any pregnancy. These conditions often have a significant impact on a babys health and development and in some cases life expectancy.

Smit says that knowledge about the risk of an underlying chromosomal condition early in a pregnancy empowers parents and their treating clinician to make informed decisions about the management of the pregnancy in a timeous manner.

In an effort to provide South African mothers with greater peace of mind, Mediclinic recently announced the launch of safe, non-invasive prenatal testing (Nipt) for expectant mothers as part of their DNA-based diagnostic and clinical interpretation services.

This is a recent addition to the Mediclinic Precise product offering, following the launch of Mediclinic Ancestry testing earlier this year.

We understand that your pregnancy journey may leave you with many questions as you prepare for the arrival of your baby. Here are our top 10 questions (and answers) about non-invasive prenatal testing or NIPT. Mediclinic Precise is here for you! Learn more: pic.twitter.com/YBg5a8Ol7i  Mediclinic SA (@Mediclinic) June 29, 2023

Chromosomal condition assessment

Smit explains that Mediclinic Precise Nipt screens for common chromosomal conditions in the foetus, such as Down syndrome, Patau syndrome, Edwards syndrome, sex chromosome aneuploidies (chromosomal conditions caused by the loss or gain of a sex chromosome) and optional screening for up to five microdeletion syndromes which may be missed during routine prenatal screening.

In what can already be a stressful journey for parents-to-be, especially those who become pregnant later on in life, Smit emphasises that Nipt is designed to be as non-invasive as possible.

Nipt is based on a simple blood test from the pregnant woman which examines the genetic profile of the foetus (or multiple foetuses) to understand the risks for specific genetic conditions from as early as nine weeks into pregnancy.

Utilising advanced DNA analysis

According to Lindsay Petersen, chief operations officer of Mediclinic Precise, unique technology is used to analyse cell-free DNA fragments in the mothers bloodstream and can differentiate which DNA fragments are maternal and foetal in origin. In the case of twins, this data can be interpreted independently for both foetuses.

In collaboration with the patients doctor, who will complete a requisition form on behalf of the patient, Mediclinic Precise provides the consulting doctor expert guidance on the patients unique genetic report.

The doctor will then relay the information and helps guide the family to best manage the pregnancy and make informed health-related decisions throughout their pregnancy and after the baby is born, explains Petersen.

Petersen concludes that optimising cutting-edge technologies, such as next generation sequencing has several benefits. Not only will this provide peace-of-mind for expecting parents, but we believe it will advance the utilisation of precision medicine in South Africa and will offer a better understanding of the role of genetic markers in disease.
Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) is delighted to announce that it is injecting R14.2m into a state-of-the-art oncology chemotherapy unit, set to be established at Dr Van Niekerk Hospital in Springbok, Northern Cape. VZI has partnered with Icon Oncology Holdings to execute this project.

Source: Supplied. Pushpender Singla, VZI executive director and chief financial officer.

In line with our journey to transforming our communities by positively impacting 100% of our communities through health-, social-, environment-, education- and economic outcomes, we partnered with the Northern Cape Provincial Government for the establishment of an Oncology Chemotherapy Unit in Springbok, the administrative capital of the Namakwa District, says Pushpender Singla, VZI executive director and chief financial officer.

The timeframe for the planning and construction of the oncology chemotherapy project is estimated to be eight months and will be executed in two phases where phase I will focus on the construction  and phase 2 on the accreditation of the oncology chemotherapy unit.

The Northern Cape premier, Zamani Saul, shared his support and enthusiasm for the project: As the Northern Cape Provincial Government, we welcome this investment into the Namakwa District that will ensure our people of Namakwa have immediate access to chemotherapy. We want to thank VZI for partnering with us, following through with their commitment, and taking our communities on their growth journey.

Welcoming VZI's oncology unit

The Northern Cape MEC for Health, Maruping Lekwene, stated: The Department of Health hereby welcomes the generous contribution from VZI of the oncology unit at Dr Van Niekerk Hospital in Springbok. This comes at a critical point where oncology cases are increasing in the Northern Cape. We are certainly pleased as this will reduce the referrals to Kimberley from the entire western half of our province.

The establishment of this oncology unit to serve the Namakwa District is one of VZIs largest corporate social investments (CSI) to ensure its communities have access to the necessary healthcare.

Congratulations to Icon Group CEO, @MarkMid12 on being awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) at todays Queens Birthday Honours. Read more about Marks significant contribution to cancer care here https://t.co/ZMErTBdny7 pic.twitter.com/lDTJtmuO7x  Icon Group (@IconGroupglobal) June 12, 2022

Singla concludes: To ensure the sustainability of the oncology chemotherapy unit, VZI and the Department of Health will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the complete hand-over of the unit once its establishment has been completed. The facility will be entirely managed by the provincial and district department of health.

VZI in a media statement said it believes that it can positively impact and contribute to the realisation of integrated and inclusive development of the country; that the sustainable development of the business is dependent on longlasting and mutually beneficial relationships with all stakeholders, especially the communities impacted by its mining activities.

It reiterated that partnerships with government, corporates, civil society and community institutions offer a strong multiplier for complementing efforts, resources and to building sustainable solutions.
In an extraordinary blend of art, philanthropy, and digital innovation, the iconic art piece, 'Blue eyes sapphirus falco columbarius' has been sold for a staggering R8.2m at Art Basel in Switzerland. The artwork, a collaboration between globally acclaimed South African-born Conor McCreedy and renowned jewelry designer Suzanne Syz, is making waves not just for its unique design but for its significant philanthropic impact and its pioneering use of NFT technology.

Conor McCreedy with the iconic art piece.

The artwork features a captivating original blue oil painting by McCreedy, depicting a falcon, the fastest-flying bird on earth. The eye of the falcon is adorned with a custom-made sapphire brooch designed by Syz, boasting around 170 carats in total. This extraordinary piece marked a new era in the world of art and design, becoming one of the most valuable pieces in the NetJets Collector's Lounge during Art Basel.

The sale of the artwork also included its soulbound NFT, a digital asset called 'Drops of Life' that represents real-world objects like artwork. This innovative use of NFT technology is a profound statement on how digital assets can be used for good, extending the impact of art beyond aesthetics and into the realm of social impact.

A generous 10% of the sale proceeds, amounting to around R800,000, are being donated to the Drops of Life campaign, a joint initiative by Africarare and Innovation: Africa. This campaign is dedicated to providing clean drinking water to communities in Africa, thus saving countless lives. Since 2008, Innovation: Africa has delivered access to clean water and electricity to over 4 million Africans in nearly 1,000 villages across the continent. This partnership is a concrete example of how technological innovation can change the lives of millions of Africans.

The Drops of Life campaign is a groundbreaking initiative that leverages the power of technology and philanthropy to address water scarcity in Africa. The funds from the sale of 'Blue eyes sapphirus falco columbarius' will directly contribute to providing clean drinking water to a village in Africa, impacting the lives of approximately 3,000 individuals.

About the artists

Conor Mccreedy, known for his signature blue, is a world-renowned South African-born artist whose work has captivated audiences globally. Suzanne Syz, a famed jewelry designer, is celebrated for her innovative designs, with her work included in the collection of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

About the campaign

The Drops of Life campaign is an initiative by Africarare and Innovation: Africa, aimed at providing clean drinking water to communities in Africa. The campaign is committed to transforming lives and creating sustainable solutions for water scarcity in the region. By purchasing a soulbound NFT, art collectors can contribute to this cause, demonstrating the potential of NFTs to drive social impact

To participate, sign up at: https://www.africarare.io/innovation-africa.




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Dust off your superhero outfits, because Comic Con Africa, South Africa's ultimate pop culture and gaming festival, is set to return to the Johannesburg Expo Centre (Nasrec), 22 to 25 September 2023. The event is set to captivate fans once again, bringing together enthusiasts from across the country and beyond for a celebration of all things geeky, from comics and gaming to movies and television.

Image supplied

This is the first time that South Africa will experience two Comic Cons in one year. Following the smashing success of Comic Con Cape Town, which exceeded every expectation held by the organisers, next up, fans are now gearing up and excited to see what Comic Con Africa will bring.

The regular fan favourites are set to return  which include the Artist Alley, the main stage, an unparalleled shopping experience, international celebrities, esports, daily casual cosplay competitions, and more. With Comic Con Africa being an evolving show, this years iteration will continue to expand the experience with more activities for all, free-to-play gaming competitions, and more open spaces for fans to connect.

With the first international guest set to be announced at the end of May  Comic Con Africa will feature a star-studded roster of celebrity guests, including renowned actors, beloved comic book artists, talented cosplayers, and industry insiders. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with their favourite stars through Q&A sessions, autograph signings, and exclusive meet-and-greet photograph opportunities.

The convention floor will be a bustling hub of activity, with exhibitors offering a wide range of merchandise, collectibles, and memorabilia. From rare comic books and graphic novels to gaming accessories and apparel, fans can expect to find an abundance of treasures to add to their collections.

"We are thrilled to bring Comic Con Africa 2023 to life after the incredible response we received for the inaugural Comic Con Cape Town," said Carla Massmann, show director of Comic Con Africa. "The overwhelming enthusiasm and passion from the fans in Cape Town were a testament to the incredible passion South Africans have for pop culture and gaming. We are committed to creating a world-class experience for attendees, and we can't wait to bring all the communities back together again."

Following fan feedback, the organisers have promised a more fluid experience for fans that eliminates overcrowding by reassessing venue capacity and capping tickets sold per day. Moreover, with Comic Con Africa weekend also falling over a public holiday  fans can expect a more even distribution of attendees over all days.

We take our fan feedback very seriously and have the visitor experience top of mind for Comic Con Africa 2023, Massmann added.

Tickets to Comic Con Africa are now available but are limited. Securing your ticket on Howler here.
Eduvos is excited to announce a new partnership between the Eduvos Durban Umhlanga Campus and Old Mutual, as the financial services giant launched a new Tech Hub in the heart of Umhlanga.

The Old Mutual Tech Hub is located across the road from Eduvos and aims to create a Silicon Valley-like innovation space in KwaZulu-Natal. The hub will allow tech talent in the province to be nurtured while also attracting talent from other parts of the country.

The partnership between Old Mutual and Eduvos came about as both companies believe that students need to be prepared for the changing world of work and have industry-relevant experience. Old Mutual's team of tech experts will lend their knowledge and insight to handpicked top performers from Eduvos Umhlangas IT faculty.

These students will receive mentoring in the hub and learn how to apply their studies to real-world problems. Old Mutuals experts will guide them in how to solve these issues. The partnership with Old Mutual will also give Eduvos students access to vacation work opportunities.

The companies will host hackathons, Ted Talks and career fairs. Students will be introduced to the Old Mutual Team and have the opportunity to share their ideas and suggestions.

The partnership between Eduvos Durban and Old Mutual is one of the highlights of our year. We are delighted that Old Mutual is investing in the youth and creating opportunities for them in our province. At Eduvos, we prepare our students for the working world, and this partnership will help our IT students in this regard even more, says Arno Meyer, Eduvos Durban Umhlanga general manager.

This partnership is another way that Eduvos is promoting the employability of its students. The institutions curricula is constantly updated to meet the demands of the changing working world. The lecturers are a combination of academics and industry professionals who know what it takes to succeed. The institution also has a dedicated Employability Centre that equips students with the skills needed in the job market and helps them find employment post-graduation.

This Tech Hub partnership links to Eduvoss future-faced model. The institution is working to make Eduvos one of Africas leading meta-universities, with a focus on incorporating Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality technologies into its teaching. Eduvos also offers various tech-focused qualifications, including Cyber Security, Robotics and Machine Learning.

Eduvos is excited about this project, as the private higher education institutions mission is to unlock potential  student by student  towards Africas prosperity. This new Tech Hub is invaluable to young Africans looking for a career in tech without having to leave South Africa.




The North-West University (NWU) has shown great improvement in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, moving up in ranking position locally, in Africa and globally.

Prof Linda du Plessis (left), deputy vice-chancellor for Planning and Vanderbijlpark Campus Operations, receives the QS award from Jessica Turner, chief executive officer of QS, during the ceremony in Dubai

The NWUs performance in these rankings has been consistent for the past five years and the latest results affirm the universitys position among the cream of the crop of local and international universities.

According to QS, the NWU is now among the top seven South African universities in their rankings for top global universities in 2024, which were published on 27 June. The university was in eighth position in the previous edition which was published last year.

Globally, the NWU has shown significant improvement, moving into the 801 to 850 ranking category  and upwards move from last years 1,001 to 1,200 placing.

It is not only locally and globally that the university has climbed the rankings ladder. The NWU is now ranked tenth in Africa  five positions higher than last years 15th place.

This ranking by the London-based QS was the 20th edition and included 1,500 institutions from across 101 locations around the world. It considers survey responses and hard data to calculate a final score for each university. QS is the only ranking of its kind to emphasise employability and sustainability.

To view the full article, click here: https://news.nwu.ac.za/nwu-excels-again-qs-world-university-rankings-now-tenth-africa




Investec Group will fund coal projects for another seven years in South Africa, while its UK subsidiary will end all coal financing exposure in 2027, it said on Friday.

Source: Reuters.

Activists and environmentalists have criticised South African banks - among the biggest on the continent - for continuing to fund fossil-fuel projects, in contrast to many of their global peers.

But the lenders have said they have to balance the continent's developmental goals with the effects of fossil fuels on the environment.

Investec is "taking a cautious approach due to the needs and dependency of a developing economy on fossil fuels," it said in its climate report published on its website on Friday, 30 June.

It said its UK operations Investec Plc would have zero coal in its loan book by March 31, 2027, and its South African operations under Investec Ltd would hit the same target by 31 March, 2030.

The bank has already stopped all limited recourse project financing to new thermal coal mines, regardless of jurisdiction, it said.

Investec has said it will respond to questions on its climate report in July.

Typically, banks prefer full recourse to limited recourse, which limits ability to recoup loans by seizing assets of a borrower beyond what is written in the loan contract.

South Africa, the world's 14th biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, has committed to net zero emissions by 2050.

But its dependence on ageing coal-fired power plants and a huge and profitable coal-mining industry - a major source of government taxes - complicate efforts to achieve the target.
To mark the World Social Media Day, the South African government - through its various departments and state-owned agencies - will today review how it uses social media and its impact.

This will take place at the first ever Social Media Summit for Government to be hosted by Decode Communications in partnership with the Centre for Data and Digital Communications, at the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

Reflection

Billed to become a game changer that will set the agenda in how government utlises social media, this event will feature some of the users of social media in South Africa as well as experts that will give honest reviews.

Themed Reimagining the Future of Citizen Engagement the summit hopes to bring together communication leaders in government and the public sector to reflect on the impact of social media on citizen engagement.

Said Lorato Tshenkeng, the CEO of Decode Communications: There have been a lot of conversations across various social media platforms regarding whether the government uses these platforms efficiently and effectively, particularly in relation to service delivery and exploiting the means of communication offered.

With this summit we intend to bring together experts who will offer actionable insights and know-how of emerging tools, trends, and best practices.

Networking

Decode wants to use the summit to create dialogue and networking platform between various stakeholders and the value chain partners, who are willing to help improve service delivery challenges in South Africa.

Headline speaker will be Professor Mosa Moshabela, public health professor and deputy vice-chancellor: Research and Innovation at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Other confirmed speakers are Athi Geleba, head of digital communications at the Presidency, Anele Mzdikwa, head of digital marketing and communications at the Gauteng Tourism Authority, Palesa Mokomele, director of communications at DKMS and Lance Witten, editor-in-chief at IOL.

Executive Director at the Centre for Data & Digital Communications at UJ, Professor Mandla Radebe will lead the discussions alongside Tshenkeng.
Launched today on World Social Media Day, the The SA Social Media Industry Report 2023 shows a strong correlation in South Africa between access to social media and privilege.

The SA Social Media Industry Report 2023 shows a strong correlation in South Africa between access to social media and privilege. Source:  Egor Kotenko 123rf shows a strong correlation in South Africa between access to social media and privilege.

The Report, conducted by Ornico and World Wide Worx during the first half of 2023, found that access to social media is equal to privilege and privilege is equal to access to social media.

Talking through the Report findings this morning, in a virtual presentation, Arthur Goldstuck from World Wide Worx, says that most social media apps show a direct correlation between usage and privilege.

In this country, social media usage is strongly connected to privilege. The higher the SocioEconomic Level (SEL) the most likely social media usage.

He adds: "This is especially true for Facebook and Instagram, but even applies to TikTok and Twitter, while LinkedIn is slighted different and more scattered, the same still holds true.

There is also a correlation between race and SEL on the one hand, and both general use and highly active use on the other."

He states in the Report: It is a reminder that South Africans on social media must check their privilege, and is a key theme in our analysis of each individual platform in this report."

The rise of Artificial Intelligence

The Report shows the rise of AI, and its emergence as a game-changer in the social media landscape.

"Leveraging advanced algorithms and machine learning, AI has revolutionised how we interact, consume content, and do business on social media platforms,"says the Report.

It warns that as we embrace the application of AI in social media, "it is important to be mindful of the associated risks and proactively safeguard ourselves, our brands and our audiences.

With 81% of the internet user group on social media, it comes as no surprise that AI has garnered a lot of conversations in South Africa since the release of ChatGPT, particularly in the social media and digital marketing fields.

ChatGPT: Reservations about its long-term impact

The Report delves further into ChatGPT and found that South Africa was amongst the top 20 countries mentioning ChatGPT upon its release in 2022.

But it also says that when any disruptive technology emerges, it is natural for people to feel uneasy, and AI is no exception.

Our admiration for the potential of AI is undeniable... however, the sentiment analysis towards ChatGPT paints a different picture, with 82% neutral, 13% negative and only 5% positive sentiment."

The Report further states that although we are curious and see its value, we have our reservations about its long-term impact.

The Big Five continue to dominant

The Big Five have solidified their dominance of social media in South Africa, with Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn all enjoying strong penetration of their target audiences.

South Africas social media landscape continues to be dominated by Facebook (56,7%).

TikTok (30,6%) has experienced tremendous growth and has replaced Instagram in the second position.

It is significant that TikTok has such high penetration of the 15+ market in South Africa, since its under-15 audience is probably the strongest of all social networks.

Slightly behind TikTok, Instagram remains relatively high (27,6%).

Twitter (22,5%) still has a significant following despite the fall-out of Elon Musks takeover.

LinkedIn (14,7%) places fifth with a strong presence, given the fact that it is a network for professional contact and communication.

Social media platforms key findings

The Report found that:

Twitter The most talked-about social network over the past year, thanks to its takeover by an egotistical billionaire, was Twitter. However, the destructive nature of his takeover sent advertisers scurrying for safer realms, and the platform reportedly lost half its regular ad sales.

Facebook and Instagram Facebook clawed back a little of its lost lustre after dropping from 96% to 81% last year, coming back to 84%. However, it could not save its sister platform, Instagram, from the biggest drop of all: from 68% to 58% - following a precipitous fall from 86% the year before.

Spend category shifts One of the big shifts measured in the Report is in the proportion of companies at the highest spend category and those at the lowest.Almost the exact percentage of decline in those spending more than R50,000 a month, a 9% drop from 22% down to 13%, was applied to the increase in the lowest category. It reports a 10% rise from 54% to 64%, in the percentage of those spending less than R10,000 a month. Interestingly, this coincided with a similar rise in the proportion of companies using social media as a means to lower cost of communications, from 20% to 27%. Facebook continues to enjoy top position of platforms where most budget is allocated, but its share has plummeted, from 58% to 43%. Similarly, Instagram has fallen from 15% to 4%.

Social media account handlers? One of last years big shifts has been reversed, namely on the question of who handles social media accounts, with agencies restoring their position after dropping from 27% to 16% last year, and coming back to 30% this year. The PR Team reversed its gain after rising from 3% to 12% last year, falling back to 5%. The Marketing Department still rules the roost, jumping from 31% to 39%, almost returning to its pre-pandemic highs.

Brand awareness the highlight On the question of whether social media brought brand returns, the positive response remains rock-steady at 65%. When asked to specify returns, one stood out above all others: Brand awareness. While it did lead the way last year, at 60%, it thoroughly dominated, with 91% citing this benefit. All 10 benefits measured saw an increase, suggesting that there is general satisfaction with social media, if not enough to boost budgets.

Increased experimentationAs predicted last year, brands have increased their experimentation with new features like short-form video, with Facebook Reels jumping from 30% to 39%. Where a total of 25% of brands said last year they intend to make use of such features in the coming year, 63% indicated that intention this year. In contrast, live event platforms had a dismal year, possibly in response to the failure of Clubhouse to live up to its promise of being the next big social thing.

Get your hands dirtier in 2024

Almost all social platforms saw brands fall in the effectiveness of their use of these, aside from WhatsApp, which saw an increase in Quite Effective and Very Effective use from 24% to 32%.

The Report stresses that "brands tend to be more effective where their social media practitioners also use these platforms in their personal lives, as they would with WhatsApp".

Want to be more effective? "Get your hands dirtier in 2024," it says.

Download the Report here.
A R10m programme launched by Sanlam Group and South African National Parks (SanParks) aims to provide access to market, finance and business development support to small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) from communities surrounding South Africa's major national parks. The goal is to create sustainable businesses by providing supply chain finance at the lowest cost possible.

Sanlam commits R10m to stimulate SanParks supply chain. Source: Supplied

At the Sanlam SanParks SMME Support Programme launch event, held in the Kruger National Park on the date that the United Nations declared Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day (27 June), Sanlam and SanParks said South Africas major parks contribute around R3bn to the economy annually, creating and retaining jobs in the SMME sector.

The initial focus will be on businesses around the Kruger National Park as a pilot programme aiming to impact targeted SMMEs as identified in the SanParks overall supply management plan and will run for a one-year period.

Selected SMMEs will receive short-term working capital through interest-free loans to supply SanParks with goods and services in and around the Kruger.

Sanlam will contribute R10m in loan support to these businesses, and development support will be implemented by I Am An Entrepreneur (IAAE), an enterprise development agency experienced in helping entrepreneurs build and grow their businesses.

Creating sustainable supply chains

The programme aims to create sustainable SMMEs with the capability to deliver goods and services to SanParks, thereby preserving and potentially contributing to job creation in and around Kruger National Park.

Karl Socikwa, group executive: market development & sustainability at Sanlam said this is an example of the groups deep commitment to sustainable growth on the African continent.

SMMEs are critical to the South African economy, theyre a major lever for growth. In fact, the National Development Plan forecasts SMMEs will create 90% of the 11 million new jobs our country desperately needs. This will not happen unless we, as part of South Africas corporate community, play our part, he said.

For SanParks, the programme forms part of a broader strategy to uplift SMMEs in the communities surrounding its parks. The organisation aims to secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.

SanParks CEO Hapiloe Sello expressed her appreciation to Sanlam for the business development support initiatives saying, our incubation programme has yielded a group of young, determined entrepreneurs who have shown eagerness to transact with the park and to promote rural economic development.

SMMEs that are contracted to SanParks and are interested in accessing the programme should liaise directly with the SanParks Supply Chain Management unit at the Kruger National Park.
SAA announced that flights will start operating to Sao Paulo, Brazil, from Cape Town International Airport beginning 31 October. Travellers opting to fly from Johannesburg's OR Tambo will, however, have to wait until 6 November. Bookings are already open.

We are overjoyed to announce Sao Paulo as our first international destination since the airline successfully emerged from an intensive business rescue process and Covid-19 lockdown. It also marks the return of our long-haul services out of Cape Town," said SAA interim CEO, Prof. John Lamola in a statement.

Our decision to begin the relaunch of our long-haul service with Sao Paulo was taken based on a rigorous analysis of the viability of the route. Sustainability has been at the heart of SAAs approach since our restart.

SAA will fly to Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) in Sao Paulo four times a week  twice out of Cape Town (Tuesdays and Saturdays) and twice out of Johannesburg (Mondays and Thursdays).

We have created an effective schedule which is ideal for both business and leisure travellers and our schedule is fantastic for connecting traffic, said SAAs CCO Tebogo Tsimane.

Sao Paulo, Brazils most populous city with 21.1 million residents, is also the countrys financial centre and one of the biggest financial hubs in the world.

SAA has appointed Air Promotion Group (APG) as its general sales agent in Brazil.
On 28 June 2023, the High Court handed down a landmark judgment where the decision by the Minister of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) not to extend the longstanding Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) after 31 December 2021 was found to be invalid, unlawful, and unconstitutional.

Image source: Gregory Alekhine  123RF.com

At a glance

The Helen Suzman Foundation (Foundation) argued that the Minister's decision amounted to administrative action which was reviewable under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 (PAJA), and the inherent principle of legality as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.



The Foundation also argued that the Minister's decision amounted to an unjustified limitation of the rights of ZEP holders and their children.

It is now well known that on 29 November 2021, a directive was issued by the Director-General of the DHA confirming the Minister's decision that no further extensions would be granted to approximately 178,000 Zimbabwean nationals who are holders of a ZEP. This decision was accompanied by an initial grace period of 12 months (ie. until 31 December 2022) in which ZEP holders were provided an opportunity to legalise their status in South Africa through the mechanisms provided for in terms of the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 (Act). After this grace period, additional grace periods were provided to ZEP holders, with the latest one being granted until 31 December 2023.

Legal backlash

The surprising announcement by the Minister not to extend the ZEPs gave rise to numerous applications being instituted against him, including by the Helen Suzman Foundation (Foundation) to challenge his decision not to extend the ZEPs. It is common cause that the Minister made this decision without providing ZEP holders  or the South African public at large  with any prior notice or an opportunity for consultation. The Minister was also clear in his assertion that his decision was final. In the circumstances, the Foundation reviewed the Minister's decision on inter alia the grounds set out below.

The Minister's decision was procedurally unfair and irrational as it was made without first consulting with ZEP holders, civil society and the South African public

In relation to this ground, the Foundation argued that the Minister's decision amounted to administrative action which was reviewable under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000 (PAJA), and the inherent principle of legality as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

The High Court agreed with the Foundation and held that the Minister's decision amounted to administrative action after considering the elements laid out in the Constitutional Court in Minister of Defence and Military Veterans v Motau and Others [2014].

Having found that the Minister's decision amounts to administrative action, the court considered the application of PAJA.

Section 3 of PAJA states that any administrative action which materially or adversely affects an individual's rights or legitimate expectations must be procedurally fair in that: a clear statement of the administrative action must be made; adequate notice of a right of review or internal appeal must be given; and affected individuals must be provided with a reasonable opportunity to make representations.

Section 4 of PAJA requires a duty of procedural fairness to be provided to the public at large through the holding of inter alia a public inquiry, a notice and comment procedure or another appropriate procedure to give effect to section 3 of PAJA.

In addition to observing the demands of procedural fairness, the Minister was obliged to make a decision that was rational.

With due regard to the above, the High Court considered the evidence placed before it, namely that ZEP holders, civil society and the South African public were not notified of the Minister's intended decision or provided with an opportunity to make representations before he made his decision.

The Minister's decision was made after only having internal discussions with certain units within the DHA. This much was conceded by the Minister. In the circumstances, the High Court held that for this reason, amongst others, the Minister's decision went against the very purpose of procedural fairness and rationality.

The Minister's decision was made without any consideration to the impact on the lives of ZEP holders

Evidence was placed before the High Court by the Foundation to demonstrate that no attempts were made by the Minister to assess the impact of his intended decision on ZEP holders  and their children  prior to his decision being made.

This argument was opposed based on the allegation that due regard was had to the impact of the Minister's decision on ZEP holders and their children as the Minister called for representations. It was further argued that had these representations been placed before the Minister, same would have been considered.

The court considered that no admissible evidence was placed before it by the Minister in relation to whether he took any such considerations into account, and if so, how these considerations were taken into account.

Having regard to this, the only conclusion that the court could reach was that the Minister failed to consider the inevitable impact of his decision on the lives and livelihoods of ZEP holders and their children.

The court accordingly held that the Minister's decision must be reviewed and set aside as he failed to take relevant information into account when making his decision, which decision was unreasonable under section 6(2)(h) of PAJA.

The Minister's decision breached the constitutional rights of ZEP holders and their children

The Foundation argued that the Minister's decision amounted to an unjustified limitation of the rights of ZEP holders and their children. The unjustified limitation included a limitation of their right to dignity, which encompasses their right to access to health, employment opportunities, protection from deportation and education.

In addition, the Foundation argued that in making his decision, the Minster failed to take into consideration the best interests of any children that were affected by his decision.

This argument was opposed on the basis that the rights afforded to ZEP holders and their children under the ZEP regime were never intended to be permanent. In addition, it was argued that the Minister's decision never amounted to a deprivation of rights to ZEP holders and their children, but rather to a granting of rights to them, and that ZEP holders are afforded no more rights than any other foreigner in South Africa.

In considering section 36 of the Constitution, and in applying the two-stage limitation analysis, the High Court was required to consider what justifications the Minister offered in the making of his decision.

In his press statement of 7 January 2022, the Minister contended that his decision was based on improved conditions in Zimbabwe, and his decision would alleviate pressure on South Africa's asylum system and budget and resource constraints.

The High Court also considered the reasons for the Minister's decision that were put forward by the Director-General, namely that unemployment in Zimbabwe had decreased to 5.2%. No clear evidence was, however, placed before the court in support of any of these allegations.

The High Court accordingly held that in the absence of any evidence, the only conclusion that could be reached was that the Minister failed to prove a justification, based on any facts, which was rational, between the limitation of ZEP holders' rights on one hand, and a legitimate governmental purpose on the other.

In the absence of any factual evidence, the Minister's decision amounted to an unjustified limitation of rights, which was both unconstitutional and invalid in terms of section 172(1) of the Constitution.

The High Court accordingly made inter alia the following order:

The Minister's decision to terminate ZEPs, and to refuse to grant any further extensions after 30 June 2023 was declared invalid, unconstitutional and unlawful.



The Minister's decision was reviewed and set aside.



The decision was remitted back to the Minister for reconsideration, pursuant to following a fair process which complies with sections 3 and 4 of PAJA.

Pending the conclusion of a fair process, and the Minister's further decision within 12 months:

existing ZEPs shall remain valid for the next 12 months; and



they may not be arrested, ordered to deport or detained in terms of section 34 of the Act;



they are allowed to enter into and depart the Republic of South Africa in terms of section 9 of the Act; and



they will not be required to produce an exemption certificate or authorisation letter in order to remain in the Republic of South Africa.

Whilst the above judgment provides further relief to ZEP holders and their families, it remains to be seen whether the Minister will appeal the judgment and/or when he will commence a fair process to terminate ZEPs.

Until then, ZEP holders and their families can breathe a little easier for the next 12 months, while continuing to work and reside in South Africa. Similarly, employers do not need to address the continued employment of their employees in possession of ZEPs for at least the next 12 months.
Reflecting on Youth Month and work opportunities offered by the construction industry, Jabu Serithi, projects director at GVK-Siya Zama, says the business has had to find creative ways to stay competitive in an industry that is characterised by margins that are a fraction of what they were a decade earlier.

Jabu Serithi, projects director at GVK-Siya Zama. Source: Supplied

This impacts the opportunities that are available to the youth, with limited employment opportunities and low allocation of skills development plans as companies focus on survival strategies, says Serithi.

South Africas unemployment figures increased in the first quarter of 2023, with youth unemployment continuing to grow. According to Statistics South Africas (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey, almost a quarter of a million young people lost their jobs in the first three months of 2023, with nearly five million young people being jobless.

Structural unemployment, the category under which youth unemployment falls in South Africa, is caused by issues such as changes in technology, shifting demographics, or historical policy failures. There needs to be wholesale change across government and various industries to help create the necessary conditions to curb youth unemployment.

With millions of South Africans completely discouraged from looking for employment, the issue of cyclical unemployment further exacerbates the problem. Cyclical unemployment can be seen most starkly during the contraction phase of the business cycle, when the demand for goods and services falls dramatically.

Signs of a slow recovery

Despite the poor performance of the South African economy in 2020 and 2021, the building, construction, architecture and engineering sectors saw the biggest increase in hiring activity during the last quarter of 2022, according to reports.

The signs of a slow recovery in the construction industry are positive because of the sectors significant impact on the economy. It is a well-known fact that the construction industry plays a critical role in creating an enabling business environment, Serithi says.

The industry is consistently among the top 10 largest industries in the country, employing well over 1-million people every year and contributing more than R100bn to the national GDP last year. Recent data shows that the building and construction industry experienced the biggest increase in hiring activity in the first quarter of the year.

It is also a vital sector for the countrys economy, responsible for creating jobs across many levels and stimulating investment through infrastructure improvement. That said, with the ongoing downward spiral of our economy, our industrys ability to continually absorb the impact of this decline has lessened over the years.

Loss of expertise, institutional experience

Serithi says these effects have been notable within GVK-Siya Zama as well, with resignations as employees seek better opportunities abroad in more stable economies. It means a loss of expertise and institutional experience and having to start from scratch and rebuild those lost skills, she says.

Despite the high levels of unemployment and slow recovery within the sector, there are positive signs that the sector could create more opportunities for young people as sustainable building methods are embraced.

Marlize Fourie, the group HR executive at GVK-Siya Zama, notes that the industry needs to raise the bar on awareness among young people, especially teenagers. We need to find prospective construction employees when they are just beginning to conceptualise career options and choose subjects  this typically happens in grade 9 amongst the 1516-year-old youngsters, she says.

Youth development within construction

Serithi says internships remain a key area of youth development within the sector, with GVK-Siya Zama making a considerable effort to involve young people on every project the contractor is awarded.

We always look for opportunities to spread knowledge across the board. Opportunities are awarded to young people coming out of institutions of higher learning. They are absorbed on our projects with skills transfer and development in mind, and also as a way to plant back into our industry and ultimately our country. We find that by the end of a project, most of those young people either find themselves better opportunities or stay with us as we move onto other projects, Serithi says.

She believes the industry helps bring ideas to life. Be it a dream home, a healthcare facility for the ill in the rural depths of Sipetu, Eastern Cape, or a high-tech boarding school for children with special needs in Hluhluwe, our industry gives visual representation (life) to some of the greatest ideas conceived.

Considering the principles of the fourth industrial revolution, I believe our industry  as one of the biggest employers  provides an opportunity for humanity to still have a place as we modernise, she says.

Diverse opportunities on offer

In addition to leaving a legacy, the construction industry should be considered a career prospect for young people as it offers a regulated and safe environment, with diverse opportunities to build a career. Ultimately, for the construction industry to succeed, various stakeholders have to come together to ensure the ideas and solutions are implemented.

We are nothing but the sum of the ideas we possess. If those ideas arent implemented and if we dont have willing partners to implement them, nothing will change, concludes Serithi.
Go past Trust the $cience and the associated surging mortality, turbo cancers, SIDS, VAIDS, etc. straight to the bank:

According to the National Review, Faucis net worth nearly doubled during the pandemic. And thats not counting his far greater fortunes stashed across various offshore trusts.

Youve all been stolen from by an illegitimate Federal government domiciled in the foreign nation of Washington, D.C. that has no Constitutional right to levy any taxes on We the People so that criminals like Fauci can better murder you with the very fruits of your labors.

Free DEATHVAX and $18.9m homes as paid for by the tax slaves.

Do NOT comply.
"We know from the laptop that Hunter Biden's business paid for a private phone line that Joe Biden used while he was vice president," Schweizer told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo. "It was from AT&T, it was $300 a month, it was a global phone where you could access somebody anywhere around the world."

"We shared that phone number and that account information with people in the House Oversight Committee. My hope is that they if they haven't already, they will subpoena those records because I think it will give an indication on how tight the communication was.



And that may be the phone, for example, that the Ukrainian, the Burisma executive might have used in this allegation that the he talked to Joe Biden in recorded conversations." -Peter Schweizer

Watch:

Joe Biden had a private global phone with ATT that he used for Bribery deals. Impeach the SOB.



pic.twitter.com/1sTeQD5sh5  Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) June 26, 2023

Now get this - journalist John Solomon called the phone, and President Joe Biden picked up!

"One of those documents got leaked to me and it had a cell phone number that Hunter Biden was paying for, so I figured this was my chance. Ive been trying to get fair comment from Hunter Biden, so Im gonna call the cell phone!" Solomon told Real America's Voice. "So I called the cell phone, and guess who picked up the phone? Joe Biden!"

"Joe Biden! Boy was he shocked when he got  when he picked up the phone and found out it was me," Solomon continued, adding "He hung up pretty quickly!"

Watch:

John Solomon is an American treasure.

Busts Joe Biden on his secret global burner phone. pic.twitter.com/CfvFnq460t  Big Fish (@BigFish3000) June 28, 2023

Last week, IRS whistleblowers stepped forward to claim that Joe Biden's DOJ buried evidence of Hunter Biden's tax crimes - and stopped US Attorney David Weiss from bringing charges against Hunter in two different jurisdictions last year.

According to Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), Weiss sought to be appointed as a special counsel in the case last year but was denied as well.

What's more, the IRS sought felony charges against Hunter, send their recommendations to the Biden DOJ, and they 'came out as two misdemeanors,' Byron York tweets.

According to the whistleblowers, one of whom is Gary Shipley - who came forward weeks ago to reveal his identity, the IRS was notified of potential evidence "in the guest house of former Vice President Biden," but were rebuffed by US Attorney Lesley Wolf, who said there was "no way," as search warrant "would ever get approved."

House Ways & Means Chair Jason Smith details multiple felony charges whistleblowers say the IRS recommended against Hunter Biden, covering "$2.2 million in unreported tax on global income...from Ukraine, Romania, and China."



Instead, Biden's DOJ gave Hunter a sweetheart deal. pic.twitter.com/8SdMkWgaaT  RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 22, 2023

In another piece of evidence presented on last week, Hunter Biden can be seen in a message to Chinese business associate, Henry Zhao, demanding that they send money as promised.

"I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled," wrote Hunter via WhatsApp on July 30, 2017. "Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight."

Hunter then warned that "if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction. I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father."

As Peter Schweizer said on Sunday;

"I would just say one other thing, Maria, as it relates to that sort of shakedown phone call with Henry Zhao that we alluded to, Henry Zhao in 2015 had already sent $5 million to the Bidens. He was the head of a Harvest Investment firm. And what's interesting is in the correspondence there, Hunter Biden again talks to Zhao in the context of "this is a deal that's important to my family" involving his father.



Let's also keep in mind, we fixate on the criminal element of this, we also have to focus on the espionage element of this. Henry Zhao paid $5 million to Hunter Biden from an account that was part of a company that he co-owned with the family of the Minister of State Security of China, who's in charge of the entire spy apparatus. And you see that in every deal that Hunter Biden did in China. These individuals that are sending him money have ties to Chinese intelligence."

Biden has called the bribery allegations a "bunch of malarkey," and insists "I'm honest."
Well, a few decades late, but whos counting

Via: Reuters:

One of the worlds most common artificial sweeteners is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month by a leading global health body, according to two sources with knowledge of the process, pitting it against the food industry and regulators.

Aspartame, used in products from Coca-Cola diet sodas to Mars Extra chewing gum and some Snapple drinks, will be listed in July as possibly carcinogenic to humans for the first time by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the World Health Organizations (WHO) cancer research arm, the sources said.

Related:

Sweeteners of War: How Monsanto and Donald Rumsfeld Brought Us Saccharin and Aspartame

Donald Rumsfeld and the Strange History of Aspartame


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Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Enrique A Manalo, and External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar, held extensive talks in New Delhi on Thursday. (Photo Courtesy:Dr. S.Jaishankar/Twitter)

NEW DELHI (PTI): India and the Philippines on Thursday agreed to commence negotiations on a bilateral preferential trade pact and vowed to step up defence cooperation, especially in the maritime security domain, amid China's increasing muscle-flexing in the South China Sea.



In the extensive talks between Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Enrique A Manalo and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the two sides also underlined the need for implementing the South China Sea verdict that was pronounced by a UN arbitration court in 2016.



The defence and security ties between India and the Philippines are on an upswing. In January last year, the Philippines concluded a US$ 375 million deal with India for the procurement of three batteries of BRAHMOS cruise missile.



A joint statement said both sides underlined that India and the Philippines have a shared interest in a free and open Indo-Pacific and emphasised the need for peaceful settlement of disputes and for adherence to international law, especially the UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the arbitral award on the South China Sea.



The UN's Permanent Court of Arbitration, adjudicating the Philippines' case against China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, ruled in favour of Manila. However, China refused to accept the verdict.



There have been growing global concerns over China's sweeping claims of sovereignty over all of the South China Sea, a huge source of hydrocarbons. Several countries in the region including Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei, have counterclaims.



In a tweet, Jaishankar described the talks at the fifth India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation as "productive and comprehensive" and said the dialogue focused on boosting ties in areas of defence, counter-terrorism, health and trade.



The statement said both sides expressed keen interest to continue working in the defence sector, including through opening of a defence attache office in Manila and considering India's offer for concessional Line of Credit to meet the Philippines' defence requirements, acquisition of naval assets, and expansion of training and joint exercises on maritime security.



It said Jaishankar and Manalo agreed to commence negotiations on a bilateral preferential trade agreement, as they noted with satisfaction the growing pace of bilateral trade, which had for the first time crossed the level of US$ 3 billion in 2022-23.



The two sides also agreed to work together at the United Nations to attain concrete outcomes on UN Security Council reforms as soon as possible.



"Given the urgent need for UN Security Council reforms, both sides agreed to the expansion in both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, and reforms of the working methods of the UN Security Council," the statement said.



The statement said the two sides emphasized the need for expanded connectivity and ease of travel to enable the growth of tourism, trade and investment and people to people exchange between the two countries.



It said Jaishankar and Manalo encouraged early negotiations for a bilateral mutual legal assistance treaty on criminal matters and a treaty on transfer of sentenced persons.



"Our agenda today covered defence, maritime security, counter-terrorism and transnational crimes. As also our growing economic ties, including in trade & investments; development cooperation; health & pharma; tourism; air services; agriculture; fintech; S&T and space cooperation," Jaishankar tweeted.



He said the importance of greater people to people ties, specifically in tourism and education sectors, was noted.



Manalo, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday on a four-day visit.



In a lecture at a think-tank on Wednesday, Manalo said the Philippines wants to develop a "very robust" defence partnership with India and is looking forward to procuring military hardware from it.


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Postal Code
A Garda sergeant has been sent forward for trial on multiple counts of breaking data protection laws by disclosing private information on individuals from the Garda Pulse computer system.

Garda Sergeant Thomas Bowe, 51, of Naas Garda station, in Co. Kildare, was charged in May with 21 offences.

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He faced 18 charges under section 145 of the Data Protection Act. They are allegations of disclosing personal details on various individuals on the Pulse system without authorisation at Naas Garda station on various dates in 2019 and 2020.

He also has three charges for providing false or misleading information in passport applications at the Irish Passport Service in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, in September 2017, from September 13th, 2017, to June 12th, 2019, and in January 2020. They are contrary to the Passports Act.

It follows an investigation gardai attached to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI).

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Bail was granted at Dublin District Court, where he appeared again when Garda Superintendent Cormac Brennan served him with a book of evidence.

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The Director of Public Prosecutions directed trial on indictment.

Judge Treasa Kelly acceded to a request from State solicitor Ruth Walsh to grant a return for trial order, sending the accused forward to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, where the case will be listed for mention on July 28th.

Three co-defendants are facing a single charge under the Passport Act: Andrew Cash Sr, 55, of Whitechurch Heights, Rathfarnham, Dublin, Andrew Cash Jr, 32, of Harpurs Lane, Portlaoise, and William Connors, 29, Ryland Wood, Bunclody, Co. Wexford

They were also returned for trial to the same court.

Earlier, the court heard Mr Bowes reply to charge after caution was: Not guilty, and Why did you take so long to bring those charges before the court?.

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There was no objection to bail subject to conditions, including an order to refrain from contacting several individuals whose names were on a list handed into court but not read out.

Detective Sergeant Padraic Jennings and Detective Feidhlim McKenna had told the court Mr Cash Sr and Mr Connors made no reply to the charge.

Mr Cash Sr and his son are accused of providing false information in a passport application on June 6th, 2019, and Mr Connors was charged with the same offence on January 22nd 2020.

Bowe's co-defendants were also granted legal aid.

All four were warned to notify the prosecution if they would rely on alibi evidence during their trial.
The president of the High Court wants to know the status of a police investigation into the alleged assault of a young Irish man by staff at the UK psychiatric unit where he is detained.

Mr Justice David Barniville said it was very troubling that a person living in an overseas placement by order of the Irish court could be assaulted by staff there.

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When he makes orders for a ward of court to be detained somewhere, the last thing I would expect to happen is for the person concerned to be a victim of assault there, he said.

We need assurances that a person is not going to be assaulted by members of staff. Otherwise, we need to not make these orders and to revoke them.

Alleged assault

The man, who told the court he is very unhappy at the centre, was allegedly beaten on the head, suffered extensive bruising and broke his finger in the alleged assault in March of this year.

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Some staff members allegedly involved have left and all are subject to disciplinary procedures, while a police investigation into the alleged incident, the court heard.

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Mr Justice Barniville felt he was missing some relevant information about the fallout from the alleged event and regarding the status of a potential police investigation.

Barrister Patricia Hill, representing the Health Service Executive (HSE), said further information will be sought about the police investigation, which may not be proceeding.

The man, who is in his early 20s, has been a ward of the Irish court since early 2020 due to his lack of mental capacity. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, an intellectual disability, autism and a personality disorder.

He was placed into voluntary care by the Child and Family Agency when he was a teenager and was transferred to the UK centre about three years ago on foot of High Court orders.

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Welfare reviews

His detention and treatment at the facility is the subject of regular welfare reviews by the court. His case returned to the president ahead of schedule as Mr Justice Barniville wanted answers about the alleged very serious incident and to ensure he is safe.

A HSE psychiatrist told the court, through a sworn statement, the man was initially placed on a low-security ward but after assaulting another patient he was moved to a medium-secure unit. There have been incidents where he has been aggressive towards staff, made threats and caused damage to equipment at the centre, which has led to periods of his seclusion, she added.

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The psychiatrist said the man was the victim of an alleged assault in March from staff and was moved to another medium secure unit there.

The HSE professional said assessments of the man show he continues to lack capacity to make decisions about his treatment and placement and his understanding of his needs is superficial at best.

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Trauma

The mans court-appointed guardian said he was traumatised and suffering from post-traumatic stress. He expressed he felt like a powerless eight-year-old again after the assault, she said.

He indicated to her that he would rather be back in prison than remain at his current placement where he dislikes most of the staff.

The man, who appeared before the court via video link from his placement, said: something has to be done, as he is very traumatised, depressed and suicidal.

Appearing to recall the alleged assault, he said: They were strangling and they were suffocating me. They were punching me on the head repeatedly. There were five of them.

He said he wants access to a mobile phone and has huge aspirations to become a peer support worker to change the lives of people with mental health issues.

Mr Justice Barniville said it is very clear the man is not happy in the centre. He asked the HSE to provide him with an update soon and to look into the possibility of allowing him to access a smartphone.

He adjourned the case.
A psychiatric nurse who stole prescription forms, inhalers and sleeping tablets from the care centre where he worked has been found guilty of professional misconduct.

An inquiry by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland found six allegations proven relating to the unauthorised taking of prescription forms and medicines by the nurse from Clonmethan Lodge in Oldtown, Co Dublin on May 3rd, 2017.

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The centre is a residential facility for people with an intellectual disability and associated mental health problems which is operated by St Josephs Intellectual Disability Service.

The NMBIs fitness-to-practise committee also ruled that the nurse, who cannot be named, had breached the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics for nurses.

The committees chairperson, Anne Marie Duffy, said its findings were based on admissions made by the nurse.

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He admitted taking approximately 20 prescription forms and various forms of sleeping tablets without authorisation from Clonmethan Lodge as well as presenting a forged prescription at Hickeys Pharmacy on Henry Street, Dublin on May 3rd, 2017.

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The nurse told the inquiry at an earlier sitting in May that his actions were linked to an addiction to hypnotic drugs which he developed after being violently assaulted by a resident of the Clonmethan Lodge in November 2015.

The inquiry heard that he had pleaded guilty at a sitting of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in February 2020 to a charge of forgery of a medical prescription as well as four counts of theft for which he received a nine-month suspended prison sentence.

The nurse claimed he had stopped taking hypnotic drugs in 2017 and wished to continue working in the profession.

I miss working as a nurse. I miss it a lot, he told the committee.

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The inquiry heard he resigned from his job at Clonmethan Lodged in February 2020 before the conclusion of a disciplinary process involving him.

However, the FTP committee rejected the claim by the NMBI that the nurses history of hypnotic use disorder might impair his ability to practise nursing.

Ms Duffy said the committee had decided that the nurse did not have a relevant medical disability.

She said the committee had considered it appropriate to consider the amount of time which had passed since the nurse had suffered an active addiction and his subsequent management of any addiction.

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Ms Duffy said six years had passed since the nurse last consumed hypnotic medication which she noted appeared to be inextricably linked to a serious workplace incident in 2015 from which he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.

She also acknowledged that an expert witness was satisfied he had recovered from PTSD and had subsequently been placed in various stressful situations including during the Covid-19 pandemic with vulnerable adults with an addiction, without suffering any relapse.

The man, who has worked as a nurse since 1991, told the inquiry in May that he felt he had left his family and others down as a result of his addiction but expressed a strong desire to continue working in the profession.

Ms Duffy said a report on the case, which will include recommended sanctions, will be presented to the NMBI in due course.
There were 12,441 people in emergency accommodation in Ireland last month, according to the Department of Housing.

Figures for May show 8,742 adults and 3,699 children were homeless.

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The figures do not include people in domestic refuges, direct provision centres or people were couch surfing.

Minister for Housing Darragh OBrien said it was very disappointing that the numbers had increased again.

He said the Government was continuing to work tirelessly to try and bring these numbers down and we will do all in our power to do so.

Francis Doherty, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust said We badly need to turn the corner and get the number of people in homelessness down and keep it going on a downward trajectory.

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"To do that we really must look closely at the type of social housing that is being delivered because ultimately, we need to know if we are going to deliver the homes that are the right size, that are affordable and in the right locations to provide pathways out of homelessness.

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Peter McVerry Trusts concern is that while housing output grows, the type of homes being delivered doesnt adequately reflect the needs of people impacted by homelessness or even the main need of people on the wider social housing waiting lists.

Almost 50 per cent of the people in homelessness last month needed a one bed home, no other house type comes anywhere near that figure. This week if you looked at the total number of one-bedroom homes to buy on the market on daft.ie or myhome.ie of any type or price there are just around 600 nationally.

"So even if we bought every single one of those homes tomorrow you are only securing 10% of the homes we need to tackle the needs of single homeless people in May.
Minister for Finance Michael McGrath has warned that RTE cannott "hold anything back" and needs to be put all the "relevant information" on the table about the deal it made with Ryan Tubridy.

Speaking in Cork, Mr McGrath urged RTE to be as open and transparent as possible.

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"Those are questions which have yet to be answered, and I do think need to be urgently answered by RTE. We haven't seen RTE yet meet the standard of full openness and transparency.

"It is hard to believe that they don't have the information. A proper trawl through the records would reveal essentially what happened here.

"There seems to be lots of people with bits of information, but nobody able to tell the whole story.

"Those who have more information are duty bound to come before the relevant committees to tell their story because we have to put this jigsaw together, and so far there are gaps, the information is incomplete."

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Mr McGrath stressed that Ireland has "established processes in place" for considering whether there has been a breach of accountancy rules or company law matters at RTE.

"I think we should just allow the authorities concerned to consider whether there is sufficient evidence for them to become involved in this matter.

"But in the first instance I think we still have a journey to go to get all the answers that are needed. I think the only way through this for RTE is to put all of the information on the table and just reveal everything."

Mr McGrath added that RTE made a "very bad decision" to enter in to this pay arrangement with Ryan Tubridy.

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"It would appear that nobody shouted stop for a number of years. I understand that the Media committee, and indeed the Public Accounts Committee, have further questions that they will want to have answered, so I think we need to allow that process to take its course.

"But they need to put all of the relevant information on the table, not hold anything back warts and all. It is the only way they will be able to eventually move on. I would ask them to be as open and transparent as possible because there is a lot of public concern about what has emerged, a lot of information was provided over the course of nine hours of committee hearings over two days."

Mr McGrath said some questions undoubtedly remain unanswered including fundamentally how did this arrangement in relation to Ryan Tubridys fees get designed, how did it come in to being in the first place?

"Then the way in which it was reported in the accounts.how it was accounted for internally? And why was it for a number of years his actual earnings were not accurately reported in the published figures?" he said.
China maintains strong demand for imports of quality fresh produce

15:47, June 30, 2023 By Du Haitao ( People's Daily

Customs officials launch quarantine inspection for imported durians in Shanghai. (Photo courtesy of the Shanghai Customs District)

Recently, 1.5 tons of durians imported from the Philippines arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport via an international cargo flight, and completed customs clearance under the supervision of Chinese customs officers.

"The durians were shipped under whole-process cold-chain logistics management, so that they can remain fresh," said Song Xiaochen, manager of the importer of the fruits in Beijing.

"We'll expand our supply and bring more fresh fruits around the world to Chinese consumers," Song added.

Following the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), fresh durians from Vietnam and the Philippines have successively been approved to enter the Chinese market, said Zhu Cheng, an official with the Beijing customs.

"While ensuring bio-safety and food safety, we opened a green channel that enables around-the-clock customs clearance upon reservation, so that fresh agricultural products are immediately checked and green-lighted," Zhu noted.

King crabs are unloaded from a ship at a port in Yantai, east China's Shandong province. (People's Daily Online/Tang Ke)

Lately, a batch of imported lobsters, dungeness crabs, oysters and other fresh aquatic products were cleared by the customs at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, the largest single air cargo terminal in China, and then distributed to the Yangtze River delta and surrounding areas via supermarkets and aquatic product markets.

"Since the implementation of the RCEP, Cambodia's longans, Vietnam's durians, and other fruits from other ASEAN countries have been approved to enter the Chinese market, which has led to a surge in the imports of fruits from ASEAN countries via Shanghai customs," said a customs official from the customs supervision area of Shanghai's Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone.

According to the official, the customs supervision area of Shanghai's Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone handled 488,000 tons of fruits imported from ASEAN countries in the first five months this year, with a total value of 976 million yuan ($134.81 million).

On June 6, a batch of ham from Spain was imported via a port in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang province. This year has seen a significant rise in the imports of meat, aquatic products, fresh fruits and other agricultural products via the ports of Ningbo. Ningbo now has cargo air routes to Bangkok, Osaka and Manila, as well as nine regular cargo flights.

Last year, 13 countries agreed to the quarantine requirements for exporting fresh fruits to China, and a total of 16 fruits were involved.

Consumers buy imported wine at a shopping center in Jinyi Comprehensive Bonded Zone in Jinhua, east China's Zhejiang province. (People's Daily Online/Hu Xiaofei)

Driven by the lowered market access, China's fruit imports went up eight percent in 2022, hitting $14.6 billion. The total weight of imported fruits stood at 7.33 million tons last year, more than doubling the figure in 2012.

According to customs statistics, China's imports of consumer goods other than passenger cars grew 14.3 percent to reach 686.69 billion yuan in the January-May period this year. In particular, the imports of meat, fresh and dried fruits, and aquatic products went up 11.1 percent, 19.4 percent and 32.9 percent, respectively.

Insiders said the Chinese market will maintain a strong demand for premium fresh produce given the continuous trend of consumption upgrading.

The country will further expand its imports of fresh produce, diversify the source of imports and enrich the varieties of imported products, which will offer Chinese consumers with more choices.

"We'll keep deepening international cooperation on the trade of farm produce, promote opening up of the agricultural sector, and expand investment and cooperation in agricultural trade, so as to improve trade facilitation and liberalization, offer more choices for Chinese consumers and ensure the stability of the global supply chain of farm produce," said an official with China's General Administration of Customs.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun)
Water service workers across ten local authorities are on strike on Friday.

The industrial action comes after a new framework for water services was rejected by Unite trade union.

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Members say the Local Government Management Agency has refused to engage with their views or concerns.

Tom Fitzgerald from Unite says there are also concerns staff will be moved to Uisce Eireann: "We have asked them to engage with us in what we believe to be shortcomings with the framework document for delivery of water services in local authorities."

"That was voted on by Unite union members last year and overwhelmingly rejected."

He said the standard operating procedure is to go back and engage with the employer and discuss tweaks and amendments to the document.

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"We haven't had the opportunity to do that because the basic tenant of engagement has been missing which is very disrespectful," he said.

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The new comes as the number of staff earning over 100,000 at Uisce Eireann last year rose by 95, from 176 to 271.

According to the utilitys 2022 annual report operating profits last year increased by 11 per cent to 252.67 million.

The utilitys 2022 annual report shows that Uisce Eireann - formerly Irish Water - recorded the jump in operating profits as the utility's revenues increased by 10 per cent from 1.19 billion to 1.3 billion.

The bulk of the utility's revenues is its annual subvention from Government which increased from 893 million to 961 million last year.

The utility's domestic revenues rose from 198 million to 221.8 million while its connection income increased from 99.6 million to 125.94 million.

The utility recorded earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of 424 million.
Margot Robbie has started the press tour for highly anticipated upcoming movie Barbie in suitable fashion.

The film  slated for release on July 21st, is directed by Greta Gerwig, and Robbies co-stars include Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, Dua Lipa, Ncuti Gatwa and more.

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Robbies stylist, Andrew Mukamal, has posted the latest Barbie-inspired outfit shes worn to promote the movie on Instagram.

The Wolf Of Wall Street star dipped into the archives for this look, wearing a metallic pink mini skirt and pale pink cropped rollneck jumper from the Versace autumn/winter 1994 collection.

Supermodels Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer appeared in the original advertising campaign for this collection, and the pink look Robbie has chosen was worn by Christy Turlington.

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Her Barbie-inspired looks havent just been about all-pink outfits, however.

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On Thursday, the 32-year-old was promoting the movie on Sydneys iconic Bondi Beach, and her outfit paid tribute to the first-ever Barbie doll, which was released in 1959.

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The first doll wore a black and white striped swimsuit, which Robbie mirrored with a monochromatic striped mini dress with a distinctly retro feel.

Later that day, she changed into another Fifties-inspired mini dress  this time by Moschino, with a graphic strawberry print and worn with statement white sunglasses.

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Proving her dedication to the theme, Robbie hasnt just been channelling Barbie on the red carpet and for photo calls.

She was even seen walking through Sydney airport in an ensemble worthy of the famous doll: a pale pink tweed blazer and grey trousers from Chanels spring/summer 1996 collection, while wheeling vintage-inspired pink luggage.

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Her bags were from Steamline luggage: The Entrepreneur Pink Hatbox Small retails at 251, and The Entrepreneur Pink Carryon costs 468.

Margot Robbie at a Los Angeles photo call for Barbie (Jordan Strauss/AP)

For a Los Angeles photo call, Robbie again took direct inspiration from a Barbie doll.

This time she wore a pink polka dot mini dress by Valentino with a yellow handbag, echoing the outfit worn by a 2015 doll from the Pink and Fabulous collection.

Setting the tone for the whole press tour, Robbie kicked off her themed fashion looks earlier this week while posing next to Barbies car  which she matched in a custom pink two-piece by Bottega Veneta.

With the film not out for a few weeks yet and plenty of premieres in the diary, chances are well be seeing a lot more Barbie-inspired fashion from Robbie to come.
Ukrainian forces are trying to wear down Russias army and reshape battle lines to create more favourable conditions for a decisive, eastward counteroffensive.

Ukraines troops were given a boost of morale last week by an armed rebellion in Russia that posed the most significant threat to president Vladimir Putins power in more than two decades.

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Yet how the revolt by Wagner Group mercenaries under the command of Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin affects the trajectory of the war remains to be seen.

Ukraine has not yet fully committed elite units and western-trained brigades, signalling to experts and allies that the counteroffensive remains in its early stages.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 30 June 2023.



Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/ILW5iqvR7b



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/dVxlihVbhS Advertisement Advertisement  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) June 30, 2023

Its recapture of the small village of Neskuchne in the eastern Donetsk region on June 10th encapsulates the opening strategy of the major counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

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Small platoons bank on the element of surprise and, when successful, make incremental gains in territory along the 930-mile frontline and battlefield intelligence.

We had a few scenarios. In the end, I think we chose the best one. To come quietly, unexpectedly, said Serhii Zherebylo, the 41-year-old deputy commander of the battalion that retook Neskuchne.

One strategy could be to try to split Russias forces in two so the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, is isolated from the rest of the territory it controls.

The infighting in Russia is a major distraction for Russias military and political leaders, but experts say the impact on the battlefield so far appears minimal.

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For the past four days, Ukraine has stepped up operations around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Wagner forces seized after months of intense fighting and then handed over to Russian soldiers, who continue to lose some ground on their southern flank.

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Along the frontline, however, the strength of the Russian military remains unchanged since the revolt.

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It is not clear where Ukraine will try to decisively punch through, but any success will rely on newly formed, western-equipped brigades that are not yet deployed.

For now, Russias deeply fortified positions and relative air superiority are slowing Ukraines advance.

Military experts say it is hard to say who has the advantage: Russia is dug-in with manpower and ammunition, while Ukraine is versatile, equipped with modern weaponry and clever on the battlefield.

But with the autumn muddy season only four months away, some Ukrainian commanders say they are racing against time.

Although Ukrainian forces are making small and steady gains, they do not yet have the operational initiative, meaning they are not dictating the tempo and terms of action, said Dylan Lee Lehrke, an analyst with the British security intelligence firm Janes.

This has led some observers to claim the counteroffensive is not meeting expectations, Mr Lehrke said.

But it was never going to resemble Ukraines blitzkrieg liberation of the eastern Kharkiv region last year, he said, because Russian forces have had too long to prepare fortifications.

An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine (Libkos/AP)

Russian authorities say Ukraine has suffered substantial losses since the start of the counteroffensive  259 tanks and 790 armoured vehicles, according to Mr Putin, whose claims could not be independently verified.

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Grinding battles are being waged in multiple combat zones.

A catastrophic dam collapse last month in the southern Kherson region has altered the geography along the Dnieper River, giving Ukrainians more freedom of movement there.

Russian military bloggers claim a small group of Ukrainian fighters are making gains in the area, although Ukrainian officials have not confirmed these reports.

Across the agricultural plains of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian troops backed by tanks, artillery and drones appear to be chipping away more decisively against Russian positions.

Ukrainian troops will deal a severe blow to Russian forces if they manage to regain access to the Sea of Azov from this direction, effectively cutting off Moscows land bridge to Crimea.

It is too early to determine whether this is a realistic goal.

They are still a long way off.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, right, sits inside a military vehicle posing for a selfie with a local civilian on a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Saturday (Anton Sechin/AP)

In an underground command centre on the front, a Ukrainian Special Forces commander with the call sign Hunter stares intently at an aerial view of the lush green battlefield.

His men have just stormed an enemy position but the return fire is constant.

Russians blast rockets into the air while his fighters hide and wait for orders.

Hunter directs the drone operator to shoot.

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On the screen, a huge plume of black smoke swells in the air.

A hit, he says.

The battle here will only get harder, analysts say.

Ukrainian troops are still several miles from Russias main defensive lines.

Since the launch of The Kremlins Special Military Operation in February 2022, there has been at least 700 attacks on Ukrainian medical facilities recorded.



#StandWithUkrainepic.twitter.com/8dlZOEH0rQ  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) June 29, 2023

As they penetrate deeper into occupied territory, the fighters will have to contend with Russian defences organised in a diagonal pattern, about six miles deep in some areas, including minefields, anti-tank ditches and pyramid-shaped obstacles known as dragons teeth.

And with each advance, they become more vulnerable to Russian air attacks.

At least 50 square miles of land has been regained in the south since the start of the counteroffensive, deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said this week.

It is not the pace many hoped for.

A US official familiar with Joe Bidens administrations thinking said the counteroffensive is a long slog testing Ukrainian forces in ways that few other episodes of the 16-month-old war have.

The official, who was not authorised to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there never was expected to be a D-Day moment, but the early going suggests the pace of the counteroffensive will be tough and challenging for the Ukrainians.

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Unlike some of the earlier battles in the war, in which Russian forces showed little resistance or even fled the battlefield, Ukrainian forces are currently facing stiff resistance, the official said.

In the north east, Russian forces have stepped up offensive operations in the direction of the Kreminna forest near Lyman with the aim of securing a buffer to prevent incursions close to Moscows supply lines, Mr Lehrke said.

But it may well have a secondary aim  of forcing more Ukrainian deployments, he said.

The dense forested area has proven to be notoriously difficult terrain.

The Russians have sabotage groups going into the woods and there have been cases where they enter behind the first line of Ukrainian defences, said Pavlo Yusov, a press officer with the National Guards Thunderstorm brigade, currently in Lyman.

Colonel Volodymyr Silenko, a commander of the 30th Mechanised Brigade operating near Bakhmut, pays no mind to criticism over the pace of attacks.

It is much more important to focus on how the adversary is thinking and responding, he said.

A war is not a competition of raw force and strength of weapons and people, its more about whos more cunning, he said.

Colonel Silenko knows the Russians watch his men, the same way he watches theirs  Moscow sees their movements, how they change, how they evolve.

Our job is to outsmart them, he said.

The RIA Pizzeria restaurant after an attack by a Russian rocket in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine (Alex Babenko/AP)

Deception has been a key part of Ukraines most significant battlefield success to date, last falls Kherson ruse.

By making it appear that the city of Kherson was the main target of that counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces were able to swiftly retake the northern Kharkiv region.

That was a master class in deception, said Mr Lehrke.

Whether they can do the same this time remains to be seen.
In a blow to LGBT rights, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority on Friday ruled that the constitutional right to free speech allows certain businesses to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings, a decision that the dissenting liberal justices called a "license to discriminate."

The justices ruled 6-3 along ideological lines in favor of Denver-area web designer Lorie Smith, who cited her Christian beliefs in challenging a Colorado anti-discrimination law.

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The justices overturned a lower court's ruling that had rejected Smith's bid for an exemption from a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors.

Smith's business, called 303 Creative, sells custom web designs, but she opposed providing her services for same-sex weddings.

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the ruling that Colorado's law would force Smith to create speech that she does not believe, in violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.

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"Were the rule otherwise, the better the artist, the finer the writer, the more unique his talent, the more easily his voice could be conscripted to disseminate the government's preferred messages. That would not respect the First Amendment; more nearly, it would spell its demise," Gorsuch wrote.

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"The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands," Gorsuch added.

The court's three liberal justices dissented. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, "Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class."

Sotomayor added, "By issuing this new license to discriminate in a case brought by a company that seeks to deny same-sex couples the full and equal enjoyment of its services, the immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status. In this way, the decision itself inflicts a kind of stigmatic harm, on top of any harm caused by denials of service."

The decision by the court, on the final day of rulings in its term that began in October, comes at a time when laws targeting the rights of transgender and other LGBT people are being pursued by Republican legislators in numerous conservative-leaning states.

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The case pitted the right of LGBT people to seek goods and services from businesses without discrimination against the free speech rights, as asserted by Smith, of artists - as she called herself - whose businesses provide services to the public.

President Joe Biden, criticized the ruling saying: "In America, no person should face discrimination simply because of who they are or who they love," Biden said in a statement, adding that he fears the ruling could invite more discrimination.

"More broadly, today's decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations - including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith and women."

The justices in recent years has backed LGBT rights in major cases, though the court has since moved rightward. A 2015 decision by the court legalized gay marriage nationwide. In a 2020 ruling, it found that a federal law barring workplace discrimination protects gay and transgender employees.

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Smith, who lives in the Denver suburb of Littleton, is an evangelical Christian who has said she believes marriage is only between a man and a woman. She preemptively sued Colorado's civil rights commission and other state officials in 2016 because she said she feared being punished for refusing to serve gay weddings under Colorado's public accommodations law.

Smith and her lawyers have said she is not discriminating against anyone but objects to messages that contradict her Christian beliefs.
Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney says she felt abandoned by Bud Light after facing more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined over her partnership with the beer giant.

In a video posted on Thursday to Instagram and TikTok, she said she was waiting for the brand to reach out to me  but they never did.

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She said she should have spoken out sooner but was afraid and hoped things would get better  but they did not.

For months now, Ive been scared to leave my house, Mulvaney said.

I have been ridiculed in public. Ive been followed and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldnt wish on anyone.

A deluge of criticism and hate erupted soon after Mulvaney cracked open a Bud Light in an Instagram video on April 1 as part of a promotional contest for the beer brand.

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She showed off a can emblazoned with her face that Bud Light sent to her  one of many corporate freebies she gets and shares with her millions of followers.

Conservative figures and others called for a boycott of Bud Light, while Mulvaneys supporters criticised the beer firm for not doing enough to support her.

In the weeks and months that followed, two marketing executives at parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev took a leave of absence, Bud Light lost its decades-long position as Americas best-selling beer and the Human Rights Campaign, the countrys largest advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights, suspended its benchmark equality and inclusion rating for the brewing giant.

For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans person at all  because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want, Mulvaney said without naming Bud Light.

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Belgium-based ABInBev did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Friday.



The advert proved controversial, with Bud Light later saying it never intended to spark a discussion that divides people (Alamy/PA)

In an April 14 statement, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth said the company never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people. We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.

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Other companies, including Target and Starbucks, have recently come under fire for their efforts to appeal to the LGBTQ+ community, especially during Junes Pride celebrations, only to face more outcry when they tried to backpedal.

The clashes come amid a furious and fast-spreading debate over the rights of transgender people.

At least 17 US states have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors, most since the start of this year.
French protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police in the streets of some French cities early on Friday morning as tensions mounted over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that has shocked the nation.

Armoured police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the teenage delivery driver, who is only being identified by his first name, Nahel.

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On the other side of Paris, protesters lit a fire at the city hall of the suburb of Clichy-Sous-Bois.

In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police sought to disperse violent groups in the city centre, regional authorities said.



An overturned car burns on the third night of protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old in the Paris suburb of Nanterre (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

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Tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed to quell the protests, which have gripped the country three nights in a row.

On Thursday, 100 people had been arrested by midnight, according to a national police spokesperson. The number was expected to rise as arrests underway were being tallied.

The police officer accused of pulling the trigger on Tuesday was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.

The detained police officers lawyer, speaking on French TV channel BFMTV, said the officer was sorry and devastated.

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The officer did what he thought was necessary in the moment, attorney Laurent-Franck Lienard told the news outlet.

He doesnt get up in the morning to kill people, Mr Lienard said of the officer, whose name has not been released.

He really didnt want to kill. But now he must defend himself, as hes the one whos detained and sleeping in prison.

Tensions started to rise in Nanterre following a peaceful march on Thursday afternoon in honour of Nahel, with smoke billowing from cars and garbage bins set ablaze despite government appeals for calm and vows that order would be restored.

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Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the number of officers in the streets would reach 40,000, with 5,000 deployed in the Paris region alone.

The professionals of disorder must go home, Mr Darmanin said.

While theres no need yet to declare a state of emergency  a measure taken to quell weeks of rioting in 2005  he added: The states response will be extremely firm.



Paris police said its officers made 40 arrests (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

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Tensions had started to rise throughout Thursday.

In the usually tranquil Pyrenees town of Pau in southwestern France, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a new police office, national police said.

Vehicles were set on fire in Toulouse and a tramway train was torched in a suburb of Lyon, police said.

Paris police said its officers made 40 arrests, some on the margins of the largely peaceful memorial march for the teen and others elsewhere.

Bus and tram services in the Paris area shut down before sunset as a precaution to safeguard transportation workers and passengers.

The town of Clamart, home to 54,000 people in the French capitals southwest suburbs, said it was taking the extraordinary step of imposing an overnight curfew through Monday, citing the risk of new public order disturbances.

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The mayor of Neuilly-sur-Marne announced a similar curfew in that town in the eastern suburbs.

The unrest extended even to Brussels, the EU administrative home and Belgian capital city, where about a dozen people were detained during scuffles related to the shooting in France.

Police spokeswoman Ilse Van de Keere said that several fires were brought under control and that at least one car was burned.

The shooting captured on video shocked France and stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

The teenagers family and their lawyers have not said the police shooting was race-related and they did not release his surname or details about him.

Still, anti-racism activists renewed their complaints about police behaviour.



French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency security meeting on Thursday about the violence (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

We have to go beyond saying that things need to calm down, said Dominique Sopo, head of the campaign group SOS Racisme.

The issue here is how do we make it so that we have a police force that when they see blacks and Arabs, dont tend to shout at them, use racist terms against them and in some cases, shoot them in the head.

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Mr Prache, the Nanterre prosecutor, said officers tried to stop Nahel because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish license plates in a bus lane.

He allegedly ran a red light to avoid being stopped then got stuck in traffic. Both officers involved said they drew their guns to prevent him from fleeing.

The officer who fired a single shot said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car, according to Mr Prache.

The officers said they felt threatened as the car drove off.

He said two magistrates are leading the investigation, as is common in France. Preliminary charges mean investigating judges strongly suspect wrongdoing but need to investigate more before sending the case to trial.

French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency security meeting on Thursday about the violence.

These acts are totally unjustifiable, Mr Macron said at the beginning of the meeting, which aimed at securing hot spots and planning for the coming days so full peace can return.
A UK minister accused of being part of a campaign to undermine an inquiry into Boris Johnson has resigned, criticising Rishi Sunaks apathy towards the climate crisis.

In a scathing letter on Friday, Zac Goldsmith took aim at the British prime minister directly for being simply uninterested in the environment, and said his position had been made untenable.

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However, the PA news agency understands he quit after being told to apologise for his alleged role in putting improper pressure on the Privileges Committee investigation into Mr Johnsons partygate denials to MPs.

The departure comes after the cross-party panel named Mr Goldsmith as one of eight parliamentarians who had launched attacks on its work, which ultimately found the former UK prime minister lied to Parliament over the scandal.

It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govts apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down pic.twitter.com/KDJKN3i6ER Advertisement Advertisement  Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) June 30, 2023

Writing to Mr Sunak, the Tory peer said: Prime Minister, having been able to get so much done previously, I have struggled even to hold the line in recent months.

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The problem is not that the Government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested. That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.

He added: This Governments apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable. 

In a report on Thursday accusing parliamentarians of a campaig to interfere with its work, the Privileges Committee cited a retweet posted by Mr Goldsmith in June which suggested it was a witch hunt and a kangaroo court

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Exactly this, he had added. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.

The committee said the Commons should consider whether the actions of MPs involved, including staunch Johnson loyalists Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, amounted to contempt of Parliament, as well as what further action to take.

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Mr Sunak refused to answer questions about Mr Goldsmiths resignation when asked as he left a hospital visit in Cambridgeshire on Friday.

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Downing Street on Thursday said Mr Sunak had full confidence in Mr Goldsmith despite the follow-up reports findings.

But the committee also said the upper chamber should be made aware of its findings and consider what action to take.

The Liberal Democrats said the British prime minister should have had the guts to sack Mr Goldsmith the day before his ministerial resignation following his brutal censure.

Sarah Olney, the partys Treasury spokeswoman, said: This Conservative chaos is never-ending.

Every day brings more more resignations and scandal in this depressing Westminster soap opera.

Rishi Sunak should have had the guts to sack Zac Goldsmith yesterday when he was brutally criticised by the partygate watchdog. Sunak is clearly too weak to control his own party.
Rishi Sunak has refused to guarantee the first flight to Rwanda would take off by the end of the year after his asylum policy was dealt a blow by an appeal court ruling.

The British prime minister instead said its a matter for the courts when pressed when flights would take off in the coming months.

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But he insisted he is entirely confident in the Rwanda policy as ministers prepared to appeal against a court decision blocking asylum seekers being deported to the east African nation.

It comes despite previous suggestions from within the British government that planes forcibly removing migrants that arrive within the UK from unauthorised means could take off by the end of summer.

Asked whether the first flight to Rwanda will take off this year following the Court of appeals ruling, the Prime Minister said during a press briefing on Friday: The policy of this British government is very simple it is our country, our Government who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs, and I will do what is necessary to make sure that happens.

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was confident in his policy. Photo: Frank Augstein/PA.

He said: We are confident in our case. The High Court agreed with us, the Lord Chief Justice agreed with us.

Rwanda doesnt even have returns agreements with other countries and they have provided a set of safeguards and assurances to us about the treatment of refugees that will be sent there that we believe are strong.

The High Court and Lord Chief Justice agreed with that, so we will seek permission to appeal this case to the Supreme Court and we remain entirely confident that what were doing is right.

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And it is also fair, because there is nothing moral or compassionate about allowing the current system to continue. People are needlessly dying as they try and make these crossings, they are exploited by criminal gangs.

If you spend any time with the people, as I have done, who are in the Channel picking people up, seeing the conditions they are subject to, seeing what children are subject to, (you) would find it very hard to justify maintaining this system.

In a majority decision on Thursday, Court of Appeal judges overturned an earlier High Court ruling which found Rwanda could be considered a safe third country.

Labour said the decision showed the Governments efforts were completely unravelling.

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In the 161-page ruling following the appeal in April, Sir Geoffrey Vos and Lord Justice Underhill concluded deficiencies in the asylum system in Rwanda mean there is a real risk asylum seekers could be returned to their home country and face persecution or other inhumane treatment when they may have a good claim for asylum.

More than 50,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since the Government signed the Rwanda deal over a year ago.

It comes just days after Home Office figures showed the Government could spend 169,000 on every asylum seeker forcibly removed to a third country such as Rwanda.

Nearly two in five people would need to be deterred from crossing the Channel for the Illegal Migration Bill to break even, according to the economic impact assessment published on Monday.

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The 169,000 cost includes flights and detention, as well as a 105,000 per person payment to third countries, though the sum is an estimate not based on the true cost of the commercially sensitive Rwanda scheme.
Almost half the Haitian population  2.2 million adults and three million children  need humanitarian aid and thousands of youngsters face staggering levels of gender-based violence, the head of the UN childrens agency has said.

Haitians and our team, theyre telling me its never been worse than it is now  unprecedented hunger and malnutrition, grinding poverty, a crippled economy, resurgence of cholera and a massive insecurity that creates a deadly downward spiral of violence, said Catherine Russell, the executive director of Unicef.

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Ms Russell said what was clear during her recent visit was that the police do not have the capacity to secure the country and protect the population from violent gangs  and something needs to change.

We have to, as an international community, say we cant watch this country completely fall apart, she said.

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Lovely Benjamin, who was sexually assaulted by a gang member, holds up her medical report in Jean-Kere Almicars front yard, where she and her young son have sought refuge, in Port-au-Prince (Ariana Cubillos/AP)

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And so my job is to try to bring some attention to that problem and to make sure people understand how terrible the humanitarian crisis is, what kind of impact thats having on children.

Ms Russell repeated at a press conference some of the stories she heard at a centre for survivors of gender-based violence in a dangerous part of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

An 11-year-old girl who was eight months pregnant recalled how five men grabbed her on the street and raped her, Ms Russell said.

The girl gave birth days after their talk, she said.

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Also at the centre, Ms Russell heard from a woman who said men barged into her home and raped her.

And when her 20-year-old sister resisted, they killed her by setting her on fire and then burned down the house.



People displaced by gang violence take shelter in Jean-Kere Almicars front yard (Ariana Cubillos/AP)

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I was told this is part of a new strategy by the armed groups  they rape girls and women and they burn their homes to make them more vulnerable and more easily controlled, Ms Russell said.

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She spoke a day after William ONeill, who was appointed in April by the UN human rights chief as the UN expert on Haiti, said at the end of a 10-day visit to the beleaguered Caribbean nation that a specialised international force is needed to fight gang violence and that a weapons embargo should be implemented immediately.

I found a country bruised by violence, misery, fear and suffering, Mr ONeill said on Wednesday, adding that all types of human rights are being violated.

It is urgent to take action. The survival of an entire nation is at stake.

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An understaffed and under-resourced police force has been struggling to fight against warring gangs which have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise.

The violence has led to an increase in starvation, with people unable to leave their homes and trucks unable to deliver goods.



Lenlen Desir Fondalas finger was shot off by a stray bullet during a gang attack while she was living in Cite Soleil (Ariana Cubillos/AP)

The surge in killings, rapes and kidnappings has led to violent reprisals, with civilians killing nearly 200 people since April in attacks on suspected gang members.

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Since October, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has been urging the immediate deployment of an international armed force to stem the gang violence and Haitis worst human rights crisis in decades.

He said in April that insecurity in the capital has reached levels comparable to countries in armed conflict.

Neither the United States, which has been criticised for previous interventions in Haiti, nor Canada have shown any interest in leading such a force.

The international community has instead opted to impose sanctions and send military equipment and other resources.
Much of the storyline is effectively a vehicle for extended jokes about suffering and death, and for Finn and Lily to exercise their considerable wit. In the surreal yet familiar worlds that Moore so artfully creates it is not at all implausible that a man would be carting his ex-girlfriends corpse across the country, but the conceit is sustained for too long.

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That said, Moore has always made it clear that her interest is not in plot or structure. And despite its weaknesses this novel is so joyously transgressive they do not matter. Most importantly of all  though maybe not immediately obvious given the proliferation of death and dying  is the fact that it is a love story. And Finn himself is such a likeable character: a misfit, an idealist, a teacher tired of bureaucracy and petty rules, a witty companion at a deathbed; not to mention a devoted if desperate partner, incapable of seeing that if Lily rejected him in life shes unlikely to change her mind in death.

The background to Moores previous novel, A Gate at the Stairs, was a post-9/11 US gearing up for war in the Middle East, with political anxieties matched by the personal ones of its protagonist. In I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home the huge black (or orange) cloud looming on the political horizon is yet to burst. Finns jocular reassurances to Max are devastatingly poignant: To have a president so off-script can never happen  Dont check out of this life thinking Trumps going to be president. Dont go with that hallucination or I will really feel sorry for you.

In a novel full of wacky horror by far the worst is what we all know is about to happen. The ending where Finn rearranges his life to cope without Lily sees more hilarity but is also heartbreaking. It is he who is the one in need of sympathy.
Taylor Swift fans snapped up nearly all remaining tickets to her Australian tour during Fridays online sale, while others queued outdoors to secure tickets from city outlets.

Tickets to the Melbourne shows were all gone by 7.30pm, while Sydney only had VIP and hotel package spots left, hours after tickets went on sale.

Thousands of fans around the country can finally make plans for the February shows, but not everyone who wanted tickets is celebrating.

Lauren Sandeman, from Sydneys eastern suburbs, had been trying since Wednesday to buy a ticket, but the 27-year-old failed to get past the lounge, which is the first step in the process.
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Eating outRestaurant news Huge decline: Why Sydney diners have deserted dessert wine Sales of sweet wine have hit new lows at hatted Sydney restaurants. Bianca Hrovat July 1, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

The death knell is tolling for dessert wine, as high prices, health culture and changing tastes cause sales to plummet to new lows at hatted Sydney restaurants. At Merivale restaurant Freds, head sommelier Simon Curkovic laments the lost appreciation for a well-paired glass of sweet wine with dessert. There are seven dessert wines available on Freds wine list, but together they account for less than 2.5 per cent of alcohol sales. At an evening out at Freds, sommelier Simon Curkovic lamented the death of dessert wine. Steven Siewert Certainly, demand for dessert wine  has plummeted [and] people are preferring less sweet alternatives, Curkovic says. [When they do order it], its definitely by the glass. Bottle sales, which now mostly occur in the super premium category, are few and far between.

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Dessert wines such as moscato dasti, port and madeira are characterised by their higher residual sugar content, traditionally created through late harvest (allowing the grapes to ripen and build their sugar content); noble rot (encouraging botrytis, a common fungal disease, to dehydrate the grape and concentrate its sugar content); or fortification (using spirits, like brandy, to halt the fermentation process and preserve a higher sugar content). Photo: Steven Siewert Theyre polarising, and complex, and rewarding, says Georgie Davidson-Brown, head sommelier at Matt Morans Woollahra restaurant Chiswick. A good dessert wine balances sweetness and acidity. It isnt cloying or syrupy. You can feel a richness in your mouth, but it doesnt hang around. While fortified wines remain a steady choice among Chiswicks older diners, sweet wines as a whole have experienced a huge decline, accounting for just 1 or 2 per cent of total drink sales.

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Head sommelier Georgie Davidson-Brown at Chiswick. Supplied We can see it dying out, from generation to generation, Davidson-Brown says, noting its popularity has declined with the rise of wellness culture. The worlds sweetest wine, pedro ximenez, contains more than 300g of residual sugar per litre. In such a health conscious, low alcohol, no sugar era, why would people actively seek that out? asks Davidson-Brown. Only three bottles of dessert wine have been sold at Palazzo Salato since the Love Tilly Group opened the Italian restaurant on Clarence Street two months ago. Head sommelier Julie Barbera says dessert wines decades-long decline has been exacerbated by the rise in cocktail culture and the popularisation of fresh and bitter alternatives, like the negroni.

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Palazzo Salato. Edwina Pickles The Italian cocktail (equal parts amaro, vermouth and gin) soared to the top of the global bestseller list in 2022, signifying a significant palate shift. Drinks are like fashion, its a cyclical thing, and I think weve reached the lowest point for dessert wine, Barbera says. From what Ive seen at the venues Ive worked at in Europe and Australia, younger generations dont order sweet wines, they go for amaros instead. Amaro-based cocktails like the negroni have proven more popular. Brent Hofacker / Alamy Stock Photo

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Given the poor sales and the complexity of the production process, its rare to see new winemakers offering dessert wines at all. The number of upcoming winemakers making dessert wine is diminishing as the trend away from sweet wine takes hold, says Curkovic. Why would you invest where there is no return? Price is also a factor during the cost of living crisis, says Barbera. Its very expensive, she says.

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We have to pour it in smaller glasses to make it more affordable. At Freds, the price of a 75ml glass ranges from $15 for a juicy semillon blend from the Yarra Valley, to a frightfully expensive $135 for a Chateau dYquem sauterne. Sherry has become the drink of choice at new Rushcutters Bay bar Vermuteria. Christopher Pearce David Spanton, owner of Potts Point wine and aperitivo bar Vermuteria, says dessert wine has a branding problem. From my point of view, dessert wines have been on the decline since we started calling them that. It has these negative connotations of something sweet, rich and out-of-fashion, he says.

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It was what your mum and dad drank. It was the bottle at the back of the shelf, collecting dust at your grandmothers house. But anything uncool, especially in the bartending industry, will eventually find its way back into the spotlight. At hatted Newtown restaurant Odd Culture, dessert wines appear on the food menu as recommended accompaniments rather than languishing at the back of the wine list. I think thats why were selling a bit more. It helps people see beyond that textbook sweet wine and understand how those flavours will work well together, Blackman says. At Vermuteria, sherry has become a surprise bestseller thanks to the concerted efforts of Spanton and his team. Each night, they travel from table to table, extolling the virtues of their $6 glasses of Spanish sherry.

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Every table has a mini tasting and hears our 30-second spiel, Spanton explains. We win them over, table by table.
Julia Busuttil Nishimuras zuppa frantoiana Credit: Instagram/@cookedinmykitchen

Courageous, resilient journalist Nick McKenzie spent four anxious years exposing highly decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan as a war criminal [June 24}. First, McKenzie and colleagues had to encourage witnesses to speak up in court to prove Roberts-Smiths guilt. Second, they had to work on getting Roberts-Smiths counter-claim of defamation dismissed. Its only too true that truth is fundamental in a democracy. It should also prevail in solving other cases, and also global crises such as climate change and war.

Barbara Fraser

Burwood, Vic

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Thank you for an emotional story on the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial. I am glad that Nick McKenzie and the great Chris Masters proved Australia does have war criminals. Australia has this problem of judging others, yet it doesnt look in its own backyard first. Maybe Ben Roberts-Smith could donate some of his money to the victims families. But that would be a long shot, as would the removal of his paraphernalia from the Australian War Memorial. I look forward to more investigative journalism. Well done.

V. Harris

Yass, NSW
When Egyptian-Australian Hazem Hamouda, 59, flew to Cairo in 2018 for a family reunion, he was arrested and imprisoned without charge for more than a year. His eldest daughter Lamisse, 34, fought to free him.

Hazem Hamouda (right) and Lamisse: Seeing how fragile he was changed my relationship with him forever. Credit: Paul Harris

Hazem: I was born in Cairo and came to Australia as a marine engineer in 1987. I met my Australian wife, Evelyn, at the Henty Hotel in Portland [Victoria]. We got married in Egypt and settled in Geelong just before Lamisse was born in 1989. Everybody loved her and she developed that sense of responsibility, caring for her five younger siblings. Shed decided to wear the hijab of her own

accord when 9/11 blew everything apart. She got harassed in the street, but managed to find the common ground we all share.

She won a postgrad scholarship to study at The American University in Cairo in 2018. I went to visit her and arrived on January 25, the anniversary of Egypts 2011 revolt. I thought I was just an average Joe Blow on holiday, but the passport officer said there was confusion around my name. I was placed in a cell under the airport and later taken to prison.

I knew Lamisse didnt have the skill set or language to navigate Egypts organised chaos but, fortunately, shes a quick learner. The other prison visitors would see her genuineness and step in to help. Shed converse with the prison officers as if she was in control and I was like, Woah!  theyre masters in belittling visitors. But her composure, even though she couldnt speak the language, gave me confidence.
Students wearing smartwatches in exam halls, writing notes on their arms and using mobile phones during tests were among those caught cheating in Higher School Certificate exams last year.

New figures released by the NSW Education Standards Authority reveal about 680 students were found to have cheated in HSC school-based assessments and tasks in 2022, with almost 500 plagiarism offences reported.

NSW Education Standards Authority data shows 782 HSC cheating offences were recorded in 2022, including 484 plagiarism cases. Credit: Janie Barrett

Serious cheating offences in HSC exams have doubled in the past five years, with a record 65 students forced to front the Examination Rules Committee last year.

The exam breaches involved students smuggling banned smartwatches and mobile phones into exam rooms, concealing notes under chairs or hiding them on their lap and writing during reading time or after pens down.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size A last-minute ditch to save a World War II dry dock appears to have failed, after the Queensland Heritage Council knocked back a bid to add it to the states protection register. And the developer-owner Lendlease looked to be cashing in on the decision  the site was put up for sale on Tuesday, five days after the Heritage Council knocked back the nomination. Brisbane City Council had approved Lendleases proposal to fill in the Cairncross Graving Dock at Morningside in March, but noted the application to include it on the Queensland Heritage Register. [A]t the time of assessment and decision, the Queensland Heritage Council is yet to confirm the site as a heritage place, the council said. Given this weeks decision, that became moot. The Cairncross Graving Dock under construction in 1942. Credit: Australian War Memorial When approached by this masthead, a Queensland Heritage Council spokesperson defended its decision.

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The council took into consideration a range of material including the application itself, submissions from interested parties, and expert engineering reports, the spokesperson said. While the [Heritage] Council acknowledged the role the Cairncross Graving Dock played during World War II and in later years, it noted that much of the places original buildings and associated infrastructure had been removed over time and the overall physical condition and structural integrity of the remaining infrastructure was such that it would prevent the places cultural heritage significance being preserved. Aerial view of the Cairncross Graving Dock at Morningside. Credit: Google Earth But Heritage Councils decision notice, obtained by this masthead, conceded it had not been able to assess the condition of the dry dock in its flooded state, as it had its gates open since about 2017. While the scale of the dry dock is impressive when viewed from inside the dock when it is dry, this cannot be appreciated when the dock is flooded, the Heritage Council says in the decision notice. That did not wash with local campaigner and Bulimba District Historical Society member Francis Price, who was instrumental in the push to add the dock to the heritage register. The fact is that it has heritage significance, he said.

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It reflects an era when Queensland was under threat. It reflects, in terms of construction, unique and leading edge engineering that has been recognised globally. And yet, as a state, we think thats not worth protecting and being able to show people in the future. Property records show the site was sold to Lendlease subsidiary Bulimba East Development in 2016 for $39.5 million. But on Tuesday, the site appeared on real estate websites, listed by commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. The dry dock is listed as a feature. Tank landing ship HMS LST-419 in Cairncross Dock circa 1943, at the height of World War II. Credit: State Library of Queensland When asked on Friday, a spokesperson would only say: We continue to work with relevant stakeholders on a number of potential options for the site. Cushman & Wakefield was a little more expansive in its pitch to potential investors, published on several commercial real estate sites both in Australia and overseas.

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The Cairncross site is a blank canvas providing an incoming purchaser the opportunity to develop a master planned industrial estate within Queenslands most sought after industrial markets, the Australia TradeCoast, Cushman & Wakefield says. The sites scale, water access and significant marine infrastructure will also appeal to owner-occupiers. Price said the potential sale was a cynical move. Obviously, they see theres increased value because it hasnt been listed, where as a community, we lose an asset that can never be replaced, he said. While not appearing on the states heritage register, Cairncross Dock does feature on Engineers Australias list of historic engineering markers. First planned in 1934 and built by the Allied Works Council for the Queensland government during a period of unprecedented war strain between September 1942 and June 1944, the 263-metre-long dock gave valuable wartime service before becoming a major peacetime asset for the Australian shipping industry, Engineers Australia says in its commendation.

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Environment Minister Tanya Pliberseks controversial biodiversity scheme, the Nature Repair Market Bill, has been delayed, just one month after its introduction, following widespread criticism from conservation groups, the Greens and the opposition.

Introducing her Nature Repair Market reforms into parliament at the end of May, Plibersek said the bill could turn Australia into a green Wall Street, with a market-based scheme to drive billions of dollars of private investment into habitat protection, in an attempt to reverse Australias world-record wildlife losses.

Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen.

Under the scheme, landowners would be paid by a third party for protecting and restoring nature on their property. Plibersek said the reform was needed to pump the required financial investments from businesses, philanthropists and others into repairing nature and helping native wildlife.

However, the bill does not rule out allowing the credits to be used as environmental offsets, which are purchased by companies to compensate for damage caused by a project in another location. Some conservation groups have warned this would lead to continued habitat losses as developers determine the price and trade of nature.
During one of the seemingly endless pandemic lockdowns, queuing for coffee in a local cafe, I overheard two young Gen Z women talking about Gladys Berejiklian. They were discussing what colour her jacket would be at the days press conference, what this would signify and how much they admired her. Sydneys inner west is not known for embracing conservative politicians but I was not surprised by their regard for Berejiklian.

As a former health minister, I know how tough the pandemic was, and despite being from the other side of politics I also admired her leadership and strength during the dark days of COVID-19.

Gladys Berejiklian on Friday, a day after the ICAC found she engaged in serious corrupt conduct. Credit: Rhett Wyman

I wonder what these two young women now think, after the release of the Independent Commission Against Corruption report finding Berejiklian engaged in serious corrupt conduct and breached the public trust. Has it put them off going into politics? Maybe, like me, they feel a certain disappointment that the political career of a woman with so many firsts  first woman to be transport minister, treasurer and popularly elected premier  would end this way.

Berejiklian was smart and strategic enough to navigate herself to the top of the Liberal Party and yet, through an almost unfathomable error, lost it all. She did the wrong thing and the community has a right to feel let down and angry at the breach of trust and her failure to uphold the high standards of probity required of political leaders.
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Finsure fights modern slavery An estimated 15,000 people live in modern slavery in Australia

The winners of the 2023 MFAA State Excellence Awards for South Australia and the Northern Territory were announced last night during a ceremony held at Adelaide Oval.

The final of five state award ceremonies held in June, the 18 winners will be finalists in their respective categories at the National MFAA Excellence Awards ceremony on Thursday, July 27.

MFAA CEO Anja Pannek said the awards recognised those members who had excelled in areas including customer service, professionalism, ethics, growth, and innovation.

Its been wonderful to celebrate our members achievements across the country at each of our State Excellence Awards, and the ceremony here in Adelaide has been no exception, said Pannek.

Our members deliver outstanding outcomes for Australians every day which is evident from the quality and number of nominations we received this year, and the recognition of all finalists and winners is well deserved.

Among the winners was Matthew Ford (pictured above left) from Finestream Capital, who won the Commercial & Equipment Finance Broker Award, and Protego Finances Ben Gregory (pictured above centre), who was honoured with the Residential Finance Broker Award.

Belinda Sugars (pictured above right) from Mortgage Choice Parkside won the Community Champion Award, while ubank won the Fintech Lender Award.

Last week the MFAA hosted the Victoria and Tasmania Awards in Melbourne, while the Perth, NSW/ACT, and Queensland awards were held earlier this month.

The MFAA said the awards, audited by accounting firm Hall Chadwick, were judged on excellence and professionalism across all areas of the business.

The industry body also thanked the events sponsors, including Key Medias Australian Broker and MPA, ANZ, BOQ, Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Helia, La Trobe Financial, Macquarie Bank, ME Bank, Mortgage Choice, National Australia Bank (NAB), Prospa, QBE and Teachers Mutual Bank Limited.

Here are the 2023 South Australia/Northern Territory MFAA State Excellence Awards winners:
ABB India on Friday said it will provide electrification and automation systems for ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India's (AM/NS India) advanced steel cold rolling mill (CRM) in Hazira, Gujarat.

The contract comes through John Cockerill India Limited (JCIL), the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for the project, ABB India said in a regulatory filing.

"ABB India is providing advanced electrification and automation systems, including the ABB Ability System 800xA distributed control system (DCS) and associated equipment and components, to support enhanced energy efficiency, optimised zinc consumption and high levels of corrosion resistance throughout the steel production process," it said.

This will support AM/NS India in its bid to reach greater levels of sustainability at Hazira. The new CRM with advanced processing lines is due to be commissioned in 2024, the company said.

"The new processing lines are designed to produce new-age value-added steel, embedding the most demanding quality standards. This expansion will help us meet the growing demand for high-end steel while also enhancing our portfolio of value-added, sustainable steel," Dilip Oommen, Chief Executive Officer, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India).

ABB is a technology leader in electrification and automation, enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future.

Also Read ArcelorMittal-Nippon Steel India JV signs $5 bn loan with Japanese banks NCLT okays AM Mining India's resolution plan for Indian Steel Corporation Odisha CM visits Nippon plant in Japan, discuses green tech for projects ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel selects IBM for cloud-powered transformation Inox Air Products to set air separation unit at Hazira AMNS steel plant Shriram Finance, Paytm come together to augment digital financial services British Airways witnessing balanced growth in demand in India: CEO Doyle HC rejects Twitter plea against govt blocking orders, fines it Rs 50 lakh Zomato introduces open food trends data platform to aid restaurant partners Kalpataru Projects International secures fresh orders worth over Rs 1000 cr

John Cockerill India Ltd is in the design, manufacture, erection and commissioning of cold rolling mill complexes, processing lines, chemical equipment, industrial furnaces and auxiliary equipment for the worldwide steel industry.
The Karnataka High Court (HC) on Friday dismissed Twitter's plea against the central governments orders to take down content and block accounts on the microblogging platform, and fined it Rs. 50 lakh citing its conduct.

Justice Krishna S Dixit said in his order that Twitter has demonstrably adopted a tactical approach to delay compliance and that shows its intent to remain non-compliant to Indian law.



Twitter had appealed in the HC against 10 blocking orders by the Centre for taking down 39 URLs between February 2021 and February 2022.



The non-compliance with section 69A orders has the potential to make the tweet more viral and spread to other platforms as well. One can imagine the damage potential when such objectionable tweets are allowed to be disseminated despite interdiction. The damage potential is directly proportional to the delay brooked in the compliance of such orders, the court said.



Under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the Centre or its agency can ask intermediaries (in this case Twitter) to block any content from public access. The court said that Twitter had offered no plausible explanation for the delay in approaching the court, after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY) had issued compliance requirement notice way back in February 2, 2021 threatening: It needs to be mentioned that Section 69A(3) provides for specific penal consequences in case of non-compliance of the directions issued under section 69A of the Act.



The penalty prescribed u/s 69A(3) for the offence of non-compliance of the order is imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and/or fine.



Also Read Top headlines: HC upholds verdict favouring RIL, Go First insolvency & more SC upholds demonetisation, says test of proportionality satisfied Alwar lynching case: District court convicts 4 out of 5; sentences to 7 yrs NCLAT to hear SMBC Aviation's plea against NCLT order on Go First today Delhi v Centre and Shiv Sena cases: Supreme Court to announce verdict today Kalpataru Projects International secures fresh orders worth over Rs 1000 cr Looking to export 5G solutions, Jio to reap benefits of Indo-US tech pact India to see LG's highest sales growth globally this year: MD Hong Ju Jeon Karnataka HC imposes a fine of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter for non-compliance Adani Airports wants to fly higher; seeks higher stake in Mumbai airport

The court said even this notice did not deter the microblogging platform and the Centre still did not choose to prosecute the petitioner for the offence in question.



Reacting to the development, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT said on Friday that the social media giant repeatedly violated Indian laws and hesitated to remove misinformation on the platform when former CEO Jack Dorsey led the company.


Preserving the "HDFC way of working" is an agreed tenet of the HDFC-HDFC Bank merger, and the bank's leadership has publicly articulated it, Deepak Parekh said on Friday. Parekh, chairman of HDFC, has announced that he will hang his boots in conjunction with the merger.

In a letter to shareholders, Parekh wrote, "The confidence I derive is the agreed tenet of this integration -- preserving the fabric of the 'HDFC way of working'. This has also been publicly articulated by the leadership at HDFC Bank."

He added that the home loan business in India requires "immense patience" and is about "understanding the needs and feelings" of a customer. He added that the cross-selling of assets and liabilities of HDFC's home loan business would be done "seamlessly" through their digital platforms.

"For HDFC Bank, a home loan customer marks the beginning of a journey of having a customer in perpetuity. HDFC Bank is excited at the prospect of cross-selling an array of asset and liability products to home loan customers. This will be done seamlessly on their digitalisation platforms  all through a one-click experience," he said.

Citing optimism in India, Parekh said it had shown resilience with its broad-based recovery.

"India's position has been further strengthened with cyclical and structural tailwinds. The country's GDP growth rate is likely to be more than double that of global growth. We are extremely confident that the runway for housing finance in India will remain immense for several years to come," he said.

Also Read HDFC, HDFC Bank merger effective July 1; HDFC shares delisting on July 13 HDFC-HDFC Bank merger: The story behind success of housing finance behemoth Police arrests Deepak Boxer: All you need to know about Delhi's most-wanted Deepak Nitrite soars 6% as subsidiary plans Rs 5,000-cr capex in Gujarat HDFC twins sink as Street fears MSCI blow may trigger $200 mn outflow Twitter under Dorsey was biased in tackling misinformation: MoS IT DGCA to conduct special audit of crisis-hit Go First facilities on July 4-6 Apple's 'China Plus One' key driver of Tamil Nadu's electronic export boom Twitter's challenge to govt order part of Dorsey's fiction creation: MoS IT Online gaming platform Zupee announces Kapil Sharma as brand ambassador

Parekh also said that working on the merger has been "challenging and rewarding". Yet he was "amazed" to see the goodwill and the strong relationships it has built.

"Whenever and wherever we reached out for guidance, doors opened and help was at hand instantly. We have worked with possibly the country's best legal teams, chartered accountants, valuers, bankers, advisors and other specialised professionals. The collective knowledge and experience of all these parties is unparalleled," he added.

"The orchestration of this merger is to ensure that the future is not constrained for any of our stakeholders," he added.

He also said that since the deal's announcement, the companies have often been asked about the rationale behind the merger. "My answer to this is that mergers are inherently about change," he said.

On work culture at the merged entity, Parekh said that it would be "best of both organisations".

"Culture at the workplace is always a shared responsibility. It needs daily reinforcement through the demonstration effect with the tone set at the top. What remains steadfast is the underlying ethics and value systems of both entities," he said.

Parekh also acknowledged the role of HDFC Bank chairman Atanu Chakraborty and the board of directors in the whole process.

"The HDFC experience is invaluable. Our history cannot be erased and our legacy will be taken forward," he added.
Indian Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are confident that they would be able to secure discounts in the short-term for Russian crude, officials at several OMCs told Business Standard.

The price of Russian Urals-grade crude is trading close to the $60-limit, beyond which, sanctions will take hold. Since April, the majority of Russian oil sold to India has been on the Dubai benchmark, with an average discount level of $8-10 per barrel.
IndiGo will add two non-stop daily flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai from the Lucknow airport starting July 12, officials said on Friday.

After the flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai are added both onward and return the average international flights at the airport will increase from 13 to 17 flights per day, a Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport (CCSIA) spokesperson said in a statement.

"Abu Dhabi will be the new destination for Indigo from Lucknow, while the airline will be re-starting its operations to Dubai from July 12. Last month, Lucknow airport added two flights to Dammam and with addition of four flights to Abu Dhabi and Dubai from next month, the total average international flights will go up to 17 from 13 flights per day," CCSIA said.

The daily non-stop flight from Lucknow airport to Abu Dhabi will depart at 18.20 hrs and the Abu Dhabi to Lucknow flight will arrive at 03.25 hrs. The Lucknow-Dubai flight will depart at 13.30 hrs and Dubai-Lucknow flight will arrive at 22.20 hrs.

Lucknow airport has successfully added three airlines Air Asia India, Akasa Air, Thai Air Asia to start operations at the state capital.

On average, around 18,000 passengers travel through Lucknow airport daily via 120 flights.

Also Read Calicut-bound AI flight lands in Abu Dhabi after flames detected mid-air Ahead of Arabian Travel Market, Abu Dhabi targets 24 mn visitors by 2023 Etihad Airways resumes direct flights between Kolkata and Abu Dhabi Over 900,000 passengers likely to pass through Abu Dhabi Airport during Eid IndiGo Q3: Focus on international destinations lifts outlook, say analysts JCI plans e-auction jute trading platform to modernise supply chain Vedanta to conduct strategic review of steel, raw material businesses Reliance Industries, bp start production from MJ field in KG block Shree Cement completes Rs 550-cr cement plant in Bengal's Purulia Bharat Electronics bags defence, non-defence orders worth Rs 2,191 cr

In the first quarter of 2023-24, CCSIA recorded nearly 1.55 million passenger movements, the airport's statement said.
State-owned Punjab National Bank on Friday said it has raised Rs 3,090 crore from Basel III compliant Tier-II capital Bonds to fund business growth.

These bonds would carry a coupon rate of 7.74 per cent per annum, PNB said in a regulatory filing.

The issue closed on June 27, and allotment of bonds was made on Friday, it added.
Markets regulator Sebi on Friday imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Vedanta Ltd for failing to provide correct disclosures, including on its website, in relation to certain announcements made by the company last year.

In a 24-page order, Sebi said the act of Vedanta Ltd (noticee) to carry news not pertaining to its operations on the website leads to providing misleading information to the investors of the public limited company.

"All these events may lead one to cast aspersions on the intent of the company to host the press release on its website," the regulator said as it imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on the company for certain violations of norms.

The fine has been slapped for the failure to provide correct disclosures, including misrepresentation on the company's website.

In March this year, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) issued a show cause notice to Vedanta Ltd.

The matter pertained to announcements related to the semiconductor business, including the company's holding company Volcan Investments Ltd (VIL) partnering with Foxconn to make semiconductors in the country. Initially, a release in February 2022 said that Vedanta Ltd has partnered with Foxconn and upon the stock exchanges seeking clarification, the company said the deal was to be undertaken by VIL.

Also Read A $2.5 bn debt bill shows risks ahead for Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Resources Vedanta may successfully handle its debt in the next 12 months: Report Vedanta's Q3 net profit falls 42%, announces dividend of Rs 12.5 a share Vedanta dividend: Decision on fifth payout today; check all details here Sebi penalises Swastika Investmart for misusing clients' securities, funds HDFC buys additional stake in insurance firm HDFC ERGO to make it an arm Warburg Pincus sells shares of telecom major Bharti Airtel for Rs 1,649 cr BlackRock, MIT etc invest Rs 1,750 cr in Aditya Birla Capital QIP Global mergers & acquisitions plunge in Q2 but dealmakers see green shoots Reliance Industries, bp start production from third field in KG-D6 block

In September 2022, Vedanta Ltd issued a release, which was also available on its website, saying that it has signed MoUs to set up semiconductors and display fab units.

As the release was found to be contradictory to the company's clarification given in February, stock exchange NSE asked it to clarify. Then, the company informed the business of manufacturing semiconductors is not under it and would be undertaken by VIL, as per the regulator.

Sebi said that while Vedanta Ltd removed the "offending press release" after the hearing in the matter, it still remains a question as to how the company continued to carry the press release on its website.

"The efforts taken by the company to take corrective actions were wanting and the actions were far delayed," Sebi Adjudicating Officer Barnali Mukherjee said in the order.

Conceptually, Sebi said the events pertaining to the listed company only should be carried on the website. However, here is a case where the events of the promoter, not related to the listed company have been carried on the website, it added.

"Vedanta, being a multi-billion dollar company with business across jurisdiction and Vedanta Resources Ltd (VRL) with a presence among so many companies with listed companies across the globe, it is unfathomable as to how an event pertaining to the ultimate holding company, i.e. Volcan Investments Limited (VIL) found its way to the website of Vedanta Ltd, the listed company in India," the order said.

Sebi also noted that it is clear from the chronology, that the event of VIL was known long back in February 2022 and that exchanges had sought clarifications from the noticee about the relevance of the news to the noticee itself.

"Having had this knowledge as well as being fully aware of the fact that the event was in no way related to the noticee, i.e. listed company, the noticee egregiously hosted the press release on its website. Not only this, it made the press release on its letterhead itself giving a clear indication that the news pertained to the listed entity," it said.
Centre has allowed ZTE, a Chinese telecom gear maker, to provide optical transmission equipment worth Rs 200 crore to Vodafone Idea (Vi) for the updation of its network, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Friday. ZTE and Huawei have also applied to the National Security Council Secretariat to become a "trusted source".

The "trusted source" tag is required for a company to be eligible to get fresh telecom network equipment contracts. The upgradation of Vi's network will take place in three circles, namely Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh. The equipment in these circles is originally provided by Huawei.

"Since it's an upgradation of the existing network, Vi was eligible for exemption. They have informed us about the deal and clarified some questions," an official was quoted as saying in the report.





Also Read: Ericsson, Nokia not ready to supply 5G equipment to Vi on credit: Report The two Chinese companies have been struggling to get the "trusted source" tag for a while now. They had applied for the tag long back, but even the companies that applied for it later got it first. These include firms like Nokia and Ericsson.

The tag is provided to the company after over ten ministries do the due diligence to ensure there is no security threat. This includes the home ministry, external affairs ministry and IT ministry.

The ET report also said that the Vi-ZTE deal could be the biggest for the Chinese company since the 2022 clashes between the Indian and the Chinese armed forces in Galwan Valley. Neither ZTE nor Huawei was pursuing the tag as the tensions between the two countries grew intense with time.

Also Read Vodafone Idea expected to come up with revival plan within a month: Report Vodafone Idea cuts ties with 25,000 retail partners to reduce costs Fixed broadband may trigger next leg of growth for RJio, Airtel: Analysts Vodafone Idea zooms 10% amid report of Rs 14,000-crore fund raise plan In search of funding, Vodafone Idea dials KKR and Temasek Holdings Optimistic about India market, will continue to grow categories: P&G Godrej Properties eyes strong growth on robust demand, new launches Homegrown bank giant bigger than Morgan Stanley to arise from India merger BigBasket loss widens to Rs 1,535 cr in 2022-23, revenue up by 5% ReNew setting up 2 hybrid projects of 70.2 MW in Karnataka for energy park

However, these companies continued to get small ticket contracts. Also, they have been doing maintenance work for Bharti Airtel and Vi's 4G network.
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Since key sectors across Canada are experiencing a shortage of workers, the contry has announced an Express Entry invite for experts in Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering (STEM). This is a category based Express Entry draw, which will be held on July 5, 2023.





Canadas ability to remain at the cutting edge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics depends largely on our countrys ability to recruit top talent from around the world, said Immigration Minister Sean Fraser. Newcomers in Canada with STEM experience can start applying for it. They will be issued to Express Entry candidates with experience in 24 occupations, including data scientists, software developers and programmers, mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries, and electrical and electronics engineers.

STEM is the second of five categories for which occupation-specific draws have been announced. Healthcare workers received 500 invitations this week, and will receive another 1,500 on July 5. The other three categories are trade, transport and agriculture and agri-food.





Express Entry allows the invited candidates to gain permanent residence in the country. It is the fastest pathway into Canada as 250,000 economic immigrants are invited through this system every year. " This focus on candidates with STEM expertise  including data scientists, software developers and programmers, mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries, and electrical and electronics engineers  will help Canadas science and technology sector, bringing in the skilled talent that businesses need to drive innovation and achieve their growth potential," said Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry on Thursday.

Also Read EB-5 visa: What is it, who can apply and how it is different from H1-B visa From July 16, those holding H1-B visa, kin can apply for jobs in Canada too International Labour Day: Celebrations, history, and all you need to know Canada's new process to welcome skilled workers as permanent residents US extends visa walk-in interview waiver for more applicants; check here 'Samriddhi' meet: Uttar Pradesh now an investor's favourite destination Road to development: UP in fast lane to becoming a $1 trillion economy No deal for access to Britain's labour market: UK on India FTA talks India's critical mineral list a step towards supply-chain security: Experts BRICS countries likely to induct five new members in August summit





Express Entry programme is a popular point-based route for Indians to get permanent residency in Canada. In 2020, Indian citizens got 50,841 invites to apply for permanent residency in Canada. This number accounted for 47 per cent of the total invites issued by its immigration agency. Express Entry is Canadas flagship application management system for those seeking to immigrate permanently through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, the Canadian Experience Class and a portion of the Provincial Nominee Program.

Eligibility for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) occupations category

To be eligible, you must have accumulated, within the past 3 years, at least 6 months of continuous work experience (in Canada or abroad) in a single occupation listed below

Architects

Architecture and science managers

Business systems specialists

Civil Engineers

Computer and information systems managers

Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers)

Computer systems developers and programmers

Cybersecurity specialists

Data scientists

Database analysts and data administrators

Electrical and electronics engineers

Engineering managers

Information systems specialists

Land surveyors

Landscape Architects

Mathematicians, statisticians and actuaries

Metallurgical and materials engineers

Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers

Software developers and programmers

Web developers and programmers

Urban and land use planners

Web designers





In June 2022, the Government of Canada made changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow for the selection of immigrants based on key attributes that support economic priorities, such as specific work experience or knowledge of French.

On May 31, 2023, Minister Fraser announced the first-ever launch of category-based selection, a new process to welcome skilled newcomers with work experience in priority jobs as permanent residents. Industrial and manufacturing engineers

The categories were determined following extensive consultations with provincial and territorial partners, stakeholders and the public, as well as a review of labour market needs. A complete list of eligible jobs for the new categories is available on our website.

Immigration accounts for almost 100% of Canadas labour force growth, helping to addresses labour shortages in key sectors.

Under the CanadaQuebec Accord, Quebec establishes its own immigration levels. From 2018 to 2022, admissions under the Federal High-Skilled program accounted for between 34% and 40% of overall French-speaking admissions outside Quebec.

"This new STEM-focused category-based selection round will support our science and technology sector and its workforce, by attracting even more of the skilled talent that companies need to drive innovation and realize their growth potential," said Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

A significant portion of the eligible categories is made up of Healthcare and STEM occupations. Nearly half of the occupations are represented by Healthcare alone.

On June 28, the first category-based selection round issued 500 invites under Healthcare. The second round for Healthcare will issue 1,500 more invites on July 5. Skilled workers with experience in STEM occupations will also be invited on July 5.



Canada has also announced that the government will create an open work-permit stream to allow 10,000 American H-1B visa holders to come and work in the country.

"Thousands of workers in high-tech fields are employed with companies that have large operations in both Canada and the US, and those working in the US often hold an H-1B speciality occupation visa. As of July 16, 2023, H-1B speciality occupation visa holders in the US, and their accompanying immediate family members, will be eligible to apply to come to Canada," the government release read.

The approved applicants under the new decision will receive an open work permit of up to three years in duration.
The union government, through a gazette notification on Friday, approved the formation of Indias first domestic regulated carbon market.



The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 first announced under the Energy Conservation Act, aims to set up a carbon credit trading market in the country.

Drafted by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, a wholly owned subsidiary of the ministry of power, the scheme would entail formation of a National Steering Committee, a technical committee, an Accredited Carbon Verification Agency and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) as the carbon market regulator. The Grid Controller of India will be the registry for the Indian carbon market.

The steering committee would be responsible for making the regulations, procedures and guidelines for the functioning of the carbon market. The technical committee will be responsible for compliance of the said rules and regulations. The Bureau has entrusted the existing power exchanges for the carbon credit certificate trading.

Any project or entity which saves on emissions can issue carbon credit against their savings. These are usually energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable agriculture projects. These credits can be bought by an entity which is a carbon emitter. A carbon credit allows its owner to emit that certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases. One credit is equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide or the equivalent in other greenhouse gases.



The notification however has not specified the activities which would be eligible under the carbon trading scheme. The Ministry of Power, would recommend the notification of greenhouse gases emission intensity targets to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The obligated entities shall be required to achieve greenhouse gases emission intensity in accordance with the targets. The obligated entities shall also be required to meet any other targets such as use of non-fossil energy consumption or specific energy consumption as may be notified by the Ministry of Power under the Act as amended from time to time, said the notification.

Sector experts said the notification pertains to only the domestic market which will be regulated under the law. There are no details with regards to the carbon expert market and voluntary carbon credit space.

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Industry executives said the voluntary carbon credit market in India could touch $200 billion by 2030 from the current $2 billion. While being one of the largest carbon credit exporters to the world, India itself doesnt have a carbon market. While there are a handful of carbon offsetting platforms offering carbon credits, there hasnt been a regulated market till yet.

Manish Dabkara, Chairman and MD, EKI Energy Services ltd said, they will be closely monitoring the developments and implementation of the CCTS. BSE-listed EKI is a leading carbon credit developer and supplier in India, and claims to have 90 per cent share credits originating from the country.

We hope that the government will develop the market with a proactive compliance and enforcement mechanism which will help to a reasonable price discovery and a vibrant operational domestic emission trading market. Such a market mobilization will ensure the encouragement of investors for long-term investment in carbon reduction technologies, projects, and processes, towards an accelerated decarbonization of the country's economy, Dabkara said.
A recent report by NATHEALTH in collaboration with BCG (Boston Consulting Group) sheds light on the critical skill gap in India's Allied Health profession. The survey, titled "Allied Healthcare Professionals in India", emphasises the pressing need to bridge this gap and create new opportunities in the sector.

India's Allied Health capacity remains much lower than many other economies, resulting in a substantial unfulfilled demand of 30-40 per cent. The report highlights the current penetration of radio imaging tests per 1,000 people, which is 36 in India as of 2022. However, this number is likely torise to 69 by 2027. In comparison, countries like Australia already perform a higher number of radio imaging tests, at 144 per 1000 people.

The report reveals a substantial shortage in this field, which is projected to worsen as demand has already tripled in the past decade and is expected to rise further. With a shortage of professionals and rapidly growing demand, India's allied health industry faces majors challenges that require immediate attention, it said. The growth in supply of skilled professionals remains sluggish, while wages offered to these professionals are notably low.

Another alarming finding is the lack of awareness among the school-going population about Allied Healthcare roles with only six per cent of the target population is aware of these career opportunities.The study also highlights the proliferation of training centres for Allied Health professionals. However, the quality of these training programmes often falls short of expectations. An alarming 77 per cent of colleges fail to meet the quality benchmark in terms of the skills possessed by qualified students.



1 Low Allied Health capacity compared to other economies

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Average AHPs per 10,000 population

India 2012 2

India 2022 7

UK 22

Australia 80

USA 151

30-40% unfulfilled demand

Source: AHPF Website, Australian Govt Dept of Health website, Statista, Press search, BCG analysis

2 Improving availability, but with high variability in the quality of Allied Health professionals

26% employers find it difficult to get skilled AHP

74% Believe it is 'Feasible' to find trained AHPs

3 65% find mismatch in skillset of the available AHPs

23% High mismatch

35% No mismatch

42% Mismatch

Source: Employer Survey  Tech Mahindra Foundation, BCG analysis

Improving availability, but with high variability in the quality of Allied Health professionals

26% employers find it difficult to get skilled AHP

74% Believe it is 'Feasible' to find trained AHPs
Six Agniveer recruitment rallies of the Indian Army will be held in Uttar Pradesh from July 20 till January 16 next year, state Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra said here on Friday.

Chairing a meeting with district officials, Mishra said the recruitment rallies will be held in Fatehgarh, Baraut, Lucknow, Agra, Amethi and Gorakhpur, an official statement issued here said.

The first rally will be held at Fatehgarh on July 20, the statement said.

Mishra asked officials to ensure that the recruitment venues have all necessary arrangements for the candidates, such as accommodation, food, shelter, electricity, drinking water and clean toilets, the statement added.

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Supreme Court on Friday struck down US President Joe Biden's plan to wipe away $400 billion in student loan debt, reports AP.

Government of India re-appointed Tushar Mehta as Solicitor General of India on Friday Government of India re-appointed Tushar Mehta as Solicitor General of India on Friday

Chief Justice of India and Patron-in-Chief for NALSA, DY Chandrachud spoke on Friday at the 19th All India Meet of the Legal Services Authorities in Srinagar. He said, "For people to trust legal aid, it must be competent and of desired quality...We need to increase the capabilities of lawyers & para-legal volunteers...encourage them to unlearn their social biases...I would urge legal services institutions to encourage more women & transgender persons to serve as lawyers & para-legal volunteers...,"



Centre on Friday hiked interest rates on select small saving schemes by up to 0.3 per cent for second quarter.



Delhi government approaches Supreme Court against Center's ordinance regarding transfer posting of officers, according to media reports. Chief Justice of India and Patron-in-Chief for NALSA, DY Chandrachud spoke on Friday at the 19th All India Meet of the Legal Services Authorities in Srinagar. He said, "For people to trust legal aid, it must be competent and of desired quality...We need to increase the capabilities of lawyers & para-legal volunteers...encourage them to unlearn their social biases...I would urge legal services institutions to encourage more women & transgender persons to serve as lawyers & para-legal volunteers...,"Centre on Friday hiked interest rates on select small saving schemes by up to 0.3 per cent for second quarter.Delhi government approaches Supreme Court against Center's ordinance regarding transfer posting of officers, according to media reports.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who has been under fire over his handling of ethnic violence in the state for almost two months, was on the verge of resigning today but changed his mind under public pressure, according to media reports.



Indian edtech startup Byju's is looking for potential investors to sell a portion of its stake in unit Aakash Education, according to media reports Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who has been under fire over his handling of ethnic violence in the state for almost two months, was on the verge of resigning today but changed his mind under public pressure, according to media reports.Indian edtech startup Byju's is looking for potential investors to sell a portion of its stake in unit Aakash Education, according to media reports

As the law and order situation worsens in the northeastern state of Manipur, Chief Minister N Biren Singh is likely to resign from his position today, according to media reports. The reports stated that CM Biren Singh is expected to hand over his resignation letter to Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey at 1 pm today. As the law and order situation worsens in the northeastern state of Manipur, Chief Minister N Biren Singh is likely to resign from his position today, according to media reports. The reports stated that CM Biren Singh is expected to hand over his resignation letter to Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey at 1 pm today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attended the Valedictory Ceremony of the Centenary celebrations of Delhi University and laid the foundation stone of three buildings of the University. PM laid the foundation stone of the Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of the Faculty of Technology and the academic block which will be built in the North Campus of the University. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also attended the Centenary celebrations of Delhi University with PM Modi.
BSP president Mayawati on Friday made a fresh appeal to state BJP governments for the implementation of reservation for Muslims, taking her cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stating in Bhopal that 80 per cent of Indian Muslims came from backward classes.

The Bahujan Samaj Party leader in a tweet asked the BJP to "honestly" implement reservation and fill the backlog.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly saying at a BJP programme in Bhopal that 80 per cent of Muslims living in India are 'Pasmanda, backwards, exploited' is accepting the bitter reality that supports the need for reservation for Muslims."



She said the BJP should not only drop its opposition to reservation but must also "honestly implement reservation and fill the backlog in recruitment to prove that they are different from other parties."



Pushing for Uniform Civil Code during a programme in Bhopal on June 27, Modi said that Pasmanda Muslims were never treated as equal because of vote bank politics.

'Pasmanda' is a term used for backward classes among Muslims.

"They have not got any benefit. They do not get equal rights. They are considered untouchables," he said.

Modi said that in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and south India, especially Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, and a number of other states, many castes were left behind from development because of the policy of appeasement.

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Modi said BJP will not follow the path of appeasement and vote bank politics. He also alleged that the opposition was using the UCC issue to incite the Muslim community.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday met members of Manipur civil society organisations here and listened to their problems.

Among the different organisations that he met included the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (CoCoMI), a civil society organization, representatives of United Naga Council, the apex body of Naga community in Manipur, the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, and prominent personalities including JNU professor Bimol A.

Congress sources said that he was likely to meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey later in the day, but it could not be independently corroborated.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi visited two relief camps at Moirang in Bishnupur district, party officials said.

Gandhi, who reached Moirang by a chopper from Imphal, met a number of affected people and listened to their plight.

Party sources said both the camps that Gandhi visited shelter around 1,000 people.

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Gandhi was accompanied by former Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, PCC president Keisham Meghachandra Singh and former MP Ajay Kumar.

Moirang is historically known as the town where the INA hoisted the Indian tricolour in 1944.

On Thursday, he had visited relief camps in Churachandpur, one of the worst affected towns in the ethnic rioting, which has plagued the northeastern state for the last two months.

High drama ensued during the trip, as his convoy of cars was stopped at Bishnupur by the local police, fearing the carcade may face attacks.

Gandhi eventually turned back and flew down to Churachandpur by a helicopter. The Congress leader is on a two-day visit to Manipur to bring a healing touch to local communities.
CPI-ML's student wing AISA on Friday alleged that their activists were "detained" inside their flats and were not allowed to leave while Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the varsity.

A senior Delhi Police officer, however, said no student was detained.

"Citing the PM visit as a reason, I and AISA DU Secretary Anjali have been held in detention at our flat and not allowed to go on the campus," AISA Delhi President Abhigyan said.

"We haven't been shown any warrant or order and we don't know how long they will be here," he said.

Abhigyan also shared two photos of the people sitting in police uniform sitting outside their flats.

Modi is on a visit to the Delhi University to preside over the varsity's centenary celebrations. Earlier in the day, he travelled in the Delhi Metro to go to the north campus.

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Embattled Indian edtech startup Byju's is looking for investors to sell a part of its stake in the educational institute Aakash Education Services, television news channel ET Now reported on Friday, citing sources.

Byju's holding company, Think and Learn, is looking to dilute up to 20% of its total 70% equity stake in Aakash Education, sources told ET Now.





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The talks with prospective investors are early and preliminary, the broadcaster reported in a tweet.

Byju's declined to comment on the report.

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ALSO READ: Rise above the noise: Byju Raveendran talks 'struggles', not layoffs The reported plans of stake offloading come as a sharp contrast to the edtech's earlier plans of listing Aakash Education through an IPO by mid-2024.

Byju's, embroiled in legal and financial woes, saw three of its independent directors and auditor Deloitte sever ties with the company last week.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met the new recruits who received job offers in various departments under the Government of India's Rozgar Mela.

Sitharaman, on a brief visit to the state's capital, along with senior government officials interacted with the appointees at the Indian Bank Management Academy for Growth and Excellence (IMAGE) here.

The appointees were recruited for various roles including probationary officer at the public sector Indian Bank, inspector of Income Tax, and preventive officers at the Customs department, among others.

Since the launch of the scheme in 2022, six installments of the Rozgar Mela have been organised across the country and around 4.3 lakh appointment letters have been distributed under it.

The National Skill Development Corporation under the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been organising Rozgar Melas across the country to provide suitable job opportunities to unemployed youth.

In May, the finance minister launched the Rozgar Mela scheme in Chennai and appealed to the new recruits to spread the word about the benefits of the scheme.

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Presenting offer letters to about 250 people, she said the Rozgar Mela is a step towards the fulfillment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to accord the highest priority to employment generation.
A recent report has revealed that people in India trust YouTube and Whatsapp over the mainstream media when it comes to fact-checking and the spread of information. In the United States and the United Kingdom, while people still largely trust traditional mainstream media, a significant portion of the public has doubts regarding the information shared on all media platforms.

The Global Fact 10 Research report shares insight on the spread of misinformation through its consumer research conducted by Logically Fact, a company that supports social media platforms tackle mis- and disinformation in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

More 6,000 consumers across India, UK, and the US participated in this research sharing their opinion and attitudes towards fact-checking and the spread of information.

Key highlights of the report include:

61 per cent of consumers believe that social media platforms and media organisations should be doing more fact-checking than they currently are today.

Elections and other political events are considered to be the highest priority right now when it comes to fact-checking, which is closely followed by areas such as healthcare at 19 per cent, and climate change at 14 per cent.

Consumers are also concerned about the impact of GPT tools, with 36 per cent saying they trust these tools to provide accurate and unbiased information with 64 per cent of Indians trusting these tools compared to 27 per cent in the US and 15 per cent in the UK.

Of the options given, 47 per cent of respondents believe the most trustworthy approach to fact-checking is using advanced tech alongside human intervention, while 24 per cent believe in using advanced tech with no human intervention and 14 per cent believe in using human expertise with no advanced tech intervention.



Trust in media platforms

A sizable portion of the public (22 per cent) has lost trust in all media sources and those who still trust media are more likely to rely on a combination of social media platforms rather than traditional "mainstream" media.



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The study did note that no specific platform emerged as the most trustworthy, with a significant percentage (22.36 per cent) expressing trust in none in particular.

Mainstream media (MSM) (13.73 per cent), YouTube (12.79 per cent), WhatsApp (9.31 per cent), Facebook (9.11 per cent), and search engines (7.85 per cent) were among the platforms mentioned as trusted sources.

Overall, women were found to be more sceptical, with 16.39 per cent trusting mainstream media compared to only 11 per cent of men.

Men had exhibited a higher level of trust in YouTube over mainstream media and were three per cent more likely to trust Facebook than women.

In India, YouTube and WhatsApp were trusted more than mainstream media stated the report findings.

Importance of fact-checking

More than half of the participants expressed a higher likelihood to trust social media platforms that employ fact-checking with only a small portion at eight per cent stating that they did not believe fact-checking should occur on any platform.

Furthermore, the report noted that a staggering 84 per cent of the surveyed individuals reported confidence in their own ability to distinguish fact from fiction on the internet.

Around 30 per cent of all respondents fully trusted their ability to sort fact from fiction, while over 53 per cent expressed "somewhat" trust.

India exhibited the highest confidence level surpassing 92 per cent, followed by the US at more than 83 per cent, and the UK at 74 per cent.

Overall men were five per cent more likely than women to rate themselves as confident in their fact-checking abilities.

Moreover, individuals aged 35-44 years displayed the highest full trust percentage (40 per cent) but dropped lower than other age groups beyond 45.

Awareness of misinformation & disinformation

Nearly 74 per cent of all respondents were familiar with fact-checking as a concept and acknowledged that there was a problem of inaccurate and false information being spread through social and mainstream media networks.

72 per cent of the respondents agreed that society and politics are undermined by such misinformation circulating in media and social channels. Elections and politics were highlighted as the areas where people desired fact-checking to be applied.

Offline harms, encouraging social unrest and protests, were identified as the most common negative impacts of misinformation and disinformation.

Need for fact-checking and content flagging

The survey indicated that 74 per cent of respondents wanted content flagged as misleading or out of context to ensure greater accuracy with 61 per cent believing that media organisations and platforms could do more to verify claims.

Around 66 per cent even expressed a desire for better education on spotting false claims.

Trust in technology for fact-checking

Overall 71 per cent surveyors expressed that they were comfortable with tech-aided fact-checking, including a combination of human intervention and technology.

However, trust levels dropped when respondents were asked to consider AI tools like ChatGPT, with 36 per cent trusting, 25 per cent not trusting, and 39 per cent undecided due to limited experience.

Men exhibited higher trust levels at 41.95 per cent compared to women at 29.36 per cent in AI tools, while more women at 48 per cent appeared to be unfamiliar with such tools.
Amid multi-tier security setup, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha will flag off the first batch of pilgrims for the annual Amarnath Yatra from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here on June 30, an official said on Thursday.

The first batch of pilgrims will leave for the twin base camps in Kashmir to undertake a pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Lord Shiva in the south Kashmir Himalayas.

LG Sinha will flag off the batch of pilgrims early Friday morning



The 62-day-long pilgrimage will commence from Kashmir on July 1 from the twin tracks -- the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and the 14-km shorter but steep Baltal route in Ganderbal district.

Over 3,500 pilgrims have arrived in Jammu for their onward journey to Amarnath.

"The Yatra from Jammu will begin with the first batch of pilgrims being flagged off from Jammu base camp by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha tomorrow, an officer told PTI.

He said that the Yatra will formally commence from the twin base camps of Baltal and Pahalgam on Saturday.

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A multi-tier security setup has been activated in and around the Bhagwati Nagar base camp and a convoy carrying pilgrims, which will leave Jammu for Kashmir, will be fully guarded by CRPF troops with area domination being done by Army and police.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday night visited the yatri niwas base camp here and reviewed arrangements put in place for the pilgrims, an official spokesperson said.

Sinha, who is also the chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, took stock of food and lodging of the pilgrims besides reviewing security arrangements, functioning of joint control rooms, langer stalls, registration counters, power and water supply, health facilities and sanitation.

He also reviewed the facilities of transportation, deployment of health staff, fire tenders and emergency services.

Sinha also welcomed the pilgrims from across the country who had arrived at the base camp.

The city administration on Thursday began the process for on-the-spot registration of unregistered pilgrims and sadhus arriving here for the pilgrimage.

While an on-the-spot registration centre has been set up for unregistered pilgrims in Shalimar area of the city, a special camp for the registration of sadhus has been set up at Purani Mandi-based Ram temple complex.

The registration of unregistered pilgrims and sadhus arriving here from all parts of the country has begun on the spot at the counter here, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Nargesh Singh told PTI.

Deputy Commissioner Avny Lavasa said that 33 accommodation centres have been set up across Jammu while Radio Frequency Identification' (RFID) tags will be issued at the registration centres.

All arrangements are in place and the district administration is on its toes to welcome the pilgrims, the commissioner said.

Five counters have been established for the Tatkal registration of the pilgrims at Vaishnavi Dham, Mahajan Sabha, Panchayat Ghar and two at Geeta Bhawan and Ram Mandir for the registration of sadhus.

Pilgrims shall be provided RFID Tag at the registration centre itself which is mandatory with the pilgrims permit, the official said.

So far, more than 3 lakh pilgrims have registered themselves online for the Yatra.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday held a review meeting with officials of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and instructed that there should be "no shortage of money" to supply clean water.

During the meeting, it was decided that the DJB will end the problem of dirty water in a few areas, use modern technology to find out pipeline leakage issues and solve it permanently.

"Arvind Kejriwal held a regular review meeting with the Delhi Jal Board today and discussed about the detailed plan for ending the problem of dirty water in some of the areas. DJB officials said that to end the problem, they will use modern technology like helium gas and cameras to identify the pipeline leakage and find a permanent solution to it," the chief minister's office tweeted.

He said that there should be "no shortage of money" to supply clean water to the people of Delhi.

The chief minister directed DJB chairperson and minister Saurabh Bharadwaj that the issue of dirty water should be resolved at the earliest.

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With the onset of monsoon, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya urged states to review their preparedness to deal with vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya.

He also asked them to raise awareness among communities for the prevention and control of such diseases anticipating the health requirements.

Mandaviya virtually interacted with Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, health ministers from 22 states, principal secretaries and other senior officials as part of the review meeting on Friday.

Underscoring the importance of advance preparedness and joint efforts, he said, We effectively reduce the disease burden with proactive preparation anticipating the health requirements and making adequate provisions for them ahead of time.

He exhorted the states to make optimum utilisation of budget for investing in the health infrastructure, reiterating that implementation of prevention measures leads to decreased disease burden.

The health minister also asked them to share their best practices and innovative public health measures to prevent and control vector breeding along with community mobilisation and awareness creation.

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He called for community participation by enhancing and emphasising on behavioural campaigns and information communication to villages, schools and neighborhoods.

The states were advised to involve Ayushman Bharat- Health and Wellness Centres for notification of cases, case management, and ensuring community engagement through IEC/social mobilisation campaign. They were also assured timely availability and effective distribution of drug/diagnostics as well as other required resources specified by the states.

During the meeting, it was informed that according to the transmission trend during 2023 (till June 25), Kerala reported 18 per cent of total cases of dengue followed by Tamil Nadu (17 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (13 per cent), Karnataka (12 per cent) and Maharashtra (10 per cent). As for deaths due to dengue, Kerala reported 10 deaths, Gujarat and Maharashtra reported one death each.

In the same time frame, Karnataka reported 39 per cent of the total cases of chikungunya followed by Maharashtra (20 per cent), Gujarat (17 per cent) and Puducherry (10 per cent). No death has been reported due to the disease by any state till date and maximum cases are reported during July to December, sources said.

A majority of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) cases (in 2022) were from Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, they added.
Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Friday said the National Legal Aid Services Authority (NALSA) has an important role to play in ensuring social and economic equality to all citizens of the country.

"We got political equality on 26 November 1956. Social and economic equality should also be given to all," Meghwal said in his address at the 19th Legal Services Authority meet at SKICC here.

He said the steps taken under the NALSA are sometimes referred to as small steps.

"Keep taking small steps through the NALSA. These steps will accumulate into big movement of justice for people," he added.

Meghwal recalled the contribution made by past judges of the apex court in terms of legal aid services to the common citizens.

"CJI (PN) Bhagwati had said if anyone sends him a postcard, he will register a PIL. This is the right the legal services authority has given to the people, " Meghwal said.

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He said in this regard, the meet at Srinagar was a "rich gathering".

"Top judges of the Supreme Court and Chief Justices of all high courts of the country except one or two are here," he said.

Meghwal said India currently holds presidency of two international organizations.

"India has presidency of two international organizations. One is G20 and other is SCO which has a connect with this place. This has been a place of exchanges in the past," he said.

Meghwal said there is some work left to be done in legal aid services.

"We will open an office where three lawyers will be available. How we will do it, I will discuss with you. Para volunteers are also working. Prisoners are getting legal help. The services of India legal authority are commendable. And Nalsa is working expeditiously in this direction," he said.

The minister said the "Prime Minister has given us a target" of making Indian a developed nation by 2047.

"The first year of 'Amrit Kaal' and this event in this pious land will augur well," he said.

Meghwal said e-courts need to be implemented fast.

"In the first phase, we focused on hardware, second phase on ease of access. Third phase is paperless etc. The third phase will revolutionize the justice delivery system. People will talk about it in the times to come that such great steps were taken," he said.
A total 29 of the 81 bodies of victims of Balasore train accident kept in AIIMS Bhubaneswar have been identified and six of them have been handed over to their families on Friday.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayor Sulochana Das said the government has made arrangements to send all the identified bodies to their native places.

Of the 81 bodies preserved at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, 29 have been identified based on DNA analysis. We have started the process of handing the bodies to their families, Das said.

"Six families reached AIIMS Bhubaneswar and received the bodies," a Railway official said.

Indian Railways and AIIMS Bhubaneswar opted for DNA analysis after there were multiple claimants over one body, Das said.

There were multiple claimants for 15 bodies and the DNA reports were received from the central laboratory in Delhi after about 20 days, officials said.

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A total of 88 DNA samples were sent for identification of the 81 bodies, they said.

The six bodies which were handed over were of two persons each from Bihar and West Bengal and one each from Jharkhand and Odisha, the Railway official said.

The body of Samir Bauri, who hailed from Adra in West Bengal, was handed over to his family along with the ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh as announced by Indian Railways.

The other bodies which were handed over to their families were those of Manas Maity of Purba Medinipur of West Bengal, Suraj Kumar Rishi of Purnia and Sujit Kumar of Balia in Bihar, he said.

The body of Bhim Choudhury of Jharkhand was handed over to his parents. However, they could not be given the ex-gratia due to an error in his Aadhar card. An escort vehicle will go with them, the official said.

The body of Brahmakant Das of Odisha was also handed to his family members in the evening, he said.

Of the 293 persons killed in the accident involving Shalimar-Chennai-bound Coromandel Express,



Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a stationary goods train, 287 had died on the spot while six others succumbed to their injuries in hospitals.

The accident took place near Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore district on June 2 evening.

While most of the bodies were handed over to their families, 81 of them could not be identified due to their multiple claimants and have been preserved in four separate containers procured from Paradip Port.

The bodies are being kept at minus 17 degrees Celsius in the containers, an official said.
The government may decide to extend the deadline for linking PAN and Aadhaar, according to some industry experts. It's the discretion of the government and its assessment of the situation. Currently, the last date to link the two documents is June 30.

The deadline for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR) is July 31, but it is anticipated that people will easily confuse these deadlines, which could result in non-compliance, claims Amit Gupta, managing director at SAG Infotech, as quoted by News18.

Experts are, however, urging the government to extend the deadline to avoid such confusion, and align the date with the IT filing deadline.

Aadhar PAN link: Officials

Gupta said that as indicated by the latest information given by the Central Board of Direct Taxes, a critical difference exists between the quantity of PAN cards issued, exceeding 610 million, and the number effectively linked with Aadhaar, which remains at around 480 million as of February 2023.

"This significant difference highlights the numerous challenges taxpayers face during the linking process. These interruptions envelop an absence of awareness with respect to the needs, technical troubles experienced while aiming the linkage, as well as logistical difficulties looked at by people while finishing the process", he added.

Gupta also said that the government should think about granting a 30-day limited-duration extension in order to mitigate these difficulties and benefit taxpayers. This extra time period would empower people to adequately satisfy the PAN-Aadhaar linking method without feeling rushed or overpowered. By expanding the deadline, the government can guarantee a smoother change and cultivate a more significant level of compliance among taxpayers.

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This extension, if approved, could go a long way in offering people more time to overcome technical difficulties and link their PAN with Aadhar. The government will also have a chance to aggressively campaign for it targeting individuals who are yet unaware of such a requirement. Besides, it would give a chance to the government to address any logistical obstacles encountered by taxpayers, for example, long lines at PAN centres or troubles connected with the accessibility of Aadhaar enrollment centres.

Aadhar PAN link: Steps to Link

 Go to the official income tax e-filing website at https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/.

 Click on the Link Aadhaar option, under the Quick Links" tab.

 You can also directly reach the Aadhaar linking page by availing the URL i.e. https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/e-Filing/Services/LinkAadhaarHome.html.

 You will then get a form to enter the needed details on the Link Aadhaar page.

 Fill in your PAN, Aadhaar number, and name as there on your Aadhaar card. Double-check the details carefully.

 If your Aadhaar card only has your birth year mentioned but with incomplete detail, you will require to mark the box indicating the same.

 Post filling in the details, You will likewise need to fill in the "Captcha Code" for check purposes.

 You can select the "I have only Aadhaar" option if you only have your Aadhaar card and not your PAN card.

 Whenever you have filled in every vital detail, click on the "Link Aadhaar" button.

 Your PAN will be successfully linked to Aadhaar if the information you entered matches that in the database.

Aadhar PAN link: Overview

With effect from July 1, 2017, and in accordance with section 139AA of the Income Tax Act of 1961; it is required for everyone who is eligible to get Aadhaar to quote their Aadhaar number when submitting a PAN application or income tax return.

If any individual doesn't have the Aadhaar Number, however, he/she has applied for the Aadhaar card then they can quote the Enrolment ID of the Aadhaar application form in the ITR.
Latest regulations have allowed two sealed bottles of alcohol per person to be carried inside Delhi Metro, officials concerned with the matter said on Friday, June 30.

However, consumption of alcohol inside metro premises is still strictly prohibited, the officials clarified.

According to earlier directions, carrying alcohol was banned in the Delhi Metro unit recently except on the Airport Express Line, the DMRC said in a statement in response to a query from PTI.

"However, subsequently, a committee comprising officials from the CISF and DMRC have reviewed the list and as per the revised list, two sealed bottles of alcohol per person is allowed to be carried on the Delhi Metro at par with the provisions on the Airport Express Line," the news agency reported the latest government direction on the subject.

Metro passengers are requested to maintain proper decorum while travelling, the DMRC said.

In case any passenger is found behaving in an indecent manner under the influence of alcohol, suitable action will be taken against them under the relevant provisions of law, officials said.

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(Wirth agency inputs)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in the valedictory ceremony of the centenary celebrations of Delhi University on June 30th.

Taking to Twitter PM Modi wrote "Looking forward to joining the University of Delhi's centenary celebrations at 11 AM tomorrow, 30th June. As a premier centre of learning, DU has been nurturing talent and fostering intellectual growth for a century. Congratulations to the DU fraternity on this milestone."

During the programme, Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of the Faculty of Technology, and the academic block which will be built in the North Campus of the University

The University of Delhi was established on 1st May 1922. In the last hundred years, the University has grown and expanded immensely and now has 86 departments, 90 Colleges, more than 6 lakh students, and has contributed immensely in nation building.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Manipur needs peace as violence is no solution, after meeting Governor Anusuiya Uikey here on Friday.

"I'm ready to whatever is needed for peace. I am appealing to everybody to maintain peace, violence can never be the way out," he told reporters outside the Raj Bhavan.

Congress officials said that the governor assured that steps are being taken to restore peace in the ethnic strife-hit state.

Earlier during the day, he met members of Manipur civil society organisations here and listened to their problems.

Among the different organisations that he met included the Coordination Committee on Manipur Integrity (CoCoMI), a civil society organization, representatives of United Naga Council, the apex body of Naga community in Manipur, the Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee, and prominent personalities including JNU professor Bimol A.

Gandhi also visited two relief camps at Moirang in Bishnupur district, party officials said.

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Gandhi, who reached Moirang by a chopper from Imphal, met a number of affected people and listened to their plight.

Party sources said both the camps that Gandhi visited shelter around 1,000 people.

Gandhi was accompanied by former Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, PCC president Keisham Meghachandra Singh and former MP Ajay Kumar.

He visited the INA war memorial and placed a floral tribute to the freedom fighters who raised the Indian flag here in 1944.

On Thursday, he had visited relief camps in Churachandpur, one of the worst affected towns in the ethnic rioting, which has plagued the northeastern state for the last two months.

High drama ensued during the trip, as his convoy of cars was stopped at Bishnupur by the local police, fearing the carcade may face attacks.

Gandhi eventually turned back and flew down to Churachandpur by a helicopter.

The Congress leader is on a two-day visit to Manipur to bring a healing touch to local communities.
The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of a plea filed by the wife of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari's aide Sanjeev Maheshwari Jeeva, who was shot dead on Lucknow court premises earlier this month, challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court which had dismissed her petition to provide police protection to her husband.

A vacation bench of Justices A S Oka and K V Viswanathan said nothing survives in the matter now.

"You are seeking relief for whose benefit now? You are seeking relief for the benefit of a person who is no more," the bench said, adding, "Even if we set aside this order (of the high court), can we grant you the relief which was sought before the high court?"



The apex court said the petitioner had sought relief from the high court for the benefit of her husband, who is now dead.

"Now it is an admitted position that the petitioner's husband is no more. Therefore, no relief can be granted in this SLP (special leave petition). Accordingly, SLP is disposed of," the bench said.

Jeeva (48), who was serving a life term in a Lucknow jail, was shot dead when he was brought to a Lucknow court for hearing in a case.

In its May 5 order, the high court had noted the submissions of the state's counsel that for the same set of cause of action the petitioner had earlier preferred a plea and a coordinate bench of the high court had in February 2018 disposed it of with a direction to the Uttar Pradesh police chief and the superintendent of district jail, Mainpuri to take appropriate care of her husband and ensure no injury is caused to him during the course of imprisonment.

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On June 9, the apex court had refused urgent hearing on a separate plea by Jeeva's wife seeking anticipatory bail in a criminal case.

The top court had noted Jeeva's funeral had already taken place and there was no urgency in the matter.

"The petition was mentioned yesterday on grounds that funeral of the husband of the petitioner, Payal Maheshwari, was to take place. For that purpose, the petitioner sought protection from any coercive action in attending the funeral," the bench had said on June 9.

"We are apprised by the UP Additional Advocate General that the funeral has already taken place and the petitioner did not attend it and the last rites were performed by her son. The AAG has submitted that police had ensured that no coercive steps would have been taken against the petitioner if she had attended the funeral. Therefore, we see no urgency to list the matter in the vacations," it had said.

Payal Maheshwari's lawyer had told the bench that Jeeva was shot dead on June 7, and sought protection from arrest to enable her to attend the last rites.
The government is working on an upskilling plan which also aims to partner with 30 countries that need skilled employees, The Economic Times (ET) has reported. The plan focuses on specific skills required by different sectors and industries. By doing this, India is embarking on a long-term journey of developing and supplying a skilled workforce across the globe.

As part of the plan, the government will introduce several skill-related courses, certifications from international institutes, pre-departure orientation training, soft skills, multi-cultural training, and support for overseas mobility, the newspaper reported.





Also Read: US, India launch working group on education and skill development To this end, the government is setting up 30 Skill India International Centres (SIICs) across the country, the ET report said, citing senior government officials.

The government has also identified the key destinations for this talent, which include developed-world countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Sweden, and Finland.

So far, the estimates show that there is a demand for about 3.7 million trained workers across 16 countries over the next five years, the report said.

To ensure a successful implementation of the program, the skills development ministry and the external affairs ministry are working together to ensure hassle-free migration and mobility agreements, along with skill development. These agreements include the mobility of young, skilled professionals, apprenticeships, and students. Family members of these professionals are also covered under these agreements, ET reported.

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According to the official website of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the Government of India has signed 11 government-to-government (G2G) MoUs with countries like Australia, Belarus, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Qatar, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Kingdom.
The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has dropped India's name from the annual report on children in armed conflict.

The UN Secretary-General stated that "measures taken by the government to better protect" children had been taken, hence India was removed for the first time since 2010.

India was mentioned under a section of the report titled 'Situations' not on the agenda of the Security Council or other situations and had expressed its disappointment on being named in the report.

What is the UN Children and Armed Conflict list?

The UN "Children and Armed Conflict" list, officially known as the "Secretary-General's Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict," is published by the UN Secretary-General. It identifies parties to armed conflicts around the world that are involved in grave violations against children. The aim of the report is to raise awareness about the impact of armed conflicts on children and advocate for their protection.

Parties listed in the report include armed groups and government forces that have committed violations against children. These violations include recruitment and use of child soldiers, killing and maiming of children, sexual violence against children, attacks on schools & hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access to children.

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The inclusion of a party in the list serves as a means of accountability and puts pressure on them to take measures to end violations and protect children.

The list is compiled based on verified information gathered by the United Nations and its partners on the ground, including UN peacekeeping missions, humanitarian agencies, and non-governmental organisations. The report covers conflicts from around the world and provides an overview of the situation of children affected by armed conflicts, highlighting specific concerns and trends.

The publication of the list is an essential tool in the efforts to protect children in conflict situations. It aims to engage with parties involved in armed conflicts and encourage them to take concrete measures to prevent violations, release child soldiers, and promote the overall well-being and rights of children affected by conflict.

The UN "Children and Armed Conflict" list plays a crucial role in advocating for the protection of children and raising global awareness about the urgent need to address the specific challenges faced by children in conflict zones.

Reported violations in India

According to data on the official 'Children and Armed Conflict' website, India had 18 cases of recruitment and use of child soldiers, all of whom were boys, and two incidents of attacks on schools & hospitals as well as 34 instances of killing & maiming of children.

The chief challenges listed by the UN included:

Risk of child recruitment by armed groups in affected districts.

Increased number of violations against children verified in Jammu and Kashmir.

Continued detention of children.

Inasmuch, the UN had recommended the government of India to strengthen child protection. One main step was to put an end to the use of pellet guns.

Another recommendation was to ensure that detaining children was a last resort act and that this was done for the shortest period of time. Furthermore, the UN asked the government to try and prevent any and all forms of ill-treatment to children in detention linked with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

Why was India finally removed?

In the report, Guterres welcomed the engagement of the government of India with his special representative and acknowledged the possibility of India being removed as a situation of concern. He took note of the technical mission conducted by the Office of the Special Representative in July 2022, which aimed to identify areas of cooperation for child protection.

Additionally, Guterres acknowledged the workshop on strengthening child protection that was organised by the Indian government in Jammu and Kashmir in November 2022, with the active participation of the United Nations.

The Secretary-General also urged India to implement the remaining measures, which were identified in consultation with his special representative and the United Nations. These measures include providing training on child protection to armed and security forces, prohibiting the use of lethal and non-lethal force on children (including the discontinuation of pellet guns), ensuring that children are detained only as a last resort and for the shortest necessary duration, preventing all forms of ill-treatment during detention, and fully implementing the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Recognising the steps taken by the Indian Government to enhance the protection of children, Guterres announced that India has been removed from the report in 2023.
Globally diversified natural resources company Vedanta on Friday said it has launched an inclusion policy for its transgender employees in an effort to promote inclusivity and diversity at workplace.

As part of the comprehensive policy, Vedanta is extending additional medical benefits in terms of a 30-day gender reaffirmation leave and financial support of up to Rs 2 lakh for gender reaffirmation surgery, the company said in a statement.

"At Vedanta, we are actively engaged in cultivating a culture that celebrates diversity, ensuring equal opportunities for all individuals. It gives me immense joy to announce the launch of our inclusion policy, which reflects our commitment to supporting transgender employees.

"With this policy, we aim to create an environment that not only recognises the needs of transgender employees but also champions their well-being and personal growth," Vedanta Non-Executive Director and Hindustan Zinc Chairperson Priya Agarwal Hebbar said.

In addition to the new policy benefits, Vedanta has been promoting diversity, inclusion, and social responsibility through continuous training and workshops.

These initiatives aim to educate and sensitise employees about the importance of creating an inclusive workspace for all.

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Vedanta has also set a strategic goal to achieve 40 per cent inclusivity benchmark across its leadership ranks by 2050.
The defence on Friday opposed a prosecution plea seeking nod to conduct layered voice, psychological analysis and polygraph tests on DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar, accused of providing secret information to a Pakistani agent, arguing these examinations are not necessary.

Kurulkar, the then-director of a Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO)-affiliated laboratory in Pune, was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS on May 3 on charges of leaking confidential information to a Pakistani intelligence operative. The ATS had submitted an application before the court of Additional Sessions Judge (Special Judge ) S R Navandar, seeking permission to conduct "voice layer and psychological analysis tests" on Kurulkar and sought his temporary custody to complete the examination. The anti-terror agency has also sought the DRDO scientist's consent to face a polygraph test. "We filed our say in the court and argued before the judge that the aforementioned tests are not necessary because the prosecution case is about alleged communication through a mobile phone and therefore the tests are unnecessary," said Rhishikesh Ganu, the defence counsel representing Kurulkar. Ganu also argued that compelling the accused to undergo these tests will violate his fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution. Vijay Fargade, the prosecution lawyer, countered the defence argument and said facing these scientific tests in no way violate the fundamental rights of the accused. "Layered voice analysis (LVA) test is conducted just to understand whether the subject is speaking the truth or lying through speech vibrations while responding to questions so that further course of investigation can be decided," submitted Fargade. An LVA test enables one to understand a subject's mental state and emotional condition by assessing content of his speech while responding to various sets of questions. Judge Navandar heard both sides' arguments and said an order will be passed on July 7.
By Andy Mukherjee



Indias tech industry is being less than bold in embracing artificial intelligence. Its hoping to create solutions for corporate clients by building on top of somebody elses investment in foundational technologies, hardly a strategy for pathbreaking success.



ChatGPTs high-voltage debut last year has galvanized China. Baidu Inc.s Ernie, which claims to have outperformed Microsoft Corp.-backed OpenAIs model on some measures, has pulled Ant Group Co. and JD.com into the bot-building race. Tech czars like Wang Xiaochuan, the founder of the search engine Sogou, have also joined the quest, drawing talent to the industry. On money flow, the US is still beating China six to one, but the number of venture deals in the Asian countrys AI industry is already outpacing consumer tech, according to Preqin data.

Indias startup landscape, meanwhile, is caught in a time warp, with embarrassed investors marking down their stakes in Byjus, an online education company collapsing under the weight of its own reckless growth. The easy funding from the pandemic era has dried up. As financiers push founders for profitability, theyre discovering that in many cases even the revenue is fake.

This was the perfect time for the traditional Indian coding powerhouses  the likes of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. and its rival Infosys Ltd.  to put their superior financial muscle to use and assert leadership in generative AI. But they have their own governance challenges. TCS is distracted by a bribes-for-jobs scandal in the US that it is desperately trying to downplay. Infosys is busy managing the blowback from its association with an Australian lobbying firm in the center of a parliamentary inquiry Down Under.

Even without those challenges, the outsourcing specialists arent exactly in a sweet spot. Demand for their services is weak, particularly because of the turmoil in global banking. Decisions on IT spending have slowed. Keener competition for a smaller pie could mean a fall in order wins and deterioration in pricing, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts said earlier this month. Meanwhile, the Indian firms wage bills are bloated, thanks to their hiring spree during the pandemic when clients were scrambling to digitize their operations.

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No wonder then that the industrys approach to AI is defensive, geared toward assuring investors that the technology poses little threat to its time-tested model of labor-cost arbitrage. When three lines of C programming replaced 30 lines of assembly language, it didnt lead to mass layoffs but an explosion in code-writing. Similarly, when outsourcing made enterprise software cheaper, IT budgets didnt deflate. Volumes rose, as prices fell. Why should this time be different, asks the TCS annual report for 2022-2023.

This is a rather phlegmatic reaction to a revolution whose possibilities are beginning to scare its own creators.

ChatGPT can surely write snippets of code or run a quality check on them, potentially reducing billing hours. But thats hardly the point that needs addressing. Being around machines that are smarter than any of us has troubling prospects for the future of humanity, especially if the algorithms come to be controlled by evil actors. Even leaving aside those profound concerns about a potentially dystopian future, the more prosaic questions are also of significance for users of enterprise software. Companies from banking to retail and aviation must decide their engagement with so-called large language models. And they cant be sure if taking something off the shelf is good for data privacy. What exactly are Indian firms doing to grab this opportunity?

Bengaluru-based Infosys has adopted a mix-and-match strategy, so its clients can choose from 150 pre-trained models across more than 10 platforms, and then run them on any cloud or in-house servers. The TCS annual report says that its research in large language models is oriented toward creating techniques for controlled code generation, question answering, consistent image generation, solving optimization problems and other core AI problems.

However, if Alphabet Inc. is cautioning employees about how much information they can share with chatbots, including its own Bard, then how can TCS or Infosys assume that global multinationals will be comfortable pitching their tents on platforms available to just about anyone?

Indian software services firms also ought to be building language models from scratch for themselves and their customers. Yes, it takes computational power and engineering talent to train neural network-based programs on vast amounts of natural-language inputs. But to not go down that route and look to connect clients via application programming interfaces, or APIs, to existing products is unnecessarily timid, especially when no serious business might want to rely on a publicly available external foundational model for mission-critical tasks.

Googles own research on training data extraction, or the potential for models to leak details from the data on which theyre trained, shows that the risk is very real.

Creating well-guarded, proprietary foundational technologies isnt particularly resource-intensive. To Nvidia Corp. cofounder Jensen Huang, whose chips are at the center of the AI excitement, even a modest $10 million budget for large-scale models is not unrealistically low. Countries that arent traditionally known as tech producers are also getting noticed for their breakthroughs. Abu Dhabis Technology Innovation Institute has made its Falcon 40B  trained on 40 billion parameters  royalty-free for commercial use.

The Chinese have clearly not bought into the idea that Silicon Valley will control the keys to generative AI. While Indian software firms excessive service orientation has meant very few successes in developing products, now is the time for some ambition, and a new strategy that goes beyond charging customers a fee for tweaking OpenAIs GPT-4, Googles Bard or Meta Platforms Inc.s LLaMA with specialist data. ((Disclosure: Bloomberg has announced its own language model for finance.)

On a recent visit to the country, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman was asked if someone in India with $10 million to invest should dare to build something original in AI. He said: The way this works is were going to tell you it's totally hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models (so) you shouldnt try, and its your job to like, try anyway.

The message from Abu Dhabi is very clear: Bengaluru should try anyway.
A women's group, fighting for women and farmers, protested outside Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's house for failing to honour his promise of waiving loans taken by women from district cooperative central banks in the Kolar district.

During the election campaign, Karnataka CM had promised that all the loans the districts women had taken would be cleared once Congress came into power.

However, the CM hasn't fulfilled his promises so far leading to self-help groups and women farmers' protests outside his residence. They also brought packets of milk and flowers, and were seen holding placards at the protest site.

Siddarammaiah promises to clear loans

When Siddarammaiah along with other congress leaders attended the "Na Nayaki'' programme held in the Kolar district, they promised the women that their loans taken under the Stree Shakti Sanga self-help group would be cleared off.

While the Karnataka Chief Minister failed to fulfil his promises, it was reported that no specific timeline was mentioned within which the promise was to be fulfilled.

The District Co-operative Central (DCC) Bank had provided Rs 50000 loan to each woman, which the protestors claimed they couldn't repay due to their poor financial conditions.

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Women detained from their home

The protesting women have been detained and removed from the CM's residence. The protestors were seen holding placards and banners mentioning their demand and requesting the CM to fulfil his promises. They mentioned that if the CM fulfils their demands, they will garland him.
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) of Delhi, whose Foreign Contribution Registration (FCRA) license was revoked by the home ministry on Thursday said that it is currently reviewing the order and will file an appeal against the revocation, according to a report in The Economic Times.

Pragya Mohanty, general secretary, YWCA-Delhi, was quoted as saying that the organisation was disappointed that its application for the renewal of its FCRA registration had been rejected. However, she said that the organisation was committed to the cause of women's empowerment and would continue to work towards that goal. She also said that YWCA-Delhi worked in partnership with the government on many of its programs. She added that the organisation would consider appealing the decision within the provisions and hoped that relief would be granted.

The report cited government sources as saying that the FCRA licence of YWCA, Delhi was cancelled due to alleged misuse of foreign grants. However, YWCA, Indias FCRA licence was renewed for five years till 2028.

YWCA (India), general secretary, Dhiya Ann Mathew was quoted as saying that YWCA, Indias FCRA licence has been renewed and cleared. YWCA Delhi is one of the 85 local associations that come under the YWCA of India. The local bodies report to the national body which is the YWCA of India, even though they are autonomous governing bodies, she added.

The women's group has opened its centres across India and is one of the oldest organisations working for the welfare of women.

Programme For Social Actions (PSA) FCRA certificate was also revoked in June this year. PSA chief functionary Aashima Subberwal said that she and her colleagues were baffled and shocked by the home ministry's decision to refuse the renewal of PSA's FCRA registration. She also said that one of the two reasons cited for the refusal was technically incorrect, as PSA had filed its renewal application well on time.
A recent consumer study conducted by CyberMedia Research (CMR), a technology market research, found that Amazon emerged as the most preferred e-commerce platform at 73 per cent, closely followed by Flipkart (70 per cent), Meesho (30 per cent), and JioMart (20 per cent) among e-commerce websites.

The "CMR Consumer Aspirations and eCommerce in Bharat" was conducted in May 2023 with 3006 consumers from Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Lucknow and Guwahati.

Key Highlights:

Average money spent online in the last six months by Tier II buyers (Rs 20,100) is on par with Tier I buyers (Rs 21,700).

Consumers spend an average of two hours and 25 minutes per week shopping online, spending nearly 16 per cent of their income

>55 per cent consumers from Tier II cities purchase tech products online, with 62 per cent prioritising 5G phones.

Smartphone premiumisation is on rise, with 24 per cent buying premium smartphone online (>Rs 20,000).

Amazon is preferred for its attractive prices (54 per cent), easy returns (52 per cent), brand trust (40 per cent) and nationwide convenience (38 per cent).

The study also found that consumer satisfaction rates for these sites were reportedly at 63 per cent for Amazon, 52 per cent for Flipkart, and 46 per cent for Reliance Digital.





Also read: The top 6 online furniture ecommerce sites in India Amazon's popularity appears to stem from attractive prices (54 per cent), an easy return/exchange process (52 per cent), brand trust (40 per cent), and the convenience of shopping across various pin codes in India (38 per cent).

Over the past six months, 73 per cent of consumers from both Tier II and Tier I cities have made purchases on Amazon.

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In the release of this survey, Prabhu Ram, the head of industry intelligence group at CMR, stated, "The wide range of choices, convenience, and comfort provided by e-commerce has empowered emerging young consumers in Aspirational India (Tier II, Tier III cities and beyond) to shop more online, and to fulfil their aspirations. Major players like Amazon and Flipkart, niche market players such as Meesho and others, and conglomerates like Tata and Reliance are fiercely competing in these markets."

Time spent on online shopping

The study found that these consumers spend an average of 2 hours and 25 minutes per week shopping online, spending approximately 16 per cent of their income.

Tier II cities such as Guwahati, Coimbatore, and Lucknow stand out for the amount of time their residents dedicate to e-commerce. Among Tier I cities, Bengaluru leads the pack with a weekly average of 4 hours and 2 minutes spent on online shopping.

The study also revealed that women entrepreneurs and others spend an impressive 149 hours per year shopping on e-commerce platforms. Among these individuals, 29 per cent have purchased smartphones in the price range of Rs 15,000 to 20,000 online, the intent being to find the right value for their money.

The study also revealed that Gen Z tends to shop online more frequently (51 per cent) than Millennials (47 per cent).

Clothing and electronics are the most popular items

The study revealed that 62 per cent of consumers purchase clothing and accessories online, while 54 per cent opt for electronics and electronic gadgets.

In Nagpur, a majority of 81 per cent of respondents stated that they preferred purchasing electronics and electronic gadgets. Coimbatore and Bhubaneswar exhibit similar trends, with 62 per cent of their online shoppers choosing electronics and electronic gadgets.

The top three electronic gadgets purchased online are smartphones at 37 per cent, headphones/earphones at 23 per cent, and smartbands/smartwatches at 21 per cent.

Average money spent online

The CMR study that was conducted in May 2023 showed that over the past six months, two out of three consumers had made online purchases worth up to Rs 20,000.

The average amount spent on online purchases by Tier II buyers (Rs 20,100) is nearly equivalent to that of Tier I buyers (Rs 21,700), indicating the growing importance of e-commerce across different city tiers.

Among the Tier II cities, Mumbai leads with the highest average spend of Rs 24,200, closely followed by Nagpur and Coimbatore, which show similar upward trends with an average spend of Rs 21,600.

For smartphones, 24 per cent of buyers choose devices priced above Rs 20,000 compared to only two per cent who opt for affordable smartphones priced below Rs 7,000. This indicated a growing demand for premium smartphones.

Wireless earphones that are priced up to Rs 5,000 are the most preferred at 61 per cent.

However, among home appliances, consumers did not show much preference for premium products. 16 per cent of consumers opted for premium models of washing machines priced above Rs 30,000. 27 per cent of buyers prefer premium TVs with a display size of 48 inches and above, priced above Rs 30,000, with LED TVs are the top choice at 70 per cent, followed by QLED TVs at 64 per cent and OLED TVs at 57 per cent. 20 per cent of consumers preferred premium refrigerators priced above Rs 30,000, and 29 per cent of buyers showed a preference for premium air conditioners priced above Rs 60,000.

What makes online shopping so popular?

The primary triggers for online shopping identified are attractive prices (57 per cent), convenient return and exchange processes (57 per cent), and "irresistible offers" (49 per cent). These factors play a significant role in motivating consumers to make online purchases.

Furthermore, reviews and influencers play a large role in consumer purchasing decisions. 86 per cent of online shoppers rely on reviews from influencers or publishers to guide their purchase choices.

The study also revealed that men appeared to be more attentive to influencers, with 90 per cent following them diligently, compared to 80 per cent of females.

Sugandha Srivastava, senior manager of the industry consulting group at CMR, surmised that "In a large, diverse market such as India, both online and offline retail will continue to co-exist."

"As consumers continue to gain digital fluency, the e-commerce boom will also significantly benefit small business owners as well. This will contribute to the rise of India's trillion-dollar internet economy," Srivastava added.
Involved in network infrastructure and cloud solutions, French company Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise is looking for local partners to manufacture its equipment in India in association with local and multinational contract manufacturers, The Economic Times (ET) reported quoting a senior company official.

Speaking about the company's plans for India, the Region head of South Asia at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, Prasath L Rao told the newspaper, We are exploring different options since we have different product portfolios. We will decide on our partners accordingly, depending on what is easily sourceable in India and with whom.





Also Read: PM Modi's 'Make in India' had visible effect on Indian economy: Putin The company is already working with several other multinational partners in other countries like Taiwan, Rao added. He said that we not only want to make products for India but also plan to manufacture to export. The government of India has taken initiatives to support the industry and it is encouraging, Rao said.

Senior Vice-President of Sales of Asia Pacific at Alcatel, Ilya Gutline told ET that the company registered a 40 per cent rise in its revenues from India. If we can attain such growth year after year, it becomes attractive to make investments, Gutline added.

Moreover, the company is also working to expand its overall India operations, investing more towards research and development, and bolstering its supply chain.

Currently, the company has 250 employees on its rolls in India. Alcatel has already outsourced some of its processes to its Indian partners such as Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

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India is one of the key markets for the company in the Asia-Pacific region. We focus on critical domains here which include transportation, hospitality, healthcare, healthcare, and education, among others, Gutlin said.
Aviation regulator DGCA on Friday asked airlines to strictly follow rules as well as sensitise pilots and cabin crew to prevent incidents of unauthorised entry of people into the cockpit.

The move from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) comes against the backdrop of recent incidents where unauthorised people were allowed inside the cockpit during scheduled flights.

In an advisory, DGCA has asked the heads of operations of all scheduled airlines to "prevent any unauthorised entry in the cockpit through appropriate means".

Any non-compliance with the applicable regulation, dealing with unauthorised cockpit entry, shall be dealt with strictly and may also invite stringent enforcement action, it said.

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Drone maker ideaforge Technology's initial public offer was subscribed whopping 106.05 times on the closing day of subscription on Friday, helped by huge participation from investors.

The Rs 567.24-crore initial share sale received bids for 49,30,29,570 shares against 46,48,870 shares on offer, as per NSE data.

The Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) category was subscribed a huge 125.81 times. The portion for Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) fetched 85.16 times subscriptions and the non-institutional investors part got subscribed 80.58 times.

The Initial Public Offer (IPO) has a fresh issue aggregating up to Rs 240 crore and an offer for sale of up to 48,69,712 equity shares.

The price range for the offer was Rs 638-672 a share.

Of the total proceeds from the fresh issuance, Rs 50 crore will be utilised for debt payment, Rs 135 crore towards funding the working capital gap, Rs 40 crore for investment in product development and the remaining amount for general corporate purposes.

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Founded in 2007, the Mumbai-based company has the largest operational deployment of indigenous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) across India.

ideaForge has been backed by several marquee ventures and private equity investors, including Qualcomm Asia, Infosys and Celesta Capital.

The drone maker's customers include the armed forces, central armed police forces, state police departments, disaster management forces, forest departments and civil customers.

JM Financial and IIFL Securities were the managers to the offer.
Shares of four listed asset management companies (AMCs) gained between 1 per cent and 15 per cent, following the deferment of the proposed overhaul of the total expense ratio (TER) by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). 

The capital markets regulator issued a consultation paper in May, proposing to cap expenses such as brokerage, securities transaction tax, and goods and services tax charges within TER. The move would have eroded the profitability of the Rs 43 trillion-mutual fund (MF) industry.

On Wednesday, the Sebi board deliberated on the proposals but deferred a final decision in light of fresh data from industry representatives. Some industry players have cited challenges, particularly the viability of arbitrage funds with a higher churn rate.

After the board meeting on June 28, Sebi Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said the board was taking into account the revised data on the expected impact and would float a fresh consultation paper on TER.

Unlike other proposals that involve industry at the co-creation stage, this paper was brought without it because of its price sensitivity on listed AMCs. Based on data received, the board has recommended issuing a new consultation. The industry will be quite pleased to see the new proposal, said Buch.

Sources said the new proposals would be floated by Sebi over the next few months.

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Currently, MFs charge according to the size of the scheme. Newer schemes charge more because their asset sizes are smaller.

Sebis initial plan was to link the expense cap with the overall assets managed by the fund house. In such a scenario, larger AMCs would not have been able to charge as much as they do now for launches.

Brokerages believe that even though there is uncertainty about the final regulations, there is a likelihood of an easing in regulatory stance.

Analysts suppose that the pressure on earnings growth, which led to a derating in AMC stocks, could be nearing its end.

Regulatory tightening has been weighing on AMC shares, notwithstanding record equity flows and healthy asset growth.

AMC stocks are down 10-20 per cent from last years peak levels (versus National Stock Exchange Nifty50 up 3-4 per cent), whereas equity assets under management (AUM) is up 10 per cent in six months. We reverse a part of the equity yield cuts that we have had preemptively built into the numbers, leading to an upgrade in earnings, says Kotak Institutional Equities in its report on AMCs.

The firm notes that AMCs will continue to see declining revenue yields, albeit at a slower pace than previously anticipated.
Shares of assets under management companies (AMCs) rallied up to 11 per cent on the BSE in Friday's intra-day trade after the market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) deferred the proposal to regulate the total expense ratio (TER) of mutual funds (MFs) until a further consultation process is completed.

As per consultation paper seeking public comments, increasing transparency of TER was the key proposal.

Among individual stocks, HDFC AMC rallied past the 10 per cent temporary upper circuit and was quoting 11 per cent higher at Rs 2,273 on the BSE. The stock is in future & option (F&O) segment, which doesn't have any circuit limit.

Nippon Life India Asset Management surged 11 per cent to Rs 278.70, UTI AMC rallied 8 per cent to Rs 779.10 and Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC soared 6 per cent to Rs 393. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.77 per cent at 64,398 at 09:55 AM.

SEBI is expected to come out with a second consultation paper on rationalisation of TER.

In our view, gradual rationalisation of expense will continue in long term. However, deferment of any decision on rationalization to provide breather for AMCs in near term, ICICI Securities said in a note.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that he was left heartbroken when he met with people affected due to violence in Manipur.

In his latest Instagram post, the former Congress MP said, "It's heartbreaking to see and listen to the plight of those who have lost loved ones and homes due to the violence in Manipur. There is a cry for help in the face of every brother, sister and child I meet."

Appealing for peace in the conflict-hit state, Rahul added, "The most important thing Manipur needs now is Peace - to secure the lives and livelihoods of our people. All our efforts must unite towards that goal."

Rahul who is on his two-day visit to the state will also meet 10 like-minded party leaders, United Naga Council (UNC) leaders and members of civil society organisations in Imphal, Manipur Congress president, Keisham Meghachandra said.

"Rahul Gandhi will meet all the affected families and visit the relief camps in Moirang. After that, he will be back in Imphal. At Imphal Hotel he will meet civil society organisation leaders, United Naga Council's leaders, 10 like-minded political parties and women leaders. He is here only for peace," Meghachandra said.

Earlier on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi met violence-affected people in Manipur's Churachandpur on the first day of his two-day visit to the state that has seen ethnic violence. Congress leaders, who earlier alleged that the authorities were preventing him from meeting victims, later said the administration did not permit him to come to Moirang.

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Manipur Congress president Keisham Meghachandra had said Rahul Gandhi's visit to Moirang had been cancelled. "The administration did not permit him to come to Moirang - neither by road nor by air. He could meet the violence-affected people only in Churachandpur. He is returning to Imphal and will stay the night there. There is no clarity on if he will be able to continue with his visits scheduled for tomorrow," he said.

Rahul Gandhi had earlier tweeted that Manipur needs healing and peace has to be the only priority. "I came to listen to all my brothers and sisters of Manipur. People of all communities are being very welcoming and loving. It's very unfortunate that the government is stopping me. Manipur needs healing. Peace has to be our only priority," he said.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday met some party workers from across the country and took their feedback.

The meeting was held at the Congress headquarters on Akbar Road. Kharge said he would continue meeting party workers from across the country.

Party leaders said the meeting was part of efforts to strengthen the organisation ahead of key state and national elections.

They said that in the past the Congress president used to meet party workers regularly but the practice was discontinued in recent years.

After the meeting on Friday, Kharge tweeted in Hindi, "Congress is the soul of India. Every worker of Congress represents our constitution. We are all ready to face any challenge. Today in AICC office I received feedback from our workers in an open discussion."



He also shared some pictures of the meeting.

"The cycle of such meetings will continue," he added.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday met violence-affected people in Manipur's Churachandpur on the first day of his two-day visit to the state that has seen ethnic violence.

Congress leaders, who earlier alleged that the authorities were preventing him from meeting victims, later said the administration did not permit him to come to Moirang.

BJP leaders accused Rahul Gandhi of trying to derive political benefit from his visit to the state.

Manipur Congress president Keisham Meghachandra said Rahul Gandhi's visit to Moirang had been cancelled.

"The administration did not permit him to come to Moirang - neither by road nor by air. He could meet the violence-affected people only in Churachandpur. He is returning to Imphal and will stay the night there. There is no clarity on if he will be able to continue with his visits scheduled for tomorrow," he said.

Rahul Gandhi in a tweet earlier said Manipur needs healing and peace has to be the only priority.

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"I came to listen to all my brothers and sisters of Manipur. People of all communities are being very welcoming and loving. It's very unfortunate that the government is stopping me. Manipur needs healing. Peace has to be our only priority," he said.

He also visited a relief camp near the state capital.

The Congress said that despite "attempts and hurdles by the government", Rahul Gandhi met victims of violence.

"He assured them that he is always with them. He assured them that situation will return to normal, the fire of enmity will get doused, there will love among people," Congress said in a tweet.

Rahul Gandhi, who landed in Imphal on Thursday, returned to the state capital after local police prevented his convoy from proceeding to Churachandpur. Police said it had been done for "security" reasons and the Congress leader could go by air.

"Seeing the ground situation, we stopped him (Rahul Gandhi) from moving forward and advised him to travel to Churachandpur via helicopter. There is the possibility of a grenade attack along the highway through which VIP Rahul Gandhi is moving. Keeping his security and safety in mind, we're not allowed him," Bishnupur Superintendent of Police (SP) Heisnam Balram Singh told ANI.

The Congress leader's convoy was stopped at a checkpost near Bishnupur, which is about 20 kilometres from Imphal.

Police, party workers and locals staged a protest and later, police used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Congress leaders accused the government of "stopping" Rahul Gandhi.

"We don't know why the government stopped us. Rahul Gandhi's visit will strengthen the peace efforts... The condition is pathetic in all areas. We have to listen to them, Rahul Gandhi listens to everyone's stories. He has given the message that peace will come, that they should not worry and that everyone is with them," party leader KC Venugopal said.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also questioned the government over police stopping Rahul Gandhi

"He is going there to meet the people suffering in relief camps and to provide a healing touch in the strife-torn state. PM Modi has not bothered to break his silence on Manipur. He has left the state to fend for itself", Kharge said in a tweet.

Former Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh rejected criticism that Rahul Gandhi was trying to politicise the situation.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi said that it is the duty of every patriot to make efforts for peace and brotherhood in the country.

"It is the duty of every patriot to make efforts for peace and brotherhood in the country. Rahul Gandhi has gone to share the pain of the citizens of Manipur and spread the message of peace. The BJP government should also do the same. Why does the government want to stop Rahul Gandhi?" she asked in a tweet.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed Rahul Gandhi for his visit.

"Rahul and responsibility never travel together. Rahul Gandhi's visit to Manipur is irresponsible. It is with sadness that I have to say that his adamancy is not correct," Patra said.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said no one should try to derive political benefit from the situation.

"Considering the situation in Manipur, the central & state government are responsible to bring the situation there under control...There is no need for any political leader to go there, they won't be bringing any resolution to the situation, if there's any positive output of their visit, then it is another thing otherwise there will be just a media episode...we should not get any political benefit out of the sad situation of a state," he said.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has decided to keep the dismissal order of state minister V Senthil Balaji in abeyance for the time being and informed Chief Minister M K Stalin about it, sources said on Thursday.

In a late evening communication to the chief minister, the governor said he would consult the attorney general and seek his legal opinion about the move.

The order to dismiss Balaji from the Council of Ministers has been kept in abeyance by the governor until further communication, the sources said.

Earlier, the governor had dismissed Balaji from the Council of Ministers, days after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam.

Stalin had said the state government would challenge the governor's decision legally.

In an official release, the Raj Bhavan in Chennai had said, "There are reasonable apprehensions that the continuation of V Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law, including fair investigation that may eventually lead to the breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state."



Balaji "is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption, including taking cash for jobs and money laundering. Abusing his position as a minister, he has been influencing the investigation and obstructing the due process of law and justice," the release added.

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday termed the dismissal of Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji by Governor R N Ravi "outrightly unconstitutional" and said such decisions come under the "exclusive domain" of the chief minister.

The AAP's reaction came after the governor dismissed Balaji from the Council of Ministers, days after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam.

Chief Minister M K Stalin said his government will challenge the governor's move legally, contending that Ravi had no authority to dismiss a minister from the cabinet.

Coming out in support of the DMK government in the southern state, AAP's national spokesperson Raghav Chadha wrote on Twitter: "Dismissal of V Senthil Balaji by Tamil Nadu Governor is outrightly unconstitutional."



Chadha said according to the Constitution, decisions pertaining to the appointment and removal of ministers as well as a cabinet reshuffle come under "the exclusive domain of the chief minister".

The governor has to "merely" publish the chief minister's recommendations, the Rajya Sabha MP added.

In an official release, the Raj Bhavan on Thursday said, "There are reasonable apprehensions that the continuation of V Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law, including fair investigation that may eventually lead to the breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state."



Balaji "is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption, including taking cash for jobs and money laundering. Abusing his position as a minister, he has been influencing the investigation and obstructing the due process of law and justice", the release added.

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"Under these circumstances, the Governor has dismissed Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect," it said.
Hul Kranti Diwas 2022 is celebrated across the nation on 30 June. The great revolutionaries who rattled the British rulers with their bravery are honoured on this day. Under the leadership of tribal brothers Sidho-Kanho and Chand-Bhairav, approximately 50,000 tribals in Bhognadih, which is now Sahibganj, announced war on Mahajani practice and British settlement policy on June 30, 1855.

Before the 1857 revolution that shook the foundation of British rule, there was a revolt. The primary objective of this rebellion was to collect 50 to 500 per cent of the tribals' agricultural tax.



Hul Diwas 2023: History

Although the Santhal Rebellion of 1855 had already shaken the foundation of British rule, the revolution of 1857 is generally regarded as the first rebellion against British rule. The primary objective of this rebellion was to collect 50 to 500 per cent of the tribals' agricultural tax.

The tribals unitedly raised their voice against this exploitation of the Britishers and concluded that they will pronounce themselves independent and won't pay land revenue. In light of this, local landowners, and entrepreneurs who came from the English government were executed. "Zumidar, Mahajan, Police Rajden Amla Ko Gujukamad," meaning "destroying of landlords, moneylenders, police, and government officials," was their campaign slogan.

To teach a thing or two to these rebels, the English crossed all constraints of severity. On one hand, the British sentenced Chand and Bhairav to death. Sidho and Kanho were then executed by hanging from a tree in Bhognadih on July 26, 1855. It is said that 20 thousand tribals were killed.

Hul Diwas 2023: Tribute

Today, on Hul Diwas, the nation's prominent leaders paid tributes to the Santhal tribal martyrs. Draupadi Murmu, the nation's president, paid floral tributes to the immortal martyrs Sido-Kanhu, Chand-Bhairav, and Phulo-Jhano.

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Babulal Marandi, the first Chief Minister of Jharkhand and a minister at the Centre has likewise honoured the tribals recalling their sacrifice on this event.

Jharkhand Governor C. P. Radhakrishnan said on the occasion, "On 'Hul Day', the rebellion's symbol against the British rule, many salutes to every courageous martyrs including Sido-Kanhu, Chand-Bharaiv, Phulo-Jhano. Future generations will always be inspired to serve the motherland by their stories of glory.
The United States Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that race can no longer be considered a factor during admission to universities, said a BBC report.

The court observed that affirmative action admissions programmes violate the US Constitutions promise of equal protection under the law.

Affirmative action, also known as positive discrimination, aims to reverse long-standing prejudices against underrepresented groups. In terms of education, it promotes diversity on college campuses.

According to The Washington Post, Chief Justice John G Roberts stated in his ruling that students must be treated based on their individual experiences rather than race.

Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenged bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the colour of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice," he said.

The court was hearing two pleas involving admissions to Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The court ruled 6-2 in the case involving Harvard and 6-3 against the University of North Carolina.

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In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman appointed to the court, said the decision was truly a tragedy, reported the Associated Press.

...Today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces colourblindness for all by legal fiat, Jackson said. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that the court has reversed decades of significant progress.

The decision subverts the constitutional guarantee of equal protection by further entrenching racial inequality in education, the very foundation of our democratic government and pluralistic society, she was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

US President Joe Biden said that he strongly disagrees with the courts verdict.

Discrimination still exists in America, he said, adding, Todays decision does not change that. Its a simple fact. If a student had to overcome adversity on their path to education, a college should recognise and value that.

Former US President Barack Obama also criticised the Supreme Court's decision, saying that affirmative action policies were critical to ensuring that all students, regardless of race or ethnicity, had the opportunity to succeed.

Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society, he said.

But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of Americas key institutions  it gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table," he added.

Former President Donald Trump, however, said that the decision marks a great day for America.

People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our country, are finally being rewarded, Trump said.

(With agency input)
ina dispatched a senior diplomat to Italy this week, as Beijing seeks to persuade the European nation not to leave President Xi Jinpings flagship global investment pact.



Liu Jianchao, director of the Communist Partys International Department, held meetings with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, Senate speaker Ignazio La Russa and former prime minister Massimo DAlema, according to the departments readouts. He also met with group known as Friends of China in Italys parliament, during his three-day visit that began Sunday.

It was the correct decision for China and Italy to sign the Belt and Road, Liu said during a session with business people in Milan this week, according to the official statement.

Italy signed onto Chinas massive BRI in 2019 when Giuseppe Conte was prime minister, becoming the only Group of Seven nation to join the pact. The countrys current leader, Giorgia Meloni, favors leaving the infrastructure initiative, Bloomberg reported in May. Participation will automatically renew in 2024 unless Rome exits the agreement.

Meloni told lawmakers on Wednesday that Italy can have excellent relations with China even without being part of the initiative. There are ongoing evaluations, she said. The issue must be handled carefully and respectfully, also involving the parliament.

Jia Guide, Chinese ambassador to Italy, warned in an interview with Italian news outlet Fanpage last week that there would negative consequences if Rome recklessly decides to withdraw.

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European Struggle



Lius appeal to the Italians comes after Chinese Premier Li Qiang earlier this month traveled to Europe in his first overseas trip as Chinas No. 2 official. His meetings with business and political leaders in Germany and France came as the European Union hammers out its position on how to manage economic rivalry with China.

Read more: Chinese Premier Tells German CEOs to Take Lead on De-Risking

Beijing is trying to persuade Europe to take a less hawkish stance than the US, which has imposed a sweeping raft of export controls on China to curb its access to advanced technology.

Italy has been caught in the middle of those escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing, especially in the wake of Chinas support for Russian President Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine. The US has pressured Rome to take a public stance and ditch the BRI pact, according to people familiar with the matter.

Wang Yiwei, a Renmin University professor who specializes in Europe studies, said that given 152 countries had signed onto the BRI, China should have an open mind on Italys decision  noting that it was likely Italian companies who would suffer the most from an exit.

The business community really wants to stay, he added. Otherwise, theyll lose some of the preferential treatment theyve been enjoying as a member country to the initiative.
The European Commission has secured deals with Pfizer and several European drugmakers to reserve capacity to make up to 325 million vaccines per year in case of a future global health emergency, it said on Friday.

The agreement, first reported by Reuters, covers mRNA, vector-based and protein-based vaccines and does not relate to existing Covid-19 vaccine agreements between the EU and vaccine makers including US-based Pfizer. The European Commission said Europe needs to be better prepared for future health emergencies. The deal ensures that companies are ready to respond to a crisis by keeping their facilities up to date and monitoring their supply chains, including stockpiling where necessary, the Commission said. If a new public health emergency was to be declared, companies would rapidly start production, it said. But vaccine equity activists said the EU risked a repeat of what the World Health Organization dubbed vaccine apartheid during Covid-19.
French President Emmanuel Macron is urging parents to keep teenagers at home to quell rioting spreading across France and says social media are fueling copycat violence.

After a second crisis meeting with senior ministers, Macron said Friday that social media are playing a considerable role in the spreading unrest triggered by the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old.

He said he wants social media such as Snapchat and TikTok to remove sensitive content and said that violence is being organised online. Of young rioters, he said: We sometimes have the feeling that some of them are living in the streets the video games that have intoxicated them.




Harvard University was defiant after the Supreme Court effectively banned universities from using race as a factor in admissions, arguing the role of diversity and difference in education is essential to academic excellence.

In a letter signed by leaders from across the institution, including outgoing president Lawrence Bacow, the university said it would comply with the courts ruling, but it would force change in how it ensures a commitment to diversity. By Janet Lorin



We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences, it said in the communication.



Harvard stated that for almost a decade it has vigorously defended its admission policy and that two federal courts had ruled it complied with longstanding precedent.

The nations top court, voting along ideological lines, said Thursday though that programs at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violated the Constitutions equal protection clause. We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences, it said in the communication.





In the weeks and months ahead, drawing on the talent and expertise of our Harvard community, we will determine how to preserve, consistent with the Courts new precedent, our essential values, according to the letter, which was also signed by incoming president Claudine Gay.

Gay, whos currently Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and will be the schools first Black president, said in a separate message that today is a hard day. Chief Justice John Roberts said universities could consider how race affected the lives of individual applicants be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise, but the ruling is expected to upend admissions policies and potentially result in fewer Black and Hispanic students at the countrys top universities.

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She posted a video explaining that the ruling will change how the university pursues the educational benefits of diversity.

Gay said the commitment to the work remains steadfast and told students at the university that they belong at Harvard. Never doubt that.




An international team of astronomers, comprising scientists from India, Japan, and Europe, have made an exciting discovery by monitoring pulsars using six of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes, including India's largest telescope, the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT).

What are the findings?

By using these telescopes, scientists were able to hear a "humming" or vibrations caused by ultra-low frequency gravitational waves.

These waves originate from a number of "dancing monster black hole pairs" found in colliding galaxies and create vibrations in the fabric of space-time. Astronomers are calling these vibrations nano-hertz gravitational waves.

Why is this discovery significant?

The discovery is a significant breakthrough in understanding the gravitational wave spectrum, and it has opened a new window of exploration in astrophysics. It has also deepened the understanding of the Universe and is a great example of the power of international collaboration.

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"The results presented today mark the beginning of a new journey into the Universe to unveil some of these mysteries. More importantly, this is the first time that an Indian telescope's data is used for hunting gravitational waves," said A Gopakumar, the chair of the Indian Pulsar Timing Array consortium & professor at TIFR, Mumbai.

Pulsars and how they are monitored

Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars, the remnants of dead stars, that emit regular radio beams as they rotate.

These pulsars are monitored using radio telescopes, such as India's uGMRT.

The detection of gravitational-wave signals relies on a collaboration called the Pulsar Timing Array (PTA). The experiment is called PTA, as some of these millisecond pulsars can rotate 100 times a second, scientists.

Scientists used pulsars as cosmic beacons for this experiment to detect these light-year-scale ripples.

Where do the gravitational waves come from?

These gravitational waves can occur when black holes merge as a result of galaxies merging, emitting gravitational waves at astronomically long wavelengths.

By monitoring these pulsars using radio telescopes, such as India's uGMRT, researchers have collected data over 25 years, including three years of highly sensitive observations. The analysis of this unique dataset revealed consistent irregularities in the ticking rates of the monitored pulsars, indicating the influence of ultra-low frequency gravitational waves with oscillation periods ranging from one to ten years.

"According to Einstein, gravitational waves change the arrival times of these radio flashes and thereby affect the measured ticks of our cosmic clocks. These changes are so tiny that astronomers need sensitive telescopes like the uGMRT and a collection of radio pulsars to separate these changes from other disturbances. The slow variation of this signal has meant that it takes decades to look for these elusive nano-hertz gravitational waves," explains Prof. Bhal Chandra Joshi of NCRA Pune and adjunct faculty, IIT Roorkee, who founded the InPTA collaboration over the last decade.

Precise measurements of the arrival times of pulsar signals, spanning decades, are compared to study the effects of gravitational waves. These waves slightly alter the arrival times of radio pulses, enabling the detection of variations at a frequency ten billion times slower than the waves initially observed in 2015 by the LIGO detectors in the United States.

The team: An EPTA and InPTA collaboration

The international team consisted of members of the European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) and Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA) consortium. Both are members of the International Pulsar Timing collaboration (IPTA).

InPTA is a pulsar timing experiment committed to searching for low-frequency nanoHz gravitational waves since 2016. It is an Indo-Japanese collaboration that uses the uGMRT to monitor a sample of nearby millisecond pulsars.

"These results have culminated due to years of efforts of many scientists, including early career researchers and undergraduate students," stated P Arumugam, professor at the Department of Physics, IIT Roorkee, who was also part of the team of scientists.

The InPTA experiment involves researchers from seven Indian institutes, including NCRA (Pune), TIFR (Mumbai), IIT (Roorkee), IISER (Bhopal), IIT (Hyderabad), IMSc (Chennai) and RRI (Bengaluru) along with colleagues from Kumamoto University, Japan.

The research, published in two papers in the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal, suggests the presence of these gravitational waves in the data collected by the EPTA and InPTA consortia.

Future prospects of research

The EPTA and InPTA data analysis revealed a common signal across the pulsars, indicating the presence of gravitational waves. Similar findings have been reported by other PTA collaborations worldwide, including Australia (PPTA), China (CPTA), and North America (NANOGrav).

Researchers are already collaborating under the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA) to combine their data sets. This collaboration aims to incorporate over 100 pulsars into the array, enabling even more sensitive observations and potentially unlocking further insights into the early Universe and its associated phenomena.

Jaikhomba Singha, a senior PhD scholar from IIT Roorkee who was a part of the research team, said, "This is an extremely exciting time for early career researchers. We are in an era where an international team of researchers across the globe are all collaborating and trying to listen to the humming of our Universe. The present results will open a plethora of exhilarating science for us in future."
Japanese equity funds have had $7.9 billion of inflows in the past four weeks, the most in a four-week period since April 2020, a report from Bank of America Global Research said.



Foreign investors are excited about the prospect of a new era of growth in corporate Japan and their buying helped the Nikkei share benchmark to scale three-decade peaks earlier this month.



Domestic investors are less confident about the rally, which has lost a little steam over the second half of this month.



Global investors have turned more cautious about European equities, in contrast, as optimism that came from the region beating low expectations for economic growth early in the year fizzled out, and even interest in U.S. stocks is waning after a surge in large tech shares in May.



European equities have seen outflows for the past 16 weeks, and U.S. equities for the past two, according to the BofA report which referenced figures from data provider EPFR.



In the week to Wednesday, there were $1.5 billion of inflows to equity funds, $600 million inflows to bonds and $1.5-billion outflows from gold.



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U.S. Treasuries saw their 20th straight week of inflows, the longest streak since September 2011, while commodities logged a seventh straight week of outflows, BofA said.



Optimism towards commodities from the start of this year has petered out as China's economy is getting less benefit from its reopening than many investors had hoped late last year.
Former Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Thursday, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and touring the war-torn country as it fights Russian aggression.

Pence, who this month launched his campaign for the Republican nomination for president, has been deeply critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

He has called on the US to deliver more military aid to the country and criticised GOP rivals who have questioned the ongoing US involvement, saying there is no room in the party for Putin apologists" and pushing back against those who want the US to take on a more limited role on the world stage.

Pence spent roughly 12 hours in the country on Thursday, according to an adviser, with stops in Moshchun, Bucha and Irpin, according to NBC News, which travelled with him.

I'm here because it's important that the American people understand the progress that we've made and how support for the Ukrainian military has been in our national interest, he told the network.

I truly do believe that now, more than ever, we need leaders in our country who will articulate the importance of American leadership in the world.

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In addition to his meeting with Zelenskyy, Pence received multiple briefings, including one from Ukrainian officials on the country's current security situation and one on allegations of human rights violations by Russians accused of abducting Ukrainian children in a bid to weaken Ukrainian resolve, the adviser said.

Pence also participated in a commemoration ceremony to honour Ukrainians killed during the defense of Moshchun during Russia's offensive and visited the destroyed Romanov Bridge, where he was briefed on the civilian evacuation efforts.

Pence visited St. Andrew's Church and Pyervozvannoho All Saints in Bucha, the site of a civilian mass burial site, and laid flowers at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine at St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv.

The trip was the second by Pence to the region. In March 2022, he made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian border with Poland, where he crossed into Ukraine and helped deliver aid to the flood of refugees who escaping the war's initial invasion.

Both trips were arranged by Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian humanitarian aid organization.

Pence's GOP rivals have been far less eager to push for more US involvement in Ukraine, reflecting broader scepticism within the party.

A February poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research found only about a quarter of Americans 26 per cent believe the US should have a major role in the conflict, down from as high as 40 per cent in March 2022. Among Republicans that number is even lower, with the number saying the US should have a major role dropping to just 17 per cent.

Both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who are also seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, have said the defence of Ukraine is not a vital US national security interest.

Trump has stressed the humanitarian cost of the war and called for its end. DeSantis once called the Russian invasion a territorial dispute", but later walked back those comments in the face of criticism.
NATO members have reached a tentative agreement to ask Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to remain head of the 31-member transatlantic alliance for another year, according to a US official familiar with the decision.

The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the decision still needs to be finalized by alliance members. The much-anticipated decision to formally ask Stoltenberg to extend his tenure for another year is expected to happen relatively soon, the official said.

NATO members are scheduled to hold their annual summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11-12. President Joe Biden conveyed to Stoltenberg during their recent meeting at the White House that it was evident there wasn't going to be consensus in the near term among NATO allies on picking a new permanent leader, the official said.

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, has been NATO's top civilian official since 2014. His term was due to expire last year but was extended for a second time to keep a steady hand at the helm after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who is leading a delegation to Vilnius next month, said in an interview Thursday that it was her expectation that Stoltenberg's term would be extended and called it very good news for NATO and for the allies.

I think Stoltenberg has proved to be critical as the challenges to NATO have unfolded over the last couple of years, Shaheen said. He's been very adept at working with all the NATO countries and I think any time we're in the middle of a crisis as we are now with what's happening in the war in Ukraine being able to maintain that kind of stability and leadership that he's provided is really critical.

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Biden made it clear to Stoltenberg that he would welcome him sticking around longer particularly with no end in sight to the war in Ukraine and with the challenge of getting Sweden approved as a member of the alliance. NATO leaders largely agreed with Biden that maintaining continuity at this delicate moment for the alliance is essential, the official said.

Douglas Lute, who served as US ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama, said extending Stoltenberg's tenure offers NATO the path of least resistance.

What the alliance does not need right now is a lack of solidarity over who to succeed him," Lute said. "The simplest thing is for him to be extended.

Biden had spoken highly of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. NATO is keen to name a woman to the top post, and Denmark's prime minister was thought to be a favorite after a meeting with Biden earlier this month, but she has publicly said that she was not seeking the job. British Prime Rishi Sunak also lobbied Biden on behalf of British Defence Minister Ben Wallace.

Frederiksen faced stiff headwinds. Poland opposes the next secretary-general coming from a Nordic state after Stoltenberg's long tenure, according to the US official.

Stoltenberg's predecessor, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is from Denmark. Polish officials are pushing for the next secretary-general to come from a Baltic state, according to the US official. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has emerged as their preferred candidate.

Some members are also insistent that the next secretary-general be a former head of state, which made the path difficult for Wallace, the US official said.
Around 1,34,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, almost all from Afghanistan will require settlement in Pakistan, reported Dawn citing the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) report.

In the 'Projected Global Resettlement Needs Assessment for 2024', UNHCR anticipates a 20 per cent increase in global refugee resettlement needs for the next year.

As per the Dawn, Pakistan, the third-largest refugees hosting country, have been significantly expanded in 2022. Apart from Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, and Malaysia, are the largest refugees hosting countries throughout the Asia-pacific region, and have repeatedly highlighted the need for responsibility-sharing and tangible contributions to the refugee response.

The latest assessment in the report shows that while resettled refugees from host countries represent a sliver of the total population and needs, engagement by third countries to support and receive those most in need among the population is recognised and appreciated by host governments and opens space for UNHCR to engage on broader protection issues.

Currently, 5.2 million individuals from Afghanistan live as refugees or in a refugee-like situation in the region. The report states that they reside in major host countries, Pakistan and Iran, driven by the deteriorating human rights situation at home, and the number may increase by the end of 2023.

According to Dawn, Pakistan is providing refuge to 3 million Afghans. It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention nor its 1967 Protocol and does not have a national asylum system.

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However, Pakistan's provision of protection and assistance to Afghan refugees is generally under international standards and Pakistan's international human rights obligations.

The principle of non-refoulement and the right to asylum is largely respected and UNHCR's role is recognized in the Cooperation Agreement of 1993.

UNHCR Pakistan says there are high numbers of women-at-risk and single-parent households that lack adequate protection and the means to support themselves.

Female-headed households are particularly at risk and struggle to be self-reliant given the overall protection environment, lack of access to the formal labour market, and limited family or community support.

While gender-based violence (GBV) is underreported, female GBV survivors who do report are often placed in safe houses to avoid retaliation from alleged perpetrators or the wider community, reported Dawn.

There is also a significant number of children at risk, including those who work daily to support their families and can therefore not attend school. This exposes them to exploitation, and physical risks and impedes their cognitive and emotional development.
President Vladimir Putin has called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a big friend" of Russia and said his 'Make in India' campaign has had a "truly impressive effect" on the country's economy.

Putin made these remarks on Thursday at a forum in Moscow organised by Russia's Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI).

Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India' initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it, the president was quoted as saying by the RT News.

Putin made a case for India as he discussed the opportunities for Russian companies due to the West's sanctions policies, and the need for Moscow to offer support tools to help our companies market their products more efficiently.

Crediting Indian leadership for creating an effective model to develop local manufacturing capabilities and woo foreign investors, Putin emphasised the need to think about making our products more convenient and functional, with a modern look and properties, the report added.

Industrial and product design should become an important resource for the development of domestic business, Putin said.

Also Read With Russia revolt over, direction of Ukraine war remain uncertain Russian minister Shoigu makes 1st public appearance since mercenary revolt Russia drops charges against Prigozhin, others who took part in rebellion Russia drops charges against Prigozhin, others who were part of mutiny Whereabouts, fate of Russian mercenary leader remain mystery after revolt Investors will continue to trade via SGX in Nifty in GIFT City from July 3 Over 130,000 Afghan refugees will require re-settlement in Pakistan: UNHCR China's manufacturing contracted in June as export orders decreased: Survey China has $3 trillion of 'hidden' currency reserves, says US economist IMF deal expected in next 24 hours: Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar

This was one of the major public appearances of President Putin, days after a Russian mercenary group launched a short-lived armed rebellion against him.

The rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group on Saturday marked the most serious challenge to President Putin in more than two decades of his rule.

On Wednesday, Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev briefed NSA Ajit Doval on the latest developments in the country following the rebellion.

The 'Make in India' initiative was launched by Prime Minister Modi in 2014 and aimed to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products made in the country and incentivise dedicated investments into manufacturing, it said.

With the largest population of over 1.4 billion people and the 5th largest GDP of around USD 3.7 trillion, India has in recent years emerged not only as an alternative destination for license manufacturing for global companies but also as a massive consumer market for foreign investors, the report said.

India's export performance has improved, according to official data, from around USD 468 billion in 2014 to an estimated USD 770 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year, it said.

India has also seen a significant increase in foreign direct investment inflows, from USD 36 billion in 2014 to over USD 81 billion in 2020-21.

Putin and Modi last met on the sidelines of a regional security bloc summit in Uzbekistan in September 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a "meaningful" conversation over the phone, and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership while exchanging views on the conflict in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

The telephone conversation between the two leaders came days ahead of the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which is being hosted by India on July 4.

"The conversation had a meaningful and constructive character. The leaders reiterated mutual commitment to strengthening the privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and agreed to continue communication, the Kremlin press service said.

Russian President Putin informed Modi of Ukraine's categorical refusal to settle the conflict through diplomacy, it said about the raging war in Eastern Europe since February last year.

"The two leaders discussed the situation around Ukraine. The Russian president assessed the current situation in the special military operation zone, pointing to Kyiv's categorical refusal to take political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict, the statement said.

India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

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The two leaders also discussed their countries' cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the G20.

Special attention was focused on cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20, where India holds the presidency, as well as within the BRICS format, the statement said.

The Kremlin statement also said Prime Minister Modi has expressed support for the actions taken by the Russian leadership in connection with the short-lived armed rebellion by Wagner mercenary group last week.

"In connection with the June 24 developments, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the resolute actions by the Russian authorities to defend law and order, and ensure stability in the country and security of its citizens, it said.

The rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group on Saturday marked the most serious challenge to President Putin in more than two decades of his rule and triggered questions over his leadership.

Wagner mercenary group had taken control of Rostov-on-Don town. The revolt ended when Prigozhin ordered his troops back.
Dressed in white and yellow protective suits and armed with devices to detect radiation levels, Ukrainian emergency workers took part in a drill on Thursday to prepare for a potential risk of radiation leakage from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Dozens of civilians joined the drill on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, located around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the nuclear power plant, Europe's largest.

In a tent set up to provide first aid, emergency workers practised hosing people down with soap and going through the motions of administering treatment to individuals who play-acted victims from possible radiation-affected areas.

Russia occupied the plant in the early stages of the war. Over the past year, it has become a focal point of concern as Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling the plant.

Ukraine's military intelligence recently claimed, without providing evidence, that Russia is planning a large-scale provocation at the nuclear power plant in the southeast of the country. Last week, members of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's government briefed international representatives on the possible threat.

Should something happen at the plant, the people would be brought from radiation-contaminated areas to a location where they would be given medical and psychological assistance, the emergency services said.

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Next stop would be a temporary centre where people would be washed to wipe away surface radiation and then transported to evacuation points.

Larysa Mykolaieva, who took part in the drill, said while it made her anxious, she understands why it is being undertaken. Her family has already stocked up on large bottles of drinking water, stored food supplies, and purchased masks to prepare for a possible disaster.

We need to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, Mykolaieva said.

Last year, when a threat of an accident at the plant first arose, Ukraine established a crisis response headquarters. Thursday's drill was not the first time exercises were held.

According to the emergency services, in case of a nuclear disaster at the plant, approximately 300,000 people would be evacuated from the areas closest to the facility. That covers four regions: Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv. The evacuation would be mandatory.

People will be allowed to bring their pets with them, according to the services. Buses, trains, and personal cars would be used for the evacuation from the affected zone.

Depending on the wind direction and the spread of radiation, people would be taken to safer areas within Ukraine.

There are different scenarios, but we are preparing for the most critical one, Yurii Vlasenko, the Ukranian deputy minister of energy said.
The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-US rallies in its capital.

The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other US and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Korea's Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The bombers' flyover is the latest in a series of temporary US deployments of strategic assets in South Korea in response to North Korea's push to expand its nuclear arsenal.

Two weeks ago, the US deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korean waters for the first time in six years.

The USS Michigan's arrival came a day after North Korea resumed missile tests to protest previous US-South Korean drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

The South Korean Defence Ministry said the B-52 bombers' deployment boosted the visibility of US strategic assets to the peninsula.

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It said the allies have been demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and will continue joint drills involving US strategic bombers.

On Sunday, more than 120,000 North Koreans participated in mass rallies in Pyongyang to mark the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

During the rallies, officials and residents delivered speeches vowing merciless revenge against the United States over the war while accusing the US of plotting an invasion on North Korea.

The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war.

The US stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression by North Korea.

Since its June 15 launches of two short-range ballistic missiles, North Korea hasn't performed any further public weapons tests.

But the US bombers' deployment could prompt it to launch weapons again in protest.

Enhancing regular visibility of US strategic assets" to the Korean Peninsula was part of agreements reached between US President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit in Washington in April.

Biden stated at the time that any North Korean nuclear attack on the US or its allies would result in the end of whatever regime took such action.

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the US mainland and South Korea. The allies have responded by expanding their military exercises.

In late May, a North Korean launch of a rocket carrying its first spy satellite ended in failure, with the rocket plunging into waters soon after liftoff.

North Korea has since repeatedly said it would attempt a second launch, saying it's crucial to build space-based surveillance system to cope with what it calls US hostility.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next week's virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India, an official announcement here said on Friday.

At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release.

This is the first official announcement about Xi's participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.

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Ahead of the summit to be held for the first time under India's Presidency, India on Tuesday inaugurated an exquisitely designed New Delhi Hall at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.

While the SCO's six founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have their halls highlighting their cultures and unique features, India is the first to add its own.

Virtually inaugurating the hall, External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar in his address said the New Delhi Hall, is conceived to be a mini-India showcasing various facets of Indian culture.

To make you visualise the depth of India's artistic tradition and cultural identity, the Hall has been designed with exquisite patterns and motifs representing the rich architectural craftsmanship found throughout India, he said.

Last year, the in-person SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that was attended by all top leaders of the grouping including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In September, India will host the G20 summit for which it is going to invite Xi and Putin, besides other leaders of the bloc.

The theme of the summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'.

The SECURE acronym was coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.

These themes have been highlighted during India's chairmanship of the SCO.
Axis Bank is one of the largest private sector banks in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum of services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, SME, Agriculture, and Retail Businesses. With its 4,903 domestic branches (including extension counters) and 15,953 ATMs across the country as on 31st March 2023, the network of Axis Bank spreads across 2,741 cities and towns, enabling the Bank to reach out to a large cross-section of customers with an array of products and services. The Axis Group includes Axis Mutual Fund, Axis Securities Ltd., Axis Finance, Axis Trustee, Axis Capital, A.TReDS Ltd., Freecharge, Axis Pension Fund and Axis Bank Foundation.For further information on Axis Bank, please refer to the website: https://www.axisbank.com Burgundy Private, Axis Banks private banking business, is one of the fastest growing wealth managers in India, managing client assets of over USD 12bn. With access to considerable resources of the Axis Group, Burgundy Private provides bespoke wealth management services along with the power and stability of a leading bank to its private clients.Headquartered in Mumbai, with a 200 strong team, Burgundy Private manages the wealth of more than 5000 illustrious families across 27 locations in India. The clientele comprises of some of the most distinguished families in the country, including 30 of Indias top 100 families in terms of their net-worth.Burgundy Private brings to its clients a comprehensive platform that provides tailored services across wealth management, investment advisory, family-office solutions, personal & corporate banking, family governance & succession-planning and tax advisory.Burgundy Private offers Investment Advisory and Family Office Services through Axis Securities Limited. For more information, please visit www.burgundyprivate.com The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre is a first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary space in the sphere of arts, within the Jio World Centre, located in the heart of Mumbais Bandra Kurla Complex.The Cultural Centre is home to three performing arts spaces: the majestic 2,000-seater Grand Theatre, the technologically advanced 250-seater Studio Theatre, and the dynamic 125-seater Cube. The Cultural Centre also features the Art House, a four-storey dedicated visual arts space built as per global museum standards with the aim of housing an array of exhibits and installations from the finest artistic talent across India and the world.Spread across its concourses is a captivating mix of public art by renowned Indian and global artists, including Kamal Kunj  one of the largest Pichwai paintings in India.Connect with us: nmacc.com
Data scientists must often transform gigabytes or terabytes of datacollected from trillions of sourcesinto valuable insights by finding new ways to make their data work harder. Spatial analysis has become a critical piece of the data science toolkit, enriching all forms of data with geographic context. This allows analysts to uncover patterns, make predictions, and optimize workflows to create operational efficiencies. To support the needs of these professionals, Esri, the global leader in location intelligence, has partnered with Databricks, the data and AI company. The collaboration will provide users with the advanced spatial analytics capabilities of Esris ArcGIS software easily accessible in Databricks big data platform, the Databricks Lakehouse Platform.

The Databricks Lakehouse Platform merges data engineering, data science, machine learning, and analytics within a single platform and, in many cases, customers also need a powerful spatial component, said Roger Murff, VP of product partnerships at Databricks. By having geoanalytics tools run directly in Databricks, it empowers those users to perform spatial analysis at a scale they have come to expect with Databricks.

Esri offerings that integrate with the Databricks Lakehouse Platform include ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Engine and Big Data Toolkit, which are built specifically to enable users to perform spatial analysis on big datasets.

Organizations and data practitioners using Databricks need access to spatial tools where they do their day-to-day work, said Richard Cooke, Esri director of global business development. The solutions that Esri is providing allow data scientists to access the most comprehensive set of spatial analytics tools available natively within the Databricks environment.

To learn more about how Databricks users can leverage Esri technology to support spatial analytics on big data, visit the GeoAnalytics Engine product page.

About Esri

Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in hundreds of thousands of organizations globally, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofit institutions, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial technology and analytics, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions that leverage a geographic approach to solving some of the worlds most complex problems by placing them in the crucial context of location. Visit us at Esri.com.

Copyright  2023 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, ArcGIS, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629681625/en/
Afghanistan International, June 26, 2023

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a new report that there are increasing signs of large methamphetamine manufacture in Afghanistan and expanded trafficking through South Asia for global markets.

The World Drug Report 2023 also stated in the report that the bulk of global illicit opium production continues to take place in Afghanistan, wherein in 2022, production reached 6,200 tonnes, equivalent to 80% of the estimated global production.

It also stated that there was less opium being produced in Afghanistan (10 per cent less) as compared to last year due to droughts in early 2022.

The report emphasised that the 2023 opium harvest in Afghanistan may see a drastic drop following the 2022 national drug ban, with possible global consequences. Early reports even suggest reductions in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

The report highlighted that the recent drug ban by the Taliban may be changing the drug supply in that country. Continued reports and seizure events involving methamphetamine originating in Afghanistan suggest that the drug economy in that country is no longer exclusively dominated by illicit cultivation and trafficking of opiates, the report stressed.

It also stated that the increase in the use and manufacture of methamphetamine in Afghanistan is of growing concern in South-West Asia and the Gulf, where trafficking in the substance is expanding beyond this region.

Alternative cultivation for farmers in Afghanistan and other countries is a vital factor in reducing poppy cultivation, according to the report and UNODC has called the lack of alternative cultivation options as detrimental for many farmers.

The UN has called on donor countries to immediately support rural Afghans so they can earn a living without cultivation of drugs.

The Taliban banned the cultivation and sale of narcotics in Afghanistan recently.
Intelligent hospital in S China brings more convenience to patients

16:08, June 30, 2023 By Zheng Yi ( People's Daily

From establishing online hospital platforms, to launching surgical robots, and to building intelligent pharmacies, efforts have been made across China over the recent years to enrich the application scenarios of smart hospitals, with an aim to bring better medical services to the people.

The intelligent transition of the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital in Liuzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is a great example.

A medical worker uses an intelligent logistics system at the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. (Photo/Chen Xinyuan)

Li Fangfang recently had her first-ever hospital visit to the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital. When she just arrived there, she opened on her mobile phone an in-hospital navigation mini program developed by the hospital and was soon guided to the cardiovascular department, the department she had registered for.

"It's so convenient. I'll never go the wrong way though the hospital is big," Li said.

After entering the consulting room, Li explained her symptoms to cardiologist Xia Meng. "My chest has been feeling tight lately, and I don't know why," she told Xia.

Though Li had never been to the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital, all of the medical images she had at other hospitals in Liuzhou were available to Xia.

According to Xia, the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital was connected to a cloud platform launched by Liuzhou on April 1 this year, which records all diagnostic test results and case history of registered patients.

Doctors can also obtain patients' ultrasound images, pathology images and magnetic resonance images, Xia told People's Daily, adding that patients don't have to take physical images with them when going to hospital, which is more convenient.

"Open the mini program of the hospital, pay on your phone and then you can get your prescription filled at the pharmacy," Xia told Li after the diagnosis was over.

A nurse of the inpatient department of the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, takes out medicines from a logistics robot. (Photo/Chen Xinyuan)

When Li arrived at the pharmacy, she saw two prescription vending machines loaded with various types of medicines.

"After patients pay the fees, their prescriptions will be transferred to the pharmacy. Then we print and scan the bar codes that carry their information, and the prescription will be automatically filled by the machines," said Shi Yedui, associate chief pharmacist of the hospital's department of pharmacy.

When Li was about to leave the hospital, a volunteer reminded her that she could consult doctors on the mini program if she had any questions about her illness and medication.

"It's great to get free consultation with doctors anytime I want," Li said.

At 9:00 am, there were many patients waiting to get blood tests at the clinical lab on the second floor of the outpatient building of the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital.

"From drawing to sorting blood samples, we are assisted by automatic devices," Wu Hao, chief technician of the clinical lab, told People's Daily.

According to him, after a technician scans the QR code of a patient, an empty test tube with a barcode would pop out, and all the technician needs to do is to take the sample and put it onto a conveyor belt.

The conveyor would then carry the tube to the lab, where the blood sample is classified according to specific test requirements by a full-automatic system for mass spectrometry for the identification of microorganisms, Wu said.

A nurse on duty at the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital, south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, checks the information of patients. (Photo/Chen Xinyuan)

The automatic system cuts the time of blood sampling by 40 percent to 50 percent, and is nearly twice as fast as manual operations.

Automatic devices are also widely applied in operating rooms. At around 7:00 pm, Wu Dongbo, director of the Inpatient Ward No.1 of the hospital's general surgery department was performing a resection surgery with the assistance from a surgical robot. A robotic arm was seen moving near the operating table, while Wu was controlling the robotic arm at a control center 5 meters away from the patient.

"The surgical robot is capable of magnifying images 40 times at most, which provides clearer visions and thus makes surgeons more decisive," said Zhang Yanzhuo, director of the anesthesiology department, adding that the robot can also significantly reduce the time of operation as it has higher limits than human hands.

Deputy chief nurse of the anesthesiology department's operating room Liao Liwen told People's Daily that families of patients can track the progress of surgeries on the hospital's mini program. The operating room is also cyber-connected to the inpatient building, so that the departments where patients are registered can obtain first-hand information, Liao added.

Besides, the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital also employs an intelligent logistics system to send medicines, specimens and consumables between departments. The system has 41 stations, and it takes about only six minutes for each run on average. It has carried a total of over 450,000 boxes since being put into use, or 485 per day averagely, significantly improving the efficiency of in-hospital logistics.

"In the future, we'll further utilize artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other technologies to build a big data center with clinical medicine, scientific research and commercial operation at the core, so as to provide better, more efficient and more convenient medical services for patients," said Huang Haixin, president of the Liuzhou Worker's Hospital.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun)
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Today, June 30, at 11 a.m., the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (formerly KSEEB) will release Class 10 or Supplementary examination results. Students who took this test will be able to check their results at karresults.nic.in whenever they are released.

The Karnataka SSLC Supplementary Exam 2023 was held for those students who did not pass the annual examination for the academic year 2022-23. These pupils were given one more chance to improve their grades and graduate from high school through the 10th Supplementary Exam.

Overview

Name of Exam Karnataka SSLC Supplementary Exam 2023

Name of Exam Board Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board KSEAB

Karnataka SSLC Supplementary Exam 2023 12 June to 19 June 2023

Academic Year 2022-23

Category Results

Official Website www.karresults.nic.in

Result

According to the previously disclosed SSLC Result 2023, 7,00,619 (83.89%) students passed the SSLC Board Exams, while 1,34,483 (16.11%) pupils failed. Students who failed were allowed to retake the tests, known as supplemental exams, and their Karnataka SSLC supplemental Result 2023 will be issued on June 30th, 2023Result 2023 is now available (as of today).

How to Check the Result?

Step 1: Go to www.karresults.nic.in and www.kseab.karnataka.gov.in to access the official websites.

Step 2: From the homepage, navigate to the "SSLC Supplementary Result 2023" section.

Step 3: On the resulting login screen, enter your exam roll number.

Step 4: Press the "submit" button, and the Karnataka SSLC Supplementary Result 2023 will be displayed on the screen.

Step 5: Review your results and save them for future use

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Toyota Motor Philippines has introduced one of its most important new models of the year: the all-new Wigo. As Filipinos seek to become more...


The Indian Cooperative Congress, a highly anticipated event dedicated to celebrating the spirit of cooperatives, is set to take place on 1st of July 2023. The 17th edition of this grand gathering promises to be a monumental occasion, bringing together esteemed fraternal delegates, cooperative leaders, cooperative stakeholders, and representatives from academia, private and public enterprises across the country. On the occasion of 17th Indian Cooperative Congress, NCUI President said that the Cooperative Congress will provide a common platform to all cooperatives to address their issues and chart out the strategies for the future.This Congress is even more significant as Honble PM will be inaugurating the mega event and shall provide his margdarshan (guidance) to the cooperatives. Describing the Congress as the biggest mega-event, he said that this years Congress will be attended by more than 3500 delegates of cooperative organizations from all parts of the country. He said that most importantly, the Congress will see wide participation of representatives of primary level cooperative societies.



The conference was attended by Chairmen/MDs of national level federations. Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, President, ICA-AP and Chairman KRIBHCO; Dollarai Kotecha, Chairman, NAFCARD; Dr Bijendra Singh, President, NAFED; Jyotindra Mehta, Chairman, NAFCUB; Vishal Singh, Chairman, NCCF; Uday Joshi, General Secretary, Sahkar Bharati were present on the occasion.



Dr. Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, President, International Cooperative Alliance Asia-Pacific, speaking on the occasion said that this years Congress has a special significance as it falls on the International Day of Cooperatives. This years theme of International Day of Cooperatives is Cooperatives: Partners for Accelerated Sustainable Development. Pointing out that this years Congress event has a strong international character; he said that more than 25 delegates from 10 countries are participating in this event. Some of the countries represented in this event include Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Philippines, Malaysia, Iran, etc. Further, he informed that the 34 ICA member courtiers representatives would be attending the 17th ICC on virtual mode. Elaborating upon the deliberations during the various plenary sessions, during the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress, he said that the discussions would focus primarily on formulation of new Cooperative Policy, the need for conducive legislation for cooperatives and the ways and means through which cooperatives can compete in the market economy by strengthening their business credentials.





Background of the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress [1st  2nd July 2023]

Shri Narendra Modi, Honble Prime Minister of India, will inaugurate the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress, organized by National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) on 1st2nd July, 2023 at Delhi. The inaugural function will start from 11:00 a.m. at International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC), Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The theme of this years Indian Cooperative Congress is Amrit Kaal  Prosperity through Cooperation for a Vibrant India.

Shri Amit Shah, Honble Union Minister for Home and Cooperation, will preside over the inaugural session on 1st July, 2023. The Valedictory function of the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress will be held on 2nd July, 2023 at 03:00 p.m., in which the Chief Guest will be Shri Om Birla, Honble Speaker of Lok Sabha.

This years 17th Indian Cooperative Congress has a huge significance as it is organized at a time when the new Ministry of Cooperation, which was formed in July 2021, has taken more than 45 initiatives to strengthen the cooperative movement. Some of the major initiatives are as follows 

 Model Bye-Laws for making PACS Multipurpose;

 Strengthening of PACS through Computerization;

 Establishment of Multipurpose PACS/Dairy/Fisheries Cooperative Societies (2 lakh new societies) in every Panchayat/ Village;

 Worlds largest Decentralized Grain Storage Program in Cooperative sector to ensure food security;

 Relief in Income Tax Law for Co-operatives and Redressal of difficulties faced by Co-operative Banks;

 Revival of Cooperative Sugar Mills;

 Three new Multi-State Societies at the National Level in the domain of quality seed production & distribution, organic farming and export marketing;

 New Cooperation Policy and National Cooperative Database and so on.

The various technical sessions during the Indian Cooperative Congress will not only discuss these initiatives of the Ministry of Cooperation, but also focus on the other key issues/ challenges before the cooperative movement.

The themes of the seven technical sessions are to held during the Congress:

1. Conducive Cooperative Legislation and Policy Reforms

2. Cross-Sectoral Collaborations for Strengthening Cooperative Movement

3. Strengthening Cooperative Education, Training and Research

4. Ease of doing Business for Competitive Cooperative Business Enterprises

5. Innovation and Technology for Cooperative Governance

6. Promoting Gender Equality and Social Inclusion

7. Importance of Cooperative Credit System in Indian Economy



The themes of the Cooperative Congress aims to showcase the significant contributions of cooperatives in fostering sustainable development, empowering individuals, and driving economic growth. The event will serve as a platform for thought-provoking discussions, knowledge sharing, and networking opportunities, with a focus on charting the course for the cooperative movement in India.



Attendees can look forward to a diverse program comprising keynote addresses, panel discussions, and engaging presentations. Eminent speakers from various sectors will share their insights and experiences, shedding light on the crucial role of cooperatives in addressing societal challenges, promoting inclusive growth, and enhancing livelihood opportunities.



The key outcomes of the Indian Cooperative Congress will be to foster cooperative sectoral dialogue, highlight and exchange best practices, and develop actionable strategies to strengthen the cooperative movement in India.

Highlights of the Inaugural Function: The Honble Prime Minister of India will launch and release NCUIs innovative initiatives -

1. NCUI Haat, a first-of-its-kind e-commerce platform for cooperative products. Along with commerce, it has social component, as it will facilitate capacity building support in registration, branding and promotion of products at free of cost;

2. Cooperative Extension and Advisory Services Portal focusing on Learning Management System, provide the information and services required and demanded by cooperative members, leaders and managers, and the general public;

3. A film on the initiatives of the Ministry of Cooperation, and the role of NCUI.

"We are delighted to host the 17th Indian Cooperative Congress, a significant event that recognizes the vital role of cooperatives in our society," said Shri. Dileep Sanghani, President, NCUI. "This Congress will serve as a platform to celebrate the achievements of cooperatives, discuss pertinent challenges, and collectively work towards a sustainable and inclusive future."






Nickel miner FNI to diversify into cement

30 June 2023

Philippines-based nickel miner, Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc (FNI), is reportedly looking to expand into the cement industry, adding to its existing nickel and ports businesses. According to Malaya Business Insight, the company is hoping to tap into the significant growth potential of the construction and infrastructure sectors. FNI is also looking to establish a battery-grade nickel plant and a steel plant to take advantage of the current opportunities in the renewable energy and electric vehicle sectors.

In March 2023, FNI acquired an 88 per cent stake in Mariveles Harbor Corp and a majority share in Seasia Nectar Port Services Inc. The opening quarter of 2023 saw FNI report a first-quarter profit for the first time in its history, with revenues of PHP1.1bn (US$19.9m) and net income of PHP358.8m.





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Scenic City Womens Network announces Dr. Rita Carr as guest speaker for the July Marketplace Luncheon on Thursday, June 27 at noon at Mountain City Club, 729 Chestnut St., in Chattanooga. A buffet meal and dessert will be served.Registration is $25 and open to the public. Space is limited and registration ends July 25. Register online at SCWN.org, or call 423-698-6262.Registration link: July Marketplace Luncheon: https://www.scwn.org/events/july-luncheon About Dr.CarrDr. Rita Carr says she believes the Lord prepared her life for ministry full time. Before pursuing ministry, she served as Tennessee coordinator for Families in Action in Memphis. Dr. Carr served in various counseling roles to aid adolescents and adults struggling with drug and alcohol abuse.Dr. Carr has a bachelors degree in organizational behavior, a masters degree in education and a doctorate degree in Christian counseling. She is a licensed counselor through the Tennessee Board of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and clinically certified through the College of Forensic Counselors as a cognitive behavioral therapist and a domestic violence counselor. She is also nationally certified as an addictions counselor and as an alcohol and drug counselor.In 1997, the Lord birthed Hope Unlimited Ministry into Dr. Carr's life, calling her into full-time ministry which Praise the Lord Hope Unlimited Ministry is now located in Uganda, Africa and Cap-Haitian Haiti. The organization serves single mothers and children and hurting women, offering many Christ-centered services to single parent families, ministries and agencies. These services are provided at no cost.Dr. Carr is also an author, and has published various books through the My Journey Home series such as: Lord, I Surrender, There is Hope for Single Parents and Hurting Women, My Journey Home: Jesus Christ, the Rescuer of Wounded Emotions, and many others. She says the Lord is enabling her to publish an adolescent series which is called Hope Beyond the Pain; a Book and Study Guide, which will be released later this year.
Two Georgia Northwestern Technical College students were finalists in their competitions at the recent Future Business Leaders of America Collegiate National Leadership Conference in Atlanta.Nancy Johnson, a resident of Tunnel Hill and student at GNTCs Catoosa County Campus, placed third in Management Concepts and placed third in Small Business Management Plan categories at the competition, which took place June 22-25; Brandon Wishon, a Dalton resident and student at GNTCs Whitfield Murray Campus, placed 10th in the Organizational Behavior & Leadership category.Our students competing at the FBLA Collegiate National Leadership Conference last week represented Georgia Northwestern Technical College very well, said Dr.Heidi Popham, GNTC president. The awards they received reflect their skills and knowledge and recognize the commitment made by each student, as well as their advisors, in preparing for the competition. I am proud of their accomplishments and congratulate them on their success.At the state competition, March 31 through April 2, Ms. Johnson placed first in Management Concepts and first in Small Business Management Plan while Mr. Wishon placed second in Organizational Behavior & Leadership and fifth in Public Speaking. All entries at the state competition who had placed first, second or third qualified for competition at the National Leadership Conference.I am so proud of Brandon and Nancy for their efforts and their successes at the FBLA National Conference, said Mark Upton, GNTCs Marketing Management program director and FBLA coordinator. GNTC had two students that qualified for Nationals in three events, and they were finalists in all three events. They put in the hard work and it showed.We are so proud of Nancy and Brandon and their hard work at the competition, said Trish Wiggins, GNTCs director of Student Engagement. They competed against hundreds of students from all over the country and represented GNTC and the State of Georgia at the national level.According to FBLA, more than 14,000 students and teachers attended the 2023 conference; middle school, high school and college students gathered for the annual event. The Collegiate National Leadership Conference was held June 22-25 at the Hilton Atlanta, while the Middle School and High School NLC took place June 27-30 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.
In partnership with Volkswagen of America, Audi of America, and the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF), Chattanooga State announced the donation of 12 vehicles to its TCAT Collision Repair and Automotive Training programs. These vehicles are part of a larger contribution of 78 vehicles donated to schools across the United States, aimed at enhancing the education of aspiring automotive professionals.

Last March, a significant number of VW Group vehicles were damaged in transportation and could no longer be sold to customers. However, a dedicated group of Volkswagen and Audi employees recognized the continued functionality of these vehicles and saw an opportunity to repurpose them. Teaming up with the Collision Repair Education Foundation, months of meticulous planning and coordination ensued to ensure these vehicles found a new purpose within educational institutions.

"We are excited to partner with the Collision Repair Education Foundation on a solution that supports the education of future collision repair technicians. As these students grow and graduate, we are hopeful through local partnerships, they will have employment opportunities at Audi Authorized Collision Repair and VW Certified Collision Repair Facilities. said Tony Russo, Volkswagen Group of America Damage Prevention & Port Policies Senior Specialist.

This partnership perfectly aligns with the mission of the Collision Repair Education Foundation. It is so valuable for collision students to be learning on newer vehicles and we are grateful for the opportunity to help make this possible," stated Amber Ritter, Director of Marketing and Project Management at CREF.

County Mayor Weston Wamp said, What happens in here, people come in and develop a set of skills with the ability to earn a wage to support a family. On this campus, real workforce development, changes peoples lives and builds the workforce for the future and fuels the economy.

Officials said, "Chattanooga State is honored to receive the largest number of vehicles from the donation program in the state of Tennessee. A total of 27 vehicles donated by Volkswagen and Audi will enhance the educational experience of students in several schools throughout the state, with Chattanooga State benefiting significantly from this contribution."

"We are grateful to Volkswagen, Audi, and the Collision Repair Education Foundation for their support and commitment to educating the next generation of automotive professionals," stated Dr. Rebecca Ashford, president of Chattanooga State.
While responding to a disorder at a residence on 4th Avenue, police spoke with a woman who was uncooperative and arguing about basic tenancy law. Police asked the woman for her name so they could see if she was on the CHA trespass list. She first gave police a false name. However, as police were running her name through info channel, she gave them her real name. Police believe that her intention of providing a fake name was an attempt to not be detected for possible warrants. Police found that the woman had a non-extraditable warrant out of Georgia. Based on her attempt to deceive police, the woman was formally trespassed from all CHA property. She signed the trespass notification and was told that it is not an admission of guilt.



* * *

Police observed a homeless woman lying down in front of an abandoned building at Highway 153/Carmack Road. Police spoke with the woman, who identified herself (although police were not able to get a return for her from NCIC). Police told her to leave the area and she did.

* * *

While on patrol, officers responded to suspicious activity on a motion camera. At approximately 2 a.m., residents on N. Valley Drive observed a shadow on their security camera which appeared to show a person attempting to make entry into their garage. The person, however, never steps in front of the camera and it is unsure if they were male or female. Officers searched the area, but located no people on foot. This residence was placed on a Watch List.

* * *

A woman on Hamilton Avenue told police she had heard noises in her residence. Police found a partially opened door in the back of the residence. Police checked inside and did not locate any persons or suspicious activity.

* * *

While on regular patrol, police observed a Honda Pilot parked and unoccupied in front of a residence on E. 51st Street. The vehicle matched the description of a vehicle BOLO'd earlier by an investigator. It was a gold Honda Pilot with stickers on the back windshield consistent with the pictures sent out by the investigator. Police notified the investigator about the vehicle.

* * *

Police responded to a pedestrian struck at 4140 Hixson Pike. Police spoke with a white male who told them a man with a bicycle was hit by a red truck in front of the YMCA. He said he stopped to help, but was not the caller on the incident. He said the bike rider was bleeding as he helped him. He said a white male was driving the truck and assisted the injured man into his truck, along with the bicycle. The truck left the scene as police arrived. Hospitals in the area were alerted about the incident, but no patients presented matching the description. Officers were unable to identify a victim or suspect as they left the scene.

* * *

The manager of the Family Dollar, 5000 Brainerd Road, told police a black male came into the store, took several items and left the store without paying for or discarding the items, passing all points of sale. The man left on foot and police were unable to locate him.

* * *

A man told police that he was getting his truck worked on at Snider Fleet Solutions, 6114 Bonny Oaks Dr., and was walking around the parking lot, when he located a silver firearm on the ground next to a tree and he called in to report it found. Police were able to recover the firearm and it was a silver Bersa 380 with rust spots on it. The firearm was loaded with a magazine and not reported as stolen. The firearm was then turned into CPD Property as found.
I have never met Lewis Grizzards (L.G.) fourth wife who was with L.G. when he died on March 20, 1994.

Our only contact has been a telephone call when I dialed the Lewis Grizzard Museum in Moreland, Georgia to ask the lady in charge a question about a column that I intended to write and somehow got transferred to a voice in Atlanta that identified themselves as Dedra Grizzard.

To my surprise she did not express righteous indignation about my use of her late husbands gift to the humor of America during his 465 syndicated newspaper accounts and comedy routines that both entertained and antagonized the public during his life between 1947-1994.

In one of the last, and funniest, of L.G.s 25 books, he described his medical adventures when he checked into Emory Hospital in Atlanta on March 21, 1993 for his third heart surgery in eleven years as the result of being diagnosed with a heart murmur at an early age because of a leaky aortic valve.

In I Took a Licking and Kept on Ticking and Now I Believe in Miracles (1993- Villard Books) L.G. relates every detail of his medical ordeal and experiences with the hospital personnel that cared for him, withstood his insults, and laughed with him during every life or death moment.

In the acknowledgements and thanks in the front of the 243 page description of his infirmary journey he wrote: To everybody at Emory Hospital, God bless you.

In three short pages, L.G. wrote about meeting Dedra who he described as the real survivor and the following passages are repeated in his exact words:

I met Dedra Kyle Tiramani, former homecoming queen from Cleveland, Tennessee, three-and-a-half years ago in an Atlanta restaurant named Chops. I walked in with my date, who announced she had to go to the restroom before we were seated. I wasnt particularly fond of my date, but it was a barren period. I walked along the bar, and suddenly, I was standing behind all the hair on earth.



I must see, I said to myself, just what and who is on the other side of that hair.

So I pulled an old trick.

I leaned to the right of the hair and said to the bartender, double Stoly, tall glass, rocks, with orange juice neat.

Good evening, Mr. Grizzard, said the bartender.

The hair turned to her right. She was lovely. Looked very Italian. Late twenties. My date was likely already flushing by now. I had to work fast.

I introduced myself and asked the hair her name.

Dedatajazzzi, is what it sounded like she said.

Deda, I said, Ill be honest with you. My dinner date is in the restroom, and she will be coming out soon, so I dont have much time. I promise I dont make a habit of this sort of thing, but I would really like to call you later and take you out. Could I have your telephone number?

I could get her name down later. This Italian beauty reminded me of a girl I met in Harrys Bar in Florence once. Harrys Bar and Grill in Florence, S.C., by the way.

She gave me her phone number. I was very pleasantly surprised. I had halfway expected the Get lost, creep routine.

I had the veal chop. My date had the crabs.

I called Hair for a date. It turned out she lived in Auburn, Alabama, one hundred miles south of Atlanta. She lived with her year-old daughter, Jordan. She had recently divorced her husband in Fort Lauderdale and had moved to Auburn where her mother and stepfather lived.

I got the name straight- she was the former Dedra Kyle, and that was Cherokee not Italian in her faceand yes, she would like to have a date with me.

(Later, she said she had once dated a guy who read my column every day and liked what I had to say, and the reason she went out with me was because she was curious.)

Our first date, we went to an outdoor Frank Sinatra concert in Atlanta. We drank wine and ate prosciutto.

I gave her an engagement ring in February 1993.

(In todays modern dating world L.G.s off breed black lab, Catfish, would have been the one to introduce him to his last wife if they had met on the streets of Atlanta/Cleveland in canine company!)



* * *

You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com
The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees on Friday approved the requested zero tuition increase for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as part of the campuss $1.92 billion budget.

The board also approved updated budgets for renovation projects at Lindsey Nelson Stadium and Neyland Stadium, new academic programs and two honorary degrees.

This is the fourth year in a row that the board has approved zero tuition increases for the Knoxville campus as the university continues to provide its students with a high-quality education and experience.Substantial state support, continued strong enrollment and record-setting retention of students make another zero percent tuition increase possible.

I'm grateful that even as the cost of education continues to rise each year, we have been able to hold tuition steady for our students. The majority of our seniors have paid the same tuition amount every year since they started as first-year students four years ago, said Chancellor Donde Plowman. This would not be possible without our record enrollment and retention, as well as the continued support from Governor Bill Lee and our General Assembly.
Three University of Tennessee at Chattanooga faculty and staff members on Friday were announced as 2023 Presidents Award recipients - the highest accolade an employee can receive from the UT System.UT System President Randy Boyd announced that Executive Director of the Disability Resource Center Michelle Rigler, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Abeer Mustafa and Associate Dean of the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies David Rausch - who also is a professor and director of the Learning and Leadership program - are among 14 award winners from across the UT System recognized for their accomplishments and dedication to Be One UT values.The announcement was made during the annual UT Board of Trustees meeting in Memphis.Be One UT values are intended to shape culture across the system, build purpose, improve team cohesion and create a shared sense of commitment in the workplace.Our Be One UT values are not just a philosophy, but a concrete way we define our culture and way of doing business, President Boyd said in a statement.These award recipients exemplify who we are, as well as who we continually aspire to be in serving the people of Tennessee.The recipients will be honored by President Boyd and his Be One UT cabinet at a special luncheon on Aug. 3 in Nashville. Winners receive commemorative plaques and a monetary award of $3,000.Dr.Rigler won the Presidents Award in the Embrace Diversity category, which honors an individual who respects individual and organizational uniqueness.Dr. Rigler, the Disability Resource Center executive director since 2004, was cited in her nomination letter for recognizing the uniqueness of each student and embracing the chance to make a powerful difference in their lives. In addition to ensuring the day-to-day delivery of services supporting students with a broad range of disabilities, she is recognized by advocates and allies as a respected expert on autism.One example of her impact is the development of Mosaic, a multifaceted and comprehensive program developed to support the needs of degree-seeking students on the autism spectrum. It was developed in response to the requests and expressed needs of students with autism and, over the last decade, has become one of the most respected and copied university-based programs in the country. The retention and graduation rate of students in Mosaic has surpassed the rates for the general student population and has made UTC a school of choice for students with autism.Dr. Riglers work has been recognized nationally, as she has received nominations for awards from disability-related organizations across the U.S. and has been invited to speak and share expertise at conferences and other higher education institutions.Dr. Rausch received the Presidents Award in the Nimble and Innovative category, which honors an individual who inspires creative and transformational action.Dr. Rausch was one of the architects in creating and designing the Bachelor of Applied Science: Applied Leadership program at UTC, which serves nontraditional students with previous college, military or work experience who want to complete their undergraduate degrees. All courses are online, an essential component since day-to-day jobs can throw roadblocks in the way of adult learners who cannot get to a brick-and-mortar campus.When thinking of terms such as nimble and innovative, the qualities of Dr. Rausch come to mind, said College of Health, Education and Professional Studies Dean Valerie Rutledge in his nomination letter. Dr. Rausch is a solid example of the ability to quickly adapt in fluid situations and develop inventive solutions to problems. Additionally, Dr. Rausch makes use of data to become informed on critical issues, helping to both answer questions and create unique and original opportunities.A Navy veteran and adult learner, Dr. Rausch also is the director of Learning and Leadership Programs at UTC. He has added an essential online component to their curriculum, helping adult learners with full-time jobs earn a Ph.D. or an Ed.D.Dr. Mustafa was selected for the Presidents Award in the Excel in All We Do category. The award honors an individual who commits to continuous improvement and outstanding performance.In her role as associate vice chancellor for student affairs, Dr. Mustafa oversees Housing and Residence Life at UTC. Housing arrangements are vital for attracting and retaining students, and her nomination letter cited Mustafas eye for detail, vision for the future, planning expertise and commitment to student and institutional success.An important program fostered under Mustafas leadership is Residential Learning Communities (RLC). Representing all four academic colleges at UTC, each in a single housing unit, the RLCs have increased retention rates by connecting freshmen and prospective students with others who share their academic programs or interests, creating welcoming, inclusive communities and a sense of belonging.Working with others, she has been instrumental in recruiting and selecting Faculty-In-Residence participants. Not only do students have the opportunity to interact with their instructors on a personal level, but the faculty also create programs, advise and work with students to create an environment that demonstrates the value of collaboration outside the classroom as an element of success.The Presidents Awards were established in 2016 to annually consider the exceptional achievements of employees across the statewide UT System. Honorees are chosen from a system-wide pool of candidates nominated by campus and institute leaders.Award recipients represent UTC, UT Knoxville, UT Health Science Center, UT Martin, UT Institute of Agriculture, UT Institute for Public Service and UT System Administration.
Cherokee Nation citizen Joe Price carries a tribal flag Oct. 27, 2021, during a march to City Hall in downtown Tulsa to protest the citys support of overturning the landmark, 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma decision.
Specialty products from Africa displayed at 3rd China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo

People's Daily Online) 16:21, June 30, 2023

An African exhibitor (right) introduces handiworks to a visitor during the 3rd China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, from June 29 to July 2. (People's Daily Online/Wu Xiwei)

With the theme "Common Development for a Shared Future," the 3rd China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo is being held in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, from June 29 to July 2.

Compared with the previous two sessions, this year's event is more influential, has more exhibitors, displays products of higher quality, and sees more fruitful cooperation results.

The Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center is the main venue of the expo, covering 100,000 square meters. The expo displays African specialty products, including wine, coffee and handiworks, as well as home-made engineering machinery, medical equipment, articles of daily use and agricultural machinery.

Nearly 40 events are scheduled to take place during the expo.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Did you know that one of todays prominent maternal and child health advocates is also a supermodel?

Liya Kebede has done a lot in her career, which took her from being a supermodel to a goodwill ambassador who spoke at the United Nations, actor, and designer.

Liya was born in Ethiopia in 1978 and was the only daughter out of five children. Liya loved reading in school and learned to speak French and English. She attended a French international school in Ethiopia and thought of several career paths to go down but ultimately decided to start modeling.

At 18, Liya moved to Paris, where she was introduced to a French modeling agent and worked for a modeling agency. Then, she moved to Chicago briefly before heading to New York City.

In 2000, Liya landed the opportunity to model for the famous Tom Ford at Gucci. Around this time, she became pregnant with her son. In the early 2000s, it wasnt common for models to start families during the peaks of their careers, but Liya was determined to do it all. Just one year after giving birth, Liya became a cover star and was featured in Vogue Paris.

In 2003, Liya became the first Black spokesmodel of Estee Lauder and began modeling for major brands. Her modeling career took off, and she began diving into her advocacy work.

Liya is very passionate about maternal, newborn, and child health, and in 2005, she became a World Health Organization goodwill ambassador for the cause. She had her second child that year and raised awareness of how maternal health was poorly treated in countries around the world, like her home country, Ethiopia. She was determined to promote safer childbirth and healthcare for mothers around the world.

Liya continued her modeling work throughout these years and started her own clothing line, lemlem, which makes hand-spun, woven and embroidered womens and childrens clothes inspired by the fashion found in Ethiopia. She made sure her line practiced sustainability, and it is now available in 150 retailers worldwide.

Her brand, lemlem, also has a foundation that works with aid organizations in Africa to help provide pre and post-natal care education for communities. The foundation opened a maternity center in Hawassa, Ethiopia, which has been educating women on reproductive health since 2011.

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Chinese house church members are suspected to be among the minority groups targeted for organ harvesting in China, as revealed by a doctor with experience in the country's hospital system. Dr. Enver Tohti, now residing in London, admitted to removing organs from prisoners disabled by gunshots and effectively killing them in the process.

'Target for Organs Harvesting'

According to a report from Premier Christian News, Dr. Tohti, who used to work as a surgeon, recalled an incident in 1995 where he extracted a liver and two kidneys from a half-executed man. He said the victim was shot in the right chest, ensuring a slower death and allowing enough time for organ extraction. The issue of organ harvesting has gained renewed attention following a BBC investigation that uncovered the practice of "organ tourists" traveling abroad to bypass lengthy NHS waiting lists and pay for urgent transplants. As mentioned, the UK has made obtaining paid-for transplants abroad illegal since July 2022, and medical professionals are now obligated by law to report individuals who require aftercare after such procedures.

Dr. Tohti emphasized that China lacks a system akin to the NHS for organ donation and heavily relies on alternative sources. Despite this, China performs one of the highest transplant operations globally. As the CEO of the World Uyghur Christian Union, Dr. Tohti, a former Muslim, believes that China's healthcare system serves the interests of the ruling Communist Party rather than the well-being of its people. He suspects that the Chinese authorities have built a national organ database to ensure a rapid supply of organs, possibly within two weeks.

Also Read: Chinese Christian Church Members Detained in Thailand; Fear Persecution in China

Organ Harvesting in China

Organ transplantation is a therapy that saves the lives of millions of patients and is one of the most outstanding achievements of modern medicine. However, a limited supply of donor organs and a massive demand for transplants have fueled the global organ trafficking industry, which exploits impoverished, less fortunate, and persecuted members of society as a source of organs purchased by wealthy transplant tourists, The Conversation reported. Although the practice occurs in many countries, the situation in China is particularly concerning. China is reportedly the only country in the world with an industrial-scale organ trafficking practice that harvests organs from executed prisoners of conscience. The practice is known as forced organ harvesting.

Currently, China's organ transplant program is the second largest in the whole wide world. There was not a proportionate increase in the number of people voluntarily donating organs in China at the same time that there was an increase in the number of transplant surgeries, which led to doubts regarding the origin of the organs. During the rapid growth in the transplant industry, the Chinese government was detaining, persecuting, and even killing many practitioners of the Buddhist Qi gong practice known as Falun Gong. Similarly, China 2017 initiated a campaign against Tibetans, including widespread incarceration, monitoring, sterilization, and forced labor.

Moreover, the Human Rights Commission stated that the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a significant source of organs taken by force and sold on the black market. Falun Gong practitioners have been the primary victims of this cruel practice. There are now claims that imprisoned Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities are also victims, based in part on reports of mandatory medical testing in Xinjiang that sounds like preparation for organ removal.

Related Article: Hong Kongs Bishop Invites Beijing Archbishop to Allegedly Strengthen Relationship Between China and Vatican
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Recently, the Justice Minister of Europe, Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, introduced a new policy prohibiting law enforcement officers from wearing clothing that displays a religious symbol or message. This restriction includes wearing their uniform with headscarves, yarmulkes, and crucifixes.

Issue on Uniformed Police Wearing Religious Items

Based on a report from Christian Network Europe, whether law enforcement personnel should be permitted to wear religious symbols and articles of clothing, such as a headscarf, is one of the controversial issues in Europe in 2022. The command staff of the police department, Officer Johan van Renswoude, recommends not abandoning the department's formal stance on the issue. However, there has reportedly been an internal debate on what neutrality means for them. Accordingly, research is being conducted by a specialized network to provide a solution to this challenging subject.

On the other hand, in an interview with the Dutch broadcasting organization Network Operating System, the president of the Police Union, Jan Struijs, stated that wearing a headscarf or a kippah leads to more aggressiveness against police personnel. Instead, he urges for increased focus on creating a law enforcement organization that is more welcoming and secure for all members. "That is already complicated enough," he asserted. Hence, in March of 2022, the Minister of Justice, Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, in the Netherlands issued a statement in which she voiced her opposition to allowing religious symbols to be worn by police officers. She mentioned that the authorities' activities' credibility and impartiality are emphasized by not expressing any stance regarding religious convictions.

Also Read:Malaysia Withdraws Appeal in Landmark Case Over 'Allah' Ban in Christian Publications

New Regulation of the Justice Minister

NL Times reported that on Wednesday, Jun 28, the Minister of Justice and Security, Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius, decided to officially prohibit police officers in uniforms from wearing expressions of religion, such as headscarves, crosses, and kippahs. She reportedly has high expectations that the ongoing debates on the subject would be put to rest once the prohibition is included in the new dress code. Moreover, the new uniform dress code applies to all religious expressions. If there is any uncertainty, the decision must come from the police officers themselves. Yesilgoz is instituting that religious neutrality will be a required component. She also explained that with these rules, there would be clarity regarding the unbiased nature of the uniform that offers peace. After that, people can put the dispute about it behind every individual.

In response to the parliamentary body's request for information regarding the impartiality of the police uniform, Yesilgoz stated that "the word uniform says it all: it should always be the same with a police officer on the street." She also asserted that she does not believe that it is proper for officers in uniform to make a visible expression of their faith or beliefs. These individuals are reportedly authorized to employ physical force when necessary and represent the government. In addition, Yesilgoz emphasized that individuals who cover their heads with veils are not discriminated against. However, they must wear it in different places. When they are in contact with members of the general public, police officers must maintain a neutral appearance so that those individuals always perceive the same uniform.

As per Dutch News, although the opposition voiced by Yesilgoz to the mixing of religious symbols and uniforms is shared by the vast majority of MPs, there may be differing views on this new regulation. Throughout several town hall meetings, this matter has been brought up on multiple occasions. Rabin Baldewsingh, who serves as the National Coordinator Against Discrimination and Racism (NCDR), has referred to the cabinet as being "hard of hearing." He criticized Yesilgoz for excluding specific communities, especially Muslims, from the organization's activities. "She's not prepared to discuss it, and I think that's very stupid. You're not serving society if a section of society is excluded from playing their full part because of what you think," Baldewsingh noted.

Related Article: Muslim-Majority Country Issued Fatwa to Ban Muslim From Entering the Church
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Vandals reportedly accessed the Fowler United Methodist Church in Annapolis by entering the building through the basement window. The place of worship was left with a ravaged century-old bible, and hymnals were scattered all over the floor.

Shattered Century-Old Bible and Hymnals

Around 9 am on Friday, Jun 9, after getting into his car for a quick lunch, Rev. Jerome Jones of Fowler United Methodist Church noticed that the top trustee of the church had left him several missed calls and texts urging him to come right away. When the pastor arrived, he was welcomed by four law enforcement vehicles and an investigative evidence vehicle, and that's when he knew the situation was more difficult than he had initially thought, Capital Gazette reported.

That morning, officers from the Anne Arundel County Police Department responded to a call at the church on the 800 block of Bestgate Road. They discovered proof that someone had broken into the church predominantly attended by black people and inflicted almost $100,000 worth of damage. As mentioned, the floor of the red-carpeted sanctuary was covered in hundreds of shredded pages taken from the church's collection of hymnals and the century-old Bible. According to Lieutenant Jackie Davis, who serves as a spokesperson for the county police department, the event is being investigated as a high-dollar burglary, vandalism, and hate crime.

As per Baltimore-Washington Conference, its Board of Trustees and many congregation members took on the mission of cleaning up the church. People from all over, including District Superintendent Sarah Schlieckert and other United Methodist pastors, prayed, provided their support, and contributed materials for the Sunday worship service that was led. It reportedly appeared that everyone was cleaning up with the notion running through their heads the entire time, "We are living in a hurting world. We said a prayer for them in worship," Rev. Jones asserted.

Moreover, even while attending church made some attendees feel exposed and prompted them to express fear, those individuals continued to do so. Rev. Jones said he "asked the Lord that the act of vandalism bring a greater display of God's glory." He thanked God for the fact that regardless of what happened in the darkest of times, the glory of God continues to shine. The church pastor also hoped that the rehabilitation process would impact people's hearts and lives. On the other hand, after the burglary, the forensics team from the police department visited the scene and discovered many fingerprints. Therefore, they have reason to think that the same individuals were involved in the other occurrences in the neighborhood.

Also Read:Teens Allegedly Vandalize Baptist Church Twice, Spray Paint Walls

People Rally Behind Church's Congregation

Based on a report from WMAR2 News, people in the surrounding community, including strangers and members of other denominations, are currently banding together to support the church's tiny congregation, which consists of approximately one hundred people. According to Don Ogburn, a member of the Calvary Methodist Church, this is a Black Methodist Church, although the institution located over the bridge used to be predominantly white. "It's no longer that way, but we're all brothers and sisters, not because of Methodism, but because we believe in God," he added.

Furthermore, the church officials said that despite all the damage that occurred, the attackers were unsuccessful in dampening the congregation's spirits. After regaining their liberty in the aftermath of the Civil War, the ancestors of the church reportedly began gathering at this location, and even a heinous night of vandalism will not be able to cast a shadow over the days that are still to come.

Related Article: Stained-Glass Windows at Grove Hill Church Damaged By An Unknown Vandal, Costs Over $30,000
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At the celebration of Eid el-Kabir, which took place at the Dodan Barracks prayer site in Lagos, Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu called on Nigerians to put aside their cultural and religious conflicts. He also emphasized the significance of their country's unity and faith to make it a better place.

President Bola Tinubus Address

On Wednesday, Jun 28, at nine in the morning, the Eid prayer began, and Sheikh Sulaiman Oluwatoyin Abu-Nolah, the Chief Imam of Lagos State, led the congregation in prayer. As per MSN, the Chief Imam was responsible for carrying out the ritual slaughtering of a ram, which was meant to represent Prophet Ibrahim's submission to Allah's mandate. President Tinubu thanked the All-Mighty Allah for the excellent health and wealth of the nation. He reportedly prayed that all Nigerians might have the same happiness and success.

As mentioned, the president emphasized the necessity of collective efforts and reminded the populace that Allah does not ask anyone to take on more than they are physically or mentally capable of handling. He encouraged faith in the nation's ability to triumph over obstacles and highlighted the necessity for Nigerians to come together to contribute to the growth of their country. "No religious identity, no tribal identity, let us live with one another in joy and prosperity. Nigeria will see peace, stability, and God will grant peace to those of us at the war front," President Tinubu noted.

Moreover, on the observance of Eid el-Kabir, the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Obafemi Hamzat, spoke on behalf of the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and sent wishes of happiness to Muslims all over Nigeria and within the state. He wished the Muslims happiness during the holiday. Hamzat pointed out the necessity of praying for the nation's leaders and their accomplishments in their separate responsibilities and asked everyone to come together to support President Tinubu's efforts to build the country.

According to a report from Daily Trust, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president of Nigeria and the running mate for president of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the most recent elections, is asking for Muslims all around Nigeria to spend time praying for the nation at the numerous Eid prayer grounds, adding that "Nigeria is currently in need of prayers." Similarly, Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, has admonished Nigerians not to let the current adversity and the aggressive attitudes of leaders in the country undermine their faith in God.

Also Read: Nigeria Government Accused of Overspending to Conceal Christian Persecution, Claims Report

Ethnic and Religious Rivalries in Nigeria

Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust stated that around 182 million people live in Nigeria, and the vast majority adhere to either Islam or Christianity as their religious affiliation. Throughout history, these two primary denominations have coexisted without conflict. However, ever since the country gained its independence, several confrontations have involved various ethnic and religious groups. Because of the expansion of extremist groups such as Boko Haram and radical Fulani herdsmen in recent years, there has been a rise in the percentage of attacks resulting in fatalities. Accordingly, these acts exacerbate racial and religious tensions, threatening the nation's safety. Change needs to be performed from the highest and lowest levels of society to bring together Nigeria's incredibly diverse population, which is ethnically and religiously based. In addition, rebuilding confidence and establishing stability in the nation requires progress in the economic sphere and toward religious harmony.

Related Article: Christian Association of Nigeria Warns Department of State Services Against Reactive Statements Amid Insecurity Threats
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The legendary city of Rungholt once existed as a humming hub of trade and business in the marshes of the Wadden Sea, spanning the western shores of Denmark, Germany, and portions of the Netherlands. Rungholt, a key port for North Sea commerce, gained the many benefits of the area's amber, salt, and whales.

However, the wealth and power of the city also gave rise to a spirit of conceit and arrogance among its inhabitants. In bold defiance against "Blanke Hans," the local term for the turbulent water synonymous with White Hans, they built dikes to obstruct the mighty sea.

The Ancient North Sea City of Rungholt Unveiled: Archaeologists Discover Central Church

In the article shared in Christian Today, according to local lore, the city's blatant disobedience of God was what ultimately brought about its destruction. A group of young men attempted to deceive a priest into performing last rites for a pig dressed as a man on a disastrous Christmas morning in the 14th century, bringing comparisons to the bold architects of the legendary Tower of Babel. A holy vision foretold an impending tragedy, prompting the priest to leave the city after his rejection and a cruel beating that followed.

Soon after, the vengeful Blanke Hans struck, destroying Rungholt with its furious waves and fierce winds. This cautionary tale of arrogance and the risks of unbridled affluence, analogous to the mythological lost city of Atlantis, has resonated throughout North Frisia for six centuries. Thousands of the city's inhabitants perished in a catastrophic "drowning of men."

According to the shared article in Church Leaders, the most recent discoveries made by the Rungholt Project, a team of committed archaeologists, provide new insight into the historic city. The group, which last month included Kiel University's Ruth Blankenfeldt and Bente Sven Majchczack, announced the discovery of what is thought to be the main church of the medieval settlement.

Majchczack expressed that the discovery is now considered among the large churches of North Frisia. He emphasized that the unearthed remnants point towards a significantly large structure, likely to have been the center of a parish, thereby strengthening the argument that it originates from Rungholt.

Also Read: Archeologists Discover Ancient Tablet on Mount Ebal, Predating Earliest Known Hebrew Inscriptions

Unraveling the Catastrophe Behind Rungholt's Demise

Researchers are examining how the story of Rungholt, a city that was submerged by the North Sea in 1362, distinguishes between myth and fact. According to Religion News, the "Grote Mandrenke" disaster, which resulted in massive floods in countries bordering the North Sea, such as the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark, is thought to have killed 25,000 people.

According to archaeologist Ulf Ickerodt, the destruction was exceptional, and the surge permanently transformed the landscape. Three centuries later, Lutheran priest Anton Heimrich wrote a thorough account of the incident for the North Frisian Chronicle, utilizing the wreckage of Rungholt to highlight moral teachings. Detlev von Liliencron, a German poet, commemorated Rungholt in his ballad "Trutz, Blanke Hans" two centuries after Heimrich. While bringing back to life an enduring narrative of tragedy, the ongoing research continues to clarify Rungholt's actual past.

Related Article: Archeologists Unearth Galilean Synagogue From Jesus' Time On Earth
The Middle East today is at a kairos moment in time. As women across the region fight for their rights and freedoms, the tectonic shift is felt also in Christian academia. What was once a trickle of female theologians has developed into a growing number of developing leaders, enabling and emboldening other women to rise in leadership.

While only Protestant churches have yet ordained female priestsin Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territoriesother similar bold figures are modeling an emerging path of spirituality within patriarchal Arab society.

But their own inspiration is found in the past.

As members of the first Christian communities, Eastern Christian womendeaconesses, historians, theologians, and martyrsarticulated their faith and theology centuries ago. However, their stories are not well known even in our region. But it is remarkable that two of the largest remaining Christian communities in the Arab world, Coptic and Maronite, have known historical female leadership. Within the rich and complex ecclesial context of the Middle East, their legacy continues to shape our theological thought as evangelical women today.

Desert mothers

Observing the full moon rise above todays Egyptian desert in the land where Saint Anthony (A.D. 251356) originally established monasticism as a lay movement, I am reminded how spirituality was crafted by asceticism. The desert fathers left a heritage of wisdom celebrated by many today who seek spiritual discipline.

But we often overlook the desert mothers.

These Ammas (from the original Syriac) were Christian ascetics who also inhabited the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the fourth and fifth centuries, whether in monastic communities or as hermits. Both men and women respected them as spiritual exemplars of maturity and wisdom, imparted through teaching, preaching, and their own sublime examples.

Image: Edits by CT / Source Image: WikiMedia Commons

Amma Syncletica of Alexandria (d. around A.D. 350) led a community of women who desired to serve God, with religious insights highly esteemed in the writings of Pope Athanasius the Great.

Amma Sarah, the fifth-century hermit from Egypts Wadi Natroun desert, was known for her asceticism, courage, and spiritual teachings. As a well-educated reader, she was concerned that her heart be fully upright in her pursuit of God.

Amma Theodora (d. A.D. 412), a renowned spiritual guide, met Saint Anthony multiple times and was a colleague of Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria.

Though these desert mothers desired solitude, they did not see cultural norms for women as obstacles to their calls or their pursuit of God, keeping relationships as role models in their daily study and prayerful life.

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For modern-day Christians seeking to be faithful in their spiritual lives in a complex context like todays Middle East, the core practices of desert mothers can provide rich insights. The monastic framework encourages the integration of spirituality and theology, with the Word of God and spiritual disciplines at the center.

Through times of solitude, these desert mothers produced profound theological workslacking sorely in the Arab world today, especially those written by women.

Daughters of the Covenant

Strolling down Star Street in the old city of Bethlehem today, I can see the sanctuary of the Syriac Church of the Virgin Mary. From the outset, Syriac Christianity offered women positions as deaconesses and consecrated virgins. Literary sources contain frequent references to this from the fifth century until the tenth century, in both the western (Maronite) and eastern (Assyrian/Chaldean) traditions of Syriac Christianity.

Several of the earlier texts mention the Bnat Qyama, Daughters of the Covenant, alongside references to deaconesses. These were women who had taken vows of celibacy and simplicity, working in the service of Christ. Not only did their womens choirs (generally comprised of consecrated virgins) lead worship, but their hymns also provided essential instruction for believers about the Bible, theology, and Christian community. Their remarkable teaching and liturgical ministry can be traced through at least the ninth century.

Jacob of Sarug (d. 521), for example, mentioned the womens choirs as female teachers (malphanyatha, in the feminine plural), whose singing declared the proclamation (karuzutha, corresponding to the Greek kerygma) in the liturgy. Syriac sources describe the Daughters of the Covenant, cherished for their melodious conveying of scriptural truth, as conversant with exegetical, ascetic, and hagiographic literature, demonstrating a culture where women were concerned about theological education in its many forms.

A Maronite mystic

Hannah Ajaymi was born in 1720 to a Maronite family in Aleppo, Syria. But she became known as Hindiyya due to her dark olive complexion, etymologically linked to the Arabic name for India. By the time she was 17, she was considered a model of piety in the spiritual disciplines, including oral prayer and fasting. Uninterested in marriage, she considered herself espoused to Christ.

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Hindiyyas determination to establish a religious congregation indicated her dedication to Christ, and she became the foundress and mother superior of a group of monastic women. Her first convent formed in Aleppo in 1753, but she frequently traversed the Lebanese mountains and founded four monastic communities overall.

Hindiyya was unusually well read in Arabic religious works, with a considerable collection of her own publications. Her major work, Sirr al-Ittihad (Mystery of the Union), is the first-known rare Arabic account of a mystical experience between Jesus and a Christian woman. And her Al-Durar al-Saniya (Precious Jewels) is a significant theological workover 400 pages of spiritual counsel for her nuns. Hindiyya died in 1798.

While modern-day Lebanon struggles to rise out of ashes and debris, the contemporary Maronite church has developed room to discuss the role of women, with its 2022 synod dedicated to their particular mission. Hindiyya was revered as a saint at certain times in her life, but at other times was seen as a heretical threat to the established order. Yet as a prominent priest told me, It is about time the Maronite church reopens Hindiyyas file.

Mother Irini

Known as Ummina in Arabic and Tamav in Coptic (Our Mother), Irini is a modern-day example of a desert mother. Born Erene Yassa in 1936, she became mother superior of the Old Cairo convent of St. Abu Saifein and played a major role in the revival and reformation of Coptic monasticism for women. She was consecrated as a nun in 1954 and wrote many meditations on biblical teachings, mystical visions, and physical sickness.

Image: Edits by CT

Finding inspiration in the life of fellow Alexandrian Amma Syncletica, she gave up her family wealth to pursue a path of poverty. She passed away in 2006.

Mother Irini is well known and treasured by many Egyptian Christians as a female leader within the Coptic revival. Copts honor her spirituality alongside the cherished figures of Pope Cyril VI (19591971) and Pope Shenouda III (19712012).

Endowed with great spiritual vision, she employed her gifts to teach and guide both her nuns and frequent visitorsmale and femalewho sought out the wisdom of her monastic community. Not only did she lead a life of prayer, but she was also a gifted manager. And as the sincerest flattery for her spiritual stature, popular acclaim exaggerates her visions and miracles, similar to historic male Egyptian saints like Abanoub and Mina.

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By enhancing the convents library with publications about godly women, Mother Irini expanded space for women in the Coptic church, where men are usually the official representatives. Renewal had previously been centered on male monasticism, but today there are hundreds of nuns and mukarrasat (consecrated virgins) in Egypt, serving the poor and recalling the traditions of ancient times.

But as mirrored in other Eastern churches, her example has inspired women outside the convents as well, stimulating renewed engagement in theological education.

Modern scholars

There are several prominent examples who follow in their heritage:

A monastic of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Mother Lois Farag is a lecturer at Luther Seminary who authored St. Cyril of Alexandria, A New Testament Exegete: His Commentary on the Gospel of John and Balance of the Heart: Desert Spirituality of Twenty-First Century Christians.

The young scholar Dina Tarek has produced substantial works in both biblical studies and spiritual theology through the School of Alexandria Foundation.

Souraya Bechealany, a former secretary general of the Middle East Council of Churches, has two doctorate degrees in theology.

Roula Talhouk, an anthropologist and a practical theologian, supervises doctoral students at Saint Joseph University of Beirut.

Marked by deep spirituality, these women are leading a new generation of female Arab theologianswithin a diverse theological landscape where their presence has often been unrepresented, their voices ignored, and their contributions unacknowledged.

Image: Edits by CT / Photo Courtesy of Lois Farag

In many ways their emergence has been sparked by a Protestant egalitarian vanguard, which in turn cross-pollinates the evangelical churches with a greater respect for their historic brothers and sisters.

In the land where Christianity was birthed but where its numbers are currently dwindling, these shining female stars remind us that through the empowering of the Holy Spirit and with the prayers of the global church, the glorious gospel will continue to be proclaimed, bringing both present and eternal hope to an aching region.

Grace Al-Zoughbi (PhD, London School of Theology) is a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem. She is an assistant professor of theological education at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, in Beirut, and serves as an accreditation officer with the Middle East and North Africa Association for Theological Education.

[ This article is also available in Francais. ]
Ukrainian warplanes have been using 1.3-ton Storm Shadow cruise missiles for the last few months and they have been quite successful. Max range is 550 kilometers and top speed is 1,100 kilometers an hour. There is a 450 kg high explosive warhead and multiple guidance systems, including GPS, INS (Inertial Navigation System) and terrain recognition. GPS can be jammed but the other two systems cannot. The missile has stealth features but is not invisible to radars. Storm Shadow is vulnerable to air defense systems. The Russians are familiar with Storm Shadow because it has been in service since 2003 and used since 2011 in Libya, Iraq, Syria Yemen and now Ukraine.

Russia has developed effective air defense systems to intercept cruise missiles and the U.S. sent a number of its MALD (Miniature Air-Launched Decoy) powered decoys to Ukraine. These proved effective against Russian air defenses and enabled Storm Shadow to hit well-defended targets. The Americans did not send the latest version of MALD to Ukraine because it contained some technology the Russians had no knowledge of yet.

MALD has been in service since 2009 and has been upgraded several times since then. The latest version is MALD-N, which is equipped with the ability to broadcast signals imitating various radars and do so while networked (thus the N) with other MALD-Ns as well as manned aircraft. This enables all the MALD-Ns in a swarm to automatically share information and quickly make changes to maintain the maximum confusion for enemy radars. Theres a pilot or system operator monitoring all this and able to intervene if needed. The MALD-N is a variant of the older (2012) MALD-J, the first jammer version of MALD.

The original ADM-160B MALD finally passed acceptance tests in 2009. This is the version sent to Ukraine. MALD is a 115 kg (250 pound) powered decoy with a range of 900 kilometers and speed comparable with the cruise speed of several manned warplanes. MALD appears on the enemy radar as a warplane. MALD itself is a torpedo-shaped object that is about half the size of a Tomahawk cruise missile. MALD operates on the same principle as Tomahawk. When launched short wings pop out and a small jet engine starts. MALD deceives enemy radars with electronics that can generate signals that make MALD appear to be one of several actual warplanes. MALD is preprogrammed to fly a specific route with its electronic radar transmitter programmed to emit signals making the tiny MALD appear like a larger aircraft on the enemy radar.

It took fourteen years of sometimes wasted effort on earlier designs to finally get a MALD that worked effectively and reliably. All that extra work made it clear that MALD would be even more effective if it included active (broadcasting) jammers and work on that (MALD-J) began in 2008, just as MALD was almost ready for mass production. MALD-J was ready in 2012. The jammer version was found to be even more effective. Since 2011 over 2,000 MALDs have been delivered or are on order. Initially, only the B-52, F-18, and F-16 are equipped to carry MALD. Over the years large UAVs and maritime patrol aircraft have been equipped to carry MALD. The navy operates MALD-J from F-18Es, which accompany EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft and is now equipping the F-35. The EA-18G could carry MALD-J but this would be at the expense of range. The EA-18G needs as much range as it can get in order to go deep into enemy air space and destroy air defenses. The MALD manufacturer has also developed the needed equipment (special racks) so that up to 192 MALDs can be loaded on military transport aircraft and quickly launched. This would certainly catch the enemy's attention.

MALD soon replaced the similar U.S. Navy jet-powered ADM-141C ITALD (Improved Tactical Air Launched Decoy), which entered service about the time MALD entered development. ITALD is 2.34 meters (7.7 feet) long with a 1.55 meter (five foot) wingspan. It weighs 180 kg (400 pounds), has a top speed of 460 kilometers an hour, and a range of about 300 kilometers. ITALD, as well as the earlier 59 kg (130 pound) unpowered TALD, contains passive and active devices to enhance the radar image the enemy will receive when they spot the decoy. The navy bought about 200 ITALDs. In the late 1980s, the navy bought over 2,000 ADM-141 TALDs, which proved successful during the 1991 Gulf War. Israel also had success in combat with their version of TALD, which was developed from similar decoys designed in the 1970s based on Israeli and U.S. Navy experience with Russian equipped Arab air defense systems. The U.S. Air Force didn't get interested until after the Cold War ended and that led to MALD. TALD was basically an updated version of the Israeli Samson, which the navy bought 500 in the late 1980s and early 1990s as TALD, and these were the ones used successfully in 1991 against Iraq.

The MALD is three meters (9.5 feet) long and its pop-out wings give it a 1.55 meter (five foot) wingspan. The current versions weigh 130 kg (285 pound) and are powered by a small turbojet engine that gives it a speed of up to 1,000 kilometers an hour, for 45 minutes, at 11,000 meters (35,000 feet), or 20 minutes at 1,000 meters (3,100 feet). It can be programmed to fly a specific course to try and get enemy air defenses to open up so the enemy weapons can be spotted and destroyed. MALDs are also designed to be used in swarms to overwhelm enemy air defenses. The new MALDs cost nearly $300,000 each. The MALD-J is more expensive and about five percent heavier. The MALD-J was so successful in tests that the air force initially converted 200 of its MALDs to MALD-J.

Early on the MALD was supposed to be a smaller (by 15 percent), simpler, and cheaper ($30,000 each) design. But, as is common with these projects, both the air force and the manufacturer kept coming up with new things the MALD had to have. Some were necessary while others were just part of the usual procurement politics. The current MALD has a range of nearly 900 kilometers and is reliable enough to be used in combat. The radar jamming capability of MALD-J was the first of many electronic warfare capabilities added to the higher (up to half a million dollars, or more, each) priced version of MALD now entering use. MALD-X is the next version and contains more interchangeable modules, each performing a different EW (Electronic Warfare) task. With this the air force has pulled ahead in aerial decoy technology, although only the navy TALD/ITALD series has the distinction of having been tested, and successful, in combat.
On the ten-hour drive home from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting in New Orleans, Leah Finn had questions.

Finn felt like she should know enough to understand the changes that 12,000 Southern Baptists approved at their gathering in mid-June. She had been following the proposals for months, she knew the rules of parliamentary procedure, and her husband, Nathan Finn, serves as a trustee on the SBC Executive Committee.

With the rejection of Saddleback Churchs appeal, it was clear the convention held a strong consensus against women as lead pastors and preaching pastors and would be willing to break fellowship over the issue. But what about women in other roles?

The SBC moved to change its foundational documents to reiterate its stance: amending its constitution to explicitly state that cooperating churches must restrict any kind of pastor to qualified men and rewording its faith statement to say that pastors/overseers/elders are male.

Many Southern Baptist leaders advocating for the new wording saw it as a way to clarify their shared complementarian convictions. But some women have quietly worried that the changes, and the surrounding debate, could call into question or further limit their place in the denomination.

Leah Finn thought of her friends who serve as ministers at SBC churches, teach at SBC seminaries, and pursue degrees at SBC schools and wondered how the decisions would affect them in the years ahead.

She and her husband ended up writing an op-ed for Baptist Press, the SBCs official outlet, lamenting how the annual meeting left female leaders uncertain about their future in Southern Baptist life. Some wonder what moves could come next, and others are disappointed that so much of the current discussion focuses on what women cant do.

The biggest thing for me, following this debate, is that I feel like we havent had a conversation about how women can be used in the church, said Courtney Reissig, a messenger from Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, where she serves as discipleship content director. Its been primarily focused on the restriction, which I believe the Bible affirms, but then the question comes up, So where do women serve?

The pastors who push the limitations should also equally provide pathways for women to serve in their churches within the bounds of the Baptist Faith and Message, she said.

Southern Baptist women themselves can be hesitant to speak up with their concerns, afraid that publicly questioning the recent moves could get them labeled as liberal or egalitarian. About a dozen women CT spoke with at the annual meeting expressed reservations about the changes to the constitution and statement of faith but didnt want to go on the record.

After the Finns Baptist Press piece went live, I had several women reach out to me and say, Thank you for saying this. You voiced what weve been feeling, Leah Finn said. So many are afraid to say, We are complementarian, but we feel uncomfortable with this amendment. Its narrowing things in a way we felt like the Baptist Faith and Message was [already] narrow, and our constitution was narrow, and its narrowing it even more.

This is the first year the SBC has disfellowshipped a handful of its 47,000 cooperating churches for having women in lead pastor and preaching positions.

Many saw the departing churches as a slim minority in the solidly conservative, complementarian denomination, while others suggested female pastors were more prevalent. Virginia pastor Mike Law, who originally proposed the amendment, cited a handful in his area, while Kevin McClure in Louisville tallied a sample of SBC churches whose websites name women pastors, including over childrens, youth, and worship ministries.

Under the new constitutional language of only men being appointed as any kind of pastor in SBC churches, complementarian women serving on staff may wonder if their title or their role could get their church reported to the credentials committee, the SBC body that recommends whether churches meet the requirements for cooperation. (Only since 2019, as the SBC moved to make mishandling abuse grounds for dismissal, has the committee been tasked with evaluating churches in violation.)

Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, spoke on a panel in favor of the amendment at a 9Marks ministry event during the meeting in New Orleans. He disagreed with the notion that women on church staffs could fear being targeted for their roles as a result but instead said churches need to take responsibility for ensuring the wording of their titles is clear and aligns with Scripture.

A church could have a woman function in a way that I think theres no biblical problem with, but because theyre calling her by a title thats the same as elder, pastor, bishop, then thats problematic, though the role that shes filling may not be, Dever said.

Critics of the amendment to restrict all pastor roles to menwhich must pass at a second vote in 2024 to be enactedcontend that the independent, autonomous churches that make up the convention have the freedom to appoint their own ministers. And decide what titles to use for them.

Amy Hebert, a Southern Baptist pastors wife in Texas and a graduate of SBC-affiliated Criswell College, believes the amendment is overreaching.

It will force churches to decide whether to remain in the SBC, Hebert said. Each church can choose whether they want women to be titled pastor versus minister, et cetera, so it may not cause the women to lose their roles, [but] it may cause a loss in the SBC.

Hebert said that her female friends in the SBC fear more restrictive moves will follow. Southern Baptists are still speculating how or whether the denomination will address churches who use pastor titles for women, and whether there will be scrutiny on women in ministry beyond the titles they use.

Ive heard people say in this discussion, Well, its not enough that the childrens pastor not be called pastor if theres a staff member thats doing pastor-like things. Which sounds great until we appoint the group thats going to determine what those things are, said former SBC president and Summit Church pastor J. D. Greear, speaking at a lunch hosted by Baptist21 during the annual meeting.

At our church, we dont have any pastors that are women. We do have a childrens director whos a woman, and she oversees male volunteers. I know some faithful brothers that would say thats actually a violation of 1 Timothy 2.

A couple SBC churches with women in copastor and associate pastor positions have voluntarily stepped away from the convention in the weeks since the annual meeting, including Elevation Church, the megachurch led by Steven Furtick in North Carolina, and First Baptist Church Gainesville in Georgia. Both congregations had been called out online for including female pastors on staff.

Some advocates of the amendment responded to their exits by suggesting the SBCs clarifications were having their intended effect.

Supporters say the recent moves around women in pastoral roles are a necessary safeguard against theological drift in the SBC. The only woman to come to the mic in New Orleans to address women pastors, Sarah Clatworthy, spoke out in favor of the amendment.

We should leave no room for our daughters and granddaughters in the generations ahead to have confusion on where the SBC stands, said Clatworthy, a messenger from Lifepoint Baptist Church in San Angelo, Texas. Let them know Scripture is our authority and not the culture.

But another prevalent perspective among SBC women wasnt voiced from the floor: that of the childrens ministry directors, worship leaders, Bible study leaders, Sunday school teachers, mentors, and missionaries who wish they could focus on the work of ministry without having to defend their place.

I just want to serve. I just want to be able to talk about Jesus. And I want that to be affirmed, Kristen Phelps, a New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary trustee and messenger from New City Church in New York, told CT. At the core of it, its not about the word [pastor]. Its about women and their role in the Great Commission  and including women in ministry actually gives us a fuller picture of God.

With the autonomy of local churches, several women who said they have the assurance of their own pastors told CT they feel like they can continue to serve in their roles without being wrapped up in the tensions on the denominational level.

As Southern Baptists continue to reaffirm our commitment to biblical complementarianism, we must also be crystal clear that God calls and gifts women to vocational ministry, the Finns wrote in Baptist Press. We should affirm their godly callings joyfully and unequivocally, without clearing our throats or apologizing for the equally biblical principle of the priesthood of all believers. Our sisters ministries advance the kingdom.

Female enrollment is up at SBC seminaries, and programs for women in ministry are expanding. Women have better representation than ever on SBC committees. Young female missionaries continue to outnumber men on the mission field.

But most Southern Baptist churches could be doing more to involve and disciple female leaders. A resolution passed this year urged pastors to equip women in their churches, acknowledging the countless women who serve among us as missionaries, writers, apologists, teachers, mentors, and leaders and that their contributions are absolutely vital and too often unrecognized.

Less than 10 percent of evangelical churches have a full-time staff member overseeing womens ministry, according to Becky Loyd, director of Lifeway Women, a division of the SBCs publishing arm.

I do hope that we begin to talk about things like pay and title equity for women who are doing the same types of ministry jobs that men are doing in churches. I also believe there are opportunities for churches to fund more full-time staff positions to focus on ministry to women, Loyd told CT by email.

When 90 percent of women who are leading a ministry at churches are not part of a full-time staff, how are they growing and developing? How are they integrating their reaching and teaching for women into the mission and vision of the church? This is the biggest issue I see related to women in the church.

Jacki King is one of those womens ministers, on staff at Second Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas, where her husband is lead pastor. She has also raised concerns about pay parity and womens involvement.

A suggestion going into a new week post #sbc23 for pastors: Find some sisters on your staff, in your church, within the SBC & have a conversation with more questions than answers, she tweeted. Its not enough to merely have them at the table, engage them.

Reissig, at Immanuel Baptist, said she doesnt fear for the future of her position in the church where her pastor makes space for women to serve. But she believes the current focus on womens rolesin a denomination still grappling with its response to sex abuse by pastorsis misguided.

We are missing an important part of the biblical passages that speak to who can and should serve in the office as pastors. The Bible limits the office of pastor to qualified men, so I think it does a disservice to women who serve when unqualified men are put in the office, Reissig said. If we want to be consistent with the Bible, we should be as committed to the biblical qualifications of the office as we are to limiting women from the office.

Women made up 30 percent of the 19,000-person crowd at the annual meeting; pastors wives, women on church staffs, and female church members are all welcome as messengers if sent by their church. A majority who attended in New Orleans say they plan to return for the 2024 gathering in Indianapolis, according to a survey of registrants.

And theyre continuing to ask questionsbehind the scenes and publiclyabout what further moves or messaging might come.

My prayer is that the conversation about women in ministry turns from boundary-making to equipping and empowering. Pastors and male ministry leaders, we need you to change the conversation, said Loyd at Lifeway.

For women who worry about ripple effects, I think they need to evaluate their current situation and decide if its a place where they have opportunities to grow in their gifts and calling. If its not, then they need to find another place, she said. I understand the fears and have dealt with them myself, but our God is a God of abundance, not scarcity. If he has given a woman gifts, hes going to provide a place for her to use them.
Supreme Court strikes down Biden student loan debt forgiveness plan

The Supreme Court has rejected President Joe Bidens student loan debt forgiveness plan, striking down an earlier lower court ruling in favor of the proposal.

In a decision released Tuesday morning, the high court ruled 6-3 in the case of Biden v. Nebraska that at least Missouri has standing to sue the government over the plan and that the plan itself goes beyond the secretary of education's official authority.

Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, concluding that the debt forgiveness plan violated the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003.

Additionally, the majority concluded that the state of Missouri, one of the six states that sued the Biden administration, had standing to sue, as it was harmed by the debt forgiveness program.

"The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it," wrote Roberts, "the Secretary of Education claims the authority, on his own, to release 43 million borrowers from their obligations to repay $430 billion in student loans. The Secretary has never previously claimed powers of this magnitude under the HEROES Act."

"Today, we have concluded that an instrumentality created by Missouri, governed by Missouri, and answerable to Missouri is indeed part of Missouri; that the words 'waive or modify' do not mean 'completely rewrite'; and that our precedentold and newrequires that Congress speak clearly before a Department Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections

of the American economy."

Justice Elena Kagan filed a dissenting opinion, in which she was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, arguing in part that the states lacked the standing to sue.

"The plaintiffs in this case are six States that have no personal stake in the Secretarys loan forgiveness plan. They are classic ideological plaintiffs: They think the plan a very bad idea, but they are no worse off because the Secretary differs," wrote Kagan.

"In giving those States a forumin adjudicating their complaintthe Court forgets its proper role. The Court acts as though it is an arbiter of political and policy disputes, rather than

of cases and controversies. And the Courts role confusion persists when it takes up

the merits."

In August of last year, Biden announced that his administration was unrolling a plan to forgive student loan debt, which would involve the Department of Education providing up to $20,000 in debt cancellation to Pell Grant recipients and as much as $10,000 in debt cancellation to non-Pell Grant recipients.

The plan was to be made available for individuals with student loan debt who made less than $125,000 a year and for married couples who made less than $250,000 a year.

Nebraska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and South Carolina sued the Biden administration over the debt forgiveness plan, arguing in part that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the separation of powers.

Last November, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit unanimously ruled against the administration, granting a preliminary injunction against the plan.

In a per curiam decision, the panel justified the injunction by noting that extensive potential harm the debt forgiveness plan had on the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, a major entity that holds and services student loans.

Due to MOHELAs financial obligations to the State treasury, the challenged student loan debt cancellation presents a threatened financial harm to the State of Missouri, read the Eighth Circuit panel decision.

Missouri has shown a likely injury in fact that is concrete and particularized, and which is actual or imminent, traceable to the challenged action of the Secretary, and redressable by a favorable decision. Missouri, therefore, likely has legal standing to bring its claim. And since at least one party likely has standing, we need not address the standing of the other States.
Elevation Church withdraws affiliation with Southern Baptist Convention

The more than 10,000-member Elevation Church in North Carolina, led by celebrity preacher Steven Furtick, has withdrawn its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention after more than 20 years of cooperation with the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

While Elevation Church did not appear to make the decision public, a copy of a letter published online dated June 26 shows that the church informed the SBC Executive Committee that its withdrawal from the denomination was "effective immediately."

"This letter is to inform you that Elevation Church is withdrawing its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention effective immediately. You will find that our Statement of Beliefs on our website is very much in line with the Baptist Faith and Message  we have no intention of changing those core beliefs," Chunks Corbett, CFO of the North Carolina megachurch, wrote in the letter.

"We have no plans to make a public announcement on this decision  we have too much to do in reaching a world that needs the love of Jesus. Should your Credentials Committee decide to make this decision by Elevation public, we will only respond with a copy of this letter in anyone inquiring about the notification," Corbett added.

The letter did not state a reason for the decision. Some Southern Baptists like Denny Burke, professor of biblical studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, surmise that it could likely be due to a recent vote by messengers at the SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans to ban women from serving as a "pastor of any kind."

"I was today years old when I learned that Steven Furtick's Elevation Church was a part of the SBC. They are SBC no more," tweeted Burk. "Reading between the lines here, I suspect that this is a consequence of the clarity from messengers at the New Orleans convention."

The proposed amendment to the SBC constitution clarifying that women cannot serve as pastors passed with approximately 80% of the vote from more than 12,000 messengers on June 14 at the SBC's Annual Meeting in June.

The vote on the amendment also came just hours after messengers voted to uphold the removal of Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in California for allowing a woman to serve in the office of teaching pastor. The removal of Fern Creek Baptist Church of Louisville, Kentucky, for having a woman pastor was also affirmed.

During the meeting, roughly nine out of every 10 messengers voted to disfellowship churches that have women in the role of pastor.

The Southern Baptist Convention's Baptist Faith & Message 2000 states that "the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture."

The amendment proposed by Virginia Pastor Mike Law of Arlington Baptist Church will become permanent if it gains majority support at the SBC annual meeting in 2024, according to the SBC Constitution.

Reactions to Elevation Church's withdrawal from affiliation with the SBC have been varied.

Dwight McKissic, who founded and currently leads Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, saw Elevation Church's decision as quite consequential for the denomination.

"The dominoes are falling, mostly privately, but they're falling. And they will continue to fall," he tweeted.

Christian blogger Michelle Lesley, a Baptist mother of six with over 18,000 Twitter followers, sees Elevation's departure as a positive for SBC, accusing Furtick of being a "false teacher."

"Since Furtick refuses to repent, this is the next best possible outcome," she said in a post on Twitter in response to the news. "It is right and good to praise God that a Scripture twisting, egalitarian, wolf of a false teacher has left the building. That's one of the major goals and instructions of the NT."
Presidential candidates react to Supreme Courts Harvard, UNC affirmative action ruling

The United States Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the admissions policies of Harvard and the University of North Carolina could not include race as a factor in student acceptance.

In Students forFair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, the high court ruled 6-3 that the admissions programs for both schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, referencing the 2003 Supreme Court case Grutterv. Bollinger, which said the use of racial preferences for student admissions will no longer be necessary within the next 25 years.

University programs must comply with strict scrutiny, they may never use race as a stereotype or negative, andat some pointthey must end, wrote Roberts.

Respondents admissions systemshowever well intentioned and implemented in good faithfail each of these criteria. They must therefore be invalidated under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The ruling elicited reactions from many individuals, including presidential candidates who have already launched their campaigns for the 2024 election.

Here are five reactions from both Democrat and Republican presidential hopefuls to the news of the Supreme Court's decision concluding that race cannot be factored into student admissions.

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Supreme Court vacates ruling against Christian bakers punished for not making lesbian wedding cake

The United States Supreme Court has again vacated a lower court decision against a Christian couple in Oregon who were punished for not making a cake for a same-sex wedding.

In an orders list released Friday, the Supreme Court vacated the decision against Aaron and Melissa Klein in their ongoing litigation with the Oregon Bureau of Labor.

The high court sent the case back to the Court of Appeals of Oregon to be further considered in light of Friday's ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis released Friday morning.

In that case, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Colorado cannot force Lorie Smith of 303 Creative to design websites that celebrate same-sex marriage, which she was opposed to doing on religious grounds.

Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the court's opinion, concluding that "no public accommodations law is immune from the demands of the Constitution" and that the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong.

The First Liberty Institute, which is representing the Kleins, released a statement via email in which they celebrated the vacating of the earlier ruling against the Christian couple.

Its a win when the Supreme Court vacates a bad lower court decision like it did for Aaron and Melissa today, but the case is not over, said First Liberty President Kelley Shackleford, as quoted in the statement.

The Kleins have been fighting for the First Amendment for over a decade and we will stand with them no matter how long it takes to get the victory they deserve.

The owners of Sweetcakes by Melissa, in 2013 the Kleins refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, citing their religious belief that marriage is between one man and one woman.

In response, the same-sex couple filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, in which the government entity concluded that the Kleins had violated the states accommodations law.

Because of the BOLI ruling against them, the Kleins were fined $135,000 in damages and were forced to close their bakery.

The Christian couple appealed the BOLI ruling in 2016, with the Oregon Court of Appeals upholding the order in a 2018 ruling. This prompted them to first appeal to the Supreme Court in 2018.

In January 2019, the Supreme Court vacated the 2018 ruling against the Kleins and sent the case back down to the state appeals court in light of the then-newly issued Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission decision.

The Supreme Court had ruled 7-2 in Masterpiece that Colorado Civil Rights Commission showed an unconstitutional anti-religious animus toward Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop when it punished him for refusing to make a cake for a gay wedding.

In January of last year, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon maintained that the Kleins unlawfully discriminated against the lesbian couple back in 2013.

However, the appeals court panel also decided to reverse the order requiring the couple to pay $135,000 in damages and remanded the case for further proceedings.

Last September, First Liberty again filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, asking the justices to review another decision against the Kleins given by the Oregon Court of Appeals.

First Liberty Senior Counsel Stephanie Taub said in a statement last year that she believed the Kleins have never received a fair hearing before an unbiased tribunal during the litigation.

We hope the Court will hear the Kleins case and clarify that all Americans have a constitutional right to due process, free speech, and religious liberty, stated Taub at the time.

After nearly a decade, its past time for the Supreme Court to put an end to the state of Oregons hostility toward Aaron and Melissa.
Christians protest Barclays Bank for closing charity's account under pressure from 'cruel' LGBT activists

A Christian charity is holding a peaceful demonstration outside the London headquarters of Barclays Bank after it agreed to pay $25,200 (20,000) in compensation for closing its account.

The protest on Thursday has been organized by The Core Issues Trust and The International Federation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice (IFTCC), a Christian ministry that offers counseling to people struggling with their sexuality or gender identity.

The charity's account with Barclays was closed in 2020 without any reason given by the bank, which was the main headline sponsor of the London LGBT pride event that year.

The decision to close The Core Issues Trust's account coincided with a campaign of harassment against its founder, Dr. Mike Davidson, who received hundreds of nuisance calls and messages, including one text expressing the hope that he and other staff members would be raped and killed.

This week, Barclays agreed to pay The Core Issues Trust $25,221 (20,000) in compensation plus legal costs.

The Core Issues Trust, the IFTCC and members of the ex-gay community will be gathering outside the Barclays Bank HQ in London's Canary Wharf to protest against "viewpoint discrimination."

They will also deliver a petition signed by over 72,000 people to Barclays' CEO, Matt Hammerstein. The petition calls for the reinstatement of The Core Issues Trust's bank account.

Speaking ahead of the protest, Davidson said: "We will be going to Barclays HQ to remind them that the ex-gay community exists and deserves equal treatment and protection.

"We want Barclays to acknowledge that in our world of competing ideologies, those who change their minds and go in new directions more consistent with their own goals, should be protected and have the right to seek life goals meaningful to them."

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, who has supported the case against the bank, said: "This was a cruel and orchestrated campaign by LGBT activists targeting a Christian ministry and Barclays fell for it.

"Rather than standing up for free speech, Christian freedom, and minority rights, Barclays Bank Plc surrendered to the intimidatory tactics of LGBT activists.

"We will continue to defend and stand with Mike Davidson and CIT and any Christian ministry who falls foul of the weaponizing of the 'conversion therapy' ban."

Originally published at Christian Today
Ex-porn star, pastor-husband share tips for transforming habits to lead holier lives

If a believer wants to change their life, they first need to change their habits, advised Brittni and Richard De La Mora.

In a recent episode of their "Let's Talk Purity" podcast titled "The Habits of Holiness," the De La Moras said often in secular society the word holiness" gets a bad rep, but the words holiness and holy means to be set apart.

Listen to this podcast and many others on the Edifi Podcast Network

Our routines are a reflection of our habits. And our habits are what we do persistently and consistently on an everyday basis. So, if we're going to change our life, then we need to change our habits. We need to work at living a holy life, Richard said.

The De La Moras said one habit that Christians should be cultivating in their everyday lives is the habit of seeking God daily.

That has been one of my biggest convictions since becoming a Christian.  I don't want to go one day without seeking the Lord because if we're going to bring Him into the center of everything, then how can you go a day without seeking Him? Brittni said.

You can't be holy; you can't be set apart unless you're spending time in the presence of a holy God.  The more time that you spend in His presence, the less you're going to desire the things of this world.

Brittini added that Psalm 37 is her favorite verse in Scripture because it reminds her to take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

The verse, she said, can apply to the struggle that many Christians have with habitual sins because it can serve as a reminder that a believer needs to spend time in the presence of God to see more spiritual breakthroughs.

Some of us, were like, Well, I want to quit watching porn. I want to stop smoking cigarettes. I want to stop drinking so much. But you don't even spend time with God. So those desires are still so heavy and prevalent in your heart, Brittni added.

When you're spending time with God, He has a way of lovingly and graciously convicting you at the right time because He knows when the right time is. He knows when you're ready to give things up and when you're not. So, He'll start speaking to you, and, little by little, your desires will change.

Another holy habit for Christians to strive for is watching over your tongue, the De La Moras noted, referencing Psalm 141:3, which reads, Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.

Our words get us in trouble at times. And our tongue gets us in trouble at times.  I believe if we are going to live a life of holiness ... then our tongues should be set apart.  What does that look like? Were people who speak words of edification. We build people up. We strengthen people. Our words should be words that reflect the Words of Jesus, Richard De La Mora said.

Walking out a holy life can also be done through the holy habit of fleeing from sexual immorality, they added.

Brittni De La Mora, who escaped the porn industry to pursue Christ, said she remembers that on the day she gave her life to Christ she felt led to read her Bible while she was traveling on a plane on her way to film a porn scene.

On that day she said the Holy Spirit spoke to her directly through a Scripture, which convicted her and she ended up running from sexual immorality.

I ran from sexual immorality. I was like, I'm not going to do this anymore.  Because I wanted to follow Jesus. I wanted to honor Him, not only with my heart but I wanted to honor Him with my body.  If you don't run from it, it will find you, Brittni warned.

If you don't block that person in your direct message, they will keep coming after you.  There are some scandalous people out there. If you don't turn your eyes from that coworker that dresses crazy at work, it will affect you, she added.

We have to be so intentional about guarding our hearts because [of] the enemy. What does the Scripture say? It says that he roams around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  You need to guard your ears. You need to guard your eyes. You need to guard your heart.

Brittni said that entertaining sexual sin in a weak moment has the potential to take you down a slippery slope and sexual immorality will ruin your life.

I lived a sexually immoral life from 18 to 25. It ruined my life for many years. Thank God for His redemption and His restoration. But it will ruin your life. Don't let it. Don't let it ruin your life. Run from it, she declared.

Christians need to be mindful of how sexual sin works and how the enemy tempts Christians, Richard added. Sexual sin, he said, starts with the eyes and then goes into the heart.

At times, Richard noted, Christians tend to think that one lustful look is harmless. But, he said, sometimes all it takes is one lustful look for someone to become fully deceived.

The reason why we believe we need to create this as a habit is because some of us, your habit is looking and entertaining it, and we're good at that. I'm going to just look one or two times. But, the look is the hook. Eventually, that look is going to hook you in. Well, think about someone like David. Just a look got him in trouble, Richard said.

The Bible teaches us about someone like Joseph. He didn't stare or stay in that situation. He ran. He ran from sexual sin. And I think if we're going to create a habit of holiness, we need to be great runners and not great entertainers, he emphasized.

It starts with that look. It's that seed that will eventually deceive you.  You got to be intentional about that.  If not, you will have a negative habit and that habit is I'm going to look.  So, let's learn to create that habit by fleeing from sexual temptation.
Female Lutheran pastor leads church in 'sparkle creed' prayer to 'nonbinary' God, says Christ Jesus had '2 dads'

A female Lutheran pastor in Minnesota has gone viral for leading her congregation in a sparkle creed prayer in honor of LGBT pride month in which she described God as nonbinary and Christ Jesus as having two dads.

Anna Helgen, co-pastor of Edina Community Lutheran Church (ECLC) in Edina, a suburb of Minneapolis, delivered the prayer during a Sunday service live stream on June 25, when she called on members of the church to stand in honor of the sparkle creed.

In this prayer, Helgen recited a statement of faith known on social media as the sparkle creed.

I believe in the nonbinary God, whose pronouns are plural, Helgen said. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic, and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling child of God.

I believe in the rainbow spirit who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity. I believe in the church of everyday saints, as numerous, creative and resilient as patches on the  quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud and whose eyes gaze at the stars in wonder. I believe in the calling to each of us that love is love is love, so beloved let us love.

I believe, glorious God, help my unbelief, Amen.

After the nearly all-white congregation responded Amen, Helgen then lifted up a prayer Trusting in Gods expansive and inclusive love for LGBT-plus leaders, city officials, first responders, and for anyone who feels excluded on account of their gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other human distinction.

Helgen also included a reference to pop star Taylor Swift and her Swifty fans and all music that inspires us.

Help us shake it off when life takes a turn, she prayed in a nod to Swifts popular hit.

According to the ECLC website, the church is a participant in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Americas Reconciling In Christ initiative, which calls for the welcome, inclusion, celebration, and advocacy for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions; work for racial equity and commit to anti-racist work and support the national program.

As part of the initiative, churches are asked to acknowledge the complicit evils of colonialism, and the impact that it has had on indigenous populations as well as participate in More than Fragility: A Deep Dive into Understanding & Dismantling Whiteness, which is described as a learning experience designed for white leaders to explore how their identity connects to their capacity to lead and engage in racial justice work.

The initiative also includes a curriculum for childrens ministry aimed at opportunities for engagement of all ages for pride month, including activity sheets to honor the fullness of [LGBT-identified] people.

The ECLC website also seemingly implicates Christians at large and churches in general for what it describes as the theft of native land.

A statement reads in part: We further confess that Christians and Christian churches have benefited from this land theft. We commit to being active advocates for justice for native people and to truth telling that leads to healing.

A regional body of the ELCA made national news in May 2021 after electing the first openly transgender bishop in the progressive denominations history.

The Rev. Megan Rohrer, who uses the pronouns of they and them rather than gender-specific terms, was elected to head the California-based ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod.

Following the move, the theologically conservative blog Exposing the ELCA denounced the election of Rohrer as a complete slap in the face to God.

The ELCA is thumbing its nose at God, His Word and Truth and effectively showing that they are part of the uber left and its rejection of Christianity, stated the blog. How can God-fearing, Bible-believing individuals remain in the ELCA? How can churches remain?

Rohrer was later compelled to resign over allegations of racism and other issues in June 2022.
Most Asian Americans don't support affirmative action, poll finds

A new poll suggests that more than half of Asian Americans say they would support a potential U.S. Supreme Court decision to "ban" affirmative action policies as the nation's higher court weighs arguments in cases involving admissions policies at two universities.

The Seattle, Washington-based group Intelligent published the findings Tuesday of a sponsored poll conducted by Pollfish on Nov. 9 of 1,250 Asian Americans, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The survey was conducted over a week after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging the admissions policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University, which take racial identity into account as a factor.

According to the survey, 53% of Asian American respondents said they would support the "Supreme Court banning affirmative action," and 26% said they would oppose having the high court ban affirmative action policies.

Eighty-one percent of Asian American respondents who oppose affirmative action say "it's a racist policy." Thirty percent said it "hurts Asians' chances of getting into their preferred schools," 32% said it "increases racism toward Asians," and a quarter (25%) say it "Furthers Asian stereotypes."

The poll of Asian Americans also found that 49% of respondents oppose affirmative action in general, 39% consider affirmative action racist, and 72% said the affirmative action debate impacts how they vote.

The survey also found that older Asian Americans, especially those over 54, were more likely than younger generations of Asian Americans to oppose affirmative action.

About 61% of Asian Americans over 54 said they either somewhat oppose or strongly oppose affirmative action, while 45% of respondents aged 18-24 said the same.

Dennis Consorte, an Asian American small business consultant, recounted his family's experience with affirmative action in college admissions.

"Several years ago, when I first heard the news about Harvard admission standards favoring people of color to the exclusion of Asians, I recommended to my niece and nephews that they check off 'other' instead of 'Asian' on their college applications," Consorte was quoted as saying in the report.

Consorte said he has no issues when an "applicant of color" is chosen over an Asian applicant when they are "equally qualified." But he stressed there is a difference when someone is chosen "solely based on their ethnicity."

"[I]t would be recognized immediately as racist," Consorte said. "Supporters of affirmative action often say that it is not racist because you are favoring the group that is less powerful. The same can be said for favoring women candidates over men. While most can understand the logic, many would disagree with that notion, and instead suggest that all forms of discrimination are wrong, particularly when enforced through legislation and government funding.

The survey was conducted shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging the admissions policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University, which take racial identity into account when students apply.

Patrick Strawbridge, the attorney for Students for Fair Admissions, the legal group challenging the universities' admission policies, told the Supreme Court justices on Oct. 31 that "racial classifications are wrong."

"Whatever factors the government may use in deciding which jurors to sit, who you may marry, or which primary schools our children can attend, skin color is not one of them," he said.

Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar, who represented the Biden administration in support of UNC and Harvard, said during oral arguments that the policies are necessary to help prepare students for life in a racially diverse United States.

"A blanket ban on race-conscious admissions would cause racial diversity to plummet at many of our nation's leading educational institutions," Prelogar stated before the high court.

"Race-neutral alternatives right now can't make up the difference, so all students at those schools would be denied the benefits of learning in a diverse educational environment. And because college is the training ground for America's future leaders, the negative consequences would have reverberations throughout just about every important institution in America."

In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the case of Grutter v. Bollinger that colleges could use race as a factor in admissions as long as it was only one of the multiple parameters considered.

Writing for the majority, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor concluded that "race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time" and argued that "25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today."
Estonia is the latest of the three (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia) Baltic States to dramatically increase defense spending and order a lot of new weapons. Estonia plans to spend $14.5 billion over the next ten years. This will increase annual defense spending to three percent of GDP. Current spending is 2.85 percent of GDP. The recommended NATO goal is two percent. This is all about learning the lessons of the Ukraine war. That means spending over a billion dollars to increase ammunition supplies. Large quantities of Israeli Harpy loitering munitions and Spike ATGMs (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles) are on order. Blue Spear land-based anti-ship missiles are also on order and will arrive in 2024. These have a range of 290 kilometers and Estonia is launching them from trucks. These mobile missile launchers can be moved around, making them more difficult to hit with airstrikes. Estonia has ordered 36 K9 self-propelled howitzers from South Korea and 18 of these have already arrived. Six HIMARS vehicles and a large supply of FMLRS missiles are also on the way. Several hundred wheeled armored personnel carriers are being obtained to replace the trucks many infantry units now use.

Air defense systems are being upgraded with new radars and fire control systems for new anti-aircraft missile systems. These include the Polish Piorun for going after low flying threats and the German IRIS-T for more distant and higher flying aircraft and missiles. The size of the active-duty armed forces is being increased from 26,000 to 36,000 and that will be completed this year.

Estonia is a small country with a population of 1.3 million and a GDP of $41 billion. That means per-capita GDP is $31,000. Poland and the Baltic States made an extraordinary, in terms of financial cost, effort to assist Ukraine during the first six weeks of the war. For example, tiny Estonia spent about 0.8 percent of its annual GDP to support Ukraine during those six weeks. Most of the aid went to processing and hosting Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian attacks on their homes. By late 2022 Ukrainians and their NATO supporters were planning for what comes after the war. The Russian troops were on the run and Russia has few options left. Estonia is convinced that Russia will try again and the next time Estonia might be the target.

This is not a new problem. Back in 2016 the Baltic States asked for some American troops. Not enough to halt a Russian invasion, just enough to ensure that the Americans and their NATO allies (or at least some of them) will intervene if Russia does attack. The Baltic States already have a mutual defense guarantee from NATO in the form of NATO membership. But that is not enough and what has been asked for, and granted, are some American troops in each of these nations. The response was an offer to send one reinforced battalion per country. That means about 4,000 troops overall. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the Americans have put more personnel, most of them support troops, in Poland and the Baltic States.

The Baltic States and neighboring Poland join a growing list of nations who, threatened by dangerous neighbors, have agreed, and often asked to host American troops. The first and most obvious examples of this are South Korea, Japan and Germany. This form of defense has been quietly followed by a number of nations in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE (United Arab Emirates). All of these Persian Gulf nations want the Americans around to keep the Iranians out. But it is not just the Iranians. Inside Iraq there have been American troops in northern Iraq to protect the autonomous Kurdish majority up there from the Arab majority since the early 1990s. This form of security is also called a "tripwire force" because, if the host nation is attacked, the presence of some U.S. troops means that a lot of U.S. reinforcements will promptly arrive. Several other nations are seeking this form of security guarantee but are not getting it, at least not yet. This includes Ukraine and Georgia. The United States is the favored source of these armed hostages because the U.S. is a superpower and, compared to all the alternatives, the least likely to take advantage of the situation.
Archaeologist's research appears to support Bible's claims about King David's kingdom

While some scholars have argued that the Bibles description of King David ruling over a great kingdom is exaggerated, new research suggests that the land overseen by the Old Testament king was more well-developed than some experts believe.

Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of the Institute of Archaeology at Hebrew University theorized in a paper published in the peer-reviewed Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology that King David ruled over an urban network of fortified cities, which supports the Bibles description of his kingdom.

Garfinkel outlined five different sites in his study  Khirbet Qeiyafa, Beth Shemesh, Lachish and Tell en-Nasbeh and a country hill  finding that these locations had a fairly similar layout.

Three of the sites had whats known as a casemate wall, a double wall that typically protects a city or fortress. Some sites also contained Canaanite inscriptions, which the study suggested showed an increasing demand for communication and a marker of centralized authority.

As The Times of Israel reported Monday, those who believe King David ruled over a few thousand Bedouin shepherds near Jerusalem fall into the minimalist school of archeological thought. The other school of thought aligns with the Bibles description of King David ruling a vast kingdom.

While Garfinkels paper appears to support the Bibles account of King Davids kingdom, the professor said proving the Bibles accuracy was not the purpose of the study. The scholar acknowledged that there are differing opinions on the usefulness of the Bible, but he argued, thats not science; thats theology.

I hate to use the term trying to prove the Bible because Im not trying to prove anything, Garfinkel told the outlet. There are biblical traditions, and we can see if these have historical memories or not.  It doesnt mean that everything, 100 percent, is historical memories. Sometimes there are mistakes. Sometimes there is wishful thinking. Sometimes there is ideology.

Prof. Aren Maeir of Bar Ilan University believes that Garfinkels research is an oversimplification, referring to what he described as the papers generalizations as problematic. One of the issues is the controversy about whether Khirbet Qeiyafa was a Judahite or Canaanite city, according to Maeir.

While the Bar Illan University professor agrees that historically, King David existed, he does not see enough evidence to determine the size of his kingdom.

Its like when a fisherman tells you about the type of fish he caught, and with each story, his arms get wider and wider, Maeir told TOI. Is it a sardine, a mackerel, or a blue whale? If you read the biblical text and take it literally, then its a blue whale. I think that probably there was a small kingdom in Jerusalem, but we dont know the influence that this kingdom had.

As archaeologists, we take the finds and we try to interpret them as best as we can, he continued. Sometimes, interpretations can go a little too far, and I think we all do this.  Its important to put out the ideas there, even if theyre not accepted. But its also important to clarify when things are rock solid and when theyre interpretations.

In 2005, the late archaeologist Eilat Mazar excavated in the City of David in what is known as the biblical kings palace. Some of her colleagues disagreed with her interpretation of the structure.

Upon Mazars death in May 2021, journalist Etgar Lefkovits at The Jerusalem Post wrote that the archaeologist pushed ahead undeterred by her critiques, and buoyed by her spirit. She and history were intertwined as one.

After Mazar discovered the City of David, the archaeologist also found sections of King Solomons walls and clay seals belonging to King Hezekiah and possibly the prophet Isaiah.
Pakistan to try blasphemy cases under anti-terror law

LAHORE, Pakistan  A government concession to demands by a Muslim extremist political party to allow blasphemy charges under Pakistans anti-terrorism laws has raised fears of more injustice for those accused under the harsh statutes, sources said.

Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Economic Affairs Minister Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on June 17 signed the agreement with leaders of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Muhammad Shafique Amini and Allama Ghulam Abbas Faizi, that would allow blasphemy cases to be tried under the countrys anti-terrorism law.

The agreement stipulates that punishment under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997 would apply to suspects charged with committing blasphemy under the Pakistan Penal Codes Section 295-C against making derogatory remarks about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.

The government also agreed to establish a Counter Blasphemy Wing under the Federal Investigation Agency to take action against the dissemination of blasphemous content on the internet. In addition, the agreement calls for speedy trials of blasphemy suspects, as well as a swift appeals process.

A Muslim lawyer of the Supreme Court, Asad Jamal, said that derogatory remarks about Muhammad under Section 295-C do not fall under the definition of terrorism, and that the purpose of the ATA is to curb sectarianism.

295-C relates to hurting of religious sentiments as a result of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad, whereas Section 7 of ATA is specifically for acts wherein the general public feels terrorized by violence, Jamal told Morning Star News. It warrants a question here of how can an accused instigate the masses and simultaneously also terrorize them? Going ahead with any move to amend the ATA to include Section 295-C will only worsen the human rights situation in Pakistan.

Jamal added that putting blasphemy under the anti-terror law could jeopardize Pakistans European Union GSP Plus status, which calls for improving the human rights situation in the country, including stopping the abuse of blasphemy laws.

He echoed rights activists fears about the fairness of blasphemy trials in anti-terror courts.

Statements of the accused taken in police custody under CrPC [Criminal Procedure Code] are usually considered involuntary by the courts, which is why the accused are given an opportunity to record their statements again in the courtrooms, Jamal said. However, anti-terror courts routinely admit statements given in police custody, which may pose a serious issue for the accused.

Moreover, blasphemy suspects already face social stigma, and if their cases are heard under anti-terror laws, they would face a double stigma of both blasphemer and terrorist, he said.

Such surrenders [by the government] embolden religious forces to abuse the laws with more vigor and impunity, Jamal said. I hope the government realizes the consequences of this agreement with TLP and instead works to curb the false accusations of blasphemy which have tarnished the image of Pakistan globally.

For the agreement to take effect, the government must amend the ATA through parliament, for which it is working on draft amendments.

Peter Jacob, executive director of the Lahore-based Center for Social Justice, said the legal measures and approach in the agreement are based on a presumption of guilt and rely mainly on the retributive aspect.

These measures have been repeatedly tried and proven to be a failure in tackling the key issue of abuse of religion and law, particularly the blasphemy laws, Jacob told Morning Star News.

The agreement was reached without any negotiations with representatives of rights and minorities, and it lacks a depth of understanding of the issues, he said.

The government failed to take the aggrieved parties, i.e., civil society organizations, religious minorities and national human rights institutions, on board before conceding to this demand, Jacob told Morning Star News. By and by, this move is a misfortune for the government and the country.

He noted that implementation of this demand would increase abuse of the blasphemy statutes, especially against vulnerable minorities like Christians and minority Muslim sects.

The Voice Society Chief Executive Aneeqa Maria said that, so far, Section 295-C is not a schedule offense and not included in Section 6 of the Anti-Terror Act, nor is it available in any offenses of the ATA of 1997.

If a blasphemy accused is tried under anti-terrorism laws in Pakistan, it would have significant impact and consequences on the victims, said Maria, a human rights attorney. By associating blasphemy with terrorism, the accused may face limited legal protections and an increased risk of violence or vigilante attacks against them.

With blasphemy included under the anti-terrorism laws, suspects may face a compromised judicial process, including unfair trials, she said.

Additionally, bail could be denied further, prolonging their detention and exacerbating the emotional and physical toll on the victims, Maria said.

She concurred that accusations of blasphemy already carry a high risk of violence and vigilantism in Pakistan.

Trying blasphemy cases under anti-terrorism laws could further escalate this risk, as it would be seen as a matter of national security, she told Morning Star News. The accused, their lawyers, their families, and their communities could become targets of violence and threats from extremist groups or individuals who believe they are defending religious sensitivities.

This fear can extend beyond suspects to lawyers, police, prosecutors, judges and others involved in the criminal justice system, she added.

It may hinder their ability to carry out their duties effectively, impartially and without fear, thus undermining the principles of justice and human rights, Maria said.

Joseph Jansen of advocacy group Voice for Justice said the addition of terrorism charges will make blasphemy suspects more vulnerable as they would more often face death or life imprisonment with a fine as punishment than they do under the blasphemy statutes.

It will only strengthen the controversial laws and support arbitrary detentions, making the victims more vulnerable, Jansen told Morning Star News. It puts the prospect of a fair trial in question, thus violating our international treaties.

He added that it was unfortunate that Pakistani governments have continued to capitulate to mobs in favor of laws misused for personal vendettas.

Weaponized law

Blasphemy against Muhammad is punishable by death under Pakistani law, and conviction requires little legal evidence.

As a result, the blasphemy laws are often used as a weapon of revenge against both Muslims and non-Muslims to settle personal scores or to resolve disputes over money, property or business. In a religiously sensitive country, a mere allegation is enough to provoke a mob to riot and lynch those accused of blasphemy.

At least 1,949 persons were accused under the blasphemy laws between 1987 and 2021, according to the Center for Social Justice. A large number of these blasphemy cases are still awaiting justice.

As of May 15, 57 cases of alleged blasphemy have been reported this year. Punjab Province tops the list with 28 cases, followed by Sindh Province with 16, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province with 8 and Kashmir Province with 5.

In January, the National Assembly passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, increasing punishment for insulting Muhammads companions, wives and family members from three years to 10 years and a fine of 1 million rupees (US$3,480).

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.
What Are Messianic Jews And What Do They Believe About Jesus, Salvation, And The New Testament?

link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead. 14:46 14:46

What is Messianic Judaism, is it the same as Christianity  and what do its worship services look like? These are just some of the questions Christian Post reporter Ian M. Giatti tackles on the show today.

Giatti also recently addressed these topics in an article titled, "Messianic rabbi points Jews, Gentiles to Christ in the heart of the Bible Belt," a piece about Messianic Rabbi Ari Waldman and his Dallas-based Baruch Hashem.

"What we're talking about is essentially this notion ... of a Judaism that acknowledges that Jesus is the Messiah," Giatti explained. "It kind of encompasses New Testament theology overlayed on ... Orthodox Judaism."

Listen to the full explainer.

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What is Messianic Judaism, is it the same as Christianity  and what do its worship services look like? These are just some of the questions Christian Post reporter Ian M. Giatti tackles on the show today.

Giatti also recently addressed these topics in an article titled, "Messianic rabbi points Jews, Gentiles to Christ in the heart of the Bible Belt," a piece about Messianic Rabbi Ari Waldman and his Dallas-based Baruch Hashem.

"What we're talking about is essentially this notion ... of a Judaism that acknowledges that Jesus is the Messiah," Giatti explained. "It kind of encompasses New Testament theology overlayed on ... Orthodox Judaism."

Listen to the full explainer.
Dealing with death and disease

I see a spot we need to keep an eye on. Cancer. It wasnt a diagnosis that I ever expected to hear as a young man about to start a family. Immediately, my mind filled with questions: How will I tell my wife? How will she manage if I die? What will the treatment cost? Am I ready to die?

There were no words in the immediate aftermath. It helped that the cancer with which Id been diagnosed has a 95% cure rate, but Id be lying if I said that eliminated my worries. A 95% cure rate isnt a 100% cure rate. Would I be part of the unlucky few? How would it be possible to maintain a straight face and tell my wife that everythings going to be all right when I had no control over that? Sometimes things dont turn out all right  at least in the short term.

As scary as that moment was, it pales in comparison to what I felt when I heard the news my wife and I received just after our fourth child was born a little over two years ago. Your son has Pfeiffer syndrome, a rare genetic disease that affects one in one hundred thousand people. We dont know what this means for him yet. He will certainly have developmental delays, but his prognosis could be anything from a normal life to severe mental and physical limitations to death. Im paraphrasing a bit here, for the doctors did not say things so matter-of-factly. But it was the most frightening moment of my life. How were we ever going to handle this?

People die every day. Babies, teenagers, young mothers, middle-age fathers, the elderly  death is no respecter of persons. Its not exactly true that the only sure things in life are death and taxes. You can avoid taxes. If youre willing to put up with jail time, you need not pay the tax man. Death, on the other hand, is certain. Apart from those who are living when the Savior returns to consummate His Kingdom, no one gets out of this world alive. And long before we breathe our last, all of us are going to face disease and watch friends and family suffer, or even suffer ourselves. Right now, as I am updating this article, the whole world is dealing with COVID-19. Death and disease are very much on everyones mind.

Why do we fear death so much? For non-Christians, the answer is easy. No matter how they suppress the truth in unrighteousness, whether by atheism, agnosticism, or false religion, they cant escape their God-given awareness that theyve broken His law and deserve Hell.

Christians also fear death and disease. Of course, we know that were not supposed to, and wed never tell anyone that we harbor such fears. Certainly, we know all the right things to say about death: God is sovereign. He has a good purpose in my pain. The Lord can teach and sanctify my family, friends, and me through the process of suffering and dying. Often, however, we say these things because we have to and not because were fully convinced. Ive been guilty of that.

Believers dont fear death and disease for the same reasons as non-Christians because we know Christ has a home for us in Heaven (John 14:13). Instead, we fear losing control. We insure ourselves against property loss. We order our days so that we are most productive. By and large, we enjoy happy and fulfilling relationships by listening to others and giving of ourselves. But despite our best efforts, we cant keep death and disease away.

We also fear suffering. Nobody wants a terminal illness. Nobody wants chronic pain. Nobody wants to lose his mental faculties. Nobody wants to see a friend, parent, child, or grandparent endure surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or any other drastic measure to keep that person alive.

In many ways, its right to fear death and suffering. Since God made the universe very good (Gen. 1:12:4), death and disease are intruders. Theyre here because of sin, and theyll be gone in the new heavens and earth. Until then, however, we must live with our fear of death and disease. How can we glorify God in so doing?

I cant give all the answers, but I hope to offer some help.

1. We should know why we fear death and disease





If you fear death because you are not reconciled to God, then you must be reconciled today by trusting in Christ alone. In so trusting, you will stand clothed in Jesus perfect righteousness before the Judge of all, and He will welcome you into His Kingdom. He has promised to give eternal life to all who believe in Jesus.

2. Admit your fears to God and others





I dont know all the reasons why the Lord allows us to suffer. I do know that He uses our pain to conform us to Christ. Confessing our fears gives people the opportunity to pray for us and encourage us to keep our eyes on Jesus, not our suffering. It allows us to bear one anothers burdens and fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2).

3. Help make your church a place where people can admit their fears honestly





Talk to your leaders about what you can do to create a church culture where people can find help if they or someone they love is facing the specter of death and disease. Help with bereavement support groups, take meals to suffering families  theres no end to what can be done. During our trial with our youngest son, our church, Saint Andrews Chapel in Sanford, Fla., has been exceptional at this. Pastors and elders have prayed with us and have visited us in the hospital. Deacons have offered practical and financial assistance. In particular, I want to highlight the women in the congregation who have brought us meals when our son has had surgery and hospital stays and have even provided childcare when our extended family (who have also been incredible) was unavailable. A group of them, on their own initiative and without our asking, even organized themselves and cleaned our house during the worst of it. The support and care that the body of Christ offers its hurting members is a gift to help us endure gloomy days.

4. Trust Gods sovereignty





Death and disease dont surprise Him. Hes numbered our days (Ps. 139:16), so Hes always accomplishing His good purposes for us.

5. Meditate on Gods promises until they become part of your very soul





Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Ps. 23:4). The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Rom. 8:18). This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:17). These words of life comfort us in dark days.

Ten years and four children later, Im cancer-free. After many surgeries and with more on the way, our youngest son is developing well. Though there remain many unknowns, he appears to have one of the least severe cases of his syndrome. But death still lies ahead for me and for us all. Let us face our fear of it with courage, because Jesus has already faced death for us and won.

This article was first published in Tabletalk, the Bible study magazine of Ligonier Ministries. Find out more at TabletalkMagazine.com or subscribe today at GetTabletalk.com.
What can we learn from the Titan tragedy?

We all are deeply saddened by the tragedy of the Titan submersible craft with five people aboard. We hoped they somehow might have survived, but then discovered they had been gone for some time, due to what was described as a Catastrophic implosion.

James Cameron, director of the film "Titanic" and expert in submersibles, stated that the trip was fraught with peril from its outset, even saying the journey had parallels with Titanic where the captain repeatedly ignored warnings about an incoming iceberg and carried on at top speed.

When photos emerged of the interior of the 22-foot submersible, which was about the size of a mini-van, it was shocking to see there were no chairs and Ziploc bags for toilets.

It also had a video game controller to navigate with.

The price of being a part of this trip two miles beneath the surface of the ocean to visit the legendary Titanic shipwreck was $250,000 per person. Needless to say, only the very wealthy need apply.

Among those on board the Titan submersible was British billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, who made his fortune selling private jets and holds three Guinness World Records for past extreme trips; British-based businessman Sharhzada Dawood, 48, and his 19-year-old son, Suleman. It was especially heartbreaking to read that Suleman was terrified of boarding the small Titan submarine in the first place, but according to his aunt, he did so because the trip fell over Fathers Day weekend and he wanted to please his dad, who was passionate about the lore of the Titanic.

We wonder why these intelligent, successful, and very wealthy people would undertake such a journey so laden with risk, to begin with.

Dr. Scott Lyons, a psychologist whose clients include some of the worlds wealthiest people, told The Daily Mail that new technologies have made it possible for rich people to chase increasingly dangerous thrills. They can book passage of flights to space or board a submarine for $250,000.

Dr. Lyons said: People will do more thrill-seeking if they're susceptible to boredom. As you get more extravagant in life, things become less exciting. You're looking for the novelties of life as things become so available to you.

The adventures offer a sense of aliveness, he said. If there's safety in some parts of their life like finances, where it doesn't feel so risky, they might seek the thrill and the risk in other places.

Boredom. This is nothing new.

Thousands of years ago, the wealthiest man of his time, King Solomon, did something similar.

He could not rocket to space or dive into the depths of the ocean, but he sampled every pleasure available and found it all empty.

Solomon wrote, I said to myself, Come on, lets try pleasure. Lets look for the good things in life. But I found that this, too, was meaningless (Ecc. 2:1).

Some things just dont change.

A new film is coming out on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, directed by Christoper Nolan. Oppenheimer was a brilliant physicist and head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, which developed the atomic bomb. He also directed the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Yet the year before he died, he said this about his accomplishments: They leave on the tongue only the taste of ashes.

We celebrate our dramatic advances in science and technology, and they are breathtaking, to say the least. We live in a technologically advanced age, and we truly have become a global village. Still, it seems that all this technology has numbed our souls a little bit more. Thats because we have pursued knowledge without God.

You dont have to rocket to space or explore the depths of the ocean to find what you are looking for. Its right in front of you. Or should I say, HE is right in front of you.

His name is Jesus Christ.



The Psalmist writes, If I climb to the sky, youre there! If I go underground, youre there! If I flew on mornings wings to the far western horizon, Youd find me in a minute  youre already there waiting! (Ps. 139).

What we really are looking for deep inside is a relationship with God. No material thing will fill that space. Nor will any experience, no matter how exotic.

May the God of all comfort be with those who lost loved ones aboard Titan. I prayed those on board called on the Lord and if they did, I know the Lord heard them. The Bible says, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom.10:13).

That is true for all of us, wherever we are.
Bishops back amendments to Illegal Migration Bill

Christians in the House of Lords have supported a number of amendments to the government's Illegal Migration Bill.

Peers voted in favour of amendments providing safeguards for unaccompanied child migrants and victims of modern day slavery.

Speaking during the debate, the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Rev Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, said it would be "unforgivable" to allow unaccompanied child migrants to "languish in perpetual limbo".

"This Bill will prevent potentially thousands of children from ever claiming refugee protection in the UK however serious their protection needs may be and disturbingly, regardless of the fact that they may not have had any say in the decision to travel here irregularly," she said.

"Let's be absolutely clear, this means vulnerable unaccompanied children who have fled unimaginable horrors will arrive to find they will be detained and then potentially accommodated by the Home Office outside the established care system. And this is all, not in order for their asylum case to be heard and assessed, but simply to deter others.

"Given that there are no return agreements yet in place and the Government has not provided any new information as to how returns will exponentially increase, the overwhelming majority of individuals will be left to languish in perpetual legal limbo and financial precarity.

"I would argue this is unacceptable for any asylum seeker but for an unaccompanied child, it is unforgivable."

The amendments also had the support of the Bishop of Durham.

The Bill was introduced by the government earlier this year to prevent small boats crossing the English Channel.

It has come under fire over plans to send people arriving illegally in the UK to Rwanda or other "safe" third countries. The Supreme Court yesterday ruled these plans unlawful.

The amendments made by the House of Lords will be considered by MPs at a later stage.

Catholic international development agency Cafod has said the Illegal Migration Bill "represents everything Pope Francis asks us not to be".

It is asking its supporters to write to their MPs urging them to vote against the Bill.

Aisha Dodwell, head of campaigns at Cafod, told the PA news agency: "If passed, this inhumane legislation will be a stain on the country's reputation.

"People fleeing conflict and persecution are dying in their thousands as they try to find safety for themselves and their families.

"Yet, instead of recognising the dire situation these people are in, the UK Government is seemingly doing everything it can to make their lives even harder.

"Pope Francis has urged world leaders to build bridges not walls and to welcome, protect and integrate people without distinction.

"But the Illegal Migration Bill represents everything Pope Francis asks us not to be, which is why we are urging Catholics to speak out against the Bill and show we are a country that welcomes people who need our help."
Supreme Court's Rwanda ruling welcomed

The Church of Scotland has welcomed a ruling by the Supreme Court deeming plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda unlawful.



Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the government will appeal the judgment handed down on Thursday.

The government argues that the plan will stop small boats arriving across the English Channel.

Welcoming the Supreme Court's ruling, Emma Jackson, the Kirk's vice-convener of the Faith Action Programme Leadership Team, said the government should instead work on establishing safe and legal routes for people seeking sanctuary in the UK, and increase its international aid spending.

She also called on the government to change the rules so that asylum seekers whose claims have not been determined after six months are allowed to work.

"The Church has consistently argued that the plans were unacceptable in the way they treated individuals, removing their rights and robbed them of their humanity," she said.

"The UK government must now urgently rethink its Illegal Migration Bill and its whole approach to reforming the broken asylum system.

"Time and again it has proved to be cruel, unlawful, expensive and ultimately ineffective in delivering the aims of reducing irregular migration.

"As Christians, we believe in welcoming the stranger, we are all made in God's image and Jesus himself was a refugee."

She added, "[We] must only use detention as a last resort."

Christian crossbench peer, Lord Alton, wants the government to withdraw the Illegal Migration Bill in light of the court's ruling.

He told Premier Christian News that the government should "go back to the drawing board" and work to "build a political consensus rather than the toxicity that we have at the moment".
US Supreme Court sides with Christian postal worker who was forced to work Sundays

(CP) The United States Supreme Court has vacated an earlier lower court ruling against a Christian postal worker who had been forced to work Sundays, which went against his sincerely-held religious beliefs.

In a unanimous decision released Thursday morning in the case of Greg Groff v. Louis DeJoy, the high court decided to vacate a circuit court ruling against Christian postal worker Greg Groff and remanded the case for further proceedings.

A key factor was that the Supreme Court concluded that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit needed to have a better definition of what constituted "undue hardship" on an employer being asked to accommodate an employee's religious practices.

Justice Samuel Alito authored the high court's opinion, concluding that "courts must apply the test in a manner that takes into account all relevant factors in the case at hand, including the particular accommodations at issue and their practical impact" on an employer.

"What is most important is that 'undue hardship' in Title VII means what it says, and courts should resolve whether a hardship would be substantial in the context of an employer's business in the commonsense manner that it would use in applying any such test," wrote Alito.

"An employer who fails to provide an accommodation has a defense only if the hardship is 'undue,' and a hardship that is attributable to employee animosity to a particular religion, to religion in general, or to the very notion of accommodating religious practice cannot be considered 'undue.'"

Alito went on to note that "it would not be enough for an employer to conclude that forcing other employees to work overtime would constitute an undue hardship," adding that considering "other options, such as voluntary shift swapping, would also be necessary."

Groff quit working for USPS in 2019 after about seven years of service because the Quarryville Post Office in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, required him to deliver Amazon packages on Sundays.

While USPS had initially granted Groff's request, allowing him to work additional shifts on other days of the week instead, his boss later said he had to work on Sundays despite his beliefs.

Groff sued, arguing that the requirement to work Sundays or quit violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, namely religious freedom protections in the workplace.

Last May, a three-judge panel for the Third Circuit ruled against Groff, with Circuit Judge Patty Shwartz, an Obama appointee, writing in the court opinion that accommodating Groff's request "would cause an undue hardship" for the postal service.

"Exempting Groff from working on Sundays caused more than a de minimis cost on USPS because it actually imposed on his coworkers, disrupted the workplace and workflow, and diminished employee morale," the ruling read.

Randall Wenger of the Independence Law Center, which also supported Groff, said, "Observing the Sabbath day is critical to many faiths  a day ordained by God. No one should be forced to violate the Sabbath to hold a job."

Groff appealed the decision and the Supreme Court announced in January that the justices would hear an appeal in the case, with oral arguments taking place in April.

A significant point of debate during the oral arguments was the 1977 Supreme Court decision Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison, in which the high court ruled 7-2 that TWA had not violated Title VII when it refused to provide a Saturday sabbath exemption for an employee because it would have caused "undue hardship" for the company.

Chief Justice John Roberts mentioned the changes in religious liberty case law since Hardison was decided, citing recent cases that had broadened religious accommodations in other areas.

"There really is no Establishment Clause problem if you make accommodations for people's religious belief," said Roberts during oral arguments in April. "So, if you're going to look at this under current law, it's not clear that those cases would come out, that Hardison would come out the same way."

 The Christian Post
Mozart in love: I know of no better solution than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning  today if at all possible

A rare autograph letter written by the composer when on the cusp of immortality, in which he appeals to an aristocratic patroness for advice on pre-empting a romantic scandal, reveals him to be passionate, vivacious  and a decent guy

On a late summers day in 1782, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart received news that he was about to be landed in serious trouble. A maidservant arrived at his rooms in Vienna with some unfinished manuscripts of his. He had asked for them to be brought from his previous lodgings in a house called Zum Auge Gottes, The Eye of God. Mozart had left Gods Eye nine months earlier. He made the move to less comfortable quarters for proprietys sake  having just become engaged to Constanze Weber, the 19-year-old daughter of his landlady. Now, the servant told him, his prospective mother-in-law, Frau Cacilia Weber, was threatening to send the police round to Mozarts address, because she suspected that Constanze was spending the nights there. Living in sin was an arrestable offence in 18th-century Vienna. And Mozart knew that Frau Webers suspicions were well founded. His relationship with Constanze had taken a turn that was at best daringly bohemian, at worst downright illegal. Mozart urgently needed advice  so he sat down and wrote a letter to a trusted and powerful friend. That remarkable and emotional letter, which is to be auctioned in London on 6 July 2023 in The Exceptional Sale, was addressed to Mozarts benefactress, Baroness Martha Elisabeth von Waldstatten.

Open a larger version of this image Address leaf with the remnant of a seal in red wax: A Madame / Madame La Baronne de Waldstaetten nee de Schoeffer / a Leopoldstatt / N: 360, from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts letter to (Martha Elisabeth) Baroness von Waldstatten, Vienna, shortly before 4 August 1782

The composer began his letter with an account of the alarming news from Frau Webers maid. Then he wrote: I dont believe that it could happen, as it would amount to prostitution for the whole family. But the attempt to talk himself down from the enormity of the situation did not work. Are the police allowed to go into any house here? he queried. Then added, If it might actually happen, then I know of no better solution than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning  today if at all possible. For I do not wish to expose my beloved to this shame  and it cannot happen if she is my wife.

Are the police allowed to go into any house here? Maybe its just a decoy tactic to get her home  Mozart to Baroness von Waldstatten

So this was Mozarts plan: to pre-empt scandal with a wedding. The baroness was perfectly placed to help. A wealthy woman in her thirties  glamorous, sophisticated, musical, happily separated from her husband  she had taken Mozart and Constanze under her wing. When, for example, Mozart mentioned that he liked a certain red jacket that he had borrowed for a portrait, Martha Elisabeth had an identical one tailored for him as a surprise gift. More pragmatically, in the moments when Constanze found life with her controlling mother too much to bear, the baroness would invite her stay at her residence. Constanze was ostensibly a house guest on the day that Mozart wrote his frantic letter. The baroness was using her high-born status as a cloak of respectability to throw over the lovers risque living arrangements. Other factors were at play in Mozarts mind as he rushed to matrimony in those fraught August days. Just two weeks earlier, on 16 July, his first full-length German opera had debuted at Viennas Burgtheater. The production of Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, The Abduction from the Seraglio, was an immediate success, which gave Mozart reason to believe that his career was about to take off in new and lucrative ways.

Open a larger version of this image Constanze Mozart (1762-1842), circa 1789, by her brother-in-law, Joseph Lange (1751-1831). Oil on canvas. The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, Scotland. Photo:  Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery / Bridgeman Images

Meanwhile, he had for months been asking his father Leopold to accept his betrothal to Constanze, but the starchy, snobbish Leopold Mozart had repeatedly refused. Exasperated by his fathers intransigence, Wolfgang was  on some subconscious level  looking to bring matters to a head. Constanze, for her part, had an officious guardian named Johann von Thorwart, who acted as a kind of adviser to the widowed Frau Weber. He considered Mozart a shallow young man, a scoundrel in the making. When Wolfgang and Constanze declared their love, Thorwart presented Mozart with a contract saying that he would marry her within three years or else pay her a lifelong annuity of 300 florins. And if he did not sign, he would not be permitted to see Constanze at all.

I do not wish to expose my beloved to this shame I ask you for your kind advice, and to offer a helping hand to us poor creatures

Mozart gladly put his name to this strange inverted pre-nup agreement. But Constanze, when she heard of it, got hold of the document and tore it top to bottom before her mothers eyes. She said that she knew Mozarts intentions towards her were honourable, and required no grubby legal ratification of the fact. Mozart was delighted by that theatrical gesture  and there is more than a touch of pantomime about the whole situation: the perplexed, love-lorn young hero; the sour, disapproving father; the scheming mother-in-law in waiting; the comically cold-hearted guardian; the betrothed bride whose virtue is in danger; the aristocratic fairy godmother. It could all be the plot of a Mozart opera, if it were not already the stuff of Mozarts life.

Open a larger version of this image Most highly esteemed Baroness! The first page of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts letter to (Martha Elisabeth) Baroness von Waldstatten, Vienna, shortly before 4 August 1782

One wonders what a later Viennese, Sigmund Freud, might have made of Mozarts situation. In the letter to the baroness, we see the composer finally becoming himself, the fully fledged artist that he was born to be. Mozart had after all been famous for most of his life  but as a child prodigy. The Abduction from the Seraglio, with its ambition and adult theme, demonstrated that the child performer had metamorphosed into a composer of stature and maturity. The marriage to Constanze performed the same grown-up function in his personal life (and it is telling that the female lead in The Abduction is also named Constanze). By taking a wife, Mozart was escaping his fathers dominance and showing that he could flourish without the paternal approval he had depended on since he was a small boy.

Open a larger version of this image Mozart at the piano, 1789, by the composers brother-in-law Joseph Lange (1751-1831). Oil on canvas. The portrait was considered by Constanze to be the best likeness of her husband. Mozart Museum, Salzburg, Austria. Photo: Alinari / Bridgeman Images

In one of his letters, Mozart mistakenly refers to his own opera as the Verfuhrung rather than the Entfuhrung  not an abduction, but a seduction. It is exactly the kind of subconscious slip that would later carry Freuds name  but what might it signify? Mozart and Constanze were without doubt powerfully attracted to each other: the literal seduction, whenever it happened, was mutual. But that written error betokens something more: the alluring embrace of a destiny that was just taking shape in Mozarts ego, the dawning awareness that a special order of fame  immortality, in fact  was beckoning him on and enticing him in. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Constanze Weber were married in St Stephens Cathedral, Vienna, on 4 August 1782. The baroness generously laid on a wedding breakfast for her favourite genius and his bride. Mozart wrote to his father on the eve, asking for his blessing, but  significantly  did not wait for a reply. Leopold Mozarts reluctant consent arrived in the post the day after the ceremony. Frau Weber was expecting the newlyweds to live with her and pay rent  but they were adamant that they would be making a home for themselves elsewhere. They had in effect eloped without leaving town. And for all their time together, they were never less than totally in love. Mozart was not one of those artists who require silence and solitude in which to work: much the reverse. He was happy to compose in the midst of a raucous household, while his children played at his feet. And if there was stillness by accident  in the dead of night, say  Constanze would stay up and read him fairy stories as he wrote.

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Carter Wieringa, a Grade 12 student at Westgate high school, welds a section of a metal bench that he and his classmates are building for the schoolyards Indigenous fire circle, as teacher Mike Lemieux turns from the welding arc.
MBABANE  There is no longer a reason for progressives not to allow their members to contest for elections.

These were the words the Deputy Chairperson of PUDEMOs Mafucula-Tsambokhulu area branch, Sicelo Vilane, which he used to describe the stand by the political organisation to boycott elections. In previous reports, it had been stated that PUDEMO was against their members registering to vote or even standing for elections under the current system of governance. Vilane, who is also the former Secretary General of the Media Workers Union of Swaziland (MWUS), said telling members not to vote, was outdated. He was also the once in the executive of the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO), where he was the information and publicity secretary.

PUDEMO was formed on July 7, 1983 and has consistently maintained a stand not to participate in the countrys elections. Vilanes statement comes a few weeks after the National Organising Secretary (NOS) of the PUDEMO Womens League Bonakele Metfula said she had resigned and that she would support her brother in the upcoming elections. Eswatini uses a system known as Tinkhundla, whereby there is no political party registration allowed, but candidates stand for parliamentary elections as individuals. In other countries such as the United States of America (USA), candidates stand as party representatives while independent ones are also permitted. However, neighbouring Republic of South Africa (SA), previously only allowed political party representatives but also recently included individual candidates to stand.

Law

Under Tinkhundla, there is no law barring a political party member from registering for elections on individual basis. I am aware of my organisations stand when it comes to participating in the upcoming elections. However, I decided to take a community-centred ground decision to contest this years elections, he said. He said he was advised by the community to contest for elections and that it would have been a great mistake not to contest. Vilane said the wishes of his community was to send him wherever they wished so. He said he was 100 per cent ready for this position and that his community, once they elected him would enjoy non-ending service delivery.

Vilane said he was a member of his community before he became a member of PUDEMO. My community comes first, not the political party, he stated. He said it is expected that there could be a few hiccups by joining parliament, but this could be adjusted. Vilane said these hiccups could be sorted in future. He said shunning elections was no longer viable. I do not buy into the boycott of elections principle, he added. Vilane said the organisation had many brave and intelligent citizens who were members of progressives and that preventing them from standing for elections would be like denying the country bright minds, and courageous minds in the leadership. He said because of the stand taken by some political organisations not to contest, the country would be deprived of youth that could contribute positively. Who will suffer by these selfish tendencies? he asked, responding that it would be the citizens of this country who would suffer.

International

Also, he said the international community was looking at how Eswatini would handle the elections. He said they were checking if political parties would contest the elections. He said it would not be in the interest of the government to commit political mistakes because the international community was watching. So, let us join the elections, he said. Vilane was also asked if his organisation was aware that he had taken the stand to participate in the elections. He said he had not indicated formally but that some of the members within the organisation already knew about his plans.

He insisted that he believed that democracy was about the people and that if they want you to represent them, you should do so. He also revealed that it appeared that while most PUDEMO members would not participate in the elections, there was also a large number of those who believed in contesting.

Vilane also said the positive side of allowing political party members to participate in the elections was that it would mean the elections would run smoothly. He also urged that even the authorities should not discourage those progressively who want to join the race to parliament because could be good for the country. Instead of the violence we saw, this will not happen because the will be able to debate the issues instead of causing violence, he said.
In the mid-1990s, The Globe and Mail published an editorial, Bring Back our Dominion Day, in a national campaign intended to promote a dialogue about Canadian identity. They even sold T-shirts.
MBABANE  Some patients admitted to the Mbabane Government Hospital dumped their beds and joined health workers to demand for drugs and medical supplies, which the health facility had run out of.

The patients are outraged by the fact that they have to buy UV fluids (drips), injections and needles among other things. Sithembiso Tsabedze, who was admitted on June 19, 2023, said while they wished to recover soon from their sicknesses and return to their families, government was allegedly making it impossible. Tsabedze said he was shocked when he was told to buy gauze, which he paid E1 500 for. He said as patients they were struggling and unemployed, hence they were failing to cope with the current situation. Tsabedze said most of them were self-employed and could not raise the funds needed.

When we see health workers, we see people who are life savers and do not understand when they tell us there are no drugs. He urged government to look into the issue and act accordingly. Sambulo Ndzinisa, who was admitted on May 27, 2023, urged the Ministry of Health to act immediately on their plight as they were forced to buy everything they needed to help them recover from their ailments. Ndzinisa said it was unfair that they would be required to pay for the number of days they had stayed in the hospital yet they had bought their own medication. He accused the ministry of setting them up against the health workers, whom they interacted with during their stay in the hospital.

Informed

Handing over the petition, Mbabane Government Hospital Unit Committee Chairperson Sanele Gwebu said members of the public had been formerly informed about the status of the facility to protect healthcare workers. Gwebu said they were disturbed by reports from the minister of health that there was a truck which delivered drugs and medical supplies this week. We did not see any truck delivering at the hospital, Gwebu stated. He said the last time they saw a truck delivering drugs and medical supplies at the facility was in February and they actually saw a van on Tuesday, which had come to deliver a few things. Gwebu said the situation at the hospital was dire and they needed urgent help.

He said it pained them as healthcare workers to wake up and report to work every day knowing that there were no crucial working tools to save lives.

He said asthma patients who required nebulisers were also affected as the hospital did not have them. We should be aware that if a person has difficulty breathing, they were likely to lose their lives, he said.

Attended

Gwebu said recently, a nurse who attended to an asthmatic patient had to fetch her own medication to treat the patient. When receiving the petition, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the ministry, Dr Simon Zwane, said they were aware of the issues raised. Dr Zwane said as the PS in the Prime Ministers office had alluded, government was also aware of the issues of pharmaceutical and medical supplies, staff shortages as well as the transport shortage. He further emphasised that government prioritised the concerns.
LOZITHA  His Majesty King Mswati III has set the bar high for the next SACU chairmanship as the unions member states had the highest receipts ever under his leadership.

This was shared during the 8th Southern African Customs Union (SACU) summit of Heads of State or government held at Mandvulo Grand Hall at Lozitha Palace yesterday. The summit was attended by President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, Namibian Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa Amadhila, who represented that countrys president Dr. Hage Gotfried Geingob, Mmusi Khafela who is the Minister of Trade in the Republic of Botswana and represented President Mokgweetsi Masisi, Lesotho Prime Minister Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane. The delegates were hosted by the King who is the chairman of the union until July 15, 2023.

While giving the keynote address, the King said he was pleased that the union was experiencing positive developments in the collection of SACU receipts, which will contribute immensely to the social and economic development of the five countries which are Eswatini, South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia.

Maintain

As Eswatini, we are happy that during our chairmanship all member states realised a windfall in our SACU receipts. We need to maintain these positive results and standards to increase the returns even more, he said. His Majesty told the delegates that the countrys receipts increased by a significant share of 102 per cent when compared to the previous year. It is the first time seeing such high returns, he said. He explained that the contributing factor to the positive growth was the higher than projected outturn of the 2021/2022 Common Revenue Pool (CRP), together with the 25 per cent increase in the projected size of the CRP for 2023/2024 compared to 2022/2023 financial year.

The increase in Eswatinis share of total intra-SACU imports from 9.6 per cent in the revenue sharing framework for 2022/2023 to 10.8 per cent in 2023/2024 was also a contributing factor. Indeed, the measures that our Ministry of Finance has been implementing in order to enhance intra-SACU imports have started paying off, he said.

Difficulties

The King noted that these improvements came about regardless of the difficulties faced by countries economies brought about by global challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The King also lauded the tremendous work that had been done under the trade facilitation programme, which would advance the SACU regional integration agenda. He highlighted that the launch of the Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) Programme in the various SACU member states marked a greater milestone. The AEO is a flagship customs-business partnership. It offers opportunities for customs authorities to share its compliance security responsibilities with the private sector and at the same time, rewards them with several trade facilitation benefits.

The King, therefore, called for SACU member states to work towards seamless borders, where goods move from one country to another without delays at points of entries. He noted that the programme also helped to fast-track controls and reduction in administration costs for customs clearance.

We anticipate seeing fewer delays in shipments, reduced theft and losses of goods just to name a few. As Eswatini, we are very pleased with such developments and thank all those who were responsible for carrying out the new architecture of declaring of goods at the point of entry, he said.

His Majesty noted that improvement in trade came at an opportune time when the continent was working towards trading under one umbrella of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Dedication

Further, the vehicles of trade such as SACU were not developed over night, hence he called for the same dedication to be applied in the AfCFTA in order for the entire African continent to trade effectively. We also need to bring forth and share other success stories under SACU to motivate best practices that can be adopted by the AfCFTA, to boost intra-Africa trade, he said. He went on to note that SACU success story follows on the footsteps of other positive economic developments in Eswatini, which has been recognised by the World Bank as one of the top five growing economies with a GDP growth at 7.43 per cent in 2021. We have also been ranked 2nd when it comes to manufacturing value added per capita in the African continent, while ranking 6th in the Africa Industrialisation Index 2022, he said.
Asociatia Techsoup lanseaza Meet and Code 2023: programul dezvolta competente digitale pentru zeci de mii de copii. ONG-urile moldovenesti sunt incurajate sa aplice pentru granturi
LOBAMBA - MPs have taken serious exception to the voters roll for the General Election, saying names of hundreds of people who registered were omitted.

The Members of Parliament (MPs) instructed the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Pholile Shakantu, to start the registration process afresh and issue voter registration cards, which would inspire confidence in the electorate. The legislators feared that the voters roll was manipulated to stop some people from winning the elections. They also said the error would decimate the total number of voters and put the credibility of the election process at stake.

Most of the legislators also said it was costly for the electorate to board buses all the way to verify their registration status in the voters roll.

The MPs said this after hearing an update on the electoral process from Minister Shakantu. The minister had assured them that the validation process was ongoing, and that errors noted were being rectified accordingly. She had also informed the MPs that the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) was committed in delivering an efficient election this year.

Disarray

To this, MP Robert Magongo punched holes on the registration process, saying he had discovered that all his children were not appearing on the voters roll yet they had all registered. Lolukhetfo lolu lutawonakala (this election will be in disarray). Why were there no registration cards issued as was the case previously? Those managing the elections must take a leaf from the team that was in charge of the process in 2018, he said. MP Magongo explained that the errors were an indication that there were clandestine moves to disrupt the process. Kucondvwe kuganga la. Some people are not wanted back in Parliament, he said. He also wanted to know if there would be an extension of the validation period.

Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo said if many people were not appearing in the voters roll, then the whole exercise was in futility. He said the registration process was founded on assumptions that everyone had a cellphone, yet this was not the case. He submitted that if the glitches observed were not rectified soonest, the elections would be a stillborn baby. It was wrong to tell emaSwati that they needed phones to receive a sign that they registered. You had to give every liSwati a phone first before making it a prerequisite, he said.

Minister of Agriculture, Jabulani Buy Cash Mabuza, who is also Piggs Peak MP, wanted to know if the flaws in the regulations had been stipulated intentionally or there was an oversight. He said such flaws had brought confusion to the electorate. He submitted that some voters had been compelled to travel many kilometres at their cost, just to ascertain if they were properly registered. He called to question the regulations that barred a voter from participating in an inkhundla of their choice.

What if the voter was staying in Mbabane, but recently lost his job and had to return home in Piggs Peak. I dont understand why such a person is not allowed to vote in Piggs Peak because that is where his home is. MP Mabuza also called to question why the EBC did not permit one person to verify names on behalf of family members or friends. If workers of Buy Cash want to verify that they were properly registered, they should simply send one colleague and give him the names, instead of requiring everyone to go all the way, he said.

Missing

Nkwene MP Vulimpompi Nhleko said he was agitated when he discovered that his name was missing from the voters roll. I came close to slapping the clerks because I assumed they were playing games with me. Gilgal MP Sandla Fakudze said: Hundreds of people who registered are not on the voters roll and are now out of the country for various reasons. If you require them to come back to verify the roll, you imply that they are already out of the election process because they cannot come all the way just to correct the error. Mtfongwaneni MP Roy Fanourakis said he was ill-treated by registration clerks who probed him to establish his identity and origin.

They asked me where I was born and demanded to see my particulars. I was not happy at all because they did not do the same to all other voters who were registering, he said. He recommended that there be a website which voters would use to verify their registration status. Ndzingeni MP Lutfo Dlamini said he was taken aback when one of the clerks in his constituency also discovered that his own name did not appear in the voters roll. Someone there also informed me that he had calculated the number of missing voters names and estimated them at 500.

He reminded the House that elections were a serious political exercise that should not be tampered with. He also called to question why the EBC was using foreign registered vehicles, which did not have an EBC emblem. Dlamini also said he had been informed that everyone who registered during the first five days of the elections was not on the voters roll. He also suggested that the voter registration cards should be restored. Dlamini also questioned why the staff recruited to work in the elections had not been paid. The EBC officials have all been paid their salaries, so I do not understand why these workers are sent on assignment but will be paid at the end. It gets upsetting when you hear them asking people for money just to buy bread, he said.

He also questioned the foreign registered fleet used by the EBC. Given the political climate, it does not augur well to go to communities aboard foreign registered vehicles because they are bound to have suspicions about your mission. You must at least have a sticker that would allay fears to the people and alert them that this is an EBC vehicle, he said.

Hotline

He also suggested that there be a hotline to address the voters concerns. Mangcongco MP Oneboy Zikalala said: The worst thing about this is that when there are challenges at the end of the road, government then says we were all in this together. That is wrong. We were not part of these regulations. Nhlambeni MP Manzi Zwane said the EBC must send text messages to all voters advising them of their registration status, instead of telling them to go all the way to see the voters roll. The deadline for the validation of the voters roll is July 12, while the nominations would be held countrywide on July 22.
The Donkey Sanctuary, Twitter

Happy Friday, dear readers, and welcome back to another column.

News getting you down? Have no fear  Diary is here to provide happier tales of charity fun with the occasional rhyme or terrible pun.

Diary thought it would be appropriate to write this piece in Cockney rhyming slang in keeping with the rhyming theme. However, Editor soon realised that Diary was making most of the phrases up and promptly removed them.

Apparently, boppity-boo does not mean 52 and no one needs to hear 52 reasons why Diary should be given a company car anyway. Rude.

Donkeys

Dearest reader, youll be pleased to know that this column is choc-a-bloc with animal content, so we best get moo-ving  or should one say braying?

The Donkey Sanctuary shared a photo of Welly Wednesday this week, where donkeys Harbin and Harry are playing with a wellington boot.

The charity said donkeys often like to play with wellies as an enrichment activity. The fact Harbin and Harry are holding onto the same welly suggests they need a couple more, guys. Do they need some boot donations?

Diary is expecting a Welly Wednesday photo every week now and is no longer responsible for their search history, which is full of questions like how much does a donkey cost and can you take a donkey on the bus.

Doggy ice lollies

It has been rather sunny lately, in case you hadnt noticed, which can prove tricky if you are constantly wearing an  albeit majestic  fur coat.

Dogs Trust Shoreham has posted ideas to keep pets cool during the heat that include a dog ice lolly.

You can watch Charlie lick his dog-friendly ice lolly while furiously wagging his tail below.

Try this easy, cooling #Summer snack for your pooches



All you need to do is: mash up a bunch of bananas along with some Greek yogurt, fill up a plastic container with the mixture, pop in a chew stick, and freeze for a minimum of 5 hours.



Charlie absolutely LOVED his!  pic.twitter.com/2X9M62DJCB  Dogs Trust Shoreham (@DT_Shoreham) June 14, 2023

Charity success over asylum plan

Refugee charities shared their relief yesterday at the Court of Appeals ruling that the governments Rwanda asylum plan is unlawful.

Asylum Aid challenged the government on its plan to send asylum seekers to the east African country, which the charity called an inhumane model, and the court ruled in its favour.

Freedom from Torture, which won the Overall Award for Excellence at the Charity Awards 2023 for its #StoptheFlights campaign, responded to the ruling in a tweet.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said the government planned to take the ruling to the Supreme Court.
MOORPARK, Calif. (AP)  An Amtrak train carrying nearly 200 passengers struck a county water truck and derailed on Wednesday in Southern California, critically injuring the trucks driver, authorities said.

Three of the trains seven cars went off the tracks following the collision in Moorpark, said Ventura County Fire Department Captain Brian McGrath. The derailed train cars remained upright on tracks adjacent to an orchard and bare sections of land.

Fourteen people on the train were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, while the truck driver was taken to a trauma center with a head injury, McGrath said.

Parts of the demolished Ventura County Public Works truck were scattered all around the derailed train cars. McGrath initially said the trucks driver was believed to have gotten out of the vehicle before the crash, but later clarified that the circumstances leading up to the wreck werent known.

No ones talked to him, so the whole situation is still being investigated, he said.

Mindy Faver was seated facing the rear of the train after a trip with her mother, Shari Peterson, returning from visiting family in Oregon.

All of a sudden: Smack! Faver said, describing the impact. Then Faver saw what she later found out was the water trucks tank tumbling past her window.

Most of the passengers were able to get off the train cars on their own or with the aid of first responders, McGrath said. TV news helicopters showed numerous people, many carrying luggage, milling about in a field as firefighters worked the scene.

It could have been a lot worse, Faver told the Ventura County Star.

The train was on its way to Los Angeles from Seattle when it struck a water truck obstructing the tracks at 11:15 a.m., Amtrak said in a statement.

There were approximately 198 passengers and 13 crew onboard who were evacuated from the train, with no reports of serious injuries, the statement said. Amtrak is working with customers to make alternate travel arrangements. Amtrak, in coordination with local authorities, is conducting a full investigation.

Crews were able to quickly douse a small fire, McGrath said.

Moorpark is a city of some 35,000 people located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Top photo: A destroyed truck lies next to a derailed Amtrak train in Moorpark, Calif., on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. Authorities say an Amtrak passenger train carrying 190 passengers derailed after striking a vehicle on tracks in Southern California. Only minor injuries were reported. (Dean Musgrove/The Orange County Register via AP)

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AKRON, Ohio  After a month of interviewing and narrowing its pool of candidates, the Akron Public Schools Board of Education on Thursday night voted 6-1 to select C. Michael Robinson Jr. as the districts next superintendent.

Interviews with the final four candidates, including Interim Superintendent Mary Outley, took place ahead of the vote. After six hours of interviews, another vote was taken to show consensus for Robinson, according to a post on the Akron Public Schools Facebook page. That consensus vote was 7-0 in favor of Robinson.

The board is now working to negotiate a contract with Robinson, who currently serves as chief academic officer for East Baton Rouge Parish Schools in Louisiana.

I am extremely pleased and humbly honored to be joining the Akron Public Schools family. Together, with the students, staff, parents, and community, we will take APS to new heights, and Im very excited to be a part of this journey, Robinson said in a statement.

Robinsons education experience includes teaching at the elementary, middle school, high school and college levels. He has worked as a principal, superintendent and in other executive roles. According to his resume, Robinson has worked in urban; suburban; urban-suburban and rural school districts of different sizes and socioeconomic statuses.

Robinson earned a doctorate degree in Educational Leadership and an Education Specialist degree in Educational Leadership from Argosy University in Sarasota, Florida. He also holds a masters degree in Educational Leadership from Troy State University in Atlanta and a bachelors degree in Elementary Education from Southern University in New Orleans.

Interim Superintendent Outley has been in her role since March, when then-superintendent Christine Fowler Mack resigned.

Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.coms Rubber City Update, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Wednesdays.
NEW YORK  A prolonged shortage of the popular spicy Sriracha sauce has made it a hot commodity on secondary markets.

Huy Fong Foods, based in California, has been dealing with a years-long shortage of the chilis it needs to make the sauce it markets in familiar rooster-adorned bottles.

The shortage of raw materials, now in its third year, has hurt production and is causing some shortages.

Although some production did resume this past fall season, we continue to have a limited supply that continues to affect our production. At this time, we have no estimations of when supply will increase, a Huy Fong spokesperson told CNN.

Huy Fong is not the only maker of this style of sauce, CBS News reported, but it is the most popular hot sauce in 31 states based on Instacart purchase data.

Sellers on e-commerce sites have jacked up prices for the spicy bottles.

On Amazon, a pack of two, 17-oz Huy Fong Sriracha bottles was spotted retailing for just under $115. A four-pack of 28-oz bottles was selling for $200.

A three-pack of Huy Fongs chili garlic sauce in 8-oz bottles was found selling is being sold for $129.97. A bottle at a store normally retails for about $4, depending on the size.

Prices for various sized bottles for sale on eBay ranged from $39.98 for 17-ounce bottles to a 28-ounce bottle for nearly $70. It remains unclear if anyone is actually purchasing these pricey bottles of the condiment, CBS said.

Production of chiles has been down in a number of locations in the United States because of drought, CBS News reported. In New Mexico, chile production for 2021 saw a 22% decrease from 2020, according to the USDA data. Of the 51,000 tons produced in 2021, 46,500 tons were green, and 4,500 tons were red. Production increased slightly in 2022 to 53,000 tons, but that still falls well short of the 65,000 tons produced in 2020.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2021 warned a rapid depletion of water reserves in Mexico, particularly in Northern Mexico, could lead to possible water shortages that would impact the countrys agricultural production.

We are grateful for your continued patience and understanding during this unprecedented inventory shortage. We are currently working on trying to avoid future shortages, Huy Fong told customers in its statement.

But patience has its limits, particularly with scorching spices.

Putting Sriracha on the list of things I wont get to enjoy for at least a couple years because of climate change, one fan of the sauce posted Thursday on Twitter.
NEW YORK  Dylan Mulvaney on Thursday said Bud Lights response to the backlash over an Instagram video the trans influencer made earlier this year for the brewer was worse than not hiring a trans person at all.

In the wake of the backlash, Mulvaney says shes been scared to leave her house for months and that Bud Light has never reached out to her to offer support or discuss what happened.

[W]hat transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined. And I should have made this video months ago, but I didnt, she said in a new Instagram post. And I was scared.

The backlash ignited in April, after Mulvaney posted an Instagram video sponsored by Bud Light. Mulvaney appeared dressed in a cocktail dress and enjoying Bud Light as she discussed March Madness. A photo of a personalized Bud Light had sent her was shown briefly.

In her new posting Thursday, Mulvaney said she was astonished by the reaction.

It must have been a slow news week because the way this ad got blown up you would have thought  I was on a billboard or on a TV commercial or something major, she said. But no, it was just an Instagram video.

Conservative politicians, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, blasted the company. DeSantis said he would boycott the American beer brand in an effort to cut his indirect support of woke companies, NPR reported.

People posted videos of themselves pouring out the beer. Kid Rock posted one showing him shooting cases of Bud Light with a gun.

Bud Lights first response was a straightforward explanation of its relationship with social media influencers like Mulvaney. But later it released a vague statement from the CEO that failed to offer support for Mulvaney or the trans community, CNN reported.

Bud Light sales dropped, the company lost its top rating from a major LGBTQ+ nonprofit and it placed two marketing executives on leave.

The controversy came as trans rights are under attack. Over 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures this year through April 3, according to American Civil Liberties Union, including ones restricting access to gender-affirming care for trans youth, CNN said.

Generally, transgender people are more than four times as likely to be victims of violent crime than cisgender people, according to a study from the UCLA School of Law.

Mulvaney herself also faced a wave of hate and violent threats. I have been ridiculed in public, I have been followed, and she criticized Bud Light for not standing by her and the partnership.

I was patiently waiting for the brand to reach out to me, but surprise, they never did, she said.

For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse in my opinion than not hiring a trans person at all because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want, Mulvaney said. And the hate doesnt end with me, it has serious and grave consequences for the rest of our community.

Mulvaneys new video posting came one day after Brendan Whitworth, CEO of Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch, told CBS the companys wants to focus on what we do best, which is brewing great beer for everyone. He did not directly answer a question about whether the campaign was a mistake.

I think the conversation surrounding Bud Light has moved away from beer, and the conversation has become divisive, and Bud Light really does not belong there, Bud Light should be about bringing people together, Whitworth said.

Mulvaney seems to address that sentiment in her video.

Supporting trans people, it shouldnt be political, she says.

There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us, and I know its possible because Ive worked with some fantastic companies who care, Mulvaney said. But caring about the LGBTQ+ community requires a lot more than just a donation somewhere during Pride month.
ORLANDO, Florida  A Parma, Ohio, man is facing multiple charges after police say he put an officer in a chokehold while at Orlando International Airport.

Edward Hariston, 41, is charged with attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, battery on a law-enforcement officer and disorderly conduct, according to Orange County, Fla., jail records. He is being held in jail on a $50,000 bond.

Fox 35 Orlando reports the incident occurred Tuesday at a ticket counter for Spirit Airlines. An affidavit says a group of passengers were yelling at Spirit workers and that some had gone behind the counter, Fox 35 reports.

Police say Hariston was leaning over the counter yelling at Spirit workers and that a woman with him had gone behind the counter and also was yelling while standing on baggage scales, WESH Channel 2 reports. Hariston is accused of reaching over the counter and hitting buttons on a computer keyboard.

When an officer tried to stop Hariston by grabbing his arm, Hariston resisted and the two men ended up in a physical confrontation, reports say. Hariston is accused of putting his arm around the officers neck in a chokehold.

Fox 35 reports the officer was able to break free as other officers arrived and they arrested Hariston. The officer said Hariston told him he let me live and that he could have killed him, WESH reports.

A Spirit customer who was at the airport tells Fox 35 that about 200 people were in line when the incident occurred and that customers and employees were getting upset.

We did see people get irritated and the workers getting irritated back at them, so I understand. It was just a bad situation, Tina Woodford tells Fox 35.
101 killed, 180 injured in Pakistan's monsoon season 21 Jul 2023 | 8:13 AM Islamabad, July 21 (UNI) About 101 people were killed and 180 others injured during the ongoing monsoon season starting from June 25 till date across Pakistan, the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said. see more..

Number of zero-vaccine dose children down to 1 1 million in India: WUENIC report 20 Jul 2023 | 5:02 PM Geneva/New York, July 20 (UNI) Indias commitment, investment and consistent efforts to vaccinate children have yielded significant results, with the number of zero-dose children coming down to 1.1 million in 2022 from 2.7 million a year before, according to the latest WUENIC report. see more..

Lahore court acquits PM Shehbaz, son Hamza in money laundering case 20 Jul 2023 | 4:31 PM Lahore, July 20 (UNI) A court in Lahore on Thursday accepted Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz's plea for acquittal in a Rs7 billion money laundering case. see more..

SC summons Imran Khan in lawyer's murder case 20 Jul 2023 | 4:24 PM Islamabad, July 20 (UNI) The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday summoned former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan in a personal capacity on July 24, in the case related to the murder of a senior lawyer Abdul Razzaq Shar in Quetta. see more..
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A Canton police officer was grazed by a bullet Thursday evening during an investigation, police said.

Detectives assigned to the Coordinated Response Team, which focuses on gang-related violence and violent offenders, were working in the 200 block of 12th Street NW before 6 p.m. Thursday when two men fired shots at them, said John Gabbard, Cantons police chief.

One officer was struck by a bullet and received medical attention for minor injuries.

Braylen Smallwood was arrested close to the scene of the shooting Thursday night, police said. The 22-year-old Canton resident is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault on a police officer and discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises.

Trezjon R. Allen, 21, of Massillon was taken into custody by police early Friday morning. He is charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault on a police officer, discharging a firearm on or near prohibited premises, one count of having weapons under disability and participation in a criminal gang.
SANDUSKY, Ohio  Cedar Point has started to release hints about its reimagined version of Top Thrill Dragster, but you might need a degree in cryptography to decipher them.

A park tweet earlier this week showed a photo of what appears to be part of a support structure for the new coaster, with this message: Signed. Unsealed. Delivered. The tweet also included a checkered racing flag and #CP24PHP, perhaps referring to what will be the rides new name and theme.

The message  combined with the delivery this week of roller coaster track outside the park  has led to lots of online speculation about what Cedar Point is doing to the ride, which has been closed for the past two years following a major accident in 2021.

Heres what we know:

* The park announced last September that it was retiring the ride, which was the tallest and fastest coaster in the world when it debuted in 2003. But retirement didnt last long. Not long after the announcement, the park started removing track and other infrastructure to prep the ride for its post-retirement gig.

* In January, the park announced that the new ride would debut in 2024, tamping down speculation that it would be ready in 2023. In that announcement, the park included this tease: A new formula for thrills, leading to speculation that the coasters racing theme might be retained.

* Regular drone footage above Cedar Point by Lake Erie Lifestyles has chronicled more recent developments, including the construction of several concrete footers near the ride.

Brandon Stoff, who runs the Theme Park Predictions YouTube channel, said the footers suggest Cedar Point is planning to add a spike to the coaster, which would be used to help launch riders over the rides 420-foot hill.

The addition of a spike  a piece of track stretching vertically into the air  could convert Top Thrill into whats known as a swing-launch coaster, a popular style of ride, according to Stoff. Riders would either launch forward first, and then backward and forward over the hill; or backward first and then forward over the hill.

The main question is, how tall will the spike be? It could be 200 feet, 300, 400  potentially 500 feet, but I doubt it, said Stoff, a Dayton native who now lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The new launch mechanism would likely reduce the intensity of the coaster, said Stoff, but add to its ride time.

When it debuted in 2003, Top Thrill Dragster was the tallest and fastest coaster in the world, reaching a top speed of 120 mph in just 4 seconds and featuring a 420-foot-high hill. The entire ride lasted a total of just 17 seconds.

For years, Top Thrill Dragster has been well known among coaster fans both for its extremely intense ride, but also its long periods of downtime due to maintenance issues. Then, in August 2021, a woman waiting in line for the ride was severely injured by a part that flew off one of the coaster trains.

Stoff said Cedar Point is almost certainly swapping out the old coaster trains with new ones, likely made by Zamperla, the Italian company that recently built Wild Mouse at Cedar Point. Stoff also believes Zampela is modifying and adding to the coaster track.

He, and other coaster enthusiasts, were hoping that Cedar Point would bring back Intamin, the European-based company that built Top Thrill, to reformulate the ride. But Cedar Fair and Intamin reportedly have been on the outs for years, since the park removed Shoot the Rapids, another maintenance-prone ride at Cedar Point that was involved in a 2013 accident.

Park spokesman Tony Clark declined to offer any new information about the ride  whos working on it, what changes will be made to the layout and what the new theme would be.

Deliveries for our 2024 attraction are arriving, he said. Keep watching Twitter for the latest updates and hints. Well be making an announcement sometime this summer.

Read more:

Cedar Point preview: Wild Mouse coaster, lakefront Grand Pavilion offer nostalgic throwback (photos, video)

Whats happening to Top Thrill Dragster? Cedar Point wont say, but observers believe new launch system is likely for troubled coaster
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Molly Cheraso doesnt drink. Shes not alone. Dry/sober culture is growing. To research the market potential of the trend the Shaker Heights entrepreneur held popup events serving spirit-free cocktails around Greater Cleveland.

Theyve been so well-received that shes opening Verbena Free Spirited Shoppe, Cafe & Dry Bar in the Hingetown district of Ohio City. The grand opening of the cafe/bar, at 1434 W. 29th Street Cleveland, is July 7.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- After 22 years at Fox News, Geraldo Rivera has made his final appearance on the network.

Im deeply touched. Im honored. I love Fox. I love the people at Fox, I always will, the veteran newsman said as he received a standing ovation and was presented with a cake at the end of Fox & Friends on Friday morning. Ill never let anyone separate us, but Im beyond grateful for this. This is so deeply affecting, I love you for it, thank you.

His exit comes a week after he decided to leave The Five, a lively political roundtable show and the networks most-watched program, due to what he described as a growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences.

He and co-host Greg Gutfeld butted heads regularly on the show and some of their exchanges have been contentious. Still, Rivera told the Associated Press he intended to work at Fox News in his other role as correspondent-at-large through the end of his contract in 2025. But in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday, he said he had been fired from The Five before his last scheduled appearances this week.

As a result of that I quit Fox, he said.

Rivera, who, along with his wife Erica and their daughter, moved to Shaker Heights in 2017 to be near Ericas family, has been in broadcast journalism for over 50 years. He initially joined Fox News in 2001 as a war correspondent following a stint on CNBC. Prior to that, he became a network star as an investigative reporter on ABCs 20/20 in the late 1970s and early 80s before going on to host his own syndicated daytime talk show. In 1986, he presided over The Mystery of Al Capones Vaults, perhaps one of the most hyped specials and biggest letdowns in live television history. His local radio show on WTAM 1100, Geraldo in Cleveland, ended in 2022 after a four-year run.

During his last appearance on Fox & Friends, co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy acknowledged Riveras impact on Hispanic journalists in helping to break down racial and ethnic barriers in the TV news industry.

I thank you for the opportunity (to talk about that) because affirmative action has just been voted down by the Supreme Court of the United States and a very controversial decision that will impact many people of color, he said. I was a product of affirmative action over a half a century ago.

Rivera actually started out as a lawyer, representing a group of Puerto Rican activists who made headlines in New York City in the early 70s. His appearances on the local news there caught the eye of the decision-makers at the ABC affiliate.

When I got hired at WABC, the idea was to send me to Columbia Journalism School where Fred Friendly, who was Edward Murrows producer, and the Ford Foundation created a program to integrate local newsrooms, he recalled to cleveland.com in 2020. Local news was all-white and all-male at the time. So, Eyewitness News vowed to create a news team that looked like the audience. It was groundbreaking. Im very proud that I played a role in helping integrate local news and then national news.

Rivera, who turns 80 on July 4, did not reveal his immediate plans, although he admitted recently on social media that hes contemplating retirement.

The problem with retiring though is my restless energy when it concerns issues important to the American people, he tweeted. I feel the need to speak out, as long as some people want to listen.
WILLOWICK, Ohio  A woman was found dead and a dog also died in a house fire Thursday afternoon, according to the Willowick Fire Department.

Firefighters from Willowick, Wickliffe, Eastlake, Euclid , Willoughby and Willoughby Hills were called to the home on the 200 block of East 305th Street just before 4 p.m., a news release says. When firefighters arrived, heavy smoke and fire could be seen from the front of the house.

Reports said a woman was trapped in the home, so firefighters went inside to search for her. They were able to find her and the dog, but both had succumbed to the fire, the department says. The identity of the woman was not released.

Investigators say the fire was accidental, but the department did not release an exact cause. Its estimated the fire caused about $150,000 in damage to the home.
DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Florida  Two police officers are under investigation after they put their young son in handcuffs and brought him to jail because he was struggling with potty training, reports say.

WNDB FM/93.5 reports that Lt. Michael Schoenbrod, 45, and his partner, Sgt. Jessica Long, 36, both of the Daytona Beach Shores Public Safety Department, admitted to a caseworker with the Department of Children and Families bringing that they hoped putting their son in cuffs and bringing him to the jail would provide enough of a scare that he would no longer go to the bathroom in his pants.

The boy was brought to the jail on back-to-back days in October, the Washington Post reports.

In a video of an interview with Shoenbrod, he tells the investigator that his son promised not to have a potty accident again after being brought to the jail, the Post reports.

He was crying, Schoenbrod said. I was getting the response I expected from him. Shoenbrod said he also took his older son to the jail when he was 4 years old because he had been acting out at school, the Post reports. He said taking his son to the jail was effective, reports say.

The parents actions are now under investigation by Public Safety Director Michael Fowler, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Reports say its unclear if the officers have been disciplined by the police department, but the News-Journal says they both had 20 hours of unpaid leave in May.

According to the Daily Mail, Long says in an interview with a case worker that the investigation into the actions of her and her partner is insane.

Its just disgusting that somebody would drag our family through the mud like this, Schoenbrod said.

The Daily Mail reports the Florida Attorney Generals Office filed a lawsuit against the couple in March, but it has been sealed. Any records of an investigation also have been sealed.

The couple reportedly are suing a state attorney, but the Daily Mail says little information is available on the legal action.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Air quality in Northeast Ohio should continue to improve into Saturday as winds start to blow more out of the southwest, which should push Canadian wildfire smoke out of our area and more toward New England.

Rick Garuckas, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Friday afternoon that the smoke should not return as thick as it has been, if at all, over the next few days and that conditions look good for the Fourth of July.

It should be pretty smoke free, he said, with temperatures currently predicted to be in the mid-80s.

Visibility in the area had largely improved to 10 miles or more by 2 p.m., Garuckas said, except along the lakeshore and near the border with Pennsylvania.

Related: Where are the Canadian wildfires? Interactive map shows threats up north

The smoke in Ohio can largely be attributed to fires burning in Quebec, including one in particular east of James Bay that is roughly 2 million acres in size, said Richard Carr, a wildfire research analyst with the Canadian Forest Service, which is part of Natural Resources Canada.

He said spruce trees are probably whats burning the most, and that the fire likely started from a lightning strike.

Carr said the fire season in Canada has been exceptional this year, driven by dry conditions pretty much from coast to coast. While global warming has probably contributed to the conditions, so too has the switch from a La Nina to an El Nino weather system affecting the North American climate.

The fires will likely burn for weeks, Carr said, and while the current haze over Ohio should dissipate over the next couple days, another shot of heavier smoke could be possible in about a week as an expected high pressure system moves in over the Great Lakes.

While winds tend to flow west to east, they can come from all directions depending on circulation. For instance, those places in the Great Lakes region that are on the east side of a high pressure system or the west side of a low pressure system might get smoke from Ontario and Quebec, he said.

Peter Krouse covers the environment for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer
Rotunda Rumblings

Fall from grace: In a federal house in Cincinnati on Thursday, Ex-Ohio House speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum he could have received under a racketeering charge a jury convicted him of earlier this year. Per Adam Ferrise, Householder offered no apology in his statement before the court, saying that my life was totally and fully about making life better for those I served. Prosecutors, meanwhile, asked for the maximum sentence, saying Householder violated the publics trust and lied under oath from the witness stand during his trial. Householder was convicted of leading a scheme to secretly receive $60 million from Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp  a bankroll that helped fund his political operation, execute a campaign to pass legislation worth more than $1 billion for the company, and pay off his personal debts.

Tongue lashing: U.S. District Judge Timothy S. Black delivered a blistering speech before sentencing Householder that several reporters remarked was one of the most scathing theyd ever seen from a judge. Black called Householder a bully with a lust for power and said before ordering that he be handcuffed and brought into custody: The court and the communitys patience for Mr. Householder has passed.

More shoes dropping? U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker was tight-lipped about when more indictments may come in the case, but indicated his office is reviewing evidence. We continue to look for evidence and look to recordings for some of these individuals, he said. Were going to go through some things there. FirstEnergy has admitted to bribing former Public Utilities Commissioner of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo while blaming ex- CEO Chuck Jones and the companys former top lobbyist Michael Dowling, of masterminding and carrying out the scheme that led to Householders conviction. None have been charged, although lawyers for the former FirstEnergy executives have said in civil court filings that they face looming potential indictments.

Power grab: Ohio lawmakers are considering whether to strip Disability Rights Ohio of its official capacity as the state advocate for people with disabilities. Jeremy Pelzer reports that language inserted into the Ohio Senates version of the two-year state budget bill is recommending that Gov. Mike DeWine no longer designate the organization as the states protection and advocacy system for the disabled following a legislative committees report detailing several allegations against the group. Disability Rights Ohio has denied the allegations.

Guns case: The Ohio Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in a test of a 2019 gun deregulation, the first of several in the last few years, Jake Zuckerman reports. The case revolves around a cab driver who shot the neck of a drunken passenger in alleged self-defense.

Raising the roof: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation on Thursday approved spending $33.6 million to bolster the pensions of nearly 500 Cincinnati Roofers Local 42 members. Its one of roughly 200 unions expected to benefit from an American Rescue Plan fix for troubled multi-employer pension systems that President Joe Biden announced last year in Cleveland. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat who sponsored the pension fix legislation included in the larger bill, estimated it will bolster the pensions of around 100,000 retirees around Ohio in multiple pension plans. He said most of the Cincinnati Roofers Local 42 retirees live in southwest Ohio, but plenty have moved elsewhere.

Lost in space: Brown on Thursday described a letter he sent earlier this month to pitch Daytons Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as the future home of U.S. Space Command as a no-lose application, and said he wished Republican Congress members other than Rocky Rivers Max Miller and South Russells Dave Joyce had signed onto it. U.S. Sen. JD Vance, a Cincinnati Republican, said he didnt sign the letter because he doesnt think Ohio is in the running. Brown said that even if Ohio doesnt get the command center, Wright-Patterson will likely house Space Force units.

Political probe: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, of Champaign County, on Thursday joined two other GOP committee chairs in asking the Justice Department, Secret Service, and Internal Revenue Service leaders for transcribed interviews with more than a dozen of their employees as the committees examine whistleblower claims that investigations of President Joe Bidens son, Hunter, were purposely slow-walked and subjected to improper and politically motivated interference. The federal government is supposed to work for the American people, but whistleblower evidence shows that several federal employees were working overtime to cover up for the Bidens, said a statement from the three committee chairs. We need to hear from these federal employees and other witnesses about this weaponization of federal law enforcement power.

Credit risk: U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, a Bowling Green Republican, took flak from the White House and the Ohio Democratic party this week for releasing a statement that called the Biden administrations deployment of broadband funding an important step in our work to close the digital divide even though he voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that distributed the money. After the White House critique, Lattas office told The Washington Post: Now that the bill is law and funds are being allocated, the taxpayers he represents deserve to know how the allocation in broadband funding will impact their communities. Browns office said Ohio will get nearly $794 million from the bill to bring high-speed internet to 183,000 Ohio households.

Reading up: The U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action admissions practices in public and private colleges nationwide on Thursday, reports the Associated Press. In Ohio, schools are still evaluating the effects of the decision. Ohios independent colleges educate students from all races, cultures, and backgrounds, and will continue to do so in the future. The Students for Fair Admissions decision is 237 pages long and will require significant analysis to determine its impact, if any, on our colleges admission practices, said Amanda Mlikan, spokeswoman for the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio, representing private schools.

2024 watch: Sabatos Crystal Ball has deemed Ohio to be likely Republican in its first Electoral College rankings for next years presidential election. Other states sharing Ohios political classification are Florida, Iowa, Texas and oddly enough, Alaska, which author and Ohio native Kyle Kondik writes he included more as a curiosity than anything else. In case youre wondering, the publication currently has Ohios U.S. Senate race next year, when Sen. Sherrod Brown will seek a fourth term against an as-yet undetermined Republican opponent, graded as a toss-up.

Road show: Local union leaders urged people in Jefferson County on Thursday to vote hell no on Issue 1 this August, according to the Steubenville Herald-Stars Christopher Dacanay. Representatives included leaders of local chapters of the Fraternal Order of Police, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers, United Mineworkers and United Steelworkers.

Buckeye Brain Tease

Question: The General Assembly named flint, a variety of quartz, the states official gemstone in 1965. However, another rock is famous in Ohio for being one of the worlds largest geodes. What is the rock and where is it located?

Email your response to capitolletter@cleveland.com. The first correct respondent will be mentioned in next weeks newsletter.

Thanks to everyone who answered last weeks question:

What is the state fruit of Ohio?

Last weeks answer: The tomato. Ohio lawmakers passed legislation in 2009 designating the tomato, or Lycopersicon esculentus, as the official state fruit of Ohio. The same bill also adopted the pawpaw as the official state native fruit.

Capitol Letter reader Rick Dove, director of the Board of Professional Conduct at the Ohio Supreme Court, was the first to provide the correct answer.

Tick-Tock

The countdown is on for the special election to decide State Issue 1, a state constitutional amendment that would make it harder to pass future amendments. Here are some key dates to remember.

Voter registration deadline... 10 days (July 10)

Start of early voting... 11 days (July 11)

Election Day... 39 days (Aug. 8)

On The Move

U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, an Akron Democrat, will host a community conversation for constituents from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 6, at the Cuyahoga Falls Library, 2015 3rd Street in Cuyahoga Falls. Attendees must use this website to RSVP.

Birthdays

Friday, 6/30: State Rep. Rodney Creech; State Sen. Theresa Gavarone; State Rep. Lisa Sobecki

Saturday, 7/1: State Sen. Hearcel Craig; Blaine Kelly, district director for U.S. Rep. Mike Carey

Sunday, 7/2: Douglas Babcock, legislative aide to state Rep. Adam Miller; State Rep. Brian Stewart; ex-state Rep. Martin Sweeney

Straight From The Source

Today we witnessed justice for Ohio. It shows if youre going to stand up and say youre a public servant in this state you have to be a true public servant and not an imposter.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker speaking to reporters following Householders sentencing on Thursday.

Capitol Letter is a daily briefing providing succinct, timely information for those who care deeply about the decisions made by state government. Subscribe to get Capitol Letter in your email box each weekday for free.
BEREA, Ohio -- There has been a lot of talk about diversity at the Ohio Statehouse recently, so we thought this would be a good time to look at diversity among our state legislators and some of Ohios famous firsts.

A governing body, in theory, should reflect its constituency; John Adams wrote in 1776 that a representative assembly should be an exact Portrait, in Miniature, of the People at large.
Reflecting on Berlins Transformation: A Journey from Divided Past to Thriving Present

CLEVELAND, Ohio  I cant wait until July 10 to stand on the site of the concrete wall that once split Berlin into east and west. Doing so had long been on my bucket list, dating to my first tour of duty at Ohio University.

I started teaching there about a year before the Berlin Wall came down, which was two years after I realized, like the walls of Jericho, it would.

I had no doubt about that fact when President Ronald Reagan, in the spring of 1987, admonished Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

Reagan was not a politician to trifle with. He took office after U.S. voters rejected the directionless leadership of Jimmy Carter, a man who would never have tested Gorbachev and communism the way Reagan did.

For Reagan knew what Abraham Lincoln knew: A nation divided cannot stand.

Of course, the reason for the divide in East Germany and West Germany was different from the divide that confronted Lincoln and the United States in the 1860s. Yet maybe the reason wasnt as different as I thought.

Perhaps I should look at communism as its own version of the enslavement of people, because when the East Germans were denied rights, they were experiencing their own brand of servitude.

I had no interest in seeing servitude of any sort. I did, however, want to see what East Berlin and West Berlin would look like once the two cities merged. Which would hold more sway: the look of democracy or the look of communism?

Since 1989, Ive had more than 30 years to watch Berlin find its bearings. I had to watch from afar, as Germany figured out what it should become. Absent the grip communism once held over almost half of its population, its turned into an economic powerhouse of a country, relying on technology and innovation to make it as wealthy as any country in Europe.

None of that would have been possible with communism and democracy competing against each other. The two forms of governance made strange bedfellows.

Now, I want to experience firsthand how the political differences ironed themselves out. What is Berlin like today?

So, on July 10, my birthday, I plan to stand near where the wall once stood and revisit in my mind what I recall about the divided city, about the day when the wall fell there.

Thanks to a former student, I hold tightly to a tangible piece of that moment. Hed gone to Berlin that summer of 1989 and returned to The States with a chunk from the wall in his suitcase. I was appreciative of his generosity.

His gift remains one of the most cherished presents a student ever gave me. Today, I wish I could repay his kindness. Im unhappy I cant, for I have no idea where he is.

Ill put my feelings in cold storage. Its not 89. Its 2023, and circumstances will soon let me scratch the Berlin Wall from my bucket list.

So, as Im standing on the site, I hope Ill feel as I did when I saw the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum and the Pyramids of Giza.

I might be expecting too much, though. Then again, I might not be expecting enough.

Justice B. Hill grew up on the East Side of Cleveland and still lives there. For more than 20 years, he practiced journalism and later went on to teach journalism at Ohio University. Since his retirement in May 2019, hes been devoting his time to travel and freelance writing.
Addis Ababa, June 30 (UNI) Ethiopia has submitted a request to join the BRICS mechanism, said by the foreign ministry on Thursday.









"Ethiopia is a founding member of numerous multinational organizations, like the United Nations, the African Union and the Non-Aligned Movement," Meles Alem, spokesperson for the ministry, told reporters.















"Taking into account the shifting international situation and shift in (international) forces, Ethiopia will work to become members of other international bodies including BRICS so as to safeguard our national interest," he said, adding Ethiopia expects a positive response to its request and will follow up on the progress.















BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market cooperative mechanism that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.











South Africa took over the BRICS rotating presidency from China on Jan. 1, 2023.











UNI/XINHUA VA AKS
New Delhi, June 30 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which the two leaders discussed the "recent developments in Russia" in the wake of a failed armed mutiny by the Wagner group, as well as the situation in Ukraine.

During the call, the two leaders reviewed the progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

President Putin informed PM about the recent developments in Russia, a statement said.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy.

Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries, it said.

The telephone call comes in the wake of the failed armed mutiny by the Wagner group, and its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has been a mainstay in the Ukraine conflict, moving to Belarus, according to reports.

A Kremlin readout of the telephone talk, said that it was held at the initiative of the Indian side.

In connection with the events of June 24 in Russia, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens.



When discussing topical issues of bilateral cooperation, they underscored the importance of further consistent implementation of the major joint projects in various areas and noted with satisfaction substantial growth in trade throughout 2022 and in the first quarter of this year.



Particular attention was paid to interaction within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the G20, in which India currently holds presidency, as well as in the BRICS format. In addition, Narendra Modi informed on his international contacts, including ones during his recent visit to Washington.



The situation around Ukraine was touched upon as well. The Russian President gave his assessment of the current state of affairs in the special military operation zone, having stressed Kiev's utter refusal to undertake political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict.



The conversation was substantiative and constructive. The leaders reaffirmed their mutual intention to strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and agreed to maintain contact," the Kremlin statement said.

UNI RN
Google tried to distance itself from a pre-planned drag show featuring longtime performer "Peaches Christ" in San Francisco but employees still attended. Some of them booed their employer for what they viewed as a caving to pressure of an internal religion-led protest.

A drag show originally meant to celebrate the end of Pride month turned into a rallying cry for corporate allyship as dozens of Google employees attended, some of whom booed their employer.

"I don't usually usually talk about this sort of thing," began longtime San Francisco-based drag performer Joshua Grannell, as he opened his multi-performer drag show Tuesday evening from a small stage at a bar in the Castro neighborhood.

"Folks who work at Google put this together and we did this last year and it was fabulous and it was fun and we had a good time," he continued. "And this year, a group of Christians at Google signed a petition to take this event from their employees because they thought it was upsetting, offensive, controversial."

"Boo!" yelled dozens of attendees, including several Google employees wearing company "Pride" T-shirts.

Grannell, whose drag performer name is "Peaches Christ" was a planned performer at a drag show sponsored and promoted by Google to close out Pride month. However, as CNBC previously reported, the company removed its affiliation and instead encouraged employees away from the drag show to a new event at its offices. The move came as several hundred employees signed a petition opposing the drag performance, claiming that it was offensive to their Christian religion and that they'd complained to human resources.

The company said the event hadn't gone through the proper approval process but didn't comment on the petition.

Attendees and Grannell said they viewed the change as a buckling to pressure of the Christian employees' petition and complaints.

"I was called all sorts of things," Grannell said on stage, referring to the petition. "Boo!" more attendees yelled. "We support you!" one employee yelled from the crowd.

Both employees and Grannell told CNBC they were disappointed in the company for backtracking, adding that Google held a similar event last year without any problems.

Attendees described Grannell as an "icon" and "an institution" in the gay community.

"I've been a performer for nearly 30 years in San Francisco, and I employ hundreds of people, performers and artists across the city," Grannell told CNBC.

"This thing that happened with Google, unfortunately for this event, is actually indicative of a huge groundswell of hatred across the country using drag queens and trans people as scapegoats," he told the crowd Tuesday, which garnered more boos and yelling.

Drag shows have been a target of religious and conservative organizations and politicians leading up to the 2024 presidential election. That includes a flurry of legislative proposals backed by Republican governors attempting to limit drag events.

Corporations have also faced backlash for Pride-related marketing. Bud Light came into the crosshairs after it struck a partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, while North Face received backlash for an ad featuring drag queen Pattie Gonia. Target and Kohl's have been criticized for Pride-themed clothing.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MAY 05: Bausch + Lomb eye vitamins are offered for sale at a drug store on May 05, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. Bausch + Lomb parent company Bausch Health is spinning off the eye-care company with an upcoming IPO which will list on the New York Stock Exchange and TSX with the ticker symbol BLCO. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Bausch + Lomb said on Friday it would acquire several Novartis eye-care products for $1.75 billion as their market grows, sending the company's shares up over 8% in early trading.

The deal includes the acquisition of Novartis' anti-inflammation eye drop Xiidra, experimental drug libvatrep for chronic ocular surface pain, and rights to use the Swiss pharma company's AcuStream dry-eye drug delivery device.

The first big deal by CEO Brent Saunders since his return to the company in March also includes potential milestone payments of up to $750 million to Novartis.

It is expected to close by the end of this year and will boost the company's earnings, the company said.

Bausch + Lomb's Miebo was approved last month for dry-eye condition, which affects about 739 million people worldwide, including around 38 million in the United States.

Novartis said it would continue to supply Xiidra on behalf of Bausch + Lomb for a "limited period" after the deal closes to ensure consistent supply to patients.

The company said last year it would slash costs and take an "opportunistic" approach to eye care and respiratory diseases, while focusing more on cardio-renal care, immunology, neuroscience, oncology and hematology.

It had acquired Xiidra from Takeda Pharmaceutical in 2019 for an upfront payment of $3.4 billion.

Sales of Xiidra, mainly in the U.S. market, stood at $487 million in 2022, up 4% from a year earlier. The treatment faces competition from AbbVie's Restasis and cheaper copycat versions.

Novartis's largest ophthalmology product, Lucentis, for treating macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in the elderly, has seen sales decline because of cheaper alternatives.
An aerial view of the engines and fuselage of an unpainted Boeing 737 MAX airplane parked in storage at King County International Airport-Boeing Field in Seattle, Washington, June 1, 2022.

Workers at Boeing aircraft parts supplier Spirit Aerosystems approved a new labor deal on Thursday, setting the stage to resume production at a Wichita, Kansas, facility after a work stoppage last week.

Spirit Aerosystems, which supplies fuselages for Boeing's best-selling 737 Max aircraft as well as other parts for Boeing and other manufacturers, halted production last Thursday after workers voted against a new proposed contract and in favor of a strike.

"We continue to monitor the situation as we assess any potential impacts to production and deliveries," Stan Deal, CEO of Boeing's commercial airplane unit, said in a note to staff.

The company and the workers' union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, had reached a new tentative agreement for the 6,000 workers, the union said on Tuesday. Sixty-three percent of the workers approved the new agreement, the union said.

"This agreement addresses our members' concerns with substantial wage increases, maintaining the CORE healthcare plan benefits that the membership insisted on, and includes no mandatory overtime," the union said Tuesday when the preliminary deal was reached.

Workers would return on July 5.

The production pause came as Boeing scrambles to increase production of new aircraft. The company went into the strike with an inventory of some fuselages to continue manufacturing.
U.S. President Joe Biden is joined by Education Secretary Miguel Cardona as he announces new actions to protect borrowers after the Supreme Court struck down his student loan forgiveness plan in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on June 30, 2023 in Washington, DC.

After describing Friday's Supreme Court ruling against student debt relief as "unthinkable," President Joe Biden announced he'd find a new way to ease the burden of student loan payments. During a White House press conference, Biden said that the court ruling "misinterpreted the constitution" and vowed to find a new path for student relief that's "consistent with today's ruling." Biden said he will enact a new regulatory process to provide further student debt relief under the Higher Education Act, the federal law that governs federal student financial aid.

This differs from the executive action struck down on Friday, which was under the authority of the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or the HEROES Act. Biden also announced a 12-month "on ramp" for student loan repayment, in which the Department of Education won't refer borrowers to credit agencies for 12 months. This will help borrowers avoid default and keep them from harming their credit scores.

Borrowers left reeling after Friday's Supreme Court decision

While Biden said the "fight is not over" in his press conference, student borrowers who spoke to CNBC Make It were disheartened about the Supreme Court ruling earlier in the day. Shayna Stevens, 31, says she's "extremely disappointed" by the setback, both as a borrower with student loan debt and in her capacity as co-executive director of the Arizona Students' Association, which advocates for student loan relief. Stevens has $40,000 in student loan debt after graduating with a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Northern Arizona University in 2015. She would have qualified for $20,000 in student debt relief if the Biden administration's executive action had been allowed to proceed. "Not having that payment allowed me to save money for the first time ever," says Stevens. Despite the ruling, she doesn't see the issue of debt relief going away, especially with another presidential election in 2024. All options should be considered, whether that's more executive action or through legislation, she says.

If you plan on running for president, you're going to have to have a plan for student loan debt forgiveness. Shayna Stevens Co-executive director of the Arizona Students' Association
Oil rigs on platforms in Gaoyu Lake in east China's Jiangsu province Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Barcroft Media | Getty Images

Oil and gas will continue to be leading sources of energy for decades to come on the back of a lagging energy transition, major industry players said at the Energy Asia conference held in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur this week.



"We think the biggest realization that should come out of this conference ... is oil and gas are needed for decades to come," said John Hess, CEO of U.S. oil company Hess Corporation. "Energy transition is going to take a lot longer, it's going to cost a lot more money and need new technologies that don't even exist today," he continued. related investing news Morgan Stanley's top clean power picks including 2 stocks with 80% upside When it comes to clean energy, the world needs to invest $4 trillion a year  and it's nowhere close, Hess said. According to the International Energy Agency, global investment in clean energy is set to rise to $1.7 trillion in 2023.

The demand projections for [India] are such that we are forced to put up new refineries. A.S. Sahney Executive Director of Indian Oil Corporation

Hess said oil and gas are key to the world's economic competitiveness, as well as an affordable and secure energy transition. The oil market will be more constructive in the second half of the year, with production going up to 1.2 million barrels a day in 2027, he predicted. He noted that the biggest challenge the world has is the underinvestment in the industry. "The world is facing a structural deficit in energy supply, in oil and gas, in clean energy," he said. Likewise, at the the conference's opening address, OPEC's Secretary General projected global oil demand will rise to 110 million barrels a day by 2045. The growth comes on the back of rapid urbanization over the next few years, Haitham Al Ghais said.

John Hess, chief executive officer of Hess Corp., speaks during the Energy Asia Summit, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

In an e-mail exchange Tuesday, the largest U.S. oil producer ExxonMobil reiterated the same. The company expects oil to remain the largest primary source of energy for at least two more decades given its vital place in the commercial transportation and chemical industry. "Liquids are projected to remain the worlds leading energy source in 2050, even as demand growth slows beyond 2025," Erin McGrath, ExxonMobil's public and government affairs senior advisor, told CNBC. "Overall, demand for liquids is expected to rise by about 15 million barrels per day by 2050. Almost all the growth will come from the emerging markets of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America."

Main drivers?

Asia will continue to spur the demand for oil and gas, as the region's growth is set to overtake the U.S. and Europe by the end of the year. "This is the region where the growth in energy demand will be, and more to come," S&P Global's Vice Chairman Dan Yergin said at the energy conference. He said Southeast Asia's population alone is 50% greater than the European Union's. Growth in LNG markets last year were driven by China, India, Korea, Japan and Vietnam, the chairman of French petroleum energy company TotalEnergies said. "The demand is in Asia. The demand is here, you have 5 billion people moving population, [asking] for a better way of life. And so this is where we must look to the future," said Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies.

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Likewise for oil, one of India's largest oil companies has increased refining capacities. "We are probably one of the few companies, one of the few countries who are going to increase refining capacities in the next three to four years by 20%," said A.S. Sahney from Indian Oil Corporation at a separate panel discussion. "That shows our belief in [the] continuance of fuel," the executive director said, acknowledging that energy transition is here to stay. "But at the same time, the demand projections for the country are such that we are forced to put up new refineries," he continued. According to the IEA, India is expected to see the largest increase in energy demand of any country demand is forecast to rise more than 3% when it becomes the world's most populous country by 2025. Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil giant Aramco is also banking on hopes that China and India will drive oil demand growth of more than 2 million barrels per day, at least for the rest of this year. Once the broader global economy starts to recover, the industry's supply demand balances could tighten, said CEO Amin Nasser during his speech at the summit.

Oil demand an 'ancient story'

Commodities trading firm Vitol is less bullish, predicting that demand for crude will peak in 2030  two years later than the IEA's forecast. "We got it peaking in about 2030 and a gradual decline out to 2040  And then [a] rapid decline thereafter as the EV fleet and energy transition takes over," Vitol CEO, Russell Hardy, said during a panel discussion. While the industry faces good fundamentals in the next few months, Russia's continued oil production and sputtering Chinese growth complicate forecasts of where prices will go.
The News Corporation headquarters, which is also home to Fox News, stands in Manhattan on April 18, 2023 in New York City.

Fox News has settled another lawsuit, this time with a one-time producer for former primetime host Tucker Carlson.

The Fox Corp. network agreed to pay $12 million to settle the lawsuit brought by Abby Grossberg, who alleged she was coerced into giving false testimony for the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case.

"While I stand by my publicly filed claims and allegations, in light of today's settlement of $12 million, pursuant to which I have now withdrawn those claims, I am heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously," Grossberg said in a statement Friday. "I am hopeful, based on our discussions with Fox News today, that this resolution represents a positive step by the Network regarding its treatment of women and minorities in the workplace."

Grossberg earlier this year had filed lawsuits against Fox in New York and Delaware, and had also accused the network of discrimination. Grossberg's attorneys had previously said she was fired by Fox in retaliation.

"I stand by and defer to my publicly filed claims and allegations and any public statements I or my attorneys have made concerning my employment at Fox News," Grossberg said in Friday's statement. "I will not make any further remarks concerning my employment at Fox News at this time and ask that you respect my decision."

The producer had worked with Fox hosts Carlson  who was ousted in the wake of Fox's settlement with Dominion  and Maria Bartiromo, and had alleged the network's lawyers coerced and intimidated her into providing misleading testimony in the Dominion lawsuit.

In April, a trial was stopped in its tracks when Fox said it would pay $787.5 million to Dominion to settle a defamation lawsuit over false claims that Dominion's voting machines swayed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Grossberg had earlier said that she would have voluntarily testified on behalf of Dominion had the trial occurred.

"We are pleased that we have been able to resolve this matter without further litigation," a Fox representative said in a statement on Friday.

Fox had earlier denied the claims by Grossberg, and explained its decision to let the producer go:
Goldman Sachs is in talks to offload its Apple credit card and high-yield savings account products to American Express , a source told CNBC's Leslie Picker.

Goldman Sachs, Apple and American Express declined to comment.

The talks come amid a broader retreat by Goldman from its largely failed consumer banking initiatives, for which CEO David Solomon has taken a great deal of heat. Last week, CNBC reported that the Wall Street giant is preparing to take a huge writedown on its 2021 acquisition of fintech lender GreenSky.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the Goldman talks with American Express. The newspaper said there's no assurance of a deal, nor is an agreement close.

It would mark an abrupt reversal for the two corporate giants. In October, the Journal reported Goldman and Apple renewed their partnership through 2029. And in April, Goldman Chief Financial Officer Denis Coleman touted a deepening of the partnership.

"This week, we announced the launch of a savings account for Apple Card users. We are excited to deepen our partnership with Apple through this additional offering and to introduce another source of deposit funding for the firm," Coleman said at the time.

The Journal also reported Friday that Goldman is talking about unloading its General Motors card partnership. GM declined to comment to CNBC.

 CNBC's Steve Kovach, Phil LeBeau and Hugh Son contributed to this report.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a panel at the CEO Summit of the Americas hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on June 09, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

Google told the Canadian government it would block articles from Canada-based news outlets from appearing in search results and other products in the country after the passage of a new bill that would require Google to pay a fee to news companies.

The new bill, C-18, was passed last week. The bill would have brought in $329 million for Canadian newsrooms annually, Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated, a revenue stream that now seems unlikely to materialize. It requires companies such as Meta and Google to pay media outlets when they link to news in search or feeds.

The move, which will also pull Canadian media from Google's News and Discover products, could have a big impact on publishers that rely on Google search to attract readers who support their businesses. The changes appear to have already started to impact some users.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, one of Canada's largest news organizations, said it would "encourage Canadians to go directly to the websites they trust for their news." Newsrooms in Canada and around the world have suffered from years of decline. From 2008 to 2018, 216 Canadian newsrooms closed their doors, according to researchers.

"Big tech would rather spend money changing their platforms to block news from Canadians instead of paying a small share of the billions they make in advertising dollars," Pablo Rodriguez, member of Parliament for Honore-Mercier, said Thursday on Twitter. Google reported $40.69 billion in Search revenue for the second quarter of 2023.

Google's global affairs president, Kent Walker, called the framework of the new law "unworkable" in a blog post and said it would expose the company to "uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians' access to news from Canadian publishers."

Meta already said it would begin blocking Canadian news outlets from appearing on Facebook or Instagram after the bill's passage. A similar law was passed in Australia and prompted the same response from Meta, attracting significant controversy. Meta later cut a deal with the country and restored access to news.

"The fact that these internet giants would rather cut off Canadians' access to local news than pay their fair share is a real problem, and now they're resorting to bullying tactics to try and get their way. It's not going to work," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters last week.

"We're disappointed it has come to this," Walker said. "We don't take this decision or its impacts lightly and believe it's important to be transparent with Canadian publishers and our users as early as possible."
Google workers stage a walkout protest over job cuts at the company's headquarters in London, United Kingdom on April 04, 2023.

Google said on Thursday it plans to block Canadian news on its platform in Canada, joining Facebook in escalating a campaign against a new law requiring payments to local news publishers.

Alphabet-owned Google will remove links to Canadian news from search results and other products in Canada when the law takes effect in about six months.

Facebook-owner Meta Platforms made a similar announcement last week after the passage of Bill C-18, or the Online News Act.

Canada's media industry has called for tighter regulation of internet giants to allow news businesses to recoup financial losses suffered in the years that Facebook and Google gained a greater share of the online advertising market.

The independent budgetary watchdog in Canada estimated last year that news businesses could receive about 330 million Canadian dollars, or $249 million, per year from deals mandated under the legislation.

Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who introduced the bill last year, has said the platforms have no obligations under the act immediately and that the government was open to consulting with them on the regulatory and implementation process.

Facebook and Google said the proposals were unsustainable for their businesses and for months signaled possibly ending news availability in Canada unless the act was amended.
Security Council renews mandate of United Nations Disengagement Observer Force for 6 months

Xinhua) 16:27, June 30, 2023

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Thursday decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights for six months, until Dec. 31.

The council also requested UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to ensure that it has the required capacity and resources to fulfill its mandate in a safe manner.

Unanimously adopting Resolution 2689, the 15-member organ called on the concerned parties to immediately implement its Resolution 338 of Oct. 22, 1973, and stressed both parties' obligation to scrupulously and fully respect the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement.

Further, the council called on the parties to exercise maximum restraint and prevent any breaches of the ceasefire and the area of separation. It underlined that UNDOF remains an impartial entity, stressing the importance of halting all activities that endanger United Nations peacekeepers on the ground.

Among other provisions, the council called on all parties to cooperate fully with UNDOF's operations, to provide all necessary support to allow for the full utilization of the Quneitra crossing by UNDOF and to lift COVID-19-related restrictions as soon as sanitary conditions permit. The organ also requested UNDOF, member states and relevant parties to take all appropriate steps to protect the safety, security and health of all UNDOF personnel.

Additionally, the council underscored the importance of progress in the deployment of appropriate technology, including counter-improvised-explosive-device capabilities and a sense-and-warn system, as well as in addressing civilian staffing needs, to ensure the safety and security of UNDOF personnel and equipment.

UNDOF is a UN peacekeeping mission tasked with maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The mission was established by the Security Council Resolution 350 on May 31, 1974, to implement Resolution 338, which called for an immediate ceasefire and implementation of Security Council Resolution 242.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Travelers arrive at O'Hare International Airport on June 30 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. Travel forecasters are predicting record travel for the July 4th weekend, but this year's celebration may also be something of a battle with the elements.

Flight delays and cancellations continued to mar thousands of Fourth of July travelers on Friday, with United Airlines passengers bearing the brunt of the problems.

The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 17.7 million people from June 29 through July 5, peaking on Friday at more than 2.8 million people. That would be an single-day record for daily screenings and one of the clearest signs yet of air travel's strong recovery from the Covid pandemic.

More than 4,800 U.S. flights were delayed on Friday, though United had more delays than competitors.

By 5 p.m. on Friday, the carrier had canceled more than 230 mainline flights, 8% of its operation, while more than 790 flights, or more than quarter of its schedule, were delayed, according to flight-tracker FlightAware.

That was still far fewer than its disruptions on Thursday and a notable improvement from last weekend when a slew of thunderstorms along the East Coast at some of the country's most congested airports kicked off the chaos. Some airline executives blamed the Federal Aviation Administration's shortfall of air traffic controllers for exacerbating the problems for their customers.

Customers throughout the week sprawled out on airport floors, waiting for hours for flight information or new schedules, with seats on other flights, or other airlines scarce. They also faced long lines for customer service and lost bags.

Even United Airlines' CEO couldn't get a seat out of the New York area. On Wednesday, Scott Kirby took a private jet from New Jersey's Teterboro Airport to Denver, Colorado.

A spokeswoman for the airline told CNBC that United did not pay for his flight. Kirby apologized to staff and travelers on Friday for taking the private jet when so many others were stranded.

"Taking a private jet was the wrong decision because it was insensitive to our customers who were waiting to get home," Kirby said in a statement to CNBC. "I sincerely apologize to our customers and our team members who have been working around-the-clock for several days  often through severe weather  to take care of our customers.

"Watching our team firsthand with our customers at four different airports and during countless meetings this week, it's clear to me they represent the best of United, and I regret that I have distracted from their professionalism," he continued. "I promise to better demonstrate my respect for the dedication of our team members and the loyalty of our customers."

United said on Friday afternoon that its performance was improving into the holiday weekend. The airline has been offering waivers to travelers affected so they can rebook their trips without paying fare differences.

But it also cautioned that: "Storms in Denver, Chicago and the East Coast will continue to be a challenge, but most of today's cancellations were made in advance to give customers time to adjust."

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Friday called United out for the challenges over the past week, saying the airline's disruptions were "elevated but moving in the right direction."

Airlines are under political and public pressure to run reliably after their overambitious schedules and staffing shortages worsened routine challenges like bad weather. The struggles come as travel demand bounces back from pandemic lows.

More storms and challenges like wildfire smoke from Canada are likely to plague airlines in the days ahead, though the worst of the disruptions this week have mostly subsided. (Of course, if your flight is canceled or delayed, here's what airlines owe you.)

More than 42,000 flights operated by U.S. airlines were delayed from Saturday through Thursday, and more than 7,900 were scrubbed altogether, according to flight-tracker site FlightAware. More than 5% of U.S. schedules were canceled, about four times higher than the cancellation rate so far this year.

Over that six-period period, half of United's mainline flights arrived late, amounting to average delays of 106 minutes, according to FlightAware data. Another 19% of its schedule was canceled.

Union leaders blamed United for some of the problems, which stranded crews along with passengers during the disruptions. Flight disruptions often snowball because crews and aircraft are out of position and long delays can have them run into federally-mandated work limits.

United has been offering flight attendants triple pay to pick up shifts over the peak holiday period.

"United management's failure to properly staff crew schedulers, the flight attendant support team and more has exacerbated these operational issues and left passengers and Flight Attendants waiting for answers for hours at a time," Ken Diaz, president of the United chapter of the Association of Flight Attendants, said in a statement Thursday. "The airline actually 'lost' crews in the system for days on end because there was such a significant breakdown in running the operation."

Garth Thompson, a United captain and chairman of the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association union, accused the company of not investing in the operation.

"Summer flying can be challenging, but this summer will be unnecessarily memorable," he said. "To those caught up in management's unforced errors, I'm truly sorry."

Both unions are engaged in contract negotiations with the company and are seeking compensation and scheduling improvements.
For leaders in corporate America, sleep is often the rare luxury they don't have and can't buy.

Success, especially early success, rarely comes without pulling some all-nighters, but among the market's most well-known leaders, there is recognition that burning the midnight oil is not a smart long-term strategy for productivity.

"I've tried to sleep less, but even though I'm awake more hours, I get less done. And the brain pain level is bad if I get less than six hours of sleep per night," Elon Musk said in a recent interview with CNBC's David Faber.

"I knew I wasn't as sharp when I was operating mostly on caffeine and adrenaline, but I was obsessed with work," Bill Gates said in a blog post back in 2019.

Nike CEO John Donahoe leads a hectic life, and deals with a wide range of issues, those both predictable, such as managing margins for a Wall Street quick to sour on any signs of financial challenges, to the geopolitics of being a massive U.S. business presence in China, and the social, culture and political issues that have made corporations a target of factions on both the right and the left.

That's a list of issues that could lead one to lose sleep.

Donahoe, well aware of this health risk, told attendees at the recent CNBC CEO Council Summit in Santa Barbara, California, that he has been running an experiment on himself to manage his sleep in a way that works with his life and work demands. Donahoe can't get seven hours of sleep every night, but he said that he tries to hit 70 hours of sleep every 10 days. Hitting this target, rather than exactly how much sleep he gets per night, is a sleep science workaround that the Nike CEO says has been working for him.

That won't necessarily work for you, though. Several sleep experts consulted by CNBC say Donahoe's approach is insufficient. Sleep science research has consistently shown that the average adult should aim for seven hours of a sleep each night. However, scientists stress that the ideal amount of sleep varies from person to person. Some people need more, some need less. And with the demand of some occupations, seven hours may not be feasible.

The key, sleep scientists say, is giving your body time to rest, which is crucial to increase attention span and improve overall health.

Don't rely on anyone else's sleep tricks. Study yourself.

It's not necessarily always going to be the recommended seven hours of sleep that will ensure a good night's rest, according to sleep experts. The most important starting point, they say, is to sleep according to your circadian patterns, have a consistent bedtime, and avoid stimulants like caffeine after lunchtime.

Everyone has a circadian rhythm, which is defined as "an internal clock that synchronizes all of the physiological functions in the body."

These rhythms affect how we sleep, and it's important to keep these clocks on track.

In order to accurately detect these patterns for ourselves, there are apps, such as "Circadian," which presents your day-to-day activities in an easy-to-understand diagram, in order to keep you in line with your circadian rhythms. Smartwatches have also been proven to study one's circadian rhythms based on experiences and provide information on how to adjust as needed. Most daily consumer tech we carry or wear now offers some form of sleep tracking, whether from a third-party app or the device maker. The Apple Watch has a Sleep app, as does Samsung's Galaxy phone, the Google Fitbit, and the Oura ring.

Sleep is a key pillar to health

Dr. Mark Wu, professor of neurology and sleep medicine at Johns Hopkins University, says not getting enough sleep at night is a big issue in contemporary society.

"We think about sleep as one of the key pillars to health," Wu said. "There's many things that can go wrong if you don't get enough sleep. There's acute and there's chronic issues. In the acute phase, you are basically sleepy the next day. Then, your attention is reduced, and attention is the foundation of all your mental processes. In the long term, if you don't get enough sleep, there's health outcomes that can occur."

Science suggests that being up for prolongated amounts of time, like Musk and Gates once did, is equivalent to alcohol intoxication. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), being awake for 24 hours is like having a blood alcohol content of 0.10%. The United States legal limit for driving is 0.08%.

Sleep, the heart, and the circulatory system

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says not hitting a healthy amount of sleep each night not only affects how we think, it can also affect our heart and circulatory system, metabolism, respiratory system, and immune system.

When our circadian patterns are out of sync, the chances of disease increase.

Not sleeping well has been proven to promote glucose intolerance, which can lead to diabetes, even in individuals who appear to be completely healthy. Obesity is another risk, because not getting enough sleep may affect the part of the brain that controls our hunger. Blood pressure is a concern as well. The less sleep we get, the higher our blood pressure becomes, leading to risks for heart disease and stroke. The worst forms of sleep deprivation have severe health repercussions. Insomnia, for example, is linked to a higher chance of developing depression.

One nine-year study conducted at Ball State University found that sleep deprivation has been increasing across all American working demographics in recent years, though the risks are higher in some professions. Short sleep duration rates were found to be especially high for those working in protective services and the military, health care, production jobs, and transportation.

Dr. Jagdish Khubchandani, professor of public health at New Mexico State University and a contributor to the Ball State study, says managing sleep is part of the work-life balance that we must be the leader in maintaining. In that sense, Nike's CEO is taking the right approach.

"You are the No. 1 player," Khubchandani said. "In the American workforce, that's where we have to start the thinking. There's no one here to monitor my sleep, and I have to take care of myself."
Members of Wagner group looks from a military vehicle in Rostov-on-Don late on June 24, 2023. Roman Romokhov | AFP | Getty Images

The recent Wagner rebellion exposed deep divisions within Russia's military forces, raising questions about what it all means for the mercenary group's fighters and the war in Ukraine. In the space of just a few chaotic hours on June 24, the Wagner Group launched an apparent insurrection by sending an armored convoy toward the Russian capital. It marked what many regard as the greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin's authority in his more than two decades in power. The short-lived rebellion was abruptly called off, however, when Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin agreed to de-escalate the situation and ordered his fighters advancing on Moscow to return to their bases. The fallout has left many observers of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine asking what next for the Wagner Group's future, both in Europe and across the globe. The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank, said in its latest Russia offensive campaign assessment that the Kremlin may seek to assume formal control of the Wagner Group and turn it into a state-owned enterprise, although it is not yet clear if this is the Kremlin's intention.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with servicemen at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 27, 2023. Mikhail Tereshchenko | AFP | Getty Images

"The nationalization of Wagner would likely aid in the Russian Ministry of Defense's (MoD) effort to subsume existing Wagner personnel into the regular Russian Armed Forces through contracts," the ISW said Thursday. "The Kremlin has not indicated that it intends to nationalize Wagner, and it is possible that Putin has yet to determine what course of action to take in subordinating the group more firmly under the Kremlin's control." Putin said Tuesday that members of the Wagner mercenary group was entirely funded and fully supplied by the state. It was the first time the long-time Russian president had publicly acknowledged the group was funded by the Kremlin. The ISW also noted recent satellite imagery collected between June 15 to June 27 appeared to show the active construction of a speculated new Wagner base in Asipovichy, Belarus. The site, the think tank said, is within 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) of a large Belarusian combine arms training ground. It adds that Wagner personnel may deploy elsewhere in Belarus, however, and "there is nothing particularly unique" about a potential Wagner base in Asipovichy. Wagner Group's Prigiozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday shortly after agreeing to leave Russia in a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus is an ally of Russia in Putin's war in Ukraine.

What next for Wagner's fighters?

Analysts told CNBC earlier this week that the fallout of the Wagner revolt could mean Russia's most effective unit in Ukraine was now out of the war, potentially weakening the performance of Moscow's forces on the battlefield. The Pentagon has since said, however, that the U.S. continues to see "some elements" of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine. "In terms of the future of Wagner Group, that's really a question best addressed by Russia, which of course  funds the Wagner Group, and how they will be employed going throughout the rest of this conflict and elsewhere around the world, since ... they also conduct operations in Africa, as well as Syria," Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters on Thursday.

BANGUI, Central African Republic - March 22, 2023: A Russian flag hangs on the monument of the Russian instructors in Bangui, during a march in support of Russia and China's presence in the Central African Republic. Wagner Group has been active in the country since 2018, supporting President Faustin-Archange Touadera's government and filling a security vacuum left by France. BARBARA DEBOUT/AFP via Getty Images

Asked in a news briefing how many Wagner fighters were currently active in Ukraine following last weekend's uprising, Ryder said some units of the mercenary group were still in the country but declined to provide a ballpark figure. "That's something that we'll continue to keep an eye on. It's just too early to tell right now," Ryder said. "My observation in all of this analysis on what could happen next is that there is a danger of not seeing the wood for the trees," Christopher Granville, managing director of global political research at TS Lombard, told CNBC via telephone. It's essential to remain focused on the battle in Ukraine, Granville said, noting that Putin's political future is dependent on the war's outcome. "That's really what it boils down to," he added. At best, Granville said the Wagner Group was likely to be "a shadow of its former self" in Ukraine following the revolt.

Russia's political crisis

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday dismissed questions about a political crisis. Speaking at a news conference, Lavrov said that Moscow always emerges stronger and more resilient from any difficulties, Reuters reported. He added that if the West had doubts about Russia's stability, that was their problem. Elsewhere, Russian Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, was believed to have been detained following the Wagner revolt, the Associated Press reported Thursday, citing two people familiar with the matter and Ukrainian intelligence assessments. CNBC was not able to independently verify the report. It comes amid intense speculation about whether Surovikin played a role in the Wagner uprising.

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SK Telecom's "A." (pronounced "A dot") artificial intelligence chatbot has a character that speaks to people. The company has integrated its various service from music streaming to e-commerce into A. and is planning to launch it fully in 2023.

SK Telecom, one of South Korea's biggest mobile carriers, on Friday said it upgraded its chatbot and added a feature powered by the Microsoft cloud and the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT.

The company launched a beta version of "A."  pronounced "A dot"  in South Korea in May last year and has been boosting the product's capabilities ahead of a full-scale launch.

SKT added a feature called "Chat T" to A. that is powered by the technology behind ChatGPT, based on Microsoft's Azure OpenAI cloud computing service. Users can prompt the chatbot for answers, just as they can with ChatGPT.

The Korean telecoms giant also added a chatroom function to A. that allows users to have conversations with an AI character.

"Through these conversations, users can share information about their daily life like they are talking to a close friend," SKT said in a press release.

SKT has tried to position A. as a different proposition to ChatGPT. A. has a number of cartoon avatars that users can interact with. SKT said it has brought more AI agents named "A. friends" to the product, equipped with conversational AI technology "that enables emotional and human-like conversations."

"By engaging in conversations with 'A. friends', users can receive counseling and advice on a wide variety of topics," SKT said.

Primarily known as a mobile network, SKT has been keen to diversify its business into new areas. The company plans to launch a flying taxi service in 2025, and CNBC reported in February that its AI chip spin-off Sapeon seeks a $400 million valuation through a new funding round.
In this photo illustration, a box of the diabetes drug Ozempic rests on a pharmacy counter on April 17, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

People on diabetes and weight loss drugs such as Novo Nordisk 's Ozempic and Wegovy should stop taking them before having elective surgery to reduce the risk of serious health complications, a prominent group of doctors said.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists, an organization of more than 53,000 physicians engaged in anesthesiology, released interim guidance with that suggestion late Thursday.

The guidance aims to help doctors manage patients on those drugs who are scheduled to undergo elective surgeries, which are non-emergency procedures such as kidney stone removal, joint replacement and cosmetic surgery.

The ASA said the guidance reflects concerns related to delayed stomach emptying, or when food sits in the stomach for longer than usual. That's one effect of diabetes and weight loss drugs, which mimic a hormone produced in the gut called GLP-1 and ultimately suppress a person's appetite.

Delayed stomach emptying may cause patients undergoing anesthesia to experience nausea, vomiting and aspiration, which is when a person accidentally breathes food into their lungs rather than swallowing it, according to the ASA.

That's why patients are typically required to fast before undergoing anesthesia for procedures.

The ASA has received anecdotal reports from across the U.S. that patients taking the drugs during general anesthesia and deep sedation may be at increased risk of those "serious" complications, the group's president, Dr. Michael Champeau, said in the guidance.

Ozempic and Wegovy are already associated with side effects like diarrhea and constipation.

But Champeau acknowledged that there is still a lack of scientific data on how exactly anesthesia interacts with those drugs, which are also known as GLP-1s.

Each day, about 60,000 people nationwide receive general anesthesia, or medication administered for pain relief during surgeries and other procedures.

It's unclear how many people take GLP-1 drugs each day, but their popularity skyrocketed over the last year for being weight loss "miracles." Now, Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy are plagued by nationwide shortages. They also face growing competition from similar treatments like Eli Lilly 's Mounjaro.

Under the ASA's guidance, people taking GLP-1 drugs on a daily basis should skip treatment on the day of elective surgery.

Those taking GLP-1s weekly should stop treatment a week before the scheduled surgery, the group said.

Prior to surgery, doctors should consider consulting with an endocrinologist for guidance on patients who take GLP-1s for diabetes.

The group also said doctors should consider delaying a patient's procedure if that person experiences nausea, vomiting or abdominal bloating or pain on the day of their scheduled procedure.

If a patient has none of those symptoms but did not stop using GLP-1s before the surgery, doctors should consider using ultrasound to check if they have a "full stomach."
Former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence announces that he is running for President of the United States in the 2024 Election in Ankeny, Iowa, on June 07, 2023.

Republican leaders and presidential candidates filed in to applaud Friday's Supreme Court decision striking down President Joe Biden's student loan relief program.

"I am honored to have played a role in appointing three of the justices that ensured today's welcomed decision," said former Vice President Mike Pence, who served under Donald Trump in the White House and is now competing against him in the Republican presidential primary.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., another presidential contender, called the loan forgiveness plan an "illegal and immoral" bid to "transfer student debt to taxpayers."

"If you take out a loan, you pay it back," Scott said in a statement.

Biden's debt-forgiveness effort would have canceled up to $20,000 in student loans for millions of individual borrowers, at an estimated cost of $400 billion.

Payments on those loans, which had been paused for more than three years by both the Trump and Biden administrations, are set to resume in October.

The 6-3 ruling, which split the conservative-majority court along ideological lines, sawed off a major plank of Biden's sweeping agenda to provide relief for Americans impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

"It's obviously a blow to the administration," Katharine Meyer, an education policy expert and fellow at the Brookings Institution, said in an interview Friday.

Meyer noted, however, that she doesn't expect the ruling will mark an end to the efforts to forgive student loan debt.

On Friday afternoon, the Biden administration announced that it was taking steps toward an "alternative path to debt relief" for "as many working and middle-class borrowers as possible."

"No President has fought harder for student debt relief than President Biden, and he's not done yet," the White House said in a release.

Pence and others in the GOP, including the Republican National Committee, condemned the president's plan as a subsidy for wealthy college graduates, a category that tends to lean Democratic.

But most borrowers don't fit into that group: One-third of them owe less than $10,000, and another 20% owe between $10,000 and $20,000, according to data last year from The Washington Post.

"The vast majority of borrowers are those that have taken out fairly small loans, and a large share of them never earned a college degree," Meyer said. "A lot of the individuals who would have benefited in some way from this policy are lower-income Americans."

Other Republicans have put forward alternative plans for addressing the country's burgeoning student loan debt.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the main GOP primary rival to Trump, has proposed putting universities on the hook when their students default on their debt. Earlier this month, a group of Senate Republicans put forward a package of bills aimed to address "skyrocketing" higher education costs.

Canceling student debt is a popular idea: Polls have shown that most registered voters support at least some form of loan forgiveness.

As of 1 p.m. ET on Friday, neither Trump nor DeSantis had weighed in on the ruling.
Karen Vladeck didn't expect the note she wrote to her daughter's first-grade teacher to go viral. But, like all Taylor Swift-related content, it did. The email was informing the teacher that her daughter would be missing a day of school to attend Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour concert in Houston, which is about three hours away from Austin, Texas, where Vladeck lives. Vladeck wove in different song names from Swift's catalog. "I hope this doesn't leave any Bad Blood between you and Maddie," the email reads. "People pull their kids from school for way stupider reasons than to go to a Taylor Swift concert," Vladeck says to CNBC Make It. "There are a lot of kids who stay home for no real reason." Vladeck was a Swift early adopter. "One of my first songs I ever listened to, I was in my college dorm room and cried, was 'Tim McGraw,'" she says. Now, she is part of a sizable demographic that has children and wants them, too, to love Swift. We've all seen mega stardom surrounding pop stars before, but "Swifties" are a different breed of fans. With Madonna or Michael Jackson, much of the allure was the mystery. Listeners regarded them as an untouchable talent. With Swift, it's the opposite: Fans' fervent defense and support of the musician isn't because they see her as a God, but because they see her as a friend. Swift has created millions of military-grade strength parasocial relationships, or one-sided relationships one might have with a celebrity or someone they don't know very well. And moms like Vladeck, all of whom started listening to Swift when they were still functionally children, want their offspring to not only love the music, but to love Taylor.

'I think it's brilliant that she says she just sits around and watches TV'

Parasocial relationships were initially studied in the context of news anchors. If a viewer felt more connected with the anchor, they were more likely to trust what they were saying. A parasocial relationship can form if three things are true: Physical attraction: This doesn't mean that you have to be sexually attracted to the celebrity or character, but that their physicality is relatable to you. Maybe they are the same race or age as you, or they look like your friends and family. Social attraction: The viewer would like to socialize with the character or celebrity. Task attraction: The viewer perceives the character or celebrity to be capable, credible or talented. Based on her fans' behavior, one could argue Swift ticks all these boxes more effectively than other pop stars, says Kate Kurtin, a communications professor at California State University, Los Angeles. Her most recent breakup, for example, has Swifties leaving flowers outside a house the star used to own in New York City. "People are saying, 'how can she go on in her tour after this breakup?'" Kurtin says. "Katy Perry was on stage when Russell Brand asked for a divorce. We have it on video, her crying through the music. I don't remember people showing up at Katy Perry's house with flowers." Taylor's ability to successfully contrive parasocial relationships with millions of people has more to do with how little she reveals than how much, Kurtin says. "That's the part Taylor Swift has done so brilliantly," she says. "She has remained vulnerable and authentic in her music but isn't giving too much away so we no longer connect with her." Because, taking a closer look, Swift's life is hardly relatable. Her family moved cities to support her ambitions, something that would be cost-prohibitive for most Americans. Her dad bought a 3% stake, estimated to cost $120,000, in the record label that signed his daughter. Swift herself owns a private jet that costs an estimated $40 million. These realities don't make her less talented, but one would think they make her less relatable  evidently not.

She has remained vulnerable and authentic in her music but isn't giving too much away so we no longer connect with her. Kate Kurtin communications professor at California State University, Los Angeles

When Sally A. Theran, a psychology professor at Wellesley College, asked her students what they liked most about Swift, they answered that she is "so relatable." "That was shocking to me because to me, she is a multimillionaire," Theran says. "To me, she is not relatable." Theran, who has been to two of Swift's concerts with her daughters, says the "Easter eggs" Swift is known to plant in her music videos is one of the ways fans feel more connected to her. "You have to be a pretty involved fan to know what she is referring to," Theran says. "It makes you feel seen and known by her. It's a way she is communicating with only the people who are the biggest fans." Theran echoes Kurtin's thought that Swift's selective sharing is intentional and beneficial, as it allows people to project relatable feelings onto her. "I think it's really helpful to remember that she is actually a grown woman," Theran says. "She is pretty savvy business-wise. When people grieve for the end of her relationships, it's important to remember that we don't actually know what she wants out of her life, and we are projecting that on to her."

'If I saw Jake Gyllenhaal on the street, we would have words'

Jessica Sawyer, 38, and her 7-year-old daughter attended The Eras Tour concert in Philadelphia. "We are actually going to Disney World first and I think she is more excited knowing that we get back from Disney and a couple days later she is seeing Taylor," Sawyer said when I spoke with her before the concert. Sawyer's relationship with Swift mirrors Vladeck's. "I was a senior in college in 2006 and I was already into country music," she says. "I heard the song 'Tim McGraw' come out and I had to have the album." To her, Swift is an exemplary role model. "With the song 'The Man,' she had a lot of questions," Sawyer says. "And [my daughter and I] had a talk about how when you get older, you might be treated differently, but you don't have to take that lying down. Taylor Swift doesn't." And, similar to most Swifties, Sawyer feels a personal connection to Swift. "People make fun of her because the songs are about her ex-boyfriends and we all know who they are, but it makes you root for her," she says. "Like if I saw Jake Gyllenhaal on the street, we would have words." The song "All Too Well" is believed to be about a short-lived relationship between Swift and actor Jake Gyllenhaal. "The thing we love about her is in addition to her being a public figure, she is kind of a nerd," Sawyer says. "You feel like you could be friends with her. If it were up to her, she would be a pretty normal person."

You feel like you could be friends with her. If it were up to her, she would be a pretty normal person. Jessica Sawyer

'When I was pregnant, I would hold my phone to my belly and play Taylor Swift'

Similar to Sawyer and Vladeck, Jessica Dinney, 37, was instantly charmed by Swift's debut song, "Tim McGraw." Dinney, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida, attended The Eras Tour concert in Tampa, Florida. Her two-year-old daughter was too young to join, but it's important to Dinney that she instill a love of Swift early. "When I was pregnant, I would hold my phone to my belly and play Taylor Swift," she says. "God, I sound psycho saying that." Dinney shares the Swifties' sentiment that Swift represents herself authentically. "The way she relates to her fans, people feel like they genuinely know her and are friends with her even if they have never met her before," she says. "I remember following her on Twitter back in the day and the stuff she would post, it wasn't like you were reading a celebrity tweet, it was like reading tweets from a friend. She was very real and wouldn't put on a celebrity facade." She hopes her daughter feels that connection, too. "If my daughter is going to look up to anybody, I'd love for it to be her," Dinney says. And if she doesn't? "Honestly, I'd be crushed [if my daughter didn't like Taylor Swift]. It'd be like her telling me she doesn't like 'Friends' or 'Harry Potter,'" she says.

Seeing Swift was 'more effective than therapy'

To nobody's surprise, seeing Swift in concert only makes her fans more enamored. Dinney went with eight friends to the Tampa show. "I've seen Taylor in concert before, but the fandom level present at this tour was off the charts," she says. "It seemed like every single person there was a superfan, so that definitely made it an even more fun and exciting environment to be in."

Photo courtesy of Jessica Sawyer.
Nearly a week after its failed insurrection against Moscow, some parts of Russian paramilitary group Wagner remain in Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine, the U.S. Pentagon says.

"On Wagner Group and its disposition, what I would tell you is, right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine," Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Thursday.

Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is now in exile in Belarus, Minsk said earlier this week.

The short-lived Wagner rebellion deeply divided Moscow's military echelons, with the EU now seeing cracks in Russian unity, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told CNBC.
Full frame sun, Climate change, Heatwave hot sun, Global warming from the sun and burning Chuchart Duangdaw | Moment | Getty Images

On Friday, the White House released a federally mandated report on solar geoengineering, which is an umbrella term that describes methods of reflecting sunlight away from the earth to cool the atmosphere. The Biden-Harris administration has no plans underway to launch a comprehensive research program into solar radiation modification, according to a senior administration official. related investing news JPMorgan downgrades this electric aircraft maker, calls stock outperformance 'largely overblown' But the report also says there is good logic for a cohesive research agenda on this topic. "These unknowns, and the ever-evolving understanding of complex Earth systems, provide a compelling case for research to better understand both the potential benefits and risks," the report says. The report comes from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and was produced to fulfill a congressional mandate included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act passed in 2022, which asked the White House to develop a "research governance framework to provide guidance on transparency, engagement, and risk management for publicly funded work in solar geoengineering research."

'Risk vs risk'

For decades, solar radiation modification has been relegated to the realm of science fiction. But as the effects of climate change have become more obvious and dangerous, some argue that climate intervention may be less dangerous than the global warming that would happen without them. Heat is a worthy adversary to mitigate  it's often called "the silent killer"  but solar radiation management would not address other implications of climate change, like ocean acidification or air pollution. The White House report focuses on two methods of solar geoengineering. Stratospheric aerosol injection is releasing particles of sulfur dioxide or another substance into the upper atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. Marine cloud brightening is meant to improve the reflectivity of certain clouds by injecting sea salt or through other methods. Fragmented research into solar radiation modification is already happening in federal science agencies, and research into topics like volcanic action and cloud-aerosol interactions could provide useful foundational knowledge. Volcanic eruptions and large plumes of wildfire smoke provide a natural analog for engineered stratospheric aerosol injection. Ship tracks, which are clouds that form around ship exhaust, demonstrate the theory of marine cloud brightening. But research into solar radiation management is limited and uncoordinated, leaving substantial gaps. Having a research plan would help the United States prepare for deployment of solar radiation modification by another government or a private body.

This chart shows the various forms that solar geoengineering could take. Courtesy: Chelsea Thompson, NOAA/CIRES. Chelsea Thompson, NOAA/CIRES

Solar radiation management has the benefit of being fast. "SRM offers the possibility of cooling the planet significantly on a timescale of a few years," the report says. But it also has a lot of unknown risks  what the White House report called "known unknowns." Stratospheric aerosol injection could accelerate ozone depletion and reduce biodiversity, for example. Other known unknows include potential changes in patterns of precipitation, sea-level rise, terrestrial vegetation, coral reefs, crop production and other ecosystem changes. It could also harm human health by increasing particulate matter, for instance. In this context, the White House report calls for a "'risk vs. risk' framing," where solar geoengineering would be studied in an effort to quantify the specific risks involved in deploying versus not deploying it. For example, allowing warming to proceed without solar radiation management might see more human death from extreme heat, but that would have to be compared against the health risks from more particulate matter in the air. Critically, solar radiation modification is not a permanent solution. The only real solution to mitigating the effects of climate change is by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report from the White House says that a research agenda into solar radiation modification would sit next to "the foundational elements of greenhouse gas emissions mitigation and adaptation." Also on Wednesday, the European Union also formally addressed solar geoengineering, saying it is not a climate solution and that not enough is understood about these interventions to deploy them. Like the United States, the European Union also says that solar geoengineering is not a climate solution and says the current level of understanding of the implications of such interventions is not sufficient to deploy them. "In the current state of development, a deliberate intervention in the Earth's natural systems, such as a solar radiation modification (SRM) deployment, represents an unacceptable level of risk for humans and the environment," the European Commission stated in documents released on Wednesday. However, the European Union also said it would support international, collective research into the topic.
You don't have to get a college degree to become highly successful.

That's according to Austin Russell, the world's youngest self-made billionaire, who dropped out of Stanford University in 2012 to start his company, Luminar Technologies, after receiving a $100,000 grant from the Peter Thiel Fellowship.

CNBC Make It asked Russell, 28, if he'd recommend other student entrepreneurs to drop out. His response: "Absolutely."

"College is not for everyone," he says. "It's just sort of the traditional approach around what you do and what you're supposed to do."

Russell's decision proved to be the right one  his company, a tech startup that develops hardware and software meant to power self-driving cars, is currently worth $2.6 billion. What's more, he says he would have still left Stanford even if he hadn't received funding.

"If you're wondering if I would have dropped out [without the grant], yeah. Absolutely. There was no doubt in anyone's mind," Russell says. "It was going to happen anyway."
Smoke shrouds the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center as the sun rises in New York City on June 30, 2023, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey.

Four of the five cities with the worst air quality in the world are in North America, including New York, a grim distinction fueled by devastating forest fires across Canada that have sent smoky air across the continent, according to data tracked by IQAir.

New York City now has the second-worst air quality in the world with a recorded air quality index of 162, lagging only Jakarta.

Toronto and Montreal rank as No.3 and No. 4, reporting an AQI of 155 and 153, respectively.

Anything above an AQI of 150 is considered "unhealthy" air.

The fifth-ranked city, Washington, D.C., is hundreds of miles away from where Canadian wildfires continue to rage. There, air quality is slightly better than the other three North American cities on the list, with an AQI of 122. That number is considered "unhealthy for sensitive groups."

The Canadian wildfires have burned for weeks, with record heat and drought prompted by climate change creating ripe conditions for longer-lasting, more intense wildfire activity, research has shown.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned citizens that potentially dangerous air quality reflected a grim distinction for state residents. "This is not something that we're talking about future generations dealing with," Hochul said in a press conference earlier this week. "We are truly the first generation to feel the real effects of climate change."

 CNBC's Cat Clifford contributed to this report.
The WHO on January 11 alerted Uzbekistan on cough syrups imported from India after the death of 18 children who had taken the medicine manufactured by Marion Biotech. It is alleged that industrial grade propylene glycol was used in the manufacture of the killer cough syrups.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is aware of the media reports that mentioned the use of industrial grade propylene glycol (PG) in the manufacture of cough syrups, the UN agency told CNBC-TV18. However, it lacks the evidence to substantiate the media reports.

The WHO on January 11 alerted Uzbekistan on the issue of contamination of cough syrups imported from India. The alert was issued after 18 children died in Uzbekistan in December 2022, after consuming the cough syrup manufactured by Marion Biotech.

Following this, in March, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) of India cancelled the licence of Noida-based Marion Biotech.

The WHO said that it is saddened by these cases of contamination that were reported in several countries over the past months. Meanwhile, the UN agency will continue its work to investigate the matter together with those who were impacted.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had issued a call for action in January to all member states to increase their surveillance and testing efforts as many people are needlessly being put at risk.

It has also welcomed action by countries that were impacted by this to investigate the cause of the adverse events and deaths. The WHO said it has been trying to understand the original source of contamination.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  Davao City secured funding amounting to $1 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help finance the acquisition of about 1,100 modern buses.

The ADB announced the approval of the fresh loan in a statement on Thursday.

It said the Davao Public Transport Modernization Project is envisioned to be a pilot for overhauling the countrys public road transport system."

The new bus fleets will be run by the private sector under performance-based contracts, the ADB noted.

The project would have around 1,000 bus stops with shelters, five bus depots, and three bus terminals.

It would also be equipped with an intelligent transport system that includes a bus location system, automatic fare collection systems, and WiFi connectivity in buses, terminals, and depots.

The project is set to transform the quality of Davao Citys public transport and support the citys rapid economic growth with a low-carbon and climate-resilient bus system, said ADB Senior Transport Specialist for Southeast Asia Shuji Kimura.

About 800,000 passengers per day are expected to benefit from the massive project.

For jeepney drivers, operators, and allied workers who will be affected by the public transport modernization shift, the ADB said the project will have a social development program, such as livelihood opportunities, to cushion the impact.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  Advocates of the LGBTQIA+ community stood up for actress Awra Briguela after she was arrested and reportedly heavily manhandled by the Makati police following a scuffle in a bar in Poblacion, Makati on Thursday.

The Southern Police District (SPD) made the arrest based on the account of Mark Christian Ravana, one of the complainants, who claimed Awra instigated a confrontation.

When police intervened, the SPD said the social media star became verbally abusive toward the officers and expressed disregard for their authority.

READ: Actress Awra Briguela arrested after brawl in Poblacion bar

But netizens and LGBTQIA+ advocates condemned the Makati police and called for justice for Awra, with the hashtag #JusticeForAwra still trending on Twitter as of writing.

They said the social media star was only protecting her friend from a group of men who allegedly tried to sexually harass her.

"People, usually men, accuse trans women of being threats to cis women," queer advocate Mela Habijan wrote. "Yet, when trans women protect their cis women sisters from harassers (who are men), trans women end up getting all the punches and blows, leaving those abusive men free from harm...attempting to reverse the narrative to make them the victims."

LGBTQIA+ group Bahaghari released a statement to condemn what it deemed the "PNP's (Philippine National Police) brutality and transphobia."

"Malinaw na halimbawa ng transphobia at police brutality ang marahas na pagdukot kay Awra, na inaresto matapos tumindig para sa kaibigan niyang hinaharass," the group said. "Sa lahat ng naging sangkot sa gulo, tanging si Awra lang ang pinagtulungan ng mga pulis na posasan at isakay sa police vehicle."

[Translation: Awra's violent arrest is a clear example of transphobia and police brutality. She stood up for her friend who was harassed. Of all those who were part of the commotion, the police only had a concentrated effort to cuff and bring Awra to the police vehicle.]

Bahaghari called for the immediate release of the 19-year-old "Ang Probinsiyano" actress and the dropping of all "false, trumped-up charges against her."

The SPD said Awra was arrested for physical injuries, alarm and scandal, direct assault, and disobedience to a person in authority.

"We call for an impartial investigation so that the very people who harassed Awra's friends in the first place would be brought forward to answer for their actions," the group said.

Netizens also have been mentioning the username of Makati Mayor Abigail Binay on Twitter as they seek explanation from the local government.

"@Mayora_Abby what's happening? Something frightening always comes up during Pride Month in this city," drag queen Marina Summers wrote.

"Makati Police where is this energy to that guy who allegedly sexually harassed the girl Awra was trying to protect and defend? Takot na takot ba kayo sa mga [Are you scared of] queer people?" she added.

Advocates also highlighted the fact that the arrest happened during the celebration of Pride Month and how the SOGIESC Equality Bill is important.

RELATED STORIES:

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"Makati PNP celebrated Pride Month by arresting a transwoman for defending her friends against sexual harassment. This is why we are pushing for SOGIESC Bill because persons of authority are the main perpetrators of violence against the LGBTQ+ community," women's group Gabriela said.

Awra has yet to release a statement. She is still in police custody.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The Marcos administration's use of the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme for infrastructure projects is a "step forward" in ensuring public interest, according to a public policy think tank.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been drumming up PPP, which makes use of both government funding and private sector participation, to close the infrastructure gap in the country and, in turn, spur economic growth.

Terry Ridon, convenor of Infrawatch PH, pointed out that the previous government opted to utilize other sources of funding such as direct government appropriations or official development assistance (ODA).

"To be fair, binuksan ng Pangulong Marcos yung  una, yung going towards PPP," Ridon said on CNN Philippines special "Pangulong Marcos: Ang Unang Taon."

"Kasi noong panahon po ni President (Rodrigo) Duterte, parang ayaw niya," he continued. "Mas gusto niya ODA. Pangalawa, isu-subject na niya lahat nung mga PPPs to regulatory approval. Nu'ng unang panahon, panahon ni Pangulong Aquino, walang ganon,"

[Translation: To be fair, President Marcos opened the  first, going towards PPP. During the time of President (Rodrigo) Duterte, he didn't seem to like it. He preferred ODA. Second, he will subject all PPPs to regulatory approval. In the old days, during President Aquino's time, there was no such thing.]

"So malaking bagay po ito. It's a step forward sa pag ensure ng public interest sa ating infrastructure, Ridon added.

[Translation: So this is a big thing. It's a step forward in ensuring public interest in our infrastructure.]

PPP is an agreement between the government and a private firm to finance, design, construct, and operate infrastructure projects and services that were traditionally provided by the public sector.

PPP ventures are also considered alternatives when the government has insufficient financing for local infrastructure or development projects.

As of December 2022, there are 98 PPP projects in the pipeline with an estimated worth of more than 3 trillion, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Finance Secretary Ben Diokno earlier said half of the multi-trillion peso "Build Better More" infrastructure program of the Marcos administration would be assisted by PPPs, with 47 of 194 major projects a "PPP variety."

'We need all funding sources'

In the same interview, Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John Batan said the national government is diversifying its financing sources to address the country's infrastructure gap.

"Minsan ang tinatanong, gagamitin ba natin ODA, private sector, o government funds?" Batan said. "Frankly, we need all. Sa laki ng ating infrastructure gap, we have to develop an infrastructure investment program that maximizes all available funding sources para mahabol nating maisara ang infrastructure gap."

[Translation: Sometimes the question is, will we use ODA, private sector, or government funds? Frankly, we need all. With the size of our infrastructure gap, we have to develop an infrastructure investment program that maximizes all available funding sources so that we can close the gap.]

NEDA previously reported that the annual public infrastructure spending during Dutertes term was between 4.2% and 5.8% of gross domestic product (GDP), double the average annual expenditure over the previous decades.

Batan said the Marcos administration aims to increase this to 5-6%.

Marcos recently certified as urgent the passage of the PPP Act at the Senate, citing the need to increase the participation of the private sector in national development programs.

The House of Representatives approved its version of the bill last December, which stated that PPP projects may be financed partly by ODA of foreign governments or institutions.

According to Rep. Joey Salceda, a former presidential economic adviser, the proposed PPP Act will make accessible at least 27 trillion in financial resources from banks and at least 600 billion annually from just the "large conglomerates" for infrastructure projects.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  Garbage collectors should be part of the circular economy that will be created as companies race to meet the year-end deadline set by the Extended Producers Responsibility Act (EPR), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said.

We need to understand the circularity, the opportunity that we are faced with and the obsolescence of our linear economy. We can assign a fair value for all contributions to that industry. Here in particular, I wish to point out the situation of the informal waste sector of the country, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said Friday.

Unless we regard the waste management sector as a proper industry in the circular economy, we cannot fairly value the contribution of this sector to our work under the EPR law," she added.

The measure lapsed into law on August 13, 2022, while its implementing rules and regulations were released just last January.

The law requires that by end of December, manufacturers must be able to recycle at least 20% of their waste. Under the law, unregistered businesses will be fined at least 5 million, while those who comply can get tax incentives.

Citing data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2022, the DENR said plastic waste produced worldwide more than doubled to 353 million metric tons (MT) in 2019 from 156 million MT in 2000. Packaging waste produced by manufacturers accounts for 50% of this.

The Philippines alone generates 61,000 MT of solid waste daily, 12% to 24% of which are plastic waste, the DENR-Environment Management Bureau said. Filipinos utilize over 163 million plastic sachet packets, 48 million shopping bags, and 45 million thin-film bags daily.

Since a third of plastic waste ends up in landfills, garbage collectors play a crucial role in the new laws implementation. There are about 100,000 of them from the informal waste management sector, Yulo-Loyzaga said, but added that the number can be higher.

These traders are the ones who realize the value upwards of the cycle. Essentially, the informal waste sector is locked out of the value chain. Although they are part of the supply chain. And must be recognized for the opportunities that they give to others in terms of recognizing value from waste collection and diversion, she said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  A bill was filed at the House of Representatives proposing the establishment of at least one dog station in every mall where pet owners can leave their dogs while shopping.

Paranaque 1st District Rep. Edwin Olivarez filed House Bill No. 7108 or "Dog Stations in Shopping Malls Act" last February.

"There is now close to 9 million households across the country with at least one dog," the bill read. "Clearly, pet dogs are becoming part of the Filipino family."

"After all, if pet dogs are being considered as man's best friend or even a member of a family, we should allow their owners to have the option to bring with them their pet dogs whenever they go to the malls instead of just leaving them in their homes."

According to the bill, shopping malls should also hire qualified personnel that will oversee the welfare of the dogs in the station.

The mall may also collect "reasonable" fees or charges from pet owners who wish to leave their dogs at the station, it added.

Further, for shopping malls that are yet to be established, mall owners who would fail to include a dog station in their construction plan will warrant the disapproval of their permit to build the mall.

Recently, a Chow Chow reportedly died of heatstroke after it was left under the care of a dog hotel in Antipolo City for six days.

The owners were surprised with their pet's cause of death as the hotel claimed to have its air conditioning system running 24 hours daily.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The Indian government is offering loans to help the Philippines boost its military capacity.

In a joint statement issued Thursday, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced the possibility of the Philippines tapping Indias Line of Credit (LOC).

The LOC may be extended to cover the countrys defense requirements and acquisition of naval assets, they said.

READ: Marcos vows to continue military modernization

The statement said both officials also discussed the expansion of training and joint exercises on maritime security and disaster response, among others.

It stated that both countries are set to sign a deal on enhanced maritime cooperation between their coast guards.

Meanwhile, the Philippines and India reiterated their commitment to expand cooperation in sectors such as health, agriculture, and the digital economy.

Manalo visited India on June 27 to 30 for the fifth India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  A lawmaker on Friday suggested ways on how the government can address the shortage of nurses in the country.

We have to establish a minimum wage rate, most especially for the private nurses. So around 700 to 1,000 per day, net, House civil and professional regulation panel chairperson Kristine Tutor told CNN Philippines The Source.

She said its important to establish this given the huge gap between the salary of private and public nurses. She noted that a nurse under the Department of Health earns at least 36,000 monthly, more than double the salary a private nurse receives which ranges from 12,000 to 15,000.

The government should prioritize bridging this gap, otherwise, it should just increase the deployment of these medical professionals abroad where they are given better compensation, Tutor said.

If we cannot bridge the gap of the minimum wage rate between the public and private hospitals, hindi talaga natin ma-stop yung overseas exodus ng mga nurses natin kasi mas better situated sila doon kaysa sa atin (we really can't stop the exodus of our nurses because they are better situated there than here) because of the wage rate, she pointed out.

Another solution she recommended is amending the nursing law to allow the Professional Regulation Commission to issue licenses to other types of nurses, like the nurse practitioners, nurse assistants, and nurse aids.

The government can also hire more contractual and job order medical professionals to reduce the workload of the nurses, she added.

While the Philippines is a major deployer of nurses abroad, it is left to deal with the problem of shortage.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa has suggested hiring board eligible nursing graduates to fill the 4,500 vacancies in government hospitals.

Tutor said instead of implementing this, the government should prioritize hiring the thousands of licensed nurses who are still in the country.

READ: PRC wants to prioritize hiring 47,000 licensed nurses to work in PH
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The administration should strengthen its position against corruption to be able to sustain gains, experts said as they assessed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.s first year in office.

Governance and political science expert Francisco Magno said there seems to be a lack of support for institutions mandated to go after corrupt officials.

There was no advocacy or promotion of putting in more budget for the Office of the Ombudsman. As we all know the Office of the Ombudsman is highly under-resourced, Magno said.

Magno also said it will be interesting to watch out for Marcos choice for chief graft buster.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires is set to retire in two years.

Meanwhile, Shanice Espiritu, policy manager of think tank Stratbase ADR Institute, said its important for Marcos to be able to say that he is against corruption.

The way that the efforts of transparency and accountability are going, the way to sustain this is to craft a strong anti-corruption stance. Its really important that the president is able to say that he himself is against corruption, Espiritu said.

During his campaign, Marcos said corruption cannot be eliminated as it is a human condition.

Marcos told CNN Philippines that he will lead by example to show that his administration will not tolerate graft and corruption.

READ: Marcos to 'lead by example' in anti-graft efforts, to make PCGG go after other corrupt individuals

Marcos also previously vowed that he will push for more efficient revenue collection to combat corruption in the government.

There should not be any place for corruption," Marcos said.

READ: Marcos vows to fight endemic corruption in govt, bats for more efficient revenue collection

Espiritu also noted efforts in pushing for transparency, particularly institutionalizing the digitalization of government processes and transactions.

Budget Assistant Secretary Rolando Toledo admits it will take time before Filipinos can reap benefits.

There will be no impact, you cannot see the impact because we just only have the first year of the administration. Malayo pa ang pupuntahan pero malayo na rin ang narating natin, Toledo said.

[Translation: There will be no impact, you cannot see the impact because we just only have the first year of the administration. The administration has long way to go but it has already gone far.]

It will take you a long time to digitize the system, at least five to 10 years for some institutions to develop their own digitization reforms, so it will really take time, Toledo added.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman earlier said one of the three major items that the 2024 National Expenditure Program is planning to focus on is to ensure macroeconomic fundamentals which will include budget for digitalization."

READ: DBCC eyes 5.768-T national budget for 2024
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  A proposed advisory body or commission on LGBTQIA+ affairs under the Office of the President is likely to be approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., a palace statement released on Friday quoted First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos as saying.

"Knowing my husband, I'm sure he will grant the wish because he knows that you all campaigned for him and he wouldn't be there without you guys," the first lady told LGBT Pilipinas during a meeting Thursday with the president in Malacanang.

"So, thank you very much. I think it's our way of giving back to those who helped him in the election," she added.

LGBT Pilipinas, a national alliance of queer organizations, networks, and allied groups, made the proposal to push for "more visibility and representation in the bureaucracy," the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said.

The PCO said during the meeting, President Marcos assured the LGBTQIA+ community that the government will protect its members against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression (SOGIE).

"We in the Philippines ay ang habol lang naman talaga natin [what we want] is that everybody is treated not for any other thing, not for race, not for creed, not for orientation, but just as Filipinos," the chief executive told LGBT Pilipinas.

He said that is what the government is trying to do, and that the first lady is even better briefed on the legal issues that impact the community.

Marcos said he believes that "as long as everyone stays true to the idea of recognizing fellow Filipinos, everyone will be treated fairly and without discrimination," adding Filipinos are "more open-minded compared to other countries."

RELATED: SWS: Most Filipinos see gays, lesbians as trustworthy, nation-builders

On June 24, when many events were held to celebrate the Pride Month during that weekend, Marcos urged Filipinos to continue supporting, respecting, and recognizing the LGBTQIA+ community and its importance to society.

The president, however, has not spoken about his position on the SOGIESC Equality Bill, which has been languishing in Congress for two decades.

RELATED: LGBTQ+ group urges Marcos to reveal stance on SOGIE bill

In the House of Representatives, the bill has already gotten a panel nod.

In the Senate, it was remanded to the committee on rules headed by Sen. Joel Villanueva. He is the son of CIBAC Rep. Eddie Villanueva, the founder of Jesus Is Lord Church Worldwide.

RELATED: SOGIE bill 'not a priority,' says Villanueva
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) security officer who escorted detainee Jad Dera outside the detention facility claimed he got his superiors' approval to bring the co-accused in the drug case of former Senator Leila de Lima to a hospital for his check-up.

In his counter affidavit, security officer Randy Godoy noted the approval came with two conditions: Dera will be escorted and they will use a marked vehicle.

Godoy also admitted that they had dinner in Makati.

The act of dining outside does not fall under the contemplation of Infidelity under Article 223 of the Revised Penal Code, he argued.

Worth noting is the fact that after the said dinner at Makati City, all the respondents went back to the NBI," the employee also said.

"While there may be irregularities in the events that transpired, they are only administrative in nature, but not criminal, he added.

Godoy said the 10-thousand-peso cash belongs to him, insisting that complainant NBI merely assumed that was Dera's payment to them.

Godoy also explained that there was no evidence the money was solicited and that it was given in consideration of the commission of some crime. He said the NBI has not presented any eyewitness to prove its allegation that he received money from Dera in exchange for allowing the latter to go outside.

READ: DOJ: Bilibid alerted over inmates' trips outside NBI detention facility

As for the five other security personnel who are job order contractors, they said they left the detention facility based on their immediate supervisors order.

Walang 'escape' na naganap. Bagamat maaaring may mga iregularidad sa mga pangyayari na naganap, ang mga ito ay administratibo lamang, hindi criminal, the counter-affidavit read, explaining that they were asked to bring Dera to a hospital using an NBI vehicle.

They added they were able to leave and enter the NBI compound without any resistance from any division, unit or section  even from those manning the gates.

Dera, meanwhile, stated in his counter-affidavit that NBI failed to prove that the money seized from Godoy constituted his offer, promise, or gift.

Sa affidavits ng lima o anim na jail escorts, wala pong umamin doon na binibigyan sila ng pera or lumalabas sila in consideration of any gift or promise," Dera's lawyer, Raymund Palad, said. "So wala nagtuturo na kaya lumalabas ay dahil sa pera.

[Translation: In the affidavits of the five or six jail escorts, none of them admitted that they were given money or that they were going out in consideration of any gift or promise. So, no one is pointing out that hes going out because of money.]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The daily minimum wage hike of 40 approved for Metro Manila has drawn mixed reactions from labor groups and lawmakers, with one solon saying the increase is not enough to buy a kilogram of rice.

Gabriela Women's Party Rep. Arlene Brosas issued a statement on Friday, expressing her dismay over the measly wage hike.

Beginning July 16, private workers in the capital region will get 610 in the non-agricultural sector and 573 for the "agriculture sector, service and retail establishments employing 15 or less workers, and manufacturing establishments regularly employing less than 10 workers."

READ: Wage board approves 40 hike in NCR daily minimum wage

While the 40 wage hike is a result of workers' lobbying efforts, it is disheartening to see that it can hardly buy a kilo of rice and is significantly below the living wage, Brosas said.

While she recognized that the move would benefit 1.1 million minimum wage earners, the pay remains far from the ideal family living wage of 1,100.

The Federation of Free Workers (FFW), meanwhile, welcomed the decision, but noted that the sentiment of disappointment is palpable among many of our workers.

The increment falls significantly short of the more than 100 wage recovery that our labor force had been anticipating. It also fails to reflect the escalating cost of living in Metro Manila, FFW added.

The group said it would continue to fight for a fair, living wage.

In an interview with CNN Philippines Balitaan, Partido ng Manggagawa Secretary General Judy Miranda said Filipino workers are disappointed.

Miranda also said workers did not expect the decision as employers and the regional wage board assured them that the hike would be reasonable, practicable and just.

She said the ideal wage hike should range from 88 to 112, noting the group was pushing for 100, which is very reasonable.

According to the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), Regional Board petitions on wage hikes from Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, and Central Visayas are pending in different stages.

"Ang desisyon kung maglalabas ng wage order ay nakasalalay sa kanila, base sa mandato sa ilalim ng Wage Rationalization Act," NWPC executive director Ma. Criselda Sy told CNN Philippines.

[Translation: The decision to release a wage order depends on them based on the mandate of the Wage Rationalization Act.]

Sy added that the Regional Boards have to submit a response to the petitions "either in the form of a resolution or a new Wage Order."

In a separate statement, Senator Grace Poe called on employers who have the financial capacity to provide other benefits to their employees, noting that the increase was insufficient.

Meanwhile, Senator Jinggoy Estrada said the decision was a welcome development.

He said while this may not be enough, the amount serves and protects the interests of all stakeholders.

This does not mean that bills proposing adjustments in workers wage rates, which are currently pending before my committee on labor, will be put on the back burner," Estrada said.

" As soon as Congress resumes its second regular session, we will take up the matter anew, as I mentioned in a recent news forum in the Senate," he added.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Koko Pimentel III said other regions should follow Metro Manila's lead.

It is essential that these [regional wage] boards consider the economic realities faced by workers in their respective regions and take appropriate steps to help our countrymen who struggle to make ends meet, he said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clarified on Friday that a medical prescription is needed and only licensed health care professionals may administer Pfizers bivalent COVID-19 vaccines once these are commercially available.

Earlier this week, the FDA announced that it granted a certificate of product registration (CPR) for the vaccine, which carries the name Comirnaty Original/Omicron B.A.4-5.

Dahil may marketing authorization na siya, pwede na talaga siyang mabili. May requirement lang, dapat may RX (medical prescription) and licensed ang mag-iinject ng produkto. It could be a pharmacist that has a certificate to vaccinate or our medical professionals, said Jesusa Joyce Cirunay, FDA Center for Drug Regulation and Research director, in a press briefing.

[Translation: Because it already has a marketing authorization, it could be bought. However, there are requirements, such as that there should be a medical prescription and the one injecting the vaccine should be licensed to do so. It could be a pharmacist who has a certificate to vaccinate or our medical professionals.]

Cirunay said pharmacies and similar facilities selling the product should have cold chains that would meet the the bivalent vaccine storage requirement.

The FDA said Pfizer has yet to advise when it will begin selling the vaccines in the country Philippines or the unit price.

Wala pa silang sinabi when they are going to bring it, but noting na may CPR na yan [They didn't say yet when they are going to bring it, but noting that there is already a CPR], they can bring it anytime, Cirunay said.

The government began its bivalent vaccination program on June 21 using doses donated by Lithuania. The priority are health workers and the elderly.

READ: Marcos tells LGUs: Make sure vulnerable Filipinos get bivalent COVID-19 shots

There is a program in the Department of Health that is libre at very accessible para sa ating mga kababayan [free and accessible for our countrymen]. We don't need to wait for the Pfizer, FDA Director General Samuel Zacate said. "May libre at may pwedeng bilhin, so dalawa po ang choices." [There are vaccines that are free and there are those that may be bought, so Filipinos have two choices]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  Besides the possibility that photojournalist Joshua Abiad was targeted due to the nature of his work, police said the shooting may also have been a case of mistaken identity.

"[Ang] kanyang bayaw isang malaking contractor na right now, embroiled in a conflict with some of his business partners. Pagkatapos, hindi naman kasi kanya ang sasakyan," Quezon City Police (QCPD) Director PBGen. Nick Torre III said.

[Translate: Joshuas brother-in-law is a big-time contractor, and right now, the brother-in-law is embroiled in a conflict with some of his business partners. Joshua also does not own the car.]

Abiad and three family members were injured in the attack Thursday afternoon in Quezon City.

The victims include Abiad's brother, who was driving the SUV, and his four-year-old niece, who was hit in the head and is in critical condition.

A bystander was also hit by a stray bullet.

READ: Photojournalist, 3 family members injured in QC ambush

Police said they are looking at three suspects  two gunmen and a motorcycle rider who served as spotter.

They added that the license plate of the vehicle used by the assailants was fake.

In separate statements posted on Friday, media groups condemned the shooting.

"There is no justification for the shooting of a media worker, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said.

"We urge the relevant authorities to investigate this case with the urgency, impartiality, and thoroughness it warrants. We implore those in power to redouble their efforts in ensuring the safety of journalists in the Philippines," media group PAPER Ph said.

"We stand in solidarity with the media community as we struggle for press freedom, and call for justice for other journalists who are victims of harassment and violence," the Photojournalists Center of the Philippines said.

CNN Philippines correspondent Crissy Dimatulac and multiplatform news writer Celine Serquina contributed to this story.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines)  The Philippine National Police (PNP), known as the vanguard of the countrys campaign against illegal drugs, has come under scrutiny after several top officials were implicated in an alleged cover-up of a multi-billion peso shabu haul.

At least 50 high-ranking policemen were charged for their supposed involvement in the 990-kilogram methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, seized from an arrested police sergeant in October last year.

In January, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos called for the resignation from service of all senior officers, particularly police generals and colonels, in an effort to purge their ranks of connections to the illegal narcotics trade.

Days before the retirement of police chief Rodolfo Azurin in April, the PNP was met with yet another challenge  its inclusion in a reported massive data leak that is believed to have compromised data such as fingerprint scans, signatures, and other relevant documents.

A year in the face of controversies, will the nations cops be able to rise above its problems under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.s second year of leadership?

Courtesy resignations

Citing the laborious process of sanctioning erring members of the police, Abalos explained that his recommendation for senior officers to file their courtesy resignations is a shortcut to address the discovery of police officials with links to the drug trade.

Weve been doing that for so long alam mo naman ang tagal ng proseso ng husgado. Ang technicality, ang lahat, said Abalos. This is the only way to cleanse the ranks na mabilis.

[Translation: Weve been doing that for so long. You already know how long the judicial process takes  its technicality and all. This is the only way to cleanse the ranks fast.]

Beset by the problem of corrupt officers in the narcotics trade, including ninja cops that allegedly resell seized drugs, the PNP grapples in preserving its integrity with officers involved in kidnap-extortion schemes, rape cases, and murders, among others.

The plea for courtesy resignations could be an attempt to launch a genuine campaign against government corruption. However, in the face of long-standing integrity concerns, how could it address these institutional problems?

Despite numerous attempts to purge police ranks under various administrations, a political analyst points to the PNP's institutional chain of command as the root of the "mesh-type" issues.

Many of the PNP officials that later on assume the position of PNP chief are already retirables. The level of continuity is always hampered, Dr. Froilan Calilung, director of the Local Government Development Institute, said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

Calilung pointed out that most national police chiefs only hold the post for a year or several months.

He said they come into position when they are already on their way out, leaving inadequate time to institutionalize necessary changes.

While an attempt to clean the ranks is generally good, Calilung said Abalos appeal for courtesy resignations tainted the image of the PNP to an agency that is unable to make choices on its own. This may be attributed to the frequent changes in command to the point that its appointing authority had to step in.

6.7-billion shabu mess

Authorities destroyed nearly a metric ton of shabu valued at 6.7 billion that was confiscated from an arrested police sergeant in October.

In the days to come, lots of challenges and issues will be coming out under a new leadership, Azurin said in April, days before he turned over his responsibility to the new top cop, Benjamin Acorda.

Acordas promotion comes at the heels of allegations that a number of high-ranking police officials "covered up" the arrest of an anti-narcotics officer during the confiscation of 6.7 billion worth of illegal drugs  a claim Azurin denied.

Nearly a ton of shabu was confiscated from the property of Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr., intelligence officer of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG), which immediately led to his arrest. This was followed by the demotion of the anti-drug unit head, Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo.

READ: Abalos urges PNP officials linked to 6.7-B shabu haul to go on leave

Days after, a cyber-security report came out detailing a massive data breach that allegedly put over 1.2 million employee and applicant records of various agencies at risk. The PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group has been contacted by CNN Philippines for an update on its investigation into the data leak.

Ang problema kasi sa PNP, yung ano nila parang when it rains, it pours. Pag nasimulan, tuloy-tuloy, Calilung said. [The problem with the PNP, with what they do it's like when it rains, it pours. Once it starts, it goes on and on.]

The 6.7 billion shabu scandal, which led to a Senate probe and a criminal complaint against 50 top officers, as well as other integrity issues, ultimately had an impact on the public's opinion of the PNP and on the morale of the rest of law enforcement personnel, according to Calilung.

Right now, when you see a policeman, the image of [them] doing these illegal activities are rubbed on to you. The level of integrity, the level of respect to the authority is definitely diminished, he said.

We can assume na talagang low morale yung PNP ngayon dahil sa mga nangyayaring ito, added Calilung. [We can assume the PNP has really low morale now because of these issues.]

How the PNP could rise above controversies

Given the low morale among its line of officers who are supposed to "serve and protect" the public, whose perception has now changed for the worst, there is only one direction for the PNP to go: up.

The political expert emphasized that the PNP can only overcome its issues when it starts to deliver "high-impact" achievements, particularly in criminality that is tangible and concrete to Filipinos.

Kailangan nila ng mga programa or proyekto na talagang magyi-yield ng immediate tangible outcomes na mararamdaman ng tao, Calilung said. In that way, the perception will somehow be a little bit neutralized.

[They need programs or projects that will really yield immediate tangible outcomes that people can feel.]

From June to December 2022 - the first six months of Marcos term, the PNP reported a 6.37% drop in the crime rate in the country.

In the first five months of the Duterte administration in 2016, the crime rate fell by a whopping 31%.

I will provide you the funds. I will provide you the weapons needed to fight criminality, Duterte told the PNP a day after his inauguration as chief executive.

The Duterte and Marcos regimes have a striking difference in how they have dealt with crime, said Calilung, underscoring that the current president has a softer stance on criminality as his administration focuses more on fiscal reforms.

Duterte ran and won within the context of the drug war, Calilung said. In the case of Marcos, its really more of a pragmatic approach towards uplifting and solving economic imperatives of the country.

Whats next

The PNP earlier reported that crime incidents decreased in the first quarter of 2023, with cases of murder, homicide, physical injury, robbery, theft, rape, and carnapping down by 11.87% compared to the same period in 2022.

Police have also been tackling human trafficking cases and complaints of harassment by online lending apps.

RELATED: The crippling lure of online lending apps

Calilung claimed the president is seen to "crack the whip" on the PNP when his satisfaction and trust rating is affected by the agencys unscrupulous activities.

There are a lot of factors that might come into play, one is how these (issues) affect the current position of the president in line with his programs and also in line with is satisfaction and trust rating, he said.

But right now, its still a wait-and-see game, Calilung added. The Marcos administration currently aims to improve the economy as the country recoups from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

READ: 7 in 10 Pinoys satisfied with performance of Marcos admin in Q1  OCTA survey

CNN Philippines reached out to the Philippine National Police but has not received a response.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The Sandiganbayan has found Palawan 3rd District Rep. and former Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn guilty of malversation of public property over 14 armalite rifles that went missing in 2013.

In its decision handed down Friday, the anti-graft court's Third Division sentenced Hagedorn to up to seven years of imprisonment.

"In addition, accused Hagedorn shall suffer perpetual disqualification from holding any public office and loss of all retirement or gratuity benefits under the law," the court said.

The former mayor was also ordered to pay a fine of 490,000 or the estimated cost of the rifles with 6% yearly interest until fully paid.

Graft investigators said 20 firearms were issued to Hagedorn when he was mayor but only six of them were accounted for by the end of his term.

Hagedorn argued his former personnel held possession of the firearms, not him. However, the court pointed out that even if this is true, Hagedorn would still be liable because he allowed his personnel to keep public property for personal use.

The court also pointed out that Hagedorn did not return the firearms despite receiving three demand letters from the local government of Puerto Princesa City.

"This failure on the part of Hagedorn is already prima facie evidence that he has put such missing funds or property to personal use. Therefore, the burden is on him to overcome this presumption," the court said.

In a statement, the lawmaker said he is "saddened" by the decision, as he insisted that he was falsely convicted.

"I maintain my innocence of these charges and I maintain that I turned these firearms over to the PNP," Hagedorn wrote.

"In my years of public service, I have never enriched myself at the expense of the Filipino people. I steadfastly maintain my innocence of these charges against me," he added.

The congressman said he will pursue all available legal remedies to clear his name, and expressed belief that the evidence will eventually lead to his vindication.

CNN Philippines' Kristel Limpot contributed to this report. "While this is ongoing, I will continue to perform my constitutionally mandated duties to represent the interests of the people of the Third District of Palawan in the House of Representatives," Hagedorn said.

CNN Philippines' Kristel Limpot contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The country's corporate regulator has ordered six lending and financing firms to immediately halt their operations following complaints of abusive debt collection against their customers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) served a separate cease and desist orders (CDOs) last June 26 to Surity Cash Lending Corp., Populus Lending Corporation, U-Peso.PH Lending Corporation, FESL Lending Corp., Philippine Microdot Financing Corp., and Armorak Lending, Inc.

The order covers the companies branches, extensions, satellite offices, units, and online lending platforms (OLPs), together with , operators, promoters, representatives, and agents, the SEC statement on Friday read.

It added that the lending firms have violated their responsibility of fair and respectful treatment of their clients under the SEC memorandum circular No. 18 and Republic Act No. 11765 or the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act (FCPA).

Section 1 of the MC 18, in relation to the Section 4.4 of the RA 11765, prohibits any financial service providers from making use of threats, violence, or other criminal means to harm against their clients.

RELATED: SEC files raps vs online lending companies, BPOs for harassing clients

The case stemmed from a joint operation between the SEC authorities and the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group which resulted in the arrest of eight employees of Realm Shifters Business Process Outsourcing Services.

The company was found to be the third-party collecting agent for several OLPs and companies such as U-Peso, Philippine Microdot, and Armorak.

Following the issuance of the CDOs, the SEC said it has filed a criminal complaint against the lending and financing companies before the Department of Justice.

In September 2019, the regulator ordered the closure of 19 online lending companies citing complaints of invasion of privacy and harassment.

During the same month, it also padlocked 11 more companies over unfair loan terms and misrepresentations for fees and charges.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The Supreme Court has denied the petition of power distributor Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to review a previous court decision which said the firm violated the law when it cut off a consumer's electricity supply without prior notice two decades ago.

In a statement on Friday, the court said the company violated the Republic Act (RA) 7832 or the "Anti-electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994."

"In denying Meralco's petition for review on certiorari, the Court ruled that before Meralco can disconnect the electric service of a consumer on grounds cited under Section 4(a) of RA 7832, there must be prior written notice to the consumer to disconnect," the SC said.

"The Court emphasized that the said prior written notice must be given at least 48 hours prior to the disconnection, pursuant to due process requirements," it added. "Thus, the act of Meralco in cutting off the respondent's electricity on the same day the disconnection notice was given to the consumer was violative of due process requirements."

The ruling stems from a complaint for damages filed by Lucy Lu, who alleged that on Dec. 9, 1999, Meralco representatives forcibly entered the premises of her family-owned New Supersonic Industrial Corp. in Valenzuela City.

The representatives issued a notice of disconnection after the inspection and immediately enforced it, cutting off the electricity supply of the company's factory and Yu's residence.

She filed the complaint before the Regional Trial Court Branch 172 in Valenzuela City, which favored her. Meralco then elevated the case to the Court of Appeals (CA) which affirmed the ruling with modification on Nov. 26, 2020.

"The Court further held that Meralco is presumed to be in bad faith for its failure to follow the due notice requirement under RA 7832 during the disconnection of the Yu's electric service," the high court said.

"Hence, it denied Meralco's petition for review on certiorari, and affirmed the decision dated November 26, 2020 of the CA in CA-G.R. CV No. 111808, as follows: the award of temperate damages is reduced to 50,000; the award of moral damages is deleted for lack of basis; and the award of exemplary damages is reduced to 100,000. The Court ordered that the rest of the CA ruling stands," it added.

The Supreme Court has yet to publish the copy of its decision.
Cebu (CNN Philippines, June 30)  The Court of Appeals on Friday issued a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Bureau of Animal Industry's (BAI's) culling and zoning map policy in Cebu province amid the threat of African Swine Fever (ASF).

The TRO stemmed from the petition filed by the Cebu provincial government on April 18 that asked the appellate court to direct the BAI to "desist and refrain absolutely and perpetually from implementing its culling and zoning policy relating to the containment of the African Swine Fever."

"With this TRO, there is no more color-coding because the BAI has been restrained from implementing such color-coding so that for at least the next 60 days this has been lifted," said Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia in a press conference.

The provincial government said in its petition that BAI usurped the functions of the local government unit in handling hog diseases under the Local Government Code.

The local government also questioned the methods of BAI in determining an infected pig, saying it did not conduct a differential diagnosis to validate that an ASF virus was present in the province.

The provinces of Cebu and Negros Oriental on Thursday agreed to implement a uniform protocol in addressing threats of African Swine Fever (ASF).

Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia and Negros Oriental Governor Manuel Sagarbarria said they will sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on the matter next week, which will also lift restrictions imposed by the Bureau of Animal Industry.

"The plan, that was mandated by the national (government), the whatever infected and one kilometer radius, has not been very effective," said Sagarbarria during his meeting with Garcia at Cebu Capitol.

"We discussed as regards how to address the BAI, the policies of which have already caused negative economic impact to our hog raisers," said Garcia, who shared Sagarbarria's sentiment.

"So, we hope that with this live press conference, other chief executives will take notice, other governors and mayors, that have been affected by the culling policy as well as the color-coding policies of Bureau of Animal Industry," Garcia added.

The MOA will impose biosecurity measures for the safety of hogs and pork products when transported between the two provinces.

The memorandum will also lift mobility restrictions as Sagarbarria pointed out that Negros Oriental already has an excessive supply of hogs and pork products.

"Our live hog products and their processed pork can now cross borders. This is what we are aiming for. In reality, our live hog weight price is now between P85 to P90 pesos and that is very low," he said.

Sagarbarri said hog deaths in Negros Oriental were a result of culling and natural causes, and not because of ASF.

ASF cases in Negros Oriental were recorded in Dauin and Sibulan towns. Meanwhile, infections have spread in at least 12 towns in Cebu province.
Today is June 30, 2023 and here's what you need to know:

Colorado voters get to weigh in on next year's major party presidential nominations on Super Tuesday, but if past performance is any guide, scoring a win in the state's primary could be closer to kryptonite for some White House hopefuls.

As often as not in recent decades, national candidates who carry Colorado's primaries or caucuses have gone on to lose their party's nomination, sometimes ending their bids within weeks of claiming victory in the Rockies.

Just ask past Democratic presidential nominees Jerry Brown and Bernie Sanders, or GOP standard-bearers Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz.

The state's spotty track record backing nominees didn't appear to be on anyone's minds this week when Gov. Jared Polis joined with election and leading partisan officials to declare that Colorado's 2024 presidential primary will be held on March 5, along with contests scheduled in at least 14 other states and one territory  accounting for more than one-third of the delegates headed for next summer's Democratic and Republican national conventions.

If Colorado's primary doesn't get lost in the shuffle  a possibility with electoral giants California and Texas casting ballots on the same day  voters could be treated to splashy visits and intense, on-the-ground campaigning from a slew of presidential contenders, like happened three years ago when the state conducted its first primary in 20 years after a stretch of relying on precinct caucuses to kick off national delegate selection.

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely hand down a decision in a case out of Colorado that could permit artistically oriented businesses to decline service to LGBTQ customers.

On June 29, however, The New Republic reported that part of the evidence submitted in the lawsuit of 303 Creative v. Elenis references a purportedly gay customer who sought the services of plaintiff Lorie Smith, but who may not exist.

Smith is the owner of 303 Creative, a graphic design company. She seeks to expand her portfolio to wedding websites, but says her Christian beliefs do not permit her to design websites for same-sex weddings. Although she has not refused service yet, nor has Colorado taken action against her, she challenged the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act's (CADA) prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in places of public accommodation.

Her lawyers included a two-page message Smith allegedly received through her company site on Sept. 21, 2016. "Stewart" wrote that he was marrying his fiance, "Mike," the next year and "would love some design work done." He added he "might also" want a website.

Smith's lawsuit made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On the day before the justices' expected decision, Melissa Gira Grant of The New Republic reported that she had contacted "Stewart" using the phone number included in Smith's filing. Stewart, which is his real name, said he had never submitted the inquiry and that someone apparently "falsified" his information.

Colorado universities signaled they would modify their approach to diversity goals following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down the race-based components of the admissions programs at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina.

Education officials said their commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity and access will not diminish.

But the overarching question facing universities is how.

A statement from the University of Colorado  signed by the president and chancellors  hints at how the educational system intends to achieve its diversity goals in light of the court's sweeping conclusion that "eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it."

"Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin," the court's opinion stated. "This Nations constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."

In response, the university noted that diversity also encompasses demographic characteristics, while also encompassing diverse life experiences and perspectives.

For the first time since 2009, the Colorado Municipal League bestowed its highest honor on state legislators this week.

The organization recognized Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Sen. Rachel Zenzinger as "CML Legislative Heroes" on Monday for their work supporting municipalities during the 2023 legislative session. This award hasn't been given to any state legislator since Sen. Joyce Foster, D-Denver, 14 years ago.

Kevin Bommer, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, said Kirkmeyer and Zenzinger's actions "steadfastly supporting and defending local government decision-making" inspired the league to bestow the rare accolade.

It is disappointingly rare, but the league hopes their example ignites a commitment to partnership over preemption,'" Bommer said. "Issues this important know no partisan boundaries, and it was CMLs honor to acknowledge the effort they made to keep local control local and home rule at home during the 2023 legislative session.

The awards were presented at the Colorado Municipal League's annual conference, during which Kirkmeyer and Zenzinger spoke on one of the biggest local control policy debates of the year  Senate Bill 213.

A Boulder County judge was wrong to permit an alleged victim of sex assault and three of her friends or coworkers to testify about how she changed after the disputed rape, Colorado's second-highest court ruled last month in reversing the defendant's convictions.

By 2-1, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals concluded the victim's change in demeanor after Edgar Ramirez-Martinez allegedly assaulted her was not clearly relevant to the contested issue at trial: whether the victim, identified as B.M., consented to have sex.

"The evidence here showed the victims demeanor at undetermined points in time after the alleged sexual assault," wrote Judge Ted C. Tow III in the May 25 opinion. "It did not make the existence of B.M.s consent, or lack thereof, at the time of the alleged sexual assault any more or less probable."

Judge Timothy J. Schutz disagreed with that logic, arguing courts in other states have held that a victim's behavioral changes are relevant to analyzing consent as "psychological scars" of an uninvited injury. He also criticized the majority's suggestion that B.M.'s change in demeanor could simply mean she regretted a consensual sexual encounter.

"I do not agree that the psychological reaction, and associated behavioral and personality changes, of someone who has been sexually assaulted through an act committed without their consent is equivalent to the psychological harm that a person might feel for engaging in consensual sexual behavior that they later regret," he wrote.
Whether its hot dogs made of steak or a fart-powered car, weve all been guilty of playing an absurd game of Shark Tank among friends. And thanks to a recent Tweet from the shows villain, Kevin OLeary, you can now pitch your dumbest ideas directly to Mr. Wonderful himself (or more likely, a social media manager who decided to post this prompt in the first place).

While OLeary asked for ideas that were 200 characters or less, he didnt specify that they had to be good. Plus, given the heel OLeary plays on TV  and arguably in real life, too  it makes sense that many Twitter users wouldnt want to just hand over their Mark Cuban-worthy pitches all willy-nilly. Instead, fans and haters alike took some wild and hilarious swings at the assignment.

Here are the most ridiculous pitches that we would never take back behind the barn and shoot
An ongoing malware campaign has been pushing the Android banking Trojan, Anatsa, to online banking customers in the US, the UK, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, according to research by cybersecurity firm ThreatFabric.

The threat actors are distributing their malware via the Play Store, and already had over 30,000 installations as of March. The focus of the ongoing campaign is banks from US, UK, and DACH, while the target list of the malware contains almost 600 financial applications from all over the world, ThreatFabric said in its research.

"ThreatFabric is aware of multiple confirmed fraud cases, with confirmed losses caused by Anatsa, due to the Trojan's very advanced device takeover capabilities, which are able to bypass a wide array of existing fraud control mechanisms," ThreatFabric said.

Multiple droppers on Google Play in four months

In March, the threat actors launched a new malvertising campaign that would entice victims to download Anatsa dropper apps from Google Play. Researchers identified the dropper application on the Google Play Store used to deliver Anatsa on infected devices, posing as a PDF-reader application.

"Once installed, such an application would make a request to a page hosted on GitHub, where the dropper would get the URL to download the payload (also hosted on GitHub). The payloads would masquerade as an add-on to the original application (similar to what we have seen in previous campaigns)," ThreatFabric said.

Shortly after the researchers reported this dropper to Google, it was removed from the store. However, within a month the actors published another dropper, posing as a PDF viewer.
NHS details of more than a million patients may have been compromised in the recent cyberattack on the UKs University of Manchester, senior health chiefs have been warned. Thats according to a report by The Independent, which claims to have received leaked evidence that the ransomware attack affected an NHS patient data set that holds information on 1.1 million patients across 200 hospitals. Among the details potentially exposed are NHS numbers and the first three letters of patients postcodes, the report stated.

On June 9, the University of Manchester revealed it had suffered a cyber incident in which systems were accessed by an unauthorised party. At the time, it said it was likely that data had been copied, whilst in-house and external experts were working to resolve the incident, the University said. It notified the relevant authorities including the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The university has since confirmed that some of its systems have been accessed by a criminal entity with a small proportion of data copied that relates to some students and alumni. This includes names, contact details, gender, dates of birth, university ID numbers, and fee statuses, the university said.

However, the revelation that exposed information may also include NHS data could be of greater significance, with NHS chiefs apparently warned by the university by that there is "potential for NHS data to be made available in the public domain," according to The Independent. Some patients will not know they are on the database, launched in 2012, as they did not need to give consent to be recorded on it, it claimed.

University of Manchester removes off-campus VPN access following attack

In the wake of the incident, the University of Manchester has temporarily removed access to its GlobalProtect VPN service off campus as a precaution. It is not expected to be made available again before August 2023, it said. Meanwhile, some IT services remain affected, resulting in delays to application and admission processes, the university wrote.

It has told students and employees to continue working as normal unless advised otherwise but urged users to follow security guidance including resetting passwords, reporting suspicious activity, avoiding the creation of extra backups, and updating software.
A previously unseen command-and-control (C2) framework called PhonyC2 has been attributed to the Iranian state-sponsored group MuddyWater.

The custom-made, and continuously developing PhonyC2 was used by the threat actor to exploit the log4j vulnerability in the Israeli SysAid software, the attack against Technion, an Israeli institution, and the ongoing attack against the PaperCut print management software, according to a report by Deep Instinct.

"At the beginning of May 2023, Microsoft's Twitter post mentioned they had observed MuddyWater exploiting CVE-2023-27350 in the PaperCut print management software," Deep Instinct said in its report, adding that while Microsoft did not share any new indicators, they noted that MuddyWater was using tools from prior intrusions to connect to their C2 infrastructure and referenced their blog on the Technion hack, which the researchers already established was using PhonyC2.

"About the same time, Sophos published indicators from various PaperCut intrusions they have seen. Deep Instinct found that two IP addresses from those intrusions are PhonyC2 servers based on URL patterns," Deep Instinct said.

MuddyWater has been active since 2017 and is generally believed to be a subordinate unit within Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security. Its top targets include Turkey, Pakistan, the UAE, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the US, Azerbaijan, and Afghanistan. The group primarily conducts cyberespionage activities and intellectual property (IP) theft attacks; on some occasions, they have deployed ransomware on targets.

Custom-made PhonyC2

Three malicious PowerShell scripts that were a part of the archive of PhonyC2_v6.zip were identified in April by Deep Instinct.
Now wash your hands. It is the simplest, the most obvious hygiene advice any of us will ever hear  drummed into us from the time we're old enough to talk.

During the pandemic, hand-washing was perhaps the sole precaution against Covid that did not provoke howls of controversy. People argued endlessly about masks, about vaccines and social distancing, but everyone seemed to accept the efficacy of soap and water.

TV presenter Richard Osman joked on Twitter that his hands were so rough from washing that he could use them to sand wood. We knew what he meant, and laughed, but we all kept washing our hands. It was the only sane thing to do.

So it's astounding to realise that this advice was once so controversial that the first doctor to try it saw his career destroyed  and ended his life in an asylum for the insane.

Now his story is brought to the stage by actor Mark Rylance, in an acclaimed production at the at the Harold Pinter Theatre, called Dr Semmelweis  which opened last night.

Pioneer: Actor Sir Mark Rylance was so impressed by the story of Dr Semmelweis he approached the Bristol Old Vic's artistic director to co-write a stage adaptation

This 1930s photograph shows a nurse in a starched cap and uniform, washing her hands in an improved, bacteria-controlled environment

Ignaz Semmelweis was a conscientious medic, born in Hungary in 1818, who completed his degree in Vienna and landed his first big job, aged 29, at a teaching hospital in the city. He was an assistant obstetrician, caring for women on the maternity ward.

The death rate among these young mothers horrified him. As months passed, with fatalities every day, he calculated that between 13 and 18 per cent of women seen by him and his colleagues died after childbirth.

Some didn't survive the ordeal of giving birth; others were already weak from illnesses such as tuberculosis, which was rife. But most seemed quite healthy  until they succumbed to a mysterious disease known as 'childbed fever'.

It began within three days of birth, with sweating and a rapid heartbeat. As the body temperature soared, agonising stomach cramps set in. Treatment was brutal, with enemas and blood-letting, and leeches applied to the inner thighs.

Mortality rates were at least 25 per cent  and during a bad outbreak, such as the one Semmelweis saw in early 1847, almost every case was fatal.

But he noticed a bizarre pattern. Women who were attended at home by midwives, and not in hospitals with doctors, were far less likely to catch the fever. In fact, just 2 per cent of them were dying  one case for every eight or nine attended by Semmelweis and the other male medics.

The young Hungarian, a man with awkward social manners who was embarrassed by his own accent among his urbane Austrian colleagues, tried to make sense of it.

He spoke to his superior, Professor Klein, who blamed the hospital's new ventilation system. Childbed fever, also known as puerperal fever, was spread by bad air, he said, citing the miasmatic theory that was prevalent at the time blaming disease on airborne vapours.

A Jeyes' Disinfectants advertisement from around 1890, featuring a nurse washing her hands

Semmelweis wasn't convinced: 'To me, it appeared logical that patients who experienced street births would become ill at least as frequently as those who delivered in the clinic. What protected those who delivered outside the clinic from these destructive, unknown influences?'

Despondent, he took a holiday, to Venice: 'I hoped the Venetian art treasures would revive my mind and spirit, which had been so seriously affected by my experiences in the maternity hospital.'

But he returned to tragedy. One of his closest friends pricked his own hand in the operating theatre. Within days, he was dead, from a blood infection. The symptoms closely resembled childbed fever.

Semmelweis became obsessed with discovering the cause. He developed another theory: this was a teaching hospital, where doctors routinely dissected corpses. That didn't happen, of course, in home births.

Perhaps the dead bodies were infected with invisible specks of the disease, which he called 'cadaverous particles'. He campaigned for a policy of hand-washing after every dissection, using chlorinated lime solution as a disinfectant: 'Ordinary washing with soap is not sufficient to remove all adhering cadaverous particles,' he said. 'This is proven by the smell retained on the hands.'

The results were dramatic. Within three months, death rates plunged to 1 per cent  even less than in home births.

Semmelweis's simple discovery promised to save countless thousands of lives, perhaps millions worldwide. But instead of adopting his method, the medical establishment turned on him. One Danish doctor named Levy savaged him. The reduction in deaths was a statistical blip, he said, a meaningless coincidence. Hand-washing couldn't possibly affect hygiene: 'It seems improbable that enough infective material or vapour could be secluded around the fingernails to kill a patient.'

Others insisted it was impossible for doctors to be the culprits, because 'a gentleman's hands cannot transmit disease'.

Semmelweis, brilliant but charmless, reacted badly. He began writing furious letters denouncing his fellow medics, accusing them of murder. 'History will not be unfair if it remembers you as a medical Nero,' he told one professor.

At the end of his two-year tenure in 1849, Ignaz Semmelweis was dismissed from the hospital. His career was over.

Raging with frustration, he wrote to every hospital and medical school he could think of, explaining his theory and begging their principals to adopt it. These letters were crammed with libellous attacks on the Viennese establishment that had ruined him, and made him more enemies than ever.

He became so deranged that some biographers suspect he had early onset Alzheimer's, or perhaps dementia brought on by syphilis  a common disease among 19th-century obstetricians. He was also drinking heavily.

In 1865, sick of his denunciations, a group of doctors applied to have Semmelweis confined to a mental hospital. He was lured to the asylum on the pretext of carrying out an inspection, then seized by guards who forced him into a straitjacket and beat him till he was almost unconscious.

In the struggle, he gashed his hand. Infection set in and two weeks later he was dead from a fever, very like the ones he had fought all his life to prevent.

Semmelweis didn't live to see his ideas adopted. But the theories buried in his letters made good medical sense, and were tried by more open-minded doctors  who realised that they worked.

His story became celebrated. In 1938, a ten-minute Hollywood movie with the melodramatic title That Mothers Might Live won an Oscar for the best 'short'.

Actor Mark Rylance discovered the story in a second-hand book, and was so impressed he approached the Bristol Old Vic's artistic director to co-write a stage adaptation.

The play they devised features dancers as the ghosts of childbed fever victims. 'Semmelweis was constantly haunted,' says Rylance, 'by those he had seen die in the wards and whom, in some cases, he himself had unwittingly killed.'

The play, at the Harold Pinter Theatre in association with the National, has already been a sell-out in Bristol.

But as well as in art, Semmelweis lives on in our modern lexicon.

The instinctive reluctance of doctors to accept new evidence, especially when it makes them look bad, is known as the 'Semmelweis Reflex'.

Studies show that even today, doctors tend to be lazier than nurses about washing their hands.

'The ego can kick in after you have been in practice a while,' one medic in an emergency ward told the New York Times. 'You say: 'Hey! I couldn't be carrying the bad bugs. It's the other hospital personnel.' '

Few things are more insulting, after all, than to be accused of poor hygiene. But germs, like Dr Ignaz Semmelweis, don't care about good manners.
The Left-wing Establishment will surely be gloating. Thanks to this bizarre verdict, anarchy will continue at our borders.

But it is not just the Tory Government's migration strategy that has suffered a blow at the hands of the Appeal Court, which yesterday effectively outlawed the plan to deport illegal arrivals to the central African republic of Rwanda.

The verdict  and note the Lord Chief Justice was outvoted by the other two  represents another advance for the Blob, that nexus of officials, lawyers, campaigners and activists who are determined to enforce the 'progressive' orthodoxy  even though millions of British people disagree.

Some have argued the court's decision is an insult to British democracy. I would not go so far.

Nevertheless, in poll after poll, the public has expressed its support for the Rwanda scheme as part of a crackdown on the illegal routes across the Channel. One survey showed that 46 per cent of respondents backed the proposal, compared to 28 per cent who didn't. Yet evidently that outlook counts for nothing.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference following the launch of new legislation on migrant channel crossings at Downing Street on March 7, 2023

The Government's Rwanda plan is a coherent attempt to smash the Channel racket by making it clear to illegal migrants they will not be allowed to settle in Britain. Instead, their asylum claims will be processed overseas.

In the minds of open border lobbyists, such an approach is the height of cruelty. Yesterday Evner Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, described the Appeal Court's ruling as 'a victory for reason and compassion'.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The biggest winners from the court's decision are the criminal gangs of people-smugglers with the authorities hamstrung in the face of their ruthless greed and exploitation.

The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, so more deaths seem inevitable after the ruling.

In their denunciation of Rwanda as unsafe, the Appeal Court judges stressed they were referring to deficiencies in its asylum system rather than wider disorder.

Their concern was that, despite assurances from the Rwandan government, some migrants might be removed to their homelands to face persecution or torture.

Of course, such arguments are typical of bleeding-heart liberals outside the courts, such as the open-border fanatics so quick to accuse others of racism at the slightest disparagement of other cultures.

Driven by their political impulse to demonise Rwanda for doing a deal with the Tory government, they resort to gruesome stereotypes.

James Wilson, the deputy director of Detention Action, labelled Rwanda 'an autocratic state which tortures and kills people' and called the government policy 'brutal and harmful'.

Yet Rwanda has made tremendous strides since its civil war in the 1990s, and is one of Africa's success stories. The rates of crime, for instance, in its capital Kigali are far lower than in London.

A group of people thought to be migrants are driven away from the Port of Dover in Kent after arriving on Border Force vessels following a number of small boat incidents in the Channel on May 25, 2023

A doctor who undertook a placement at Kigali's central hospital wrote that Rwanda 'is the safest developing country I've travelled in. I felt safer walking around at night in Kigali than in my home town of London.'

In any case, when it comes to asylum deficiencies, it would be hard to beat the shambles created by the British Home Office with its gargantuan backlog of over 160,000 cases. Incredibly, each asylum staffer manages on average to process just one claim a week.

Its failure to deport serious criminals, and its long-winded procedures mean that lawyers can run up huge bills from the taxpayer in legal aid while officials are gripped by inertia.

That is the true spirit of the Left. Obstructions to the migrant influx are to be challenged by any means necessary, whether through the courts, public demonstrations and parliamentary gambits.

Definitions of modern slavery have been hijacked to provide more scope for illegal migrants to evade deportation, just as the Human Rights Act has been turned a vehicle for bogus asylum seekers to evade the law.

Only this week, the House of Lords made four major amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill that contains the Rwanda scheme.

One of these measures would allow asylum seekers to stay in the UK while their claims are processed, effectively nullifying the whole purpose of the Bill. With its built-in 'progressive' majority, the unelected House of Lords's meddling is making a farce of British democracy.

Dishonesty runs through a deluge of Left-wing propaganda which insists most illegal migrants are fleeing from persecution.

The truth is most of the illegal migrants are young men with sufficient cash to pay the smugglers' fees. Until recently, no less than a third of them hailed from Albania, which is part of Nato. Since they are in France, the Netherlands or Belgium as they plot their journey across the Channel, they have by definition already arrived in a safe country.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak onboard Border Agency cutter HMC Seeker during a visit to Dover

Some argue the Channel problem has been exaggerated so no action is necessary. This is more dangerous nonsense. The numbers are huge. No less than 45,000 people crossed the Channel last year, putting the total number of migrants who arrived here by boat at 85,000 since 2018.

This year it is feared the figure could rise to 80,000. No functioning, cohesive state should tolerate such disdain for the law. What flourishes across the Channel is a parallel, makeshift immigration system controlled by gangsters.

Its existence not only destroys faith in British criminal justice but is unfair to other immigrants who follow the correct procedures.

Not usually concerned about value for taxpayers' money, Left-wingers have taken to wailing about the cost of sending illegal migrants to Rwanda which could amount to 170,000 per case, according to the Home Office. These moans ignore the long-term financial gains of deterring the small boats and the impact of doing nothing.

Without a crackdown, the cost of housing and asylum could rise from 6million-a-day to 32million a day, or 11billion-a-year by 2026, the equivalent of 2p on income tax.

Britain has been through a social revolution, with the fabric of our nation transformed by the soaring number of arrivals. It is a vast strain on our civic infrastructure and social solidarity. Yet it is a revolution that no one ever voted for.

No politician stood on a platform of higher immigration. No party ever sought a mandate for an open-door approach. The public were promised the opposite: tighter controls and more rigorous checks.

Yet power is draining away from elected ministers  and that should concern us all.
Princess Beatrice is among those with a normal job, as she is a vice president at a tech company

Kate and William want Charlotte to grow up 'expecting to get a job'

They belong to a family that is the embodiment of privilege and power.

But for the likes of non-working royals Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie they still have to earn their own salaries like the rest of us.

And it seems Kate and William have ambitions for Princess Charlotte, who is third in line to the throne, to follow suit and get a job when she is old enough.

Daily Mail's Richard Eden revealed earlier this year: 'From what I hear, the Prince and Princess of Wales want Charlotte, aged seven, to grow up with the expectation that she will get a job and not be a full-time royal.'

This path for the young Princess would be in keeping with her grandfather, King Charles III's, vision for a slimmed-down monarchy.

Here MailOnline reveals the royals who hold down jobs alongside royal duties...

'The Prince and Princess of Wales want Charlotte, aged seven, to grow up with the expectation that she will get a job and not be a full-time royal'

Princess Eugenie: Global art gallery director

Princess Eugenie, 33, and her sister Beatrice are not working royals, which means they are not supported by the Sovereign Grant and are not paid to represent the royal family.

They do not have to uphold the same rules as working royals do, but still need to be present for major royal events.

The fact that the pair are not working royals means they are both relatively self-funded, although Eugenie's wedding cost the taxpayer 2million for security, whereas the cost of Beatrice's wedding was settled privately.

Eugenie scored very highly in her GCSEs, gaining two A*s, four As and three Bs. She then went on to smash her A-Levels, obtaining two As in Art and English Literature and a B in History of Art.

The mother-of-two studied a BA in English Literature, History of Art and Politics at Newcastle University and achieved a 2.1 in 2012.

She currently holds a role as director of Hauser & Wirth an art gallery where she has worked since 2015.

Princess Eugenie currently holds a role as director of Hauser & Wirth an art gallery which has a branch in Mayfair, London

Hauser & Wirth has a branch in Mayfair, London and has expanded globally in the last 30 years, to Hong Kong, the USA, Spain and Switzerland.

The gallery represents over 90 artists and estates who inspire their 'diverse range of activities that engage with art, education, conservation, and sustainability.'

Speaking previously about her career, she said: 'I knew I definitely wouldnt be a painter, but I knew this was the industry for me. I love being able to share my passion for art with people.'

Alongside that she also takes part in organisations such as The Anti-Slavery Collective, which she co-founded in 2017. They aim to 'raise awareness of modern slavery as a global epidemic' and encourage people such as law enforcement and policy makers to share ideas on how to tackle human trafficking.

Meanwhile, speaking about his daughters' careers, in 2016, Prince Andrew said in a statement: 'As a father, my wish for my daughters is for them to be modern working young women, who happen to be Members of the Royal Family, and I am delighted to see them building their careers.

'When they do support the Royal Family in its work this is very much appreciated by my Family and most importantly by these organisations and to those whom their participation makes such a difference to their lives.'

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden: Design company founder

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden is a founder of design brand NJRD which launched in 2020 and aims to 'translate Scandinavian moments into desirable and useful products for you in your everyday life.'

They sell 'long-lasting' and 'quality' products such as wool carpets, tableware and throws which they say they always aim to make as sustainably as they can.

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden is a founder of design brand NJRD which launched in 2020

The Prince also enjoys taking to the track from time to time, as he enjoys motor sport as a hobby

The 44-year-old Prince undertook a two-year course in graphic design at Forsberg School in Stockholm for trainee graphic designers and art directors between 2004 and 2006.

In the year he finished the course, he continued studying in the US and was offered an internship at the National Geographic Society in Washington DC.

When he's not undertaking royal and graphic design duties, the Prince can be found enjoying motor sport events, alongside encouraging young children to launch their racing career by presenting the Prince Carl Philip Racing Cup each year.

Princess Beatrice: Tech company vice president

Princess Beatrice, 34, is a non-working member of the British royal family like her sister, Eugenie, and is a vice president of an American tech company.

Beatrice graduated with a 2.1 in BA in History and History of Ideas from Goldsmiths University in 2011.

She was diagnosed with dyslexia aged seven and achieved nine GCSEs - including two A*s and went on to get three A-levels in History, Drama and Film Studies.

She currently works as the Vice President of partnerships and strategy at Afiniti, a tech company based in the US

She's had a number of roles since graduating, including working for rather high-profile companies such as Sony, where she was an international production analyst.

She currently works as the Vice President of partnerships and strategy at Afiniti, a software and data company based in New York which focuses on using AI technology in call centres.

On a website profile, it says she is responsible for 'the management of the strategic Afiniti partnerships as well as company growth through unique initiatives and client development.'

Prince Nikolai of Denmark: Model

Prince Nikolai of Denmark signed a contract with Scoop Models, based in Denmark, when he was 18 in 2018.

He was snapped up just after his runway debut with Burberry at London fashion week where he sported two plaid looks.

Prince Nikolai of Denmark has modelled for some big names such as Dior and Vogue

Since then he has modelled for some big names such as Dior, Vogue, and Numero magazine, but he told Danish magazine Tt pa in 2019: 'I do not want a career as a model. I'd rather look at it as a job, which can help me along the way while educating me.'

The 23-year-old model graduated from from Herlufsholm School in Nstved on 26 June 2018 and started a Business Administration and Service Management course at Copenhagen Business School the following year.

Princess Michael of Kent: Author

Princess Michael of Kent, the wife of the Queen's first cousin the Prince of Kent, is a published author who has written several books about European history and royalty.

Her latest book was released in 2017 and was named 'A Cheetah's Tale' and is described as an 'autobiographical tale from Princess Michael of Kent of a girl growing up and the incredible bond that can exist between people and animals.'

Prince Michael of Kent has his own consultancy company where as Princess has authored a number of books and has lectured for over 25 years on historical topics

Along with releasing a trilogy of books, the 78-year-old also wrote The Serpent and the Moon in 2004 which was set in French Renaissance and based on a true story of 'love, war, intrigue, betrayal, and persecution.'

Prior to her title, the Princess has spent more than 25 years lecturing on a variety of historical topics such as The Influence of China in the Arts of mid 18th Century Europe and Monarchy and Motherhood: The Road to Power which aims to explore how upbringing affects the royal family.

Her husband, Prince Michael of Kent, was granted permission from the late Queen to earn his own money as he does not receive the annual parliamentary allowances that other royals benefit from.

Therefore, he owns his own private company where he offers specialist consultancy advice in various sectors such as property, education and even medical.

Princess Sofia of Sweden: Hospital assistant

Princess Sofia of Sweden took matters into her own hands during the pandemic by doing a three day course to become a hospital assistant to relieve some pressure off medical staff.

Sofia, 38, who is married to Prince Carl Philip, took the course at Sophiahemmet University College in Stockholm, where she is an honorary chair member.

Princess Sofia of Sweden took matters into her own hands during the pandemic by doing a three day course to become a hospital assistant to relieve some pressure off medical staff

She disinfected equipment, cleaned the hospital and worked in the kitchen during the pandemic

Pictures show the Swedish princess smiling as she stands in her scrubs a safe distance away from other healthcare workers.

The university was training up to 80 people a week to help lift the heavy burden placed on doctors and medical workers in the country, according to local media reports.

The Swedish Royal Court shared a statement at the time which said: 'In the crisis we find ourselves in, the Princess wants to get involved and make a contribution as a voluntary worker to relieve the large workload of health care professionals.'

People reported that although she did not work directly with patients, she supported doctors and nurses by disinfecting equipment, do shifts cleaning the hospital and also help cook in the kitchen.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands: Pilot

It seems the King of the Netherlands swaps his crown for a pilot's cap, as he has been flying for more than two decades alongside completing his royal duties. He gained his Commercial Pilots Licence in 1987.

He is a regular guest pilot at KLM and works about two shifts a month as a co-pilot. KLM had a fleet of Fokker 70, but since these were phased out, the King retrained to fly Boeing 737s instead, gaining his license in 2017.

The official royal website says that the King is 'extremely interested' in flying planes, but says that he views flying as more of a hobby than a job.

King Willem-Alexander is a regular guest pilot at KLM and works about two shifts a month as a co-pilot

And I bet you're wondering if people recognised a King was flying their plane?

Well Willem-Alexander said that since 9/11, security has been stricter, meaning that passengers rarely recognise him in his uniform and cap - especially since he does not need to give his name when making announcements.

He told De Telegraaf: 'Before September 11, the cockpit door was open. People regularly came to have a look and thought it was nice or surprising that I was sitting there.'

The 55-year-old says that the 'most relaxing part of flying' is that you cannot take your problems into the sky because of the level of responsibility you have for the people onboard.

Prince Joachim of Denmark: Defence attache

Prince Joachim of Denmark has worked as a defence attache in Paris (at the Danish Embassy) since 2020. His role entails developing, protecting and promoting the defence interests of his country in the place he has been assigned to, which in this case is France.

The role also means that the Prince has diplomatic immunity and status.

However, Danish newspaper BT reported the family will relocate to Washing DC after his four children were stripped of their prince and princess titles by Queen Margrethe II.

It was said in December last year that the Prince has gotten a new job in the defence industry. His current job is expected to come to an end in June, meaning the royal family are likely to travel across the pond later this year.
An influencer has spoken about the differences between Australia and the UK and admitted that the culture is so different it's completely changed her routine.

Emily Brogan, who has lived in London for ten months but is originally from Brisbane, made a video on her TikTok, racking up 1.8 million views and thousands of comments.

She detailed differences like how she makes her bed, what time she turns in for the night and even where she buys alcohol.

She said: 'Here's some things I can just really get behind and I really support about the UK.

'Firstly I now wear a singlet - what you guys in the UK call a vest - when it's about fifteen degrees.

Emily Brogan, who has lived in London for ten months but is originally from Brisbane, made a video on her TikTok

'Don't even get me started on early twenties, f****g legs are fully out on display, let me tell ya, it's a great time.

'I will say though, the temperature here, it is different, thirty degrees here, very different to thirty degrees in Australia.

'Thirty degrees here I'm like phew wee walk outside, feel like I've been pressed between a toastie machine.

'Thirty degrees in Australia, it's nice you know. Go for a dip in the pool, drive to the beach.

'So I feel like optimum temperature here would be like I reckon is like 26 degrees. if it's thirty, I'm like f***, I'm staying inside for the day.'

Emily said she now changes her duvet cover every week, but said she only used to change the top sheet every week.

She explained: 'You'd have a top sheet in Australia and here they don't really have that and I'm like well, I'm gonna give it a go.'

She said that this did take some getting used to but says she really likes it because she feels as though she's in a new space every time she changes it.

Emily continued by saying: 'I now eat dinner at like eight pm - you're probably like "oh that's not that late"

The Aussie added that she now changes her quilt every week, whereas she would only change what is called a 'top sheet' in Australia

'But for me I used to eat dinner at five pm religiously every night.

'Whereas here, I think because the sun sets so late, like in Australia, Brisbane where I'm from, it would set at like still six, six thirty.

'Here, it is literally insane now that it's summer time, it sets at like ten pm. I finish work and I'm like "what are we gonna do for the day? It's just f*****g started."

Emily's last change to her routine is that she now goes to Sainsburys or Tesco to get alcohol.

But in Australia she explains there is a place called a bottle-o, which is a store that only sells alcohol, as they cannot buy it in a supermarket.

Emily says that whenever she wanted to get alcohol, she would have to travel to a bottle-o which just wasn't 'convenient' for her.

Emily says she now eats dinner three hours later than she would have done if she was in Australia

Her followers took to the comments to discuss the video, with many people relating to the heat in the UK

People took to the comments to write what they thought about the video, with many relating to the UK heat.

One user said: 'Finally someone who understands the temp difference.'

Another penned: 'Thank you for validating what we all say about the heat. It is SO DIFFERENT and we are not okay.'

A third wrote: 'Waitttt the sunset being so early in summer Aus is mind blowing!'

A fourth wrote: 'It hit 40 degrees last summer in London, as another Aussie here - I couldnt cope.'
Henley revellers were spotted making the most of the sunny weather and packing in some last-minute tipples while the third day of the regatta came to a close.

Glamourous attendees and their dates headed home with drinks in hand alongside the riverbank as the cleaning crew got to work.

The rowing event, which was established in 1839, takes place every year and sees teams compete in more than 300 races along the river in Oxfordshire.

Fans looks in high spirits as they made their way home along the riverbank.

One woman supported by a male friend could be seen bent double with laughter.

Glamourous racegoers and their dates sluggishly headed home along the riverbank as the cleaning crew got to work on day three of Henley's Regatta

A stylish couple enjoyed one last glass of prosecco as they headed home from the race last night

Two racegoers sat on the floor, gazing at their phones as they contemplated how to get home

Elsewhere, racegoers sat down on the floor, contemplating their day while waiting for their ride home. And some women took off their shoes after a whole day on heels.

Police officers patrolling the event had their work cut out for them, with certain revellers urinating in the Thames and others piling on boats already filled to the brim.

In 2021 it was announced that women would be allowed to wear trousers to the Henley Royal Regatta for the first time since it was established in 1839.

The long-standing sartorial rules - which asked for over-the-knee skirts and no trousers, and a blazer or smart jacket - crumbled under pressure from campaigners who branded the former dress code 'symbolic of an era when women couldn't compete and were just there to look pretty'.

Those in attendance this year took full advantage of the relaxed rules, with a number opting to pair their floral gowns with trainers, sandals or Converse sneakers.

Others wore stylish summer gowns with elegant headpieces and wedged heels, while some emulated Wimbledon fashion and wore immaculate white ensembles.

A couple leaned on each other as they were spotted leaving the event. The woman wore an elegant blue day dress

While others headed home, a group of revellers kept the party going on the banks, sitting on empty plastic bags

Keeping their composure! A couple donning stripes and a glamourous racegoer dressed in red were spotted heading home

One coordinated couple matched their outfits with tones of white and lilac

The regatta will see national clubs from up and down the country vying for glory on the River Thames in a number of races.

The popular sporting event comes hand-in-hand with a day of picnics and drinking.

Teams compete in over 300 races of an international standard on the Thames, which can include Olympic rowers as well as crews new to the event.

It was first staged in 1839 and has been held annually every year - except during the two World Wars and 2020 due to Covid-19.

One reveller proudly wearing his rowing club's jacket scrolled on his phone while polishing off his beer

Some racegoers took to the water in their own boats to enjoy a refreshing glass of rose

A trio of stylish racegoers sporting maxi summer dresses chatted as they left the race

Two rowing enthusiasts took their shoes off and sighed with relief after a day in their strappy heels

As some racegoers began heading home, others kept the party going with some more drinks by the pier

One reveller could count on the support of her friends as she left Henley holding on to a gentleman's jacket

Laughing out loud, the woman, who seemed to be having a blast, was bent double last night

Eventually the two gentlemen stepped in to escort the glamourous racegoer on her way back home

This year, the six-day regatta will for the first time allow international entrants to the junior men's eights, as well as teams from British private and state schools.

Sir Steve Redgrave, chairman of the Henley Royal Regatta, said one major British private school feared opening up the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup to international teams would mean students competing against 'superclubs'.

Sir Steve said he attended a meeting of 55 schools where one, which he didn't name, wanted the cup to remain closed to international competitors.

But he added it was going to happen 'sooner or later' and it was the 'right thing to do'.

A most needed swap - a racegoer in a floral summer dress was spotted switching her heels to flats

A black-clad racegoer checked his watch as he was spotted leaving Henley with friends

Two revellers were spotted chatting away on their way out of Henley, while a couple were also spotted leaving

These racegoers looked composed as they left, but one looked worse for wear with their shirt half-tucked into their trousers

A rowing aficionado sported a wide grin as he was seen carrying two umbrellas, a bumbag and flip flops

A racegoer in a pink dress put a guiding hand on her partner's collar as they left the party

Several racegoers all followed each other as they made their way back to the roads when the event came to a close

Revellers lucky enough to have access to a boat of their own kept the party going into the evening

Two glamourous racegoer chatted with friends while finishing their beers in the car park

Police officers arrived at the site to make sure the third day's proceedings didn't get out of hand

Some officers were seen chatting away as they patrolled Henley. Meanwhile, revellers packed up their belongings

Emergency responders were seen touring the site on their bike, equipped with all the necessities

In a podcast this month, Sir Steve was asked whether schools, including Eton College, St Paul's School and St Edward's School, should be concerned about the rise of 'big US clubs coming over to race  they are very fast'.

He said: 'One of those top schools didn't want it. But it was going to happen sooner or later. We can't stop this, in fact it's the right thing to do.'

Sir Steve explained that rowing cities in the United States were 'huge' and clubs were state-wide and not school-oriented like in Britain.

Cleaning crew members in orange jackets swooped in to pick up the mess left after a third day of partying on the riverbank

Elegant boating enthusiasts enjoyed one last drink at sunset while the common of the mortals went home

He said this meant their rowing clubs were a 'little bit bigger' because they draw upon rowers from more schools.

The chairman added: 'What we don't want is any country to be able to put a crew together, which is almost a national eight [team].

'It's not an event for national eights  it's for the top juniors from their rowing establishments.'
An influencer went to Milan for the day for just 20 and people have said that the bargain trip is cheaper than London.

Daisy Robinson, from Cambridge, was ecstatic when she managed to bag herself cheap flights to the city in north Italy.

She wrote to her 214,000 followers on TikTok: 'Jump on that 20 flight asap girlies.'

She travelled with a friend and they managed to fit in many touristy activities during their short trip, although she didn't specify how much she spent while she was there.

Daisy looked excited as she was filmed boarding the Ryanair flight on the morning of her trip.

Daisy looked excited as her friend filmed her as they boarded their 20 RyanAir flight to Milan

When the pair arrived, they walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

This is Italy's oldest active shopping centre and it's one of the major landmarks people visit when they go there.

The girls then stopped off for an authentic pizza and a cool beverage as they stared out the window and looked at Milan's impressive architecture.

On the video, the influencer wrote: 'This is your sign to go to Milan for the day.'

Daisy and her friend even had an Aperol Spritz as they sat outside and soaked up the Mediterranean sun.

Climbing up to a high view point, the traveller then filmed the Duomo di Milano, the city's cathedral and another iconic building.

Daisy and her friend then had time to do some shopping and headed to European fashion retailer Bershka and sat by a beautiful fountain.

As the day drew to an end, they both headed back to the airport on a train and got their flight back to the UK in the evening.

Daisy and her friend even had an Aperol Spritz as they sat outside and soaked up the Mediterranean sun

Daisy and her friend then had time to do some shopping and headed to European fashion retailer Bershka and sat by a beautiful fountain

The girls then stopped off for an authentic pizza and a cool beverage as they stared out the window and looked at Milan's impressive architecture

The view has been viewed more than 200,000 times and has received hundreds of comments

Daisy said that they flew into Malpensa airport, which she said is only a 40 minute train ride to the centre.

The view has been viewed more than 200,000 times and has received hundreds of comments.

One user said: 'Cheaper than London,' followed by a crying emoji.

Another asked where the cheapest flights are and Daisy responded with 'RyanAir!'

A third penned: 'Girl please let me know how you did this, I look and they're so expensive.'

Another added: 'Second this! So good.'
The Dutch royals have shot their annual family portraits in the Hague

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The Dutch royal family have released very relaxed snaps for their annual portraits, leaving their dog Mambo to steal the show.

Queen Maxima, 52, and King Willem-Alexander, 56, beamed as they posed with their three daughters, Princesses Catharina-Amalia, 19, Alexia, 18, and Ariane, 16, in the pictures taken on the Zuiderstrand during the traditional photo session in the Hague.

For their close up, the royals donned casual looks, with all but the Queen wearing jeans.

Maxima looked very elegant in an off-white set from American brand Tory Burch.

The tight-knit family seemed to be having a blast as they fought off the strong breeze sweeping the beach, with their white cross Mambo taking pride of place in the Queen's arms.

Queen Maxima, 52, and King Willem-Alexander, 56, beamed as they posed with their three daughters, Princesses Catharina-Amalia, 19, Alexia, 18, and Ariane, 16, and the family dog Mambo, in the pictures taken on the Zuiderstrand during the traditional photo session in the Hague

White cross Mambo clearly took pride of place during the photoshoot as he posed in the Queen's arms

Even in a casual look, the Dutch Queen remained as elegant as ever.

Her Tory Burch set consisted of a pleated midi-length skirt with a scalloped lacy hem and a matching top with short sleeves and the same hemline.

Her blonde locks cascaded freely down her shoulders in a wavy blowdry that added some romantic flair to the summer outfit.

She wore the look with beige espadrilles and could be seen holding on to Mambo's leash.

For the photoshoot, Maxima donned a glamourous day makeup with her trademark eyeliner and mascara, a dash of bronzer and a pink lip.

Her three daughters sported peak Gen Z fashion, with the eldest, Catharina -Amalia opting for a lemon sorbet blaser over a white t-shirt, which she paired with blue jeans and a pair of white sneakers.

She accessorised with gold hoop earrings and a pair of sunglasses which she held in her fist during the photoshoot.

Like her mother, Amalia wore her blonde locks loose, the golden strand wrapping around her neck as the breeze swept the beach.

The royal family looked entranced by Mambo, who happily ran and hopped around the beach as they posed

The royal donned as sun-kissed makeup with just a dash of bronzer and a few light strokes of mascara.

Her sister, Princess Alexia, who iust freshly graduated from the UWC Atlantic College in Wales, looked stylish in a white tank top, which she paired with a wide-legged pair of light blue denim trousers.

Alexia wore the wide legged pants with a pair of white cowboy boots, and accessorised with gold drop earrings shaped like hearts and a blue clutch bag.

While the other women of the royal family wore their hair down, Alexia put hers up in a faux-messy bun for the pictures.

She sported a thick trait of eyeliner with some bronzer and a glossy lip.

Queen Maxima looked elegant in a Tory Burch top and skirt ensemble as she carried Mambo around

The family braved the strong breeze and posed for their pictures. From left to right: Princess Alexia, Princess Catharina-Amalia, Willem-Alexander, Maxima and Princess Ariane

The baby of the family, Princess Ariane, donned a very elegant combo of a pair of white jeans and a forest green top from French brand Ba&sh.

Her strawberry blonde locks were styled straight and the teenager was fresh faced. She accessorised with hoop earrings and a necklace adorned with moon-shaped pendants.

Meanwhile King Willem-Alexander donned a very relaxed look, wearing a pair of white jeans with a white linen shirt and a blue blaser.

The star of the photoshoot was undeniably the family's pooch Mambo, who could be seen hopping and running around the family as they posed.

Mambo did his most regal pose as the royal family had their picture taken by the beach this afternoon

Queen Maxima could be seen laughing as the wind swept the beach and the royal family in equal measure

One snap showed the pooch resting calmly into Maxima's arms as the wind blew.

Another funny picture saw the whole of the royal family doting on the dog, who was still merrily running around the beach.

The family adopted Mambo in 2021, and he has seen been an integral member of their life.

The Dutch royals are also the proud owners of three Labradors named Skipper, Luna and Nala.

The family walked from the pier to the beach as they prepared for their official portrait, having opted for a very casual look

Mambo finally settled down long enough for the family to pose. The royals sat on the sandy beach for the portrait

While she prepares to enjoy her summer break with her family, it has been a busy week for Queen Maxima.

On Wednesday, she attended a meeting of the National Coalition for Financial Health in Uden.

For the occasion, she looked chic in a bold monochrome ensemble.

She paired her ensemble with a bold belt buckle, and added a glimpse of glamour to her look with glittering drop earrings - and a statement bracelet.

Maxima swept her hair up in a casual style, and completed her outfit with asymmetrical white leather-look heels.

The queen, who is the honorary chairman of Schuldenlab, was later pictured taking part in the action meeting, which was called to discuss the activities of the NCFL.

On Tuesday, she was photographed attending the opening of the head office of microfinance organisation, Qredits.

The mother-of-three proved all that glitters is gold, as she sparkled in a sequined gold midi dress and matching pointed heels.
Longtime pals Barack Obama and Tom Hanks were spotted enjoying a lavish vacation together in Greece alongside their families.

In exclusive new photos, the former US President, 61, and Hollywood star, 66, were seen having an al fresco dinner together at Cantina, a glamorous waterfront restaurant on the island of Sifnos.

Barack's two daughters Sasha, 22, and Malia, 24, as well as his wife Michelle, 59, were also present for the meal, which took place earlier this month.

As for Tom, he was joined by spouse Rita Wilson, 66. The couple became Greek citizens in 2020, and are thought to have a villa on the island of Antiparos, which is not far from Sifnos.

Longtime pals Barack Obama and Tom Hanks were spotted enjoying a lavish vacation together in Greece alongside their families

In exclusive photos, the former President, 61, and Hollywood star, 66, were seen having dinner at Cantina, a waterfront restaurant on the island of Sifnos

An onlooker said that the party arrived on Paralia Seralia beach by dinghy - having come from a luxury yacht docked nearby.

The fellow dinner, who asked to remain anonymous, said: 'I'm not one to get very starstruck - but seeing Obama in the flesh and so close was pretty surreal.

An onlooker said that the party arrived on Paralia Seralia beach by dinghy - having come from a luxury yacht (seen) docked nearby

'Their presence was pretty overwhelming and that definitely wasn't lessened by the excessive security - who we even had to ask if we could use the restroom.'

Barack was seen wearing a black, button down top for the outing, while Tom opted for a more casual look in a dark hoodie.

Harvard graduate Malia, who is currently pursuing a job as a screenwriter, donned a long, flowing patchwork skirt and a cream cardigan, while her younger sister, Sasha, who recently completed her studies at USC, wore a bright blue outfit and similar-colored sweater.

Michelle's ensemble was not visible from the angle the photos were taken. As for Rita, she was seen in a blue, kimono-like dress with an intricate bird design.

It's been said that the Obamas spent time with Tom and Rita before the ex-leader headed to Athens to speak at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Nostos Conference on June 22.

The actor and the former President have been close for a while now, and this actually isn't the first time that they've gone on holiday together.

Barack was seen wearing a black, button-down top for the outing, while Tom opted for a more casual look in a dark hoodie

Harvard graduate Malia, who is currently pursuing a job as a screenwriter, donned a long, flowing patchwork skirt and a cream cardigan

Her younger sister, Sasha, who recently completed her studies at USC, wore a bright blue outfit and similar-colored sweater

Michelle's ensemble was not visible from the angle the photos were taken. As for Rita, she was seen in a blue, kimono-like dress with an intricate bird design

The Obamas spent time with Tom and Rita before the politician headed to Athens to speak at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Nostos Conference. The yacht they took is seen above

The actor and the former President (seen together in 2016) have been close for a while now, and this actually isn't the first time that they've gone on holiday together

It's unclear when they first got to know each other, but back in 2016, Barack awarded Tom with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

At the time, he stated in his speech that the Forrest Gump alum had 'touched him in a very powerful, personal way.'

They were then seen vacationing together alongside Oprah Winfrey and Bruce Springsteen on a yacht off the coast of Tahiti in April 2017.

One year after that, Barack attended Tom and Rita's 30th anniversary party in Hollywood, and in May 2021, the father-of-two was seen entering Tom's house for another gathering.
An English sparkling wine has once again beaten Champagne at a prestigious awards.

Sandridge Barton, a Devon estate with 40 years of history, wowed industry experts to be declared a Master - the top award - at the Global Sparkling Masters 2023.

The expert judges, including six Masters of Wine, gave it this top medal after tasting well over 200 wines from every corner of the globe.

The competition, organised by industry-leading publication the drinks business, was open to any sparkling wine made anywhere in the world.

Sandridge Barton's Blanc de Noirs was one of just seven wines awarded the top Master medal, an even higher accolade than Gold, equating to 97+ points.

Sandridge Barton, a Devon estate with 40 years of history, wowed industry experts to be declared a Master - the top award - at the Global Sparkling Masters 2023 (stock image)

This put the home-grown success story in the same league as Champagnes from Lanson and Laurent-Perrier, as well as wines from the famous regions of Asti and California.

Patrick Schmitt MW, chair of judges, praised the wine for its aromas of cooked apple, freshly baked bread and puff pastry, as well as the zesty, bone dry finish.

He described the Master medallist as 'a super fresh fizz packed with flavours of crisp, fresh orchard fruits.'

Winning the prestigious medal is even more remarkable because the Blanc de Noirs 2020 is the inaugural release in the company's premium range.

The vintage is the first sourced from their new estate at Sandridge Barton; the team, previously known as Sharpham Wine, completed their move to the site near Stoke Gabriel in 2022.

Reacting to the win, Duncan Schwab, the CEO and Head Winemaker, claimed it as 'a testament to the harmonious blend of passion, skill, and artistry that we pour into each bottle.'

Sandridge Barton's Blanc de Noirs was one of just seven wines awarded the top Master medal, an even higher accolade than Gold, equating to 97+ points (stock image)

He took the win as evidence that 'English wines have the potential to establish themselves as a prominent player in the global wine market, offering unique and exceptional expressions of terroir and winemaking expertise.'

Two other English wines proved this point by winning Gold medals at the competition: the All Angels Classic Cuvee 2015 and the Busi Jacobsohn Blanc de Noirs 2018. The English successes mirror that of Woodchester Valley, the Cotswold winery that sold out an entire vintage after winning a Master medal in last year's Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters.

With English wines increasingly challenging Champagne, judge Patricia Stefanowicz MW thinks we should take note: 'they are more than understudies in their roles.'

It comes after an English sparkling wine was named one of the best in the world at the prestigious Decanter World Wine Awards, as red, white and rose from the UK bagged top spots for the first time.

While British wine was looked down upon by critics for decades, changing acidity levels of soil where grapes grow in the UK means homegrown bottles now rivals that of France, Spain and Italy.

In total, 143 UK wines picked up gongs at the awards with one from Kent being awarded the 'best in show', praised for its 'citrus purity, a seaside freshness, and an unmistakable stoniness'.

Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2018 was given a best in show accolade, while winemakers across Hampshire, Sussex and Kent also saw their wine pick up gold medals.
It turned out to be a malignant melanoma - but fortunately was caught early

Dr. Chelsey Straight approached him to voice concern about a mole on his face

Chris Meffen, from Texas, had been on a Christmas-themed ride with his family

A man has revealed how he received a life-saving diagnosis after a chance encounter with dermatologists who alerted him to a suspicious mole on his face that turned out to be cancerous.

Chris Meffen, from Elgin, Texas, was about to disembark a Christmas-themed train ride with his family in November 2022 when he was approached by another passenger.

Dr. Chelsey Straight, who was taking the same trip with husband Dr. Christopher Chu - both of whom are dermatologists - had spotted a mark on Meffen's face.

She urged him to get the mole checked out and it was eventually diagnosed as a malignant melanoma which was fortunately caught early.

Chris Meffen, from Elgin, Texas, received a life-saving diagnosis after a chance encounter with dermatologists who alerted him to a suspicious mole on his face that turned out to be cancerous

Dr. Chelsey Straight and Dr. Christopher Chu, both of whom are dermatologists, convinced Meffen to visit their newly-opened clinic in Austin, Texas

Dr. Straight had spotted the mark on Meffen's face while seated in front of him on the train before approaching him toward the end of the two-hour excursion.

'I know this might seem weird, but I just am a dermatologist,' she began.

Gesturing to a large mole on his cheekbone, she continued: 'I wondered if you'd ever had anybody look at it?'

Meffen admitted that he had not seen anyone about the mole - despite multiple doctors he had visited in the years prior advising him to get it checked out.

He estimated to Dr. Straight that he'd had it for about three years - which is when his wife chimed in.

'My wife was sitting in the row of seats over and she had her ears perked and said, "No, it's longer than that,"' Meffen recalled to Insider.

He later confessed that he had actually first noticed the 'dark, irregular shape' beginning to form back in 2017.

'Instantly his wife was like, "Ive been telling you that you need to get this looked at,' Dr. Straight recalled of the exchange to KXAN.

About 75 per cent of the cancerous mark had been removed from Meffen's face in the initial biopsy - he wound up getting the rest of the cancerous tissue extracted over subsequent procedures

'It was a big blessing,' Meffen said of the chance meeting that had likely been life-saving - he decribed the prognosis as 'a big relief' to him and his family

What is melanoma? Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer

It happens after the DNA in skin cells is damaged (typically due to harmful UV rays) and then not repaired so it triggers mutations that can form malignant tumors

Treatments include removal of the melanoma, skin grafting and in some cases immunotherapy, radiation treatment or chemotherapy Sources: Skin Cancer Foundation; American Cancer Society Advertisement

By the end of the chat, Dr. Straight had successfully convinced Meffen to drop by the couple's newly-opened dermatology practice, Pure Dermatology, in Austin.

The office called him two days later to confirm the appointment - and the lesion turned out to be a melanoma.

Fortunately, it had been caught in time.

It had not yet spread beyond the surface layer of his skin to other parts of his body - what doctors sometimes refer to as 'stage 0' of the malignant cancer type.

In Meffen's words, the prognosis was 'a big relief' to him and his family.

About 75 per cent of the cancerous mark had been removed from Meffen's face in the initial biopsy.

He wound up getting the rest of the cancerous tissue extracted over subsequent procedures.

'It was a big blessing,' Meffen said of the chance meeting that had likely been life-saving.

'Forever grateful to Dr. Straight for being on that train ride that day.'
Scotland will celebrate King Charles ascension to the throne with a Coronation-style 'Thanksgiving service' in Edinburgh next week - but only one of the monarch's sons will be there to witness the historic event.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, who have the titles of the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay north of the border, are expected to join the king and queen in a regal procession through the city on Wednesday.

The ceremony, at St Giles' Cathedral, is a key part of Royal Week, with Charles and Camilla undertaking several engagements in Scotland.

Prince Harry is not thought to be attending the symbolic July 5th Honours of Scotland service to officially mark his father becoming Head of State in Scotland.

The Duke of Sussex attended the Coronation on May 6th without wife Meghan Markle and flew in for just 24 hours to see his father crowned at Westminster Abbey, before jetting back to his home in Montecito, California.

King Charles and Queen Camilla on Charles' Coronation day on May 6th this year; the king will take part in the Honours of Scotland service in Edinburgh on July 5th

Prince Harry's likely absence from the service shows relations between father and son remain less than warm.

This week, Buckingham Palace revaled that Harry and Meghan Markle have finally vacated Frogmore Cottage.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were asked to move any remaining possessions out of their Grade II-listed five-bedroom cottage close to Windsor Castle in January.

Next week's ceremony involves a people's procession of about 100 community groups collecting the honours from Edinburgh Castle.

The procession will then be escorted to the cathedral by the Royal Regiment of Scotland and its Shetland pony mascot, Corporal Cruachan IV, supported by cadet musicians from the combined cadet force pipes and drums.

Meanwhile, a royal procession will travel from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the cathedral, with the public lining the Royal Mile to view both processions.

The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, as the Prince and Princess of Wales are known in Scotland, will attend the service at St Giles' Cathedral in Scotland

Prince Harry, who jetted in and out of the Coronation on May 6th in just 24 hours is not thought to be attending the ceremony

A 21-gun salute will fire from Edinburgh Castle at the end of the St Giles' service, before the royal procession travels back to the palace.

The Stone of Destiny will be in the cathedral during the ceremony, and there will also be a fly-past by the Red Arrows following the event.

Five new pieces of music will be heard to mark the coronation of the King and Queen.

The pieces, including one composed in Gaelic, were commissioned by Charles for the national service of thanksgiving and dedication at St Giles' Cathedral on Wednesday.

The new music will form part of what is described by Buckingham Palace as a rich mix at the service to reflect Scottish history and culture, with performers representative of contemporary Scotland.
The Harry and Meghan 'double act' could be coming to an end as the Duke and Duchess may embark on more solo projects to 'play to their strengths and 'avoid ridicule', PR experts claimed today.

It comes amid reports Prince Harry's next big idea is to return to his 'second home' of Africa - but without Meghan - for a new solo Netflix documentary about his love of the continent, its people and its wildlife.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex only have one major deal left since Megxit - the $100million contract with the streaming giant - after Spotify parted ways with the couple.

Netflix is also reportedly planning not to renew their deal with the Sussexes when it expires in 2025 - although a spokesman recently said 'We value our partnership with Archewell Productions.'

Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told MailOnline that Meghan and Harry may increasingly do solo projects to avoid 'ridicule' that some of their other projects have suffered.

He said: 'I think it's a smart move of them to divide and conquer.

The Harry and Meghan 'double act' could be coming to an end as the Duke and Duchess may embark on more solo projects to 'play to their strengths and 'avoid ridicule', PR experts claimed today. Pictured: The Sussexes during their Netflix docuseries

Netflix is also reportedly planning not to renew their deal with the Sussexes when it expires in 2025. Pictured: Harry in Cape Town in 2019. It's understood he wants to return to Africa for a solo project

'This leans in to something that Harry is genuinely interested and passionate about and if they are to win back favour with their fans then this is the best way to carve out things that actually interest them, they have genuine insight in and plays to their strengths rather than shoehorn in ideas that set them up for potential ridicule'.

Meanwhile, PR expert Mark Borkowski said: 'Clearly they could be returning to their strengths.

'Harry to Africa, Meghan to life style and fashion - if the content they either suggested or produced has proved not to work or has not produced the numbers - they are focusing on what has worked in the past and is something they are passionately entwined with.

'Harry can create a theme of authenticity  however, it strikes me they could be better solo rather than a double act'.

Despite recent deals breaking down, it appears Harry's proposal for a documentary on Africa might be on the cards after he apparently 'puzzled' Spotify executives with some of his podcast ideas including claims he pitched to interview Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump about 'childhood trauma'.

A Netflix insider confirmed to Page Six that a Harry's Africa-type show was one of the more warmly received suggestions from the father-of-two.

Another source said: 'Obviously, Harry has a lot of roots in Africa and he feels at home there.' He has previously called Africa his 'second home'.

Page Six spoke to insiders about the royal's proposed project. It is unclear exactly what the programme will cover, and that the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike has meant the Duke of Sussex, 38, has not been able to start his ideas yet.

Prince Harry is forming plans to return to Africa without Meghan Markle (pictured in Cape Town in 2019) for a new Netflix documentary, according to Page Six

Rhino Conservation Botswana (RCB) charity director Map Ives and Prince Harry (right), who is the UK patron of the RCB next to a sedated rhino

The Duke of Sussex is greeted by Tlotlo Moilwa during a visit to the Kasane Health Post, run by the Sentebale charity, in Kasane, Botswana

The Duke and Duchess' only documentary so far for the streaming service was Meghan & Harry, which was released last year.

Prior to the docuseries, Harry featured solo in an Apple TV series about mental health, titled The Me You Can't See.

Prince Harry has visited Botswana, country in Southern Africa, on multiple occasions, sometimes spending months at a time there.

As well as helping conserve wildlife populations, he also frequently met with local communities and did charity work.

It holds such a place in his heart that he took Meghan Markle to the country for a week-long holiday as their third date.

Meghan told interviewers for Harry & Meghan: 'So I had one week off [work] and it was the same week, so he said do you want to come to Botswana? I said let me think about it and then I did.'

Harry admitted he was 'astonished that she said yes' as he had only met Meghan twice at the point.

He said: 'This woman that I have only met twice, she's coming to Botswana and we are going to be living in a tent for 10 days.'

Harry has visited Botswana multiple times and even took his wife Meghan on a holiday there for their third date

Meghan told interviewers for Harry & Meghan: 'So I had one week off [work] and it was the same week, so he said do you want to come to Botswana? I said let me think about it and then I did.' Pictured centre, Harry in Botswana

Meghan admitted: 'I am getting on a plane, and we are living in the middle of a bush, what, like what if we don't like each other and then we are stuck in the middle of a bush in a tent.' The couple have also visited the country since they became engaged.

They also visited South Africa on a royal tour in 2019. During the tour, the couple met with community members in townships around Cape Town while travelling with Prince Archie, and were pictured smiling and laughing as they danced with locals.

A source familiar with Harry and Meghan's $100million Netflix deal reportedly said: 'Things are great'. A Netflix spokesperson told the publication: 'We value our partnership with Archewell Productions.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for comment.

Earlier this week, the Duchess of Sussex was dismissed as a talentless broadcaster by one of Hollywood's most powerful figures.

Jeremy Zimmer, who has guided the film careers of stars such as Benedict Cumberbatch and Damian Lewis, gave his withering verdict on the abilities of the American former actress after streaming giant Spotify axed its 18million deal with her and Prince Harry after just one podcast series.

Despite sending a personal letter herself, Meghan Markle's (pictured) request for Taylor Swift to join her on her Archetypes podcast was declined

Zimmer, the chief executive of United Talent Agency, said he was not surprised that Spotify had ditched the couple.

'Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent,' he said.

Speaking to the news website Semafor at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in France, Zimmer added. 'And, you know, just because you're famous, doesn't make you great at something.'

Spotify is said to have pulled the plug on its deal because it 'expected more content' from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their Archewell Audio team, according to Variety magazine.

Archewell delivered just one series  12 episodes of Meghan's Archetypes show last year on the social stereotypes around women  and a 30-minute festive special in 2020 featuring a handful of celebrity friends and their son, Archie.

Archetypes was an initial ratings success when it was released last summer and talks for a second series were said to be under way before they reportedly stalled. Spotify was said to have paid a staggering 18million to sign the Sussexes up for a 'multi-year partnership'.

Jeremy Zimmer, the chief executive of United Talent Agency, said he was not surprised that Spotify had ditched the Sussexes

The Sussexes highlighted a joint statement from themselves and Spotify saying they had 'mutually agreed to part ways'.

It was also claimed this week that pop superstar Taylor Swift rejected the chance to appear on Meghan's podcast, even though the duchess sent her a personal invitation.

After Meghan sent her a handwritten note, Ms Swift declined through her representative, according to the Wall Street Journal.

And while the couple's 80million Netflix deal has still seen only a documentary about themselves and series Live To Lead materialise, it appears they are about to delve into the world of Charles Dickens.

The Sussexes are said to be working on a prequel to his 1861 novel Great Expectations, which focuses on a character based on Miss Havisham, taking place before the events of the novel. Bad Manners will see the character cast as a 'strong woman living in a patriarchal society'. The show is in development but has yet to get the green light from Netflix, it has been claimed.

Harry's documentary about the Invictus Games is thought to be nearing completion.

Meghan and Harry attending the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala at New York Hilton on December 6, 2022

According to the Wall Street Journal, it is 'unlikely' Netflix will renew the couple's deal when it ends in 2025. It reports that problems have arisen due to the couple's inexperience as television producers and difficulty in finding material to fit in with their brand.

A spokesman for the talent agency WME that recently signed Meghan said: 'The team behind Archetypes remain proud of the podcast they created at Spotify. Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.'

Zimmer is the grandson of legendary Hollywood studio chief Dory Schary. In 1991 he helped found United Talent Agency through a merger of Bauer/Benedek and Leading Artists Agency.

He helped build UTA from a boutique literary agency into one of the three major talent agencies and has been CEO since 2012. The talent agency represents stars such as Timothee Chalamet, Chris Pratt, Kevin Hart and Lizzo.
People have accused her of 'blackface' and 'looking like she works in a coal mine'

The Georgia-based nurse assistant says she is unbothered by TikTok trolls

Savannah Grace, 20, has used sun beds for three years and fake tans every night

A woman who loves tanning has hit back at trolls after being accused of 'blackface.'

Savannah Grace, 20, has been using sun beds for about three years, but also uses fake tan every evening.

And despite negative comments online and from the public, she loves the way she looks.

'I tan for me and I'm 100 per cent confident in who I am and what I look like,' Savannah said.

Sharing the before and after photos of herself on TikTok, with one video racking up more than 219,600 views, she has been trolled by fellow social media users  calling her out for the excess tanning.

Savannah Grace, 20, has been using sun beds for about three years, but also uses fake tan every evening. Some users are accusing her of wearing 'blackface' and are asking her to 'stop'

To keep the color even, she tops up her tan whenever needed and despite negative comments online and from the public, she loves the way she looks

'I try not to read comments as much as possible,' Savannah, a nurse assistant from Georgia, US, told NeedToKnow.co.uk.

'There have been many negative comments but I do what makes me happy for me either way.

'I love tanning and being outside. I tan after workouts, before bed, in the mornings... I love the way I look when I tan.'

Despite Savannah having a thick skin towards the negative comments, it's not stopping them from rolling in.

Hundreds of users have made their way to the comments section of her video.

One person commented: 'Aren't you afraid of skin cancer?'

Another added: 'Not black face AND digital appropriating with not an ounce of remorse or even an attempt to understand how wrong she is?'

Someone else added: 'For you not to delete the video after being called out for blackface is kinda wild.'

She states: 'There have been many negative comments, but I do what makes me happy for me either way'

Hundreds of users have made their way to the comment section and some have accused her of 'blackface'

One comment read: 'R u not ashamed bro.'

'Blud took blackface to a hole different level (sic),' another wrote.

'You aren't supposed to take a bath in the bronzer,' one TikTok user said.

'Girl you are Dorito colored,' someone else wrote, with another adding: 'Bruh that ain't right.'

A social media user simply added: 'WHY?'

Other users came out in defense of Savannah.

Savannah added: 'I tan for me and I'm 100% confident in who I am'

One supporter commented: 'I don't get it you're beautiful.'

Someone else added: 'You're so f***ing gorgeous.'

'People just love dragging down others, don't listen honey you're beautiful,' another said.

'You're literally so gorgeous keep doing you,' a TikTok user wrote.

And Savannah appears to unbothered by the negative commentary, adding: 'My tanning has never been something that has ever caused an issue in real life so why let the internet change that?

'If anyone feels any different about how I look that's on them.'
Research into low emission zone schemes in the UK and around the world has found no strong evidence that they improve lung conditions  one of the main reasons given for the schemes' introduction.

A study by Imperial College London looked at measures aimed at drivers including congestion charging zones and low emission zones.

In 16 studies of zones across the world, including London, Berlin and Tokyo, the authors said that low emission zones did not show a 'clear' reduction in respiratory diseases  although the zones did reduce heart conditions.

Congestion charging zones were found to reduce traffic injuries.

The authors stressed that the latest research did not include analysis of the impact of the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which was brought in in 2019, and will expand to cover Greater London later this year.

In 16 studies of zones across the world, including London, Berlin and Tokyo, the authors said that low emission zones did not show a 'clear' reduction in respiratory diseases  although the zones did reduce heart conditions. The scheme is meant to improve air quality for purposes of public health and has broadly been welcomed by medical experts and and charities

Sadiq Khan has made a controversial decision to widen the ULEZ scheme in London to cover all 32 boroughs from late August. Later this year motorists will be slapped with a 12.50 daily fee for using their vehicle within the Ultra Low Emission Zone, unless they meet the required emissions standards

But it did look at the forerunner scheme, the Low Emission Zone which covers heavy diesel vehicles driving in London

The authors said: 'While none of the studies showed an increase in respiratory disease associated with LEZs, only two studies found LEZ-associated reductions in any respiratory disease outcomes.'

Supporters of low emission zones often state the measures will reduce respiratory conditions such as asthma and lung diseases.

The authors did find, however, there was a decline in measures of heart diseaseassociated with LEZs.

What are the London ULEZ required emissions standards? To meet the ULEZ emissions standard in London, all vehicles must meet the required Euro emissions standard for their vehicle and emission type. The ULEZ standards are:  Euro 3 for motorcycles, mopeds, motorised tricycles and quadricycles (L category)  Euro 4 (NOx) for petrol cars, vans, minibuses and other specialist vehicles  Euro 6 (NOx and PM) for diesel cars, vans and minibuses and other specialist vehicles Advertisement

It also found an overall reduction in road traffic injuries associated with CCZs, following their introduction.

In the systematic review of the available empirical evidence on the measured health impacts of these interventions in major cities, the Imperial team looked analysed findings from 16 studies on LEZs and CCZs which included suitable measures of health outcomes.

Eight of the studies assessed LEZs (published between 2011-2022), with four focused on German cities, two on Japan (Tokyo), one on Italy (Milan), and one on UK (London).

The remaining eight studies assessed CCZs, and were published between 2005 and 2021.

Reviewing the available evidence for LEZs, they found the majority of studies that looked at cardiovascular disease showed an LEZ-associated reduction in one or more cardiovascular outcome, such as a 4.6 per cent reduction in high blood pressure in Germany, and a 11 per cent reduction in cardiovascular deaths in Japan.

The authors said they did not include other effects of such zones on congestion, residents' quality of life, or long-term disease development but said 'these effects probably strengthen arguments for such schemes.'

Dr Anthony Laverty, Senior Lecturer within the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: 'We know air and noise pollution associated with road traffic can have harmful impacts on cardiovascular health, such as through increased blood pressure, impacting sleep, and directly through small particles being inhaled into the lungs.

'While interventions such as LEZs can go some way to reducing these impacts, measuring their impact on health outcomes is difficult.

'Here, we bring together measures of health outcomes from multiple sources to show that overall, LEZs and CCZs can bring about direct benefits to public health, with a demonstrable reduction in cardiovascular disease outcomes and road traffic injuries.'

The majority of available evidence for congestion charging zones focused on London, with analysis showing an overall reduction in road traffic injuries, mainly involving cars, associated with the introduction of the CCZ.

One report comparing the London CCZ to other major cities in England found a that having a congestion charge zone-led to a decrease of 5.3 per cent in total car incidents, including slight, and severe or fatal injuries.

The same study also found evidence suggesting the introduction of the CCZ in London was associated with increases in minor bicycle-related injuries, and motorcycle-related injuries and deaths.

The research was published in Lancet Public Health.
NHS radiographers could join medics in striking over pay next month, their union has confirmed.

Radiography is a broad staff group which encompasses NHS staff who operate essential diagnostic equipment like X-Rays and CT scans, as well as some professionals who use radiation as part of cancer treatments.

Staff from all these areas could now walk off the job after union, the Society of Radiographers, (SOR) confirmed a successful strike ballot over pay today.

About 43 trusts across England are expected to be hit by the industrial action, which is likely to be held next month.

This opens the door to a potential joint strike with the British Medical Association (BMA), which is holding its own record-breaking five-day walkout by junior doctors from July 13-18.

Now the NHS radiographers will strike with staff who operate essential diagnostic equipment like X-Rays and CT scans likely to walk off the job next month over pay

More than half a million NHS appointments in England have been cancelled due to health service strikes since December, official figures show

Union sources hinted to MailOnline that such an alliance could be on the cards, stating the health services radiographers 'stand shoulder to shoulder with our fellow NHS professionals.'

With radiography professionals helping 9 out of 10 NHS patients with scans needed to help find problems and help treat them, according to the union, any strike action is likely to be a massive disruption to the health service.

Elective care is also likely to take a massive below with a million patients believed to be waiting for an NHS radiography service.

The new action is just latest industrial action blow to the beleaguered NHS which has lost thousands of appointments and procedures to staff strikes since the end of last year.

SOR officials said the Government still had time to stop the strikes, by offering them better pay, after members rejected the offer of a 5 per cent pay rise.

READ MORE: Medical training places to DOUBLE as part of drive to get 60,000 more doctors and 170,000 more nurses on hospital wards Ministers plan to take advantage of Brexit to change rules on training, which were previously imposed by the EU. The move forms part of a package of measures aimed at slashing waiting lists by boosting the NHS workforce (File photo) Advertisement

Dean Rogers, SOR's director of industrial strategy said voting to strike had not been an easy decision for any NHS worker but added that the Government had left them no choice.

'This is especially true for radiography professionals, who work long hours for pay that has been falling behind average wages for years, in order to provide their patients with the best possible care,

'The radiography professionals on the frontline know that low wages undermine efforts to create a stable NHS workforce with sufficient staffing levels to ensure that all patients receive the best treatment possible.'

Mr Rogers said radiography professionals were a critical part of the NHS, and patients were being let down by staff shortages.

'Doctors and nurses cannot do their jobs without our members  the radiographers, sonographers, mammographers, therapy radiographers and radiology support workforce,' he said.

'Waiting lists are growing and, for a cancer patient awaiting diagnosis and radiotherapy treatment, even a two-week wait can mean the difference between life and death.'

He added that radiographers are currently working overtime to help patients but are facing lower real-terms pay.

'While they work longer hours, they have faced real-terms cuts to their pay since 2008,' he said.

'Total average weekly earnings have increased by 55 per cent since 2008, but the wage increase for our members has been less than half that.'

Mr Rogers added that as a result, many radiographers are now voting with their feet.

'Many radiography professionals are feeling burnt out by low pay and increased hours,' he said.

'Theyre leaving the NHS, and they are not being replaced in adequate numbers.'

'Vacancies are running at a minimum of 10 per cent  indeed, since 2020, the number of mammographers has increased by just one.'

The NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan was published today and is supported by 2.4billion of Government funding

They also hit out at ministers' NHS long-awaited workforce plan, which was revealed today by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The union labelled it a plan for the future that does nothing to tackle the shortage of radiography professionals today.

While 150 trusts balloted by SOR returned a result in support of a strike, only 43 hit a legal threshold in terms of turnout to make it valid for action.

It comes as the BMA plans to host a five-day July walkout by junior medics followed by a two-day strike by consultants on July 20 and 21.

New of further strikes comes just days after the crippling NHS nurse industrial dispute fizzled out after the Royal College of Nursing failed in its attempt to launch another six months of carnage.

READ MORE: Fury as NHS doctors are allowed to do PRIVATE work on strike days: Consultants on 128,000 can cash-in during 48-hour walk-out with just the public patients missing out The British Medical Association has announced they will hold a five-day strike next month (Pictured: Medics demonstrating in London two weeks ago) Advertisement

RCN bosses needed a fresh strike mandate to plot further action because their old one expired. But not enough members voted to meet the legal threshold.

Other aspects of the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan revealed today by ministers included a plan to slash medical degrees from five years to four in a drive to put tens of thousands of extra doctors on hospital wards.

Ministers plan to take advantage of Brexit to change rules on doctor training, which were previously imposed by the EU.

The move forms part of a package of measures aimed at slashing waiting lists by boosting the NHS workforce, with 60,000 more doctors and an extra 170,000 nurses by 2036/37.

Bosses also expect to have an additional 71,000 allied health professionals such as physiotherapists, midwives and pharmacists.

The blueprint warns that staffing shortages within the health service could more than triple over the next 15 years  from 112,000 to 360,000  as a result of a growing and ageing population, coupled with new treatments.

The NHS says it will seek to embrace more homegrown talent and reduce its reliance on overseas employees as competition for healthcare workers is rising around the world.

A record recruitment drive will also allow it to become less dependent on expensive agency staff, cutting the bill for taxpayers by around 10billion between 2030 and 2037.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, described it as a 'once-in-a-generation opportunity to put staffing on a sustainable footing and improve patient care'.
People should stop taking weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy before getting surgery, doctors say.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists, which represents more than 53,000 physicians, made the recommendation in interim guidance released Thursday.

They warned that the delayed stomach emptying caused by the drugs could leave someone suffering nausea, vomiting and aspiration  when vomit goes down the windpipe into the lungs, choking them  when they receive anesthetics.

This can prove fatal because the blockage stops fresh air  and oxygen  from reaching the lungs, causing suffocation.

The 'miracle' drugs which promise to help someone shed the pounds with nothing more than a weekly injection have taken America by storm, with prescriptions spiraling more than 2,000 percent since 2019. They have become so popular that there is now a nationwide shortage of the drugs.

The above highlights the interim guidance from the American Society of Anesthesiologists warning people over taking Ozempic before surgery. A GLP-1 agonist refers to Ozempic and Wegovy and delayed gastric emptying means it is taking longer for food to leave the stomach

Ozempic and Wegovy delay stomach emptying to help someone feel full for longer. But this can have unintended consequences if someone is receiving surgery

About 60,000 people in the United States go under general anesthetic every day for operations from kidney stone removals to joint replacements and fitting a gastric band fitted.

The president of the ASA, Dr Michael Champeau, said: 'There is currently a lack of scientific data on how [the drugs] affect patients having surgery and interact with anesthesia.

'[But] we have received anecdotal reports that the delay in stomach emptying could be associated with an increased risk of regurgitation and aspiration of food into the airways and lungs during general anesthesia and deep sedation.'

He added: 'These complications can be serious, so we are providing guidance on when GLP-1 agonists should be stopped in advance of an elective procedure.'

The ASA recommended that patients using weekly injections of the drugs should stop using them seven days before surgery.

For those having a shot every day, they recommended not using them over the day before surgery.

If a patient has nausea, vomiting or abdominal bloating or pain on the day of surgery, then doctors said it should be delayed.

And if they have taken the drugs within the period before surgery, an ultrasound should be conducted to ensure there is no food in the stomach.

Before many surgical procedures, people are told to stop eating and drinking at midnight before surgery.

This is to keep the stomach empty and avoid any contents within the organ being forced back up through the esophagus.

But Ozempic and Wegovy delay the emptying of the stomach, meaning that even if someone stops eating and drinking the night before surgery some contents may still be present in the stomach.

Ozempic is approved for patients with diabetes, while Wegovy is approved to be used both by patients with diabetes and those who are obese.

The drugs are regularly being prescribed off-label, however, to people who are looking to lose weight or shave off a few pounds to get a 'Bikini Body'.

In one TikTok, watched 26,800 times, @jocelyngarcia3514 shared a full-body video of her loose skin around her bum. 'I'm humble enough to share my results and my body,' she said

It comes amid concern over another side-effect of taking the drugs, which has been dubbed 'Ozempic Butt'.

Slimmers who've lost up to 141lbs (64kg) claim the rapid weight loss has left them with 'saggy' behinds.

Others have complained about their derrieres flattening like a 'pancake', including one who once underwent a Brazillian Bum Lift (BBL).

The effects, albeit in the bum, are similar to those who've battled 'Ozempic face'  with the rapid weight loss leaving some users looking ill, exacerbating wrinkles and causing the skin to sag.

The flab-busting drug doesn't discriminate which weight it targets.

Videos highlighting the side effect by users themselves have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok.
Dr Farrar believes that the world is woefully unprepared for a possible next wave of infections

The world is not out of the woods yet when it comes to moving past the Covid pandemic, according to the World Health Organizations chief scientist. GREAT!

Renowned British scientist Dr Jeremy Farrar, who has been criticized sharply for his efforts to downplay the Covid lab escape theory and his gloomy warnings early in the pandemic, said there is a 'small possibility that we could go back in a bad direction' if the virus enjoys another major set of mutations.

He said it was concerning the world still had not developed a vaccine that prevents infections or truly robust antiviral therapies that offer broad protection against multiple strains.

Dr Farrar couched his grim warning with the caveats that, at this point most if not all people have developed some measure of immunity from the virus through recovery from natural infection, vaccination, or both.

Vaccines, while not stellar at preventing transmission and infection from Covid, are highly effective at preventing the worst possible outcomes including hospitalization and deaths

Dr Farrar said: The most likely scenario is the one that the world is sort of now in: that with a combination of vaccination and natural immunity from infection, new variants are to a large degree constrained. My concern has always been that there are other scenarios.

There is a small possibility that we could go back in a bad direction and I think its really important that the scientific community and public health community dont ignore that small percentage chance, because it would be unthinkable in 2026, 2027, 2028 for us to go back to March 2020. I think that is unlikely, but we should be prepared.

The Covid vaccines most commonly administered in the US were developed and approved by federal regulators at lightning speed.

Virologists delivered shots that were highly effective at preventing severe illness leading to hospitalization and/or death in a matter of about nine months, a process that typically takes up to a decade.

Estimates suggest the vaccines prevented more than 18 million additional hospitalizations and more than 3 million additional deaths due to Covid, but the vaccines were far less effective at preventing infection in the first place.

Globally, the vaccines are believed to have spared a staggering 20 million lives, according to a 2022 study published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The first iterations of the Covid vaccines, tailored to fight the original or wild type strain were somewhat good at preventing transmission, but as the virus has mutated into new, unique, and more transmissible variants, the shots lost some of their efficacy, something that became abundantly clear when the delta variant threw the US into a tailspin.

The Covid vaccines, delivered to the public at breakneck speed, are believed to have prevented more than 19.8 million deaths worldwide

Dr Farrar said: We are not where we need to be. We dont have transmission-blocking vaccines. Frankly, we dont have good enough therapies yet. We dont have enough antiviral drugs, not just for COVID, but more broadly than that.

The next public health crisis may not be a result of another Covid variant such as XBB.1.5, an omicron variant spinoff that the WHO dubbed the most transmissible one yet.

There are plenty of other circulating pathogens that merit surveillance, Dr Farrar has said, including H5N1, otherwise known as avian influenza.

The avian flu has rampaged across bird and mammal species and, while bird flu virus dont typically infect humans, its not unheard of. It has been circulating in the UK since 2021 and appears only a handful of mutations shy of becoming able to more readily infect people.

Dr Farrar told the Guardian in February that while the human-to-human spread of H5N1 to epidemic or even worse pandemic levels is highly unlikely, allowing the virus to continue to mutate and spread among animals only strengthens the pathogen.

He said: If we allow an avian virus to which none of us has got any immunity to continue to circulate in birds and then increasingly, whether its minks or seals, come across into the mammalian sector and therefore start to adapt, theres a risk there.

Dr Farrars position as chief scientist at the WHO is relatively new. He is only the second person to be designated chief scientist after Dr Soumya Swaminathan, an Indian pediatrician, was appointed to the new post in March 2019.

He has held a long career as a clinician scientist and headed up Europe's biggest medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust, for a decade.

A high-profile expert who was also a prominent member of the UK governments Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which advises the UK government on science and technical matters, Dr Farrar was the recipient of widespread sniping after it was revealed that he had a hand in tamping down arguments that the coronavirus leeched from a Wuhan, China lab.

A tranche of internal emails among Dr Farrar, Dr Anthony Fauci, and former National Institutes of Health head Dr Francis Collins revealed that Farrar made direct edits to a scientific paper written in February 2020 specifically to squash the theory that Covid may have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Dr Farrar pushed through a crucial change that poured even more doubt over the theory: requesting that the word 'unlikely' to be swapped with 'improbable' in a statement talking about the lab leak.

This made the final sentence read: 'It is improbable that SARS CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation of an existing SARS-related coronavirus.'

The emails, made public by Republican members of the US Congress, prompted calls from members of the scientific community to revoke his appointment in December, which saw him take the job in February.
The unpleasant sensation of being watched when no one is around is a symptom of early Parkinsons that often goes overlooked, doctors say.

Between 40 and 50 percent of Parkinsons sufferers experience these presence hallucinations, though doctors typically brush them off or chalk them up to side effects of medications, according to new research.

But neuroscientists in Switzerland and Spain found that patients who went through presence hallucinations early in the progression of their disease experienced faster, more severe cognitive decline after five years than those who did not.

Fosco Bernasconi, a scientist at the Swiss Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience said: If you have Parkinson's disease and experience hallucinations, even minor ones, then you should share this information with your doctor as soon as possible.

Between 40 and 50 percent of people with Parkinson's will experience the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, known as a presence hallucination, though clinicians will often chalk this up to a side effect of medications used to treat the neurological disease

Symptoms can include uncontrollable tremors, slow movements and muscle stiffness, but experts say they often only appear when about 80 per cent of the nerve cells have been lost

Parkinsons disease is estimated to affect about a million Americans. The average age of onset is around 60, though early-onset Parkinsons in people 50 and younger occurs in five to 10 percent of cases.

The team of European neuroscientists set out to determine how predictive early hallucinations are for worsening cognitive health.

Dr Olaf Blanke, a neurologist from the EPFL and co-author of the study, said: We now know that early hallucinations are to be taken seriously in Parkinson's disease.

They examined the influence that hallucinations have had in 75 patients with Parkinsons ranging in age from 60 to 70.

Each subject underwent a series of interviews with the experts to assess their levels of cognitive impairment from the disease as well as psychiatric interviews that collected crucial information about their hallucinations.

The researchers also took measurements of the subjects brain activity at rest using an electroencephalogram (EEG), a test that records the patterns of electrical impulses between neurons using small metal discs called electrodes attached to the scalp.

EEGs are typically used to assess brain function and diagnose a multitude of neurological conditions such as epilepsy, Alzheimers, and sleep disorders. In this case, an EEG performed on Parkinsons patients at rest revealed certain abnormal patterns of brainwave activity.

Patients who had experienced presence hallucinations were revealed to have enhanced frontal theta oscillations, meaning they had higher levels of oscillatory electrical activity in the frontal region of the brain, specifically in the theta frequency range.

Oscillatory patterns of electricity in the brain are the result of billions of brain cells communicating with each other through electrical impulses. Different frequency bands  delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma  are associated with different neurological processes.

The theta band, whose frequency ranges from four to eight hertz, is most closely associated with cognitive processes such as memory formation, learning, spatial awareness, and attention.

After five years time, the researchers found that people who had reported presence hallucinations early in their disease experienced a more rapid cognitive decline of frontal executive function, which encompasses the set of skills we employ every day to get through life, from attention and processing, the ability to plan for the future, problem-solving, and impulse control.

Dr Bernasconi said: So far, we only have evidence linking cognitive decline and early hallucinations for Parkinson's disease, but it could also be valid for other neurodegenerative diseases.

While Parkinsons typically affects the motor system the most  causing slow movements, muscle and limb rigidity, tremors, and instability when standing and walking  it also has a major bearing on a persons memory, attention and processing speed, spatial orientation and depth perception, and executive functioning.

Parkinsons has no definitive cure but diagnosing it early means more time to treat symptoms, commonly with medications that replenish deficient levels of dopamine in the brain, the neurotransmitter that dictates movements and fine motor function.

But detecting the disease early can be challenging because many of the symptoms of Parkinsons overlap with other conditions. Tremors, which often begin in one hand or foot and gradually spread to the other side of the body, are characteristic symptoms of Parkinsons but can be mistaken for signs of a movement disorder called essential tremor.

Muscle stiffness and rigidity can be symptomatic of Parkinsons as well as more benign conditions such as muscle strains or arthritis, while slowness of movement (bradykinesia) can come on as a result of certain medications, vitamin deficiencies, or other movement disorders.

The research was published in the journal Nature Mental Health.
BOOK OF THE WEEK

Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials

by Marion Gibson (S&S 20, 320pp)

Ive always wondered where Shakespeare got his cauldron recipes from. It turns out they were inspired by real-life Scottish witch trials.

In 1590 (16 years before Macbeth was written), two Scottish women, Gillie Duncan and Anny Sampson, were accused of witchcraft by a paranoid James VI of Scotland.

King James and his queen, Anne of Denmark, were convinced witches had tried to murder them with sea storms on their voyage home from Denmark.

Safely landed, James grew more certain that enemies at his own court were employing witches to depose him.

He decided to catch a few of them and to try them himself in a national show trial in Holyrood House.

Marion Gibson's new book Witchcraft: A History in 13 trials takes us takes us from Innsbruck in 1485 (where a misogynistic inquisitor, Heinrich Kramer, made life a misery for his female suspects) to America in 2021, , where both Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels claimed they were being subjected to a witch hunt

This was no fun at all for the women caught up in his paranoia.

Gillie and Anny were two impoverished women working as healers in North Berwick, when word got round that they were witches.

They were dragged to Holyrood, had their hair shaved so their scalps could be examined for demonic spots or warts made by Satan.

Then a rope was pulled excruciatingly tightly round Annys head, and her privities, or genitals, were searched.

Under torture and interrogation, both women told James exactly what he wanted to hear.

Yes, they admitted, they had created that sea storm in the North Sea, sending a black dog to dive down and damage the royal ships.

And, they continued, Satan had instructed them to kill a toad, roast it, hang it up to let its poison drip out, and then to gather an adders skin, some stale urine and an oyster shell in which to collect the toad juice.

This mixture could be dripped on to the Kings head or smeared on his clothes to transmit poison to him magically.

Daniel Day Lewis starred in a film adaptation of The Crucible in 1996 (pictured). Arthur Miller's play immortalised the Salem witch trials, eerily apposite in the McCarthy era

Having extracted this macabre information from the terrified women, James then heard them describe a witches Sabbath  a convention of witches inside North Berwick church, with Satan acting as minister.

This was exactly the perversion of Christianity hed suspected. After the women were tortured into naming other suspects, both were found guilty and strangled at the stake, their dead bodies thrown onto the pyre.

Thats just one of the 13 witch trials brought vividly to life in Gibsons wide-ranging book, which takes us from Innsbruck in 1485 (where a misogynistic inquisitor, Heinrich Kramer, made life a misery for his female suspects) to America in 2021, where both Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels claimed they were being subjected to a witch hunt.

Brace yourself, because none of these 13 stories reflect well on human nature.

Our mob mentality; our instinct for blaming targeted groups for our misfortunes; our tendency through history to gang up and turn on powerless women; the horrific process by which torture makes people crumble and confess exactly what their interrogators want to hear  its all here.

Hooray for Helena Scheuberin, a wealthy woman who dared to stand up to Kramer  a celibate monk who was clearly obsessed with female sexuality and wanting to punish women for it.

In his sermons, Kramer bellowed out his certainty that witches were all over the place, including in his own congregation. Sixty-three women were accused, seven charged, and Helena was one of them.

Acting as both accuser and judge at the trial, as was normal for medieval inquisitions, Kramer asked Helena whether she was a virgin at the time of her marriage.

The Three Witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth. It turns out Shakespeare's cauldron recipes were inspired by real-life Scottish witch trials, which occurred 16 years before Macbeth was written

The bishops assistant protested that the sex lives of Innsbrucks leading citizens are secret matters that hardly concern the case.

Amazingly, the tables were turned on Kramer. The trial was adjourned and Helena secured the services of what Gibson calls a hot-shot lawyer, Johann of Wemding.

Johann initiated a sensational fight-back, suggesting it was Kramer himself who should be taken into custody and the women released. The women did, indeed, walk free.

No book on witch trials would be complete without the Salem ones, immortalised by Arthur Miller in his 1953 play The Crucible, eerily apposite in the McCarthy era.

Gibson puts the spotlight on an enslaved woman of South American extraction called Tatabe, who was taken to Salem, Massachusetts, from Barbados by her slave owner Samuel Parris, an extreme Puritan and church minister.

Beware those Puritans. Where people feared heresy, Gibson writes, they often feared witchcraft, too.

In that cold, lonely Salem parsonage, her workplace and her prison, Tatabe was accused of witchcraft by Parriss niece Abigail and her cousin Betty, when both girls started having fits of twitching and shrieking  a phenomenon that then spread throughout the town.

Parris was convinced the girls were right in their accusation and he became a keen witch-hunter.

During the ensuing hunts, 19 accused witches were put to death, mostly by hanging.

An accused witch going through the judgement trial, where she is dunked in water to prove her guilt in practising witchcraft

Tatabe confessed under interrogation, concocting the confessions her accusers wanted to hear: that witches and spectral forms had told her to kill the children; that Satan had told her he was God; and that she must serve him for six years.

In fetters and chains, she was dragged to Boston jail.

But she was not tried. The population was beginning to turn against such trials and Parris would eventually leave Salem in disgrace.

Lets not pretend that witch trials are a thing of the past. Theres evidence that in sub-Saharan Africa, people are still killed so their body parts can be used as charms.

In four months in 2021, 324 witchcraft accusations were made in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The horrific phenomenon still persists whereby young children accused of being witches are expelled from their families and communities and forced to roam the streets, homeless.

There were still 20,000 homeless witch children in Kinshasa in 2012.

So when Donald Trump tweeted the term WITCH HUNT in capital letters 379 times during his presidency (at a rate of about twice per week), the expression resonated through the centuries.

Trump used the expression to blame his accusers of evil ganging-up.

A witch trial at Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Gibson puts the spotlight on an enslaved woman of South American extraction called Tatabe, who was taken to Salem, Massachusetts, from Barbados by her slave owner Samuel Parris, an extreme Puritan and church minister

Meanwhile, his long-term legal opponent Stormy Daniels, an actor in pornographic movies and allegedly his former lover, claimed in 2021 that she, too, was being subjected to a witch hunt when her affair with him was exposed.

Daniels then proudly proclaimed that she herself was a witch. She has, indeed, adopted witchcraft as a creed. Her career as a witch is booming.

Shes a tarot reader, medium and paranormal investigator. This contemporary embracing of witchcraft, Gibson concludes, is an assertion of womens rights and freedoms.

The word witch has lost its dark associations and the gentler-sounding word wiccan is now used, freeing todays witches from sinister associations of crones flying about on broomsticks and collecting poisonous toad juice.
The Drowning Pool

(Penguin Classics 9.99, 272pp)

by Ross Macdonald

(Penguin Classics 9.99, 272pp)

Trawling the back list for neglected treasures, Penguin has launched a welcome collection of crime and espionage classics for summer.

And who better to head the list than Ross Macdonald, with his cynical, world-weary hero, Lew Archer, matching his wits against the Californian oil-rich elite who tread both sides of the law.

Hired to trace the origin of a poison pen letter, Archer finds himself at odds with the matriarchal head of a family of misfits who cant afford to cut the purse strings.

When the source of their largesse is found drowned in the swimming pool, our avid sleuth is drawn into an investigation that has him risking his own life in the cause of rough justice.

A surprise-a-minute plot is held together by dialogue as taut as a G-string, with wit and menace in equal measure. In the school of hard-boiled fiction, Macdonald scores the highest marks.

A Chateau Under Siege

(Quercus 14.99, 336pp)

by Martin Walker

(Quercus 14.99, 336pp)

French tourism should raise a glass to Walker. Fans of his Dordogne Mysteries featuring everybodys favourite small town cop, Bruno Courreges, must feel the magnetic pull of south-west France, where the good things in life start with delectable food and wine in a bucolic setting.

As a prominent foodie, Bruno must balance his sybaritic tendencies with his duty to protect his rural idyll from hostile elements. In A Chateau Under Siege, trouble starts with a popular re-enactment of a medieval battle. The celebratory mood turns sour, however, when one of the participants, a technical genius responsible for the latest generation of semi-conductors, suffers a near-fatal knife wound.

This then sets off a train of events in St Denis that has Bruno in the front line of forestalling a Russian attempt to sabotage the revolutionary technology. Hard pressed though he is, Bruno finds time to demonstrate his culinary skills. What more can we ask?

Death at the Terminus

(Allison & Busby 19.99, 384pp)

by Edward Marston

(Allison & Busby 19.99, 384pp)

When a guards van at York railway station explodes, killing an occupant, the call goes out for Inspector Robert Colbeck, who is Scotland Yards reigning expert on railway crime.

While the local police are quick to round up the usual suspects, Colbeck digs deeper to find that the victim led a double life, as a loyal family man, and as a lothario with a string of broken hearts to his discredit.

With conflicting theories to cope with, it takes a second murder, this time of a society lady with her own secret life, to give Colbeck the lead to solving the case.

With a convincing line-up of characters from both sides of the track, Edward Marston moves his story along at a brisk pace. While he may be light on Victorian detail, we are more than compensated by the twists and turns of a clever and contrived mystery.
New Toys R Us stores have been opening across Britain as the children's favourite makes a high street comeback.

The shops are opening within WH Smith stores, marking a return for the chain following its collapse in 2018.

The Toys R Us branches will supply toys made by brands such as Barbie, Bluey, Hot Wheels, Lego, Paw Patrol and Star Wars.

The famous chain collapsed into administration in 2018 and shut the doors to all of its 100 UK branches, before announcing plans for a relaunch in October last year.

The shops are opening within WH Smith stores, marking a return for the chain following its collapse in 2018

New Toys R Us stores have been opening across Britain this month

Toys R Us mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe is touring Toys R Us stores this summer

First up to open its doors was the store at WHSmith Monks Cross Retail Park in York, which opened on June 10.

The store in Broad Street, Reading, is also one of seven which have already opened. Other locations where branches have opened are Cheltenham, Cwmbran, Oxford, Poole and Solihull.

Branches in Canterbury and Chelmsford are set to open tomorrow.

Sean Toal, managing director, WHSmith High Street previously said: 'At WHSmith, we're always exploring new opportunities to launch exciting, new product ranges to our customers on the high street, and our partnership with Toys 'R' Us certainly does this.

New Toys R Us stores Cheltenham (High Street) Cwmbran (The Mall) Oxford (Cornmarket Street) Poole (Towngate Shopping Centre) - opening this summer Reading (Broad Street) Solihull (Mell Square) York (Monks Cross retail park) Canterbury (St George Street) - opening July 1 Chelmsford (High Street) - opening July 1

'The brand has long been known for its exceptional range of toys and games and complements our existing offer well.

'Across each of the nine locations, we have a great team of colleagues who look forward to welcoming many new and existing customers over the coming weeks and showcasing the new store layout.'

Simon Cartey, UK commercial director at Toys R Us added: 'Our new Toys R Us shop-in-shops at WHSmith create the perfect home for Toys R Us as it returns to the UK high street shopping scene.

'With this collaboration, we are not only bringing back the beloved Toys R Us experience but also providing convenient access to a wide range of toys and games.

'Together, we hope to create a magical and joyful shopping destination for families across the country.'
Centrica has extended its gas storage capacity at a site located of the coast of East Yorkshire, as the British Gas owner prepares for winter this year.

The Rough site, which is located 18 miles off the coast of the county and currently provides half of all UK gas storage, was shuttered in 2017 before being re-opened in October last year.

The group plans to invest 2billion to turn Rough into the world's biggest methane and hydrogen storage facility, which it says will 'help keep prices down for consumers' and could help Britain become 'a net exporter of energy once again'.

Extension: The Rough storage facility is located off the coast of East Yorkshire

Centrica has faced criticism for heavily profiting from high energy prices at a time when many Britons are struggling with bills.

Sites like Rough store natural gas when there is a surplus, and then provide it at times when the country needs it during cold snaps and peak demand.

Rough's capacity has now grown from 30 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas to 54bcf as part of the plans, equivalent to the volume of gas needed to heat 2.4 million homes over the winter, according to Centrica.

Britain currently has some of the lowest levels of gas storage in Europe at 12 days average or 7.5 peak winter days, compared to Germany at 89 days, France at 103 days and the Netherlands at 123 days.

The additional capacity means Rough can store up to 6 days of average UK gas use, Centrica said.

Centrica boss Chris O'Shea said the 2billion investment will bolster Britain's energy security, deliver a 'net zero electricity system by 2035', create 5,000 skilled jobs, and decarbonise the country's industrial clusters by 2040.

He added: 'This world class North Sea asset has the potential to help the UK economy return to a position of being a net exporter of energy once again.

'The resilience of the UK's energy system needs to be substantially improved. We are delighted to play our part by further expanding the UK's gas storage capacity.

'Rough is not a silver bullet for energy security, but it plays a critical role in increasing capacity and supply confidence over the winter months.

'Rough can help our energy system by storing natural gas when there is a surplus and producing this gas when the country needs it during cold snaps and peak demand.'
The Supreme Court will today decide the fate of President Joe Biden's $400 billion student loan bailout.

Millions anxiously await the justices' ruling on the White House's controversial plan to forgive up to $10,000 in loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 and up to $20,000 for those with Pell Grants.

The landmark decision will come just 24 hours after the bench ruled colleges could no longer use race as a factor in admissions.

The student loans decision will impact up to 26 million Americans who haven't had to repay their loans for three-and-a-half years because of a COVID pandemic freeze.

The Supreme Court will today decide the fate of President Joe Biden's $400 million student loan bailout

Millions anxiously await the justices' ruling on the White House's controversial plan to forgive up to $10,000 in loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 and up to $20,000 for those with Pell Grants

Borrowers will have to restart their payments in October, and interest will start recurring in September.

For months, Biden's student loan blueprint has been at the center of a legal tussle with six Republican-controlled US states.

Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina said he had no legal authority to go ahead with the plan without the sign-off from Congress first.

The program has been on hold since November after a federal appeals court in St. Louis issued an injunction, pausing applications and payouts.

That forced the U.S. government to seek justices' intervention at the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.

The justices have already seemed skeptical about the future of the plan.

Announced last August, the administration vowed to cancel some $10,000 in federal student debt for students earning less than $125,000.

Officials also promised to axe an additional $10,000 for students who received what are known as Pell Grants.

These financial aid payments are awarded to students with exceptional financial needs.

But most Republicans say those who took out loans need to repay them without a bailout.

They have also argued that taxes paid by Americans who didn't attend college shouldn't be used to fund those who did.

The 6-3 conservative majority of the court has already seemed skeptical about keeping the plan in place

Borrowers will have to restart their payments in October, and interest will start recurring in September

Donald Trump froze student loan payments in March 2020 as Covid-19 spread worldwide.

They are set to restart at the end of August as part of the recent debt ceiling deal between the administration and Congress.

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a motion to repeal Biden's loan forgiveness plan, but the president has already said he will veto it.

Over 26 million people have already applied for the program, with as many as 16 million having already been provisionally approved for debt relief, according to the Department of Education.

Student debt is the second-largest kind of consumer debt in the U.S behind mortgages and other home loans.

Nationwide, 45 million American owe $1.6 trillion in borrowed cash that they used to pay for their college education.
The nieces of a 'loving' aunt who was finally identified 45 years after her decaying remains were found ditched in a garment bag are now calling on cops to prove that her boyfriend killed her and buried her in a shallow grave 535 miles from home.

Diane Liggitt, 69, and her cousin Donna Taylor, 62, were stunned to receive a phone call from a Nevada State Police detective in April who revealed Florence Charleston - or Aunt Dolly as they knew her - had been identified thanks to advancements in DNA.

'Oh my god, you found my Aunt Dolly,' Diane recalled telling Detective Sean Koestner.

Nevada State Police were able to contact the two cousins, two of Florence's few surviving relatives, after the remains they sent to be DNA tested provided the 'first solid lead we have had since 1978', Detective Koester said.

Previous attempts to try and identify the victim, including digital facial reconstruction using remains from her skull as well as comparing dental records of other missing persons, had brought no answers.

This photo shows Florence Charleston, left, holding one of her nieces, Donna Taylor. It was taken at Diane Liggitt's first communion. She joked that she sadly wasn't in any of the photos herself

Nevada State Police Detective Sean Koester (pictured) admitted he is looking at the boyfriend as a suspect in the cold case

Diane Liggitt (pictured) told DailyMail.com that the family believe Florence's boyfriend killed her

But more than four decades on, after getting in touch with the nieces, Detective Koester quickly realized that the timelines added up with when Florence went missing. When Donna then agreed to give a DNA sample, it came back as a 100 per cent match.

How detectives relaunched a 45-year-old cold case thanks to DNA advancements - as they now hunt for a killer In October 1978, officers with the Pershing County Sheriffs Office responded and located the human remains in Imlay, Nevada. The remains were sent to the Washoe Medical Center for examination that same month and revealed the victim to be a Caucasian female older than 40. Sadly, due to the remains being heavily decayed, no cause of death was determined. In May 1979, Nevada State Police were called to assist the case. Despite many attempts through press releases, dental record comparisons and digital face constructions, no answers were found. The case was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and remained unsolved for 45 years. But in March 2022, an American forensic company Othram were called to perform DNA tests on the remains, while they also carried out a genealogy search. As a result, the woman was identified as Florence Charleston - who family members lost contact with by 1978 after she had moved to Portland in the early 70s. Detective then contacted Florence's nieces - and one of them, Donna Taylor, happily obliged to perform a DNA test. It came back as a 100 per cent match. Now, her nieces are hoping to find her killer - and the detective leading the case is just as motivated. Advertisement

Now, two months on from discovering their missing aunt was likely killed, the nieces are more motivated than ever to prove the man she left home in Cleveland, Ohio, for was behind the heinous act.

'Over the years, she disappeared and he [the boyfriend] wouldn't let her talk,' Diane told DailyMail.com.

'Every time they tried to call her, the guy wouldn't let her speak. He said she was sick or not home or whatever. We figured she was probably already dead then.'

Detective Koester confirmed to this newspaper that the man is their prime suspect in this active investigation, although he is likely very old or dead at this point. 'Now that we've identified her [Florence Charleston], that's half of it,' he said.

'The next part is indeed to continue with that investigation and start looking into this person of interest and tracking down some leads.

'This is, at least as far as I'm concerned, the last person to have been confirmed to see her or been with her so it's absolutely somebody that I'm going to have to be look into.

'I do have to take into account that this was 1978. This person could be very old or not even alive at this point. But that doesn't take away from the fact that we still need answers.'

He revealed that Florence also had possible connections to Hawaii but any leads involving this has led to nothing so far.

Florence, who had three brothers - Roy, Bill and Diane's father Robert - had first moved from Cleveland to Cincinnati with her husband but returned home following his death.

Several years later, when Diane was around 18, she learned from her father that her aunt had left for the Pacific Northwest with a new boyfriend sometime in the early 1970s. They moved to Portland, Oregon.

Tragically, she would never see her aunt again.

Florence's remains were found in October 1978 in the small Nevada town of Imlay - some 535 miles away from Portland.

Inside the garment bag, officers with the Pershing County Sheriff's Office - the initial lead investigating agency - also found some articles of women's clothing.

The clothing items found with Florence's remains included a dark-green sweater with a white safety pin attached to the front, dark-green trousers and a long-sleeved pink sweater.

An autopsy revealed the decomposing remains likely belonged to a middle-aged woman but failed to determine a cause of death, police said. Diane said her aunt would have been around 68 at the time of her death.

Diane never met her aunt's boyfriend but other members of the family did. They became very concerned when they weren't being allowed to speak to her.

Police initially used these facial reconstructions to try and find answers as to who the victim was, but it never provided answers

'I was hearing the news second hand from my mother and when she said she completely disappeared and that Uncle Bill, one of her brothers, had hired a private investigator and he couldn't find anything about her,' Diane said.

'I felt terrible about it because I loved her so much.

She added: 'The fact that he wouldn't let us talk to her, there was no communication with her whatsoever, we just got suspicious that something had gone on.

In May 1980, police asked the public for any information they had to identify who the victim was

'Even if you're sick I can talk on the phone. I almost died a few years ago and i could still speak on the phone.'

Detective Koester revealed that the force's intelligence team is working on developing a profile for the boyfriend, who he knows the name of but would not identify him at this time.

'It'll give me a place to start with, and then maybe lead me to the other children. It may lead me to him. I'm not 100 per cent sure, but we're still waiting for the results for that profile to come back.

'All I have is his name. I don't know anything about his character, what he did for a living, where he's from. I don't have anything so I'm relying on our intelligence folks, and we have some leads, according to the documentation the family gave.

'I have some good information that could absolutely lead to identifying this person here pretty quickly.'

Diane has fond memories of her aunt and used to spend a lot of time with her as a child. 'I have a lot of memories of her. Going to visit her in the summer time, I used to go every time she let me come home with her,' she said.

'She had a big courtyard out front her apartment building and we would sit out there in the mornings and feed the squirrels.

'We had one that would come up to us all the way but wouldn't quite make it but we tried!

She continued: 'The neighborhoods are not the same here as they used to be - every place was food.

'There was an open air meat market and bare in mind this is back in the 60s. The chickens were hanging upside down, oh Lord it was crazy. That one really sticks out. That stuck out my whole life. I was probably only seven or eight maybe.'

Although she was happy to get the closure of knowing what happened to her aunt, Diane hopes she can put it all to rest by getting justice.

'I can't for the life of me think why anyone would want to do that to her. I never saw her being as anything but kind, loving, nice, always friendly, always saying hello,' she said.

'I can't imagine anyone mad enough at her to hurt her. I can't imagine anyone hurting her. It's one those things where the wrong person was killed.'

Florence was originally from Cleveland, Ohio, but had moved to Portland, Oregon, shortly before her death. She ended up buried in a shallow grave 535 miles (860 kilometers) away from her home in Imlay, Nevada

Diane says that her and Donna are 'very motivated' to find out what happened. She said: 'It definitely would give closure. I don't know it's just so awful that anything like this could happen to her.

'She was so good. She was always happy and smiling. Really good to all of us kids, to get that end period at the end of the sentence.'

'I think if we can prove this guy did this I think that'll [give us closure]. I don't know, we'll know when it happens. Just that we knew. We'd know for a fact what happened.

'For her to be buried in the desert in a garment bag, she didn't put herself there -somebody put her there.'

Detective Koester revealed that there are more cold cases they are looking at as a result of DNA advancements. This includes another unidentified woman who is already lined up for after Florence's case.

He said: 'I am confident in the near future that will have more cases like this and have good success with identifying, you know, more unidentified persons from the genealogy process.'
President Joe Biden revealed at a fundraiser in New York City Thursday night that his former boss, President Barack Obama, has been 'helping out a lot.'

Obama returned to the White House Tuesday to have lunch with the president, as Biden has started campaigning as part of his reelection bid and has been on a fundraising blitz.

Biden held fundraisers this week in New York, Chicago and Chevy Chase, Maryland, one of Washington, D.C.'s ritzy suburbs.

At one of two New York City fundraisers, Biden joked that everytime he hears Hail to the Chief he still looks around for Obama.

The second Big Apple fundraiser attracted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Hollywood uber producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, a longtime Democratic donor.

Earlier Thursday, the two presidents - as well as former first lady Michelle Obama - were in lockstep in their condemnation of the Supreme Court for gutting affimative action in college admissions.

Former President Barack Obama is 'helping out a lot,' President Joe Biden said Thursday night at a fundraiser in New York City. He's photographed arriving earlier Thursday at John F. Kennedy International Airport

Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama condemned the Supreme Court decision that was announced Thursday that gutted affirmative action in college admissions

The Obamas, however, were able to give the messaging a more personal touch, as they talked about being black Americans who were accepted into some of the best colleges and law schools in the nation.

'Like any policy, affirmative action wasn't perfect. But it allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged,' President Obama said in a statement.

'Now it's up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve - and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives,' the ex-president added.

The former president attended Occidental College for two years and then transferred to New York University.

He then attended Harvard Law School and was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

Michelle Obama went to Princeton for undergrad and then to Harvard Law School.

Former first lady Michelle Obama put out a lengthy statement about the Supreme Court rolling back affirmative action

In a lengthy statement she recalled being one of the few black students on campus at Princeton.

'I knew I'd worked hard for it. But still, I sometimes wondered if people thought I got there because of affirmative action,' she said. 'It was a shadow that students like me couldn't shake, whether those doubts came from the outside or inside our minds.'

'But the fact is this: I belonged,' she continued. 'And semester after semester, decade after decade, for more than half a century, countless students like me showed they belonged, too.'

She argued that students of color and white students benefitted from affirmative action because white students heard a 'perspective' they might not have before.

'It wasn't perfect, but there's no doubt that it helped offer new ladders of opportunity to those who, throughout our history, have too often been denied a chance to show how fast they can climb,' the former first lady said.

She noted how a number of students are granted 'special consideration for admissions,' pointing a finger at legacy students and those from 'lavish' high schools.

'We don't usually question if those students belong,' she said. 'So often, we just accept that money, power, and privilege are perfectly justifiable forms of affirmative action, while kids growing up like I did are expected to compete when the ground is anything but level.'

She went on to say her 'heart breaks for any young person out there who's wondering what their future holds - and what kinds of chances will be open to them.'

The former first lady then asked people to act by supporting organizations that help minority students.
Beaming with one arm looped through her boyfriend's arm and the other strategically placed in front of her belly, Alexee Trevizo is the picture of happiness in her prom photos.

But unbeknownst to the photographer who snapped them, and maybe even the other teens around her, the 19-year-old was hiding a dark secret.

Just 12 weeks earlier, she gave birth to a baby boy in secret in a hospital bathroom, dumping his tiny body in a trash can, wrapped in plastic bags.

The boy died before hospital staff found him with the bag 'suctioned' to his little face.

Alexee, a baby-faced cheerleader herself, insisted she never knew she'd been pregnant. She was allowed to return home from the hospital while police conducted their investigation.

In the last week of April, when her son would have been three months old, she slipped into a mini-dress and sneakers to dance the night away with Devyn Fierro, her boyfriend of 'nearly three years'.

Alexee Trevizo and her boyfriend Devyn Fierro at Artesia High School Prom on April 22 - 12 weeks after she gave birth to their newborn son and put him in the trash in a hospital bathroom. She was arrested on May 10 and is now charged with murder

Devyn has not been charged with any crime. Alexee will return to court in September

The pair had not a care in the world as they walked the red carpet rolled out by Artesia High School for the class of seniors.

Melody Smith is the local photographer who took their photograph.

She didn't know at the time what Alexee and Devyn - who was interviewed in the hospital - were hiding.

'I had no idea about [the baby] at the time but when I looked back on the photos, I remembered her because I remember how unusual I thought it was that she wore such a short dress.

'She was holding her boyfriend's arm, it was big smiles. They were excited to be at prom.

'You would never have known,' Smith, who grew up in Artesia and attended the same high school, tells DailyMail.com.

The pair kept mostly to themselves on 'the walk', as did most of the other young couples, she said.

'It wasn't until after and then there was some retaliation about the fact she had been allowed to attend that I realized what had happened,' Melody adds, referring to Alexee's alleged murder of the baby.

Videos taken on January 6 - three weeks before she gave birth - show Alexee Trevizo, 19, cheerleading with an enormous baby bump. On January 27, she gave birth in secret and dumped the infant's body in a hospital trash can. Now, she is charged with murder

Today, the 19-year-old's reality is a lot less jubilant than it was on that spring evening in April.

She is awaiting her first court date on charges of murder and tampering with evidence, unable to leave her home at certain times of the day.

She was allowed to return to school to graduate, but didn't attend the ceremony with her peers.

By then, she had been arrested and booked into the local jail.

What will be at the heart of the trial is whether Alexee intended to kill the baby - or did kill the baby - or if he was stillborn.

In her initial interviews with police, she insisted he was 'dead' when he 'fell out' of her.

She had gone to the hospital with her mother, Rosa Rodriguez, on January 27, complaining of back pain.

At around 2am, she told nurses that she needed to use the restroom.

She was filmed by hospital surveillance cameras running down the hall, clutching at her behind.

January 27: Alexee is shown running to the bathroom in Artesia General Hospital to give birth

January 27: Trevizo and her mother, Rosa Rodriguez, in the hospital. They both insisted they did not know she was pregnant when police confronted them about finding the infant's body in a trash can

Devyn Fierro and his mother Melanie are shown in the hospital on January 27. He nodded when police asked if he was the father, and told cops he and Alexee had been together for nearly three years

The interview took place at 4.22am on January 27, around two hours after Alexee gave birth

After locking herself in the bathroom, she gave birth to the full-term baby boy, separating the umbilical chord in a way that nurses said resembled how an animal might tear it.

Alexee then wrapped the boy in a plastic bag and put him in the trash, before emerging calmly to make her way back to her room.

When questioned by one nurse in the hallway about all the blood in the room, she said it was 'her period'.

Once back in the treatment room, she was confronted by staff.

She denied knowing she was pregnant - as did her mother - and cried.

Among her mother's first words to her were: 'Lexi, I told you about this.'
Courtney McDowell says her son spoke of suicide but would 'never do it' after witnessing the effect the death of his younger brother at birth had on her

His mom is now disputing claims Renner took his life despite the coroner's office and local authorities ruling his death as suicide

The grieving mom of a Texas airport worker who died after jumping into a Delta jet engine does not believe he took his life and insists his death was an 'accident.'

Courtney McDowell has demanded to see the suicide note her son David Renner, 27, reportedly 'wrapped in a $1 bill and handed to his supervisor' before ending his life.

McDowell said her son spoke to her about suicide prior to his death at San Antonio International Airport on June 23 - but said he'd 'never do that' to her.

The Indiana resident revealed how she had carried Renner's younger brother to term but the baby died during child birth.

McDowell said the family tragedy was part of the reason Renner said he wouldn't end his life - despite the coroner's office and authorities ruling his death as suicide.

Courtney McDowell's (right) son David Renner, 27, (left) died after jumping into a Delta jet engine at San Antonio International Airport on June 23

McDowell revealed that her son had spoken to her about suicide prior to ending his life but said that he'd 'never do that' to her

'He was little when it happened, but he remembers how it affected me and he said, ''I will never do that to you mom cause I know how much it will hurt you'',' she told DailyMail.com.

Renner was 'ingested' into the engine of Delta Flight 1111 which had just arrived from Los Angeles and was taxiing to a gate.

A witness told authorities Renner walked to the captain's side of the aircraft, bent down and jumped up into the engine at about 10:25pm.

The plane had just one engine on at the time when Renner 'intentionally stepped in front of the live engine,' according to a source briefed on his death.

The plane remained at the gate the next morning and flights in the airport were delayed.

She remembered Renner as a person with a 'big heart and infectious smile'

McDowell said 'no one is talking to me', adding that most of the news about her son had been coming from the media.

She said she has made multiple calls to his place of work Unifi Aviation, the National Transportation Safety Board, the San Antonio Police Department, Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office and San Antonio Airport to no avail.

'No one is talking to me. I'm his mother and no one is telling me anything,' she said.

'I've called and called and called and no one, they all keep telling me to call this person or that person, and no one wants to tell me anything.'

The devastated mother said the incident must have been an accident despite local authorities and the coroner's office determining it a suicide.

'I believe that David wasn't paying attention maybe and he got in the way. I believe it was an accident,' she said.

'Everybody gets depressed sometimes, and he had said to me that he thought about killing himself, but he said 'right mom, I know we've talked about that before, but I want you to know I will never do that to myself' because I've already lost a son.'

McDowell remembered Renner as a person with a 'big heart and infectious smile.'

'David had a big heart, he would help anyone. He loved making people laugh and had an infectious smile,' she said.

McDowell, who lives in Indiana, revealed how she had carried Renner's younger brother to term but the baby died during child birth

She said his younger brother's death was the reason Renner (pictured) promised her he would never end his life

The NTSB told DailyMail.com that based on information provided by the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office provided to them they would not be opening an investigation into Renner's death.

'There were no operational safety issues with either the airplane or the airport,' a spokesperson from the NTSB said.

'The NTSB does not determine the manner of death.'

San Antonio Police Department said 'the Medical Examiner's Office has spoken with the family' adding that a 'full investigative reports take a minimum of 12 weeks.'

The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office on Monday ruled Renner's death a suicide and confirming the airport staffers identity with the report.

Courtney McDowell (L) posted a harrowing tribute on Facebook alongside a picture of her son DavidRenner (R) saying: 'I can't believe this is real, I close my eyes and I see your smile'

Unifi Aviation, where Renner worked, echoed that the coroner's office which determined the death as a suicide.

They released a statement Saturday saying: 'We are heartbroken and grieving the loss of an aviation family member's life in San Antonio.

'Our hearts and full support are with their family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time.'

San Antonio airport officials also said they were 'saddened' by the worker's death.

Renner's brother, Joshua, told DailyMail.com in the wake of the tragedy that 'David's childhood was complicated at times' as he was separated among two households.

'This isn't the first time David has tried something like this from my knowledge,' Joshua said.

'There were other times. This time I thought it was different.'

The scene at San Antonio International Airport on the night of June 23 when Renner reportedly walked to the captain's side of the aircraft, bent down and jumped into the engine

The Delta plane remained at the gate the next morning and flights in the airport were delayed as a result of the tragedy which the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office ruled as suicide

The Delta plane that 'ingested' Renner arrived at the airport Friday night.

Renner was working for a company that Delta contracts for ground support. An autopsy found that he died from blunt and sharp force injuries.

Joshua said there were no hints that Renner was thinking of self-harming.

'The reason I say that is because he was almost five months clean and living every day to the fullest,' he said, claiming 'there was zero indication this time.'

'David had been clean for over eight months, was in therapy, [was] actively taking his prescribed medication and had finally become the David we all knew he could be.'

Joshua said his older brother 'loved magic.'

'He was always trying to perform some little sleight of hand for his friends and family,' he recounted.

'He also loved making people laugh - he made it his mission to tell everyone at least one joke a day.'

Joshua said there were no hints his David (left and right) was thinking of self-harming: 'The reason I say that is because he was almost five months clean and living every day to the fullest'

Joshua, told DailyMail.com his brother had been clean for more than eight months and had 'finally become the David we all knew he could be' before his death

But, he said, his older brother had struggled with his mental health in the past.

Their parents 'were making sure that he was taking good care of himself' prior to his death.

Joshua said his family is now 'doing the best they can do right now,' noting that 'some days are tougher than others.

'David is one of many others that suffer with mental illness and it's not always very clear to us to see,' he said.

He is urging people to reach out when they notice someone is struggling 'because someone random can save a life to a random stranger.'

'The simplest smile can always make a difference,' he said.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at (800) 273-8255. An online chat is also available.
Australians across the country have been told to brace for icy and wet weather as winter temperatures continue to plummet.

A menacing cloudband has brought 'widespread and unseasonable heavy rain' to outback areas of northern and central Australia this week as forecasters warn the band will now wreak havoc across the east coast next week.

The Kimberley in Western Australia and the Northern Territory were the first to cop the wet weather before the band moves east to Queensland and New South Wales.

Weatherzone meteorologist Corine Brown told Daily Mail Australia the cloudband responsible for the wet weather will redevelop in the coming days.

'The cloudband will shift further east into central and northern Queensland throughout early next week before the rain eases on Wednesday,' she said.

The band will travel down to NSW on Tuesday, with the heaviest rainfall totals expected in the north of the state, near Bourke.

'Temperatures will be cooler as the cloudband crosses,' the forecaster warned.

Australians across the country have been told to brace for icy and wet weather this weekend as winter temperatures continue to plummet (pictured: wet weather in Bondi, Sydney)

Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia are expected to cop the brunt of the heavy rain (pictured, a Weatherzone map of Saturday's forecast)

Wet conditions will continue this weekend with Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia to cop the brunt of the heavy rain.

The Kimberley and the Red Centre have seen three day totals of over 70 mm this week, with Monday being the wettest day so far.

Forecast modelling by Weatherzone suggests NSW, Queensland, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania will pick up some of the incoming rain next week.

Flood watches have already been issued in WA and the NT in preparation for the second of two 'pulses' of rain, with a second peak to lash central areas on Friday.

New South Wales

Sydney should expect mostly clear skies this weekend, with minimum temperatures struggling to get above 10C and maximum temperatures remaining below 20C.

The Harbour City could receive some showers on Monday and Tuesday.

Queensland

Weekend temperatures will remain low in Queensland as an incoming cloudband brings icy showers to large parts of the state.

Residents in Brisbane can expect rainfalls of up to 20mm early next week while those on the Gold Coast may receive showers of up to 25mm.

Northern regions will cop the brunt of the wet weather with around 50mm of rain expected in Mount Isa, 70mm in Cloncurry and 60mm in Charters Towers.

Temperatures over the weekend will remain chilly in Queensland as an incoming cloudband brings icy shower to the state (pictured, maximum temperatures on Saturday)

Victoria

Melbourne will receive a handful of showers on Friday and Saturday as maximum temperatures reach just 14C.

The weekend will be cloudy with minimum temperatures just 7C on Monday.

Showers are predicted for Tuesday.

ACT

Temperatures will drop to just below freezing on Sunday and Monday with tops of just 14C over the weekend.

Canberra will enjoy mostly blue skies, before cloudy conditions next week.

Showers are forecast on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

South Australia

Conditions will remain wet and cloudy in Adelaide this weekend with showers forecast on Friday and Saturday.

Sunday will be partly cloudy, with maximum temperatures of 16C.

Rain is forecast on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Forecast modelling by Weatherzone suggests NSW, Queensland, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania will pick up some of the incoming rain next week

Northern Territory

Temperatures in the Top End will remain warm, with minimum temperatures in the low 20s and maximum temperatures hitting 31C this weekend.

Sunday will be partly cloudy, before skies clear on Monday.

Western Australia

Unseasonably cold conditions are being experienced in Perth, after residents shivered through their coldest winter morning in seven years on Tuesday.

The Perth CBD hit 0.7C at about 7am, the coldest morning since June 13, 2016.

Temperatures will warm slightly this weekend, with minimum temperatures falling to just 5C on Saturday and 6C on Sunday.

Rain is forecast for Monday, with showers on Tuesday.

Tasmania

Showers will fall across Tasmania on Friday and Saturday before clearing to leave cloudy conditions for the rest of the weekend and into next week.

Minimum temperatures will drop to just 3C on Monday.
A First Nations man has explained the reasons why he will be voting No in the Voice to Parliament referendum.

Australians will be asked to vote sometime between October and December on whether to alter the Constitution to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body to Parliament.

In a clip from a television interview, the Indigenous man said a small representative group wouldn't be able to speak for all First Nations people.

'We are voting No because it's not something we chose to do. We are our own individual voices,' he said.

'Every tribe has their own individual voice; you can't talk for anybody else's because you don't own their land.'

Australian Prime Minister and 'vote yes' advocate Anthony Albanese during the Garma Festival at Gulkula in July 2022 at East Arnhem, Australia

The clip sparked a wave of comments unsurprisingly in support of the man's position from the channel's viewers.

'Well put, thank you for your voice, I will be voting No,' one person said.

'This whole campaign is creating division between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, it's causing so much harm,' another said.

Campaigns are ramping up from both the Yes and No sides ahead of the referendum.

The Yes vote to enshrine an Indigenous voice to parliament in the Constitution continues to lead those who say they'll vote No - though support has ebbed in recent months, the prime minister says.

The Indigenous man said The Voice wouldn't speak for tribes who 'have their own voice'

Anthony Albanese made the call as new polling showed the Yes vote has fallen to 46 per cent, from 51 per cent in February, ahead of a national referendum to be held later this year.

The No vote has risen to 43 per cent, from 36 per cent four months ago, with about 11 per cent of voters undecided, the JWS Research poll published on Friday found.

JWS pointed to a significant increase in the No vote among voters aged 35 years or over and among those living in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

'There's a different poll every day,' Mr Albanese told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.

'Every poll, including the one that was mentioned today, of course, has the Yes vote higher than the No vote.

'Australians will make up their own minds and I encourage Australians to have a look at the wording that's put forward, and to talk with First Nations people as well.'

Meanwhile, an Ipsos poll in January commissioned by the Uluru Dialogue found that 80 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians support a Voice enshrined in the constitution

It found that 10 per cent of Indigenous respondents were opposed to the Voice to parliament and a further 10 per cent remained undecided.

The referendum on the voice is due to be held in the final quarter of this year and its success depends on majority support across the country and in four of six Australian states.

The voice to parliament will be able to advise parliament and the government on issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Earlier this week, representatives of Northern Territory land councils travelled to Canberra to deliver the Barunga Declaration to Mr Albanese and Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney.

The declaration calls 'for the recognition of our peoples in our still young Constitution by enshrining our voice to the parliament and executive government, never to be rendered silent with the stroke of a pen again'.

Members of the Northern, Central, Tiwi and Anindilyakwa land councils signed the declaration at the Barunga Festival in early June.

It invites all Australians to 'right the wrongs of the past and deal with the serious issues impacting First Nations peoples ... and unite our country' by voting 'yes'.

Mr Albanese said enshrining the voice would be a positive change and would not have any downside.

'This is all upside and I sincerely hope that Australians do vote 'yes',' he added.

Independent Senator and 'vote no' advocate Lidia Thorpe (front right) and Walpiri elder Ned Hargraves speak during a press conference at Parliament House, in Canberra this month

Uluru Dialogue co-chair Megan Davis told AAP this week the voice will change lives.

'It is a modest reform that will help change the daily lives of Aboriginal and Islander Peoples and acknowledge our place as the First Nations of this country,' she said.

But the federal coalition continues to claim the voice will create a group 'at the top of our system of government with an unlimited, untested ability to interact not just with elected representatives but across the full spectrum of executive government and with supreme authority gifted by the Constitution'.

'This is bad policy. It is a bad proposal,' Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told a NSW Liberal party conference in Sydney on Saturday.

'It will not deliver better outcomes for Indigenous Australians but it will deliver worse outcomes for all Australians.'

Ms Ley also noted that before the opposition made its position clear, support for the voice was in the 60-70 per cent range.

'We took a principled decision on this. We weren't going to be influenced by all the polls,' she added.

Ms Ley again called on Mr Albanese to work with the opposition to legislate 'what we can agree on' about the voice and then go to the people with a referendum question that has bipartisan support.

The question to be put in the referendum is: 'A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?'
Yes campaign is also handing out pamphlets in support

The first shots have been fired in the Voice to Parliament campaign with a two-page pamphlet sent to thousands of households railing against the advisory body, claiming it will be costly, permanent, inefficient and 'legally risky'.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who will be one of the chief campaigners for the No side, sent the pamphlet to his constituents in Brisbane's Dickson over the last week, in which he expressed his concerns about the Voice.

Mr Dutton's pamphlet comes as he prepares to make the byelection for the seat of Fadden, which takes in the Gold Coast, a mini-referendum on support for the Voice.

Mr Dutton claimed that the constitutional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory body - which could make submissions to the government of the day about issues affecting First Nations people - is 'legally risky' with a potentially 'unlimited' scope.

The Liberal Party have voiced concerns of future High Court challenges to the interpretation of the remit of the advisory body, particularly given it will have the constitutional right to make representations to 'all areas of executive government'.

'Every word can be open to interpretation. Enshrining the Voice in the Constitution means its open to legal challenge and interpretation by the High Court. Legal experts dont agree, and cant know for sure, how any High Court will interpret such a constitutional change. This opens a legal can of worms,' Mr Dutton said.

'Labors proposed Voice model isnt just to the parliament, but to all areas of executive government. This gives it basically unlimited scope  from The Reserve Bank to Centrelink.'

The government has not outlined any specific limits as to what the body can and cannot make representations on, although Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney claimed it would not focus on issues such as changing the date of Australia Day.

Meanwhile, the official Yes campaign - Yes23 - on Friday fired back by distributing pamphlets of its own in Redfern, inner Sydney.

Those flyers 'sort fact from fiction' and double down on an argument saying it 'doesn't make sense' to hammer out exact details of the Voice before a referendum.

The Opposition Leader sent the pamphlet to households in his electorate of Dickson in outer Brisbane, as campaigning for both sides heats up ahead of the referendum later this year

Mr Dutton's brochure asks residents to consider why Labor is 'asking Australians to vote without knowing exactly how the Voice would operate'

The No brochure

Mr Dutton's brochure asks residents to consider why Labor is 'asking Australians to vote without knowing exactly how the Voice would operate'.

'Some Voice activists say this will be a first step to reparations and other radical changes.'

In bold font, highlighted yellow, is the Opposition's primary message they're hoping voters will take away: 'Don't know? Vote no.'

Mr Dutton also noted a Voice written into the constitution will not 'be undone' and will have lasting effects.

Peter Dutton has expressed his concerns about the Voice to Parliament, describing it as 'legally risky'

He is concerned potential High Court challenges could open a 'legal can of worms' and see a group of advisors who were not democratically elected advise the government on matters as far reaching as the Reserve Bank, Centrelink and submarines.

'Once a High Court makes an interpretation, parliament cant overrule it. Well be stuck with negative consequences,' the brochure states.

The Liberal Party does not oppose a policy which would give regional and disadvantaged voices 'powers clearly defined by parliament' to help close the gap.

'All fair-minded Australians want to help Indigenous Australians in disadvantaged communities improve their lives,' Mr Dutton's pamphlet says.

Their concerns stem from the decision to have such a body constitutionally enshrined.

And some figures - both from within the Liberal party and without - claim that a centralised Voice to Parliament could actually harm regional and remote communities.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price told Daily Mail Australia she is concerned that well-meaning politicians may not know the weight of their words when they make references to an advisory body which is 'culturally informed'.

'There is no real detail about what being culturally informed actually looks like,' Ms Nampijinpa Price warns.

'There are elements of traditional culture that don't recognise equality between men and women. When it comes to decision-making, we're talking about a patriarchal society here in a lot of instances.'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has assured the public this is a 'modest' request which will not impact the lives of most Australians, but make a world of difference to the nation's most vulnerable

When Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney insisted matters as close to home for Aboriginal people as Australia Day wouldn't be in the remit of the Voice, Ms Nampijinpa Price had her doubts.

'She cannot say that,' Ms Nampijinpa Price said.

'Everything is in play. Unless there is a specific list that is pre-determined by parliament that are no-go areas, right now nothing is off the table.'

The Yes brochure

The official campaign supporting a Voice to Parliament claims it 'doesn't make sense' to release detail about the advisory body until after it is voted on at a referendum.

Exact details of the scope of the Indigenous body and how it will be selected are yet to be hammered out, in what has become a significant criticism of the proposal, which every Australian adult will vote on toward the end of the year.

'It doesn't make sense to do the detailed consultation until we have the support of the Australian people to change the constitution,' the official FAQ page for Yes23 states.

'The first step in the process is to get support from the Australian public to recognise First Nations knowledge in the constitution.

The official campaign supporting a Voice to Parliament claims it 'doesn't make sense' to release detail about the advisory body until after it is voted on at a referendum

The Yes campaign urged supporters to have meaningful conversations with their friends, family and communities about why constitutional recognition is important

'The second step will involve a detailed consultation process to determine how the Voice to Parliament will work.'

The Yes campaign pamphlet admits that it could be 'hard to know who or what to believe' given the flurry of stories in the media about the Voice.

The Yes campaign urged supporters to have meaningful conversations with their friends, family and communities about why constitutional recognition is important.

'By enshrining recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through a Voice to Parliament in the constitution, we're making sure that no government can change, dismantle or remove the recognition or the Voice.'

These brochures are not the official Yes and No pamphlets which will be agreed upon by politicians on each side of the debate and sent to all households nationwide.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has assured the public this is a 'modest' request which will not impact the lives of most Australians, but make a world of difference to the nation's most vulnerable.

He said Australians will be afforded a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' to improve the lives of First Nations people at the referendum, to be held between October and December.

'Where's the downside here?' he asked. 'What are people risking here? From my perspective this is all upside.'
A family who lost their newly-renovated home to a fire believe it was sparked by a jug of water sitting in direct sunlight on top of a dog kennel.

Security vision from Joel Quioc's backyard in the Perth suburb of Ellenbrook last week shows the jug of water smouldering after heat reflected onto a window.

Minutes later, the wooden kennel erupts into the flames as the family dog Mylo starts barking to raise the alarm.

Mr Quioc's mum arrived home shortly after walking her teenage grandson to school to find the smoke wafting around the house, grabbing the dog and calling triple-0.

'The sunlight had caught the jug of water and acted as a magnifying glass,' Joel Quioc told Seven News.

Joel Quioc (pictured with his mum) and his family had to find alternative accommodation after losing most of their possessions in a horror house blaze

'I know it's outrageous, even my wife thought it was.'

The family lost most of their possessions after the blaze caused extensive damage to the kitchen, loungeroom and bedroom, despite firefighters' best efforts to contain the fire.

Mr Quioc was on jury duty at the time of the blaze while wife Donna was at work.

'We've just done some renovations so to come home to that was devastating,' Mr Quioc said.

The Quiocs managed to find a furnished rental home which they've moved into for the next six months.

But it could be up to a year before the family can move back into the home with a supply crisis currently plaguing the building industry.

Fire investigators said the cause of the fire remains unclear and believe there could have been several ignition sources, including electronical devices which were nearby.

The family believes a jug of water sitting on top of Mylo's kennel sparked the blaze

Perth's Ellenbrook community have rallied around Joel, his wife Donna and son Tyler

Firefighters have been called to 249 structure blazes across WA in the last two months alone, 60 more than the same period last year.

The community has rallied behind the Quiocs and set up an online fundraiser to help replace their possessions and rebuild their lives.

'If you are lucky enough to know them you know what I mean when I say they are aa true gift to our community and I wish there were more people like them out there,' a friend wrote on the page.

'We know times are tough right now for everyone but if we can all manage a little we can do a lot for this beautiful family to get them back on their feet.
New York Times' 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones claimed Justice Clarence Thomas is 'irrelevant here' following the outlawing of affirmative action

New York Times' 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones slammed 'wealthy white people' on the Supreme Court after SCOTUS overturned affirmative action in college admissions, claiming Justice Clarence Thomas is 'irrelevant here.'

'An elite, white majority determining after just 50 years of weak, half-hearted affirmative action efforts, that they are the ones to decide that enough has been done to address centuries of explicit racial exclusion against Black people is the most American ruling ever,' she wrote on Twitter following the ruling.

'Let me make it simpler,' she added. 'Rich white people thinking THEY are the ones who get to say that society has done enough to mitigate that devastation of 350 years of explicit discrimination against Black people is the most American thing of all.'

'Was going to write an essay about it, but why even bother. (Also, Clarence Thomas is actually irrelevant here. So thanks but no thanks),' she concluded.

The 1619 Project founder has provoked significant anger in the past over her bold claims in which she calls out commonplace activities in life, such as tipping in restaurants, as deeply rooted in racism.

New York Times' 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones slammed 'wealthy white people' on the Supreme Court after the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action in college admissions, claiming Justice Clarence Thomas is 'irrelevant here'

She has said in the past that 'backlash' against her woke revisionist project is her 'greatest honor' because it 'makes powerful people in this country very scared.'

In March of last year, she stirred up controversy on Twitter when she claimed in a since-deleted tweet that 'tipping is a legacy of slavery,' sparking an argument with an historian she claims is 'obsessed' with her.

The 1619 Project founder has also said the Declaration of Independence is 'not a liberty document' and admits she finds patriotism hard 'because of slavery'.

She has even claimed the history of the United States that Americans have been taught about 'does not exist.'

Hannah Jones continued on her rant an hour later to emphasize the point that only one group experienced 'chattel slavery' in the United States.

'A program originally designed to address the specific, explicit racism against enslaved Africans & their descendants is not racist against other groups. This is an intentionally obtuse & convenient way of evaluating policies in nation where only 1 grp experienced chattel slavery,' she tweeted.

She then makes note of the absurdity that the group responsible for creating and benefiting from racially exclusionary policies is qualified to determine the decision.

'Further, it is laughable to believe that the group who architected and benefited from the police's of explicit racial exclusion are the appropriate ones to determine when enough has been done to mitigate the harm of those policies.'

'Maybe I will write that essay after all,' she added.

The 1619 Project founder, who has a history of complaining on Twitter, has provoked significant anger in the past over her bold claims in which she calls out commonplace activities in life, such as tipping in restaurants, as deeply rooted in racism

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges could no longer factor in race when considering potential students.

The justices decided in a 6-3 opinion that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)'s race-based affirmative action admissions policy is unconstitutional.

The bench voted 6-2 - with liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recused - to strike down Harvard's policies that the plaintiffs argued discriminated against Asian-Americans.

The ruling ends the decades-old 'affirmative action' policy that was designed to boost the number of black and Hispanic students in colleges. Now universities will have to look to new ways to better incorporate minority groups and ensure representation among student bodies.

Republicans are celebrating a return to 'merit-based' education admissions while Democrats claim the Supreme Court's decision to overturn affirmative action will turn back the clock on racial justice.

Former President Trump, who appointed three conservative justices, took delight in the ruling on his Truth Social page: 'This is a great day for America,' he wrote.

'People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded. This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing. It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world.

'Our greatest minds must be cherished and that's what this wonderful day has brought. We're going back to all merit-basedand that's the way it should be!'

The Obamas had a different take.

'Today, my heart breaks for any young person out there who's wondering what their future holds  and what kinds of chances will be open to them,' ex-First Lady Michelle Obama said in a statement.

Former President Barack Obama said affirmative action had 'allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged.'

President Biden called the decision a 'severe disappointment.' 'This is not a normal court,' he said.

President Joe Biden on Thursday said the Supreme Court has done more to 'unravel basic rights' than any other court in recent history as he blasted the landmark decision that ended affirmative action in college admissions.

Biden, in an interview on MSNBC, explained what he mean when he said earlier in the day that the high court was not 'normal.'

'What I meant was that it's done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history. And that's what I meant by not normal,' he said.

In the interview with Nicolle Wallace, Biden confirmed his opposition to packing the court with more justices, which some liberal Democrats have pushed for.

'I think they may do too much harm. But I think if start the process of trying to expand the court, we're going to politicize it, maybe forever-- that's not healthy. That we can't get back,' he said.

The first black woman to sit on the Supreme Court let rip on Thursday, accusing her conservative colleagues of 'let-them-eat-cake obliviousness' after they ruled to strike down affirmative action policies that help minorities attend universities.

Their blockbuster decision will force colleges and universities to overhaul their admissions policies.

In her blistering dissent, Ketanji Brown Jackson said the group that challenged the policy was ignoring both 'reality and history.'

And the conservative justices who agreed were simply willing racism out of existence.

They were 'unmoored' from reality.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges could no longer factor in race when considering potential students. The justices decided in a 6-3 opinion that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)'s race-based affirmative action admissions policy is unconstitutional

'Rich white people thinking THEY are the ones who get to say that society has done enough to mitigate that devastation of 350 years of explicit discrimination against Black people is the most American thing of all,' Hannah Jones said

'With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat,' she wrote in her 29-page dissent.

'But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.

'And having so detached itself from this country's actual past and present experiences, the court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that [University of North Carolina] and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve America's real-world problems.'

Earlier the court released two related rulings based on a case brought by a group called Students for Fair Admissions, founded by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum.

The group accused UNC and Harvard of operating affirmative action policies that ran counter to the U.S. Constitution's promise of equal protection under the law.

It won, with votes of 6-3 against UNC and 6-2 against Harvard.

Whoopi Goldberg has slammed SCOTUS for outlawing race as a factor in college admissions - saying they've 'upset' the precedent.

The View co-host, 67, said that if everyone was truly treated equally there would have never been a need for affirmative action in the first place.

Goldberg said on The View following the ruling: 'The Supreme Court has upset a 45 year precedent, ruling it unconstitutional for universities to consider race in admissions.

'Now the 14th Amendment is supposed to promise equal protection, but if everyone was actually treated equally, we wouldn't have had to put in affirmative action.

'We wouldn't have had to do it!

'People wouldn't have had to march and beg and got hosed and all of these things people did just to balance us out with everything else going on in the country.'

Now universities will have to look to new ways to better incorporate minority groups and ensure representation among student bodies.

The majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts read: 'Because Harvard's and UNC's admissions programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points, those admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause.'

Roberts added that for too long, colleges within the United States have 'concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin.

'Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.'
Australia's first - and lesser-known - Voice to Parliament has been put on hold over fears it will confuse voters ahead of the referendum on the national Voice proposal.

South Australia had planned to elect representatives to the state's own inaugural Voice in September, but that has now been put back six months.

The election campaigns were set to overlap with the wider debate on the referendum to change the country's constitution.

The decision comes as support for the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's national Voice slides, with latest polling showing the majority of Australians are now against it.

Australia's first - and lesser-known - Voice to Parliament has been put on hold over fears it will confuse voters ahead of the referendum on the national Voice proposal

South Australian Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas (pictured) had hoped to have the new body operating by the end of the year, but that has now been moved back to mid-2024

South Australian Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas had hoped to have his state's new body operating by the end of the year, but that has now been moved back to mid-2024.

He had previously brushed off concerns about the coincidental timing and had claimed it would strengthen the case in favour of the Yes vote in the referendum.

But in an embarrassing U-turn for the Premier, South Australia has now put the plans on ice, ahead of a predicted referendum vote on October 14.

The state government said revising the timing to March will also allow more time for people to enrol to vote and to consider nominating for a position.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kyam Maher said work being done in SA was being overshadowed by the national debate over the Yes and No referendum campaigns.

Both the electoral commissioner and the commissioner for First Nations Voice said the referendum was causing confusion about the state voice.

'We have done so much work to support the South Australian voice and it will be proceeding regardless of the outcome of the referendum,' Mr Maher said.

'By allowing for more time, we're giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in South Australia the opportunity to fully understand how they can get involved and take the time to campaign, with distance from the discussion about the national voice.'

Under the new schedule, nominations for those wishing to stand for election in SA will open on January 22 and close on February 12.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders wishing to vote in the voice elections must enrol by February 12.

Early voting will open on March 4 and continue to March 16, with polling on March 16.

The decision comes as support for the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's national Voice slides, with the latest polls showing the majority of Australians are now against it (pictured: the PM with NSW Premier Chris Minns)

The SA process, established after historic legislation passed parliament in March, provides for six regions across the state.

Five of those will elect seven members, with the central region including Adelaide to have 11, reflecting the higher Indigenous population.

Two members from each region will then be chosen to make up the smaller group, which will speak directly to the SA parliament.

Commissioner for First Nations Voice Dale Agius said local communities had expressed a need for more time to get involved amid concerns the national referendum was making that increasingly challenging.
A man wanted for crimes related to the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was arrested on Thursday in the Washington D.C. neighborhood where former President Barack Obama lives.

Taylor Taranto, 37, was seen by law enforcement just a few blocks from the former president's home, and he fled even though he was chased by U.S. Secret Service agents.

Taranto ran towards Obama's home in the Kalorama neighborhood of the city, but was apprehended before he reached it. It's unclear if the Obamas were home at the time.

The Obamas bought a home in the exclusive D.C. neighborhood in 2016.

Metropolitan Police arrested him on charges of being a fugitive from justice. The explosives team then swept Taranto's vehicle.

Taylor Taranto, a man wanted man in connection to crimes related to the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was arrested on Thursday

Taranto was apprehended close to President Barack Obama's home and saw Secret Service agents pursue Taranto after spotting him a few blocks away from home

Taranto was taken into custody by the Metropolitan Police on charges of being a fugitive from justice - he had been living around the corner in a van. He is pictured on January 6th, 2021

Multiple weapons and the materials to make some kind of explosive device similar to a Molotov cocktail were found inside but they had not been assembled, law enforcement officials told CBS News.

Taranto said he had explosives, but first responders only found the materials to make them.

He has an open warrant on charges related to the insurrection, two law enforcement officials said.

Officials who were not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing case said Taranto had also made social media threats against a public figure on recent livestreams.

NBC News stated how Taranto had been posting conspiracy theories regarding the Obama's home to Telegram.

37-year-old Taylor Taranto, of Seattle, Washington was arrested running towards former President Barack Obama's Washington, DC home. He is seen during the Capitol siege

It wasn't clear what, exactly, Taranto is accused of doing in the riot, where supporters of then-President Donald Trump smashed windows and beat and bloodied police officers in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election

Taranto was picked up by cameras several times during the Capitol insurrection

Authorities revealed on Thursday that Taranto had been camping out close to the jail where fellow January 6 suspects are being held. He is pictured on January 6, 2021

Taranto had been posting conspiracy theories regarding the Obama's home to Telegram

Taranto is believed to have been in the Washington, D.C., area for a couple of months.

A Telegram account associated with Tarantos Facebook and YouTube pages sees a post about the home as recently as 7:50am on Thursday morning.

Taranto is believed to have been in the Washington, D.C., area for a couple of months.

He was spotted camping in his van near the D.C. jail where many of the January 6 defendants are being held.

Some of Taranto's livestreams were posted while he was in the D.C. area.

Taranto was sued in late 2021 by the widow of Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith for his role in the attack January 6.

Jeffrey Smith was one of hundreds of Metropolitan Police Department officers deployed during the Capitol riot on January 6. He died by suicide on January 15

Taranto was sued in late 2021 by Erin Smith, the widow of Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith for his role in the attack January 6

Erin Smith filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Taranto who then asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit and award him $3.5 million, together with a public apology.

It wasn't clear what, exactly, Taranto is accused of doing in the riot, where supporters of then-President Donald Trump smashed windows and beat and bloodied police officers in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot.

Over 600 of them have pleaded guilty, while approximately 100 others have been convicted after trials decided by judges or juries.

More than 550 riot defendants have been sentenced, with over half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from six days to 18 years.
Downing Street has blasted hospital consultants planning to put 'profit before patients' by carrying on with their lucrative private work while on strike.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said it 'cannot be right' that senior doctors continue to treat their fee-paying patients at the same time as NHS procedures are cancelled during next month's two-day walkout.

No10 spoke out yesterday after it was revealed that the wealthy medics, who earn 128,000 on average for their public sector work, are allowed by their union to continue in private practice even when they are taking industrial action.

Asked what Rishi Sunak made of their behaviour, the PM's official spokesman replied: 'If consultants choose to take strike action, it cannot be right that some continue to only treat their fee-paying private patients and benefit financially from that while patient care is put at risk in the NHS.

'We would urge those consultants considering this approach to seriously consider the impact on the NHS. It would not be right to put profit before patients.'

Downing Street has blasted hospital consultants planning to put 'profit before patients' by carrying on with their lucrative private work while on strike

Up to 24,000 hospital consultants are due to strike on July 20 and 21, for the first time in more than a decade, claiming their incomes have fallen by 35 per cent in the past 15 years.

They will provide 'Christmas Day cover', meaning that routine operations will be cancelled but life-or-death services in A&E and maternity will remain in place.

The action has been timed to start the day after junior doctors in England complete a five-day walkout, adding to the disruption suffered by patients.

It comes after the head of the British Medical Association warned that all four types of doctors could be in dispute with the Government ahead of the next election.

Professor Philip Banfield said GPs and specialist doctors may join in the rows over pay and conditions. Specialists say the value of their pay has fallen by 25 per cent since 2008 while GPs are angry about a new contract being imposed on them.

'What you could have is a situation where junior doctors, consultants, specialist and speciality doctors, and GPs are all in dispute with the Government in the run-up to a general election,' Professor Banfield told The Guardian. 'That is what we are planning for.'

Industrial action across the NHS risks the PM's key pledge to cut waiting lists, with a record 7.4million patients now waiting to start hospital treatment.

Dissatisfaction over pay in the health service has continued alongside poor mental health among staff.

Dissatisfaction over pay in the health service has continued alongside poor mental health among staff

Figures show that burnout and other mental health issues have remained the main cause of sick days. Data from NHS Digital shows 24.6 per cent of staff sickness absences in NHS England were down to anxiety, stress, depression and other psychiatric illnesses in February.

The overall absence rate that month was 5 per cent, down from 5.3 per cent in January and 6.3 per cent in December.

Separate analysis from the Nuffield Trust think-tank found that the average rate of sickness absences in NHS England in 2022 was 5.6 per cent, compared with 4.3 per cent in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

The researchers claim this equates to the loss of 75,000 staff, an increase of 29 per cent over three years.

It said ambulance staff, ambulance support staff and midwives had the largest rises in sick days in 2022 compared with 2019.

Dr Billy Palmer, a senior fellow at the Nuffield Trust, said: 'The increasing numbers taking time away from work feeds into a seemingly unsustainable cycle of increased work leading to burnout and then more people choosing to leave.

'There has been a lot of focus on recruitment... but we need more endeavour to improve the working conditions of existing staff and protect them from illness.'
A coroner's report found that a hospital failed to correctly diagnose a toddler's brain bleed before discharging him from hospital and eight days later, he lost his life.

Deputy Coroner Derek Lee released the damning findings into the suspicious death of 21-month-old Baylen Pendergast on June 23.

On November 22, 2013, the toddler was taken to Tamworth Hospital, in regional NSW, after his mother Zoe Merlin said he had fallen from his bed four days earlier and had been vomiting.

He had bruising to his face, shins, forearms and chest, and had a cut near his right eye.

Baylen had a CT scan done, but hospital staff failed to notice the toddler's head injuries and did not order a follow-up MRI.

The coroner found staff did not recognise his injuries and then failed to report them, discharging the boy.

A damning coroner's report has revealed that 21-month-old Baylen Pendergast's (pictured) injuries failed to be reported by Tamworth Hospital as he was discharged with an undiagnosed brain bleed

'The cause of Baylen's death was complications of blunt head injury resulting from at least two separate acts of trauma. It is most likely that these acts of trauma occurred on 17 and 28 November 2013,' Coroner Lee stated in his findings.

'The injuries were the result of the application of significant force by another person or persons.'

The coroner's findings revealed the boy's CT scan was sent to an overseas radiographer for review, who found no fractures or haemorrhages but recommended an MRI to Tamworth doctors.

A consultation between Tamworth doctors and a John Hunter Hospital neurosurgical registrar found there may have been a more serious injury but no further scans were done, and Baylen was discharged on November 24.

His doctor contacted his mother on November 28 and was told Baylen had seen a GP the day before and his condition was improving.

However, hours later Baylen was found 'lying in bed, unconscious' and was rushed by ambulance to Tamworth Hospital before being flown to the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick, where he passed away on November 30.

The toddler presented to Tamworth Hospital (pictured) with bruising to his face, shins, forearms and chest, and had a cut near his right eye. Staff didn't notice his head injuries on a CT scan and failed to order a follow-up MRI

Yvonne Patricks, General Manager Tamworth Hospital issued a statement following the coronial report, admitting they did not provide adequate care for the boy and are continuing to improve their level of care.

'I offer my sincere condolences to Baylens family and apologise that we did not provide him with the care he deserved,' Ms Patricks said.

'We accept the Coroners recommendations and continue to work on ways we can further improve our standards of care.

There has already been a number of improvements made in our emergency department (ED) since this incident in 2013. All staff are required to complete mandatory education, including child protection training, with priority access offered to paediatricians and ED medical officers.'

Baylen's mother had told her friends that she heard a loud thump that night, which her boyfriend said was from him kicking his toe while putting the toddler to bed.

A post-mortem of Baylen found fresh skull fractures and brain bleeds.

There was also evidence of previous serious head trauma.

'The expert medical evidence establishes that it is most likely that Baylens injuries were not the result of accident or misadventure,' the coroner's report stated.

'Rather, the injuries were the result of the application of significant force by another person or persons. However, the mechanism by which this force was applied cannot be established on the available evidence.'

Forensic pathologist Dr Lina Iles also stated in the coronial inquest that the injuries sustained could not have been from a single fall.

The coroner's report also noted no doctors at Tamworth followed the child protection policy, as any suspicion of child abuse must be reported.

Changes in 2018 were made to child protection training at Tamworth Hospital.

NSW Police continue to investigate Baylen's death.
Peter Dutton has declared that Gladys Berejiklian is 'not corrupt' - one day after the NSW ICAC found she had committed 'serious corrupt conduct'.

The corruption watchdog delivered its findings against the former NSW Premier and her ex-lover, former Liberal MP for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire, on Thursday.

ICAC said 'Ms Berejiklian engaged in serious corrupt conduct by breaching public trust in 2016 and 2017 through exercising her official functions in relation to funding promised and/or awarded'.

The Federal Opposition Leader and fellow Liberal told the Nine Network on Friday: 'She's just a very decent person. She chose a bum basically, and he was a bad guy.

'I think that she has, you know, paid a big price for that and her integrity is not in question.

'She's not a corrupt person. That's not the person I know.'

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton jumped to Gladys Berejiklian's defence on Friday. Above, with his wife Kirilly

Gladys Berejiklian was found to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct by the ICAC on Thursday

ICAC contended that Ms Berejiklian's corruption involved her support for funding a gun club in Mr Maguire's electorate and $20million in funds reserved for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music, also in his electorate.

The 300-seat music conservatorium, announced in August 2018 when Ms Berejiklian was in a secret relationship with Mr Maguire, did not go ahead because the business case didn't stack up.

Phone intercepts

Gladys Berejiklian is pictured with Daryl Maguire (behind) with whom she was in a secret relationship for years - and who has brought her down

Bombshell phone intercepts from the ICAC report showed Ms Berejiklian's secret boyfriend told her, 'I am the boss, even when you're the Premier' - to which she bizarrely agreed.

Ms Berejiklian argued her responses agreeing Mr Maguire was 'the boss' in their relationship, and other similar comments, were just her way of 'appeasing an insecure man to make him feel better about himself'.

In evidence that was not previously made public, ICAC revealed details of a telephone intercept between Ms Berejiklian and Mr Maguire on February 14, 2018, in which she twice agreed with him when he said 'I am the boss'.

BEREJIKLIAN: 'That's what I mean I forget that I'm meant to be with you know, technically the Premier so, you know. I get that.

MAGUIRE: 'Hmm anyway.'

BEREJIKLIAN: 'Because you know what I tell you why because normally you're the boss and it's hard when we have to switch it around that's the truth. '

MAGUIRE: 'Yeah but I am the boss, even when you're the Premier.'

BEREJIKLIAN: 'I know. So therefore it's hard when I had to switch it around.'

MAGUIRE: 'Glad even when you are the Premier I am the boss alright.

BEREJIKLIAN: 'Yes I know'.

But Ms Berejiklian said her showing concern over Mr Maguire's insecurities and seeking to placate him was unremarkable.

'She contended that her "banal reassurances in this conversation" were a world away from evidence that she would exercise her public functions with partiality, alive to Mr Maguire's insecurities and/or in a manner calculated to placate him and that the exchange was easily recognisable as an instance of a woman appeasing an insecure man to make him feel better about himself.' the ICAC report said.

'It did not reflect her sincere sentiments.'

Text exchanges

In a text exchange dated to April 12, 2018, Ms Berejiklian appeared to tell Mr Maguire she couldn't do her job without him:

MAGUIRE: I am busy killing mmc you do your job and lead the state.

BEREJIKLIAN: I can't without you.

MAGUIRE: I am your biggest supporter! Got your back go and do your job.

BEREJIKLIAN: But you are my family.

Texts sent between Gladys Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire

The ICAC previously heard text message evidence that Mr Maguire used an Armenian term of affection, describing her as 'hawkiss' when he had good news to share.

Mr Maguire: 'Hawkiss good news One of my contacts sold a motel for 5.8 million I had put her in contact so I should make 5k.'

Ms Berejiklian: 'Congrats!!! Great news!!! Woohoo.'

The duo's relationship had progressed to such a point that they both referred to Ms Berejiklian's Sydney address as 'home'.

Text messages between the pair revealed they were engaged in 'mundane domestic arrangements, such as requests to pick up bread and things to eat on the way "home"'.

While Ms Berejiklian said she believed the relationship began sometime in 2015, the commission found messages consistent with 'physical and emotional intimacy' from as early as early 2014.

The report stated: 'The messages are replete with terms of endearment, the use of pet names and other indications of mutual affection and love. They include discussions about marriage and the possibility of having a child together.'

'Failure to disclose relationship'

Ms Berejiklian's failure to disclose her relationship with Mr Maguire during an expenditure review process, despite supporting the grant proposal, was slammed by ICAC as conflicted.

A proposal to the NSW government's Cabinet sought $5.5million for the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) to develop a large clubhouse and conference facility in Wagga Wagga.

Berejiklian's former boyfriend Daryl Maguire is pictured firing a gun

'It's to be known as the Maguire International Shooting Centre of Excellence,' a document related to it joked.

ICAC found that 'the evidence is compelling that Ms Berejiklian deliberately failed to disclose her personal relationship with Mr Maguire in circumstances where there was a real possibility of conflict between her public duty and her private interest in relation to her exercise of her official functions associated with proposals for government action that she knew were advanced by Mr Maguire, such as the ACTA proposal.

'The Commission rejects Ms Berejiklian's submission that she did not know, nor was she reckless as to, her obligation to disclose her relationship with Mr Maguire under the conflict regime.

'In the Commission's view, Ms Berejiklian's failure to disclose her relationship with Mr Maguire in relation to the decisions she made concerning the ACTA proposal cannot be put down to an honest error of judgment.'

'Seriously corrupt', but no charges

Despite the extraordinary finding, the ICAC does not believe the former premier should be prosecuted, though, saying: 'The Commission is not of the opinion that consideration should be given to obtaining the advice of the [Director of Public Prosecutions] with respect to the prosecution of Ms Berejiklian for any offence.'

But it said 'consideration should be given to obtaining the advice of the DPP about the prosecution of Mr Maguire' and two of his business associates.

ICAC found that Mr Maguire improperly used his office and the resources he had access as an MP between 2012 and August 2018.

He did so to benefit G8wayInternational Pty Ltd, it found, 'a company of which he was in substance a director and whose profits he had an arrangement to share with others'.

During its investigation of Mr Maguire, ICAC became aware of the relationship between him and Ms Berejiklian.

The corruption involved Ms Berejiklian's support for gun club (pictured) funding in Mr Maguire's electorate

$20million in funding was reserved for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music (pictured), but it did not go ahead because the business case didn't stack up

'The investigation revealed them discussing aspects of Mr Maguire's conduct that the Commission was investigating and Ms Berejiklian's participation in grant decisions favouring projects in his electorate,' it said.

As the investigation continued, the ICAC found that 'her acts and omissions gave rise to questions as to whether she had: seriously misused her public offices; breached the NSW Ministerial Code of Conduct ...

'Failed to exercise her duty under section 11 of the ICAC Act to report any matter that she suspected on reasonable grounds concerned, or may concern, corrupt conduct in relation to the conduct of Mr Maguire ...

'And engaged in conduct that was liable to allow or encourage the occurrence of corrupt conduct by Mr Maguire such as could constitute serious corrupt conduct within the meaning of the ICAC Act.'

How Gladys Berejiklian's boyfriend, barrister Arthur Moses, reacted Gladys Berejiklian's boyfriend Arthur Moses was at work in the NSW Supreme Court when ICAC branded his girlfriend corrupt in their damning report. The high-flying barrister was representing Network Ten in their legal action against former political editor Peter van Onselen after 9am, just as the corruption watchdog's report was published. He ducked out of pre-hearing discussions, telling colleagues he had to 'make a call' moments after ICAC released its report making findings of 'serious corrupt conduct' against Ms Berejiklian, over her 'secret lovers' relationship with her ex, Daryl Maguire. When he returned to courtroom 7D 15 minutes later, one colleague asked Mr Moses if he was alright and put a supportive arm around him. Mr Moses replied he was fine and returned to the case shortly after, making his opening address to the court without any mention of his girlfriend's plight. Ms Berejiklian (pictured right) and her barrister boyfriend Arthur Moses (left) were pictured hand-in-hand taking an early morning stroll last weekend Advertisement

Premier Chris Minns said though the 'report has taken way too long ... nothing in this report takes away from Premier Berejiklian's handling of the Covid emergency which I still regard as being excellent'.

He added that 'It is important however for all politicians in NSW and anyone in public life or positions of leadership to understand we must manage conflicts of interest and declare them.

'That has been a fundamental principle since the foundation of the NSW Parliament. It remains the case today and my government takes that warning incredibly seriously.'

NSW Premier Chris Minns (pictured on Thursday) said the ICAC 'report has taken way too long'

The Premier said the Labor government will 'work with parties across the political spectrum about ensuring that if there are appropriate and reasonable steps to strengthen the ICAC ... we are open to looking at that.'

Despite the finding of corrupt behaviour, former NSW treasurer Matt Kean defended Ms Berjiklian, posting on Twitter that has taken ICAC two years 'to tell us that Gladys Berejiklian has not broken the law'.

Mr Kean also said Thursday morning's proceeding were 'a ridiculous display - ICAC turning a corruption report into a live TV event at Parliament House.

'This body deciding that "serious corrupt conduct" has occurred, but then recommending no charges be laid because there is no evidence?'

Ms Berejiklian's former Liberal colleague Matt Kean defended her on Twitter (pictured)

Lewis Rangott (Executive Director, Corruption Prevention Division ICAC) is pictured right as he arrives at NSW Parliament House NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The Commission slammed some of Ms Berejiklian's evidence and the attitude she took during public the hearings.

At one point, she dismissed a submission that her relationship with Mr Maguire could have influenced her for 'the simple, completely legitimate and entirely human reason that people tend to wish to please and to seek to avoid disappointing the expectations or desires of people who they love'.

She said the submission was 'puerile', but ICAC said her use of that was 'both supercilious and unworldly'.

It also described Ms Berejiklian as an 'unsatisfactory witness in many respects.

'Some of that may be explicable on the basis of the period of time over which the evidence ranged, and a tendency to view the witness box as more like a husting than a place from which to respond directly to the question,' the report found.

The former premier refused to answer questions on Thursday morning as the commission that exposed her secret love life at the peak of her popularity was about to deliver its report into her relationship with Mr Maguire.

She left her home in a car clutching a $5,500 Prada bag on a historic day for her and Australian politics.

ICAC tabled the long-awaited report in the NSW parliament on Thursday morning, more than 600 days after public hearings ended.

It investigated whether Ms Berejiklian breached public trust by failing to disclose her long-time personal relationship with then-MP Daryl Maguire while treasurer and premier.

That clandestine relationship became publicly known 990 days ago, when Ms Berejiklian admitted it in October 2020 in an ICAC hearing.

The commission's inquiry began as an investigation into possible corrupt conduct by Mr Maguire but expanded to Ms Berejiklian after she was compelled to reveal the relationship in public hearings in 2020.

She denied wrongdoing and retained office, only to step down when ICAC in late-2021 began investigating her conduct.

Even after the relationship was exposed, Ms Berejiklian had widespread public support, with net approval ratings of more than 35 per cent.

THE ICAC FINDINGS AGAINST GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN The Commission finds that Ms Berejiklian engaged in serious corrupt conduct by: 1. CLAY TARGET ASSOCIATION FUNDING: In 2016 and 2017, breaching public trust by exercising her official functions in relation to funding promised and/or awarded to the Australian Clay Target Association (ACTA) without disclosing her close personal relationship with Mr Maguire when she was in a position of a conflict of interest between her public duty and her private interest which could objectively have the potential to influence the performance of her public duty. Her conduct comprised: * causing the ACTA proposal to be included on the agenda for the Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) meeting of 14 December 2016 * supporting the ACTA proposal in the ERC meeting of 14 December 2016 * communicating her support for and interest in the ACTA proposal to NSW Treasury staff, at least one ministerial colleague (John Barilaro) and staff within her office * causing steps to be taken by staff from her office to follow up on the progress of the ACTA proposal following the ERC ACTA decision, including by communicating a request that the initial benefit cost ratio calculation of 0.88 by the Department of Premier and Cabinet Investment Appraisal Unit be revisitedin 2016 and 2017, partially exercising her official functions in connection with funding promised and awarded to ACTA by exercising her official functions influenced by the existence of her close personal relationship with Mr Maguire and by a desire on her partto maintain or advance that relationship (chapter 11) 2. RIVERINA CONSERVATORIUM OF MUSIC: in 2018, breaching public trust by exercising her official functions in relation to decisions concerning the Riverina Conservatorium of Music (the RCM) proposal which she knew was advanced by Mr Maguire in: * participating in the 12 April 2018 ERC decision concerning RCM Stage 1 in relation to the transfer of land at 1 Simmons Street, Wagga Wagga, to provide a site for the RCM * participating in the 24 April 2018 ERC decision concerning RCM Stage 1 in relation to the funding granted to RCM Stage 1 * determining to make a funding reservation of $20 million in relation to RCM Stage 2 * approving the letter arranging for that funding reservation to be made without disclosing her close personal relationship with Mr Maguire, when she was in a position of a conflict of interest between her public duty and her private interest in maintaining or advancing her close personal relationship with Mr Maguire, which could objectively have the potential to influence the performance of her public duty * in 2018, in connection with funding promised and awarded to RCM Stage 2 engaging in conduct constituting or involving the partial exercise of her official functions influenced by the existence of her close personal relationship with Mr Maguire, or by a desire on her part to maintain or advance that relationship (chapter 12) * refusing to discharge her duty under s 11 of the ICAC Act to notify the Commission of her suspicion that Mr Maguire had engaged in activities which concerned, or might have concerned, corrupt conduct (chapter 13). Advertisement

After quitting office in October 2021, she turned down an opportunity to run for federal parliament and moved into the private sector as an Optus executive.

But Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson believes she must now resign her executive job.

'I think ... she'll resign. I'll be very surprised if Optus kept her on. There's no joy for Gladys no matter which direction she looks. And I think that's really sad.

'I think Gladys Berejiklian has hit a dead end,' Mr Richardson said.

Her employer, though, is sticking by her, at least for the moment.

'Optus acknowledges the ICAC report published in relation to Gladys Berejiklian's time serving as a member of the NSW parliament,' the telco said in a very brief comment on Thursday afternoon.

A former counsel assisting ICAC, though, said he was 'surprised' by findings against the ex-premier.

Geoffrey Watson, who is now the director of the Centre for Public Integrity, told the ABC he was 'a little bit surprised'.

'They are very strong findings. The factual findings are really very strongly worded, highly adverse. Obviously, mainly against Daryl Maguire. I am more surprised so far in respect of Gladys Berejiklian.

'On the other hand, from my reading of the report, there are really very careful factual findings based upon more than just merely Ms Berejiklian's evidence which justify the findings, which have been made about serious corrupt conduct,' he said.

Delays in the release of the ICAC report into Ms Berejiklian and Ms Maguire have been criticised.

The commission has said delays were caused by complex legal issues and the vast volume of submissions it had to scrutinise.

It repeatedly asked for extensions and more funding to complete its investigations.

Her date with ICAC destiny seemed far from Ms Berejiklian's mind as she was pictured touching up her makeup at a cafe table last Saturday

The couple wore matching dark caps and designer sunglasses. Mr Moses is pictured left and Ms Berejiklian is pictured right

The NSW Labor government on Wednesday backed a parliamentary committee's call for ICAC to set deadlines for future investigations and measure its performance against them.

'(The changes) will increase transparency and public accountability of the ICAC's reporting functions without imposing inflexible restrictions on the ICAC,' the government said.

On Thursday, the state Opposition leader Mark Speakman and shadow attorney-general Alister Henskens released a joint statement, which also addressed the time it took for ICAC to report.

'The delays in providing a report have been unacceptable and should not be allowed to occur again,' they said.

'Our community deserves a timelier resolution of investigations undertaken by ICAC, especially when they concern the senior leadership of our state.'

ICAC investigated whether ex-premier Gladys Berejiklian...

1. Engaged in conduct between 2012 and 2018 that was 'liable to allow or encourage the occurrence of corrupt conduct' by former Liberal MP Daryl Maguire, with whom she was in a close personal relationship between 2015 and 2018 2. Exercised her official functions dishonestly or partially by refusing to exercise her duty to report any reasonable suspicions about Mr Maguire to the ICAC 3. Exercised any of her official functions partially in connection with two multimillion-dollar grants in Mr Maguire's electorate, to the Australian Clay Target Association Inc and the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. Advertisement

While seated at a cafe on Sydney's leafy north shore, Mr Moses at one point reached over the couple's food as Ms Berejiklian checked her phone
A senior doctor behind NHS strike action appeared to refer to Brexit voters as racist and accused the Conservatives of 'enabling pond life'.

Mike Henley, the deputy chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, made the remarks as part of a debate on Twitter.

He wrote: 'In the same way that Brexit enabled racists, the Tory leadership contenders falling over themselves to 'wage war on woke' is enabling another section of pond life.'

He also said the UK had been 'manipulated into Brexit by Russian influence and money to destabilise Europe'.

Tory MP Ben Bradley called the Derby-based surgeon's comments 'utterly disgraceful'.

A senior doctor behind NHS strike action appeared to refer to Brexit voters as racist and accused the Conservatives of 'enabling pond life'

Fellow Tory Paul Bristow, who sits on the Commons health committee, accused the BMA of being 'more interested in knocking the Government than getting a fair and reasonable pay award'.

He told The Sun: 'They should call off the strike, negotiate in good faith and prioritise patient care.' It comes after consultants on an average NHS income of 128,000 voted to strike for a 35 per cent pay rise.

They will walk out in England on July 20 and 21. Junior doctors are holding strikes from July 13 to 18, in the longest walkout in the history of the NHS.

The BMA claimed Dr Henley's comments, made last year, were not calling Brexit voters racist or saying Tories were 'pond life'.

It said its focus was on fixing pay and 'not being diverted to discussing personal and often historic activity on social media sites'.

A junior doctor was kicked off the BMA's junior's doctor's committee after the Mail revealed earlier this year that he had make sick jokes about gassing jews on Twitter.

Dr Martin Whyte, a paediatrician who works for the NHS in the North East of England, also made jibes about the 'decomposing carcass of the Queen' and called Conservatives 'b****rds'.
Regulators at Ofwat have been slammed by politicians and campaigners amid growing fears over the 'financial resilience' of Thames Water.

Britain's largest water supplier is scrambling for extra cash because of concerns around its 14billion debt pile, with the government considering a potential taxpayer bailout should it collapse.

This has sparked a barrage of criticism against Ofwat, which has been accused of being 'asleep at the wheel'.

The regulator said yesterday morning that Thames Water, Britain's biggest supplier with 15million customers, has 'significant issues to address' in several areas.

Many of these have come to the fore following the unexpected departure of Sarah Bentley as Thames Water's chief executive this week.

Britain's largest water supplier is scrambling for extra cash because of concerns around its 14billion debt pile, with the government considering a potential taxpayer bailout should it collapse

Darren Jones, Labour chairman of the Commons business committee, told the BBC, 'taxpayers will be exposed to the debt and running costs of a very large company' if Thames Water fails

Darren Jones, Labour chairman of the Commons business committee, has warned that 'taxpayers will be exposed to the debt and running costs of a very large company' if Thames Water fails.

He told the BBC that problems in the water industry  which was privatised in 1989  are similar to the turmoil customers experienced in the energy sector last year when around 30 firms collapsed and the taxpayer was forced to step in.

'We have to take on the cost of running these failed businesses, which is why it's so galling for taxpayers when they see that regulators and ministers have failed to spot this problem before it all blew up,' he said.

Ofwat flagged in December that it was concerned about the financial resilience of several debt-laden water companies, including Thames Water.

However, it said yesterday that the firm had been boosted by 'an additional 500million from shareholders', as well as '4.4billion of cash and committed funding'.

Feargal Sharkey, rock star turned campaigner, said Ofwat's lack of action has contributed to recent chaos. 'As much as I may be furiously unhappy with the water companies, they were actually doing the job they were given, which was to make as much money as possible for shareholders,' he said.

'The question actually is what the hell were Ofwat doing for the last 30 years while all of this was going on? Because by god was the regulator asleep at the wheel? They were outflanked, outmanoeuvred and out-thought every single step of the way.'

Yesterday Yorkshire Water sought to shore up its finances by raising 500million from shareholders. Ofwat said it will 'continue to keep companies' financial resilience under scrutiny and work to ensure they take action to ensure the financial backing to deliver for customers.
A blazing row over fat cat pay has erupted amid fears that Britain's biggest water company is on the brink of collapse.

Critics have slammed the pay packages of the UK's top water bosses as 'excessive' as concerns swirl around the future of Thames Water.

The firm, which serves 15 million customers, is currently in emergency talks with government and the water regulator Ofwat about a multibillion cash injection after its chief executive Sarah Bentley announced her shock exit on Wednesday.

And it comes as Thames, as well as the wider industry, comes under fire around leaks and dumping of sewage in the UK's waterways.

Bentley, who ran Thames Water for three years, received 1.5m for her work in 2022-23, whilst Severn Trent boss Liv Garfield and Steven Mogford, former chief executive of United Utilities, both earned 3.2m for 2022.

Critics have slammed the pay packages of the UK's top water bosses as 'excessive' as concerns swirl around the future of Thames Water

The firm, which serves 15 million customers, is currently in emergency talks with government and the water regulator Ofwat about a multibillion cash injection after its chief executive Sarah Bentley (pictured) announced her shock exit on Wednesday

The bosses of Southern Water, Yorkshire Water and Anglian Water were also all paid over 1m.

Recent analysis found the pay for executives at ten firms in England and Wales jumped by a fifth on average last year - despite the ongoing challenges facing the sector.

Philip Dunne, Conservative MP and chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, told the BBC there was 'no question there have been excessive payments to executives'.

'Remember water companies don't have to worry about their top line, their top line is provided day in, day out without having to do the work that normal companies have to do, which is management to focus on generating revenue. Revenue here arises as, of course, everybody turns on their taps and starts consuming water,' he said.

Luke Hildyard, Director of the High Pay Centre UK, said: 'Running public utilities was a public sector job for decades. It requires competent managers but there isn't any need for them to be paid any more than a senior civil servant.

'Pay awards of hundreds of thousands and even millions of pounds would be obviously wasteful and unnecessary even for successful executives, and there is a high degree of scepticism as to whether the current post holders meet that description.'

And although the bosses of several water companies - including Thames - promised to give up bonuses for the 2022-23 financial year, this has been slammed as 'a flimsy PR stunt'.

Gary Carter, a national officer at the GMB union, said: 'The UK water industry is in a complete mess, with creaking infrastructure, a disgruntled workforce and effluent allowed to flow freely into our beautiful waterways. To see those responsible for this carnage pocket a king's ransom is particularly galling.

'Bentley's announcement she won't take a bonus, while at the same time trousering a huge total pay package shows, it was nothing more than a flimsy PR stunt.'
A woman in Alabama is in custody, accused of killing another woman by pushing her off a cliff in 2021.

The deceased woman, Mary Elizabeth Isbell, 37, had been considered a missing person in the town of Hartselle, just north of Birmingham, since late 2021.

On Sunday, DeKalb County Sheriff's Department announced that Loretta Ray Carr, 43, of Fort Payne, Alabama, had been arrested and charged with Isbell's murder.

According to the police, Carr abducted and killed Isbell by pushing her off of a cliff on October 18th, 2021.

However, since Isbell was first declared a missing person in early 2022, her family have maintained that she was last seen in November 2021, a month after the supposed murder took place.

DeKalb County Sheriff's deputies are now searching for Isbell's remains in an undisclosed location, WAAY 31 reports, while Carr is being held without bond. DailyMail.com has reached out to the agencies investigating the crime in relation to the discrepancy.

Mary Elizabeth Isbell was officially reported missing in January 2022, three months after police say she was killed

Loretta Ray Carr, 43, of Fort Payne, was arrested Sunday for allegedly kidnapping 37-year-old Isbell and pushing her off a cliff to her death

Carr's lawyers are arguing in court documents obtained by AL.com that there is no evidence she murdered Isbell

Isbell pictured with her young son in 2020, on Mother's Day 2022 he wished her a 'Happy Heavenly Mother's Day'

Carr's lawyers are arguing in court documents obtained by AL.com that there is no evidence she murdered Isbell, as it remains unclear whether there was any connection between the two women.

DeKalb County District Judge Steven Whitmire has set a preliminary hearing for August 21.

In December 2021, the father of Isbell's son made a post on social media asking for information about her whereabouts.

'I actually hate to put this out here on social media but Facebook covers a wide area. [her son] hasnt heard from his mom since September 6th on his birthday and hes really worried about her bc she always at least calls him on the holidays,' Steven Isbell wrote on December 27th.

'Ive talked to her family and no one has heard from her. So we thought about doing a missing person report,' he added.

An official missing persons report was made in January 2022 with both the Hartselle Police Department and the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office. A Facebook group seeking information about her disappearance was set up in April 2022.

A month later, her son paid a heartbreaking Facebook tribute on mother's day.

'Happy Mothers Day momma if your out there and if not happy heavenly mothers day. I love and miss you so much theres not a day that goes by that I dont think about you!,' he wrote in part.

Isbell pictured with her boyfriend James Allen Wright, just prior to her disappearance he was arrested and sent to rehab in Florida

Isbell's car, a black Jeep, with Alabama tags

Isbell's mother said in a 2022 interview that her daughter was living 'where she could' in DeKalb County

At the time she was last seen, Isbell was living with her boyfriend, James Allen Wright, in DeKalb County.

WAAY reported in the summer of 2022 that Isbell suspected of theft prior to her disappearance.

The station reported that James Allen Wright was arrested by the sheriff's office in September 2021 for an undisclosed crime and was released to a rehab facility in Florida in November 2021.

While he was in jail, the sheriff's office said, Isbell was 'living where she could in DeKalb County.

'I think she got mixed up with some wrong people,' her mother, Debbie Wood, told the local news channel last year.

She described Isbell's relationship as 'new but troubled,' saying they were always getting into fights.

Authorities have previously said Isbell was last seen on November 23, 2021 when she visited her mother in her hometown of Hartselle, and was spotted again the next day across the street from her son's school.

But according to the criminal complaint filed Monday, Isbell was killed one month prior to her reported appearance at her mother's house.

Speaking of her pain while her daughter was still reported missing, Wood said: 'Part of me wants to believe she's still here, the other part says "Get ready for a funeral if we can find her remains."'

In a statement DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden said: 'DCSO along with several other Law Enforcement entities and Emergency Services personnel are currently on the scene of an undisclosed location attempting to recover possible human remains. At this point, no other information is available.

'The case is top priority and further information will be released when available and no risk of jeopardizing the case is considered.'

Last year, Isbell's mother told how she worried her daughter may be dead

On her Facebook page, Isbell wrote on her Intro section: 'It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness.'

Multiple tributes on social paid tribute to her as a loving mother who loved life. News of Carr's arrest for her murder came two days before what would have been her 39th birthday.

Following the news that Isbell had been murdered, a Facebook group set up entitled 'Search for Beth Isbell Wright' became flooded with people expressing their grief.

'There are no words to describe the sadness and heartache. I'm so sorry for you all and loved ones,' one woman wrote on Thursday.

Holly Douglas also posted: 'Sweet Beth, when I first found out I was speechless but now my heart just aches for all of your loved ones.

'You always had such a big personality and even bigger smile. We had a lot of good talks about life and where it takes us. You are loved and greatly missed.'

And Shea Gonzalez wrote: 'RIH Beth you will be truly missed.

'I'm still in shock from this news... As you're one of a kind and most definitely didn't deserve this,' Gonzalez continued, as she promised to keep watching over her son.

'I know you have everyone up there laughing boo... And family y'all are in my thoughts and prayers. So sorry y'all [are] going through this.'
Downing Street is understood to be confident that migrants can be deported to Rwanda despite the Court of Appeal ruling it was 'unlawful' - as Rishi Sunak last night declared he'll 'do whatever is necessary to make it happen'.

No 10 was dealt a major blow yesterday after the flagship immigration scheme was thrown into disarray when judges blocked it on human rights grounds.

The Court of Appeal said sending any migrants to Rwanda would be 'considered a breach of Article 3' of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture and ill treatment.

It is the second time the Rwanda scheme has been blocked  Strasbourg judges intervened to stop the first flight to Kigali a year ago.

Mr Sunak said yesterday that he 'fundamentally disagrees' with the ruling and claimed the Government 'should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs'.

Downing Street is reportedly confident that migrants can be deported to Rwanda despite the Court of Appeal ruling it was 'unlawful'. Pictured: Rishi Sunak onboard Border Agency cutter HMC Seeker during a visit to Dover on June 5

No 10 was dealt a major blow yesterday after the flagship immigration scheme was thrown into disarray when judges blocked it on human rights grounds. Pictured: Migrants in France prepare to cross the English Channel

Home Secretary Suella Braverman tours a building site on the outskirts of Kigali during her visit to Rwanda in March, to see houses that are being constructed that could eventually house deported migrants from the UK

Despite the major setback, the Prime Minister is understood to be 'positive' about overturning the judgment after announcing the Government would seek permission to appeal in the Supreme Court, The Daily Telegraph reports.

A Government source also told the newspaper: 'The dissenting judgment of the Lord Chief Justice, the most senior judge on this panel, is very strong.'

Speaking after yesterday's ruling, a defiant Mr Sunak said: 'While I respect the court I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions.

'The policy of this Government is very simple, it is this country  and your Government  who should decide who comes here, not criminal gangs. And I will do whatever is necessary to make that happen.'

The ruling means migrants who arrive by 'irregular' routes, such as in small boats across the Channel, still cannot be sent to Rwanda under the 140million deal signed with the country last year.

The court case will take months to resolve, increasing the likelihood of immigration and human rights becoming key battlegrounds in the run-up to the next election.

The appeal judges overturned a decision by the High Court, which ruled in December that the scheme was lawful. They voted two to one in favour of a challenge from Asylum Aid, a migrant charity backed the UNHCR refugee agency.

The most senior judge in England and Wales  Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett  wrote a dissenting ruling that backed the Government and said asylum seekers would enjoy 'powerful protection' in Rwanda.

Mr Sunak said: 'I strongly believe the Rwandan government has provided the assurances necessary to ensure there is no real risk that asylum-seekers relocated under the Rwanda policy would be wrongly returned to third countries  something that the Lord Chief Justice agrees with. Rwanda is a safe country. The High Court agreed.

Rishi Sunak announced yesterday that he 'fundamentally disagrees' with the Court of Appeal's ruling and will seek permission to appeal it in the Supreme Court

Home Secretary Suella Braverman pictured yesterday leaving her house on the way to Whitehall

Home Secretary Suella Braverman on a March visit to Bwiza Riverside Houses in Kigali, where migrants would stay if the Rwanda scheme gets underway

'The UNHCR have their own refugee scheme for Libyan refugees in Rwanda. We will now seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.'

The PM's spokesman declined to 'put a timetable' on whether Downing Street believed any migrants would be sent to Rwanda before the next election.

The landmark judgment was a major blow to Mr Sunak who has made stopping the boats one of his five key pledges to voters. Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she remained 'fully committed' to the scheme.

Asked if she was blaming 'Lefty lawyers' or an Establishment 'Blob' for the setback, she said: 'The system is rigged against the British people, it's as simple as that.

'It's why we're changing the laws through our Illegal Migration Bill, it's why we're rolling out a ground-breaking partnership with Rwanda which we believe is lawful, with a country which we believe is safe.

'So, we need to change the system, we need to change our laws, that's how we're going to stop the boats.'

But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer dismissed the Rwanda scheme, saying: 'The Government hasn't got a plan. It's had one headline-grabbing gimmick which has already cost the taxpayer 140million without anybody having gone to Rwanda.'

The two judges who ruled against the Government were the Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, and Lord Justice Underhill.

*BELOW IS A SUMMARY OF YESTERDAY'S JUDGMENT*

A group of up to 80 migrants are brought ashore at Dover marine last week after crossing the English Channel

As of Monday, 11,328 asylum seekers in 254 boats have made the perilous journey across the Dover Strait so far this year

This map shows how the Rwanda scheme would work if ministers are able to see off legal challenges

They decided that 'deficiencies in the asylum system in Rwanda' meant there were 'substantial grounds' for believing migrants sent there 'will be returned to their home countries where they have faced persecution or other inhumane treatment'.

This would breach Article 3 of the human rights convention, they said.

However, the Lord Chief Justice said 'extensive monitoring arrangements' in the Rwanda scheme provided 'powerful protection' for migrants.

He added there was 'no real risk' of failed asylum seekers being returned to their country of origin.

Agreed by former home secretary Dame Priti Patel in April last year, the arrangement aims to allow the Home Office to send irregular migrants to the east African nation on a one-way ticket.

It sets out how migrants would receive housing and support while claiming asylum there and not in Britain.

Yesterday the Rwandan government said it took 'issue' with the latest ruling and insisted it was 'one of the safest countries in the world'.

Government spokesman Yolande Makolo said: 'Rwanda is one of the safest countries in the world and we have been recognised by the UNHCR and other international institutions for our exemplary treatment of refugees.'

The Government has until Thursday to submit initial paperwork for permission to appeal against the ruling.

Richard Ekins, an Oxford University professor who has written papers on immigration for the think-tank Policy Exchange, suggested the Rwanda scheme required radical reform.

He added: 'The Court of Appeal's judgment is a blow to the Rwanda plan and, unless the Supreme Court allows an appeal, the Government may need to think again about arranging for British officials to process claims offshore rather than attempting to outsource responsibility to Rwandan officials.'
An American firm often described as 'the most powerful company you've never heard of' is taking a very big interest in Australia's transition to renewable energy.

The world's largest investor BlackRock, which manages about $9trillion worth of assets, has raised $500million to build the Waratah Super Battery at Lake Munmorah in NSW.

The firm considers Australia one of the most desirable locations to invest in clean electricity as the government pushes to ditch fossil fuels by 2030 despite a huge shortfall in green infrastructure, like wind and solar power, to replace it.

The world's largest investment firm BlackRock is taking a big interest in Australia's transition to renewable power

Coal currently provides about two-thirds of Australia's electricity but the Albanese government wants to make the grid 82 per cent powered by renewables within seven years.

Blackrock acquired Australian firm Akaysha Energy in 2022 which is pursuing several mega-battery projects including The Waratah Super Battery, set to be built on the site of Australia's largest coal-fired station, Erraring, when it closes as early as 2025.

Charlie Reid, BlackRock Asia-Pacific's co-head of climate infrastructure, told The Sydney Morning Herald Australia was going through one of the 'most aggressive' renewable power transitions in the world.

'We see significant opportunities for battery storage, significant opportunities for small-scale solar, we do see opportunities in offshore wind, and we do see attractive opportunities emerging in green hydrogen, those are going to take longer,' he said.

The Waratah Super Battery is designed as a 'shock absorber' that would be able to power the grid for about two hours when it experiences disruptions from lightning strikes or bushfires.

The Waratah Super Battery will be built by BlackRock using Powin equipment (pictured is another of Powin's mega-batteries)

The government's Capacity Investment Scheme announced in December is encouraging more projects to be built that would store electricity to provide the grid with a buffer for when wind and solar aren't producing.

The scheme will unlock up to $10billion in funds to underwrite projects developed by private investors.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen this week launched the scheme in NSW where its set to provide 550 megawatts of power to cover a forecast shortfall from 2028.

'This will drastically improve energy security with large-scale batteries and other zero-emission technology that can quickly dispatch cleaner, cheaper renewable energy when it's needed,' he said.

BlackRock has about two gigawatts of battery projects in its pipeline with offshore wind farms the likely next step.

Chris Bowan also this week announced a proposed offshore wind farm zone stretching for about 200km off the coast of Victoria and South Australia.

Bowen said the zone could provide electricity for up to 8.4 million homes, and provide 3000 jobs during the building phase and another 3000 permanent roles.

'Powering these South Australian and Victorian communities with cheaper, cleaner energy will support them to unlock new regional job opportunities in energy and manufacturing,' he said.

Offshore wind farms are set to also be soon built in Australia with the Star of the South steaming ahead (pictured is a wind farm in Denmark)

Other offshore wind farm zones are already being investigated including near the Gippsland, Illawarra, northern Tasmania, Perth and Hunter regions.

The Star of the South project near Gippsland is the most advanced, which BlackRock is not involved with.

The offshore wind farms will be located no closer than 10km to shore and are seen as less politically tricky than their highly visible land based counterparts.
TV presenter Alice Plunkett has defended a museum embroiled in a 'colonial stereotypes' row over its collection of shrunken heads.

The ITV Racing star is a board member of the Pitt Rivers Museum after marrying the great-great grandson of its founder General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers.

The institution in Oxford hit the headlines three years ago when directors removed the heads, some of its most viewed items.

And staff continuing their attempts to 'decolonise' the museum are in the processing of returning artefacts known as the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. However, critics say the moves are an over-reaction and could be seen as 'rewriting history'.

Ms Plunkett, 58  whose husband William Fox-Pitt is, like her, a former equestrian  fears that a split in opinions among members of the anthropological museum over its colonial past may force her out of her position in future.

TV presenter Alice Plunkett has defended a museum embroiled in a 'colonial stereotypes' row over its collection of shrunken heads

Ms Plunkett, 58  whose husband William Fox-Pitt is, like her, a former equestrian  fears that a split in opinions among members of the anthropological museum over its colonial past may force her out of her position in future

Speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival, sponsored by the Daily Mail, she said she'd thought 'long and hard' before joining the museum's development advisory board. She said she chose to because General Pitt Rivers had been motivated by improving education and access to artefacts, rather than 'treasure hunting'.

She said the 19th century founder of the institution was simply a 'man of his time'  and stressed that his collection was not obtained through 'smash and grab' techniques.

She added: 'I feel comfortable in supporting the Pitt Rivers Museum and trying to help it. Not everyone on the board is in the same place as me and it's a continual conversation.

'And it's something that, you know, may mean that I can't stay there because there is such a push in other directions.

'But for me, because of the work and the knowledge and understanding that I have of this guy [General Pitt Rivers] that's helped me reconcile and feel more comfortable with that collection.'

Addressing the broader issue of whether traditional museums were being undermined by curators acting as activists, Ms Plunkett said: 'I may be absolutely wrong, but I think things have their time and to judge people from their time is a very challenging thing to do.

'You can't compare times. That's not to say that there aren't apologies to be made and there aren't things that need to be looked at very hard.'

Ethnologist and archaeologist General Pitt Rivers, whose global collection of 22,000 objects founded the museum, was known to study phrenology, a pseudoscience which involved analysing the skulls of different ethnicities and is now considered racist.
Britain will have to quit the European human rights treaty if it cannot renegotiate its relationship with Strasbourg, senior Tories said last night.

In the wake of the Rwanda scheme being blocked by the courts, one Conservative MP called on Rishi Sunak to consider taking the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Tory backbencher Danny Kruger  an influential MP on the Right of the party  said that if the Government fails to secure international agreement to redraw the treaty, then Britain should 'unilaterally withdraw'.

Mr Kruger said: 'The Rwanda judgment is very disappointing. Following the decision this week to abandon the planned Bill of Rights Bill, the Government should seek to renegotiate the ECHR with our allies or, failing that, unilaterally withdraw and replace the ECHR with a new human rights framework.'

He added that the Government should 'immediately secure whatever changes to Rwanda's asylum system are needed to satisfy the court, and urgently appeal the decision at the Supreme Court'.

In the wake of the Rwanda scheme being blocked by the courts, one Conservative MP called on Rishi Sunak to consider taking the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)

Mr Kruger also insisted that the Illegal Migration Bill  which contains wide-ranging restrictions on the asylum system  should be 'passed unamended'. If the House of Lords attempts to block it, the legislation should be forced into law by the Parliament Act next spring, he added.

Other senior Conservatives also called for the UK to radically change its membership of the ECHR. Sir Edward Leigh  president of the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs  told the Commons: 'Every year we produce a migration Bill, every year we're tied up in knots by human rights lawyers.

'What we've been suggesting for two years in the Common Sense Group is that the Refugee Convention was made for a different world, as was the Human Rights Convention.

'We simply have to have a derogation so that we can detain people and then deport them. We will never solve this problem otherwise.'

Tory backbencher Danny Kruger  an influential MP on the Right of the party  said that if the Government fails to secure international agreement to redraw the treaty, then Britain should 'unilaterally withdraw'

Earlier, fellow Conservative MP Simon Clarke said: 'We have to be able to tackle the awful people smuggling across the Channel.

'If the ECHR continues to forestall this, we have to revisit the question of our membership.' Ipswich MP Tom Hunt, deputy chairman of the Common Sense Group, called on ministers to begin drawing up a 'radical Plan B'.

'This week we've seen unelected individuals  the vast majority of whom have never had to live with the consequences of rampant illegal migration  set themselves against the express will of the British people for controlled migration,' he said.

'We need to develop a radical Plan B to be implemented before the general election in case the Government fails at the Supreme Court.' Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, which campaigns for tougher border control, also raised the prospect of dumping the treaty.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said during a Commons debate last night that Strasbourg's actions had been 'opaque, irregular and unfair when it comes to the will of the British people'

'The Supreme Court should, without delay, have the final word,' Mr Mehmet said. 'Meanwhile, the traffickers will be rubbing their hands in glee.

'Ultimately, if the stumbling block of the ECHR and the 1951 Refugee Convention remains then we should leave both.'

It is the second time the Rwanda scheme has been blocked by human rights laws. An inaugural charter flight to Rwanda had to be abandoned at the 11th hour last June after the European Court of Human Rights issued an interim injunction.

A single judge, sitting late at night, agreed to impose a so-called 'Rule 39' order which forced the Government to put the whole policy on hold.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said during a Commons debate last night that Strasbourg's actions had been 'opaque, irregular and unfair when it comes to the will of the British people'.

She added that the new Illegal Migration Bill contained measures which would 'avoid that scenario repeating itself'.
A mum has recalled the harrowing moment she was warned her critically-ill baby girl might not survive after she was struck down with meningitis which was initially misdiagnosed.

Kate Franks-McDonald, the younger sister of New Zealand All Blacks rugby union stars Owen and Ben Franks, has opened up about the ordeal to raise awareness about the deadly disease, which can have tragic consequences if symptoms are missed.

The mother-of-two hopes sharing her story will serve as a reminder to other parents to trust their gut instincts and intuition.

One night in 2018, Ms Franks-McDonald was at home alone with nine-month-old daughter Millie.

The little girl was unsettled and wouldn't go to sleep after developing cold-like symptoms.

Her husband Sam was away at the time with work commitments.

She took her daughter to a GP the next day, who suspected Millie had a viral cold and told her to return if her health deteriorated the New Zealand Herald reported.

Millie Franks-McDonald (pictured as a baby ) was nine-months-old when she contracted meningitis. She's her All Blacks star uncle Owen Franks, mum Kate, dad Sam McDonald and the Bledisloe Cup.

Ms Franks-McDonald was back at the doctors two hours later after Millie developed a rash, which was diagnosed as chicken pox before they were sent home.

She still had an inkling something wasn't right and later that night, rushed her daughter to after-hours urgent care after Millie began vomiting.

The GP saw the rash and immediately called an ambulance to rush Millie to hospital.

Over the next few hours, Millie slipped in and out of consciousness while hooked up to heart rate and blood pressure machines as doctors tried to find out what was wrong and save her life.

Ms Franks-McDonald will never forget being told that her little girl could die within hours and to ring family so they could say come and say goodbyes as her frantic husband made the mercy dash home.

'The room emptied and the councillor and the doctor from ED came through and said we are not going to sugarcoat this. This can go two ways. Your child is either going to die in the next few hours or she is going to respond and we will see what that looks like for Millie,' she told the publication.

'It was like an out-of-body experience, like being in a terrible movie. I kept thinking this isn't right and it is not happening. I just wanted to pick Millie up and run.'

The most common form of meningitis is bacterial meningitis which is most commonly caused by infection of meningococcal bacteria (stock image)

Luckily, Millie's condition improved.

Now 5, she has since made a full recovery with no lifelong effects.

However, the health scare did stall her growth for the next year and stopped her from putting on weight as her little body recovered.

'The doctors explained when your body is healing and it is taking up a lot of energy it shuts off other areas that are unneeded and puts its focus on what's needed most, and that was her immunity,' Ms Franks-McDonald said

She is glad she trusted gut and intuition and got Millie to hospital when she did.

'Meningitis never even crossed my mind. If I had some knowledge around meningitis and knew even half of the signs, I would have just driven her to the hospital myself,' Franks-McDonald said.

'Nothing trumps your intuition or gut feeling and you have to go with it.'

The most common form of meningitis is bacterial meningitis which is most commonly caused by infection of meningococcal bacteria.

The condition is life threatening and can cause death within hours if not properly treated.

Millie is the niece of NZ All Blacks stars Owen and Ben Franks (pictured)

Infants and children under five years old and adolescents aged 15-19 are most at risk.

Symptoms in babies to watch out for include fever, vomiting, lethargy/difficult to wake, stiff neck, blank expression, dislike of being held, , pale/blotchy complexion and high pitched cry.

The warning comes amid a spike in meningococcal cases across new Zealand as the cold winter months set in.

The latest research by New Zealand's Crown Research Institute shows cases jumped in 2022 by more than 50 per cent, compared to 2021.

Pacific and Maori children have three to five times the rate of meningococcal disease than other children.

Doctors have urged parents to ensure their children are vaccinated against meningococcal B.

'It's a disease that we always consider whenever we see a child who has fever and New Zealand has had a long history of having much higher rates of meningococcal B disease.' Dr Owen Sinclair told Stuff.
Fourth of July holiday plans hang in the balance as travel chaos continues across the US - with over 40,000 flights delayed or canceled since Monday.

As of Thursday, at least 9,318 flights had been cancelled and 30,860 delayed this week, with disruption expected to continue into the weekend.

Adding to the mayhem, Nashville International Airport was forced to issue a ground stop for arriving aircraft due to severe thunderstorms, which left a woman dead - before it was eventually lifted at 2:45 pm.

Willard Airport in Illinois also closed after roof damage and power outage due to severe weather at around 1:15 pm Thursday, according to the News Gazette.

Numerous flights were delayed or canceled earlier in the week at Charlotte Douglas International Airport after a Delta Airlines plane landed successfully without landing gear Wednesday morning.

It came after thousands of United Airlines passengers slammed the company for ruining their July 4 weekend plans, with scores stuck at at Newark airport for days.

As of Thursday, travelers at airports across the country faced misery with at least 6,441 flights cancelled and 30,860 delays this week

Travelers wait for their bags amid rows of unclaimed luggage at the United Airlines baggage claim area at Los Angeles International Airport

Nashville International Airport implemented a ground stop for arriving aircraft due to severe thunderstorms which left woman dead. However, the ground stoppage was lifted at 2:45 pm

Numerous flights were delayed or canceled at Charlotte Douglas International Airport after a Delta Airlines plane landed successfully without landing gear Wednesday morning. The flight landed 'smoothly' with 96 passengers on board, all of whom were unharmed

Traffic on Interstate 57 remained at a standstill after strong winds caused multiple semi tractor trailers to overturn.

How soon Willard Airport can reopen will depend on how soon its terminal roof can be shored up and power is restored, airport Executive Director Tim Bannon said to the News Gazette.

'We're working on it,' he said. 'We are not operational at the moment.'

Airlines have explained that the flights have been delayed and canceled because of powerful storms ripping through the parts of the country, including in the Mid-Atlantic and parts of the Northeast, as well as air traffic control staffing issues.

In a report published last week, the Transportation Department found that most of the 26 critical air traffic control facilities it identified were understaffed by 15 percent or more, as of March 2022.

Monday saw 8,850 flights delayed and 2,252 canceled completely, while Tuesday had 7,789 delays and 2,205 cancellations, Wednesday saw a slight decrease with 7,472 delayed and 1,200 canceled, and Thursday saw 7,682 delays and 747 cancellations - meaning nearly 40,000 have been affected.

As of Thursday, Friday is already expected to see 301 delays and 144 cancellations and Saturday will see 25 cancellations with more to come.

The problem is expected to get even worse today on what is dubbed the busiest day of the holiday weekend, with some 52,500 flights scheduled.

Passengers traveling on United Airlines have been worst hit, with CEO Scott Kirby blaming the FAA for the chaos - saying they 'failed' the industry with low staffing coming into the week.

Passengers have been forced to wait on the phone for six hours in a bid to rebook flights  with many warning that they are 'running out of money and options'.

Many have been waiting in airports across the country and paying for hotels they can't get to. Others have told of missing out on family weddings, vacations, and once-in-a-life-time concerts.

Travelers rush to ticket counters and navigate crowded security lines at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Thursday in Austin

Travelers wait in check point line for their flights at United Airlines Terminal 1 at O'Hare Airport on Thursday in Chicago

Travelers await their bags amid rows of unclaimed luggage at the United Airlines baggage claim area at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Thursday in Los Angeles, California

United Airlines cancelled hundreds of flights again today amid a chaotic week of flight cancellations and delays amid weather issues and strong traveler demand (Los Angeles)

United baggage claim in Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Thursday

Passengers wait in line to claim their baggage at Nashville International Airport after their flights on Southwest Airlines were cancelled in Nashville, Tennessee

Many have been forced to wait in airports across the country and pay for hotels they can't get to. Others have told of missing out on family weddings, vacations, and once-in-a-life-time concerts

United Airlines has cancelled nearly 3,000 flights since June 24th as the July 4th holiday travel rush nears on Thursday (Los Angeles, California)

Travelers wait in check point line for their flights at United Airlines Terminal 1 at O'Hare Airport on Thursday. Passengers have complained about being left on hold for up to six hours before the phone is hung up, with many stranded without help

Delayed travelers wait to check in at the United Airlines ticket desk at Terminal C in Newark International Airport in Newark, NJ, Wednesday. The company said that were working through 'higher volumes than usual' but customers still slammed their response on social media

Travelers wait in check point line for their flights at United Airlines Terminal 1 at O'Hare Airport on Thursday in Chicago. United Airlines have been the worst hit, with more than 600 flights canceled in just two days, and more than 500 have been delayed

Willard Airport in Illinois closed after roof damage and power outage due to severe weather at around 1:15 pm Thursday, according to the News Gazette

Monday saw 8,850 flights delayed and 2,252 canceled completely, while Tuesday had 7,789 delays and 2,205 cancellations, and yesterday saw a slight decrease with 7,237 delayed and 1,199 canceled - meaning at least 32,000 have been affected

Thousands of United Airlines passengers have slammed the company for ruining their July 4 weekend amid an expected sixth day of massive nationwide airline delays and cancellations

NEW YORK: Dozens of bags were piled up in baggage claim of JFK yesterday

HOUSTON: United Airlines customer service overwhelmed with guests in Terminal C of Houston airport.

HOUSTON: The line of passengers waiting for United's customer service at Houston Airport's Terminal C

NEW YORK: Travelers sit with their luggage waiting at the departure area check-in at JFK airport, Wednesday. By early afternoon on the East Coast, nearly 3,000 U.S. flights had been delayed and more than 800 canceled, according to FlightAware

NEW YORK: Travelers use their electronic devices while lying on the floor of the departures area of Terminal B at LaGuardia Airport

LOS ANGELES: A traveler checks the departure board at Los Angeles' LAX airport on Wednesday, amid widespread delays and cancelations

LOS ANGELES: Long lines of people are seen waiting to check in for flights at LAX on Wednesday, amid staffing shortages at airlines and the FAA

AUSTIN: A woman in Austin International Airport hunkered down as flight chaos continues

The 'Misery Map' produced by Flight Aware on Thursday showed the disruption

Chicago, DC and Boston airports were also hit hard with cancellations and delays after being plunged into a coating of smog as smoke from Canadian wildfires plunged Washington into a Code Red air quality warning.

United Airlines was worst hit, with more than 600 flights canceled in just two days, and more than 500 have been delayed.

Passengers have complained about being left on hold for up to six hours before the phone is hung up, with many stranded without help.

The company said that were working through 'higher volumes than usual' but customers still slammed their response on social media.

CEO Scott Kirby claims that the FAA reduced the arrival rates at Newark  one of United's hubs  by 40 percent and the departure rates by 75 percent.

One United steward wrote on social media: 'If you can avoid flying right now, please do.'

The anonymous worker continued: 'I'm a flight attendant with United. Your flight will be delayed or canceled. There is not enough staff to support operations right now.

Passengers have complained about being left on hold for up to six hours before the phone is hung up, with many stranded without help

LOS ANGELES: A disabled passenger waits for assistance at LA International airport from United Airlines

BOSTON: United has urged passengers to be patient, saying they are working overtime to sort the problems. Pictured: American Airlines plane at Logan Airport

CHICAGO: Haze from Canadian wildfires blankets the Chicago skyline as seen from the city's South Loop neighborhood

'Don't do It unless you want to be stuck. They are stranding their flight attendants and pilots everywhere with no response in random cities.'

A spokesman for the company admitted they had been struggling, adding: 'We know our customers are eager to get to their destinations and our airport and call center teams are working overtime to assist them.

'As we focus on helping our customers whose travel has been disrupted over the last few days, we're also planning ahead to be ready for the upcoming holiday weekend.

'We're beginning to see improvement across our operation. As our operation improves in the days ahead, we will be on track to restore our operation for the holiday weekend.'

Hundreds of thousands of travelers have been forced to sit tight amid the chaos caused by torrential weather on the East Coast, huge crowds, inability of some airline crews to reach their scheduling offices, other staff shortages, and even a Delta jet that made a belly landing in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The delays and cancelations proved a troubling glimpse into what could happen over the long July 4 holiday weekend as airlines struggle to keep up with surging numbers of passengers.

People whose travel plans were disrupted took to social media to vent against the airlines. Some swore they would never fly again on whichever airline had done them wrong.

Tia Hudson was back at Newark Liberty International Airport for the fourth straight day, trying to catch a United Airlines flight home to Louisiana.

'My flight has been canceled like five times now. I slept at the airport two nights, I booked two hotels, I spent over $700 since I've been here and they said they're not going to reimburse me because it's weather-related,' she said.

'It's not weather-related. It's a shortage of pilots and attendants.'

WASHINGTON: In this aerial view taken from Air Force One, the US Capitol is under hazy skies in Washington, DC

NEW YORK: The JFK departure area on Wednesday, five days in the 'flightmare' that has stranded thousands and thousands of US travelers

INDIANA: Airlines have explained that the flights have been delayed and canceled because of powerful storms ripping through the parts of the country, including in the Mid-Atlantic and parts of the Northeast

Hudson missed her mother's wedding and caused her mother to skip her own honeymoon to pick up Tia at the airport near Dallas - only for the flight to be canceled.

On top of that, Hudson's bags were lost. 'I just want to get away from this airport, but they say nobody is leaving until Saturday,' she said.

What is causing the chaos? The worst disruptions have been along the East Coast, which has been pummeled by thunderstorms this week. The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily held up Boston-bound flights on Wednesday. It stopped flights to all three major airports in the New York City area and two near Washington, D.C., at times Tuesday. Huge crowds, bad weather, inability of some airline crews to reach their scheduling offices - even a Delta jet that made a belly landing in Charlotte, North Carolina - all contributed to the mess. And it could be just the storm before the storm: The FAA predicted that Thursday would be the heaviest travel day over the July 4 holiday period. On top of that, some airline planes may be unable to fly in bad weather starting this weekend because of possible interference with 5G wireless service. Travel has picked up steadily every year since bottoming out during the pandemic. For the past week, about 2.6 million people a day on average have been flying in the United States, about 2 percent more than in the same period during pre-pandemic 2019, according to Transportation Security Administration figures. Advertisement

At Logan Airport in Boston, pharmaceutical company manager Rui Loureiro had to scrap plans to spend the rest of the week meeting clients on the West Coast when his flight to San Francisco was canceled.

United told him the soonest he could get on another flight was Friday, and didn't offer to pay for a hotel room. He plans to fly home to Portugal instead - or at least give it a try.

'I am a little bit stressed, disappointed,' Loureiro said. 'People were waiting for me. We had things arranged to do. Now I have to go back and rebook everything and come again another time.'

Social media was also awash with complaints, with United receiving the sternest criticism.

'So my family and I traveled to NYC for a beautiful sweet 16 party for my niece,' said Zamora Ford.

'While we enjoyed every moment of the weekend we expected our trip to come to a end by Monday well the airline had other plans.

'So it's now 2 days later and we are still here.

'These airlines really suck for the thousands of cancellations that took place this week. Our flight's were canceled 2xs in 2 days.'

David Parke from Denver missed a once-in-a-lifetime Diana Ross concert thanks to the cancelations.

'My partner and I booked First Class seats to see DIANA ROSS at Radio City Thursday night and now I can only HATE ON YOU for this (rarely do use this word)!

'My lifetime dream to see this living legend in NYC crushed for reasons I don't believe.'

He added: 'I'm sorry DIANA, perhaps I'll see you in my dreams!'

Lonnie Pearo and his wife, who are both in their 70s, described being stranded at Seattle airport for three days awaiting a flight to Chicago.

'Service has been terrible trying to reschedule. They do not seem to care. Running out of money and options,' he said.

NEW JERSEY: People wait for their flight rescheduled inside of the Newark International Airport on Tuesday

NEW JERSEY: Travelers rest and sleep on the floor as they wait amid the flight delays at Newark International Airport on Tuesday

NEW JERSEY: Individuals congregate around a clergyman while awaiting rescheduled flights at Newark International Airport, Tuesday

NEW JERSEY: A delayed traveler sleeps on the floor near the United Airlines ticket desk at Terminal C in Newark International Airport, Wednesday

One flight attendant working with United warned people to try and delay their plans

United was the worst affected airline in the United States on Wednesday

Pearo then updated his post to say they had hired a car, at a cost of $1,000, to drive from Seattle to Portland and attempt to fly from there.

He said Seattle airport was a disastrous site, with 'babies and handicapped sleeping on floors; grown people crying; elderly losing their dream trips to Hawaii and beyond.'

He added: 'Watched continual lies by United employees. Total shame.'

Regina Ramirez Aleman said she was devastated by her family's 'much anticipated summer vacation' becoming a nightmare.

Her party were separated by the airline and rebooked, meaning her husband had to fly without her.

She was unable to get a refund for the hotels in Hawaii, as the flights were canceled too late.

And flights this week are now priced at over $3,000 each.

'It's disheartening when such last-minute disruptions overshadow meticulous planning and time off work,' she said.

'We hope that United Airlines can address this situation promptly, rectifying the inconveniences caused and helping salvage what's left of our 4th of July vacation plans. It would be nice if we could get someone on the phone!'

Newark was the hardest-hit airport, with Chicago, LaGuardia, Houston and Denver also badly affected: the misery will continue for several days as airlines attempt to rectify the backlog.

The emergency belly landing of a Delta flight in Charlotte did not help nationwide delays

Despite $54 billion of taxpayer funds funneled into airlines to keep them afloat during the pandemic, most airlines greatly reduced staff numbers and have found it harder than expected to rehire workers.

Many older employees accepted early retirement, while others accepted buyouts and have found new, less demanding work.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whose department includes the FAA, has been criticizing the airlines for more than a year.

He has accused them of failing to live up to reasonable standards of customer service and suggested that they are scheduling more flights than they can handle.

The airlines have denied that they are to blame, and instead are pointing the finger at federal authorities.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby blamed a shortage of federal air traffic controllers for massive disruptions last weekend at its Newark hub.

'We estimate that over 150,000 customers on United alone were impacted this weekend because of FAA staffing issues and their ability to manage traffic,' Kirby wrote in a memo to employees on Monday night.

One furious flyer accused United of 'treating customers with utmost contempt and disregard.'

The passenger wrote online: 'Oh, and the online system is down. All gate agents refuse to help. This was caused by flight crew not showing up, which led to delays. Before getting on the flight we tried to handle the situation and they refused.

'This is the worst experience I've ever had with any company.'

The FAA signaled earlier this year that it could struggle to keep flights moving in New York, the busiest airspace in the nation.

Facing a severe shortage of air traffic controllers at a key facility on Long Island, the FAA persuaded airlines to trim their summer schedules to avoid overloading the system.

The Association of Flight Attendants, which represents United's cabin crews, said United was contributing to the situation.

The union said employees were waiting three hours or longer when calling a crew-scheduling center for assignments because of 'limited telephone lines and personnel.'

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, where American and Southwest are based, took the airlines' side in a series of tweets about delays at the New York City area's three big airports.

'Staffing at FAA's air traffic facilities in NY is at 54%,' Cruz tweeted. 'Yet (the Transportation Department) is blaming weather for delays. Nonsense.'

A Transportation Department spokesperson said the agency is working with airlines to fix things, but the combination of high traffic and bad weather reduces the rate at which planes can take off and land safely, leading to delays and canceled flights.

The FAA is training about 3,000 new air traffic controllers, but most of them won't be ready anytime soon.

Last week, the Transportation Department's inspector general said in a report that the FAA has made only 'limited efforts' to adequately staff critical air traffic control centers and lacks a plan to tackle the problem.

Last week, Buttigieg issued a new warning to airlines, telling them that planes that aren't outfitted with new radio altimeters  devices that measure the height of a plane above the ground  won't be allowed to operate in limited visibility starting this Saturday because of potential interference from new 5G wireless service.

American, United, Southwest, Alaska and Frontier say all of their planes have been retrofitted, but Delta Air Lines still has about 190 planes waiting to be updated because its supplier doesn't have enough altimeters.

Delta said it will schedule those planes to avoid landing where the weather might be bad to limit disruptions.

Smaller airlines that operate regional flights could also be affected by the radio interference issue, as could flights operated to the United States by foreign carriers.
Gladys Berejiklian was 43 and had never tasted real romance when she fell for the man who would spell disaster for her.

The former NSW Premier - branded 'seriously corrupt' on Thursday by ICAC's investigation - admitted in 2020 she'd never previously had a long-term relationship.

But in 2013, that all changed when Ms Berejiklian first met Liberal Wagga Wagga state MP and father-of-two Daryl Maguire, and their love affair blossomed in 2015.

The pair launched a secret romance - going on holiday as a couple, giving her lover a key to her home, discussing marriage and raising children together, Maguire said.

But it was all new territory for Ms Berejiklian, now 52, who called Maguire her 'numero uno'.

Her life until then had been devoted to carving out a high-flying political career, until Maguire embroiled her in his own alleged corruption and triggered her downfall.

In 2013, the lonely love life of Gladys Berejiklian was transformed when she met Wagga Wagga MP and father-of-two Daryl Maguire (pictured together) and their affair blossomed in 2015

The nerdy, squeaky-clean and slightly gawky Girl Guide focused on being a model student and Gladys Bererjiklian (pictured in 1987) rose to be a school prefect and later school captain

Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) doubled down on her over-achievements in university where she famously celebrated her 21st wearing a self-confessed 'embarrassing' Superwoman outfit

The eldest of three sisters, born in Manly on Sydney's northern beaches in 1970 to an immigrant family fleeing genocide, she only spoke Armenian until the age of five.

As well as younger siblings Rita, now 51, and Mary, now 47, Ms Berejiklian also had a secret twin sister who died in childbirth.

The tragedy broke the heart of her parents, Arsha and Krikor - and proved the driving force behind the future premier's determination to succeed in life.

She went on to attend North Ryde High School, later renamed Peter Board High - but while her classmates enjoyed teenage romances, the young Ms Berejiklian's focus was elsewhere.

The nerdy, squeaky-clean and slightly gawky Girl Guide set her sights on being a model student instead - and rose to be a school prefect and later school captain.

'I was extremely competitive and wanted good marks, but from the talk of the kids I hung out with in our neighbourhood, I was doomed,' Berejiklian once admitted.

'Based on what the local kids told me, every kid who went to North Ryde High got bashed up and was forced to take drugs.

'This petrified me. I didn't even know what drugs were, but I was pretty sure they were bad.'

She doubled down again on her over-achievements in university, where she famously celebrated her 21st wearing a self-confessed 'embarrassing' Superwoman outfit.

Between leaving school and 2001, she earned a Bachelor of Arts and a graduate diploma in international studies from the University of Sydney, and a Masters of Commerce from the University of New South Wales.

Away from the textbooks, she quickly made a name for herself in the Liberal Party, joining in 1993 and rapidly becoming President of the NSW Young Liberals in 1997.

She was also a general manager executive with Commonwealth Bank, handling government and industry affairs for five years before dedicating her life to politics.

Behind the scenes, she served in a series of party roles, including working for former Liberal Opposition leader Peter Collins and senator Helen Coonan.

She was campaign director for Mr Collins's safe seat in Willoughby in the 1999 state election - and when he retired four years later, she would take the seat for herself.

Throughout her career in Macquarie St - which saw her fast-tracked onto the front bench in 2005, just two years after arriving in parliament - there was constant speculation about her loveless love life.

Whispers among M.P.s and staffers questioned why she remained stubbornly single into her late-40s.

But the truth was that for most of her life, there was simply nothing going on in her private life. Her political worklife was all-consuming for the driven but shy leader.

'In public life, part of my M.O. has been to not stray from core business - after all, I have been elected to do a job, and to do it well,' she said.

'I'm very luckyFor me, every day in life is a bonus. I had a twin sister and she didn't make it. It was just luck that I came out first.

'Imagine if you had a twin; you came out first, they didn't make it, I feel like I've got to justify my existence by sacrificing.

'So I don't care if I'm not happy all the time. I feel like I've got to work hard.'

And then she met Maguire, who's now known as 'Dodgy Daryl'.

Gladys Berejiklian (bottom right) with her parents Arsha and Krikor and sisters Rita and Mary

Gladys Berejiklian (back row) is the oldest of three sisters. The former NSW Premier only revealed in 2020 that she had a twin sister who was stillborn, who she learned of as a child

Gladys Berejiklian (centre) with her sisters Rita (left) and Mary (right) in 2019

Even after details of their affair leaked during the ICAC investigation into Maguire, Ms Berejiklian desperately tried to downplay it.

'He wasn't my boyfriend,' she told 2GB radio in 2020. 'He wasn't anything of note. I didn't want to introduce him to my social circle.'

But the latest transcripts released by ICAC told a different story of a close bond with Maguire where the country town MP wore the trousers and ruled the roost.

In a phone call on Valentine's Day in 2018, Maguire berated her for being 'so mean' to him and not looking impressed by him.

'I forget that I need to look like you impress me,' she replied. 'I mean I forget that I'm meant to be with you know technically the Premier...

'Because normally you're the boss and it's hard when we have to switch it around - that's the truth.'

He replied: 'But I am the boss, even when you're the Premier.'

She admitted: 'I know. So therefore it's hard when I had to switch it around.'

He added: 'Glad, even when you are the Premier, I am the boss - alright?'

'Yes, I know,' she said.

Grilled by ICAC, Maguire admitted he loved Ms Berejiklian - and as far he knew, she loved him. She later agreed she was in a 'close personal relationship' with him.

The secret love compromised her decision while state treasurer in 2016 to approve a $5.5million upgrade of Wagga's clay target shooting club in 2016 and a $22million conservatory of music in 2018.

The 688-page Independent Commission Against Corruption report found she had breached the public trust by failing to disclose her personal relationship with Maguire when she was treasurer and later premier.

That included sitting on a cabinet committee as it dealt with the multi-million-dollar projects enthusiastically pushed by Maguire to benefit his electorate.

Dubbed 'an unsatisfactory witness in many respects', Ms Berejiklian's denial that she had ever suspected Maguire was potentially engaging in corrupt conduct was also rejected.

Her failure to act on that suspicion and report Maguire formed one of the five planks of the ICAC's ultimate 'serious corrupt conduct' finding against her.

'Her deliberate failure to disclose the relationship in those circumstances, knowing her public duty, was wilful,' ICAC said.

'It was also in bad faith: there was no reasonable excuse or justification for it.'

Operation Keppel began as a probe into Maguire but was expanded to the then-premier after she was compelled to reveal the relationship in public hearings in 2020.

Ms Berejiklian denied any wrongdoing, telling ICAC the romance, which began in 2015, had ended.

She resigned as premier in October 2021 when she officially became part of the investigation.

Ironically, the ICAC investigation led to her finding apparent true love when she fell for the high-profile barrister defending her, Arthur Moses SC.

Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) resigned as premier in October 2021 when she officially became part of the ICAC investigation

The ICAC investigation led to her finding apparent true love when she fell for the high-profile barrister defending her, Arthur Moses SC (pictured together)

The romance was revealed by Ms Berejkilian's sister Mary on Instagram (pictured) with a surprise picture of the the pair looking lovingly into each other's eyes while sitting stiffly on a couch in formal work wear

The new romance was revealed by Ms Berejkilian's sister Mary on Instagram with a surprise picture of the the pair looking lovingly into each other's eyes while sitting stiffly on a couch in formal work wear.

'After work Friday feels with these two,' posted Mary along with loved up emojis. 'Gladys and her new boo.'

Two years later they are still together and she is believed to be finally ready to share her life with someone else. She is expected to soon move in with the top lawyer after selling her own home.

The weekend before the bombshell ICAC findings were revealed, the pair were pictured walking hand in hand as they went out for brunch on Sydney's north shore.

On Thursday, Mr Moses refused to discuss his relationship with Ms Berejiklian - now a top executive with telco Optus - when approached by Daily Mail Australia.

He declined to comment on how her being branded 'seriously corrupt' reflected on his standing as one of the nation's most-respected barristers.

But while the episode may have proved her political undoing, romantically it might just have proved the breakthrough Gladys has simply never had time for before now.

The life and times of Daryl Maguire March 25, 1959 - Maguire is born in Hay, NSW July 7, 1992 - Maguire runs a successful Harvey Norman furniture franchise in the Riverina capital and buys a four bedroom mid-century home in Turvey Park, Wagga Wagga, for $130,000 March 27, 1999 - Maguire is elected to NSW state parliament to represent Wagga as a Liberal MP March 22, 2003 - Maguire is re-elected and appointed Opposition Whip July 31, 2003 - Maguire buys 15 hectare, four bedroom family home in North Wagga for $100,000 February 5, 2005 - Maguire sells Turvey Park home for $320,000 March 24, 2007 - Maguire re-elected March 4, 2010 - Maguire buys a one-bedroom unit on the Pacific Highway in Lane Cove, Sydney, for $240,000 March 26, 2011 - Maguire is re-elected and appointed Government Whip October 2, 2012 - G8way International is incorporated with Wagga RSL director Phillip Elliot as sole director and shareholder. He later tells ICAC Maguire was the true director 'who pulled all the strings'. The company was allegedly used as a cover for Maguire's corrupt activities 2013 - Maguire splits with wife Maureen, with whom he has two children, Kara and James May 2013 - ICAC hears G8way International's Mr Elliot says their immigration services liaison Maggie Wang told him visa applicants 'wouldn't actually be turning up to full time work,' and the scheme was based on 'telling lies to immigration' 2013/14 - Maguire says his relationship begins with then-Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian February 11, 2014 - The two text messages each other, as Maguire calls Ms Berejiklian 'Hawkiss' and brags about the money he's making on a deal to sell a motel and Ms Berejiklian questions him about how much commission he gets February 24, 2014 - Maguire is appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier for Rural and Regional Affairs April 24, 2014 - Maguire is appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Veterans and the Centenary of ANZAC November 2014 - Maguire and Ms Berejiklian are pictured meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping 2015 - Maguire allegedly tries to act as a go-between for Chinese businessmen wanting to set up a casino in the South Pacific March 28, 2015 - Maguire is re-elected April 2015 - Ms Berejiklian says Maguire relationship begins around the same time she is appointed Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian said her relationship with Daryl Maguire (pictured together) began in 2015 but he claimed it was earlier in 2013 or 2014 August 26, 2015 - Maguire is appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Corrections, Emergency Services, Veterans and the Centenary of ANZAC January 26, 2016 - Maguire writes to Ms Berejiklian seeking $4.5million in grant funding for the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga. August 2, 2016 - Maguire defends Premier Mike Baird's greyhound racing ban despite an outcry from the bush. His next-door neighbour and dog trainer says Maguire's stance was because of a row over the noise of his greyhounds while Maguire was trying to sell the property October 4, 2016 - Maguire buys weatherboard shack in Ivanhoe, NSW, for $8,000 November 17, 2016 - Maguire has a meeting with Ms Berejiklian to hasten the upgrade of the Cobb Highway which runs through Ivanhoe. The budget for the resealing project increases dramatically in the following years February 1, 2017 - Maguire is appointed Parliamentary Secretary for the Centenary of ANZAC, Counter Terrorism, Corrections and Veterans March 2017 - Maguire emails Ms Berejiklian about the ICAC investigation delaying the clay target club project: 'Typical of our bull***t government' June 28, 2017 - Ownership details are adjusted on Maguire's Lane Cove and North Wagga properties August 2017 - An increased $5.5million grant application is approved for a new clubhouse, facilities and function centre at the Australian Clay Target Association in Wagga. G8way International were later linked to the supply of furniture for the 1000-seater convention centre September 8, 2017 - Maguire buys neighbouring property in Ivanhoe for $750. It had previously sold for $2,400 in 1992. October 2017 - Maguire is taped telling Ms Berejiklian: 'Wagga is the centre of the universe... Thats why we need a stadium. Thats why we need a conservatorium. Thats why we need the things that Sydneys got.' November 25, 2017 - Maguire is appointed an honorary advisor to the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, which aims to 'to encourage economic exchanges between Australia and China' December 2017 - Maguire steps down as joint director of family firm Maguire Trading December 18, 2017 - Maguire tells broker friend William Luong he can get details of the map of the proposed M9 route for possible commercial benefit. ICAC hears Maguire had also tried to find out confidential details of land in Cawdor in the Wollondilly Shire for Mr Luong in return for a commission. 2017/18 - Maguire reaches a divorce settlement with estranged wife Maureen that is said to cost him $1.5million to buy out her share of their North Wagga property, now estimated to be worth $2.6million, their Sydney unit and horse agistment business February 16, 2018 - Maguire publicly announces $10million funding for Riverina Conservatorium of Music with more to come May 2018 - Ms Berejiklian tells Maguire $10 million in funding for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music has been 'ticked off...so thats a done deal now' A further $20million in funding for a recital hall was axed in October 2021. May 2018 - Maguire is alleged to have wrongly tried to use his role as chair of the NSW Parliament Asia Pacific Friendship Group to push Chinese businesses trying to sell oil products in Australia July 13, 2018 - Maguire is exposed at ICAC's Operation Dasha for taking commissions from property developers. Through an association with former Canterbury councillor Michael Hawatt, Maguire had allegedly taken pay offs from a 'mega big' Chinese client wanting to buy into approved projects He resigns as parliamentary secretary and from the Liberal Party but remains an independent MP and vows to stay on until the March 2019 elections. July 19, 2018 - Maguire demands privacy after the death of his son-in-law August 3, 2018 - Maguire bows to pressure and finally resigns from Parliament September 8, 2018 - The taint of corruption ends 61 years of Liberal MPs for Wagga with independent MP Joe McGirr winning the by-election caused by Maguire's resignation. At the time, Ms Berejiklian said the result sent a strong message. 'There's an underlying distrust of how Government works. I need to restore that and demonstrate to the community that we're here for them,' she said. March 23, 2019 - Ms Berejiklian is re-elected Premier while still in a secret relationship with Maguire February 4, 2019 - Maguire's Lane Cove property is sold for $430,000 September 13, 2020 - Ms Berejiklian cuts off all contact with Maguire but the relationship remains secret September 21, 2020 - ICAC hears Maguire allegedly used G8way International as cover for commercial interests in China, Australia, and the South Pacific, involving Chinese associates, and also sold government access Two Wagga businessmen told ICAC they received $30,000 to falsely employ three Chinese nationals as part of the visa scam allegedly run through G8way International October 12, 2020 - Ms Berejiklian reveals publicly for the first time she was in a 'close personal relationship' for five years with 'my numero uno' Maguire October 14, 2020 - Maguire admits to ICAC that he used his position as an MP to make money for himself and his associates. He also admits none of the applicants in G8way International's cash-for-visa scheme ever worked on a consistent basis for the employers sponsoring them October 16, 2021 - Maguire restarts advertising his horse agistment business - feeding and boarding other people's horses on his 15 hectare property - on Facebook as a source of income after a four year hiatus. Advertisement

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Former President Donald Trump again said he might 'possibly not' participate in the first Republican primary debate scheduled for August 23.

But in a phone interview Thursday with Reuters, the ex-president went a step further and said he might plan some counter-programming to the debate.

It's being held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and hosted by Fox News Channel, which Trump has been feuding with.

Trump said he was entertaining offers to hold a separate event during the debate or later in the same evening.

'We've had a lot of offers, whether it's a rally or whether it's an interview by somebody else,' he said. 'Not to be braggadocious but the debate will not be a very exciting one if I'm not there.'

Former President Donald Trump told Reuters in a phone interview that he'll 'possibly not' attend the first GOP debate in August and hold counter-programming instead

Trump (right) stands onstage during one of the GOP events during the 2016 cycle. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (left) is also running again, this time as the 2024 lineup's top Trump critic

Trump has attracted a number of GOP rivals including his former Vice President Mike Pence, U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley and campaign adviser, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is seen as Trump's toughest competition, but even he's running 34 points behind the former president, according the latest 2024 poll, from Fox News and released Wednesday night.

In his phone conversation with Reuters, Trump dubbed Fox a 'hostile network' and said he saw little value in debating candidates like Christie, who received 1 percent support in the Fox poll.

Christie has also been the most critical of the ex-president, trying to carve out a lane in the primary and earn the support of Republican voters who are tired of Trump's antics.

Trump, on the other hand, would get the support of 56 percent of the Republican voters' polled.

'Why would I give them time to make statements? Why would I do that when I'm leading them by 50 points and 60 points,' Trump said.

Trump has drawn some criticism for previously suggesting he may skip the debate.

Christie has accused the former president of being afraid to join the debates out of fear of losing his lead in the race.
Man found dead by ex-partner in his Tamborine Mountain home

A major homicide probe has been launched after a man was found dead in his home, with police stating the scene displayed 'obvious signs of violence'.

Emergency services were called to a Tolima Dr home on Tamborine Mountain  just outside the Gold Coast  after reports a man had been found unconscious just after midday on Thursday.

When they arrived on the scene, a 37-year-old man who lives in the suburb was found dead in the home's main living area.

Queensland Police Detective inspector Chris Knight told media on Friday morning the man had sustained fatal head and upper body injuries.

A homicide investigation is underway after a man was found dead in his home in Tamborine Mountain on the Gold Coast with police stating the scene displayed 'obvious signs of violence'

'The gentleman located was a 37-year-old father to two young children,' he said.

'His life was tragically ended in his own home.

'We're appealing for public assistance to try and find the person or the people responsible for this matter.'

Specialist scientific and forensic officers had been at the scene for nearly 24 hours at the time of the media conference, with Mr Knight saying they will likely be there for a number of days.

'When first responders arrived, it was very clear there had been violence inflicted on the gentleman,' he said.

'His former partner went to the address, and was unfortunately confronted with that scene, she contacted triple-zero.

'She was there to check on his welfare, hadn't heard from him for a couple of days, but she's a grieving lady.

'She spent quite a number of hours with detectives, and is assisting us greatly.

'(They) were still in contact, they still had a relationship.'

Mr Knight said it's possible the victim knew the perpetrators, but added the investigation is still in its early days.

Detectives are appealing to anyone with relevant information, CCTV or dashcam vision in the vicinity of Tolima Dr, particularly on June 28 to come forward.
A North Carolina man has been arrested and jailed for the disturbing killing of a family's dog after allegedly stabbing it repeatedly while its owner was playing pickleball.

Liesbeth Mackie had left her dog, 11-year-old Beignet, on a leash in the shade a few feet away from where she was playing the popular game at Weaver Park.

She'd heard a man yelling angrily to himself earlier but ignored it until minutes later when she saw him attacking her pooch.

James Wesley Henry, 43, walked up to the dog, grabbed it by the throat and used a knife to stab her several times, according to police.

'The guy killed the dog with a knife, basically eviscerating it,' Asheville Police Capt. Michael Lamb said.

James Wesley Henry, a North Carolina man, has been arrested and jailed for the disturbing killing of a nearby family's dog by stabbing it repeatedly while its' owner was playing pickleball

Liesbeth Mackie brought her dog, 11-year-old Beignet (pictured), with her and put her on a leash in the shade a few feet away from where she was playing the popular game at Weaver Park

Mackie's pickleball partner Eric Hulin described the brutal killing.

'All of a sudden, I noticed that there was some commotion happening with her dog,' he said.

'I saw the attacker, definitely with all of his strength - with what I thought at the time was a closed fist - slamming on the dog, really.'

Hulin said Beignet was 'covered in blood' as he watched the poor dog's last movements.

Henry dropped the knife and tried to walk away without being noticed, Hulin said. The pickleball players were attempting to follow him safely.

Eventually, police arrived and Henry immediately surrendered, according to the Asheville Watchdog.

Mackie said that the family is still grieving heavily over the senseless death of their beloved pet.

'My three children, husband and I are devastated,' she told News 13. 'This happened in broad daylight at Weaver Park.'

She had heard a man yelling angrily to himself but ignored it until minutes later when she saw him attacking the pooch

Mackie said that the family is still grieving heavily over the senseless death of their beloved pet

Henry, 43, had walked up to the dog and used a knife to stab her several times, according to police

'My fellow players were just a few feet away, which apparently didn't scare off Beignet's assailant.'

She and her husband Tom Mackie believe their dog's murder is a sign that Asheville has a crime problem.

'Asheville is no longer safe,' Tom said. 'The way our dog was savagely murdered, it could have been my wife. It could have been a kid. The crime in Asheville is spreading out like a cancer.'

'It's so random  that's when it becomes scary,' Liesbeth Mackie added. 'Are we still safe to bring our dogs to pickleball?'

Henry has been detained in the Buncombe County Detention Facility on $10,000 bond.
A federal judge has rejected former President Trump's motion to have columnist E. Jean Carroll's $10million defamation lawsuit dismissed.

The ex-president had claimed that absolute presidential immunity and free speech rights shielded him from the writer's claims that he defamed her in comments he made before and after she won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict against him last month.

But Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled on Thursday that Trump surrendered absolute presidential immunity as a defense by failing to assert it year ago, when the suit was first filed. It has been delayed in recent months as appeals courts considered the legal issues surrounding it.

He also argued that many of Trump's statements about Carroll were opinion and thus were not protected under the First Amendment.

'Mr. Trump did not merely deny Ms. Carroll's accusation of sexual assault,' Kaplan wrote in his ruling.

'Instead, he accused Ms. Carroll of lying about him sexually assaulting her in order to increase sales of her book, gain publicity, and/or carry out a political agenda.'

A federal judge on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump's motion to have columnist E. Jean Carroll's $10million defamation lawsuit dismissed

The former Elle writer, pictured arriving at a Manhattan federal court in a separate case against the former president last month, claims that he defamed her in comments he made before and after she won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation verdict against him

In his 46-page decision, Kaplan said Trump waited too long to raise the absolute immunity defense, and that it would be unfair to Carroll to let him do so now and further delay the 3-1/2-year-old case.

The federal judge noted that he took into consideration that Carroll is now 79 years old and has pursued claims against Trump for 3 1/2 years.

Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Trump did not invoke presidential immunity early enough, and that his comments were not protected under the First Amendment

'There is no basis to risk prolonging the resolution of this litigation further by permitting Mr. Trump to raise his absolute immunity defense now at the eleventh hour when he could have done so years ago,' he said.

He then went on to explain that the main purpose of presidential immunity was to avoid diverting the president from public duties.

It is not, he said, a 'get-out-of-damages-liability-free card that permits the president to say or do anything he or she desires even if that conduct is disconnected entirely from an official function.'

The judge further said Trump's criticism of Carroll went beyond 'the outer perimeter of his official duties' as president.

'Mr. Trump does not identify any connection between the allegedly defamatory content of his statements  that Ms. Carroll fabricated her sexual assault accusation and did so for financial and personal gain to any official responsibility of the president,' Kaplan wrote. 'Nor can the court think of any.'

Kaplan also rejected Trump's claim that the former Elle magazine columnist 'consented' to his statements by purposely waiting decades to go public, until he was in the White House, leaving him 'no choice' but to defend himself.

The former president, pictured at his campaign headquarters in New Hampshire Tuesday, is now countersuing Carroll

Carroll left court beaming from ear to ear after the jury found Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse last month

She was earlier seen in court bowing her head as the verdict in the battery allegation was read out. As the defamation verdict was read she bowed it again, nodding in agreement

In rejecting claims that Carroll's lawsuit was about protected speech, Kaplan explained how libel and slander cases are handled in the courts and why Trump's statements could be construed to fit the legal definition for defamation, including that a jury had already found it so.

The Manhattan jury awarded Carroll $5million in damages in a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit filed last November after New York state temporarily enacted a law allowing sexual assault victims to sue for damages resulting from attacks that occurred even decades earlier.

In the aftermath, Trump doubled down on his comments about Carroll at a CNN town hall  prompting her to assert new defamation claims in her 2020 lawsuit.

The former president slammed his accuser as a 'whack job'.

He also mocked her 'hanky panky' and 'fake' allegations, claiming the judge banned his legal team from entering evidence that Carroll called her husband an 'ape' and had a cat 'named Vagina'.

Many of Trump's claims at the town hall mirrored those he made while president in 2019 when Carroll published a memoir in which she claimed Trump raped her in the dressing room of a luxury midtown Manhattan department store in spring 1996.

Within hours of excerpts from the book being published in a magazine, Trump denied a rape occurred or that he ever knew Carroll  claiming she made it all up to drum up book sales.

At a CNN town hall following the decision, Trump slammed Carroll as a 'whack job'

In a statement, attorney Robbie Kaplan, who represents Carroll in the suit and is unrelated to the judge, said the judge's ruling Thursday night 'confirms that once again, Donald Trump's supposed defenses to E. Jean Carrolls defamation claims don't work.'

She added: 'Today's decision removes one more impediment to the January 15 trial on E Jeans defamation damages in this case.'

But Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, said: 'We disagree with the court's decision and will be taking the appropriate steps to preserve all viable defenses.'

The former president is also countersuing Carroll, claiming that she defamed him in a CNN interview just one day after the May 9 verdict by saying, 'oh yes he did, oh yes he did,' when asked about the jury finding that he did not commit rape.

Carroll's original lawsuit is now scheduled for a January 15, 2024 trial.
A Coles customer has been filmed unleashing in a foul-mouthed tirade and kicking a trolley after he was accused of shoplifting.

The man was at the supermarket in Footscray, in Melbourne's inner west, earlier this week when he was accused of hiding items in his jacket.

In a TikTok filmed by fellow shoppers, a security guard is seen giving the man his jacket back and trying to escort him out of the store.

''You've stolen before?'' Where's your f**king proof?' the shopper shouts at someone off-camera.

He then slams his foot into a trolley, with a nearby woman visibly frightened by the outburst.

'There's no need to say there's s**t in my jacket when it's f**king empty,' he shouts, waving his jacket around.

'I've been in for five f**king seconds!'

The man had been at the supermarket in Footscray, in Melbourne's inner west, earlier this week when he was accused of hiding items in his jacket.

The angry customer kicked a row of parked shopping trolleys as he left the supermarket

Once outside the store, the customer continues to yell at supermarket staff and even calls on them to 'meet me outside' in a laneway.

'Let's go!' he can be heard saying.

A Coles spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the company 'values the safety of our team members and customers and does not tolerate abuse or antisocial behaviour in our stores'.

'We report instances of antisocial behaviour to police and provide team members with equipment and training to help safely manage these situations should they arise.

'We have a range of security measures in place to reduce theft and increase safety in store, including electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags, security guards and CCTV.'
Daily Mail Australia looks at the winners and losers

Range from cash boosts and rebates to price hikes

New rules come into effect July 1

Australians are just days away from a raft of new rules which will impact their everyday lives.

From industry reforms and electricity hikes to new superannuation rules, a wide range of changes come in effect from July 1.

Some will leave millions already struggling with the soaring cost of living even further out of pocket due to electricity and telecommunication price hikes.

But other changes will be more positive, from minimum wage rises and stamp duty exemptions to cash boosts, energy and childcare rebates and amendments to the age pension.

There are also industry reforms to education, cosmetic and aged care, new rules for New Zealanders wanting Australia citizenship, and a newly-established disaster relief fund is days away from coming into effect.

Here Daily Mail Australia takes a look at some of the new rules.

The minimum wage will increase to $23.23 an hour or $882.80 a week. Pictured is a cafe worker in Sydney

First home buyers

The NSW government's increased stamp duty exemptions for first-home buyers kick in on July 1.

No stamp duty will need to be paid on homes worth up to $800,000 and will save first-home buyers save $31,090, according to government figures.

The First Home Buyers Assistance Scheme raises the threshold for stamp duty exemptions for first home buyers from $650,000 to $800,000 and lifts concessions from $800,000 to $1million.

It comes after newly elected Labor vowed to abolish stamp duty for almost all first home buyers if they won the state election in March.

'We promised to deliver a fairer and simpler way to help more first home buyers and that will become a reality from 1 July,' NSW Premier Chris Minns said.

The state government will also axe the previous government's opt-in property tax scheme, which allowed first-time buyers of more expensive properties to avoid stamp duty.

Increased stamp duty exemptions for first-home buyers in NSW kick in on July 1. Pictured are potential homebuyers at an auction in Sydney

Minimum wage increase

Changes to the minimum wage previously announced are in effect from July 1.

The minimum wage will be increased to $23.23 an hour or $882.80 a week.

Those on an award will also see a 5.75 per cent increase to base rates.

Telstra and Optus bill hikes

From July 4, Telstra will hike its prices on market post-paid mobile and data plans in line with CPI.

This means a monthly increase of between $3-$6 depending on your plan.

Customers on a 'basic' package' will see a $4 rise on their monthly plans rise to $62 per month.

Those with the 'premium' package will see their phone plans rise from $89 a month to $95.

'We know price rises can be hard for some people, especially when cost of living pressures are high,' Telstra states on its website.

'Increasing our prices means we can continue investing in the things that matter for our customers.'

Post-paid mobile customers who receive a concession discount on the Starter Plan will see the discount increased to ensure they are not impacted by these changes and wont pay any more for that plan.

The concession is available for customers with a valid Health Care Card, Pension Concession Card or Department of Veterans Affairs Card.

Optus has come under heavy fire after quietly hiking up its mobile plan prices.

Optus Choice plans were immediately hiked from $35 to $49. Other customers paying $30 a month were given the option of choosing to pay $49, $59, or $69 a month.

Electricity price hikes

The Australian Energy Regulator has confirmed power prices will increase by up to 25 per cent from July 1, depending on your provider and where you live.

The price hike includes three of Australia's largest providers - Origin, AGL, and Red Energy.

Households in NSW, south-east Queensland, South Australia and Victoria will see hikes of between 19.6 per cent and 24.9 per cent from July 1, and in some cases as high as 30 per cent.

As price rise, millions of households earning under $120,000 a year will be eligible for energy relief rebates.

A $500 rebate on power bills will be offered to eligible householders in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.

Those in Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the ACT will only get $350.

Telstra customers on post-paid mobile and data plans will be slugged with a price hike of up to $6 a month from July 4

Some changes will see Aussies better off from minimum wage rises and stamp duty exemptions to cash boosts, energy and childcare rebates and amendments to the age pension

Rental relief

In Queensland, laws to restrict the frequency of rent increases to once a year come into effect from July 1.

The limit on rent increases will apply to all new and existing tenancies from that date in a bid to ease cost of living pressures.

Aged pension

Australians born on or after January 1, 1957, will have to reach 67 years of age before becoming eligible for the pension.

From July 1, singles can earn $204 a fortnight and couples $360 a fortnight, before losing their full pension.

Home-owning singles can have $301,750 worth of assets before their pension is reduced, while non-homeowners can have $543,000.

These asset amounts increase to $451,500 for home-owning couples or $693,500 for couple who don't own a house.

Those who were previously ineligible for a pension could also qualify for a part payment as income thresholds are raised to $2332 a fortnight for singles and $3568 for couples.

Centrelink changes

Families who earn less than $530,000 of combined income will be able to access an increased childcare subsidy from July 10.

The maximum subsidy amount will also see an increase of 5 per cent from 85 to 90 per cent.

Changes to Child Care Subsidy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will mean eligible families can get at least 36 hours of subsidy per fortnight for each child.

Parental leave

On July 1, Parental Leave Pay and Dad and Partner Pay are combining into one payment.

It increases from 90 days (18 weeks) to 100 days (20 weeks), and a combined family income limit of $350,000 will be introduced.

From July 10, if your family earns under $530,000, youll get increased Child Care Subsidy (CCS).

Education reforms

A second round of National Quality Framework changes to the early childhood education sector will come into effect.

The changes range from better flexibility when replacing educators during short term absences and resignations to amended documentation requirements for Outside School Hours Care providers in Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria.

All family day care educators hold at least an approved certificate III level qualification prior to commencing their role and increasing several prescribed fees.

Families who earn less than $530,000 of combined income will be able to access an increased childcare subsidy from July 10

Tax changes

There are no changes to personal income tax thresholds from July 1, 2023.

From July 2024, however, some tax thresholds will be removed, leaving only the 19 per cent, 30 per cent and 45 per cent tax brackets.

The low and middle income tax offset (LMITO) is no longer available for this year or 2024, which will see many people get lower refunds.

From July 1 this year, the threshold for the Medicare levy surcharge will be raised.

For singles, this increases from $90,000 to $93,000 before the tax applies, while for families it will increase from $180,000 to $186,000.

In Victoria, a windfall gains tax will apply to land subject to a government rezoning resulting in a value uplift to the land of more than $100,000.

Superannuation

The super guarantee rate increases from 10.5 to 11 per cent on July 1 this year.

It will also increase by 0.5 per cent over the next two years to reach 12 per cent.

The change means employers will be putting more of your pay into your superannuation.

The minimum amount you can withdraw from your super income stream each financial year will also change as the temporary drawdown reduction comes to an end.

Firearms crackdown

In WA, firearms and ammunition designed to shoot over long ranges with extraordinary power and precision will be outlawed from July 1.

Under the changes, 56 types of firearms and 19 calibres of ammunition will become illegal, with a total of 248 licensed firearms in the state also becoming illegal.

The WA Government will also fund a market-value buyback.

Farm work boost

The Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission has updated the Farm Employees Award with new provisions for part time employees.

They include a requirement for employees and employers to agree in writing on hours of work, an updated definition for the Farm Tradesperson classification, new provisions enabling employment of trainees, changes to the requirements for full time and part time employees to provide notice of termination

Clauses in relation to record keeping, leave entitlements and public holidays have also been updated in the award.

Cosmetic surgery crackdown

The Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency will introduce overhauled rules for cosmetic medical and surgical procedures.

From July 1, patients wanting cosmetic surgery must first obtain a referral from their GP before and have at least two pre-operative consultations

Cosmetic surgery premises must also be accredited against the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care standards, and there must be improved patient assessment by practitioners.

Migration

The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) will increase from $53,900 to $70,000 from July 1.

The result is employers looking to sponsor overseas workers will need to offer an annual salary of at least $70,000 plus superannuation to candidates.

Some Labor Market Testing (LMT) requirements will also be removed so companies do not need to advertise jobs locally before inviting overseas candidates. This applies to the top two tiers of skilled workers earning above $70,000.

Temporary Skill Shortage visa holders will get increased pathways to permanent residency from July 1.

Also, Kiwis living in Australia for four or more years will no longer have to get permanent residency before applying for Australian citizenship.

Children born in Australia to New Zealand parents will also qualify for Australian citizenship.

'Australia and New Zealand have a deep friendship, which has been forged through our history, shared values and common outlook,' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said of the changes.

'We know that many New Zealanders are here on a Special Category Visa while raising families, working and building their lives in Australia. So I am proud to offer the benefits that citizenship provides.'

A new Pacific Engagement Visa (PEV) will also allow people from Pacific countries and Timor-Leste to apply for permanent residency, with 3,000 places available.

The super guarantee rate increases from 10.5 to 11 per cent on July 1 this year

Employers looking to sponsor overseas workers will need to offer an annual salary of at least $70,000 plus superannuation to candidates

Student visas

Student visa holders will be limited to working 48 hours per fortnight again from July 1 after restrictions were removed during the Covid pandemic.

Some holders of subclass 485 Temporary Graduate visas will be allowed to stay in Australia for a longer period.

From July 1, it will be four years for a bachelor's degree graduate, up from two years previously.

For master's degree graduates it will be five years, up from three years previously

Doctoral graduates are allowed six years, up from four years previously.

Disaster relief

The federal government's newly Disaster Ready Fund is just days away from being established.

The fund will providing up to $1billion over the next five years to improve Australias resilience and reduce risk to natural disasters such as bushfires, floods and cyclones.

This investment seeks to mitigate potential disaster loss and damage, reduce harm, loss of life, property loss and the impacts on economic productivity and furthermore is cheaper than disaster response.

For every dollar spent on disaster risk reduction, there is an estimated $9.60 return on investment.

Up to $200 million in funding was available under the first round of funding for projects to commence from 2023-24.

Projects that successful secured funding were recently announced.
The spontaneous killing of a sex worker in her apartment after her client learned she was transgender was not motivated by hatred or prejudice, a judge has heard.

Hector Enrique Valencia killed Kimberley McRae at her Coogee apartment in Sydney's eastern suburbs in January 2020.

The Colombian student engaged the services of the 69-year-old who described herself in online advertisements as a 'busty' 38-year-old blonde.

The 23-year-old flew into a rage after learning Ms McRae was transgender, punching her twice and leading to a scuffle on the darkened apartment's floor as she defended herself and he placed a cord over her neck.

Her body was found already decomposing, covered with a pillow and a bloodied blanket. She was wearing tights and a grey long-sleeved top which was pulled down, exposing her breasts.

In February, Justice Dina Yehia found Valencia not guilty of murdering Ms McRae, but guilty of her manslaughter.

Kimberley McRae's badly decomposed body was found inside her Coogee flat in January 2020

At a sentencing hearing on Friday, Valencia's lawyer Claire Wasley rejected claims by crown prosecutors that the killing was driven by hatred or prejudice.

While the initial assault was spurred by his surprise about Ms McRae's sexuality, Ms Wasley said the subsequent events had a different motivation.

'He was angry and upset that he had been misled because of his personal view about engaging in a sexual act with somebody he viewed to be a man,' she said.

After hearing arguments that Valencia was in a 'very difficult situation' at the time of the incident, Justice Yehia questioned this.

'Why do you say it was difficult? He could have then just left,' she asked Ms Wasley.

The difficulty came from the 23-year-old's inability to manage his emotions during an unusual set of circumstances, the barrister replied.

The lawyers of Colombian student Hector Enrique Valencia Valencia (pictured) rejected claims the sex worker killing was driven by hatred or prejudice, a court heard on Friday

Valencia felt remorse about what had happened as evidenced by a letter he was carrying when arrested in the Caribbean island of Aruba before being extradited to Australia, the court was told.

'I am a migrant young man who did not know how to manage a heated situation, one who felt fear and made an irreparable mistake for which he must pay,' he wrote in the letter addressed to then attorney-general Christian Porter.

'If with my life I could return hers I would offer it without a thought, but I know it is not possible, God does not allow for that.'

Ms Wasley argued on Friday that Valencia's time in custody had been more onerous because he was young, had been separated from his family over in Colombia and was facing a language barrier and a looming deportation risk.

Hector Enrique Valencia Valencia (pictured during his arrest in 2020) will be sentenced next Friday (July 7)

Crown prosecutors argued the Colombian's moral culpability was lower because he did not seem to come from a deprived background, having a stable upbringing with no drug or alcohol problems.

He had also not come clean with his parents after returning from Australia, telling them that Ms McRae had simply fainted, the court heard.

As well as being a self-employed sex worker, Ms McRae was also an author, publishing her autobiographical memoir, Hey Boys, She's Got a Gash and Other Tales of Gods, under the pseudonym Isabella Lawson.

Justice Yehia will hand down her sentence on July 7.

If you need support, contact Lifeline 13 11 14 or Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578.
Michigan's House of Representatives has passed a hate speech bill, known as HB 4474, which criminalizes causing someone to feel threatened by words, which could include the misusing of their pronouns, with the possibility of a hefty fine or even jail time.

The bill introduces hate crime penalties for causing someone to 'feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened,' with 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity or expression' included as protected classes.

Offenders could face up to five years in prison for such a felony offense or a $10,000 fine.

It is part of a continues effort by Democrats in the state to advance a pro-LGBTQ+ agenda in their first months in power.

The proposed legislation aims to replace the existing Ethnic Intimidation Act and extends protection against intimidation.

The Michigan House has approved a hate speech bill, HB 4474, that would criminalize causing someone to 'feel' threatened by words. Pictured, the Michigan State Capitol Building

The bill aims to replace the current Ethnic Intimidation Act and includes 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity or expression' as protected classes

Critics argue that the bill poses a threat to First Amendment rights and lacks clarity in defining 'harassment', leaving it open to subjective interpretation.

The bill reads as follows: 'Intimidate' means a willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.'

If passed, penalties would be based on how the supposed victim and court 'feel' about a particular matter.

What constitutes as being deemed 'intimidation and harassment' would be up to the interpretation of the listener and a local prosecutor.

Critics argue that the legislation could infringe on free speech rights and undermine the principles of due process.

Some of the key contents of the bill are seen above. Offenders could face up to five years in prison for the felony offense - some have argued the legislation could infringes on free speech

Michigan Democrats have made it a priority to further protect LGBTQ+ people since they took control of all levels of state government this year.

In March, lawmakers codified LGBTQ+ protections into the state's civil rights law, permanently outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the state.

This new hate speech bill passed in the Democrat-controlled House 59-50 and will now move to the Michigan State Senate (also Democrat controlled) for further consideration.

If approved, it would expected to be signed into law by the Democratic state Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Distinguished Professor Emeritus William Wagner, an expert in constitutional law and former federal judge warns that the legislation could be used to silence conservative viewpoints and would oppose the due process required by the Constitution.

If approved by the Michigan State Senate it would expected to be signed into law by the Democratic State Governor Gretchen Whitmer

'Make no mistake about it. Those advocating for this legislation will wield these policies as a weapon capable of destroying conservative expression or viewpoints grounded in the sacred,' Wagner told The Daily Wire.

'One merely needs to look at the scores of cases brought against schools, churches, businesses, and individuals around our country. Proponents use these laws to silence and financially cripple those who dare to adhere to a different viewpoint and oppose their agenda.'

Meanwhile, Republican Representative Angela Rigas shared her concerns about the bill targeting conservatives who speak against radical gender ideology.

'The state of Michigan is now explicitly allowing the gender delusion issue to be used as a 'protected class.' This opens up numerous issues when it comes to the courts and the continued weaponization of the system against conservatives,' Rigas said.

'We saw similar concerns when they wanted to pass blocks on 'conversion' therapy. It seems Dems want to be in the business of telling people how to think. We are determined to keep choice and opinion a free choice despite those efforts.'

Rigas suggested that conservatives would have to rely on the courts to challenge the legislation such is the lack of Republican influence in Michigan's branches of power.

'While my colleagues are introducing great bills to counter the infringements to our freedoms, there is no current way to fix these issues without higher courts becoming involved,' she explained.

Earlier this week Michigan lawmakers gave final approval to legislation banning so-called conversion therapy for minors.

The legislation would prohibit mental health professionals from engaging youths in the scientifically discredited practice of trying to convert people who are LGBTQ+ to heterosexuality and traditional gender expectations.

The Michigan Senate approved the ban on a 21-15 vote - with one Republican siding with Democrats - late Tuesday after the state House previously approved the legislation.

It now awaits final approval by Gov. Whitmer, who has previously called the therapy a 'dangerous practice.'
A teenager has been charged with the aggravated assault of a police officer in South Australia - with cops downgrading an initial attempted murder offence against him.

Police allege the 15-year-old boy struck the officer twice in the head with a torch as he approached him around 10.20pm on Thursday in Whyalla Stuart.

The officer spotted the boy in a park on Wittwer St and went to check on his welfare as he had been reported missing earlier that evening by family members.

Following the alleged attack, the boy fled the scene.

Police allege a 15-year-old struck a cop in the head twice with a torch as he was approached by the officer in a park to check on his welfare in Whyalla Stuart, South Australia

He was located a short time later at his Whyalla Stuart home at about 11.45pm and was charged with attempted murder.

That charge was later downgraded to aggravated assault causing harm and causing harm to a prescribed emergency worker.

The injured officer, 34, was taken to Whyalla Hospital to receive treatment. He has since been discharged.

The teen has been refused bail and will appear in the Whyalla Magistrates Court on Friday.
Bud Light says it 'remains committed' to relationships with LGBTQ+ community

Mulvaney, 26, has taken aim at the beer brand after staying silent on the fracas

The company released a statement - but didn't address Mulvaney by name

Bud Light has hit back at transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney after she slammed the struggling beer brand for 'failing to reach out to her' amid the backlash of their campaign.

Mulvaney, 26, yesterday broke her silence on the debacle - which has seen Anheuser-Busch lose $20million in market cap value since the advert for March Madness.

Speaking to her 1.8million followers earlier Thursday, Mulvaney said: 'I was waiting for the brand to reach out to me, but they never did. I've been scared to leave my house.

'For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse than not hiring a trans person at all.'

But after she went public with her criticism, Anheuser-Busch hit back in a statement to say they are 'committed committed to the programs and partnerships' they have forged with the LGBTQ+ community.

Bud Light has released a statement Thursday after Dylan Mulvaney finally broke her silence on the controversy over her infamous partnership with the embattled beer brand

The company didn't name Mulvaney directly, but their comments came immediately after she hit out at them for not being supportive of her and the trans community.

In the statement, they said: 'The privacy and safety of our employees and our partners is always our top priority.

'As we move forward, we will focus on what we do best  brewing great beer for everyone and earning our place in moments that matter to our consumers.'

Their statement comes just days after CEO Brendan Whitworth was slammed for refusing to rule out if the company would partner with Mulvaney again - and avoided answering how much the marketing blunder had cost Bud Light.

Speaking to CBS Mornings, Whitworth was asked if he would send Mulvaney another can, knowing the backlash that it sparked.

But instead of giving a definitive answer, the CEO instead launched into a pre-rehearsed speech about the 'social conversation' that the disaster campaign caused

Whitworth added that they 'need to deeply understand the consumer' and 'appreciate' what they want' from the brand, as he was blasted on social media for doing a 'dismal job'.

He was then challenged over his refusal to answer, with Tony Dokoupil asking if the decision was a mistake - but again avoided the question.

Later Thursday, Anheuser Busch issued a statement saying they 'remain committed to the programs and partnerships we have forged over decades with organizations across a number of communities, including those in the LGBTQ+ community'

It is the first time that Mulvaney has publicly spoken about Bud Light, calling them a company that she 'loved' in the new post.

During the video she said that trans and queer people are 'customers too', before adding that 'turning a blind eye' isn't an option.

She previously said she didn't want to give her critics the 'satisfaction' of talking about them, but has now opened up about how the backlash affected her - as sales for the beer dropped a staggering 28.5 percent.

The influencer admitted to hiding the can - which sparked Kid Rock to shoot at several cases of the beer - and is no longer able find it.

Mulvaney said: 'I realized that I needed to protect this can so I hid it somewhere and I can't find it because I hid it so well.

'But when I do find it, I feel like it needs to go in a museum, preferably behind bullet-proof glass.

'One thing I will not tolerate people saying about me is that I don't like beer because I love beer and I always have.'

The brand has been hit by plummeting sales since they teamed up with the influencer, who called it a brand deal

Brendan Whitworth, US CEO, insisted that his priority was the employees and added that they had poured three times the amount of investment into Bud Light for this year

She also explained that Bud Light approached her for the sponsored video, which is something that the company denied, claiming it was an external agency on their behalf.

Whitworth's mention of employees comes two days after Anheuser-Busch denied that they had fired two of the marketing executives behind the debacle involving Mulvaney.

The Daily Caller reported on Tuesday that the beer giant officially fired Group Vice President of Marketing Daniel Blake and Bud Light Marketing Vice President Alissa Heinerscheid, citing text messages with an unknown regional marketing leader at the company.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch said they were still both on a 'leave of absence.'

Mulvaney had harsh words for what she felt was an abandonment from the brewer in her recent post.

'It gives customers permission to be as transphobic and as hateful as they want. There's should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us.

'I have been ridiculed in public I've been followed and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn't wish on anyone.'

Sales have plummeted 24 percent in the latest data, which comes after Modelo Especial dethroned Bud Light as the top-selling beer in America after 22 years of holding the top spot

Mulvaney said: 'One thing I will not tolerate people saying about me is that I don't like beer because I love beer and I always have'

The transgender TikTok star has been shrugging off criticism since she entered into a disastrous partnership with Bud Light to celebrate '365 Days of Girlhood'

Brendan Whitworth refused to rule out partnering Mulvaney and avoided answering how much the marketing blunder had cost Bud Light.

The brand's ousted marketing chief Alissa Heinerscheid, 39, said she planned to update the 'fratty' and 'out of touch' branding. VP for Mainstream Brands Daniel Blake, 34, also voluntarily took a leave of absence earlier this year following the controversy

It is unclear if Heinerscheid is on paid leave from the company, but she joined in 2022 and vowed to freshen up its image

When approached by DailyMail.com regarding claims that she had no idea of the campaign, Heinerscheid (left) declined to comment  but a friend said: 'she can't talk about it', before being whisked away

The beer brand saw its sales drop 28.5 percent in the week ending June 17  one of the worst weeks since the campaign aired in April.

It's a deeper drop from the week ending on June 10, which saw a 26.8 percent drop, according to Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ.

The new low beats the previous worst - an almost 26 percent drop- for the week ending May 25.

It comes after claims that two Bud Light marketing executives had finally been fired over the fiasco - something which the company deny.

VP of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid, 39, and VP for Mainstream Brands Daniel Blake, 34, both took a voluntary leave of absence following the backlash.

But sources told the Daily Caller that both had been official fired following the announcement that they would be stepping back in April.

When approached by DailyMail.com earlier this month, a friend of Heinerscheid's said 'she's not supposed to talk about it, she can't.'

In a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch said they were still both on a 'leave of absence.'

Dylan Mulvaney, 26, opened up in a new interview with 'them' magazine, saying she prefers not to name her critics 'because it gives them the satisfaction of believing they're on my mind'

Speaking just days before the controversy, Heinerscheid said she planned to update the 'fratty' and 'out of touch' branding.

Heinerscheid's job was taken over by Todd Allen, who recently served as global vice president of Budweiser.

The marketing decision appears to be one of the worst in American history to come from an advertising backlash.

Sources told the Daily Caller that executives only claimed they were on a 'leave of absence' to avoid a lawsuit.

They said: 'To my understanding, if we publicly announced the word 'fire' it opens up the potential for them to sue us. That's why we said leave of absence.

'The wholesalers would have had an absolute HAY DAY with leadership if they didn't remove [Heinerscheid].'

'Wholesalers were told they are both gone for good by leadership during in-person conversations,' the source claimed. 'They already shifted all their direct reports to new people and the head of marketing.

He added that he thought Blake was 'actually awesome.' 'I think he was just caught in [the] cross fire,' the source said. 'But also he did hire her... so that's a fault.'

In another blow to the brand Modelo Especial dethroned Bud Light as the top-selling beer in America after 22 years of the longtime industry leader holding the top spot.

Modelo surpassed Bud Light's $297 million - which was a 22.8 percent fall in sales compared to the same time last year.

It is the first time since 2001 that Bud Light has not been in the top spot, dethroning its sister brand Budweiser for the 'King of Beer' title in 2001.

US sales of Modelo are controlled by rival Constellation Brands and do not count as part of AB InBev's global volumes as part of an anti-trust settlement.
A woman has been run over and killed after the car she was in broke down on a busy highway.

The 26-year-old had been waving other cars down for help on the northbound carriageway of the Kwinana Freeway in Stake Hill in Western Australia at 10.40pm on Thursday night.

It is understood she was hit by a red Mitsubishi Outlander after she got out of a blue Holden Commodore in sitting in the emergency shoulder.

The woman had been driving from Collie in the state's south west with a friend to see mates in Perth when they ran out of petrol, the West Australian said.

They both got out and walked down the side of the freeway to flag down other cars before she was tragically struck by the other vehicle.

The woman got out of the car to flag down passing cars for help when she was struck by a red Mitsubishi Outlander (pictured)

The pair were travelling in a blue Holden Commodore (pictured) before the car ran out of fuel

She suffered critical injuries and died at the scene.

The second woman in her 20s, who is believed to have been a passenger, was taken by St John WA services to Rockingham Hospital.

The SUV driver who stopped at the scene was not physically injured.

The highway between Mandjoogoordap Drive and Paganoni Road northbound was reopened at 4am on Friday.

Major crash investigators urged anyone who saw the horror accident or the female pedestrian in the area to contact Crimestoppers.

Main Roads WA said people who break down on the freeway should stay inside their vehicles where possible with their seatbelt on and hazard lights flashing.
Four passengers miraculously survived a fiery plane crash in Delta County, Colorado, including one Tennessean EMT, who was sure she was going to 'burn to death.'

The crew was coming back from a weekend full of adventure last Friday - camping, rafting and flying through the Black Canyon of Gunnison, 250 miles east of Denver, - before things took a turn for the worse.

The plane got entangled in tall trees, resulting in the engine catching fire, which led to a crash landing.

All passengers onboard survived, including the pilot, Rachel Horst, who detailed the crash and spoke to WKRN from her hospital bed.

'We caught a couple really tall trees, and I believe that's when our engine started on fire,' Horst said about a week after the crash.

Junia Dindinger, the Putnam County EMT, vividly remembered her thoughts during the ordeal, expressing her fear of burning to death

The plane got entangled in tall trees, resulting in the engine catching fire, which led to a crash landing

Firefighters dealing with the flaming wreckage of the ill-fated flight

Junia Dindinger, the Putnam County EMT, vividly remembered her thoughts during the ordeal, expressing her fear of burning to death.

'I was saying, like, 'No, no,' and 'Jesus, Jesus,' so those were my words, and I thought I was going to burn to death,' Dindinger said in her interview with WKRN.

Horst and three friends were flying through the black canyon following the river, when she turned towards the left which looked to be a wide path and the best way to get out.

But the canyon rose very steep ahead of them and due to the high-density altitude and the weight of the plane they weren't climbing out of the canyon at the rate expected, according to a fundraiser created for the victims.

It became clear that the plane was about to stall. Horst attempted to recover from the stall which would have taken away any control of the plane and caused it to barrel into the ground.

They nearly got out of the canyon despite the near stall when a ridge with tall trees caught the plane and it ignited which lead to Rachel crash-landing the plane.

Dindinger said what occurred next was nothing short of a miracle.

A hunter who witnessed the plane crash rushed to their aid, reaching them after approximately 30 minutes.

Dindinger recounted, 'There was a hunter, he saw our plane go down, and he came running over. It took him, like, 30 minutes to get over to us.'

'He came over there and he's, like, 'Is anybody alive?''

In a critical moment, Horst managed to successfully call 911 and provide the precise coordinates to the operator,' she told WKRN.

Dindinger marveled at Horst's bravery and resilience despite sustaining severe burns.

She described how Horst continued to check on everyone, assuming the role of a pilot, without acknowledging her own injuries.

It became clear that the plane was about to stall. Horst attempted to recover from the stall which would have taken away any control of the plane and caused it to barrel into the ground

All passengers onboard survived, including the pilot, Rachel Horst, who detailed the crash and spoke to News 2 from her hospital bed

Paul is suffering through a lot of pain after multiple skin grafting surgeries on his hands, arms and ankles

Horst sustained significant second and third degree burns on her face, arms and legs. She is being treated at the Denver University hospital and has a long road of recovery ahead of her

Currently, Dindinger, Horst, and a family friend are in the burn unit ICU at a hospital in Denver, where they are recovering from second- and third-degree burns

'Rachel kept walking around, and she has the worst burns out of all of us, and she would go around and she's, like, 'Are you okay? Are you okay?' Dindinger described.

'And she, like, took control as being, like, the pilot It was insane, like, she didn't even acknowledge that she was burning or had skin hanging off of her arms or anything like that.'

Dindinger, drawing on her experience as a first responder, found solace in recognizing the situation and preparing herself for the pain that accompanies burns.

'It kind of helped me to know what was even going on, even with myself. I was, like, 'Okay, this is normal, you have to breathe through this,' and kind of being able to anticipate the pain that comes with burns,' she recalled.

The pain served as a reminder for Dindinger that she was still alive.

The EMT expressed her gratitude for being spared and believes that there is a greater plan for all four survivors. .

There are GoFundMe pages dedicated to providing financial support to the survivors. Pages have been set up for Dindinger, Horst, and Paul Marini

The crew was coming back from a weekend full of adventure last Friday - camping, rafting and flying through the black canyon of Gunnison - before things took a turn for the worse

'Just realizing that the Lord has more for us, all four of us. All of us were spared, and He has a plan for our lives, and I'm excited to figure out what that is,' Dindinger said.

Currently, Dindinger, Horst, and a family friend are in the burn unit ICU at a hospital in Denver, where they are recovering from second- and third-degree burns.

There are GoFundMe pages dedicated to providing financial support to the survivors. Pages have been set up for Dindinger, Horst, and Paul Marini.

'My sister in law Rachel has spent the last year and a half studying to become a pilot, she loves anything to do with aviation and recently obtained her commercial pilots license after a lot of hard work and study,' Elizabeth Horst, Rachel's sister-in-law wrote.

Horst sustained significant second and third degree burns on her face, arms and legs. She is being treated at the Denver University hospital and has a long road of recovery ahead of her.

Any donation would be greatly appreciated and will go straight towards the hospital bills and recovery
The 'fat cats' at nine water companies awarded huge pay packages of up to 3.2million per year have been revealed amid fears that Britain's biggest water company is on the brink of collapse.

Critics have slammed the pay packages of the UK's top water bosses as 'excessive' as concerns swirl around the future of Thames Water - after it emerged it is in debt to the tune of 14billion.

The firm, which serves 15 million customers, is currently in emergency talks with government and the water regulator Ofwat about a multibillion cash injection after its 2million-a-year chief executive Sarah Bentley announced her shock exit on Wednesday.

And it comes as Thames, as well as the wider industry, comes under fire around leaks and dumping of sewage in the UK's waterways, as well as payouts to shareholders and their top brass.

Last night it emerged that bosses at nine water companies were paid 13million in just one year, as public outrage over river pollution and ongoing water leaks. The bosses' packages are made up of a base salary, plus benefits and bonuses.

Thames Water is currently in emergency talks with government and regulator Ofwat about a multibillion cash injection after its chief executive Sarah Bentley (pictured) announced her shock exit on Wednesday

Beleaguered United Utilities boss Steven Mogford took home a 3.2million package in 2022

Water companies have been coming under fire over sewage overflows into UK rivers and seas

Troubled Thames Water was until Tuesday led by Sarah Bentley, who resigned dramatically as the firm came under increasing criticism and financial pressure.

She had been with the company since September 2020 and previously pledged to clean up the company's act.

Ms Bentley was reportedly paid 2million in 2022 - more than 10 times the salary of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who earns 164,951 a year.

In May, the University of Kent-educated mother-of-five joined other water firm bosses in promising to give up her 2022-23 bonus amid fierce criticism of the sector.

Ms Bentley, who ran Thames Water for three years, received 1.5m for her work in 2022-23.

She is set to receive a further payout worth around 550,000 upon leaving the company.

Thames Water named Sir Adrian Montague as its new boss yesterday.

Boss of Severn Trent water Liv Garfield this year pocketed 3.2million - down 700,000 on her previous 3.9million package.

The company recorded strong profits in its accounts last month, admitting it should have done more and acted faster on concerns over sewage overflows.

Beleaguered United Utilities boss Steven Mogford also took home a 3.2million package in 2022 - despite the company having 8.2billion of debt.

He is set to retire in March, when he will receive a final 2.28million payout.

Lawrence Gosden, who has been CEO of Southern Water since July last year, has not yet had his salary published.

But the company's former CEO, Ian McAulay, enjoyed a 1.4million package made up of his salary and bonuses.

Boss of Seven Trent water Liv Garfield this year pocketed 3.2million - down 700,000 on her previous 3.9million package

Lawrence Gosden, who has been CEO of Southern Water since July last year, has not yet had his pay package confirmed

Former Southern Water CEO Ian McAulay took home a total package worth 1.4million

Yorkshire Water's former CEO Liz Barber also received in the region of 1.4million

Yorkshire Water boss Nicola Shaw has already announced she will not be accepting a bonus - but her pay package has not yet been announced

Mr Gosden also waived his bonus amid public outcry at water leaks and sewage releases across the country.

Yorkshire Water's former CEO Liz Barber also received in the region of 1.4million.

New boss Nicola Shaw's package, made up of salary and benefits, has not been announced after she joined the company in May 2022.

But she declined her bonus, saying she understood the 'strength of feeling' over sewage releases, which have serious health risks to humans and animals.

The worst offender for pollution in UK water, Anglian Water, paid its boss just shy of 1million - despite the Environment Agency finding it was responsible for a quarter of all serious pollution events in 2021.

Last year it was told it required 'serious improvement' by the EA.

In April, the firm was also fined 2.65million after allowing untreated sewage to overflow into the North Sea.

Chief Peter Simpson received a payout totalling 913,000 after declining his 337,000 bonus.

In Wales, boss at Dwr Cymru Peter Perry took home 675,000 as he defended his record on protecting Welsh waters, the Mirror reports.

In April he said his company was still looking to improve its record on pollution, but pointed out that while 40 percent of rivers in Wales are classed as 'good' under the Water Framework Directive, the equivalent figure was just 14 percent in England.

Coming in at eighth place in the 'fat cat' bosses is Heidi Mottram, boss at Northumbrian Water.

She was paid 648,000, figures show, after first joining the company's board back in 2010.

And Wessex Water boss Colin Skellett pocketed just shy of half a million, at 498,000.

Chief of Anglian Water Peter Simpson received a payout totalling 913,000

In Wales, boss at Dwr Cymru Peter Perry took home 675,000 as he defended his record on protecting Welsh waters

Wessex Water boss Colin Skellett pocketed just shy of half a million, at 498,000

It was reported by MailOnline last year that Mr Skellet's company loses 70million litres of water per day due to faulty infrastructure.

Recent analysis found the pay for executives at ten firms in England and Wales jumped by a fifth on average last year - despite the ongoing challenges facing the sector.

Conservative MP and chair of the Environmental Audit Committee Philip Dunne told the BBC there was 'no question there have been excessive payments to executives'.

He continued: 'Remember water companies don't have to worry about their top line, their top line is provided day in, day out without having to do the work that normal companies have to do, which is management to focus on generating revenue.

'Revenue here arises as, of course, everybody turns on their taps and starts consuming water,' he said.

Luke Hildyard, Director of the High Pay Centre UK, said pay packages of millions of pounds are 'wasteful': 'Pay awards of hundreds of thousands and even millions of pounds would be obviously wasteful and unnecessary even for successful executives, and there is a high degree of scepticism as to whether the current post holders meet that description.'

And although the bosses of several water companies - including Thames - promised to give up bonuses for the 2022-23 financial year, this has been slammed as 'a flimsy PR stunt'.

Gary Carter, a national officer at the GMB union, said: 'The UK water industry is in a complete mess, with creaking infrastructure, a disgruntled workforce and effluent allowed to flow freely into our beautiful waterways. To see those responsible for this carnage pocket a king's ransom is particularly galling.

'Bentley's announcement she won't take a bonus, while at the same time trousering a huge total pay package shows, it was nothing more than a flimsy PR stunt.'

Water bosses are under increasing scrutiny once again as speculation over a possible takeover at Thames Water increases.

Regulators at Ofwat have been slammed by politicians and campaigners amid growing fears over the 'financial resilience' of Thames Water.

Britain's largest water supplier is scrambling for extra cash because of concerns around its 14billion debt pile, with the Government considering a potential taxpayer bailout should it collapse.

Water companies are facing criticism over pollution caused by sewage overflows

Critics have slammed the pay packages of the UK's top water bosses as 'excessive' as concerns swirl around the future of Thames Water

This has sparked a barrage of criticism against Ofwat, which has been accused of being 'asleep at the wheel'.

The regulator said yesterday morning that Thames Water, Britain's biggest supplier with 15million customers, has 'significant issues to address' in several areas.

Many of these have come to the fore following the unexpected departure of Sarah Bentley as Thames Water's chief executive this week.

Darren Jones, Labour chairman of the Commons business committee, has warned that 'taxpayers will be exposed to the debt and running costs of a very large company' if Thames Water fails.

He told the BBC that problems in the water industry  which was privatised in 1989  are similar to the turmoil customers experienced in the energy sector last year when around 30 firms collapsed and the taxpayer was forced to step in.

'We have to take on the cost of running these failed businesses, which is why it's so galling for taxpayers when they see that regulators and ministers have failed to spot this problem before it all blew up,' he said.

Ofwat flagged in December that it was concerned about the financial resilience of several debt-laden water companies, including Thames Water.

However, it said yesterday that the firm had been boosted by 'an additional 500million from shareholders', as well as '4.4billion of cash and committed funding'.

Feargal Sharkey, rock star turned campaigner, said Ofwat's lack of action has contributed to recent chaos. 'As much as I may be furiously unhappy with the water companies, they were actually doing the job they were given, which was to make as much money as possible for shareholders,' he said.

'The question actually is what the hell were Ofwat doing for the last 30 years while all of this was going on? Because by god was the regulator asleep at the wheel? They were outflanked, outmanoeuvred and out-thought every single step of the way.'

Yesterday Yorkshire Water sought to shore up its finances by raising 500million from shareholders. Ofwat said it will 'continue to keep companies' financial resilience under scrutiny and work to ensure they take action to ensure the financial backing to deliver for customers.

All nine water companies have been contacted for comment.
Anthony Albanese had to be rushed to the safety of his car after angry farmers gatecrashed an event in regional Victoria.

Mr Albanese was opening a water park in Horsham, three-and-a-half hours north-west of Melbourne, on Thursday when the event was suddenly disrupted by about 40 farmers protesting a powerlines project in the region.

The Prime Minister was rushed to his car by his Federal Police protective detail to avoid the angry demonstrators, local media reported.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was opening a regional water play park in Horsham, in Victoria's Wimmera region on Thursday when the event was disrupted by protesters

About 40 farmers attended the event, hoping to speak with Mr Albanese about the Victoria to NSW Interconnector West project

Protesters reportedly made offensive hand gestures towards Mr Albanese and cheered after he'd left.

'Nick off with your power lines!' one farmer was heard shouting out.

Mr Albanese later said it 'wasn't quite clear' what they were demonstrating about.

He said there had been 'substantive consultations' with the community which would be ongoing.

'People are always entitled to put forward their views but they should do it respectfully,' he told the ABC.

It is understood about 40 farmers gatecrashed the event hoping to speak with the prime minister about the Victoria to NSW Interconnector West project.

Known as VNI West, it is a proposed new 500 kV double circuit transmission line connecting high voltage electricity grids in New South Wales and Victoria.

It promises to increase in the capacity to share electricity between NSW and Victoria and improve the reliability and security of electricity supply in both states.

But some locals are opposing the project which they say will run through their properties.

Dozens gathered in protest of the planned Interconnector West project

Victorian farmer Glenden Watts travelled to Horsham from Charlton to speak with the PM.

'We came across today to raise some awareness,' he told the Mail-Times.

'There needs to be a senate inquiry. It's his government that's pushing this through.'

Mr Watts said a large police presence stopped him and other demonstrators from speaking directly with Mr Albanese.

He also said more protests were planned, including in Melbourne.

Mr Albanese is the first sitting prime minister to visit Horsham in eight years.

Daily Mail Australia has sought comment from the Australian Federal Police.
Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell's arguments for overturning her sex trafficking conviction 'fall far short' of justifying quashing the jury's verdict, US Government lawyers have said.

The US government has urged the appeals appeals court to uphold Maxwell's sex trafficking conviction and 20-year sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls, after she launched a bid to dismiss the case.

In a filing with the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Thursday night, federal prosecutors said none of Maxwell's legal arguments about the fairness of her trial held merit.

'The government's evidence at trial established that over the course of a decade, Maxwell facilitated and participated in the sexual abuse of multiple young girls,' prosecutors said.

The 61-year-old sex trafficker is behind bars in Tallahassee, Florida, after a Manhattan jury convicted her in December 2021 on five charges for recruiting and grooming four girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.

Maxwell  federal prisoner 02879-509  will be nearly 80 by the time she's freed unless she can overturn her convictions for helping her ex-lover, Epstein, abuse girls. Hundreds of women have said he abused them.

Maxwell, 61, is behind bars in Tallahassee, Florida, after a Manhattan jury convicted her in December 2021 on five charges

The disgraced British socialite is still having trouble adapting to her grim life behind bars after being surrounded by luxury and wealth for most of her life

The daughter of disgraced UK newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell was sentenced to two decades behind bars in June last year.

Maxwell indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had 'faded, distorted and motivated memories'.

Her attorneys also claimed she did not have a fair trial after it emerged one of the jurors, Scotty David, also known as Juror 50, had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused in the jury questionnaire.

But US Government lawyers have urged the Second Circuit Appeals Court to uphold Maxwell's conviction.

In response to the arguments about Mr David, the US Government's attorneys said: 'Judge Nathan conducted a thorough inquiry and determined that Juror 50's inadvertent errors on the jury questionnaire did not undermine Maxwell's right to a fair trial.

'Maxwell does not meaningfully engage with Judge Nathan's careful opinion, instead suggesting that Juror 50's testimony at the hearing was 'patently absurd'.'

The US Government attorneys said Maxwell's arguments 'fall far short of establishing Judge Nathan abused her discretion' in her decision not to overturn the jury's verdict.

The former socialite also argued the US government breached a 'non-prosecution agreement' by bringing the charges against her - claiming the agreement 'immunised Maxwell for these offences'.

But the US prosecutors said Maxwell has 'no right to invoke the protections' of a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) because she was not a signatory or a third party to the agreement.

In her appeal submissions, the disgraced socialite said the court had refused to correct the jury's 'misunderstanding' of elements of the charges - meaning she was 'convicted of crimes with which she was not charged'.

But the US Government said Judge Nathan found that the 'original jury instructions and the Government's summation captured the core of criminality charged in the indictment'.

Maxwell also urged the appeal court to resentence if she was not granted a new trial.

But the government attorneys said her sentence was not unfair and that her arguments to the contrary were 'so cursory and undeveloped' that they should be dismissed.

Jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as 'dangerous' during her three-week trial, and were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein's various properties for him to sexually abuse.

Her lawyers have until July 27 to respond the US Government's submissions.

Maxwell is locked up at FCI Tallahassee, which could be her home until July 2037

Maxwell's life behind bars is worlds away from the plush existence she grew up with and experienced as one of billionaire financier Epstein's cronies.

She has been branded the ultimate 'prison Karen' for filing more than 400 complaints about her life behind bars, DailyMail.com revealed yesterday.

Maxwell has slated the lackluster vegan menu options, whined about 'unfair treatment', and demanded that authorities at her federal prison in Florida give her immediate access to black hair dye.

Now appealing her lengthy sentence, Maxwell accused prosecutors of making her a scapegoat because Epstein was dead and 'public outrage' demanded that someone else absorb the blame.

Epstein died at age 66 in August 2019 in his Manhattan jail cell, where he was awaiting trial for sex trafficking, and his death was ruled a suicide.

Her lawyers also offered several arguments for dismissing the case or granting a new trial.

These included that Maxwell was immune from prosecution, prosecutors waited too long to charge her, and Epstein's 2007 non-prosecution agreement arising from alleged abuse at his Palm Beach, Florida mansion also immunized her.

The lawyers also said one juror should have disclosed before trial that he had been sexually abused as a child.

Maxwell's accusers have said she and Epstein at first made them feel welcome in their orbit, before Epstein began demanding sexualized massages.

Others who were friendly with Epstein have seen their reputations tarred or ruined, among them Britain's Prince Andrew and former JPMorgan Chase executive and Barclays chief executive Jes Staley.

JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, which both had Epstein as a client, are paying a combined $365 million to Epstein's accusers over their work for him.

The US Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home, is also suing JPMorgan.

Maxwell is eligible for release in July 2037, with credit for good behavior and the two years she spent in jail before being imprisoned.

Arthur Aidala, a lawyer for Maxwell, was not immediately available for comment outside business hours.
Gen. Sergei Surovikin has been missing since Saturday and is believed detained

They say some Russian defence and intelligence officials are facing 'liquidation'

A war has broken out between Vladimir Putin's Federal Security Service (FSB) and Russia's Defence Ministry after the Wagner group's mutiny, Kyiv has said.

Andrii Chernyak, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, said mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived revolt over the weekend revealed the weaknesses of the Russian president.

This, he said, has sparked an 'open war' between the so-called 'towers' of the Kremlin - headed by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov - and that 'liquidation' of each other's officials was likely.

The Defence Ministry and the FSB headquarters are located just 3 miles away from each other in Moscow's city centre.

Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine's intelligence directorate, added that Prigozhin is also in the FSB's crosshairs.

'We are aware that the FSB was charged with a task to assassinate him. Will they be successful in doing that? We'll see with time.'

It appears there has already been one high-profile casualty of the failed rebellion in the form of Russia's 'General Armageddon' Sergei Surovikin, who is believed to have been detained days after mercenaries staged their revolt.

He has not been heard from since Saturday when he appeared in a video calling for an end to the mutiny.

It is thought that the deputy commander of the Russian forces fighting in Ukraine is being held in Moscow's notorious Lefortovo prison after US officials claimed he had supported Prigozhin's march on the capital, and is being interrogated.

Reports that Surovikin had ties to Wagner appeared to be confirmed overnight when a Russian investigative group Dossier Centre claimed it had found documents showing that he was a secret VIP member of the Wagner group.

An intelligence official from Ukraine's Ministry of Defence said mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived revolt has sparked an 'open war' between the so-called 'towers' of the Kremlin - headed by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (L) and FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov (R)

A Prigozhin ally, General Sergei Surovikin is believed to have been detained days after mercenaries staged their revolt. He has not been heard from since Saturday

The Russian Defence Ministry building in Moscow, Russia, 26 June 2023

Cars drive past the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in central Moscow, Russia

The Defence Ministry and the FSB headquarters are located just 3 miles away from each other in Moscow's city centre

Alexei Venediktov, former head of the Ekho Moskvy, a prominent independent radio station that was shut down by authorities after Moscow invaded Ukraine, said Surovikin and his close lieutenants have not been in contact with their families for three days, but stopped short of saying that he was detained.

Another prominent military messaging channel, Rybar, which is run by a former defence ministry press officer, reported a purge in the ranks was underway as authorities looked into allegations that some could have sided with Prigozhin.

Surovikin has been linked to Prigozhin since both were active in Syria, where Russia has waged a military action since 2015 to shore up Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and to help him reclaim territory after a devastating civil war.

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that US officials believed that Surovikin had advance knowledge about the mutiny. Asked about that report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shrugged it off as part of 'speculation and gossip'.

On Thursday, Peskov refused to comment on whether Surovikin had been arrested.

Asked by the Associated Press if the president still trusts Surovikin, he replied that Putin works with the defence minister and the chief of the general staff and referred questions about officers to the Defence Ministry. He also referred all other questions about Surovikin and his status to the ministry.

Surovikin, who was nicknamed 'General Armageddon' by Western media for his brutal tactics in Syria and Ukraine, was credited with shoring up Russian defences after Moscow's retreat from broad areas of Ukrainian territory last autumn amid a swift counter-offensive by Kyiv.

But in January, Putin replaced him with General Valery Gerasimov, putting the general staff chief in charge of the Russian battle in Ukraine. Surovikin was demoted to the position of Gerasimov's deputy.

Gerasimov's own fate also is unclear after the abortive mutiny. While Shoigu showed up at several events attended by Putin, Gerasimov was absent.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence declared that it was an 'open question' whether the Russian president has full command of his military amid reports of internal war in Russia's defence structures following Wagner's rebellion.

If a purge is indeed under way, it could destabilise the military chain of command and erode troop morale even further - something the Russian army cannot afford as further incidents of mutiny and desertion on the frontlines continue to emerge.

A new video shows disgruntled soldiers - convicts freed from jail to fight - who now fear being shot by Putin's counterintelligence officers for vowing not to go back to the 'meat grinder' frontline.

Andrii Chernyak, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, said mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived revolt over the weekend revealed the weaknesses of the Russian president. This, he said, has sparked an 'open war' between the so-called 'towers' of the Kremlin - headed by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov - and that 'liquidation' of each other's officials was likely.

The ex-convicts - seen in Priyutny, Zaporizhzhia region - went public amid reports that Putin's forces are using the Stalinist tactic of shooting those who refuse to fight

The men say their comrades were decimated by Ukraine's forces, losing 128 out of around 150 in a Storm brigade, according to one report.

One of the mutinying Russian fighters said in a video sent to their wives: 'They came to us and said: 'Boys, you have to go back to the front line'.

READ MORE: Putin is given rock star welcome and even poses for kissing selfies with adoring fans in rare interaction with the public Advertisement

'Again into the meat grinder, where we have already been. We will not return from there.

'We refuse to go further, to carry out combat missions. We surrender to the war police.

'If one of us dies, it means that we did not die on the front line, we were simply killed [for refusing to fight].

'If any one of us now dies he was simply shot dead by his own side.'

The ex-convicts - seen in Priyutny, Zaporizhzhia region - went public amid reports that Putin's forces are using the Stalinist tactic of shooting those who refuse to fight.

They were part of an estimated 70,000 prisoners - including rapists and murderers - released by Putin in his effort to invade Ukraine.

'We are the remnants of a Storm brigade,' said the man chosen as their spokesman on the video. 'There were once 150 of us Now there appear to be fewer than 30.

'These are the only men remaining after fierce battles,' he said.

'Today we were brought back from the front line to these apartments. This is where an FSB colonel threatens the mobilised, who refuse [to fight] We were not supplied with ammunition, nor water or food.

'The wounded were not taken out. The war dead are rotting there, no-one removes them. Terrible orders are issued [by commanders]

'We believe that we are simply being killed'

As Russian army units refuse to fight in Ukraine, it appears that volunteer fighters are continuing to sign up with the Wagner group, in spite of Shoigu's recent decree that all volunteers must sign contracts with the Russian military.

Reports from BBC News Russia and Meduza suggested that Wagner group recruitment hotlines remained open as of today, with Russians continuing to sign private contracts with the group in defiance of Shoigu and the Russian defence ministry.

Meanwhile in Moscow, Russian secret services feared there were plans to blow up Vladimir Putin as his motorcade crossed a major bridge, it was reported.

Vladimir Putin on 29 June 2023 during visit to the World Trade Centre in Moscow, Russia

Putin visited Russia's World Trade Center in Moscow yesterday

This screenshot from a security video shows vessels combing the river close to Novoarbatsky Bridge amid rumours of a planned assassination attempt on Putin

The Federal Protection Service [FSO] was tipped off about a barge suspected to be planting explosives on the floor of the Moscow River, according to VChK-OGPU Telegram channel.

The bridge was not named but is on a route used by Putin's motorcade moving to and from the Kremlin from his out-of-city official residence. It came as Putin visited Russia's World Trade Center yesterday.

Video shows security service vessels evidently combing the river close to Novoarbatsky Bridge. Divers were reported to have been in the murky waters.

'The FSO was checking information about the preparation of an assassination attempt on Putin with the help of explosives at the bottom of the Moskva River, laid down from a barge,' said the report by VChK-OGPU, seen as having law enforcement contacts.

'A duty officer of the Federal Security Service reported a suspicious barge under the bridge.'

The barge was ordered to move 'due to the movement of motorcades over the bridge'.

Immediately afterwards 'divers began to examine the bottom of the river.'

There was no information on whether explosives were found, nor any suggestion as to who might have planned any assassination bid on the Russian president.
MDMA and magic mushrooms will be made available for psychiatrists to prescribe to people suffering with some mental health conditions from this weekend.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration approved the use of psychedelics in February with the change in the law coming into effect on July 1.

The drugs are still prohibited and will only be legal as part of psychiatric treatments or in clinical trials.

Medicine containing MDMA will be used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while psilocybin, otherwise known as magic mushrooms, will be used in those with treatment-resistant depression.

John Lee is just one of the Aussies championing the use of psychedelics as a psychological treatment.

MDMA (above) and magic mushrooms will be available for psychiatrists to prescribe for some mental health conditions from July 1

Mr Lee was able to recover from a years-long depression using MDMA after his daughter, Freyja, took her own life at 21-years-old in 2019.

He said he sought the help of an illegal psychedelic therapist and was able to talk to his daughter during the drug-induced hallucinations, allowing him to properly grieve without anger.

However, the decision in February divided health professionals with Australia to become the first country to legalise MDMA and psilocybin treatments - despite no Australian trials reporting results.

Back in February, the Mind Medicine Australia team celebrated the legalisation.

A statement from the group read: 'We are delighted with the decision which will be welcomed by so many suffering Australians. It specifically recognises the current lack of options for patients with specific treatment-resistant mental illnesses and the supporting evidence of safety and efficacy from clinical trials.

John Lee (right) was able to recover from a years-long depression after the death of his daughter (left) by using MDMA in conjunction with therapy sessions

'The support that we have had throughout this process has been incredible and overwhelming.

'Finally, our hearts go out to all those Australians suffering from treatment resistant depression and treatment resistant post-traumatic stress disorder.

'They will now have the opportunity of accessing this breakthrough treatment with their mental health professionals, which has shown such positive safety and efficacy results internationally.'

Swinburne University Professor Susan Rossell, who leads Australia's biggest trial on the effect psilocybin has on depression, called for more research to be complete before the law change.

'These treatments are not well established at all for a sufficient level of broad-scale implementation,' she said.

'We've got no data on long-term outcomes at all, so that worries me a lot, which is one of the reasons why I'm doing my very large study.'

The Australia Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF) in March shared its research into the use of magic mushrooms as medicine.

MDMA will be used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder while psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms (above), will target treatment-resistant depression

It stated psilocybin has been used by Indigenous communities for generations.

Magic mushrooms were also found to have showed promising results in treating anxiety, depression, PTSD and alcohol and nicotine dependence.

'But in the late 60s the US banned all psychedelics and the world, including Australia, soon followed suit,' it said.

'So, despite promising findings, psychedelic research ended abruptly in the 70s.'

The ADF also noted psychedelic treatment needs to be carefully monitored as use of the drugs can worsen some psychological conditions - like personality disorders and schizophrenia.

'In a clinical setting, a pre-determined and controlled dose of psilocybin is given to the patient under the supervision of a medical professional. Because the patient is in a therapeutic space and the dose is known, it is unlikely there will be a bad reaction,' the ADF said.

'When taking magic mushrooms recreationally, it can be hard to know how strong the dose is and whether there are other contaminants from the environment.

'It can also be hard to know how a persons surroundings might affect their experience. This can make it more likely that a bad trip will occur.'
A sleeping man awoke to find Hollywood star Kevin Spacey performing a sex act on him, the actor's trial heard today - as prosecutors claimed his pursuit of 'sexually aggressive thrills' also saw him grope a fellow theatregoer.

The Oscar-winning actor, who denies 12 sex offences, was described at Southwark Crown Court as a 'sexual bully' who enjoys making people feel 'powerless and uncomfortable'.

The alleged victims described Spacey as being very 'touchy feely' and 'someone who spoke quite openly about his sexuality'

In one incident, a victim fell asleep after drinking and smoking cannabis with Spacey, and awoke to find the actor sexually assaulting him, it was said.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew, KC, said: 'He awoke some hours later with his belt intact but his button and zip were down. Kevin Spacey Fowler was next to him on his knees performing a sex act.'

Kevin Spacey - seen today arriving at Southwark Crown Court - has previously denied 12 charges, including sexual assault and indecent assault

A sketch of the Hollywood actor in the dock at Southwark Crown Court as he listens to prosecutor Christine Agnew KC, (right)

On another occasion, the actor is accused of assaulting a man backstage when he 'grabbed his penis with such force it was painful'.

'Star-struck' victims were afraid to come forward fearing they would not be believed because of his fame, jurors heard.

The prosecutor said of one complainant: 'Kevin Spacey Fowler was a star, a golden boy as he (the victim) put it.

'He wasn't sure he would be believed and even if he had been he didn't think that he would receive any support.'

Jurors went on to hear about the second complainant who sat near Spacey at the Haymarket Theatre in 2005.

The complainant, who was around 28 years old at the time, recalls the actor asking if they had 'f***ed', the court heard.

Ms Agnew said the complainant was 'shocked' and initially ignored the remarks before Spacey put his hand on his leg.

During a further interaction over an hour later, when the complainant was showing Spacey around backstage, Spacey allegedly 'grabbed his penis with such force it was painful'.

The two-time Academy Award winner gets out of a black London cab before his trial this morning

Ms Agnew added that Spacey 'simply laughed' after the complainant pushed him away.

'Star-struck' victims were afraid to come forward fearing they would not be believed because of his fame, jurors heard.

The court went on to hear about a third complainant who met Spacey a couple of times 'briefly' while he acted in a play at the Old Vic Theatre.

In 2008, the complainant, having moved to London after finishing drama school, wrote to Spacey 'seeking his assistance with mentoring', jurors heard.

The court was told Spacey rang him a few weeks later and they met that evening, ending up in the actor's apartment. Ms Agnew said: 'During conversation (the complainant) thanked him for the part in the play at which Mr Spacey Fowler opened his arms to hug him.

'(The complainant) did not move to hug him back as he thought it was a 'bit weird', so Kevin Spacey Fowler stretched forward, hugged him around the waist and in doing so put his face into (the complainant's) crotch.'

Jurors heard how the complainant moved away and later 'fell asleep or passed out', commenting afterwards that it was 'unusual' for him to 'conk out'. The court heard the complainant woke up later to find Spacey performing oral sex on him.

The actor pleaded not guilty in January to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent

'Despite (the complainant) saying no he continued so (the complainant) pushed him off,' the prosecutor said. Ms Agnew added that Spacey told the complainant not to tell anyone what happened before the man went to a bus stop 'where he sat and cried'.

The trial went on to hear about a fourth complainant who interacted with Spacey at a pub in a village west of Oxford in 2013.

The pair ended up at a nearby pub together with a group of people and, after closing time, Spacey invited the group back to where he was staying, the court heard.

Ms Agnew said Spacey approached the complainant in the property and gave him a hug.

She went on: 'Whilst doing this Kevin Spacey Fowler kissed his neck twice and said, 'Be cool, be cool' and then...grabbed [the complainant's] crotch with his hand and squeezed.

'(The complainant) pushed the defendant against a wall and said, 'Sorry man I don't bat for that team'. The defendant walked past him without saying anything.'

Jurors heard the complainant left the property in 'a bit of a panicky state'.

The veteran actor stands accused of carrying out 12 sex attacks on four men dating back 22 years when he was working as artistic director at the Old Vic theatre in London

Concluding her opening remarks to the jury, prosecutor Ms Agnew said Spacey had 'abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him'.

She told the jury: 'Four men, unknown it seems to each other all make serious sexual allegations against Kevin Spacey Fowler. Are they lying?

'Have they decided to manufacture allegations against the defendant in order to benefit financially?

'Is that why they've come forward - that will almost certainly be suggested to you by those representing the defendant.

'Or is it the case, as we the prosecution suggest, that Mr Spacey Fowler abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him; taking advantage of his popularity and prominence, his illustriousness and influence.

'Taking what and who he wanted when he wanted.'

Opening the trial, Ms Agnew called Spacey a 'sexual bully'.

She said: 'Kevin Spacey Fowler is an actor; many of you will know that. He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards. He has starred in many movies and television serials

The former House of Cards star started his career as a theatre actor in the 1980s

'He is also, the prosecution allege a man who sexually assaults other men. A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable  a sexual bully.

'His preferred method of assault is it appears to grab aggressively other men in the crotch.'

As wide-eyed jurors glanced at the famous actor sitting in the dock, the prosecutor told them not to be 'star struck'.

'It is only right that you might feel a little star struck or overwhelmed that you are part of the jury to try such a famous person but...you must keep yourself grounded and true to the oath that you have taken.' she said.

Dressed in a grey suit, the 63-year-old defendant glanced at the floor as the case was opened.

After the prosecution presented their evidence, Patrick Gibbs KC, for Spacey, gave a short opening speech to the jury.

He said that the actor has come back to the UK to answer allegations with 'what actually happened'.

'Mr Spacey...has come back to the UK as he said he would to answer them and say in full in due course what actually happened as he would say it,' Mr Gibbs said.

He added: 'What has been reimagined with a sinister spin? What has been made up or twisted? And why and when because all of those things that are alleged against him happened...a long time ago.'

He suggested to the jury that some of what they will hear has been 'deliberately exaggerated'.

The barrister went on: 'Mr Spacey was rich and influential.'

He added: 'What did they want from his wealth and from his influence and what do they still want do you think?'

Spacey arriving at Southwark Crown Court this morning. The trial continues

Mr Gibbs also suggested to the jury trying Spacey that they will hear 'many damned lies'.

He said: 'You will soon hear I suggest some truths, you will soon hear some half-truths, you will also hear I suggest...some deliberate exaggerations and you will hear many damned lies.'

Earlier, Spacey arrived smiling at court around 8.45am in time to grab a cup of coffee in the foyer before he headed for courtroom 2 for the start of his month-long trial.

The veteran actor stands accused of carrying out 12 sex attacks on four men dating back 22 years when he was working as artistic director at the Old Vic theatre in London.

He has been charged with three counts of indecent assault, seven counts of sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and one allegation of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent between 2001 and 2013.

He pleaded not guilty to all 12 charges at a hearing in January

The former House of Cards star started his career as a theatre actor in the 1980s, before rising to fame in hit films including Glengarry Glen Ross, Se7en, Horrible Bosses, and LA Confidential.

He won his first Academy Award for a supporting turn in The Usual Suspects, and got a Best Actor Oscar in 1999 for his role in American Beauty.

Spacey took up his post at the Old Vic in 2003, and made his Shakespeare debut two years later with the lead role in Richard II.

He drew big names to the London theatre, including Jeff Goldblum, Sam Mendes, Colm Meaney, and Neve Cambell, and he was awarded an honorary knighthood shortly after his tenure as artistic director ended in 2015.

When the actor was charged in May 2022 following a long-running investigation by the Metropolitan Police, he released a statement saying: 'I very much appreciate the Crown Prosecution Service's statement in which they carefully reminded the media and the public that I am entitled to a fair trial, and innocent until proven otherwise.

'While I am disappointed with their decision to move forward, I will voluntarily appear in the UK as soon as can be arranged and defend myself against these charges, which I am confident will prove my innocence.'

The trial continues.
A hit and run driver revved the engine of his new pick-up truck and mowed down a pony instructor in front of the horrified kids she was trying to protect.

Jack Brown, 27, approached too fast towards the victim, aged in her 50s, as she was walking behind the three children on their ponies around 3pm.

When she stepped slightly into the road waving her arms, rather than slow down he revved up the new Ford Ranger truck and aimed it right at her.

She fell onto her back and Brown sped off home, leaving her with a broken spine.

But he was later tracked down by cops and has now been jailed for two years and eight months for the hit and run horror near his home village of Hunton in the Yorkshire Dales.

Jack Brown, 27, was jailed for two years after mowing down an instructor trying to protect three children riding on ponies

Teesside Crown Court heard the incident happened in his home village on Saturday 15 January 2022 at around 3pm.

Jobless Brown had been driving along Leyburn Road in his new Ford Ranger pick-up truck.

The victim, a woman aged in her 50s, was walking at the rear of a group of children riding ponies and she tried to get Brown to slow down.

A witness said he had been approaching at speed with lots of engine noise.

Fearing that Brown would spook the ponies and put the three children in danger of being thrown from the animals, the victim attempted to slow the driver by waving her arms towards him.

As the vehicle got closer to the victim, who had stepped out slightly into the road to get Brown's attention, he started to rev the vehicle's engine.

But when she stepped back towards the side of the road, Brown then turned his vehicle towards her and hit her, causing her to fall onto her back.

Brown then continued back to his home address without stopping at the scene.

When the victim attended hospital, it was confirmed she had broken a vertebra in her back.

The matter was reported to the police and a collision investigation was undertaken

Brown, of Leyburn Road, Hunton, initially denied careless driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and a separate offence of breaching a restraining order in another road rage incident involving his student ex-girlfriend.

Brown initially claimed that the instructor threw herself in front of his new truck, but later pleaded guilty to careless driving

He claimed the pony instructor had 'thrown herself' at his vehicle, but changed his plea to guilty before a trial was due to get under way on Wednesday.

As well as the prison sentence, he was also disqualified from driving for 10 years which is effective on his release from prison.

Speaking after Brown's sentencing, PC Mike McVay, from North Yorkshire Police, said: 'Only responsible and safe drivers should have a driving license.

'This is a privilege that has rightly been taken away from Jack Brown for a considerable time, as well as his liberty while he serves his prison sentence.

'His aggressive and dangerous driving caused serious injury to the victim.

'He also could so easily have placed the three children, the ponies and the other person who was with the group at great risk of injury or worse.

'I hope he and other drivers learn from this incident and the outcome at court. Dangerous driving will not be tolerated on our roads.'

New Highway Code guidelines advise drivers to reduce speed to 10mph and to allow at least two metres of space when passing horse riders and horse drawn vehicles.

Hoirse riders alongside pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists as road users most likely to be injured in the event of a collision.

The British Horse Society is currently running a national campaign called 'Dead Slow' urging motorists to pass horse riders safely and to report incidents via a new app.
Safety concerns have been raised after a small child was hurt by a spiked object at a playground.

The toddler was stabbed by the spiked object hidden in the sand at the Sindone Family Park in Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast.

The local councillor in charge of the park believes that the item was left there deliberately.

The spiked object was left hidden in the sand for children to stand on. Photo: 7 News

Councillor Vorster is concerned about what could happen in the future. Photo: 7 News

'This little bit of litter has been weaponised, and it's injured at least one child,' Gold Coast councillor Hermann Vorster told 7NEWS.

Mr Vorster says that the child was not seriously injured but that he has 'serious concerns' about the family friendly park.

'If you're the type of person who thinks it's OK to leave this in the sand, get your head read,' he said.

He described the park as 'family friendly' and popular with locals. Photo: 7 News

Council hopes that new CCTV will deter people from leaving behind dangerous objects.

Plastic spikes are not the only thing left behind in Gold Coast parks that have worried the council and parents according to Mr Vorster.

'Beer bottles left behind can be smashed, put into sand and they can close down a playground for days and even a week.'
An actor who appeared as an extra in Netflix's Bridgerton and First World War blockbuster 1917 has been spared jail after he downloaded hundreds of child abuse images of children as young as five and traded them on Instagram.

West End theatre worker Kieren Curran, 23, was seen shaking as he was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for two years at Harrow Crown Court on Thursday.

He was caught after police raided his house on February 16, 2021, acting on intelligence about an Instagram account with indecent images of children.

Curran, of Ealing, west London, starred as a smartly dressed extra in Bridgerton and as a soldier in an iconic battle scene from Sam Mendes's Oscar and Bafta-winning war film 1917.

He also has stage credits for the London College of Music and as an assistant director on upcoming Amazon Prime series Red, White and Royal Blue.

Kieren Curran downloaded images of children as young as five but was spared jail this week

Curran, 23, is an aspiring actor who has had roles in Bridgerton and 1917

Curran bumped into a main character in 1917, where he appeared as an extra

Police recovered a Macbook, iPhone, and San Disk USB with a total of 293 images, including of children between the age of five and 14 years old.

Judge Kaplan said the 'appalling offences' automatically deserved a prison sentence, but he determined Curran's good character and time spent on bail meant he was not an immediate danger to the public.

The court heard Curran was with his girlfriend when police raided his address. He opened the door and admitted having the illegal material to the officers.

He is then said to have asked them: 'Can we skip this bit?'

After being on bail for two years, Curran was eventually charged with seven offences. These were two counts for Category A, three for Category B, and two for Category C.

Prosecuting, Mr Phillips said: 'He then said I am guilty, I have loads of images in an account.

'He had used the Instagram account to trade images and said he had a problem.'

One of the Class A images was described in court as a moving image, depicting a girl aged between eight and 12 during sexual activity.

The court heard Curran had attempted to kill himself 'because he hated what he had done.'

Curran said all the devices were his and provided passwords to officers. In an interview he admitted collating the images, but said it was 'a way of self-harm to himself'.

Defending, Ms Fairbairn said Curran was of previous good character, had shown remorse, and had downloaded a 'relatively small' number of images.

Commenting on the charging delay, she added: 'That was a very long delay for no real reason and it has been hanging over Mr Curran, giving him anxiety.'

She continued: 'In essence he downloaded a bulk quantity of porn, most of that legal but he accepts some of it was not.'

'His memory of what it was is mainly teenage children and not primary age children.

The court heard Curran was with his girlfriend when police raided his address. He opened the door and admitted having the illegal material to the officers

'Although he does not dispute what the counts set out, certainly his memory was of teenagers as opposed to very young children.'

Ms Fairbairn also told the court how Curran had been bullied at school and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

She said her client, who works at The Lyceum Theatre near The Strand, planned to become a stunt man, and had a role lined up in an upcoming Lord of the Rings TV series.

In his final remarks, Judge Kaplan said: 'I must leave you in no doubt of the serious nature of these type of offences and make it very clear to you that I think you now accept these are most certainly not victimless crimes and the court is most concerned about the nature and number of photographs in these offences.'

Dressed in a blue suit and burgundy tie, Curran shook as he was handed eight months suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to pay 494 in costs, to do 40 hours of unpaid work, 30 days of rehabilitation, and complete the Horizon programme for internet sexual offenders.
A mother claims a bully 'mum shamed' her daughter by sharing her OnlyFans profile around the 'entire school' - but the youngster swiftly 'shut him down' as she had already been told about her mum's account.

Ari Taylor was only 15 when she had her daughter Kay Becca, and while her day job is as a quality assurance specialist, she does OnlyFans as a side hustle.

The mum-of-one said that last year a bully began tormenting Kay about her mum's work and circulating her OnlyFans link around her entire school.

She explained that she had been advertising her content on Twitter at the time, and claims the bully sent her mom's content to Kay and threatened to spread it around the school.

A school bully threatened to share Ari Taylor's (pictured right) OnlyFans around her daughter's (Kay Beca, pictured right) school after accessing her content through social media

The mum, who lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, said she was 'proud' of how her daughter handled her OnlyFans account being leaked

Ari said: 'He kept on saying he was going to be sharing more content, showing all his friends 'how gross her mom is' and talking about how she 'couldn't be this awesome person if her mom was willing to sell her body.'

But her 'smart and sassy' daughter, who knew of her mom's profession, was already equipped to deal with the cruel comments and confided in her mother to tackle the issue together.

'She's always been able to just shrug stuff off like this and said 'honestly it's only really bothersome because he's trying to use it as a form of bullying and obviously the things he's saying about you.'

Ari said: 'Her reaction [to the bully] was very calm and collected. She was like 'ok, whatever. My mom has talked to me about this before, I really don't care.'

The 30-year-old said she decided to sit her 14-year-old down last year to tell her about her unconventional line of work.

Ari, of Salt Lake City, Utah, US, wanted it to come from the horse's mouth and create an open space for discussion with her to remove the 'mysticism' around OnlyFans and the people who do it.

She said she was initially nervous to open up to her daughter, but the content creator is now relieved she emotionally prepared Kay to deal with the school bully.

Ari Taylor, 30, is a quality assurance specialist but does OnlyFans as a 'side hustle' she usually earns around $200 a month but has previously earned thousands in one month

The OnlyFans creator said: 'I'm pleased that I told her about it before. I was super nervous about doing it at such a young age and being a young mom I didn't really feel like I had a lot of direction and didn't know a lot of people doing what I did at the time.

'But I do feel like it was so worth it because it better prepared her and her emotional state about the way to handle it.

'I'm proud that my daughter handled it the best way that anybody possibly could and then we were able to get it taken care of properly.'

Ari shared that she has been 'mom-shamed' before, she said: 'It's happened ever since I've been open about it. I don't think I started announcing I was [one] until maybe the most recent five years but it's always come with a huge backlash, and I kind of expected it.'

Following the growth in popularity of content creation sites like OnlyFans, Ari is keen to share how others can broach the topic with their kids.

She assures apprehensive parents that their kids will 'love you, no matter what'.

Ari said that they approached the school and police department about what happened, and that it's no longer an issue.

Ari posts explicit content on OnlyFans and currently makes around $200 per month from it but has raked in $10,500 during her highest-earning month.

The mother previously posted a TikTok about discussing OnlyFans with her daughter before and amassed more than 55,000 views from doing so.

In a TikTok which has gained over 50,000 views, Ari Taylor shared her experiences of telling her daughter she is an OnlyFans creator

She said: 'The advice I would give [to others wanting to tell their children about their work] is to approach them with appropriate and soft language because children understand more than we think.

'And really just letting them know that it's another form of work, it's ok to respect what people chose for a job, and regardless of the outcome you'll still love and care for them.

'And you just want to inform them of these things so they can be safe and feel like they can have an open and honest conversation with you if and when anything does come up.'
Vice President Kamala Harris has blasted the Supreme Court's landmark ruling to end affirmative action in college admissions, describing the decision as 'blind to history' instead of 'colorblind'.

Protesters have been gathering in Washington following the ruling, which overturned a decades-old policy meant to boost the number of black, Asian and Latino students in universities.

Speaking at the Global Black Economic Forum in New Orleans, Ms Harris said: 'The highest court in our land just made a decision today on affirmative action and I feel compelled to speak about it.

'It is in so many ways a denial of opportunity. It is a complete misnomer to suggest this is about being colorblind, when in fact it is about being blind to history. Blind to data, being blind to empirical evidence about disparities. Being blind to the strength that diversity brings to classrooms, to boardrooms.'

Her criticism of the decision came after President Joe Biden earlier said the Supreme Court has done more to 'unravel basic rights' than any other court in recent history.

Vice President Kamala Harris has blasted the Supreme Court's landmark decision to end affirmative action in college admissions

Protesters have been gathering in Washington following the ruling, which overturned a decades-old policy meant to boost the number of black, Asian and Latino students in universities

Biden, in an interview on MSNBC, explained what he mean when he said earlier in the day that the high court was not 'normal.'

'What I meant was that it's done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history. And that's what I meant by not normal,' he said.

In the interview with Nicolle Wallace, Biden confirmed his opposition to packing the court with more justices, which some liberal Democrats have pushed for.

'I think they may do too much harm. But I think if start the process of trying to expand the court, we're going to politicize it, maybe forever-- that's not healthy. That we can't get back,' he said.

At the White House on Thursday Biden said the Supreme Court's decision is proof discrimination 'still exists in America'.

'This is not a normal court,' Biden said of the conservative-majority bench that ruled race-based admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC) are unconstitutional.

'I know today's court decision is a severe disappointment to so many people, including me, but we cannot let the decision be a permanent setback,' he said in remarks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

President Joe Biden said the Supreme Court has done more to 'unravel basic rights' than any other court in recent history

In two rulings on Thursday, the conservative majority of the high court overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest private and public colleges.

The vote was 6-3 in the North Carolina case and 6-2 in the Harvard case - with liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson recused.

In his remarks, Biden acknowledged that many Americans believe affirmative action gives unfair advantages to minorities when it comes to college admission but, he noted, that is not the case.

.@POTUS: "This court has gone beyond that. I just find it so out of sorts with the basic value system of the American people... Across the board, the vast majority of the American people don't agree with a lot of the decisions this court is making." https://t.co/tXPkQZRSRL pic.twitter.com/GvGUkEdn7s  MSNBC (@MSNBC) June 29, 2023

'This is not a normal court,' President Joe Biden said of the Supreme Court

'Many people wrongly believe affirmative action allows unqualified students to be admitted ahead of qualified students. This is not how college admissions work,' he said.

He argued universities make a pool of qualified students and, from there, add in other factors like grades and race.

The president encouraged universities to still consider the 'hardships' students had to overcome in order to apply to college and proposed that schools 'take into account the adversity a student has overcome.'

'Discrimination still exists in America. Today's decision does not change that. It's a simple fact. If a student has overcome - had to overcome adversity on the path to education, the college should recognize and value that,' he said.

He said colleges 'should not abandon their commitment to ensure they stay tuned bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of America.'

He blasted higher-education for remaining a purview of the privileged.

'Today, for too many schools, the only people that benefit are the wealthy and well connected. The odds have been tacked against working people for much too long. We need a higher education system that works for everyone, from Appalachia to Atlanta and far beyond,' he said.

A demonstrator protests outside of the Supreme Court after the ruling

Chief Justice John Roberts was joined in the majority opinion by Republican-appointed justices Amy Coney Barrett, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh. The court's liberal justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented in the North Carolina case; Jackson recused herself from the Harvard case

The universities were sued by Students for Fair Admissions, a conservative nonprofit group, over their race-based admissions policies in 2014, saying they violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The cases made their way through lower courts, which ruled on the side of Harvard and UNC, before reaching the Supreme Court for oral arguments last year.

'Because Harvard's and UNC's admissions programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points, those admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause,' states the majority opinion written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Roberts was joined in the majority opinion by Republican-appointed justices Amy Coney Barrett, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh.

The court's liberal justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented in the North Carolina case. Brown Jackson recused herself from the Harvard case because she had been a member of an advisory governing board.

Justice Thomas, who was the second black justice appointed in history, called race-based admissions 'rudderless' and 'designed to ensure a particular racial mix in their entering classes.'

He went on in his concurring opinion, which he read from the bench in a rare move, to state plainly that despite being 'painfully aware' of discrimination against other individuals of his race, he has hope that all Americans will be treated equally under the law.

'While I am painfully aware of the social and economic ravages which have befallen my race and all who suffer discrimination, I hold out enduring hope that this country will live up to its principles so clearly enunciated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States: that all men are created equal, are equal citizens, and must be treated equally before the law,' Thomas wrote.

Democrat-appointed Justice Sotomayor said in a written dissent that the decision 'rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.'

'The Court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society,' she continued.

In her separate dissent, Brown Jackson - the courts first Black female justice - called the decision 'truly a tragedy for us all.'

Jackson wrote: 'With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces `colorblindness for all by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.'

Specifically, Harvard was accused of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, a landmark piece of legislation first proposed by John F. Kennedy that sought to outlaw racial discrimination. Title VI 'prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance.'

The case argued that Asian American students specifically have been illegally disadvantaged by affirmative action policies because despite achieving high grades, they score lower on Harvard's vague 'personal rating scale,' particularly on 'likability' ratings and 'positive personality,' compared to other applicants.

Activists demonstrate as the Supreme Court heard arguments

The UNC case also looked what the university could factor into admissions practices without the use of race and how it would impact diversity on campus. Both Harvard and UNC have maintained that their use of race in admissions does not discriminate against Asian Americans.

Two former presidents had two different opinions.

Former President Donald Trump, the current Republican presidential frontrunner, wrote on Truth Social that the decision marked 'a great day for America. People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded.'

Former President Barack Obama said in a statement that affirmative action 'allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged. Now its up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve - and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives.'
Prince Harry will find it hard to 'assert any constitutional role' in Britain after his eviction from Frogmore Cottage because of his unpopularity, royal experts say.

As Harry and Meghan Markle finally vacated the property, it was also claimed that King Charles III should end the Duke's 'constitutional relationship with Britain' now.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were asked to move any remaining possessions out of their Grade II-listed five-bedroom cottage close to Windsor Castle in January.

The King kicked them out of Frogmore, which they gave a 2.4million makeover but only used for six months, just days after Harry criticised his family in his book Spare.

The cottage, which was refurbished by the couple and is a Crown Estate property, was their last remaining foothold in the UK, and the couple now live in California.

Their departure comes as some of Britain's top constitutional experts cast doubts on reports that Harry's eviction will also confirm his demotion as a Counsellor of State.

But they also pointed out that Harry would not actually act in the role because he no longer undertakes public duties as a working member of the Royal Family.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliam told MailOnline today: 'Harry and Meghan have finally vacated Frogmore Cottage, which they had moved into in 2019.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex walk outside St Paul's Cathedral in London in June last year

Harry and Meghan have officially vacated Frogmore Cottage near Windsor Castle (file image)

'They were senior working members of the royal family for a remarkably short time. When they settled in California where they are raising their children, Frogmore remained their base in Britain.

What are Counsellors of State, what do they do and why does the King need them? Who are the Counsellors of State? The five Counsellors of State underneath King Charles are: Queen Camilla (working royal)

(working royal) Prince William (working royal)

(working royal) Prince Harry (not a working royal)

(not a working royal) Prince Andrew (not working royal)

(not working royal) Princess Beatrice (not working royal) He has also requested to Parliament that two more are added to the list: Princess Anne (working royal)

(working royal) Prince Edward (working royal) Why are Counsellors of State needed? A Counsellor of State is effectively a stand-in for Charles, should the King be temporarily unable to carry out his duties if he is ill or abroad. What can Counsellors of State do? As Counsellor of State, the royals can carry out most official duties of the monarch, including attending Privy Council meetings and signing documents on behalf of the King. They are also permitted to receive new ambassadors to the UK. But there are key decisions they cannot make. They are not permitted to deal with Commonwealth matters, appoint a prime minister or dissolve parliament - unless they receive express orders from the King. How are they chosen? The Counsellors of State are automatically assigned based on their position in the succession order to the throne. A royal must be over the age of 21 to be considered, and the titles are handed to the monarch's spouse and the four royals next in line for the throne. The exception to this is female royals born before 2011. Prior to then, the male royal primogeniture rule was in place which afforded male royals greater rights to the throne. The rule was amended in 2013 but not retrospectively, meaning Princess Anne dropped down the line of succession and therefore is not on the list - although Charles has now applied to Parliament to get her back on it. Advertisement

'However if you go rogue and turn on an institution, as they did on the monarchy, there is a price to be paid.

'I doubt the Sussexes care about their abysmal popularity ratings in Britain. Harry is at war with much of the press and they have hardly any supporters here.

'Yet in the future, with events not appearing to favour their brand at the moment, they may regret their attacks on the royal family. There appears currently to be no hope of reconciliation.

'There does appear to be a serious question mark over whether, beyond attacking the royals and revealing intimate texts and photographs, the Sussexes can offer anything really substantial.

'It is easy to say, as Meghan once did 'I can say anything'. This attitude may lead to them regretting their behaviour as it may not be long before they have nothing left to say.'

Royal expert Tom Bower also told MailOnline: 'Harry's constitutional position would only become an important issue if he returns to Britain.

'By then he would be so unpopular  both with his brother and the public - that it is hard to imagine that even with King Charles's support, he could assert any constitutional role, or that anyone would even ask him to fulfil his duties.

'But this latest issue does resurrect the question of the King's unwillingness to remove the Sussex's titles and his mistake to confer titles on their children.'

Mr Bower, who released the book 'Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors' a year ago, added: 'To end the speculation and interest in the Sussexes, and the damage to the Royal Family they are causing, the King should formally terminate his son's constitutional relationship with Britain.

'That would undermine the Sussexes' money-making mischief, exploiting their royal status.'

A Counsellor of State is effectively a stand-in for Charles, should the King be temporarily unable to carry out his duties if he is ill or abroad.

It had been claimed that Harry would lose the role, because it requires him to be 'domiciled' in the UK  and the Sussexes no longer have a British residence.

However, experts told MailOnline today that Harry can still be legally domiciled in the UK as a 'domicile of origin', even if he now has residence in the US at his 12million mansion in Montecito, California.

Professor Robert Hazell, an expert in constitution and government at University College London, told MailOnline: 'One cannot act as a Counsellor of State if not domiciled in the UK.

'Counsellors of State deputise for the monarch when he is absent abroad, or temporarily unavailable, eg having a hospital operation.

'Think of them as players on the reserve bench. There is no reason why Harry should not remain on the reserve bench, because one day he may return to the UK.

King Charles III, pictured outside St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on Thursday last week

Harry and Meghan seen inside their Frogmore Cottage kitchen in their Netflix documentary

'And domicile is not the same as residence. It is possible that Harry is still legally domiciled in the UK, if he has not emigrated for good.'

Counsellors of State are royals to whom the monarch can delegate royal functions, and they are appointed from among the sovereign's spouse and the next four adults in succession aged at least 21.

In the event that Charles could not undertake his official duties as sovereign on a temporary basis, two or more Counsellors of State would be appointed by Letters Patent to act in his place.

The Royal Family website lists the current Counsellors of State as Queen Camilla, Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice.

Last November, the King also sent a message to Parliament requesting an increase in the number of Counsellors of State who can act on his behalf.

He requested that the role could also be taken by his siblings, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, who both previously had the title before being overtaken in the line of succession.

Dr Craig Prescott, an expert in UK constitutional law and politics at Bangor University, said: 'As things stand, if there's a need for a Regent, i.e. due to the 'total incapacity of the monarch' - for example, the King suffered a debilitating stroke - then that would be Prince William, as the first in the line of succession, domiciled in the UK, of full age.

'Similarly, as regards Counsellors of State, if Prince Harry retains his domicile, then he will continue to be included in future appointments as he's qualified, but simply won't act, as it will be two out of Prince William, Princess Anne and/or Prince Edward.

'Prince Harry is like Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice who are included in the appointments, but they won't act as they don't undertake public duties.

The couple are pictured in Frogmore Cottage in their Netflix documentary released last year

'If Prince Harry is no longer domiciled in the UK, then Prince Harry will not be included in future appointments as he is not qualified as he's no longer domiciled  and, until Prince George becomes 18, Princess Eugenie would be included.

'The test of domicile is complex. But ultimately this is all a distinction without a difference as Princess Eugenie would not be expected to act either, as she doesn't conduct public duties.'

He added: 'Until Harry loses his domicile, he remains a Counsellor of State.'

Buckingham Palace confirmed this week that Harry and Meghan had finally vacated Frogmore Cottage.

At the annual Sovereign Grant account briefing on royal finances, Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said: 'We can confirm that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have vacated Frogmore Cottage.

'We will not be going into any detail on those arrangements here.

'Safe to say that, as has previously been stated, the duke and duchess have paid for the expenditure incurred by the Sovereign Grant in relation to the renovation of Frogmore Cottage, thus leaving the Crown with a greatly enhanced asset.'

Harry was last in the UK earlier this month when he gave evidence at the High Court over his alleged hacking claim against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), before that he had returned briefly for his father the King's Coronation on May 6.

Harry and Meghan moved to North America in 2020 after stepping down from the working monarchy. Grade-II listed Frogmore was a gift to the couple from Harry's grandmother, the late Queen.

In 2019, royal accounts showed Meghan and Harry paid 2.4million to cover the refurbishment and rental of Frogmore Cottage, on the Home Park Estate, a property they have only used a handful of times since relocating to the US.

A palace official said there was nothing to add in relation to who would live in the cottage in the future. 'I have nothing to add,' the official said. 'Any future occupancy will be determined and communicated in next year's report.'

The Palace refused to be drawn on whether the King's disgraced brother the Duke of York would be leaving his Royal Lodge home in Windsor Great Park. It has been reported that Andrew had been offered Frogmore Cottage instead.

Sir Michael said: 'We will not be discussing any details of the duke's private lease arrangements here today.'
Hard-pressed Brits are eyeing up a move Down Under as Australia increases the age limit for working holiday visas to 35.

Sixteen million more people will be eligible to apply to work in the country, as the maximum age of 30 is raised by five years from tomorrow.

The change is the result of a free trade agreement struck between the UK and Australia last month and is the first alteration to the visa since it was introduced in 1975.

The news clearly piqued the interest of a number of British workers, as they took to social media to show their enthusiasm.

One said: 'That's cool I might taken them up on that and head to the mines for a few years. Tough job but the pay could mean I could take years off to do fun things.'

Hard-pressed Brits are eyeing up a move Down Under as Australia increases the age limit for working holiday visas to 35 (pictured, Bondi Beach)

Sixteen million more people will be eligible to apply to work in the country, as the maximum age of 30 is raised by five years from tomorrow (pictured, Bondi Beach)

Another tweeted: 'Is my invite in the post?! I'd be quicker saying yes than you can say Fair Dinkum...'

A third added: 'Dear Australia - could you not introduce these visas for over 45s? I could do with a gap year.'

However others pointed out a potential knock-on effect, pointing out that the offer 'won't help on NHS staff retention'.

In recent months a number of stories have emerged of health workers moving to the other side of the world in search of better pay and quality of life.

Dr Michael Mrozinski, 37, told MailOnline last month how he gets paid double what he would in the UK, and says he is treated 'like a professional' in Australia and 'feels much more respected.'

Similarly, Aoibhin Bradley, who packed up and moved to earn 1,000-a-month more than she did in the UK, says she has 'absolutely no reason' to return home, earning 3,202.53 for a 36-hour week.

Aoibhin says the salary rate 'blew her mind' and she is now able to spend her days off exploring and camping in Sydney and Melbourne - compared to being too tired to do anything in her free time while working for the NHS.

The existing two-year limit on the visa will be raised to three years, which does not need to be consecutive, on July 1, 2024, without the requirement to carry out months of farm work during the stay.

The agreement will also make it easier for Australians to work and travel in the UK.

Similar arrangements were due to be introduced in New Zealand today, with the increase in length of visas next July and a rise in the annual cap on UK Working Holiday Scheme to 15,000.

Dr Michael Mrozinski, 37, told MailOnline last month how he gets paid double what he would in the UK, and says he is treated 'like a professional' in Australia and 'feels much more respected'

Similarly, Aoibhin Bradley (pictured with boyfriend, Matthew McQuaid), who packed up and moved to earn 1,000-a-month more than she did in the UK, says she has 'absolutely no reason' to return home, earning 3,202.53 for a 36-hour week

When the agreement was struck trade minister Nigel Huddleston said the changes would make it more 'flexible' for Britons to choose what sector they work in when in the southern hemisphere, meaning those wanting to find employment in Australia and New Zealand 'don't have to go and work on a farm'.

Officials at the Department for Business and Trade said at the time of the agreement that the new rules agreed with Australia would also mean for the first time, UK service suppliers including architects, scientists, researchers, lawyers and accountants, will have access to visas to work in Australia without being subject to Canberra's changing skilled occupation list.

As part of the Wellington agreement, UK professionals, such as lawyers and auditors, will be able to work in New Zealand more easily, and bring their families with them, according to the department.

Sally Cope, Tourism Australia's Regional General Manager for UK & Northern Europe said, 'Every year, more than 35,000 young Brits head to Australia to work and play, the Aussie way.

'Our research reveals close to half of 25- to 34-year-olds are considering working abroad to advance their careers, so this five-year age range increase presents a world of openings to these young professionals.

'And whilst the opportunities are endless, Australia also offers an incredible lifestyle  where else can you be in the boardroom at 4pm and by the beach an hour later?

'We're sure there are many 3035-year-olds who thought they had missed their chance to live and work Down Under who will jump at this exciting prospect; and Australia is ready to welcome them.'

Research of 2,000 UK adults found that weather (30%), lifestyle (27%) and new experiences (23%) were among the top reasons Brits choose to live and work abroad.

A more relaxed pace of life (20%), experiencing new cultures (20%) and a fresh start (19%) also made the list.
On Tuesday morning, 17-year-old French Algerian boy Nahel M. kissed his mother Mounia goodbye as the pair left their home for work in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre.

It would be the last time they ever saw each other.

Hours later, Mounia discovered her only son had been shot dead at point-blank range by a policeman during a traffic stop in what has been described as an 'execution' - the latest and perhaps most egregious example of police violence in France.

Now, Mounia is leading protests against the authorities amid widespread outcry at Nahel's death, which has prompted renewed speculation that France's police force is rife with racial discrimination.

Yesterday she guided a 6000-strong group of demonstrators on a march through the streets of Nanterre, holding flares and chanting 'Justice for Nahel'.

It came after she shared a tearful video on social media, lashing out at the officer who shot her son dead.

'He gave me a big kiss and told me he loved me, I told him to be careful, we left the house at the same time and went to McDonalds, then I went to work like everyone.

'He was everything to me, and that son of a b***h shot him,' Mounia said. 'I only had one, he was my best friend, my son, we were so close.'

France is now facing a third full day of bitter clashes between the country's youth and riot police, after the past three nights saw hordes of protesters setting cars alight, attacking municipal buildings and chanting for justice.

Nahel's mother, wearing a 'Justice for Nahel' T-shirt, raises her fist as she attends a march in memory of her 17-year-old son who was killed by French Police in Nanterre, near Paris, France, 29 June 2023

Nahel's mother (2-L top), wearing a 'Justice for Nahel' T-shirt, holds a flare as she attends a march in memory of her 17-year-old son who was killed by French Police in Nanterre

Nahel's mother (2-L), wearing a 'Justice for Nahel' T-shirt, thanks protesters for turning out

Left: A picture of smiling Nahel released by his family, along with the words: 'The love of my life'. Right: A picture published in French media of the victim

Mounia, mother of the French teenager killed by police, attends a memorial march for her son

A black-clad protester is seen perched atop a traffic sign, as people take part in a march in the memory of 17-year-old Nahel

Mounia later told France 5 that she holds the shooter responsible, not the police force.

'I don't blame the police, I blame a person: the one who took my son's life.

'I have police friends, they are wholeheartedly with me. They do not agree with what he did,' she said.

'He didn't have to kill my son, there were other ways of doing it. A bullet? So close to his chest? No... there are other ways of doing it. get them out (of the vehicle, editor's note). Killing little ones like that How long will it last? How many more children will die?'

The offending officer, who has not been identified, was taken into custody pending further investigation.

Mounia's march, in which she led a stream of 6,000 protesters wearing white t-shirts with 'Justice for Nahel' emblazoned across them, was initially peaceful.

But as the march progressed, youths began to light fires and threw projectiles at the hundreds of riot police in the area.

Within minutes, large clouds of thick black smoke were seen trailing into the air, mixing with tear gas fired by the officers.

The demonstration came as President Emmanuel Macron convened a crisis meeting with police chiefs and senior minister, at which it was agreed to put an extra 40000 police on the streets.

Macron described the killing of Nahel as 'inexcusable', but he and his government ministers have condemned the protest as 'damaging to the Republic'.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne today said that the government was considering 'all options' to restore order after widespread unrest and violence, including the declaration of a state of emergency.

This would give local authorities increased powers to declare localised curfews, ban demonstrations, and give police more freedom in restraining suspected rioters and searching homes.

Asked by reporters if a state of emergency was being considered, as some right-wing opposition parties have demanded, she replied: 'I won't tell you now, but we are looking at all options, with one priority: restoring order throughout the country.'

During the last nationwide urban riots in 2005, the then right-wing government declared a state of emergency after around two weeks of clashes.

Protesters throw fireworks at riot police during clashes in Nanterre, near Paris, France, 29 June 2023. Violence broke out after police fatally shot a 17-year-old during a traffic stop in Nanterre on 27 June 2023

Firefighters extinguish burning vehicles during clashes between protesters and police, after the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop, in Nanterre, Paris suburb, France, June 28, 2023

Firefighters stand as they extinguish burning vehicles during clashes between protesters and police, after the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop, in Nanterre, a Paris suburb, on June 28, 2023

A protester, perched atop a traffic sign, holds a flare during protests in Nanterre, near Paris today

French riot police react amid clashes with protesters during a march in tribute to Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police

Nahel, who worked as a delivery driver was gunned down at the wheel of his car.

A shocking video shows the moment a police officer stood at his window with his pistol drawn and aimed at the boy inside, before firing a shot.

In light of his death, the United Nations declared that France must address deep issues of racial discrimination in its police after a third night of unrest rocked France's streets.

'We are concerned by the killing of a 17-year-old of North African descent by police in France on Tuesday,' UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva.

'We note that an investigation has been launched into alleged voluntary homicide.

'This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement.'

Police sources said that rather than pitched battles between protesters and police, Thursday night was marked by pillaging of shops, reportedly including flagship branches of Nike and Zara in Paris.

Public buildings were also targeted, with a police station in the Pyrenees city of Pau hit with a Molotov cocktail, according to regional authorities, and an elementary school and a district office set on fire in northern town Lille.

Macron is returning to France from the European Council summit in Brussels to chair a crisis meeting on the violence - the second such emergency talks in as many days.
A group of EU countries are urging the Brussels-based bloc to seek 'innovative' ways to deal with illegal migration - in an apparent nod to Britain's deal with Rwanda.

Leaders from countries including Denmark, Greece and Austria are reportedly using this week's European Council summit to push the EU to adopt a tougher approach.

The gathering of EU leaders in Brussels has already seen splits emerge over a recent migration deal - passed with majority but not unanimous support - on relocating asylum seekers across the continent.

Hungary and Poland are leading opponents of the agreement and pushed Thursday's talks on migration into the early hours.

But there is also pressure on the bloc's leaders to do more to stem the numbers of people continuing to arrive in Europe via dangerous Mediterranean routes.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Prime Minister of Greece, is among those reported to be using this week's European Council summit to push the EU to adopt a tougher approach

There is pressure on EU bosses to do more to stem the numbers of people continuing to arrive in Europe via dangerous Mediterranean routes

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, pictured with Rwanda President Paul Kagame in March, an the PM are fighting a legal challenge against their migration deal with the African country

Earlier this year, the leaders of Denmark, Greece and Austria - joined by their counterparts in Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta - penned a letter to EU bosses.

They called for the bloc to be 'open to explore new solutions and innovative ways of tackling irregular migration and prevent flows, including by looking into new and effective approaches with partner countries'.

They also want the bloc to develop 'legally enabling, safe third country arrangements with relevant countries along the EU's external border and beyond'.

One European ambassador told The Times: 'This appears to be similar to the British Rwanda model.'

The newspaper said the Netherlands and Italy were also supportive of following the 'British approach' on migration.

The opening of this week's European Council summit in Brussels coincided with Court of Appeal judges ruling the UK's 120m migration partnership with Rwanda unlawful.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman have vowed to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court as their try to meet their pledge to 'stop the boats' crossing the Channel.

The deal with Rwanda to send asylum seekers on a one-way ticket to the African country is seen by the Government as providing a deterrent to those thinking of arriving in Britain on small dinghies.

According to Politico, a draft joint statement for this week's EU summit tried to skirt around the demand by some member states for the bloc to look for its own asylum deals with third countries.

The website said drafters slipped in a reference to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's pledge to pursue 'out-of-box thinking' on key matters.

It was reported this phrase was given positive mentions from several leaders during yesterday's talks.
DID YOU WITNESS THE ACCIDENT? PLEASE EMAIL TIPS@DAILYMAIL.CO.UK

The son of a woman whose leg was mangled by a moving walkway at a Bangkok airport has described his horror of seeing her amputated limb in a foam box.

The 57-year-old Thai passenger was due to board a flight from Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport to the southern Nakhon Si Thammarat province yesterday in the airport's Terminal 2.

But in a freak accident, she tripped over her pink suitcase before her left leg was dragged into the mechanism at the end of the travelator. The airport's 20 travelators all remain closed today.

Describing the 'heart-wrenching' incident, her son Kittirat said: 'The officers were holding a foam box containing her leg as they were getting out of the ambulance.

'It was separate from my mother sitting on the wheelchair. It's a feeling I can't really explain.'

A female tourist had her leg amputated after getting it caught in a moving walkway at Bangkok airport

The travelator, along with the other 19 in the airport, remains closed today

Horrified passengers at Don Mueang International Airport scrambled to switch off the machine which was ripping through her flesh

Surgeons at the city's Bumrungrad International Hospital have reattached the limb but say she is unlikely to ever recover the use of her left leg.

Her family is now consulting doctors before deciding how to proceed with surgery.

Her son continued: 'My mother's morale is at a worrisome level. We had the opportunity to talk to her a little before and after the surgery as she was still staying in a clean room.

'She showed strength in both her facial expressions and tone, but we knew deep down in her heart that she was broken because she suddenly lost her leg.

'What I have to admit that my family's biggest concern at this time is my mother's state of mind and my mother's long-term condition.

'We know that we can't get my mother's legs back on track, or even get her life back on track.

'The family has asked the doctor to consider arranging a psychologist team to help treat my mother process what's happening.

'My mother cried, not because of the pain, but because she couldn't imagine life with one leg.

'The family is still praying for my mum's surgery. We hope there are no signs of infection, and that it would be her last operation.'

The passenger was rushed to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital in the capital for emergency treatment

The woman reportedly tripped over her pink suitcase before falling onto the travelator

Pictured is the travelator which mangled the woman's leg

Her family are now demanding that the airport releases CCTV of the freak accident.

Kittirat said: 'We avoid talking about the incident at Don Mueang Airport with her as much as possible and leave it to the airport stakeholders to investigate the cause. The family hopes the probe will be transparent and fair.'

Sources said the force of her fall caused her leg to plunge through the end of the mechanical walkway.

She screamed in horror as her foot became stuck in the metal gap while the machinery churned through her muscle, tendons and bones.

Onlookers fumbled to turn off the emergency switch as the machine continued tearing through her flesh - spewing blood onto the metal tracks.

Paramedics amputated her leg on-site at the airport in order to free her from the travelator before she was carried out on a stretcher - with her foot in a foam box loaded into the ambulance.

Karan Tanakuljirapat, director of the Don Mueang Airport, has ordered a probe to determine the cause of the accident.

A suitcase lying near her was missing two wheels, and the yellow comb-like plates were seen broken off from where they typically cover the edge of the belt where the moving walkway ends.

In a statement, the airport said: 'The director of Don Mueang Airport and management has visited the patient to follow up on the treatment and received information from the medical team at Bhumibol Hospital that she is currently in the process of receiving treatment from the medical team.

The director of the Don Mueang Airport has ordered a probe to determine the cause of the accident. All travelators are currently closed

'Don Mueang Airport is deeply saddened by the incident and ready to fully accept the responsibility as well as take care of the medical expenses and compensation.'

Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) serving Bangkok opened in 1914 but was replaced by the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) on the outskirts of the city in 2006.

State-owned Airports of Thailand (AOT) owns the facility and the company is reportedly 'the most-valuable airport operator in the world' due to the country's popularity as a tourism destination and its rapidly growing domestic economy.

However, walking around the airport's arrivals and departure areas, the building appears to be stuck in a 1970s time warp, with little reinvestment, renovation, or upgrades - despite receiving vast sums each year from fees charged to airlines and tourism receipts.

The walkway was manufactured by Japanese company Hitachi and was installed in 1996, the airport director said, adding that there is a plan to request for a budget to change to a newer model in 2025.

A similar incident happened in 2019 when a passenger's rubber Crocs were sucked into a travelator at the same airport. The victim said that if he did not take off his shoe in time, his foot would have been sliced off.

DO YOU KNOW WHO THE PASSENGER IS OR DID YOU WITNESS THE ACCIDENT? PLEASE EMAIL TIPS@DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
A Russian plane reportedly shot down by Wagner forces during the short-lived insurgency over the weekend was a 'special mission aircraft' that played a 'key role' in the Ukraine conflict, the British Ministry of Defence has said.

Amid their march on Moscow, the air defence forces of the Wagner group are understood to have shot down an Ilyushin Il-22M aircraft said to be 'heavily utilised for both airborne command and control, and radio relay tasks' by Russia's military, the MoD said.

Footage appeared to show the enflamed aircraft - only one of 12 planes - plummeting to the ground over Voronezh.

Debris from one of Russia's most prized airborne assets was also shown stricken across the ground with all ten passengers reportedly dead.

It comes just days after Yevgeny Prigozhin's men made the shock retreat away form Moscow - with Ukraine now claiming the Russian FSB have been 'charged with a task to assassinate' the Wagner boss despite having struck a deal with Vladimir Putin that was brokered by Belarus's Alexander Lukashenko.

Debris from one of Russia's Ilyushin Il-22M aircraft was shown stricken across the ground

Prigozhin reportedly told a journalist that a 'fool' within Wager's ranks had shot at 'everything that took off' as the reported Ilyushin Il-22M fell to the ground

Ukraine have now claimed the Russian FSB have been 'charged with a task to assassinate' Prigozhin, pictured amid the insurgency Saturday

Amid the Ilyushin Il-22M aircraft being shot down over the weekend, five further helicopters were also reported to have been shot out of the sky by Wagner forces, including Ka-52 Alligator gunships.

The MoD said in an intelligence update on Twitter: 'The Il-22M is part of a relatively small fleet of up to 12 aircraft, heavily utilised for both airborne command and control, and radio relay tasks.

'These special mission aircraft have played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces in their war against Ukraine.'

The statement added that the planes were 'high value assets' and so have 'operated within the safety of Russian airspace, far beyond the range of Ukrainian air defence systems'.

'The loss of this aircraft is likely to have a negative impact on Russian air and land operations,' the update continued. 'In the short term the psychological shock of losing a large number of aircrew in this manner will almost certainly damage morale within the Russian Aerospace Force.'

'There is a possibility that current tasking levels may have to be reduced to safely manage the remaining fleet.

'This will likely undermine Russia's ability to command and coordinate its forces, particularly during periods of high tempo operations.'

The aircraft has so far played a key role in Russia's war in Ukraine, largely acting as a portable air traffic control unit.

Prigozhin reportedly told a journalist that a 'fool' within Wager's ranks had shot at 'everything that took off'.

The Ilyushin Il-22M aircraft is a 'high value assets' and so have 'operated within the safety of Russian airspace

Crash site of a Ilyushin Il-22M Russian Air Forces plane, shot down by Wagner mercenaries over Voronezh region

Debris was seen sprawled across the floor as the plane was shot down by Wagner mercenaries over Voronezh region

The MoD's intelligence update comes as Ukraine's intelligence claimed that Russia's FSB had been 'charged with a task to assassinate' Prigozhin despite the Wagner boss having made a deal to turn around his insurgency.

Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, told The War Zone: 'We are aware that the FSB was charged with a task to assassinate him. Will they be successful in doing that? We'll see with time.'

'All of such potential assassination attempts will not be fast,' Budanov continued.

'It will take them some time to have the proper approaches and to reach the stage when they're ready to add a huge operation. But once again, I'd like to underline that it's a big open question.

'Would they be successful in fulfilling that? Will they dare to execute that order?'

Exiled Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has also suggested that Lukashenko may betray the Russian mercenary boss, despite offering him refuge after his aborted mutiny,

'They're not allies. They cannot trust each other,' Tikhanovskaya told AFP in an interview in Brussels on Wednesday.

'At any moment Lukashenko can betray Prigozhin, Prigozhin can betray Lukashenko.'

Kyrylo Budanov, the chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, said Russia's FSB had been 'charged with a task to assassinate' Prigozhin

Vladimir Putin, left, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speak during their meeting at the Bocharov Ruchei, Sochi, Russia, June 9

Lukashenko on Tuesday said Prigozhin had jetted into Belarus under a deal he mediated to end an armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group that posed the greatest challenge yet to Russian President Vladimir Putin's rule.

Tikhanovskaya, who claimed victory against Lukashenko in 2020 presidential elections, said much remained unclear about the agreement.

But she insisted the move by Lukashenko to help his top backer Putin was a marriage of convenience aimed at saving his own regime in Belarus.

But it also comes amid reports that Wagner is still recruiting as usual despite Prigozhin standing his men down and Russia announcing.

The BBC reported that Wagner hotlines in several cities were still answering the phone and confirmed they were still recruiting employees as usual.

This was also confirmed as contracts to fight with Wagner themselves and not the Russian military.

'Nothing has changed,' the BBC reported Wagner hotline answerers as saying.

It comes despite Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordering all Russian 'volunteer formations' to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry by the first day of July.
A hard-working dental nurse's 'birthday trip of a lifetime' turned into a 'holiday from hell' when she broke her leg after slipping on a wet floor at a Hilton hotel.

Iulia Malea, of Lewisham, southeast London, said she arrived at the Hilton Hurghada Plaza in Egypt last month for a solo ten day all-inclusive holiday.

But the 37-year-old claims that on her third day she slipped on the hotel's 'wet floor' and fell onto her knee, leaving her crying out in agony as it swelled up 'like a balloon' and tripled in size.

The singleton said she was dashed to hospital where she was told she'd suffered a fractured femur and lateral collateral ligament injuries, being advised she urgently needed surgery that was going to cost her 6,000 euros.

The traveller claims she couldn't get hold of her insurance and as she was unable to afford the hefty bill and was reluctant to have surgery abroad that would require 10 weeks recovery time, so paid 400 for her hospital care and returned to the hotel.

Iulia Malea's 'birthday trip of a lfetime' was ruined after slipping on a wet floor while on holiday in Egypt

The dental nurse broke her leg while staying at a luxury Hilton hotel

The singleton blames her accident on negligence on the part of the hotel

The injury left the traveller in bed with her leg in a brace for the rest of the holiday

The jetsetter forked out 1,600 for the one week getaway to Egypt, as well as another 500 on activities

A 'devastated' Ms Malea was forced to cancel all her exciting excursions, including trips to the Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings, but decided to stick her holiday out given it was her only opportunity to have one this year.

But the jet setter said she spent the remainder of her trip basically bed bound on painkillers wearing a brace with her leg propped up.

Ms Malea eventually arrived back in the UK on the 15th and went straight to A&E and since seeing a knee surgeon she's been given two new diagnoses - morel lavallee syndrome and suprapatellar fat pad impingement.

Since her return she's received the good news that she won't be needing surgery but rather has started physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.

Despite being now on the mend, the health care professional's freak accident has impacted her life in many ways - as she was unable to leave the house for a fortnight, work for around a month, and is still yet to return to one of her major passions, dancing.

After her hellish ordeal, Ms Malea is now keen to encourage other holiday makers to think properly about their insurance and coverage before jetting off abroad.

Ms Malea said: 'It was basically a holiday from hell.

'I booked a holiday of a lifetime. That's the only time of year when I actually spend money on myself because I'm helping my family at home.

'It happened during lunch time on my third day so I basically spent the rest of my holiday just crying and looking at other people having fun.

'So I can't say I had a proper time to enjoy [the holiday] besides the safari that I did, everything else I had to cancel.

'I had my leg in a brace for the rest of the time and was bed bound in my room or down sitting on the chair with my leg up.

The holidaymaker stayed at the five-star Hilton Hurghada Plaza

'The only thing I did was go to one of their a la carte restaurants for my birthday, a seafood restaurant and I booked myself a massage at their spa.

'I thought of returning to the UK but knowing it was my only holiday, I decided to stay as it had already been paid for and the weather in the UK was extremely cold.

'The only thing that I was able to enjoy was the fact that it was sunny and nice weather.'

Ms Malea booked her trip through a package holiday company, and the insurance was booked through them on behalf of a third party, which is highlighted in their booking terms and conditions.

The 37-year-old said she usually books one annual holiday to a destination she's never visited before, and on this occasion forked out around 1,600 for her hotel and flights to Egypt.

She spent a further 500 on activities, including a luxury boat trip where she'd snorkel, island hop and have a massage on her birthday.

But only got around to doing one before her accident - a safari in the desert involving riding a camel and quad bike - and was refunded for those she could no longer make.

Ms Malea says she still has to take painkillers when her legs get painful

Ms Malea said: 'As I was coming out of the elevator the flooring was wet and on my second step I slipped and fell on my knee.

'My knee started to swell and was inflated like a balloon. It was extremely painful. I was in so much pain I was trembling and crying out of pain.

'In 15 seconds my knee was like triple the size.

'Someone came and helped me to a nearby chair. I was already crying but then started crying more because I realised my holiday was over.

'I'd booked a trip to see the Pyramids and it would have been a six-hour bus ride, and I instantly knew that I wouldn't be able to do that. It was devastating.

'I feel the accident happened due to the hotel's negligence.

'Either it was someone cleaning the floor and didn't put the slippery floor sign or another holiday maker that by mistake put water on the floor. They should have seen it and taken care of it.'

Ms Malea claims she contacted her insurance immediately after the accident but that they were unhelpful and 'couldn't give her any information about her policy'.

She said that the hotel arranged for a car to pick her up and take her to a private hospital where she later discovered that her insurance wouldn't cover her for private care.

She warned travellers planning similar getaways after her insurance didn't cover her for private healthcare

After being seen by a doctor, she paid 400 for her x-ray, knee brace and medication.

After arriving back in the UK, Iulia dashed to A&E where she had another x-ray and subsequently saw a knee surgeon who performed an emergency MRI.

Ms Malea said: 'What's happened has impacted my life badly.

'For the first two weeks I didn't leave my house and I had neighbours that I had to ask to help me with some small groceries until I did a big shop from the supermarket. It wasn't pleasant at all.

'In the morning my knee and leg are ok-ish but during the day it gets very painful, to the point I have to take a painkiller.

'I live in zone three in London and my work is in central, so I have at least a two hour commute every day and it's not a pleasant journey to be honest. I still wear a brace.'

The dental nurse said she hasn't received any money back from her insurance.

Ms Malea said: 'I've always travelled by myself and now every time I see a holiday offer on social media, I scroll very fast. I don't even want to see it.

'It's had a negative impact. I can't say that I'm afraid to travel again but I'm going to think twice about where I want to go.

'I hope that it makes people think properly about when they book a holiday and how they're covered, because when you book, you don't think about the negatives and that something bad might happen, you just think about having the time of your life.'

Hilton hotels were contacted by the Mail for comment but failed to respond.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg defended President Joe Biden for twice confusing Iraq with Ukraine during a 24-hour span earlier this week.

Buttigieg was appearing on the newly rebranded CNN Primetime with Kaitlan Collins Wednesday night, when he was asked about the back-to-back gaffes.

Collins asked the 41-year-old former mayor what he's tell Americans who are concerned about the 80-year-old president's 'slip-ups.'

'Well, what I'd say is I wish you could be in the room with him, the way I often am, seeing how he is simultaneously focused, on a big-picture vision, and very focused on details,' Buttigieg responded.

Buttigieg then argued that Biden's administration has been 'extraordinarily effective.'

'And, one of the - frankly, one of the cases that I made, back when I was running for president at an unusually young age, is that the only thing that really matters is your ability to do the job,' Buttigieg added.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (right) defended President Joe Biden for twice confusing Iraq with Ukraine during a 24-hour span earlier this week during an interview Wednesday night with CNN's Kaitlan Collins (left)

Buttigieg announced his 2020 presidential bid at age 37.

He dropped out of the race and backed Biden after the now-president convincingly won the South Carolina primary and ahead of Super Tuesday, allowing the former president to amass moderate Democratic support and eventually beat progressive candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the Democratic primary.

Biden announced his 2024 reelection bid in late April.

This week he's been on a fundraising blitz, including to Chevy Chase, Maryland, Chicago and New York City.

At one of the fundraisers in Chevy Chase on Tuesday night, Biden subbed in Iraq when he meant Ukraine.

'Think about this: If anybody told you - and my staff wasn't so sure, either - that we'd be able to bring all of Europe together in the onslaught on Iraq and get NATO to be completely united, I think they would have told you it's not likely,' Biden said. 'The one thing Putin counted on was being able to split NATO.'

The next morning, talking to reporters on the White House South Lawn before departing for Chicago, he made the blunder again.

President Joe Biden mixed up Iraq and Ukraine for a second time Wednesday morning when he was talking to reporters on the South Lawn before traveling to Chicaco

President Joe Biden walked to Marine One carrying a cheat sheet that included talking points about the 'Vagner-Russia' conflict

The official White House transcript from one of Biden's fundraisers Tuesday night in Chevy Chase, Maryland, shows that he said Iraq, instead of Ukraine

The president said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had 'absolutely' been weakened the weekend's Wagner uprising, but added, 'it's hard to tell really,' when asked to what extent.

'He's clearly losing the war in Iraq. He's losing the war at home and has become a bit of a pariah around the world,' Biden said, meaning to say Ukraine.

Biden was even holding a cheat sheet when he made the gaffe the second time.

Photographers on the South Lawn captured a notecard the president walked out with.

The card read 'Daily News Summary' with the date.

It started with 'Vagner-Russia' with talking points listed below.

'This was an internal Russian matter,' the talking points read. 'Too soon to know.'
But Molly's passport was branded with a red stamp and was denied entry

A devastated pair of friends were booted out of their dream holiday in the Caribbean after just four hours - but were not given a reason why.

Molly Kelly and Oliver Wright, 22, flew from Manchester to the Dominican Republic on Monday for a luxury ten-day stay with TUI at the all-inclusive Riu Republica.

But upon arrival, while Oliver was let into the country with no questions asked, Molly's passport was branded with a red 'nulo' stamp (meaning 'invalid') and she was refused entry.

Molly, who has no criminal record, was left baffled and confused at the shock rejection.

After just four hours in the country and despite paying 3,000 for their trip, they were forced to fly back to the UK from Punta Cana.

Molly Kelly, 22, was devastated on Monday when she was refused entry to the Dominican Republic for her holiday - with no reason why

Her friend Oliver Wright was let in without an issue - but they ended up having to fly home to Manchester

The friends told The Mirror that they were left 'completely in the dark as to what was happening, why, and where it would go from there.'

Molly, an electrical engineer for SP Energy Networks from north Wales, said: 'Throughout the flight (home) and while waiting at the gate, we had other passengers making comments, giving dirty looks such as 'we don't want to be on the same flight as these criminals', only further adding to our distress and trauma.

'The way they treated us, and are denying access to information is abhorrent.'

Oliver, a pharmacology student at University of Manchester, was allowed into the country without an issue.

But when it came to Molly's turn, a guard attempted to scan her passport multiple times, before disappearing into an interrogation room.

When a man took her passport into yet another room, Molly said that she began to break down in tears and felt 'highly confused, terrified and distressed'.

A border control official mentioned the words 'justice' and 'Colombia' when she pressed for an answer as to the refusal - but neither she nor Oliver have ever visited.

She was told to visit the embassy in London and decided it was easiest to return to the UK.

Molly, from North Wales, was devastated when her 3,000 holiday with TUI could not go ahead

Molly and Oliver flew from Manchester to the Dominican Republic on Monday for a luxury ten-day stay with TUI at the all-inclusive Riu Republica (pictured)

After she contacted them, the Dominican Republic embassy and Foreign Office said nothing on her record should stop her from entering the country.

Molly said the Dominican Republic are refusing to give her an answer on why she was refused entry.

After reaching out to TUI, the travel company have agreed to swap the holiday like for like.

Molly tweeted: 'On Monday 26th June, my friend and I set off from Manchester Airport, flying with TUI to the Dominican Republic.

'Upon arrival my friend was accepted into the country, yet I was denied entry with no explanation.'

She added: 'I was escorted into an interview room, at this point no verbal communication had happened.

'This had all happened via hand gestures. I continuely asked what had happened, what they had found as I began to get uncomfortable and scared.'

A spokesperson for TUI told MailOnline: 'We are very concerned to hear about Ms Kelly's experience. While we have no control over border control decisions, we are in contact with the customer to support them as best we can.

'In light of these circumstances, we have offered the customers a fee-free amendment to their holiday'.

MailOnline has contacted the Dominican Republic and Colombian embassies for comment.
Rush and Nargeolet were two of the five men who died when the Titan suffered a 'catastrophic implosion' last week

They approved the trip - which wasn't for research - after being assured of it's safety by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush

RMS Titanic Inc president is questioning if 'Mr Titanic' PH Nargeolet should ever have gone on the submersible Titan

The Titanic Foundation is reviewing safety claims by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush after his doomed submersible imploded killing five.

Jessica Sanders, who heads RMS Titanic Inc, described Rush as 'cavalier' after he told potential passengers the Titan sub was 'way safer than flying in a helicopter or even scuba diving,' or even 'crossing the street.'

The organization is investigating if it should have let Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, who spearheaded the foundation, on the Titan.

Rush and Nargeolet died alongside British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, 19, when the Titan imploded 12,500ft below the Atlantic Ocean on the way to the historic Titanic shipwreck.

CEO Stockton Rush made several claims to French Navy Veteran PH Nargeolet about the safety of the submersible

PH Nargeolet, 71, was an expert on the Titanic's wreckage and worked with a company which has recovered thousands of artifacts from the site

Sanders said the foundation is now probing past records for OceanGate and questioning the truth of Rush's statements.

'We have now our own internal questions about the representations OceanGate made that we made the basis on giving PH the OK to go,' she said.

'We're going back and looking at that now ourselves internally, because there were representations not only made to us, but made to the court, that now we have to go back and verify because of these stories that are coming up that question them.'

Nargeolet had completed dozens of trips to the wreck and was seen referred to as 'Mr Titanic' because of his research on the shipwreck.

Rush had a maverick approach to undersea exploration that earned comparisons with visionaries like Elon Musk.

He idolized Star Trek protagonist Captain Kirk and bragged about 'breaking rules' to build the Titan vessel.

Rush's methods - which are feared to have contributed to the tragedy - were a major red flag for experts in the field of deep-sea exploration, including two who parted ways with OceanGate amid their concerns.

Dozens of industry leaders and explorers also warned Rush in 2018 the company's 'experimental' approach could prove 'catastrophic'.

Jessica Sanders (pictured) who heads up RMS Titanic Inc, is reviewing if the organization should have let Paul-Henri Nargeolet, who spearheaded the foundation, on the vessel at all

Nargeolet, 77, (left) was also killed when the submersible imploded during a trip to the Titanic  12,500ft below the Atlantic Ocean

Canadian police are considering whether 'criminal, federal, or provincial laws' were broken in the lead up to the Titan submersible disaster

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will examine 'the circumstances that led to the deaths' of the five crew on board the sub and decide 'whether or not a full investigation is warranted'

That year, he fought back and said he was 'tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation'.

He appeared resentful of the 'obscenely safe' regulations that he viewed as an obstacle to development.

Nargeolot, who said his aim was always 'education and preservation', joined the doomed expedition as a 'guest of OceanGate'.

He serves as a director of underwater research at the RMS Titanic Inc, with Sanders adding that they approved the trip after careful consideration.

'He approached us initially and said, 'OceanGate is doing these expeditions  is there a conflict?' she said,

OceanGate's website still includes pages advertising trips to the Titanic - 11 days after five people, including the company CEO, were killed on one of the journeys.

Titan, operated by OceanGate, was on a journey to Titanic's wreckage when it imploded

Five people were onboard Titan, including British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding and Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, who was just 19

Titan was tourist submarine which imploded on a journey to the Titanic's wreckage, 12,500ft below the Atlantic Ocean

A page titled 'Titan Expedition - Explore the Titanic' was still available on Thursday which offered a chance to dive to the shipwreck in the company's submersible.

The page also lists renowned French explorer PH Nargeolet, who perished on board the Titan, as an expert 'who may join you on [the] expedition'.

Canadian police are considering whether 'criminal, federal, or provincial laws' were broken in the lead up to the Titan submersible disaster.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will examine 'the circumstances that led to the deaths' of the five crew on board the sub and decide 'whether or not a full investigation is warranted'.

Their investigation was ongoing on Thursday, a day after it emerged human remains were found during the recovery mission and segments of the vessel were brought ashore.
A former head of sixth form at a 48,000 a year public school is facing jail after being found guilty of sexually abusing two pupils.

Russell Tillson indecently assaulted the teenagers 17 years apart while teaching economics and politics at the renowned Tonbridge School, an all-boys' boarding and day school in Kent.

The now 73-year-old, who played 'a prominent role' in assisting pupils with their university applications, in particular Oxford and Cambridge, denied offences dating back to 1984 and 2001.

However Tillson, also a Conservative councillor and former local Tory association chairman, was found guilty on Thursday following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court, Kent.

Jurors heard he molested the boys either during one-to-one tuition or 'social occasions' in his private accommodation at the school and where he permitted pupils to drink alcohol and smoke.

Russell Tillson, the former head of sixth form at a 48,000 a year public school is facing jail after being found guilty of sexually abusing two pupils

The alleged abuse committed in 1984 had been reported by one boy to the school at the time, only for him to be told the matter would not be taken further as Tillson was 'too valuable' a staff member, the court heard.

However, further indecent acts were reported to the school in 2001 and, following an internal investigation, Tillson left after 21 years of teaching there.

But it was not until February 2019 however that police were involved. Officers contacted the school, traced the victims and then arrested Tillson in October 2020.

The pensioner, who described himself as having been 'one of the top brass' at the school, dismissed the accusations as 'fiction', the jury of eight men and four women was told.

But, describing himself as a 'closet homosexual', he confirmed he had held social gatherings for his pupils where he gave them beer or sherry to drink, telling officers it 'added to the conviviality'.

Tillson had denied six charges of indecent assault in respect of three pupils. He was convicted of four offences against two boys.

He has now been released on bail until his sentencing hearing on September 1 but was warned by Judge Philip St.John-Stevens that he faces jail.

Tonbridge School provides education for around 800 pupils and is set on a 150-acre site

At the start of his trial, prosecutor Dominic Connolly told jurors: 'It is clear from the evidence that you will hear that Mr Tillson was a charismatic and successful teacher.

'The Crown say that he abused his position of trust in order to assault pupils for his sexual pleasure.'

But giving evidence, Cambridge-educated Tillson maintained although he 'helped hundreds' with prepping for university, he did not use his 'powerful position to take advantage'.

Tonbridge School provides education for around 800 pupils and is set on a 150-acre site.

In December last year, it was the 8th highest-ranking independent school in the country, and the top boys' boarding school, in the Sunday Times 'Parent Power' league table.

The court heard the pupils, all boarders, later described Tillson to police as 'charismatic, brilliant and someone you wanted to get on with' if considering Oxbridge universities.

One said it was during private tuition sessions to help prepare for a university entrance exam that the teacher first handed him a pre-written essay and a 'glowing' reference before squeezing and stroking his leg.

The abuse then became 'more persistent' with Tillson putting his hand inside the boy's trousers.

Tillson, also a Conservative councillor and former local Tory association chairman, was found guilty on Thursday following a trial at Maidstone Crown Court, Kent

He fled and the incident was later reported to the school by his parent.

'There was an internal investigation that led to Mr Tillson leaving Tonbridge School in 2001,' Mr Connolly told the court.

'The matter was not taken any further until the police were provided with paperwork by the school in February 2019.'

Tillson, from Dymchurch in Kent, was himself Cambridge-educated, achieving an honours degree in economics, and had lived at various properties provided by Tonbridge School during his career.

The jury was told he had links to four other independent educational establishments including Brighton College in Sussex and Wellington School in Berkshire.

His political career in Kent has seen him serve as deputy leader of Shepway District Council and chairman of the Folkestone and Hythe Conservative Association.

The one-time school governor has also sat on New Romney Town Council, Dymchurch Parish Council and St Mary in the Marsh Parish Council.
The Supreme Court has struck down President Joe Biden's $400 billion student loans forgiveness plan in another bombshell decision.

The justices ruled 6-3 Biden's controversial plan to wipe out debts for 26 million Americans at taxpayers' expense was unconstitutional and an overreach of his executive power.

The landmark ruling on the final day of the Supreme Court's term comes 24 hours after the justices decided colleges could no longer use race as a consideration in admissions in a case that sparked backlash from Biden.

The plan would have eradicated $10,000 in debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 and up to $20,000 for those with Pell Grants.

But it was challenged by six Republican states and two borrowers who argued Biden should have sought approval from Congress for a plan using substantial taxpayer funds.

Chief Justice John Roberts agreed and said in the majority opinion that a move 'requires that Congress speak clearly before a Department (of Education) Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy.'

President Biden called the decision 'disappointing' and 'wrong' and vowed to fight back in a statement released hours after the ruling came down.

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The Supreme Court has struck down President Joe Biden's $400 billion student loans forgiveness plan in another bombshell decision. The justices ruled 6-3 against Biden's controversial plan to wipe out debts for around 20 million Americans

Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness scheme had been held up in a legal battle since November

'This fight is not over. I will have more to announce when I address the nation this afternoon.

'My Administrations student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic.

'Nearly 90 percent of the relief from our plan would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to people making more than $125,000. It would have been life-changing for millions of Americans and their families.

'And it would have been good for economic growth, both in the short- and long-term. The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses  including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses.

'And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.

'While todays decision is disappointing, we should not lose sight of the progress weve made  making historic increases to Pell Grants; forgiving loans for teachers, firefighters, and others in public service; and creating a new debt repayment plan, so no one with an undergraduate loan has to pay more than 5 percent of their discretionary income.

'I believe that the Courts decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong. But I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American.'

Rooberts, in his opinion, went on to say that the HEROES Act, which the Biden administration cited as justification for the plan, actually provides 'no authorization for the Secretary's plan' and therefore there was no clear congressional authorization.

Millions of Americans haven't had to repay their loans for three-and-a-half years because of a COVID pandemic freeze. Borrowers will have to restart their payments in October, and interest will start recurring in September.

Biden's loan forgiveness has been a cornerstone of his presidency, and the ruling will be a massive blow to the administration that has fought against the piling debt. The president is expected to address the nation regarding the ruling later Friday.

For months, Biden's student loan blueprint has been at the center of a legal tussle with six Republican-controlled states and two borrowers. Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina said he had no legal authority to go ahead with the plan without the sign-off from Congress first.

Biden used the 2003 post-9/11 HEROES Act as justification for the program. It stipulates the Department of Education can waive student debt during a national emergency.

But in the majority opinion written by the chief justice, said the HEROES Act was not a legitimate basis for the plan.

'Congress did not unanimously pass the HEROES Act with such power in mind,' writes Roberts, saying such decision of 'such magnitude and consequence' on a matter of 'earnest and profound debate across the country' must go through Congress itself.

Former President Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told DailyMail.com in a statement following the decision that 'everyone knew the debt scheme was illegal,' including Biden himself.

'Today, the Supreme Court simply agreed. The President cannot spend taxpayer money without Congressional approval.'

The former secretary said the 'ploy' by the Biden administration was also 'deeply unfair to the majority of Americans who don't have student loans, and equally concerning, would have only exacerbated the problem of ever-rising college tuition.'

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., added in a tweet that Biden 'must follow the law.'

'President Biden's student loan giveaway is ruled UNLAWFUL. The 87% of Americans without student loans are no longer forced to pay for the 13% who do.

He also added 'I agree with her for once!' referring to a statement by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., from July 2021 that the majority opinion cited.

'People think that the President of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness,' said then-Speaker Pelosi. 'He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.'

The majority went on to rebut the liberal justices' dissent, in which the Democrat-appointed justices argued student loans are in the education secretary's 'wheelhouse.'

The majority opinion fires back, saying that in 'light of the sweeping and unprecedented impact of the Secretary's loan forgiveness program, it would seem more accurate to describe the program as being in the 'wheelhouse' of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations.'

Roberts addressed a recent trend of criticism of the Supreme Court's decisions in a fiery standout line from the opinion.

'It has become a disturbing feature of some recent opinions to criticize the decisions with which they disagree as going beyond the proper role of the judiciary,' states Roberts on behalf of the majority.

He went on to defend their conclusion, saying 'precedent old and newrequires that Congress speak clearly before a Department Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy. We have employed the traditional tools of judicial decisionmaking in doing so.'

'Reasonable minds may disagree with our analysisin fact, at least three do,' the opinion states, referring to the three dissenting justices - Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson.

''We do not mistake this plainly heartfelt disagreement for disparagement. It is important that the public not be misled either. Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country.'

The COVID national emergency in the eyes of the government came to an end in May 2023.

BREAKING > President Bidens student loan giveaway is ruled UNLAWFUL. The 87% of Americans without student loans are no longer forced to pay for the 13% who do.



This builds on the Fiscal Responsibility Acts end to the payment pause. The President must follow the law.  Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) June 30, 2023

The Supreme Court was asked to rule on the scheme after a federal court issued an injunction freezing the forgiveness plan

The program has been on hold since November after a federal appeals court in St. Louis, Missouri, issued an injunction pausing applications and payouts.

That forced the government to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court justices.

The six conservative justices expressed their skepticism of the plan during oral arguments in February, and gave an early indication of their decision.

Announced last August, the administration vowed to cancel some $10,000 in federal student debt for students earning less than $125,000.

Officials also promised to axe an additional $10,000 for students who received what are known as Pell Grants.

These financial aid payments are awarded to students with exceptional financial needs.

But most Republicans say those who took out loans need to repay them without a bailout. They have also argued that taxes paid by Americans who didn't attend college shouldn't be used to fund those who did.

The Senate recently passed a motion to repeal Biden's loan forgiveness plan, but the president vetoed it earlier in June.

Over 26 million people have already applied for the program, with as many as 16 million having already been provisionally approved for debt relief, according to the Department of Education.

Student debt is the second-largest kind of consumer debt in the U.S. behind mortgages and other home loans.

Nationwide, 45 million Americans owe $1.6 trillion in borrowed cash that they used to pay for their college education.
President Joe Biden had made it clear to aides that he doesn't want to hear that he should keep son Hunter away amid the first son's ongoing legal drama.

NBC News reported late Wednesday that the president's mantra has been described as, 'Hands off my family,' according to one source.

Biden is keeping Hunter close because he fears that the former crack cocaine addict could relapse amid the public scrutiny, sources told the network.

And the president doesn't care about the political cost.

'It's consumed him,' a person close to the president told NBC.

President Joe Biden (left) refuses to keep son Hunter Biden (right) away, despite his ongoing legal drama. Hunter is pictured at last week's state dinner with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Hunter Biden (right) follows his father President Joe Biden (left) onto Marine One as they leave for a weekend away at Camp David on Saturday

Two days after Hunter made headlines for the plea deal his legal team struck with the U.S. Attorney for Delaware - where he'd plead guilty for tax crimes and likely face probation over a gun charge - Biden invited Hunter and his wife Melissa Cohen to the White House state dinner with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The president also invited Hunter - with his son baby Beau - to spend part of last weekend with him at Camp David.

The first son was photographed boarding Marine One with his father.

Behind-the-scenes, aides have tried to delicately tell the president that the optics of keeping Hunter at his side amid the first son's legal drama may not help him win reelection, especially against former President Donald Trump.

Trump has long used Hunter's business deals in Ukraine and China to hammer Biden.

The ex-president was impeached the first time over his scheme to get Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to announce investigations into Hunter and then candidate Biden, holding up Congressionally-approved military aid in the process.

Trump still contends he had a 'perfect' phone call with Zelensky.

And when Republicans took control of the House in January, several committees immediately delved into probing Biden family 'influence peddling,' as it's being called.

Hunter is the central figure in those investigations, as Republicans are hoping sources come forward to tie his foreign business deals - which were happening during his period of addiction, Hunter's lawyer recently noted - to the president, who has long denied involvement.

A WhatsApp message from Hunter to a Chinese business associate provided to Republican by an IRS whistleblower caused the White House headaches, as it purported to show Hunter using his father's clout to get paid.

In a July 2017 message to Communist Party official Henry Zhao, Hunter said I'm 'sitting with my father,' adding, 'and we would like to know why the commitment made was not fulfilled.'

NBC reported that Biden has responded defensively and angrily when aides have made entreaties to the president to keep Hunter at an arm's length away.

Now aides have given up trying, with one source saying, 'it is what it is, and we're dealing with it.'

The push-and-pull bubbled up to the surface earlier this week, when former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the optics of Hunter being at the state dinner - especially with Attorney General Merrick Garland - were 'absolutely not' good.

Deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton, who was leading her first press briefing Tuesday, was asked about that comment by Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich.

'Like every other administration, like every other president, this president has a family, and he did exactly what many prior administrations have done. And beyond that, I really don't have any comment on this,' she said.
Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed handed a bag of cocaine to another person on the evening after Halyna Hutchins was shot, prosecutors allege.

The revelations come after the weapons handler was charged last week with evidence tampering on top of her involuntary manslaughter charge.

Special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis filed a motion on Thursday stating that they have a confidential witness that will testify.

The witness will claim that Gutierrez Reed handed off the drugs after returning from her initial police interview.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was charged last week with evidence tampering on top of her involuntary manslaughter charge

The Rust armorer allegedly handed a bag of cocaine to another film worker after her police interview in October 2021

'The circumstances of the transfer of evidence strongly support the charge that the defendant transferred the cocaine to avoid prosecution and prevent law enforcement from obtaining highly inculpatory evidence directly related the defendant's handling of the firearm and the circumstances of the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins,' the prosecutors wrote.

Gutierrez-Reed's lawyer, Jason Bowles, said the evidence tampering charges were 'retaliatory and vindictive' and filed without providing notice or witness statements.

Prosecutors have asked that the identity of their new witness be kept anonymous, arguing that they could be 'blacklisted' from the film industry for coming forward.

Bowles said: 'the state wants to publish salacious allegations about Ms. Gutierrez Reed in a secret procedure, which is not condoned by the rules or constitution.

'If the state really believes these allegations, why the secrecy?'

Prosecutors claim Gutierrez-Reed was drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the filming of Alec Baldwin's western film and that she may have been hungover at the time of the shooting.

The shooting happened on October 21, 2021, when Baldwin was accused of firing the gun on the New Mexico movie set, striking Hutchins and director Joel Souza. Hutchins died from her injuries.

Baldwin was initially charged, but his case was later dropped after new evidence emerged suggesting that the gun could have been fired without pulling the trigger.

His lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, told DailyMail.com: 'We are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against Alec Baldwin and we encourage a proper investigation into the facts and circumstances of this tragic accident.'

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed on the set of his western movie in October 2021

Alec Baldwin (pictured on set), who was holding the gun with it discharged, was initially charged but the case was dropped after evidence emerged suggesting the weapon could have been fired without pulling the trigger

The state of New Mexico, where the shooting took place, dropped charges against Baldwin after losing several pretrial rulings.

The original two special prosecutors on the case resigned due to controversies highlighted by Baldwin's defense team and two new ones were appointed.

Gutierrez-Reed's defense team is now attempting to stir up more controversy in the prosecutor's office by pointing to an email exchange between the case's lead investigator, one of the new prosecutors and one of the old prosecutors - who was no longer working on the case at the time the email was delivered.

The investigator, Robert Shilling, wrote in a note: 'The current special prosecutor has directed that I conduct no further investigation into this matter. The conduct of the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office during and after their initial investigation is reprehensible and unprofessional to a degree I still have no words for.

'Not I or 200 more proficient investigators than I can / could clean up the mess delivered to your office in October 2022 (1 year since the initial incident  inexcusable).'

The email was accidentally sent to Bowles, who questioned why one of the old prosecutors was still receiving information about the case.

'This whole exchange is beyond troubling on many fronts,' Bowel replied in seven-page letter.

Prosecutors claim Gutierrez-Reed (pictured at her home in Bullhead City, Arizona) was drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during filming

Gutierrez-Reed is seen holding a weapon on the set of a movie in an image posted on her social media

'First, it appears beyond doubt now that the State is attempting to sweep exculpatory information ''under the rug''.

'But for the fortuitousness of this 'inadvertent' send, defense counsel would likely have never known about Shilling's information and extremely negative views on the investigation.

'Ms Gutierrez-Reed has an expert witness regarding the severe problems in the investigation. The fact that the State's lead investigator shares those views, or some of those views, is highly exculpatory.'

Gutierrez-Reed's legal team has now demanded 'all communications and emails in and between Mr. Shilling, DA Carmack Altweis (one of the old prosecutors), and the special prosecutors.'
The Supreme Court has struck down President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan.

The justices ruled 6-3 that the administration overstepped its authority with the program to wipe out more than $400 million in student debt.

The program was challenged by six Republican states and two borrowers who argued Biden should have sought approval from Congress for a plan using substantial taxpayer funds.

On June 30, Biden condemned the ruling as he promised to provide alternative support. 'Today's decision has closed one path. Now we're going to start another,' he told reporters.

But what will happen to the 16 million people already approved for forgiveness?

What does the decision mean for you?

For the 26 million people who applied for the program, more than half of whom were approved, the ruling will dash their hopes of taking advantage of having up to $20,000 cut from their debt.

If no other plans are put in place before then, this means that borrowers will have to return to making full repayments in October when they resume after more than three years this fall.

Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office said the plan would have cost taxpayers roughly $400 billion, which has now been saved - in welcome news to those who opposed the program.

Some argued the forgiveness would be unfair to those who either paid their way through college, repaid their loans already, or never attended college in the first place due to the high cost of education.

The Supreme Court has struck down President Joe Biden 's $400 billion student loans forgiveness plan in another bombshell decision. The justices ruled 6-3 against Biden's plan to wipe out debts for around 20 million Americans

What was the student loan forgiveness policy?

The Biden Administration announced its student loan forgiveness program in August 2022.

The plan intended to cancel up to $20,000 of debt for eligible borrowers - which could have wiped away an estimated $430 billion of the total $1.6 trillion in borrowed cash.

People who earn less than $125,000 a year, or $250,000 per household, could get up to $10,000 in debt cancelation.

Students who received a Pell Grant - a needs-based federal grant for lower-income families - during their education, stood to receive up to $20,000 in forgiveness.

Some 26 million people applied for the program, according to the Department of Education - more than half of the 46 million eligible borrowers.

Of the applications, 16 million were provisionally approved to have their debt forgiven, but the program was paused in November before any funds had been given out.

Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness scheme had been held up in legal battles since November

Why was the program paused?

The program was halted, and funds were blocked from being disbursed, because of two Supreme Court lawsuits arguing the Biden Administration overstepped its authority in approving the debt erasure.

Biden v. Nebraska was brought by Republican attorneys in six states - Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina - in September 2022, and argued that the program could harm tax revenues.

In October last year, the Job Creators Network Foundation filed a separate lawsuit in Texas on behalf of two student borrowers Myra Brown and Alexander Taylor.

The Biden Administration, however, argued the plan fell under the 2003 Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, otherwise known as the HEROES Act, which was created to ensure loan relief after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The Supreme Court struck down the program in the case brought by Republican-controlled states.

Although it ruled that the case brought by two student borrowers did not have the standing to challenge the program, this ruling was irrelevant given the outcome in the Biden v. Nebraska case.

The ruling will dash the hopes of 16 million people who were approved to take advantage of the relief

When will student loan repayments resume?

The White House paused student loan repayments during the Covid-19 pandemic - in a separate policy to the student loan forgiveness program.

The Government argued the pandemic was a national emergency, which gave it the authority to cancel debt under the HEROES Act.

But student loan payments are set to resume after more than three years this fall, after a deal was reached between the White House and Congress on raising the debt ceiling formally abolished the pause.

Interest will start accruing on September 1, according to the Department of Education, and borrowers will need to start making payments on federal student debt again in October.

According to a new report from Wells Fargo, the average monthly payment will be between $210 and $314 once repayments resume.

What support is Biden planning instead?

On June 30, Biden vowed to work on a new program under the Higher Education Act to begin a new program to ease borrowers's threat of a default if they fall behind on payments.

So far details on this support are scant.
NYC officials have warned of a 'tipping point' in the city's immigration crisis, with asylum seekers making up more than half of the record-breaking 100,000 people housed in the Big Apple's homeless shelters.

City officials this week said the number of homeless people in New York City shelters had surpassed 100,000, a record high number they attributed to migrants coming from the US southern border.

The number of migrants in shelters passed 50,000 a few days earlier. More than two thirds of them are made up of families with children, the city's deputy mayor told The New York Times.

City Hall Press Secretary Fabien Levy says the city had reached a 'tipping point.'

He called for more support from the state and federal government, saying it was 'now caring for more asylum seekers than long-time New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.'

NYC officials have housed migrants at the former four-star Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan

Parents marched and chanted in protest at NYC Mayor Eric Adam's plan to temporarily house immigrants in their public school's gymnasium

Under Mayor Eric Adams, the city has spent more than a billion dollars to shelter migrants since they started arriving in large numbers in early 2022.

The costs are set to reach $4.4 billion by next year.

Adams has called the immigration crisis a 'disaster' and his administration has opened 174 emergency shelters and intake centers.

As well as housing the homeless in the city's regular shelters, officials have had to spend eye-watering sums on taking over hotels and other venues to house at least 17,000 unsheltered migrants.

Mayor Eric Adams says the immigration crisis has been a 'disaster'

The mayor has even used $50,000 of the city's money to send 114 migrant households to red states including Texas and Florida, with some even being sent as far as South America and China.

Earlier this year, Adams visited the U.S.-Mexico border and called the situation 'a disaster' that needed to be addressed at the federal level.

The visit came after governors from Republican-led states like Florida and Texas began busing and flying migrants in to New York City in 2022.

In late-May Adams called for migrants to be sent to every major city in America.

For the homeless in Los Angeles, the situation is also gloomy.

Across the city and county, homelessness levels have rinse between 9 and 10 percent compared to last year, officials said.

A survey conducted in January found 75,518 people experiencing homelessness in the county, and 46,260 in the city of Los Angeles. That's up from 69,144 in the county last year, and 41,980 in the city.

'We have a crisis on our streets, and it's getting worse,' said Dr Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which carried out the survey.

A makeshift shelter to accommodate the surge of migrants in Red Hook, Brooklyn

Meanwhile, a hawkish immigration group has warned that America's infrastructure was struggling to cope with the influx of irregular migrants, which they estimated had reached nearly 17 million people.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which campaigns for tougher border security and smaller people flows, said the number of illegal immigrants had jumped 16 percent since early 2021.

FAIR's study counts roughly 16.8 illegal immigrants in the US, up from 15.5 million in January 2022.

Other groups have put the estimate in recent years at around 11 million and holding steady.

FAIR says other groups and officials are undercounting by some 30 percent.

'This estimate is also a 2.3 million increase from our end-of-2020 estimate, meaning the illegal alien population increased 16 percent nationwide during just the first two years of Joe Biden's presidency,' the report says.
Hoards armed with towels and inflatables can be seen rushing to reserve beds

Keen Brits have been spotted at the crack of dawn descending on a hotel pool to bag the best sunbeds at a Majorcan resort.

Footage shows hoards of holidaymakers armed with towels and inflatables rushing to reserve loungers on the Spanish island.

In a military-style operation some even rush over to get their hands on the spare loungers and cushions that have not even been put out yet. All the while a beautiful beach sits empty just 100ft away.

It comes as recent footage showed the increasingly tense sunbed war shrouding Brits' summer holidays.

Footage showed the moment Majorcan 'sunbed police' took revenge on hotel guests who had reserved loungers.

Hoards of holidaymakers were spotted making the mad dash to secure a good spot by the pool

In a military-style operation some even rush over to get their hands on the spare loungers and cushions

Keen to get a prime spot, some quickly grab cushions to reserve the bed

As the sun rises on the hotel's pool area, holidaymakers keen to sunbathe are pictured out in force

A staff member appears fed up as he swiftly removes towels and inflatables used to hog beds by the pool at the Viva resort on the Spanish island.

Dubbed the 'towel police' by TikToker John McGowan, the worker can be seen shoving holidaymakers' belongings into plastic bags.

He even walks around the pool area with a stopwatch and clipboard to time how long each sunbed has been reserved for, Mr McGowan explained.

If the hogger has not returned within 30 minutes, their items are removed from the beds.

It is generally accepted in Spanish resorts that a towel left on a sunbed is claimed by its owner for the entire day. The origin of this rule is not known, though it is thought to be a German invention.

One commenter quipped: 'Well done to this resort. Hope others take note. It might make people's hols less stressful if the towel dash doesn't happen anymore.'

The Mallorca hotel's 'sunbed police' are captured getting revenge on guests who have reserved loungers

The 'towel policeman' can be seen shoving all the holidaymakers' belongings into plastic bags

Sunbed wars have long been a common start to the mornings of British holidaymakers' trips abroad.

Although not all hotels allow this rule, when in place it can create heated competition between holidaymakers desperate to enjoy themselves more than their neighbours.

Hilarious footage of guests at the four-star Spring Hotel Bitacora, Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, shows crowds of desperate tourists waiting next to their resort's swimming pools and descending en masse to grab the best spots at the earliest possible time.

Brits armed with swimming togs and sun cream raced past rival holidaymakers with a grim determination to secure their place in the sun for a day.

Some were reported to queue for 90 minutes first thing in the morning - waiting for some unknown signal before stampeding past opposing tourists towards the sun loungers.

Meanwhile at the Camp de Mar in Majorca a holidaymaker was shocked to see next-level towel reservation after sunbed hogs puts their towels down on the floor at the entrance to the pool area.

Photos show beach bags and towels placed in an orderly queue leading to the closed-off pool area so hotel guests can secure their sun bed the moment that it opens.

Holidaymaker Geoff said: 'In an effort to control the sunbed madness, the door from the hotel to the pool area was kept locked until 8am.

No compromise: Holidaymakers made the dash to claim the best sunbeds ahead of their opponents

'So people were lining their towels up on the floor in a queue order by the door before it opened. I must add this wasn't youngsters, but mostly elderly and middle-aged people,' he told the Mirror.

Discussing the behaviour of the other guests at a four-star hotel in Camp de Mar, he said: 'The towel line actually went back much further (than the picture shows) and the owners were seated on the sofas just out of sight, ready to fly outside when the door was unlocked.

'I don't know what time they started, but we were up at 6.30am one morning to grab breakfast before an excursion, and there was already an established towel queue forming at the door. Crazy behaviour!'

Meanwhile, a holiday hero spoke out earlier this year against some 'entitled' tourists who reserved sun loungers for nine hours while he and his wife were on holiday in Bali.

Newlyweds Thom Aspland and Lisa were honeymooning at Bali's Grand Barong Resort where they were met by unfurled towels on sun loungers at 6.30am.

After returning at 1pm and seeing the chairs untouched, the couple waited for a further hour of no movement, before finally ditching the reserving towels and taking the spot themselves.

Hilarious footage captured the moment a holidaymaker (in black T-shirt) bagged five sun loungers by sprinting through the sun beds before throwing his towels on the best pool-side spots

They were met at 3.30pm by the shocked pair of 'entitled' tourists 'iPads and books in hand'.

The couple were even sure to teach their competitors a lesson by ushering other tourists in their place as they left.

Speaking to Yahoo News, Thom said: 'We definitely thought they were entitled, but were surprised they didn't confront us.'

He assumed that the lack of confrontation was down to the fact that 'they knew what they had done'.

Thom also noted the hilarious extent of the couple's pettiness in getting on the beds in the first place.

'We didn't even want the beds,' he said, but the compulsion to prove a point was too strong.

'Many places here have an hour rule, so we just made sure we gave them an hour once we got in the pool,' he added.

He revealed that he and Lisa had been looking on from the bar for two hours before making their move.

He also gave comical detail about the approach of the pair who thought they would get away with the nine-hour reservation, saying that 'they quickly walked towards the chairs, then stopped and looked at each other to pause'.

'They then frantically looked for their two personal towels' before departing to their hotel room never to be seen again,' he said.

The happy couple made absolutely certain that they proved their point when they left by passing the beds on to a mother and daughter after telling them the whole story.

Thom shared the 'petty' revenge story online with droves of followers agreeing that leaving towels on seats all day was 'sun hogging' and disrespectful.

'Am I the only one hoping there's a day two to this situation,' one person said.

Another wrote: 'Proof that not all heroes wear a cape.

'Would shout you both a Bintang if I were there.'

'I would've done the same except I wouldn't have waited - if they weren't there using them its free for all,' a third added.

Some also commended the couple for waiting the hour that they did.

Thom then posted an update of the empty poolside chairs on the following morning as a sign of victory.

'Free all morning,' he declared.

In August, the hilarious moment a holidaymaker bagged five sun loungers by sprinting towards them before throwing his towels on the best pool-side spots was posted on TikTok by a guest who filmed the chaotic scene from her balcony at the Paradise Park Hotel in Los Cristianos, Tenerife.

The video shows a large pool surrounded by a decked terrace, moments before several people emerge and start running towards the sunbeds.

One man dressed in yellow can be seen sprinting towards the loungers with several towels on his arm. He skipped past rows of other chairs until he reached the ones in the prime pool-side spot.

While the other guests made their way towards the loungers, he took a shortcut to arrive there first and threw his towels down to claim the seats at an impressive speed.

This wasn't the first time the man was on the hunt, as another video showed him in a black T-shirt securing the best spot.

Jess Clarke, who filmed the crowd, captioned her video: 'Day Three Sunbed Wars'.

It quickly gained more than 11,000 likes and hundreds of comments were left by viewers saying, 'Love it, so funny' or remarking, 'I've never seen sunbed wars that bad'.

Another commented: 'Guy in yellow put in a proper shift.'

A fourth said: '9am sunbed wars paradise park Tenerife what a sight.'

One user recognised the man from Ms Clarke's previous video titled 'Day 1'.

The hotel is known for sunbed reservation races and similar scenes were captured on camera last year.

Thom Aspland's 'victory' post on Facebook saw him pictured with his wife Lisa. 'Free all morning,' he declared, with reference to the empty poolside chairs

A viral TikTok video from July shows tourists at the Tenerife hotel making a shameless dash for the best poolside spot.

Footage shows a crowd of holidaymakers show up at a pool at Paradise Park just as it opens.

They then drop their towels on the hotspot's best loungers  with some even glancing around guiltily as they do it.

TikTok user Sarah, whose clip has already garnered more than five million views in just one day, simply captioned it: 'The Sunbed Race'.

Paradise Park spokesman Rafael Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo told MailOnline last year: 'We were amused to see it - considering that our hotel has five swimming pools and areas with space and sunbeds for everyone.

'Although we see quite a bit of talent among our guests for obstacle races.'

Tourists in Palma de Mallorca raced to reserve a sun lounger at 9am as they sprinted alongside the pool

Some appeared to be sprinting at full speed as they overtook others in the mad rush for the limited seats

As soon as 9am struck, the competing holidaymakers started to run beside the pool adjacent to the hotel

Footage shared on TikTok shows the horde decked out in their hats and towels ready for a day of basking in the Majorcan heat

Weeks before, in June last year, sunbed-blockers had their towels taken away by hotel staff at another resort in Tenerife.

Holidaymaker Amanda Proctor filmed the moment the workers picked up dozens of towels that guests had laid out on empty sun loungers in a bid to reserve the best seats next to the pool at the five star Gran Costa Adeje Hotel in southern Tenerife.

Ms Proctor said that the staff at the hotel, which features four pools, took the guests' bags and towels and left a note on the chairs telling them where to collect their belongings.

The holidaymaker said there was a sign at the hotel saying guests were not allowed to reserve sunbeds before 10am.

A spokesman at the hotel told MailOnline: 'At GF Gran Costa Adeje, we defend the right of all our guests to enjoy our pools and we ask everyone to respect our policy.

'All guests will have their space in our solarium. In this situation, our colleague, like the entire GF Gran Costa Adeje team, is a hero without a cape. We are very happy with the reaction to the video and from our customers.'
Rishi Sunak today failed to say if the first migrant flights to Rwanda would take off this year following the latest legal block on the planned asylum scheme.

The Prime Minister suffered a huge blow to his 'stop the boats' pledge yesterday when Court of Appeal judges ruled the deportation deal with the African country was unlawful.

The decision has led to some Tory MPs to demand a 'Plan B' to the Rwanda scheme, if the courts continue to block it.

But, speaking at a Downing Street press conference this afternoon, Mr Sunak appeared to bat away those calls and insisted he was 'confident' the Government would ultimately see victory in the Supreme Court.

Mr Sunak said he 'respects' the Court of Appeal's ruling but 'fundamentally disagrees' with it as he looks to overturn it at the UK's highest court.

Rishi Sunak today failed to say if the first migrant flights to Rwanda would take off this year following the latest legal block on the planned asylum scheme

The PM believes the possibility of being sent to Rwanda to have an asylum claims processed will deter people from trying to reach the UK using small boats across the Channel

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, pictured with Rwanda President Paul Kagame in March, and the PM are fighting a legal challenge against their migration deal with the African country

The Government was offered some hope yesterday as Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, deemed Rwanda to be a safe third country for asylum seekers.

He was a dissenting voice as the Court of Appeal gave a split decision against the Government.

Two other judges ruled there was a real risk that asylum-seekers sent to Rwanda would be returned to their home country in a possible breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The PM said today: 'I strongly believe - and the Lord Chief Justice made clear that he agrees with this as well - that the Rwandans have provided all the assurances necessary.

'There is no real risk that asylum seekers that are relocated under our policy will be wrongly returned to third countries. Rwanda is a safe country.'

Mr Sunak also highlighted how the UN's refugee agency 'use Rwanda for their own refugee scheme for Libyan refugees'.

'Given all of that we're going to seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court,' he added.

'I've said it before and I'll say it again, the policy of this government is very simple.

'It is your Government and it is not criminal gangs who should decide who comes here. It is a very simple point of view.

'I'll do what is necessary to make sure that that happens.'

But Mr Sunak refused to commit to the first migrant flights to Rwanda taking place this year, as he stressed it was 'a matter for the courts in terms of their timeline'.

Pressed later on whether there was a 'Plan B' - such as trying to put in place similar deals with countries other than Rwanda - the PM insisted the Government was 'confident in our case'.

'We will seek permission to appeal this case to the Supreme Court and we remain entirely confident that what we're doing is right,' he added.

'And it's also fair, because there is nothing moral or compassionate by allowing the current system to continue.'

Mr Sunak highlighted how migrants were 'needlessly dying' as they try and cross the Channel to Britain after being 'exploited' by people-trafficking gangs.

'If you spend any time with the people who are actually - as I've done in the Channel, - picking people up, seeing the conditions that they're subjected to, seeing what children are subjected to, would find it very hard to justify maintaining this system,' he said.

The Government has consistently claimed the possibility of being sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket to have their asylum claims processed will deter people from trying to reach the UK using small boats across the Channel.
Chicago Police have denied that any of the bodies are a result of a serial killer in the city

Two of them have been ruled as suicides and four others found dead have not yet been identified by authorities

At least 18 people have been pulled from the waterways in Chicago from March 2022

Chicago resident are still fearing a serial killer is on the loose after the remains of at least 18 people, including a young couple who died a month apart, were pulled from the waterways in the Windy City in just over a year.

Police have been quick to play down the claims but family members of some of the deceased have hired private investigators to probe the loss of their loved ones.

Twelve men and six women have been recovered from the Chicago River and Lake Michigan since March 2022, with the bodies of five men being pulled out in the last five months alone.

The most recent was restaurant worker Noah Eros, 26, whose family is raising funds to pay for their own investigation into his death.

His girlfriend, Nicole Wijs, told a vigil last week: 'I know Noah wasn't the first one to go missing and be found in the river, and I sure as s**t hope that he's the last.'

The cases of young couple Natally Brookson, 22, and Daniel Sotelo, 26, have been the most baffling with the pair washing up dead in the same lake a month apart.

Twelve men and six women have been recovered from the Chicago River and Lake Michigan since March 2022

The most recent was restaurant worker Noah Eros (pictured), 26 , whose family is raising funds to pay for their own investigation into his death

Of the 18 people found dead in the waterways only two have been confirmed as suicide, three have been ruled as accidental drowning and five as drowning.

Pregnant Karina Pena Alanis was pulled from the river in April 2022, and Anthony Rucker was recovered from the same body of water in 2023, with both being ruled a suicide.

Chicago Police have not commented on the similarities between the cases, but a former FBI agent claims that it could mean that a serial killer is on the loose.

So far, four remain unidentified, with two men and a woman all found in April 2022 and another woman in May 2023.

According to Cook County Medical Examiner's office, the number of drownings has not risen from previous years.

There were 41 in 2022, 46 in 2021 and 43 in 2020  with 2019 seeing two homicides of the 57 recorded.

'At this time, there is no evidence suggesting there is a connection between these drowning deaths,' Chicago Police said in March.

'The Chicago Police Department conducts thorough death investigations as we work to bring a measure of closure to the families of these, and all, victims.'

DailyMail.com has broken down the circumstances of each case, not including the suicides, that have been made available by authorities:

Kathleen Martin vanished from her home on West Hutchinson street in Albany Park on March 29th, with relatives reporting her missing

Kathleen Martin, 49,

Martin vanished from her home on West Hutchinson street in Albany Park on March 29th, with relatives reporting her missing.

Her body was found in the Chicago River in the Bunker Hill area of Caldwell Woods, near Milwaukee and Devon avenues, on March 31.

It is unclear how she got to the river, with officials saying there were indications her body had been in the area for some time.

Cook County Forest Preserve police are investigating the incident, and confirmed that there were no indications of trauma to the body.

Forest preserves spokesman Carl Vogel added that the investigation is not currently criminal, but there have been no updates in the case.

Unidentified man

A body was found in the Chicago River at a city forest preserve on April 12, with police saying it was linked to a missing persons investigation in Illinois.

Authorities confirmed that the body was found in the waterways close to Caldwell Woods, in the North branch of the river.

The case was handed over to Illinois State Police for a death investigation.

Yuet Tsang, 80,

Tsang's body was pulled from the Chicago River in the South branch, near to Eleanor Street in Bridgeport on April 23.

An autopsy confirmed that her cause of death was drowning, but it is unclear how she ended up in the water.

The Chicago Police Department Marine Unit found her unresponsive, and she was pronounced dead on the scene.

Eden De La O was last seen in McKinley Park on April 3, 2022, and was reported as a missing person to Chicago Police

Unidentified woman

Another womans' body was also recovered from the Chicago River by North Riverside Plaza near Ogilvie Station on April 23.

No further details were available regarding the identity of the woman or her cause of death.

Unidentified man

The body of a man was pulled from the water on April 23 in Lake Michigan near the 31st Street Harbor. No further details were available.

Eden De La O, 31

De La O was last seen in McKinley Park on April 3, 2022, and was reported as a missing person to Chicago Police.

He was found in the Chicago River near 41st Street and Central on May 1, with surveillance footage capturing his movements the day he vanished.

Authorities have not revealed a cause of death, and the investigation remains ongoing.

Natally Brookson, 22, was last seen leaving work on April 30 in the Budlong Woods neighborhood

Daniel Sotelo, who was dating Brookson, was found dead in Lake Michigan around a mile offshore on May 22

Natally Brookson, 22,

Brookson, 22, was last seen leaving work on April 30 in the Budlong Woods neighborhood.

The University of Illinois at Chicago student was found dead on May 2 in Lake Michigan near Bryn Mawr Avenue, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

An autopsy the next day was inconclusive, and the cause and manner of her death are still pending. She vanished at the same time as her boyfriend Daniel Sotelo.

Brookson was a senior at the UIC College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, although she had withdrawn from the spring semester, according to a university spokesperson.

Daniel Sotelo, 26,

Sotelo, who was dating Brookson, was found dead in Lake Michigan around a mile offshore on May 22.

County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed those remains were Sotelo, 26, based on dental records, and his cause of death was recorded as drowning.

He vanished in April after being seen in the 1700 block of South Racine Avenue. No other details have been released about his or Brookson's deaths.

Hayward Brown, 34,

Emergency services were called to a repots of a person in distress in the water near East 31st Street at around 9.30pm on June 21.

Brown, 34, was recovered from the water and rushed to the University of Chicago Medical Center and pronounced dead. A

Autopsy results remained pending further testing, but his death was ruled an accidental drowning.

Polish Krzysztof Szubert was reported missing on December 3 after leaving a River North Party, with an investigation launched

Officers tracked down surveillance footage showing Peter Salvino walking in the wrong direction to get home from the party.

Krzysztof Szubert, 21,

Polish Krzysztof Szubert was reported missing on December 3 after leaving a River North Party, with an investigation launched.

Video footage from Lake Shore Drive and Oak Street Beach was reviewed and officers said they witnessed Szubert on video falling into Lake Michigan.

His body was discovered on an adjacent beach on December 7, and was pulled from the water at 2am before being pronounced dead.

The medical examiner determined Szubert's cause of death was 'drowning with ethanol intoxication as a contributing factor,' and the manner of death was ruled 'accidental.'

Peter Salvino, 25,

Doctoral student Peter Salvino, 25, vanished on December 17 after parting with friends at an apartment in Lincoln Park.

His body was discovered on December 20, three days after her was reported missing, from Diversey harbor.

The medical examiner determined Salvino had 'drown[ed] with ethanol intoxication as a contributing factor,' and the manner was also ruled 'accidental.'

Officers tracked down surveillance footage showing him walking in the wrong direction to get home from the party.

The video showed him walking through the parking lot of the harbor and into the lake, before traying to swim back out. Detectives believe that he may have been too intoxicated to save himself.

It is unclear why he headed to the lake in the first place.

Doctoral student Peter Salvino, 25, vanished on December 17 after parting with friends at an apartment in Lincoln Park

Joel Orduno, 24, was last seen at his Logan Square residence on February 17 before his disappearance was reported to Chicago police

Joel Orduno, 24,

Joel Orduno, 24, was last seen at his Logan Square residence on February 17 before his disappearance was reported to Chicago police.

Officers discovered his body on March 17 in the Chicago River, in the area of the 2700 block of North Leavitt.

Authorities say a death investigation in the case has been closed and the death has been classified as 'non-criminal.'

On June 21, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office closed Orduno's case, officially ruling the cause of death as a 'drowning' and the manner of death as 'undetermined.'

Richard Garcia, 46, was reported missing from his home in South Side by his family in March and was discovered in the Chicago River close to Columbus Drive Bridge

Richard Garcia, 46,

Garcia was reported missing from his home in South Side by his family in March and was discovered in the Chicago River close to Columbus Drive Bridge.

His loved ones said he was still wearing his FedEx uniform when his remains were located on April 13.

Cook County Medical Examiners office confirmed that his cause and manner of death remain pending.

Unidentified woman

The Chicago Police Marine Unit responded to a report of a person in the water in the 4100-block of South Oakenwald Avenue at about 10:30 pm on May 8.

A woman in her 30s or 40s was pulled from the lake and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Authorities have not released her identity.

Police are conducting a death investigation and further details were not immediately available.

US Navy seaman Seamus Gray disappeared after leaving Ibiza Nightclub at 1.35 am on March 18 and sent his mother this picture

Seamus Gray, 21,

US Navy seaman Seamus Gray disappeared after leaving Ibiza Nightclub at 1.35 am on March 18.

He was reported missing the following day after he didnt report back to the naval Station Great Lakes base at his scheduled 2am time.

Surveillance footage showed Gray talking to a group of people outside ethe club at around 2am, before falling to the floor.

At one point someone grabs his wallet from his pocket, before throwing it at him. Gray was then seen walking down a nearby alley.

Police say that he was kicked out of the club for being too drunk. His body was recovered on April 19 in Lake Michigan.

He had no significant injuries, and was over the legal drink driving limit, with the Lake County Coroners office ruling his cause of death was drowning but the manner of death was undetermined.

Noah Enos, 26, vanished on June 12 when he was last seen at The Salt Shed in the windy city with a co-worker (pictured)

At a vigil last week his girlfriend Nicole Wijs said: 'I know Noah wasn't the first one to go missing and be found in the river, and I sure as s**t hope that he's the last'

Noah Enos, 26,

Noah Enos, 26, vanished on June 12 when he was last seen at The Salt Shed in the windy city with a co-worker.

The pair became separated after his phone died, and friends and family reported him missing shortly afterward.

His body was discovered in the Chicago River near the 1300 block of North Elston Avenue, though authorities are yet to announce a cause of death.

Enos' family are calling for 'justice for Noah' as they believe he was killed, and a GoFundMe claims that they are raising funds for a private investigator as well as for funeral expenses.
Steven Crowder's divorce has taken a bitter turn as he demanded full custody of his one-year-old twins in a fiery courtroom face-off with his ex which saw them reference everything from sweet potatoes to Donald Trump.

The 35-year-old YouTuber attended a chaotic public hearing in Denton County, Texas, where his legal team clashed with the attorney of his former partner, stay-at-home mom Hilary Crowder, nee Korzon.

Crowder is demanding full access to his children despite once claiming that fathers are 'largely useless' - and according to his 36-year-old ex-wife he did not turn up at the hospital for their birth.

The courtroom got louder with Crowder as the conservative commentator's four attorneys and the single lawyer representing Korzon spoke over each other throughout the two-and-a-half hour hearing on Thursday.

'There was so much interrupting from both parties that the court reporter scolded the parties multiple times saying he was struggling capturing the testimony,' a local journalist from Current Revolt who was in the courtroom said.

Steven Crowder, 35, is demanding full custody of his one-year-old twins Magnus and Charlotte in a fiery courtroom face-off with his ex, Michigan-born former interior designer turned stay-at-home mom Hilary Crowder (nee Korzon)

Conservative commentator Crowder previously revealed that he and Hilary decided not to have sex until they married in August 2012, as part of their Christian values

According to the Texas news site, Michigan-born former interior designer Hilary claimed her ex has rage problems and punches holes in walls - while Crowder hit back saying she was prone to 'erratic behavior'.

He claimed that Hilary had not informed him that she had posted their home address on Twitter - which her attorney disputed, saying she has no social media presence.

As tensions grew in the courtroom, Crowder also accused Hilary's family of leaking disturbing Ring doorbell footage of him verbally abusing her while she was eight months pregnant.

The footage showed Crowder banning her from using their car to go grocery shopping - because it would prevent him from going to the gym - and tells her to feed their dogs medicine despite fears it would be toxic for their unborn children.

Heavily pregnant Hilary snaps back at him saying 'your abuse is sick' but later backs down and repeatedly tells him she loves him as he continues laying into her while smoking a cigarette.

Current Revolt said Crowder's legal team requested a private hearing to protect their children's safety, but this was rejected by the Judge who said the public have the right to view proceedings.

Hilary filed for divorce in December 2021. They are pictured here with one of their dogs

In the doorbell footage, Crowder told Hilary she should 'perform wifely duties' as he asked her not to take their only car to go grocery shopping because he would be left stranded at home

Current Revolt said Crowder's legal team requested a private hearing to protect their children's safety, but this was rejected by the Judge who said the public have the right to view proceedings

She referenced how even the former president of the United States Donald Trump is currently in court 'being tried in a very public fashion' because America is a 'free country'.

The Judge added that no threats had been made to the almost two-year-old twins - Magnus and Charlotte - and the worst that had happened was 'a sweet potato was mailed to their house'.

She imposed a gagging order banning Crowder and Hilary from posting anything on social media, warning she would 'hold them responsible' for any case information released by them.

Hilary has also said Crowder was not even present for the birth of their children, and he had moved out of their shared home before they were born.

The YouTuber's lawyers hit back, citing post-surgery 'health issues' preventing him from being present at the birth, along with Covid-19 rules at the time which limited the number of people allowed in hospital rooms.

Hilary said Crowder was not even present for the birth of their children, and he had moved out of their shared home before they were born

Crowder made the divorce announcement in April during an episode of his podcast, Louder with Crowder

At the end of the hearing, the judge withheld her ruling on whether Crowder will be granted full custody to his kids to a later date.

During an April episode of his podcast, Louder with Crowder, he revealed his wife had filed for divorce in 2021 and claimed he had been 'living with a proverbial boot on my neck for years'.

The Christian couple waited to have sex until they married on August 25 2012, after three months of engagement.

Crowder initially said that he and Hilary decided to keep the divorce private for the safety of their two children.

In similar scenes to the Crowder's doorbell footage leak, disgraced Infowars boss Alex Jones was also caught on tape berating his ex-wife Kelly while she told him she forgave him and begged him to be nice to her.

The six-minute clip, obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com last month, was recorded in November 2009.
Sadiq Khan was told to 'stop lying' by a heckler last night as he sought to defend his controversial Ulez expansion plans - as watchdogs rapped him for a 'lack of data transparency' over his justification for the scheme.

The Labour politician sought to defend his flagship clean air policy at LBC's State of London debate at the 02 Arena after heavy criticism for lumbering hard-pressed families and businesses with extra costs.

Explaining to presenter James O'Brien how he hoped the Ultra Low Emission Zone will cover all of London from August, Mr Khan said: 'Each year, in our city, around 4,000 people die prematurely, directly, because of air pollution. There are children in our city with stunted lungs, permanently, because of air pollution.'

At this point a heckler berated Mr Khan over the scientific evidence he had used to justify Ulez, with the man arguing he had 'misconstrued it'.

'No-one has died, stop lying!' he shouted - as Mr O'Brien urged him to stop because he did not have a microphone so could not be heard by the radio audience.

An anti-Ulez heckler shouting at Sadiq Khan during the State of London Debate at the O2 Arena in Greenwich

Mr Khan continued by saying that Government's figures show 36,000 people died in the UK because of air pollution.

Heckled again, he continued: 'We introduced the Ulez in central London. In two years, it reduced the poison by 50% but it also led to a third fewer children being admitted in hospital.'

It came as the Mayor was criticised for a lack of 'transparency' after he claimed 90 per cent of cars would escape paying any charges under the scheme.

READ MORE - Research finds no 'clear' proof controversial zones slash rates of lung conditions Advertisement

Motorists driving in or through the outer suburbs of London will have to pay a 12.50 daily levy or a 180 fine after August 29 if they pollute too much under the new standards.

But the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) told the Mayor to provide more details to back up his statement, adding that it was part of a pattern where the mayor's Transport for London (TfL) agency made public claims without publishing supporting evidence.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), the independent regulatory arm of the UKSA, looked at what Mr Khan has said about ULEZ after Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson complained that his claim was 'misleading'.

In a letter to Ms Wilson, UKSA chairman Sir Robert Chote said: 'We are satisfied that data collected by TfL at the time supports the Mayor's claim that nine in 10 cars seen driving in outer London now meet ULEZ standards.

'However, data on households in outer London who have a car that meet ULEZ emissions standards are not available.

'The statement made by the Mayor relating to households in outer London is therefore not supported by publicly available data.

At this point one audience member berated Mr Khan over the scientific evidence he had used to justify Ulez, with the man arguing he had 'misconstrued it'

'The data underlying the Mayor's claim on cars driving in outer London were not available to the general public at the time, either from the Mayor's office or from TfL.

'Users requesting clarification were provided with additional information but that too was not made available on an equal basis to the general public.'

Sir Robert said that this was 'inconsistent' with 'principles of intelligent transparency' and the Code of Practice for Statistics to which the Mayor and TfL voluntarily subscribe.

'This case is one of several examples raised with us in which TfL has made statements or issued press releases based on unpublished TfL data or where data quoted are not provided with sufficient context,' he said.

'This prevents interested members of the public from being able to verify the figures, which can undermine trust in the organisations producing the analysis and their other outputs.

'While some additional information has now been published, I would urge the Mayor and TfL to make this material fully accessible to support understanding on what is a topic of high public interest.'

Anti-ULEZ protesters holding a rally at Marble Arch earlier this week

Ms Wilson said the Mayor 'has serious questions to answer'.

She said: 'The case for delaying this scheme is now overwhelming. Not even the Mayor knows how many households in outer London have non-compliant cars.'

A spokesperson for Sadiq Khan said: 'City Hall welcomes confirmation that the OSR is content with the accuracy of the statement that nine out of ten cars seen driving on an average day in outer London are ULEZ compliant.

'We note that further background explaining the data should have been provided at the time.'
A Las Vegas teen has been jailed for up to 40 years for a savage attack on his teacher where he raped and strangled her before trying to slash her wrists.

Jonathan Martinez-Garcia, 17, smirked at his sentencing Wednesday as the court heard in harrowing detail how he ambushed the teacher by asking if he could speak about his grades after class at El Dorado High School in April 2022.

Martinez-Garcia waited until her back was turned before trying to choke her with a 'rope or string'. He then slammed the young woman's head against a table, knocking her unconscious.

When the victim awoke, her pants and underwear had been pulled down. Martinez-Garcia poured something over her saying he was going to set her on fire and then pushed a bookshelf onto the woman which he then sat on.

The victim, who identified herself only as Sade, told the judge that she believed she was going to die during the horrific ordeal which left her covered in bruises. Sade told the sentencing hearing, she has been 'imprisoned' mentally and physically.

Jonathan Martinez-Garcia, 17, smirked at his sentencing Wednesday as the court heard in harrowing detail how he ambushed the teacher by asking if he could speak about his grades after class at El Dorado High School in April 2022.

The victim (pictured) identified as Sade told the court, said 'he beat my body so badly that I couldn't fight'

'It only makes sense that he too should be in prison for as long as possible,' she said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Martinez-Garcia was sentenced at Vegas' Regional Justice Center after pleading guilty to attempted murder, attempted sexual assault, and battery with use of a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm that left his victim with trauma and multiple injuries.

Clark County District Court Judge Kathleen Delaney, sentenced Martinez-Garcia to a minimum of 16 years behind bars, rising to a maximum term of 40 years, the Associated Press reported.

Prosecutors asked the judge that for a minimum of 22 to 55 years behind bars. But in her sentencing, Judge Delaney said she was 'balancing the seriousness of the crime with other factors'.

The brutal attack occurred after Martinez-Garcia went to his teacher's classroom after school hours to discuss his grades. Police said he locked the classroom door before he viciously beat her.

The teacher told cops she asked Martinez-Garcia why he was assaulting her, and he responded that he 'didn't like teachers' and was 'getting revenge.'

During the attack, Martinez-Garcia attempted to slit the teacher's wrists and told her, 'Can't you die already?'

He initially told cops he 'blacked out' and didn't remember the attack, but later admitted he remembered trying to choke her and conceded he had raped her.

Images of some of the brutal injuries Sade sustained were shown in the courtroom.

Sade recounted: 'He beat my body so badly that I couldn't fight.'

'One of the times I woke, I found myself trapped under heavy shelves that he toppled over me to where my breathing was suppressed, and I was being crushed to near death,' she recalled.

'I truly believed with everything in me that I was going to die right there under those shelves.'

A close-up of some of the bruising the teacher sustained from the violent April 7, 2022 attack

A photo of El Dorado High School located in downtown Las Vegas where Sade worked as an educator and where Martinez-Garcia was a student

Sade's mother told the judge that her daughter used to be a gregarious woman who came from a family of educators and had moved to Vegas to begin her first teaching job.

But since the attack she has had difficulty leaving her home because of ongoing physical and mental health complications.

'For the rest of her life, her last memory of teaching is going to be this student, trying to kill her,' Sade's mother told the judge.

Prosecutors said that the teacher remembers Martinez-Garcia saying repeatedly: 'Why won't you die?'

Sade told the judge that she did not return to her teaching job after the attack because she felt mentally and physically 'imprisoned.'

Martinez-Garcia fled after the attack and took the teacher's keys. The instructor was later found by a school employee who called 911.

The teen was arrested shortly after by school police while he was on his way to an award ceremony at the school.

The Judge rebuked Martinez-Garcia Wednesday, telling him that such an attack on a teacher was totally unacceptable.

She said: 'It is the most heinous type of crime there could be.'

His mother described him as a 'good student.' She said he hadn't been diagnosed with any medical or mental disabilities,' but told police that he seemed 'depressed and disconnected' in recent months.

In the arrest report Martinez-Garcia talks about the attack on his teacher with detectives.

He said: 'I don't know why I attacked her, she was good to me.'

Martinez-Garcia pictured (far right) with his family. His mother described him as a 'good student.' She said he hadn't been diagnosed with any medical or mental disabilities,' but told police that he seemed 'depressed and disconnected' in recent months

Martinez-Garcia's public defender, Ty Gaston, argued that his behavior was caused by severe side effects of an asthma medication, Singulair, which caused mood changes, night terrors and hallucinations.

Singulair manufacturer, Merck, is facing a slew of lawsuits that allege the company coovered up links between its asthma drug and the severe effects on patients' mental health.

Chief Deputy District Attorney William Rowles said Wednesday that he does not believe the side effect of the medication was a valid reason for the attack.

'I firmly believe that there are still certain crimes and still certain conduct that requires a punitive punishment,' he said.

In April, Martinez-Garcia got a plea deal that avoided trial in the after school attack after he pled guilty to attempted sexual assault and battery with use of a deadly weapon resulting in substantial bodily harm.

Other charges against him were also dropped, The Associated Press reported.

At the sentencing, Martinez-Garcia dressed in navy blue prison clothes apologized and said he regretted what he had done.

He told the courtroom he blames no one but himself and said that he was ready to 'accept the consequences,' KSNV reported.

His lawyer Gaston said Martinez-Garcia's erratic behavior were side effects of an asthma medication he was on that caused hallucinations, mood changes, and night terrors, the Review-Journal reported.

Gaston said: 'He was no history of anything but being a perfect loving kid.'
Heart-breaking images have emerged from the funerals of 14-year-old twin sisters killed earlier this week in an indiscriminate Russian missile strike on a pizzeria in Kramatorsk, Ukraine.

Yuliya and Anna Aksenchenko were among the 12 people killed after Vladimir Putin's missiles pounded the RIA Pizzeria on Tuesday evening. They had been in the vicinity of the restaurant during the attack.

This morning, the family held a mourning ceremony for them at their apartment several hundred metres away from the site.

Their mother was seen weeping as she sat by the graves of her two daughters.

The girls lay in coffins with open caskets, but were covered with a white and gold sheet.

Heart-breaking images have emerged from the funerals of 14-year-old twin sisters killed earlier this week. Their parents can be seen weeping while placing their hands on the girls' open coffins

Yuliya and Anna Aksenchenko, both 14, were among the 12 people killed on Tuesday

Putin's missiles pounded the RIA Pizzeria on Tuesday evening, in an indiscriminate strike

Mourners said they had been dressed in wedding dresses for their burial, a custom in Ukraine for girls who die before they have a chance to be married.

None of the family members were in any condition to speak to reporters, the twins' godfather said.

Initially unable to find two wedding dresses in a city not far from the front and where wedding parlours are closed, friends and family issued an online appeal for well-wishers to donate two dresses so that the girls could be buried.

'This is a tradition. If girls become angels, go up to heaven before getting married, they are dressed in wedding dresses so they can find their other half there,' said Viktoria Kushka, 50, a teacher who taught Anna and Yuliia in first grade.

The blast at the pizzeria also wounded at least 56 at the eatery, popular with both soldiers and journalists in the town of Kramatorsk, one of the largest still under Ukrainian control in the east of the country, where fighting is most fierce.

Ukrainian police said Russia fired two S-300 surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles at the city. The weapons are not precision strike missiles, and can damage large areas.

A second missile hit a village on the fringes of Kramatorsk, injuring five, but the main casualties were at the restaurant. Among the injured was an infant born last year.

'The bodies of three people, including a minor born in 2008, have been recovered from the rubble,' the interior ministry said on Telegram.

'Rescuers are working through the rubble of the destroyed building and searching for people who are probably still under it,' emergency services said.

Oleh and Olha Aksenchenko are pictured mourning the tragic death of their two 14-year-old daughters

Pictured are the girls' family members mourning their tragic deaths

Pictured is a makeshift memorial placed by the pizzeria where 12 people were killed

At least eight people were killed, including three children, after Vladimir Putin's missiles pounded a crowded Ukrainian restaurant overnight. Pictured: A crying woman is held by a man at the site of the restaurant destroyed in the Russian missile strike

A Russian missile also hit a cluster of buildings in Kremenchuk, about 230 miles west in central Ukraine, exactly a year after an attack on a shopping mall there that killed at least 20. No casualties were reported in the latest attack.

Russia has repeatedly denied its forces are targeting civilian sites in its so-called 'special military operation' despite overwhelming evidence on the contrary.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in strikes, and schools, hospitals and stations have all been attacked during the Kremlin's disastrous 16-month invasion.

The Kremlin and its armies have been accused of war crimes since day one.

In Kramatorsk, emergency workers scurried in and out of the restaurant overnight as residents stood outside embracing and surveying the damage from the strike.

The building was reduced to a twisted web of metal beams. Police and soldiers emerged carrying a stretcher bearing a man in military trousers and boots. He was placed in an ambulance, though it was not clear whether he was still alive.

'There were a lot of people in there - there are children under the rubble,' said Yevgen, who had been dining with two friends.

Two men screamed in frenzied tones for a tow rope, then ran back towards the rubble.

'I ran here after the explosion because I rented a cafe here... everything has been blown out there,' Valentyna, 64, said.

'None of the glass, windows or doors are left. All I see is destruction, fear and horror. This is the 21st century.'

'We were just about to leave,' he said, but one of his friends was now 'under the rubble', he said after the explosion.

Rescuers and volunteers carry a young child from the rubble after Russian missile strike hit a restaurant and several houses in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on June 27

The blast at the Ria Pizza restaurant also wounded at least 56 at the eatery (pictured), popular with both soldiers and journalists in the town of Kramatorsk, one of the largest still under Ukrainian control in the east of the country, where fighting is most fierce

A crowd quickly gathered at the site, where fires continued to burn as soldiers and rescue workers searched for other victims.

Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said two Russian rockets had struck the city that was once home to 150,000 people, one of the largest still under Ukrainian control in the country's besieged east.

'There was a good crowd' at the restaurant when the missile hit, one of its cooks, 32-year-old Ruslan, said.

'I had just arrived: I was standing there, and then I was buried,' he said. 'I was lucky.'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video message that the attacks showed that Russia 'deserved only one thing as a consequence of what it has done - defeat and a tribunal'.

Natalia, in tears, said her half-brother Nikita, 23, was inside near the pizza oven.

'They can't get him out, he was covered' by debris, she said.

Video footage posted by the Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko showed wailing emergency vehicles pulling into the affected area and rescue teams in protective equipment moving in the building's shattered structure.

Other footage on military Telegram channels showed one man, his head bleeding, receiving first aid on the pavement.

'People told me they heard a plane flying, there was a hissing and then an explosion,' a 19-year-old Ukrainian soldier who gave his war name as 'Ghost', and was nearby when the strike occurred, told AFP.

Rescues and volunteers carry a woman rescued from the debris at the site of hotel and restaurant buildings heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike

A view shows a building of a restaurant heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine

An injured man reacts at the site of a hotel building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike

Rescuers and volunteers work to rescue people from under the rubble after a missile strike hit a restaurant in Kramatorsk

He quickly entered the restaurant to help rescue workers. 'A girl was trapped, injured. They haven't yet been able to get her out,' he said.

Kramatorsk lies about 18 miles from the front line.

It is a major city west of the front lines in Donetsk province and a likely key objective in any Russian advance westward seeking to capture all of the region.

The city has been a frequent target of Russian attacks, including a strike on the town's railway station in April 2022 that killed 63 people. There were at least two strikes on apartment buildings and other civilian sites earlier this year.
OK, my friend, so what would you do? Just get off your high horse for a second, and stop sneering at a remarkable African country, of which you know virtually nothing, and tell me how you would fix it.

If you have a better plan for stopping the illegal Channel crossings, I have yet to hear it. Thats what I say to all those who attack the Rwanda scheme. We have the boat numbers ticking up again.

We have more and more people who are willing to risk their lives  and sometimes the lives of their children  in frail and unseaworthy vessels.

We have the long weeks of the summer ahead, when flotillas of dinghies will be launched across the level brine from France, full to the gunwales with able-bodied young men (the vast majority of the complements) who know perfectly well that as soon as they reach UK waters they have made it; that they will be fed, housed, looked after; that taxpayer-funded lawyers will make it impossible for them to be deported; and that eventually they will be able to melt into the UKs vast and labour-hungry economy.

That is the certainty that encourages them to pay the criminal gangs their extortionate fees. That is the pitch that these gangsters are making to these desperate young people.

The Rwanda plan is the only practical hope we have of breaking the traffickers' business model, says Boris Johnson

The number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats is ticking up again

Home Secretary Suella Braverman tours a building site in Kigali, Rwanda, to see houses that are being constructed - and could eventually house deported migrants from the UK

You may be risking your life. You may be breaking the law. But once you set foot on the shores of England, you are in, and there is not a darn thing they can do about it.

The Rwanda plan is the only practical hope we have of breaking that business model. We must provide a vivid demonstration  to the gangs, and all the people who are so foolish as to trust to their boats  that there is another future.

We have to show that an illegal arrival in Britain is not the end of the story. We have to prove that instead of being put up in a hotel, you might  just might  find yourself being put on a plane, and having your asylum application being processed in Kigali.

As soon as that becomes a realistic possibility, the effect on the human traffickers will, I believe, be dramatic. The word will get around the campfire, the doubts will creep in  and instead of breaking the law, and mocking our immigration system, people will start to do the right thing: to make use of the numerous safe and legal routes for people to come to Britain.

We should be proud of what this Government has done, in the past few years, to welcome those who have come in fear of persecution of one kind or another: Hong Kong Chinese, Afghans, Ukrainians  the numbers are now significant. The British people are deeply committed to providing sanctuary for all those in fear of their lives, in fear of any kind of prejudice and discrimination. We are a nation built on historic waves of immigration, from the Huguenots to Windrush and beyond.

All we ask of our governments is that this process is controlled, and that it is fair, and that criminal gangs do not sap our natural compassion by helping illegal arrivals to jump the queue.

That is why the Rwanda plan must and will work  and why Rishi Sunak is quite right to press on, after this weeks reverse in the Court of Appeal, and take it straight to the Supreme Court. I urge everyone, sceptics and supporters alike, to read the judgment of Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice. Even though he was outvoted by his two colleagues, I believe it is no disrespect if I say that they were wrong, and the Lord Chief Justice was spot on.

In a nutshell, he just did not believe that a judge sitting in London should second-guess the Government and decide that Rwanda was an unsafe country.

He thought that it was vanishingly unlikely that the scheme would compromise the human rights of anyone sent from Britain to Rwanda. He noted that Rwanda was heavily invested in the success of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with the UK, and would take great care to get things right.

He dismissed the suggestion that people arriving from Britain would be at risk of being sent on to third countries, where they might be tortured.

He pointed out that the arrivals  who would not, at least at first, be numerous  would all have continuous access to mobile phones, and any shortcomings in the provision of lawyers, interpreters, transcripts, reasons for decision-making, and so on, would readily come to light.

He noted that there would be continuous monitoring of the scheme, with a joint commission between the two governments. He stressed the presence of Home Office experts in Kigali.

What I found so refreshing about his judgment is that he plainly appreciated the massive engagement between Britain and Rwanda to solve the problem.

This Rwanda scheme was devised not by crazed ideologues, but by clever and idealistic people across Whitehall who see a chance to work with a developing country to solve a chronic and debilitating problem, and for mutual benefit.

We always knew that it would be difficult, and when I launched the scheme on April 14 last year, I was explicit that it would take time, and that it would face many legal challenges and reverses. I also said that it might be necessary to take further steps and, if required, to change the law.

The time has now come to do this. I have every hope that the Supreme Court will follow the opinion of the Lord Chief Justice, and quash the decision of the Court of Appeal. But we must be realistic. There is now a good chance that the laws delays will be so severe that no illegal arrivals will be sent to Rwanda this year, and perhaps not even next year. That would be intolerable, and it is time for Parliament to cut the Gordian Knot.

There are some who argue that we should immediately quit the European Convention on Human Rights; and though I can certainly see the attractions of this it would take time, and cause divisions, and would not solve the immediate problem raised by this case.

As Lord Burnett puts it so well, the nub of the issue is who should decide whether Rwanda is a safe country  UK government diplomats and officials who have worked for years on the project, on the ground, in Africa; or judges in London who have been listening to the pleas of the lobby groups.

As the judgment points out, the Government has the power, under Schedule 3 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004, to ask Parliament to deem Rwanda a safe country. That has not so far been done and it should now be done  immediately.

Yes, of course there would be a row. The House of Lords might well be difficult  but we have been here before.

It is time for the Government to settle the legal position. It is time  with a large remaining majority  for Parliament to determine that Rwanda is safe, bust the evil people traffickers, stop the boats, recapture the spirit of 2019 and get Rwanda done.
A seven-year-old Polish boy and his mother have died after plunging from a ferry into the Baltic Sea, Swedish authorities have said, with a murder probe now underway.

The child plunged 65ft into the Baltic sea from the Stena Spirit ferry with his mother jumping in after him in an apparent attempt to save her son, early reports suggested, as the ship was midway through its voyage from Sweden to Poland yesterday.

Horrified passengers watched as rescue helicopters, including one from a nearby NATO unit, circled over the water for around an hour desperately trying to locate the pair.

The mother was found in the freezing water 59 minutes after the alarm was sounded and her son seven minutes later, according to a Stena Line official, before they were winched by helicopter and rushed to Karlskrona Hospital.

Swedish prosecutors said this afternoon that they had initiated a preliminary investigation where the criminal charge is murder, while adding that no suspect had been identified.

An extensive search and rescue operation was launched involving ships and helicopters from Sweden and NATO units in the area also came to their assistance

According to initial media reports, a child had fallen into the sea and the woman had jumped in after him

The Swedish ferry, Stena Spirit, had 310 passengers onboard and was midway through its journey to Gdynia in Poland from Karlskrona in Sweden when the tragedy occurred, officials have said

'The investigation aims to try to clarify what happened,' prosecutor Stina Brindmark said.

The prosecutor did not want to answer whether the investigation concerns the mother, who was in her mid-thirties.

Brindmark added: 'The two people who fell from a ferry travelling to Karlskrona yesterday have died.

'They are a Polish woman born in 1985 and a Polish boy born in 2016,' police said, adding that the next of kin had been notified.

Police spokesman Mariusz Ciarka confirmed earlier today: 'Unfortunately, in the morning we received information from the Swedish side that we have to pass on this terrible news to the family, because both the boy and the woman are dead.'

The Swedish ferry, Stena Spirit, had 310 passengers onboard and was midway through its journey to Gdynia in Poland from Karlskrona in Sweden when the tragedy occurred, officials have said.

The ferry's rescue boat, a helicopter belonging to the Swedish Maritime Administration, German helicopters and an American aircraft from a nearby NATO exercise all took part in the rescue effort, local media reports.

The circumstances surrounding the horrifying incident remain unknown.

The Swedish ferry, Stena Spirit, was in the Baltic midway through its journey to Gdynia in Poland from Karlskrona in Sweden (file image shows the ferry)

'There were passengers who alerted the crew that two people were missing. Then possessions were found without the people. Then the crew was alerted and surveillance images were checked', Stefan Elfstrom, head of information at Stena Line, told local media.

According to initial media reports, a little boy had fallen into the sea and a woman had jumped in after him.

However, Agnieszka Zembrzycka, a Stena Line spokesperson, told Polish media on Friday that the CCTV footage from the ship did not match this version of events.

She declined to provide further details pending the outcome of the inquiry into what took place.

'At the moment we have no information whether this was due to a malfunction of the ferry,' Stena Line spokesperson Agnieszka Zembrzycka told TVN 24.

An extensive search and rescue operation was launched involving ships and helicopters from Sweden, with NATO units in the area also coming to their assistance

'We are cooperating with the police and other authorities that are appointed to explain the causes and circumstances of this event.'

Swedish police issued an appeal to Polish passengers via Poland's state-run news agency PAP asking for information that could explain how the accident occurred.

Swedish Maritime Administration spokesperson Jonas Franzen told reporters that the child fell from a height of about 20 meters (65 feet).

'First we received a report that one person had fallen overboard, then it turned out to be two,' said Lars Blom, chief of rescue operations at the Swedish Maritime Administration rescue centre.

Swedish Maritime Administration spokesperson Jonas Franzen told reporters that the child fell from a height of about 20 meters (65 feet). (File image shows Stena Spirit)

Sebastian Kluska, a Polish Maritime Search and Rescue Service director, said the ferry left Gdynia on Thursday at 9am and headed towards Karlskrona in southern Sweden.

At approximately 4.20pm information came through about two people who fell from the ferry and emergency services rushed to the scene.

The accident occurred in the Swedish area of responsibility of the SAR service, but his Polish team was called in to help, he said.

About five minutes after the broadcast of the message, which was also sent out by Polish Rescue Radio, the Swedish administration and the Swedish Rescue Coordination Center asked for help, he told news site Fakt.pl.

It was the rescue boat crew who found the Polish woman and her son in the water, he added, claiming they were then handed over to rescue helicopters.

The Stena Spirit was involved in an accident in the Polish harbour of Gdynia in 2012, which left three people injured. Picture shows damage to crane after 2012 crash (ferry not pictured)

He also suggested that one of the victims was resuscitated on board the ship, and the other immediately flew to the hospital.

Tragically, despite the best efforts of emergency responders, the boy and his mother died in the hospital.

The hospital declined to comment, referring inquiries to the police.

MS Stena Spirit is a large cruiseferry owned by Stena Line. It entered service in 1988 as Stena Scandinavica and later underwent a major refit.

The ferry was involved in an accident in the Polish harbour of Gdynia in 2012, which left three people injured.
Former senior civil servant Sue Gray has been cleared to start as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff as soon as September.

The ex-Whitehall official, who authored the Partygate report into Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street, has been told she needs to only wait six months before joining Labour.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) said such a period would provide a 'clear break' between Ms Gray's time as a top civil servant and her employment by Sir Keir.

Ms Gray quit her senior role at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in March when it was publicly revealed she had been offered a job by the Labour leader.

It means she will be free to join Sir Keir's party in September, just before the party's conference in Liverpool, following Acoba's advice of a six-month waiting period from her last day in Whitehall on 2 March.

Ms Gray's offer of employment by Labour caused a furious political row when it emerged earlier this year.

Allies of former prime minister Boris Johnson claimed her talks with Labour had made her Partygate conclusions look 'like a left-wing stitch up'.

They also raised concerns about the 'impartiality' of Whitehall officials, while some Government figures had demanded Acoba impose a waiting period of a year before Ms Gray could join Labour.

Former senior civil servant Sue Gray has been cleared to start as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff as soon as September

The Labour leader has always maintained he'd had no contact while Ms Gray was conducting her inquiry into Downing Street parties

Sir Keir has always maintained he'd had no contact while Ms Gray was conducting her inquiry into Downing Street parties.

In their advice letter to Ms Gray, published today, Acoba said they 'shared some of the concerns raised by Ms Grays former departments about the potential risk to the integrity of the civil service'.

But they found 'no evidence' that Ms Grays 'decision-making or ability to remain impartial was impaired whilst she remained in her civil service role'.

The Acoba letter added: 'Given the lack of commercial risk, and the limited scope for undue influence, the committee determined that twice the standard waiting period would be proportionate to mitigate the risks identified, providing a clear break of six months before Ms Gray takes up the role.'

It also revealed that Ms Gray had told Acoba that she was first approached by Sir Keir in late October last year, just over four months since news of the job offer by Labour first became public.

The watchdog added: 'Ms Gray also said that whilst she had brief personal conversations with the employer during her time in office, no government policy or business was discussed.

'No evidence to the contrary has been provided to the committee.'

Acoba - which is often derided as 'toothless' by critics - also said it had not been provided with any evidence that 'contact with the future employer could lead to reasonable concerns that decisions or actions taken in office may have been impacted by the expectation of a paid appointment in the future'.

Labour sources said Ms Gray formally accepted their job offer today, which paved the way for the Acoba advice to be published.

Sir Keir said: 'I'm delighted that Sue Gray will be joining Labour as my chief of staff.

'Sue will lead our work preparing for a mission-led Labour government. She brings unrivalled experience on how the machinery of government works and is a woman of great integrity.

'After 13 years of the Tories, we know there is much to do to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, grow our economy and rebuild our public services.

'Should we be privileged enough to be elected, Sue will ensure we're able to hit the ground running. I look forward to her starting.

'I'm also grateful to Acoba for their work. We have followed the process and accept their advice.'

The Cabinet Office is due on Monday to publish a report accusing Ms Gray of breaching the rules governing civil servants, but no retrospective punishment will be possible now she has left Whitehall.

Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quin is due to make a written statement to Parliament titled 'Prima facie breach of the Civil Service code by the former Second Permanent Secretary for the Union and the Constitution'.
The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a Christian web design business who refused to design a website for a same-sex wedding, the latest in a series of decisions that expands the reach of religion in daily life.

The vote was 6-3, reflected the conservative-liberal divide among justices.

The ruling overturned a lower court's decision that Denver-area business owner Lorie Smith was not allowed an exemption from a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

'The First Amendments protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy,' wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch for the majority.

'In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance.'

Lorie Smith is a Christian graphic designer who said her religious beliefs would make her decline requests to design wedding websites for same sex couples

A person protests outside the Supreme Court, Friday, June 30, 2023, as decisions are expected in Washington

Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, is an evangelical Christian who said she believes marriage can only exist between a man and a woman.

She sued Colorado's civil rights commission and officials in 2016 because she said she feared being punished for refusing to serve gay weddings.

She insisted she did not want to discriminate against anyone but simply objects to not being able to express her Christian beliefs.

And she argued that her websites counted as art and were protected by her constitutional right to free speech.

In his majority opinion, Gorsuch agreed. He said that the First Amendment prohibited Colorado from 'forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees.'

President Joe Biden said the ruling was disappointing.

'I'm deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans,' he said.

'More broadly, todays decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations  including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.'

People react outside of the Supreme Court Friday, June 30, 2023, in Washington, after the Supreme Court's conservative majority ruled that a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the case, reflecting its conservative-liberal split

During oral arguments, the court's liberal justices said a ruling in Smith's favor would encourage other businesses to discriminate against certain customers.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the minority dissent. She said the ruling was 'profoundly wrong.'

'Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class,' she said, reading from the bench in a display of the depth of the minority's feeling.

'Today is a sad day in American constitutional law and in the lives of LGBT people.'

Smith's case was argued by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a rightwing Christian group which has frequently pursued cases targeted gay and transgender people's rights.

Democrats were quick to condemn the ruling.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said: 'Refusing service based on whom someone loves is just as bigoted and hateful as refusing service because of race or religion. And this is bigotry that the vast majority of Americans find completely unacceptable.'

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the ruling as 'bigotry'

The ruling is the latest to show conservatives flexing their muscles on the court.

In some cases, such as overturning Roe v Wade last year, they have struck down what many legal experts considered to be settled law.

It came a day after it struck down the use of affirmative action by universities to improve diversity.

President Joe Biden slammed that verdict from what he said was now not a 'normal court.'

And later on Friday the court issued a ruling blocking President Joe Biden's plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt.

Nikki Haley, Republican runner for the party's 2024 nomination, welcomed the website decision.

'Unlike in other countries, we don't force our citizens to express themselves in ways that conflict with their religious beliefs,' she said. 'It's called the First Amendment.

'I'm glad we have a Supreme Court that respects our Constitution.'
A mother and her eight-year-old son were reported to the Labor Department after they tried to recruit kids in their neighborhood to be a 'smiler' or 'greeter' at their lemonade stand.

Cristal Johnson and her son Cam were surprised when Alabama officials contacted them regarding the stand, which they had set up last year in their driveway to support the boy's dream of going to Disney World.

The complaint was reportedly made after the mother-son duo from Hueytown put up a flyer announcing a now-cancelled 'one-day-apprenticeship' on July 9 at Cam's Lemonade.

The flyer said they were looking for two kids between the ages of six and ten to work at the stand, and child would be paid $20 after a two-hour shift helping to sell lemonade.

'Child must submit their own resume to me telling me that they want to be when they grow up and why,' the 'CAM IS HIRING' poster instructed.

Cristal Johnson and her son Cam (pictured) were shocked to find out they were reported to the Department of Labor for trying to recruit kids to work at their lemonade stand in Alabama

The flyer said they were looking for two kids between the ages of six and ten to work at the stand, and child would be paid $20 after a two-hour shift helping to sell lemonade

'Child must submit their own resume to me telling me hat they want to be when they grow up and why,' the 'CAM IS HIRING' poster instructed

'We will open from 2-6, you can drop them off with us at the truck for a 2 hr shift, and pick them up at the end of their shift,' the mom wrote on social media.

'I will let them work with Cam on communicating with customers, giving and receiving payments, and good manners. It is my hope to help them build self esteem, help them with counting, speaking like a big kid, following directions, & some good old fun!'

Earlier this month, Cristal shared on Facebook that, despite her good intentions, the Labor Department informed her that someone had reported the stand.

'Although my heart was in the right place.. someone else's was not. I was reported to the Department of Labor for hiring minors!!! Some miserable soul thought it be a good idea to have it shut down, so with that being said.. the child event I was trying to have is cancelled!!' the mother wrote.

'I think it is disgusting, hateful, and downright sad for a person to find negative in what I was trying to accomplish!

'That person is no doubt reading this message, and this is for you: You CANNOT stop what is destined to be! You didn't win! All you did is make me figure out another way!'

Cristal told The Washington Post that Cam had become less shy, coming out of the shell thanks to the stand, which became so successful that their product was even sold in grocery stores.

The respiratory therapist crafted the stand out of wooden crates painted blue and decorated it with lemons and flowers, and a sign advertising the drink for $2 a cup.

Seeing how good working at the stand was for Cam, the mom decided it would be a good idea to impart the same skills of hard work on other kids.

'I was trying to do a good thing, give back to my community and to find out that someone insinuated that I was trying to labor minors, that wasit was pretty sad,' the mother told Fox & Friends on Thursday.

Cristal said Cam had become less shy, coming out of the shell thanks to the stand, which became so successful that their product was even sold in grocery stores

Cam's Lemonade Stand consists of Cristal preparing the lemonade batches in a rented commercial kitchen and transporting the bottles by car

Cam added that he felt 'sad' after leaning they had been reported.

It's unclear who reported the mom and son to the authorities.

The Labor Department did not sanction the mother and son in any way, according to a spokesperson, who explained that while lemonade stands are perfectly legal, Cam's Lemonade is subject to the state's labor laws because it has 'professional transportation and distribution.'

Cam's Lemonade Stand consists of Cristal preparing the lemonade batches in a rented commercial kitchen and transporting the bottles by car.

Alabama's labor laws dictate that businesses cannot hire children under the age of 14.

However, Spokeswoman Hutchison told The Post that Cristal, who is the sole owner of the business, could employ her own child as long as they are 'under her supervision and not performing hazardous duties.'

The Biden administration announced earlier this year it would be cracking down on child labor after a damning report said it had risen by nearly 70 percent over the last five years.

Since 2018, the number of children working illegally in US factories has risen to 3,876 from 2,299.

Between 2021 and 2022, the number of minors working those jobs rose by over 1,000.
A drill rapper accused of plotting a terrorist attack in central London has told a court he put on an 'extremist Isis' persona to impress women.

Al-Arfat Hassan, gained a strong following of young Muslims under the name 'TS', using his music to glorify so-called Islamic State (IS) killings, say prosecutors.

Mr Hassan, 20, from Enfield, north London, is on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of preparing terrorist acts alongside one of his fans, a 16-year-old from Leeds.

On Friday, jurors were shown one of Hassan's music videos, which showed him and other young men sitting round a table, wearing black clothing and balaclavas, with money and weapons on the table.

The defendant told the court the video was meant to show 'a terrorist jihadi network discussing plans'.

Al Arfat Hassan claimed that he only pretended to plot a terrorist atrocity in order to seduce women

Mr Hassan said women were 'drawn in' by the 'jihadi persona' he was developing online in 2021.

'After the success of (his song) Satan 2.0, so many fans, including women, came in to play so I pretty much seduced the women I found attractive,' Mr Hassan told jurors.

'With the jihadi persona a lot of Muslim women were attracted to it. That's the act I kept up with them.'

Mr Hassan was asked about messages to one young woman he met through his music and started a relationship with.

The court heard she was 25 years old at the time, while Hassan was 18. 'Throughout my communications with her I would pretend to be this crazy soldier of God, a terrorist, in other words,' he said.

'That imagery is what attracted her. It's what led her to reach out to me in the first place.'

Asked about a message in which he talked about 'shooting up the whole place for Allah' during a conversation about public transport, Hassan said he had never intended to carry it out, adding: 'It's just something I would say at that time.'

Jurors were shown a picture that Hassan sent the woman of two hands touching, featuring IS imagery, saying that the two of them would recreate the image.

He said it was 'role play' and part of an 'act of coming across as a terrorist'.

Mr Hassan told Sheffield Crown Court that his persona as 'a crazy soldier of God' was imagery intended to attract women

He said: 'I'm presenting to her as someone who's extremist ISIS. My imagery is intimidation, it's hyper-masculine.

'I'm not going to pretend to be an imam at a local mosque to pull a woman.'

Asked if this act worked, the drill rapper said: 'It worked a lot, I was with a lot of women.'

Both defendants deny preparing terrorist acts. Mr Hassan has also pleaded not guilty to possessing an explosive substance under suspicious circumstances, while the 16-year-old denies possessing a document likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

Prosecutors say the pair had 'become heavily radicalised' by late 2021 and both 'supported an extreme Islamist ideology'.

Jurors have heard they researched and planned to buy knives, balaclavas, tactical gloves and materials to make bombs as part of their plans to commit terrorist attacks. The trial continues.
Slain drug baron Alen Moradian was shot multiple times in the head at close range, leaving his face almost unrecognisable.

A source close to the investigation said the cocaine kingpin and Comanchero bikie heavyweight who was executed in Sydney's east on Tuesday morning had not left a good-looking corpse.

'He was shot multiple times through the head,' the source said. 'Absolutely pulverised.'

The 48-year-old cocaine kingpin had also taken bullets to the torso as one of two killers apparently fired every round from a pistol's magazine into his body.

'They walked up and emptied a clip into him,' the source said. 'He wasn't going anywhere.'

Police swarmed Bondi Junction in Sydney's east on Tuesday after Alen Moradian was shot while sitting in the driver's seat of his car

Moradian had been sitting in his black Audi in the underground carpark of his Bondi Junction apartment, about to go to the gym, before he was suddenly fired at about 8.30am on Tuesday.

Police remain on the hunt for two gunmen and have seized two burnt out cars - believed to be used as getaway vehicles - that were abandoned a short time later in Bondi and Zetland.

Moradian's car has been taken away for forensic examination and was seen with seven bullet holes through its driver's side window.

Forensics teams will now begin the gruelling task of performing tests in search for vital clues that may lead them to the killers, such as DNA, ammunition or blood samples.

The car was taken away to undergo further forensic tests as police hunt for the killers

Meanwhile, detectives have traced the Audi - which was not registered under Moradian's name - to a hire car company from southwestern Sydney.

According to The Daily Telegraph, police intelligence suggests the company has links to the Alameddine crime clan and its use - as well as Moradian's associations - will form part of their investigation.

However, one of the getaway cars - a grey Porsche Macan dumped on James St in Bondi - may also prove vital to solving the case after a failed attempt to set it fully alight.

In a major breakthrough, firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze, allowing detectives to recover an intact handgun beneath one of the seats.

Moradian, dubbed Australia's 'Tony Soprano', is understood to have been a member of the Commission, an underworld network linked to the Comancheros which controls the city's drug trade.

Alen Moradian's hire car (pictured) was towed away from the crime scene on Wednesday

He pleaded guilty in 2010 to importing 40kg of cocaine into Australia - although authorities suspected it was up to 100kg - and spent several years behind bars.

Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said Moradian's links to the big names in Sydney's underbelly made him a high-value target in the underworld.

'He's a high-level criminal identity ... he's a major player in the organised crime network and also has links to the Comanchero OMCG (outlaw motorcycle gang),' Doherty said hours after Moradian's death.

'He obviously had a big target on his back.'
The BBC's weather woes continued today as a crew member carrying cups of tea walked across the screen in the middle of a live report - just moments after a glitch forecast a wintry 7C chill across Britain.

Viewers of the corporation's flagship Breakfast programme were quick to spot the worker, who was balancing two mugs on a clipboard and walking towards presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty.

The hosts had just introduced Matt Taylor - who was standing in for Carol Kirkwood - for a weather bulletin.

But the camera unexpectedly cut back towards the presenters, awkwardly catching their colleague delivering refreshments.

It comes after a 'glitch' left the BBC's app and website predicting chilly conditions across the UK and Europe through to next Thursday - and weather presenters accompanied by the wrong forecasts.

The BBC's weather woes continued today as a crew member carrying cups of tea walked across the screen in the middle of a live report

Viewers of the corporation's flagship Breakfast programme were quick to spot the worker, who was balancing two mugs on a clipboard and walking towards presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty

The hosts had just introduced Matt Taylor - who was standing in for Carol Kirkwood - for a weather bulletin

The issue emerged on Thursday night as users took to social media to point out the glaring error, which came just days after the Met Office announced the UK is on track for its hottest June on record.

The BBC's site currently shows a map of Europe covered with a sea of pessimistic forecasts for the next week, including top temperatures of 7C in London, 8C in Paris and 12C in Rome.

But Met Office forecasts show temperatures are set to peak at 24C in London over the weekend, with minimum overnight temperatures of 13C over the next week.

One user joked: 'Go home BBC weather, you're drunk', with another adding: 'Are you serious BBC? New Ice Age?'

The BBC has issued an apology after the 'glitch', saying they were working to fix it as soon as possible.

Seeing the funny side, social media users poked fun at the BBC, with some joking that those in charge must be 'having a laugh'.

One user alluded to the HBO series Game of Thrones as they said: 'Winter is coming. Next week, according to BBC Weather.'

A second added: 'According to BBC Weather it's going to be warmer, sunnier, fresher, brighter, damper, cooler, drier and humid!'

A third quipped: 'Maybe June 2023 won't be the warmest June on record after all if tomorrow's BBC forecast is true.'

A fourth said: 'Cold snap on the way @bbcweather?!'

And another added: '@bbcweather Someone is having a laugh! A constant 7 degrees for the next week?!'

The pessimistic forecasts continue through until next Thursday, with the BBC apologising over the 'glitch'

Many users shared memes and gifs to poke fun at the situation

With the UK actually bracing itself for temperatures of up to 18C today, according to the Met Office, it's no surprise Britons are seeing the funny side.

On Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, presenters again apologised to listeners over the issue, and joked that their in-studio forecaster would definitely give their audience 'the correct' forecast.

Weather presenter Simon King addressed the glitch, saying: 'Temperatures over the next few days are about 16 to 23C by day and about nine to 12C overnight, about the average really for the time of year.

'Not the seven or 8C you are currently seeing on our website or app - so apologies. There is still a technical glitch in that respect.'

Viewers of the BBC's news channels meanwhile pointed out that forecasters appeared to have the wrong information behind them as they predicted temperatures of up to 24C over the weekend.

Responding to the reports last night, a statement on BBC Weather's social media accounts said: 'Our apologies for the incorrect temperatures appearing on the website and app.

'We are working with our data suppliers to fix this fault.'

BBC forecaster Abbie Dewhurst told her followers on Friday: 'Apologies if you're seeing incorrect temperatures on the BBC Weather website and app.

'It's not going to be 8 degrees next week don't worry, we are working with our data suppliers to resolve the problem. For now, a good old fashioned human forecast will have to do...'

After learning about the glitch, some were left relieved that they would not need to get their winter coat out the closet.

Upon discovering the glitch, one woman said: 'Thank christ for that. The panic that my week in majorca was going to be 18 and drizzly nearly sent me under this morning!'

Another user said: 'I know I am cursed with bad weather whenever I book time off work but this can't be right.'

A third joked they would be giving the weather app 'the cold shoulder' until the issue was resolved.

Meanwhile, countries in Europe such as France and Germany are predicted to have soaring temperatures of 24C.

Some cities, such as Madrid, have been given a more generous forecast of 15C by the BBC - but it is still some way off the 34C heatwave predicted in the Spanish capital this weekend.

Amid the 7C prediction in the UK, provisional figures suggest the average temperature for the month is already set to beat the previous record of 14.9C, reached in both June 1940 and June 1976.

Four of the current top ten warmest June have occurred this century: 14.8 C in 2018, 14.5C in 2003, 14.5C in 2006 and 14.4C in 2017. Met Office temperature data begins in 1884.

Sevens above: The forecast in the UK was no more accurate with chilly temperatures predicted

Social media erupted after the BBC Weather app originally predicted it will be 7C across Europe for the next two days

However, it also emerged that it wasn't just the website that was suffering from technical issues.

Footage from BBC News showed forecasters presenting the weather with what appeared to be an incorrect map displayed behind them.

One frustrated viewer at home tweeted: 'Not just the website and the app [which is wrong]. These things happen but it was the lack of acknowledgment [sic] from the presenters that disappointed.'

Again, there were multiple 7C forecasts shown on the map, while separate footage showed another presenter speaking with day-by-day predictions of 8C from Monday to Thursday across the UK next week.
The prominent academic, who has made public interventions on health policy before, made the comments on Thursday at a Washington Post Live event

Thomas LaVeist argued that social security is a good example of 'structural inequities' because 'it doesnt require any individual to have racist beliefs or attitudes or values' but produces unequal outcomes

A prominent University dean has argued that the disparity between white and black Americans' lifespans results in an uneven distribution of social security benefits.

Thomas LaVeist, the dean of Tulane Universitys School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, explained that he did not believe the program was inherently racist but that its current form does not create equal outcomes.

Speaking at a Washington Post Live event on Thursday LaVeist said 'if you look at the differences in life expectancy, if you say you have a black worker and a white worker, they begin working at the same day, at the same job, for the same company, they make the same salary, which might not always be the case, but in this example, they make the same salary.

'They paid the exact same amount of money into the Social Security system, and they both retire the same day,' he said.

'Because the white person on average is going to live longer than the black person, theres going to be a difference in how much theyre going to get out of that system that they paid into,' LaVeist explained.

Thomas LaVeist made the comments at a Washington Post Live event on Thursday

Thomas LaVeist is the dean of Tulane Universitys School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana

'Im not saying that Social Security is inherently racist, but Im saying that it has an inequitable outcome because of these health inequities, and this is just a good way to demonstrate how that operates.'

LaVeist argued that social security was a good example of 'structural inequities' because 'it doesnt require any individual to have racist beliefs or attitudes or values, it just simply is the way the system operates. And if we dont intervene, itll continue to function this way.'

The academic argues that health inequality is not just a problem for people of color 'because everyone is harmed' by an unequal system.

'Everyone is paying into a system and not getting a return on that investment. It's a significant drag on the economy.

'We calculated that the drag on the economy was equal to the total economy of the 11th largest economy in the world, which was India.

Adding: 'The most important point here is I can't tell you what it will cost to fix the health inequities, and it will cost something, but it will also cost something to not fix the inequities.

'So to make the argument that we shouldn't do things because its expensive I don't think is an argument that is sustained logically. There is a significant cost in inaction.

LaVeist has previously made public interventions on public healthcare policies.

LaVeist told the event on Thursday that social security was a good example of 'structural inequities' because 'it doesnt require any individual to have racist beliefs or attitudes or values'

LaVeist noted the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Black communities and the disparity in take-up of the vaccine

The dean of Tulane Universitys School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine ran a campaign, called 'The Skin You're In,' to help promote vaccine take up in 2021

Speaking about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Black communities and the disparity in take-up of the vaccine LaVeist said in January 2021: 'I completely understand the mistrust.

'But you have to consider the risk of COVID versus the risk of the vaccine. This is a devastating disease and it has disproportionately impacted Black Americans. That is what we do know.'

The academic ran a campaign, called 'The Skin You're In,' to help promote vaccine take up and recruited notable Black Americans including hip-hop artist Big Freedia to help.
Boris Johnson will tonight demand the UK be allowed to 'get Rwanda done' as he lashes out at 'evil' people smugglers in his latest must-read column for the Daily Mail.

The former prime minister, who ushered in the groundbreaking scheme more than a year ago, branded it 'one of the best hopes we still have to stop this vile trade'.

In his exclusive report he will argue just 'a small change in the law' is required to start flights to East Africa designed to deter people from making the high-risk journey across the English Channel and put and end to traffickers taking 'huge sums of money'.

It comes as Downing Street prepares for another legal fight in the Supreme Court amid efforts by lefty lawyers to ground the scheme permanently.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a huge blow to his 'stop the boats' pledge yesterday when Court of Appeal judges ruled the deportation deal with the African country was unlawful.

Click here to read Boris Johnson's column now at The Mail+.
In a desperate attempt to boost his support, Vladimir Putin will increase salaries for military servicemen by 10.5 per cent.

From October 1 soldiers will see the pay rise, a government decree published on the official web portal showed today.

The move comes days after an abortive armed mutiny by the mercenary Wagner Group, which briefly took control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and marched towards Moscow in what its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said was a protest against incompetence and corruption in Russia's top brass.

The attempted coup shed light on the cracks in Putin's control over the country and he is now fighting to pull back loyalty from the Russian population.

This week, Putin was seen attempting to further consolidate support with a rare meet-and-greet that saw him cheered by a crowd as he posed for selfies with young girls.

Footage from Wednesday night's event - a presidential appearance during a trip to the city of Derbent in the Dagestan region of southern Russia - showed how he dived into a nighttime crowd like a Hollywood actor at a red carpet show.

Vladimir Putin is set to increase salaries for military servicemen by 10.5 per cent in a bid to increase support

From October 1, the Russian military will receive a pay rise. File image

Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin leaves the headquarters of the Southern Military District amid the group's pullout from the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023

Vladimir Putin took part in a rare meet-and-greet that saw him mobbed by a crowd as he posed for selfies with young girls

Moscow has insisted that Putin's long rule has not been weakened after Wagner mercenaries marched hundreds of miles - almost reaching Moscow - and captured military facilities in southern Russia, appearing to gain some support.

Seemingly imbued with fresh energy after averting a small scale civil war last week, the normally stoic and isolated Putin was uncharacteristically personable, shaking hands and planting kisses on the head of a young teenage girl who gushed over him and pleaded with her mother to snap a photo of her with the president.

In another bizarre moment he shakes hands with - and appears to adjust something on the uniform of - an officer carrying what may be his nuclear briefcase.

He has not greeted his security apparatchiks in such a way previously.

The scene was markedly different to the extreme measures of the last few years which have enforced strict quarantines for anyone outside of Putin's close circle before meeting with him.

His transformative behaviour - described as 'astounding' by the Kremlin on Thursday - has led many, including senior Russian figures, to fuel speculation that the Putin greeting adoring fans in Dagestan was in fact a body double.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of Putin's visit: 'In Derbent, there was an astounding demonstration of support and happiness of the local population.'

He said Putin 'could not refuse' greeting the crowd.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is seen snapping a selfie with an adoring teen from Dagestan

Putin has not been seen greeting crowds in such a way since before the pandemic

Yesterday it was claimed that Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been holed up in a windowless hotel room in Minsk to avoid assassination after aborting an armed uprising against the Russian defence ministry.

Prigozhin arrived in Belarus yesterday to begin life in exile under a deal that ended his short-lived mutiny against the Russian military by his Wagner fighters, Belarusian state news agency Belta said.
The creators of South Park have abolished tipping at their Casa Bonita restaurant, in favour of paying staff $30 an hour instead.

Founders of the show Trey Parker and Matt Stone have implemented the policy at their Mexican restaurant Casa Bonita, which is located in Lakewood, Colorado.

The $30 an hour wage at Casa Bonita is more than double Colorado's current minimum wage of $13.65.

The restaurant - which has just reopened after a lengthy renovation - even featured on South Park before they bought it in 2021, after it had filed for bankruptcy.

Founders of the show Trey Parker and Matt Stone have implemented the policy at their Mexican restaurant Casa Bonita, which is located in Lakewood, Colorado

The $30 an hour wage at Casa Bonita is more than double Colorado's current minimum wage of $13.65

One of the main policies of Parker and Stone's restaurant is that customers cannot tip their servers.

This is because staff were offered new contracts just days before the restaurant's opening, which said that waiters and bartenders would be paid $30 an hour, but would not be permitted to take tips.

While Casa Bonita did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Stefanie Jones, a spokesperson for the restaurant, told Axios that the restaurant decided on the $30 wage rate after a testing period.

Jones told Axios that 'Casa Bonita values its employees' and added that 'based on the recent beta testing of our one-of-a-kind restaurant, we have adjusted our compensation system for efficiency and fairness.'

The restaurant initially offered jobs to servers and bartenders with hourly wages ranging from $14.27 to $15.27, with staff being allowed to collect any tips they were given.

Employees who were hired through those contracts were then recently called into a meeting where they were told they could either sign the new contracts - where they would be paid $30 an hour contracts but not take tips - or quit.

The restaurant initially offered jobs to servers and bartenders with hourly wages ranging from $14.27 to $15.27, with staff being allowed to collect any tips they were given

The offering of a higher wage appears to be an attempt to address one of the root issues with tipping, which is that servers are not paid enough by restaurants as a base wage, so should be tipped to supplement their income.

The restaurant says it spoke to employees regarding the new contracts.

Their feedback indicated that the new contracts would provide more stability at times when the restaurant was not as busy.

However, they also felt it could represent a decrease in total wages when Casa Bonita was busier. as paying customers may leave generous tips for staff.

Ms Jones said the new system had been implemented after testing, which was thought would provide staff with 'efficiency and fairness' when it came to their pay.
Republicans are celebrating the Supreme Court's overturning of President Biden's student loan plan as a 'victory' for taxpayers while Democrats are deeming the high court 'corrupt.'

The court ruled in a 6-3 decision that the scheme was unlawful.

The plan would have eradicated $10,000 in debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 and up to $20,000 for those with Pell Grants. Estimates pegged the cost at over $400 billion.

It was challenged by six Republican states and two borrowers who argued Biden should have sought approval from Congress for a plan using substantial taxpayer funds.

'Today's Supreme Court ruling overturning President Biden's illegal student loan scheme is a victory for common sense,' said South Carolina Republican and presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott. 'You take out a loan, you pay it back. This decision frees taxpayers from shouldering debt they never signed up for.'

The Supreme Court has struck down President Joe Biden 's $400 billion student loans forgiveness plan in another bombshell decision. The justices ruled 6-3 against Biden's controversial plan to wipe out debts for around 20 million Americans

The 6-3 conservative majority court's ruling came one day after they decided to undo affirmative action at universities.

'The Supreme Court in the last two days has made very clear who they think deserves to go to college,' Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., wrote on Twitter.

Freshman Sen. Eric Schmitt, who as attorney general in Missouri led the legal fight against the student loan plan, said of it: 'This was fundamentally unfair, unlawful and a cynical election ploy by Joe Biden. Working folks who paid off their loans or took another path shouldn't have to pay for the unpaid loans of the tenured college professor.'

Senate GOP Whip John Thune suggested in a statement Biden knew student loan forgiveness would never hold up in court.

'President Biden put forward an unserious scheme to force 87 percent of Americans who do not have student loan debt to bear the costs of the 13 percent of Americans who do.

'Anyone frustrated by todays decision should direct their complaints to the White House, where they knew this executive order would likely be struck down by the courts but did nothing whatsoever to meaningfully address exorbitant costs in higher education.'

'Tennesseans should not be forced to pay for coastal elites to get their PhD in gender studies,' said Sen. Marsha Blackburn.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., turned up the heat on Biden to use other tools in his toolbox to continue the fight for student loan forgiveness.

'The same Supreme Court that overturned Roe now refuses to follow the plain language of the law on student loan cancellation. This fight is not over. The President has more tools to cancel student debt  and he must use them,' she wrote on Twitter.

'More than 40 million hard working Americans are waiting for the help that President Biden promised them, and they expect this administration to throw everything they've got into the fight until they make good on this commitment.'

Chief Justice John Roberts said in the majority opinion that a move 'requires that Congress speak clearly before a Department (of Education) Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy.' He goes on to say that the HEROES Act, which the Biden administration cited as justification for the plan, actually provides 'no authorization for the Secretary's plan' and therefore there was no clear congressional authorization.

Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness scheme has been held up in a legal battle since November

Millions of Americans haven't had to repay their loans for three-and-a-half years because of a COVID pandemic freeze. Borrowers will have to restart their payments in October, and interest will start recurring in September.

'43 million Americans,' said Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. 'That's how many people the rightwing partisan justices on the Supreme Court just condemned to yearssometimes a lifetimeof debt thanks to their own corruption.'

In its ruling the court cited words from then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi in July 2021: 'People think that the president of the united states has the power of debt forgiveness. He does not. He can postpone. He can delay. But he does not have that power. It has to be an act of Congress.'

'I agree with her for once!' said House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

'The 87% of Americans without student loans are no longer forced to pay for the 13% who do,' he said.

For months, Biden's student loan blueprint has been at the center of a legal tussle with six Republican-controlled US states and two borrowers.

Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina said he had no legal authority to go ahead with the plan without the sign-off from Congress first.

Biden used the post-9/11 HEROES Act as justification for the program. It stipulates the Department of Education can waive student debt during a national emergency.

The COVID national emergency in the eyes of the government came to an end in May.

The program has been on hold since November after a federal appeals court in St. Louis issued an injunction, pausing applications and payouts.

That forced the U.S. government to seek the intervention of the Supreme Court justices.

Over 26 million people have already applied for the program, with as many as 16 million having already been provisionally approved for debt relief, according to the Department of Education.

Student debt is the second-largest kind of consumer debt in the U.S. behind mortgages and other home loans.

Nationwide, 45 million Americans owe $1.6 trillion in borrowed cash that they used to pay for their college education.
The remains of a mother who went missing in 2021 have been found as police arrest a second woman in connection with her murder.

Mary Elizabeth Isbell, 38, was reported missing in late 2021 by her family after she vanished from her home in Hartselle, Alabama.

The disappearance sparked a two-year-long hunt and spanned two police forces before cops on Sunday charged Loretta Carr, 43, with capital murder.

DeKalb County Sheriff's office on Friday confirmed that they found the remains of the missing mother, who went by Beth, on Wednesday at Little Rock National Park just outside Fort Payne.

They have now revealed the arrest of Carr's daughter, Jessie Kelly, 21, on suspicion of murdering Beth. Kelly is awaiting extradition from Pennsylvania to Missouri.

Mary Elizabeth Isbell, 38, was reported missing in late 2021 by her family after she vanished from her home in Hartselle, Alabama

Loretta Ray Carr, 43, of Fort Payne, was charged on Sunday with capital murder and faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted

Carr is accused of abducting Beth before pushing her from a cliff on 18 October 2021, though her lawyers argue that there is not enough evidence to keep her locked up.

She is being held without bond in DeKalb County Jail, and a judge has ordered a preliminary hearing for August 21.

Isbell was first declared a missing person in early 2022 but her family maintain she was last seen in November 2021, a month after the supposed murder took place. Police have yet to clear up the discrepancy in reports.

Carr's lawyers say that there is 'no evidence' their client killed Beth and claim there is no obvious link between the two women.

She has been charged with capital murder, which could result in the death penalty or life in prison.

The law in Alabama allows the death penalty for a defendant who planned and possessed premeditation to commit murder.

DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden said: 'We would like to thank the Pennsylvania State Police Corry Barracks, Huntsville Search Dog Unit, State of Alabama Aviation Unit, Jackson County Sheriff's Office, Fischer Rescue Squad and all the volunteers who helped during this investigation for all their hard work and dedication.'

'Each individual played an important role in bringing Beth home and holding those responsible for this horrific crime accountable.

Her teenage son has since posted a heartbreaking tribute to his mother, sharing a link to Carr's arrest, writing: 'Love you forever, like you for always, as long as I'm living, my mommy you'll be'

Beth's ex-husband, Steven Isbell, declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com, but had been posting on social media asking for help looking for the mother of his son

Carr's lawyers are arguing that there is no evidence she murdered Beth (pictured) and claim there is no link between the two women

'We would ask that you pray for Beth's family and give them privacy as they navigate through this difficult time.'

Harselle PD detectives searched the home where Beth was staying on 27 December 2021, and carried out a search of the property.

Physical evidence was recovered from the home and entered into a national database, but no match was found at the time. It is unclear what the evidence was.

A spokesman told DailyMail.com that they were unable to find any evidence of her being in Harselle, adding: 'Any tips we had we passed over to DeKalb, and a phone ping showed that the last time she would have been seen was in that area.'

On 20 June this year, DeKalb County Investigators received information about Beths disappearance and interviewed two people in connection with her killing.

Officers discovered remains on June 28, with forensics confirming they belonged to Beth on June 30  what would have been her 39th birthday.

Beth's ex-husband, Steven Isbell, declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com, but had been posting on social media asking for help looking for the mother of his son.

'I actually hate to put this out here on social media but Facebook covers a wide area. [her son] hasn't heard from his mom since September 6th on his birthday and he's really worried about her because she always at least calls him on the holidays,' he wrote on December 27.

'I've talked to her family and no one has heard from her. So we thought about doing a missing person report.'

Relatives officially reported her missing in January 2022 to the Hartselle Police Department and the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office.

Isbell had been living with her boyfriend James Allen Wright (right) , in DeKalb County when she vanished from their home in Hartselle

Authorities have previously said Isbell was last seen on November 23, 2021 when she visited her mother in her hometown of Hartselle

News of Carr's arrest for her murder came two days before what would have been her 39th birthday

A Facebook group seeking information about her disappearance was set up in April 2022.

Her teenage son has since posted a heartbreaking tribute to his mother, sharing a link to Carr's arrest, writing: 'Love you forever, like you for always, as long as I'm living, my mommy you'll be.'

Isbell had been living with her boyfriend James Allen Wright, in DeKalb County when she vanished from their home in Hartselle.

She had previously been suspected of theft before her disappearance from Wright's property, though it is unclear what she is alleged to have taken.

Wright was arrested by the sheriff's office in September 2021 for an undisclosed crime and was released to a rehab facility in Florida in November 2021.

While he was in jail, the sheriff's office said, Isbell was 'living where she could in DeKalb County.

'I think she got mixed up with some wrong people,' her mother, Debbie Wood, told the local news channel last year.

She described Isbell's relationship as 'new but troubled,' saying they were always getting into fights.

Authorities have previously said Isbell was last seen on November 23, 2021 when she visited her mother in her hometown of Hartselle, and was spotted again the next day across the street from her son's school.

But according to the criminal complaint filed Monday, Beth was killed one month prior to her reported appearance at her mother's house.

Speaking of her pain while her daughter was still reported missing, Wood said: 'Part of me wants to believe she's still here, the other part says 'Get ready for a funeral if we can find her remains.'
Migrants have been crossing the Channel in small boats after judges ruled Rishi Sunak's plan to send them to Rwanda as part of an asylum scheme was illegal.

Images from Dover, Kent, show around 50 people being escorted ashore from small boats by Border Force agents after Court of Appeal judges ruled the deportation deal with the African country was unlawful.

Three judges agreed by a majority of two to one that Rwanda was not 'a safe third' country, putting a halt to plans to deport Channel migrants to the East African nation so they could claim asylum there.

The decision is a major blow to the Government's flagship Illegal Migration Bill and its pledge of 'stop the boats'.

As of Monday, 11,328 asylum seekers in 254 boats have made the perilous journey across the Dover Strait so far this year

Earlier today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared to bat away calls for a 'Plan B' from some Tory ministers, should the plan continued to be blocked, and insisted he was 'confident' the Government would ultimately see victory in the Supreme Court.

Images from Dover, Kent, show around 50 people being escorted ashore from small boats by Border Force agents

People were helped ashore by border force agents in Dover, Kent, having crossed the Channel in small boats today

As of Monday, 11,328 asylum seekers in 254 boats have made the perilous journey across the Dover Strait so far this year

READ MORE: Rishi Sunak refuses to say if Rwanda migrant flights will take off this year as PM bats away Tory MPs' calls for a 'Plan B' if courts continue to block 'right and fair' asylum scheme Rishi Sunak today failed to say if the first migrant flights to Rwanda would take off this year following the latest legal block on the planned asylum scheme Advertisement

Mr Sunak added that he 'respects' the Court of Appeal's ruling but 'fundamentally disagrees' with it as he looks to overturn it at the UK's highest court.

'I strongly believe - and the Lord Chief Justice made clear that he agrees with this as well - that the Rwandans have provided all the assurances necessary', he said.

'There is no real risk that asylum seekers that are relocated under our policy will be wrongly returned to third countries. Rwanda is a safe country.'

Mr Sunak also highlighted how the UN's refugee agency 'use Rwanda for their own refugee scheme for Libyan refugees'.

'Given all of that we're going to seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court,' he added.

'I've said it before and I'll say it again, the policy of this government is very simple.

'It is your Government and it is not criminal gangs who should decide who comes here. It is a very simple point of view.

'I'll do what is necessary to make sure that that happens.

'We will seek permission to appeal this case to the Supreme Court and we remain entirely confident that what we're doing is right.'

Home Secretary Suella Braverman echoed the Prime Minister's vow to appeal the ruling, and suggested the immigration system is 'rigged against the British people'.

'The system is rigged against the British people, it's as simple as that', she said.

'It's why we're changing the laws through our Illegal Migration Bill, it's why we're rolling out a ground-breaking partnership with Rwanda which we believe is lawful, with a country which we believe is safe.

The PM believes the possibility of being sent to Rwanda to have an asylum claims processed will deter people from trying to reach the UK using small boats across the Channel

'So, we need to change the system, we need to change our laws, that's how we're going to stop the boats.'

The Home Secretary also addressed the issue in the Commons, where she told MPs the current immigration is unfair and warned costs could rise to '32m a day for people who have broken into this country'.

She added: 'This is madness and it must end. That is why we on this side of the House are committed to doing whatever it takes to stop the boats.

'The Government remains resolute that we will do exactly that in partnership with Rwanda and through changes to our law.

'That is the only way we will break the business model of the people smugglers, that is the only way we will save lives, that is the only way we will stop the boats.'

She added: 'The British people will no longer indulge the polite fiction that we have a duty or infinite capacity to support everyone in the world who is fleeing persecution, nor anyone that would simply like to come here to improve their lot and succeeds in making it to our shores.

A group of up to 80 migrants are brought ashore at Dover marine last week after crossing the English Channel

Rishi Sunak announced today that he 'fundamentally disagrees' with the Court of Appeal's ruling and will seek permission to appeal it in the Supreme Court

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, pictured with Rwanda President Paul Kagame in March, and the PM are fighting a legal challenge against their migration deal with the African country

'That abuse is unfair on local communities forced to absorb thousands of illegal arrivals and the pressure on public services and social cohesion that this entails.'

It comes after it was revealed the Home Office estimated taxpayers will save 106,000 for every migrant deterred from reaching the UK via the small boats.

An official analysis of the Government's Illegal Migration Bill said the potential savings could reach 165,000 per person if hotel costs for would-be refugees continue to rise.

But the Impact Assessment also estimated it would cost 169,000 to deport someone denied asylum in Britain to another country such as Rwanda.

As a result, it concluded that more than one in three potential arrivals would have to be deterred from trying to cross the English Channel in order for the policy to break even.

The Government has consistently claimed the possibility of being sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket to have their asylum claims processed will deter people from trying to reach the UK using small boats across the Channel.

The Government now has until July 6 to ask the Supreme Court for permission to appeal the decision.
A horror scene was pictured outside the Maine home of King of Horror Stephen King this week.

The Pet Sematary author, 75, found himself at the center of his own grisly story after a deer impaled itself on the fence surrounding his gothic-style home on Thursday.

Gruesome images show the white-tailed fawn stuck on the spikes of the wrought iron fence.

Half of its body was inside the fence and half remained outside as the spikes punctured the animal's midsection.

The Bangor police department told TMZ the deer, a one-year-old buck, must have tried to jump over the fence, which turned out to be too high.

A horror scene was pictured outside the Maine home of King of Horror Stephen King this week

A deer impaled itself on the fence surrounding King's gothic-style home on Thursday

The author has used the New England setting as inspiration for many of his stories, including It

Police added the deer probably tried to maneuver its way out of the position and got impaled.

King has not yet commented on the incident, and it is unclear if he was home when it happened.

It was not him who called police, but a passerby who spotted the horror sight and called 911 to report it.

Police shot the deer when they arrived at the scene to put it out of its misery.

DailyMail.com has reached out to King's representative for comment on this story.

King has made the town of Bangor famous around the world, with tourists showing up regularly to take a look at the home of arguably the most successful horror writer of all time.

His home sits on two acres and is worth more than $1.2million. He and his wife Tabitha purchased the home in 1979.

The author has used the New England setting as inspiration for many of his stories, including It.

The Carrie author has sold hundreds of millions of copies of his 64 novels.

King on Screen, a new documentary out on August 11, will give viewers a look into the minds of the directors and producers who have masterfully adapted his writing for theater audiences with their million-dollar Hollywood budgets.

The experts delve into how King placed run-of-the-mill characters in average situations to create some of the most nail-biting, grisly storylines of the last century - including The Shining.

And they explain how King not only spearheaded pop culture, but has become an element of modern culture in his own right.

Mick Garris, who worked on the Sleepwalker, The Stand, The Shining, Desperation, and Bag of Bones, says King's star was on the rise from the moment his debut novel was published.

He told the documentary: 'It all started with Carrie.'

He added that the author's decision to use rural, mundane US settings for his work made the horror even more tantalizing.

'It's an idealized America, but then it's ripped apart and sent to hell.'

Back in May, Netflix fans reported they were left unable to sleep after watching the film adaptation of King's 1922.
The woman is recovering, but suffered at least 1,000 bee stings

An elderly woman was stung at least 1,000 times after being attacked by hundreds of bees outside her home in California.

The woman, identified only by her first name, Linda, was attacked while walking to her car in Murietta, Riverside County, earlier this week.

Cellphone footage captured the horrifying scene as she held up a yellow bag and tried to swat the swarm away from her.

A neighbor named Chuck, who witnessed the attack told KTLA News that the 'bees were relentless'.

'She was fully covered from the waist up,' he said. 'She staggered to where her car is, and then she fell to the ground,' he said.

The woman, identified only by her first name, Linda, was attacked while walking to her car in Murietta, Riverside County, earlier this week

The victim is seen trying to swat off the swarm of bees that ambushed her outside her Murietta, California home on Wednesday afternoon

Another neighbor, who recorded the ambush and rushed to the woman's aid, said she tried to help until she started getting attacked.

'I tried to spray her with a hose, but they started attacking me,' she said. 'So I ran into the neighbor's garage and then I ran back out to get my phone, and that's when I called 911.'

When emergency personnel from the Murrieta Fire and Rescue arrived the bees continued to swarm and sting them. At least one of the firemen was hospitalized.

After the attack, fire crews doused the woman's home with foam and water in concentrated areas to exterminate the nest and the bees.

Murietta Firefighters arrive at the scene trying to exterminate the bees and their nests. Crews are scene trying to use foam and water

The woman was transported to the hospital for treatment and was later released.

Chris Maas with Bee Removal Pros, who was called to the scene told KTLA News that he believes the bees came from two or three colonies with separate queens.

Maas said he estimated there were about 100,000 bees in the area based on the number of colonies that were present.

The colonies were found in the walls of the woman's home, a problem neighbors said that had been going on at that home and in that location with many people getting stung before, the news outlet said.

The woman who lives there never had the colonies removed.

According to the Australian Academy of Science a typical honeybee hive contains about 60,000 to 80,000 individuals of three different kinds of bees.

The workers, also known as foragers, once they begin to leave the hive. Drones are another bee, and lastly a single queen. The single queen bee have a larger abdomen than other bees and are able to sting repeatedly without dying.
His mother had pleaded with doctors for an early caesarian, warning of risks

The parents of a newborn baby who died after doctors allegedly ignored a medical condition are suing a hospital trust for negligence.

Barbara Bielaszka, 38, says doctors at King's College Hospital, London, disregarded her pleas for a planned caesarian section before she went into labour with son Patryk in October 2019.

Mrs Bielaszka and her husband Grzegorz, from Poland, had previously had an ultrasound scan in their own country which warned there was a high risk of ruptured blood vessels.

But sadly, doctors took no heed of her calls, and blood vessels between mother and baby burst during labour, causing a haemorrhage which starved baby Patryk of oxygen, The Mirror reports.

Barbara and Grzegorz Bielaszka with newborn baby Patryk (right) and their older son, shortly before Patryk's sad death

Patryk suffered serious brain injury as a result and lingered on for ten agonizing days until the decision was made to switch off his life support.

Mrs Bielsaszka said: 'Our lives changed forever when our beautiful son passed away in our arms. We still struggle to smile and feel crushed by what happened to him.

'We had multiple meetings with different people and instead of taking responsibility they tried to blame me because my English isn't good enough. It's been almost four years since we lost our boy and we haven't even had an inquest.

'We just want answers and for somebody to take responsibility as in my mind they killed our child.'

Mr and Mrs Bielaszka, who have since returned to Poland and had another child, are suing King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and are represented by Osbornes Law.

The Trust has accepted liability.

Mrs Bielsaszka said: 'Our lives changed forever when our beautiful son passed away in our arms. We still struggle to smile and feel crushed by what happened to him'

Mrs Bielaska's first scan in Poland in August 2019 showed she had a low-lying placenta and a condition known as vasa praevia, in which the blood vessels passing from the baby to the mother are unprotected by the umbilical cord, with a high risk of them rupturing.

A Polish doctor is reported to have said the baby would need to be born by caesarean section due to the risk of ruptured vessels during labour.

Upon coming back to the UK, Mrs Bielaszka was wrongly deemed low risk by NHS doctors despite high blood sugar levels, and she also told a doctor about the scan.

A second scan took place in the UK on July 3, 2019, after which, her lawyers say, she ought to have been referred for a transvaginal ultrasound scan at 32 weeks, which would have uncovered the vasa praevia.

Barbara was admitted to hospital on October 23, 2019, in order to be induced. She complained of pains in her abdomen, but she says this was dismissed by clinicians who accused her of 'being over dramatic'.

Baby Patryk lived for just ten days before a decision was made to turn off his life support

The following day, Mrs Bielaszka suffered burst vessels and an emergency caesarian was carried out to deliver Patryk, which sadly came too late for the baby to survive.

Lawyers representing the family insist that if the Polish ultrasound had been considered, and that if findings of the scan on 3 July 2019 had been acted upon, then Patryk would have been born by a planned caesarean and would still be alive today.

Specialist Medical negligence solicitor Nick Leahy, of Osborne's Law said: 'This is a truly tragic case that has understandably devastated the lives of my clients.

'Patryk's parents were ignored by doctors, despite them having independent medical advice which showed Barbara's pregnancy was at risk. Patryk's death was completely avoidable, yet my clients feel that their poor English is being blamed for leading to what happened in this case.

'Sadly, I have acted in other cases in which parents' limited command of English has led them to feel like their concerns are being ignored. My clients have understandably lost complete trust in the NHS as a result of these events.'

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust stated: 'We offer our sincere condolences to Barbara and her family for their loss. For legal reasons we are unable to provide further comment at this stage.'
The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea - days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital.

Long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Korea's Defense Ministry said.

This comes days after tens of thousands of North Koreans marched in anti-US rallies over the weekend, pledging 'merciless' revenge against 'US imperialists' as the country marked the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

More than 120,000 people participated in Sunday's mass rallies in the nation's capital, Pyongyang.

Friday's flyover is the latest in a series of temporary U.S. deployments of strategic assets in South Korea in response to North Korea's push to expand its nuclear arsenal.

Long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the Korean peninsula, South Korea's Defense Ministry said

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea. PIctured: the country's leader Kim Jong Un

People attend a mass rally denouncing the U.S. in Pyongyang, North Korea, June 25, 2023 in this photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)

Two weeks ago, the U.S. deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korean waters for the first time in six years.

The USS Michigan's arrival came a day after North Korea resumed missile tests to protest previous U.S.-South Korean drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

It said the allies have been demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and will continue joint drills involving U.S. strategic bombers.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said the B-52 bombers' deployment boosted the visibility of U.S. strategic assets to the peninsula.

Meanwhile, Sunday's rally saw a stadium full of people raising their fists in a salute while marching with streamers and banners depicting nuclear missile launches.

Photos published by the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed that many thousands of attendees were wearing Covid-19 face masks and brandishing signs that read: 'Let's eradicate US imperialist invaders', and: 'The entire US mainland is within our striking range.'

While the 1950-53 conflict was triggered by a North Korean surprise attack, the demonstrators mobilised in Pyongyang promoted their government's version of events and accused the United States of provoking the war and leaving Koreans with 'wounds  that can never be healed'.

The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war.

Today, the U.S. stations around 28,000 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression by North Korea.

Since its June 15 launches of two short-range ballistic missiles, North Korea hasn't performed any further public weapons tests - but the U.S. bombers' deployment could prompt it to launch weapons again in protest.

Enhancing 'regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets' to the Korean Peninsula was part of agreements reached between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit in Washington in April.

Biden stated at the time that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would 'result in the end of whatever regime' took such action.

More than 120,000 people participated in Sunday's mass rallies in the nation's capital, Pyongyang, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said. Shocking images showed a stadium full of people raising their fists in a salute while marching with streamers and banners depicting nuclear missile launches

In this photo taken on June 25, 2023, a banner that reads 'The whole US mainland is in our striking range!' is seen as residents of Pyongyang attend a mass rally to mark the 'Day of Struggle Against US Imperialism', on the 73rd anniversary of the three-year Korean War, which began on June 25, 1950, at the Mayday Stadium in Pyongyang

People attend a mass rally denouncing the U.S. in Pyongyang, North Korea

Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea.

The allies have responded by expanding their military exercises.

In late May, a North Korean launch of a rocket carrying its first spy satellite ended in failure, with the rocket plunging into waters soon after liftoff.

North Korea has since repeatedly pledged to attempt a second launch, saying it's crucial for building a space-based surveillance system to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility.
Several thousand angry Iraqis have been demonstrating for a second day outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad today by burning rainbow flags.

This comes just days after a Koran burning stunt in Stockholm has sparked outrage across the Muslim world.

Police closed off the street past the Swedish embassy in Baghdad with concrete blocks today as protesters gathered on a nearby avenue after one group of protesters managed to penetrate the embassy yesterday.

They managed to stay inside for 15 minutes before leaving when security forces arrived.

The demonstration was again organised by supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose movement is not part of the current Iraqi government but still commands huge influence.

Several thousand angry Iraqis have been demonstrating for a second day outside the Swedish embassy in Baghdad today by burning rainbow flags

The demonstration was again organised by supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose movement is not part of the current Iraqi government but still commands huge influence

Police closed off the street past the Swedish embassy in Baghdad with concrete blocks today as protesters gathered on a nearby avenue after one group of protesters managed to penetrate the embassy yesterday

Friday's protesters chose their own bugbears to trample underfoot - photographs of Momika and the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ+ movement

The protest started a day after an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight in front of the capital's largest mosque.

Swedish police had granted him a permit in line with free speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over 'agitation'.

The Koran burning, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, sparked anger across the Muslim world.

'It's an insult to the Holy Koran,' said 47-year-old civil servant Nafia Wali Idriss. 'Freedom of expression must not clear the way for sectarianism.'

Friday's protesters chose their own bugbears to trample underfoot - photographs of Momika and the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ+ movement.

'No to homosexuality, yes to the Koran,' the demonstrators chanted.

The Iraqi government has called on Sweden to extradite Momika so he can be put on trial in his home country.

The foreign ministry also summoned Swedish ambassador Jessica Svardstrom on Thursday to hear a strong protest against her government's authorisation of Momika's protest.

Sadr movement official, Hakim al-Zamili, said the calling in of the ambassador was not enough and demanded 'more concrete measures'.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson distanced himself from Momika's protest today. 'This is a serious security question. There's no need to insult other people,' the right-wing premier said.

Momika told a Swedish newspaper late Thursday that he intended to repeat his protest in July. 'Within 10 days I will burn the Iraqi flag and the Koran in front of Iraq's embassy in Stockholm,' he told Expressen.

The protest started a day after an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight in front of the capital's largest mosque (pictured: the protests today)

The Koran burning, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, sparked anger across the Muslim world

'It's an insult to the Holy Koran,' said 47-year-old civil servant Nafia Wali Idriss. 'Freedom of expression must not clear the way for sectarianism'

'No to homosexuality, yes to the Koran,' the demonstrators chanted

The Iraqi government has called on Sweden to extradite Momika so he can be put on trial in his home country

Video about the protest yesterday showed an angry mob breaking through an iron gate and climbing on top of the compound, as global fury grew over the stunt.

It came after several Muslim countries condemned Sweden for allowing the Iraqi man to burn a Koran outside Stockholm's main mosque on Wednesday - during the Eid al-Adha holiday and the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Under a heavy police presence and in front of a crowd of 200, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old who fled to Sweden several years ago, put bacon in the pages of a Koran before stomping on it and setting several pages alight.

Police had granted him a permit for the protest in line with free-speech protections after an appeals court rejected their ban on Koran burning protests, but said later the man had been charged with agitation against an ethnic or national group.

The stunt sparked anger across the Muslim world, including in Turkey which is currently blocking Sweden's bid to join the NATO military alliance, while in Iraq demonstrators stormed inside the Swedish embassy in the capital of Baghdad.

Saudi Arabia, Iran, Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE joined in the chorus of condemnation, with the US also calling the protest 'disrespectful and hurtful'.

The foreign ministry also summoned Swedish ambassador Jessica Svardstrom on Thursday to hear a strong protest against her government's authorisation of Momika's protest

Sadr movement official, Hakim al-Zamili, said the calling in of the ambassador was not enough and demanded 'more concrete measures'

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson distanced himself from Momika's protest today. 'This is a serious security question. There's no need to insult other people,' the right-wing premier said

Momika told a Swedish newspaper late Thursday that he intended to repeat his protest in July. 'Within 10 days I will burn the Iraqi flag and the Koran in front of Iraq's embassy in Stockholm,' he told Expressen

Footage from the compound in Iraq showed people barging through a copper-coloured gate as others climbed over the walls. A second clip showed people climbing on top of the barbed-wire covered building, singing and waving flags.

The protesters first rallied outside the embassy in response to a call by Sadr who demanded the removal of the Swedish ambassador, echoing outrage in several Muslim countries over the Koran burning Wednesday in Stockholm.

The demonstrators also distributed leaflets that carried messages in Arabic and English that said: 'Our constitution is the Koran. Our leader is Al-Sadr'.

'Yes, yes to the Koran,' was also scrawled on the gate leading to the embassy, according to the photographer.

The demonstrators, supporters of firebrand Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, remained inside for about 15 minutes before leaving peacefully as security forces deployed, a press photographer who witnessed the scenes unfold said.

Sadr's supporters also torched rainbow flags that represent the LGBTQ community, after the powerful cleric suggested this would be 'the best way to provoke' those who back Koran burnings.

Police stand guard outside the Swedish Embassy during a protest against a man who burned a copy of the Koran outside a mosque in Stockholm on Wednesday

Demonstrators burned the Swedish flag during today's protest in Baghdad outside the Swedish embassy

Demonstrators made their frustration heard as they protested outside the Swedish embassy today holding up copies of the Koran

Smoke billows as supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burn a banner with the LGBT flag (not pictured) during a protest against a man who tore up and burned a copy of the Koran outside a mosque in the Swedish capital Stockholm

Stockholm's foreign ministry said in a statement it was 'well informed about the situation. Our embassy staff are safe.'

Protester Hussein Ali Zeidan, 32, told AFP he came out to 'support the noble Koran' and called to revoke Momika's citizenship as 'he does not represent Iraq'.

On Wednesday, some 200 onlookers witnessed Momika - one of the two protesters - tearing up pages of a copy of the Koran and wiping his shoes with it before putting bacon in it and setting the book on fire. The other spoke into a megaphone.

Some of those present shouted 'God is Great' in Arabic to protest against the burning, and one man was detained by police after he attempted to throw a rock.

A supporter of the protest shouted 'let it burn' as the holy book caught fire.

While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Koran demonstrations, courts have overruled those decisions despite the issues it could cause for Sweden's NATO bid, saying they infringed on freedom of speech.

Turkey is blocking Sweden's NATO membership bid due to what it perceives as Stockholm's failure to crack down on Kurdish groups it considers 'terrorists.'

A meeting between the countries' top diplomats is scheduled for July 6 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, with NATO counterparts pushing for Turkey to grant the green light to Sweden by the time the summit takes place in Lithuania on July 11-12.

Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take part in the protest

Supporters of Shiite Muslim leader Moqtada Sadr burn a rainbow flag, during the demonstration in front of the Swedish embassy

Many held up copies of the Muslim's holy book, the Koran, during the protests today

In its written decision granting a permit for the protest, Stockholm police said the security risks associated with the burning 'were not of a nature that could justify, under current laws, a decision to reject the request'.

Momika, 37, who fled to Sweden several years ago, had asked police for permission to burn the holy book 'to express my opinion about the Koran'.

Ahead of the protest, Momika told news agency TT he also wanted to highlight the importance of freedom of speech.

'This is democracy. It is in danger if they tell us we can't do this,' Momika said.

Police had cordoned off an area in a park next to the mosque separating Momika and a co-protester from the crowd. One man was understood to have been taken away from the scene when he was caught carrying a rock.

Police later said in a statement that the protest had not caused 'disturbances to order,' but added that an investigation had been opened regarding 'agitation against an ethnic group' because Momika had chosen to burn the Koran near a mosque.

Dozens of Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad today over the burning of a Koran by Salwan Momika - an Iraqi protester in Stockholm - on Wednesday

In response to Momika's stunt, video showed an angry mob breaking through an iron gate and climbing on top of the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, as global fury grows over the stunt.

Police added he was also being investigated for violating a temporary ban on lighting fires - in place due to a heatwave.

Noa Omran, a 32-year-old artist from Stockholm, called the protest 'insane'.

'It's just hatred masquerading in the name of democracy and freedom, which it isn't,' the woman, who said her mother was from a Muslim background, said at the scene.

The police authorisation for the protest came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected the police's decision to deny permits for two demonstrations in Stockholm which were to include Koran burnings.

Police had at the time cited security concerns, following the January protest which led to weeks of demonstrations and calls for a boycott of Swedish goods.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference on Wednesday he would not speculate about how the protest could affect Sweden's NATO process.

'It's legal but not appropriate,' he said, adding that it was up to the police to make decisions on Koran burnings.

Representatives of the mosque were disappointed by the police decision to grant permission for the protest on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, mosque director and Imam Mahmoud Khalfi said on Wednesday.

'The mosque suggested to the police to at least divert the demonstration to another location, which is possible by law, but they chose not to do so,' Khalfi said.

Protesters try to burn a banner with the LGBTQ flag near the Swedish embassy in Baghdad

Protesters gather at the entrance to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, June 29

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Sweden for allowing the protest, further clouding the Nordic nation's chances of quickly joining NATO.

'We will eventually teach the arrogant Westerners that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought,' Erdogan said in televised remarks.

'We will show our reaction in the strongest possible terms, until a determined victory against terrorist organisations and Islamophobia is achieved.'

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had called the burning of the pages of the Islamic holy book 'despicable.'

'It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression,' Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan wrote on Twitter. 'Turning a blind eye to such atrocious acts is to be complicit.'

Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country, called the Koran burning a 'disgraceful act provoking the feelings of Muslims' as they mark Eid.

The Cairo-based Arab League branded it an 'assault on the core of our Islamic faith', and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council also condemned it.

The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation called for 'effective measures to prevent a recurrence'.

Protesters gather at the entrance to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, Iraq a day after a protester burned a copy of the Quran in Sweden, June 29

Protesters gather at the entrance to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, June 29

Iraqi security forces guard the entrance to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad after protesters breached the building briefly over the burning of the Koran by an Iraqi living in Sweden, June 29. The protesters were inside the building for 15 minutes before security forces moved in

Iraqi security forces guard the graffiti-covered entrance to the Swedish embassy in Baghdad after protesters reportedly breached the building briefly over the burning of the Koran by an Iraqi living in Sweden, on June 29

The Iraqi government also slammed the burning of the Koran, calling it 'racist' and 'irresponsible', while Morocco recalled its ambassador to Stockholm.

'This new offensive and irresponsible act disregards the feelings of more than a billion Muslims, at this sacred time of the great pilgrimage to Mecca and the blessed feast of Eid al-Adha,' Morocco said in a statement.

'Faced with these repeated provocations, committed under the complacent gaze of the Swedish government', Morocco summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires in Rabat and recalled its ambassador, it added.

United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash tweeted that the West 'must realise that its value system... cannot be imposed on the world'.

The foreign ministry in Abu Dhabi summoned the Swedish ambassador to protest the free-speech protections given to 'such heinous acts', it said on Thursday.

Kuwait said perpetrators of 'hostile acts' must be brought to justice and 'prevented from using the principle of freedoms as a ploy to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith'.

Bahrain said that 'insulting religions is inconsistent with religious freedom... and generates hatred, extremism and violence'.

Iran joined in the condemnation on Thursday, calling the Koran burning 'provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable'.

Under a heavy police presence and in front of a crowd of 200, Salwan Momika (pictured), a 37-year-old who fled to Sweden several years ago, put bacon in the pages of a Koran before stomping on it and setting several pages alight

Police later said in a statement that the protest (pictured) had not caused 'disturbances to order,' but added that an investigation had been opened regarding 'agitation against an ethnic group' because Momika had chosen to burn the Koran near a mosque

Salwan Momika is seen on Wednesday holding up a smoking Koran during his stunt

Police had granted Salwan Momika (right) a permit for the protest in line with free-speech protections after an appeals court rejected their ban on Koran burning protests, but said later the man had been charged with agitation against an ethnic or national group

Police had cordoned off an area in a park next to the mosque separating Momika and a co-protester from the crowd. One man was understood to have been taken away from the scene when he was caught carrying a rock. Pictured: Police are seen detaining a man at the scene

The stunt (pictured) sparked anger across the Muslim world, including in Turkey which is currently blocking Sweden's bid to join the NATO military alliance

Police had granted Momika (right) a permit for the protest in line with free-speech protections after an appeals court rejected their ban on Koran burning protests, but said later the man had been charged with agitation against an ethnic or national group

'The government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran... do not tolerate such an insult and strongly condemn it,' said foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani.

'The Swedish government is expected to seriously consider the principle of responsibility and accountability in this regard, while preventing the repetition of insulting the holy sanctities,' he added.

Jordan also issued a statement on Wednesday, saying it was a dangerous display of hatred and Islamophobia that cannot be justified as freedom of expression.

The United States, the largest power in NATO, joined criticism of the Koran burning but reiterated its support for Sweden's entrance into the alliance.

'We've said consistently that the burning of religious texts is disrespectful and hurtful and what might be legal is certainly not necessarily appropriate,' State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington.

'We continue to believe that Sweden should become a NATO member as soon as possible,' he said, calling the country a 'strong, capable defence partner that shares NATO's values.'
Never before in modern memory have so many Americans so desperately needed a break.

Wanna get away used to be the slogan of Southwest Airlines.

So catchy. And sadly, so relevant.

After years of Covid, Trump and Biden, work-from-home and return-to-office, masks and Zooms, we are all in dire need of some rest and relaxation.

But now that summer is finally here, its almost unbearably cruel to see the many millions of people attempting to reach far-flung destinations, or simply return home to friends and family, having to subject themselves to the national embarrassment that is the American air travel industry.

Since Monday, nearly 35,000 flights within the U.S. have been delayed and more than 7,000 have been canceled during one of the busiest travel periods of the year  the Forth of July weekend.

It's almost unbearably cruel to see the many millions of people attempting to reach far-flung destinations, or simply return home to family, having to subject themselves to the national embarrassment that is the American air travel industry. (Pictured: New York's JFK on Friday).

Since Monday, nearly 35,000 flights within the U.S. have been delayed and more than 7,000 have been canceled during one of the busiest travel periods of the year  the Forth of July weekend.

On Friday, more than 2.8 million people are reportedly expected to pass through TSA screenings  a potential Independence Day travel record.

Good luck!

Lets be honest: air travel is a proverbial crapshoot - a stain on this great nation.

Show up with a ticket and you might board a plane. Or you might be stranded with nothing to eat but stupendously priced soggy sandwiches for God knows how long.

At this point, the chances feel 50/50.

Some poor soul was reportedly stuck in Buffalo for three whole days this week.

I would lose my mind! And its not just cancelations and delays plaguing exhausted Americans.

Take a look at Los Angeless LAX, Atlantas ATL or New Yorks JFK, youll see pictures of despondent travelers searching among mountains and valleys of lost luggage.

Last weekend, one woman at New Jerseys Newark airport reportedly drove to North Carolina and then flew to Louisiana in search of her missing bag, only to be informed that her possessions were actually back in Newark after all.

It's insanity! she cried.

Yes, it is. And it's been going on for months.

Last Thanksgiving, more than 11,500 flights were delayed. Last Christmas, 16,000 flights were canceled by Southwest Airlines alone. Traumatized travelers called it absolute mayhem, a Christmas nightmare.

The national chaos was so significant that Southwest executives were hauled before Congress.

'I want to sincerely and humbly apologize to those impacted by the disruption. It caused a tremendous amount of anguish, inconvenience and missed opportunities for our customers and employees,' groveled Southwest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson at the hearing.

And it's not just cancelations and delays plaguing exhausted Americans. Take a look at Los Angeless LAX, Atlantas ATL or New Yorks JFK, youll see pictures of despondent travelers searching among mountains and valleys of lost luggage. (Pictured: LAX on Thursday).

Would Southwest be reimbursing customers for their hardship, one senator dared to ask.

No, said Watterson. Will an apology suffice?

And that's the part that hurts the most. The hours and hard-earned cash wasted huddled in the terminals will never be recovered  and it's back to work on Monday.

My husband and I weighed up whether it worth it to risk an airport this year and decided to pile our two little girls into the car instead. I imagine many will be making the same choice.

Because, whats more, theres no sign that things will get better anytime soon.

Post-pandemic air travel is an unholy mix of corporate greed and government incompetence, smothered in a complete and utter lack of accountability.

Ask the airlines what's going wrong, and they'll point the finger at the feds.

Im frustrated that the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] frankly failed, wrote United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby in a letter to company staff this week.

Not so, says our Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Look, United Airlines has some internal issues they need to work through. Theyve really been struggling this week, even relative to other US airlines, he whined to CNN on Wednesday.

In other words, theyre both passing the buck.

Now, to be fair to United, this is the same Pete Buttigieg who took 20 days to finally, grudgingly visit the site of a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, in February.

So, really we shouldnt expect any less from him.

Ask the airlines what's going wrong, and they'll point the finger at the feds. Not so, says our Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. In other words, theyre both passing the buck.

This is also the guy who launched a $1 billion pilot program to build racial equity into our roads  whatever that is  so we know where his head is at.

We've known that summer is going to be a stress test on the system, Buttigieg helpfully tweeted Wednesday.

Oh, its a stress test alright.

To date, Buttigieg's predominant approach to the hellscape that is American air travel has been increased regulation: more supposed protections for passenger and more punishments for the airlines.

That may earn him praise in the mainstream media, but alienating companies surely wont solve anything.

And the thousands trapped in airports up and down the country prove quite how effective these new protections for passengers really are.

At the end of the day, heavy-handed government intervention rarely improves a product. Airlines need space for innovation and new ideas.

How about raising the mandatory retirement age for pilots? Right now, veteran pilots, with thousands of hours of experience, are forced to retire at 65 years old.

Are you telling me that a declining 80-year-old can run the country, but a fit and trim 66-year-old cant fly?

That seems like an immediate solution to the developing pilot shortage.

But honestly, I dont care whose fault it is.

Work together and get it fixed  because when the current blame game is over, nothing will be resolved and that guy will still be stuck in Buffalo, paying for the privilege.

But honestly, I dont care whose fault it is. Work together and get it fixed - because when the current blame game is over, nothing will be resolved. (Pictured: JFK on Wednesday).

American tax dollars have been endlessly poured into bailing out the airline industry. The big carriers received more than $54 billion in handouts and loans in the years after Covid hit. The cash was meant to help to keep companies afloat and their workers on the job when demand for air travel fell off a cliff.

But they failed to train enough new pilots and flight attendants ready to handle the surge of customers when business started back up.

It's all so pathetic. The greatest nation on Earth deserves better.

Try and have a Happy Fourth of July, folks. I hope you all get where youre going  but if you dont, rest assured 'Mayor Pete' will out tweeting something meaningless about it.
Top Republican James Comer is blasting MSNBC for failing to press President Biden on his connections to his son Hunter Biden's shady business dealings or 'bribery' claims during a 20-minute long interview Thursday.

Biden was asked by MSNBC anchor Nicole Wallace about the Supreme Court's Thursday affirmative action decision, the January 6 riots and his top political opponent Donald Trump, but the interview glossed over a $10 million 'bribe' he and Hunter allegedly accepted from a Ukrainian energy executive and failed to touch on his son's other business dealings.

Comer, who serves as the chair of the House Oversight Committee leading the investigation into the Biden family's business dealings, told DailyMail.com exclusively: 'It defies logic and basic journalism principles that during a 20-minute interview with MSNBC, President Biden was not asked a single question regarding Hunter Biden or his involvement with his family's business dealings.'

The chairman has said that the Biden family may have accepted over '$40 million' from foreign nationals in return for favorable policy decisions.

Biden was asked by MSNBC anchor Nicole Wallace about the Supreme Court's Thursday affirmative action decision and court packing, the January 6 riots and his top political opponent Donald Trump, but the interview glossed over bribery allegations against his son Hunter

The Kentucky congressman accused the mainstream media of going from 'watchdog to lapdog'

The Kentucky congressman told DailyMail.com that the mainstream media has 'gone from watchdog to lapdog' during the Biden administration.

He also pledged that Republicans 'will continue to ask tough questions that the American people deserve answers to.'

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., told DailyMail.com Friday that it's 'unfortunate but unsurprising that the Far Left's diligent stenographers from MSNBC and the mainstream media continue to turn a blind eye to evidence of the Biden family's crimes.'

She added, however, that the American people are smart enough to 'see through the bias and blatant cover-up for the Biden Family.'

Comer recently brought to light the existence of an internal FBI FD-1023 form that allegedly says Joe and Hunter Biden each got $5 million 'bribe' from a Ukrainian foreign national in exchange for policy decisions. The national, a Burisma executive, also allegedly has phone recordings of Joe and Hunter that he kept as an 'insurance policy.'

Earlier this week, the oversight committee ramped up pressure on the Treasury Department to turn over Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) related to Burisma Holdings and the alleged $10 million total payment to Joe and Hunter.

Also according to new Hunter Biden WhatsApp messages published by Comer's committee, the president's son is shown demanding $10 million from Chinese energy venture and bragging that his family is 'the best' at appeasing company's now missing billionaire chairman.

In messages from August 2017, the first son pushed that $10 million needed to be invested annually into the joint venture with CEFC China Energy, and called a $5 million proposal 'new to me' and 'not acceptable, obviously.'

The House Oversight Committee's Twitter account said that Hunter was messaging Gongwen Dong, a CEFC China Energy associate who used the nickname 'Kevin.'

'I'm tired of this Kevin,' Hunter said. 'I can make $5 million in salary from any law firm in America. If you think it's about money, it's not. The Biden's (sic) are the best at doing exactly what Chairman wants from this partnership. Please let's not quibble over peanuts.'

The next day one of Hunter's shell companies, OWASCO PC, was given a $10,000 payment from CEFC, the House Oversight Republicans said, sharing a receipt.

In addition, two IRS whistleblowers came forward to the House Ways and Means Committee at the end of last week and alleged that top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, interfered in the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden.

Last week, Hunter Biden agreed to a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney in Delaware, pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and entering probation over a gun charge.

IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency who helped oversee the investigation into the president's son, claims that Hunter Biden has been given preferential treatment by investigators looking into his tax affairs and lying on a gun permit application.

Shapley pointed to a WhatsApp message sent on July 30, 2017, by Hunter to Chinese Communist Party official Henry Zhao, threatening him to follow his 'orders' and saying his dad was with him. Shapley alleges he raised concerns about the WhatsApp message to DOJ prosecutors, who rebuffed his concerns.

During an interview with Fox News on Wednesday, Shapley also described an October 7, 2022, meeting with top IRS and FBI officials on the investigation into President Joe Biden's son.

'I was there, and I witnessed this personally,' Shapley said, noting Weiss started by saying 'he's not the deciding person whether or not charges are filed or not.'

Shapley claimed the final decision was made by officials in Washington, D.C. He noted Weiss meet with the Matthew Graves, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, in March 2022.

'After that occurred, he was no longer looking to charge,' Shapley said.

'So that's earth-shattering news,' Fox News' Bret Baier said. 'It's a Biden-appointed D.C. U.S. attorney, Matthew Graves, would not allow him to charge in his district?'

'I didn't learn that fact until October 7 of 2022, so looking back to March of 2022. And that's when David Weiss, in October 7, 2022, said that the D.C. U.S. attorney's office will not allow us to charge there,' Shapley responded.

In a series of tweets Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee Republicans released new WhatsApp messages between Hunter Biden and a Chinese business associate as they embarked on an energy deal in August 2017

Biden was not asked about his family's business dealings during a 20-minute interview on MSNBC Thursday

Comer is leading the charge in the House to investigate at least nine members of the Biden family's acceptance of millions of dollars from foreign nationals

The House Ways and Means Committee last week released testimony from two IRS whistleblowers who alleged officials at the Justice Department, the FBI, and the IRS interfered with Weiss' investigation. Shapley was one of those two whistleblowers.

In response to the release of that information, Garland denied interfering in the Hunter Biden probe.

'I don't know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution,' Garland said last week of Weiss.

Asked about any directive not to bring charges against Hunter in 2022, Garland responded last week: 'As I said at the outset, Mr. Weiss was appointed by President Trump as the U.S. attorney in Delaware and assigned this matter during the previous administration.'

Garland said Weiss 'would be permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to. Mr. Weiss has since sent a letter to the House Judiciary confirming he had that authority.

'I don't know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution, given that he has this authority,' he said.
Fears for a Transatlantic sailor in his 60s are growing after his yacht was found drifting off the Irish coast with nobody on board.

The 25ft long boat, called 'The Minke' had not been seen or heard from since it set out to sail 300 miles across the Irish Sea from Plymouth, Devon 12 days ago with Captain Duncan Lougee at the helm.

HM Coastguard says the skipper, described as being in his late 60s, was taking part in the single-handed Jester Challenge, with a plan to sail the route via the Isles of Scilly.

The other 43 vessels taking part in the challenge have arrived safely, and the Coastguard are seeking any information from the public about the disappearance.

But last night, it was spotted drifting in the sea, and when rescue teams climbed aboard, they found nobody onboard.

Searches are set to continue in the area.

Duncan Lougee, from Dedham in Essex, is an experienced sailor having navigated the Atlantic three times solo, from Plymouth to Azores and back

The yacht was spotted drifting in the sea, and when rescue teams climbed aboard, they found nobody on board

There had previously been fears that the yacht had drifted into shipping lanes and had been hit in darkness by a cargo ship, which had not realised and carried on. But those fears were dispelled after the yacht was found undamaged.

The Irish Coast Guard confirmed Mr Lougee was not found onboard during their search.

Mr Lougee, from Dedham in Essex, is an experienced sailor having navigated the Atlantic three times solo, from Plymouth to Azores and back.

The yacht broker and boat builder has made the same trip from Devon to Baltimore, in County Cork, before.

In 2010 he took part in the Jester Challenge sailing single handedly from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island in his Rustler 31.

Coastguards issued a fresh appeal earlier this week in a bid to find Mr Lougee.

'The Minke is a 25ft fibreglass folkboat with a white hull and white sails. Her sail number is FB597', they said.

'The skipper was taking part in the single-handed Jester Challenge with a plan to sail the route via the Isles of Scilly. All other vessels are accounted for.

Fears that the yacht had drifted into shipping lanes and had been hit in darkness by a cargo ship were dispelled when it was found undamaged

'HM Coastguard has issued regular broadcasts and liaised with the Irish Coastguard, UK police and the RNLI.'

In a post on social media last weekend, a spokesperson for the Jester Challenge said: 'Despite the best efforts of Falmouth MCA and the Irish Coastguard, including a fixed wing search of the area between the Scillies and Baltimore, Minke's whereabouts are still unknown.

'Everyone involved in the search for Duncan and Minke is perplexed by the absence of any sign of her position.'

'Hope has not yet been lost that after some major setback, Duncan is still trying to reach a safe haven.

'This is a particularly difficult time for Duncan's partner Louise, who is showing great fortitude during the wait for some firm news and the thoughts of all the Jester Challengers, past and present, are with her.'
The boss of the deep-water search and rescue team sent to locate the Titan submersible broke down as he revealed the moment they found debris from the doomed vessel on the ocean floor.

Edward Cassano, chief executive of Pelagic Research Services, said the company was called in by OceanGate to search for their missing submersible at 5.45pm on June 18 - the day it went missing.

The company was asked to use its deep-water remotely operated vehicle system, Odysseus 6K, to locate Titan and its five passengers who were on a voyage to the wreckage of the Titanic 12,500ft beneath the Atlantic's surface.

Cassano, who said they 'immediately began assembling a team', became emotional on Friday as he addressed the crowd, telling them: 'It's a lot of emotions. People are tired.

'We are very saddened we could not recover a viable sub, but beyond that the system performed.'

Once it became clear that it was a recovery mission rather than a rescue, he said the US Coast Guard immediately contacted the families of the Titan crew.

Pelagic Research Services chief executive Edward Cassano said the company was called in to search for the missing Titan submersible at 5.45pm on June 18 by OceanGate

Pelagic was asked to use its deep-water remotely operated vehicle system, Odysseus 6K (pictured), and 'immediately began assembling a team'

Cassano said once it became clear that it was a recovery mission rather than a rescue, the US Coast Guard immediately contacted the families of the Titan crew

Cassano confirmed that Deep Energy - which assisted in the search and rescue attempt - lost one of its remotely operated submersibles during the operation.

The vehicle was 'not capable of going deeper' than 2,700m but in desperation was sent to the sea floor where it suffered a mechanical issue and was lost.

Cassano said the plan was 'latch onto' the Titan and lift it up as soon as possible if it was intact. It took 90 minutes for them to reach the sea floor.

Titan lost communication with its mothership Polar Prince at 9.45am on June 18, about 90 minutes into the trip to visit the Titanic wreckage.

The US Navy later revealed it had found an 'anomaly' that was consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the vessel was operating when communications were lost.

Titan imploded killing all five onboard including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was piloting the vessel, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood.

Canadian police are now considering whether 'criminal, federal, or provincial laws' were broken in the lead up to the Titan submersible disaster.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police will examine 'the circumstances that led to the deaths' of the five crew on board the sub and decide 'whether or not a full investigation is warranted'.

Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, which launched, Titan, perished on board the submersible along with his four passengers, including PH Nargeolet (right)

Shahzada Dawood, 48, one of Pakistan's richest men, along with his teenage son Suleman Dawood, 19, (together, left) died on the Titan along with British explorer Hamish Harding (right)

Titan lost communication with its mothership Polar Prince at 9.45am on June 18, about 90 minutes into the trip to visit the Titanic wreckage.

Superintendent Kent Osmond, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), said a team of investigators has been established with the 'sole purpose' of determining whether a criminal investigation would be warranted.

'Such an investigation will proceed only if our examination of the circumstances indicate criminal, federal or provincial laws may possibly have been broken,' he said.

'Following the US Coast Guard's announcement earlier this week that debris from the submersible was located and all five on board were presumed dead, we will now look at the circumstances that led to those deaths.

'Our investigators are engaged and active in this matter as of this morning. Once a determination has been made as to whether or not a full investigation will be launched, we will provide an update at that time.'

Their investigation was ongoing on Friday, a day after it emerged human remains were found during the recovery mission and segments of the vessel were brought ashore.

The debris field was found on Wednesday on the seafloor, 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, which sits more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below the ocean's surface and 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Odysseus 6K retrieved several identifiable parts of the sub which were lifted ashore, including the nose and a large panel which appears to be from its tail end.

Coast Guard officials said they discovered what they believed to be human remains in the debris, which will now be transported aboard a ship to a port in the United States where they will undergo testing and analysis.

Cassano became emotional on Friday as he addressed the crowd, telling them: 'It's a lot of emotions. People are tired.'

The debris field was found on Wednesday on the seafloor, 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, which sits more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below the ocean's surface and 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada

The titanium front-end of Titan, where its viewing port was located, was clearly identifiable among the sections which were recovered

Officials on Wednesday said the remains were 'carefully removed within the wreckage' that was recovered earlier in the day.

'I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths,' Marine Board of Investigation Capt. Jason Neubauer said in a statement.

'The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy,' he added.

But Neubauer noted there is a 'substantial amount of work' still to be done to understand what happened to the Titan sub and to 'help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.'

The discoveries surprised experts who suspected Titan was completely destroyed when it suffered a 'catastrophic implosion'.

Earlier on Wednesday a coroner told DailyMail.com she believed the remains of those onboard would likely never be recovered.

The MBI will continue its evidence collection and witness interviews to inform a public hearing about the incident, and Pelagic Research Services  whose remote operating vehicle discovered the debris fields  said its team is 'still on mission'.

'They have been working around the clock now for 10 days, through the physical and mental challenges of this operation, and are anxious to finish the mission and return to their loved ones,' the company said in a statement.

The titanium parts retrieved are likely to have suffered less damage in the implosion, compared with the weaker carbon fiber elements

The salvaged remains of Titan were lifted to shore by a huge crane on Wednesday morning

News of the missing ship spurred a multinational search-and-rescue operation, which ended when officials announced the sub likely imploded, killing all those onboard instantly.

For years prior to the implosion, experts had warned that Rush's self-designed submersible was not capable of safely reaching the Titanic wreckage on the ocean floor.

They said its carbon fiber hull, which housed the five crew, was its 'Achilles heel' because the material is not considered suitable for dives at the depths reached by the vessel.

Titanic director James Cameron, a renowned deep sea explorer and submersibles expert, said previously that the hull was likely broken into 'very small pieces' in the incident.

'If I had to put money down on what the finding [of the investigation] will be, the Achilles heel of the sub was the composite cylinder that was the main hull that the people were inside,' he said.

'There were two titanium end caps on each end. They are relatively intact on the sea floor. But that carbon fiber composite cylinder is now just in very small pieces. It's all rammed into one of the hemispheres. It's pretty clear that's what failed.'

Carbon fiber is prone to delamination, the process whereby a material fractures into layers while put under pressure.

It is thought the craft's titanium components better withstood the disaster, while the weaker carbon fiber parts - including the hull - are more likely to have been crushed into tiny pieces.

The parts lifted from the ocean appear to align with Cameron's observations, including that the larger piece was the vessel's titanium shell. Investigators will now work to confirm what each piece is.

Titan's carbon fiber hull and its acrylic viewport were subject to several warnings and James Cameron singled them out as 'potential failure points' on the vessel

But, despite these incessant warnings from naval experts, OceanGate had assured the public for year that its Titan submersible was safe.

The company had boasted in promotional material about Titan's 'Real Time Hull Health Monitoring', which constantly checked the integrity of the vessel throughout the dive.

The system used acoustic sensors and strain gauges to 'analyze the effects of changing pressure on the vessel as the submersible dives deeper, and accurately assess the integrity of the structure'.

But legal filings reveal a former director of marine operations 'expressed concern that this was problematic because this type of acoustic analysis would only show when a component is about to failoften milliseconds before an implosionand would not detect any existing flaws prior to putting pressure onto the hull.'
A woman who helped orchestrate the murders of her in-laws in a cruel murder-for-hire plot has been sentenced to 10 years of probation - with crime victims outraged at the district attorney who helped her avoid prison.

Jaclyn Alexa Edison and her then-husband were both 19 years old when they hired two hit men to kill his adoptive parents in a violent home invasion that saw his father, prominent jeweler Ted Shaughnessy, shot dead back in 2018.

She was sentenced last week in Austin, Texas, after cutting a deal with District Attorney Jose Garza, whose election was backed by billionaire liberal George Soros.

She pled guilty to conspiracy to attempt to commit capital murder years after her ex-husband, Nicolas Shaughnessy, and two hit men, Arieon Smith and Johnny Leon, took up plea deals of 35 years in prison.

Austin Police Retired Officers Association President Dennis Farris said Edison should have faced the same sentence

Jaclyn Edison was sentenced to 10 years of probation after conspiring to murder her then-husband's parents

She and and her then-husband Nicolas Shaughnessy were both 19 years old when they hired two hit men to kill his adoptive parents in a violent home invasion

The murder-for-hire plot saw prominent Austin jeweler Ted Shaughnessy shot dead in 2018

'They literally are just as guilty, shes just as guilty as the person who pulled the trigger,' he told Fox News Digital.

Police say Shaughnessy had approached multiple people in the months before the shooting asking if they were willing to kill his parents for payment.

His mom Corey called 911 the morning of March 2, 2018, to report an intruder inside the parents' Austin home.

When police arrived, they found Theodore dead of multiple gunshot wounds. One of the family's Rottweilers Bart was also shot dead.

Police said the murder-for-hire plot also called for Corey to be killed but she emerged unscathed.

Prosecutors said the young couple was motivated by money, particularly the couple's $2 million life insurance policy. Ted was the owner of Gallerie Jewelers in Austin.

They were arrested after police found ammunition in Shaughnessy's home in College Station that matched casings found at the crime scene.

The Shaughnessys adopted their killer son from Russia when he was 18 months old.

As part of her plea deal, Edison will have to report to jail for two days each year on the anniversary of the murder as part of her probation. Edison was given deferred adjudication, which allowed her to accept responsibility for the crime without the conviction being put on her record.

Many have criticized Attorney Jose Garza, whose election was backed by billionaire liberal George Soros, for Edison's plea deal

Theodore dead of multiple gunshot wounds in his Austin home. One of the family's Rottweilers Bart was also shot dead

Nicolas Shaughnessy, and two hit men, Arieon Smith (left) and Johnny Leon (right), took up plea deals of 35 years in prison

Steve Brittain, the attorney for Corey Shaughnessy, told KXAN-TV had never seen a similar outcome in such a crime.

'I cant put it together in my mind, and I just dont understand it,' he said. 'She is evil. And in my view, very dangerous.'

Nicholas Kantor, whose brother was killed when he was caught in the middle of a fight between gangs, said people should ask themselves how they would feel if Edison had killed one of their parents.

'Would you feel contentment that the DA provided you with justice and peace of mind to settle your heart?' he said, calling the Edison's plea a 'sweetheart deal.'

DA Garza has been slammed by numerous families, including Kantor's, for not doing enough to punish violent offenders.

He is one of numerous district attorneys across the country whose campaigns received millions in funding from Soros, leading directly to wave of liberally-minded judicial policies and decisions.

He received about $600,000 from the Soros-backed Texas Justice and Safety PAC during his campaign, leading to his appointment in 2021.

Garza vowed to end 'over-prosecution' of minorities and impoverished residents.

He has also drawn ire from the Austin Police Department for arresting officers for incidents which had been handled through department's internal process.
Riots sparked by the deaths of Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and 15-year-old Harvey Evans

Six more people have been arrested in connection with a riot in Cardiff which was sparked by the death of two teenage boys killed in a fatal e-scooter crash while being followed by police.

Three men aged 20, 25 and 35, two women, aged 35 and 37, and a 16-year-old boy have been arrested on suspicion of riot following riots in the Ely area of Cardiff on May 22 and 23.

The mayhem was sparked when Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, died after the e-bike they were riding crashed, minutes after they were captured on CCTV being followed by a police van on May 22.

Cars were torched and paving slabs and fireworks were thrown at officers armed with riot shields.

Footage from the night showed fireworks, rocks, paving slabs and even a door being hurled at police in riot gear. A dozen officers were injured - but none seriously.

The total number of arrests in relation to the incident is now at 27.

The total number of arrests in relation to the incident on May 22 and May 23 is now at 27

The riots were sparked when Kyrees Sullivan, 16, (right) and Harvey Evans, 15, (left) died after the e-bike they were riding crashed

The teens were captured on CCTV being followed by a police van on May 22, just minutes before the crash

Detective Chief Superintendent Ceri Hughes said: 'During the disorder several vehicles were set alight, property was damaged, police officers were injured, and residents were scared in their homes.

'As part of the investigation so far, 432 pieces of body-worn footage from police officers has been gathered, as well as several hours of videos posted on social media, drone, helicopter, and CCTV footage.

'We are extremely grateful for the support from the community so far.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is conducting an investigating into the force's actions in the collision after CCTV footage of the marked police vehicle following the boys emerged the next day.

South Wales Police (SWP) initially dismissed the fact a marked van had followed the boys as a rumour before the footage emerged. It then referred itself to IOPC after admitting the teens were being followed 85 seconds before the crash.

Investigators from the IOPC have now served gross misconduct notices to two SWP officers, the driver and the passenger of the unmarked van, as part of its investigation into the incident.

Cars were torched and paving slabs and fireworks were thrown at officers during the riots in Ely in May

Scenes being livestreamed on YouTube showed youths throwing fireworks and other missiles at a line of police officers with riot shields who were blocking one end of the street

Cars were damaged during the riots, including police cars which had their windows smashed in

Officers were pictured armed with riot shields. A dozen were injured - but none seriously

READ MORE: Arrests over Cardiff riots that were sparked by death of two teenagers who died in e-bike crash after being followed by police van as family pay tribute Childhood bestfriends Kyrees and Harvey (pictured as young children) were being followed by a police van minutes before they died Advertisement

In a statement, the IOPC said: 'As part of our investigation, we have served gross misconduct notices on two police officers, the driver and passenger in a marked police van, which was seen on CCTV footage driving behind the boys' electric bike a short time prior to the fatal collision on May 22.

'Such notices advise officers their conduct is subject to investigation. They do not necessarily mean that any disciplinary proceedings will follow.

'Our investigation began last month following a referral from South Wales Police, after relevant CCTV footage came to light.

'Investigators are reviewing hundreds of video footage clips that we have gathered as a result of our house-to-house enquiries and leafleting at properties in Ely.

'To ensure we identify and secure relevant evidence, we have followed up inquiries with, and taken statements from, some local residents.

'We have also set up witness appeal boards on relevant streets. In addition to these lines of inquiry, we have reviewed initial accounts and body-worn video from relevant police officers and staff.

'We are in regular contact with the families of Kyrees Sullivan and Harvey Evans, who sadly lost their lives, to keep them updated on the progress of our investigation.

'Our investigation continues to focus on the nature of the police interaction with the two boys prior to the collision and the appropriateness of the officers' decisions and actions.

'In particular, we are examining whether at any time the decisions and actions of the officers in the police vehicle constituted a pursuit.

South Wales Police (SWP) initially dismissed the fact a marked van had followed the boys as a rumour before the footage emerged

Floral tributes to Kyrees and Harvey were left on Snowden Road, Ely, just days after they died

A vigil was held in memory of the teenage boys, where balloons and blue powder paint were released

The funerals of the two teens are due to take place next week, on July 6, in Ely

'South Wales Police has continued to co-operate with our investigation.'

South Wales Police said it would provide the IOPC with all the information it had to allow for a thorough investigation.

It added that the families of Kyrees and Harvey continue to be supported by family liaison officers.

Their funerals are due to take place on Thursday July 6 in Ely.
A teenage girl from British Columbia has been found 'alive and well' after being alone for nearly three days in the Canadian wilderness when she got separated from her hiking group.

Esther Wang, 16, was on an organized youth outing on the East Canyon Trail to Steve's Lookout at Golden Ears Park - one of the largest parks in British Columbia - with three peers on Tuesday around 2:45pm when she lost her way - fifteen minutes into the hike.

The group was making their way to their campsite when they discovered Wang was missing. After trying to find her on their own they contacted police and a park ranger for help.

Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue was deployed and searched the 62,000-plus acre forest dotted with mountainous and vast terrain and thick vegetation.

Wang slept on a log and survived on food she had rationed before she eventually figured out her way out of the park. On Thursday night, around 9pm, she was miraculously reunited with her parents.

Esther Wang, 16, was on a youth group outing at Golden Ears Park, one of the largest parks in British Columbia on Tuesday, when she suddenly lost her way, fifteen minutes into their hike.

Since Tuesday, search crews were out using helicopter, drones, police dogs and thermal imaging looking for the teen. There were also dozens of volunteers assisting

A stunning view of Golden Ears Provincial Park in British Columbia. The park has more than 62,000 acres dotted with mountainous terrain and thick and lush vegetatiion

Wang was fatigued and was covered in bug bites, but suffered no other injuries. She was taken to the the hospital as a precautionary measure.

Since Tuesday, search crews were out looking for the teen using helicopters, drones, police dogs and thermal imaging. There were also dozens of volunteers assisting.

Ryan Smith, a team manager with the Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue (RMSR), told TrendyDigest that the 'area is used for recreational hiking.'

'Areas off the hiking trails can be treacherous with steep terrain and thick vegetation,' Smith said.

The park is also home to wildlife such as bears, cougars and deer, which can pose a threat to visitors who are not prepared or aware of their surroundings.

Smith said: 'She walked out of the trail by herself.'

Supt. Wendy Mehat with Ridge Meadows RCMP told media on Friday morning that Wang was 'healthy, happy and with her family,' Global News Canada reported.

'That's the best possible outcome,' she said.

It is unclear how Wang got lost initially.

Search and rescue crews from the Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue were searching for the teen hiker

East Canyon Trail is the location where 16-year-old Wang lost her peers during a hike on Tuesday. The teen was found 'alive and well' after she was able to find her way out of the wilderness. She was reunited with her family on Thursday night and suffered from fatigue and numerous bug bites

After news that Wang was located and safe the 746 Lightning Hawk Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron posted a message to Facebook on Thursday evening.

'Hello 746 Family,' Commanding Officer Major Brian Wong wrote.

'Our prayers were answered!!!!! I am happy to share this good news with the 746 Family!!! Cadet Esther Wang was found!!

Wang, who is from Langley, British Columbia and a student at Walnut Grove Secondary school is described as a 'talented volleyball player' and a 'sweet' and 'nice' person.

A friend said: 'She is always smiling and making other people smile.'

Ridge Meadows RCMP offers the following tips for hikers

Inform a friend or family member of where you will be hiking; stay with the group; carry adequate supplies and wear appropriate clothing and footwear, as per Trendy Digest.
Some of the richest US states are seeing sharp declines in their tax revenues, while others are making gains, as demographic shifts and differences in tax policies fuel diverging trends across the country.

New York and California, which both rely heavily on taxing the incomes of their wealthiest residents, saw tax receipts plunge in the 2023 fiscal year through April, according to Urban Institute data obtained by DailyMail.com.

Meanwhile, Texas and Florida, which rely primarily on sales taxes, saw healthy growth in tax receipts, after both states made population gains and consumer spending remained strong.

'You're starting to see this divergence,' Emily Mandel, an economist at Moody's Analytics, told Bloomberg News. 'It's definitely something we're seeing in the data.'

After running several years of huge budget surpluses as stock markets boomed, California has seen the sharpest drop-off in tax receipts, with a decline of 24.9 percent from the same period last year.

New York and California are seeing sharp declines in their tax revenues, while other states are making gains, as demographic shifts and differences in tax policies fuel diverging trends

California Governor Gavin Newsom is seen above. After running several years of huge budget surpluses as stock markets boomed, California has seen the sharpest drop-off in tax receipts

New York was close behind, with a decline in tax revenue of 19.5 percent, after personal income tax receipts in the Empire State dropped by nearly a third.

In all, 17 states reported annual declines in total tax revenue, and nationwide, total state tax revenue was down 5.5 percent.

The Urban Institute found that the median state saw year-over-year personal income tax revenues for April decline 32.4 percent.

Personal income tax revenues for the states totaled $57.8 billion in April, which was 43.5 percent lower than one year ago.

Conversely, the states that are less reliant on personal income taxes saw the biggest gains in tax receipts for the period, as state sales tax revenue rose 7.1 percent nationwide.

Alaska, which relies almost solely on taxing energy company revenue, was an outlier, with tax revenue rising 83.2 percent due to rising oil and gas prices.

West Virginia saw tax receipts gain 14.1 percent -- also due mostly to rising corporate income taxes, although personal income and sales tax receipts were also up in the Mountain State.

New York saw a decline in tax revenue of 19.5 percent. New York Governor Kathy Hochul is seen above

California's budget deficit is expected to reach nearly $32 billion in the coming fiscal year, after the Golden State ran a budget surplus of $55 billion in 202223

Texas and Florida are the two most populous states without a state personal income tax, and both made healthy gains after seeing an influx of new residents in recent years, driving their sales tax revenue higher.

Tax revenue in Texas rose 12.2 percent for the period, while Florida's gained 9 percent.

Among the eight states with no personal income tax, all those with data available reported some increase in state revenues this year. (No data was available for Nevada and Washington, which do not tax personal income.)

The diverging trends appear due in part to economic and tax policy factors, as well as significant population shifts following the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw large migrations out of expensive coastal cities and toward Sun Belt states.

From April 2020 to July 2022, the population of Texas grew by 884,000, or 3 percent, while the Sunshine State added 707,000 residents, representing a gain of 3.3 percent, according to Census data.

During the same period, New York and California, which are likewise among the largest states by population, saw the biggest net decreases in residents, each losing more than 500,000.

The shifts reflect an internal migration of substantial proportions, fueling booming population growth in the South that could have economic and political implications for decades to come.

New York and California have each lost more than half a million people since 2020

A map shows the percentage change in state populations from 2020 to 2022

Experts cite a confluence of factors, including the rise of remote work, pandemic health fears about dense urban areas, and concerns over housing costs, high taxes and crime for driving a flood of internal migration toward Sun Belt states.

As well, California in particular has been hurt by its heavy reliance on taxing the capital gains income of ultra-wealthy residents, a strategy that leads to booms and busts.

In May, Governor Gavin Newsom revealed the state's budget deficit is expected to reach nearly $32 billion in the coming fiscal year, after the Golden State ran a budget surplus of $55 billion in 202223.

California has a progressive tax system that relies heavily on rich people and taxes investment gains as regular income, meaning it gets about half its revenues from just 1 percent of the population.

When the economy is good and the stock market surges, the wealthy pay more in taxes and revenues can soar quickly. When the economy is bad, they pay less and revenues can plunge just as fast.

For most states, the 2022-23 fiscal year ends on Friday, and a new budget cycle begins.
Hunter Biden's lawyer sent a searing letter Friday to the Republican chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, slamming him for releasing the testimony of two IRS whistleblowers.

Hunter's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, called out the timing of the release - two days after the news broke that the first son inked a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney from Delaware on tax and gun charges.

He also blasted the committee for tweeting out mocked-up WhatsApp messages, which are 'complete fakes,' Lowell said.

Lowell was referring to a threatening message Hunter allegedly sent to a Chinese associate demanding money. In it, he said that his father Joe was 'sitting next to him.'

Among Lowell's scathing allegations was that IRS whistleblowers had an 'ax to grind' when they came forward with their bombshell testimonies.

The letter comes as Republicans accuse the Department of Justice of giving Hunter preferential treatment in their criminal probe and vow to dig deeper into bribery claims involving the first family.

Hunter Biden's lawyer sent a scathing letter Friday to the Republican chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, slamming him for releasing the testimony of two IRS whistleblowers

Hunter's lawyer Abbe Lowell lashed out at Republicans for creating this graphic of an alleged WhatsApp message between the first son and a Chinese business associate

'Releasing the transcripts of and exhibits from interviews of self-styled IRS "whistleblowers" who may be claiming that title in an attempt to evade their misconduct was an obvious ploy to feed the misinformation campaign to harm our client, Hunter Biden, as a vehicle to attack his father,' Lowell told Chairman Jason Smith.

Smith hit back with a statement saying it was 'little surprise' Hunter's attorney was 'attempting to chill our investigation and discredit the whistleblowers who say they have already faced retaliation from the IRS and the Department of Justice.'

'It (the letter) doesnt even address concerns that counsel for Mr. Biden was regularly tipped off about potential warrants and raids in pursuit of evidence that implicated him, as well as his father,' Smith added.

In the letter, obtained by Axios, Lowell said House Republicans had shown an 'obsession with attacking the Biden family' since taking over the majority in January.

Lowell charged that the interviews with the 'whistleblowers' were 'orchestrated recitations of mischaracterized and incomplete "facts" by disgruntled agents who believed they knew better than the federal prosecutors who had all the evidence as they conducted their five-year investigation of Mr. Biden.'

He said the House Republicans' decision to release the information violated 'the spirit, if not the letter, of the tax laws and federal rules governing investigations,' going on to say that the whistleblowers had bias and an axe to grind' and yet GOP interviewers did nothing to suss that out.

Instead, they 'choreographed the dissemination of incomplete half-truths, distortions, and totally unnecessary details about Mr. Biden.'

One such example Lowell pointed to was Hunter's relations with prostitutes.

Lowell then sassed at Smith saying, 'disclosure to Congress is not the same as disclosure to Fox News.'

Hunter's lawyer remarked on the timing of the release, saying it did 'not seem innocent,' pointing to the news of the plea deal that preceded last Thursday's Ways & Means whistleblower press conference.

'To any objective eye, your actions were intended to improperly undermine the judicial proceedings that have been scheduled in the case,' Lowell said. 'Your release of this selective set of false allegations was an attempt to score a headline in a news cycle - full facts be damned.'

'We all know the adage: an allegation gets page one attention, while the explanation or exoneration never gets coverage at all or is buried on page 10. This letter is an attempt to make sure the response is found,' the lawyer continued.

Lowell also pointed out how many Republicans were involved in Hunter's case - asking how it would be possible for them to all want the Democratic president's son to get special treatment.

'How could you believe the agents stories at face value when it would make no sense for Republican-appointed and career prosecutors to turn away from any wrongdoing committed by Mr. Biden?' he asked.

'Your report fails to note, for example, that the investigation you and your Republican colleagues have focused on began during the Republican Trump Administration, supervised by two Republican Attorneys General, carried forward by a hold-over Republican U.S. Attorney, and pursued and reviewed by career and experienced attorneys. What possible motive would any of these people have to ignore proper evidence and fail to bring proper charges if those were warranted?' Lowell mused.

'And, critically, what reason would Attorney General Garland - a former prosecutor, advisor to Justice Department officials, and federal judge with an impeccable reputation for honesty and integrity - have to lie about the authority that he provided the U.S. Attorney in Delaware?' the lawyer asked.

Lowell also accused Republicans of using troubled Hunter as a vehicle to attack his father

The letter comes as Republicans accuse the Department of Justice of giving Hunter preferential treatment in their criminal probe and vow to dig deeper into bribery claims involving the first family

Lowell also gave an explanation for the most damning piece of evidence from the IRS whistleblowers - a WhatsApp message that suggests the president was involved in his son's foreign business deals.

Lowell said that 'President Biden and our client were not together that day, the company being referenced was not CEFC but Harvest Financial Group (with a person who also had the initial "Z"), and that no transaction actually occurred.'

The recipient of the message was originally identified as Communist Party member Henry Zhao.

'More important, your own actions call into question the authenticity of that communication and your subsequent use of it. The agent only described one message, but you took that purported text and disseminated images of it on June 22 and June 24 in two Twitter postings,' Lowell went on.

He also pointed out how the 'screen-grab images you posted' were the wrong color to be WhatsApp messages and how committee staff added a photo of Hunter, which was from 2022, not 2017, and used the Chinese flag to illustrate the recipient - 'when surely that was not how a text or contact was kept.'

'Many media articles confirm that data purported to have come from Mr. Bidens devices has been altered or manipulated,' Lowell said. ''You, or someone else, did that again,' he charged.

'All of the misstatements about this communication and your use of a false text are good examples of how providing one-sided, untested, and slanted information leads to improper conclusions,' the lawyer added.
A Utah rape suspect who allegedly faked his own death before fleeing to Scotland six years ago has been treated 'abysmally' in prison, according to a fellow inmate.

Fugitive Nicholas Alahverdian - aka Nicholas Rossi, 35 - attended the final day of his extradition hearing at Edinburgh's Sheriff Court wearing a black robe and skullcap traditionally worn by Orthodox Jewish men.

Rhode Island resident Rossi, who previously described himself as 'Anglo-Catholic', converted to Judaism behind bars at HMP Edinburgh Saughton Prison.

His extradition proceedings in the Scottish capital have been ongoing since Monday.

On Friday, fellow inmate 59-year-old William King - reportedly a friend of Rossi's and a convicted pedophile - gave evidence by video-link.

Fugitive Nicholas Alahverdian - aka Nicholas Rossi, 35 - attended the final day of his extradition hearing at Edinburgh's Sheriff Court wearing a black robe and skullcap traditionally worn by Orthodox Jewish men

Months before his arrest, in April 2022, Rossi spoke with NBC's Dateline while wearing an oxygen mask in a bizarre interview where he claimed to be the victim of mistaken identity

Speaking about wheelchair-user Rossi's time in prison, King told the court: 'He's been treated abysmally.

'He was left on the floor and told, 'Get up, you can f****** walk.'

'He pleaded for help, he has been refused.

'Nurses say there is nothing wrong with him.'

It came on the final day of evidence before the closing submissions in the lengthy extradition battle that has been ongoing since December 2021.

The case has been punctuated with frequent delays, and the defense made a last-minute attempt to keep the case open to air further evidence - but Sheriff McFadyen refused the motion.

Closing submissions from both the defense and prosecution were expected to be heard by the close of Friday, but Rossi appeared to be unwell as his lawyer Mungo Bovey KC came to the end of his speech.

The public gallery was ordered to leave the court room while a medic checked him over and found his oxygen levels to be below that of a normal person.

However, he did not require any further medical attention.

Bovey argued that extradition should not go ahead based on Rossi's deteriorating health and mobility, and made an appeal for his release on bail.

Speaking about Rossi, who claims to have used a wheelchair since August 2020, Boyey said: 'The conclusive point is that he is still in a wheelchair and there is no suggestion that would be coming to an end.'

Sheriff McFadyen refused the application for bail saying that Rossi represents a significant flight risk.

Rossi's wife, Miranda Knight, who married him while he was using the name Arthur Brown, has been present at all of the court proceedings to date.

Rhode Island resident Rossi, who previously described himself as 'Anglo-Catholic', converted to Judaism behind bars at HMP Edinburgh Saughton Prison. Pictured: Rossi leaving Edinburgh's Sheriff Court after his extradition hearing on Friday

During the NBC interview, a bespectacled Rossi donned an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, and flailed his arms as he stood alongside his wife before falling back into his seat

Prosecutors said Rossi is a Rhode Island man wanted after fleeing the US in 2017 to evade charges involving identity theft and fraud, and a 2008 sexual assault charge in Utah

'He married in the UK to a UK citizen and lived here with her and was looked after by her,' Boyey said.

The US now seeks to extradite him to face a number of sexual assault charges

'Mrs Knight is present here in your lordship's court and has been present throughout.

'She has been markedly loyal and devoted.'

The hearing has been adjourned until July 12 when the closing submission of the crown will be heard.

Rossi was arrested on December 13 last year after being admitted to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow - under the alias Arthur Knight - for urgent Covid treatment.

Criminal past of Nicholas Alahverdian Date unknown: Failure to register as a sex offender in Rhode Island. Accused of separate attack which allegedly saw him kidnap and sexually assault a woman Date unknown: Accused of similar abduction and sexual assault attempt in Massachusetts 2008: Convicted of sexual assault in Ohio after an 'encounter' with a fellow student at Sinclair Community College in Dayton. In September 2008, he allegedly raped an ex-girlfriend in Orem, Utah - the allegation that led to his arrest in December 2021. 2017 : Fraud in Ohio. Former foster mom in same state accused Alahverdian of $200,000 scam which saw him allegedly take out fake credit cards and loans in her husband's name February 2020: Fakes his own death of lymphoma, with unnamed 'widow' claiming Alahverdian had been buried at sea. In July, DNA links him to 2008 sex attack in Orem, Utah - the charge which ultimately led to his discovery in Scotland December 2021: Arrested at hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, while intubated with COVID on suspicion of Utah sex attack January 2022: Alahverdian was ordered into custody in Scotland after missing a bail hearing. February 2022: Freed from jail on being granted bail. April 2022: Continues to deny he's Alahverdian at extradition hearing. June 2022: Misses hearing after claiming he's 'bedridden with chronic lung condition'. Refuses to give DNA or fingerprints to police. July 2022: Back in custody for abusing medical staff. Later convicted and fined $500. November 2022: Scottish judge rules 'Knight' is Nicholas Alahverdian/Rossi. Ordered to remain in custody. April 2023: Rossi still in jail. Extradition hearing postponed over claims he attacked jail staffer. Advertisement

He was traced following a tip off from Interpol while he was on a ventilator in intensive care.

Months before his arrest, in April 2022, he spoke with NBC's Dateline in a bizarre interview where he claimed to be the victim of mistaken identity.

He steamed his glasses up with rage while angrily insisting he is a British man called Arthur Knight in a histrionic performance while his wife sat beside him.

'I am not Nicholas Alahverdian. I do not know how to make this clearer,' he told NBC in a strange accent, muffled by an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose.

Rossi also told US media in December 2019 that he had late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma and had weeks to live - before several outlets reported that he had died in February 2020, with a gushing obituary published online about him.

He is accused of attacking women in the states of Rhode Island, Ohio and Massachusetts.

However, when he was arrested in Scotland, neighbors claimed he had told them he was a British professor who said he was working at the nearby University of Glasgow.

Described as an eccentric, the alleged academic was often seen sporting large hats, dapper bow ties and spoke with a cut-glass English accent.

It was also claimed he enjoyed visiting bars wearing suits, where he would sip on whiskey and go on political rants about Brexit.

Rossi furiously denies he is the American wanted by the FBI and insists he has been mistakenly identified by the authorities.

Police and hospital staff initially identified the man as being Rossi from tattoos on his arms.

He is accused of raping an ex-girlfriend in September 2008, with police investigating him after discovering he'd been reported to the police over similar alleged attacks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Utah and Ohio.

He is suspected of carrying out multiple other sex attacks, and was also accused of a $200,000 fraud after taking out credit cards and loans in his foster mother's husband's name in Ohio, it is alleged.

Rossi divorced his second wife in 2017 after less than two years of marriage, and is also said to owe her $52,000.

Both of his former spouses took out restraining orders against him after their marriage ended.

Rossi was unable to give psychiatrists who assessed him for a possible personality disorder a full picture about his early life, education or work history.

He previously refuted claims by HMP Edinburgh GP Barbara Mundweil about his use of an electric wheelchair, after she said there was no medical reason for him to use one.
Waterman has now been indicted for the death of the unborn fetus which she allegedly cut out of Bush's body

A Missouri woman accused of kidnapping and killing a woman 31-weeks pregnant before cutting the unborn child from her body has been indicted for the fetus' death.

Amber Waterman, 43, was previously indicted in November for the fatal kidnapping of Ashley Bush, 33 who authorities say was shot to death.

Bush, of Benton County, Arkansas, was found dead by authorities in Missouri on November 3.

The remains of the unborn child, named Valkyrie Grace Willis by the father and Bush's fiance, Joshua Willis, were found in a different location to Bush.

According to court documents, Waterman and her husband Jamie, 42, abducted Bush 'for the purpose and benefit of claiming Ashley Bush's child as the defendant's child.'

A Missouri woman - Amber Waterman (pictured) - has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering an Arkansas woman who was 31 weeks pregnant in attempt to steal the baby

Waterman, 43, was charged in November with kidnapping resulting in death in the murder of 33-year-old Ashley Bush (pictured), who was found near Waterman's home on November 3

Officials in Benton County said Waterman, of Pineville, Missouri, lured Bush, who was looking for a job, with a phony job interview posting under the pseudonym 'Lucy'.

'Lucy' met Bush at an Arkansas library on October 28 and offered to connect her with someone who could get her a job, according to an affidavit.

They made plans to meet again at a convenience store on October 31, with Bush believing she would go with 'Lucy' to meet the supposed boss about 13 miles away from the store and 25 miles from where the Watermans live in Missouri.

Bush was dropped off at the store by her fiance, Joshua Willis, who saw her leave with the woman he had seen meet with Bush at the library.

She texted Willis at around 3 p.m. to say that she was on her way back to the convenience store, but when the truck Willis saw Bush get into drove by, it drove past the store, onto a local highway due north.

Willis recognized the truck and that 'Lucy', was driving.

Suspicious, Willis continued to try and contact his fiancee, but his calls went to voicemail. He reported her missing by 6:30 p.m.

She was found dead from an apparent gunshot wound two days later.

According to court documents, Waterman and her husband Jamie, also 42, abducted Bush (pictured) 'for the purpose and benefit of claiming Ashley Bush's child as the defendant's child'

Bush (pictured) was found dead from an apparent gunshot wound two days later. The unborn child, which Bush had named Valkyrie Grace Willis, was found in a separate location

In addition to the charges against Amber Waterman, husband Jamie has been charged with being an accessory. He also pleaded not guilty

The Watermans are also accused of having transported Bush across state lines from Arkansas to Missouri.

Social media users discovered Waterman posting to her Facebook account photos of ultrasounds, appearing to indicate she was pregnant in the months leading up to the murder.

In addition to the charges against Amber Waterman, her husband Jamie has been charged with being an accessory.

Jamie Waterman told authorities that his wife burned Bush's body in a fire pit and confessed to the killing, an affidavit says.

Bush told authorities at her home before she was arrested that she had delivered a stillborn baby on Oct. 31, the day Bush was reported missing.

Amber Waterman faces life in prison if she is convicted. Her husband faces a maximum prison term of 15 years.

Both have pleaded not guilty.
A man who sliced off another male's testicle as part of a twisted fetish group that streamed their mutilations online has been convicted of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Ashley Williams, 31, from Newport in Gwent, South Wales, maimed the man in November 2017, the Old Bailey heard.

The charge claims that between January 2016 and January 2022, Williams and others conspired to commit GBH through the 'removal of penises/testicles/penile nerves/castration by clamping/insertion of needles into genitalia/cutting of penis'.

Williams pleaded not guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit GBH, and the Crown has stated it will not pursue a trial against him on the count after he pleaded guilty to the testicle removal offence.

Williams appeared in the dock alongside David Carruthers, 60, Janus Atkin, 38, also from Newport, and Romanian national Ion Ciucur, 29. They also pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

Ashley Williams, 31, from Newport in Gwent, South Wales, maimed the man in November 2017, the Old Bailey heard

Williams appeared in the dock alongside, Janus Atkin, 38, also from Newport, and two other men, who all pleaded not guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit GBH

Norwegian national Marius Gustavson is alleged to have led a wide-ranging conspiracy which involved up to 29 offences of extreme body modifications on 13 victims, the removal and trade of body parts and the uploading of videos

READ MORE: Man who had his own penis, leg and nipple removed ran a 'eunuch-maker' website that livestreamed castrations to a paying audience, court hears The procedures were filmed and uploaded to the eunuch maker website he ran, and subscribers would pay to watch, Westminster Magistrates' Court (pictured) heard Advertisement

In May, a fourth man, Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, from Epsom in Surrey, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Marius Gustavson, the alleged ringleader of an extreme body modifications group, in February 2019.

Norwegian national Gustavson is alleged to have led a wide-ranging conspiracy which involved up to 29 offences of extreme body modifications on 13 victims, the removal and trade of body parts and the uploading of videos.

In a previous hearing, Gustavson, 45, pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to three men on dates in 2018 and 2019.

Gustavson, of Haringey, north London, has admitted separate charges of making and distributing indecent videos of a child. He appeared via video link at the Old Bailey on Friday, but was not asked to enter pleas on other charges, which include conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

Two more men previously admitted to removing other body parts belonging to Gustavson, who is accused of carrying out castrations and sharing the footage on his so-called 'eunuch maker' website.

Former nurse Nathan Arnold, 48,of South Kensington, west London, admitted the partial removal of Gutavson's nipple, stealing anaesthetic from the hospital where he worked and possessing extreme pornography.

Damien Byrnes, 35, of Tottenham, north London admitted removing Gustavson's penis.

Peter Wates, 66, from Croydon in south London, who has been accused of being Gustavson's 'right-hand man', previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm between January 1 2016, and January 1 2022. He is alleged to have been involved in nine of the 29 incidents.

Former nurse Nathan Arnold, 48,of South Kensington, west London, admitted the partial removal of Gutavson's nipple, stealing anaesthetic from the hospital where he worked and possessing extreme pornography

Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, from Epsom in Surrey, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Marius Gustavson, in February 2019

It is alleged the procedures, which include extreme body modifications such as the removal of penises and testicles, were filmed and uploaded to Gustavson's website, which subscribers paid to watch.

The defendants were arrested after police raids in London, Scotland and South Wales. They are said to have been part of a society in which people willingly undergo extreme body modification.

A further case management hearing was scheduled at the same court on September 8 2023.
Hunter and Lunden Roberts agreed that Navy Joan will be able to pick out one of his paintings each month as a gift in an effort to build a bond with her father

DailyMail.com can reveal that Hunter Biden promised to meet four-year-old Navy Joan and play a role in her life

Hunter Biden's baby mama settled their bitter child support suit after the First Son promised to meet their out-of-wedlock daughter and play a role in her life, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.

Years of legal wrangling ended abruptly this week when Lunden Roberts, 32, agreed to slash Hunter's $20,000 monthly payments and drop her petition to have Navy Joan's last name changed to Biden.

Sources say the stunning reversal comes after Hunter told Roberts in private talks that he wanted to end hostilities and 'build a relationship' with the adorable four-year-old.

The pact also paves the way for Navy Joan to eventually meet the rest of the Biden brood - including President Joe and First Lady Jill - for the first time.

While financial details of the settlement remain under seal, court filings indicate that the fledgling artist hunter, 53, will let his daughter pick out one of his paintings each month as a gift.

DailyMail.com can reveal that Hunter Biden promised to meet four-year-old Navy Joan and play a role in her life

Hunter and Lunden Roberts agreed that Navy Joan will be able to pick out one of his paintings each month as a gift in an effort to bond with her father

'The idea is that Navy Joan will pick the art herself, she can hang it on her bedroom wall and feel she has something special from her dad,' a source said

Hunter's abstract creations have reportedly sold for as much as $500,000 but the gesture has nothing to do with their value, according to our insider.

'The idea is that Navy Joan will pick the art herself, she can hang it on her bedroom wall and feel she has something special from her dad. It will mean the world to her,' the source told DaiyMail.com.

'When the time is right Hunter can present his work to Navy Joan in person, he can teach her about art and how to paint. It's a fun way for father and daughter to bond.

'As for the name, Navy Joan knows her last name is Roberts but she's also aware of who her father is. When the relationship is built she can change her name when she chooses.'

The pact paves the way for Navy Joan to eventually meet the rest of the Biden brood - including President Joe and First Lady Jill - for the first time

The shock settlement lightens the legal burden on Hunter who last week managed to avoid jail time with a plea deal that ended a years-long federal investigation of his tax affairs and gun ownership.

The breakthrough came when Arkansas-native Roberts took the unusual step of sitting in on Hunter's June 16 deposition in Little Rock, as DailyMail.com previously revealed.

Prior to that, relations between the pair had become so toxic that the single mom had petitioned an Independence County judge to lock the Biden scion up for failing to disclose his financials.

'He was giving his deposition when, about an hour in, he asked to speak with Lunden privately. That was the first time they had spoken since her pregnancy,' explained the source.

'It was emotional but over the next hour and a half they resolved a lot of their differences before calling the lawyers back in to draw up an agreement.

'Hunter said he wanted to build a relationship with his daughter and Lunden was never going to deny Navy Joan the opportunity to get to know her dad.

'This litigation has never been about money for Lunden. She has never wanted to punish Hunter or fight with him.

'The main thing is what's best for Navy Joan and both parents are on board with that. She is their sole focus.'

'Smoking mirror' from Hunter Biden's 'The Masks of God series l 48' x 60' l acrylic on canvas. Under the terms of a child support agreement, Biden will allow his four-year-old daughter Navy to have some of his paintings - but not his famous family name

Roberts is a former DC bottle girl who once worked as Hunter's PA

To date, Hunter has never met Navy Joan and neither has his dad Joe, 80, despite publicly lavishing praise and attention on his other grandchildren.

The blonde-haired little girl was conceived around December 2017 while Hunter was still in a relationship with his brother Beau's widow, Hallie.

It was initially reported that the pair met while Roberts was working as a pole dancer at Hunter's favorite DC strip club.

But texts retrieved from his abandoned laptop proved that she was in fact on the payroll at his investment firm, Rosemont Seneca.

As DailyMail.com revealed, Hunter initially vowed to support Roberts 'emotionally, physically and financially'.

Instead, he cruelly 'ghosted' her, ignoring her texts and calls, and refusing to acknowledge Navy Joan was his until Roberts sued for child support in 2019 and a court-ordered DNA test proved her claims.

In the ensuing litigation, Hunter claimed he was 'unemployed and had no monthly income' despite living in a $12,000-per-month Hollywood rental and driving a Porsche.

But when ordered to produce his financial records he repeatedly failed to do so before agreeing a 2019 settlement that has seen him pay Roberts more than $750,000 to date.

Despite already facing congressional and federal probes into his financial affairs, Hunter unexpectedly reopened the case last September, claiming he had suffered 'a substantial material change' in his income.

Roberts refused to buckle and raised the stakes by petitioning the court to officially rename her daughter Navy Joan Biden to 'benefit from carrying the Biden Family name.'

Her lawyers once more demanded Hunter hand over full details of his finances, from his shady business deals in Ukraine and China, to the names of the mystery art lovers who have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for his beginner paintings.

This week's deal ends proceedings, however, without the need for a July trial.

Attorneys for Roberts and Hunter, whose pricey stable of lawyers includes Abbe Lowell - who is said to charge up to $855 per hour  declined to comment.
Thousands of LGBT veterans who have been kicked out of the military should be given their medals back and compensation, a government review will say.

Lord Etheron report, which is being funded by the government, is due to published imminently and will detail examples of how those in the armed forces were forced out.

The document will recommend veterans are compensated financially for the loss of wages and pension earnings, according to The Sun.

It will also argue that medals should be returned to the ex-soldiers and an end to uniform bans at ceremonies is also believed to be on the agenda.

As many as 20,000 soldiers are estimated to have been discharged before the LGBT ban was lifted in 2000.

Thousands of LGBT veterans who have been kicked out of the military should be given their medals back and compensation, a government review will say

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will be under pressure to apologise to the ex-soldiers who were thrown out during the armed forces of the so-called 'gay ban'. A number of those who were expelled faced financial hardship after losing their job and pension and stripped of their honours

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will be under pressure to apologise to the ex-soldiers who were thrown out during the armed forces of the so-called 'gay ban'.

A number of those who were expelled faced financial hardship after losing their job and pension and stripped of their honours.

A government spokesperson said: 'We are proud of our LGBT+ veterans and grateful for their service in defence of our nation.

'The treatment of LGBT serving personnel pre 2000 was wholly unacceptable and does not reflect today's Armed Forces.

'We can confirm that Lord Etherton has concluded his independent review and submitted his report to the government.'

In 2022, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace commissioned a report led by retired judge Lord Etherton and has since been interviewing those who have suffered from the scandal.

One ex-servicewomen who was interviewed was Carol Morgan, who had signed up to the army in 1978 and had served for 22 years after being dismissed.

After falling in love with a female soldier, Ms Morgan was reported by a colleague to her bosses and had to endure a four-day investigation which included psychiatric tests, having her bunk searched and questions about her sex life.

She said: 'I had signed up for 22 years of my life, and in just four days it was snatched away from us.'

Kicked out of the military for being gay: Ex-servicemen and women reveal how they were arrested, court martialled and even put on the sex offenders register after their sexuality was discovered - despite exemplary service

By Kathryn Knight

Even 41 years on, David Kelsey can recall the anger and burning humiliation he felt as he handed over his army kit to his regimental sergeant major.

After six years serving with the Royal Engineers  including a six-month tour of Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles in the late seventies - he had been imprisoned for five months, court martialled and was now being discharged with disgrace.

His 'crime?' Kelsey had been spotted at a local gay bar at a time when being homosexual in the armed forces was against the rules - and the final ignominy was to come: 'We need your medal', David, now 60, was told.

That medal was a recognition of what he had done in the name of his country in Northern Ireland - facing daily threats of car bombs and snipers as he undertook roadside and helicopter patrols.

'I had stood in the line of fire in the same way as the straight man next to me,' he says. 'But it counted for nothing.'

David Kelsey was kicked out of the army and court martialled for being gay, after six years of service in the Royal Engineers. Pictured, David today (left) and in uniform (right)

Little wonder his sense of injustice burns to this day  shared by thousands of fellow gay servicemen who were subjected to similarly callous treatment.

Prior to 2000, gay people were not allowed to serve in the military, and those that did and who were 'outed' were not only often imprisoned, but forced to leave and surrender the awards they had won in the line of duty.

In some instances, they were forcibly ripped from their uniforms.

It has taken years of tireless campaigning by gay rights organisations to address what veterans minister Johnny Mercer last week acknowledged was a 'historic injustice'.

Last week, he announced a new scheme in which former members of the military who were ousted for being gay will be able to apply to have their service medals restored.

For David Kelsey and other gay veterans, it is long overdue.

Many have spent a lifetime labouring under the shadow cast by their treatment, which in some instances extended to them being given a criminal record - making it almost impossible for them to find an alternative career.

In the majority of instances  and in language chillingly evocative of McCarthy era America  a mere 'report' about their sexuality was enough to lead to invasive questioning, no-corners-left-unturned investigations and in some instances invasive body searches.

RAF fireman Carl Austin-Behan OBE's commanding officers had little choice but to dismiss him when they learned that he too was gay, despite an exemplary service record during his six years' service. Pictured, Carl today (left) and while a serving member of the military (right)

'A report' was the word David Kelsey, now a Conservative councillor in Bournemouth, remembers was used by the officers who came to arrest him as he prepared the midday meals at his barracks in Hamlyn one summer morning in 1982.

Then just 21, David, who had signed up aged 16 following in the footsteps of his three older brothers, had been spotted coming out of a local gay bar.

Questioned by the military police, he initially refused to co-operate. 'I denied it for three days flat  I thought they had no proof, even though they had done their homework. Then on the third day they produced a statement from a local and I realised that there was nothing else I could do.'

David was placed in a local guard house for five months before he was court martialled in October 1982 by a judge who made clear his belief that David's sexuality had little to do with his ability to be a soldier. Nonetheless bound by the rules, he had no choice but to discharge him in disgrace.

Royal Navy Police officer James Lindsay said he was lucky to avoid being court martialled when he was investigated for being gay during his service in the 1970s. Pictured, James Lindsay today (left) and in 1977 (right)

Those same rules meant former RAF fireman Carl Austin-Behan OBE's commanding officers had little choice but to dismiss him when they learned that he too was gay, despite an exemplary service record during his six years' service which had led to him being given a civilian award for bravery, a commendation from the Commander-in-Chief and a mention in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Only a year into his service, aged 20, Carl had heroically rescued a pilot from a fireball that had engulfed his plane - after it crashed onto the runway at RAF Chivenor in Devon, Carl selflessly clambered on top to rescue the second pilot who remained trapped inside after his ejector seat had failed to engage.

'The heat was intense  the mask had melted onto the pilot's face,' he recalls. 'There were bits of debris flying around me  I remember something ricocheted onto my helmet and cracking my visor. Adrenaline just took over.'

Yet despite being garlanded for his courage, when his superior officers learned he was gay - a boyfriend had reported him in the hope it would merely avoid him being posted overseas - his flourishing career was over in a matter of minutes.

'I was gone within twenty minutes,' he recalls. 'I think I was "lucky" that my achievements meant I avoided a court martial, but I'd lost everything I knew  my support network, my comrades, my prospects. And for what?' he asks. To add insult to injury, he was told that while he could keep his award, he could no longer wear it.

It took years for Stephen Close, a former Royal Fusiliers soldier from Salford, to rebuild his life after he was not only discharged with disgrace but put on the sex offenders register after having consensual sex with another soldier as a twenty-year-old. Pictured, Stephen today

Stephen, pictured during his service in Germany, repressed his sexuality for years before losing his virginity with a fellow soldier, which led him to be reported to the higher-ups

Many others were treated in ways that would befit a hardened criminal  especially if they were a member of the military police.

That was the fate of 62-year-old former Royal Navy Police officer James Lindsay who received a call while on leave visiting his parents in Stranraer, Scotland, telling him he had to return to HMS Southampton - the ship where he was head of police - within 24 hours to be 'investigated.'

When he returned, his locker was stripped of all his belongings, his good conduct medal was taken away and he was frogmarched off the ship and placed in a cell in Portsmouth, where he stayed for three months awaiting court martial alongside thirteen other navy officers who had been similarly 'rounded up'.

And all because another 'report' had been made  this one from someone who had seen James in the London gay nightclub Heaven.

He was dismissed from the Navy, leaving his promising career as one of the youngest recruits to the Navy Police in ruins. 'My one piece of luck is they discharged me before my court martial. That meant I didn't get sent to Colchester prison for another six months - they thought as I was in the police my life would truly be made hell if I was jailed,' he recalls.

Elaine Chambers, now 60, became the victim of a witch-hunt after someone made a comment she had 'lesbian tendencies'

Elaine Chambers was 21 when she joined Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps in 1982

In other cases the treatment meted out seems little short of inhumane. It took years for Stephen Close, a 58-year-old former Royal Fusiliers soldier from Salford, to rebuild his life after he was not only discharged with disgrace but put on the sex offenders register after having consensual sex with another soldier as a twenty-year-old.

Stephen had joined the army in 1980 aged 17, posted to Berlin at the height of the Cold War amid a climate of feverish high alert and suspicion. 'It wasn't a case of if the Russians would invade but when,' he says. 'We were often hauled out of bed in the small hours and told to get to our posts. You felt your life was on the line all the time.'

Still a virgin, Stephen had repressed his sexuality until one night in 1983 when he had a liaison with another soldier - his first sexual experience. Within hours he was arrested by officers from the military's Serious Investigations Branch and accused of committing an 'indecent act'.

Paraded around the camp and bombarded with homophobic abuse  he recalls peers shouting for him to be castrated - he was stripped, given an invasive medical examination by an army doctor and his possessions were seized before he was rigorously questioned for hours.

'These guys interrogated terrorists so it wasn't long before they broke me,' he recalls. 'They were pushing chairs over, banging their fists, shouting in my face.'

Stephen was charged with gross indecency and taken into detention in a disused part of the barracks where he was beaten and sexually assaulted by two fellow soldiers. 'They tipped me out of bed, beat me up and slammed my head against a door. I came round to find a guard standing over me.'

Subsequently taken into protective custody - where the guards spat on his meals  Stephen was court martialled in Berlin, and sentenced to six months in Colchester Military Prison in 1983 for sexual assault as both he and his partner were also under the then legal age of consent for homosexual intercourse of 21 (it was lowered to 18 in 1994 and to 16 in 2001).

Carl during his service showing off several awards. In 2016, he became Manchester's first openly gay Lord Mayor after starting a career in politics

That meant that his name was also entered onto the sex offenders register, something Stephen who now works in social housing after years struggling to find employment, describes as 'a noose around my neck that I couldn't loosen'.

The prospect of a criminal record was a terrifying one for all gay recruits, and one which also hung over former army nursing officer Elaine Chambers, 60, who became the subject of an investigation  witch-hunt might be a better word  following a blase comment by a colleague that she had 'lesbian tendencies'.

Within days, Elaine, who had joined Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps in 1982 aged 21, found herself not only under investigation but falsely accused of making an unwanted pass at two colleagues.

'Just being gay in the military was an offence in itself, but I also had to defend myself against this appalling allegation, made by women I had been involved with who were trying to save their own skin,' she says. 'I was terrified.'

Stephen during his service in Germany. It took him years to have his conviction removed from his criminal record and DNA erased from files

The ensuing investigation lasted nearly five months, and saw her private affairs searched over with a fine-toothed comb. 'They went through my letters, tracking down other women in the military with whom I had been intimate. Some of them lost their jobs overnight, including one who had been serving for 22 years.'

In the end, Elaine was told she could either face a court martial or resign her commission. Elaine chose the latter, but says her 'resignation' in January 1988 left her devastated. 'Emotionally it was incredibly damaging. I lost everything and faced being labelled a criminal - and I'd done nothing wrong.'

Elaine went on to build a successful civilian nursing career, but many gay veterans had to turn entrepreneur in order to survive: David Kelsey recalls applying for the police, only to be turned down because of his 'criminal record'. He started his own business instead, running a gay nightclub before moving into local politics.

Carl Austin-Behan had to resort to working nights at a local supermarket as he tried to find his feet, eventually setting up his own promotions company before moving into politics, first as a Labour councillor and then in 2016 as Manchester's first openly gay Lord Mayor.

Meanwhile, James Lindsay initially worked as a bouncer before forging a successful career in management and taking on his own pub.

'A lot of others didn't make it,' he points out. 'Some took their own lives.' And many, like Stephen Close, were haunted by what had happened to them for decades: eight years ago Stephen opened the door of his home in Salford to find two detectives on his doorstep who demanded a sample of his DNA for what they told him was a major swoop on 'serious' criminals.

Using controversial powers under the Crime and Security Act 2010, the police were targeting people convicted of 'serious' crimes prior to 1995 as part of an Operation known as 'Harvest'.

'I was appalled,' he says. 'What had happened would no longer even be considered an offence under current law'.

It has taken Stephen several years to have his conviction - and DNA - removed from the criminal record, and while he has no medal to be returned, he believes that last week's announcement is an important step in restoring the dignity of gay veterans.

It's a sentiment echoed by gay rights campaigners, who point out that the return of awards should be a 'first step' on a journey that will also see ex-military personnel's lost pension rights restored and enduring criminal records overturned.

'While we are delighted by this week's news, gay veterans have had their lives blighted by their treatment and waited too long to have these terrible injustices overturned,' says Craig Jones, of military charity Fighting with Pride. 'There is so much more that needs to be done  and quickly.'

Defence Minister Baroness Goldie said. 'It is deeply regrettable that because of their sexuality some members of the Armed Forces were in the past treated in a way that would not be acceptable today.

'As a result of disciplinary action and their dismissal from service, some personnel forfeited medals that they had earned, and others were denied the opportunity of continued service that could have resulted in the restoration of medals that were forfeited for different reasons.

'I am very pleased now to be in a position to address this wrong and to invite any personnel affected or, in some circumstances, the families of those who are deceased to apply to have their medals returned.

Minister for Defence People and Veterans Johnny Mercer added: 'LGBT personnel have and continue to make significant contributions to the Armed Forces. Our announcement addresses a historic injustice and demonstrates that the military is a positive place to work for all who choose to serve.'
President Joe Biden on Friday charged the Supreme Court with misinterpreting the U.S. Constitution when it struck down his $400 billion student loan forgiveness program and accused Republicans of snatching away people's hope with their hypocrisy on the issue.

In remarks at the White House, Biden said he was 'angry' about the decision but outlined several executive actions he was taking to help make it easier for borrowers to pay off their debts.

He said his new plans would save borrowers $1,000 a year, cap monthly payments at 5 percent of discretionary income a month, and forgive loan balances after ten years of repayments.

A defiant Biden argued he didn't give people 'false hope' with his $400 billion program that would have canceled $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income.

Supreme Court justices ruled 6-3 on Friday that Biden's proposal to wipe out debts for 26 million Americans at taxpayers' expense was unconstitutional and an overreach of his executive power.

The landmark ruling on the final day of the Supreme Court's term comes 24 hours after the justices decided colleges could no longer use race as a consideration in admissions in a case that sparked backlash from Biden.

President Joe Biden blasted the Supreme Court ruling that ruled his student debt relief program was unconstitutional

Biden was scathing in his response. He repeatedly leaned over the podium as he spoke and dropped his voice to a whisper - a tactic he takes when he wants to make a point.

'I didn't give any false hope,' Biden snapped when a reporter asked him if he misled borrowers.

'The question was whether or not I would do even more than what was requested. What I did I thought was appropriate and was able to be done and would get done. I didn't give borrowers false. But the Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given, and it's real. Real hope.'

He slammed the justices for their ruling: 'I think the court misinterpreted the constitution.'

And he accused Republicans of hypocrisy, arguing many GOP lawmakers took advantage of pandemic-related relief programs for their own business debt.

'Members of Congress who strongly opposed giving relief to students got hundreds of thousands of dollars themselves in relief because of the businesses they were able to keep open. Several Members of Congress got over a million dollars. All those loans are forgiven. You know how much that program cost? $760 billion. My program is too expensive?,' he said.

'Hypocrisy is stunning,' he added.

Biden also outlined his plan to help borrowers ease back into their loan payments after not having any for three years while the program was fought over in the courts.

'Today's decision has closed one path. Now we're going to pursue another. I'm never going to stop fighting for you,' he said.

The Department of Education also will create an affordable repayment plan that will help the typical borrower save more than $1,000 a year:

The program would adjust existing protocols.

Monthly payments will be cut from 10 percent to 5 percent of discretionary income.

It will raise the amount of income that is considered non-discretionary income and therefore is protected from repayment.

Forgive loan balances after 10 years of payments, instead of 20 years, for borrowers with original loan balances of $12,000 or less

Not charge borrowers with unpaid monthly interest, so that unlike other existing income-driven repayment plans, no borrower's loan balance will grow as long as they make their monthly payments

Additionally, the department will create a temporary 12-month program called the on-ramp repayment program. Under the program, if a borrow misses a monthly payment, there is no threat of default. The department of education won't refer missed payments to credit agencies for 12 months.

'We'll use every tool at our disposable to get you the student debt relief you need and reach your dreams. It's good for the economy. It's good for the country. It's going to be good for you,' Biden said.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona brushed aside questions of what will happen if this new program is also challenged in court.

'We're going to keep fighting,' he said.

President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona

The Supreme Court has struck down President Joe Biden's $400 billion student loans forgiveness plan in another bombshell decision. The justices ruled 6-3 against Biden's controversial plan to wipe out debts for around 20 million Americans

Biden's student loan forgiveness plan would have eradicated $10,000 in debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 and up to $20,000 for those with Pell Grants.

But it was challenged by six Republican states and two borrowers who argued Biden should have sought approval from Congress for a plan using substantial taxpayer funds.

While the borrowers case was thrown out, the states' case was ruled on with the majority of justices labeling it unconstitutional.

Chief Justice John Roberts agreed and said in the majority opinion that a move 'requires that Congress speak clearly before a Department (of Education) Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy.'

Justice Elena Kagan, wrote in a dissent, joined by the courts two other liberals, that the majority of the court 'overrides the combined judgment of the Legislative and Executive Branches, with the consequence of eliminating loan forgiveness for 43 million Americans.'

Millions of Americans haven't had to repay their loans for three-and-a-half years because of a COVID pandemic freeze. Borrowers will have to restart their payments in October, and interest will start recurring in September.

Biden's loan forgiveness has been a cornerstone of his presidency, and the ruling will be a massive blow to the administration that has fought against the piling debt.

For months, Biden's student loan blueprint has been at the center of a legal tussle with six Republican-controlled states and two borrowers. Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina said he had no legal authority to go ahead with the plan without the sign-off from Congress first.

Student debt relief activist rally in front of the Supreme Court

Biden used the 2003 post-9/11 HEROES Act as justification for the program. It stipulates the Department of Education can waive student debt during a national emergency.

But in the majority opinion written by the chief justice, said the HEROES Act was not a legitimate basis for the plan.

'Congress did not unanimously pass the HEROES Act with such power in mind,' writes Roberts, saying such decision of 'such magnitude and consequence' on a matter of 'earnest and profound debate across the country' must go through Congress itself.
Their war of words continued Friday after she slammed Adams' outburst, which she said made him appear 'like Trump'

He said he was justified in admonishing the elderly woman because 'she was degrading' to him

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has doubled down on his comparison of an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor to a 'plantation owner' - while she hit back by slamming him for being 'like Trump'.

Jeanie Dubnau clashed with the mayor at a townhall meeting Wednesday, where the two got into a tense back-and-forth when she pointed her finger at him in an argument about rental controls.

'Dont stand in front like you treated someone thats on the plantation that you own,' Adams said. 'Give me the respect I deserve and engage in the conversation.'

Adams faced backlash for the outburst, but in remarks to 1010 WINS on Friday he insisted it was justified because 'she was degrading' to him.

Their war of words continued when Dubnau, a tenant's rights activist, told NY Daily News that she felt Adams' blowup made him appear 'a little bit like Trump'.

Adams came under fire for comparing a critic to a 'plantation owner' at a townhall meeting

Jeanie Dubnau, 84, spoke out to express her anger over a decision to raise monthly payments on rent-stabilized apartments

Footage of the clash quickly circulated online, showing Dubnau interrupting Adams and slamming him for raising the rent in her area.

Adams then told the woman 'I am the Mayor' after she pointed her finger at him and questioned him. He then told those at the meeting that he doesn't control the rent board, which introduced the hikes.

At that point, the camera panned around to show the angered woman admonishing him, saying: 'You said before and after that you supported those rent increases.'

In response, Adams said: 'If you're going to ask a question don't point at me and don't be disrespectful to me. I'm the mayor of this city, treat me with the respect I deserve to be treated. I am speaking to you as an adult.

'Dont stand in front like you treated someone thats on the plantation that you own. Give me the respect I deserve and engage in the conversation.

'Don't be pointing at me, speak with me as an adult because I'm a grown man. I walked into this room as a grown man and I'll walk out of this room as a grown man.'

In a follow up interview, Adams defended his remarks and said Dubnau should have approached him in a less hostile manner.

'My mom made it clear, never allow someone to be disrespectful to you. That woman disrupted a meeting where all the participants were acting respectfully and cordially to get their issues heard,' Adams said.

'She disrupted that, and then she was degrading on how she communicated with me. Im not going to allow civil service to be disrespected, and Im not going to be disrespected as the mayor of this city.'

Following the hostile meeting, it emerged that the 84-year-old was a tenants rights advocate whose family fled the Nazis.

Dubnau was born in Belgium shortly after her parents fled the Nazi regime in Germany. After hiding out in the European country throughout World War II, Dubnau and her parents emigrated to America and she has lived in the Big Apple ever since.

She became a volunteer tenant organizer in 1960, and now serves as the chairwoman of the Riverside Edgecombe Neighborhood Association.

Dubnau could be seen in footage from the community meeting pointing her finger at the mayor and critiquing the Rent Guidelines Board's decision to raise monthly payment on rent-stabilized apartments

Adams told the meeting held on Wednesday night that while he appointed the board members, he had no sway over their decision

While Adams felt justified in his combative approach to Dubnau, the holocaust survivor hit out at him and branded him a liar.

'He is a little bit like Trump in that way, by lying and by bringing up totally irrelevant things instead of answering questions,' she said.

'Trump is maybe even a bit more clever in how he does that ... Eric Adams certainly tries to deflect whenever he doesnt want to answer something.'

Dubnau said she attended the meeting 'because I thought we'd have the opportunity to speak, which we did not, because the meeting was completely controlled by [Adams'] people.

'And that's why I had to stand up and spontaneously speak,' the assistant professor of biology at Rutgers University continued to the New York Post. 'We weren't being called on. It was a person chosen by his people who were going to speak.'

Dubnau now says she will continue to call out Mayor Eric Adams 'as much as I can.'

'The main point is that the mayor has shown he's an enemy of all the rent-stabilized tenants in New York City,' she added.

The Rent Guidelines Board (pictured) comprises mayoral appointees

Dubnau's remarks came in response to the Rent Guidelines Board voting to increase the rent for 1million rent stabilized apartments in New York City.

The panel, which is made up of mayoral appointees, approved increases of up to 6 percent on two year leases.

The increases would apply to leases issued or renewed from October through September 2024.

Quickly after the board shared their proposal, Adams issued a statement applauding the move, after initially pushing back when the board signaled hikes could be as high as 7 percent.

Last week he said: 'I want to thank the members of the Rent Guidelines Board for their critically important and extremely difficult work protecting tenants from unsustainable rent increases.

'Finding the right balance is never easy, but I believe the board has done so this year  as evidenced by affirmative votes from both tenant and public representatives.'
A new poll shows a historically low number of US adults are 'extremely' proud to be American, with numbers dropping dramatically since the years after 9/11.

Just 39 percent of adults expressed 'extreme' pride in the US, according to Gallup, only one percent higher than 2022.

The result was 16 points lower than when the outlet first asked the question in 2001, and significantly less than the 65-70 percent recorded in the years after 9/11.

About 48 percent of Americans believe the 'nation's best days are behind us' while 43 percent think they are still to come according to a separate Fox News poll.

Rachel Campos-Duffy suggested on Fox & Friends that the nation's founders being 'denigrated' in schools and colleges may have impacted younger Americans

Party identification and age appear to significantly affect national pride.

Meanwhile, 50 percent of U.S. adults aged 55 and older say they are 'extremely' proud to be American, 40 percent aged 35 - 54 and 18 percent aged 18 - 34.

In a panel discussion on Fox & Friends, Rachel Campos-Duffy mused that the nation's founders being 'denigrated' in schools and colleges had affected younger Americans.

About 60 percent of Republicans and 29 percent of Democrats expressed 'extreme' pride while independent voters recorded the lowest figure at 33 percent.

Campos-Duffy stressed how this could potentially affect military participation which is already seeing low enlisting numbers.

'This has huge implications. I mean, think about our military. Who would want to die for a country that you don't love?' she asked.

Republican candidate Senator Tim Scott was later asked why so many people believed the country was going in the wrong direction.

'Let's stop telling Americans the lie that the left tells them that we live in a racist, declining country, that this is not the land of opportunity, it's the land of oppression,' he said.

'Let's stop selling the drug of victimhood and the narcotic of despair. Let's start engaging the American people around the painful, truthful history of America that we rise to the occasion.'
The Supreme Court will take up a major gun rights case next term when it considers if banning people under domestic violence restraining orders from having weapons violates the Constitution.

The justices decided Friday that they will rule on 1994 federal law that forbids abusers from possessing firearms in what could be the third major Second Amendment decision since 2008.

They took up the case on the last day of the term, where the struck down President Joe Biden's $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan.

Justices will hear cases again when the court's next term begins in October.

The bench agreed to hear President Joe Biden's administration of a lower court's ruling that found that the law ran afoul of the Second Amendment's 'right to keep and bear arms' because it fell outside 'our nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.'

The Supreme Court will take up a major gun rights case next term when it considers if banning people under domestic violence restraining orders from having weapons violates the Constitution

The case involves a Texas man charged with illegal gun possession while subject to a domestic violence restraining order after assaulting his girlfriend.

The court will hear the case during its next term, which begins in October.

The United States, with the world's highest gun ownership rate, remains a nation deeply divided over how to address firearms violence including frequent mass shootings even as the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, takes an expansive view of Second Amendment rights.

The court in June 2022 expanded gun rights in a landmark ruling called New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, striking down New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home.

That ruling declared for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. It also set a new test for assessing firearms laws, saying restrictions must be 'consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation,' and not simply advance an important government interest.

The 1994 law at issue in the current case prohibited a person subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm. It initially made the crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It has since been raised to 15 years.

Zackey Rahimi of the Texas city of Kennedale challenged the law after being charged under it in 2021.

Rahimi, who had a history of dealing drugs including cocaine, knocked his girlfriend to the ground after an argument in a parking lot, dragged her to his car, shoved her inside, causing her to head to hit the dashboard, according to a court filing. After realizing a bystander had seen his actions, according to the filing, Rahimi retrieved a gun and fired a shot. Rahimi later threatened to shoot his girlfriend. She obtained a court-approved restraining order, but Rahimi was arrested for violating it.

Rahimi was involved in five shootings in the Arlington, Texas area between December 2020 and January 2021, the filing stated, including one in which he fired bullets using an AR-15 rifle into the home of a person to whom he sold drugs. He was caught with a pistol and rifle during a police search of his home.

He asked a federal judge in Texas to dismiss his illegal gun possession charge under the law, arguing that it violated the Second Amendment, which states: 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'

The judge rejected his Second Amendment argument and Rahimi subsequently pleaded guilty, receiving a six-year prison sentence. Rahimi ultimately prevailed on appeal, with the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February declaring the law unconstitutional in a ruling that applied to Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The justices decided Friday that they will rule on 1994 federal law that forbids abusers from possessing firearms in what could be the third major Second Amendment decision since 2008. They took up the case on the last day of the term, where the struck down President Joe Biden's $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan

The 5th Circuit initially had upheld the law but withdrew its opinion following the Supreme Court's Bruen ruling. Applying the Bruen ruling, the 5th Circuit concluded that banning people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms was 'an outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted.'

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the Supreme Court on behalf of Biden's administration that the 5th Circuit's ruling was 'profoundly mistaken.' Prelogar wrote that 'governments have long disarmed individuals who pose a threat to the safety of others' and that the 1994 law 'falls comfortably within that tradition.'

Twenty-three states, mostly Democratic-led, urged the Supreme Court to hear the dispute, as did groups advocating for the prevention of gun violence and domestic abuse.
This is the terrifying moment that two paddleboarders were circled by a hammerhead shark off the coast of Florida.

Malea Tribble, of Fort Lauderdale, and her paddle boarding partner Gabe Barajas were caught in a scary situation as they were completing the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis event, where participants travel 80 miles from the Bahamas to Florida on a paddleboard to raise money.

As Tribble and Barajas were paddling in the ocean with no land in sight, Tribble felt a few bumps on the bottom of her board but was unaware a curious hammerhead shark was swimming right underneath her as she was in the middle of the Gulf.

Her husband Ricky - who was on the support boat - spotted the animal's tall dorsal fin as it rose up behind Tribble's board, and he directed his wife to paddle toward him.

'Malea, come to the side,' Ricky can be heard saying in a video, posted to the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis's Instagram page. 'Keep coming.'

Someone else on the boat informs the paddleboarder that the shark 'keeps following you.'

Malea Tribble, of Fort Lauderdale, and her paddle boarding partner Gabe Barajas were caught in a scary situation as they were completing the Crossing for Cystic Fibrosis event, where participants travel 80 miles from the Bahamas to Florida on a paddleboard to raise money

A hammerhead shark showed its fin on Tribble's board as it followed her around the ocean

'Is it a big one?' she asks.

'It's hard to tell,' someone replied.

Tribble pulls her board close to the boat and sits down as they call over to Barajas to stay seated on his board a few feet out.

'Hammerhead shark right here,' Ricky tells Barajas as his wife makes a fake fin on her head to indicate what was going on.

Afterward, the pair kept close to the boat as they continued their journey back to Florida.

Reflecting on the moment, Tribble said she never 'felt unsafe.'

'We felt calm. I didn't have time to allow myself to be scared,' she told event organizers. 'Even an encounter as unique as mine, would not deter me from competing in The Crossing again. Our "why" for this event is the foundation itself.'

Neither was hurt and Tribble said 'no one felt unsafe' during the incident

The pair stayed close to the boat after the shark sighting

The founder of the Crossing event, Travis Suit, said he was 'grateful Malea was not harmed and so proud of the calm and disciplined response the Tribble's had during the situation'

The crossing event starts at midnight and helps raise money for the Piper's Angels Foundation to help patients and families with cystic fibrosis.

Each paddler has to raise a minimum of $2,000. Barajas revealed on his Instagram that he and Tribble raised $10,000.

Tribble has participated in the event three times, including twice as a paddler.

There's only been 16 recorded incidents between humans and hammerhead sharks since 1990, according to Shark Attack File, and no deaths have been recorded.

Tribble has participated in the 80-mile journey three times, including twice as a paddler

There's only been around 1,200 shark attacks worldwide in the last 50 years, with a 14 percent fatality rate, according to Floridapanhandle.com.

Sharks oftentimes attack unprovoked in the afternoon and July 2022 saw the highest record of attacks with 17. Many of the fatal attacks happened in Florida, Hawaii, California, and South Carolina in the US. The US has the most attacks, ringing in over 700 of the 1,200.

Australia comes in second with a little over 250 attacks in the last 50 years, according to Floridapanhandle.com.

Out of the 1,200 attacks, great white sharks amounted for just 180 of them.
A 16-year-old Colorado boy has been charged with the murder of his 15-year-old girlfriend after she broke up with him following six months of dating.

Jovanni Sirio-Cardona is being charged as an adult for killing his ex-girlfriend, Lily Silva Lopez, according to the 19th Judicial District Attorney's Office in Weld County.

On June 16 around 3:45pm, Sirio-Cardona reportedly broke into Lopez's home by climbing through her bedroom window and shot her seven times.

He then ordered the victim's 13-year-old brother to help him move his sister's body into another room and took his iPhone so he couldn't call for help, officials said.

Sirio-Cardona has also been charged with burglary, aggravated robbery and possession of a handgun by a juvenile, Fox31 Denver reported.

Lily Silva Lopez, 15, was shot seven times by her ex-boyfriend, Jovanni Sirio-Cardona after she recently broke up with him. The couple were only together for six months

On June 16, the Sirio-Cardona reportedly broke into the girl's home (pictured) climbed through her bedroom window and shot her seven times

Mourners have left stuffed animals, candles and flowers near Lopez's home

The young woman was shot in a hallway and then dragged back into her room, according to records, Fox31 News reported.

The victim's brother pleaded with Sirio-Cardona not to shoot him. He was spared before the teen shooter fled.

The boy, whose parents were not home during the shooting, ran to a neighbor's house after the horrifying ordeal.

The neighbor, Antoinette Martinez, called 911. She said: 'It's sad. That makes me sad because I don't know why someone would do something so awful'.

Weeks prior to the fatal shooting, officers from the Greeley Police Department were called to the home regarding a domestic violence dispute. During the call, Lopez had accused Sirio-Cardona of punching her in the face and hurting her arm.

Lopez's mother revealed that during her daughter's relationship with the teen there had been many acts of domestic violence, as per the news outlet.

When police officers responded to Sirio-Cardona's home, his grandma asked why they were there, he then responded, 'he did what he had to do and shot someone.'

Lopez's grief-stricken family told the news outlet that Lily was an 'awesome person,' in a statement.

'Lily was an ambitious young girl. She just completed her sophomore year she was so excited to learn how to drive this summer,' they said.

'Lily was full of life she enjoyed makeup, shopping, and hanging out with her family and best friend.

'Lily was very hardworking and enjoyed working at wingshack, she loved and cared for all her coworkers and managers.

'Lily will be missed by many. Lily will continue to live in our hearts and she will always be our guardian angel. Lily will always be remembered as a loving, bright happy girl.'

Sirio-Cordona is scheduled to appear in court on August 3 for a status conference. His bond had been set at $2 million, CBS Colorado reported.
It was the Princess of Wales who pressed for the Queen to declare 'recollections may vary' in her infamous riposte to Harry and Meghan, a book has claimed.

Behind the scenes, Kate was even 'steelier' than Prince William in helping devise the robust palace response to the Sussexes' incendiary racism allegations made in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, it was reported.

The future king and queen were said to have been united in wanting a 'toughened up' statement after Harry and Meghan's televised bombshell.

New light has been shed on the palace drama by royal correspondent Valentine Low in the paperback edition of his book Courtiers.

He reveals in detail how the late Queen approved the subtle but firm comeback to her grandson's toxic attack on the monarchy in the interview he and Meghan gave to Ms Winfrey in March 2021.

A global racism storm was sparked after the Sussexes claimed in an interview to Oprah Winfrey (pictured) that, when Meghan was pregnant with Prince Archie, there had been 'concerns' expressed at the palace about his possible skin colour

Behind the scenes, Kate was even 'steelier' than Prince William in helping devise the robust palace response to the Sussexes' incendiary racism allegations. Pictured: Kate and Meghan in 2018

William and Kate were said to have been united in wanting a 'toughened up' statement after Harry and Meghan's televised bombshell. Pictured: Harry and Meghan laugh during the 2021 interview with Oprah

A global racism storm was sparked after the Sussexes claimed that, when Meghan was pregnant with Prince Archie, there had been 'concerns' expressed at the palace about his possible skin colour.

The shock allegation triggered crisis talks at Buckingham Palace, during what was a difficult time already with Prince Philip seriously ill in hospital.

Meghan told Oprah she had phoned the Queen to check his condition as he spent almost a month in hospital while being treated for an infection. He died 'peacefully' around a month later.

A team of courtiers had stayed up overnight on Sunday to watch Meghan and Harry's interview which was screened on US TV in the early hours of the morning UK time.

And although senior officials locked in conference calls had debated how to respond, with a draft statement ready by 2pm, the palace remained silent.

An insider reveals in Mr Low's book: 'One of the reasons was that the late Queen was adamant that she was going to watch the programme first.' That meant waiting until it was broadcast on ITV on Monday evening.

And so it was on the Tuesday when the serious negotiations began over the official response to Harry and Meghan  with William and Kate leading the fightback.

According to Mr Low's book, being serialised in The Times: 'They sat together on a sofa as they discussed with their officials how to deal with the Sussexes' incendiary allegations.'

A draft palace statement initially did not include the famous phrase, and was a 'much milder version'. The book says: 'William and Kate were clear which side of the debate they were on. 'They wanted it toughened up a bit'.'

It was said the couple  who by then had had their fair share of run-ins with William's younger brother and his wife  were adamant that 'this does not stand'.

While Kate was 'right behind' William, it was said that she was even more firm than him on the matter. Pictured: The Prince and Princess of Wales at the Queen's Lying in State last September

The shock allegation triggered crisis talks at Buckingham Palace and a team of courtiers had stayed up overnight on Sunday to watch the interview. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth in March 2022

Prince William and Kate are pictured a the Coronation Big Lunch off the Long Walk in Windsor last month

And while Kate was 'right behind' William, it was said that she was even more firm than him on the matter. When a courtier first suggested the 'recollections may vary' phrase  which was hailed as a classic iron-fist-in-velvet-glove royal manoeuvre  at least two palace officials argued against it in case it riled Harry and Meghan further.

But it was Kate, then the Duchess of Cambridge, 'who pressed home the argument that it should remain', Mr Low's book says.

He quotes a source as saying: 'It was Kate who clearly made the point, 'History will judge this statement and unless this phrase or a phrase like it is included, everything that they have said will be taken as true'.'

The source said it was an example of how Kate is often far steelier than she appears: 'She does not get as much credit as she should, because she is so subtle about it.

'She is playing the long game. She has always got her eye on, 'This is my life and my historic path and I am going to be the Queen one day'.'

The toughened-up draft went to Buckingham Palace for approval  and came back a couple of hours later, with a 'yes' from the Queen. It was released on the Tuesday night.

Last night, Kensington Palace declined to comment.

Amid the fallout of the interview, it was also 'steely' Kate who Meghan famously claimed had made her cry before she married Prince Harry.

In the bombshell interview, the Duchess of Sussex said she had forgiven Kate and revealed she had bought her flowers to apologise about the incident.

The book says: 'William and Kate were clear which side of the debate they were on. 'They wanted it toughened up a bit'.' Pictured: The Sussexes and Wales' at Windsor Castle following the Queen's death last year

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Queen Elizabeth II attend a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge on June 14, 2018 in Widnes

The row with Prince William's wife made headlines around the world after a supposed falling out over dresses for the flower girls.

Reports of the clash between the duchesses first emerged in November 2018, when sources claimed Meghan had been left displeased with the 'stressful' fitting.

Accounts differ as to whether the cause of the row was a disagreement on whether the bridesmaids should wear tights - Meghan reportedly believed they should not - or whether it stemmed from Princess Charlotte's dress not fitting.

A source said at the time: 'Kate had only just given birth to her third child, Prince Louis, and was feeling quite emotional.'

The extraordinary revelations about Kate's role in the palace's response to Harry and Meghan's interview comes as William and Harry both gave separate speeches congratulating the winners of the Diana Awards during a virtual ceremony shared online on Friday.

The Prince of Wales featured first during the 43-minute online event by praising the 'courage, compassion and relentless dedication' shown by the young people who had been honoured.

The Duke of Sussex, who is at war with his brother over the fallout from Megxit, appeared twenty minutes later alongside a former award winner to speak about the importance of joining together with other campaigners because 'no one is a conduit for change alone'.

It came as the awards organisers revealed Harry had paid a visit to an event in Los Angeles last month to surprise four of the winners with their certificates.

The extraordinary revelations about Kate's role in the palace's response to Harry and Meghan's interview comes as William and Harry both gave separate speeches congratulating the winners of the Diana Awards during a virtual ceremony shared online on Friday. The Prince of Wales, 41, appeared first during the 43-minute streamed event by praising the 'courage, compassion and relentless dedication' shown by the young people who had been honoured

The Duke of Sussex, 38, featured twenty minutes later alongside a former award winner to speak about the importance of joining together with other campaigners because 'no one is a conduit for change alone'

This Saturday would have been the 62nd birthday of the royal brothers' late mother, Princess Diana, with both now facing calls to bury the hatchet in her memory.

'It has to end. The bitter battle between the royal Princes cannot go on for ever,' royal expert Michael Cole told the Daily Express.

'The best way William and Harry could honour the memory of their mother would be to bury their differences right now.'

PR experts told MailOnline today that the Harry and Meghan 'double act' could be coming to an end as the Duke and Duchess may embark on more solo projects to 'play to their strengths and 'avoid ridicule'.

Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told this paper: 'I think it's a smart move of them to divide and conquer.

'This leans in to something that Harry is genuinely interested and passionate about and if they are to win back favour with their fans then this is the best way to carve out things that actually interest them, they have genuine insight in and plays to their strengths rather than shoehorn in ideas that set them up for potential ridicule'.

Meanwhile, PR expert Mark Borkowski said: 'Clearly they could be returning to their strengths.

'Harry to Africa, Meghan to life style and fashion - if the content they either suggested or produced has proved not to work or has not produced the numbers - they are focusing on what has worked in the past and is something they are passionately entwined with.

'Harry can create a theme of authenticity  however, it strikes me they could be better solo rather than a double act'.
A private jet carrying actor and comedian Gabriel Iglesias has slid off a runway and ended up at least 100 yards into a field after a 'turbulent landing'.

The 46-year-old, who is also known as Fluffy, had been travelling from Albertville, in Alabama, to Andrews, North Carolina earlier this afternoon aboard a Gulfstream jet.

Iglesias had been travelling to North Carolina for his next show on his 'Don't Worry, Be Fluffy' tour, which is due to take place at Harrah's Cherokee Event Center tonight.

He told TMZ that after the jet touched down the reverse thrusters failed and the plane continued down the runway.

The comedian also told the site that on the final approach there was horrible turbulence and he hit his head on the ceiling of the plane.

The standup comedian shared a video of the aftermath onto his social media, and confirmed nobody had been injured in the incident

Iglesias at the premiere of "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" held at Regency Village Theatre on May 30, 2023 in Los Angeles, California

He said: 'As we were going down we were picturing a scene from 'Almost Famous' where everyone felt they were going to die.

'We all told each other, 'We love you!' thinking it was the end.'

According to the TMZ, there had been six passengers on board, two pilots and two chihuahuas.

Video footage shared on social media by Iglesias shows the Gulfstream jet caked in mud.

A trail of ripped grass can be seen behind it leading all the way to the end of the runway, where fire crews are also seen.

Those onboard can be seen carrying their luggage as they trudge back to the tarmac.

Alongside his post, Iglesias said: 'Emergency landing!!! Our private jet skid off the runway and wound up in a field in Andrews, N. Carolina.

'Everyone is ok but shaken up. Happy to be alive. I love u all.'

Those onboard can be seen holding their luggage as they cross the field back towards the fire crews

The comedian said that on their final approach there was horrible turbulence and he hit his head on the ceiling of the plane

On social media, fans of the comedian expressed their happiness that everyone had made it off the plane.

One person commented: 'I'm glad everyone is ok. We love you. And just think, you'll get some awesome material out of this experience once you're calm.'

Another posted: 'Glad to see your all walking away from this emergency landing !! Safe travels.'

Last December, we told how the comedian had spent $100,000 on a lavish quinceanera for his Chihuahua Rise.

DailyMail.com has approached representatives of Iglesias for comment.
New dentists will be forced to devote years to the NHS to help tackle staff shortages.

Under plans unveiled by Rishi Sunak they will be tied into the NHS rather than lost to private practice. The Prime Minister said it was unacceptable that two in three left the health service straight after qualifying.

He said it was 'reasonable' to require them to spend some time in the NHS after benefiting from training that amounted to 'a very significant subsidy from the taxpayer worth hundreds of thousands of pounds'.

Coupled with an increase in training places, the move should boost the number of dentists offering NHS services and help to resolve chronic shortages that have left many families unable to get treatment.

But the British Dental Association reacted furiously to the idea. Its chairman Eddie Crouch urged the Government to make NHS work more attractive rather than simply order dentists around.

Under plans unveiled by Rishi Sunak, new dentists will be tied into the NHS rather than lost to private practice

'Ministers need to make the NHS a place young dentists would choose to work, not handcuff the next generation to a sinking ship,' he said. 'Seeing the detail, nothing changes our view that government is trying in vain to fill a leaky bucket. It's an exercise in futility training more dentists who don't want to work in the NHS.'

Rishi's remedy: The plan DOCTORS: The NHS has pledged to double the number of medical school places to 15,000 a year by 2031. NURSES: Doubling the number of adult nurse training places by 2013, with a planned 170,000 extra by 2036/37. DENTISTS: Training numbers to rise by 40 per cent to more than 1,100 places by 2031/32. MIDWIVES: Ongoing investments to boost training places. PHARMACISTS: Target to increase training places by nearly 50 per cent to around 5,000 by 2031/32. MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES: Approved clinician roles across mental health services will rise by at least 1,000 between 2022/23 and 2036/37. RECRUITMENT: Medical degrees could be slashed from five years to four. RETENTION: Better opportunities for career development, improved flexible working and pensions reforms to keep 130,000 employees working in the service for longer. Advertisement

The move to get a grip on the dentistry crisis came as:

The NHS published a 'Long Term Workforce Plan', which set out proposals to double medical training places;

Mr Sunak warned he would not take the 'easy course' of hiking pay to doctors despite fears industrial action will hit patient care and push up waiting lists;

Ministers predicted that the push for domestic training and recruitment would slash the proportion of foreign workers in the NHS from 25 per cent to 10 per cent;

The PM hinted that the scale of the NHS plan could mean cuts elsewhere;

NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard warned the plan was not a 'magic wand';

Medical leaders said they might need more cash for technology and equipment to meet productivity targets.

An exodus of dentists from the NHS has left provision in crisis in some areas, with desperate patients even resorting to pulling out their own teeth.

In the South West only 5 per cent of NHS dental practices are still taking on new child patients. Yesterday's workforce plan calls for 40 per cent more dentists to be trained over the next decade. Courses for dental hygienists and nurses will also be expanded.

The plan also seeks 'better value for the significant investment that the taxpayer makes in the education and training of the dental workforce'. It said dentists would be 'supported and encouraged' to devote more time to NHS patients. Bureaucracy will be slashed.

But the blueprint suggested a 'tie-in' period may be required to ensure that 'dentists spend a minimum proportion of their time delivering NHS care in the years following graduation'.

Sources said Health Secretary Steve Barclay would examine whether they should be required to spend a number of hours each week or carry out a minimum number of NHS stints. These could last for five or even ten years, but would not bar dentists from doing private work on the side. It is not expected to affect existing dentists, even if they have shunned the NHS for their entire careers after qualifying. The final details will be subject to consultation.

The Prime Minister said it was unacceptable that two in three dentists left the health service straight after qualifying

Sources said Health Secretary Steve Barclay (pictured) would examine whether they should be required to spend a number of hours each week or carry out a minimum number of NHS stints

But the BDA said it would not be enough to halt the exodus from NHS work and warned against trying to recruit more foreign dentists to fill the gaps.

The union described the NHS contract as 'broken'. It said its surveys showed that half of all respondents had cut their NHS commitments since the pandemic.

Mr Barclay is understood to have looked at the case for imposing a tie-in period for doctors to require them to work for the NHS for a minimum period.

Mr Sunak said he was willing to introduce the plan if the number of junior doctors choosing a life abroad increased. But he said that evidence of large numbers of doctors relocating to Australia and other countries was only anecdotal.

'The data shows it is not as widespread a problem as people assume,' he said.

'But if we think there is an issue there we are prepared to take action.'
36-year-old Danny G. Tiner was arrested at his home on multiple charges related to the January crash, including five counts of manslaughter

A tractor-trailer driver was distracted and using TikTok on his cellphone seconds before causing a Phoenix-area freeway collision that killed five people, authorities said.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety announced that 36-year-old Danny G. Tiner was arrested at his home on Thursday on multiple charges related to the January crash, including five counts of manslaughter.

An investigation determined Tiner was driving 68mph in a 55mph construction zone and actively using the social media app TikTok on his cell right before the deadly crash.

Initially, Tiner told police he had received a message on an electronic work tablet and was acknowledging it.

Tiner said when he looked back up traffic was stopped, and he could not halt his semi trailer in time to avoid a collision.

Five people died in the fiery horror crash after two semi-trucks and two other vehicles collided on Interstate 10 in Phoenix, Arizona in January

It took nearly 30 minutes to put the fire out and close to a dozen police officers remained on scene throughout the morning

On the morning of January 12, state troopers responded to the fiery chain-reaction crash on Interstate 10 in Chandler involving six cars.

Tiner's tractor-trailer crashed into a passenger car, pushing it into another semitrailer and two other cars.

Most of the victims were trapped inside burning vehicles as the resulting fire from the crash lasted about two hours.

Such was the force with which Tiner rear-ended the two cars in front of him, they became wedged into the back of a second commercial truck.

The second commercial truck was thrust forward and struck two additional cars.

The two passenger vehicles crushed between the semi-trucks ignited and burst into flames, killing the occupants.

The fire spread to Tiner's commercial truck tractor and trailer, and to the second commercial truck's box trailer.

The horrific crash shut down the freeway for 11 hours.

The victims were identified as Gilberto Franco, Ryan Gooding, Andrew Standifird, Willis Thompson and Jerardo Vazquez.

This fire was so intense that families were asked to provide dental records in order for identification of their loved ones to take place.

'I just went into shock. Then I passed out,' said Tondra Doss, Willis Thompson's widow to AZFamily, who is mourning the loss of her husband. 'It's so hard for me. I swear it's so hard for me,' Doss said, speaking about when she learned of his death.

'Willis was a truly amazing person who was the kindest soul. He had a heart of gold and loved his family dearly,' a family friend wrote in tribute.

Doss said the family would be filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver and trucking company.

Tiner's tractor-trailer crashed into a passenger car, pushing it into another semitrailer and two other cars setting them all ablaze

Footage from traffic cameras in the area showed a fiery scene with a semi-truck and several passenger cars destroyed

An aerial view from the scene showed a semi-truck engulfed in flames, with the charred remains of vehicles all that remains

Andrew Standifird, 28, has just recovered from addiction issues when his life was cut short in the crash.

The married dad-of-three was a 'beloved son and husband'. 'Andrew was a very charismatic, loving, giving, just a very social person,' Sarah Standifird, Andrew's mother, said to 12News.

Ryan Gooding was preparing to marry the love of his life, Nikki Johnson, when he was tragically killed in the crash.

'Every day he would wear his engagement ring, and he would say, "How did I get you?' every day. He'd say, 'I can't believe you want to marry me.' And then he would say, 'You're going to be mine forever,' Johnson recalled to 12News in a tearful interview.

Gilberto Franco, 28, died in the crash.'Anyone that knew my brother knew what a loving and beautiful soul he was. He loved to make anyone laugh he had a heart of gold for sure,' his sister, Yesenia Almanza, said to KVOA.

"Pay attention, there's lives out there. People's sons, mothers, daughters, children,' she cried.

Jerardo Vasquez was described as 'a loving husband and father' who worked as a landscaper before his death.

'He was a hard worker who enjoyed his career as a landscaper, beautifying the world around him with the work of his hands and with the love in his heart,' his daughter Yvonne Rodriguez Vasquez said.

Willis Thompson, left, was killed during January's accident. Pictured with wife Tondra Doss

Thompson lost his life in the fiery crash. He had a number of children and was married

Ryan Gooding, left, was killed. He is pictured with fiancee Nikki Johnson, right. The couple had been together for ten years and shared a son

Gooding leaves behind a 9-year-old son, Apollo, to whom he was said to be 'devoted'

Gilberto Franco had just celebrated his 28th birthday when he was killed in the crash

Gilberto Franco, 28, is pictured alongside his mother, in a photo from his obituary

Andrew Standifird was a 28-year-old father of three and described as a beloved son and husband' at the time of his untimely death

'Andrew was a very charismatic, loving, giving, just a very social person,' Sarah Standifird, Andrew's mother, said

Jerardo Vasquez was described as a loving husband and father who worked as a landscaper

Vasquez was said to be 'the sole provider of his household. He did all he could to make sure our family was always taken care of,' he daughter said in tribute to her father

Tiner was notified of an investigation and turned his cell phone over to law enforcement allowing investigators to conduct a forensic examination of his digital devices with assistance from the FBI.

He was also booked on four counts of endangerment and one count of tampering with physical evidence.

Troopers said they long suspected driver distraction as a possible factor in the deadly collision.

'This road is a straight road. You can see for miles, and the traffic wasn't that heavy at that time to where you couldn't see ahead, and it was dark when it happened, so you got brake lights that you should have been able to see for quite some time,' DPS Capt. Keith Gephert said in January.

It was not immediately known on Friday if Tiner had retained an attorney who could speak for him.

Tiner remains in custody at Maricopa County Jail.
Now his daughter has filed a last-minute injunction, claiming she was the owner of the yacht and Antigua had no right to sell it

It was previously owned by fertilizer magnate and Putin-crony Andrey Guryev before he was slapped with sanctions by the US Treasury

Eric Schmidt won the auction to land one of the most sought after yachts in the world - that boasts a swimming pool that can turn into a helipad

The daughter of the Russian oligarch who owned the superyacht Alfa Nero is challenging Antiguan government's right to sell the vessel - which it did to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt in an auction of the blinged out vessel.

Schmidt, 68, won the $67.6 million prize after it was abandoned in Antigua by fertilizer mogul Andrey Guryev last year - seized following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Now the Antiguan government must resolve this situation before it can move forward with any buyer, including billionaire Schmidt, according to a source close to the situation.

The massive ship, which has been languishing in the Caribbean island since the start of the conflict, is among the most luxurious in the world, and boasts the first-ever swimming pool that can turn into a helipad.

It was also notably built by Oceanco, the same company that constructed the $500 million superyacht recently enjoyed by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez.

Eric Schmidt (left) purchased the yacht after it was abandoned by Guryev (right) last year when he was slapped with sanctions from the US Treasury

The superyacht Alfa Nero docked in Falmouth Harbour in Saint Paul Parish, Antigua, on Wednesday, April 20, 2023

The ship boasts the first ever swimming pool that can turn into a helipad (pictured)

An Antigua & Barbuda Port Authority 'Seizure' sign onboard the superyacht Alfa Nero docked in Falmouth Harbour in Saint Paul Parish, Antigua, on Wednesday, April 20, 2023

Built in 2007, the 267 foot vessel was initially listed for sale in 2009 for a titanic price tag of $190 million.

The ship can host 12 guests and up to 26 crewmembers, and is fitted with amenities appropriate for a billionaire.

The master bedroom fills the entire front of the top deck, offering panoramic ocean views while the inside is decked out in lavish designs.

Inside the yacht, each room is said to have a separate, coordinated design. A saloon bar on the upper deck is palatial, while the main deck saloon boasts a more modern look.

A private gym with 180 degree views is also on the top floor, and a lower deck also has a health and beauty spa.

The Alfa Nero was described by its manufacturer Oceanco as 'one of the world's most iconic and highly awarded yachts'.

The Alfa Nero superyacht stands 267 foot long and was once valued at $190 million

It was described as one of the world's most iconic and highly awarded yachts' by its manufacturer Oceanco

The yacht is equipped with numerous lavish amenities fit for its billionaire owners

Each room in the home is said to be designed with a different coordinated theme

The massive ship was bought at auction hosted by the government of Antigua and Barbuda

A chair on the bridge of the superyacht Alfa Nero docked in Falmouth Harbour in Saint Paul Parish, Antigua, on Wednesday, April 20, 2023

Schmidt bought the boat after it was left abandoned in Antigua by Guryev last year following sanctions by the US Treasury.

US officials claimed Guryev, who owns one of the largest fertilizer producer companies in the world and has close ties to Vladimir Putin, bought the yacht in 2014.

The auction was hosted by the government of Antigua and Barbuda, which said on June 16 that Schmidt won in a 'fully transparent process'.

Guryev has an estimated net worth of around $4.8 billion, and Schmidt's fortune is valued at over $20 billion.

Stowed chairs on the deck of the superyacht Alfa Nero docked in Falmouth Harbour

An Antigua & Barbuda Port Authority agent onboard the superyacht Alfa Nero

An outside light control panel on the superyacht

Jeff Bezos' superyacht was built by the same company as Schmidt's. Pictured: The $500 million vessel, named Koru after the Maori word for 'new beginnings'

The Koru (background) alone is simply not enough for the ex-Amazon chief, who also arrived in the French Riviera with a support yacht, the Abeona (foreground), which itself measures 246ft and carries a slew of gadgets, as well as a helicopter

The yacht was notably made by the same company that built another vessel to capture headlines in recent times.

Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos splashed the cash on a new $500 million megayacht this year called Koru.

It is one of the tallest and longest ships in the world, at 417 feet in length.

Bezos and his glamorous fiance Lauren Sanchez were recently spotted sharing a kiss on the expansive deck.

The Koru is so massive it is also joined on its voyages by a second, $75 million support yacht called the 'Aboena'.

It floats nearby to help the billionaire live a life of luxury, hosting his selection of supercars, motorbikes, smaller boats, jet skis and helicopters.
Miss England organisers yesterday banned their swimwear round altogether - just two weeks after considering its return to the stage.

The beauty pageant had been looking to reintroduce the bikini parade for the first time since 2009 but has now revealed it would be scrapped entirely.

The controversial round had existed as an optional choice where contestants could submit beachwear-themed photos rather than appear on stage.

Organiser Angie Beasley previously vowed she would refuse to bow to the woke brigade and said she was in talks about bringing bikinis back to the stage in 2023.

But following a poll of contestants, and debates on TV and radio, she said the decision had now been made to ditch the round.

Miss England 2008 Georgia Horsley (C) and Miss England semi- finalists launch the official Miss England Bikini 2008 by Aguaclara on the Kings Road on April 4,

Miss England 1961, Arlette Dobson, posing after her election at the Lyceum Theatre in London

Miss England 2014 Carina Tyrrell and Miss United Kingdom 2014 Kirsty Heslewood pose after being crowned on the 777 yacht in Torquay Harbour

Ms Beasley said the competition was no longer a bathing beauty parade and now celebrates women achievers, meaning the bikini round sadly had to go.

She said The contestants views in the poll were very mixed, lots were saying to keep it optional.

When asked if they would take part in the round, some said they would decline the opportunity if its presented but to keep it optional for the girls that do want it in.

Miss England and Miss World celebrates women achievers.

Its been decided that the swimwear round will now be scrapped altogether from the contest for the foreseeable future.

I know some contestants will be disappointed in this outcome but we cant please everyone.

Its important that we opened up this debate to all as the contest is constantly evolving. Its no longer a bathing beauty parade.

The focus needs to be on other factors in the contest such as the Beauty with a Purpose round which recognises the ethos of the contestants themselves and raises lots of funds for charities across the world.

The Miss England contest also holds a sports, talent, make-up free and ethical fashion round supporting the World Against Single Use Plastic campaign in the contest along with other key influencer rounds.

The contestants are also invited to promote the area they live in our newest Explore the Nation presenter style round at the next final.

Myra Van Heck being crowned Miss England 1969 at the Miss England Beauty Competition 1969, the Lyceum Ballroom, London, Friday May 16

Miss England 2011 finalists pictured at their swimwear photoshoot at Orange Studios in East London

Miss England Georgia Horsley poses at a photocall at the launch of Miss England Bikini 2008

They dont need to appear on stage in swimwear, its got to go sadly. I believe its had its day in the contest.

The swimwear parade for the Miss England beauty pageant was scrapped in 2009, following a campaign by former contestant Katrina Hodge.

The serving soldier - dubbed Combat Barbie - said it was degrading and wanted to bring the focus back to topics such as her charity work.

But she later admitted she regretted her misguided campaign to ban swimwear rounds at beauty contests.

Miss Shropshire Eloise Sarasini, 21, an entrepreneur, said she was disappointed with todays decision.

She said: Im so disappointed the swimwear was banned as I enjoy wearing swimwear and Ive worked hard for my body.

Milly Everatt a farmer and HGV driver from Lincolnshire has won the Beach Beauty swimwear round in Miss England TWICE in the last five years

Miss England 2008/2009 semi-finalists launched the first official Miss England Bikini by Aguaclara on the Kings Road. Pictured is Miss Tunbridge Wells - Katrina Hodge

But there are nine other rounds in the Miss England final including a talent round.

But Hannah Jowle, from Blackpool, one of this years semi finalists, was one of those delighted with the result.

She said: Confident women dont feel the need to show off their bodies.

The current Miss England is aerospace engineering student Jessica Gagen, 27, who will compete at the 71st Miss World in India later this year.
Ukraine is moving troops to protect its northern border from a possible invasion by Wagner troops.

Volodymyr Zelensky has been forced to respond to the Kremlins plan to relocate thousands of the mercenaries in Belarus.

While satellite images have confirmed military bases are being built for the private military company.

A vacant site near Asipovichi, 64 miles from the capital city Minsk, has been selected. Satellite images have confirmed preparations, including 300 tent-like structures built in the last fortnight.

Ukraines move follows a meeting of its top military commanders yesterday. Afterwards, President Zelensky said on social media: The decision is for Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhnyi and Northern commander Serhiy Naev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this direction.

Wagners commander Yevgeny Prigozhin has been exiled in Belarus since last weekends rebellion by the paramilitary group.

Volodymyr Zelensky has been forced to respond to the Kremlins plan to relocate thousands of the mercenaries in Belarus

Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin (pictured June 24, 2023) boasted he could capture Ukraine in a day and the border separating the countries in only 125 miles from Kyiv

READ MORE: Desperate Putin boosts his soldiers pay by 10.5% as he tries to shore up support in the ranks after humiliating Wagner mutiny Vladimir Putin is set to increase salaries for military servicemen by 10.5 per cent in a bid to increase support Advertisement

He has boasted he could capture Ukraine in a day and the border separating the countries in only 125 miles from Kyiv.

In the aftermath of last Saturdays mutiny by Wagner, which saw thousands of heavily armed troops seize the city of Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, it appeared the group and its charismatic leader had been marginalised by the Kremlin.

However, it appears there could be more to their relocation to Belarus than moving them out of harms way - hence Ukraines decision to counter the move.

Wagner is also continuing to recruit soldiers from cities across Russia for future operations.

So it would seem it is business is usual for the group despite the apparent feud between Prigozhin and Vladimir Putin - and threats by the Kremlin to disband Wagner.

The attempted coup instigated by Prigozhin represented the biggest threat to Vladimir Putins authority since he took office more than 20 years ago. It also led Putin to raise fears of a civil war in Russia.

With Russian troops being forced into a gradual retreat in eastern Ukraine, the opening of a second flank in Belarus makes sense militarily.

Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko has appeared eager to host Wagner. Its troops could also be used to prop up the dictator who is facing mass protests against authoritarian rule.

On Saturday, the deadline set by the Kremlin for Wagner troops to sign Russian defence ministry contracts is due to expire.

Previously, President Putin has insisted the soldiers, many of whom were released from prison to join Wagner, must swear allegiance to the Russian state.

President Putin has insisted the soldiers, many of whom were released from prison to join Wagner, must swear allegiance to the Russian state

Prigozhin has insisted his troops will not sign the paperwork and will remain employees of the renegade private military company.

Yesterday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov insisted Russia would emerge stronger following the aborted mutiny.

Speaking in Moscow he said: If anyone in the West has any doubts, thats their problem. Thank you for your concerns about our national interests but there is no need.

Lavrov also called for reform of the United Nations Security Council to increase its representation of countries across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is seeking the same reforms at the UN.
A mint-coloured beach hut on a popular stretch of sand along the south coast is up for grabs for 100,000.

The hut in Christchurch's Friars Cliff boasts 'front row' status, meaning that it has uninterrupted sea views.

The leasehold property requires a licence - which must be applied for every year by the owner to keep it on the small patch of beachside.

As part of that application, you'll need to pay a standard licence fee of 1,249.24 a year.

This pastel mint-coloured beach hut in Christchurch's Friars Cliff is on the market with a price tag of 100,000

You're also not allowed to sleep overnight in any of the huts along this stretch of beach.

There are 156 huts at Friars Cliff Beach that are for daytime use only. There are huts in the area that you are allowed to sleep in, but these can sell for four times the amount.

Further restrictions are outlined in the beach hut owners' Friars Cliff Handbook, which include not fencing or enclosing hut sites.

Vehicle access to Friars Cliff is also not allowed. However, beach hut owners are entitled to one car parking permit at the resident's rate.

Any further permits are priced based on whether you are a Christchurch resident.

The leasehold beach hut in Friars Cliff has restrictions, including not being able to sleep in it overnight

The hut is leasehold, meaning that you need to apply every year to keep it on the small patch of beachside

There are also plenty of restrictions on how the beach huts can be decorated, with a clear stipulation that they must be kept in 'good repair'.

The handbook makes it clear that a maximum of two different paint colours can be used on the huts, with the walls being in one uniform colour.

The doors and windows can be painted in an alternative colour, but again must be in one uniform colour. The handbooks states that 'no neon or fluorescent colours are permitted.'

No neon or fluorescent colours are permitted on the beach hut along this stretch of beach in

There are plenty of restrictions on how the beach huts can be decorated, with a clear stipulation that they must be kept in 'good repair'

A maximum of two different paint colours can be used on the huts, with the walls being in one uniform colour

Dan Copley, of Zoopla, said: 'This beautiful mint beach hut is set in an idyllic row of pretty pastel cabins and provides the perfect base to spend time on sandy Christchurch beach.

'With enough space for a perfectly formed kitchen and storage for beach games and deckchairs, consider it an investment in years of old fashioned UK beach fun'.

All beach huts in Christchurch are privately owned and are on sites licenced to beach owners.

There are no waiting list as huts are normally sold through estate agents, word of mouth or advertising.

This property is being sold by Spencers Coastal estate agents, which explains: 'From the beach hut you can enjoy expansive views stretching towards the Isle of Wight across Hengistbury Head.

'It is a special opportunity to own a beachside retreat in this very desirable spot.'
The US ranked 23rd far below the UK, Spain and Germany in the list

Singapore was the best country for its law, lack of violence and administration

The Stateness Index was made by scientists at the University of Wurzburg

If asked what the best country in the world is, many loyal Britons could be tempted to say Britain.

But scientists have now revealed a less biased version of the truth with 173 countries ranked using a nifty political tool.

The Stateness Index was pulled together by Germany's University of Wurzburg, as researchers sought to discover which countries function the most efficiently.

You may be surprised to hear that the UK didn't even make the top 10 as it placed 13th - just behind the Seychelles and Finland.

On the flip side, Singapore topped the chart, followed by Australia and Denmark.

Scroll down for the full list

TOP FIVE AND BOTTOM FIVE STATES OVERALL TOP FIVE Singapore Australia Denmark Netherlands Estonia BOTTOM FIVE Libya Yemen South Sudan Afghanistan Chad Advertisement

'We did not only measure the formal state, but we also looked at the informal side,' said Dr Theresa Paola Stawski, who worked on the model.

'We can see the state in everything that surrounds us, for example in the streets, the courts, the police or the schools.'

The Stateness Index accounted for three key categories of data over the 72 years between 1950 and 2022.

A nation's law, violence and overall administration were among these, while also considering everything from doctor waiting times to electricity access.

Different values were then measured and weighted against each other using the 'V-Dem' model which relies on the survey responses of more than 3,500 state experts.

Nations were categorised by their 'stateness' based on these results, ranging from the top rank of 'high functioning' to the lowest of 'collapsed'.

Libya, Yemen, South Sudan and Papua New Guinea were among just four nations that received the 'collapsed' title, with researchers suggesting their public services were highly limited.

The majority (88) ranked as 'defective' or 'profound defective', with Haiti, Somalia and even Cyprus encompassed in that.

Singapore (pictured) was the best country for its law, lack of violence and administration

The UK didn't even make the top 10 as it placed 13th - just behind the Seychelles and Finland

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Although 'defective' nations often were politically stable, this wasn't always the case, as scientists believed their systems were majorly flawed.

Meanwhile, a total of 81 were shown to be 'functioning' or 'high functioning', including a handful of autocracies in which one person holds absolute government power.

The US was among this upper tier but ranked far below Germany, the UK and Spain at a value of 23.

Dr Stawski claims these results were quite unexpected for many of the researchers involved.

She told MailOnline: 'I was somewhat surprised, how well some autocracies like Singapore or the United Arab Emirates are functioning. This also proves that our Index does not suffer from an (extensive) democracy bias.

'On the other hand, I was surprised to learn that Papua New Guinea is in fact a collapsed state, because the discrepancies of access to public services distributed by urban-rural location is extreme.'

Even still, Dr Stawski believes that continued research in this area is 'even more fundamental' to nations with a lack of human rights and freedom of speech.

'I think state research is still a niche in political sciences,' she told MailOnline.

'Large-N analysis of the state is aggravated by the scarcity of valid, reliable, and transparent longitudinal high-quality data that accurately measures stateness.

'But the state is the most important political set of institutions per se - so I am happy that we are able to contribute to the conceptual and analytical debate on stateness and state fragility.'
Work up an appetite on a hike up Mount Urgull, which rises from the Old Town

Expect to find bars dishing out wine from 2 and pinchos from 1.50

Cities dont come much prettier than Spains San Sebastian

Set around a stretch of golden sandy bays and framed by three lush mountains, cities dont come much prettier than Spains San Sebastian.

But its the food that sets this coastal city apart; it is the birthplace of the pintxo (also known as pincho) after all, a bar snack that is a meal in miniature.

And with bars dishing out wine from 2 and pinchos from 1.50, a holiday here doesnt have to break the bank.

The Spanish city is set around a stretch of golden sandy bays and framed by three lush mountains

San Sebastian's food offering sets the city apart - it is the birthplace of the pintxo, a bar snack that is a meal in miniature. Above is the city's old town

Where to eat and drink

Gandarias

Grab a table outside this standing room-only pinchos bar and eavesdrop on locals speaking in the ancient Basque language. The bar does the best solomillo  steak served on bread, topped with green pepper (restaurantegandarias.com).

Baztan

Fill out a paper order form while browsing the colourful pinchos displayed at the bar and pass it to a waiter. Pair food with the local txakoli, a fizzy, crisp white wine. Find some of the citys best vegetarian and vegan pinchos here (barbaztan.com).

Bar Ganbara

Bar Ganbara is a family-run pinchos bar in the Old Town known for its spider crab tartlets

This family-run pinchos bar in the Old Town uses the freshest ingredients (the simple but delicious plate of tomato and olive oil is testament to this). Sit at the bar and watch the staff dish out plates with impressive frequency. Ganbaras speciality is spider crab tartlets (3). Wine and beer from 2 (ganbarajatetxea.com).

Where to stay

Hotel Arbaso

Overlooking the cathedral, with valet parking and an excellent restaurant, Arbaso is a perfect city-centre hotel. Rooms have wooden floors, Marshall bluetooth speakers and Dyson hairdryers. Rooms from 99 (hotelarbaso.com).

Hotel de Londres

An imposing 19th-century building near the seafront. The bar is popular with locals. Doubles from 93 (hlondres.com).

Hotel Zinema7

Check into the Hotel Zinema7, a former cinema that's been transformed into a hotel with rooms priced from 67 per night

In the un-touristy Amara neighbourhood, this cinema-turned-hotel has rooms themed on stars who have visited the San Sebastian film festival. Doubles from 67 (zinema7hotel.com).

Things to see & do

Take a dip at La Concha

Join the elderly Basque locals for a swim at La Concha, which stretches a mile from the Old Town to the suburb of Ondarreta and is one of Europes best urban beaches. Even in winter, the golden bay is busy with locals walking their fluffy dogs and children splashing about in the water. During summer, a floating platform moored offshore allows swimmers to escape the crowds.

Hike up Mount Urgull

It takes around 30 minutes to hike to the top of Mount Urgull (pictured), the peak that rises from the Old Town

Make room for yet more pinchos by working up an appetite on a hike up this mini mountain, which rises from the Old Town and the bobbing boats of the harbour.

The 30-minute walk is scattered with landmarks and viewing points, and topped with a 12th-century castle and 12-metre-high statue of Jesus Christ. At the top, watch the sunset while sampling a bottle or two of cider from one of the 42 cider houses on the outskirts of the city (buy six bottles from Essencia Wine in the Old Town for 18).

Join a pinchos tour

Pinchos-hopping is obligatory when in San Sebastian. The best way to pack the bars in is to join a txikiteo (the official word for a pinchos crawl), which will see you bounce from bar to bar in the Old Town and pair colourful, small bites with local wines and cider.

With bars dishing out wine from 2 and pinchos from 1.50, a holiday here doesnt have to break the bank

A word on etiquette: dont overload your plate from the bar-top displays but, instead, sample one per drink, two if you must, then move on. Tours from 25 (viator.com).

Stroll around the cathedral

Made of sandstone and slate quarried from local mountains, charming Buen Pastor (the good shepherd) Cathedral was completed in 1897 at a time when the city was becoming a flourishing, aristocratic seaside resort.

The spire of the cathedral, set in a pretty square surrounded by tulips, can be seen from across the city. On a summers day, the sun shines brightly through the stained-glass windows, casting an array of dancing colours on its walls. Free entry.

How to get there

London Gatwick to Bilbao returns from 65 (vueling.com). Buses to San Sebastian take one hour (15, pesa.net).
They ranked them across seven categories, including cleanliness, customer service and value for money

The ranking is from a survey in which people were asked to rate 11 self-catering accommodation providers

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Which? has produced a ranking of the best self-catering accommodation providers - and it's Jet2Villas that has come out top.

Its followed by Brittany Ferries and Gites de France in joint second place. Tripadvisor, meanwhile, is at the bottom of the table - though it still scores highly.

The ranking is based on a survey in which respondents were asked to rate 11 self-catering accommodation providers across seven categories, including cleanliness, whether the description matches the reality, customer service and value for money.

Top-ranking Jet2Villas has a score of 82 per cent, receiving five stars for its range of properties, booking process and description matching reality.

Which? Travel says: It offers villas in dozens of Mediterranean and Canary Island resorts, with customers impressed by the range of properties  from no-frills terraces with shared pools to stylish mansions with hot tubs and gyms.'

Which? has produced a ranking of the best self-catering accommodation providers - and it's Jet2Villas that has come out top. Above is a Jet2Villas property - Villa Sorian Kokkino - in Kefalonia, Greece

The watchdog notes that all its package holidays also include return flights and car hire, with one respondent declaring Jet2Villas an easy company to deal with and good value.

Summing up its verdict, Which? says that whether youre on a tight budget or looking to splash out, Jet2Villas covers popular sun-soaked destinations and still delivers the personal touch.

Joint-second Brittany Ferries and Gites de France, meanwhile, receive a score of 81 per cent. Looking at the former, Which? says that the holiday rentals offered by Brittany Ferries are all near the companys ports of call on Frances Atlantic coast and in Spains verdant north.

It says: Choose from rustic cottages and apartments in family-friendly complexes, with your return ferry included as part of the package  you get a cabin on an overnight crossing to Santander or Bilbao.

The ranking is based on a survey in which respondents were asked to rate 11 self-catering accommodation providers across seven categories

A holiday home in Pleubian, Brittany, listed by Brittany Ferries, which ranks joint second overall

Gites de France, a French organisation that lists tens of thousands of properties across France, ties for second place. Above is one of its properties in-between Nantes and Ancenis

The watchdog does note that theres one niggle to booking with Brittany Ferries  although you can browse the properties online, you must call to check availability and to book.

Filling out the survey, one respondent said of their experience with the firm: The whole experience was great from booking, to travelling by ferry, and then arriving at our destination.

What is the watchdogs verdict? It says: For a self-drive getaway with all the protections of a package holiday, look no further than Brittany Ferries.

As for Gites de France, Which? says: This French organisation lists tens of thousands of properties across France, from alpine chalets to chic seaside villas (along with B&Bs and campsites). Each is vetted and given a rating out of five epis (ears of wheat) for amenities and comfort.

The watchdog notes that most Gites de France properties can be booked online, and though its terms and conditions are in French, you can request English versions from the firm's Paris call centre.

Which? does note that one respondent said that its easier to get superb service from the company if you speak French.

Third place goes to British Airways Holidays, which bags a score of 79 per cent. Above is the Zafiro Menorca resort - British Airways Holidays is offering a seven-night stay there from 324 per person

Sharing its verdict on the provider, Which? says: The cheapest provider in our survey, Gites de France can help you to explore the more hidden corners of France.

Third place goes to British Airways Holidays, which bags a score of 79 per cent and five stars in the description matching reality and range of properties' categories.

Overall, Which? notes that big-name booking websites are instinctively people's first port of call these days - more survey respondents booked with Airbnb (4th, 78 per cent) and Booking.com (joint 5th, 77 per cent) than all the other self-catering providers put together - but it's specialist firms that rank top overall.

Last place Tripadvisor, meanwhile, received a decent score of 69 per cent, bagging four stars across the majority of categories, including for quality of accommodation and range of properties.

Commenting on the ranking, Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: A self-catering holiday can be the perfect way to enjoy your very own home away from home, but with so much choice out there, it can be difficult to know who is best to book with.

While the majority of respondents to our survey used big-name booking sites, the most glowing reviews were for more specialist providers like Jet2Villas and Brittany Ferries, who rather than acting merely as middlemen between you and the owner of the property, can provide a more personal touch. These companies also have the advantage of letting you book a package, which offers more protection in the event something should go wrong.
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A fascinating reworked world map reveals the European holiday destinations that are the most popular globally  and it's the Greek island of Santorini that's No.1, followed by the Mediterranean island of Ibiza in second place and the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife in third place.

On the map - generated using Google search data  country names have been supplemented with their residents' most-searched-for European holiday spots. Researchers studied the past 12 months of Google data in 185 countries to find out which EU holiday destinations are being Googled the most using phrases like destination + holiday or destination + vacation.

Santorini tops the list, generated by CV Villas, thanks to being the most popular European spot in 47 countries around the world, including the U.S, Finland, Colombia, Bolivia, India, Australia and New Zealand.

CV Villas says: 'Famous for its golden sunsets, warm temperatures and jaw-dropping scenery, it comes as no surprise that Santorini ranks so highly as a must-visit hotspot.'

Ibiza earns second place because a total of 29 countries  including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Kenya, Mexico, Jamaica and Portugal - appear to be searching for holidays there above any other European destination.

A fascinating reworked world map reveals the European holiday destinations that are the most popular globally  and it's the Greek island of Santorini that's No.1, followed by the Mediterranean island of Ibiza in second place and the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife in third place

Santorini (above) tops the list, generated by CV Villas, thanks to being the most popular European spot in 47 countries around the world, including the U.S, Finland, Colombia, Bolivia, India, Australia and New Zealand

CV Villas says: 'Ibiza has long been a popular tourist destination thanks to its scorching summer weather, exotic scenery, and stunning beaches.'

Third-place Tenerife is described by CV Villas as offering 'plenty for tourists to explore, including the infamous Mount Teide volcano'. From there 'incredible' views of the island, the largest of the Canaries, are available.

CV Villas adds that Tenerife is a top winter holiday destination, with an average high in the colder months of 20C.

The Spanish spot is the No.1 European getaway destination for 12 European countries, including Spain, the UK, Germany and Belgium.

Tenerife is the No.1 European getaway destination for 12 European countries, including Spain, the UK, Germany and Belgium

Tenerife (above) is described by CV Villas as offering 'plenty for tourists to explore, including the infamous Mount Teide volcano'

Sicily, above, comes fourth in the ranking, generated by researchers studying the past 12 months of Google search data for holidays in 185 countries

Rounding out the top five is the Italian island of Sicily in fourth and Corfu in Greece in fifth.

Further down the top 10, Greece continues its winning streak with destinations such as Kos, Mykonos and Crete all making the cut for the most-searched European vacation spots.

CV Villas also produced a series of regional maps to show the breakdown of the results more clearly across the globe.

A separate map for the U.S shows how Sicily is the most popular European destination in 29 states, Santorini is top in 16, and Tuscany is top in four states.

Ibiza and Santorini dominate in the Caribbean and Central America

Second-place Ibiza (above) is described as 'a popular tourist destination thanks to its scorching summer weather, exotic scenery, and stunning beaches'

A separate map for the U.S shows how Sicily is the most popular European destination in 29 states, Santorini is top in 16, and Tuscany is top in four states

Ibiza is the No.1 European destination, it would seem, for the citizens of South America

Down Under - it's Santorini that is the No.1 European destination

WHERE IN EUROPE THE WORLD MOST WANTS TO VISIT 1. Santorini, Greece - 47 *Number of countries searching to holiday there the most 2. Ibiza, Spain - 29 3. Tenerife, Spain - 18 4. Sicily, Italy - 7 5. Corfu, Greece - 4 6 = Kos, Greece - 3 6 = Antalya, Turkey - 3 7 = Sardinia, Italy - 2 7 = Mykonos, Greece - 2 7 = Crete, Greece - 2 7 = Mallorca, Spain - 2 7 = Hvar, Croatia - 2 7 = Tuscany, Italy - 2 8 = Zakynthos, Greece - 1 8 = Lanzarote, Spain - 1 8 = Bodrum, Turkey - 1 8 = Algarve, Portugal - 1 Source: CV Villas Advertisement

In Africa, Santorini is No.1 in 15 countries and Ibiza in eight.

Pete Brudenell, General Manager from CV Villas, commented: 'We wanted to inspire travellers to embark on unforgettable journeys by showing how much Europe has to offer: from breathtaking landscapes to vibrant nightlife and beach retreats.

'Looking at the results, it's great to see how European travel is admired around the globe, as well as witness the ongoing curiosity for hidden gems within Europe.

'Whilst many of social media's favourite destinations dominate the results - such as Santorini and Ibiza - it is satisfying to see destinations from all over the European continent getting the attention they deserve.'

More information can be found at: www.cvvillas.com/blog/archive/worlds-most-popular-eu-destinations.

In Asia, it's Santorini that dominates Google searches for European vacations
Post Malone bid farewell to his Australian fans on Monday as he flew out of Sydney Airport after wrapping up his tour Down Under.

The Los Angeles-based rapper, 27, wore striped pyjamas with white Crocs as he smoked a cigarette before hopping onto his flight back to the U.S.

Fans waited outside the terminal hoping to catch a glimpse of the hip-hop star after his string of stadium shows supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Post Malone bid farewell to his Australian fans on Monday as he flew out of Sydney Airport after wrapping up his tour Down Under

Some were lucky enough to bag a photo with the Rockstar hit-maker.

In one photo, the heavily tattooed musician displayed the peace sign with a fan, and in another he sported a wide smile while high-fiving a young girl.

He looked in good spirits, despite being denied entry to a Perth bar the night before.

Fans waited outside the terminal hoping to catch a glimpse of the hip-hop star after his string of stadium shows supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers

The American chart-topper and his entourage were denied entry into the QT Hotel's ritzy rooftop bar on Murray Street due to his sprawling tattoo collection.

Malone reportedly breached the venue's strict dress code, which prohibits 'face, neck, and offensive tattoos'.

Expressing his disbelief, Malone told The West Australian: 'They turned me away for my tattoos... I've never really experienced anything like that.'

The heavily tattooed musician high-fived a young girl

Malone has 'Always Tired' inked under his eyes, barbed wire across his hairline, two ace of spade cards on the corner of his forehead and a thin sword on his cheek.

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, QT Hotels & Resorts 'sincerely apologised' to Malone for the refusal.

'At QT, we aim to welcome everyone and celebrate the uniqueness of each individual. QT has been recognised for this for many years,' the statement read.

The Los Angeles-based rapper, 27, wore striped pyjamas with white Crocs as he smoked a cigarette before hopping onto his flight back to the U.S.

'However, on Saturday night, our third-party security did not exercise the appropriate discretion and we take full responsibility for this.

'We sincerely apologise to the individuals affected.'

After being rejected from the QT Hotel bar, Malone travelled to the nearby 18 Knots rooftop bar where he was granted special entry on the discretion of security.

While at this venue, Malone reportedly spent time mingling with fans and even buying them drinks, before relaxing with his posse.
The upcoming Real Housewives of Sydney reboot has got off to a rocky start ahead of the show's highly-anticipated reboot on the streaming service Binge.

Sources tell Daily Mail Australia that one producer has already been let go during the pre-production phase, and that the reboot almost never happened in the first place.

Producers originally found 'phenomenal' casts in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and were trying to come up with a way to combine the women to create a singular show.

However, network bosses ultimately decided that a Sydney reboot make for the best series and would also be attractive to overseas buyers.

This time around, the network has demanded 'fun and aspirational' women from Sydney's Eastern suburbs instead of the 'toxic' cast from the original series.

The upcoming Real Housewives of Sydney reboot has got off to a rocky start ahead of the show's highly-anticipated reboot. The original cast from 2017 is pictured

'They're only looking for funny and fabulous women that can open up their lives and give viewers something glamorous and aspirational,' said a source.

'It's going to be a lot more real and honest instead of fabricated catfighting,' they continued.

'Foxtel doesn't want a repeat of the toxic drama from the first season. This reboot will be completely different with a lot of luxury and likeable ladies.'

They added: 'Of course there's some conflict between the women, but nobody's throwing wine or flipping tables. Viewers don't want to see that anymore.'

Producers are only after 'glamorous and aspirational' women who can showcase luxury, including rumoured new cast member, NRL WAG Terry Biviano (pictured)

Original cast members Krissy Marsh and Nicole O'Neil (pictured) are the only originals returning for the reboot, as producers were impressed by their wealth and the fact that neither woman engaged in 'nasty' drama during the first season

Foxtel is said to be happy with how filming is going so far, and feel the reboot will be a return to form for the troubled franchise.

Original cast members Krissy Marsh and Nicole O'Neil are returning, as producers were impressed by their wealth and the fact that neither woman got too nasty during the first season of the show.

Krissy has already been spotted on set with Sydney socialite and party girl Caroline Gaultier.

The pair were spotted filming scenes on the beach in Rose Bay with celebrity personal trainer Jono Castano earlier this week.

Meanwhile, original cast members Lisa Oldfield, Athena X Levendi, and Victoria Rees were immediately ruled out to return due to how much drama they caused during the first season.

U.S. network Bravo, which airs the Real Housewives franchise, famously declined to air the Real Housewives of Sydney in the States after executives dubbed it 'too extreme' for an American audience.

'A lot of the women in this show were nasty for nasty's sake and have no redeeming features,' a Foxtel boss said at the time.

Lisa Oldfield, Athena X Levendi, and Victoria Rees were immediately ruled out to return due to how much drama they caused during the first season

'Foxtel doesn't want a repeat of the toxic drama from the first season. This reboot will be completely different with a lot of luxury and likeable ladies,' said a source

Despite producers seeking less confrontational women this time around, one Housewife, who is one of the more prominent cast members this season, has allegedly been a major headache on set.

A source says that the Housewife in question is 'image conscious' and 'trying to control the narrative', which is causing friction with both her castmates and producers.

However, another source shot down the claims entirely, insisting that there have been no problems with any of the women, including NRL WAG Terry Biviano, who the Daily Telegraph claimed had clashed with producers on set last month.

When reached for comment, a Binge spokesperson said, 'Production is going well and we are excited to introduce Australian viewers to the new group of Sydney housewives in this reimagined series.'

Krissy has already been spotted on set with Sydney socialite and party girl Caroline Gaultier. The pair are pictured together

Caroline is believed to have filmed as a 'friend' of the show, but there are rumours that she may be upgraded to a full time spot soon

The pals were spotted filming scenes on the beach in Rose Bay with celebrity personal trainer Jono Castano earlier this week.

A camera can be seen filming the women as they worked out on the beach with Jono

Meanwhile, Foxtel is rumoured to have lost all interest in the Melbourne series after five seasons, and has no plans to revive it in the near future.

It comes after the rumoured Real Housewives of Brisbane cast was recently leaked.

Among the glamorous candidates included PR queen Fleur Madden, couture designer Sonia Stradiotto and jewellery designer Jimena Alejandra.

Jimena told The Advertiser that she was approached in mid-2022, 'but then they told us they were cancelling it'.

Meanwhile, Foxtel is rumoured to have lost all interest in the Melbourne series after five seasons, and has no plans to revive it in the near future

Fleur added that the network had plans to make the series different and less frivolous than its processors.

'They were specifically looking for business women and women that had their own success, they were trying to make it different' she told Adelaide Now.

A number of high profile women had been approached by producers and some reportedly declined the opportunity, opting to keep their lives private.
Alicia Keys sat down with InStyle magazine for its June 2023 cover story.

In the profile, the 42-year-old musician  who performed on Good Morning America this month  addressed her famous choice to quit wearing makeup in 2016.

'When I had my rebellious moment, which obviously the world witnessed with me, I was just getting to know myself,' she admitted to the publication.

The music artist also dished: 'I went through my own experience of really feeling rebellious about what people were telling me, what the world, society was telling me, what I was supposed to look like because I fell into that, I subscribed to it.'

The topic came up as the mother-of-two  who shares sons Egypt, 12, and Genesis, 8, with husband Swizz Beatz  discussed her lifestyle brand, called Keys Soulcare.

Alicia Keys addressed her famous choice to quit wearing makeup in 2016 - 'When I had my rebellious moment, which obviously the world witnessed with me, I was just getting to know myself'

Then and now: Keys notoriously stopped wearing makeup seven years ago, but has since reincorporated it into her beauty routine

The line offers consumers products ranging from body care to makeup to candles.

When Alicia created the line in 2020, she told People 'it's about how we are nurturing ourselves.'

Alicia first went makeup-free in a photoshoot, which led to a realization for the star.

She said the shoot made her feel 'the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful that I have ever felt.'

In the interview with InStyle, the songstress explained how building her relationship with her inner self influenced her decision to reincorporate cosmetics into her beauty.

'As I started to get more into that personal relationship with myself, that's when I started realizing, "Okay, it's not about anything specific."

'It's not about makeup or no makeup. It's not about mascara or no mascara. It's not about lipstick or no lipstick. That's not what it's about,' the New York City native expressed.

'What it's about is, how do you want to express yourself, and what space do you want to claim for yourself? And what boundaries do you want for yourself?' she noted.

The music artist dished: 'I went through my own experience of really feeling rebellious about what people were telling me, what the world, society was telling me, what I was supposed to look like because I fell into that, I subscribed to it'

Regal: Keys looked like royalty as she posed in a floral patterned Maison Valentino number

As the superstar took to Instagram on Thursday to promote the interview, she opened up to her 26.6 million followers.

'The world is so. physical. You know, you're not really taught about the spiritual, the soulful, you're not really taught about how important it is to be a full person on the inside.

'My skin didnt begin to change until I changed the energy around me, and within me,' she wrote.

Then, the hitmaker added, 'Big love to @instylemagazine and @keyssoulcare.'

Later in the day, Keys dropped in on the app again to tout a new skin tint from her range.

'Im so excited to introduce you to Its Like Skin skin tint. This offering has been my go-to everyday skincare color-hybrid, even on tour where I do my own makeup for each show,' she captioned a video.

'Applying this light, nourishing formula is the secret to my glow. Creating offerings that makes our skin feel safe and protected is what matters most to me,' she continued.

The note finished, 'I know we all have a skin story or experience that has opened our eyes to who we are and who we want to be. Id love to hear yours! I cant wait for you to try Its Like Skin a buildable 2 in 1 skin tint + concealer in 40 different shades for every beautiful you!'

Cover girl: The star looked typically poised and pristine as she took the role of cover star

The topic came up as the mother-of-two  who shares sons Egypt, 12, and Genesis, 8, with husband Swizz Beatz  discussed her lifestyle brand, called Keys Soulcare

Elsewhere in the piece, Alicia touched on the stress of becoming famous at a young age.

'I was just dealing with a lot of toxic energy and stress and things that I didn't really know how to handle or what to do about it or how to regulate,' she detailed.

As she grew, she uncovered ways to manage her emotions through experimentation and self-discovery.

'I think that the biggest thing that I really learned is having that relationship with yourself. So you know how to regulate these emotions or these stress factors.

'It's really one step to finding not only your peace but then your own inner beauty because it's coming from that space,' she told the magazine.
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Chris and Liam Hemsworth cut loose during a wild party in Mykonos, Greece, on Thursday.

The two brothers were seen partying hard with Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso, Australian TV host Lauren Phillips and her rumoured fiance Paul O'Brien and several other friends at a large mansion which has been hired out by the famous families.

Liam packed on the PDA with his model girlfriend Gabriella Brooks, sharing a passionate kiss and cosying up to the glamorous brunette as they soaked up the sunshine.

Gabriella, who has modelled for Chanel and and Seafolly swimwear, showed off her sensational figure in a skimpy bikini as The Hunger Games star, 33, enjoyed the view.

Meanwhile, family friend - model and actress Michele Merkin - playfully draped her arm around hunky Thor star Chris, 39, and tousled her fingers through his hair as they chatted to Matt and his wife Luciana.

Chris Hemsworth, second right, and Liam Hemsworth, far left, cut loose during a wild house party in Mykonos, Greece, on Thursday

Liam packed on the PDA with his model girlfriend Gabriella Brooks, sharing a kiss and cosying up to the glamorous blonde as they soaked up the sunshine

Michele is a good friend of both Chris and his wife Elsa Pataky, Gabriella and Liam, and Luke Hemsworth and his wife Samantha, and has been part of their inner circle for years.

Matt and the hunky Hemsworth brothers posed for pictures, showing off their muscles in near matching cut-off singlets.

Lauren, 41, looked every inch the beachside beauty as she wore a cream crochet dress over the top of her bikini.

The Melbourne breakfast show KIIS 101.1 host accessorised her swimwear and dress with a pair of gold sunglasses.

Gabriella (middle), who has modelled for Chanel and and Seafolly swimwear, showed off her sensational figure in a skimpy bikini as The Hunger Games star enjoyed the view

Chris was seen having a deep and meaningful conversation with Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso and their good friend Michele Merkin, second right

Merkin playfully draped her arm around hunky Thor star Chris, 39, and tousled her fingers through his hair as they chatted to Matt and his wife Luciana

Chris showed off his big biceps in a white singlet top teamed with shorts

Barroso played photographer as she pulled out her iPhone and snapped numerous pictures

Her partner, aviation tycoon Paul, kept casual in a white T-shirt and bright yellow board shorts.

He was seen drinking a bright pink cocktail as Matt gave Liam a friendly bear hug.

The notoriously private couple have been dating since early 2020 and kept a low profile at the poolside bash.

Chris' wife Elsa Pataky did not attend the wild party as she's currently in Spain with the three children she shares with Chris - daughter India Rose, 11, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, nine.

The group enjoyed cocktails and beers by the pool

Luciana, right, showed off her own incredible figure in a blue bikini as she enjoyed a dip wit Gabriella

On Thursday, she attended the anniversary of Bambu Producciones in Madrid, looking incredible in a little black dress that flaunted her toned legs.

The model and actress looked radiant and had her blonde hair styled straight while pairing her look with nude heels.

Chris was previously in Spain with his wife to visit her family, but has since moved on to Island time in Greece. It is thought Elsa is joining the group in the coming days.

The Hollywood actor has been married to his Spanish wife for 13 years.

Even after 18 years of marriage, Matt and Luciana acted like newlyweds on the dance floor

The Oppenheimer actor, 52, threw his arms in the air while holding a drink as he gazed adoringly at his 46-year-old spouse who sported a white crop top and matching linen pants

Liam and Matt shared a hug. Aviation tycoon Paul O'Brien was also at the party with his partner, Australian TV and radio host Lauren Phillips

The Centr app founder originally met the Poker Face actress, 46, in 2010 through their agents.

Elsa and her husband swapped the bright lights of Hollywood for a more relaxed life in Australia nine years ago.

The Hollywood couple have called Byron Bay home since 2014.

They own a $30 million mega-mansion in Broken Head, New South Wales.

Hemsworth has three children  11-year-old daughter India Rose and nine-year-old twin sons Sasha + Tristan  with Elsa Pataky

Only the stars' closest pals were in attendance on their latest sighting

Back at the party, Matt and wife Luciana shared a sweet moment as they enjoyed a dance together.

The happy couple, who have been married since 2005, looked in great spirits as the Oppenheimer actor, 52, threw his arms in the air while holding a drink and gazed adoringly at his 46-year-old spouse who sported a white crop top and matching linen pants.

Following in her man's lead, the mother-of-four busted a move alongside the Oscar winner as their celebrity pals watched, before eventually joining them to take a series of silly group selfies.

The celebrities and their pals all seemed to be having a blast as they threw up peace signs and smiled as Barroso snapped a picture on her phone. Lauren Phillips is seen in a cream crochet dress

Chris was later chatting with a brunette among the rest of the crew

Matt, Chris, Liam and Gabriella posed for more pictures together throughout the day

Earlier this month, Chris praised his wife Elsa as he revealed that he wouldn't of been able to do 'any of the things I've done' with out her 'sacrifice and support'.

The Aussie actor has carved out an impressive film career since first finding fame on Home and Away, with Chris now being one of the world's biggest action stars thanks to his role as Thor in the Marvel franchise.

In an interview with British GQ, in which he's the first GQ Heroes cover star, Chris told how his wife's comfort and encouragement has allowed him to be who he is.

He told the publication: 'Her sacrifice, commitment, work, support, forgiveness - everything that she has given me over the years has been incredible. I couldnt have done any of the things Ive done without it.'

Chris' wife Elsa Pataky did not attend the wild party as she's currently in Spain with three three kids - daughter India Rose, 11, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, nine
Today favourite Aislin Kriukelis has quit the breakfast show for a new role at Nine News.

The veteran reporter will now be behind the desk to read Queensland's afternoon bulletin for 9News Monday to Tuesday.

She will share the role with Alison Ariotti, who will be in the anchor's chair for the remainder of the week reports TV Blackbox.

The mother of three, who is based in Brisbane, joined Nine in 2011, after beginning her career with the ABC.

After joining Today as Queensland correspondent, Aislin notched up experience as a news anchor while doing fill-in stints for news reader Sylvia Jeffreys in Sydney in 2017.

Aislin Kriukelis - pictured - has quit the Today show for a new role at Nine News

The veteran reporter will now be behind the desk to read Queensland's afternoon bulletin for 9News Monday to Tuesday reports TV Blackbox

The mother of three gained a high-profile with Nine viewers after covering the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and Royal tours in Australia and New Zealand.

Breakfast TV viewers will recognise Aislin from when she made headlines with Sunrise weatherman Sam Mac last year.

In December, the pair gatecrashed each other's live broadcast from Brisbane Airport.

After joining Today as Queensland correspondent, Aislin notched up experience as a news anchor while doing fill-in stints for news reader Sylvia Jeffreys in Sydney in 2017

The mother of three, who is based in Brisbane, joined Nine in 2011, after beginning her career with the ABC Pictured: Aislin with husband James with two of their children in 2021

They were each broadcasting live and interviewing domestic travellers arriving in Queensland for the first time since the state's borders reopened.

Sam attempted to hijack Aislin's interview with a young female passenger by grabbing her microphone and yelling: 'Welcome back to the Today show!'

The rival hosts later took a few good-natured jabs at each other during an on-air exchange.

Aislin shares her three children with husband James, including two daughters. The pair welcomed their first boy, Joseph Michael in November 2021.
John Boyega was pictured on the Upper West Side of New York City on Thursday, after sharing an update on the health of his They Cloned Tyrone costar Jamie Foxx.

The 31-year-old actor was snapped wearing multiple ensembles as he stepped out in the Big Apple as he promotes the forthcoming mystery comedy.

The London native was seen in a long-sleeved collared shirt with vertical yellow, gray, black and red stripes, matching with a pair of yellow pants.

Boyega, who plays the role of Fontaine in the forthcoming film opposite Foxx, donned sunglasses with brown frames and brown shoes to round out the stylish ensemble.

Boyega, who's played Finn in Star Wars films such as The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, was seen a second time in a brown leather button-up shirt with orange pants and black shoes.

The latest: John Boyega, 31, was pictured on the Upper West Side of New York City on Thursday, after sharing an update on the health of his They Cloned Tyrone costar Jamie Foxx, 55

Boyega told People on Tuesday in Los Angeles that he had recently spoken with his costar via phone.

'He finally picked up the phone,' Boyega said of the Oscar-winning actor, who is father to daughters Corinne Foxx, 29, and Annalise Bishop, 13.

Boyega, who spoke with the outlet at They Cloned Tyrone's debut in LA on Tuesday, said that the Django Unchained star has been 'doing well' without going into further detail.

Boyega added, 'And then, you know, we just giving him the privacy, and we can't wait for his return.

'I gave him the well wishes directly,' he said. 'I gave him all the well wishes. So I'm just gonna be waiting until he comes back out here. So take your time, Jamie. We love you, bro.'

They Cloned Tyrone producer Datari Turner told the outlet that the Collateral actor has been 'doing amazing' and 'really, really good' as of late.

Turner said that both Boyega and the film's director Juel Taylor had spoken to Foxx earlier this week.

'He's in really, really good shape and spirits,' Turner said. 'And he'll be back on the screen. He'll be back to work very soon.'

Boyega told People on Tuesday in Los Angeles that he had recently spoken with his costar via phone. Foxx was pictured in March in Miami

The London native was seen in a Gabriela Hearst long-sleeved collared shirt with vertical yellow, gray, black and red stripes, matching with a pair of yellow pants

Boyega, who plays the role of Fontaine in the forthcoming film opposite Foxx, flashed a peace sign toward photographers

The latest update on Foxx comes more than two-and-a-half months since his daughter Corinne said on Instagram April 12 that the A-lister had been taken to a hospital after dealing with a 'medical complication.'

Corinne said in a statement: 'We wanted to share that my father, Jamie Foxx, experienced a medical complication yesterday.'

At the time he was hospitalized, he had been working on a Netflix film titled Back in Action opposite Cameron Diaz.

A message was posted to Foxx's Instagram May 3 that read, 'Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed.'

The BAFTA Award-winning actor was snapped wearing multiple ensembles as he stepped out in the Big Apple as he promotes the forthcoming mystery comedy

Boyega was seen a second time in a brown leather button-up shirt with orange pants and black shoes

The actor has played Finn in Star Wars films such as The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker

Foxx, 55, was pictured in London in February at Floyd Mayweather's private birthday party

The latest update on Foxx comes more than two-and-a-half months since his daughter Corinne said on Instagram April 12 that the A-lister had been taken to a hospital after dealing with a 'medical complication'

On May 12, Corinne said via Instagram Stories, 'My Dad has been out of the hospital for weeks, recuperating'

On May 12, Corinne said via Instagram Stories, 'My Dad has been out of the hospital for weeks, recuperating.

'In fact, he was playing pickleball yesterday! Thanks for everyone's prayers and support! We have an exciting work announcement coming next week too!'

Dailymail.com has reached out to Foxx's reps for comment.
Zane Phillips and Froy Gutierrez were spotted at a Pride Celebration event held at GITANO Island in New York City on Sunday.

The Fire Island star, 29, and the Cruel Summer actor, 25, put on a loved-up display while celebrating Pride at the trendy Mexican eatery and bar located on Governor's Island.

The Glamorous alum  who stars alongside Kim Cattrall in the hit Netflix comedy drama series  looked dashing in a white, short-sleeved button-down that he opted to wear open.

He completed his put-together summer outfit with a pair of airy summer pants featuring circle cutouts in a pinstriped pattern and chic sandals.

Similarly, Gutierrez modeled an effortlessly stylish ensemble with a semi-sheer, black crochet button-down, white trousers, and aqua-colored kicks.

Hot new couple! Zane Phillips and Froy Gutierrez were spotted at a Pride Celebration event held at GITANO Island in New York City on Sunday

At the star-studded bash held 'to recognize and support the LGBTQ+ community with a day of excitement and fun', the new hot couple enjoyed music by Madison Rose.

The up-and-coming musical artist gave an electric performance of her hit song, ICONIC!, from her 2022 album TECHNICOLOR.

The vivacious event was further elevated with music from DJ Tom Peters as well as ARRA.

Other stars spotted at the party included actors James Scully and Johnny Sibbilly as well as reality TV star and performer, Spice.

Also in attendance were models Geena Rocero and RJ King; dancer and choreographer James Whiteside; television personality Ezra Williams; professional hair stylist Kyle Krieger; and fashion designer Prabal Gurung.

At the event, Phillips and Gutierrez stopped to take a group photo with many of the party attendees including Krieger and Sibilly.

Later on, the party people also gathered together and showed off their contagious smiles for their own selfie.

Earlier this month, Gutierrez was also reportedly spotted supporting Phillips at the premiere of his new Netflix series, Glamorous.

Sweet smooch: The Fire Island star, 29, and the Cruel Summer actor, 25, put on a loved-up display while celebrating Pride at the trendy Mexican eatery and bar located on Governor's Island

Chic outfit: Gutierrez modeled an effortlessly stylish ensemble with a semi-sheer, black crochet button-down, white trousers, and aqua-colored kicks

Party people: At the event, Phillips and Gutierrez stopped to take a group photo with many of the party attendees including Kyle Krieger and Johnny Sibilly

Sweet snap: Later on, the party people also gathered together and showed off their contagious smiles for their own selfie

Party venue: The Pride celebratory event was held at the new NYC hotspot, GITANO Island, located on Governor's Island

The comedy-drama was created by Jordon Nardino and stars Kim Cattrall as well as Miss Benny  who goes by they/them pronouns  as the leading protagonists.

According to the synopsis, the story follows Benny as a vibrant character named Marco Mejia.

Their character is a young, gender-nonconforming queer man whose life seems to be stuck in place.

In the 10-part series, Phillips plays a supporting character named Chad.
Bella Thorne and Karrueche Tran looked sensational in their extravagant frocks at the 69th Taormina Film Festival in Italy on Thursday.

The actresses' donned vibrant black ensembles as they posed in front of photographers to capture their incredible outfits.

The ex-Disney star hosted the 69th festival as well as premiering her directorial short film debut Paint Her Red which she wrote, directed and also starred in.

Bella, 25, wore an animated black ball gown featuring feathered embellishments around her frock.

The auburn-haired beauty posed up a storm in her strapless attire which showcased her incredibly slender physique.

Gorgeous: Bella Thorne looked sensational in her extravagant frock at the 69th Taormina Film Festival in Italy on Thursday

Sensational: Karrueche Tran, 35, joined Bella, 25, on the carpet to pose for a gorgeous photo of their extravagant frocks

Karrueche put on a glamorous extravaganza as she dressed in a sheer frock revealing her toned torso.

The American actress, 35, looked nothing short of sensational as she posed next to Bella in picture-perfect photos.

Bella opted for a smokey winged eyeliner to exaggerated her features with a pink lip and wore her ginger locks behind her shoulders, styled in a slight wave.

Karrueche opted for a flawless bronzed make-up palette and added a winged eyeliner.

The model posed up a storm as she showcased her incredibly toned figure and accentuated her height with a pair of black platform heels.

She put on a leggy display through her mesh ensemble and wore lacy lingerie underneath the see-through outfit which featured a feathered detailing.

The pals shared a sweet moment as they pouted their lips for a photo, leaning into each other's cheeks.

Earlier in the evening, the star put on a ghastly performance as she covered herself in special FX make-up.

Chic: The ex-Disney star hosted the 69th festival as well as premiering her directorial short film debut Paint Her Red which she wrote, directed and also starred in

Perfect: The actresses' donned vibrant black ensembles as they posed in front of photographers to capture their incredible outfits

Stunning: Bella wore an animated black ball gown featuring feathered embellishments around her frock

Cute! The pals shared a sweet moment as they pouted their lips for a photo, leaning into each other's cheeks

Insane: The American actress looked nothing short of sensational as she posed next to Bella in picture-perfect photos

Wow! Bella opted for a smokey winged eyeliner to exaggerated her features with a pink lip and wore her ginger locks behind her shoulders, styled in a slight wave

Adorable: Bella beamed a sweet smile for the cameras at the Film Festival in Italy

She put on a terrifying show which saw fake blood cover her hands and dripped from her mouth.

Bella posed during her horror performance for the photographer as she struck straight into a vampire character against the cinematic backdrop.

Bella looked unrecognisable as she dressed up as a bloody vampire character during her performance in Taormina.

She completed her frightening transformation with a black and white hooded cape which shielded her shoulders.

Frightening: Bella looked unrecognisable as she dressed up as a bloody vampire character during her performance in Taormina

Freaky: The star donned a strapless velvet dress which synched her torso in at the waist and featured a white stipe of material down the middle of her ensemble
Kevin Costner's estranged wife Christine Baumgartner was seen leaving Los Angeles via LAX airport on Thursday with two of their three kids, daughter Grace and son Hayes, amid the celebrity couple's divorce battle.

The 49-year-old handbag designer was witnessed being dropped off at the airport and entering the terminal with coffee and luggage in hand.

The former couple share three children together, Cayden 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13. (Costner also has four adult children from previous relationships.)

The trip isn't expected to be a long one, according to the outlet, as Baumgartner is due back in court in Santa Barbara on Wednesday for a hearing about the prenuptial agreement in the split.

Baumgartner and her kids toted backpacks and luggage as they exited a vehicle and were seen making their way toward the terminal on the summer day.

Outgoing: Kevin Costner's estranged wife Christine Baumgartner was seen leaving Los Angeles via LAX airport on Thursday with two of their three kids, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13, amid the celebrity couple's divorce battle

The former couple was pictured in April of 2022 at an event in LA

Baumgartner wore a floral pattern shirt with black flare pants and sandals on the summer day. Hayes and Grace matched in long-sleeved gray tops with plaid pants ahead of the plane ride.

Costner has claimed the $248,000 a month in child support his estranged wife is demanding is partly to fund her own plastic surgery expenses.

Baumgartner - who reportedly 'blindsided' Costner, 68, when she handed him divorce papers - called the requested amount 'less than the amount needed to maintain the children in their accustomed lifestyle,' reported People Magazine earlier this month.

Costner's forensic accountant now claims in new court documents obtained by TMZ that the expenses listed among the $248,000 include more than $100,000 in cosmetic surgery for Baumgartner.

The sum also includes thousands of dollars in boutique shopping, huge ATM withdrawals and other expenses 'not to do with child support,' Costner's forensic accountant said.

Among Christine's listed expenses are credit card bills and her own attorney fees and construction loans. Costner's accountant says these are 'one-time expenses that have nothing to do with child support.'

The documents claims Costner has been paying all of the children's expenses and will continue to do so, saying the amount he is currently paying is the reasonable amount - $51,940 a month.

Documents from earlier this month show that Costner pulled in just over $19.5 million in 2022 with the family's expenses listed as being $6.6 million for the same year. The family's net worth is put at $7.5 million, according to the People report.

Short-term: The trip isn't expected to be a long one, as Baumgartner is due back in court in Santa Barbara Wednesday for a hearing about the prenuptial agreement in the split

In transit: Baumgartner and her kids toted backpacks and luggage as they exited a vehicle

Kind: Baumgartner was seen greeting an airline worker at the busy travel terminal Thursday

Claim: Costner's forensic account now claims in new court documents obtained by TMZ that the expenses listed among the $248,000 include more than $100,000 in cosmetic surgery for Baumgartner

Content: Amid the legal battle and the travel day, Baumgartner seemed to be in good spirits

Casual: Hayes and Grace matched in long-sleeved gray tops with plaid pants ahead of the plane ride

Stylish: Baumgartner wore a floral pattern shirt with black flare pants and sandals on the summer day

In unity: The family was seen making their way toward the terminal on the summer day

Big family: The former couple share son Cayden, 16, while Costner also has four adult children from previous relationships

Baumgartner has recently signaled her willingness to leave the mansion they previously shared, but only as long as she has guarantees that her soon-to-be ex won't leave her penniless.

She has agreed to leave the $145 million mansion on the condition that Costner, 68, agrees to pay any support and fees that a judge orders at an upcoming hearing, according to court filings obtained by RadarOnline.

In the documents, Baumgartner agrees to vacate the premises on August 31 of this year as long as Costner complies 'with whatever support and fee orders that the court makes on July 12,' the date of the next hearing in their divorce proceedings.

That arrangement would give her 50 days to find a new place to live and to move in, whereas the prenuptial agreement reportedly stated that she would leave the original home within 30 days of a divorce filing.

She wrote that she was hesitant to leave her home without having a plan and funding in place, if only for the sake of her children, whom she doesn't want to have to move multiple times.

Baumgartner claimed that 'Kevin wants me to rent [a] place without [a] financial plan in place. However, [I] have our three children to think about. It is contrary to their best interests to commit to rental that [I] may not be able to afford, particularly as that would ultimately lead to multiple relocations.

'My goal has been and continues to be maintaining as much stability for our children as possible, which includes having the proper resources and plan in place so that [I] can establish [a] stable home for them, rather than making temporary and inconsistent housing arrangements,' she continued.

Costner was not only the primary breadwinner, but the only person making money recently, and Baumgartner says in her filing that she has no income.

DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for comment.

On the calendar: Baumgartner said she will leave on August 31 as long as Costner, 68, complies 'with whatever support and fee orders that the court makes on July 12,' the date of their next hearing; still from Yellowstone

Moving money: Costner has already put $1M in Baumgartner's bank account to find a new home, but she isn't touching it in order to contest the validity of their prenup; seen in March 2022

The Yellowstone star was on the hook to help his estranged wife relocate per their prenuptial agreement, but it was a relatively paltry sum for their lifestyle.

Costner would have paid her a reported $1 million to find a new home, but with California's elevated home prices  particularly if she tried to stay near Costner  she may have had difficulty finding something similar to the luxury she and her children are accustomed to.

According to RadarOnline, Costner has deposited $1 million in Baumgartner's bank account to get her to move out of his mansion, and he said he had previously given her $200,000 earlier in their marriage in line with their prenuptial agreement

However, Baumgartner isn't touching the money, as she says doing so would rob her of her ability to contest their prenup's validity.

She has also said that the couple have had no problems on days where Costner was staying at the home, and she says the mansion's size and disconnected living spaces mean they can live together without interacting.

Costner's legal team previously said in court filings that 'Kevin has acted in good faith and has done everything in his power to make the transition as seamless as possible,' according to Insider.

He is being represented by the famous divorce attorney Laura Wasser, who reportedly served as an inspiration for Laura Dern's lawyer character in Noah Baumbach's critically acclaimed film Marriage Story, which earned Dern an Academy Award for best supporting actress.

It was previously reported that Baumgartner is seeking $248,000 per month in child support payments. She and Costner share three children: sons Cayden, 15; and Hayes, 14; along with their younger daughter Grace, 13.

However, Costner has said in other filings that he believes he should only pay around $38,000 per month.

Family: The former couple share three children together, Cayden 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace 13 (pictured 2015) Costner also has four adult children from previous relationships.

Earlier this week, The Sun reported that Costner was 'blindsided' when he was served divorce papers by his wife, as he thought that he would be the first to file.

The Waterworld actor 'sat his family down, told them he and their mum were getting a divorce and his lawyer was getting the paperwork drawn up,' a source claimed to the publication.

'He wanted everything to be peaceful for the sake of his kids and told Christine he didnt want a messy divorce because hed already been through one,' they continued.

But 'first thing the next morning, boom, Christine sneak attacks him and serves him with her own set of divorce papers.

'Kevin was so shocked,' the source added. 'Christine has since made him look terrible, and has continued to do so.'

However, Baumgartner has previously shared a different, less flattering version of how their children learned of their impending divorce.

In a court filing obtained earlier this month by People, she claimed that Costner told the three children about the divorce via a Zoom chat while he was in Las Vegas filming on location.

The handbag designer added that she was not present during the Zoom call, and she noted that she was puzzled about why the children had to be told in that way, as Costner would be returning home in a matter of days.

'I am still confused by his motivation to do this via a very short Zoom session, especially since he was planning on being home five days later,' she wrote.

Significant difference: Baumgartner is seeking $248K in child support per month, but Costner says he should only pay $38K per month

She added that she feared the children might learn of the split from an outside source, and she shared research with him that she had done that indicated a unified front with both parents was the best way to announce the divorce to the kids.

However, Baumgartner claimed that Costner was adamant about sharing the information before her and on his own.

'He disregarded my proposal to do what I felt was right based on research and my relationship with the children. Instead, he insisted that he had the right to tell them that we were getting divorced "first" and tell them privately "without me present,"' she claimed.

It's unclear if the alleged Zoom session could be the same event described by the source, or if there may have been two dates at which Costner spoke to the children about his separation from Baumgartner.
Yolande Trueman is returning to EastEnders after a six-year absence.

Angela Wynter is reprising her role as Patrick Trueman's estranged wife this summer, after previously appearing as a series regular from 2003 to 2008.

Patrick himself is set to return to Walford next week, after taking a temporary break from the soap in March, and he'll quickly set his sights on rekindling his relationship with Yolande.

Discussing her return, actress Angela said: 'I have been really looking forward to playing her again and have had a beautiful time on set so far.

'I can't thank the cast and crew enough for the warm welcome back.'

Surprise! Yolande Trueman is returning to EastEnders after a six-year absence

Producer Chris Clenshaw added: 'I'm thrilled to welcome the immensely talented Angela back to the role of Yolande Trueman.

'Although we haven't seen Yolande for some years, her departure from the Square and the breakdown of her marriage to Walford's living legend, Patrick, left some unfinished business between the pair.

'We therefore thought it was important to explore a reunion between the two. We couldn't be more thrilled to have her back!'

During her original five-year stint, Yolanda clashed with Pat Butcher over their conflicting feelings for Patrick, but she went onto leave the Square to accept a job with Minute Mart HQ in Birmingham.

She briefly reprised her role in 2017 to defend Denise Fox when she faced a company disciplinary hearing.

Yolande's return comes after viewers were stunned to see Michelle Collins and Adam Woodyatt reprise their roles as Cindy and Ian Beale respectively.

It's also been confirmed that Thomas Law will be permenantly reprising his role as Peter Beale later this year.

The actor stunned fans as he reappeared as Peter in the BBC soap after 13 years away from the show, alongside co-star Jacqueline Jossa, who made a one-off appearance.

Reunited! Angela Wynter is reprising her role as Patrick Trueman's estranged wife this summer, after previously appearing as a series regular from 2003 to 2008

Grand return! Patrick is also returning to Walford next week, after taking a temporary break from the soap in March

Truth: Yolande's return comes after viewers were stunned to see Michelle Collins and Adam Woodyatt reprise their roles as Cindy (pictured) and Ian Beale respectively.

Shock: It's also been confirmed that Thomas Law will be permenantly reprising his role as Peter Beale later this year

The pair made a comeback amid Cindy Beale's explosive return from the dead, with Peter having been secretly living with his mum in France alongside dad Ian Beale - who also returned.

And while Jacqueline has only made a cameo in the soap, EastEnders have verified that Thomas will be coming back to Walford alongside stalwarts Michelle Collins and Adam Woodyatt later this summer.

Cindy made her epic return to the soap opera in the closing moments of an episode last week, as she was finally revealed to be George Knight's mysterious ex-wife Rose.

And in the following episode, the huge twist of how she is still alive was finally revealed, as she was seen living with her husband Ian in Europe, and viewers will learn more when they head back to Walford later this year.

EastEnders continues on BBC One on Monday at 7.30pm.
Secrets Of The Bay City Rollers

Rating:

Britains Best Beach Huts

Rating:

Whatever Nicky Campbell claims, the Bay City Rollers were no Beatles. They werent even on a par with Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Once the hysterical adolescent screaming died down, all that has remained of Les, Woody and their tartan gang is a couple of pop hooks.

Not many people today know the whole tune to Bye Bye Baby or Give A Little Love, just the annoying snatch of title lyric that catches in the brain.

They might merit a ten-minute segment in a documentary on the evolution of boy bands, but the music and flash-in-the-pan fashion isnt worth the treatment it received in an hour-long programme, Secrets Of The Bay City Rollers (ITV1).

Of course there is the sordid side of the story, the allegations of sexual abuse by their manager, Tam Paton. That too would have been better examined as just one aspect of the paedophilia and sex crime rife in the 1970s music industry.

Whatever Nicky Campbell claims, the Bay City Rollers (pictured) were no Beatles. They werent even on a par with Gerry and the Pacemakers

Paton himself was a repulsive man whose career of perversion mirrored Jimmy Saviles, as he moved from pop to preying on children in care.

But Campbell barely explored the wider impact of his depravity: he interviewed one anonymous victim, and mentioned in passing that Paton later became a powerful drugs boss in Edinburgh.

The presenter was more concerned with comparing what the Rollers went through with his own ordeal of sexual abuse at an Edinburgh boarding school, around the same time.

These criss-crossing themes combined in a messy pattern, matching the garish tartan worn by the band.

In an unsettling scene at the end of the programme, Campbell began talking about his teenage trauma to his 24-year-old daughter, Breagha, unloading his grief onto her. By the end he was literally sobbing in her arms.

Every family unpacks its emotional baggage in different ways, but I was left with some concerns for Breagha herself. Its hard for any child to bear the weight of a fragile parents sorrows, let alone to do it on camera.

Rollers guitarist Stuart Wood had a more robust and practical attitude, though his resilience is out of step with todays navel-gazing. He still loves the music, and tours under its tartan banner, playing the hits to an audience of ageing Rollermaniacs.

He prefers to forget the bad times, he says, and celebrate the good. How very unwoke of him.

The presenter (pictured, right, with Pat McGlynn, left) was more concerned with comparing what the Rollers went through with his own ordeal of sexual abuse at an Edinburgh boarding school, around the same time.

Interior designer Laura Jackson was celebrating past times at the start of Britains Best Beach Huts (Ch4), as she stepped into a 1940s time warp near Bournemouth.

Hut owner Melanie has filled her beachfront shed with postwar memorabilia, from a gas hob with a whistling kettle to a valve radio and original wallpaper.

Laura voyaged further back in time as she visited Hastings, to see the multi-storey huts where Victorian fishermen dried their nets.

One local whose family have maintained a net hut for generations said he can feel the ghosts of his ancestors watching him: If you do believe, it makes life far more interesting, he said.

Co-presenter Jay Blades also went hut-hunting, though its a mystery how he found space in his schedule, what with also appearing this week on BBC1s The Repair Shop and his Ch5 history show East End Through Time.

Jay visited Herne Bay pier, where one hut offers weddings, next to the amusement arcade. The music hall comics who used to ply their trade at these resorts would have found no end of saucy fun in that notion.

I say, I say, where are the happy couple going on their honeymoon? Is it going to be the galloping horses tonight? Or will she dodgem?
Olivia Molly Rogers debuted her new man Morgan Waterhouse at Australian Fashion Week in May.

And the couple are still going strong, based on a loved-up Instagram post by Waterhouse on Thursday.

In a pair of black and white images, Olivia and her model beau cuddled up in front of floor-to-ceiling windows in a high rise apartment.

Olivia commented on the post, 'Youre a bit cute x' to which Morgan replied with a kissing emoji.

The images were posted just hours after Olivia's ex-husband appeared to move on with a new love of his own.

Olivia Molly Rogers debuted her new man Morgan Waterhouse at Australian Fashion Week in May. Both pictured

Justin McKeon was photographed cuddling a mystery woman at a Melbourne bar on Thursday, eight months after he and Olivia called it quits.

The pair looked very cosy with Justin's arm around the brunette woman's waist as they smiled for the camera.

Justin was dapper in a pair of black trousers, a black T-shirt and a cream blazer for his night out in Bar Bambi.

His mystery woman looked stylish in a long-sleeved black figure-hugging dress, and kept her long brown locks down in a loose curl.

And the couple are still going strong, based on a loved-up Instagram post by Waterhouse on Thursday

The images come after Olivia's ex-husband Justin McKeon (pictured) was photographed cuddling a mystery woman at a Melbourne bar on Thursday

This comes after Olivia announced last October that she and her husband of seven months decided to split.

Taking to Instagram, the former Miss Universe Australia wrote: 'After 4.5 years together, Justin and I have come to the difficult decision to separate as a couple.

'I do not wish to make any further statements about this in the near future,' she added.

This comes after Olivia announced last October that she and her husband of seven months decided to split (both pictured)

'Please respect our decision and privacy at this time. Thank you for all your private DMs, kindness and support.

'I'm so grateful for you all. Love you guys.'

Olivia has now also moved on, as she went Instagram official with her new boyfriend in April.

She shared a carousel of photos of her new love interest, model Morgan Waterhouse, to announce the exciting news.

Olivia has now also moved on, as she went Instagram official with her new boyfriend Morgan Waterhouse in April (both pictured)

Another snap shows Olivia having the time of her life on a night out on the town with Morgan, as they both cradle what appear to be cocktails

In one image, Olivia is seen beaming from ear to ear as she leans in for a cuddle with her genetically blessed beau.

Another snap shows the model having the time of her life on a night out on the town with Morgan, as they both cradle what appear to be cocktails.

In a third image, the new lovebirds are seen posing in an audience.

'Happyyy girl,' she captioned the carousel of images.
Greece's famed party island Mykonos is set to be overrun with a Who's Who of Byron Bay celebrity as the Hemsworth patriarch throws an outrageous party.

Craig Hemsworth, 68, the father of Hollywood heavyweights Luke, Chris and Liam is going all out, hosting a European day party on the picturesque 'Island of the Winds'.

Guests travelled from far and wide to attend the exclusive destination-soiree.

The exclusive guest list includes Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso, Chris' actress wife Elsa Pataky, Australian model Gabriella Brooks - girlfriend of son Liam - radio personality Lauren Phillips and her partner, AVMIN air boss Paul O'Brien.

Daily Mail Australia has been told the star-studded event is due to take place in the coming days at one of the island's most exclusive beach clubs.

Mykonos has been the party venue of choice for some of the world's wealthiest and most famous stars  from Leonardo DiCaprio to Richard Branson, and Alessandra Ambrosio.

Craig Hemsworth's Mykonos knees-up kicked off on Thursday with a welcome party at a private villa

Elsa Pataky (left) Luciana Barroso (centre) and Hollywood star Matt Damon have jetted in for the occasion

Fellow Byron Bay locals tipped to join the festivities include Anthony 'The Cat' Catalano and his wife Stefanie, who are holidaying in nearby Ithaca.

The former Domain boss owns Byron's Bay's legendary Rae's on Wategos beach and is a notable figure in the north coast town now synonymous with A-listers.

Australian DJ Kaz James - who has a summer residence on the party Island is another likely guest to Craig Hemsworth's soiree.

The festivities kicked off on Thursday at a private mansion that saw the group let loose.

While oldest broth Luke and his wife Samantha were nowhere to be seen.

The Hemsworth family are known for their love of dress-up parties

The three brothers were all born in Melbourne, Victoria, to their parents, teacher Leonie and counsellor Craig (both pictured)

Chris is pictured enjoying a match with his genetically blessed parents

Liam packed on the PDA with his model girlfriend Gabriella Brooks, sharing a passionate kiss as he cosied up to the glamorous blonde as they soaked up the sunshine.

Close family friend - model and actress Michele Merkin, who is friends with the Thor star and his wife Elsa Pataky - was seen playfully cuddling up and joking around with Chris.

It's no secret the Hemsworth's clan know how to party.

Chris and wife Elsa, ditched Hollywood three years ago for Byron Bay host an annual New Year Eve party.

The couple spare no expense, each year the event gets bigger and grandeur.

Fellow Byron Bay locals tipped to join the festivities include Anthony 'The Cat' Catalano and his wife Stefanie who are currently holidaying in nearby Ithaca

Radio host Lauren Phillips and her AVMIN air charter boss partner Paul O'brien

An invitation to their themed bash is the hottest ticket in Byron Bay.

However, before the three Hemsworth brothers made it big on the silver screen they spent their early childhood raise to a cattle farm in the Northern Territory.

Mum Leonie was an English teacher and Craig a counsellor working in child protection services.

The family later relocated to Phillip Island in Victoria where all three brothers found their love of surfing.
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Barbie-Mania has swept across Australia as Margot Robbie prepares to release her much-anticipated comedy based on the iconic Mattel doll.

Thousands of fans descended on Sydney's CBD on Friday to catch a glimpse of the glamorous Hollywood star as she continued the movie's press tour with her co-stars, America Ferrera and Issa Rae, and director Greta Gerwig.

And the Aussie actress certainly didn't disappoint, signing autographs and posing for selfies with excited fans outside of Westfield shopping centre in Pitt Street Mall.

Just like she has for the entire Barbie promo tour, Margot, 33, dressed the part in a pale pink sweater paired with a matching metallic pink leather mini skirt.

She teamed the outfit with pink socks and pale pink leather loafers, and accessorised with white retro-style sunglasses.

Margot Robbie greeted thousands of fans who descended on Sydney's CBD to meet the Aussie actress during her Barbie promo tour on Friday Margot Robbie greeted thousands of fans who descended on Sydney's CBD to meet the Aussie actress during her Barbie promo tour on Friday

She looked picture perfect with her platinum blonde locks coiffed in a perfect bouncy blow wave and a pink gloss painted on her pout.

The former Neighbours star took to the stage with America, Issa and Greta for a Q&A about the film and to share a sneak peek clip featuring Ryan Gosling, who plays the role of Ken.

Margot arrived in Sydney on Wednesday with her husband Tom Ackerley and America.

Barbie is 'a fish-out-of-water story about a doll who is ousted from toy society for not being perfect enough.'

Just like she has for the entire tour, Margot, 33, dressed the part in a pale pink sweater paired with a matching metallic pink leather mini skirt

The Hollywood star's toned pins were on display in her Barbie-pink ensemble

The actress giggled and flashed her mega-watt smile as she spoke to the large crowd

The blonde bombshell showed off her California tan as she posed for photos with America Ferrera

The actress flaunted a hint of her abs as she waved to the crowd on stage outside of Westfield shopping centre with her co-stars America, middle left, and Issa Rae, middle right, and the film's director Greta Gerwig, far right

Margot excitedly waved to the crowd before doing a Q&A with her co-stars

The friendly star stopped to sign autographs and take selfies with fans

Margot took several selfies with the crowd who all dressed in Barbie-Core style

Another synopsis on IMDB of the movie reads: 'A doll living in "Barbieland" is expelled for not being perfect enough and sets off on an adventure in the real world. A Live-action feature film based on the popular line of Barbie toys.'

Oscar winner Ryan is starring opposite Margot as he takes on the role of Barbie's boyfriend Ken.

Will Ferrell is said to be playing the CEO of the toy company that may or may not be Mattel.

Little Women and Ladybird filmmaker Greta is directing the project, and wrote the script for the film with her longtime partner Noah Baumbach.

The actress posed with a lookalike fan who wore Barbie's iconic cowboy hat

The Babylon star wore her retro shades as she did a Q&A on stage in the sun with her co-stars

Margot looked picture perfect with her platinum blonde locks coiffed in a perfect bouncy blow wave and a pink gloss painted on her pout

Margot and her co-stars discussed the film as they shared a sneak peek of the movie

Other members of the cast include Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Emma Mackey, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rhea Perlman, Ariana Greenblatt, Ana Cruz Kayne, Alexandra Shipp, Ritu Arya, Sharon Rooney, Connor Swindells, Scott Evans and Jamie Demetriou.

America is playing the character of Gloria, while Issa plays the role of President Barbie.

Fans think Emma will be playing the role of Skipper, the younger sister of Barbie, thanks to her resemblance to Margot.

Her husband Tom Ackerley was seen watching on in the background as his wife worked the crowd

Also linked to the film are Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan, actress Saoirse Ronan and pop sensation Dua Lipa - but these have not yet been confirmed.

Marvel's Simu Liu and new Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa are also said be playing other Kens.

The movie is released worldwide on July 20.

He looked proud as punch as he stood among her PR team

While Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken in the movie, was not at the Sydney event, he greeted the crowd on screen

Thousands of fans turned up to the event wearing their best Barbie pink and with dolls for the stars to sign

The entire crowd was a sea of pink with attendees dressing in Barbie-core outfits
Kourtney Kardashian finally had the name on her driver's license changed over a year after marrying Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.

The reality TV star, 44, took to Instagram on Thursday to show off her temporary license that now lists her as 'Kourtney Kardashian Barker,' as well as her new photo.

'say my name,' captioned Kourtney, who is currently pregnant with her and Travis' first child.

Her post comes after her sister Kim took fans along as she got her driver's license picture retaken with her glam squad on Hulu's The Kardashians.

Some of Kourtney's followers felt that she was throwing 'shade' at Kim, who she's been in a bitter feud with this season over Kim's collaboration with D&G  the brand that curated her Italian wedding to Travis.

It's official! Kourtney Kardashian finally had the name on her driver's license changed over a year after marrying Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker

'But on Kim's Drivers license episode? jk jk' one fan wrote, while another accused her of being 'jealous' of the SKIMS founder.

'Hmmmmm the timing is interesting. There has to be some shade to this,' one commenter speculated.

Others wanted to know if Kourtney also used a 'glam team' for her driver's license photo.

'I love that you all can laugh about it and STILL love one another!' read another comment, alluding to Kim and Kourtney's televised feud.

'Families aren't perfect! Good to see y'all are just as normal as the rest of us.'

Fans have gotten a front-row seat to the Kardashian-Jenner family drama this season on The Kardashians, which aired its latest episode Thursday.

Mixed among the tears and tension, Kim decided to showcase her recent trip to the DMV and all the effort that went in to capturing the perfect license photo.

'I swear this is where I came to get my license,' Kim tells her team after getting out of her luxurious vehicle outside an LA office.

Kim enters the empty DMV office, seemingly coming in after closing time, as she tells the employees, 'Hi thank you guys for staying open.'

She's joined by her longtime hairstylist Chris Appleton and makeup artist Ariel Tejada, who get her ready for the 'photo shoot.'

When asked by producers what they're doing today, Appleton says, 'Today we are out with Kim and we are getting her driving license picture ready. But it's a big deal because you have to live with it for a long time.'

Appleton and Tejada are seen getting Kim ready for the shoot, as Tejada is heard saying, 'Five years is a long time.'

Appleton adds, 'Too many people live with driving licenses which are not cute, so we need to make sure it's right.'

Her post comes after her sister Kim took fans along as she got her driver's license picture retaken with her glam squad on Hulu's The Kardashians

Shady? Some of Kourtney's followers felt that she was throwing 'shade' at Kim with her post

'And no matter where Kim goes, me and Ariel have got her back,' Appleton adds, giving the makeup artist a high five with a laugh.

A producer tells Kim - while she's getting makeup applied by Tejada - 'I love that you're glamming the photo.'

'I mean, this is the most important photo you'll ever take in your life,' Kim says, while revealing her birthday is coming up, adding, 'I'm turning 42.'

Tejada adds that he, 'Saw this thing on TikTok where it was saying that the world is spinning faster than it normally does. That's why we all look so much better than like our parents or our grandparents did when they were like 60, you know.'

'Hmm, it's not the Botox?' Kim jokes, adding in confession what she hopes to accomplish in her 42nd year.

'My hopes for 42-year-old Kim is that I really just want to have fun. I want peace. I want calmness. I want good vibes yeah, everything. I want the whole world,' Kim says in confession.

Back at the DMV, Kim reads a sheet of paper that says her height is 5-foot-3-inches but Kim says she's 5-foot-3-and-a-half, which Tejada contests.

'In your dreams you're 5-3-and a half,' Tejada jokes, as Kim says, 'Get a f***ing stick get a height thing, what are you talking about?'

'Kimberly, you're definitely like 5-2,' Tejada says with a laugh, as Kim insists, 'I was gonna say, definitely 5-4,' as Chris says, 'Yeah, I think 5-4.'

They are finally ready to take the picture as Kim says, 'OK guys, thank you for waiting,' adding in confession, 'I really just want it to look good, like, why not bring a light and a glam team? It's definitely crazy, but I don't care.'

Kim jokes about posing with her tongue out as a DMV employee throws Kim and her team off guard by saying it's time for her to do a, '25-question knowledge test.'

'What? For real?' Kim asks, when the employee admits, 'No, I'm just kidding,' as Kim adds, 'Oh, I was like, I can do it.'

Chris and Ariel put the finishing touches on on her hair and makeup, while Ariel adjusts a portable light he's shining on her face as she asks Ariel, 'Do we need to powder like there?' while putting her hand over her mouth.

When filling out her form, Kim asks, 'You guys, should I add West, or no?' Chris responds, 'No.'

Kim sits in front of the green backdrop, adding, 'Oh my God I'm so nervous! Just kidding, as long as I have photo approval.'

Mundane: Celebrities are people too, and they have to perform the same mundane tasks we all do like getting a new drivers license photo though Kim Kardashian did so with a glam twist on this week's episode of Hulu's The Kardashians

Thanks: Kim enters the empty DMV office, seemingly coming in after closing time, as she tells the employees, 'Hi thank you guys for staying open'

Team: She's joined by her longtime hairstylist Chris Appleton (bottom middle) and makeup artist Ariel Tejada (right), who get her ready for the 'photo shoot.'

Long time: When asked by producers what they're doing today, Appleton says, 'Today we are out with Kim and we are getting her driving license picture ready. But it's a big deal because you have to live with it for a long time'

The DMV employee tells Kim, 'You want to keep your eyes focused on the blue circle,' as Kim says to wait until she's not smiling.

'OK, no wrinkles, no,' Kim adds, and she's just about to tell the DMV employee that she's ready when Chris steps in to fix a stray strand of hair.

'Stop, dude,' Kim protests, as Chris fixes the hair, adding, 'You're gonna have to live with this for years, you'll hate it.'

Kim finally says she's ready as the DMV employee says she has four seconds, as she counts down before the picture snaps.

Kim asks if she can see the photo, as they all rush back to see the image on the DMV computer, as Kim says, 'Come on guys, we all need to approve this.'

They take a look at the image as Ariel says, 'Hmm, can we try again?' Chris asks, 'Maybe can you come out a bit more, so it's not so cropped?'

The employee starts tinkering with the photo, while Kim asks, 'Is there any way to save this, do another and have them side-by-side?'

The employee says there isn't as Ariel asks her to 'Airdrop it to them really quickly,' but the employee says, 'We don't have that technology.'

'I think you could do better,' Ariel adds, as Kim stands in front of the green backdrop once again, with Ariel holding a portable light shining in her face.

Chris tells Kim to put her shoulders back as the employee counts to four once again and takes the picture, as they all go back to see it.

Kourtney and Travis wed in May 2022

Expecting: Kourtney recently revealed that she's pregnant with her and Travis' first child

'Wow,' Ariel says as Kim admits, 'This one's good it looks exactly the same as the other one.'

Chris adds that the DMV employee - Blanca - 'killed it, she nailed it. We've worked with many photographers all the time, Blanca, and you got the shot.'

Ariel added that they normally don't get the perfect snap in two shots, but Blanca managed to pull it off.

Kim added, while grabbing her coat, 'We trusted our instincts. First is the worst, second is the best. That's why I'm the second child.'

She adds while walking out the door, 'Thanks guys, couldn't have done that without you,' before leaving the DMV.
OnlyFans star Veruca Salt appeared to get into an altercation with her housemate after fighting about a cat's litter box.

The Gold Coast influencer, whose real name is Kimberley Summer Hartley, posted several Instagram stories about a fight she and her housemate had that led her to moving out.

It escalated so badly that the women appeared to be fighting while Veruca, 24, was filming a live video on TikTok.

On Thursday, the sex worker shared several messages between her and her housemate to her Instagram story as she went off on a scathing rant.

The conversation started off with Veruca's housemate asking her to clean her cat's litter box, and this really upset the influencer.

OnlyFans star Veruca Salt (pictured) appeared to get into an altercation with her housemate after fighting about a cat's litter box

Her housemates message read: 'Hey girl, could you please clean your cats litter. Upstairs smells absolutely foul and it's starting to creep into my room.

'I remember you saying you would be cleaning your cats litter daily but you haven't been hence the smell.'

Veruca simply replied: 'I haven't scooped this morning but it gets scooped everyday.'

The OnlyFans model appeared very upset by this message, as she posted it to her story with the caption: 'A couple weeks ago she texts me this and I'm like ok maybe Blaze [her cat] just pooped in his litter box so I got out there and he hasn't and it also doesn't smell so I quite literally do nothing, I don't scoop, I don't spray, NOTHING'.

The Gold Coast influencer, whose real name is Kimberley Summer Hartley, posted several Instagram Stories about a fight she and her housemate had that led her to moving out

Despite her not cleaning the litter tray, the housemate later texted Veruca and thanked her for scooping it, but this seemed to annoy her even more.

The housemate wrote: 'Hey girl, I wanted to apologise for coming at you and being a bit rude about the smell issue this morning.

'I shouldn't have said that you hadn't been looking after the litter when I didn't actually know that for a fact.

'Anyways it smells so much better upstairs so thank you so much for doing something about it.'

Veruca then called her housemate 'delusional' and captioned the screenshot: 'And then she text me later saying it smells better.

'Babe it's actually exactly the same DELULU'.

On Thursday, the sex worker shared several messages between her and her housemate to her Instagram story as she went off on a scathing rant

The OnlyFans star then later went live on TikTok, and influencer watchdog account Dutch Minty shared a snippet of this video to its Story

The OnlyFans star then later went live on TikTok, and influencer watchdog account Dutch Minty shared a snippet of this video to its story.

The clip shows what appears to be Veruca and her housemate getting into an altercation.

As she has all her things packed and is about to leave the house, Veruca says 'good luck finding someone else' to a woman, who appears to be her housemate.

It then sounds like she throws something at her and and tells her to leave.

Veruca then says: 'You just threw s**t at me, you nasty horrible c**t'.

The other woman is then heard shouting 'you piece of sh**' as Veruca's cat purrs in the background.

The controversial influencer, who is pregnant with her first child, was sharing a house despite previously claiming she makes upwards of $15,000 a month on OnlyFans.

The controversial influencer, who is pregnant with her first child, was sharing a house despite previously claiming she makes upwards of $15,000 a month on OnlyFans

On Friday, she posted that she has successfully moved into a new house after her traumatic fight with her old housemate.

Sharing a picture of the view from the Gold Coast property, she wrote: 'My new house is giving peace and serenityyyyyy and slayyyy!

'My movers did such a good job and blazey is so happy'.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Veruca Salt for comment.

The sex worker grew a social media following after she sparked a national manhunt in 2019.

On Friday, she posted that she has successfully moved into a new house after her traumatic fight with her old housemate

At the time, she was 20 years old and panicked her friends when she disappeared from a wedding in Queensland and failed to respond to worried mates for more than a week.

She was found a week later by police at Desires brothel in Woolongong, south of Sydney.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in 2020, Veruca explained the type of content that she shares on OnlyFans.

The website is a non-censored social media platform where users pay creators a subscription fee to view their content. Photos and videos are often X-rated.

'I take full nudes, and photos of my b**hole and stuff,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'I guess it's pretty gross,' she laughed. 'I usually do full porn in there.'
Elsa Pataky flaunted her slim pins on Tuesday as she stepped out in a tiny pair of jean shorts at the Balloon Museum in Madrid, Spain.

The actor, 46, was spotted getting in some quality family time with husband Chris Hemsworth and their three children before he jetted off for Mykonos.

She showed the hunky Thor actor, 39, what he'd be missing before he left his family for a big party with his famous brothers and their attractive female friends.

Garbed in a pair of tiny shorts which rode high, the Spanish model slipped into a thin white T-shirt which matched her white sneakers.

The blonde beauty kept her daughter India Rose, 11, close as she swept her golden locks up into a high ponytail.

Elsa Pataky, 46, flaunted her slim pins on Tuesday as she stepped out in a tiny pair of jean shorts at the Balloon Museum in Madrid, Spain. Pictured with 11-year-old daughter India

Letting her natural beauty shine through, the Fast and Furious franchise star rocked a completely bare face as she hid her eyes behind a pair of dark shades.

After an eventful morning at the museum, Elsa and the kids met up with Chris for lunch as he showed off his bulging biceps in a grey tank top.

The Hollywood star opted for athleisurewear to show off his ripped figure, pulling on a pair of black Nike shorts and black sneakers to complete his look.

The actor was spotted getting in some quality family time with husband Chris Hemsworth, 39, and their three children before he jetted off for Mykonos. Pictured with one of their twin boys Tristan and Sasha, nine

She showed the hunky Thor actor what he'd be missing before he left his family for a big party with his famous brothers and their attractive female friends

Garbed in a pair of tiny shorts which rode high, the Spanish model slipped into a thin white T-shirt which matched her white sneakers

The blonde beauty kept her daughter India Rose close as she swept her golden locks up into a high ponytail

Letting her natural beauty shine through, the Fast and Furious franchise star rocked a completely bare face as she hid her eyes behind a pair of dark shades

Before leaving the museum, Elsa stopped to get some souvenirs for the kids

With twin sons Tristan and Sasha, nine, glued to his hip, the Aussie actor pulled on a black hat before shielding his eyes from the sun with some trendy shades.

The family's sighting came just a few days before Chris and brother Liam Hemsworth cut loose during a wild party in Mykonos, Greece, on Thursday.

The two brothers were seen partying hard with Matt Damon and his wife Luciana Barroso, Australian TV host Lauren Phillips and her rumoured fiance Paul O'Brien and several other friends at a private mansion which has been hired out by the famous families.

She was spotted later in the dater window shopping for a new mobile phone

After running some errands, Elsa donned a white Fendi purse and went in search of her husband

She kept her sunglasses tucked atop her head as she roamed the streets of Madrid

Liam packed on the PDA with his model girlfriend Gabriella Brooks, sharing a passionate kiss and cosying up to the glamorous brunette as they soaked up the sunshine.

Meanwhile, Chris was seen cuddling up to a close family friend - model and actress Michele Merkin - who draped her arm around the hunky Marvel star as they chatted to Matt and his wife Luciana.

Michele is a good friend of both Chris and his wife Elsa, Gabriella and Liam, and Luke Hemsworth and his wife Samantha, and has been part of their inner circle for years.

Elsa was still in Spain with the children at the time of the party, but she intends to join them in Mykonos after her trip to Spain.

After an eventful morning at the museum, Elsa and the kids met up with Chris for lunch as he showed off his bulging biceps in a grey tank top

The Hollywood star opted for athleisurewear to show off his ripped figure, pulling on a pair of black Nike shorts and black sneakers to complete his look
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The old EastEnders set has finally been demolished more than a year after the BBC soap opera moved to its brand new 87million set.

Filming began on the brand new set, which is located just a stone's throw from the old location at the BBC's Elstree Centre in Borehamwood, back in January 2022.

Now, brand new aerial photographs have shown the old set has been demolished, leaving a derelict piece of land sitting unused in its place.

The iconic Queen Vic has been completely torn down, but the outline of the original Albert Square can still be seen as a few recognisable buildings remain standing.

Beale's Plaice, the Prince Albert bar, the betting shop and the chemist are the final few buildings left, while the now-overgrown shrubbery in Albert Square still remains.

 Slide me  Before and after: The old EastEnders set has finally been demolished more than a year after the BBC soap opera moved to its brand new 87million set

Changes: Filming began on the brand new set, which is located just a stone's throw from the old location at the BBC's Elstree Centre in Borehamwood, back in January 2022

The rest of the set, which was built in 1984 ahead of the show's very first episode, is now a barren piece of land and is yet to be used for anything else.

It was recently reported that the BBC soap are planning to transform the old set into a shipping container area to support filming in plans to expand Walford.

Despite the fact that the soap opera had only intended to use the original set for two years, it was the home of EastEnders for an impressive 37 years of filming.

The aerial pictures also show the flash new set located just a mere walk from the old site, with the new Queen Vic pub and Albert Square all built in a near-identical setup.

The 87million set was completed in 2022 after five years of work hampered by the coronavirus pandemic and backlash over soaring costs - with the project originally intended for completion in August 2018.

Now, EastEnders bosses are reportedly planning to expand Walford even further and create dozens more filming locations for the beloved soap opera.

Earlier this year, it was claimed that bosses have huge multi-million pound plans to expand their set with a new backlot.

Barren: Now, brand new aerial photographs have shown the old set has finally been demolished, leaving a derelict piece of land sitting unused in its place

Still standing: The iconic Queen Vic has been completely torn down, but the outline of the original Albert Square can still be seen as a few recognisable buildings remain standing

Bare: Beale's Plaice, the Prince Albert bar, the betting shop and the chemist are the final few buildings left, while the now-overgrown shrubbery in Albert Square still remains

Demolished! The rest of the set, which was built for the show's first episode in 1984, is now a barren piece of land and is yet to be used for anything else

It's gone! Despite the fact that the soap opera had only intended to use the original set for two years, it was the home of EastEnders for an impressive 37 years of filming

Transformation? It was recently reported that the BBC soap are planning to transform the old set into a shipping container area to support filming in plans to expand Walford

Close: The old set (left) is extremely close to the flash new set (right), where all the iconic buildings and locations were rebuilt in a huge project

The BBC soap is planning to add three brand new sets, according to planning documents obtained by The Sun.

In the proposals, there is a new large warehouse set, a collection of shops and houses and an area with nine shipping containers where the old Albert Square used to be, the publication claimed.

The allotment and park areas are also reportedly set to be expanded, giving more outdoor green space for filming and to reduce the need for off-site filming.

A source said: 'Bosses don't want the old set to go to waste when there's so much that can be done with it for Walford.

'It's going to open up the soap's world even more for more drama and more high-stakes storylines.

'Corrie and Emmerdale both have huge sets and expansions and with this there's no danger EastEnders will be left behind.'

When contacted by MailOnline at the time, a BBC spokesperson said: 'These plans are part of the continued redevelopment of the Elstree site and sit within the existing budget as set out in 2018.'

The new development forms part of BBC's 87 million budget set out in 2018, which was part of an investment in the wider BBC Elstree Centre site.

New look: The aerial pictures also show the flash new set located just a mere walk from the old site, with the new Queen Vic pub and Albert Square all built in a near-identical layout

Big prokect: The new 87million set was finally completed in 2022 after five years of work hampered by the coronavirus pandemic and backlash over soaring costs

Expansion? Now, EastEnders bosses are reportedly planning to expand Walford even further and create dozens more filming locations for the beloved soap opera

Big plans: Earlier this year, it was claimed that bosses have huge multi-million pound plans to expand their set with a new backlot

More sets to come? The BBC soap is planning to add three brand new sets, according to planning documents obtained by The Sun

Expansion: The allotment and park areas are also reportedly set to be expanded, giving more outdoor green space for filming and to reduce the need for off-site filming

Exciting: With the new set, EastEnders production are now able to explore new areas on screen and writers, producers and directors have greater freedom to drive further creativity

Filming: With the new set, EastEnders production are now able to explore new areas on screen (pictured: Aaron Thiara filming as Ravi Gulari and Diane Parish as Denise Fox)

It includes the addition of new site boilers and electrical plants along with upgraded central facilities to house them.

EastEnders production are now able to explore new areas on screen and writers, producers and directors have greater freedom to drive further creativity.

Back in 2018, the BBC was accused of 'outrageously overspending' licence fee cash after it emerged that EastEnders' new set would cost 86.7million.

That was 27million over the original budget  and the project was expected to be nearly five years late.

The BBC was accused of 'complacency' over the astonishing 87million bill for its new EastEnders set in March 2020.
They have been enjoying a lavish holiday in sun-soaked Athens, Greece.

And Molly-Mae Hague was spotted as she and beau Tommy Fury arrived back in Manchester Airport with their daughter Bambi on Thursday.

The former Love Island star, 24, opted for a causal ensemble for her journey and showcased her toned legs in a pair of grey shorts.

She completed the look with a green T-shirt which she layered with a chic oversized cream jacket.

The doting mum shielded her eyes behind shades and tied back her blonde tresses into a bun as she pushed her daughter in her iCandy pram from the terminal.

Home sweet home: Molly-Mae Hague, 24, was spotted as she and beau Tommy Fury, 24, arrived back in the UK with their daughter Bambi on Thursday

Casual: The former Love Island star opted for a causal ensemble as she exited the airport and showcased her toned legs in a pair of grey shorts

Molly-Mae slipped her feet into a pair of white Nike trainers and beamed while appeared to show no signs of the holiday blues.

Meanwhile Tommy, also 24, donned a white T-shirt and black shorts which he wore with comfy trainers.

The boxer carried cases - including Molly-Mae's 2K Louis Vuitton holdall - to the waiting car with a little help from their chauffeur.

Former PLT creative director Molly-Mae pushed her adorable daughter in stylish a iCandy Core Pushchair and Carrycot, complete Bundle in Light Grey costing a cool 1,450.

The pram features an exquisite new design with striking styling and cutting-edge features such as the pioneering Multi-Mode Wheelbase and LED Visibility Hub Light.

The iCandy Core prioritises comfort for baby and ease of use, all whilst providing the multi-use functionality and longevity demanded by modern family life.

It comes after the influencer showed off her love for all things designer on her recent sun-soaked getaway.

The couple jetted back to the UK on Thursday, after spending time at the luxurious 2,000 per night hotel, Four Seasons.

Over the past week, Molly-Mae has littered her Instagram with holiday snaps.

Style: She completed the look with a green T-shirt which she layered with an oversized cream jacket

Back in Blighty: The doting mum shielded her eyes behind shades and tied back her blonde tresses into a bun as she pushed her daughter in her pram from the terminal

Smiles: Molly-Mae slipped her feet into a pair of comfy white trainers and appeared to show no signs of the holiday blues

Comfy: Meanwhile Tommy donned a white T-shirt and black shorts which he wore with comfy trainers

A little help: The driver helped the influencer with her bag through the terminal

The television personality has certainly replenished her wardrobe with designer goods, after she lost many when thieves raided her home in 2021.

Over the past few days, Molly has accessorised with a 2,750 Celine Triomphe bag, Tom Ford sunglasses, a 4,920 Chanel bag and a 350 Loewe green bucket hat.

Taking to her page on Thursday, Molly posed for a mirror selfie and showed off her 5,500 black Van Cleef bracelet and a 3,950 cream version.

She also uploaded a snap of her Loewe 325 bag, before a snap of her luggage at the airport - a 2,020 Louis Vuitton holdall and a 645 Rimowa suitcase.

Molly-Mae wrote: 'wish this trip would carry on forever', before adding 'home time'.

Last year, Molly said she no longer splashes the cash on 'really expensive clothes' following the 800k burglary at her former flat.

In October 2021, Molly-Mae and Tommy were in London at her Beauty Works Christmas launch, when an 'experienced gang' targeted their flat and stole a vast quantity of goods, including jewellery and designer products.

Double duty: While pushing the pram she also juggled her phone

Dazzler: Molly-Mae completed her chic ensemble with a huge gold watch

Bags: Boxer carried cases - including Molly-Mae's 2K Louis Vuitton holdall - to the waiting car with a little help from their chauffeur

Explaining how the terrifying experience changed her spending habits, she said: 'In regards to the jewellery I used to buy, watches, nice bags, really expensive clothes and stuff, I think most definitely, definitely, the interest in that for me has just disappeared since the robbery.

'Why would I ever want to own something that could compromise mine and Tommy's safety? It is absolutely not worth it in my eyes.'

The former Love Island star also revealed she has 'very much moved on' from the event, she admitted to spending 'thousands and thousands of pounds a month having the right security.'

Earlier this week, Molly showcased her incredible post-partum figure in a blue bikini after previously revealing didn't 'have the confidence' for such a look after welcoming daughter Bambi in January.

Expensive taste: It comes after the influencer showed off her love for all things designer on her recent sun-soaked getaway (here she is pictured in a 350 Loewe bucket hat)

Jetting back home: Molly-Mae also uploaded a snap of her luggage at the airport - a 2,020 Louis Vuitton holdall and a 645 Rimowa suitcase

Molly-Mae posed in front of a front a full length mirror and donned a pair of chic white trousers before removing them to show off her matching blue bottoms.

She flaunted her toned abs in the snaps as she accessorised her beach look with a woven clutch and wedges.

The stunner slicked back her blonde tresses into a bun and wore a selection of gold jewellery.

Taking to her Instagram Stories she wrote: 'My DM's are making me [cry emoji]'.

'I spoke on my YouTube about how I don't think i'll ever want to reach for a bikini on holiday again / feel confident in one.... I didn't even bring any with me on this trip!'.

'But today I went to the shop here and bought one because I realised WHO ACTUALLY CARES!'.

She continued: ' The thought of putting on a bikini before the holiday is always much more daunting than doing it in the moment and whilst on the trip... pack the bikini mama's! and my girls who don't normally! I promise that no one's judging / cares'.
Naomi Campbell has welcomed the birth of a baby boy at age 53, proclaiming it is 'never too late to become a mother'.

The supermodel became a mum for the first time when she was 50 years old and announced the birth of her daughter to the world.

The star was inundated with congratulatory messages from her model pals including Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Helena Christensen.

Naomi - who was not seen with a baby bump in recent months - has not revealed how her son was conceived or delivered.

There is widespread speculation that Naomi used a surrogate, a popular approach among older celebrity mothers.

Surprise: Naomi Campbell has welcomed the birth of a baby boy at age 53, proclaiming it is 'never too late to become a mother' (pictured in June 2023)

Announcement: Naomi - who was not seen with a baby bump in recent months - has not revealed how her son was conceived or delivered

If this was the case, she could have used her own eggs - previously frozen - and donor sperm to create an embryo to be implanted via IVF.

However there is also the possibility that Naomi secretly carried the baby herself and concealed a petite baby bump in flowing clothes or fabric that tricked the eye.

If she did carry the baby herself, it is more than likely that she did so with the help of some sort of fertility treatment, such as using previously frozen eggs for IVF.

The star was a guest at a Louis Vuitton menswear fashion show earlier in June where she sported a brown mini dress with no bump visible.

She also attended the Cannes Film Festival in May where she showed off her lithe frame in a gold sleeveless gown with a plunging neckline.

'Although it is possible to conceive naturally at 50 the chances are very slim,' Professor Luciano Nardo, Founder & CEO of NOW-fertility.com, previously said.

This is because after the age of 30, the rate of decline in both quality and quantity of eggs rapidly speeds up.

In a woman's 20s, there's a one in three chance of fertilisation per cycle, compared with a one in five chance in their 30s.

No bump: Naomi attended the Cannes Film Festival in May where she showed off her lithe frame in a gold sleeveless gown with a plunging neckline

Speculation: There is widespread speculation that Naomi used a surrogate, a popular approach among older celebrity mothers (pictured in May 2023)

At 40, this drops to roughly one in 20 per cycle.

Between the ages of roughly 40 and 55, there is the added issue of the menopause, during which a woman stops having periods. In the UK, the average age for a woman to reach the menopause is 51.

This means it is very unlikely for a woman in her 50s, like Naomi, to conceive without any scientific intervention.

It is equally likely that a 53-year-old woman can fall pregnant using IVF using her own eggs.

Professor Nardo said: 'Most women of this age in this situation would be advised to have assisted conception treatment using donated eggs.'

Celebrities have been criticised for giving 'ordinary' women false hope about the success of IVF treatment for older mothers.

'Celebrity pregnancies at advanced ages give women false hope about what is actually possible,' Professor Joyce Harper, reproductive scientist and author of the book Your Fertile Years: What You Need to Know to Make Informed Choices, told the Guardian.

'The reality is that it is very, very unlikely for a woman to naturally become pregnant at 50. And, whats more, it is equally unlikely that she can do so using IVF.'

Family: The supermodel became a mum for the first time when she was 50 years old and announced the birth of her daughter to the world

The figures improve dramatically if a woman decides to use donor eggs from a younger woman.

There is also the possibility that Naomi used her own eggs which she froze when she was younger. This increases the likelihood of successful IVF insemination.

Professor Nardo said: 'It is possible that Naomi could have frozen her own eggs earlier in her reproductive life. The optimum age to do this is under the age of 35.

'It involves taking medication for a short period of time to mature the eggs before they are harvested and frozen in a process called vitrification or "fast freezing", which enables the eggs to maintain their structural integrity when frozen and subsequently thawed.'

WHAT ARE THE LAWS ON SURROGACY? The laws of surogacy differ from country to country. In the US the laws suffer from state to state; some states have written legislation while others have common laws stemming from court decisions. For example, California is accepting of surrogacy agreements and upholds agreements that include LGBT people. However, others are stricter, like Michigan, which forbids absolutely all surrogacy agreements, and fines people $500,000 for entering into agreements. In the UK surrogates are the legal mother of any child they carry, unless they sign a parental order transferring their rights to the intended parents when they give birth. The birth mother always has the right to keep her child, even if they are not genetically related. Its illegal to pay a surrogate in the UK, except for medical expenses. Advertisement

Freezing eggs costs between 4,000 and 7,000 in the UK.

In both instances, a woman can use donor sperm, either from a clinic or from someone known to the mother.

There has been widespread speculation that Naomi used a surrogate, a method which is becoming increasingly common.

Midwife Pip Davies, known on Instagram as Midwife_Pip, explained: 'There are 2 types of surrogacy processes in the UK.

'"Straight surrogacy" whereby the surrogate provides their own eggs, or "host surrogacy" whereby the eggs of the intended mother are used.'

With host surrogacy, embryos made using the egg and sperm from the parents are transferred via IVF into the surrogate.

In the case of a single parent, a donor egg or sperm can be used.

With this approach, the surrogate is not genetically connected the the child conceived.

The embryos are either fully made up of both intended parents genetics, or made up of one intended parents genetics plus either donor eggs or donor sperm.

In Naomi's case, this could mean her egg and a donor sperm were used to create an embryo that was then transferred to a surrogate.

Straight surrogacy uses the surrogate's own eggs to conceive.

Pip continued: 'There are surrogacy organisations in the UK that work with surrogates and intended parents to support them through the process, assist with finding matches and ensure important checks are carried out.

'Although surrogacy is legal in the UK, surrogacy arrangements are not enforceable by law.

'It is also illegal to advertise yourself as a surrogate or that you are seeking a surrogate and it is illegal to arrange a surrogacy in a commercial way.

'This is where working with a dedicated organisation to guide you is a sensible approach to take.'

Reaction: Several of Naomi's pals from the fashion industry sent their congratulations to the star after she announced the birth of her son

Meanwhile, several of Naomi's pals from the fashion industry sent their congratulations to the star after she announced the birth of her son.

Cindy Crawford said she 'can't wait' to meet the tot while Claudia Schiffer simply penned 'congratulations'.

Jodie Turner-Smith wrote: 'congratulations beautiful mumma,' while Kelly Rowland added: 'NAOMI!!! Congratulations!!'

Alessandra Ambrosio sent the star a love heart while Iman wrote: 'So happy for you! Welcome baby boy'.

The Daily Mail can reveal that the baby was born on Saturday, it was known to Naomi's family, close friends and work associates.

It is also believed that the supermodel will bring the baby up on her own, along with her two-year-old daughter.

One source said: 'Naomi is a really strong woman. This is what she has always wanted. She is so very happy.

'She is so excited to give her little girl a brother. She is looking forward to the years ahead with so much pride.'

Motherhood: It is believed that the supermodel will bring the baby up on her own, along with her two-year-old daughter

Posting a photo of the child, Naomi could be seen cradling the baby boy while her daughter, two, held his hand.

Wrapped up in what appeared to be a 275 Dolce & Gabbana ivory babygrow set, the newborn's face was turned away from the camera as he lay in his mother's arms.

The supermodel said: 'My little darling, know that you are cherished beyond measure and surrounded by love from the moment you graced us with your presence.

'A True Gift from God, blessed! Welcome Baby boy.'

Naomi was last in a relationship with rapper Skepta in 2018 but enjoyed a fling with One Direction's Liam Payne the following year.

She has also enjoyed high-profile relationships with the likes of Diddy, Robert De Niro, Mike Tyson and Russian billionaire Vladislav Doronin over the years.

Although she is notoriously private about her love life, the star has previously stated she is 'on good terms' with her exes and is not believed to be dating anyone new at present.
As Arnold Schwarzenegger visualized his future as a professional bodybuilder, he hung photos of shirtless boxers, wrestlers and musclemen on his walls.

While the bodybuilding champion was simply adorning his idols, his mother cried with concern over her son's sexuality.

Schwarzenegger recalled his mother seeking advice from a local doctor as she was disturbed by the sweaty bodybuilders plastered on his wall.

Sharing the story candidly to a sold-out crowd at the Academy Museum for 'An Evening With Arnold Schwarzenegger', he said: 'My mother was always looking at that wall and she said, 'All of your friends have pictures of girls. Where did I go wrong?'

The Terminator star tells all during a sold-out 'Evening with Arnold Schwarzenegger' - sharing how his mother feared he was gay

Throughout the event, which included a 3D screening of Schwarzenegger's most successful movie Terminator 2, the actor spoke with Taschen editor Dian Hanson ahead of the upcoming release of his memoir titled 'Arnold'.

The 76-year-old said: 'She was in front of the wall crying every day until she called the doctor, our house doctor.'

'He finally said, no, this is quite normal in the kids at this age. They idolize men that are strong. Don't worry about it. He's not gay,' Schwarzenegger said, adding, 'That was their biggest fear.'

Schwarzenegger said one of his main heroes during his youth was Hercules star Syeve Reeves and the English bodybuilder Reg Park. He began following everything they did while reading everything there was to know on the sport.

'When I read that Reg Park was working out five hours a day, lifting heavy weights and doing 50, 60 sets of exercise and lifting 50 tons of weights a day, I would do the same thing.

'My parents thought that I was a little bit sick in my head and they thought I was overdoing it and I was obsessed and it was bad for my health,' he added.

The 75-year-old became obsessed with famed bodybuilder Reg Park when he saw the British star play Hercules in a series of movies in the 1960s

Arnold went on to beat Reg in 1970 at the NABBA Mr Universe professional competition in London (pictured)

The star famously found success as a bodybuilder, so much so, he went on to actually beat Reg in 1970 at the NABBA Mr Universe professional competition in London.

The bodybuilder had a complex relationship with both of his parents, and Aurelia Jadrny Schwarzenegger originally disapproved of his interest in muscle building, viewing it as a 'frivolous pursuit.'

While promoting his book Total Recall, the actor shared he also had a tumultuous relationship with his father, Gustav Schwarzenegger.

Speaking to 60 minutes, he said: 'He ran after me with a belt and beat me. I don't know if mum thought I was gay, or if she just thought there was something off. And 'let's catch it early. She asked the doctor, 'Can you help me? I don't know if there's something wrong with my son because his wall is full of naked men. All of Arnold's friends have pictures of girls above their beds. And Arnold has no girls.'

Despite his parent's criticism, Schwarzenegger became the youngest Mr. Universe in 1967 at the age of 20.

And, of course, the bodybuilder is not gay and has enjoyed several high-profile relationships with women over the years including 'Rocky' actor Brigitte Nielson and ex-wife Maria Shriver.

The Hollywood icon famously went on to become one of the most successful bodybuilders in the world (pictured 1985)

Schwarzenegger has had a successful film career and even served as the Governor of California for just under a decade

Schwarzenegger had four children with Maria and was shockingly revealed to be the father of another child after their divorce.

The star had an affair with his long-time housekeeper, Mildred Patricia Baena, who kept Schwarzenegger's son Joseph Baena a secret until his divorce from Maria Shriver.

Schwarzenegger has also had an impressive career outside of the bodybuilding sphere, appearing in two huge film franchises, the Terminator and Conan, and even serving as the Governor of California between 2003 and 2011.

During his tenure he was an early opponent of same-sex marriage in the US but otherwise supported LGBT rights legislation.

Beyond the interview with Hanson, Schwarzenegger has shared more candid stories in his 2023 Netflix documentary 'Arnold'.

The documentary is one of multiple projects Schwarzenegger has been working on the streamer with, as he also stars in the show Fubar.
Hamish and Zoe Blake attempted to wrangle their children Sonny and Rudy at the Sydney International Airport on Thursday as they prepared to jet off to Europe.

The radio star, 41, looked every inch the proud dad-of-two as he kept a careful eye on his son, nine, and daughter, six, while he pushed along a trolley full of luggage.

He could hardly wipe the smile off his face as the awed children raced through the Emirates First Class line, eager to start their holiday overseas.

Hamish kept things casual as he slipped into a pair of grey sweatpants and a white T-shirt, accessorising only with a black cap and sneakers.

Meanwhile his wife Zoe, 42, rugged up against the cold in a comfortable brown button-up shirt tucked into chic black slacks.

Hamish, 41, and Zoe Blake, 42, attempted to wrangle their children Sonny, nine, and Rudy, six, at the Sydney International Airport on Thursday as they prepared to jet off to Europe. All pictured

She slipped on some black slides before tucking her short blonde locks behind her ears and letting her natural beauty glow without a hint of makeup in sight.

The skincare mogul kept her accessories simple as well with a pair of flashy earrings and a LOEWE handbag worth an eye-watering $1,850.

After the family dropped off their numerous suitcases, the media personality took his daughter's hand and led her through the airport as he carried her pink backpack.

The radio star looked every inch the proud dad-of-two as he kept a careful eye on his son and daughter while he pushed along a trolley full of luggage

He could hardly wipe the smile off his face as the awed children raced through the Emirates First Class line, eager to start their holiday overseas

Hamish kept things casual as he slipped into a pair of grey sweatpants and a white T-shirt, accessorising only with a black cap and sneakers

Meanwhile his wife Zoe rugged up against the cold in a comfortable brown button-up shirt tucked into chic black slacks

She slipped on some black slides before tucking her short blonde locks behind her ears and letting her natural beauty glow without a hint of makeup in sight

Hamish has a lot to celebrate as it was recently revealed he is Channel Nine's highest-earning presenter, taking home $2million a year for hosting Lego Masters.

Meanwhile, Zoe is one of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs, enjoying a $89million payday in 2021 when she sold her share in the skincare company Go-To.

The happy couple married in 2012 and share their two children Sonny and Rudy.

After previously living in Melbourne, the family moved to Sydney last year where they snapped up a $8.925million family home in the eastern suburbs.

The skincare mogul kept her accessories simple as well with a pair of flashy earrings and a LOEWE handbag worth an eye-watering $1,850

As the family of four reached the Emirates First Class counter, Zoe attempted to organise everyone

Holding her designer bag close, she waited patiently as their suitcases were checked

They appeared to have splashed big bucks on the flight as they were seen waiting at the first class platinum counter

Hamish kept a black backpack strapped to his torso, presumably as carry on luggage

After the family dropped off their numerous suitcases, the media personality took his daughter's hand and led her through the airport as he carried her pink backpack

Hamish has a lot to celebrate as it was recently revealed he is Channel Nine's highest-earning presenter, taking home $2million a year for hosting Lego Masters
Sir Rod Stewart was joined by Boy George for a perfomance of his 1976 hit The Killing of Georgie (Part I & II) at his gig in Northampton on Thursday.

The Rocker, 78, described the duet as 'so special' with the Culture Club frontman, 62, revealing the track previously resonated with him as a young gay man.

The song tells the story of Rod's gay friend who was sadly murdered in New York back in the 1970s.

George, who is supporting Sir Rod on his Global Hits tour, told the crowd how his late mother had first introduced him to single in his teens.

Admitting he even hid the record in his sock draw before coming out and told Rod: 'I actually thought you'd written it about me'.

On stage: Sir Rod Stewart, 78 (L) was joined by Boy George, 62 (R) for a perfomance of his 1976 hit The Killing of Georgie at his gig in Northampton on Thursday

Special: The Rocker described the duet as 'so special' with the Culture Club frontman revealing the track had resonated with him as a young gay man

The track was released on Rod's 1976 A Night On The Town album and spent ten weeks in the UK charts reaching No. 2.

Speaking about the song the Maggie May hitmaker told Mojo in 1995: 'That was a true story about a gay friend of [Stewart's earlier group]'.

'He was especially close to me and [Faces' pianist]. But he was knifed or shot, I can't remember which. That was a song I wrote totally on my own'.

For the performance Sir Rod commanded attention in a sparkly gold suit which he layered over a plunging white shirt.

Meanwhile Boy George showcased his own unique sense of style in a graffiti shirt and camo trousers complete with a quirky hat.

It comes after Rod fans were left fuming as the star 'stormed off stage' during his show the Saturday night before.

The icon was performing to adoring crowds at Home Park stadium in Plymouth as his string of summer shows kicked off.

He claimed that he had been forced to abruptly end the show when his set 'ran over time' which meant he wasn't able to belt out his final song of the night - leaving him frustrated.

However the council and the venue have denied asking him to finish early on the night.

Plymouth City Council said in a statement: 'Despite rumours and reports, Plymouth City Council and the venue did not ask Rod Stewart to finish early last night.'

The audience was left disappointed when he finished what was thought to be his second to last song of the encore at just after 10.30pm and the stage went black.

It is unclear as to why the concert ending abruptly as it did as Home Park has permission for concerts to run until 11pm.

It is understood that the concert was due to finish at 10.30pm.

On Twitter some fans who were at the concert vented their frustration at what happened.

A representative for Rod has been contacted by MailOnline for comment.

Candid: George, who is supporting Rod on his Global Hits tour, told the crowd how his late mother had first introduced him to song in his teens

Seeing himself: He said how he even hid the record in his sock draw before coming out and told Rod: 'I actually thought you'd written it about me'

Throwback: The track was released on Rod's 1976 A Night On The Town album and spent ten weeks in the UK charts reaching No. 2 (Rod pictured in 1976)

Costume change: The duo later changed their outfits for another song

Roar: Rod opted for leopard print while George donned a Union Jack T-shirt

Gutted: It comes after Rod fans were left fuming as the star 'stormed off stage' during his show on Saturday night

The legendary Maggie May crooner is sharing the stage with Boy George and Culture Club for the first five gigs of his 40-plus show trek that will see him also play Spain and Portugal before heading to North America through the summer months.

More shows will follow starting in November, that's all part of his plan to make this the 'last time 'round' belting out his classic songs on 'the big rock 'n' roll tour.'

But make no mistake, Rod The Mod isn't retiring from music and performing, as some recent reports might have fans believe, but instead wants to shift to swing music and his Great American Song Book catalog.

By making these two announcements during the promotion of the tour, Stewart also sent a message to some of his eight kids (ranging in age from 59 to 12) who were reportedly trying to get the rocker to slow down and retire so he can 'focus on his health and his family.'
Former Emmerdale stars Chelsea Halfpenny and James Baxter have welcomed their first child.

The actress, 31, who is best known for playing Amy Wyatt in the countryside soap, took to Instagram on Thursday to announce she had given birth to a baby girl.

But the couple left fans baffled as James referred to their little one as 'Cream Knuckleberry Baxter'.

The actor, 32, who played Jake Doland in the Dales from 2007 -2009, wrote: 'Welcome to the world - Cream Knuckleberry Baxter.

'May you eat, sleep and s**t with such ferocity your whole life! We love you.'

Congratulations! Former Emmerdale stars Chelsea Halfpenny and James Baxter have welcomed their first child

'The little love of our lives': The actress, 31, who is best known for playing Amy Wyatt in the countryside soap, took to Instagram on Thursday to announce she had given birth

Over the moon: Chelsea wrote: The best thing thats ever happened to us arrived a couple of weeks ago, and shes absolutely class. The little love of our lives!

Chelsea shared an adorable snap of her daughter's feet poking out of a blanket.

She wrote: 'The best thing thats ever happened to us arrived a couple of weeks ago, and shes absolutely class. The little love of our lives!'

Fans took to the comment section to congratulate the couple on their news.

One wrote: 'Yay!! So happy for you! Huge congratulations'.

Another added: 'Oh my goodness. Congratulations. Welcome to the world Precious Little one'.

'Gorgeous! Congrats Chelsea and James! Welcome to the world little one!', said another.

The actress announced her pregnancy in April with a photo of her blossoming bump.

She captioned the picture: 'As if renovating a house wasn't enough, we've decided to grow a baby at the same time! Officially MENTAL @jamesbaxterrealtalk But we are so close to meeting our new little best mate!'

Unusual: But the couple left fans baffled as James referred to their little one as 'Cream Knuckleberry Baxter'

Thrilled: Fans took to the comment section to congratulate the couple on their news. One wrote: 'Yay!! So happy for you! Huge congratulations'

Next chapter: The actress announced her pregnancy in April with a photo of her blossoming bump

Proud parents: Chelsea and James both worked on the ITV soap at the same time, but never appeared in any scenes together. They announced their engagement in 2021

James re-shared the post to his story, accompanied by some red heart emojis.

He later commented underneath saying: 'Let's hope they're like you for both our sakes' followed by some crying laughing emojis.

The comment section was flooded with messages from a whole host of famous faces including Robson Green, congratulating the pair on their news.

But it seems like the news hasn't slowed the West End star down.

Just three months ago she finished starring in the UK tour of Waitress which she described as her dream job and before that appeared in the production of 9 to 5.

In more recent weeks she has been keeping her followers up to date with the couples house renovations sharing pictures of piles of broken wood, wallpaper strippings and James tackling to work on the fireplace.

Chelsea and James both worked on the ITV soap at the same time, but never appeared in any scenes together.

Chelsea played the role of Amy, whilst James played Jake Doland.

Co-workers: Chelsea (pictured as Amy on the left and James (pictured as Jake on the right) worked at ITV's Emmerdale at the same time but never featured in any scenes together

The loved-up pair announced their engagement in 2021.

Chelsea confirmed the news by sharing a selfie with her new fiance, holding a glass of champagne and informing her followers that he had popped the question.

Taking to Instagram, she wrote: 'He liked it so he went and put a friggin ring on it!!!!!!!! Obv changed his name to 'FIANCE immediately on my phone.'

Whilst the couple haven't announced a due date for the baby, with Chelsea admitting they are 'so close' to meeting their bundle of joy, suggests they don't have long to wait.
Rising British star Leo Woodall is up for a 'Breakthrough' award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards this Sunday  and I hear that the White Lotus actor, pictured, has just landed another big starring film role.

Charismatic Leo, 26, is in final negotiations to head the cast of an adaptation of the best-selling memoir A Waiter In Paris.

The casting was the talk of Cannes this spring and Leo is being likened by some to a young Jude Law  or even (whisper it) Robert Redford.

There's been buzz around the book for some time. It features a young Englishman  called simply 'L'Anglais'  who is dumped by his snooty French girlfriend and dreams of being an authentic Parisian waiter.

He finds the reality of being poor in the world's most romantic city hard.

Rising star: White Lotus actor Leo Woodall has just landed another big starring film role (pictured in White Lotus)

Exciting times: Charismatic Leo, 26, is to head the cast of an adaptation of the best-selling memoir A Waiter In Paris (pictured in February)

Rights to the book were snapped up by film critic- turned-producer Jason Solomons and I hear that Whit Stillman, best-known for The Last Days Of Disco, will direct.

A graduate of the ArtsEd school, Woodall played Essex lad Jack in White Lotus, on holiday with his 'uncle' Quentin, played by Tom Hollander.

In an interview he said of the role: 'When I did my audition I watched four videos of Joey Essex beforehand.

'While filming they all had no idea what I was saying half the time. All the Americans in the cast . . . Mike [White, the showrunner], the Italians . . . no one really knew what I was saying.

'The moment I thought I might have gone too far was when I said 'dos Jagermeister, dos Red Bull' when speaking Spanish to the Italian barmen . . . but it's still in there, so obviously it wasn't too much.'

Woodall will next be seen in a Netflix TV adaptation of the David Nicholls book One Day opposite Ambika Mod.

Mod was lauded for her performance as trainee doctor Shruti Acharya in the BBC One drama This Is Going to Hurt, starring Ben Whishaw.

The new series was filmed last summer and will be out later this year. (The book was also turned into a feature film in 2011, starring Anne Hathaway.)

Popular: The casting was the talk of Cannes this spring and Leo is being likened by some to a young Jude Law  or even (whisper it) Robert Redford (pictured in February)

Congratulations: Rising British star Leo is up for a 'Breakthrough' award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards this Sunday

Leo's acting debut was in 2019 in a short film called Man Down and the same year he also starred in an episode of Holby City.

In 2021 he starred in Cherry, directed by the Russo brothers and opposite Spider-Man star Tom Holland.

He also played Adrian Ivashkov in two episodes of the Universal series The Vampire Academy in 2022.

His star is continuing to rise as he was cast in as the co-lead Dexter Mayhew in the BBC adaptation of David Nicholls' seminal novel One Day, while filming The White Lotus.

The actor will also be starring in Nomad and in TV series Citadel, opposite Priyanka Chopra and Stanley Tucci.
Matt Damon and wife Luciana Barroso made the most of their picturesque surroundings on Thursday after joining close friends Chris and Liam Hemsworth at a rented mansion in Mykonos.

The couple were seen cavorting on the sun deck outside their spacious property, where they were joined by the Chris and Liam, who was accompanied by model girlfriend Gabriella Brooks.

Luciana, 46, showed off her slender physique in a white vest top and matching low-slung linen trousers as she raised her arms while dancing with her husband, who clutched a bottle of beer as he showed off his moves.

The 52-year old actor wore a casual white shirt and navy shorts as he let his hair down with his wife on the popular Greek island.

The happy couple, who have been married since 2005, looked in great spirits as the Oppenheimer star followed her lead and threw his arms in the air.

Matt later wrapped his arms around the brunette before lifting her off her feet during a rare public display of affection.

Here we go: Matt Damon and wife Luciana Barroso made the most of their picturesque surroundings while partying outside a rented property in Mykonos on Thursday

I've got you: Matt was seen embracing his wife before lifting her off her feet during the party on Thursday

Loving life: Luciana showed off her slender physique in a white vest top and matching low-slung linen trousers as she raised her arms while dancing with her husband

Other guests included Australian TV host Lauren Phillips, her rumoured fiance Paul O'Brien and several other friends at a large mansion hired out by the famous families.

Gabriella, who has modelled for Chanel and and Seafolly swimwear, showed off her sensational figure in a skimpy bikini as The Hunger Games star, 33, enjoyed the view.

Meanwhile, family friend - model and actress Michele Merkin - playfully draped her arm around hunky Thor star Chris, 39, and tousled her fingers through his hair as they chatted to Matt and his wife Luciana.

Michele is a good friend of both Chris and his wife Elsa Pataky, Gabriella and Liam, and Luke Hemsworth and his wife Samantha, and has been part of their inner circle for years.

Matt and the hunky Hemsworth brothers posed for pictures, showing off their muscles in near matching cut-off singlets.

Lauren, 41, looked every inch the beachside beauty as she wore a cream crochet dress over the top of her bikini.

The Melbourne breakfast show KIIS 101.1 host accessorised her swimwear and dress with a pair of gold sunglasses.

Her partner, aviation tycoon Paul, kept casual in a white T-shirt and bright yellow board shorts. He was seen drinking a bright pink cocktail as Matt gave Liam a friendly bear hug.

Here we go: The pair appeared to throw themselves into the music as they danced on the decking outside their rented property

This is how you do it: Luciana caught the eye as she showed off her moves in front of Matt

I'm all yours: Matt opened his arms to welcome his wife as they let their hair down on Thursday

The notoriously private couple have been dating since early 2020 and kept a low profile at the poolside bash.

Chris' wife Elsa Pataky did not attend the wild party as she's currently in Spain with the three children she shares with Chris - daughter India Rose, 11, and twin sons Tristan and Sasha, nine.

Matt originally met the Argentinian Luciana in 2003 while she was bartending at a nightclub in South Beach Miami where he'd been filming the Farrelly Brothers' conjoined twin comedy Stuck On You.

At the time, Luciana was still technically married to Arbello Barroso, with whom she was raising then four-year-old daughter Alexia, but their divorce was finalized in December 2004, one year before she wed the Oscar-winning screenwriter.

The couple  who never go more than two weeks apart  went on to welcome three daughters of their own: Isabella, 17, Gia, 14; and Stella, 12.

Pals: Chris Hemsworth, second right, and Liam Hemsworth, far left, cut loose during a wild house party in Mykonos
Naomi Campbell has welcomed a new baby boy with a bombshell Instagram post in June.

The supermodel had her first child, a girl, just two years earlier in May 2021.

Despite being 50 years old when she had her daughter, she nonetheless 'always knew one day I would have a child.'

Find out what she has said about motherhood, and who is the father to her children below.

Despite being 50 years old when she had her daughter, she nonetheless 'always knew one day I would have a child'

Naomi welcomed a baby boy, and the supermodel announcing the news on Instagram, in a post in which you can also see her young daughter's hand (pictured)

Naomi welcomed her first child, a daughter, in May 2021

What has Naomi Campbell said about having children and being a mother?

In an interview with British Vogue in 2022 Naomi said having children was 'the biggest blessing I could ever imagine.

'It's the best thing I've ever done.'

While very secretive about her pregnancies and many of the details of her children, she did confirm that her one child - at that time - was hers, not adopted.

Becoming a mother later than most, Naomi still thought she would always make the step.

She said: 'I always knew that one day I would be a mother.'

And no matter when you become a mother, there will always be the same anxiety and nervousness, but Naomi said 'I'm lucky to have her and I know that.'

She was even encouraging her friends at the time to 'do it! Don't hesitate!'

Plus, Naomi is still a supermodel in her 50s, so the energy beyond her years is clearly there.

That being said, things were doubtless helped by having an 'amazing' nanny as she got into parenthood.

What is the best part? Perhaps it is the revival of the child inside her.

Naomi said: 'I'm like a kid again.

'I'm reliving nursery rhymes, playing and discovering how many great new toys there are out there in the world! And dolls! Things I couldn't even dream of.'

She also shared in the common surprises of any parents, saying that she could not believe how quickly children grow, but the biggest surprise of all was the compulsion to do everything for her daughter.

Naomi announced she had become a mother with a surprise Instagram post, four years after crediting science with giving her the opportunity to start a family 'whenever she wants'

How many children does Naomi Campbell have?

Naomi ended her 2022 interview by responding to the prospect of more children with her own question: 'Why not?'

Her baby boy, a second child, was born in June 2023.

Her announcement on Instagram read: 'My little darling, know that you are cherished beyond measure and surrounded by love from the moment you graced us with your presence.

'It's never too late to become a mother.'

This, like the first, was a shock to fans, coming just weeks after walking the Michael Kors runway in New York without a visible baby bump.

She captioned the announcement of her second child: 'My little darling, know that you are cherished beyond measure and surrounded by love from the moment you graced us with your presence'

Who is the father of Naomi Campbell's children?

It is believed that Naomi plans to raise the children on her own.

There are rumours about Sean Combs, Skepta, and Liam Payne, but only as these are people she has been linked with in the past.

She has also not disclosed the method in which she welcomed her children, but in 2019 credited science with giving her an opportunity to start a family 'whenever she wants', suggesting she was leaning towards using a surrogate.
The A-list descended on the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on Friday night for a party to honour the premiere of the hotly anticipated Barbie movie.

Leading the charge at the event, which was hosted by Vogue Australia, was the woman of the hour, Margot Robbie.

The Australian actress, who stars as the iconic doll in the new feature, looked absolutely stunning in a metallic pink mesh mini dress.

The flirty frock included a plunging neckline that showed off a little bust and its short length put the beauty's trim pins on display.

Margot skipped the accessories but opted for a metallic manicure that matched her dress, as well as wearing a pair of very Barbie-inspired clear heels.

Margot Robbie (pictured) lead the arrivals at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on Friday night for a party to honour the premiere of the hotly anticipated Barbie movie hosted by Vogue Australia

The Australian actress, who stars as the iconic doll in the new feature, looked absolutely stunning in a metallic pink mesh mini dress

The flirty frock included a plunging neckline that showed off a little bust and its short length put the beauty's trim pins on display

She chose a peachy makeup look with a flawless finish and a dark pink lipstick in a matte finish, while wearing her blonde locks down around her face.

Margot arrived in Sydney on Wednesday with her husband Tom Ackerley to promote her starring role in Barbie.

He was on hand to show his support on Friday night, posing alongside his wife and her co-stars on the pink carpet.

Margot hammed it up alongside the film's director Greta Gerwig as the pair posed for photos.

Margot skipped the accessories but opted for a metallic manicure that matched her dress, as well as wearing a pair of very Barbie-inspired clear heels

She chose a peachy makeup look with a flawless finish and a dark pink lipstick in a matte finish

Margot couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she walked the pink carpet

She was very animated as she made her way into the venue

She wore her blonde locks down around her face in soft waves

Margot's dress showed off her cleavage and fit beautifully to her fit physique

Greta looked resplendent in a shimmering gold maxi dress in an old Hollywood silhouette.

She added a pair of black heels with dramatic bows on the front and chose a warm, pink makeup palette while wearing her bob in a retro do.

The film is 'a fish-out-of-water story about a doll who is ousted from toy society for not being perfect enough.'

Another synopsis on IMDB of the movie reads: 'A doll living in 'Barbieland' is expelled for not being perfect enough and sets off on an adventure in the real world. A Live-action feature film based on the popular line of Barbie toys.'

Margot hammed in up alongside the film's director Greta Gerwig (left)

Greta looked resplendent in a shimmering gold maxi dress

The director chose a warm, pink makeup palette while wearing her bob in a retro do

She added a pair of black heels with dramatic bows on the front

Oscar winner Ryan Gosling is starring opposite Margot as he takes on the role of Barbie's boyfriend Ken.

Will Ferrell is said to be playing the CEO of the toy company that may or may not be Mattel.

Little Women and Ladybird filmmaker Greta is directing the project, and wrote the script for the film with her longtime partner Noah Baumbach.

Other members of the cast include America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon and Michael Cera.

Margot's husband Tom Ackerley (right) was on hand to celebrate his wife's success

He posed alongside Margot and Greta, as well as her co-stars, at the event

Little Women and Ladybird filmmaker Greta directed the project

The film is 'a fish-out-of-water story about a doll who is ousted from toy society for not being perfect enough'

Greta wrote the script for the film with her longtime partner Noah Baumbach

Another synopsis on IMDB of the movie reads: 'A doll living in 'Barbieland' is expelled for not being perfect enough and sets off on an adventure in the real world. A Live-action feature film based on the popular line of Barbie toys'

Oscar winner Ryan Gosling is starring opposite Margot as he takes on the role of Barbie's boyfriend Ken

Margot looked just like a living doll as she posed in front of the Barbie logo

Margot's Barbie co-star America Ferrera was elegant in all black, choosing a stunning blazer dress with satin lapels.

The American actress added a pair of towering patent leather Mary Janes and pinned a large tulle rose to her blazer.

She kept warm in a pair of dark pantyhose and added a pop of pink with a pale satin clutch.

America completed her look with a glamorous makeup palette with a dark blush and nude cream lipstick, while wearing her dark locks pinned off her face.

Margot's Barbie co-star America Ferrera (pictured) was elegant in all black, choosing a stunning blazer dress with satin lapels

The American actress added a pair of towering patent leather Mary Janes and pinned a large tulle rose to her blazer

America was wearing her dark locks pinned off her face

She added a pop of pink with a pale satin clutch

America completed her look with a glamorous makeup palette with a dark blush and nude cream lipstick

Pretty in pink was Barbie star Issa Rae who looked gorgeous in a maxi dress with a sheer overlay and turtleneck design.

She added a smattering of rings as well as a pair of large hoop earrings while wearing her hair pulled back in a half-up bun.

The American actress opted for a pink makeup palette with a metallic lipstick and bold eyeshadow.

Issa finished her ensemble with a pair of strappy gold heels and a pearlescent manicure.

Pretty in pink was Barbie star Issa Rae (pictured) who looked gorgeous in a maxi dress with a sheer overlay and turtleneck design

She added a smattering of rings as well as a pair of large hoop earrings while wearing her hair pulled back in a half-up bun

The American actress opted for a pink makeup palette with a metallic lipstick and bold eyeshadow

She was in excellent spirits on the pink carpet

Issa posed alongside her co-stars Margot and America as well as director Greta

Also turning heads at the event was Australian model Jesinta Franklin who also chose a metallic mini dress in a mottled leather.

The short cut of the frock showed off her trim pins and she added a pair of towering white heels to the look.

For makeup, Jesinta chose a clean look with a nude lipstick and wore her reddish locks down and straightened.

She completed her look with a pale pink manicure and carried a white designer purse on her arm.

Also turning heads at the event was Australian model Jesinta Franklin (pictured) who also chose a metallic mini dress in a mottled leather

The short cut of the frock showed off the model's trim pins and she added a pair of towering white heels to the look

She completed her look with a pale pink manicure and carried a white designer purse

For makeup, Jesinta chose a clean look with a nude lipstick and wore her reddish locks down and straightened

Going for bold in red, Georgia Fowler made a leggy appearance in a super short, fitted red mini dress with daring splits along the sides.

It featured ribbon detailing along the long sleeves and through the splits, and sat close to her statuesque figure.

The model added a pair of stacked, clear Perspex heels with nude straps as well as a series of gold rings and statement earrings.

She wore her dark locks down in waves and chose a glamorous makeup look with a dark pink nude lipstick and rust-toned eye shadow.

Going for bold in red, Georgia Fowler (pictured) made a leggy appearance in a super short, fitted red mini dress with daring splits along the sides

The model added a pair of stacked, clear Perspex heels with nude straps as well as a series of gold rings and statement earrings

She wore her dark locks down in waves and chose a glamorous makeup look with a dark pink nude lipstick and rust-toned eye shadow

The dress featured ribbon detailing along the long sleeves and through the splits, and sat close to her statuesque figure

Lucia Hawley was on theme in a baby pink latex dress in an A-line cut with a sleeveless design.

The journalist, who is Nicole Kidman's niece, looked gorgeous in the frock, which she paired with pointed white heels.

She opted for a rosy makeup look with a pink-nude lipstick and lots of blush, while wearing her brunette locks down in gentle waves.

Lucia finished her look with a smattering of gold accessories including a watch and dainty diamond necklace.

Lucia Hawley (pictured) was on theme in a baby pink latex dress in an A-line cut with a sleeveless design

The journalist, who is Nicole Kidman's niece, looked gorgeous in the frock, which she paired with pointed white heels

She opted for a rosy makeup look with a pink-nude lipstick and lots of blush, while wearing her brunette locks down in gentle waves

Lucia finished her look with a smattering of gold accessories including a watch and dainty diamond necklace

Celeste Barber bucked the pink trend, choosing a show-stopping black gown with large, glittering sequins and a full skirt in a waterfall cut.

The comedian added a pair of polka dot pantyhose and edgy leather boots as well as pearl drop statement earrings.

She posed alongside her husband, Api Robin, who looked chic in a green dress shirt with metallic threating, short trousers and leather loafers.

Celeste turned heads, opting for a bright makeup look with mauve lipstick and wearing her brunette bob straightened.

Celeste Barber (pictured) bucked the pink trend, choosing a show-stopping black gown with large, glittering sequins and a full skirt in a waterfall cut.

She posed alongside her husband, Api Robin (left), who looked chic in a green dress shirt with metallic threating, short trousers and leather loafers

Sianan Scrivner (pictured) wore a gorgeous tutu inspired look

The internet personality called to mind Peaches and Cream Barbie

Rebecca Vallance stunned in a hot pink velvet maxi dress, with the designer added a chunky gold chain choker and glamorous makeup look.

Model Charlee Fraser put together her best Barbie look in a Versace two piece paired with stacked plastic slides.

Home and Away star Brenton Thwaites was dapper in a slim fit navy blue suit with a white dress shirt and pocket square.

Rebecca Vallance (pictured) stunned in a hot pink velvet maxi dress, with the designer added a chunky gold chain choker and glamorous makeup look

Model Charlee Fraser (pictured) put together her best Barbie look in a Versace two piece paired with stacked plastic slides
Ekin-Su and Davide Sanclimenti had a turbulent 11-month relationship when they left the Love Island villa.

The couple were plagued with cheating rumours and speculation it was just a 'showmance'.

On Thursday, Davide, 28, announced he and Ekin-Su, 28, had split, mere days after they put on a seemingly loved-up display on the red carpet.

We take a look at all the signs the cracks were starting to show for the Love Island golden couple, who won last year's series.

From a friend's warning to 'sack Davide off', to cryptic posts and different lifestyles, here are the hints their relationship was at breaking point behind-the-scenes.

Indiana Jones premiere Instagram posts

Split: We take a look at all the signs the cracks were starting to show for the Love Island golden couple, who won last year's series and looked seemingly loved-up earlier this week

Awkward: The now exes had attended the Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny premiere this week and while Ekin-Su posted an image with 'my man', Davide uploaded two of himself

Tension: Followers noticed and questioned the television personality why he had done so

Before Davide confirmed they had split, eagle-eyed fans noticed a stark difference in social media posts between the couple.

The now exes had attended the Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny premiere earlier this week and hit the red carpet.

Ekin-Su had posted a loved-up snap with 'my man', but Davide posted two photos of himself and then with Ekin in the photo dump.

Followers noticed and questioned the television personality why he had done so.

'So she showcases her man in the first slide but shes in the third in his post? Speaks volumes to me,' one commented.

While another said after hearing of their split to Ekin-Su: 'I knew you had a sad look about you here, lots of love.'

Acting career in Turkey

Star: Last week, Ekin-Su's revelation she was wanting to return to Turkey to restart her acting career hinted there was trouble in paradise (pictured in Turkish soap Kuzey Yldz Ilk Ask)

Last week, Ekin-Su's revelation she was wanting to return to Turkey to restart her acting career hinted there was trouble in paradise.

Davide is based in Manchester so the couple would have had to have a long distance relationship.

Ekin-Su lived in Istanbul for two years and used to star in a soap there called Kuzey Yldz Ilk Ask.

She told The Sun: 'I would actually love to go back to Turkey at some point and reconnect with some old agencies out there, who I was in a soap with.

'I speak both English and Turkish so why can't I have a career in both countries?

'It is a hard industry and I think people always tell you, 'You can't do this, you can't do that,' but you have to keep pushing yourself really. Even when people say no, you have to keep going.

'The old show's finished now, but if there was a new project in Turkey, I definitely wouldn't say no.'

Cheating rumours

In April, Ekin-Su was said to be left 'furious and upset' after finding messages and pictures from two models on Davide's phone.

A source said at the time: 'It all exploded last Sunday after she found messages on Davides phone discussing their time together.

'He had been messaging both of the girls and she suspected they had all met up one night.

'Ekin-Su contacted one of the girls to tell them she knew about things. She was furious and really upset.'

She then posted a number of cryptic social media messages, including a tweet which appear to mock one of the girl's Instagram snaps.

Night out: Davide was also seen leaving a party with two Icelandic beauties in London last August, whilst his girlfriend was away in Los Angeles

The post, which has since been deleted, read: 'No man will ever take u seriously with just half naked pictures of u in a bikini and lingerie,' while she also liked two posts from another user which mentioned 'disrespect' and the need for 'distance', according to the publication.

A representative for Ekin-Su declined to comment. MailOnline also reached out for comment from Davide.

Davide was also seen leaving a party with two Icelandic beauties in London last August, whilst his girlfriend was away in Los Angeles.

The Italian hunk was joined by a pal as they hopped into a taxi with the girls after watching the KSI v Swarmz and KSI v Pineda fights at the O2 Arena.

Ekin-Su's pal told her to 'sack Davide off'

'The world is going to hate him': In April, Made In Chelsea's Lily Gray revealed she has told close pal Ekin-Su to 'sack off' boyfriend Davide as cheating rumours emerged

In April, Made In Chelsea's Lily Gray revealed she has told close pal Ekin-Su to 'sack off' boyfriend Davide as the cheating rumours emerged.

Speaking on FUBAR Radio to Bobby Norris and Stephen Leng, Lily said: She's an absolute legend. She's a queen. Davide would be nothing without her. I said that to her today, "if he has done this, he'll be nothing without you. But you will be okay." Guys will be swanning for her. She'll get some amazing guy.'

Party boy lifestyle

Davide has garnered a reputation for being a 'big party boy', with his Instagram littered with snaps of him showing off his muscular physique or on nights out

Davide has garnered a reputation for being a 'big party boy', with his Instagram littered with snaps of him showing off his muscular physique or on nights out.

Ekin-Su's pal Lily also claimed during her interview Ekin-Su had landed a big brand deal, and at the launch event, Davide just wanted to 'go out and party'.

She continued: 'I feel like he [Davide] likes to party a lot. He's a big party boy, this is what I've heard.

'I know that he was at a big event that she hosted and was the face of and he just wanted to go out and party.

'It's her event, it's her night. Be the supportive boyfriend. Support your queen! And he just wanted to go out.

'It's like, you know what Ekin, if he's this type of person and if these rumours are going to come out as true then sack him off.

'I said that to her, "If this is what is about to come out, you cannot stay there". They live together!'

'We've had our struggles'

The couple openly admitted to having a turbulent relationship after cheating rumours emerged.

At the time, Italian businessman Davide shut down the idea of their relationship being a showmance.

He said: 'Me and Ekin-Su had our struggles due to our public positions and we still have them sometimes.

'If there's something that I would change or would have done differently [with Ekin-Su in the villa] maybe I would have taken things a bit more slowly.'

Davide went on to say that despite this, the couple were still very much in the throes of romance, particularly because they have the 'same background.'

fans were left unimpressed as mere hours after he announced his split, he shared a shirtless photo along with the caption jokingly alluding to him going back into the Love Island villa.

He wrote: 'Guess whos coming back', alongside an island emoji

But fans were left unimpressed as mere hours after Davide announced his split, he shared a shirtless photo in Ibiza along with the caption jokingly alluding to him going back into the Love Island villa.

He wrote: 'Guess whos coming back', alongside an island emoji.

One wrote: 'I really expected more class from you. Sad, really sad.'

'Disrespectful': One wrote: 'I really expected more class from you. Sad, really sad'

Heartache: Ekin, meanwhile, has travelled to Bodrum to be supported by her family in the wake of their split

Another added: 'Your statement was cold Ekin deserves and will get someone better.'.

While a third said: 'Wow. Just like that any respect I had left for you gone.'

Ekin, meanwhile, has travelled to Bodrum to be supported by her family in the wake of their split.

Split statement

Done! Davide took to Instagram to share the sad news with his followers, just days after the couple attended the premiere of Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny together

Davide announced they had split in the following statement, while Ekin-Su is yet to comment.

He wrote: 'Ekin-Su and I are no longer together. I am grateful for the memories and opportunities we shared together and I wish her nothing but the best.

'I would like for everybody to respect this decision during this difficult time. I will continue to support Ekin in anyway possible.'
James Whale is nearing the end of his terminal cancer treatment.

The 71-year-old broadcaster - who is living with stage four kidney cancer - has come off all the steroids he was on, but he "feels better" for that because they made him look like a "balloon".

He told the Daily Mirror: 'Im kind of at the end, the end of my treatment. When I lose a lot more weight when I get really ill, Ill look fantastic.

'Ive just come off all the steroids I was on, which made me look like a bloody balloon. Im feeling better from that.'

But James insisted it is "more difficult" for his wife Nadine Lamont-Brown to watch him battling terminal cancer.

Development: James Whale is nearing the end of his terminal cancer treatment and has come off steroids medication because it made him 'feel like a balloon'

Tough: James insisted it is "more difficult" for his wife Nadine Lamont-Brown to watch him battling terminal cancer

He said: 'The cancer gets into your head and sometimes you cant stand noise. At the moment, I have got cancer fatigue, which makes you very tired.

'Some days I might feel sorry for myself. I feel sorry for my wife really. Its more difficult for her.'

Nadine added: 'Hes had all the possible treatments, hes on a clinical trial but were probably going to be winding up on that quite soon. Its stopped working.'

James and Nadine attended the Television and Radio Industries Club [TRIC] Awards this week, where he received the first ever TRIC Recognition Award, to honour his outstanding work and dedication devoted to the TV, radio and online industry over the years.

TRIC Chair Daniel Todaro said: 'James Whale is an innovator within broadcast media as a pioneer of the talk radio and laterally the talk TV genre in the UK.

'So many have carved out a career in the talk genre but James remains the king of the UK talk show.

'TRIC is not only honoured bur delighted to recognise an individual whose career has spanned many generations.'

In February this year James spoke of how he considered euthanasia following his terminal cancer diagnosis.

Cancer: Reflecting on his terminal diagnosis, James (pictured in May 2019) said he thought it would be 'easier' to go to assisted dying clinic Dignitas in Switzerland

Devastating: Speaking in an interview alongside his wife Nadine, he admitted he was thinking about the affect his diagnosis would have on his loved ones

Reflecting on his terminal diagnosis, James admitted he previously thought it would be 'easier' to go to assisted dying clinic Dignitas in Switzerland.

Speaking in an interview alongside his wife Nadine, he admitted he was thinking about the affect his diagnosis would have on his loved ones.

'I am terminally ill, it would have been easier all round,' he said. 'The reason I wanted to go to Dignitas was because I was thinking of others, not me.'

He told The Express : 'Im not scared of dying. I want to be buried in the churchyard at the top of the hill. Its a great view.'

But James revealed he was 'glad' he didn't make the decision to go because it has given him 'two great years' with his wife Nadine.

Elsewhere in the interview, James heartbreakingly spoke about the struggles of his terminal cancer, admitting he doesn't want to 'go on forever' feeling as unwell as he does now.

Side by side: James and Nadine attended the Television and Radio Industries Club [TRIC] Awards this week, where he received the first ever TRIC Recognition Award

The TV personality also reflected on his relationship with Nadine, saying he told her they should 'cool off' their romance when he was first diagnosed with cancer when they first started dating.

He said: 'It was so unfair on her, so I said, "I think we should cool it and not see each other', and she replied, "Oh that's nice, so if I'd just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, you wouldn't come and see me any more", so we carried on.'

They then got married at Tenterden Town Hall in Kent surrounded by their loved ones in October 2021, with Nadine saying they didn't have the 'luxury' of time.

The wedding came 14 months after the radio host revealed that he is battling spine, brain and kidney cancer, and three years after his first wife Melinda died.

Melinda tragically died in May 2018 just months after she was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.

James and Melinda were married for 48 years and had two sons James and Peter. They also have two teenage grandchildren, Oscar and Ella.
Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art provided the backdrop on Friday as Margot Robbie attended the latest red carpet party for her new movie Barbie.

In accordance with the iconic Mattel character's love of vibrant colour, the Australian actress opted for something pink after returning to her home country for the event.

But much like the vintage pink minidress she modelled earlier in the day, Margot's outfit once again referenced the past as she joined her co-stars on the red carpet.

The actress wore a Versace chainmail corset dress that was first modelled hy supermodel Claudia Schiffer in 1995 - when Margot, 32, was just four-years old.

With a cleavage-enhancing necklace and a form-fitting design, the flirty outfit drew attention to her slender physique as she greeted photographers.

Make way: Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art provided the backdrop on Friday as Margot Robbie attended the latest red carpet party for Barbie

Looking good: In accordance with the iconic Mattel character's love of vibrant colour, the Australian actress opted for a metallic pink chainmail corset dress

Upbeat: Margot greeted onlookers with a smile as she arrived at the venue on Friday

Margot, who takes a titular role in the forthcoming film, completed the look with a pair of Barbie-inspired perspex heels from Manolo Blahnik while greeting photographers outside the venue.

The actress pareed back the accessories but opted for a metallic manicure that appropriately matched her dress.

She chose a peachy makeup look with a flawless finish and a dark pink lipstick in a matte finish, while wearing her blonde locks down around her face.

Margot arrived in Sydney on Wednesday with her husband Tom Ackerley to promote her starring role in Barbie.

The actress has since revealed the secret behind her famous arched foot in the new film.

In the trailer for the highly anticipated comedy fantasy, Margot is seen stepping out of her high heels to reveal Barbie's feet remain arched, just like the toy.

On Thursday night's episode of Australian chat show The Project, the actress revealed very little went into getting the shot right.

'There's no special effects, you'd be amazed how few [special effects] there are in this film actually,' she said alongside director Greta Gerwig.

Margot explained it's her own feet in the frame, and she achieved the shot by stepping out of her heels and simply 'held on to a bar' so she was 'sturdy'.

'We did put double-sided tape on the floor so that my shoes stayed still,' she added, before revealing she also had a pedicure prior to filming the scene.

Style inspiration: Earlier that day Margot appeared to reference Claudia by wearing a pleated metallic pink skirt first worn by the supermodel in 1994

Looking good: Margot, who takes a titular role in the forthcoming film, completed the look with a pair of Barbie-inspired perspex heels

Exciting: The actress as iconic Mattel character Barbie in a still from the new film

Natural beauty: The Australian actress opted for minimal make-up on the night, while her hair was styled with a simple centre-parting

Stunning: Margot fully embraced Barbie's love of colour during her latest public appearance

According to Vulture, the film is 'a fish-out-of-water story about a doll who is ousted from toy society for not being perfect enough.'

Another synopsis on IMDB of the movie reads: 'A doll living in "Barbieland" is expelled for not being perfect enough and sets off on an adventure in the real world. A Live-action feature film based on the popular line of Barbie toys.'

Oscar winner Ryan Gosling is starring opposite Margot as he takes on the role of Barbie's boyfriend Ken.

Will Ferrell is playing the CEO of the toy company that may or may not be Mattel.

Little Women and Ladybird filmmaker Greta Gerwig directed the project, and wrote the script for the film with her longtime partner Noah Baumbach.

Other members of the cast include Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Emma Mackey, Kingsley Ben-Adir, America Ferrera, Rhea Perlman, Ariana Greenblatt, Ana Cruz Kayne, Alexandra Shipp, Ritu Arya, Sharon Rooney, Connor Swindells, Scott Evans and Jamie Demetriou.

Barbie goes on general release from July 21.

Leading lady: The actress was in her element as she attended the red carpet event on Friday

Greetings: Margot and director Greta Gerwig offered a wave as they posed for photos

All that glitters: Greta opted for a sparkling gold evening dress as she joined Margot on the red carpet
Adam Faze is Olivia Rodrigo's producer ex-boyfriend who many believe to be the subject of her single Vampire.

The song is the first building up to her album Guts, which is expected to be released in September 2023.

Faze started dating Olivia in 2021, but things have clearly turned Sour, especially so if the rumours about her new tune are true.

Learn all you need to know about Olivia's ex Adam Faze by reading on.

Adam Faze is an American music video, television and film producer, born in 1997

Olivia Rodrigo's new album Guts is expected to come out in September

Faze with fellow producer Jamie Dolan at the Fourth Annual Kodak Film Awards in Los Angeles in 2020

Who is Adam Faze and how old is he?

Adam Faze is an American music video, television and film producer, born in May 1997.

Previously he was an editorial contributor to Forbes.

With business partner Jamie Dolan, Faze created the production company Must B Nice.

In March 2023 he launched his own television company called FazeWorld.

How long was Olivia Rodrigo dating Adam Faze?

The two were dating for around seven months from 2021 to 2022

The two were first spotted dating in the summer of 2021, after apparently meeting through 'industry friends.'

At the time Faze was 24 and Olivia was 18.

They were rumbled when a reporter posted a TikTok in June that year claiming that they cutely snuggled up to each other at a party.

But Olivia announced that the pair had split in February 2022, although a source suggested to People that the two had been apart 'for a bit' by then.

Why do people think Vampire is about Adam Faze?

Vampire is the lead single for Olivia's upcoming album, and is about a 'bloodsucker' who dated her for fame

After her debut album Sour was a global success, Olivia is gearing up for another, called Guts, and Vampire is the lead single.

Previous hits Good 4 U and Drivers License have shown that Olivia has form when it comes to throwing shade with her lyrics, and fans suggest Vampire is continuing the trend.

The lyrics refer to a 'bloodsucker' using her for fame.

One big potential giveaway will be the lyric: 'Went for me and not her cuz girls your age know better.'

This could be a reference to the age gap, noted by fans when the two were dating, between Faze and Olivia - six years.

Another lyric which could be hinting at her former partner references 'six months of torture,' not far off the believed length of Olivia's relationship with Faze.

Some fans even noted the fact that the release date of the single - June 29 2023 - was two years after the couple would have been spotted by the reporter who announced they were together.

One was convinced and said: 'Adam Faze she got you good!'

And another even added: 'Adam Faze actually looks like a vampire...'

However, like most artists who sing about their exes, it seems unlikely that we will ever get Olivia's confirmation of who the subject of her new song is.
Ellie Goulding and her husband Caspar Jopling are reportedly spending time apart after being hit by struggles in their four-year marriage.

The couple, who were seen together at the Serpentine Summer Party earlier this week before Caspar left to party with friends and without Ellie, welcomed their first child together, son Arthur in 2021.

However, sources are claiming that due to their busy schedules, their marriage has begun to suffer, and they've decided to spend some time separately. It's thought that the pair are still close, and continue to co-parent their son.

Ellie and Caspar began dating in 2017 and tied the knot two years later in a romantic ceremony at York Minster.

MailOnline take a look at the couple's famous exes.

Struggles: A look at Ellie Goulding's exes amid reports she and husband Caspar Jopling 'are spending time apart' (pictured together earlier this week)

Greg James - 2010 - 2012

Ellie met Radio 1 host Greg, now 37, at one of her live shows, and dated before ending their relationship 'amicably' due to the pressures of work commitments after 18-months.

A source Told The Sun at the time: 'It was just a real struggle for them to be in the same place at the same time.'

Before adding: 'The split is amicable and they are still friends.'

Earlier this year the former couple were spotted chatting at length at the BRIT Awards.

The pair spoke animatedly during a break in the ceremony, with Greg, 37, even biting his hand as they made each other chuckle.

A source told MailOnline: 'They were chatting for ages and looked like they were enjoying a good catch up'.

Greg wed Vogue journalist and author Bella Mackie in 2018 and the couple have been open about their struggles to start a family.

Ex: Ellie dated Radio 1 host Greg, now 37, after first meeting at one of her live shows before ending their relationship 'amicably' due to the pressures of work commitments after 18-months (Pictured together in 2011)

Pals: Earlier this year the former couple were spotted chatting at length at the BRIT Awards

DJ Skrillez - 2012

Ellie and Skrillex, real name Sonny John Moore, enjoyed a brief seven month romance back in 2012 but broke up when she found the long distance aspect of the relationship too difficult to deal with.

She met the American musician, 35, shortly after her split from Greg James when they collaborated on a song called Bittersweet for the Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part Two soundtrack.

Despite the romance only lasting a short while, the pair were reportedly so serious about each other that she was prepared to move to the States to be with him.

Rocker: Ellie and Skrillex, real name Sonny John Moore, enjoyed a brief seven month romance back in 2012 but broke up when she found the long distance aspect of the relationship too difficult to deal with (pictured together in 2012)

Speaking about their romance to Popcruch, Ellie gushed: 'I just met someone, fell in love with them and that's it.'

But the couple split just three weeks after the star made these comments.

Jeremy Irvine 2012-2013

The songstress dated actor Jeremy, 33, for a little under a year, before he made it big in films like War Horse and Mama Mia: Here We Go Again.

The couple were snapped out and about and even made a number of red carpet appearances together.

While not much is known about the relationship in a 2020 interview with Glamour U.K. Ellie admitted she was too 'frenzied' to find lasting love - and that her jealousy ruined relationships in her 20s.

Former flame: The songstress dated actor Jeremy for a little under a year, before he made it big in films like War Horse and Mama Mia: Here We Go Again

Couple: The couple were snapped out and about and even made a number of red carpet appearances together

Saying: 'I wrote a song about jealousy the other night because I was a jealous, chaotic, frenzied person in my 20s,'

'I didn't know who I was. I went straight from university to being on tour, so I had no chance to settle into a routine and understand my habits and my personality...'

Ed Sheeran - 2013

Ellie and Ed, 32, were linked to each other after they were spotted holding hands at the MTV VMA awards in August 2013.

But Ellie immediately took to Twitter to deny that anything was going on between the pair, claiming they were just good friends.

Close: Ellie and Ed were linked to each other after they were spotted holding hands at the MTV VMA awards in August 2013

Conflicting: While Ellie denied the rumours Ed said that they were dating (L-R) Harry Styles, Ed, Ellie, Rita Ora at 2013 MTV Video Music Awards

In a Tweet written that night, which she later deleted, she wrote: 'I love that holding hands with my friends means we're an item.'

Ellie also included: 'In that case I am in many relationships. Lover not a hater. #whatthef**k.

But Ed offered a somewhat different version of events while discussing his friendship with Ellie on US radio show Clock 98.9 later in the year.

When asked about the rumours, he revealed the pair were more than just good mates at the time, explaining: 'I mean, normal people don't hold hands if they're just friends.'

Niall Horan -2013

Meanwhile, in 2015, Ellie admitted to a fling with Niall Horan, 29, but insisted she never dated Ed in an interview with Elle.

Secret: Meanwhile, in 2015, Ellie admitted to a fling with Niall Horan (Ellie and Niall pictured together in 2015)

Speaking out: Earlier this year she finally addressed the rumour she cheated on Ed with Niall

She said: 'I did go on a few dates with Niall, but I was never in a relationship with Ed [Sheeran]. I have absolutely no idea where that came from and why it was turned into such a big thing.

'I find it so frustrating that female musicians are constantly defined by the men they have or havent dated. Its something Ive talked about with Taylor (Swift) a lot. She definitely feels that.

Earlier this year she finally addressed the rumour she cheated on Ed with Niall.

Speculation began that the hitmaker had had a fling with theOne Direction star, after Ed wrote the smash hit Don't - about an ex cheating on him with a friend.

The Starry-eyed hitmaker uploaded a TikTok video over Christmas and responded to a fan who wrote: 'Can't believe you cheated on Ed with Niall but slay'.

Ellie hit back: 'False!!!! But also slay'.

Dougie Poynter - 2014 - 2016

Ellie dated McFly drummer Dougie, 35, for two years, before reportedly ending their romance in 2016 and is one of her most high profile unions.

When their relationship came to an end, Ellie said: 'Im not in a relationship any more and thats been hard. Having a break will be a good thing for me and my head.

Exes: Ellie dated McFly drummer Dougie for two years, before reportedly ending their romance in 2016 and is one of her most high profile unions (pictured in 2015)

Friends: Back in 2019 Dougie revealed he turned down an invitation to Ellie and Caspar's wedding proving they were still on good terms (pictured in 2015)

'Dougie is one of the most special people in the world and Im so happy for him. Hes doing well in LA and hes still one of my best friends. I know he feels the same.

'But I think for me and anybody else going through the same thing, its really important to get to know yourself, be happy with your own company and like yourself. The only way I can do that is by spending time with myself.'

Back in 2019 Dougie revealed he turned down an invitation to Ellie and Caspar's wedding.

When the pop star failed to acknowledge his ex's big day there were rumours of tension, but the bassist has since insisted everything is well between them.

Speaking to The Sun Online, Dougie explained that although he made the guestlist, he felt that he should not go for personal reasons.

He explained: 'I did [get an invite] but I didn't really think it was appropriate.'
Love Island fans have slammed Davide Sanclimenti for a 'tasteless' Instagram post teasing a return to the villa amid his split from Ekin-Su Culculoglu.

The hunk took to Instagram on Thursday to share the sad news that he'd split from the Turkish actress after 11 months together, reportedly leaving her 'blindsided.'

It came just days after the couple attended the premiere of Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny together.

Later that same day, he also shared a hunky, shirtless post of him coming out of a pool on his grid, with a cryptic caption that read: 'Guess who's coming back.'

He also added an island emoji fuelling further speculation that he could be set for a bombshell return to Love Island, especially with Casa Amor just around the corner.

Not impressed: Love Island fans have slammed Davide Sanclimenti for a 'tasteless' Instagram post teasing a return to the villa amid his split from Ekin-Su Culculoglu

Break-up: The hunk took to Instagram on Thursday to share the sad news that he'd split from the Turkish actress after 11 months together - leaving her 'blindsided'

But fans didn't take too kindly to the timing of his post, with some branding it 'tasteless', while another fumed: 'I really expected more class from you.'

Flooding the comments of his post, fans were quick to share their disappointment over Davide's shock actions.

'This post was in bad taste... right after breaking up is just not right' fumed one person.

While another ranted: ''I really expected more class from you. Sad, really sad.'

A third said: 'Unfollowing. So disappointed.'

'No respect for u!!! Ekin is well better off without!' exclaimed a fourth follower.

'Wow. Just like that any respect I had left for you gone', said a fifth.

With another adding: 'Wow not a lot to say on this but that this will not go down as the best decision you have made, and the timing couldnt be worse. Definitely a poor and tasteless one!'

Tease: However, on the same day, he also shared a hunky, shirtless post of him coming out of a pool on his grid, with a cryptic caption that read: 'Guess who's coming back'

Ekin-Su is said to have been 'blindsided' by the shock split, with sources saying that Davide pulled the plug on their relationship.

An insider told The Sun: 'Its fair to say Ekin is gutted about the split. She has worked really hard to make it work.

'She has stood by Davide after a series of cheating rumours, and was surprised when he decided to chuck it all in.

'The pair have been arguing a lot and while Davide is saying its a long time coming, Ekin doesnt feel like that.'

Sharing the break-up news this week, Davide wrote: 'Ekin-Su and I are no longer together. I am grateful for the memories and opportunities we shared together and I wish her nothing but the best.

'I would like for everybody to respect this decision during this difficult time. I will continue to support Ekin in anyway possible.'

Reacting to the news, gutted Love Island fans dramatically declared 'love is dead' as they expressed their disbelief over the break-up just days after they put on a loved-up red carpet display.

Ekin-Su and Davide were crowned the winners of Love Island in 2022 after a turbulent romance.

Sources have also claimed the pair jetted off on a make-or-break trip to Amsterdam, but have struggled to get their relationship back on track.

A source told The Sun: 'They haven't been getting along for quite some time and they really tried to make it work, but despite their best efforts, they've decided to call it quits.'

Ekin-Su is yet to post anything on social media referencing the split, taking to Instagram Stories on Thursday to reveal she'd reunited with her mum and aunts while on holiday.

A representative for Davide Sanclimenti declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline. A representative for Ekin-Su Culculoglu has been contacted for comment.

Fuming: Fans didn't take too kindly to the timing of his post, with some branding it 'tasteless', while another fumed: 'I really expected more class from you'

It's over! The couple attended the premiere of Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny together just days previously (pictured together on Monday)

Done! The hunk took to Instagram on Thursday to share the sad news of the split with his followers, remarking that he was 'grateful for the memories and opportunities' they shared together

It comes after earlier this month Davide admitted that he and Ekin-Su still face 'struggles' with their relationship.

The Italian businessman spoke candidly about their relationship in an interview with The Sun, in which he reflected on the realities of their life in the spotlight.

He said: 'Me and Ekin-Su had our struggles due to our public positions and we still have them sometimes.

'If there's something that I would change or would have done differently [with Ekin-Su in the villa] maybe I would have taken things a bit more slowly.'

Davide went on to say that despite this the couple are still very much in the throes of romance, particularly because they have the 'same background.'

'The best thing about dating Ekin-Su is that we understand each other - not just because we are literally the same person,' He went on. 'She is my copy-paste.'

Split: Reacting to the news, gutted Love Island fans dramatically declared 'love is dead' as they expressed their disbelief over the break-up just days after they put on a loved-up red carpet display

Drama! In April, Ekin-Su was said to be left 'fuming and upset' after finding messages and pictures from two models on Davide's phone

They moved in together after winning Love Island last year but earlier this year were forced to dismiss claims their relationship was a showmance.

In April, Ekin-Su was said to be left 'fuming and upset' after finding messages and pictures from two models on Davide's phone.

A source said at the time: 'It all exploded last Sunday after she found messages on Davides phone discussing their time together.

'He had been messaging both of the girls and she suspected they had all met up one night.

'Ekin-Su contacted one of the girls to tell them she knew about things. She was furious and really upset.'

A representative for Ekin-Su declined to comment on the story. MailOnline had also reached out for comment from Davide who is yet to respond.

Davide's interview came after Ekin-Su revealed that she has 'no friends left' after being thrown into the public eye.

The beauty 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, 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.

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.

Fame game: The couple rose to prominence after they appeared on Love Island and won the ITV2 dating show last summer (seen on the show)

'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.'
While Swifties across the nation bemoaned missing out on coveted tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, Perth fans managed to find a loophole which scored them seats.

As most competed online and sat for hours in virtual waiting rooms, other savvy concert-goers took the old fashioned route and lined up at brick and mortar stores.

Eager fans, including Seven West Media staff Maria Bravo and Kate Phillips, visited a physical Ticketek store to score their seats, reported PerthNow on Friday.

The pair visited Bassendean Newsagency on Friday, sauntering in at 12pm to find only 60 people lined up compared to the thousands in online waiting rooms.

Kate, who was attempting to get a ticket for her 13-year-old daughter, said while there weren't as many people lined up, it was still as 'chaotic' as she imagined.

While Swifties across the nation bemoaned missing out on coveted tickets to Taylor Swift's, 33, (pictured) Eras Tour, Perth fans managed to find a loophole which scored them seats

'There were about 60 people altogether, but the line extended from outside the door,' she said.

Her friend and line-mate Maria said most of those waiting were older people and parents who grew up using the outdated ticketing method.

'There were even people on their laptops, still trying to get a ticket through the website,' she said.

As most competed online and sat for hours in virtual waiting rooms, other savvy concert-goers took the old fashioned route and lined up at brick and mortar stores

She continued: 'I started to get a bit anxious they were going to run out by the time we got inside. I think Kate literally had a panic attack at one point!'

But their fears were for nothing as the pair managed to quickly score seats in the F reserve - the only spots remaining - when they made it inside.

It comes as tickets to Taylor's, 33, The Eras Tour in February next year have officially sold out to the dismay of thousands of fans.

All dates for the pop icon's concert sold out within hours after Ticketek opened general sales at 10am on Friday for Sydney and 2pm for Melbourne.
Les Dennis was spotted as he cut a sombre figure while travelling on the London Underground this week.

The actor, 69, donned a lavender shirt which he layered over a black T-shirt and teamed with alabaster trousers.

Slipping his feet into comfy trainers he toted his essentials for the day in a black backpack.

Les, who is set to tour in musical 42nd Street, stopped to read a poster on the platform before jumping into the carriage as he sat down and scrolled through his phone.

Earlier this month Les said he had forgiven ex-wife Amanda Holden for cheating on him during their marriage.

Travel: Les Dennis, 69, was spotted as he travelled on the London Underground this week

Low key: The actor donned a lavender shirt which he layered over a black T-shirt and teamed with alabaster trousers

The actor. 69, wed the Britain's Got Talent judge, 52, in 1995 when she was 22 and he was 40, before eventually parting ways in 2003.

After five years of marriage it emerged the couple had gone their separate ways amid Amanda's much publicised affair with actor Neil Morrissey, 60.

Les has now opened up about his feelings towards his ex in a new interview, saying that he is 'happy that she's happy'.

Speaking to The Times, he said: 'Amanda was in the papers recently, saying some nice things about me. That was very kind of her.

'Maybe with time she has been able to look back and see things differently. Were not in touch but I am happy that shes happy.'

He added: 'I can watch Britains Got Talent without getting angry. To be honest its like watching a different person, someone Ive never met.'

Les concluded: 'All the hurt that has happened has been healed.'

The pair began their dalliance when they worked together on 2000 film Happy Birthday Shakespeare, with Amanda later admitting their relationship was just about 'sex'.

Tick tock: Les jumped into the carriage as he sat down and scrolled through his phone

Eyes pealed: He looked at a poster on the platform of a West end Musical

Comfy: Slipping his feet into comfy trainers he toted his essentials for the day in a black back pack

At the time, many speculated as to whether it was the age gap between Amanda and Les that caused their problems.

And while Amanda and Les later reconciled before finally splitting in 2002, she recently insisted that she has no idea if she was looking for a father figure in the funnyman.

She told The Times: 'I dont know because Ive never done therapy, but there is a sort of safety in a relationship like that.

'I was very young and I had a lot to learn about life.'

Of her marriage and affair, she previously told the Daily Mail: 'I brought it on myself, I appreciate that, but nothing will ever be as bad again.

'It was a very dark time. It got to the point where I felt I could hardly breathe.

Candid: Earlier this month Les said he had forgiven ex-wife Amanda Holden for cheating on him during their marriage

Split: The actor wed the Britain's Got Talent judge, 52, in 1995 when she was 22 and he was 40, before eventually parting ways in 2003

Affair: It emerged the couple had gone their separate ways amid Amanda's much publicised affair with actor Neil Morrissey, 60 (Amanda and Neil pictured in 2003)

'Les proved to be my saviour. Ironically. So the person Id hurt the most in the world was the one who was there for me.'

In 2013, Amanda opened up about her affair with Neil, telling Good Housekeeping: 'I don't believe women have affairs for no reason.

'Neil rightly or wrongly got loads of stick. I feel like it was my fault - I was the one who was married.

'I want to change the general perception of him, as he was very caring and very loving and very worried about me because I lost so much weight. He used to cook for me and look after me and babysit the dogs.'

In 2014 Neil finally said sorry to game show host Les for the affair he had with his then-wife Amanda.

The star, who has previously said he had not apologised to Les, made the admission on Piers Morgan's Life Stories.

He said: 'I feel sorry for how the situation was dealt with and I feel sorry for how emotional Les seemed to become. It was very difficult for him and for that I'm very sorry.'
Armie Hammer was spotted locking lips and holding hands with his ex Lisa Perejma during a sun-dappled getaway to Italy this week.

One week ago, it emerged he and his estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers have settled their divorce nearly three years after filing.

The news came weeks after the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced that the Call Me By Your Name actor would not be charged over claims of sexual assault after an ex-girlfriend previously accused him of raping her.

Now, with the cloud of his legal woes no longer hanging over him, Hammer indulged in the delights of Portofino with his on-again used-to-be.

Perejmo, a dental hygienist, first dated Hammer from early 2021 until early 2022, in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of his marriage.

Together again: Armie Hammer was spotted locking lips and holding hands with his ex Lisa Perejma during a sun-dappled getaway to Italy this week

Backdrop: The news came weeks after the Los Angeles County District Attorney announced that the Call Me By Your Name actor would not be charged over claims of sexual assault

On again?: Now, with the cloud of his legal woes no longer hanging over him, Hammer indulged in the delights of Portofino with his used-to-be

In May 2021 DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that the pair had been romantically involved with one another for about three months.

Perejma was at that time based in the Cayman Islands - where Hammer's marriage crumbled during the coronavirus lockdowns.

During her latest sighting in Portofino Perejma, who originally hails from British Columbia, appeared as affectionate with Hammer as ever.

As they sat across from each other during an alfresco lunch table, she could be spotted reaching over to place a hand on his brow.

She modeled a casual strapless floral top over a split denim maxi skirt, wearing her blonde hair down and warding off the rays with shades.

Hammer meanwhile showed off his toned arms in an Under Armour polo shirt, which he teamed with jeans and a pair of slippers.

Back in May 2021, when their relationship first entered the public eye, a source told DailyMail.com she had 'really helped turn Armie's life around.'

Hammer at the time was not only in the throes of his divorce but was also facing #MeToo allegations and the accusation that he had a cannibal fetish.

Looking back: In May 2021 DailyMail.com exclusively revealed that the pair had been romantically involved with one another for about three months

In the rearview: Perejma was at that time, in 2021, based in the Cayman Islands - where Hammer's marriage crumbled during the coronavirus lockdowns

So sweet: During her latest sighting in Portofino Perejma, who originally hails from British Columbia, appeared as affectionate with Hammer as ever

Loved up: As they sat across from each other during an alfresco lunch table, she could be spotted reaching over to place a hand on his brow

The look: She modeled a casual strapless floral top over a split denim maxi skirt, wearing her blonde hair down and warding off the rays with shades

A place in the sun: Hammer meanwhile showed off his toned arms in an Under Armour polo shirt, which he teamed with jeans and a pair of slippers

Helping hand: Back in May 2021, when their relationship first entered the public eye, a source told DailyMail.com she had 'really helped turn Armie's life around'

However he was said to be 'happier and healthier than I've seen him in a long time' than ever during his relationship with Perejma.

'He's even introduced her to his father and stepmother - it won't be long until she meets his kids,' the insider divulged.

Meanwhile Hammer and Chambers, 40, first announced their separation after 10 years of marriage in July 2020 following disturbing allegations that Hammer had perpetrated violent abuse on women, which he has denied.

The pair are said to have reached an agreement regarding their property as well as any child and spousal support issues between them, TMZ reports.

Settled: Armie Hammer and his estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers have settled their divorce almost three years after filing

This comes months after Chambers spoke of the moment she knew her marriage to Hammer was over, revealing he left her heart 'broken in nine million pieces.'

Speaking about the breakdown of her marriage in a candid chat with ELLE magazine, Elizabeth revealed that cracks had been showing for months, with the actor's behaviour during lockdown proving to be the final straw.

The couple were on holiday with their children Harper, eight, and Ford, six, when Covid cases began to spike in the States, so they decided not to return to Los Angeles but instead quarantine in the Cayman Islands with Armie's father and stepmother.

Yet their already strained marriage began to break down even quicker, with Elizabeth describing Armie as 'the worst' during quarantine.

For his part, Armie has described the time as being a 'very complicated, intense situation, with big personalities all locked in a little tiny place,' likening himself to a wolf 'caught in a snare' that wants to 'chew his own foot off.'

Despite their struggles, Elizabeth was left blindsided when her husband decided to leave the family and return to California, where he helped a friend restore an old motel outside Joshua Tree National Park.

'My heart was broken in nine million pieces, and I still drove him to the airport,' she confessed.

She added: 'Marriage is always going to be difficult, and, as with any relationship, you go through a process. Especially if you throw success and fame into the mix; it just becomes more magnified

Controversy: Hammer, 36, and Chambers, 40, first announced their separation after 10 years of marriage in July 2020 following disturbing allegations that Hammer had perpetrated violent abuse on women, which he has denied

'[Over time] your partner is learning things about themselves,' she says. 'They're growing, you're growing; you hope that you're growing together.'

Ultimately, they had grown too far apart to make their relationship work.

While attempting to build herself back together, Elizabeth sought comfort from the marriage counsellor she had seen with Armie, famed psychotherapist and relationship specialist Esther Perel.

'[Esther] always said heartbreak is literally worse than a heroin addiction, and I think about that a lot', she confessed.

Elizabeth is now dating wellness specialist Ricardas Kazinec, 26.

Family: The exes share two children together, daughter Harper, eight, and son Ford, six

While the couple are 'so in love', Elizabeth revealed they have to act 'completely platonic if the kids ever see us together, because I dont think its in their best interest to see their mom dating someone while theyre still processing divorce.'

Elizabeth admitted it felt like she was 'ripping' her family apart by filing for divorce.

She explained: 'The dissolution of my family was literally my biggest fear of my whole life. You're building something, right? You're weaving a beautiful tapestry, and the last thing you want is for a knife to come and rip the tapestry in half.'

Elizabeth's heartache was only magnified when a series of depraved revelations about Armie's sex life were made public, among them that he had cannibalistic fetishes.

'I was learning things as the public was,' Elizabeth revealed. 'I was like, 'There are no words. What the f**k?'

The Social Network star had been under investigation for sexual assault since February 2021 after his ex-girlfriend, Effie Angelova, 26, accused him of 'violently' raping and abusing her in 2017.

Last month the LA County District Attorney announced the actor would not be charged over claims of sexual assault following Effie's accusations of rape.

Throwback: Chambers and Hammer pictured at the Paris premiere of Call Me By Your Name in 2018

Armie posted a statement to his Instagram account after a spokesperson LA DA George Gascon announced he wouldn't face charges due to a 'insufficient evidence.'

'I am very grateful to the District Attorney for conducting a thorough investigation and coming to the conclusion that I have stood by this entire time, that no crime was committed,' Hammer wrote.

'I look forward to beginning what will be a long, difficult process of putting my life back together now that my name is cleared.'

Tiffiny Blacknell, Director of the DA's Bureau of Communications, said in a statement that they were not able to prove Angelova's claims.

'Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove, which is why we assign our most experienced prosecutors to review them. In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime,' she said.

'As prosecutors, we have an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. We know that it is hard for women to report sexual assault,' Blacknell added.

She did say that the county would continue to provide support to alleged victims with services.

'Even when we cannot move forward with a prosecution, our victim service representatives will be available to those who seek our victim support services. Due to the complexity of the relationship and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.'

Armie posted a statement to his Instagram account after a spokesperson LA DA George Gascon announced he wouldn't face charges due to a 'insufficient evidence'

He has denied the accusations of rape through his attorney and said all of his sexual encounters were 'completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance and mutually participatory'.

Several other women came forward and accused Hammer of being interested in kinky sex and even cannibalism in the wake of Angelova's claims.

The Call Me By Your Name star was dropped by his personal publicist and former agency as well as multiple projects following the allegations.

Hammer also stepped down from a role in Jennifer Lopez's film Shotgun Wedding, but maintained his innocence.

'I'm not responding to these b******* claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for four months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic,' he said in a statement to the Daily Mail.

The actor subsequently claimed he tried to commit suicide in the Cayman Islands following the backlash.

Chambers pictured with Hammer in 2018

'I just walked out into the ocean and swam out as far as I could and hoped that either I drowned, or was hit by a boat, or eaten by a shark,' Hammer said.

Angelova hit back, accusing Hammer of being 'manipulative' and trying to 'evoke sympathy'.

She said he had told her the suicide story years before she spoke out, and was only sharing it publicly in an attempt to gain sympathy and silence his victims.

The actor has admitted he was emotionally abusive towards his former partners, but blamed his actions on being traumatized by a youth pastor who allegedly sexually abused him when he was 13.

The scandal began when the Instagram account House of Effie started leaking disturbing messages, said to be sent by him between 2016 and February 2020, that include conversations about BDSM, in addition to numerous sexual references to cannibalistic acts and blood-sucking.

In one message, the actor allegedly writes to the woman: 'I am 100% a cannibal. I want to eat you.'

'F**k. That's scary to admit,' the message continues. 'I've never admitted that before.'

Hammer's former partners Paige Lorenze and Courtney Vucekovich then also accused him of being physically and emotionally abusive while they were together.

Career torpedoed: The Call Me By Your Name star was dropped by his personal publicist and former agency as well as multiple projects following the allegation

Lorenze told Page Six that the actor had carved the letter 'A' into her pelvis to brand her and then sucked the blood that oozed out.

In March 2021, Angelova officially came forward with her attorney Gloria Allred, alleging: 'On April 24, 2017, Armie Hammer violently raped me for over four hours in Los Angeles, during which he repeatedly slapped my head against a wall bruising my face.

'He also committed other acts of violence against me to which I did not consent.'

Angelova said she thought Hammer was 'going to kill' her and claimed he beat her feet during the alleged attack 'so they would hurt', according to Variety.

The 26-year-old claimed she met Hammer on Facebook when she was 20, before falling in love with the actor.

But she has since said she fell victim to 'manipulation tactics'.

Shortly after, the LAPD confirmed it was investigating the actor after a 'community member' came forward with an attorney on February 3, 2021, with a sexual assault claim.

Model Paige Lorenze, a former professional skier turned Instagram mode, spoke of the 'deeply traumatic' four month relationship she had with Armie Hammer, which left her emotionally and physically scarred

Hammer has continuously denied the allegations made against him.

His lawyer has said Hammer's encounter with Angelova was 'completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory'.

In a statement, the lawyer said: 'Effie's own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations. As recently as July 18, 2020, [she] sent graphic texts to Mr. Hammer telling him what she wanted him to do to her.

'Mr. Hammer responded, making it clear that he did not want to maintain that type of relationship with her.

'It was never Mr. Hammer's intention to embarrass or expose [Effie's] fetishes or kinky sexual desires, but she has now escalated this matter to another level by hiring a civil lawyer to host a public press conference.

'With the truth on his side, Mr. Hammer welcomes the opportunity to set the record straight. From day one, Mr. Hammer has maintained that all of his interactions with [Effie]  and every other sexual partner of his for that matter  have been completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory.

'[Effie's] attention seeking and ill-advised legal bid will only make it more difficult for real victims of sexual violence to get the justice they deserve.'
Amanda Holden is getting frisky for her latest gig as she has landed a role presenting the upcoming show Sex: A Bonkers History.

The TV host, 52, will be joined by historian Dan Jones on the Sky History series which explores sexual behaviours through the ages.

The series will use archive footage and drama reconstruction, with Amanda and Dan taking the leading roles to shed light on history's best unknown sex stories.

The pair will explore how attitudes towards sex and sexuality have evolved from the origination of the first contraceptive in ancient Egypt to swinging in 70's suburban Britain.

Along the way they will discover how the Tudor sexual appetites changed the course of British history forever, and they will delve into Georgian Britain to discover that its prim and proper facade couldn't be further from the truth.

Steamy: Amanda Holden is getting frisky for her latest gig as she has landed a role presenting the upcoming show Sex: A Bonkers History

Show: The TV host, 52, will be joined by historian Dan Jones on the Sky History series which explores sexual behaviours through the ages

The pair also reveal how the Victorian era was secretly one of the most sexually progressive in the world.

Lastly, they discover that sexual attitudes in the 20th century have changed more than in any other period in history and that this rate of change only continues to accelerate.

Speaking about the series, Amanda said: 'Believe me when I say our generation knows nothing about sex compared to the debauched antics of our ancestors!

'My goodness, I've really had my eyes opened, and had a real laugh, during the filming of this brilliant new series.

'I have left it to Dan Jones to get his hands dirty whilst I've been on the side-lines as a very entertained voyeur.

'Although perhaps shocking at times, Sex: A Bonkers History is a truly fascinating and intellectual insight into the last 2500 years of our sexual history. This is horrible histories for grown-ups.'

Amanda looked incredible in a photoshoot promoting the series as she slipped into a fuchsia mini dress with a daring cut out detail along the chest.

The presenter cut a typically trendy figure on Friday as she departed the Global radi studios after hosting her Heart breakfast show.

Programme: The series will use archive footage and drama reconstruction, with Amanda and Dan taking the leading roles to shed light on history's best unknown sex stories

Fashion: The presenter cut a typically trendy figure on Friday as she departed the Global radi studios after hosting her Heart breakfast show

Looking good: Letting her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders, Amanda added height to her frame with a pair of black strappy heels

Ensemble: Carrying a black handbag, the presenter complimented her look with a pair of stylish sunglasses

The star donned a bright green maxi cardigan with a deep v-neckline, pairing it with a matching pair of trousers.

Letting her blonde locks fall loose down her shoulders, Amanda added height to her frame with a pair of black strappy heels.

Carrying a black handbag, the presenter complimented her look with a pair of stylish sunglasses.

Sex: A Bonkers History will premiere on Sky HISTORY in September 2023.
Netflix viewers have been left terrified after watching a new Australian horror movie starring Sarah Snook.

Run Rabbit Run dropped on the streaming service on June 28, and horror flick fans rushed to tune in.

The film sees Snook, who is known for her starring role as Shiv Roy in the HBO drama series Succession, take on the role of a fertility doctor called Sarah while Lily LaTorre plays her onscreen daughter Mia.

But few people were prepared for how the plot develops - and viewers took to social media in their droves to complain about how 'creepy' the film really is.

'So creepy': Netflix viewers have been left terrified after watching a new Australian horror movie starring Sarah Snook

Behind the mask: Run Rabbit Run dropped on the streaming service on June 28, and horror flick fans rushed to tune in

A synopsis for the movie reads: 'Fertility doctor Sarah begins her beloved daughter Mia's seventh birthday expecting nothing amiss. But as an ominous wind swirls in, Sarah's carefully controlled world begins to alter.

'Mia begins behaving oddly and a rabbit appears outside their front door - a mysterious birthday gift that delights Mia but seems to deeply disconcert Sarah.

'As days pass, Mia becomes increasingly not herself, demanding to see Sarah's long-estranged, hospitalized mother (the grandmother she's never met before) and fraying Sarah's nerves as the child's bizarre tantrums begin to point her toward Sarah's own dark history,' Heaven of Horror reports.

It concludes: 'As a ghost from her past re-enters Sarah's life, she struggles to cling to her distant young daughter.'

Horror fans rushed to Netflix in their droves to watch the 2023 release before immediately taking to Twitter to share their thoughts.

One wrote: 'Lawdddd I'm watching Run Rabbit Run and chileeeeee my heart [was] beating so fast I had to pause it.'

Another added: 'Watching this Netflix movie Run Rabbit Run... and it's creeping me out.'

And a third simply said: 'We just watched Run Rabbit Run, and WHAT THE F***?'

The plot thickens: The film sees Snook take on the role of a fertility doctor called Sarah while Lily LaTorre plays her onscreen daughter Mia

Few people were prepared for how the plot develops - and viewers took to social media in their droves to complain about how 'creepy' the film really is

Different look: Snook is known for her starring role as Shiv Roy in the HBO drama series Succession

However, not everyone was quite so captivated as some viewers voiced their disappointment at the film's ending.

'That run rabbit run movie ending was awful,' one person moaned, while another tweeted: 'Run rabbit run. Meh. Crap ending.'

A third person fumed: 'I just watched Run Rabbit Run and I thought it was really good UNTIL THE MFING ENDING AND NOW I'M MAD.'

But it is not the only Netflix horror to have terrified fans in recent weeks with viewers left disturbed after watching Spanish horror movie Tin and Tina, which is a longer-form adaptation of a 2013 short film with the same name.

Directed by Rubin Stein, the thriller is set in early 1980s Spain and follows the story of a woman who suffers a miscarriage on her wedding day.

She is informed by her doctor that she cannot bear children and her depression keeps getting worse.

Twinning: Netflix's Spanish horror movie Tin and Tina has also caused a frenzy of 'terrified' viewers

Scary stuff: The film is set in early 1980s Spain and the story follows a wife who suffers a miscarriage on her wedding day

But soon the newlyweds adopt twins Tin and Tina who follow strict religious teachings and share them with their new parents.

The twins bring an eerie and strained energy to the couple's house as mysterious and violent occurrences begin to take place.

And ever since it landed on Netflix, it's left people petrified.

One scared viewer wrote: 'Watched Tin and Tina on Netflix. You think the Shining twins were creepy... you ain't seen nothing yet. They utterly creeped me out, and I will have nightmares for days.'

Another viewer chillingly added: 'Me praying #TinandTina don't come in my dreams tonight. Can't even bare to watch the second half, whilst the house is so quiet. Why have I done this to myself.'

A third person said: 'Need to watch a Barbie movie after watching Tin and Tina, that movie is so disturbing.'

Someone else added: 'I haven't had a movie creep me out in a long time as much as Tin and Tina.'
Raquel Leviss has finally begun negotiating her contract for Vanderpump Rules' season 11 amid reports that the Bravo cameras started rolling again on Wednesday.

As production attempts to capture the fallout from her months-long affair with Tom Sandoval, behind her then-BFF Ariana Madix's back, the reality star, 28, is working to arrange her return to the show.

On the heels of the unscripted reality show's record-breaking finale, which earned 4.1 million viewers, marking a series high, a source told TMZ that the former pageant queen only began hammering out the details of her new contract 'just three days ago.'

Bravo has reportedly been hesitant to make a deal with her until she completes her

Now, production feels they have 'the green light to start the negotiations' as she prepares to leave treatment 'soon.'

Ready to come back? Raquel Leviss has finally begun negotiating her contract for Vanderpump Rules' season 11 amid reports that the Bravo cameras began rolling again on Wednesday; seen in 2022

The delayed talks come just days after an insider told the outlet that season 11 of Vanderpump Rules was set to go into production on Wednesday, but Leviss had not committed to joining the cast and crew.

Sources for the publication said that both Bravo production and Leviss' team are 'working hard to get her on the show' but her time at the mental health facility still remains a priority.

The rest of the cast including Ariana and Tom will all be making their return to the highly-popular Bravo program.

During season 10's reunion which aired earlier this month, Raquel was noncommittal about coming back.

At the time she told boss Andy Cohen: 'I don't know. It's in question right now. I want to.'

During those three reunion episodes Ariana eviscerated her ex Tom after he betrayed her with Raquel.

An insider told DailyMail.com earlier this month, Raquel began treatment at a mental health facility 'to become a better person.'

They said: 'Upon the completion of filming the reunion, Raquel entered a voluntary inpatient behavioral health and trauma facility and remains there to date - 68 days and counting.

In negotiations: As production attempts to capture the fallout from her months-long affair with Tom Sandoval, behind her then-BFF Ariana Madix's back, the reality star, 28, is working to arrange her return to the show

Cameras rolling: On the heels of the unscripted reality show's record-breaking finale, which earned 4.1 million viewers, marking a series high, a source told TMZ that the former pageant queen only began hammering out the details of her new contracts 'just three days ago'

'She is a young woman that is and has been remorseful for her actions and has APOLOGIZED REPEATEDLY.

'Her treatment is helping her learn the basis of her decisions and to grow from her mistakes with the hope of making better choices and becoming a better person.

'Raquel looks forward to sharing her story with the unfiltered truth when she comes out.'

Back in April, a source said of Raquel's decision to enter the facility: 'Raquel and her family decided before the relationship was discovered that she would enter a voluntary facility for mental health counseling.

'She was scheduled to go in pre-reunion but decided she wanted to finish her filming commitment. Bravo and production were aware and in support of her journey towards better mental health.

Leviss' rep added that she was not in a facility for substance abuse issues.

In March Leviss issued a statement in which she revealed she was analyzing her own behavior and speaking to a counselor after the affair was exposed.

She said: 'I am reflecting on my choices, speaking to a counselor and I am learning things about myself such as my patterns of codependency and addiction to being and feeling loved.

'I have sought emotional validation through intimate connections that are not healthy without regard for my own well-being, sometimes negatively affecting others and often prioritizing the intimate connection over my friendships. I am taking steps to understand my behavior and make healthier choices.'

Waiting for the right time: Bravo has reportedly been hesitant to make a deal until she completes her stay at a mental mental health facility over fears of 'legal peril if she backslides' if they bring her 'back too early'

This comes after Sandoval revealed he and Leviss had hit the brakes on their sexual relationship, after their months-long affair was exposed in March.

Following the recent end of his relationship with Madix over his infidelity, the bar owner revealed they are 'kind of taking a break.'

Although the affair was only unveiled in March, both Sandoval and Leviss have revealed their romance actually started last summer.

Leviss, however, tearfully came clean about the Scandoval affair and admitted to more sex romps with Sandoval and her desire to be in a 'throuple' with Madix on the third and final Vanderpump Rules reunion episode on Bravo.

'I think it's important to me to tell the truth,' said Raquel as she admitted to lying during the reunion.

'I think that I've been lying and being so deceitful this entire time that... I don't want to lie anymore, and it's all out there anyway. Like, the worst is out, yet I'm still finding myself having to lie about specific timeline things,' Raquel said.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has signed a landmark collaboration with fashion giant PrettyLittleThing.

The British fashion icon, 53, who became a mother for the second time this week, designed the new collection of statement looks and timeless pieces and will be launching her exclusive line in New York this September during Fashion Week.

In PLT's biggest partnership to date, Naomi will be fronting the range that was shot earlier this year in Los Angeles and combines her flawless style with the online brand's dedication to giving their customer glamorous, celebrity-inspired looks at an affordable price.

Naomi's collaboration with the brand comes after years of friendship with former CEO Umar Kamani, 35, who stepped down from the helm in April but has still been heavily involved in the top-secret project.

As one of the fashion industry's pioneers, after becoming the first ever black model to grace a British Vogue cover in 1988, as well as having over three decades of experience under her designer belt, sources close to PrettyLittleThing say the brand is ecstatic to have her on board.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has signed a landmark collaboration with fashion giant PrettyLittleThing (pictured in May 2023)

The British fashion icon, who became a mother for the second time this week, designed the new collection of statement looks and timeless pieces (pictured in March 2023)

The collaboration will be Naomi's first venture following the birth of her second child, who she introduced to her 15.2million Instagram followers on Thursday

A fashion insider told MailOnline: 'This is huge, it's such a privilege for Naomi to be fronting her own collection with PLT.

'It has been discussed for years between Naomi and Umar but finally now their ideas have come to fruition and soon the rest of the world will see everything they have been working on.

'Naomi is of course a total perfectionist and has designed the range, ensuring every detail has been carefully executed.'

The collaboration will be Naomi's first venture following the birth of her second child, who she introduced to her 15.2million Instagram followers on Thursday.

Her newborn son, whose name remains unknown, is the model's second baby after she welcomed a daughter in May 2021.

She captioned an image of her cradling her son while her daughter held his hand: 'My little darling, know that you are cherished beyond measure and surrounded by love from the moment you graced us with your presence. A true gift from God. Blessed! Welcome baby boy.'

She added: 'It's never too late to become a mother.'

Naomi has never revealed how her daughter was born but previously hinted she may have used a surrogate by saying science had given her an opportunity to start a family 'whenever she wants.'

On Friday, the announcement was confirmed on PrettyLittleThing's Instagram with a short video that showed a director's chair with Naomi's name

Naomi's collaboration with the brand comes after years of friendship with former CEO Umar Kamani, has still been heavily involved in the top-secret project (pictured in December 2022)

Naomi's achievements go further than her A-list status in the fashion industry after she has raised millions of pounds for underprivileged children through her charity Fashion for Relief

Earlier this month, Naomi sat front row at Paris Fashion week as she attended the Wales Bonner Menswear Spring/Summer 2024 show

The past six months alone has seen Naomi attend the opening of Dubai hotel Atlantis the Royal, the Vanity Fair Oscars after party, and Cannes Film Festival, as well as adding to her young family.

Naomi's achievements, which include modelling for the likes of Burberry, Chanel, and Prada, go further than her A-list status in the fashion industry.

The model set up charity, Fashion for Relief in 2005 and has since raised millions of pounds for underprivileged children.

She began charity work with Nelson Mandela in 1993, and in 1997 he named her 'Honorary Granddaughter' for her endless activism.
America Ferrera was anything but an Ugly Betty on Friday night.

The American actress attended Vogue Australia's Barbie party at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney in Sydney.

The party to honoured the premiere of the hotly anticipated Barbie movie, in which America stars alongside Margot Robbie.

The 39-year-old was elegant in all black, choosing a stunning blazer dress with satin lapels.

She added a pair of towering patent leather Mary Janes and pinned a large tulle rose to her blazer.

America Ferrera (pictured) was anything but an Ugly Betty on Friday night. The American actress attended Vogue Australia's Barbie party at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney in Sydney

The 39-year-old was elegant in all black, choosing a stunning blazer dress with satin lapels

She added a pair of towering patent leather Mary Janes and pinned a large tulle rose to her blazer

America kept warm in a pair of dark pantyhose and added a pop of pink with a pale satin clutch.

The beauty completed her look with a glamorous makeup palette with a dark blush and nude cream lipstick, while wearing her dark locks pinned off her face.

She stars in the Barbie film as Gloria, who encounters Barbie in real life and can't believe her eyes.

The film is 'a fish-out-of-water story about a doll who is ousted from toy society for not being perfect enough.'

The party to honoured the premiere of the hotly anticipated Barbie movie, in which America stars alongside Margot Robbie (second from right). Pictured with co-star Issa Rae and director Greta Gerwig

America kept warm in a pair of dark pantyhose and added a pop of pink with a pale satin clutch

The beauty completed her look with a glamorous makeup palette with a dark blush and nude cream lipstick, while wearing her dark locks pinned off her face

She stars in the Barbie film as Gloria, who encounters Barbie in real life

The actress rose to fame in the comedy series Ugly Betty between 2006 and 2010.

America won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2007 for her portrayal of protagonist Betty Suarez.

She also co-produced and starred as Amy Sosa in the NBC comedy series Superstore that aired from 2015 to 2021.

The star has been married to Ryan Piers Williams, 41, since 2011 and they have four-year-old son Sebastian and two-year-old daughter Lucia together.
In what could have been a fatal clash of contradiction, two of the most anticipated films of the year, Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer are set to release on the same day.

But instead of choosing whether to see the new deathly and explosive film- or Oppenheim- fans are gearing up for a day of back-to-back cinema, aptly called 'Barbenheimer'.

Many cinemagoers are welcoming the juxtaposition and are contemplating which order to see the double feature, even sharing their itineraries for the day, on July 21.

Fans are even more amused at the stark contrast of Barbie's outlandishly pink marketing campaign, varying the modest Oppenheimer display.

Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer will be released on the same day - the two are strikingly opposite. Margot Robbie (pictured) stars in the new film which takes Barbie out of her pink and perfect home and into the real world

The upcoming historical thriller centres on the life of American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy)

It's clear Barbie's movie promotion team have worked harder than the devil, releasing splashy film posters, Barbie dolls and a series of enticing trailers - perhaps the most extravagant of them all was a hot-pink Malibu Dreamhouse which cropped up, seemingly overnight, in California.

The marvel of advertising can even be booked on Airbnb starting July 18, ahead of the film's cinema release.

Oppenheimer, on the other hand, has opted for a more quiet approach releasing a short trailer months before its full teaser, which some fans have said 'speaks for itself.'

The director has even claimed that early viewers of Oppenheimer have left the film 'devastated' and 'unable to speak'.

Some are viewing the two films as at 'war' with each other, and have clearly stated which side they are on.

Yet many have joined the Barbie-Oppenheimer alliance and eagerly await the double feature.

While ostensibly yin and yang, Barbie and Oppenheimer have a few things in common as visually striking, smart films shaped by critically acclaimed directors.

Gerwig's Lady Bird and Little Women established her success as a filmmaker, and Nolan has worked on everything from blockbusters such as The Dark Knight to thought-provoking movies such as Dunkirk, Interstellar and Inception.

Tom Cruise is among many cinema fans excited for the double feature on July 21

Tom Cruise is among those taken by the stark contrast and has expressed his excitement to see both films.

The actor, whose own summer film Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, is out July 10, is known for passionately promoting films and joined the Barbenheimer frenzy on Twitter.

'The summer is full of amazing movies to see in theatres,' Cruise wrote.

'I love a double feature, and it doesn't get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie.'

Other Barbenheimer fans have joined Cruise on social media in preparation for the big day, and have even shared their own double-marketing suggestions.

T-shirts have even been designed with fans finding the perfect shade of pink and grey for potential merch.

Whatever side fans may choose, cinemas across the globe will be getting more than they bargained for over the late July weekend.

Fans eagerly await the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer and have even prompted fans to design their own merch

The striking juxtaposition has gone viral on social media with some even comparing the films to the iconic San Francisco houses (pictured)

Some are posting their schedule for the day suggesting it should start with 'black coffee and a cigarette'
All eyes were on Margot Robbie as she attended Vogue Australia's Barbie party at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on Friday night.

The Australian actress, who stars as the titular doll in the hotly anticipated Barbie feature film, walked the pink carpet with the support of her husband, Tom Ackerley.

The British film producer took a back seat and let Margot steal the show, but stayed close to her side.

Along with the film's director, Greta Gerwig, and Margot's co-stars, America Ferrera and Issa Rae, Tom posed against the media wall for photos.

Tom looked dapper in a navy blue suit with a chic pocket square, under which he had on a plain black T-shirt for a modern edge.

Margot Robbie (left) attended Vogue Australia's Barbie party at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on Friday night with the support of her husband, Tom Ackerley (right)

He finished his look with a pair of patent leather dress shoes in black, as well as a gold designer watch.

Margot meanwhile looked absolutely stunning in a metallic pink mesh mini dress.

The flirty frock included a plunging neckline that showed off a little bust and its short length put the beauty's trim pins on display.

Margot skipped the accessories but opted for a metallic manicure that matched her dress, as well as wearing a pair of very Barbie-inspired clear heels.

Along with the film's director, Greta Gerwig, and Margot's co-stars, America Ferrera and Issa Rae, Tom posed against the media wall for photos. All pictured

Tom looked dapper in a navy blue suit with a chic pocket square, under which he had on a plain black T-shirt for a modern edge

Margot looked absolutely stunning in a metallic pink mesh mini dress

She chose a peachy makeup look with a flawless finish and a dark pink lipstick in a matte finish, while wearing her blonde locks down around her face.

Margot arrived in Sydney on Wednesday with her husband to promote her starring role in Barbie.

The couple were married in 2016 at a secret location in Byron Bay, Australia at an intimae ceremony with about 50 invited guests.

The couple exchanged their vows under a large white teepee-style tent at a luxurious property in Coorabell, in Byron Bay's hinterland.

Margot and Tom met in 2013 on set of World War II drama Suite Francaise in France.
Good Morning America host Robin Roberts left a co-worker on the verge of tears during Thursday's show as she bid farewell to her 'talented' colleague.

The 62-year-old was chatting with contributor Tory Johnson, 52, in the live Deals & Steals segment in the studio when some very important news was announced.

Johnson was keen to give a shout out to GMA's producer Tori Morini as she revealed it was her last day on the job.

Singing her praises, Johnson told Roberts: 'She is the one who comes up with this! Every single week, this magic!'

On air: Robin Roberts was chatting with contributor Tory Johnson, 52, in the live Deals & Steals segment in the studio when some very important news was announced

So long: Johnson was keen to give a shout out to GMA's producer Tori Morini as she revealed it was her last day on the job

Following the announcement, the studio audience cheered and clapped before the camera panned to Morini as she waved.

After encouraging Morini to join her on set in front of the camera, Johnson continued: 'Lucky for me! She is joining me on the other side of this! I get to work with her every single day!'

Roberts then joked: 'You stole her from us!' as Johnson confirmed: 'I'm not taking her too far away!'

The morning show host added: 'Tori, thank you for everything, especially your spirit.'

Morini became teary-eyed as Roberts finished her heartfelt speech and said: 'We appreciate it so much.'

Johnson later took to Instagram with a series of snapshots from the sweet on-air moment, including a pose picture with Roberts's co-host Michael Strahan.

She captioned the post: 'Today is the last GMA Deals segment for my producer Tori Morini.

'Not only is she incredibly talented - meticulously coordinating every detail of what you see on TV every week, she's an extraordinary person who has become a trusted friend.

Sweet moment: After encouraging Morini to join her on set in front of the camera, Johnson continued, 'Lucky for me! She is joining me on the other side of this! I get to work with her every single day!'

Group shot: Johnson later took to Instagram with a series of snapshots from the sweet on-air moment, including a pose picture with Roberts's co-host Michael Strahan

'Lucky for me, she's joining my team on the other side of the camera, outside of this studio, to lead exciting new projects to bring you even more deals on TV and digital.

'Cheers to TORI/TORY  we're just getting started!' Tory added.

Tori commented on the post and said: 'I couldn't be more excited!!!!' alongside a red heart emoji.

Meanwhile, Roberts, who looked stylish in a sleeveless khaki green dress, shared her daily morning message and prayer on her own Instagram page.

The TV star was joined by her 'glam fam' in her dressing room backstage and, as usual, she read out a positive and encouraging message from her cell phone for her 849,000 followers.

'When the almighty designed you, he knew what pressures you would face,' she began.

On set: She captioned the post, 'Today is the last GMA Deals segment for my producer Tori Morini'

Daily message: Meanwhile, Roberts, who looked stylish in a sleeveless khaki green dress, shared her daily morning message and prayer on her own Instagram page

'Financial pressure, relationship pressure, raising children pressure, dealing with an illness pressure. If that pressure was going to crush you, God would not have put you there.

'Whatever you face, you've got to remind yourself that you can handle it. You are well able to overcome opposition, to outlast adversity, but can do power doesn't do any good if you have a can't do mentality,' Robin continued.

'So quit looking at all the things that you can't do and have a new perspective,' she advised her fans.

'This obstacle may be big, but I can overcome it. This trouble is taking longer than I thought but I can outlast it. This situation feels overwhelming but I'm designed for it, I'm strong, I'm anointed and I am equipped.'
Michelle Keegan has confirmed herself as one of televisions top earning stars with assets of more than 3million.

The actress, 36, who most recently appeared in the BBC's Ten Pound Poms, has seen her company Rosia Promotions Ltd, which handles her TV and film earnings, rake in the cash this year.

Her company has eye watering assets of 3,053,434 in the bank and of that figure 197,072 was paid out in taxes and other costs leaving her with shareholder funds still worth a healthy 2,857,623 - over half a million up on the previous year.

Former Coronation Street cast member Michelle, who is married to television personality Mark Wright, 36, started the company in September 2013 and is the sole director.

The accounts cover the period up to September 30 last year and were filed today with Companies House.

Success story: Michelle Keegan has confirmed herself as one of televisions top earning stars with assets of more than 3million

Comfortable: The actress, 36, has seen her company Rosia Promotions Ltd, which handles her TV and film earnings, rake in the cash this year (pictured in the BBC's Ten Pound Poms)

A representative for Michelle declined to comment when contacted by MailOnline.

Earlier this month, Michelle was spotted in Manchester as she filmed for her new Netflix drama Fool Me Once.

Michelle has reportedly signed a 1million deal to star in the series, which is based on one of Harlan Coben's books.

In the upcoming show, Michelle plays Maya, a mother who suffers a trauma after returning from war.

Seven of Harlan's hit books have already been adapted into Netflix series, including psychological thriller The Stranger, which garnered huge popularity on the platform.

According to the book's synopsis, Maya goes through a trauma when her husband Joe is brutally murdered.

But two weeks later, she has to deal with a mystery when she sees her infant daughter playing with Joe on her baby monitor.

She will star alongside the likes of Richard Armitage, Adeel Akhtar and Dino Fetscher on the show.

Speaking out: It comes after Michelle's husband Mark Wright, 35, hit back at trolls who claim he and wife Michelle Keegan never see each other

Speaking of Michelle's new role, a TV source told The Sun: 'This is a huge role for Michelle.

'Harlan's dramas are some of the most streamed on Netflix and people watch around the world.'

A release date for the series is yet to be confirmed but it is expected to be available for streaming from late this year or early next.

Meanwhile, Mark has hit back at trolls who claim he and wife Michelle Keegan never see each other, saying they always spend 'quality time together'  they just don't post about it.

The presenter told MailOnline that often the public overreact when there's a photo of him with Michelle despite the fact they have been married for the past seven years and share their newly completed Essex home as a couple.

Their hectic careers, including Mark filming away for a month shooting BBC One's A Wright Family Holiday and presenting The Challenge UK in Argentina, as well as Michelle starring in upcoming Netflix drama Fool Me Once and Ten Pound Poms, gives fans the impression they don't spend enough time in each other's company.

Loved-up: Mark insists the pair make their lifestyles work but like to keep the intimate moments they share, including at home when they're relaxing, off social media (pictured May 2022)

Mark insists the pair make their lifestyles work but like to keep the intimate moments they share, including at home when they're relaxing, off social media.

He said: 'Do you know what whenever there's a picture of us together people will say "rare picture of Mark and Michelle" or "Mark and Michelle reunite after time apart" we just don't tell everyone when we do spend quality time together.

'I could be in the house with Michelle for two weeks, but no one will know that because I'm not necessarily posting about it. We spend plenty of quality time together and we've had plenty of weekends away. We have got stuff booked up.

'We spend quality time together just like any other relationship and I'm not just saying that... we genuinely do.'
Alicia Vikander looked as glamorous as ever as she attended a screening of Firebrand during the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Friday.

The actress, 34, was joined by her husband Michael Fassbender, 45, at the event in the Czech Republic, as they made a rare public appearance together.

Slipping into a stunning, embellished gown with a plunging neckline, Alicia looked simply sensational as she took to the stage after being awarded with the Festival President's Award.

She topped her ensemble off by pulling her brunette hair back into a chic updo and opted for a subtle makeup look.

Her film, Firebrand, premiered at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival in May and features Alicia as lead character Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII.

Beaming: Alicia Vikander, 34, looked as glamorous as ever as she attended a screening of Firebrand during the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Friday

Loved-up: The actress was joined by her husband Michael Fassbender, 45, at the event in the Czech Republic, as they made a rare public appearance together

Meanwhile, Michael looked dashing in a black tuxedo with a white shirt and a neat bow tie.

Elsewhere, Russell Crowe was also in attendance as he stepped out to accept the festival's Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema.

Addressing the crowd, he said: 'I have to tell you the truth. I was unaware of this film festival until very recently.

'Luckily enough for me, I still love going to work every day. I love getting up every day, thinking about the scenes. When I really feel there is some sort of connection.

'So I never have to wake up at 4 oclock in the morning and I dont know why I am here,' The Hollywood Reporter explained.

Last year, Alicia opened up about the pain she went through after suffering an 'extreme' miscarriage before getting pregnant with her first child.

The Tomb Raider actress revealed in September 2021 that she had quietly welcomed a baby son - with her husband Michael, earlier that year.

But Alicia has now spoken out about the 'painful' struggles she faced on her journey to becoming a mother, admitting in a new interview with The Times that 'it took time' for the couple to conceive their first baby together.

Beautiful: Slipping into an embellished gown with a plunging neckline, Alicia looked simply sensational as she took to the stage after being awarded with the Festival President's Award

Stunning: She topped her ensemble off by pulling her brunette hair back into a chic updo and opted for a subtle makeup look

Role: Her film, Firebrand, premiered at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival in May and features Alicia as lead character Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII

Support: Meanwhile, Michael looked dashing in a black tuxedo with a white shirt and a neat bow tie

Well done: Elsewhere, Russell Crowe was also in attendance as he stepped out to accept the festival's Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema

Speech: Addressing the crowd, he said: 'Luckily enough for me, I still love going to work every day'

Fun night: He appeared to be having the time of his life as he laughed in the audience

Smart: Russell shielded his eyes with a pair of sunglasses as he arrived at the event

Suited and booted: During the screening, Russell also took to the stage to perform alongside his band Indoor Garden Party

Stellar: The Oscar winner showed off his impressive vocals during the performance

Pretty: Alicia accessorised her look with silver jewellery

Low-key: The couple posed separately on the red carpet

'We have a child now, but it took us time,' she said, before revealing that she had suffered a 'painful, extreme' miscarriage before she got pregnant with her son.

She also compared her experiences to her 2016 movie The Light Between Oceans in which she starred opposite Michael, with the pair playing a childless couple who experience two miscarriages and ultimately adopt a baby girl who is lost at sea.

Alicia added: '[The miscarriage] was so extreme, painful to go through and, of course, it made me recall making that film [The Light Between Oceans]. That film has another meaning now.'

The Ex Machina star added: 'Sometimes you go through things that are tough in life and if you have an office job you can step away for a bit.
Johnny Depp continued his headline-grabbing comeback by parodying himself in a new trailer for the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

The festival gave Depp its Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema in 2021, when his Hollywood career was in the doldrums amid his legal battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Depp and Heard waged a blistering war of lawsuits after their 15-month marriage disintegrated into a blizzard of back-and-forth abuse allegations.

After his victory in a defamation case against Heard last year, Depp mounted a grand return to showbiz and received a rapturous reception last month at the Cannes Film Festival, where he premiered his film Jeanne du Barry.

Now he has appeared in a goofy new trailer for the Karlovy Vary Film Festival that was screened Friday at its opening ceremony.

Send-up: Johnny Depp continued his headline-grabbing comeback by parodying himself in a new trailer for the Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Details: The festival gave Depp its Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema in 2021, back when his Hollywood career was in the doldrums

Shot at a plush Budapest hotel oozing with Habsburg-era glamour, the trailer shows Depp giving an interview that goes somewhat off the rails.

He arrives at the hotel looking grungy and unwashed, lugging a guitar and affecting as nonchalant a rock-star strut as he can manage.

His attempts at cool hit a bit of a snag when he gets stuck in the revolving door to the hotel, wriggling his way sheepishly through.

Depp is apparently being interviewed to promote his European tour as a musician - which in real life is currently on hold after he sustained an ankle injury.

When he finally sits down for the chat, he seems woozy and out of sorts, drifting into a reverie when the journalist brings up the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

'But literally everyone who goes gets an award,' the journalist says, attempting to be delicate. 'How come you didn't?'

Depp seems surprised to learn that he did not in fact win anything when he was last at Karlovy Vary - but comes armed with a solution.

He reaches into his guitar case and pulls out one of the festival's trophies - with his name taped over that of the actual recipient.

Interlocutor: Shot at a plush Budapest hotel oozing with Habsburg-era glamour, the trailer shows Depp giving an interview that goes somewhat off the rails

There he is: He arrives at the hotel looking grungy and unwashed, lugging a guitar and affecting as nonchalant a rock-star strut as he can manage

Whoops: His attempts at cool hit a bit of a snag when he gets stuck in the revolving door to the hotel, wriggling his way sheepishly through

Back and forth: Depp is apparently being interviewed to promote his European tour as a musician - which in real life is currently on hold after he sustained an ankle injury

Apropos Karlovy Vary: 'But literally everyone who goes gets an award,' the journalist says, attempting to be delicate: 'How come you didn't?'

Ready: Depp seems fairly surprised to learn that he did not in fact win anything when he was last at Karlovy Vary - but comes armed with a solution

Gambit: He reaches into his guitar case and pulls out one of the festival's trophies - with his name taped over that of the actual recipient

Humoring him: The journalist smiles indulgently at him, not buying his charade for a second, but Depp commits to the bit, nodding and saying: 'Yeah'

The journalist smiles indulgently at him, clearly not buying his charade for a second, but Depp commits to the bit, nodding and saying: 'Yeah.'

Karlovy Vary, a popular spa town formerly known as Carlsbad, was the birthplace of Princess Michael of Kent and has played host to historic figures ranging from Peter the Great and Ludwig von Beethoven to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The Czech ad director Ivan Zacharias filmed Depp's new trailer at Budapest's Hotel Gellert, built near the banks of the Danube near the end of the Habsburg era.

'Right at the start of the shoot he told me that he would prefer to improvise, Zacharias revealed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

'I was initially a bit taken aback, but it turned out to be a great idea, since Johnny ended up putting even more of his own personality into the trailer.'

He and Depp had 'great fun,' the filmmaker dished. 'When we were done, he still wanted to chat even though a plane was waiting for him.'

Back in 2021, Depp attended the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in support of two films - the rock documentary Crock Of Gold, which he helped produce, and the historical drama Minamata, on which he was both the star and a producer.

With the controversy around Depp's abuse allegations still at a fever pitch, the decision to honor him with the Crystal Globe wound up splitting opinions among some of the European showbiz names in attendance.

Jet-setter: Depp attended the 2021 Karlovy Vary Film Festival (pictured) in support of two films - the rock documentary Crock Of Gold and the historical drama Minamata

The way they were: At that point, his inclusion was controversial because of his legal battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard, whom he is pictured with in 2015

Triumphal return: Depp received a rapturous reception last month at the Cannes Film Festival, where he premiered his film Jeanne du Barry (pictured)

'I really support the criticism - Im not a big fan of celebrating domestic violence,' Lithuanian producer Maria Razgute told Screen Daily.

'If I need to choose a side, I would choose the side which says [the tribute] is not a nice thing to do,' she declared.

On the other end, the Serbian producer Miroslav Mogorovic said: 'If there is something he did wrong, he did wrong. But its not on us to find out.'

He added: 'Is it a real protest or is it just in the media? There is this circus in the film industry; I saw a Mel Gibson short video promoting the festival; in a couple of years, somebody would ask, is that problematic?'

Swedish filmmaker Ninja Thyberg remarked: 'As long as we keep looking for monsters and put the blame elsewhere, were not going to solve anything.'

'Just trying to put it in the shadow is just going to make it worse; we have to admit that this is something we are all part of, and we have to see these things within ourselves, and in the ones we love, and in the behavior, culture we are in. Thats the only way to deal with it,' she argued.
Sarah Jessica Parker has candidly discussed frenemy Kim Cattrall's shock return as Samantha Jones in And Just Like That.. season two.

Cattrall, 66, who played the iconic man-hungry publicist in six seasons of the show and two movies, delighted fans when her cameo in the reboot was announced last month amid her feud with Parker - but SJP, 58, has admitted the news leaking 'upset' her as she wanted the scene to be a surprise.

Speaking on SiriusXMs Andy Cohen Live, the Carrie Bradshaw actress said: '[I] couldnt have been more upset.'

'Anyway, yeah. Its a big bummer because it wouldve been so like fireworks in the middle, you know, and also because we want to make sure that expectations are real.

Revealing more about Cattrall's cameo, she added: 'Like its a little exchange that is happy and it says everything about their relationship and all the stuff thats off camera.

Candid: Sarah Jessica Parker has candidly discussed frenemy Kim Cattrall's shock return as Samantha Jones in And Just Like That.. season two

'Like yeah, theyre talking. They talk all the time, and it comes at a significant moment of the series so

According to Variety, Cattrall will return for only one 'cliffhanger' scene, which she shot on March 22 in New York City, without seeing or speaking with stars SJP, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis. The scene was also shot without AJLT showrunner Michael Patrick King.

In the scene, Samantha, who has moved to London, will have a phone conversation with Parker's Carrie Bradshaw.

The New York Post also revealed that Cattrall's cameo was so secretive that her name did not even appear on the call sheet for the day, leaving people stunned at her presence.

An insider said show staffers were 'definitely shocked, very intrigued on how theyre gonna write this in - and very excited. She said shed never do it! She said shed never come back!'

It was claimed her scene was filmed in a town car in a parking garage near Silvercup Studios in Queens.

Sex And The City designer Patricia Field returned to dress Cattrall for the scene. AJLT's second season premiered on June 22 on Max.

Samantha did feature in AJLT season one - but only over text message as Carrie repeatedly tried to repair their friendship. AJLT saw Carrie claim Samantha had cut her off and moved to London - due to fury at the writer firing her as a publicist - in a storyline Cattrall slammed for being inauthentic to the character.

SATC 2: Speaking on SiriusXMs Andy Cohen Live, the actress said: '[I] couldnt have been more upset.' 'Anyway, yeah. Its a big bummer because it wouldve been so like fireworks in the middle, you know, and also because we want to make sure that expectations are real./'

Cattrall had previously refused to ever reprise her fan-favorite role - having last played the character in much derided 2010 film, Sex and the City 2.

On Wednesday Cattrall finally broke her silence on her shock return as Samantha and revealed her demands to reprise her role after years of refusals.

The actress detailed how a groveling call from network Max (formerly HBO) and her demand to bring back designer Field sealed the deal for her return.

Speaking on Wednesday's The View, the giddy star said: 'It's very interesting to get a call from the head of HBO saying, "What can we do?" and I went "hmmm, let me get creative".

'And one of those things was to get Patricia Field back and I thought if I'm gonna come back, I gotta come back with that kind of Samantha style, I gotta push it, and we did!'

Field, who was responsible for the many boundary-breaking outfits on the original show run, was unable to return as costume designer for AJLT due to her commitments on Emily In Paris, with Molly Rogers and Danny Santiago dressing the stars for the reboot.

Yes! Cattrall finally broke her silence on her shock return as Samantha Jones in Sex and the City spin-off, And Just Like That... and revealed her demands to reprise her role after years of refusals

Icons: The actress, 66, who played the iconic man-hungry publicist in six seasons of the show and two movies, detailed how a groveling call from network Max (formerly HBO) and her demand to bring back designer Patricia Field sealed the deal for her return

Hell has frozen over: Cattrall will return for only one scene, which she shot on March 22 in New York City, without seeing or speaking with stars SJP, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis (pictured together in SATC season six)

Confirmed! Season 2 of And Just Like That... will return June 22 on HBO Max

Enemies: In the scene, Samantha, who has moved to London, will have a phone conversation with Parker's Carrie Bradshaw (pictured together in 2008)

Even SJP has claimed she does not want Kim back - when asked by Variety in a 2022 interview if she would be 'OK' if Cattrall, 65, was able to come back to the show if some 'miracle were to happen,' after their very public feud exploded back in 2018.

Parker responded: 'I don't think I would, because I think there's just too much public history of feelings on her part that she's shared.'

She added: 'I haven't participated in or read articles, although people are inclined to let me know.

'We didn't go to Kim for this, you know,' Parker said. 'After we didn't do the movie and the studio couldn't meet what she wanted to do, we have to hear her and listen to her and what was important to her.

'It didn't fit into what was important or needed for us. There's a very distinct line between Samantha and Kim,' Parker continued.

'Samantha's not gone. Samantha's present, and I think was handled with such respect and elegance. She wasn't villainized. She was a human being who had feelings about a relationship, so I think we found a way to address it which was necessary and important for people that loved her.'

Patricia has publicly pledged her allegiance with Kim since the show ended, and in December last year, said she is interested in doing a series with her.

The two-time Emmy winner told Page Six: 'I would love to do a show with [Kim].'

Back in December, Patricia also slammed Cynthia Nixon over her fashion demands when asked about her former assistant Molly Rogers' work styling the cast on And Just Like That.

The Oscar nominee admitted she 'liked some of it, but not all of it', during an interview with the Sunday Times.

She added: 'I know those gals! Sarah Jessica [Parker] thinks she knows everything - and she does. Cynthia Nixon thinks she knows everything - and she doesn't! Even today, when I speak with Molly, it's about Cynthia. I say, "I remember what you are going through."

Speaking about Kim's absence from the popular series, Field said: 'It is a vacuum. I hear it everywhere. Everyone is mad she wont be in it.'

SCRAPS AND THE CITY: HOW DID KIM AND SARAH'S FEUD BEGIN? May 2008: SJP defended Kim when she was asked whether she supported her decision to delay the filming of the first SATC movie due to salary disputes December 2009: Kim and Cynthia Nixon attend SJP's premier for Did You Hear About The Morgans? in a show of support and SJP tells Elle that she wouldn't have done the SATC film without Kim January 2010: In an interview with the Mail, Kim expressed her exasperation over the never-ending feud rumours saying 'People don't want to believe that we get on' May 2010: Kim admits that 'sometimes feelings get hurt' during grueling filming hours due to the amount of time the women spent together August 2016: SJP wishes Kim a happy 60th birthday and addresses her as her 'old friend' October 2016: Kim once again defends feud rumours but admits not every day working together is easy or perfect September 2017: SJP confirmed a third SATC movie... and then announced it was happening Willie Garson, who played Carrie's BFF Stan tweeted, 'Disappointed for all crew holding on for negotiations to conclude for their jobs, and of course, for the fans. Leave it at that. #Truth.' October 2017: Kim Tells Piers Morgan that SJP 'could have been nicer' about the SATC 3 demise February 2018: Kim blasts 'cruel' SJP and says she is not a friend nor family to her Advertisement

DailyMail.com exclusively revealed in September 2017 that a third Sex and the City movie was essentially 'torpedoed' due to Cattrall's excessive demands.

Cattrall reportedly demanded that Warner Bros. step up and produce other movies she was developing, or she wouldn't star in Sex and the City 3.

Parker, Nixon and Davis were all set to reprise their roles, with production slated to happen that fall, though the project completely fell apart and never went into production.

Cattrall denied the story, tweeting, 'The only DEMAND I ever made was that I didnt want to do a 3rd film.& that was back in 2016.'

Tensions had reportedly brewed between Cattrall and the rest of the cast since the start of the show, which escalated when one of her only allies - creator Darren Star - left the show and was replaced by Michael Patrick King, who created And Just Like That.

The feud escalated in 2018 when Cattrall blasted Parker for talking about Kim's brother Christopher, who was found dead in Canada, in a TV interview.

'Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now. Let me make this VERY clear. (If I havent already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So Im writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your "nice girl" persona,' Cattrall said in the post

Needless to say, most weren't surprised when Cattrall wasn't part of And Just Like That... with the actress revealing that she was never asked to be a part of the show.

It was revealed in the first episode of And Just Like That... that her character, Samantha Jones, is now living in London.

In 2022 Cattrall revealed she was never asked to be a part of the new Sex And The City reboot And Just Like That... and was heartbroken over a plotline in a pitched third film which involved her character receiving unwanted 'dick pics' from Miranda Hobbes' 14-year-old son Brady and ultimately led to her turning down the project.

'I was never asked to be part of the reboot. I made my feelings clear after the possible third movie, so I found out about it like everyone else did  on social media,' the actress told Variety.

When asked how she felt learning about the reboot, she replied, 'I was like, "Ooooh." How's...'

Phenomenon: SATC has become one of the most iconic television shows of all time

Will he be back? Some fans speculated that Kim's return could pave the way for her true love Smith Jerrod (played by Jason Lewis) to return to the SATC universe

The interviewer offered, 'How's that going to work?'

'You said it. Not me,' Kim replied.

'Its a great wisdom to know when enough is enough,' Kim said of not returning to the show. 'I also didnt want to compromise what the show was to me. The way forward seemed clear.'

Kim says she read the script for the third film and was disappointed to see how Samantha's story would play out. Apparently, Samantha was to be sent unwanted 'd*ck pics' from Mirandas' 14-year-old son.

'It's heartbreaking,' Kim said of the storyline.

Kim would have rather liked to have seen Samantha being forced to sell her PR company to 'some guy who's wearing a hoodie' as a result of the 2008 financial crisis.

'Why can't Samantha, who owns her PR company  maybe she had to sell it because of financial woes? 2008 was tough. Some people are still recovering. She had to sell it to some guy who's wearing a hoodie, and that's the dilemma she has. I mean that's a scenario that was kind of off the top of one of my reps' heads, and I thought that's a great idea. That's a conflict. Instead of an underage boy's...' she said.

Fury: The feud escalated in 2018 when Cattrall blasted Parker for talking about Kim's brother Christopher, who was found dead in Canada, in a TV interview

Ended: Cattrall told Parker she was 'not her friend' and slammed her

Ultimately, Kim decided not to take part in the third film after seeing her character's lack of progression.

'I would have preferred for all of us to have some kind of event to warrant a third film. That didnt happen. But also, I was ready. And this is exactly what I wished for: to be in different places playing different characters because Im a character actress.

'And as difficult as it was, and as scary as it is to stand up and not be bullied by the press or the fans or whomever  to just say, Im good. Im on this track. It was so great working with you. I so enjoyed it, but Im over here.'

She shaded the new series, claiming it was essentially the same as the script for the third film, which also saw Mr. Big die.

'The series is basically the third movie. That's how creative it was,' she said.

Kim was really ready to throw in the towel after filming the second SATC movie.

'Everything in me went, "I'm done,"' Kim said.

Yet she does appreciate fans noticing her character's absence. 'I've come to the conclusion that really the greatest compliment I could have as an actor is to be missed.'

Kim also addressed her relationship with her co-stars, whom she was allegedly at-odds with during their time filming the show. Kim said they had a professional relationship yet never considered them friends.

Not the only OG returning: John Corbett will also return as Aidan Shaw in the second season

'I think we were colleagues. My colleagues arent my friends. It was professional.'

Kim does not ever plan on reprising her iconic role.

'That's a no,' she said of a potential return. 'It's powerful to say no.'

Despite having no desire to return to the show, Kim had fond memories connecting with Samantha and fleshing out her character.

Kim also revealed she turned down the role three times before finally joining the show.

'I turned it down three times. I didnt think I could do it. At 42, I really didnt think I could pull it off. I finally said, "You're making a mistake here." We did the pilot  it was good but it wasn't there. And then it started to find its way. I realized, because Id never done a series before, the more you play the character, like in theater, the more you add to it and change. I remember one day, a laugh came out, and I thought, "Holy s**t, thats great. Sam just got a new laugh."'

Kim admitted it was 'odd' watching the show continue Samantha without her.

'Its odd, isnt it? I dont know how to feel about it. Its so finite for me, so it doesnt continue. I think I would ponder it more if I didnt have something like Queer as Folk or How I Met Your Father. Thats kind of where Im centered around. This feels like an echo of the past.

'Other than the really wonderful feeling of  its rare in my business  people wanting more, especially at 65. That feels powerful, that Ive left something behind that Im so proud of. I loved her. I loved her so, so, so much. Its tough competition. The original show is in all of our imaginations. But for me, it feels clean.'

Elaborating on her 'clean' break, she said: 'Yeah, it was years ago. It was 2017 when all this was happening. I just thought to myself, No, this is right. And you cant go against that feeling. I dont ever want to be on a set and not want to be there.'

It ain't over: DailyMail.com exclusively revealed in September 2017 that a third Sex and the City movie was essentially 'torpedoed' due to Cattrall's excessive demands

Kim also said she was unaware of remarks made by Sarah, who said she wouldn't be OK with Kim returning as Samantha again.

'I don't think I read it,' she said.

'It wouldn't happen anyway,' she added. 'So nobody has to worry about that.'

Unsurprisingly, she has not seen any of the new reboot.

Kim has been embroiled in a public feud with Sarah for a while now - calling her former costar names like 'cruel' and 'toxic' over the years - and many people believe that's why she didn't want to participate in the new show.

According to Cosmopolitan, Sarah earned a much larger salary than her costars during her time in the show - which eventually led to it going off the air in 2004.

'I felt after six years, it was time for all of us to participate in the financial windfall of Sex and the City,' Kim said in a 2004 interview about the pay-difference, right after the series came to an end.

'When they didnt seem keen on that, I thought it was time to move on.'

However, for years after Sex and the City concluded, Sarah and Kim denied that there were any hard feelings between them, and they even went on to film two SATC movies together.

'My colleagues arent my friends': The actress addressed her connection with her former co-stars and said they had a 'professional' relationship

But in 2017, things came to a head when Kim decided she did not want to be a part of the third Sex and the City movie.

'The answer was simply: "Thank you, but no. Im good,' Kim explained at the time during an interview with Piers Morgan.

'This isnt about more money, its not about more scenes  This is about a clear decision, an empowered decision in my life, to end one chapter and start another. I'm 61. It's now.'

Many of the stars of the show took to Twitter to share their disappointment over the third movie being canceled, and Kim called her former costars 'toxic' for not reaching out to her privately.

She continued: 'Weve never been friends. Weve been colleagues, and in some ways, its a very healthy place to be.

'Nobody ever picks up the phone and tries to contact you and say, "How you doing?" That would have been the way to handle it. This is, it feels like, a toxic relationship.'

Sarah later responded to Kim's claims while chatting with Andy Cohen.

'I found it very upsetting because thats not the way I recall our experience. Its sad, but I always think that what ties us together is this singular experience,' she said.

'It was a professional experience, but it became perso
There is an urgent need to tap the potential of AI for accomplishing national objectives and fulfilling the aspirations of Indian citizens

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new buzzword in the town and is making too much flutter and scoop around. AI and Machine Learning are being widely discussed and claimed across the board to bring about a revolution in the way things will be performed and looked at in future. AI has revolutionised the method of performing various tasks through its algorithm-based software and has made future predictions possible and accurate. With the use of AI, many tasks have become easier to perform with more efficiency. It is expected that the way AI is advancing it will develop various applications that will be able to do acts the doing of which seem humanly impossible at present.

Artificial intelligence is the creation of computer systems that can carry out tasks that traditionally require human intellect, including perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation. Through AI, the goal is to develop intelligent machines that can think, comprehend, and act on their own, modelling some human actions.

The invention of AI applications and tools has made it possible to answer questions and write code and poems and books with human-like sensitivity. It is also expected that AI shall become an indispensable tool for carrying out numerous industrial activities. AI has developed and is in the process of developing such tools that will be immensely beneficial in business operations. Against this backdrop, it is not an exaggeration to say that the manner of growth and popularisation of AI would have made it seem like a one-stop solution for all human problems.

However, AI tools also have limitations and can generate untruthful and toxic comments and can spread misinformation, and spam, and can write misleading academic literature. At present, India does not have a law on AI. The government of India has already expressed its intention some time back that it is not considering any law to regulate AI. The government had conveyed its position that AI is useful for the digital and innovation ecosystem, but had ethical concerns and associated risks. Various government agencies have started efforts to standardize responsible AI development and are drawing up a blueprint for the development of AI for India.

Despite the position taken by the government, successful use of AI technology would require the enactment of legislation that will prevent the misuse of AI in situations that involve, loss to or, infringement of the rights of people. Such a law may permit only authorized persons to utilize the govt recognized AI Platforms, allow limited access to the usage of Smart AI, and may have penal provisions to cover cases of malicious use of AI such as blackmailing, morphing and creating false evidence etc.

Moreover, such a law may require programmers to take reasonable care and caution while creating AI systems in order to prevent harm to AI users. Businesses using AI ought to alert end users against any potential danger and must attach strong technical safeguards and technological measures of protection with every AI application to minimize their misuse. Failure in complying with such stipulations must entail legal liability for creators, intermediaries and commercial dealers.

There is a need to tap the potential of AI positively in order to use this technology for accomplishing national objectives and fulfilling the aspirations of Indian citizens. AI should be used to serve the interests of our created social institutions and economic, legal, and administrative machinery. There can be no doubt that AI has enormous potential to revolutionise many facets of society but to maximise its advantages and minimise its downsides, serious deliberations over ethical/legal frameworks should be initiated.

(The writer is Sr Assistant Professor Faculty of Law University of Delhi)
A symbol of aspirations for freedom and democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi has reportedly been kept in 10 ft by 10 ft concrete cell with two windows

Unnoticed by the world at large, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the symbol of Myanmars aspiration for freedom and democracy, spent her 78th birthday on June 19 in Naypyidaw Prison. Mohinga Matters, an important source of information about developments in Myanmar, cites those released from the same prison as saying that she has been kept in a 10x10 feet small concrete building with two small windows. If any of the heads of state and governments demanded her release on the occasion of her birthday, it was not audible enough to be heard. The overwhelming majority of the Myanmar diaspora, including her younger son, Ko Htein Lin Kim Aris, rallied in her support for the restoration of democracy in that country.

In a video message released on the eve of her birthday, and carried by an independent news agency, he appealed to Myanmars ruling junta to release her and all other political prisoners and agree to a ceasefire while opening negotiations for handing power back to the democratically elected government. He also said that he had not been granted any contact with her since her arrest and subsequent internment. All his efforts to know about her whereabouts and the conditions in which she was being kept, fetched no response.

The statement touched upon matters on which there is a wide global consensusthe utter illegality of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis arrest and internment, the sheer mockery of the trials she is facing, and the savage repression the Junta has unleashed on the country. In addition, he made two noteworthy points. The first is that the world should put meaningful pressure on Myanmars military to end its brutal attacks on its own people. Also, the British government and all other countries should regard Myanmar (he used the original name of Burma) as a pariah state, withdraw all its diplomats and citizens from there, and open negotiations with the National Unity Government (formed on April 16, 2021, by some leaders of the National League for Democracy  the party led by Daw Suu Kyi  activists and representatives of several insurgent ethnic organisations and minor parties). The second is that the military would not win the current civil war in the country; the people will not allow their freedoms to be taken away.

As to the first, the United States and the European countries have taken measures like sanctioning the generals and others involved in the coup on February 1, 2021, which prevented the NLD, which had swept the general elections held on 8 November 2020, from assuming power, and the subsequent atrocities. As late as June 22, 2023, the US Department of Treasury imposed new sanctions on Myanmars Ministry of Defence and two junta-owned banks. Unfortunately, such measures have not deterred the junta because sanctions do not deliver and it is supported by China and Russia.

Given their preoccupations with the Ukraine war, the US and the European countries are unlikely to provide the kind of support needed to tilt the balance in favour of the NUG and its military wing, the Peoples Defence Force, which, and their allies, will have to fight the junta on their own.

Prima facie, the odds are against them and the Sit-Tat which (and not Tatmadaw), is what the Juntas armed forces should be called, is a much bigger and better-armed force compared to that of the PDF and its allies. The United States Institute of Peace, however, featured a piece by Ye Myo Hein, datelined May 4, 2023, which gives a very different estimate. According to it, while the Sit-Tats headcount was widely thought to total 300,000-400,000 before the coup, Extensive interviews with military deserters and defectors, analysis of internal military directives and meeting notes, historical records of troop movements and sizes, and casualty counts from primary conflict data and military hospital records, show that the military currently has about 150,000 personnel. Roughly 70,000 are combat soldiers. At least 21,000 service members have been lost through casualties, desertion and defection since the coup. At this troop level, the Sit-Tat is barely able to sustain itself as a fighting force, much less a government.

Not surprisingly, a brief released on September 5, 2022, by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, a group of international experts supporting the countrys struggle for democracy, said that the junta had stable control over only 72 out of the countrys 330 townships, constituting only 17 per cent of Myanmars land area.. The NUG and ethnic resistance organisations effectively controlled over 52 per cent of Myanmars territory and 23 per cent was contested.

The Junta has lost further ground since then. In most parts of the country, its forces do not venture out of their fortified camps. It is finding it increasingly difficult to find recruits. In a piece (June 27) in the NIKKEI , Gwen Robinson, its Asia editor-at-large, cites a World Bank report saying that the intensifying crisis since the coup will leave Myanmars economy permanently scarred. It will, however, be a long time before the junta is ousted. The PDF and its allies, the ethnic militias, lack heavy weaponry and air support. Myanmar will continue to burn in the interim.

(The author is Consulting Editor, The Pioneer. The views expressed are personal)
It is incumbent upon all stakeholders in the healthcare system to recognise and prioritise the well-being of medical professionals

In the noble pursuit of healing and saving lives, doctors selflessly dedicate themselves to the well-being of others. They work tirelessly, often under immense pressure, to provide the best possible care to their patients. However, in this journey of compassion and service, we must pause to ask a vital question: Who will be the doctor for the doctors? In India, according to a report, more than 1.2 million doctors are registered with the Indian Medical Council in 2020 which was only 5,77,000 back in 2001. On the other hand, the population of India remains to be the largest one in the entire world. Despite the gap in the standard ratio of doctors and patients, they fearlessly managed the havoc that the pandemic wreaked on the country.

Behind the white coats and stethoscopes, doctors face a range of occupational stressors that put their physical and mental health at risk. On this National Doctor's Day, it is essential to shed light on the challenges faced by our medical professionals and the urgent need for their own care and well-being.

Hidden Struggles

Within the demanding realm of medicine, doctors find themselves exposed to numerous occupational hazards that significantly impact their well-being. The toll of their profession extends beyond the physical and mental demands, as they face heightened risks of occupational stress, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), addictions, direct or indirect aggression, and infections. As doctors grapple with the challenges of their profession, they are also susceptible to being exposed to various infectious diseases in the course of their work, putting them at a higher risk of infections. This highlights the pressing need for comprehensive support systems and measures to address these challenges.

Improving Self-Care

The combination of long working hours, constant patient care, and administrative responsibilities leaves little room for their personal healthcare needs. As a result, doctors unintentionally place their own well-being on the back burner, jeopardizing their ability to provide optimal care in the long run. It is crucial to recognize the importance of self-care and ensure that doctors have access to the healthcare services they require to maintain their own health and well-being. By promoting a culture of self-care and providing resources that facilitate effective access to routine healthcare, we can support doctors in caring for themselves while caring for others.

Building Resilience

Recognizing the immense challenges and pressures that doctors face in their profession, it becomes essential to focus on enhancing their resilience through educational methods and practice-based interventions. By providing doctors with the necessary knowledge, skills, and tools to effectively cope with stress and adversity, they can be empowered to navigate the demanding landscape of medicine while safeguarding their well-being.

Educational methods like resilience training programs can equip doctors with strategies to manage stress, enhance emotional intelligence, and promote self-care. These programs can help them develop a deeper understanding of their own mental and physical health needs, fostering a proactive approach towards well-being.

Organizational Support is Essential

Beyond individual efforts, organizations must proactively provide the support systems that doctors need. Attention must be given to flexible resources for healthcare and workload management, aimed at preventing the psychological consequences faced by doctors. Cultivating a culture that promotes work-life balance and reducing administrative burdens are essential steps in nurturing the well-being of our medical professionals.

ASSISTANCE TO DOCS

In addition to organizational support, dedicated confidential services should be established, offering doctors a safe and confidential space to seek assistance without fear of judgment or repercussions. These services not only provide an avenue for doctors to disclose their struggles but also play a vital role in reducing the loss of valuable professionals from the workforce.

Bottomline

By addressing the challenges, they face and providing the necessary support, it can be ensured that the doctors remain resilient, healthy, and capable of delivering the highest standard of care. Let us celebrate our doctors by committing to be the ones who will stand beside them with empathy, understanding, and genuine care.

(The writer is the Director of Primus Super Speciality Hospital)
The US and India have a lot to share with each other as approximately five million Indians are contributing to the US economy

Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent visit to the US has up a sense of reverence and serenity leading to the harmonic chord of touch in the Indo-US relationship. It is also a sheer display of the hidden prowess of Indias soft power diplomacy creating an international environment of positivity and evoking dazzling serendipity in international relations winning applause all the way.PM Modis recent address to the joint meeting of both the houses of American Congress showcased how positive leadership and dynamism can be a game changer in a web of power struggles in International Politics.

The MoU between GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautics to facilitate the production of 99 leading F414 engines has enhanced the chances of technology transfer. In addition to this, an agreement on the production of Jet engines for Mk2 (combat aircraft ) and MQ-9B Hale UAVs (drones) would facilitate the smooth process of sophisticated technology transfer. This would enhance defence strategies via intelligence gathering to encounter security challenges from China and Pakistan and any terrorist group. Besides, cooperation in Artificial Intelligence can be of immense use. Traditionally, the foreign policy of any country used to be influenced by myriad factors but primarily determined by the dynamism of National Interest based on economic and security concerns which keep changing with situations and circumstances as being highly dynamic in nature.

The recent visit of PM Modi has been a game changer in the sense that now India has demonstrated the importance of ideology, cultural heritage, morality and good deeds alone can lead to intimacy between the countries despite a few differences. The warmth in the diplomatic endeavour between India and the US provides enough food for thought to write a new Theory of International Politics. The richness of Indian historical and cultural ideas such as Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (One Earth, One Family) and Jan Bhagidari (larger people participation)

have been acknowledged the world over. These are not mere ideas but have emerged as major catalysts for transformation in thinking to view politics among nations, a major departure from Hans J. Morgenthaus Realist Approach to studying International Politics. This will provide a new perspective on looking at different concepts in IR by displaying the importance of promoting peace, harmony and cooperation. Indias services-driven industry prowess and its institutional stability, deeply interwoven in pluralism and democracy have already brought it tremendous inner strength and won more friends. Recently, there has been a revolution in the process of opening up of start-ups as they have crossed the landmark of more than ten thousand providing a huge impetus to employment generation during the last five years alone.

According to a recent report by economic analysts, the robust strategy of start-ups has created more than one lakh of both direct and indirect jobs. The strategy to enhance its operational and support network, ranging from rural to urban areas, India ensured a much higher rate of return on assets. India also made magnificent strides in a number of areas, including knowledge and skill-based intensive services in telecommunication and scientific and technological innovation. India is also emerging as the first choice for foreign investors who are gradually pumping in a huge amount, more than $60 billion in the Indian stock markets with about 260 new foreign investors having registered with the stock market regulating body (SEBI) during the last two decades or so.

The stupendous progress of India in the IT industry has opened a new era of Indian companies aggressively capturing overseas markets, even the US has begun to realise this. The ambit of compliance and regulatory authorities also provide economic security as nothing gets undetected and is something to learn from. Foreign investor sentiments can further be enhanced by creating permissible ease in the tax rates and the existing protocols without compromising on security. On the other hand, further cementing Indo-US ties will be quite helpful in developing international cooperation for fighting the new tentacles of transnational terrorism and provide much-needed impetus to work out a new security road map in dealing with a most obnoxious form of modern terrorism. Myriad security and defence cooperation in Communication, Information Security Memorandum, Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreements and Initiatives for Critical and Emerging Technologies between India and the US are based on mutual coordination and lead to stupendous aggrandizement towards communication capability and management of security arrangements to deal with any kind of threat. This would help in generating prudence to anticipate the forebodings about a possible threat from either any state or non-state actors. Besides, this would be helpful in opening new avenues for Communication Compatibility and Security Agreements to facilitate cooperation between the security and defence establishments of the two largest democracies of the world.

The US and India have a lot to share with each other as approximately 5 million Indians are contributing to the US economy directly or indirectly either being employed there or studying in different US Universities. Besides, there has been a huge investment done by numerous companies in each other's countries creating new trade partnerships between both countries and accelerating mutual growth. This augurs very well for future diplomatic endeavours between the two largest democracies of the world.

( The writer, a recipient of the Bharat Gaurav Award is a Professor and an Expert on Strategic Affairs)
Streaming service Netflix has roped in filmmaker Lesley Headland to tackle the film adaptation of popular novel "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo".

Headland, known for feature films "Bachelorette" and "Sleeping with Other People" as well as the hit Netflix series "Russian Doll", will direct the project from a script adapted by writer Liz Tigelaar, a press release stated.

Penned by author Taylor Jenkins Reid, "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" was published in 2017 and tells the story of the fictional Old Hollywood star Evelyn Hugo.

"In a long awaited interview with a young journalist, Evelyn Hugo, an aging Hollywood starlet, pulls back the curtain on her seven marriages, and as she tells tales of Hollywood scandals, betrayals, and woe, she unveils shocking truths about her own life and the lives of everyone around her," the official synopsis of the film read.

The movie will be produced by Liza Chasin for 3Dot Productions and Brad Mendelsohn for Circle of Confusion. Reid will executive produce alongside Margaret Chernin.
Inspired by the tips given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from his virtual address a day ago, the workers of Bharatiya Janaa Party (BJP) have intensified their door-to-door contact campaign to apprise the people of the achievements of the Central Government during the last nine years. Though the 2024 parliamentary election is still far away and the opposition parties are busy in making a strong joint alliance, the BJP continued its activities to reach the voters as at present, its booth workers are doing contact with each voter under its on-going month long Maha Sampark Abhiyan, which was launched last month and it will continue till June 30.

During this month, the party had organised several big programmes including a public meeting of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath apart from many others addressed by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Union Minister SP Singh Baghel and senior BJP leaders. According to regional party chief (Kashi Region) Dilip Singh Patel, one big public meeting was held in each of 14 parliamentary constituencies of the region including Varanasi, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Machhalishahr, Sonbhadra, Ghazipur, Prayagraj, Phulpur, Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Kaushambi and Amethi.

Besides, the party has also made arrangements of big LED screens and other facilities so that the party workers could listen to the PMs virtual addresses on many occasions during the month including one from Bhopal when Modi interacted with party workers in Mera Booth, Sabse Mazboot programme. During this month, the senior party leaders contacted at least 250 special families of Padam award winners, sportspersons, artistes, entrepreneurs, doctors, former judges, martyrs and others in view that they would play as opinion leaders for the party in the upcoming elections. Recently, the party had performed superbly well in UP Urban Body polls, as usual the party did in the past but its leaders are confident about doing well in forthcoming panchayat elections as well as in recent time, the party has strengthened its organisational structure in rural areas especially in this part of Purvanchal (eastern UP).

In the last phase of the ongoing Maha Sampark Abhiyan, party workers are contacting the people at their doorsteps and handing over leaflets highlighting all the achievements of central governments during the last nine years. In this parliamentary constituency of the PM, the people have also been apprised about the overall development work done in the city areas under the leadership of Modi. In view of summer days, the BJP teams of workers generally contacted the people during the morning and evening hours.

Under this Maha Sampark Abhiyan, regional president Dilip Singh Patel, along with MLA Dr Neelkanth Tiwari, contacted people in booth number 206 (Adampur) and distributed leaflets of nine years achievements of the central government.

They also asked the people to fill forms and if they support the work of the PM, they should give a missed call on mobile number 9090902024. Such exercise will help the party to understand the reality of its ground level support from the people.

Regional spokesman Navratan Rathi said that door-to-door public contact drives at the booth level in all the Lok Sabha constituencies of Kashi Region will continue till June 30.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met with Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Friday and appealed to all sections of society for peace in Manipur, emphasising that violence is not a solution. Describing the events in Manipur as a tragic and painful ordeal for both the State and the country, Gandhi expressed his commitment to assist in bringing peace to the region. Addressing the media outside the Raj Bhavan, Gandhi said, Peace is the way forward, and it is crucial that everyone engages in discussions about peace and takes steps towards achieving it. I am here and will do everything I can to contribute to peace-building in this State. He further expressed his empathy for the people of Manipur, calling the situation a horrible tragedy that has deeply saddened both Manipuris and Indians nationwide.

During his visit, Gandhi toured various relief camps in Imphal, Churachandpur, and Moirang, where he engaged with individuals from diverse communities.
Ukhand may be first State to apply code as its draft is complete

The Modi Government is considering to introduce the contentious Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill during the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament. The Government is hopeful that it can secure the necessary support in the Rajya Sabha, with parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on their side.

Arvind Kejriwals AAP, the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), and the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) have openly expressed their support for the UCC. The BJP is also hoping for the backing of Naveen Patnaiks BJD and Jagan Mohan Reddys YSR Congress, although Reddys stance on the matter is yet to be clarified.

However, a significant number of Opposition parties, including the Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), Janata Dal United (JDU), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party (SP), and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), have described the UCC as a diversionary tactic employed by the Modi Government with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls. They have voiced their opposition to the Bill, while other parties like the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav faction) have called for wider consultations on the issue.

Commenting on the matter, BJP General Secretary Dushyant Gautam stated on Friday, The Uniform Civil Code has been part of the BJPs manifesto since the inception of the party, and its implementation is therefore a priority. Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent endorsement of the UCC suggests that the Government intends to expedite the process and present the Bill during the Monsoon Session, ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections.

The real challenge for the BJP lies in the Upper House, where they require the support of 119 members to pass the Bill in the current strength of 237 MPs, accounting for eight vacant seats. Currently, the BJP has 92 members, and with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) holding 109 seats, they are relying on the support of the nine seats held by both the BJP and the YSR Congress. However, since the Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress has not yet clarified their stance on the UCC, the BJP could potentially be supported by Arvind Kejriwals AAP, which holds ten crucial seats in the Upper House.

The election for ten Rajya Sabha seats is scheduled for July 24, where the BJP is expected to secure an additional seat from West Bengal at the expense of the Congress.

Following Modis strong endorsement of the UCC, the Parliamentary Standing Committee has summoned representatives from the Law Commission and the Law Ministry to deliberate on the issue on July 3. The committee aims to gather views on the UCC and review personal laws.

As per the standing committees schedule, representatives of the law panel, legal affairs, and legislative departments of the Law Ministry will present their views on the public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on June 14, 2023, inviting views from various stakeholders on the Uniform Civil Code, under the subject Review of Personal Laws.
The Opposition parties came together on Friday, demanding the immediate removal of Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi over the outrageous episode involving the dismissal of Tamil Nadu Minister Senthil Balaji. They condemned the Governors actions as unconstitutional and accused him of interfering in the affairs of the State Government.

Prominent parties, including the Congress, CPI(M), Trinamool Congress, and NCP, joined forces with the DMK in strongly criticising Governor Ravis decision. They expressed solidarity with Chief Minister MK Stalin and raised concerns about the lack of consultation before the dismissal, which was subsequently put on hold following the advice of Home Minister Amit Shah.

Governor Ravis initial justification for the move, citing Minister Balajis arrest and expressing concern about his potential influence on the ongoing investigation, was met with strong opposition.

Senior Congress MP Manish Tewari lambasted the Governor, saying, The President should immediately remove the Governor as he does not know the limits of his office. He shouldnt have taken such a step, and it has now been exposed that he does not know the Constitution.

Congress member MP Karti Chidambaram tweeted, The position of Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan (Governor) is completely untenable!

The CPI(M) also demanded Ravis removal, stating, This is a totally unconstitutional act as the Governor has no right to appoint or remove Ministers, except on the advice of the Chief Minister.

Ravi has been taking a series of steps, which amounts to interference in the politics of the State and in the running of the State Government. The latest outrageous move to dismiss a Minister, though kept in abeyance, makes it amply clear that he is not fit to hold the Constitutional post of Governor. The President of India should recall him forthwith, the statement added.

NCP Working President Supriya Sule criticised the Governors actions as ridiculous and contrary to the Constitution. She said, The stand taken by Stalin opposing the Governors decision to dismiss Balaji was correct."
India and Russia on Friday discussed the entire gamut of their bilateral ties during telephonic talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin. Both the leaders also reiterated their commitment to further strengthening the bilateral strategic partnership, the Kremlin said, adding they also discussed the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

The Kremlin statement also said Prime Minister Modi has expressed support for the actions taken by the Russian leadership in connection with the short-lived armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group last week.

In connection with the June 24 developments, Modi expressed understanding and support for the resolute actions by the Russian authorities to defend law and order, and ensure stability in the country and security of its citizens, it said. The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) in New Delhi said Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy to find a solution to the Ukraine conflict as he spoke to the Russian President over phone.

In their talks, the two leaders reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, the PMO said, adding that Putin informed Modi about the recent developments in Russia.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine, the PM reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, it said. Russia has been engaged in a conflict with Ukraine for over a year, with the western world rallying against Putin over the war.
DMRC now allows passengers to carry 2 sealed bottles on all lines, except for Airport Express one

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has revised its guidelines, allowing passengers to carry two sealed bottles of alcohol on all metro lines, except the Airport Express Line.

The decision comes after a committee review and relaxation of the previous ban on carrying alcohol. However, consuming alcohol inside the metro remains prohibited. The announcement has sparked concerns among activists regarding womens safety measures. One woman activist demanded the rollback of the decision, expressing apprehension that it may lead to incidents of nuisance. The police, on the other hand, assured strict vigilance and action against anyone causing disturbance. A senior officer of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), responsible for metro security, stated that the decision was made to establish uniformity in rules across the entire metro network. Having separate rules for the Airport Express Line and other routes was deemed undesirable. The official Twitter handle of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), in response to a now-deleted query from a user, confirmed the allowance of two sealed bottles of alcohol in the Delhi Metro. The statement released by DMRC clarified, Two sealed bottles of alcohol per person are allowed to be carried on the Delhi Metro, similar to the provisions on the Airport Express Line.

Previously, alcohol was prohibited on all metro lines except the Airport Express Line. The committee comprising officials from CISF and Delhi Metro reviewed the earlier order, leading to the relaxation. However, drinking alcohol within the metro premises remains strictly prohibited. Delhi Metro has emphasized the importance of maintaining decorum and responsible behavior during travel.
The Badrinath National Highway was reopened for the movement of vehicles early on Friday morning after it remained blocked for nearly 20 hours due to a landslide triggered by heavy rains near the Chhinka area of the Chamoli district. The district police said that the road was blocked around 9:50 AM on Thursday which was reopened around 3:30 AM on Friday after hours of efforts by authorities concerned to clear the route. The landslide had affected nearly 100 metres of the stretch of the highway due to which thousands of pilgrims were stranded from Thursday morning till early Friday morning. The stranded pilgrims included those who were on their way to Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib but the vehicles returning from Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib were cleared first, as per the police. The police personnel also filled potholes with stones and soil in the pits near the affected route in the morning as a temporary solution for the passage of the vehicles of the pilgrims. The police said that the route was expected to be reopened earlier by 7 PM on Thursday but since it did not happen, the local administration made arrangements for the stranded pilgrims to stay in Birhi, Chamoli, Pipalkoti, Gauchar, Karnaprayag, Nandprayag, Badrinath and Joshimath and provided them food and water. Water tankers were also stationed at the location to ensure a regular supply of drinking water to the stranded pilgrims. Some pilgrims also had to spend the night reportedly in their respective vehicles. The police said that the district administration was provided with additional machines from both ends of the road to remove heavy debris from the highway. In order to avoid inconvenience to the pilgrims, the passenger vehicles were kept at Badrinath, Padukeshwar, Govindghat, Joshimath, Pipalkoti, Mayapur, Chamoli, Nandprayag, Karnprayag, Gauchar and other safe places in the market, as per the police. The department concerned also restored telecom services which were interrupted at Pipalkoti, Joshimath and Badrinath after fibre optic cables were cut due to a landslide at Chhinka, said the police. The said route was also reportedly temporarily closed for vehicular movement in the evening after the administration received complaints of boulders falling off the hill.
On the occasion of Hul Diwas, the Chief Minister Hemant Soren inaugurated a total of 616 schemes worth Rs 16434.841 lakh, inaugurated 99 schemes worth Rs 1571.277 lakh and laid the foundation stone of 517 schemes worth Rs 14863.564 lakh. These include inauguration of Gen Next e-hospital system at Sadar Hospital, Sahibganj, Phulo Jhano Memorial Park at Bhognadih and newly constructed building of Ranga police station. On this occasion, he distributed assets worth Rs 12 crore 80 lakh 27 thousand 900 among the beneficiaries. Apart from this, the CM handed over the appointment letters to the doctors and the newly appointed.

Healthy and strong society and state can be made only by a better system of education and health. With this commitment, the state government is putting its action plans on the ground, said the CM while addressing the function organized at Bhognadih (Barhait, Sahibganj) today, on the occasion of Hul Day, at the holy land of Amar Veer Shaheed Sido Kanhu.

On this occasion, while inaugurating the Gen Next e-hospital system online at Sahibganj Sadar Hospital, he said that now the residents of the state will be able to take online medical consultation from specialist doctors. With this initiative of the government, people living in rural and remote areas will get better health facilities.

The CM said that Jharkhand has always been the land of heroes and martyrs. Our forefathers fought a long struggle against exploitation and oppression on the one hand, and protested against the British rule on the other. Thousands of heroes like Bhagwan Birsa Munda, Sido-Kanhu, Chand-Bhairav Phulo-Jhano, Tilka Manjhi, Nilambar-Pitamber sacrificed their everything in the war against the British. We are proud of our brave martyrs. Inform the coming generations about their heroic story.

The CM said that schemes are being run in the State keeping in mind the needs of every class and every section. It is necessary that you move forward, the government will provide you work through various schemes. It is our resolve that every person should become self-reliant and capable.

He said that this is your government. The government is fully determined to ensure that you get your rights and entitlements along with protecting your dignity. The Chief Minister said that the government is running many schemes like Universal Pension Scheme, Birsa Harit Gram Yojana, Chief Minister Self Employment Generation Scheme, Chief Minister Livestock Scheme, Phulo-Jhano Aashirwad Yojana, Agricultural Loan Waiver Scheme, Nilambar-Pitamber Jal Samridhi Yojana. Join these schemes and empower yourself. Your empowerment will empower the state.

The CM said that the government has taken several steps in the direction of providing quality education in government schools. The government has started the School of Excellence. Here on the lines of private schools poor children are being given free education through English medium, whereas all necessary resources have been made available in other government schools. Not only this, from preparing for competitive exams to studying medical engineering and other courses, the government will also bear the entire expenses of higher education abroad. Children just focus on their studies.

On this occasion, MP Vijay Hansda, former minister Hemlal Murmu and officials including Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police of Sahibganj district were present.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath handed over the keys of 76 flats built on the land freed from the possession of slain mafia Atiq Ahmed in Lukarganj to the beneficiaries here on Friday.

During this the chief minister interacted with 20 beneficiaries. He said, Our government stands with the poor. Earlier governments used to stand with the mafia. Earlier, the government-protected mafia used to occupy lands. Now this cannot happen in our government.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also dedicated and laid the foundation stones of 226 projects worth Rs 768 crore.

Earlier, the chief minister along with Prayagraj Development Authority officers inspected the construction of the flats. After this the chief minister met the children who had come with their parents and gave chocolates to them.

During this, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi were present with the chief minister.

The chief minister said at the Leader Press Ground, Before 2017, anyone used to occupy the land. Now houses for the poor are being built on the same land. Now no one bothers businessmen and the poor. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 54 lakh people have got houses. Earlier the state government did not want to provide houses to any poor. Soon 10 lakh people are going to get new houses.

The chief minister said, Under projects worth Rs 768 crore, houses are being given to the poor after freeing the land from the possession of the notorious mafias. To say, these are 76 houses, but there is a feeling behind it that they are being freed from the mafia.

Prayagraj is a mythological city. It has been the land of education and justice. Today, I would like to tell all the development authorities of the state that they should also build houses for the poor on the land occupied by mafia in their district, he said.

The chief minister said, A convention centre should also be built here. Prayagraj Development Authority should prepare a DPR (detailed project report). In February, we held a global investors summit. We received investments worth Rs 36 lakh crore. Had there been mafias in the state, it would have been difficult to get this investment. The Maha Kumbh to be held in 2025 in Prayagraj will be grand and divine.

Yogi Adityanath said, If we maintain the speed with which Indias economy is growing, then in 2027 Indias economy will become the third largest economy of the world. This country will not run by slogans. It will run by the work done. Today India and the image of Uttar Pradesh has changed.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, There can be no greater happiness than if the land freed from the mafia becomes the home for the poor. The Bharatiya Janata Partys double-engine government is working for the poor. Pressing the lotus button means house to a poor person. Pressing the lotus button means sending the mafia to jail. That is why it is necessary to press the lotus button in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The deputy chief minister said that soon 10 lakh new houses would be given to the people. The previous government used to give houses only to a particular class, he added.

Cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi said, Seventy-six houses are being given today in a fair manner. Had there been a Samajwadi Party government, only people of a particular caste would have got these flats. Now everyone can see what Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas means. Earlier, jobs were also given to members of a particular caste.

In 2021, the chief minister had announced plans to build flats on the land freed from the illegal occupation of Atiq Ahmed. In December 2021, the chief minister had come to Prayagraj to perform bhoomi pujan of these flats. The Prayagraj Development Authority completed this project in one and a half years and built 76 flats on the land freed Atiq.

A total of 6,071 people had applied for 76 flats built on 1,731 square metre.

PDA Vice-Chairman Arvind Singh Chauhan said the flats had been allotted to the eligible through lucky draw.

The flats have a covered area of 22.77 square metre. Under the scheme, the allottee will have to pay Rs 3.5 lakh to the PDA for the flat, of which Rs 45,000 will be paid at the time of allotment and the remaining Rs 3 lakh in installments of six months.
Punjab Vidhan Sabhas former Deputy Speaker and two-time Congress legislator Bir Devinder Singh passed away at PGI Chandigarh on Friday at the age of 73.

Bir Devinder, a forthright leader who has made a mark in Punjab politics, died while undergoing treatment at the PGI Chandigarh. His close associates informed that Bir Devinder had been detected with cancer in his food pipe (esophagus) of late, and was taken to PGI for treatment.

Even as it was the first stage of cancer, Bir Devinders health deteriorated after he underwent chemotherapy and breathed his last at the PGI on Friday afternoon. He served as Punjabs Deputy Speaker between 2003 and 2004 and was a two-time MLA from the Congress bastion first representing the Sirhind constituency and later the Kharar assembly constituency.

He started his political career as early as in 1971 as the leader of the All India Students Federation (AISSF) when he was just in his early 20s. In 1978, he joined the Congress in 1978 and was chosen by the national party to fight election from Sirhind in 1980 which he won with a handsome margin. He was active in the political affairs of the constituency by working to improve the literacy of the state, improve health and sanitation, and to improve the infrastructure of the Sirhind district.

Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring among others expressed their deep grief and sorrow over the sad demise of former Deputy Speaker of Punjab Legislative Assembly.
In a sensational killing in Ghazipur district, two cousins, who included the son of a gram pradhan, were stabbed to death late on Wednesday night.

The local police along with senior officers reached the spot and launched a hunt for the killers.

Superintendent of Police of Ghazipur, Omveer Singh, who reached the spot on Thursday morning, interrogated the relatives and villagers while investigating the case for hours.

Reports said that Vikas alias Indrajit Bind (17), son of village head Ramlal Bind of Badhaipur village under Mohammadabad police station, along with Sunil Bind (18) of Bauri village under Nonhara police station, and friend Sudama Bind, went to the farm late on Wednesday night for some work. When they did not return home even after a long time, the relatives started searching for the youths. They later found the dead bodies of two of them lying in pools of blood in the farmhouse. The relatives informed the police about the incident.

The relatives suspect that Sudama Bind, who is absconding, murdered the two cousins. The motive behind the killing is yet to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, in another killing, a shopkeeper was shot dead over a dispute of just Rs 10 in Mainpuri, the police said.

The victim, Maheshchand Jatav, a Dalit, was sleeping outside his makeshift shop when the accused, identified as Gulfaam alias Gulla Banjara, shot him in the head.

The police arrested Gulfaam and sent him to jail.

According to Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar, Gulfaam revealed that Jatav used to sell petrol in addition to other items at his shop. A few days before the incident, Gulfaam had purchased petrol from Jatav. After leaving the shop, Gulfaam noticed a discrepancy of Rs 10 in the transaction.

Gulfaam then asked Jatav to adjust the balance amount, but he refused, leading to an argument between them. Jatav even threatened Gulfaam, the police said, after questioning the accused.

Threatened by Jatav, Gulfaam decided to take revenge and shot him dead on the night of June 12 last. He was absconding since then. Police finally arrested him and sent him to jail on Thursday.






Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal on Friday said that the State Government is formulating a policy aimed at empowering Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) operating in the state. This decision comes as a response to the suggestion put forth by Vini Mahajan, Secretary in the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation for involving the women in Drinking Water and Sanitation schemes. The meeting was convened to review the progress of the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in the state.



During the meeting, Vini Mahajan lauded the achievements of the Haryana Government in successfully providing tap water to every household, well ahead of the target set by the Ministry under the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to ensure tap water supply to every household by 2024.



Mahajan emphasized the importance of encouraging women's involvement in the operation and maintenance of works under the Jal Jeevan Mission schemes. Recognizing the significant role women play in society, she highlighted how their active participation will contribute to the success and sustainability of drinking water and sanitation related initiatives.



Mahajan emphasized the need for collaborative efforts between the central and state governments to tackle water-related challenges effectively. This partnership aims to empower communities with access to clean water, fostering a more resilient and environmentally responsible society.



During the meeting, ACS, Public Health Engineering, AK Singh assured the Secretary that the state government has been ensuring clean drinking water to every household in the state. Besides this, the state government will bear the power expanses of water works.



Kaushal reiterated the state's commitment to achieve ODF (Open Defecation Free) and ODF Plus status by ensuring effective solid waste management, liquid waste management, and proper disposal of plastic waste in villages of the state. He emphasized the importance of community cooperation, especially from women, in various schemes such as the construction of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), septic tanks, utilization of wastewater, and the establishment of community cow dung plants.



The Chief Secretary highlighted that by accomplishing the targets set by the Central Government, Gram Panchayats (village councils) can pass resolutions to attain star rankings and become model villages. This recognition will showcase their exemplary efforts in waste management and overall village development.



Kaushal underscored the significance of adopting sustainable waste management practices to preserve the environment and improve the overall cleanliness and hygiene of rural areas. Proper waste management not only ensures a healthier living environment but also contributes to making the villages more sustainable and resilient.
Hong Kong: I&T forum hosted at Science Park

The Innovation & Technology Commission today co-staged the Hong Kong I&T Strives Ahead forum in partnership with the Science & Technology Parks Corporation and the Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre.

Held at the Science Park, the forum marked the anniversary of President Xi Jinping's visit to the location, and also formed part of a series of events marking the 26th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Wang Weiming, Director-General of the Department of Educational, Scientific & Technological Affairs of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR, was a guest.

Speaking at the forum, Secretary for Innovation, Technology & Industry Prof Sun Dong said the 14th Five-Year Plan outlines full national support for developing Hong Kong into an international innovation and technology (I&T) centre.

Prof Sun added that President Xi's visit to the Science Park last year demonstrated the importance placed on Hong Kongs I&T development by the central government, and its aspirations for the sector.

Science & Technology Parks Corporation Chairman Sunny Chai said the park has built a research and development community of about 20,000 people, with companies raising funds of approximately $780 million this year.

More than 430 start-ups from 21 economies have also completed incubation programmes in 2023, he added.

This story has been published on: 2023-06-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Rudraprayag administration on Friday halted the Kedarnath pilgrimage temporarily in the wake of heavy rainfall. The pilgrims were stopped at Sonprayag in the afternoon due to inclement weather at Kedarnath Dham as a precautionary measure to keep the pilgrims safe. A senior police official from Sonprayag police station told this correspondent that the heavy rainfall in Kedarnath on Friday made it difficult for pilgrims to continue their pilgrimage. The rainfall also triggered shallow landslides at various spots on the routes to Kedarnath Dham considering which, all pilgrims were halted at Sonprayag, said the official. She said that the pilgrims were asked to take shelter in view of the heavy rainfall till the pilgrimage is resumed. She said, Pilgrims safety is our top priority. We decided to stop pilgrims at Sonprayag on Friday soon after we got information about heavy rainfall and shallow landslides. The resumption of the pilgrimage will depend on the weather. The police also urged pilgrims to plan their pilgrimage to Char Dham shrines after checking the weather reports of the respective areas to avoid any inconvenience.
Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati, on Friday, made a fresh appeal to the Bharatiya Janata Party state governments to implement reservations for Muslims, taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement in Bhopal that 80 per cent of Indian Muslims are from backward classes.

The BSP leader, in a tweet, asked the BJP to honestly implement reservations and fill the backlog.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly saying at a BJP programme in Bhopal that 80 per cent of Muslims living in India are Pasmanda, backwards, exploited is accepting the bitter reality that supports the need for reservation for Muslims, she said.

The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh said the BJP should not only drop its opposition to reservation but must also honestly implement reservation and fill the backlog in recruitment to prove that they are different from other parties.

Pushing for uniform civil code during a programme in Bhopal on June 27, Modi said that Pasmanda Muslims were never treated as equal because of vote bank politics.

Pasmanda is a term used for backward classes among Muslims.

They have not got any benefit. They do not get equal rights. They are considered untouchables, he said.

Modi said that in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and south India, especially Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, and a number of other states, many castes were left behind from development because of the policy of appeasement. Modi said the BJP would not follow the path of appeasement and vote bank politics. He also alleged that the opposition was using the UCC issue to incite the Muslim community.
After the successful Patna conclave of the opposition parties on June 23, the Janata Dal (United) of Bihar has stepped up its activities in the state and officially focusing on Uttar Pradesh for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. JD (U) top leader Nitish Kumar is the Bihar chief minister and is spearheading the campaign for the unity of the opposition parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The JD (U) has started a massive renovation of its office in Lucknow, right behind the Bapu Bhawan housing the state secretariat. The state office of the JD (U) here had been lying in a state of neglect for the past several years. A large group of labourers were seen laying new tiles on the floor, removing the old paint from the wall and putting a coat of fresh paint on the walls of the office.

Nitish Kumar, from the dominant Kurmi Other Backward Classes community, is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election from Phulpur parliamentary constituency, a Kurmi dominated seat. Presently Kesri Devi Patel of the BJP is the MP from this seat in Prayagraj district.

The Bihar JD (U) leaders have also started visiting the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency for firming up the organisation at the grassroots level.

Soon, the office will be refurbished and have new decor, said a JD (U) leader.

The renovation work at the JD (U) office in Lucknow gives an indication of the emerging political scenario in Uttar Pradesh. Speculations of an alliance between Samajwadi Party, JD (U), Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Congress are also doing rounds. Officially, the RLD is already a part of the SP alliance.

Though the JD (U) has an insignificant presence in Uttar Pradesh, the partys state unit office is likely to remain abuzz with activities as the Lok Sabha elections draw near, especially because Nitish Kumar is playing a key role in putting up a united stand against the incumbent BJP.

Party sources said that a meeting of the district unit office-bearers would be held on July 15 to discuss the strategy for the Lok Sabha polls. The district unit leaders will give feedback on the political scenario in the various regions of the state and the plan of the party to strengthen the organisation. Senior JD(U) leader and minister in the Bihar government, Shrawan Kumar, will also be present in the meeting.

JD (U) state unit convener Satyendra Patel said: The party has started preparation for the Lok Sabha elections. As the party is playing a lead role in forging the unity of the opposition parties, the party cadre is motivated and soon a series of meetings will be organised across the state to gear up the workers for the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
On the recommendation of Ranchi MP Sanjay Seth, an amount of Rs 15 lakh has been provided to 6 people from the Prime Minister's National Disaster Relief Fund for treatment of serious/ non curable diseases in the last three months. This amount has been sent to the concerned hospitals so that they can be treated better. MP Sanjay Seth has expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing relief to people of Ranchi.

Among those who have received funds from the Prime Minister's National Disaster Relief Fund for the treatment of serious diseases includes, Rs 3 lakh to Hatia resident Riddika Tiwari, Rs 3 lakh to Kokar resident Saanvi Rai, Rs 3 lakh to Ratu resident Ashish Tigga, Rs 3 lakh to Harmu resident Abhijeet Kumar Rs 3 lakh has been sanctioned to Chandravanshi, Rs 2.5 lakh to Rajaram Singh, resident of Pandra and Rs 50,000 to Uma Devi, resident of Khelari. Of these, two patients are cancer patients while others are also suffering from incurable diseases.

All these are being treated in big hospitals in metro cities like Vellore, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata.

Member of Parliament, Sanjay Seth said that in the last one year, an amount of more than  70 lakh has been approved for the treatment of incurable diseases, on my recommendation to the Prime Minister's National Disaster Relief Fund. In the last 3 months, the Honorable Prime Minister has approved an amount of Rs 15 lakh. The Prime Minister's National Disaster Relief Fund always provides funds for the treatment of incurable diseases of the citizens on the recommendation of the MP. Member of Parliament Sanjay Seth told that for this it is necessary that the hospital where the treatment is being done should be affiliated with the Prime Minister's Office.

Apart from this, documents like income certificate, hospital prescription and bills, Aadhaar card are necessary to take advantage of this. Member of Parliament. Sanjay Seth said that it is the kindness of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi that he has kept the Prime Minister's National Disaster Relief Fund open for the treatment of the citizens of the country.

The Prime Minister himself is concerned about the health of the citizens of the country. As a result of this, a scheme like Ayushman Bharat has been brought for every citizen of the country.
The State government will encourage the use of alternative fertilisers and balanced use of chemical fertilisers under the PM PRANAM Yojana. The central government has done a commendable job by introducing the PM PRANAM (PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth) Yojana and increasing the minimum support price of sugarcanes for farmers. This was stated by the state president of Kisan Morcha, Jogendra Singh Pundir, in a Press conference here on Friday. He said the Bharatiya Janata Party is thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for these decisions that will immensely help the farmers. He said that the government has also made a budget provision of Rs 1,451 crore in the Market Development Assistance Scheme for which cow dung, straw and organic manure will be used to enrich the soil and keep the environment safe and clean. The existing urea subsidy scheme has also been extended till March 2025. He said that considering the interests of the sugarcane farmers in the sugar season 2023-24, the government has fixed the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane at Rs 315 per quintal for a basic recovery rate of 10.25 per cent. It has also approved providing a premium of Rs 3.07 per quintal for every 0.1 per cent increase in recovery above 10.25 per cent. Apart from this, the government has also decided that there will be no deduction in cases of sugar mills where the recovery is less than 9.5 per cent in order to protect the interests of sugarcane farmers. He said that farmers will get Rs 291.975 per quintal for sugarcane in the coming sugar season- October 2023 to September 2024 instead of Rs 282.125 per quintal in the current season. Pundir also thanked the union president of Kisan Morcha, Rajkumar Chahar for increasing the minimum support price of Moong, Arhar, Paddy, Maize, and Urad Dal to improve the economy of the farmers.
A plastic material trader was robbed by three miscreants of Rs 21 lakh at gunpoint in a car at Gwalior highway in Gandhinagar area; accused asked the businessman to visit Bhopal on the pretext of selling plastic, when the businessman reached Bhopal they took him in a car and robbed him.

After this, leaving the accused on the highway, they fled. The crime branch has registered a case and started an investigation.

TI Anoop Uike told that B Satish (39), a resident of Madurai, is a plastic material trader. Their business runs from other states as well. A few days ago he got a call from the number 9127464109. The one who called himself a plastic trader of Bhopal and said that he had 25 tonnes of goods which was said to be sold at the rate of Rs 70.

After this the fraudster said that they will send the photo. So the businessman came to Bhopal and asked to make a deal. The fraudster agreed on this and when Satish reached Bhopal by flight on June 23, the fraudster asked him to come to Sant Asharam Tiraha, Gandhinagar. After reaching the spot three of his companions were already present and sat in the car and took it to the Gwalior Highway. On reaching the highway the accused took a pistol and started demanding money and when the businessman refused, they started fighting. After this, Rs 40000 cash kept with him and Rs 21 lakhs transferred online forcefully by the accused were robbed.

The miscreants also snatched Satish's mobile. He somehow contacted the family by asking for a mobile and reached Indore airport. From there went back to Madurai. After this, he came back to Bhopal on Thursday and lodged a complaint. Seeing the seriousness of the matter, the Crime Branch team has started investigating.
With an aim to transform the education sector of Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government has decided to create five special education zones across the state, emphasising on skill development.

The upcoming years will witness a dedicated mission-mode approach towards education, labour and skill development, a government spokesman said here on Friday.

He said UP was striving to become a powerhouse economy, targeting a one-trillion-dollar milestone within the next five years. Having already established a commendable law and order model, the Yogi government recognises the importance of connectivity and infrastructure development, which has garnered attention nationwide, he said.

The government has achieved remarkable success in the tourism sector. However, the upcoming years will witness a dedicated mission-mode approach towards education, labour and skill development, he added.

He further said that the Uttar Pradesh government would create five special education zones across the state. In a recent review meeting the chief minister urged action in strengthening the educational system by establishing dedicated educational zones.

One such proposal includes a 500-acre special education zone in Gorakhpur, with plans for additional zones in various cities currently under consideration, he said.

At the same time, the government has a firm commitment to develop 5,000 model schools in the state in the next five years. Apart from this, work will also be done to encourage private universities in the state. To this end, an education conclave for private universities was organised in February 2023.

Following the successful UP Global Investors Summit-2023, where investment proposals worth Rs 36 lakh crore were received, Uttar Pradesh is set to witness a surge in demand for skilled workers across various sectors. Anticipating this demand, the state government has undertaken an ambitious plan to upgrade the skills of two crore youth in the next five years, preparing them as competent workforce for the industrial units within the state.

The spokesman said to achieve this target, the government planned to transform 305 government ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) into state-of-the-art facilities through public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements. With these strategic initiatives, the Yogi government is actively promoting skill development as a vital component of its economic agenda.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for increasing the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane and described it as an important stage in sugarcane farmers journey to prosperity and self-reliance.

Expressing his gratitude to the prime minister on Twitter, the chief minister wrote, The decision taken by the Union cabinet under the leadership of respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to approve the highest ever Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane to Rs 315 per quintal for the sugar season 2023-24 is highly commendable. This decision will provide new dimensions to the sugarcane farmers journey to prosperity. Today, prosperous farmers are the identity of new India.

The Modi government has decided to increase the FRP of sugarcane as a gift to the sugarcane farmers of the country. The fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane has been increased by Rs 10 to Rs 315 per quintal for the 2023-24 season.

The decision will not only get five crore sugarcane farmers of Uttar Pradesh better prices for their produce, but also benefit lakhs of sugar mill workers, the chief minister said.

Apart from this, the Modi government has also approved the continuation of the Urea Subsidy Scheme to ensure availability of urea to farmers. In the package, a commitment has been made to allocate about Rs 3.70 lakh crore towards urea subsidy for three years (2023 to 2025).
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said Union Home Minister Amit Shah's claim that the NIA arrested the accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case was a "lie" and added the state police nabbed them within four hours of the crime in Udaipur.

Soon after Shah made the claim while addressing a rally in Udaipur, the chief minister hit back at him and said he would probably be aware that the two accused were "active BJP workers".

He also demanded an inquiry to expose the "BJP leaders" who helped the accused.

Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, was murdered on June 28 last year by two men who had accused him of insulting Islam after he allegedly posted content on social media in support of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma.

Referring to the incident, Shah told the rally in Udaipur that the Ashok Gehlot government did not even want to catch the accused and the NIA had caught them.

Gehlot sharply reacted to his remarks and tweeted in Hindi, "It is expected that people holding responsible positions will not do politics on a serious issue like terrorism but what Union Home Minister Amit Shah did in Udaipur today is an irresponsible act."

He said that Shah "lied" that Kanhaiya Lal's killers Riyaz Attari and Ghous Mohammed were caught by the NIA.

"The truth is that they were caught by Rajasthan Police in just four hours of the incident. This tragic incident took place on June 28, 2022 while the file of this case was transferred to the NIA on July 2, 2022, the chief minister said.

Claiming that the accused duo were "active BJP workers", Gehlot said Shah "should get an inquiry done to ascertain who were the BJP leaders who helped these two, who used to call the police stations for them."

The chief minister also asked why did it take a long time to file a charge sheet in an open-and-shut case like this one and why have they not been punished yet.
The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Friday said it supports Balasaheb Thackeray's vision of one nation, one law and appealed to the Centre to hold a discussion on the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Parliament's monsoon session.

It targeted Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, asking if a UCC would affect Hindus or just the Gandhis. The Thackeray-led Shiv Sena was split last year after Shinde revolted against the party leadership and joined hands with the BJP to become the chief minister.

Addressing a press conference on the first anniversary of the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader and Lok Sabha MP from south central Mumbai, Rahul Shewale, declared his party's complete support to the proposed UCC. He was accompanied by MPs Hemant Patil and Krupal Tumane.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made a strong pitch for UCC and said Muslims are being instigated over the sensitive issue. UCC relates to a common law pertaining to marriage, divorce, inheritance, maintenance and succession of property for all citizens.

Shewale urged CM Shinde to get a resolution passed in support of UCC in the upcoming monsoon session of the state legislature and send it to the Centre to let it know Maharashtra's stand on the issue.

We also request PM Narendra Modi to hold a discussion on UCC in Parliament's monsoon session, and a whip will be issued to all Sena MPs to support it, Shewale said.

The MP said UCC was one of the three dreams that Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray had for the country.

Balasaheb had three dreams  setting up a grand Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, scrapping Article 370 (which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir), and implementing a Uniform Civil Code in the country. PM Modi has fulfilled two of his dreams and the last dream of having a UCC will be completed soon, Shewale said.

He said that Balasaheb supported UCC because it is in the interest of every citizen, especially women who need equal status under the law.

Shewale also launched an attack on Uddhav Thackeray over his meeting with the members of the All India Muslim Personal Board.

His father openly supported the UCC. Yet today, he is wary of it and even spreading misinformation about Hindus being affected by it. The leaders of the Muslim personal board went to meet Uddhav Thackeray because they know he will oppose it. His real face has been exposed and the people of Maharashtra are watching it, Shewale.

The proposed law is not against any community, said the Sena MP.

Uddhav Thackeray said that the law will affect Hindus, it will not affect Hindus, it will only affect the Gandhis (of Congress) and that is why he is opposing it, Shewale said.

After he snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) post the 2019 Assembly polls over the CM's post, Thackeray has been a part of the three-party alliance  Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)  that also comprises the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.

Shewale said that former President of India Dr Abdul Kalam had supported UCC in 2003 and claimed that the Supreme Court also emphasised the need for a UCC.

Shewale further said that the Shinde-led Shiv Sena is treading on the ideals of Balasaheb Thackeray and has already declared his support for the proposed law.

The Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde is committed to Balasaheb's vision of one nation, one law'. Even Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was in favour of the UCC, but it was the Congress that did not allow it to be implemented in the country for 75 years, Shewale said.
The Maharashtra Congress on Friday met Governor Ramesh Bais and requested him to convey to the President the party's demand that the Manipur government be dismissed in order to end violence there.

The Congress delegation that submitted a memorandum to this effect to Bais was led by the party's state unit working president Naseem Khan, who was accompanied by representatives from minority groups, Christian organisations and tribal leaders.

"Manipur has witnessed great human tragedy for more than two months. The unprecedented violence between the ethnic groups has devastated lives of the people, uprooted their homes and forced them to flee," the memorandum said.

The tradition of Manipur has been to embrace all ethnic groups, religions, the memorandum said, adding it takes tremendous courage to foster brotherhood and just one mistake to fan feelings of hatred and violence.

It said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not speaking on the issue and the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah had failed to bring peace in the northeastern state.

"It is our humble request to convey our feelings to the President of India to dismiss the Manipur government and declare President's Rule for immediate stop to the violence and hatred," it said.

Manipur continues to burn displacing over 12,000 people and the Centre fails to provide any help despite several pleas, the memorandum claimed.

More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state since May 3.

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.

Incidentally, Manipur Chief Minister Biren N Singh on Friday clarified he was not resigning from the post, putting an end to a day-long rumour on the issue.
Gujarat will host four meetings of G20 in the first two weeks of July, including a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors of G20 countries, an official said on Friday.

The meetings will take place in Surat, Kevadia and Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad, the official said.

Gujarat will hold important events in the third phase of G20, which includes ministerial and summit-level meetings. Generally, final reports will be prepared in these events, said Mona Kandhar, senior bureaucrat and nodal officer for G20 meetings in Gujarat.

A summit meeting of mayors of G20 countries under Urban 20 will be held at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on July 7 and 8, while a final meeting of the working group of finance ministers, Central Bank governors as well as finance secretary and deputy governors of central banks will be held in Gandhinagar from July 14, she said.

Apart from this, the third trade and investment working group meeting will be held at Ektanagar in Kevadia from July 10 to 12, which is also very important and a side event for logistics will also be held," Kandhar said.

A meeting of business representatives under B20 (Business 20) to be held in Surat from July 1, where they will discuss about textiles, finance, banking, and diamond, which are core industries in Surat, she said.

Speakers at the Surat event include Union Cabinet Minister, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways & Ministry of Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal as the chief guest.

These meetings will provide an opportunity for business representatives to share their perspectives, insights, and policy recommendations on various economic and business-related topics and will play a very significant role in shaping global economic agendas and policies, the official said.

A visit to the DREAM City in Surat and a diamond manufacturing unit is planned for the guests during this B20 meet, Kandhar said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy to find a solution to the Ukraine conflict as he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin over phone.

In their talks, the two leaders reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, the prime minster's office (PMO) said, adding that Putin informed Modi about the recent developments in Russia.

"While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy," it said. Russia has been engaged in a conflict with Ukraine for over a year, with the western world rallying against Putin over the war.

Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

The telephonic conversation between the two leaders took place days before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on July 4 which they will attend virtually along with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday alleged that the "electoral agenda" of the BJP is behind raking up the issue of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and urged the Central government to withdraw from the move to impose it.

In a statement, Vijayan, who is also a senior leader of the CPI(M), said the Centre's move can only be seen as a plan to implement the "majority communal agenda of 'one nation, one culture' by wiping out the cultural diversity of the country". "The Central Government and the Law Commission should withdraw from the move to impose the Uniform Civil Code," he said.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha flagged off the first batch of pilgrims for the annual Amarnath Yatra from the Bhagwati Nagar camp here early on Friday morning.

Amid multi-layer security, the first batch of more than 3,400 pilgrims left for the twin base camps in Kashmir to undertake the onward journey to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine of Lord Shiva in the south Kashmir Himalayas.

The pilgrims were escorted by CRPF troopers with area domination being done by the Army and police on the highway.

The 62-day-long pilgrimage will commence from Kashmir on Saturday on the twin tracks of the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and the 14-km shorter but steep Baltal route in Ganderbal district.

As many as 3.5 lakh pilgrims have already registered for the Yatra so far and the number is expected to increase, officials said.

Jammu Deputy Commissioner Avny Lavasa said 33 accommodation centres have been set up in Jammu while Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags will be issued at the registration centres.

Five counters have been established for the tatkal registration of the pilgrims at Vaishnavi Dham, Mahajan Sabha, Panchayat Ghar and two at Geeta Bhawan and Ram Mandir for the registration of saints.

Getting an RFID tag is mandatory, the official said.

"The Amarnath Yatra started from Jammu today with the flagging off ceremony by the lieutenant governor. The first batch of pilgrims left for Amarnath," BJP leader Devender Singh Rana told reporters here.

He said the administration has made arrangements for the best facilities for the smooth conduct of the yatra.

"We have come from Nagpur and this is our first pilgrimage to Amarnath. We are a group of 19 people. We have made it a point to be among the first to have darshan of ice lingam in the cave shrine," Susheel Kumar told PTI.

Another person, N K Mishra, said that he was undertaking the yatra for the ninth time.

"Since I realised that Lord Shiva is the supreme consciousness of this universe, I feel a kind of solace after visiting Amarnath," said Mishra, who hails from Uttar Pradesh.

Guddi Choudhary of Kolkata said she had promised that should take her in-laws on the Amarnath pilgrimage.

"I am fulfilling my promise. My father-in-law and mother-in-law are with me. Although the Covid situation had prevented their pilgrimage, today I am happy to do it," she said.
CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS  Free Report) had its price target cut by Argus from $75.00 to $62.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

CMS has been the subject of several other research reports. TheStreet raised CMS Energy from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Guggenheim cut their price target on CMS Energy from $68.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on CMS Energy in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a sell rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on CMS Energy from $70.00 to $64.00 in a report on Friday, May 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised CMS Energy from a neutral rating to a buy rating and cut their price target for the company from $68.00 to $66.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $66.82.

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CMS Energy Price Performance

NYSE CMS opened at $58.41 on Monday. CMS Energy has a twelve month low of $52.41 and a twelve month high of $71.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.03 billion, a PE ratio of 25.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.18.

CMS Energy Announces Dividend

CMS Energy ( NYSE:CMS Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.04. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 9.59% and a net margin of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. The firms revenue was down 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 5th were paid a $0.4875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 4th. This represents a $1.95 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. CMS Energys dividend payout ratio is currently 83.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Catherine A. Hendrian sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.26, for a total transaction of $451,950.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,918,753.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CMS Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,561 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the period. Oxler Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Oxler Private Wealth LLC now owns 27,126 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,580,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 7,756 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 41,239 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,612,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dupont Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 975 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. 91.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CMS Energy Company Profile

(Free Report)

CMS Energy Corporation operates as an energy company primarily in Michigan. The company operates through three segments: Electric Utility; Gas Utility; and Enterprises. The Electric Utility segment is involved in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. This segment generates electricity through coal, wind, gas, renewable energy, oil, and nuclear sources.

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Barclays (LON:BARC  Free Report) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from GBX 210 ($2.67) to GBX 180 ($2.29) in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services providers stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Shore Capital reiterated a buy rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Barclays from GBX 300 ($3.81) to GBX 320 ($4.07) and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. Citigroup restated a buy rating on shares of Barclays in a report on Friday, March 10th. UBS Group set a GBX 238 ($3.03) price objective on shares of Barclays in a report on Monday, March 6th. Finally, Berenberg Bank restated a buy rating and issued a GBX 270 ($3.43) price objective on shares of Barclays in a report on Monday, June 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of GBX 238.67 ($3.03).

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Barclays Price Performance

Shares of BARC stock opened at GBX 151.32 ($1.92) on Monday. Barclays has a 12 month low of GBX 128.12 ($1.63) and a 12 month high of GBX 198.86 ($2.53). The company has a market capitalization of 23.53 billion, a PE ratio of 472.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -1.09 and a beta of 1.36. The firms 50-day moving average is GBX 154.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 161.15.

Insider Activity at Barclays

Barclays Company Profile

In related news, insider Anna Cross sold 68,659 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of GBX 154 ($1.96), for a total value of 105,734.86 ($134,437.20). 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

(Free Report)

Barclays PLC provides various financial services in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company operates through two segments, Barclays UK and Barclays International divisions. It offers financial services, such as retail banking, credit cards, wholesale banking, investment banking, wealth management, and investment management services.

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Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC  Free Report) had its target price reduced by Citigroup from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report issued on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $41.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Truist Financial from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $53.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Truist Financial from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Truist Financial from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Truist Financial from $53.00 to $46.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $44.81.

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Truist Financial Stock Performance

TFC opened at $30.65 on Monday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $30.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.99. Truist Financial has a 1 year low of $25.56 and a 1 year high of $53.34. The company has a market capitalization of $40.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Truist Financial Announces Dividend

Truist Financial ( NYSE:TFC Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.04). Truist Financial had a net margin of 22.81% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The firm had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Truist Financial will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 12th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.79%. Truist Financials dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Truist Financial news, Director Charles A. Patton purchased 3,668 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.00 per share, for a total transaction of $69,692.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,668 shares in the company, valued at $69,692. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Truist Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Truist Financial by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,881,812 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $5,263,194,000 after buying an additional 1,044,192 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Truist Financial by 3.6% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 100,049,345 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $4,356,148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,443,946 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Truist Financial by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 59,714,752 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $2,599,980,000 after purchasing an additional 581,532 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Truist Financial by 1.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,931,465 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $814,557,000 after purchasing an additional 332,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Truist Financial by 55.2% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,461,191 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $731,827,000 after purchasing an additional 7,635,573 shares in the last quarter. 71.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Truist Financial Company Profile

(Free Report)

Truist Financial Corporation, a holding company, provides banking and trust services in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth, Corporate and Commercial Banking, and Insurance Holdings. Its deposit products include noninterest-bearing checking, interest-bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts.

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Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C  Free Report) by 4.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,477,070 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 289,969 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.33% of Citigroup worth $300,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 3.1% during the first quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 78,978 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,703,000 after acquiring an additional 2,389 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 3.2% during the first quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 298,746 shares of the companys stock valued at $14,845,000 after acquiring an additional 9,201 shares during the last quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 0.4% during the first quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 113,684 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,331,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. CLARET ASSET MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 33.5% during the first quarter. CLARET ASSET MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 128,516 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,026,000 after acquiring an additional 32,228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Donald L. Hagan LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup during the first quarter valued at approximately $233,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.39% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity at Citigroup

In related news, insider Zdenek Turek sold 12,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $598,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 155,979 shares in the company, valued at $7,778,672.73. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Citigroup Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of C traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $46.19. 5,405,854 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,622,340. Citigroup Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.01 and a 52-week high of $54.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.63. The firm has a market cap of $89.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Citigroup (NYSE:C  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $21.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.07 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 12.96%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 26th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 28th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. Citigroups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on C. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Citigroup from $55.00 to $51.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 24th. Barclays cut their price target on Citigroup from $61.00 to $59.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Citigroup in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Citigroup from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Citigroup from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, June 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $54.50.

About Citigroup

(Free Report)

Citigroup Inc, a diversified financial services holding company, provides various financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions in North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through three segments: Institutional Clients Group (ICG), Personal Banking and Wealth Management (PBWM), and Legacy Franchises.

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Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. (LON:ECO  Free Report) was down 2.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as GBX 15 ($0.19) and last traded at GBX 15 ($0.19). Approximately 404,239 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 11% from the average daily volume of 364,231 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 15.40 ($0.20).

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Berenberg Bank restated a buy rating and issued a GBX 125 ($1.59) price target on shares of Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas in a research note on Thursday, March 9th.

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Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Trading Down 2.6 %

The company has a market capitalization of 54.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -150.00 and a beta of 2.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.11, a quick ratio of 4.71 and a current ratio of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of GBX 18.38 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 19.39.

About Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. engages in the identification, acquisition, exploration, and development of the petroleum, natural gas, and shale gas properties in the Republic of Namibia and the Co-Operative Republic of Guyana. The company holds a 15% working interest in the Orinduik block comprising 1,800 square kilometers located in the Suriname Guyana basin; and interests in the Canje Block covering an area of 4,800 square kilometers located in Guyana.

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StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE:GHL  Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the financial services providers stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on GHL. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, May 22nd. JMP Securities cut Greenhill & Co., Inc. from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. TheStreet cut Greenhill & Co., Inc. from a c rating to a d+ rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Greenhill & Co., Inc. from $9.50 to $8.50 and set a sell rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $11.38.

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Greenhill & Co., Inc. Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. stock opened at $14.66 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.09, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Greenhill & Co., Inc. has a 1-year low of $5.64 and a 1-year high of $14.97. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $11.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.89. The stock has a market cap of $268.48 million, a P/E ratio of -21.55 and a beta of 1.15.

Greenhill & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

Greenhill & Co., Inc. ( NYSE:GHL Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported ($1.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Greenhill & Co., Inc. had a negative net margin of 3.02% and a negative return on equity of 13.14%. The firm had revenue of $49.68 million during the quarter.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 6th. Greenhill & Co., Inc.s payout ratio is -58.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Greenhill & Co., Inc.

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 11,373 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 1,240 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 58.1% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 7,855 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $122,000 after purchasing an additional 2,886 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 11,586 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 1,103 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 351,821 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $5,443,000 after purchasing an additional 36,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Greenhill & Co., Inc. by 113.9% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 39,344 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $609,000 after buying an additional 20,948 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.50% of the companys stock.

Greenhill & Co., Inc. Company Profile

(Free Report)

Greenhill & Co, Inc, an independent investment bank, provides financial and strategic advisory services to corporations, partnerships, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. The company offers advisory services related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, financings, private capital raising, and other similar transactions.

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Pilbara Minerals Limited (OTCMKTS:PILBF  Free Report) shares shot up 0.6% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $3.23 and last traded at $3.20. 56,274 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 232,625 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.18.

Pilbara Minerals Stock Performance

The firms 50 day simple moving average is $3.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.91.

Pilbara Minerals Company Profile

(Free Report)

Pilbara Minerals Limited explores for, develops, and operates mineral resources in Australia. The company primarily holds a 100% interest in the Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum project located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in West Perth, Australia.

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PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund (NYSEARCA:SMMU  Free Report)s stock price traded down 0.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $49.51 and last traded at $49.51. 52,229 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 20% from the average session volume of 64,919 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.56.

PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund Trading Down 0.1 %

The stocks fifty day moving average price is $49.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.57.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund during the 4th quarter worth $8,836,000. Davis R M Inc. boosted its stake in shares of PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 123,621 shares of the companys stock worth $6,154,000 after acquiring an additional 5,213 shares during the last quarter. TD Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. TD Capital Management LLC now owns 117,701 shares of the companys stock worth $5,859,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new position in shares of PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund during the 3rd quarter worth $5,560,000. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp boosted its stake in shares of PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund by 57.8% during the 1st quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 45,010 shares of the companys stock worth $2,241,000 after acquiring an additional 16,484 shares during the last quarter.

About PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Exchange-Traded Fund

PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond ETF, formerly PIMCO Short Term Municipal Bond Strategy Fund, is an exchange-traded fund. It is designed to be appropriate for investors seeking tax-exempt income. The Fund consists of a portfolio of primarily short duration, bonds which carry interest income that is exempt from federal tax and in some cases state tax.

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Altus Power (NYSE:AMPS  Free Report) had its target price decreased by equities research analysts at B. Riley from $14.00 to $11.00 in a report released on Friday, The Fly reports. B. Rileys price target would suggest a potential upside of 101.10% from the stocks previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Altus Power from $12.00 to $9.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Altus Power from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Altus Power from $10.00 to $7.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $10.17.

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Altus Power Stock Up 0.2 %

AMPS traded up $0.01 on Friday, reaching $5.47. The companys stock had a trading volume of 213,782 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,274,293. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $4.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The company has a market capitalization of $875.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -272.36 and a beta of 0.58. Altus Power has a fifty-two week low of $4.08 and a fifty-two week high of $14.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

Altus Power ( NYSE:AMPS Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 15th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $29.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.00 million. Altus Power had a net margin of 0.57% and a negative return on equity of 0.86%. As a group, analysts forecast that Altus Power will post 0.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Altus Power news, major shareholder Altus Holdings Lp Gso bought 15,000 shares of Altus Power stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $5.17 per share, with a total value of $77,550.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 20,790,125 shares in the company, valued at $107,484,946.25. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director William F. Concannon purchased 18,400 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $5.66 per share, for a total transaction of $104,144.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 123,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $699,168.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Altus Holdings Lp Gso purchased 15,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $5.17 per share, with a total value of $77,550.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,790,125 shares of the companys stock, valued at $107,484,946.25. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 274,500 shares of company stock valued at $1,384,925 and sold 275,000 shares valued at $1,497,500. Corporate insiders own 31.55% of the companys stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in Altus Power during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new stake in Altus Power in the 1st quarter worth about $39,000. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new stake in Altus Power in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Altus Power in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada acquired a new stake in Altus Power in the 1st quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 44.96% of the companys stock.

Altus Power Company Profile

(Free Report)

Altus Power, Inc, a clean electrification company, develops, owns, constructs, and operates roof, ground, and carport-based photovoltaic solar energy generation and storage systems. It serves commercial, industrial, public sector, and community solar customers. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut.

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Bancroft Fund Ltd. (NYSEAMERICAN:BCV  Free Report)s share price passed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50-day moving average of $0.00 and traded as high as $16.91. Bancroft Fund shares last traded at $16.89, with a volume of 8,629 shares trading hands.

Bancroft Fund Trading Up 1.0 %

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Bancroft Fund Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.49%.

Insider Transactions at Bancroft Fund

In other news, insider Mario J. Gabelli sold 12,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.58, for a total transaction of $198,960.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 45,000 shares in the company, valued at $746,100. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Mario J. Gabelli sold 3,000 shares of Bancroft Fund stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.98, for a total value of $50,940.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 40,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $679,200. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mario J. Gabelli sold 12,000 shares of Bancroft Fund stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.58, for a total transaction of $198,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 45,000 shares in the company, valued at $746,100. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.10% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bancroft Fund

Bancroft Fund Company Profile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Bancroft Fund by 13.9% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 52,257 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $888,000 after acquiring an additional 6,375 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new stake in Bancroft Fund in the first quarter valued at $76,000. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Bancroft Fund by 6.9% in the first quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 79,084 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,344,000 after acquiring an additional 5,138 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bancroft Fund by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 49,783 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $846,000 after buying an additional 2,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shaker Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Bancroft Fund by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Shaker Financial Services LLC now owns 109,308 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,857,000 after buying an additional 6,504 shares during the last quarter. 17.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

(Free Report)

Bancroft Fund Ltd. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by GAMCO Investors, Inc It is managed by Gabelli Funds, LLC. The fund invests in the public equity markets. It primarily invests in convertible securities including convertible debt and convertible preferred stocks. The fund invests in stocks of companies across market capitalization.

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Shares of Belden Inc. (NYSE:BDC  Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $96.58 and last traded at $96.24, with a volume of 42898 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $95.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Belden from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Saturday, May 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $98.80.

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Belden Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 1.32. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $86.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.70.

Belden Dividend Announcement

Belden ( NYSE:BDC Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The industrial products company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.13. Belden had a net margin of 10.69% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $641.79 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $624.46 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Belden Inc. will post 7.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.21%. Beldens payout ratio is currently 3.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ashish Chand sold 26,371 shares of Belden stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.81, for a total transaction of $2,500,234.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,682 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,331,110.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ashish Chand sold 26,371 shares of Belden stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.81, for a total transaction of $2,500,234.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,682 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,331,110.42. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Brian Lieser sold 829 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.34, for a total transaction of $78,207.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 17,363 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,638,025.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,421 shares of company stock valued at $3,241,593 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.42% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Belden

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Belden by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 353 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its position in Belden by 88.0% in the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 515 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 444.0% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 631 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 287.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 453 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Belden by 153.6% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 459 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter.

About Belden

(Free Report)

Belden Inc provides portfolio of signal transmission solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. It operates in two segments, Enterprise Solutions and Industrial Automation Solutions. The Enterprise Solutions segment offers copper cable and connectivity solutions, fiber cable and connectivity solutions, interconnect panels, racks and enclosures, and signal extension and matrix switching systems for use in applications, such as local area networks, data centers, access control, 5G, fiber, and home and building automation.

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Worthington Industries (NYSE:WOR  Free Report) had its price objective upped by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $60.00 to $68.00 in a report issued on Friday, The Fly reports. BMO Capital Markets price target indicates a potential downside of 1.38% from the companys current price.

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Worthington Industries in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating on the stock.

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Worthington Industries Price Performance

WOR stock opened at $68.95 on Friday. Worthington Industries has a 52 week low of $38.01 and a 52 week high of $70.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31 and a beta of 1.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

Worthington Industries ( NYSE:WOR Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 29th. The industrial products company reported $2.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.84. Worthington Industries had a net margin of 5.22% and a return on equity of 17.36%. The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.58 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Worthington Industries will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In related news, Chairman John P/Oh Mcconnell sold 17,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.52, for a total value of $977,840.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,338,633 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $76,998,170.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 39.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Huntington National Bank raised its position in Worthington Industries by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,642 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in Worthington Industries by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 7,582 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Worthington Industries by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Worthington Industries by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 4,221 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Worthington Industries by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 9,084 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.30% of the companys stock.

Worthington Industries Company Profile

(Free Report)

Worthington Industries, Inc, an industrial manufacturing company, focuses on value-added steel processing, manufactured consumer, building, and sustainable mobility products in North America and internationally. It operates through Steel Processing, Consumer Products, Building Products, and Sustainable Energy Solutions segments.

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Capital Advisors Inc. OK acquired a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM  Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 196,309 shares of the basic materials companys stock, valued at approximately $15,913,000. Capital Advisors Inc. OK owned 0.07% of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SQM. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $346,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,730 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $918,000 after purchasing an additional 3,526 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 11,471 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $982,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile by 44.8% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 5,814 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 1,799 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 938,593 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $80,344,000 after purchasing an additional 69,385 shares during the period. 17.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile stock traded up $0.88 on Friday, reaching $72.35. 203,132 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,740,419. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. has a one year low of $60.21 and a one year high of $115.72. The company has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.29, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.48, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a 50-day moving average of $69.34 and a 200 day moving average of $79.13.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile Increases Dividend

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile ( NYSE:SQM Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The basic materials company reported $2.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.12 by ($0.49). Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile had a net margin of 35.24% and a return on equity of 82.96%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.44 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. will post 12.45 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 12th were paid a $3.2237 dividend. This represents a $12.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 17.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 11th. This is a boost from Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chiles previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chiles dividend payout ratio is 60.50%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SQM. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile from $130.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 24th. Scotiabank downgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $113.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile from $134.00 to $97.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile in a research report on Friday, May 19th. They set a sell rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $87.86.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile Profile

(Free Report)

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA produces and distributes specialty plant nutrients, iodine derivatives, lithium derivatives, potassium chloride and sulfate, industrial chemicals, and other products and services. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers.

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China Life Insurance Company Limited (OTCMKTS:CILJF  Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 63,500 shares, a decline of 87.1% from the May 31st total of 491,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 7,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.9 days.

China Life Insurance Stock Performance

Shares of China Life Insurance stock traded down $0.01 on Friday, reaching $1.68. The company had a trading volume of 600 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,986. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $1.79. China Life Insurance has a 1 year low of $1.06 and a 1 year high of $1.99.

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China Life Insurance (OTCMKTS:CILJF  Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 29th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $13.38 billion for the quarter.

China Life Insurance Company Profile

China Life Insurance Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a life insurance company in the People's Republic of China. The company operates in four segments: Life Insurance Business, Health Insurance Business, Accident Insurance Business, and Other Businesses. It offers critical illness protection, annuity, children/female/pension, security, life, medical, and accident protection insurance products.

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Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ  Free Report) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $11.70-$12.00 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $11.62. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Constellation Brands also updated its FY24 guidance to $11.70-12.00 EPS.

Constellation Brands Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of STZ opened at $247.04 on Friday. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $236.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $228.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Constellation Brands has a 52-week low of $208.12 and a 52-week high of $261.32.

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Constellation Brands (NYSE:STZ  Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, June 30th. The company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.83 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.47 billion. Constellation Brands had a positive return on equity of 20.48% and a negative net margin of 0.70%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.66 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Constellation Brands will post 11.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Constellation Brands Announces Dividend

Analysts Set New Price Targets

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 10th will be paid a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.44%. Constellation Brandss dividend payout ratio is currently -698.03%.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on STZ shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Constellation Brands from $293.00 to $300.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on Constellation Brands from $265.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Constellation Brands from $267.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $295.00 price objective on shares of Constellation Brands in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm upgraded Constellation Brands from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $258.71.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard Sands sold 3,858,476 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.53, for a total value of $862,485,140.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,488,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,579,865,487.54. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Business Holdings Lp Ajb sold 650,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.53, for a total value of $145,294,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 3,365,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $752,338,273.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Richard Sands sold 3,858,476 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $223.53, for a total value of $862,485,140.28. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,488,818 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,579,865,487.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 16.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STZ. Prudential PLC bought a new position in Constellation Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $705,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Constellation Brands by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,026 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,921,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Constellation Brands by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,149 shares of the companys stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Constellation Brands by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,601,280 shares of the companys stock worth $2,902,327,000 after purchasing an additional 313,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC bought a new stake in shares of Constellation Brands in the 1st quarter worth $257,000. Institutional investors own 86.49% of the companys stock.

About Constellation Brands

(Free Report)

Constellation Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, imports, markets, and sells beer, wine, and spirits in the United States, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy. The company provides beer primarily under the Corona Extra, Corona Premier, Corona Familiar, Corona Light, Corona Refresca, Corona Hard Seltzer, Modelo Especial, Modelo Negra, Modelo Chelada, Victoria, Vicky Chamoy, and Pacifico brands.

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Covenant Partners LLC reduced its position in Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE:WSM  Free Report) by 28.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,319 shares of the specialty retailers stock after selling 911 shares during the period. Covenant Partners LLCs holdings in Williams-Sonoma were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 863.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 212 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 210.0% during the 4th quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 310 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Kistler Tiffany Companies LLC purchased a new stake in Williams-Sonoma during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Williams-Sonoma by 161.0% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 535 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. 98.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

WSM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $135.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 24th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Williams-Sonoma from $127.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $155.00 to $142.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $130.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Williams-Sonoma from $151.00 to $143.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $126.69.

Williams-Sonoma Price Performance

WSM opened at $123.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.61. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $119.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $121.44. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. has a 1-year low of $106.66 and a 1-year high of $176.89.

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 23rd. The specialty retailer reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.80 billion. Williams-Sonoma had a return on equity of 72.68% and a net margin of 12.07%. The companys revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. Research analysts expect that Williams-Sonoma, Inc. will post 13.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Williams-Sonoma Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 20th. Williams-Sonomas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.65%.

Williams-Sonoma Profile

(Free Report)

Williams-Sonoma, Inc operates as an omni-channel specialty retailer of various products for home. It offers cooking, dining, and entertaining products, such as cookware, tools, electrics, cutlery, tabletop and bar, outdoor, furniture, and a library of cookbooks under the Williams Sonoma Home brand, as well as home furnishings and decorative accessories under the Williams Sonoma lifestyle brand; and furniture, bedding, lighting, rugs, table essentials, and decorative accessories under the Pottery Barn brand.

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Conagra Brands (NYSE:CAG  Free Report) and Hanover Foods (OTC:HNFSA  Free Report) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.8% of Conagra Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Conagra Brands shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

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Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Conagra Brands and Hanover Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Conagra Brands 0 6 5 0 2.45 Hanover Foods 0 0 0 0 N/A

Valuation and Earnings

Conagra Brands currently has a consensus target price of $40.92, suggesting a potential upside of 21.34%. Given Conagra Brands higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Conagra Brands is more favorable than Hanover Foods.

This table compares Conagra Brands and Hanover Foods revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Conagra Brands $11.54 billion 1.39 $888.20 million $1.67 20.19 Hanover Foods N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Conagra Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Hanover Foods.

Profitability

This table compares Conagra Brands and Hanover Foods net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Conagra Brands 6.59% 15.34% 6.02% Hanover Foods N/A N/A N/A

Summary

Conagra Brands beats Hanover Foods on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Conagra Brands

(Free Report)

Conagra Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a consumer packaged goods food company in North America. The company operates in four segments: Grocery & Snacks, Refrigerated & Frozen, International, and Foodservice. The Grocery & Snacks segment primarily offers shelf stable food products through various retail channels in the United States. The Refrigerated & Frozen segment provides temperature-controlled food products through various retail channels in the United States. The International segment offers food products in various temperature states through retail and foodservice channels outside of the United States. The Foodservice segment offers branded and customized food products, including meals, entrees, sauces, and various custom-manufactured culinary products packaged for restaurants and other foodservice establishments in the United States. The company sells its products under the Birds Eye, Duncan Hines, Healthy Choice, Marie Callender's, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP, Duke's, Earth Balance, Gardein, and Frontera brands. The company was formerly known as ConAgra Foods, Inc. and changed its name to Conagra Brands, Inc. in November 2016. Conagra Brands, Inc. was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Hanover Foods

(Free Report)

Hanover Foods Corporation engages in processing, packaging, and selling fresh canned and frozen products. It offers baked beans, beans, canned blends and vegetables, frozen blends and vegetables, kosher, pork and beans, soft pretzels, steam in bag products, and tomatoes, as well as soups, salads, and broths. The company was founded in 1924 and is based in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

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Dentgroup LLC lessened its holdings in iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF (NYSEARCA:IVLU  Free Report) by 15.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,649 shares of the companys stock after selling 6,574 shares during the period. Dentgroup LLC owned about 0.05% of iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF worth $884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in IVLU. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF by 818.9% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the companys stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474 shares in the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF during the 3rd quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF by 132.9% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,191 shares of the companys stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 1,821 shares in the last quarter.

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iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF Price Performance

IVLU traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $25.49. 14,843 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 323,375. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $25.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.72. The company has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24 and a beta of 0.82. iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF has a fifty-two week low of $19.53 and a fifty-two week high of $25.84.

About iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF

The iShares Edge MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF (IVLU) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI World ex USA Enhanced Value index. The fund tracks an index of large- and mid-cap developed ex-US equities, selected using fundamental metrics, and weighted by these metrics and market-cap. IVLU was launched on Jun 16, 2015 and is managed by BlackRock.

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EDP  Energias de Portugal, S.A. (OTCMKTS:EDPFY  Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,500 shares, a decline of 82.8% from the May 31st total of 8,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 36,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.0 days.

EDP  Energias de Portugal Stock Up 0.6 %

EDP  Energias de Portugal stock traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.94. 10,845 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,724. EDP  Energias de Portugal has a 12-month low of $38.87 and a 12-month high of $57.63. The businesss 50-day moving average is $51.59 and its 200-day moving average is $51.48.

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EDP  Energias de Portugal (OTCMKTS:EDPFY  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter. EDP  Energias de Portugal had a net margin of 5.44% and a return on equity of 4.24%. The firm had revenue of $4.81 billion during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that EDP  Energias de Portugal will post 3.29 EPS for the current year.

EDP  Energias de Portugal Company Profile

EDP  Energias de Portugal, SA engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and supply of electricity in Portugal, Spain, France, Poland, Romania, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Greece, Colombia, Brazil, North America, and internationally. It operates through Renewables, Networks, and Client Solutions & Energy Management segments.

Further Reading

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Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions (OTCMKTS:MGDDY  Free Report) and International Distributions Services (OTCMKTS:ROYMY  Free Report) are both auto/tires/trucks companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and earnings.

Dividends

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. International Distributions Services pays an annual dividend of $0.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.0%.

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Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions and International Distributions Services, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions 1 2 2 0 2.20 International Distributions Services 0 3 1 0 2.25

Profitability

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions presently has a consensus price target of $32.00, indicating a potential upside of 119.18%. International Distributions Services has a consensus price target of $318.50, indicating a potential upside of 5,760.17%. Given International Distributions Services stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe International Distributions Services is more favorable than Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions.

This table compares Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions and International Distributions Services net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions N/A N/A N/A International Distributions Services N/A N/A N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions and International Distributions Services top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions $20.74 billion 1.01 $2.11 billion N/A N/A International Distributions Services $17.37 billion 0.15 $835.87 million N/A N/A

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions has higher revenue and earnings than International Distributions Services.

Risk & Volatility

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions has a beta of 1.12, meaning that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, International Distributions Services has a beta of 1.82, meaning that its share price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

3.7% of Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions beats International Distributions Services on 5 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin Societe en commandite par actions

(Free Report)

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA engages in the manufacture, distribution and sale of tires. Its products and services include tires, mobility services, lifestyle products, Michelin solutions and Michelin engineering and services. The company operates through the following segments: Passenger car and Light truck tires and related distribution, Truck tires and related distribution, and Specialty businesses. The company was founded by Aristide Barbier and Edouard Daubree on July 15, 1863 and is headquartered in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

About International Distributions Services

(Free Report)

International Distributions Services plc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a universal postal service provider. The company offers parcels and letter delivery services under the Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide brands. It also provides services for the collection, sorting, and delivery of parcels and letters. In addition, the company operates ground-based parcel delivery networks in Europe that covers 40 countries and nation states. Further, it provides express parcel delivery and logistics services. Additionally, the company engages in property holdings and facilities management activities. It serves consumers, sole-traders, small and medium-sized enterprises, large businesses, retailers, and access operators. It operates in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the United Kingdom, the United States, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Portugal. The company was formerly known as Royal Mail plc and changed its name to International Distributions Services plc in October 2022. International Distributions Services plc was founded in 1516 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

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Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC increased its position in ORIX Co. (NYSE:IX  Free Report) by 6.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,771 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after purchasing an additional 1,915 shares during the period. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLCs holdings in ORIX were worth $2,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. OLD Mission Capital LLC acquired a new position in ORIX in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Glassman Wealth Services increased its position in ORIX by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 367 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its position in ORIX by 744.2% during the 1st quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 439 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in ORIX by 56.2% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 489 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in ORIX by 116.7% during the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 596 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the period. 1.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on IX. TheStreet cut ORIX from a b- rating to a c rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 10th. StockNews.com raised ORIX from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 11th.

ORIX Price Performance

NYSE IX traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $91.23. The stock had a trading volume of 4,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,184. ORIX Co. has a 52-week low of $68.78 and a 52-week high of $92.03. The company has a market cap of $21.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

ORIX (NYSE:IX  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter. ORIX had a return on equity of 8.03% and a net margin of 10.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.46 billion. Equities analysts forecast that ORIX Co. will post 10.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About ORIX

(Free Report)

ORIX Corporation provides diversified financial services in Japan, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Australasia, the Middle East, and internationally. The company's Corporate Financial Services and Maintenance Leasing segment is involved in the finance and fee; leasing and rental of automobiles, electronic measuring instruments, and ICT-related equipment businesses; and provision of life insurance and environment and energy-related products and services.

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Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC grew its stake in New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB  Free Report) by 7.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 830,708 shares of the financial services providers stock after buying an additional 55,081 shares during the period. New York Community Bancorp makes up about 1.5% of Gilman Hill Asset Management LLCs holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLCs holdings in New York Community Bancorp were worth $7,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in NYCB. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of New York Community Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of New York Community Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. New Hampshire Trust acquired a new position in shares of New York Community Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of New York Community Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of New York Community Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.49% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson raised New York Community Bancorp from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $11.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on New York Community Bancorp from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Wedbush raised New York Community Bancorp from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on New York Community Bancorp from $11.50 to $13.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TheStreet raised New York Community Bancorp from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, New York Community Bancorp has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $10.82.

New York Community Bancorp Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYCB traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $11.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,550,083 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,073,827. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.47. New York Community Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $5.81 and a twelve month high of $11.40. The firm has a market cap of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 1.23.

New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The financial services provider reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.11 million. New York Community Bancorp had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 49.74%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 666.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that New York Community Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

New York Community Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 8th were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 5th. New York Community Bancorps payout ratio is 17.85%.

About New York Community Bancorp

(Free Report)

New York Community Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Flagstar Bank, N.A. that provides banking products and services in the United States. The company's deposit products include interest-bearing checking and money market, savings, non-interest-bearing, and retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.

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Gold Springs Resource Corp. (TSE:GRC  Free Report)s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The company traded as low as C$0.08 and last traded at C$0.08, with a volume of 69750 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$0.09.

Gold Springs Resource Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of C$20.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.00 and a beta of 1.26. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is C$0.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$0.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Gold Springs Resource Company Profile

(Free Report)

Gold Springs Resource Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in the United States. The company primarily explores for gold and silver deposits. It holds a 100% interest in the Gold Springs project covering approximately 7,847 hectares located in straddles eastern Lincoln County, Nevada, and western Iron County, Utah.

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GN Store Nord A/S (OTCMKTS:GGNDF  Free Report) is one of 119 publicly-traded companies in the Medical Devices industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare GN Store Nord A/S to related companies based on the strength of its risk, profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares GN Store Nord A/S and its peers net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets GN Store Nord A/S N/A N/A N/A GN Store Nord A/S Competitors -49.00% -32.54% -11.67%

Dividends

GN Store Nord A/S pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. GN Store Nord A/S pays out 19.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Medical Devices companies pay a dividend yield of 2.3% and pay out 449.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. GN Store Nord A/S is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

Analyst Ratings

35.3% of GN Store Nord A/S shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.4% of shares of all Medical Devices companies are owned by institutional investors. 27.0% of shares of all Medical Devices companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for GN Store Nord A/S and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score GN Store Nord A/S 0 2 2 0 2.50 GN Store Nord A/S Competitors 189 830 881 38 2.40

As a group, Medical Devices companies have a potential upside of 60.77%. Given GN Store Nord A/Ss peers higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe GN Store Nord A/S has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares GN Store Nord A/S and its peers revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio GN Store Nord A/S N/A N/A 5.67 GN Store Nord A/S Competitors $568.66 million $25.07 million 159.31

GN Store Nord A/Ss peers have higher revenue and earnings than GN Store Nord A/S. GN Store Nord A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

GN Store Nord A/S beats its peers on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

GN Store Nord A/S Company Profile

(Free Report)

GN Store Nord A/S develops, manufactures, and markets audio and video communications solutions for medical, professional, and consumer technology solutions in Denmark, rest of Europe, North America, and internationally. It operates in two segments, GN Hearing and GN Audio. The GN Hearing segment produces and sells hearing instruments and products. The GN Audio segment supplies headsets, video cameras, and speakerphones for professional use and consumer products. It offers its products under the ReSound, Beltone, Interton, Jabra, BlueParrott, FalCom, and Audigy brands. GN Store Nord A/S was founded in 1869 and is based in Ballerup, Denmark.

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Hostmore plc (LON:MORE  Free Report) insider Julie McEwan bought 23,256 shares of Hostmore stock in a transaction on Friday, June 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of GBX 22 ($0.28) per share, for a total transaction of 5,116.32 ($6,505.17).

Hostmore Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of LON:MORE traded down GBX 0.30 ($0.00) during trading on Friday, hitting GBX 19.90 ($0.25). 148,860 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 263,293. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 696.44. The company has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 20.66 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 16.11. Hostmore plc has a 52 week low of GBX 10.80 ($0.14) and a 52 week high of GBX 36.95 ($0.47). The company has a market cap of 25.10 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.90.

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Hostmore Company Profile

(Free Report)

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Hostmore plc operates in the hospitality business. It operates American-themed casual dining restaurants under the TGI Fridays brand; cocktail-led bar and restaurants under the 63rd+1st brand; and fast casual dining restaurants under the Fridays and Go brand. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is based in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII  Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

Separately, TheStreet upgraded Huntington Ingalls Industries from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $245.86.

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Huntington Ingalls Industries Stock Performance

Shares of HII stock opened at $226.99 on Monday. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $206.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $213.99. The company has a market cap of $9.05 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Huntington Ingalls Industries has a 12-month low of $188.51 and a 12-month high of $260.02.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Announces Dividend

Huntington Ingalls Industries ( NYSE:HII Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The aerospace company reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.00 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $2.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.60 billion. Huntington Ingalls Industries had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 5.27%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.50 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Huntington Ingalls Industries will post 14.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 26th were paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Huntington Ingalls Industriess payout ratio is currently 34.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Huntington Ingalls Industries

In other Huntington Ingalls Industries news, VP D R. Wyatt sold 500 shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $198.13, for a total transaction of $99,065.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,820 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,125,066.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.30% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Huntington Ingalls Industries

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries by 175.0% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 110 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Tanglewood Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries during the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries in the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp acquired a new stake in Huntington Ingalls Industries in the 1st quarter worth about $43,000. 87.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Company Profile

(Free Report)

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc engages in designing, building, overhauling, and repairing military ships in the United States. It operates through three segments: Ingalls, Newport News, and Mission Technologies. The company is involved in the design and construction of non-nuclear ships comprising amphibious assault ships; expeditionary warfare ships; surface combatants; and national security cutters for the U.S.

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The Howard Hughes Co. (NYSE:HHC  Free Report) Director Pershing Square Capital Manage acquired 666 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, June 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $74.90 per share, for a total transaction of $49,883.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 16,569,728 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,241,072,627.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Pershing Square Capital Manage also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Thursday, June 22nd, Pershing Square Capital Manage acquired 21,731 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $74.84 per share, for a total transaction of $1,626,348.04.

On Tuesday, June 20th, Pershing Square Capital Manage purchased 23,140 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.81 per share, for a total transaction of $1,731,103.40.

On Thursday, June 1st, Pershing Square Capital Manage purchased 15,609 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.71 per share, for a total transaction of $1,166,148.39.

On Tuesday, May 30th, Pershing Square Capital Manage purchased 22,175 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.71 per share, for a total transaction of $1,656,694.25.

On Friday, May 26th, Pershing Square Capital Manage purchased 30,557 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $74.31 per share, for a total transaction of $2,270,690.67.

On Wednesday, May 24th, Pershing Square Capital Manage purchased 43,294 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The shares were bought at an average cost of $73.59 per share, for a total transaction of $3,186,005.46.

On Monday, May 22nd, Pershing Square Capital Manage acquired 8,169 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $74.89 per share, for a total transaction of $611,776.41.

On Friday, May 19th, Pershing Square Capital Manage acquired 35,483 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $74.51 per share, for a total transaction of $2,643,838.33.

On Wednesday, May 17th, Pershing Square Capital Manage acquired 7,932 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $73.59 per share, for a total transaction of $583,715.88.

On Monday, May 15th, Pershing Square Capital Manage acquired 2,200 shares of Howard Hughes stock. The stock was acquired at an average price of $74.91 per share, for a total transaction of $164,802.00.

Howard Hughes Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE HHC opened at $78.30 on Friday. The Howard Hughes Co. has a 12 month low of $50.90 and a 12 month high of $89.58. The company has a 50-day moving average of $75.77 and a 200-day moving average of $78.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.64 and a quick ratio of 1.64. The company has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32 and a beta of 1.47.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Howard Hughes ( NYSE:HHC Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported ($0.46) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($0.47) by $0.01. Howard Hughes had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 4.50%. The company had revenue of $196.29 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $199.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Howard Hughes Co. will post -1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Howard Hughes from $100.00 to $95.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 31st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Howard Hughes in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a sell rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Howard Hughes presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Institutional Trading of Howard Hughes

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Howard Hughes by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 632 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd increased its position in Howard Hughes by 72,600.0% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 727 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Howard Hughes during the 1st quarter worth approximately $86,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP increased its position in Howard Hughes by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 1,546 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Howard Hughes by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,550 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.27% of the companys stock.

Howard Hughes Company Profile

(Free Report)

The Howard Hughes Corporation owns, manages, and develops commercial, residential, and mixed-use properties in the United States. It operates through four segments: Operating Assets; Master Planned Communities (MPCs); Seaport; and Strategic Developments. The Operating Assets segment owns retail, office, multi-family, hospitality, and other operating properties and investments primarily located in Houston, Texas; Columbia, Maryland; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Honolulu, Hawaii.

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International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index (NYSEARCA:FDL  Free Report) by 172.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 84,479 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after acquiring an additional 53,481 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.06% of First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index worth $2,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index by 46.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,497,868 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $347,242,000 after purchasing an additional 3,024,149 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,892,915 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $288,565,000 after acquiring an additional 3,286,674 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index by 73.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 6,041,685 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $220,884,000 after acquiring an additional 2,567,604 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,007,353 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $109,949,000 after acquiring an additional 728,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index by 137.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,005,628 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $109,886,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,387 shares in the last quarter.

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First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Price Performance

Shares of NYSEARCA:FDL traded up $0.17 on Friday, hitting $34.01. The companys stock had a trading volume of 293,670 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,093,170. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.75. First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index has a 1 year low of $32.10 and a 1 year high of $38.33. The company has a market capitalization of $4.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 0.86.

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Profile

First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund, seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield of an equity index called the Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index (the Index). The Fund will invest at least 90% of its net assets plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in common stocks that comprise the Index.

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Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF (NYSEARCA:SPLV  Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,865 shares of the companys stock after selling 848 shares during the quarter. Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF comprises about 2.4% of Redwood Wealth Management Group LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLCs holdings in Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF were worth $2,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,175,387 shares of the companys stock valued at $522,407,000 after buying an additional 2,858,562 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,330,858 shares of the companys stock valued at $468,442,000 after purchasing an additional 1,121,408 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in shares of Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF by 78.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,488,254 shares of the companys stock valued at $96,314,000 after purchasing an additional 652,158 shares in the last quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,698,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF by 117.2% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 79,254 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,317,000 after purchasing an additional 539,472 shares in the last quarter.

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Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF Stock Performance

Shares of Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF stock traded up $0.28 on Friday, hitting $62.56. The companys stock had a trading volume of 167,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,621,334. Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF has a 1 year low of $55.99 and a 1 year high of $67.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.75. The company has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 0.69.

About Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF

The Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF (SPLV) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the S&P 500 Low Volatility index. The fund tracks a volatility-weighted index of the 100 least-volatile stocks in the S&P 500. SPLV was launched on May 5, 2011 and is managed by Invesco.

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Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL  Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 85,166 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 37% compared to the typical daily volume of 61,998 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $93.00 to $109.00 in a research note on Monday, June 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Oracle from $110.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. 92 Resources reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Oracle in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Oracle from $113.00 to $126.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Oracle from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Saturday, May 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $118.15.

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Oracle Stock Performance

NYSE ORCL traded up $1.76 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $119.54. 9,609,310 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,701,734. The company has a market cap of $324.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.00. Oracle has a 12-month low of $60.78 and a 12-month high of $127.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $105.73 and a 200 day moving average of $93.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.54.

Oracle Dividend Announcement

Oracle ( NYSE:ORCL Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 12th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $13.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $13.74 billion. Oracle had a net margin of 17.02% and a negative return on equity of 470.73%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Oracle will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 11th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. Oracles dividend payout ratio is currently 52.29%.

Insider Transactions at Oracle

In other news, CEO Safra Catz sold 1,837,101 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.86, for a total transaction of $172,430,299.86. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the companys stock, valued at $104,991,045.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman Lawrence Joseph Ellison sold 1,750,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.95, for a total transaction of $211,662,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 1,145,732,353 shares in the company, valued at $138,576,328,095.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Safra Catz sold 1,837,101 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.86, for a total transaction of $172,430,299.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,118,592 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $104,991,045.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,052,544 shares of company stock valued at $686,725,797. 43.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Narus Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the first quarter valued at about $327,000. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel increased its holdings in Oracle by 16.1% in the first quarter. Psagot Value Holdings Ltd. Israel now owns 80,635 shares of the enterprise software providers stock valued at $7,265,000 after buying an additional 11,154 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Oracle in the first quarter valued at about $537,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Oracle in the first quarter valued at about $265,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its holdings in Oracle by 239.3% in the first quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 16,220 shares of the enterprise software providers stock valued at $1,507,000 after buying an additional 11,440 shares in the last quarter. 43.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Oracle

(Free Report)

Oracle Corporation offers products and services that address enterprise information technology environments worldwide. Its Oracle cloud software as a service offering include various cloud software applications, including Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), Oracle Fusion cloud enterprise performance management, Oracle Fusion cloud supply chain and manufacturing management, Oracle Fusion cloud human capital management, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing.

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Iron Mountain (NYSE:IRM  Free Report) and Equity LifeStyle Properties (NYSE:ELS  Free Report) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Iron Mountain and Equity LifeStyle Properties, as reported by MarketBeat.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Iron Mountain 0 1 2 0 2.67 Equity LifeStyle Properties 0 4 4 0 2.50

Iron Mountain presently has a consensus target price of $62.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.12%. Equity LifeStyle Properties has a consensus target price of $76.28, indicating a potential upside of 15.15%. Given Equity LifeStyle Properties higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Equity LifeStyle Properties is more favorable than Iron Mountain.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

Volatility & Risk

76.2% of Iron Mountain shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.1% of Equity LifeStyle Properties shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.2% of Iron Mountain shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of Equity LifeStyle Properties shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Iron Mountain has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Equity LifeStyle Properties has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its share price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Iron Mountain and Equity LifeStyle Properties gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Iron Mountain $5.17 billion 3.21 $556.98 million $1.98 28.71 Equity LifeStyle Properties $1.45 billion 8.62 $284.63 million $1.52 44.08

Iron Mountain has higher revenue and earnings than Equity LifeStyle Properties. Iron Mountain is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Equity LifeStyle Properties, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Iron Mountain and Equity LifeStyle Properties net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Iron Mountain 11.20% 88.48% 3.28% Equity LifeStyle Properties 19.50% 18.71% 5.21%

Dividends

Iron Mountain pays an annual dividend of $2.47 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Equity LifeStyle Properties pays an annual dividend of $1.79 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Iron Mountain pays out 124.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equity LifeStyle Properties pays out 117.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Equity LifeStyle Properties has increased its dividend for 19 consecutive years.

Summary

Equity LifeStyle Properties beats Iron Mountain on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Iron Mountain

(Free Report)

Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) is a global leader in innovative storage, data center infrastructure, asset lifecycle management and information management services. Founded in 1951 and trusted by more than 225,000 customers worldwide, Iron Mountain helps customers CLIMB HIGHER to transform their businesses. Through a range of offerings including digital transformation, data centers, secure records storage, information management, asset lifecycle management, secure destruction, and art storage and logistics, Iron Mountain helps businesses bring light to their dark data, enabling customers to unlock value and intelligence from their stored digital and physical assets at speed and with security, while helping them meet their environmental goals.

About Equity LifeStyle Properties

(Free Report)

We are a self-administered, self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT) with headquarters in Chicago. As of January 30, 2023, we own or have an interest in 448 properties in 35 states and British Columbia consisting of 170,965 sites.

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Pennsylvania Capital Management Inc. ADV trimmed its holdings in shares of iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (NYSEARCA:IHI  Free Report) by 33.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,333 shares of the companys stock after selling 3,133 shares during the quarter. Pennsylvania Capital Management Inc. ADVs holdings in iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF were worth $342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 102,668 shares of the companys stock worth $5,542,000 after purchasing an additional 5,807 shares during the last quarter. Sharkey Howes & Javer increased its position in shares of iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Sharkey Howes & Javer now owns 28,823 shares of the companys stock worth $1,556,000 after purchasing an additional 2,765 shares during the last quarter. Gibson Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF during the 1st quarter worth about $194,000. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF during the 1st quarter worth about $237,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,640 shares of the companys stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter.

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iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSEARCA IHI traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, hitting $56.21. The stock had a trading volume of 177,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 878,740. The company has a market capitalization of $6.28 billion, a PE ratio of 27.50 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $55.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.96. iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF has a twelve month low of $46.21 and a twelve month high of $57.24.

iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF Profile

The iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the DJ US Select \u002F Medical Equipment index, a market-cap-weighted index of manufacturers and distributors of medical devices in the US. IHI was launched on May 1, 2006 and is managed by BlackRock.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IHI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (NYSEARCA:IHI  Free Report).

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Compagnie de Saint-Gobain (OTCMKTS:CODYY  Free Report) and Janus International Group (NYSE:JBI  Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Compagnie de Saint-Gobain and Janus International Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Compagnie de Saint-Gobain 0 2 6 0 2.75 Janus International Group 0 1 1 0 2.50

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain currently has a consensus price target of $63.40, suggesting a potential upside of 428.33%. Janus International Group has a consensus price target of $13.38, suggesting a potential upside of 28.61%. Given Compagnie de Saint-Gobains stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Compagnie de Saint-Gobain is more favorable than Janus International Group.

Profitability

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Compagnie de Saint-Gobain N/A N/A N/A Janus International Group 10.94% 32.67% 9.36%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Compagnie de Saint-Gobain and Janus International Groups net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

This table compares Compagnie de Saint-Gobain and Janus International Groups top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Compagnie de Saint-Gobain N/A N/A N/A $0.34 35.45 Janus International Group $1.02 billion 1.50 $107.65 million $0.78 13.33

Janus International Group has higher revenue and earnings than Compagnie de Saint-Gobain. Janus International Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.1% of Janus International Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 42.9% of Janus International Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Janus International Group beats Compagnie de Saint-Gobain on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Compagnie de Saint-Gobain

(Free Report)

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. designs, manufactures, and distributes materials and solutions for wellbeing worldwide. It operates through five segments: High Performance Solutions; Northern Europe; Southern Europe Middle East (ME) & Africa; Americas; and Asia-Pacific. The company offers glazing solutions for buildings and cars under the Saint-Gobain, GlassSolutions, Vetrotech, and SageGlass brands; plaster-based products for construction and renovation markets under the Placo, Rigips, and Gyproc brands; ceilings under the Ecophon, CertainTeed, Eurocoustic, Sonex, or Vinh Tuong brands; and insulation solutions for a range of applications, such as construction, engine compartments, vehicle interiors, household appliances, and photovoltaic panels under the Isover, CertainTeed, and Izocam brands. It also offers mortars and building chemicals under the Weber brand; exterior products comprising asphalt and composite shingles, roll roofing systems, and accessories; and pipes under the PAM brand, as well as designs, imports, and distributes instant adhesives, sealants, and silicones. In addition, the company provides interior systems, interior and exterior insulation, cladding, floor coverings, facades and lightweight structures, waterproofing, roofing solutions, pre-assembly, and prefabrication solutions; high performance materials; glass for buildings; plasterboard; and interior glass products. Further, it distributes heavy building materials; plumbing, heating, and sanitary products; timbers and panels; civil engineering products; ceramic tiles; and site equipment and tools. The company was founded in 1665 and is headquartered in Courbevoie, France.

About Janus International Group

(Free Report)

Janus International Group, Inc. manufacturers, supplies, and provides turn-key self-storage, and commercial and industrial building solutions in North America and internationally. The company offers roll up and swing doors, hallway systems, relocatable storage moveable additional storage structures units, and other solutions. It also provides facility and door automation and access control technologies; and Noke smart entry system. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Temple, Georgia.

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Shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima (NYSE:LOMA  Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $7.30, but opened at $6.88. Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima shares last traded at $6.65, with a volume of 62,959 shares traded.

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima Stock Down 7.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $6.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $792.63 million, a P/E ratio of 135.00, a PEG ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.26.

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Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima (NYSE:LOMA  Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 5th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter. Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima had a return on equity of 0.50% and a net margin of 0.44%. The company had revenue of $211.80 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima will post 1.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima Announces Dividend

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

The business also recently disclosed a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.4648 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 30th. Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonimas payout ratio is currently 1,660.00%.

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima by 103.2% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,632 shares of the companys stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 2,860 shares during the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima in the third quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima in the third quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new stake in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima in the third quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima in the first quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Institutional investors own 19.07% of the companys stock.

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima Company Profile

(Free Report)

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cement and its derivatives in Argentina. The company operates through Cement, Masonry Cement and Lime; Concrete; Railroad; Aggregates; and Others segments. It offers masonry cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete, concrete, and lime to wholesale distributors, concrete producers, industrial customers, and others for use in the construction.

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Maiden Holdings North America, Ltd. (NYSE:MHNC  Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be given a dividend of 0.4844 per share on Friday, September 1st. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 14th.

Maiden Holdings North America Stock Performance

NYSE:MHNC traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.91. The company had a trading volume of 50,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,482. Maiden Holdings North America has a 52 week low of $14.84 and a 52 week high of $20.10. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.80.

Further Reading

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MicroSectors FANG+ Index 2X Leveraged ETN (NYSEARCA:FNGO  Free Report) shares shot up 1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $38.45 and last traded at $37.62. 32,914 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 91% from the average session volume of 17,188 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.24.

MicroSectors FANG+ Index 2X Leveraged ETN Price Performance

The firms fifty day moving average price is $31.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.50.

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Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS  Free Report) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 770,242 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 59% from the previous sessions volume of 484,024 shares.The stock last traded at $33.29 and had previously closed at $33.04.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Nu Skin Enterprises in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. TheStreet cut Nu Skin Enterprises from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a report on Wednesday, March 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Nu Skin Enterprises currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $39.33.

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Nu Skin Enterprises Price Performance

The businesss 50 day moving average is $35.79 and its 200-day moving average is $39.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.45 and a beta of 1.20.

Nu Skin Enterprises Announces Dividend

Nu Skin Enterprises ( NYSE:NUS Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $481.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $477.49 million. Nu Skin Enterprises had a return on equity of 14.13% and a net margin of 3.68%. Nu Skin Enterprisess revenue was down 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 26th were given a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.69%. Nu Skin Enterprisess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.30%.

Insider Transactions at Nu Skin Enterprises

In other news, Director Andrew D. Lipman sold 2,000 shares of Nu Skin Enterprises stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.75, for a total value of $81,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 60,393 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,461,014.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Nu Skin Enterprises news, Director Andrew D. Lipman sold 2,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.75, for a total value of $81,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 60,393 shares in the company, valued at $2,461,014.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Edwina D. Woodbury sold 1,255 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.87, for a total transaction of $47,526.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $585,811.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,255 shares of company stock worth $261,827 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nu Skin Enterprises

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 39.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,296,735 shares of the companys stock worth $404,765,000 after purchasing an additional 2,912,086 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Nu Skin Enterprises by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,791,181 shares of the companys stock valued at $277,281,000 after buying an additional 30,340 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Nu Skin Enterprises by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,668,167 shares of the companys stock valued at $144,196,000 after acquiring an additional 132,198 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Nu Skin Enterprises by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,670,996 shares of the companys stock worth $127,887,000 after acquiring an additional 58,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Nu Skin Enterprises by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,095,009 shares of the companys stock worth $82,355,000 after acquiring an additional 78,602 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.06% of the companys stock.

About Nu Skin Enterprises

(Free Report)

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops and distributes various beauty and wellness products worldwide. It offers skin care devices, cosmetics, and other personal care products, including ageLOC LumiSpa and ageLOC LumiSpa iO, ageLOC Body Spa; and nutricentials skin care products.

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Ocwen Financial (NYSE:OCN  Free Report) and Firm Capital Mortgage Investment (OTCMKTS:FCMGF  Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk and earnings.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ocwen Financial and Firm Capital Mortgage Investments gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Ocwen Financial $1.04 billion 0.23 $25.70 million ($8.55) -3.59 Firm Capital Mortgage Investment N/A N/A N/A $0.80 9.80

Ocwen Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Firm Capital Mortgage Investment. Ocwen Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Firm Capital Mortgage Investment, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Ocwen Financial -7.38% -8.61% -0.34% Firm Capital Mortgage Investment N/A N/A N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This table compares Ocwen Financial and Firm Capital Mortgage Investments net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Ocwen Financial and Firm Capital Mortgage Investment, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Ocwen Financial 0 0 1 0 3.00 Firm Capital Mortgage Investment 0 0 0 0 N/A

Firm Capital Mortgage Investment has a consensus price target of $13.50, indicating a potential upside of 72.63%. Given Firm Capital Mortgage Investments higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Firm Capital Mortgage Investment is more favorable than Ocwen Financial.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

68.1% of Ocwen Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.3% of Firm Capital Mortgage Investment shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.8% of Ocwen Financial shares are owned 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.

Summary

Firm Capital Mortgage Investment beats Ocwen Financial on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ocwen Financial

(Free Report)

Ocwen Financial Corporation, a financial services company, originates and services mortgage loans in the United States, the United States Virgin Islands, India, and the Philippines. The company operates through Servicing and Originations segments. It provides commercial mortgage loan servicing, special servicing, and asset management services, as well as residential mortgage loan servicing, such as forward and reverse conventional, government-insured, and non-agency loans, including the reverse mortgage loans to owners of mortgage loans and foreclosed real estate. The company also originates and purchases conventional and government-insured residential forward and reverse mortgage loans through its correspondent lending arrangements, broker relationships, and retail channels. It serves primarily under the PHH Mortgage and Liberty Reverse Mortgage brands. Ocwen Financial Corporation was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida.

About Firm Capital Mortgage Investment

(Free Report)

Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation, through its mortgage banker, Firm Capital Corporation, provides residential and commercial short-term bridge, and conventional real estate finance in Canada. The company engages in originating, funding, purchasing, and servicing mortgage investments. It also offers mortgage services, such as real estate financing, real estate investment financing, capital market, and loan servicing and advisory services; and a line of lending programs, including construction and development lending, investment property financing, short term lending, bridge finance, mezzanine and equity investments, capital market facilities, alternative residential lending program, and infill construction lending program. The company was founded in 1988 and is based in Toronto, Canada.

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PCCW Limited (OTCMKTS:PCCWY  Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,900 shares, a drop of 81.7% from the May 31st total of 10,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 16,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.1 days.

PCCW Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of PCCWY traded up $0.09 on Friday, reaching $5.20. The stock had a trading volume of 624 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,249. PCCW has a 12-month low of $3.80 and a 12-month high of $5.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.57. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.97.

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PCCW Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 28th. Investors of record on Monday, June 5th were given a dividend of $0.3429 per share. This represents a yield of 8.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 2nd. This is a positive change from PCCWs previous dividend of $0.10.

PCCW Company Profile

PCCW Limited provides telecommunications and related services in Hong Kong, Mainland and other parts of China, Singapore, and internationally. The company's services include local telephony, local data and broadband, mobile, enterprise solutions, international telecommunications, and satellite-based and network-based telecommunications services; outsourcing, consulting, and contact center services; and technical consulting and engineering services.

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Premier African Minerals Limited (LON:PREM  Free Report)s stock price crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of GBX 0.71 ($0.01) and traded as low as GBX 0.27 ($0.00). Premier African Minerals shares last traded at GBX 0.29 ($0.00), with a volume of 919,663,631 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Shore Capital restated a house stock rating on shares of Premier African Minerals in a research report on Thursday, May 25th.

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Premier African Minerals Price Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 0.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of 94.10 million, a P/E ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 2.54 and a current ratio of 2.54.

About Premier African Minerals

Premier African Minerals Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mining, exploration, evaluation, development, and investment of natural resource properties on the African continent. The company explores for tungsten, lithium, tantalum, fluorspar, potash, and gold deposits. It holds interests in various properties located in Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

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Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of PPL Co. (NYSE:PPL  Free Report) by 56.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,338 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the quarter. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLCs holdings in PPL were worth $315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PPL. CI Investments Inc. grew its holdings in PPL by 989.9% during the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 970 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in PPL during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in PPL by 165.7% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 898 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in PPL during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Worth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in PPL during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.46% of the companys stock.

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PPL Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of PPL stock traded up $0.15 on Friday, reaching $26.33. 317,247 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,287,937. PPL Co. has a 52 week low of $23.47 and a 52 week high of $31.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.78. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $27.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.12.

PPL Announces Dividend

PPL ( NYSE:PPL Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. PPL had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 9.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. PPLs quarterly revenue was up 35.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that PPL Co. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 8th. PPLs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. TheStreet upgraded PPL from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on PPL from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on PPL from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on PPL in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, PPL currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $31.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at PPL

In other PPL news, insider John R. Crockett III sold 5,500 shares of PPL stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $154,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,161 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $256,508. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

PPL Company Profile

(Free Report)

PPL Corporation, a utility holding company, delivers electricity and natural gas in the United States and the United Kingdom. It operates through three segments: Kentucky Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Rhode Island Regulated. The company serves customers in Louisville and adjacent areas in Kentucky; electric customers in central, southeastern, and western Kentucky; and electric customers in five counties in southwestern Virginia.

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Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC reduced its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS  Free Report) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,753 shares of the companys stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLCs holdings in Novartis were worth $253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Novartis by 193.0% in the 4th quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 293 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its holdings in Novartis by 2,018.8% in the 4th quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 339 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Novartis in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. 8.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Novartis Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Novartis stock traded up $1.00 on Friday, reaching $100.36. 131,420 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,095,616. Novartis AG has a 1-year low of $74.09 and a 1-year high of $105.56. The company has a market cap of $212.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $100.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.36.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Novartis ( NYSE:NVS Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The company reported $1.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $12.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.60 billion. Novartis had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 13.78%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Novartis AG will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NVS. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a strong-buy rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Novartis from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Novartis from $75.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Novartis has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $82.25.

Novartis Company Profile

(Free Report)

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Innovative Medicines and Sandoz. The Innovative Medicines segment offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It also provides cardiovascular, ophthalmology, neuroscience, immunology, hematology, and solid tumor products.

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Seelaus Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Primo Water Co. (NYSE:PRMW  Free Report) by 25.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,648 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 9,568 shares during the quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLCs holdings in Primo Water were worth $725,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of PRMW. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Primo Water by 66.7% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 84,056 shares of the companys stock worth $1,198,000 after buying an additional 33,637 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Primo Water by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,991,282 shares of the companys stock worth $113,877,000 after buying an additional 48,820 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Primo Water by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 978,452 shares of the companys stock worth $13,943,000 after buying an additional 39,817 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Primo Water by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,471,388 shares of the companys stock valued at $149,217,000 after purchasing an additional 280,207 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Primo Water by 374.8% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 293,554 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,186,000 after purchasing an additional 231,727 shares during the period. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Primo Water Stock Up 1.3 %

PRMW stock opened at $12.78 on Friday. Primo Water Co. has a twelve month low of $12.15 and a twelve month high of $16.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.34 and a beta of 1.05. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $13.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.55.

Primo Water Announces Dividend

Primo Water ( NYSE:PRMW Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.01). Primo Water had a net margin of 1.88% and a return on equity of 7.46%. The company had revenue of $546.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $534.04 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Primo Water Co. will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 1st. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Primo Waters payout ratio is currently 118.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. TheStreet downgraded Primo Water from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research note on Friday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Primo Water from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Primo Water in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $19.33.

About Primo Water

(Free Report)

Primo Water Corporation provides pure-play water solutions for residential and commercial customers. It offers bottled water, water dispensers, purified bottled water, self-service refill drinking water, premium spring, mineral water, sparkling and flavored water, filtration equipment, and coffee. The company offers its products under the Primo, Alhambra, Crystal Rock, Mountain Valley, Deep Rock, Hinckley Springs, Crystal Springs, Kentwood Springs, Mount Olympus, Pureflo, Sierra Springs, Sparkletts, and Renu brands in the United States; Canadian Springs, Labrador Source, and Amazon Springs brands in Canada; and Decantae, Eden, Eden Springs, Chateaud'eau, and Mey Eden brands in Europe and Israel.

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Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new position in Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF (BATS:VSGX  Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 691 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $36,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VSGX. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its stake in Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF by 7.7% in the first quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 167,941 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,793,000 after acquiring an additional 11,981 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management boosted its position in Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF by 15.7% during the first quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 171,065 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,957,000 after buying an additional 23,253 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF by 30.4% during the first quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,661 shares of the companys stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 1,788 shares during the period. Benchmark Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF during the first quarter valued at about $322,000. Finally, Family CFO Inc boosted its position in Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF by 3.2% during the first quarter. Family CFO Inc now owns 14,790 shares of the companys stock valued at $774,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the period.

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Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF Trading Down 0.2 %

Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF stock opened at $52.50 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $53.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.84.

Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF Profile

The Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF (VSGX) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the FTSE Global All Cap ex USA Choice index, a market-cap-weighted index of global ex-US companies screened for environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria. VSGX was launched on Sep 18, 2018 and is managed by Vanguard.

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Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Free Report) by 696.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 223 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLCs holdings in Eli Lilly and Company were worth $77,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,588,317 shares of the companys stock worth $23,471,432,000 after buying an additional 996,990 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,582,472 shares of the companys stock valued at $10,858,892,000 after purchasing an additional 168,444 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,839,322 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,048,338,000 after purchasing an additional 4,412,664 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 44.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,059,204 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,411,740,000 after purchasing an additional 3,691,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,429,081 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,815,375,000 after purchasing an additional 364,339 shares in the last quarter. 87.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Eli Lilly and Company Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:LLY opened at $464.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Eli Lilly and Company has a fifty-two week low of $296.32 and a fifty-two week high of $468.53. The stocks 50-day moving average is $432.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $376.38. The stock has a market cap of $440.91 billion, a PE ratio of 73.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.36.

Eli Lilly and Company Dividend Announcement

Eli Lilly and Company ( NYSE:LLY Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 61.42% and a net margin of 20.54%. The company had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.62 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Eli Lilly and Company will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 14th. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Eli Lilly and Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.86%.

Insider Transactions at Eli Lilly and Company

In other news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 210,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.49, for a total transaction of $73,602,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,333,810 shares in the company, valued at $35,866,977,066.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Eli Lilly and Company news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 210,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.49, for a total value of $73,602,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,333,810 shares in the company, valued at $35,866,977,066.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Johna Norton sold 1,647 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $444.29, for a total value of $731,745.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 31,761 shares in the company, valued at $14,111,094.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,074,783 shares of company stock worth $440,437,914 over the last three months. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LLY shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $450.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, May 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $420.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $478.00 to $507.00 in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $395.00 to $392.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $437.90.

Eli Lilly and Company Company Profile

(Free Report)

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. It offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; and Jardiance, Trajenta, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes.

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Canoo (NYSE:GOEV  Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Stifel Nicolaus to $1.50 in a research report released on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

Canoo Stock Up 7.9 %

GOEV stock opened at $0.47 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $223.84 million, a PE ratio of -0.30 and a beta of 1.22. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $0.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $0.82. Canoo has a fifty-two week low of $0.41 and a fifty-two week high of $5.00.

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Canoo (NYSE:GOEV  Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 15th. The company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. Equities analysts forecast that Canoo will post -0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Canoo

About Canoo

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOEV. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Canoo in the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Canoo by 125.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 220,167 shares of the companys stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 122,551 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Canoo by 122.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,342,854 shares of the companys stock worth $4,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,494,923 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Canoo by 57.7% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,297,765 shares of the companys stock worth $4,110,000 after purchasing an additional 2,303,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Canoo by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 91,394 shares of the companys stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 24,944 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 25.18% of the companys stock.

(Free Report)

Canoo Inc, a mobility technology company, designs, engineers, develops, and manufactures electric vehicles for commercial and consumer markets in the United States. The company offers lifestyle delivery vehicles, lifestyle vehicles, multi-purpose delivery vehicles, and pickups. It also provides multi-purpose platform architecture is a self-contained, fully functional rolling chassis that directly houses the critical components for operation of an EV.

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TD SYNNEX (NYSE:SNX  Free Report) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $120.00 to $115.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, The Fly reports. Bank of Americas price target suggests a potential upside of 22.22% from the companys previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on SNX. Barclays decreased their price objective on TD SYNNEX from $103.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Credit Suisse Group dropped their price objective on shares of TD SYNNEX from $106.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of TD SYNNEX from $110.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on TD SYNNEX from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on TD SYNNEX from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a strong-buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, TD SYNNEX currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $107.20.

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TD SYNNEX Stock Performance

Shares of TD SYNNEX stock opened at $94.09 on Wednesday. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $91.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a PE ratio of 13.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.63. TD SYNNEX has a 52 week low of $78.86 and a 52 week high of $111.57.

Insider Transactions at TD SYNNEX

TD SYNNEX ( NYSE:SNX Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 27th. The business services provider reported $2.43 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.55 by ($0.12). TD SYNNEX had a return on equity of 13.80% and a net margin of 1.11%. The company had revenue of $14.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.66 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that TD SYNNEX will post 10.89 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, Director Ann F. Vezina sold 1,618 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.51, for a total value of $154,535.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,068 shares in the company, valued at $579,554.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other TD SYNNEX news, Director Ann F. Vezina sold 1,618 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.51, for a total transaction of $154,535.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,068 shares of the companys stock, valued at $579,554.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Dennis Polk sold 8,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.90, for a total value of $775,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 132,402 shares in the company, valued at $12,829,753.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,998 shares of company stock valued at $4,041,355 in the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of TD SYNNEX by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,300 shares of the business services providers stock worth $1,070,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of TD SYNNEX by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 10,721 shares of the business services providers stock worth $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of TD SYNNEX by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,218 shares of the business services providers stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of TD SYNNEX by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,202 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $330,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of TD SYNNEX by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,687 shares of the business services providers stock worth $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.54% of the companys stock.

TD SYNNEX Company Profile

(Free Report)

TD SYNNEX Corporation operates as a distributor and solutions aggregator for the information technology (IT) ecosystem. The company offers personal computing devices and peripherals, mobile phones and accessories, printers, supplies, and endpoint technology software; and data center technologies, such as hybrid cloud, security, storage, networking, servers, technology software, and converged and hyper-converged infrastructure, as well as computing components.

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Seelaus Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB  Free Report) by 46.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 26,340 shares of the pipeline companys stock after selling 22,620 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLCs holdings in Williams Companies were worth $794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in Williams Companies by 0.6% in the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 79,200 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $2,365,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth approximately $128,000. Heron Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Williams Companies in the first quarter worth approximately $729,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in Williams Companies by 2.1% in the first quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 33,673 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $1,005,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. Finally, Genesee Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Williams Companies by 1.1% in the first quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 36,661 shares of the pipeline companys stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. 84.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Williams Companies in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on Williams Companies from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Williams Companies from $36.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Williams Companies from $41.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Williams Companies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $36.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $35.42.

Williams Companies Trading Up 1.6 %

WMB opened at $32.53 on Friday. The Williams Companies, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.80 and a 12 month high of $35.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27, a PEG ratio of 4.61 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.63. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.73.

Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB  Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The pipeline company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $3.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.65 billion. Williams Companies had a return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 22.53%. Williams Companiess revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that The Williams Companies, Inc. will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Williams Companies Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.4475 per share. This represents a $1.79 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 9th. Williams Companiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 84.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Williams Companies news, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 7,194 shares of Williams Companies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total transaction of $223,014.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 241,360 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,482,160. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 14,388 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.64, for a total value of $440,848.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 248,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,615,694.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Scott A. Hallam sold 7,194 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.00, for a total value of $223,014.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 241,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,482,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,776 shares of company stock valued at $894,070 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.44% of the companys stock.

About Williams Companies

(Free Report)

The Williams Companies, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. It operates through Transmission & Gulf of Mexico, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments. The Transmission & Gulf of Mexico segment comprises Transco and Northwest natural gas pipelines; and natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation assets in the Gulf Coast region, as well as various petrochemical and feedstock pipelines.

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StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Urstadt Biddle Properties (NYSE:UBA  Free Report) in a research report report published on Tuesday. The firm issued a hold rating on the real estate investment trusts stock.

Separately, Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Urstadt Biddle Properties from $20.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Urstadt Biddle Properties has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.67.

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Urstadt Biddle Properties Stock Performance

NYSE:UBA opened at $21.24 on Tuesday. Urstadt Biddle Properties has a 1 year low of $15.07 and a 1 year high of $21.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.01 and a 200-day moving average of $18.35. The company has a current ratio of 6.34, a quick ratio of 6.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $835.17 million, a P/E ratio of 31.69 and a beta of 1.10.

Urstadt Biddle Properties Cuts Dividend

Urstadt Biddle Properties ( NYSE:UBA Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 7th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.06). Urstadt Biddle Properties had a net margin of 27.05% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $35.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.14 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Urstadt Biddle Properties will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.2083 per share. This represents a $0.83 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 13th. Urstadt Biddle Propertiess dividend payout ratio is 123.88%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vident Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Urstadt Biddle Properties by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vident Investment Advisory LLC now owns 74,400 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,410,000 after buying an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Urstadt Biddle Properties by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,196 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Urstadt Biddle Properties by 11.3% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,131 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 622 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Urstadt Biddle Properties by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 34,904 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $613,000 after buying an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Treasury Department increased its position in shares of Urstadt Biddle Properties by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 22,261 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.81% of the companys stock.

About Urstadt Biddle Properties

(Free Report)

Urstadt Biddle Properties Inc is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust which owns or has equity interests in 77 properties containing approximately 5.3 million square feet of space. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1970, it provides investors with a means of participating in ownership of income-producing properties.

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Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 247,700 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement Systems holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $9,259,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 326,822,162 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $13,144,788,000 after buying an additional 3,920,830 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 105,621,983 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,248,626,000 after acquiring an additional 18,252,701 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 67,816,895 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,795,394,000 after purchasing an additional 729,359 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,049,693,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 129,312.1% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,287,479 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,085,410,000 after purchasing an additional 26,267,166 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.11% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WFC. Odeon Capital Group cut Wells Fargo & Company from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $44.60 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, June 7th. Raymond James increased their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, VNET Group reissued a reiterates rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $48.71.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 4.5 %

NYSE:WFC opened at $42.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $159.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.12. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1-year low of $35.25 and a 1-year high of $48.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC  Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.08. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The company had revenue of $20.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $20.06 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 5th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 4th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Wells Fargo & Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.38%.

Wells Fargo & Company Company Profile

(Free Report)

Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company, provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.

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Yellow Springs 4th of July Parade & Fireworks

Yellow Springs Fourth of July parade at noon. Fireworks will begin at dusk at Gaunt Park

The Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce is hosting the annual fourth of July celebrations at Gaunt Park in the cozy village of Yellow Springs, Ohio. We appreciate your consideration to donate toward an evening of firework frenzy and fun! Our parade will start at noon behind the fire station at Xenia Ave and Herman St and make its way down Xenia Avenue to Corry Street.

GAUNT PARK FIREWORKS:

The Fireworks display will take place shortly after sundown on the 4th of July. The public is encouraged to bring chairs and blankets while enjoying the festivities and to use waste receptacles throughout the evening to help maintain the park.
Deputy chief minister Budi Mutyala Naidu said that, based on directions from Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, they have geared up the state administration to start disbursal of pension amount to pensioners at their doorsteps from the early hours of July 1. (Image: Twitter)

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government is getting ready to disburse 1,735.36 crore under the YSR Pension Kanuka to benefit as many as 62.99 lakh pensioners. The disbursal will take place from July 1 to 5.

Deputy chief minister Budi Mutyala Naidu said in a statement here on Friday that, based on directions from Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, they have geared up the state administration to start disbursal of pension amount to pensioners at their doorsteps from the early hours of July 1.

He said the state government had already released the amount to the village/ward secretariats so that the volunteers would reach out to the pensioners and deliver the amount. "We are going to rope in 2.66 lakh volunteers for disbursal of pension in addition to 15,000 welfare education assistants/ward welfare development secretaries."

The deputy CM said the pension would be disbursed by taking the biometric authentication of the pensioner, IRIS authentication, Aadhaar-based facial authentication, real-time identification of beneficiary system-pension facial authentication.

Maintaining that the government has taken up all requisite measures to ensure that all the pensioners get their pension delivered at their doorsteps without any hassles, he said the entire exercise would be monitored via district-level call centres in DRDA offices.

"We have issued instructions to the volunteers to complete the disbursal of pension in five days, carefully, and by giving no scope for complaints like technical reasons."

The state government is providing pension to 18 categories of pensioners including the old- age people, widows, the disabled, single women, weavers, DMHO, fishermen, dappu artists, traditional cobblers, toddy tappers, those taking antiretroviral therapy, Abhayahastam, CKDU-private, CKDU- government, Amaravatis landless poor, artists, transgenders and Sainiks.
The SCO currently consists of eight member nations, including India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. (File Image: PTI)

New Delhi: China confirmed on Friday that its President Xi Jinping will participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit next week, which is being hosted virtually by India. Pakistan also announced that its Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, will participate in the summit. The SCO currently consists of eight member nations, including India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

According to Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, President Xi will attend the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO via video conference on July 4, delivering important remarks. The Pakistani foreign ministry highlighted Sharif's participation as a demonstration of Pakistan's commitment to the SCO, emphasising its significance as a forum for regional security and prosperity.

India, as the current SCO chair, had previously announced that the summit would take place in a virtual format due to various factors without providing further details. India assumed the rotating chairmanship of the SCO in September 2022, and under its leadership, the 22nd Summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Observer states Iran, Belarus, and Mongolia have also been invited, along with Turkmenistan as the guest of the Chair. The summit will feature the participation of heads of two SCO bodies and representatives from international and regional organizations like UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA.

The theme of the summit is "Towards a SECURE SCO," with the acronym representing Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environment. India's chairmanship has focused on cooperation pillars such as Startups and Innovation, Traditional Medicine, Digital Inclusion, Youth Empowerment, and Shared Buddhist Heritage. The cultural and tourist capital events in Varanasi have fostered people-to-people ties among SCO member nations.

During India's chairmanship, 134 meetings and events, including 14 ministerial-level meetings, have been hosted, contributing to mutual cooperation among member states. India remains committed to playing a positive and constructive role in the organisation and anticipates a successful SCO summit as the culmination of its chairmanship.
TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy reviewing arrangements for the ensuing Jana Garjana meeting in Khammam on Friday. (By Arrangement)

Hyderabad: TPCC president A. Revanth Reddy said that the countdown for the end of BRS rule in Telangana will begin in Khammam district. The state government is creating hurdles for the Congress Jana Garjana public meeting scheduled for July 2 in Khammam, he alleged.

"We sought 1,500 RTC buses to mobilise the public but the government ignored our plea. Despite such highly condemnable obstructions, we will make a grand success of the meeting and throw the BRS government into the Bay of Bengal after the ensuing Assembly elections," he said, adding that the party will sound the poll bugle at the meeting.

No power can stop the Congress from forming government in Telangana state and it will continue to stay in power for the next 10 years, he opined.

A preparatory meeting on Jana Garjana Sabha was held at the DCC office in Khammam on Friday. AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders will attend the garjana event on July 2. Speaking to reporters, Revanth Reddy said that after consulting his followers, former MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy decided to join Congress party in the presence of Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.

CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Renuka Chowdary and Srinivas Reddy will be part of the Congress clean sweep of all 10 Assembly seats in the undivided Khammam district, he said.

"Seniors and newcomers will work in tandem and help us win at least 80 seats. Dethroning BRS and coming to power will be our birthday gift to Sonia Gandhi", he said.

He found fault with IT minister K.T. Rama Raos remarks that former Srinivas Reddy and Jupally Krishna Rao left BRS due to lack of space for them in the party.

"He should be reminded that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao left the Telugu Desam party after being denied a ministerial berth", Reddy said.

Intelligence officials should submit evidence of the success of our meeting in Khammam to the Chief Minister, he said.

Chandrashekar Rao came out of Pragathi Bhavan, after former Srinivas Reddy decided to join Congress, the Congress leader said. He began distribution of pattas for podu lands following the huge response to CLP leader Bhattis peoples march, he said. He reiterated that after Congress comes to power, they will scrap the dharani portal.

Earlier, Revanth Reddy met Bhatti in Thallampadu village, which the latter reached as part of the peoples march.

Reddy said that people brought several issues to the notice of Vikramarka during the padayatra. The Congress party will resolve all those problems, he assured.
A senior official in the state said that Singh was likely to resign today. Sources said that Singh has an appointment with Governor Anusuiya Uikey during which he might tender his resignation, owing responsibility to the unabated violence in the state. PTI

Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh is likely to submit his resignation amid the ongoing violence in the state.

A senior official in the state said that Singh was likely to resign today.

Sources said that Singh has an appointment with Governor Anusuiya Uikey during which he might tender his resignation, owing responsibility to the unabated violence in the state.

There are reports that on Thursday, Singh received several calls from Delhi in which he was asked to put in his papers. The report also said that the Assembly is likely to be put in animated suspension.
BJP MLA from Huzurabad Etala Rajendar. (Photo: Wikipedia)

HYDERABAD: In a development that should bring some peace to the strife-hit BJP in Telangana, senior leader Etala Rajendar attended the Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyan of the party in Sadashivpet, and took the opportunity to castigate Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao and the BRS.

Also on Friday, the state government decided to provide Y Plus category security to Rajendar following a complaint from him and his wife about threats to his life.

It may be recalled that it was only three days ago that Rajendars wife Jamuna held a press conference and said that her husband faced a threat to his life from BRS MLC Padi Kaushik Reddy, a complaint that was later repeated by Rajendar.

Following the complaints, the Medchal deputy commissioner of police Sandeep Rao met with Rajendar to inquire about the apprehensions about safety and submitted a report to the Director General of Police Anjani Kumar.

Following the report and threat assessment, the government on Friday decided to provide Rajendar with Y plus security which will see the BJP MLA receive a bullet proof vehicle, and a 16 member security detail.

The new security arrangement will be in place form Saturday.

Rajendar has also been in the news over the past few weeks with respect to differences with the state party leadership and was summoned to Delhi to make his case with party president J.P. Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah in the presence of G. Kishan Reddy, Union minister from the state.

Also summoned to present his views was former MLA Komatireddy Rajgopal Reddy. While some changes were expected in the party structure following the meeting, furious rumours did the rounds in the BJP that its state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar could soon be divested of his position and asked to join the Union Cabinet.

However, there was no official confirmation with respect to such a development, or any communication from the party on change of leadership in state BJP.

Meanwhile, Rajendar, addressing the Maha Jan Sampark Abhiyan meeting, said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last nine years introduced several programmes and schemes for the welfare of the poor even as he led the country on a path to development. There has not been a single scam in the Central government under Modis leadership. But here in Telangana, governance is dominated by KCR, his son, daughter and nephew."

He said "Modi has already said that a vote for BRS will mean a vote for the KCR family and its benefit. And if people want to benefit, then they should vote for the BJP. Question KCR on the promises he made and did not keep such as three acres of land for Dalits, or why two bedroom houses have not been given to the poor."

"Give the BJP one chance in the state and an opportunity toserve the people. The BJP will ensure good governance and promises a government that will put people first unlike the BRS government that has put only KCR and his family first," he added.
The UK government's controversial proposal to send select asylum seekers to Rwanda was on Thursday ruled 'unlawful' by the Court of Appeals, one of the top courts in the country, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's vow to stop migrants from arriving to the UK in small boats.

In the three-judge ruling, the court overturned a previous high court decision that held that Rwanda could be considered a safe third country for asylum seekers.

The judgement summary of Thursday's decision further held that sending asylum seekers to Rwanda would breach the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), reported CNN.

PM Sunak, however, has confirmed that his government will appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court.

Read | UK government plan to deport migrants to Rwanda is unlawful, court rules

In view of Thursday's court ruling, we explain the legal battle over the deportation of asylum seekers and the context in which it took shape.

Asylum seekers to the UK:

In recent years, there has been a considerable surge in the number of asylum seekers, defined by the UN as people who have applied for shelter in protection in a country different from their country of origin, arriving to the UK by crossing the English channel on boats.

According to a report by BBC, while less than 10,000 people a year crossed the English channel to arrive in the UK in 2019 and 2020, that number shot up to nearly 30,000 in 2021.

In 2022, more than 45,700 people used the same route to the UK, making it the highest figure since record-keeping began.

This year, the tally has already crossed 10,000, and, as per its current statistical trajectory, could surpass 2021 figures.

Meanwhile, UK has more than 133,607 asylum applications pending.

The deportation plan:

Against the backdrop of a spike in the annual number of asylum seekers to the UK, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced the measure to stop the flow of small boats crossing the English Channel.

The plan comprises a five-year trial that would see select asylum seekers to the UK sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket to seek asylum there.

Those who meet the required criteria may be granted refugee status by Rwanda, thereby allowing for them to stay on in the African nation. Those not granted permission, however, would have the option to seek asylum in another "safe third country" or apply for settlement in Rwanda on different grounds.

Further, under the deal, Rwanda can also ask the UK to give asylum to some of its most vulnerable refugees.

The UK government held that the plan would discourage individuals from resorting to "illegal, dangerous or unnecessary methods" such as crossing the English Channel to arrive in the country for asylum.

In April 2022, the plan was enacted, after the governments of the UK and Northern Ireland signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rwandan government.

Despite the enactment of the plan, no asylum seeker has been sent to Rwanda thus farthe first flight, slated to take place in June 2022, was cancelled due to legal challenges.

Under the deal, the UK has so far paid the Rwandan government 140 million, but according to BBC, the overall cost of the scheme is yet to be ascertained.

Supporters and detractors:

The plan, perhaps expectedly, found strong support among Conservative quarters, while it was overwhelmingly rejected by Labour voters, as per a YouGov poll report in April 2022.

The poll further found that overall, 42 per cent of respondents disagreed with the plan, while 35 per cent were in support.

The plan was also heavily criticised by rights groups, who pointed out deficiencies in the Rwandan asylum system and the poor humanitarian record of the African nation.

Even the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, voiced its opposition to the plan, with Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs saying, "UNHCR remains firmly opposed to arrangements that seek to transfer refugees and asylum seekers to third countries in the absence of sufficient safeguards and standards."

The Rwandan government, however, defended the plan with President Paul Kagame dismissing allegations that the UK was paying the government to 'trade' human beings.

We are not trading human beings, please, we are actually helping," Kagame was quoted as saying by Africa News in April last year.
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" on Friday promised to make the Himalayan nation self-reliant in rice production, and urged farmers to use climate-friendly techniques to increase its output.

Speaking on the occasion of the 20th Rashtriya Dhan Dibas (National Rice Day) here, Prachanda said that his government is ensuring proper irrigation facilities for cultivating rice.

Use climate-adopted agriculture-friendly technology to increase rice production and this is going to be this year's National Rice Day slogan. The government is working towards making Nepal self-reliant in rice, the main food item of the country," said Prachanda.

Also Read | Nepals Supreme Court orders government to register same-sex marriage

Rice is the staple crop of Nepal like several other hilly regions.

However, rice production has not increased as farmers lack advanced varieties of rice seeds, chemical fertilisers, irrigation facilities, and machine tools for planting paddy.

As the production of paddy decreased and consumption increased, Nepal had to import to address the huge demand for rice.

The nation imported 724,000 metric tonnes of rice in 2022-2023 while the domestic production was 5,486,000 tonnes, which is insufficient to meet the demand.

As the country received late monsoon rain this year, rice saplings were planted in only 11 per cent of the total cultivable land.

Prachanda said that the government is prioritising the expansion of irrigation facilities, and subsidies to support the farmers in the country.

"Keeping in mind the important role played by rice in maintaining food security and food sovereignty, the government has been prioritising expansion of irrigation facilities, subsidy in chemical fertiliser and seeds, expansion of technology, research and development and implementation of minimum supporting price for rice," he said.
The deadly shooting of a teenager, a French citizen of Algerian and Moroccan descent, by a police officer outside Paris has ignited a wave of violent protest that once again confronts President Emmanuel Macron with turmoil in the streets and has revived accusations of endemic racism in Frances law enforcement agencies.

The tumult from the police shooting of a 17-year-old in the western suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday comes just weeks after nationwide demonstrations over Macrons decision to raise the retirement age, presenting the French leader with a renewed wave of popular fury. A video showing the shooting stoked the outrage.

After 180 people were arrested and 170 officers injured during protests Wednesday night. Gerald Darmanin, the countrys hard-line interior minister, said that 40,000 police officers would be deployed across the country Thursday evening to ensure that a night of intolerable violence against symbols of the Republic was not repeated.

Also read | 150 arrested as unrest spreads across France after teenager killed by police

The Nanterre prosecutors office said Thursday that the officer who fired the shot had been detained and placed under formal investigation on charges of voluntary homicide.

For Macron, who likes to place himself at the centrist fulcrum of French politics but does not have an absolute majority in Parliament, the episode has forced him into a delicate balancing act.

He initially called the shooting, which took place at close range while the teenagers car was stopped in traffic, inexcusable and inexplicable, before condemning the violent protests as absolutely unjustifiable. This kind of careful positioning is a hallmark of Macrons governing style, earning him the epithet of the at the same time president.

Macron wants to quell the protests before they spread further and upend his efforts to restore a sense of calm and direction after the protracted turbulence ignited by the pension overhaul.

Yet if the measures he takes to stop the demonstrations are too draconian, they may only feed the anger at police violence that is perceived as being directed disproportionately at immigrants of Arab descent or Black people. The race of the officer was not made public. No evidence has emerged that the teenager, identified as Nahel M., was targeted because of his ethnicity.

Polls consistently show Macron with an approval rating of about 30 per cent, lower than it has been during much of his six years in office but far from catastrophic by French standards.

The killing has drawn accusations from the left that French police have been Americanized, even as the right has focused on protesters growing violence toward an embattled police force.

Marine Tondelier, a leader of the Green party, said that what she had witnessed this week was the execution of a kid aged 17 on a public street by a police officer. She added, You really have the impression our police is being Americanized.

The murder of George Floyd, who was African American, at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020, made an indelible impression in France, in part because of perceived parallels with the deaths of several people here while in police custody.

Leaving aside the completely specific American racial context, the events are reminiscent of the murder of George Floyd, Le Monde, one of Frances leading newspapers, said in its editorial Thursday. This act was committed by a law enforcement officer, was filmed and broadcast almost live, and involved an emblematic representative of a socially discriminated category: a man from a working-class neighborhood.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne made clear Thursday that the government wanted to avoid declaring a state of emergency, as it did in 2005, when the death of two teenagers fleeing police in an impoverished suburb led to rioting. The measure, if adopted, would allow the government to impose a curfew, ban demonstrations and put people under house arrest with little judicial oversight.

After convening a crisis meeting in Paris, Macron went to Brussels on Thursday for a European Union summit, as if to convey a message of business as usual.

The announcement that the officer was being investigated came after several thousand people joined a march and a vigil for Nahel M in Nanterre that ended at Nelson Mandela Square, the site of the shooting. Police fired tear gas at the marchers.

Kader Mahjoubi, 47, who is of Moroccan heritage, said that as he drove to the march, he thought of all the times he and his friends had been stopped by police because, he believed, of the color of their skin.

I was born French, but the police dont see that, he said. Its racism.

If the left saw the shooting as typifying a government with a tough law-and-order agenda, the right stepped up its denunciations Thursday of the protests that left cars, schools and government buildings in flames overnight.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti declared that those who spit on the police and on justice are the moral accomplices of the acts of violence committed.

The deadly confrontation started when Nahel ran a red light to avoid a first stop, the prosecutor said, and the officers approached the vehicle once it got stuck in traffic. The police officer who fired the shot told investigators that he wanted to prevent the driver from fleeing and was worried that he or his colleague would be hurt if the vehicle was driven away.

That reasoning did not convince prosecutors. But it resonated with police unions, which have accused politicians of ignoring the risks officers face in the field. Those unions have long argued that their job has become increasingly dangerous because of the governments failure to address deep-seated social problems.

On Thursday, they expressed particular outrage at the detention of the officer who had fired the shot.

You dont put out a fire by putting a police officer in prison, Laurent-Franck Lienard, the officers lawyer, told RTL radio station.

Like many Western societies, but perhaps more so, France is fractured between its affluent metropolitan elites enjoying the benefits of a dynamic economy and low-income communities in blighted, racially mixed suburbs where schools tend to be poor and prospects dim.

Macron spent three days this week in Marseille, where he was at pains to underline his governments efforts to address social problems in poorer areas. The state is investing in an unprecedented way to build schools, he said. This has to go faster. By next fall, we will already have 30 new schools.

The French economy shows many signs of robust health, including an unemployment level of 7.1 per cent, the lowest in many years, and sharply increased foreign investment. But this has done little to assuage anger at a sense of exclusion in what the French call the periphery  remote rural areas, as well as the suburbs.

The perception of Macron as the president of the rich  a leader more focused on the success story he has helped create of a go-ahead France with a fast-growing tech sector than on the troubled France of forgotten people struggling to get by  has proved hard to shake.

As a result, when protests do flare, they tend to be redoubled by anger directed personally at the president.
British international environment minister Zac Goldsmith on Friday resigned from government, criticising Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as "uninterested" in the environmental brief.

"The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested," said Goldsmith, who sits in parliament's upper chamber and held the title of Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment.

It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govts apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down pic.twitter.com/KDJKN3i6ER  Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) June 30, 2023

Also Read | Want to strike truly ambitious trade deal with India, says UK PM Rishi Sunak

His resignation letter posted on Twitter said Britain had: "visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature."

That echoes a report published earlier this week by the government's climate advisers who said Britain had

lost its position

as a global leader on climate action and was not doing enough to meet its mid-century net zero target.
The DMK may weigh all the options and legal factors related to Governor R N Ravi's later backtracked move to dismiss Minister V Senthil Balaji from the Cabinet, sources said on Friday.

The party brass may consult its leaders and office-bearers to devise a strategy --both legal and political-- on the matter.

Also Read  TN Governor R N Ravi dismisses jailed minister Senthil Balaji; puts decision on hold within hours

"The Governor has backtracked and he has been exposed thoroughly," an office-bearer told PTI adding all the political maneuvering of the BJP to target the DMK has been backfiring in Tamil Nadu.

Sources said there was no need 'immediately' to look into legal aspects or consider anything else (such as the possibility of political interests over the dismissal and a counter-strategy to frustrate it), as the dismissal was now on hold.

On Thursday, hours after dismissing Balaji from the Cabinet, Ravi had later kept it in abeyance.

The DMK, may however consider weighing legal options to take on the Governor for his alleged excesses and fight the BJP politically at the right time and as and when warranted, sources added.

Senthil Balaji is an influential leader in the western Kongu region. He was previously with the AIADMK before joining the DMK years ago.

Ravi's order dismissing Minister V Senthil Balaji from the Cabinet was placed under abeyance by the Raj Bhavan within hours following Union Home Ministry's intervention, the DMK said on Friday.

The ruling DMK organ Murasoli said Ravi's dismissal directive was "put on hold within five hours as per the advisory of the Union Home Ministry."

Briefly explaining the sequence of events on June 29 related to the dismissal order, the Tamil daily underscored the 'strong condemnation' it evoked from legal luminaries and party leaders.

The daily said by midnight 'information' came that the dismissal order was being held in abeyance for soliciting Attorney General's opinion on the matter. "It is noteworthy that the Governor's order was put on hold in five hours."

In a late evening communication to the chief minister, the Governor said he would consult the attorney general and seek his legal opinion about the move. The governor had explained the reasons for his removing Balaji from the cabinet.

The order to dismiss Balaji, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a cash-for-jobs scam and since hospitalised, from the Council of Ministers has been kept in abeyance by the governor until further communication.

Meanwhile, posters sprung up in the city, asking whether "Guindy would write to Delhi", about the pending cases against a set of union ministers and seek their ouster from the cabinet.

Guindy, an obvious reference to the Raj Bhavan, in Chennai is where the Governor's residence is located.
Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS  Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $80.90, but opened at $78.87. General Mills shares last traded at $77.14, with a volume of 1,757,473 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $95.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $89.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Monday, March 27th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $88.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Monday, March 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $82.56.

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General Mills Trading Down 0.5 %

The businesss fifty day moving average is $85.16 and its 200-day moving average is $83.01. The firm has a market cap of $44.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.54.

General Mills Increases Dividend

General Mills ( NYSE:GIS Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 28th. The company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.05. General Mills had a net margin of 14.04% and a return on equity of 24.51%. The firm had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. The companys revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from General Millss previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. General Millss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 4,081 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total transaction of $368,595.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,121 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,185,088.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Bethany C. Quam sold 21,734 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.86, for a total transaction of $1,866,081.24. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 47,560 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,083,501.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 4,081 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.32, for a total transaction of $368,595.92. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,121 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,185,088.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,341 shares of company stock worth $4,163,978. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Disciplined Investments LLC grew its position in General Mills by 245.9% in the 1st quarter. Disciplined Investments LLC now owns 294 shares of the companys stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares during the period. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. James Investment Research Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, AXS Investments LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.73% of the companys stock.

About General Mills

(Free Report)

General Mills, Inc manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates in five segments: North America Retail; Convenience Stores & Foodservice; Europe & Australia; Asia & Latin America; and Pet. It offers ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and salty snacks, ice cream, nutrition bars, wellness beverages, and savory and grain snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.

Further Reading

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State of Alaska Department of Revenue lessened its stake in shares of Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK  Free Report) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,256 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 287 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenues holdings in Rockwell Automation were worth $5,357,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,495,152 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $2,902,943,000 after purchasing an additional 40,192 shares during the last quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt lifted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt now owns 3,013,365 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $776,092,000 after purchasing an additional 35,100 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,741,019 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $706,004,000 after purchasing an additional 457,383 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,324,137 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $597,524,000 after purchasing an additional 28,866 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Rockwell Automation by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,318,468 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $597,168,000 after purchasing an additional 249,857 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.28% of the companys stock.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rockwell Automation news, VP Isaac Woods sold 150 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $48,750.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 940 shares in the company, valued at $305,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Isaac Woods sold 150 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total transaction of $48,750.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 940 shares of the companys stock, valued at $305,500. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Blake D. Moret sold 4,855 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $1,529,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 64,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,293,875. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 15,217 shares of company stock worth $4,687,705 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.64% of the companys stock.

Rockwell Automation Trading Up 0.9 %

ROK opened at $324.14 on Friday. Rockwell Automation, Inc. has a one year low of $192.90 and a one year high of $326.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.24 billion, a PE ratio of 28.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.42. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $291.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $283.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The industrial products company reported $3.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.60 by $0.41. Rockwell Automation had a return on equity of 42.15% and a net margin of 15.82%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Rockwell Automation, Inc. will post 12.04 EPS for the current year.

Rockwell Automation Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.18 per share. This represents a $4.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 11th. Rockwell Automations dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ROK shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Rockwell Automation from $245.00 to $238.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Rockwell Automation from $272.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Barclays increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $250.00 to $262.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $250.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Rockwell Automation from $260.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rockwell Automation has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $275.63.

Rockwell Automation Company Profile

(Free Report)

Rockwell Automation, Inc provides industrial automation and digital transformation solutions in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through three segments, Intelligent Devices, Software & Control, and Lifecycle Services. Its solutions include hardware and software products and services.

Read More

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A new supported living complex for adults with a learning disability has been officially opened in Maghera.

Known as Fair Hill Court, seven tenants are now looking forward to settling into their new homes with support from the Northern Health and Social Care Trust.

To mark the completion of the facility, they were joined by family members and friends along with Oscar winning actor James Martin who was on hand to cut the all-important ribbon to the delight of everyone in attendance.

Reflecting on the significance of the development, Assistant Director, Gareth Farmer said: This new model is a fantastic example of what can be achieved through collaboration, with the Northern Trust working closely with the owner of the building, Declan McKenna, the Housing Executive, RQIA, local residents and the tenants themselves.

What we have developed will offer greater efficiency for our staff and service users, providing modern accommodation which best meets the needs of our tenants, and where they can forge important social connections within the facility and in the wider local community as well which is very important.

Deputy Manager Mairead Quinn said she was delighted to see the tenants settling into their new surroundings: A lot of work has gone into the planning and delivery of this scheme, and it is very rewarding for all of us to see how happy it has made those who now call it home.

The Northern Trust will continue to support our residents and we are looking forward to seeing the benefits their new surroundings will bring.

We are very grateful to all those who have played a part in the development of Fair Hill Court, and who have shared our vision to bring this very special complex to fruition."
Counsel for the family of a Derry man found shot dead on the Braehead Road in 2010 has said that the family will be 'patient' until all the information has been gathered.

Stephen Toal was speaking at a preliminary hearing into the death of Kieran Doherty (31) of Coshowen in Derry who was found shot dead on February 24, 2010.

At the time his death was claimed by the dissident republican group the Real IRA who said Mr Doherty was one of their members. The group made allegations against the dead man.

At today's hearing Mr Toal for the Doherty family said their concern was to 'get to the truth of the death' and they would be patient until all the necessary information was available.

He was reacting to a disclosure by Ian Skelt KC counsel for the Coroner that the Chief State Solicitor's office in the Republic has been in touch with what he described as 'a short but positive update.'

Previous hearings had been told that the Irish authorities had been asked for any information they may have in relation to Mr Doherty.

Mr Skelt said that they had received a reply from the Chief State Solicitor's office yesterday (Thursday) stating they were looking into the matter.

The barrister said that the State Solicitor's office was 'not in a position to give specifics' but suggested that the Coroner 's office should liaise with the Southern authorities over the summer to progress the issue.

The Coroner Judge Brian Sherrard said he felt that the best course of action was to gather all the relevant information before making decisions as to what applications were necessary.

He said that it was 'worthwhile' for his office to liaise with the State Solicitor's office to reassure the Doherty family that 'all avenues are being explored'.

Jonathan Glasson KC for the Secretary of State said that it was 'a positive development'.

The hearing was adjourned until September 11.
A call has been made for a new Derry to Belfast direct bus service and a direct route from Dublin to Derry to be established.

SDLP councillor Lilian Seenoi Barr. raised the issue at the full meeting of the Derry City and Strabane District Council last Wednesday and received a unanimous vote of support.

Council will now write to Translink expressing its support for the new direct services. Council is also asking that Translink secures a long-term solution for special rail and bus services for sporting events.

Cllr Barr said improving connectivity via public transport would help to build Derrys economy.

We need to make investments into our economy in this city which has been left behind for far too long. That starts with infrastructure and building the conditions necessary for a thriving city and region, she said.

I hope when an Executive is restored in Stormont that this is a day one priority for the new Minister for Infrastructure. In the meantime, I am pleased that Council supported this motion so that we can assure ourselves that we are taking action to improve the connectivity of our region.

She said that while the length of car journeys have been reduced by the new A6 dual carriageway, the same cannot be said for bus journeys.

While many will be rightly delighted that the second phase of the A6 road project is finally complete, I have also heard from many constituents who are understandably disappointed that journey times by public transport have not improved and Derry is still lacking a direct service to Belfast or Dublin, she said.

Public transport commuters have also faced a five-year delay and disruption in their journeys while the A6 upgrade was ongoing, so it is deeply frustrating that still the quickest journey time on the 212 bus service is two hours.

Increasing public transport will also help to combat the climate crisis according to Cllr Barr.

We will also continue to fall further behind on dealing with the climate crisis if we do not reduce the number of cars on our roads and increase public transport. And given the fact that we are all advocating for a green economy and sustainability, direct services should be considered as a priority.

At last week's meeting DUP Alderman Keith Kerrigan raised concerns that a new direct service would not do much for rural communities.

Will that be taking away a bit from the current service? I do have concerns there, he said.

If you want a direct route from the city to Dublin or Belfast or vice versa, you're still forcing that rural population into the city.

If you're seriously trying to reduce the use of cars and put more on public transport I think we need a better service there from the likes of Castlederg to the city. There's no direct route from Castlederg to Londonderry.

He said he would be happy to lobby for it as long as it is an additional service and does not diminish the existing one.

Cllr Barr said they were not interested in lobbying for a replacement.

Just to reassure our rural councillors, this is just an addition. It's not about starving the rural areas with connectivity.

 In fact, I think they should be getting some direct buses. There would be no problem with Claudy getting a bus that doesn't come from Derry. It can start from Claudy and go to Belfast,

It's all about improving connectivity, allowing our city to grow its own economy, she said.
Derry and Strabanes Strategic Growth Partners gathered today at Ulster Universitys Magee Campus for its quarterly meeting to consider progress on a range of strategic projects.

The Strategic Growth Partnership is the body tasked with overseeing the delivery of the Strategic Growth Plan for the City and District.

Among the issues discussed at the meeting were the latest economic forecast for Derry and Strabane and progress on the Strategic Growth Plan Implementation and Performance.

Members heard from Ana Desmond, from the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, which produces a twice-yearly report detailing the economic outlook for both N. Ireland and the DCSDC area.

The report revealed continuing pressures on local households struggling to cover rising costs while wage growth remains stagnant, however resilience in the wider economy is reported as being stronger than expected.

At the meeting partners received a presentation on progress on the Strategic Growth Plan ahead of the publication of draft 2023 Statement of Progress which will be presented for Members approval at the October 23 meeting of the Strategic Growth Partnership.

Members also received an update on the Ideas Fund led by the North West Community Network and Developing Healthy Communities. They then heard more about proposed plans for a series of Hope Events planned as part of a campaign to establish Derry and Strabane as the first Hope District in the UK and Ireland, being led by the North West Community Network and Resilio.

It was the first SGP meeting co-chaired by the City and Districts new Mayor, Cllr Patricia Logue, who took the opportunity to acknowledge the work delivered to date.

I want to thank Ulster University for hosting todays Partnership meeting and all our partners for their continued commitment to the delivery of the Strategic Growth Plan which aims to make transformational improvements across our City and District, she said. While these are challenging times and organisations are having to absorb significant cuts to budgets, there is a shared will and determination to lobby together on behalf of Derry and Strabane and to deliver on our ambitions for growth and prosperity. We will continue to push forward with that agenda despite the challenges.

You can find the reports from todays Strategic Growth Partnership meeting at growderrystabane.com
"The net effect of what we have said in our judgement is that for the reasons given above the decision discontinuing the prosecution cannot stand."

This is the final powerful sentence in the judgement delivered on Monday morning (June 29) by Lord Justice Treacy in the Court of Appeal in Belfast.

Read the full Judgement HERE.

Lord Justice Treacy was referring to an application for a Judicial Review by Margaret Brady, the sister of Daniel Hegarty (15), one of two Derry people murdered during Operation Motorman, on July 31, 1972.

Margaret's Judicial Review was in relation to the decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions, on July 2, 2021, and reaffirmed on October 10, 2022, to discontinue the prosecution of Soldier B for Daniel's murder.

Following Monday's judgement the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has 28 days to consider its position.

In a statement to Derry Now, solicitor Desmond Doherty, who represents the Hegarty family said : "Daniels family have welcomed the Court of Appeals decision and expect the criminal process to continue in Derry."
A Derry man who has emerged as a leading light in his field has scooped a top honour at the prestigious Digital Construction Live awards.

Dan Gallen, who started up his own company, Dandoire, less than three years ago, lifted the prize for most innovative consultancy of the year at a lavish ceremony held in Belfast earlier this month.

The 44-year-old, who has been living in Copenhagen since 2012, specialises in helping start-up construction companies reach their full potential by using his expertise in digital software to modernise and streamline their operations.

His main client is innDex, a leading international company that provides hardware and software solutions for construction site access control. Dan acts as their chief growth officer.

He said: The awards were great craic. When my category was up, somebody else was named highly commended and I thought that was probably the best I could have hoped for so that was that, but then Pamela Ballantyne said 'the winner is Dandoire'. It felt very nice.

I put the innDex marketing team in for an award as well, for our work with Glencar (leading British construction company), and we were lucky to be shortlisted for that, so it was a great night all round.

And the former St Brigid's College pupil legged it for Derry straight afterwards, eager to grab a precious weekend home with family and friends.

Aye, straight down and into Sandino's to see the mates, he said. I moved to London when I was 22 and then to Copenhagen just over ten years ago to be close to my daughter, but I absolutely love getting back to Derry and would do it more often if there was a direct flight from Copenhagen to Belfast.

It takes me a while to get back into the slagging and the banter, but after an hour or so it's like I've never been away. The attitude here is 'don't be coming in acting the big I am', and that's the way it should be. Derry people will always keep you grounded!

Dan, from Galliagh Park, combined his experience of working as a bricklayer with a multimedia qualification to forge a career in digital construction. It is a sector that has revolutionised the industry - something which he astutely identified in the early stages.

After honing his trade as an employee of the prominent company LetsBuild, he bravely took the plunge and started up Dandoire two and a half years ago. In just a short time, his business has flourished - along with his reputation as one of the most knowledgable and innovative consultants within the industry.

And, movingly, he credits his beloved daughter Adeline, now 14, as the inspiration for his success.

He explained: I attended an event in Copenhagen called the President's Summit which brought together thought leaders from all around the world.

There were pictures of the main speakers up on the walls and I took photos on my phone and afterwards showed them to to Adeline and she said, 'maybe one day you'll be up on that wall, Papa', and I said, 'naw, I don't so', and she said 'yes, you can'. And it was her total belief in me that has driven me forward.

I moved to Denmark to be close to her after me and her mammy split up. She has a great intelligence and creativity and is full of love. She feels the love of her family in Ireland and she has inherited a lot of Derryisms from me.

Dan with daughter Adeline.

Denmark, says Dan, has been a good place to live in terms of the standard of living and the quality of educational and clinical support provided to Adeline, who was diagnosed with autism when she was five.

Copenhagen is lovely, he said. The fabric of society is knitted together very well and has contributed to my daughter's lovely gentle spirit.

But, though he has now spent exactly half of his life away from here, he insists there is no place like home.

There is nothing quite like the craic that you get in Derry. Life could sometimes be tough growing up and I learned a lot about friendship. John Duddy lived two doors down from me and I still stay in touch with him and with many of my Galliagh friends.

I love my life in Denmark but I do miss home. I miss the buns! We've lovely Danish pastries over here but you can't beat a cream finger or a turnover.

I am very proud to be from Derry. I could lose my dignity and everything else, but I will never lose my identity or forget where I came from.
The family of a teenage boy killed by the British army in 1975 have said his reputation has been restored after an inquest found he was entirely innocent.

Leo Norney was 17 years old when he was shot dead by Lance Corporal John Ross MacKay.

Coroner Patrick McGurgan found it was likely Mr Norneys killing was a deliberate act, and that the other soldiers with Mr MacKay gave false accounts of what happened out of fear of him to cover up what happened.

Mr Norneys niece, Linda Norney, said that the ruling restored Leos good reputation.

Leo was only a boy of 17. He had just got out of a taxi and was going to meet his girlfriend. Leo was not armed. He did not pose a threat to anyone. He was shot in cold blood and his shooting is unjustified, she said.

However the British army did not just kill Leo. They also murdered his good name. Later that night after the soldiers returned to their base, they concocted a false story which blackened Leos name for almost 50 years.

They said that Leo was a gunman and that Leo had opened fire on them. Today, that narrative has been exposed for the deceit and lies that it is, and Leos good reputation has been restored.

Ms Norney also stated her wish that other families of victims of the Troubles would be given justice.

She said: It is sad that it was necessary for my family to have to pursue this for so long, but the British army left our family with no alternative. Had they had the courage and moral decency to tell the truth in 1975, then this process would not have been necessary.

Today my family fondly remembers Leo for what he was: an innocent, good-hearted, happy go-lucky teenage boy.

She added: We hope every family who has suffered loss as a result of the Troubles gets justice and peace.

The Norney family solicitor, Fearghal Shiels of Madden & Finucane, said the ruling showed that the inquest system was fit for purpose in exposing wrongful state killings.

This is another clear illustration that the inquest system continues to work for families seeking the truth as to how their loved ones died, he said.

It is an open and transparent process where documents are scrutinised and witnesses are publicly examined against all of the available independent and objective evidence.

Todays findings are not unique. It is the latest in a series of inquests in which unlawful state killings have been exposed and state cover ups unravelled and no one needs to look any further for the true reason why the British Government is intent in pushing through legislation to end other similar inquests.

The UK government is currently trying to pass The Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill into law.

The legislation would end future civil cases and inquests in relation to crimes committed in the Troubles, if the perpetrators co-operated with a truth-recovery body.

The House of Lords voted to remove a clause that would give protection from prosecution to perpetrators of crime but the government has stated its continued determination to pass the Bill, despite opposition from victims groups, Stormont political parties and the Irish government.
The state of the Samsung Galaxy Fan Edition has been up in the air for a while now. Is a new phone named Galaxy S23 FE launching in July? Or is it Samsung Galaxy S21 FE coming out next month? The rumours suggest both and see for yourself if it clears up things or confuses you even more.

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE purported details

Samsung Galaxy S23 FE is rumoured to bring a 6.4-inch AMOLED display, an Exynos 2200 SoC, 6/8GB RAM, 128GB/256GB storage, and a 4500mAh battery with 25W fast charging, and a design akin to the Galaxy A54.

Today, a Samsung phone (with model number SM-S7110) believed to be Samsung Galaxy S23 FE has been spotted on the Chinese smartphone certification site, 3C. This raises our confidence about earlier rumours that the phone will launch soon, probably in July 2023.

The reason for our scepticism is that the rumours of new Fan Edition phones in the last few years have been a miss.

Heres a timeline of these rumours so far:

1. Samsung Galaxy S21 FE debuted in January 2022. A few months later in April, we started hearing about the Galaxy S22 FE. The early rumours claimed the phone could ship with a MediaTek SoC, making them the first flagship-grade Samsung phones to have this brand of chips. But, within a few this rumour was squashed by a trusted tipster.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy M34 teased: Will it offer something more than a Galaxy S23-like design?

2. In June of that year, we heard the Galaxy S22 FE has been cancelled and there will be no Fan Edition phones in the future too. At first, the reason given was that the chips had to be reallocated to the top-end Galaxy S22 Ultras production.

3. But the rumours of the Galaxy S22 FE resurged in December 2022. This time, it was being said that the phone would be coming alongside the Galaxy S23 series at the first Unpacked event of the upcoming year. Didnt happen.

4. Now by February 2023, it was time for the Galaxy S23 FE rumours, which suggested the phone will see daylight in the second half of this year. Some of the aforementioned specs also started becoming part of the conversation soon.

5. The launch timeline also reportedly got pushed to the third quarter, which starts in July.

6. Before it got the 3C certification, the Samsung handset codenamed SM-S711 also got the South Korean certification for its battery this month, ie., a couple of weeks back.

7. Earlier this day, we came across a Galaxy S21 FE relaunch with supposedly a processor refresh.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S21 FE with Snapdragon 888 for 40,000 could be a big ask

Based on the rumoured specs at least, we find the Galaxy S23 FE more interesting. But, since they are rumours, we urge you to take them with a pinch of salt.
Chinese chip industry has to readjust to deglobalization

At SEMICON China 2023, Wei Shaojun, a leading scholar at Tsinghua University and vice chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association, shared his views on the challenges faced by Chinese semiconductor industry as the globalization of semiconductor supply chain comes to a halt.

Wei indicated that the "suppression" against the semiconductor industry will definitely halt the pace of globalization, and lead to fragmentation of global supply chain. As Chinese semiconductor industry development pursues the typical separation between design, manufacturing and packaging, the "real biggest challenge" confronting Chinese semiconductor industry, according to Wei, is to change this familiar model.

Compared to IDM-dominated countries like the US, Europe, Japan, and South Korea, China's IDMs remain small. As data gathered by DIGITIMES Research indicates, in 2022 Chinese IDMs only accounted for approximately 2% of global IDM revenues. In contrast, American IDMs accounted for approximately 42%.

Another challenge, according to Wei, is China's relatively small domestic semiconductor industry: in terms of chip manufacturing. Despite the high compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the sector, non-Chinese companies operating in China still plays an outsized role.

From 2016 to the present, the average CAGR of Chinese semiconductor manufacturing companies owned by Chinese investors is 14.7%. However, the CAGR of non-Chinese wafer manufacturing companies from Taiwan, South Korea, and other countries is higher at 30%.

Citing data, Wei indicated that China's contract manufacturing capacity is also severely insufficient. Data from 2021 shows that the monthly production capacity for 12-inch wafers is only around 440,000 units. From the demand perspective, there is a gap of one million units as the required capacity is 1.5 million units.

Finally, Chinese semiconductor industry also faces a serious lack of innovation. Analysis of the 62 chip design companies listed on China's STAR Market reveals an average gross profit margin of only 34.2%. According to Wei , this indicates that Chinese products are still not good enough to secure a high gross profit margin.

In terms of R&D, Wei pointed to Chinese semiconductor industry's underinvestment: in 2022, the combined R&D expenditure of the 62 chip design companies listed on STAR Market is only US$2.91 billion. "In other words, if we concentrate this US$2.9 billion to develop 5nm chips, we would be able to produce approximately 10 chips," said Wei, "This level of R&D investment is far from sufficient."

Chen Nanxiang, CEO of leading Chinese memory maker YMTC, also made similar observations. In his SEMICON China 2023 speech. According to Chen, 80% of China's semiconductor market is attributed to foreign companies, and similarly, 60% of the US market is also reliant on non-US companies. "This implies that China's market not only belongs to its domestic semiconductor industry but also to the global market. The same is true for the United States," said Chen.

As many countries are targeting high-end chip manufacturing capabilities, the YMTC CEO was also concerned that there may be an oversupply of high-end chips in a few years, while low-end products may be neglected, leading to potential shortages.
DESCRIBING himself as the ultimate Tom Crean nut, Tim Foley has just published a fully illustrated biography of Irelands greatest adventurer, who is best known for his Antarctic expeditions.

Crean: The Extraordinary Life Of An Irish Hero was a labour of love for Manchester-based Tim. It reveals new information about the man who was born in the village of Annascaul in the Dingle Peninsula of Kerry in 1877.

Contrary to lore that claimed Crean lied about his age to join the Royal Navy at 15, he was in fact 16-and-a-half when he started a career that would bring him to the most extreme environments on earth. While Creans three expeditions to Antarctica were well documented by those he served with, Foleys book unearths new material outside of his time on the expeditions.

Many will have seen the impressive one man show, Tom Crean - Antarctic Explorer, by Aidan Dooley. Foley has enjoyed it and has read an account of Creans life released over 20 years ago.

When I came to research Crean, I discovered that the seven years prior to his first expedition were really eventful. Before he went on his expedition on the (ill-fated) Endurance he was on HMS Enchantress.

"It was significant as Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, was on board. And before he went on Endurance, he was head-hunted by Joseph Foster Stackhouse, a rival explorer who Id never heard of before. Stackhouse planned to embark on the British Antarctic expeditions at the same time as Ernest Shackleton. He had secured Crean as his boatswain but Stackhouse had to postpone the expedition.

Stackhouse was to die in the sinking of the Lusitania. Shackleton stepped in and Crean became the second officer on Endurance.

When the vessel sank, leaving the crew stranded, death was almost certain. But Crean and five others embarked on a journey hailed as the most daring and ambitious rescue in maritime history. It was the accounts of this episode, saving the lives of all 29 crew members, that led to the recognition of Crean.

In his biography, Foley writes that, in 1917, Crean was on a ship called HMS King Alfred, in Sierra Leone. There isnt any detail on this but nevertheless, its interesting. It places Crean in Africa, the only continent that I had believed he hadnt visited.

Crean travelled across the Americas and was based for three years on the Pacific coast, Foley discovered. Crean was in Hawaii at Christmas, 1895, and in Seattle on Independence Day, 1897. That sounds like he was on a bit of a jolly, but it wasnt like that because it was an era when the ships were safeguarding the interests of the empire. Territorial disputes were rife in the Pacific. Its a whole new chapter in Creans life.

He then went west to Australia. Again, it was an eventful time. He was travelling across the New Hebrides on a ship called the Ringarooma. In the warring tribes of the New Hebrides, cannibalism was still practised.

Foley, who was captivated by Crean as a child, says of his hero: Can you imagine if such a person existed today and undertook the feats Crean took, hed be instantly recognisable. His face and name would be spread across social media.

Foleys campaign on facebook and other social media, as well as his book, aims to make Crean an international as well as Irish hero. Where did his fascination with the Polar explorer come from?

My father was born about seven miles from Annascaul. His sister lived there so we visited our aunt quite often. I was always intrigued by the pub there, The South Pole Inn (which is still going strong under the ownership of the Percivals.) It was only years later I discovered Tom Crean was the former owner. I just couldnt believe he had not been recognised by his country given all he had done. His story is incredible.

There may even be a connection with Crean, says Foley.

My grandfathers first wife (not his grandmother) was from Annascaul. She was called Hanoria Courtenay. Tom Creans mother was Catherine Courtenay.

Tom Crean married in 1917 and had three children. The middle child became very ill and died aged three. That was worse than anything Crean had ever faced in Antarctica.

In 2010, Foley started a campaign to have Crean honoured in Ireland. I was 11 years posting stories about him on social media, encouraging people to support the campaign and sign the petition. We achieved a victory in 2021 when the Irish government funded a scientific vessel called the RV Tom Crean. It was launched in 2022. It is still being considered as the replacement of the current Irish Navy flagship.

When Foley presented his petition to the government in 2018, there were over 10,000 signatures. There are now 33,500 followers of the Crean story on Facebook. Thats a drop in the ocean but those followers come from across the world, so hopefully Creans story will spread internationally.

Crean never put pen to paper, describing his exceptional life. I got some information about him through rough oral history interviews hed undertaken. He did write a couple of letters to two people he was very close to, one being Lieutenant James Kennedy who appears to have been a mentor to Crean.

Foley says one man posted on Facebook that he is educating his children about Crean as he cant think of a better role model. He was uncommonly loyal even in the face of death.

Crean: The Extraordinary Life Of An Irish Hero, by Tim Foley. 17.99.
A CLASSIC love triangle, is how Gabrielle Dufrene describes her soap opera, Charlottes Choice, which is to be serialised in the Echo in print and online at EchoLive.ie starting on Monday.

The Echos annual feature - Summer Soap - now in its eighth year, is a daily fictional serial run over 12 parts, in conjunction with the MA in creative writing programme at UCC.

UCC student Gabrielle, 22, was born in New Orleans before moving to Chicago, where she graduated with a bachelors degree in creative writing from Loyola University.

She has written a dramatic story about a young woman who is trying to decide between her home-town sweetheart and the guy she is engaged to.

Charlotte is betrothed to Gregory, a wealthy Dubliner living in Cork, because she wants to up her social status. In the meantime, she runs into her first boyfriend, Sean, who is from Dunmanway.

Things escalate with Sean at his mothers funeral, explains Gabrielle. She gets found out. Gregory gives her an ultimatum.

But she visited Seans mother in hospital before she died. Her dying wish was (for Charlotte) to ensure that Sean and his younger siblings are taken care of.

The mother knew how important Charlotte is to Sean. Charlottes own mother was kind of absent in her own life and Seans mother was like a mother to her.

So theres a lot of factors influencing her decision.

Gabrielle says she had a lot of fun writing the soap. Usually, what I write is heavier and darker. The structure of the Summer Soap means that it ends on a cliff-hanger in each episode.

After graduating in Chicago, Gabrielle was working in marketing but wanted something different.

Asked why she chose Cork, Gabrielle explains that she wanted to move somewhere that was English- speaking and safe for her to live alone.

I was trying to decide between Cork and Dublin. I felt I could really get used to a smaller city. I love being able to see people I know walking on the street in Cork.

Gabrielle is happily ensconced in the city and has a boyfriend from Clonakilty.

Her main interest in writing used to be poetry. It comes most naturally to me. But while I have the resources to really expand on my fiction writing, I felt I should brush up on it.

For my thesis, Im working on historical fiction and have been learning how to do the research for my novel. Its set in 1950s Chicago and is loosely based on the life of Chet Baker (the jazz vocalist and trumpeter).

Its based on his relationship with his second wife. The relationship wasnt all it seemed to be. It wasnt all glitz and glamour.

As part of her reading around the theme of women and their artist spouses, Gabrielle read Nora by Nuala OConnor. Its about Nora Barnacles life with the author James Joyce. She read Paula McLains The Paris Wife, which looks at Ernest Hemingways first wife and her relationship with the American writer.

Gabrielle also enjoyed reading the memoirs of Nuala O Faolain.

I love that Ireland is post-religious and the influence that has on literature here, she said. I loved A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride. Ive written a few critical papers on it. I love what female authors are doing in Ireland.

Gabrielle also likes to read dark magical realism from the likes of Haruki Murakami and Kazuo Ishiguro. Her favourite poet is Mary Oliver.

I also adore the poetry of Victoria Kennefick, who did a workshop with us. She was exploring the idea of the Catholic martyrs, revered by the church, looking at young girl martyrs who might have been struggling with mental illness.

While Garbrielle has enjoyed everything she learned on the Masters in creative writing in UCC, which she will complete in September, what she values most is reading all the other students work.

We have people from so many different backgrounds and countries on the programme.

I have genuinely learned the most from reading what other people are writing. Its so impressive, seeing how the writing has grown.

Gabrielles own writing has improved. Im on edit 40-something of the historical fiction project. The editing is a very tedious point in the process, but version one is very different to todays version.

Having been involved with her college magazine in Chicago, Gabrielle is the poetry editor of Quarryman, UCCs literary journal.

I have been submitting poems to magazines since I started the programme at UCC, she said. I really enjoy being on the other side of that, making decisions about whats going in.

Were hoping to launch our next edition over the summer.

What are the concerns of the contributors? People are writing a lot about religion and how it impacted their childhoods and day-to-day society as a whole.

And theres writing relating to peoples sexual identities and femininity as well. Our theme is rebirth.

Gabrielle would love to be a full-time writer. To be honest, before I got onto the programme at UCC, I had never really considered writing full time, but we had an opportunity to talk to a lot of people who are working full time as writers in Ireland, whether its through offering workshops or freelance editing or whatever.

I hope my thesis will be a fully fleshed out novel by the end of May next year. Im happy to dedicate the next few months to working on the novel. I have written about 40,000 words so far.

Gabrielle plans to stay in Cork. Its so beautiful here, she said. If I was born here, Id never want to leave.

Catch Gabrielle's Summer Soap, starting in The Echo and on EchoLive.ie on Monday.
A CORK TD has called on Cork City Council to wake up and smell the coffee and to now bring forward fresh proposals to resolve the dispute with the citys firefighters.

Mick Barry, Socialist Party TD for Cork North Central, made the call in the wake of a unanimous rejection by firefighters of a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) proposal to end the dispute.

Mr Barry said proposals to end disputes were often accepted, sometimes rejected but it was rare to hear of a proposal which is rejected unanimously.

If you ever wanted a clear indication from the citys firefighters about how they feel on this issue, well, there you have it.

Cork City Council need to wake up this morning and smell the coffee. They cant be running a fire service in 2023 with the same number of firefighters they had back in 1974, end of story, Mr Barry said.

The WRC proposal, which was presented to the firefighters last Monday night, outlined plans to create a day pump at Ballincollig Fire Station from 9am to 6pm, redeploying two members from Anglesea Street to crew the truck in Ballincollig, and for night-time fire cover to be provided from the Anglesea Street headquarters.

The WRC proposal, which was recommended for acceptance by Siptu trade union officials after talks facilitated by the WRC, was unanimously rejected.

After the rejection, firefighter and Siptu steward Billy Crowley said the dispute was not about money, but was rather about safe crew numbers for firefighting staff and for the people of Cork.

Our main goal is to get a fire brigade that is the right size for the new city, Mr Crowley told The Echo.

The population has almost doubled, but we still have the same numbers that we had 50 years ago. You cant run a city in 2023 with the number of firefighters you had in 1974. It is just impossible and it is not safe.

The councillors, the people of Cork and the firefighters are are all calling for a full time fire station in Ballincollig. We cant all be wrong.

Mr Crowley said Cork firefighters would have no option but to escalate industrial action if further talks with the WRC are not forthcoming.
Major extension plans for the emergency department at Cork University Hospital (CUH) have hit a stumbling block after the plans, which were approved by Cork City Council, were appealed to An Bord Pleanala.

The Health Service Executive  South (HSE) lodged plans with Cork City Council on April 6 this year for permission to build a two-storey extension to the existing emergency department at CUH.

The plans consist of a two-storey extension, and the provision of a new plant room on the roof of the proposed extension. The project would also consist of alterations to the set down car parking area serving the Glandore Centre, installation of a dedicated underground decontamination waste holding tank and other works necessary to facilitate the development.

The plans attracted numerous observations and submissions at the Cork City Council planning stage, from local residents and state bodies such as the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), and Irish Water.

An IAA official submitted that the applicant should be required to engage with the HSE to undertake a preliminary screening assessment to confirm that the proposed development and any associated cranes that would be utilised during its construction would have no impact on the safety of Helicopter operations in the vicinity of Cork University Hospital.

Concerns

Some local residents submitted to Cork City Council that the proposed extension would impact on their property due to its size and would create more noise. Concerns centred on the safety of the decontamination waste holding tank, and its proximity to residents on the Wilton Road.

When the existing A&E was opened in 2005, there was extreme noise coming from the plant room. It was discovered that it was coming from the fan in the decontamination room, wrote the residents. They suggested that the wall facing the houses on the Wilton Road should be sound-proofed. Having viewed the plans for the extension, I failed to see where the fan vents are going to be situated, added the residents.

One resident said car parking at CUH has reached saturation point and no further development should be allowed until this issue is resolved". Other local residents wrote to the Council, saying the visual impact on their property would be so severe that it will affect the residential amenity of the property, particularly in respect of loss of light, proximity and scale and size".

Some residents said they already had experience of the current decontamination room in regards to excessive noise in the direction of our homes due to the nature of where vents were placed during construction".

Other concerns related to the potential risk of subsidence to their homes during and after construction. No assessment of potential risks has taken place to date, and we have already had to endure past works for the construction of the Glandore Centre on site at CUH which led to cracks in our property," one resident stated.

We would urge you to consider the location of such works in such close proximity to our homes and ask that an alternative location on the hospital grounds be found for this, wrote the residents, who asked that the application be rejected and referred back for an overhaul".

Cork City Council granted planning permission on May 31, subject to nine conditions.

This decision was appealed, and the appeal was lodged with An Bord Pleanala on June 23. A case decision is due by October 26 next.
A British sailor is missing after the yacht he was sailing was discovered this evening off the Cork coast, but without the missing skipper onboard.

The Minke yacht, captained by Duncan Lougee, left Plymouth on June 18 and was expected to arrive in Baltimore, west Cork, on June 22. There had been no contact with the vessel since departure.

Mr Lougee, aged in his late 60s, was from Suffolk. He was an experienced yacht broker, boat builder and sailor with many miles of sailing experience, including having single-handedly crossed the Atlantic, and had completed three return trips from Plymouth to Azores.

This is a particularly difficult time for Duncans partner Louise, who is showing great fortitude during the wait for some firm news and the thoughts of all the Jester Challengers, past and present, are with her, announced a family friend.

This afternoon MRCC Dublin Coast Guard was advised of a possible sighting of the Minke, about 75 miles South East of Ballycotton, County Cork.

The Waterford based Coast Guard helicopter R117, which was conducting a search in the vicinity, was immediately tasked to the scene.

A crew member from rescue helicopter R117 boarded the vessel and conducted a visual check, at about 4.50pm this evening, Thursday, June 29.

Unfortunately the missing skipper was not onboard, said a spokesperson. The R117 has since departed the scene. As the vessel is positioned in the UK Search and Rescue Region, the UK authorities are continuing to coordinate the operation.

A spokesperson for Valentia Coast Guard Marine Rescue Coordination Centre said a local fishing vessel spotted the vessel while the R117 was searching for it.

She was requested by the UK Coast Guard to investigate the sighting. She managed to put a winchman on deck, and unfortunately when he went on board there was no sign of the single occupant.

Mr Lougee was taking part in the single-handed Jester Challenge with a plan to sail the route via the Isles of Scilly.

The vessel was also demasted, it had an issue with its mast, added the spokesperson. The UK sent out their own helicopter and a lifeboat from Milford Haven, with the possibility of bringing it back to Milford Haven. The yacht has been found and unfortunately there is no sign of the occupant.

The Burnham Coastguard team in the UK had issued a statement about the Minke, described as a 25ft fibreglass folkboat with a white hull and white sails. Her sail number is FB597.

All other vessels in the Jester Challenge are accounted for. HM Coastguard has issued regular broadcasts and liaised with the Irish Coastguard, UK police and the RNLI, added the Burnham spokesperson.

Separately, another vessel encountered difficulty in the mouth of Kinsale Harbour this evening. Kinsale Lifeboat went to the assistance of a Norwegian vessel whose engine failed to start.

Read More Woman who died rescuing son from sea in East Cork is named locally

The single male occupant was transported safely to the shore at about 7pm after he issued a Pan-pan urgency call.
A garda dealing with a Christmas disturbance in Cork city was punched in the ear and when his colleague intervened this officer was punched in the eye by the same assailant.

37-year-old Padraig Hickey of 11 Hillcrest Court, Riverstick, County Cork, was sentenced to five months in jail by Judge Olann Kelleher at Cork District Court for the assaults.

Sergeant Gearoid Davis said the incident happened on at 2.30am on December 23 2022.

Gardai on patrol came across a number of men acting in an aggressive manner at the junction of South Main Street and Washington Street.

Two garda patrol vans were present at the scene to try to defuse the situation from escalating.

Two men in particular were acting in an aggressive manner. When Padraig Hickey was being arrested he lashed out and struck Garda Xiao Ma with his fist three times to left ear and left temple.

When Garda Shaun McCarthy stepped in to assist Garda Ma, Padraig Hickey then struck Garda McCarthy in the face just under the right eye with his fist. He was conveyed to the Bridewell garda station, Sergeant Davis said.

Padraig Hickey had previous convictions including one for engaging in a violent disorder, three for assault, four for assault causing harm and nine for threatening behaviour.

Frank Buttimer, solicitor, said the accused had no convictions for the past nine years and had not been in any trouble for ten years.

He is remorseful for what happened on the night and he apologises to both gardai. He has become a productive member of society. He is presently employing two people, Mr Buttimer said.

Judge Olann Kelleher acknowledged that the accused had pleaded guilty to a number of public order charges, arising out of the Christmas incident. However, he said the most serious were the counts of assaulting the gardai, and he imposed the jail term.
CALLS were made for Cork County Council to urgently deliver extra recreational and amenity space for Carrigaline town at last Tuesdays Carrigaline MD meeting.

A motion from Fine Gael councillor Jack White seeking an urgent delivery of space to accommodate the towns burgeoning population was unanimously approved by his colleagues at the meeting.

Mr White said Carrigaline town has been left without adequate space for a recreational amenity in the town centre.

I am looking for the council to acquire or purchase extra land within or as close to the town centre as possible.

Cork County Council over the years takes rates from businesses in the town, provides an awful lot of housing in the town, grants planning permission and takes development contributions from building in the town, but really Carrigaline town has been left without the adequate space for recreational amenity in the town centre, he said

With Carrigaline delivering a huge amount of the countys housing needs now, both public and private, I dont think we can wait on zoning provisions to deliver the recreational space we need.

I would call on us as an MD to outline the urgent need up the line within Cork County Council to deliver that space.

Fianna Fail councillor Seamus McGrath seconded the motion.

As members, we did our best during the County Development Plan to try and stitch in as much as possible zoning objectives that would deliver additional green space and community park-type space in Carrigaline. We dont want to sit back and wait for all of those plans to unfold, he said.

We need additional green space for our residents and for all those who visit Carrigaline. We need to be actively trying to acquire them.

Cork County Council senior executive officer, Richard Keating, said there is presently no available land owned by the council to provide recreation and amenity space in Carrigaline town.

It was subsequently agreed that the Municipal District would send the debate and correspondence from the motion to the divisional manager.
Cork councillor Liam Quaide has welcomed a very genuine engagement with the Chief Executive of the HSE Bernard Gloster regarding the future of the Owenacurra Centre in Midleton.

Both Independent Councillor Liam Quaide and Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan met with Mr Gloster to request a comprehensive, community-integrated residential mental health service plan for the region that accords with A Vision for Change, the HSEs Model of Care for People with Severe and Enduring Mental Illness and Complex Needs and the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

Cllr Quaide and Deputy Hourigan also called for an interim residential provision that will maintain an acceptable level of service locally while new premises are being built/acquired would be an essential part of such a plan.

Concerns were raised during the meeting about proposals in the HSE Capital Plan to rebuild continuing care mental health facilities on the grounds of St Stephen's Hospital in Glanmire and St Finbarr's Hospital, which Cllr Quaide said are at odds with the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities.

He said the locations of these hospital campus settings are cut off from communities and that the plan would be retrograde in respect of the rights of people with the highest level of dependency to live in community settings, as the Owenacurra Centre residents have done for up to 34 years.

Cllr Quaide and Deputy Hourigan requested during the meeting that the considerable capital funding planned for investment in hospital campus continuing care/rehabilitation mental health facilities at these hospitals be redirected to community-integrated residential settings in major towns in Cork County.

The meeting with Mr Gloster was organised in response to concerns that Cllr Quaide raised publicly about the Owenacurra Centre closure being escalated to the HSE Board only to be repeatedly referred back to local management for essentially the same briefings.

I felt there was a very genuine engagement with our concerns on Mr Glosters part.

"He was not in a position to make commitments today as he needed to consult with other stakeholders but he heard us out and it was clear he took us seriously, Cllr Quaide said.

It was significant that he pledged to visit the Owenacurra Centre to meet residents and staff.

"He will also visit St Stephens Hospital, Glanmire as we raised related concerns about proposals to build a 50-bed continuing care/rehabilitation mental health unit on that isolated campus.

We believe this capital funding should be redirected into the development of community residences in our major towns such as Cobh and Youghal, as per A Vision for Change.

St Stephens will also be one of the main residential alternatives for people from East Cork with placement needs who do not have a local service available to them due to plans to close Owenacurra, he said.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has decided that the case against two Cork men accused of taking part in an attack on a Spanish student walking home through the city is to proceed by indictment at the circuit court.

Sergeant Gearoid Davis said the DPP had decided that the case should proceed to trial by judge and jury or a signed plea could be entered at the district court for sentencing at the circuit court.

Aaron Breen appeared at Cork District Court by video link from prison. Sgt Davis said that one additional charge is to be brought against the accused and that he should be brought before Cork District Court on July 3 for that purpose.

Defence solicitor, Shane Collins-Daly, was present in court for the adjournment.

Detective Garda Padraig Harrington said an earlier hearing: It is alleged that Aaron Breen and three others were present at Bandon Road, Cork, at 4am on Saturday, March 25.

A Spanish student making his way home was subjected to an unprovoked attack.

It is alleged that Aaron Breen punched him and knocked him to the ground. In total he punched him five times and kicked him in the head five times when he was on the ground.

Fortunately, the injured party was able to get away. He was later taken to Cork University Hospital. Thankfully, his injuries are not as serious as they could have been.

The alleged incident occurred on Bandon Road outside Lennoxs chipper.

The injured party was walking home. He had no interaction whatsoever with the group of people.

23-year-old Aaron Breen of Greenwood Estate, Togher, Cork, is presently charged with assault causing harm to the Spanish student on Bandon Road on Saturday March 25 2023.

Co-accused, 26-year-old Richard Harrington, who was resident at a guest house on Western Road, Cork, is also charged with assaulting the same Spanish student.

Solicitor, Joseph Cuddigan, asked for that defendant to have his case adjourned until July 12 for consideration of whether there would be a signed plea of guilty.
Cork comedian Tadhg Hickey will be joining guests and speakers at the Picnic Against Apartheid event in aid of the Palestinian people on Sunday.

Aclai Gym in Unit 9, Crawford Business Park, Bishop Street, The Lough, will play host to organisers Amnesty International and the Irish Anti-Apartheid Campaign, featuring activists, music, baklava and much more on July 2, from 2pm to 5pm, with the public invited to attend.

This picnic is part of Amnesty Internationals Picnics Against Apartheid, that aims to raise awareness of the plight of Palestinians and to call on the Irish Government to recognise what is happening to Palestinians as apartheid under international law, said a spokesperson.

Local Cafe Izz will provide Palestinian snacks at the event, but guests are encouraged to bring their own food and join in the picnic atmosphere.

Amnesty International launched this years Picnic Against Apartheid campaign outside Leinster House in May and were joined by TDs, senators and activists from around the country.

Picnics Against Apartheid is part of Amnesty Internationals broader campaign to end Israeli apartheid, said the spokesperson.

This campaign follows the organisations report which found that Israel enforces a system of oppression and domination against the Palestinian people as part of a broader system which amounts to apartheid under international law.

"Amnesty International is campaigning for states, including Ireland, to formally recognise Israel as committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians.

The Anti-Apartheid Campaign for Palestine is campaigning to have the Irish Government recognise what is happening to Palestinians as apartheid under international law and to ensure human rights for all, added the spokesperson
THE president of University College Cork (UCC) has said time is running out in the battle against climate change, and that the higher education sector must inspire change.

Professor John O'Halloran was speaking as the university set sector-leading targets in its ambitious sustainability and climate action plan, launched in recent days by Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath.

UCC is aiming to become a zero-waste campus by 2030 and a carbon-neutral campus by 2040.

The five-year plan sets out 62 concrete actions that the university is committing to undertake over the next five years, working across the whole institution to reduce its environmental footprint.

The UCC plan also sets out its engagement plan with local authorities and the community on sustainability with UCC intending to develop a programme with Cork City Council that will assess green space use and promote wild areas, green space and food growing initiatives.

Speaking about the plan, Professor OHalloran said that time is simply running out.

We need to work harder and faster for the future of this planet and our students. The higher education sector must act to inspire change and through our research and learning and teaching we will work to help lead that change, he said.

Plastic Free

Earlier this year, UCC went plastic-free on campus, eliminating the waste of 300,000 paper cups. The university also established the first sustainability and climate action office in Irelands higher education sector.

Dr Maria Kirrane, head of sustainability and climate action at UCC, said that the university has already demonstrated how it can transform our operations for the good of the environment by working with students, staff, and the wider community.

We know we need to do more and this plan charts our pathway to becoming a truly sustainable university, she said.

Associate vice-president for sustainability at UCC and director of UCCs Environmental Research Institute, Professor Brian O Gallachoir, said the plan, which lays out the universitys pathway to becoming a carbon-neutral campus, also commits to driving emissions reduction outside of UCC by informing policy, supporting business and empowering society through engaged research on climate.

UCC Students Union Communications and Engagement Officer, Hayley O'Connell Vaughan, said: Student activists have always been the key driving force behind sustainability practices in UCC, from our Green Flag to the rollout of the Plastic Free UCC initiative.

Without students, these initiatives would not have been possible.

"It is imperative that we continue to listen to and support students in their work as we make strides towards a better and more sustainable future for all, starting right here in UCC.

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The young man who was left with life-changing injuries from a vicious hammer attack at his home by convicted killer and rapist - Ian Horgan  has avoided jail for his own public order offences.

Hassan Baker saw his attacker  Ian Horgan  jailed for eight and a half years recently for assault causing him serious harm.

However, the 29-year-old victim who had his head repeatedly beaten with a hammer was before Cork Circuit Appeals Court today (June 30) for offences of his own.

Hassan Baker was given a total jail term of six months at Cork District Court for engaging in threatening behaviour and resisting arrest back on June 19, 2021 at Clifton Terrace, Summerhill North, Cork. He appealed that sentence.

On that occasion, the young man was found to be threatening and abusive and he resisted Garda Sean Byrne as he was being arrested, shouting, if you didnt have the uniform Id dig the head off ya.

Orla Meere, defence barrister, asked if the accused could be put on a probation bond instead of the jail sentence.

State solicitor Frank Nyhan said the defendant still needed the active help of the probation service for him to stay out of trouble. Left unsupervised, Mr Baker gets into trouble, Mr Nyhan said.

Judge Helen Boyle acceded to the application to put him on probation bond rather than sending him to jail but she told him he had to engage fully with the probation service and cooperate with them.

Ian Horgan Case

Hassan Baker said in his victim impact statement when Ian Horgan was sentenced on June 20: I was beaten with a hammer using full force to the side of my head by Ian Horgan. I had tried to protect my mother while I struggled to defend myself but I was helpless. The blows of the hammer knocked me out completely. It was a nightmare scene.

Since I was assaulted, I have felt devastated, scared and I live in a paranoid state I wake screaming in the night a lot.

"My life has changed dramatically. I worry about the long term effect this will have on me as my short term memory has not been the same since.

Detective Superintendent Michael Comyns described how Horgan, of no fixed address and formerly of The Hermitage, Macroom, County Cork, left his home in Macroom on March 26, 2022, travelled by bus to Cork city, changed his clothes in a derelict shed and called to the victims home, attacking him and his mother.

Ms Mary OCallaghan, Hassan Bakers mother, said Ian Horgan only left when she said that her son was dead.
Stephen Maguire

The focus of a massive search in Co Donegal for a missing person has switched to a nearby pier.

Gardai and the Irish Coast Guard including the Rescue 118 helicopter had been concentrating their search around the Slieve League area.

The focus has now switched to a pier at Teelin, a couple of kilometres from the original general search area.

Members of the Garda Water Unit have set up their investigation at Teelin and have been searching the area on Thursday.

The search began on Monday last following a tip-off that a person had been seriously assaulted.

Two people, a man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s, were arrested and interviewed abut the allegations.

However, both were released on Tuesday evening without charge.

It followed a series of developments for Gardai searching for an alleged missing person.

A car owned by the male suspect in the case was seized and was examined by forensics officers.

It is understood that splatters of blood were present in the car and samples have been taken for analysis.

Forensics officers also sealed off a house in the Killybegs area and also searched that premises as part of their investigation.

Reports suggest Gardai are searching for a man from Northern Ireland, aged in his 60s.

Meanwhile, Gardai continue to appeal to the public who may have noticed any suspicious activity in the Kilcar, Killybegs or Slieve League area over the weekend to contact them.
SOPHIE White must be the most prolific writer in Ireland. Since her first book, the non-fiction Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown, published in 2016, she has written another six books including a second non-fiction wok, the startlingly honest and often surprising Corpsing: My Body and Other Horror Shows.

This bestseller shines a light on the sometimes dark realities of motherhood among other subjects, including addiction and mental illness.

As well as writing books, Sophie produces a weekly column for the Sunday Independents Life Magazine and makes chart-topping podcasts. All this on top of rearing three boys, aged nine, six and three.

The author will read from her first literary novel, Where I End at the West Cork Literary Festival.

Not only is Sophie incredibly productive but she is adept at crossing genres. To date, she has written mostly commercial fiction as she calls it. She is currently working on another commercial novel and has a literary one on the backburner.

Where I End was very well received with a rave review in the Guardian. Its about a young woman resentfully looking after the wreck of her bed-bound mother in a dark house on a remote island, along with her steely paternal grandmother. The mother is the survivor of a private disaster no one will speak about.

The Guardian described the novel as A direct descendent of the folk horror tradition.....While it does, inevitably, sometimes feel over-ripe with disgust, its cumulative effect is powerful  and it is also genuinely frightening.

On the phone from Wexford, where Sophie is on holidays with her children and husband, she says she doesnt consciously push herself in either the literary or more popular-type novel.

I tend to find that the story comes along and has its own way of asserting where it belongs in terms of voice and tone. Theres a really fun aspect to both sides. With commercial fiction, I really like the high comedy concept. Marian Keyes is a huge hero of mine and I like Maeve Binchy.

Im very interested in how we live right now in terms of our relationship with technology and social media.

When it comes to writing literary type things, theres definitely a different type of freedom. In commercial fiction, youre promising your readers a good time. Yes, there might be dark scenes that will make you cry but also, you might laugh. You almost have a contract with the reader to entertain them and not disturb them whereas when Im writing more literary stuff, I feel all bets are off in that space. It allows a different type of story to be told.

The bleak and wild setting for Where I End is inspired by Inis Meain with the environment intricately described, important as it is for the mood of the place and how that impacts the characters. In this regard, its reminiscent of Kevin Barrys writing.

I love Kevin Barrys work and Im inspired by Pat McCabe as well. I love their depictions of claustrophobic worlds.

What is brave about Sophie is her willingness to test herself, to set challenges that she will gamely rise to. Some years ago, in a fish-out-of-water type challenge for the Sunday Independent in which some of the papers writers took on new experiences and wrote about them, Sophie tried stand-up comedy.

I had always been curious about it. It seemed like a great way to push me to do it.

I really loved it actually but I found it logistically difficult because of kids bedtime. Its really hard work. I have so much admiration for stand-ups because its so much graft. Then I got pregnant again and I was writing my first book. Writing is more family-friendly. I still perform though in one of the podcasts I do.

Sophie has been very open about her alcoholism. Now in recovery, she doesnt miss drink.

Nobody in their right mind would miss alcoholic drinking because its so grim, so isolating and so painful. I dont miss it at all but I sometimes miss having a crutch. I try to have other crutches.....I go to twelve step meetings because I need to never ever forget that Im an alcoholic.

Having been diagnosed as bipolar, Sophie is on medication and goes to therapy.

I find that for me, the medication isnt a total safeguard against episodes. Its obviously part of managing it but I can still have symptoms and episodes of bad mental health, even when Im totally on top of taking medication.

I have to be pretty careful about managing my stress and make sure Im paying attention to the basics like eating well, sleeping and exercising. Its like any kind of chronic illness. Its constantly in flux.

As an only child, Sophie, a Dubliner, loved spending time with her relatives in Cork where both her parents come from. Her late father, Kevin Linehan, an RTE producer, came from Glasheen while her journalist mother, Mary OSullivan, retired from the Sunday Independent, is from Bishopstown.

Sophie regrets that her father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimers is his early fifties, didnt get to read her books. (She has written a novel,  Filter This in which the father character has the disease.)

My father was such a creative, funny, intelligent and kind person. He wasnt with it before I became a writer. I was so lucky to have him for the time we had. Its such a cruel illness, for the person with it and for everyone around them. Its so hard to lose everything. If your mind is gone, everything is gone.

Sophie White will read from Where I End on July 10 at the Maritime Hotel as part of the West Cork Literary Festival.See www.westcorkliteraryfestival.ie.
BUSINESS woman Maeve Dennehy has paid tribute to some of the influential women in her life by naming one of her newly-designed dresses after them.

Maeve, the powerhouse behind Love Cherish Boutique in Charleville has joined forces with the designers behind the UK fashion brand Hope & Ivy, to create a special collaboration collection. Their eight-piece exclusive dress collection was launched by Vogue Williams last Thursday in the Hayfield Manor Hotel.

Mum-of-two Maeve, originally from Cork city, explained how she crossed paths with Beth Chilton and Sarah Sleightholm of Hope & Ivy back in 2015, and has stocked it in her own boutique ever since.

Its honestly one of my favourite brands  its got a real bohemian edge, beautiful embroidery and hand-drawn prints. Its so flattering and is my go to for any event I go to.

I really connected with Sarah and Beth  theyre mums with their own businesses too, we have a lot in common  and a few years ago we got chatting about creating an exclusive Love Cherish collection and its finally happened, she added.

The Sharon dress.

The brands have poured their passion and creativity into every piece, resulting in a blend of timeless classics with a modern twist that embodies grace, confidence, and femininity. Or as Maeve puts it: These are the type of dresses that you can wear a normal bra with! Theyve all been created with all my customers in mind.

And theyve been named after people who are important to Maeve, including her late sister Karen and mum.

So one is called Karen and one is called Hannah which was mums real name even though she was called Maeve! Theres a Kitty and a Nora after my two nanas; theres a Virginia after my friend-tor (friend and mentor for years).

"We also have a Claire, my first friend to model clothes in the shop for me, and she did it for years; and a Sharon, the first person to work in the shop and who stayed for 10 years, and helped me when Karen died and of course Molly, after my daughter.

The Kitty dress.

This is the first international collaboration for Love Cherish but Maeve came to the table with vast experience of the production side of the industry as shes set to launch her fourth season of her own brand, Oh Molly (named after her daughter) next month. Thats been a huge success with many collections selling out in hours.

The Karen dress.

This latest process saw Maeve sketch ideas based on what she knew her customers would like, Beth and Sarah would then send her samples of colours and different embellishments and the eight occasion wear pieces are now available in sizes 8-22.

The Hannah dress.

Flowing fabrics were handpicked to ensure a luxurious feel against the skin and ease of wear. Theres lots of decadent detailing, delicate embellishments, vibrant prints and embroidery that have become the hallmark of Hope & Ivy dresses.

They were crafted with real women in mind, women who need a wardrobe that is equally as versatile, transitioning from day to night.

Having Vogue Williams launch the new collection was a dream said Maeve.

She really represents what were all about: shes fun, she keeps it real, shes busy, and honest about the juggle.

The Claire dress

Anyone who follows Maeve on social media (and theres a lot!), knows she keeps things very real, but also keeps things mainly light too.

Shes had her share of tragedy, losing her sister Karen to cancer in 2013, and then her mum Maeve in 2018, to the same disease.

Shes spoken of her grief openly many times, and has raised over 120k for Marymount Hospice, where they both died.

The Virgina dress

This is her 11th year in business in Charleville and she admitted things had been a bit harder this year, given the cost of living crisis.

But Ive a great base of customers, who are so loyal, she said. And the exclusivity of this new collaboration is something that will be exciting for them I hope.

Her background is customer service and she has a diploma in HR, both of which are evident in the way she conducts business. She feels things are slowing turning full circle, with a growing desire for bricks and mortar shopping.

The Nora dress.

We also offer free personal styling, and take away that sense of overwhelm that can be there when you just shop on line. We really want to get the customer involved, and take all feedback on board.

Were also doing up the shop at the moment, and the idea is to make it more than visiting to browse or make a purchase, but to enjoy a really great experience.

She sees the business as being more than just a boutique, but about creating a community where women feel supported  and will be guaranteed a laugh.

The collection will go live tonight at 7pm.

For more see https://www.lovecherish.com/
MARILYN Reidys ultimate ambition is to secure a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) position. But far from being on a solo run, with her strong passion and talent for mentoring, shell be bringing her team along with her.

Marilyn is the Marketing Programme Manager at Cork company Starcircle, the talent sourcing engine that solves the hiring challenges of growing companies with data-driven tech solutions, guided by human expertise.

And she won this years Employee Shining Star at the Network Cork Businesswoman of the Year Awards.

Judges rightly commented on how she has worked hard as a mentor and has embedded this culture in her team.

Mentoring and fostering the professional growth of her team members is something shes passionate about.

I take immense pride in seeing team members whom Ive mentored flourish in their roles, like witnessing the evolution of a team member into a confident and capable marketing executive.

This has been a rewarding journey, not just for me, but for the entire team, instilling a sense of collective success and fostering a collaborative work environment.

The transformative power of mentorship  giving and receiving  has been a constant throughout her decade-long digital marketing career, shaping her experiences not only at Starcircle but also when she worked in Clickdimensions and while studying for her degree History and English, followed by a Masters and doing a PhD in Digital Media and Humanities in UCC.

All those experiences have further reinforced my commitment to creating a nurturing environment that champions individual growth and collective success. Regardless of where Ive worked, the common thread has always been my belief in empowering others to excel in their professional endeavours, said Marilyn.

Along with an appetite to help others, she has an appetite for constant learning and upskilling to ensure shes equipped to lead and contribute effectively in any role.

Originally from West Limerick, she tracks her zest and creativity back to her parents, who she describes as her unwavering champions.

They believed in me wholeheartedly and played a pivotal role in shaping my career path. Their guidance and the values they instilled in me  hard work, dedication, continuous learning, and the importance of perseverance  have empowered me to push boundaries and strive for success, she said.

From a young age, they supported her love for art and photography.

I have vivid memories of painting as a little girl, exploring my artistic side. The excitement peaked when my father bought me my first digital SLR camera, opening my eyes to the world of photography.

From the age of three, he encouraged me to experiment with cameras and computers, sparking my curiosity and fuelling my lifelong fascination with creativity and technology.

These early experiences have deeply influenced my marketing journey, igniting a passion for visual storytelling and a constant drive for learning and innovation.

She also singles out her partner as being one of her biggest champions, providing support and encouragement.

His belief in me has been a constant source of motivation and strength.

Marilyn joined the Cork branch of Network Ireland last June, and has found it a vital source of inspiration, support, and practical resources.

Being part of this community has not only opened doors to valuable connections and resources, but has also fostered a strong sense of community.

Through interactions with fellow professionals, I have built genuine friendships that go beyond business relationships. These connections have been a source of continuous support, inspiration, and collaboration throughout my journey.

My involvement has not only provided me with opportunities to network and enhance my skills, but also to showcase the business to a wider audience.

Also, it has given me access to a supportive community of like-minded professionals.

And, in her typical proactive, give back approach shes one of the groups Social Media Officers.

Its a true joy to merge my passion for marketing with the opportunity to make a positive impact and empower women in their professional journey.

Winning Employee Shining Star was amazing!

When I found out that Id won, I was completely taken aback! It was a moment of pure disbelief and overwhelming joy. Im still pinching myself to make sure its real. This recognition means the world to me and has given me an incredible boost of confidence in my abilities, she said.

Looking ahead, Marilyn also has ambitions to establish her own business and venture into consultancy, where she can combine her digital expertise and technology with a passion for creating impactful campaigns and meaningful connections.

In a nutshell, right now Im excited to continue learning, exploring new avenues, and making a positive impact in the ever-changing field of marketing, she said.

Starcircle is the talent sourcing engine that solves the hiring challenges of growing companies with a unique data-driven tech solution, guided by human expertise.
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.

An emergency medical technician with the Eagle Pass Fire Department helps stock an ambulance with water and ice during a dangerous heatwave in Eagle Pass, Texas on June 29, 2023. Brandon Bell / Getty Images

An oppressive heat wave that has been baking Texas in record temperatures is predicted to move north and east this weekend, bringing stifling heat and humidity to states from Missouri to Florida. The desert Southwest and central California are also expected to see dangerously high temperatures.

As of Thursday, at least 15 people in the U.S. had died from heat-related illnesses, reported The New York Times.

Temperatures are expected to rise to as high as 20 degrees hotter than the normal average in the South, at least through the weekend, with the heat index  the combination of temperature and humidity  climbing even higher.

When high humidity combines with oppressive heat, it becomes more dangerous. The body cant cool itself off as well by sweating, which is when heat exhaustion, cramps and heat stroke become a concern, especially for vulnerable people like young children, the elderly, individuals with some medical conditions and those who are pregnant. This is especially true when the heat index is 90 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

In most of the U.S., there are no protections for workers toiling in the heat either outdoors or in buildings with no air conditioning, and during the latest heat wave in Texas, some decided to walk off the job.

When I came in, it really was so hot. I decided I need to go on strike. I told my co-workers because it is way too hot here and I knew they were all extremely hot as well, said Gloria Machuca, a former McDonalds employee in Houston, as a heat dome sat over Texas last week, as The Guardian reported. If we dont work, they dont make money. Theyre making money off our sweat and its not fair. Its time they truly value us.

The recent heat wave over the U.S. South and northern Mexico was made about five degrees Fahrenheit warmer than it would have been normally due to climate change, said Michael Wehner, a mathematics and computational research senior scientist at Californias Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, reported The New York Times.

It didnt cause the event, but it changed the magnitude of the event, Wehner said.

In the past two weeks, the extreme heat has claimed the lives of at least 100 people in Mexico, as temperatures rose to above 120 degrees Fahrenheit, Reuters reported.

Almost all the fatalities were due to heat stroke, with most of them in Nuevo Leon, on the Texas border. Temperatures have begun to normalize in parts of Mexico, as rain has moved into some areas.

The kind of extreme temperatures that have been plaguing the South this week take the lives of more people in the U.S. than any other weather-related event, reported The Washington Post.

Beginning today and into this weekend, the desert Southwest and central California are predicted to experience dangerous temperatures, with the National Weather Service issuing excessive heat warnings for San Diego and Los Angeles, Axios reported.

New research from Climate Central has shown that the unusually high temperatures in the West have been made at least five times more likely due to human-induced climate change.

Daytime temperatures are forecast to approach 110F in several cities in California and are expected to exceed these levels in parts of Nevada and Arizona, the Climate Central website said. These temperatures could present heat safety risks, particularly given the rapid increase in temperatures following a cooler-than-average start to the summer. Humans, wildlife, and plants including valuable agricultural crops have not had a chance to acclimate to warmer temperatures and may experience extra stress due to the rapid onset of the event.




Vinamilk outlines future of Vietnamese dairy industry at Global Dairy Congress

Major Vietnamese dairy firm Vinamilk outlined the future of the country's dairy industry at the 2023 Global Dairy Congress held in London, the sole representative from ASEAN at the event, VN Express reported.

The company aims to expand its operations, with a planned investment of US$600 million in factories and farms to meet future market demands.

As one of the largest dairy companies in Vietnam, Vinamilk ranks among the top 40 dairy companies globally in terms of revenue and holds the 6th position among the world's most valuable dairy brands. The company operates farms and factories nationwide and exports its dairy products to nearly 60 countries and territories.

While Vietnam's dairy industry has grown to over US$5 billion, there is still significant potential for further expansion. Per capita dairy consumption in Vietnam remains relatively low compared to neighbouring countries.

Reports indicate that per capita consumption is expected to grow at 4% annually and reach 40 litres by 2030. The rising global demand for dairy products, driven by developing countries' increasing consumption, presents opportunities for the industry's growth. But achieving sustainable development is a pressing challenge that the dairy industry must address, considering the global response to climate change.

A highlight of the congress was Vinamilk Super Nuts receiving the prestigious "Best Dairy Alternative 2023" award at The World Dairy Innovation Awards.

Richard Hall, chairman of the 16th Global Dairy Conference, expressed admiration for Vinamilk's achievements, highlighting its commitment to product development, addressing social issues, and promoting health and well-being.

Piercristiano Brazzale, President of the International Dairy Federation (IDF), acknowledged Vinamilk as a dynamic and innovative company in Vietnam and welcomed Vietnam's participation in the IDF to foster further collaboration and industry development.

- VN Express
Isle of Man Post Office celebrates 50th Anniversary

Wednesday marks 50 years of postal independence for Isle of Man Post Office (IOMPO).

IOMPO has a programme of planned activities and initiatives for both its people and the wider community to enjoy which have been organised by its 50th anniversary committee, made up of colleagues from different teams across the business. These include:

Working with Manx Wildlife Trust to plant 50 trees as part of the Queens Green Canopy initiative

Working with Manx National Heritage on an exhibition at the Manx Museums Cabinet of Curiosity, which will open on 14th July and run until the 25th September. Many of the artefacts, photos and memorabilia are being provided by IOMPO employees past and present.

An opportunity for employees past and present to celebrate the anniversary will take place in July.

A reception to thank our key customers and suppliers for their custom is being planned for September.

Island-wide treasure hunt to take place on Saturday 2nd September with the chance to win a prize.

Paint a post box competition for children which will be launched in the autumn with the winner having their design featured on a post box in the community.

IOMPO have created a logo variation for use within their anniversary year 5th July 2023  4th July 2024. The logo will be used on its dedicated IOMPO 50th Anniversary website page, on social channels, marketing materials and will also be displayed at events planned throughout the year.

A set of seven commemorative stamps to be issued on 5th July 2023. Each of the first six stamps features a collage of recognisable issued stamps that are well-known and loved by locals and collectors worldwide, and represents the history of stamps from the Isle of Man, whilst the seventh stamp is a new design representing the Europa Stamp 2023.

Simon Kneen, Chief Executive Officer IOMPO said, For 50 years IOMPO has been a key part of the Islands infrastructure and a trusted partner for our community. The postal industry plays an essential role in our society and the economy, linking the Island to the rest of the world. Whilst the landscape of the postal industry and our customer needs have drastically changed over time due to advancements in technology and habits, the loyal and dedicated team at IOMPO has worked incredibly hard to retain our self-funded status and ensure the IOMPO remains fit for purpose as a modern logistics business. I am pleased we have a programme of activities to celebrate our milestone anniversary with the community we are proud to serve. Our people and our customers have supported us since our inception 50 years ago, and we are very grateful for the part they have played in our business journey to date.

He added: As we look forward, it is undeniable that the postal industry will continue to evolve at a rapid pace. We remain committed to delivering our strategy to transform the business for future financial and environmental sustainability, making strides in our bid to become a greener organisation and continuing to meet the changing needs of our valued customers.
New law to protect children from vapes a step closer

The Vaping Products Bill 2023, aimed at introducing stricter regulations on the sale and promotion of vaping products, has successfully completed its passage through the House of Keys.

The bill will prohibit the sale and supply of vaping products to individuals under 18, ban the importation of vaping products for those aged 16 and 17, and bring in point of sale restrictions. This means that for retailers accessible to those under 18, vaping products will no longer be permitted to be on open display.

The Bill aims to protect public health and the wellbeing of young people in particular.

Through the Bill, the Island would not only align with the UK's age controls on the sale of vaping products but also surpass UK legislation by introducing new advertising restrictions and display regulations, similar to those in place for tobacco.

Furthermore, the Bill grants the Island the autonomy to establish its own standards for vaping products, building upon the UK legislation as a starting point while allowing for continuous updates to regulatory controls as necessary.

The next phase of the Bill's journey through the Legislative Council in October 2023 will provide an opportunity for further scrutiny and potential refinement before it becomes law.
Meta is gearing up to debut a new type of Facebook ads that will allow users in the European Union to download apps without having to visit their mobile platform's app store, according to The Verge. Yes, it will offer a direct download option for users, though the capability will likely debut only on Android, because the company is reportedly working with Android developers for its pilot launch later this year.

Android users can already install APKs and sideload apps they download through their browsers. However, those apps still use Google's billing system. Meta's alternative way to download apps is supposedly completely independent of both Apple's App Store and Google Play. It'll be possible to introduce such a feature in the EU due to a new law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will go into effect in 2024. Under the DMA's rules, consumers must be able to download apps from competing app stores. "When a gatekeeper engages in unfair practices, such as... preventing installation of applications from other sources, consumers are likely to pay more or are effectively deprived of the benefits that alternative services might have brought," the European Commission said.

Tom Channick, a spokesperson for Meta, has confirmed the company's plan to introduce app downloads through Facebook ads to The Verge. "We've always been interested in helping developers distribute their apps, and new options would add more competition in this space," he said. "Developers deserve more ways to easily get their apps to the people that want them." We also reached out to Meta for confirmation and more details. Meta reportedly won't be taking a cut from developers' earnings and will allow them to use whatever billing system they want. For now, anyway. That could change as the service evolves, if it ever gets past the pilot testing phase.
A group of bipartisan senators are said to have asked Meta to explain Instagram's alleged failure to prevent child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from being shared among networks of pedophiles on the platform. Lawmakers from the Senate Judiciary Committee also want to know how Instagram's algorithms brought users who want to share such content together in the first place, according to The Wall Street Journal .

In a letter to the company, 10 senators including committee chair Dick Durbin and Republican ranking member Lindsey Graham reportedly said they were gravely concerned that lnstagrams failure to prevent this perverse use of its algorithms is not due to a lack of ability, but instead a lack of initiative and motivation." They are said to to be worried that Meta doesn't seem to have made CSAM one of its main priorities, "especially when its platform directly facilitates and bolsters the black market for child sexual abuse material.

They demanded answers on why Instagram didn't detect that CSAM was being shared and what the platform is doing to prevent the same thing from happening again. The senators also want to know more about a task force Meta says it has set up to tackle these issues. They asked the company to respond by July 12th. Engadget has requested a copy of the letter.

Earlier this month, the Journal reported that Meta's algorithms helped to "connect and promote a vast network of accounts" that propagated CSAM. The report suggested that pedophiles are buying and selling CSAM on Instagram. Meta says it has set up a task force to address the issue. It pledged to take down CSAM networks and says it's trying to prevent its systems from putting potential abusers in contact with each other.

Meta has declined to comment on the letter, instead reiterating its statement on the Journal's initial report. Child exploitation is a horrific crime, it said, Were continuously investigating ways to actively defend against this behavior.

A European Union official has also ordered Meta to address CSAM issues quickly, warning that the company may face heavy sanctions otherwise. From the end of August , Meta and other major tech platforms will have to comply with the bloc's Digital Services Act , which has specific rules on how they have to handle issues like CSAM. If a company doesn't comply with the act, it can face fines of as much as six percent of its annual global turnover.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
Ive said it before, but Ill say it again here: There aren't many options left when it comes to true compact smartphones. (RIP, iPhone mini). But ASUS is willing to offer something. The new Zenfone 10 looks like a carbon copy of its predecessor, and even its 50-megapixel main camera has remained unchanged. Still, the company claims that its now powered by a new version of 6-axis gimbal stabilization  a combination of hardware optical stabilization, upgraded electronic stabilization algorithm and fast auto-focus. This apparently lets you capture smoother videos and less blurry photos while on the move. ASUS has extended its "Connex" modular case system once again, which lets you snap either a kickstand or a silicone cardholder into the grid of holes on the back of the case. You can even assign an app  YouTube, by default  to auto-launch whenever the kickstand is flipped out. The Zenfone 10 (all details right here) will be available for pre-order in Europe from June 29, starting from 799 (about $870), with US availability TBC.

 Mat Smith

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Virgin

Virgin Galactic has completed its first commercial flight. After launching aboard the mothership VMS Eve, the spaceship VSS Unity reached an altitude of around 52 miles, or the edge of space. Its first client was the Italian government, which had the aim of conducting microgravity research. The company's first fully crewed spaceflight took place in 2021, when Unity hit an altitude of 53.4 miles with founder Richard Branson on board. However, commercial service was delayed multiple times for different reasons, most recently due to issues with upgrading the mothership VMS Eve. From a financial perspective, the launch was crucial for Virgin Galactic. With no paying customers until now, the company has lost money for years, with it burning more than $500 million in 2022 alone.

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Its the biggest year for fighting games since the 90s.

While fighting games may never have the same mass-market appeal they did in the '90s, 2023 is proving to be a mini-renaissance for the genre. Street Fighter 6 is already on sale, Mortal Kombat 1 is arriving this fall, and there's Tekken 8 still to come. That's without mentioning the upcoming reboot of Dead or Alive or Riot Games' League of Legends spin-off Project L. It's a good time to be a fighting game fan.

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The search firm is joining Meta in reacting to Bill C-18.

Meta isn't the only internet heavyweight removing news content in response to Canada's newly enacted Bill C-18 (aka the Online News Act), which requires that tech companies negotiate compensation with publishers for linked material. Google now says it will pull links to Canadian news stories from its search, News and Discover services in the country. It will also stop operating its News Showcase in Canada when C-18 takes effect in six months. As with Meta, Google is using the threat of blocking news as a bargaining tool, but there's no guarantee of a compromise. Politicians drafted Bill C-18 after concerns about a steep drop in ad revenue for publications over the past two decades.

Continue reading.
Internacional

EEUU asegura que seguira trabajando para que el soldado que cruzo la frontera con Corea del Norte vuelva a salvo
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GREAT FALLS, Mont. - A Cascade County Sheriff's Office employee was caught with child sexual abuse material on his phone while getting a new one.

According to court documents, a Verizon Wireless employee reported seeing explicit photos of children on Garret Anthony Pedersens phone while Pedersen was getting a new one.

During an interview, Pedersen reportedly admitted to having child sexual abuse material images on his phone that he had downloaded.

Documents say Pedersen consented to have his phone searched and a detective reviewed at least one photo that met the definition of a child engaged in sexual conduct, actual or simulated.

Garret Anthony Pedersen has been charged with sexual abuse of children.

Previous coverage:

CASCADE COUNTY, MT- The Cascade County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) held a live public meeting on Thursday which was led by Sheriff Slaughter, addressing the arrest of one of their employees.

Cascade County Sheriff's Office was notified by the Great Falls Police Department (GFPD) that Detention Officer Garret Pedersen was under investigation for possession of child exploitation material.

Slaughter also noted during the meeting that Peterson is in his early 20s.

GFPD advised that they were arresting Pedersen for one count of sexual abuse of children.

Pedersen was arrested at his residence, and Sheriff Slaughter noted during the meeting that Peterson did not have any supervision of children during his short six months of employment with CCSO.

Slaughter also added that Petersons employment effective immediately was terminated with the CCSO.

I know people out there are upset hearing this news, and so are we, Slaughter said.

The investigation is being led by GFPD, and CCSO is in full cooperation with GFPD.

No one is above the law, and I know the community expects decisive and appropriate action. As your sheriff, I will work hand in hand with the Great Falls Police Department to find the truth of this matter, Slaughter added.

Please do not judge the actions of one person on an entire organization. I would like to thank the Great Falls Police Department for their assistance in this matter. Also the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Thank you very much for protecting our community, citizens, and our children. Slaughter concluded.

Pedersen is being held at the Chouteau County Detention Center instead of Cascade County Detention Center for the safety of those in Cascade County Detention Center, and his own.

Article originally published June 29, 2023.
Great Falls, Mont. - Six Wolf Point residents convicted in the kidnapping and assault of a girl on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in 2021 were sentenced this month to prison, said U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich Tuesday.

The six defendants pleaded guilty earlier to kidnapping an individual under 18. All defendants initially faced a mandatory minimum of 20 years to life in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release.

Tuesday, June 27, the court sentenced Patti Jo Annunciata Mail, 23, the sixth and remaining defendant. Cheri Cruz Granbois, 21, was sentenced on June 15, and co-defendants Dylan Troy Jackson, 20; Elmarie Amelia Weeks, 22; Kaylee Jade Jackson 19; and Lavanchie Patricia Goodbird, 30, were sentenced on June 14.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided, according to the release from the District of Montana U.S. Attorneys office.

This case is every parents worst nightmare. A Native American girl was lured out of her home, beaten, kidnapped, and left for dead in an open field on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, U.S. Attorney Laslovich said. Our office stands with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womens movement, seeking to ensure that Native women and girls are protected and that perpetrators of crimes like these are held accountable. I would like to personally thank law enforcement and the Fort Peck community for their help and quick actions. Without their efforts, this case easily could have resulted in the senseless death of a child on the reservation.

Granbois was sentenced on June 15 to 58 months in prison. The government requested a sentence of 185 months in prison, which was within Granbois guideline range of 168 months to 210 months.

Dylan Jackson was sentenced to 55 months in prison. The government requested a sentence of 180 months, his sentencing guideline ranging from 108 months to 135 months. Kaylee Jackson was sentenced to 45 months in prison, with the government requesting 160 months and her sentencing guideline ranging from 87 months to 108 months in prison.

Weeks was sentenced to 49 months in prison. The government requested a sentence of 170 months for Weeks, whose sentencing guideline range was 108 months to 135 months.

Goodbird, 30, was sentenced to 41 months in prison. The government requested a sentence of 140 months in prison for Goodbird, whose sentencing guideline range was 108 months to 135 months.

Each defendant was sentenced to five years of supervised release post prison time.

Lastly, Mail was sentenced to 42 months in prison Tuesday. The government requested 168 months for Mail. The sentencing guideline range for Mail was 87 months to 108 months.

The government alleged in court documents that on September 15, 2021, Granbois, seeking revenge on the victim, a 15-year-old identified as Jane Doe, recruited others to help him exact that end.

Granbois paid Kaylee Jackson money to lure Jane Doe outside of her house in Wolf Point so she could be assaulted. That evening, after drinking, Goodbird drove the group to the victims house.

When Jane Doe came out, some of the individuals in the group assaulted the victim in her front yard. Reports say that eyewitnesses yelled that they were going to call the police, and Jane Doe was forced into the vehicle and drove her to a vacant field where the assault continued.

The government alleged that during the assault, Granbois directed others as to when and who could assault the victim and directed others to take items from Jane Doe, including a cell phone that could have been used to report the kidnapping.

An eyewitness to the assault in the field described the victim screaming and then going silent. The victim suffered serious injuries.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan G. Weldon and Wendy A. Johnson prosecuted the case. The FBI, Fort Peck Law Enforcement, Roosevelt County Sheriffs Office and Wolf Point Police Department conducted the investigation.
BOZEMAN, Mont. - A man traveling from Wyoming to Bozeman confessed to a crime accusing him of trying to engage in sexual relations with a minor.

Jeremy George Lusk from Crowley Wyoming will be facing a maximum of 30 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and a minimum of five years to life of release under supervision.

The court will determine the right sentence after reviewing guidelines along with other factors and Lusk is currently released waiting on further proceedings.

While working undercover, a Bozeman police officer came across an application on social media requesting any individual to message, 38-year-old, Lusk if they wanted to partake in sexual activity.

Lusk stated in the ad he was looking for anyone between the ages of 18 and 68, but the undercover cop responded with a message stating they were a 14-year-old girl that lived in Bozeman.

Lusk responded by telling the undercover cop to return once she is 18-years-old, but the cop told Lusk to contact her if he were to change his mind.

That same day, Lusk contacted the undercover cop once again and they began to have sexual conversations, also Lusk sent the cop a nude photo of himself.

From Feb. 22 to early Feb. 23, Lusk messaged the undercover cop about future plans he made to travel to Bozeman with the intent to begin sexual relations.

The cop directed Lusk to a certain location where he was arrested and admitted to his online sexual relation with the minor.

The investigation was done by the Bozeman Police and Homeland Security Investigators and Assistant U.S. attorney Zeno B. Baucus prosecuted the case.

Project Safe Childhood brought the case to fight the growth of child abuse and exploitations, for more information visit Project Safe Childhood.
A well-known animal health researcher has been presented with the NSA Scotland Silver Salver 2023 for her outstanding contribution to the Scottish sheep industry.

Recognised for research work on ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA) - sometimes referred to as 'Jaagsiekte' - Dr Chris Cousens was presented with the award at the Royal Highland Show.

Dr Cousens work has played a pivotal role in controlling OPA, an infectious and fatal lung disease of sheep.

Through her work with the Moredun Research Institute, she has been involved with all aspects of this disease from detailed molecular biology in the laboratory through to on-farm studies.

She has almost 50 peer reviewed scientific papers on OPA as well as many pieces written for farmers and vets.

Dr Cousens has also been a driving force behind the Scottish government funding of a nationwide pilot on OPA and should be commended on her patience and unwavering support.

She said: I was surprised and honoured to be presented with the NSA silver salver. This is the first trophy I have ever won without a pony being involved!

"How nice to be recognised for my day job as a scientist at Moredun after so many years and so many challenges in our research to try to control OPA.

"Research, like everything else, cannot be done without a dedicated team of workers and supporters, therefore, I thank my colleagues, collaborators, the farmers that work with us, and also the funders of our research.

"Also, a special mention to Phil Scott FRCVS who not only instigated the ultrasound screening work but who has been doing all the hard graft scanning thousands of sheep.

"I am so happy that these days there are positive options for dealing with OPA.

Whilst the OPA problem is not entirely solved, considerable progress has been made in understanding the disease.

Through ultrasound screening for OPA, the industry is moving toward control options for affected flocks and potentially an accreditation-type scheme for flocks that are free of OPA.

NSA Scottish region chair, Peter Myles said: "Its important the unsung heroes - the scientists like Chris get recognised for everything they do to benefit our sheep industry.

"I was very proud to present her with this prestigious award.
Young farmers have just over two weeks to nominate someone they know for this year's YFC Achiever Awards, a celebration aiming to highlight the achievements of young rural people.

The awards put a spotlight on those YFC members who do work for the community, as well as enterprising initiatives and developing other rural young people.

Top names from the UK farming industry are among the line-up of judges who will help to choose the 2023 winners.

Judges include Lizzie McLaughlin  one half of the Becca and Lizzie podcast, Welsh farmer and TV presenter Gareth Wyn Jones, and farmer and star of Born Mucky, Ally Hunter Blair.

This year there is a new award for the Club of the Year, which is for YFCs that can demonstrate how well they are operating.

Judges will be looking for examples of clubs' programming, budgeting and a general demonstration of how a good YFC should be run.

NFYFC chair Rosie Bennett said: We have introduced the Club of the Year category into the YFC Achiever Awards this year as we want to celebrate the achievements of our club committees.

"These teams of volunteers put together the club programmes, manage the budgets, handle the recruitment and organise all the competitions and events.

"This award aims to champion those clubs that are running their charities to a high standard and raising the bar for YFC.

The Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) is sponsoring this years Young Farmer of the Year category, which seeks to reward someone who promotes best practice in the industry.

Enterprising young people will also be recognised in the Entrepreneur of the Year category, supported by KUHN.

The judges, which include hoof trimmer Ant Thomas who launched the popular @Keepingcowsmoovin social media account, will be looking for new rural and farming initiatives that YFC members have launched.

YFC members will also be rewarded for leadership shown in their clubs and counties, with Savills supporting the Aspiring Rural Leader category.

One of the most popular awards is where the winner is chosen by the YFC membership in an online poll.

The Heart of YFC Award, sponsored by headline sponsors Karcher UK, is presented to the person that YFC members believe represents the true spirit of YFC.

NFYFCs President Nigel Owens MBE is among the judging panel who will shortlist five of the nominees for the Heart of YFC Award for the wider membership to vote on.

He said: I am delighted to be involved in the YFC Achiever Awards 2023, which celebrate the amazing young people involved in this organisation.

"The commitment to their rural communities, the entrepreneurship that benefits our rural economy and the dedication to supporting the development of other young people deserves to be recognised.

There are many unsung heroes among the YFC community, and Im urging everyone to get their nominations in now so we can thank those special people at our impressive awards ceremony in November.

What are the award categories?

This year's YFC Achiever Award categories are:

 The Heart of YFC Award, sponsored by Karcher UK

 Entrepreneur of the Year, supported by KUHN

 Young Farmer of the Year Award, sponsored by The Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies)

 Club of the Year Award, sponsored by CFMOTO

 Aspiring Rural Leader of the year, sponsored by Savills

 Community Spirit award, sponsored by Tama

 New Member of the Year, sponsored by Eternit

 YFC Supporter of the Year

Nominations can be made online and entries must be submitted before the deadline of 17 July 2023.

The ceremony will be held in Birmingham at the National Conference Centre on 3 November 2023.
The spirit of wanderlust has always driven travel writer and photographer Emma Strandberg to explore the world, but when a series of traumatic events left her so stressed and unhappy that she became physically unwell, she realised she needed to embark on a different type of journey  of personal reflection and healing.

Prepared to push herself to the limits to reclaim her confidence, and as vividly recounted in her new book, travel memoir Where the f**k is Blonduos?, she chose the far north of Iceland as her destination, heading to the remote community of Blonduos, a stones throw from the Artic Circle, in the depths of winter.

By Emma Strandberg, author of Where the f**k is Blonduos?

Ive never needed much of an excuse to travel. As a child I remember standing beside the sea, wishing I was taller so that I could see over to the other side.

Four decades later, and a hundred or so countries under my belt, I could honestly say I had seen the world.

When I reached a point in my life where, emotionally, the wounds of yesteryear and injuries of yesterday infected my daily functioning, I could think of only one place to take myself to. A country that I knew well from tales told me in childhood, but which I had never visited: Iceland.

It would be somewhere to escape for a while, leaving behind what had been my home and personal sanctuary in Sweden but which had lately turned into a living hell thanks to a perfect storm of events including the breakdown of my marriage and, the final straw, a terrifying night-time burglary.

I was ready to deliver myself to whatever lay ahead. I would use Icelands raw energy and power to contemplate my future.

The time of year was not planned, but with the luck Id been having it was little wonder that I would end up spending six months alone  unless you count my old two-wheel-drive Volvo  in Iceland in the depths of winter! Why would anything be easy for me when it could be difficult?

Having instructed the estate agent to sell my home in Sweden, I poured a glass of wine and opened my laptop. I googled words like remote, north, learning to knit and Arctic Circle (I really did want to get away from it all!) and found an artists residency in the far north of Iceland, in a small town named Blonduos.

I applied, was accepted, and agreed to rent a room as a base for six months. I had no idea where Blonduos was or how I would get there but, despite that, I paid in advance then set about planning my journey.

I packet some warm clothes, a swimsuit, a new tent, and crockery and cutlery for two (just in case), and booked a passage on a ship sailing from Denmark to Iceland via the Faroe Islands.

Arriving in Iceland, it was love at first sight. Not three hours after disembarking the ferry, and driving via Akureyri towards Blonduos, I had stopped to watch humpback whales in a fjord, seen my first gyrfalcon (the largest falcon in the world, and a majestic bird of prey), and eaten smoked Arctic char and pear cake. Delicious!

I must, however, admit that my first impressions of Blonduos were less enthusiastic. Stopping for petrol on the final leg to my chosen destination, the garage attendant asked matter-of-factly why I would go to Blonduos as it was sh*t. On a brighter note, he had immediately called his sister as she would be the one teaching me to knit, he said,

By the time I reached the artists residency early that evening, having driven past such sights as rusting containers, the local slaughterhouse, and charmless buildings, I feared I had made a mistake.

Author Emma Strandbergs incredibly journey of self-healing will inspire a new sense of wanderlust in even the most committed armchair traveller.

No sooner had I the room key in my hand, I was reminded by reception that my knitting instructor was awaiting my call so we could start our lessons as soon as possible. Were there no secrets in Iceland?

A benefit of travelling light is that unpacking takes no time at all, but it wouldnt be so easy to unload the bitter cocktail of emotions that recent events had left me, including fear, anger, resentment, loneliness, and low self-worth. This toxic brew had travelled with me, had been the very catalyst for my journey, and it would take time before, layer by layer, I came to realise its grip was loosening and power subsiding.

The winter weather defined my journey, and the gale force storms, ice, and snow forced me to focus on keeping myself and my car safe. It would be some weeks before I finally built up the courage to unpack my tent, Bothy as I called her, and camped for the first time.

Only days before, I had visited a museum of witchcraft and had agreed to have my fortune read. I had been warned that difficulties lay ahead, and I must be strong. Tell me something I dont know, I thought to myself.

Little did I suspect that later that evening I would receive catastrophic news. A dear friend had died. It was the same friend who had helped me buy Bothy and we had even named her together. How cruel life could be.

This proved to be one of numerous pivotal moments in my journey. Weeks later, looking at the patchwork of knitted squares I had created (one for every night I camped alone), I saw the tangible evidence of my own progress. The colours of the wool had become brighter.

As winter took hold, daylight shortened, and I learned to be more comfortable in the dark. The evenings skies danced their colourful auroras and as I lay back in the warm waters of whichever hot pot I found nearby me, I became braver and let go of my emotional shackles along with my clothes. Bathing naked was a refreshing, exhilarating, experience despite my hair literally freezing, feeling persistently hungry, and suffering from mild hypothermia.

From the highs of touring by helicopter over craters and volcanoes and seeing orange and black killer whale calves, watching a glacier calving into the lagoon and spending countless nights chasing the northern lights, to the lows of digging my car out of snow drifts, losing my handbag, and almost losing my life, dragging myself cut and bruised over an icy cliff face and having to limp back and forth to the local hospital to have my fractured ankle x-rayed, I used these experiences to force myself to stay just one more day, and then one more week, before finally giving up on giving up. Im proud to say that I stayed the course to the bitter end.

The things that I encountered on my trip were magical, but I am no-one special. Truth be told, I embarked on this journey a little past my best-before date. I had a history of asthma and back problems, felt the cold and was in the early stages of the menopause.

The only thing I had, despite a heck of a lot of emotional baggage, was tenacity in spades. I would encourage anyone who feels like stepping out of their comfort zone to take on an adventure like this.

Returning home, I felt stronger. Life continues with or without us, and difficult situations still lay ahead, but how I dealt with those subsequent challenges was proof positive that I had developed personally.

Travel books dont get more engaging or inspirational than Where the f**k is Blonduos? A must-read.

Embarking on my journey I had lost my home, my marriage, my income, and my self-confidence. During it, I came close to losing my life through taking risks.

However, the full circle of events has enabled me to let go of abandonment, loneliness, and abuse. In their place are now happiness, contentment, and love.

I have captured my experiences, which comprise several journeys to Iceland, in my new book, memoir/travel guide Where the f**k is Blonduos?

On each visit I challenged myself in a different way, and grew from those challenges in so many ways. My advice to you is simple: whether you have a fortnight, month, or even a year to invest in yourself, do it. The most difficult step is the first, so start by putting one foot in front of the other and keep on going forward.

Thanks to my Icelandic odyssey, I once again recognise that small girl standing on the beach, full of curiosity and wanderlust, wondering what is over the horizon.

She is the girl of a certain age that has her walking boots, passport. and journals packed and who is on her way to her next writing adventure!

Where the f**k is Blonduos? Driving and Surviving a Winter in Iceland by Emma Strandberg (New Generation Publishing) is out now on Amazon, priced 9.99 in paperback. An eBook version will be available soon, priced 5.99. For more information, visit www.emmastrandbergbooks.com.

Exclusive Extract

From Where The F**k Is Blonduos? By Emma Strandberg

Here is a gripping extract from Where the f**k is Blonduos? by Emma Strandberg, from the chapter ICESAR, in which she recalls how an ill-advised attempt to scale a cliff went terrifyingly wrong.

Despite the wintry conditions, it had felt good to be outdoors, and I slowly made my way along the rugged beach to the large stack of rock. To my far right, at the mouth of Sigriarstaavatn, the seals, which usually hung out on the rocks like giant grey bananas, weren't there. However, the recent weather had brought in all manner of flotsam and jetsam, together with a half-eaten carcass of an enormous ugly fish I couldn't identify.

Eventually, numb with cold, I turned my back to the wind and started to make my way back the way I had come. I knew if I walked briskly, it would take a good 40 minutes. I had little energy despite eating well earlier in the day. The wet sand had made walking difficult, and my injured foot was throbbing painfully. As I walked on, I considered the steep cliffs to my right and wondered if there was a shortcut I could take to reach the car more quickly. The small waterfall that tumbled down the cliff was part frozen, and the rock face was dripping wet. For the love of God, I have no explanation as to why I decided to tackle the cliff, believing it wasn't so very steep and confident I could pick my way up and over it.

I started climbing sure and steady, ensuring I had a good hold with each move. I had progressed a good 9 metres before realising I was stuck. There was simply no foothold or handhold with which to get a secure grip. My large gloves hindered me, and I had frantically shaken them off to remove them, one by one, daring not to let go with my other hand for dear life. My feet were sliding with every movement, and I knew it was impossible to try to crawl back down. To let go meant a certain fatal fall. I mentally lost control and panicked, shaking and sobbing, knowing there was a good chance I wasn't going to survive this. No one could help me now. I couldn't even reach into my jacket pocket for my phone as I knew I couldn't hold on much longer with my frozen fingers.

I tried to work my way left, but it was impossible as there was a wall of solid ice. Somehow through my blind panic, I eased my hand into a razor-sharp slit in the rock to my right. I was terrified to remove my right foot but I knew I had to, and as I did so, I drove my knee against the rocks as hard as I could, allowing my trousers to snag, giving some slight traction, eventually digging my foot into anywhere it could rest.

Quite how, I don't know, but I did find a foothold, then another, and somehow inched my way sidewards and upwards to the top. There was a grassy verge above my head, and I reached up and dug my fingers in and dragged my body up onto terra firma. The nightmare was over. Shaking from both fear and cold, I lay there for some time, barely believing what had happened. I knew I was in a state of shock at how near to dying I had come.
Kevin Spacey was branded a "sexual bully" who preys on men as his trial got underway.

Kevin Spacey's sex offence trial will go on for around a month

The 'Baby Driver' actor appeared at London's Southwark Crown Court on Friday (30.06.23) for the first proper day of his sexual assault trial, which began with the evidence being presented to the jurors.

The 63-year-old actor - who had already appeared in court on Wednesday (28.06.23) as the jury was sworn in - was charged in 2022 in London with four counts of sexual assault, allegedly committed between 2005 and 2013.

Spacey pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew kicked off the trial by detailing the numerous allegations stacked against Spacey.

Agnew told the court: "He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards. He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men.

"A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully."

She told the court it was important not to get "starstruck" or "overwhelmed" by Spacey.

The four male complainants whose cases will be heard over the next month or so have the right to anonymity.

The first plaintiff claimed they were inappropriately touched by Spacey and that the contact got "more intense", leading to him being grabbed and groped aggressively.

And Agnew told the court the Hollywood actor got a "sexual thrill out of this type of sexual aggression".

The second complainant alleged that the movie star "laughed" as he tried to get away from being grabbed "with such force it was painful" at work in 2005.

Spacey held the role of director at The Old Vic theatre in London between 2004 and 2015.

The third plaintiff, who reported the actor first, allegedly woke up to Spacey performing a sex act on him after spending the night at his flat following an evening at the pub.

The male claims Spacey offered to mentor him.

And he said he "sat and cried" at a bus stop at 5am after the alleged assault took place.

In 2013, a fourth male met Spacey at the Oxfordshire pub he worked at and later met with him at another drinking establishment he suggested they meet at.

According to the complainant, Spacey touched his leg and told him to "be cool" when he kissed his neck.

The prosecutor then told the court that Spacey grabbed the male's crotch.

Agnew said Spacey thought he could get away with doing "what and who he wanted, when he wanted".

Patrick Gibbs, Spacey's barrister, argued that the allegations made against his client had been "reimagined with a sinister spin" and "deliberately exaggerated".

He went on to ask the jury to consider what the male complainants wanted to gain from Spacey and whether they were after his money or using him to enter the acting industry.

Gibbs added: "What did they want from his wealth and from his influence and what do they still want do you think?"

The barrister then accused the complainants of spreading "damned lies" about the actor.

He concluded: "You will soon hear I suggest some truths, you will soon hear some half-truths, you will also hear I suggest...some deliberate exaggerations and you will hear many damned lies."

The 'House of Cards' actor's trial reconvenes next week.
Michael Douglas has hailed the late Alan Arkin for leaving an indelible mark on cinema.

Michael Douglas has hailed the late Alan Arkin for leaving an indelible mark on cinema

The Wall Street actor, 78, co-starred with Alan in Netflixs The Kominsky Method, and took to Instagram to pay tribute to the star after it was revealed he had died on Thursday (29.06.23) aged 89 at his home in Carlsbad, California.

Michael said alongside a photo of him working with Alan: Today we lost a wonderful actor whose intelligence, sense of comedy and consummate professionalism over the past 70 years has left an indelible mark on our industry.

My experience of working with Alan were some of my most memorable. He will be deeply missed. Sincere condolences to his wife, Suzanne, and his family.

Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, 63, was the first star to react to the news of Alans death, tweeting: Such a wonderful, original voice for comedy. And on the few occasions I was in his presence, a kind and generous soul. I learned so much from watching him. And the laughs I got from his glorious work seem endless.

The Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli, 57, was also among the flood of celebrities and fans paying tribute to Alan.

He said on Instagram: The one and only ALAN ARKIN has left us. Arkin was a rare breed who had an infallible sense of truth that allowed him to shift with ease from the tragic to the hilarious in the blink of an eye.

Such a great actor and such a great loss to cinema.

Mia Farrow, 78, tweeted: Very sad to learn of the death of Alan Arkin. Such a lovely person  of course, a great actor. It was a privilege to work with him in The Last Unicorn.

For me he will always be Schmendrick my invaluable magician companion on our search for other unicorns.

Alan was probably best known his roles as the bemused dad in Edward Scissorhands and for his roles in Little Miss Sunshine and Argo

News of his death was announced by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony, who released a statement on behalf of the family.

They said: Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.

No more details about his death have been revealed.

In 1955 Alan married Jeremy Yaffe, with the couple having sons Adam and Matthew before they broke up in 1961.

Barbara Dana was Alans wife from 1964 until 1994, and she appeared alongside him in episodes of Sesame Street in the 1970s.

In 1967 the couple welcomed a son named Anthony, but they divorced in 1994 and Alan went to on marry his third wife Suzanne Newlander two years later  whose surname he adopted for his character Norman Newlander in The Kominsky Method.
Sir Richard Branson has successfully launched his first commercial space flight.

Richard Branson has launched the first commercial flight of Virgin Galactic

The businessman's Virgin Galactic company started commercial operations on Thursday (29.06.23) with a flight on the rocket plane Unity which launched from New Mexico taking three Italians into orbit to conduct scientific experiments - marking the company's first paid for service after a number of previous test flights.

Speaking after the mission - which lasted 72 minutes and was live-streamed around the world - Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said: "This historic flight was our first commercial flight and our first dedicated commercial research mission - ushering in a new era of repeatable and reliable access to space for private passengers and researchers."

The mission - dubbed Galactic 01 - was commissioned by the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council to take Col. Walter Villadei, Lt. Col. Angelo Landolfi and engineer Pantaleone Carlucci into space to conduct a number of experiments in zero gravity conditions.

They were accompanied by the company's astronaut instructor Colin Bennett and pilots Mike Masucci and Nicola Pecile.

Branson founded Virgin Galactic back in 2004 with a dream to be able to take paying passengers into space and it's taken 20 years to get to the point of launching the first paid-for service.

The company suffered a huge setback in 2014 when tragedy struck the first prototype vehicle, Enterprise, which broke up during a test flight killing the two pilots who were onboard.

However, the company continued and the next rocket plane - Unity - successfully made it to a distance of 80 kilometres above Earth which is regarded by some as the altitude required to be considered outer space.

Branson himself took a seat on Unity for a test flight in 2021 - beating rival billionaire Jeff Bezos to space by a week.

The next mission - Galactic 02 - will fly ticketed passengers and is scheduled for August with prices said to be as high as 350,000 per person.
In the vast tapestry of the United States, the American Dream stands tall as an enduring symbol of hope, opportunity, and the pursuit of a better life. For generations of immigrants, it has served as a magnetic force, drawing individuals from every corner of the globe toward the shores of a land brimming with promises.

Dr Maria Rodriguez

Regardless of their origins, immigrants arrive with a shared conviction that this land of opportunity can provide them with the chance to forge a brighter future for themselves and their families.

In this rich fabric of life's tales, the inspiring story of Dr. Maria Rodriguez, the CEO and founder of the New Jersey-based Care Counseling Center, is an impressive saga of determination and resilience, illustrating how a young girl from the Dominican Republic realized her American Dream, lighting the path for others on a similar journey.

For young Maria, the transition was an overwhelming mix of emotions. The United States was a far cry from the open and free community of the Dominican Republic, where she had spent her early childhood. Feelings of loneliness, embarrassment due to her initial struggles with English, and a sense of not fitting in, became her companions.

This emotional stir, however, did not discourage her. Instead, it fueled her determination to conquer the language barrier and fit into her new home. I had a lot of insecurities growing up, and I frequently faced racial and gender discrimination, Dr. Rodriguez shares. During my adolescence, I tried to lose my accent by attending classes because, for some reason, people equate accent with intelligence.

In college, Dr. Rodriguez attended a presentation by an author with a thick accent. It made Dr. Rodriguez realize that if the author could achieve success despite her accent, it shouldn't hold her back either.

Harnessing her power of perseverance and hard work, Dr. Rodriguez not only mastered the language and integrated into her new community, but she studied hard to realize her dream of finishing university and achieving professional success, all the while overcoming the obstacles that came with being an immigrant, and a woman of color.

Being a woman immigrant just adds more challenges to existing ones, Dr. Rodriguez shares. At university, I was one of the 3% of the minority student population. After I entered professional waters, I had to go above and beyond to be taken seriously by my male colleagues. It was an incredibly tough process, but, fortunately, owing to my diligence, I was able to succeed.

Striving to bridge the gap between her immigrant roots and the American culture, Dr. Rodriguez centered her American Dream on an impressive notion: it wasn't just about achieving personal success but also about aiding others in navigating a similar road. With this understanding, she forged a path toward becoming a mental health professional specializing in immigrant family counseling.

Having obtained a Master's Degree from William Paterson University and a Ph.D. from Capella University, Dr. Rodriguez spent years working as a psychologist and counselor, aiming to make the cultural integration process smoother for immigrants settling in the US. Her commitment to the community resulted in the founding of her Center in 2016, intending to deliver culturally sensitive counseling services.

Through her work spanning over two decades, Dr. Rodriguez has become a leading force in her field, extending support to those who grapple with feelings of alienation, disorientation, and loss that often accompany immigration.

Dr. Maria Rodriguez's journey to achieve her version of the American Dream stands as proof of her resilience and strength. From being a young immigrant girl grappling with a new language and culture, she has evolved into a successful entrepreneur, dedicated counselor, and pillar of strength for her community.

"I think the key to successfully adapting to a new culture hides in perseverance, adaptability, and the will to contribute positively to society," Dr. Rodriguez says. "I truly believe that through resilience and hard work, anyone can turn their dreams into reality, just like I have."
Australian retail turnover rose by 0.7 per cent in May 2023, following a flat result in April and a 0.4 per cent increase in March, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The sector seeing the largest surge was other retailing, which recorded a significant 2.2 per cent rise. The turnover growth was driven by a combination of factors, including an early start to some end of financial year sales events, Mothers Day, and the popular Click Frenzy Mayhem sales event.

Clothing, footwear, and personal accessory retailing witnessed a decrease of 0.6 per cent, and department stores saw a 0.5 per cent fall. This downward trend contrasted with the rise seen in April, which was attributed to increased spending on clothing items due to unusually cool and wet weather conditions, as per the ABS.

Australian retail turnover rose 0.7 per cent in May 2023, following a flat April, as per the ABS. Other retailing saw the largest growth (2.2 per cent), boosted by various sales events. Clothing, footwear, and accessory retailing, along with department stores, saw a slight decline. Most states saw increased turnover, with the Northern Territory leading.

Geographically, retail turnover increased across most Australian states and territories. The Northern Territory led the pack with a substantial 1.6 per cent increase, reaching its highest level. In contrast, Tasmania was the only region to see a drop in turnover, with a slight decline of 0.1 per cent.

This latest rise reflected some resilience in spending with consumers taking advantage of larger than usual promotional activity and sales events for May. Just as we saw during the November Black Friday sales last year, consumers appeared to take extra advantage of discounting during large sales events in May in response to cost-of-living pressures, said Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)
Maamannan Mistakes: Mari Selvaraj should be definitely commended for making the film Maamannan which emphasizes the idea that the scheduled people should be treated equally and that all life in the world are equal.

However, netizens say many accusations about Mari Selvaraj's mistakes in Maamannan story and visuals. Although the praises for the film Mamannan are pouring in on one side, on the other side, two types of objections have arisen, which has caused a great debate.

Udhayanihi As MGR

People say that just like how MGR got a big place in politics by acting as a scheduled caste person in his films, Mari Selvaraj made this film in an attempt to make Udayanidhi as MGR by talking about the politics of people who were suppressed in the society.

If a hero other than Udayanidhi had been cast, there would have been no such criticism. Criticisms are gathering that Udayanidhi also acted in this story for his own political gain and not for social concern.

While the first half of the film was fast paced, the second half is a major setback for the film. In the story of meeting and defeating the villain in the election field, there is no strong scenes in the second half except the final climax touch.

Fahadh's Family Members

Netizens said that Mari Selvaraj doesn't give much importance to many characters like Fahadh Faasil's wife and the Revival Social Justice Equality Party leader Vijayakumar. They also comment that with the character of Sunil, Mari Selvaraj has planted the poisonous seed that the so-called upper caste people will have the same state of mind in any given situation, whereas he failed to register not even a single character in Fahadh's house with a neutral thought process.

They also mention that Mari Selvaraj, who criticized Thevar Magan film has just made people to fight with each other rather than giving a solution for the caste based politics.
Bigg Boss is one of the most loved shows on Indian television and there are no second thoughts about it. Over the years, the popular reality show has witnessed several interesting ensembles of contestants who came and left a mark on the audience.

Interestingly, Bigg Boss is a show that is known for tough tasks, fights, nasty arguments and romance drama. Since the first season itself, we have seen several jodi finding love in each other during their stints on the show. From Sidharth Shukla-Shehnaaz Gill winning hearts with their chemistry in Bigg Boss 13 to Prince Narula and Yuvika Chaudhary's mushy romance in Bigg Boss 9.

This isn't all. Several contestants were seen getting intimate in the house as well. In fact, as Bigg Boss OTT 2 is making headlines these days, Jad Hadid and Akanksha Puri become the recent jodi who made heads turn with their intimate and cosy moments.

Here are the list of contestants who got intimate over the years on Bigg Boss:

Rahul Mahajan & Payal Rohatgi

During Bigg Boss season 2, Rahul and Payal's sizzling chemistry was the talk the town since the beginning. The duo was seen grabbing eyeballs with their intimacy in the poll inside the BB house. This isn't all. They were also seen giving sensuous massages to each other.

Veena Malik & Ashmit Patel

Ashmit Patel's intimate moments with Pakistani actress Veena Malik never gets old. The Bigg Boss season 4 contestants threw caution to the wind inside the house and were seen getting intimate in the house.

Kushal Tandon & Gauahar Khan

The power couple of Bigg Boss season 7, Kushal and Gauahar fell in love in the BB house and didn't miss out on a chance to get mushy and cozy. From kissing moments to snuggles, Kushal and Gauahar did paint the town red with their mushy romance.

Gautam Gulati & Diandra Soares

Gautam and Diandra made heads turn when they went inside the bathroom in the BB house to have some 'private time' during Bigg Boss 8. In fact, they were also seen locking lips in front the camera. Later Gautam even spoke about the same in an interview and said, "I know there was an 'Emraan Hashmi moment' between us. It was a momentary impulse. It would be rude to reject a girl who kisses me. So I kissed her back. There was nothing more than that".

Kishwer Merchant & Suyyash Rai

Kishwer and Suyyash had entered Bigg Boss 9 as a couple under the double trouble theme and they were seen winning hearts with their adorable chemistry. The duo were seen flaunting their mushy romance and turned out to be each other's shield in the show. Interestingly, the power couple grabbed the eyeballs as they got cosy under the blanket inside BB house.

Puneesh Sharma & Bandagi Kalra

Puneesh Sharma and Bandagi Kalra turned out to be among the most talked about couples of Bigg Boss 11. The duo were seen finding love in each other inside the BB house and left no stone unturned to express their feelings for each other. From their mush fest in the house to their kissing moments, Puneesh and Bandagi did grab eyeballs with the love affair

Raqesh Bapat & Shamita Shetty

Raqesh and Shamita's chemistry on Bigg Boss OTT was one of the key elements of the show. They were often seen flirting with each other and their adorable equation made us all go aww. From hugging each other to planting kisses to each other every now and then, they dish out massive relationship goals on the popular reality show.

Jad Hadid & Akanksha Puri

Jad Hadid and Akanksha Puri, who have been grabbing eyeballs with their sizzling equation on Bigg Boss OTT 2, took the internet by a storm. The duo were seen locking lips on the show for 30 seconds as a part of a task. It was reported that the duo was challenged by Avinash Sachdev.
Palak Purswani made headlines lately as she participated in Bigg Boss OTT 2. The diva was among the most talked about contestants of the popular reality show especially because of her past relationship with Avinash Sachdev. For the uninitiated, Palak's ex-flame Avinash has also been a part of Bigg Boss OTT 2.

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Interestingly, Palak and Avinash's past did became a hot topic of discussion on the show and the former lovers were seen locking horns on in the BB house. Indeed their love hate relationship was one of the key elements of the show. However, Palak's elimination from Bigg Boss OTT 2 came as a massive shock for her fans.

For the uninitiated, Palak became the second contestant to bid adieu to the show and was evicted after a week. Needless to say, Palak's elimination left everyone brimming with an opinion. But did you know that the actress got a hefty amount for her week long stay in the Bigg Boss house?

According to media reports, Palak had charged Rs 30 thousand per day for her stay in the BB house. And while the actress was in the house for a week, her total fees for her stay happens to be over two lakhs for her stint on the popular reality show.

Meanwhile, Palak has opened up about her break up with Avinash and his infidelity post elimination. Talking to India Today, the former Bigg Boss OTT 2 contestant said, "When this incident of cheating happened, I was on the set of Durga - Mata Ki Chayya. Simran (Budharup) was right in front of me. I broke down and I cried. She was like 'What happened?' I told her this is what had happened. And she has seen my whole journey. I was badly in depression and she has pulled me out of it".
Since the beginning of this year, the export of "Three New Products," from Anhui Province, represented by solar cells, lithium batteries, and new energy vehicles has been remarkably impressive, maintaining rapid growth and becoming a vivid testament to the upgrading of foreign trade. According to customs statistics, in the first five months of 2023, the total value of goods exported from Anhui Province reached 208.92 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%. Among them, driven by the rapid growth of exports of the "Three New Products," the export of electromechanical products increased by 31% year-on-year, accounting for 67.6% of the total export value. Experts believe that as a new driving force for foreign trade growth, the export performance of the "Three New Products" is expected to continue the good growth momentum. New energy vehicle exports have grown rapidly According to customs statistics, in the first five months of this year, Anhui Province exported 7,128 new energy vehicles, an increase of 148.1% compared to the same period last year. The export value reached 1.05 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 228.9%. The average export price per vehicle was 147,000 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.6%. In terms of trading partners, the European Union, Latin America, and North America were the main trading partners. Lithium battery exports are accelerating In addition to complete vehicles, lithium batteries, as supporting products, are also a major focus of exports. According to customs statistics, in the first five months of this year, Anhui Province exported lithium batteries worth 5.72 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 214.9%, accounting for 1.8% of the total export value of Anhui Province during the same period. The European and American regions are the main trading partners. In addition, exports to countries along the Belt and Road reached 890 million yuan, an increase of 103.1%, accounting for 15.5%. Photovoltaic industry becomes a highlight of foreign trade According to customs statistics, in the first five months of this year, Anhui Province exported photovoltaic products worth 11.19 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.4%, accounting for 5.4% of the total export value of Anhui Province during the same period. Among them, private enterprises exported photovoltaic products worth 11.18 billion yuan, accounting for 99.9% of the total export volume. Looking ahead, high-tech, high-value-added, and green transformation-leading products will become the new growth points for exports. It is expected that the export of the "Three New Products" still has room for growth and will become an important new driving force for export growth.

Source: Anhui Daily Reported by He Ke Edited and translated by Zheng Chen
Klin Kaara Konidela Photo Credit: Twitter

Ram Charan & Upasana Name Their Daughter Klin Kaara Konidela: The naming ceremony of RRR star Ram Charan and Upasana's baby girl was held on June 30 at grandfather Megastar Chiranjeevi's house. The proud grandparents have shared the mega princess' name with a cute picture on Twitter.

The parents and the family decided to call the baby girl Klin Kaara Konidela. The name is derived from Lalitha Sahasra Nama, which means the mother nature and embodiment of the power of Shakthi.

Ram Charan and his wife, Upasana Kamineni, welcomed their first child, a baby girl, after 11 years of marriage. The baby was born in the wee hours of June 20 in Hyderabad. The naming ceremony was celebrated with the closest of the family and friends of the Mega, Kamineni, and Allu families. The new mother also gave her followers and the mega fans a glimpse into the event by sharing the decor set-up, which was traditional.

Ram Charan and Upasana welcomed their bundle of joy, much to the excitement and happiness of the entire megastar's Konidela family and the fans. Once the news broke out, fans gathered at the hospital where Upasana delivered her child to celebrate the occasion.

Tens Of Social Media Pages Emerge On The Name 'Klin Kaara'

Within a couple of hours, after the baby's name was officially announced, tens of Instagram accounts on the name Klin Kaara, Klin Kaara Konidela, Kaara Konidela, Mega Princess Klin Kaara, klinkaara konidela, klin kaara official, etc popped up, much to the amusement of the netizens.

Continuing the celebrations, fans of the mega family started to erupt in joy as the name Klin Kaara was announced. They have taken to social media handles to share their happiness and feelings about the name. Check out a few such reactions here.

Klin Kaara 

She brought so much Joy

Her father can't stop smiling

Her grandfather can't stop seeing her 

Maa Mahalakshmi #MegaPrincess pic.twitter.com/KWJ9FX9eyN  ! (@PriyaRC_4) June 30, 2023

Morning morning a manchi post vesav thank you @KChiruTweets bossss 



Charan anna face lo happy ness chudu thammudu 



Klin Kaara  #MegaPrincess pic.twitter.com/IfKqJy5IV2  Babu Goud (@RC_MSD_) June 30, 2023

Megastar Chiranjeevi was the first person to speak to the media on the occasion. He shared details about the birth and revealed the time of the baby's delivery.

Upasana, Ram Charan, along with the baby, got discharged from the hospital on the third day and went home hale and healthy, looking radiant and happy. They made an appearance for the media on the day of discharge. Speaking on the occasion, Ram Charan said that the girl looked like her father.

Ram Charan and Upasana moved into Chiranjeevi's house in order to raise their child among people, especially grandparents. "We are both working professionals, and we want our child to be brought up by her grandparents."
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2023 / This press release is being disseminated as required by National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take Over Bids and Insider Reporting Issuers in connection with the filing of early warning reports (the "Early Warning Reports") by Kings Chapel International Limited ("Kings Chapel") in respect of its ownership position in CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV:CTH) (the "Corporation"). Kings Chapel is owned by an irrevocable discretionary trust associated with Julian Treger, the Corporation's Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Corporation.

On June 28, 2023, Kings Chapel acquired 650,000 common shares of the Corporation ("Common Shares") from a single vendor in a private transaction at a price of C$0.53 per share for aggregate consideration of C$344,500. The transaction was completed in reliance on the exemption from the formal bid requirements of Canadian securities legislation set out in Section 4.2 of National Instrument 62-104.

Prior to the private transaction, (i) Kings Chapel owned or controlled 17,316,307 Common Shares representing approximately 31.70% of the 54,627,430 issued and outstanding Common Shares as well as 11,011,948 warrants to purchase Common Shares and (ii) Julian Treger owned or controlled 2,708,500 Common Shares representing approximately 4.96% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as well as 2,731,371 options to purchase Common Shares and 2,303,500 warrants to purchase Common Shares.

Immediately following the private transaction, (i) Kings Chapel owned or controlled 17,966,307 Common Shares representing approximately 32.89% of the 54,627,430 issued and outstanding Common Shares as well as 11,011,948 warrants to purchase Common Shares and (ii) Julian Treger owned or controlled 2,708,500 Common Shares representing approximately 4.96% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as well as 1,924,466 options to purchase Common Shares and 2,303,500 warrants to purchase Common Shares.

Kings Chapel and Mr. Treger. Jonker hold Common Shares for investment purposes. Each of them has a long-term view of the investment and may acquire additional securities including on the open market or through private acquisitions or sell the securities including on the open market or through private dispositions in the future depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other relevant factors. Depending on market conditions, general economic and industry conditions, the Company's business and financial condition and/or other relevant factors, each such shareholder may develop such plans or intentions in the future.

A copy of the Early Warning Reports to be filed by Kings Chapel in connection with the transactions described above will be available on the Corporation's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com

The head office of the Corporation is located at Suite 428, 755 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1X6.

Kings Chapel's address is No. 2 The Forum, Grenville Street, St. Helier, Jersey, JE1 4HH.

To obtain a copy of the Early Warning Report filed under National Instrument 62-103, please contact Braam Jonker at (604) 992-5600.

SOURCE: CoTec Holdings Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/764834/Kings-Chapel-International-Limited-Reports-Updated-Ownership-Position-in-CoTec-Holdings-Corp
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2023 / Gold Mountain Mining Corp. ("Gold Mountain" or the "Company") (TSX:GMTN)(OTCQB:GMTNF)(FRA:5XFA) announces that it has amended its Annual General Meeting date from July 28, 2023 to August 11, 2023. The June 23, 2023 record date remains the same. An Amended Notice of Meeting and Record date is available at www.sedar.com.

About Gold Mountain Mining

Gold Mountain is a British Columbia based gold and silver exploration and development company focused on resource expansion at the Elk Gold Project, a producing mine located 57 KM from Merritt in South Central British Columbia. Additional information is available at www.sedar.com or on the Company's new website at www.gold-mountain.ca.

For further information, please contact:

Gold Mountain Mining Corp.

Phone: 778.262.0933

Email: IR@gold-mountain.ca

Website: www.gold-mountain.ca

Twitter: www.twitter.com/goldmtnmine

SOURCE: Gold Mountain Mining Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/764734/Gold-Mountain-Amends-Annual-General-Meeting-Date
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN OR HONG KONG, OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL OR WOULD REQUIRE REGISTRATION OR OTHER MEASURES. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.



Aberdeen, 30th June 2023

Reference is made to the stock exchange release from Awilco Drilling Plc ("Awilco Drilling" or the "Company") (Euronext Growth Oslo: AWDR) published on 29th June 2023 regarding a contemplated private placement of new Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts (the "Offer Shares") in the Company up to the NOK equivalent of up to USD 8.1 million in gross proceeds (the "Private Placement").

The Company is pleased to announce that the Private Placement has been successfully completed, raising gross proceeds of approximately NOK 87,120,360 million, equivalent to approximately USD 8.1 million, by allocation of 9,680,040 Offer Shares in the Private Placement at a price per Offer Share of NOK 9 (the "Offer Price").

The Private Placement took place through an accelerated bookbuilding process managed by Clarksons Securities AS as Sole Manager and Bookrunner (the "Manager") after close of markets on 29th June 2023.

The net proceeds from the Private Placement will be used to finance Awilco Drillings' remaining arbitration case concerning Rig 2 against Keppel FELS Limited to its conclusion which is expected to take place no earlier than 4Q 2023 or 1Q 2024.

Existing shareholders were allocated all of the Offer Shares.

Conditional notices of allocation of Offer Shares and payment instructions are expected to be distributed to the investors in the Private Placement through a notification from the Manager on 30th June 2023 (T) (the "Notification"). Any further settlement details will be stated in the Notification.

The Offer Shares were allocated in two tranches as follows: one tranche with [6,846,350] Offer Shares ("Tranche 1") and a second tranche with 2,833,690 Offer Shares ("Tranche 2"). All applicants other than Awilhelmsen Offshore AS will receive Offer Shares through Tranche 1.

Completion of Tranche 1 is subject to (i) the necessary corporate resolutions by the Board for the approval of the allocation and issuance of the Offer Shares in Tranche 1, (ii) the Pre-Payment Agreement (as defined below) remaining unmodified and in full force and effect and (iii) the Offer Shares having been fully paid and legally issued and delivered in VPS.

Completion of Tranche 2 is subject to (i) completion of Tranche 1, (ii) the extraordinary general meeting of the Company (expected to be held on or about 20th July 2023) (the "EGM") resolving to grant the Board a new authority to issue shares and (iii) the Offer Shares having been fully paid and legally issued and delivered in VPS. By subscribing for Offer Shares, applicants have undertaken to vote in favour of the resolutions required to issue the Tranche 2 Offer Shares and the Warrants at the EGM (as described below).

Settlement of the Offer Shares in Tranche 1 is expected to take place on a delivery versus payment (DVP) basis on or about 4th July 2023. DVP settlement of the Offer Shares is expected to be facilitated by a pre-payment agreement between the Company and the Manager (the "Pre-Payment Agreement"). The Offer Shares in Tranche 1 will be tradable on Euronext Growth Oslo on or about 4th July 2023.

Settlement of the Offer Shares in Tranche 2 is subject to approval by the EGM and are expected to be delivered, subject to timely fulfilment of the conditions set out above, on or about 24th July 2023. The Offer Shares in Tranche 2 will be tradeable on Euronext Growth Oslo on or about 24th July 2023.

Following the completion of the Private Placement, the Company will have a share capital of GBP 9,196,677.75 divided into 14,148,735 shares, each with a nominal value of GBP 0.65.

The Company has considered the Private Placement in light of the equal treatment obligations under the rules on equal treatment under Euronext Growth Rule Book II and Oslo Brs' Guidelines for equal treatment, and is of the opinion that the Private Placement is in compliance with these requirements. The Company is in urgent need of new capital, and the delays involved in conducting a rights offering would have leaved the Company without the required funding for a sustained period. Further, the Board intends to carry out the Subsequent Offering (as defined below) following completion of the Private Placement that, if carried out, is expected to allow existing shareholders who are not offered to participate in the Private Placement the opportunity to maintain their pro rata ownership. As a consequence of the Private Placement structure, the shareholders' preferential rights to subscribe for the Offer Shares have been deviated from.

The Board of Directors intends to conduct, subject to completion of the Private Placement and certain other conditions, a subsequent offering of new Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts raising gross proceeds of the NOK equivalent of up to USD 0.4 million at the same subscription price as the Offer Price in the Private Placement to existing holders of Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts in the Company as of 29th June 2023 (as registered in the VPS two trading days thereafter) who (i) were not included in the wallcrossing phase of the Private Placement, (ii) were not allocated Offer Shares in the Private Placement, and (iii) are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful or would (in jurisdictions other than Norway) require any prospectus, filing, registration or similar action (the "Subsequent Offering"). Non-tradable subscription rights will be awarded. Completion of a Subsequent Offering is subject to approval by the Board, and the Board may at its discretion decide not to proceed with or cancel any Subsequent Offering. The subsequent offering is expected to be fully guaranteed by Awilhelmsen Offshore AS and QVT Family Office Fund LP. The Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel the Subsequent Offering.

A separate stock exchange notice will be made on key information for the Subsequent Offering.

Warrants: Subject to (i) completion of the Private Placement; and (ii) the EGM's approval of a new authority for the Board to issue shares and grant rights to subscribe for shares on a non- pre-emptive basis, each investor will be granted one (1) warrant for every Depository Receipt subscribed for, allocated and paid for in the Private Placement or the Subsequent Offering (the "Warrant"). Each Warrant will give the investor the right, but not the obligation, to subscribe for one Depository Receipt at a price of NOK 1 per Depository Receipt, subject to the Company undertaking a prior reduction of capital (or otherwise taking steps in accordance with applicable law) to reduce the nominal value of its shares below the GBP equivalent of NOK 1 per share. The Warrants granted in connection with the Private Placement or the Subsequent Offering, as the case maybe, may be exercised by the holders, in full or in part, from 1 January 2024 until the later of (A) 1 February 2024 and (B) the date three months after the arbitral tribunal has issued a final award in the Rig 2 case against Keppel FELS Limited and either (A) the latest deadline for filing an appeal or challenge against such final award has expired without an appeal or challenge being made or (B) a final and non-appealable ruling has been made by the relevant court in respect of such appeal or challenge (the "Exercise Period"). Warrants that are not exercised during the Exercise Period will have no value and will lapse without compensation to the holder. The Warrants are non-transferable and will not be registered in the VPS. The Warrants will be created by way of a warrant deed executed by the Company (the "Warrant Deed"). By subscribing for Offer Shares, applicants will agree to be bound by the Warrant Deed. A copy of the fully executed Warrant Deed will be sent to all applicants who are allocated Offer Shares in the Private Placement or the Subsequent Offering after completion of the Private Placement or the Subsequent Offering (as applicable). The Warrant Deed is governed by English law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. Any holder of Warrants may exercise such Warrants by written notice to the Company in the form attached to the Warrant Deed. In order to be valid, the notice must have been received by the Company during the Exercise Period. Any Depositary Receipts arising from the exercise of the Warrants will only be issued following the expiry of the Exercise Period. If the Company does not undertake a reduction of capital (or otherwise take steps in accordance with applicable law) to reduce the nominal value of its shares below the GBP equivalent of NOK 1 per share prior to the expiry of the Exercise Period, the exercise price for the Warrants shall be NOK 9 per Depositary Receipt.

Advokatfirmaet Wiersholm AS is acting as Norwegian legal counsel to Awilco Drilling.

For further information about the Private Placement please contact:

Truls Chr. Tran, Head of Investment Banking Clarksons Securities AS: +47 41 40 19 37

Erik Jacobs, CEO of Awilco Drilling; Tel: +47 95 29 22 71



Cathrine Haavind, Investor Relations of Awilco Drilling; Tel: +47 93 42 84 64

The information in this announcement is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation for Awilco Drilling. This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. This stock exchange notice was published by Cathrine Haavind, Investor Relations, on the time and date provided.

Important information

The release is not for publication or distribution, in whole or in part directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Japan Hong Kong or the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia). It is issued for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities, in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"). The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act. Awilco Drilling does not intend to register any portion of any offering of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong or the United States.

In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State. The expression "Prospectus Regulation" means (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 14 June 2017, as amended Regulation, on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public (together with any applicable implementing measures in any EEA Member State).

This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only for relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.

The issue, subscription or purchase of securities in Awilco Drilling is subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither Awilco Drilling nor the Manager assumes any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions. The distribution of this release may in certain jurisdictions be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this release comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

The Manager is acting for Awilco Drilling and no one else in connection with the potential Private Placement in the Company and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company providing the protections afforded to their respective clients or for providing advice in relation to the Private Placement and/or any other matter referred to in this release.

Forward-looking statements: This release and any materials distributed in connection with this release may contain certain forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect Awilco Drilling's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of material factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Die KI-Revolution ist in vollem Gange und vor allem ein Bereich wird stark betroffen sein: Cyber-Security. Die Experten sind sich sicher: Mit steigender Entwicklung von KI-Technologien nehmen auch KI-gestutzte Cyber-Attacken zu. Wir zeigen hier, welche Aktien profitieren konnen.

HIROSHIMA, Japan, June 30, 2023 - (JCN Newswire) - Mazda Motor Corporation's production and sales results for May 2023 are summarized below.I. Production1. Domestic ProductionMazda's domestic production volume in May 2023 increased 47.3% year on year due to increased production of passenger vehicles.[Domestic production of key models in May 2023]CX-5: 22,409 units (up 32.8% year on year)MAZDA3: 6,683 units (up 171.3%)CX-30: 5,463 units (up 11.6%)2. Overseas ProductionMazda's overseas production volume in May 2023 increased 29.1% year on year due to increased production of passenger vehicles.[Overseas production of key models in May 2023]CX-30: 10,799 units (up 40.3% year on year)CX-50: 7,437 units (up 342.4%)MAZDA2: 4,382 units (up 18.5%)II. Domestic SalesMazda's domestic sales volume in May 2023 increased 108.7% year on year due to increased sales of passenger and commercial vehicles.Mazda's registered vehicle market share was 4.3% (up 2.2 points year on year), with a 2.3% share of the micro-mini segment (unchanged) and a 3.6% total market share (up 1.4 points).[Domestic sales of key models in May 2023]CX-5: 1,924 units (up 136.7% year on year)MAZDA2: 1,433 units (up 69.0%)CX-30: 1,358 units (up 392.0%)III. ExportsMazda's export volume in May 2023 increased 74.3% year on year due to increased shipments to Europe, North America, and other regions.[Exports of key models in May 2023]CX-5: 18,535 units (up 64.4% year on year)MAZDA3: 5,763 units (up 209.7%)CX-30: 3,102 units (up 32.0%)IV. Global SalesMazda's global sales volume in May 2023 increased 50.4% year on year due to increased sales in the US, Japan, Europe, and other regions.[Global sales of key models in May 2023]CX-5: 30,321 units (up 41.7% year on year)CX-30: 17,038 units (up 37.6%)MAZDA3: 12,824 units (up 12.9%)* Overseas production figures indicate Mazda-brand units coming off the production line (excluding CKD units).* Global production figures are the sum total of domestic and overseas production volumes.* All information in this press release is as of the release date. No updates after that date are reflected.Source: mazdaCopyright 2023 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.

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.
















TOKYO, June 30, 2023 - (JCN Newswire) - NTT DOCOMO, INC., NTT Communications Corporation and NTT Comware Corporation announced today that they will begin providing a trial version of an AI-based system for monitoring the water levels of rivers and reservoirs to companies and local governments nationwide, effective immediately. Through the trial, the companies expect to improve the system's AI functions and usability, aiming at a commercial launch by March 2024.Notably, the system eliminates the need for physical water-level gauges and instead uses virtual gauges and AI technology to visualize real-time images and time-series data of water levels on a screen. Also, the system can automatically notify authorities if a predetermined water level is exceeded.The system uses cameras and other dedicated equipment installed near a river or reservoir to capture video images of the water. A virtual gauge is overlaid on the video and AI video-recognition technology accurately determines the water level in real time. Specifically, the system uses a unique algorithm and AI image-segmentation technology to analyze the ratio of the water surface to the land area displayed on the virtual gauge. Accuracy can be improved by using multiple virtual gauges.Personnel in charge of monitoring rivers and reservoirs for municipalities, etc., can check water levels and configure AI settings using video and graphs on a management screen in the cloud. In addition, the system can be live-streamed to local residents to keep them alert and informed.In addition to the technology for determining water levels, the system incorporates two other key technologies:EDGEMATRIXNTT Com's video analytics platform (video edge AI platform) processes high-volume video data in an Edge AI Box (edge computer), enabling rapid video analysis, water-level determination and streaming.SmartMainTechDOCOMO, as part of its SmartMainTech series of solutions for infrastructure maintenance, has developed an AI for determining water levels (joint patent pending for DOCOMO and NTT Comware), which combines DOCOMO's AI technology and a video-analysis AI in Edge AI Box, to analyze video of rivers and reservoirs and link the results to the SmartMainTech cloud. The solution incorporates industry-specific AI, data-analysis and visualization technologies.(Image of installed camera) (Image of Edge AI Box)The system has many noteworthy features:1. Use of virtual water-level gauges- Low-cost virtual gauges make it practical to monitor even small rivers and reservoirs.- Virtual gauges cannot be damaged by floods, etc., and are much easier to maintain than real gauges.- Multiple virtual gauges can be installed for each camera to increase system accuracy.2. Use of real-time video- Rapid water level changes can be confirmed via real-time video.3. Batch video and data monitoring- Real-time video and water level graphs can be viewed on the same management screen.- Notifications can be sent automatically via email or text if a specified water level is exceeded.4. Easy integration with video services- Video can be easily linked to video-distribution sites to keep nearby residents up to date.- Edge AI Box performs video encoding in the field, enabling real-time video delivery.Each company performed a specific role in the development of the system.- DOCOMO: Developed the AI used in SmartMainTech- NTT Com: Provided EDGEMATRIX service and cameras and Edge AI Box- NTT Comware: Developed AI applications under the SmartMainTech brandThrough the trial, the three companies expect to confirm and optimize the system's deployment and accuracy, with a view to launching it on a commercial basis for municipalities nationwide as soon as possible.In recent years, river floods caused by typhoons and torrential rains have become more severe due to climate change, increasing the need to accurately ascertain water levels and take proper countermeasures quickly. However, the use of conventional physical water-level gauges is costly and labor-intensive in terms of installation and maintenance. Going forward, the NTT DOCOMO group's low-cost, low-maintenance system is expected to expand the vital real-time monitoring of not only large bodies of water, but also small rivers and reservoirs that have the potential to cause disasters.About docomo businessNTT DOCOMO, NTT Com and NTT COMWARE have integrated their enterprise businesses under the DOCOMO group and its "docomo business" brand. The group, guided by its Mobile Cloud First strategy, strives to deliver innovative solutions for society and industry through collaboration with enterprise clients and partners under the slogan "Changing worlds with you."www.ntt.com/business/lp/docomobusiness.html (Japanese only)For more information, visit www.docomo.ne.jp/english/info/media_center/pr/2023/0628_00.html.Source: NTT DOCOMOCopyright 2023 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Partners Group / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

Partners Group appoints Chief Financial Officer; new member of the Executive Team



30-Jun-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.





Baar-Zug, Switzerland; 30 June 2023 | Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 Listing Rules (LR)

Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm, today announces the appointment of Joris Groflin as Partner and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and member of the Executive Team, with effect from 1 February 2024 at the latest. Mr. Groflin will take over responsibility for the firm's finance activities from Manuel Ottinger and Philip Sauer, who co-led the function ad interim. They will retain their roles as Head Finance and Head Corporate Development, respectively. Mr. Groflin will be based in Zug, Switzerland.

Mr. Groflin brings more than 20 years of experience, primarily across a variety of finance functions at leading Swiss industry groups. Previously, Mr. Groflin was CFO and a member of the Executive Board at Axpo Holding AG. Prior to that, he held management roles at Rieter Holding AG, serving as CFO and as a member of the Group Executive Committee. Earlier on in his career, Mr. Groflin worked in various roles at Kearney.

David Layton, Partner and Chief Executive Officer, says: "On behalf of the Executive Team, I am very pleased to welcome Joris to Partners Group. Joris' depth of experience leading finance functions at large international corporations headquartered in Switzerland will be highly valuable as we look to scale Partners Group's global operations and corporate services in tandem with the continued growth of our private markets platform."

Joris Groflin adds: "I am excited to join such a respected and fast-growing firm. Partners Group has a long history as a transformational investor and provider of bespoke private markets solutions. I look forward to working together with my colleagues on the Executive Team and within Finance as we continue to grow the firm profitably and sustainably."

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

Alec Zimmermann

Phone: +41 41 784 69 68
DANDERYD, Sweden, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tobii Dynavox AB ("Tobii Dynavox"), the world leader in assistive communication, has entered into an agreement to acquire all the shares in the German companies EIYott GmbH and Rehadapt Engineering GmbH & Co. KG (together "Rehadapt"). Rehadapt is a worldwide provider of mounting solutions for assistive technology. Tobii Dynavox will pay EUR 15 million in cash, on a cash and debt free basis. The transaction is subject to relevant regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, which are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

Background

Rehadapt is a premium provider of medically certified mounting solutions for assistive technology, including out-of-the-box and flexible solutions to support individual communication, independent mobility kits and customized accessories. Based on over 20 years of expertise and innovative development, Rehadapt has created a well-respected brand and a valuable asset base in the field of mounting solutions. Rehadapt's products are currently sold together with Tobii Dynavox's products as well as by many other companies in assistive communication. Rehadapt has approximately 50 employees and is headquartered in Kassel, Germany with a local subsidiary and distribution center in the United States. Rehadapt's turnover in 2022 was approximately EUR 10 million with an adjusted EBIT margin of approximately 20%. The seller, Rehadapt's CEO Uli Ehlert, will remain with Rehadapt for a period of at least one year.

Reasons for the acquisition

Tobii Dynavox considers the primary value creation resulting from this acquisition to arise from accelerated innovation and development of technologies for mounting solutions, which is often an integral part of assistive communication solutions. In addition, the acquisition creates the conditions for increased sales of both companies' products.

"Our ultimate goal is to give all people with communication impairments a voice and the opportunity to be who they want to be," says Fredrik Ruben, CEO of Tobii Dynavox. "Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have been successful partners for many years. The acquisition will deepen this relationship further, providing opportunities to create solutions that make it easier for our users to access and use their communication aids. Rehadapt has a best-in-class team and product portfolio and will remain an independent subsidiary to Tobii Dynavox that continues to serve and support all current customers and segments in an unchanged manner," Fredrik Ruben, CEO of Tobii Dynavox continues. Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have highly complementary core areas of expertise. Tobii Dynavox's core expertise is the development, sales and support of its clinically developed assistive communication, while Rehadapt's core expertise is mounting solutions for assistive technology. By bringing together the expertise in these technologies, Tobii Dynavox can accelerate the development of solutions for the entire industry. Both Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have global sales networks that will open up opportunities to improve operational capabilities. Kassel, Germany is a premium location to service European countries efficiently.

"Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have a long successful history as partners with similar driving forces and cultures. Both companies have been built around exceptional products with a focus on enabling the best possible life for people with functional impairments" says Uli Ehlert, CEO of Rehadapt. "We are proud of what we have accomplished as a company and with Tobii Dynavox, I am confident we will find a great home for our staff, our products, our customers and the users. I'm very much looking forward to taking the next step in our journey," Uli Ehlert, CEO of Rehadapt continues.

Purchase consideration, terms and conditions and timetable for the acquisition and financing

Tobii Dynavox, has today entered into an agreement with the sole shareholder, Mr. Uli Ehlert, to acquire all the shares in Rehadapt. The total purchase consideration for all the shares amounts to EUR 15 million paid in cash, on a cash and debt free basis. Additionally, a potential earn-out consideration of up to EUR 3.5 million 12 months after closing of the transaction will be paid depending on the continued financial development of Rehadapt. Closing is subject to relevant regulatory approvals and other customary conditions which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

To finance this acquisition, Tobii Dynavox has increased its total credit facility with Swedbank to SEK 800 million by signing and extending its credit facility with an additional term loan of SEK 100 million. Tobii Dynavox will use this new term loan and its revolving credit facility to pay for this acquisition.

About the acquisition

Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have been successful partners for many years. The acquisition will deepen this relationship further, providing great opportunities to create solutions that make it easier for our users to access and use their communication aids. With a shared focus on supporting people who need assistive communication, both Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt will benefit from accelerated innovation and development of technologies for mounting solutions, which are an integral part of assistive communication solutions. Rehadapt will run as an independent, fully owned, subsidiary to Tobii Dynavox under the current Rehadapt management.

This information is information that Tobii Dynavox AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted, through the agency of the contact person set out below, for publication at 08:15 CET, on June 30, 2023.

Contact: Linda Tybring, CFO, Tobii Dynavox, phone: +46 (0) 7068 14 980, email: linda.tybring@tobiidynavox.com

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/11919/3797601/2163523.pdf Press release Tobii Dynavox enters agreement to acquire Rehadapt Engineering, improving mounting solutions for communication aids https://news.cision.com/tobii-dynavox/i/julia-communication-aid-with-mount,c3196068 Julia communication aid with mount

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/tobii-dynavox-enters-agreement-to-acquire-rehadapt-engineering-improving-mounting-solutions-for-communication-aids-301867803.html
Die KI-Revolution ist in vollem Gange und vor allem ein Bereich wird stark betroffen sein: Cyber-Security. Die Experten sind sich sicher: Mit steigender Entwicklung von KI-Technologien nehmen auch KI-gestutzte Cyber-Attacken zu. Wir zeigen hier, welche Aktien profitieren konnen.

LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Barratt Developments plc (BDEV.L) announced on Friday that it has agreed to sell 604 homes to Citra Living Properties, a unit of Lloyds Banking Group plc in a future sale agreement. The total cash consideration is 168.4 million pounds. Under the future sale terms, the Barratt will recognize the profit on legal completion of each home. Out of the 604 homes, 500 are expected to be legally completed and transferred to Citra's ownership over 12 months to June 30, 2024. The remaining homes will be transferred to Citra in the financial year to June 30, 2025. On Thursday, shares of Barratt closed at 412.40 pence down 1.69% or 7.10 pence on the London Stock Exchange. 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.
B Corp Further Demonstrates Cynozure's Commitment as a Force for Good

Cynozure, a leading data and analytics company, today announced its certification as a B Corporation (or B Corp), joining a growing group of companies reinventing business by pursuing purpose as well as profit. Cynozure has been certified by B Lab, the not-for-profit behind the B Corp movement, as having met rigorous social and environmental standards which represent its commitment to goals outside of shareholder profit.

The B Corp certification addresses the entirety of a business' operations and covers five key impact areas of Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. The certification process is rigorous, with applicants required to reach a benchmark score of over 80 while providing evidence of socially and environmentally responsible practices relating to energy supplies, waste and water use, worker compensation, diversity and corporate transparency. To complete the certification, the company will legally embed their commitment to purpose beyond profit in their company articles.

Cynozure is now part of a community of 6,889 businesses globally who have certified as B Corps. The B Corp community in the UK, representing a broad cross section of industries and sizes, comprises over 1,400 companies and include well-known brands such as The Guardian, innocent, Patagonia, The Body Shop and organic food pioneers Abel Cole.

Recent attention on the data industry makes Cynozure's B Corp certification a notable step and signals a shift towards greater accountability and transparency in the sector.

Chris Turner, Executive Director of B Lab UK, commented, "We are delighted to welcome Cynozure to the B Corp community. This is a movement of companies who are committed to changing how business operates and believe business really can be a force for good. We know that Cynozure are going to be a fantastic addition to the community and will continue driving the conversation forward."

Jason Foster, Founder and CEO at Cynozure added: "This is a truly significant milestone for us. We're dedicated to our purpose of 'data, for a better tomorrow' and this certification is another step forward aligned to that purpose. By being a B Corp, we're part of a global movement of companies striving to create a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable world. We feel strongly about this and we do what we do to make a positive impact on people and organisations we interact with."

About Cynozure

Cynozure is a people-first, leading data and analytics consultancy, founded by data industry leader, Jason Foster, in 2016. Through its Level Up Framework and 6 Pillar Framework, the company supports its clients by building bespoke data strategies to drive incremental business value. Its Podcast series Hub Spoken features leading experts in data and analytics technology and tackles everything going on in the world of data, including technology, strategy, leadership and more. In addition, Cynozure runs an exclusive members club, the CDO Hub, providing data leaders a forum to collaborate, share, learn and grow. Cynozure has offices in the U.K., the U.S., and Europe and serves clients globally. The company was named one of Britain's Sunday Times' fastest-growing private companies in 2022. For more information, visit www.cynozure.com.

About B Lab UK

B Lab UK is transforming the economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet. A leader in economic systems change, our global network creates standards, policies, and tools for business, and we certify companies-known as B Corps-who are leading the way. To date, our global community includes 6,889 B Corps in 90 countries and 161 industries, and over 150,000 companies manage their impact with the B Impact Assessment and the SDG Action Manager. Visit bcorporation.uk.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630645967/en/

Contacts:

Press Contacts:

Ashley Walker for Cynozure

news@cynozure.com
CHICAGO and TURNHOUT, Belgium, June 30, 2023announces its expansion into Belgium, partnering with fast-growing luxury-focused firm, Hillewaere. As the exclusive affiliate of Christie's International Real Estate in Belgium, Hillewaere will gain access to world-class marketing and technology, national and international visibility for listings, and a connection to the iconic Christie'sauction house, for the referral of art and luxury goods.

Established in 2002 by Roel Druyts, Hillewaere has grown from a one-man real estate brokerage to a thriving multidisciplinary company with divisions for real estate, insurance, and mortgage lending. Druyts now serves as CEO of Hillewaere Group, while Bart Van Delm oversees the firm's real estate business as managing director. In 2021, the firm received an investment from merchant banking powerhouse Rothschild & Co. and its Five Arrows Principal Investments (FAPI) arm, setting up further expansion.

Hillewaere is a fixture in Belgium's high-end residential market, which continues to see strong growth post pandemic. The country attracts residents from around the world with its rich culture and bustling economy, and is particularly appealing to homebuyers from France, Germany, and the Netherlands thanks to its relatively low cost of living and tax incentives.

The firm is well established in Antwerp and other Flemish provinces, and is planning to expand under the Christie's International Real Estate brand into the capital city of Brussels, the French-speaking Wallonia region, and Knokke and other upscale resort towns along the Belgian coast.

Much like the relationship between Christie's International Real Estate and the separately owned, but closely aligned, Christie's auction house, the connection between Hillewaere's real estate division and its insurance business - which includes categories for art, luxury automobiles and fine jewelry - creates synergies that drive referrals and exceptional client service.

"Hillewaere and Christie's International Real Estate complement each other perfectly in terms of our expertise, the way we serve buyers and sellers and our credibility in the market. Around the world, Christie's International Real Estate has a wide client base and unique target audience, especially given their close relationship with Christie's auction house. And we built our strong reputation and systematically expanded our existing portfolio in the luxury housing market in Belgium over the past few years," explained Druyts.

"Our focus on luxury real estate, our client-centric approach and our staff's expertise, combined with the deep international network that Christie's International Real Estate provides, ensures clients know they are in the right place to buy or sell their luxury property with confidence. This partnership will undoubtedly strengthen our position in the Belgian luxury real estate market," added Van Delm.

"Roel and Bart have built an exceptional real estate brokerage focused on relationships, innovation and unmatched service, all values shared by Christie's International Real Estate. We are pleased to have them on board as our exclusive Belgium affiliate, and we look forward to supporting their growth as we continue our expansion throughout Europe," said Helena de Forton, managing director, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) for Christie's International Real Estate.

Christie's International Real Estate has expanded rapidly over the past 18 months through new partnerships with independent brokerage firms around the world. Recently, the brand has signed on new affiliates in Munich, London, Milan, Venice, the Italian, Swiss and French Alps, Malta, Estonia, the Caribbean and Japan. The luxury real estate network has also added leading brokerages in top-ranked U.S. markets, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Miami and Chicago.

###

About Christie's International Real Estate

Christie's International Real Estate has successfully marketed high-value real estate around the world for more than 30 years. Through its invitation-only Affiliate network spanning nearly 50 countries and territories, Christie's International Real Estate offers incomparable services to a global clientele at the luxury end of the residential property market. For more information, please visit christiesrealestate.com.

About the Hillewaere Group

Founded by current CEO Roel Druyts in 2002, Hillewaere Group is a group of three service companies: Hillewaere Real Estate, Hillewaere Insurance and Hillewaere Mortgages. The company strives to provide clients with the best advice for acquiring, managing, protecting and furnishing real estate in the most service-oriented and proactive way possible. And it takes advantage of technology to go all out in attaining this goal. The three companies are managed by Hillewaere Holding. For more information, visit hillewaere.be .

Attachments
Capital for Colleagues plc - Portfolio Update - Computer Application Services

PR Newswire

London, June 30

Capital for Colleagues plc / EPIC: CFCP / Market: AQSE / Sector: Financials

30 June 2023

CAPITAL FOR COLLEAGUES PLC

('Capital for Colleagues', 'C4C' or the 'Company')

PORTFOLIO UPDATE - COMPUTER APPLICATION SERVICES LIMITED

Capital for Colleagues, the investment vehicle focused on opportunities in the Employee Owned Business ('EOB') sector, is pleased to announce an update in respect of its investee company Computer Application Services Limited ('CAS').

Based in Edinburgh, CAS is a developer of case management software, branded as Workpro. Capital for Colleagues initially invested in CAS in January 2016, since when CAS has grown its client base significantly, in both its traditional public sector markets and in newer markets that it has targeted in the private sector. Reflecting this sustained growth, CAS is currently the largest holding in the Company's portfolio, with C4C's interest valued at 2.5 million as at 31 May 2023.

To reflect the growth at CAS and to prudently rebalance this element of the Company's investment portfolio, Capital for Colleagues has agreed to dispose of part of its holding of CAS ordinary shares to Bill Ainscough, a non-executive Director of the Company, and TJ Morris Limited, a significant shareholder in C4C, in equal proportions, for total cash consideration of 754,000.

Following this transaction, Capital for Colleagues will be interested in 33.33% of the issued equity of CAS and the CAS Employee Benefit Trust will be interested in 32.32% of the issued equity.

Bill Ainscough is a non-executive Director of Capital for Colleagues, and his acquisition of the CAS ordinary shares from the Company is therefore a Related Party Transaction for the purposes of the AQSE Growth Market Apex Rulebook. The Directors of the Company, other than Mr Ainscough, having exercised reasonable care, skill and diligence, consider that the acquisition of the CAS ordinary shares by Mr Ainscough is fair and reasonable as far as the shareholders of the Company are concerned.

Commenting on this portfolio rebalancing, Alistair Currie, Chief Executive of Capital for Colleagues, said:

'We have been a strong supporter of CAS for over 7 years and believe that the growth that CAS has delivered in that period makes it prudent for C4C to rebalance our portfolio holding, whilst opening up the investment opportunity to like-minded and supportive investors in Bill Ainscough and TJ Morris Limited.

We are delighted to have shared in the excellent progress at CAS to date and look forward to participating in an exciting future for the business.'

Ken Naismith, Chief Executive of CAS, commented:

'We are delighted to welcome Bill Ainscough and TJ Morris Limited as shareholders in CAS as we expand Workpro's place in Employee Relations and Regulated Complaints case management markets. Workpro is a Software as a Service product that helps our customers to optimise case outcomes and mitigate the risks they face in today's challenging operating environment. With loyal customer numbers growing each month, and sound financial backing, employee-shareholders, investors and customers can look forward to the ongoing development of Workpro and continued growth of the company.'

**ENDS**

For further information, please visit www.capitalforcolleagues.com or contact:



CAPITAL FOR COLLEAGUES PLC

Richard Bailey, Chairman

Alistair Currie, Chief Executive

John Lewis, Finance Director

01985 201 980 PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED

Mark Anwyl 020 7469 0930

The Directors of the Company are responsible for the contents of this announcement.

Capital for Colleagues

Capital for Colleagues is an investment company focused on the UK EOB sector. The Company has a proven management team, with a wide network of contacts and affiliates, as well as established access to investment opportunities, enabling the Company to execute its strategy and capitalise on EOB-focused investment opportunities. In addition, the Company educates and assists companies that are looking to launch employee ownership schemes, advising them, amongst other things, on how to secure investment and achieve their objectives.

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation EU 596/2014 as it forms part of retained EU law (as defined in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018).
Newly-released research carried out by Oxford Economics shows the extent of BAE Systems' contribution to the UK economy, including creating highly skilled jobs, funding world-leading research and sustaining a vibrant national supply chain.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630843316/en/

A BAE Systems apprentice at one of the Company's Academies for Skills and Knowledge in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. (Photo: Business Wire)

BAE Systems is delivering some of the world's most advanced defence programmes, from Dreadnought submarines to next-generation combat air systems. This critical work relies on the skill, expertise and dedication of employees, contractors, trade unions and suppliers across the country.

Last year, BAE Systems' operations supported 132,000 full-time equivalent jobs nationwide, benefiting every region of the UK and the Company contributed 11 billion to GDP equivalent to 0.4% of the domestic economy.

Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems Chief Executive, said: "As one of the UK's largest employers, we recognise our responsibility to help deliver economic prosperity as well as national security. Our continued investment in skills, technology and the communities where we live and work supports thousands of jobs and is creating opportunities for people to play an important role in helping to keep our country and our allies safe."

Lord Johnson, Minister for Investment, said: "Our defence sector is driving growth, investment and jobs in every corner of the UK, helping to grow the economy and keeping us at the cutting edge of innovation.

"BAE Systems' contribution to this cannot be overstated, and this new research underlines just how vital they are to our world-leading defence industry."

James Cartlidge, Minister for Defence Procurement, said: "We cannot keep the nation safe without the extensive support of the UK Defence industry.

"Defence companies support jobs and provide important boosts to local economies across the country. BAE Systems is no exception, driving prosperity and putting skills-building at the heart of their work."

Data published in the 'BAE Systems' contribution to the UK economy' report shows that since 2020, the Company has grown its UK workforce by more than 10%. In 2022, BAE Systems directly employed almost 40,000 people, supported a further 49,000 jobs across the supply chain and thousands more in local communities.

Almost 40% of BAE Systems employees are based in the UK's most deprived areas, where long-term employment opportunities are crucial for local economies to grow. Last year, the Company spent 730 million with suppliers in these locations and provided mentorship and support for SMEs to help boost regional businesses.

Strong partnerships across industry, academia and SMEs are a vital part of BAE Systems' work and the Company spent 3.9 billion with around 6,000 suppliers in 2022, bringing investment and employment to every part of the UK from the Scottish Highlands to the Isle of Wight.

In addition, the Company has grown its university partnerships and invested 1.4 billion in research and development last year, both self-funded and on behalf of its customers, helping sustain the UK's valuable engineering and technology sectors.

Nearly three-quarters of BAE Systems' employees work in engineering-related roles. To maintain this pipeline of talent, the Company spent 180 million on education and skills last year, almost doubling its annual investment since the previous year.

As well as supporting educational outreach in its communities, this investment allows BAE Systems to provide lifelong development for its workforce and helps give its more than 4,300 apprentices and graduates the best start to their careers.

The Company was again named one of the UK's top apprenticeship employers in the Department for Education's latest rankings and is hiring a record 2,600 apprentices and graduates in the UK in 2023, a more than 40% increase on last year.

BAE Systems has operations around the world and is one of Britain's leading exporters. In 2022, the Company exported 3.7 billion of goods and services from the UK equivalent to almost 0.5% of all UK exports, making a significant contribution to global trade.

ENDS

To access the full report, visit baesystems.com/ukcontribution

For accompanying materials, visit https://baesys.resourcespace.com/?c=21107&k=5243027b10

Notes to Editors

BAE Systems commissioned Oxford Economics to carry out an analysis of the economic impact of its UK operations.

The modelling of the report is based on the economic footprint of BAE Systems in the UK in 2022, the latest year for which full economic data is available at the time of publication (June 2023).

About BAE Systems

We provide some of the world's most advanced, technology-led defence, aerospace and security solutions and employ a skilled workforce of some 93,100 people in more than 40 countries. Working with customers and local partners, we develop technology that helps to save lives, protect borders and people, strengthen nations, and keep critical information and infrastructure secure.

Issued by:

BAE Systems plc

Media hotline: +44 (0) 7801 717 739

www.baesystems.com

@BAESystemsplc

Ref: 082/2023

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630843316/en/

Contacts:

Luke Watkinson, BAE Systems

E: luke.watkinson@baesystems.com

M: +44 (0) 7471 148 396
JOHANNESBURG, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb today announced the promotion of Zelda Mostert, currently Chief Financial Officer South Africa, to the role of Country President.

In her new role, Mostert will be responsible for managing the performance, strategy and development of all Chubb's accident and health, consumer and digital business in South Africa. She will remain based at Chubb's Sandton office and will report to Mark Roberts, Division President, United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. The appointment is effective 1 July.

Mostert succeeds Gary Jack who is relocating to the UK to take up a new role as Regional Manager for Chubb's Midlands & South Region.

Prior to joining Chubb in 2013, Mostert held senior finance and treasury roles at businesses across a variety of sectors in South Africa.

Mark Roberts said: "Over the past decade, Zelda has been very closely involved in the development of our business in South Africa. This makes her perfectly placed to lead Chubb through our next phase of expansion in South Africa as we concentrate on growing our A&H, consumer and digital business there.

"I would also like to take this opportunity thank Gary for his exceptional leadership since 2015 and wish him every success in his new role with Chubb in the UK."

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs approximately 34,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com

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During MWC Shanghai 2023, Fibocom announces the launch of its 5G smart module SC151-GL empowered by the Qualcomm QCM4490 Processor. The global version of SC151-GL aims to provide a "one unit fits for world" solution for 5G AIoT markets, and enables the access of mobile smart terminals to the 5G service anywhere, anytime.

SHANGHAI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fibocom, a global leading provider of IoT (Internet of Things) wireless solutions and wireless communication modules, announces the availability of SC151-GL at MWC Shanghai 2023. Based on the Qualcomm QCM4490 Processor, Fibocom SC151-GL is the industry-first 5G smart module that supports mainstream frequency bands under 5G network architecture worldwide, which is crucial for customers that require global roaming on their devices to deploy the smart wireless solution faster, more efficient compared to the regional versions.

Fibocom SC151-GL provides a comprehensive smart wireless solution empowered by the Qualcomm QCM4490 Processor. Compliant with 3GPP Release 16, the module is capable of offering Gigabit 5G experience, in addition to the support of Wi-Fi 6/6E, allowing the connections of multiple end devices simultaneously as well as the high-capacity of data throughput, these features can significantly improve the uplink performance, especially for the latency-sensitive scenarios like warehouse management and manufacturing detection. In terms of network utilization, the SC151-GL is also backward compatible with 4G/3G bands in addition to the compatability of 5G SA/NSA and EN-DC. It is worth highlighting that the module delivers a power-efficient solution for end devices enabled by the added-value TWT (Target Wake Time).

The convergence of AI and IoT is inevitable in the fast-growing digital transformation, and 5G is the key accelerator to implement the migration in 5G AIoT era. Fibocom SC151-GL is a "one unit fits for world" smart wireless solution for customers from the industrial handheld, industrial tablet, point-of-sale devices, body-worn cameras, PoC (push to talk over cellular) industries to minimize the R&D cycle and reduce hardware investments in the early stage of global deployment. Equipped with a set of rich interfaces including MIPI/ USB/ UART/ SPI/ I2C, etc., the module is scalable to meet the demands of various AIoT applications, and the support from software is fully capable of future upgrades to Android 18.

"The booming market of 5G has driven more and more IoT devices to evolve from 4G to 5G, especially for the smart devices such as industrial handheld terminals or tablets that require seamless roaming to satisfy the processing speed of edge computing," said Eden Chen, General Manager of MC Product Management Center, Fibocom. "We are confident to say that the launch of SC151-GL, the industry-first 5G smart module that integrates the capability to support global frequency bands in one unit will help our customers to lead the 5G transformation and digitalization more efficiently."

About Fibocom

Fibocom is a leading global provider of wireless communication modules and solutions as well as the first wireless communication module provider listed on China A-shares stock market (stock code: 300638). Fibocom offers a one-stop solution for industry customers by integrating wireless communication modules, IoT solutions and cloud service. With over two decades of engagement in M2M and IoT communication technology and extensive expertise, we are capable of bringing reliable, convenient, secure and intelligent connectivity service to every industry, enriching smart life with a perfect wireless experience. Fibocom's product portfolio ranges from cellular modules (5G/4G/3G/2G/LPWA), automotive-grade modules, AI modules, android-smart modules, GNSS modules and antenna service. Together, we aim to empower digital transformation across industries such as ACPC (Always Connected PC), mobile broadband, smart retail, C-V2X, robotics, smart energy, IIoT, smart cities, smart agriculture, smart home, telemedicine, etc.

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Driven Auto Styling, a Philadelphia-based customization service that works with all makes and models of cars and trucks, has expanded its range of custom accessories and protective coatings, now offering new products launched in 2023. Driven Auto Styling has performed extensive testing in recent months to determine the most effective ceramic protective coatings for a number of applications. It has expanded its range of available products to ensure that each client receives the most efficient protection based on their unique circumstances.

More information about Driven Auto Styling in Philadelphia, custom ceramic coatings, and the newest range of enthusiast-tested products can be found at https://www.drivenautostyling.us.

Philadelphia's Driven Auto Styling Expands Custom Car Accessory & Coating Range

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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While the company has a preferred line of ceramic coating products for general applications, they also understand that every car is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to protective coatings. Following the expansion, clients can either request the product of their choice or have a Driven Auto Styling specialist determine the most effective product for their make, model, and climate.

The latest move allows the company to offer a wider range of protective choices, and to provide optimized protection to each vehicle, based on the circumstances it will be used in.

Driven Auto Styling has updated its standard recommendation to the SB3 Advanced Coating System for most clients, though this may vary in certain situations. After the ceramic coating is applied overtop of the vehicle's paint, it acts as an extra protective layer that prevents chemical stains, UV damage, water spots, and scratches.

Driven Auto Styling has also updated its range of custom car accessories, vinyl wraps, and airlift suspension options, to include the latest products launched in 2023. New clients are encouraged to visit their location to see a sampling of their work, or to discuss customization options for their vehicles.

More information about Driven Auto Styling, as well as a full list of their new products and services, can be found at https://www.drivenautostyling.us

Contact Info:

Name: George Polo

Email: george.polo@drivenautostyling.us

Organization: Driven Auto Styling

Address: 2500 Wilmot Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19137, United States

Website: https://www.drivenautostyling.us

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/171782
Vitra-XS is the newest member of the Ashling probe family and is a Debug Trace Probe for embedded development with support for multiple target architectures including Synopsys ARC Processor powered systems.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630688262/en/

Vitra-XS Debug Trace Probe (Graphic: Business Wire)

Vitra-XS works with the Synopsys ARC MetaWare Development Toolkitwhich is a complete development environment for embedded C/C++ development on ARC and includes an IDE, Compiler, Debugger and Analysis tools. Vitra-XSsupports all Synopsys ARC EM, EV, HS, NPX and VPX processors with the ARC Real-Time Trace (RTT) module (8-bit or dual 8-bit ports). Vitra-XSsupport in the MetaWare Development Toolkit will be available from the 2023.6 release onwards.

"Vitra-XS supports real-time trace which provides some key advantages when it comes to debugging and validating embedded systems. Using trace, developers can easily see how execution arrived at a certain point, via a back-trace or instruction history, and can answer questions like, 'How did I end up in this function?' and 'Why did my code crash?' Trace information can be captured non-intrusively meaning that the application's real-time performance is not affected and allows developers to profile their code to find out where time is actually being spent and to determine if performance related timing requirements are being met," said Hugh O'Keeffe, CEO of Ashling

Some key features of Vitra-XS include:

Unlimited trace capture and storage supported via high-speed, real-time streaming over SuperSpeed USB to host PC hard disk

USB to host PC hard disk On-board trace storage memory (up to 512MB), which may be configured as a circular buffer to allow continuous trace capture up to a defined event (e.g., a breakpoint)

Detects and automatically configures for the appropriate target voltage (from 1.2V to 3.3V)

Automatic trace clock and data skew adjustment ("AUTOLOCK") to ensure integrity of captured high-speed data. Vitra-XS automatically calibrates itself to the target's trace data port

automatically calibrates itself to the target's trace data port Parallel (up to 16-bits data and additional control) trace capture up to 400MHz

38-way Mictor target connector support

Optional Gigabit Ethernet interface and compact form factor

Software development schedules are often in the critical path in the design of embedded systems, so efficient tools for observing the behaviour of the software under test can dramatically affect time-to-market," said John Koeter, Senior Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for IP at Synopsys. "The combination of Synopsys ARC processors and Ashling's new Vitra-XS probe gives software developers the visibility they need to rapidly resolve real-time software problems, increasing productivity to achieve project deadlines

About Ashling

Ashling has been a leading provider of Embedded Development Tools Services since 1982 with design centres in Limerick Ireland and Kochi India and sales and support offices in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and America.

Visit www.ashling.com for more details and for more information on Ashling's Vitra-XS see here: https://www.ashling.com/ashling-arc/

All trademarks, logos and brand names are the property of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630688262/en/

Contacts:

info@ashling.com
Startup Giants Plc - Annual Financial Report

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, June 30

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF REGULATION (EU) NO. 596/2014 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF 16 APRIL 2014 ON MARKET ABUSE AS IT FORMS PART OF RETAINED EU LAW AS DEFINED IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 (THE "MARKET ABUSE REGULATION"). UPON PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, THE INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

STARTUP GIANTS PLC

("Startup Giants" or the "Company"; AQSE: SUG)

FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022

The directors of Startup Giants (the "Directors") present below the Company's audited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2022. Startup Giants is a UK-based start-up accelerator that invests in and mentors internet technology start-up businesses in the UK and internationally.

The financial information below is extracted from, but does not on its own constitute, the Company's statutory financial statements. These are contained in the Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2022, which are expected to be posted to shareholders imminently, and which will then be immediately available on the Company's website (startupgiants.com).

Financial Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2022

Startup Giants undertook consultancy work for and provided support services to early-stage entrepreneurs, generating revenue of 320,957 (2021: 623,839). The reduced revenue in comparison with 2021 reflects tightening economic conditions and in specific terms is mainly attributable to a lesser number of new fee-paying visa applicants joining the Company's portfolio on its standard business support programme. There was also a reduction in administrative expenses, which were largely composed of costs associated with the support provided to endorsee entrepreneurs, to 456,368 (2021: 579,368). The Company recorded an operating loss of 135,411 (2021: profit of 44,471) and a total comprehensive loss of 136,514 (2021: profit of 43,814) translating into a loss per share of 10.94 pence (2021: profit of 3.88 pence per share). At the end of the year, net assets stood at 556,134 (2021: 692,648); cash and cash-equivalents in hand stood at 712,389 (2021: 1,098,838).

Significant Features of Financial 2022

The focus of Startup Giants for the majority of 2022 remained on supporting founders already in the Company's portfolio to target their early stage investment rounds with private investors and funds within the Company's network, as well as the selection and support of global opportunities and talent from visa applicants seeking to bring their innovation to the United Kingdom, in order to further expand the Company's portfolio of founders.

During the second half of the year, the Company also ran trials of a partnership program with several startup mentoring organisations providing access to over 200 nurtured startups, and 20 independent venture capital syndicates, qualifying partner investment opportunities at pre-seed and seed stage, and facilitating demo day introductions to the venture capital syndicates for companies located in the UK, India, the USA, Canada, and the Middle East. The Company used feedback from these trials to build on and strengthen its engagement model with its founders with the launch of a pre-funding bootcamp, being made available to founders that are ready-to-raise to improve their level of preparedness before entering a roadshow with investors.

In that latter half of the year, the Company also initiated the development of an online platform to support their network of independent venture capital syndicates and will look to expand the number of partners going forwards on a region by region basis.

Current Trading and Post-Balance Sheet Events

Trading during the current financial year hitherto has been in line with the Directors' expectations at the beginning of the period. The Company has during the current year to date continued its core focus to expand its portfolio of founders with innovative concepts, where the Company receives either straight equity or a warrant on shares for longer-term asset appreciation, as well as building on initiatives previously put in place for diversifying regionally.

Outlook

Looking ahead, the momentum for technology companies requiring investment at the seed stage should continue, with demand for the Company's support model, which encompasses a delivery crew to support young start-ups with their technology and digital marketing strategies, showing signs of continuing to increase.

Jeb Buckler

Chairman & CEO

STARTUP GIANTS PLC STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022 2022 2021 Notes   Revenue 2 320,957 623,839 Gross profit 320,957 623,839 Administrative expenses (456,368) (579,368) Operating (loss)/profit 3 (135,411) 44,471 Investment revenues 6 242 - Finance costs 7 (1,345) (657) (Loss)/profit before taxation (136,514) 43,814 Income tax expense 8 - - (Loss)/profit and total (136,514) 43,814 comprehensive income for the year Earnings per share (in pence) 9 Basic (10.94) 3.88 Diluted (10.94) 3.88 Earnings per share from continuing operations (in pence) Basic (10.94) 3.88 Diluted (10.94) 3.88 The income statement has been prepared on the basis that all operations are continuing operations. STARTUP GIANTS PLC STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022 2022 2021 Notes   Non-current assets Goodwill 10 12,084 17,084 Property, plant and equipment 11 1,445 2,147 13,529 19,231 Current assets Trade and other receivables 12 31,859 97,122 Current tax recoverable 3,939 14,916 Cash and cash equivalents 712,389 1,098,838 748,187 1,210,876 Current liabilities Trade and other payables 15 182,219 498,969 Current tax liabilities 6,280 16,407 Borrowings 14 5,000 5,000 193,499 520,376 Net current assets 554,688 690,500 Non-current liabilities Borrowings 14 12,083 17,083 Net assets 556,134 692,648 Equity Called up share capital 16 152,405 152,405 Share premium account 17 960,102 960,102 Retained earnings (556,373) (419,859) Total equity 556,134 692,648 The financial statements were approved by the board of directors and authorised for issue on 28 June 2023 and are signed on its behalf by: J Buckler Director Company registration number 09690364

STARTUP GIANTS PLC STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022 Share Share Retained Total capital premium earnings account Notes     Balance at 1 January 2021 140,510 769,790 (463,673) 446,627 Year ended 31 December 2021: Profit and total comprehensive income for - - 43,814 43,814 the year Transactions with owners in their capacity as owners: Issue of share capital 16 11,895 190,312 - 202,207 Balance at 31 December 2021 152,405 960,102 (419,859) 692,648 Year ended 31 December 2022: Loss and total comprehensive income for - - (136,514) (136,514) the year Balance at 31 December 2022 152,405 960,102 (556,373) 556,134 STARTUP GIANTS PLC STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022 2022 2021 Notes   Cash flows from operating activities Cash (absorbed by)/generated from operations 21 (380,755) 238,528 Interest paid (1,345) (657) Income taxes refunded 850 408 Net cash (outflow)/inflow from operating activities (381,250) 238,279 Investing activities Purchase of property, plant and equipment (199) (2,573) Repayment of loans (242) (12,116) Interest received 242 - Net cash used in investing activities (199) (14,689) Financing activities Proceeds from issue of shares - 202,207 Repayment of bank loans (5,000) (2,917) Net cash (used in)/generated from financing (5,000) 199,290 activities Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash (386,449) 422,880 equivalents Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 1,098,838 675,958 Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 712,389 1,098,838

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

Enquiries:

Startup Giants plc

Jeb Buckler, Chairman & CEO

jeb@startupgiants.com

+44 (0)7477 949933

Keith Bayley Rogers & Co. Limited

Brinsley Holman

brinsley.holman@kbrl.co.uk

+44 (0)7776 302228
SHERIDAN, WY / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Buyer Group International, Inc. (OTC PINK:BYRG) is excited to announce the documentation of the historic Joker Mine, Crew Cabins, and Shafthouse. All of these structures were found within Buyer Group's recently completed target expansion (see 2/9/2023 Company Update) aiming at junior claim rights and extralateral underground rights to possibly 5000 feet of existing tunnel complex. Extralateral rights, which are sometimes referred to as the apex rule or the intraliminal rights, are not often used, as most exploration companies don't know how to legally file for them. This means that if we can access any of the old subsurface tunnels because they run under any of our new claims, we will own the mineral rights far beyond our claim boundaries because they are all part of the same vein structure. This finding was made possible by the continuous sample program that has been and will continue to be carried out by Hard Rock Consulting, LLC, and our Head of Exploration, Steven Cyros, across the entirety of the 1700-acre project.

*image from library of congress 1968 - Building/structure dates: 1905 Initial Construction

The Joker is located at an elevation of 9,620 feet. 0.7 miles south of the New Rambler. It takes roughly a third of a mile of hiking through the forest. Historically, the location has been associated with Centennial Ridge. The Joker Mine, which is believed to have been a gold and copper producer, is predominantly noteworthy for the vernacular log architecture of its shaft house and headframe. Although the site is threatened with eventual collapse due to natural deterioration and degradation, it currently provides valuable insights into early 20th-century mining structures and ore extraction techniques in the Douglas Creek Mining District of southern Wyoming. The site's remote location has allowed it to largely avoid the disturbances caused by theft and vandalism at other, more accessible mine sites in the district and elsewhere. Due to its secluded location, the site retains outstanding setting integrity, evoking a strong sense of emotion and association with its period of historical significance. No additional documentation exists to corroborate whether or not the Joker Mine was successful, let alone which minerals were actually extracted. It is conceivable that the Joker transported its ore 0.7 miles north to the Rambler for processing, as the Rambler had installed a matte smelter in 1906 and a concentrating plant in 1910 to treat low-grade ores. However, no documentation was discovered to corroborate such an agreement between the two mines. If the Joker had in fact secured a processing agreement with the Rambler, the 1918 fire that destroyed the latter mine's buildings and facilities could have similarly terminated the Joker's chances of economically processing its ore.

Buyer Group's chief executive officer, Dave Bryant, commented on the Joker Mine research, saying, "This is a major find that could save us years in time and significant exploration costs."With extensive infrastructure documented in history, including a total prospecting and mining development on 73 acres consisting of 4 discovery shafts (up to 135 ft deep), 16 additional shafts, one drift, and seven trenches, we suspect our recent expansion intersects much of this previous development work, both on the surface and underground. Follow and visit our social media pages (listed below) for the most recent photographs and video footage from this historic find!

Below are historical references to the Joker Mine, as well as an up-to-date map of the Buyer Group's holdings that indicates the location of this historic mine.

Historical References :

https://loc.getarchive.net/media/joker-mine-medicine-bow-national-forest-32-miles-northwest-of-keyston-keystone https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/wy0175/ https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/wy/wy0100/wy0175/data/wy0175data.pdf

About Buyer Group International, Inc.

Buyer Group International, Inc. is targeting exploration at its flagship mining project Shambhala in Albany County, Wyoming. The Shambhala Project consists of 84 lode claims, 2.71 square miles in the historic New Rambler District. The district is located near the south edge of the Cheyenne Belt, a noted Greenstone Belt of the Medicine Bow mountains, which contains various concentrations of rare minerals.

To learn more about Buyer Group International, Inc. also visit:

Corporate Website: https://frontierplatinumgroup.com/

Corporate Twitter: https://twitter.com/buyergroupinc

Corporate Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/byrg/

Corporate Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buyergroupinternationalinc/

Corporate Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091509813233

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements relate to future events, including our ability to raise capital, or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause materially different results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, please see our filings with the OTC Markets Group Inc. Our public filings with the OTC Markets Group Inc are available from commercial document retrieval services and at the website maintained by the OTC Markets at https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/BYRG/disclosure

CONTACT:

Buyer Group International, Inc.

Phone: 214-810-1317

Email: byrg.group@gmail.com

SOURCE: Buyer Group International, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/764833/Buyer-Group-International-Inc-Announces-the-Research-and-Documentation-of-a-Historic-Mine-Within-its-Recently-Targeted-Expansion
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - TEAKO MINERALS CORP. (CSE: TMIN) (the "Company" or "Teako") is pleased to announce that it has strengthened The Service Alliance (see news release dated May 1, 2023) with thirteen (13) new likeminded members. The Service Alliance is a key strategy to increase the chances of success by leveraging the strengths of other exploration, technology, communication, exploration service and finance companies and creating an environment of shared knowledge and resources. The Service Alliance now boasts eighteen (18) exploration companies; three (3) technology companies; four (4) communication service companies; two (2) financing companies; and two (2) exploration service companies (collectively, the "Service Alliance Members").

The key aims of The Service Alliance are:

To maximize collaboration with other exploration, finance, technology, communication, and exploration service companies and to increase innovation within the mining sector; and

To share technical skills amongst Service Alliance Members.

About The Service Alliance:

The Service Alliance is a strategic business initiative that leverages the benefits of collaboration with other like-minded exploration companies and industries. Service Alliance Members will seek potential synergies with respect to marketing and procurement and facilitate the sharing of best practices. The Service Alliance will provide an opportunity to review and test new applications between exploration companies and technology focused members.

Figure 1: About The Service Alliance (read more here)



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8258/171971_ee30e03c54abaa74_001full.jpg

The new members:

Company HQ Industry Exchange Ticker Symbol Website Aeonian Resources Ltd. CA Exploration N/A N/A https://aeonianresources.com/ Alianza Minerals Ltd. CA Exploration TSX-V ANZ https://alianzaminerals.com/ Below BC CA Communication Services N/A N/A https://bbcga.com/ Decoors Mining Corp. CA Exploration Services N/A N/A https://www.decoors.com/ SGDS HIVE CA Exploration Services N/A N/A http://sgds-h ive.com/ Kestrel Gold Inc. CA Exploration TSX-V KGC https://www.kestrelgold.com/ Kuniko Limited NO Exploration ASX KNI https://kuniko.eu/ Molten Metals Corp. CA Exploration CSE MOLT https://www.moltenmetalscorp.com/ Mining Catalyst CA Communication Services N/A N/A https://miningcatalyst.com/ Pacific Bay Minerals Ltd. CA Exploration TSX-V PBM https://www.pacificbayminerals.com/ Rare Earth Ridge Resources Corp. CA Exploration N/A N/A https://rareearthridgeresources.com/ The Critical Investor NL Communication Services N/A N/A https://criticalinvestor.eu/ / www.miningassets.online VRIFY CA Communication Services N/A N/A https://vrify.com/

Figure 2: The new Service Alliance Members illustrated



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8258/171971_ee30e03c54abaa74_002full.jpg

Sven Gollan, CEO of Teako Minerals Corp., comments, "I am thrilled to extend a warm welcome to the thirteen new members who have joined The Service Alliance. Their decision to join our mission is a testament to the collective vision we share for advancing exploration, technology, communication, and exploration services within the mining industry. By coming together, we strengthen our collaborative efforts and increase the potential for innovative breakthroughs. I want to express my gratitude to each member for their commitment to shared knowledge, resources, and technical expertise. Together, we are building a powerful network that fosters collaboration, promotes best practices, and unlocks new opportunities for growth and success."

About Teako Minerals Corp.:

Teako Minerals Corp., is a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company committed to the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Canada and globally. The adoption of advanced technologies such as the SCS Exploration Product aligns with its strategy to remain at the forefront of the rapidly evolving mining industry.

ON BEHALF OF TEAKO MINERALS CORP.

"Sven Gollan"

CEO

T: +43 5522 500429

Email: sven.gollan@teakominerals.com

Forward-Looking Information:

This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of Teako. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of Teako. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "will," "may," "would," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "could" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this press release include that (a) Service Alliance Members will seek potential synergies with respect to marketing and procurement and facilitate the sharing of best practices, (b) the Service Alliance will provide an opportunity to review and test new applications between exploration companies and technology focused members, and (c) by coming together, we strengthen our collaborative efforts and increase the potential for innovative breakthroughs. Although Teako 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 Teako can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.

Not for dissemination in the United States or through U.S. newswires

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/171971
Divested assets to include Xiidra  , on-market treatment for dry eye disease and SAF312 (libvatrep), potential therapy for chronic ocular surface pain





, on-market treatment for dry eye disease and SAF312 (libvatrep), potential therapy for chronic ocular surface pain Deal consistent with Novartis focused strategy of prioritized therapeutic areas





Closing anticipated 2H 2023, subject to customary conditions

Basel, June 30, 2023 - Novartis announced today that it has signed an agreement to divest 'front of eye' ophthalmology assets to Bausch + Lomb, a global eye health company, in a transaction valued up to USD 2.5 billion, including USD 1.75 billion in upfront cash, plus additional milestone payments. The deal includes Xiidra, the first approved prescription treatment for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease, and investigational medicine SAF312 (libvatrep), in development as a first-in-class therapy for chronic ocular surface pain (COSP), as well as the rights for use of the AcuStream delivery device in dry eye indications and OJL332, a second generation TRPV1 antagonist in pre-clinical development.

"This transaction will enhance our focus on prioritized innovative medicines to alleviate society's greatest disease burdens, achieve the greatest patient impact and drive our growth strategy.", said Ronny Gal, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer of Novartis. "Our ongoing portfolio refinement enables us to best deploy our scientific expertise and resources towards priority programs and therapeutic areas, while remaining open to opportunistic development for additional high impact conditions leveraging our advanced technology platforms. We believe that Bausch + Lomb has the capabilities, scale and commitment to continue the work of Novartis in delivering and developing much needed therapies for patients suffering from dry eye and related conditions."

Under the terms of the agreement, Novartis will receive milestone payments up to USD 750 million linked to anticipated future sales for Xiidra, SAF312 (libvatrep) and OJL332. Novartis will continue to supply Xiidra to patients on behalf of Bausch + Lomb, via transitional agreements for a limited period post-close, to ensure consistent supply for patients.

Closing is anticipated in the second half of 2023 subject to customary conditions.

Novartis will continue its R&D efforts in addressing retinal diseases via platforms including gene therapy and optogenetics.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as "potential," "can," "will," "plan," "may," "could," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "investigational," "strategy," "to include," "development," "focus," "ongoing," "confident," "commitment," "continue," "ensure,"or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labeling for Xiidra or the investigational products described in this press release, regarding our divestiture of 'front of eye' ophthalmology assets, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the transaction described in this press release will be completed in the expected time frame, or at all. Neither is there any guarantee that the expected benefits from such transaction will be achieved in the expected timeframe, or at all. Nor can there be any guarantee that Xiidra or the investigational products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Neither can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding the transaction described in this press release or Xiidra or the investigational products described in this press release could be affected by, among other things, the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures and requirements for increased pricing transparency; our ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; general political, economic and business conditions, including the effects of and efforts to mitigate pandemic diseases such as COVID-19; safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis

Novartis is reimagining medicine to improve and extend people's lives. We deliver high-value medicines that alleviate society's greatest disease burdens through technology leadership in R&D and novel access approaches. In our quest to find new medicines, we consistently rank among the world's top companies investing in research and development. About 103,000 people of more than 140 nationalities work together to bring Novartis products to nearly 800 million people around the world. Find out more at https://www.novartis.com (https://www.novartis.com)

Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at https://twitter.com/novartisnews (https://twitter.com/novartisnews)

For Novartis multimedia content, please visit http://www.novartis.com/news/media-library (http://www.novartis.com/news/media-library)

For questions about the site or required registration, please contact media.relations@novartis.com (mailto:media.relations@novartis.com)

# # #


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The US Supreme Court has ruled that admission of students in colleges and universities based on race is unconstitutional.



The Supreme Court delivered the significant ruling in two cases filed against the use of race in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.



In the landmark Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case, the top court ruled that race-conscious college admissions processes will be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.



In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: 'Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin.'



Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented with the verdict.



Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, said the decision 'rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.'



President Joe Biden strongly disagreed with the decision.



'The Court has effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions. And I strongly disagree with the Court's decision'.



'Many people wrongly believe that affirmative action allows unqualified students to be admitted ahead of qualified students. This is not how college admissions work,' he told reporters.



Biden said he wants to offer some guidance to the nation's colleges as they review their admissions systems after the Supreme Court decision. 'They should not abandon their commitment to ensure student bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of America'.



Edward Blum, the founder and president of Students for Fair Admissions, said, 'The opinion issued today by the United States Supreme Court marks the beginning of the restoration of the colorblind legal covenant that binds together our multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation'.



Students for Fair Admissions is a conservative activist group representing Asian American students in the lawsuit against Harvard University.



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Mega-Chance Cyber Security Die KI-Revolution ist in vollem Gange und vor allem ein Bereich wird stark betroffen sein: Cyber-Security. Die Experten sind sich sicher: Mit steigender Entwicklung von KI-Technologien nehmen auch KI-gestutzte Cyber-Attacken zu. Wir zeigen hier, welche Aktien profitieren konnen. Hier klicken
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Sensor Technologies Corp. (CSE: SENS) (the "Company" or "Sensor") is pleased to announce that, further to its press release of June 8, 2023, the Company, has submitted its Form 2A - Listing Statement, along with the various supporting documentation, with the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Listing Statement was submitted in connection with the Company's proposed change of business from a technology issuer to an investment issuer.

In connection with the proposed change of business, the following are the new directors and officers of the Company

(i) Philip Wong, Director and Chief Executive Officer - Mr. Wong is currently the principal of Precious International Investment Management ("PIIM"), a private Hong Kong company that provides financing for companies, both in Hong Kong and internationally. Mr. Wong has also served as Vice President, China Canton Exchange Group, Guangzhou and Chief Executive Officer of GuangDong K-Banker Group, Guangzhou. In addition to PIIM, Mr. Wong has partnership interests in GuoHong PE Investment Fund Management Co. Ltd., China, Oneday Assets Management Co. Ltd., Hong Kong, EBullion, Inc. (EBML), USA and Guangdong HengHao Private Securities Investment Fund Management Co., China. Mr. Wong holds a BBA from City University of Hong Kong (2014) and an MBA, University of Bradford, London (2020).

(ii) Maria Diaz, Director - Ms. Diaz is a member of the Canadian Bar Association and the Law Society of Upper Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from the University of Western, Ontario. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts (Honors) Degree with a Specialist in Philosophy and a major in Political Science from the University of Toronto. In 2003, Ms Diaz founded the law firm Diaz Law, Barristers and Solicitors. The firm's main areas of practice are Corporate/Commercial Law (including tax and litigation).

(iii) Alex MacKay, Director - Mr. MacKay is a veteran of the capital markets, having worked on Bay Street in multiple capacities. He has worked at various securities brokerages as investment adviser, options supervisor and branch manager as well as being chief executive officer and other positions for public companies. His utmost concern is being aligned, building value for shareholders and providing rigorous governance. Currently, Mr. MacKay is a consultant assisting companies going public, raising funds and executing on their business plans.

(iv) Jay Vieira, Director - Mr. Vieira is a lawyer specializing in securities and corporate law. Mr. Vieira's practice focuses on financings, mergers and acquisitions and going public transactions. Mr. Vieira represents several mid-market public companies and assists companies in listing on the TSX, the TSX Venture Exchange and the Canadian Securities Exchange.

(v) Leo Choi, Chief Financial Officer - Mr. Choi has a CPA and CFA designation, he is a highly experienced Chief Financial Officer with over 15 years of experience in financial management, strategic planning, and leadership. Mr. Choi has a proven track record of driving financial growth and operational efficiency in a variety of industries.

In addition, the Company is also pleased to announce that it intends to raise gross proceeds of up to $500,000 through a non-brokered private placement of up to 25,000,000 common shares of the Corporation at a price of $0.02 per share.

The securities being issued in the private placement will be subject to a four-month hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. The Corporation intends to use the net proceeds for general working capital.

Corporation contact:

Jay Vieira, President, CEO

email: jay@fox-tek.com

The CSE 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/171960
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / VMware



A group of professional coworkers hold rainbow flags in the office celebrating gender equality.

Every year, June marks Pride Month, a time dedicated to celebrating and uplifting the LGBTQIA+ community. The theme for 2023, 'Strength in Solidarity', highlights the community's cultural significance while also highlighting each individual's uniqueness and how we can wield tremendous power when we unite with others for a good cause.

As Pierric Chabat, Marketing Manager at VMware, highlights, Pride Month not only gives us an opportunity to celebrate Pride, but also reflect on the trials and tribulations that members of the LGBTQIA+ community have had to endure in the past as well as the progress that's been made in recent years. "It's important to keep celebrating Pride Month to recognize all the efforts and fights people had to put on just so we can exist in the public space without fear of repercussions," he shares.

Anca Titu, Manager, Deal Management Team and Pride@VMware Ireland co-chair at VMWare, notes that Pride Month is also a great opportunity for allies to get involved. "Being present and showing support is a perfect start to supporting the LGBTQ+ community and a first step in becoming an ally," she says.

"Being an ally is an easy but important thing to do," agrees James Hogan, Senior Director, NEMEA End-User Computing. "Don't be afraid of asking the wrong question either. Genuine interest and questions that come from a good place, are part of how we all learn and support each other."

Read on to hear more from Pierric, Anca and James on what Pride means to them, the importance of allyship and why they believe that technology companies such as VMware are well-placed to help promote equality.

Q: What does 'Pride' mean to you? Why do you think it's important for us to celebrate Pride Month?

Pierric: To me, Pride means that we can unconditionally be ourselves, embrace and honor who we are, and bring visibility to the different members of our community. For a long time, we were not allowed to do so, and sadly it is still the case in many parts of the world to this day.

I have the privilege to live in a place where I feel little to no discrimination in my day-to-day life, but this should not be perceived as a privilege but a basic human right.

Anca: For me "Pride" stands for solidarity, safety, equality and affirmation. Solidarity is hugely important, because as humans, we feel the need to be connected and accepted by those around us. And while it may not seem like much at first, standing by each other and showing support can make a world of difference.

Safety and equality are basic human rights, but unfortunately for many LGBTQ+ people this is still not a reality, and we must do what we can to ensure this does not stay a dream. As for affirmation, I believe that is one of the reasons Pride Month is so significant to the LGBTQ+ community as it gives its members and allies the chance to do just that.

James: Pride for me means the ability for everyone to be themselves without judgement and to be included. I believe that we have come so far as a society but that is only my view as a straight privileged male. Celebrating Pride should be every day and I love that we have a Pride month to really celebrate everything that makes us unique and to remind everyone on the journey ahead.

Q: How can employees support the LGBTQIA+ community and become an ally? Are there any specific activities or event that employees can participate in to show their support for the LGBTQIA+ community?

Anca: Being present and showing support is a perfect start to supporting the LGBTQ+ community and a first step in becoming an ally. The VMware Pride Month events are also a great opportunity, with everything from trainings, speaker series and fun events.

The PRIDE@VMware POD is also always looking to expand the circle. We have many ways for folks to get involved, stay up to date with events and service-learning opportunities or even join the POD and become an active member. As this year's theme says, there is Strength in Solidarity.

James: I always consider whether we are seen as a company where people can "bring their whole self to work". I believe we have made strides, but we must keep challenging ourselves. Only by standing in someone else's shoes can we feel some of what needs to be achieved. This is why being an ally is so critical.

Pierric: Document yourself and do your research. Everyone has different experiences and boundaries, don't assume, but ask questions instead. Using someone's correct pronouns, or not assuming the gender of someone's partner, may not sound like much but it can make a big difference to someone.

If you have the capacity, donate money or your time to charities and organizations that support the LGBTQIA+ community and rights. If you witness harassment, or even someone making an uncomfortable joke or unsolicited comment, be vocal about it. We should not let discrimination slide.

Q: What role can technology companies such as VMware play in helping advance LGBTQIA+ rights and inclusivity on a broader scale?

Pierric: Companies such as VMware can influence and prescribe the right behavior that other companies or organization should adopt.

Going beyond the current legislature and offering the same protection, rights, and benefits that all the other employees can deserve. Some places don't mandate companies to offer the same right and benefits as our straight counterparts, such as parental leaves, family planning assistance, healthcare, etc.

Corporations should provide a safe space, allowing everyone to bring their authentic self to the office.

Anca: Companies such as VMware can play a great role when it comes to supporting LGBTQIA+ community, as well as all the other minorities. First of all, effective goals and key objectives centered around diversity, equity and inclusion can help ensure an inclusive and safe culture, where everyone can bring their true self - this has fantastic benefits for both employees and the company overall.

Secondly, a few examples from VMware would be the Mental Health resources and Take-a-Break days available, the efforts to promote self-ID (voluntary self-identification), legislation that support the LGBTQIA+ community in various parts of the globe, as well as internal policies that grant equality and support to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Q: What advice would you give to LGBTQIA+ individuals who are aspiring to pursue a career in the technology industry? Are there any resources or communities that you would recommend helping them navigate throughout their journey?

Anca: I would encourage anyone looking to pursue a career in the tech industry to take leap as it can a hugely rewarding career, especially in a company that values diversity, equity and inclusion the way the VMware community does. In terms of resources, there are annual reports that rank DE&I efforts in global companies, and they are a great indicator of the culture of those companies. Also, dedicated communities such as myGwork, with whom VMware has partnered in recent years, are a great way for members of the LGBTQIA+ community to connect in the professional space.

Pierric: The technology industry is probably one of the most inclusive industries I have had the chance to work in. We still have a long way to go to achieve global equality, but I feel that the IT field is rapidly becoming more diverse and inclusive. I have always felt comfortable about who I am in the office, and open with my colleagues to the fact that I'm part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

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Igraine Plc - Final Results

PR Newswire

London, June 30

30 June 2023

Igraine Plc

AQSE: KING

("Igraine" or "the Company")

Audited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2022

The full audited annual report can be found on the Company's website https://igraineplc.com.

REVIEW OF BUSINESS

The Directors have been successful in their efforts to minimise the operating costs of the Company, whilst investments mature.

In July 2022 Sir Professor Christopher Evans, Martin Walton, Burns Singh Tennent-Bhohi and Richard Walker all stepped down as Directors of the Company. The Company appreciates all the efforts of the directors who stepped down, especially Burns Singh Tennent-Bhohi who restructured the company in April 2021 and led the recapitalisation of the company in June 2021.

The Company maintains a truly exceptional working relationship with Sir Professor Christopher Evans and Martin Walton. Despite their transition from the board of directors, our partnership remains strong and continues to flourish. Their extensive experience, valuable guidance, and unwavering dedication have made an indelible impact on the Company. We are grateful for their ongoing support.

INVESTEE COMPANY UPDATES

Excalibur Medicines Limited

Excalibur Medicines Limited ("EML") a subsidiary of Excalibur Healthcare Services Ltd. EML has secured exclusive rights to and owns the patents on a drug, AZD1656, which is being developed as a potential therapeutic for diabetics.

Igraine maintains a 2% equity interest in EML and has the rights to co-invest in all healthcare and life-science investment opportunities sourced or invested into by Excalibur Healthcare Services.

In August 2022, EML announced the publication in Lancet eClinicalMedicine of the Phase 2 clinical trial, ARCADIA, which investigated AZD1656 for people with diabetes hospitalised with COVID19.

Patients in the AZD1656 arm were observed to have lower mortality; additionally, AZD1656 was shown to have immunomodulatory capability, as predicted. The paper also details our sub-group analysis of patients considered to be at higher risk of worse COVID-19 outcomes, either with elevated IL-6 or those with low Vitamin D status.

The EML management team have continued to work on their own and through their network including with the clinical charity, St George Street (SGS) in seeking commercial opportunities or interest in taking the development of asset AZD1656 following the phase II clinical trial. EML has also begun to pursue additional potential opportunities where the asset could be tested in other non-respiratory indications. The mechanism of action of AZD 1656 was well observed during the trial and its anti-inflammatory effects and T-Reg mobilisation to the point of disease suggests that it could be effective in other areas or organs such as the heart.

As summarised in the paper: "the evidence presented here suggests that specific activation of T-regs might suppress the inappropriate

inflammation which is the prime cause of tissue damage in autoimmune disease."

Oscillate Plc

During the year the Company purchased 21,475,000 shares in Oscillate Plc, representing approximately 10.2% of Oscillate's issued share capital. Oscillate Plc is an investment issuer listed on the AQSE Growth Market Exchange seeking investment in the medical cannabis sector, special situations and investments in the medical psychedelic industry. In June 2022, the Oscillate invested a further 350,000 in Psych Capital and Psych Capital listed on the AQSE Exchange, at a significantly increased value per share to the initial total investment, resulting in a profit before tax for the Company of 572,366. As at year end Oscillate Plc's cash position was 1,230,961.

Legacy Investment

Following the considerable work associated with the restructure of Igraine, the Board completed an evaluation of the investment interests acquired prior to April 2021, including holding meetings with certain board members of the investees. Upon completing this review, the Board of Directors have deemed them in majority as non-core to the Company in both present material value and in contrast the Company's revised investment strategy.

During the Financial Year, The Company exited its position in Just Bee Honey Limited ("Just Bee"). Just Bee is a private retail business selling high quality honey products that have a positive impact on bees. The Company sold 1,840,000 shares (9.14%) in Just Bee Ltd for a total consideration of 26,680.00.

To the year ending 31 December 2021, the Board of Directors wrote off the value of the loan receivable by a legacy investee, ASSIF Limited ("ASSIF"), whilst the Board remain in contact with this investee the Board were unsatisfied when assessing the realistic recoverability of monies lent to this investee further compounded by ASSIF making no attempt to repay all sums owing to date.

POST-YEAR END REVIEW

The Company continues to monitor the development of its maiden investment with Excalibur under the Co-Investment Agreement. Results to date have been positive as the Excalibur team progress commercialisation discussions with the preference being that of a trade sale.

In February 2023, the Company invested 100,000 into Fixit Medical Ltd ("Fixit"). Fixit, a research and experimental development company focused on social sciences and humanities, is the sole owner, designer and developer of Cingo ("Cingo"), the next drainage catheter fixation device.

Cingo features best in class catheter fixation through a pull-force dissipating design and an estimated two-week wear time. Cingo also boasts a revolutionary design that protects catheters from twisting and kinking, providing easy access to the catheter exit site for improved visibility and cleaning, and includes a breakthrough integral shower-safe feature. Fixit CEO and Inventor of Cingo, Dr. Robert Ward, MB BS FRCS FRCR, is a specialist in vascular and interventional radiology and has developed the most advanced and patient-centric drainage catheter fixation device available today. Igraine hold 434 ordinary shares in Fixit representing 20 per cent of Fixit's share capital.

Executive Director, Steve Winfield, owns approximately 46% of Larvotto Group Limited. Larvotto Group Limited itself will have a resulting holding of approximately 34% of Fixit and acts as an unpaid operational partner and investor of Fixit Medical Ltd.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:

Mr S Grant-Rennick

Director

DIVIDENDS

The Directors do not propose a dividend in respect of the year ended 31 December 2022 (2021: nil).

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

Igraine plc Simon Grant-Rennick Tel: 020 7887 1401 Peterhouse Capital Ltd (AQSE Corporate Adviser) Tel: 020 7469 0930 Guy Miller Tel: 020 7220 9795 Brefo Gyasi

Statement of Profit or Loss

fortheyearended31December2022 2022

 2021

 CONTINUINGOPERATIONS Other operating income - 19,824 Loss on revaluation of investments (107,375) (12,798) Administrative expenses (241,315) (407,615)

OPERATINGLOSS

(348,690)

(400,589)

Impairment of loans and trade receivables - (93,405) Interest Income 3,329 -

LOSSBEFOREINCOMETAX

(345,361)

(493,994) Income tax - -

LOSSFORTHEYEAR

(345,361)

(493,994)



Earnings per share expressed in pence per share:



Basic -0.004 -0.01 Diluted -0.003 -0.008

Statement of Profit or Loss and Other Comprehensive Income

for the year ended 31 December 2022 2022

 2021

 LOSSFORTHEYEAR (345,361) (493,994) Other comprehensive income - - TOTALCOMPREHENSIVEINCOMEFORTHEYEAR (345,361) (493,994)

Statement of Financial Position

As at 31 December 2022 2022

 2021

 ASSETS NON-CURRENTASSETS Property, plant and equipment - - Investments 761,063 615,113

761,063

615,113

CURRENTASSETS Trade and other receivables 134,637 154,067 Investments - 7,205 Cash and cash equivalents 388,412 904,129

523,049

1,065,401

TOTALASSETS

1,284,112

1,680,514

EQUITY SHAREHOLDERS'EQUITY Called up share capital 588,786 588,786 Share premium 1,946,995 1,946,995 Other reserves 46,116 46,116 Retained earnings (1,518,066) (1,172,705)

TOTALEQUITY

1,063,831

1,409,192

LIABILITIES NON-CURRENTLIABILITIES Financial liabilities - borrowings Interest bearing loans and borrowings 29,922 38,464

CURRENTLIABILITIES Interest bearing loans and borrowings 9,768 10,649 Trade and other payables 180,591 222,209

TOTALLIABILITIES

220,281

271,322

TOTALEQUITYANDLIABILITIES

1,284,112

1,680,514

Statement of Changes in Equity

for the year ended 31 December 2022 Calledupsharecapital Sharepremium Other

reserves Retainedearnings Totalequity      Balance at 1 January 2021 554,616 26,818 - (678,711) (97,277) Changesin equity Deficit for the year - - - (493,994) (493,994) Warrant and Option charge - - 46,116 - 46,116

Total comprehensive income

-

-

46,116

(493,994)

(447,878) Transaction cost - (178,153) - - (178,153) Issue of share capital 34,170 2,098,330 - - 2,132,500

Balanceat 31 December 2021

588,786

1,946,995

46,116

(1,172,705)

1,409,192

Changesin equity Deficit for the year - - - (345,361) (345,361)

Balanceat 31 December 2022

588,786

1,946,995

46,116

(1,518,066)

1,063,831
MightyFly to Make a Public Debut of Its Autonomous eVTOL Cargo Aircraft Performing Delivery Flight Demonstrations in Michigan in 2024

SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / MightyFly was awarded a $150,000 grant from the Michigan Mobility Funding Platform (MMFP), on May 30, 2023, to perform autonomous cargo delivery flight demonstrations in the state of Michigan. This is expected to be the first public demonstration of an autonomous, fixed-wing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft showcasing 100 pounds of cargo deliveries.





Cento: MightyFly Autonomous Cargo Aircraft

Cento performing autonomous flight in March 2023 in Byron, CA.

During these demonstration flights, conducted with the support of the Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (OFME), MightyFly will showcase the capabilities of its third-generation autonomous cargo aircraft with 100 pounds of cargo capacity, capable of carrying up to 212 small USPS packages. MightyFly's express delivery solutions will bring new logistics opportunities to businesses and set a precedent in the world's aviation and logistics industries.

The logistics needs of Michigan's manufacturing, automotive, logistics, retail, chemical and pharmaceutical industries offer the ideal scenario for MightyFly to demonstrate a new way to ship products, parts and various goods. These Michigan businesses need express logistics, with fast, efficient and affordable same-day shipping services. MightyFly's one-shot business-to-business (B2B) delivery services will provide cost savings for just-in-time manufacturing lines, timely deliveries of crucial shipments for medical treatments, and quick replacements of fast-moving consumer goods to retailers, among many other benefits.

The MMFP grant program is managed by the OFME and is part of a statewide strategy to ensure Michigan remains the global leader in the future of mobility. The program was launched by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to catalyze and scale new mobility solutions. The OFME has previously partnered with the Michigan Unmanned Aerial Systems Consortium (MUASC) to facilitate testing of autonomous aircraft in Michigan. The OFME works across state government, regulators and private industry to build a robust ecosystem of partners capable of leading the adoption and use of transformative mobility solutions like that of MightyFly.

"We know the future of mobility is more than just vehicles - it is on air, land and sea," said Charlie Tyson, Technology Activation Manager, OFME. "Michigan is uniquely positioned to support testing, development, and deployment of new technologies that will lead to more affordable, accessible transportation solutions and we are excited to support MightyFly through the MMFP program and their continued efforts to grow in Michigan."

"We are excited to be the first large, autonomous, fixed-wing eVTOL cargo delivery company to demonstrate how autonomous aerial expedited logistics solutions will better serve Michiganders," said Manal Habib, CEO of MightyFly. "This demonstration will be the first stepping stone for the efficient flow of goods across the world, making it possible for everyone to access reliable and affordable same-day deliveries. We will be making history!"

In addition to this project, MightyFly is currently scoping and planning proof-of-concept (POCs) trials with partners throughout 2024 and 2025.

More About MightyFly's Test Flights and Certification Progress:

MightyFly previously performed autonomous test flights of its first- and second-generation aircraft and completed over 100 autonomous hover flights. Both autonomous cargo aircraft received the Special Airworthiness Certificate (SAC) from the FAA. MightyFly also received the FAA's Certificate of Authorization (COA) for long-range flights, with 230 square miles of airspace for flight testing. The third-generation aircraft is scheduled to undertake extensive testing in California before the flight demonstrations in 2024 in Michigan.

Contact Information:

Fernanda Sausen

Senior Director of Business Development

media@mightyfly.com

SOURCE: MightyFly

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/764874/MightyFly-Wins-Michigan-Mobility-Grant-to-Perform-First-of-Its-Kind-Autonomous-Fixed-Wing-eVTOL-Delivery-Flight-Demonstrations
Originally published on TriplePundit

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / The racial wealth gap isn't closing as it should be. After years of modest gains, it began to widen again in the 1980s and continued at a rate of .01 percent per year through 2020. While the cause is systemic, there is plenty that can be done to rectify the imbalance. Corporations, and financial institutions in particular, have both the ability and the responsibility to work toward closing this gap.

"We still have a gap in the ways individuals build their net-worth to ultimately create wealth and how that is then transferred to their children and grandchildren," Kamilah Williams-Kemp, vice president, risk products at Northwestern Mutual, told TriplePundit. "But the financial planning industry is making some real strides in shifting the mindset and the conversations that we're having about wealth-building."

From investing in communities of color and ensuring programs and processes are equitable for clients and employees alike, companies like leading financial services company Northwestern Mutual are working to drive this sustainable change.

Williams-Kemp, who has spent 20 years in the financial sector, said she has a much deeper sense of optimism than she did a decade ago. By and large, she sees more honesty and recognition of those systemic and historical barriers at the leadership level - and more collaborative work to fix it. "It's unfortunate that we're still in this space, but at the same time, there's nothing but opportunity in front of us as a country. And specifically for Northwestern Mutual as we aim to be a part of ensuring that the gains in education and income are matched with wealth creation and the transfer of wealth."

Protecting wealth and supporting entrepreneurs through community investment

There is no question as to the origin of the wealth gap between Black and white Americans. White families had 23 times the wealth of Black families after the Civil War, and the gap still stands at 6 to 1 today.

Access to capital and the ability to hand it down from generation to generation is integral to building wealth over time. Northwestern Mutual's approach to bridging the gap takes both elements into account through its comprehensive financial planning process that enable individuals to grow and protect their own wealth through insurance and investments, as well as making community investments that provide diverse entrepreneurs with funding and support to build businesses that last.

"Our main mission as a company is to alleviate Americans of financial anxiety. It's something that, as a country, we don't talk enough about," Williams-Kemp said. "Building financial security for people can feel very personal, but our planning approach focuses on helping people identify their hopes, dreams and aspirations so that we can provide the building blocks to actually achieve them."

The company is working hard to close the racial wealth gap through community investments and support for entrepreneurs - namely through the Sustained Action for Racial Equity (SARE) task force, the Black Founder Accelerator Program and engagement with community development financial institutions (CDFIs). Additionally, the company launched a $100 million impact investing fund, which invests locally in its home city of Milwaukee and across the U.S.

"Financial inclusion and Black and African American prosperity is one of our top priorities," Abim Kolawole, chief audit executive at Northwestern Mutual, told 3p. "One aspect we're focused on is increasing diversity among our suppliers and spending, which we have done dramatically. Just last year we inked more than $10 million in contracts with Black-owned suppliers."

Lack of access to capital has been a huge barrier for Black entrepreneurs - both historically and at present. And since business ownership is one of the primary ways of building wealth, that lack of access is a major contributor to the wealth gap, which is why Northwestern Mutual has made it a primary concern.

"We've invested in Black and African American venture capital funds directly. But there's also a sum total of about nine investments we've made and deployed, with commitments up to about $75 million out of a total of $100 million that is earmarked," Kolawole explained. "We have funded $5 million so far to two CDFIs which are identifying local Black- and African American-owned businesses that are in need of capital, underwriting their business models, assessing the need for the capital on their suitability, and deploying those funds."

Northwestern Mutual has also set aside $20 million from its venture capital fund for Black- and African American-owned businesses, entrepreneurs and startups, Kolawole said. Additionally, the financial institution's Black Founder Accelerator Program acts as an incubator for startups. "Entrepreneurs spend 12 weeks in the program getting a lot of technical know-how, assistance with their business model and pressure testing," he said. "But more importantly, they get access to $100,000 in capital as well as networking."

A long-term commitment from top leadership

Kolawole credits leadership as the key to Northwestern Mutual's dedication in this space. "Our efforts to drive racial equity was chartered by our CEO, and I think that's very important," he said. "To get that sustainment, you need leadership from the top." This type of commitment is one our leadership feels passionate about and like many others following the murder of George Floyd in June 2020, vocalized in an effort to hold itself and others accountable.

"I'm proud to say that we had already invested substantial time, energy, and capital into our diversity and inclusion efforts for more than a decade before George Floyd's murder," Williams-Kemp added. "And in that moment of time, it gave us an extra push to make sure we were being bold enough in our aspirations, and we were really holding ourselves accountable to progress for the roadmap we'd already established. It actually enabled us to double down on the commitments we'd already made."

Along with positively impacting communities, the company's efforts to advance racial equity have struck a positive chord among employees - Kolawole included. "It warms my heart to be with a company that's so well positioned to do the right thing," he said. "It's enabling me to lead the charge in something that I'm tremendously passionate about."

To learn more about Northwestern Mutual's enterprise sustainability, D&I and community impact, visit here.

This article series is sponsored by Northwestern Mutual and produced by the TriplePundit editorial team.

Image courtesy of Northwestern Mutual.

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Bloomberg



Bloomberg employees represent the Tokyo office at this year's Pride parade in April.

Originally published on bloomberg.com

This year, building on decades of support for its LGBTQ+ employees and the community at large, Bloomberg celebrated Pride at offices around the world. Inclusion has long been a tenant of its foundation.

Consistently ranked as one of the best places to work for LGBTQ+ Equality by the Human Rights Campaign, Bloomberg LP has earned a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index for six years in a row.

"Pride is a month-long celebration, but the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and recognition doesn't end in June. We're committed to LGBTQ+ inclusion year-round at Bloomberg," said founder Mike Bloomberg, who has championed LGBTQ+ rights for decades across his work in business, government, and philanthropy. He was an early advocate for legalizing same-sex marriage and, as mayor, officiated the first same-sex marriage in New York City on the day it became legal in New York State in 2011.

The company has led on key LGBTQ+ issues around the globe, such as marriage equality. In addition to signing onto an amicus brief in the 2015 US Supreme Court case of Obergefell v. Hodges, Bloomberg has also supported local efforts in Japan and Hong Kong seeking to legalize marriage equality for the LGBTQ+ community. In particular, the firm has been the Signature Sponsor of the Hong Kong Marriage Equality campaign for the last two years.

In Japan, work with Pride has recognized Bloomberg with three consecutive Gold Awards in the PRIDE Index, which measures the increasing role companies play in the promotion of understanding LGBTQ+ issues and protecting LGBTQ+ rights in Japanese society. It has also awarded Bloomberg its "Rainbow" certification in recognition of the company's cross-sector collaboration in support of LGBTQ+-related initiatives.

An early adopter of the United Nations' Standards of Conduct for Business tackling discrimination against and unfair treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people in the workplace, Bloomberg was also an early signer of the Business Statement for Transgender Equality, which was issued in 2018 by 18 LGBTQ+ community organizations, led by Out Leadership and the Human Rights Campaign.

Ahead of a flood of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation recently proposed across the U.S., Bloomberg signed the Human Rights Campaign's Business Statement on Anti-LGBTQ State Legislation, stating its clear opposition to any and all harmful legislation aimed at restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

And this week, Bloomberg is among leading U.S. companies that signed the Count Us In Pledge to stand proudly and publicly as LGBTQ+ allies, while calling on lawmakers to end all discriminatory attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.

Bloomberg also supports The Equality Act and was among the first companies to join the Human Rights Campaign's Business Coalition for The Equality Act, a group now numbering more than 530 major U.S. companies - representing over 15.9 million employees - who support the act. Reintroduced in Congress earlier this month, this proposed federal legislation would guarantee LGBTQ+ people nationwide the same comprehensive anti-discrimination protections and basic freedoms in the workplace, housing, credit, medical care, and more that other protected groups have enjoyed for decades under U.S. federal law.

The company has long provided benefits in the U.S. and beyond for domestic partners regardless of gender, as well as providing the full suite of health benefits recommended by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's Standards of Care for employees in the U.S. and around the world.

Corporate Philanthropy at Bloomberg also proudly supports nonprofits around the globe that share the company's commitment to inclusion, active allyship, and advocacy for key LGBTQ+ issues, including those providing specialized support for LGBTQ+ refugees, homeless individuals, and youth.

This year also marks 10 years since the founding of Bloomberg's LGBT and Ally Community (BPROUD). The employee resource group advocates within the firm and in the broader business community for inclusive and equitable working spaces and career opportunities. One of BPROUD's early advocates is Bloomberg Chairman Peter Grauer, who has been recognized as a top ally for the LGBTQ+ community.

To mark this year's Pride, Bloomberg's global BPROUD chapters either hosted or participated in many different events. Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Washington, DC, New York, London, Mumbai, and Tokyo are just a few.

In early June, the New York City Gay Men's Chorus a capella group "TONEWALL" kicked off Pride with a performance at Bloomberg's global headquarters in New York. Also, for New York's Pride weekend the top of Bloomberg's global headquarters at 731 Lexington Avenue was lit up with Pride colors as a reminder of how far the fight for LGBTQ+ inclusion has come, and how Bloomberg stands with the community.

BPROUD also hosted producer, model, and transgender rights activist Geena Rocero at Bloomberg's global headquarters in New York to talk about her new memoir "Horse Barbie." Bloomberg News reporter Isabelle Lee interviewed Rocero, who shared her candid reflections from the heights of the Philippines trans pageant scene and moving to the U.S. to work as a fashion model in New York.

Working with BPROUD, Bloomberg also recently launched online training on Transgender Allyship that provides practical tips and advice on how to be a better ally to this community and is available for all employees.

Bloomberg is committed to playing an important role in continuing to build an inclusive and supportive workplace. Inclusion means all of us.

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Regulatory News:

SEGRO plc ("SEGRO" or the "Group") the leading owner, manager and developer of warehouse and industrial space, has completed the acquisition of 419 hectares of land at the location of the former Radlett Aerodrome in the Upper Colne Valley, Hertfordshire.

The land is strategically located close to the M1, M25 and A1(M) and sits alongside the Midland Main Line railway. The three sections of land that make up the site have been acquired for 120 million (of which 50% is deferred for 12 months) from Hertfordshire County Council, Tarmac Plc and Gorhambury Estates Company Ltd. Under SEGRO's ownership the site will be developed into a strategic rail freight interchange supported by up to 3.6 million square feet of modern, sustainable logistics warehousing, including ancillary B1 (office, light industrial, research and development) and B2 (general industrial) warehouses.

SEGRO received planning permission from the Secretary of State for the development, which is recognised by the Government as nationally significant infrastructure that will deliver major benefits on a national, regional and local scale. It will also form a key part of the UK's modal shift from road to rail and help meet the country's net-zero ambitions.

Works are expected to start on site in Summer 2023 with the initial focus of this multi-year investment programme focussed on creating the rail connection and preparing the site for development. It is anticipated that the completed scheme will deliver around 4,000 jobs, with a further c. 500 jobs generated on site during construction.

In line with the Company's Responsible SEGRO commitments to Champion low-carbon growth and Invest in its local communities and environments, the development will incorporate a 247-hectare country park surrounding the terminal. The park will include a 10-mile network of footpaths and recreational features including a trim trail, outdoor gym, new children's play areas, new bird watching hides and a Visitor Interpretation Centre. Over 4,000 trees and 132,000 saplings will be planted, while the local habitat will be enhanced by creating new ponds and nesting sites.

In addition to employment opportunities and environmental considerations, the development will stimulate economic growth and enhance local infrastructure. SEGRO is committed to a significant investment programme to fund new traffic relieving measures, including 22 million to fund a new 1.4-mile stretch of relief road for Park Street Frogmore to alleviate traffic on the A5183, and it is estimated that the completed scheme will deliver around 12 million each year in business rates.

David Sleath, Chief Executive Officer, SEGRO, said:

"The former Radlett Aerodrome site offers a rare opportunity to bring together the economic and environmental benefits of rail freight, provides connectivity to key arteries of the highways network and access to a large pool of employees. The scheme will also benefit the national and local economies, as well as help satisfy the demands of consumers and businesses for the sustainable movement of the goods and services we increasingly rely on in our daily lives.

"As a long-term investor and specialist in the provision of logistics infrastructure developments, we are proud of the benefits we've already delivered across the country including at our East Midlands, Coventry and Derby projects. The strategic partnership we recently agreed with the West Midlands Combined Authority will see us deliver 14,000 jobs and 13.5 million square feet of employment space on brownfield sites in the region over the next decade and is another example of how we prioritise working in close collaboration with local authorities and communities to maximise the benefits and opportunities our developments and operations can bring to an area. We look forward to employing this approach and our experience at Radlett."

"The blueprint for the scheme will follow the successful delivery of a major strategic rail freight terminal and logistics development at SEGRO Logistics Park East Midlands Gateway, near Derby, where we have seen exceptional demand, and which we expect to complete significantly ahead of schedule while providing employment for over 5,000 people."

For the purposes of Listing Rule 10.4, the gross asset value of the land is 120 million and there are no historical profits attributed to the land. The acquisition will be funded from cash and bank facilities.

Notes to editors:

The purchase is subject to additional overage charges which would be payable to the vendors in the event that additional value is achieved through planning consent for alternative uses and subsequent development or sale, or should the infrastructure works cost less than assessed at the time of the acquisition.

Rail freight contributes 1.7 billion to the UK economy, with each train removing up to 76 HGV journeys from Britain's roads, helping to ease congestion and meet the country's decarbonisation targets.

SEGRO has committed to implementing Community Investment Plans in all its core markets and anticipates that Radlett would become one of these. The Company has already launched more than 10 of these plans across the UK and Continental Europe. By the end of 2025 it expects to have engaged 20,000 students through schools programmes; provided 1,500 people, the majority of whom are unemployed, vulnerable or who have additional needs, with training or supported them with employment opportunities; and delivered 60 projects to enhance local environments and biodiversity.

About SEGRO

SEGRO is a UK Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), listed on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris, and is a leading owner, manager and developer of modern warehouses and industrial property. It owns or manages 9.9 million square metres of space (106 million square feet) valued at 20.9 billion as at 31 December 2022, serving customers from a wide range of industry sectors. Its properties are located in and around major cities and at key transportation hubs in the UK and in seven other European countries.

For over 100 years SEGRO has been creating the space that enables extraordinary things to happen. From modern big box warehouses, used primarily for regional, national and international distribution hubs, to urban warehousing located close to major population centres and business districts, it provides high-quality assets that allow its customers to thrive.

A commitment to be a force for societal and environmental good is integral to SEGRO's purpose and strategy. Its Responsible SEGRO framework focuses on three long-term priorities where the company believes it can make the greatest impact: Championing Low-Carbon Growth, Investing in Local Communities and Environments and Nurturing Talent.

Striving for the highest standards of innovation, sustainable business practices and enabling economic and societal prosperity underpins SEGRO's ambition to be the best property company.

See www.SEGRO.com for further information.

Forward-Looking Statements: This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements with respect to SEGRO's expectations and plans, strategy, management objectives, future developments and performance, costs, revenues and other trend information. These statements are subject to assumptions, risk and uncertainty. Many of these assumptions, risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond SEGRO's ability to control or estimate precisely and which could cause actual results or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Certain statements have been made with reference to forecast process changes, economic conditions and the current regulatory environment. Any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of SEGRO are based upon the knowledge and information available to Directors on the date of this announcement. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any particular expectation will be met and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Additionally, forward-looking statements regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The information contained in this announcement is provided as at the date of this announcement and is subject to change without notice. Other than in accordance with its legal or regulatory obligations (including under the UK Listing Rules and the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules of the Financial Conduct Authority), SEGRO does not undertake to update forward-looking statements, including to reflect any new information or changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Past share performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profit estimate or profit forecast. The information in this announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or an invitation to buy securities in SEGRO plc or an invitation or inducement to engage in or enter into any contract or commitment or other investment activities. Neither the content of SEGRO's website nor any other website accessible by hyperlinks from SEGRO's website are incorporated in, or form part of, this announcement.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630217664/en/

Contacts:

CONTACT DETAILS FOR INVESTOR ANALYST AND MEDIA ENQUIRIES:

SEGRO

Soumen Das (Chief Financial Officer), Tel: +44 (0) 20 7451 9110

Claire Mogford (Head of Investor Relations), Tel: +44 (0) 20 7451 9048

Gary Gaskarth (External Communications Manager), Tel: +44 (0) 20 7451 9069

FTI Consulting

Richard Sunderland Eve Kirmatzis, Tel: +44 (0) 20 3727 1000
New Site Details Innovative IT Solutions, Services, and Technologies

FISHERS, IN / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Braden Business Systems, the leading provider of office technology solutions headquartered in Indiana, is excited to announce the launch of its new website.









The updated site features Braden Business Systems' full range of IT services and solutions, from managed services and IT consulting to state-of-the-art office equipment. The new site also features informative tech blogs and resources for businesses to further their IT education.

"Our new company website represents a significant milestone in our journey. Our goal was to present Braden Business Systems' capabilities in an easier-to-consume and more modern experience to our clients and prospects. With this new website, we aim to enhance engagement and provide a seamless platform for our visitors to explore our comprehensive solutions," details Managing Partner Erik Braden.

Site visitors can also view Braden Business Systems' product catalog and information on its high-level business benefits, client testimonials, and more.

Sales Manager of IT Services Ryan Hahaj also added, "The modernization of our website signifies a major step forward in showcasing the Braden brand story. We have leveraged out-of-the-box capabilities to deliver exciting and meaningful communication to our target markets. Through this enhanced digital platform, we are confident in capturing the attention and interest of our audience, creating a lasting impact, and fostering stronger relationships."

About Braden Business Systems

Braden Business Systems is an industry-leading, locally owned provider of high-quality technology solutions, office equipment, and IT services for businesses of all sizes. Our fast response and risk-free solutions ensure our clients get the attention and value they deserve. To learn more, visit our website or call 463.220.4421.

Contact Information

Joseph Lobraco

Controller

jlobraco@bradenonline.com

(317) 733-5275

Erik Braden

Managing Partner

ebraden@bradenonline.com

SOURCE: Braden Business Systems

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/764846/Braden-Business-Systems-Announces-New-Website
Die KI-Revolution ist in vollem Gange und vor allem ein Bereich wird stark betroffen sein: Cyber-Security. Die Experten sind sich sicher: Mit steigender Entwicklung von KI-Technologien nehmen auch KI-gestutzte Cyber-Attacken zu. Wir zeigen hier, welche Aktien profitieren konnen.

The Dutch cabinet said it will support solar factories that will produce panels with a circular economy approach. It also allocated 296 million to support battery manufacturing.The Dutch cabinet announced today it will allocate 2.6 billion ($2.84 billion) through its National Growth Fund to support the manufacturing of innovative technologies in the fields of sustainability, energy, high tech, digitization, and healthcare. The government said it will devote a significant part of this sum - 412 million - to support the manufacturing of solar modules that are based on a circular economy approach. ...

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.
Adoption of all resolutions submitted to the vote

Regulatory News:

Ikonisys SA (ISIN Code: FR00140048X2 Mnemonic: ALIKO), a company specializing in the early and accurate detection of cancer through a unique and fully automated solution for medical diagnostic laboratories, announces that all the resolutions submitted to the Ordinary Annual and Extraordinary General Meeting held on June 28, 2023 (the "AGM") have been adopted by the shareholders, in accordance with the recommendations of the Board of Directors, and in particular the resolutions relating to the approval of the parent company and consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2022 and the financial delegations to the Board of Directors.

With a quorum of 70.97%, i.e. 6,913,968 shares with the same number of voting rights, the Ikonisys Annual General Meeting was validly held under the chairmanship of Mr. Mario Mauri, in his capacity as Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors.

About Ikonisys

Ikonisys SA is a cell-based diagnostics company based in Paris (France), New Haven (Connecticut, USA) and Milan (Italy) specialized in the early and accurate detection of cancer. The company develops, produces and markets the proprietary Ikoniscope20 platform, a fully-automated solution designed to deliver accurate and reliable detection and analysis of rare and very rare cells. Ikonisys has received FDA clearance for several automated diagnostic applications, which are also marketed in Europe under CE certification. Through its breakthrough fluorescence microscopy platform, the company continues to develop a stream of new tests, including liquid biopsy tests based on Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC).

For further information, please go to www.Ikonisys.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630466929/en/

Contacts:

Ikonisys

Alessandro Mauri

CFO

investors@ikonisys.com

NewCap

Olivier Bricaud Louis-Victor Delouvrier

Investor Relations

Ikonisys@newcap.eu

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 92

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Media Relations

Ikonisys@newcap.eu

Tel.:+33 (0)1 44 71 94 98
Rightmove Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, June 30

30 June 2023

Rightmove plc

Share buy-back programme

Rightmove plc - transactions in own shares

Rightmove plc ("Rightmove"), announces that today it purchased 172,636 of its 0.1p ordinary shares at a volume weighted average price paid per share of 524.193. The highest price paid per share was 526.600p and the lowest price paid per share was 520.400p. Rightmove purchased these shares through UBS AG London Branch.

The number of shares purchased represented 0.0212% of the voting rights attributable to the total ordinary shares in issue prior to such purchase. The purchased shares will be cancelled.

Since announcing a share buy-back programme on 28 December 2007, Rightmove has purchased in aggregate 491,684,568 ordinary shares.

The total number of ordinary shares in issue (excluding treasury shares) following this announcement is 815,361,245. Rightmove holds 12,008,267 shares in treasury.

In accordance with Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (the Market Abuse Regulation) as amended by The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (the "UK MAR"), the schedule below contains detailed information about the purchases made by UBS AG London Branch on behalf of the Company as part of the buyback programme.

-Ends-

Contact: Michelle Palmer, Assistant Company Secretary

CompanySecretary@rightmove.co.uk

Schedule of Purchases - Individual Transactions
Clean Invest Africa Plc - Final Results

PR Newswire

London, June 30

30 JUNE 2023

CLEAN INVEST AFRICA PLC

("Clean Invest Africa", the "Group" or the "Company")

AUDITED RESULTS FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022

REVIEW OF BUSINESS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Principal activity

The Group's primary strategy is to identify investment opportunities and acquisitions in clean energy projects/companies or alternative technologies that are used in a socially and environmentally responsible way on a global basis, with the intention of building a diversified portfolio of assets.

The subsidiaries of the Company, CoalTech Limited ("CoalTech"), a company registered in the United Kingdom with registered number 11368750, and Coal Agglomeration South Africa (Pty) Ltd. ("CASA"), a company registered in South Africa with registered number 2015/439393/07, and CoalTech's subsidiaries Coal Tech LLC, a company registered in the United States of America with registered number 5685936, Coaltech S. a r.l., a company registered in Grand Duchy of Luxembourg with registered number B238812, and associates CoalTech Poland Sp. z o.o., a company registered in the Republic of Poland with registered number 0000719690 and CoalTech Far East Pte. Ltd., a company registered in the Republic of Singapore with registration number 202120135R (collectively referred as "CoalTech Group"), are primarily engaged in agglomerating fines waste (dust particles with a size of 1mm and below) into pellets through the commercialisation of the Group's proprietary binding technology. The business is now focusing on pelletising coal and ilmenite, but the Company has also carried out successful tests on other minerals such as phosphate, chrome, and manganese which are providing significant business opportunities.

Review of business and future developments

The Group's subsidiary in South Africa, CASA, has already generated revenues during 2021 and in early 2022 by pelletising ilmenite fines at the Bulpan Plant for a 10,000 tons trial project with a leading mining company in South Africa. This project has led to the submission of a proposal for the development of a dedicated pelletising plant for the Client which is currently under negotiation. Currently, there is continuous testing happening at site, preparing for the start of pellets production which will be sold in a 15kgs bag under the CASA trademark, Chisa'Mina. The project is expected to start in September 2023 with an output of 4,000 tons per month at full production and is expected to have a significant positive impact on the profitability and the cash flow of the business.

CoalTech, together with its Italian partner, ISS International S.P.A. ("ISS"), will commence a Research and Development Project in Italy supported by the Italian Government and with budget allocation of approximately 8,000,000 which is a combination of grant and low interest loan. Further, CoalTech will provide consulting services, know-how and expertise on coal fines pelletising technology, and assist and support ISS in the realisation of a mobile pelletising unit with a proposed capacity of 1,000 tons per month that will become the valuable asset in marketing and commercialising the technology around the world.

The Directors are pleased to report that on 8 January 2023, the Company has successfully raised additional funds of 40,000 to support the continuing growth of the Group. A total of 8,000,000 ordinary shares of 0.25p nominal value each have been subscribed by an investor at 0.5p per share. For every two Subscribe Share issued, one warrant was granted equivalent to 4,000,000 warrants, exercisable at 1.5p, valid for a period of three (3) years from the date of admission of the Subscribed Shares to the AQSE Growth Market. Further, should the Subscriber exercise the 1.5p warrants in full, the Company shall grant the Subscriber a further one warrant or equivalent to 4,000,000 warrants, exercisable at 3p per share, for every two Subscribed Shares, valid for three years from the date of grant. On 12 April 2023, the Company successfully raised an additional 50,000. A total of 10,000,000 ordinary shares of 0.25p nominal value each have been subscribed by an investor at 0.5p per share. For every two Subscribed Share issued, one warrant was granted equivalent to 5,000,000 warrants, exercisable at 1.5p, valid for a period of three (3) years from the date of admission of the Subscribed Shares to the AQSE Growth Market. Further, should the Subscriber exercise the 1.5p warrants in full, the Company shall grant the Subscriber a further one warrant or equivalent to 5,000,000 warrants, exercisable at 3p per share, for every two Subscribed Shares, valid for three years from the date of grant.

Furthermore, to support the continuing growth of the Group, on 23 May 2023, the Company issued an unsecured Convertible Loan Note with a nominal amount of 1 each note or amounting to 60,300 at 10 per cent per annum interest and final redemption date of 6 months from the date of issuance with option to extend for an additional 6 months. And on 31 May 2023, the Company issued an unsecured Convertible Loan Note with a nominal amount of 1 each note or amounting to 200,000 at 10.50 per cent per annum interest and final redemption date of 12 months from the date of issuance.

The financial results of the Group for the year ended 31 December 2022 show a loss after taxation of 163,318 (2021: 1,157,655) while the Company's financial results for the year ended show a loss after taxation of 306,133 (2021: 298,061).

The outbreak of the Corona Virus (COVID-19) in early 2020, and the ongoing effects of the virus, have had a negative effect on the development and, possibly, finalization of the various initiatives which were reported during 2021 due to the various emergency measures implemented by each country. In particular, COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the Group's progress on advanced business opportunities in different geographies such as India, USA, Australia, Colombia, Poland, as well as obviously, South Africa where the Group's subsidiary, CASA, is operating. The discussions have only resumed in the middle of 2022. Further to the business opportunity in Italy, on 23 March 2023, the Group has successfully received the final approval of the application for a Research and Development grant which includes the construction of movable plant capable of producing 1,000 tons per month. For the operation of the Group's subsidiary, CASA, mainly taking place at the Bulpan facility in Mpumalanga, South Africa, the Directors are pleased that CASA has made excellent progress during 2022 on various test work programs and commercial production projects that had been previously planned. On 8 June 2023, CASA has signed a Consignment Agreement granting the right to the consignor to display and sell Chisa'Mina Coal Pellets.

Outlook

The Directors are pleased with the progress made in this initial period, notwithstanding the challenging recovery from the 'COVID-19 pandemic that slowed down the development of the business, exactly at the time when the company was ready to implement its commercialisation strategy. They look forward to continuing to update shareholders on the progress of the Group and the exciting prospects ahead, some of which are developing reasonably fast. We continue to seek new investment opportunities and will advise shareholders as they come to fruition.

The Directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend for the period to 31 December 2022.

The audit opinion contains the following statement:

"We draw attention to note 2 in the financial statements, which indicates that the group incurred a net loss of 163,318 during the year ended 31 December 2022. The revenue forecasted for the group is not certain and, in the event of a shortfall in terms of timing and quantum, the group will be required to raise additional funds by way of either equity or debt and the receipt of these cannot be guaranteed. As stated in note 2, these events or conditions, along with the other matters as set forth in note 2, indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the group and parent company's ability to continue as a going concern. Our opinion is not modified in respect of this matter."

The audited annual report is available on the Company's website https://www.cleaninvestafrica.com/ .

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

- ENDS -

ENQUIRIES :

Clean Invest Africa plc

Filippo Fantechi (Executive Director) +973 3969 6273

Shaikh Mohamed Abdulla Khalifa AlKhalifa (Non-Executive Chairman) +973 3969 2299

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Corporate Adviser +44 20 7469 0930

Guy Miller/ Mark Anwyl







Clean Invest Africa Plc (Registered number: 10967142)

Consolidated Statement of Profit or Loss

for the year ended 31 December 2022

2022 2021 CONTINUING OPERATIONS   Revenue 29,760 68,602 Cost of sales (129,444) (251,562) GROSS LOSS (99,684) (182,960) Other operating income 153,762 2,409 Impairment loss (5,564) - Net foreign exchange revaluation (144,881) (92,773) Administrative expenses (281,697) (867,892) OPERATING LOSS (378,064) (1,141,216) Other gains 238,997 - Finance costs (24,251) (16,439) LOSS BEFORE INCOME TAX (163,318) (1,157,655) Income tax - - LOSS FOR THE YEAR (163,318) (1,157,655) Loss attributable to:

Owners of the parent (163,318) (1,157,655) Basic earnings per share expressed

in pence per share: (0.01) (0.10)







Clean Invest Africa Plc (Registered number: 10967142)

Consolidated Statement of Profit or Loss and Other Comprehensive Income

for the year ended 31 December 2022

2022 2021

 

LOSS FOR THE YEAR (163,318) (1,157,655)

OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

Items that may be reclassified to profit or loss

Currency translation differences (214,291) 64,358

TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEAR

(377,609)

(1,093,297)

Total comprehensive income attributable to:

Owners of the parent(377,609) (1,093,297)







Clean Invest Africa Plc (Registered number: 10967142)

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

31 December 2022

2022 2021

 

ASSETS

NON-CURRENT ASSETS

Right-of-use assets122,552 25,230

Property, plant and equipment394,113 409,498

Investments11,653 11,653

528,318 446,381

CURRENT ASSETS

Inventories- 7,120

Trade and other receivables3,983,439 3,575,497

Cash and cash equivalents80,222 31,253

4,063,661 3,613,870

TOTAL ASSETS 4,591,979 4,060,251

EQUITY

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Called up share capital 4,534,658 3,000,526

Share premium 28,579,597 24,990,187

Shares to be issued 332,294 332,294

Convertible loans 746,658 215,000

Share based payment reserve 3,243,556 3,243,556

Currency translation reserve 24,656 238,947

Reserve takeover reserve (23,050,570) (23,050,570)

Accumulated losses (12,733,170) (12,569,852)

TOTAL EQUITY 1,677,679 (3,599,912)

LIABILITIES

NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES

Lease liability 122,292 12,765

CURRENT LIABILITIES

Trade and other payables2,783,160 7,630,790

Lease liability 8,848 16,608

2,792,008 7,647,398

TOTAL LIABILITIES 2,914,300 7,660,163

TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 4,591,979 4,060,251

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 30 June 2023 and were signed on its behalf by:

........................................................................

F Fantechi - Director





Clean Invest Africa Plc (Registered number: 10967142)

Company Statement of Financial Position

31 December 2022

2022 2021

Notes 

ASSETS

NON-CURRENT ASSETS

Investments4,744,225 4,744,225

4,744,225 4,744,225

CURRENT ASSETS

Trade and other receivables5,417,776 246,292

Cash and cash equivalents76,227 14,068

5,494,003 260,360

TOTAL ASSETS 10,238,228 5,004,585

EQUITY

SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Called up share capital4,534,658 3,000,526

Share premium28,579,597 24,990,187

Shares to be issued332,294 332,294

Convertible loans746,658 215,000

Share based payment reserve3,243,556 3,243,556

Accumulated losses(27,497,661) (27,191,528)

TOTAL EQUITY 9,939,102 4,590,035





LIABILITIES

CURRENT LIABILITIES

Trade and other payables299,126 414,550

TOTAL LIABILITIES 299,126 414,550

TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 10,238,228 5,004,585

A separate income statement for the parent company has not been presented, as permitted by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006. The loss for the parent company for the year was 306,133 (2021: loss of 298,061)

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 30 June 2023 and were signed on its behalf by:

........................................................................

Mr F Fantechi - Director





Clean Invest Africa Plc (Registered number: 10967142)

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 December 2022

GBP Share

capital Share

premium Shares to be issued Convertible loans Share-based

payment reserve Reverse takeover reserve Currency

Translation

reserve Accumulated

losses Total

equity 1 January 2021 2,949,388 24,938,863 332,294 155,000 3,243,556 (23,050,570) 174,589 (11,412,197) (2,669,077) Loss for the year - - - - - - - (1,157,655) (1,157,655) Other comprehensive income - - - - - - - - - Currency translation reserve - - - - - - 64,358 - 64,358 Total comprehensive income - - - - - - 64,358 (1,157,655) (1,093,297) Interest bearing loans and

borrowings during the year - - - 60,000 - - - - 60,000 Shares issued during the year 51,138 51,324 - - - - - - 102,462 Total transactions with owners recognised in equity 51,138 51,324 - 60,000 - - - - 162,462 Balance as at

31 December 2021 3,000,526 24,990,187 332,294 215,000 3,243,556 (23,050,570) 238,947 (12,569,852) (3,599,912) Loss for the year - - - - - - - (163,318) (163,318) Other comprehensive income - - - - - - - - - Currency translation reserve - - - - - - (214,291) - (214,291) Total comprehensive income - - - - - - (214,291) (163,318) (377,609) Interest bearing loans and

borrowings during the year - - - 531,658 - - - - 531,658

Shares issued during the year 1,534,132 3,589,410 -

- - - - - 5,123,542 Total transactions with owners recognised in equity 1,534,132 3,589,410 - 531,658 - - - - 5,655,200 Balance as at

31 December 2022 4,534,658 28,579,597 332,294 746,658 3,243,556 (23,050,570) 24,656 (12,733,170) 1,677,679







Clean Invest Africa Plc (Registered number: 10967142)

Company Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 December 2022

GBP Share

capital Share

premium Shares to be issued Convertible loans Share-based payment reserve Accumulated

losses Total equity

1 January 2021 2,949,388 24,938,863 332,294 155,000 3,243,556 (26,893,467) 4,725,634 Loss for the year - - - - - (298,061) (298,061) Other comprehensive income - - - - - - - Total comprehensive income - - - - - (298,061) (298,061) Interest bearing loans and borrowings - - - 60,000 - - 60,000 Shares issued by the Company during the year 51,138 51,324 - - - - 102,462 Total transactions with owners recognised in equity 51,138 51,324 - 60,000 - - 162,462 Balance as at

31 December 2021 3,000,526 24,990,187 332,294 215,000 3,243,556 (27,191,528) 4,590,035

Loss for the year - - - - - (306,133) (306,133) Other comprehensive income - - - - - - - Total comprehensive income - - - - - (306,133) (306,133) Interest bearing loans and borrowings - - - 531,658 - - 531,658 Shares issued by the Company during the year 1,534,132 3,589,410 -

- - - 5,123,542 Total transactions with owners recognised in equity 1,534,132 3,589,410 - 531,658 - - 5,655,200 Balance as at

31 December 2022 4,534,658 28,579,597 332,294 746,658 3,243,556 (27,497,661) 9,939,102







Clean Invest Africa Plc (Registered number: 10967142)

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

for the year ended 31 December 2022

2022 2021

 

Cash flows from operating activities

Cash used in operations(282,958) (190,903)

Interest paid(24,251) (17,088)

Exchange gains14,068 64,802

Net cash from operating activities(293,141) (143,189)

Cash flows from financing activities

Payment of lease liabilities(12,890) (11,031)

Proceeds from issue of shares355,000 102,462

Funding received from related parties- 69,147

Net cash from financing activities342,110 160,578

Increase in cash and cash equivalents 48,969 17,389 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year



31,253

13,864

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year 80,222 31,253







Clean Invest Africa Plc (Registered number: 10967142)

Company Statement of Cash Flows

for the year ended 31 December 2022

2022 2021

 

Cash flows from operating activities

Cash used in operations(275,641) (76,083)

Interest paid(17,200) (13,807)

Net cash from operating activities(292,841) (89,890)

Cash flows from financing activities

Share issue355,000 102,462

Net cash from financing activities355,000 102,462

Increase in cash and cash equivalents 62,159 12,572 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year



14,068

1,496
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

PR Newswire

LONDON, United Kingdom, June 30

For immediate release

30 June 2023

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 25,000 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 884.00 pence per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company.

The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 17 January 2023.

Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 18,220,544; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 206,770,759.

The figure of 206,770,759 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary

For further information, please contact:

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Tel: 020 3 170 8732
EASTLEIGH, UK / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / i3 Energy plc (AIM:I3E)(TSX:ITE), an independent oil and gas company with assets and operations in the UK and Canada, notes that at its annual general meeting (AGM) held on 30 June 2023, all resolutions, save resolution 11, duly passed. Resolution 11, a special resolution, did not pass.

Special resolution 11, to authorize the Directors to disapply pre-emption rights. Section 561(1) of the Companies Act 2006 provides that if the Directors wish to allot any equity securities or sell any treasury shares (if it holds any), for cash, the Company must first offer them to existing shareholders in proportion to their existing shareholdings. Section 561 does not apply in connection with allotments made pursuant to an employee share scheme.

The purpose of this resolution was to seek power for the Directors to allot equity securities or sell any treasury shares for cash as if Section 561(1) of the Companies Act 2006 did not apply in connection with rights issues, open offers and other pre-emptive and non-pre-emptive offers and issues pursuant to the authority granted by resolution 10, to authorize the Directors to allot Ordinary Shares.

As a result of the resolution not passing the Company will seek shareholder approval to disapply pre-emptive rights if and as required.

RESOLUTION VOTES

FOR % VOTES

AGAINST % VOTES

TOTAL % of ISSUED

SHARE

CAPITAL VOTED VOTES

WITHHELD 1 433,694,910 99.05 4,143,618 0.95 437,838,528 36.43% 6,352 2 438,897,673 99.99 60,668 0.01 438,958,341 36.52% 56,139 3 438,748,952 99.94 258,726 0.06 439,007,678 36.53% 6,802 4 437,429,501 99.99 58,554 0.01 437,488,055 36.40% 359,940 5 437,421,681 99.99 58,554 0.01 437,480,235 36.40% 367,760 6 437,475,496 100.00 13,554 0.00 437,489,050 36.40% 358,945 7 326,809,431 74.70 110,676,634 25.30 437,486,065 36.40% 361,930 8 433,333,166 99.05 4,162,042 0.95 437,495,208 36.40% 352,787 9 437,468,916 100.00 17,134 0.00 437,486,050 36.40% 361,945 10 300,296,975 68.59 137,544,668 31.41 437,841,643 36.43% 6,352 11 295,714,017 67.54 142,127,626 32.46 437,841,643 36.43% 6,352 12 437,646,215 99.96 195,428 0.04 437,841,643 36.43% 6,352 13 437,460,419 99.99 62,056 0.01 437,522,475 36.40% 325,520

Enquiries:

i3 Energy plc

Majid Shafiq (CEO) c/o Camarco

Tel: +44 (0) 203 781 8331 WH Ireland Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker)

James Joyce, Darshan Patel Tel: +44 (0) 207 220 1666 Tennyson Securities (Joint Broker)

Peter Krens Tel: +44 (0) 207 186 9030 Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Broker)

Ashton Clanfield, Callum Stewart Tel: +44 (0) 20 7710 7600 Camarco

Georgia Edmonds, Violet Wilson, Sam Morris Tel: +44 (0) 203 757 4980

Notes to Editors:

i3 Energy is an oil and gas Company with a low cost, diversified, growing production base in Canada's most prolific hydrocarbon region, the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and appraisal assets in the North Sea with significant upside.

The Company is well positioned to deliver future growth through the optimisation of its existing 100% owned asset base and the acquisition of long life, low decline conventional production assets.

i3 is dedicated to responsible corporate practices and the environment, and places high value on adhering to strong Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") practices. i3 is proud of its performance to date as a responsible steward of the environment, people, and capital management. The Company is committed to maintaining an ESG strategy, which has broader implications to long-term value creation, as these benefits extend beyond regulatory requirements.

i3 Energy is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol I3E and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ITE. For further information on i3 Energy please visit https://i3.energy

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

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: i3 Energy PLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/765007/i3-Energy-PLC-Announces-Result-of-AGM
America's top-rated business debt company adds a new and updated website to its premium brand with efforts to help more business owners then ever before.

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / www.DiamondDebtRelief.com is the latest rollout to optimize customer access & easy access to business debt information in a long line of elite services from the award-winning brand, Diamond Debt Relief.

Diamond Debt Relief

Diamond Debt Relief is a leading debt relief company based in New York City.

The official launch date has been scheduled for July 26th, 2023. A brief summary from Diamond Debt Relief elaborates further on the the new digital website:

Diamond Debt Relief, a leading debt relief company based in New York City, is offering business owners a lifeline with their proven expertise in debt relief solutions. With their dedicated team of specialists and commitment to providing fast and affordable debt relief, Diamond Debt Relief is revolutionizing the industry and helping clients regain control over their financial future.

"At Diamond Debt Relief, we understand that each business is unique and deserves a tailored approach to debt relief," said Daniel, A managing owner for Diamond Debt Relief. "That's why we're not typical, and neither are our services. We go above and beyond to deliver exceptional results and ensure our clients' success."

Here are the top 5 compelling reasons why business owners should choose Diamond Debt Relief to achieve their goals:

Personalized Approach: Diamond Debt Relief recognizes that every business has different financial circumstances. Their experienced and professional debt arbitrators will create a customized plan to address your specific needs, ensuring the best possible outcome. Dedicated Team: From the moment you engage with Diamond Debt Relief, you will have a dedicated team of specialists by your side. These experts will work tirelessly to guide you through the process, providing ongoing support and transparent communication. Fast and Affordable Solutions: Diamond Debt Relief understands the urgency of debt relief. They strive to deliver results promptly and efficiently, allowing you to regain financial stability without breaking the bank. Proven Track Record: With a solid reputation for transforming the lives of thousands of business owners, Diamond Debt Relief has earned the trust of the community. Their success stories speak for themselves, demonstrating their commitment to helping businesses thrive. Experienced Debt Arbitrators: The team at Diamond Debt Relief consists of experienced and skilled debt arbitrators who possess a deep understanding of the intricacies of debt relief. They will negotiate with your creditors on your behalf, aiming to reduce your debt burden and secure favorable terms.

To learn more about Diamond Debt Relief and to schedule a free, no-commitment consultation, visit their website at www.diamonddebtrelief.com or call 800-974-7917.

Contact Information

Michael Podgayetsky

Director Of Media

info@eriofcalifornia.com

424-237-3727

SOURCE: Diamond Debt Relief

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/765024/Diamond-Debt-Relief-Now-Online-5-Reasons-to-Choose-Them-and-Achieve-Your-Business-Goals
Originally published by Ericsson

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Welcome to the latest edition of our Diversity & Inclusion News Round-Up. Today we are talking about a new campaign encouraging girls to stay in sports, traditional gender roles among the super-rich, Pride month campaigns, and a VR headset simulating visual impairments.

Gender equality

Interesting article about gendered work-family arrangements of super-rich heterosexual couples in the US. According to a new study, in over 50% of these couples, men are the traditional breadwinners, and women are not employed.

Inclusion and tech

Great story on how VR technology can be used to make the world more inclusive. Empatheyes, a social enterprise from Belfast, created a software that can help teachers, parents, and other carers to understand what it means to live with visual impairments.

LGBTQ+

It's Pride month - and many global brands are showing their support. But some companies have faced backlash and threats this year, and even decided to pull Pride-themed products. This article shares a good overview of companies' activities this year.

Girls' empowerment

Creative new campaign "Play on - I quit" from Liverpool FC and Standard Chartered, encouraging girls to stay in sports. Worth watching!

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Ericsson on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Ericsson

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/ericsson

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Ericsson

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/765032/DI-Weekly-News-Round-Up-Inclusion-and-Tech-LGBTQ-and-More


SANDY SPRINGS (dpa-AFX) - A heated standoff between UPS and the Teamsters over a new contract reached a critical point on Wednesday as the union's president issued a strong statement, declaring that a strike was imminent if the company failed to improve its offer on wages and benefits. Sean M. O'Brien, the general president of the Teamsters, stated that the 'largest single-employer strike in American history now appears inevitable.' The union has given UPS until Friday to present a better offer or face a strike by August 1.



The potential strike holds significant consequences, as it would disrupt the supply chain and impact the lives of numerous Americans who depend on UPS for the delivery of millions of packages daily. While the announcement surprised UPS, which had experienced a relatively smooth negotiation process until now, according to an insider familiar with the company's perspective, the Teamsters spokesperson, Kara Deniz, noted that O'Brien has been discussing the possibility of a strike for the past year.



Zooming out, the current atmosphere among UPS workers during contract negotiations is reminiscent of the situation in 1997, the last time drivers went on strike, as described by Scott Gove, a driver from Manchester, N.H. who participated in the picket line at that time. The dependence on package delivery has significantly increased since then, and a strike by UPS' 340,000 workers would overwhelm competitors like FedEx and the postal service, which would struggle to handle the 20 million packages delivered daily by UPS, according to Bloomberg.



A strike would undoubtedly have negative consequences for UPS itself. Customers may switch to competitors for long-term contracts, causing lasting damage to the company's customer base, explained Satish Jindel, founder of ShipMatrix, a consultancy that has previously advised UPS. The ongoing negotiations have already resulted in significant concessions for the Teamsters, particularly regarding air conditioning in vehicles. However, the final issue at hand is pay, which has proven to be the most contentious point of discussion.



UPS drivers, who have been dedicated throughout the pandemic and have made deliveries when many others were unwilling to do so, believe they deserve a raise. Scott Gove expressed the sentiment that they are not asking for anything unreasonable or beyond what they deserve. John Drake, vice president of transportation, infrastructure, and supply chain policy at the Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged that negotiations often become tense towards the end but remained hopeful that the situation would not deteriorate.



In response to the Teamsters' statement, UPS affirmed its commitment to negotiating and stated that it was still at the table. However, time is running out as the union needs to review and present any agreement to its rank-and-file members before the current contract expires at the end of July. If a satisfactory offer is not presented, a strike is inevitable, according to the Teamsters spokesperson.



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Mega-Chance Cyber Security Die KI-Revolution ist in vollem Gange und vor allem ein Bereich wird stark betroffen sein: Cyber-Security. Die Experten sind sich sicher: Mit steigender Entwicklung von KI-Technologien nehmen auch KI-gestutzte Cyber-Attacken zu. Wir zeigen hier, welche Aktien profitieren konnen. Hier klicken
Lapsing of the capital increase launched on June 16, 2023

Launch of a new 20 million capital increase open to the public, with a priority subscription period for existing shareholders

The President of the Commercial Court of Nanterre has rendered today a summary proceedings order deciding unequivocally that there was no ground to suspend the completion of the capital increase launched on June 16, 2023 and withdrawing the suspension order of June 20, 2023

The Company reinitiates the strengthening of its shareholders equity through a capital increase by way of a public offering with a priority subscription period of 4 trading days for existing shareholders on an irreducible basis ( a titre irreductible

Initial amount of 20 million, which may be increased to 23 million if the extension option is exercised in full

Irrevocable undertaking by Lafayette Investment Holdings to subscribe for 15 million by set-off against debt, representing 75% of the initial amount of the Offering

Subscription price of 1.65 per new share

Priority subscription period: from July 3, 2023 to July 6, 2023 inclusive

Public offering: from July 3, 2023 to July 7, 2023 inclusive

Global placement: from July 3, 2023 to July 7, 2023

Regulatory News:

This press release may not be published, distributed or disseminated, directly or indirectly, in the United States of America, Australia, Canada or Japan.

Claranova (Euronext Paris: FR0013426004 CLA) (the "Company"), today announces that the President of the Commercial Court of Nanterre, following the summary proceedings hearing held on June 23, 2023, has rendered a summary proceedings order deciding that there was no ground to suspend the completion of the capital increase launched on June 16, 2023 (the "Initial Offering") and consequently withdrawing the suspension order rendered on June 20, 2023, thus ending unequivocally the suspension of the Initial Offering.

Given the lapsing of the validity period of the prospectus related to the Initial Offering on June 29, 2023, the Initial Offering cannot be completed and the subscriptions received from shareholders and investors in connection therewith are therefore cancelled retroactively.

Due to this technical issue and in order to account for the evolution of the Company's share price since the temporary suspension order rendered on June 20, 2023, The Company announces the launch of a new capital increase by way of a public offering with a priority subscription period for its existing shareholders on an irreducible basis only (a titre irreductible) and a global offering (the "New Offering"), for an initial amount of 20 million. The New Offering may be increased to a maximum of 23 million if the extension option is exercised in full.

Purpose and use of proceeds

The main purpose of the New Offering is to (i) strengthen the Company's shareholders' equity and (ii) simplify and optimize the Company's debt structure, while giving the opportunity to existing shareholders to avoid dilution and to express their support towards the Company.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the issue received in cash, together with its available cash, to finance the repayment of the Company's debts in the coming months, and to strengthen, for the net proceeds of the issue received in cash, its cash position affected by the redemption of the ORNANE bonds maturing on July 1, 2023 in the amount of approximately 29 million.

The Company specifies that, excluding the proceeds of the issue, its net working capital is sufficient to meet its obligations and operating cash flow requirements for the next twelve months. The net proceeds from the issue received in cash will be used to strengthen the Group's cash position to achieve its strategic objectives.

Terms of the New Offering

The Company's existing shareholders, registered as of June 30, 2023, will benefit from a priority subscription period of 4 trading days, from July 3 to July 6 (inclusive), on the amount of the New Offering. Shares not subscribed for under the priority subscription period will be the subject of a global offering (the "Global Offering") comprising (i) a public offering in France, primarily intended for retail investors (the "Public Offering"); and (ii) a global placement directed to institutional investors (the "Global Placement") comprising: (x) an offering in France intended for qualified investors; and (y) an international offering to qualified investors in certain countries (except in the United States of America, Japan, Australia and Canada).

Orders placed as part of the Public Offering and the Global Placement will be subject to reduction depending on the results of the subscriptions on an irreducible basis (a titre irreductible) during the priority period.

The subscription price for the new shares as part of the priority subscription period, the Public Offering and the Global Placement is 1.65 per share.

The maximum number of new shares that may be issued in connection with the capital increase is 12,121,212 new shares (13,939,393 if the extension option is exercised in full). The definitive number of shares to be issued will be determined at the close of the Global Placement, on July 12, 2023 (see "Structure of the offering and indicative timetable" below).

Subscription commitments

Lafayette Investment Holdings ("LIH"), a creditor of the Company by virtue of a loan agreement in the form of a Promissory Note dated July 1, 2022 for a principal amounting to US$15,273,058.46, has irrevocably undertaken to subscribe for a maximum amount of 15,000,000 (corresponding to the subscription of a maximum of 9,090,909 new shares, i.e. 75% of the New Offering, excluding the exercise of the extension option) by total or partial set-off against its due and payable claim against the Company.

The Company is not aware of the intentions of its other shareholders or any other potential investors in relation to their participation to the New Offering.

Abstention and Lock-up undertakings

The Company has agreed on a lock-up period expiring 90 calendar days following the date of settlement-delivery of the new shares, subject to certain customary exceptions set out in the note d'operation and to a possible waiver by the Global Coordinator (as defined below).

LIH has agreed to a lock-up period on the new shares that it would be allocated of 90 calendar days from the settlement-delivery date of the new shares, subject to certain customary exceptions.

Pierre Cesarini and Elendil, a company he controls, have also agreed to a lock-up period on the existing shares they hold of 90 calendar days from the settlement-delivery date of the new shares, subject to certain customary exceptions. Pierre Cesarini and Elendil will not participate to the New Offering, as it was also contemplated under the Initial Offering.

Underwriting

The New Offering will be the subject of a placement and underwriting agreement between the Company and Bryan Garnier Securities (the "Global Coordinator") (the "Placement and Guarantee Agreement"), which may be terminated by the Global Coordinator at any time up to (and including) the settlement-delivery date, subject to certain conditions customary for this type of agreement.

If the Placement and Underwriting Agreement is not signed, the New Offering will be cancelled. If the Placement and Underwriting Agreement is not signed or is terminated, this information will be the subject of a press release issued by the Company and a notice issued by Euronext.

The Placement and Underwriting Agreement does not constitute a performance guarantee (garantie de bonne fin) within the meaning of Article L. 225-145 of the French Commercial Code.

In the event of insufficient demand, the New Offering may be cancelled or reduced to the subscription orders actually received as long as they represent at least 75% of the target amount of the New Offering, the New Offering being cancelled below this threshold. If the New Offering was to be cancelled, all subscription orders received would then become null and void and cancelled retroactively. It is however specified in this respect that the issue of new shares is subject to an irrevocable subscription commitment representing 75% of the initial amount of the New Offering.

Key terms of the capital increase

Issue amount and number of new shares to be issued

The initial amount of the capital increase (including the issue premium) is 20 million, which can be increased to a maximum amount of 23 million if the extension option is exercised in full. The maximum number of new shares that may be issued in connection with the capital increase is 12,121,212 (13,939,393 if the extension option is exercised in full).

Structure of the offering and indicative timetable

Priority subscription period

The capital increase will be carried out without shareholders' preferential subscription rights and with a priority subscription period for shareholders on an irreducible basis (a titre irreductible) for a 4 trading days duration, from July 3, 2023 to July 6, 2023 (inclusive) at 5:00 p.m. CEST, granted to shareholders of record on June 30, 2023.

Within the priority subscription period, the Company's shareholders may subscribe for the initial amount of the New Offering on an irreducible basis only, at the prorata of their participation in the Company's share capital.

In practical terms, each shareholder may place a priority subscription order in euros for a maximum amount corresponding to (i) 20 million multiplied by (ii) the number of shares of the Company he or she holds (and placed in a blocked account for that purpose) as at June 30, 2023 and divided by (iii) 45,990,070 (number of outstanding shares to date).

For illustration purposes, a shareholder holding 4,599 shares, i.e. 0.01% of the capital, may subscribe on an irreducible basis for a maximum amount equal to 0.01% of the target amount of the New Offering, i.e. up to 2,000, with the certainty of being served in full, whether the actual size of the New Offering is 100%, 75%, or 115% of the initial amount.

Global Placement and Public Offering

New shares not subscribed within the priority subscription period will be subject to a Global Offering, comprised of:

a Public Offering, to be opened in France only, starting on July 3, 2023 and ending on July 7, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. CEST for subscriptions made in person ( souscriptions aux guichets ) (8:00 p.m. CEST for online orders if this possibility is offered to them by their financial intermediary), and

) (8:00 p.m. CEST for online orders if this possibility is offered to them by their financial intermediary), and a Global Placement for institutional investors, from July 3, 2023 to July 7, 2023 (inclusive) at 5:00 p.m. CEST, comprising: an offering in France directed to qualified investors; and an international offering to qualified investors in certain countries (except in the United States of America, Japan, Australia and Canada).



Shareholders who wish to subscribe for more than the number of shares they can claim under the exercise of the priority period must place an order in the context of the Global Offering, it being specified that the existing shareholders do not benefit from any priority in such case.

Orders placed in the Public Offering and the Global Placement will be subject to clawback depending on the results of the subscriptions on an irreducible basis (a titre irreductible) during the priority period.

The subscription price of the new shares offered under the priority period and the Public Offering will be equal to the subscription price of the new shares offered under the Global Placement, i.e. 1.65 (the "New Offering Price"). The New Offering Price reflects (i) a discount of 2.1 to the volume-weighted average price of the Company's shares over the last three trading sessions prior to the date of commencement of the New Offering, i.e. July 3, 2023 and (ii) a discount of 2.3 to the closing price prior to the date of commencement of the New Offering, i.e. July 3, 2023.

The definitive number of shares to be issued will be determined at the close of the Global Placement and will be the subject of a subsequent press release.

Indicative timetable

Monday, July 3, 2023 Opening of the priority subscription period, the Public Offering and the Global Placement. Availability of the Prospectus (in French) Publication of the Euronext notice of the opening of the New Offering Thursday, July 6, 2023 Closing of the priority subscription period at 5:00 p.m. CEST for subscriptions made in person (souscriptions aux guichets) and 8:00 p.m. CEST for online orders (if this possibility is offered to them by their financial intermediary) Friday, July 7, 2023 Closing of the Public Offering at 5:00 p.m. CEST for subscriptions made in person (souscriptions aux guichets) and 8:00 p.m. CEST for online orders (if this possibility is offered to them by their financial intermediary) Closing of the Global Placement at 5:00 p.m. CEST Wednesday, July 12, 2023 Determination of the final terms of the capital increase (including the exercise of the extension option, if applicable) Execution of the Placement and Underwriting Agreement Press release announcing the results of the New Offering Publication by Euronext of the New Offering results notice Monday, July 17, 2023 Issuance and settlement-delivery of the new shares to be issued in the context of the New Offering Admission to trading of the new shares on Euronext Paris.

Advisors

Bryan Garnier Securities is acting as global coordinator for the New Offering. Hogan Lovells (Paris) LLP is acting as legal advisor to the Company in connection with the New Offering. Jeantet AARPI is acting as legal advisor to the global coordinator in connection with the New Offering.

Availability of the Prospectus (in French)

Claranova has filed with the French financial market authority (Autorite des Marches Financiers or AMF) (i) its Universal Registration Document for FY 2021-2022 on October 31, 2022 (No. D.22-0788) (the "URD"),(ii) an amendment to the URD filed with the AMF on June 15, 2023 (No. D.22-0788-A01) incorporating by reference the half year financial report for the six-month period ended December 31, 2022 and published on March 30, 2023 on the Company's website (the "URD Amendment 1"), and (iii) an amendment to the URD filed with the AMF on June 30, 2023 (No. D. 22-0788-A02) (the "URD Amendment 2

The URD, the URD Amendment 1 and the URD Amendment 2 thereto are available at no cost at the websites of the Company (www.claranova.com) and the AMF (www.amf-france.org).

The prospectus (in French), having received approval No. 23-269 dated June 30, 2023 (the "Prospectus"), consists of (i) the URD, (ii) the URD Amendment 1, (iii) the URD Amendment 2, (iv) a note d'operation or securities note (the "Note d'Operation") and (v) a summary of the Prospectus included in the Note d'Operation

It is recalled that the French version of this press release encloses as a schedule the summary of the Prospectus included in the Note d'Operation. The Prospectus is available at no cost at the websites of the Company (www.claranova.com) and the AMF (www.amf-france.org).

Risk factors

Investors are advised to carefully consider the risk factors described in Section 4 "Risk Factors" of the URD and Section 7 of the URD Amendment 1 as well as Chapter 2 of the Note d'Operation before deciding whether to invest in the new shares. Should all or any part of these risk factors materialize, Claranova's business, financials, results, development or prospects may be adversely affected.

Furthermore, should the existing shareholders not subscribe for shares within the priority period reserved for them, their percentage of participation in the capital and voting rights of the Company will be significantly reduced, without this dilution being able to be estimated at the date of the Prospectus, as the number of new shares will be fixed at the end of the subscription period. The priority period reserved for shareholders is neither negotiable nor transferable.

About Claranova:

As a diversified global technology company, Claranova manages and coordinates a portfolio of majority interests in digital companies with strong growth potential. Supported by a team combining several decades of experience in the world of technology, Claranova has acquired a unique know-how in successfully turning around, creating and developing innovative companies.

Claranova has proven its capacity to turn a simple idea into a worldwide success in just a few short years. Present in 15 countries and leveraging the technology expertise of its 800+ employees across North America and Europe, Claranova is a truly international group, with 95% of its revenue derived from international markets.

Claranova's portfolio of companies is organized into three unique technology platforms operating in all major digital sectors. As an e-commerce leader in personalized objects, Claranova also stands out for its technological expertise in software publishing and the Internet of Things, through its businesses PlanetArt, Avanquest and myDevices. These three technology platforms share a common vision: empowering people through innovation by providing simple and intuitive digital solutions that facilitate everyday access to the very best of technology.

For more information on Claranova group: https://www.claranova.com or https://twitter.com/claranova_group

DISCLAIMER

Neither this press release nor the information it contains constitute an offer to sell or subscribe, or the solicitation of an order to buy or subscribe, CLARANOVA shares in any country.

This press release constitutes promotional material and is not a prospectus within the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and the Council of 14 June 2017 (the "Prospectus Regulation

With respect to the member States of the European Economic Area, other than France (the "Member States"), no action has been undertaken or will be undertaken to make an offer to the public of the shares requiring a publication of a prospectus in one of these Member States.

This press release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale nor the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities in the United States of America or any other jurisdiction where such offer may be restricted. The shares or any other securities of CLARANOVA may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to a registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirement. The shares of CLARANOVA will be offered or sold exclusively outside of the United States and in offshore transactions, pursuant to Regulation S of the Securities Act. CLARANOVA does not intend to register the offering in whole or in part in the United States or to make a public offer in the United States.

With respect to the United Kingdom, the press release is addressed to and directed only at persons located (x) outside the United Kingdom or (y) in the United Kingdom, who are "qualified investors" (as that term is defined in the Prospectus Regulation which forms part of domestic law pursuant to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018) and to persons who (i) have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion Order 2005, as amended (the "Financial Promotion Order"), (ii) fall within Article 49(2) (a) to (d) ("high net worth companies, unincorporated associations etc.") of the Financial Promotion Order, or (iii) are persons to whom an invitation or inducement to take part in investment activities (within the meaning of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) may otherwise lawfully be communicated or passed on (the persons referred to in paragraphs (y)(i), (y)(ii) and (y)(iii) together being referred to as "Authorized Persons"). This press release is intended for Authorized Persons only and must not be acted on or relied on by anyone other than an Authorized Person.

This press release contains information about CLARANOVA's objectives and forward-looking statements. This information is not historical data and should not be construed as a guarantee that the facts and data stated will occur. This information is based on data, assumptions and estimates considered reasonable by CLARANOVA. CLARANOVA operates in a competitive and fast-changing environment. It is therefore unable to anticipate all the risks, uncertainties or other factors likely to affect its business, their potential impact on its business or the extent to which the materialization of a risk or combination of risks could have results materially different from those mentioned in any forward-looking information. CLARANOVA draws your attention to the fact that forward-looking statements are in no way a guarantee of its future performance and that its actual financial position, results and cash flows and the development of the sector in which CLARANOVA operates may differ significantly from those proposed or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this document. In addition, even if CLARANOVA's financial position, results, cash flows and developments in the industry in which it operates are consistent with the forward-looking information contained in this document, such results or developments may not be a reliable indication of CLARANOVA's future results or developments. This information is given only as of the date of this press release. CLARANOVA undertakes no obligation to publicly update this information or the assumptions on which it is based, except as may be required by law or regulation.

The distribution of this press release may be subject to specific regulations in certain countries. Consequently, persons physically present in these countries and in which the press release is disseminated, published or distributed shall inform themselves about and comply with these laws and regulations.

This press release may not be published, communicated, transmitted or distributed, directly or indirectly, in the United States of America, Australia, Canada or Japan.

Bryan Garnier Securities (the Global Coordinator ") is acting exclusively for CLARANOVA and no one else in connection with the offer of new shares and will not regard any other person as their respective clients and will not be responsible to anyone other than CLARANOVA for providing the protections afforded to their respective clients in connection with any offer of new shares of CLARANOVA or otherwise, nor for providing any advice in relation to the offer of new shares, the content of this press release or any transaction, arrangement or other matter referred to herein.

In connection with the offering of ordinary shares of CLARANOVA, the Global Coordinator, as well as any of its affiliates, may acquire ordinary shares for their own account and in such capacity hold, acquire, dispose of or offer to dispose of for their own account such shares and any other securities of CLARANOVA or related investments in connection with the offering of ordinary shares of CLARANOVA or otherwise. Accordingly, references in the Prospectus to the new ordinary shares being issued, offered, subscribed, acquired, placed or otherwise dealt in should be read as including any issue or offer to, or subscription, acquisition, placing or dealing by the Global Coordinator and any of its affiliates acting in such capacity. In addition the Global Coordinator may enter into financing arrangements (including swaps or contracts for differences) with investors in connection with which they may from time to time acquire, hold or dispose of securities. It does not intend to disclose the extent of any such investment or transactions otherwise than in accordance with any legal or regulatory obligation to do so.

Neither the Global Coordinator, nor any of their respective directors, officers, employees, advisers or agents, accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for or makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information in this press release (or whether any information has been omitted from the announcement) or any other information relating to CLARANOVA, its subsidiaries or associated companies, whether written, oral or in a visual or electronic form, and howsoever transmitted or made available or for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this announcement or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith.

CODES

Ticker:? CLA

ISIN: FR0013426004

www.claranova.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630009480/en/

Contacts:

ANALYSTS INVESTORS

+33 1 41 27 19 74

ir@claranova.com

FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION

+33 1 75 77 54 68

ir@claranova.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Surge Battery Metals Inc. (TSXV: NILI) ("NILI" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has engaged Braden Jensen, C.A., as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), while Robert Guanzon has tendered his resignation as CFO, effective June 30th, 2023.

Mr. Jensen obtained his formal training with KPMG LLP. Before transitioning to the resource industry, he worked in the public practice sector for 6 years, concentrating in commodities-based accounting and tax. He was then employed at Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. and was involved in mineral exploration, construction, and operations reporting, prior to joining Copper Fox Metals Inc. as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Jensen is currently the Chief Financial Officer of District Copper Corp.

The Company would like to thank Mr. Guanzon for his contributions to the Company and wish him the best with his future endeavours.

To find out more about Surge Battery Metals Inc. please contact Investor Relations at (604) 662-8184 or email at info@surgebatterymetals.com.

SURGE BATTERY METALS INC.

"Greg Reimer"

CEO, Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this 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 used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "intend", "may", "schedule" and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals including approvals of title and mining rights or licenses and environmental, local community or indigenous community approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, changes in laws, rules and regulations in Gabon or any other jurisdiction which may impact upon the Company or its properties or the commercial exploitation of those properties, currency risks including the exchange rate of USD$ for Cdn$ or other currencies, fluctuations in the market for gold/silver and potash or potash related products, changes in exploration costs and government royalties, export policies or taxes in Gabon or any other jurisdiction and other factors or information. The Company's current plans, expectations and intentions with respect to development of its business and of the Banio Potash Project may be impacted by economic uncertainties arising out of Covid-19 pandemic or by the impact of current financial and other market conditions on its ability to secure further financing or funding of the Banio Potash Project. Such statements represent the Company's 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, environmental 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 affections such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/172045
Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc. (TSXV: MOS) ("Mobi724" or the "Company"), a fintech enabler of AI-powered payment card-linked solutions, announces that further to its news release dated May 2, 2023, the Autorite des Marches Financiers ("AMF"), the Company's principal regulator, issued a management cease trade order ("MCTO") dated May 2, 2023, in accordance with National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203").

The Company applied for a MCTO in anticipation of missing its filing deadlines of April 30, 2023, to file the annual audited financial statements and accompanying management's discussion and analysis and related CEO and CFO certificates for the period ended December 31, 2022 (collectively, the "Annual Filings"), as required under applicable Canadian securities laws. The delay was caused as a result of the Company's former auditor not renewing its mandate and due to the long process of finding a replacement.

Marcel Vienneau, the CEO of the Company, said: "Despite all the efforts exerted by the Company to find a new auditor and due to the known lack of resources which many auditing firms are experiencing in this economy, it took 5 months to find a new auditor." On May 8th, 2023, the new auditor firm MNP LLP accepted the audit mandate and began the process of carrying out the audit and allocated the necessary resources to complete the review of the Company, during the period ended December 31, 2022.

The Company announced on June 15, 2023, that the auditors would not be able to finish the audit and that the Company will not be in a position to file the Annual Filings by June 30, 2023, as was endeavored within the MCTO order.

As a result, a general cease trade order ("CTO") has been issued by the Canadian Securities Administrators (AMF being the principal regulator) and the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization ("CIRO") has halted the Company stock. The Company reassures its shareholders, investors and the general public that the cause of the CTO is strictly due to the delay in engaging a new auditor and the available resources allocated to the audit by the auditors. The Company is continuing to operate in the normal course of business and fulfilling its commercial contracts and obligations. The Company intends to immediately apply for a revocation of CTO as soon as the Annual Filings are duly filed.

About Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc.

Every Transaction is An Opportunity

Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc. (TSX-V: MOS) is an AI powered fintech company which provides a platform, that enables banks and merchants to offer their customers real-time payment card-linked incentives, in a white-label format. Mobi724's objective is to add a layer of AI-driven actionable intelligence to every payment transaction, creating engaging consumer experiences & generating incremental commercial opportunities to its clients. Learn more at mobi724.com.

Legal Disclaimer

Mobi724 cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by Mobi724 are subject to risks and uncertainties, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item 'Risk Factors and Uncertainties' in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis, available on SEDAR. Any forward-looking statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. Mobi724 cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Mobi724's control. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Mobi724 undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

THIS NEWS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION TO BUY OR SELL ANY SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES AND IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

Investor Relations:

For further information, please visit www.MOBI724.com or contact:

Marcel Vienneau, CEO

Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc.

T: 514-394-5200 ir@mobi724.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/172107
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Pool Safe Inc. (TSXV: POOL) ("Pool Safe" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of the second tranche of its previously announced non-brokered debenture financing (the "Debenture Financing"). The Company closed on 670 Debenture Units ("Debenture Units") for gross proceeds of $670,000.

Under the terms of the Debenture Financing, each Debenture Unit consists of (a) one $1,000 face value debenture ("Debenture"), and (b) 28,500 common share bonus warrants of the Company (the "Financing Warrants"). The Debentures mature thirty-six (36) months from the date of the issuance (the "Maturity Date"), and bear interest at a rate of eight percent (8%) per annum (the "Interest"). Each Financing Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one (1) common share of the Company ("Common Share") at an exercise price of $0.05 for a period of 36 months from the closing date of the Debenture Financing (the "Closing Date"). If at any time the Common Shares trade at higher than $0.15 per Common Share (on a volume weighted average basis) for a period of 20 consecutive trading days (the "Early Expiry Event"), the Company has the right to accelerate the expiry date of the Financing Warrants by providing the holder with written notice of an Early Expiry Event (the "Early Expiry Notice"). The period whereby the holder is entitled to exercise any portion of outstanding Financing Warrants shall expire 30 calendar days following the date on which the company provides Early Expiry Notice to holders (the "Early Expiry Date"). Furthermore, if a portion of the Debentures are repaid during the first year following the Closing Date, a proportional number of the Financing Warrants shall have their term reduced to the later of one year from the Closing Date and 30 days from repayment of that portion of the Debenture.

All Debentures and Financing Warrants issued pursuant to the Debenture Financing are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus one day from the date of issuance, in accordance with applicable securities legislation. As part of the second tranche of the Debenture Financing, the Company may pay finder's fees of 8% as permitted by the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). The Company intends to use approximately 30% of the net proceeds from the Debenture Financing to increase its inventory and production capacity for future Loungenie builds. In addition, approximately 10% of the net proceeds will be used to evolve the Company's communication technology and enhance its Loungenie's IoT capabilities. The remainder of the net proceeds will be applied to working capital and general corporate purposes.

The Company has raised $1,090,000 through the sales of 1,090 Debenture Units at a price of $1,000 per Debenture Unit.

The Company made a typographical mistake and wishes to clarify that its news releases dated June 1, 2023 and June 27, 2023, which should have stated that the Debentures in the Debenture Financing are non-convertible. The terms of the Debenture Financing remain the same as disclosed in the Company's news releases dated April 17, 2023, June 1, 2023, and June 27, 2023.

About Pool Safe Inc.

Pool Safe Inc. designs, develops and distributes a product known as the "Loungenie", which functions as a multi-purpose personal poolside attendant. The Loungenie is designed to provide safety, convenience, and peace of mind for hotels, resorts, waterparks and cruise ship guests. Functions include: lockable safe, solar-powered charger for USB compatible electronic devices including phones, cameras and tablets, in addition to a server call-button, a beverage cooler and holders. Conveniently located alongside pool or beach lounge chairs, the Loungenie is a unique way of providing vacationers with a comforting sense of security for their belongings, while they enjoy their vacation. For more information, please visit poolsafeinc.com or loungenie.com.

Pool Safe Inc. is a fully reporting publicly traded company which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "POOL".

Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such information and statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements" are made as of the date of this press release or as of the date of the effective date of information described in this press release, as applicable. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by use of words such as "outlook", "expects", "intend", "forecasts", "anticipates", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "envisages, "assumes", "needs", "strategy", "goals", "objectives", or variations thereof, or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "can", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms or similar expressions, and other similar terminology) are not statements of historical fact and are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. 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 forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: information with respect to the Debenture Financing and the use of proceeds from the Debenture Financing.

Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including but not limited to, use of the proceeds from the Debenture Financing, the general state of the economy will not materially worsen and Pool Safe is able to sustain its level of sales and earning margins. Pool Safe considers these assumptions to be reasonable in the circumstances. However, there can be no assurance that any one or more of the operational or financial targets as set out herein will be achieved.

Inherent in the forward-looking statements are known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to, risks associated with the failure of Pool Safe's inability to effectively use the proceeds of the Debenture Financing and Pool Safe's inability to develop and implement a business plan in general and for any reason whatsoever. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive.

Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The forward-looking statements contained herein are current as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, Pool Safe does not have any obligation to advise any person if it becomes aware of any inaccuracy in or omission from any forward-looking statement, nor does it intend, or assume any obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new events or circumstances. Any and all forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement, and except as otherwise indicated, are made as of the date of this press release.

Pool Safe Inc.

Steven Glaser

C.O.O. & C.F.O.

E: sglaser@poolsafeinc.com

T: 416-630-2444

Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/172117
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Timeless Capital Corp. (TSXV: TLC.P) ("Timeless") and Renaissance BioScience Corp. ("Renaissance" or the "Company") are pleased to announce the close of the non-brokered refinancing ("Refinancing") of the Company's existing $5,000,000 principal amount of 12% secured convertible debentures maturing on June 30, 2023 ("Existing Debentures"). Pursuant to the Refinancing, the Company issued a first tranche of $5,560,000 principal amount of 15% secured convertible debentures maturing on June 30, 2025 ("New Debentures"). Holders of the Existing Debentures either exchanged their Existing Debentures for New Debentures or they were repaid with the proceeds from the sale of New Debentures to other subscribers.

Completion of the Refinancing of Existing Debentures is to satisfy a requirement of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV" or the "Exchange") that the Resulting Issuer (as defined below) have sufficient working capital and financial resources to execute its business plan for a period of 12 months following listing and was therefore a necessary step in order to receive final approval of the Company's previously announced business combination with Timeless (the "Transaction"). Completion of the Transaction remains subject to the Company completing its previously announced brokered private placement of units for minimum gross proceeds of $2,700,000 (the "Concurrent Financing"). For further details relating to the Transaction and the Concurrent Financing, please refer to Timeless' news release dated April 24, 2023 and further details in this press release below.

Refinancing Summary

In connection with the Refinancing, the holders of Existing Debentures ("Existing Debentureholders") were offered the Refinancing terms, and any Existing Debentureholders which elected for repayment at June 30, 2023, were replaced by new subscribers ("New Debentureholders"), all being existing shareholders of the Company who wished to increase their investment in the Company. In addition, the Company's board of directors approved an increase to the principal amount of the outstanding convertible debentures to $5,750,000 to provide the Company with additional working capital.

Under the terms of the Refinancing, Existing Debentureholders exchanged their Existing Debentures and New Debentureholders subscribed for an aggregate of $5,560,000 principal amount of New Debentures. Interest accrues on the New Debentures at a rate of 15% per annum, payable quarterly up to and including the maturity date of June 30, 2025 (the "Extended Maturity Date"). In addition, each $1,000 principal amount of New Debentures entitles the holder to 740 common share purchase warrants of the Company (the "Warrants") for a total of 4,114,400 Warrants. After giving effect to a three (3) for one (1) share split which is to become effective prior to completion of the Transaction (the "Share Split"), each $1,000 principal amount of New Debentures would entitle the holder to 2,220 Warrants for a total of 12,343,200 Warrants. The remaining principal amount of New Debentures available to be subscribed totals $190,000, which, if closed, would result in the issuance of an additional 140,600 Warrants of the Company pre-Share Split (421,800 Warrants post-Share Split).

The principal amount of the New Debentures is convertible into common shares of the Company at the option of the holder for $1.35 per common share pre-Share Split ($0.45 post-Share Split) if converted before the Extended Maturity Date and the Warrants are exercisable into one common share of the Company at $1.35 per common share pre-Share Split ($0.45 post-Share Split) for up to 24 months after the Company completes a go public event such as the Transaction. The New Debentures would be convertible into an equivalent number of common shares of Timeless after giving effect to the Transaction (the "Resulting Issuer") and the Warrants would be exchanged for warrants of the Resulting Issuer having equivalent terms.

The New Debentures are secured by all the issued and pending patents for the Company's acrylamide-reducing yeast ("ARY") technologies, and the revenues generated by the Company, or its subsidiaries, from commercial agreements using ARY technologies. The New Debentures include a provision which allows for the Company to repay all or a portion of the New Debentures before maturity, at which point it shall pay the holder an early redemption premium on the principal amount equal to 10% for redemptions occurring from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 and 5% for redemptions occurring from July 1, 2024 to the Extended Maturity Date.

Concurrent Financing

The Company is in the process of completing its Concurrent Financing of a private placement of units prior to finalization of the Transaction with each unit entitling the holder to one Renaissance Class B share and one Renaissance Class B Warrant exercisable at a price of $0.65 per share for a term of 24 months from the closing of the Transaction as more particularly described in the Filing Statement (as defined below).

Subsequent to the issuance of the Filing Statement, the Company determined to reduce the minimum amount of the Concurrent Financing from $3,600,000 to $2,700,000, based on a review of the total estimated available funds and expenditures required to achieve near term business objectives. Should the Company close on the new minimum Concurrent Financing, it is anticipated that the Company would have to operate at a lower burn rate, which may impact the timing of the achievement of certain projected Milestones (as defined below).

The maximum Concurrent Financing amount remains at $5,000,000 or any other such amount as agreed between the Company and the agent, pursuant to the terms of the agency agreement. Each RBSC Class B Share and RBSC Class B Warrant issued pursuant to the Concurrent Financing will be exchanged for one Timeless common share and one warrant of Timeless pursuant to the terms of the Transaction.

Filing Statement

On May 12, 2023, in connection with the Transaction and pursuant to the requirements of the Exchange, Timeless filed a filing statement (the "Filing Statement") on its issuer profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), which contains relevant details regarding the Transaction, Timeless, Renaissance and the Resulting Issuer upon completion of the Transaction. The following information is intended to update the information previously disclosed in the Filing Statement from the Refinancing and reduced minimum Concurrent Financing. Capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein will have the definition ascribed thereto in the Filing Statement.

Pro Forma Consolidated Capitalization

The following table outlines the expected pro forma share capital and loan capital of the Resulting Issuer as at December 31, 2022 on a consolidated basis, after giving effect to all steps contemplated in the Transaction, including the Share Split and Refinancing, based on the pro forma financial statements contained in the Filing Statement:

Designation of Security Amount authorized or to be authorized Amount Outstanding After Giving Effect to the Transaction and Refinancing assuming the Minimum amount of the Concurrent Financing Amount Outstanding After Giving Effect to the Transaction and Refinancing assuming the Maximum amount of the Concurrent Financing Resulting Issuer Shares Unlimited 87,504,972 (1) 92,616,083 (1) Total share capital n/a $18,046,482 $19,631,826 Resulting Issuer Debentures $5,750,000 $5,560,000 (2) $5,560,000 (2)

Notes:

After giving effect to the Transaction, including the Share Split and Refinancing, it is anticipated that an aggregate of 42,902,177 Resulting Issuer Shares will be reserved for issuance upon the exercise of the Resulting Issuer Options and Resulting Issuer Warrants in the event of the minimum Concurrent Financing (48,013,288 Resulting Issuer Shares in the event of the maximum Concurrent Financing). Pursuant to Policy 2.4 - Capital Pool Companies ("CPC") of the TSXV, certain securities of the Resulting Issuer will be subject to escrow requirements as set out in more detail in the Filing Statement. The Resulting Issuer Debentures are convertible into Resulting Issuer Shares at $0.45 per share post-Share Split pursuant to the Refinancing. Up to an additional $190,000 principal amount of New Debentures are authorized to be issued pursuant to the Refinancing and accordingly up to an additional 421,800 Resulting Issuer Warrants may be issued in connection with the issuance of additional New Debentures. For information relating to the Transaction and Concurrent Financing, refer to the Filing Statement.

Fully Diluted Share Capital

The following table sets forth the fully-diluted share capital of the Resulting Issuer after giving effect to all steps contemplated in the Transaction:

Nature of Security Number on a Pro Forma Basis as at December 31, 2022, after giving effect to the Transaction Including Maximum Concurrent Financing Approximate Percentage of Total Exercise Price Per Resulting Issuer Share Shares Resulting Issuer Shares issued to Timeless Shareholders 4,257,009 2.7% - Resulting Issuer Shares issued to RBSC Common Shareholders 75,761,763 48.7% - Resulting Issuer Shares issued to RBSC Class B Shareholders 11,111,111 7.1% - Resulting Issuer Shares issued to RBSC HoldCo Shareholders 1,486,200 1.0% - Options Resulting Issuer Options held by RBSC Option holders 8,091,000 5.2% $0.07 to $0.45 Resulting Issuer Options held by Timeless Option holders 124,610 0.1% $0.10 Warrants Resulting Issuer Warrants held by RBSC Common Shareholders(1) 14,857,164 9.6% $0.50 Resulting Issuer Warrants held by RBSC Class B Shareholders 11,111,111 7.1% $0.65 Resulting Issuer Warrants held by holders of Renaissance New Debentures(4) 12,765,000 8.2% $0.45 Resulting Issuer Warrants held by RBSC Holdco Shareholders 1,486,200 1.0% $0.65 Resulting Issuer Shares issuable pursuant to Resulting Issuer Broker Warrants(2) 1,777,778 1.1% $0.45(2) Debentures Resulting Issuer Shares issuable upon conversion of New Debentures(3) 12,777,778 8.2% $0.45 Total Fully Diluted Share Capital: 155,606,724 100% -

Notes:

Comprised of 4,485,658 warrants currently outstanding and an additional 466,730 warrants to be issued pursuant to an adjustment provision in certain warrants based on the terms of the Concurrent Financing for an aggregate of 4,952,388 warrants (pre-Share Split) or 14,857,164 (post-Share Split). Assuming the maximum amount of the Concurrent Financing of $5,000,000, Resulting Issuer Broker Warrants to acquire an aggregate of 888,889 units at a price of $0.45 per unit would be issued with each unit being comprised of one Resulting Issuer Share and one Resulting Issuer Warrant exercisable at a price of $0.65 per share. Assuming the aggregate principal amount of up to $5,750,000 New Debentures convert into Resulting Issuer Shares at a price (adjusted for the Share Split and Refinancing) of $0.45 per Resulting Issuer Share. Comprised of the issuance of up to 4,255,000 Warrants pre-Share Split pursuant to the Refinancing (12,765,000 post-Share Split).

Estimated Available Funds

Upon completion of the Transaction, assuming the minimum gross proceeds from the Concurrent Financing and after giving effect to the Refinancing, the Resulting Issuer is expected to have available funds as follows:

Estimated Funds Available Amount Gross proceeds from the Concurrent Financing(1) $2,700,000 Estimated cash flow from operations(2) $523,000 Gross proceeds from the Refinancing(3) $560,000 Estimated consolidated working capital deficit(4) ($299,000) Total: $3,484,000

Notes:

Assuming the minimum amount of the Concurrent Financing of $2,700,000, which was reduced from the previous minimum of $3,600,000. Funds estimated to be received and not included in working capital as at May 31, 2023 during the 12 month period following the Transaction from: (a) refundable Scientific Research and Development tax credit to be claimed for periods up to the Transaction in the amount of $182,000; (b) cash royalty revenue to be received from ARY licenses to be received in the amount of $187,000; and (c) cash to be received from joint development agreement ("JDAs") contracts in the amount of $154,000. Additional gross proceeds raised during the Refinancing in excess of amounts paid to repay Existing Debentures. As at May 31, 2023, considering completion of the Refinancing which extends the maturity date to June 30, 2025, and therefore no repayment of principal required in the 12 months following May 31, 2023.

Principal Purposes

The principal purposes of the total estimated available funds of the Resulting Issuer at May 31, 2023 are as follows:

Principal Purpose Amount Payments related to the Transaction(1) $500,000 Commissions related to the Concurrent Financing(2) $216,000 Advance R&D programs(3) $738,000 Intellectual property & capital expenditures(4) $458,000 General corporate purposes & working capital(5) $818,000 Finance costs on New Debentures and loans payable(6) $654,000 Unallocated working capital $100,000 Total: $3,484,000

Notes:

Includes legal fees, auditor review fees, TSXV filing fees, transfer agent fees and other expenses incurred or expected to be incurred in connection with the Transaction. Expenses include broker commissions based on the minimum amount of Concurrent Financing. Advancing RBSC's yeast-RNAi production and delivery platform technology. The current focus is advancing RBSC's biopesticide program for multiple targets in the field trial and investigative stages. Combination of (a) annual patent fees for patents issued in various jurisdictions worldwide and responses to patent applications submitted for the Company's technologies, (b) capital expenditures for R&D programs, (c) office and laboratory leases. Funds for (a) general corporate purposes, including legal, audit, insurance, investor relations, administrative and senior management staff expenses, travel, consulting, and other general administrative expenses, and (b) continuing partnership activities for licensing/ co-development agreements. Interest on New Debentures charged at a rate of 15% per annum and payable quarterly up to and including the maturity date of June 30, 2025.

Milestones

Within 12 months following the Completion of the reduced minimum Concurrent Financing, the Company anticipates working towards several milestones ("Milestones"), including:

Milestone Target Date (Calendar Quarter) Generation 1(1) New Product Release - Acrylamide Reducing Yeast global License:

- ACRYLeast Pro in the EU market. Q4, 2023 New Product Releases - Beverage Yeast global Licence:

- New Pale Ale strain

- New low / no alcohol beer strain

Q1, 2024 Q4, 2023 Generation 2(2) Field Trials - CPB

- Complete RNAi-based biopesticide CPB trial

- Application for further CPB confirmatory trials Q3, 2023 Q4, 2023 JDAs & Academic Collaborations(3) Joint Development Agreements ("JDAs"):

- JDA to create RNAi-based biopesticide with a global pesticide company.



- JDA to improve efficiency of biofuel yeast strain. Expected to start Q2, 2023 Expected to complete Q4, 2023

Notes:

The Company's Generation 1 portfolios are not expected to be impacted materially by a reduction in the Concurrent Financing. Commercial licenses have been entered into for both the beverage yeast portfolio and the acrylamide-reducing yeast, therefore there are minimal expenditures required to realize on the royalty-based revenues from these agreements. The New Product Release Milestones for both the Arylamide Reducing Yeast global License and Beverage Yeast global License are projected to occur irrespective of any change in the proceeds from the Concurrent Financing. The reduction in the minimum amount of the Concurrent Financing is not expected to impact the core projects to further develop and commercialize the Company's RNAi-based biopesticide technologies, including the completion of field studies on the Company's first biopesticide target, the Colorado Potato Beetle ("CPB") scheduled for the summer of 2023, as well as application for further CPB confirmatory trials. Should the Company raise the new minimum Concurrent Financing, it may lead to the delay or discontinuation of certain Milestones relating to academic collaborations and JDAs below, and as included in the 12 month Milestones in the Filing Statement, due to a reduced amount of available funds post Concurrent Financing. The investigation and acceptance of additional JDAs in RNAi-based biopesticides or other opportunistic JDAs across a variety of industries such as food, beverage, and biofuels would only be pursued should contracts provide the financial means to ensure that the Company has sufficient resources to complete the JDA. A reduction in available funds largely impacting R&D expenditures and general corporate expenditures, could result in a slow of current negotiations for JDAs and discussions for collaborations and could also hinder the Company's ability to identify, negotiate, and complete the JDAs:

Milestone Original Target Date (Calendar Quarter) JDAs & Academic Collaborations Academic Collaborations:

- Enteric animal virus

- Biopesticide for forestry application Originally expected to start Q3, 2023 Originally expected to start Q3, 2023 Joint Development Agreements ("JDAs"): - JDA to create RNAi-based biopesticide with a global pesticide company. Originally expected to start Q3, 2023 - JDA to create flavour molecules for a confectionary company. Originally expected to start Q3, 2023

For more information on the various risk factors which may cause the future development and operating results to differ from those expected, please refer to the Filing Statement.

Prior Sales

Since the date of the information recently disclosed in the Filing Statement, certain shares, or securities convertible into shares, have been issued by Renaissance or RBSC Holdco as set out in the following table:

Date of Issue / Grant

Type of Securities Number of Securities Price Per Security

Exercise / Conversion Price 2023-06-26 RBSC New Debentures $5,560,000(1) N/A $1.35 2023-05-26 RBSC Holdco Units 38,900(2) $0.36 $0.65 2023-05-25 RBSC Warrants 150,000(3) N/A $1.35 2023-04-24 RBSC Options 100,000(4) N/A $1.35

Notes:

RBSC New Debentures issued pursuant to the Refinancing for an aggregate principal amount of $5,560,000 convert into Resulting Issuer Shares at a price of $1.35 per RBSC Share pre-Share Split ($0.45 post-Share Split). Issued pursuant to a private placement of units of RBSC Holdco ("RBSC Holdco Units"), where each RBSC Holdco Unit consisted of one RBSC Holdco Share and one RBSC Holdco Warrant, with each RBSC Holdco Warrant being exercisable into a RBSC Holdco Share at a price of $0.65 per RBSC Holdco Share. The RBSC Holdco Warrants expire 24 months after the date the RBSC Holdco Shares (or securities for which they are exchanged) are listed on a Recognized Exchange. Issued pursuant to a SR&ED loan, with each RBSC Warrant being exercisable into a RBSC Share at a price of $1.35 per RBSC Share pre-Share Split ($0.45 post-Share Split). The RBSC Warrants expire 24 months after the date the RBSC Shares (or securities for which they are exchanged) are listed on a Recognized Exchange. Issued pursuant to a consulting agreement, with each RBSC Option being exercisable into a RBSC Share at a price of $1.35 per RBSC Share pre-Share Split ($0.45 post-Share Split) upon vesting.

Options to Purchase Securities

The following table sets out certain information in respect of options to purchase securities of the Resulting Issuer that will be held upon completion of the Transaction:

Type of Security Aggregate Number of Securities under option

(#) Holder Category Exercise Price(5)

($) Expiry Date(6) Resulting Issuer Options 2,250,000 Proposed Officers of the Resulting Issuer(1) 0.35 8.71 years 1,774,610 Proposed and Past Non-executive Directors(2) 0.34 7.76 years 3,336,000 Employees of the Resulting Issuer(3) 0.30 6.50 years 855,000 Consultants of the Resulting Issuer(4) 0.35 7.90 years

Notes:

Consists of three executive officers of the Resulting Issuer, being Maurice Boucher (750,000 options), John Husnik (750,000 options) and Davona Walton (750,000 options). Consists of three non-executive directors of the Resulting Issuer, being Blair Jordan (465,576 options), Victor Dusik (450,000 options) and Peter Lutwyche (450,000 options) and three past non-executive directors of RBSC and Timeless, being Morris Chen (300,000 options), Shane Shircliff (15,576 options) and Daniel Lanskey (93,458 options). Consists of 24 employees. Consists of 5 consultants. Weighted average post-Share Split and Consolidation. Weighted average remaining life in years from March 31, 2023. RBSC Options expiry is 10 years from date of grant. Timeless Options expire October 29, 2023.

About Renaissance

Renaissance is a leading bioengineering company based in Vancouver, British Columbia whose platform technologies are used to develop innovative, market-ready, functional microorganisms that provide cost effective solutions to a broad range of environmental, health and industrial efficiency problems. Renaissance technologies create products for multiple end-use industries, including food & beverage, agriculture crop protection, animal and human health and energy.

About Timeless Capital Corp.

Timeless is a CPC that completed its initial public offering and obtained a listing on the Exchange in October, 2018 (trading symbol: "TLC.P"). It does not own any assets, other than cash or cash equivalents. The principal business of Timeless is to identify and evaluate opportunities for the acquisition of an interest in assets or businesses and, once identified and evaluated, to negotiate an acquisition or participation subject to acceptance by the Exchange so as to complete a qualifying transaction in accordance with the policies of the Exchange.

For further information, please contact:

Renaissance BioScience Corp. Davona Walton, CFO

Phone: (604) 822-6499 ext. 3102

Email: dwalton@renaissancebioscience.com

Cautionary Notes

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the New Debentures in the United States. The New Debentures 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 unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, unless an exemption from such registration is available.

Completion of the Transaction remains subject to a number of conditions, including without limitation, Exchange acceptance and completion of the Concurrent Financing. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Filing Statement filed in connection with the Transaction and the supplemental information set forth herein, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

All information contained in this press release with respect to Renaissance and Timeless was supplied by the parties respectively, for inclusion herein, without independent review by the other party, and each party and its directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this press release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected" "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts". "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could, "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this press release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: the Transaction and certain terms and conditions thereof; the anticipated completion of the Concurrent Financing; the use of proceeds of the Refinancing and Concurrent Financing; pro forma consolidated capitalization; fully diluted share capital; estimated available funds and principal purposes; the development of the business of Renaissance. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: future demand for Renaissance's products; the results of research and development activities; access to capital; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the delay or failure to receive third party or regulatory approvals. 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 the forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, Renaissance assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Neither 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 press release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/172118
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Deveron Corp. (TSXV: FARM) ("Deveron" or the "Company"), a leading agriculture services and data company in North America, announces that in connection with its previously announced acquisition of Stealth Ag, Inc. ("Stealth"), as set out in its press releases of May 27, 2021 and August 30, 2021, Stealth has exceeded gross revenues of US$1,250,000 during the Second Earn Out Period (as such term is defined in the press release of the Company dated May 27, 2021). As a result of achieving this milestone, the Company is required to make a one-time payment of US$50,000 (CAD$66,275), to be satisfied through the issuance of an aggregate of 220,916 common shares ("Common Shares") in the capital of the Company at a deemed price of $0.30 per Common Share. Pursuant to the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") the transaction is treated as a debt settlement and the issuance of the Common Shares remains subject to receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV. All Common Shares issued will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

In addition, the Company announced that it has granted an aggregate of 795,833 stock options (the "Options") to purchase common shares (the "Common Shares") of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.30 per Common Share and expiring on June 30, 2028, to certain directors of the Company. The common shares issuable upon exercise of the options are subject to a four-month hold period from the original date of grant.

About Deveron: Deveron is an agriculture technology company that uses data and insights to help farmers and large agriculture enterprises increase yields, reduce costs and improve farm outcomes. The company employs a digital process that leverages data collected on farms across North America to drive unbiased interpretation of production decisions, ultimately recommending how to optimize input use. Our team of agronomists and data scientists build products that recommend ways to better manage fertilizer, seed, fungicide, and other farm inputs. Additionally, we have a national network of data technicians that are deployed to collect various types of farm data, from soil to drone. Our geographic focus is the US and Canada where 1 billion acres are actively farmed annually.

For more information, please visit www.deveron.com.

Philip Linton

VP Corporate Development

Deveron Corp.

Plinton@deveron.com

Tel: 647-622-0076

"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."

This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of that phrase under Canadian securities laws. Without limitation, statements regarding future plans and objectives of the Company are forward looking statements that involve various degrees of risk. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current views with respect to possible future events and conditions and, by their nature, are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and specific to the Company. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements. The following are important factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements: changes in the world-wide price of agricultural commodities, general market conditions, risks inherent in agriculture, the uncertainty of future profitability and the uncertainty of access to additional capital. Additional information regarding the material factors and assumptions that were applied in making these forward looking statements as well as the various risks and uncertainties we face are described in greater detail in the "Risk Factors" section of our annual and interim Management's Discussion and Analysis of our financial results and other continuous disclosure documents and financial statements we file with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities which are available at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update this forward-looking information except as required by applicable law. The Company relies on litigation protection for forward looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/172116
The world of online trading often resembles a vast ocean, with various platforms serving as vessels, each with its unique attributes.

Amid this vast sea, knowing which vessel to trust can be challenging. This article closely examines one such trading platform  Rakuten Securities, through an in-depth Rakuten review. By providing a comprehensive review, we aim to equip traders with crucial insights to help them navigate the trading waters better.

Traders Union published a detailed Rakuten review and uncovers the platforms operations, offerings, strengths, and areas of improvement, bringing to light invaluable information to assist your trading decisions.

What is Rakuten Securities?

According to TU experts, Rakuten Securities is a high-risk broker, scoring a modest 2.99 out of 10 on the TU overall rating scale. This Japanese broker operates under the umbrella of the Rakuten Group Financial Corporation and caters to traders in the United States, the European Union, and the Asia-Pacific region. With a limited but significant range of trading offerings  currency pairs, precious metals, and indices  its primarily regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC). Despite certain drawbacks, the firms mission remains to offer high-tech platforms, favorable trading conditions, and superior client support.

Advantages and disadvantages of Rakuten Securities

As per the insights from the Traders Union experts, Rakuten Securities exhibits a unique set of advantages and disadvantages. Heres a detailed look:

Advantages of Rakuten Securities:

Low Minimum Deposit : Rakuten Securities stands out for its minimal deposit requirement of just $50. This low barrier to entry makes it an attractive platform for beginners and low-budget traders wanting to dip their toes into the financial markets without committing a significant amount of capital upfront.

: Rakuten Securities stands out for its minimal deposit requirement of just $50. This low barrier to entry makes it an attractive platform for beginners and low-budget traders wanting to dip their toes into the financial markets without committing a significant amount of capital upfront. Narrow Fixed Spreads : Traders on Rakuten Securities can enjoy narrow fixed spreads starting from just 0.5 pips. These tight spreads can significantly enhance trading efficiency by reducing transaction costs, thus improving trading outcomes.

: Traders on Rakuten Securities can enjoy narrow fixed spreads starting from just 0.5 pips. These tight spreads can significantly enhance trading efficiency by reducing transaction costs, thus improving trading outcomes. ASIC Licensing: One of the critical strengths of Rakuten Securities lies in its regulatory status. It holds a license from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), one of the worlds most reputable financial regulators. This regulation attests to the platforms reliability and provides traders with a layer of protection against potential unfair practices.

Disadvantages of Rakuten Securities:

Absence of Cent Accounts : Rakuten Securities does not offer cent (micro) accounts. Such accounts, denominating the balance in cents instead of dollars, are often preferred by beginners who wish to gain practical trading experience without exposing themselves to significant risk. The lack of this feature could limit the platforms appeal among novice traders.

: Rakuten Securities does not offer cent (micro) accounts. Such accounts, denominating the balance in cents instead of dollars, are often preferred by beginners who wish to gain practical trading experience without exposing themselves to significant risk. The lack of this feature could limit the platforms appeal among novice traders. Limited Platform Access : Traders on Rakuten Securities do not have access to the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform or MetaTrader 4 (MT4) web version. Given the widespread popularity of these platforms among traders for their advanced functionalities and user-friendly interfaces, this restricted access is a disadvantage.

: Traders on Rakuten Securities do not have access to the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform or MetaTrader 4 (MT4) web version. Given the widespread popularity of these platforms among traders for their advanced functionalities and user-friendly interfaces, this restricted access is a disadvantage. Limited Range of Trading Instruments : Rakuten Securities offers a rather limited range of trading instruments. For instance, traders cannot trade on this platform in cryptocurrencies, stocks, binary options, futures, or bonds. This restriction may not sit well with traders seeking a diverse portfolio.

: Rakuten Securities offers a rather limited range of trading instruments. For instance, traders cannot trade on this platform in cryptocurrencies, stocks, binary options, futures, or bonds. This restriction may not sit well with traders seeking a diverse portfolio. Geographical Restrictions : The broker does not provide services to traders from Russia and Ukraine. This regional restriction could be a significant disadvantage for potential clients from these regions.

: The broker does not provide services to traders from Russia and Ukraine. This regional restriction could be a significant disadvantage for potential clients from these regions. Lack of Russian Language Support: Another notable drawback is the absence of a Russian version of Rakuten Securities website. This lack of language support could pose accessibility issues for Russian-speaking traders.

Evaluation of the most influential parameters of Rakuten Securities

As TU experts indicate, a comprehensive review involves understanding multiple parameters influencing a brokers operations. Rakuten Securities presents mixed scores in various areas: User Satisfaction (3.64/10), Regulation and Safety (3.93/10), Commissions and Fees (3.57/10), Variety of Instruments (3.35/10), Brand Popularity (3.51/10), Customer Support work (3.87/10), and Education (4.09/10).

Trading conditions for Rakuten Securities users

Trading conditions at Rakuten Securities may not align with every traders preferences. The broker offers limited trading instruments, with leverage topping at 1:400 (1:100 for standard accounts). An absence of options like cryptocurrencies, stocks, or futures could be a deterrent for some. However, the provision of multiple account currencies, several replenishment/withdrawal options, and an affiliate program do add to its appeal.

Rakuten Securities commissions & fees

An analysis by Traders Union specialists reveals that Rakuten Securities does not impose charges on deposits or withdrawals. While specific payment system fees exist for withdrawals, deposits remain fee-free, which may appeal to many traders.

In addition to Rakuten Securities, Traders Union has also analyzed and published the review of the Earn2Trade Forex broker. To read a detailed and insightful review, please visit the official website of Traders Union.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Rakuten Securities presents a mixed bag of offerings. While certain aspects like low minimum deposit and a reputable regulatory bodywork in its favor, some limitations in trading instruments and regional exclusions may deter specific traders. Like any trading platform, its suitability largely depends on individual traders requirements and preferences. We encourage readers to visit the Traders Unions official website for a more detailed understanding and comparative reviews.
RevRoad, a Provo, UT-based venture services firm, raised over $15M in funding.

The round was led by private investors.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach.

RevRoad is a venture services firm that focuses on supporting entrepreneurs and assisting them in reaching milestones, while focusing on expanding services to the East Coast. Its team works with founders in 12 service areas for up to 24 months. RevRoad further supports startups through its sister company, RevRoad Capital, a traditional venture capital firm that provides funding to companies inside and outside the RevRoad portfolio.

RevRoad has already serviced 73 portfolio companies and helped raise their valuations to a combined enterprise value of more than $1.5 billion. The company appointed Tony Allen as president of its new Orlando office to work with entrepreneurs and startups in the Florida area. Allen has worked for Zoom, Disney, and many other enterprises to produce large scale events worldwide, and has extensive experience scaling business operations and professional services.

FinSMEs

30/06/2023
Symfonia, a Warsaw, Poland-based provider of business ERP and payroll software solutions for SMEs, received a majority investment from Accel-KKR.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory and antitrust approvals.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth across the B2B software sector.

Led by CEO Piotr Ciski, Symfonia specializes in business ERP and payroll software solutions for SMEs in Poland. It offers business-critical FMS/ERP/Payroll/HCM software to a diversified customer base of over 50,000 SMEs. It has recently transitioned from a licensing model to subscription, and currently is at the forefront of the shift to the cloud.

MidEuropa acquired Symfonia in March 2021 in a carve-out from Sage Group plc, and supported management in delivering a separation of the company from its corporate owner. In the past two years, Symfonia has leveraged MidEuropas network and sector expertise to undertake an operational and digital transformation, which has allowed it to enhance its cloud and SaaS (Software as a Service) capabilities and to upgrade its organic growth profile.

Since MidEuropas acquisiton, Symfonia has added to strong organic growth with three high quality acquisitions, namely:

 Reset2, one of the leading payroll software providers in Poland

 Cloud Planet, native cloud-based solution provider for micro & small customer segment in Poland

 HRTec, provider of cloud HR management software

FinSMEs

30/06/2023

S
According to report published in Newsweek, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have officially vacated their Frogmore Cottage home after being asked to give up the property on the Windsor Castle estate earlier this year, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace confirmed. The property, known as Frogmore Cottage, was a wedding present to the couple from Harrys grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, in 2018.

As per Daily Telegraph, that: The Duke and Duchess have paid for the expenditure incurred by the Sovereign Grant in relation to the renovation of Frogmore Cottage, thus leaving the Crown with a greatly enhanced asset.

The report on Newsweek says that in a briefing given to journalists covering the publication of the annual Sovereign Grant Reportthe breakdown of the monarchys public funding expenditurethe spokesperson said that the couple had removed the last of their belongings from the property.

Harry and Meghan were given the use of the cottage by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019 when the couple were expecting their first baby. The property had originally been staff accommodation and required structural refurbishment and redecoration before it could be made habitable.

In 2020, when the couple announced they were seeking to change their working roles within the monarchy, they stated their intention to retain the use of Frogmore Cottage with the permission of Queen Elizabeth, who still owned the property.

When the couple stepped down fully from their working royal roles and moved permanently to the U.S. in 2020, the Frogmore Cottage arrangement did not change. However, the couple repaid the estimated $3.2 million of public money (through the sovereign grant) spent on its structural refurbishments. They were reportedly asked to leave in January this year, following the publication of Prince Harrys controversial memoir Spare which showed the British royal family in bad light.

Since their move to the U.S., Harry and Meghan made only two public stays at Frogmore. One with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, for Queen Elizabeths Platinum Jubilee in June 2022, and another for the period following the Queens death that September.

Harry, Meghan are prostituting their titles

Earlier Firstpost reported on Harry and Meghan prostituting their titles. Even as they turn their noses up on royal tradition, both Meghan and Harry always wanted to carry their title of princess and prince and even the tradition of hereditary privileges. According to reports as Harry put it, they always wanted their kids to have their birth rights to be Prince and he has done everything in his power.

Harry and Meghan has made a lot of money through the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan and Harrys controversial memoir Spare. They knew that they wouldnt have made this money has they been members of the royal family. It is very demeaning that Harry and Meghna are prostituting their titles to make more money.

Money-minded Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are prostituting their titles and the Royal Family to make more money, says Talk TV contributor Esther Krakue. What is really odd is the fact that Harry and Meghan felt insulted when they found out at the time that their children wouldnt be eligible to be Prince and Princess, she told Sky News host Caroline Di Russo.

Harry and Meghans rumoured divorce

On the other hand, there is a lot of toxicity around Harry and Meghans marriage and there are news coming from experts and also Meghans half sister 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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According to Fox New Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may be facing legal action. In a documentary series about their lives released last year, it was claimed that a majority of the negative comments posted online about the duke and duchess were from a few accounts, and YouTuber Shallon Lesters image was shown as an example of one of those accounts.

Lester has made several videos discussing Harry and Markles relationship, but in a new video she shared yesterday, she is taking issue with their use of her image. Believe me when I say Im pursuing every opportunity  my lawyers gonna be mad at me  to nail their a to the wall for this, she declared in the video. Its defamation, its slander, its mischaracterization. And you know what else it is? Misinformation.

She further added, Meghan and Harry cant seem to accept the plain truth: people dont like them. They dont like them on a micro level, people like me, where Im like, I can see what a sty a person you are, Meghan. I can see how manipulative you are.

Lester continued addressing Markle, And truly if you wanted to make content, bro, do it about that. I would watch the heck out of a TED Talk with you saying, Heres how to get your teeth into a rich man. Heres how to divide him from a family thats going to take something off your plate.'

She did not share any further details of any plans for a possible lawsuit, though she did go on to discuss the Spotify controversy.

Meghan and Harrys Spotify controversy

Harry & Meghans Archetypes failed, Spotify paid Duchess more than $18 million. Meghan Markle is alos accused of faking interviews for Spotify podcast. According to reports, industry sources claim the Duchess got staff to do chats with Archetypes guests then had audio of her voice edited in to the final episodes. Meghan Markle has been accused of faking several interviews for her axed Archetypes podcast by industry sources who claim that the Duchess had staff members on the show conduct interviews with her guests, before audio of her voice was edited into the final episodes. Spotify paid Meghan Markle more than $18 million for her Archetypes podcast? Meghan and Harrys show Archetypes fails make profit, Spotify cuts 200 jobs.

The Daily Mail reported that the allegations, which come just days after it was revealed the Sussexes $20 million deal with Spotify had been ended in a mutual agreement, were reported by podcast-focused outlet Podnews. According to the site, multiple sources have claimed that some interviews on the show were done by other staffers, with questions edited-in afterwards, although Podnews did not highlight any specific episodes where this might have applied.

The podcast has also been the center of a few controversies, including spreading misinformation on Covid-19 vaccine. The show was also accused of making anti-semitic comments and using racial slurs. Earlier reports claimed that Spotify paid Harry and Markle $25 million for singing for a lucrative audio deal.

According to GB News after Meghans Archetypes podcast was scrapped by Spotify following just one series, some have suggested that the couples empire is crumbling. Royal expert Angela Levin has said to The Sun Online that any future projects between the couple will be a disaster. Their value isnt as high as it once was.

Spotify recently dropped Meghan Markles podcast on its platform, citing its failure to meet the productivity benchmark. Page Six have reported that Spotify has called Meghan and Prince Harry as lazy and f**king grifters over the matter. The couples content creation label, Archewell Audio, confirmed in a joint statement with Spotify that the podcast would be axed. It read: Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together.

The termination of deal by Spotify comes amid reports of financial crunch being faced by Meghan and Harry. As per reports, the bill for the couples private security detail amounts to about $2 million a year. Added to that is the cost being incurred by Harry over his legal tussles. Theyre not broke. But theyre going to have to keep spending their money, instead of banking it, said a source quoted by Page Six.

Markle also took a blow after comments made by Jeremy Zimmer, CEO of United Talent Agency, one of the biggest talent agencies in Hollywood. Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent, Zimmer told global news website Semafor when asked about the podcast cancelation at the 2023 Cannes Lions advertising festival in Cannes, France.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Many pilgrims arrived at the Yatri Niwas Base Camp in Jammu on Thursday before the annual Amarnath Yatra starts on 1 July. Tomorrow, the first batch is likely to be formally greeted by Jammu and Kashmirs lieutenant governor, Manoj Sinha.

Hindus who travel to the Amarnath Cave, thought to be Lord Shivas dwelling, as part of the 62-day yatra, consider it to be a significant pilgrimage.

However, this years yatra, which culminates on 31 August, is more noteworthy because it falls between two Shravan months, which hasnt happened in 19 years.

Amarnath Yatra 2023 would see the use of cutting-edge technology to secure the safety of the pilgrims, with the Srinagar Smart Citys Command Control Centre assuming its central position as the hub.

Lets look at the Yatras safety measures.

Also read: Why ITBP and not CRPF are in charge of Amarnath Yatra security this year

Advanced safety measures in place

This time, the security system has undergone a significant overhaul with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) officers, who have received mountain warfare training, stationed at the cave shrine replacing the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The CRPF, the countrys main internal security force, will still be stationed just beneath the cave shrines stairs while the ITBP and Border Security Force (BSF) keep an eye on the roughly half-dozen camps that were previously secured by them.

In addition to adopting various security precautions, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has dispatched around 325 additional companies of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) for their deployment along both routes of the Amarnath Yatra. According to Greater Kashmir, the expanded CAPF consists of 45 ITBP companies, 95 CRPF companies (including five Mahila companies), 90 BSF companies, 60 SSB companies, 35 CISF companies.

According to officials, more security personnel have been stationed along important road links and key roads to fend off any untoward acts.

Troop deployment has been finalised along highways and key junctions. Multiple checkpoints have been established along the Srinagar-Jammu national highway to monitor and track the movement of commuters. Stringent frisking procedures have been intensified at major spots along the highway, an officer told Rising Kashmir.

The official added that on all routes, pilgrim cars will have designated hours and will not be allowed to mix with other vehicles driven by civilians. The Yatra convoys would be escorted by paramilitary vehicles on both routes.

The government has employed cutting-edge technology to ensure safety, security, weather forecasting, disaster management, traffic and logistics management, sanitation, and other services for the next Amarnath Yatra. In addition to utilising search and rescue dogs everywhere, particularly close to the cave shrine, sources told PTI that the use of drones was also emphasised in order to respond fast in the event of a natural or man-made disaster and secure the yatra routes. Along the Yatra route, sufficient Central paramilitary soldiers would be deployed.

According to PTI sources, a team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) canines has already been dispatched to accustom the dogs to the high altitude and cold weather. In order to provide early warnings for any situation resembling a flash flood or a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), a team of experts and the NDRF will fly above the upper reaches. In order to reduce the number of fatalities from flash floods and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF), the NDRF has been assigned to assist officials in choosing locations for the construction of pilgrim camps.

Threats from terrorism will be defeated by three layers of security manned by the J&K police, CRPF, and Indian Army, as well as aerial surveillance, RFID tags for pilgrims, routine inspections of vehicles for IEDs, including sticky bombs, vehicle repair teams, and recovery teams.

The BRO (Border Roads Organisation) has been given the task of preparing the tracks for the yatra, including repairing the bridges and weak or damaged railings, according to the Times of India.

The government and police of Jammu and Kashmir also performed a mock drill in advance of the Amarnath Yatra, as per Rising Kashmir. The exercise, which was under the supervision of Mukesh Singh, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jammu Zone, was designed to assess the yatris logistical needs and security measures.

Also read: Amarnath Yatra: Poori, jalebi, burger banned; Check the list of food items allowed

Other arrangements

Union Home Minister Amit Shah sought enough oxygen cylinders, more medical teams, ambulances, and helicopters to ensure that pilgrims received proper medical care. Two 100-bed camp hospitals will be in operation in Jammu and Srinagar, according to the article. Each yatri will have a Rs 5 lakh insurance policy.

Shah gave the order to make sure that Amarnath Yatris have access to all necessary services, including transportation, lodging, electricity, water, communication, and health care.

Over 4,000 safai karamcharis would be hired, according to TOI, to maintain the cleanliness of the pilgrim facilities. Additionally, there will be a yatri feedback system. 92 per cent of pilgrims had given the arrangements a favourable rating as of 2022. Some deficiencies in traffic management that the pilgrims had identified had been fixed this year.

The SASB offices in Srinagar and Jammu should be ready by the end of the year. Each of these facilities will be able to house 3,000 pilgrims. The ONGC CSR fund has contributed Rs 51 crore towards the construction of the Jammu facility.

Tragedies at the holy shrine

Due to its location, the Amarnath cave shrine in South Kashmir is susceptible to terrorist attacks.

According to The Quint, due to threats of terrorist attacks, the annual yatra was forbidden from 1991 to 1993. In 1993, the Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Ansar forbade yatras in opposition to the destruction of the Babri Masjid, as per The Indian Express. The yatra carried on unhindered during the turmoil since the local militant groupings did not endorse its demands.

In 2000, militants began targeting followers of Amarnath. According to Deccan Herald, 32 people were killed in the attack on the Pahalgam base camp, including 21 pilgrims. 13 people, including 2 police officers, were killed in a terrorist attack at Sheshnag Lake near the Amarnath Temple shrine in 2001, while another 15 people were left gravely injured.

Eleven people died and at least 30 were injured in two separate attacks carried out in Pahalgam and Srinagar in 2002 by Al-Mansuriyan, the front group for Lashkar-e-Taiba. Another militant attack on a bus in Ganderbal, more than 23 miles from Srinagar, claimed the lives of five pilgrims from Rajasthan.

In a terror attack on their bus in July 2017, seven pilgrims were killed. Days later, the government notified the Lok Sabha that 53 pilgrim deaths and 167 injuries have been caused by 36 terrorist attacks on the yearly Amarnath Yatra during the course of the 27 years since 1990.

In addition to terrorist attacks, natural disasters have sometimes claimed the lives of pilgrims. As many as 242 people perished in the 1990s blizzards. According to Economic Times, 130 pilgrims died in 2012 because they were not physically prepared for the trek, while 250 pilgrims died in 1996 as a result of harsh blizzards and heavy snowfall.

In 2022, a cloud burst at the foothill of the cave led to flash floods that killed several people. The deployment of one company there allowed ITBP jawans to be the first to arrive and save many lives. At least 16 people lost their lives nearby the shrine on July 8 of last year as a result of flash floods brought on by heavy rain.

With inputs from agencies

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Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has joined forces with environmental activist Greta Thunberg and European leaders to tackle the ecological damage from the ongoing war. At a meeting on Thursday, they agreed to form a working group to deal with the environmental damage caused by Russias 16-month invasion.

Expressing concerns about the harm to the environment, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg criticised the lack of international response to the crisis.

Ecocide and environmental destruction is a form of warfare as Ukrainians by this point know all too well  and so does Russia, Thunberg said during a press conference.

And thats why they are deliberately targeting the environment and peoples livelihoods and homes and therefore also destroying lives, reports The Journal.

The meeting in the Ukrainian capital came as fighting continued around the country.

The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said two people were killed in the regions capital in a Russian strike that hit residences, a medical facility and a school where residents were lined up to receive humanitarian aid. Another person was killed in a morning strike on the village of Bilzoerka, the regional prosecutors office said.

The presidential office said Thursday morning that at least eight civilians died in Russian attacks during the previous 24 hours.

Zelenskyy also met former US vice president Mike Pence who visited Kyiv. Pence, an advocate of US support to Ukraine, is running for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.

We appreciate that both major US parties, the Republican and Democratic, remain united in their support for Ukraine. And, of course, we feel the strong support of the people of the United States, Zelenskyy told Pence, according to the presidential website.

The working group on the environment includes Thunberg, former Swedish deputy prime minister Margot Wallstrom, European Parliament vice president Heidi Hautala, and former Irish president Mary Robinson.

Zelenskyy said forming the group is a very important signal of supporting Ukraine. Its really important, we need your professional help.

Thunberg said Russian forces are deliberately targeting the environment and peoples livelihoods and homes. And therefore also destroying lives. Because this is after all a matter of people.

The objectives of the working group are evaluating the environmental damage resulting from the war, formulating mechanisms to hold Russia accountable, and undertaking efforts to restore Ukraines ecology.

In Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill met with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican envoy for seeking peace between Russia and Ukraine.

Kirill, a supporter of the war, said It is very important that the Christian communities of East and West take part in the process of reconciliation, according to video circulated by the Russian church.

On 6 June, the Kakhovka dam in Khersons southern section was destroyed, flooding vast swaths of the territory. The accident killed hundreds of people and drove many more to flee.

Also Read: How destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam puts more than 40,000 people at risk

There are also concerns about the possibility of a disaster at Ukraines Zaporizhzhia power station, Europes largest nuclear reactor, which is presently under Russian control.

According to The Journal, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has warned of the dangers of a big disaster there.

With inputs from AP

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An aquatic reptile called a crocodile is a fierce prey that, despite being terrifying and deadly, falls within the food chain of the ever-evolving human palate.

The horrifying dish that a small Taiwanese restaurant has created is drawing mixed reviews online. Dubbed Godzilla Ramen by netizens, the Yunlin-based eatery calls their creation thick witch crocodile ramen.

The dish is made using crocodile meat and is offered at Witch Cat Kwai in Douliu City, Taiwan.

Lets take a look at the witch dish.

Godzilla Ramen

Thick Witch crocodile ramen aka Godzilla ramen features the leg of a crocodile  specifically, the front one, which protrudes out of a noodle and broth-filled bowl, almost as though it is crawling out of it.

The soup is made of quail eggs, pork, baby corn, dried bamboo shoots, black fungus and cubes of fish paste, according to the restaurants owner, who preferred to only be named by his last name, Chien, in an interview with CNN Travel.

Only two bowls of Godzilla Ramen can be served each day, according to Chien, due to the difficulties of obtaining crocodile legs and the dishs complicated preparation. Each bowl costs 50 US dollars (Rs 4,105). The quantity of labour used to make the food accounts for a portion of the cost.

The crocodile limb is cleaned before being rubbed with a mixture of alcohol and spices (ginger, garlic, and spring onion). It must then be cooked for two hours in the restaurants distinctive broth. The entire procedure lasts roughly three hours.

A lot of (customers) say crocodile meat tastes like that of chicken but is more springy, soft and elastic, Chien said. I think it tastes like braised chicken feet.

In Taiwan, crocodiles that are not listed as endangered species can be farmed and eaten.

Also read: The Japanese train that uses ramen as fuel

Reaction

Although crocodile leg soup is unlikely to make you feel romantically inclined, the restaurants flowery description of its effects suggests that some customers may end up blushing.

According to Dailymail, the eatery described the dish as, Your heart is beating, you may not be able to help yourself, you may be short of breath, drink it, and you will see through all appearances and awaken the purest and unconditional love in your heart.

The majority of social media users, however, did not find the dish to be as popular as its makers had planned. Netizens said that it doesnt look good and is a little nasty.

Taiwans ramen wars just went up a whole notch. I see your giant isopod ramen and raise you a crocodile claw https://t.co/QNmeEMNwye  Jerome Taylor (@JeromeTaylor) June 30, 2023

A user simply said they would not be sampling the soup, Vomit vomit, cant do it, its too creepy crawly, it reminds me of turtles.

Other comments from food explorers included, Im open to it, and This should have a manicure to look more delicious.

A similar dish

Just one month before Chiens attention-grabbing dish, a Taipei eatery gained an unsavoury reputation for serving ramen with a gigantic isopod, a 14-legged crab, on top.

But in that instance, preparing the meal was much easier; according to the chef, he cooked the isopod for ten minutes before placing it on top of the steaming bowl of ramen.

People in Taipei were lined up to see and eat the enormous isopod. Later, on 22 May, the Ramen Boy released the limited-edition noodle bowl, announcing on social media that it had finally got this dream ingredient.

A Taipei noodle shop has introduced a limited-edition ramen dish, topped with a 14-legged isopod. pic.twitter.com/UpRhAyyN30  South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) May 25, 2023

Crocodile meat usage

While the majority of us choose to consume only beef, chicken, and pork, certain people enjoy crocodile meat.

While your brain is still processing information from your nerves about how and why people eat crocodiles, other countries, such as Taiwan, the Philippines, Africa, China, Cambodia, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, and even some states in the United States, have already made it into a thriving industry with significant financial potential.

In India, however, the freshwater crocodile, one of the three species of crocodiles that are found in the country, is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, because their skins are extensively traded.

Benefits of eating crocodile meat

According to Krocies, crocodile meat is high in protein, low in fat, and low in cholesterol. It promotes heart, lung, and blood circulation health.

It is also believed to treat asthma and coughing issues, aiding with skin conditions. The pectin-rich foods are beneficial for boosting skin appearance and for treating and preventing osteoporosis.

With inputs from agencies

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Tamil Nadu is witnessing a political row with Governor RN Ravi at the centre of it all. In late night developments, the governor first dismissed minister V Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers and then put the decision on hold.

Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) head and chief minister of the state MK Stalin said the Governor Ravi had no power to issue such an order and that his government would weigh legal options. The Governor has no power to dismiss a minister we will face this legally, Stalin said.

Stalin, according to an Indian Express report, met with top DMK leaders and experts late on Thursday night. P Wilson, a senior lawyer and DMK MP, said to the newspaper that Ravis order is null and voida scrap of paper. It has no binding on the CM.

As the standoff between the Governor and the government continues, we decode what happened on Thursday night and also explore if the Governor, in fact, has the power to dismiss a minister from the Cabinet.

Dismissed or not?

The entire issue began when Governor RN Ravi on Thursday night issued an order, dismissing V Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers, with immediate effect. For the unaware, Balaji was arrested two weeks ago and is in jail amid criminal proceedings in an alleged cash-for-jobs scandal dating back to 2014 when he was the transport minister under the previous AIADMK government.

The arrested minister had undergone a bypass surgery in a private hospital in Chennai on 21 June. This took place after the Enforcement Directorate had opposed shifting him to a private hospital. The Madras High Court allowed him to do so, a decision which was later upheld by the Supreme Court.

Initially, on Thursday night, Raj Bhawan said in an official release that Balaji is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption, including taking cash for jobs and money laundering. Abusing his position as a minister, he has been influencing the investigation and obstructing the due process of law and justice.

There are reasonable apprehensions that continuation of V Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law, including fair investigation, that may eventually lead to breakdown of Constitutional machinery in the State, the release said, PTI reported.

Minister V Senthil Balaji is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption including taking cash for jobs and money launderingUnder these circumstances, Governor has dismissed him from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect, Tamil Nadu Raj pic.twitter.com/mKRXNvNnbb  ANI (@ANI) June 29, 2023

Under these circumstances, the governor has dismissed Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect, it added.

The order comes at a time when Chief Minister Stalin decided to retain him as a minister.

The initial dismissal, unsurprisingly, earned the governor the ire of the DMK government, with party members stating that he had no power to do so and additionally they would go to court on the matter.

DMK spokesperson Sarvanan was quoted as telling CNN-News18 the Governor has no legal authority to dismiss any minister. He is undermining the Constitution, acting beyond authority. The Governor is a rubber stamp with no power, he said, adding, Who does the Governor thinks he is. ? Does he have the constitutional authority (to dismiss Senthil Balaji)? The Governor is undermining the Constitution. He is catering to the Sanatan Dharma. The law of the land isn't determined by the Sanatan Dharma. For a Governor, the Constitution should be the Bible, Gita, and Quran. He is acting like a clown, trying to appease his political masters. His order isn't even worth the paper it was drafted on. It must be consigned to the dustbin.

M Appavu, Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, as per an Indian Express report said individuals occupying constitutional offices must uphold and abide by the constitutions principles instead of being swayed by external directives. The issuance of such an order by the Governor is tantamount to self-ridicule, Appavu said. On the validity of the Governors order, he said, It cannot be deemed constitutional nor is it obliged to be executed.

Other opposition parties also criticised Governor Ravi  who shares difficult ties with the DMK  saying his action was outrightly unconstitutional.

Following the outrage and the possibility of legal action, different media reports, citing sources, said that the Governor had taken back his decision and would take a legal opinion from the attorney general on the matter.

According to the reports, Raj Bhawans previous order stands suspended till the legal opinion and Balaji will continue to be in the Cabinet. CNN-News18 reported that Governor Ravis decision to withdraw his previous order came on the advice from the Centre. Officials said the Governor was advised to take an opinion on the legality and constitutional position to avoid any potential embarrassment at the apex court.

Governor right to sack Balaji?

While the DMK mulls its options and the Opposition attacks the Governor on his actions, the question still remains if Ravi was within his rights as governor to dismiss Balaji.

Article 164 (1) of the Constitution states that the chief minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, and the Ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor.

However, Supreme Court rulings have interpreted that the power of the Governor primarily flows from the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. For instance, In Shamsher Singh v State of Punjab, a 1974 ruling by a seven-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court said that a Governor must exercise formal constitutional powers only upon, and in accordance with the aid and advice of their ministers, save in a few well-known exceptional situations.

Going by this, Governor Ravis decision is unconstitutional. As the Deccan Chronicle stated: It is for Mr Ravi alone to explain which constitutional provision empowers him to question the choice of a member of the council of ministers. As someone who has seen democratic governance in the states and at the Centre from close quarters, Mr Ravi must ask himself if he would agree to the President of India taking a similar stand with respect to the choice of ministers in the Union Council of ministers.

Former Secretary General of Lok Sabha PDT Achary, who is also a constitutional law expert, said that without the advice of the chief minister, a Governor can neither appoint nor dismiss a minister.

Interestingly, the Supreme Court in February had cautioned against the Governor stepping in to settle political rivalry  in the matter related to the political crisis that had erupted in Mahashtra between Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.

The apex court had then said, He (the Governor) cannot exercise a power that is not conferred on him by the Constitution or a law made under it. They certainly do not empower the Governor to enter the political arena and play a role (however minute) either in inter-party disputes or intra-party disputes.

Notably, this incident brings up memories of last year when Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan had written to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, asking him to take constitutionally appropriate action against state Finance Minister K N Balagopal and cautioned against a possible withdrawal of pleasure. In response, Vijayan, at a press conference, said that the Governors powers were very limited on the issue.

With inputs from agencies

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When the Wagner group launched a brief mutiny last weekend against Russias military leadership, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov was ready to beat back the mercenaries of the private company led by Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Kadyrov, who has earlier sided with Prigozhins criticism of Russias top military brass, is a long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin and a supporter of Moscows special military operation in Ukraine.

Who is Ramzan Kadyrov and how has he been involved in the Ukraine war? What did he say about the Wagner mutiny? Lets take a closer look.

Who is Ramzan Kadyrov?

Kadyrov is the leader of the Muslim-majority Chechen Republic in Russia. He came to power in 2007 following the assassination of his father, Akhmad Kadyrov.

The elder Kadyrov, an Islamic cleric, was a prominent figure who fought for Chechen independence from Russia during the First Chechen War.

According to The Washington Post, Akhmad switched sides early in the Second Chechen War and forged a deal with Putin. In 2000, Putin installed Akhmad as the leader of the Chechen Republic.

Since his fathers death in 2004, Ramzan has continued to back Putin, who, in turn, has lavished federal funds on Chechnya and helped Kadyrov maintain his longstanding rule, noted Financial Times (FT).

As per Euronews, the younger Kadyrov has an extremely loyal army  Kadyrovites  who have fought alongside the Russian troops in the Ukraine war. However, unlike the Wagner group which made significant military gains in Ukraine, the Chechen paramilitary groups successes on the battlefield are less frequent.

The Chechen forces present an image they are very strong, parading very menacingly with their kit and equipment, Alex Kokcharov, a risk analyst focusing on Russia, told FT. On the battlefield in Ukraine, we havent seen the Chechen forces making a significant impact, particularly along the front lines.

In February, Kadyrov had said he plans to establish his own private military company similar to Wagner one day, as per a Reuters report. Earlier this March, Kadyrov told Vladimir Putin that his troops will fight in Ukraine until victory was achieved, the report added.

The Chechen governor (Kadyrov) is publicity-obsessed and typically chases any opportunity he can spin in his favour. Portraying his forces as the protectors of the motherland has been a cornerstone of his rhetoric throughout the war, according to The New Statesman article.

Leader of TikTok fighters

As per FT, Chechen special forces have been sarcastically dubbed TikTok fighters as they are seen as being more concerned about their social media appearances than winning on the battlefield.

Kadyrov is also known for his antics on social media. He once urged Instagram to help find his missing cat, reported The Washington Post.

However, he has been accused of human rights abuses by the US State Department. Kadyrov is also known for harsh anti-gay purges in Chechnya and for his brutal crackdown on dissidents, as per reports.

Last January, seven Chechen law enforcement officers assaulted and forcibly took Zarema Musayeva, the mother of three activists who opposed Kadyrov, reported Euronews.

ALSO READ: Why Belarus welcoming Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has left NATO worried

Opposing Wagner

Last Saturday, when the Wagner chief called his fighters to march to Moscow  before stopping the revolt and brokering a deal, Kadyrov said his forces were ready to crush the mutiny.

In a statement posted on Telegram, he described Prigozhins actions as a knife in the back.

I have repeatedly warned that war is not the time to voice personal grievances, Kadyrov said, as per FT. We have a supreme commander-in-chief, elected by the people, who know the whole situation to the smallest detail better than any strategist.

Kadyrovites, whose fighting formation is known as Akhmat, went to Rostov, a city near the Ukrainian border, along with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) battalion North-Akhmat on Saturday (24 June) to confront Wagner, as per The New Statesman.

The Wagner chief had called Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the Russian armed forces General Valery Gerasimov to meet him in Rostov.

Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat battalion, who led the Chechen troops to Rostov reportedly claimed they were instructed by the Russian ministry of defence not to engage in any combat because there was a hope to resolve everything peacefully.

But, Samuel Bendett, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told FT: It appears [Kadyrovs forces] were biding their time to see what happens next as no one wanted to step in front of Prigozhins forces.

Why does Kadyrov need Putin?

As Kadyrovs have made many enemies in Chechnya due to their repression against any opposition, the chances of a bloody civil war loom large in the region, as per an expert.

Thats where Kadyrovs loyalty to Putin comes from. He feels safer under the protection of the Kremlin, while he can demand more or less anything he wants from Moscow, as long as its within Chechnya. Kadyrov would move away from Putins tailcoats only if Russias centre of power became too weak and disorganised to offer him protection against those parts of the Chechen society who want him not only removed from power but dead and gone for good, Aleksandar okic, a Serbian political scientist, wrote for Euronews.

With inputs from agencies

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Admissions in the United States will soon see a sea-change, courtesy a ruling by the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the US Supreme Court rejected affirmative action at colleges and universities around the nation, declaring that the race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina were unlawful and sharply curtailing a policy that had long been a pillar of higher education.

In a 6-3 ruling, the apex court said, The Harvard and University of North Carolina admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the equal protection clause. Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points.

The ruling is seen as a reflection of the courts conservative majority  over the past year, the US apex court has upended legislation on issues that define American rights, from abortion rights to gun ownership.

Following the courts decision, US president Joe Biden in a televised address urged the country to make sure the decision was not the last word on affirmative action. Discrimination still exists in America, he said, repeating his words for emphasis. Todays decision does not change that. Biden paused as a reporter asked if the court was rogue. This is not a normal court, he responded.

The Biden-Harris Administration will not let todays disappointing Supreme Court decision effectively to end affirmative action in higher education be a permanent setback for the country. We will keep open the doors of opportunity. pic.twitter.com/Y6kv7YD6u1  The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 29, 2023

Former US president, Barack Obama, also lamented the courts decision, saying that affirmative action policies had allowed generations of students including him and his wife Michelle to prove we belonged. He argued that these policies were essential to ensuring that all students, regardless of race or ethnicity, have the opportunity to succeed.

Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society. But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of Americas key institutions  it gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table, Obama wrote on social media.

Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society. But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of Americas key institutionsit gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table. In the https://t.co/Kr0ODATEq3  Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 29, 2023

On the other hand, Donald Trump, running for president in the 2024 elections, called the decision amazing, saying it would help the US to compete with the rest of the world. This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing. It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world, he said. Our greatest minds must be cherished and thats what this wonderful day has brought. Were going back to all merit-based  and thats the way it should be!

We take a closer look at what is affirmative action in colleges and how the courts decision will impact college admissions.

Affirmative action, explained

Affirmative action first made its way into policy in the 1960s, and has been defended as a measure to increase diversity. It was introduced in the United States under the administration of President Lyndon Johnson (196369) in order to improve opportunities for African Americans.

It refers to the programs and policies in which certain facets of identity  such as race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, even veteran status  are considered in the distribution of resources or opportunities.

In the matter of educational institutions, affirmative action refers to admissions policies aimed at increasing the number of Black, Hispanic and other minority students on campus. The end goal of such policies is to increase student diversity in order to enhance the educational experience for all students.

In fact, in his 1964 book Why We Cant Wait, prominent activist Martin Luther King Jr explained that Black people deserve special, compensatory measures in the workplace and in education due to the nature of American racism. Moreover, in an interview in 1965, he had said that he believed it was fair to request a multibillion-dollar program of preferential treatment for the Negro, or for any other minority group.

While it is still unknown how colleges and universities in America choose applications, it is a known fact that race is considered a factor while selecting prospective students. A 2019 survey by the National Association for College Admission Counselling had revealed that 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.

Those who support affirmative action in colleges state that American society has an obligation to correct past injustices, and that means lifting up racial and other groups that have historically been marginalised or worse.

Critics, on the other hand, claim that giving advantages to one race is unconstitutional regardless of the motivation or circumstances, going against the principle of equality in the United States. Some have even argued that with the US increasing diversity, affirmative action is not required anymore.

Interestingly, nine states across the US have already banned the use of race in admissions  Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.

The litigation in court

The US Supreme Courts decision on Thursday stems from two cases filed by a group called Students for Fair Admissions. The group, led by Edward Blum, filed the cases against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. In each suit, the plaintiff claimed that the elite colleges admissions practices which consider an applicants race were racially discriminatory.

Blum, the president of Students for Fair Admissions, has argued that race-conscious admissions place either unfair advantages or disadvantages toward an applicant based on race. Instead of affirmative action, Blum believes colleges and universities should be using more merit-based systems where students are admitted solely on their academic qualifications.

In the North Carolina matter, Students for Fair Admissions stated that the university discriminated against white and Asian applicants by giving preference to Black, Hispanic and Native American ones. They alleged that the adoption by UNC, a public university, of an admissions policy that is not race neutral violates the guarantee to equal protection of the law under the Constitutions 14th Amendment. They alleged the same in the Harvard case, adding that the reputed institution was discriminating against Asian American students by using a subjective standard to gauge traits like likability, courage and kindness, and by effectively creating a ceiling for them in admissions.

The US Supreme Court ruled that the educational institutions were illegally discriminating based on race and violating the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

However, the decision was not unanimous and Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed their dissent. Justice Sotomayor, along with Justice Elena Kagan, said, Today, this court stands in the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress. The court cements a superficial rule of colourblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter.

How the decision will impact admissions

While some celebrated the courts decision, some students who were applying for colleges pondered what the outcome would be on the ground. The ruling will force many universities, including their law and medical schools, to change admissions policies.

However, some educational experts noted that it wouldnt prevent them from pursuing diversity or giving extra consideration to students who have overcome hardships or discrimination. And thats because of a passage near the end of the chief justices 40-page ruling wherein he writes  Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.

As per a New York Times report, the decision could lead to an admissions system that is even more subjective and mysterious, as colleges try to follow the law but also admit a diverse class of students. The report added that universities that owing to the lack of affirmative action, officials would place less emphasis on standardised metrics and more on personal qualities  the exact opposite of what opponents of affirmative action had hoped for.

Other experts note that the essay that applicants pen during the admission process would become even more important and would include how race had affected their lives.

Angie Gabeau, the president of the Harvard Black Students Association, told the BBC that students that are affected by their race in this country will now feel obligated to trauma-dump in their applications to show how race is affecting their lives.

Natasha Warikoo, Lenore Stern Professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences in the Department of Sociology at Tufts University in Massachusetts, told USNews that the Supreme Court decision would be pretty devastating in terms of higher education. I think we will start to see a decline in representation at a lot of different levels as a result.

The worry of the removal of affirmative action was concisely put forth by 16-year-old student Danyael Morales. Speaking to New York Times, he said, It makes me more stressed about the whole concept of college. And with the whole agenda of not seeing race, I feel like colleges are not going to see me.

With inputs from agencies

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Uttarakhand on Friday announced that its Uniform Civil Code draft is ready and would be implemented soon.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said a committee of experts set up by the state government had prepared the draft.

Dhami tweeted, As per the promise made to the people of the state, today on June 30, the committee formed to prepare the draft of the Uniform Civil Code has completed its work.

Soon #UniformCivilCode will be implemented in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand, Dhami added.

This came after Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai, who heads the panel, said the draft would be submitted to the state government imminently.

But what is in the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code?

Lets take a closer look:

The Uttarakhand government had constituted a committee of experts under retired Supreme Court judge Desai in May last year, to examine the various existing laws regulating personal civil matters of the residents of Uttarakhand and to prepare draft law or laws or suggest changes in existing laws on such subjects as marriage, divorce, property rights, succession, inheritance, adoption, maintenance, custody, and guardianship.

A notification in this regard was issued on 27 May, 2022, and the terms of reference were notified on 10 June last year.

According to The Times of India, the committee formulated the draft after meetings, consultations, field visits and interactions with experts and members of the public.

The process took over 13 months.

Desai said the committee had held its first meeting on 4 July last year in Delhi and has since met on 63 occasions.

The newspaper reported that critical aspects of the draft were deliberated on and finalised on Wednesday in a meet that lasted over 10 hours.

It quoted former chief secretary Shatrughan Singh as saying, The draft is almost final and we expect to submit it to the government in a week or two.

Sources told News18 that the marriageable age for women will be increased to 21 years, and that marriage registrations would be made mandatory.

Individuals who do not register their marriage would be unable to apply for government benefits

Live-in couples would need to inform their parents about their decision and the practice of halala and iddat would be discontinued.

Polygamy  the practice of taking more than one wife  would also be outlawed.

Husbands and wives would be granted equal power to seek divorce.

The draft has also made a recommendation with regards to population control.

Speaking to News18, Dhami said, I want to congratulate the committee for the work they have done. They have sought the opinions of over 2 lakh people. The final draft is currently being prepared and was made taking into account the views of every section of society.

Desai refuses to divulge details

Desai has refused to divulge details of the draft UCC or the committees report, saying it has to be first submitted to the state government.

A sub-committee was constituted last year to elicit public opinion through written submissions as well as by public dialogue programmes, she added.

Desai said the sub-committee began its public outreach programme from the border tribal village Mana and visited 40 different places in the Uttrakhand covering all the districts, which culminated in a public discussion in Delhi on June 14 with participation from the residents of Uttarakhand staying in the Delhi and national capital region.

Desai said the committee also interacted with the representatives of political parties, state statutory commissions as well as with leaders of various religious denominations.

While the sub committee interacted with about 20,000 people during the public consultation exercise, the committee received altogether 2.31 lakh written submissions from people, she added.

Desai said the Uttarakhand UCC committee also held an interaction with the chairperson of the Law Commission and its members 2 on June in Delhi.

The chairperson of the Law Commission of India had requested for an interaction with the members of the Expert Committee. This interaction was held on June 2 wherein members as well as chairpersons of both the Law Commission and the Expert Committee were present, she told reporters.

Desai on Friday said, Our emphasis is to ensure gender equality, with keeping women, children and disabled persons in focus. We have tried to bring everyone on an equal footing with elimination of arbitrariness and discrimination.

Desai added that the committee has studied the existing laws in various countries including Muslim countries but refused to share their names.

We have seen everything, studied personal laws. We have also studied the Law Commissions report. If you read our draft you will feel that the committee has considered everything, she said.

The draft, if implemented, will strengthen the secular fabric of our country, she stated.

PM makes push for UCC

The Modi-led government at the Centre could introduce a bill on implementing a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) during the monsoon session of Parliament which is set to begin next month.

A report by India Today quoted sources saying the bill may be sent to parliamentary standing committee which will hear from various stakeholders on the UCC.

The monsoon session is slated to begin in the third week of July.

The report comes just days after Modi made a strong pitch for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) at an event in Bhopal.

Modi said the Constitution also mentions of having equal rights for all citizens.

Modi added that the BJP has decided it would not adopt the path of appeasement and vote bank politics and alleged that the Opposition is using the issue of UCC to mislead and provoke the Muslim community.

Pasmanda Muslims, who are backward, are not even treated as equal because of the vote bank politics, the prime minister said.

Pasmanda, a term for backward classes among Muslims, often finds a mention in Prime Minister Modis speeches, at party forum as well as government events, and how the government has worked for the deprived without any discrimination.

Congress slams PM, BJP hits back

The Congress then attacked Modi  saying he should first talk about poverty, price rise and unemployment in the country. The RJD said the prime minister should not make such issues an instrument of dog-whistle politics.

The BJP then slammed the Congress  saying it is there in the Constitution as a directive principle of state policy and there is a Supreme Court decision also in this regard.

Union Minister Bhupender Yadav said, This (UCC) is written in our Constitution. In Article 44 of the Constitution, it has been mentioned as the directive principle of state policy. There is a Supreme Court decision also in this regard. There should not be any discrimination. There should not be any discrepancy, Right to Justice should be ensured to everybody, including those who are exploited, deprived and oppressed in society. There should be equality in society,

On Opposition parties accusing the BJP of trying to create a division among Muslims by wooing the Pasmanda Muslim community, Yadav said they should be ashamed of not doing anything for those belonging to the exploited, deprived and oppressed sections of society.

There are extremely backward sections among the backward classes, the BJP leader noted and attacking the Opposition parties, said those pursuing vote bank politics in their name, have never paid attention to them.

Why does it trouble the Opposition when the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi has been making efforts to change the lives of those exploited, deprived and oppressed? he asked.

They (Opposition parties) should rather be ashamed as they never did anything for the OBC (Other Backward Classes). The Pasmanda community also comes under OBC. For a long time, the Pasmanda community has been ignored, Yadav said.

With inputs from agencies

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Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is settling in Belarus after ending his rebellion against Russia. However, many in the country are fearful of Prigozhins arrival.

The situation has also raised concerns among European Union and NATO nations bordering Belarus and Russia.

EU Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen and High Representative Josep Borrell have claimed that a weaker Putin is a greater danger. Though Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko has welcomed Wagner forces, but the country sees them as a threat.

Moving to Belarus was part of the deal the Kremlin struck with Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private military company, to end last weekends rebellion that rattled Russias leadership.

Prigozhin and his fighters escaped prosecution and were offered refuge in Belarus by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who said his country could use their experience and expertise.

That doesnt sit well with the Belarusian opposition and guerrilla activists, who called Wagner fighters a threat to the Belarusian people and (the countrys) independence, and promised action.

Also Read: Is Putins grip on Russia weakening? What does Wagner Groups mutiny reveal?

Were categorically against stationing Russian mercenaries in Belarus and are preparing a warm welcome to Wagnerites in Belarus, said Aliaksandr Azarau, leader of the BYPOL guerrilla group of former military members, speaking in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from outside the country.

Neighbouring Baltic countries also expressed concerns about how this would affect regional security. In a joint statement Wednesday, parliament speakers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania urged the European Union to label Wagner a terrorist organisation.

The emergence of the Wagner mercenary group in Belarus could make the security situation on the eastern borders of NATO and the EU even more precarious, the statement read.

Lukashenko said those Wagner fighters who dont want to come under the command of the Russian defence ministry  one of the options offered to them by Russian president Vladimir Putin  can stay in Belarus for some time at their own expense.

He said he had offered them an abandoned military unit to set up camp, and promised to help with whatever we can.

Were looking at it pragmatically  if their commanders come to us and help us, (we get their) experience, Lukashenko said.

People are panicking

Lukashenko didnt specify the facilitys location, but Azarau said construction of a site for Wagner mercenaries was underway in Osipovichi, a city 230 kilometres (142 miles) north of the border with Ukraine, with Belarusian soldiers involved.

Also Read: How Wagners Yevgeny Prigozhin is walking free while other critics face harsh crackdown in Russia

Residents of the city of 30,000 told AP they were rattled by the developments.

Theres military equipment in the streets and Belarusian servicemen  all residents are discussing the arrival of Wagnerites and, frankly speaking, were panicking and are not happy about being neighbours with them, Inga, a 43-year-old doctor in Osipovichi, said by phone.

I have teenage daughters.  How will we live next to thugs, pardoned murderers and rapists? said the woman, who spoke on condition of that she not be fully identified out of safety concerns.

The Kremlin promised not to prosecute Prigozhin for the rebellion after reaching an agreement that he would halt the uprising and go to Belarus. That came even though Putin vowed to punish those behind what he called treason and a stab in the back.

Lukashenko has been Putins closest ally, allowing Russia to use Belarus to send troops and weapons into Ukraine. He has welcomed a continued Russian military presence in the country and the deployment there of some of Russias tactical nuclear weapons.

But he has stressed that Prigozhins fighters will not be guarding any nuclear weapons.

Prigozhin himself arrived in Belarus on Monday, Lukashenko said, but his exact whereabouts are unknown.

Safety concerns

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has played down concerns that Wagner would pose a threat from Belarus. He said the mercenaries probably wouldnt go there in significant numbers and added that Ukraines military believes security along their border will remain unchanged and controllable.

According to an independent Belarusian military monitoring group, Belaruski Hajun, Prigozhin met with Lukashenko several times this week to discuss his force in Belarus.

Also Read: How the Wagner Group chiefs revolt could benefit Ukraine

Prigozhins private jet is based at the Machulishchy Air Base near Minsk. In February, Belarusian guerrillas attacked a Russian warplane parked there, infuriating Lukashenko.

Belaruski Hajun confirmed Lukashenko met with Prigozhin in a residence on the shore of the Zaslavskoye reservoir, where nonpublic negotiations are taking place with the participation of the entire Lukashenko family, said Anton Matolka, coordinator of the group. He did not elaborate but Lukashenkos sons are known to take a role in some government activities.

Guerrillas from BYPOL told AP they will resist Wagner fighters being stationed in Belarus and stage acts of sabotage at sites where mercenaries are housed.

We will actively resist this, using all possible means, Azarau said.

NATO members Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, who share a 1,250-kilometre (775-mile) border with Belarus, said they will enhance security along the frontier because of the Wagner forces.

Wagner and Belarus alliance is unlikely

Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhnaouskaya, who is in exile abroad, said having Wagner fighters in Belarus threatens the countrys sovereignty. She noted it is taking place in the run-up to the NATO summit in Vilnius next month.

The presence of criminal Prigozhin in Belarus is an illustration of how our country turned into a refuge for tyrants and nuclear threats, Tsikhanouskaya said.

Analysts believe that Lukahsenko is using the situation as leverage to get more loans and funding from the Kremlin in return for his role as a saviour of Russia from the mutiny.

Lukashenko is a very experienced player, and he will ask Putin to pay for a favour he did for the Kremlin with new loans and economic concessions, Belarusian political analyst Valery Karbalevich told AP.

The Kremlin and Prigozhin  used Belarus as part of their deal, and painlessly exiled the troublemaker there, Karbalevich said.

He believes that Lukashenko might use Prigozhins presence in Belarus to tickle Putins nerves, but a long-term alliance between them is unlikely.

Prigozhin showed that he is hard to control, and Lukashenko doesnt like risks and surprises, Karbalevich said.

Lukashenko has been careful throughout the Ukraine war, so the moving and housing of Wagner fighters will be happening in small batches, with lots of caution and under strict control from Belarusian security services, Karbalevich said.

With inputs from AP

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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Friday challenging the central governments Delhi Ordinance claiming that it will effectively sideline the elected government in the national capital.

The plea said that the ordinance was an unconstitutional exercise of executive fiat.

The party also announced the launch of a phase-wise campaign from July 3 where members will burn copies of the ordinance in protest.

On July 3, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, cabinet ministers and all the MLAs will burn copies of the black ordinance at the ITO party office. Then on July 5, the copies of the ordinance will be burned across all 70 parliamentary constituencies. Between July 6 and July 13, the copies of the ordinance will be set on fire at every nook and corner of Delhi. The seven vice presidents will ensure that they are burned in every area of Delhi, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said.

In May, the apex court ruled that the Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over the administrative services in the city, effectively ending an eight-year-long battle between the centre and AAP.

However, on May 19, the BJP-ruled central government promulgated an ordinance for the creation of a National Capital Civil Service Authority (NCCSA) to give more power to the Lieutenant Governor in the administration of the capital.

Following this, Delhis Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reached out to several opposition parties to garner support against the ordinance.

Earlier this month, the issue turned into a political slugfest at the Opposition meet in Patna as Congress has yet not shown support for AAP by slamming BJP for promulgating the ordinance.

The party added that Congress, a national party that takes a stand on almost all issues, has yet to make its position on the Black Ordinance public and that the Congress Delhi and Punjab units have announced that the party should support the Modi government on this issue.

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Amid the ongoing violence, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh is scheduled to meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey and is expected to submit his resignation as the law and order situation in the north eastern state continue to worsen.

Manipur has been witnessing unrest for almost 60 days and as per reports, Biren Singh was given the option of either stepping down from his post or else the Centre would step in and take over.

As per a report by The Sangai Express, Biren Singh is expected to meet Manipur Governor on Friday, 30 June (around 3 pm) and hand over his resignation.

Meanwhile, a crowd of women congregated outside the Manipur chief ministers secretariat and Raj Bhavan, urging Biren Singh not to resign.

A report by PTI said, the women asked the CM to take a firm stand against the troublemakers.

Manipur Violence

On Thursday, three people were killed in an exchange of fire between security forces and suspected rioters.

Protesters and political parties have been persistently demanding for the Centres intervention in Manipur. A month ago, members of Manipurs Kuki community said they have lost faith in their CM and asked the Central government to bring normalcy in the state.

Earlier this month, as many as nine BJP legislators from Manipur wrote to PM Modi, saying that the people of the state had lost complete faith in Biren Singh-led government.

Clashes in Manipur

Since May 3, around 130 people have been killed in the clash between Meiteis and the Kukis in Manipur. Several houses have been raised to the ground during the violence.

The violence erupted following the organisation of a Tribal Solidarity March in the hill districts.

With inputs from agencies

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With over two decades of operation in Delhi-NCR, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has never failed to impress people. At the start, with its high-speed and steeply laid tracks over the capital and now, in the age of social media, its ever-changing regulations. But why do the rules keep evolving? Well, intriguing travellers from different parts of the country are to blame. In a similar unfolding of sorts, DMRC announced in a query on Twitter that two sealed bottles of alcohol are now allowed in the Delhi Metro. However, the rail authority also clarified that drinking alcohol inside metro premises is still strictly prohibited.

DMRC said: Metro passengers are requested to maintain proper decorum while travelling. If any passenger is found behaving in an indecent manner under the influence of alcohol, suitable action shall be taken under the relevant provisions of law, according to ANI.

The post attracted interest as until now, only the Delhi Airport Express Line or Orange Line, which connects the Delhi Metro line to the Indira Gandhi International Airport from New Delhi Metro Station to Dwarka Sector 21, allowed to carry liquor.

A committee comprising CISF and DMRC officials reviewed the earlier order, as per ANI.

Check out the post:

Hi. Yes 2 sealed bottles of alcohol is allowed in Delhi Metro.  Delhi Metro Rail Corporation I    (@OfficialDMRC) June 30, 2023

The tweet also attracted many humorous responses.

Check out some of the comments below:

One user warned about the allowances repercussions. He wrote: This should not be allowed as Indians flout rules. This may create a ruckus as people drink from those bottles once inside the Metro.

This should not be allowed as we Indians are masters in flouting rules. This may create ruckus as people may start drinking from those bottles once inside the Metro    (@Satynveshi) June 30, 2023

This prompted one of the users to share a screenshot of an earlier conversation with the DMRC. The Twitter user captioned his post with four question marks.

The user was quick to point out Delhi Metros earlier reply to various people on the same subject. It read: Hi Manish, thank you for reaching out. Carrying alcohol inside Delhi Metro is not allowed. Similarly, in another tweet: Replying to @sumitrana54 Hi Sumit, thank you for contacting us. Raw meat/non-Veg is only allowed inside Delhi Metro if it is sealed packed. Further, alcohol is not permissible inside Delhi Metro.

Check out the post:

A few asked for re-assurance if the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the federal police agency, deployed at metro premises stops them from going forth. They claimed they had taken a screenshot of the same in case trouble would arise in the future.

A user wrote: I hope security officials know about this mandate. I have taken a screenshot of this and will show them next time.

I hope this mandate is known to the security officials. I have taken a SS of this and will show them next time.  Tarun sarin (@neo2992) June 30, 2023

Others, however, asked for official notification.

Could you please share the notification regarding it? asked one user.

Could you please share the notification regarding the same ?  Sachin (@Duteous_Sachin) June 30, 2023

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The Madhya Pradesh High Court has requested Centre to consider decreasing the age of consent to 16 from 18 in rape cases to avoid injustice caused to adolescent boys since puberty, the court said, had advanced to 14 years owing to social media and easy access to Internet and girls and boys above this age were engaging in consensual physical relationship.

Nowadays, every male and female near the age of 14 years, due to social media awareness and easily accessible internet connectivity is getting puberty at an early age. Owing to this, female and male children are getting attracted to each other and these attractions are resulting in a physical relationship with consent, the HC said.

In these cases, male persons are not at all criminals. It is only a matter of age when they come into contact with female and develop physical relationships, the court added.

The HC also observed how the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013 had disturbed the fabric of society since it increased the age of consent for girls to 18 from 16 years, leading to boys being criminalised.

The court was hearing the matter of a 23-year-old man charged under Sections 376 and the POCSO Act.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that there has been a rapid increase in the number of IIT, IIM, NIT and AIIMS colleges across the country in the last few years and these institutes are becoming the building blocks of New India.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi, says The third decade of the 20th century gave a new speed to the freedom movement and the third decade of this 21st century will give a new speed to the development journey of the country. There has been a rapid increase in the number of pic.twitter.com/BG0oIf6JJl  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

Addressing an event at the centenary celebrations of Delhi University in the national capital on Friday, he said, Today, across the country, universities and colleges are being built. In the last few years, the number of educational institutions like IIT, IIM, NIT, AIIMS are continuously increasing. These institutions are the building blocks of New India.

Appreciating Delhi University on 100 years of its establishment, PM Modi said that DU is not just a university, its a movement and it has brought life to every movement.

Delhi University has completed 100 years when the nation celebrates 75 years of independence. Delhi University is not just a university, but a movement. This university has lived every movement and has brought life to every movement, he said.

Highlighting the improved gender ratio in the country, PM said that today the number of girls studying at Delhi University is more than boys.

DU used to have only three colleges, and now there are more than 90 colleges that are part of the university. Today, more girls study at DU than boys. Similarly, in India, the gender ratio has improved a lot. It means the deeper the roots of academic institutions in the country, the higher the branches of the country that touch the sky, he said.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi, says There was a time when Delhi University had just 3 colleges, now it has more than 90 colleges. There was a time when India used to come under the list of fragile economies and today it is among the top 5 economies in the world. Today pic.twitter.com/bxZ0Uw7l5U  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

There was a time when India used to come under the list of fragile economies and today it is among the top five economies in the world, he added.

Mentioning the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking in which 45 Indian institutions got ranked for the first time, the Prime Minister said that the global recognition of Indian Universities is increasing.

The global recognition of Indian Universities is increasing today. In 2014, only 12 Indian universities were there in QS World University Rankings, now it has risen to 45. To improve the quality of educational institutes, we are working continuously. There were around 100 startups in India before 2014, today the number has crossed 1 lakh, the Prime Minister said.

He also noted the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) deal, done between India and US and said that this agreement will create new opportunities for the youth of the country.

Between India and US, the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology i.e. iCET deal has been done. This one agreement will create new opportunities from land to space and semiconductor to AI for the youth of the country, he added.

During the event, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan congratulated the university for implementing National Education Policy (NEP).

On completion of 100 years of DU, our responsibility has increased. National Education Policy (NEP) was implemented under the Prime Ministers leadership. I congratulate DU for implementing NEP fully in the last 3 years, he said.

India is the oldest democracy. It is the mother of democracy. Parliaments new building has been made. Prime Minister says one thing every time, Yahi Samay, Sahi Samay, Todays moment is Indias moment. We should live this moment and fulfil our responsibilities, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan added.

PM Modi laid the foundation stone of the Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of the Faculty of Technology and the academic block which will be built in the North Campus of the University.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also attended the Centenary celebrations of Delhi University with PM Modi.

With inputs from agencies

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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Friday changed his mind of stepping down for the post after thousand of demonstrators blocked his convoy from proceeding towards Governors house in Imphal.

His resignation letter was torn by his supporters.

#WATCH | Moment when women supporting Manipur CM Biren Singh tore up his resignation letter pic.twitter.com/dB8IjWNmya  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

"I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister," Biren Singh tweeted.

At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister.  N.Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) June 30, 2023

Biren Singh was expected to meet Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey around 3 pm on Friday, but a large number of demonstrators, including women, congregated outside his house after rumours started doing rounds that he was contemplating resigning from the post.

The CM allegedly had made up his mind to step down after renewed violence in the state on Thursday that claimed three more lives and left 5 injured.

#WATCH | Several women gathered near Manipur CM N Biren Singh's residence in Imphal to support the CM. pic.twitter.com/9WqcmCflRB  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

Biren Singh stopped by supporters

#WATCH | Manipur CM N Biren Singh outside his residence in Imphal. pic.twitter.com/1uqm0jafVE  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

What was written in Manipur CM Biren Singh's resignation letter?

The resignation letter, which is now torn, read, "I hereby submit my resignation as Chief Minister of Manipur. I thank you for your cooperation and guidance during the past few months."

Date June 30, the letter was addressed to the Manipur Governor.

By Friday afternoon, hundreds of youth wearing black shirts and women sat down in front of the CM's residence demanding that Biren Singh should not resign.

"At this critical juncture, the Biren Singh government should stand firm and crack down on troublemakers," PTI quoted Kshetrimayum Shanti, a women leader, as saying.

#WATCH | Voices emerge in support of Manipur CM Biren Singh outside his residence in Imphal. "We do not want the CM to resign, he should not resign. He is doing a lot of work for us. We are in giving support the CM," says the locals of Manipur pic.twitter.com/FnQ8Spu6Vw  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

On Thursday, armed rioters opened unprovoked firing at Haraothel village. The Indian Army said security forces personnel "responded in a calibrated manner" to tackle the situation.

Members of the community to which two of the rioters belonged collected their bodies and took out a procession to the CM's residence in Imphal, Army said.

The women-led demonstration even dared police to arrest them. They were also seen burning tyres in the middle of the road to prevent police movement.

More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state that erupted on 3 May.

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.

With inputs from agencies

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Bharatiya Janata Party chief JP Nadda on Friday said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre was proactive as it took care of people even before they faced any problem, which resulted in a reduction in poverty in the country.

Addressing a public gathering in Khargone in Madhya Pradesh to highlight achievements in nine years of Modi rule, Nadda said poverty had dipped from 22 per cent nine years ago to 10 per cent, while the very poor category was now less than 1 per cent of the population.

While the PM had launched several welfare programmes, the Congress had hit below the belt by calling him names, lowly, illiterate, chaiwala (tea seller) etc, Nadda said.

The Narendra Modi government is proactive and pro-responsive. It takes care of people even before they face any problems. It can be seen in Central schemes like Ayushman Bharat, which is aimed at protecting peoples health, and the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (direct benefit transfer to farmers), Nadda said.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme, under which cover of Rs 5 lakh per family is provided, is among the biggest health schemes in the world and benefits 40 per cent of the countrys poor irrespective of caste, creed and religion, he said.

Slamming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the BJP national president said the former had gone to London and spoken about the need to restore democracy in India, whereas it was his grandmother and former PM Indira Gandhi who had imposed an Emergency in 1975, leading to 1.78 lakh people being jailed.

Nadda said just one house was allotted under the Indira Awas Yojana in a panchayat in his constituency when he was an MLA in 1993, while the Modi government had built nine crore houses in the past nine years under the PM Awas Yojana.

Nadda said world leaders were full of praise for Modi and cited examples like Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling his Indian counterpart the boss and former US National Security Advisor John Bolton describing him as a global leader.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has claimed he is a fan of Modi, while a former US president has also spoken highly of the prime minister, Nadda added.

We have surpassed Britain to become the fifth largest economy in the world. Before that (under UPA rule till 2014), we were known for corruption and 2G, coal, chopper and Commonwealth scams, he said.

The Congress, which is using objectionable terms for the PM, is forgetting that 140 crore Indians were firm with him, Nadda asserted.

According to an international report of repute, the poverty rate in the country has dipped to 10 per cent from 20 per cent nine years ago. Besides, the per cent of very poor people was less than one now, he claimed.

PM Modi was concerned about farmers and, therefore, he announced yearly assistance of Rs 6,000 for them (under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme), he said.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is equally concerned about farmers and he has also announced Rs 6,000 annual assistance for them, he added.

Slamming the previous Congress government in MP under Kamal Nath, Nadda said it was corrupt and had stopped welfare schemes that had been started under BJP rule.

For this, you (people) can stop him in November (when Assembly polls are likely to be held). Nath had removed a chapter on the Kargil war from the school (syllabus) in MP and insulted the Army. Now you end the chapter of Kamal Nath in November, he said.

He said CM Chouhan had announced the creation of one lakh (government) jobs in the state, and more than half of that had already been provided.

Before addressing the rally, Nadda took part in a roadshow in the town that falls in the Nimar region of the state.

Incidentally, the BJP lost all six Assembly seats in Khargone district in the 2018 Assembly polls.

Khargone Lok Sabha seat comprises ten Assembly constituencies spread over Khargone and Barwani districts. Nine of these seats were won by the Congress in the 2018 polls.

Elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly are scheduled for the end of this year.

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The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice will discuss the Uniform Civil Code and take feedback from various stakeholders to address the issues with the contentious law on July 3.

Sushil Modi, the head of the Parliamentary Committee, said that the meeting of the committee is non-political as the panel has members from all political parties.

We will discuss the Law Commissions report on the UCC on July 3. If required, we will call another meeting to discuss the matter further. The committee is completely neutral, he said.

Members of the committee have been informed about their role in the meeting and that their inputs and feedback on UCC will be sought and considered.

According to the schedule of the standing committee, the panel will hear the views of representatives of the law panel and legal affairs and legislative departments of the law ministry on a public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on June 14, 2023, inviting views from the various stakeholders on the Uniform Civil Code under the subject Review of Personal Laws.

As of Tuesday, UCC received nearly 8.5 lakh responses on its public notice.

In more than a dozen cases, the Supreme Court has said that the UCC should be implemented as soon as possible. The court has repeated this time and again, Modi said.

He added, I dont understand why the same age for marriage cant be fixed for all. It is being propagated that the UCC will affect religious customs and rituals. If criminal law is the same for all people in the country, then why cant civil law be that way?

Bharatiya Janata Partys strong push for a Uniform Civil Code in the country has unruffled the Congress as also the larger bunch of Opposition parties since they see this as a ploy to shore up the Hindu vote bank ahead of the next years Lok Sabha elections in which PM Modi will seek a third term.

With inputs from PTI

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The Karnataka High Court earlier today rejected Twitter Incs plea which contested the blocking orders issued last year by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The orders were issued against a few tweets and handle related to the farmers protest and the pandemic.

When asked to comment on the verdict and whether this was a win for the Indian government, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the government of India isnt in adversary to social media platforms, so there cant be a question of a win or a loss.

India is not in an adversarial relationship with any platform

I dont see this in favour of the government or against the government. Our relationship with the platforms is not adversarial. We have only insisted that our laws are followed and complied with, Minister Chandrasekhar told reporters.

Twitter had been sent a number of takedown instructions, which they failed to comply with initially. After sending repeated notices, Twitter took down some of the tweets and accounts but not all of the. When they were sent a legal notice to comply, Twitter decided to take their chances with Indias legal system.

In this particular case, they (Twitter) were given a large number of directions under the law which they did not comply with. When they were sent a legal notice, they chose to go to the courts, said Chandrasekhar.

Jack Dorseys Tale

This is part of the fiction that Mr Dorsey had put out. We have always maintained that despite repeated non-compliance by this platform (Twitter), the government did very little to them, except send them notices and remind them to comply, said Chandrasekhar.

Shortly before Prime Minister Modis visit to the US, where he had a meeting with Twitters current owner Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, Twitters co-founder and former CEO, made some controversial remarks. In an interview, Dorsey alleged that the Government of India had issued threats to take action against Twitter and its staff in India if the platform did not suppress tweets related to the farmers protest as well as tweets from certain opposition leaders and journalists.

In response, IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar launched a fierce criticism against Dorsey, accusing him of not only lying but also showing a lack of respect for Indias sovereignty and its laws.

Non-compliance is not an option

Elaborating further on the verdict, Minister Chandrasekhar stated that the verdict is a clear indication to platforms in India, irrespective of their size, ownership, users or corporate base, non-compliance is not an option.

I am very glad that the Honble Court has today laid down very clearly that non-compliance is not an option, regardless of where your jurisdiction is or who you think youre owner is. Platforms in India, big or small, Indian or foreign, will have to comply with Indian law.

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If someone were to show the strength of the public meeting, the former would know it was time for his government to go, BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah Friday lampooned Rajasthan chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot.

Shah was addressing a public rally in poll-bound Rajasthans Udaipur to showcase the nine years of achievements of the Modi government.

Lauding the crowd for having turned up in great numbers, Shah said that looking at the atmosphere of Mewar, he was sure that the BJP was going to come back into power in 2023 and 2024 in the full majority.

Mewar is the BJPs stronghold. It is from here that BJPs victory begins. The BJP is poised to post a victory that will break all records and form a government with an unprecedented majority, Shah said.

As the BJP has gamed the politics of beneficiaries of schemes launched by the Centre, taking it forward Shah enumerated the pro-people schemes launched by PM Narendra Modi is the past nine years and how they had benefitted the public.

Under the leadership of PM Modi in the last nine years crores of farmers have received Rs6,000 every year; under the Jal Jivan Mission, we have brought piped water to the homes of the poor; The BJP government has ensured the distributed free ration across the country, Shah said.

VIDEO | In 2023 (Rajasthan Assembly polls), uproot the government of (CM) Ashok Gehlot so that the path for PM Modi to return in 2024 (Lok Sabha Elections) is cleared, says Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Udaipur. pic.twitter.com/Kvd0XwOA4V  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 30, 2023

During the Congress regime, there were only 90 ekal vidyalaya, but the Modi government, since 2014, has made over 500 such schools. We have given scholarships to over 30 lakh students.

The nine years of the Modi government have been nine years of pride for India.

Shah said that 80 lakh farmers have received Rs 16,000 crores directly in their bank accounts. PM Modi has ensured that fresh drinking water reaches the homes of 43 lakh families in Rajasthan, he added.

VIDEO | Kamal Nath removed chapters on Kargil war from the states syllabus. Now, you (people) should remove their (Congress) chapter in November (when the Assembly polls are likely to be held), says BJP chief @JPNadda in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/2mfyFTSN2n  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 30, 2023

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The Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is not a religious issue, but rather a matter of equal rights, justice and dignity for women, said senior BJP leader and former union minister Prakash Javadekar.

Addressing the media, Javadekar slammed the opposition parties for objecting to the implementation of UCC. He said many Muslim-dominated nations are following the practice of following a common civil code and it is so natural throughout the world. Indonesia, Sudan, Turkey, Bangladesh and several other countries have the common civil code, and in India, it has already been in practice in Goa and Puducherry, he pointed out.

Javadekar, the Kerala prabhari (in-charge) of the BJP, also claimed that there has not been a single complaint from Muslims or any others with regard to the UCC in Goa and Puducherry in these decades. When Puducherry Muslims and others are accepting it and practising it without any complaint, why should that not be the law, he asked.

There is one criminal law for all and there should be one civil law for all as well, he further said. Stating that the UCC is not a BJP innovation, he said this is Article 44 of the Constitution written by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

The Constitution makers had written that, after a certain time, all directive principles should be converted into law, he said, adding that the Supreme Court also gave judgments and directions in this regard.

He also pointed out the anguish expressed by the apex court in the Shah Bano case that Article 44 of the Constitution had remained a dead letter. Javadekar further explained that the UCC is essentially about marriage, divorce, adoption and so on. This is for everyone but women are suffering more due to these, he said.

So, they must get their equal rightsThey must get justice and they must get dignityIt is not a religious issue Ambedkar had said that this is not a religious issue. This is the issue of equal rights, the BJP leader added. Strongly condemning the opposition parties, especially the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which recently announced that it would oppose the UCC, he said the Law Commission has only sought suggestions and instead of giving it support, they have started opposing beforehand.

He said the CPI(M) and the CPI were once in favour of the common civil code but they have taken a U-turn and are opposing it now.

We condemn this attitude of not giving equal rights, dignity and justice to women, he said. Javadekar also said the larger majority in the country is in favour of implementing the UCC, and that the BJP, since Jana Sangh days, has always advocated for it.

When asked about the oppositions allegation that the BJP has political motives in implementing the common civil code, he asked whether Dr Ambedkar and the Constitution makers were doing politics.

That time, there was no BJP, he pointed out. Regarding the violence in Manipur, he said it is not connected with religion but with ethnicity. More than 100 people have lost their lives in the clashes that have continued for about two months in the northeastern state. The BJP leader said the Prime Minister and Home minister are closely monitoring the situation there and that restoration of peace is the top priority of the Centre.

With inputs from PTI

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A police officer in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, was sent to police lines after a selfie taken by his children with a significant amount of cash went viral.

The photo featuring the officers wife and two children posing on a bed with stacks of Rs 500 notes totaling Rs 14 lakh, prompted a swift response from authorities.

After the photo went viral, a senior police officer promptly initiated an investigation into the matter, leading to the transfer of the station-in-charge, Ramesh Chandra Sahani, to police lines.

Taking cognisance of the matter, Superintendent of Police Siddharth Shankar Meena sent the SHO to the police lines and ordered a probe into the matter.

Ramesh Chandra Sahani defended himself and said that the photo was taken on 14 November, 2021, when he sold a family property.

A senior police officer gave details about the incident, and told India Today, A photograph of a station-house officer is going viral on social media. It shows the cops wife and his children with bundles of notes. We have taken cognizance of the matter and the cop has been transferred to police line. An investigation has been launched.

With inputs from agencies

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday took a metro ride to attend the closing ceremony of the Delhi Universitys (DU) centenary celebrations as the chief guest.

In a video posted by ANI, the Prime Minister, flanked by security personnel, can be seen walking up to the ticket counter and then passed through the entry gate, as a common passenger would, to board the Metro train.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels by metro to attend centenary celebrations of Delhi University. pic.twitter.com/HOZ6Kb1fjM  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

In another video, he is seen engaging with the young commuters.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with people in Delhi Metro on his way to attend the centenary celebrations of Delhi University. pic.twitter.com/BGmewjqTP2  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

During the programme, PM Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of the Faculty of Technology, and the academic block which will be built in the North Campus of the University.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday PM Modi wrote, Looking forward to joining the University of Delhis centenary celebrations at 11 AM tomorrow, 30th June. As a premier centre of learning, DU has been nurturing talent and fostering intellectual growth for a century. Congratulations to the DU fraternity on this milestone.

The University of Delhi was established on 1st May 1922. In the last hundred years, the University has grown and expanded immensely and now has 86 departments, 90 Colleges, more than 6 lakh students, and has contributed immensely in nation building.

With inputs from agencies

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The process of drafting the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) has been completed and the report of the expert committee along with the draft will be printed and submitted to the government, said Ranjana Prakash Desai, retired Supreme Court Justice and a member of the UCC draft committee.

It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the drafting of the proposed Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand is now complete. The report of the expert committee along with the draft will be printed and submitted to the Government of Uttarakhand, she said.

#WATCH | It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the drafting of the proposed Uniform Civil Code of Uttarakhand is now complete. The report of the expert committee along with the draft will be printed and submitted to the Government of Uttarakhand: Retd Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/7RGqaZZtYk  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had said the Uniform Civil Codes (UCC) draft would be completed and submitted by June 30. The Bhartiya Janata Party had promised the implementation of UCC in its last assembly elections in Uttarakhand.

Meanwhile, Dhami constituted a five-member committee for the same days after assuming the position of chief minister.

He said, The committee we constituted to draft the Uniform Civil Code has completed almost 90 per cent of the work. They will prepare the draft by June 30. We will move towards implementing the Uniform Civil Code. It is our expectation from other states of the country that all states move towards implementing a Uniform Civil Code.

PM Modi recently made a strong push for a Uniform Civil Code, asking how can the country function with dual laws that govern personal matters, and accused the Opposition of using the UCC issue to mislead and provoke the Muslim community.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today inaugurated the flats for the poor that have been built on land confiscated from slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed in Prayagraj and handed over the keys to as many as 76 beneficiaries.

#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath hands over keys to 76 flats built for the poor, on land confiscated from slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, in Prayagraj. The CM also inaugurated 226 development projects in the city, on the occasion. pic.twitter.com/o4F9MX2AD6  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 30, 2023

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said,A unique initiative has been taken forward today, from Prayagraj. Keys to flats, built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, on the land confiscated from the mafia are being handed over to 76 familiesThis is the same state where prior to 2017, mafia used to encroach upon the land of poor, businessmen and government. But now housing units are being built on the land freed from the mafia

#WATCH | UP CM Yogi Adityanath says, A unique initiative has been taken forward today, from Prayagraj. Keys to flats, built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, on the land confiscated from the mafia are being handed over to 76 familiesThis is the same state where prior to pic.twitter.com/OVbPRaxSQu  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 30, 2023

I tell all the officials today, to build such housing units on land freed from the mafia in their respective areas. This will instil confidence in people, he added.

As part of his visit, the Chief Minister also inspected the flats before handing them over to the beneficiaries.

#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath inspects the flats for the poor, built on land confiscated from slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, in Prayagraj. He will handover the flats shortly. pic.twitter.com/am0ln0kR3u  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 30, 2023

The housing complex has a total of 76 flats in two blocks, community hall and a park.

The project was undertaken by the District Urban Development Authority (DUDA). Each flat with an area of 41 square metres costs Rs 3.5 lakh.

On 26 December 2021, the UP Chief Minister had laid the foundation stone for the housing project on 1731 sq m site in the Lukerganj area of Prayagraj.

A lottery of these 76 flats was then taken out on 9 June to select the beneficiaries. A total of 6,030 had applied for these flats under the housing scheme.

#WATCH | Prayagraj | Visuals inside the apartment  the flats of which will be handed over to the poor, by Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath shortly. These have been built on land confiscated from slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed. pic.twitter.com/jYKcHsaYMg  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 30, 2023

In October 2021, the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) prepared a blueprint for the construction of the houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) on the plot that was freed from Ahmed as part of a crackdown against him and his gang in 2021. A tender had also been issued for the construction of this housing complex.

Expressing their happiness, beneficiaries said that their dream of owning a house has finally come true.

It feels great. I could never have imagined that I will get my own house. Now nobody will tell me to leave from here, said one of the beneficiaries.

#WATCH | A beneficiary says, It feels great. I could never have imagined that I will get my own house. Now nobody will tell me to leave from here pic.twitter.com/u42PpG1ddK  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 30, 2023

Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said that the Uttar Pradesh government will vacate all such illegal encroachments and build houses for the poor.

Our Government will vacate all such illegal encroachments, build houses for the poor and handover to them, he said.

Gangster-tuned-politician, Atiq Ahmed was an accused in murder of BSP MLA Raju Pal in 2005 and also in the killing of a witness in the case- Umesh Pal- in February this year.

Atiq, alongwith his brother Ashraf Ahmed was shot dead outside a government hospital in Prayagraj by men posing as journalists on 15 April this year.

With inputs from agencies

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World Social Media Day is celebrated globally on 30 June every year to acknowledge its impact on global communication and aware people of its pros and cons. After the creation of social media, people have been able to connect with each other whenever and however they want. It has also become the most effective means for marketers to scale up their business in the market. According to Forbes, an estimated 4.9 billion people use social media across the world in 2023. Today, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter are some of the most used social media platforms in the world.

History

World Social Media Day was launched by Mashable  a news website, in 2010. The news portal decided to celebrate this day to appreciate the importance of this platform in connecting people all over the world on the basis of their likes, dislikes and culture. The first social network was created in 1997 named Sixdegrees. It was founded by Andrew Weinreich and this platform allowed users to create profiles, upload photos and connect with others through bulletin boards. It was eventually shut down in 2001.

In 2004, Facebook was invented and went live in the world. Initially, it was in competition with My Space which was widely used by the Western population. But today, Facebook enjoys 2.9 billion users in the world.

A year later, the video-sharing app  Youtube was founded which was followed by Twitter in 2006. With this, the three giants of social media took the sphere of popularity and have not looked back ever since. In 2010, another heavyweight, Instagram was founded which gained immense popularity within the first few months.

Later, Facebook purchased the platform in 2012 along with WhatsApp in 2014.

Significance

This day marks the importance of social media in bringing people together and catalysing the transformation in society. On this day, people talk about the power of these platforms in bringing individuals together from various cultures, businesses and places. Through social media, users share their experiences of the form of communication and talk about how much it has evolved, what are the changes they see and how it has impacted their life.

Social media has aided several social movements, exposed social causes and ignited vital discussions on some of the major problems in society.

Celebration

Primarily, since the event  Social Media Day highlights social media, then its definitely a day for you to be social and active. You can post Happy Social Media Day on your social media platform.

To celebrate this day, several organisations conduct virtual events to spread awareness about data privacy and ways to foster connections with people worldwide. Additionally, a lot of influencers organise campaigns and quizzes as a way to celebrate this day.

Another way through which you can celebrate this day is by engaging yourself in educating people about disinformation and how to counter it.

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India is often projected as a land of disempowered women. Whereas Indian women enjoy one of the most equitable and progressive legal frameworks, in the world.

As a Hindu woman lawyer, I am proud of empowering laws, that govern me as a citizen of India, treat me equally in my own country, and at par with any developed nation.

In this column, I will explore how Indian legislation reflects a comprehensive and evolved understanding of gender equality. It is important to clarify that women here, implies Hindu women (Hindu, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhist) alone. In the absence of a Uniform Civil Code, these laws do not apply to Muslim women, who are governed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, of 1937.

Marriage laws and polygamy

The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 empowered women within the institution of marriage, recognizing womens rights to choose a partner, maintenance, and equal participation in marital assets. These provisions have fostered a more equitable and progressive society. Bigamy is punishable for Hindus, under the Indian Penal Code. The Prevention of Child Marriage Act safeguards countless young girls.

In Muslim Law, the marriage of a girl, who has attained puberty is considered valid. A man may have four marriages, in addition to the no-strings-attached misyar marriage, lasting short durations, without any financial obligation of cohabitation, or maintenance. Muslim women groups argue that these provisions are exploitative, especially for young girls.

Inheritance and succession

Hindu Succession Act of 1956 and successive amendments have made women equal with male members of the patriarchal lineage, ensuring economic security across generations. Daughters are equal coparceners in inherited, ancestral property, sharing the same liabilities. A married woman has complete rights over her personal property, she can sell or gift it as per her wish.

However, in the same country Muslim women, face discrimination. According to the Muslim Personal Law, if a person dies, with only daughters, then his wife and daughters are at the mercy of male members in the line of succession, who have a share in the inheritance.

Divorce and child custody

Hindu marriage is not a contract, but a sanskara or sacred act, with no provision, for a divorce. Yet, laws have kept pace with changing times, giving Hindu women the right to divorce.

The Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 ensures that mothers are not automatically denied custody, in case of divorce or separation. In Muslim personal law, the father remains the natural guardian of his children. The mother is only entitled to Hizanit, or custody of the son till age 7 years, and the daughter till she attains puberty.

Reproductive Rights, Adoption, and Domestic Violence

When 12 states in the United States of America, have passed near-total bans on abortion, India acknowledges a womans agency over her reproductive choices and prioritizes her well-being.

Abortion is not a fun activity for any woman, and laws should not make the ordeal tougher for her. India enacted the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act in 1971, later updated the law in 2021, allowing for abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy for all women, irrespective of marital status, requiring the opinion of just one doctor without anyone elses consent.

Personally, I think, in the case of married women, abortion should include the husbands opinion as well, since it is a joint emotional decision. But, most womens groups and courts opine that the decision should rest primarily with the woman alone.

Similarly, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, of 2005 gives rights to women against physical, emotional, sexual, and economic violence.

Single Hindu women, with or without biological or adoptive children, can adopt a child of any gender. Legally, this option was not available to women in other communities.

Social activism and courts bridging the divide

There is increasing demand for reforming personal laws. Social groups, individual women, and Muslim activists have routinely approached courts seeking relief.

In 1978, a 62-year-old Muslim woman, Shah Bano, sought maintenance for her five children, under the Code of Criminal Procedure.

In 2017, Supreme Court held triple talaq as unconstitutional. Later the government enacted a law, to codify the judgment.

Noorjahan Safia Niaz, co-founder, of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) is a powerful voice against polygamy. BMMA claims over 84 per cent of Muslim wives want polygamy banned.

The Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law has been pushing for change. National Commission for Women (NCW) and BMMA have repeatedly argued that regarding puberty as a marriage age, violates the human rights of young girls. They want the legal age of marriage as 18 years, for Muslim girls as well.

The right to safe abortion and protection against domestic violence, are human rights. In the absence of a codified law, these laws do not become automatically available to Muslim women, without court intervention.

In 2005, in response to a petition by activist Shabnam Hashmi, Supreme Court ruled, that any person can adopt a child, irrespective of religion, under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, even if the religious personal laws do not permit adoption. The court termed this as a small step towards a Uniform Civil Code, a goal enshrined in the Constitution of India.

Rather than unnecessary individual litigation, there is a need to codify personal laws. Indian judiciary has taken on a quasi-legislative role. They have done a commendable job delivering justice. But decisions are done on individual case facts, so judgments can often be contradictory. A court judgment is not a substitute for a codified law. India is the only large democracy where laws discriminate based on religion.

However, change cannot be forced. Educated Muslims and activists should lead discussions and dialogue, within their community, to ease the application of progressive and humanitarian laws.

The writer is the founder of YogaSmith and author of four books. She is a lawyer and has worked in pharmaceutical and technology industry in Asia, USA, and Europe. Views expressed are personal.

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The short-lived revolt by Russias Wagner group, owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close Putin aide, on 24th Jun, reignited the debate on Private Military Companies (PMCs) employed by a state. The Wagner group has, apart from Ukraine, also been involved in operations in Libya, Sudan, Central African Republic, Mozambique and Mali, all with government sanction. It was forced to withdraw from Mozambique due to heavy losses. Ignition of the mutiny was a result of multiple factors the most important being a possible decision to place the company under state control.

Other factors included sidelining of the company, making it lose important catering contracts, resulting in loss of income, restricting its recruitment from prisons, as also removal of Prigozhins favourite general, General Sergei Surovikin, (with whom he had operated in Syria), from the Ukraine front and placing the Wagner group under the defence minister with whom Prigozhin has had numerous conflicts. There are also inputs that information of the revolt was leaked forcing it to be pushed ahead in time.

With just 25,000 soldiers, limited ammunition and a lack of support from the Russian army, on which the Wagner group had banked, Prigozhins revolt would never have succeeded. Its collapse was imminent and it lasting 24 hours was also excessive. However, it conveyed that all is not well within Kremlin. Prigozhins rebuking Putins comments, justifying the launch of the Ukraine war, did cause embarrassment.

Now based in Belarus there are questions on what options are open to Prigozhin and his Wagner group. Those who did not participate in the mutiny would possibly join Russian troops. Wagner would be disbanded by the State though no charges would be pressed against Prigozhin and his troops. For Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko, idle Wagner soldiers could become a headache sometime in the near future and he would need to find a solution. Idle soldiers armed and trained with no source of income are always a security threat.

The revolt also brought to the fore the employment of private military companies and mercenaries. Both PMCs and mercenaries work for money. While a mercenary is an individual hired on contract, PMCs recruit these individuals as part of their organisation. Mercenaries are generally lightly armed and bank on the state employing them for resources, while PMCs may possess better weaponry and communications. Legally, the employment of mercenaries is banned by a 1989 convention. Sadly, the convention has been signed by just 35 countries excluding the US, UK and Russia.

Russia is not the first or the last country to have employed controversial PMCs who have gone beyond their brief. The US employed Blackwater (currently known as Academi) which was notorious for its indiscriminate killings in Iraq. Four of its members were subsequently jailed in the US, only to be pardoned by President Trump in 2020.

In 2004, US contractor CACI was accused of torturing prisoners in Iraqs Abu Ghraib prison. It faced no charges despite the issue being a global embarrassment for the US. Reports state that the number of mercenaries employed by the US in Iraq equalled the number of uniformed troops.

Other groups similar to Wagner which have been employed by different countries include Halliburton, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Northbridge etc. Some participated actively in operations while others provided logistics, guarded embassies and provided security to key personnel in global trouble spots.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have employed mercenaries from multiple countries, including South America and Africa, to fight on their behalf in Yemen. The Nigerian government employed South African contractors to successfully battle Boko Haram after its own troops failed to do so. A substantial part of current Ukrainian forces are mercenaries from various parts of the globe, largely Europe.

Recent inputs mention Nepalese Gorkhas joining the Wagner group and the Russian army. Numbers witnessed a rise following the Russian announcement of citizenship after a years service. Wagner was also reported to have recruited commandoes from the erstwhile Afghan armed forces. Many Gorkhas were recruited by private companies to guard Western embassies in Afghanistan. When the countries evacuated, they were left behind.

In an article published in Swiss media which was a nominee for Investigative Reporting, Andreas Babst and Shristi Kafle write, According to some estimates, more than 35,000 Nepalese have worked as guards in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, but the number is likely to be higher. Many of them were victims of human trafficking. When Kabul fell on 15 August, some were simply left behind. They were reported to have been employed by the German, Canadian and French embassies amongst others. In 2016, 13 Nepalese were killed when the Taliban attacked a bus full of Canadian embassy guards.

Most of those who join PMCs, less those in US-based companies, are from economically weaker countries and largely ex-soldiers. There are also different rates of pay for members of PMCs. Higher levels of salaries are earmarked for US and European mercenaries, others drawing comparatively lower. Countries, where mercenaries are hired, have limited control over recruitment.

PMCs operate under no laws and hence tend to be trigger-happy. Nations employ them because of the benefits they offer. Primarily it enables the nation to officially deny its involvement in the conflict. Secondly is their rapid redeployment as no military chain of command is involved. Thirdly, their casualties never come through in official figures.

Even PMCs underreport their losses as it impacts business. Fourthly, they are cheaper. Finally, it enables launching operations in a region without national support, an example being US involvement in Iraq. For nations like the US, spending funds to achieve its aims without direct troop induction is a benefit. PMCs are more effective against weak militaries in politically unstable states.

They have their disadvantages too. These operate for profit, rather than duty and hence their commitments are low. Every aspect of their involvement is based on financial impact. Secondly, there are no rules governing their employment and thus their excessive use of force can be an embarrassment to the nation which employed them as has been witnessed in Iraq, Afghanistan and currently in Ukraine. This is due to them being outside the military chain of command.

Thirdly, many comprise troops from different countries with little commonality in tactics, rules of engagement etc. Since PMCs operate for profit, there is always a possibility of them being paid to defect.

Some mercenary groups are difficult to control as the Wagner revolt displayed. In 2004, mercenaries attempted a takeover of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. It failed. A group of heavily armed mercenaries barged into the residence of the Haitian president in July 2021 and assassinated him. No one has claimed responsibility, though two US citizens have been among those arrested. The Taliban was also a mercenary group when it was initially created with Western funding and arms to oust the Russians from Afghanistan. It ultimately turned against the US, launching 9/11.

In the current geopolitical scenario where nations do not seek to be directly involved in a conflict, PMCs is the answer. Where there is a need to reduce casualties to own forces, PMCs are ideal. The Wagner group may be disbanded and Russia may be careful with its successors, keeping them under check, however, with global conflicts increasing these companies will continue to flourish and proliferate. As local wars increase, recruitment for PMCs would increase from third-world countries. Since it will largely be major powers which would employ them, it is unlikely that any international law will govern them soon.

The author is a former Indian Army officer, strategic analyst and columnist. Views expressed are personal.

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May 9, 2023, was a red-letter day for the Pakistan Army. It was the day former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on various charges of corruption and his party workers from the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) party decided to go on a rampage. Targeting civilian assets, vehicles or public property is a form of protest in Pakistan. The PTI workers decided to do just that but went many steps beyond and also entered and targeted the Lahore Cantonment. That is like crossing a Red Line, almost similar to the mistake that the terrorist group, Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) made by targeting the Pakistan Army Public School in December 2015.

The Lahore Cantonment is one of the oldest in the subcontinent, dating back to well before the Partition of India. Located there is Headquarters (HQ) 4 Corps of the Pakistan Army and its two divisions, 10 and 11 Infantry Divisions, all responsible for the security of Pakistans heartland and centre of gravity  West Punjab. The PTI mobs reached the Corps Commanders residence and ransacked it even with his presence there.

It was so unbelievable that it appeared the entire episode was a set up. In India we drew parallels of this situation with the senior officer residences of the Indian Army, or Flagstaff Houses in cantonments, or military stations and how they are secured. Many military personalities in India wondered whether HQ 4 Corps was entirely under the influence of the charisma of Imran Khan, such that its security could be so easily compromised. Perception prevailed that there was a serious split in the Pakistan Army along political lines with the PTI elements being permitted inside by a Pakistan Army group sympathetic to their cause.

Some of the speculation was laid to rest next morning when Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir resorted to the traditional way of making amends when a command failure occurs anywhere in most armies. He visited the Lahore Cantonment, relieved the Corps Commander, Lt Gen Salman Fayyaz Ghani, from command and addressed at least two Sainik Sammelans (erstwhile known as durbar, essentially a concentration of troops for an address by a senior commander followed by interaction). He probably implored the troops and their officers to rise above narrow loyalties, stay away from the complex and developing political situation and demonstrate their professionalism. Such events are highly demoralising for troops and unless their officers make ardent and early efforts to re-inspire them tremendous harm to morale and self-esteem would accrue.

General Munir, who I assessed as shaky and lacking confidence even a few months after his appointment as the Army Chief, appears to have made amends with the various actions taken. On 26 Jun 2023 Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Maj-Gen Ahmed Sharif said at a press conference: the incident of 9 May is extremely disappointing, condemnable and a black chapter in the history of our country. Rightly so, because the Pakistan Army, despite all its other demerits, has been a source of strength for Pakistan.

There is no doubt that it also laid down arms in the India-Pakistan conflict of 1971 when its 30,000 soldiers still occupied Dhaka in Bangladesh and only 3,000 Indian troops surrounded Dhaka city. However, through some clever perception management it managed to retain the confidence of the people of Pakistan. It was this contrived credibility that currently appears at stake.

The Pakistan Army decided to invoke the provisions of accountability laws to undertake disciplinary proceedings against those who failed to keep the security and honour of garrisons, military installations, Jinnah House and General Headquarters intact. Three officers, including Corps Cdr 4 Corps, have been removed and strict disciplinary proceedings completed against other officers, including three major generals and seven brigadiers. As per the ISPR, it was a conspiracy under which first a conducive environment was created and people were instigated and provoked against the army.

Among those arrested was a granddaughter (noted fashion designer Khadija Shah) of late Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua who was the Army Chief in 1991-92 and had died in harness. The son-in-law of a retired four-star star general, wife of a retired three-star general and wife and son-in-law of a retired two-star general, are facing the process of accountability due to irrefutable evidence. Its to also put on notice any high-profile personalities who may think their networks are their strength. These actions showed that accountability in the Pakistan Army was carried out without discrimination, irrespective of rank or social status. In many ways this is the manifestation of the power struggle within the Pakistan Army which was triggered right from the time Imran Khan took up the case with former Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa to cancel the transfer orders of Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, the then DG ISI who had been posted as GOC 11 Corps Peshawar.

Imran Khan favoured Hameed and would probably have appointed him the Army Chief after Bajwa but Hameed fell foul with Bajwa. Those Indian Army officers who knew Hameed by virtue of being on courses with him abroad opine that he was a highly ambitious officer with a penchant for networking; his anti-India stance was also most noticeable.

Gen Munir legitimately came to power with a comparatively unsung profile and that has probably driven him to exercise greater authority in ensuring accountability and efficiency, so as to establish himself. He has been treading a path strewn with thorns laid out by many loyalists of Imran Khan within the Pakistan Army. He has used military courts to initiate proceedings against 102 civilian suspects involved in the uprising of 9 May 2023, an issue which has been challenged in the Pakistan Supreme Court. However, it seems on this issue Gen Munir will brow beat his way through. Any leeway he gives the Supreme Court will be perceived as weakness because the court is arrayed in favour of Imran Khan.

From all indicators Gen Munir is likely to continue gaining confidence as more decisions are taken on the political front. That he will not allow Imran Khan the leeway to participate in the elections is a given and in the coming months he will have the opportunity to appoint new Corps Commanders, almost five of them. That could be another challenge for him when he attempts to place his own favourites in positions of power. The opposition within the Pakistan Army may not yet give up so soon and that is a time for him to watch his back.

The writer is a former GOC of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps and Chancellor, Central University of Kashmir. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the joint session of US Congress in 2016 as well, but this time he appeared more relaxed, assertive, and self-confident. In fact, these traits marked the entire length of his state visit to the United States. This has something to do with Modis stature as a global leader whom everyone wants to court, of course, but more to do with Indias rising profile, economic ascent, and the optimism that India may drive global growth in the foreseeable future.

Overall, the vibe around India is positive and its amazing what favourable narratives can do. External affairs minister S Jaishankar was not off the mark when on Wednesday at a town hall event in New Delhi, he billed Modis visit to the US as the most productive in history in terms of outcomes.

In the past, such bilateral enthusiasm has promised more and delivered less. Something has changed this time, and that change is palpable.

Within exactly six days of American firm Micron Technology  one of the worlds largest semiconductor companies  announcing that it would invest up to $825 million to build a new semiconductor facility in India to enable assembly and test manufacturing for both DRAM and NAND products, the Gujarat government on Wednesday signed an MoU with Micron to set up a $2.75 billion facility at Sanand in Ahmedabad. Microns senior vice president Gurusharan Singh flew down to sign on the dotted line.

The American chip maker in a statement said the quantum of investment would be spread over two phases, creating 5,000 direct and 15,000 ancillary jobs over the next few years. The Centre would provide 50 per cent of the total project cost, and according to Union electronics and technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the firm will roll out the first chips within 18 months. Thats quite an expedited deadline where the gestation period is typically 36 to 48 months.

On Wednesday, the prime minister posted on Twitter that board members and key leadership of Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, a global investment banking firm, has arrived in India to meet him and other senior government officials and was apprised of Indias opportunities, vast potential for growth, fuelled by recent reforms and a conducive business environment. The 12-member Goldman Sachs board is visiting India for the first time in a decade. It speaks of the renewed optimism around the India story.

The CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, told Economic Times in an interview that the board members were brought to India because it is a very interesting time in India. This populous country now has a very, very high growth trajectory. Our economists predict 6-7% growth over the next three years. Its especially exciting as businesses around the world continue to diversify supply chains and think differently about where there is growth and where they can do business. Its a fascinating time to really take stock of whats going on here. How is India evolving economically  and the role that it plays in the world.

As always, everything starts with economics. Indias enormous economic potential is being recognized, and it is causing palpable excitement among American money managers and investors. This obviously has geopolitical implications.

During the joint press briefing at the White House, US president Joe Biden called the partnership with India the most consequential in the world, that is stronger, closer, and more dynamic than any time in history. He wasnt exaggerating.

It is easy to get swayed by the kvetching and carping over values, democracy, human rights and ill-informed, agenda-driven commentary in media, but amid all the noise generated by two cacophonous democracies Modis visit signified a remarkable tightening of ties across nearly all conceivable domains. It is pivoting, however, on technological cooperation underwritten by a massive leap of faith.

More than defence cooperation, which remains a recurring theme, the strategic convergence is now being driven primarily by technology  its transfer, co-development, and co-production. It is the next big milestone. This is evident from the text of the joint statement and iterations from both sides.

Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra, for instance, in a press briefing from Washington on the conclusion of bilateral negotiations, called the visit truly transformative across a wide range of areas but singled out technological cooperation across the full gamut of its ecosystem  transfer, trade, services, research, co-production, cooperation on capacity building  that amounts to roughly 20 to 25 areas of technology partnership as the meat of the bilateral agreements.

This was succinctly summarized by the prime minister during the joint presser with Biden, when he said, by increasing our (technological) cooperation in fields such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, space, quantum, and telecom, we are creating a strong and futuristic partnership.

If emerging and critical technologies represent the future, the partnership that seeks to define the future and lay down the rules of the road so that techno-authoritarians such as China do not enjoy competitive advantage must also bridge the gap that exists, synchronize their interfaces, and let the market forces that are released determine the pace of bilateral ties.

The accent on technology in all its multifaceted aspects as the new springboard of bilateral relationship isnt by accident, rather a deliberate, painstaking design. It is a recognition of the fact that India-US technological cooperation may impact their respective economies, create more opportunities, erect a viable digital infrastructure, serve billions across the globe through reliable security networks, generate shared prosperity, and even provide solutions for emerging challenges such as climate change.

The biggest motivation for the impressive technological cooperation programme between India and the US, however, remains national security  the need to counter Chinas supremacy over cutting-edge technologies, including semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

In that sense, Xi Jinping is propelling America and India closer. None of the countries would openly admit it, however. In fact, they would go out of their way to obfuscate the reality.

Take Jake Sullivan, for instance. The American national security adviser in a recent interview to Hindustan Times was asked about Chinas role in driving India and the US closer. Sullivan replied that both president Biden and prime minister Modi view the US-India relationship more through the lens of the opportunities it presents than through the threats and challenges it needs to worry about or ward off.

Or take Jaishankar. The external affairs minister in an interview with The Economist declared that theres no correlation between Indias problems with China and the development of (its) relations with the United States. He added that theres empirical data out there to show that quite independently of anything that happened on the China border, India-US relations were ticking along, more than ticking along, just fine.

None of this is convincing, especially if we look at the overarching strategy of the technological agenda to integrate their respective industrial and innovation bases, or to cooperate with each other on artificial intelligence and advanced wireless technologies, or the expansive plan to transfer tech, coproduce and codevelop jet engines, allied defence technologies and other sensitive sectors.

A look at the India-US joint statement makes this clearer. Trust is the keyword. The statement says, President Biden and Prime Minister Modi share a vision of creating secure and trusted telecommunications, resilient supply chains, and enabling global digital inclusion. To fulfill this vision, the leaders launched two Joint Task Forces on advanced telecommunications, focused on Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies.

The most interesting aspect of the trajectory of bilateral ties is how, keeping technology as the fulcrum, the cooperation is being mounted into well-defined structures such as the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), the US-India Commercial Dialogue (that will launch a new Innovation Handshake to connect each countrys start-up ecosystems), and is simultaneously being broad-based into the middle segment of domain experts and stakeholders.

The joint statement reads, Biden and Modi welcomed the establishment of a joint Indo-US Quantum Coordination Mechanism to facilitate collaboration among industry, academia, and government, and our work toward a comprehensive Quantum Information Science and Technology agreement. The salient feature of the plan is its clearly distinguishable framework.

The leaders welcomed the launch of a $2 million grant program under the US-India Science and Technology Endowment fund for the joint development and commercialization of AI and quantum technologies, and encouraged public-private collaborations to develop high performance computing (HPC) facilities in India.

I need not go into the minutiae of the technology partnership, the vast gamut of which has been fully laid out in the fact sheet released by the White House. Some bullet points include strengthening semiconductor supply chains, critical minerals partnership, advanced telecommunications that will involve Open RAN deployments in both countries to demonstrate the scalability of this technology, cooperation in space frontier with Indias signing of the Artemis Accords, cooperation in cutting-edge research as well as fiber optics investments. This is by no means a comprehensive list.

Even if China provides the glue for this convergence, the dovetailing wouldnt have been possible without a fair give-and-take. It is tempting to imagine that the US is making an exception for India, but as in life, nothing happens in geopolitics without an inherent transactionalism. There are two ways of looking at the emerging technological alliance. First, the two sides have complementary strengths that present the perfect logic for integration.

Samir Saran and Ylli Bajraktari observe in Foreign Policy while the United States remains a leader in technology, India has leapt forward as an innovation powerhouse. Both countries have robust, educated workforces: The US leads in producing Ph.Ds. in science and engineering, while India is ahead in terms of graduates with bachelors degrees in those subjects In domains such as the commercial space sector, India is becoming a key global player. New Delhi is a capable partner for Washington in the entire innovation chain, from research and development to production.

The other way to look at the unfolding partnership, in the backdrop of Chinas aggressive rise, is that the US has taken on the role of an enabler, but it is not an act of altruism or philanthropy. It correctly sees Indias rise as beneficial for itself, and valuable for restoring balance of power in Indo-Pacific. In this reading, while the capabilities of both countries may not match, the interests do.

In his interview with The Wire, former national security adviser Shivshankar Menon makes the point that Americas partnership is essential for Indias transformation and efforts to to build a modern, technologically capable state. Whereas for the US, India offers more than just the market. It offers, today, since its developed and grown and changed so much in the last 30 years therefore, it offers a place where you can actually start thinking seriously of some co-production

This congruence of interests, along with the necessity of creating a bulwark against China, lies at the heart of the India-US technological partnership. The relationship is now more equivalent, equitable and synonymous. It hinges less on rhetoric and more on action with a clear sight of the road ahead. This is the biggest outcome of Modis visit.

The writer is Deputy Executive Editor, Firstpost. He tweets @sreemoytalukdar. Views expressed are personal.

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Eleven Chinese aircraft crossed the Taiwan Straits median line on Friday morning, an unofficial barrier between the two sides, according to Taiwans defence ministry, as China increases military pressure on the democratic island.

The defence ministry said that a total of 24 Chinese warplanes including fighter jets and bombers were spotted near Taiwan on Friday morning from around 8 a.m. Five Chinese battleships also joined a joint war readiness patrol, it said.

Taiwan sent aircraft and ships to warn away the Chinese activities, while missile systems monitored them, the ministry said, using standard wording for its response.

A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters the Chinese activities on Friday were likely a reaction to the visit to Taipei made by a U.S. congressional delegation led by the chair of House Armed Services Committee Mike Rogers.

China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, in April staged drills around the island in anger at President Tsai Ing-wens meeting with the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Taiwans government strongly objects to Chinas sovereignty claims and vows to defend itself if China attacks the island.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday approved the potential sale of ammunition and logistics supply support to Taiwan in two separate deals valued at up to $440 million.

With inputs from Reuters

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A class action lawsuit has been filed against OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, claiming that the companys AI training methods violated the privacy and copyright of practically everyone who has ever shared content online.

OpenAI gathered an enormous amount of data from various sources on the internet to train its advanced AI language models. These datasets consist of a wide range of materials, such as Wikipedia articles, popular books, social media posts, and even explicit content of niche genres. More importantly, OpenAI acquired all this data without seeking permission from the content creators.

OpenAI in big trouble

The class action lawsuit, which has been filed in California, argues that OpenAIs failure to adhere to proper protocols, including obtaining consent from content creators, amounts to outright data theft.

The lawsuit filing states, Instead of following established procedures for the acquisition and usage of personal information, the Defendants resorted to theft. They systematically scraped 300 billion words from the internet, including books, articles, websites, and posts, which also included personal information obtained without consent.

How OpenAI stole your idea, your work, your creation

It is a valid argument that if you have been active online in recent decades, your digital contributions are likely incorporated into OpenAIs datasets. Consequently, any output generated by OpenAIs language models, which is used for profit, may contain fragments of your data obtained through silent scraping.

Ryan Clarkson, the managing partner at the law firm suing OpenAI, explained to The Washington Post that all of that information is being taken at scale without it being originally intended for utilization by a large language model.

Is the Class Action Lawsuit really a concern for OpenAI?

However, the outcome of the case in court remains uncertain. The internets infrastructure is complex, and the notion of a free and open web is often not entirely accurate. Online platforms have their own terms and agreements with users, and even if users contribute content to these platforms, the ownership typically belongs to the platform itself rather than the users.

Katherine Gardner, an intellectual-property lawyer, noted that when users upload content to social media or any other site, they usually grant the platform a broad license to use their content in various ways. As a result, it would be challenging for ordinary users to claim entitlement to payment or compensation for the use of their data in training models.

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Hours after Pakistan was finally able to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a US $3 billion bailout, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked China for helping the cash-strapped country in the process.

During this period, China saved Pakistan from default, Sharif said.

Global lender, IMF, and the South Asian nation have reached a staff-level agreement on a US $3 billion standby agreement just hours ahead of expiry on Friday.

The funds would offer some respite to Pakistan which has been battling an acute balance of payments crisis and falling foreign exchange reserves.

A total of $4 billion have already been released from this fund.

An IMF team led by Nathan Porter held in-person and virtual meetings with the Pakistani authorities to discuss a new financing engagement for Pakistan under an IMF Stand-by Arrangement (SBA).

At the conclusion of the mission, Porter in a statement said, I am pleased to announce that the IMF team has reached a staff-level agreement with the Pakistani authorities on a nine-month Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) in the amount of SDR2,250 million (about $3 billion or 111 percent of Pakistans IMF quota).

The new SBA builds on the authorities efforts under Pakistans 2019 EFF-supported program which expires end-June. This agreement is subject to approval by the IMFs Executive Board, which is expected to consider this request by mid-July, Porter added.

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Facebooks content moderators in Kenya are suing Meta for creating a work environment that is nothing less than torture. About 200 former Facebook contractors in Kenya are suing Meta and local contractor Sama over working conditions that could have implications for social media moderators around the world.

Content moderators are vital in keeping social media the jolly good place it appears to be on the surface. The reality is, that people upload and post all sorts of things  from children being molested to people being killed and mutilated. Content moderators would have to look at, or read all sorts of horrors on Facebook.

Reports have emerged from several local contracting firms in Africa, which states that moderators often have breakdowns during their 8-hour shifts. Some, overwhelmed moderatos would often scream or cry.

Metas exploitation of content moderators

It is the first known court challenge outside the United States, where Facebook settled with moderators in 2020. Content moderators working in the US had sued Meta earlier for their failure to ensure a safe working environment.

As a result of the settlement, Meta started hiring more contractors as moderators in other countries.

The 200 people suing Meta and Sama, were employed at a contracted facility in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, which served as the outsourced content moderation hub for the social media giant. Their responsibilities involved screening and removing any content that could be deemed illegal or harmful from users across Africa that violated the platforms community standards and terms of service.

Earlier this year, the moderators were laid off by Sama as it discontinued its involvement in the business. Despite a court order mandating the extension of their contracts until the case is resolved, the moderators assert that the companies involved are disregarding the order.

Moderators fight back

Representing moderators from various African countries, they are currently seeking compensation of 1.46 billion. Their claims are based on allegations of unfavourable working conditions, which include inadequate mental health support and extremely low wages.

For those who had previously escaped political or ethnic violence in their home countries, being exposed to distressing content as moderators served as a triggering experience. Unfortunately, they encountered minimal support and were faced with a culture of secrecy within the workplace.

Additionally, they were required to sign non-disclosure agreements, preventing them from discussing their work or the conditions they faced. Personal belongings such as phones were also prohibited from being brought into the workplace.

The salary for top content moderators was 392 per month, with non-Kenyans getting a small expat allowance on top of that. Sama maintains that this is about four times higher than the local wage and that most of their moderators lived close to the international poverty line of 1.74 a day before being hired.

Mental health is not for developing or underdeveloped countries it seems

In countries like Kenya, where there is an abundance of inexpensive labour, the practice of outsourcing sensitive work such as content moderation has led to an exploitative industry that capitalizes on global economic inequality. Companies such as Meta often take advantage of this disparity, causing harm, and then shirk responsibility by claiming they didnt directly employ the individuals involved since they work through third-party contractors.

Moreover, concerns have been raised about the quality of mental health care provided to moderators, with doubts arising about the effectiveness and confidentiality of therapy services offered. The Facebook contractor, Sama, based in the United States, failed to prioritize the provision of post-traumatic professional counselling to moderators in their Nairobi office. The counsellors available were poorly trained to address the experiences and challenges faced by the moderators.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has stated that their contractors are contractually obligated to pay their employees above the industry standard in the markets where they operate. Additionally, they claim to offer on-site support provided by trained practitioners.

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The cop who killed a 17-year-old boy during a traffic stop on Tuesday has apologised to the family while in custody, his lawyer said.

The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family, Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV late Thursday.

He is devastated, he doesnt get up in the morning to kill people, Lienard said. He didnt want to kill him.

At least one hundred and fifty people were arrested in France on Thursday after a second night of unrest across the country following the fatal shooting by police of a 17-year-old boy during a traffic stop.

Lienard said the policeman was extremely shocked by the violence of this video. The officer has been charged with voluntary homicide and remanded in custody. Lienard said he would on Friday appeal his client being placed in custody.

Concern over the situation, President Emmanuel Macron had convened a crisis meeting with senior ministers on Thursday after riots spread across France overnight over the deadly police shooting of a teenager of North African descent during a traffic stop.

A video shared on social media, verified by Reuters, shows two police officers beside a car, a Mercedes AMG, with one shooting at the teenage driver at close range as he pulls away. He died shortly afterwards from his wounds, the local prosecutor said. The interior ministry had said Wednesday that 2,000 police had been mobilised in the Paris region. Shortly before midnight on Nanterres Avenue Pablo Picasso, a trail of overturned vehicles burned as fireworks fizzed at police lines. Police also clashed with protesters in the northern city of Lille and in Toulouse in the southwest, and there was unrest in Amiens, Dijon as well as in numerous districts throughout the greater Paris region, the authorities said. A police officer is being investigated for voluntary homicide for shooting the youth. Prosecutors say the boy failed to comply with an order to stop his car. Rights groups allege systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies in France, a charge Macron has previously denied.

With inputs from agencies

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Following the most devastating night of widespread rioting in response to the deadly police shooting of a teenager, French President Emmanuel Macron convened his cabinet for a second crisis meeting in two days on Friday.

Authorities reported hundreds of police officers were hurt and hundreds of people were arrested as rioters clashed with officials in towns and cities across France, torching buildings and vehicles and looting stores after the most destructive night of nationwide rioting yet in protest at the fatal shooting of a teenager by police.

WATCH: Unfazed by clash between rioters and police, French man enjoys his sandwich; netizens hail him as legend

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who deployed 40,000 officers on Thursday night in a bid to quell a third night of unrest, said on Twitter that police made 875 arrests.

Armoured police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the teen identified only by his first name, Nahel. On the other side of Paris, protesters lit a fire at the city hall of the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and set a bus depot ablaze in Aubervilliers.

In several Paris neighbourhoods, groups of people hurled firecrackers at security forces. The police station in the citys 12th district was attacked, while some shops were looted along Rivoli Street, near the Louvre museum, and at the Forum des Halles, the largest shopping mall in central Paris.

In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police sought to disperse violent groups in the city centre, regional authorities said.

Some 40,000 police officers were deployed to quell the protests. Police detained 667 people, the interior minister said; 307 of those were in the Paris region alone, according to the Paris police headquarters.

On Thursday night, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who deployed 40,000 cops in an attempt to settle a third night of disturbance, reported on Twitter that police made 667 arrests.

Violence hit Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille as well as parts of Paris, including the working class suburb of Nanterre, where 17-year-old Nahel M.  who was of Algerian and Moroccan descent  was shot dead on Tuesday during a traffic stop. Nationwide, 249 police were injured, authorities said.

Macron, who has so far ruled out declaring a state of emergency, was due to fly back early from a European summit in Brussels to meet with his cabinet at 1100 GMT.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne called the violence intolerable and inexcusable and reaffirmed her support for police and firefighters who were bravely carrying out their duties.

Some western governments had earlier warned their citizens in France to exercise caution.

Americans should avoid mass gatherings and areas of significant police activity, the U.S. embassy said in a tweet on Thursday, while UK authorities urged Britons to monitor the media, avoid protests and check advice when travelling.

Videos on social media showed urban landscapes ablaze across the country. A tram was set alight in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses gutted in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.

Transport Minister Clement Beaune told RMC radio he did not rule out shutting down the capitals public transport network early on Friday.

FLASHPOINT NANTERRE

In Nanterre on the citys outskirts, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following an earlier peaceful vigil held to pay tribute to the dead boy.

In the Chatelet Les Halles shopping mall in central Paris, a Nike shoe store was broken into, and several people were arrested after store windows were smashed along the adjacent Rue de Rivoli shopping street, Paris police said.

A source told Reuters that several Casino supermarkets were looted across the country.

Paris police said they had made 307 arrests in and around the city and that nine police and fire officers had been injured.

Nahel M.s death has fuelled longstanding complaints of police violence and systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies from rights groups and within the low-income, racially mixed suburbs around Frances major cities.

The policeman who prosecutors said had acknowledged firing a lethal shot at the teenager was on Thursday placed under formal investigation for voluntary homicide  equivalent to being charged under Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions. He is being held in preventive detention.

His lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, said his client had aimed down towards the drivers leg but was bumped, causing him to shoot towards his chest. Obviously (the officer) didnt want to kill the driver, Lienard said on BFM TV,

Overnight in southern France, police fired tear gas grenades and Marseilles tourist hot-spot of Le Vieux Port was evacuated as youths clashed with police. Police there said they had made 56 arrests and that 38 officers had been injured.

In Roubaix, in northern France, a fire destroyed the office of the TESSI company and several cars were set on fire.

The unrest has revived memories of riots in 2005 that convulsed France for three weeks and forced then-president Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency.

That wave of violence erupted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois and spread across the country following the death of two young men who ended up being electrocuted in a power substation as they hid from police.

With inputs from agencies

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A day after Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi was forced to withdraw an order dismissing jailed DMK leader Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers, Congress MP Manish Tewari on Friday said that the Governor clearly does not have knowledge of the Constitution and demanded that President immediately remove him from the post.

President should immediately remove Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. The Governor who does not know his limits. Governor should not have taken such an unconstitutional step. This clearly shows that he does not have knowledge of the Constitution and is unaware of his responsibilities, said the Congress leader.

#WATCH | Delhi: Congress MP Manish Tewari, says President should immediately remove Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. The Governor who does not know his limits. Governor should not have taken such an unconstitutional step. This clearly shows that he does not have knowledge of the pic.twitter.com/KIhTsj6TdM  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

On Thursday, Tamil Nadu Governor dismissed Minister V Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers but the dismissal directive was put on hold within five hours as per the advisory of the Union Home Ministry.

Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on 14 June in a cash-for-jobs scam. He was later admitted to a government hospital in Chennai after he complained of chest pains. He was allowed by the Madras High Court on 15 June to be shifted to a private hospital of his choice.

Tewari had slammed the dismissal of the jailed minister earlier on Twitter too.

Article 164 of COI The Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister Since Ministers are appointed on the advice of the CM they can be removed ONLY on the advice of CM Unconstitutional Gov, he had tweeted.

Meanwhile, on Congress leader Rahul Gandhis ongoing visit to strife-torn Manipur, Tewari said that it is unfortunate that Gandhis tour was subverted in this manner.

#WATCH | Delhi: Congress MP Manish Tewari, says It is unfortunate that Rahul Gandhis tour was subverted in this manner. Except for the Home Minister, no minister in the government has even shown the courtesy to visit Manipur. If a senior leader of the opposition has gone there pic.twitter.com/WESqeWZjRo  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

Except for the Home Minister, no minister in the government has even shown the courtesy to visit Manipur. If a senior leader of the opposition has gone there to provide a healing touch, government should have facilitated his tour, he added.

Gandhis convoy was on Thursday stopped by the Manipur police at Bishnupur, about 20 kilometres from Imphal, officials said.

After arriving at Imphal, he was travelling in a convoy to Churachandpur to visit relief camps in the area.

Police officials said the convoy was stopped fearing violence along the route.

The blocking of his convoy triggered a political slugfest as the Congress alleged that the BJP-led government is trying to thwart the leaders visit, while the saffron party accused him of being stubborn and choosing to take the road trip even though he was advised to take a chopper as his trip was opposed by various quarters.

With inputs from agencies

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Call it an Eid gift or a last-minute relief, Pakistan has been saved by the International Monetary Fund from default. Global lender, IMF, and the south Asian nation have reached a staff level agreement on a US $3 billion standby agreement just hours ahead of expiry on Friday.

The funds would offer some respite to Pakistan which has been battling an acute balance of payments crisis and falling foreign exchange reserves.

For the unversed, a total of $4 billion have already been released.

Relief for cash-strapped Pakistan

An IMF team led by Nathan Porter held in person and virtual meetings with the Pakistani authorities to discuss a new financing engagement for Pakistan under an IMF Stand-by Arrangement (SBA).

At the conclusion of the mission, Porter in a statement said, I am pleased to announce that the IMF team has reached a staff-level agreement with the Pakistani authorities on a nine-month Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) in the amount of SDR2,250 million (about $3 billion or 111 percent of Pakistans IMF quota).

The new SBA builds on the authorities efforts under Pakistans 2019 EFF-supported program which expires end-June. This agreement is subject to approval by the IMFs Executive Board, which is expected to consider this request by mid-July, Porter added.

Given these challenges, the new SBA would provide a policy anchor and a framework for financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners in the period ahead, Porter said.

Todays decision of IMF was long awaited by Pakistan which is teetering on the brink of default.

Pakistan has had a tumultuous track record with IMF with the current loan program that started in 2019 stalling multiple times.

Before the agreement, Islamabad was racing against time to unlock at least $1.1 billion under the lenders ninth review of a $6.5-billion Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2019. The programme was scheduled to expire on 30 June.

Hours ahead of the announcement of the pact, Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had told Reuters that a staff-level agreement for a crucial bailout deal with the IMF is very close and expected in the next 24 hours.

We are very close to signing a staff level agreement with the IMF, Dar said.

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The High Court of Karnataka has dismissed Twitter Incs petition that challenged the blocking orders issued to the company by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

To this, the Union IT Minister, Ashiwini Vaishnaw has put out a statement, saying The court upholds our stand. Law of the land must be followed. The statement has deeper connotations, given former Twitter CEOs Jack Dorseys dicey statement on India Governments threats to arrest Twitter staff in India and shut their offices down if they do not comply with Indias take down interests.



The Karnataka High Court has imposed a penalty of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter for challenging the blocking orders issued by the IT ministry. The court rejected Twitters request to suspend the governments order, which required the platform to remove certain accounts and tweets related to the farmers protests and the coronavirus.

Twitter argued that the blocking orders lacked proper procedure and exceeded the governments powers.

Twitter challenging the Indian IT Ministry

Last year, the IT ministry sent a notice to Twitter, warning that failure to remove the tweets would result in the platform losing its legal immunity under Section 79(1) of the IT Act.

Twitter then sought legal intervention by filing a petition, questioning how it could be instructed to block user accounts and suppress freedom of speech.

Twitter gets pulled up

During the verdicts announcement, the bench stated that Twitter had received notices but failed to comply. The penalty for non-compliance could involve imprisonment for up to seven years and an unlimited fine. Despite this, Twitter did not show any valid reason for its delayed compliance, waiting over a year before approaching the court.

According to LiveLaw, while announcing the verdict, the bench said, Your client (Twitter) was given notices and your client did not complyPunishment for non-compliance is seven years imprisonment and an unlimited fine. That also did not deter your client. So you have not given any reason why you delayed compliance, more than a year of delaythen all of sudden you comply and approach the Court. You are not a farmer but a billion-dollar company.

Jack Dorseys controversial take on Twitter in India

Just a few days ago, before Prime Minister Modis visit to the US, where he met Twitters current owner Elon Musk, Twitters co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey had made some controversial comments. Dorsey claimed in an interview that the Government of India had threatened to take action against Twitter, and its staff in India, if it did not suppress tweets about the farmers protest and tweets from certain opposition leaders and journalists.

To this, IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar launched a scathing attack on Dorsey, not only claiming that he is lying but also that Dorsey doesnt respect the sovereignty of Indias laws.

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An inmate was killed in a firing by the prison guards and 17 prisoners escaped from Pakistans Chaman jail in the restive Balochistan province during Eid ul-Adha prayers on Thursday, said police.

Malik Shuja Kasi, Balochistan Inspector General of Prisons, said some police guards and inmates were also injured in the violence and firing.

The incident took place when Eid prayers were being offered on Thursday inside the jail in an open space, Kasi said.

Apparently these prisoners had planned the escape and executed it during Eid prayers. After they were let out of their barracks for Eid prayers, they violently attacked the police guards, he said.

Kasi said that in the ensuing violence and chaos, one inmate was also killed in the firing by prison guards while 17 others managed to escape.

They appear to have had help from outside in making their escape a successful one, he added.

Kasi said a list of the escaped prisoners was prepared and some of them were in jail for terror activities.

The Chaman jail is located close to the border town with Iran and security forces fear the prisoners might have crossed the border with help from accomplices.

Separately, in a suicide bomb attack, a female suicide bomber hit a Frontier Corps vehicle in Balochistans Turbat city killing one police officer.

With inputs from agencies

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting chaired by India on July 4.

The spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, on Friday said Sharif will participate virtually in the meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS).

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, as the current Chair of the SCO, had extended the invitation to his Pakistani counterpart, Sharif to attend the meeting.

The Prime Ministers participation in the CHS illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO, as an important forum for regional security and prosperity, and enhances engagement with the region, Pakistans foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Summit of the SCO Council of Heads of State will be chaired by PM Modi.

Apart from Pakistan, all the other SCO Member States  China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan  have been invited to attend the July 4 meeting.

Iran, Belarus and Mongolia have been invited as Observer States.

As per SCO tradition, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair.

Heads of six international and regional organisations  UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA  have also been invited, Indias Ministry of External Affairs had said.

Established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai, China, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, or SCO, is a regional intergovernmental organisation which was originally founded by six member states  China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

In 2017, India and Pakistan joined as full members, expanding the SCOs reach and influence.

The primary goals of the SCO are to promote regional stability, security, and economic cooperation among its member states. The organisation focuses on addressing common security challenges, including terrorism, separatism, and extremism.

With inputs from agencies

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone call on Friday where the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues including the Wagner Groups recent mutiny and the Ukraine conflict.

The Kremlin said that PM Modi expressed support for Putins handling of the Wagner mutiny. In connection with the events of June 24 in Russia, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens, it said.

The two world leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation where they emphasised the importance of consistent implementation of major projects in various fields together.

During the phone call, attention was also paid to the upcoming summits of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and G20, both of which are under Indias presidency this year.

PM Modi also briefed Putin about his recent visit to the US.

Both Modi and Putin also discussed the current situation of the Ukraine conflict where the latter told the former that the President of Russia assessed the current state of affairs in the special military operation zone, emphasizing Kyivs categorical refusal to take political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict.

PM Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, an official statement by the PMO said.

Describing the conversation as informative and constructive, the Kremlin said that the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between Russia and India.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) next week being hosted by India, an official announcement here said on Friday.

President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release. He was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,

This is the first official announcement about Xis participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.

Ahead of the summit to be held for the first time under Indias Presidency, India on Tuesday inaugurated an exquisitely designed New Delhi Hall at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.

While the SCOs six founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have their halls highlighting their cultures and unique features, India is the first to add its own.

Virtually inaugurating the hall, External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar in his address said the New Delhi Hall, is conceived to be a mini-India showcasing various facets of Indian culture.

With inputs from PTI

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is drawing inspiration from his great friend Prime Minister Narendra Modis Make in India concept and has asked companies in his country, hit by US-led West sanctions, to consider making own products for the development of domestic businesses.

Appreciating PM Modi, Putin said: Our friends in India and our great friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy.

Emulate PM Modis Make in India concept

Speaking at a forum in Moscow organised by Russias Agency for Strategic Initiatives, Putin said, It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it.

Putin mulling Make-in-Russia?

Crediting PM Modi for creating an effective model to develop and promote local manufacturing and woo foreign investors, Putin stressed upon the need to think about making Russian products more convenient and functional, with a modern look and properties.

Industrial and product design should become an important resource for the development of domestic business, the Russian president said.

On his recent visit in New Delhi, Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov said the special Russia-India strategic partnership has shown strength and is growing stronger as ever.

There have been lies about Russia on a daily basis and on a global scale. Efforts are being made to disrupt Russia  India relations, Alipov said during the state reception hosted in Delhi that was dedicated to the National Day of the Russian Federation.

Make in India initiative was launched by PM Modi in September 2014 as part of a wider set of nation-building initiatives. It targets on 25 industry sector, including automobiles, textiles, pharmaceuticals, electronics and renewable energy, and was devised to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub.

With inputs from agencies

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United Nations Security Council needs to expand and give representation to Asian, African and Latin American countries in order to break what he called Western domination of the world.

A majority of the world does not want to live according to Western rules, Lavrov said in a meeting on Friday.

He added that the accusations made by the West, especially the US, were trying to prevent Russia and China from acting independently in a multipolar world.

On Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also showed support for the call to include countries like India, Brazil, Germany and Japan as permanent members of the UNSC.

We want to see permanent African representation and membership extended to India, Brazil, Germany, and Japan. I know this is a bold reform. But it will usher the Security Council into the 2020s. And the UNSC has grown before  albeit not since 1965, he said.

Meanwhile, India has also long pressed for permanent membership at the UNSC and called for more diversification.

Last year, Indias Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said, The world is not the same as it was 77 years ago. The 193 States Members of the United Nations are more than triple the 55 Member States that it had in 1945. However, the composition of the Security Council, responsible for global peace and security, was last fixed in 1965 and is far from reflecting the true diversity of the wider membership of the United Nations.

With inputs from agencies

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The UK government has reiterated its call for reform of the United Nations as one of its top transnational priorities and supported Indias bid for permanent membership of the powerful Security Council.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the UN Security Council (UNSC), saying it rightly deserved a place as a permanent member of the United Nations.

Currently, the UNSC has five permanent members  China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. Only a permanent member has the power to veto any substantive resolution.

In a speech at a conference at the Chatham House think tank in London on Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called for a reinvigorated multilateral system that is more reflective of the times.

He pointed out that the worlds economic centre of gravity is shifting away from the Euro-Atlantic and towards the Indo-Pacific but the multilateral institutions are yet to catch up.

I have five transnational priorities. First, reform of the United Nations Security Council. We want to see permanent African representation and membership extended to India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, said Cleverly.

I know this is a bold reform. But it will usher the Security Council into the 2020s. And the UNSC has grown before albeit not since 1965. My second priority is reform of the international financial institutions. This matters for climate finance and, of course, for poverty reduction, he said.

The minister also hailed Indias leadership role with its presidency of the G20 in pitching for representation of poorer nations on the world stage.

It seems obvious to me that the voice of the poorest and most vulnerable countries must be heard at the heart of the multilateral system. Thats why we support permanent membership of the G20 for the African Union and welcome Indias leadership on taking this forward, he said.

Among the other priorities for the UK, Cleverly highlighted making finance easier and quicker to access and maximise the impact of that investment.

He also stressed that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) desperately needs new rules that reflect todays digital economy to make trade policy free, fair, open and not manipulated or distorted.

He spelt out another top priority as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing have the potential to transform humankinds problem-solving capabilities.

I will chair the UN Security Councils first-ever meeting on this issue, in New York next month. And the Prime Minister [Rishi Sunak] will host an AI summit this autumn, said Cleverly.

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A horrifying incident took place at the Mexico Amusement Park when a 6-year-old boy fell off 40 feet into an artificial pool during a Zipline ride. The family members of the boy said that the harness broke during the ride due to which he was plunged into the artificial pool which was located right below the attraction, reported Fox News. The six-year-old child, named Cesar, has suffered minor injuries and is said to be recovering. A video of the terrifying incident, which was apparently captured by a tourist, was uploaded on Twitter by a page named Around the World.

A six-year-old boy falls from a height of 12 meters while on a ropes rack at Fundidora Park in Monterrey, Mexico, the caption read.

  A six-year-old boy falls from a height of 12 meters while on a ropes rack at Fundidora Park in Monterrey, Mexico pic.twitter.com/DAysWyikiA  Around the world (@1Around_theworl) June 26, 2023

The accident took place on June 25, Sunday at the Parque Fundidoras Amazonian Expedition, an amusement park attraction which is situated in Nuevo Leon  a state in Mexico. The video opens with a staff member chasing the boy while he was ziplining. He tried to grab him by encircling him with his legs while also attempting to stop the ride. As the duo came to a halt and everyone thought he was safe, his harness snapped and he fell into the artificial pool.

Mexican media outlet ABC Noticas said in its report that the kid fell approximately 40 feet into the artificial pool as per the information given by local authorities. The family members blamed poor training of the amusement park staff members for the mishap and said that they could have handled the situation better.

The kids brother, J Cesar Sauceda, told Fox News that this incident has affected his brother psychologically and now, he feels afraid of such adventure sports. Meanwhile, reports suggest that the government has started an investigation into this matter and suspended various attractions at the amusement park after the incident.

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The police shooting of a 17-year-old boy in France has triggered massive unrest in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron calling a second crisis meeting to discuss ways of quelling the riots.

Nahel M, from Nanterre, was shot in the chest for driving off during a police traffic check.

Meanwhile, the policeman who shot the boy has apologised to the family while remaining in custody.

The killing of Nahel was recorded on camera and the video shared on social media showed two police officers beside a car, a Mercedes AMG, with one shooting at the teenage driver at close range as he pulls away. He died after succumbing to his wounds.

At least one hundred and fifty people were arrested in France on Thursday after a second night of unrest across the country following the fatal shooting.

Amy Mek, an investigative journalist, shared videos of the riots on Twitter, where the mob can be heard saying Allahu Akbar while vandalising vehicles and setting them ablaze.

Watch the video:

Allahu Akbar Riots Erupt in France After Police Shooting of 17-Year-Old Nahel with a Lengthy Criminal History Once again, Islamic migrant communities unleash their destructive potential with riots, attacks, fires, looting, and rampant destruction of public services funded by pic.twitter.com/cK5CITg1ub  Amy Mek (@AmyMek) June 29, 2023

Allahu Akbar Riots Erupt in France After Police Shooting of 17-Year-Old Nahel with a Lengthy Criminal History, Mek said.

She added, Once again, Islamic migrant communities unleash their destructive potential with riots, attacks, fires, looting, and rampant destruction of public services funded by billions of taxpayer money for years.

In another tweet, the journalist said, Police are unable to control the migrant and left-wing riots taking place across the country. French media has surrendered and cannot keep track of the number of towns and cities across the country being looted, set on fire, and destroyed.

France has fallen Police are unable to control the migrant and left-wing riots taking place across the country. French media has surrendered and cannot keep track of the number of towns and cities across the country being looted, set on fire, and destroyed. Islamic attacks, pic.twitter.com/s0m4CRLjIL  Amy Mek (@AmyMek) June 30, 2023

Islamic attacks, riots, murders, rapes, assaults, and lynching of police across France are part of a new normal in a country struggling with mass illegal migration, continued Mek.

She also said that France has now become the main Islamic country in Europe, with more than 10 per cent of its population being Muslim.

Who was Nahel M?

A 17-year-old boy who worked as a takeaway delivery driver, Nahel lived with his mother Nanterre.

Although he did not have a criminal record, Nahel was well-known among the cop circle, according to BBC.

Nahel was also part of an integration program run for teenagers struggling in schools. He was enrolled in a college to be trained as an electrician.

A local who claims to know Nahel the best said, He was someone who had the will to fit in socially and professionally, not some kid who dealt in drugs or got fun out of juvenile crime.

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France experienced a series of riots for the third consecutive night as a result of a growing crisis triggered by the fatal shooting of a teenager of Algerian-Moroccan descent by the police. However, amidst the chaos, a moment of calmness emerged. A viral footage shows a man calmly eating his sandwich while police clashed with aggressive protesters in Nanterre.

The incident quickly gained attention on social media, with users praising the man as a legend and commending his ability to remain composed in the face of misery. One user wrote, Nothing disrupts sandwich time, while another said, I pray to be as unbothered in this life.

Watch:

In response to the ongoing riots, French President Emmanuel Macron has scheduled an emergency government meeting on Friday. The unrest erupted nationwide as a protest against the fatal police shooting earlier in the week. According to Reuters, 421 individuals were arrested across France on Thursday evening, with approximately 40,000 police officers deployed to restore order.

In Nanterre, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at the police following a peaceful vigil held earlier in tribute to the young victim.

In central Paris, a Nike shoe store was broken into, resulting in several arrests as windows were smashed along the Rue de Rivoli shopping street, according to Paris police.

With inputs from agencies

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According to The Wall Street Journal, female job candidates who applied for positions at the private office of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates were subjected to sexually explicit interrogations. These inquiries involved probing into their sexual histories, and consumption of pornography and involved several other inappropriate questions.

The purpose of these questions, which were administered by a security firm, seemed to be to assess the candidates susceptibility to blackmail, including questions about their previous drug use and extramarital affairs.

Inappropriate questions to filter out female candidates

The report states that some female candidates were asked about their involvement in extramarital affairs, their preferences regarding pornography, and whether they had nude photos of themselves or their partners on their mobile devices.

Additionally, certain candidates were questioned about engaging in activities such as dancing for dollars, which is another way of asking if they ever stripped for money. One candidate was asked about whether they had ever had an STD or a sexually transmitted disease.

It is worth noting that male applicants did not face such questioning, although the article suggests that it is possible that other male candidates may have been asked about their personal lives. The report however failed to mention what sort of questions did the male candidates get what degree those questions went,

Blame shifted to a third-party organisation

A spokesperson for Gates office expressed unawareness regarding the applicants being subjected to such questioning and stated that it would be unacceptable. They said, This line of questioning would be unacceptable and a violation of Gates Ventures agreement with the contractor.

The background checks were conducted by Concentric Advisors, a third-party contractor.

Bill Gates history of questionable behaviour

Be that as it may, Bill Gates has often been accused of having a reputation for questionable behaviour. Gates was often seen with disgraced US financier and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein before his incarceration.

Gates has also been accused of having an affair with Russian bridge player Mila Antonova, something that Epstein tried blackmailing Gates with, in 2017.

After Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce in 2021, The New York Times came out with a report stating that Bill Gates had a long history of behaving inappropriately with several female staffers at Microsoft. NYT reported that on at least a few occasions, Gates pursued women who worked for him at Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, quoting people with direct knowledge of his personal matters.

The NYT report also spoke to several current and former employees of Microsoft, the foundation and the firm that manages the Gatess fortune, who said there were several incidents of Gates hitting on women, in a manner that created an uncomfortable workplace environment. The sources that NYT spoke to said that Gates was known for making clumsy approaches to women in and out of the office. His behaviour fueled widespread chatter among employees about his personal life.

However, some of the employees said that while they disapproved of his behaviour, it was not predatory in any way or at least perceived that way. Gates never pressured the women to submit to his advances for the sake of their careers, and he seemed to feel that he was giving the women the space to refuse his advances, they told NYT.

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New partnership with German university strengthens Flaglers global academic network

A new pathway for global academic exchange was formalized this week as Flagler College signed a memorandum of understanding with Germanys Ansbach University of Applied Sciences.

This international partnership is a testament to our vision for the College and our efforts to create opportunities for an exceptional student experience, Flagler College President John Delaney said.

Both institutions made plans for collaboration and exchange on multiple fronts upon entering into the agreement.

This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) expressed a mutual commitment and intention to facilitate the development of scientific and educational cooperation, to foster advancement in teaching and research, and to enhance educational and cultural understanding.

"The cooperation between Ansbach University of Applied Sciences and Flagler College is an important step towards global education and promotes intercultural exchange, Ansbach University President Sascha Muller-Feuerstein said.

Ansbach Universitys main campus is located in its namesake city of Ansbach, Germany. The University also has satellite campuses in four other German cities. Of these, Ansbachs Rothenburg campus is already the focus of Flaglers plans for academic exchange.

Established in 2016, this satellite campus offers practical studies with a regional focus in the concentrations of Gastronomy & Tourism, Trade & Services, and Production & Crafts.

These concentrations complement several programs that make Flagler College so special. Namely, plans for collaboration through Flaglers Strategic Communications, Marketing, Hospitality & Tourism Mangement, and International Business programs are front and center of this partnership.

The MOU underscored several keys areas this partnership will concentrate on including joint research and programming, student and faculty exchange, and the sharing of academic materials.

During Fall 2023, the College will welcome five Ansbach University students to campus along with Ansbach Professor Johannes Hahnlein who will instruct courses in Digital Marketing, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

Ahead of the formal MOU signing, the College also sent Business Administration Professor Allen Barclay as Flagers first visiting faculty member at Ansbach where he taught International Business and Strategy.

Students will have the opportunity to learn from highly qualified faculty and develop their skills in an international environment, President Muller-Feuerstein said. The exchange of professors also creates an interdisciplinary dialogue and an exchange of expertise.

Much like St. Augustine, Rothenburg is not your average college town. This German town, which was established in 1274, is historically rich and culturally vibrant.

An academic partnership with this satellite campus is a natural fit for Flagler with academic programming that similarly capitalizes on the benefits of living in a hub of tourism and commerce.

The idea of Ansbach University is to be an international campus and to seek relationships with other countries, Mayor of Rothenburg Markus Naser said.

The roots of this fitting MOU emerged out of a different German academic partnership with the University of Wurzburg.

Rothenburgs Mayor Naser is a former professor of History at Wurzburg where he participated in a 2016 faculty exchange with Flagler College through the partnership. It was a pattern of exchange established through personal connections of Flaglers Professor Timothy Johnson, who lived in Germany for his graduate work and time as a Fulbright scholar. This eventually emerged into a thriving student exchange program.

One element of Flaglers partnership with Wurzburg included the development of a virtual interdisciplinary course called Monuments and Memories, that could be instructed synchronously across continents to students from both institutions. The course was created amid pandemic travel limitations but has proved valuable to make global collaboration more accessible.

Monuments and Memories, which dives into the cultural intersection between historical monuments and the memories we associate with them, is taught by a rotating set of professors from each school with varying areas of expertise.

What developed was fascinating, and very quick, Johnson said.

Johnson said Flagler and Wurzburg students responded very well to the collaboration they could achieve through the breakout room discussions which followed the weekly presentations.

Students began to make connections with each other, he said. And this, of course, is absolutely fundamental when youre trying to promote international understanding and dialogue.

Johnson said these unlikely connections that the students formed made the summer 2022 trip to Germany more than just a capstone to the course. It was a chance for the students to meet their new friends in person.

Imagine how exciting it was for everyone when we arrived in Germany because they already knew each other, he said. This is much different from other study-abroad trips where you just arrive in the country without any prior knowledge.

During the trip, Johnson and his students were also able to visit Rothenburg. Thanks to his Flagler connection, Mayor Naser gave the group a personal tour of the town, opening all kinds of doors for their day of exploration.

As mayor of Rothenburg, Naser has a close working relationship with the President of Ansbach University. Because of his affinity for Flagler College and desire to support Ansbachs goal of establishing more institutional partnerships, Naser played a significant part in opening the door for Flaglers newest relationship of academic exchange.

Wurzburg is the cornerstone of how this new relationship is emerging over time, Flaglers Dean of Tallahassee Campus and Continuing Education, Wayne Riggs said. We learned how we want to partner and structure a new relationship with Ansbach.

In addition to partnering as one of the lecturers for Professor Johnsons Monuments and Memories course, Riggs participated in a Wurzburg faculty exchange during the Fall of 2021 where he met Naser and had initial discussions of the potential for a partnership between Flagler and Ansbach University.

Focusing on new programs, Flaglers partnership with Ansbach University differs from its partnership with Wurzburg University which focuses more so on the Humanities and Social Sciences.

We havent had that type of University to interact with in the past, Riggs said.

With an Ansbach partnership, Riggs said there are plans to mirror the flexible faculty and student exchange relationship we currently have with Wurzburg and find programs that might be well-suited for courses conducted in a similar format to Monuments and Memories.

Reflecting on the development of this exciting new relationship, Naser said he wasnt aware that a simple trip to Flagler College for a faculty exchange program would plant the roots for whats developing today.

In 2016, I didnt think this would be the start of a long-time relationship, Naser said. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance that turned out to be just the first step in a lot of future visits to St. Augustine.

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Members recall ancestors' vital contributions as 102nd anniversary marked As the Communist Party of China celebrates on Saturday the 102nd anniversary of its founding, descendants of revolutionaries nationwide are hard at work serving the nation and its people. Many of the descendants are CPC members, and they have benefited from advice and instructions passed on by their families. Jinzhai county, Anhui province, is one of the birthplaces of the people's armed forces and the Chinese revolution. Officials at the Jinzhai Revolution Museum said that about one-third of the county's 300,000 residents took part in battles, with many of them dying during conflict. On April 24, 2016, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, visited the museum and a memorial hall for the Red Army. He laid a wreath at a monument commemorating those who fell during the revolution. The museum's list of revolutionary martyrs bears 206 names of the local Qi family, while the names of others who sacrificed their lives have been lost. During this year's Dragon Boat Festival, which fell on June 22, Qi Xiaohu and other members of the Qi clan discussed renovating the family temple in Qidian village, Jinzhai, a main settlement area for the family. The festival commemorates Qu Yuan (340 BC-278 BC), a patriotic poet from the Chu state during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). It is also a time for the Qi family to honor its revolutionary and patriotic ancestors. Cadres needed The Dabie Mountains Revolutionary Base, located on the borders of Hubei, Henan and Anhui provinces, was one of the most important in the CPC's history. Jinzhai formed a key part of the base. After graduating, Qi Xiaohu, 32, worked in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, from 2013 to 2020, before returning to Qidian, as his home village needed more cadres. He joined the CPC in 2021 and became deputy secretary of the village's Party branch in February. "My great grandfather, Qi Xianzhi, was born to a wealthy family which managed iron plants, hospitals and shops in its hometown and in Wuhan, Hubei province," said Qi Xiaohu, who learned the family's history from his ancestors. "Qi Xianzhi learned communist ideals and developed socialist convictions when he was at school in Wuhan." With an introduction from Dong Biwu, one of the CPC's founders, Qi Xianzhi joined the Party in 1926 in Wuhan. The years 1924 to 1927 marked the first period of cooperation between the Kuomintang, or the Chinese Nationalist Party, and the CPC. After this cooperation was violated by the KMT, Qi Xianzhi secretly bought guns and ammunition, and transported them to Qidian. In 1929, when the CPC led a successful uprising around Banzhuyuan township, which governs Qidian, Qi Xianzhi donated the weapons to the newly founded 32nd Division of the Eleventh Red Army. "He encouraged many members of the Qi family to join the Red Army to resist the KMT, but was killed by the enemy in 1931, when he was 39," Qi Xiaohu said, adding, "Eight of the 10 cousins from my great grandfather's generation died for the revolution." While Qidian is home to many members of the Qi family, Qi Zhongcun, 73, has always lived in his ancestral village of Xiaohe, which once boasted the house owned by his grandfather, Qi Dewei. However, the property was burned down by Kuomintang forces in 1928. Qi Dewei was born in 1909, when the family site was owned by Henan province. He joined the CPC in 1924 at a farmers' school in Shangcheng county, Henan. In early 1927, he attended a military school in Wuhan and received guidance from Mao Zedong. Qi Dewei took part in leading an uprising in and around Banzhuyuan, before becoming a deputy chief of the 32nd Division of the Eleventh Red Army. He was then sent to the Central Revolutionary Base on the borders of Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong provinces, but died in Jiangxi in 1931, when he was 22. Qi Zhongcun, who joined the CPC 46 years ago, said, "When my father was just 3 months old, my grandfather returned home and named him Guo'an, which literally means 'national peace'." Wartime memories At a memorial hall to the heroic Yimeng Mothers in Yinan county, Linyi, Shandong province, a group of primary school students recently listened to stories told by Yu Aimei, 71, granddaughter of one of the mothers. The Yimeng Mothers voluntarily took care of soldiers and their children during wartime. They also cooked, made shoes by hand, washed clothes for the troops, and helped provide transportation and ammunition. Located in the Yimeng Mountains, Linyi was home to a major revolutionary base during China's struggle for liberation in the 1930s and '40s. The Yimeng Mothers helped nurture the Yimeng Spirit, which embodies the perseverance and resilience of the Chinese people in the face of hardship. One of the mothers, Wang Huanyu, was born in 1888. She joined the CPC in 1938, and founded a wartime nursery for soldiers' children in 1939, when the CPC-led Eighth Route Army settled in her hometown, using it as a revolutionary base to resist the Japanese invasion. She felt sorry for the children brought to the nursery by their parents amid the conflict. Yu said, "As a way to help, Wang encouraged villagers to take care of the children." Wang asked her daughter-in-law to feed her own breast milk to children of soldiers who sacrificed their lives. There was not enough milk for a number of children, and Wang's grandchildren had to be fed coarse grain. During wartime, the nursery was home to more than 80 children, with the youngest 3 days old and the eldest around 7 or 8, county government data show. Yu's stories moved several students to tears. "As a descendant of the Yimeng Mothers, I have the responsibility to pass down their stories to encourage more people to cherish their lives and work hard for better lives," Yu said. After retiring from teaching, Yu spearheaded the launch of an association to inherit and promote the Yimeng Spirit. "The Yimeng Spirit, which needs to be passed down from generation to generation, will motivate young people to work hard in the new era," Yu said. In Yishui county, which neighbors Yinan, Wang Chengcheng, 30, has been motivated by the Yimeng Spirit to lead villagers in building a better life and prosperous future. The village of Xiqiangyu was once isolated in the mountains due to a lack of development, but the situation changed in 2019, when Wang arrived to work as its Party secretary. Despite facing the challenging task of improving the village's infrastructure and economy, Wang was determined to bring change to the area. Just two days after she arrived, her leadership was put to the test when Typhoon Lekima hit the village. Wang worked tirelessly to evacuate more than 100 residents living in the mountains. She was commended by the villagers for her dedication, winning their trust as a result. Focusing on the promotion of rural tourism, Wang worked to improve the village's infrastructure. Roads were widened and new facilities built to attract visitors. She encouraged residents to open their own homestays and restaurants, and also established a professional cooperative to attract funding and investment. Thanks to Wang's hard work, Xiqiangyu has become a popular tourist destination, with visitors enjoying its mountain scenery and experiencing the Yimeng Spirit. Wang said: "I have been touched by the numerous stories I have heard about the Yimeng Mothers. I feel honored to do something for the villagers and help them live a better life." Numerous battles CPC member Ren Yanfa and one of his two brothers joined the Red Army in Wupu county, Shaanxi province, after the local Party organization was founded in 1926. After surviving many battles, Ren named his three grandsons Aiguo, Aijun and Aimin, which translate as "loving the country", "loving the army" and "loving the people". One of the grandsons, Ren Aiguo, the son of an army engineer who moved to Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, in the late 1980s, said, "Our grandfather gave instructions for our names, which symbolize family belief." After Ren Aimin arrived in Yinchuan when he was 15, one of his uncles gave him about 1,000 yuan. "I spent 300 yuan on buying a tricycle, which I used to sell fruit. Initially, I earned less than 10 yuan a day, but my goal was to earn 20 or 30 yuan each day," he said. Before Spring Festival in 1996, a neighbor in the community returned from a business trip with several boxes of pitaya fruit and mangoes, and gave them to Ren Aimin to sell. "I had never seen such fruit before, and wondered if I could make a profit, but I quickly earned more than 400 yuan," Ren Aimin said. He then borrowed from friends to set up a fruit import business  first in Xi'an, Shaanxi, and later in Guangzhou, Guangdong. In just a few years, Ren Aimin became a successful businessman. In 2005, he established his own wholesale and retail fruit business in Yinchuan, which saw sales revenue of more than 100 million yuan in its first year. The following year, Ren Aimin invested 38 million yuan on building a modernized agricultural industrial park, helping young farmers learn new technologies and business concepts. He then founded a specialized fruit plantation cooperative, attracting members from 232 households. Ren Aiguo, who started work as a tailor's apprentice, later became the owner of a major clothing brand in Ningxia and elsewhere. During the national poverty alleviation campaign, his clothing plant lifted more than 300 people out of poverty, while Ren Aimin's fruit business has helped over 4,000 rural households achieve prosperity. Ren Aiguo named his daughter Ranran, which translates as "gradually" and is often used to describe the sun rising. "In the past century, my family has taken part in the revolution, witnessed the country's rapid development, and subsequently benefited greatly from development. Our destiny is always strongly connected to that of the nation," he said.
Vice President Han Zheng will attend the opening ceremony of the 11th World Peace Forum and deliver a keynote speech to the forum on July 2. The forum will be held at Tsinghua University with this years theme being Stabilizing an Unstable World through Consensus and Cooperation.

CCTV: China has announced that President Xi Jinping will attend the SCO summit. What does China think of the SCOs growth and whats Chinas expectation for the upcoming summit?

Mao Ning: Since its establishment, the SCO, guided by the Shanghai Spirit, has continuously consolidated good neighborliness and political mutual trust between member states, deepened cooperation in various sectors, and played an important and constructive role in international and regional affairs. In a world marked by change and disorder and fraught with increasing instability, uncertainties and unpredictable factors, regional countries as well as other members of the international community look to the SCO to play a bigger role in safeguarding regional security and promoting common development. As a founding member, China views the SCO as a priority in its foreign affairs. We stand ready to work with other members to act on the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, build an even closer SCO community with a shared future, and usher in a brighter future for the Eurasian continent.

President Xi Jinping will deliver important remarks at the meeting and, together with other participating leaders, chart the course for the future growth of the organization. With the concerted efforts of all sides, the SCO will achieve greater progress and boost development and prosperity in regional countries.

Xinhua News Agency: The 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions closed in Tianjin yesterday. Premier Li Qiangs remarks at the opening plenary of the meeting received warm response from various quarters, who expressed their optimism about Chinas economic prospects and their expectation for new opportunities that Chinas economy will create for the world. Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum Professor Klaus Schwab said the whole world benefits from Chinas development. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that as an important economy in the world, China has been exemplary in safeguarding the global multilateral trading system. Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: The 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions has indeed received world attention. More than 1,500 political and business leaders as well as scholars from close to 100 countries and regions across the world attended the meeting. Premier Li Qiang addressed the opening plenary of the meeting. He stressed that China will firmly support economic globalization, firmly uphold the market economy, and firmly support free trade. It will continue to provide strong dynamism to the world economic recovery and growth, and provide opportunities of win-win cooperation to investors from all countries. Entrepreneurs attending the meeting said that China is the most dynamic market with huge growth potential.

From what we see this year, Chinas economy shows a clear momentum of rebound and improvement: GDP grew by 4.5 percent in the first quarter year-on-year, and is expected to expand faster in the second quarter than in the first. We are on track to hit the growth target of around five percent set for the whole year. Some international organizations and institutions have revised up their growth forecasts for China this year, demonstrating their confidence in Chinas development prospects. In the first five months of this year, a total of 18,532 new foreign-invested enterprises were established nationwide, up by 38.3 percent year-on-year.

China has become a major trading partner for over 140 countries and regions, providing huge markets for the world, especially emerging markets and developing economies. The State Council recently rolled out new steps to pilot high-standard international economic and trade rules in eligible pilot free trade zones, including Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin, Fujian and Beijing, and the Hainan Free Trade Port, in an effort to steadily boost institutional opening-up and explore pathways and accumulate experience for higher-standard opening-up.

Chinas modernization has made advances in the course of opening-up, and is bound to embrace a brighter future through opening-up. China will further open up, uphold a free, open and stable multilateral trading regime with concrete actions, inject more positive dynamism into the world economy and make sure that the new accomplishments in Chinese modernization will be new opportunities for global development.

Reuters: Two questions on New Zealand. Firstly, how would you characterize the China-New Zealand relationship? And second, New Zealand has on a number of occasions voiced its concerns about the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, democracy protests in Hong Kong and the situation in the Taiwan Strait. How do you feel about the country voicing those views?

Mao Ning: China and New Zealand are each others important cooperative partners. The sound and steady growth of bilateral relations serves the interests of both countries and is conducive to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity.

We stand ready to engage in dialogue and exchanges with all parties on the basis of equality and mutual respect, but we oppose interference in internal affairs under the pretext of relevant issues.

Yonhap News Agency: According to reports, the ROK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are planning a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit to be held from July 11 to 12 in Lithuanias capital Vilnius. It is reported that if leaders of the ROK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are going to meet, they will discuss how to respond to Chinas attempts to change the status quo in the South and East China Seas. Whats Chinas response?

Mao Ning: Chinas principled position on issues relating to the South China Sea and the East China Sea is consistent and clear. We are committed to defending Chinas sovereignty and territorial integrity and upholding our core interests and lawful rights and interests. The East China Sea and the South China Sea have been stable overall. We hope relevant countries will bear in mind what is right for the region and do more things that are conducive to maintaining peace and stability and enhancing mutual trust in the region.

The NATO summit needs to look at how it can work constructively for peace and stability in Europe and beyond, rather than make an issue about China.

Reuters: The governor of the central bank of Sri Lanka has asked foreign debt holders to accept a 30-percent cut on any loans they have extended as it seeks to restructure its debts. As Sri Lankas largest bilateral creditor, is China willing to accept this proposal?

Mao Ning: We have repeatedly made Chinas position clear on Sri Lankas debt issue. We support Chinese financial institutions in actively working out the debt treatment with Sri Lanka. We are ready to work with relevant countries and international financial institutions to jointly play a positive role in helping Sri Lanka navigate the situation, ease its debt burden and achieve sustainable development. At the same time, we call on commercial and multilateral creditors to take part in Sri Lankas debt restructuring based on fair burden-sharing.

AFP: A Pentagon spokesperson said on Thursday that the Chinese balloon drifting over the US in February did not collect intelligence. What is Chinas response?

Mao Ning: As China has stated on many occasions, the unmanned Chinese civilian airship drifting over the US was an entirely unexpected accident caused by force majeure. To call it a spy balloon that collected intelligence is nothing but a false accusation.

Reuters: The US and Dutch governments are planning to implement legislation further restricting the sale of chip manufacturing equipment to China. What is your comment on this?

Mao Ning: China opposes the USs overstretching the national security concept, abusing export control tools, using all sorts of pretexts to cajole or coerce other countries into joining its technological blockade against China. These actions of interfering in normal trade between companies through administrative means seriously undermine market rules and the international trade order, disrupt global industrial and supply chains, and serve no ones interest. We will closely monitor relevant developments and firmly defend our lawful rights and interests.

Reuters: The US State Department has approved the potential sale of ammunition and logistics supply support to Taiwan in two separate deals valued at up to USD 440 million, according to the Pentagon. Do you have any comment on this?

Mao Ning: China is firmly opposed to USs military ties with and arms sales to Taiwan. This position is consistent and unequivocal. The US should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, stop selling arms to Taiwan, stop creating new factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait and stop posing risks to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Samsung already confirmed the launch of Galaxy M34 5G, the companys next mid-range 5G smartphone in the M series in India on July 7th, and also confirmed some of the specifications without revealing the SoC details.

Now the phone with the model number SM-M346B has surfaced on Geekbench listing that reveals that it will be powered by Exynos 1280 SoC, same as the Galaxy A33 5G, and not the Dimensity 1080 SoC that powers the Galaxy A34 5G.

The listing also reveals 6GB of RAM, but it is also come in 8GB RAM model, and 128GB storage option.

We also have the clear image of the phone that shows the phone in Blue colour and a notch display. The phone will come with a 6.4-inch 120Hz Super AMOLED display, pack a 50MP rear camera with OIS and a 6000mAh battery that promises up to 2 days of battery life.

The Samsung Galaxy M34 5G will be sold on Amazon.in, in addition to Samsung India online store and offline stores. Earlier rumours revealed around Rs. 20,000 price tag for the phone, slightly more than the M33 5G which was launched starting at Rs. 17,999.

Source
Samsung India has launched the Odyssey G9 OLED Gaming Monitor, powered by Neo Quantum Processor Pro, following the launch of Odyssey G8 gaming monitors earlier this year in February.

The Odyssey OLED G9 is a 49-inch gaming monitor with a 1800R curvature, offering a Dual Quad High Definition (DQHD) resolution of 5,120 x 1,440 and a 32:9 aspect ratio. Its wide screen immerses users in super-ultra wide vistas equivalent to two QHD screens side by side. Gamers gain a competitive edge with a rapid 0.03ms gray-to-gray (GtG) response time and a 240Hz refresh rate.

This sleek monitor features a slim design and a metal frame. CoreSync and Core Lighting+ technology on the back synchronize colors with on-screen content, heightening immersion and enhancing the gaming experience. Built-in stereo speakers deliver crisp sound to complement the visuals.

The Samsung Odyssey G9 OLED Gaming Monitor stands out with its advanced Neo Quantum Processor Pro, utilizing a deep learning algorithm to intelligently enhance images for stunning visuals. It offers a Smart TV experience with IoT Hub and Voice Assistance, creating a seamless cinematic feel.

The large screen provides super-ultrawide vistas, captivating users with immersive visuals. With its Quantum Dot (QD) powered color conversion ability, the Samsung OLED ensures superior color performance, boasting a wider color gamut and enhanced color purity.

AMD FreeSync Premium Pro enhances gameplay with super smooth performance. DisplayHDR True Black 400 technology delivers vivid colors and incredible details, no matter the content being displayed. Additionally, the Auto Source Switch+ feature optimizes gaming and multitasking efficiency by detecting connected devices.

Quick specifications: Samsung Odyssey G95SC OLED gaming monitor

Pricing and availability

The Samsung Odyssey G95SC OLED monitor, available in black, is priced at Rs. 1,99,999. It can be purchased from Samsung Shop, Amazon, and leading retail stores starting today.

Commenting on the launch, Puneet Sethi, Vice President, Consumer Electronics Enterprise Business, Samsung India, said:
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Tang dynasty ends in China.



The Tang dynasty is considered by many to be the golden age of ancient China. The dynasty began in the year 618 C.E. when Emperor Gaozu of Tang rose to power following a rebellion against Emperor Gong of the Sui dynasty. The Tang dynasty controlled what is mostly the eastern half of modern China and parts of northern Vietnam.



During the Tang dynasty nomadic tribes from the north were kept at bay, which helped ancient Chinese culture to flourish. In addition, Buddhism rapidly spread throughout the land and the Tang dynasty enjoyed prosperous trade with other civilizations. The Tang dynasty came to an end in the year 907 C.E when Emperor Ai of Tang was deposed by Emperor Taizu of Later Liang.

2. The First Crusade begins.



The main purpose of The Crusades were to free the Holy Land (modern day Israel) from Islamic rule. The First Crusade was spearheaded by Pope Urban II and is said to have officially began on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15, 1096). Christian forces from all across Europe joined in the campaign against the Muslims.



The First Crusade lasted nearly three full years, concluding on August 12, 1099. The crusaders were successful in liberating Jerusalem as well as surrounding regions such as the Byzantine Empire (modern day Turkey) and the Levant (modern day Syria and Lebanon) from Islamic rule. This victory would not last as the balance of power constantly shifted leading to seven more official crusades between 1099 and 1291 .

3. Genghis Khan rises to power.



The Mongol Empire was a force to be reckoned with during the 13th century. The empire began when the infamous Genghis Khan (whose birth name was Temujin) rose to power in the year 1206. Under Genghis Khan's leadership, the Mongols would launch campaign of conquest which saw them expand their empire across Asia including parts of the Middle East



Genghis Khan passed away on August 25, 1227, however the specifics behind his cause of death (including his final resting place) have yet to be revealed. There are some who believe that Genghis Khan succumbed to illness, while others claim he fell in battle. One ancient Mongolian literary work titled "The Secret History of the Mongols" claims that the infamous warlord died after accidentally falling off his horse. The Mongol Empire was a force to be reckoned with during the 13th century. The empire began when the infamous Genghis Khan (whose birth name was Temujin) rose to power in the year 1206. Under Genghis Khan's leadership, the Mongols would launch campaign of conquest which saw them expand their empire across Asia including parts of the Middle EastGenghis Khan passed away on August 25, 1227, however the specifics behind his cause of death (including his final resting place) have yet to be revealed. There are some who believe that Genghis Khan succumbed to illness, while others claim he fell in battle. One ancient Mongolian literary work titled "The Secret History of the Mongols" claims that the infamous warlord died after accidentally falling off his horse.

4. The Hundred Years' War begins.



The Hundred Years' War was not a single war, but a series of wars centered around the line of succession to the French throne. The conflict started with the marriage of Princess Isabella of France to King Edward II of England. This made their future son, King Edward III of England heir to the throne of France after King Charles IV of France (Isabella's brother) passed away in 1328. The French court, upset by this, named a distant cousin (King Philip IV) heir to the throne.



The Hundred Years' War officially began on May 24, 1337 when King Philip IV invaded the region of Gascony (near modern day Bordeaux, France) which had been under English rule since 1154. The balance of power shifted back and forth but ultimately resulting with the French regaining permanent control over the Gascony region. Though it was named the Hundred Years' War, the conflict actually lasted 116 years, finally concluding on October 19, 1453.

5. Joan of Arc is burned at the stake.



Joan of Arc was born in the village of Domremy in northeastern France around the year 1412. Joan of Arc was only a teenager when she felt that it was her divine duty to defend France against the English during the Hundred Years' War. Upon convincing the future French king Charles VII of her cause, she was sent to participate in the siege of Orleans (October 12, 1428 - May 8, 1429) and helped the French turn the tide against the English.



After her success in the siege of Orleans, Joan of Arc initially gained the trust of the French king as a strong military leader. Unfortunately, this trust diminished following failed sieges on Paris and La Charite in early 1430. Joan of Arc was eventually captured during the siege of Compiegne by a group of Burgundians (a faction with loyalties to the English). Joan of Arc was convicted of heresy by a French bishop with English loyalties and was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431 at the age of 19. She would eventually be granted sainthood by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

6. Jews are expelled from Spain.



The infamous Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisicion (aka Spanish Inquisition) began in 1478. In that year, the Spanish kingdoms of Aragon and Castile were unified following via the marriage of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. The co-rulers of Spain, with the support of Pope Sixtus IV, would launch a campaign to forcefully convert Jews and Muslims living in the region to Christianity, specifically Roman Catholicism.



Following the conquest of the Granada region, which had a large Jewish and Muslim population, the king and queen issued the Decreto de la Alhambra (Alhambra Decree) on March 31, 1492. The Alhambra Decree ordered the expulsion of all people suspected of practicing Judaism within the nation. The Jews were given four months to either leave the region or convert to Christianity, otherwise they would be put to death.

7. Magellan is killed in The Philippines.



Ferdinand Magellan is famous for leading an expedition that would be the first to circumnavigate the Earth in recorded history. Ferdinand Magellan was born in Portugal in 1480, but his expedition would be sponsored by the Spanish government. Magellan's expedition initially consisted of five ships (Trinidad, San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria and Santiago) and approximately 270 crew members. The expedition departed from Sanlucar de Barrameda, Spain on September 20, 1519.



The fleet initially sailed west and south across the Atlantic Ocean and around South America to the Pacific Ocean. From there they sailed to the northwest, reaching the islands we know today as The Philippines on March 16, 1521. Ferdinand Magellan would later be killed on April 27, 1521, after the expedition got into a violent skirmish with Philippine natives on the island of Mactan. Magellan's navigator Juan Sebastian Elcano completed the voyage, returning to Spain with only one ship (Victoria) and eighteen crew members remaining.

8. The Taj Mahal is completed.



The iconic Taj Mahal is located along the bank of the Yamuna River in the city of Agra, India, which is about a three hour drive to the southeast of New Delhi. The dome portion of the Taj Mahal is 240 ft (73 m) in height. There are also four 137 ft (42 m) tall minarets that stand at the perimeter of the structure. The dome of the Taj Mahal was completed in 1643. However, the project as a whole would not be completed until 1653.



The Mughal Empire ruled the land we know today as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh from 1526-1858. The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan, the Emperor of the Mughal Empire in 1631. It was built primarily as a mausoleum to house the remains of Mumtaz Mahal, favorite wife of Shah Jahan. Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 after giving birth to their fourteenth child. Shah Jahan would eventually be entombed at the Taj Mahal alongside his wife when he passed away in 1666. The iconic Taj Mahal is located along the bank of the Yamuna River in the city of Agra, India, which is about a three hour drive to the southeast of New Delhi. The dome portion of the Taj Mahal is 240 ft (73 m) in height. There are also four 137 ft (42 m) tall minarets that stand at the perimeter of the structure. The dome of the Taj Mahal was completed in 1643. However, the project as a whole would not be completed until 1653.The Mughal Empire ruled the land we know today as India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh from 1526-1858. The Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan, the Emperor of the Mughal Empire in 1631. It was built primarily as a mausoleum to house the remains of Mumtaz Mahal, favorite wife of Shah Jahan. Mumtaz Mahal died in 1631 after giving birth to their fourteenth child. Shah Jahan would eventually be entombed at the Taj Mahal alongside his wife when he passed away in 1666.

9. Ottoman Empire's Tulip Era begins.



The Tulip Era (aka Tulip Period) began in the Ottoman Empire following the Treaty of Passarowitz which ended the Austro-Turkish War on April 21, 1718. By this time, the Ottoman Empire had grown quite large with its territory ranging from southeastern Europe, through much of the Middle East down to the northern coast of Africa along the Mediterranean and Red Seas.



During the Tulip Era, the Ottoman Empire entered a brief period of peace and cultural renaissance where Ottoman art and architecture saw significant progress. The time period was named after the tulip flower which became a fad throughout the Ottoman Empire, especially amongst the wealthy. The Tulip Era ended on September 28, 1730, when Sultan Ahmed III was deposed during the Patrona Halil Revolt.

10. Catherine the Great dies.



Catherine the Great (previously known as Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst) was born in Prussia in 1729. In 1745, Princess Sophie married Charles Peter Ulrich (aka Duke of Holstein-Gottorp) and changed her name to Catherine after converting from Lutheran to Russian Orthodox. Charles Peter Ulrich (grandson of Peter the Great) would later become Emperor Peter III of Russia on January 5, 1762 following the death of Empress Elizabeth.



The reign of Peter III lasted only six months as he would be deposed by his wife who ascended to the Russian throne as Empress Catherine II on July 9, 1762. During her reign, Russia greatly expanded its territory, reformed its education system and made significant advances in the arts. Catherine the Great passed away due to a stroke on November 17, 1796.

Source: Author RedHook13 This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ponycargirl before going online.Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
Brave Browser Cracks Down On Port Scanning Websites That Attempt To Fingerprint Visitors Without Cookies Features oi -Alap Naik Desai

Brave Browser, a lesser-known but privacy-focused web browser, will soon clamp down on websites that indulge in shady tactics to try and identify visitors and their patterns. A recent update to the browser adds a feature that will automatically block website port scanning.

With version 1.54 and onwards, the Brave Browser will automatically act against websites that scan ports on any PC, laptop, or smartphone. This unethical practice is surprisingly common and websites employ this method to even access other network resources that can potentially expose personal information.

Is Port Scanning Unethical And A Privacy Risk To Internet Users?

Port scanning is a backend technique that attempts to identify unblocked communication channels. Nearly every website wants to predict user behavior. This allows better ad placement and delivery. User data is additionally valuable.

Some sites use similar tactics to try and "fingerprint" visitors, In other words, websites want to identify users each time they return. Concerningly, this is possible even if users delete browser cookies.

By running commonly available scripts that access local resources on users' devices, the sites can detect unique patterns from the browser that allows these methods. Some of the websites may try to detect insecurities or allow developers to test their websites. However, there could be more abusive or malicious intentions in the wrong hands.

According to a user-generated report, many popular and high-traffic websites scanned visitors' ports. It is concerning to note that most or all scanned for open ports without throwing any notification or seeking permission in advance.

The report, compiled in 2021, indicated websites such as eBay, Chick-fil-A, Best Buy, Kroger, and Macy's were among the offending websites. As the report isn't comprehensive, it is safe to assume that thousands of websites must be indulging in such unethical practices to gather user information.

Brave Browser To Automatically Block Port Scanning And LocalHost Resources

The new version of Brave will curb the practice of port scanning by default. Basically, no website will be able to access local resources.

More advanced users who want a particular site to have such access can add the website to an "Allow" list. Users will be greeted with a prompt that looks like this:

"Brave has chosen to implement the localhost permission in this multistep way for several reasons. Most importantly, we expect that abuse of localhost resources is far more common than user-benefiting cases, and we want to avoid presenting users with permission dialogs for requests we expect will only cause harm."

Port scanning is executed by JavaScript hosted on a website and runs inside a visitor's browser. The Brave Browser will stop all such scripts using the "Same Origin Policy" and other methods.

Incidentally, there are extensions for other popular web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and more. Apple's Safari browser has blocked some forms of localhost access, it doesn't block all of them, the Brave Browser development team claimed.

"As far as we can tell, Brave is the only browser that will block requests to localhost resources from both secure and insecure public sites, while still maintaining a compatibility path for sites that users trust (in the form of the discussed localhost permission)", the team boasted.

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India Incurs $1.9 Billion Loss Due to Internet Shutdowns in Jan-Jun 2023 News oi -Kabir Jain

A recent report by the global non-profit organization Internet Society has unveiled the detrimental impact of internet shutdowns conducted by law enforcement agencies in Manipur and Punjab. These shutdowns have resulted in a significant economic loss of $1.9 billion (approximately Rs. 15,590 crores) for the Indian economy during the first half of 2023.

The report, titled 'Netloss,' provides valuable insights into the adverse effects of such shutdowns, including job losses and a decline in foreign investment.

Shutdowns Severely Disrupt Economic Activities

Contrary to the misconception that internet shutdowns can help control unrest, curb the spread of misinformation, or address cybersecurity threats, the report emphasizes that these measures severely disrupt economic activities. The repercussions extend far beyond immediate output loss and impact various aspects of the economy.

Job Losses and Decline in Foreign Investment

The internet shutdowns in Manipur and Punjab have led to significant job losses, with over 21,000 individuals being affected. Moreover, the economic consequences include a decline in foreign investment, amounting to approximately $118 million (nearly Rs. 968 crores).

Factors Considered in Assessing Economic Impact

To comprehensively evaluate the financial implications, the report takes into account multiple factors. These include changes in the unemployment rate, lost Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), risks of future shutdowns, and the working-age population. By considering these variables, the report provides a holistic assessment of the overall economic impact.

India's High Risk of Internet Shutdowns

India ranks among the countries with the highest risk of internet shutdowns globally. In 2023, the risk percentage stands at 16%, primarily due to the frequent use of shutdowns to maintain public order. This highlights the urgency of addressing the issue and finding alternative approaches that balance public order concerns with the preservation of a thriving digital ecosystem.

The Call to Refrain from Internet Shutdowns

The Internet Society, established in 1992, takes a strong stance against internet shutdowns and urges governments to refrain from implementing them. The organization emphasizes the detrimental consequences that undermine the open, accessible, and secure nature of the global internet.

Andrew Sullivan, the President and CEO of the Internet Society, voices concern over the increasing trend of internet shutdowns worldwide and the need for governments to consider the negative impact on economies and societies.

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Jealous of the iPhone 14s Satellite Connectivity Feature? Motorola Got You Covered News oi -Kabir Jain

Motorola has recently released the Motorola Defy Satellite Link, a compact device that functions as a satellite messaging hotspot. This device allows users to send text messages via satellite connectivity. Priced at $150, it is compatible with both Android and iOS devices and is currently available for purchase in the United States.

Distinguishing Features from the iPhone 14

While satellite messaging gained attention with the introduction of the iPhone 14, the Motorola Defy Satellite Link offers distinct advantages. Unlike the iPhone 14, which is primarily focused on emergency situations and sends predefined SOS messages to emergency services, the Motorola hotspot goes beyond emergency usage.

It provides users with the ability to engage in full-fledged messaging, enabling them to compose and send messages to anyone through a satellite connection, rather than relying solely on cellular networks.

Important Considerations

It is important to note that satellite messaging does not provide the same instantaneous connectivity as traditional cellular networks. Establishing a satellite connection and sending a message typically takes around 10 seconds, as stated by Bullitt, the company behind the satellite connectivity service. While it may not offer the same speed as regular messaging apps, satellite connectivity ensures reliable communication in areas with limited or no cellular coverage.

Utilizing Inmarsat Satellites

The Motorola Defy Satellite Link utilizes the Inmarsat satellite network, which has been in operation since the 1970s. Inmarsat currently operates 14 satellites in space. According to the product's sales page on REI, the coverage provided by the Motorola Defy Satellite Link is intended to encompass the continental United States and Europe.

Furthermore, the company plans to expand coverage to include Canada and Alaska by September 2023. Within the designated coverage areas, the service extends up to 75 miles offshore, ensuring connectivity even in remote regions.

Specifications

In terms of specifications, the compact Bluetooth device comes with a 600mAh battery that reportedly offers up to four days of usage. It relies on the MediaTek MT6825 satellite connectivity chip, which is designed to utilize the new 3GPP NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) standard, ensuring seamless connectivity.

The device boasts an IP68 rating, indicating its waterproof capability of up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes, making it suitable for outdoor activities. Additionally, it includes GPS for location tracking and side buttons for quick check-ins or emergency calls.

Availability

Despite the information provided on Motorola's website, which indicates that the device is currently available for pre-order, a press release obtained by Arstechnica affirms that the Motorola Defy Satellite Link is indeed available for purchase.

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Google to Restrict News Access in Canada Over Payment Law: Following Meta's Lead Tech Biz oi -Kabir Jain

In a move following Meta's lead, Google announced its intention to prevent Canadian news from appearing on its platform in Canada. This decision comes as a response to a new law, the Online News Act or Bill C-18, which mandates payments to local news publishers.

Google plans to eliminate Canadian news links from search results and other products within approximately six months of the law becoming effective. This development highlights the ongoing battle between internet giants and governments over regulations and fair compensation for news organizations.

Facebook's Precedent and Industry Demands

Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, previously declared a similar stance after the Online News Act was passed. The Canadian media industry has been advocating for stricter regulations on internet giants like Facebook and Google, aiming to help news organizations recover their financial losses.

The legislation mandates payments by these platforms to news businesses, potentially amounting to around 330 million Canadian dollars annually, as estimated by Canada's independent budgetary watchdog last year.

Government's Response and Tech Companies' Arguments

Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, the proponent of the bill, clarified that the platforms are not immediately bound by the act and expressed openness to consulting with them during the regulatory and implementation process. Facebook and Google have argued that the proposed measures are unsustainable for their businesses.

They have hinted for months that news availability in Canada could cease unless modifications are made to the act. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized the companies in June, accusing them of employing "bullying tactics."

Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, emphasized in a blog post that the law remains impractical and that the company believes the regulatory process cannot address the structural issues with the legislation.

Google has informed the government that, once the law takes effect, it will have to remove links to Canadian news from its Search, News, and Discover products in Canada. The specific news outlets affected by Google's decision will depend on the government's definition of "eligible news businesses" once the rules are finalized.

Impact on Google's News Showcase Program

In addition to blocking Canadian news links, Google will discontinue its News Showcase program in Canada. This program involves agreements with 150 news publications across the country, including a contract with Reuters to produce News Showcase panels. The termination of this program further reduces the visibility and accessibility of Canadian news on Google's platform.

Comparison with Similar Laws and Google's Proposals

The Online News Act in Canada is reminiscent of a similar law enacted in Australia in 2021, which also led to threats from Google and Facebook to limit their services. However, after revisions were made to the legislation, both companies reached agreements with Australian media companies.

Google argues that Canada's law is broader than those in Australia and Europe since it places a value on news story links displayed in search results, potentially applying to outlets that do not generate news content.

Google has proposed that payments be based on the display of news content rather than links and that only businesses adhering to journalistic standards be eligible for compensation.

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Stricter Regulations on China's Tech Sector Pose Risks for NVIDIA Tech Biz oi -Kabir Jain

As the Biden administration prepares to impose stricter regulations on China's technology sector, NVIDIA finds itself facing significant risks. These measures, aimed at dividing the global chip supply chain, could have far-reaching implications.

In addition, the sale of AI chips to China may be prohibited without explicit export licenses. These potential restrictions are concerning for NVIDIA and other semiconductor companies, as they might impact their revenue and sales in China.

Biden Administration's Plans and Potential Impact

Wccftech, a tech media outlet, reported (via) that the Biden administration is considering banning the sale of AI chips to China without an export license. This ban may extend to cloud services provided to Chinese AI companies that utilize data center chips to bypass restrictions on advanced semiconductors.

If implemented, these measures would supplement the export control regime imposed by the US Commerce Department in September 2022, which already impacted NVIDIA's A100 and H100 chips, as well as AMD's MI250 chips.

NVIDIA CFO EXPECTS NO MATERIAL CHANGE TO EARNINGS FROM RULES https://t.co/sGVWWN7qBS  *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) June 28, 2023

NVIDIA acknowledges that China accounts for a significant portion of its data center-related sales, approximately 20 to 25 percent. However, the company asserts that it expects no significant impact on its earnings due to the forthcoming changes in chip export controls.

Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya suggests that if export restrictions on A800 and H800 data center chips to China are enforced, it could affect 7 percent of NVIDIA's total revenues and 10 percent of its data center sales.

Concerns from ASML

ASML, the primary manufacturer of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines, expresses concerns about the practicality of separating chip supply chains. ASML's executive vice president and chief business officer, Christophe Fouquet, believes that decoupling is not feasible and would be extremely difficult and costly. He emphasizes that retreating to a secluded corner and relying solely on internal capabilities is a challenging concept.

As these regulations develop, the semiconductor industry will closely monitor their implications on global chip supply and market dynamics.

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Israeli Intelligence Agency Says It Conducted Operation Inside Iran To Capture Cyprus Terror Suspect

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda June 29, 2023

Israeli Mossad agents claimed they conducted an operation inside Iran to capture the suspected leader directing an alleged Iranian plot to attack Israelis in Cyprus.

Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in a statement on June 29 identified the suspect as Youssef Shahbazi Abbasalilu and alleged that he had "received detailed instructions and weapons from senior officials [of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)]."

Mossad published a video of what it said was an interrogation of the suspect.

In the video, the man -- who speaks Persian with an Azeri accent -- says he was commissioned by his superior to identify Israeli and Jewish targets in Cyprus and to attack them. Mossad identified the superior as a senior IRGC leader.

He also said he surveilled the target and took photos of the person's home in Cyprus but that he fled the island and returned to Iran after being alerted that police were searching for him.

He said he had worked with Iranians, Pakistanis, and Cypriots in the operation.

It was not immediately clear from the video if the suspect was speaking under duress.

Mossad did not say when its operation took place or provide more details on the alleged planned attack in Cyprus.

Israeli officials said the suspected attacker was operating from northern Cyprus, a statelet that is recognized only by Turkey and divides the Mediterranean island.

Iran did not immediately comment on the report.

EU-member Cyprus also has not responded to the reports from Israel, but a senior official told reporters that the EU island nation would not tolerate any terrorist acts on its territory.

Iran and Israel are bitter enemies, and Tehran has vowed the destruction of the Jewish state.

The United States and others in the West have accused Iran of supporting extremist activity in the region, charges Tehran has denied.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-mossad-cyprus- terror-suspect/32482690.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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Secretary General supports the authority of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Council of Europe

Secretary General

Strasbourg

29 June 2023

Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejcinovic Buric today made the following statement:

"I strongly condemn the adoption of the Law on the non-application of decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Republika Srpska by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. The decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina are final and legally binding on its whole territory. Such attempts to undermine the constitutional and legal order of the country, contrary to the fundamental principles of the rule of law, are not acceptable.

"The Council of Europe supports the authority of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It remains an institutional guarantor for the protection of human rights and rule of law in the country, as confirmed in the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Legal certainty must be ensured for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Council of Europe will continue to assist and support Bosnia and Herzegovina in implementing its reform agenda, aimed at strengthening human rights, democracy and the rule of law."

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June 29, 2023

Transcript

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder Holds a Press Briefing

BRIGADIER GENERAL PAT RYDER: All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Just a few things at the top and we'll get right to your questions.

First, as some of you may be aware, July 1st marks the 50th anniversary of America's All-Volunteer Force. Over the past 50 years, our nation's All-Volunteer Force has recruited and retained talented people from all walks of life from across the country and beyond.

Since the elimination of the draft in July 1973, those who have joined the ranks of America's Armed Forces have done so out of conviction and not compulsion and to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

Today's U.S. military is the most combat-capable, combat-credible fighting force the world has ever known, and that's due to the millions of exceptional and selfless men and women who have raised their hand over the last five decades and taken an oath to protect and defend our country, our Constitution, and our American way of life.

To commemorate this important milestone, Secretary Austin will release a statement to mark the anniversary and is also planning to travel to Fort Meade, Maryland on Wednesday, where he will swear in approximately 100 new recruits into the Armed Forces at a Military Entrance Processing Station.

More details regarding the swearing-in ceremony and the Secretary's travel to Fort Meade will be provided in the very near future.

Separately, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and [Capabilities] Dr. Mara Karlin is in Australia this week for a series of counterpart and defense personnel engagements. She is slated to conduct meetings in Canberra to discuss Australia's defense strategic reviews and our U.S. National Defense Strategy and will meet with U.S. Marines assigned to Marine Rotational Force Darwin.

Dr. Karlin will conclude her trip with a visit to Naval Base Sterling as part of ongoing AUKUS discussions, and a full readout of her engagements will be posted to defense.gov at the conclusion of her travel.

Also in other news, Exercise Resolute Sentinel '23 kicks off today within the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility and will be conducted through July 13. Resolute Sentinel '23 is a joint, combined, multinational field training exercise focused on joint all-domain operations, rapid response capabilities, civil military operations, and wartime mission essential tasks.

Approximately 970 U.S. military personnel from the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, Marine Corps, Army, and Coast -- Coast Guard will participate alongside interagency personnel from the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, and seven Partner nations, to include Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Panama, Uruguay, and the UK. For further details, I'd refer you to U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs.

And with that, I'm happy to take your questions. We'll start with Tara Copp, AP.

Q: Thanks, General Ryder. Just following up on the activities this weekend in Russia, what fallout has this building seen following the revolt? And do you have any indications that Putin has begun to purge his ranks? You know, we've seen the reports of General Surovikin being detained. What -- what light can you shed on this?

GEN. RYDER: Sure. As it relates to the security situation internal to Russia, obviously something that we continue to keep a close eye on.

As it pertains to press reports involving the potential detainment of -- of Russian military personnel, I don't have anything to provide from the podium on that. Certainly, our focus is on ensuring that we don't see anything that would portend strategic instability. In other words, nothing to indicate that any concerns regarding Russian nuclear forces -- we have not seen anything to this stage that concerns us. And certainly nothing that has required us to change our own force posture.

So again, we'll continue to -- to follow the situation there closely, but in the meantime, our focus remains on supporting Ukraine and its fight to defend itself.

Q: And then, on a second, unrelated topic, can you talk about Secretary General Stoltenberg and reports that he may be staying on for another year as the war in Ukraine continues?

GEN. RYDER: I don't have anything to provide on that, Tara. Certainly, that's a -- a NATO decision to be made, but I don't have any information to provide on that.

Jennifer?

Q: General Ryder, can you respond to reports that suggest that, onboard the Chinese spy balloon, were found off the shelf American equipment? Were there -- was there any sensitive American equipment onboard? How do you think that American equipment was obtained? Did -- were there any laws broken? And what was it capable of doing? What can you tell us?

GEN. RYDER: Sure. Thanks, Jennifer. So -- so look, I don't have any specifics to provide as it pertains to the PRC high altitude balloon and any potential U.S. components. That said, I will say that, you know, we are aware, in previous cases, for example, things like drones and -- and other capabilities, what have you, where off-the-shelf, commercial U.S. components have been used in capabilities. So that, in and of itself, is not surprising.

In -- in terms of, you know, the balloon and -- and the capabilities that it has, as you heard at the time, we were aware that it had intelligence collection capabilities, but it was our -- it's -- and it has been our assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States or over-flying the United States. And as we said at the time, we also took steps -- steps to mitigate the potential collection efforts of that balloon.

Q: So you believe your efforts stopped it from collecting and transmitting or was it able to collect but just not able to transmit?

GEN. RYDER: We believe that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States or flying over the United States, and certainly the efforts that we made contributed, I'm sure.

So Janne?

Q: Thank you, general. As you know, this month is the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War. What message can the Pentagon deliver on the 70th anniversary of U.S.-South Korea Mutual Defense Treaty?

GEN. RYDER: Well, from a -- from, you know, a DOD standpoint, certainly we remain committed to working with the Republic of Korea and our partners in the region to ensure peace, stability, and security in the region, and -- and that's what we will continue to do.

You've heard the State Department and the White House talk about an open door when it comes to being willing to talk with North Korea, in terms of resolving disputes diplomatically. So I'd refer you to them for further comment. But certainly, from a DOD standpoint, we'll continue to work alongside our partners and allies in the region to prevent potential future conflict.

Q: On other issues, the U.S. will dispatch a strategic nuclear submarine into South Korea. Will this nuclear submarine stay in South Korea permanently or just a short time?

GEN. RYDER: Thanks, Janne. So first of all, I won't get into, you know, future deployments and timelines and things like that. My -- my understanding again is that, at some point in the future, as you highlight, a -- a U.S. nuclear-capable submarine will visit -- an Ohio-class -- will visit South Korea for a port visit.

Q: This will be carrying nuclear warheads?

GEN. RYDER: An SSBN. I'm not going to get into specific armament on specific systems, but a nuclear-capable submarine. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am?

Q: Thank you, general. In your point of view, do you think the reason why African countries align with Wagner Group is because there is no other options or countries available to work with those countries, in terms of security strategies?

GEN. RYDER: So, you know, I'm -- I'm hesitant to talk in platitudes, when it -- or speak for other nations when it comes to why they're making the security decisions that they're making. And so certainly, as it relates to individual countries, they would be in the best position to -- to explain why they may choose to hire a company like Wagner Group to provide with -- provide their security.

What I would say is that, from a United States perspective, from a DOD perspective, we're going to continue to work with nations in Africa, those that are seeking our support, to address shared interests, shared challenges, like terrorism. And where they seek and ask for our help, we will be available to do that.



Again, I think we all have a common interest in a stable and secure Africa. And so we obviously -- and our track record has shown that our -- like we talked about earlier this week, our vested interest is in long-term, sustained support for the benefit of the African people and for the international community.

So again, I can't speak for why someone would want to hire a transnational criminal organization to provide their security. That's something individual countries would have to answer.

Q: And, general, can you talk a little bit about the cooperation between United States and Angola in terms of military cooperation -- cooperation?

GEN. RYDER: I'll have to -- to come back on you. I don't -- I don't have that here in front of me. Thank you.

Matt?

Q: Thanks, Pat. First, just a point of clarification on the balloon, make sure I heard you right. You said that it's assessed that, not only did it not transmit, but it also didn't collect any data on its path?

GEN. RYDER: What I said, Matt, is that we assessed that it did not collect while it was flying over the U.S.

Q: Secondly, the Wall Street Journal reported today that the U.S. might be coming closer to approving ATACMS for Ukraine. Can you tell us, has there been any movement towards approving that? Is that something we might see in upcoming aid packages?

GEN. RYDER: So I've seen the reporting. I will tell you I don't have anything to announce regarding ATACMS, and certainly I'm -- I'm not aware of any imminent decisions as it relates to ATACMS.

Q: Thank you.

GEN. RYDER: Thank you very much.

Chris?

Q: Two questions. First, on the early May incident, the CENTCOM strike that may have killed a civilian that is now being investigated, will the new Civilian Casualty Office stood up by Secretary Austin be investigating this episode for lessons learned, including how it was announced publicly via Twitter? And if -- will there be further investigation outside of CENTCOM to see what can be learned from this?

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, so -- so right now, Chris, what I would tell you is that CENTCOM is investigating, and certainly at the conclusion of that investigation, I'm sure they'll share the results with the Department, but -- but at this point in time, they're really the best folks to address that.

Q: Thank you. Second question, on the extended deterrence dialogue that happened at Whiteman, the delegation toured a B-2 -- (inaudible) to the B-2 simulator. Are there any plans to deploy the B-2 in Japan?

GEN. RYDER: I don't -- I don't have any announcements to make regarding future force deployments. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am?

Q: Thank you, general. Back to Russia, I have two questions. First, why the Department's still assessing and monitoring the consequences of what happened in Russia? Do you think, because of this new situation, you'll have to look differently to -- or at the needs of the battlefields in Ukraine and maybe include the new systems in future pack -- assistance -- security assistance packages?

And second question, a satellite image from a former military base in southern Belarus shows new structures within the compound. I'm -- I'm not sure if you saw this, but if yes, what's your assessment? There's media reports that this might be the new home for Wagner Group. And also, do you think, from your experience with so little time, that group is able to build maybe a permanent camp there?

GEN. RYDER: Yeah. So on -- on Wagner Group and its disposition, what I would tell you is, right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine.

As it relates to Belarus, I don't have any updates to provide on that front. I've seen the press reports that you're talking about. Clearly, that's something that we'll continue to keep an eye on.

But in terms of the future of Wagner Group, that's -- that's really a question best addressed by Russia, which of course, as you know, funds the Wagner Group, and -- and how they will be employed going throughout the rest of this -- this conflict and -- and elsewhere around the world, since, you know, as your colleague highlighted earlier, they also conduct operations in Africa, as well as Syria. So that's something that we'll continue to keep an eye on. It's just too early to tell right now.

And then I apologize. The first question?

Q: If -- if you're looking differently at the needs of the battlefield ...

GEN. RYDER: Needs of the battlefield. So, you know, look, I -- I think that we have a very dynamic and iterative process that we've been employing when it comes to supporting Ukraine, ever since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that entails very frequent communication between the U.S., the Ukrainians, our allies and our partners, in terms of what their needs are.

And when it comes to the -- the battlefield capabilities that they need right now to conduct operations, we believe that we have given them significant combat capability in order to prosecute those operations on their timeline, at a time and a place of their choosing. And so that will continue to be our focus.

Secretary Austin has taken a - obviously, a very personal interest in terms of making sure that we're actively communicating with our allies and partners around the world. You see that as evidenced through the Contact Group, which is held monthly, as well as the multiple phone calls that he makes to those allies and partners and Ukraine, the Ukrainian Minister of Defense.

So we're confident that, with that open line, that we're going to continue to get them the capabilities they absolutely need, like ground-based air defense, artillery, armor, and -- and spare parts, maintenance capabilities, all those things they need to continue to prosecute this fight. Thank you.

Let me go to Ryo.

Q: Thank you very much.

GEN. RYDER: And then I'm going to go to the phone. I haven't forgotten about you guys on the phone.

Q: I want to follow up about the Extended Deterrence Dialogue with Japan. The -- the U.S. statement gives us more detail of the dialog than is usual, including a -- tabletop exercises and (inaudible) simulations. So what message are you sending to -- to North Korea and China by releasing more information of the dialogue to the public?

GEN. RYDER: Well, I -- you know, I mean, broadly speaking, we always try to be as transparent as possible when it comes to talking about what we're doing in consultation with our allies and -- and our partners around the world.

You know, in -- in terms of the dialogue and extended deterrence, you know, we will continue to highlight where we can work together to ensure stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

So, I don't have any specific announcements today to make in regards to additional outcomes of that dialogue, but needless to say, you know, going forward, we look -- we do look forward to continuing to work closely with Japan and our other allies in the region to ensure that we can continue to deter potential aggression, but more importantly, preserve peace and stability in the region. Thank you very much.

OK, we'll go back to this side of the room. Yes, ma'am?

Q: I'd like to follow up on ATACMS. Is it a stockpile issue of these planes? And if so, are you looking to potentially land the Army's Precision Strike Missile, which is the ATACMS replacement, as mass-produced? That would be the opportunity to potentially send it to Ukraine?

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, thanks for the -- the question. Again, you know, through -- through the course of this campaign, we're going to constantly look at the variety of capabilities, again, based on what Ukraine's most urgent needs are. Again, on the ATACMS, I don't have anything to announce. And so again, we'll just continue to keep that dialogue open, and when we do have something to announce, we will. Thanks.

Let me -- let me go the phone here real quick. Howard Altman, War Zone?

Q: Hey, thanks, Pat. Taiwan just retired its Hawk air defense system. Do you think that might be in line for Ukraine? Are you talking to Taiwan about providing that to Ukraine? Thanks.

GEN. RYDER: I'm -- just to make sure I understand your question, is Taiwan providing Hawks to Ukraine?

Q: Well, they just retired their Hawk air defense system, so I'm wondering if there's a way -- if the Pentagon is looking into a way to bring that to Ukraine, considering its needs for ground-based air defense.

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, thanks, Howard. So I -- I don't have anything on that. I'd -- I'd refer you to Taiwan to talk about their capabilities and -- and potential disposition. Thanks.

I'm going to go one more here. Jeff Selden?

Q: General, thanks very much for doing this. Two -- two questions. First, what type of impact, if any, have the issues in Russia had on military-to-military communications with the U.S.? Are any of the hotlines like the one established in Syria, has there been any impact there? And secondly, we've heard again this week from Chinese officials who are demanding an end to sanctions in exchange for reopening military-to-military communications with the U.S. Does the Pentagon have any reaction or response to those demands?

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, thanks, Jeff. So on -- on your first question as it relates to military-to-military communications via the -- the hotlines that we've established, no, I'm -- I'm not aware of any impact. Those lines of communication remain open, and so no, nothing -- nothing new there.

As it relates to the comments about lifting sanctions in order to remove obstacles to communication, as you've heard Secretary Austen say previously, he can communicate with his Chinese counterpart right now. Those sanctions do not need to be lifted in order for him to communicate with his counterpart. And so from our perspective, there are no obstacles to keeping open lines of communications. We do think it's important, and so we will continue to make efforts to do that. Thank you.

All right. Yes, sir?

Q: Thank you, sir. Two questions, one on U.S.-India relations. As far as the U.S.-India military-to-military relations are concerned now, Prime Minister Modi was, of course, here for four days, and before that, Secretary Austin was in India. What was on the table during his visit to India before Prime Minister's visit to Washington? And also now, what is left on the table and off the table as far as military-to-military concern? Because India had had a big list of purchasing U.S. military.

GEN. RYDER: Yeah, thank you. So as you highlighted, the secretary did travel to India. He felt like it was a great visit and very much appreciated the -- the hospitality that he received, as well as the opportunity to engage in a robust dialogue with his counterpart.

In terms of what was on the table, what is on the table, I think what you saw the White House readout in terms of the results of those discussions, and so I won't repeat that here, as well as the roadmap that I highlighted at a previous briefing, so I would point you to the fact sheet that we have on the DOD website that goes into a lot of detail about what we look forward to in terms of our cooperation and partnership with the Indian Ministry of Defense and -- and Indian government.

Q: Last, there were many ups and downs as part of the U.S.-India relationship, military-to-military relations have concern because of Russia and all of that. Now you thinking there will be the largest military-military relations with the United States?

GEN. RYDER: You know, look, we -- we very much appreciate the relationship that we have with India, and we continue to want to build on that. India is obviously a -- a critical player in the region when it comes to ensuring stability and security in the region, and so we'll continue to work very closely with India toward that end.

But let me -- let me go ahead and move on to your colleague here.

Q: Yeah, sure. There've been reports that, based on satellite imagery, that Russian soldiers blocked a river and flooded fields to impede the approach of Ukrainian soldiers near the city of Kakhovka. I was just wondering if you could give us anything more on that.

GEN. RYDER: I -- I really can't. Yeah, it's -- it's -- I -- I appreciate the question, but a couple things. One, I'm just not going to provide an operational, tactical-level briefing about Ukrainian operations, and second, I really can't get into intelligence matters. Thank you very much.

Let me do one more from the phone here. Mike Brest, Washington Examiner.

Q: Can you hear me? Can you hear me, general?

GEN. RYDER: I can hear you now.

Q: First Q: You mentioned that some elements of the Wagner Group are still in Russian-occupied Ukraine, but could you give us some sort of ballpark on the number you see now compared to previously?

GEN. RYDER: I -- I really can't, Mike, other than, you know, they -- they have been conducting operations in Ukraine for a while now. And so you know, most recently near Bakhmut, and so elements of those units are -- are still in Ukraine, but I -- I'm not able to provide numbers from the podium here. Okay?

All right, hey, listen, before we conclude today, I just want to take the opportunity here to bid farewell to a couple of long-time Pentagon press corps journalists who will be heading out on new adventures. First, Mr. Kasim Ilari from Turkey's Anadolu News Agency. He'll be departing the Pentagon after almost 10 years of being here in the building covering the Pentagon and DOD. Like many of the foreign correspondents covering the Department, he has provided a unique and important international perspective when it comes to covering the U.S. military. So Kasim will be heading back to Turkey to pursue some opportunities outside of journalism. So on behalf of the DOD, we'd like to bid him farewell and -- and wish him and his family the best as they embark on their next chapter.

Also saying goodbye to Kevin Baron, who departs Defense One this week, where he has served as executive editor. Kevin's covered the Pentagon for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles, probably interacted with nearly everyone in this room, probably in this building. And during his tenure as editor, he's squarely established Defense One as an authoritative source on defense news and a reputation for excellence within his -- journalism excellence within his news -- newsroom. So on behalf of DOD, we wish Kevin and his family good luck as well as he moves on to other pursuits.

Thank you very much, everybody. Appreciate it.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3444912/

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June 29, 2023

By C. Todd Lopez , DOD News

DOD: No Changes in Russian, U.S. Strategic Posture After Wagner Security Situation

Last weekend, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Russian private military company the Wagner Group, made comments on a social media video that appeared to contradict the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Pentagon said earlier this week the matter remains one that is purely internal to Russia, and it's something Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder reiterated again during a briefing today.

But the general also added that a primary concern for the U.S. in this matter has been the continued stability of Russia's nuclear arsenal. He said that, at least for the time being, stability appears to remain intact.

"Certainly, our focus is on ensuring that we don't see anything that would portend strategic instability," Ryder said. "In other words, nothing to indicate that [there is] any concern regarding Russian nuclear forces. We have not seen anything [at] this stage that concerns us and certainly nothing that has required us to change our own force posture."

Ryder said the U.S. would continue to monitor what's happening, but the focus of the U.S. and the Defense Department will be to provide continued support to Ukraine as it fights to defend its sovereignty from the Russian invasion.

Ryder also highlighted today that the United States and DOD will soon recognize the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force, which was established July 1,1973.

Rather than relying on a draft  which was done in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam  the all-volunteer force relies on voluntary enlistment to fill the ranks of the military.

"For the past 50 years, our nation's all-volunteer force has recruited and retained talented people from all walks of life, from across the country and beyond," Ryder said. "Since the elimination of the draft in July 1973, those who have joined the ranks of America's armed forces have done so out of conviction and not compulsion and to be a part of something bigger than themselves."

Ryder said that Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force next week with a public statement and a visit to Fort Meade, Maryland, where he will swear about 100 new recruits into the armed forces.

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Zimbabwe: The European Union deploys an Election Observation Mission

European External Action Service (EEAS)

29.06.2023

EEAS Press Team

In response to an invitation by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Zimbabwe, the European Union has decided to deploy an EU Election Observation Mission (EOM) to the Harmonised elections of 23 August 2023 .

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has appointed Mr Fabio Castaldo, Member of the European Parliament, as Chief Observer for this mission.

High Representative Josep Borrell stated:

"The deployment of an EU Election Observation Mission to the general elections in Zimbabwe shows the EU's commitment to support democracy and the rule of law. Under the leadership of Chief Observer Castaldo, the EU EOM will contribute to enhancing citizens' trust in the process and to further strengthening Zimbabwe's democratic institutions. The Zimbabwean authorities have expressed their commitment to credible, transparent, inclusive and peaceful elections. This is what is expected and the Zimbabweans deserve"

The Chief Observer, Mr Castaldo declared: "Democracy requires more than elections, but a country cannot be a democracy without holding genuine elections. That is why I feel honored to head an EU EOM to Zimbabwe. Credible, transparent and inclusive elections are a cornerstone of democracy and play a critical role to promote a peaceful and democratic path towards greater stability and prosperity, not only for the individual countries, but also for the broader regions. On the basis of an impartial and objective assessment of the election process, we hope to continue working with the Zimbabwean authorities after the elections to encourage the implementation of the observation mission's recommendations. The EU can play a pivotal role in this process, and we will always be by the side Zimbabwean people."

With the service provider of the EOM arriving in Harare the first week of July, the Core Team of the EU EOM will consist of 11 election experts that will arrive in Zimbabwe shortly after. Towards the end of July, 46 Long-Term Observers will join the mission and are to be deployed across the country to follow the electoral campaign. 44 Short-Term Observers are also foreseen to be deployed closer to election-day. Finally, a number of Locally-Recruited Short-Term Observers from the EU Member States accredited in Zimbabwe may integrate the mission on Election Day. The EU EOM will remain in the country until the completion of the electoral process.

Following the EU election observation methodology, the mission will issue a preliminary statement and hold a press conference in Harare after the elections. The final report, which will include a set of recommendations for future electoral processes, will be presented and shared with stakeholders after the finalisation of the entire electoral process.

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European Council: Press remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell upon arrival

European External Action Service (EEAS)

29.06.2023

EEAS Press Team

Check against delivery!

Good afternoon,

[Inaudible]

We talked about how we are protecting our critical infrastructure together, the European Union and NATO.

This is a new field of cooperation to protect critical infrastructure and it is good that [NATO Secretary-General, Jens] Stoltenberg will share these concerns with us.

Then, there are urgent issues.

The situation in Russia - [it is] unavoidable. It is clear that Putin [comes] out of this crisis weakened, but a weaker Putin is a greater danger, so we have to be very much aware of the consequences.

Everything remains unclear: what has happened, who were behind this attempt of military upheaval, military rebellion. Some generals have been arrested, so I suppose that Putin will be in a cleaning mode internally and in a more assertive mode.

Ukraine has to continue being supported. The only answer that we can give to whatever happens in Russia is to continue supporting Ukraine.

And, since I am in charge of the European Peace Facility (EPF), I will ask the leaders to continue funding it. The good news is that we already have 3.5 billion more, not only for Ukraine.

We continue our training mission - reaching 30.000 soldiers [trained]. This is our engagement. We can study what is happening, what [Yegveny] Prigozhin is going to do with the Wagner [group]. Us, we have to concentrate on our task [and] continue supporting Ukraine.

Then, certainly, [we will discuss] China and the economic security. China and economic security are related issues, but not exactly the same one.

Keep in mind that de-risking in the end is something that we have to do. It is our duty, it is our job. So, this is not about China, it is not something we have to negotiate with China. It is something that we have to do, knowing that it will take [a] long [time]. So, the sooner we start, the better.

Latin America [is] important.

[On the Western] Balkans and Kosovo-Serbia, I will debrief the leaders on all my work of those days and ask for their support to continue putting pressure on them, in order to avoid the escalation and go back to the normal.

The Member States decided at the last Foreign Affairs Council that measures should be taken - economically and politically - to make clear [to them] that, if they do not contribute to the de-escalation, it comes with a cost.

Q&A

Q. How should the EU react to a potential period of instability in Russia? How should the EU prepare?

Yes, it seems. It seems that Putin is not the only master in town and that he has lost what Machiavelli said is the basis of a state, which is the monopoly of force. Putin has lost the monopoly of force, and certainly [an] unstable Russia becomes also a risk. Until now we were looking at Russia as a threat, because it was a force, and force has been used in Ukraine. Now, we have to look at Russia as a risk because of the internal instability.

Q. How do you prepare for that? Do you need a strategy? Do you need to think about scenarios?

We need that. We think about scenarios. We need a deep analysis. That is what - be sure - all the intelligence services in the European Union and Member States are doing.

Q. Ukraine wants security guarantees until the membership of NATO. Should the European Union provide such security guarantees? How could it do that?

Now, that we talk about security commitments. From my side, it means that the military support to Ukraine has to [be in the] long haul. It is not just the next 500 million [support] package. It is not just the next arms [deliveries]. It is something that has to be in the long term. During the war and after the war, we have to make Ukraine able to defend [itself]. So, the European Peace Facility for Ukraine maybe has to become a Ukraine Defence Fund. The training has to continue, the modernisation of the army has to continue. Ukraine needs our commitment to continue ensuring their security during the war and after the war.

Q. How can the European Union de-risk its relations with China while at the same time continue to engage?

The relation with China? Certainly, we have to keep our relations with China, why should [we] not? We have to keep our relations with China because, as you know, our trade, investment and economic relations are so big that it is impossible to think about decoupling. Nobody is talking about it. But certainly, this relation has to be based on an understanding.

The Foreign Affairs Ministers approved a text presented to [the] Gymnich [meeting] , and now, this text will be used by the leaders to give more guidance. Yes, China is the three things we said: a rival, a competitor, [and] a partner. We have to operationalise these concepts. What does it mean, each one of them? How do we put them into practice?

But, as I said, de-risking is not about China. We do not have to negotiate with China our de-risking, it is our business. It is us - internally - who have to identify, first, which risks we are talking about and, secondly, how do we proceed to decrease these risks. But it is our work. Do not make others be responsible for our line - our full line. It is [up to] us to put a solution to that.

Q. Are you angry against Hungary, that is blocking the last tranche of the European Peace Facility (EPF)?

I am working to unblock [the situation].

Q. On migration [inaudible].

On migration, I look at migration from the external side. The external side is related to the crises. A crisis today, somewhere, it [means] more migrants tomorrow. There is a direct relationship between irregular migration - people desperately trying to reach our shores, putting their lives at risk - [and] some crises. For example, Sudan. Sudan is expelling tens of thousands of migrants. So, our work to fight irregular migration starts by engaging and try to help to avoid conflicts, and to support economic development. These are the root causes. Then, certainly, there is the fight against the smugglers and everything [else], but from the external point of view, from my portfolio, a crisis today, it is more migrants tomorrow. So, let us try to avoid crisis, and when one crisis erupts, we should have the possibility of supporting them more. Otherwise, you will have migrants.

Q. Is the Wagner crisis over?

Nobody knows what is going to happen with the Wagner [group], but it would be good that the African people understand what has happened in Russia. They should read the statement by [Yevgeny] Prigozhin, saying that Wagner went to Africa to steal African people - it is a message from him that should be widespread in Africa.

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Sierra Leone: Statement by the Spokesperson on the general elections

European External Action Service (EEAS)

29.06.2023

EEAS Press Team

The Sierra Leone people demonstrated their strong commitment to democracy in the general elections that took place on Saturday 24 June in a largely peaceful and calm atmosphere in a highly polarised political environment.

Following an invitation from the Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone (ECSL), the EU deployed an Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) throughout the country, led by Chief Observer Evin Incir. The mission has now published its preliminary statement, in which it observes that critical stages of the elections were generally lacking transparency.

Following the declaration of the results by the ECSL, the EU EOM calls on the ECSL to promptly publish disaggregated results data per polling station, which would defuse tensions and provide for a possibility of public scrutiny of the results and ensure transparency and certainty.

The EOM will remain in Sierra Leone until the end of the electoral period. It will then publish a final report and formulate recommendations with a view to contributing to the continuous deepening of Sierra Leone's democracy.

The EU encourages the leaders and people of Sierra Leone to resolve any dispute regarding the electoral process peacefully and according to the established legal procedures.



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EU-NATO Task Force: Final assessment report on strengthening our resilience and protection of critical infrastructure

European Commission

Press release

29 June 2023

Brussels

The EU and NATO share a common interest in preventing disruptions to critical infrastructure that provides essential services to citizens and supports our economies. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has brought new risks, physical and cyber-attacks, often combined as a hybrid threat.

The EU and NATO have stepped up their cooperation with the launch of the EU-NATO Task Force on resilience of critical infrastructure on 16 March 2023. The EU-NATO Task Force has now presented a final assessment report, which maps out the current security challenges and identifies four key sectors of cross-cutting importance: energy, transport, digital infrastructure and space. The report presents targeted recommendations to strengthen the resilience of critical infrastructure.

I. Key findings:

Energy: The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines illustrated the vulnerability of energy infrastructure. Energy security is more challenging in the current geopolitical environment. Moreover, military activities significantly rely on civilian energy networks and supplies. Energy infrastructure is also networked, so disruption in one location can have a broader impact. Decisive steps were taken by Member States and Allies to reduce our dependence on Russian energy. The growing use of renewable energy sources and electrification can also strengthen resilience because it increases the diversity of sources and autonomy and reduces reliance on a single central system. On the other hand, the new infrastructure and connections also bring new challenges in terms of infrastructure protection. The increased reliance on renewable energy also brings potential supply chain vulnerabilities since many of their critical components are still largely concentrated outside of NATO and the EU. Transport: Transport infrastructure, including airports and seaports, is also vulnerable to cyber-attacks, which can inflict substantial economic damage and possibly cause disruptions for use by the military. Our militaries rely heavily on civil and commercial transport infrastructure to deploy their activities. Furthermore, the transport sector is affected by and has a significant impact the other sectors covered in this report, and these interdependencies are growing. The increasing electrification of transport will lead to a greater reliance on the electricity grid, batteries and associated infrastructure, in addition to existing dependencies on pipelines for hydrocarbon products that will remain part of the energy mix for the foreseeable future. Moreover, transport infrastructure is increasingly digitalised, making it more vulnerable to malicious cyber activities and disruptions. Digital infrastructure: A wide range of infrastructure is required to provide information and communications services, from underground and undersea fibre-optic cables to cellular base stations and satellites. The reliance on undersea cables and 5G networks poses risks due to limited repair capabilities and increased vulnerability. Moreover, digital infrastructure relies on global supply chains. These are vulnerable to accidental and intentional disruptions, which could impact global networks and introduce security risks. Space: Space infrastructure encompasses both space-based assets and ground-based systems, which can be vulnerable to various human-induced and natural risks. Space assets can be owned and operated by the EU (Galileo, Copernicus), Member States, Allies and, increasingly, commercial entities. Strategic competitors and potential adversaries are developing counter-space capabilities that could threaten NATO and the EU's access to and freedom of operation in space, potentially disrupting critical infrastructure.

II. Recommendations:

The EU and NATO experts have identified several key recommendations to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure. These relate in particular to the need to ensure resilience and build on their cooperation by:

Increased engagement, while making full use of synergies, for instance in the case of a major hazard or a significant change in the security context; Promoting engagement among Allies, Member States and the private sector, including on security by design for critical infrastructure; Holding dedicated scenario-based discussions, including through the EU-NATO Foresight Seminar and with the support of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. Strengthening the Structured Dialogue on Resilience and the Structured Dialogue on Military Mobility, and expanding existing staff talks on cyber, space, maritime and energy, as well as between NATO's International Military Staff and the EU Military Staff. Promoting best practices, assessments, and enhancing monitoring for security implication and cooperation, including between civilian and military actors; carrying out regular Parallel and Coordinated Assessments of the threats to critical infrastructure, building on the one conducted in spring 2023.

The EU-NATO Structured Dialogue on Resilience will coordinate the implementation of these recommendations.

Next steps

EU and NATO staff will take forward the recommendations of this report on the basis of long-standing cooperation and in full respect of the agreed guiding principles enshrined in the three Joint Declarations on EU-NATO cooperation. The EU-NATO Structured Dialogue on Resilience will ensure coherence of the follow-up work of the Task Force.

Background

On 11 January 2023, President von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg jointly announced an EU-NATO Task Force on Resilience of Critical Infrastructure to reinforce our common security, which was launched on 16 March 2023. The Task Force is fully embedded in the EU-NATO Structured Dialogue on Resilience and is composed of staff from the European Commission, the European External Action Service and NATO International Staff. The Structured Dialogue on Resilience was launched by EU and NATO staffs in January 2022, in the framework of the implementation of 74 common actions and the well-established cooperation on resilience.

On 5 October 2022, President von der Leyen presented a 5-point plan to enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure. Based on this plan, on 18 October 2022, the Commission also proposed recommendations to accelerate work in three priority areas: preparedness, response and international cooperation.

Already in 2020, the Commission had proposed a significant upgrade to the EU's rules on the resilience of critical entities and the security of network and information systems. On 16 January, two key directives on critical and digital infrastructure entered into force with the purpose of strengthening the EU's resilience against online and offline threats, from cyberattacks to crime, risks to public health or natural disasters - the Directive on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS 2 Directive) and the Directive on the resilience of critical entities (CER Directive).

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Security Forum on Critical Undersea Infrastructure held in Iceland

Government of Iceland

June 29, 2023

Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Representatives from all the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) participant nations and partners came together at Keflavik Air Base, Iceland, this week for a Security Forum on Critical Undersea Infrastructure. The forum brought together more than 70 experts for a structured facilitator-led discussions on hybrid threats to critical undersea infrastructure.

Threats to undersea infrastructure are a growing concern for the JEF nations. At their meeting earlier this month, JEF Defence Ministers decided to accelerate cooperation in the JEF in order to detect, deter and respond to threats against critical undersea and offshore infrastructure. This includes the sharing of best practices, seeking ways to cooperate on the subject and include aspects of critical undersea infrastructure protection in future JEF activities, all while ensuring coordination, complementarity, and alignment with NATO's ongoing work. The Forum is a way for Iceland to contribute to the ongoing conversation by bringing allies and partners together to discuss, share best practices and cooperate on critical undersea infrastructure protection.

The forum was co-hosted by the Defence Directorate of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland and the British Embassy in Reykjavik and was enabled by the deployment of the Standing Joint Force Headquarters (SJFHQ) to Iceland for the month of June, in its capacity as a JEF headquarters. Discussions were led by experts from the Clingendael Institute, The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) and the StratCom Academy.

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BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping has called for developing a good grasp of the CPC Central Committee's important theory on Party building, and improving the quality of the Party's organizational work. Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a recent instruction. The instruction was studied at the national conference on organizational work, which was held on Wednesday and Thursday. Xi, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, extended greetings to all Party members as the Party will celebrate its 102nd founding anniversary on July 1. Xi stressed the pivotal role of the Party in building a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts. He also stressed the pivotal role of personnel in this regard. He said to fulfill the missions and tasks of the CPC on the new journey, new progress should be made in enhancing Party building and the Party's organizational work. He noted that upholding and strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee should be taken as the highest principle, and efforts should be made to build a contingent of competent key officials for governance that are capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation. Xi emphasized moving faster to build global hubs for talent and innovation. He urged consistent efforts to enhance the quality of organizational work so as to provide a firm guarantee for building a great modern socialist country and advancing national rejuvenation. Cai Qi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, attended the conference and delivered a speech. Cai noted that Xi's important instruction points the way forward for carrying out the Party building and organizational work. Xi's important thought on Party building highlights the Party's full and rigorous self-governance, and has greatly enriched and developed the Marxist theory of Party building, Cai said. Cai called for long-term adherence to and full implementation of Xi's important thought on Party building. Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, was also present at the meeting. Li Ganjie, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee's Organization Department, delivered concluding remarks at the conference.
In Brussels, the President called on European leaders to strengthen EU-NATO cooperation and interoperability

President of the Republic of Lithuania

June 29, 2023

Speaking at the European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday, President Gitanas Nauseda outlined the progress of preparations for the NATO Summit in Vilnius, highlighting the need to increase focus on the EU-NATO eastern flank, to reinforce NATO's forward presence capabilities, to strengthen air and missile defense, and to approve defense plans. The meeting was also attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The President called on EU and NATO countries to increase spending on defense and security, ensuring effective EU-NATO interaction and timely assistance to Ukraine, while strengthening the European defense industry, the EU's external borders and military mobility.

"The security situation in Europe is very challenging and will remain so as long as the Russian aggression in Ukraine continues and Russia's actions pose a threat to Europe. Therefore, today we must maximally expand the scope of assistance to Ukraine, consistently increase spending on the defense industry and infrastructure, and create suitable conditions for the development of the defense industry and its technological base in order to ensure NATO's collective defense," the President said.

Gitanas Nauseda underlined that the EU's missile and ammunition supply and joint procurement initiative, the agreement on strengthening the European industry through joint procurement, the European Defense Investment Programme, as well as the increase of the European Peace Facility to 3.5 billion euros are part of the solutions that should encourage the development of the European and Lithuanian defense industry, job creation, and the rebuilding of defense capabilities. All of this will also create the conditions for the continued supply of military assistance to Ukraine.

"Special focus must be placed on improving military mobility. In 2020, when the seven-year EU multiannual financial framework was negotiated, 1.7 billion euros were allocated to military mobility. Today, we have to admit that this is not enough and aim for a more ambitious target," the President said.

Gitanas Nauseda also underscored the need to strengthen the protection of the EU's external borders and adopt the necessary legal acts to combat illegal migration and its instrumentalization.

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Secretary General at European Council: NATO-EU cooperation is key to supporting Ukraine, responding to key security challenges

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

29 Jun. 2023

NATO Secretary General is taking part in the European Council on Thursday (29 June 2023), at the invitation of European Council President Charles Michel. The Secretary General praised the partnership between NATO and the European Union, which has reached unprecedented levels. He described it as key for continued support to Ukraine and in responding to other critical challenges.

The Secretary General welcomed NATO-EU cooperation on the resilience of critical infrastructure and today's release of the NATO-EU Task Force assessment report. He thanked the European Commission and the European External Action Service for the joint work with NATO on the report, which suggests concrete ways to further develop ties - including through more information exchanges; work to identify alternate transport routes for civilian and military mobility; and closer ties in security research.

The Secretary General also underscored the shared focus of NATO and the EU on the situation in Kosovo. He stressed that the NATO-led KFOR mission continues to implement its UN mandate impartially. He called on Belgrade and Pristina to avoid escalation and return to the EU-facilitated dialogue.

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Secretary General: Bulgaria plays an important role in NATO's response to security challenges

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

29 Jun. 2023

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov of Bulgaria to NATO Headquarters on Thursday (29 June 2023) to discuss final preparations for the upcoming Vilnius Summit.

"Bulgaria is on the front line of some of the gravest challenges we face," and "plays an important role in our collective response," said the Secretary General. He praised Bulgaria's contributions to Black Sea region security, including by hosting the Italian-led NATO battlegroup, and by participating in Allied naval patrols. He also thanked Bulgaria for playing a key role in NATO's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, and for contributing to NATO's training mission in Iraq.

"NATO will continue to support and defend Bulgaria," said Mr Stoltenberg. At the upcoming Vilnius Summit, Allies will further enhance NATO's collective deterrence and defence. They will decide on new regional plans, with assigned forces, exercises, and capabilities. This will involve putting 300,000 forces on higher readiness, backed by substantial sea and air capabilities. NATO's new rotational model for air and missile defence will also help move quickly from air policing to air defence if needed. "All this sends a clear message: NATO is ready to defend every inch of Allied territory," the Secretary General stressed.

Stepping up NATO's support for Ukraine will be another top priority for the Summit, including with a multi-year assistance package, upgraded political ties, and by reaffirming that Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO. The Secretary General thanked Bulgaria for providing military and humanitarian support to the Ukrainian people, saying that this helps to uphold their right to self-defence as enshrined in the UN Charter.

"To continue strengthening NATO and supporting Ukraine, we need to invest more in our security," said Mr Stoltenberg, noting that Allies will agree a more ambitious defence investment pledge at the Summit.

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OSCE Chairpersonship convenes Security Review Conference

Vienna 29 June 2023

VIENNA, 29 June 2023 -- Against a backdrop of a profound security crisis, a renewed commitment to restoring peace and security in the OSCE region and fostering meaningful multi-lateral exchange was the goal of the 2023 Security Review Conference. The 2023 Chairpersonship of North Macedonia held the event on 28 and 29 June under the title 'Restoring peace and security, engaging in dialogue and rebuilding trust - For the people'.

The conference provided an opportunity for high-level representatives from participating States and Partners for Co-operation to review common security threats and challenges as well as the Organization's role in tackling them.

Discussions focused on the ongoing humanitarian impact of Russia's war against Ukraine, the means by which to mitigate a broad range of threats and challenges, and the central role of dialogue as a tool to de-escalate violence.

During his opening remarks, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Bujar Osmani said: "Our plan for the second half of the year is to continue offering solutions that could contribute to the processes for peace and stability across the OSCE region. After all, the OSCE is designed to propose solutions and act. As I said on numerous occasions, a perpetual provider."

Conversations also touched on the growing number of transnational threats, such as organized crime, radicalization and violent extremism, the OSCE region faces and the crucial part that co-operation plays in addressing them.

"As the world's largest regional security organization, the OSCE is working to address challenges across the whole region and across the full spectrum, from enhancing border security to fighting corruption and illicit trafficking in small arms and light weapons to supporting the conduct of free and fair elections," said OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid.



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Duterte voices concern over U.S. military presence in Philippines

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 15:23, June 29, 2023

MANILA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The presence of U.S. military forces and equipment in the Philippines would put the country in danger, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said.

"We are in a bind. If the Americans are here to stay and bring arms ... it would be too pretty naive or stupid for Filipinos to think that the Americans would only bring conventional warheads," Duterte said in a recent interview with a local media SMNI, aired late Wednesday night.

The former president opposed the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a military pact allowing the United States to deploy its troops, weapons, and equipment in up to nine military bases within the Philippine territory.

"It's my concern for my country, and an open dialogue is always good," Duterte added.

Filipinos have become concerned over the enhanced military alliance and strategic security partnership between the Philippines and the United States, particularly after the latter had expanded access to the Philippine military bases under EDCA, as well as more extensive joint military exercises in the Southeast Asian country.

Some analysts believe the United States' ulterior goal is to preserve its dominance in Asia at the cost of provocation and even war, and the Filipinos, who will be caught in the crossfire, will suffer the most.

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Bolivia taps China, Russia in bid to unlock huge lithium riches

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 29 June 2023 7:34 PM

The Bolivian government has signed lithium agreements with Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom and China's Citic Guoan Group as the South American country looks to develop its untapped resources of the battery metal.

Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy Franklin Molina said Thursday that the investments would allow the construction of two direct lithium extraction (DLE) processing plants in the towns of Pasto Grande and Uyuni Norte, where at least 45,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate would be produced per year.

"With these deals our country will be able to produce some 100,000 (metric) tons of lithium carbonate in 2025 in the Uyuni, Coipasa and Pasto Grandes salt flats," Molina said at an event in La Paz, the administrative capital of Bolivia.

The deals, which envisage total investment of $1.4 billion, follow a similar agreement in January with giant Chinese battery maker CATL, a potential win for Beijing in its efforts to lock in supply of the metal used in electric vehicles.

CATL is the world's largest EV battery manufacturer but does not currently produce any lithium.

Russia's Rosatom, which bid via its Uranium One Group unit, also confirmed the news, saying it would invest $600 million in the project, its first large-scale lithium venture overseas, with a planned annual capacity of 25,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate.

"There is the possibility of increasing capacity based on the results of geological exploration work," Rosatom's First Deputy General Director Kirill Komarov said in a statement.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Molina said Citic Guoan would invest $857 million and would also "look at investing in battery plants and the installation, possibly with technical studies, of a vehicle assembly plant, to create a true electric transport revolution".

The deal with Uranium One Group was for feasibility and pre-investment studies, he said, adding that multiple tests with Russian technology on the salt flats had shown a lithium recovery rate of more than 80 percent, with a purity of approximately 99.5 percent.

The agreements could help finally unlock Bolivia's huge potential as a supplier of lithium for batteries needed to power the global shift to electric vehicle

Bolivia's iconic salt flats are home to the world's largest lithium resources at 21 million tons, according to the US Geological Survey, but the country has almost no commercially viable reserves.

In March, Bolivian President Luis Arce said he would be willing to jointly design a lithium policy with other Latin American countries to benefit their economies.

"We must be united in the market, in a sovereign manner, with prices that benefit our economies, and one of the ways, already proposed by (Mexico's) President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, is to think of a kind of lithium OPEC," Arce said back then in a speech in La Paz.

The objective is to position Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Peru "as potential promoters of new forms of energy storage that will make it possible to overcome the use of fossil fuels," the president added.

Arce expressed concern about foreign meddling in the lithium business, in particular from the United States.

"We don't want our lithium to be in the Southern Command's crosshairs, nor do we want it to be a reason for destabilizing democratically elected governments or foreign harassment," he said.

Governments, mining firms, battery markets and carmakers worldwide are scrambling to secure a supply of the metal, which is needed for many of the batteries being used to power a big shift towards electric vehicles.

Demand for lithium, used in rechargeable batteries for cars and electronics, pushed prices for battery-grade metal to around $85,000 per tonne at the end of last year.

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Hungarian parliament postpones vote on Sweden's NATO membership bid

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 29 June 2023 3:53 PM

A Hungarian parliament committee has postponed a vote on Sweden's bid to join the NATO military alliance, guaranteeing that the Nordic nation will not join the US-led bloc before or during its summit in July.

After a closed committee session on Wednesday, Hungarian legislators of the ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat parties on the agenda-setting panel did not support voting on Sweden's NATO bid in next week's plenary session of parliament.

"The House committee has rejected putting the vote on the agenda for next week," Agnes Vadai, a lawmaker of the opposition Democratic Coalition party, told Reuters on Thursday, adding that her party would again propose a vote on Monday at a full session of parliament.

All 30 NATO members must unanimously agree for historically neutral Sweden to join the military alliance in the wake of the Ukraine conflict that resulted from a persisting push by NATO to expand eastward.

The Nordic nation, which has already dropped a longtime policy of military non-alignment following Russia's war in Ukraine, now desperately needs consent from both Hungary and Turkey to join NATO, to which its neighbor, Finland, was finally added in April.

Stockholm has set its sights on formal accession of Sweden at NATO's July 11-12 summit in Lithuania, but, while it has strong support from other members, including the United States, both Turkey and Hungary have so far prevented ratification.

Turkey, a member of NATO since 1952, has blamed Sweden for providing sanctuary to elements linked to the so-called Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as well as the Gulen movement, which Ankara accuses of involvement in a 2016 coup attempt.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he cannot endorse the bid of Sweden to join the NATO military alliance as long as the Nordic country continues to lend support to terrorist groups acting against his country.

Both groups are considered "terrorist" groups by Turkey. The PKK is also on the "terrorist" lists of the US, the EU as well as other countries in the region.

Vadai further said it was "obvious" Fidesz would decide when to schedule the vote depending on Turkey's stance.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban "moves in tandem with Erdogan...ignoring Hungarian sovereignty and... breaking the unity of NATO," she added, noting, "As it stands today, there won't be a ratification before the NATO summit."

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said that he aimed to speak with Orban later on Thursday after media reported that Hungary's parliament would delay ratification of Sweden's NATO bid.

The ratification process has been stranded in the Hungarian parliament since last July.

Orban has particularly accused both Stockholm and Helsinki of spreading "outright lies" about the health of democracy and the rule of law in his country, although Hungarian legislators approved Finland's bid in late March.

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Solomon PM urges review of security pact with Australia in move likely to anger China

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 29 June 2023 6:48 AM

The prime minister of Solomon Islands has called for a review of a security treaty with Australia as he hosts the country's defense minister in the capital Honiara, amid concerns by China that Canberra is playing into US-led competition in the Pacific.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare met Australia's deputy prime minister and defense minister Richard Marles, who arrived in Honiara for a two-day visit on Wednesday.

Sogavare's office said the prime minister had "conveyed the country's appreciation to Australia's on-going support in the area of security" in the meeting.

"The Prime Minister expressed the need to review the current security treaty between the two countries to take into account the changing security challenges faced by both countries," said the office in a statement.

Marles also wrote on Twitter that he had "a productive meeting" with Sogavare, discussing "the deepening partnership between our two countries, including through regional security, infrastructure, labor mobility and health."

Marles' visit to Honiara comes days ahead of a visit by Sogavare to China.

The growing military ties between Australia and Solomon Islands have worried China, with Beijing charging that Canberra is promoting US-led competition in the region.

Australia has had a decades-long security relationship with the Solomon Islands. It deployed troops to the island country in 2021 at Honiara's request to help quell anti-government protests, alongside personnel from Fiji and New Zealand.

The deployment was part of a 2017 security treaty between Australia and the Solomon Islands, which allows Australian police and defense personnel to deploy rapidly to the Solomon Islands if the need arises and both countries consent.

Situated in Oceania, the state of Solomon Islands also signed a security agreement with China in April 2022.

The deal alarmed Western countries concerned about China's growing influence in the region although the document does not mention the establishment of a military base in the islands.

Western officials argue the deal opens the door to Chinese military presence in the region, which in the past decade has become a site for geopolitical competition between the world powers.

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Australia offers to extend deployment of troops, police in Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands prime minister said government still assessing security needs for the upcoming Pacific Games.

By Gina Maka'a for BenarNews 2023.06.29 -- Australia has offered to extend its military and police deployment in the Solomon Islands as the Pacific island country, which has cultivated security and economic ties with China, prepares to host a regional sporting event later this year and hold postponed elections in the first half of 2024.

Australia's Minister of Defence Richard Marles, who met with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare during a two-day visit to the Pacific country, said on Thursday that Australia was willing to provide security assistance for as long as necessary.

Australia sent more than 200 troops and police to the Solomon Islands in late 2021 at the request of Sogavare following anti-China and anti-government riots in the capital Honiara. Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand also contributed to the security mission.

"We spoke about the Solomons International Assistance Force, which Australia is a contributing member [of], and we made it clear that if it was the Solomons' wish for the Solomons International Assistance Force to continue then Australia stood ready for that to occur," Marles, who is also Australia's deputy prime minister, told reporters in Honiara.

"We are happy to support a continuation of the presence of SIAF in supporting the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force," he said.

The Solomon Islands, home to some 700,000 people, has become a focal point for the U.S.-China rivalry in the Pacific. Sogavare's government switched its diplomatic recognition to China from Taiwan in 2019 and signed a security pact with Beijing last year that alarmed the United States and allies such as Australia.

A statement from Sogavare's office said assessments of security needs for the Pacific Games, which will be held in Honiara in November, are still being carried out. "Should there be areas to address, Australia will be notified through appropriate channels," it said.

The statement also said the security treaty between Australia and the Solomon Islands should be reviewed to take into account the changing security challenges faced by both countries. It called for "more support to strengthen our capacity and capability to respond to internal security challenges."

Both China and Australia have been providing training and equipment to the Solomon Islands police, including weapons, sparking concern their rivalry could cause new instability in a South Pacific country that spiraled into chaos only two decades ago.

Several years of instability around the turn of the century, fueled by stolen police equipment, still looms large for Solomon Islanders, who call the period The Tensions. Corruption, ethnic strife and political divides made the country seem ungovernable and culminated in an Australian-led military intervention from 2003 until 2017.

Last November, China handed over two water cannon trucks, 30 motorbikes and 20 white utility vehicles emblazoned with the red China Aid logo to Solomon Islands police while Australia donated 60 MK18 rifles and 13 vehicles, some of which will be used in a new mobile protection unit for VIPs.

Solomon Islands police said in May that some 30 officers were undergoing advanced capability training in China on top of 33 officers who received training at the Fujian Police College last year. It said further contingents would receive leadership and capability training in China this year and that the China Police Liaison Team in Honiara would continue its training programs in the Solomon Islands.

Marles said a peaceful security environment for the Pacific Games - which China, Australia, Indonesia and other countries are helping to bankroll - and elections next year are key objectives of the Solomon Islands government.

Sogavare's government postponed the elections, which were due this year, citing the cost of hosting the Pacific Games.

"We are very mindful that an ongoing SIAF [presence] could be an assistance to Solomon Islands and we certainly made it clear that we would be ready to provide that if Solomon Islands want it," Marles said.

Marles' visit to the Solomon Islands also resulted in pledges of assistance including a previously announced grant of 25 million Australian dollars ($16.5 million) to pay for the Solomons' 2024 general election, provision of small fast vessels for the Solomon Islands police and help to upgrade a shipyard.

Before leaving the Solomon Islands on Thursday afternoon, Marles officially opened a new critical care unit at the country's main hospital that was funded by Australia.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.

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 June 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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Meta's oversight board orders removal of Hun Sen's Facebook video

Cambodian leader has account deleted, switches to Telegram.

By RFA Khmer 2023.06.29 -- Meta's oversight board on Thursday ordered the removal of a video posted on Facebook by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in which he threatened violence against his political opponents and called for an immediate suspension of his accounts.

The ruling, reversing a previous decision, marks the first time the oversight board has instructed Meta to shut down an account run by a government leader, and suggests that the company may be shifting its stance on how it deals with content posted by users who have otherwise enjoyed impunity in what they say on its site.

Hun Sen didn't immediately comment on the ruling, but called on his social media followers to switch to rival platforms TikTok or Telegram.

The Cambodian leader, who has ruled the country since 1985, has regularly taken to social media to deliver lengthy tirades against his opponents, warning them of consequences if they defy him. Such threats are often acted on by judicial authorities, security forces, and supporters of his ruling Cambodian People's Party, or CPP.

On Thursday, Meta's oversight board of independent experts said that in one such speech, live streamed to Facebook in January, Hun Sen ranted about claims that the CPP had stolen votes in prior elections, offering his accusers the choice of "legal action or a club."

He warned that he would send thugs to beat them up or arrest them in the middle of the night.

While he did not name the target of his ire, Hun Sen's "stolen votes" comment was widely viewed as a reference to opposition Candlelight Party Vice President Son Chhay, who was convicted of defamation last year after saying that local commune elections in Cambodia had been marred by irregularities.

Intimidating opponents

Cambodia is preparing to hold a general election on July 23, but observers say that the ballot is likely to be neither free nor fair.

Meta initially reviewed the speech after receiving complaints that it violated Facebook's guidelines on inciting violence, but decided to leave the content up because of its news value.

However, the company referred the content to its oversight board, saying it had created "tension between our values of safety and voice."

On further review, the board found that the content had indeed run afoul of Facebook's guidelines prohibiting incitement, citing "the severity of the violation, Hun Sen's history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats."

The board ordered that the video be removed, and called on Meta to suspend Hun Sen's Facebook and Instagram accounts for six months.

While the call for the account suspension is non-binding, Meta is obligated to take down the video and issue a statement to the public on its reasons for doing so within 60 days.

'Finally called out'

Hun Sen has yet to comment on the oversight board's ruling, but on Thursday, he posted a message to his Facebook page calling on his 14 million followers to switch to the Chinese video platform TikTok for future updates. Hun Sen's TikTok account, set up on Wednesday, currently has nearly 22,000 followers.

The prime minister wrote on the Dubai-based Telegram messaging app that he had found Telegram "more useful than Facebook" and told his more than 867,000 followers on the app that he will be posting content there going forward, allowing him to "easily communicate with people while I am traveling to countries where Facebook is not permitted."

Later in the day, Hun Sen wrote on Telegram that he had problems with fake accounts on Facebook, while claiming Telegram "has no fake account."

The prime minister said he had asked his assistant to "delete my Facebook account immediately and inform Facebook to remove my name from Facebook," urging people to follow him on Telegram.

Hun Sen said his newly created TikTok account would allow him "to more easily connect with the youth."

'The stakes are high'

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch, issued a statement on Thursday dismissing Hun Sen's reason for leaving Facebook.

"Hun Sen is finally being called out for using social media to incite violence against his opponents, and he apparently doesn't like it one bit," he said.

"That's the real story about why he's running away from Facebook, which dared to hold him accountable to their community standards, and into the arms of Telegram, the favored social media messaging system of despots ranging from Russia to Myanmar."

Robertson said it was high time for tech companies such as Meta to confront world leaders who violate human rights on their platforms.

"The stakes are high because plenty of real world harm is caused when an authoritarian uses social media to incite violence -- as we have already seen far too many times in Cambodia," he said.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

Story updated to correct the number of Hun Sen's Telegram followers and to add a quote about him ordering the deletion of his Facebook account.

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 June 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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Brussels Unveils New Package To 'Bring Moldova Closer' To The EU

By RFE/RL June 29, 2023

The European Union has assembled a new support package meant to mitigate the impact of Russia's war in Ukraine on Moldova and "bring the country closer" to the 27-member bloc, the European Commission has announced.

The package has five priority areas, commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on June 28.

The five areas are focused on facilitating economic development and connectivity, reforms, energy, security, and strategic communication, the statement said.

"Moldova has stood firmly in solidarity and in defense of European values," the statement quoted von der Leyen as saying.

The EU has already earmarked 1.2 billion euros ($1.31 billion) "to help Moldova in facing multiple crises since the autumn of 2021," it said.

One of Europe's poorest countries, Moldova, a country of 2.7 million wedged between EU and NATO member Romania and Ukraine, has been confronted with further instability by Russia's war in Ukraine. Moldova's history is deeply intertwined with Romania, the two neighbors sharing a common history, culture, and language.

Moldova has received thousands of Ukrainian refugees and has voiced fears of a potential Russian invasion aided by Russian troops stationed in its breakaway Transdniester region.

Last year in June, Moldova became a candidate for EU membership along with Ukraine in a huge boost to the pro-Western aspirations of President Maia Sandu's government, which has repeatedly accused Russia of trying to destabilize the country.

"Despite the enormous consequences Russia's war of aggression is having on the country, Moldova is taking great strides to advance on its European future. With today's package, the EU shows we stand by Moldova and we will work to accelerate your European integration and reforms. Moldova's future lies in the EU," von de Leyen said.

The European Commission statement said that following its proposal earlier this month, up to 600 million euros ($656 million) from the bloc's Neighborhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument could be reallocated to "programs to increase support for other neighborhood countries, including Moldova" between 2024-2027.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/brussels-new-package- moldova-eu/32482068.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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Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Chairman of the Communist Party of Vietnam's Commission for External Relations Le Hoai Trung Before Their Meeting

US Department of State

Remarks

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Thomas Jefferson Room

Washington, D.C.

June 29, 2023

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, hello, everyone. It's a great pleasure to have Chairman Trung here with us at the State Department in Washington. I had a very, very positive visit to Vietnam just some months ago, and I greatly appreciate the hospitality as well as the very good exchanges that we had when I was there. This is a very important year in the relationship between the United States and Vietnam, the tenth year of our comprehensive partnership; much positive to account for over those ten years, and I think now opportunities to expand what are already strong ties between our two countries.

For the United States, Vietnam is a key Indo-Pacific partner. And besides the work we're already doing together, we see many places where we can expand cooperation, whether it comes to our climate partnership, expanding our economic ties, including through the IndoPacific Economic Framework, and of course the work that we're doing in our host year with APEC. And underlying all of that, we hope, even stronger people-to-people connections. I was - when I was in Vietnam - I think this was my third visit over the last seven or eight years - I was just struck, as always, by the incredible warmth, hospitality, and also extraordinary energy of Vietnamese people. We are really grateful for the partnership, for the relationship, and of course I was very pleased to be able to do the groundbreaking of our new embassy, and thanks to you.

In any event, Mr. Chairman, welcome. I'm very glad to have you here to pursue our important conversations.

CHAIRMAN TRUNG: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary of State. First of all, I'd like to thank you for writing a very nice letter to me after your successful trip to Vietnam, and thank you for spending the time with me and my colleagues here today. And our leadership have the view that you had a very successful trip to Vietnam because you had the opportunity to discuss with the Vietnamese leaders and the leaders of all the government agencies about important, specific issues, and also about - and we had the opportunity to enhance the mutual understanding and especially to lay a very important basis for the further enhancement of our relations, especially after the successful telephone discussion between President Joe Biden and our general secretary, Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong.

And Vietnam attaches great importance to our relations with the United States. We are very glad to see the very rapid and comprehensive development of the relations in the interest of the two nations and also in the interest of peace and cooperation and friendship in the region and the world.

So we're here today to - we hope that we (inaudible) have an opportunity to discuss with our American partners about how we would further promote our relations. Thank you very much.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

CHAIRMAN TRUNG: Yes.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you, everyone.

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UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell's remarks on Haiti at the Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

UNICEF

As prepared for delivery

29 June 2023

NEW YORK, 29 June 2023 - "Good afternoon,

"Last week, I travelled to Haiti as the UNICEF Executive Director, but also in my role as the Principal Advocate for Haiti for the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, a group of humanitarians, and a designation by the Emergency Response Coordinator, Martin Griffiths.

"I came to listen, to learn, and to help galvanize attention and support for the humanitarian response in Haiti. While there, I met up with WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain to see some of our joint work, and to send our shared message that Haiti is becoming a forgotten crisis.

"I visited Haiti once before in 2010, with then-First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, after the devastating January 12 earthquake, which left millions in need of humanitarian assistance.

"Upon my return to the country last week, it was with the knowledge that there are now even more Haitian people in need than ever before. Today, an estimated 5.2 million people, or close to half of the entire population, require humanitarian assistance. This includes nearly 3 million children.

"Critically, the institutions and services that children rely on are barely functional, resources are in short supply, and violent armed groups control over 60 per cent of Haiti's capital and parts of the country's primary agricultural areas.

"Meanwhile, international solidarity and support for Haiti has largely faded away in the years since the 2010 earthquake.

"As journalists, you know the headlines from Haiti all too well. Haitians and our team there tell me it's never been worse. Unprecedented hunger and malnutrition, grinding poverty, a crippled economy, resurgence of cholera, and massive insecurity that creates a deadly downward spiral of violence - while flooding and earthquakes continue to remind us all just how vulnerable Haiti is to climate change and natural disasters.

"UNICEF, and our UN and NGO partners, are deeply concerned about the thousands of children caught in the crossfire of violent clashes or recruited and used by the armed groups. In some communities, there are staggering levels of gender-based violence, and rape is being used as a weapon for intimidation and control.

"When I visited a center for survivors of gender based violence located in one of the most dangerous parts of Port-au-Prince, an 11-year-old girl told me in the softest of voices that five men had grabbed her off the street. Three of them raped her. She was eight months pregnant when we spoke - and gave birth just a few days later.

"One woman told me that armed men had barged into her house and raped her. She said her 20-year-old sister resisted so strongly that they killed her by setting her on fire. Then they burned down their house. Three other women shared very similar stories of rape, one in front of her children, and then having their homes burned to the ground.

"I was told that this is part of a new strategy by armed groups. They rape girls and women and they burn their homes to make them more vulnerable and more easily controlled. Because ... if they break the women, then they've broken the foundation of the community.

"But amid the horror is also hope.

"I met Dr. Jean William Pape and Dr. Marie Deschamps and their amazing staff, who face uncertainty every day to help survivors of rape and violence rebuild their lives, while providing health care and education to children.

"I met Stephanie - a displaced young woman who is a community leader taking care of other displaced women and children.

"I met teachers and health workers who are braving the dangers of the streets to show up for work every day to educate and care for the country's children.

"And I met boys and girls in a school who told me that they loved being in class and learning.

"They said they wanted to be doctors, nurses, business owners and one said she wanted to be a pediatrician.

"A 13-year-old-girl, Serafina, told me that she picked doctor as a profession because 'I love when people take care of other people."

"These children are what the parents of Haiti are pinning their hopes on. We should all be doing the same.

"I'm very proud of our humanitarian colleagues - most of them Haitians themselves - who shared with me some of the challenges they face. Many have had to move homes, some multiple times, to find safety from the violence and kidnappings for ransom.

"But they also told me of triumphs, of bringing food, nutrition, health care, safe water and a level of protection to people in need.

"The humanitarian system, including UNICEF, is delivering in Haiti and scaling-up the response. Yet we are far from meeting the growing needs of the Haitian people. At a bare minimum we must have the $ 720 million UN Humanitarian Response Plan for 2023 funded. Right now we've received less than a quarter of what we need.

"So overall there are some specific and urgent steps we must take. These include:

"Providing immediate humanitarian funding and a better response to meet the acute needs of the most vulnerable.

"Ensuring a sustained and coordinated humanitarian effort that is coupled with longer term solutions to rebuild institutions, ensure access to basic services, retore hope and build resilience.

"Undertaking preparedness and resilience-building for the inevitable natural disasters and epidemics.

"Protecting humanitarian actors and humanitarian space.

"Encouraging and supporting the Government to do a better job engaging with the people of Haiti, from the impacted communities to those who have influence to stop the violence. The international community must also support government efforts to strengthen the Haitian National police and the justice system.

"The current situation of insecurity is unacceptable. Women and children are dying. Schools and public spaces should always be safe.

"Collectively the world is failing the Haitian people, and unless we take immediate action, it is hard to imagine a decent future for the population.

"We must restore trust and be better at listening to what the Haitian people say they need.

"When I asked Serafina, our young doctor in-the-making, what she would tell the international community, she said: 'Tell them to love the country and then the country will be fine.'"

#####

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Navy Accepts Delivery of Future USS Jack H. Lucas

US Navy

29 June 2023

From Team Ships Public Affairs

Pascagoula, Miss. -- The Navy accepted delivery of the future guided missile destroyer USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), the Navy's first Flight III destroyer from Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division on June 27.

Accepting delivery of DDG 125 represents the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy. Prior to delivery, the ship conducted a series of at-sea and pier-side trials to demonstrate its material and operational readiness.

DDG 125 is named for Pfc. Jack Lucas, who served in the U.S. Marines during World War II, earning the Medal of Honor for his heroism at Iwo Jima, when he was just 17 years old. He is the youngest Marine, and the youngest serviceman in World War II, to be awarded the United States' highest military decoration for valor. In 1961, he returned to military service; as a Captain in the U.S. Army, Lucas trained younger troops headed for Vietnam.

"Delivery of the future USS Jack H. Lucas is an historic occasion. As the Navy's first Flight III destroyer, DDG 125 brings the most advanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense capability to the fleet," said Capt. Seth Miller, DDG 51 class program manager, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. "I am tremendously proud of the entire Navy and industry team for delivering this ship. The AEGIS Shipbuilding program has demonstrated yet again that it remains a world class organization and carries on the legacy of Rear Admiral Wayne E. Meyer that was established over fifty years ago. Build a little, test a little and learn a lot. Job well done!"

The Flight III upgrade is centered on the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar and incorporates upgrades to the electrical power and cooling capacity.

Ingalls' Shipbuilding division is currently in production on future destroyers Ted Stevens (DDG 128), Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), George M. Neal (DDG 131) and Sam Nunn (DDG 133).

As one of the Defense Department's largest acquisition organizations, PEO Ships is responsible for executing the development and procurement of all destroyers, amphibious ships, special mission and support ships, and boats and craft.

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Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre En Route New York, NY

June 29, 2023

Aboard Air Force One

En Route New York, New York

1:55 P.M. EDT

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. I got ahead of myself.

All right, guys. We're headed to New York City  my home city and state  New York.

All right, here we go.

So, since his first days in office, the President has demonstrated his commitment to diversity, creating a government that looks like America, a commitment that extends to the highest levels of his Cabinet and the highest court in the land.

For months, the White House has been meeting with civil rights organizations, universities, and legal organizations to prepare for this decision in the event that the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action.

The stakeholders shared with us that they would need guidance on what this ruling would mean, and they would need  need it before the start of the admission cycle to avoid confusion.

The White House, led by the DPC, the Office of Public Engagement, and Counsel's Office worked over the last few months with DOJ and  and Ed to develop a response plan.

Throughout the process, the President was clear with his team that diversity was one of America's greatest strengths, that we needed to make sure that his  that this decision wouldn't be a permanent step back for the country, and we would need a way forward to protect diversity and opportunity in America for everyone.

The President met regularly with his team over the last month to gear up a response that encourages college  colleges and universities to recognize when a student has had to overcome system-  systemic barriers and ine-  inequities, and value that in the admissions process.

This morning, when the decision came down, the President was briefed by counsel, then convened a meeting with members of his senior staff closely working on this issue.

The President directed his team to finalize our plan to support colleges and universities before the admission  admission process starts.

The White House has directed the Department of Ed to analyze what other practices and tools exist to help build more inclusive and diverse student bodies.

Also, another piece of significant news we want to highlight today, which is something that we announced, I believe, yesterday: Last year, the VA moved 40,000 homeless veterans into permanent housing, and today, the Biden-Harris administration is announcing a series of additional actions to prevent and reduce veterans homeless-  veteran homelessness.

The administration will invest an unprecedented $3.1 billion to help communities across the country quickly rehouse people experiencing homelessness, including veterans. This will be the single largest investment in communities' homeless  homelessness response system in history.

We are also providing new legal services for veterans experiencing or at risk for homelessness and the funding programs to help veterans experiencing or at risk of homelessness find jobs and connect to work.

President Biden believes that every veteran deserves a roof over their head. And these announcements build upon historic actions the administration has already taken to reduce the number of veterans experiencing homelessness, which has fallen by 11 percent since 2020 and more than 55 percent since 2010.

With that, Zeke, you want to kick us off?

Q Thanks, Karine. When will that Department of Ed guidance be promulgated? And will  what assurances have you gotten from universities, or which universities have said that they will follow that guidance now  now that the Supreme Court has ruled?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, the Department of Ed and also, let's not forget, the Department of Justice, as well, will provide resources to colleges and universities addressing lawful admissions practices within the next 45 days as colleges prepare for the next application cycle. So that's, kind of, about that time.

The Department of Education will also provide assistance to colleges and university administering programs to support students from underser-  underserved communities.

And also, in addition, the Department of Education will host a national summit that's going to be focused on equal opportunity in post-secondary education. That's going to happen next month. And that's going to be with advocates; student leaders; college and university administrators; researchers; and state, local, and, let's not forget, the Tribal community, as well  those leaders  to share lessons learned, innovative strategies, and develop additional resources for colleges and students to expand to educational opportunities.

So, this is going to be a summer-  as you all can imagine, a summer-long process to make sure that the colleges and universities feel prepared and ready and have the resources they need as we head into the next academic year.

Q Karine, the President  when the President took office, he launched a Supreme Court review panel. They did meetings. They came back to him with a very lengthy report. He's had that report for months now. We've never heard from him on what his analysis was on what reforms need to be done to a body that, today, he said is not normal. Where is he on that?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, as it relates to the commission: Look, he read the report  I know that was a question that I got often in the briefing room  and he's very grateful to that commission. Let's not forget, it was a diverse, bipartisan group of constitutional and legal expert-  experts  right?  who contributed to do this  to bring this together in an effort to applying the most collective expertise on Court reform and proposal in decades.

And so, look, we have  we have their report. He's read it. I don't have anything  any decisions or anything to read out on  on anything th-  moving forward on that particular report.

But, again, it was a  certainly an important exercise to make sure we bring in legal experts from both sides, in a bipartisan way, to kind of take a look  take a look at the courts.

I'm not going to go beyond what the President shared with all of you, or some of you, who were in the Roosevelt Room when he was asked about the  the Court specifically.

Q So he's not going to endorse any particular part of that report? He's  it's just going to sit on the shelf and collect dust, basically?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I mean, I wouldn't say it's col-  it's sitting on the shelf and collecting dust. I would say that it was an important report, and it was done by  by a diverse  both, you know, Republicans and Democrats  right?  a bipartisan group of people who came together and put this report together. I think that's important. That's  we've never seen that before, and that is an action that the President wanted to take so he  we can get a sense of what legal experts have to say.

We just don't have anything to announce as  as any additional steps to move forward on  on any specifics on the report.

The President obviously read it and took a look at it. I just don't have anything more to share. But I wouldn't say  I would say it's  you know, I think it was an important report to have. Again, it's never happened before, and I think it's  it's important that the President asked to be done.

Q Karine, can I ask two quick ones on 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, absolutely.

Q  the President's health?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Absolutely.

Q Obviously, his use of a CPAP machine was disclosed yesterday, and it's something that many Americans use with sleep apnea. But what I'm wondering is: What happened in the last couple of weeks that led him to use it? Was it he was feeling tired? The First Lady was complaining about his snoring? (Laughter.) What  can you give us some background on what happened here?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, as you know, the President disclosed this, I think, like 15 years ago  the sleep apnea. So it's nothing new. It's out there, certainly, in the record.

And as you just mentioned, and many of you have covered this, 30 million people across the country, certainly, deal with sleep apnea, of all ages.

One of the things that I can say is that  I think the thing that's important is: It's for better sleep. Right? I think that's one of the reasons that  that it was  it was kind of added. It 

Q So he was feeling tired, rundown a little?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No, I mean, I  I'm not going to get into how the President is feeling. What I can say is: One of the important things is getting better sleep. I think all of us can understand that, how important that can be. And  and so this is what the  this is what the  it gives the opportunity the  for the President to do.

Just don't have anything else to add. It  I  you know, it was something that was done within the last couple of weeks. Don't have a specific date on that. But what it allows  which is, I think, it really important for the President  is to, you know, make sure he's getting as much sleep as he can.

Q Ever since  well, maybe not directly, but shortly after the President had his sandbag stumble at the Air Force Academy, he has been using the lower steps on Air Force One instead of the, kind of, truck that drives up. I'm wondering if that is because he's been having mobility problems of any ty-  type, if it's to address  you know, he's had a couple incidents falling on the stairs getting up and you guys just decided that it would be better for him. Can you walk me through 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So I don't have 

Q  what's going on there?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I don't have any decision process to walk through. I'm sure there's a protocol that's used for the  for Air Force One. I just don't have one.

I mean, you guys see the President every day, when it  to speak to  when you  when we speak to mobility. The President always says watch him.

You know, he was a  this was a president  let's not forget, he went to a warzone country in Ukraine and did that in a way that was incredibly effective. The world got to see him out there and meet with President Zelenskyy. And I think that's incredibly important.

I just don't have anything to share on (inaudible).

Q I  I guess just to, like  to buttonhole it 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah. Yeah.

Q  you know, we've seen a change in the medical technology he's using, we've seen a behavioral change here.

Is there anything that you guys are seeing that represents a medical change of any sort with the President?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, if you look at what  what we have put forward, as far as his medical  the President's medical report, it is more comprehensive and extensive than any other president. You guys have in front of you, if  and we've presented to all of you memos 

Q Well, in February. And these 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I mean 

Q  things have happened since then, and that's why.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, I mean  no, I understand, but it is this year, and it has been extensive, it has been comprehensive  more than any other president. I  that still remains to be the fact.

And  and we've been pretty transparent about that, even with  even with when you all asked us about  about, you know, yesterday, and we  we said it was related to sleep apnea. We were very transparent about that, and we responded very quickly.

And so, look, again, we have put forward the most comprehensive medical report of the President, and I think that's important. We've been very  when asked questions about  about what you all may have noticed, like yesterday, we've been very clear about that as well.

I just don't have anything else to detail.

The President  shoot, he  he traveled yesterday. He's traveling today. You saw how extensively he traveled during  during the midterms  he  and especially in his foreign travel. This is someone who is incredibly active as president and will continue to do so. That will not change.

Q Karine, I just had a question that's a follow-up on the President's health. Are there any plans for the President's physician to brief the press about his health?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: No.

Q And then I have one more question.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah.

Q Who's paying for this trip today? Because there are no standard public administration-wide ef-  events. Is the campaign reimbursing for this trip? Or 

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I have an answer for that. But the first one  what was the first question again?

Q The first question was: Are there any plans for the President's physician to brief the press?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, no, there's no plans. Look, we put  we put forward a very comprehensive memos on the President's health. I would refer you to that. No plans for the doctor to  to brief the press.

As it relates to the trip, it's a mixed  mixed travel trip with official and political  political portions. Associated  associated expenses are allocated and paid for in accordance with federal regulations.

Q What's the official part of this trip?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Let me  let me  let me finish.

You all are always criticizing the President for not doing enough interviews  right?  and today, the President has chose to do in studio, live, on the to-  on top of the rated  on the top-rated show at four o'clock, which draws over 3 million-plus viewers over its two hours, to discuss issues of consequences to the American people: the economy, war on the European continent, our democracy, and possibility  also major rulings for the Supreme Court that would impact millions of people.

And so 

Q Was there any discussion of having the interview in Washington, D.C., or was it always going to be in New York?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Well, look, he's going to New York, and we took the opportunity to go in studio. It's his first in-studio interview. And we think it's important to make sure that we're in front of three  three-plus million people to talk about Bidenomics  right?  to talk about what's going on around the world, to talk about all the things that is critical to the American people. And that's what you're going to see from the President today.

Q Thank you, Karine.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Thanks, everybody. Don't fall, like I almost did.

2:07 P.M. EDT

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Russo-Ukraine War - 29 June 2023 - Day 491

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 on 24 June, air defence forces of the Wagner private military company reportedly shot down Russian military helicopters and an Ilyushin Il-22M airborne command post aircraft.

The Il-22M is part of a relatively small fleet of up to 12 aircraft, heavily utilised for both airborne command and control, and radio relay tasks. These special mission aircraft have played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces in their war against Ukraine. As high value assets they have operated within the safety of Russian airspace, far beyond the range of Ukrainian air defence systems.

The loss of this aircraft is likely to have a negative impact on Russian air and land operations. In the short term the psychological shock of losing a large number of aircrew in this manner will almost certainly damage morale within the Russian Aerospace Force. In the longer term, there is a possibility that current tasking levels may have to be reduced to safely manage the remaining fleet. This will likely undermine Russia's ability to command and coordinate its forces, particularly during periods of high tempo operations.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day of June 29, Russian forces launched 6x S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles at civil infrastructure objects of Zaporizhzhia and Chuguyiv. In addition, Russian forces ussians carried out 23x airstrikes, launched about 46x MLRS on Ukrainian settlements and Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The threat of missile and air strikes remains high across Ukraine.

Russia continues to focus its main efforts on the Lyman, Bakhmut, and Mar'inka axes - about 22x combat clashes took place during the day.

Volyn' and Polissya axes: the operational situation has not changed significantly.

Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: Russian forces shelled with mortars and artillery more than 10x settlements, such as Karpovychi and Tymonovychi in the Chernihiv Oblast and Seredyna-Buda, Znob-Novgorodskoe and Yunakivka in the Sumy Oblast.

Kup'yans'k axis: Russian forces launched an airstrike in the vicinities of Klyslivka. Kislivka and Berestov of the Kharkiv Oblast were shelled by artillery and mortars.

Lyman axis: the Russian forces carried out unsuccessful offensives in the Rozdolivka and Bilogorivka areas. Carried out airstrikes near Bilogorivka in Luhansk Oblast and Lyman and Rozdolivka in Donetsk Oblast. More than 5x settlements, such as Belogorivka of Luhansk Oblast and Verkhn'yokam'ians'ke and Rozdolivka - Donetsk Oblast, were shelled by Russian artillery.

Bakhmut axis: Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive operations in the vicinities of Bakhmut. Airstrikes near Bila Hora and Diliivka, Donetsk Oblast. About 10x settlements, including Vasyukivka, Chasiv Yar and Ivaniv'ske in the Donetsk Oblast, were shelled by artillery.

Avdiivka axis: the Russian forces conducted unsuccessful offensive actions with the aviation support in the Avdiivka area. They shelled more than 5x settlements, including Stepove, Avdiivka and Vodyane of the Donetsk Oblast.

Mar'inka axis: Ukrainian defenders repelled all Russian attacks in the vicinities of Mar'inka, as well as in Pobieda and Novomykhailivka. At the same time, Russian forces carried out airstrikes near Krasnohorivka and Nevelskyi, carried out artillery fire on more than 10 settlements. In particular, Nevels'ke, Oleksandropil', Krasnohorivka, Mar'inka and Pobyeda of the Donetsk Oblast came under fire.

Shakhtars'k axis: the Russian forces carried out unsuccessful offensives near Novomykhailivka. They carried out airstrikes in the vicinities Vugledar, Zolotaya Niva, Makarivka and Rivnopol' of the Donetsk Oblast. Russians shelled about 10x settlements, including Prechistivka, Vugledar, Zolota Niva and Blagodatne in Donetsk Oblast.

Zaporizhzhia and Kherson axes: Russian forces are on the defensive. They carried out airstrikes in the Molodizhny and Antonivka areas of the Kherson Oblast. The Russian adversary shelled more than 25x settlements, including Poltavka, Hulyaipole, Hulyaipils'ke, Pyatikhatky, Lobkovo, Zaporizhzhia of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast; Antonivka, Kherson, Dniprovske, Veletens'ke, Kherson Oblast and Ochakiv in the Mykolayiv Oblast.

Ukrainian Air Force conducted 11x airstrikes on Russian manpower concentrations. Ukrainian missile and artillery units hit 2x control points, a radar station and an artillery unit at a firing position.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have continued their attempts to conduct offensive operations in Donetsk, Krasny Liman, and South Donetsk directions during the previous 24 hours.

Four enemy attacks have been successfully repelled due to skilful and committed actions of the Yug Group of Forces units near Belogorovka (Lugansk People's Republic) and Tonenkoye (Donetsk People's Republic) during the day.

In the past 24 hours, the enemy has lost up to 530 Ukrainian troops killed and wounded, one tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles, as well as Msta-B and D-20 howitzers.

An ammunition depot of the AFU 54th Mechanised Brigade has been hit close to Vyemka (Donetsk People's Republic).

In Krasny Liman direction, the Tsentr Group of Forces' units, aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems inflicted losses on the units of AFU 21st, 42nd, and 67th Mechanised Brigades close to Nevskoye, Kremennaya, Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic).

One sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been disabled close to Kuzmino (Lugansk People's Republic).

Up to 65 Ukrainian troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, two pick-up trucks, two D-30 howitzers, and two Gvozdika self-propelled artillery units have been eliminated in this direction during the day.

In South Donetsk direction close to Vremevka salient, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems of the Vostok Group of Forces have repelled an enemy attack in the area of Staromayorskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

In Zaporozhye direction, artillery of the Zapad Group of Forces hit manpower and hardware of the AFU 106th Territorial Defence Brigade near Lugovskoye (Zaporozhye region).

Total losses of the AFU in these directions during the day amounted up to 135 Ukrainian troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, three D-20 howitzers, Msta-B and D-30 howitzers, as well as one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery unit.

In Kupyansk direction, Operational-Tactical and Army aviation and artillery of the Zapad Group of Forces have engaged the enemy units close to Sinkovka and Krasnoye Pervoye (Kharkov region).

In Kherson direction, more than 25 Ukrainian troops, three motor vehicles, one Akatsiya self-propelled artillery system, one D-30 howitzer, and one Grad MLRS have been eliminated during the day.

In Kherson direction, up to 40 Ukrainian servicemen, six motor vehicles, and one Msta-B howitzers have been neutralised by fire.

An ammunition depot of the AFU 123th Territorial Defence Brigade has been obliterated close to Kizomys.

Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Group of Forces have engaged 85 AFU artillery units at their fire positions, manpower, and military hardware in 102 areas during the day.

An ammunition depot of the AFU 10th Mountain Assault Brigade has been hit close to Vyemka (Donetsk People's Republic).

Two American-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar stations have been destroyed near Vasiltsovka (Kharkov region) and Peschanoye (Donetsk People's Republic).

According to updated information, as the result of the precision strike on 27 June 2023 in Kramatorsk (Donetsk People's Republic) at the temporary deployment area of the AFU 56th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, two generals participating in a staff meeting, up to 50 AFU officers, as well as 20 foreign mercenaries military advisors were eliminated.

Air defence forces shot down two HIMARS MLRS missiles and one HARM anti-radiation missile during the day.

Moreover, 11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down close to Ivanovka (Kharkov region), Volodino, Yevgenovka (Donetsk People's Republic), Golikovo (Lugansk People's Republic), and Novaya Zburyevka (Kherson region).



In total, 444 airplanes and 240 helicopters, 4,823 unmanned aerial vehicles, 426 air defence missile systems, 10,402 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 1,133 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 5,269 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 11,276 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

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Texas Man Sentenced to Over 13 Years for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS

Thursday, June 29, 2023

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

A Houston man was sentenced today to 165 months, the equivalent of 13 years and nine months, in prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

According to court documents, Kaan Sercan Damlarkaya, 23, attempted to join and support ISIS from August 2017 until his arrest in December 2017. He pleaded guilty July 8, 2019. In addition to wanting to join ISIS, Damlarkaya also provided information to ISIS supporters about the use of machetes, homemade construction of an automatic weapon and how to build and use explosive materials.

As part of his plans to join ISIS overseas, starting in approximately early August 2017, Damlarkaya had numerous conversations online with many individuals he believed to be fellow ISIS supporters. During these discussions, he described his intentions to travel overseas to fight for ISIS in Syria or Afghanistan. Damlarkaya added that if he was unsuccessful in joining ISIS overseas, he would conduct an on attack on non-Muslims in the United States and that it was his "dream" to be a martyr.

Damalarkaya also provided information to other ISIS supporters, on at least two separate occasions, about ways to manufacture a bomb. Specifically, he described how to make explosives formula using triacetone triperoxide and cautioned the others to "take safety seriously while you make this" to be "useful until you can strike."

Damlarkaya further illustrated to ISIS supporters ways to construct an automatic weapon. He claimed he could buy a "GIANT machete for $15" and stated "a lot of us are poor... or we don't have experience. So not all of us can get a gun or make explosives, but we can afford to buy a $15 knife." He claimed he slept with a machete under his pillow ready to use if law enforcement raided his house.

When agents arrested Damlarkaya, they executed a search warrant at his residence and found a machete by his bed.

He will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas and Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department's National Security Division made the announcement.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Jones for the Southern District of Texas is prosecuting the case, with valuable assistance provided by Trial Attorney Kevin Nunnally of the National Security Division's Counterterrorism Section.

Topic: Counterterrorism

Components: National Security Division (NSD)

USAO - Texas, Southern

Press Release Number: 23-717

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Amendment of the Terrorist Designations of Real IRA and ISIL-Libya

US Department of State

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

June 29, 2023

The Department of State has amended the terrorist designations of the Real IRA and ISIL-Libya to reflect new primary names, the New Irish Republican Army and the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham in Libya, and associated aliases. These aliases have been added to their designations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224. The Department has also reviewed and maintained the FTO designations of both groups.

The United States remains committed to combating the activities of terrorists worldwide.

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Press release on Russian-Chinese consultations on outer space security

29 June 2023 15:26

1278-29-06-2023

On 28 June in Moscow the regular Russian-Chinese consultations on outer space security in an inter-agency format took place.

The sides exchanged their assessments of the current situation in this area. They stressed the need to continue close cooperation and active joint efforts for the prevention of an arms race in outer space (PAROS) and the weaponization of outer space.

The delegations emphasized the importance of the earliest launch of negotiations on a multilateral legally binding instrument on PAROS on the basis of the Russian-Chinese draft Treaty on Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects. The necessity of the international initiative/political commitment not to be the first to place weapons in outer space is recognized.

The meeting confirmed the unity of the Russian and Chinese approaches to outer space security. It was noted that there is a need for further close coordination in this area at specialized multilateral platforms.



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Belarus: High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell launches a new Consultative Group with democratic forces and civil society

European External Action Service (EEAS)

29.06.2023

EEAS Press Team

High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell launched today a new Consultative Group between the European Union and Belarusian democratic forces and civil society, in the presence of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other prominent figures of the Belarusian opposition and civil society.

Acting as a platform of dialogue between the EU and representatives of the Belarusian civil society, the Consultative group will ensure information sharing on the situation in the country, and will help shape further EU actions in support of a free, sovereign, and democratic Belarus. During their first meeting today in Brussels, the EU and Belarusian representatives exchanged views on the deteriorating human rights situation in the country, including the conditions of political prisoners and their families, as well as the aims and needs of democratic forces.

The participants condemned the complicity of Belarus in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, including the regime's increased nuclear rhetoric, which further threaten the country's sovereignty.

In the margins of the event, High Representative Josep Borrell had a bilateral meeting with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. In light of the increased violence and repression by the Lukashenko regime, the High Representative reaffirmed the EU's continued support to all those who courageously stand up for a free, independent and democratic Belarus.

Since the fraudulent elections of August 2020, the EU has committed more than a100 million in support of the Belarusian people, including human rights organisations, civil society, independent media, cultural institutions, and small and medium-sized enterprises. The EU remains ready to activate a a3 billion comprehensive plan in support of a democratic Belarus, once Belarus embarks on a path to democratic transition.

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Belarus Ratifies Amendments to Treaty With Russia on Ensuring Security

Sputnik News

20230629

MINSK (Sputnik) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a law to ratify amendments to the treaty with Russia on jointly ensuring regional security in the military sphere.

The document was published on the Belarusian national legal Internet portal.

In May, the bill was adopted by the lower house of the Belarusian parliament, and in June it was endorsed by the upper house. With the signing of the law by the head of state, Belarus completed the procedure to ratify the protocol on amending the treaty.

"Ratify the protocol... on amending the treaty between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation on jointly ensuring regional security in the military sphere of December 19, 1997, signed in Minsk on December 3, 2022," according to the law.

Earlier, the Belarusian Defense Ministry told Sputnik that the protocol was signed to improve the regulatory legal framework for Belarus-Russia military cooperation.

A Sputnik

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Defence Minister Anita Anand meets with British counterpart and announces NATO naval deployment

National Defence

News release

June 29, 2023 - London, United Kingdom - National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

Today, the Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence, met with the Right Honourable Ben Wallace, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Defence, in London. Minister Anand thanked Secretary Wallace for the United Kingdom's hosting of Canadian Armed Forces members deployed on Operation UNIFIER to train Ukrainian troops, and for its hosting of the Royal Canadian Air Force detachment in Prestwick, Scotland, which has delivered over ten million pounds of Ukraine-bound military aid. During their meeting, the Ministers discussed priorities for the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Vilnius, including reinforcing NATO's Eastern Flank, military assistance for Ukraine, and NATO's deterrence and defence posture.

Minister Anand also announced that on July 3, Canada will deploy His Majesty's Canadian Ships (HMCS) Shawinigan and Summerside from their home port of Halifax, Nova Scotia to join Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) on Operation REASSURANCE. Both ships have embarked Royal Canadian Navy clearance diving teams from Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic & Pacific, and mine countermeasure search capabilities using autonomous underwater vehicles. The contribution of two Kingston-class Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels (MCDV) to SNMCMG1 demonstrates Canada's ongoing commitment to NATO's high readiness continuous at-sea presence, and the Royal Canadian Navy's leadership in strengthening security throughout European waters.

During her visit to the United Kingdom, Minister Anand also delivered remarks to members of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), where she highlighted Canada's military support to Ukraine, Canadian defence modernization, and challenges and opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. In addition, Minister Anand met with Mr. Charles Woodburn, Chief Executive Officer of BAE Systems; spoke with the Right Honourable David Lammy, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs; and visited Liphook School where she met with students aged 8-9, who are researching a Canadian training camp that existed in Bramshott during the First World War.

Canada and the United Kingdom enjoy a longstanding, close-knit, and collaborative defence relationship forged through our shared values and beliefs.

Quotes

"The United Kingdom is one of Canada's closest and most important Allies. I thank Secretary Wallace for his warm welcome during my first official visit to the United Kingdom as Canada's Minister of National Defence, and for the productive discussions on a range of mutual priorities. Our two countries are leaders in supporting Ukraine, and as dedicated members of the NATO Alliance, we will continue to stand united in the face of new security challenges." - The Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence

Quick facts

The defence and security relationship between Canada and the UK is rooted in history and fostered by the fact that Canada and the UK are Allies in NATO and engage in close cooperation in international organizations, including the United Nations and the Commonwealth, among others. The deep bond between Canada and the UK has been forged in peace and war, notably through the two World Wars, Korea, and in almost every major conflict for more than a century, including Afghanistan and Libya.

Since August 2022, Canadian Armed Forces personnel deployed in the UK have trained approximately 2000 Armed Forces of Ukraine recruits, in collaboration with the UK's Operation INTERFLEX. The Canadian-led courses last several weeks and focus on topics such as weapons handling, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics, and the Law of Armed Conflict.

Since the beginning of 2022, Canada has committed over $8 billion in aid to Ukraine, including over $1.5 billion in military assistance. This includes 288 AIM-7 missiles, 10,000 rounds of 105mm artillery ammunition, eight Leopard 2A4 main battle tanks and one armoured recovery vehicle, a National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) with associated munitions, 39 armoured combat support vehicles, anti-tank weapons, small arms, M777 howitzers and associated ammunition, high-resolution drone cameras, winter clothing, and more. Canada also will join the Leopard 2 Maintenance and Service Centre in Poland and will contribute to multinational efforts to train pilots, and maintain and support Ukraine's F-16s, leveraging Canadian expertise in these areas.

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Statement following Iran's application against Canada at the International Court of Justice

Global Affairs Canada

Statement

June 29, 2023 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada

Global Affairs Canada today issued the following statement:

''Canada is currently analyzing Iran's application and will take the appropriate next steps as per the International Court of Justice's procedures.

"Canada takes its international legal obligations seriously. We strongly believe in the role of the International Court of Justice as a crucial platform for the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law.

''That is why we are profoundly disappointed by Iran's complete disregard for human life and human rights of its own brutal and repressive regime.

"Canada will always stand by and strongly support the victims of terrorism. Iran must stop supporting terrorism and inciting violence and instability in the region and beyond. We stand in solidarity with the people of Iran as they call on the regime to respect their human rights and freedoms, as well as their ability to live and prosper in a society free from state-sponsored fear, suppression and intimidation."

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Remarks by US officials send out mixed signals; Republicans' interference stumbling block to high-level exchanges: experts

Global Times

By Chen Qingqing and Ma Jingjing Published: Jun 29, 2023 09:09 PM Updated: Jun 29, 2023 11:59 PM

Shortly after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded his visit to China that helped relaunch the high-level exchanges between the two countries, the US top diplomat came up with some remarks addressing the US-China relations, which according to some experts, unleashed mixed signals, putting the sincerity of Washington to repair the soured ties into question.

Experts pointed out that the Biden administration appears to lack the ability to manage domestic politics regarding stabilizing China ties, as recent negative moves of Republicans on the Taiwan question and other China-related issues are seen as a major stumbling block to high-level exchanges despite that more US officials expressed the hope to reengage with China, experts said.

Blinken said in a conversation at the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday that the US and China need to find a way to "coexist peacefully" amid heightened competition, claiming that the US relationship with China is a "long-term competition" without a "clear finish line," according to US media reports.

Blinken also said that holding back China was counter to US interests, saying that the US wants to make sure that in the competition with China, the US is "in a position of strength" and "able to shape what comes next," according to the Voice of America.

Blinken's remarks were made ahead of a planned trip of the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to China in July. Yellen was quoted as saying in media reports on Thursday that she hopes to travel to China to reestablish contact, acknowledging there were disagreements between the two countries.

Some experts say Blinken's remarks are full of contradictions, reflecting Washington's ulterior intention to contain and suppress China at a low cost. It also showed the inconsistency of the Biden administration as on one hand, it needs to work with China on some of its domestic woes and global issues in order to achieve its own interest, on the other hand, it fails to demonstrate sincerity for repairing the soured relations by properly managing its domestic politics, especially the premise of peaceful coexistence between the two countries is that the US cannot challenge China's core interests like the Taiwan question or cross its bottom-line.

Premise of peaceful co-existence

Blinken's beautiful words about the US-China peaceful coexistence aimed to assure some American companies, individuals and its allies, however, he also emphasized to ensure US interests and advantages, which is actually the true side of his remarks, experts said. "So those words won't fool people who have deep understanding about the US diplomacy and its China policy," Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"His statement is indeed that of a typical politician," he said.

Blinken stood by US President Joe Biden after Biden attacked the Chinese leader verbally, as he said that the US President "speaks for all of us." Blinken also emphasized that he told his counterpart in China during his trip to Beijing that "we are going to do things" that China does not like.

China expressed dissatisfaction on Thursday toward the abovementioned remarks made by Blinken. Out of the wrong understanding of China, the US pursues the wrong policy toward China, contains and suppresses China, attacks and smears China for no reason, and arbitrarily interferes in China's internal affairs, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference on Thursday.

"What the US has said and done violates the basic norms governing international relations, and China is firmly opposed to it," she said.

"The US seeks to outcompete China with low costs, that's why the US officials said they don't want conflict with us," Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Also, by saying "peaceful co-existence," Blinken is calling out to some American hawks who advocate for confrontation with China with all costs. But for us, the premise of the peaceful coexistence is that the US cannot challenge China's core interests and bottom-line, for example, on the Taiwan question, Wu said.

A US bipartisan congressional delegation led by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers landed in Taiwan on Tuesday for a three-day visit, which came at a sensitive time as the Biden administration is taking several steps aimed at stabilizing the bilateral relationship with China.

"The Biden administration should have played out its political influence to reduce the interference by Republicans in the US-China relations and to create a positive environment for future engagement," Diao Daming, an associate professor at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.

Blinken's statement reflects a state of contradiction in America, Diao noted. "The US wants to stabilize its domestic economy with China's help in order to create a stable geopolitical environment ahead of its elections season but it seeks such 'peaceful co-existence' only for its own interests."

The negative moves of Republicans and Congress will definitely interfere with the resumption of high-level exchanges between the two countries, some experts said. "But the US government lacks sincerity and the ability to manage domestic politics, which makes it difficult for it to meet China halfway," Wu said.

Mixed signals

Although the Chinese Foreign Ministry has not confirmed Yellen's visit to China, the US Treasury chief told MSNBC that her hope in traveling to China is to reestablish contact. "There are a new group of leaders, we need to get to know one another," she said.

"And we need to discuss our disagreements with one another so that we don't have misunderstandings, don't misunderstand one another's intentions," Yellen said, who also emphasized protection on the US' national security interests even if it "imposes some economic costs on us."

Yellen's relatively positive narrative implies the US side's hope of strengthening communications with the Chinese side on macro-economic policies and deepening understanding of each other so as to control differences, said He Weiwen, a senior fellow at the Center for China and Globalization and former economic and commercial counselor in the Chinese consulates general in San Francisco and New York.

"However, Yellen may also assert new demands for China during her trip to China, for example, about China's monetary, trade and economic policies," He said, noting that China should not let down its guard as the US' strategy of containing China remains unchanged.

China-US economic and trade cooperation has always been a ballast stone for China-US relationship, but sound cooperation has been seriously damaged by political factors from the US, leading to further deterioration, the expert said, noting that the major impediment is the US' persistent blockade of and "decoupling" from China in high technologies.

The Biden administration is weighing additional curbs on China's ability to access critical technology, including restricting the sale of high-end chips used to power artificial intelligence, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The curbs would clamp down on the sales to China of advanced chips made by companies like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, which are needed for the data centers that power artificial intelligence, the media report said.

While Yellen has stressed the US should "de-risk" rather than "decouple" from China, the crux is that the US frequently abuses the so-called "national security." China and the US should strengthen communication on "national security" in order to give a clear definition on the concept, He said.

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Xi stresses improving quality of Party's organizational work

Global Times

CPC to gather more talents, advance with the times: experts

By Yang Sheng and Zhang Changyue Published: Jun 29, 2023 03:28 PM

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has called for developing a good grasp of the CPC Central Committee's important theory on Party building, and improving the quality of the Party's organizational work.

Chinese analysts said this is a message to the whole Party and the nation that the CPC will gather more talents and strengthen organizational construction to advance with the times, and to overcome the newly emerging challenges in the new journey.

Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks in a recent instruction. The instruction was studied at the national conference on organizational work, which was held on Wednesday and Thursday.

Xi, on behalf of the CPC Central Committee, extended greetings to all Party members as the Party will celebrate its 102nd founding anniversary on July 1. Xi stressed the pivotal role of the Party in building a modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts. He also stressed the pivotal role of personnel in this regard.

Yang Xuedong, a professor of political science at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Thursday that every year before the founding anniversary of the CPC, the general secretary will extend greetings and also some instructions to the whole Party, and this time, the message from the top leader is focusing on how to improve performance in governance by strengthening and improving Party building and the Party's organizational work.

At the conference, Xi said that to fulfill the missions and tasks of the CPC on the new journey, new progress should be made in enhancing Party building and the Party's organizational work. He noted that upholding and strengthening the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee should be taken as the highest principle, and efforts should be made to build a contingent of competent key officials for governance that are capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation.

Yang said, "A large party has its advantages and also some unique challenges, including how to strengthen internal unity on the basis of 90 million Party members, and to play the role as the leading core and vanguard to lead a country with a massive population to realize Chinese modernization."

In realizing Chinese modernization, there is no precedent in other countries for the CPC to learn from, so the Party needs to explore it by itself. That's why the leader repeatedly emphasizes solving the unique problems faced by a large party and building a team capable of taking on this responsibility, Yang said.

Xi emphasized moving faster to build global hubs for talent and innovation. He urged consistent efforts to enhance the quality of organizational work so as to provide a firm guarantee for building a great modern socialist country and advancing national rejuvenation.

Analysts said that in order to build global hubs for talent and innovation, the Party and the country must provide certainty, stability, fault-tolerant spaces for exploration and innovation, as well as market potential to people with talents, so that the CPC can attract more and more talents that are familiar with cutting-edge technologies and shared ideas and faith with the Party to join the great journey.

"The Party will also put more young and talented members into leading posts, so that their potential can be activated and maximized to give them the chance to test and try their new thoughts and ideas, and to make more qualified leaders from the new generation in the Party," Yang noted.

Zhang Xixian, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing, told the Global Times that on the new journey, there have been some unprecedented challenges caused by the profound changes that the world is experiencing, such as the great power competition launched by the US, as well as the international economic and geopolitical crises along with the ongoing Ukraine conflict.

In the new journey, the Party and country need to be prepared for the "strong winds and high waves and even dangerous storms" frequently mentioned in some documents of the Party's meetings in recent years, and the Party's organizational work and Party building also need to take the challenges of this era into consideration, Zhang noted.

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Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning's Regular Press Conference on June 29, 2023

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China

CCTV: New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is about to wrap up his official visit to China. Chinese leaders met and held talks with him and the two sides released a joint statement on the comprehensive strategic partnership and signed a series of documents on cooperation covering such areas as agriculture, education, science and technology and intellectual property rights. What do you think of the visit?

Mao Ning: New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is on an official visit to China which started on June 25 and will last till June 30. During the visit, President Xi Jinping met with him. Premier Li Qiang held talks with him. Premier Li and Prime Minister Hipkins jointly witnessed the signing of a series of bilateral cooperation documents on science and technology, education, agriculture, forestry, quarantine, food safety and intellectual property rights. Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, met with the visiting Prime Minister as well. The Joint Statement between the People's Republic of China and New Zealand on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was released.

The Chinese side considers the visit a trip that has contributed to mutual understanding, deepened mutual trust and expanded cooperation. The leaders of the two countries had positive,candid and constructive conversations on China-New Zealand relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest and jointly charted the future course and provided strategic guidance for bilateral relations. President Xi Jinping noted that China-New Zealand relations have long spearheaded China's relations with developed countries. It is important to carry forward that spirit, achieve more "firsts" and consolidate and deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership. Prime Minister Hipkins said that New Zealand's relationship with China is "one of our most significant" and strong. New Zealand attaches high importance to growing ties with China and hopes that this visit will bring more cooperation opportunities and take our bilateral relations to new heights.a

The sustained, sound and steady growth of China-New Zealand relations has brought tangible benefits to the peoples of both countries and contributed to peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region. China stands ready to work with New Zealand, actively deliver on the important common understandings between the leaders of the two countries, continue to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership and bring more benefits to the two countries and peoples.

AFP: According to reports, the Taiwan authorities recently turned down applications by officials of nine provinces on China's mainland to participate in a tourism fair in Taipei. Do you have a response to this?

Mao Ning: This is not a question about China's foreign affairs.

Global Times: According to reports, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a recent interview that it is no secret that there are differences between the US and China. The US will continue to stand for its interests, stand up for its values and continue to do things and say things that China doesn't like. What is your comment?

Mao Ning: China is dissatisfied with the comments made by Secretary Blinken. The US pursues a misconceived China policy which stems from a misguided China perception, seeks to block, contain and suppress China and has been attacking and smearing China's image to interfere in China's internal affairs. What the US has said and done violates the basic norms governing international relations. China has every reason to firmly oppose that.

I would like to stress again that mutual respect is the basic principle for countries dealing with each other and an essential ingredient for China and the US to find the right way to get along. China urges the US to stop making irresponsible comments and honor its commitments with concrete actions.

TASS: Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US State Department, said on Wednesday that a visit by members of Congress to Taiwan does not mean a change in the US's Taiwan policy. This is not Executive Branch travel, he said, adding that the US is not seeking to incite tensions or to change the status quo. What's China's comment?

Mao Ning: There is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. We firmly oppose any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan authorities. All US government bodies, including the executive, legislative and judicial branches, should act on the foreign policy the US government has affirmed and committed itself to. The US needs to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiquAs and refrain from sending wrong signals to "Taiwan independence" forces.

Dragon TV: Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna issued a statement on June 26, saying that Japan's plan to dump radioactive waste in the Pacific Ocean is not merely a nuclear safety issue. It is rather an ocean, fisheries, and health issue with the future of our children and future generations at stake. This is an issue of significant transboundary and transgenerational impacts, and has the potential to set a precedent for deliberate, unilateral dumping of nuclear waste into our ocean. New approaches are needed. The way forward should involve comprehensive international consultation not only through the IAEA platform but through other relevant platforms such as UNCLOS and the 1972 Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (the London Convention). Do you have any comment?

Mao Ning: As a fellow Pacific Rim country, China fully shares the concerns of Pacific Island countries. All along, there has been strong questioning and opposition from the international community over the Japanese government's unilateral and wrong decision to dump the nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean. The world is gravely concerned about the impact of this act on marine environment and people's health. However, there have been signs that the Japanese government will probably start the ocean discharge soon regardless of international and domestic opposition, meaning that humanity will have to face the nuclear pollution risks stemming from Japan.a

Ocean discharge is clearly not the safest or best way to dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water. Japan's decision is based entirely on minimizing economic cost. Such discharge violates Japan's obligations to protect and preserve the marine environment as outlined in UNCLOS and other international law and the provisions against dumping radioactive wastes from man-made structures at sea in the London Convention.

The Pacific Island countries' call for further discussions of the discharge plan under such frameworks as UNCLOS and the London Convention merits full attention from the international community. China once again urges Japan to face the world's concerns squarely, deliver on its international legal obligations, stop proceeding with the ocean discharge plan, handle the nuclear-contaminated water in a science-based, safe and transparent way and subject itself to rigorous international oversight.

AFP: The Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress officially passed the Law on Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China on Wednesday, which will come into force on July 1, 2023. Could you elaborate a little bit on the law, plus ways it will be applied?

Mao Ning: The Law on Foreign Relations of the People's Republic of China is the first basic law that fully outlines China's major policies, principles and positions, and systems and structures concerning China's interaction with the world, and provides the overall rules and regulations on China's foreign relations. This piece of legislation has a foundational and guiding role in China's legal system on foreign affairs. Its main function is to lay out the guiding principles for China's diplomacy in general and set out the fundamental and principled provisions for the work in various fields on foreign relations.

This legislation embodies the goal of China's foreign policy which is to safeguard world peace and promote common development. It reflects China's strong hope for peace, development and win-win cooperation. It reaffirms China's conviction in building a community with a shared future for mankind, building a new type of international relations, and promoting the common values of humanity. The legislation is also a clear demonstration of China's determination and commitment to defend national sovereignty, security and development interests and uphold international fairness and justice.

CCTV: Yesterday, the "Bond with Kuliang: 2023 China-US People-to-People Friendship Forum" was held in Fuzhou, Fujian Province. President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the event. He wrote in the letter that amity between peoples holds the key to the relationship between countries, and the people are the cornerstone of flourishing bilateral ties. Could you share more details with us? What expectation does China have for the exchanges between the Chinese and American people going forward?

Mao Ning: Yesterday, the "Bond with Kuliang: 2023 China-US People-to-People Friendship Forum" was held with success in Fuzhou, Fujian Province with the theme of "inherit the torch of friendship and create a better future together". Members of the Kuliang Friends and people from various sectors in China and the US attended the lively event.a

President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter to the event, in which he noted that the stories of the Kuliang Friends have shown once again that the Chinese and American peoples can transcend difference in system, culture and language, and build up a profound friendship. Amity between peoples holds the key to the relationship between countries, and the people are the cornerstone of flourishing bilateral ties. "I hope that you will continue to write the Kuliang story and carry forward the special bond, so that the friendship between our two peoples can stay forever strong and robust like the pair of thousand-year-old cedar trees in Kuliang," he wrote.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US, people-to-people exchanges have been fruitful. We now have 284 pairs of sister provinces/states and cities, covering 90% percent pf states and cities in the US. Mechanisms such as the China-US Agriculture Roundtable and the China-US Sister Cities Conference are productive and brought about a series of cooperation projects. As we put the pandemic behind us, subnational, people-to-people, cultural, educational and think-tank exchanges are warming again. People-to-people exchanges between China and the US have been a booster for the growth of the bilateral relations.

The Chinese government has always supported the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries and hopes that the US will respond to the wishes of the people and move in the same direction with China, act on the common understandings reached by the two presidents in Bali, support wide-ranging communication and cooperation including people-to-people exchanges, and bring the China-US relations back to the track of sound and steady growth.

Bloomberg: The Wall Street Journal reports that the balloon that flew over the US, which the US government alleges was a spy balloon, was equipped with American-made surveillance gear. This would appear to contradict China's assertions that the balloon was a weather device that was blown off course. Does the foreign ministry have a response?a

Mao Ning: I'm not aware of the sources of the report. As China has stated on many occasions, the unmanned Chinese civilian airship drifting over the US was an entirely unexpected accident caused by force majeure. The US calling it a "spy balloon" is nothing but smear against China.

AFP: US Treasury Secretary Yellen said in a recent interview that she hopes to travel to China to reestablish contact with Chinese leaders. Does China have the plan to receive Secretary Yellen soon?

Mao Ning: China and the US are in touch about dialogue and communication at various levels. As for your specific question, I'd refer you to competent Chinese authorities.

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China says US must lift sanction as condition for military talks, setting up crisis hotline

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 29 June 2023 9:56 AM

Beijing says the Joe Biden administration needs to lift sanctions against China if it wants high level communications between the two world powers' armed forces.

The spokesman for China's Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said on Wednesday that Washington "knows the reason for difficulties in its military-to-military relations with China. It actually imposed unilateral sanctions on China."

"Such obstacles should be removed before any exchange and cooperation could take place between the two countries," Liu said.

It was not clear which sanctions Liu was referring to, but Chinese officials have previously pointed to sanctions against Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu for their refusal to engage with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Li has been the target of US sanctions since 2018 over his alleged involvement in the purchase of Russian advanced weapons.

In a rare trip to Beijing earlier this month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on President Xi Jinping to set up a crisis communications line between the two countries. Xi, however, rejected the offer.

Back in late May, China also refused a meeting between the two countries' defense chiefs.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has already reaffirmed that the US needs to "take concrete actions ... stabilize the relationship from further deterioration and bring it back to the track of healthy and stable development."

Biden administration officials say setting up direct lines of communication between the two sides are necessary to cut through crises and tamp down high tensions before they spiral into conflict.

In an incident in February, Chinese officials held back from answering a call from Austin in the wake of the US shooting down a Chinese balloon.

The secretary was rejected again this month when China's defense minister refused to meet with him at a defense summit in Singapore.

Over the past few months, the two sides have repeatedly clashed publicly over air and naval confrontations in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

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China-US quiet war of words escalates

A congressional visit to Taiwan may have undone any goodwill achieved by Blinken.

By Chris Taylor for RFA 2023.06.29 -- Chinese-language state media was silent on Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with a bipartisan U.S. congress visit this week, but the English-language tabloid Global Times described the delegation as representing "hostile forces."

The state media outlet said that straight after the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's fence-mending visit to Beijing "hostile forces and politicians within the U.S. are trying to damage the China-U.S. relationship ... rather than stabilizing and managing the tense situation."

At a regular press conference on Thursday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning was unwavering on China's official response to the trip.

"There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inseparable part of it," said Mao.

"China firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between the U.S. and the Taiwanese authorities. All institutions of the U.S. government, including the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, should adhere to the diplomatic policies that the U.S. has recognized and committed to," she said.

Mao added that the U.S. "should not send out wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' forces."

No 'finish line' to peace

Blinken said on Wednesday, speaking at a conference in New York, there's no "finish line" for U.S. foreign policy toward China besides maintaining peace, even if Beijing and Moscow seek to build an "illiberal" world order.

It's a line that China is clearly not buying, maintaining that the U.S. simply wants to avoid a disastrous collision while continuing to needle the People's Republic of China with what it calls "provocations."

"Blinken's trip was not to repair the damaged China-U.S. ties, but to seek communication to make sure there was no loss of control over bilateral relations," Ni Feng, director of the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"It's natural," Ni added, "that the US is continuing its provocations and even pushing forward confrontation and decoupling in some fields."

Speaking Wednesday to the visiting congressional delegation, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said, "Deepening the security cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S. is crucial for maintaining the security of Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region."

According to a press release by the Presidential Office House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican, said that Taiwan and the U.S. share a long and important friendship based on the common values of the rule of law, democracy, and the belief in a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Tsai described the visit as an act of protecting "the national security of the U.S. and its democratic allies."

'Full blown economic decoupling'

In related news, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that Washington and its allies should "give Taiwan everything it needs to defend itself," clarifying to Beijing that hostilities would mean "a full-blown economic decoupling that would massively damage China."

Beijing is "an enemy" to the U.S. and "the most dangerous opponent we have faced since World War II," Haley said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

"The Communist Party's endgame is clear," Haley claimed. "China is preparing its people for war. President Xi has openly said it. We should take him at his word and act accordingly."

China hit back at Haley, reportedly saying, "Those who draw attention by smearing and blame-shifting in the election campaign will end up on the ash heap of history."

Haley's odds in a presidential election are considered low, but observers note that her language could tip the balance in debate on the most strategically challenging power in the world for the U.S.

Meanwhile, in Taiwan the chairman of the Cross-Strait Policy Association, Stephen Tan, told RFA's Mandarin service on Wednesday that the Armed Services Committee delegation was likely addressing the issue of delayed deliveries of weapons to Taiwan, as well as the start of military aid to Taiwan under the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act passed at the end of last year.

These are legislators who have helped enact that law, he said, adding that the bipartisan delegation was in Taiwan to help Taiwan's leadership "understand the overall progress after the passage of the law" while also addressing "Taiwan's concerns."

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 June 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 Chinese 'Super' Observation Station In Tajikistan -- Near Afghan, Uzbek Borders -- Said To Be For Climate, Technological Uses

By Reid Standish June 29, 2023

A new Chinese "super" observation station for climate and environmental monitoring has opened in Tajikistan, as China aims to advance in a developing technological arena and improve its green credentials in Central and South Asia.

The station -- located in Shahritus, a town in southwestern Tajikistan near the meeting point of the country's borders with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan -- was first mentioned by China's Xinhua news agency on June 16, but Tajik media has not reported about it.

It is part of a growing constellation of stations in countries along Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that are run by or partnered with Lanzhou University.

It is the latest addition to a growing network of LiDAR (light, detection, and ranging) systems stretching across a major corridor of the BRI that is subject to extreme weather and is intertwined with Beijing's broader technological ambitions.

But the station's location and the Tajik government's close cooperation with Beijing has also raised questions about whether it could be used for surveillance and security purposes.

While its full scope is unclear, Bradley Jardine, managing director of the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, told RFE/RL that stations like those in Shahritus "rely on weather satellites -- possibly similar in nature to the object that had recently run errant across the United States."

Earlier this year, a high-altitude Chinese balloon that Beijing said was strictly for climate purposes flew over Alaska, western Canada, and much of the United States before being shot down by the U.S. Air Force. U.S. officials said it carried large amounts of equipment used to spy on sensitive areas. The Canadian military also said it was used for surveillance.

"There could be surveillance capabilities on the Tajik border," Jardine said.

LiDAR systems help scientists to accurately map and examine natural and manmade environments, features that are a key component of smart, autonomous, and electric vehicles -- a sector where China is an emerging global leader.

Jardine told RFE/RL that "bold projects" such as the LiDAR network are primarily designed to allow China to refine its domestic technology, hone its edge in the autonomous- and electric-vehicle space, and help improve its environmental record abroad.

"As China positions itself to become dominant in the future global automotive industry, there are a large number of state grants available for refining the technology, and research institutes like Lanzhou are on the cutting edge," Jardine said.

LiDAR And Beyond

The LiDAR network begins in the northwestern Chinese city of Lanzhou and extends across Xinjiang Province to Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Israel, and Algeria -- consisting of more than 20 stations.

Huang Jianping, a professor at Lanzhou University working on the project, told Xinhua that the station provides comprehensive data for dust, pollutants, and weather in key areas of Central Asia and that the station can help warn about extreme weather conditions, as well as provide data about climate change.

The new facility in Tajikistan is in one of the hottest areas of the country, and Lanzhou University's team -- which has been building the network of stations since 2016 -- says the location will help the laser-generated 3D maps of climate-impacted regions.

But while China says the new station in Tajikistan has clear environmental dimensions to its work, it comes amid a growing list of dual-use or secretive Chinese projects in the Central Asian country.

Lanzhou University has clear links to China's defense industry and, according to a 2019 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), it is among at least 68 other Chinese universities that are "officially described as parts of the defense system or [which] are supervised by China's defense industry agency, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense."

China has also financed, built, and in some cases helped operate surveillance and security outposts and facilities in Tajikistan along its long and porous border with Afghanistan. One such facility is operated near Shaymak and is part of a broader joint Chinese-Tajik venture to renovate and modernize old Soviet-era patrols near Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor that borders a small stretch of Xinjiang Province.

Dushanbe also approved the construction of a Chinese-funded police outpost near the country's border with Afghanistan in 2021.

Beijing remains concerned that Islamist militants in Afghanistan could enter China or destabilize the region -- and much of its security footprint in Tajikistan is believed to be related to this issue.

China also opened an observation station on Tajikistan's Lake Sarez in 2021 for environmental research and "international disaster reduction and prevention," according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

While little information is available about its work, some analysts have noted that the facility could also be used for surveillance and monitoring beyond its environmental goals.

How the new station in Shahritus will fit in with this trend -- if at all -- is unknown.

Jardine adds that China's security focus has largely been concentrated in the Pamir Mountains and the Wakhan Corridor, whereas the new station is located in a different part of the country "where there are less immediate security imperatives for China."

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/china-observation-station- tajikistan-climate-surveillance/32482428.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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Sanctions Obstruct China-US Military Communication - Diplomat

Sputnik News

20230629

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, following his visit to Beijing, said military cooperation dialogue is "work in progress" as the United States and China have not agreed to resume military-to-military communication amid rising tensions in the bilateral relationship.

The current situation faced by the US Joe Biden administration demonstrates the unexpected repercussions of sanctions used to express dissatisfaction or influence other countries' actions. This highlights Beijing's unease in a recent statement from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, through its spokesperson, Liu Pengyu, accusing the US' sanctions policy of playing role in their strained military relationship, thereby underscoring the need for Washington to remove the restrictive measures.

"The US side knows the reason for difficulties in its military-to-military relations with China a it actually imposed unilateral sanctions on China," Liu expressed.

Liu Pengyu also called for removing obstacles to negotiations and negatively assessed the dispatch of American warships and aircraft to areas located near China.

The diplomatic relationship between the United States and China hangs precariously, teetering between normalization and conflicting actions. While formal dialogues hint at reconciliation, ongoing economic pressures persist, including the Trump-era tariff hike on Chinese goods, and the US spearheading joint efforts of the G7 countries at the Hiroshima Summit to impose investment and trade restrictions on China. These maneuvers serve as tactical attempts to gain strategic leverage, while also extending the olive branch of diplomacy.

Also, the issue of US policy on Taiwan relations adds contention in the face of Beijing's adherence to the "One-China principle." Furthermore, the increased US military drills in the Asia-Pacific region with Indonesia and South Korea further strain Washington's relationship with China.

The Biden administration has expressed its intent to improve relations with China, a commitment emphasized by Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent diplomatic visit to Beijing. However, skepticism has arisen in light of the complex backdrop against which such gestures occur. For instance, President Biden labeling Chinese President Xi Jinping as a "dictator" appears inconsistent with the pursuit of reconciliation.

The US diplomatic ballet combines gestures of peace with undercurrents of assertiveness. While this contradiction may serve US interests, it underscores the fragile nature of US-China ties. As these global superpowers navigate their intricate diplomatic tango, the discrepancy between rhetoric and action becomes increasingly apparent.

A Sputnik

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US Shoots Down Chinese Calls to Lift Sanctions

By Jeff Seldin June 29, 2023

Renewed calls by Chinese officials for the lifting of sanctions in exchange for open lines of communication with the U.S. military are echoing into a diplomatic abyss, even as tensions between the two superpowers continue to mount.

The Pentagon on Thursday rejected the demand, arguing there is no good reason for high-level Chinese military officials to avoid conversations with their U.S. counterparts.

"From our perspective, there are no obstacles to keeping open lines of communication," the Pentagon press secretary, Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, told reporters, responding to a question from VOA.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "can communicate with his Chinese counterpart right now," Ryder added. "Those sanctions do not need to be lifted in order for him to communicate with his counterpart."

Austin and Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu spoke briefly during the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month, but Pentagon officials described the exchange as not substantive.

Chinese officials have repeatedly said they would be open to talks, but only if sanctions are lifted, a demand they repeated Wednesday, according to Bloomberg News.

"The U.S. side knows the reason for difficulties in its military-to-military relations with China," Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for China's embassy in Washington, told reporters.

"Such obstacles should be removed before any exchange and cooperation could take place between the two countries," he added.

Liu did not specify the sanctions China wants lifted, but Chinese officials have previously pointed to personal sanctions on Li as the sticking point.

China's spy balloon

High-level military-to-military communications between the two counties have been on hold since before China sent a high-altitude surveillance balloon across the United States in February.

Pentagon officials said China's military rejected a request to talk after the balloon was shot down and have expressed concern that other U.S. calls for talks have fallen on deaf ears.

Chinese officials deny that the high-altitude balloon, which was ultimately shot down off the U.S. Atlantic coast, was a surveillance device, arguing instead it was a weather balloon.

But the Pentagon insisted Thursday the balloon was intended for surveillance, though U.S. countermeasures appear to have thwarted its collection efforts.

"It has been our assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States," Ryder told reporters. "Certainly, the efforts that we made contributed, for sure."

Ryder, though, declined to comment directly on a report by The Wall Street Journal that the balloon equipment included U.S.-made technology.

He also did not rule it out.

"We are aware in previous cases, for example, things like drones and other capabilities, what have you, where off-the-shelf commercial U.S. components have been used," he said.

The report alarmed some U.S. lawmakers, who called for more limits on technology exports to China.

"This incident has not been closed," Representative Michael McCaul and Senator Bill Hagerty, both Republicans, said in a statement. "We look forward to viewing the full technology analysis of the surveillance balloon. Competitive actions, like export controls, must move forward to stand up to Communist China."

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Delegation of Chinese former officials, executives hold second dialogue with US counterparts

Global Times

By Chen Qingqing and Zhao Juecheng Published: Jun 30, 2023 01:01 AM

A delegation of Chinese former government officials and commerce representatives held a dialogue with their US counterparts online on Thursday, including the former Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai and a former deputy managing director of the IMF Zhu Min, in what was seen as important semi-official talks to de-escalate tensions between the two countries.

The first of the dialogues was held in New York in November 2022, with the group of former US officials and executives led by Maurice Greenberg, the former chairman and CEO of insurer American International Group, who is also known for his close ties with China.

The Chinese delegation was led by Wang Chao, a former vice-minister of foreign affairs and the director of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs. It also included former Chinese commerce minister Chen Deming, former vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Ning Jizhe, former vice minister of agriculture Yu Kangzhen and former head of China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Gao Fu.

In November 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden had a successful meeting in Bali and reached an important consensus, setting the direction for China-US relations. However, it is regrettable that since the beginning of this year, the development of China-US relations has deviated from its expected course and has been continually disrupted, going through various twists and turns, Wang said at the opening of the dialogue.

It is in the fundamental interests of the people of both countries, and also the common expectation of the international community, for China-US relations to stabilize and improve as soon as possible, he said.

Ten days ago, China welcomed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to visit China, and the two sides had frank, in-depth and constructive communication, achieving some positive consensus and results on the development of bilateral relations. "However, there is still a great deal of uncertainty as to whether China-US relations can emerge from their current difficulties," Wang said.

The dialogue was intended to offer positive suggestions for promoting the stable development of China-US relations, and the key is for both sides to find the correct way to coexist.

Greenberg said at the opening of the dialogue that since the last dialogue in New York, bilateral relations have continued to deteriorate. "This is unfortunate for both our countries," he said, noting that the dialogue and mutual understanding are essential to repair the relationship.

The retired American CEO, who is also a recipient of the China Reform Friendship Medal, wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal in July 2022 calling for efforts to rebuild US relations with China. With a group of senior US business and policy leaders, he also co-founded a group to develop a more constructive relationship with China and to foster measured but frank exchanges between the US and Chinese governments on issues of mutual concern.

After a two-hour closed-door meeting, the former Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai told the Global Times on late Thursday night that there was a board consensus at the dialogue that both sides are concerned about the current China-US relations and there is a need to change this course of deterioration via actions.

"Both sides made some suggestions, for example, by enhancing strategic communication and building correct understanding about each other, making correct judgement of each other's strategic intention and to prevent sensitive questions from becoming explosive ones," Cui said, noting that representatives from the Chinese side also mentioned the trade and sanction issues including the US' curbs on chipset against China.

China and the US stand at a new crossroads today, and only by adhering to the principle of mutual respect can the two countries embark on the right path, Wang said.

Likewise, the US also needs to respect China and not harm China's legitimate rights and interests. Peaceful coexistence is the fundamental bottom line that both sides must adhere to, he noted.

"Some Americans are always suspicious about China's development and strategic intentions, and are fond of saying that China's success will pose a threat to the US and the West. This is entirely a case of needless worry," Wang said.

Major power competition is not in line with the trend of the times, nor can it solve the problems faced by the US itself and the challenges faced by the world. Only by adhering to mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation can the two countries make the right choices that align with the fundamental interests of the people of both countries and the common expectations of the international community, Wang noted.

When asked on whether there's still a window of opportunity to improve the China-US relations before the US elections, Cui told the Global Times that it's never too late if there is a political will to do so. "China has demonstrated its political will on multiple occasions. But it takes two to tango."

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People's Country Displaying Dignity under Leadership of Peerlessly Great Man

Korean Central News Agency of DPRK

Pyongyang, June 29 (KCNA) -- June 29, Juche 105 (2016) is the day when the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un was elected as president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Over the past seven years after his assumption of the top post of the DPRK, Kim Jong Un has dedicated himself to the work for the people's wellbeing, creating an epic of the love for the people on this land true to the noble intention of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il who devoted all their lives to the work for the people.

In the period, he ushered in a golden age in bolstering up the country's military capability for self-defence and accomplished the great historic cause of legalizing the policy on the state nuclear force in order to defend the destiny of the people. In this way, he provided a reliable guarantee for the dignity of the country, the happiness of the people and the prosperity of all generations to come.

Thanks to the Workers' Party of Korea's politics based on the people-first principle, the areas hit by natural disasters were given a complete facelift and the life and security of the people have been firmly defended despite the worldwide pandemic.

The people's happy laughter and expression of gratitude are heard in modern rural dwellings, Ryomyong Street, Songhwa Street, Hwasong Street, Yangdok Hot Spring Resort and many other parts of the country. This is a hymn of the times that can be sung only in the DPRK where Kim Jong Un is held in high esteem as the father of the great socialist family.

The whole country is resounding with the song "We Are the Happiest in the World" and the children's laughter, thanks to the great care of Kim Jong Un who loves the people, regarding them as Heaven.

His ceaseless devotion and efforts run through by the spirit of making selfless, devoted efforts for the good of the people serves as a source of the strength to realize the people's ideals and dreams and bring earlier the country's future of eternal prosperity.

The proud reality of the DPRK instills the immutable truth that Kim Jong Un is the benevolent father of the people and the DPRK's dignity, honor, eternal development and bright future is guaranteed only when they follow him. -0-

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2nd meeting of India-Tanzania Joint Defence Cooperation Committee held in Arusha

India - Press Information Bureau

Ministry of Defence

Posted On: 29 JUN 2023 4:40PM by PIB Delhi

The second edition of Joint Defence Cooperation Committee (JDCC) meeting between India and Tanzania was held in Arusha on June 28 & 29, 2023. The Indian delegation, led by Joint Secretary Shri Amitabh Prasad, included senior officials from Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces. The High Commissioner of India to Tanzania Shri Binay S Pradhan also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed a wide range of opportunities for collaboration with a view to enhancing security in the Indian Ocean Region. The Indian delegation highlighted the growing prowess of the Indian Defence manufacturing to export to friendly countries. A five-year roadmap for defence cooperation was also agreed to between the two sides, which covers initiatives ranging from customised training & capacity building to maritime cooperation, infrastructure building and collaboration in defence equipment and technology.

Representatives from Defence PSUs also accompanied the Indian delegation. They held extensive meetings with the stakeholders from the Tanzanian Forces on the sidelines of the JDCC meeting.

India shares close, warm and friendly relations with Tanzania which is bolstered by robust capacity building and avenues for development partnership. The visit of the Indian delegation for the JDCC meeting is expected to further strengthen defence relations with Tanzania.

****

ABB/Savvy



(Release ID: 1936244)

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Albanian police enter MKO terrorist camp near Tirana again, seize documents

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 29 June 2023 4:03 PM

Police in Albania have entered a camp accommodating members of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) west of the capital Tirana, more than a week after the force stormed the same place over indications of cyber-attacks being orchestrated there against foreign institutions.

According to Albanian Daily News, security forces were deployed at the entrance to the Ashraf-3 camp in the western town of ManAz on Thursday morning, and controlled all vehicles leaving the site.

On June 20, Albanian authorities enertered the camp to seize 150 computer devices linked to terrorist activities.

Albanian Interior Minister Bledi Cuci and the head of the national police, Muhamet Rrumbullaku, said both police officers and MKO terrorists were injured during the raid.

Reports suggest that an MKO member killed in the raid was a high-profile commander of the terrorist group named Abdolvahhab Faraji. He was said to be an expert in military engineering operations, and was apparently in charge of technical and engineering activities during an anti-Iran operation by MKO terrorists in July 1988.

Sources have reported that a number of other MKO terrorists are in critical condition after the operation. While a number of MKO terrorist commanders are among more than 20 elements injured in the incursion, the notorious organization is attempting to mask the fallout of the incident.

"The terrorists imagined that Albania would be their permanent base for terrorist activities, including cyberattacks and media activities against Iran, but Iran's explicit warnings about retaliation against the threats to the country's security have reminded all countries that sheltering terrorists comes at a price," an informed source familiar with the activities of the MKO terrorist group said at the time.

"What happened in Albania is indeed the result of the Islamic Republic of Iran's right diplomacy and a set of measures by various organizations," the source added.

MKO members spent many years in Iraq, where they were hosted and armed by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. They sided with Saddam during the 1980-88 war against Iran and then helped him quell uprisings in various parts of the Arab country.

Albania started hosting the terrorists after the group was shunned by the government of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The European country is estimated to have been accommodating some 3,000 members of the terror cult since 2016.

The European Union, Canada, the United States, and Japan had previously listed the MKO as a "terrorist organization."

In 2012, the group was taken off the US list of terrorist organizations. The EU followed suit, removing the group from its list of terrorist organizations.

The MKO has carried out numerous terrorist attacks against Iranian civilians and government officials over the past decades, killing nearly 17,000 Iranians.

The group throws lavish conferences every year in Paris, with certain American and other Western officials in attendance as guests of honor.

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Former Senior Iranian Judiciary Official Released After Serving Less Than Three Years of 58-Year Sentence

By RFE/RL's Radio Farda June 29, 2023

Akbar Tabari, a senior official in Iran's judiciary, has been released from prison after serving less than three years of a 58-year sentence for serious financial fraud.

The news was confirmed on June 28 by Gholamali Mohammadi, the head of Iran's Prisons Organization, during a program on Iranian state television.

Tabari, who held senior financial and executive positions within the Iranian judiciary for nearly 20 years, was arrested in July 2019.

He was eventually sentenced to 31 years in prison for leading a bribery network and receiving multiple bribes, 12 1/2 years for money laundering, and more than 15 years for other undisclosed crimes.

Mohammadi stated that Tabari's release was due to a "judicial authority's decision within legal parameters," a reference to Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, the head of Iran's judiciary.

Iran is one of the world's most corrupt countries, according to Transparency International, which ranked it 150th out of 180 countries in its 2021 Corruption Perception Index.

Tabari's release has raised questions about the fairness of Iran's judiciary in cases involving high-ranking officials.

Unlike the immediate review and severe punishments meted out to opponents of the regime, including those arrested in the recent nationwide protests, the process of reviewing the charges of officials and their affiliates is often slow, and the execution of the sentence is usually suspended after a short period of time.

Mohammadi also confirmed the release of Mehdi Hashemi, the son of former prominent Iranian politician Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Mohammad Ali Najafi, the former minister of education and a former mayor of Tehran.

Hashemi was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 50 lashes in 2015 for "participation in bribery, embezzlement, assembly, and collusion to commit crimes against the country's security."

Najafi, who was released in April this year following a "leader's pardon," was sentenced to five years in prison after killing his second wife in June 2019. His sentence was annulled after he paid a sum of money to the victim's family.

Iran has recently executed at least seven anti-government protesters in hasty trials, triggering strong condemnation from human rights activists and numerous Western governments.

Critics have labeled these legal proceedings as sham trials, citing issues of inadequate legal representation and rushed decisions made behind closed doors.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-senior-judiciary- official-released-prison-corruption/32482292.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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Transferring advanced US military hardware to India will endanger strategic stability in region: Pakistan

Iran Press TV

Thursday, 29 June 2023 10:31 AM

Pakistan has reportedly expressed its deep concerns to the United States about transferring of advanced American military hardware and technology to India.

Citing unnamed official sources, The Express Tribune, a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan, said on Thursday that Islamabad had told Washington through diplomatic channels that the transfer of such technologies to India without taking into account Pakistan's "legitimate concerns" would undermine the strategic stability and conventional balance in the South Asia region.

Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to the US and met with President Joe Biden.

The two leaders then announced a series of defense and commercial deals on semiconductors, critical minerals, technology, space cooperation and defense cooperation and sales, all purportedly designed to boost military and economic ties between Washington and New Delhi.

As part of the agreement, General Electric Co. will jointly manufacture F414 engines with state-owned Indian firm Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. for the Tejas light-combat aircraft, as part of an effort to improve defense- and technology-sharing.

Furthermore, the two sides also announced a few military collaborations, including progress on an order for MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones made by General Atomics and an agreement that will allow US Navy Ships to undertake major repairs at Indian Shipyards.

According to the report on Thursday, Islamabad told Washington that India would be emboldened after acquiring such technologies, thus allegedly putting Pakistan's national security interests in jeopardy.

Pakistan also reportedly made it clear to the US that such Indo-US cooperation that "harms" Pakistan's interests would leave Islamabad with no other choice but to adopt counter-measures.

New Delhi has for years accused Islamabad of playing accessory to militant attacks waged in India, including a massive 2008 attack in Mumbai that killed more than 165 people, although Islamabad has fiercely rejected the allegation.

India further claims that Pakistan has aided militants fighting Indian forces in the country's disputed Kashmir region since the late 1980s.

Pakistan denies the accusation and insists that it only gives diplomatic and moral support to the overwhelmingly Muslim Kashmiri population seeking independence from the oppressive rule of the nationalist Hindu government in India.

India-Pakistan relations have remained tense for decades. Since independence from Britain in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both fully claim but partially rule.

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Meeting with Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov

Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with Head of the Republic of Dagestan Sergei Melikov.

June 28, 2023

21:45

Derbent

At the beginning of the meeting, Sergei Melikov addressed an issue that currently concerns the entire country and people in Dagestan. The head of the republic emphasised that everyone in Dagestan supports the decisions of the authorities of the Russian Federation adopted on June 24, 2023; all decisions taken by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President of the Russian Federation.

Vladimir Putin noted that he did not doubt the reaction of Dagestan and all of Russia, and asked Sergei Melikov to report on the situation in the republic.

Sergei Melikov said that the republic's social and economic development has been accomplished in accordance with the strategy adopted by the republic that outlines the first stage of development until 2025, and the second stage until 2030. The strategy prioritises the development of the social sphere and creating arrangements for the people. This year, the main efforts concentrate on the construction and major overhaul of education facilities. Most of them will have opened by September 1. The rest will open before the end of the year, according to the schedule.

As for the development of tourism in the North Caucasus and Dagestan, that was recently discussed at a meeting in Derbent. Sergei Melikov noted that Dagestan has a unique opportunity in this regard: as opposed to the other six regions of the North Caucasus Federal District, the republic has access to the sea. Therefore, the main efforts will be focused on the development of the Caspian Coastal Cluster.

The head of the republic said that he will request assistance from the Government of the Russian Federation in designing and implementing the project to build a national children's centre. He noted that most health improvement camps are currently accommodating children from the new territories, including those under attack.

According to Sergei Melikov, the republic continues to focus its efforts on supporting its military personnel on duty in the zone of the special military operation. He emphasised that many of them have been presented with state awards and seven of them have become Heroes of the Russian Federation. On March 1, 2022, the All Together fund was established in the republic to provide assistance to the families of those participating in the special military operation. Since June 1, a branch of the Fatherland Defenders federal fund has been operating in Dagestan.

When answering the President's question about the economic situation, Sergei Melikov noted that Dagestan did not feel the pressure of the external sanctions as much as the other Russian regions, and that the republic's economy would be able to develop due to its domestic potential. He pointed out that the only problem was infrastructure and, provided that the work to develop it continued, there would be many production facilities, including a meat processing plant.

Sergei Melikov pointed to the example of winegrowing and winemaking. He said that Dagestan produced wines that could compete with any Western ones. He added that the republic had begun work to cultivate and create nurseries that would help it become independent from foreign products, including planting stock.

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'It's All Lies': Supporters Say Petty Politics Lies Behind Treason Conviction Of Ailing Russian Scientist

By RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities June 29, 2023

The first time Valery Golubkin's family saw him in court was the day he was convicted of treason and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Golubkin's wife, Svetlana Golubkina, wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: "Valery Nikolayevich! We Are With You. Truth Is On Our Side."

"We are going to fight for him. This is 1937 all over again in Russia," she told journalists after the sentencing, referring to the manufactured treason cases that played a key role in dictator Josef Stalin's Great Terror. "My husband will not give up and will not [falsely] confess. And we won't give up either."

Golubkina said publicity is the family's only hope of securing her husband's freedom "before he dies."

"Only by speaking out!" she said.

Golubkin is one of more 30 academics who have faced treason charges in Russia since the former KGB operative Vladimir Putin came to power more than 20 years ago. Moreover, the number of treason cases opened in Russia generally has skyrocketed this year. At least 21 cases have been filed in 2023, more than five times the number filed in the same period the previous year.

Most prominently, opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison in April, the lion's share of the sentence -- 18 years -- resulting from a charge of "state treason." However, in many cases, the suspects are arrested, tried, sentenced, and imprisoned in near-total secrecy.

'He Won't Last'

After a closed-door trial, the Moscow City Court ruled on June 26 that the 71-year-old professor of aerohydrodynamics had shared secret information about hypersonic aircraft with colleagues from European Union countries as part of a collaborative project to develop a faster-than-sound civilian passenger jet that began in 2014.

Golubkin denies the allegations, saying he had no access to secret materials; that he was not involved in gathering the information that was shared during the project; and that all the materials shared had been vetted by Russian security agencies and cleared.

His supervisor at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Anatoly Gubanov, has also been arrested in connection with the case.

The 12-year sentence was the minimum that Judge Vitaly Belitsky could impose, after the government increased the maximum punishment for treason to 25 years in April, Maria Eismont, Golubkin's lawyer, said.

The more than two years that Golubkin spent in pretrial detention will be subtracted from his sentence, the court ruled.

"But, in reality, he won't last 12 years in a strict-regime prison," Golubkin's daughter, Lyudmila, told RFE/RL. "He is 71 years old, with cancer in remission. He spent more than two years in pretrial custody, where problems with his eyes got so much worse that now he needs an operation. No one there treated him."

'Bars For Their Epaulettes'

The HEXAFLY-INT project in question was started in 2014. It is described in detail on the TsAGI website, where it was the subject of more than a dozen press releases. It is an international effort to "flight test an experimental vehicle about Mach 7 to verify its potential for a high aerodynamic efficiency during a free flight while guaranteeing a large internal volume," according to an EU website.

The bloc provided 5 million euros ($5.5 million) of the project's nearly 12-million euro ($13 million) budget. It was coordinated by the European Space Agency. It wound up activity in September 2019.

"The project investigated the creation of a civilian aircraft based on hydrogen fuel," Lyudmila Golubkina said, adding that such a plane in theory could fly between Tokyo and Brussels in about two hours.

Russia's participation in the effort was approved by numerous government agencies, including the Industry and Trade Ministry.

Golubkin, a respected professor and researcher with more than 130 academic publications and numerous state honors, was arrested in April 2021 and charged with treason.

"My father did not collect the information for [TsAGI's] reports," Golubkina continued. "He just helped compile it. He joined work on the project in 2018 when his boss, Gubanov, asked him to help edit and format the reports about the work TsAGI researchers were required to carry out under the contract."

Golubkin never had security clearance to handle classified documents.

"From pretrial detention, he wrote: 'There was nothing criminal in any of my actions since the data from the project and its results were openly available from the beginning and intended for the common use of all the partners in the project,'" Golubkina said.

The scientist's TsAGI colleagues told RFE/RL they believe Golubkin did nothing wrong.

"It's all lies," one colleague, who asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions for speaking out, said about the case against Golubkin. "For one thing, he was pressured into participating in the project. The authorities checked what kind of plane was involved and whether we should participate. In the end, they gave the green light."

The colleague added that all the reports -- "literally, every page" -- were checked by Russian security agencies and "no state secrets were found."

"That is why they were allowed to be sent," he added.

He also speculated that the case against Golubov could be a product of TsAGI's competition with Russia's space agency, Roskosmos.

"The institute and Roskosmos are direct competitors -- and the case was opened in 2021 when the head of Roskosmos was Dmitry Rogozin," the colleague said, referring to a director whose term was dogged by corruption allegations and who was dismissed by Putin last July. "Who benefited from tying up a competitor for big state contracts and budgetary funding?"

Svetlana Golubkina said her husband's computer, with all his research on hypersonic flight, was confiscated when his home was initially searched in 2020.

Another colleague, who also asked that their name be withheld, said the case was brought solely because state investigators "didn't have enough bars for their epaulettes."

"They admit themselves that their bosses demand cases based on specific articles [of the Criminal Code]," the second colleague said. "Otherwise, there will be no bonuses or promotions. And where do you get these cases? You have to just make them up."

The precise nature of the accusations against Golubkin remain unknown because the court proceedings were held behind closed doors and the files were sealed. Golubkin's lawyers are barred from discussing the case in detail, but Eismont said that in the closed files there is no mention "of secret materials, to which Golubkin did not have access in any event."

The head investigator, the prosecutor, and the judge in Golubkin's case are no strangers to high-profile, politically tinged convictions.

Investigator Anton Chaban put together the treason cases against several prominent academics, including rocket scientist Viktor Kudryavtsev and Roman Kovalyov.

Prosecutor Gulchekhra Ibragimova was involved in the 2010 prosecution of oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was already in prison at the time after being sentenced to nine years on tax charges in 2005. Khodorkovsky's prosecution was widely perceived as retaliation for his political activity.

Judge Belitsky was one of the judges in Kara-Murza's trial.

Written by RFE/RL's Robert Coalson based on reporting by RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/32482494.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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Reports On Surovikin's Whereabouts Persist Despite Kremlin Labeling Them 'Speculation'

By RFE/RL June 29, 2023

Russian media reports on June 28 continued to speculate about the whereabouts of the deputy commander of Russian armed forces' united group, Sergei Surovikin, and his role in the weekend revolt despite Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's dismissal of the reports.

Peskov told reporters on June 28 "there are many different speculations, allegations, and so on about those events. I think this is one of such examples."

Citing U.S. security sources, The New York Times touched off the speculation with its report that Surovikin had known in advance about Wagner mercenary group's chief Yevgeny's Prigozhin's mutiny.

Surovikin, considered an ally of Prigozhin, posted a video message on June 24 calling on Wagner forces to halt their advance. Some experts said the message may have been forced.

High-ranking U.S. officials suspected an alliance between Surovikin and Prigozhin could explain why Prigozhin was still alive, the New York Times reported.

As part of a deal to stop the rebellion, Prigozhin and his fighters were allegedly offered exile in Belarus.

Rumors continued to spread on June 28 about Surovikin, who hasn't been seen since June 24, according to Russian media.

The Moscow Times, citing sources close to the Defense Ministry, said Surovikin had been arrested. When asked by journalists about where the general is, the source replied: "We don't even comment on this information through internal channels."

The former editor in chief of Ekho Moskvy, Aleksei Venediktov, said Surovikin has not contacted his family for three days. According to Venediktov, it also is not possible to reach his guards.

RFE/RL couldn't confirm the reports.

The rebellion saw Wagner troops occupy the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and then march toward Moscow.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed Western intelligence officials, reported on June 28 that Prigozhin had originally planned to capture Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Commander in Chief Valery Gerasimov during the revolt. The Journal wrote that Prigozhin had "accelerated his plans" after Russia's secret service caught wind of the plot.

The White House declined to add its voice to the speculation. Asked about the Wall Street Journal report, deputy spokeswoman Olivia Dolton said at a press briefing that the White House could not confirm nor speculate on any reports.

But U.S. President Joe Biden said that the unrest had weakened President Vladimir Putin, though he added that it's "hard to tell" to what extent.

"He's clearly losing the war in (Ukraine)," Biden said of Putin on June 28. "He's losing the war at home and he has become a bit of a pariah around the world."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said Putin had been weakened by the rebellion, which showed "the autocratic structures, the structures of power have cracks."

With reporting by Reuters and dpa

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-surovikin- whereabouts-wagner-ukraine/32481653.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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Armed Forces of Cuba delegation visited Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia

29.06.2023

Cuban delegation led by Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces Corps General Alvaro Lopez during an official visit to the Russian Federation visited Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia.

The Academy's chief Colonel General Vladimir Zarudnitsky briefed Cuban guests on history and modern state of the military educational institution, told about most notable graduates of the academy, one of them is the Head of Cuban Defence Ministry himself. Colonel General also pointed out the academy's contribution to military science and its important role in preparing highly qualified officers, including those of foreign countries.

The Head of the Cuban delegation pointed out, that the educational standards of the academy have been and remain high. 'Our most revered military leaders graduated from that academy,' he said.

For reference:

The Military Academy of the General Staff is one of the oldest military educational institutions that prepare generals, admirals and senior officers of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and armies of foreign countries. Last December, the academy celebrated its 190th anniversary.

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Prigozhin Was Informed Wagner Would Not Receive Funding Without Contracts With MoD - Lawmaker

Sputnik News

20230629

Russia was thrust into a 24-hour internal security crisis from late Friday to late Saturday after Wagner PMC chief Evgeny Prigozhin threatened to march on Moscow to "sort out" the Russian military's top brass after alleging they had attacked his men. President Putin said Tuesday that the Russian military had saved the country from a "civil war."

Evgeny Prigozhin was informed ahead of time that a failure by Wagner troops to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry would result in their funding being cut off, and that his men would be left unable to take part in the military operation in Ukraine, Russian Duma defense committee head Andrey Kartapolov has said.

"Several days before the mutiny attempt, the Defense Ministry announced that all formations carrying out combat missions must sign a contract with the Defense Ministry. Everyone started to implement this decision - this absolutely correct decision. Except Mr. Prigozhin. He was informed that in that case Wagner would not take part in the special military operation," Kartapolov told journalists on Thursday.

Kartapolov characterized Prigozhin's mutiny attempt as a combination of three factors. "First was money, second was foolish and exorbitant ambitions, and third was a state of emotional excitement," he suggested.

The Russian military introduced mandatory contract requirements for volunteer units taking part in the conflict with Ukraine on June 10, citing the need to ensure that voluntary formations had the "necessary legal status." All forces were required to sign such contracts by July 1.

On Friday, June 23, forces of the Wagner Group (PMC) seized the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don, following accusations leveled against the Russian Ministry of Defense for allegedly striking the group's camps. Both the Russian military and the Federal Security Service have denied the allegations.

On Saturday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed that he had spent the entire day negotiating with Yevgeny Prigozhin, as agreed upon with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As a result of the talks, the Wagner group leader accepted Lukashenko's proposal to stop the movement of his troops in Russia and take measures to de-escalate the situation.

The mutiny attempt prompted Russian lawmakers led by Kartapolov to draft a bill to more tightly regulate the activities of private military companies.

The mutiny attempt sparked what Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov characterized as "wishful thinking" on the West's part about Russia's statehood and the military operation in Ukraine. Officials in Kiev admitted openly that they were hoping for the tensions between Prigozhin and the MoD to escalate into a "civil war." President Putin confirmed Tuesday that Russian forces who protected "the constitutional order and our citizens lives, security and freedom" had "saved our motherland from turmoil and in fact prevented civil war."

A Sputnik

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Moscow Reportedly Detains General Surovikin Over Suspected Link to Wagner Rebellion

By VOA News June 29, 2023

Russian authorities appear to have detained General Sergei Surovikin over his suspected connection to the Wagner Group's mutiny last week, according to media reports.

The specific details surrounding Surovikin's status remain blurry, but top Russian and U.S. officials have said the senior general has been detained, the Financial Times and The New York Times reported Thursday.

Questions about Surovikin's whereabouts have been swirling for days because the general had not been seen in public since June 24, when the Wagner paramilitary group marched on Moscow. Surovikin was known to have a good relationship with Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

It is unclear whether Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia's invasion force in Ukraine, has been formally charged for playing a part in the rebellion or just detained for questioning.

But Moscow has not yet publicly confirmed what has happened to him.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters he could not clarify the situation about Surovikin and said reporters should contact the Defense Ministry.

Surovikin appeared in a video Saturday urging the Wagner Group to halt any moves against the army and return to their bases.

His daughter Veronika said that "everything is fine" with her father. "Honestly, no, nothing has happened to him. He's at work," she told the Russian news outlet Baza.

"When did he appear in the media every day? He never made any statements every day," she said. "As I understand, everything is sort of flowing as things normally happen. Everyone is at their workplace. Everything is fine."

Prigozhin arrived in Belarus earlier this week at the invitation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as part of a deal to halt the mutiny.

It still is not clear where Prigozhin is in Belarus, how many fighters accompanied him or how long he plans to stay there.

Peskov told reporters Thursday that he did not have information about Prigozhin's location.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has "absolutely" been weakened inside Russia by Prigozhin's rebellion effort.

But Biden, speaking to reporters at the White House, said it was "hard to tell" the extent to which Putin is diminished.

Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, echoed Biden's comments when speaking with VOA's Russian Service on Wednesday.

"On balance, Putin is much weaker today than he was just four or five days ago. Elites in Russia, soldiers in Russia, are all watching this and wondering, 'What's happened to our leader?'

"And I think that's good, because a weakened Russia might do less in terms of damage, principally in Ukraine," McFaul said.

While pledging that Prigozhin would be safe in Belarus, Putin has expressed mixed views about the Wagner Group since the rebellion. He has characterized Wagner's leaders as traitors but said the rank-and-file mercenaries "really showed courage and heroism" in their fight against Kyiv's forces.

Prigozhin's arrival in Belarus came as Putin said Tuesday that Moscow had paid $1 billion between May 2022 and May 2023 to fully fund the Wagner mercenary fighters, contrary to claims by Prigozhin that he had financed his mercenaries.

Russia once denied the existence of the Wagner Group, but it has advanced Russia's interests in several African and Middle Eastern countries.

Many of the Wagner fighters in Ukraine were convicted criminals freed from Russian prisons on the promise that if they fought in neighboring Ukraine for six months, the remaining portions of their sentences would be rescinded.

Prigozhin said earlier this year that he had always financed Wagner but had looked for additional funding after Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine.

Prigozhin said Monday that his troops' advance on Moscow had not been an attempt to overthrow the Russian government and that he remained a patriot.

VOA's Russian Service contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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Extending the cross-border mandate in Syria for 12 months is a moral and humanitarian imperative: UK statement at the Security Council

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on Syria.

29 June 2023

Thank you, President, and I too thank Deputy Special Envoy Rochdi and USG Griffiths for their valuable briefings.

Colleagues, as we've heard, needs are at their highest levels ever in Syria. As the 12-year conflict continues, the UK has continued to respond to humanitarian needs. Our pledge of $190 million in Brussels brings our total to over $4.8 billion to date.

Last year, this also included $64 million for early recovery, including irrigation facility rehabilitation, agricultural training, apprenticeships and business grants. In all, 495 early recovery projects across all 14 governorates of Syria.

I look forward to Russia announcing its contribution in due course. Following the recent announcement that Russia spends $2 billion a year on the Wagner Group.

And as this 12-year conflict continues, we see three ways in which this Council can respond to support the Syrian people.

First, as we've heard, we need to ensure predictable and sustained humanitarian access to 4.1 million people in North-West Syria.

When I visited the TArkiye-Syria border earlier this month, frontline humanitarians, the UN, NGOs and local authorities told me consistently and repeatedly they needed more access, for longer of periods of time. We welcome the progress of a cross-line convoy last week - the first since January - but nothing can replace the scale and scope of the indispensable cross-border operation. I saw this myself. 60 trucks filled with lifesaving supplies crossed the border on the day of my visit alone.

As USG Griffiths reminded us, the Secretary-General has repeatedly stated that the extension of the Security Council's cross-border authorisation for at least 12 months is a 'moral and humanitarian imperative' and has underlined that all three crossings, at Bab Al Hawa, Bab Al Salam, and Al Rai, are 'essential' for an effective UN response. And the UN have repeatedly set out the value that the certainty and predictability of a Council mandate provides - including for donors. This is why we join calls on this Council to extend and expand the Council's cross-border authorisation ahead of 10 July.

Let's be clear, this is not a maximalist approach, this is a humanitarian approach. Secondly, attacks on innocent Syrians must stop and there should be a nationwide ceasefire.

Indiscriminate airstrikes on a vegetable market in Idlib this week, which the Syrian authorities have confirmed Russia were involved in, are reported to have killed 9 civilians and injured many more.

Our condolences go to their families, and our sympathy and good wishes to those who have been injured.

This shows a total disregard for the welfare of the Syrian people. We call on all parties to abide by international humanitarian law and to protect the civilian population.

Finally, President, colleagues, we know that only a sustainable and inclusive peace can end the suffering of the Syrian people and bring stability to the region.

Security Council resolution 2254 is the framework to deliver this. We welcome all efforts that contribute to delivering on its promise.

We call on the regime to meaningfully engage in this process to deliver a lasting peace for Syria.

As Special Envoy Rochdi said, 'real diplomacy and real solutions.'

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Taiwan, U.S. seal deal on mine-dispensing system

ROC Central News Agency

06/29/2023 02:20 PM

Taipei, June 29 (CNA) Taiwan said Thursday that it has signed a NT$4.5 billion (US146 million) deal to purchase 14 anti-tank munition-laying systems from the United States.

Under the deal, which was signed recently and became effective on June 21, the American-made arms are scheduled to be delivered before the end of 2029, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a public notice.

The purchase deal followed the U.S. State Department's approval last December of a proposed US$180 million arms package for Taiwan, including vehicle-launched Volcano anti-tank munition-laying systems and M977A4 HEMTT 10-ton cargo trucks on which those systems would be mounted.

In its public notice on Thursday, the MND did not explain the discrepancy between the US$180 million proposal and the completed deal of NT$4.5 billion (US146 million).

According to Taiwan's Army Command Headquarters, the military's proposal for the purchase of the U.S.-made vehicle-launched Volcano anti-tank munition-laying systems was first put forth in 2018.

The main advantage of that type of system is its ability to rapidly deploy anti-tank mines over a large area to repel an amphibious landing, the command headquarters said.

According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Military Analysis Network, the M136 mine dispenser provides soldiers with a scatterable mine capability delivered by helicopter or ground vehicles.

Each Volcano dispenser contains 960 anti-tank/anti-personnel mines and is capable of laying a minefield 1,100 meters long by 120 meters wide within four to 12 minutes, the network said. In addition, the mines have a timed self-destruct capability, it said.

At an MND news conference in January, Taiwan Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Chang Yuan-hsun (c aa) tried to quell concerns that the mine dispersing system would turn Taiwan into an island of mines.

If the Republic of China (Taiwan) military knows where hostiles will be landing, it can use the system to lay landmines swiftly on certain parts of a beach rather than on the entire beach, Chang said.

"If an enemy chooses to land, it will have to pay the price," he said, touting the mine-dispensing system as capable of slowing the advance of enemy troops.

(By Matt Yu and Joseph Yeh)

Enditem/pc



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KMT calls for Legislature review of U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement

ROC Central News Agency

06/29/2023 10:39 PM

Taipei, June 29 (CNA) The opposition Kuomintang legislative caucus on Thursday called on the executive branch to send the first agreement made under the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade to the Legislature to be reviewed, following its approval by the Cabinet earlier that day.

The agreement was signed by Taiwan's Representative to the United States Hsiao Bi-khim () and American Institute in Taiwan Washington Office Managing Director Ingrid Larson on June 1.

The Cabinet approved the agreement Thursday, which will then be presented to President Tsai Ing-wen ().

According to the Conclusion of Treaties Act, after the agreement enters into force, it will be published and submitted to the Legislative Yuan "for reference," unless the content involves state secrets or publishing it would threaten national security interests.

However, opposition KMT legislative caucus whip Tseng Ming-chung () said Thursday that the agreement should be submitted to the Legislature for review and ratification because of the significant impact that treaties with other countries have.

Tseng also said that the KMT legislative caucus has sent a request to Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (), asking him to put the agreement on the agenda for cross-party discussions during a special legislative session slated to be held in mid-July.

Tseng's proposal was met with a positive response from ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (), who said that the Legislative Yuan has the right to review treaties before they come into effect.

Also Thursday, Premier Chen Chien-jen () said at a regular Cabinet meeting that the agreement has laid a solid legal foundation for Taiwan-U.S. trade.

Cabinet spokesman Lin Tze-luen () added that the agreement will likely help Taiwan in its bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

(By Lai Yu-chen, Wang Yang-yu and Evelyn Kao)

Enditem/kb





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War in Ukraine - Military support for Ukraine

Germany - Federal Government

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.

Thursday, 29 June 2023

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

8 tracked all-terrain vehicles Bandvagn 206 (BV206)*

ammunition for LEOPARD 1*

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

2 air surveillance radar TRML-4D* (before: 1)

air surveillance radar TRML-4D* (before: 1) 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*

55,000 rounds ammunitions for self-propelled anti-aircraft guns GEPARD

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

24,500 projectiles 155mm

155mm precision guided ammunition*

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)

20 rocket launchers 70mm on pick-up trucks with rockets*

counter battery radar system COBRA*

Military Engineering Capabilities

3 bridges for bridge-laying tank BEAVER

12 mobile and protected mine clearing systems* (before: 11)

mobile and protected mine clearing systems* (before: 11) 4 armoured engineer vehicles DACHS*

4 mine clearing tanks WISENT 1*

8 bridge-laying tanks BEAVER*

15 armoured recovery vehicles Bergepanzer 2*

2 armoured recovery vehicles Bergepanzer 3

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

154 border protection vehicles* (before: 152)

border protection vehicles* (before: 152) 68 reconnaissance drones VECTOR*

93 drone detection systems*

40 frequency range extensions for anti-drone devices*

1 communications electronic scanner/jammer systems*

32 reconnaissance drones*

42 mobile antenna mast 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

124 trucks Zetros* (before: 108)

trucks Zetros* (before: 108) 14 tracked and remote controlled infantry vehicles THeMIS*

4 load-handling trucks 8x6 with 20 roll of containers*

288 vehicles (trucks, minibuses, all-terrain vehicles)

179 Pick-ups*

12 tank transporter tractor M1070 Oshkosh*

26 load-handling trucks 15t*

35 load-handling trucks 8x8

30 protected vehicles*

10 roll off containers

25 truck tractor trains 8x8 HX81 and 20 semi-trailers*

Combat Readiness and Survivability

11,000 group module rations

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

56 tracked all-terrain vehicles Bandvagn 206 (BV206)*

66 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC)*

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

PATRIOT missiles

6 air defence system IRIS-T SLM*

Iris-T SLM missiles*

12 launchers Iris-T SLS*

Iris-T SLS missiles (from Bundeswehr and industry stocks*)

6 air surveillance radars TRML-4D*

18 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns GEPARD*

300,000 rounds of GEPARD ammunition

Artillery

26,350 projectiles 155mm*

155mm precision guided ammunition*

18 wheeled self-propelled howitzers RCH 155*

16 self-propelled howitzer Zuzana 2* (project jointly financed with Denmark and Norway)

Military Engineering Capabilities

2 bridges for bridge-laying tanks BEAVER*

18 bridge-laying tanks BEAVER*

2 mobile and protected mine clearing systems*

38 mine clearing tanks WISENT 1*

1 armoured engineer vehicles DACHS*

3 heavy and medium bridge systems*

Protective and Special Equipment

357 reconnaissance drones VECTOR*

121 reconnaissance drones*

10 unmanned surface vessels*

40 ground surveillance radars*

1 Satcom surveillance system*

2000 portable light systems*

8 mobile antenna mast systems*

5 mobile reconnaissance systems (on vehicles) *

346 border protection vehicles*

vehicle decontamination system

11 communications electronic scanner/jammer systems*

Logistics

12 tank transporter tractor M1070 Oshkosh*

30 tank trucks (water/fuel)*

3 load-handling trucks 8x6 with 8 roll of containers*

65 heavy duty trailer trucks 8x8 HX81 and 70 semi-trailers*

2 tractors and 4 trailers*

10 protected vehicles*

76 trucks Zetros*

Combat Readiness and Survivability

340,000 first aid kits*

13 ambulances*

continuing deliveries of medical material*

100 machine guns MG5*

100 grenade launchers GMG*

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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Vice-Minister E. MeilAnas at the OSCE Chairpersonship Security Conference: Russian attacks on Ukraine's critical civilian infrastructure have reached an unprecedented level

Republic of Lithuania - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

2023.06.29

"The Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Egidijus MeilAnas participated in the Chairpersonship Security Review Conference 2023 of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which took part on June 28-29 and was dedicated to Russia's war against Ukraine.

"Russia's attacks on Ukraine's critical civilian infrastructure reached an unprecedented level when the aggressor country deliberately destroyed the Kachovka hydroelectric dam. These actions can amount to war crimes, and Lithuania, together with other Western countries, is determined to ensure that all perpetrators and accomplices of war crimes are brought to justice under international law, and that the political and military leadership of Russia and Belarus receive retribution for the crimes of aggression. The special international tribunal is the only way to ensure justice and accountability for the aggression against Ukraine," the vice-minister said during the conference.

E. MeilAnas noted that Russia continues to destroy the system created by the OSCE, aimed at promoting mutual trust, transparency, risk reduction, stability and security in the OSCE area. Recently, Russia officially announced its withdrawal from the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe. This decision is the latest in a series of actions by Russia that are systematically undermining European security. It also makes it clear that the Kremlin has complete disregard for arms control treaties and regimes and has no interest in complying with its commitments.

The vice-minister also drew attention to the actions of Belarus, Russia's accomplice. Plans to deploy Russia's nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus contradict the international obligations of Russia and Belarus under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, the presence of Russian conventional military forces in the country and the heavily militarized Kaliningrad region continue to pose huge security challenges for Lithuania and the surrounding part of the OSCE area.

E. MeilAnas emphasized that it is necessary to continue to provide unconditional and permanent political, economic, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine, and Russia and its accomplice Belarus should not belong to the OSCE community.

The Annual Security Review Conference is the OSCE's main political and military security event to discuss pressing regional security challenges. This year, after Russia blocked the decision to organize the conference, North Macedonia, which holds the OSCE presidency, is organising the security conference on its own behalf.

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The President in Brussels: The European Union, together with its transatlantic allies, must continue and increase support for Ukraine until victory

President of the Republic of Lithuania

June 29, 2023

President Gitanas NausAda called for continued and increased full-scale support for Ukraine at the European Council meeting in Brussels, which was also attended remotely by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"The European Union's long-term political, military, financial, economic and humanitarian support to Ukraine is crucial in the face of Russia's continued aggression. The European Union must also work with its transatlantic allies to ensure the broadest possible international support for Ukraine's proposed peace plan and to consolidate financial support for its reconstruction," the President said, addressing European leaders.

Gitanas NausAda, who arrived in Brussels from Kyiv, underlined that despite the ongoing war, Ukraine is making rapid progress in implementing reforms. "I believe that by the end of this year, we will be able to open negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union," the President said.

Gitanas NausAda emphasized that the EU must continue its policy of sanctions against the aggressor Russia and its accomplice Belarus.

"We should not assume that we have done everything we can. We need to start considering the 12th package of sanctions as soon as possible, in which we propose to include Rosatom as well as a complete ban on dual-use goods. Belarus' involvement in the war against Ukraine - allowing to use its territory for Russian attacks, deporting Ukrainian children, deploying nuclear weapons - cannot go unanswered," the President said.

The President stressed that Russia's legal responsibility for aggression and war crimes must be addressed together with future reparations. Lithuania supports the establishment of a special international tribunal and the use of frozen Russian funds for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

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Ukraine's Zelenskiy Tells EU That Kremlin Is Weaker, Fears 'Mutinies And Uprisings'

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service June 29, 2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told a European Union summit on June 29 that the recent failed mutiny in Russia demonstrated the country's "weakness," saying it will aid Kyiv in its fight against Moscow's brutal invasion.

"We are seeing their weakness, which we so badly need," he said by video link to the Brussels gathering.

"The weaker Russia is, and the more its bosses fear mutinies and uprisings, the more they will fear to irritate us. Russia's weakness will make it safe for others," he added.

The comments come as Kyiv has said it is making gains in "fierce" fighting in the country's east but also as deadly Russian shelling continues to take a toll on the civilian population in Ukraine and while Zelenskiy maintains his calls for additional aid and eventual NATO membership for his country.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters ahead of the summit that "it's important that we consult and say we're ready to hold on for the long term, with financial and humanitarian support that's necessary for Ukraine but also when it comes to weapons."

The dominant topic of the two-day EU meeting is the war in Ukraine and discussions on how the June 24 insurrection by the Wagner mercenary group could affect Russia.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned that the mutiny had weakened Russian President Vladimir Putin, but this didn't mean the West could relax.

"A weakened Putin is a greater danger," Borrel said ahead of the summit, adding: "Now we have to look at Russia as a risk because of internal instability."

In Kyiv, Ukrainian officials claim they have been making slow but continued progress in fighting around the embattled city of Bakhmut in the country's eastern Donetsk region.

"Our troops are gnawing away at every meter of the enemy's land in this fierce battle," Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar said in a statement on June 29. "They are making progress."

Russian forces are "trying to hold their positions, conducting counterattacks" but are "gradually retreating after suffering losses," she said.

Separately, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, claimed Ukrainian troops were steadily making slow gains.

"We have advances near Bakhmut and are continuing. We are moving," Syrskiy said on his Telegram channel.

Bakhmut was captured by Russian forces in May, after bloody and protracted battles that reduced the city to rubble.

Also, a Ukrainian commander said on June 29 that his forces took control of the village of Klishchiyivka, some 3.5 kilometers south of Bakhmut.

"This is a strategic point from where offensive actions to the south of Bakhmut will begin," Denys Yaroslavskiy, the commander of the reconnaissance company of the 57th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told RFE/RL.

Since launching a counteroffensive earlier in June, Ukraine says it has reasserted control over clusters of villages in the southeast.

The claims could not be independently verified.

The Ukrainian General Staff said early on June 29 that 40 combat clashes had taken place in the previous 24 hours, mainly in the areas of Lyman, Bakhmut, and Maryinka in the western part of Donetsk.

A 71-year-old woman was killed, and two others were wounded in Russian strikes in the southern town of Bilozerka, in the southern region of Kherson on June 29, regional authorities said.

At least, 12 residential houses were damaged in the attack, they added.

In the city of Kramatorsk, Ukrainian rescuers pulled another body from the rubble of a restaurant and shopping center targeted by a Russian missile strike, taking the death toll in the June 27 attack to 12, officials said.

"In total, 12 people, including three children were killed, 60 people were wounded, and 11 other have been rescued," Ukraine's emergency services said in a statement on June 29. The emergency and rescue operations have been completed, it added.

Local authorities in the southern city of Kherson said on June 29 that at least two people were killed and two others injured in the shelling of a civilian shelter where humanitarian aid was being handed out.

Russia's Defense Ministry claimed on June 29 that two Ukrainian generals and dozens of army officers were killed in the Kramatorsk attack. But the ministry didn't provide any proof to support its claim.

The area was popular with soldiers, journalists, and locals in Kramatorsk, one of the largest cities still under Ukrainian control in the country's east.

Ukrainian authorities on June 28 arrested an alleged Russian spy involved in the Kramatorsk attack.

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), working with special police forces, detained the person, Zelenskiy said on Telegram on June 28.

"Whoever helps Russian terrorists to destroy lives deserves the maximum penalty," Zelensky said in his nightly address.

He did not identify the person who was detained in the attack, but the SBU said earlier it was a local man who worked for a gas transportation company and is suspected of filming the restaurant for the Russians and informing them about its popularity.

Kramatorsk was targeted by two Russian missiles, one hitting the restaurant and shopping center in the city center and a second hitting a village on the outskirts of the city in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

In response to the outcry over the attack, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on June 28 claimed Russia only carries out strikes "that are in one way or another linked to military structure."

Moscow has repeatedly denied shelling the civilian population in Ukraine despite evidence and testimony to the contrary.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-kramatorsk- death-toll-russian-missile-strike/32481796.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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Former U.S. Vice President Pence Visits Ukraine, Reassures Zelenskiy Of Support In Fight Against Russia

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service June 29, 2023

KYIV -- Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, in a surprise visit to Ukraine, assured President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of his strong support for Kyiv's "courageous" fight against the Russian invasion.

"Freedom is winning in Ukraine," Pence told reporters on June 29 after meeting with Zelenskiy. "Now more than ever, we need to keep faith with the courageous fighters here in Ukraine who are standing for freedom and pushing back on Russian aggression."

Pence, who has been a strong advocate of aiding Ukraine since the Russian invasion of February 2022, is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, running against his former president, Donald Trump, and several other candidates.

Pence is far behind Trump in the polls in the race for the nomination to face Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 2024 election. Some leading candidates in his party have expressed more reluctance to aid Ukraine than has Pence, although Kyiv enjoys strong backing by both parties in Congress.

"I'm here because it's important that the American people understand the progress that we've made and how support for the Ukrainian military has been in our national interest," Pence said in remarks to NBC News.

Pence, who spent about 12 hours in Ukraine, also stopped in Moshchun, Bucha, and Irpin -- towns formerly occupied by Russian forces and the site of brutal killings of local citizens.

According to the Ukrainian presidential office, Zelenskiy thanked Pence for the support shown by both major U.S. parties for Kyiv's fight against Russia.

"This support is not only with weapons, which is a top priority today. The United States provides us with financial assistance, humanitarian, and political support," Zelenskiy said.

"We appreciate that both major U.S. parties -- Republican and Democratic -- remain united in supporting Ukraine. And, of course, we feel the strong support of the people of the United States," he added.

In June, the Biden administration provided defense aid packages of $2.1 billion and $500 million to Ukraine, bringing total support since February last year to more than $43 billion.

The office said Zelenskiy also informed Pence "in detail" about the situation on the battlefield and shared the Ukrainian assessment of recent events in Russia and how they will affect security in the region.

Prior to announcing his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, Pence in March 2022 made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian border with Poland, crossing into the country to help deliver aid to refugees escaping the war during the first days of the invasion.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pence-ukraine-kyiv- surprise-visit/32482483.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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Nebenzia: Russia Has No Intention to Blow Up NPP, Demands End to Kiev's Provocations

Sputnik News

20230629

UNITED NATIONS, June 29 (Sputnik) - Russia has no intention to blow up the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP) as it explained in a letter calling on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to compel Kiev to abstain from provocations, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said.

"We do not intend to blow up this NPP, we have no intention of doing so. In our letter, we call on the UN Secretary-General and international community to influence Kiev, compelling it to abstain from provocations at this Zaporozhye NPP," Nebenzia said during a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday.

The Russian mission sent the letter to all of the UN Security Council members earlier in the day.

The Kiev regime continues with the provocations despite numerous UN Security Council meetings held at the request of Russia and despite the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency to facilitate safety and security at the nuclear power plant at the invitation of Russia, the letter said.

The provocations are taking place in the context of the United States' recent congressional resolution considering any radioactive contamination in Ukraine as a reason to launch a political-military response by NATO - a move that would escalate the Ukrainian crisis to unprecedented levels, the letter added.

The latest comes as Nebenzia told the Security Council that Ukrainians were being sent to the battlefield "like lambs to the slaughter" during Kiev's so-called 'counteroffensive.'

"But there are still some Ukrainians, which have been sent into battle like lambs to the slaughter as part of the so-called 'counteroffensive' of Ukrainian Armed Forces, which the Ukrainians call the Zaporozhye meat grinder," Nebenzia said on Thursday, adding that it is lamentable.

The official has also underscored that the collective West has become detached from reality and is purposely provoking a direct confrontation between the nuclear powers. "Having become completely untethered from reality, the West is deliberately provoking a direct confrontation between nuclear powers," he said.

Ukraine launched its much-touted counteroffensive in early June after multiple postponements. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly said Ukrainian troops are trying to advance in the South Donetsk, Artemovsk, and Zaporozhye directions, but without success.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine lost as many as 259 tanks and 780 armored vehicles since the start of its counter-offensive. A number of Western media also noted the weak results of Kiev's counteroffensive, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that the progress was "slower than desired."

A Sputnik

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EU States May Send Military Missions to Ukraine Under Future Security Guarantees - Reports

Sputnik News

20230629

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - EU countries do not exclude sending military missions to Ukraine with the consent of member states within the framework of "future security commitments," a British newspaper reported on Thursday, citing a source familiar with the discussions.

The EU leaders will also pledge to expand the bloc's initiative to train Ukrainian troops, as well as the possibility of sending EU military missions to Ukraine if conditions "deemed suitable" and agreed by all members, the newspaper said.

The EU member states also will commit to continue financing arms supplies to Ukraine through the European Peace Facility.

Earlier, Moscow cautioned Western against sending NATO troops to Ukraine, saying that it could lead to dangerous consequences.

In December 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the provision of training to Ukrainian troops by NATO countries in addition to arms supplies essentially amounted to their involvement in the conflict.

In November 2022, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said over 8,000 mercenaries from more than 60 countries had arrived in Ukraine, the largest groups coming from Poland, the United States, Canada, Romania and the UK, despite the fact that in many countries mercenary activities are prohibited by law and prosecuted. Over 3,000 foreign mercenaries had already been killed by that time, the same number had returned home. According to Western media estimates, as of January, between 1,000 and 3,000 foreign mercenaries were operating in the Ukrainian forces.

Moscow considers the involvement of mercenaries in the conflict to be a form of support for Kiev by the West.

A Sputnik

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Russia Launches Criminal Cases Against 160 Mercenaries Fighting for Ukrainian Regime

Sputnik News

20230629

The Russian Investigative Committee has launched criminal cases against 160 mercenaries from 33 countries fighting as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Russian investigators are conducting an inquiry into foreigners fighting on the side of Ukraine, with more than 150 people involved, the Investigative Committee reported on its Telegram channel.

"Cooperating with the Russian Ministry of Defense and other state bodies, evidence was collected against mercenaries from Georgia, the US, Latvia, Sweden and other countries. The prosecution of 160 foreigners from 33 states is underway," the report said.

According to a statement by the committee in late May, more than 2,000 people from all over the world are fighting on the side of Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that there were reasons to suspect some countries of sending military officers to Kiev disguised as mercenaries.

According to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, over 8,000 people from more than 60 countries in total had joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces as of November 2022. Despite the fact that mercenarism is prohibited by law in many countries, the largest groups came from Poland, the US, Canada, Romania, and the UK.

A Sputnik

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Russia Condemns France's Plans to Support Ukraine's Entry to NATO

Sputnik News

20230629

Earlier, French media reported, citing sources, that the Macron government was weighing the option of Ukraine joining NATO as an independent security guarantee.

France's plans to support Ukraine's accession to NATO prove that Paris continues to slide towards the bloc's radical minority that sees itself as a party to the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted.

The Russian Foreign Ministry cautioned that such actions will lead to tragic consequences for European and global security.

According to Russia's diplomatic agency, "at the same time, France, under pressure from the US, had already agreed to the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO back at the alliance's Bucharest summit in 2008".

"This will lead to tragic consequences for security in Europe and around the world. By supplying weapons to Ukraine and assisting Ukrainian forces, the French are indeed fomenting this scenario," the ministry stressed.

The US-led West has been supplying the Kiev regime with various types of weapon systems, including air defense missiles, multiple launch rocket systems, tanks, self-propelled artillery and anti-aircraft guns since Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin has consistently warned against further arms deliveries to Kiev, saying they would be regarded as a legitimate military target.

A Sputnik

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Two Ukrainian Generals, 20 Foreign Mercenaries Destroyed in Strike on Kramatorsk - Russian MoD

Sputnik News

20230629

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's Defense Ministry reported on June 28 that a point of temporary deployment of the commanders of the 56th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kramatorsk was hit.

Two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 officers of the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as up to 20 foreign mercenaries and military advisers, were killed as a result of a precision strike by the Russian military in Kramatorsk on June 27, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

"According to updated information, as a result of a high-precision strike at the point of temporary deployment of the 56th separate motorized infantry brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces in the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk People's Republic on June 27 of this year, two generals, up to 50 officers of the armed forces of Ukraine, as well as up to 20 foreign mercenaries and military advisers participating in a staff meeting were destroyed," the ministry said in a statement.

Up to 530 Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded in the Donetsk direction in the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that Kiev also lost 10 pieces of military equipment.

According to the ministry, Ukrainian forces have continues attempts to attack in Donetsk, South Donetsk and Krasny Liman directions.

"During the hostilities in this [Donetsk] direction, the losses of the armed forces of Ukraine amounted to 530 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, one tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, five vehicles, as well as Msta-B and D-20 howitzers," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Russian soldiers have repelled four Ukrainian attacks in this direction.

The ministry also said that the enemy lost up to 135 soldiers in South Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions, adding that one more attack was repelled near the Staromaiorskoe settlement of the Donetsk People's Republic.

On June 28, Russia's Defense Ministry reported that a point of temporary deployment of the commanders of the 56th motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kramatorsk was hit. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked about the Kremlin's attitude toward Kiev's statement that civilians were allegedly killed as a result of the Russian strike on Kramatorsk, said Russia does not attack civilian infrastructure, but hits military infrastructure-related facilities.

A Sputnik

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Efforts Made to Make Reaching Operation Goals by Diplomatic Means Possible - Kremlin

Sputnik News

20230629

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - There are efforts made to make reaching goals of the special military operation by diplomatic means possible but prerequisites for such a decision are non-existent for now, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"For Russia, the main thing is the achievement of the goals that are in front of us, which were formulated by the president. These goals will be achieved. And there are certain efforts to bring the percentage of achievement of these goals into a political and diplomatic channel. But, unfortunately, there are no prerequisites for this yet. Therefore, a special military operation continues," Peskov told reporters.

The absolute majority of Russian citizens support President Vladimir Putin and the ongoing special military operation, Peskov said.

The spokesman was asked about a survey conducted by the Russian Field company, which said that the number of people who support the special operation is equal to the number of those who are against it.

"The data that we have is different. They still show absolutely predominant support for the special operation, overwhelming support, absolutely dominant support for the president," Peskov told reporters. Dmitry Peskov said that he has no information regarding the whereabouts of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group private military company.

Dmitry Peskov said that he has no information regarding the whereabouts of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group private military company.

"I have no such information," Peskov told reporters.

A Sputnik

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Israel Refuses to Send Iron Dome System to Ukraine for Fear of It Getting to Iran - Netanyahu

Sputnik News

20230629

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iron Dome is a missile defense system, developed by Israel, used to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells. It consists of radar and tracking systems that detect incoming threats and assess their trajectory, followed by interceptors that are launched to neutralize the target.

Israel cannot provide the Iron Dome anti-missile system to Ukraine due to concerns that it could fall into hands of Iran and be used against Israeli citizens, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

"I think it's important to understand that we are concerned also with the possibility that systems that we would give to Ukraine would fall into Iranian hands and could be reverse engineered and we would find ourselves facing Israeli systems used against Israel ... Now if that system [Iron Dome] were to fall in the hands of Iran, then millions of Israelis would be left defenseless," Netanyahu said.

At the same time, the prime minister said that Israel was not neutral in the Ukraine conflict, and it had provided assistance to the Ukrainian government.

"The former government made some promises, which were in the process [regarding aid to Ukraine]. Well, they weren't delivered, but I delivered them. And I think people know, maybe you should find out what's going on, but we're not neutral. We've expressed our sympathy and our position with Ukraine," Netanyahu said, adding, however, that there were still "limitations" that Israel had in terms of its support for Kiev.

Last week, Netanyahu said that there had already been multiple cases when weapons supplied to Kiev by the West were found near the Israeli border.

Western countries have been providing financial, humanitarian and military support to Ukraine since the start of Russia's military operation in February 2022. The support evolved from lighter artillery munitions and training in 2022 to heavier weapons, including tanks, later that year and in 2023. For months, Ukraine has been pushing to be supplied with Israel's Iron Dome system, which has been met with resistance by the Israeli government so far. The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev.

A Sputnik

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US Reveals Russian Vehicle That Brings Chaos to Ukrainian Forces

Sputnik News

20230629

A machine for laying landmines is designed to create a defensive barrier that ought to impede the progress of the enemy and protect valuable assets.

Russia's 'Zemledelie' (Farming) landmine machine is wreaking havoc in the ranks of advancing Ukrainian troops, according to media reports in the US.

"Controlled by Russia's bomb squad, rather than artillery, the 'Zemledelie' system is clearly a threat to Ukraine's counteroffensive. For example, it may have played a role in the infamous armored attack by the 47th Ukrainian Mechanized Brigade that took place in early June near Malaya Tokmachka. The battle resulted in the Ukrainians abandoning several Leopard 2 tanks and 16 Bradley combat vehicles," the American correspondent wrote.

According to the media, minefields pose a serious problem for any attacking force. A 70-ton Leopard 2, the front end of which can withstand a hit from sophisticated anti-tank shells, can be immobilized by ordinary mines laid by the 'Zemledelie' system.

Even at low density, explosive devices of this type interfere with the mobility of the Ukrainian forces and impede their action.

A Sputnik

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'Wagner's march to Moscow showed us just how quickly Russians can leave Ukraine when they choose to': UK statement at the Security Council

Statement by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine.

29 June 2023

Thank you, President, and I thank USG Nakimitsu and Dr Radchenko for their briefings.

I'd like to make three points.

First, the UK government has been clear about the military support that we have provided for the defence of Ukraine.

The bravery and endless determination of Ukrainians is their own, but we are proud to support them in their fight to be free.

We are not just providing weapons.

Around 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers have received training in the UK since the start of Russia's invasion.

We will also support Ukraine, when peace is won, to rebuild their country, as we did at the Ukraine Recovery Conference last week, where the international community made over $60 billion worth of commitments.

Colleagues, Ukraine continues to need our support. For them this is a war of survival. For Russia, this is a war of choice.

Second, let's remind ourselves how Russia has decided to fight its war of choice. Shelling civilian homes. Human wave attacks, ordered forward at gunpoint. Atrocities left in the wake of its retreating forces. Hundreds of civilians arbitrarily detained, over 90% of them reporting torture or ill-treatment by Russian captors.

On Tuesday, Russian missiles struck a pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk, taking ten more innocent lives. Among those killed in the attack were two twin sisters - Yuliya and Anna Aksenchenko. They were just 14 years old.

This week the Secretary-General published his report on Children Affected by Armed Conflict. Russia is part of its working group and knows that this reporting system is among the most rigorous used by the UN.

The report is shocking. A permanent member of this Council listed alongside terror groups such as Al Shabaab and Islamic State for committing grave violations affecting children in situations of armed conflict.

Russian forces have been responsible for killings, abductions, rapes of children as young as four.

Ninety times, Russian forces used children as human shields.

Every Russian should feel shame at what their army has done in Ukraine.

But the Russian Army doesn't fight alone - Putin has poured tanks, rockets, anti-aircraft missiles and every kind of heavy weaponry into the hands of unaccountable mercenary forces, recruited from the ranks of gangsters and convicts.

A year ago, Russia denied the Wagner group's existence. Now, Yevgeny Prigozhin's rebellion has publicly destroyed Putin's case for the war in Ukraine.

Wagner's march to Moscow showed us just how quickly Russians can leave Ukraine when they choose to.

Third, without doubt, diplomatic efforts will be essential for peace and we note the various ongoing efforts towards peace, including the African leaders' recent visit to Kyiv and Moscow this month. The UK fully supports President's Zelensky's 10-point peace plan.

The only path to a sustainable peace is for Putin to withdraw his troops and end the bloodshed now.

We will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine as they win a just and sustained peace that respects Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, in line with the UN Charter.

Thank you.

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Combating ecocide is one of the points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, and we must implement each of its points - address by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

President of Ukraine

29 June 2023 - 22:25

I wish you health, dear Ukrainians!

I am finishing the day in the Verkhovna Rada with a meeting with our Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk. We are working.

And now the report on this day, a busy day. A very long one.

The European Council meeting - it is already a tradition for Ukraine to be among the members of the European Union. The agenda is obvious: our defense in this war, our path to victory, support from our partners, our security support for them, for our entire Europe. Ukraine influences the strength of Europe. This is a fact. And this year, it is time to use this and other similar facts to strengthen unity in Europe, including by starting negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union.

The meeting with Mike Pence, the 48th Vice President of the United States, Senator... American support for Ukraine is vital - from all Americans, every American family, all U.S. civil society, all political leaders, Congress - both parties, of course, from President Biden. Thank you for this support!

I discussed with Mr. Pence our defense, our cooperation - from the very beginning, from the very first days between the Ukrainian and American nations. We talked about weapons, about the capabilities of our soldiers, about our common values.

The meeting with the members of the International Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War - Greta Thunberg, Margot WallstrAm and others. We talked primarily about the Russian terrorist attack and ecocide at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and the work of our group, which will deal with issues directly related to the destructive impact of Russian aggression on nature. Combating ecocide is one of the points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, and we must implement each of its points, all aspects of peace.

The conversation with the President of Guatemala. The Peace Formula, our cooperation with Latin America, assistance in demining, and most importantly, in establishing a Tribunal for Russian aggression.

The meeting with our business representatives - very important, very meaningful. I am grateful to them. We discussed how to stimulate economic activity now, in times of war. We talked about how to provide more protection for business, more interaction between the state and business. The first priority now is defense, and this is obvious. But the economy is also important.

I am grateful to everyone who works for Ukraine, for Ukrainians, who preserves and creates new jobs, who pays taxes and who is already preparing for our recovery, for the large-scale transformation program of Ukraine that we will definitely implement after our victory.

And, of course, our warriors, our defense. Today, in my address to the Chatham House community - one of the world's leading British intellectual centers - I told that three more very important decrees have been prepared to award our warriors - 419 warriors. In total, over 49,000 Ukrainians have already been awarded state awards during the full-scale war!

I am grateful to each and every one who defends our country! I thank all those who are in combat now, who also gave us the best news today - the advancement of Ukrainian positions. Glory to you, our heroes! I thank everyone in the world who really helps us!

Glory to Ukraine!

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President had a phone call with the President of Guatemala

President of Ukraine

29 June 2023 - 22:21

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a phone call with President of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei.

The Head of State thanked his colleague for the declaration in support of Ukraine initiated by him at the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), which was voted for by the majority of the Organization's members.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed gratitude for Guatemala's regional leadership in the Core Group on the establishment of a Special International Tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression.

The leaders coordinated efforts ahead of the upcoming international events, in particular with a view to implementing the Peace Formula, and discussed possible formats for organizing the Ukraine - Latin America Summit.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Alejandro Giammattei paid attention to security cooperation. Among other things, they discussed sending specialists and equipment for demining.

The Head of State invited the President of Guatemala to pay a visit to Ukraine.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Chatham House 2022 Award Ceremony: This award for Ukraine is another proof that the world believes in our country, Ukrainians and our victory

President of Ukraine

29 June 2023 - 22:01

Dear friends!

I am grateful for your attention to Ukraine and your respect for Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers, all our beautiful people really deserve the highest honors. Millions of our people fight and work for our freedom, our common freedom - Ukrainian and all free nations. I am sure that we will keep our freedom. And your award, in particular... The Chatham House Prize for Ukraine is another proof that the world believes in Ukraine, believes in Ukrainians, believes in our victory.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Thousands and thousands of our warriors distinguished themselves in battles against the invaders. Today, my advisors prepared three new decrees on awarding state awards to our heroes. At once to 419 of our warriors, men and women, who are fighting for freedom with their blood, pain, loss of their brothers in arms.

I want you to know that every day we have success on the frontline thanks to our heroic soldiers! And, of course, thanks to the support of our partners - and the United Kingdom is one of the obvious leaders in this support. Thank you very much!

Every day our soldiers repel Russian assaults, step by step they liberate our land and people, every day we make Russian tyranny weaker - as it should be for our world to be safe. During the full-scale war, more than 49 thousand of our soldiers are awarded with state awards for bravery in battles. 245 soldiers are awarded with the title of the Hero of Ukraine. Imagine how intense the fighting is and how strong our people are! Such a number of well-deserved awards for special bravery and courage reflects the mass bravery and courage of Ukrainians.

Please always support our people - they deserve it. And I believe, that - the day will come very, very soon when Ukrainian contribution to the global freedom and the strength of our people will be recognized by a legitimate recognition of our state - an ally of your state and all free nations, NATO members.

We must honestly admit: peace in Europe is the Alliance. So that aggression against one or another European nation never repeats again and so that such self-sacrifice of soldiers is never needed again, security institutions, in particular Euro-Atlantic institutions, must really protect peace. And now it is real - only together with Ukraine. Which will be free, strong and, of course, in NATO. Only together with our heroes.

Glory to all Ukrainian heroes! Thank you again for this day. Thank you for your support! Thank you, United Kingdom!

 NNN!

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Briefing for the International Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War was held in the Office of the President

President of Ukraine

29 June 2023 - 20:51

The Office of the President of Ukraine hosted a briefing for members of the International Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War dedicated to the situation in Ukraine, Russia's war crimes and the consequences of blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

The meeting was attended by Vice-President of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala, former European Commissioner for the Environment and former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot WallstrAm, President of Ireland in 1990-1997 Mary Robinson, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, Senior Advisor at the European Institute of Peace, Head of the CMI (The Crisis Management Initiative) Eurasia Program Roxana Cristescu.

The briefing was held by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Rostyslav Shurma, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko, Advisors to the Head of the Presidential Office Daria Zarivna and Oleksandr Bevz.

Yulia Svyrydenko spoke about the consequences of the war in Ukraine launched by Russia. According to her, more than 100 thousand square kilometers of territory, including agricultural land, have been mined in our country, which negatively affects the agricultural sector and, as a result, worsens the food situation in the world. The First Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that Ukraine needs to increase its humanitarian demining capacity, including a large number of relevant equipment and sappers.

"Ukraine is now the most mine-contaminated country in the world. First of all, we need to enhance the state's demining capabilities. Three thousand sappers are not enough, we need to increase their number," Yulia Svyrydenko is convinced.

She emphasized the importance of developing a strategy for demining the territories.

According to Rostyslav Shurma, the Russian occupiers' blowing up of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam caused significant damage to Ukraine's agriculture, energy sector, housing, transport infrastructure and the environment in general. According to him, the calculation of direct losses from this disaster is ongoing, and the amount is currently about $2 billion.

"We are talking about significant economic and environmental damage. Flora, fauna, agriculture, forestry, national landscape parks. This is a value that is important for the whole world, for nature," added the Deputy Head of the Presidential Office.

Rostyslav Shurma also noted that people living in the areas affected by the Kakhovka HPP disaster need humanitarian support.

He said that the possibility of creating a separate fund in the medium term is being considered to raise funds for the restoration of HPP, power generation, agriculture, irrigation systems, and the region's flora and fauna.

Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets noted that 30% of Europe's biodiversity is concentrated in Ukraine. According to him, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has prepared a methodology for assessing the damage caused to Ukraine's natural resources by Russian aggression as part of its efforts to bring Russia to justice. More than 240 cases of ecocide have been registered.

"We see that our territories are being targeted by missiles, shells and mines that destroy our valuable resources. This harms our ability to fight climate change. We don't want our land to become a training ground for Russian tanks," said Ruslan Strilets.

He spoke about the work of the EcoThreat web resource and mobile application, which uses digital technologies to determine the degree of environmental damage even in the temporarily occupied territories.

"I am from Kherson, and the catastrophe that happened there touched the hearts of all Ukrainians. It is very painful to see the area where you lived, where several generations of your family lived, being destroyed. My grandmother's house was destroyed by a missile, my parents' house was flooded, my relatives' house was blown apart by a missile, a piece of which fell on my little sister's bed. Many Ukrainians can tell similar stories," said Daria Zarivna, Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office.

The Minister of Energy of Ukraine noted that the challenges of the war have revealed weaknesses in the Ukrainian energy system and demonstrated the need to decentralize energy distribution. The fastest way to achieve this, according to Mr. Halushchenko, is to switch to renewable energy sources.

"The Russians destroyed more than ten mines, and this accelerated the transition to green energy," he stated.

The Minister reminded that Ukraine has approved a new energy strategy aimed at eliminating the use of coal by 2035. Our country sees the potential to use solar and wind energy. In particular, according to him, after winning the war and regaining all its territories, Ukraine will have a significant potential for wind energy development on the coasts of the Black and Azov Seas.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin spoke about the work being done by the Prosecutor's Office to bring Russia to justice for environmental crimes. He noted that in such cases, one of the most difficult issues is determining the amount of damage to be compensated, as there are different methodologies for assessing damage.

That is why the Prosecutor's Office is engaging all available resources to determine the cost of damages and establish a link between the act of aggression and the environmental crime.

Andriy Kostin invited the members of the International Working Group to join the collection of evidence and determination of the extent of damage caused by Russia's environmental crimes on the territory of Ukraine.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the 48th Vice President of the United States Mike Pence

President of Ukraine

29 June 2023 - 20:13

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with former Vice President of the United States, Senator Mike Pence, who is visiting our country for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression.

The Head of State emphasized the extremely important powerful support for Ukraine from the American people, U.S. President Joseph Biden, the Congress and both parties.

"This support is not only with weapons, which is the main priority today. The United States provides us with financial assistance, humanitarian and political support. We appreciate that both major US parties, the Republican and Democratic, remain united in their support for Ukraine. And, of course, we feel the strong support of the people of the United States," he emphasized.

In this context, Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the United States for the recent defense assistance packages worth $2.1 billion and $500 million, allocated on June 6 and June 27, respectively, and emphasized the unprecedented total amount of support provided, which has reached $43.1 billion since February last year.

The Head of State expressed gratitude for the loud voice of Mike Pence in support of Ukraine in the US Republican Party.

He briefed the former U.S. Vice President on the situation on the battlefield and shared Ukraine's assessment of recent events in Russia and how they will affect security in the region. In this regard, Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized the primary importance of continuing and strengthening defense assistance for Ukraine from partners, including artillery and long-range weapons. The Head of State emphasized the importance of training Ukrainian pilots as quickly as possible and providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.

The President shared his expectations from the NATO Summit in Vilnius. He said that the partners should demonstrate determination and give Ukraine certainty about its future membership.

"This is what will motivate our people. And this is also a weapon, but a political one. Perhaps it is even more powerful than missiles. For this, we must see our future in NATO," the Head of State emphasized.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Mike Pence about the humanitarian situation in the southern regions of Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam by Russian occupiers. In this context, the President thanked American charitable organizations that help provide drinking water to the territories affected by this crime.

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This is a historic time to start negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the European Union - speech by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the meeting of the European Council

President of Ukraine

29 June 2023 - 19:02

Dear Charles, dear colleagues!

Thank you very much, greetings to you all and thank you for inviting me!

I started this week with a visit to the frontline. Two of our regions - Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia. Most of the combat operations, both offensive and defensive, are concentrated there. The fighting is highly intensive there, and our people are outstanding heroes! Our soldiers are doing a great job, and I am proud of them, every one of them who is now on the ground, fending-off Russian attacks and destroying Russian terrorists. We manage to liberate our land and people from the occupiers, and this is the most important thing.

The more successful our soldiers are now, the longer Russia will not pose a threat to Ukraine and our entire Europe. History clearly demonstrates that unsuccessful aggressions always make dictatorships weak. In fact, this is what we are seeing in Russia right now - we are seeing their weakness, which we so badly need. The weaker Russia is, and the more its bosses fear mutinies and uprisings, the more they will fear to irritate us. Russia's weakness will make it safe for others, and its defeat will solve the problem of this war.

Dear colleagues, partners!

I am grateful to all of you who're helping our defense against Russian aggression! Thank you for every air defense system provided to us - they do save lives. It's true. Thank you for the European initiative on a million shells and rounds for Ukraine, for our tank coalition and for all the defense packages that have been provided to our country. This is truly historic cooperation for the defense of Europe. Ukraine is grateful to Lithuania and Poland, and we will not allow Russia or its terrorist groups to even try to undermine the security of the Lithuanian and Polish people from the territory of Belarus. For Ukraine, the security of our partners is also our security.

Yesterday, Mr. President NausAda and Mr. President Duda visited Ukraine, and we exchanged assessments of the situation in Belarus and the challenges it presents. Ukraine's position is absolutely clear - any attempt to blackmail Europe, any attempt to do something against Europe should be treated equally by the whole Europe. If someone somewhere threatens one or another European nation, it is absolutely natural to stand up for that nation and eliminate the threat.

Another important thing to mention in the context of security is sanctions. I am grateful for the recently adopted eleventh sanctions package of the European Union, which continues the fair policy of pressure on everyone who makes aggression possible. It is important not to stop imposing sanctions. The fewer pauses there are, the less Russia will adapt to the pressure on it and the less it will think of ways to circumvent the sanctions. I am grateful that the eleventh sanctions package pays attention to Russia's attempts to circumvent sanctions through third countries, and this attention should be strengthened in the twelfth EU sanctions package. Many of the missiles that Russian terrorists are now using against life in Ukraine are newly produced and contain critical components made by companies in the free world. This cannot be tolerated. Together we must stop Russia's use of free world technologies for aggression against freedom.

We also cannot tolerate what Russia is doing to our Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Let me remind you, that - this is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russian terrorists have mined it - we have specific information from our intelligence, and we have presented it, in particular, to diplomats of European countries. As well as information about Russia's use of foreign parts for missile production. The Russian nuclear industry deserves sanctions in response to Russian radiation blackmail.

Dear colleagues!

Tomorrow, the Swedish presidency comes to an end, and I would like to thank Sweden and personally Prime Minister Kristersson for their effective work. Over these six months, Europe has become stronger. I'm sure of it. On behalf of all Ukrainians, I want to thank you, dear leaders, and you, Charles, you, Ursula, you, Roberta, for making important economic and political decisions that help us defend our freedom and Europe.

Unfortunately, there are things that do not help us. But, if solidarity continues to work, if our security and economic cooperation is not broken by artificial and illegal restrictions, if Europe's long-term and principled decisions continue to send signals to the world that Europe believes in peace, then this war will definitely not drag on.

I am grateful for the extension of our free trade with Europe and transit for another year. Every manifestation of solidarity, every manifestation of unity is now lifesaving. I am grateful for the proposal of a long-term financial instrument of the EU in the amount of 50 billion euros announced by the President of the European Commission von der Leyen, and if this proposal is approved, it will be the right signal that Europe believes in peace, believes in Ukraine. It is very important that the European Parliament always gives principled assessments of what is happening, and immediately condemned the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. This attack led to the largest ecocide in Europe in decades, and those responsible must be held accountable. It is important that the European Council also condemn this horrific Russian terrorist attack and ecocide at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

I would like to note that if there is no strong reaction from European leaders and countries to the Russian crime at the Kakhovka HPP, it may give Russian terrorists more arrogance with regard to the Zaporizhzhia NPP. And, in any case, it is destructive when Russia uses a nuclear power plant for radiation blackmail and at the same time discusses the construction of new nuclear units with EU member states. How can we trust a terrorist to build nuclear units? Sorry, but it's a rhetorical question.

And finally, a few thoughts on the next six months for Europe.

I believe it is symbolic that this Saturday, on the first day of Spain's presidency, Mr. Sanchez, the Prime Minister of Spain, will visit Ukraine at my invitation. For the first time, the beginning of a country's presidency will be emphasized by a visit to Ukraine. And this actually says a lot about how important the next six months will be for our Europe. This is a historic time to start negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the EU. A Europe of values, a free and strong Europe, a Europe of peace is unthinkable without Ukraine. We are ready to start accession negotiations, and our progress in implementing the European Commission's recommendations has to be fixed. Ukraine is determined to be fully prepared for the start of accession negotiations as soon as possible, and we will do so.

Peace has no alternatives. So, maximum unity in Europe has no alternatives.

Thank you very much for your attention! Thank you for your support, friends!

 NNN!

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with business representatives

President of Ukraine

29 June 2023 - 18:15

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with representatives of domestic and foreign businesses operating in our country.

Preserving and creating new jobs, especially in times of war, is critical to the sustainability of the Ukrainian economy.

The President emphasized that the main priority for our country today is to win the war, and the role of business operating in Ukraine is extremely important in this regard.

"We are grateful to our external partners. They support us strategically and financially and help us a lot. But we rely on ourselves first and foremost," he said.

The President also noted that rebuilding Ukraine is a major project, and the priority will be the participation of Ukrainian and foreign businesses that have worked and are working in our country, especially during the war.

"But the doors will be open for many companies. We need hundreds and thousands of companies to come to us," the Head of State added.

During the meeting, the parties agreed on joint efforts to reduce problems for business from law enforcement agencies, discussed the situation in the tax area and prospects for its reform, touched upon tax audits, and the issue of enhancing the efficiency of agencies that are supposed to stimulate economic development and provide investment support.

The participants noted a very interesting and promising affordable housing lending program, eHousing, initiated by the President of Ukraine, and the importance of its further expansion.

During the conversation, business representatives proposed to create a coordination platform for communication on business rights protection and other issues. The President supported this initiative, offering to jointly determine the format of work.

"It is very important to create a platform where we would constantly talk. Because we cannot accumulate problems for years: we simply will not be able to overcome them later," Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.

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President of Ukraine held a meeting with members of the International Working Group on Environmental Consequences of War

President of Ukraine

29 June 2023 - 17:46

President of Ukraine held a meeting with members of the International Working Group on Environmental Consequences of War

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with members of the International Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War: former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Margot WallstrAm, Vice-President of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala, President of Ireland in 1990-1997 Mary Robinson and environmental activist Greta Thunberg.

The meeting was also attended by Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Rostyslav Shurma, and Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office Daria Zarivna.

"Thank you for being here today. This is an extremely important signal of support for Ukraine. We really need your professional assistance," the Head of State said.

The President thanked the representatives of the global environmental community for the active dialogue during a video conference held on June 8 as part of his visit to Kryvyi Rih. Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the International Working Group had to address a wide range of issues related to the impact of Russian aggression on Ukraine's environmental system.

The Head of State drew attention to the catastrophic consequences of the blowing up of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam faced by the residents of Kherson region. This Russian crime also caused significant damage to the agricultural sector and biodiversity of the region.

The President noted that as a result of the disaster, many people died in the settlements occupied by Russian troops, where Russians did not evacuate the flooded areas at all.

"It is important to propose a set of concrete measures to help Ukrainians from the temporarily occupied settlements. These are our people who must receive the necessary support in such a difficult moment," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

The Head of State noted the importance of the initiatives of the representatives of the International Working Group on Environmental Crimes of Russia and emphasized that the aggressor must be brought to justice for the crime of ecocide in our country.

For her part, the co-chair of the International Working Group, Margot WallstrAm, emphasized solidarity and assistance to Ukraine in this difficult time of war. According to her, it is important to ensure the widest possible global support for the main activities of the International Working Group. In particular, it is about assessing the environmental damage caused by Russian aggression, bringing Russia to justice for its environmental crimes and compensating for the damage, as well as developing plans for environmental restoration in Ukraine and transition to a green economy.

Environmental activist Greta Thunberg thanked for the invitation and emphasized that she would engage representatives of environmental NGOs in a dialogue on the main tasks of the International Working Group and draw attention to the environmental consequences of the war.

Mary Robinson, President of Ireland in 1990-1997, noted the great efforts made by Ukraine to overcome environmental problems during the war.

Vice-President of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala said: "Russia's invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated the gravity of crimes against the environment throughout the war; in Ukrainian law, this is clearly ecocide. The issue of responsibility for these crimes must be addressed both at the national and international level."



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Ukraine: Concerns mount over influx of weapons and growing civilian casualties

29 June 2023 - The protection of civilians should remain the top priority amid the continued full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and strict control over weapons supplies is needed to prevent diversion, the UN disarmament chief told the Security Council on Thursday.

Since her last briefing in May, said Izumi Nakamitsu, the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, reports from open sources indicate an influx in the transfer of heavy conventional weapons, including battle tanks, combat aircraft, artillery and missile systems.

"There are reports that the supply of arms and ammunition has accelerated and expanded ahead of the reported counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces," she noted.

Ms. Nakamitsu added that there were also alarming accounts of weapons transfers to the Russian armed forces for use in Ukraine, including uncrewed combat aerial vehicles and ammunition.

Tight control over weapons

Highlighting the risk of diversion and insufficient control over arms supplies, the UN representative urged the implementation of measures to prevent further instability and insecurity.

She emphasized the importance of pre-transfer diversion risk assessments, end-user certificates, non-retransfer clauses, effective legal and enforcement measures, and post-shipment verifications.

She underscored the importance of supply chain transparency and information exchange covering all States involved.

Speaking of the grave impact of the intensifying war on civilians, the High Representative said that according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR), from the beginning of the invasion in February 2022 to 18 June this year, there have been 24,862 civilian casualties in Ukraine, with 9,083 killed and 15,779 injured.

The real figures are believed to be significantly higher, however. The majority of civilian casualties have resulted from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, she explained.

Deadly attack in Kramatorsk

"The missile attack in central Kramatorsk on 27 June which killed 12 people is a case in point," said Ms. Nakamitsu and reminded ambassadors of the political declaration adopted last November to strengthen the protection of civilians from the humanitarian consequences of explosives being used in urban areas.

Apart from the loss of life and injuries, critical infrastructure and services have also become targets of relentless attacks, she said. Energy infrastructure, healthcare and educational facilities, roads, and bridges have all suffered extensive damage. Land contamination caused by mines and explosive remnants of war has rendered vast areas unusable for agriculture, while hindering the movement of people.

"The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam is possibly the most significant incident of damage to civilian infrastructure since the start of the war," believes Ms. Nakamitsu.

'Take all feasible precautions'

The High Representative reminded that International humanitarian law prohibits targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure during armed conflicts, and emphasized the need for parties involved "to take all feasible precautions in the conduct of military operations to avoid, or at least minimize, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects."

Reiterating the UN's strong condemnation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, she called for their immediate cessation and reaffirmed commitment to support any meaningful efforts aimed at achieving a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.



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Latest in Ukraine: Mike Pence Makes Surprise Visit to Ukraine

By VOA News June 29, 2023

Latest developments:

Former Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Thursday, during which he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and toured three cities ravaged by Russia.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is set to visit Ukraine this weekend.

The visits came just after a devastating Russian attack on a pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk, Ukraine.

Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Thursday and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Pence is the first Republican presidential candidate to meet with the Ukrainian president during the campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

"I believe America's the leader of the free world," Pence told NBC News, which first reported his trip. "But coming here just as a private citizen a being able to really see firsthand the heroism of the Ukrainian soldiers holding the line in those woods, see the heroism of the people here in Irpin that held back the Russian army, to see families whose homes were literally shelled in the midst of an unconscionable and unprovoked Russian invasion a just steels my resolve to do my part, to continue to call for strong American support for our Ukrainian friends and allies."

In addition to meeting Zelenskyy, Pence reportedly visited Moshchun, Bucha and Irpin, three communities that Russia severely damaged.

Also Thursday, the International Monetary Fund's executive board completed its first review of Ukraine's $15.6 billion loan program, allowing Kyiv to immediately withdraw $890 million for budget support.

That brings Ukraine's withdrawals under the program, which launched at the end of March, to about $3.6 billion.

"Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to have a severe impact on human and physical capital, and the environment, with loss of life, drop in living standards and rise in poverty, as well as damage to infrastructure," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez plans to visit Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Saturday as Spain takes over the European Union's six-month rotating presidency.

Sanchez wants the trip to be the Spanish presidency's first act "to show with his presence the EU's undivided support to Ukraine in all fields: military, humanitarian and economic," his office said.

Pence's visit to Ukraine came just after a deadly Russian missile strike on a pizza restaurant in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

Crews in Ukraine found a body Thursday in the rubble of the restaurant, bringing the death toll from the attack to 12. Ukrainian authorities said the dead included three children, and that the attack injured an additional 60 people.

Ukraine's counterintelligence service said Wednesday that it had arrested a man it accused of helping Russia direct the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said those who help Russia "destroy life" deserve maximum punishment.

"Anyone in the world who does not understand that one cannot be an accomplice of a terrorist state must be held accountable by the entire international community," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.

"The spotter is being charged with treason. The possible punishment is life imprisonment. Accomplices of a terrorist state must be treated as betrayers of humanity," he added.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday that his Foreign Ministry would send a note of protest to Russia after the strike in Kramatorsk injured "three defenseless Colombian civilians."

Petro tweeted that Russia "violated the protocols of war."

The restaurant was frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers as well as local residents. The Security Service of Ukraine provided no evidence for its claim that the arrested man had filmed the restaurant and had told the Russians about it.

Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated Russia's claim that it does not target civilians.

The strike during dinnertime on Tuesday was one of several that Russia launched on Ukrainian cities throughout the evening and into early Wednesday.

Kramatorsk is west of the front lines where fighting is taking place in Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine.

A Russian airstrike on the city's railway station in April 2022 killed 63 people.

Ukraine also reported a Russian missile strike Tuesday in Kremenchuk, which came exactly a year after a Russian attack there killed at least 20 people at a shopping mall.

"Each such manifestation of terror proves over and over again to us and to the whole world that Russia deserves only one thing as a result of everything it has done: defeat and a tribunal, fair and legal trials against all Russian murderers and terrorists," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Tuesday.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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Latest in Ukraine: Death Toll in Kramatorsk Attack Rises to 12

By VOA News June 29, 2023

Latest developments:

European Union leaders to discuss security assistance for Ukraine at summit.

U.S. State Department approves sale of up to $15 billion in Patriot missile defense systems for Poland.

Crews in Ukraine found a body Thursday in the rubble of a pizza restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, bringing the death toll from a Russian missile attack on the site to 12 people.

Ukrainian authorities said the dead include three children, and that the attack injured another 60 people.

Ukraine's counterintelligence service said Wednesday it arrested a man it accused of helping Russia direct the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said those who help Russia "destroy life" deserve maximum punishment.

"Anyone in the world who does not understand that one cannot be an accomplice of a terrorist state must be held accountable by the entire international community," Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. "The spotter is being charged with treason. The possible punishment is life imprisonment. Accomplices of a terrorist state must be treated as betrayers of humanity."

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday his foreign ministry would send a note of protest to Russia after the strike in Kramatorsk injured "three defenseless Colombian civilians."

Petro tweeted that Russia "violated the protocols of war."

The restaurant was frequented by journalists, aid workers, and soldiers as well as local residents. The Security Service of Ukraine provided no evidence for its claim that the man filmed the restaurant and told the Russians about it.

Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated Russia's claim that it does not target civilians.

The strike during dinnertime on Tuesday was one of several Russia launched on Ukrainian cities throughout the evening and into early Wednesday.

Kramatorsk is west of the front lines where fighting is taking place in Donetsk province in eastern Ukraine.

A Russian airstrike on the city's railway station in April 2022 killed 63 people.

Ukraine also reported a Russian missile strike Tuesday in Kremenchuk, which came exactly a year after a Russian attack there killed at least 20 people at a shopping mall.

"Each such manifestation of terror proves over and over again to us and to the whole world that Russia deserves only one thing as a result of everything it has done a defeat and a tribunal, fair and legal trials against all Russian murderers and terrorists," said Zelenskyy.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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Pentagon: US not providing ATACM missiles to Ukraine

Iran Press TV

Friday, 30 June 2023 12:01 AM

The US Defense Department has dismissed American media reports about its decision to provide Ukraine with ATACM long-range missiles.

The Pentagon spokesman on Thursday ruled out any imminent decisions for supplying Kiev with the US Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS.

"I don't have anything to announce regarding ATACMs and certainly I'm not aware of any imminent decisions as it relates to ATACMs," Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told a press briefing.

His remarks came after The Wall Street Journal reported that the US was close to supplying Ukraine with such missiles.

As a senior Ukrainian defense official told the Journal, in recent weeks "Kyiv has received positive signs that the US has changed its position on the ATACMS system."

Kiev has repeatedly called on its Western allies to provide it with the ATACM missiles, which have a range of about 300 kilometers, roughly four times the range of the missiles used by the mobile HIMARS systems that the US began sending to Ukraine last year.

Ukraine said the ATACM missiles would help its forces strike Russian positions far behind the front lines.

Washington has already provided Kiev with HIMARS launchers, which are capable of firing ATACM missiles.

Back in October, Moscow said supplying Kiev with long-range missiles was a red line, and Russia would respond to suppliers with specific measures.

Russian officials have repeatedly announced that flooding Ukraine with weapons will only increase the destruction.

Republican lawmakers have voiced concerns about the haphazard military shipments to Ukraine.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said Washington's military aid to Ukraine was a US-led "proxy war" against Russia.

She said the Ukraine war had placed a heavy financial burden on the shoulders of Americans, who were already grappling with poverty.

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PALO ALTO, Calif., June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via IBN -- The BuildClub , the on-demand marketplace for building materials that is transforming the construction industry with an AI-driven approach, has achieved remarkable success since its launch in March 2021. In less than two years, the company has tripled its annual revenue, surpassing $3 million and establishing a strong foothold in the market. The BuildClubs crowdfunding campaign, reaching a recent milestone of $300,000 on StartEngine , continues to present a unique opportunity for investors to support the company's growth and innovation.



The BuildClub's innovative platform has attracted over 10,000 loyal customers, comprising both contractors and homeowners, who recognize the value and efficiency it brings to their projects. With over 5,000 completed transactions, The BuildClub has successfully delivered more than 270,000 items to satisfied customers. The company's commitment to excellence is reflected in the outstanding feedback received, as evidenced by over 150 5-star customer reviews on Google. The BuildClubs dedication to customer satisfaction has earned the company a reputation as a trusted provider of construction materials.

The BuildClub's digital presence has also experienced remarkable growth. With nearly 50,000 registered users, the platform continues to attract new customers and build a robust community of construction professionals and enthusiasts. Each month, the website garners as many as 400,000 unique visitors, a testament to the growing demand for The BuildClubs services and the effectiveness of its marketing efforts.

"We are incredibly proud of the milestones we have achieved in such a short period," stated Stephen Forte, founder and CEO of The BuildClub. "The rapid growth of our revenue, customer base, and online presence is a testament to the industry's appetite for our disruptive solution."

As The BuildClub continues its upward trajectory, the company is inviting investors to join them on its journey. The BuildClub's crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine, recently reaching $300,000, offers an exceptional opportunity for investors to support the company's growth and innovation. By investing in The BuildClub, individuals can play an integral role in propelling the company to its next milestone and capitalizing on the tremendous potential of the construction industry.

To learn more about The BuildClub and its crowdfunding campaign, please visit the StartEngine page .

About The BuildClub

The BuildClub, an on-demand marketplace for building materials, is revolutionizing the construction and home improvement industry. Powered by AI with an emphasis on convenience and efficiency, The BuildClub's on-demand platform is a one-stop shop, offering 2-hour job site delivery for over 240,000 items.

Visit The BuildClub website or download their app directly from the app stores.

Contact:

Stephen Forte

Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Sole Director

The BuildClub

Palo Alto, CA

stephen@buildclub.com

888-423-0323
CALGARY, Alberta, June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maxim Power Corp. ("MAXIM" or the "Corporation") (TSX: MXG) provides an update on insurance information related to the non-injury fire incident that occurred on September 30, 2022 (the Incident) at the Milner 2 (M2) facility.



INSURANCE INFORMATION UPDATE

As previously reported, MAXIM reaffirms insurance coverage for the Incident, subject to the terms and conditions of the Corporations Property Insurance (PI) policy, including Business Interruption (BI) provisions. The Corporation continues to successfully progress an insurance claim for property damage and lost earnings under the PI policy. The PI policy provides $200 million in total coverage, including BI. The PI insurance coverage related to the property damage from the Incident is subject to a customary deductible. The sub-limitations on the BI provision of the PI policy include a 45-day deductible, a monthly cap of $5.5 million gross margin (plus a monthly margin allowance ranging from 10-15%), and a policy cap of $66 million total gross margin. The Corporation is comfortable that the PI policy limit of $200 million, less any coverage related to the BI provision, is sufficient to cover the property damage related to the Incident.

To date under the PI policy, MAXIM has submitted claims for $66.4 million, of which $48.4 million relates to BI and $18.0 million relates to property damage. To date, MAXIM has received $40.2 million in payments from insurance companies in relation to these claims. The Corporation continues to progress the insurance claims for damages and future lost earnings.

As previously reported, MAXIM submitted an additional insurance claim for a delay in start up related to the Incident under its Course of Construction (COC) insurance policy, which includes a provision for Delay in Start Up (DSU) coverage relating to the Milner 2 Expansion project. The Corporation has received a denial of coverage under this policy and is currently evaluating its options in relation to this claim. The COC policy continues to remain in effect during the construction and commissioning of the Milner 2 Expansion project.

About MAXIM

Based in Calgary, Alberta, MAXIM is one of Canadas largest truly independent power producers. MAXIM is now focused entirely on power projects in Alberta. Its core asset  the 204 MW H.R. Milner Plant, M2, in Grande Cache, AB  is a state-of-the-art natural gas-fired power plant that commissioned in Q2, 2020. MAXIM is currently increasing the capacity of M2 to approximately 300 MW and concurrently will realize an improvement in the efficiency of the plant by investing in heat recovery combined cycle technology. In addition, MAXIM continues to explore additional development options in Alberta including its currently permitted gas-fired generation projects and the permitting of its wind power generation project. MAXIM trades on the TSX under the symbol MXG. For more information about MAXIM, visit our website at www.maximpowercorp.com. For further information please contact:

Bob Emmott, President and COO, (403) 263-3021

Kyle Mitton, CFO and Vice President, Corporate Development, (403) 263-3021

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively "forward looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to MAXIM's plans and other aspects of MAXIM's anticipated future operations, management focus, objectives, strategies, financial, operating and production results. Forward-looking information typically uses words such as "anticipate", "believe", "project", "expect", "goal", "plan", "intend", "may", "would", "could" or "will" or similar words suggesting future outcomes, events or performance. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date thereof and are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Specifically, this press release contains forward-looking information concerning, among other things, MAXIM's insurance claims related to the Incident at M2.

Forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and analysis made by MAXIM in light of our experience and MAXIMs perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors MAXIM believes appropriate under the circumstances. These include, among other things, assumptions regarding insurance coverage.

MAXIM's actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and, accordingly, no assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that MAXIM will derive there from. Risk factors include MAXIMs coverage for damages and business interruption. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists of factors are not exhaustive. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect MAXIMs business, operations or financial results are included in the reports on file with applicable securities regulatory authorities, including but not limited to MAXIMs Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2022, which may be accessed on MAXIMs SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and MAXIM 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, other than as required by applicable securities laws.
BEIJING, June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Emission Control Catalyst Market Size accounted for USD 41.9 Billion in 2022 and is projected to achieve a market size of USD 77.5 Billion by 2032 growing at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2023 to 2032.



Emission Control Catalyst Market Highlights:

Global emission control catalyst market revenue is expected to increase by USD 77.5 Billion by 2032, with a 6.5% CAGR from 2023 to 2032

Asia-Pacific region led with more than 36% of emission control catalyst market share in 2022

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), catalytic converters reduce harmful emissions from cars by up to 90%

The automotive segment is the largest application segment of the market, accounting for over 53% of the market share in 2022

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Emission Control Catalyst Market Report Coverage:

Market Emission Control Catalyst Market Emission Control Catalyst Market Size 2022 USD 41.9 Billion Emission Control Catalyst Market Forecast 2032 USD 77.5 Billion Emission Control Catalyst Market CAGR During 2023 - 2032 6.5% Emission Control Catalyst Market Analysis Period 2020 - 2032 Emission Control Catalyst Market Base Year 2022 Emission Control Catalyst Market Forecast Data 2023 - 2032 Segments Covered By Metal, By Application, By End Use Industry, And By Geography Emission Control Catalyst Market Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled BASF SE, Johnson Matthey PLC, Umicore SA, Clariant AG, Solvay SA, Corning Inc., CDTi Advanced Materials Inc., Heraeus Holding GmbH, Tenneco Inc., and Cataler Corporation. Report Coverage

Market Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Competitive Analysis, Player Profiling, Regulation Analysis

Emission Control Catalyst Market Overview:

Emission control catalysts are critical components used to decrease harmful emissions from the exhaust systems of vehicles and industrial machinery. These are instrumental in controlling air pollution, a major concern in today's world. As our global population increases and industrialization advances at an unprecedented pace, the demand for energy escalates. This trend, in turn, leads to an elevated requirement for emission control catalysts, essential tools to maintain an environmentally sustainable footprint.

These catalysts are primarily used in automotive and industrial sectors for converting harmful pollutants into less harmful emissions before they are released into the environment. Factors driving the market's growth include the rising demand for energy and increasing environmental concerns. The surging demand for energy, particularly from non-renewable sources, necessitates the use of emission control catalysts to mitigate the resultant environmental impact.

However, a number of challenges could impact the market growth. The field faces a shortage of skilled professionals, which could hinder the expansion. Strict regulations and compliance requirements, while necessary for environmental protection, also add to the cost of implementing these systems. Moreover, there is a potential risk of misuse of emission control data for malicious purposes, such as environmental damage or terrorism.

Despite the challenges, the global Emission Control Catalyst market is set for significant growth. As the world strives for cleaner air and a more sustainable future, the demand for efficient emission control catalysts will continue to increase. Technological advancements and stringent environmental regulations are also key driving factors for this market's growth. With a diverse array of applications and an increasing awareness of the importance of sustainability, the future looks promising for the Emission Control Catalyst market.

Emerging Trends in the Emission Control Catalyst Market:

Advanced Catalyst Technologies: Emerging technologies provide precise and accurate emission control data. This data is useful for a variety of purposes, including environmental risk assessment, infrastructure planning, and regulatory compliance.

Increased Use in Renewable Energy: With the global shift towards renewable energy sources, the demand for emission control catalysts is increasing. These catalysts are used to control and reduce emissions from systems harnessing renewable energy.

Environmental Monitoring: The utilization of emission control catalysts for environmental monitoring is on the rise. These catalysts help in assessing air quality and identifying potential areas of environmental concern.



Growth Dynamics of the Emission Control Catalyst Market:

Rising Global Energy Demand: As the world's population continues to grow, the demand for energy consequently rises. This increased energy consumption leads to a higher demand for emission control catalysts.

Technological Advancements: The advent of new technologies, including AI and machine learning, has boosted the efficiency of emission control data analysis, leading to enhanced emissions control.

Stringent Environmental Regulations: Governments around the world are imposing stricter regulations on emissions from various industries and vehicles. These regulations necessitate the use of emission control catalysts.

Growing Awareness of Sustainability: As awareness of the importance of sustainable development increases among businesses and governments, the demand for emission control catalysts grows in parallel.

Potential Growth Slowing Factors for the Emission Control Catalyst Market:

Regulatory Barriers: Emission control catalysts often have to comply with strict regulations, adding to the overall cost of services.

Economic Conditions: Economic downturns may lead to decreased investments in emission control technologies, hindering market growth.

Shortage of Skilled Professionals: The rapid evolution of the field might outpace the availability of trained professionals, potentially slowing market growth.

Data Sharing Challenges: Legal and trust-related issues, as well as technical challenges related to the format and quality of the data, can hinder effective data sharing.

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Emission Control Catalyst Market Segmentation:

By Metal

Palladium

Rhodium

Platinum

Other

By Application

Mobile Emission

Stationary Emission

By End Use Industry

Industrial

Automotive

Other

Emission Control Catalyst Market Overview by Region:

The market is divided based on geography into regions such as North America, Eastern Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, Middle East & Africa, and Latin America. Asia Pacific leads the market, followed by North America and the European region. Factors such as growing energy needs, innovative technology adoption, and heightened environmental consciousness are driving the market growth in these regions.

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Emission Control Catalyst Market Key Players:

BASF SE, Johnson Matthey PLC, Umicore N.V., Clariant AG, CDTi Advanced Materials, Inc., Corning Incorporated, Tenneco Inc., CRI Catalyst Company, Heraeus Holding GmbH, Cataler Corporation, Solvay SA, Haldor Topsoe A/S, Cormetech Inc., Sinopec Catalyst Co., Ltd. and Bosal International N.V.

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The Global Vacuum Suction Cups Market Size was valued at USD 784 million in 2021 and is estimated to achieve a market size of USD 1,331 million by 2030; growing at a CAGR of 6.4%.

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xebra Brands Ltd. (Xebra) (XBRA: CSE) (XBRAF: OTCQB) (9YC: FSE), announces today that it was not in a position to file its audited annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and related officer certifications for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2023 (collectively the "Annual Filings") on or before the filing deadline of June 28, 2023, as required under applicable Canadian securities laws.



Xebra has been delayed in meeting the deadline for its Annual Filings due to recent management changes. As a result, the Company applied for a management cease trade order ("MCTO") under National Policy 12-203  Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203"). An MCTO has been granted by the Company's principal regulator, the British Columbia Securities Commission.

Xebra is working diligently with its auditors, Dale Matheson Carr-Hilton LaBonte LLP (DMCL, LLP) and expects to have the audit of the Annual Filings completed no later than July 15, 2023. Xebra will issue a news release once the Annual Filings have been filed. Now that the management changes have concluded, Xebra does not expect to experience delays with future filings. Until Xebra files the Annual Filings, it will comply with the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203 by issuing bi-weekly default status reports, in the form of news releases, for so long as the Annual Filings have not been filed.

About Xebra Brands Ltd.

Xebra is an international cannabis cultivation and product company, with global brands and intellectual property. Our focus includes beverages, wellness and leisure. Xebra is an absolute first mover in the Mexican cannabis sector with the first ever granted authorization to a corporation by the COFEPRIS. In Canada, Xebra retails its unique Vicious Citrus THC/CBN Lemonades.



On Behalf of Xebra Brands Ltd.

Jay Garnett

Chief Executive Officer

For further information please contact:

Tel: (833) XEBRA 88

Email: ir@xebrabrands.com

Forward-Looking Information

Except for the statements of historical fact, this news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, business goals and objectives of the Company; statements and information regarding the timing for the filings of the Annual Filings; the Companys ability to be a first mover in a country, or to obtain or retain government licenses, permits, or authorizations in general, or specifically in Mexico, Canada or elsewhere, including cannabis authorizations from the Mexican Health Regulatory Agency (COFEPRIS); the Companys ability to satisfy the conditions of authorizations granted by COFEPRIS; any continuing uniqueness of any of the Companys products; and other forward-looking information concerning the intentions, plans and future actions of the parties to the transactions described herein and the terms thereon.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, the reliance of the Company on its auditors and management with respect to the Annual Filings; Such factors include, but are not limited to, the inability of the Company to retain the authorizations granted by COFEPRIS; the inability to generate sufficient revenues or to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plan; changes in government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in various countries; risks associated with agriculture and cultivation activities generally, including inclement weather, access to supply of seeds, poor crop yields, and spoilage; compliance with import and export laws of various countries; significant fluctuations in cannabis prices and transportation costs; the risk of obtaining necessary licenses and permits; inability to identify, negotiate and complete potential acquisitions, dispositions or joint ventures for any reason; the ability to retain key employees; dependence on third parties for services and supplies; non-performance by contractual counter-parties; general economic conditions; the continued growth in global demand for cannabis products and the continued increase in jurisdictions legalizing cannabis; the timely receipt of regulatory approvals for license applications on terms satisfactory to the Company; and other related risks as more fully set out in the registration statement of Company and other documents disclosed under the Companys filings at www.sedar.com . In addition, there is no assurance that the Company will: be a low-cost producer or exporter; obtain a dominant market position in any jurisdiction; or have products that will be unique.

The forward-looking information in this news release reflects the current expectations, assumptions and/or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, the Company has made assumptions about the Companys objectives, goals or future plans, the timing thereof and related matters. The Company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of the Companys normal course of business. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein.
Westford, USA, June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to SkyQuest, solar tracking systems have gained significant prominence in the United States due to the growing emphasis on solar efficiency and maximizing power generation from photovoltaic (PV) systems. The panels can maintain an optimal angle relative to the sun's position by deploying solar trackers, which continuously adjust the position and orientation of solar panels throughout the day.

Browse in-depth TOC on the "Solar Tracker Market."

Pages - 242

Tables - 87

Figures 77

A solar tracker is a sophisticated system designed to orient an object, typically photovoltaic (PV) panels, at an optimal angle relative to the sun's position throughout the day. Its primary function is to maximize the absorption of solar radiation and optimize energy generation. Solar trackers ensure that they remain perpendicular to the sun's rays, thereby maximizing the amount of sunlight the panels receive, by continuously adjusting the position of the PV panels.

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Prominent Players in Solar Tracker Market

SunPower Corporation

Soltec

Arctech Solar

NEXTracker, Inc.

Array Technologies, Inc.

Convert Italia S.p.A.

GameChange Solar

Scorpius Trackers

Exosun

PVH Solar

First Solar, Inc.

Abengoa Solar, S.A.

Sun Action Trackers

Mechatron S.A.

Powerway Renewable Energy Co., Ltd.

STi Norland

Grupo Clavijo

Ideematec Deutschland GmbH

Mahindra Susten Private Limited

Titan Tracker SA

Photovoltaic Segment is Expected to Grow the Market Due to the Compatibility of PV Cells

The photovoltaic (PV) segment dominated the global solar tracker market, capturing over 85% of the total revenue. This significant market share can be attributed to the compatibility of PV cells with traditional photovoltaic module technologies. PV technology offers a reliable and efficient means of converting sunlight into electricity, making it a popular choice for solar energy generation. The seamless integration of PV cells with existing photovoltaic modules facilitates widespread adoption in various applications.

The market in North America has experienced substantial growth in installed solar energy capacity, driven by several key factors. One significant driver has been the increasing investments in renewable energy projects, including solar power, throughout the region. Both public and private sectors have recognized the potential of solar energy as a clean and sustainable power source, prompting significant investments in the development of solar installations.

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Utility Segment is Expected to Dominate the Market Due to the Increased Adoption of Solar Tracker Systems

The utility sector emerged as the leading global solar tracker market, primarily driven by several factors. One key factor is the declining cost of various projects associated with photovoltaic (PV) installations. This reduction in project costs has made solar energy more economically viable for utility-scale applications, leading to increased adoption of solar tracker systems.

Regional markets in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) are poised to experience the highest growth in the global solar tracker market during the forecast period. This growth can be attributed to several key factors. The region boasts a vast solar potential due to its abundant sunlight and favorable climatic conditions.

A comprehensive analysis of the major players in the solar tracker market has been recently conducted in a report. The report encompasses various aspects, including collaborations, mergers, innovative business policies, and strategies, providing valuable insights into key trends and breakthroughs in the market. Furthermore, the report scrutinizes the market share of the top segments and presents a detailed geographic analysis. Lastly, the report highlights the major players in the industry and their endeavours to develop innovative solutions to cater to the growing demand.

Key Developments in the Solar Tracker Market

Nextracker and US independent power producer (IPP) Silicon Ranch recently announced a new collaboration that involves the installation of 1.5 GW of Nextracker's solar trackers across Silicon Ranch's solar projects. This agreement aims to be completed by the end of 2024, with the potential for expansion as Silicon Ranch's portfolio grows. Silicon Ranch reduces logistics risks and minimizes its carbon footprint, emphasizing its commitment to sustainable sourcing and environmental stewardship, by opting for American-made trackers using US steel.

The introduction of Trina Solar's SuperTrack, featuring a Smart Tracking algorithm that enhances energy output by up to 3 to 8 per cent compared to traditional tracking algorithms in 2022. The SuperTrack system employs Smart Backtracking (SBA) and Smart Tracking (STA) algorithms, offering improved energy generation, particularly in challenging terrains, adverse weather conditions, and low irradiance scenarios.

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Key Questions Answered in Solar Tracker Market Report

What specific growth drivers are projected to impact the market during the forecast period?

List the top companies in the market and explain how they have achieved their positions of influence.

In what ways do regional trends and patterns differ within the global market, and how these differences shape the market's future growth?

Related Reports in SkyQuests Library:

Global Solar Encapsulation Market

Global Solid State Lighting Market

Global Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging Market

Global Gallium Arsenide (GaAS) Solar Cells Market

Global Onshore Wind Energy Market

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NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, JAPAN OR HONG KONG, OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL OR WOULD REQUIRE REGISTRATION OR OTHER MEASURES. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.



Aberdeen, 30th June 2023

Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement published by Awilco Drilling Plc (the "Company") on 30th June 2023 regarding the completion a private placement of 9,680,040 new Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts by the Company raising gross proceeds of the NOK equivalent of USD 8.1 million (the "Private Placement").

As announced by the Company on 29th June 2023, the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") intends to carry out a potential subsequent offering of new Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts raising gross proceeds of the NOK equivalent of up to USD 0.4 million to existing holders of Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts in the Company as of 29th June 2023 (as registered in the VPS two trading days thereafter) who (i) were not included in the wall crossing phase of the Private Placement, (ii) were not allocated Offer Shares in the Private Placement, and (iii) are not resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful or would (in jurisdictions other than Norway) require any prospectus, filing, registration or similar action (the "Subsequent Offering"). The subscription price per new Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts in the Subsequent Offering will be NOK 9, which is equal to the subscription price per new Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts in the Private Placement.

Date on which the terms and conditions of the Subsequent Offering were announced: 29 June 2023

Last day including right: 29 June 2023

Ex-date: 30 June 2023

Record date: 3 July 2023

Date of approval: 29 June 2023

Maximum number of new Sponsored Norwegian Depository Receipts: 478,027

Subscription price: NOK 9

Other information: The Subsequent Offering is conditional upon, inter alia, completion of the Private Placement and approval by the Board as well approval by an extraordinary general meeting of the Company to be held on or around 20 July 2023 of an authorisation to the Board to increase the share capital of the Company. The Board may at its discretion decide not to proceed with or cancel the Subsequent Offering. The Subsequent Offering will not be available for shareholders resident in a jurisdiction where such offering would be unlawful or would (in jurisdictions other than Norway) require any prospectus, filing, registration or similar action.

For further information about the Private Placement and the Subsequent Offering please contact:

Erik Jacobs, CEO of Awilco Drilling; Tel: +47 95 29 22 71



Cathrine Haavind, Investor Relations of Awilco Drilling; Tel: +47 93 42 84 64

This information is published in accordance with the requirements of the Continuing Obligations.

Important information

The release is not for publication or distribution, in whole or in part directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Japan Hong Kong or the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia). It is issued for information purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities, in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "US Securities Act"). The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act. Awilco Drilling does not intend to register any portion of any offering of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong or the United States.

In any EEA Member State, this communication is only addressed to and is only directed at qualified investors in that Member State within the meaning of the Prospectus Regulation, i.e., only to investors who can receive the offer without an approved prospectus in such EEA Member State. The expression "Prospectus Regulation" means (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 14 June 2017, as amended Regulation, on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public (together with any applicable implementing measures in any EEA Member State).

This communication is only being distributed to and is only directed at persons in the United Kingdom that are (i) investment professionals falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, as amended (the "Order") or (ii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom this announcement may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2)(a) to (d) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). This communication must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not relevant persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only for relevant persons and will be engaged in only with relevant persons. Persons distributing this communication must satisfy themselves that it is lawful to do so.

The issue, subscription or purchase of securities in Awilco Drilling is subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither Awilco Drilling nor the Manager assumes any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions. The distribution of this release may in certain jurisdictions be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this release comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

The Manager is acting for Awilco Drilling and no one else in connection with the potential Private Placement in the Company and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company providing the protections afforded to their respective clients or for providing advice in relation to the Private Placement and/or any other matter referred to in this release.

Forward-looking statements: This release and any materials distributed in connection with this release may contain certain forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect Awilco Drilling's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of material factors could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cornish Metals Inc. (TSX-V/AIM: CUSN) (Cornish Metals or the Company) is pleased to announce the results of its 2023 Annual General and Special Meeting of the shareholders of the Company held via live audio teleconference on June 29, 2023 (the Meeting). Proxies representing 261,370,202 common shares of the Company (Common Shares), and shareholders holding 350,000 Common Shares, being in aggregate 48.89% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as at the date hereof, were voted. All resolutions were passed.

Mr. Grenville Thomas

Mr. Grenville Thomas, founder of Cornish Metals, did not stand for re-election to the Board. Richard Williams, CEO and Director, and the Board of Directors, would like to thank Gren for his contribution to the Company since he founded it over 20 years ago. Mr. Thomas will continue to be associated with the Company as Chairman Emeritus.

Meeting Results

Capitalized terms not otherwise defined in this news release shall have the meanings ascribed thereto in the Companys Management Proxy Circular dated May 18, 2023 (the Circular).

The voting results of the business of the Meeting are summarized as follows:

MOTION Votes For % For Votes Against % Against Votes Withheld % Withheld Number of directors set at seven 261,188,865 99.93 181,337 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Patrick F.N. Anderson 258,480,629 99.93 192,141 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Richard D. Williams 258,491,629 99.93 181,141 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Kenneth A. Armstrong 258,488,433 99.93 184,337 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Donald Njegovan 258,489,629 99.93 183,141 0.07 N/A N/A Election of John F.G. McGloin 258,496,933 99.93 175,837 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Stephen T. Gatley 258,497,433 99.93 175,337 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Anthony Trahar 258,488,629 99.93 184,141 0.07 N/A N/A Appointment of Auditors 261,289,157 99.98 N/A N/A 62,026 0.02 Approval of the Stock Option Plan Resolution 258,279,737 99.85 394,309 0.15 N/A N/A Approval of the RSU Plan Resolution 258,309,081 99.86 364,965 0.14 N/A N/A Approval of the General Share Authority Resolution 258,443,431 99.91 230,615 0.09 N/A N/A Approval of the Pre-Emptive Disapplication Authority Resolution 258,454,431 99.92 219,615 0.08 N/A N/A Approval of the RSU Plan Share Authority Resolution 258,291,731 99.85 382,315 0.15 N/A N/A

At the Meeting, pursuant to the Stock Option Plan Resolution, shareholders approved the Amended Option Plan, which was amended in respect of certain amendments as further described in the Circular, together with certain clarifying, housekeeping changes which did not require shareholder approval. The maximum number of Common Shares issuable under the Amended Option Plan, together with the number of Common Shares issuable under outstanding security based compensation granted otherwise than under the Amended Option Plan, shall not exceed 10% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares from time to time. As of the date hereof, the maximum number of Common Shares issuable under the Amended Option Plan is equal to 53,527,071.

Further, at the Meeting, pursuant to the RSU Plan Resolution, shareholders approved the adoption by the Company of the RSU Plan. The maximum number of Common Shares issuable under the RSU Plan, together with the number of Common Shares issuable under outstanding security based compensation granted otherwise than under the RSU Plan, shall not exceed 10% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares from time to time. As of the date hereof, the maximum number of Common Shares issuable under the RSU Plan is equal to 48,377,071.

The Amended Option Plan and the RSU Plan are subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

ABOUT CORNISH METALS

Cornish Metals is a dual-listed company (AIM and TSX-V: CUSN) focused on advancing the South Crofty high-grade, underground tin project through to delivery of a Feasibility Study, as well as exploring its additional mineral rights, all located in Cornwall, South West England. The former producing South Crofty tin mine is located beneath the towns of Pool and Camborne and closed in 1998 following over 400 years of continuous production. Since acquiring the project in 2016, Cornish Metals has completed and published maiden NI 43-101 Mineral Resources for South Crofty using the vast archive of historical production data and more recent drilling completed between 2007 and 2013. Additionally, Cornish Metals has undertaken extensive pilot-scale water treatment trials and successfully applied for and received the necessary environmental permits to abstract, treat and discharge mine water in order to dewater the mine. Planning permissions for the operation of the mine and re-development of the surface facilities have been secured and construction of the water treatment plant is currently well underway.

An updated Mineral Resource was completed in June 2021 as summarised below:

South Crofty Summary (JORC 2012) Mineral Resource Estimate Area Classification Mass (000 tonnes) Grade Contained Tin / Tin Equivalent (000 tonnes) Increase in contained Tin / Tin equivalent from 2016 MRE Lower Mine

Indicated 2,084 1.59% Sn 33 10.2% Inferred 1,937 1.67% Sn 32 129.8% Upper Mine

Indicated 277 1.01% SnEq 3 9.5% Inferred 493 0.93% SnEq 5 8.0%

The Mineral Resource Estimate for South Crofty (see news release dated June 9, 2021), is available in a report titled the South Crofty Tin Project Mineral Resource Update dated June 7, 2021, authored by Mr. N. Szebor, CGeol (London), EuroGeol, FGS, of AMC Consultants (UK) Ltd, can be accessed through the link and on the Companys SEDAR page.

The technical information in this news release has been compiled by Mr. Owen Mihalop who has reviewed and takes responsibility for the data and geological interpretation. Mr. Owen Mihalop (MCSM, BSc (Hons), MSc, FGS, MIMMM, CEng) is Chief Operating Officer for Cornish Metals Inc. and has sufficient experience 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 as defined under the JORC Code (2012) and as a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Mr. Mihalop consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

For additional information please contact:

In North America:

Irene Dorsman at (604) 200 6664 or by e-mail at irene.dorsman@cornishmetals.com

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP

(Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker) Tel: +44 203 470 0470



Richard Morrison Charlie Bouverat Grant Barker Hannam & Partners

(Joint Broker) Tel: +44 207 907 8500



Matthew Hasson Andrew Chubb Jay Ashfield BlytheRay

(Financial PR/IR-London) Tel: +44 207 138 3204



Tim Blythe tim.blythe@blytheray.com Megan Ray megan.ray@blytheray.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Richard D. Williams

Richard D. Williams, P.Geo

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.

Caution regarding forward looking statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions at the time such statements are made, 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, including but not limited to: risks related to receipt of regulatory approvals, risks related to general economic and market conditions; risks related to the COVID-19 global pandemic and any variants of COVID-19 which may arise; risks related to the availability of financing; the timing and content of upcoming work programmes; actual results of proposed exploration activities; possible variations in Mineral Resources or grade; outcome of the current Feasibility Study; projected dates to commence mining operations; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations.



Although Cornish Metals has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, 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. Cornish Metals undertakes no obligation or responsibility to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
CHICAGO and TURNHOUT, Belgium, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading luxury real estate brand Christies International Real Estate announces its expansion into Belgium, partnering with fast-growing luxury-focused firm, Hillewaere. As the exclusive affiliate of Christies International Real Estate in Belgium, Hillewaere will gain access to world-class marketing and technology, national and international visibility for listings, and a connection to the iconic Christies auction house, for the referral of art and luxury goods.

Established in 2002 by Roel Druyts, Hillewaere has grown from a one-man real estate brokerage to a thriving multidisciplinary company with divisions for real estate, insurance, and mortgage lending. Druyts now serves as CEO of Hillewaere Group, while Bart Van Delm oversees the firms real estate business as managing director. In 2021, the firm received an investment from merchant banking powerhouse Rothschild & Co. and its Five Arrows Principal Investments (FAPI) arm, setting up further expansion.

Hillewaere is a fixture in Belgiums high-end residential market, which continues to see strong growth post pandemic. The country attracts residents from around the world with its rich culture and bustling economy, and is particularly appealing to homebuyers from France, Germany, and the Netherlands thanks to its relatively low cost of living and tax incentives.

The firm is well established in Antwerp and other Flemish provinces, and is planning to expand under the Christies International Real Estate brand into the capital city of Brussels, the French-speaking Wallonia region, and Knokke and other upscale resort towns along the Belgian coast.

Much like the relationship between Christies International Real Estate and the separately owned, but closely aligned, Christies auction house, the connection between Hillewaeres real estate division and its insurance business  which includes categories for art, luxury automobiles and fine jewelry  creates synergies that drive referrals and exceptional client service.

Hillewaere and Christies International Real Estate complement each other perfectly in terms of our expertise, the way we serve buyers and sellers and our credibility in the market. Around the world, Christies International Real Estate has a wide client base and unique target audience, especially given their close relationship with Christies auction house. And we built our strong reputation and systematically expanded our existing portfolio in the luxury housing market in Belgium over the past few years, explained Druyts.

Our focus on luxury real estate, our client-centric approach and our staffs expertise, combined with the deep international network that Christies International Real Estate provides, ensures clients know they are in the right place to buy or sell their luxury property with confidence. This partnership will undoubtedly strengthen our position in the Belgian luxury real estate market, added Van Delm.

Roel and Bart have built an exceptional real estate brokerage focused on relationships, innovation and unmatched service, all values shared by Christies International Real Estate. We are pleased to have them on board as our exclusive Belgium affiliate, and we look forward to supporting their growth as we continue our expansion throughout Europe, said Helena de Forton, managing director, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) for Christies International Real Estate.

Christies International Real Estate has expanded rapidly over the past 18 months through new partnerships with independent brokerage firms around the world. Recently, the brand has signed on new affiliates in Munich, London, Milan, Venice, the Italian, Swiss and French Alps, Malta, Estonia, the Caribbean and Japan. The luxury real estate network has also added leading brokerages in top-ranked U.S. markets, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Miami and Chicago.

###

About Christies International Real Estate

Christies International Real Estate has successfully marketed high-value real estate around the world for more than 30 years. Through its invitation-only Affiliate network spanning nearly 50 countries and territories, Christies International Real Estate offers incomparable services to a global clientele at the luxury end of the residential property market. For more information, please visit christiesrealestate.com.

About the Hillewaere Group

Founded by current CEO Roel Druyts in 2002, Hillewaere Group is a group of three service companies: Hillewaere Real Estate, Hillewaere Insurance and Hillewaere Mortgages. The company strives to provide clients with the best advice for acquiring, managing, protecting and furnishing real estate in the most service-oriented and proactive way possible. And it takes advantage of technology to go all out in attaining this goal. The three companies are managed by Hillewaere Holding. For more information, visit hillewaere.be .

Attachments
Dublin, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Cutting Tools Market - Global Outlook & Forecast 2023-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global cutting tools market is expected to reach a value of $13.266 billion by 2028 from $9.5 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 5.72% from 2022 to 2028.

The global cutting tools market is characterized by low market concentration and high competition among the major players. The present scenario drives vendors to alter and refine their unique value propositions to achieve a strong market presence.

Currently, the cutting tools market is highly fragmented and dominated by vendors such as Kennametal Inc, OGS Corporation, and Iscar Ltd, among others, alongside numerous domestic tool manufacturers that manufacture cutting tools as per the local demands and regulations.

MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS



Rising Home Improvements & Do-It-Yourself Activities

In developed economies such as the U.S. and Europe, many adults engage in purposeful and creative leisure activities, with some investing in home improvement and maintenance based on personal interests. Consumers in countries like France, Germany, Italy, and the UK consider DIY activities a significant hobby.

The concept is also gaining popularity in developing economies such as India, Brazil, and South Africa. The growing interest among consumers in undertaking their projects and maintaining a sustainable environment has increased the demand for D.I.Y products such as cutting tools.

During the pandemic, many people turned to DIY activities to relieve stress and take care of tasks to reduce costs while staying indoors. The concept of D.I.Y is well-adopted in Western countries, with most American regions contributing to nearly 81% of the market share in the D.I.Y industry. This trend is expected to continue during the forecast period.

The surge in the D.I.Y industry is projected to grow due to the high penetration of media presence, including television, social media, and videos, which have helped recreate home improvement projects. Western countries like North America and Canada actively engage in D.I.Y activities. Additionally, many retail stores like supermarkets and hypermarkets have enabled significant growth for many vendors in the D.I.Y segment.

Rising Usage of Cutting Tools In General Manufacturing Industries

Cutting tools are crucial in manufacturing, particularly in producing general machinery, automobiles, aviation and aerospace, energy, medical equipment, rail transit, molds, machine tools, and other industries.

The automotive manufacturing process heavily relies on cutting tools as they are one of the key components of the process. The traditional procedures have been replaced with new techniques like high-speed cutting, dry machining, hard machining, and advanced cutting technology.



The automotive sector has significantly shifted towards using professional tools such as Carbide Cutters. This transformation is driven by the need for high product quality and precision, which is required to produce high-value parts. The industrial circle has gradually moved from traditional machining to high-performance cutting tools that provide greater efficiency and accuracy.

Furthermore, due to machinery and equipment automation and the growing need for high-performance, high-precision machining equipment has become essential to industry growth. As a result, the demand for high-efficiency and performance-cutting tools is increasing. Such factors drive the development of new cutting technologies in the cutting tools market.

SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS



INSIGHTS BY TOOL TYPE

The dominance of the indexable tool type segment in the global cutting tools market in 2022 can be attributed to its modern turning operations.

This has displaced previous common tool types, such as HSS, brazed-carbide, and custom form tools, before the widespread use of CNC machines. Indexable turning tools, when used in conjunction with the multiple-axis motion of a CNC machine tool, make it easier to create complex shapes, eliminating the need for dedicated turning tools.

However, solid round tools are experiencing high growth rates in the global cutting tools market due to their ability to cover all application types within solid carbide drilling, milling, HSS tapping, reaming, and threading. Each solid round tool is designed to meet the requirements of high quality, precision, and maximum productivity, allowing for optimal machining processes.

INSIGHTS BY PRODUCT TYPE

The global cutting tools market by product segments as groovers, reamers, milling cutters, drills, and others.

In 2022, the Groover product type dominated the industry. These tools are highly used with lathes to cut channels on the end of a workpiece or into an existing bore. Groovers are also utilized for various applications, including creating recesses for retaining rings and necking workpieces to ensure a clean fit when mating parts.

Additionally, a grooving tool is a cutting tool that removes material to form grooves, channels, or other cross-sectional shapes on the workpiece. A groove may be cut with an end mill having one fixed cutter and another moveable cutter placed at each side. Such tools are also called profile mills when they produce linear cuts along the length of the item being milled.

INSIGHTS BY MATERIAL TYPE

The cemented carbide material type segment dominated the global cutting tools market and was valued at over USD 3.2 billion in 2022.

This market is highly fragmented and consists of many companies operating on both global and regional levels. This indicates that manufacturers of cutting tools possess significant bargaining power over suppliers. Cemented carbide tools are primarily used for high-precision work involving greater shape, size, and structure complexity.

However, specialized cutting tools are more cost-effective and efficient for specific tasks. The APAC and North American regions are expected to have the largest share in the global cemented carbide industry. Vendors in these areas are anticipated to benefit from abundant raw material availability and will provide a competitive advantage to vendors regarding the selling price.

The high availability of other raw materials, such as steel, in countries like China, India, and the U.S., is also expected to lead to high growth rates for high-speed steel (HSS) tools. This is expected to enable vendors to further enhance their profit margins by maintaining good supplier-vendor relationships.

INSIGHTS BY END-USER

The automotive industry is the largest end-user segment in the global cutting tools market. Drilling and fastening tools are the primary tools for tightening fasteners, engine mounting, and other joint works.

With the global electric vehicles market growing at almost 60% annually, expansion and increased production facilities are expected to increase the demand for cutting tools. This can be more prominent in countries such as China, Japan, the US, and Western Europe, where the production of EVs is more likely to accelerate during the forecast period.

INSIGHTS BY DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

The offline distribution channel had the highest global cutting tools market in 2022. Factors such as the broader reach in areas that lack better connectivity and high consumer trust associated with touching and experiencing the quality of products are driving the growth of this segment.

Although the online segment holds a relatively lower market share, it is expected to grow faster than offline distribution channels.

Key Attributes:

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 338 Forecast Period 2022 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2022 $9500 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $13266.33 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 5.7% Regions Covered Global

Market Opportunities & Trends

Emerging Construction Industry

Rising Demand For Luxury Vinyl Tiles

Robust Increase In New Construction And Remodeling In Residential Sector

Market Growth Enablers

Rising Home Improvements & Diy Activities

Rising Usage Of Cutting Tools In General Manufacturing Industries

Developing Prominence Of Asian Manufacturing

Market Restraints

Low-Cost Labor

Oscillation In Cost Of Raw Materials

Key Company Profiles

Kennametal Inc.

OSG Corporation

Iscar Ltd

Other Prominent Vendors

Mapal

Makita Corporation

Robert Bosch

Stanley Black & Decker

Kelin Tools

ICS Cutting Tools Inc

Snap-on Incorporated

OTTO BAIER GmbH

Hilti Corporation

Sandvik AG

Ingersoll Cutting Tools

FRASIA SA

KYOCERA

J SCHNEEBERGER Maschinen AG

VOLLMER

CERATIZIT Group

HIKOKI

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ob5y43

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
New York, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Operator approaches for supporting business customers with their ESG goals: case studies and analysis" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06472106/?utm_source=GNW

"ESG typically accounts for 15% of enterprise RFP scores, but few operators have developed the capabilities to respond consistently well."





Businesses are increasingly seeking support for achieving their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. Operators reported that ESG typically takes up a somewhat significant percentage of a request for proposal (RFP) scorecard. Telecoms operators are well-placed to help meet this demand, but few are offering direct services, such as quantitative carbon monitoring solutions, despite operators often having clear internal ESG goals. Operators current ESG support for businesses ranges from reporting about real-time carbon emission from network equipment to e-cycle schemes.





This report outlines the approaches that five different operators are taking to support their business customers with their ESG-related goals. The report also provides recommendations for operators for developing solutions to help support their business customers ESG needs.





This report answers the following questions.





Which strategies are operators taking to support their business customers with ESG-related goals?

How can operators use ESG capabilities and credentials to differentiate their services with business customers?

Do the ESG goals of businesses create any new opportunities for telecoms operators?

The following companies are featured in case studies.

BT

Colt

Orange Business

Telstra

Vodafone



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06472106/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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New York, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Europe Fertilizer Spreader Market - Regional Outlook & Forecast 2023-2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06472089/?utm_source=GNW



 With the share of agricultural exports growing slowly, some governments, such as Germany, France, Italy, etc., are working to double the quantity and revenues from agricultural product exports by 2030.

 The Europe fertilizer spreader market grew 3.4% in 2022 from 2021. The increase in crop production and fertilizer spreader sales was due to a favorable climate in 2021 and 2022.

 Most of the Government plans schemes and initiatives to facilitate credit and improve agriculture-related operations, which will contribute to the growth of the overall value chain of the market.

 The emphasis on export-centric production and related returns by exporting significant, high-quality products will boost the sales of new fertilizer spreaders and agriculture equipment to fulfill the required farming activities.



MARKET TRENDS & DRIVERS



Increased Food Consumption & Population Growth



The rise in population increases the demand for sustainable agriculture practices. This can increase the productivity of lands and mitigate the effects of climate and chemical impact on agriculture. Deploying fertilizer spreaders in agriculture remains a key factor supporting sustainable agriculture. Fertilizer spreaders are widely used to spread fertilizers on large fields in less time. The fertilizer spreaders, the muscle of modern agriculture, are expected to play a vital part in European food production during the forecast period.



Lack of Skilled Farm Labor



The lack or unavailability of unskilled labor drives farmers and farm owners to invest in fertilizer spreaders to fulfill the otherwise manually completed tasks, such as preparing the soil for planting and fertilizer spreading. Western European countries need more skilled labor as they have higher levels of mechanization. Labor during the harvesting phase is necessary to complete tasks performed using combined harvesters and balers. Landowners in Germany and some other European countries, generally farmers, employ labor to carry out tedious tasks. A labor shortage is witnessed in the agriculture sector due to several reasons. Lack of incentives, migration toward other sectors for employment, and hazardous working conditions in this industry are some reasons. One of the major socio-demographic features that drive the Europe fertilizer spreader market is that, on average, farmers are in the older age group, which leads them to rely on fertilizer spreaders.



SEGMENTATION INSIGHTS



INSIGHTS BY MOUNTING TYPE



In 2022, the mounted fertilizer spreader segment recorded high growth in the Europe fertilizer spreader market. The primary factor for the steady growth of the mounted type of fertilizer spreader is the low cost and efficiency. The sales of trailed fertilizer spreaders are expected to remain steady during the forecast period, as farm sales are likely to remain the same in the coming years.



Segmentation by Mounting



 Mounted

 Trailed

 Self-propelled



INSIGHTS BY THE FERTILIZER TYPE



The Europe fertilizer spreader market by fertilizer type is categorized into solid and liquid. The solid fertilizer spreader segment generated the highest sales in almost all the countries of Europe. Due to the expansion of hydroponic system field areas, the availability of fertilizers at reduced prices, and the rise in mechanization, which has led to a rise in the adoption of technologies in fertilizer spreaders.



Segmentation by Fertilizer



 Solid

 Liquid



GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

Russia was the largest fertilizer spreader market in Europe in terms of unit sales, accounting for a share of over 29% share in 2022. Low prices of commodities such as wheat at the global level have put pressure on farmers to invest in new machinery. As a result, the fertilizer spreader market in Russia took a hit in 2020. However, ambitious plans of the Russian government are putting the fertilizer spreader industry back on track.



Segmentation by Geography



 Russia

 Germany

 France

 Italy

 Spain

 Others



COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE



AGCO Corporation, Deere & Co., CNH Industrial, Kubota, and Adams Fertilizer Equipment are among the major vendors in the Europe fertilizer spreader industry. The industry could be more cohesive, with many local and international players. Changes in the economic environment may harm vendors as consumers expect constant advances and upgrades in agricultural equipment. The current situation pushes vendors to adjust and improve their value proposition to attain a good business presence.



Key Company Profiles



 AGCO Corporation

 CNH Industrial

 Deere & Company

 Kuhn Group

 AMAZONEN-WERKE H. DREYER SE & CO. KG



Other Prominent Vendors



 Adams Fertilizer Equipment

 Eurospand Cavallo

 CEA AGRIMIX

 Montag Mfg

 Salford Group

 Cleris

 Takakita

 Enorossi

 Vervaet

 Kuxmann



WHY SHOULD YOU BUY THIS REPORT?



This report is among the few in the market that offer outlook and opportunity analyses forecast in terms of:

 Market Size & Forecast Volume 20202028 (Units)

I. Segmentation by Mounting type.

II. Segmentation by Fertilizer type

III. Segmentation by Geography

 Major current and upcoming projects and investments

 Competitive intelligence about the economic scenario, advantages, regulations, and benefits of fertilizer spreaders, market dynamics, and market shares

 Latest and innovative technologies

 Import and export analysis.

 COVID-19 impact analysis of the industry.

 Company profiles of major and other prominent vendors



KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED:



1. How big is the Europe fertilizer spreader market?

2. What is the growth rate of the Europe fertilizer spreader market?

3. What are the significant trends in the Europe fertilizer spreader industry?

4. Who are the key players in the Europe fertilizer spreader market?

5. Which country holds the most significant Europe fertilizer spreader market share?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06472089/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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Burlingame, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global biosurgery market was valued at US$ 13.89 Billion in 2021 and is forecast to reach a value of US$ 22.21 Billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 6.9% between 2022 and 2028. Biosurgery is promising adjunct to the whole spectrum of topical treatment methods, in particular for debridement. The term 'biosurgery' describes the use of living maggots on wounds to remove devitalized tissue, improve wound healing, and decrease the risk of infection. Biosurgery products help facilitate hemostasis and tissue sealing in different surgical processes; they are also used in hard tissue regeneration in orthobiologics. Surgery products typically consist of natural, synthetic, or semi-synthetic materials that help seal surgical incisions and facilitate tissue repairs. It is widely used to prevent excessive blood loss, repair damaged tissues and bones, and provide adhesion for wound or tissue sealing.



Request Sample copy of this Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/5457

Key Trends and Analysis of the Global Biosurgery Market:

Increase in number of surgical procedures is one of the key trends expected to augment the growth of the global biosurgery market. For instance, rise in the burden of cardiovascular diseases across the world leads to an increase in number of surgical procedures. This in turn has increased demand for advanced surgical tools and devices, and thus, players in the market are focusing on launching novel products owing to the growing burden of cardiovascular disease coupled with the increasing geriatric population. Worldwide, more than 310 million major surgeries are performed each year; around 40 to 50 million in the U.S. and 20 million in Europe, and this trend is expected to continue over the forecast period, driving the growth of the market.

Global Biosurgery Market  Drivers

Rising prevalence of chronic diseases to augment market growth

Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death and disability around the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) kill more than 41 million people each year, equivalent to 74% of all deaths worldwide. Cardiovascular diseases account for most NCD deaths, or 17.9 million people every year, followed by cancers (9.3 million), chronic respiratory disease (4 million), and diabetes (2 million). Of all deaths, 77% are in low- and middle-income countries. Moreover, such a high burden of chronic diseases leads to an increased number of surgical procedures and is expected to drive the market growth.

Biosurgery Market Report Coverage

Report Coverage Details Base Year: 2021 Market Size in 2021: US$ 13.89 Bn Historical Data for: 2017 to 2020 Forecast Period: 2022 to 2028 Forecast by 2022-28 CAGR: 6.9% 2028 Value Projection: US$ 22.21 Bn Geographies covered: North America: U.S. and Canada

U.S. and Canada Latin America: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America

Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America Europe: Germany, U.K., Spain, France, Italy, Russia, and Rest of Europe

Germany, U.K., Spain, France, Italy, Russia, and Rest of Europe Asia Pacific: China, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, ASEAN, and Rest of Asia Pacific

China, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, ASEAN, and Rest of Asia Pacific Middle East: GCC Countries, Israel, and Rest of Middle East

GCC Countries, Israel, and Rest of Middle East Africa: South Africa, North Africa, and Central Africa Segments covered: By Treatment Type: Hemostatic Agents, Bone-graft Substitutes, Surgical Sealants and Adhesives, Soft-tissue Attachments, Adhesion Barriers, and Staple Line Reinforcement

Hemostatic Agents, Bone-graft Substitutes, Surgical Sealants and Adhesives, Soft-tissue Attachments, Adhesion Barriers, and Staple Line Reinforcement By Disease Type: Orthopedic Surgery, General Surgery, Neurological Surgery, Cardiovascular Surgery, Gynecological Surgery, and Other Applications Companies covered: Betatech Medical, Hemostasis LLC, CryoLife Inc., CSL Limited, Medtronic PLC, Johnson & Johnson, B.Braun Melsungen AG, Baxter International Inc., Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corporation, and Becton, Dickinson and Company (CR Bard), among others. Growth Drivers: High prevalence of cardiovascular diseases

Growing geriatric population across the globe Restraints & Challenges: lack of awareness among people about biosurgery

High cost of advanced surgical procedures

High demand for biosurgery products to boost market growth

With the rise in burden of chronic disorders and related surgeries, the demand for novel/advanced biosurgery products is also increasing with the rapid pace. Thus, player in the market are focusing on launching novel/advanced products in the market. In February 2021, EndoClot Plus, Inc. (EPI) received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for EndoClot Polysaccharide Hemostatic System (EndoClot PHS). It is an innovative product that assists Gastroenterologists to stop bleeding rapidly and reliably. It is a single-use device that includes the starch-based powder hemostat that is applied directly to the bleeding site through a flexible endoscope.

Global Biosurgery Market  Restrain

High cost of surgery to hamper the growth of the market

One of the key factors expected to hamper the growth of the global biosurgery market is the high cost of advanced surgical procedures and high cost of biosurgery products. Bio-surgeries generally incur high costs owing to the pre- and post-surgery fees. Moreover, the high cost, coupled with the unfavourable or poor reimbursement scenario for these products, makes them unaffordable for the large section of the patient population. Furthermore, the high procedural costs and other additional expenditures on medical tests, post-surgery garments, and medications are some major factors that are expected to hamper the growth of the market.

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Global Biosurgery Market  Opportunities

Growing geriatric population worldwide is expected to offer significant growth opportunities for players in the global biosurgery market.

Geriatric population is prone to various health conditions. Aging can cause changes in heart vessels and blood vessels that can increase a person's risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Moreover, aging increases the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), over 85% of older adults have at least one chronic health condition, and 60% have at least two chronic conditions. Moreover, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, around 56 million adults ages 65 and older live in the United States; around 16.9% of the US population, and the number is expected to reach around 85.7 million by 2050; 22% of the U.S. population.

Global Biosurgery Market - Key Developments

In March 2022, Molecular Matrix, Inc. (MMI) launched Osteo-P Synthetic Bone Graft Substitute (BGS) for use in the musculoskeletal system.

In February 2022, Gunze Limited announced that Gunze has received medical device approval to manufacture and sell TENALEAF, the first sheet-type absorbable adhesion barrier made in Japan.

Key Market Takeaways:

Global biosurgery market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period. The biosurgery market is growing rapidly in response to the increasing number of surgeries, rising number of geriatric patients, and initiatives taken by the market players.

On the basis of Treatment Type, Hemostatic Agents Segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period and this is attributed to the increase in number of surgical procedures. Hemostatic agents are used to control external bleeding by enhancing the natural clotting process and, thus, are widely used to aid in bleeding control.

On the basis of Disease Type, Cardiovascular Surgery Segment is expected to dominate the market during the forecast period and this is attributed to the increasing prevalence of cardiac diseases and increasing number of cardiovascular surgeries worldwide.

On the basis of Geography, North America is expected to hold a dominant position over the forecast period due to rise in prevalence of chronic diseases, growing geriatric population, and increasing number of surgical procedures in the region.

Competitive Landscape:

Key players operating in the global biosurgery market include CryoLife Inc., Hemostasis LLC, Betatech Medical, CSL Limited, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic PLC, B.Braun Melsungen, Integra Lifesciences Holdings Corporation, Baxter International Inc., and Becton, Dickinson and Company (CR Bard), among others.

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Detailed Segmentation:

Global Biosurgery Market, By Treatment Type:

Hemostatic Agents

Bone-graft Substitutes

Surgical Sealants and Adhesives

Soft-tissue Attachments

Adhesion Barriers

Staple Line Reinforcement

Global Biosurgery Market, By Disease Type:

Orthopedic Surgery

General Surgery

Neurological Surgery

Cardiovascular Surgery

Gynecological Surgery

Other Applications

Global Biosurgery Market, By Region

North America By Country: U.S. Canada

Latin America By Country: Brazil Mexico Argentina Rest of Latin America

Europe By Country: Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Russia Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific By Country China India Japan Australia South Korea ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific

Middle East By Country: GCC Countries Israel Rest of Middle East

Africa By Country/Region: South Africa Central Africa North Africa



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OTTAWA, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carbon tax projections show that low-emission propane will continue to be the best option for heating in Atlantic Canadians homes says the Canadian Propane Association.



Because propane, like natural gas, has much lower emissions than furnace oil, it is taxed less. As a result, the carbon tax on propane under the federal fuel charge on July 1 will be 7 cents a litre less than furnace oil. By 2030, the difference will be about 19 cents per litre, said Shannon Watt, President and CEO of the Canadian Propane Association.

By 2030 when the federal fuel charge reaches $170 per tonne, the carbon tax on furnace oil will total 45.57 cents per litre. For propane, it will be 26.30 cents per litre.

Another price advantage for propane will come into play with the implementation of the Clean Fuel Regulations. By 2030, Atlantic Canadians will also see the full pricing effect of these regulations. According to the federal Parliamentary Budget Officer, at that point, furnace oil will increase another 16 cents which will bring the total amount to 61.57 cents a litre.

Propane is a gaseous fuel and is not subject to the Clean Fuel Regulations, said Watt. As a result, by 2030, the carbon tax on propane will be over 35 cents less than the charge on a litre of furnace oil. We are also looking at ways to further decarbonize propane to ensure that propane remains an affordable low-emission energy source for Atlantic Canada for today and tomorrow.

Unlike the federal fuel charge, there will not be any offset payments to consumers for price increases due to the Clean Fuel Regulations.

With the costs of home energy, transportation, groceries and other essentials on the rise in Atlantic Canada in part due to carbon taxes and regulations, the expansion of propane will be critical in efforts to keep home energy as affordable as possible, said Watt. The propane industry is ready to work with governments to ensure that Atlantic Canadians can benefit from the propane advantage.

About the Canadian Propane Association

The Canadian Propane Association (CPA) is the national association for a growing, multi-billion-dollar industry that impacts the livelihood of tens of thousands of Canadians. As the trusted voice of the propane industry, the CPA creates the conditions for responsible market growth through advocacy, training, and emergency response.
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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gladiator Metals Corp. (TSXV: GLAD / OTC Markets: GDTRF / FSE: ZX7) (Gladiator or the Company), is pleased to announce that it has closed a first tranche of its previously announced brokered private placement offering (the Offering) of 3,858,018 units of the Company (each, a Unit) at a price of $0.55 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $2.1 million, including a non-brokered portion for gross proceeds of $0.1 million. The Offering was led by Research Capital Corporation as lead agent and sole bookrunner (the Lead Agent), on behalf of a syndicate of agents, including Beacon Securities Limited (together with the Lead Agent, the Agents). A second and final tranche of the Offering, for additional gross proceeds of approximately $5.5 million, including a concurrent non-brokered portion of $0.75 million, is expected to be completed on or before July 7th. The aggregate gross proceeds from both tranches of the Offering is expected to be approximately $7.6 million.

Each Unit consisted of one common share of the Company (a Common Share) and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a Warrant). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.90, for a period of 24 months following the closing of the Offering.

The net proceeds from the sale of Units will be used for the Companys ongoing exploration drilling program, working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes.

The Units issued pursuant to first tranche of the Offering are subject to a four-month and one day hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws.

In connection with the Offering, the Company paid the Agents a cash commission of $118,014 and issued to the Agents 214,572 compensation warrants of the Company (the Compensation Warrants). Each Compensation Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.55 per Common Share for a period of 18 months following the closing of the Offering. The Company also paid the Agents a corporate advisory fee consisting of $3,000 and 5,454 Compensation Warrants.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy 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.

ABOUT GLADIATOR METALS CORP.

Gladiator Metals Corp. is a mineral exploration company focused on the advancement of multiple high- grade copper prospects at its Whitehorse Copper Project (the Project), an advanced-stage copper (Cu)  molybdenum (Mo)  silver (Ag)  gold (Au) skarn exploration project in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The Project comprises 314 contiguous claims covering approximately 5,380 Hectares (13,294 acres) in the Whitehorse Mining District.

Copper mineralization was first discovered in 1897 on the Whitehorse Copper Belt, as it came to be known. The Whitehorse Copper Belt comprised over 30 copper-related, primarily skarn occurrences covering an area of 35 by 5 km in a northwesterly trending arc. Exploration and mining development have been carried out intermittently since that time with the main production era lasting between 1967 and 1982 where production totaled 267,500,000 pounds copper, 225,000 ounces of gold and 2,838,000 ounces of silver from 11.1 million tons of mineralized skarn ore were milled (Watson, 1984).

The Project is accessible through numerous access roads and trails located within 2 km of the South Klondike Highway and the Alaska Highway. An extensive network of historical gravel exploration and haul roads exists throughout the project area, providing excellent access to the majority of the claim package. Access to existing electric power facilities is available through the main Yukon power grid.

In November 2022, Gladiator executed an option agreement to acquire 100% of the Whitehorse Copper Project by incurring exploration expenditure of $12 million on the project, staged payment of $300,000 in cash and the staged issue of 15 million shares over 6 years. Following the exercise of the option, the Company must pay the optionor or its designee, a 1.0% net smelter returns royalty on the Whitehorse Copper Project.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Jason Bontempo"

Jason Bontempo

President and Chief Executive Officer

For further information contact:

Dustin Zinger, Investor Relations

+1-604-653-9464

dzinger@gladiatormetals.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information." Any statements or information that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "estimates", "intends", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "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) that are not statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements relating to the use of the proceeds from the Offering.

Forward-looking statements or information are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information, including, without limitation, the need for additional capital by the Company through financings, and the risk that such funds may not be raised; the speculative nature of exploration and the stages of the Company's properties; the effect of changes in commodity prices; regulatory risks that development of the Company's material properties will not be acceptable for social, environmental or other reasons; availability of equipment (including drills) and personnel to carry out work programs; and that each stage of work will be completed within expected time frames. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements or 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 as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

The Company's forward-looking statements and information are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this news release, and other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements and information if circumstances or management's assumptions, beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, or changes in any other events affecting such statements or information.
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd (NYSE: JKS) resulting from allegations that JinkoSolar may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.



SO WHAT: If you purchased JinkoSolar securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=16025 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On May 9, 2023, before trading hours, the Jacksonville Daily Record published an article entitled Federal agents issue search warrant at JinkoSolar plant in Cecil Commerce Center: Homeland Security said it is part of an ongoing investigation; the factory, whose parent company is in China, opened in Jacksonville in 2018. The Jacksonville Daily Record reported that [a]ccording to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal agents were assisting the Department of Homeland Security with the execution of a search warrant. Further, the article cited WJXT News4Jax, stating that JinkoSolar is one of several companies under investigation by the U.S. Commerce Department for circumventing trade rules by sending products to other countries before moving them to the U.S.

On this news, JinkoSolars American depositary receipt (ADR) price fell $3.91 per ADR, or 8%, to close at $43.47 per ADR on May 9, 2023, on unusually heavy trading volume.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

lrosen@rosenlegal.com

pkim@rosenlegal.com

cases@rosenlegal.com

www.rosenlegal.com
PHILADELPHIA, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stream Companies, a leading full-service, fully integrated, Ad Tech-enabled advertising agency, is thrilled to announce that two of its exceptional executives, Jessie Bryan, General Counsel, and Subi Ghosh, Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Marketing, have been honored as 2023 Top Women in Media and Ad Tech by AdMonsters and AdExchanger. The annual Top Women in Media and Ad Tech awards recognize the remarkable achievements and contributions of women who have made a significant impact in the media and Ad Tech industries.

Jessie Bryan, with her exceptional expertise in privacy and legal matters, has been awarded the prestigious Privacy Powerhouse accolade. As the General Counsel at Stream Companies, Jessie has played a pivotal role in ensuring legal compliance and providing invaluable guidance navigating the company through the complex landscape of privacy regulations. Jessie's well-deserved award underscores her dedication and expertise in safeguarding privacy and legal matters within the advertising industry.

Subi Ghosh, the Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Marketing at Stream Companies, has been honored as a Change-Maker award recipient. With her deep industry knowledge, understanding of consumer behavior, and her creative problem solving for partners, Ghosh has contributed to the agencys partnership growth and brand visibility. Her changemaker skills stem from a passion to improve the world around her. Her role as a Founding Board Member of Women in Automotive and her investment in many other groups that empower women and impact change illustrate this passion.

"We are extremely proud to see Jessie Bryan and Subi Ghosh receive this well-deserved recognition as 2023 Top Women in Media and Ad Tech honorees," said Dave Regn, CEO of Stream Companies. "Their dedication, leadership, and unwavering commitment to excellence have played a pivotal role in our agency's success. We are incredibly proud to have them as part of our team and grateful for their contributions to our clients and the industry as a whole."

The 2023 Top Women in Media and Ad Tech Awards highlight the achievements of women who have made a significant impact in the fields of media, advertising, and technology. The awards recognize leaders and innovators who have consistently demonstrated excellence and paved the way for others in the industry.

The Top Women in Media and Ad Tech Awards ceremony, where Subi Ghosh and Jessie Bryan were honored, took place at AdMonsters' annual conference on June 5, 2023. Stream Companies' commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment, empowering women in leadership roles, and driving innovation in the advertising industry is reinforced by their achievements.

For more information about Stream Companies and its services, please visit www.streamcompanies.com.

About Stream Companies:

Stream Companies is a full-service, fully integrated, tech-enabled advertising agency. With over 26 years of experience in advertising and digital marketing, Stream Companies uses a data-driven and solutions-oriented approach to deliver retail traffic and results to businesses across the U.S.

Stream has partnered with over 2,000 businesses in numerous industries, including automotive, education, healthcare, and finance. Automotive clients include some of the biggest publicly and privately-owned companies in the United States.

To learn more about Streams offerings, visit http://www.streamcompanies.com

To learn more about the 2023 Top Women in Media and Ad Tech Awards, please visit www.admonsters.com/events/2023-top-women-in-media-ad-tech/ .

LinkedIn profiles of the honorees: Subi Ghosh - www.linkedin.com/in/subighosh/ and Jessie Bryan - www.linkedin.com/in/jessie-bryan-6b22bb17/

For media inquiries, please contact:

Erin Davidson

Marketing Manager

Stream Companies

Email: Erin.Davidson@streamcompanies.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c7b6f23c-fcdf-4d84-8fdc-e70417a3aa3e

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/21e27cdb-6fb5-48ed-807a-459b587dc455
Virginia Beach, VA, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Liberty Military Housing (Liberty), the first employee-owned military housing provider in the country and the largest in the multifamily industry, has initiated over $120 million of renovations, upgrades and redevelopment to 12 military housing communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region. The money will go towards redevelopment, major renovations, exterior rehabilitation and outdoor infrastructures such as family playgrounds, roadways and other land improvements.

The renovations are based on the specific needs of the Liberty communities as determined by feedback from Navy families and in consultation with our Navy Partner. Over the next several years, Liberty has earmarked the funding for several planned projects, including:

Sandpiper Crescent (Virginia Beach, VA)  demolition of all existing homes and rebuilding of new homes.

Shelton Circle, Gela Point and Wadsworth Shores (Virginia Beach, VA)  major interior and exterior renovations.

Willoughby Bay, Ben Moreell (Norfolk, VA) & North Severn Village (Annapolis, MD) - exterior rehabilitation.

Norwich Manor, Queens Way, Castle Acres (Norfolk, VA) & Arundel Estates (Annapolis, MD) - interior renovations, to name a few.

At Liberty, our mission is to provide quality and safe housing for our military members and their families in vibrant communities, stated Philip J. Rizzo, CEO, Liberty Military Housing. Through our military partners relationship and the power of private capital markets, we have been able to raise and invest over $4.5 billion into our housing communities since we began operations, with no additional appropriations from Congress. In keeping with our commitment to providing vibrant neighborhoods and quality homes for our families we are proud to launch this new round of renovation projects in our Mid-Atlantic communities.

"Improving our servicemembers' quality-of-life is one of my biggest priorities in Congress," said Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02). "We ask so much of our men and women in uniform. Providing them with quality housing is one of the most important steps we can take to ensure they're properly equipped to accomplish their mission. I'm very pleased that in the Hampton Roads area - and across the country - actions are being taken to meet that goal!"

Libertys partnership with the Navy was made available through the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI) which allows private companies specializing in development and property management to work with the Armed Services to obtain private sector funding to address a severe backlog of military housing nearly, resulting in $28 billion of initial capital investment across all project companies. Those funds were raised through privately placed bonds, which are held by institutional lenders across the country.

Through its investment in communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Liberty Military Housing continues to demonstrate an unparalleled commitment to military families, says Rear Admiral Christopher S. Gray, Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic. We are proud to partner with them and work together to improve the lives of those who serve our country.

Interior renovations of kitchens and bathrooms will include new upgraded finishes and products including kitchen cabinets, quartz countertops, Energy-Star rated appliances, bathroom fixtures and finishes, upgraded LED lighting, and fresh paint. In addition, several communities will replace old playgrounds with new state-of-the-art playground equipment. When complete, several thousand military families will benefit from these renovations, new construction and land improvement in multiple neighborhoods across the Mid-Atlantic Region.

For more information about Liberty Military Housing and the ongoing efforts to improve military housing, please visit livelmh.com.

About Liberty Military Housing

Liberty Military Housing, formerly Lincoln Military Housing, is the leading privatized housing provider and the largest employee-owned company in the multi-family industry. Liberty provides over 36,000 homes in over 200 communities across ten states and the District of Columbia. We are proud of the award-winning communities we build and manage and continue looking ahead to new ways of serving military families, our team, and our partners. Our mission is to contribute to military readiness and morale by ensuring military families live in homes and communities built and maintained to the highest standards. Liberty was formed in 2001 through a Department of Defense (DoD) partnership. For more information about Liberty Military Housing, please visit www.livelmh.com.

Attachments
Washington, D.C., June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New Civil Liberties Alliance applauds todays Supreme Court decision blocking the Biden Administrations plan to cancel nearly a half-trillion dollars in outstanding student loans owed to the U.S. Treasury. As NCLA urged in an amicus curiae brief it filed in the case of Biden v. Nebraska, the court ruled that Executive Branch administrators lack any legitimate power to make such sweeping changes to the law absent authorization from our elected representatives in Congress.

Citing the Covid-19 pandemic, the Administration had relied on the HEROES Act, which grants the Secretary of Education limited modification and waiver authority during wartime or national emergency situations, as purported authority to cancel almost a half-trillion dollars in student loan debt owed to the Treasury. But today the Court correctly held that the plan was neither a modification nor a waiver.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for a 6-3 majority, stated, The Secretarys comprehensive debt cancellation plan is not a waiver because it augments and expands existing provisions dramatically. It is not a modification because it constitutes effectively the introduction of a whole new regime. And it cannot be some combination of the two, because when the Secretary seeks to add to existing law, the fact that he has waived certain provisions does not give him a free pass to avoid the limits inherent in the power to modify.

Chief Justice Roberts wrote that modifications made under the HEROES Act before the Covid-19 pandemic had been minor and of little effect, while the Secretary of Educations actions in this case created a novel and fundamentally different loan forgiveness program.

In its amicus brief, NCLA also argued that both the Trump and Biden Administrations similarly exceeded their lawful powers when they suspended student loan borrowers payment obligations and the accrual of interest beyond the September 2020 end date legislated by Congress in the CARES Act at the start of the pandemic. NCLA argued that ongoing suspension of payments and interest is just as unlawful as the larger debt-cancellation plan. As Justice Kagans dissenting opinion in todays case acknowledges, how could it not be?

NCLA released the following statements:

The Executive Branch is out of control. Whether its lockdowns, eviction moratoria, vaccine mandates, or now school loan debt cancellation, these are just not powers the Executive Branch possesses. In this case, Congress explicitly limited the pause on student loan debt payments to a few short months. That does not authorize the Executive Branch to extend or expand the relief Congress legislated, as the Supreme Court recognized today. This administration needs to stop acting like this country has an all-powerful, single branch of government.

 Mark Chenoweth, President and General Counsel, NCLA

It was obvious from Day One that this half-trillion-dollar raid on the public fisc was unconstitutional as well as ill-considered, but the Administration thought it could get away with it because nobody would have standing. Fortunately, the Supreme Court found standing today and stopped yet another pen-and-phone administrative gambit.

 Russ Ryan, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA

For more information visit the amicus page here.

ABOUT NCLA

NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLAs public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans fundamental rights.
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greystone, a leading national commercial real estate finance company, has provided a total of $16,497,000 in Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting & Servicing (DUS) Multifamily Affordable Housing (MAH) loans for the acquisition of a 484-unit affordable housing portfolio in Tennessee. The financing was originated by Dan Sacks, Ilan Bassali, and Avi Kozlowski in Greystones New York office on behalf of Heritage Affordable Communities and Vitus Group, LLC.



The Fannie Mae financing includes six separate loans on six multifamily properties located throughout eastern Tennessee. All loans feature five-year terms with three years of yield maintenance, and a maximum loan-to-value of 75 percent. The properties are as follows:

Deer Run Apartments , located in Rockwood in Roane County , a 72-unit property built in 2006.

, located in Rockwood in , a 72-unit property built in 2006. Oak Crest Apartments , located in Knoxwood in Knox County , a 72-unit property built in 2007.

, located in Knoxwood in , a 72-unit property built in 2007. Northgate Crossing Apartments , located in Hixson in Hamilton County , a 108-unit property built in 2009.

, located in Hixson in , a 108-unit property built in 2009. Hidden Oaks Apartments , located in Greeneville in Greene County , a 72-unit property built in 2006.

, located in Greeneville in , a 72-unit property built in 2006. Town Creek Village Apartments , located in Lenoir City in Loudon County , a 96-unit property built in 2010.

, located in Lenoir City in , a 96-unit property built in 2010. Whispering Meadows, located in Erwin in Unicoi County, a 64-unit property built in 2003.

We are creative in leveraging our extensive experience and lending platform, as well as our strong relationship with Fannie Mae, so that our clients can achieve their portfolio goals, said Mr. Sacks. Were deeply committed to bringing financing solutions that help our clients provide quality affordable housing for families in communities across the country, aligning with Heritage Affordable Communities mission statement, said Ilan Bassali, Director at Greystone.

Greystones passion for affordable housing was clearly evident throughout every phase of this transaction, said Mr. Hajibay, principal of the borrower. From our initial meetings through the final closing, our Greystone team worked to ensure that no detail was unattended and that the entire experience was seamless given the transactions complexities.

The current market environment is providing unique opportunities in affordable housing in the Tennessee region, said Vidit Hirani, Associate at Heritage Affordable Communities. Additionally, our strong partnership with Greystone and their proven track record were instrumental to complete this complex transaction.

About Greystone

Greystone is a private national commercial real estate finance company with an established reputation as a leader in multifamily and healthcare finance, having ranked as a top FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac lender in these sectors. Loans are offered through Greystone Servicing Company LLC, Greystone Funding Company LLC and/or other Greystone affiliates. For more information, visit www.greystone.com.

PRESS CONTACT:

Karen Marotta

Greystone

212-896-9149

Karen.Marotta@greyco.com
TORONTO, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TerrAscend Corp. (TerrAscend or the Company) (CSE: TER) (OTCQX: TRSSF), a leading North American cannabis operator, today announced the closing of its previously announced acquisition of Hempaid, LLC (d/b/a Blue Ridge Wellness), a medical dispensary in Maryland. The transaction expands TerrAscends footprint to three dispensaries in the state. Blue Ridge Wellness is well positioned to achieve substantial sales growth following the commencement of adult-use sales in Maryland on July 1, 2023. This transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to TerrAscend on an EBITDA and cashflow basis.



Blue Ridge Wellness, a medical dispensary located in Parkville, Maryland, is on a revenue run rate of approximately US$4.3 million. TerrAscend expects to achieve significant sales and margin improvement at this location with the launch of adult-use and by offering a complete selection of its high-quality brands including Kind Tree, Gage, Cookies and Wana. The Company has plans to relocate this dispensary to a new, larger storefront it has already secured. This 3,900 square foot prime location is conveniently located near the White Marsh Mall, a high-traffic retail center. The Company expects to complete the relocation of Blue Ridge in the next six months. With the close of the Transaction, TerrAscends retail footprint increases to 36 dispensaries nationwide.

Adding a third dispensary in Maryland is an important step in our strategy to become a market leader in the state. We anticipate that Blue Ridge, combined with our other Maryland dispensaries, will drive substantial revenue growth and profitability for TerrAscend, even prior to our scheduled move to a prime location later this year. With less than a day until the launch of adult-use in Maryland, we are focused on reaching the four-dispensary cap as our northeast business unit will soon be operating in Maryland under the same successful business model we built in New Jersey, said Jason Wild, Executive Chairman of TerrAscend.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. 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.

About TerrAscend Corp.

TerrAscend is a leading cannabis company with interests across the North American cannabis sector, including vertically integrated operations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan and California through TerrAscend Growth Corp. and retail operations in Canada. TerrAscend Growth operates The Apothecarium and Gage dispensary retail locations as well as scaled cultivation, processing, and manufacturing facilities in its core markets. TerrAscend Growths cultivation and manufacturing practices yield consistent, high-quality cannabis, providing industry-leading product selection to both the medical and legal adult-use markets. The Company owns or licenses several synergistic businesses and brands including Gage Cannabis, The Apothecarium, Cookies, Lemonnade, Ilera Healthcare, Kind Tree, Legend, State Flower, Wana, and Valhalla Confections. For more information visit www.terrascend.com.

Caution Regarding Cannabis Operations in the United States

Investors should note that there are significant legal restrictions and regulations that govern the cannabis industry in the United States. Cannabis remains a Schedule I drug under the US Controlled Substances Act, making it illegal under federal law in the United States to, among other things, cultivate, distribute, or possess cannabis in the United States. Financial transactions involving proceeds generated by, or intended to promote, cannabis-related business activities in the United States may form the basis for prosecution under applicable US federal money laundering legislation.

While the approach to enforcement of such laws by the federal government in the United States has trended toward non-enforcement against individuals and businesses that comply with medical or adult-use cannabis programs in states where such programs are legal, strict compliance with state laws with respect to cannabis will neither absolve TerrAscend of liability under U.S. federal law, nor will it provide a defense to any federal proceeding which may be brought against TerrAscend. The enforcement of federal laws in the United States is a significant risk to the business of TerrAscend and any proceedings brought against TerrAscend thereunder may adversely affect TerrAscend's operations and financial performance.

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as, may, would, could, will, likely, expect, anticipate, believe, intend, plan, forecast, project, estimate, outlook and other similar expressions. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management in light of managements experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors relevant in the circumstances, including assumptions in respect of current and future market conditions, the current and future regulatory environment, and the availability of licenses, approvals and permits.

Although the Company 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 the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set out in Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2023.

The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking information, whether, as a result of new information, future events, or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

For more information regarding TerrAscend:

Keith Stauffer

Chief Financial Officer

717-343-5386

IR@terrascend.com
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc. (NYSE: RA) (the Fund) today announced that its Board of Directors (the Board) declared the Funds monthly distributions for July, August and September 2023.



Distribution Declaration

Month Record Date Ex-Dividend Date Payable Date Amount Per Share July 2023 July 12, 2023 July 11, 2023 July 26, 2023 $0.1990 August 2023 August 9, 2023 August 8, 2023 August 28, 2023 $0.1990 September 2023 September 13, 2023 September 12, 2023 September 26, 2023 $0.1990

Shares purchased on or after the ex-distribution date will not receive the distribution discussed above. Please contact your financial advisor with any questions. Distributions may include net investment income, capital gains and/or return of capital (ROC). Any portion of the Funds distributions that is a return of capital does not necessarily reflect the Funds investment performance and should not be confused with yield or income. The tax status of distributions will be determined at the end of the taxable year.*

Brookfield Public Securities Group LLC (Public Securities Group or PSG) is a Delaware limited liability company and an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management ULC, an unlimited liability company formed under the laws of British Columbia, Canada. Brookfield Corporation holds a 75% interest in Brookfield Asset Management ULC, while Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (Brookfield Asset Management), holds a 25% interest in Brookfield Asset Management ULC. Brookfield Asset Management is a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately US$825 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2023.

PSG is an SEC-registered investment adviser and represents the Public Securities platform of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., providing global listed real assets strategies including real estate equities, infrastructure equities, multi-strategy real asset solutions and real asset debt. With over US$19 billion of assets under management as of May 31, 2023, PSG manages separate accounts, registered funds and opportunistic strategies for institutional and individual clients, including financial institutions, public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, sovereign wealth funds and high net worth investors. For more information, go to https://publicsecurities.brookfield.com/.

Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc. is managed by PSG. The Fund uses its website as a channel of distribution of material information about the Fund. Financial and other material information regarding the Fund is routinely posted on and accessible at https://publicsecurities.brookfield.com/.

COMPANY CONTACT

Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc.

Brookfield Place

250 Vesey Street, 15th Floor

New York, NY 10281-1023

(855) 777-8001

publicsecurities.enquiries@brookfield.com

Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

* Distributions include all distribution payments regardless of source and may include net income, capital gains, and/or return of capital (ROC). ROC should not be confused with yield or income. The Fund's Section 19a-1 Notice, if applicable, contains additional distribution composition information and may be obtained by visiting publicsecurities.brookfield.com. Final determination of a distribution's tax character will be made on Form 1099 DIV and sent to shareholders. On a tax basis, as of May 31, 2023, the most recent available figures, the estimated components of the cumulative distributions for the fiscal year to date would include an estimated return of capital of $0.7211 (72.47%) per share for the Fund. This amount is an estimate and the actual amount and sources for tax reporting purposes may change upon final determination of tax characteristics and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. A return of capital is not taxable and results in a reduction in the tax basis of a shareholders investment. The final determination regarding the nature of the distributions will be made after the end of the Funds fiscal year when the Fund can determine its earnings and profits. The final tax status of the distributions may differ substantially and will be made available to shareholders after the close of each calendar year. The proportion of distributions that are treated as taxable distributions may also vary and or increase in future years. The Fund invests in master limited partnerships (MLPs), which are generally treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes. Distributions from MLPs are estimated as income and return of capital based on information reported by the MLPs and managements estimates of such amounts based on historical information. These estimates are adjusted when the actual source of distributions is disclosed by the MLPs and the actual amounts may differ from the estimated amounts. In setting the Funds distribution policy, PSG and the Funds Board consider a number of factors, including both expected income and distributions received by the Fund and our expectations regarding potential capital appreciation. From time to time the Fund may be over- or under- distributed when taking into account actual income, distributions and net unrealized gains or losses since actual capital appreciation is variable over time. However, our goal is to have a distribution rate that is stable over the long term.

Quasar Distributors, LLC provides filing administration for Brookfield Real Assets Income Fund Inc.




TORONTO, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forsys Metals Corp. (TSX: FSY) (FSE: F2T) (NSX: FSY) (Forsys or the Company) is pleased to announce that in connection with the annual meeting of the Company`s shareholders (the Meeting), that was held virtually on June 30, 2023, and in accordance with TSX reporting requirements, the following voting results were obtained.



A total of 118,091,079 common shares representing 60.507% of the Company`s issued and outstanding common shares were voted in connection with the Meeting. Shareholders voted in favour of the election of the six director nominees as follows:



NOMINEE VOTES

FOR %

FOR VOTES

WITHHELD %

WITHHELD Martin Rowley 97,504,634 84.540 17,831,479 15.460 Mark Frewin 104,084,892 90.245 11,251,221 9.755 Paul Matysek 97,479,204 84.518 17,856,909 15.482 Jorge Estepa 104,110,372 90.267 11,225,741 9.733 Richard Parkhouse 108,692,897 94,240 6,643,216 5.760 Jeremy Hangula 104,110,372 90.267 11,225,741 9.733



Shareholders also voted in favour of the other items of business considered at the Meeting, being the re-appointment of BDO Audit (WA) Pty Ltd. as the Companys auditors, and the approval of the Companys Amended and Restated Omnibus Incentive Plan. Pursuant to Section 11.3 of National Instrument 51-102, the Company filed a Report of Voting Results on June 30, 2023, under the Companys filings on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

About Forsys Metals Corp.

Forsys Metals Corp. is an emerging uranium development company with 100% ownership of the Norasa project that comprises the fully permitted Valencia uranium project and the Namibplaas uranium project in Namibia, Africa a politically stable and mining friendly jurisdiction. Information regarding current National Instrument 43-101 compliant Resource and Reserves at Valencia and Namibplaas are available on the Company website.

For additional information please contact:

Jorge Estepa, Corporate Secretary

Telephone: (416) 818-4035 or Email: jestepa@forsysmetals.com
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Three Sixty Solar Ltd. (NEO: VSOL) (OTC: VSOLF) (Three Sixty, Three Sixty Solar, or the Company), an innovative alternative energy design, manufacture, and sales organization focused on solar equipment supply to the global marketplace, is delighted by recent provincial government news regarding a competitive process to acquire 100% clean energy slated for spring 2024.



Key Points:

B.C. Utilities Commission confirmed that new sources of electricity will be required sooner than previously expected.

Electricity demand is expected to increase by 15% between now and 2030.

Province is providing $140 million to the B.C Indigenous Clean Energy Initiative (BCICEI) to support Indigenous-led power projects.

Electric vehicles on B.C. roads have increased by nearly 2,000% in the past 6 years.

BC Hydros first call for power in 15 years, and will target larger, utility scale projects.



BC Premier David Eby said, To guarantee the affordable power for this important transition, were working in partnership with First Nations and BC Hydro to generate more of the clean electricity that British Columbia needs to build our economy and grow our role as a clean-energy superpower.

The recent advisory stated that, BC Hydro will only acquire 100% clean, renewable electricity, including wind and solar. The call for power process will be designed by BC Hydro and the Province following engagement with First Nations, industry, and stakeholders. Over the next 12 months, a BC Hydro task force will focus on identifying and implementing short and medium-term actions that can advance projects based on three key priorities:

speed of permitting and delivery,

oversight to protect ratepayers and enable economic and climate priorities; and

identifying, enabling, and accelerating economic opportunities.



Additionally, the announcement noted that along with BC Hydros plan to initiate a call for power in spring 2024, this may be followed by subsequent calls as the transition to clean energy continues to accelerate and in order to electrify the growing economy while meeting the provinces climate targets.

Three Sixty Solars CEO, Brian Roth advises, This is an exciting initiative and one in which we intend to explore. We believe our solar tower solution is a perfect fit for First Nations stewardship and protection of land use and is ideally suited for medium to large scale projects. Our concept was conceived in BC and was designed with our local conditions, environment, and growing demand for responsible land use as major considerations. Our positive initial dialogue with various Indigenous leaders and communities supports our expectations that Three Sixty Solar can meet or exceed the needs of this initiative in every respect. We have always viewed our concept as a potential win-win for our Company and the citizens of BC alike, and with the news of government support, we look forward to having our chance to bid on this outstanding opportunity.

Additionally, Three Sixty Solar has made a payment pursuant to its previously announced agreement with Creative Direct Marketing Group, Inc. ("CDMG") (Founder & CEO: Craig Huey; address: 1313 4th Avenue North Nashville, TN 37208, United States; phone: 615-814-6633) for marketing services.

CDMG will, as appropriate, create campaigns, reportalogs, newsalogs, emails series, native and display ads for physical and digital mediums, set up and manage remarketing campaigns, and bring attention to the business of the company in consideration of US$390,000. The promotional activity is expected to occur during the third quarter of 2023.

With notes from BC Government News Release of June 15, 2023

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

--Brian Roth

Brian Roth,

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Three Sixty Solar Ltd.

www.threesixtysolar.com

About Three Sixty Solar Ltd. (NEO: VSOL)

Three Sixty Solar Ltd. is an all-Canadian enterprise which focuses on solar equipment supply to the global market. The companys premier product line is the patent pending SVS series commercial solar tower. According to Statistics MRC, the solar farm sector is set to grow to around $296 billion by 2028. Three Sixty Solars unique tower concept is a high density, clean energy solution that uses up to 90% less land space than conventional solar farms and can co-locate adjacent to homes, retail, agriculture, and industry, thus minimizing line loss and maximizing energy delivery in places where renewables have been difficult to install until now. In multi-tower applications, developers can utilize the spaces between towers to better leverage land assets through additional revenue generating activities. Designed to withstand major instances of extreme weather, Three Sixty Solar offers a clean energy solution with minimal environmental and habitat impact. To find our more, visit: www.threesixtysolar.com and please watch our video. To stay informed, please sign up to receive news alerts.

Forward Looking Information Disclaimer

This release contains statements and information that, to the extent that they are not historical fact, may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information may include financial and other projections, as well as statements regarding future plans, objectives, or economic performance, or the assumption underlying any of the foregoing. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as may, would, could, will, likely, except, anticipate, believe, intend, plan, forecast, project, estimate, outlook, or the negative thereof or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Examples of such statements include but are not limited to the rollout of the BCICEI by the Province, the Companys plans to seek to participate in the BCICEI, and the services to be performed by CDMG and timing thereof.

Forward-looking information is based on the 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, but which may prove to be incorrect. The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information contained in this news release include, but are not limited to, key personnel and qualified employees continuing their involvement with the Company; the Companys ability to secure additional financing on reasonable terms; the competitive conditions of the sector in which the Company operates; and laws and any amendments thereto applicable to the Company.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that 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, including, without limitation, risks relating to the future business plans of the Company; risks that the Company will not be able to retain its key personnel; risks that the Company will not be able to secure financing on reasonable terms or at all, as well as all of the other risks as described under the heading Risks Factors in the Companys filing statement dated August 3, 2022 filed under the Companys profile at www.sedar.com. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking information. Further, any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Companys management to predict all such factors and to assess in advance the impact of each such factor on the Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking information to reflect information or events after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law, including securities laws.

Neither the Neo Exchange Inc. nor any securities regulatory authority has approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Three Sixty Solar Ltd.

Investor Relations

Email: investors@threesixtysolar.com

Telephone: +1 (778) 383-6743

Sales & Inquiries

Email: info@threesixtysolar.com

Telephone: +1 (877) 684-1972
As the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off in Changsha on Thursday, a further boost is widely expected in China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. CHANGSHA/NAIROBI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Earlier this week, the first batch of Kenya's dried anchovies arrived at the Changsha Huanghua International Airport in central China's Hunan Province, adding to a long list of African products that were granted access to the Chinese market. The small dried fish has become the latest epitome of prospering China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. And as the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off in Changsha on Thursday, a further boost is widely expected in China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. COOPERATION BOOMING At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in September 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the decision to establish the China-Africa economic and trade expo. Over the years, the biennial expo has become an important platform for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. The current edition of the expo has witnessed remarkable growth, with the main exhibition hall occupying a larger area and over 1,500 exhibitors participating, a 70 percent increase compared to the previous event. Grace Njapau, director of Kakanga Food Suppliers in Zambia, is attending the expo for the second time. This time, she treats Chinese customers to organic honey and moringa seeds. "Every time we come to China, we discover new business opportunities. The Chinese market is a land of opportunity, and we are also willing to bring higher quality African goods to China," said Njapau, who has been doing business with her Chinese partners since 2001. Over the past more than 20 years, Njapau has witnessed and experienced the progress of China-Africa economic cooperation towards prosperity. In a congratulatory letter to the expo in 2019, Xi said it is hoped that the two sides will actively explore new paths for cooperation, open up new points of growth for collaboration, and promote China-Africa economic and trade cooperation to a new level. Over the years, the expo has become a booster for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. The previous two editions have witnessed the signing of 216 cooperative projects or agreements worth a total of 43.02 billion U.S. dollars. From the trading and processing center for African non-resource products to the China-Africa cross-border RMB center, the expo is expanding the scope of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. BROADENING PROSPECT A day before the expo opened, South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga C. Cwele arrived in Changsha and showcased in a live stream a variety of African specialties to Chinese consumers, including South African white wine, Ethiopian coffee beans, and Guinean drums, which attracted a large audience, hence a flurry of orders. In recent years, an increasing number of African products have entered the Chinese market and gained popularity among consumers. China now has become the second-largest destination for African agricultural exports. Such an achievement was made as a visible result of the nine programs in deepening China-Africa cooperation put forward by Xi at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2021. As the scale and scope of trade between China and Africa continue to expand, bilateral cooperation is extending into emerging fields such as digital and green industries. During a meeting with President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May this year, Xi said that China is ready to provide new opportunities for African countries with its new development. Under the spotlight at the expo are Chinese companies engaged in Africa's new energy industries, including Hunan Hyliess New Energy Technology Co., Ltd, a company from Changsha, which has already declared cooperative intentions with over 100 African customers. "The new energy industry in Africa is developing rapidly," Li Zhenchao, sales manager of the company, told Xinhua. Currently, business from the African region accounts for nearly half of the company's total, Li added. Cooperation with China is a win-win process with positive results, Cwele told Xinhua after finishing his live stream. "We see a lot of opportunities from our cooperation." MOVING FORWARD China has been Africa's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years. In 2022, the total trade volume between China and Africa reached 282 billion dollars, representing an 11.1 percent year-on-year growth. Specifically, China's exports to Africa amounted to 164.5 billion dollars, increasing by 11.2 percent, while imports from Africa reached 117.5 billion dollars, growing by 11 percent. An ever-closer trade and economic relationship is a testament to the success of building a China-Africa community with a shared future. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Xi's proposal of the concept of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, and the right approach to justice and interests, the guiding principles of China's Africa policy. Over the past decade, under those principles, China-Africa relations have been propelled into the fast lane of development. In his message to the 36th African Union Summit in February, Xi said that cooperation between China and Africa is moving steadily forward in an all-round, multi-tiered and high-quality fashion, which takes the lead in international collaboration with Africa. Xi added that he stands ready to work with leaders of African countries to build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future. Echoing Xi's remarks, Costantinos Berhutesfa, a professor of public policy at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said that it's the political justice, mutual economic benefit, win-win cooperation, and common development that laid the basis for a shared future of Africa and China. Africans are already benefiting from such a shared future. For Kenyan fisherman Abdi Bakari Dura, whose source of livelihood has been anchovy fishing for over a decade, the opening-up of the Chinese market means a steady and sustained income for him. "Thanks to the vast Chinese market, we no longer have to worry that our fish may go unsold," said the 30-year-old fisherman.
MONTREAL, June 29, 2023 /CNW/ - Genius Metals Inc. (TSXV: GENI) ("Genius Metals" or the "Corporation") is pleased to announce that on June 29, 2023, it has completed a closing of a non-brokered private placement, for a total gross proceeds of $1,102,820. (the "Private Placement").

Under the Private Placement, the Corporation issued:

17,190,000 units of the Corporation (the "Units") at a price of $0.05 per Unit, with each such Unit being comprised of one common share of the Corporation ("Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.10 for a period of 24 months; and

4,055,333 common shares issued as "flow through shares" (the "Flow Through Shares") at a price of $0.06 per Flow-Through Share.

In connection with the Offering, the Corporation paid finder's fees in the amount of $6,650 to certain arm's length third parties who assisted the Corporation by introducing subscribers to the Private placement.

Four directors, two officers and one advisor of the Corporation have participated in the Private Placement and were issued an aggregate of 2,220,000 Common Shares Units and 600,333 Flow-Through Shares. Such participation in the Private Placement is a "related party transaction" as defined in Regulation 61-101 respecting Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("Regulation 61-101"). Such participation is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of Regulation 61-101 as neither the fair market value of the securities issued to insiders nor the consideration for such securities by insiders exceed 25% of the Corporation's market capitalization.

The net proceeds of the sale of Flow-Through Shares will be used by the Corporation to incur qualifying exploration expenses on its mining properties in Quebec and the net proceeds of Units will be used by the Corporation to incur exploration expenses and for general working capital purpose.

All securities issued in connection with the Offering will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The Private placement was carried out pursuant to prospectus exemptions of applicable securities laws and is subject to final acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV").

About Genius Metals

Genius Metals is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and, if warranted, development of natural resource properties of merit in Canada.

Forward-Looking Statements and Disclaimer

Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified using forward-looking terminology such as, "will be", "expected" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements, including statements relating to the anticipated use of the proceeds from the Private Placement and the final approval of the TSXV, are based on the Corporation's estimates and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Corporation to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. 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 Corporation will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE Genius Metals Inc.
/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S./

SUDBURY, June 29, 2023 - SPC Nickel Corp. (TSXV: SPC) ("SPC Nickel" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") of common shares ("Common Shares") and flow-through common shares ("FT Shares").

In connection with the closing of the Offering, the Company issued an aggregate of 17,029,961 FT Shares at a price of $0.105 per FT Share, for gross FT Share proceeds of $1,788,146 and 5,285,888 Common Shares at a price of $0.09 per Common Share, for gross Common Share proceeds of $475,730.

The Company paid finder fees to certain finders that assisted with the Offering. Such finders fees consisted of: (i) the payment of cash commissions totaling $96,547 (calculated as 6% of the gross proceeds raised by such finders), with $21,000 of such cash commissions being settled by the issuance of 233,333 Common Shares at a price of $0.09 per Common Share; and (ii) the issuance of 939,180 compensation warrants ("Compensation Warrants") (calculated as 6% of the total number of Common Shares and/or FT Shares sold by such finders). Each Compensation Warrant is exercisable to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.105 per Common Share for a period of 12 months following the date of issuance.

The gross proceeds from the FT Shares issued in connection with the Offering will be used to advance both the Company's Lockerby East Project, located in the world-class Sudbury Mining Camp, and the Company's Muskox Property, located in Nunavut, NWT. In addition, such gross proceeds will be used to incur Canadian Exploration Expenses ("CEE") that are "flow-through critical mineral mining expenditures" (as such terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada)) on the Company's mineral properties. Proceeds from the Common Shares issued in connection with the Offering will be used for general working capital purposes.

The securities issued in connection with the Offering, including any Common Shares issued upon exercise of the Compensation Warrants, are subject to a four-month restricted resale period that expires on October 30, 2023.

Completion of the Offering is subject to all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Certain officers and directors of the Company participated in the Offering, which constitutes a "related party transaction" for purposes of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). Such participation is exempt from the valuation and minority approval requirements of MI 61-101 by virtue of the fact that the Issuer is not listed on a specified market set out in section 5.5(b) of MI 61-101 and the value of Common Shares or FT Shares subscribed for by such officers and directors is less than $2,500,000 in accordance with the requirements of section 5.7(b) of MI 61-101.

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.

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.

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.

SOURCE SPC Nickel Corp.
VANCOUVER, June 29, 2023 - Rock Tech Lithium Inc. (TSXV: RCK) (OTCQX: RCKTF) (FWB: RJIB) (WKN: A1XF0V) (the "Company" or "Rock Tech") is pleased to announce the results from its Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders (as holders of Common Shares) held earlier today (the "Meeting").

Detailed information regarding each of the matters voted upon at the Meeting is provided in the management information circular of the Company dated May 26, 2023 (the "Circular"), available on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

A total of 13,285,859 Common Shares, representing approximately 13,73% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares, were represented at the Meeting. All matters voted upon were duly authorized and approved by Shareholders, as follows:

Item of Business Votes for (in %) Votes against (in %) Votes withheld (in %) 1. Appointment of Grant Thornton as auditors of the Company. 13,248,219 (99.72 %) 0 (0.0%) 37,640 (0.28%) 2. Continuation of Rock Tech from British Columbia to Ontario. 13,254,602 (99.76 %) 31,257 (0.24%) 0 (0.0%) 3. Set the number of directors at six. 13,274,164 (99.91 %) 11,695 (0.09%) 0 (0.0%) 4. Approval of the Stock Option Plan. 13,243,054 (99.68 %) 42,805 (0.32%) 0 (0.0%)



At the meeting, Shareholders also elected six nominee directors to the Board of Directors of the Company for the ensuing year, as follows:

Director Nominee Votes for (in %) Votes against (in %) Votes withheld (in %) Dirk Harbecke 13,271,233 (99.89%) 0 (0.0%) 14,626 (0.11%) Stefan Krause 13,267,065 (94.19%) 0 (0.0%) 771,864 (5.81%) Dr. Peter Kausch 13,267,065 (99.86%) 0 (0.0%) 18,794 (0.14%) Klaus Schmitz 12,488,307 (94.0%) 0 (0.0%) 797,552 (6.0%) Esther Bahne 12,505,545 (94.13%) 0 (0.0%) 780,314 (5.87%) Michelle Gahagan 12,482,377 (93.95%) 0 (0.0%) 803,482 (6.05%)



All of the director nominees previously served on the Board of Directors of Rock Tech. As a result of German regulatory restrictions on the number of board positions that can be held concurrently, the Board of Directors accepted the resignation of Ms. Jutta Donges effective on February 28, 2023, who was then appointed member of the Management Board and Chief Financial Officer of Uniper. No one has been nominated or elected to fill the position since then.

Furthermore, the Company, prior to the Meeting, has granted stock options (the "Options) to certain directors, officers and employees of the Company to acquire an aggregate of 1,640,000 common shares in the capital of the Company in accordance with the Stock Option Plan. These Options are subject to the terms of the respective grant agreements as well as the rules and regulations of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX:V"). 650,000 of the options were issued to Directors and Officers of the Company at an exercise price of $2.00. The Options will vest over the next two years and become fully vested by June 22, 2025. The Options are exercisable for a six-year term, expiring June 21, 2029.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,?

Dirk Harbecke

Chairman?& CEO

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 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 Exploration Expenditures, the existence of certain spodumene pegmatites, the possible type of mining and concentration of lithium; the distance required for transportation of concentrate; the Company's ability to procure 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.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rock-tech-announces-results-of-its-2023-annual-general-and-special-meeting-of-shareholders-301867675.html

SOURCE Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
VANCOUVER, June 30, 2023 - Cornish Metals Inc. (TSX-V/AIM: CUSN) ("Cornish Metals" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of its 2023 Annual General and Special Meeting of the shareholders of the Company held via live audio teleconference on June 29, 2023 (the "Meeting"). Proxies representing 261,370,202 common shares of the Company ("Common Shares"), and shareholders holding 350,000 Common Shares, being in aggregate 48.89% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as at the date hereof, were voted. All resolutions were passed.

Mr. Grenville Thomas

Mr. Grenville Thomas, founder of Cornish Metals, did not stand for re-election to the Board. Richard Williams, CEO and Director, and the Board of Directors, would like to thank Gren for his contribution to the Company since he founded it over 20 years ago. Mr. Thomas will continue to be associated with the Company as Chairman Emeritus.

Meeting Results

Capitalized terms not otherwise defined in this news release shall have the meanings ascribed thereto in the Company's Management Proxy Circular dated May 18, 2023 (the "Circular").

The voting results of the business of the Meeting are summarized as follows:

MOTION Votes For % For Votes Against % Against Votes Withheld % Withheld Number of directors set at seven 261,188,865 99.93 181,337 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Patrick F.N. Anderson 258,480,629 99.93 192,141 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Richard D. Williams 258,491,629 99.93 181,141 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Kenneth A. Armstrong 258,488,433 99.93 184,337 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Donald Njegovan 258,489,629 99.93 183,141 0.07 N/A N/A Election of John F.G. McGloin 258,496,933 99.93 175,837 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Stephen T. Gatley 258,497,433 99.93 175,337 0.07 N/A N/A Election of Anthony Trahar 258,488,629 99.93 184,141 0.07 N/A N/A Appointment of Auditors 261,289,157 99.98 N/A N/A 62,026 0.02 Approval of the Stock Option Plan Resolution 258,279,737 99.85 394,309 0.15 N/A N/A Approval of the RSU Plan Resolution 258,309,081 99.86 364,965 0.14 N/A N/A Approval of the General Share Authority Resolution 258,443,431 99.91 230,615 0.09 N/A N/A Approval of the Pre-Emptive Disapplication Authority Resolution 258,454,431 99.92 219,615 0.08 N/A N/A Approval of the RSU Plan Share Authority Resolution 258,291,731 99.85 382,315 0.15 N/A N/A

At the Meeting, pursuant to the Stock Option Plan Resolution, shareholders approved the Amended Option Plan, which was amended in respect of certain amendments as further described in the Circular, together with certain clarifying, housekeeping changes which did not require shareholder approval. The maximum number of Common Shares issuable under the Amended Option Plan, together with the number of Common Shares issuable under outstanding security based compensation granted otherwise than under the Amended Option Plan, shall not exceed 10% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares from time to time. As of the date hereof, the maximum number of Common Shares issuable under the Amended Option Plan is equal to 53,527,071.

Further, at the Meeting, pursuant to the RSU Plan Resolution, shareholders approved the adoption by the Company of the RSU Plan. The maximum number of Common Shares issuable under the RSU Plan, together with the number of Common Shares issuable under outstanding security based compensation granted otherwise than under the RSU Plan, shall not exceed 10% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares from time to time. As of the date hereof, the maximum number of Common Shares issuable under the RSU Plan is equal to 48,377,071.

The Amended Option Plan and the RSU Plan are subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

ABOUT CORNISH METALS

Cornish Metals is a dual-listed company (AIM and TSX-V: CUSN) focused on advancing the South Crofty high-grade, underground tin project through to delivery of a Feasibility Study, as well as exploring its additional mineral rights, all located in Cornwall, South West England. The former producing South Crofty tin mine is located beneath the towns of Pool and Camborne and closed in 1998 following over 400 years of continuous production. Since acquiring the project in 2016, Cornish Metals has completed and published maiden NI 43-101 Mineral Resources for South Crofty using the vast archive of historical production data and more recent drilling completed between 2007 and 2013. Additionally, Cornish Metals has undertaken extensive pilot-scale water treatment trials and successfully applied for and received the necessary environmental permits to abstract, treat and discharge mine water in order to dewater the mine. Planning permissions for the operation of the mine and re-development of the surface facilities have been secured and construction of the water treatment plant is currently well underway.

An updated Mineral Resource was completed in June 2021 as summarised below:

South Crofty Summary (JORC 2012) Mineral Resource Estimate Area Classification Mass ('000 tonnes) Grade Contained Tin / Tin Equivalent ('000 tonnes) Increase in contained Tin / Tin equivalent from 2016 MRE Lower Mine

Indicated 2,084 1.59% Sn 33 10.2% Inferred 1,937 1.67% Sn 32 129.8% Upper Mine

Indicated 277 1.01% SnEq 3 9.5% Inferred 493 0.93% SnEq 5 8.0%

The Mineral Resource Estimate for South Crofty (see news release dated June 9, 2021), is available in a report titled the "South Crofty Tin Project Mineral Resource Update" dated June 7, 2021, authored by Mr. N. Szebor, CGeol (London), EuroGeol, FGS, of AMC Consultants (UK) Ltd, can be accessed through the link and on the Company's SEDAR page.

The technical information in this news release has been compiled by Mr. Owen Mihalop who has reviewed and takes responsibility for the data and geological interpretation. Mr. Owen Mihalop (MCSM, BSc (Hons), MSc, FGS, MIMMM, CEng) is Chief Operating Officer for Cornish Metals Inc. and has sufficient experience 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 as defined under the JORC Code (2012) and as a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Mr. Mihalop consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

For additional information please contact:

In North America:

Irene Dorsman at (604) 200 6664 or by e-mail at irene.dorsman@cornishmetals.com

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP

(Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker) Tel: +44 203 470 0470



Richard Morrison Charlie Bouverat Grant Barker Hannam & Partners

(Joint Broker) Tel: +44 207 907 8500



Matthew Hasson Andrew Chubb Jay Ashfield BlytheRay

(Financial PR/IR-London) Tel: +44 207 138 3204



Tim Blythe tim.blythe@blytheray.com Megan Ray megan.ray@blytheray.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Richard D. Williams"

Richard D. Williams, P.Geo

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.

Caution regarding forward looking statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions at the time such statements are made, 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, including but not limited to: risks related to receipt of regulatory approvals, risks related to general economic and market conditions; risks related to the COVID-19 global pandemic and any variants of COVID-19 which may arise; risks related to the availability of financing; the timing and content of upcoming work programmes; actual results of proposed exploration activities; possible variations in Mineral Resources or grade; outcome of the current Feasibility Study; projected dates to commence mining operations; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations.



Although Cornish Metals has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, 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. Cornish Metals undertakes no obligation or responsibility to update forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
VANCOUVER, June 30, 2023 - Alpha Lithium Corp. (NEO: ALLI) (OTC: APHLF) (German WKN: A3CUW1) ("Alpha" or the "Company") today commented on shareholder feedback received in connection with the hostile offer (the "Hostile Offer") for the common shares of Alpha ("Common Shares") announced June 8, 2023, including the open letter published on June 26, 2023 by Alpha's major shareholder Kyle Stevenson. The Board unanimously determined that the Hostile Offer is not in the best interests of the Company or its current shareholders.



Brad Nichol, President and CEO of the Company commented: "As a public company, shareholder feedback is tremendously helpful to Alpha's Board and management in ensuring our vision for the Company aligns with the owners of the Company: the shareholders. I'm very appreciative that Mr. Stevenson made his perspective known, and that perspective is generally consistent with the feedback I've received directly from many of our other shareholders." Mr. Nichol continued: "For months we have been, and will continue to, assess all available transactions on the basis of the benefit they provide to shareholders, with particular regard to the unique and compelling characteristic of each of our assets."

The full text of Mr. Stevenson's open letter is set out below for reference. The Company notes that the letter was issued by Mr. Stevenson, not Alpha, and although Alpha is not aware of any misstatement therein, Alpha has not independently verified and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained therein.

To my fellow shareholders,

My name is Kyle Stevenson. I currently own 9,200,000 common shares of Alpha and securities convertible to acquire 1,300,000 additional shares of Alpha. To the best of my knowledge, I am the single largest shareholder of Alpha Lithium.

I have been heavily involved in the Argentine lithium exploration and development industry since 2016, when I became President, CEO and a director of Millennial Lithium Corp. We developed the Pastos Grandes lithium brine project in Argentina, approximately 70 kilometers northeast of Alpha's Tolillar project. We sold Millennial to Lithium Americas Corp. in 2022, in a transaction valuing Millennial at approximately C$491,000,000. This experience gave me considerable insight into the exploration and development of Argentine lithium brine assets, and their value in strategic M&A transactions.

In addition to my Millennial experience, I am familiar with Alpha, its assets, and its management team. I have done business with them in the past, and hope to continue working with them in the future. In 2019 I had the opportunity to travel to Argentina with management and experience, first-hand, the potential of Tolillar. Since then, I have been impressed by management's ability to add shareholder value, and continue to be impressed by the work they've done in developing Alpha's portfolio of assets.

I have carefully watched Tecpetrol's attempt to acquire Alpha from its shareholders. I have reviewed Tecpetrol's bid circular, as well as Alpha's Directors' Circular, and it is clear to me that the Tecpetrol bid is wholly inadequate, and I do not intend to tender any of my shares.

In my opinion, the Tecpetrol bid is an opportunistic attempt to seize both Alpha's Tolillar and Hombre Muerto assets at an indefensible discount to their true value, which I strongly oppose. The bid fails to deliver value to Alpha's shareholders, including myself, for two key reasons: The first is the valuation is embarrassingly low for Tolillar alone, and second, Tecpetrol is trying to get all the assets, including Hombre Muerto and over $30 million in cash, for no additional consideration.

1. Inadequate Value - a stink bid by all measures



Asset Value: The Tecpetrol bid significantly undervalues the Tolillar asset on its own. As the Alpha team wrote in their Directors' Circular, the offer price represents a substantial discount to recent lithium brine transactions in Argentina, including the Millennial Lithium sale we completed in 2022. The confusing discount ignores the value added by the unique features of Alpha's Tolillar salar, most notably: Tolillar may be one of the last wholly-owned lithium bearing salars in Argentina, and Tolillar hosts a unique and valuable freshwater reserve.

In addition to the obvious operational advantages that come with exclusive ownership of the entire salar, an independent freshwater recharge study commissioned by Alpha indicated that the freshwater aquifer located within the Tolillar salar mining tenements can sustainably support the large freshwater withdrawals needed for a top tier project (see Alpha's press release of January 23, 2023 for more information).

Market Value: The bid price of $1.24 represents a ~15% discount to Alpha's closing price on Friday, June 23, 2023. When Tecpetrol first announced their intention to bid Alpha's share price was steadily climbing, consistent with prevailing trends in Lithium Carbonate Equivalent prices, making their inadequate offer even less appealing. The trading in Alpha's shares to a high of $1.45 since the announcement of the bid indicates clearly to me that I'm not alone in considering this a 'take under' rather than a 'take over', which won't receive the shareholder support it needs.

The unique features of Tolillar make it an incredibly compelling standalone opportunity, and by any measure, worth considerably more than Tecpetrol has offered to pay.

2. Predatory Structure - Tecpetrol wants everything, at a huge discount



Assuming Tecpetrol has taken adequate time to familiarize itself with Alpha, they know, or ought to know, that Alpha has at least two distinct and compelling assets: (i) the Tolillar project, and (ii) the roughly 5,000-hectare land position in the world-class Hombre Muerto Salar. For those of my fellow shareholders who have not yet had the opportunity, I would encourage you to review Alpha's technical report about its Hombre Muerto asset. It's available under Alpha's profile at www.sedar.com. Even prior to the filing of the Hombre Muerto technical report, it would be clear to anyone who had conducted appropriate due diligence on Alpha that its early stage Hombre Muerto asset represents compelling potential for additional shareholder value. Therein lies the second problem with the Tecpetrol bid: for a low-ball price, Tecpetrol wants the de-risked Tolillar project, the discovery potential of the Hombre Muerto asset, and approximately $30 million of capital.

Tecpetrol declined to participate in the Tolillar sale process when invited by Alpha, instead deciding to make a hostile bid for the entire company. While I expect Tecpetrol hopes to be able to use the hostile bid as a way to get Tolillar at a discount, shareholders need to understand that the proposed structure would also allow Tecpetrol to also take 100% of the future potential of Hombre Muerto, whatever that may be, for essentially nothing.

I put my trust, and capital, behind the team at Alpha to develop Tolillar from a very early stage, and am impressed by the work they have done. I want to bet on this management team again to do the same thing in Hombre Muerto.

I strongly encourage Tecpetrol to engage with Alpha in a constructive manner and offer a fair price for Alpha and/or its Tolillar asset. I further encourage them to include a structure which contemplates a spin out of Hombre Muerto along with the working capital necessary to begin to develop its potential for the benefit of all current shareholders of Alpha.

Your fellow shareholder,

[signed]

Kyle Stevenson

kyle@blueprintcapital.ca

604.788.0537

Take No Action

The Board and management of Alpha will not tender to the Tecpetrol bid. For the reasons fully described in our Directors' Circular, Alpha recommends that shareholders REJECT the undervalued and opportunistic Hostile Offer. To reject, shareholders simply need to do nothing. If you have already tendered your Common Shares and wish to withdraw, simply ask your broker or contact Kingsdale Advisors (by phone at 1-800-749-9197 (toll-free in North America) or 647-251-9740 (for collect calls outside North America) or by email at contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com) to assist you with this process. For more information, please go to www.ProtectAlphaLithium.com.





Advisors

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC is serving as the Company's financial advisor, Cozen O'Connor LLP is serving as the Company's legal advisor and McMillan LLP is serving as the Special Committee's legal advisor. PI Financial has been appointed independent financial advisor to the Special Committee. Longview Communications & Public Affairs is serving as government and public relations advisor and Kingsdale Advisors is serving as strategic shareholder and communications advisor.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF Alpha Lithium Corp.

"Brad Nichol"

Brad Nichol

President, CEO and Director

For more information:

Alpha Lithium Investor Relations

Tel: +1 844 592 6337

relations@alphalithium.com

www.alphalithium.com

Kingsdale Advisors

1 800 749 9179 (toll free in North America)

+1 647 251 9740 (collect, outside North America)

contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com

www.ProtectAlphaLithium.com

About Alpha Lithium (NEO: ALLI) (OTC: APHLF) (German WKN: A3CUW1)

Alpha Lithium is a team of industry professionals and experienced stakeholders focused on the development of the Tolillar and Hombre Muerto Salars. In Tolillar, we have assembled 100% ownership of what may be one of Argentina's last undeveloped lithium salars, encompassing 27,500 hectares (67,954 acres), neighboring multi-billion-dollar lithium players in the heart of the renowned "Lithium Triangle". In Hombre Muerto, we continue to expand our 5,000+ hectare (12,570 acres) foothold in one of the world's highest quality, longest producing, lithium salars. Other companies in the area exploring for lithium brines or currently in production include Allkem Ltd., Livent Corporation, and POSCO in Salar del Hombre Muerto; Orocobre in Salar Olaroz; Eramine SudAmerica S.A. in Salar de Centenario; and Gangfeng and Lithium Americas in Salar de Cauchari.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements concerning the Hostile Offer. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve 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. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include the results of further discussions, if any, between the Company, and third parties, the ability of the Company to successfully complete a transaction involving itself or its assets, or to do so on a timely basis, global economic conditions and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. 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, include numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. 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 will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law.

No securities regulatory authority has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

A QR code accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b7393de3-c7c0-42de-9a01-4e34ac38f0d6
Toronto, June 30, 2023 - SOPerior Fertilizer Corp. (the "Company" or "SOP") (NEX:SOP.H). The Company announces that on June 29, 2023 it received a notice of default from Lind Asset Management VII, LLC, a fund managed by The Lind Partners, LLC (collectively, "Lind") with respect to its Convertible Security Funding Agreement dated December 16, 2016, as amended (the "CSFA"). Lind's default notice is requesting that the Company pay the principal and interest due and outstanding under the CSFA.



The Company has until July 10, 2023 to repay the balance after which time Lind has the right to take all actions and remedies provided for in the security instruments which include foreclosing on its lien of the property and assets of the Company.

The Company's proposed JV partner has informed SOP that it is committed to remedying the default notice by July 10, 2023.

The Company has no present ability to satisfy the principal and interest due and outstanding under the CSFA, and there is no guarantee that the JV partner will be able to remedy the default notice by the deadline or at all.

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.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

SOPerior Fertilizer Corp.



"Andrew Squires"

CEO and Director

Contact Information

Phone: (403) 850-0422

E-mail inquiries: info@SOPeriorfertilizer.com

www.SOPeriorfertilizer.com

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com).
Vancouver, June 30, 2023 - Equity Metals Corp. (TSXV: EQTY) ("Equity" or the "Company") announces that it proposes to undertake a non-brokered private placement of securities to raise total gross proceeds of up to $550,000 (the "Offering"). The Offering will be comprised of 4,230,770 flow-through units (the "FT Units") to be sold at a price of $0.13 per FT Unit for gross proceeds of $550,000. Each FT Unit will be comprised of one flow-through common share and one-half (0.5) of one non-flow-through warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one non-flow-through common share for a period of 3 years at a price of $0.20.

The proceeds received from the sale of the FT Units will be focussed on the initial delineation of two new targets located to the northeast of, and not included in, the earlier 2022 updated Mineral Resource estimate on the Silver Queen, gold/silver project, in British Columbia. These additional funds allow for drilling to continue well into summer on the Cole and George Lake veins systems (Figure 1), which have been partially tested by historical drilling.

The Company may pay finders' fees comprised of cash and non-transferable warrants in connection with the Offering, subject to compliance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued and sold under the Offering will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from their date of issuance. Completion of the Offering and the payment of any finders' fees remain subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States of America. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons (as defined in the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available.

Figure 1: Plan Map of targets on the Silver Queen vein system, BC



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5566/171828_96f8b1274418a93f_002full.jpg

About Silver Queen Project

The Silver Queen Project is a premier gold-silver property with over 100 years of historic exploration and development and is located adjacent to power, roads and rail with significant mining infrastructure that was developed under previous operators Bradina JV (Bralorne Mines) and Houston Metals Corp. (a Hunt Brothers company). The property contains an historic decline into the No. 3 Vein, the George Lake Vein, camp infrastructure, and a maintained Tailings Facility.

The Silver Queen Property consists of 45 mineral claims, 17 crown grants, and two surface crown grants totalling 18,852ha with no underlying royalties. Mineralization is hosted by a series of epithermal veins distributed over a 6 sq km area. An updated NI43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate with effective date December 1st, 2022 was detailed in a News Release issued on Jan 16, 2023, which can be found by clicking here and the full Technical Report can be found on SEDAR and the Company's website.

More than 20 different veins have been identified on the property, forming an extensive network of zoned Cretaceous- to Tertiary-age epithermal veins. The property remains largely under explored.

About Equity Metals Corporation

Equity Metals Corp. is a Malaspina-Manex Group Company. The Company owns 100% interest, with no underlying royalty, in the Silver Queen project, located along the Skeena Arch in the Omineca Mining Division, British Columbia. The property hosts high-grade, precious- and base-metal veins related to a buried porphyry system, which has been only partially delineated. The Company also has a controlling JV interest (57.49%) in the Monument Diamond project, NWT, strategically located in the Lac De Gras district within 40 km of both the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines. The Company also has royalty and working interests in other Canadian properties, which are being evaluated further to determine their value to the Company.

Robert Macdonald, MSc. P.Geo, is VP Exploration of Equity Metals Corp. and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. He is responsible for the supervision of the exploration on the Silver Queen project and for the preparation of the technical information in this disclosure.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Joseph Anthony Kizis, Jr."

Joseph Anthony Kizis, Jr., P.Geo

President, Director, Equity Metals Corp.

For further information, visit the website at https://www.equitymetalscorporation.com; or contact us at 604.641.2759 or by email at ir@mnxltd.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. This news release may contain 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. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Equity Metals Corp. does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

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Vancouver, June 30, 2023 - Cariboo Rose Resources Ltd. ("Cariboo Rose") (TSX-V:CRB) has initiated a Management Cease Trade Order (MCTO) effective immediately.

Two weeks prior to the June 28, 2023 deadline to file its audited annual financial statements and accompanying management's discussion and analysis and related CEO and CFO certificates for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2023 (collectively, the "Annual Filings"), as required under applicable Canadian securities laws, Cariboo Rose was informed by its auditor that due to a change in their licensing, Cariboo Rose must engage a new auditor because they no longer had the ability to issue audit opinions. As a result, Cariboo Rose will be unable to meet the June 28, 2023 deadline for filing its Annual Filings.

In connection with Cariboo Rose's inability to file the Annual Filings on time, it has been approved for a Management Cease Trade Order ("MCTO") under National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") by the British Columbia Securities Commission.

Cariboo Rose remains confident in its ability to complete these Annual Filings and expects to file them as soon as they are available, but is looking at completion by or about August 18, 2023.

Until Cariboo Rose files the Annual Filings, it will comply with the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203. These guidelines, among other things, require Cariboo Rose to issue bi-weekly default status reports, in the form of news releases, for so long as the Annual Filings have not been filed.

During the MCTO, the general investing public will continue to be able to trade in Cariboo Rose's common shares listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. However, Cariboo Rose's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer and such other directors, officers and persons as determined by the applicable regulatory authorities, will not be able to trade in Cariboo Rose's shares, nor will Cariboo Rose be able to, directly or indirectly, issue securities to or acquire securities from an insider or employee until such time as the Annual Filings and all continuous disclosure requirements have been filed by Cariboo Rose, and the MCTO has been lifted.

Cariboo Rose confirms that as of the date of this news release there are no insolvency proceedings against it and there is no other material information concerning its affairs that has not been generally disclosed.

J.W. Morton, P. Geo.

President and CEO

Contact: (604) 681-7913 or Toll Free: 888-656-6611

For more information, please visit Cariboo Rose's website at www.cariboorose.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.

Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
It's arguably the best known, least acknowledged and most inconvenient truth in local government: "Fire departments" -- in the precise meaning of that label -- no longer exist anywhere in America.Thousands of official entities bear this or a similar moniker. But given what they and their employees actually do, "Emergency Medical, Incident Response and Every-Once-in-a-While-an-Actual-Fire Department" would be far more accurate.In 1980, according to the National Fire Protection Association, the nation's 30,000 fire departments responded to 10.8 million emergency calls. About 3 million were classified as fires. By 2013, total calls had nearly tripled to 31.6 million, while fire calls had plummeted to 1.24 million, of which just 500,000 of were actual structure fires. For America's 1.14 million career and volunteer firefighters, that works out to an average of just one structure fire every other year.In my own community of Portland, Ore., the Fire and Rescue department's 500-plus full-time fire professionals respond to more than 70,000 911 calls each year. About 70 percent are medical calls, a typical proportion for most jurisdictions. Just 700 annual calls involve burning buildings.Let's be clear at the outset: The volunteers and career professionals in this field routinely risk their lives in service to their communities. Real and potential fires pose genuine hazards, and people skilled in fire suppression will always be needed, as will expensive, sophisticated fire equipment.Firefighters often are very busy; one San Francisco fire engine company responds to 40 calls a day. But most calls are either medical emergencies or involve non-life-threatening requests (including false alarms) that plague fire departments everywhere.In Portland, San Francisco, and many other communities, the typical 911 call results in the dispatch of both a fire truck and an ambulance. The result is an increasingly familiar tableau: Five or six gear-laden firefighters and/or ambulance personnel arriving on the scene, regardless of whether there's a fire, stroke, or a heart attack in progress -- or a passed-out homeless person on the sidewalk, or a motorist slightly dazed in a fender bender. (While cat-in-tree rescues are more urban myth than reality, they still happen.).Fire officials vehemently defend their existing protocols. Firefighters, they say, need the extra time to suit up and board big rigs in case they must re-deploy to a real fire during a medical call. And they note that firefighters often save lives when they arrive first on the scene.However, such "medical saves" aren't primarily the result of firefighters' superior medical-intervention skills. They're far more a function of the fact that too few paramedics and ambulances -- and still so many fire trucks and fire stations -- dot our urban and suburban landscapes, as many elected officials who've unsuccessfully tried to close a fire station know.Most firefighters, at best, have only an Emergency Medical Technical certification. Although more certified paramedics are being hired, they still comprise less than 30 percent of many cities' forces. Paramedics also cost more -- a handy rationale for continuing to hire for the past, not the future -- and are increasingly hard to recruit and keep amidst job requirements that they also fight the occasional fire.While firefighters' working realities have changed profoundly in recent decades, their government structures and operating protocols remain largely frozen in bureaucratic amber. Add to this mix near-universal citizen approval, tradition and powerful unions, and incremental improvements, when they happen at all, are often contentious and add even more costs.In 2012, the city of Toronto, over the Fire Departments objections, changed protocols to deploy ambulances (from a separate government unit) instead of EMT-staffed fire trucks for more than 50 types of medical emergencies. The next year, after city staff recommended a budget that would close four fire stations and cut 84 firefighting jobs--while adding 56 paramedics--firefighter-funded TV ads alleged that the cuts would "put lives at risk."This isn't just a big-city problem. In 2013, a faculty-led research team for Portland State University's Center for Public Service (which I direct) analyzed two years of 911 calls for three small cities collectively contracting with a nearby city's fire/EMS department. Known medical calls comprised 75 percent of these incidents.Our team identified a number of lower-cost operating alternatives, such as adding many more ambulances or specially-designed Rapid Response Vehicles (RRVs) to produce faster response times. We learned of one jurisdiction that had strategically purchased a three-bedroom house in a high 911-call generating area near a nursing home for an ambulance and its crew.Vastly increasing the number of pre-positioned ambulances and adding RRVs aren't the only potential innovations. One veteran firefighter I know suggests motorcycle-riding paramedics, especially during rush-hour traffic jams, equipped with basic medical kits including heart defibrillators.Unnecessarily high operating costs are the most visible result of clinging to an expensive, "just-in-case" delivery model for this core public service. Another is the unnecessary wear and tear on expensive fire trucks, which can easily cost $1 million or more. (Last year, 4,000 new ones were purchased across the country.).Perhaps the biggest cost of the status quo is the least discussed. When scarce fire/emergency medical personnel are routinely dispatched for non-emergencies -- and then a bona fide, "every-minute-counts" emergency does occur, especially near a now-vacated station -- it's cold comfort when a 10-minute response time from a backup crew is a few minutes too slow to save a 65-year-old in sudden cardiac arrest, or a 7-year-old suffering a severe allergic reaction.While reforms are slowly happening, the standard response by fire departments and firefighter unions to too-slow response times is still more fire stations, fire trucks and firefighters. That isn't just an unrealistic non-starter for most cash-strapped local governments, especially as America's rapidly aging population generates even more non-fire 911 calls. It's also a doubling down on a long-outdated delivery model that requires a fundamental re-thinking.
20 Startups graduate from UNICEF StartUp Lab

Business Desk Report Business News Jun - 30 - 2023 , 07:52

About 20 young innovative entrepreneurs in the country have graduated from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) StartUp Lab.

It is after an intensive six-month accelerator programme focused on business and product development.

The UNICEF StartUp Lab is an accelerator programme dedicated to support businesses working towards advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for children and young people.

It is led by UNICEF in Ghana and supported by KOICA under the KOICA-UNICEF Accelerating Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Ghana.

This milestone marks the culmination of a journey aimed at enhancing the business, technological, and communication skills of participating entrepreneurs, strengthening their product and businesses, and ultimately increasing their social impact. New cohort

Addressing participants at the graduation ceremony in Accra, the Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Ghana, Fiachra McAsey, said UNICEF would continue to be inspired by this new cohort of talented startups, who were leveraging digital technology and their business acumen to build new products and services to tackle some of the most difficult challenges faced by young people in Ghana.

He said the 20 startups make up a cohort of resourceful, dedicated and talented individuals from across the country.

It has been our pleasure to accompany them over the past six months through the UNICEF StartUp Lab Accelerator Programme, and we look forward to supporting them further, as they join our Alumni network, and continue to make a difference for children and young people in Ghana, and beyond, he said.

Transformative power

The Acting Country Director of KOICA Ghana, Seungmin Oh, said KOICA firmly believes in the transformative power of entrepreneurship and innovation.

He said KOICA recognise the importance of creating an enabling environment that fosters creativity, provides necessary resources, and encourages collaboration.

He said KOICA was proud to have been a part of the journey of the 20 startups, and for that reason remain committed to supporting the growth of entrepreneurship and innovation in Ghana.

We will continue to invest in programs that empower young entrepreneurs and equip them with the skills, resources, and networks needed to thrive in today's competitive landscape, he said.

Nurturing entrepreneurs

The Korea Ambassador to Ghana, Lim Jung-Taek, said Korea was honoured to have been a part of this transformative initiative, which has nurtured the seeds of entrepreneurship and paved the way for a brighter future for these talented individuals.

He said, Korea has long been a testament to the power of technology-driven progress which has seen it invest more than four per cent of its GDP in research and development, fuelling groundbreaking discoveries and fostering an environment that thrives on innovation.

He added that this commitment to technological advancement has yielded incredible results, giving rise to global companies that have left an indelible mark on various industries.

Significant guidance

The startups also gained valuable access to a network of experts from UNICEF, KOICA, and MEST, offering significant guidance and fostering networking and investment opportunities.

Moreover, qualified companies were given dedicated assistance towards achieving recognition as an UN-recognized Digital Public Good.

Throughout the programme, each selected startup was provided with up to GH25,000 in prototyping funding, in addition to immersive and hands-on business acceleration support.

Now in its third year, the UNICEF StartUp Lab has accelerated over 50 startups from across Ghana, including by investing over $100,000 in prototyping funding to support the development and impact of these businesses.

The UNICEF StartUp Lab has been instrumental in equipping Ghanaian startups with the necessary skills, resources, and support to address pressing challenges faced by children and young people in the country.
Vodafone Foundation settles medical bills of 27 patients at Manhyia Government Hospital

News Desk Report Business News Jun - 25 - 2023 , 13:10

As part of its annual Ashanti Month celebration, the Vodafone Ghana Foundation has discharged 27 patients from the Mother and Infant Ward at Manhyia Government Hospital.

The gesture was in partnership with the Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation in Kumasi through Vodafone Ghana Foundations Homecoming initiative.

In a release issued by the company, it said the Homecoming initiative, now in its 11th year, has been instrumental in aiding patients who are unable to pay their medical bills.

Since its inception in 2011, the initiative has discharged about 2,000 patients across the country, with 162 patients discharged in 2022 alone, it said.

A beneficiary of this year's Homecoming event, Azuma Laliba Atiya, a new mother who was able to leave the hospital with her newborn to join her family at home expressed appreciation to the Foundation for its intervention.

The Legal & External Affairs Director at Vodafone Ghana, Preba Greenstreet, said, "Our Homecoming initiative is testament to Vodafone Ghana Foundation's commitment to making a real difference in the lives of Ghanaians.

We believe in giving back to our community, and it is heartening to see the impact of our efforts in the smiles of the patients we have been able to help.

Today, these patients will be joining their families at home to celebrate their improved health and birth of their new babies, she added.

The Head of Stakeholder Relations at the Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation, Kwabena Owusu Ababio, lauded the foundation for its efforts.

Know this

Ashanti Month is an annual celebration by Vodafone Ghana marked with various activities.

The month-long celebration will include the launch of an ICT hub in the Ashanti Regional Library, a collaborative effort with the Ghana Library Authority.

In addition, Vodafone Ghana has revived several initiatives aimed at enhancing long-term health and sustainability outcomes.

These include Healthfest, a free health screening initiative, and free ultrasound for pregnant women in Pipie in the Bosomtwe district.
King Vudumane criticizes Sarkodie and Yvonne Nelson for discussing sensitive matters in public

GraphicOnline Showbiz News Jun - 30 - 2023 , 10:56

Afropiano star, King Vudumane, has expressed his disapproval of the actions of Sarkodie and Yvonne Nelson, stating that discussing intimate details in the public domain is unhealthy and should be avoided.

King Vudumane recently gained attention for sharing his thoughts on Sarkodie's response to Yvonne Nelson's memoir, which revealed their past relationship and a terminated pregnancy. The US-based artist, also known as a producer, believes that Yvonne Nelson was wrong to disclose their private affair while criticizing Sarkodie for his counter-response.

"It is disheartening to witness the viral discussions happening in Ghana. Yvonne Nelson and Sarkodie are influential figures who should refrain from sharing certain dark secrets and attempting to justify them in their creative expressions," he expressed.

Vudumane further emphasized that Ghanaians should not encourage such behaviour, stressing that it was inappropriate to write about abortions or compose songs about sensitive issues.

The release of Vudumane's video has sparked a significant debate on social media, with individuals expressing a range of opinions. While some agree with Vudumane's stance, others believe that Yvonne Nelson has the right to share her story. Additionally, opinions are divided on whether Sarkodie was justified in responding with a song on the matter.

The discussion surrounding this controversy continues to generate considerable attention and discourse on various online platforms.
Empower youth for SDGs success  President says to essay stakeholders

By Priscilla Asantewaa Obeng Junior News Jun - 29 - 2023 , 12:57

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has advocated that the youth be empowered to ensure the success of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to him, young people were at the heart of the SDGs framework and the goals were an investment for children, youth, and future generations.

The SDGs are 17 goals aimed to create better ways of life without destroying the environment and resources for the future.

The President, who was speaking at a ceremony to recognise the achievements of the 10 winners of the 2022 Junior Graphic National Essay competition (JGNEC) at the Jubilee House in Accra, said young people could become a positive force for the SDGs if they were given the knowledge and opportunities to thrive and be involved in decision-making processes.

He, therefore, pledged the governments commitment to provide quality education for all youth across the country.

We will continue to invest in the development of our educational system to ensure that every child has access to the tools and resources needed to succeed.

We will create an environment that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and innovation in empowering our youth to shape the destiny of our nation and our world, he said.

Commendation He commended the winners, noting that their essays did not only catch the attention of the nation but had become an inspiration for countless others.

This is just the beginning of your success story. You must all be proud of yourselves for the determination, passion, and hard work you have put into being named as the best, he said.

President Akufo-Addo said the essays had added to the global conversation on SDGs, adding that you have played an integral role in creating awareness and understanding of the goals among your peers and beyond. You have taken the first step to becoming change makers.

Furthermore, he said their essays demonstrated the youth's depth of knowledge, creativity of thoughts, and passion and encouraged them to use the recognition as a stepping stone to explore new avenues and continue to make a positive difference in the world.

The President also acknowledged the efforts of teachers, parents, and mentors who had nurtured their talents, guided and instilled in them the love for learning, writing, reading, and critical thinking.

I urge all parents and guardians to continue to assist their wards to excel in whatever they do so they can attain great laurels in life, he added.

He congratulated the Junior Graphic, a subsidiary of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), on organising the essay competition in partnership with the SDGs Advisory Unit, Office of the President.

Winner

It was a moment of joy when the Overall Best Winner of the 2022 JGNEC, Miss Adjoa Nyameyie Fletcher of the Pere Planque School in Cape Coast, Central Region, recalled her efforts to emerge the overall winner of the competition.

She said during her first visit to the Jubilee House last year, she witnessed how her predecessor was duly recognised and so from that day, she resolved to be the next winner to be given the same level of recognition or even more.

As a result, when the 2022 edition was launched, I participated again and here I am today. This meeting means a lot to me and it will forever be remembered, she said.

Miss Fletcher noted that before participating in the competition, most of them, their parents, and teachers had no idea about the SDGs but through the competition, they were now familiar with all the 17 goals.

We thank the SDGs Advisory Unit for partnering with the Junior Graphic to educate all of us, especially schoolchildren, in this beautiful undertaking by integrating the goals into the essay writing, she stated.

She has pledged on behalf of the other awardees to become ambassadors of the SDGs in their schools and everywhere they find themselves to ensure the success of the goals.

Miss Fletcher also expressed her gratitude to her parents, teachers, the GCGL, the SDGs Advisory Unit, the sponsors, and all who worked tirelessly for her to attain such a great feat.

SDGs

The Managing Director of GCGL, Mr Ato Afful, said the JGNEC is the papers contribution to the countrys effort to achieve SDG 4, which is to ensure inclusive and equitable education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

For his part, the Special Advisor to the President on the SDGs, Dr Eugene Owusu, encouraged the winners to cherish this feat and never cease to believe in themselves.

He urged them to be actively engaged in the implementation of the SDGs to create a better future.

Dr Owusu also expressed his delight about the partnership that exists between the GCGL and the SDGs Advisory Unit, noting that the partnership had reached more than 100,000 students across the country over the past four years.

Competition

The contest was organised for upper primary and junior high school students. Out of the fifty best essays, 10 winners were rewarded.

The 2022 competition was on the theme: Influencing creativity and critical thinking of young people through writing. The sponsors of the competition were BIC, IPMC, Beta Malt, and McVities.
368 Compete in Zonal WorldSkills contest

Severious Kale-Dery Education Jun - 30 - 2023 , 08:34

A total of 368 youth aged between 15 and 23 are participating in this year's Zonal WorldSkills competition in the country, which kicked off last Tuesday.

Out of the number, 268 of the competitors competed in the southern zone, which ended last Wednesday, while the remaining 110 will compete in the northern zone from July 3 to 6, 2023.

The trade areas for the competition include bricklaying, fashion technology, autobody repair, cooking, carpentry and joinery, hairdressing and welding.

The rest are automobile technology, beauty therapy, graphic design, I.T. software solutions for businesses, mechatronics, mechanical engineering CAD and electrical installation.

Centres

The centres for the competition in the southern zone were the Accra Technical University (ATU), the Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC), the Applied Technical Institute and the Prestige Institute of Professionals.

For the Northern zone, the competition will be held at the Suame Technical Institute, Uni-Jay Fashion, the Kumasi Technical University and the Kumasi Technical Institute.

Winners at both zones will progress to compete in the national skills competition to be held in October this year.

The winners at the national level will then represent the country in both Africa and the WorldSkills Competition in France. The country to host the Africa competition is yet to be determined.

This years number of competitors represents about a 300 per cent increment over the previous year when only 78 contested.

Interest

At a press conference to officially launch the competition in Accra last Monday evening, the Director-General of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, was excited that the increased participation was an indication of the growing interest in the TVET sector.

"I am excited that the numbers have increased by over 300 per cent and even when we closed registration, there were people who were still calling to inquire about the competition.

"So, the interest is going up and a time will come when the skills competition will be the most prestigious contest everyone will be interested in," Dr Asamoah said.

He appealed to corporate Ghana, especially industry players, to support the contest, as they had the biggest opportunity to utilise the skills of the contestants.

Dr Asamoah expressed gratitude to the EU Ghana Pact for Skills: Support to the Transformation of the TVET System being implemented by GIZ, the World University Service of Ghana, under the INVEST Project, UNI-JAY Company Limited and Prestige Institute Professionals for supporting the 2023 skills contest.

He said the role of corporate Ghana in skills competitions such as this was crucial in transforming TVET education in the country, which is geared towards providing the skilled manpower required to work for the various sectors and industries.

Dr Asamoah commended the government for its commitment to promoting TVET education through various investments, in spite of challenges such as COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Creativity

He was of the view that skills competitions encouraged creativity, competitiveness and innovation and more importantly boosted the image of a country on the international stage.

Dr Asamoah said the introduction of the skills competitions by the CTVET, as part of the MYTVET campaign, was aimed at revitalising technical and vocationaleducation and training skills competitions among TVET institutions in the country.
Zenith Bank Ghana is headline sponsor for the 2022 WAEC Distinction Awards

Graphic.com.gh Education Jun - 29 - 2023 , 13:58

Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited demonstrated its commitment to the promotion of educational excellence in Ghana by sponsoring, for the third time running, the award of Overall Best Candidate, West African Senior School Certificate Examinations for School Candidates, 2022.

At the 2022 WAEC Distinction Awards ceremony, organised by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) on Thursday June 22, 2023 in Accra, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank, Mr. Henry Onwuzurigbo, presented Alex Opoku Manu, a former student of the St. James Seminary Senior High School in Sunyani, with a cash prize of GH30,000 and a laptop for being the Overall Best Candidate.

The achievement of Master Alex Opoku Manu is an attestation of extraordinary academic performance. The Banks decision to sponsor the award of Overall Best Candidate for the third year in a row is therefore in line with the Banks mission, the MD said.

To continue to invest in the best people, technology and environment to underscore our commitment to achieving customer enthusiasm.

Alex, who is currently studying Human Biology at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), also received a cash prize, and a certificate from the WAEC Endowment.

His alma mater received a plaque.

The second Overall Best Student, Benjamin Eyram Nana Kwame Degbey, also a former student of the St. James Seminary SHS in Sunyani and the third-place winner, Abena Afriyie Poku, a former student of Holy Child Senior High School both received a cash prize, laptop, and a certificate each.

The Head of the National Office of WAEC, Wendy Addy-Lamptey said the Excellence and Distinction Awards were instituted by the WAEC Endowment Fund to recognise and publicly acknowledge candidates who perform in the Council's International and National examinations.

She expressed the Councils appreciation to some organisations and the Headline Sponsor, Zenith Bank Ghana for coming onboard to reward excellence.

Let me on behalf of the Council express our heartfelt appreciation to these organisations and our Headline Sponsor, Zenith Bank, she said.

She announced that two of the winners (Alex Opoku Manu and Benjamin Eyram Nana Kwame Degbey) made Ghana proud and annexed the 1st and 2nd prizes at the WAEC International Excellence Awards during the 71st Annual Council Meeting of member countries of WAEC held in Banjul, The Gambia.

The Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, congratulated the winners for their outstanding performance.

He commended WAEC for organising the awards and tasked school authorities to train critical thinkers.

Zenith Bank has over the years contributed to the provision of financial support for needy but brilliant students across all levels of the educational spectrum.

The Bank currently offers full educational scholarships covering the cost of tuition, books, clothing, accommodation and allowances for underprivileged students who have been placed in schools such as Achimota Senior High School, Achimota Junior High School, Osu Presbyterian Senior High School and Kibi School for the Deaf. Recently, the Bank extended its scholarship scheme to an eight-year-old to enable the child pursue her education at the St. Peters Missions School in Accra.



Over the course of almost eighteen years of operations in Ghana, Zenith Bank has sponsored specific prize categories in schools and tertiary institutions, renovated computer laboratories of some public schools and equipped schools with computers, computer accessories as well as teaching and learning materials.



The Bank, some months ago, donated 24 ceiling fans to the Zagyuri Anglican JHS in the Sagnarigu Municipal Assembly as well as exercise books, textbooks and pens to students of Agbekotsekpo DA Basic School in the Shai Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region, to enable students study in a more conducive learning environment and fully participate in learning activities undertaken in the schools.

Students of the Sokode Hall of Residence at the University of Health and Allied Sciences were also beneficiaries of two 380-litre deep freezers which the Bank donated to the Hall of Residence.

Zenith Bank Ghanas Corporate Social Responsibility cuts across the areas of education, healthcare and human capital development. Initiatives embarked on by the Bank have centred on positively impacting the communities in which the Bank operates.

Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited is a subsidiary of Zenith Bank Plc, head quartered in Nigeria with presence in other West Africa countries, the Middle East, Far East and Europe. It is a member of the Ghana Deposit Protection Scheme. The Banks branding is anchored on a continuous investment in People, Technology and Excellent Customer Service.
Chinese Navy ship docks at Tema

Mary Mensah Jun - 30 - 2023 , 07:37

A Chinese navy ship has docked at the Tema Port on a goodwill visit to the country.

The visit of the 43rd Escort Task Group (ETG 162) of the Chinese Army Navy is to strengthen the relations between the two countries and to reinforce the ties between the Chinese and Ghanaian Navies.

The four-day working visit to Ghana also comes with some humanitarian works the officers and men aboard the naval ship intend to embark on while in the country.

The visit of 43rd Escort Task Group (ETG 162) coincides with the 63rd anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ghana and China.

Addressing a welcome ceremony at the Tema Port in Accra last Tuesday, the Deputy Minister of Defence, Kofi Amankwa-Manu, emphasised that the military relationship between the Ghana Armed Forces and the People's Liberation Army has seen enormous results.

He said the visit by the task group had presented another opportunity to further enhance the relationship between the two countries and existing partnership between China and Ghana.

Broader defence cooperation

Mr Amankwa-Manu said a broader defence cooperation was important in the face of the deteriorating security conditions within the West African sub-region and added that enhanced security cooperation in the maritime domain would also help address some of the maritime security threats.

Contemporary threats to security such as terrorism, violent extremism, climate change, pandemics and epidemics can only be addressed through cooperation and collaboration with each other, he noted.

He said another important aspect of an enhanced China-Ghana defence cooperation was information and intelligence sharing and capable platforms could help in gathering and sharing real-time intelligence.

That, he added, could easily be achieved with China's sophistication and advancement in technology, among others.

Threat of terrorism

The deputy minister asserted that the threat of terrorism, violent extremism, maritime insecurity, among others, had become major issues within the West African security environment, hence, the need to cooperate and collaborate to fight those threats.

Also, with most Chinese businesses flourishing in Ghana, it is important for both parties to collaborate and ensure that a safe and secure business environment is created for the benefit of both parties within the framework of contributing to global peace and security, he said.

For his part, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Lu Kun, said the 43rd Chinese naval escort task force set sail for the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia from a military port in Zhanjiang city, southeast China's Guangdong province, on the morning of January 10, 2023.

Bravery and loyalty

He said during the past six months, they had performed their duty with bravery and loyalty, overcome challenges with high morale and had successfully accomplished the escort missions in the Gulf of Aden.

They have also evacuated Chinese nationals from Sudan, fulfilled the international humanitarian obligations and protected the international sea lines.

The Ambassador said that was a demonstration China was a responsible major country and PLA Navy was an open and confident force. He therefore commended them for their courage, dedication and outstanding achievements.
Ghana will overcome economic challenges soon - Standard Chartered Bank optimistic

Donald Ato Dapatem Jun - 30 - 2023 , 06:32

The Group Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank (Global), Jose Vinals, has expressed confidence that Ghana will come out of the economic challenges in the shortest time due to the measures instituted and pledged the bank's support for it.

We are confident that by working hard and in a joint manner between the government and the private sector, Ghana will be out of this situation and will embark on a growth path that it had before COVID-19 and the other crises that hit the country, the region and the world, he added.

Mr Vinals, who until his appointment as Standard Chartered Bank Global Group chairman was the IMF Financial Counsellor and in charge of the Capital Markets, said this when he paid a courtesy call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House on Thursday [June 29].

In the company of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered Ghana PLC, Mansa Nettey, and the Board Chairman of Standard Chartered Ghana PLC, Ebenezer Asante, Mr Vinals described his visit to Ghana as reconfirmation of our support and also a vote of confidence on Ghanas future.

He expressed the banks commitment to the country because it had a positive view of the economic future of the country.

Digitalisation

Mr Vinals said the bank had identified many opportunities in Ghanas digitalisation agenda being pursued by the government, together with a sustainability agenda.

The Group Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank indicated that the bank was committed to investing greatly in the opportunities set by digitalisation and sustainability.

We have been making investments to launch very soon a platform for the financing of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which I think can be quite transformational, he added.

Mr Vinals announced that he had been nominated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) to co-chair the Global Alliance of Private Investors for Development, whose task was to put together financial solutions so that we can scale up financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) towards emerging markets and developing economies.

The task, he added, was to work very closely with many private sector partners, multilateral development banks and the UN to push forward on sustainability endeavour.

Sovereign debt

Mr Vinals said the bank was also very privileged to have been the only bank in the world invited to the global roundtable instituted recently.

The G-20, the World Bank and the IMF together with developing countries and the finance ministers of key advanced economies in the world, including the United States (US), Europe and China, instituted the roundtable.

Their work, Mr Vinals explained, was to discuss how to better recalibrate the framework for sovereign debt restructuring in those cases where that was needed.

So we have a voice at the table, which combines our banking experience with our experience in working with governments from many parts of the world who have had challenges with their sovereign debt restructuring processes like it is the case in Ghana, the Standard Chartered Global Group Chairman said.

Digitalisation

President Akufo-Addo, for his part, said the bank had made very valuable contributions to the development of the country which was well appreciated and the government valued the relationship with the bank.

He said Ghana was committed to the digitalisation of the country, especially its economy, describing it as the baby of our Vice-President who has been extremely upfront in pursuing the whole programme as successful as possible.

He said the opportunities in Ghana were immense and that the government was fully committed to aiding the private sector, both domestic and foreign, to work to enable them to contribute to the development of the country.

We believe strongly that ultimately the strength of the private sector in Ghana will determine the countrys future prospects, President Akufo-Addo added.

He said Ghana was committed to promoting the larger African integration and West Africa as a means of stretching interdependence and links.
Govt develops localisation policy for upstream petroleum sector

Maclean Kwofi Jun - 30 - 2023 , 06:11

The government has started the process of developing a comprehensive policy to regulate and protect jobs for Ghanaians in the upstream petroleum sector.

Inputs are currently being collected from industry stakeholders towards the development of the policy instrument to localise jobs for Ghanaians in the sector for a long term.

The policy, which is being championed by the Ministry of Energy (MoE) in partnership with the Petroleum Commission, is expected to serve as a blueprint to improve indigenous participation and value optimisation from hydrocarbons and mineral resources.

A Deputy Minister of Energy, Herbert Krapa, in an interview with the media at the 2023 Upstream Job Role Localisation Conference in Accra last Tuesday, stated that the policy, when completed, would, among other things, ensure training, capacity-building and create opportunities for Ghanaians.

The Petroleum Commission is working with the MoE on a policy on how many more Ghanaians can benefit from opportunities in the upstream petroleum sector, he said.

The conference

The conference, which is organised by the Petroleum Commission, was on the theme:

Utilising trained Ghanaian technicians to achieve job role localisation in the upstream petroleum sector proposed upstream human resource localisation policy and how to develop the skills and competencies of Ghanaians to take over from expatriates.

Participants included policymakers, captains of industry, international oil and gas companies and service providers.

Indigenisation of wealth

Mr Krapa stated that it was unacceptable that after more than 10 years of oil production, expatriates should continue to hold most of the technical and managerial roles in the petroleum sector.

He explained that successive governments had made significant efforts to ensure that the countrys petroleum resources translated into wealth for Ghanaians.

As a result, the Deputy Energy Minister said job and role localisation was one of the key target areas for the indigenisation of the wealth from the oil and gas resources.

Hence, the government has, over the years, provided the needed support to the Petroleum Commission to ensure that the capacity-building efforts produce the needed results, Mr Krapa said.

The deputy minister expressed optimism that stakeholders at the conference would make recommendations that would inform policies and strategies needed to transform capacity-building efforts in the upstream petroleum sector.

Sector workforce

The Ag. Director in charge of Localisation of the Petroleum Commission, Sarah Quayson Danquah, stated that nearly 3,760 Ghanaians of the 4,147 workforce had been employed in the upstream petroleum sector.

She said the Ghanaian workers were made up of 3,088 males and 671 females, had varied technical expertise, including engineering, welding and fabrication, production operators, mechanics and instrumentation.

The acting director said the commission, in 2022, sponsored 150 technicians at the cost of GH4 million to enhance their technical expertise at the Takoradi Technical University under the governments Accelerated Oil and Gas Capacity Building (AOGC) Programme.

The commission also sponsored nine instructors selected from the Cape Coast, Ho and Tamale Technical universities to undergo a Trainer-of-Trainers programme in Canada to improve their skills, while 10 instructors would go to Singapore this year.

Build capacity

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Petroleum Commission, Egbert Faibille Jr, stated that a countrys greatest asset was its human resources and it was imperative to build the capacity and competences of the workforce to enable it to achieve its development goals.

He called on academic institutions in the country to secure the needed competences that would enable them to train skilled professionals to take over opportunities in the petroleum sector.
Latex Foam donates to Ho Teaching Hospital

Diana Mensah Jun - 30 - 2023 , 08:27

Foam mattress manufacturer, Latex Foam, has donated a quantity of hospital mattresses worth GH62,000 to the Ho Teaching Hospital at a short ceremony in Accra.

The Public Relations Officer of the company, Gifty Ekeocha Appiah, who presented the items on behalf of the company, highlighted the significance of quality health delivery to the development of a healthy society.

The health of a people is as important as any developmental effort.

In fact, the growth and development of a society is dependent on the health of the people, and that is why

Latex Foam deems it proper to support the health care delivery system with these quality mattresses for patients, she said.

Latex Foam is conscious of the importance of quality sleep, not just for patients but for all of the public.

Our products are therefore, tailored for such purposes to ensure maximum benefit to the user.

We believe that patients, using these mattresses will have the best treat from it, Mrs Appiah added.

Support

She indicated that the company had always deemed it necessary to support education and health in the country because of the critical roles they play in socio-economic development.

She explained that the donation would provide some comfort and rest to patients at the Ho Teaching Hospital as they received treatment.

The Head of Internal Medicine of the Ho Teaching Hospital, Professor Yaw Asante Awuku, who led a delegation of hospital staff to receive the items, expressed gratitude to the management of Latex Foam for the gesture.

He said mattresses were an important component of the hospitals critical items that provided important support in health care delivery.
Ofori-Atta calls for reform of multilateral devt banks

Daily Graphic Jun - 30 - 2023 , 05:40

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, has called for the reform of multilateral development banks (MDB) to address the needs of developing countries.

He said the reforms should include regional approaches to investment into the Green Transition agenda.

Currently, there are five MDBs - the World Bank, the inter-American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Addressing a summit on a new global financing pact in Paris, France, the minister said the MDBs must focus on investment in renewable energy on the African continent to tackle issues of scale and speed.

He said a regional approach to green investment could also facilitate the resolution of the bankable projects conundrum in the developing world.

Summit

Organised by the French government, the two-day summit was aimed at facilitating the resolution of global challenges such as loss of biodiversity, global warming, debt and pandemics.

They also discussed financing required to meet global challenges and building solidarity among countries and other critical stakeholders towards a just green transition.

It also focused on restoring trust among partners by addressing the crippling debt of most countries in the Global South, mobilising more private sector resources by creating conditions for massive financing and unlocking innovative financing to avoid penalising countries that do not have their own resources.

Ghana was represented at the meeting by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Mr Ofori-Atta and the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Kwaku Afriyie.

Coalition

Mr Ofori Atta said it was important to develop powerful coalitions that were willing to fight for humanity.

As we coordinate our efforts to respond positively to the need for the development of a fit-for-climate global financial system, it is critical that we scale up the innovative climate financing mechanisms and speed up climate action to ensure that we maintain the 1.5 degree Celsius temperature limit, he said.

The minister further called for the kind of leadership the world witnessed that led to the abolishment of apartheid, the drive behind civil rights movement and the development of the Bretton Woods institutions.

Mr Ofori-Atta urged the leadership of today to develop enlightened self-interest, particularly of issues of climate change, the adaptation of climate vulnerable countries and the formulation of more ambitious mitigation initiatives.

He also emphasised the need for leaders to ensure that the world speeds up action by establishing a global financial architecture that works for climate vulnerable countries.

The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who opened the summit, said many African nations were spending more on debt repayments than on desperately needed health care.

He, therefore, called for a debt relief mechanism that supported payment suspensions, longer lending terms and lower rates to make borrowing more affordable for poorer countries.

Mr Guterres also called for increased access to liquidity for developing countries via the IMFs special drawing rights.

Framework

For his part, the President of AfDB, Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina, said it was important to have a common framework.

The process has been way too slow and it treats only a small number of countries.

We need to have a more coordinated approach, he stated.

Dr Adesina said enabling MDBs to leverage capital from SDRs for health, education and in other sectors would be impactful.
Wa hosts World Day to combat desertification, drought

Emmanuel Modey Jun - 30 - 2023 , 07:51

Traditional authorities and opinion leaders have been encouraged to lead their communities to adopt innovative ways of water management for agriculture and domestic use.

This would help conserve water as it was becoming a scarce commodity due to the pressure on it.

The Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Emmanuel Lignule, made the call when he addressed a forum to mark the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought celebration, which took place in Wa.

Day

The thrust of the celebration was the need to remind humankind that desertification is real and so man must make a conscious effort to halt its spread and institute pragmatic measures to recover degraded lands.

Held on the theme: Her Land, Her Rights: Advancing Gender Equality and Land Restoration Goals, the forum was organised by EPA and attracted personalities drawn from the Clergy, security services, traditional authorities and heads of departments, among others, in the regional capital.

Combat desertification

Mr Lignule noted that June 17 every year had been set aside worldwide for the celebration of the day; hence, the need to raise awareness of gender equality in the threat posed by desertification.

This was because land degradation brought along with it desertification which impeded agriculture, scarcity of water and poverty, which, he said, was very severe in the savannah part of the country.

We need to adopt very innovative ways for improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of the drylands.

The climatic conditions in the northern sector are changing, we are experiencing decreasing annual rainfall, erratic rainfall patterns, which is adversely affecting rural livelihoods.

It is scientifically proven that what has accounted for this situation is the mismanagement of the ecological systems; hence, the need for more discourse and education on the issue, he said.

He thus called for the involvement of all stakeholders, including the traditional authorities to manage land properly to combat desertification and the subsequent scarcity of food and water.

Threat to environment

The Regional Minister, Hafiz Bin Salih, expressed his gratitude to the EPA for bringing the national day celebration to the region.

In a speech read by the Chief Director, Peter Maala, on his behalf, the minister said with the celebration coming a few days after the National Green Ghana Day enforced the importance attached to the challenge of desertification and drought.

He noted that some of the contributory factors that threaten the environment were a combination of biophysical and socio-economic factors such as the abuse of chemicals, farming close to river bodies and even in river beds during the dry season, bush burning, over-harvesting of trees for firewood, construction and energy, overgrazing and improper agricultural practices.

He was grateful to some of the traditional authorities and opinion leaders for their conscious efforts in combating the threats by banning excessive charcoal burning, bushfires and collection of firewood.

Whilst congratulating women for their hard work in agriculture, he lamented that they did not have access to secure and fertile lands to venture into economic tree cultivation because of the land tenure system and as such made do with degraded and infertile lands.
Discontinue criminal case against Gyakye Quayson - PNC to AG

Samuel Duodu Politics Jun - 30 - 2023 , 08:19

The People's National Convention (PNC) has appealed to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, to temper justice with mercy by discontinuing the criminal case against the Member of Parliament-elect (MP-elect) for Assin North, James Gyakye Quayson.

The party made the appeal in a statement issued and signed by the PNC General Secretary, Janet Asana Nabla, to wish the Ghanaian Muslim community a happy Eid ul- Adha celebration that took place on Wednesday.

We are taking this opportunity to appeal to the Attorney General to temper justice with mercy by discontinuing the criminal case against Mr Quayson as we celebrate Eid, the statement said.

Background

Mr Quayson is facing charges of forgery and perjury concerning certain alleged offences in the run-up to the 2020 Assin North parliamentary election.

But he was maintained by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as its parliamentary candidate for the recently held Assin North by-election on June 27, 2023 and went ahead to win the election.

Mr Quayson won with 17,245 votes, representing 57.56 per cent of the valid votes cast, with the NPP candidate, Charles Opoku, coming second with 12,630 votes, representing 42.15 per cent.

The Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) candidate Sefenu Bernice Enyonam got 87 votes, representing 0.29 per cent.

Appeal

The party, in the statement, further appealed to the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, and all clerics at the regional and district levels to continue to pray for all political parties and the citizenry to champion the interest of the country at all times.

It commended the Muslim Community in Ghana for being a solid foundation of the country that has contributed immensely in the developmental pursuit of the country.

Recall

Lawyers for Mr Gyagye Quayson on June 20, 2023, filed a motion for the High Court hearing the perjury and forgery case against him to vary its decision to hear the case on a daily basis.

However, the High Court dismissed Mr Gyagye Quaysons motion seeking to halt the trial from continuing on daily basis until the Assin-North by-election has been conducted on Tuesday June 27, 2023.

In its ruling on June 23, 2023, the Court presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh said its decision to continue the case on June 20, 21, and 23 on day-to-day basis was within the law.

The presiding judge added that lawyers for the accused failed to prove that the orders made contravened the law to warrant a review.

The court has adjourned the case to Tuesday, July 4, 2023 to continue hearing.
Constituency Watch: Atiwa East: Haven of peace, inspiring progress

Nana Konadu Agyeman Politics Jun - 30 - 2023 , 11:50

The Atiwa East Constituency has within a short period of existence carved a niche for itself as a model of a safe and progressive area where residents and visitors are proud to be.

People in the area live with deep appreciation of the peace and security in their communities, including the capital, Anyinam, since it was carved out of the Atiwa District on March 18, 2018.

Today, the likes of traders, public servants, health workers and teachers speak with pride about improvement in access to healthcare delivery, zero maternal deaths, school infrastructure, potable water, road network, educational scholarships, job opportunities for the youth and support to farmers.

Its communities include Anyinam, Sea Abena, Ekoso, Osorase, Krobom, Adasewase, Tiawia Subriso, Abekoase, Ankaase, Asamang Tamfoe, Enyiresi, Fremponso, New Jejeti, Mampong and Ahankrasu.

With a population of 64,647 people comprising of 32,671 males and 31,976 females, the constituency has remained a stronghold of the New Patriotic Party, with the current Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Abena Osei-Asare, holding on to the seat from 2013 when it was part of Atiwa District.

Kwabena Panin Nkansah, Atiwa East DCE

Peace, security

At the Anyinam Market, traders did not hide their appreciation of the secure and good environments within which they carried out their trade.

In the company of other women traders, the Vice-Chairperson of the Anyinam Market Women Association, Afia Serwaa, said: As traders, we often wake up as early as 2 a.m. to travel to Accra, Koforidua, Kumasi and Bono areas to buy foodstuffs, and the earliest time we return to Anyinam is 1.30 a.m.

We mostly finish clearing our goods as late as 2 a.m. before leaving for our various homes without any fear of being attacked, she said.

At the Anyinam GOIL Filling Station, Samuel Opoku, a 50-year-old driver who relocated from Koforidua to work at Anyinam 30 years ago, commended the MP, the Chief Executive of the Atiwa East

District Assembly, Kwabena Panin Nkansah, and the police for working together to foster peace in Anyinam.

Small business traders in the constituency also enjoy brisk patronage of their commodities, including pestle and mortar, oil palm, rice, salt and gari.

A two-storey office block meant for municipal assembly has been constructed for Atiwa District due to possible elevation to a municipality in future

Health care

The constituency has recently seen an improvement in health infrastructure in Anyinam, Sekyere, New Jejeti, Enyiresi, Mampong, Tiawia-Subriso, Ahankrasu and Fremponso.

In Anyinam, the government is constructing a 100-bed district trauma hospital to cater for accident cases, with the project currently 40 per cent complete.

The project, which started in October 2021 and is billed to be completed in 36 months, is being funded with a 55 million facility from the Deutsche Bank. The loan is being used for the remodelling of the Enyiresi Government Hospital into a 70-bed maternity and child hospital.

The Atiwa East District Health Director, Efua Afful, said the completion of the hospital would help the district to cement its zero maternal and child mortality record enjoyed since 2018.

Ms Afful said the area started with 11 community-based health planning services (CHPS) compounds three years ago, but with increased investments by the district assembly and the MP, there were now 20 CHPS compounds, bringing healthcare delivery to the doorstep of the constituents.

She particularly applauded the MP for her role in the construction of three CHPS compounds at Mampong, Ahankrasu and Tiawia, with the Mampong one now a health centre, as well as the construction of an outpatient department for the St Monicas Health Centre at Akyem Sekyere.

The MP is also credited for donating 10 motorbikes to motivate health workers to go to hard-to-reach communities.

Today, we also have the Anyinam Health Centre theatre and a laboratory with requisite equipment, which are to the credit of our MP, who also has donated many hospital beds and medical equipment, Ms Afful added.

There are 127 public basic schools, 66 private basic schools, a girls model school to promote girl-child education and a senior high school  the Sekyere SDA SHS  in the constituency.

In a bid to equip students with practical technical and vocational skills, the Sekyere SDA Senior High School has been turned into a model technical vocational education and training (TVET) centre of excellence.

We do not just want TVET; we feel that we should have a secondary technical education and that is why we now have TVET Centre of Excellence, Mrs Osei-Asare told the Daily Graphic.

In 2019, the Atiwa East District was adjudged the 17th best performing district in terms of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results in the Eastern Region.

Small business traders in the constituency enjoy brisk patronage of their commodities including pestle and mortar, oil palm, rice, salt and gari

In 2020, the district moved up to the third position and then to the first position in 2021 in the BECE Eastern Regional ranking.

The district placed first in the 2021 Eastern Regional Mathematics and Science Quiz.

The yearly provision of mathematical sets, pens and one hot meal snack to all BECE candidates and provision of 10 motorbikes to the education directorate for effective supervision and monitoring by our MP are remarkable, the District Education Director, George Yirenkye, said.

Road network

The DCE said the road network in the district covered over 110 kilometres, out of which 72.20km was bitumen surfaced, representing 65 per cent, with 38.9km un-tarred.

Mr Nkansah said most roads in the capital were first-class asphalted, while other communities had bitumen surfaced roads. They included roads in Asamang Tamfoe, Moseaso, as well as roads from Anyinam to Adasewase, Akutuase to Kwakwuduam, and Kadewaso to Akoase.

Communities where road construction was ongoing were Ankaase, Enyiresi to Nanapa, Akoase to Tiawia Subriso and Abekoase-Subriso-Awosuase, he said.

At Krobom, a major bridge project over the Sea Abena River is 90 per cent complete.

The edifice will link the 60km road from Sea Abenaso-Ekoso and Kwahu Nsaba.

The Assembly Member for Awosoase, Steven Kpodo, commended the MP for facilitating the construction of the bridge.

He said at the peak of the rainy season, farmers were unable to cart food, while children could stay home for as long as three weeks, stressing that the construction was most welcome.

The construction of a 100-bed District Trauma Hospital at Anyinam is 40 per cent complete

Job opportunities

Information made available by the district assembly showed that the agricultural sector employed about 57.4 per cent of the areas workforce, followed by the service sector employing 34.4 per cent, with the mining and manufacturing sectors employing 5.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively.

Many of our youth and we as parents today now have a future because Abena has been able to secure jobs for them in government institutions,and supported others to start their own small businesses, the Vice-Chairperson of the Anyinam Market Women Association said.

Support to community

Speaking to Daily Graphic, the MP, Mrs Osei-Asare, who expressed satisfaction with the receipts of her share of the MPs Common Fund from the assembly, said she had disbursed almost GH2 million to support education (GH640,870), health (GH325,772), community support and miscellaneous (GH1.02 million) from 2017 to 2022.

She said she also had offered GH183,135 support to 175 brilliant, needy SHS and tertiary students to climb higher the educational ladder.

She said she also personally funded, used her MPs share of the Common Fund and lobbied the Ministry of Education to complete the construction and rehabilitation of a number of basic schools in the area. She also distributed 1,000 desks to schools, distributed mathematical sets and pens to BECE candidates and has constructed and rehabilitated various classroom and kindergarten blocks in the area.

My goal in 2023 is to commit more funds to support the health sector and to complete outstanding health projects, she said.

A bridge under construction to provide access to communities across Sea Abena River at Krobom

Supportive DCE

If you are somewhere and the leadership you look up to are working together, it is easy for the people down the ladder to also work together.

I have had a very supportive district chief executive whom I once contested in the NPP primary, what I do is I go and lobby for projects and he follows them up and makes sure they are implemented, and that is how we have worked till date, she said.

Common vision

The Chief Executive of the district assembly, Mr Nkansah, said: The unity between the MP and the district chief executive is admirable.

The two of us have a vision that in the next five years we have to move from a district to a municipality, and when theywere putting up a structure for the assembly, we told them our vision, and they understood us and built a structure for a municipality.

Whatever projects Abena fights for and brings on board, I also sit here and put in my all to assist, the DCE said
Martyrs day - GBA blast Kwame Agbodza over Justice Anin Yeboah miscarriage of justice criticism

Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson Politics Jun - 30 - 2023 , 11:17

The Ghana Bar Association has descended hard on the Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Governs Agbodza, over his criticism that former Chief Justice , Justice Kwasi Anin Yeboah, allegedly presided over miscarriage of justice during his tenure.

Speaking at the 41st Martyrs Day at the Holy Spirit Cathedral today, President of the GBA, Yaw Acheampong Boafo, described the comment as totally unacceptable.

It is totally unacceptable for a member of the leadership of the minority in Parliament lying ostensibly under the protection of Parliamentary immunity granted by the 1992 Constitution, in supporting a motion solely to unanimously support the nomination of the current Chief Justice to launch unwarranted attacks on the person of the immediate Chief Justice, he said.

Although Mr Boafo did not mention Mr Agbodzas name, he made reference to the comment the MP made on the floor of Parliament during the approval of the current Chief Justice, Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo.

Agbodzas comments

On the floor of Parliament on June 7, 2023 Mr Agbodza said:

Mr. Speaker, I want to conclude and urge colleagues to support the approval of Justice Torkornoo simply because I think she has what it takes to be a Supreme Court judge.

And I am hopeful she will be a better Chief Justice than the person she is taking over from. Why do I say this? Under the reign of the outgoing Chief Justice the level of miscarriage of justice in this country reached a crescendo and must never be repeated.

Yaw Acheampong Boafo - President of the GBA

Unjustified criticisms

Mr Boafo who read the history about the killing of three High Court judges in 1982 , said unwarranted attacks and unjustified criticisms of judges and the judiciary could lead to lack of confidence in the judiciary which could spell doom for the administration of justice and put the lives of judges in danger.

He said people have the right to criticise judgments but such criticisms must be based on facts and not due to political inclinations.

While encouraging constructive criticisms of judgments, the GBA President called on judges to also be fair in their work and not do things not in line with the law or the ethics of the profession.

Martyrs Day

The Martyrs Day is celebrated every June 30 to remember Justices Fred Poku Sarkodee, Cecilia Koranteng -Addos and Kwadwo Agyei Agyepong, who were abducted from their homes on June 30, 1982 and brutally murdered.

Present at todays ceremony are President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Chief Justice , Justice Torkornoo, judges and lawyers.
NPP congratulates NDC

Dickson Worlanyo Dotse Politics Jun - 30 - 2023 , 06:47

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has officially accepted its defeat in the recently held Assin North Constituency by-election.

It said that while it worked diligently towards reclaiming the parliamentary seat, it respected the decision and judgement of the people in choosing the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its candidate James Gyakye Quayson.

The party made this known in a statement dated June 28, 2023 to congratulate the NDC on their electoral victory.

Strong democracy, gratitude

A statement issued by the party on Wednesday, June 28, a day after the by-election, said the NDC's victory added to the countrys democratic credentials.

Indeed, the recent two by-elections have demonstrated the strength of the country's democracy, with outcomes favouring different political parties.

This is a testament to Ghana's much touted accolade as a bastion, it explained.

The party expressed its gratitude to all who contributed to the preparations for the by-election, which was held on Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

Notable among these were: President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare; the partys regional chairmen and flagbearer hopefuls.

We are equally grateful to all ministers, Members of Parliament, chief executive officers, deputy chief executive officers, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives, other government appointees, and all party adherents for their diverse contributions towards our efforts, the statement added.

The party also commended the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Ghana Police Service for their joint efforts in ensuring a successful election.

Finally, we express our gratitude to the hundreds of journalists who worked tirelessly and responsibly to provide up-to-date feedback from the Assin North poll for the benefit of all Ghanaians, it added.

Background

On May 31, 2023, the EC announced Tuesday, June 27, 2023, as the date for a by-election for the parliamentary seat of the Assin North Constituency in the Central Region.

This came after the EC was notified by Parliament that the seat had become vacant on account that the Supreme Court had declared the election of the then MP, James Gyakye Quayson, as unconstitutional.

The court held that his election was null and void because at the time he filed to contest, he owed allegiance to another country which was contrary to the laws of Ghana.

Mr Quayson won with 17,245 votes, representing 57.56 per cent of the valid votes cast, with the NPP candidate, Charles Opoku, coming second with 12,630 votes, representing 42.15 per cent.

The Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) candidate Sefenu Bernice Enyonam got 87 votes, representing 0.29 per cent.

This was the second by-election held this year with the first being in the Kumawu Constituency in the Ashanti Region.
Prosecute perpetrators of electoral violence - CODEO to Police

Daily Graphic Politics Jun - 30 - 2023 , 08:11

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has called on the Ghana Police Service (GPS) to urgently investigate the violent incident recorded during the Assin North by-election in the Central Region last Tuesday and prosecute all persons found culpable to serve as a deterrent.

It also condemned the violent incident which it said nearly blotted the poll.

The coalition, however, commend the Electoral Commission, the GPS and the electorate for ensuring a largely peaceful by-election which was fully concluded after the winning candidate was declared.

Report

The three-page report after the end of the by-poll issued by CODEO and signed by its National Coordinator, Albert Kofi Arhin, acknowledged that the conduct of the polls was consistent with the general rules and regulations which were adhered to by the polling officials.

In addition, it said there were no shortage of materials, and the biometric verification devices functioned well to a large extent without any significant disruptions to the poll in any of the observed polling stations.

It said its observers reported a few incidents that occurred during the course of the poll, which included issues of intimidation, violation of voting procedure and violent clash.

On the issue of intimidation, it said At precisely 7:20a.m., at Methodist Primary School 2 in Breku, a journalist from Adom TV was interviewing electorate who were in a queue to vote, and he was confronted by a purported executive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for conducting an interview at the polling station.

Police personnel located at the polling station swiftly intervened and that prevented the situation from degenerating.

With regard to violation of voting procedure, CODEO said At the Methodist Primary School 2 in Bereku, two electorate were apprehended for taking a snapshot of the ballot paper after voting.

When questioned about their actions, they claimed that an unidentified individual had tasked them to take a picture of the marked ballot as proof in return for a monetary reward.

They were nearly arrested by security personnel.

However, the matter was resolved amicably and the alleged offenders were allowed to go.

The coalition said the issue of the violent clash was recorded around 1.00 p.m, when a convoy of vehicles with NPP occupants, accompanied by its Ashanti Regional Chairman, Antwi Bosiako (Chairman Wontumi), pursued a vehicle occupied by National Democratic Congress supporters from a different polling station to D/C Primary School in Praso (located within the Electoral Area with Polling Station Code B170801).

During this pursuit, the occupants of the NPP vehicles proceeded to vandalise and damage parts of the NDC vehicle, resulting in commotion and disturbance along the roadside.

Security personnel intervened to calm the situation by removing the actors from the vicinity of the polling station to a distant location.

However, it was reported that the individuals involved in the altercation fired guns, and one person was injured taken to the hospital for treatment, it stated.
Quayson perjury trial adjourned to July 4

Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson Politics Jun - 30 - 2023 , 08:04

The Accra High Court has adjourned the trial of James Gyakye Quayson to July 4 following an application for stay of proceedings filed by the MPelect.

Mr Quayson wants the court to put the trial, in which he has been accused of perjury and forgery, on hold until the Court of Appeal determines his appeal challenging the courts decision to hear the trial on a daily basis.

At the proceedings yesterday , the court, presided over by Justice Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, said she just got the application for stay of proceedings, and therefore she would adjourn the matter to enable the prosecution file its application in opposition.

In his notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal, Mr Quayson argues that the High Court erred in law when it refused to vary its decision to hear the case daily.

According to the MP-elect, the High Court exercised its discretion to hear the case daily arbitrarily, unfairly and capriciously, in violation of Article 296 of the 1992 Constitution.

The court erred in law when it claimed that matters brought to its attention by the accused regarding the abuse of prosecutorial powers with extremely prejudicial implications and an insult of the accused person and professional misconduct by the Attorney-General in respect of the case were not relevant to its consideration of the review application, the notice of appeal stated

With regard to the application for stay of proceedings, the MPelect is of the contention that the trial must be halted pending the appeal in the interest of justice.

It is his case that the ruling by the court to hear the case on a daily basis was what emboldened President Akufo-Addo to allegedly make prejudicial comments regarding the case.

That at the campaign rally for the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the President made many prejudicial remarks, including some to the effect that the voters in Assin

North Constituency should not vote for a candidate who could end up in prison, the application for stay of proceedings stated.

Charges

Mr Quayson is facing charges of forgery and perjury in relation to certain alleged offences in the run up to the 2020 Assin North parliamentary election.

He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of forgery of passport or travel certificate, knowingly making a false statutory declaration, perjury and false declaration for office.

It is the case of the prosecution that Mr Quayson allegedly made a false statement to the Passport Office that he did not hold a passport to another country when he applied for a Ghanaian Passport.

In addition, the prosecution has accused Mr Quayson of making a false declaration to the Electoral Commission (EC) to the effect that he (Quayson) did not owe any allegiance to a foreign country when he filed to contest as candidate for the Assin North seat.

Writers email: [email protected]

graphic.com.gh
Honda Aircraft Company announced its first Certified Pre-Owned program (CPO), providing an exclusive and alternative pathway to owning a HondaJet with a guarantee of quality and support.





Being the sole CPO choice in its class, each CPO HondaJet undergoes selection, inspection and expert maintenance processes to ensure it meets Hondas high standards for quality, safety and performance before receiving the CPO designation. The program also offers end-to-end services, from ease of entry-into-service to post-sales support, backed by Honda Aircraft Company and its authorized sales network.

Every CPO HondaJet must pass a meticulous 208-point standard inspection conducted by Honda-trained technicians across the authorized service network. Additionally, all aircraft qualified for the CPO program will be upgraded to the highest performance level available for each model, based on applicable service bulletins.

As part of the program, CPO buyers will also receive a FlightSafety Initial Pilot Training session and a 6-month or 100-hour credit (whichever occurs first) provided by Honda Aircraft to be applied toward the cost associated with the Airframe Flight Ready Performance program.

The program facilitates direct collaborations with the companys team of factory-employed sales professionals who are the product experts on the HondaJet and the light jet market.

As the HondaJet global fleet exceeds 185,000 flight hours and has grown to more than 230 aircraft worldwide, Honda Aircraft remains committed to improving customer satisfaction continuously. The new CPO program is now available to customers across the Americas, Europe, and Asia through the companys authorized sales network. Customers can access both the certified and non-certified pre-owned HondaJet inventory on the companys official website.
Joey Daniel Cruz Francisco faces multiple charges, including two felony charges, following a brief, high-speed chase on Thursday afternoon in Dededo.

According to a magistrates complaint filed at the Superior Court of Guam, police noticed a motorcycle swerving between lanes and vehicles stopped at a traffic light.

Police activated their lights and siren to pull the operator over, but the motorcycle sped southbound on Route 1. The motorcycle weaved in and out of traffic, nearly colliding with one vehicle while causing others to stop in traffic, according to the complaint.

Police followed the operator to the parking lot of Santa Barbara Church and lost sight of him briefly, then found the motorcycle parked underneath the church stairs. They later found the operator and identified him as Francisco.

The suspect resisted arrest and tried to flee but was caught when another officer arrived to assist. Police found a small baggie with contents later confirmed to be methamphetamine, according to the complaint. During the search, the suspect allegedly kicked the patrol door, causing it to hit an officers leg and draw blood.

Police also found the motorcycle passenger, who said that Francisco knew that police were trying to pull him over, but he was nervous and so sped off to the church.

Francisco was charged with assault on a police officer and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance, both as third-degree felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, reckless driving and eluding a police officer.

Traffic fatality victims identified

Police released the names of two motorists who died as a result of a serious traffic crash that happened May 19 near Todays Realty in Harmon, according to a news release from the Guam Police Department.

A next of kin identified a male operator, Maxon William, 24, that day. A few days later, a next of kin was located and identified the second operator as Royce Brian Banes, 28.

The investigation continues and the case remains open, according to the release.
After the impact and destruction of Typhoon Mawar, concerns are raised over the opening of the schools.

The Department of Education has had multiple schools be cited for health violations while some others are dealing with needing facility repairs.

As chairperson of the committee on education, public safety and the arts, Sen. Chris Barnett called an oversight hearing at the Guam Congress Building on Thursday afternoon, June 29 to look over the Guam Department of Educations compliance status with Public Law 37-4.

At the hearing, Dr. Judith Won Pat, the Acting Superintendent of Education provided a synopsis of the status of the districts schools, which could be evaluated as no schools are shelters anymore.

Public Health inspections

Simon Sanchez High School was vastly affected by the typhoon, and they had 66 demerits in their last inspection, which is typically grounds for closure. Thus, the current SSHS campus will currently not have students return there until the new campus is built or health measures are safely addressed, according to Won Pat.

Adacao Elementary School is the latest school to have received a D on their public health inspection, now joining Southern High School and Oceanview Middle School which were previously inspected. Guams Department of Public Health and Social Services provides the following grades on their inspections:

A for an establishment having 10 or less demerits.

B for an establishment having 20 or less demerits, but not more than 11.

C for an establishment having 40 or less demerits, but not more than 21.

D for an establishment having more than 40 demerits.

Chairman Barnett noted that the unofficial results of John F. Kennedy High Schools health inspection is that the campus has failed its inspection with 58 demerits. Dr. Won Pat and her team are still awaiting the official report from DPHSS.

This brings into question the actual conditions listed for these demerits.

Sen. Frank Blas noted that officials needed to sit together with DPHSS as a demerit shouldnt be given for something as simple as a markers mark on a kindergarteners desk.

Won Pat supplemented this by saying that a demerit can even be given on a desk not having a book rack below a students desk or if students share a desk.

Inarajan Elementary School fortunately passed their inspection with a C.

Preliminary damage assessments

With all the destruction posed by Typhoon Mawar, DOEs preliminary damage assessments found some common areas that need repair.

Mold is the departments biggest issue as it has continued to grow and persist due to damp conditions and a lack of air circulation.

This is attributed to soaked floor tiles, ceiling tiles, and interior doors.

Exterior doors, shutters, windows, and gate entrances all fell victim to being blown in or damaged by other others.

The schools are also in need of assistance in the removal of heavy debris that lies around the school.

Some schools will be able to handle these assignments through their Tier 1 purchase orders with self-help supplies and materials that are expected to be provided this week.

Other schools are also being assisted by the Port Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency both Guam and the nation, the Department of Agriculture, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.

The Guam National Guard is responsible for removing the departments green and metallic waste, white goods, and construction or demolition debris. Meanwhile, the USEPA is responsible for removing e-waste and hazardous materials.

Purchase orders

Contracts have been awarded to various companies for the departments custodial services, ground maintenance and the George Washington High School gymnasium.

Additional updates

Simon Sanchez High School is weighing the needs of the students as the schools condition and suitability for occupancy is in the air. The departments management is currently discussing with school leadership to determine if the school must go on double session for School Year 2023-2024 and subsequent years until the new campus is completed.

Oceanview Middle School is currently moving to Southern High School for SY 2023-24, so discussions are going to take place between management, facilities & management, and the OMS community to determine the long-term plan for the OMS campus.

The department also maintains its stance that some face-to-face is better than 100% online, but instructional time still needs to be protected as much as possible.

This has created a variety of different approaches that may be available:

If half of the campus is still available, then DOE will see if it can be used for double sessions.

If a campus is completely unavailable, then DOE may move the school to a neighboring school or implement fully online measures.

DOE is striving to ensure that classes for all pre-kindergarten students through the second grade will be in-person while older students may go through online sessions or alternating days.

DOE is also considering a combination of voluntary online instruction for some students and in-person classes for other students.

DOE is expecting to update the committee within the next two to six weeks on the status of each schools approach.
Guam Port employees made an unexpected discovery Thursday night when they found a snake inside a cargo hold on a container ship being discharged. The incident occurred at 8 p.m. on Bay 18 of the vessel CMA CGM Herodote, which had arrived on Guam earlier that day from Saipan.

Our Port employees immediately notified officials at Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency, and the United States Department of Agriculture of what they had found and sent photos and video of the snake, Said Rory J. Respicio, Port general manager in a news release.

Guam Customs and USDA officials promptly arrived at the scene around 10:05 p.m., accompanied by dogs to locate snakes. Despite their efforts, they were unable to find the snake in the cargo hold.

While the search for the snake was ongoing, vessel operations proceeded as usual, except for a temporary pause in Bay 18. Guam Customs and USDA officials concluded their search and departed the Port at 1:15 a.m. this morning.

Although the snake remained elusive, they were able to identify it as a brown tree snake based on the provided visual evidence.

Ships complete activitiesIn other news, Port operations saw the successful completion of activities involving two ships, namely the Kota Ratu and the Herodote.

Port employees discharged a total of 212 containers and loaded 177 containers onto the Kota Ratu. As for the Container Ship CMA CGM Herodote, they unloaded 262 containers and loaded 364 containers onto the vessel.

Looking ahead, the breakbulk vessel Koga Revolution is scheduled to arrive at the Port at 9:30 p.m. Friday night. Furthermore, the barge S-2011 is expected to return tomorrow morning from Saipan and the Vehicle Carrier (RO-RO) Cronas Leader will arrive on Sunday morning.

Cargo and fuel processed since reopening:

The following fuel and cargo commodities have been processed and released into our island community since reopening the Port on Sunday, May 28, 2023:

 3,054 containers with dry goods;

 477 refrigerated containers (reefers);

 2,204 bundles of rebar; 2 boxed steel pipes; 75 bundle steel plates;

 1,184 vehicles;

 228 units of general cargo;

 2 excavators, 3 backhoe, 4 trucks, 5 tractors; 2 dump trucks, 3 fuel trucks, 1 drill rig; 3 school buses; 1 bucket truck, 1 flatbed truck, 2 office trailers, 1 trailer, 1 air burner, 3 water tankers, 1 truck screener; 1 modified container; 1 boom lift; 1 forklift; 1 telehandler; 1 boom truck

 1 bundle of chassis; and

 5 barges  fuel operations.




Haiti - Politic : Brazil and Canada discuss the possibility of strengthening the PNH





This week Melanie Joly, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada met with her Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira to discuss the possibilities of strengthening the National Police of Haiti (PNH) and getting Haiti out of the serious socio-political and security crisis that this country is going through.



Vieira, who received his Canadian counterpart in Brasilia, declared that Haiti is going through a "multidimensional" crisis that requires "a lot of attention from the international community.



[...] We specifically discussed ways to strengthen the Police of Haiti to deal with the serious public security problems that affect life in this country," Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said in a statement to the press. without providing more details on the possibilities envisaged...



Let's recall that so far, the international community has been unable to reach a consensus on how to help Haiti, whose security situation continues to deteriorate since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on the night of 6 to 7 July 2021 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34162-haiti-flash-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-by-mercenaries-official-updated-7am-+-video.html



Murders, rapes and kidnappings have become daily occurrences in parts of Haiti and violent crime has more than doubled in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2022, according to UN estimates. https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-38937-icihaiti-insecurityassessment-in-figures-crimes-and-kidnappings-on-the-rise-2022.html



See also :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-38937-icihaiti-insecurityassessment-in-figures-crimes-and-kidnappings-on-the-rise-2022.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34162-haiti-flash-president-jovenel-moise-assassinated-by-mercenaries-official-updated-7am-+-video.html



SL/ HaitiLibre


















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By Sherrie Norris

Theres nothing boring about downtown Boone this summer, with one amazing celebration after another. Thanks to the upcoming inaugural 828 Community Festival, the fun is sure to continue  and all for a great cause.

On Saturday, July 8, 12-3 p.m., at the Jones House on King Street, 828 Real Estate will host its first 828 Community Day  and everyone is invited!

We founded 828 Real Estate on the principles of community building, love for our town and giving back, said Sarah Long, owner/broker in charge at 828 Real Estate. As we mark our fifth business anniversary, the 828 Community Festival is our way of expressing gratitude and reinforcing our commitment to the community that has supported us throughout this journey. We invite everyone to join us for an unforgettable day, while also supporting three incredible non-profits that make downtown Boone thrive.

And about those organizations, she described: FARM Cafe is dedicated to fighting food insecurity, providing nutritious meals to community members in need, while Watauga River Keepers tirelessly works to protect and preserve our cherished local waterways. Safe Harbor of NC High Country offers support and resources to individuals and families affected by domestic violence and abuse. By coming together to celebrate and contribute, we can make a tangible difference in the lives of those they serve.

The afternoon celebration will include a bouncy house, a dunking booth, games and prizes. Live music will be provided by the Frankie Nelson Band and others, with great food, beverages and treats from the Cardinal Food Truck, Lost Province, Simple Wtr., and Poppies Popsicles.

Thanks to our friends at Ashemont Title sponsoring the dunking booth, our guests will have chances to dunk their favorite local celebrities including App State athletes and Boone Mayor, Tim Futrelle.

All ticketed games, as well as a percentage of sales from food and beverages, will go to benefit the aforementioned nonprofit organizations.

828 Real Estate is a boutique real estate firm located in downtown Boone, specializing in buying and selling High Country residential and commercial property in the Appalachian Mountains of Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock and beyond.

The primary goal is not to create a business empire, Long said, But rather to build a strong local community while providing excellent customer service from start to finish. All of our real estate professionals have deep connections in this community. This gives our team a unique opportunity to serve our clients with incredible customer service and localized knowledge.

For more information:

Call 828-386-6047

Visit website: www.828RealEstate.com

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By Tim Gardner

For several years, the Avery Board of Commissioners have worked feverishly to establish Broadband Internet Service throughout the county as state officials have done the same to get it all across North Carolina.

Avery County Commission Chairwoman Martha Hicks said obtaining Broadband Internet service throughout Avery County is one of her and her fellow-commissioners top priorities. In addition to Hicks, Averys commissioners currently consist of Vice-Chairman Tim Phillips, Wood Hall (Woodie) Young, Jr., Dennis Aldridge, and Robert Burleson.

We would like for every citizen who wants to have affordable and reliable internet service to do so, Hicks shared. Its going to be a challenge for several more years, but our continued efforts have already produced results as a lot of our citizens already have Broadband service. We will keep working on the issue until Broadband is available everywhere in the county. Places that dont invest in broadband lose people and jobs to other places that do have good Internet connections.

The North Carolina Department of Information Technologys (NCDIT) Division of Broadband and Digital Equity released information that it has posted a request for proposals to prequalify internet service providers to participate in multiple broadband expansion programs, beginning immediately with the $400 million Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program. The division collected feedback on the draft request for proposals from broadband stakeholders, including unserved communities across North Carolina and internet providers during May.

This process will help us move forward quickly with our county partners to expand high-speed internet access to their unserved areas, said NCDIT Deputy Secretary for Broadband and Digital Equity Nate Denny. We are working to ensure that all North Carolinians get access to broadband while maintaining strong stewardship of the nearly $1 billion dedicated to this effort.

The CAB program, funded by the federal American Rescue Plan Act, creates a partnership between the division and individual participating counties to foster broadband expansion in North Carolina as part of Governor Roy Coopers plan to close the digital divide. Internet service providers awarded a state convenience contract through this process will be eligible to reply to counties requests for service expansion in unserved and underserved areas mutually defined by the counties and the division, as well as participate in and receive reimbursement from the upcoming $100 million Broadband Pole Replacement program.

The request for proposals and the accompanying response form are available at www.ncbroadband.gov/documents/broadband-expansion-access-rfp/open and www.ncbroadband.gov/documents/rfp-response-form-broadband-expansion-and-access/open.

Vendors may submit proposals online at the State of North Carolina Interactive Purchasing System at https://www.ips.state.nc.us/ips/ until 2:00 p.m. on July 31, 2023.

More information about the NCDIT Division of Broadband and Digital Equity, the CAB program and Governor Coopers plan to close the digital divide in North Carolina can be obtained online at www.ncbroadband.gov.

Avery County is the beneficiary of a grant that Spectrum was awarded that will bring gigabit high-speed internet access to more than 230 homes and small businesses in Avery County. Its funded by the North Carolina Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) Program and is approximately $2.25 million in value. Combined with funding from the County of $250,000, that was used from the Federal American Rescue Plan (Coronavirus Pandemic Recovery) money it received, the total project investment is nearly $2.65 million.

Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. Its Fiber-Optic buildout will connect Gigabit Broadband in the county with starting speeds of 300 Megabits per second (Mbps).

The GREAT grant is one of nine already awarded to Spectrum to expand fiber-optic broadband infrastructure to areas of the state that currently lack access to high-speed connection. Spectrum is North Carolinas largest broadband provider, serving 2.8 million customers and employing nearly 11,000 residents in the state.

Avery County Manager Phillip Barrier, Jr. recently informed the county commissioners that the county has added Broadband Internet Service to an additional 200-plus county residences and more than a dozen businesses through funds received from the GREAT Grant.

The North Carolina Broadband Infrastructure Office expects to make additional GREAT Grant awards this summer. Once all GREAT awards have been completed including contracting, that office will be moving forward with working with counties across the state in CAB opportunities.

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As we celebrate Heifer International's 79th anniversary this month, we also pause to appreciate the journey, tracing our roots back to 1944. What started as one man's determination to alleviate hunger has since flourished into a global agricultural mission that enriches communities worldwide with nourishment and dignified livelihoods.

Christine Okode, an agrovet in Kenya, is one of millions of people we've partnered alongside as our work has evolved to focus on agricultural development and sustainable living incomes for farmers. Photo by Allan Gichigi/Heifer International.

None of this would be possible without our dedicated network of farmers, donors and friends. To understand the magnitude of this impact further, we invite you to immerse yourself in our photo essay below. Enjoy this visual narrative which captures the essence of Heifer's contributions over nearly eight decades.

A Heifer team member demonstrates how to use a silage machine for a group of livestock farmers in Kiboga, Uganda. Photo by Zahara Abdul/Heifer International.

Since 1944, we have conducted over 1.5 million hours of training on sustainable farm management, nutrition, social capital, gender equity, animal husbandry, business and financial literacy, and many other topics to equip farming communities with the knowledge and skills to establish successful farms.

Nafi Sane, a Heifer-trained community facilitator, teaches mothers in her Senegalese village how to make nutrient-dense porridge as a means of addressing high rates of child malnutrition. Photo by Sylvain Cherkaoui/Heifer International.

Weve dedicated 79 years to working in places where poverty, climate change, poor market access and other obstacles prevent families from regularly putting meals on the table. Last year alone, Heifer project participants reported an additional three months of adequate food, having enough nutritious food to consistently feed their families for 10 months, up from only seven the previous year.

Women in Bangladesh participate in a Passing on the Gift ceremony during which community members pass on their goats' offspring so others may benefit from the animals' nutrition and income potential.

Heifers values training brings community members together to develop shared goals, vision and accountability, including the concept of Passing on the Gift, a commitment to share knowledge and assets with one another in pursuit of collective prosperity. Since 2012, project participants have gifted a value of $1.39 million of their animals offspring to others in their community.

Women from the Kikiba Collective in Mexico package egg orders for delivery. With business support and technical training from Heifer, the women-owned enterprise has increased its profits by tapping into local demand for cage-free eggs. Photo by Nicole Franco/Heifer International.

We focus on helping farmers turn their operations into profitable businesses, because we know investing in the agriculture sector is one of the most effective ways to address poverty in rural areas. Heifer-supported entities, like self-help groups and cooperatives, have reported $55,030,691 in sales since 2019.

Joining a Heifer-supported cooperative in Nepal was the start of Goma Devi Timalsina's journey building her own business, taking on a leadership role for her co-op and eventually running in  and winning  a local election for ward representative. Photo courtesy of Heifer Nepal.

Supporting women farmers to earn their own income and have a voice in their households and communities has long been a part of our programming. Women held nearly 60% of leadership positions in Heifer-assisted cooperatives in 2022, laying the foundation for them to drive transformation at the community level and go on to influence local policy, advocacy and development efforts.
In the last few months, I have visited several of our Heifer International country programs, getting to know our staff, partners, the experts who support our programs and the farmers we serve. It has been a time of learning, discovery, and an opportunity to deepen my understanding of the complex systemic challenges Heifer farmers worldwide face  from food insecurity to lack of access to inputs and markets or social inequality underpinned by cultural and gender biases.

It has also been an incredible moment to discover the meaningful difference our work has made in the harshest environments.

Our common mission of a world free of poverty and hunger while caring for the Earth aligns us with a deeper and more meaningful purpose. Heifer champions community mobilization as a powerful tool to build strength and encourage resilience. During my visits with farmers and producers over the last few months, I have seen the agency created by individuals coming together to share their stories and vulnerabilities and build strong social connections so they can take advantage of the genius of the group.

Bimala Bogati, left, secretary of the Bajureli self-help group, shows Surita Sandosham, center, and Neena Joshi, right, some of the goats she keeps.

Through the self-help groups and cooperatives we support, we are creating a space for women and other vulnerable groups to confide in each other, share their struggles and their dreams and come together to build a positive and bright future for themselves and their children.
Helsingin Sanomat on 20 June reported that the rate of bankruptcies has picked up as the year has progressed, with roughly 150 constructions going bankrupt in the first three months of the year and about 120 in the little over two months that followed.

AS MANY AS 270 construction companies were declared bankrupt in the first five months and change of this year, reveal statistics compiled for Helsingin Sanomat by Asiakastieto.

Overall bankruptcy petitions were submitted against 350 construction companies between early January and early May, signalling an increase of roughly 100 from the corresponding period in 2022. Some of the petitions remain pending in district courts, meaning they may not necessarily result in a declaration of bankruptcy.

The market environment has been hard particularly for residential construction companies, which have accounted for slightly over 100 of the bankruptcies, Jaakko Nors, a product manager at Asiakastieto, said to Helsingin Sanomat.

The casualties also include relatively large companies.

The largest bankruptcy of the year in the construction sector has been Saagatalot, an Oulu-based manufacturer of prefabricated homes that reported an operating loss of 2.1 million euros on revenue of 28 million euros in 2021.

Jouni Vihmo, the chief economist at the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (RT), told the daily newspaper that the industry is presently faced with three problems: sudden rise in costs, increasing cost of financing and sudden drop in demand.

Helsingin Sanomat wrote that although bankruptcies in general have started to increase following the expiry of special legislation that protected companies against bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic, the recent wave of bankruptcies signals more than a return to normal. Bankruptcies, it highlighted, have risen to a level not seen for 15 years, since the downturn set off by the global financial crisis.

Statistics from Asiakastieto reveal that some 1,200 Finnish companies have been declared bankrupt this year. Bankruptcies have been the most common in the construction industry and the second most common in the restaurant and accommodation industry.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
The situation is still pretty much an open wound, and its something well discuss next week. Its blatantly clear that we cant go on like this, Purra stated in an interview with Ilta-Sanomat on Thursday.

THE GOVERNMENT sustained an open wound from the recent motion of no confidence brought against Minister of Economic Affairs Vilhelm Junnila (PS), says Minister of Finance Riikka Purra (PS).

Purra, the chairperson of the Finns Party, pointed out that it is highly unusual for a ruling party to vote in favour of a no-confidence motion brought against a cabinet member.

Junnila on Wednesday won the confidence of his fellow lawmakers by a vote of 95 for and 86 against, following a motion of no confidence over what he has described as childish jokes on fascist and far-right themes. The Swedish Peoples Party did not cast a single vote in support of Junnila, with three of its lawmakers casting a blank vote and seven  including all its ministers  backing the motion of no confidence.

Purra on Thursday also pointed out that Eva Biaudet (SFP) cast a blank vote on confidence in the whole government.

Well discuss these issues in the coming days. We cant keep going as bumpily as this. If theres this much crosswind in the government, it naturally wont be possible to move forward on issues, which include ones that are difficult for all parties, she said to Ilta-Sanomat.

Also Saara-Sofia Siren and Ben Zyskowicz of the National Coalition opted not to support Junnila by casting a blank vote on Wednesday. Matias Marttinen, the chairperson of the National Coalition Parliamentary Group, told Helsingin Sanomat that the group had made a decision to stand by the minister, confirming that the two lawmakers broke with the party line.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) stated after the vote of confidence that the government was set to convene next week to discuss common rules and principles already before the vote.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
BRCC Foundation announces new director

Trina Stokes

Blue Ridge Community College announced that it has welcomed Trina Stokes as the new executive director of the colleges Educational Foundation.

Stokes will assume the role in July, leading the philanthropic organization that contributed more than $1.2 million in Brighter Futures Free College scholarships and more than $1.1 million in other scholarships and program support during the 2022-23 academic year.

We are privileged to welcome Trina Stokes to our Blue Ridge family, and we know her wealth of higher education and nonprofit experience will serve our Foundation, students and community well, said Jim Rasmussen, president of the Educational Foundations Board of Directors.

Blue Ridge Community Colleges Educational Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports the students, faculty, and programs of Blue Ridge Community College. Under the direction of its volunteer Board of Directors, the Foundation assists the College in its work to transform lives through education and strengthen the workforce.

Joining the team at Blue Ridge Community College allows me the opportunity to combine my passion for higher education with my desire to advance philanthropy and collaborations in our community, Stokes said. Blue Ridge has a clear vision for the future and makes a generational impact on individuals, families and businesses throughout Western North Carolina and beyond. I look forward to continuing their legacy of empowering individuals to enrich our communities and build a competitive workforce.

A Western North Carolina native, Stokes earned a bachelor of arts degree from UNC Asheville and a master of business administration degree from the University of Tennessee. Prior to joining Blue Ridge Community College, she previously held roles as the Foundation director of AdventHealth Hendersonville, the executive director of Henderson Countys Council on Aging and the executive director of South College. Stokes currently serves as chair of the board with Carolina Village Inc., as a member of the Henderson County Transportation Advisory Board and as a member of the Henderson County Partnership for Health. She formerly served as a board member with WNCSource. She lives with her husband and three children in Henderson County.
There were mixed fortunes for Henley crews today (Friday) at Henley Royal Regatta.

In the first race, competing in the Princess Grace Cup, Leander club A lost against D.S.R Laga and A.S.R. Nereus Netherlands.

After a close start between the two, at the finish line, Leander was behind by one and three-quarters length in a finishing time of seven minutes and 45 seconds.

Shiplake College A in the Diamond Jubilee Cup and beat Wycliffe Junior Rowing Club B. Shiplake College beat Wycliffe by two lengths with a finish time of eight minutes and nine seconds.

Jess Weir of Shiplake College, said: The race went in our favour, it was really tough. We were down at the beginning but then caught up and then extended the lead.

Leander Club beat Oxford Brookes University, in the Town Challenge Cup, by three lengths in a finish time of eight minutes and 18 seconds.

Success for the crew continued as Leander beat Oxford Brookes University B in the Ladies Challenge Plate by one and a half lengths and a finishing time of six minutes and 47 seconds.

Leanders cox Jack Tottem said: It was pretty difficult conditions out there, with a very strong headwind and gusts particularly coming off the island, so we really had to trust the rhythm and work our way through it.

It felt like a really long way for the guys. Me coxing, I had to try and keep it straight, but really good for us to get racing after sitting around a week. Im excited to get going and enjoy the weekend.

The Wyfold Cup quarter-final was a loss for Upper Thames Rowing Club against the Thames Rowing Club A.

Upper Thames fell behind by two and a half lengths with a finish time of seven minutes and 12 seconds. The team were clearly emotional, embracing one another on the pontoons.

In the afternoon, Henley Rowing Club were knocked out of the Prince Phillip Challenge Cup by Headington School who won by a lead of one length and a quarter in a time of eight minutes.

Headington School were warned by the umpire about their steering a number of times along the course however they kept their lead throughout the race.

The Henley crew looked deflated crossing the finish line with one rower retching from exhaustion.

In the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, Shiplake College narrowly beat Marin Rowing Association from California.

It was a tight victory with Shiplake winning by one length in a time of six minutes and 56 seconds.

The judge's verdict described the race as a hard-fought race with the crew matching ratings all the way down the course, Shiplakes slight greater neatness and pace allowed them to pull away.

The Shiplake crew were audibly exhilarated as they cross the line and were greeted with an animated round of applause as they pulled up to the boat tents.

In the Thames challenge cup, Leander Club beat Deutscher Ruder-Club from Hanover in Germany by three- and three-quarter lengths with a time of seven minutes and 10 seconds.

The judge's verdict said that while Hanover held Leander along the island Leander coped better with the wind and won with a comfortable lead.

As the weather conditions worsened later in the afternoon, Henley Rowing Club managed to beat Sir William Perkins School in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup.

The crew won by one length and a half in a time of eight minutes 25 whilst battling against strong winds.

Henley led from the start but could never relax as Sir William Perkins constantly attacked. said the judge's verdict.

The second half of the afternoon saw Leander keep their winning streak.

In the Remenham Challenge Cup Leander A beat Princeton University and in the Wargrave challenge cup the Leander Crew beat Vesta Rowing Club A.
The Biden-Harris Administration encourages newly eligible South Dakotans to apply for coverage.

Thanks to South Dakotas historic expansion of Medicaid today under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), announced that more than 52,000 South Dakotans  including many members of South Dakota Tribes are eligible for comprehensive health care coverage.

Tens of thousands of South Dakotans now have an opportunity to obtain health care coverage, and the peace of mind it provides, as a result of Medicaid expansion, said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. The comprehensive health insurance that Medicaid provides can be life changing for American families. I urge the remaining states yet to adopt expansion to do so.

Medicaid is a lifeline for millions of people, and a cornerstone for achieving health equity  particularly for underserved communities, said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. Today, South Dakota becomes the 39th state D.C. in adopting the ACAs Medicaid expansion. We urge the more than 52,000 newly eligible South Dakotans to apply for coverage, and we look forward to working with more states to expand Medicaid and continue the historic improvements in getting people insured under the Biden-Harris Administration.

Tomorrow (July 1, 2023), thousands of South Dakotans who applied for coverage this month will begin to receive full Medicaid benefits, including access to primary, preventive, and emergency care, as well as substance abuse treatment and prescription drug benefits. In implementing its Medicaid expansion, South Dakota will be able to offer all adults aged 19 to 64 with incomes under 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($20,120) comprehensive health coverage through Medicaid.

In addition to becoming the 39th state, along with D.C., in adopting the ACAs Medicaid expansion, South Dakota now receives additional federal funding thanks to President Bidens American Rescue Plan (ARP). The ARP incentivized states that have not yet expanded Medicaid coverage by offering a five-percentage point increase in the regular federal matching rate for most Medicaid services for two years. States that expand Medicaid also qualify for the 90% federal matching funds currently available through the ACA for services provided to certain Medicaid expansion enrollees, which means that the Federal government pays 90% of the costs and the state pays 10%.

Medicaid, together with the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP), remain the largest source of health care coverage in the U.S., connecting nearly 94 million individuals to a range of critical health services. If all remaining states were to expand their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as many as 4million more un- or under-insured individuals could enroll in high-quality, affordable health care coverage through Medicaid. Specifically, the number of Black adults eligible for Medicaid would be almost five times greater, and six times greater for Hispanic adults.

For additional information on South Dakotas expansion of Medicaid, click here and filter for South Dakota. For more details on the potential impact of Medicaid expansion in non-expansion states, visit this report from the Health & Human Services Assistant Secretary for Planning & Evaluation.
As all aspects of our lives went online in the aftermath of the pandemic, online dating too gained in popularity and a whole host of specialised dating apps have mushroomed across the internet. A recent Bumbles State of the Nation 2023 Report* revealed that as many as 69 per cent of LGBTQ+ respondents say being nervous talking to new people created friction for them when dating, as compared to 56 per cent of heterosexual or straight daters.

Furthermore, 40 per cent of LGBTQ+ respondents said not feeling confident being themselves on dates created friction for them when dating someone. The same figure stood lower for heterosexual or straight daters at 30 per cent.

To encourage kindness and inclusivity in dating and support equitable relationships for everyone, Indias women-first dating app, Bumble, has launched a one-of-a-kind Healthy Queer Dating Guide. The guide has been collated with personal insights from LGBTQ+ community who have been through the highs and lows of the dating experience. It seeks offer guidance on basic topics like how to start a conversation with new people online when you are feeling nervous, how to set clear boundaries when connecting with people online, how to communicate that the match has misgendered you in the early stages of dating, dealing with rejection, among many others.

Bumble has updated the member experience for matches with nonbinary peopl

As a company rooted in kindness, respect, and online accountability, we aim to foster a diverse and inclusive community on Bumble where everyone can authentically express themselves. We are thrilled to partner with experts, thought leaders and organisations in India, who do such important work for LGBTQ+ communities, to develop this healthy queer dating guide. Our shared goal is to empower and enhance dating experiences for LGBTQ+ daters in India and hopes to contribute to creating a kinder and more inclusive future for online dating, said Samarpita Samaddar, India Communications Director, Bumble.

The guide has been developed in partnership with Social Media Matters, and supported by Rangeen Khidki, Sappho for Equality, Official Humans of Queer, in consultation with equal rights activists Harish Iyer and Manak Matiyani, and aims to promote kindness and encourage an inclusive dating experience on the app and beyond. It recognises the complexities faced by LGBTQ+ daters, and aims to create a kinder and more inclusive online dating environment.

Speaking on the collaboration with Bumble, Pratishtha Arora, CEO, Social Media Matters, said, The healthy queer dating guide is an initiative to celebrate the vibrant diversity of relationships, empower connections, and help individuals navigate the dating space more confidently. We would like to thank Bumble for building the guide, created to help individuals in the journey of inclusivity, compassion, and self-discovery as we navigate the path to meaningful connections.

Bumble has introduced features and policies to help make the app a kind, respectful, and inclusive space. This includes Incognito mode, which lets you have more control over who can see your profile while swiping, taking a stance against identity-based hate, moderating for harassment, fetishisation, homophobic and body-shaming language, and more. Private Detector and Photo Verification, as well as the ability to Unmatch or Block and Report within the app, are long-standing safety features within Bumble's robust safety tools to encourage their community to have a safer and healthier dating experience.

On the Bumble app, people can expand upon their gender identities and sexual orientations, enabling them to express themselves better and in a way that best reflects who they are, with options such as trans woman, intersex man, genderfluid, and more. This can be changed at any time, as many times as the person would like. People can also choose to share their gender identity and pronouns directly on their profile. Bumble worked closely in collaboration with GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) to help ensure that Bumble is thoughtfully serving the needs of its diverse communities.

Bumble has updated the member experience for matches with nonbinary people, where either person can make the first move on Bumble Date. Women will continue to make the first move in matches with men and, in matches between people of the same gender, either person can make the first move.

People can also easily access the Safety + Wellbeing Centre resource hub within the app built to help our community have a safe and healthy dating experience

* All data was commissioned by Bumble within August and September 2022 with India sample size of 2525.

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
India's sole Electro-Galvanizing (EG) steel mill is located in Valsad.

The audio infotainment casing from Denso India has received approval from Maruti Suzuki.

Big Gains for the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Initiative and the Electro-Galvanised Steel Industry Noida (India), 29th June 2023: Denso India, a prominent player in the automotive industry, has achieved a significant milestone in the localization of Electro Galvanised Steel (EG Steel) Infotainment Parts for their esteemed client, Maruti Suzuki India Limited. This accomplishment aligns with the "Make in India - Aatmanirbhar Bharat" initiative by our government, which aims to promote local skills, employment opportunities, and bolster the nation's economy. Denso India proudly announces that the Audio Infotainment Casing they have developed, utilizing electro-galvanized steel from American Precoat India, has been certified by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. This achievement brings immense joy to all Indians, the thriving India steel ecosystem, and the Ministry of Steel, as it signifies a remarkable step towards self-reliance and indigenous manufacturing capabilities.

The year 2019 witnessed a significant investment by American Precoat, a well-established company, in India's first and only electro-galvanizing steel mill located in Valsad, Gujarat. This state-of-the-art facility played a pivotal role in facilitating the localization of EG Steel. Dr. Shubh Gautam, a visionary in the industry, deserves recognition for spearheading the establishment of India's first electro-galvanized steel plant. The inauguration of American Precoats pioneering automotive-grade electro-galvanized steel facility stands as a testament to their unwavering dedication and forward-thinking approach. This cutting-edge mill not only supports the expansion of the business but also creates a self-sufficient ecosystem for the production of high-quality EG steel within India's borders. The investment by American Precoat reinforces the potential and growth opportunities within the Indian steel industry, further cementing India's position as a thriving hub for automotive manufacturing and localization efforts.

Additionally, Shubh Gautam Srisol is recognized for developing and manufacturing sealing and lining systems for aerated drinks. Under his direction, American Precoat has made important contributions to the economic development of India by advancing technological skills in the steel, Speciality Chemical, and Food & Beverage industries.

Dr Shubh Gautam Jaypee, the Chief Technical Architect of American Precoat Group, stated from California: "We congratulate Denso India, MSIL, the Ministry of Steel, and all stakeholders for making this possible. It is a modest step for American Precoat but a great stride for the Indian automotive and steel industries. The availability of EG Steel in India helps the nation achieve its objective of being self-sufficient in obtaining this essential resource by reducing its reliance on imports.

With its local availability in India, we should all work towards becoming self-reliant in sourcing EG Steel - Make in India, we need to focus on domestic solutions, abundant local skills and technological advancement in the automobile industry. EG Steel is still imported in large quantities from Japan and Korea under FTA, harming the nation's economy irreparably.

The fact that MSIL and Denso have localized the EG Steel for their Audio Infotainment casing assembly, which up until this point, has been entirely imported from Japan, is also a significant accomplishment. Denso India and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.'s successful localization of EG Steel creates a favorable precedent and inspires more initiatives to achieve self-reliance in this industry. Another innovation of Dr Shubh Gautam's American Precoat Group is the EG TV Backplate, which has completely changed how televisions are made, especially OLED and LED TVs.

The wide-ranging patent portfolio of Dr Shubh Gautam FIR (First Indian Revolutionary) demonstrates his commitment to creativity and his contributions to technical development. He is the Promoter of SRISOL, a multinational company that provides various products to clients worldwide, including specialized chemicals, coil coatings, surface property extenders, and sealing and lining for steel, plastic, consumer goods, and food and beverage sectors. He holds more than half a dozen patents. Srisol is world's second-largest producer of Can Coating, SRISOL also offers other patented goods.

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
The concept of "wellness" is often associated with the state of being physically and mentally healthy. While activities like exercising, eating well, and practicing meditation are important, true holistic wellness encompasses various aspects of our lives, including physical health, mental well-being, personal development, and financial security.

However, the current discussions surrounding wellness tend to overlook the significance of financial well-being, despite its interconnectedness with both physical and mental health, and its crucial role in enhancing overall life quality for individuals. Promoting a comprehensive sense of well-being through initiatives focused on financial literacy requires adopting a holistic approach that contributes to overall life satisfaction.

The Nivesh Mahakumbh 2023, a one-of-a-kind mega investor awareness meet conducted by Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, in association with Hindustan Times, saw veterans and industry leaders delve into the profound connection between financial well-being and holistic wellness.

Here are a few excerpts from the event that senior journalist Gautam Srinivasan hosted.

A Balasubramanian, MD, and CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd., started the symposium by sharing a few snippets about Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds (ABSLMF) mammoth investor awareness campaign. "This is the tenth year of the completion of the investor awareness initiative of Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund. This is also the 33rd edition of our Nivesh Mahakumbh, a unique event wherein people participate physically and digitally. The Indian mutual fund industry has come a long way. Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds has been committed to the cause of enhancing investor knowledge and awareness so that they can continue to participate in the India growth story," he said.

Fireside Chat: The India Growth Story

It is common knowledge that India's economic progress over the past decade has been truly remarkable, showcasing unwavering resilience even during the global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. The implications of India's economic trajectory for the stock markets and retail investors took center stage in a fireside chat with Mahesh Patil, Chief Investment Officer, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC.

He says, "In the last 8-9 years, India has undergone structural reforms in various sectors. For instance, the banking sector saw reforms thanks to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The GST reforms have been a big success  they have increased government revenues, and tax as a percentage of GDP has increased significantly. In the real estate sector, RERA has ushered in transformation, and now there are a lot of organized players coming into the sector. Apart from these, the biggest reforms have been the Jan Dhan accounts and the manufacturing sector, which have played a transformational role in the country's ecosystem. The outlook looks steady from here based on these structural reforms."

Talking about how retail investors can look at capitalizing upon Indias growth story, Mr. Patil added, They should look at long term perspective rather than short term goals. Real estate, which was going through a downturn for a while, has bounced back over the last couple of years and is a good sector to look at from an investment perspective. India is at an inflection point and discretionary consumption is at an all time high. So sectors like auto, consumer durables, apparels and footwear and spending on travel & tourism will do well and benefit all and investors should look at. Finally, capex investment cycles are starting to look good and should be looked at as well.

Panel discussion: Acing financial well-being

Financial well-being is crucial as it directly affects one's overall well-being, impacting various aspects of life, such as mental and emotional health, relationships, and access to opportunities. Financial stability provides a sense of security, freedom, and the ability to meet essential needs, thus reducing stress levels and improving quality of life.

K S Rao, Head of Investor Education and Distribution at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd., started the discussion by throwing light on the sacred tenets of financial well-being that investors of all age groups should abide by. "We are living in the age of ChatGPT, and I will use the GPT acronym to condense my take on what it takes to maintain financial well-being. You have Goals, Plans laid out for achieving them, and you need to Traverse through life being mindful of your financial behaviours and habits. Besides setting goal posts, the most important facets of financial well-being are risk assessment and automating savings. You need to audit your savings from time to time to ascertain if it is enough: the formula Income  Expenditure = Savings should be tweaked to Income  Savings = Expenditure," he explained.

Regarding the issue of investors developing the ability to leverage various opportunities to enhance their financial well-being, Vishal Dhawan, CEO and Founder of Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors, opined, "Assuming that goals have been set up and trade-offs have been made, one of the biggest challenges all investors face is the trade off-between the here-and-now versus the longer term because the former gives us immediate gratification. Thus it is important to look at a little bit of the history of asset classes in India. Traditionally most people have used fixed deposits, gold, and real estate as their preferred asset classes. And it is only in the recent past that listed equities have been in focus as an asset class. Equity as an asset class has been proven to deliver great outcomes over long periods of time even though there is significant intermittent volatility at some points."

For many people, a cloud of misconceptions hangs heavy in the early days of their investment journey. Dhirendra Kumar, CEO and founder of Value Research, debunked a commonly held myth that can jeopardize long-term financial well-being. He explained, "There is no easy way to navigate volatility because it takes effort to accumulate your savings and defer your consumption vis-a-vis the money being invested. By their very design, markets go up steadily and conform to the saying  it goes up by the staircase and comes down by the lift. Hence, for any investor getting started, it can be quite unnerving, but that is also a challenge for an experienced investor. Investors have to steadily graduate to this, and most importantly, investors should let go of unusual lopsided perceptions of the possibility of earning high returns in the shortest possible time."

Millennial and Gen Z investors exhibit comparatively lower scepticism towards high-risk investments than their preceding generations. Speaking about this, Amrita Sirohia, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer, INDMoney, says, "These generations have grown up in a time of rapid technological advancements, which brings in ease of execution of investment strategies and gives them a much larger catalogue. For instance, P2P lending, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs are asset classes that were not even available to the previous generations. Technology has made it easier for these demographics to access information and platforms, making them comfortable taking higher risks. We must acknowledge that while high-risk investments can offer higher returns, they also come with a significant potential for losses. It is crucial to encourage people to invest responsibly and do proper research and risk assessments."

Parikshit Chitalkar, Co-founder of Stashfin, believes that the journey to achieving financial well-being is rooted in a solid understanding of financial basics. "In the Indian ecosystem, there is a general lack of financial education. The first step is understanding that money is a vital part of our day-to-day existence; therefore, educating ourselves about how it works is crucial. It is important to learn about the basic principles such as compounding, risk-to-reward ratios, the importance of discipline in your investment strategies, and how the impact of time has a significant impact on your returns. Once you have a basic understanding of how this works, relating to some more complex attributes, such as asset allocation and diversification of your investments, becomes easier to grasp. The next step should be to consult an advisor because, as is the case with your health, you don't start taking medicines on your own if you are going through something," he says.

Session with Dr. Anil Lamba

Achieving long-term financial well-being is akin to writing a riveting book that stays with you even after you have finished reading it. And a story dedicated to financial wellness would be complete with a dedicated chapter on stocks. In this segment, bestselling author and financial literacy activist Dr. Anil Lamba touched upon the art and science of investing in stocks to achieve financial well-being.

"Investing in stocks is a national duty. For that, we need to understand what the role of the stock market is. Let's say I am an entrepreneur with an idea that can change the world, but I don't have money. I reach out to people who have money and tell them to invest in my idea, and I will return it after, say, 25 years multiplied manifolds. There are slim chances that anyone would be interested, but if I ask you to invest in my idea with the promise that I will return it whenever you need it. Many people would be interested then. This is what the stock market does. It gives an exit route. A stock market is a place teeming with activity  when somebody wants to sell their shares, they will find buyers and vice versa, and when there are more buyers and sellers, it provides an impetus to entrepreneurship in the country."

Panel discussion: Women and retirement investing

Even today, patriarchal conditionings through generations continue to colour women's attitudes towards money management, and many baulk at the thought of managing finances even today. Thus when it comes to retirement investing, women feel at sea and end up dependent on their spouses.The womens panel was moderated by Host, Author and Entrepreneur, Shobha Rana.

Priti Rathi Gupta, Founder of LXME, India's first financial planning platform for women, shares, "We have seen that typically women retire with 1/10th the wealth that women do. Besides issues like the gender pay gap and career breaks, the lack of financial security at retirement is also linked to the investment decisions they make about the money they have earned. Most of this money is parked in fixed deposits and gold. That should be the beginning point for a woman to realise that she is retiring towards poverty if she is not making the right decisions with her money. The younger you are, the more you should lean on equity for building a retirement fund. A great way to start is mutual fund investments, especially for those who are not active stock investors. As you grow older, you can move money from equities to debt."

Women investors often find themselves caught up in unnecessary details when investing, which can lead to analysis paralysis and hinder their ability to make timely and confident investment decisions. Mitu Samar, the Founder of Eminence Strategy Consulting, asserts, "Women need to let go of the misconception that we need to be experts when planning our investment journeys. We should seek the help of advisors and guide them through our backgrounds and challenges. But if you want to manage your portfolio by yourself, mutual funds can be beneficial because they come with an inbuilt asset allocation strategy. You have funds for everything  for instance, if you want to buy gold, you can buy gold ETFs. Then there are balanced advantage funds where the asset allocations are done automatically."

Allowing themselves the ability to make mistakes can also be the genesis of a fruitful investment journey for many women. Shweta Jain, Founder and CEO of Investography Pvt Ltd, explains, "Women tend to fall into societal pressure that affects their attitudes towards money. I strongly believe women should be allowed to make mistakes. This can help them move ahead in their investment journeys. Investing in equities is one such learning experience because it will not give results immediately. In times of correction, women tend to hear a lot from their friends, colleagues, and partners that had they stayed put on the path of FDs and gold; it would have fared better for them. So, education on financial topics is essential for side-stepping these biases and onslaughts of misplaced criticism that can impact their confidence levels."

Session with Dr Malhar Ganla

While the other segments of the Mahakumbh touched upon financial wellness, the concluding session took viewers into physical and mental wellness because comprehensive well-being can only be achieved by acknowledging the connections between these three aspects of our existence. Dr. Malhar Ganla, a renowned diabetes and obesity treatment specialist, highlighted the notable increase in life expectancies and its association with our attitudes towards managing our health and wealth. "As we know, investments are directly proportional to lifespans from a longevity perspective. One of the key interplays between both these fields is lifespan. In the last 150 years, there has been a shift in life spans. In the 19th century, 32 was considered old age, then it increased to 48 and 60, and currently, the global average is at 68, which is expected to touch 87 by the next century. The most important factor in this discourse is the health span which is the number of years you are healthy, productive, and in a position to make money. Just as you would withdraw money from your mutual funds at some point, you would be living on the investments you made on your body and health because, after a certain age, you may not be able to invest in building your health portfolio."

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United University, a full-fledged university, established Under the U.P. Private University Act, 2019 (U.P. Act No. 12 of 2019) by United Group of Institutions is not only multidisciplinary but also Diverse in providing academic pursuits and campus placement.

In a concise span of time, it has emerged as a promising university that provides a spectrum of courses from Law, Arts, Engineering, Sciences, Commerce, Agriculture Mass Communication, and Management to the most Advance courses in Medicine, Fashion Designing, Pharma and Hospitality too.

The 60-acre lush green University campus facilitate students not only suitable environment but also is at the forefront of quality research. It is pioneering in training and placement for the students in all of its courses. The goal of the University is to promote students 360-degree development in academic and technical fields too.

The placement cell acts as an interface between the industry and the students.

The syllabus along with the curriculum of the university is designed to scale up their skills by providing Quantitative Aptitude learning and Personality development classes for competing at all the challenging platforms.

The well-equipped and highly efficient Training and Placement cell of the University is focused to develop their understanding to the complex problems and competing beyond the. It prepares the students to create a niche globally too. We facilitate them:

The option to study and work abroad

Summer and short programs open to disciplines

The main endeavor of the training and placement cell of United University is to get students placed in reputed multinationals, government Organization's, NGO's and the private sector. All meritorious students are provided placement assistance along with the counseling for employment and self/Social entrepreneurship as well.

The training cell assures supports to the visiting companies at every stage of the placement process by making university infrastructure available to them. The Placement cell acts as an interface between the industry and the students, and will primarily enable the students to select from their career options.

We shall facilitate the selection process of all the companies as per their requirement of the online-exams/written aptitude tests and personnel interviews. The structure of the training and placement program is designed so to overcome all the hurdles and hesitations for the students coming from different background and regions.

The cell is intent on 360 degree development of the students. The Cell also conducts seminars and workshops to enable the students to become successful professionals. The UU plan to achieve this by:

Identifying the requirements of the industry and enable students with required Hard Skills and Soft skills

By judging the current level of students and make training plans to mould them into professionals according to their desired streams.

The University is thriving towards its goal to enable their students to become employable nationally and internationally by continuous learning training and skill enhancement guidance.

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
Utthan Shambhunath Institutions has proved itself by producing jobs in renowned and selected companies while maintaining the growth in placements.

This has been possible only when Utthan Shambhunath Institutions, like its previous history, has maintained a professional environment by imparting the best quality education, due to which meritorious students got many opportunities to display their abilities. This is a matter of great pride and joy for Utthan Shambhunath Institutions.

The recruitment cell of the institute has developed and polished the skills of its students by organizing various training oriented programs from time to time. These programs mainly included aptitude, technical and non-technical training programs of IT or non-IT companies. The main objective of the same is to provide quality education to the students and make them more effective keeping in mind their career growth, training, skills and corporate needs. This is the backbone of the present business era.

The recruitment cell of the institute has developed and polished the skills of its students by organizing various training oriented programs from time to time.

Along with this, USI has gone all out for the personality development program for all students of all streams, by inviting eminent persons who are experts in their respective fields, to share their experience and ideas to increase confidence among the students.

This success of Utthan Shambhunath Institutions is the result of strategic management and industrial collaboration created by Corporate Resource Centre, which helped the students to get multiple job offers from best companies like TCS, Wipro, Daffodil, Iopex, Accenture, Pyramid Consulting, Value Lab, VDart, Zimetrics, Stay in Front etc. with excellent annual package.

This success of Utthan Shambhunath Institutions is the result of strategic management and industrial collaboration created by Corporate Resource Centre

The maximum annual package so far this year is 7.5 LPA and the average annual package is 4 LPA.

Utthan Shambhunath Institution's President Dr. Dhirendra Kumar and Secretary Dr. K.K. Tiwari have given the credit of this success achieved by the students to the best teachers and hardworking students of the institute apart from the CRC team. This is a matter of great pride for Utthan Shambhunath Institutions.

Address:

UTTHAN SHAMBHUNATH INSTITUTIONS

JHALWA, PRAYAGRAJ-211015, UTTAR PRADESH

Website: https://siet.in, https://siet.in/AdmissionEnquiry

Mobile: 8127100101, 8127100202, 8127100303, 9044052941, 9044052942

Disclaimer: This article is a paid publication and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times. Hindustan Times does not endorse/subscribe to the content(s) of the article/advertisement and/or view(s) expressed herein. Hindustan Times shall not in any manner, be responsible and/or liable in any manner whatsoever for all that is stated in the article and/or also with regard to the view(s), opinion(s), announcement(s), declaration(s), affirmation(s) etc., stated/featured in the same.
As the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government announced that they are making efforts to procure rice from the open market for its Anna Bhagya scheme, the Karnataka monitoring and evaluation authority has revealed inadequacies in storage facilities which is resulting in losses to the state, a senior bureaucrat aware of the matter said. An official report reveals inadequacies in storage facilities which is resulting in losses to the state. (HT Archives)

A study was conducted by the evaluation authority and the distribution of rice under the Anna Bhagya scheme from 2013 to 2019 was analysed. The report said that 39.3% of the food grains in the state are stored in unscientific and unclear locations leading to large stock losses over the years. These include the godowns and the public distribution system stores, said the official, who didnt want to be named.

The official stated that the government is going through the report and looking at the rectification of the problems. The authority has recommended reviewing or revoking licences to these distribution agents to ensure no loss takes place. We are looking at the report closely and action will be taken against those storing unscientific manner and the process will be streamlined, he added.

Similarly, it has been found in the report that in areas like Bengaluru, Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada the popularity of PDS is low, thus it can be redirected to other parts. We will discuss the proposal with the government, said the official.

The report gained importance as the Karnataka government on Wednesday, announced it has called tender from open market to procure rice. This comes after the Food Corporation of India (FCI) declined to sell rice to the state.

The government also announced that it would provide cash to below-poverty line (BPL) families instead of rice until the procurement of food grain is resolved. This move comes after the Congress partys promise to offer 10 kg of rice per member in BPL households for free if elected to power in the southern state.

Due to difficulties in procuring rice, the government has opted to provide 34 per kg of rice. Each member of a BPL family will receive money for five kgs of rice, while the remaining five kg will be provided by the central government adding that the cash payment will continue until the state government procures rice from the open market.

After the FCIs refusal to provide rice, the state government approached multiple rice-producing states, but Siddaramaiah explained that they were unable to meet the states rice quantity requirements. He said, In our efforts to source rice, we have reached out to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Punjab. However, they are not ready or able to provide us with a continuous supply of rice or the quantity we need. We require 29,000 metric tonnes of rice per month.

Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai expressed his discontent, saying: In the market, rice is currently priced at 50-60. If they provide only 34, what can people do? If the market price is 60 and they offer 34, it is equivalent to receiving only 2.5 kg of rice. They are backtracking on their promises. Earlier, they reneged on providing free electricity, and now they are doing the same for rice. We will decide on our course of protest in the coming days.

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The next meeting of Opposition leaders has been shifted from Shimla to Bengaluru owing to the prevailing weather conditions in Himachal Pradesh, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar informed on Thursday. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. (ANI)

Addressing a press conference in Pune on Thursday, the NCP patriarch said, "Owing to prevailing wet weather and heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh, the venue of the meeting (of Opposition leaders) has been shifted from Shimla to Bengaluru. The meeting would be held on July 13 and 14."

He informed further that the decision on shifting the grand Opposition meeting was taken on Thursday.

READ | All are united: Mufti dismisses talks of differences during Patna Oppn meet

In the inaugural meeting earlier in Patna, top Opposition leaders, including Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal United (JDU) chief Nitish Kumar, Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, among others, had resolved to put up a united fight against the BJP government at the Centre in next year's Lok Sabha elections.

At a joint press conference after the meeting, the Congress national president announced that the Opposition parties would carry forward the process of building a rainbow alliance against the Centre at their next meeting in Shimla.

Kharge had said the agenda before the next Opposition meeting, the second of its kind after Patna, would be to flesh out a roadmap on moving ahead together "while working in our respective states to fight BJP in 2024".

"At this meeting, the future plan of action on how to go forward in the upcoming (Lok Sabha) election would be discussed. The discussion will also be centred on how power is misused to stoke communal tension in states," Pawar said on Thursday.

The NCP chief claimed further that in Opposition-ruled states, especially Left-ruled Kerala and Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, the BJP has failed to make any meaningful political inroads and had not received any support from the people.

"The BJP is not in power in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, and West Bengal," he said in support of his argument.

Pawar claimed further that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on his maiden State visit to the United States when the first Opposition meeting took place, grew restless after learning of it.

READ | I have no problems with Ajit dada or Sharad Pawar, only with Uddhavs back-stabbing

His remark came in response to PM Modi's claim on Tuesday in Bhopal that the Opposition leaders are unsettled as they have come to realise that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was on course to win the 2024 general elections.

"Wo baukhala gaye hain (They have become flustered). So, they have started to hold meetings... A few days ago a photo session was organised by them (Opposition) and if you see the photographs, you will realise that every person in the photo has their own history of scams. Every photo is a guarantee of corruption and scams. Everyone together is a guarantee of at least 20 lakh crore corruption. Congress alone has carried out scams worth lakhs of crores. The RJD, TMC, NCP all of them have a long list of scams," PM Modi said while addressing party booth workers in Bhopal on Tuesday.
A 25-year-old youth of Alo Bhatti village in Mukerian sub-division was allegedly shot dead by a robber at a convenience store in Victor Valley of California, USA. Deceased Parveen Kumars relatives said they received the information that an armed man came to the store where he worked and tried to loot money, but when Parveen resisted, he shot him dead. The family revealed that Parveen had moved to the US about seven years ago, and his younger brother recently joined him there. Their father had died a long time back. The family has appealed to the government to help bring the body home as soon as possible.

A file photo of Parveen Kumar, who was shot dead in USA. (HT Photo)
Lieutenant general Nav K Khanduri on Friday relinquished the command of Western Army, superannuating after nearly 40 years of service. Lieutenant General Nav K Khanduri paying homage to martyrs at the War Memorial during his farewell ceremony at Western Command in Chandimandir. (HT Photo)

Khanduri paid homage to the martyrs by laying a wreath at the War Memorial during his farewell ceremony.

An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Khanduri passed out with 73rd Regular Course from the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, and was commissioned into 27 Air Defence Regiment (Amritsar Airfield) on December 17, 1983. He is also an alumnus of the Defence Service Staff College, College of Defence Management and the National Defence College. He has a masters in philosophy (defence studies) from Madras University and one in management studies from the Osmania University.

Khanduri took over the reins of Western Command as General officer commanding-in-chief on November 1, 2021. He was committed to ensuring the operational preparedness of Western Command through capability development and various training events, exercises with troops and multi agency exercises.
Waris Punjab De (WPD) chief and pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh and his aides have started a hunger strike in Dibrugarh jail in Assam, where there are lodged under National Security Act (NSA), to protest over no access to telephone and poor food quality in jail. Waris Punjab De (WPD) chief and pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh and his aides have started a hunger strike in Dibrugarh jail in Assam, where there are lodged under National Security Act (NSA), to protest over no access to telephone and poor food quality in jail. (HT File)

The information was divulged by Amritpals wife Kirandeep Kaur after she met him in the jail on Thursday. Extending solidarity with her husband, Kirandeep said she too has decided to start the hunger strike.

Speaking over the phone, Kirandeep said, Every week, I travel from Amritsar to Dibrugarh jail to meet my husband. I met him today as well. I learnt during the meeting that all the Sikh prisoners, including Amritpal, are on hunger strike. One of the reasons behind their strike is that they are not allowed to contact their respective families over the phone by the Punjab government. If they are given this facility an amount from 20,000 to 25,000 can be saved per family members who visit the jail. Every family cannot afford this expense. This facility will also keep them mentally fit.

Kirandeep said this also hinders detainees access to their legal counsels and the quality of the food inside the jail is also bad.

Due to the lack of telephone facility, they cannot have conversations with their legal counsel, which causes problems in fighting the case. The arrangement of food is also not good in the jail. Tobacco is sometimes found in chapatis. Food is also of not good quality. The food is prepared by those who consume tobacco, which is against the Sikh code of conduct. These issues are affecting their health. The government will have to resolve these issues. They are demanding basic facilities, not VIP treatment, she said.

On April 23, after being on the run for 35 days, Amritpal was arrested by Punjab Police from a gurdwara at Rode village in Moga district. He was then sent to Dibrugarh central jail in Assam under NSA.
The Punjab government on Friday issued posting orders for seven IAS and a PCS officer. The Punjab government on Friday issued posting orders for seven IAS and a PCS officer.

The IAS officers who got fresh orders include Arshdeep Singh Thind, who is the secretary agriculture with additional charge as secretary horticulture. He has been given additional charge as managing director Punjab state agricultural marketing board (Punsup) as Amrit Kaur Gill, who holds the charge is on leave.

Abhinav, who is secretary health and family welfare, with additional charge as mission director national health mission and commissioner food and drug administration, has been given additional charge as director food and civil supplies department for the time as Ghanshyam Thori is on leave.

Managing director Milkfed Amit Dhaka has been given additional charge as director Mahatama Gandhi state institute of public administration against a vacant post.

Ravi Bhagat, special principal secretary to the chief minister with additional charge as chief executive Punjab energy development authority has been given additional charge as secretary Punjab rural development board relieving Amrit Kaur Gill of the additional charge.

Adapa Karthik, special secretary health and family welfare, who holds the additional charge as secretary governance reforms, has been given additional charge as director governance reforms relieving Girish Dayalan of the additional charge.

Dayalan continues to serve as managing director Marked and has an additional charge as chief executive officer e-governance society.

Jaspreet Singh, director social justice, empowerment and minorities, has been given an additional charge as additional CEO Punjab bureau of investment promotion relieving Dayalan.

PCS officer Mankanwal Singh Chahal, who is SDM Amritsar-I, has been given charge of estate office Amritsar Development authority against a vacant post.

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GLOBALink | Experts say Chinese modernization brings enlightenment to developing countries Pub Date:23-06-30 08:58 Source:Xinhua BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- As China embarks on a new journey towards socialist modernization, experts worldwide have said that China has demonstrated tremendous progress in Chinese modernization, providing examples in various fields for other developing countries. Produced by Xinhua Global Service Editor:Zheng Chen

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Thiruvananthapuram A high-level Punjab Government team, led by Finance and Excise Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, visited Kerala to study the government-run Beverages Corporations liquor business in the southern state. Kerala excise minister MB Rajesh presents a memento to Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema during their meeting, in Thiruvananthapuram on June 28. (PTI)

Taxes on alcohol is one of the major source of revenue for Kerala government.

Cheema had met Kerala Excise and Local Government Minister M B Rajesh on Wednesday, and his team had visited the Kerala State Beverages Corporation Limited (BEVCO) headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, a retail outlet in Karikakam in the city, and the warehouse at Meenamkulam nearby Kazhakuttam.

The officials, led by Punjab Finance Commissioner Vikas Prathap and Excise Commissioner Varun Roojam, held discussions with the officials of the Kerala Excise Department and Kerala State Beverages Corporation Limited.

Harpal Singh Cheema, however, stayed away from these visits. The Punjab officials said that they were in Kerala to study the best practices. We are here to study the best practises, and we are learning them, Prathap told PTI.

He, however, refused to comment on the question of whether the Punjab government has any plans to replicate the Kerala model liquor policy there.

Earlier, a press release from the office of the Kerala Excise Minister, M B Rajesh, said that the Punjab team is in Kerala to study the Kerala State Beverages Corporation Limited (KSBC), and the Punjab Minister has said the functioning of the KSBC as a public limited company is a model others can emulate and said that he would explore ways to replicate the same in Punjab, governed by AAP.

The AAP-led Delhi government had run into rough weather with its revised liquor policy, when it decided to privatise the capitals liquor business. Opposition parties had alleged widespread corruption in the deal, and the CBI had taken a case. It later arrested former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in this connection.
In a blatant disregard for the directives issued by the Punjab government, a significant number of government vehicles have failed to install the mandatory high security registration plates (HSRP) even after the June 30 deadline. The non-compliance of government vehicles with this regulation has raised concerns. Many government vehicles are running sans high-security number plates in Ludhiana. (HT PHOTO)

According to the latest data obtained from officials, only 8,88,767 high-security registration plates have been affixed to vehicles out of a staggering 9,22,029 individuals who had submitted requests for the HSRP in the district. However, considering the figures provided by the regional transport authority, which states that there are more than 15 lakh vehicles in the district, it is evident that a substantial number of vehicle owners have neglected to adhere to the mandate, leaving their vehicles without the necessary high-security number plates.

The officials of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) and the traffic police have emphasised that no notification regarding an extension of the deadline has been issued. As a result, the authorities are now planning to conduct rigorous checks to enforce compliance. Those found to be in violation of the regulation for the first time will be subject to a fine of 2,000, while subsequent offenses will incur a higher penalty of 3,000.

Traffic expert Rahul Verma expressed his concern over the large number of people who have failed to affix the high -security number plates, terming it a clear violation of government guidelines. Verma highlighted the significance of these plates, stating that they enhance visibility, especially during nighttime, due to their ability to reflect light.

However, a visit to several government offices in the district revealed a startling reality. A considerable number of government vehicles, including police vehicles, escort vehicles of government officials, towing vehicles, and police jeeps, were observed without the high-security number plates. This lack of compliance among government vehicles raises questions about the commitment of government departments to adhere to the same regulations they enforce on the general public.

Advocate Parupkar Singh Ghuman said, Law enforcers are the law violators as they have not affixed the high-security number plates. The failure to install high security registration plates on government vehicles not only undermines the credibility of the law but also sets a poor example for citizens. The government must take immediate action to rectify this issue and ensure that its own fleet of vehicles complies with the regulations. This will not only restore public trust but also demonstrate a commitment to road safety and the enforcement of traffic rules.

Deputy commissioner of police Varinder Brar stated, In order to address the lack of awareness among the public, we will be issuing warnings to violators as a first step. Additionally, we have already initiated the process of obtaining high-security number plates for the remaining police vehicles. By next week, all vehicles will be equipped with the appropriate high-security number plates.
Days after a shopkeeper was shot in the foot by three masked assailants in Mohalis Jhampur village on June 9 at his shop, police investigation revealed that the attack was led by members of the Bhuppi Rana Gang. Bhuppi Rana is a close associate of fugitive gangster Lucky Patial, who is believed to be in Armenia and operates the Davinder Bambiha gang. (HT File)

Mohali police have brought Bhupinder Singh Rana alias Bhuppi Rana on production warrant from Nabha jail after arresting two out of the three shooters who fired at the shopkeeper.

Bhuppi Rana is a close associate of fugitive gangster Lucky Patial, who is believed to be in Armenia and operates the Davinder Bambiha gang.

Police sources said that after the Bhuppi Rana group didnt get extortion money from the victim, Rohit Gupta, 40, a resident of Dhanas in Chandigarh, who runs a gift shop in Jhampur village; Bhuppi Rana directed his shooters to attack the victim. Bhuppi Rana is the kingpin behind the attack on the toy shop owner. We have brought him on a production warrant here and now will nab the persons who supplied weapons to the assailants to execute the attack, a police officer privy to the investigation said.

Last week, police had arrested two out of the three shooters, including Manveer Rana of Barwala and Deepak of Kharag Mangoli, Panchkula. The third shooter continues to evade police arrest. Both Manveer and Deepak, who are history-sheeters, were identified with the help of CCTV footage and personal intelligence.

We had arrested three persons, including two shooters who executed the attack and another person who we suspected was the supplier. Now since it has come to the fore that he was not involved in the case, we will request the court concerned to discharge him from the case. We are also investigating the role of a few gangsters sitting abroad and other members of the Bambiha group, if any, behind the attack and hopefully will make more arrests soon, a police officer stated.

Notably Bhuppi Rana of Handesra village in Mohali had to join hands with Bambiha gang after his arch rival, Monu Rana, joined Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Four days after being fired upon, the victim got a personal security officer (PSO) from Chandigarh police, as he is a resident of the city.

A probe by Mohali police had revealed that the victim was not provided any security despite alerting the Chandigarh Police in May about threat to his life.

According to the sources, the victim, other than running a toy shop in Mohali, also became a real estate developer in the same area, after which he got extortion calls. He had informed the Chandigarh Police nearly a month ago that he was receiving life threats from international numbers which had the photo of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi as WhatsApp display picture. A cop stated that Bhuppi gang members deliberately used display pictures of Lawrence Bishnoi to fool the victim and police.

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: Patting the Central governments back for completing nine years, Union minister of state for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying Sanjeev Balyan on Friday listed the achievements of the BJP-led dispensation, while accusing former Meghalaya governor Satyapal Malik for instigating people of Haryana. Ex-governor Satyapal Malik instigating people of Haryana: Balyan

Addressing a rally in Hisars Barwala to mark the completion of BJPs nine-year rule at the Centre, Balyan, while referring to Malik, said, He neither can walk nor sit but still he is doing selfish politics. Believe me, such people will come and go after dividing you and creating rifts in society. He had failed to stand by the party which gave him everything.

Satyapal Malik has been provoking people against our government. Such people will leave Haryana after disturbing its brotherhood, he said.

Listing the governments achievements, Balyan said that the union government has focused on road infrastructure and a total of 60,000 km roads were built in the last nine years, while 91,000 km roads were built in the previous 67 years before the BJP came to power in 2014.

The Union minister said the BJP government has adopted an aggressive approach towards China and Pakistan to tackle the border situation.

If they throw a bomb in the Indian territory, the next bomb will be thrown in their territory. We have adopted an aggressive foreign policy and our government is capable of tackling every enemy, he added.

Haryana agriculture minister JP Dalal urged Balyan accused the UP leaders of hindering Haryanas progress and asked the Union minister to keep them in their state.

First Yashpal Malik destroyed the social fabric in Haryana and then Rakesh Tikait stopped the states progress during the farm stir by laying siege on roads and tolls. Now, Satyapal Malik started instigating people, I request you to keep these leaders in Uttar Pradeshs Muzzaffarnagar territory, Dalal added.

Birender Singh hits out at Hooda, Dushyant

Senior BJP leader Birender Singh asked senior party leaders to get rid of deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and the party as BJP was getting weakened due to alliance every day.

Hooda had termed Home minister Amit Shah as his friend. Either he should join the BJP or stop calling Shah as his friend. During Hoodas regime, a total of 60,000 acres of land was sold to colonisers at cheap rates and farmers will bear the same if the Congress returns to power again, Singh added. Singh urged the gathering to elect 60 MLAs of BJP.

He further alleged that an owner of a big private company had met him when he was finance minister in Hoodas government to provide him 25,000 acres of land near Gurgaon but he turned down his proposal.
The UT administration will be reviewing its Electric Vehicle (EV) policy on July 3, raising hopes for residents looking to buy non-electric vehicles. The Chandigarh administration has decided to review EV policy on July 3. (HT File)

In light of the provision in the policy to halt the registration of non-electric two-wheelers upon reaching the target of 6,202 in financial year 2023-24, the UT administration has decided to review the EV Policy.

As of June 28, 5,500 such two-wheelers have already been registered and it is anticipated that the target will be reached by the first week of July, following which no more registrations will be done till March 31, 2024.

Likewise, registration of non-electric four-wheelers will cease once the target of 22,626 is achieved for the current financial year, expected by December.

During a recent meeting of the governing body of the Chandigarh Renewable Energy and Science and Technology Promotion Society (CREST), the nodal agency responsible for implementing the EV policy in the city, officials were instructed to prepare an analytical report on the policys implementation.

We will analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the policy during the scheduled meeting on Monday, and a decision will be taken accordingly, said a senior officer.

As part of a gradual phase-out plan for two-wheelers and three-wheelers powered by internal combustion engines (ICE), the administration aims to register a minimum of 35% electric two-wheelers in 2022-23, 70% in 2023-24 and achieve 100% by 2024-25.

On June 23, mayor Anup Gupta had termed the EV policy anti-citizen and given the administration a month to make necessary changes. He had announced his intention to protest with citizens if amendments were not made.

To encourage green transportation, the UT transport department has already halted registration of non-electric school/college, tourist and factory buses till September 30.

The Federation of the Chandigarh Region Automobile Dealers Association has expressed concerns that the policy to restrict the sale of non-electric vehicles in the city will negatively impact the local economy. The automotive industry is a significant employer in the region, with many companies manufacturing non-electric vehicles, engines and related components. The association warned that limiting the sale of non-electric vehicles could result in job losses and financial setbacks for local businesses.

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DEHRADUN: The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Friday deployed a 22-member team to trace a Haryana government official who slipped and fell into the river at Devprayag Sangam in Tehri Garhwal district on Thursday evening, officials said on Friday. NDRFs Ravi Sharma said rescue workers were searching for the Haryana official downstream but havent had any success yet. (Twitter/AtulTri60919023)

NDRF deputy commandant Ravi Sharma said the team was sent from Dehradun to Devprayag to search for Jagraj Dandi, a joint director in Haryana governments agriculture department, who went missing at Devprayag Sangam, where the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi rivers converge in the foothills of the Himalayas to form the Ganga.

Sharma said the team has started a search operation downstream but hasnt been able to recover him so far. The team is continuing its search.

Sharma said the Haryana government official had come to Uttarakhand with his family for a vacation. They first went to Rishikesh and then went to Sangam where pilgrims take a ritual dip and offer prayers to Ganga.

Due to rains in the higher reaches, there has been a sharp increase in the water flow in Alaknanda and Bhagirathi. Devprayag is located near New Tehri City in Tehri Garhwal District.
DDA housing scheme 2023: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will launch its housing scheme from Friday wherein around 5,600 flats across six locations in Delhi will be auctioned. The scheme will be open to the public at 5pm and allotment will be done on a first-come, first-serve basis. (Check all latest DDA flats schemes here) Officials said that all allotments will be done through online applications, for which applicants need to log on to the DDA website, fill details and register to book their flats. (Representational image)

The fourth phase of DDAs housing scheme will include houses in the LIG (lower income group), MIG (middle income group) and HIG (higher income group) categories across southeast Delhis Jasola, southwest Delhis Dwarka, west Delhis Lok Nayak Puram, and northwest Delhis Narela, Rohini and Siraspur.

ALSO READ: DDA to ready 17,800 flats in a year in national capital

Officials said that all allotments will be done through online applications, for which applicants need to log on to the DDA website, fill details and register to book their flats. The registration amounts are different for every category of flats. For the LIG category, the registration amount is 10,000 plus 18% GST for those who are in the economically weaker section (EWS) category and 1 lakh plus GST for those in the normal LIG category. For MIG flats, the booking amount is  4 lakh plus GST, and for HIG, it is 10 lakh plus GST.

Since these flats are on a first-come, first-serve basis, they are allotted to those who submit registration amounts. Once the process is done, a demand letter will be generated and sent to the allottee, and they will have to make the rest of the payment within three months. Bank loans are easily available on these flats, said a DDA official.

During registration, one may need to upload an identity proof, an address proof (not necessarily of Delhi) and an EWS certificate for those applying in this category who have an annual family income of less than 10 lakh.

Jasola is the only area where HIG flats are being offered. There are 41 such 3 BHK flats for sale with a total area of 162-177 square metres (sqm) each that will cost approximately 2.1-2.2 crore. Dwarka has 50 2 BHK flats that measure around 120sqm and will cost about 1.2-1.3 crore each. There are 1,700 1 BHK flats up for auction in Rohini that measure around 33sqm and will cost about 14 lakh each. Siraspur has 125 1 BHK flats that measure around 35sqm and will cost about 17 lakh each. Meanwhile, Lok Nayak Puram also has 140 1 BHK flats that measure around 40sqm and will cost about 27 lakh.

On the other hand, Narela has the maximum number of flats in the LIG and MIG categories There are 3,400 1 BHK flats that measure about 35-50sqm and will cost around 10-22 lakh. Moreover, there are another 150 2 BHK flats that measure 110sqm and will cost around 1 crore.

Officials said that DDA has an unsold inventory of about 13,000 flats, of which around 5,600 are being put up for sale from Friday. However, more flats may soon be added to the scheme, while another lot of flats may be up for sale during Navratri festive season in October.

We undertook a survey and various efforts were made to increase sale of these flats, like reducing prices, introducing the first-come, first-serve scheme and relaxing application norms. Efforts are also being made to improve connectivity in these areas, said a DDA official.
The Delhi government will advertise for around 4,500 job vacancies within the Delhi government while 6,000 vacancies will be created in Delhi Police, Delhi lieutenant governor (LG) V K Saxena said on Friday while distributing 849 letters of appointment to the newly recruited employees in different departments/agencies at an event organised at Vigyan Bhawan. Lt Governor of Delhi VK Saxena. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

In the past year, more than 17,000 permanent jobs were already given and more vacancies will be filled soon. In the last six months alone, 1,495 people were recruited for the education department. Very soon vacancies for 4,500 positions will be advertised and an additional 6,000 more jobs will be created in Delhi Police, Saxena said.

I urge you to devote and dedicate your time diligently with zeal, honesty, and resolve to work to make the life of common people easy and contribute towards the task of nation-building. On February 24 and April 19, 2023, I distributed 1,071 and 1,505 appointment letters to the youth, the LG added.

The LG said that the jobs will not only help them grow individually but it will also help their families, society, and the nation as a whole.

The 849 new recruits include 391 postgraduate teachers and trained graduate teachers in the education department, 274 junior secretarial assistants in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, 50 junior assistants in Delhi Transport Corporation, 40 lab attendants in training and technical education, 13 junior engineers in Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), 11 principal assistants in DJB, 3 assistant engineers in irrigation and flood control department, and 67 assistant public prosecutors in the directorate of prosecution.

LG also underlined the fact that there were many in the government, who were appointed in an adhoc manner that raised doubts of favouritism and objectivity in their appointment.

The LG lamented this practice of appointing individuals on a contract basis against permanent vacancies in government and assured that such appointments will be quashed at the earliest and the vacancy will be filled through the due selection process, which would ensure permanent employment to deserving candidates, LG office said in a statement.
The Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi on Friday approached Supreme Court regarding Centre's ordinance regarding transfer posting of officers.



The petition states that the Ordinance is unconstitutional as it does not amend Article 239AA of the Constitution and wrests control from an elected government and places it in the hands of an un-elected LG.



On May 19, the Centre had promulgated an ordinance taking the authority of the transfer and posting of IAS and DANICS officers in the national capital. The Arvind Kejriwal government had called the move a circumvention of the apex court verdict on the control of services. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal

The ordinance was promulgated a week after the Supreme Court handed over the control of services in the capital except police, public order and land, to the elected government.

The 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.



Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had been garnering support from the opposition parties against the Centre's ordinance. In fact, he will also burn copies of the ordinance at the party office in central Delhi on July 3.



ALSO READ: Difficult to attend future Opp meet unless Congress denounces Delhi ordinance: AAP

Aam Aadmi Party chief spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said copies of the ordinance will be burned across the 70 assembly constituencies of the national capital.

"On July 3, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, cabinet ministers and all the MLAs will burn copies of the black ordinance at the ITO party office. Then on July 5, the copies of the ordinance will be burned across all 70 parliamentary constituencies. Between July 6 and July 13, the copies of the ordinance will be set on fire at every nook and corner of Delhi. The seven vice presidents will ensure that they are burned in every area of Delhi," Bhardwaj, a minister in the Kejriwal cabinet, said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi took Delhi Metro to travel to the centenary celebrations of Delhi University being held on Friday. He also shared photos of his journey on his Twitter profile, expressing his happiness to have young people as his fellow passengers and spoke about the experience while addressing the gathering at the event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled in Delhi Metro to attend Delhi University's centenary celebrations on Friday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Twitter handle also shared a video showing PM Modi using smart cards to enter the metro premises amid tight security. He boarded a yellow line train heading towards Samaypur Badli station, and Vishwavidyalaya metro station is a midway station on that route, the closest station to reach the DU campus area.

In the video, initially the PM is seen boarding an empty metro compartment, however, later he shared photos of his interaction with other passengers. On the way to the DU programme by the Delhi Metro. Happy to have youngsters as my co-passengers," he tweeted, sharing the photos.

While addressing the function at DU, he shared his experience of travelling via the metro. "Coming to the campus becomes more joyful when you travel with colleagues. Two friends together chatting about everything under the sun -- from Israel to Moon. Kaunsi film dekhi?(which movie did you see) OTT par wo series achhi hai? (Is that series worth watching on OTT) Wo wali reel dekhi ya nahi dekhi?(Have you seen that Instagram reel trend) So today, I also took Delhi Metro to chat with my young friends," PM Modi said

Congratulating the prominent central university on completing 100 years, PM Modi on Thursday wrote on Twitter, Looking forward to joining the University of Delhi's centenary celebrations at 11 AM tomorrow, 30th June. As a premier centre of learning, DU has been nurturing talent and fostering intellectual growth for a century. Congratulations to the DU fraternity on this milestone.

During his visit, he will laying the foundation stone of the Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of the Faculty of Technology. He will also lay the foundation stone of the the academic block, to be built in the university's North Campus.

University of Delhi was established on 1st May 1922 and has expanded to have 86 departments, 90 Colleges, more than 6 lakh students in the past 100 years.

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The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) issued a statement on Friday stating that an individual was now allowed to carry two sealed bottles of alcohol on all lines of the Delhi Metro. However, drinking inside the metro was still banned. As per an earlier order, carrying of alcohol was banned in the Delhi Metro except on the Airport Express Line. (File)

The statement released by DMRC said, Two sealed bottles of alcohol per person is allowed to be carried on the Delhi Metro at par with the provisions on the Airport Express Line.

Responding to a query by news agency PTI, Delhi Metro said that until recently alcohol was banned on all lines except Airport metro line.

DMRC in its statement further said, A committee comprising officials from CISF and DMRC have reviewed the earlier order. As per an earlier order, carrying of alcohol was banned in the Delhi Metro except on the Airport Express Line.

The statement however added, Drinking alcohol inside Metro premises is strictly prohibited.

It warned metro passengers of maintaining decorum and said, Metro passengers are requested to maintain proper decorum while travelling. In case, any passenger is found behaving in an indecent manner under the influence of alcohol, suitable action shall be taken under the relevant provisions of law.

Among the prohibited items in Delhi Metro are any kind of sharp objects, explosive materials, tools, flammable items, Disabling chemicals and other dangerous items, Guns and firearms and other offensive items.

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JAIPUR: Dinesh Vishnoi, the prime accused in the rape and murder of a 20-year-old Dalit woman in Bikaners Khajuwala, was arrested by the Sikar police on Friday, police said. The Rajasthan Police last week announced  40,000 reward for information leading to Dinesh Vishnois arrest (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Vishnoi was caught by the police during the checking of the state roadways buses in the district. The state police last week announced a 40,000 reward for information leading to his arrest in connection with the rape and murder of a woman by three men including two police constables.

Police earlier arrested one of the two accused constables, Manoj Kumar, and Vishnois driver, Rakesh Kumar.

The first information report (FIR) was filed against Vishnoi and two constables, Manoj Kumar and Bhagirath, on a complaint by the womans father on June 20 after his daughter was found dead in a deserted area.

Bikaner Rural additional superintendent of police Deepak Kumar Sharma said Bhagirath was yet to be arrested because the investigators could not establish his role. He is already suspended. Once we get the proof, we will definitely arrest him.

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Sounding the poll bugle for the upcoming assembly elections in Rajasthan, union home minister Amit Shah said chief minister Ashok Gehlot is heading the most corrupt government adding that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win the polls with a record margin. Union home minister Amit Shah at a public meeting at Udaipur in Rajasthan. (PTI photo)

Addressing a public meeting at the Gandhi ground in Udaipur, Shah said several surveys have shown that Rajasthan has been one of the most corrupt states.

Gehlot ji, why are you running around here and there at your age. Somebody should send a video of this gathering to him. He will know that his governments countdown has begun. The BJP will win the 2023 and the 2024 elections, Shah said.

Also Read: Opp leaders who attended Patna meet involved in scams worth 20 lakh cr: Amit Shah

I have travelled across the country. From the support I have seen, it is certain that Modi is going to become prime minister in 2024 with BJP winning 300 seats, he said.

Shah said Gehlot has broken all promises made by the Congress party before the 2018 assembly polls.

Farmer loans have not been waived, land of 19,000 farmers has been seized for non-repayment of loans there have been 19 question paper leaks Rajasthan is number one in the country in unemployment and number of rapes, he said.

He said the Gehlot government is a 3D government  Danga (riots) mahilaon ke saath durvyavhar (misbehaviour with women) and dalit utpidan (atrocities on Dalits).

Shah also recalled the year-old Kanhaiya Lal murder case at his rally and hit out at the state government.

Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, was murdered on June 28 last year by two cleaver-wielding men, who had accused him of insulting Islam on social media.

The Rajasthan government did not set up a special court. Otherwise, the accused of Kanhaiya Lals killing would have been hanged, Shah said.

Shah also took a dig at the opposition parties when they held a meeting in Patna.

The representatives of 21 political parties had scams of 20 lakh crore between them, he said.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has ordered personal appearance of director of the movie Adipurush Om Raut, producer Bhushan Kumar and dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir along with their personal affidavits explaining their bonafide conduct. The high court also ordered that two members of the committee must be well versed with the Valmiki Ramayana, which is said to be a main source of this film and Tulsidass Ramcharitmanas besides other religious epics. (For Representation)

A division bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Shree Prakash Singh has also directed the Union information & broadcasting (I&B) ministry to set up a five-member committee of experts within a week of the courts order to re-examine the movie to ascertain whether its story and depiction of Lord Rama, Devi Sita, Lord Hanuman and Ravan etc are in conformity with the Valmiki Ramayana or not.

The court heard the two PIL petitions seeking ban on the movie Adipurush on June 28. The order was uploaded on high courts portal on Friday. The committee must prepare its report within 15-days and the Union I&B ministry must submit it in the high court along with the personal affidavit of the secretary of the ministry by the next date of hearing July 27, said the court.

The court has clubbed two PILs seeking ban on the movie Adipurush. The first PIL has been filed by Kuldeep Tiwari who is represented by lawyers Ranjana Agnihotri and Sudha Sharma. Naveen Dhawan has filed the second PIL who has been represented by lawyer Prince Lenin.

The high court also ordered that two members of the committee must be well versed with the Valmiki Ramayana, which is said to be a main source of this film and Tulsidass Ramcharitmanas besides other religious epics.

It directed the chairman, Central Board of Film Certification, to file his personal affidavit apprising whether guidelines for certification of films for public exhibition had been followed in letter and spirit while issuing the certificate to Adipurush.

If the personal affidavits of the authorities, as directed above, are not filed by the next date of listing, any Class-I Officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Broadcasting, New Delhi, as well as any responsible officer of the Board of Film Certification shall appear in person along with the records, the court said.

Courts observation

The movie hurts the emotions of people as religious icons/gods have been shown in it in a shameful and disgusting manner as if they were fictional persons or as if they were comic characters.

Freedom of speech violated

In the name of freedom of speech and expression, no one can be permitted to do anything which is against the decency or morality or against the public order. The film, prima-facie, does not qualify the test as prescribed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pawan Dixit Pawan Dixit has been a journalist for over a decade. He has extensively covered eastern UP for around five years, covered 2012 UP assembly polls, 2014 Lok Sabha polls while being stationed in Varanasi. Now, in Lucknow, he covers outstation political assignments, reports special cases from district court, high court and state information commission ...view detail
LUCKNOW The 56th convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology- Kanpur (IIT-K) will be held on July 3 (Monday). Founder and chairman emeritus, Infosys, NR Narayana Murthy, a distinguished alumnus of the intitute, will grace the occasion as chief guest this year. He did his M Tech from IIT-K in 1969. The convocation ceremony will be presided over by Radhakrishnan K Koppillil, chairperson, board of governors (BoG), IIT Kanpur. (File Photo)

The convocation ceremony will be presided over by Radhakrishnan K Koppillil, chairperson, board of governors (BoG), IIT Kanpur.

This year, 2,127 students will be awarded degrees, out of which, 236 are from PhD.

The Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa), the highest honorary academic degree granted by IIT-Kanpur to honour exemplary achievements by outstanding individuals, will be awarded to three distinguished personalities - MC Mary Kom (Indian amateur boxer and politician), Dr Devi Prasad Shetty (chairperson and founder, Narayana Health) and Natarajan Chandrasekaran (chairperson, Tata Sons).

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Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday inaugurated housing units in Prayagraj, which were constructed on the land confiscated from gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was killed in April this year. Around 76 flats were built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in the Lukuarganj area. The allocation of these flats was done through a lottery system, which took place on June 9. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath with deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya arrives to attend a 'Grih Pravesh' for 76 flats constructed under Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna at Lukarganj area, in Prayagraj on Friday.(PTI)

Talking news agency ANI, Arvind Kumar Chauhan, vice chairman of Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) said, The lottery was drawn for allotment in the auditorium of Allahabad Medical Association. After verification of 6030 applicants, 1590 were found eligible to participate in the lottery

The beneficiaries of these flats will receive a housing unit covering an area of 41 square meters for the affordable price of 3.5 lakh. The officials stated that a flat with two rooms, a kitchen, and toilet facilities costs 6 lakh.

Also Read | Yogi inspects ongoing projects in Vrindavan

Prior to the flat handover, Adityanath interacted with the attendees of the event and distributed chocolates to their children. According to one of the workers, extensive preparations had been underway for the past 10 days in anticipation of the chief minister's visit to inaugurate the housing units.

Watch: Visuals of flats

In a video shared by the news agency ANI, the footage showcased the interior of the flats. As one enters the home, the name of the allotted person is visibly displayed. Inside, the flats consist of two rooms, a basic kitchen setup, and a bathroom. Another video showed the chief minister inspecting the flats following the inauguration.

Before the inauguration, the buildings were adorned with decorations and strict security measures were put in place for the event. A board with the inscription Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana could be seen at the entrance of the flats.

When was the foundation laid?

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath initiated this housing project by laying the foundation stone on a 1731-square-meter plot of land in the Lukerganj area of Prayagraj on December 26, 2021. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the District Urban Development Authorities (DUDA) undertook this project, resulting in the construction of 76 flats divided into two blocks, as confirmed by officials.

The construction took place on the confiscated land, which was previously owned by Atiq Ahmed, who faced charges related to the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal and the subsequent killing of a key witness, Umesh Pal, in February of the same year.

Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were fatally shot by individuals posing as journalists on the night of April 15 while they were being transported for a medical examination in Prayagraj.

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Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra on Friday said under the Agnipath scheme, the state will hold six rallies for recruitment into the army between July 20, 2023 and January 16, 2024. The recruitment rallies will be organised in Fatehgarh, Baraut, Lucknow, Agra, Amethi and Gorakhpur. Mishra said it at a meeting he convened for discussing preparations for the rallies. Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra discussing preparations of the recruitment rallies on June 30. (Sourced)

He said all preparations for the rallies in the respective districts must be completed in time. The chief secretary asked the officers to make arrangements in a manner that the candidates face no problems.

He said just around the time of the rallies, Kanwar Yatra too will go on, so even the law and order and traffic arrangements too should be consolidated. He said the first recruitment rally will also coincide with the monsoon season so suction pumps for such spots those were on the way or near the rally venue should be arranged to cope with likely waterlogging.

Make arrangements for shelter, food, refreshments, water, sanitation, toilets and electricity at the rally venues and arrange transport department buses for the aspirants, Mishra directed the officers concerned. The chief secretary also asked that respective district administration must put the district and other government hospitals in their respective areas on alert for any exigencies or need.

Under the Agnipath scheme, people between the ages of 17.5 and 21 years will be recruited into the military service of their choice for four years. After this tenure, 25% of the Agniveers will be retained and the remaining 75% will be permitted to return to civilian life.
LUCKNOW Widening of the 240-km 84-Kosi Parikrama Marg (NH 227 B), which spans across five districts - Ayodhya, Basti, Ambedkar Nagar, Barabanki and Gonda  is next on the agenda of the Yogi Adityanath government. Devotees during the 84-Kosi Parikarma in Ayodhya. (File Photo/PTI)

The process to widen the 84-Kosi Parikrama Marg, which is now a national highway, will start soon. Instructions have been given to officials to expedite the land acquisition process, said Ayodhya mayor Rishikesh Upadhyay. The highway has been divided into six packages for the widening project.

Bank details of land owners will be collected so that the compensation amount could be transferred directly into their accounts. The state government has also issued directives for the beautification of the bypass at Lucknow-Ayodhya national highway, said officials.

The state government has already proposed Sri Ram Avtaran Corridor along the 84-kosi parikrama marg. It will start from Makhaudha Dham in Basti and is the starting point of 84-kosi parikrama, an annual pilgrimage that ends in Ayodhya.

Religious destinations in these five districts are associated with Lord Ram. The 84-kosi parikrama starts in April every year and covers 21 religious destinations in these districts.
Conflict of opinion and disagreements about managing a housing society are common, but a resident of Neel Angan Housing Society, in New Panvel, decided to employ extreme means to express his grudge against some of the residents, and also evict a Muslim family living in the building for three years, which has landed him in a legal quandary. While Popular Front of India (PFI), a radical Islamic organisation, was banned by the Government of India in 2022, 786 is regarded a holy number in Islam. (HT PHOTO)

The 68-year-old retired central government employee, who is also the secretary of the housing society, allegedly pasted notes inked with PFI Zindabad and 786 on the front doors and calling bells of several residents, hoping that the finger of suspicion would go on the Muslim family, who are known to keep to themselves. He also hoped that by creating panic, other residents would turn to him for advice and any existing dissent among them would be quelled.

While Popular Front of India (PFI), a radical Islamic organisation, was banned by the Government of India in 2022, 786 is regarded a holy number in Islam.

The matter came to light on June 24 when Anirudh Manik Dharmadhikari, 33, a design engineer employed in a private firm, found the scribbled notes outside his flat, after he returned from a party with friends late in the night. As I was climbing up, I found a sticker pasted on the railing of the second floor outside my house. When I opened it, I found the number 786 written on it, Dharmadhikari had said in his complaint to Khandeshwar police. Additionally, he also found a crumbled note outside the door of his flat in which was scripted PFI Zindabad in green ink. Along with this, were two crackers and a doused incense stick. He immediately alerted other residents of the society, and together they searched the building looking for similar notes pasted elsewhere.

Our search led to multiple places where similar stickers were placed. This led to panic in the building, as we were unsure about the intent of the person who was behind such an act, Dharmadhikari said, adding they did not suspect any neighbour guilty of the crime.

This compelled Dharmadhikari to file an FIR at Khandeshwar police station the next day, following which residents of the 14 flats in the three-storeyed building were questioned.

We were sure that this was the handiwork of one of the residents. Our suspicion was raised by the manner in which the senior citizen was responding to us. We also learnt that he was trying to influence other residents of the building by urging them to believe a certain neighbour may have been behind this, said senior police inspector Chandrakant Landge.

The police scanned the CCTV (installed on the third floor) footage, which showed the accused emerging from the terrace, where similar notes and incense sticks were found scattered. The same incense sticks were found in his residence. He clearly did not think that the issue could become so serious. He thought that the police might just warn everyone and leave but since PFI is a banned organisation we had to take the matter seriously, the officer said. He added that despite the departments eyes on him, the accused continued to believe that the cops suspicion might be on the Muslim family. He also had issues with the owner of the flat where the family stayed on rent, the officer said. Meanwhile, the family that was targeted by the accused was panic-stricken with the course of events and after the reality came to light were put at ease.

The accused was booked under section 152-A of the IPC (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence). Adhering to Supreme Court guidelines, we have served him a notice under section 41 A (1) of Code of Criminal Procedure, Landge said.

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Mumbai: A year after its formation, the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government is expected to go for a second cabinet expansion next week. Five to six leaders each from Shiv Sena and BJP are likely to be inducted in the cabinet to avoid any possible discontent among the aspirants. HT Image

Chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had an unscheduled meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Thursday evening. They reportedly discussed the number of ministers to be inducted, names of the legislators to be made minister and the portfolios to be distributed between the two parties, which may take place on July 5 or the week next to it.

Both the CM and his deputy said the expansion will take place soon. During their Delhi visit, Shah also assured Shinde of induction of two MPs into the Union cabinet during the expected expansion next week.

When asked if the expansion will happen after the Central cabinet expansion, Fadnavis said, There is no relation between the expansion of the Central and state governments. I am not aware if the expansion of the Modi government is on cards. The decision about the names to be inducted in the cabinet would be taken by the CM.

According to the BJP leaders, the expansion has to take place before the beginning of the monsoon session of the assembly slated to begin on July 17.

Devyani Farande, Madhuri Misal, Sanjay Kute, Nitesh Rane from the BJP and Bharat Gogawale, Bacchu Kadu from Shiv Sena are some of the probable names expected to be inducted.

Meanwhile, dispelling the reports that four to five ministers from the Shinde camo will be dropped during the expansion, a senior BJP leader said, The reports have no substance and no minister will be dropped.

The Shinde government came into existence on June 30 last year and the first cabinet expansion with the induction of 18 ministers each from both the parties was done on August 10. Though the cabinet can be expanded to its maximum size of 43 ministers, the parties would like to keep over 10 seats empty to avoid discontent among aspirants from both sides.

A BJP leader said, Though there are aspirants in our party, there would not be any reaction from the aspirant for not being inducted in the cabinet. But the leaders from the Shinde camp have always been vocal and the public reaction from the disgruntled cannot be ruled out.

The leader said that the BJP was not happy with the controversial ministers from the Shinde camp. However, Shinde has put his foot down and warned us that no minister would be dropped, the BJP leader added.

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A 23-year-old man from Uttar Pradeshs Loni was allegedly beaten to death after the family of a girl he was friends with found him at their home in Ghaziabads Khoda on Thursday, police said on Friday. The girls family told police that the man, Parvez, was a thief, who was caught and beaten up. Police said they have registered a murder case. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Deputy police commissioner Vivek Chandra Yadav said the girl was alone with her younger brother when Parvez came to meet her in the absence of her parents. ...When the girls father returned home around 5pm, he was infuriated to see him. He [the father] and his relatives beat up Parvez with rods and sticks and informed the police that the man was at their home for theft.

A police team rushed to the scene and rushed Parvez to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead. After investigation, the man was identified and his family in Loni was informed, said Yadav.

He added they registered a murder case on the complaint of Parvezs family. We have arrested the girls father... and two of his relatives... After an initial investigation, it came to light that Parvez had come to meet the girl and not for any theft. The girls family to save themselves tried to accuse Parvez of theft.

Police said the girl knew Parvez for a year. They added the two spoke over the phone on Wednesday after which Parvez came to meet her while her parents were away.

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LUCKNOW The priceless reaction of Bulandshahr-based septuagenarian, Noor Jahan, is drawing aww all over internet while IPS officer Anukriti Sharma is being applauded for what she has caller her real-life Swades moment. U.P. police on Friday stated that many other women police officers helped women and children by solving their long-pending issues (Twitter)

Somewhat similar to the 2004 Bollywood drama in which Mohan Bhargav (played by Shah Rukh Khan) returns from the US to bring electricity to his native village, the 2020-batch woman officer, Anukriti Sharma, provided a new power connection to Noor Jahan with her own pocket.

The elderly had been living in the dark for decades as she didnt have enough money to pay for a new power connection. When IPS officer Anukriti, who is presently posted as Circle Officer (City) at Bulandshahr, came to know about Jahans ordeal through a womens Jan Chaupal organised under Misson Shakti campaign, she decided to help the elderly. The campaign was aimed at empowering women across the state.

As Jahan lived alone, Anukriti Sharma paid the required amount for the power connection and the local police even bought a tube light and a fan for the elderly woman. A video showing Jahan smiling in a pleasant disbelief and sharing a warm hug with Anukriti has been melting the internet since June 26, when the woman IPS officer posted the heart-warming clip.

In the second such incident, Raebareli CO City Vandana Singh arranged water supply from a canal after coming to know about the struggles of the local women during a similar meeting organised in a locality under Mill Area police station. She immediately solved their problem after communicating with the irrigation department.

In yet another incident of the kind, Ayodhya police head constable Kalpana Shukla helped three orphan children, who lost their parents during Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, through Chief Ministers Children Welfare Scheme. She got the childrens application moved through the district probation officer and the process to provide financial assistance to the children is ongoing.

The press note issued from U.P. police on Friday stated that many other women police officers helped women and children by solving their long-pending issues during this special drive. U.P. Police Director General of Police (DGP), Vijaya Kumar, felicitated six such woman cops and handed them appreciation letters on Friday. Besides, as many as 32 women cops will be handed appreciation letters for their work in the field of women empowerment and welfare.
The Orissa high court has quashed criminal proceedings against a television journalist three years after the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had implicated him over allegations of spreading false information about Covid pandemic with malafide intention. The TV channel after airing the casual conversation had sought a response from BMC after which a case was filed. (Orissa high court)

The high court added that such acts will have a chilling effect on press freedom.

Quashing the case against Swadheen Raut, input editor of TV channel OTV, chief justice of Orissa HC justice S Muralidhar said that no prima facie case can be made against him either under the IPC (Indian Penal Code) or Disaster Management Act as the airing of the transcript of the conversation between two people by the channel appeared to be a casual one not intended to cause panic in the public.

Also Read:ED attaches north-west Delhi house of journalist accused of spying for Chinese

It is highly unlikely that this one conversation would somehow induce the public to avoid treatment for Covid thus resulting in the spread of the pandemic and much less, still induce the public to commit offences against the state, the HC ruled while quashing the August 2020 FIR and the subsequent trial in the court of SDJM.

In August 2020, OTV aired an audio conversation of two people talking casually about the whole pointlessness of Covid treatment in government hospitals and how BMC officials are deliberately taking people to Covid hospitals to meet their target. One of the persons in the audio conversation alleged that BMC officials must be siphoning off money in the name of Covid treatment. The TV channel after airing the casual conversation had sought a response from BMC.

Soon after Bhubaneswar Commissionerate Police lodged a criminal case against Raut under sections 269, 270, 505(B), 120B IPC and section 3 Epidemic Disease Act/52 Disaster Management Act alleging that the audio clip was aired with malafide and mischievous intentions as the clip contains misleading and false information about Covid pandemic.

Raut and another staff of OTV were interrogated at an undisclosed location and accused of spreading hysteria over Covid.

Quoting the 2020 SC judgement in Arnab Goswami vs Union of India case in which the apex court said the exercise of journalistic freedom lay at the core of speech and expression protected by Article 19(1)(a) and Indias freedoms will rest safe as long as journalists can speak truth to power without being chilled by a threat of reprisal, the HC said OTV was essentially discharging the function of disseminating news as a media platform.
PUNE DRDO Scientist Pradeep Kurulkar was arrested by the ATS on May 3 and the last date to file chargesheet is July 2. (HT PHOTO)

Barely two days before the stipulated period was to be over, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday submitted chargesheet against DRDO scientist Pradeep Kurulkar before a special court in Pune in connection with case of sharing information to Pakistani agent.

The chargesheet runs into more than 1,000 pages where charges are specifically related to providing confidential defence and security related information to the Pakistan intelligence operative. The charges are pressed against the defence scientist under Section 3, 4 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, said special public prosecutor Vijay Fargade.

According to Fargade, the chargesheet mentions how Kurulkar passed on sensitive information to Pakistani agent operating in the name of Zara Dasgupta.

Kurulkar was arrested by the ATS on May 3 and the last date to file chargesheet is July 2.

Meanwhile, the special court of SR Navandar will pass its order on ATS application seeking its permission for conducting polygraph and voice layer and psychological analysis tests on Kurulkar on July 7.

Kurulkar has denied consent for conducting the test on him in the spying case. The ATS had submitted two applications before the court seeking Kurulkars consent for his two tests. Kurulkars counsel advocate Rhishikesh Ganu strongly opposed the ATS request before the court stating that tests were not required on grounds that the investigation agency was already in possession of his electronic devices and communication.

Ganu during his argument cited Supreme Court (SC) judgements and stated that forcing Kurulkar to undergo the tests would violate his fundamental rights enshrined under articles 20 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

The ATS earlier had told the court that the accused served as scientist H between December 13, 2022, and February 24, 2023, and misused his official position and gave sensitive defence information to Pakistani intelligence operative (PIO).

The ATS investigation into the Kurulkar espionage case has revealed that the PIO who had contacted the senior DRDO scientist was also in touch with an Indian Air Force (IAF) official based in Bengaluru using the same internet protocol (IP) address traced to the neighbouring country.

A complaint was lodged against Kurulkar by the vigilance and security office of the DRDO in Delhi. Earlier, his two mobile phones and a personal laptop had been seized by the vigilance team and an internal inquiry had established that he made communication via social media, WhatsApp, voice messages and video calls with a PIO. A forensic analysis revealed his misconduct prompting ATS to file a case under Official Secrets Act 1923 against Kurulkar at Kalachowki unit of the ATS in Mumbai.

Till his arrest, Kurulkar had been officiating as head of the important defence security and research establishment R and DE (E) under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

The R and DE official website describes Kurulkar as an outstanding scientist who took over as director of Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) R&DE(E), a premier systems engineering laboratory of DRDO. As project leader and system manager for Akash Ground Systems, Kurulkar has been a key member of Akash team and played a major role in the design, development and production of Akash Launchers and mission-critical ground systems for the Indian defence sector.

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The Cantonment Police have arrested an impostor from Haryana who duped a bank customer and stole 1 lakh cash from the bank premises on June 13. He was arrested on June 27. Senior police inspector Shashikant Chavan said, police are probing his involvement in many more similar types of cases during custodial interrogation. (Getty Images)

The victim had come to deposit cheques and withdrew cash worth 3 lakh from the cash counter of a private bank located on East Street in Camp.

The accused identified as Deepak Kumar Omprakash Mehangi, 47, posed as a bank staffer and took away cash worth 1 lakh belonging to the complainant identified as Nitin Ramchandra Pawar.

The accused told the victim that he will assist him fill the bank slip, told him that some note bundles were soiled and offered help.

The police checked the CCTV footage and reached the lodge where he had stayed. Upon showing his footage, the lodge owner showed them the identity details of the accused who had stayed in one of the lodge rooms.

He was produced before the court which remanded him to nine days police custody. During custodial interrogation, the accused has confessed to his involvement in swindling gullible persons.

There are at least nineteen cases lodged against the accused in Pune, Nasik, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Mumbai, Kalyan, Shirdi, Panvel and Vashi.

Senior police inspector Shashikant Chavan said, police are probing his involvement in many more similar types of cases during custodial interrogation.

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The high drama surrounding Tamil Nadus governor RN Ravis unprecedented move to dismiss a sitting minister, only to hold his earlier decision in abeyance hours later, sends the wrong signal and further stresses Indias federal framework. It should have been avoided. Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and chief minister MK Stalin (Anathakrishnan L)

Raj Bhavan and the elected government in Tamil Nadu have been locked in an intensifying tussle over embattled minister V Senthil Balaji, who faces corruption charges and was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate earlier this month. When chief minister (CM) MK Stalin wrote to the governor to distribute the portfolios allocated by Mr Balaji to other members, Mr Ravi acquiesced but not before voicing his disapproval of the incarcerated minister continuing in the cabinet. Then, on Thursday evening, Mr Ravi unilaterally dismissed Mr Balaji from the council of ministers, alleging the leader was abusing his position and obstructing justice. As a political firestorm raged, Mr Ravi wrote a second letter to Mr Stalin late in the evening after apparent intervention from Union home minister Amit Shah, saying Mr Shah had advised him to seek the opinion of the attorney general. Accordingly, I am approaching the attorney general for his opinion. Meanwhile, the order of dismissal of minister...Balaji may be kept in abeyance, he wrote.

This newspaper believes that investigations into powerful figures need to be thorough, impartial and swift. The charges against Mr Balaji are serious and if he is indeed obstructing justice, it needs to be probed to the fullest extent of the law. Morality and probity in public office are preferable qualities, but these cannot be sought to be achieved by undermining the powers of the elected government as enshrined in the Constitution. Or by governors taking unto themselves more powers than envisaged by the Constitution.

The unfortunate aspect of Mr Ravis actions is that they cement the perception that governors in states ruled by parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are acting in ways that infringe on the domain of the state government. Governors appear to have been given the message that they need to keep pushing the envelope in ratcheting up confrontation with the ruling political party. This impression is solidified by the fact that while a number of Opposition-ruled states are currently roiled by a standoff between Raj Bhavan and the state government  Kerala, Telangana, West Bengal and Punjab are only the most extreme examples of this phenomenon  there is not a single instance of any similar controversy in a state governed by the BJP.

In state after state, such a face-off is detrimental for Indias fraying federal fabric, which is already under stress due to fiscal outlays and devolution. Instead, governors and state governments should focus on mutual cooperation and discharging their duties as spelt out in Indias founding document. The Constitutions framers were clear that they were establishing a framework where governors had limited (actually very limited) discretion and role. Speaking in the Constituent Assembly in June 1949, BR Ambedkar said, The governor under the Constitution has no functions which he can discharge by himself: No functions at all. While he has no functions, he has certain duties to perform, and I think the House will do well to bear in mind this distinction.

The governors should too.

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On June 28, the Nepal Supreme Court passed an interim order directing the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (OPMCM) and other concerned ministries to establish a transitional mechanism to ensure the registration of marriages for non-heterosexual couples, thereby reiterating the right to marry granted to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community granted by the top court of the country in 2007. The Nepal Supreme Court directed the government on June 28 to establish a separate interim register of marriages for same-sex and non-heterosexual couples. (File)

The court also issued a show cause notice to the government and sought a response within 15 days explaining why its directives issued 15 years ago had not been followed. It directed the government to establish a separate register of marriages till necessary amendments were made to the provisions related to marriage and registered marriages within the existing Civil Code that only permits marriage between a man and a woman.

The latest order emerged after Pinky Gurung, president of Nepal's flagship LGBTI rights organisation, Blue Diamond Society (BDS), together with eight other applicants filed a petition in the court on June 7. The petition pleaded for the court's intervention stating that the community could not wait indefinitely for the Parliament to formulate laws that were in accordance with the orders passed by the court.

In 2001, the Supreme Court passed a landmark order granting equal rights, including the right to non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, to all members of the queer community. It further directed the government to form a committee to study same-sex marriage from the viewpoint of not only LGBTI persons, but also their families and society at large. In 2015, a committee set up by the Constituent Assembly put out a report recommending same-sex marriage in Nepal. However, the government did not come up with any law permitting this. On the contrary, its Civil and Criminal codes went on to ascribe marriage as existing between the binary genders of man and woman.

The 2007 judgement was the result of a petition filed by BDS founder Sunil Babu Pant as well as three other human rights activists.

We speak to Pant, who was elected to the Nepal Parliament between 2008 and 2012, making him the first openly gay lawmaker in South Asia, to break down the journey of same-sex rights in Nepal:

What does the latest Supreme Court order mean for same- sex couples in Nepal?

Pant: For the sexual and gender minority communities, the June 28 order is huge. It has great value and gives a sense of pride of being a Nepalese citizen. It appears that the Supreme Court is a bit frustrated with the Parliament and the government for not implementing the order they gave 15 years ago. The Court understood well the argument we made that the Parliament cannot take forever to provide the citizens right.

What was the order that the court passed 15 years ago?

Pant: In 2007, when I was heading Blue Diamond Society, a few organisations got together and petitioned the Supreme Court demanding the end of state-sponsored violence against members of the LGBT community, particularly transgender persons. We also asked the court to direct the government to scrap or amend discriminatory laws, recognise the gender identity of transpersons [as well as recognise our rights including] marriage equality. This was the time when Nepal was going through a political turmoil and a state of emergency.

The court gave an amazing order asking it to scrap all the discriminatory laws and policies, recognised that there are more gender identities than man and woman. It also ordered the government to set up a committee to study the feasibility of same-sex marriage in Nepal, and the impact it would have in society. A committee was set up and it was headed by the chief secretary from the Health ministry. It submitted a report in 2015 recommending granting full marriage rights.

The committee didn't have any member of the LGBT community. It talked to all religious leaders here, members of other marginalised communities, including LGBTI persons, scholars, the professors, ordinary householders, politicians: the whole the range of social actors. And they also visited countries where same-sex marriage was legal.

Were there any detractors at that time to this idea of same-sex marriage?

Pant: Fortunately, not the sort of very strong opposition like we see in India. We have very few right-wing leaders or parties. Probably smaller [in number] than the LGBTI community itself, but unfortunately these kinds of people give the Hindu religion a very conservative image which we are not.

You were talking about discriminatory laws and violence that LGBTI people were facing that compelled you and others to file a petition in 2007. Could you talk a little bit what the community was going through before that, since the time you started Blue Diamond society in 2001.

Pant: 2007 was a turning point for us because we were, you know, going through such turmoil. In 2001, when we registered the Blue Diamond Society, the first LGBTI rights organisation in Nepal, the royal family was massacred and the country became an autocracy. The Parliament was dissolved. In 2003, Emergency was imposed, and security forces descended on the streets. The third gender population faced a lot of violence, both from them as well as the Maoists. Even in Kathmandu, the situation was bad. I would go three or four times a week to bail out transpersons who were detained by security forces under some pretext or the other. It was a special situation created by the state and the security forces had impunity. When you don't have democracy, this is what happens.

A populist, pro-democracy movement started in 2006, which we joined and this helped us make connections with a few political parties who were quite welcoming of us. After the peace accord was signed in New Delhi, an interim Parliament was created and they sought suggestions on what to include in the Constitution. We asked that LGBTI rights be included in the Constitution, but our suggestions were not even tabled.

That's when we decided to move the court. Within eight months of our petition, we received a fantastic decision that stated clearly that LGBTI people are "natural"; all persons should have their own gender identity marked into the citizenship ID and passport; discriminatory laws and policies against LGBTI persons should be scrapped; and a committee to study the feasibility of same-sex marriage should be set up.

What was the need for the current petition if you'd already received a judgment, and the committee recommended same-sex marriage?

Pant: In 2015, the Constituent Assembly promulgated a Constitution in which several provisions ensured equality and non-discrimination of gender and sexual minorities. For example, Article 12 talks about citizens being identified based on their gender identities; Article 18 guarantees equality to all citizens before the law. The term "sexual and gender minorities" appears repeatedly in the Constitution. Nepal is one of a handful of countries in the world where LGBTI persons are guaranteed equality, rights, and non-discrimination by its Constitution.

But, in 2017, the Parliament passed a Civil Code and Criminal Code, which together had 21 laws that specifically discriminated against LGBTI persons. For instance, Civil Code Article 67 and 76 defined marriage between men and women, and husband and wife. There are articles that discriminates on ancestral property and adoption. The rape law does not recognise that a male or a third gender can be raped. So that was quite unbelievable for us. By then I had left the Parliament and nobody from this community had been elected. So there was a political vacuum as well. We repeatedly approached the ministries [to amend these Codes] but we were not a priority. We couldn't ask anyone to fight our fight. So we went back to the Supreme Court.

The court has now ordered the registrar to include same-sex couples. What are the kind of material benefits that this registration will have in their lives?

Pant: The first is the boost this will give to their mental health. Once people have a secure mind, they become more productive, they are healthier and happier. So the economic productivity also becomes better. This will definitely boost the tourism to Nepal too.

It wouldn't automatically translate, of course, to same-sex couples actually receiving the same benefits and there will need to be more interventions in the court. The Registrar registering marriages will push the government to deal with the legal consequences and make changes. But what it means is that our marriage is now recognised and valid and equal like other heterosexual marriages. Couples can now have joint bank accounts and own properties together the way that heterosexual people do.

Is there enough knowledge and sensitivity and awareness according to you within the administrative units down to the junior-most officer, who is actually the one handing out/receiving the form?

SP: I mean, they have heard [of LGBTQ persons] repeatedly, but it is still very confusing [for many people]. You know, sometimes they think gay men are same as transgender persons. Or, trans men are lesbians. Very many still believe that transgender persons are intersex persons. It's not a huge problem. Out here, you are either wise or you're ignorant. And ignorant can always can learn and become wise.

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Actor Mrunal Thakur is being praised for her performance in Lust Stories 2. Helmed by R Balki, the movie delves into the significance of lust and sex in nurturing successful relationships, with Mrunal's on-screen dynamic with Neena Gupta's character as the grandmother highlighting the film's compelling narrative. Also read: Lust Stories 2 review: With more hits than misses, Netflix delivers another winner on desi sexuality Mrunal Thakur saw the release of Lust Stories 2 on Netflix on Thursday. (PTI)

Sharing her views on lust and sex, Mrunal said, "I strongly believe that having matured conversations about sex and lust is key, especially when one is young and growing up. When one is a young adult, they have a role model who instils the right knowledge and information to a young person."

She added, "If all young and impressionable minds, including kids within families, have at least one person they can have honest discussions with about these topics, they will be less likely to seek a plethora of misinformation from the outside world."

In the film, Mrunal portrays a soon-to-be-wedded woman who finds herself humorously confronted by her grandmother about her perceived "lust quotient" with her future partner (essayed by Angad Bedi).

Lust Stories explores the concepts of modern-day relationships and the varying degrees of complexities that come with it. Lust Stories 2 is an anthology of four stories directed by ace directors Amit Ravindernath Sharma, Konkona Sen Sharma, R Balki and Sujoy Ghosh. The cast also includes Kajol, Vijay Varma, Tamannaah Bhatia, Tillotama Shome, Amruta Subhash, Neena Gupta and Kumud Mishra.

In the coming months, Mrunal will be seen sharing screen space with Vijay Deverakonda. The yet-to-be-titled film is being helmed by Parasuram Petla and is being produced by Sri Venkateswara Creations.

She also has an important project with Nani. The duo recently wrapped up filming the project. Speaking about the movie, Mrunal earlier said, I'm sure elated and excited to be part of this project. It's a really heartwarming story and the team backing the project is immensely talented. I'm looking forward to working with Nani. It's an interesting curve, given I did the remake of Jersey last year, a film Nani originally starred in.
Sonam Kapoor wasn't the only Indian actor to attend UK PM Rishi Sunak's reception in honour of UK India Week. Actor Vivek Oberoi also attended the reception which was held at the PM's official residence and office, 10 Downing Street. On Friday, the actor posted a photo with PM Rishi Sunak and shared his experience. Vivek also thanked him for honouring PM Narendra Modi at the event. Also read: Sonam Kapoor dons saree and overcoat for UK PM Rishi Sunak's reception Vivek Oberoi and UK PM Rishi Sunak in London.

Vivek Oberoi at Rishi Sunak Reception

Vivek Oberoi turned up at the event in a dark blue kurta, topped with a colourful embroidered jacket. The photo featured him smiling next to PM Rishi Sunak. Sharing the photo, Vivek wrote, Thank you Prime Minister @RishiSunak for the warm welcome at @10DowningStreet.

He added, Your family & the entire team at 10 downing were very gracious hosts. Your passion & commitment to stronger India-UK relations was heartening to see, especially when you said that we are all living bridges between two great nations, inspired me deeply.

I noticed every time you mentioned @narendramodi you said Prime Minister Modi ji, it was so touching to see that little gesture of respect that resonates deeply with our Indian culture & sanskars. Im sure every Indian & all people of Indian origin feel a deep sense of pride for what you have achieved & we are rooting for you to achieve great things in partnership with our nation. A special thank you to Akshata Murty and Sudha Murty ji, she is truly a #superstar, the actor summed up.

Sonam Kapoor represents India

Sonam Kapoor attended the reception on Wednesday, representing India in a green floral saree, topped with a white overcoat. She was styled by her sister Rhea Kapoor.

Sharing the photos of her look for the evening, Sonam had written on Instagram, Representing in @rohitbalofficial for the reception at 10 Downing Street to celebrate UK India week. What a beautiful day and so happy I got to wear a sari in the gorgeous London summer.

UK India Week 2023

The reception is a part of India Global Forum's flagship event UK-India Week, which is being held from June 26-30 in London. It is the 5th iteration of IGF's flagship event, a weeklong programme that aims to honour and strengthen the longstanding partnership between India and the UK.

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Actor Priyamani recently discussed her no-kiss policy in contracts and asserted that she is uncomfortable about kissing another man as she is answerable to her husband. She said she had many such projects offers which required her to do intimate scenes. However, she added that it's her personal choice to avoid anything more than a kiss on the cheeks onscreen. Also read: The Family Man's Priyamani says she and husband Mustafa have 'very secure relationship' Priya Mani married Mustafa Raj in 2017.

Who is Priyamani?

Priyamani made her acting debut with the 2003 Telugu film Evare Atagaadu. She rose to fame with the romantic drama Paruthiveeran in 2007 and received a National Film Award for Best Actress. In Bollywood, she first starred in Mani Ratnam's Raavan and is best known for her special dance song 1 2 3 4 Get on the Dance Floor from Chennai Express, followed by The Family Man. She will be next seen in Maidaan and Jawan.

Priyamani on not doing intimate scenes onscreen

Talking about her no-kiss policy, Priyamani told News18, I wont kiss onscreen. That would be a no for me. I know its just a role and its my job but on a personal note, I wont be comfortable if Ive to kiss another man onscreen, simply because Ive to be answerable to my husband. She added that her show His Storyy initially required her to perform an intimate scene with actor Satyadeep Mishra, which she wasn't comfortable with. She said, Im not comfortable with anything more than a kiss on the cheek. There were many projects that came my way that had such scenes and I told them that Im not comfortable with it.

I know that both sides of my family will watch any project when it comes out. They also know that its my job but I dont want them to cringe. I dont want them to think, Why is my daughter-in-law doing this even after marriage? Why is somebody else putting their hands on her? They will not voice it out but its my personal choice, she also added.

Priyamani is married to Mustafa Raj. They tied the knot in a private ceremony on 23 August 2017.

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Telugu actor Mahesh Babu and his daughter Sitara Ghattamaneni attended Tollywood producer Dil Rajus sons first birthday bash in Hyderabad. Their video and pictures from the party, which was hosted on Thursday, are being widely shared online. The father and daughter arrived together for the party and smiled and greeted people as they walked hand-in-hand. Also read: Mahesh Babu, daughter Sitara make grand entry on Dance India Dance Telugu, groove with contestants on stage. Watch Mahesh Babu with daughter Sitara at a recent party in Hyderabad.

Star-studded birthday bash

Chiranjeevi, Raashii Khanna and many actors were present at the birthday party hosted by Dil Raju on June 29. His son Anvai Reddy turned one.

Mahesh Babu and his daughter Sitara stole the limelight with their colour-coordinated white outfits as they arrived together at the party. Namrata Shirodkar, Mahesh Babu's wife, who is often seen with him at public events, did not join Mahesh and Sitara at the bash.

Mahesh and Sitara twin in white

The actor and Sitara were seen walking inside the party venue and also exiting together moments later in a video shared by a paparazzo on Instagram. They were surrounded by Mahesh's entourage, including his security. While leaving Sitara said bye to some people as Mahesh looked on.

Mahesh wore a white shirt with brown trousers. Meanwhile Sitara wore a white outfit with black shoes. Her choice of footwear also grabbed the attention of an Instagram user, who commented on their video, "What are these shoes? Is she really wearing black school shoes?" Many others said they were happy to spot her with Mahesh. One wrote, "Can't believe she is all grown up?" A fan praised Mahesh and wrote, "So handsome. Best actor."

Mahesh's upcoming projects

The title of Mahesh Babus upcoming Telugu film, which is being directed by Trivikram, was announced on the occasion of his late father G Krishnas birth anniversary in May. The project, which has been titled Guntur Kaaram, marks the third collaboration between Mahesh and Trivikram, who had previously worked together in films such as Athadu (2005) and Khaleja (2010).

Moreover, Mahesh will next team up with filmmaker SS Rajamouli for an Indiana Jones style globe-trotting action adventure. The film, which will have a story by SS Rajamoulis father Vijayendra Prasad, will be predominantly shot in the forests of Africa. The film is expected to go on the floors later this year or early next year.

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Akanksha Puri opened up about her kiss with Jad Hadid during a task on Bigg Boss OTT 2 and said it made her feel awkward. Akanksha and Jad locked lips during a task between black and white teams as they were dared to kiss each other. Later, Jad called Akanksha Puri a bad kisser.' Also read: Twitter is furious at Jad Hadid for calling Akanksha Puri a bad kisser Akanksha Puri on her kiss with Jad Hadid on Bigg Boss OTT 2.

Akanksha on kissing Jad Hadid

In the latest episode of Bigg Boss OTT 2, Akanksha talked about her unexpected kiss with Jad Hadid. Sharing her discomfort, she said, I wanted Jad to understand that as an Indian female artist, the kiss made me feel awkward. She added, "I expected him to come and speak with me, to clear out my headspace about the whole situation. Communication is important, and I needed that reassurance."

Jad calls Akanksha a 'bad kisser'

Her words arrive after Jad, during a conversation with Avinash Sachdeva, called Akanksha a bad kisser. The two shared a laugh about it. However, Pooja Bhatt told Jad, "I'm sorry but you're a b**ch if you're saying that. Under the belt. What do you think poor girl will do if she is asked to kiss in front of the whole world? I am sorry, I disapprove of it. No no no, not cool.

Jad responded, It's an opinion. Pooja told him that he should share his opinion with Akanksha and not with anyone else in the house. She said, Boy talk right? I thought you were a man, not a boy." Jad said, I'm gay.

Jad and Akanksha were trending on Twitter on Thursday after they were seen kissing on live camera. While some viewers expressed their displeasure with their action, others wondered how host Salman Khan will react to the whole thing on Weekend Ka Vaar, considering his strict attitude towards keeping things clean on the OTT platform.

Bigg Boss OTT 2

Jad Hadid is a Lebanese model who lives in Dubai. He is a divorcee and has a young daughter. Akanksha Puri was seen for a short while on Bigg Boss 13 and won the reality show Mika Di Vohti. Others competing in the house are Avinash Sachdev, Palak Purswani, Bebika Dhurve, Jiya Shankar, Falaq Naazz, Cyrus Broacha, Manisha Rani, Abhishek Malhan, and Pooja Bhatt.

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Bollywood's most popular casting director Mukesh Chhabra has made a rare appearance in the new web series, Kafas. He plays a journalist in the fictional show that touches upon the issue of casting couch in the film industry and revolves around a child actor's sexual assault at the hands of an established film actor. Mukesh has himself cast hundreds of new and old actors in films and claims that if such a case comes to his attention, he will take a stand. Also read: Sharman Joshi on casting couch: It is very tough to pick someone up who is powerful and rich Mukesh Chhabra in a still from Kafas.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, Mukesh took every question about the subject of casting couch prevalent in the glamour industry and also commented on the significance of the MeToo movement. Kafas stars Mona Singh and Sharman Joshi as the parents of child actor Mikail Gandhi, who plays the role of the casting couch victim in the Sony LIV show. Excerpts:

Why did you choose to act in Kafas?

It is an important show and that's why I decided to do an important part which could leave an impact. I have known the makers for a long time so thought of acting where I can. I don't do acting as such but when I find a good opportunity, I do act in some places. Sahil (director Sahil Sangha) said he really wanted me to do it and I said I will try. I am glad people are liking it and am getting calls from everyone. People are telling me I should act more.

The show is on casting couch and comes a few years after the MeToo movement. What is the importance of such a show?

In subjects like these, it is important to make people aware about what all happens and how to deal with it. Some are true cases, some are not. People have seen a lot of other genres on OTT but this one is different and that's why they are connecting with this one.

What would you suggest about how the media should handle sensitive cases like these?

Until the media doesn't have complete information about something, they shouldn't get into the decision-making process. They should think, understand, investigate and find out entire facts before publishing anything. Media is always in a hurry in writing and understanding things. Media should see what is right or wrong. Little more research can save a lot more people.

Do such cases reach you if not from the media?

No, I don't get any such news and if I do, I will also take a stand.

Has the MeToo movement brought about a change in the casting couch phenomenon?

Everyone is very well aware now. When such a movement comes up, people relate with it. If someone has something wrong going on in their minds, they also have a fear and that fear should exist.
Hyderabad: A 30-year-old woman entrepreneur, who accused Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) lawmaker Durgam Chinnaiah of sexual harassment, has allegedly tried to commit suicide for the second time, accusing the state government of inaction in the matter, police said on Friday. Stating that she was forcibly discharged from the hospital, the woman said she would continue her fight till she gets justice. (HT Photo)

The woman made the alleged attempt to take the extreme step near a temple in Hyderabad on Thursday, an officer familiar with the matter said.

Earlier, on June 5, the woman tried to commit suicide over the allegations by consuming poison at the Telangana Bhavan in New Delhi, but the police thwarted her attempt.

The woman, director of a private dairy in Bellampalli, was discharged from the hospital on Friday morning, and told reporters that she took the extreme step because the government was being indifferent to her repeated pleas for action against the MLA who represents Bellampalli assembly constituency.

Though I have submitted enough evidence to the police to prove my allegations against the MLA, no action has been taken so far. What hurt me terribly was the statement of BRS working president K T Rama Rao giving a clean chit to the MLA, she said.

Stating that she was forcibly discharged from the hospital, the woman said she would continue her fight till she gets justice.

The woman was found in an unconscious state at Peddamma Temple in Jubilee Hills, and was admitted to a local hospital by the police. We recovered some sleeping pills in her bag along with a suicide note. We suspect that she might have attempted suicide, a police officer of Jubilee Hills police station said.

In her suicide note, the woman alleged that the police had failed to accept her complaint against the ruling party MLA, while the MPs, who had promised to ensure justice for her, had also failed. She alleged that she was receiving threats from some people for lodging a complaint against the MLA and hence, she wanted to die peacefully in the Peddamma temple, police said, quoting the suicide note.

In March this year, the woman alleged that Chinnaiah sought sexual favours from her, when she went to him to seek a favour for allotment of land to her company in Bellampalli.

On June 6, the woman lodged a complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW), alleging that the BRS MLA was harassing her sexually and the Telangana state police had failed to accept her complaint. The NCW referred the letter to Telangana DGP Anjani Kumar, seeking a report after due enquiry.

The MLA, however, has refuted the charges as attempts to tarnish his political image

The woman and her associates made the charges only to cover up their misdeeds. They duped gullible farmers on the pretext of setting up a dairy by collecting 30 percent of the amount on the cost of a unit. When I tried to resolve the issue, she started making wild allegations against me, he said.

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Jaipur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form the government in Rajasthan with record margin during the assembly elections this year, and Narendra Modi will return as Prime Minister for the third time when the Lok Sabha polls are held in 2024, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Friday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah (PTI)

Addressing a public meeting at Gandhi Ground in Udaipur, Shah alleged that the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government was running the most corrupt administration in the country, and various surveys indicated that the state ranked first in terms of corruption for the past three to four years. Assembly elections for 200 seats are due to be held later this year.

Shahs public meeting was organised to highlight the central governments achievements in the last nine years, which, he claimed, were transformative for India in several ways. The BJP will win the 2023 and 2024 elections. The BJP will form the government in Rajasthan with a record margin. Narendra Modi is certain to become the Prime Minister again in 2024 with BJP winning over 300 seats, he said.

In the 2018 elections, the Congress bagged 100 seats and the BJP 73. In the Lok Sabha elections the next year, the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance bagged 303 of the 436 seats it contested; the Congress won 52.

Accusing the Gehlot government of indulging in corrupt practices, Shah said: Gehlot jis government is number one in corruption. This government has done the work of breaking all the records of corruption. Gehlot ji broke all the promises he had made.

Illegal mining is being carried out openly, cash and I kg gold were recovered from the secretariat (in March) whom did it belong to, Gehlot ji? he said.

He criticised the chief minister for failing to fulfil the promises made by the Congress in the run up to the 2018 elections, and highlighted the need for his government to step down. Farmer loans have not been waived, land of 19,000 farmers has been seized for non-repayment of loans the youngsters are not getting unemployment dole there have been 19 question paper leaks Rajasthan is number one in the country in terms of unemployment and rapes, he alleged.

Gehlot ji, why are you running around here and there at your age. Somebody should send a video of this gathering to Gehlot. He will know that his governments countdown has begun. The BJP will win the 2023 and the 2024 elections, he said.

The Union minister also targeted the state government over an alleged delay in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case, saying that had it set up a special court, the accused would have been hanged by now. Lal was hacked to death by two people on June 28 for allegedly supporting suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharmas remarks on Prophet Mohammed.

Who failed to provide security to Kanhaiya Lal? Whose police stayed quiet? Rajasthan Police did not want to catch the terrorists. NIA nabbed them, he said.

Hitting back, CM Gehlot said: It is expected that people holding responsible positions will not do politics on a serious issue such as terrorism but what Union home minister Amit Shah did in Udaipur today is an irresponsible act.

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Two workers were killed, and five others grievously injured after a blast at a pharma company in Andhra Pradeshs Anakapalli district on Friday, police said. According to police, the blast took place because of mishandling of the chemical reactor by a worker. The entire unit was engulfed in flames within minutes and as many as 11 fire tenders pressed into service to douse the fire, police said (ANI)

There were at least 35 workers on duty when a chemical reactor at Sahithi Pharma Private Limited exploded  28 of them managed to come out immediately, Anakapalli superintendent of police KV Murali Krishna told reporters.

The incident took place in Unit-1 of the company located at Atchutapuram Special Economic Zone on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam on Friday afternoon.

According to police, the blast took place because of mishandling of the chemical reactor by a worker. The entire unit was engulfed in flames within minutes and as many as 11 fire tenders pressed into service to douse the fire, police said.

Police from Atchutapuram and Rambilli police stations reached the site and supervised the rescue operations, police said, adding that teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were also deployed to evacuate people from the adjacent unit.

Seven workers, who were injured in the accident, were taken to Visakhapatnams King George Hospital, where two of them  Paila Satti Babu and Uppada Tirupati succumbed to their injuries during treatment, the SP said.

The injured were identified as Ramesh (45), Nuki Naidu (40), Raju Babu (25), Appa Rao (43), Pilla Santosh Kumar (30). Their condition is said to be stable, the SP said.

State industries minister Gudivada Amarnath visited the hospital and checked on the accident victims, officials said, adding that he spoke to the authorities asking them to ensure that the injured get the best possible treatment.

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New Delhi: Chinese President Xi Jinping will join the virtual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be hosted by India on July 4, with Beijing saying on Friday that regional countries are looking to the bloc to play a bigger role in ensuring regional security. Chinese President Xi Jinping will join the virtual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be hosted by India on July 4. (AP)

India, which is chairing SCO for the first time since it joined the grouping in 2017, announced last month it would host the summit in a virtual format. The meeting is expected to be joined by the leaders of China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran will be admitted as the ninth member of the SCO at the summit.

Xi will attend the SCO Summit via video-conference from Beijing at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and deliver important remarks, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

Mao Ning, another spokesperson of Chinas foreign ministry, told a media briefing in Beijing that other countries are hoping the SCO will play a larger role in security and development. Xi and the other participating leaders will chart the course for future growth of the SCO, she said.

In a world marked by change and disorder and fraught with increasing instability, uncertainties and unpredictable factors, regional countries as well as other members of the international community look to the SCO to play a bigger role in safeguarding regional security and promoting common development, Mao said while replying to a question on Chinas expectations from the summit.

China, as a founding member of SCO, views the grouping as a priority in its foreign affairs and will work with other members on the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative and Global Civilisation Initiative  all proposed by Beijing  to build an even closer SCO community with a shared future, she said.

In a related development, Pakistan too announced that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the SCO Summit. SCO leaders will deliberate on important global and regional issues and chart the direction for future cooperation, Pakistans foreign ministry said.

The SCO Summit is being held at a time when relations between India and China are at an all-time low because of the dragging military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which entered its fourth year in May. External affairs minister S Jaishankar this week described the situation on the LAC as abnormal and said the state of the border determines the state of the overall relationship.

The Indian side has brushed aside Chinas call to separate the border standoff from overall ties in order to ensure forward movement in areas such as trade and investment.

The SCO foreign ministers meeting in Goa in early May had become the stage for an intense face-off between Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over Kashmir and terrorism. Bhutto Zardari had spoken about weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point-scoring while addressing the SCO meeting, prompting Jaishankar to accuse him of being a justifier [and] spokesperson of a terrorism industry.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has described Modi as Russias big friend and spoken about the truly impressive effect of the Make in India initiative on Indias economy. Putin, also expected to join the SCO Summit, made the remarks while addressing a forum organised by Russias Agency for Strategic Initiatives in Moscow on Thursday.

Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well..., Putin was quoted as saying by RT News.

While crediting Indias leadership for creating a model for developing local manufacturing capabilities and wooing foreign investors, Putin said Russia should make its products more convenient and functional. He held up India as an example while discussing opportunities for Russian companies in the wake of Western sanctions.

This was one of Putins first public appearances following the failed rebellion by the Wagner Private Military Company, the mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. The brief mutiny marked the biggest challenge to Putins grip on power in nearly two decades.

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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
Late on Wednesday night, with less than six months to go for a crucial assembly election, the Congress announced the appointment of TS Singh Deo as Chhattisgarhs new deputy chief minister. Singh Deos relationship with chief minister Baghel, both of whom vied for the top spot when the Congress swept to power in 2018, has often been fractious, with MLAs being paraded in Delhi in shows of strength, and Singh Deo even resigning from one of his ministries. In an interview with HT a day after his appointment, Singhdeo said that the idea of his being deputy CM was first floated in 2022, that the party must work together, and that while Baghel is captain and he is vice captain, there will be collective leadership. Edited excerpts: Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo (Twitter)

When was the idea of you being deputy chief minister first floated?

There was some mention of it after I had left the panchayat department [in July 2022]. The decision had to be taken by the high command and whenever the high command told me whatever they wanted, I would have abided by that.

But if it was mooted at that point, why the delay?

I could not have an interaction with the high command. That has taken quite some time.

Will this appointment not seem like a climb down from the sense that you were in the running for chief minister but are now deputy chief minister?

It may [seem like a climb down] but it may also not. If you see it from the point of view that nothing was happening and the five-year period [of the Congress government in Chhattisgarh] is coming to a close, then the high command has given you some recognition.

Chhattisgarh is heading into an election in six months. Have there been any other promises made to you particularly in your areas of influence?

Nothing as such from the high command, but the overall idea is that we should be working unitedly.

What is your sense of the state of play in Chhattisgarh?

Five months to go now. In fact, we have three months before the code of conduct sets in. Then from October and November another two months of campaigning. I am looking at a clear majority. Very optimistically and not too unrealistically, I expect a climb up from where we are. In another five or so seats; we can cross 75. If you take other possibilities in mind, two-thirds would be sixty. So my sense is between 60 and 75 seats.

If you had to mark down two areas of concern politically for the Congress in Chhattisgarh, what would they be?

We have to look after the statewide interests of government servants. Our manifesto mentioned a lot of things for them. That needs addressing to whatever extent is possible. The second would be in tribal areas where the Sarva Adivasi Samaj is there. They contested the Bhanupratappur by election. Before this they were purely a social organisation. We have to make every attempt to make sure we work together towards a common cause which is the betterment of the tribals in Chhattisgarh and the development of their area.

Does this decision mean now that it is clear that chief minister Baghel is the chief ministerial face or is it about that oft-used term collective leadership?

There will be collective leadership. That is the essence of the parliamentary form of government. The prime minister or the chief minister is the first among equals. That is an accepted situation wherever there is a cabinet style government. That will apply. As the sitting chief minister, he will lead the team.

There has always been talk of the fissures in your relationship with the CM. Since the announcement, what have the two of you spoken about?

Even earlier they [conversations] would be fairly tension free. [laughs] . We were able to talk to each other and conversations were never an issue. Even now, we are fairly warm with each other.
The on-going confrontation between Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and the DMK government led by MK Stalin intensified on Thursday with the governor first dismissing arrested DMK minister V Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers, only to back down hours later. Late on Thursday, the governor wrote to Stalin , conveying that the decision to dismiss Balaji may be kept in abeyance until further communication since he is approaching the attorney general for legal opinion following Union home minister Amit Shahs advice. Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and chief minister MK Stalin (Anathakrishnan L)

The unprecedented, and more importantly, unilateral decision by a governor to sack a minister appointed on aid and advice of the chief minister, has raised questions on the legality of such a move by the figurative head of a state, nominated by the Union government.

In October last year, Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan wrote to CM Pinarayi Vijayan, asking him take constitutionally appropriate action against finance minister K N Balagopal and cautioned against a possible withdrawal of pleasure. Vijayan rejected the suggestion, and responded by saying that governors powers were very limited on the issue.

The drama in Tamil Nadu merits a recap of pertinent constitutional provisions and some key verdicts of the Supreme Court, mapping out the role, duties and powers of a governor, especially in view of a 2016 constitution bench ruling that explicitly rejected a proposition that the right of governor to withdraw the pleasure -- the language of the Constitution says that a minister holds office on the pleasure of the governor -- is absolute and unrestricted. If a governor chooses to withdraw his pleasure in respect of a minister, the 2016 judgment held, he must exercise his discretion with the knowledge of the CM and not by keeping him in the dark or unilaterally. The latest disputation also raises sharp questions on federalism which the apex court has held as part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.

TN governors letter, the pause and constitutional provisions

Balaji, who held the electricity, excise and prohibition portfolios, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on June 14 for allegations that date back to 2014 when he was transport minister in the then AIADMK government. He joined the DMK in 2018. On the day of his arrest, Balaji dramatically collapsed, and later underwent a beating heart coronary artery bypass surgery in a Chennai hospital on June 21 and has been hospitalised since. On Wednesday, his judicial custody was extended by a trial court until July 12 even as the Madras high court is dealing with EDs demand for Balajis custodial interrogation.

On Thursday, the governor sent a missive to the CM dismissing Balaji who has been retained by Stalin as a minister without a portfolio after the arrest. Ravis letter claimed that Balajis continuance as a minister would obstruct the due process of law and disrupt the course of justice. It added: Under such circumstances and the powers conferred to me under Articles 154, 163 and 164 of the Constitution of India, I hereby dismiss Thiru V Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers with immediate effect.

Even as the letter drew sharp criticism from the state government that said the governor had no authority to do this, Ravi wrote a second an hour later. This time, Ravi said his decision to dismiss Balaji may not be acted upon until he obtains a legal opinion from attorney general R Venkataramani.

I have been advised by the Honble Union minister of home affairs that it would be prudent to seek the opinion of the attorney general also. Accordingly. I am approaching the attorney general for his opinion. Meanwhile, the order of dismissal of the minister may be kept in abeyance until further communication from me, stated the new letter.

Ravi, in his letter on Thursday, harped upon three constitutional provisions -- Articles 154, 163 and 164. Article 154 deals with the executive power of the State. Its first clause stipulates that the executive power of the State shall be vested in governor and shall be exercised by him either directly or through officers, subordinate to him, in accordance with the Constitution.

Article 163 provides there shall be a council of ministers with the chief minister at the head to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as he is by or under this Constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion. Article 163 (2) clothes a governor with authority to use his discretion in deciding whether he needs to act on any specific matter. The decision of the governor in his discretion shall be final, and the validity of anything done by the governor shall not be called in question on the ground that he ought or ought not to have acted in his discretion, adds this provision.

Article 164 (1) provides that the ministers shall hold office during the pleasure of the governor, apart from the fact the chief minister shall be appointed by the governor and the other ministers shall be appointed by the governor on the advice of the chief minister.

The Constituent assembly debate and governors discretionary powers

The Constituent assembly debate on Articles 163 (draft Article 143) and 164 (draft Article 144) shed more light on the issue. Notably, the draft Constitution in Article 144(6) said that the functions of the governor under that article with respect to the appointment and dismissal of ministers shall be exercised by him in his discretion. But draft Article 144(6) was totally omitted when Article 144 became Article 164 in the Constitution.

There was an extensive debate on whether or not governors should be endowed with discretionary powers after HV Kamath moved for deletion of the part that empowered governors to override the council of ministers in certain exceptional circumstances. But TT Krishnamachari, PS Deshmukh, Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar and HV Pataskar, among others, supported the draft provision.

The architect of the Constitution, BR Ambedkar, elucidated the scope of such discretionary powers in unequivocal terms. It is not a general clause giving governor power to disregard the advice of his ministers in any matter in which he finds he ought to disregard, said Ambedkar. He further clarified: Governor under the Constitution has no functions which he can discharge by himself; no functions at all. While he has no functions, he has certain duties to perform. Ambedkar added that the provision on governors discretionary powers must be read in conjunction with such other articles which specifically reserve the power to governor.

Ambedkar also informed the Constituent assembly regarding the ambit of Article 167, which provides that it would be the duty of CM to communicate to governor all decisions of the council of ministers relating to administration of affairs of the state. He clarified that this provision nowhere provides that the governor, in any particular circumstances, may overrule the ministry. Therefore, the criticism that has been made that this Article somehow enables the governor to interfere or to upset the decision of the cabinet is entirely beside the point, and completely mistaken, Ambedkar emphasised.

Some of the other draft provisions dropped from the Constitution also highlight the limitations on governors power that the framers had envisaged. Draft Article 153(3) said that the governor should be permitted to summon or dissolve the House and that this power shall be exercised by him in his discretion. Draft Article 153(3) was totally omitted when it became Article 174 relating to the governors prerogative to summon, prorogue and dissolve the House. Ambedkar, at that time, moved that draft Article 153(3) be omitted, as the same was inconsistent with the scheme of a constitutional governor.

Similarly, draft Article 175 (proviso) said that governor may in his discretion return the Bill together with a message requesting that the House will reconsider the Bill. The words that governor may in his discretion were omitted when it became Article 200. Now, the governor may return a Bill with a message requesting that the House reconsider the Bill. Draft Article 188 dealt with emergency provisions and used the words in his discretion in relation to exercise of power by governor. Draft Article 188 was also dropped completely.

Supreme Court on powers and role of governor

What lies under the ambit of a Governors discretion has been illustrated by the Supreme Court in a raft of judgments, starting 1955. In Rai Sahib Ram Jawaya Kapur Vs The State of Punjab, the apex court acknowledged the supremacy of the Legislature over the Executive and held that, under the Constitution, the governor who exercises executive power is nevertheless a formal or constitutional head of the executive, with the real executive power vested in the council of ministers. The Cabinet enjoying, as it does, a majority in the Legislature concentrates in itself the virtual control of both legislative and executive functions, it held.

The Supreme Courts 1974 judgment in Samsher Singh Vs State of Punjab underscored the import of Article 154 as it held that the expression State occurs in Article 154(1) to bring out the federal principle embodied in the Constitution. It clarified that wherever the Constitution requires the satisfaction of the Governor for the exercise of any power, it is not the personal satisfaction of the President or of the Governor. But it is the satisfaction of the President or of the Governor in the constitutional sense under the Cabinet system of Government. It is the satisfaction of the council of ministers on whose aid and advice the president or the governor generally exercises all his powers and functions, underscored the Court. This judgment stressed that the Constitution does not aim at providing a parallel administration within the state by allowing the governor to go against the advice of the council of ministers. The seven judges on the bench were unequivocal that the principle of cabinet responsibility is firmly entrenched in the constitutional democracy and that the Constitution does not accept any parallel administration or dyarchy.

The constitution bench ruling in Maru Ram Vs Union of India (1980) also stressed that the Governor is the formal head and sole repository of the executive power but is incapable of acting except on, and according to, the advice of his council of ministers.

A constitution bench judgment in Nabam Rebia and Bamang Felix Vs Deputy Speaker, Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (2016) may hand out some direct answers to the current controversy. The five-judge bench in 2016 overruled the judgments in the Mahabir Prasad Sharma Case (1968) and the Pratapsing Raojirao Rane Case (1999) by the high courts of Calcutta and Bombay respectively.

In the Mahabir Prasad Sharma Case, the top dealt with a situation where the Governor dismissed West Bengal CM Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee in 1967 and appointed PC Ghose in his place. Similarly, in the Pratapsingh Raojirao Rane Case, the Governor dismissed the then Goa CM in 1998 and appointed another person as the CM in exercise of powers conferred by Article 164(1).

The 2016 constitution bench overruled the judgments delivered by the respective high courts affirming the governors actions. Accepting the above position will convert the Governor into an all-pervading super-constitutional authority, said the Court. An examination of the executive and legislative functions of the governor, from the surrounding provisions of the Constitution clearly brings out, that the governor has not been assigned any significant role either in the executive or the legislative functioning of the State, said the 2016 judgment.

The top court rejected the contention that the governor has the freedom to determine when and in which situation he should take a decision without the aid and advice of the CM and his council of ministers. We, accordingly, also turn down the contention, that whenever the governor in the discharge of his functions, takes a decision in his own discretion, the same would be final and binding, and beyond the purview of judicial review, it held.

In AG Perarivalan Vs State, Through Superintendent of Police CBI/SIT/MMDA, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Anr (2022), the top court maintained that the Governor is the constitutional or formal head of the state and he exercises all his powers and functions conferred on him by or under the Constitution on the aid and advice of his council of ministers except in spheres where the Governor is required by or under the Constitution to exercise his functions at his discretion. The Court cited promulgation of ordinance, suspension of a member of a public service commission and proclamation of emergency as some of the examples where governor needs to act in his discretion or to the satisfaction of the President. The court, however, was quick to add a caveat.

The satisfaction required by the Constitution is not the personal satisfaction of the President or of the Governor but is the satisfaction of the President or of the Governor in the constitutional sense under the Cabinet system of Government. It is the satisfaction of the council of ministers on whose aid and advice the President or the Governor generally exercises all his powers and functions, underscored the bench. Summing up, the Supreme Court held: The constitutional conclusion is that the Governor is but a shorthand expression for the state government.

Most recently, on February 28, the top court in the State of Punjab Vs Principal Secretary to the Governor, underlined the role of a governor and a CM in the functioning of a parliamentary democracy. Political differences in a democratic polity have to be worked upon and sorted out with a sense of sobriety and maturity. The dialogue between constitutional functionaries cannot degenerate into a race to the bottom, it said.

Neither the Constitution, nor court rulings then, give Ravi the power to do what he initially set out to do.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Utkarsh Anand Utkarsh Anand is Legal Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on law, judiciary and governance. ...view detail
NEW DELHI: Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday told airlines to sensitise their crew to not allow authorised entry of people into the cockpit. The DGCA advisory came against the backdrop of two instances of pilots permitting unauthorized entry into the cockpit on Air India flights (AFP File Photo/Representative Image)

All the Heads of Operations are hereby advised to sensitize their pilots and cabin crew members to strictly follow the AIC (Aeronautical Information Circular) and prevent any unauthorized entry in the cockpit through appropriate means, DGCA said in an advisory on Friday.

It also warned airlines of strict action for violations.

Any non-compliance of the applicable regulation, dealing with unauthorized cockpit entry, shall be dealt with strictly and may also invite stringent enforcement action, the circular said.

The DGCA advisory said instances of unauthorized entry into the aircraft cockpit had been reported to them in the recent past, wherein people having no authority or purpose, were permitted to enter the cockpit, thus violating norms.

The advisory comes weeks after Air India off-rostered two pilots operating a flight from Delhi to Leh for allowing entry of a woman friend into the cockpit on June 3, the second such case this year.

The first incident of an Air India pilot inviting a woman friend to the cockpit took place on February 27 but the aviation regulator was informed about the violation only after HT reported the case. DGCA subsequently imposed a 30 lakh fine on Air India for not reporting the matter and suspended the pilot-in-commands license for three months.

Such an unauthorized presence in the cockpit is likely to distract the attention of cockpit crew from their sensitive functions and can lead to errors which may jeopardize the safety of the aircraft operations, the regulators advisory said.

The person(s) authorized for entry into the cockpit and occupy the jump seat, wherever provided in aircraft registered in India during the flight, have been specified in the Aeronautical Information Circular (AIC) 17 of 2019, which stipulates that only the crew members, an officer of the civil aviation department, an officer of India Meteorological Department, an officer of the civil aviation ministry of the rank of joint secretary and above, an employee of the aircraft operator, officials of the airline, any flight crew member of the aircraft operator or a duly authorized representative of the manufacturer of the aircraft can be authorized for entry into the cockpit.

Any one so authorized to enter the cockpit shall comply with the requirements of CAR Section 5 Series F Part 111 regarding preflight and post-flight BA (breath analyser) tests, as the case may be, the advisory said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Neha LM Tripathi I am a principal correspondent with the national political bureau of the Hindustan Times. I track the aviation and railways ministry. I also write on travel trends. I cover the beats at the national level for the newspaper. Before being in Delhi, I have worked as a journalist in Mumbai as well. My hobbies include trekking and travelling. ...view detail
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will conduct an audit of Go Firsts facilities in Mumbai and Delhi from July 4-6th focused on safety-related aspects over two months after the airline on May 2 announced it has voluntarily filed for insolvency and stopped the sale of tickets. The airline on May 2 announced it has voluntarily filed for insolvency. (HT PHOTO)

After a preliminary review of the resumption plan submitted by the Resolution Professional (RP) for Go First on 28th June 2023, DGCA has planned to conduct a special audit of the Go First facilities at Mumbai and Delhi, DGCA said in a statement on Friday.

The airlines resolution professional, Shailendra Ajmera, and chief executive officer Kaushik Khona on Wednesday, gave a detailed presentation to the DGCA on the airlines revival plan.

DGCA said the audit shall also be focused on continued compliance with the requirements to hold an Air Operator Certificate, as well as on physical verification of the arrangements made for the resumption of flight operations.

DGCA in May issued a show cause notice to the airline before directing it to stop the sale of tickets. It later issued another notice to the cash-strapped airline over the sudden cancellation of flights and failure to continue operations.

An official cited the airlines revival plan and said Go First aims to resume flight operations with 26 aircraft, including chartered services, with over 150 daily flights.

The airline operated at 29 domestic destinations prior to the grounding, which has now been reduced to 23.

Jaipur, Lucknow, Kannur, Patna, Varanasi, and Ranchi are not a part of their revival plan. The funds would be sufficient to run the airline for at least a year and a half.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Neha LM Tripathi I am a principal correspondent with the national political bureau of the Hindustan Times. I track the aviation and railways ministry. I also write on travel trends. I cover the beats at the national level for the newspaper. Before being in Delhi, I have worked as a journalist in Mumbai as well. My hobbies include trekking and travelling. ...view detail
The primary focus of the draft of the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for Uttarakhand , which will be submitted to the state government soon, is on safeguarding the interests of women, children, and the differently-abled and it covers issues including marriage, divorce, succession, guardianship, custody, and inheritance, former Supreme Court judge justice Ranjana Desai, who heads the expert panel mandated to prepare the draft said in Delhi. Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (Retd.) interacts with Shatrughan Singh IAS (Retd.) as part of the Expert Committee during an open dialogue with the residents of Uttarakhand residing in NCR on the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand, at Constitution Club, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)

The draft is expected to be submitted to the state government by the end of July and will likely be the template that the union government will follow for a pan-India code said people aware of the details on Friday.

Also Read: UCC a contentious point among Opposition parties

The report of the expert committee along with the draft code will soon be printed and submitted to Government of Uttarakhand, Desai told reporters in Delhi.

UCC refers to a common set of laws that will subsume customary laws across faiths and tribes and govern issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance. In the Constitution, it is a part of the non-justiciable directive principles of state policy. In a 2018 consultation paper, the law commission said UCC was neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. Earlier this month, the law commission again sought views and suggestions on UCC from the public and recognised religious organisations. Moreover, some states such as Uttarakhand have set up panels to explore implementation of UCC.

The issue got a fresh fillip on June 27, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to BJP booth workers and made a strong case for UCC. These days, people are being provoked by the UCC. You tell me, if there is one law for one person in a home, and another law for another person, can that house function? Modi asked. As the crowd roared in denial, Modi said, Then how can a country work with such a hypocritical system? We have to remember that even the Constitution of India talks of common rights.

Also Read: On UCC, ensure a just outcome

It has consistently been on the BJPs manifesto.

The draft code that has been based on the feedback and inputs from a cross section of society, including individuals, political parties and statutory bodies is intended to have a set of common laws based on broad issues such as gender parity, matrimonial issues, adoption and inheritance, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named.

The expert committee had detailed interactions with people of various castes, communities and faiths. The idea is to have unanimity in deciding the common set of laws for many areas without antagonising any group or religion, this person added.

The Prime Ministers comment has provoked reactions from across the political spectrum, with almost all parties, other than the BJPs allies and the AAP and the Shiv Sena (UBT) opposing it. Tribal groups have also expressed their concerns over the move.

Also Read: Farooq Abdullah warns of backlash if UCC is implemented

After making the implementation of the UCC, a key election issue in the 2021 assembly polls which it won to retain power in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Uttarakhand became the first to set up an expert committee to examine the possibility of drafting a code that would pave the way for having uniform set of laws for all communities and faiths to govern the issues of marriage, divorce, inheritance and asset division.

Referring to the process of eliciting suggestions for the draft code, Justice Desai said the committee painstakingly considered all shades of opinions and looked into the various statutes and uncodified laws including the statutory framework in select countries. Besides, the committee has tried to understand the finer nuances of the various customary practices that prevail in different parts of the state.

Declining to comment on the suggestions made in the draft, she said, it covers a wide range of issues.

The draft based on the suggestions from 2.5 lakh people and the committee also sought inputs from political parties, but according to the person quoted above, several parties including the Congress, the Communist Party of India and the Aam Admi Party did not respond.

There are many aspects that were examined, for instance there has been a demand to have a law on population control and against polygamy and polyandry as is still practised in some communities and castes. The panel is yet to arrive at a decision on these aspects..., the person added.

The panel has also explored the issue of possible regulation for live-in relationships, inheritance laws for women across castes and raising the age of eligibility of women for marriage. The committee received many suggestions from women and some even suggested raising the age of marriage to 25 from the current 18, the person said.

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The Karnataka high court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Twitter challenging several content and account takedown orders issued by the government and fined the American company 50 lakh for failing to act on time. Representational Image

The case and the decision hold significant implications for the governments powers, and methods, to order online content to be made inaccessible, and makes it the first time a social media company has been slapped with a large fine.

The judge held that blocking orders are reasoned decisions founded on stronger footings of law, facts and evidentiary material. The statutory committee comprises high functionaries of the government and there is no allegation of mala fide or the like levelled against them, Justice Krishna S Dixit said in the order.

For more than a year, the blocking orders were not implemented by the petitioner and there is no plausible explanation offered therefor, the judgment said. There is a wilful non-compliance of the blocking orders.

Reacting to the high courts decision, Union information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said: The court upholds our stand. Law of the land must be followed.

The case traces back to 2021, when the government issued a series of orders to block 39 Twitter accounts among several others during the farmers protests. Twitter moved the Karnataka high court after the electronics and IT ministry, through a notice on June 26 last year, warned it of penal action against its chief compliance officer if it did not comply with the orders.

In the hearing that followed, several issues came up. These included basic questions about whether a foreign company can invoke the law to claim protections under the Indian Constitution, and more nuanced questions regarding the scope, prerogative and methods of the government in ordering takedowns.

Among these was whether the government had the power to block user accounts entirely, a move Twitter had said was excessive. The judge ruled that the governments powers to issue a block is not tweet specific and extends to users accounts in their entirety, after noting that the text, context & expanse of the provision gave room for the government to avert imminent harm.

State need not await the arrival of an avalanche of mishaps; it can take all preventive measures, in anticipation of the danger, more particularly when undoing of the damage is difficult, regard being had to its enormity, it said in the order.

The judgment, in fact, referred to Twitters own decision to remove former US President Donald Trump (whose ban has since been removed by new owner Elon Musk) to back the governments prerogative to block entire accounts.

Another issue was whether the orders are flawed because they do not communicate the reasons for which a piece of content is being blocked, a contention by Twitter that the judgment dismissed. The order said there was a strong link between the orders and reasons assigned, and further that these reasons were disclosed to and discussed with the petitioner (Twitter) in the Committee meetings.

A linked issue, on which too the court agreed with the government, was whether the orders were illegal because they did not involve giving the user the opportunity to be heard. On this, the court said: The question of issuing notice to user of account would arise only where he is identifiable, all his particulars exclusively lying with the intermediary; at no point of time, such particulars were furnished nor issuance of notice was sought for petitioner cannot espouse the cause of account users who have not aired any grievance.

It also noted that the rules were phrased with the word or, implying reasons could be furnished either to the intermediary  the social media company  or the user. Since Blocking Orders do have implications on the exercise of that right to whom it avails, the government may in its discretion hear the users of account. However, none of them has come forward to complain the infringement of their right. It is not that they are all downtrodden members of society or otherwise suffer from some handicap and therefore, they are disabled from working out the remedies on their own. Apparently, they are literate; presumably have more exposure to the outer world, as the very objectionable content of their posts would indicate, it said.

The judgment noted that it had seen the blocking orders that were submitted to court in a sealed cover.

The judge also rejected Twitters argument that the blocking orders for the accounts were excessive, in that they were disproportionate to the purpose set out, and said that it would not lay down guidelines in these regards at the instance of a foreign entity engaged in a speculative litigation.

Lastly to add, there is no sufficient empirical data that supports the argument of abuse of power which is structurally exercised. No provision in the Act nor in the Website Blocking Rules is pointed out to show that the respondents are under a legal duty to consider the request for review of the Blocking Orders, it said.

The court was scathing on the San Francisco-based company for what it called a case of speculative litigation.

The ruling lays down clear red lines on who holds policing powers over online content. There are, nonetheless, legitimate questions that surround the process -- especially of transparency when the statutory committee vets them. It is up to the citizens, not private companies, to now press for more clarity on this domain.

Twitter has been in a protracted conflict with the Prime Minister Narendra Modis administration over the content on its network, dating back to farmer protests in 2021.

for more than a year, the blocking orders were not implemented by the petitioner and there is no plausible explanation offered therefore. There is a wilful non-compliance of the blocking orders; arguably, such an act amounts to an offence under section 69 A (3) of the Act. The cascading adverse effect of non-compliance of such orders needs no research, nor reiteration, the court said in a 109-page judgment.

The single judge bench said that due to the voluminous documents in the matter, the petition was heard for days together, keeping at bay worthier causes of native litigants who were waiting in a militant silence and in a long queue.

Union minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar too welcomed the order and hit out at Jack Dorsey, who was part of the previous management that controlled the company when Twitter had approached the high court. All platforms hv to be in compliance with Indian law n @Twitter under @jack [a reference to then CEO Jack Dorseys Twitter handle] repeatedly refused to do so, he said, in a tweet on Friday, linking to the HC decision.

Experts said the judgment is critical as it emphasises the obvious  that a social media intermediary (in this case Twitter) or any citizen or resident cannot play judge to decide if they will comply with a law.

The remedy against a disproportionate or unreasonable government order is to contest it before court and leave it to judicial review. If a social media platform decides not to comply and to not seek judicial intervention, its their option but that attracts penalties, and the Karnataka HC judgement is therefore significant as it displays a strong stand against casual breaches of law, said senior advocate and founder of Cybersaathi, NS Nappinai.

The Karnataka HC judgment sends out a right message that the law of the land must be accepted, even if you are a foreign entity doing business in India. Secondly, when you are complying with the law, you cannot decide whether it is good or bad. Only courts can decide this aspect as the right way is judicial review and not taking law in their own hands. Therefore, this judgment sends out a right message, she added.

It was not clear whether Twitter planned to challenge the decision. The company did not respond to requests for a comment, sending an automated excrement emoji in reply, as has been the policy under its new owner Elon Musk.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Richa Banka Reports from the Delhi High Court and stories on legal developments in the city. Avid mountain lover, cooking and playing with birds  when not at work ...view detail
Imports of cigarette lighters costing below 20, which was free until Thursday, has now been banned by the government. However, import shall be free if CIF value (cost, insurance, and freight) is 20 or above per lighter, the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The ban extends to pocket lighters, gas fuelled, non-refillable or refillable. (Representative)

The ban extends to pocket lighters, gas fuelled, non-refillable or refillable.

Inbound shipments of pocket lighters, gas fuelled, non-refillable stood at USD 0.66 million in 2022-23. It was USD 0.13 million in April this fiscal.

On the other hand, pocket lighters, gas fuelled, and refillable, stood at USD 8.87 million in 2022-23 compared to USD 7 million in 2021-22. It was USD 0.96 million in April of this fiscal.

Stalin's appeal

In September 2022, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote a letter to the Centre seeking a ban on single-use plastic cigarette lighters to save the matchbox industry, which is a major source of employment in the southern part of the state. This traditional industry provides a livelihood to over a lakh people of which the majority are women.

"The industry is a vital engine of economic growth in a region that is arid for agriculture. You will be already aware that the matchbox industry earns foreign exchange revenue of around 400 crore through exports," the CM noted in a letter addressed to union minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal.

On Thursday, Stalin thanked Goyal in a tweet following the announcement of the prohibition, This decision is a significant step towards protecting the livelihoods of over a lakh people in Tamil Nadu's matchbox industry.

Facing stiff competition from Pakistan and Indonesia in the export markets, supply chain disruptions following the COVID pandemic, and spike in input costs have led to price and logistic hurdles in exporting, Stalin explained.

The domestic market is also waning due to the Chinese single use plastic cigarette lighters, which are available for 10 and can substitute 20 matchboxes. These non-refillable lighters also result in immense plastic waste, with adverse impacts on the environment and health, he added.

The lighters are being illegally imported from China as 'empty lighter cases' using manipulated invoices to bypass the restrictions governing inflammable substances and trick the customs, The New Indian Express reported quoting Kathiravan, secretary of Tamil Nadu Match Manufacturers Association.

The Andaman and Nicobar authorities had imposed a complete ban on its usage, in lieu of its environmental effects through a gazette notification in 2019.

Notably, in the 2022 ban on 30 single-use plastic items by the government, cigarette packets were also included in the list.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Kolkata: Kolkata: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar speaks during the 'Shyama Prasad Lecture: New India and the World', in Kolkata, Friday, June 30, 2023. (PTI)

Kolkata: Indias partnership with USA has come of age with Prime Minister Narendra Modis latest three-day visit to the country in June, S Jaishankar, external affairs minister, said in Kolkata on Friday.

I actually, truly believe that with this visit, in many ways, our partnership has come of age. I use the word partnership and not relationship. I think we had a relationship earlier. Today it is much more collaborative, mutual interest-driven and mutually respectful, the minister said during an interaction after delivering the Shyama Prasad Lecture on New India and the World organised by Khola Hawa, a cultural organisation.

This visit was a completely different level. In diplomacy one easy yardstick is protocol. This was the only state visit by an Indian PM after the then Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singhs visit in 2009. This was also the only time that an Indian PM has addressed the joint session of the Congress twice, he said.

To questions on Indo-Russian relation he said, Most other major relationships - Russia-Europe, Russia-China, China-US  all of them have had ups and downs. Of the major relationships in the last 75 years, India-Russia relationship are the steadiest. That is an empirical fact, he said.

He went on to explain that one of the reasons behind this is because of the public sentiment in India about Russia, there were partnerships which were forged in the 60s and 70s, which have their own momentum and relevance.

For us, a lot of what we see in the Indo-Russia relationship is geopolitically driven. This is a relation which is insulated from the ups and downs of regular politics and has a certain ballast to it he added.

The Union minister slammed China for the present downturn in the ties between the two Asian neighbours while adding that it was Chinas creation.

It is created by China by violating two agreements of 1993 and 1996 and moving forces to the Line of Actual Control in violation of those agreements. If we are to have decent relation they need to observe those agreements and stop trying to unilaterally change the status quo. They need to understand that relationships between major countries work only when they are based on mutual interest, mutual sensitivity and mutual respect, he said.

He also said that some issues along the border have been resolved. But it finally takes two hands to clap. China too must believe in that workable relationship if that is to happen, he said.

Asked about Indias recent bonhomie with the US, Jaishankar said that it is not in Indias interest to be tied down to exclusive relationships.

Because we have a tradition of strong ties with Russia, that shouldnt become a burden or an obstacle to an equally strong relationship with the US, Jaishankar added.

He said that India is exploring whether INR can be used for trade settlements. We are exploring with some countries. That is something which is helpful to us. I think that will take route,

We have a strong interest in getting other countries to buy into our Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Its a big step that Singapore has accepted it. I know of a number of important economies are looking at it. Some of our neighbours have asked how they should be linked to it, he added.
Union Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar, after the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Twitter and imposed a fine of 50 lakh on the social media giant, on Friday said that all platforms had to be in compliance with the Indian law adding that Twitter under former CEO Jack Dorsey refused to comply. Out of 1,474 accounts and 175 tweets, ordered to be blocked by the Central government, Twitter was only opposing 39 URLs. (File)

Mentioning the judgement, Chandrasekhar said in a tweet, In response to @GoI_MeitY's [Ministry of Electronics and IT's] notice for non-compliance they approached Karnataka High Court n judgement: Karnataka High Court has dismissed the petition filed by @Twitter, challenging the blocking orders issued to it by @GoI_MeitY u/s.69(A) of IT Act 2000.

Twitter had challenged ten blocking orders which were issued by the Indian government which directed Twitter to take down 39 links between February 2021 and 2022.

Chandrasekhar added, Court imposed cost of Rs. 50 lakh on the microblogging platform, citing its conduct. It also refused Twitter's request to stay the operation of the order.

Justice Krishna S Dixit had said the fine was imposed since Twitter did not give any reasoning for not complying with Central government's orders. The court said that Twitter was to pay the fine within 45 days or pay 5,000 for every day the fine was delayed.

Speaking to news agency PTI, Chandrasekhar said, Our relationship with (social media) platforms isn't adversarial. Our insistence is that law must be followed. I am glad that the court has today laid down that non-compliance isn't an option. All platforms in India have to comply with Indian law.

Chandrasekhar further quoted the bench, which said during the hearing, Your client [Twitter] was given notices and your client did not comply. Punishment for non-compliance is 7 years imprisonment and unlimited fine. That also did not deter your client. So you have not given any reason why you delayed compliance, more than a year of delay...then all of sudden you comply and approach the Court. You are not a farmer but a billon dollar company.

During the hearing Dixit clearly stated that as per the Central government's stance, it was clear that it did not only hold the power to block tweets but also accounts.

The court also said that Central government could not issue general orders to block accounts, specific reasons should be provided to the users. It also said blocking order could only be issued when content was on grounds mentioned in Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

As mentioned by Bar and Bench, since Twitter was a foreign entity and the government's orders were not arbitrary, the social media giant could not fall back on right to equality (Article 14) and right to freedom of speech and expression (Article 19).

Out of 1,474 accounts and 175 tweets, ordered to be blocked by the Central government, Twitter was only opposing 39 URLs.

The court heard the matter extensively until April 21 and reserved its verdict.

Jack Dorsey on Indian Government's requests to Twitter

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, in a stunning allegation, claimed that the company had received many requests from India to block accounts covering farmers' protests and those critical of the government.

During an interview, when asked if he had faced any pressure from foreign governments, Dorsey, who stepped down from Twitter's board last year, replied, India for example, India is one of the countries which had many requests around farmers protests, around particular journalists which were critical of the government, and it manifested in ways such as we will shut Twitter down in India we would raid the homes of your employees', which they did; we will shut down your offices if you don't follow suit. And this is India, a democratic country.

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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge lashed out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for their remarks on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's Manipur visit and Opposition meet saying that they spoke out of jealousy. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi interacts with children who are victims of Manipur violence during his visit to relief camp, in Churachandpur on Thursday. (ANI)

Speaking to reporters, They (BJP) always speak with jealousy. If a Congress leader goes there (Manipur) to try and understand the difficulties of the people, they call it a drama. They call the Opposition meeting in Patna, a photo session. They are not of a democratic mindset but of dictatorship.

He further added, I condemn such a mindset. Why was Rahul Gandhi stopped? They should have provided him protection. When Amit Shah can go there, their people can go there, why can't an Opposition leader do the same? If he [Rahul Gandhi] went its drama, when you went what was it  mahadrama?

Kharge further questioned why no security was provided to Gandhi. He said, The man who walked for over 4,000 kms, can't you provide him a protection to visit the affected places? You have protection. Why couldn't he be provided police, military, CRF, Border force protection. Some arrangement should have been done. They knew of his visit four days ago.

Rahul Gandhi's two-day Manipur visit

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi visited relief camps in Churachandpur on Thursday, one of the worst affected towns in the ethnic clashes. High drama ensued during the trip, as his convoy of cars was stopped at Bishnupur by the local police, fearing the carcade may face attacks. Gandhi eventually turned back and flew down to Churachandpur on a chopper.

Gandhi on Friday arrived in Manipur's Moirang to meet the people affected due to ethnic clashes in the northeastern state. Gandhi reached Moirang by a chopper from Imphal around 9.30 am and met a number of affected people in two relief camps and listened to their plight. He was accompanied by former Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, PCC president Keisham Meghachandra Singh and former MP Ajay Kumar.

Gandhi will also meet leaders of 10 like-minded political parties and members of civil society on the second day of his two-day visit to strife-torn Manipur.

Opposition parties on Gandhi's visit

Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday hit out at Gandhi after his convoy was stopped by police in Manipur.

It is sad that Rahul Gandhi has gone to Manipur with stubbornness, which is not right. He should have been aware of the ground realities before going there. Sensitivity is far more important than stubbornness. We are a democratic country, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said in a briefing.

Rahul Gandhi wanted to go to Manipur and nobody stopped him. The local administration requested him citing protests surrounding his visit. The situation in Manipur today is due to legacy issues, largely due to Congress. I don't want to go into the issues because of the sensitivity attached to them, Patra added.

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Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh said on Friday he will not be resigning, this hours after he was blocked by his supporters from meeting the governor.



"At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister", Singh tweeted.



High drama ensued in Imphal as Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh was stopped by his supporters from going to Raj Bhavan to meet the governor.



Amid the continuing violence in the north-eastern state, there were speculations about Singh stepping down as the chief minister. As the reports regarding the resignation of the CM spread like wildfire, his supporters staged a protest outside the CM residence urging him not to take the step.



"We do not want the CM to resign, he should not resign. He is doing a lot of work for us. We are in giving support the CM", a local told news agency ANI.



ALSO READ: Manipur CM announces 1,000 aid for victims residing in relief camps



Hundreds of youth wearing black shirts and women sat down in front of the CMs residence demanding that Biren Singh should not resign. The chief minister's supporters had also gathered outside the Raj Bhavan appealing to him to not step down from the post. Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh.(ANI file)

Videos on social media showed the crowd blocking Singh's convoy and stopping him to meet the governor to tender his resignation.



We have been under a situation of turmoil since 2 months. We are looking for the day when the Govt of India and Manipur will resolve this conflict in a democratic manner. In such a situation if the Manipur CM resigns, how will the people live here? Who will lead us? He has been leading us from the beginning of the conflict. I do not want him to resign. We trust him, a supporter told ANI.

Singh has been under fire over the ethnic violence which has rocked Manipur for now close to two months. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands displaced in the clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities in the north-eastern state. The opposition parties have called for his resignation over his handling of the situation in Manipur.

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N Biren Singh, chief minister of Manipur, a state that has been roiled by ethnic violence for close to two straight months with little end in sight, seemed to begin the process of resigning on Friday afternoon, before protesters that collected outside his Imphal home prevented him from proceeding to the Governors residence 200 metres away, following which he clarified he would not demit office. The dramatic scenes outside Singhs chief ministerial bungalow saw thousands of Meitei women gathering outside his home from the morning as rumours swirled; they raised slogans hailing him; and they tore a sheet of paper that contained his resignation, which was brought out and read by Singhs cabinet colleague. HT Image

Images of that torn letter, on Singhs letter-head, were circulated widely, as if to show the world at large that Singh was not being allowed to resign. And soon after, the chief minister put out a clarification on Twitter, saying he would not quit at this critical juncture.

There was no immediate comment by the Union home ministry, which is believed to have prevailed on Singh to resign after a series of phone calls on Thursday.

By 10.30 on Friday morning, spurred by local news reports that Singh intended to meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey and tender his resignation, supporters, most of them women, gathered in front of the Nupi-Lal memorial complex in Imphal in front of Singhs residence. They said that they had heard that he intended to resign and that the current situation could not be fixed by such a move. Ima Leirikleima, one of the elderly Meitei women at the protest said: This is the time for Chief Minister N Biren Singh to stand firm.

Another protester said, We are protesting to stop CM N Biren Singh from resigning. He is highlighting our issues, which we appreciate. He is working not only for Manipur but for the whole nation.

Singh is a Meitei himself, and his response to the ethnic strife in the state  many analysts believe he has been openly partisan  has only increased his standing in the community.

At around 2.20 in the afternoon, Singh emerged from his residence and attempted to drive off to the Raj Bhavan, all of 200 metres away, but was stopped by doing so by the crowds. Before this, Singh was joined at his residence by several cabinet colleagues that still back him, who emerged with him.

Greeted with slogans in his support, Singh then returned inside. Minutes later, a group of ministers led by consumer affairs minister L Susindro emerged with a piece of paper. Using a mike, and speaking to an increasingly agitated crowd, Susindro read out Singhs resignation letter that read, Honourable Governor Madam, I hereby submit my resignation as Chief Minister of Manipur. I thank you for your cooperation and guidance during the past few months. An elderly woman then took that piece of paper and tore it.

Soon after, Singh took to Twitter to say: At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister.

From May 3, Manipur has been in the throes of ethnic clashes, triggered by an order by the Manipur high court that recommended to the government that the Meiteis, the dominant community in Manipur with 53% of the population, be included in the scheduled tribe list. This caused protests among the tribal population, particularly the Kukis, and tensions lead to clashes that were first concentrated in Meitei dominated Imphal Valley and districts in the hills like Churachandpur that have a heavy tribal population, but soon spread across the state. In three violent days between May 3 and 6, there was a wave of attacks and arson with people fleeing from their homes, and the army called in to control the situation. Since then however, in a sign of the simmering tension within, sporadic violence has continued, with at least 117 dead, over 300 injured, and nearly 50,000 displaced from their homes.

Singh has been a deeply divisive figure during this time, with opposition leaders calling for his resignation for several weeks. On June 23, after an all party meeting called by Union home minister Amit Shah, RJD leader and member of Parliament Manoj Jha had said that there was no trust in Singh. You cant have peace until that person is in charge. The opposition emphasised that Manipur requires a healing touch and for that it needs a face that must unite and not divide.

Tribal organisations have long called for Singhs resignation, objecting to his inclusion in a peace committee in the middle of June, and refusing to hold talks with Shah if Singh came with him. When Shah did hold consultations with tribal groups in Churachandpur and Moreh on May 30 and 31, Singh stayed in Imphal. On his inclusion in the peace committee on June 12, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum, a conglomeration of Kuki groups said, ITLF strongly condemns the inclusion of CM N Biren Singh, the very perpetrator of the current violence, in the peace committee. For almost a month-and-half it has been clear that Singhs government has been in charge of the plains in the state dominated by Meiteis with the Union government calling the shots in the hill districts (where majority of the tribal population including Kukis and Nagas stay).

On Friday, tribal groups dismissed Singhs attempts at resigning as drama. If he was really serious, nothing should have stopped him (from resigning). More than the CM resigning, the Centre should have removed him by now and imposed Presidents Rule. If the Centre is not keen on Presidents Rule because the BJP is in power both at the state and the centre, then they must at least replace him. Our demands for his removal and the imposition of presidents rule stand as that is the only way to end violence and bring peace, said K Sitlhou, spokesperson for COTU (Committee of Tribal Unity), a Kuki organisation.

Manipur Congress president K Meghachandra Singh said, The resignation episode by the CM was high drama and a planned programme. We have come to know from Raj Bhawan that CMs meet with the Governor was first scheduled at 10 am. It was then postponed to 1 pm and again to 3 pm. In the meantime, BJP supporters gathered outside the CMs residence and exerted pressure on him not to resign. The CM was under lot of pressure from the Centre due to Rahul Gandhis visit to Manipur and the way he was prevented from going to Churachandpur by road on Thursday.

Biren Singh has however found support from Meitei organisations that backed his decision to stay on, and said that no suspended animation or presidents rule was acceptable. Jeetendra Ningomba, leader of the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a conglomeration of Meitei groups based in Imphal said, All issues and problems we are facing today must be resolved under the responsibility of the popular elected government which is very much the democratic right of the people of Manipur The present crisis should not be further worsened by running away from responsibility.

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Senthil Balaji sacked for 5 hrs; 'Which lawyer advised Guv,' Opposition attacks The Tamil Nadu government versus Governor RN Ravi escalated on Thursday evening after Governor RN Ravi sacked arrested minister Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers on account of criminal charges againstread more. File photo of V Senthil Balaji.

Here's why government may have banned import of cigarette lighters under  20

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PATNA: The Mumbai police team that travelled 2000km to Bihars Muzaffarpur to track down the criminal who sent a death threat to Maharashtra Samajwadi Party chief Abu Asim Azmi has decided against taking action against the caller after it turned out that the WhatsApp message was sent by a class 7 student, police said. A class 7 student in Gujarat, who is in Bihar to celebrate Eid, sent the threat messages to Maharashtra SP leader Abu Asim Azmi. (Twitter/abuasimazmi)

A Muzaffarpur district police officer said the person who sent the threat message was a young boy. The officer said the minor and his family members live in Gujarats Ahmedabad but came home to Muzaffarpur to celebrate Eid-ul-Zuha.

The Colaba police questioned the boy and his family and left after satisfying themselves that the boy meant no harm. He was apologetic about it, a local police officer said.

Azmi, a three-time MLA from Mumbais Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar constituency, put out on Twitter WhatsApp messages received by him on his mobile phone along with a photograph in which a pistol was aimed at his head.

This gentleman calls me on my personal phone number and through WhatsApp has threatened to kill me within three days. The matter has been reported to the Colaba police station. Chief minister Eknath Shinde, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mumbai police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, Mumbai Police, please take cognizance of the matter and act quickly, Azmi said in a post on Twitter on June 26

Asked about the case, Bochaha station house officer Arvind Prasad said the minor admitted that he misused the fathers cell phone and called the SP leader. The Colaba police questioned the boy and his father. The police team returned after issuing a notice to the boys father, the SHO added.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that Delhi University was not just a varsity but a movement that has lived every movement and has brought life to it. Addressing the Valedictory ceremony of DU's centenary celebrations, PM Modi's connect with the youth was also visible as he mentioned the importance of college festivals in a student's life and the broad range of issues they discuss with their friends on campuses. Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Delhi University centenary celebrations.

Every student of DU wants to become part of the fest of any college. For me as well, it is a similar opportunity, Modi said.

They will talk about everything under the sun...'kaun is film dekhi? OTT par wo series achhi hai...wo wali reel dekhi ya nahi dekhi' (Which film did you watch? That web series on OTT is good? Did you see that reel or not?). There is an ocean of topics to discuss, he added, triggering smiles and applause from the audience.

Similarly, I too, arrived here while talking to my young friends on Delhi Metro, the prime minister said.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister took a metro ride from Lok Kalyan Marg Metro Station to Vishwa Vidyalaya Metro Station here in the national capital on Friday morning to visit Delhi University. PM Modi was also seen interacting with people in Delhi Metro on his way to attend the centenary celebrations of Delhi University.

The University of Delhi was established on May 1, 1922. In the last hundred years, the University has grown and expanded immensely and now has 86 departments, 90 Colleges, more than 6 lakh students, and has contributed immensely in nation building.

Citing the rapid increase in the number of IIT, IIM, NIT and AIIMS colleges in the last few years, PM Modi said that these institutes are becoming the building blocks of New India.

The third decade of the 20th century gave a new speed to the freedom movement and the third decade of this 21st century will give a new speed to the development journey of the country, he said.

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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
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday attended the University of Delhi's centenary celebrations in the national capital as the chief guest and also laid the foundation stone of three buildings, including Delhi University Computer Centre and launched two coffee table books on the University. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the valedictory session of DU's centenary celebrations on Friday.(HT Photo/RajkRaj)

PM Modi while addressing the gathering at the event, spoke about the significance of the prominent central university as well as shared his experience of arriving at the event via Delhi Metro, which he took earlier in the day amid tight security.

What PM Modi said at the valedictory session of DU's centenary celebrations: Top quotes

1)"Delhi University not merely a university but a movementThis university has lived every moment and given life to every momentIndia was at the peak of happiness and prosperity when the universities like Nalanda existed hereWhen India had institutions like Takshila, the country's science guided the worldduring that time India had a big share in global GDPbut 100s of years of slavery destroyed its education centres and stalled the country's growth."

2)"Delhi University earlier had just three colleges.today there are over 90 colleges that are part of the institution.more girls study at DU than boys.likewise, India's gender ratio has improved a lot.this means that the deeper the roots of academic institutions in the country would result in the branches of a country that touch greater heights."

3)"Today many universities and colleges are being built across India. In the last few years, the number of educational institutions like IIT, IIM, NIT, AIIMS have continuously grown. they will form the building blocks of New IndiaIn 2014, there were only 12 Indian Universities in the QS World Ranking. now that number is 45.the education institutes of India are making a mark in the world."

4)There was a time when the students prioritised placements before enrolling in an educational institution.But today, the youth does not want to confine themselves solely to that paththey want to do something new... and set their own limits.

5)India and the US have finalised a deal on the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology i.e. iCETit will create new opportunities from land to space and semiconductor to AI for the youthOur yoga, our science, our culture, our festivals, our literature, our history, our heritage, our traditions, our cuisine... Today, everyone is discussing them, and they are getting attentionthus, the demand is increasing for Indian youth who can showcase India to the world."

6)The world is also recognising the value of Indian teachers todaywe can trn these opportunities into our strengths.but for these our universities need to be prepapredthey must draw a roadmap to define their goalshave the mindset in this directionby the time DU completes its 125 years.it must be able to rank among the best universities in the worldand for this we need to increase our efforts."

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday discussed the Ukraine war and recent Wagner mutiny over a telephonic conversation. PM Modi and Vladimir Putin

PM Modi had expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leadership's decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday.



The telephonic conversation between the two leaders comes less than a week after the Russian leadership managed to avert a major coup by Yevgeny Prigozhin-led private mercenary army Wagner Group.



The private mercenary army had overtaken two major south Russian cities but called off the march to Moscow after Kremlin managed to broker a deal with Prigozhin with the help of Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko.



Later, Prigozhin in a video message on Telegram denied that he wanted to overthrow the Russian leadership. He said the march was intended for justice. After the mutiny, questions are being raised on Putin's leadership with the West predicting that the Russian president was no longer 'invincible'.



According to a Bloomberg report, the Russian president moved on senior players who were suspected to have supported the 24-hour Wagner mutiny. A top general was detained for questioning.

Opponents of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu from the security services stepped up internal calls for his removal. Prigozhin had been publicly attacking Shoigu, a longtime ally of Putins, for months over the lack of success in the invasion of Ukraine.

Putin spent the week trying to reassure key constituencies, with televised public events involving military, business and other groups. While polls showed his public support remained strong, doubts about his control among the government and business elite spread.

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A stray bullet killed a police officer out to collect evidence for the probe into firing at Harothel in ethnic violence-hit Manipurs Kangpoki district that left two people dead on Thursday, officials aware of the matter said. Tyres set on fire amid fresh violence in Manipur. (PTI)

Head Constable [Lenglem] Dimngel was a resident of Ichaigojang in Saikul sub-division. He was in Harothel to collect evidence. He was hit by a stray bullet, said a police officer from Kangpokpi, requesting anonymity.

Officials said that firing in and around Harothel village continued till 8pm on Thursday even as the security forces conducted area domination exercises. Armed attackers fired at villagers early on Thursday and killed two people. They also fired at security forces when they rushed to the village after reports of unprovoked firing, the Army said in a tweet on Thursday.

The attacks, around 20 km from the capital Imphal, on Thursday followed a brief lull in the violence that raised hopes that it was ebbing. They highlighted the challenges the authorities face in restoring normalcy and the threat armed groups that target specific locations and then lie low pose.

The ethnic violence erupted on May 3 in Churachandpur after tribal Kuki groups called for protests against a proposal for granting scheduled tribe status to the majority Meitei community. It has left at least 118 people dead and nearly 40,000 displaced.

Violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep and prompted the deployment of additional forces and measures such as the suspension of internet services. But tensions between the dominant Meitei community, which largely lives in the Imphal valley and comprises 53% of the population, and the Kukis, who reside in the hill districts and makeup 16% of the population, have continued to simmer.

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NAGPUR: President Draupadi Murmu will be on a three-day visit to the Vidarbha region from July 4. President Draupadi Murmu will be the chief guest at the convocation ceremony of Gondwana University in Gadchiroli. (Twitter/rashtrapatibhvn)

President Murmu will arrive at Nagpur airport from Hyderabad on July 4 evening. She will travel to Maharashtras tribal district of Gadchiroli on July 5 morning. She will be the chief guest at the convocation ceremony of Gondwana University in Gadchiroli.

On her return to Nagpur, she will inaugurate the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Cultural Centre at Koradi in Nagpur district.

She will also visit Wardha on July 6 and attend the convocation ceremony of the Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University. The President will also interact with some prominent personalities from different fields such as literature, social service and education during her stay in Nagpur, an official communication said.
NEW DELHI: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation in Ukraine and last weeks mutiny by the Wagner group, with the Indian leader expressing support for Moscows actions to protect law and order. The Kremlin said the phone conversation between Russia's President Vladimir Putin and PM Narendra Modi was held at the initiative of the Indian side (via REUTERS/File Photo)

Modi informed Putin about his international trips, including his recent visit to the US, and the two sides expressed satisfaction at substantial growth in bilateral trade since 2022, according to a readout from the Kremlin of a phone call between the leaders.

The phone conversation was the first contact between Modi and Putin since the short-lived rebellion by Wagner Private Military Company, the mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, on June 24. It came a day after Putin hailed Modi as Russias big friend and cited India as an example of a country developing local manufacturing and wooing foreign investors while addressing a forum organised in Moscow by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives.

In connection with the events of June 24 in Russia, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens, the Kremlin readout said in the context of the mutiny by the Wagner group.

An official statement from the Indian side said Putin informed Modi about the recent developments in Russia but didnt give details. While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, the statement added.

The Kremlin readout said Putin gave his assessment of the current state of affairs in the special military operation zone in Ukraine and stressed Kyivs utter refusal to undertake political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict.

India has not publicly censured Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, though it has called for respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states. At a meeting on the margins of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Uzbekistan last September, Modi had told Putin that todays era is not of war and nudged him to end the fighting in view of the worldwide economic fallout of the Ukraine crisis.

The Kremlin said the phone conversation was held at the initiative of the Indian side and the two leaders underscored the importance of consistent implementation of the major joint projects in various areas while discussing bilateral cooperation. They expressed satisfaction at the substantial growth in trade throughout 2022 and in the first quarter of this year, the readout added.

Putin and Modi also discussed interaction within the SCO and G20, for which India currently holds the presidency, and in the Brics (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) format. Modi informed Putin about his international contacts, including ones during his recent visit to Washington, the readout said.

The Kremlin described the conversation as substantiative and constructive and the leaders reaffirmed their mutual intention to strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India.

On Thursday, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russias Security Council, briefed National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on the rebellion by the Wagner group during a phone call. They also discussed cooperation in the field of security and prospects for deepening this within bilateral and multilateral formats.

While addressing the annual forum of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives on Thursday, Putin held up India as a model for local manufacturing and wooing foreign investments. He was speaking in the context of opportunities available to Russian companies in the wake of Western sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.

Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it, he said.

Putin referred to India while discussing the need for Russia to offer support tools to help our companies market their products more efficiently. Russia needs to think about making our products more convenient and functional, with a modern look and properties, he said.

The Make in India initiative, launched in 2014, targets 25 sectors such as automobiles, textiles, pharmaceutical products, electronics and renewable energy. The government has focused on the initiative to ramp up local manufacturing capabilities by using tenchnology transfers.

Russia has offered to transfer technology for manufacturing defence items under the Make in India initiative, including the joint production of 500,000 AK-203 assault rifles at a facility at Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

India has stepped up purchases of discounted Russian crude since the start of the Ukraine war. Russia has now displaced traditional suppliers of energy such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, with Indian imports of Russian crude rising nearly 13-fold to be worth $31 billion during 2022-23, as against $2.5 billion in 2021-22.

However, the Russian side has expressed concern about Indian payments in rupees piling up. Both sides have also been trying to address the trade imbalance.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' concept has had a "visible effect" on the Indian economy, RT reported. The Russian President drew India's example to encourage domestic products and brands in Russia, as per RT.

RT is a Russian state-controlled international news television network.

"Our friends in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a great friend of Russia, a few years ago presented a concept 'Make in India' and it had a very visible effect on the Indian economy," Putin said while speaking at an event in Moscow.

The Russian President drew India's example to encourage domestic products and brands in Russia, as per RT.

Recently, Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov in New Delhi has said that the "special Russia-India strategic partnership" has shown strength and is "growing stronger as ever''.

"There have been lies about Russia on a daily basis and on a global scale. Efforts are being made to disrupt Russia - India relations," Envoy Alipov said during the state reception hosted in the national capital that was dedicated to the National Day of the Russian Federation.

Lauding the 'special Russia - India strategic partnership', the envoy said, "The indispensable truth however is- the special Russia-India strategic partnership has shown strength and we keep growing stronger than ever".
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday visited relief camps at Moirang in ethnic violence-hit Manipurs Bishnupur district and paid floral tribute at a memorial to the Indian National Army. He later flew to the state capital Imphal, where he held an interaction with representatives of student bodies, women, and intellectuals and met governor Anusuiya Uikeyas before leaving for New Delhi. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a relief camp in Churachandpur on Thursday. (ANI)

I went to the camps and found a lack of medicines, etc. The government needs to take up necessary steps in this regard. Violence is not the solution...I appeal for peace, said Gandhi before returning to New Delhi.

The Congress accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using autocratic methods to stall Gandhi on Thursday after his convoy was initially blocked from travelling to the violence-hit Churachandpur district over security concerns. Gandhi later took a government-owned helicopter to the region that has reported deadly clashes.

The BJP accused Gandhi of trying to stoke violence in the state as he became the first major Opposition leader to visit Manipur since ethnic violence erupted on May 3.

On Thursday, Gandhi visited two relief camps in Churachandpur and one in the Imphal East district.

The ethnic violence was triggered in Churachandpur after tribal Kuki groups called for protests against a proposal for granting scheduled tribe status to the majority Meitei community. It has left at least 118 people dead and nearly 40,000 displaced. Three people were killed in fresh violence in the states Kangpoki district on Thursday.

Violence quickly engulfed the state where ethnic fault lines run deep and prompted the deployment of additional forces and measures such as the suspension of internet services. But tensions between the dominant Meitei community, which largely lives in the Imphal valley and comprises 53% of the population, and the Kukis, who reside in the hill districts and makeup 16% of the population, have continued to simmer.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday said it is not in India's interest to be tied down in exclusive relationships. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.(ANI)

It's not in our interest to be tied down to exclusive relationships...because we have a tradition of strong ties with Russia, that should not become a burden or an obstacle to an equally strong relationship with the United States...I do not see our relationships as a kind of zero-sum game, the minister said at an event in Kolkata.



We are credible today as the voice of the global south. We are also perceived as a very strong democratic power. So our technology relevance is very important for the developed world, Jaishankar was quoted by ANI as saying.



Jaishankar's remarks comes days after he hailed India-Russia ties, calling it steady despite turbulences. We have made our own evaluation over the years regarding the importance of this. It is a mistake to dumb down ties with Russia to just defence dependence. We have an upswing in the economic part of our relations with Russia, the minister said on Tuesday.

India is now Europe's largest supplier of refined fuels while simultaneously buying record amounts of Russian crude oil. Europe's reliance on Indian crude oil products has grown since the ban on Russian oil.



Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone on a three-day State visit to the United States, wherein he held bilateral talks with US president Joe Biden. The area of technology cooperation was a major takeaway from the prime minister's visit.

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The Congress on Friday said SEBIs (Securities and Exchange Board of India) decision to mandate enhanced disclosure requirements for some foreign portfolio investors points to a clear admission of guilt by the market regulator in wake of Supreme Courts expert committee recommendations. The senior Congress leader said that SEBIs investigation has limited scope and called for a JPC probe. (PTI photo)

In a statement, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, said that SEBIs investigation has limited scope and only a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe can fully unravel the Adani scam.

Sharing the statement on Twitter, Ramesh said, .... the actions it (SEBI) has taken since the Supreme Courts Expert Committee report on the Adani Megascam pointing to a clear admission of guilt by the regulatory body.

Also Read: Did not probe Adani since 2016, Sebi tells SC; row erupts

The Congress leader said SEBI accepts that it needs to do more to prevent the circumvention of regulations such as the requirement for Minimum Public Shareholding, precisely the allegation made against the Adani Group.

It has, therefore, mandated additional granular level disclosures regarding ownership, economic interest, and control for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) who (1) hold more than 50% of their India assets in a single corporate group or (2) more than 25,000 crore in Indian markets, he said.

None of these steps would have been possible without the wide public outrage over the Modani revelations and the Congress partys relentless Hum Adanike Hain Kaun-HAHK series of 100 questions that put the government under tremendous pressure to act. Despite desperate attempts by interested parties to paint the Expert Committees report as a clean chit, all the actions taken subsequently by SEBI indicate an admission of guilt and a belated attempt to increase transparency regarding financial flows, Ramesh said.

The leader added that they are waiting for the SEBIs report which will be out on August 14.

We look forward to clarity on important questions such as the origins of the shady 20,000 crore of opaque foreign funds that have flowed into Adani companies, Ramesh noted.

As we have always said, the Expert Committees and SEBIs own investigations are limited in scope. Only a JPC can fully unravel the scam, he added.

The new norms will be applicable for FPIs that concentrate holdings in a single corporate group.

The move is aimed at preventing possible circumvention of Minimum Public Shareholding (MPS) requirements and potential misuse of the FPI route to guard against the inherent risks of opportunistic takeover of Indian companies.

It also comes against the backdrop of the recent Adani-Hindenburg saga.

During its meeting on Wednesday, the SEBI board also approved a proposal to amend the FPI rules.

Under the proposed framework, FPIs with concentrated single group equity exposures or significant equity holdings will be mandated to make additional granular disclosures.

(With PTI inputs)

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The Tamil Nadu government versus Governor RN Ravi escalated on Thursday evening after Governor RN Ravi sacked arrested minister Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers on account of criminal charges against him. Around five hours later, the Governor's House informed that the decision for the dismissal has been put on hold for some time and RN Ravi will now take the advice of the Attorney General. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin said the Governor had no right to sack a minister and the DMK-Congress government will face this legally. Opposition leaders extended support to Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin against Governor RN Ravi.

Congress MP and advocate Manish Tewari said the President should sack Tamil Nadu Governor for no lawyer could have advised RN Ravi to sack a minister until charges against him are proved. "No sane bureaucrat much less a sane lawyer could have advised Mr Ravi that Constitutional scheme allows him to dismiss a Minister. Criminal jurisprudence holds you are innocent until proven guilty," Manish Tewari said.

Citing Article 164 of the Constitution of India, Manish Tewari said a minister can be removed only on the advice of the chief minister.

"Currently he is in judicial custody in a criminal case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. Some more criminal cases against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code are being investigated by the State Police. There are reasonable apprehensions that continuation of Thiru V Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law..." the press release issued from the Raj Bhavan said. No fresh release was issued but it was communicated later that the decision has been kept in abeyance.

AAP issued a statement saying the action of Governor RN Ravi was "outrightly unconstitutional" and these decisions come under the exclusive domain of the chief minister.

Trinamool national spokesperson Saket Gokhale said besides Article 164 of the Constitution, there is a Supreme Court judgment that the Governors can't discharge their constitutional function without consulting the chief ministers. "In this case, it is clear that the Governor took the decision unilaterally. This fight is of all opposition parties -- to save our Constitution and democracy," the TMC leader said.

RJD MP Manoj Jha said RN Ravi must have received a diktat from Delhi. But the Constitution has no provision for such an action.

The BJP, however, defended the action and said the Governor has every right to dismiss Senthil Balaji and he also gave reasons for that.

Senthil Balaji was arrested on June 14 in a cash-for jobs scam. He was admitted to a hospital immediately after his arrest as he complained of chest pain. The minister underwent a bypass surgery on June 21.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Poulomi Ghosh Poulomi Ghosh is a journalist with Hindustan Times, New Delhi. ...view detail
After dismissing Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji from the Cabinet, governor R N Ravi wrote to chief minister MK Stalin that he will be seeking legal advice from the attorney general on the advice of Union home minister Amit Shah and that the order may be kept in abeyance. Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi.

In this regard I have been advised by the Hon'ble Union Minister of Home Affairs that it would be prudent to seek the opinion of the Attorney General also, the letter reads.

Accordingly, I am approaching the Attorney General for his opinion. Meanwhile, the order of dismissal of the minister Thiru V.Senthil Balaji may be kept in abeyance until further communication from me.

Balaji was arrested in connection with a cash-for-jobs scam case.

"In an official release, Raj Bhavan earlier said, "Minister V Senthil Balaji is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of corruption cases including taking cash for jobs and money laundering...Under these circumstances, Governor has dismissed him from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect."

The order drew flak from the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and several non-BJP parties, saying he does not have the right to do so.

Speaking to reporters in the wake of the arrest of the fellow DMK leader, CM Stalin said, "Governor doesn't have the right (to dismiss a sitting minister) and we will face this legally."

DMK leader A Saravanan accused the Governor of undermining the Constitution, saying that the order, dismissing Balaji from the state's council of ministers, is not even worth the paper it was drafted on.

"Who does the Governor thinks he is? Does he have the constitutional authority (to dismiss Senthil Balaji)? The Governor is undermining the constitution. He is catering to the Sanatan Dharma. The law of the land isn't determined by the Sanatan Dharma. For a Governor, the constitution should be the Bible, Gita, and Quran. He is acting like a clown, trying to appease his political masters. His order isn't even worth the paper it was drafted on. It must be consigned to the dustbin," the DMK leader said.

Former Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari criticised the arbitrary move and tweeted "Article 164 of COI The chief minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister... Since Ministers are appointed on advice of CM they can be removed ONLY on advice of CM Unconstitutional Gov.

The supporters of the DMK put up wall posters across Chennai raising questions to the governor and alleging that there are Union ministers who are still in the cabinet with several cases registered against them.

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Hyderabad The CBI, which has filed two charge sheets earlier in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case, told the court that it would file a separate memorandum before the Supreme Court seeking extension of the deadline for investigation in the case. (HT Archives)

A special court for the Central Bureau of Investigation cases in Hyderabad on Friday extended the remand of the six accused in a case pertaining to the murder of former Andhra Pradesh MP Y S Vivekananda Reddy by two more weeks, people familiar with the matter said.

As the period of judicial remand of the accused  Y S Bhaskar Reddy, Yerra Gangi Reddy, Devineni Shivashankar Reddy, Sunil Yadav, Umashankar Reddy and Uday Kumar  ended on Friday, the CBI produced them before the special CBI court and also filed a supplementary charge sheet in a sealed cover.

The CBI court extended their remand till July 14, when it would take up fresh hearing of the case. The accused were sent back to Chanchalguda jail.

The CBI, which has filed two charge sheets earlier in the Vivekananda Reddy murder case, told the court that it would file a separate memorandum before the Supreme Court seeking extension of the deadline for investigation in the case.

The Supreme Court had earlier fixed the deadline of June 30 for the CBI to complete the investigation and commence the trial. The CBI wanted the extension of the deadline for some more time, as the accused were not cooperating with the investigation.

Vivekananda Reddy, brother of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, uncle of present chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, was murdered at his residence in Pulivendula on March 15, 2019, weeks before the elections.

The CBI took over the investigation into the case in July 2020 on the direction of Andhra Pradesh High Court while hearing a petition of Vivekananda Reddys daughter Suneetha Reddy, who raised suspicion about some relatives.

The CBI told the court that YSR Congress party MP from Kadapa Y S Avinash Reddy and his father Bhaskar Reddy had a role in causing disappearance of the evidence. It also claimed that they are trying to influence the witnesses. They, however, denied their involvement.

The Supreme Court in November last year transferred the trial in the murder case from Andhra Pradesh to CBI court in Hyderabad while observing that doubts raised by Suneetha Reddy about getting a fair trial and investigation in Andhra Pradesh were reasonable.

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Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Friday described as void ab initio and non-est governor RN Ravis two letters on arrested minister V Senthil Balajis continuance in the state cabinet  the first in which the governor dismissed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader from the council of ministers and another, issued hours later, in which he backtracked after widespread criticism from several quarters. In a letter to the governor, Stalin criticised the formers contradictory actions in a span of a few hours and accused him of acting in haste with scant regard to the Constitution of India. (PTI)

While the term void ab initio means having no legal effect, non-est means non-existent.

In a letter to the governor, Stalin, who is also the chief of the ruling DMK, criticised the formers contradictory actions in a span of a few hours and accused him of acting in haste with scant regard to the Constitution of India.

There was no immediate reaction available from Raj Bhavan on Stalins letter.

In an unprecedented move on Thursday, the governor sent a letter to the chief minister at 7pm, informing him about Balajis dismissal from the council of ministers. However, amid criticism from the state government that said the governor had no authority to do this, in another letter at 11.45pm, Ravi said he was keeping the plan in abeyance on Union home minister Amit Shahs advice, who asked him to seek the attorney generals opinion on the matter.

Constitutional experts also said that the governors move may not withstand legal scrutiny.

In his letter to the governor on Friday, Stalin said: Your unconstitutional communication dismissing my Minister without my advice is void ab initio and non-est in law and hence, has been disregarded.

He added that the issuance of the two letters within a span of five hours shows that you (governor) had not even taken a legal opinion before such an important decision. The fact that it needed the Honble Home Ministers intervention to direct you to take a legal opinion on this matter, itself shows that you have acted in haste with scant regard to the Constitution of India, he said.

Stalin also questioned the governors inexplicable silence on the state governments requests for sanctions to investigate and prosecute former AIADMK ministers and other public servants, which have been languishing in Raj Bhavan for several months.

The chief minister also said that just because Balaji is under investigation, he isnt incapacitated to continue as minister.

Balaji, who held the electricity, excise and prohibition portfolios, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on June 14 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegations that date back to 2014 when he was transport minister in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government. He joined the DMK in 2018. On the day of his arrest, Balaji dramatically collapsed, undergoing a beating heart coronary artery bypass in a Chennai hospital on June 21 and has been hospitalised since. On Wednesday, his judicial custody was extended till July 12.

Ravi, who has been at loggerheads with the DMK government, on June 16 said that he did not agree with Balajis continuation in the Cabinet, citing the criminal proceedings the minister faces. He accepted Stalins recommendation for the reallocation of Balajis portfolios. Balaji has been a minister without a portfolio since.

Earlier on Friday, finance minister and senior DMK leader Thangam Thennerasu hit out at the governor, saying without application of mind, he (latter) has done something which is constitutionally invalid and legally untenable.

Thennerasu also accused the governor of repeatedly causing trouble. The chief minister is courteous. He has not reduced the dignity of the Governors office even by a millimeter. It is the Governor who is repeatedly creating trouble, he said.

DMK Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate P Wilson said: The Supreme Court has said, in several verdicts, that if the governor doesnt act on the advice of the chief minister and council of ministers, his decision will not be valid.

Experts said that Ravis decision to dismiss Balaji was an over-reach and would not pass legal muster. Disqualification can happen either by the Constitution or by the Representation of Peoples Act. There is no third way for a governor to disqualify a minister who has not yet been convicted. Even in (Congress leader) Rahul Gandhis case, he was disqualified only after his conviction, said retired Madras high court judge K Chandru.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to comment on the governors actions.

BJP Tamil Nadu for now reserves its comments on the dismissal of cash for jobs scam Senthil Balaji.., tweeted state BJP chief K Annamalai. He, however, added that when Balaji was an AIADMK minister in 2018 and Stalin was the leader of opposition, the DMK leader had demanded action against the now arrested minister.

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Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi put the order dismissing arrested minister V Senthil Balaji in abeyance after Union home minister Amit Shah asked him to also seek the attorney generals opinion on the matter. Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi with chief minister M K Stalin. (ANI/File)

In a letter to chief minister M K Stalin on Thursday, Ravi said Shah advised him that it would be prudent to also seek the opinion. Accordingly, I am approaching the Attorney General for his opinion. Meanwhile, the order of dismissal of the minister...Balaji may be kept in abeyance until further communication from me, said Ravi in the letter, a copy of which HT has seen.

Ravi on Thursday dismissed Balaji from the council of ministers before backing down later at night amid criticism from the state government, which maintained the governor has no authority to do so.

Officials in Stalins office late on Thursday confirmed the governor asked for the plan to be kept in abeyance, pending the attorney generals opinion.

Federal agency Enforcement Directorate on June 14 arrested Balaji over money laundering charges dating back to 2014 when he was transport minister in the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government.

Balaji, who joined the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 2018, collapsed on the day of his arrest. He later underwent a beating heart coronary artery bypass on June 21 and has been hospitalised since.

DMK and experts said Ravis move lacked a legal basis.

A statement from Ravis office earlier accused Balaji of abusing his position as a minister, influencing the investigation, and obstructing the due process of law and justice. It cited reasonable apprehensions that Balajis continuation in the council of ministers will adversely impact the due process of law including a fair investigation that may eventually lead to the breakdown of the Constitutional machinery.

Stalin reacted to the sacking saying Ravi has no authority to dismiss a minister and added they will face it legally.

Ravi, who has been at loggerheads with the DMK government, on June 16 said that he did not agree with Balajis continuation in the Cabinet, citing the criminal proceedings the minister faces. He accepted Stalins recommendation for the reallocation of Balajis portfolios. Balaji has been a minister without a portfolio since.

Relations between the Union government-appointed governors and governments have deteriorated in most states where parties opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule. Governors in these states have been accused of being agents of the Union government. The governors have in turn alleged misgovernance.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Divya Chandrababu Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master's in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs. ...view detail
On June 29, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decreed it unconstitutional for American universities to consider race in their admissions processes. The majority judgment held that affirmative action ended up resulting in unlawful discrimination against Asian-American students at Harvard University and against both white and Asian-American students at the University of North Carolina (UNC). The judgments implications are likely to go far beyond the university ecosystem, and the Biden administration is already believed to be contemplating executive actions in response. IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR POPULAR DEMOCRACY ACTION - Center for Popular Democracy Action and partners call for SCOTUS ethics reform now on Tuesday, May 02, 2023 in Washington. (Joy Asico/AP Images for Center for Popular Democracy Action)
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday arrived in Manipur's Moirang to meet the people affected due to ethnic clashes in the northeastern state. Gandhi reached Moirang by a chopper from Imphal around 9.30 am and met a number of affected people in two relief camps and listened to their plight. He was accompanied by former Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh, party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal, PCC president Keisham Meghachandra Singh and former MP Ajay Kumar. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi interacts with children while meeting with violence-affected families, at a relief camp, in Churachandpur, Manipur, Thursday, June 29, 2023.(PTI)

Its heartbreaking to see and listen to the plight of those who have lost loved ones and homes due to the violence in Manipur, Gandhi said on Friday in an Instagram post.

There is a cry for help in the face of every brother, sister and child I meet.

The most important thing Manipur needs now is Peace - to secure the lives and livelihoods of our people. All our efforts must unite towards that goal, he added.

Moirang is historically known as the town where the INA hoisted the Indian tricolour in 1944.

Gandhi will also meet leaders of 10 like-minded political parties and members of civil society on the second day of his two-day visit to strife-torn Manipur.

Rahul Gandhi will meet all the affected families and visit the relief camps in Moirang. After that, he will be back in Imphal. At Imphal Hotel he will meet civil society organisation leaders, United Naga Council's leaders, 10 like-minded political parties and women leaders. He is here only for peace, Manipur PCC president Keisham Meghachandra Singh said.

On Thursday, the former Congress chief visited relief camps in Churachandpur, one of the worst affected towns in the ethnic clashes. High drama ensued during the trip, as his convoy of cars was stopped at Bishnupur by the local police, fearing the carcade may face attacks. Gandhi eventually turned back and flew down to Churachandpur on a chopper.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi: The governments push for a Uniform Civil Code, seen by many analysts as a sharply polarising issue, seems to have already polarised the opposition parties, with some openly supporting the move, albeit with caveats, and others strongly opposed to it. At the Opposition unity meeting in Patna on June 23. (HT FILE)

One constituent of the Opposition group, the Aam Aadmi Party has supported the governments push for Uniform Civil Code (UCC), another, the Shiv Sena (UBT) wants to see the fine print, but most have opposed it. Still, some opposition leaders are confident that the positions of individual parties on UCC will not adversely affect the unity achieved in their Patna meeting on June 23.

Also Read | Ex-Himachal CM's son deviates from Cong line, offers full support to UCC

Senior leaders of the Congress and Trinamool argued that they are not expecting all 15 constituents to ftake similar positions on various political issues. But as in the Patna meeting, the upcoming Opposition meeting in Bengaluru in mid-July will focus on common issues such as federalism, jobs, economic woes and the Centres alleged interference in Opposition-ruled states.

All 15 parties are not photocopies of each other, said Trinamools Rajya Sabha leader Derek OBrien.

After the Patna summit, the second summit will consolidate on those issues that we have a 100% agreement on. We are aware that on some issues, all parties will not be on the same page. This is not unusual. There is total agreement at the macro level on the way ahead he added.

A senior Congress strategist pointed out that in the Patna meeting, 14 of 15 Opposition parties agreed that there would be unity on a common agenda and that the Opposition parties will fight unitedly against the BJP.

Also Read | Kapil Sibal's swipe on PM Modi over UCC remarks: Why now after 9 years

In the Patna meeting itself, we showed how we can overcome issues of individual parties. (AAPs) Arvind Kejriwal was focused on the Delhi ordinance and wanted Congress assurance but both West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and former J&K CM Omar Abdullah intervened . Abdullah had told Kejriwal that there are bigger issues to be discussed, this person added

OBrien claimed that UCC is BJPs attempt to divert the attention. When you cannot deliver on jobs. When you cannot control price rise. When you rip the social fabric. When you fail to keep every promise made. All you can do, in your desperation, is to fan the flame with your deeply divisive politics before 2024, he said.

UCC refers to a common set of laws that will subsume customary laws across faiths and tribes and govern issues such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and maintenance. In the Constitution, it is a part of the non-justiciable directive principles of state policy. In a 2018 consultation paper, the law commission said UCC was neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. Earlier this month, the law commission again sought views and suggestions on UCC from the public and recognised religious organisations. Moreover, some states such as Uttarakhand have set up panels to explore implementation of UCC.

The issue got a fresh fillip on June 27, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to BJP booth workers and made a strong case for UCC. These days, people are being provoked by the UCC. You tell me, if there is one law for one person in a home, and another law for another person, can that house function? Modi asked. As the crowd roared in denial, Modi said, Then how can a country work with such a hypocritical system? We have to remember that even the Constitution of India talks of common rights.

Also Read | What the UCC debate entails

Another senior Opposition leader said that in the Bengaluru summit, the issue of UCC might be raised by individual leaders but that the summit will remain focused on the strategy for 2024 election. The key agenda is to discuss the electoral strategy, fielding common candidates backed by all parties in maximum seats, and a common agenda for protests and the upcoming monsoon session, the Congress leader cited abovea dded.

The AAP, which has governments in Delhi and Punjab, supported the UCC and said, In principle, we support Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as Article 44 also says that there should be UCC in the country. However, it should be implemented after wider consultation with everyone. We feel that there should be wide consultation with all religions, political parties and organisations and a consensus should be built.

Shiv Sena (UBT) party president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday told members of the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) that his party supported the UCC but needed clarification from the central government on the possible impact of the law on various communities.

NC leader Farooq Abdullah has slammed the government over UCC. Our country is diverse and so they should rethink the implementation of UCC. People of different religions live here. Muslims have their own Shariat law and if they (Union government) implement UCC, there could be backlash or possible storm.

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The Union government on Friday late night issued another clarification on its controversial move to raise TCS (tax collected at source) up to 20% on foreign payments under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), saying there shall be no TCS for the first 7 lakh remittance under LRS and beyond this threshold, the levy would be 0.5% if remittance is for education that is financed by a bank loan, 5% if remitted for education (sans bank loan) or medical treatment and 20% for all other purposes. HT Image

For purchase of overseas tour program package, the TCS shall continue to apply at the rate of 5% for the first 7 lakh per individual per annum; the 20% rate will only apply for expenditure above this limit, it said.

According to experts, the very subject of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) circular  to remove difficulty in implementation of changes relating to TCS on LRS and on purchase of overseas tour program package  shows complexities in the governments decision. More changes and clarifications are expected in coming days because this controversial move is a compliance nightmare and contrary to the governments ease of doing business motto, one of them said, requesting anonymity.

The circular also indicated more changes and clarifications in this matter before it actually becomes effective. Sub-section (1-l) of section 206C of the Act provides that if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of sub-section (1G) of this section, the Board may, with the approval of the Central Government, issue guidelines for the purpose of removing the difficulty.

On the inclusion of international credit cards under the LRS limit of $250,000 a year, the circular said that the classification of use of international credit card while being overseas, as LRS is postponed. Therefore, no TCS shall be applicable on expenditure through international credit card while being overseas till further order.

Experts said the ominous words further order is a sword of Damocles. Devil lies in the details, just wait for the October deadline, said a second expert, also on condition of anonymity. The increased TCS rates will be applicable from October 1, 2023 instead of July 1, as was earlier stipulated.

While the circular does not have any specific mention of LRS status of using international credit cards while in India, a finance ministry official, requesting anonymity said, It will. The applicable TCS rates on credit cards will be zero up to an expenditure of 7 lakh, beyond which it would attract 20%, the official said.

The circular admits that the reporting system is not yet ready to capture the complicated TCS rates on various transactions, which would be a compliance burden for authorised dealers such as banks, financial institutions, forex dealers, and tour operators and they could be penalised for omissions.

Since the facility to provide real time update of remittance under LRS by remitter is still under development by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India), it is clarified that the details of earlier remittances under LRS by the remitter during the financial year may be taken by the authorised dealer through an undertaking at the time of remittance. lf the authorised dealer correctly collects the tax at source based on information given in this undertaking, he will not be treated as assessee in default. However, for any false information in the undertaking, appropriate action may be taken against the remitter under the Act, it said.

Experts criticised the move as multiple tax rates would make the system complicated and lead to a compliance nightmare. They also pointed out that the move is also a roundabout way of reducing the overall LRS limit of $250,000 a year.

HT on May 20 wrote that the governments move effectively reduced the LRS limit. If the idea is to reduce the amount Indians can spend or invest overseas in a year, or use to buy assets such as houses or stocks, then it is anti-reformist, and goes against the original reasons why LRS was introduced. If the idea is to crack down on untaxed income finding its way overseas  a cumbersome process given that even credit card spends are on the radar anyway  going after individual violators perhaps makes more sense than a sweeping rule change, it pointed out.
Rahul Gandhi's visit to Manipur will not bring any solution to the tense situation of the state and is only a one-day media hype, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said as Rahul Gandhi was stopped from visiting Churachandpur by road and he had to take a helicopter. Police said there was a fear of violence while the Congress refuted the threat perception and blamed BJP's 'dirty political game' behind the drama that unfolded in strife-torn Manipur on Thursday. Rahul Gandhi's visit is one-day media hype, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

"Situation in Manipur demands bridging differences through compassion. Its not in nations interest for a political leader to use his so called visit to exacerbate fault lines. Both the Communities of the State have clearly rejected such attempts," the Assam CM tweeted.

"Had the visit (Rahul Gandhi's) brought a positive effect in the situation which is being addressed by the state and the Centre, it would have been a different scenario. But it is just a one-day media coverage. No result is bound to come. We should not take political advantage of the situation," Sarma said.

Why Rahul Gandhi's convoy was stopped in Manipur

On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi reached Imphal and started for Churachandpur -- one of the worst-affected towns in the clash. Police said there was a possibility of a grenade attack along the highway. Rahul Gandhi then returned to the Imphal airport and took a state government-provided chopper to visit Churachandpur where he visited the relief camps. "I came to listen to all my brothers and sisters of Manipur. People of all communities are being very welcoming and loving. It's very unfortunate that the government is stopping me. Manipur needs healing. Peace has to be our only priority," Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

What protest, asks Congress; BJP counters

As the video of a woman asking why Rahul Gandhi was not being allowed to visit Churachandpur while Union home minister Amit Shah was allowed surfaced, the Congress claimed that the people were very welcoming and it was the BJP that instructed the cops to stop Rahul Gandhi.

BJP's Amit Malviya said 'Rahul go back' slogans were raised in Manipur. "Congress claimed that people had queued up to welcome Rahul Gandhi and were wanting to wave at him in Manipur. Wave black flags perhaps!" Malviya tweeted.

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June 30 is globally observed as the world social media day every year to celebrate the power and impact of social media in connecting people. The key communication tool has become an integral component of our lives in sharing ideas, fostering communities, and driving social change. It also constantly shapes the way we communicate, and engage around the world. Social media platforms have changed the way we communicate and shape our thoughts.

Significance of 'social media day':

The first social media day was celebrated in 2010 by Mashable  a news website. Through observing the day, Mashable wanted to focus on how social media impacts us and its role in global communication. However, in 2018 the company said it was passing on the legacy of social media day to the common public.

The launch of Sixdegrees in 1997 marked the advent of first social media platform ever. The website allowed users to list friends and family members among other features and eventually paved way for more relatable, advanced social media platforms we see around us today.

Also Read: From connection to drama: How social media is impacting teen life

Growing challenges

As empowering as this tool is, the need is also to focus on the areas where social media needs improvement. Many studies and reports have surfaced, highlighting the challenges and emerging concerns in this sector. A growing key concern around the use of social media is key concerns is the potential for misinformation and fake news to spread rapidly across platforms, its addictive nature, and effects on mental health among other things.

A recent study conducted by Sapien Labs, a Washington DC-based organisation, on the first generation to have used smartphones in adolescence- the age group of 18-24 year old  showed early access to smartphones among kids resulted in worsened mental health problems.

Additionally the evolving nature of social media has created new forms of cyber crime. The the National Crime Records Bureau data showed that in 2021, India alone registered 52,974 cases of cyber crimes an 11.8% increase compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, other key concern emerging in this field is around user privacy. Tech-media giants Meta, Amazon, Google keep facing scrutiny for failing to protect personal information of its users. Just last month, Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. was fined a record 1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) European Union privacy fine for shipping data and these issues make just the tip of the iceberg.

The flourishing social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have turned the world into smaller place but addressing the challenges around it is the way to strengthen these communication platforms to ensure a more responsible and beneficial use of social media.

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Not one to restrict the Pride Month to June alone, a 15-year-old artist, Raynah Hazari, is organising an event that will bring around 50 members from the transgender community together. Keeping the ongoing monsoon in mind, the event, titled Falak, will see participants paint umbrellas. The idea behind this event is to enable people to celebrate themselves through art while also finding respite from their own concerns. It will be a platform for people to paint their worries away, allowing them to have fun and let go, says the ninth standard student from the city. Raynah Hazari and Shreedevi Londhe

But why art? I believe art is not just about creating visually appealing pieces, but also about conveying emotions, telling stories, and making a lasting impact. Art is a powerful means of communication and through this endeavour, I hope members from the transgender community get to convey their raw emotions and stories that words alone may not be able to express. So we can get a clearer insight on their realities to hopefully bridge the societal divide they experience every day, says Hazari.

Every transgender artist will take their artwork home. With this event, backed by Sahayog Art Foundation, Aabha and Alert Citizen Forum, Hazari is also looking at creating work opportunities for the transgender community in the future. I want to establish personal connections with individuals from this community and eventually assemble a team of talented individuals interested in the field of art. In the near future, I wish to engage with them in more art-related projects on a larger scale. This event could hopefully be a stepping stone for them to earn a livelihood though the medium of art in the future. I am also open to potential collaborations with other members of the LGBTIQA+ community, she says.

Transgender activist and participant Shreedevi Londhe is excited about painting an umbrella as shes an art lover. Its the rainy season and what could be more beautiful than painting on umbrellas! We, as a community, look very bold to the world outside. But our lives are indeed black and white. I hope this event helps bring some colour into our lives. I urge society to look beyond our gender and not judge us for the same, she says.

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Structures, objects, words  these are the mediums in which history is recorded. PREMIUM An Egyptian painting from 1400 BCE depicts women holding flowers, an indication that they wore perfume. A new research project is recreating a perfume for this era, one likely worn by Cleopatra. Surprisingly, stronger fragrances such as cinnamon were considered ideal for women, in this period. (Getty Images)

Statues tell us what rulers looked like (or wished they did); monuments indicate what was considered significant (religion, trade, the afterlife). Songs and stories preserve tales of battles, victories, customs and feasts. There are two things human history doesnt record: the stories that record keepers didnt want told; and the fragments they couldnt capture. Fragrance is among the latter. How does one convey an aroma? The challenge that perfume ads face today is, in many ways, an eternal one. In ancient art  from Egyptian carvings to Mughal miniatures  a blossom in the subjects hands is used to indicate the presence of perfume. Long-necked vials and flowers, particularly the lily, indicate a fresh aroma, a significant thing to be able to boast of, in a time of rudimentary sanitation and waste management. Studies of what the past smelled like have been largely limited to analyses of the perfume industry, which dates to the ancient civilisations of Egypt and the Indus Valley. In the former, carvings even lay out recipes for oil-based aromatic mixes. At Indus Valley sites, researchers have found urns that once held oil- and water-based essences, and the remains of units where these mixes were produced. There is, of course, a lot more to the tale. What did villages smell like, and the first cities? What were the aromas of a typical home, or person? Some of the missing chapters are now being filled in, as new technology analyses molecular traces of textiles, food, even the surfaces of walls and floors.

Evening of the Battle of Waterloo by Ernest Crofts; 1900. Paintings like this one are being studied for hints on odours from iconic events and places of the past. (Getty Images)

In Saudi Arabia, German archaeologist Barbara Huber is collecting samples from homes, temples, incense burners and cooking vessels, in attempts to recreate the smells of an ancient settlement called Tayma, preserved largely intact in a desert oasis, with remains dating from about 1500 BCE to 500 CE.

Studying smells by leveraging potent new bio-molecular approaches can unlock another dimension of the past and help us understand critical aspects of lifestyles then, Huber says. Her research, underway since 2016, has confirmed, for instance, that the inhabitants of Tayma burnt frankincense in their homes, likely to keep pests away and for its disinfectant, antibacterial properties. This doesnt just indicate what they knew; it indicates what they could afford. Frankincense was so expensive that the philosopher and military commander Pliny the Elder made note of its exorbitance in his writings, in the 1st century CE. Researchers around the world, meanwhile, are borrowing expertise from fields such as art, chemistry and artificial intelligence (AI) programming to unlock other smells from the distant past. In Europe, the Odeuropa project is using an AI-powered algorithm to scan imagery and text from across 400 years, starting in the 17th century, for clues of, for instance, what the canals of Amsterdam smelt like (apparently, it was a potent stench), and what aromas were overlaid on perfumed gloves. These smells are being recreated artificially and released into museums, to add another dimension to exhibitions. Interesting details emerge when one looks back in this manner. Researchers have found, from literary sources, that men in ancient Athens preferred floral notes, while resinous, woody, long-lasting fragrances such as stacte and Mendesian were considered ideal for women. Cinnamon, in particular, was associated with sex and luxury. (Did Egypts queen Cleopatra use the cinnamon-heavy Mendesian? How have researchers recreated it? Read the story alongside for more on this and other ongoing experiments.) Then again, recipes for Egyptian perfumes such as the susinon call for the harvesting and careful processing of 1,000 lilies in a day. This indicates that a large workforce of slaves was likely exploited for the production of just a few litres of perfumed oil, says researcher Sean Coughlin, who has spent years studying ancient cosmetics (and worked on recreating the Cleopatra perfume). Most vitally, the study of smells has the potential to help us understand the everyday citizen of an ancient world, far better. There is little documentation of the general populace. Most ancient texts and art works focus on the lives and lifestyles of rulers and the elite; at most, record books may represent census numbers, or details of harvests and trade. Who were these people? What were their lives like? An analysis of smells and aromatic substances can help recreate the fragrances of private houses, says Huber, or contexts that represented everyday life, such as an ancient village. . Alchemies of Scent: Recreating Cleopatras perfume

A depiction of Cleopatra from circa 50 BCE. (Getty Images)

In 2012, archaeologists unearthed the remains of a fragrance-making unit from the 3rd century BCE, in present-day Tell Timai, Egypt. Could they use trace elements that remained, to recreate a perfume that had been made here?

The archaeologists Robert Littman and Jay Silverstein reached out to Sean Coughlin, a researcher with the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences who was then working on the science of ancient cosmetics at Humboldt University in Berlin, along with Dora Goldsmith, a PhD student at the Free University there. Together, they recreated Mendesian, a strong, cinnamon-heavy perfume believed to have been used by the elite in Cleopatras Egypt, including perhaps the queen herself. (It was named, in the ancient world, for the nearby city of Mendes.) We have papyri that include receipts from assistants of previous rulers ordering the purchases of great quantities of Mendesian, pointing to its popularity at the time, Coughlin says. Scouring medical texts and inscriptions on temple walls, the researchers pieced together a recipe that involved heating oil for ten days and nights so that it would become more receptive to the cinnamon and myrrh. The sample of perfume created using this recipe was showcased at the 2019 Queens of Egypt exhibition at the US National Geographic Museum in Washington DC. In 2021, Coughlin decided to see what else lay down this road. His Alchemies of Scent Project unites Egyptologists, naturalists, chemists, computer scientists and olfactory artists, in attempts to recreate historic perfumes used in Egypt and Greece between 332 and 30 BCE. This period, during Alexander the Greats occupation, was a time of a massive exchange of trade, culture and knowledge, says Coughlin. The team started with what they thought was a simple recipe, for stacte, a fragrant ointment created by mixing myrrh and water. It took two years and was a humbling experience, he says. The recipe called for myrrh to be pressed into a liquid, but most easily available forms of that resin are dry and crystalline. It was like trying to squeeze water from a stone. The researchers eventually learnt that when myrrh is relatively fresh, it holds pockets of an oily liquid, which, when crushed, can be used to create the ointment. The next perfume they attempt will be susinon, an Egyptian lily-based scent depicted in several reliefs and recorded in early works on Greek medicine. The recipe calls for 3,000 lilies, says Coughlin, so currently we are on the lookout for someone in Prague who can help with that. . Whiffs of the past in Saudi Arabia: Aromas from artefacts

Scent information holds clues to the lives of the general population in ancient societies, often overlooked in the official records that focused on rulers and the elite, says Barbara Huber. (Chris Leipold)

What people ate, drank and wore in ancient lands is being studied, at a molecular level, in attempts to recreate olfactory landscapes. Advances in biomolecular technology are helping.

New methods of studying ancient molecules, such as chromatography, mass spectrometry and sequencing technologies, are being used to analyse particles within ancient scent archives such as cooking pots, storage vessels, walls and floors. In a notable example, since 2016, Barbara Huber, a doctoral researcher of archaeology at Germanys Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, has been researching remnants from scent archives in ancient Egypt and in the ruins of the ancient oasis settlement of Tayma in Saudi Arabia. Evidence of settled living dates back 5,000 years here. It was a major crossroad in the early fragrance trade. In a paper titled How to Use Modern Science to Reconstruct Ancient Scent, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour last year, Huber explains how residues in artefacts, city streets, middens, floor surfaces and even bodily features such as dental calculus on the teeth of mummified remains, can yield information. Biomolecules can be trapped in the dental tartar on teeth and by analysing these tiny traces, we can find evidence for the use of spices and other culinary aromas in the food consumed then, she says. Vitally, this kind of information holds clues to the lives of the general population in ancient societies, often overlooked in the official records that focused on rulers and the elite. By studying remains from houses, for instance, Huber was able to confirm that inhabitants of Tayma burned frankincense at home, indicating that the oasis was not merely a transit point on the incense trade route but an active consumer. Most of the burners found in the residential quarter date to the Nabataean and Roman periods, a time when frankincense was expensive. It can be inferred that the inhabitants could afford to purchase precious goods, says Huber. What kinds of disparities were there in wealth? What did the lives of the different genders look like, at the village level? Its possible that further findings will throw light on such aspects as well, she adds. . Odeuropa: Smells replicated using AI

A depiction of smell in a Dutch painting from 1680. (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)

A key clue to ancient fragrances is art. Flowers stand in for perfume; vials worn on the person, in battlefield depictions for instance, hint at odours that had to be kept at bay. Could artificial intelligence (AI) help scan art and text for such clues, and help recreate the smell of a time, place or scene?

A team of 38 researchers from six European countries (the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, UK and Slovenia) have been working since 2020 on a three-year EU-funded project called Odeuropa. It began with the idea of using AI to detect olfactory imagery and vocabularies within digitised art collections, says Sofia Ehrich, olfactory events and exhibitions coordinator with Odeuropa. An AI algorithm is now being used to scan a vast dataset of books and art works from across four centuries of European history (the 17th to 20th). The dataset includes 30,000 images and over 40,000 books in six languages (English, Italian, French, Dutch, German and Slovene). The results the algorithm throws up are analysed and classified by the team of 38, drawn from the fields of history, art history, cultural heritage, language technology, computational linguistics and heritage sciences. The aim is to eventually replicate elements of the olfactory landscape too. Historians and heritage researchers, for instance, have recreated the stench of the 17th-century Amsterdams canals. They have also worked with perfumers from the International Flavour and Fragrance corporation to recreate the spicy scent of pomanders, which were pieces of intricately carved personal jewellery worn to ward off such miasmas or bad air. The pomander scent was typically a mix of cinnamon, oregano and floral notes; perfumed leather gloves could be used too, with fragrances of jasmine, rosewater and frankincense. Pomanders are often visible in the hands or on the belts of portrait subjects in 16th and 17th-century artworks, dangling from a silver chain, says Ehrich. Most on these olfactory histories will be available to the public on the free online Encyclopaedia of Smell History and Heritage, set to be launched by the end of the year. Museums can use these narratives too, to reassess the works in their collection, and tell their stories in new ways, says Ehrich. Offline, there is a plan to recreate more smells for museums, to add another sensory dimension to exhibitions. . Cover to cover: Preserving the fragrance of old books

Cecilia Bembibre at work. (Photo: HMahgoub)

The smell of leather-bound books, scientists are finding, is a mix of chocolate and coffee.

The distinct odour of old books comes from lignin, cellulose and other organic materials in the decaying paper that produces volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are similar to the aroma profiles of both chocolate and coffee, researchers at the University College London (UCL) Institute for Sustainable Heritage in the UK and University of Ljubljana Heritage Science Laboratory in Slovenia have found. They laid out details in research papers published in the journals Analytical Chemistry in 2009 and Heritage Science in 2017. The scent of old books and paper has always been used by conservators to understand what the papers were made of. The smell of lignin-containing books, for example, is bittersweet and more reminiscent of vanilla, while the smell of European handmade paper from before 1850 is more similar to hay but less intense, says Matija Strlic, co-author of the report and professor of analytical chemistry at University of Ljubljana. The precise components of such a fragrance became vital when a beloved library in London, the Wren Library in St Pauls Cathedral, came due for restoration. We noticed that visitors valued the smell as an attribute of the books, and the space, says Cecilia Bembibre, who co-authored the UCL paper with Strlic. It was mentioned often in the guestbook, as a sign of the rich history of the space. Visitors described the aroma as a mix of woody, smoky and earthy, with a hint of vanilla (all reminiscent of the aroma profiles of aging wood and paper). Bembibre took these notes into consideration, when reproducing the aroma artificially in collaboration with perfumer Sarah McCartney. They then tested peoples perceptions of the recreated smell, and have archived it. This approach can be helpful for places of cultural value, in the future, Bembibre says.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anesha George Anesha is a features writer, sometimes a reader, who loves to eat and plan fitness goals she can never keep. She writes on food, culture and youth trends. ...view detail
The makers and actors of The Night Manager season 2 hosted a grand screening in Mumbai last night. Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor, and Sobhita Dhulipala, who star in the series, arrived at the event dressed in stylish ensembles. Several other celebrities also attended the screening, including Anil and Aditya's Malang co-star Disha Patani, Chunky Panday, Maheep Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Vidya Balan, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Fatima Sana Shaikh, and others. The stars chose stylish casual-chic outfits for the occasion. Scroll through to find out who wore what to the event. Aditya Roy Kapur with Disha Patani and Anil Kapoor with Sobhita Dhulipala pose at The Night Manager 2 screening. (HT Photo/Varinder Chawla)

Who wore what to The Night Manager 2 screening

Aditya Roy Kapur

Aditya Roy Kapur looked dapper as he attended the screening of his Disney + Hotstar series The Night Manager 2. The star wore a beige-coloured jumper and navy blue pants for the occasion. He styled the casual-chic ensemble with lace-up sneakers, a trimmed beard, and a backswept hairdo. Paparazzi pages shared his videos, and one of the posts showed him greeting his Malang co-star Disha Patani.

Disha Patani

Disha Patani arrived at The Night Manager 2 screening dressed in a head-turning casual ensemble. She wore a navy blue-coloured bodysuit featuring noodle straps, a decolletage-flaunting plunging V neckline, and a bodycon silhouette. She styled it with Calvin Klein greyish-black skinny-fit denim jeans, tan heeled boots, a shoulder bag, open wavy locks, and minimal glam.

Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor served evergreen elegance in a stylish all-black oversized outfit. He wore a relaxed button-down shirt featuring an asymmetric hemline and teamed it with straight-fitted pants and chunky sneakers. He gave the ensemble a finishing touch with a backswept hairdo and his signature moustache.

Sobhita Dhulipala

Sobhita Dhulipala at The Night Manager 2 screening in Mumbai. (HT Photo/Varinder Chawla)

Sobhita Dhulipala attended The Night Manager 2 screening in a lavender-coloured midi dress featuring a strapless plunging sweetheart neckline, tiered and pleated tulle overlay on the skirt, a corseted bodice, cinched waist, and a figure-defining silhouette. She glammed up the outfit with metallic red heels, bold ruby red lip shade, a sleek updo, a shoulder bag, and a choker necklace.

Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan and Siddharth Roy Kapur at The Night Manager 2 screening. (HT Photo/Varinder Chawla)

Vidya Balan attended The Night Manager 2 screening with Siddharth Roy Kapur. She wore a black sequinned maxi dress featuring a plunging neckline, billowy sleeves, a cinched waistline with a ribbon tie, a flowy pleated skirt, and an asymmetric hem. She accessorised the ensemble with midnight blue high heels, a centre-parted bun, statement earrings, rings, shimmery eyeliner, mauve lip shade, and dewy makeup.
Actors Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor arrived in Mumbai from their summer getaway in Dubai. The couple's daughter, Raha Kapoor, did not accompany them on the trip. The paparazzi clicked Alia and Ranbir at the airport dressed in comfy casuals. We especially loved Alia's breezy ensemble, styled with a no-makeup look and minimal accessories. The star is known for her effortless and easy-to-replicate sartorial choices for the airport. And this look also ticks all the boxes. Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor arrive in Mumbai after a short holiday in Dubai. (Instagram)

(Also Read | Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor twin in black outfits as they go shopping for Raha during Dubai holiday)

Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor arrive in Mumbai

A paparazzo page shared a video of Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor from the airport with the caption, "The way he holds her, adorable yet shows their fun and loveable chemistry [heart-eye and heart emojis]. Raha parents are definitely our favourite Jodi!!." The video shows Ranbir and Alia posing for the media and greeting them outside the airport before entering their car. While Ranbir wore a shirt and denim jeans, Alia chose a relaxed shirt and printed pants set. Check out the video below.

Alia Bhatt's no-makeup look and comfy airport outfit

Alia Bhatt chose a white shirt and printed flared pants for arriving in Mumbai. While the blouse features a collared neckline, front button closures, full-length sleeves with folded cuffs, a semi-sheer silhouette, and a relaxed fitting, the mint green-coloured pants have a mid-rise waist, flared fitting, multi-coloured floral pattern, and a floor-grazing hem.

Alia wore the outfit with chunky white sneakers, an over-the-body bag, hoop earrings, and statement rings. In the end, Alia chose a sleek ponytail, dewy blushed skin, glossy nude lips, and a no-makeup look for the glam picks. She proved less is always more with her simple yet pretty airport styling.

Meanwhile, Ranbir Kapoor complemented his wife in a navy blue shirt and light blue skinny-fit denim jeans. His shirt features a collared neckline, full-length sleeves, front button closures, and a relaxed silhouette. He styled the outfit with lace-up sneakers, a backswept hairdo, and a trimmed beard.
National Postal Worker Day 2023: The special day dedicated to the hardships of the postal workers of the postal service department is celebrated every year. This is the day to respect their hard work and the extra mile that they go, literally, to ensure that we receive our letters on time. Before the age of telephones and the internet came in, the world heavily relied on letters for communication. Be it casual or formal communication, or reaching out to families from faraway lands, letters were the only way to communicate. The world depended heavily on the postal workers for the timely delivery of their letters to their loved ones, offices and families. National Postal Worker Day 2023: Date, history, significance of the day(Unsplash)

Every year, National Postal Worker Day is celebrated with a whole lot of pomp and grandeur. Before we gear up to celebrate the special day, here are a few facts to know about the day:

ALSO READ: Alaska Tlingit artist creates 'Raven Story' stamp for Postal Service

Date:

National Postal Worker Day is celebrated on July 1. The postal service consists of everyone from the clerks to the delivery partners to the drivers who carry the letters to faraway places. This day is observed to acknowledge their efforts.

History:

In 1997, a postal carrier in the Seattle area started National Postal Worker Day to respect the efforts of his employees. Since then, National Postal Worker Day has been celebrated every year.

Significance:

The postal service is an outdoor job and brings with it its own set of challenges. From working in scorching heat to pouring rain, the postal workers ensure timely delivery of communication. This is the day to acknowledge their efforts and respect all that they do for us. Even though technology has made things easier over the last few years, it also brings the risk of malware and hacking. Postal service is a trusted form of sharing communication and ensures safe delivery of letters, without risks.

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National Doctor's Day is celebrated in India every year on July 1 to commemorate the medical genius, politician and a passionate freedom fighter Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy. Born on July 1, 1882, Dr Roy co-incidentally breathed his last on the same date in the year 1962 at the age of 80. The contribution of doctors goes beyond the treatment of health issues, surgeries and saving lives. They support one through what seems like the darkest phase of their life and encourage them to be hopeful and positive. National Doctor's Day is the perfect opportunity to honour the medical practitioners and appreciate their presence in our life. (Also read: Doctor reveals list of food items that WHO should review for carcinogenic content apart from aspartame) National Doctor's Day is the perfect opportunity to honour the medical practitioners and appreciate their presence in our life.(Freepik)

Date of National Doctor's Day

National Doctor's Day is celebrated every year on July 1 in India to honour doctors across the country and in the memory of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, the educationist, physicist and Chief Minister of West Bengal.

History of National Doctor's Day

Doctor's Day is celebrated on different dates across the world. In United States and Australia, it is March 30, while Canada celebrates the day on May 1 to honour Dr Emily Stowe, the first female doctor in the country. In Brazil, doctors are honoured on October 18, on the birthday of Saint Luke, who was a doctor according to Church tradition. In China on the other hand, the national holiday is celebrated on August 19 every year.

In India National Doctor's Day was established in 1991 to honour Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy who was also Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1948 to 1962. He was a friend and personal doctor of Mahatma Gandhi and had treated him in 1942 during Quit India Movement.

Bidhan Chandra Roy during his tenure as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta and around the time of Japanese bombings in Rangoon in 1942, made special air-raid shelters for students and teachers so that classes could be held even during the turbulent time of war. Dr Roy also took part in relief activities and in recognition of his services, he was awarded Doctorate of Science degree in 1944.

Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy was also the recipient of the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna and received the award on February 4, 1961.

Theme for Doctor's Day

This year the theme for National Doctor's Day in India is - Celebrating Resilience and Healing Hands." The doctors made an invaluable contribution during our global fight with Coronavirus and continue to be resilient as newer diseases, infections and health issues emerge.

Significance of National Doctor's Day

Doctors have a crucial role to play in times of health uncertainties, treatment and diagnosis of diseases, performing important surgeries and even clarifying our doubts when we are anxious about our well-being. They take our calls at odd hours, work incessantly for 18-20 hours when required and perhaps care more about their patients than their own self. National Doctor's Day is the perfect opportunity to talk about the contribution of doctors in our lives and in society as a whole. Doctors are the fighters and the heroes that need to be acknowledged more often.

Celebration of National Doctor's Day

It's not every day you thank your physician for being there for you. This day offers perfect opportunity to express your gratitude for your doctor for treating your health woes. You can also donate to medical charities that can support medical research. You can also give them a greeting card or a special gift.

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In a long-awaited commercial debut, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. on Thursday sent paying customers to the edge of space for the first time, a milestone in the emerging private spaceflight sector. The VSS Unity craft reached space at about 9:30am local time in New Mexico, carrying six people on board, including researchers from the Italian Air Force and the National Research Council of Italy. Virgin Galactic's rocket-powered spaceplane during a research flight before gliding back down to Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. (Virgin Galactic via AP)

The Italian Air Force officers unfurled their nation's flag while enjoying a few minutes of weightlessness at 52.9 miles (85.1 kilometres) above sea level. Fifty miles is considered the border of space by Nasa and the US Air Force, though the internationally recognized boundary, known as the Karman Line, is 62 miles high.

Who all were on the VSS Unity spaceplane

Colonel Walter Villadei and Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi of the Italian Air Force flew on the craft along with Pantaleone Carlucci of the National Research Council of Italy, and Colin Bennett of Virgin Galactic. There were also two pilots on the spaceplane, and two on the carrier plane.

Suborbital space tourism competition

Richard Branson's company has carried employees on several previous test missions, but the latest launch was the first with ticket-holding passengers. The maiden commercial flight came two years after Branson flew in a test flight meant to usher in a new era of lucrative space tourism as it competes with billionaire Jeff Bezos's company, Blue Origin, in the "suborbital" space tourism sector. Bezos, however, has said Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard rocketship tops the Karman line, unlike Virgin Galatic's spaceplane.

What next

Virgin Galactic suffered a major setback to its commercial spaceflight program when a spaceplane on a test mission broke apart midair, killing the copilot and severely injuring the pilot. The company had already sold around 600 tickets for seats on future commercial flights for $200,000 to $250,000, with movie stars and celebrities among the first to snap up seats. Since then, the company has sold another 200 tickets for $450,000 each. It is now planning its next space mission, Galactic 02, for August, and hopes to make monthly space hops after that.

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The international asteroid day is globally observed every year on June 30 to mark the anniversary of the Earth's largest asteroid impact in recorded history  Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on this day in 1908. Recognised by the United Nations, the day is meant to increase public awareness regarding the potential dangers posed by asteroid impacts and the crisis communication actions to be taken to address any threats from near-Earth objects. June 30 is observed as the world asteroid day to mark the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on this day in 1908.

NASA explains that asteroids are "rocky remnants left over from the early formation of our Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago."

'Tunguska asteroid event'

The 1908 event in Siberia remains the largest recorded asteroid impact in Earth's history. According to NASAs Centre for Near-Earth objects Studies, so far more than 16,000 Near Earth Asteroids have been discovered.

Another prominent asteroid event was when in February 15, 2013, a large fireball entered the Earth's atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia. Moving at a speed of 18.6 kilometres per second, the fireball disintegrated in the skies. The event was an extraordinarily large fireball and the most energetic impact event recorded since the 1908 Tunguska impact.

The resolution to observe asteroid day was adopted by the UN in 2016. The decision was taken after a proposal was made by Association of Space Explorers  an organisation comprising of people who have completed at least one Earth orbit in space. It group was endorsed by Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

NEO impact hazard a global issue

As the need for creating a robust global response plan to address the dangers posed by Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) were established in 2014. The IAWN focuses on developing communication plans and protocols to aid governments in assessing the potential impacts of asteroid collisions and supporting mitigation measures; SMPAG is an inter-space agency forum that identifies technologies needed to deflect NEOs, the UN said.

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Seventeen prisoners escaped from Pakistan's Chaman jail in the restive Balochistan province during Eid ul-Adha prayers while one inmate was killed in firing by the prison guards. 17 of the prisoners managed to escape from the jail.(HT File Photo)

The Balochistan Inspector General of Prisons, Malik Shuja Kasi said some police guards and inmates were injured in the violence and firing.

The incident happened when Eid prayers were being offered on Thursday inside the jail in an open space, Kasi said.

Apparently these prisoners had planned the escape and executed it during Eid prayers. After they were let out of their barracks for Eid prayers, they violently attacked the police guards, he said.

Kasi said that in the ensuing violence and chaos, one inmate was also killed in the firing by prison guards while 17 others managed to escape.

They appear to have had help from outside in making their escape a successful one, he added.

Kasi said a list of the escaped prisoners was prepared and some of them were in jail for terror activities.

The Chaman jail is located close to the border town with Iran and security forces fear the prisoners might have crossed the border with help from accomplices.

Separately, in a suicide bomb attack, a female suicide bomber hit a Frontier Corps vehicle in Balochistans Turbat city killing one police officer.
Australia has become the world's first country to allow doctors to prescribe MDMA and magic mushrooms to treat as depression and Post Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD). The controversial move came into force today but was taken in February earlier this year. Australia's drug watchdog Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approved the move after almost three years of deliberation and consultation with experts. Although, authorities said that they will continue to closely monitor the cases. Australia's drug watchdog approved the move.(Representational)

What is MDMA and magic mushrooms?

MDMA is a synthetic drug which is also called "molly" or ecstasy. Magic mushrooms are known for giving an excessively trippy experience to the user due to the presence of psilocybin. Both drugs are "prohibited substances" currently and are used in closely controlled clinical trials in Australia.

Advocates of the decision believe that the drug can also be used for treating eating disorders, alcohol dependence and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

What do critics of the move say?

Critics are concerned that there is insufficient research to show that the drugs are helpful in treating depression and PTSD.

"Its not for everybody. We need to work out who these people are that are going to have bad experiences, and not recommend it, Susan Rossell, a psychiatrist at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne told Nature.

Instead, it seems the TGA has yielded to pressure from the public and lobby groups to increase access to these experimental treatments, outside of clinical trials. Sufficient levels of evidence have not yet been generated for broad-scale implementation to be justified," the expert said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
US President Joe Biden on Thursday claimed that his administration knew about the impending rebellion against Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of time. In what Fox News called a softball interview' with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, Biden briefly talked about the last week's revolt against Putin by his former aide and mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and a dramatic U-turn within 24 hours. US President Joe Biden.(AFP)

When asked about what the US knew about the Russian revolt, Biden responded, We knew things ahead of time, but said he couldn't say what.

Wallace followed up, Did you worry that Trump might have tipped him off, had he still been president? She was apparently asking whether Trump would have warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of the mercenary leader's plans for the rebellion against Russia's military leaders.

Oh, God, Biden said. "I don't know. I don't think about that very often."

As president, former US President Donald Trump developed friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Thursday, Trump said the Russian President has been "somewhat weakened" by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

"You could say that he's (Putin) still there, he's still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people," Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview.

If Putin were no longer in power, however, "you don't know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse," he said.

Putin witnessed one of the biggest challenges as Russian premier after the Wagner Group chief launched a mutiny against the top leadership. Prigozhin claimed that the armed mutiny was to save his group after being ordered to place it under the command of the defence ministry, which he has cast as ineffectual in the war in Ukraine.

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Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been barred from running for office again as a court ruled that he abused his power and cast doubts on the countrys electronic voting system. The decision will forbid Jair Bolsonaro from running for office until 2030 as four of the seven judges on the nation's highest electoral court said that the former president abused his authority. Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro speaks with media.(Reuters)

This decision will end Bolsonaros chances of being president again, and he knows it, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. After this, he will try to stay out of jail, elect some of his allies to keep his political capital, but it is very unlikely he will ever return to the presidency.

The case focussed on a meeting where Jair Bolsonaro had said that the countrys electronic voting system was rigged.

Bolsonaro abused the powers of his office by calling the meeting: check. He used government staffers and buildings with an electoral objective: check. And he mixed the countrys interests with those of his campaign: check, the court said.

Although, the former president will be able to appeal the judgement in the country's supreme court where he faces criminal investigations.

This is an injustice against me, my God in heaven! Show me something concrete I have done against democracy, Jair Bolsonaro said reacting to the judgement.

Perhaps my crime was doing the right thing for four years," he added.

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As many as 36 cases of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever have been reported in Afghanistan's Herat in the past two months, Khaama Press reported. Five people have died owing to the fever, it added while quoting Mohammad Asif Kabir, Deputy of public health of Herat. He said that the number of cases witnessed a rise this year, sparking concern among authorities about the spread of the disease. A Taliban soldier walks in Kabul, Afghanistan.(Reuters)

Earlier, three cases of Congo hemorrhagic fever were reported in Takhar province and one of the three patients died. Over 90 people in Afghanistan have been infected by Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever during the last week and a total of seven people have died due to the disease during this summer, Khaama Press reported.

Hayatullah Emami, director of Takhar Provincial hospital, told Khaama Press, We are fully prepared because this disease is not new, and we have better measures in Takhar provincial hospital than in the past.

Najibullah Tawana, director of the health department of Balkh, said, Ten positive cases of Congo have been recorded; sadly, we had two deaths. The Abu Ali Sinai regional hospital in Balkh has its own particular preparations, and the 50-bed Antani hospital is also ready.

What is Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever?

According to World Health Organization (WHO), Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is caused by a tick-borne virus (Nairovirus) of the Bunyaviridae family and causes severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks, with a case fatality rate of 10-40 per cent.

The CCHF virus is transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter, WHO said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
French prime minister Elisabeth Borne said that the emergency cabinet meeting called by the country's president Emmanuel Macron aims to review "all options" to restore order. "The priority is to ensure national unity and the way to do it is to restore order," Borne said following the fatal shooting of a teenager which has sparked three nights of unrest in France. France Protests: Burnt buses seen through the gates at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal in Aubervilliers, north of Paris.(AFP)

France must address deep issues of racist discrimination in its police, the United Nations said, saying, We are concerned by the killing of a 17-year-old of North African descent by police in France... this is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement.

Here are the top updates on protests in France:

Protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police who responded with tear gas and water cannons as tensions grew. More than 600 people were arrested and at least 200 police officers injured as the government struggled to restore order. Violent protests were witnessed in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the police officer had shot the teen named Nahel resulting in protests. In several Paris neighborhoods, groups of people hurled firecrackers at security forces, Associated Press reported. Almost 40,000 police officers were deployed to quell the protests and 667 people were detained, the interior minister said adding that 307 of those were in the Paris region alone. Around 200 police officers were injured, according to a national police spokesperson. Interior minister Gerald Darmanin denounced the protests. Although , the government did not declare a state of emergency, France's president Emmanuel Macron left early from an EU summit in Brussels to hold an emergency security meeting.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
French president Emmanuel Macron called on parents to keep child rioters off the streets saying that around a third of the 875 people arrested overnight for rioting were "young, or very young". "It's the responsibility of parents to keep them at home. It's not the state's job to act in their place," he said after chairing a crisis security meeting as the government seeks to contain nationwide unrest in the wake of the killing of a teen by police. French president Emmanuel Macron.(AFP)

Urging social media firms to remove the "most sensitive" content related to the rioting, the French president said that the platforms were fueling copycat violence.

Additional security forces would be deployed, he said, denouncing the "unacceptable exploitation of a death of an adolescent".

In the violent protests, a total of 492 buildings have been damaged, 2,000 vehicles burned and 3,880 fires started, according to figures given by the president at the start of a crisis meeting.

The protests come following the death of a 17-year-old at a police traffic stop. The killing was caught on video igniting anger over incidents of police violence and allegations of systemic racism within law enforcement.

Earlier, the government vowed to examine "all options" to restore order after the third night of protests during which more than two hundred police were injured, authorities said.

Emmanuel Macron has so far ruled out declaring a state of emergency. France's prime minister called the violence intolerable and inexcusable, saying, The priority is to ensure national unity and the way to do it is to restore order.

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Canadian media outlets are bracing for a significant setback, as Google announced on Thursday that it will remove news generated in the country from its Search and News and other platforms, following the enactment of contentious legislation by Ottawa. (AFP)

The Online News Act became law last week and on Thursday, Kent Walker, Googles president of Global Affairs for Google and Alphabet, said it was unworkable and the tech giant has informed the Canadian Government that once the law takes effect, we unfortunately will have to remove links to Canadian news from our Search, News and Discover products in Canada.

It will also revisit the Google News Showcase, under which it has agreements with nearly 150 Canadian publications.

Were disappointed it has come to this. We dont take this decision or its impacts lightly and believe its important to be transparent with Canadian publishers and our users as early as possible, Walker said, in a statement posted by Google.

Action from Google follows a similar announcement by Meta last week, also pertaining the removal of Canadian news content from its platforms, Facebook and Instagram. Meta has started cancelling agreements it had in place with Canadian news outlets.

The major matter that has irked the tech majors is that the law calls for displaying links to news content on their platform to be paid for. The unprecedented decision to put a price on links (a so-called link tax) creates uncertainty for our products and exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians access to news from Canadian publishers, the Google statement added.

Ottawa doesnt appear willing to compromise. After the Google announcement, Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez tweeted, Big tech would rather spend money changing their platforms to block news from Canadians instead of paying a small share of the billions they make in advertising dollars. Canadians wont be bullied. Big tech isnt bigger than Canada.

Critics of the legislation had warned of such an outcome. Michael Geist, professor of law at the University of Ottawa, was among them and he tweeted on Thursday that the blame was squarely on Rodriguez as he did not take the risks of the flawed legislation seriously.

However, there may still be a window open for an understanding as Google will continue to participate in discussions as the Government finalises a regulatory structure to make the provisions of the act operational. We hope that the Government will be able to outline a viable path forward, Google said.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anirudh Bhattacharyya Anirudh Bhattacharya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media. He tweets as @anirudhb. ...view detail
More than 2,000 people suffered heat stress during the hajj pilgrimage, Saudi officials said as per news agency AFP. Temperatures soared to 48 degrees Celsius during the annual rites as over 1.8 million worshippers performed the days-long hajj. Many elderly were among the pilgrims after a Covid-era maximum age limit was scrapped, officials said. Muslim pilgrims pray around the Kaaba.(AP)

About 1,700 heat stress cases were recorded on Thursday alone, the Saudi health ministry said. "The number of heat stress cases since the beginning of this day has reached 1,721," the ministry said, urging people to stay out of the sun and drink plenty of water.

At least 230 people, many from Indonesia, died during the pilgrimage, according to numbers announced by various countries which did not list causes of death, AFP reported. According to the consul general of Indonesia at least 209 Indonesians died during the hajj. "It is inaccurate to say that a lot of Indonesian pilgrims died because of heat strokes," the consul general said acknowledging that some pilgrims had "fainted" during the pilgrimage "because of the heat".

Eight Algerians and four Moroccans died, officials said, while an Egypt said eight pilgrims from the country had passed away.

This comes as Saudi Arabia dispatched thousands of paramedics and set up field hospitals to help the pilgrims amid the biggest hajj this year since 2.5 million visitors came in pre-Covid 2019.

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The number of homeless people in New York City shelters has surpassed a record-high 100,000, New York Times reported. The spike has sparked concerns as local governments grapple with handling the homeless population, the report added. City officials said that the homeless people count was spurred by an influx of migrants from the US southern border as there are now over 100,000 people in homeless shelters for the first time in history. A man walks near the New York Stock Exchange.(Reuters)

The number of migrants in shelters passed 50,000 a few days earlier while more than two-thirds of the number are families with children, the city's deputy mayor said as per New York Times.

The report also claimed that the city has already spent over a billion dollars to house the migrants since they started arriving in large numbers in 2022. The figure is expected to rise to over four billion dollars by next year, it added.

As per the New York Post, among the 2,308 homeless people present during the NYC sweep between March 21, 2022, and November 30, 2022, only three people landed in permanent housing. Nearly 95 per cent of them didn't even go to a shelter. The situation is no different in Los Angeles where ABC7 reported that a leaked email of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said that homeless people living at a West Hills encampment will be arrested and all their belongings will be taken away by sanitation.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
North Korean intensified national crackdown on puppet language- Korean spoken in South Korea. Anyone in North Korea caught using slang or vocabulary from the South will face sentences that may include hard labour in a prison camp or even death under the Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act, South China Morning Post reported. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP)

Residents who are already accustomed to the South Korean way of speaking now feel like they have to practice the Pyongyang dialect, a resident in the northwestern province of North Pyongan told Radio Free Asia.

They are worried that South Korean words will unintentionally or unknowingly come out of their mouths and that they will be punished, he said.

Read more: Google to block local news in Canada over media law

What words North Koreans cannot use?

North Korean women cannot call their husbands or boyfriends jagiya or oppa. Instead, they must stick with dongji, (comrade), the report claimed. North Koreans also have to avoid using South Korean loan words from English such as paesyeon (fashion), heeoseutail (hairstyle) and waipeu (wife).

Even openly saying I love you is evidence that they have seen South Korean movies and such language has become normalized, the report added. North Korean authorities are making this change as they are intent on wiping out the rotten language of capitalism,, RFA reported.

Earlier, there have been reported instances of people being punished for speaking like South Koreans. There have also been shocking cases where people were executed for trying to sell contraband videos and music.

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Three men with sledgehammers and hatchets smashed glass windows at a luxury jewellery store in Mexico City as they snatched the merchandise and fled. The robbery was captured on video by bystanders who posted it on social media. Mexico Robbery: The mall is located in Polanco.

The videos, which have been widely shared on social media, showed the three men whacking the windows, while a fourth man, was on the lookout, observing them quietly.

No mall security or police appear to be present on the scene.

Mexico City police chief said that police had worked through the night on the case and one suspect had been detained, as per news agency Associated Press. The mall is located in Polanco.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
Myanmar's humanitarian and human rights situation has plunged to "alarming levels", the United Nations said Friday, as it blasted the ruling junta for actively preventing life-saving aid from getting through. Opponents of Myanmar's military government are applauding fresh financial sanctions imposed by the United States on the Southeast Asian nation. (AP/File)

The southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since the military ousted democratically-elected civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi from office in a 2021 coup.

Fighting between the junta and its opponents has ravaged swathes of the country.

The military "continues to prioritise its aims over all other considerations", UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing.

"Myanmar's overall humanitarian and human rights situation has deteriorated to alarming levels, exacerbated by the military's strategy to prevent life-saving humanitarian aid from reaching those who desperately need it," added Shamdasani.

"The military has operated as if those providing aid are helping those opposed to their rule, rather than respecting their need for protection and facilitating their access and assistance to the civilian population in a time of crisis".

Restricting aid needed in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha in May has brought "further suffering and misery" to swathes of the west and northwest, said Shamdasani.

Intentional obstruction or denial of humanitarian assistance may amount to gross violations of international human rights law, and serious violations of international humanitarian law.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk has produced a report in the situation in Myanmar, and will present it to the Human Rights Council on Wednesday.

The junta has killed and injured thousands of civilians while destroying goods and infrastructure necessary for survival, including food, shelter, and medical centres, says the report.

Read Here | After the violence: A Myanmar twist as Manipur searches for its own

An estimated 1.5 million people have been internally displaced, and approximately 60,000 civilian structures have reportedly been burnt or destroyed, says the report.

More than 17.6 million people, or one-third of the overall population, require some form of humanitarian assistance.

"Between February 2021 and April 2023, credible sources verified that at least 3,452 persons have died at the hands of the military and its affiliates," the report says.

Furthermore, "21,807 individuals were arrested, and 5,839 convicted without any respect for judicial guarantees. Additionally, 154 have been sentenced to death and four known to be executed".

The Human Rights Council is set to discuss Myanmar next week.
Late-night US talk shows have been put on a long-term hiatus as a strike by Hollywood writers neared the two-month mark, pausing production of scripted shows as well as films. Unionized actors could also strike alongside the writers prompting fears that the shutdown may continue for a longer time.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel.(AFP)
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on July 4, Pakistan's foreign ministry announced on Friday. "Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the 23rd Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) being held in video conference format on 4th July 2023," a statement said.

In a statement, it said Sharifs participation in the summit illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO, which is an important forum for regional security and prosperity, and enhanced engagement with the region.

"Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the 23rd Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) being held in video conference format on 4th July 2023," it said.

"The invitation to the Prime Minister to attend the SCO-CHS was extended by the Prime Minister of India in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO," the statement said.

At the summit, the leaders will deliberate on important global and regional issues and chart the future direction of cooperation among SCO Member States. This year, the SCO CHS will also welcome Iran as a new member of the organisation, it said.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

India assumed the rotating chairmanship of the SCO at the Samarkand Summit on September 16 last year.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced in May that India will host the annual summit of the SCO in the virtual format on July 4. However, it did not cite reasons for holding the summit in the virtual mode.
In a remarkable turn of events, Prince Harry is making headlines once again, this time with a sensational solo project for Netflix. Based on a report from Daily Record, the Duke of Sussex, no stranger to Africa, is reportedly venturing back to the beloved continent to film a captivating documentary, following in the footsteps of his late mother, Princess Diana. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.(REUTERS)

While the news has royal enthusiasts buzzing with excitement, there's a twisthis duchess, Meghan Markle, won't be joining him on this adventure. The new Netflix endeavor marks the next chapter of their colossal 78m deal with the streaming giant, signaling a promising comeback after a recent blow to their Spotify collaboration.

The loss of their $20m Spotify deal led to the unfortunate cancellation of Meghan's Archetypes podcast after just one season. Speculations swirled, casting doubt on the future of their Netflix deal, but it seems Harry's African documentary is the silver lining they've been waiting for.

An inside source from Netflix revealed, "Obviously, Harry has a lot of roots in Africa, and he feels at home there." Indeed, Africa holds a special place in the Duke's heart, making this documentary all the more poignant and personal.

Details about the nature of the documentary remain shrouded in mystery, as the ongoing Hollywood writer's strike puts some plans on hold. However, fans eagerly anticipate this exclusive glimpse into Prince Harry's life and experiences on the African continent.

In the past, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wowed Netflix audiences with their six-part series 'Harry & Meghan,' a captivating portrayal of their lives, from humble beginnings to their royal journey, and their subsequent relocation to the United States with their two adorable children, Archie and Lilibet.

As Prince Harry sets out on this thrilling new adventure, Meghan is carving her own path. The Duchess reportedly has a "one-woman show" in the works, with numerous brand offers pouring in. Embracing a divergent career trajectory, Meghan's new agent aims to build more professional connections and open new doors for her.

Also read | Has Meghan Markle lost all credibility? Royal insider claims she has a reputation for telling untruths'

While the royal couple may be pursuing individual projects, they both continue to make headlines with their creative endeavors. Prince Harry's return to Africa promises to be an unmissable spectacle, and fans eagerly await the captivating stories he'll share.
Prince Harry is seeking damages of up to 320,000 pounds ($405,000) from Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), court documents revealed as the trial of the Duke of Sussex' phone-hacking lawsuit nears its end. Along with 100 others, Prince Harry is suing MGN, publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. The royal has alleged that his phone was hacked to seek information between 1991 and 2011 and senior editors and executives at MGN knew about and approved of the wrongdoing. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, departs the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain.(Reuters)

MGN said there is no evidence for the accusations but Prince Harry claimed that he was targeted by the publisher for 15 years from 1996. Over 140 stories were the result of unlawful information gathering, he said, seeking damages in relation to the 33 articles, according to court documents.

The court may also consider whether Prince Harry is entitled to what are known as aggravated damages- awarded to compensate a claimant for additional distress.

What has the publisher said?

MGN said that there is no evidence showing that Prince Harry's phone was hacked and that some of the personal information about the royal had come from senior Buckingham Palace aides. The publisher argued that Prince Harry should receive no more than 37,000 pounds, according to the documents.

Earlier, the publisher admitted that on one occasion a private investigator had been engaged to unlawfully gather evidence about Prince Harry in 2004 but the article which was published did not form part of the trial.

Prince Harry first royal to appear in court for 130 years

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, became the first senior royal to give evidence in court for 130 years. The trial is due to conclude this week while the ruling is not expected for several months.

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Prince Harry is set to lose a major royal role after the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan Markle were evicted from Frogmore cottage, an expert revealed. As the couple left the residence-six months after getting their eviction notice from King Charles- their remaining possessions were shipped to their California mansion, The Sun reported. Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, departs the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain.(Reuters)

This means that the pair will no longer have a home in UK which implies that Prince Harry will miss out on an important royal role.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told The Sun, Losing their UK home without a replacement is a huge deal. The most important aspect as far as Harry is concerned is that it means he can no longer act as a counsellor of state. Thats hugely important because in theory he had the right, in the event of the king being incapacitated, to do this. Although he is no longer a working royal he still had this right - and by not having a UK residence he has now thrown this opportunity away.

But of course it does seem that Harry, and Meghan, dont care at all about the UK. They have no interest in their popularity or taking on roles here - they just care about their US audience. But it means if they dont have a UK residence when William ascends to the throne then he will be unable to support his brother - not that he does that now," he said.

Prince Harry and Meghan lived at the cottage for just six months. It was a wedding gift from the late monarch Queen Elizabeth. The Duke of Sussex last stayed there when he was in court as a witness in a phone-hacking trial.

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Prince William had an amusing reaction as he was told a cheeky story about his grandfather the late Duke of Edinburgh. While the Prince of Wales visited the East Belfast Mission at the Skainos Centre in Northern Ireland- part of his initiative on homelessness- he was told an anecdote about Prince Philip. Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales is seen. (Reuters)

As per Hello! magazine, Prince William was being shown around the centre by Reverend Brian Anderson when the minister stopped to tell him a story about his grandfather. Recalling, the reverend said that Prince Philip had used some expletive-filled language during his last visit to the charity in 2008.

He just immediately asked, Why dont you just give them the money? the reverend told Prince William about his grandfather.

There was an expletive in there but Im not going to say that. And three weeks later the money turned up," he added.

Prince William replied, That sounds like my grandfather", later telling the crowd, The Reverend has been telling me stories about my grandfather.

Prince William also joked that he will be in trouble after hugging one fan during his walkabout in Belfast. Ill get into big trouble, Prince William said. When the Duke of Edinburgh died in April 2021, Prince William shared a touching tribute to his grandfathers commitment to his country and Commonwealth, to his wife and Queen, and to our family", saying, I feel lucky to have not just had his example to guide me, but his enduring presence well into my own adult life  both through good times and the hardest days."

My grandfather was an extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation. Catherine and I will continue to do what he would have wanted and will support the Queen in the years ahead, he said, continuing I will miss my Grandpa, but I know he would want us to get on with the job.

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Joe Biden skipped King Charles' coronation in London in May but the White House had then said that the US president would make a state visit to Britain. He is due to visit the country next month but may not meet the monarch during the state visit, UK media reported. Joe Biden's trip to London in July forms just one stop on a tour which is centered on a summit of the NATO alliance. US President Joe Biden.(AFP)

There will be no Buckingham Palace banquet or 82-gun salute as there was four years ago when then US president Donald Trump was honoured with a full state visit, Daily Mail reported.

There was no state visit invitation extended when Joe Biden spoke to King Charles before he and Queen Camilla were crowned at Westminster Abbey, the report added.

There was never an invitation for a state visit. The point was to try to get away from headlines about Biden snubbing Charles over the Coronation, and show that the two had a decent relationship. And the White House managed to mess it up, it claimed.

US first lady Jill Biden had attending the monarch's coronation while Joe Biden was present at the funeral of King Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth, in September. Upon his coronation, Joe Biden congratulated King Charles III and Queen Camilla paying tribute to the enduring friendship between the US and the UK

In a tweet, Joe Biden called the countries' relationship "a source of strength for both our peoples," adding that he was proud First Lady Jill Biden was representing the United States for this historic occasion.

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King Charles once sent security staff to knock down a door to free Prince William and Prince Harrys tutor who locked himself in the bathroom. The incident happened at Highgrove House, UK cabinet minister Rory Stewart said. He was just 19 years old and had been drafted in to tutor the young princes. Prince Harry: Britain's Prince William and Britain's Prince Harry are seen.(AP)

Rory Stewart had then snapped a key in the bathroom lock, he said as he shared the hilarious incident. Rory Stewart had been employed as a tutor to Prince William and Prince Harry during the course of the summer holidays.

The teenager had gone to take a relaxing bath at the end of a long day at around 11pm. But when he got out of the bath, he went to unlock the bathroom door.

I tried to unlock the door and I couldnt. I thought, for goodness sake, and I kept struggling with the key and I couldnt shift it," Rory Stewart said. After this, there was a knock at the door and it was the voice of King Charles jokingly asking the tutor to turn off the lights before he went to bed, Rory Stewart recounted.

He obviously cares about the environment!, the minister joked. Rory Stewart said that then he felt like a very scared 19-year old in his first proper job. He also said that he had to admit to the King that he had locked himself in the loo which was quite embarrassing for him.

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Anti-monarchy group in UK said that Prince William has some explaining to do over his household accounts after the income that the senior royal derived from the Duchy of Cornwall was revealed. The Prince of Wales received a private income of almost 6 million pounds this year but did not publish an annual, household report this year. Britain's Prince William during a visit to Loftus Road.(Reuters)

Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, said, William has some explaining to do because a change of monarch and heir is no excuse to row back on what little transparency there is. There is absolutely no reason why Williams household cannot provide a full set of accounts for this financial year. As the recipient of public funds from the state-owned Duchy he should be reporting his income and expenditure.

As Duchy profits appear to be growing to a record 24million its time we demanded the return of the Duchies (of Cornwall and Lancaster) to the people and for revenue to be spent on local communities," he said.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said, Their royal highnesses have been working through with their Duchy and household team their plans and priorities for the Duchy and the household in the years to come, and how these support their work and charitable priorities, such as The Royal Foundation and its programmes. And it's why the household is not publishing a partial annual report.

The Duchy generated record profits of 24.048m in 2022-23 which is up 1.02m from 23.024m the year before, a jump of about 4.5 percent.

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Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg visited Ukraines capital city Kyiv on Thursday to draw the worlds attention towards the silent victim of war amid the nations 16-month long ongoing conflict with Russia. Thunberg meant to highlight the environmental damage being done in the war-raged nation, especially the June 6 collapse of the vast hydro-electric Kakhovka dam and its grave impact on its surroundings. Greta Thunberg, Swedish environmental activist.(AFP)

The dam blast, for which Russia-Ukraine blamed each other, massively flooded the southern Ukraine and Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson region and caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damages to the environment, Ukraine said.

Kyiv is investigating the blast as a war crime and possible criminal environmental destruction or "ecocide. "I do not think that the world reaction to this ecocide was enough," Thunberg was quoted as saying by news agency AFP, during her visit to Kyiv, where she attended the inaugural meeting of a new environmental group, of which she is also a part. "We have to talk louder about it, we have to raise awareness about what is going on," she added.

The group also comprises senior European political figures and is tasked to assess the damage to Ukraine's environment. It will also work to build mechanisms to hold Russia accountable, said Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential staff. Yermak and former Swedish deputy prime minister Margot Wallstrom will be co-chair of the group.

Ukraine's prosecutor general Andriy Kostin also highlighted how the environmental risks were turning into the "silent victim of war". In a Twitter post meant to mark the event, he said that war has resulted in about 30% of Ukraine's territory being contaminated with explosive objects and over 2.4 million hectares of forest damage.

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Pakistan prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said that as the country attempted to reach an agreement with International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout amid financial crisis, China was very helpful. During this period, China saved Pakistan from default, Pakistan premier said, adding that the IMF talks had ended on a positive note. Pakistan's prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.(Reuters)

The IMF reached a staff-level pact with Pakistan on $3 billion in short-term financial help, the lender said. The deal is subject to approval by the IMF board in July. It came just hours before Pakistan's current agreement with the IMF expires.

The bridge loan is set to offers much respite to Pakistan as it battles an acute balance of payments crisis and falling foreign exchange reserves. The so-called Stand-by Arrangement (SBA) will enable Pakistan to achieve economic stability, and put the country on the path of sustainable economic growth, God willing, Shehbaz Sharif said.

The country's finance minister Ishaq Dar told Reuters that Pakistan will receive formal documents on the deal later from the IMF which he said he would sign, seal and return by tonight.

The $3 billion funding, spread over nine months, is higher than expected as it looks set to replace the remaining $2.5 billion from a $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility longer-term bailout package agreed in 2019.

"This will support near-term policy efforts and replenish gross reserves, with the aim of bringing them to more comfortable levels," the IMF said.

IMF official Nathan Porter earlier said, Despite the authorities' efforts to reduce imports and the trade deficit, reserves have declined to very low levels. Liquidity conditions in the power sector also remain acute.

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China's Trip.com group said that it would pay 50,000 yuan ( approximately $6,897) to its employees for each child they have starting July 1. This marks the first such initiative by a large private company in China as the country grapples with an ageing population. The company is one of the world's largest online travel agencies with 400 million users. China Population Decline: A boy wearing a face mask carries a Chinese flag as he walks along a pedestrian shopping street in Beijing.(AP)

A parental cash subsidy of 10,000 yuan will be paid by the company annually for five years for every child born to its employees and the programme will cost about 1 billion yuan, it said.

What the compay said?

"I have always suggested that the government give money to families with children, especially multiple children, to ... help more young people fulfil their desire to have multiple children," Trip.com executive chairman James Liang said adding, "Companies can also play a role within their own capabilities to build a favourable fertility atmosphere."

Why are demographers worried about China's population decline?

This comes as demographers warned that China will get old before it gets rich, as its workforce shrinks following the one-child policy that lasted from 1980 to 2015. Local governments in the country are spending more and more on their elderly population but are also launching programmes that promote young couples to have more children.

China's birth rate last year fell to 6.77 births per 1,000 people, from 7.52 births in 2021, which was the lowest on record. In 2021, China said couples could have as many as three children.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
British international environment minister Zac Goldsmith on Friday resigned from government, criticising Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as "uninterested" in the environmental brief. UK environment minister Zac Goldsmith.(AFP)

"The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested," said Goldsmith, who sits in parliament's upper chamber and held the title of Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment.

His resignation letter posted on Twitter said Britain had: "visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature."

That echoes a report published earlier this week by the government's climate advisers who said Britain had lost its position as a global leader on climate action and was not doing enough to meet its mid-century net zero target.
The United States rejoined UNESCO on Friday, reversing its withdrawal during the Trump presidency, the UN's cultural agency said. Trump's decision took effect in 2018. (File)

Donald Trump announced in 2017 that he was pulling the US out of UNESCO alongside Israel, accusing the body of bias against the Jewish state, a decision that took effect in 2018.
Half of the US population was urged to take precautions when they are outdoors as the country witnessed a relentless heat wave and poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires ahead of the long Fourth of July weekend. Almost 80 million people living in California, Deep South and lower Mississippi Valley were under excessive heat warnings, the National Weather Service said. A man jogs during sunny weather at Cunningham Park in the Queens borough of New York City, US.(Reuters)

The temperatures are expected to soar well past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) in many parts of California, forecasters warned urging people to not participate in strenuous activities outdoors. Across the Midwest and East, another 100 million Americans faced air pollution due to raging wildfires in Canada.

Individuals, especially those who are young, elderly and suffer from respiratory problems should consider limiting outdoor activities, authorities told the residents in these areas.

New York and Washington had the second and third worst air quality respectively of any major cities around the world, as per IQAir.com. In eastern Illinois and western Indiana many people were without electricity after fierce storms knocked down power lines, Reuters reported quoting Poweroutage.us which said that about 280,000 homes and businesses in the area were without power.

In Texas, 13 people were killed due to the heatwave which was expected to be centered over the mid-South by the weekend. Heat index levels of up to 112 degrees (44 Celsius) were forecast in Florida over the next few days. Eleven of the heat-related deaths in Texas occurred in Webb County, which includes Laredo, Associated Press reported.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mallika Soni When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?" ...view detail
United States Supreme Court has ruled against government's decision to wave off student loans. Top Court stated, Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loans for millions of Americans. The US Supreme Court in Washington, DC. (Photo by Daniel SLIM/AFP)

The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, effectively nullified President's $400 billion plan to enforce students to make loan repayment by late summer.

The court held that the administration needs Congress' endorsement before undertaking so costly a program. The majority rejected arguments that a bipartisan 2003 law dealing with student loans provided the authority Biden claimed.

White House sources suggest, US President says he will allow new actions to protect student loan borrowers.

The court's decision is expected to come as a huge disappointment to the 26 million borrowers who had applied to have up to $20,000 in student loan debt forgiven. The Education Department had already approved the relief for 16 million applicants.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. relied on two grounds - firstly, he stated the statutory grant of authority to the secretary of education to waive or modify loan terms could not be stretched this far. Secondly, he said a mass debt cancellation program of this level of significance required clear congressional authorization.

(With Agency inputs)

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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
In addition, he reported that said project which was defined in 1983 will cover "the coastal area of the provinces of Viru, Trujillo, and Ascope in (Peru's northern) La Libertad region, from the Santa River to the Urricape Pampas."

Otarola affirmed that, "at the end and full development of the project, approximately 144,000 hectares will be supplied, including new and to-be-improved ones."

This will allow the generation of new jobs, as well as the production of a gross value of US$1.2 billion in profits.

? Hechos y no palabras! Hoy firmamos la adenda que convertira al proyecto Chavimochic en realidad. Esta obra estuvo paralizada siete anos y ahora, tras el trabajo articulado entre GORE La Libertad y @MidagriPeru, vuelve a encaminarse en beneficio de las familias agricultoras. pic.twitter.com/KHSnSd2RA9
The US Supreme Court's striking down of race-based admissions at two universities has drawn contrasting reactions from Democrats and Republicans. While President Joe Biden has strongly criticised the decision saying colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse, his predecessor, Donald Trump, called it a great day for America. Demonstrators protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Thursday, June 29, 2023, after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions, saying race cannot be a factor.(AP)

On Thursday, the Supreme Court banned the use of race and ethnicity in university admissions, dealing a major blow to a decades-old practice that boosted educational opportunities for African-Americans and other minorities. The court said that universities were free to consider an individual applicant's personal experience in weighing their application, but deciding primarily based on the applicant's race was itself racial discrimination.

"Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

Who said what:

Joe Biden

The president said the Supreme Court had done more to unravel basic rights and basic decisions than any court in recent history.

I just find it so out of sorts with the basic value system of the American people, Biden said in an interview.

Donald Trump

The decision marked a great day for America. People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded," Trump, the current Republican presidential frontrunner, wrote on his social media network.

Barack Obama

Former US President Barack Obama said in a statement that affirmative action allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged. Now its up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve  and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives.

Kamala Harris

US Vice President Kamala Harris said the court's decision to end "affirmative action" in college admissions is "a denial of opportunity".

"The highest court in our land just made a decision today on affirmative action and I feel compelled to speak about it. It is in so very many ways a denial of opportunity," the US Vice President said.

"It is being blind to history, blind to empirical evidence about disparities, and blind to the strength that diversity brings to classrooms, to boardrooms," she said.

Mike Pence

Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence, who is also seeking the 2024 Republican nomination, said he was "honored to have played a role in appointing three of the justices who ensured today's welcomed decision."

Ron DeSantis

Trump's top election rival Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, said the ruling would end what he described as race-based "discrimination" in university applications.

"College admissions should be based on merit and applicants should not be judged on their race or ethnicity," DeSantis wrote on Twitter.

Harvard University

"We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences," the university said in a communication signed by leaders of the institution.

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It has been reported that, on 17th June, a Saturday night, Keshaun Williams, 15, disappeared from a house party in Cleveland. He last contacted his mother at roughly 10:30 p.m. to inform her that hell soon be back home from a party. Keshaun Williams,15, lives in Cleveland, U.S. (US Today screenshot/twitter )

It has been almost two weeks, no one has seen or heard from the Cleveland boy. Keshaun's mother, Sherice Snowden has been worried about the disappearance of her beloved son.

On Wednesday, Newburgh Heights Police Chief John T. Majoy informed at a news conference that the police are investigating the case as a potential abduction, and after Keshaun's disappearance on June 17, the Amber Alert was issued.

Sherice Snowden said that the family members made frantic attempts at calling his phone but it went straight to voicemail.

Snowden further added at a news conference at the Cleveland Family Center for Missing Children and Adults, Me and Keshaun always keep in contact. He calls me every day. Were very big on communication. Hes never been away from home for this amount of time. This is very irregular for my son to not return home because we keep in contact and are very close, on Wednesday.

Snowden informed that on the day of the party, she didn't observe any change in her son's behavior. She mentions that together, they cooked breakfast and she also braided his hair. She was aware that he had gone out for a party but Keshaun did not notify her about the location. Snowden mentioned her son is highly intelligent and charismatic. In his free time, he worked at the church and was a sincere student.

Snowden asserted, The community is very big on helping Keshaun. Hes a very loved kid and everyone knows him in the community. Hes very helpful and respectful so this is very blindsiding.

Whereas, Keshauns friends saw him when the party ended but they separated. He was left behind, Snowden said. Everything after the party was a blur, that is why were trying to get more concrete information about who was at the party.

He was last seen wearing black joggers, a black shirt and gray and red Jordan sneakers. He had braids in the back and the side hair was neatly shaved.

He is 5.7 inches tall and weighs 58 kg. There is a $1,500 reward for anyone who can assist to bring Keshaun back home. Anyone with information related to Keshauns disappearance is urged to contact the Cleveland Police Department.

Also read | Republican congressman floats extraterrestrial theories. Are UFOs an 'ancient civilization' hiding on earth?

Snowden cried, Please Keshaun come home. If anybody his whereabouts or if anybody has my child, can you please let me child come home. Keshaun has a whole life ahead of him  Keshaun is all I have, thats my heart.

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Former U.S. President Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday Putin has been "somewhat weakened" by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine. As president, Trump developed friendly relations with Putin, who Biden said on Wednesday has "become a bit of pariah around the world" for invading Ukraine.(AP)

"I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war," Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Speaking expansively about foreign policy, the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination also said China should be given a 48-hour deadline to get out of what sources familiar with the matter say is a Chinese spy capability on the island of Cuba 90 miles (145 km) off the U.S. coast.

On Ukraine, Trump did not rule out that the Kyiv government might have to concede some territory to Russia in order to stop the war, which began with Russian forces invading Ukraine 16 months ago. He said everything would be "subject to negotiation", if he were president, but that Ukrainians who have waged a vigorous fight to defend their land have "earned a lot of credit."

"I think they would be entitled to keep much of what they've earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we don't have that right now," he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO allies want Russia out of territory it has seized in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive that has made small gains in driving out Russian forces.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last year proposed a 10-point peace plan, which calls on Russia to withdraw all of its troops.

"I think the biggest thing that the U.S. should be doing right now is making peace - getting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace. You can do it," Trump said. "This is the time to do it, to get the two parties together to force peace."

As president, Trump developed friendly relations with Putin, who Biden said on Wednesday has "become a bit of pariah around the world" for invading Ukraine.

Trump said Putin had been damaged by an uprising by the Russian mercenary force, the Wagner Group, and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, last weekend.

"You could say that he's (Putin) still there, he's still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people," he said.

If Putin were no longer in power, however, "you don't know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse," Trump said.

As for war crime charges levied against Putin by the International Criminal Court last March, Trump said Putin's fate should be discussed when the war is over "because right now if you bring that topic up you'll never make peace, you'll never make a settlement."

Trump was adamantly opposed to China's spy base on Cuba and said if Beijing refused to accept his 48-hour demand for shutting it down, a Trump administration would impose new tariffs on Chinese goods.

As president, Trump adopted a tougher stance on China while claiming a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping that soured over the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'd give them 48 hours to get out. And if they didn't get out, I'd charge them a 100% tariff on everything they sell to the United States, and they'd be gone within two days. They'd be gone within one hour," Trump said.

Trump was mum on whether the United States would support Taiwan militarily if China invaded the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

"I don't talk about that. And the reason I don't is because it would hurt my negotiating position," he said. "All I can tell you is for four years, there was no threat. And it wouldn't happen if I were president."
YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. New quality, new standards and new service approaches in the Armenian fuel market - the first two new fuel stations of the Shell brand were officially launched in Armenia. The licensed representative of the famous brand in Armenia is "Royal Oil" company.

ARMENPRESS reports, among the guests of the official opening ceremony were Vahan Kerobyan, Minister of Economy of Armenia, Tigran Avinyan, Deputy Mayor of Yerevan; Kai-Uwe Witterstein, General Manager Licensed Markets at Shell Brands International AG; Joanna Kuenssberg, VP Corporate Relations MENA & CIS at Shell International BV and other special guests.

Welcoming the guests and congratulating them on the launch of Shell brand in Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, RA Minister of Economy, notes, Congratulations to all of us on this important day. Shell stands among the 50 largest companies in the world, and the presence of such brands in our country can serve as an incentive for attracting international investments to Armenia. This is more than just a fuel station; it represents a new culture. With its high-quality products and superior services, Shell will revolutionize the demand for services in the fuel station industry in Armenia, leading to a significant improvement in the overall market. In light of this, we are extremely excited.

Gevorg Harutyunyan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of "Royal Oil" company, notes, There was a need for qualitatively new fuel on the Armenian market, as well as new approaches and standards for service at fuel stations, so after long studying the international experience, the activities of various organizations and the offers of the world's leading companies, we chose Shell. At the global level, the experience and capabilities gained by the Shell company over decades will undoubtedly have an effective effect on increasing the level of quality and services in our market, making them more competitive, fair and free. A great team work has been done and we are grateful to Shell for the great trust shown, effective cooperation and prospects. It is an important principle for us to keep the honor, importance and reputation of Shell as a global brand high, ensuring the expectations of our customers. According to the cooperation agreement, the Company will import fuel to Armenia from Europe. The fuel will initially be imported from Romania and Greece, then the geography of cooperation will increase and other European countries will be included. By the way, every batch of imported fuel has its own certificate of origin, which shows that the country is the supplier.

Kai-Uwe Witterstein, General Manager Licensed Markets at Shell Brands International AG notes, We are very proud to partner with Royal Oil in Armenia, bringing our excellence in products and services to Armenian motorists. This is the first of many stations that will open in the coming months and years we cant wait to see the Shell brand in Armenian cities and on major roads throughout the country.

"Royal Oil" company, in cooperation with Shell, plans to open about 25 fuel stations in different parts of the country in the framework of the next 5-year strategy, with the aim of creating a network of new generation fuel stations. One of the company's strategic goals is to introduce high-quality fuel to the Armenian market and provide high-quality service, create an atmosphere of mutual trust between the consumer and the supplier

V-Power class fuel based on Shell's advanced technologies and innovative approaches will be available to the Armenian consumer. Shell V-Power fuels were first introduced over 20 years ago and are now one of the best-selling performance fuels on the market, chosen by ~20% of our fuel customers globally. Shell V-Power, with new generation of additives is so far Shells best Performance fuel and allows both older and new internal combustion engine vehicles to perform better than any fuel Shell previously developed. Shell V-Power 100% cleans critical engine parts to fully rejuvenate your engines performance and is the only performance fuel trusted and recommended by some of the worlds automotive leaders, including Scuderia Ferrari, BMW M series and Ducati.

Photos by Gevorg Perkuperkyan

***

Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies with more than 90,000 employees in more than 70 countries. With over 46,000 sites in over 80 markets, Shell is the worlds largest mobility retailer by number of mobility locations and one of the largest single-branded retailers of any kind on the planet. Every day, around 32 million customers visit Shell mobility locations to buy fuel, convenience items including beverages and fresh food, and services such as lubricant changes and car washes. . It is noteworthy that Shell stations sell 450 million cups of coffee, 1.5 billion cold drinks and more than 1 billion snacks every year. The brand uses advanced technologies and is driven by innovative approaches to help build a sustainable energy future. Shell offers its customers low-emission products and services: biofuels, electric vehicle charging, hydrogen and various gaseous fuels such as liquefied natural gas. The company cooperates with the leading world motorsport teams in the framework of the world's most prestigious championships. The company's partners in motorsport are Scuderia Ferrari, Ducati Corse in MotoGP, BMW. Shell is the number one supplier of lubricants in the world and is represented in more than 100 countries.

***

"Royal Oil" LLC was founded in 2019. The company is engaged in the import of high-quality European fuel, retail and wholesale sales, development of the network of fuel stations of the new generation. Since 2022, the Company is the licensed representative of the Shell brand in Armenia.
YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan received the delegation led by Joanna Kuenssberg, deputy director for CIS and Middle East countries of the British-Dutch Shell company, ARMENPRESS was informed from the Offic eof the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister welcomed the entry of the prestigious company into the Armenian market, whose first gas station was opened in Yerevan on June 29. Nikol Pashinyan expressed confidence that the company will introduce new quality and business culture to the Armenian market with its activities. The Prime Minister wished success to the company and emphasized that the Government will continue consistent steps to improve the business environment.

Joanna Kuenssberg thanked the Government for supporting the launch of Shell in Armenia and provided details on further plans. Joanna Kuenssberg informed that within the next 5 years, the company plans to operate 25 gas stations in Yerevan and all regions, where various other services will also be provided.
Hotel Barriere Fouquet's New York is delighted to announce the appointment of Karen Earp as the property's General Manager. With 40 years of hospitality experience gained from various properties across the globe, Earp brings invaluable knowledge and expertise to the Tribeca property.

Originally from the United Kingdom, Earp holds a Bachelor of Science from Surrey University in hotel, restaurant and tourism management, as well as a Master's in Business Administration from City University Business School, specializing in marketing and finance. Following university, she began her career in 1983 as Assistant Manager of Four Seasons, Park Lane. Earp went on to hold a range of positions at esteemed properties and organizations worldwide, including The Pierre Hotel in New York, Disneyland Paris, and Four Seasons Hotel in Istanbul. In 1997, she returned to France as the General Manager at Four Seasons George V, which led to her subsequent appointment as Four Seasons Canary Wharf's first General Manager. Earp then moved stateside to become the General Manager of Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore Santa Barbara, where she remained for over 15 years.
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the worlds premier business travel and meetings trade organization, continues to increase its commitment to global business travel with the establishment of a new regional GBTA Advisory Board in Asia Pacific. This strategic move aims to enhance GBTA's presence and growth by engaging valuable local guidance and expertise to best serve members and partners in the region.

The new Board brings together many expert and diverse voices across the region. Their insights and industry experience will help GBTA be able to optimally serve the APAC region through the development of tailored programs and offerings for business travel buyers, suppliers, and companies in the region, said Catherine Logan, GBTA Regional Senior Vice President for EMEA and APAC. We are grateful for the commitment of the new Board members and their crucial role in shaping GBTA's learning, community, and advocacy programs in the APAC market.

Peter Koh, Executive Director, Head of APAC Integrated Travel and Expense for Goldman Sachs, will serve as Chairperson of the 12-member GBTA APAC Advisory Board made up of cross-regional business travel leaders (in alphabetical order below) from top organizations:

Koreen Barbara, Global Travel Manager, McDonalds

John Holden, Regional Lead / Global Strategic Sourcing APJ, Workday

Carl Jones, former Managing Director, Southeast Asia, SAP Concur

Jonathan Kao, Managing Director-Greater China, BCD Travel

Amarnath Lal Das, Vice President - India Travel Meetings and Events, Accenture Solutions Pvt Ltd

Ewan Lin, Travel Operations Manager APAC / Global Category Lead (Hotels), Johnson & Johnson

Michelle Low, Global Vice President of Supply Chain, Synergy Global Housing

Mike Orchard, Principal Consultant, Lead of Product Development and Analytics Center of Excellence , FESTIVE ROAD

Bertrand Saillet, Managing Director, FCM Travel Solutions Asia

Timothy Tan, Senior Vice President Global Corporate Travel Management, UOB Bank

Nichola Winchester, Asia-Pac Travel, Meetings and Events Leader / Global Corporate Card Leader, EY

GBTA has also appointed business travel industry veteran, Maura Geertsma, as its interim Regional Director for APAC. Reporting to Logan, Geertsma brings extensive expertise and a deep understanding of the region to support GBTA's initiatives.

Logan added that GBTA is focused on serving the unique needs and interests of APAC through a longer-term regional strategy, as well as with nearer-term initiatives such as the upcoming GBTA APAC Conference 2023.

Taking place September 19-20 at the Shangri-La Singapore, the GBTA APAC Conference will serve as a platform for the business travel community to network, gain insights from industry experts, and engage in peer-to-peer education. For the first time, this year's event will be co-located with the Worldwide ERC Global Mobility Summit, providing all delegates with unparalleled opportunities to learn and network across both conferences.

The two-day conference will feature insightful Main Stage speakers, buyer/supplier roundtables and The Big Idea innovation workshop session, along with newly released APAC-specific data and analysis from the latest GBTA Business Travel Index Outlook forecast. Education sessions will feature timely topics from across the business travel ecosystem including business traveler engagement, measuring the environment impact of travel programs, the resiliency of travel and meetings in Asia, managing risk, and negotiating rates in the current NDC environment.

Click here for more information, sponsorship opportunities, or to register to attend the GBTA APAC Conference 2023.

About the Global Business Travel Association

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world's premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA's members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA delivers world-class education, events, research, advocacy, and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. Visit www.gbta.org and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

About the GBTA Foundation

The mission of the GBTA Foundation, the US 501c3 charitable arm of GBTA, is to help the global business travel industry create a positive impact and a better future for people and the planet. The GBTA Foundation focuses on the strategy and execution of GBTA's global sustainability programs, supporting initiatives related to climate action; diversity, equity and inclusion; and other talent-related topics via education, research and advocacy.
Crescent Hotels & Resorts, the award-winning operator of over 120 properties, announced the addition of the Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre in London, ON, and the I vey Donald K. Johnson Centre in Toronto, ON to its Latitudes: Lifestyles by Crescent portfolio. These time-honoured establishments have maintained their status as the go-to destinations for inspired events and conferences.

Nestled within a magnificent Georgian manor on over 30 acres of picturesque parkland, Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre stands as Southwestern Ontarios sole IACC-Certified conference centre. This exceptional property captivates guests with timeless charm and provides a historic and refined backdrop for a wide range of occasions, including corporate events, executive programs, weddings, social gatherings, and dining.

Ivey Spencer presents an array of remarkable features, including a collection of 125 hotel rooms and distinctive dining spaces. The property features 25,000 square feet of event space, including 31 meeting rooms and five amphitheatres. As a sought-after wedding destination, Ivey Spencer recently unveiled the awe-inspiring Spencer Meadows Pavilion, a breathtaking 3,300-square-foot covered outdoor reception space that can comfortably accommodate up to 200 guests. Situated on 30 acres of picturesque meadow parkland, the spacious outdoor venue adds a touch of magic to special occasions and is the perfect location for corporate retreats and team-building endeavours.

The Donald K. Johnson Centre renders premium event spaces for top professionals.

The prestigious Ivey Donald K. Johnson Centre offers a unique meeting experience in the heart of Torontos Financial District. The Centre features 7,500 square feet of meeting and event space, including two amphitheatre classrooms, two large meeting rooms, and 12 boardrooms. Guests receive the added benefit of being close to exclusive venues that provide exceptional experiences tailored for todays business leaders.

To learn more about the Ivey Spencer Leadership Centre, please visit the website or contact them at 1-833-798-4494. For additional information about the Ivey Donald K. Johnson Centre, kindly visit the website or call 416-304-1059.

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. Crescent's clients include premiere REITs, private equity firms and major developers. For more information, please visit www.crescenthotels.com and www.latitudesbycrescent.com or connect with Crescent on LinkedIn.
YEREVAN, JUNE 30, ARMENPRESS. Georgia has shown that it is capable of being an effective mediator in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia and is ready to re-engage in the process if necessary, ARMENPRESS reports, citing "Sputnik-Georgia", Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said in the Parliament of Georgia.

"Two years ago, we showed the first concrete results of the mediation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, in which I was personally involved. It was, so to speak, one of the exemplary mediations in the region," Garibashvili said.

The Prime Minister expressed Georgia's readiness to continue playing the role of a mediator.

"I want to once again publicly reaffirm our full readiness from this podium. If necessary, we are ready to be involved once again as a mediator in the ongoing negotiations between the two countries, our friends," Garibashvili stated.
For most hotels, Instagram and Facebook are the go-to social media channels to create property profiles and reach more guests. But what about Tiktok? Why is it so popular? Is it a valuable platform for hoteliers?

Tiktok became available worldwide in August 2018, but only became hugely popular during the pandemic with everyone participating in the now infamous dancing videos published across the internet. TikTok is now the Most Popular Overall App Downloaded Globally and the Fastest Growing Brand of 2022.

According to Tiktok, the apps main goal is to inspire creativity and bring joy. While its unclear whether Tiktok achieves this (given growing concerns around the impact on data privacy, mental health etc), the influence this app has over the gen z crowd is indisputable. The ability to lead and motivate people is perhaps the most valuable quality a brand can have, and this is what makes Tiktok a very popular marketing channel across a wide range of industries.

In comparison to other businesses, hotels have admittedly been a bit slower to embrace this new channel for their business. But when you consider that hospitality is a dreaming industry filled with travel inspiration, you may also concede that Tiktok can be an ideal platform for hotels to have a digital presence where they can share and cultivate relationships with past, existing, and prospective guests. In this article, we will review some ways that Tiktok could impact your business.

TikTok  the Key to Reach the Next Generation of Travellers?

Gen Z  the generation born between 1997 and 2012  is coming into their own when it comes to spending power, and many are choosing to spend on travel. While this trend was initially put on pause by the COVID-19 pandemic, the youngest generation of adults is clearly making up for lost time by traveling enthusiastically and often.

According to research by Morning Consult, just over half of Gen Z adults (52%) are frequent travelers, meaning they took at least three leisure trips in 2022. That share is significantly larger than it is for higher-earning Gen Xers and baby boomers, and its on par with millennials, who are currently the focus of the industry. As Gen Z individuals get older and grow in spending power, it seems likely they will outpace travel-happy millennials.

When managing your hotel brands online presence, its critical to keep your target consumers searching for your properties. While most hotels typically turn to Google to optimize their online presence, nowadays, search is everywhere.

According to research by Influencer Marketing Hub, TikTok is the most-used media in an internet minute, while Google search is number 5 on the list. Furthermore, 40% of the top queries on Google are related to social media networks. This shows that there is much more activity on social networks in comparison to search engines  even Google.

TikTok Is the Go-To Search Engine for Gen Z travelers, who value authentic content above all else. This next generation of travelers are going to visit your city and your hotel in the not-too-distant future. On average, users spend more than 1.5 hours per day on TikTok, with 167 million TikTok video views in an internet minute. Therefore, having a presence on TikTok could significantly extend your reach and positively impact the bottom line of your business.

In saying the above, however, its important to also note that TikTok has become a topic of legal concern regarding data privacy and usage. Currently in the US, there is a case around the future of TikTok, with some states banning or proposing to ban the application altogether, or appoint new localised ownership to cover operations in the US. Thus, some hotels (particularly in the US) may choose to watch and wait how the situation unfolds.

How can you Market your Hotel Brand on TikTok to the Next Generation of Travellers?

TikTok numbers are growing every day, surpassing 1 billion monthly active users in Q2 of 2022. Most probably, what you are looking for may be found in a TikTok video. The app has content about different areas and subjects for all ages. The goal is for you not to leave the app, which is why TikTok constantly displays short videos without you needing to scroll or spend too much time on one topic. The algorithm leads users to the content that suits their preferences, even if they dont follow any person or company. This means that if a user is interested in travel and other related topics, they will most likely be guided to relevant content.

If you decide to have your hotel on Tiktok, below are some next steps you can take to market your hotel brand:

Create a business account with new and different content compared with what you have on other channels. Short-form video content is best, and the funnier, the better. You can also raise your brands visibility by participating in TikTok trends such as hashtags, songs, and challenges. You can find trending topics via the discovery section in the app. Identify trends that align with your hotel  such as the destination, local events, and other activities.

Show your hotels personality, creating and raising brand awareness so your audience feels that you are a value-add to their lives. There is plenty of stuff you can do, but you should try to keep pace with the trends that align with your hotel and destination. Use TikTok as a way to advertise your hotel. For example, have your staff interact with your guests and possible new customers. As we mentioned earlier, this will help bring traffic to your hotel website, and can possibly lead to more direct reservations. Share the hidden gems and top secrets of your destination so your guest can have a real local experience. Humanise your brand, tell stories, and show whats happening behind the scenes at your hotel. Include your team, and show your sense of humour. Another thing to remember, if your hotel is struggling to find and hire the right people, TikTok can also help to attract staff that want to work with you if they identify with your content, brand values, and company mission. Highlight what your hotel has to offer, such as an amazing view, an infinity pool, pieces of art, recipes from your hotel restaurant, or even the barman doing tricks. You may also want to partner with influencers that align with the type of product or stay that you are offering. As we mentioned before, you can also hashtags to do challenges around certain products, or do a client take over for a day. Show all your unique selling points and make it authentic and straightforward. According to HubSpot research, 80% of users can remember a video they have watched in the past 30 days, and this is especially for Gen Z individuals.

Conclusion

Nowadays, a considerable percentage of the worlds population engages with Tiktok. Hotels that use this platform regularly for marketing activities may benefit from great results, more direct bookings, and more brand awareness. Seeing global companies like Booking.com, Small Luxury Hotels, Virgin Atlantic, and Hilton present on the platform with a huge amount of followers, shows us that TikTok is not a channel that we can ignore.

With more than half of the people present on this platform, commenting on videos, encouraging comments, and posting at least once per day is a great way to win on TikTok. If you comment on your guests posts and encourage them to comment on yours, you can also get a good idea of their opinion around your hotel and service. If you post frequently you have more chances of your business to gain followers, because your account and videos will show more frequently.

But although TikTok has the potential to enhance direct sales, its essential to have a well-defined strategy in place. As with any new marketing channel, you should evaluate whether your target audience is present on this platform, what content engages them, how you will transmit your brand values and vision, and the business goals you want to achieve. You should also consider your budget and who will manage your hotels presence on this platform.

About GuestCentric

GuestCentric is a leading provider of cloud-based digital marketing software and services that help extraordinary hoteliers promote their brand, drive direct bookings and connect with customers on all digital platforms. GuestCentric's all-in-one platform provides hotels with the only unified solution for managing their guests' online journey: award-winning, high impact websites; an integrated, easy-to-use booking engine; social media marketing and publishing tools; a GDS chain code and a channel manager to offer rooms on Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia, Galileo, Google, Sabre, TripAdvisor and hundreds of other channels. GuestCentric is a proud provider of solutions that maximize direct bookings to hotel groups and independent hotels from collections such as Design Hotels, Great Hotels of the World, Leading Hotels of the World, Relais & Chateaux, Small Luxury Hotels and Small Danish Hotels. GuestCentric is featured on Skift Travel Tech 250, a list of the top 250 travel tech companies shaping the modern-day travel experience.

Melissa Rodrigues

Content Manager

+35 196 157 3854

GuestCentric Systems

View source
The European hotel and accommodation sector is preparing for a historic year. Economic sentiment among European hoteliers is in many places exuberant, reflecting two consecutive 6-month periods of strong growth in occupancy and average daily rates, as well as a positive outlook for the future. In fact, nearly half of European accommodation businesses expect 2023 to be the year of the highest revenue yet. To put it in three words: Travel is back! To learn more about what's on the minds of European hoteliers this summer season, join us on 4 July (Wednesday) for an online presentation of the summer edition of the "European Accommodation Barometer", jointly produced by Booking.com and Statista. Every registered participant will receive the report 24 hours prior to the webinar. Our co-hosts will present insights and take questions from the audience. They are: - Ben Schroeter, Director of Public Affairs at Booking.com - Monika Langenberger, Head of Market Research at Statista Here is a sneak preview of the European Accommodation Barometer findings at the macro level: - Almost half of the European hoteliers expect to reach peak revenue of their business in 2023. - As European hoteliers continue to make steady progress on digital transformation, the preparedness for the green transition remains a bigger challenge. - Government policies continue to strongly impact the accommodation industry but to a lesser extent than during the COVID pandemic. We look forward to seeing you at the "European Accommodation Barometer" release webinar to discuss the details.
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Junior Rangers Program at Mount Greylock

LANESBOROUGH, Mass.  Mount Greylock State Reservation announced the Junior Ranger program for children ages 8-12.

The program is free and is held at Mount Greylock State Reservation, Pittsfield State Forest, Clarksburg State Park, Natural Bridge State Park, Savoy Mountain State Forest, and Mohawk Trail State Forest, on specific Thursdays in July and August from 10:00am to noon.

Space is limited to fifteen participants. All participants must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Work toward earning a Junior Ranger Patch and Certificate by attending programs and completing the activities in the Junior Ranger Activity Guide. Each week, participants will explore different topics that promote outdoor recreation and appreciation of the natural world. Led by Park Interpreters, Junior Ranger activities may also include easy hikes that explore the water, geology, climate, plants, and animals at the respective parks.

Children must wear appropriate clothing for the weather. Sturdy walking shoes, water, a snack, sun screen and insect repellent are recommended. Parents, guardians and siblings are encouraged to participate.

Program sessions take place during a seven-week period where participants will meet at alternate parks that offer a unique theme and activity. Participants are required to attend a minimum of two programs (first and last) and complete the Junior Ranger Activity Guide to qualify for the Junior Ranger patch and certificate.

Session #1 on July 13th will be held at:

Pittsfield State Forest Ski Lodge

1041 Cascade St., Pittsfield, MA 01201

Phone: (413) 442-8992 - Please call for directions.

Robert.Rando@mass.gov

Session #2 on July 20th, and Session #7 on August 24th will be held at:

Mount Greylock State Reservation Visitor Center

30 Rockwell Road, Lanesborough, MA 01237

Phone: (413) 499-4262 - Please call for directions.

Michael.W.Whalen@mass.gov

Session #3 on July 27th, will be held at:

Savoy Mountain State Forest Nature Center

260 Central Shaft Road, Florida, MA 01247

Phone: (413) 663-8469  Please call for directions.

Alicia.Cellana@mass.gov

Session #4 on August 3rd, will be held at:

Natural Bridge State Park Visitor Center

McAuley Road, North Adams, MA 01247

Phone: (413) 663-6392 - Please call for directions.

Geeg.Wiles@mass.gov

Session #5 on August 10th, will be held at:

1199 Middle Road, Clarksburg, MA 01247

Clarksburg State Park Nature Center

Phone: (413) 664-8345 - Please call for directions.

Kristen.Maybe@mass.gov

Session #6 on August 17th, will be held at:

Mohawk Trail State Forest

P.O. Box 7, Route 2, Charlemont, MA 01339

Phone: (413) 339-5504  Please call for directions.

Christian.Drake@mass.gov

Certificates and patches are awarded to those who attend at least two sessions, complete the Junior Ranger Activity Guide, and show outstanding participation. The Mount Greylock Visitor Center is located at 30 Rockwell Road, 1.5 miles from North Main Street and Route 7 in Lanesborough. Sponsored by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). Registration forms are available at the Visitor Center in Lanesborough or call (413) 499-4262 for more information and session locations.
Dalton Briefs: Bardin Property, Sidewalk & Town Hall Updates

DALTON, Mass.  The Select Board was given updates on a variety of projects and bids during its meeting on Monday night including, the Bardin Property bid, sidewalk repairs, and Town Hall renovations.

Bardin Property Update

The town has received its first bid for the Bardin Property from Charlotte Crane, Town Manager Tom Hutcheson said.

Crane bid $150,000 and meets all the requirements of the request for proposals.

Hutcheson said he is planning on declaring her the winning bid pending a final review from town counsel.

Town counsel will notify the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources in accordance with the requirement that the town give them 60 days notice so the board can consider exercising its right of first refusal, he said.

Sidewalk Update

Department of Public Works Superintendent Edward Hall is working on a sample area of downtown to pilot a sidewalk planning program.

It would involve accounting for the causes of sidewalk disrepair and providing options for addressing them.

The program would inspect, estimate the cost, and repair town sidewalks. The program should indicate the amount of funds needed to expand the program to other areas in town.

Town Hall Update

The electrical work is almost done for the Town Hall renovation, Hutcheson said.

The insulation is being installed and there are a couple of items remaining for the general contractor.

Before general cleaning and a scheduled steam cleaning of the carpets finishes their work the asbestos abatement contractor has been patching up some damage that was done removing tape, Hutcheson said.

The ceiling tiles being the last major part of the renovation.

The fiber ring is almost completely strung so the town is almost ready to make the Town Hall connections. The internal data wiring installation is set for July.

In other news:

 Bids were due this Wednesday at 2 p.m. for the electric vehicle charging stations that will be installed behind the Community Recreation Association.

 Dalton was voted as a member of the Northern Berkshire Solid Waste Management District.

 The board approved an alcohol license for Dalton HD Pizza. The restaurant is not looking to operate a bar and has limited seating, only 20 individuals are allowed at a time.

 The board appointed Brittany Miller as recording secretary, Dr. Cindy Geyer to the Board of Health and Todd Logan to the Green Committee, all effective July 1.

 The town has found a candidate for the buildings and grounds superintendent in Jeffrey Burch.

Burch has experience with complex projects, including moving two parochial schools within a building cluster, Hutcheson said.

Burch accepted Hutcheson's job offer and, pending a security clearance and pre-employment physical, is planning to attend the July 17 Select Board meeting for his appointment ratification.

 Town counsel is working with the engineer on some of the process details for the sewer repair project so the project is almost ready for bid.

 The Zoning enforcement officer has found that Zinky's is "substantially in compliance" after completing an inspection of the parking situation. The officer did find an ADA compliance issue that needs to be resolved.

 There was a request that the board have a nuisance dog hearing at their next meeting following a complaint that the animal control officer received and investigated against a resident regarding dogs.

 The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency judged that the town completed the "tabletop" emergency management exercise with "great success" on Tuesday at the Stationary Factory, Hutcheson said.
The time is ripe for making peace in Ukraine, and the United States should contribute to the peace process right now, acting as a mediator, former US President Donald Trump said in a telephone interview with Reuters on Thursday.

June 30, 2023, 16:49 Time to make peace in Ukraine, Trump tells Reuters

STEPANAKERT, JUNE 30, ARTSAKHPRESS: "I think the biggest thing that the US should be doing right now is making peace - getting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace," he said. "This is the time to do it," he added.

The ex-US leader also believes Ukraine may be allowed to keep what it has "earned."

"I think they would be entitled to keep much of what they've earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we don't have that right now," he lamented.

Without either elaborating on what Trump meant under "earned" or citing the former US president directly, Reuters said that he did not rule out that Kiev might have to concede some territory to Russia. Everything would be "subject to negotiation" though, Trump added.
Way Finders CEO Keith Fairey and CDC of South Berkshire Executive Director Carol Bosco Baumann cut the ribbon Friday at Wind Rush Commons, a 49-unit affordable housing project in Great Barrington. State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli and state Sen. Paul Mark speak at the opening. The units are spread over five buildings. PreviousNext

Windrush Commons Opening Small Step for Area Affordable Housing



Wind Rush at 910 South Main St. has one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, some of which are accessible units. GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.  The importance of developing more affordable housing in Western Massachusetts echoed throughout the opening of the housing complex Windrush Commons on Friday morning.

Community leaders, local officials, project partners, and residents celebrated this first crucial step in addressing the housing crisis in the area.

Although the opening of the affordable housing complex is a step in the right direction there is still more that needs to be done, said Keith Fairey, CEO of Way Finders, a Pioneer Valley-based nonprofit that assists with housing stability and economic mobility.

This is an incremental step forward but, he said, there are already 163 families on the waiting list for this project so there is more that needs to be done.

Community Development Corp. of South Berkshire and Way Finders partnered to open the 49-unit affordable housing co-development.

The nonprofits have been working with a variety of organizations and stakeholders since December 2017 to complete this $15 million construction.

The 49 units are spread over five buildings and are one to three bedrooms, four of which are accessible. Eligible incomes will fall between 30 percent and 60 percent of the median income (about $65,000) dependent on family size up to five persons. Rent for non-assisted units range from $1,059 to $1,468; all include heat, air conditioning, electric and hot water.

The project broke ground in 2022 and after thousands of hours of time, effort and state, federal and municipal funding, it is finally complete. The complex is now being managed by Berkshire Housing Development Corp., located in Pittsfield.

"It's all led up today and now we're in the presence of these beautiful homes for 49 deserving families. Take a moment to savor that," South Berkshire CDC Executive Director Carol Bosco Baumann said.

"We're proud of the architectural style and construction in our efforts around energy efficiency and preserving trees and green spaces, creating a healthier campus."

This project ensures that the people who drive the area's economy and support the community can live close to where they work, she said.

"Young families are the heartbeat of any community. The housing crisis is a crucial issue that concerns all of us in Massachusetts, but it impacts us in rural Berkshire County in unique and especially challenging ways," Baumann said.

The process of building affordable housing so that people can have housing stability and economic mobility is already long, complicated and difficult, Fairey said.

"It's about providing people an opportunity. It's about providing people a platform from which they move forward with their lives, knowing they have stable housing, that they have economic security, and hopefully economic mobility for themselves and their family," he said.

"There's no dispute about the good outcomes that people have when they have that. That's why we believe that all people should have affordable housing and that's why we work with partners like CDC of South Berkshires and others to bring that to fruition across Western Massachusetts.

The effort strives to address an affordable housing crisis that is at an all-time high.

"I've not seen a real estate market like this since post-9/11. When 9/11 happened, that tidal wave of people getting out of the city that came to especially the Southern Berkshires and paid a lot of money for real estate," state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli said.

With the onset of COVID-19, the area is yet again experiencing an influx of people moving to the area in an effort to social distance.

Although we are now post-pandemic, people are choosing to stay while residents who have lived here their entire lives are being "squeezed out" despite wanting to stay in their hometowns, Pignatelli said.

"We've been on the circuit going from town to town and affordable housing, housing affordability, is the number one issue, the number one issue far and away," he said.

Although the details are still being ironed out the governor just released a $1.5 billion housing bill. It's a very competitive market so be ahead of it, Pignatelli said. "We're not going to fund concepts. We're not going to fund ideas. So get ahead of it, get it zoned, get it approved at the local level, and then I believe the money will be there."

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was state Sen. Paul Mark's first official event in Great Barrington. Mark agreed with Pignatelli and highlighted the collaborative spirit of the Berkshires.

"We are used to having less, we're used to being forgotten. So, the fact that we by no choice of our own have to work together I think is why we excel at it. And it's true in every community that I watch in this area. And it's true in our legislative delegation, as well," Mark said.

Collaboration and unity is crucial for change because out of the 200 lawmakers  40 senators and 160 representatives  the Berkshires only has four, he said.

"What we do, we do together, we speak with one voice, we go down there we work well, we make sure that we are tag teaming, learning the interests of the people in this area, and always being ready for these opportunities," Mark said.

The CDC of Southern Berkshires has also recently purchased the Sumner Block, a historic mixed-use property on Main Street, that contains six rental units that are considered workforce housing and hopes to purchase more properties like it, Baumann said.

"As we look to our future plans, we recognize the need for housing that people can afford to purchase here and build generational wealth. Let's take pride in opening up Windrush Commons today, as it stands as one example of progress and innovation in addressing our community's needs," Baumann said.

"As we proceed to tackle the urgent demand for affordable and workforce housing in South Berkshire, let us remember that this community thrives when everyone has an opportunity to prosper."
The woman was walking to the gate when she fell over and her leg was wedged into the conveyor belt.

WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: Stunned tourists have captured the horrifying moment a woman had her left leg amputated after it was swallowed by a moving travelator at an airport in Thailand.

The unnamed 57-year-old passenger was due to board a domestic flight from Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport to Nakhon Si Thammarat province when she tripped over her pink suitcase while standing on the device at around 8.30 am on Thursday (local time).

She had already checked in and was walking to the gate when she fell over and her leg was wedged into the conveyor belt, with the mechanism ripping through muscle, tendon, and bone.

The tourist was walking to the gate when she fell over and her leg was wedged into the conveyor belt. Source: Viral Press

Fellow travellers fumbled for the emergency switch as the machine continued tearing through her flesh. Graphic images show the woman sitting on the travelator with the majority of her left leg missing and blood on her pants and the metal tracks.

It's been reported by local media that airport officials confirmed a medical team who attended the scene were forced to cut off the tourist's leg from above the knee before taking her to the Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital for emergency treatment.

Airport authorities have ordered a probe to determine the cause of the freak accident. In the meantime, the travelator automatic walkway has been temporarily closed as an engineering team conducts an inspection and security checks.

Airport officials have reportedly confirmed a medical team who attended the scene were forced to cut off the tourist's leg from above the knee. Source: Viral Press/Australscope

Airport responds to freak accident

In a statement, the Don Mueang Airport said: "The director of Don Mueang Airport and management has visited the patient to follow up on the treatment and received information from the medical team at Bhumibol Hospital that she is currently in the process of receiving treatment from the medical team.

"Don Mueang Airport is deeply saddened by the incident and ready to fully accept the responsibility as well as take care of the medical expenses and compensation."

The airport further said no flights were delayed due to the accident.

Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) serving Bangkok opened in 1914 but was replaced by the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) on the outskirts of the city in 2014.

Viral Press/Australscope

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Hollywood star Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for playing a cantankerous grandpa in the 2006 comedy Little Miss Sunshine, has died aged 89.

The news was announced by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony, who shared a joint statement on behalf of the family.

They told People: Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.

He died at his home in Carlsbad, California, on Friday (30 June).

Arkins illustrious career began in 1957, with his first notable screen credit arriving in Norman Jewisons 1966 Best Picture nominee The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.

For the film, he received his first of two Oscar nominations for Best Actor, the second of which followed in 1969 for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Speaking of Arkin, director Jewison said: Alans never had an identifiable screen personality because he just disappears into his characters. His accents are impeccable, and hes even able to change his looks. Hes always been underestimated, partly because hes never been in service of his own success.

Arkin would have to wait almost 40 years for his next nomination, for Best Supporting Actor for the comedy drama Little Miss Sunshine (2006). Arkin won the trophy, as well as a Bafta, and received a fourth Oscar nomination in 2013 for Ben Afflecks Argo.

In the 1960s, Brooklyn-born Arkin, who first started taking acting lessons age 10, was a member of the Second City comedy troupe, and made his debut on Broadway in a production of From the Second City. He also received a Tony nomination for his role of David Kolowitz in Joseph Steins 1963 comedy Enter Laughing, and tormented Audrey Hepburn in the psychological thriller Wait Until Dark (1967). He once said of his co-star: She was an exquisite lady, so being mean to her was hard. In 1968, he took over as Inspector Clouseau in the third Pink Panther film, titled Inspector Clouseau, when Peter Sellers quit the role.

Alan Arkin in The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock)

His high-profile credits in the 1970s included an adaptation of Joseph Hellers Catch-22 (1970), in which he played Captain John Yossarian, and comedy film The In-Laws (1979), in which he starred alongside Peter Falk. In 2012, Arkin admitted that the financial disappointment of Catch-22 had a detrimental impact on his career, explaining: [It] was a huge failure, and it rubbed off on everybody connected to it. I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasnt wildly enthusiastic about.

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This plateau was at least made easier due to Arkins spiritual awakening, with his early years in Hollywood coinciding with his embrace of eastern philosophy. Some miraculous things were going on as a direct result of meditation, he told The Guardian in 2020. It saved my life. I couldnt throw it out. If I threw it out, then suicide would have been the only viable alternative.

In 1987, Arkin earned an Emmy nomination for his role in the made-for-TV film Escape from Sobibor, which told the story of a mass escape from a Nazi concentration camp. It led to a career revival, and by the Nineties, he had become one of Hollywoods go-to actors for playing authority figures and stern yet compassionate fathers. In Tim Burtons Edward Scissorhands (1990), he played dad to Winona Ryders Kim Boggs, who falls in love with Johnny Depps titular humanoid. Other credits around this time included cult Disney film The Rocketeer (1991), as well as the film adaptation of David Mamets play Glengarry Glenn Ross (1992) starring Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey. In 1997, he appeared opposite John Cusack and Minnie Driver in comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, and Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke in the science-fiction drama Gattaca. In 1998, he played the father to Natasha Lyonne in the indie coming-of-age comedy Slums of Beverly Hills.

After winning his Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine in 2007, a moment that saw him become the sixth oldest Best Supporting Actor recepient, Arkin said: More than anything, Im deeply moved by the open-hearted appreciation our small film has received, which in these fragmented times speaks so openly of the possibility of innocence, growth, and connection.

Alan Arkin winning his Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine in 2007 (Sipa/Shutterstock)

In the film, he played the foul-mouthed father of Greg Kinnears Richard, who drives his dysfunctional family on a road trip so that his daughter (Abigail Breslin) can compete in a child beauty pageant.

Shortly after his role asthe Hollywood agent Lester Siegel in Afflecks Best Picture winner Argo, Arkin found more success on TV. He voiced JD Salinger in Netflixs acclaimed adult animation BoJack Horseman, and received two Emmy nomintions for his role in comedy series The Kominsky Method.

His voice will be known to a younger generation for playing Wild Knuckles in Despicable Me spin-off Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). The film reunited him with Little Miss Sunshines Steve Carell, who he also worked with on 2008s Get Smart and 2013s The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. I love him, Carell said in 2022. I have several messages that I save on my phone, and I would say five of them are from him. Just as a keepsake, because theyre so funny. Hes so funny. Hes one of my favourite people, and I would work with him at the drop of a hat. Hes one of my idols.

Alan Arkin in The Kominsky Method (Netflix)

During his lifetime, Arkin, who also wrote and performed as part of a folk group, married three times: Jeremy Yaffe (1955-1961), with whom he had sons Adam and Matthew; Barabara Dana (1964-1994), with whom he had son Anthony; and, most recently, psychotherapist Suzanne Newlander, whom he married in 1996.

In 2007, Arkin said of his career during an interview with Associated Press: I used to think that my stuff had a lot of variety. But I realised that for the first 20 years or so, most of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their environment, foreigners in one way or another.

He continued: As I started to get more and more comfortable with myself, that started to shift. I got one of the nicest compliments Ive ever gotten from someone a few days ago. They said that they thought my characters were very often the heart, the moral centre of a film. I didnt particularly understand it, but I liked it; it made me happy.
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Anthony Mackie has responded to the abuse allegations facing fellow Marvel star Jonathan Majors.

Majors, who plays the villain Kang in the popular MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) film franchise, was arrested on charges of strangulation, assault and harassment over an alleged incident involving an ex-partner.

The Creed III star, 33, has maintained his innocence, with his lawyers alleging in a statement: Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone. We have provided irrefutable evidence to the District Attorney that the charges are false. We are confident that he will be fully exonerated.

After news of the allegations broke, Majors was dropped by his management team, while the US Army pulled a number of advertisements featuring the actor from circulation. He was also reportedly dropped from a forthcoming adaptation of the Walter Mosley novel The Man in My Basement.

After first playing Kang in the 2021 Marvel series Loki, and reprising the role in this years Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Majors had been lined up as the main franchise villain throughout the next few years, culminating in a two-film arc in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Mackie, 44, became the first MCU actor to comment on the allegations surrounding Majors in an interview with Inverse this week.

Asked about Majorss future involvment in the MCU, the Captain America star responded: Were a country that was built on everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Thats one of the staples of this country.

Nothing has been proven about this dude. Nothing. So everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Thats all I can say. Its crazy where we are as a society. But as a country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

Jonathan Majors (Getty Images)

Mackies quotes prompted some criticism on social media, with many questioning the actors choice of words.

He [probably] shouldve said something like, I dont know the full details on whether the allegations were true, so I dont think I should comment on the situation, one person suggested.

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Theres definitely a lot of stuff we dont know about this situation its a bit nuts but Innocent until proven guilty only applies to the justice system and the legal process, wrote another.

Majors is expected to return to court in New York on 3 August for trial. He has reportedly filed a complaint against his accuser, alleging that it was he who was the victim of abuse at her hands.

In April, Variety reported that multiple other women were co-operating with the Manhattan District Attorney, alleging other instances of abuse by Majors.

Mackie has played the role of Sam Wilson  now Captain America  in several MCU films and TV series.

The national domestic abuse helpline offers support for women on 0808 2000 247, or you can visit the Refuge website. There is a dedicated mens advice line on 0808 8010 327. Those in the US can call the domestic violence hotline on 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
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Its less than a month until two of the biggest movies of the year are released on the same day  and Tom Cruise is excited.

Greta Gerwigs Barbie  starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling  and Christopher Nolans Oppenheimer  starring Cillian Murphy  are both due for release on 21 July.

As a result, cinemagoers have been planning on watching the two blockbusters as a double feature and are now debating in what order to watch them.

Cruise, whose own summer action film Mission: Impossible  Dead Ref10ckoning Part One is out on 12 July, has expressed his desire to see the movies back-to-back.

In a tweet shared on Wednesday (28 June), the 60-year-old Top Gun star also praised Harrison Ford on his fifth and final Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is released in cinemas on Friday 30 June.

This summer is full of amazing movies to see in theatres, Cruise wrote.

Congratulations, Harrison Ford, on 40 years of Indy and one of the most iconic characters in history. I love a double feature, and it doesnt get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie.

Cruise is known for passionately promoting the cinema industry. Earlier this year, Steven Spielberg was filmed telling the actor hed saved Hollywoods ass thanks to his $1.5bn-grossing Top Gun revival, Maverick.

At the Dead Reckoning UK premiere last week, Cruise told Insider: Im always pushing. I just remember, every time they say, Can you top it? Can you not top it?, were always pushing.

Every film I do, whatever genre its in, I want to make it as entertaining as possible for that audience. I know I can do things better.

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In the seventh film in the Mission: Impossible franchise, Cruise join forces with Avengers star Hayley Atwell to track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens humanity.

For the most part, reviewers have fawned over Cruise and the films breathtaking action sequences. Back in April, the star treated Cinemacon attendees to an epic 20-minute motorcycle chase sequence from the movie, which saw the 60-year-old action star bombing around the Italian capital.

Mission: Impossible  Dead Reckoning Part One is out in cinemas 12 July.
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Idris Elba has said that the discourse around race and the character of James Bond is what put him off the idea of taking on the coveted film role.

Ever since Daniel Craig announced No Time to Die would be his final outing as 007, film fans have been speculating as to who could replace him.

The Wire and Luther star Elba, who appears in the new Apple TV+ series Hijack, has been one of the primary contenders. However, Elba ruled himself out of the running earlier this year  and has now revealed the reason why.

Appearing on the SmartLess podcast, which is hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, Elba described the offer to play the role as the pinnacle, but said he would never have accepted the opportunity as it became about race.

Those that werent happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting, because it became about race, he said, adding: It became about nonsense and I got the brunt of it.

Elba previously said of the rumours: You know, a lot of people talk about another character that begins with J and ends with B, but Im not going to be that guy. Im going to be John Luther. Thats who I am.

Other actors currently in contention to play Bond include Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Tom Hardy, Richard Madden and Bridgerton actor Rege-Jean Page,

In Hijack, Elba plays a passenger on a flight from Dubai to London that gets hijacked.

Events of the show, which runs for seven hours, play out in real-time as authorities on the ground scramble for answers.

Idris Elba (Lia Toby/Getty Images)

While promoting the show on ITVs Lorraine, Elba was left in hysterics as host Lorraine Kelly made a raunchy double entendre about James Bond.

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Yellowjackets star Melanie Lynskey has shared a heartfelt tribute to the late Julian Sands, who was found dead in Mount Baldy earlier this week after going missing in January.

On Wednesday (28 June), the 46-year-old actor posted a lengthy tribute to Sands on Instagram.

Julian Sands. I met you on the set of Rose Red in 2000, she wrote in her post. A Room With A View was a movie I had seen dozens of times, and I adored you in it. I was so nervous I could barely speak to you.

When I did finally tell you what the movie/you meant to me, I was struck by your humility, your lack of ego, the absence of any grandstanding.

Lynskey continued by describing how she and Sands became fast friends.

You bought me so many presents, mostly huge and intimidating non-fiction books and classical music CDs, she wrote.  You found out Id never been to the opera, and so you came to my apartment one night and picked me up, took me out for champagne, and took me to the opera.

You giggled when I yawned.

The Ted Lasso star ended her post by writing: We lost touch, but I have never forgotten your kindness and I will never forget you. My heart goes out to your family and loved ones.

Sands, 65, went missing on 13 January, after failing to return from a hike in the Mount Baldy area. Soon after that, an extensive search was launched to find the experienced hiker, but it was met with poor weather conditions that lasted for months.

Since the news broke, many celebrities and fans have paid tribute to the critically acclaimed actor.

A close friend and colleague of Sands, Mike Figgis, also said that the A Room With A View star was a charismatic actor who was genuinely fearless.

Julian was conscious of the power of his charisma and his looks, in an impish, devilish kind of way, Figgis told The Guardian. And perhaps because he was so handsome, he was very secure in himself.
Winner of every best musical award on Broadway, scream the posters for A Strange Loop, so you might expect a musical aimed at the masses. But Michael R Jacksons critically acclaimed production is not a show you can second guess. On the one hand, this is a big, Black and queer-ass American Broadway show as proclaimed in the opening number, all sparkling lights, jazz hands and a set reminiscent of Chicagos sultry murder anthem Cell Block Tango (designed by Arnulfo Maldonado). On the other, it is both structurally and thematically knotty, exploring race dynamics, gay culture and class struggle, while also combining a sick humour with moments of poignancy. None of this is without design: A Strange Loop doesnt give the audience an easy ride. There are periods when the shows style threatens to drown out the story, but its emotional impact cannot be overstated.

A Strange Loop is a musical about a man writing about a man writing a musical  or the portrait of a portrait of the artist as a young man, as our hero (Kyle Ramar Freeman, who understudied the role on Broadway) puts it. He dreams of being a playwright while working as an usher at the Broadway production of The Lion King. Usher is his name too, the shows action taking place in the short interval in that nights show. Its a framing device that pushes meta to the extreme; Usher points out the importance of an interval to make sure ticket holders dont lose interest, but A Strange Loop sits at just under two hours. No interval.

Fortunately, theres no chance of the Barbican audience getting bored. Keeping Usher company are his six Thoughts (Sharlene Hector, Nathan Armarkwei-Laryea, Yeukayi Ushe, Tendai Humphrey Sitima, Danny Bailey, Eddie Elliott), a chorus clad in dusky pink. Sometimes they inhabit the individual characters in Ushers life, in other moments they morph into one communal character whose words are spread between them. In the upliftingly scored We Wanna Know, they become his god-fearing, gay-hating mother, asking seemingly innocent questions about his life, but with a hidden agenda.
Officials at Cayuga County-area colleges have expressed disappointment in a recent Supreme Court decision declaring race can no longer be considered in college admissions.

The court ruled Thursday that admission polices at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina that factor in an applicant's race are unconstitutional, effectively ending affirmative action policies in higher education across the United States. Since the announcement, institutions throughout the nation affirmed they will seek new avenues to have diverse student populations.

Cayuga Community College, which boasts campuses in Auburn and Fulton, addressed the edict in a statement Thursday.

Todays Supreme Court decision regarding the use of affirmative action in college admissions is disappointing and a damaging blow to students, families and the higher education system," Dr. Brian Durant, president of CCC, said in the statement. "Like our fellow (State University of New York) institutions, Cayuga prides itself as being a home for all students, one dedicated to creating accessible educational pathways and opportunities for students to achieve the lives and careers they choose. Our promise of equitable access to higher education, and our admiration and respect for students who pursue that path, will not change in light of todays announcement.

Jonathan Gibralter, president of Wells College, a private institution based in Aurora, said in an email Friday the college is "proud of the fact that we have a community that welcomes any student who desires to get an education" and noted that will continue.

"We are a diverse community that welcomes racial, ethnic, gender, social class, and students of all abilities. We are committed to sustaining an inclusive college community because, we are all better people when we have a diverse student body," Gibralter said. "We are and will remain committed to creating a diverse and inclusive atmosphere at Wells College. It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court appears to be so laser-focused on eradicating decades of progress in this country that supports and reflects that diversity and the humanity that it represents to us all.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. and the SUNY board of trustees criticized the court's decision in a statement on the SUNY website.

Race-conscious admissions policies have enriched our institutions and our nation. Yet despite the existence of race-conscious admissions policies, Black and Latino students, along with other groups, are still underrepresented across institutions of higher education as students, faculty members, and administrators. Todays decision threatens to undermine what progress has been made, by throwing up roadblocks and barriers when whats needed are better paths and bridges."
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South Koreans have begun to hoard excessive amounts of sea salt and other items as Japan prepares to dump treated radioactive water from the Fukushima power plant into the ocean.

Japan is set to release more than 1 million metric tons of water into the Pacific that was used to cool damaged reactors at the power plant north of Tokyo, after it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Tokyo has repeatedly assured that the water is safe and has been filtered to remove most isotopes though it does contain traces of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen hard to separate from water.

Although Japan has not set a date for the release, the announcement has made fishermen and shoppers across the region apprehensive.

South Korea's fisheries authorities have vowed to ramp up efforts to monitor natural salt farms for any rise in radioactive substances and maintain a ban on seafood from the waters near Fukushima.

"I recently bought five kilograms of salt," Lee Young-min, a 38-year-old mother of two children, said, adding that she had never bought so much salt before.

"As a mother raising two children, I can't just sit back and do nothing. I want to feed them safely," she told Reuters.

The panic buying has led to a 27 per cent rise in the price of salt in South Korea in June from two months ago, though officials say the weather and lower production were also to blame.

The Korean government in response has decided to release about 50 metric tons of salt a day from stocks, at a 20 per cent discount from market prices, until 11 July.

"I worry the release of wastewater could not only pollute (the ocean) and lead to health problems but also raise salt and seafood prices," Park Young-sil, a 67-year-old woman said as she shopped at a traditional market in Seoul.

South Koreans stock up on sea salt and other sea products ahead of Fukushima wastewater release (Reuters)

More than 85 per cent of the South Korean public oppose Japans plan, according to a survey last month by local pollster Research View. Seven in 10 people reportedly said that they would consume less seafood if the waste water release goes ahead.

Hyun Yong-gil, an owner of a wholesale salt store in the capital, told Reuters earlier this month that sales have risen "40 to 50 per cent" despite soaring prices.

"We are getting more customers than usual lately and many of them seem worried about the planned wastewater release," he said.

But packets of salts are fast disappearing from market shelves.

"I came to buy salt but there's none left," said 73-year-old Kim Myung-ok. "There was none the last time I came too."

China has condemned the move to release wastewater, accusing Japan of a lack of transparency and saying it poses a threat to the marine environment and the health of people around the world.

Japan says it has provided detailed and science-backed explanations of its plan to neighbours.

Japanese chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said last week Japan was seeing increasing understanding on the issue though that was not so apparent in Seoul shops this week.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said, "the method Japan has chosen is both technically feasible and in line with international practice."

Mr Grossi is scheduled to visit Japan next week to meet with Japanese leaders and see final preparations for the release of treated radioactive wastewater.
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Indias opposition leader Rahul Gandhi took a helicopter to the northeastern state of Manipur which remained under the grip of ethnic violence for the past two months, a day after his convoy was stopped by the police.

Mr Gandhi, a member of the Congress party and a former MP, visited relief camps to meet people who are affected by ethnic violence in the state and raised concerns over the poor conditions of the camps.

During his two-day visit, Mr Gandhi visited relief camps in Moirang town in Bishnupur district on Friday, a day after his visit to a relief camp in Churachandpur district, one of the worst affected areas by the violence.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Gandhi said: Peace is the way forward and everybody should now talk about peace and start moving towards it.

I am here and will help in any way I can to bring peace to this state. I share the pain of the people of Manipur. It is a horrible tragedy.

It is extremely sad and painful for all the people of Manipur and the people of India as well, he said.

This is the first high-profile visit by a politician to the strife-torn region since federal home minister Amit Shah visited the state early this month.

Under the grip of unprecedented violence for nearly two months, Manipur has seen more than 100 deaths and 40,000 people have been displaced in clashes between the majority Meitei and Kuki communities.

Mr Gandhi raised concerns over the scarcity of medicines, food and other basic amenities at the relief camps and urged the government to take action.

"I went to the camps, met people from all communities. One of the things that I want to say to the government is that the basic amenities in the camps need to be improved. The food needs to be improved; medicines need to be supplied - these complaints have come from the camps, he said.

Mr Modi, who earlier met top government officials to review the situation in Manipur, has remained silent on unabating violence in the state with opposition raising questions on his stoic silence.

Mr Gandhi is expected to meet 10 like-minded party leaders and members of civil society organisations in Imphal, Manipur Congress president, Keisham Meghachandra, said.

On Thursday, Congress lashed out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government for stopping Mr Gandhis convoy from reaching Bishnupur, accusing the government of using "autocratic methods" for trying to halt their "compassionate outreach" to those hit by ethnic violence.

Mr Gandhis convoy was stopped by security forces citing security reasons and tear gas shells were fired to disperse the crowd that had gathered in the area.

The action by the Modi government was "totally unacceptable and shatters all constitutional and democratic norms," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said.

"Seeing the ground situation, we stopped him from moving forward and advised him to travel to Churachandpur via helicopter," Bishnupur police chief Heisnam Balram Singh told ANI.

"There is a possibility of a grenade attack along the highway through which Rahul Gandhi is moving. Keeping his security and safety in mind, weve not allowed him."

He later accepted the police officer to visit the area by helicopter, ending the standoff.

Videos showed hundreds of Manipuri people gathered and raising slogans of we want peace and Long live Rahul Gandhi.

His visit comes amid speculations that Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh would resign as he is scheduled to meet state governor Anusuiya Uikey.

Hundreds of women gathered outside Mr Singhs residence in Imphal and formed a human chain to urge him to not resign as his resignation would mean presidents rule in the state.

All the mothers of Manipur are gathering here because they are not happy with the CMs decision. As a son of the soil, he should take responsibility and protect the people. If he resigns, Presidents Rule will be inevitable, which is not acceptable, said Sarojini Leima, one of the women gathered there.

Since May, Manipur has been convulsed by widespread violence over the demand of Meiteis, the main ethnic group, to seek tribal status for access to economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education as the Kuki community opposed their demand.

The Meiteis constitute about half of Manipurs population of 3.5 million, according to Indias last census conducted in 2011. They live in lowlands around state capital Imphal.

The Kukis make up around 40 per cent of the population of the state and live in hilly areas. The community is recognised under the ST category and opposes the Meiteis demand fearing they will lose control over ancestral forest lands if the Meitei demand is accepted.
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Colleen Ballinger has denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards her former fans in a bizarre musical video in which she plays the ukelele and sings a song.

The influential YouTuber, who created the popular sketch character Miranda Sings, faced accusations of child grooming. In a video posted to her Colleen Vlogs YouTube channel on Wednesday (28 June), Ballinger called the allegations lies and toxic gossip all while playing the ukulele.

Public allegations against Ballinger date back to April 2020 when Adam McIntyre released a video titled colleen ballinger, stop lying.

But in her video addressing them, Ballinger said: Some people are saying things about me that just arent true. Even though my team has strongly advised me not to say what Im going to say, I realised they never said I couldnt sing about what I want to say.

In McIntyres video, the now-22-year-old claimed Ballinger developed an imbalanced, unhealthy friendship with him when he was as young as 13.

He said in a tweet addressing the YouTubers ukelele song: As much as colleen discredited & made fun of me, im glad her video did ONE thing, show you all EXACTLY the type of evil woman she is, that a lot of us have experienced over the past few years behind the scenes, the mask has slippedeveryone meet the REAL colleen ballinger.

McIntyre reportedly first met Ballinger in 2014 at a tour stop in Dublin during a very professional interaction.

Two years later, they spoke directly during one of Ballingers livestreams in 2016, when one of his comments made McIntyre known to the star. During the livestream, Ballinger reportedly promised she would send some of her ugly and unused clothes to a few of her fans.

McIntyre received a set of her underwear shortly after, he said, during his 25-minute YouTube video posted over three years ago.

McIntyre had also claimed he was part of Colleenys Weenies, a small Twitter group chat with some of her other fans. In a subsequent video posted earlier this month, McIntyre shared screenshots from the private chat, in which Ballinger allegedly asked him what his favourite position was.

In 2016, McIntyre reportedly wrote in the chat that his a** looks good, to which Ballinger allegedly replied: Pics Adam.

Ballinger previously admitted sending McIntyre a bra and underpants in a 2020 apology video. I dont know what part of my brain was missing at the time, she said. But I am not a monster, I am not a groomer, and I shouldnt kill myself.

Ballinger with her ex-husband Joshua Evans (Getty)

People accepted Ballingers apology at the time, with some turning on McIntyre who was reportedly called slurs, threatened and doxxed by Ballingers fans.

Allegations against Ballinger resurfaced earlier this month, after another ex-fan, KodeeRants, corroborated McIntyres claims about the Colleenys Weenies private chat in a since-deleted video.

Now, several former members of the Miranda Sings fan club have shared their own experiences with Ballinger in interviews with HuffPost UK.

McIntyre said Ballinger allegedly claimed her husband Joshua Evans, who was a popular YouTuber at the time, was emotionally abusive towards her on the group chat.

After everyone went silent for a second, McIntyre added: And then were like, Oh, my God, babe, Im so sorry. Im so sorry. Like [before that] we were having a conversation about homework because we were children.

McIntyre said members of the chat group began to defend Ballinger during her then-ongoing divorce from Evans, while attacking her former partner on gossip sites or in the comments sections of YouTube videos  allegedly spurred by Ballinger herself.

Brey, who was 16 when she was part of the private message group, said she felt like Ballingers bodyguard.

Evans denied he was emotionally abusive to Ballinger in an interview with the publication, recalling that he received death threats after the former couple separated.

I was so involved in this womans life that its embarrassing to look back on, McIntyre said, explaining how Ballinger would trauma dump on him. There were some days, on a school night, I would be up until like 4 am trying to calm her down or try to give her advice. ... It was a private thing.

Other people have come forward to highlight other incidents.

In 2019, during a live yoga challenge event, Ballinger called a young fan called Becky onstage and, in character as Miranda Sings, lifted her legs over her head and spread them wide open. A fart sound was played over this moment.

(Getty Images)

Becky, who was wearing a romper or a playsuit at the time, told HuffPost: I looked up to her so much and I just trusted her so much that I did it. I laid down and she just spread my legs wide open for everybody to see.

In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, she added: I was mortified in that position. I was in shock. But I had so many like friends through [the fandom] that I didnt want to necessarily lose.

So for a little bit, I was pretending to be like Yeah, that was really funny. I was worried that I would be called ungrateful because I got to go up on stage.

Social media users have been resharing this incident, calling it an example of Ballinger traumatising a minor.

Some people have also opened up about allegedly problematic behaviour on the part of Ballingers family and friends specifically her brother Trent Ballinger and her best friend Kory Desoto.

Oliver, who is trans and identified as a girl in 2018, said Trent allegedly complimented Olivers looks, asked him for photos and told him to text anytime. Oliver was 13 at the time, while Trent was 33.

In one message, seen by Rolling Stone, Trent reportedly told Oliver: Anything we talk about stays between u and I.

Another message reportedly read: You would look good preg if you ever want children one day.

The Independent has contacted Trents representatives for contact.

Johnny Silvestri, who worked as an assistant on Ballingers tour when he was 22, claimed Desoto screamed at him and verbally belittled him  and that Ballinger witnessed this behaviour and didnt do anything about it.

Silvestri also alleged Evans exploited him for free labour to manage his social media accounts, adding: I found solace and safety in this online group of people. And these grown-a** adults abused it.

Evans apologised to Silvestri on Twitter earlier this month.

Ballinger didnt respond to requests for comment from either publication, making her 2020 video the last time she addressed McIntyres allegations.

The Independent has contacted her representatives for comment, as well as representatives for Desoto and Trent. Ballinger has not responded to The Independents request for comment.
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Ive worked hard to mask my lifelong animosity towards dogs. Their barks, their smells, the way they multiplied around me during the pandemic and filled my local parks with their poops. But two things recently have left me feeling like Im the one in the doghouse. Firstly, following a long, excellent first date with someone I met on an app, after walks, wine, overshares and snogs, I was told the next day by text that she ultimately couldnt see me fitting into her busy life as a dog mum. Id been c**k-blocked by a cocker spaniel. Yet being in a degrading man-woman-dog love triangle wasnt the final straw  it was finance, not romance. Recently someone told me, in the context of a possible career change, that dog care in a bougie neighbourhood nearby in East London costs around 40 a day. In my slightly fragile, single and insecure state, the idea that someone would spend hard cash on a dog, yet not want to spend time with me left me rattled. I was snubbed and thus obsessed with my canine opponents. I had to find out more.

A quick Google showed that over in west London, doggy daycare can cost up to 60 per day. Sure, the facilities at some places across the UK sounded hilarious  some have spas and chill-out areas, some have trampolines  but the economics were the starkest part. This was an expense on a par with childcare, which on average costs Londoners 182.50 for 25 hours a week for toddlers. The same amount of supervision at a west London doggy daycare centre would cost a mind-melting 1,500. For  let me just reiterate  a dog.

As a parent of two human children, I didnt explode in righteousness when my date described herself as a dog mum. I think owning a dog is different from parenting a child, but I also know that using terms like Dog Dad or Plant Mum is part of the inescapable Etsy-fication of our lives, where were encouraged to boil ourselves down to slogans that can go on a T-shirt or a Live Laugh Love-style sign as a way of fending off the agonising emptiness of modern life. But semantics aside, it was clear to me that dogs were getting all the money and all the babes. I needed to understand my opponent a little better.

I remembered that an old friend from school called Sam was working with dogs, in a capacity Id never quite understood, so I got back in contact  expecting him to tell me such prices were an anomaly. 40 a day? I charge 30 per hour, was his jaw-dropping reply. So I arranged to meet Sam, who is in fact both a dog trainer and a walker, one morning to accompany him on his rounds in the residential areas near Old Street and Farringdon. We met in the shadows of a gleaming trio of luxury high-rises, which he surmised probably has the highest concentration of dog owners anywhere on the planet. He had pleasingly bonkers insights into the financial extremes people will go to for their pooches: the owner who had recently installed a 500 air-con unit for their sausage dog, the one who had spent 30,00 on a bionic leg, and another who had spent 50,000 on brain surgery. Some have birthday parties with games and food; one lucky dog has seven whole beds. I found it all delightful and terrifying at the same time, like a Kinder Egg filled with anthrax.

But what I wasnt expecting was that Id be so damn charmed by his own relationship with dogs. Sam is 6ft 8 and has more charisma than a million awards shows. He currently has a full client list, but whenever theres a lull, he simply heads to a park with his own dog, Callum, and casually does a few tricks with him. Dog lovers flock to talk to him, and hes set. Even on our modest rounds, hes asked for a business card, while cafe owners and other locals stop and greet his charges by name. He lives a charmed life and engenders respect. And sure, maybe thats not surprising for someone who, in his words, is one inch away from technically being a giant. But its his patent dedication to dogs and the psychology of dog ownership that looms even larger. While some of his clients didnt even know their dogs needed to be walked before they bought them, as a trainer Sam is able to assess even the most difficult dogs and work with them until they exist in harmony with their owner and their owners lifestyle. Watching his ease and command with dogs was genuinely magnetic, it made a real impact on me.

And yet, even a pro like Sam still thinks the worlds gone a bit dog mad. Theres of course a problem with a society where wealthy dogs are leading better lives than struggling humans in the same city. My favourite subtle experience of this was seeing a young, discretely affluent couple getting on a train in a once working-class neighbourhood, a whippet in tow. The train was packed solid, yet the dog had a bandana loudly exclaiming I NEED SPACE. Which felt a little huffy, amongst tired, sardined humans just trying to get home from work. Beyond the wild economics of it all, theres also the resource of time. Young, child-free couples who sabotage their social life in the name of dog daddying, for example. Or couples who break up, move to different towns, yet still meet twice a week to hand over their shared-custody canine  in a lay-by that once upon a time, ironically, might have been a dogging hotspot.

But having someone explain the psychology of dog owning helped me understand that all of this madness  and I do reserve the right to call it madness  is at least born out of a clear sense of love for a fellow sentient being. Occasionally cute ones, at that. Plus, nobody would spend all this money and bag the warm faeces of something which didnt, in some small way, give love back. Its a lifestyle choice that Ive perhaps been a bit judgemental towards, based too long on the glaring inequalities of the city Ive lived in all my life. But seeing first-hand how much joy they spread on Sams rounds alone made me feel quite stupid for being quite so negative for so long. Next week, Im meeting Sams dog Callum. Maybe Ill even ask to see a trick or two. Dogs: I humbly accept you are a worthy adversary.
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Ellie Simmonds has revealed that she wanted to find her birth mother because she is going into a new chapter of her life with her partner, Matt Dean.

The Paralympian, 28, recently revealed that she was adopted as a baby and her birth mother put her up for adoption when she was just 10 days old.

Although she previously did not want to ask questions about why she was put up for adoption, Simmonds said she found herself with the time and space to launch her search after she retired from sport in 2020.

The gold medal-winning athlete, who was born with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, told the Daily Mail: Id achieved everything I wanted to. And then without the pressures of being an athlete, I had the time and space to find my birth parents.

All my life Ive had so many questions and Ive often wondered if my birth mum looks like me.

She added: I didnt want to leave it too late and Im going into a new chapter of my life. Im starting to think about settling down myself.

Simmonds is currently dating her childhood sweetheart Dean, who also has dwarfism. They keep their relationship largely private, but she said last year that they had bought a house together in South Manchester.

While Dean prefers to avoid the spotlight, he made a rare public appearance to support his girlfriend as she competed in Strictly Come Dancing in 2022 and even encouraged her to take part in it.

She was paired with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, but became the sixth contestant to be eliminated after a dance-off against Molly Rainford.

Ellie Simmonds on Strictly Come Dancing (BBC)

Simmonds told The Sun this week: [Dean] was like, Go for it, you dont know unless you try. Now Im so happy I said yes.

As she prepares to release a new ITV documentary about her search for her birth mother next month, Simmonds said that it was the perfect time to find out who I am and where I started from before she enters a new phase of her life.

In Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret, which will air on 6 July, the swimmer speaks about finding out that her biological mother was told that children with dwarfism would have to deal with being stared at and laughed at by other children and would be perceived as evil and stupid.

With the help of a social worker, she found a report that described Simmonds mother as feeling very guilty about her disability and wished she had an abortion, or that Eleanor [Simmonds] had died.

Ellie Simmonds will lead the blue team (Steven Paston/PA) (PA Archive)

Before she contacted her birth mother, Simmonds spoke to families who have adopted disabled children and people who felt they werent capable of raising one. The documentary will highlight that around 40 per cent of children in the care system and England and Wales have a disability.

She told the Mail: Its so sad but its tough to have a child with a disability because the support and care can cost more. Plus theres the fear of the unknown.

But actually, its so rewarding. A child is a child, no matter what they look like, and all that child wants is a family that can give them love.

Simmonds did eventually reach out to her birth mother and discovered that she lived near her. They exchanged letters, in which her birth mother explained that she had separated from Simmonds birth father when she was pregnant with the athlete, and she struggled with my mental health.

They reconnected in a hotel, and Simmonds said she found that her birth mother, whose identity is protected, had the same sense of humour as her.

She told The Sun: I kept looking at her and thinking, Wow, thats my mum. I felt like her face was just like mine. What touched my heart was she said she thinks about me every day and she still sees me as her daughter.

Simmonds was adopted by her parents, who live in Walsall, when she was three months old, and grew up with three sisters and a brother. She became the youngest member of the Great Britain team when she competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing at the age of 13.
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Margot Robbie has been delivering some memorable fashion moments throughout the press tour for the highly-anticipated Barbie film, and the looks just keep coming.

For her most recent press event, the 33-year-old actor stunned with her latest Barbie-inspired look. On Thursday (6 July), Robbie attended the Mexico City premiere of the live-action movie, directed by Greta Gerwig, in pink leather Balmain minidress inspired by the Earring Magic Barbie doll from the 90s.

The pink ensemble featured long, sheer sleeves with a high neckline and a corset bodice. She accessorised the number with a chainlink star belt, matching star earrings, and pink Manolo Blahnik heels.

Her stylist, Andrew Mukamal, posted a photo of the inspiration behind Robbies latest red carpet look on Instagram.

Earlier this week, the Wolf Of Wall Street star also attended the Seoul premiere of Barbie wearing two custom Versace looks inspired by the Mattel dolls Day to Night ensemble from 1985. To achieve the look, she first sported a retro skirt suit while holding a bedazzled 80s cell phone clutch by Judith Leiber, along with a mini Versace La Medusa purse and a white boater hat. She then changed into a sparkling, pink dress with a tiered, tulle skirt also from Versace.

When the Australian actor returned down under to promote the Barbie film at Sydneys iconic Bondi Beach, her outfit paid tribute to the first-ever Barbie doll, which was released in 1959. For the event, she wore a black and white striped minidress by Herve Leger, as an homage to original dolls black and white striped swimsuit.

As for the rest of the cast, they seemingly missed the memo during a recent Barbie photocall in Los Angeles. Last week, Robbie continued her Barbiecore streak with a pink polka-dot Valentino minidress inspired the Pink & Fabulous Barbie from 2015. However, it was the sad beige outfits worn by Robbies fellow Barbie cast mates that captured everyones attention.

Proving her dedication to the theme, Robbie hasnt just been channelling Barbie on the red carpet and for photo calls. She was even seen walking through Sydney airport in an ensemble worthy of the famous doll: a pale pink tweed blazer and grey trousers from Chanels spring/summer 1996 collection, while wheeling vintage-inspired pink luggage.

Her bags were from Steamline luggage: The Entrepreneur Pink Hatbox Small retails at 251, and The Entrepreneur Pink Carryon costs 468.

With the film not out for a few weeks yet and plenty of premieres in the diary, chances are well be seeing a lot more Barbie-inspired fashion from Robbie to come.

The Barbie movie is set to premiere on 21 July. The film also stars Ryan Gosling, Emma Mackey, Michael Cera, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, and more.

Additional reporting from PA.
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A popular fitness influencer has angered fans after posting photos of herself tanning in the sun just weeks after revealing shed had a skin cancer lesion removed from her leg.

Earlier this month, Tammy Hembrow, an Australian-based YouTuber, issued a reminder to her followers about the importance of annual skin cancer screenings in a video posted to TikTok. In the video, the 29-year-old revealed that shed recently had a chunk of her leg removed after doctors identified melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Okay so I want to show you guys the chunk they had to take out of my leg because of the melanoma that I have, Hembrow began the video, before explaining that the week earlier shed had to get a skin cancer cut out of my leg.

It was melanoma, which spreads very quickly and is very dangerous [and] can be very deadly if it spreads, Hembrow continued, while noting that the mole in question had been tiny and did not look suspicious to [her] at ALL.

In the video, Hembrow informed her followers that she was waiting for confirmation from her doctor that theyd got it all, with the influencer noting that she was very hopeful that they did.

Hembrow then expressed her relief that shed gotten a skin cancer screening, before urging her fans to get regular skin checks.I am so so so lucky that I went and got my skin checked. Please get regular skin checks, it can honestly be life-saving, she continued.

In the TikTok, the influencer then admitted that, despite spending a lot of time in the sun, she rarely wears sunscreen. However, she said she is absolutely regretting that now, as she revealed that the skin cancer scare has changed [her] outlook on everything.

According to the Mayo Clinic, melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer, develops in the cells that produce melanin, the pigment that gives your skin its colour.

Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) radiation from sunlight or tanning lamps and beds increases your risk of developing melanoma, the health organisation states, while noting that melanomas most often develop in areas that have had exposure to the sun, such as your back, legs, arms and face.

After revealing that she never thought shed develop melanoma, and admitting that she felt very silly for that now, Hembrow showed her followers the two-inch stitched incision behind her knee where the melanoma had been removed.

Hembrow is now facing anger and concern from her fans, just weeks after sharing the skin cancer warning, after posting photos of herself tanning in the sun.

In the pictures, which the influencer posted to Instagram on Tuesday, she could be seen wearing a patterned yellow bikini as she posed on a sun lounger while sitting outside in the sun. In the photos, Hembrow could also be seen wearing the bandage on her leg where the melanoma lesion had been removed.

OMG, you just had a melanoma removed and are sunbathing, one person commented under the photos, while another said: Youre another type of thick if youre sunbathing after just having a melanoma removed.

Literally still has the bandage on from having a melanoma removed and now posting photos of herself suntanning. Its like she wants to get skin cancer? someone else wrote.

However, Hembrow has since defended herself from the backlash in the comments, where she claimed that she was in the sun for 15 minutes and that its silly to think she can never go in the sun in a bikini again.

(Instagram / Tammy Hembrow)

Was in the sun for 15 minutes. Its also winter here and I dont go in the sun without sunscreen anymore, Hembrow wrote in response to one critic. Alsooo, I am still very much going to go in the sun, to the beach, to the pool, or even if I just want to read a book for 15 minutes in the sun etc.

Just always going to wear SPF and not be out in the hottest hours with no protection like I used to. People are silly if they think I can never go in the sun in a bikini again

According to The Skin Cancer Foundation, regular daily use of SPF 15 sunscreen can reduce your risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) by about 40 per cent, and lower your melanoma risk by 50 per cent.

However, skin cancer charity Cancer Research UK notes that individuals who have been diagnosed with melanoma are at a higher than average risk of developing the skin cancer again in the future.

The Independent has contacted Hembrow for comment.
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Kevin Costners estranged wife Christine Baumgartner has reportedly said she will move out of their home in California, as long as her ex-husband provides further financial support as determined by the court.

The former couple are locked in a disagreement over Baumgartners continued presence in the beachfront house they shared together in Carpenteria, California, after she filed for divorce in early May.

New court documents reportedly show that Baumgartner, 49, promised to move out of the house on 31 August if Costner, 68, agrees to pay a higher amount in monthly child support, according to TMZ. Earlier this month, she reportedly asked a judge to force the Yellowstone star to pay $248,000 (approximately 196,000) per month in child support for their three teenage children.

Baumgartner is arguing that the figure is less than the amount needed to maintain the children in their accustomed lifestyle. She is also requesting that Costner pay 100 per cent of the childrens private school tuition fees, extracurricular activities and healthcare expenses. Both are seeking joint custody of the children.

According to People, the amount Baumgartner is seeking is more than six times the $38,000 (approximately 30,000) a month that Costner offered. He has alleged that his ex-wife is refusing to vacate their home since she filed for divorce, in spite of a clause in their pre-nuptial agreement that requires her to move out within 30 days.

Under the conditions of their pre-nup, Baumgartner is entitled to a settlement of $1.4m. Costners net worth is estimated to be upwards of $250m, with Variety reporting that he was getting paid $1.5m per episode of his hit show Yellowstone, making him the best-paid actor on TV in 2022.

In legal documents, Costner said that Baumgartners agreement to move out was and is unconditional. It also noted that after his divorce from first wife Cindy Silva in 1994, to whom he reportedly paid a $80m settlement, he found himself without a home base He never wanted that to happen again.

Baumgartner cited irreconcilable differences in her divorce filing and listed their date of separation as 11 April.

Kevin Costner and his wife Christine Baumgartner at the Oscars in 2022 (AFP via Getty Images)

A representative for Costner told Fox News at the time: It is with great sadness that circumstances beyond his control have transpired which have resulted in Mr Costner having to participate in a dissolution of marriage action.

We ask that his, Christines and their childrens privacy be respected as they navigate this difficult time.

The pair are due for a case management conference on 5 July.

Costner and Baumgartner married in 2004 and share three children, Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13. The Bodyguard star was previously married to Silva for 16 years before they divorced in 1994, and also share three children together.

Costner also has a son with Bridget Rooney, who was born in 1996.

The Independent has contacted Costners representatives for comment.
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It seems that Kris Jenner has no idea how much In-N-Out Burger costs in a new episode of The Kardashians.

The latest episode in season three of Hulus The Kardashians saw Khloe Kardashian surprising big sister Kim Kardashian with a girls trip to Las Vegas for her 42nd birthday, but bad weather conditions forced the group to return to Los Angeles.

However, the famous family decided to then redirect their trip to the popular California burger joint, In-N-Out Burger. As the group arrived at the fast food chain in feather boas and sequined tops, famous mom-ager Kris Jenner said she had some money to pay for the food.

As everyone placed their orders, the 67-year-old ruffled through her purse to give her daughter Khloe some cash. However, the Good American founder lightly teased her mother when she saw how much money Kris was willing to give her.

I dont know how the f*** you have never been to a fast-food restaurant. We dont need hundreds of dollars, Khloe said to Kris, after appearing shocked when her mother didnt know how much food at the restaurant would cost.

My mom gave me $100, she told the camera. She tried to give me $300. I dont think she realised how much fast-food restaurants are.

Kim Kardashian ended up ordering a plain cheeseburger with light onions, as well as three orders of cheese fries for the group. The In-N-Out cashier then rattled off the entire order to Khloe, which included several cheeseburgers with grilled onions, pickles and fries, six soft drinks, and a chocolate shake. Their total order came to be $59.20, which Khloe paid for with the $100 bill that Kris had given her.

This isnt the first time Kris Jenner has been called out by Khloe Kardashian for being slightly out-of-touch. In season one of The Kardashians, Jenner yelled at a driver to leave the car as she accepted a phone call from Travis Barker asking to marry her eldest daughter, Kourtney Kardashian.

( HULU)

Sir, can I ask you to leave us alone for five minutes? I just want to do something real quick. Thank you, she told the driver off-camera. Kris checked to make sure the driver, who was now outside of the car, had his drivers seat window rolled up, but realised that the trunk was still open.

Louder, she said: Close the trunk! at which point Khloe corrected her mother for yelling, saying, Youre yelling at a f***ing guy.

Khloe then rolled down her window and said to the driver in a quieter tone: Excuse me, sir, would you mind closing the trunk for a moment? Thank you so much.

She reminded her mom: Its not what you say, its how you say it.

Fans cringed later in season one, when Kris Jenner and her daughter Kylie enjoyed a day of normal activities, which included shopping for their own groceries, pumping their own gas, and visiting a car wash. Kylie and Kris really called the drive-thru car wash a tourist attraction, rich people really do live on another planet, one person tweeted in response to the scene.

Meanwhile, Jenner was also accused of being tone-deaf after admitting that she forgot she owns a condo in Beverly Hills during season two of The Kardashians.

The third season of Hulus reality series The Kardashians premiered on 25 May. New episodes of The Kardashians drop every Thursday on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK.
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Last years Love Island winners Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti have announced that they have broken up, after less than a year together.

The pair won the popular ITV reality dating show in August 2022 and were a fan favourite, securing nearly two-thirds of the public vote.

But fans were heartbroken on Thursday night (29 June), after Sanclimenti posted on his Instagram Story to announce that they have parted ways.

He wrote: Ekin-Su and I are no longer together. I am grateful for the memories and opportunities we shared together and I wish her nothing but the best.

I would like for everybody to respect this decision during this difficult time, I will continue to support Ekin in any way possible.

Culculoglu has not yet addressed the break-up publicly. Her last Instagram Story was shared earlier on Thursday and showed her being reunited with her mother and aunt.

The pair, both 28, were last seen together in public attending the London premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Since winning Love Island, they secured a deal for an ITV spin-off show about them exploring their home countries of Italy and Turkey.

Following the devastation caused by an earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria in February, Culculoglu praised Sanclimenti for his support after she discovered some of her extended family had been affected.

Love Island winner Davide Sanclimenti announces he and Ekin-Su are no longer together after 10 months of dating (Instagram/Davide Sanclimenti)

She told Womens Health magazine at the time that he has been great, supporting me emotionally.

I was with him when we heard, and I just couldnt comprehend the devastation, she added.

But earlier this month, Sanclimenti appeared to hint that there was trouble in paradise between him and Culculoglu, who entered the Love Island villa as a bombshell.

Speaking toThe Sun, the Italian businessman said the couple were facing struggles in their relationship due to our public position.

If theres something I would change or would have done differently [with Ekin-Su in the villa], maybe I would have taken things a bit more slowly, he said.

Ekin-Su and Davide attend the European Premiere of Paramount Pictures Transformers: Rise of the Beasts at Cineworld Cinemas on June 07, 2023 (Getty Images for Paramount Pictu)

However, he gushed about his now-ex-girlfriend and declared: The best thing about dating Ekin-Su is that we understand each other  not just because we are literally the same person. She is my copy-paste.

Culculoglu has also previously spoken out about the challenges of having a relationship in the public eye. She told OK! Magazine last year: One thing Ive learnt in this relationship, you have to trust your boyfriend or girlfriend because in the public eye, its not easy.

Especially when people will make rumours or say things, or they see things, or things could look different from a picture. You just have to communicate with your partner, trust your partner and keep your relationship private.

The pair were known on the reality show for their hot-headed personalities, which led to some big romantic gestures but also explosive arguments.

One of the most memorable moments from last years series involved Sanclimenti accusing Culculoglu of being a liar and an actress after she kissed another contestant in secret. The scene went on to become a viral meme on social media.

In October, two months after leaving the villa, the former couple were set to move in together.

However, they were hit by cheating rumours after Sanclimenti was photographed getting into a cab with two other women after a night out. The Turkish model defended her then-boyfriend against the rumours and said: I trust him, he didnt cheat, and hes my man.
A state panel has signed off on a project to bolster security at Cato-Meridian Central School District.

The northern Cayuga County district will receive $148,600 through the state's Smart Schools initiative. According to its investment plan, Cato-Meridian will install Intercom systems at its elementary and Jr.-Sr. high schools. The systems will feature incident response panels, lockdown buttons, video door stations and blue light strobes.

The updated technology will be installed to work with the district's existing door and security camera systems.

When the district posted its security plan, the total project was slated to cost $107,279.

More than half of the $13.2 million awarded through this round of Smart Schools funding will be spent on high-tech security upgrades. Cato-Meridian is among the districts awarded $7.9 million for security improvements. The largest recipient is the Poughkeepsie City School District, which will receive nearly $2.8 million for security upgrades. Elmira City School District will get more than $1 million for security equipment.

Other funding awarded by the Smart Schools Review Board include $4.7 million for classroom technology and $356,000 for school connectivity.

A $2 billion Smart Schools Bond Act was approved by voters in 2014. The board, which consists of the state budget director, State University of New York chancellor and state education commissioner, has met 20 times to approve plans submitted by school districts.

"Investing in our children's education is critical to not only building foundations for individual success, but ensuring our future leaders are prepared to guide New York forward," Gov. Kathy Hochul said. "The Smart Schools Bond Act supports schools across New York state in that effort by providing students with a safe, secure and enlightening environment."

Several Cayuga County-area school districts have benefited from the bond act. Earlier this year, Weedsport was awarded $231,650 and Southern Cayuga got $68,850 for classroom technology upgrades.
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Margot Robbie had a momentary memory lapse when asked about the quintessential Australian barbie.

The Barbie star, 32, is currently promoting the forthcoming film alongside director Greta Gerwig and other members of the cast, including Ryan Gosling and Issa Rae.

During an appearance on Australian network Channel 10s The Project talk show, co-host Sam Taunton mentioned to Gerwig that the word barbie does not refer to the iconic doll in the country.

He said: It means so much to so many people. Im not sure if Margot told you, but the word barbie means something else in Australia. Did you brief Greta about it?

But Robbie, who was born in the rural town of Dalby in Queensland, Australia, appeared confused and asked: What does it mean here?

Taunton and the other hosts appeared aghast at Robbies question, with another host chiming in: A barbecue!

Robbie exclaimed: Oh! before covering her face with her hand in embarrassment as others in the studio burst out laughing.

One of the co-hosts said: I was like, Oh my god! Weve lost her!

In an attempt to explain her brief confusion, Robbie said: Im so Barbie now, I cant even Youre right, a barbie, having a barbie.

Taunton then asked Gerwig: Yeah, thats what we call a barbecue. So you werent aware of that?

Gerwig appeared still stunned by Robbies forgetfulness and stammered: I mean not as such.

Meanwhile, Robbie tried again to rescue her Australian reputation and said: Im blaming the jet lag, by the way. Dont blame the blonde hair, blame the jet lag.

The co-host pointed out there had been no promotional cross-over for Barbie and a barbie during the casts campaign leg in Australia, to which the Suicide Squad star replied: Im deeply regretting that theres not, now that you mention it. What a wasted opportunity.

Yeah, Barbie at a barbie, grilling some snacks, Taunton added, with Robbie growling: Grrr, Im really annoyed we didnt do something like this.

Gerwig joked: Were going to make you grill after this.

Margot Robbie has been channelling Barbies retro and pink-obsessed style for the press tour so far (Jordan Strauss/AP) (AP)

Since setting off on the press tour ahead of the movies release on 21 July, Robbie has delighted fans by wearing a number of Barbie-inspired outfits at various photocalls around the world.

On Friday (30 June), she attended Vogue Australias Barbie celebration party which saw a pink carpet rolled out inside Sydneys Museum of Contemporary Art. Robbie wore a sparkling pink Glomesh mini-dress by Versace.

She has also been seen wearing designers including Herve Leger, Moschino, Chanel, and Bottega Veneta while on tour.

Margot Robbie and America Ferrera attend the "Barbie" Celebration Party at Museum of Contemporary Art on June 30, 2023 (Getty Images)

Earlier this week, she revealed the behind-the-scenes set-up that was used to film the viral Barbie scene that features a close-up of her feet stepping out of a pair of fluffy pink heels.

She confirmed in an interview with Fandango that they were her own feet and that the shoes stayed on the ground with the help of some double-sided tape, so she could get her feet out of them with ease.

Gerwigs hotly anticipated Barbie will follow Robbie as the titular character as she journeys from Barbieland to the human world. Other celebrities who will star in the movie include Simu Liu, Dua Lipa, Ncuti Gatwa, Michael Cera, and Kate McKinnon.

Barbie is released in cinemas on 21 July.
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Sarah Jessica Parker has lamented that she missed out on getting a good old-fashioned facelift in her forties.

The Sex and The City (SATC) star, 58, shared her thoughts about getting similar procedures done in the face of ageism, particularly against women.

Appearing on The Howard Stern Show this week to promote the second series of SATCs reboot, And Just Like That (AJLT), Parker was asked if she sees a good-looking human being whenever she looks in the mirror.

She responded: Im presentable. I dont really like looking at myself. I think Im fine.

Host Howard Stern asked if the actor ever considered having procedures like facelifts or Botox done, to which Parker said: I think about all of it. I ask people all the time, Is it too late?

Pressed about whether she has felt the need to get plastic surgery, Parker answered no although said she does get treatments from a dermatologist, including a skin peel.

Ill do any of that stuff I honestly think I missed out on the facelift, the old-fashioned good one that you have when youre 44, she added.

Ive seen some horror stories lately, Stern chimed in. I dont know. Im glad you didnt do it.

Parker went on to say she didnt hold anything against people who do choose to get cosmetic procedures, adding: I do understand why people make the choice because theres so much emphasis put on especially women and primarily women about looks.

Sarah Jessica Parker in And Just Like That' (Sky)

She referred to paparazzi photos that showed her wearing her natural hair colour while eating out with Andy Cohen in the summer of 2021, which resulted in media coverage and fans commenting on her grey hair.

First of all its not [grey], but who cares, she said. Im sitting next to Andy Cohen, whose head is covered in grey hair and youve not mentioned that at all. So I understand why women feel like there is so much chatter, [and] peripheral opinions.

I dont think its wrong. I think people should do whatever they feel makes them feel better walking out the door, frankly.

Parker previously spoke out about the coverage of her hair in an interview with Allure magazine last year. She clarified that she still does colour her hair, but doesnt spend time getting base colour every two weeks.

Andy Cohen and Sarah Jessica Parker attend the 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in partnership with Ketel One Family-Made Vodka, longstanding ally of the LGBTQ community on May 04, 2019 (Getty Images for Ketel One Famil)

Adding that she is more focused on feeling OK according to her standards, Parker said: I just dont care enough. When I walk out the door, I want to feel OK according to my standards. I cant even tell you what those standards are.

But you know how you feel when you feel most like yourself, whatever that means, she explained. Im not without vanity. I guess I just dont care enough about everybody elses opinion.

In January, Parker shared her perspective on ageing and said she has the impression that other people are more concerned about her appearance than she is.

Speaking to Vogue France, the Failure To Launch star said: I just really cant be the person that others expect me to be.

She shared that she doesnt really think about [her] age and that she doesnt see the point of trying to suspend time. The most important thing, Parker said, is to be around for as long as possible to see my children grow up.

Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick share twins, Tabitha and Marion, and a son, James. The couple have been married since 1997.
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Sarah Jessica Parker has revealed that she and her husband, Matthew Broderick, havent spent a night apart from each other in more than three decades.

During a recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show, the actress, 58, recalled how she had her first date with Broderick on 8 March 1992. Parker went on to explain how, ever since that date, she and her partner have been together.

Weve never spent a night apart since then, with the exception of work on location, she told Howard Stern. Or, his mother was ill for a bit so he went to take care of her. But from that first night, weve never been apart.

The Sex and The City star also said that pretty soon into the relationship, she felt like she was in love with Broderick and thought he was really incredible.

When Stern asked what love meant to her, Parker recalled how she admired Broderick before they started dating, noting that she had loved his work. She explained that when they got to know each other, she realised that she liked his person very much, before listing some of her favourite qualities about her partner.

Hes so smart, hes so funny, I like this choice of friends, the way he was living in New York, what was important to him, how he kind of travelled around the city, she explained. He was always travelling around on his bicycle, hes been riding bikes since he was 14.

She continued: [Hes] really smart and really talented. And he was, I thought, so beautiful and handsome and charming.

According to Parker, her and Broderick were brought up in similar ways, even though their lives were very different. She then pointed out another thing that they had in common: Wanting to start a family in New York.

I love being home in New York, she said. I wanted to build a life here and he was born and raised in the West Village, literally, hes never lived north of 11th Street.

Broderick and Parker officially tied the knot in 1997, five years after their first date. They went on to welcome a son, James, 20, and twin daughters, Tabitha and Marion, 13.

Meanwhile, the Ferris Buellers Day Off star has previously opened up about his strong connection with his wife. During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live in April 2022, TV host Andy Cohen asked Broderick when he knew that Parker was the one.

In response, he said: The first time I met her. I saw her walking down the street, and thought, Thats it.

However, elsewhere in her conversation with Stern, Parker confessed that she couldnt start dating Broderick when they first met, since they were in separate relationships at the time.

We were both seeing other people, so it was illegal, and we stayed away from one another, the And Just Like That star explained. We understood that we had to do right by the other people and break up officially.

Last month, Parker shared a picture on Instagram of a champagne cork, to celebrate her 26th wedding anniversary.

Happy 26th anniversary my husband, she wrote in the caption. That sure was a nice celebration and a real nice bottle of champagne. And a gorgeous walk home. Oh the miles we have strolled together.I love you. XOX, your SJ.
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A Nebraska lawmaker is suing a conservative political action committee for defamation, saying the group targeted her with online attacks that led to violent threats against her and her transgender child.

Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt sued the Nebraska Freedom Coalition and three of its officers  Patrick Peterson, Robert Anthony and Malia Shirley  this week, saying they defamed her when they repeatedly called her a child groomer" in social media posts and falsely accused her of sexually abusing her child.

The group began making those accusations in March, shortly after Hunt made an impassioned plea with her fellow lawmakers on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature to reject a bill that would have banned gender-affirming care for anyone under the age of 19. She shared publicly for the first time in that speech that her teenage child is transgender and called the bill an affront to her and other parents caring for transgender teens.

Lawmakers later passed an amended version of the bill that bans gender-confirming surgery for anyone under 19 and restricts the use of hormone treatments and puberty blockers in minors. That bill also folded in a 12-week abortion ban.

After the Nebraska Freedom Coalition began its online attacks of Hunt, the lawsuit says, others began harassing Hunt, and she was called a groomer on Twitter no fewer than 231 times.

She also received dozens of phone calls and emails accusing her of being a groomer or pedophile and an unfit mother. Several emails threatened her with physical harm; one called for her to be mutilated. A fake Twitter account purporting to be that of her child published her home address and called on people to rescue the 13-year-old from Hunt's home. One post called for Hunt to be publicly executed.

I am taking a stand against those who wish to defame, intimidate and harass parents, educators, healthcare professionals, and advocates who stand up for our children and Nebraskans in the fight for equality across the state, Hunt said in a written statement following announcement of the lawsuit. No longer will we stand by while vile and defamatory statements are made to marginalize Nebraskans.

To highlight the gravity of those threats, the lawsuit notes that a 2020 shooting death by a man who was hunting sex offenders, according to prosecutors, happened just a few miles from Hunt's home. Police said James Fairbanks went to 64-year-old Mattieo Condoluci's home, which he randomly found through an internet search for registered sex offenders, and shot the older man with a rifle seven times when Condoluci answered the door.

Nebraska Freedom Coalition responded to the lawsuit with a lengthy statement saying it is a defender of free speech, which it uses to question, challenge, and seek truth. The group will not be intimidated or deterred, it said. It later issued a tweet that offered a mocking apology and made contemptuous references to both Hunt and her child.

Were so sorry for calling Megan a groomer for actively transitioning her daughter to a son while simultaneously advocating for the right to chop the breasts off her son. Definitely NOT groomer behavior AT ALL, the tweet read.

Hunt's lawsuit says free speech rights don't cover false criminal allegations and intentional disinformation.

There is no constitutional right to speak or publish damaging falsities accusing someone of serious crimes they did not commit, the lawsuit reads.

Peterson, Anthony and Shirley did not immediately respond Thursday to an email sent to Nebraska Freedom Coalition seeking comments from them individually. A voicemail left for Shirley was not immediately returned. Publicly listed phone numbers for Peterson and Anthony could not be found Thursday.

Attorney Adam Morfeld with the Nebraska Legal Action Fund, which is representing Hunt, also took issue with the group's First Amendment claim.

Maliciously accusing Nebraskans of grooming and abusing children with no factual basis only seeks to defame, harass and marginalize them, Morfeld said. The Nebraska Legal Action Fund will use all the legal tools at our disposal to protect Nebraskans and expose extremists, their tactics, their supporters, and misinformation.

Hunt's lawsuit, filed in Douglas County District Court, seeks an unspecified amount in damages and legal costs and asks for a jury trial.

At least 20 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and most of those states  including Nebraska  face lawsuits. A federal judge struck down Arkansas ban as unconstitutional, and federal judges have temporarily blocked bans in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and T ennessee. Oklahoma has agreed to not enforce its ban while opponents seek a temporary court order blocking it. A federal judge has blocked Florida from enforcing its ban on three children who have challenged the law.
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Tulsa lacks the jurisdiction to prosecute a Native American man cited by police for speeding because the city is located within the boundaries of an Indian reservation, a federal appeals court ruled.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision on Wednesday, rejecting the city's argument that the Curtis Act, an 1898 federal law passed before Oklahoma became a state, gave the city jurisdiction over municipal violations committed by Native Americans.

The court's ruling was based on the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2020 decision that found that much of eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation because it was never formally disestablished by Congress. That ruling has since been expanded to include several other reservations in eastern and southern Oklahoma that make up about 40% of the state.

Justin Hooper, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, was cited for speeding in 2018 by Tulsa police in a part of the city within the historic boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He paid a $150 fine for the ticket, but filed a lawsuit after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma. He argued that the city did not have jurisdiction because his offense was committed by a Native American in Indian Country. A municipal court and a federal district court judge both sided with the city, but a three-judge panel of10th Circuit reversed the lower court's decision.

The decision was immediately derided by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation but has had an increasingly hostile relationship with the state's Native American tribes that stems from a feud over tribal casinos.

Citizens of Tulsa, if your city government cannot enforce something as simple as a traffic violation, there will be no rule of law in eastern Oklahoma, Stitt said in a statement. This is just the beginning. It is plain and simple, there cannot be a different set of rules for people solely based on race.

Stitt's reaction to the ruling drew harsh condemnation from David Hill, the principal chief of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, who said he was unsure if the governor's remarks were born of intentional dishonesty or an inexcusable ignorance of the laws.

Race has nothing to do with this, Hill said. There is no law that Tulsa PD can't enforce. That's the part Stitt keeps ignoring as he perpetuates needless attacks on tribes.

Ironically, Stitt's own brother, Keith Stitt, also used his tribal citizenship to challenge Tulsa's jurisdiction after police issued him a speeding ticket in 2021.

Experts on tribal law say there is an easy solution  for Tulsa to enter into prosecution agreements with various tribal nations like many cities and towns in eastern Oklahoma already have.

It has always been the case that the City of Tulsa has the authority to write tickets and send those over to our various nations, said Sara Hill, attorney general of the Cherokee Nation, which also has reservation land that encompasses parts of north Tulsa. They simply haven't been doing that in favor of this Curtis Act argument.

Under the agreements with municipalities, the portion of the revenue from tickets that is typically remitted to the state of Oklahoma is instead sent to the tribal nation whose reservation the city or town is located in, Hill said. The rest of the money can be retained by the city or town.

Tulsa officials said in a statement that they were still reviewing the court's decision and did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether they planned to enter into such agreements with the Muscogee (Creek) or Cherokee nations.

___

Follow Sean Murphy on Twitter: @apseanmurphy
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Boris Johnson said it was time to get Rwanda done, as he warned that the legal row over the scheme could ground flights until 2025.

The former prime minister used his Daily Mail column to endorse ministers commitment to the scheme and plans to appeal, after Court of Appeal judges rebuffed the argument that Rwanda could be considered a safe third country.

The decision was the latest setback in Rishi Sunaks bid to stop the boats  one of his flagship pledges.

There is now a good chance that the laws delays will be so severe that no illegal arrivals will be sent to Rwanda this year, and perhaps not even next year Boris Johnson

Mr Johnson, whose Government proposed the plan, said that now flights to Rwanda may not go ahead next year as he played on his famous 2019 slogan Get Brexit Done.

In his column, he wrote: We always knew that it would be difficult, and when I launched the scheme on April 14 last year, I was explicit that it would take time, and that it would face many legal challenges and reverses.

I also said that it might be necessary to take further steps and, if required, to change the law.

The time has now come to do this. I have every hope that the Supreme Court will follow the opinion of the Lord Chief Justice, and quash the decision of the Court of Appeal.

But we must be realistic. There is now a good chance that the laws delays will be so severe that no illegal arrivals will be sent to Rwanda this year, and perhaps not even next year.

Mr Johnson said that such a situation would be intolerable and suggested it was time for Parliament to intervene.

It is time  with a large remaining majority  for Parliament to determine that Rwanda is safe, bust the evil people traffickers, stop the boats, recapture the spirit of 2019 and get Rwanda done Boris Johnson

He wrote: The Government has the power, under Schedule 3 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004, to ask Parliament to deem Rwanda a safe country. That has not so far been done and it should now be done  immediately.

Yes, of course there would be a row. The House of Lords might well be difficult  but we have been here before.

It is time for the Government to settle the legal position.

It is time  with a large remaining majority  for Parliament to determine that Rwanda is safe, bust the evil people traffickers, stop the boats, recapture the spirit of 2019 and get Rwanda done.

Mr Johnson also played down suggestions from some Tory MPs that the UK should seek to leave the European Convention on Human Rights in order to push ahead with the scheme, which has been criticised by opposition parties and campaigners.

There are some who argue that we should immediately quit the European Convention on Human Rights; and though I can certainly see the attractions of this  it would take time, and cause divisions, and would not solve the immediate problem raised by this case, he wrote.
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Energy giant Centrica has increased capacity at the UKs largest gas storage site to provide it with a bigger safety cushion for next winter.

The Rough storage site had been mothballed from 2017 but was partially reopened last year, when it was able to store around 30 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas.

On Friday, the parent firm of British Gas said it had increased storage at the site off the coast of East Yorkshire to 54 bcf.

The facility will now provide the equivalent volume of gas to heat 2.4 million homes over winter, the company said.

The energy firm said its long-term ambition is to turn the gas field into the largest long-duration, low-carbon energy storage facility in the world, capable of storing natural gas and hydrogen.

But any plans to expand the site  which Centrica estimates could become one of the worlds largest at 200 bcf  would need billions of pounds of investment.

To do that, Centrica has said it needs an agreement with Government which would make the investment worthwhile.

It has explored the idea of a cap-and-floor system, used by other energy companies, which limits its losses but also its profits should gas prices fluctuate.

But the business has so far been unable to reach an agreement with ministers. Without extra work it will be unable to store more than 54 bcf.

Centrica group chief executive Chris OShea said: The resilience of the UKs energy system needs to be substantially improved.

We are delighted to play our part by further expanding the UKs gas storage capacity.

Rough is not a silver bullet for energy security, but it plays a critical role in increasing capacity and supply confidence over the winter months.

Rough can help our energy system by storing natural gas when there is a surplus and producing this gas when the country needs it during cold snaps and peak demand.

It comes as energy prices for households are set to drop for households from Saturday due to a decrease in Ofgems energy price cap following a fall in wholesale gas prices.
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A drill rapper who is accused of plotting a terrorist attack in central London has told a court he put on an extremist Isis persona to impress women.

Prosecutors say Al-Arfat Hassan, who gained a strong following of young Muslims under the name TS, used his music to glorify so-called Islamic State (IS) killings.

Hassan, 20, from Enfield, north London, is on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of preparing terrorist acts alongside one of his fans, a 16-year-old from Leeds.

On Friday, jurors were shown one of Hassans music videos, which featured him and other young men sitting round a table, wearing black clothing and balaclavas, with money and weapons on the table.

The defendant told the court the video was meant to show a terrorist jihadi network discussing plans.

Hassan said women were drawn in by the jihadi persona he was developing online in 2021.

After the success of (his song) Satan 2.0, so many fans, including women, came in to play so I pretty much seduced the women I found attractive, Hassan told jurors.

With the jihadi persona a lot of Muslim women were attracted to it. Thats the act I kept up with them.

Hassan was asked about messages he sent to one young woman he met through his music and started a relationship with. The court heard she was 25 years old at the time, while Hassan was 18.

Throughout my communications with her I would pretend to be this crazy soldier of God, a terrorist, in other words, he said.

That imagery is what attracted her. Its what led her to reach out to me in the first place.

Asked about a message in which he talked about shooting up the whole place for Allah during a conversation about public transport, Hassan said he had never intended to carry it out, adding: Its just something I would say at that time.

Jurors were shown a picture that Hassan sent the woman of two hands touching, featuring IS imagery, saying that the two of them would recreate the image.

He said it was role play and part of an act of coming across as a terrorist.

He said: Im presenting to her as someone whos extremist Isis. My imagery is intimidation, its hyper-masculine.

Im not going to pretend to be an imam at a local mosque to pull a woman.

Asked if this act worked, Hassan said: It worked a lot, I was with a lot of women.

Both defendants deny preparing terrorist acts. Hassan has also pleaded not guilty to possessing an explosive substance under suspicious circumstances, while the 16-year-old denies possessing a document likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

Prosecutors say the pair had become heavily radicalised by late 2021 and both supported an extreme Islamist ideology.

Jurors have heard that they researched and planned to buy knives, balaclavas, tactical gloves and materials to make bombs as part of their plans to commit terrorist attacks.

The trial continues.
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A 13 year-old girl who went missing has been found after a major police search.

Carmelle Hepi, who had travelled alone to London from Barnsley, was found by officers on Thursday at an address in south west London.

Four males have been arrested in connection with the investigation. One remains in custody and the other three have been bailed pending further enquiries. More than 50 investigators from across the organisation were involved in the search, working closely with South Yorkshire Police, and scouring hours of CCTV.

Supt Gabriel Cameron, South West Command, said: We are delighted that Carmelle has been found safe and well and will soon be reunited with her family. The scale of this operation reflects our serious concerns about her welfare. This is an example of how when the Met works as a team and with others we can achieve a great result.
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Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwells arguments for overturning her sex trafficking conviction fall far short of justifying quashing the jurys verdict, US Government lawyers have said.

The 61-year-old was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to massage rooms for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June last year.

Maxwell indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had faded, distorted and motivated memories.

Her attorneys also claimed she did not have a fair trial after it emerged one of the jurors, Scotty David, also known as Juror 50, had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused in the jury questionnaire.

But US Government lawyers have urged the Second Circuit Appeals Court to uphold Maxwells conviction.

In response to the arguments about Mr David, the US Governments attorneys said: Judge Nathan conducted a thorough inquiry and determined that Juror 50s inadvertent errors on the jury questionnaire did not undermine Maxwells right to a fair trial.

Maxwell does not meaningfully engage with Judge Nathans careful opinion, instead suggesting that Juror 50s testimony at the hearing was patently absurd.

The US Government attorneys said Maxwells arguments fall far short of establishing Judge Nathan abused her discretion in her decision not to overturn the jurys verdict.

The former socialite also argued the US government breached a non-prosecution agreement by bringing the charges against her  claiming the agreement immunised Maxwell for these offences.

But the US prosecutors said Maxwell has no right to invoke the protections of a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) because she was not a signatory or a third party to the agreement.

In her appeal submissions, the disgraced socialite said the court had refused to correct the jurys misunderstanding of elements of the charges  meaning she was convicted of crimes with which she was not charged.

But the US Government said Judge Nathan found that the original jury instructions and the Governments summation captured the core of criminality charged in the indictment.

Maxwell also urged the appeal court to resentence if she was not granted a new trial.

But the government attorneys said her sentence was not unfair and that her arguments to the contrary were so cursory and undeveloped that they should be dismissed.

Jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as dangerous during her three-week trial, and were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epsteins various properties for him to sexually abuse.

Her lawyers have until July 27 to respond the US Governments submissions.

Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020, despite numerous attempts from her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The death was ruled a suicide.
Lang Zheng, who touched the nation's heart after the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 by saluting the soldiers who rescued him, is again in the spotlight after achieving good results in the college entrance examination, or gaokao, which could help him attend a prestigious university. Fifteen years ago, 3-year-old Lang became known as "Salute Boy", after a deadly magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit Southwest China's Sichuan province. As Lang, who was rescued from rubble in Beichuan county, one of the worst-hit areas near the epicenter, was being carried by soldiers on a makeshift stretcher, he gave them a military salute. The touching moment was captured by a photographer and prompted an outpouring of emotion nationwide. On Saturday, Lang received his college entrance examination result. He scored 637 points, placing him in the top 30 of hundreds of thousands of liberal arts exam participants in Sichuan. The annual gaokao, which took place from June 7 to 10 this year, is one of the most important exams for Chinese students as the scores largely determine which universities they can attend and their future career paths. "I am very surprised and amazed. I really did not expect to do so well," Lang told China Daily, adding that he is going to apply for Peking University in the upcoming college application process. "I will do my best to acquire knowledge and become a useful person to serve society in the future," he said, adding that history and international relations are his preferred majors. Lang has already received invitations from Peking University and Renmin University of China, two of the country's top universities. "I plan to work as a civil servant or in a similar job in the future, serve the people, and live up to expectations of so many people who cared about me and helped me," he was quoted by Hongxing News as saying. Lang Hongdong, Lang Zheng's father, told China Daily, "I just hope that he can study hard at university, work hard and make more contributions to society in the future". Since becoming well-known for his gesture during the rescue, Lang has been stuck with the nickname "Salute Boy". Being called "Salute Boy" for the past 15 years has mainly given him encouragement, rather than placing him under pressure, he said. "The nickname gives me more motivation, encouraging me to study hard and not to slack off," he said. "Going to university is just a new starting point. I should study harder, and gain more skills to give back to society."
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The two unlicensed cannabis dispensaries in the Auburn area that were raided by authorities on Tuesday remain open, and their owner declared that he's "ready for war" with the state.

David Tulley, of Lyons, told The Citizen on Friday that his businesses  I'm Stuck at 9 E. Genesee St. in Auburn and the Weed Warehouse on Crane Brook Drive in Aurelius  continue to serve customers despite signage posted in their doors by the New York State Office of Cannabis Management saying, "this location must immediately cease the sale of unapproved and unauthorized cannabis products."

The businesses, which are advertised as "consulting and marketing firms," sell "consultations" about cannabis products while technically gifting the products themselves in order to exploit a legal loophole.

Asked directly by The Citizen whether his businesses are still selling "consultations," Tulley replied, "Our stores are still open."

Tulley, who owns another four locations of I'm Stuck in Wayne County, spoke to The Citizen by phone from Ithaca. He and several I'm Stuck employees were handing out free cannabis products to customers of William Jane, a licensed dispensary that opened in March, as a form of protest against the Office of Cannabis Management. If I'm Stuck can't do business, he said, no one should be able to.

"I am the king of New York when it comes to weed. You will open the market for everyone, not shut people out of the market. That is a socialist economy," Tulley said. "Where's the licensed dispensary in Auburn? How far do they need to drive to get their weed from licensed dispensaries? Or are you sending them back to the street corner where they really might be getting fentanyl weed?"

Tulley said he and his 40 employees were prepared for Tuesday's raids, and that a "minimal" amount of cannabis products were seized. Still, he was arrested at the I'm Stuck location in the town of Ontario on a misdemeanor charge of 2nd degree obstruction of governmental administration. According to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office, Tulley crossed police tape and entered a garage structure, locked himself inside with authorities and tried to interfere in their investigation by "yelling at them." Tulley, blaming a broken lock on the structure's door, called it a "clown show arrest."

Unlicensed New York pot shops previously raided stay open New York started new inspections this month at the unlicensed pot shops that are troubling the states fledgling legal marijuana market. But anyone who expects to see the stores shape up or shut down might need patience. The enforcement push debuted with inspections, violation notices and confiscation of contraband weed at 11 Manhattan storefronts. Two weeks later, an Associated Press reporter found two stores appeared to have closed, two others were no longer selling marijuana products  and it was business as usual at the rest. Legally, inspections are just a first step toward hefty fines and, potentially, closure and even criminal prosecution. Still, regulators hope this will be a turning point in weeding out illegal sellers.

The Office of Cannabis Management has declined comment on the raids to The Citizen, saying it has no information to share at this time.

The state has defended previous raids of unlicensed dispensaries in Ithaca and Binghamton by pointing out that their cannabis products aren't tested by the Office of Cannabis Management and therefore "can pose a threat to public health." Tulley, in response, said I'm Stuck's products are purchased from Native Americans, contain only cannabis grown in New York state and "haven't made anyone sick."

Coordinating previous raids with the Office of Cannabis Management has been the New York State Department of Taxation & Finance, as cannabis businesses can't willfully fail to collect required taxes or possess untaxed cannabis for sale. Tulley said he pays taxes on the cannabis he purchases for sale, but does not charge customers sales tax because he has no way of remitting the money to the state. There is no sales tax on cannabis purchased at licensed dispensaries, but products are subject to a 13% tax that includes 3% for the municipality and 1% for the county where the dispensary is located.

The state Department of Taxation & Finance did not respond to a request for comment by The Citizen.

Tulley said he is embracing what he believes is an effort by the state to make him a villain. He even dressed as the Joker in a video posted Wednesday on the Weed Warehouse's Facebook page. But he also believes he's taking a stand, and looks forward to the "war" over his ability to be in the cannabis business in New York. His hearing with the Office of Cannabis Management is scheduled for July 14.

"By the time I'm said and done, they won't be able to set foot in nobody's stores," he said, noting he's hired an attorney.

"I refuse to fire 40 employees and send them back to welfare. They can hit us 20 times. Take me away in cuffs, that's the only way you're going to stop me."

Auburn-area cannabis businesses raided, ordered to cease sales Unlicensed cannabis dispensaries in the Auburn area were raided by law enforcement Tuesday and ordered by the state to cease sales.
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The Duke of Sussex should be awarded up to 320,000 in compensation over the alleged misuse of his private information by a tabloid newspaper publisher, his lawyers have told the High Court.

Harry, 38, is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles  the Daily and Sunday Mirror and Sunday People  were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called blagging or gaining information by deception, and the use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

In a court document released to the media on Friday  the final day of a trial in London  the dukes legal team set out its suggestions for the amount of money Harry could receive if a judge rules in his favour.

Harry alleges 147 stories from 1996 to 2010, published by MGN titles, used information obtained through unlawful means.

The articles cover the dukes relationship with his family and ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a few injuries and illnesses, his military service and allegations of drug use.

Some 33 articles, dated between 1996 and 2009, were selected for examination during the trial of Harrys and others contested claims against the publisher.

In the document, the dukes lawyers suggested he could be awarded up to 320,000 if his case is successful in relation to all of these 33 stories.

The duke may also be awarded more if the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, concludes Harry is also entitled to aggravated damages, for additional distress or injury to feelings arising from the nature of the alleged wrongdoing.

Harry has previously told the court that MGNs alleged intrusion into his life contributed to a huge amount of paranoia in his relationships.

In his witness statement, the duke said that he found it very hard to trust anyone, which led to bouts of depression and paranoia.

The highest amount sought for one article is 25,000 in relation to a December 2003 story in the People.

The double-page article reported a disagreement between Harry and his brother William, now Prince of Wales, about whether to meet former royal butler Paul Burrell over his ongoing exposes about our mother.

Harry claims the articles author was a habitual commissioner of private investigators and that the reported phrase two-face shit he used to describe Mr Burrell could have been taken from a voicemail.

MGN has claimed the information came from a confidential source who specialised in royal matters and there was no evidence of phone hacking.

Harrys lawyers also suggest he could be awarded up to 20,000 in relation to a front page Mirror story in January 2002 entitled Harrys cocaine ecstasy and GHB parties.

The article claimed that some of the dukes friends had taken hard drugs in front of him, including ecstasy, cocaine and GHB, reporting that the then Prince of Wales  now the King  was terrified.

Harry said in his evidence to the court that it is not clear to me where the defendants journalists could have possibly obtained these quotes from.

However, MGN deny unlawful activity and said there is no evidence of phone hacking.

MGN has told the trial that it denies that 28 out of the 33 articles involved unlawful information gathering and that it was not admitted for the remaining five articles.

The publisher claims the stories came from a range of sources, including information disclosed by royal households or other royals, freelance journalists and news agencies as well as confidential sources with extensive royal contacts.

Its lawyers have said the duke should be awarded up to 500 in damages for one admitted instance of unlawful information gathering in February 2004.

Andrew Green KC, for MGN, previously told the trial that it unreservedly apologises to the duke for this occasion and that it accepts he was entitled to appropriate compensation.

The barrister said that it was admitted that a private investigator was instructed, by an MGN journalist at The People, to unlawfully gather information about his activities at the Chinawhite nightclub one night in February 2004.

Mr Green said that there was a People article published in February 2004 giving the recollection of a woman Harry spent time with at the club, but later told the court that it was not one of the 33 stories selected for the trial of Harrys claim, so it is not alleged that this instruction led to the publication of his private information.

The barrister also said MGN had set out the appropriate award should the judge find any of the articles complained of were the product of unlawful activity.

According to Harrys lawyers, MGN had suggested a potential total figure of 37,000.

MGN lawyers have also argued that there is nothing significant in Harry and others claims to warrant any award of aggravated damages.

In written arguments they add that the court should ensure any award is proportionate, saying that figures proposed by the claimants would be grossly disproportionate given the absence of evidence and relatively limited interference in their private lives.

Harrys case is being heard alongside similar claims by actor Michael Turner, who is known professionally as Michael Le Vell and best known for playing Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, actress Nikki Sanderson and comedian Paul Whitehouses ex-wife Fiona Wightman.

MGN is largely contesting the claims and denies that any of the articles complained of resulted from phone hacking, while contending that the vast majority did not arise from any other unlawful activity.
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The Honours of Scotland  the oldest Crown jewels in Britain and among the oldest in Europe  have been digitised to allow the public to view them like never before.

Newly released 3D models of the Crown of Scotland, the Sceptre and the Sword of State have been produced by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to let people examine the intricate detail of the Honours up close.

As well as offering a unique perspective of the collection, believed to date from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, the 3D models will also be used to aid future conservation work.

The Honours were digitally captured through a process of photogrammetry, where hundreds of overlapping high-resolution photographs were taken of the objects then analysed by software to work out their relative position.

These aligned photographs were then used to create accurate photorealistic models of the artefacts, which were first used together as coronation regalia in the mid-sixteenth century.

The Honours are scheduled to be formally presented to the King on Wednesday July 5 at the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication which is due to take place at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The blade of the Sword of State is said to be in a very fragile condition, having been broken and repaired in the past, likely around the time the Honours were hidden from the forces of Oliver Cromwell sometime in the mid-seventeenth century.

In order to protect the blade, it was retired from use some years ago with the consent of the monarch. The Lord Lyon has commissioned a new sword to be made for ceremonial purposes and HES has agreed to care for this new commission.

The Honours of Scotland have been present at many of the major royal ceremonial events over the past five centuries. Their centrepiece is the Crown of Scotland, crafted of gold and silver and laden with 94 pearls and 43 gemstones including diamonds, garnets and amethysts.

The Honours of Scotland are objects of unique importance in the HES collections, and were delighted to be able to offer a new way for our audiences to engage with them ahead of their role in the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication. Kathy Richmond, head of collections and applied conservation at HES

James V had the Crown made in 1540, likely in part from the earlier Scottish Crown which had been damaged, and first wore it at the coronation of Mary of Guise that same year.

The Sceptre is thought to have been a gift to James IV from Pope Alexander VI in 1494. The ceremonial staff is an example of High Renaissance Italian craftsmanship, with the finial formed from a globe of polished rock crystal and held up by stylised dolphins and three figures depicting St Andrew, St James and the Virgin Mary.

The Sword of State was gifted to James IV by Pope Julius II in 1507 and represents an exceptionally high quality of decoration. The arms of Pope Julius were used as the theme for the Sword handle design, with oak trees and acorns symbolising the risen Christ and dolphins signifying Christs Church.

Kathy Richmond, head of collections and applied conservation at HES, commented: The Honours of Scotland are objects of unique importance in the HES collections, and were delighted to be able to offer a new way for our audiences to engage with them ahead of their role in the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication.

Using digital technology in this way can help enhance how we enjoy, understand and protect the precious objects of our past.

The Honours of Scotland have had a turbulent history. Edward I had removed the former Honours of Scotland along with the Stone of Destiny in 1296, with only the Stone surviving. The Honours seen today were pursued by Cromwellian forces, who destroyed the English Crown Jewels.

In 1650 they were removed for safekeeping ahead of Oliver Cromwells siege of Edinburgh Castle. Unable to be returned to Edinburgh Castle following the Scottish coronation of King Charles II in 1651, the Honours were taken to Dunnottar Castle before being smuggled out during a siege and hidden at Kinneff Kirk.

Only with the restoration of King Charles II to the throne could they return to Edinburgh Castle and be used for ceremonial openings of Parliament until 1707.

With the Parliamentary Union of 1707, the Honours were locked away in the Crown Room at the Castle, as they were no longer needed for ceremonial events.

They remained there until 1818 when Sir Walter Scott and others, with a royal warrant from the Prince Regent (who would become George IV), broke into the Crown Room, opened the Crown Chest and there rediscovered the Honours.

The digital models of the Honours of Scotland are available to view on Sketchfab website.
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The Prime Minister has insisted people being brought into new roles in the NHS will be trained and regulated properly as he said the Tories can be trusted with the health service.

The Government has published its plan for a massive shake-up in how the NHS recruits and retains staff, promising thousands more workers, some of whom will train on the job.

Rishi Sunak told reporters on a visit to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge that the General Medical Council (GMC) will bring new roles like physician associates into its remit, so they can prescribe.

He said thats what having a modern workforce is about, adding: Its about adapting to how peoples health needs to be treated and if you talk to some of the people that I was talking to earlier, theyre doing all these new roles.

We should be modernising the NHS so its fit for the future.

Healthcare is evolving and the NHS needs to evolve with it, and thats what the plan does.

Mr Sunak later told a Downing Street press briefing the service was under pressure, in part due to an aging population.

He said: Our society is growing older, the burden of illness is changing, and all of this will put pressure on an already overstretched workforce.

He said governments from all parties had ducked the workforce challenge for decades but that overcoming this wont be quick or easy.

He added: Its only possible because of the difficult decisions were taking elsewhere to cut the debt and by prioritising the NHS, there will be other things that we cant afford.

But the NHS is too important. So were making the tough calls, and doing things differently, to protect the long-term future of the NHS and this country.

He said the plan eases pressures today but also protects this precious national institution for the long term.

He added: You can trust this Government with the NHS.

Under the plan, more than 300,000 extra nurses, doctors and other health workers are expected to be employed in the NHS in England over the coming years.

The possibility of cutting the amount of time doctors spend in medical school, driving up the number of home-grown NHS staff and ramping up apprenticeship places are among the ideas to deal with severe staff shortages.

It comes as officials warned that, without action, there could be 360,000 vacancies in the health service by 2037.

The plan, along with new retention measures, could mean the health service has at least an extra 60,000 doctors, 170,000 more nurses and 71,000 more allied health professionals in place by 2036/37.

Officials have asked the GMC regulator and medical schools to consult on the introduction of four-year medical degrees, which are five years at present, and medical internships, allowing students to start work six months earlier.

The document says the Government and NHS will:

 Double medical school training places to 15,000 by 2031, with more places in areas with the greatest shortages of doctors.

 Increase the number of GP training places by 50% to 6,000 by 2031.

 Almost double the number of adult nurse training places by 2031, taking the total number of places to nearly 38,000 by 2031/32.

 Ramp up apprenticeships so students can earn while they learn. The aim is to provide 22% of all training for clinical staff through apprenticeship routes by 2031/32, up from 7% today. To support this ambition, the NHS plans to reach 16% by 2028/29.

 Introduce medical degree apprenticeships, with pilots running in 2024/25, so that by 2031/32, 2,000 medical students will train via this route. Medical degree apprenticeships will be boosted to more than 850 by 2028/29.

 Expand dentistry training places by 40% so there are more than 1,100 places by 2031/32. To support this ambition, the Government says it will reach 24% more by 2028/29, taking the overall number that year to 1,000 places.

-Train more NHS staff domestically to reduce reliance on international recruitment and agency staff. In 15 years time, the Government expects around 910.5% of the NHS workforce to be recruited from overseas, compared to nearly a quarter now.

 Increasing training places for nursing associates to 10,500 by 2031/32. By 2036/37, there will be more than 64,000, compared to 4,600 today.

 Increasing physician associate (PA) training places to more than 1,500 by 2031/32. This will establish a workforce of 10,000 PAs by 2036/37.

Meanwhile, the NHS is to crack down on spending on expensive agency staff, with health leaders ordered to cut the bill by 10 billion by 2036/37.

Nurses will also be allowed to start work as soon as they graduate in May, instead of in September as they do currently.

Officials said the document will also have a renewed focus on retention  with more flexible working options and better career development.

It is hoped the plans, along with reforms to pension schemes, could mean up to 130,000 staff stay working in NHS settings longer.

The new plan has been backed by a 2.4 billion investment by the Government.

Health leaders have also agreed the plan needs to be revised every two years to accommodate changing needs across the service.

NHS chief executive Amanda Pitchard told the Downing Street briefing the plan was good for both staff and patients.

She said demand for health workers is increasing, and will continue increasing across the world.

Doing nothing is not an option, she added.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: This plan presents a historic opportunity to do things differently to help ease pressures on staff and increase capacity so they can spend more time with patients.

Whilst we need to attract new staff, we also want to make sure we support and retain existing staff who possess invaluable skills and experience.

Labours shadow health secretary Wes Streeting claimed the Conservatives were taking ideas from his party.

He added: The Conservatives have finally admitted they have no ideas of their own, so are adopting Labours plan to train the doctors and nurses the NHS needs. They should have done this a decade ago  then the NHS would have enough staff today.
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A new home has been found for an endangered red panda cub which made headlines when he was born following the death of his father at a UK zoo.

Tashi was born to mother Tilly at Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire in July last year although father Nam Pang died the previous month from Addisons disease.

The animals met thanks to the zoo being part of the European Ex-Situ Breeding Programme, which aims to create a safety net for endangered species in the wild.

The couple had tried to conceive unsuccessfully over the past four years, with keepers noticing that Tilly began to nest two weeks after Nam Pangs death.

Now Tashi, a male, has been given a new home at Marwell Zoo in Hampshire.

Amy Denny, animal team leader, said: We are beyond excited to welcome Tashi to Marwell. The primates and small mammals team have been working hard to get his habitat ready for him and we cant wait to get to know him.

Red pandas have always been a very special part of the Marwell family and we are thrilled to have the species back for guests to enjoy and learn about.

We will be keeping everyone updated with how Tashi settles into his new home but be sure to come and visit him during his feeding time.

In the wild, red pandas are solitary animals that live in the trees of the Himalayas, seeking out a mate during breeding season once a year.

The species is classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List with populations continuing to decline.

A Marwell spokeswoman said that in the last 18 years, red panda populations are thought to have decreased by 50% with fewer than 10,000 left in the wild.
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A 12-year-old boy was killed while riding an electric scooter after asking a friend aged 14 to unlock it using an app transferred from an adults phone, an inquest has heard.

Mustafa Nadeem fell into the path of a slow-moving bus after colliding with a pedestrian while riding a Voi e-scooter on a pavement in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, shortly before 8am on 6 December last year.

An inquest at the citys coroners court was told the e-scooter could only be ridden legally by those aged 18 and over with a driving licence, but that schoolchildren had been seen riding the machines locally even after Mustafas death.

Birmingham area coroner James Bennett was told Mustafas friend, who cannot be named because of a court order, used an under-16s bank account to hire the e-scooter, which had a top speed of 15mph.

The hearing was told the teenager also moved a Voi app account from an adults phone to their own, using a verification code received on the original handset.

Recording a finding that Mustafa died as a consequence of a road traffic collision, Mr Bennett said the death could rightly be described as an accident.

The coroner said he also planned to send a prevention of future deaths report to the Secretary of State for TransportMark Harper and the West Midlands mayor Andy Street, to raise the issue of e-scooter providers having no method of checking if a childs card was used for payment.

Collision investigator Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes told Thursdays inquest that CCTV from the bus and two nearby premises made it clear that the vehicle had stopped to drop off a passenger who Mustafa collided with near a pedestrian crossing.

Mr Hughes told the court: The CCTV evidence was reviewed by myself and a forensic collision investigator.

Both the bus and the e-scooter were well below the speed limit.

Asked why the 14-year-old had not faced charges for permitting someone to use a motor vehicle without a licence or insurance, Mr Hughes answered: In this case, it was my decision that to prosecute those offences criminally was not in the public interest.

Mustafa, who was riding a Voi e-scooter available to the public as part of a Department for Transport-approved trial, died of multiple injuries at the scene near the junction of Belchers Lane and Bordesley Green.

The inquest was told Mustafa, who was on his way to school, was breaking the law by riding on the pavement.

His parents were accompanied to the hearing by his uncle, Anis Ali, who questioned why facial recognition technology was not used to ensure that each trip on an e-scooter was made by an adult account holder.

Mr Ali said of facial recognition before each journey: Its something thats pretty simple and basic.

On each ride it would be just a click of a button on the app. That could possibly save lives.

Vois regional general manager for the UK, Jack Samler, told the hearing that facial recognition checks before each journey would be impractical and would require significant subsidies to be paid to e-scooter operators.

Mr Samler told the coroner that Voi, the largest UK e-scooter provider, carried out cross-checks of driving licence photos with a selfie provided by the user before accounts were approved.

Mr Samler added: Voi as a company and myself personally clearly take it (children riding e-scooters illegally) very seriously and challenge ourselves to think how we can prevent under-age riding of our scooters.

This tragic incident is the first we have seen on a Voi scooter globally across well over 100 million rides.

Explaining why he was issuing a prevention of future deaths report, the coroner told the court: In my opinion, based on the evidence I have heard, there is a risk of future death through children using e-scooters.

And in my opinion, based on the evidence I have heard, there is a reasonable prospect that those responsible for policy and regulation can reduce the risk of death.

Stressing that the evidence had demonstrated that Voi had not cut any corners, the coroner added: They followed the Department of Transports guidance and in fact went somewhat further around the process for verifying identity.

At the end of the inquest, the coroner read out a family statement paying tribute to Mustafa.

The statement read: He was one of a kind, a child that would always have a smile on his face.

Starting from primary school all the way up to secondary school, he lived a life full of laughter and kindness.

His pure, innocent soul lit up the streets of our neighbourhood and without him, everything seems so dull.
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A charity has welcomed a landmark ruling on Jeremy Clarksons degrading column about Meghan Markle.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) has found that the column, which called for the Duchess of Sussex to be publicly flogged while naked, was sexist. It marks the first time the press regulator has upheld a complaint about sexism.

Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, the UKs leading gender equality charity, said her organisation and the WILDE Foundation have made history with their complaints against The Sun for publishing Clarksons vile and offensive article.

The article talked about Markle being paraded naked through the streets of Britain (Getty)

All women are harmed if any woman is the target of sexist reporting and media misogyny is not acceptable, she said. Since it was established in 2014 IPSO has never upheld a complaint about sexism  and that changes today.

This landmark decision is a real opportunity for our media to catch up with what women have known for years  misogyny and hate are not acceptable and they can no longer be dressed up as satire or banter.

Ms Olchawski warned misogyny normalises violence as she argued coverage that blames women who experience violence have no place in our media, or anywhere in our society.

Todays decision will help to elevate the state of public discourse about women and tackle misogyny in our media, she continued. Editors must take note and ensure their processes are fit for purpose in the twenty-first century.

There must be a thorough and transparent investigation into how on earth these toxic comments made it onto the pages of one of our biggest newspapers.

The watchdog received more than 25,100 complaints in the wake of The Suns publication of Clarksons column about the Duchess of Sussex in December last year. It is IPSOs most complained-about article in history.

Jeremy Clarkson issued an apology for the column (Amazon)

IPSO reached the conclusion the column included a pejorative and prejudicial reference to Meghans sex which infringed on the Editors Code of Practice.

The watchdog has ordered The Sun to release a summary of the findings against it which is penned by IPSO on the same page the column is generally featured on, which must be referred to on the newspapers printed front page as well as its website.

In the fiercely criticised piece, Clarkson stated he hated Meghan on a cellular level and he dreamt of the day she would be forced to parade naked through Britain while crowds chanted shame and hurled excrement at her.

Lord Faulks, IPSOs chair, said: We found that the imagery employed by the columnist in this article was humiliating and degrading toward the Duchess.

In its ruling, the complaints committee stated: IPSO found that the article included a number of references to the Duchess sex.

Clarkson claims he was alluding to the walk of shame in Game of Thrones (HBO)

Specifically: the writers claim that the Duchess exercised power via her sexual hold over her husband which, in the view of the committee, was a reference to stereotypes about women using their sexuality to gain power, and also implied that it was the Duchess sexuality  rather than any other attribute or accomplishment  which was the source of her power.

Clarkson, who hosts The Grand Tour, eventually issued an apology saying the image of the duchess being publicly ridiculed was a reference to a scene from Game of Thrones.

The TV personality, who has made rude comments about Meghan on other occasions, referred to the language he used in the column as being disgraceful. The Sun also issued an apology, saying it regretted publishing the piece and taking it down from its website.

Harriet Harman, Labour MP and Fawcett Societys incoming chair, said: Women are no longer prepared to endure the sexism that generations of women have been subjected to.

Fawcett will be vigilant about sexism in the media and challenge it wherever it appears. This is a big step forward for women in the battle against sexism in the media.

The WILDE Foundations trustees added: We firmly believe that words have the power to heal or harm, and it is essential to hold individuals accountable for their harmful rhetoric.
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Black and Asian people, immigrant communities and the poorest families are the most likely to live in areas of London with the most dangerously polluted air, a study has found.

All areas in the English capital breach World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines on levels of toxic compounds people are breathing in, experts warn.

Pollution increases the risk of developing heart and lung diseases, cancer, dementia and asthma, and reduces life expectancy. It is thought to cause tens of thousands of premature deaths in the UK every year.

Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, the mother of Ella, Professor Chris Whitty, Englands chief medical officer, and Sadiq Khan attended a London clean air and health summit last year (Getty Images)

But stark differences in air quality exist between the most and least deprived areas, as well as those with and without minority-ethnic-background populations.

The report warns that without significant action, by 2030 the entire population of London, including schools, hospitals and care homes, will still be exposed to levels of nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter that are above the WHO limits.

The study, commissioned by City Hall and carried out by an air-quality analysis company, comes three years after an inquest listed air pollution as a cause of the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah, who lived near the South Circular Road in southeast London, and died in 2013 following an asthma attack.

Her mother, Rosamund, has repeatedly warned that delays to new legislation to clean up air quality will cost lives.

The report says that Black Londoners in particular are living in areas with more polluted air and the areas of London with the lowest concentrations of toxins have disproportionately low Black, Asian and minority ethnic populations.

The inequality is greater in outer London, where just 29 per cent of residents in areas with the lowest nitrogen dioxide concentration are from a Black Asian and minority ethnic background, against 44 per cent in the inner London areas with the lowest levels.

The report, which looks at efforts to improve air quality in the capital between 2013 and 2019, said progress has been made to reduce pollution but more was needed.

It also shows that diaspora immigrant communities also tend to live in areas with higher concentrations of toxic air than the London average.

A pollution haze over the UK capital (AFP via Getty Images)

Without further action, average nitrogen dioxide levels in such communities are expected to only fall slightly by 2030, the report authors warn.

Forecasts show that while the difference between the most and least deprived communities is falling, it will happen much more slowly between 2025 and 2030.

London mayor Sadiq Khan said: We have made significant progress since 2016, but we need to continue making bold decisions to tackle toxic air in the capital.

Professor Kevin Fenton, a London public health boss, said: Air pollution is one of the biggest public health risks we face in the UK right now. Taking bold action to improve Londons air quality must continue to be a public health priority.

Shabna Begum, co-chief executive of the Runnymede Trust said the demographic patterns highlighted by the report were largely prescribed by the systemic racism that persists in our labour markets and housing system that restrict where we can live and work.
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Nicola Bulleys concerned family contacted emergency services to seek help for her increased alcohol use just days before she was reported missing, an inquest has heard.

Mental health clinician Theresa Lewis Leevy told Preston County Hall she had responded to a call made by Ms Bulleys partner Paul Ansell and her sister on January 10, and attended their home address alongside a police officer and a paramedic.

We were greeted by Nicolas partner and sister and shown to the living room where we had a conversation about increased alcohol use since Christmas time and a conversation about concerns for Nicolas welfare, she said.

Nicola Bulleys partner Paul Ansell described her as an incredible mother to their two children (Nicola Bulley/Facebook)

During this meeting, Ms Bulley remained in her bedroom wearing leggings and appeared intoxicated. However, when asked if she had appeared depressed, Ms Leevy told the court: No, not that I could ascertain at the time.

Giving evidence, her sister Louise Cunningham said that Ms Bulley had been absolutely fuming that an ambulance had been called, with the event serving as a realisation and leading her to stop drinking alcohol.

At the time of her death on January 27, the 45-year-old mortgage adviser was not under the influence of alcohol, with toxicology reports showing only a therapeutic level of paracetamol and beta-blocker propranolol in her system.

Her General Practitioner, Dr Rebecca Gray, informed the inquest that Ms Bulley had been prescribed propranolol in February 2019 after presenting with symptoms of anxiety. Since July 2021, she had also been struggling with the menopause and had been given HRT medication.

However, she added: There is nothing on the notes or records from 2012 where theres been any mention of her feeling suicidal or of self harm.

While she had suffered a blip over Christmas 2022, her partner Mr Ansell said: The blip over the Christmas period happened but in January she was back to herself, looking forward to the future and everything was on the up.

Her body was found a mile downstream from the bench where her phone had been discovered (Press Association Images)

He described her as an incredible mother, whose primary focus had been on her two daughters, aged six and nine, with her springer spaniel Willow acting as a third child.

Several members of Ms Bulleys family became emotional during the second day of her inquest, which heard details of her medical history and her final interactions with loved ones.

Mr Ansell had become concerned for his wifes whereabouts after she failed to return from a dog walk by 10am, despite having scheduled work calls for later that morning.

At 10.48am, he texted Have you got lost? only to be told minutes later that Willow had been found running loose, with Ms Bulley nowhere to be found.

He said that the couple had enjoyed a normal morning before she took the children to school, and that Ms Bulley had been delighted with her recent career progress.

A post-mortem gave her cause of death as drowning in the River Wyre (PA)

She had a good day the day before (she went missing), came home full of beans, excited with work, with the meetings she had and plans for the year, he said.

The mother-of-two was last seen alive at 9.10am while walking her dog along the River Wyre after dropping her children at their primary school. Yesterday, the inquest heard from several witnesses who saw Ms Bulley walking along the riverbank while on her mobile phone.

Shortly after 9.30am, a passer-by discovered her dog and her phone, which was still logged onto a Microsoft Teams work call.

After being contacted at 10.54am by their childrens school, Mr Ansell contacted 999 to report her disappearance, with Lancashire Constabulary launching a high-risk missing persons investigation.

Her body was not discovered until February 19, just over a mile downstream from the bench where her mobile phone had been left.

A post-mortem examination gave her cause of death as drowning, with a Home Office pathologist confirming that there was no evidence of third party involvement.

Her two-day inquest is due to conclude on Tuesday afternoon.
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The Duke of Sussex should be awarded up to 320,000 in compensation over the alleged misuse of his private information by a tabloid newspaper publisher, his lawyers have told the High Court.

Harry, 38, is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles  the Daily and Sunday Mirror and Sunday People  were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called blagging or gaining information by deception, and the use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

In a court document released to the media on Friday  the final day of a trial in London  the dukes legal team set out its suggestions for the amount of money Harry could receive if a judge rules in his favour.

Harry alleges 147 stories from 1996 to 2010, published by MGN titles, used information obtained through unlawful means.

Harry is suing MGN over alleged phone hacking (AP)

The articles cover the dukes relationship with his family and ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a few injuries and illnesses, his military service and allegations of drug use.

Some 33 articles, dated between 1996 and 2009, were selected for examination during the trial of Harrys and others contested claims against the publisher.

In the document, the dukes lawyers suggested he could be awarded up to 320,000 if his case is successful in relation to all of these 33 stories.

The duke may also be awarded more if the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, concludes Harry is also entitled to aggravated damages, for additional distress or injury to feelings arising from the nature of the alleged wrongdoing.

Harry has previously told the court that MGNs alleged intrusion into his life contributed to a huge amount of paranoia in his relationships.

Stories about the Duke and his former girlfriend Chelsy Davy have been referred to in the trial (PA Archive)

In his witness statement, the duke said that he found it very hard to trust anyone, which led to bouts of depression and paranoia.

The highest amount sought for one article is 25,000 in relation to a December 2003 story in the People.

The double-page article reported a disagreement between Harry and his brother William, now Prince of Wales, about whether to meet former royal butler Paul Burrell over his ongoing exposes about our mother.

Harry claims the articles author was a habitual commissioner of private investigators and that the reported phrase two-face shit he used to describe Mr Burrell could have been taken from a voicemail.

MGN has claimed the information came from a confidential source who specialised in royal matters and there was no evidence of phone hacking.

Harrys lawyers also suggest he could be awarded up to 20,000 in relation to a front page Mirror story in January 2002 entitled Harrys cocaine ecstasy and GHB parties.

The article claimed that some of the dukes friends had taken hard drugs in front of him, including ecstasy, cocaine and GHB, reporting that the then Prince of Wales  now the King  was terrified.

Harry said in his evidence to the court that it is not clear to me where the defendants journalists could have possibly obtained these quotes from.

However, MGN deny unlawful activity and said there is no evidence of phone hacking.

Prince Harry was grilled by Andrew Green KC earlier this month (via REUTERS)

MGN has told the trial that it denies that 28 out of the 33 articles involved unlawful information gathering and that it was not admitted for the remaining five articles.

The publisher claims the stories came from a range of sources, including information disclosed by royal households or other royals, freelance journalists and news agencies as well as confidential sources with extensive royal contacts.

Its lawyers have said the duke should be awarded up to 500 in damages for one admitted instance of unlawful information gathering in February 2004.

Andrew Green KC, for MGN, previously told the trial that it unreservedly apologises to the duke for this occasion and that it accepts he was entitled to appropriate compensation.

The barrister said that it was admitted that a private investigator was instructed, by an MGN journalist at The People, to unlawfully gather information about his activities at the Chinawhite nightclub one night in February 2004.

Recommended Judge questions why Piers Morgan has not given evidence in hacking trial

Mr Green said that there was a People article published in February 2004 giving the recollection of a woman Harry spent time with at the club, but later told the court that it was not one of the 33 stories selected for the trial of Harrys claim, so it is not alleged that this instruction led to the publication of his private information.

The barrister also said MGN had set out the appropriate award should the judge find any of the articles complained of were the product of unlawful activity.

According to Harrys lawyers, MGN had suggested a potential total figure of 37,000.

MGN lawyers have also argued that there is nothing significant in Harry and others claims to warrant any award of aggravated damages.

In written arguments they add that the court should ensure any award is proportionate, saying that figures proposed by the claimants would be grossly disproportionate given the absence of evidence and relatively limited interference in their private lives.

Harrys case is being heard alongside similar claims by actor Michael Turner, who is known professionally as Michael Le Vell and best known for playing Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, actress Nikki Sanderson and comedian Paul Whitehouses ex-wife Fiona Wightman.

MGN is largely contesting the claims and denies that any of the articles complained of resulted from phone hacking, while contending that the vast majority did not arise from any other unlawful activity.
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British defence minister Ben Wallace announced that the top-tier, air launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles lent to Ukraine were striking targets with precision as the country continued to fight off Russias full-scale invasion clocking nearly 500 days.

The Storm Shadow missile has had a significant impact on the battlefield, Mr Wallace said in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday this week, marking the first public acknowledgement of the missiles use in the continuing war.

"Its accuracy and ability to deliver successfully the payload, as sent and designed by the Ukrainians, has been almost without fault, the defence minister said.

It has had an effect on the Russian army, mainly around its logistics and command and control. That shows the importance of deep fires, he said.

Ukraines counter-offensive is evidently in its early stages with the countrys forces repulsing attacks using several western weapon systems to boost its defence operations to stand up against Russia.

In its arsenal of striking targets alongside top-tier rocket launcher systems sent from the West, including the HIMARS, are the British Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Manufacturer MBDA has said that the missile, which is fired from an aircraft, carries a range exceeding 155 miles and is designed to evade detection despite flying low after being launched.

By contrast, the US-supplied Himars missiles currently used by Ukraine only have a range of around 50 miles.

The longer range means Ukrainian pilots will be able to remain further from the front lines.

But is still short of the 185-mile range of the US built Army Tactical Missile System, which Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskys staff had reportedly asked for.

Powered by a turbo-jet engine, the 1,300kg Storm Shadow travels at speeds of more than 600mph, is just over five metres long and has a wingspan of three metres.

After launch, the weapon, equipped with its own navigation system, descends to a low altitude to avoid detection before locking on to its target using an infra-red seeker.

On final approach the missile climbs to a higher altitude to maximise the chances of hitting the target.

On impact, it penetrates the target before a delayed fuse detonates the main warhead.

Storm Shadow missiles have been used by British and French air forces in the Gulf, Iraq and Libya.

In May this year, the UK confirmed it will supply Ukraine with the long-range Storm Shadow missiles it requested for its fight against invading Russian forces.

Mr Wallace had touted that the weapons will give Ukraine the best chance of defending itself.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Lynk & Co, one of the auto brands under Geely Auto Group, recently announced that it officially entered the market of Macau, China. This milestone was achieved by signing a dealership cooperation agreement with one of the largest car dealerships in Macau, Vang Iek Group, on June 29.

Lynk & Co will introduce several performance models to the market, including the Lynk 03+, 03+ Cyan, and the plug-in hybrid SUV, Lynk 01 EM-P.

Photo credit: Lynk & Co

Macau, a highly urbanized and international city in China, is known for its strong environmental consciousness among its residents. Consequently, there is a high acceptance rate for new energy vehicles. Given the compact nature of the city, range anxiety - a common concern for electric vehicle users - is virtually non-existent. This characteristic provides an inherent advantage for the development of the new energy vehicle market in the city. Over recent years, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles in the Macau market has shown a steady upward trend, attracting many Chinese car brands to establish their presence.

To meet the increasing demand for new energy vehicles, the Lynk 01 EM-P PHEV will also be launched there as part of Lynk & Cos expansion plan in the Macau market. The model is equipped with new Lynk E-Motive technology for hybrid electric power, offering a safe, worry-free choice of new energy vehicles that runs on both gas and electricity.

Vang Iek Group was established in 1935 and has been deeply rooted in the Macau market ever since. It serves as the general agent for multiple globally renowned car brands in the region. According to sources, the first Lynk & Co store in Macau is expected to officially open in November this year.
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The 140m deal to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda has been ruled unlawful, in a major blow to the governments pledge to stop the boats.

It lost the latest stage of the long-running legal battle over the plan after Court of Appeal judges concluded the African nation is not a safe country. Flights will remain suspended ahead of a showdown at the UK Supreme Court.

Rishi Sunak said he believed the Rwandan governments assurances that there would be no risk to asylum seekers, adding: While I respect the court I fundamentally disagree with their conclusions.

Follow The Independents live blog on the latest developments followingt he ruling

Rwanda is a safe country ... we will now seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.

The Court of Appeal granted an appeal by asylum seekers selected for deportation, who were backed by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), on the grounds of Rwandas safety but dismissed other arguments.

The outgoing lord chief justice, Lord Burnett, said: The High Courts decision that Rwanda is a safe third country is reversed. Unless and until the deficiencies in its asylum processes are corrected, removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda will be unlawful.

He said the decision implies no view whatever about the political merits or otherwise of the Rwanda policy, which has already seen Kigali paid 140m and the government spend more than 1m on legal costs.

Judges found that ministers were wrong to rely on unevidenced assurances from Rwanda that seriously deficient processes would be improved. They found that:

the Home Office ignored the past and the present situation in favour of promises by Rwanda

it failed to probe the disappearance and death of migrants sent to Rwanda under a previous deal with Israel, and a mass shooting of refugees by police during a 2018 protest

the government responded to damning evidence from the UN Refugee Agency with statements dependent on information from the Rwandan government

Home Office officials were too ready to accept assurances which were unevidenced

Rwanda does not have systems in place to legally and safely process asylum seekers from the UK

The Rwanda plan is a core part of the prime ministers pledge to stop small boat crossings, and an important pillar of the new Illegal Migration Bill, which aims to see all small boat migrants detained and deported without asylum claims being considered.

Rishi Sunak says he 'will not rest' until small boats are stopped

The PM previously told parliament that no flights would leave for Kigali until legal challenges had been resolved, and that will take several more months.

Without the Rwanda agreement, the government currently has nowhere to deport asylum seekers.

Yvette Cooper, Labours shadow home secretary, said the court judgment shows that Rishi Sunak has no plan to fix the Tories small boats chaos and his only idea is completely unravelling.

Time and again, ministers have gone for gimmicks instead of getting a grip, and slogans instead of solutions, while the Tory boats chaos has got worse, she added. The Rwanda scheme is unworkable, unethical and extortionate, a costly and damaging distraction from the urgent action the government should be taking.

The ruling was celebrated by refugee charities, who called for the government to scrap the policy once and for all, and instead invest in Britains asylum system and clearing record backlogs.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: The threat of being sent to Rwanda has been causing huge distress, anxiety and trauma to those we work with, who have already been through so much.

We hope that the government will take this opportunity to rethink its approach, which would cause great human suffering and damage the UK's reputation as a country that values human rights and offers those claiming asylum a fair hearing on British soil.

Suella Braverman extended the deal in March, to cover modern slavery victims as well as asylum seekers (PA)

Yolande Makolo, a spokesperson for the government of Rwanda, said it takes issue with the ruling that Rwanda is not a safe country for asylum seekers and refugees.

Rwanda remains fully committed to making this partnership work, she added. When the migrants do arrive, we will welcome them and provide them with the support theyll need to build new lives in Rwanda.

A group of 10 asylum seekers from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Sudan and Albania challenged the Rwanda policy on eight grounds. Lawyers representing the Asylum Aid charity unsuccessfully argued that the way people are selected for the scheme and given the opportunity to resist deportation is unlawful.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) also intervened in the battle, telling the Court of Appeal that safeguards in the agreement signed by Priti Patel in April 2022 do not exist or have never been used, and that it had never known Rwanda to treat asylum seekers in the ways promised.

Lord Burnett reconsidered the case with Sir Geoffrey Vos and Lord Justice Underhill, after the High Court ruled in December that the Rwanda deal was lawful.

They were divided on the issue of whether Rwanda was a safe country to receive asylum seekers, and made a majority ruling with the Lord Chief Justice dissenting.

Demonstrators outside the Royal Courts of Justice during the legal battle (PA)

Sir Geoffrey and Lord Justice Underhill found there were substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk that persons sent to Rwanda will be returned to their home countries where they faced persecution or other inhumane treatment, when, in fact, they have a good claim for asylum.

The two judges said their conclusion was based on evidence that the countrys system for deciding asylum claims was inadequate, and that assurances given to the UK do not establish that the necessary changes have taken place.

Lord Burnett, however, said assurances given by the Rwandan government were sufficient to ensure that there is no real risk of asylum seekers being returned to countries where they face harm.

During a hearing in April, the Court of Appeal was told that the Home Office breached several legal duties in deciding that Rwanda was a safe country to receive refugees, and failed to properly investigate the outcome of a similar deal with Israel which operated from 2013 to 2018.

A barrister representing men selected for deportation described Rwanda as an authoritarian one-party state, which imprisons, tortures and murders those it considers its opponents.

The court heard that asylum seekers previously sent from Israel were detained without the opportunity of claiming asylum, disappeared, smuggled to Uganda and some died while attempting to journey towards Libya.
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The government is scrambling to put together a plan to rescue Thames Water over increasing fears the company is set to go bust.

The utility giant is struggling under a 14 billion debt pile it has accrued since it was privatised in 1989 and could now potentially be taken into public ownership if further investment is not found.

It follows the shock resignation of the chief executive Sarah Bentley who stepped down with immediate effect on Tuesday after two years in the job.

The crisis engulfing Thames Water, which serves 15 million customers in London and the south-east, comes amid renewed focus on the industry which over the last year has been condemned for sewage spills, a lack of infrastructure investment and rising bills.

The Independent has put together everything you need to know about the ongoing crisis.

Who owns the company?

The company is co-owned by a series of pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.

The biggest single shareholder is the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, which holds around 32 per cent of the shares. Another pension fund, the UK-based Universities Superannuation Scheme, holds another 20 per cent.

Around 10 per cent of the shares are owned by a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi Government, and Chinas sovereign wealth fund owns a little under 9 per cent.

Other investors include the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (8.7%), Hermes GPE (8.7%), Queensland Investment Corporation (5.4%), Aquila GP Inc (5%), and Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (2.2%).

(PA)

What could the government do?

Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride has said that there are contingency plans in place for any eventuality, an attempt to allay fears about the companys imminent collapse.

If the worst does happen, the government will be forced to step in as water and energy companies are considered too important to let them go bankrupt, as they provide vital resources.

Either the government or water regulator Ofwat can apply to a court to appoint a special administrator for Thames Water, which would run the company, and ensure that water keeps coming out of the taps.

The administrator would also try to find another investor or private company to buy Thames Water and bring it out of administration.

The special administration regime (SAR) has only been used once before, when Bulb Energy collapsed in late 2021. Bulb was later bought by its former rival Octopus.

What will happen to water bills?

Health minister Neil OBrien has assured British consumers that their water supply will continue and bills will not increase.

He told Sky News: Absolutely nothing is going to happen in terms of either their (customers) bills or their access to water, we have contingency plans - like we do in all of these network utilities - to manage any difficult situations.

Despite this pledge, Alex Jay, Partner and Head of Insolvency and Asset Recovery at law firm Stewarts, explained that there was significant risk in the medium or long term that bills would increase for consumers.

He said: Fundamentally Thames Water is a loss making business that is struggling to survive on its current business model.

It is reasonable to assume therefore that, at some point, it will need to cut costs (if it can, in significant enough volume) or increase prices - or indeed do both.

In addition, water companies are set to push for bills to rise by at least 40 per cent to deal with escalated costs related to climate change and sewage disposal. Thames Water is reportedly proposing rises of 20 per cent, according to the report in The Times.

Thames Water: Contingency plans being drawn up for possible collapse

Could pensions be impacted?

Pension funds invested with Thames Water could potentially face significant impairment to their investments, an expert has said.

Alex Jay, Partner and Head of Insolvency and Asset Recovery at law firm Stewarts, said: Thames Water has not just declared a loss in the latest financial year; it is reported to be verging on insolvency and the need for a government bailout.

If that is correct then it seems obvious that the value of the pension funds investments will also be at risk.

This could have a knock-on impact for consumers as if the investments in your pension fund drop, the overall value of your pension pot could be lowered.

This could pile further misery on those looking to retire this year as they have been hit by tough economic circumstances and the blowback from Liz Trusss disastrous mini-budget in September 2022.

Joanna Ford, restructuring & insolvency partner at Cripps, added that if Thames Water was made insolvent it is mainly the shareholders that lose out, as they sit at the bottom of the pile when it comes to repayment.

She added: Secured bank lending would be repaid first, before other creditors such as HMRC, employees, and trade creditors. Insolvent means that a company does not have enough money to repay all its creditors, and so if Thames Water was to go into administration then not all creditors would be repaid in full, and so they would also lose out to some extent - how much will depend on what there is left in the pot to go round.

What has the water regulator Ofwat said?

In a statement on Thursday, the regulator said: Over the last day or so, there has been a lot of commentary about financial resilience in the water sector with considerable focus on Thames Water in particular.

We have been clear that Thames Water has significant issues to address  their environmental record and leakage performance, for example, are poor. Alongside the turnaround of their operational performance, they need to improve their financial resilience too.

But that is all in the context of a company that has strong liquidity  it recently received an additional 500 million from shareholders and has 4.4bn of cash and committed funding.

Overall, the sector is continuing to attract international capital and is especially attractive to long term investors such as pension funds. Indeed, there has been an additional equity injection of around 2bn since 2020, with companies acting to strengthen their financial position.

Ofwat will continue to keep companies financial resilience under close scrutiny and work with companies to ensure they take action to ensure that they have the financial backing to deliver for customers and the environment.

The water regulator has said it has been clear about Thames Waters significant issues (Andrew Matthews/PA) (PA Archive)

Are any other water companies in trouble?

In short, yes. In December Ofwat highlighted five water suppliers whose financial resilience it was most worried about.

As well as Thames Water, it highlighted Portsmouth Water, Yorkshire Water, Southern Water and SES Water as its highest priority for engagement.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets for Hargreaves Lansdown, said: Big questions are now being raised about the potential precariousness of other water firms.

Ofwat had been monitoring Southern Water and Yorkshire Water, as well as Thames Water, given its concerns over their financial resilience.

In its 2022 annual report, it also flagged worries about Northumbrian Water and Portsmouth Water for having fallen far short of expectations when it came to the level of dividends paid given their relative financial resilience.

Its no wonder waves of worry are now surrounding more firms who have been caught uptide, as the era of cheap money has been dammed and their debt payments have hurtled upwards.

Additional reporting by agencies
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The chair of a refugee group who is fundraising for her members to attend a Pride parade said the march will be a confidence-boosting experience to affirm and celebrate asylum seekers of the LGBTQ+ community.

Sarah Cope, chair of Queer Refugees Unite, which is a support group for LGBTQ+ people seeking asylum in the UK, has set up a Go Fund Me to raise money to take 40 of its members to celebrate Pride at the London Pride Parade.

Ms Cope said the experience cant be overstated as it will allow LGBTQ+ refugees to take part in the parade, particularly as many cannot afford to attend the event, and spoke of the significance of the trip.

Its just really important that they go to pride for a lot of reasons. One is that all of these people have had to keep who they are a secret all their lives up until this point, the 45-year-old from Hertfordshire told the PA news agency.

Asylum seekers get an absolute pittance from the government in terms of money they receive to live on so its not really enough for travel expenses.

We needed money for t-shirts and for peoples expenses, travel expenses, because they are based all over the UK.

To raise awareness of the countries where being part of the LGBTQ+ community is illegal, the group will attend the event wearing t-shirts designed by one of the members depicting the words Queer Refugees Unite written across a drawing of the globe.

Ms Cope said the image of the planet represents the members who come the across the world from some of the countries where its still criminalised if youre gay or trans.

She hopes the march will highlight the need to support the huge issue of asylum seekers who are routinely disbelieved by the Home Office for being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The rights that we sometimes take for granted here, dont apply to everyone across the world, and indeed in this country asylum seekers who are LGBTQ+ are routinely disbelieved by the Home Office, and detained and sometimes forcefully deported, she said.

Thats a huge, huge issue. It should be a huge LGBT issue  its not, but I think it should be.

To be able to go and march and having spectators giving them that affirmation and celebrating who they are, it's just such a huge, huge experience. It can't be overstated Sarah Cope, Queer Refugees Unite

She also wants the march to recognise the 70 countries where homosexuality is outlawed, particularly as some of her members are said to have had awful traumatic experiences for expressing their sexuality in their home country.

This is the 51st year of the Pride march in London and we have secured so many rights along the way for LGBTQ+ people, there are countries in the world where if you are gay or trans, your life is at risk if youre found out, she said.

All of these members have had awful traumatic experiences in their countries of origin, which is why theyre here in the UK.

She hopes that attending the parade will be a confidence boost for Queer Refugees Unite members.

To be able to go and march with 30,000 [people] and having spectators of up to one and a half to two million giving them that affirmation and celebrating who they are, its just such a huge, huge experience such a confidence-boosting experience. It cant be overstated, she said.

She added that the event will also help to gain evidence of their asylum claims.

(Members) have to evidence their claims, in terms of they are out as gay or trans in this country. Its a way that they can gain evidence as well, incidentally, for their asylum claims, she explained.

Ms Cope said she was moved by peoples generosity and expressed her gratitude to those who have donated to the fundraiser.

We couldnt do it without the fundraiser, so thats why were grateful to those who donated, she said.

People have been really generous. Weve been really moved by how much people have given and its just made all the difference.

For more information or to support the challenge visit www.gofundme.com/f/help-queer-refugees-unite-get-to-london-pride
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A majority of people now believe that the Northern Ireland Protocol, with the Windsor Framework attached, is overall a good thing for the region, a new opinion poll has suggested.

The report from researchers at Queens University Belfast analysed poll data and found a majority (61%) currently see the protocol, with the Windsor Framework, as an appropriate means for managing the effects of Brexit on Northern Ireland and 56% as overall a good thing for Northern Ireland.

However, a sizable minority remain opposed to the arrangements, with 34% disagreeing that it was good for the region.

The protocol was first introduced by then prime minister Boris Johnson to manage the flow of goods moving between the UK to the EU through Northern Ireland.

Unionist parties strongly opposed the protocol on the grounds it created a sea border in the UK internal market, distancing Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

The Windsor Framework was Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks attempt to alleviate unionist concerns with the protocol by decreasing checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the mainland of the UK.

Opinion in Northern Ireland remains divided on the protocol, but the Windsor Framework does appear to have addressed for some voters the concerns that they have had, and so we see increased support for the protocol now compared to the start of the year Professor David Phinnemore, Queen's University Belfast

The latest poll from Queens shows almost three-quarters of respondents (73%) believe that particular arrangements for Northern Ireland are necessary to manage the impact of Brexit.

Some 62% do not think that Brexit is overall a good thing for the United Kingdom. The same proportion of respondents believe the United Kingdom was wrong to leave the European Union.

The devolved government at Stormont has not been operational for more than a year as the DUP is boycotting government in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Almost two-thirds of respondents (65%) agreed that the Windsor Framework, the Assembly and Executive should be restored and fully-functioning. Almost a third (30%) disagree.

The report also showed that majorities from supporters of all Northern Ireland political parties believed the UK and EU should increase engagement with stakeholders in the region on the implementation of the protocol/Windsor Framework, with 71% overall in favour.

Of all parties and institutions asked about in the poll, the UK Government was seen to be the least trustworthy, with 80% stating distrust, with 44% stating strong distrust in the UK Government.

The principal investigator on the report, Professor David Phinnemore from the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queens, said continuing support for the Windsor Framework would depend on how it was implemented.

Opinion in Northern Ireland remains divided on the protocol, but the Windsor Framework does appear to have addressed for some voters the concerns that they have had, and so we see increased support for the protocol now compared to the start of the year, he said.

Whether that support will increase or even be sustained will depend on the implementation of the Windsor Framework being seen to benefit Northern Ireland.

Co-investigator Professor Katy Hayward said the results showed promise in relation to increasing political stability in Northern Ireland.

One of the biggest shifts we have seen in opinion since the Windsor Framework was agreed has been an increase in positivity around UK-EU relations and British-Irish relations, she said.

That in itself is a better foundation for political stability in post-Brexit Northern Ireland but there is still a long way to go.

The fact that a clear majority want to see closer UK-EU relations and UK-EU consultation directly with stakeholders in Northern Ireland gives some indication of what might at least help.

The report was produced by Prof Phinnemore, Prof Hayward and Dr Lisa Claire Whitten from Queens University.

It is the eighth in a series of regular opinion panel polls conducted for Queens researchers as part of a three-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The polls used in the report are conducted every four months during 2021-2023 by LucidTalk using its online Northern Ireland Opinion Poll. The results presented are from a sample of 1,169 responses to the survey undertaken on June 9 to 12. The survey was completed by 2,559 respondents.
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A multi-millionaire Tory donor who backed Boris Johnsons leadership campaign was accused of attempted blackmail, bribery, corruption and dirty money in a Commons debate.

The allegations were made against telecoms tycoon Mohamed Amersi, who made a fortune in Russia, by former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis using parliamentary privilege.

He also launched an astonishing attack on top British law firms, calling for them to be punished for a litany of tactics designed to cover up corruption.

He claimed solicitors such as Carter Ruck, who represent Mr Amersi, were aiding legal intimidation by dishonest and dishonourable oligarchs and others.

Mr Amersi reacted furiously, accusing Mr Davis of being a liar, coward and a bully  and demanded he retract his allegations.

Mr Davis demanded fresh action to curb the legal ploy of lawfare involving Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPS), whereby individuals with deep pockets and questionable motives use British libel laws to silence whistleblowers.

He labelled Carter Ruck solicitors the go-to law firm for every bad actor seeking to undermine and misuse British justice.

Mr Davis said Mr Amersis two-year legal fight with former Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie was an example of this form of legal abuse  a classic SLAPP case.

Mr Amersi lost a libel case against Ms Leslie earlier in June, was heavily criticised by the judge and agreed to pay all her costs.

Mr Amersi attempted to bully, intimidate and financially ruin Ms Leslie to suppress the truth, Mr Davis told the Commons on Thursday.

Ms Leslie and Mr Amersi fell out after he tried to take over a Conservative group set up to promote better links with the Middle East. He sued her for defamation after she sent a dossier on his Russian links to senior Tories.

Mr Davis said Mr Amersis two-year legal fight with former Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie was an example of this form of legal abuse - a classic SLAPP case (PA)

Mr Davis said the judge who struck out the defamation action had noted that Amersi offered to drop his claim against Ms Leslie if he got his way and was given a green light to launch a rival group.

Mr Davis claimed this was a clear attempt to blackmail the Conservative Party. Mr Amersi had launched similar legal threats to silence former Labour Minister Dame Margaret Hodge, he added.

Mr Davis said Mr Amersi had forced Kings College London to remove a report on international corruption written for them by Dame Margaret which revealed the truth about him: A long history of involvement in corruption, bribery and in buying access to politicians.

Mr Amersi had made $4m in a 2005 deal involving a Russian telecoms company on behalf of a company he knew was secretly owned by a powerful Putin ally, claimed Mr Davis. He went on to use his fortune to gain access to powerful people in the UK.

They included King Charles and the Conservative Party, which received 750,000 in political donations from Mr Amersi and his Russian partner.

Mr Davis said that the Kings College report by Dame Margaret which Mr Amersi forced them to remove claimed he was mired in an international scandal. Mr Amersi bullied Kings College  and the college capitulated, said Mr Davis. The threat effectively silenced Dame Margaret and suppressed her vital work exposing economic crime and dirty money.

Responding to the claims, Mr Amersi launched an extraordinarily personal attack on Mr Davis, telling The Independent the former cabinet minister was senile and a liar.

And he claimed Mr Davis was a bully for using the legal cloak of parliamentary privilege to make allegations against him.

David Davis is senile and needs to get mental counselling  he is a liar, he said. His evidence about how much money I have given to the Conservatives is wrong; his evidence that I am mired in corruption is wrong; his evidence that I am a bully is wrong. He is the bully.

He needs to look himself in the mirror and award himself the prize of being the biggest bully of the year for using Parliamentary privilege.

Mr Amersi said he was appalled by grossly erroneous utterances about him by Mr Davis and Dame Margaret.

Accusing them of twisting the truth, he said: The moral compass is at an all-time low because of their conduct. They should stop being cowards and confront me with any evidence they have.

Mr Amersi said he was appalled by grossly erroneous utterances about him by Mr Davis and Dame Margaret (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Archive)

Mr Amersi said that if Mr Davis refused to withdraw the allegations he would report him to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Told of Mr Amersis comments about him and his threat to report him to the Commons authorities, Mr Davis laughed and said: Be my guest.

During the debate, Mr Davis said law firms who used SLAPPS for silencing people should be made to pay for wasting courts time and public money.

He listed the names of the law firms he said were involved: Carter Ruck, CMS, Mishcon de Reya, Skadden, Taylor Wessing, Schillings and Harbottle & Lewis. They had designed a litany of tactics not to promote justice, but to suppress truth; not to protect reputations but to silence legitimate criticism; not to ensure accountability but to cover up corruption. That behaviour should not go unpunished.

Responding on behalf of the government in the debate, justice minister Mike Freer endorsed Mr Daviss rallying cry that we cannot allow individuals with deep pockets and questionable motives to exploit our justice system and destroy Britains reputation as a trusted jurisdiction.

Carter Ruck was approached for comment.
 Close Moment MPs vote in favour of Partygate report finding Johnson misled parliament

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The Tory civil war has grown more fractious as Zac Goldsmith hit out at misleading No 10 briefing over his scathing resignation, insisting that Rishi Sunak was wrong to claim he had refused to apologise over his Partygate comments.

The outgoing environment minister claimed he was happy to apologise for remarks labelled disturbing by the privileges committee in their report alleging interference from 10 Tories during their investigation which found that Boris Johnson repeatedly lied to parliament.

As he sought to get back on the front foot at a No 10 briefing outlining his plans for NHS reforms, Mr Sunak insisted the Tory peer had resigned after taking a different course when asked to apologise for his incompatible remarks  despite No 10 insisting just hours earlier that he had the PMs confidence.

But Lord Goldsmith opened up a new front of criticism for Mr Sunak as he countered the PMs claims of his refusal to apologise on Friday, insisting the Sunak governments lethargy on climate meant his resignation had been a long time coming.
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Rishi Sunak has accused Lord Zac Goldsmith of resigning with a scathing attack on the Governments environmental apathy after refusing to apologise for a campaign to undermine an investigation into Boris Johnson.

The ally of the former prime minister dramatically quit his Foreign Office role on Friday, accusing Mr Sunak of being simply uninterested in tackling the climate crisis.

However, the Prime Minister hit back by making clear that Lord Goldsmith had been asked to apologise over his comments about the Privileges Committee inquiry that found Mr Johnson lied to MPs with his partygate denials.

Mr Sunak noted the Tory peer decided to take a different course but said the apology was necessary because his remarks were incompatible with his position as a minister.

Lord Goldsmith, who was handed his peerage by Mr Johnson, announced his resignation a day after being named by the Privileges Committee as one of eight parliamentarians who had launched attacks on its work.

In a second statement following his resignation for clarity, the Tory peer countered Mr Sunak by claiming he was happy to apologise for sharing his views on the inquiry and accused No 10 of misleading briefing.

Writing to Mr Sunak, the Tory peer who had the environment in his brief as a minister in the Foreign Office, said he had been able to get so much done previously but has struggled even to hold the line in recent months.

The problem is not that the Government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested, Lord Goldsmith wrote.

That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.

This Governments apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable.

Mr Sunaks attempt to portray his Government as working to fix the problems in the NHS with a workforce plan on Friday was rocked by the resignation.

Every day brings more more resignations and scandal in this depressing Westminster soap opera Sarah Olney, Lib Dems

Thank you for your letter. I accept your resignation, Mr Sunak responded to Lord Goldsmith.

You were asked to apologise for your comments about the Privileges Committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as a minister of the crown. You have decided to take a different course.

Hours later, Lord Goldsmith wrote: In response to some misleading briefing from Number 10, Id like to make clear I am happy to apologise for publicly sharing my views on the Privileges Committee.

I firmly believe our Parliamentary democracy can only be strengthened by robust exchange and scrutiny and Parliamentarians should of course be free to be critical of its reports & proceedings.

But as a Minister I shouldnt have commented publicly.

Number 10 asked me to acknowledge that and made clear there was no question of my being sacked if I did so. I was  and am  happy to do so.

Mr Sunak was forced to defend his proud track record at a Downing Street press conference on the NHS, saying the UK will continue to play a leadership role globally on the environment.

In a report on Thursday accusing the group of MPs and peers of a campaign to interfere with its work, the Privileges Committee cited a retweet posted by Lord Goldsmith in June which suggested it was a witch hunt and a kangaroo court

Exactly this, Lord Goldsmith had added.

There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.

Downing Street sources told the PA news agency Lord Goldsmith was asked to apologise on Thursday afternoon after featuring in the damning report.

Until he quit, Downing Street had been saying Mr Sunak had full confidence in him as a minister despite the findings.

The committee said the Commons should consider whether the actions of MPs involved, including staunch Johnson loyalists Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, amounted to contempt of Parliament, as well as what further action to take.

Labours shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon said: Rishi Sunaks weakness is laid bare as 24 hours after he refused to condemn Zac Goldsmith, Goldsmith scathingly condemns him.

This simply uninterested Prime Minister cant lead his own team, never mind lead the country.

The Conservatives are in disarray  with mortgages soaring, NHS waiting lists rocketing, and in their own words: Apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face.

The Liberal Democrats said the Prime Minister should have had the guts to sack Lord Goldsmith the day before his ministerial resignation following his brutal censure.

Sarah Olney, the partys Treasury spokeswoman, said: This Conservative chaos is never-ending.

Every day brings more more resignations and scandal in this depressing Westminster soap opera.

Rishi Sunak should have had the guts to sack Zac Goldsmith yesterday when he was brutally criticised by the partygate watchdog.

Sunak is clearly too weak to control his own party.

Mr Johnson and his allies have been creating a steady stream of headaches for Mr Sunak, with the former prime minister resigning as an MP in anticipation of the Privileges Committee report.

Nigel Adams followed him out of the Commons, setting up two challenging by-elections for the Conservatives at a time when they are trailing far behind in the polls.

Ms Dorries, perhaps Mr Johnsons staunchest ally, also announced her intention to quit with immediate effect but is yet to do so formally as she seeks answers over the peerage she never received.
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Less than 3% of university students will be affected by the ongoing nationwide marking boycott, the chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) has said.

Raj Jethwa said latest survey data from Thursday showed 2.6% of students  roughly 13,000 of the half a million students due to graduate this year  would be affected by the boycott, and the vast majority of staff are working hard to mitigate its impact.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at 145 universities across the UK have refused to mark exams or assessments since April 20, in a dispute with the UCEA over pay and working conditions.

Clearly the stumbling block is a difference in perception about what is affordable Raj Jethwa, UCEA

The UCU has said it will continue until employers make an improved offer, meaning some students could face delays in learning their final results or receive no degree classifications.

Queens University in Belfast struck an agreement with the UCU on Wednesday, with marking now to be completed by August 7 and an additional graduation ceremony planned, the first local settlement reached in the dispute.

Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Mr Jethwa said: The boycott is a fundamental issue right now. Clearly the stumbling block is a difference in perception about what is affordable.

He added the UCEA had clearly set out its position before the boycott began and that the situation never needed to be like this.

When asked about the hindrance the boycott may have on students job prospects after graduation, Mr Jethwa said there had been a great degree of flexibility shown by employers.

Other concerns raised around the boycott include the quality of marking students will receive for their work, and whether international students will have to re-apply for visas if they are left without their results as accreditation.

Professor George Boyne, vice-chancellor at University of Aberdeen and UCEA board member, said: I dont think theres a concern about quality, but I do think there is research that has been sacrificed to prioritise the marking.

Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, said it is working with the Home Office on the issue and is reasonably confident things are moving in the right direction.

The marking and assessment boycott began on April 20, when the UCU hit out at what it described as a real-terms pay cut, working conditions including increasing casualisation, pay gaps and unmanageable workloads.
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The US Supreme Court has struck down president Joe Bidens plan to cancel student loan debts for millions of Americans, reversing his campaign-trail promise as borrowers prepare to resume payments this summer.

Chief justice John Roberts delivered the 6-3 decision from the courts conservative majority on 30 June. The ruling, which stems from a pair of cases challenging the Biden administration and the US Department of Education, argues that the president does not have the authority to implement sweeping relief, and that Congress never authorised the administration to do so.
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Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro's political career is in tatters, with him having been barred from public office for eight years.

A panel of judges voted to make the far-right politician ineligible after concluding that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country's electronic voting system.

Four of the seven judges on the nation's highest electoral court agreed that Bolsonaro, 68, abused his authority by using government communication channels to promote his campaign and sowing doubts about the vote when he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about the electronic voting system. One judge voted against the ruling, with two judges still to vote.

The lead justice in the case, Benedito Goncalves, voted earlier this week to make the former president ineligible, saying he had "used the meeting with ambassadors to spread doubts and incite conspiracy theories." The former president will only be able to seek elected office again in 2030  when he is 75

The comments came amid a polarising presidential campaign last year, which saw Mr Bolsonaro being challenged for the top job by his arch-rival, left-winger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. It was election that Mr Lula won by a narrow margin. Bolsanaro's supporters, who refused to accept the outcome of the election, stormed Brazil's Congress, the presidential palace and the building housing the Supreme Court on 8 January.

Mr Bolsonaro denies any wrongdoing and has already said he plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

"I have not attacked the voting system; I just showed its possible flaws... This trial doesn't make any sense," Mr Bolsonaro said in an interview with the Itatiaia radio station on Friday, before the judgment.

"This decision will end Bolsonaro's chances of being president again, and he knows it," said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. "After this, he will try to stay out of jail, elect some of his allies to keep his political capital, but it is very unlikely he will ever return to the presidency."

The case focused on a 18 July, 2022, meeting where Mr Bolsonaro used government staffers, the state television channel and the presidential palace in Brasilia to suggest foreign ambassadors that the country's electronic voting system was rigged.

"Bolsonaro abused the powers of his office by calling the meeting: check. He used government staff and buildings with an electoral objective: check. And he mixed the country's interests with those of his campaign: check," said Marlon Reis, an electoral law expert who helped draft the ineligibility provisions.

Speaking on Thursday to reporters in Brasilia, Mr Bolsonaro had been defiant. "This is an injustice against me, my God in heaven! Show me something concrete I have done against democracy," he said. "Perhaps my crime was doing the right thing for four years."

In an interview earlier this week, Mr Bolsonaro recognized that his chances of prevailing were slim. The ruling will remove him from the 2024 and 2028 municipal elections as well as the 2026 general elections. Future criminal convictions could extend his ban by years and subject him to imprisonment.

Former President Fernando Collor de Mello and current President Lula were declared ineligible in the past, but Mr Bolsonaro's case marks the first time a president has been suspended for election violations rather than a criminal offense. Brazilian law forbids candidates with criminal sentences from running for office.

Mr Lula's eligibility was reinstated by Brazil's top court following rulings that then-judge and now Senator Sergio Moro was biased when he sentenced the leftist leader to almost 10 years in prison for corruption and money laundering.

Speaking before the court's vote, legislator Carlos Jordy, a staunch Bolsonaro ally, said the former president still expected "a drastic change" from the court. However, Mr Jordy said he was already contemplating a future without Mr Bolsonaro as the standard-bearer of right-wing Brazilian politics.

"Even if they commit this injustice, which has no precedent at the electoral court, Bolsonaro remains Brazil's biggest political figure," Jordy said.

Mr Bolsonaro holds a ceremonial leadership role within his Liberal Party and has traveled around Brazil criticising Mr Lula

The trial has reenergized Mr Bolsonaro's base online, with supporters claiming he is victim of an unfair judicial system and comparing his fate to that of former US President Donald Trump, according to Marie Santini, coordinator of NetLab, a research group at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro that monitors social media.

This week, his supporters showed their support with contributions to help him pay 1.1 million reais (180,000) in fines levied by Sao Paulo state's government for Bolsonaro's repeated violations of health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Bolsonaro does not risk jail in the electoral case, although the former leader is separately facing multiple criminal investigations, including into claims he deliberately incited the 8 January riots.

While Mr Bolsonaro aims to be the right's kingmaker, and his endorsement will carry significant heft, his decision to decamp to Florida for several weeks at the start of Mr Lula's term weakened him, said Thomas Traumann, a political analyst. That is reflected by the limited right-wing outrage on social media throughout the eligibility trial, and no sign of protests.

"There won't be a mass movement, because he diminished in size. The fact that he went to Florida and didn't lead the opposition caused him to diminish in size," Mr Traumann said. "The leader of the opposition is clearly not Bolsonaro."

Associated Press
Beijing (Gasgoo)- RoboSense, a leading Chinese LiDAR solution provider, took the initiative to establish Chinas first automotive MEMS standardization working group under the National Microelectromechanical Technology Standardization Technical Committee (SAC/TC 336).





The conference; photo credit: RoboSense

Dr. Mark Qiu, the Founder and CEO of RoboSense, delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the conference. He emphasized the significant growth potential of MEMS sensors in the automotive field amidst the global trend of automotive intelligence, enabling safer and smarter driving experiences. As a leading representative in China's automotive MEMS technology sector, RoboSense eagerly seeks to enhance dialogue and collaboration among industry players in both upstream and downstream sectors. Together, they aim to promote the coordinated development of the industrial chain, establish "Chinese standards," and solidify the foundation for the healthy growth of the industry, thereby enhancing China's global competitiveness in the automotive MEMS sector.

Industry experts from renowned automotive companies such as BYD, Great Wall Motor, GAC Group, Haomo.ai, SAIC Motor, and FAW Group, along with leaders from MEMS industry partner companies also attended the conference.

Leveraging its pioneering advantage in automotive MEMS technology, RoboSense has achieved a broad market application base, with its products deployed onto over 50 vehicle models from more than 20 global automakers. Built upon this foundation, RoboSense will actively participate in various levels of standardization work, gradually constructing a multi-level standard system ranging from complete LiDAR products to core components.
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A recently graduated student has been charged with a stabbing attack in a Canadian universitys gender studies class that left three people injured.

Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, 24, is an international student who recently finished studying at the University of Waterloo, Regional Police Service Chief Mark Crowell said on Thursday.

The accused targeted a gender-studies class and investigators believe this was a hate-motivated incident related to gender expression and gender identity, the service said in a statement.

Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, 24, charged over stabbing at Canadas University of Waterloo (LinkedIn)

The suspect has now been charged with three counts of aggravated assault; four counts of assault with a weapon; two counts of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose; and mischief under $5,000.

It is both sad and disturbing that this incident has occurred during Pride month, Chief Crowell said. We hope this incident does not diminish from these celebrations but, instead, encourages us all to come together.

Investigators say that he walked into a university lecture classroom on Wednesday afternoon and stabbed a 38-year-old professor, a 20-year-old female student and a 19-year-old male student with a knife.

Around 40 students were inside the classroom at the time of the attack and fled for safety, police said. The university is located around 70 miles west of Toronto.

Authorities say that Mr Villalba-Aleman, who has no previous criminal record and according to his social media accounts is originally from Ecuador, was not a member of the class but spoke with the professor of the class before attacking her with two large knives without provocation.

He then tried to pose as a victim of the attack before officers identified and arrested him.

The victims injuries are serious but not life-threatening, and all were being treated at hospitals, said officials.

His Facebook page states that he graduated from the university with a Bachelor of Science (Physics) degree.
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A top official overseeing school lunches in New York Citys sprawling public school system took bribes and allowed dangerous chicken products contaminated with shards of metal and plastic to be served to children, a jury concluded on Wednesday.

Eric Goldstein, who oversaw the citys Office of Food and Nutrition Services, was convicted in a Brooklyn court of conspiracy, extortion, wire fraud, and taking bribes.

Prosecutors said he was bribed with cash and an ownership stake in a food company by the owners of food supply company Somma  Blaine Iler, Michael Turley, Brian Twomey  in exchange for his cooperation facilitating lucrative contracts with the city. The trio of men were convicted of conspiracy, wire fraud, and bribery.

Eric Goldstein was for sale, prosecutor Laura Zuckerwise said in her closing statemnets. And Michael Turley, Blaine Iler and Brian Twomey, they bought him.

Goldstein could face up to 20 years in prison, according to The New York Post.

The former school official, who previously started a food company of his own alongside Turley, Iler, and Twomey called Range Meats Supply, helped fast-track Somma to get contracts supply nearly 2,000 schools in 2015, leading to a huge spike in demand and millions of dollars of food orders.

Im going to buy a lot of f***ing chicken from you guys, lets do the beef, Goldstein allegedly told Iler at a 2015 meeting, according to prosecutors.

By September of 2016, people were complaining that Somma chicken contained pieces of wire-like metal and plastic, according to school incident logs shown to jurors.

The chicken caused people to bleed and in one case choke on a bone in a supposedly boneless dish, according to officials.

As complaints mounted, Turley, Iler, and Twomey allegedly offered Goldstein ownership of Range Meats and $66,000. The trio also sent money to Goldsteins divorce lawyer and took the school official on trips around the world. The group used the code name Roger Rabbit to refer to Goldstein, according to law enforcement.

During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors emails between the now-convicted conspirators, and showed photos of one of the tainted drumsticks, which had a bright red liquid oozing out of it.

A lawyer for Goldstein told The New York Times has was extremely disappointed and would appeal the verdict.
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Veteran television host Geraldo Rivera announced he was quitting Fox News after claiming he was fired from the programme The Five.

Rivera revealed the news in a Twitter video filmed aboard a speeding boat off Long Islands Jones Beach as he appeared to struggle keeping the camera steady.

Im not going to be on The Five, he said. Ive been fired from The Five.

And, as a result of that, I quit Fox.

Rivera said he will have more to say about leaving the network during the Fox and Friends programme on Friday morning.

Rivera joined the network in 2001 and became a host of The Five a year later. The show became Foxs most-watched programme, averaging more than three million viewers last year despite airing in the late afternoon and not prime time.

His departure comes more than a week after the host said that his time at The Five was coming to an end as being the odd man out isnt always easy.

But he would still be a correspondent at large, as his contract expires in January 2025.

Rivera told Associated Press that a growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences were not worth his time at Fox.

It has been a rocky ride but it has also been an exhilarating adventure that spanned quite a few years, he told the agency. I hope its not my last adventure.

He added that Fox management didnt race after me to say, Geraldo, please come back following his decision to quit.

Geraldo Rivera joined Fox News in 2021 (Getty Images)

At the show, which has four conservatives and one rotating liberal, Rivera alternated with the liberal voice with Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr, a former congressman from Tennessee.

Once a supporter of former president Donald Trump, Rivera split up with him following the former presidents false claims over the 2020 presidential election.

He maintained that under no circumstances do I think Donald Trump should be president of the United States again and thats an important message I am committed to bringing to the American people between now and November 2024.

He said even though the shows large viewership would make it look like a prominent place for him to deliver that message, but you can imagine the friction that role by definition would provoke.

Im 80 years old, he said. I dont want the friction. The Five is too intimate a place and it gets too personal.

Posting his shirtless selfie last week, Rivera, who would celebrate his 80th birthday on 4 July, said 80 year old contemplating retirement.

It comes amid increasingly bitter and frequent clashes between The Five co-hosts. Last month network star Greg Gutfeld mocked Rivera for criticising Tucker Carlson following his ouster from the network. Rivera had called Carlsons conspiracy theories about the January 6 riots on the US Capitol bulls**t.

Rivera responded by saying that he has been cancelled from upcoming shows broadcasts and said he was sure theres a good reason for keeping him away.

In a statement, Fox News said: We reached an amicable conclusion with Geraldo over the past few weeks and look forward to celebrating him on Fox & Friends Friday morning which will be his last appearance on the network.
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Debris from the Titan was brought ashore by deep-sea robots on Wednesday as the US Coast Guard continues recovery operations following the subs catastrophic implosion.

The Titans wreckage was seen for the first time in pictures after the Coast Guard announced on 22 June that ROVs (remotely-operated vehicles) found its chambers in a sea of debris 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic, roughly 12,000ft below the ocean surface.

Pelagic Research Services, the company that operated the ROV that made the previous debris findings, said on Wednesday that its team had successfully completed off-shore operations and was now in the process of demobilisation after 10 days of work. The company said a press conference will be held later in the day.

Photos from the wharf show what appear to be several pieces of the submersible being lifted from the ship, including the nose cone with its distinctive circular window. The pieces were unloaded from the American ships Sycamore and Horizon Arctic at a port in St Johns, Newfoundland.

The US Coast Guard declined to comment on the investigation or the return of debris to shore. Representatives for the National Transportation Safety Board and Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), which are both involved in the investigation, also declined to comment.

We are not able to provide any additional information at this time as the investigation is ongoing, said Liam MacDonald, a spokesperson for the TSB said.

The Coast Guard announced just hours later that presumed human remains had been found on the sea floor. They will now be formally analysed.

The CEO of the company that operated the Titan, Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman were aboard the Titan when it imploded last week.

The submersible lost contact with its mothership Polar Prince just one hour and 45 minutes into its descent to the wreck of the Titanic on 18 June, sparking a frantic four-day search. Canadian, American and French marine authorities and experts combed large portions of the ocean hoping to find signs of life, before the tragic developments on 22 June.

Photos shared by the Associated Press showed what appeared to be several pieces covered with white tarps being unloaded from the American ships Sycamore and Horizon Arctic at a port in St Johns, Newfoundland. (AP)

The submersible lost contact with its mothership Polar Prince just one hour and 45 minutes into its descent to the wreck of the Titanic on 18 June (AP)

(Reuters)

The Coast Guard said last week that the US Navy had detected sounds that matched an implosion or explosion sometime after the sub vanished and before rescue efforts were launched. Rescue efforts continued at the time because the information was not definitive, the Coast Guard said.

An international group of agencies is now investigating what may have caused the submersible to implode, and US maritime officials say theyll issue a report aimed at improving the safety of submersibles worldwide.

(REUTERS)

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the shore (AP)

An international group of agencies is now investigating what may have caused the submersible to implode (AP)

The Coast Guard said over the weekend that salvage operations were ongoing, but recovery of the bodies will be difficult due to the unforgiving condition on the ocean floor. A final report will be issued by the International maritime Organisation.
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The search for what remains of the Titan submersible and its passengers concluded this week, as human remains were found on the sea floor and debris from the vessel returned to dry land in Canada.

Large pieces of wreckage from the Titan was seen being transported to St Johns harbour in Newfoundland on Wednesday by the Horizon Arctic ship, where they were unloaded by a crane.

The Coast Guard announced just hours later that presumed human remains had been found on the sea floor. They will now be formally analysed.

While the search has ended, investigations will continue for some time into what caused the catastrophic implosion of the sub, killing all five passengers on board.

The resting place of the Titanic lies about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at a depth of around 12,500ft below the surface, with trips to visit it typically involving a two-hour descent.

Particular details about the Titan, a cramped metal cylinder accommodating four passengers and a pilot, emerged soon after it first went missing.

Measuring 22ft long by 9.2ft across and 8.3ft high, the sub consists of an aerospace-grade carbon fibre hull with titanium hemispheres at each end, as well as a fibreglass hull insert to shield the passengers and electronics from condensation.

The Titan making its descent (PA)

A real-time monitoring system provides a running analysis of the impact changing pressure is having on the hull as the craft descends deeper and deeper into the ocean in the interests of safety.

The vessel weighs 10,432kg in total and can travel at a maximum speed of three knots, made possible by Four Innerspace 1002 electric thrusters.

The tourists and scientists who typically ride in it are able to look out via a large viewport window, their perspective enhanced by Sub C Imaging 4k Rayfin exterior cameras that capture the surrounding marine environment in a live feed that is displayed on a large digital display.

The Titan vessel has gone missing with five people on board (PA)

There is little by way of comfort inside but there is a toilet, although privacy is limited because it is situated right next to the viewing window.

Most astonishingly, the craft is controlled by a generic video games controller  specifically a Logitech F710 Wireless PC Gamepad from 2011, according to gaming expert Matthew Ruddle  and, rather than using a GPS for navigation, it communicates with a tracking team aboard a surface ship, in this case the Polar Prince, via text messages.

A clip of a CBS Sunday Morning featurette about the sub from November 2022 that has gone viral in light of this weeks disaster shows OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, who was aboard the vessel that imploded after vanishing on Sunday, cheerily pointing out handles affixed to the ceiling of the craft that he says he bought from Camper World but denying that the vessel has been MacGyvered or jerry-rigged.

Theres no switches and things to bump into, we have one button to turn it on, Mr Rush explained to reporter David Pogue.

An interior view of the submersible used to tour the wreck of HMS Titanic (PA)

Everything else is done with touch screens and computers, and so you really become part of the vehicle and everybody gets to know everyone pretty well.

The Titan was reportedly built with the help of a team of engineering consultants from Nasas Marshall Space Flight Center, who offered guidance during the development stage.

Speaking to GB News, David Scott-Beddard, chair of the British Titanic Society, outlined how unique the proposition offered by the company is, explaining: The OceanGate Titan, this particular submersible, is the only one currently capable in commercial use that can take passengers down to the wreck... Its one of only five submersibles that can reach this depth.

Titan prepares to launch from its submersion platform on a test run (OceanGate/YouTube)

Similarly, G Michael Harris, a specialist Titanic expedition leader who said he has previously worked with the pilot of the stricken Titan, told Jesse Waters on Fox News: More people have been to outer space than to this depth of the ocean and when youre diving in these situations you have to cross your Ts, dot your Is, you have to have everything absolutely perfect and by the book... Throw in a bunch of tourists and a new sub that was created over the last several years its not looking good.

As to the experience of being a passenger on the Titan, New Yorker Mike Reiss, who said he had made three dives in it, told BBC Breakfast that the sub is a beautifully designed craft, I cant disparage it, but its meant to go down further than any other vessels can go... If its down at the bottom, I dont know how anyones going to be able to access it, much less bring it back up.

He continued: The phrase we keep hearing is theyve lost communication and Ive gotta say I did three separate dives, I did one dive to the Titanic and two more off the coast of New York and every time they lost communication.

The Titan on dry land (PA)

And, again, this is not to say this is a shoddy ship or anything. Its just, this is all new technology and theyre learning it as they go along.

You have to remember the early days of the space programme or the early days of aviation where you just make a lot of mistakes on the way to figuring out what youre doing.

OceanGate Expeditions founder and CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman were on board the Titan. All five passengers died in the implosion.
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The company that operated the doomed submersible that imploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean is still advertising expeditions to the Titanic wreckage on its website.

Reports emerged last week that OceanGate Expeditions closed its doors indefinitely after its CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, French diving expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old Suleman died when the companys Titan sub imploded while on a tour to the Titanics wreck.

But more than 10 days after the tragedy - and a week after it was confirmed, the OceanGate website still features available dates for two separate eight-day expeditions next year.

One pilot, one content expert and three mission specialists  or passengers without any previous experience needed who pay $250,000 participate in every dive. OceanGate not only hosted tours to the famed shipwreck, but also to the Azores Archipelago in Portugal and to the Bahamas.

Expeditions to the Titanic began in Newfoundland, Canada, where a ship set sail from St Johns port on a 400-nautical-mile journey to the wreck site. The doomed expedition last week was on its third day when the Titan was launched onto the sea and lost contact with its mothership just one hour and 45 minutes into its descent.

The companys future is now uncertain, as industry experts have told the New York Post that all planned expeditions to the Titanic have been called off.

The Explorers Club said it knows of no plans still in place for scientific exploratory trips to the Titanics wreck 12,500 feet below the oceans surface. Commercial expeditions have also been reportedly grounded. The Independent has reached out to OceanGate for comment.

The company previously faced backlash over a since-deleted job advert for a sub pilot position.

The post, which was featured on Indeed and OceanGates website, remained visible four days into the frantic search for the missing passengers. It was removed sometime on 23 June, a day after the US Coast Guard announced that debris from the Titan had been found 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic.

Large pieces of debris from Titan were transported to St Johns harbour on Wednesday by the Horizon Arctic ship, where they were seen being unloaded by a crane. The Coast Guard announced just hours later that medical professionals will formally analyse presumed human remains found on the debris.

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic (The Canadian Press via AP)

(The Canadian Press via AP)

Speaking after the evidence was recovered, the Marine Board of Investigations (MBI) chairman, Captain Jason Neubauer, said: I am grateful for the coordinated international and inter-agency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths.

The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy.

There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.

The USCG said the MBI intends to transport the evidence to a port in the US where they will be able to facilitate further analysis and testing.

The MBI will continue evidence collection and witness interviews to inform a public hearing about the incident, the USCG added.

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic (AP)

Safety investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada made inquiries on Titans main support ship, the Polar Prince, after it docked in St Johns harbour on Saturday. The TSB said it has inspected, documented, and catalogued the materials from the debris of Titan for its safety investigation.

The safety body said its investigation team has taken possession of the deep-sea vessels voyage data recorder, which has been sent to its engineering laboratory in Ottawa for further analysis.

The TSB said it will continue to cooperate with the US, UK, and France in accordance with international agreements, as they are substantially interested states under the International Maritime Organisation Casualty Investigation Code.
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Eleven people have died over the last two weeks along the Gulf Coast due to dangerous rip currents, according to data from the National Weather Service.

The deaths were reported in the Gulf of Mexico between Fort Morgan, Alabama and Panama City Beach, Florida, according to the agency.

Rip currents form when waves disperse across the beach and cause water to "become trapped between the beach and a sandbar or other underwater feature." The water then "converges into a narrow river-like channel moving away from the shore at high speed."

While rip currents do not submerge swimmers, they can pull even skilled swimmers deep into the water, exhausting them as they fight to swim against the current.

The best way for a swimmer to escape a rip current is not to swim toward the shore, but to swim parallel to the shore in order to escape its pull.

Tom Gill, a spokesman for the United States Lifesaving Association, said beachgoers should try to only swim in areas where a lifeguard is present, an increasingly difficult task due to a shortage of qualified lifeguards.

Swimming on an actively guarded beach is always the safest option, Mr Gill told NBC News. But not every beach is patrolled by a lifeguard and the high heat has been pushing a lot of people into the water.

Rip currents are the third-leading cause of weather fatalities between 2013 and 2023, according to NWS data. They kill more on average than tornadoes, lightning, or hurricanes.

Panama City Beach has experienced the highest number of beach fatalities in the US this year, with seven people dying between 15 June and 24 June, according to the NWS.

Three people died at three different resorts on Saturday in the city.

Panama City Beach spokeswoman Debbie Ingram said the city doesn't have enough lifeguards to patrol all nine miles of its beach.

Hiring is a struggle, she told NBC News. We are competing with other beach communities, some of whom offer higher wages. Many times we get college kids who go back to school.

Over 10 days the city's police department were called to respond to 70 swimmers who were in distress, with 39 of those calls happening on Saturday alone.

A current rip current risk is currently in effect through Thursday evening for Bay, Gulf, and Walton counties in Florida, according to the NWS.
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A friend of late OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush warned him against taking customers aboard the companys Titan submersible four years before it tragically imploded in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

Karl Stanley, the owner of a diving expedition company in Honduras and a close friend of Mr Rush, went on a tour aboard the Titan off the coast of the Bahamas in 2019, The New York Times first reported. In emails obtained by Insider of an alleged exchange between the two deep-sea enthusiasts, Mr Stanley told Mr Rush that he had heard a large cracking sound while on the 12,000-foot-deep dive.

I think that hull has a defect near that flange, that will only get worse. The only question in my mind is will it fail catastrophically or not, Mr Stanley wrote in a premonitory email, years before the Titans catastrophic implosion that killed all five of its passengers.

Mr Rush tried to reassure his friend, telling him that experts had already noticed a reduction of the noise in two subsequent dives, but also noted that more dives should be launched in order to obtain reliable data. Mr Rush first told Mr Stanley that he thought 2-7 dives to operating depth [were] too few to launch an expedition selling 6 figure tickets in the middle of the ocean, in reference to the $250,000-a-ticket price customers were asked to pay to join the expedition.

I think 50 is a good #, Mr Stanley replied, saying that was the number of times he ran tests with his own submersible and also the number of skydives a person must complete before obtaining a B license.

Mr Rush disagreed with the number, describing it as arbitrary and adding that testing may take 2 dives or 20.

I suspect no deep diving sub did 50 MOD dives before non-essential crew were taken, Mr Rush replied.

Mr Stanley eventually warned Mr Rush against letting his ego interfere.

I dont think if you push forward with dives to the Titantic this season it will be succumbing to financial pressures, I think it will be succumbing to pressures of your own creation in some part dictated by ego to do what people said couldnt be done, Mr Rush wrote.

OceanGate said in a statement to Insider that the company is unable to provide any additional information at this time.

Because the Polar Prince and the Titan operated in international waters, they were not subject to regulation by any country, including a US law requiring passenger submersibles to be registered with the Coast Guard.

Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate, died during an expedition to the site of the Titanic wreck

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic (AP)

In 2018, 38 members of the Marine Technology Societys Manned Underwater Vehicles committee wrote to Mr Rush expressing unanimous concern about the way Titan had been developed. According to The New York Times, the committee was alarmed that OceanGate had not subjected Titan to a standard risk assessment by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), an international maritime classification body that writes and maintains technical standards for undersea vehicles.

While this may demand additional time and expense, it is our unanimous view that this validation process by a third party is a critical component in the safeguards that protect all submersible occupants, the letter said.

OceanGate defended its decision in a 2019 blog post, writing: When OceanGate was founded the goal was to pursue the highest reasonable level of innovation in the design and operation of manned submersibles. By definition, innovation is outside of an already accepted system... Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.

Large pieces of debris from Titan were transported to St Johns harbour on Wednesday by the Horizon Arctic ship, where they were seen being unloaded by a crane. The Coast Guard announced just hours later that medical professionals will formally analyse presumed human remains found on the debris.

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded (The Canadian Press via AP)

Officials from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada board the Polar Prince, the main support ship for the Titan submersible (PA)

Speaking after the evidence was recovered, the Marine Board of Investigations (MBI) chairman, Captain Jason Neubauer, said: I am grateful for the coordinated international and inter-agency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths.

The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy.

There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.

The USCG said the MBI intends to transport the evidence to a port in the US where they will be able to facilitate further analysis and testing.

The MBI will continue evidence collection and witness interviews to inform a public hearing about the incident, the USCG added.

Safety investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada made inquiries on Titans main support ship, the Polar Prince, after it docked in St Johns harbour on Saturday. The TSB said it has inspected, documented, and catalogued the materials from the debris of Titan for its safety investigation.

The safety body said its investigation team has taken possession of the deep-sea vessels voyage data recorder, which has been sent to its engineering laboratory in Ottawa for further analysis.

The TSB said it will continue to cooperate with the US, UK, and France in accordance with international agreements, as they are substantially interested states under the International Maritime Organisation Casualty Investigation Code.
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Watch live as Karine Jean-Pierre holds the daily White House press briefing after the US Supreme Court struck down president Joe Bidens plan to cancel student loan debts.

The court has reversed Mr Bidens campaign promise as borrowers prepare to resume payments this summer.

The US Supreme Court ruled that the president does not have the authority to implement financial relief for students and that Congress never authorised the administration to do so.

The ruling came in response to two cases challenging the Biden administration and the US Department of Education plans to offer borrowers up to $10,000 in relief from their federal student loans.

It comes after the court ruled that universities cannot consider race as a factor in admissions, striking down the landmark case Grutter v Bollinger (2003) on Thursday, 29 June.
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One the night of Saturday 17 June, billionaire explorer Hamish Harding took to Instagram to reveal he was among the crew of a submersible vessel on their way to explore the Titanic wreckage.

I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic, Mr Harding wrote.

Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023. A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow.

Mr Harding said the five-member crew, which included French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, had set sail from St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, on Friday.

They were planning to start their 4,000m descent to the most famous shipwreck in the world at 4am on Sunday morning. Until then we have a lot of preparations and briefings to do, he said.

About 105 minutes into the trip, the Tital submersible stopped communicating with its mothership.

But just five days later, it would be confirmed that the submarine suffered a catastrophic implosion and all five people on board were confirmed to have died.

Hamish Harding posted about his plans to travel to see the Titanic wreckage two days before the sub went missing (Facebook/Hamish Harding)

Heres a timeline of the horror ordeal:

Sunday (18 June)

The Polar Prince icebreaker sailed around 900 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, where it set anchor.

The five-person crew was dropped into the ocean in their 22-foot long submersible vessel, the Titan, around 8am EST the submersible was launched, according to the US Coast Guard

One hour and 45 minutes later, the vessel lost contact with the Polar Prince.

The vessel was programmed to send out a ping every 15 minutes to indicate its location. The final signal was sent at around 10am ET, according to The Times.

The Titan typically takes around two hours to reach the Titanic wreckage, located about 4,000m beneath the ocean.

The OceanGate Expeditions submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic (PA Media)

According to the Coast Guard, the sub was meant to surface at 3pm EST.

When it failed to resurface, the crew raised the alarm with authorities at 5.40pm EST.

At a press conference in Boston, Captain Jamie Frederick, of the US Coast Guard, said: On Sunday, the co-ordination command centre in Boston received a report from the Canadian expedition vessel Polar Prince of an overdue 21 foot submarine, Titan, with five people on board.

The Titan was attempting to dive on the wreck of the Titanic, approximately 900 miles east of Cape Cod and 400 miles south of St Johns, Newfoundland.

Approximately one hour and 45 minutes into the scheduled dive, the Polar Prince lost all communication with the Titan, Polar Prince conducted an initial search and then requested Coast Guard assistance. The US Coast Guard in Boston assumed the responsibility of search-and-rescue mission coordinator and immediately launched search assets.

Since Sunday, the Coast Guard has coordinated search efforts with the US and Canadian Coast Guard, Air National Guard aircraft and the Polar Prince (the Titans mother ship), which has searched a combined 7,600 square miles, an area larger than the state of Connecticut.

The vessel was carrying enough oxygen for the crew for 96 hours  making the rescue mission a race against time to reach the vessel.

The divers failed to return from a 4,000m deep dive to the Titanic wreckage (Atlantic Productions, PA) (PA Media)

Monday (19 June)

On Monday morning, authorities revealed the Titan was missing and a large-scale search operation had been launched.

The US Coast Guard revealed they had begun a sweeping search of a 5,000sqm area about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Canadian Coast Guard said it too is taking part in the effort with fixed-wing aircraft and a ship.

At 1.30pm, the US Coastguards Northeast tweeted that a C-130 Hercules reconnaissance aircraft had been dispatched to search for the Titan.

P8 Poseidon aircraft with underwater sonar capabilities joined the search on Monday afternoon.

A US Navy Curv-21, an unmanned submersible vessel that can reach a depth of 20,000 feet, is being used in the search for the missing Titanic wreck vessel (US Navy)

It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area but we are deploying all available assets to make sure we can locate the craft and rescue the people onboard, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters during a briefing at 4.30pm EST on Monday.

Submersible craft including an unmanned US Navy Curv-21, which can reach a depth of 4,000m, also joined the search.

The Polar Prince and 106 Rescue Wing continued to conduct surface searches throughout Monday evening.

Tuesday (20 June)

On Tuesday afternoon, OceanGate confirmed that its chief executive and founder Stockton Rush is aboard the submersible as a member of the crew.

A Canadian Aircraft P3 Aurora joined the effort, as the search area expanded to 10,000sqm.

During the press conference on Tuesday, Captain Frederick said there were around 40 to 41 hours of oxygen left on the submersible.

He said that a unified command of multiple agencies had been formed to tackle the very complex problem of finding the vessel but so far this had not yielded any results.

Captain Frederick said: Since Sunday, the Coast Guard has coordinated search efforts with the US and Canadian Coast Guard, Air National Guard aircraft and the Polar Prince (the Titans mother ship), which has searched a combined 7,600 square miles, an area larger than the state of Connecticut.

These search efforts have focused on both surface, with C-130 aircraft searching by sight and with radar, and subsurface, with P-3 aircraft were able to drop and monitor sonar buoys.

Captain Jamie Frederick told reporters that the complex search had not yet yielded any results (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

To date, those search efforts have not yielded any results.

Captain Frederick was non-committal however when asked if there is any way to retrieve the submersible and save the five on board if it can be located.

So, right now all of our efforts are focused on finding the sub, he said.

What I will tell you is we have a group of our nations best experts in the unified command and if we get to that point, those experts will be looking at what the next course of action is.

It is understood the King was being kept informed of the search efforts, as Shahzada Dawood was a long-time supporter of The Princes Trust International and The British Asian Trust, both of which are charities founded by Charles

It was also reported that a Canadian aircraft had detected banging noises within the search area over the course of 30-minute intervals.

Wednesday (21 June)

According to internal e-mail updates sent to Department of Homeland Security leadership, the Canadian aircraft detected banging noises every 30 minutes.

RCC Halifax launched a P8, Poseidon, which has underwater detection capabilities from the air, the e-mails read.

Banging noises have been detected leading to renewed hope of finding the five passengers aboard the submersible (Reuters/Getty/WEF/OceanGate)

The P8 deployed sonobuoys, which reported a contact in a position close to the distress position. The P8 heard banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes. Four hours later additional sonar was deployed and banging was still heard.

The US Coast Guard on Wednesday morning said: Canadian P-3 aircraft detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, ROV (remote operating vehicles) operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises.

Those ROV searches have yielded negative results but continue.

Additionally, the data from the P-3 aircraft has been shared with our U.S. Navy experts for further analysis which will be considered in future search plans.

In an upbeat statement, President Richard Garriot de Cayeux of The Explorers Club said: There is cause for hope, that based on data from the field, we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site.

They precisely understand the experienced personnel and tech we can help deploy We believe they are doing everything possible with all the resources they have.

Mr Garriot de Cayeux said they were ready to provide the UK-based Magellans remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that is certified to travel as deep as 6,000 metres.

In a press conference on Wednesday (21 June) afternoon, Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coast Guard assured people that authorities were doing everything possible to locate the missing vessel as the search intensified with more technology.

Mr Frederick confirmed that the vessel had less than 24 hours of oxygen supply left. He also acknowledged that officials do not know if crews will be able to rescue the people on board even if they do manage to find the sub before the oxygen runs out.

The first photo emerged of the Deep Energy rescue ship, which carries two remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) capable of operating to a depth of 3,000m, arriving at the search site on Wednesday. The John Cabot, which has side-scanning sonar capabilities, the Skandi Vinland and the Atlantic Merlin also arrived at the search site on Wednesday morning, the US Coast Guard said in a Twitter post.

The Royal Canadian Navy also deployed HMCS Glace Bay, which carries a medical team specialising in dive medicine. Onboard the ship is a six-person mobile hyperbaric recompression chamber that can be used to treat or prevent decompression sickness.

However, the French ship Atalante carrying the Victor 6,000 underwater (ROV) and winch  the only one capable of reaching the Titanic wreck 4,000m under the ocean surface  had a narrow window of time to conduct rescue operations as it only reached the search site on Wednesday night.

Thursday (22 June)

The air supply on the missing Titanic tourist submarine came down to its last hours, as rescue workers continued their increasingly desperate search for the five stranded passengers.

A US Coast Guard spokesperson told The Independent they expect the vessel, named Titan, would run out of oxygen at 8am EDT, which is 1pm UK time, on Thursday. This estimated time is based on the number of hours of oxygen the craft had for the five people on board - 96 - and the time it submerged - 8am EDT, which is 1pm UK time, on Sunday.

Soon after that deadline passed, officials announced a debris field had been found in the search area.

Five crew members were later confirmed to have died after the Titanic tourist submarine suffered a catastrophic explosion.

The US Coast Guard offered its deepest condolences to the families after the tail cone of the vessel was found around 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic wreck.

In a press conference, Rear Admiral John Mauger said further debris was consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber.

In a statement, OceanGate Expeditions said: These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the worlds oceans.

Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time.

We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew.

Asked what the prospects of recovering crew members were, Rear Admiral Mauger said: This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor and the debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel.

And so well continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I dont have an answer for prospects at this time.

Rear Admiral Mauger also said there did not appear to be any connection between the underwater noises detected during the search and rescue mission and the location of the debris on the seafloor.

This was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel which would have generated a significant broadband sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up, he said.

28 June

The search for what remains of the Titan submersible and its passengers concluded, as human remains were found on the sea floor and debris from the vessel returned to dry land in Canada.

Large pieces of wreckage from the Titan was seen being transported to St Johns harbour in Newfoundland on Wednesday by the Horizon Arctic ship, where they were unloaded by a crane.

The Coast Guard announced just hours later that presumed human remains had been found on the sea floor. They will now be formally analysed.

While the search has ended, investigations will continue for some time into what caused the catastrophic implosion of the sub, killing all five passengers on board.
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.

Audi FAW NEV Company site commences construction in Jilin Province

The Audi FAW New Energy Vehicle (NEV) project, along with the Audi PPE supporting project, began construction in Changchun, Jilin Province on June 30, with a total investment exceeding 44.4 billion yuan. Once completed, the project will significantly boost the development of Jilin Province's automotive industry cluster and provide solid support for the local new energy vehicle industry.

Photo credit: Audi

IT BOX receives investments from Haima Automobile

IT BOX, a Chinese ride-share electric vehicle startup, recently underwent changes in its business registration, with Haima Automobile, Henan Zhongyu New Energy Vehicle Industry Fund (Limited Partnership), and Henan Intelligent Connected New Energy Vehicle Development Co., Ltd. joining as investors. The registered capital of the company increased by approximately 125% from around 225 million yuan to approximately 506 million yuan.

Mercedes-Benz recalls 2,518 imported G-Class vehicles in China

Mercedes-Benz China has submitted a recall plan to Chinas State Administration for Market Regulation. Starting from January 10, 2024, a total of 2,518 imported G-Class vehicles manufactured between June 1, 2018, and December 20, 2019, will be recalled. The recall is due to the non-compliance of the catalytic converter monitoring section in the engine control unit software, which fails to promptly detect excessive aging of the catalytic converter. Additionally, the malfunction indicator lamp (illuminated after two driving cycles) does not activate as expected, posing emission hazards.

Li Auto ambitious to hit annual deliveries of 1.6 million vehicles

June 30, 2023 marks the 8th anniversary of Li Auto, during which its CEO, Li Xiang, released a letter to all employees. He declared that the upcoming three years, from 2023 to 2025, will be the most critical phase in Li Auto's evolution, taking the company from stage 1 to stage 10.

China's vehicle inventory alert index in June 2023 grows YoY, but edges down MoM

China's vehicle inventory alert index (VIA), which reflects the inventory pressure on automobile dealers, dropped 1.4 percentage points month on month in June 2023, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association (CADA).

Lear launches expansion project for auto system production facility in Chinas Shenyang city

On June 26, Lear China announced a major expansion of its Shenyang Lear Automotive Systems Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as "Shenyang Lear") facility, signifying a new phase in the company's growth.

Geelys Lynk & Co announces foray into Macau market

Lynk & Co, one of the auto brands under Geely Auto Group, recently announced that it officially entered the market of Macau, China. This milestone was achieved by signing a dealership cooperation agreement with one of the largest car dealerships in Macau, Vang Iek Group, on June 29.

Geelys Aerofugia bags over 100 million yuan in first market-oriented financing round

Aerofugia, a leading Chinese electric aviation company under Geely, has successfully completed its first market-oriented financing round, raising over 100 million yuan, the company said on June 30 via its WeChat account.

Enjoy Move nabs nearly 100 million yuan in Series B2 funding

On June 30, Shanghai-based automotive intelligence solution provider Enjoy Move announced the completion of a nearly 100-million-yuan Series B2 funding round.

Black Sesame Technologies files for IPO in Hong Kong

Black Sesame International Holding Limited, the corporate entity of Chinese automotive chip maker Black Sesame Technologies, has submitted its application for an initial public offering (IPO) to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as disclosed on June 30.

RoboSense leads establishment of China's first automotive MEMS standardization working group

RoboSense, a leading Chinese LiDAR solution provider, took the initiative to establish Chinas first automotive MEMS standardization working group under the National Microelectromechanical Technology Standardization Technical Committee (SAC/TC 336).

Great Wall Motors Jingmen branch said to expand product lineup with three new models

According to report posted on www.jmnews.com on June 29, a responsible person from Great Wall Motor (GWM)'s Jingmen branch revealed that the company is currently conducting trial production of three new models: the Tank 400, Haval H5, and WEY High Mountain (Gaoshan in Chinese). These models are about to enter mass production.

Schaeffler Group, Baosteel team up on sustainable development in green steel

On June 29, Schaeffler Group and Baosteel signed a strategic agreement on sustainable development in green steel, according to a post on the German auto supplier's WeChat account.
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Images of the wreckage recovered from the Titan submersible at the bottom of the North Atlantic appear to confirm the theory that the vessel suffered a massive implosion under the pressure of the ocean.

Earlier this week, the US Coast Guard brought the debris left by the sub on the ocean floor onto dry land.

Jonas Mureika, a professor of physics at Loyola Marymount University, tells The Independent that calling the implosion catastrophic is referring to the intensity and speed of what took place.

The pressure at that depth (3.8 km) is incredibly high, about 400 times atmospheric pressure. Thats 6,000 pounds per square inch acting on the submarine  atmospheric pressure is roughly 15 pounds per square inch, he noted in an email.

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's, Newfoundland, Wednesday, June 28, 2023 (AP)

If the hull integrity was compromised or weakened in one spot, the inward pressure would quickly cause it to buckle asymmetrically, and the structure would implode because of the inward force. And at those pressures, the inward collapse would have occurred in milliseconds, he adds. But this doesnt mean the debris itself would be crushed in size, just that the pressure was inward.

Dr Joerg Reinhold, a professor at the Department of Physics at Florida International University, added that it seems the pressure vessel of the submersible consisted of a cylindrical hull capped off by two at least somewhat spherical endcaps or domes. One of these includes a viewport. In pictures, it seems the other dome is covered by another shell in the shape of a fin or so.

This photo provided by OceanGate Expeditions shows a submersible vessel named Titan used to visit the wreckage site of the Titanic. (AP)

From left to right: Stockton Rush, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Shahzada and Suleman Dawood. ((Reuters/Jannicke Mikkelsen/OceanGate Expeditions/Getty))

The cylindrical hull seems surrounded by a shell of the same material ... I would expect that these shells do not add to the structural integrity of the hull. That means all the forces from the surrounding water act on the hull inside these shells, he said. I actually expect that the space between the shells and the hull is exposed to water at the same pressure as the surrounding water. It is therefore conceivable that these shells survive in larger pieces.

Dr Reinhold noted that at least one of the domes from the vessel appears to have been found intact.

My understanding is that these are made from titanium and not the carbon fibre material used for the cylindrical hull. Given the spherical shape and the material, I am not surprised that they, or at least one of them, stayed mostly intact, he said.

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's, Newfoundland, Wednesday, June 28, 2023 (The Canadian Press via AP)

Arun Bansil, a professor at the physics department at Northeastern University in Boston, told The Independent that although it seems counterintuitive, large objects do not normally split apart into smithereens in an implosion or explosion.

For example, a pressure cooker usually explodes with the top blown off but the body remaining intact. Initial failure of Titan would have occurred at its weakest links such as defects in the hull. Once a crack opens, however, large pieces of the hull will no longer experience very violent forces and remain more or less intact, he said.

Debris from the Titan submersible is unloaded (AP)

Debris from the Titan submersible, recovered from the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, is unloaded from the ship Horizon Arctic at the Canadian Coast Guard pier in St. John's, Newfoundland (AP)

Was it an explosion or implosion and how would that have affected the passengers?

Knowing where the accident occurred, the assumption of an implosion makes sense, Dr Reinhold said. Both an implosion and an explosion need some form of stored energy. In typical explosive materials, the stored energy is chemical and is released through a chemical reaction. In the case of a submerged pressure vessel, the stored energy is mechanical  it is released when the surrounding water fills the space of the vessel.

If there is a catastrophic failure of the hull, this energy is first released in an implosion, he notes. Eventually, this will be followed by an outgoing shockwave  otherwise, listening devices would not be able to pick up the sound of the event.

He went on to say that implosions or explosions in water should behave differently than those in air. Air is a compressible fluid while water is an incompressible fluid. I expect the stored mechanical energy to be vastly bigger than any other source of energy on the submersible.

A view of the Horizon Arctic ship, as salvaged pieces of the Titan submersible from OceanGate Expeditions are returned, in St. Johns harbour, Newfoundland, Canada June 28, 2023 (Reuters)

Even if the breach of the vessel would have been triggered by an internal source of energy, the final result will be an implosion, Dr Reinhold said.

Dr Mureika added that an explosion results when there is a sudden release of energy that results in a powerful outward pressure wave. Implosions, on the other hand, are due to an inward pressure differential. This was most certainly an implosion.

A U.S. Coast Guard ship arrives in the harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, on Wednesday, June 28, 2023 (Paul Daly/The Canadian Press via AP)

That being said, when the air inside the submarine was rapidly compressed, it most likely ignited and created an explosion  like a piston in a car engine  but this wouldnt compare in magnitude to the implosive force, he says.

As for the passengers, because of the time interval for this to occur, as well as the magnitude of the pressure, its very likely they didnt even know what hit them. Its also doubtful they had time to process what was happening unless the implosion was preceded by something like a leak, Dr Mureika adds.

How will the debris be used to determine what happened?

The obvious would be to look at the recovered pieces as well as design drawings and possibly any samples of the materials that the company might still have, Dr Reinhold said.
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The US Coast Guard has recovered presumed human remains from the sea floor near the debris of the doomed Titanic sub and will now carry out a formal analysis of it.

The announcement was made hours after large pieces of the submersible Titan, which was destroyed in a catastrophic implosion near the wreck of the famed liner, were lowered onto a Canadian pier after being salvaged from the depths of the Atlantic.

The remains will be transferred from St Johns, Newfoundland to a US port on a Coast Guard cutter for further analysis by medical experts.

Debris from Titan sub unloaded in Newfoundland, Canada

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, renowned French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet and Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman were aboard the Titan when it imploded last week.

The submersible lost contact with its mothership Polar Prince just one hour and 45 minutes into its 13,000ft descent to the wreck of the Titanic on 18 June, sparking a desperate four-day search.

Search and rescue teams using a deep water ROV finally found debris from the Titan around 1,600ft from the bow of the Titanic, and have been working to bring them to the surface ever since.

Coast Guard officials had said that the bodies of the victims may never be recovered because of the unforgiving condition on the ocean floor, but that the salvage operation was taking all necessary steps to ensure that any remains found would be recovered.

After consultation with international partner investigative agencies, the Marine Board of Investigation (MBI) intends to transport the evidence aboard a US Coast Guard cutter to a port in the United States where the MBI will be able to facilitate further analysis and testing, the Coast Guard said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

US Coast Guard ship arrives in the harbor of St Johns, Newfoundland (AP)

United States medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of presumed human remains that have been carefully recovered within the wreckage at the site of the incident.

The Coast Guards leading investigator welcomed the recovery of the remains.

I am grateful for the coordinated international and interagency support to recover and preserve this vital evidence at extreme offshore distances and depths, stated Marine Board of Investigation chair Captain Jason Neubauer.

The evidence will provide investigators from several international jurisdictions with critical insights into the cause of this tragedy. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the Titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again.

Titan was made of carbon fibre and titanium, weighed 23,000 pounds, and had room for five adults, according to OceanGate.

Pelagic Research Services, the company that operated the ROV that made the previous debris findings, said on Wednesday that its team had successfully completed off-shore operations and was now in the process of demobilisation after 10 days of work.

The Coast Guard said last week that the US Navy had detected sounds that matched an implosion or explosion sometime after the sub vanished and before rescue efforts were launched. Rescue efforts continued at the time because the information was not definitive, the Coast Guard said.
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Elian Gonzalez has the same big, expressive eyes he did 23 years ago when an international custody battle transformed him into the face of the long-strained relations between Cuba and the United States.

Now 29, Gonzalez is stepping into Cuban politics. He recently entered his countrys congress with hopes of helping his people at a time of record emigration and heightened tension between the two seaside neighbors.

From Cuba, we can do a lot so that we have a more solid country, and I owe it to Cubans, he said during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. That is what Im going to try to do from my position, from this place in congress  to contribute to making Cuba a better country.

Gonzalez has given only a handful of interviews since he was unwittingly thrust into the geopolitical spotlight as a boy. In 1999, at just 5 years old, he and his mother were aboard a boat of Cuban migrants headed toward Florida when the boat capsized in the Florida Straits. His mother and 10 others died while Gonzalez, tied to an inner tube, drifted in open water until his rescue.

Granted asylum under U.S. refugee rules at the time, Gonzalez went to live with his great uncle, a member of the Cuban exile community in Miami that is often a center of fierce criticism of Cuba's government. In Cuba, his father begged then-President Fidel Castro for help. Castro led protests with hundreds of thousands of people demanding little Elian's return. Anti-Castro groups in Miami pressed for him to stay in the U.S.

The tug-of-war quickly gained the worlds attention and became emblematic for the testy feelings between the two neighboring nations. Then-U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ruled the boy should be returned to his father, but Gonzalezs relatives refused. AP photojournalist Alan Diaz captured the moment when armed immigration agents seized Gonzalez in a Miami home, and the photo later won a Pulitzer Prize.

Not having my mom has been difficult, it has been a burden, but it has not been an obstacle when I have had a father who has stood up for me and been by my side," Gonzalez told AP.

He is a father himself now, of a 2-year-old daughter. He works for a state company that facilitates tourism to the island nation his mother left, underscoring the alternate track his life has followed since his homecoming.

Whats more, he recently became a lawmaker.

In April, Gonzalez was sworn in as a member of Cubas National Assembly of Peoples Power, effectively Cubas congress. He represents Cardenas, a town in Matanzas province about 80 miles east of Havana where he lived until his mother took him to sea. He still lives in the province.

Dressed in black pants and T-shirt, with a discreet braided bracelet on his right hand and his wedding ring on his left, Gonzalez was interviewed in Havanas Capitol, the renovated seat of congress.

I think the most important thing is that I have grown up like other young people. I have grown up in Cuba, he said.

For years, his father made it nearly impossible to get close to the child. From afar, the boy could sometimes be seen playing with other children or accompanying his father to political events. Castro would visit him on his birthday.

Over the years, Gonzalez was a military cadet and later became an industrial engineer. Because Cuba's congressional positions are unpaid, he will continue to work his tourism job.

The legislative body has faced criticism for lacking opposition voices and for carrying out the agenda set by the countrys leadership.

Gonzalez's legislative term comes amid historic emigration from the crisis-stricken Caribbean island, as many young Cubans seek a new life in the U.S.  just as his mother did.

It also comes at a moment of heightened tensions between the two nations. There have been allegations that Cuba hosted a Chinese spy base, which Cuba adamantly denies. Meanwhile, Cuba claims Biden has yet to ease tough policies enacted by Donald Trump that target the island, while the U.S. points to resumption of some flights and sending of remittances.

Amid a deepening political and energy crisis in Cuba, Gonzalez cast blame on decades of American sanctions stifling the island's economy as the root of many of Cuba's problems, echoing many in the government. He said he believes in Cuba's model of providing free access to education and health services among other things, but acknowledged there is a long way to go for that to be perfected.

Despite harsh prison sentences doled out by Cuban courts, punishments defended by the communist government, Gonzalez said his people have the right to demonstrate. But he added that the causes of current crises should be analyzed before condemning the state.

He also had kind words for the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who, like his mother, chose to emigrate.

I respect all those who made the decision to leave Cuba, I respect those who do so today, just as I do my mom, he said. My message will always be that (those who leave) do all they can to ensure that Cuba has a status (without sanctions) equal to any country in the world.
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The Biden administration is considering sending controversial cluster munition warheads to Ukraine, with people familiar with the matter revealing that an official announcement is expected soon.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced an additional $500m in military aid for Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armoured vehicles and missiles for their air defence system. These reinforcements are intended to fortify Ukraines counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

On Thursday, a US official told CNN the White House is now also considering sending the munitions  somethig that would have a significiant battlefield impact.

Dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs) are surface-to-surface warheads that burst and disperse multiple, smaller bomblets over a wide area.

They are banned by over 100 countries under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and their use is controversial because of the risks they pose to civilians both during and after an attack.

Unexploded bomblets can injure or kill unintended targets and removing them is expensive.

The USs position on sending DPICMs is believed to have shifted last week, when a senior Pentagon official said they would be useful to Ukraine.

Our military analysts have confirmed that DPICMs would be useful, especially against dug-in Russian positions on the battlefield, Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, told the House Foreign Affairs committee.

While the US, Ukraine, and Russia havent signed the treaty banning the use of DPICMs, several key US allies such as the UK, France, and Germany have.

This is reportedly one of the reasons why the Biden administration has held off on supplying Ukraine with these warheads up to now.

According to CNN, the US government has now been able to alleviate some allies concerns, as Kyivs counteroffensive continues at a slower pace than expected.

US President Joe Biden and Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky in May (AFP/Getty Images)

The US has also been able to highlight how both Ukraine and Russia have used DPICMs since the war began last February, the official told the network.

An investigation by Human Rights Watch found that Russia used the munitions on civilian targets, including parks, clinics, and a cultural centre in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has recently started using munitions supplied by Turkey in its fight against Russian invasion.

The report that the US is considering sending the warheads comes after a weekend of insurrection in Russia, as Ukrainian and Western leaders sort through the impact of Yevgeny Prigozhins short-lived rebellion against Vladimir Putin.

Putin and the Kremlin are now looking to take control of the Wagner group of mercenaries and turn it into a state-owned enterprise.
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President Joe Biden has said it would be a mistake to expand the Supreme Court, despite its recent rulings against affirmative action in higher education, LGBT+ rights, and student loan debt forgiveness.

The high court overturned decades of policies when it ruled this week that race-based admissions were not constitutional, preventing universities from considering race as a factor in student applications.

Mr Biden hit out at the ruling on Thursday, commenting: We cannot let this decision be the last word.

Discrimination still exists in America, he added. This is not a normal court.

Despite his strong reaction to the decision, the president ruled out the idea of packing the Supreme Court with additional justices in order to change the balance of opinion on the bench.

I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, were going to politicise it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy, Mr Biden told MSNBCs Nicolle Wallace.

It was a question Mr Biden was asked regularly during his last presidential campaign when a worried Democratic electorate expressed concern that there were few liberal justices left on the bench which would allow for the decisions handed down over the past year.

Although it would not be unprecedented to change the number of justices in the Supreme Court  as the Constitution does not specify how many justices there should be  the number has remained at nine since not been changed since 1868.

Recommended How the Supreme Court student loan decision affects you

The court currently consists of nine justices  three of whom were chosen during Donald Trumps only term as president, tipping the balance over to more conservative judges. Indeed, just three of the current nine justices were appointed by Democratic presidents  Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was appointed by Mr Biden, and Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor were appointed by President Barack Obama.

Clarence Thomas was appointed by President George HW Bush, and President George W Bush appointed Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.

Since Mr Trumps appointment of justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, the court has weighed in with a conservative hand on landmark rulings  including the overturning of the historic abortion 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade, giving the decision on abortion provision over to individual states.

In addition to the ruling on affirmative action, on Friday 30 June, the court also struck down President Bidens plan to cancel student loan debts for millions of Americans, reversing his campaign-trail promise as borrowers prepare to resume payments this summer.

The court also ruled that a wedding website designer may refuse to create work for people in the LGBT+ community if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. The case was unique in that it asked justices to rule on a question that was solely based on a hypothetical scenario.
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was cleared of wrongdoing Friday by a public watchdog over a scandal involving the theft of more than half a million dollars in U.S. currency that had been stashed in a sofa at his game farm.

Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka, whose office holds politicans to account, said Ramaphosa did not violate the ethics code for members of South Africa's executive over the incident, which happened in 2020 but was only revealed publicly last year.

The scandal was seen as the biggest callenge to Ramaphosa's reputation and his leadership of Africa's most developed economy. There is still an ongoing criminal investigation into the incident.

Ramaphosa said $580,000 in cash was stolen. Gcaleka said it was not part of her investigation to confirm how much money was involved and didn't give a figure.

Ramaphosa, 70, was accused of not reporting the theft properly to police in an attempt to cover up the existence of the large sum of cash hidden in furniture at his farm. He said he reported it to the head of his security detail, which is part of the South African Police Services.

In clearing him in her final report on the scandal, Gcaleka accepted that Ramaphosa had reported the crime to the head of his personal protection unit and the contention that he had acted improperly was not supported.

Gcaleka also said there was no evidence that Ramaphosa was guilty of a conflict of interest regarding any income from the business operations of his Phala Phala game farm in the northern Limpopo province.

"The allegation that the president improperly and in violation of the provisions of the executive code exposed him(self) to a risk of a conflict between his constitutional duties and obligations and his private interests arising from his alleged paid work at Phala Phala farm is not substantiated, Gcaleka said at a news conference.

The investigation of Ramaphosa was prompted by a complaint made to the Public Protector's office by the opposition African Transformation Movement Party.

The incident came to light last June when the former head of South Africa's intelligence service, Arthur Fraser, opened a case with police accusing Ramaphosa of hiding as much as $4 million at his farm before it was stolen. Fraser accused the president of money laundering and breaching tax and foreign currency control laws, and attempting to cover up the theft of the cash in an attempt to hide its existence.

Ramaphosa denied any wrongdoing and also disputed the amount of money Fraser claimed was stolen.

Fraser also made other startling claims that Ramaphosa ordered the head of his personal protection unit, Maj. Gen. Wally Rhoode, to undertake a clandestine investigation to recover the money, including the capture and torturing of some of the suspects and later bribing them to keep the incident secret.

Public Protector Gcaleka dispelled those allegations, or even that Ramaphosa knew of details of the investigation by Rhoode.

No evidence could be found to prove that the president was aware of the investigation of the crime by Gen. Rhoode, she said.

The scandal had seriously dented Ramaphosas image as a leader intent on cleaning up South Africa's corruption-tainted government and his ruling African National Congress party.

Questions remain, though, over why such a large amount of money was stuffed into a sofa at the farm. Ramaphosa has not explained why the cash was in the sofa but has said that it was the proceeds from the sale of buffaloes to a Sudanese businessman.

The scandal led to opposition parties calling for Ramaphosa's resignation but they failed in an attempt to start impeachment proceedings against him as his ANC party maintains a majority in the 400-member Parliament.

In December, a report by a parliamentary panel looking into the matter found that Ramaphosa may have broken anti-corruption laws. According to that report, Ramaphosa said the money stolen amounted to $580,000.

The report also questioned Ramaphosas explanation that the money was from the sale of buffaloes as it found the animals remained at the farm more than two years later.

However, the ANC rejected the findings of the report and used its majority in Parliament to block attempts to start impeachment proceedings, paving the way for Ramaphosa to be re-elected as the partys leader. He is expected to seek a second and final five-year term in elections next year.

___

More AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
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A former Trump campaign aide has joined Rudy Guiliani in cooperating with the special counsel in the Department of Justices2020 election probe, according to a new report.

Mike Roman, a senior adviser on Donald Trumps 2020 campaign in charge of Election Day operations, is cooperating with federal prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith in the criminal investigation reviewing the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to CNN.

Mr Roman has reportedly entered a proffer agreement, meaning that he may not have to make an appearance in front of a grand jury but that hell be able to speak to prosecutors in a more informal manner.

Agreements like this tend to mean that prosecutors agree that they wont use whats said in the conversations against the individual in future criminal matters.

Mr Roman received a subpoena from the grand jury several months ago and his phone has been seized. He was part of the attempts to put forward fake electors to support Mr Trump after he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.

The investigation has recently focused on the fake electors schemes in seven states that Mr Trump lost in 2020 and what lawyers working for Mr Trump were doing in the aftermath of the election, according to CNN.

Mr Roman has so far not had much contact with the Department of Justice following the seizure of his phone. Conversations about him cooperating with the probe only began recently.

Reports of those conversations come as Gary Michael Brown, Mr Romans former deputy, appeared in front of the grand jury last week.

Mr Roman was previously in discussions with prosecutors about a proffer agreement, The New York Times reported.

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, which was disbanded after the Republican House victory in the 2022 midterms, interviewed Mr Roman as part of its investigation.

While speaking to investigators for the House panel, Mr Roman invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked about his actions after the 2020 election but he did respond to a number of questions regarding what he was doing ahead of election day.

About Mr Giuliani, Mr Roman said: I dont believe I had any interaction with him before the election.

When asked about his contacts with Mr Giuliani after Election Day, Mr Roman said: On the advice of counsel, I assert my constitutional privilege under the Fifth Amendment and respectfully decline to answer the question.

Mr Giuliani has previously met with special counsel investigators on a voluntary basis, CNN noted.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- On June 30, Shanghai-based automotive intelligence solution provider Enjoy Move announced the completion of a nearly 100-million-yuan Series B2 funding round.



Photo credit: Enjoy Move

The investment was led by V Fund, with participation from ChiFortune Venture Capital, and Glen & Vale. The funds raised will primarily be allocated towards product development and talent acquisition, said Enjoy Move.

Founded in 2018, Enjoy Move focuses on the research, development, and service of high-performance computing software platforms and autonomous driving software products. With intelligent driving application-level operating systems and embedded artificial intelligence as core technologies, Enjoy Move is dedicated to driving the advancement of the automotive industry.

The company's independently developed high-performance computing software platform, EMOS, serves as a middleware platform for whole vehicles, specifically designed for autonomous driving and central computing. EMOS supports heterogeneous and multi-chip high-performance computing, providing the entire vehicle with global time synchronization, global task scheduling, and various system services.

In terms of intelligent driving applications, Enjoy Move's full-stack self-developed low-speed autonomous driving algorithm, the EM-Parking System, boasts exceptional technical capabilities. It provides high-precision surrounding environment perception for free driving and real-time low-speed parking path planning. With the ability to park within 30 seconds, the EM-Parking System supports various parking scenarios, including multi-story parking and drag parking, delivering an ultimate parking experience for users.

The EM-Parking System has low computing power requirements and is compatible with mainstream chip platforms, enabling manufacturers to achieve mass production in as fast as three months and expedite the implementation of autonomous driving.

Currently, EMOS-enabled intelligent driving software and domain control solutions have been successfully integrated into multiple vehicle models, including those from Li Auto, SAIC Motor, NETA Auto, and Great Wall Motor.
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Donald Trump has lost his bid to throw out the first defamation lawsuit brought against him by E Jean Carroll.

On Thursday, US district judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan rejected the former presidents claims that he had absolute presidential immunity from the civil case, paving the way for the magazine columnist to pursue around $10m in damages from him.

The former president had claimed that he had absolute presidential immunity from the lawsuit and that many of his statements about the magazine columnist were protected under free speech rights because they were his opinion.

He argued that Ms Carroll consented to his statements by purposely waiting decades to go public, until he was in the White House, leaving him no choice but to defend himself.

Ultimately, he said the case should be thrown out.

On Thursday, US district judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan dismissed this claim, saying there was no merit to his argument and that Mr Trump surrendered absolute presidential immunity as a defence by failing to assert it years ago when the lawsuit was first filed.

The judge also reminded Mr Trump that presidential immunity is not a get-out-of-damages-liability-free card that allowed him to say or do anything he wanted even if that conduct is disconnected entirely from an official function.

Judge Kaplan added that he also took into consideration that Ms Carroll is now 79 years old and has been pursuing these claims against Mr Trump for the last three-and-a-half years.

There is no basis to risk prolonging the resolution of this litigation further by permitting Mr Trump to raise his absolute immunity defense now at the eleventh hour when he could have done so years ago, he said.

Ms Carrolls attorney Robbie Kaplan, who is unrelated to the judge, welcomed the ruling, saying that it confirms that once again, Donald Trumps supposed defences to E Jean Carrolls defamation claims dont work.

E Jean Carroll outside court following the verdict in the second suit (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

She added: Todays decision removes one more impediment to the January 15 trial on E Jeans defamation damages in this case.

Mr Trumps lawyers did not immediately comment on what marks the latest blow to his legal battle with Ms Carroll.

The ruling is in relation to the first of two defamation lawsuits Ms Carroll filed in 2019 when she first came forward with allegations that Mr Trump raped her in a dressing room in Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in 1996.

She said that she and Mr Trump randomly bumped into each other and they got chatting, before Mr Trump pinned her against a wall in a dressing room and sexually assaulted her.

Mr Trump repeatedly stalled proceedings in the lawsuit but  after New York state passed the Adult Survivors Act taking away the statute of limitations on rape allegations  she filed a second suit.

In a trial for the second suit, a jury found that Mr Trump did sexually abuse Ms Carroll and that he then defamed her when he denied it. The jury did not find Mr Trump liable for rape. Ms Carroll was awarded $5m in the verdict.

This week, the former president countersued Ms Carroll in that case, claiming that she defamed him in a CNN interview after the verdict where she doubled down on the rape accusation.

Ms Carroll meanwhile has already brought new defamation claims against Mr Trump in that case after he continued to deny the assault took place despite the verdict.

Additional reporting from Wires
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U.S. Rep. George Santos is set to return to court Friday for the first time since pleading not guilty last month to charges that he duped donors, stole from his campaign, collected fraudulent unemployment benefits and lied to Congress about being a millionaire.

The New York Republican, known for fabricating key parts of his life story, is free awaiting trial. He is scheduled to go before U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert in a Long Island courthouse at noon. The hearing is expected to focus on the timing of future court dates as the case against the Republican congressman moves forward.

Federal prosecutors have charged Santos with 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making false statements to Congress. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Taken together, the allegations suggest Santos relied on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself, according to U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace.

Santos has condemned the federal investigation as a witch hunt, vowing to not only remain in Congress but to seek reelection. Republican leaders have urged Santos not to run again but have deferred efforts to expel the freshman representative that could narrow their slim majority.

Federal prosecutors say Santos misused funds that he raised for his campaign on personal expenses, including designer clothes and credit cards.

He is also accused of lying about his finances on congressional disclosure forms and obtaining unemployment benefits while making $120,000 as regional director of an investment firm, which was later shut down over allegations that it was a Ponzi scheme.

As part of his bond agreement, Santos must notify the court if he plans to travel outside of New York or Washington, D.C. He said he received permission to do so this week before flying to El Paso, Texas, where he called for increased border security and brushed off questions about the federal investigation.

I might have my fair share of embroilments that the media seems to like, he said. That's fair, but I ran to get stuff done.
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Angry protesters called congressman George Santos a dog killer on Friday as the Republican made an appearance at a Long Island federal court house, his first hearing since pleading not guilty last month to a13-count indictment related to fraud and money laundering charges.

The chants were in reference to an alleged scandal in which the representative allegedly made off with more than $3,000 raised in a fundraiser to save a disabled US Navy veterans service dog, one of the many alleged acts of deception Mr Santos made as he worked towards his spot in Congress.

The first-term congressman has denied knowing about veteran Richard Osthoff or his dog, calling the allegations fake.

As Mr Santos exited court, Mr Osthoff, who was in the crowd, yelled, You killed Sapphire, George. You killed my dog.

Others in the crowd reportedly chanted, Resign and Shame as the Republican passed by.

Mr Santos was in court for a status conference on the federal case against him, where he faces 13 different charges, including fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds.

Prosecutors charge the New York lawmaker misled supporters and donors into giving him money, which he allegedly used for personal expenses that funded a lavish lifestyle.

They also claim he misleadingly obtained unemployment benefits and lied about his personal finances when campaigning for the House of Representatives.

Mr Santos has admitted to lying about certain aspects of his background, and is accused of fabricating everything from his education background to his religion to his career success.

In court, Mr Santos did not speak, but his lawyers claim he and the government have exhibited a wonderful working relationship so far.

The defence also said the prosecution has given them 86,000 pages of evidence to go through.

The next court date for Mr Santos is 7 September.

Outside of the federal case against him, Rep Santos is also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
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Geraldo Rivera used his final appearance on Fox News to praise affirmative action amid the Supreme Court ruling against colleges considering race in their admissions process.

The Fox News host revealed on Thursday that he was quitting the network after he claimed that he had been fired from The Five.

On Friday morning, Mr Rivera, 80, appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss his long career spanning five decades.

Im deeply touched, Im honoured, I love Fox, I love the people at Fox, I always will, he said. Ill never let anyone separate us, but I am beyond grateful for this. This is so deeply affecting, I love you for it, thank you.

While hosts on the network had praised the Supreme Court ruling, Mr Rivera took another stance.

Well, I thank you for the opportunity, because affirmative action has just been voted down by the Supreme Court of the United States and [its] a very controversial decision that will impact many people of colour, he said. I was a product of affirmative action over half a century ago.

When the Ford Foundation and Columbia Journalism School got together to integrate the local news teams in New York, there were no Black reporters, no Hispanic reporters, no women, and it was shocking, he added. And that was as late as 1968, 69. So I was selected.

I was making news representing a group of Puerto Rican activists, the Young Lords who had taken over some buildings up in Spanish Harlem. And I was their lawyer and their negotiator. And I made a lot of news as their spokesperson. And so I got discovered that way, and they drafted me through the Columbia programme, and the rest is history, Mr Rivera recalled as his co-hosts wore fake moustaches in tribute.

On Thursday, Mr Rivera revealed the news that he was leaving the network in a Twitter video filmed aboard a speeding boat off Long Islands Jones Beach as he appeared to struggle to keep the camera steady.

Im not going to be on The Five, he said. Ive been fired from The Five.

And, as a result of that, I quit Fox.

Mr Rivera joined the network in 2001 and became a host of The Five a year later. The show became Foxs most-watched programme, averaging more than three million viewers last year despite airing in the late afternoon and not in primetime.

His departure comes more than a week after the host said that his time at The Five was coming to an end as being the odd man out isnt always easy.

Mr Rivera told Associated Press that a growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences were not worth his time at Fox.

It has been a rocky ride but it has also been an exhilarating adventure that spanned quite a few years, he told the agency. I hope its not my last adventure.

He added that Fox management didnt race after me to say, Geraldo, please come back following his decision to quit.

Once a supporter of former President Donald Trump, Mr Rivera split up with him following Mr Trumps false claims about the 2020 presidential election.

He maintained that under no circumstances do I think Donald Trump should be president of the United States again and thats an important message I am committed to bringing to the American people between now and November 2024.

He said that even though the shows large viewership would make it a prominent place for him to deliver that message, you can imagine the friction that role by definition would provoke.

Im 80 years old, he said. I dont want the friction. The Five is too intimate a place and it gets too personal.

Posting a shirtless selfie last week, Mr Rivera, tweeted: 80 year old contemplating retirement.

In a statement on Thursday, Fox News said: We reached an amicable conclusion with Geraldo over the past few weeks and look forward to celebrating him on Fox & Friends Friday morning which will be his last appearance on the network.
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Robert F Kennedy Jr., the longshot presidential candidate and latest scion of the storied Kennedy political dynasty, appears to be leaning in to the Democrat in name only label that is beginning to follow his campaign.

The 2024 hopeful appeared on cable news network NewsNation on Wednesday, where he offered a revealing look at his strategy up until this point and appeared to offer an olive branch to former President Donald Trump.

"I'm proud that President Trump likes me, even though I don't agree with him on most of these issues," said Mr Kennedy. "Because I don't want to alienate people, I want to bring people together. I'm proud that all these people like me and that I have independent supporters and Democratic supporters."

Mr Trump previously had called him a very smart guy who had been very nice to [him] in comments to reporters on Monday.

"Every Democrat says, 'I want to end the polarization. But how do you do that without talking to people who don't agree with you? How do you do that without appealing to people? My purpose is to find the issues, the values that we have in common other than focus on the issues and the personalities that keep us all apart, Mr Kennedy went on to claim.

At the same time, he declined to agree to support the eventual winner of the 2024 Democratic primary, suggesting that party loyalty is low on his list of priorities.

Mr Kennedy spoke with moderator Elizabeth Vargas and members of an audience selected with help from a nonpartisan organisation; Democratic voters peppered him with questions on numerous topics including his well-reported support for conspiracy theories and misinformation about vaccines. Mr Kennedy has long insisted that he is not anti-vaccine, but at Wednesdays event insisted repeatedly that the FDA and other medical authorities were lying about the safety of many vaccinations.

For that reason, as well as the fact that the incumbent Democratic president is running for re-election and heavily favoured to win, mainstream media networks and reporting outfits have struggled internally with how best (if at all) to cover Mr Kennedys campaign. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) has scheduled no primary debates for the 2024 season, and is not likely to do so, much to the chagrin of Mr Kennedy and fellow 2024 Democratic hopeful Marianne Williamson.

Mr Biden, 80. is the oldest president to ever hold office and will be 86 when he finally leaves office should he win and serve for a full second term. Many polls have shown that a sizeable chunk of the Democratic Party  not to mention independents  would prefer that the Democratic Party nominate a younger successor, just as most Americans would prefer that the 2024 GOP nominee be someone other than Donald Trump.

He remains the heavy favourite to win a Democratic primary, however, and polls showing Mr Kennedy and Ms Williamson with signficant support do not take into consideration the fact that other, more well-known Democrats with stronger national political operations would quickly jump into the presidential field should Mr Biden bow out.

Among those other Democrats thought to be eyeing national ambitions in 2024 and beyond include Mr Bidens vice president, Kamala Harris, as well as others like governors Gretchen Whitmer and Gavin Newsom.
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday hit back at former president Donald Trumps allegation that the Sunshine State executive is betraying him by mounting a presidential campaign of his own during an appearance on Fox News.

Mr DeSantis, who currently trails the twice-impeached, twice-indicted ex-president by a wide margin in most polls of likely GOP primary voters, told Fox host Jesse Watters that no politician  even a former president such as Mr Trump  is entitled to support from anyone after Watters raised Mr Trumps criticisms during a televised interview.

Asked if he feels that hes somehow being disloyal as the ex-president has alleged, the Florida governor responded: Disloyal to who?

Politicians have to earn support  theyre not entitled to support, said Mr DeSantis, who added that he did a lot for Mr Trump during his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns and had been happy to do it at the time.

Continuing, Mr DeSantis added that at the end of the day his loyalty is to his family, the US Constitution, and to the good Lord, and said he has a vision in which he thinks hes the guy that can beat Biden while offering no more excuses on issues dear to conservatives.

Im going to get all of this stuff done. Well have a plan on day one to get going and get cracking. Well give you two great terms for eight years and really get the country on a fundamentally different path. I think Im the guy that do it. And so I have the responsibility to step up and serve, he said.
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Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis is under fire after giving the go-ahead to the study of radioactive mining waste in the use of road-building projects.

On Thursday, the Florida governor greenlit a bill adding phosphogypsum, which has been linked to cancer, to a list of materials that can be studied by the Florida Department of Transportation and used in road construction in the state.

Tampa-based fertilizer company Mosaic lobbied for the bill, in a move that it claims will allow scientific study of the material  although critics do not agree.

Were thankful the state sees the value in following the science so that we can all learn more about the beneficial reuse of phosphogypsum, Mosaic spokesperson Jackie Barron told The Tampa Bay Times. This allows the state to move forward with fact-finding and research.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), phosphogypsum is the waste that is left behind after processing phosphate rock to make fertilizer.

Most of the naturally-occurring uranium, thorium and radium found in phosphate rock ends up in this waste. Uranium and thorium decay to radium and radium decays to radon, a radioactive gas. Because the wastes are concentrated, phosphogypsum is more radioactive than the original phosphate rock, it said.

The EPA told CBS that phosphogypsum was a potentially cancer-causing material.

Florida and Caribbean director and lawyer of the Center for Biological Diversity, Elise Bennett, described the bill as being a reckless handout to the fertilizer industry.

Gov DeSantis is paving the way to a toxic legacy generations of Floridians will have to grapple with, Ms Bennett said in a statement, according to CBS News. This opens the door for dangerous radioactive waste to be dumped in roadways across the state, under the guise of a so-called feasibility study that wont address serious health and safety concerns.
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The New York Times has been roasted on social media for listing death as a means to escape crippling student loans, after the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administrations plan to cancel debt for millions of Americans.

In an article soon after the Supreme Courts ruling was released on Friday, the Times explained six ways to get your student debt wiped away.

The suggestions included making an income-driven repayment, appealing for public service loan forgiveness, and bankruptcy and disability discharges.

Under a subhead death, the Times wrote: This is not something that most people would choose as a solution to their debt burden.

It went on to explain that federal student loan debt dies with the person or people who take it on.

The macabre phrasing drew a swift backlash on social media.

That's a little dark, NYT, writer Parker Molloy tweeted.

Weve reached the point where The New York Times is suggesting death as a viable solution to crushing student debt, wrote former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.

Death is one way out of crippling student loan repayments, the New York Times says (NYT / Screengrab)

Ill try it out and tell u guys how it went, another posted.

The article was later revised, with the death subhead being changed to debt wont carry on.

The Times did not respond to a request for comment by The Independent.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority in implementing a sweeping $400bn student debt relief plan.

The New York Times has raised eyebrows after it list death as one way of getting out of student loan repayments (AP)

The decision means an estimated 43 million Americans will be back on the hook for student loan repayments later this year.

In a press conference on Friday, President Joe Biden insisted the fight was not over, and promised a new path for relief that would be legally sound.

He has tasked Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona with coming up with a new forgiveness plan that was consistent with the Supreme Courts ruling.
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A wedding website designer may refuse to create work for people in the LGBT+ community if it conflicts with their religious beliefs, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

In a 6-3 decision, the conservative majority of the court ruled in favour of Lorie Smith, a Colorado-based website creator, who wanted to refuse service to same-sex couples but couldnt as it was a violation of a public accommodation law.

The court argued that the public accommodation law in Colorado impedes Ms Smiths First Amendment right to deny conveying messages she disagrees with.

The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.

Justice Gorsuch wrote that if the court forced Ms Smith to follow the public accommodation law, it would allow the government to force all manner of artists, speechwriters, and others whose services involve speech to speak what they do not believe on pain of penalty.

The case

303 Creative LLC v Elenis was unique in that it asked the justices to rule on a question that was solely based on a hypothetical scenario.

The case was brought forth by Lorie Smith, a Colorado-based website designer who claimed she wanted to expand her business to make wedding websites but would refuse to do so for same-sex couples because it went against her religious beliefs.

According to Ms Smith, a gay man named Stewart requested her services for help designing invites, placename cards and more for his upcoming wedding to a man named Mike.

A recent report from The New Republic claimed that Stewart, while a real person, did not send this inquiry and is happily married to a woman.

Ms Smith said she planned to put a statement on her website explaining why she could only speak messages consistent with her faith but it would violate the Colorado Anti-Discriminator Act (CADA) which prohibits businesses open to the public from discriminating against people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

She argued that this law would force her to convey messages that violated her religious beliefs by celebrating a same-sex marriage.

Lorie Smith (REUTERS)

Representing Ms Smith was attorney and president of the Christian legal organisation Alliance Defending Freedom, Kristen Waggoner.

Ms Waggoner previously served as the lead counsel on Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018) a case that, similarly, concerned a Colorado cake shop that refused to make cakes for same-sex couples.

Most notably, Alliance Defending Freedom recently successfully helped overturn the landmark case Roe v Wade (1973) in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v Jackson Womens Health Organization (2022).

The Mississippi law at the centre of Dobbs was based on Alliance Defending Freedoms model legislation that was designed to provoke a legal challenge that could be appealed to the conservative Fifth Circut Court of Appeals then the Supreme Court.

Ms Smith and Alliance Defending Freedoms argument in 303 Creative LLC v Eleni has been subject to criticism given the case was not based on real people or a lived situation.

Multiple articles covering the case called it as fake and criticised Alliance Defending Freedom for bringing the non-issue to the highest court in the land.

But Alliance Defending Freedom defends their argument. In a statement provided to The Independent, Kellie Fiedorek, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom said: Whether Lorie received a legitimate request or whether someone lied to her is irrelevant. No one should have to wait to be punished by the government to challenge an unjust law.

Though the scenario the case is based on is hypothetical, Ms Fiedorek said that Ms Smith has received other wedding requests but has been unable to respond to them.

The opinion

The Court argues that ruling in favor of Ms Smith protects her First Amendment right to deny conveying messages she does not agree with.

As this Court has long held, the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong, Justice Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.

Protestors in favor of Lorie Smith convene outside of the Supreme Court after oral arguments in December (AP)

He added: Of course, abiding the Constitutions commitment to the freedom of speech means all of us will encounter ideas we consider unattractive, misguided, or even hurtful.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett concurred with Justice Gorsuch.

The dissent

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the decision profoundly wrong, adding that Our Constitution contains no right to refuse service to a disfavored group.

The business argues, and a majority of the Court agrees, that because the business offers services that are customized and expressive, the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment shields the business from a generally applicable law that prohibits discrimination in the sale of publicly available goods and services, Justice Sotomayor wrote.

That is wrong. Profoundly wrong.

Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagen joined Justice Sotomayors dissent.

A person protests outside the Supreme Court (AP)

She added: Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class, Justice Sotomayor wrote.

I fear that the symbolic damage of the Courts opinion is done.

The ruling in 303 Creative LLC v Elenis opens the door for future cases to dispute the rights of LGBT+ people and same-sex couples on the grounds of religious freedom and the First Amendment.

Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, issued a statement on the ruling, saying: This decision by the Supreme Court is a dangerous step backward, giving some businesses the power to discriminate against people simply because of who we are. 

President Joe Biden said he was Deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans in a statement.

Todays decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations  including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women, Mr Biden said.

The President went on to urge Congres to pass the Equality Act to enshrine civil rights protections for the LGBT+ community.
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A Christian website designer in Colorado did not want to provide her services to same-sex couples, potentially running afoul of state law that prohibits public-facing businesses from discriminating against LGBT+ people.

The designer didnt have any same-sex clients. She didnt receive any requests from gay couples to work on their wedding websites. But in her legal challenge, supported by an influential right-wing legal group that backed a lawsuit ending Roe v Wade, she argued that Colorados law infringed on her First Amendment rights.

In its final day of its current term, the US Supreme Courts conservative supermajority agreed, potentially endangering already vulnerable rights of LGBT+ Americans and state governments abilities to protect them.

But a crucial piece of evidence in the case appears to have been fabricated.

A man who is named throughout the case, and whose phone number and email address were attached in court filings, claims he has nothing to do with it.

In 2016, Lorie Smith claimed in filings that a man named Stewart contacted her website to help with his upcoming wedding to a person named Mike: We are getting married early next year and would love some design work done for our invites, placenames etc. We might also stretch to a website.

The New Republic found Stewart. He said he is straight, married to a woman, and never contacted Ms Smith.

His alleged request for services came within 24 hours after Ms Smith first filed her lawsuit in state court.

If somebodys pulled my information, as some kind of supporting information or documentation, somebodys falsified that, he explained to The New Republic. Im married, I have a child  Im not really sure where that came from? But somebodys using false information in a Supreme Court filing document.

It remains unclear, even after the Supreme Courts decision, how and why he is involved. In a statement to The Independent, attorneys for Ms Smith dismissed his reaction and claimed that the service request was genuine. A spokesperson for Colorados attorney general pointed to earlier claims that there was no proof that it was.

Meanwhile, the statements Stewart claims to never have made, and arguments from attorneys who use his name and alleged statements, remain printed across several court documents.

Demonstrators who supported Lorie Smiths case celebrate the US Supreme Court ruling in Washington DC on 30 June (AP)

In a motion filed by attorneys for Colorado in 2016 to dismiss the case, they pointed out that Ms Smith had never received any request for services and had no standing to sue. A response from the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative Christian group representing Ms Smith, asserted that it was not necessary to have received any such inquiry before challenging state law.

Months later, in February 2017, in an effort to bolster their challenge to state law, attorneys for the group said that Ms Smith received an inquiry, weeks before Colorado attorneys asked to dismiss the case.

Notably, any claim that Lorie will never receive a request to create a custom website celebrating a same-sex ceremony is no longer legitimate because Lorie has received such a request, according to the filing.

Later that year, following a court ruling in Colorados favour, the group mentioned Stewart and Mike in a press release.

In a December 2021 filing with the Supreme Court, attorneys for Colorado responded to the alleged request again, noting that the inquiry was not a request for a website at all, but just a response to an online form asking about invites and place-names, with a statement that the person might also stretch to a website.

The Alliance Defending Freedom fired back in a reply brief, once again mentioning a request that may not even exist: Colorados claim  that a request from Mike and Stewart for a wedding website does not reflect a same-sex wedding request  blinks reality.

Lorie Smith (REUTERS)

The Independent asked representatives for the Alliance Defending Freedom how Stewart became involved with the case.

Senior counsel Kellie Fiedorek said The New Republics findings are a last-minute attempt to malign Lorie [that] smacks of desperation to delegitimize her civil rights case and our judicial system.

Its undisputed that Lorie received this request through her website. She doesnt do background checks on incoming requests to determine if the person submitting it is genuine, she added. Whether Lorie received a legitimate request or whether someone lied to her is irrelevant. No one should have to wait to be punished by the government to challenge an unjust law.

A spokesperson for the office of Colorados attorney general did not have a comment prior to the ruling but pointed The Independent to its brief with the Supreme Court noting that Ms Smith did not take any steps to verify that a genuine prospective customer submitted the form.

The Supreme Courts decision is a blow to LGBT+ advocates who fear the case could open the door for rollbacks to discrimination protections, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor noting that the ruling comes in the middle of a wave of state laws targeting LGBT+ people.

This case cannot be understood outside of the context in which it arises, she wrote in her dissent. In that context, the outcome is even more distressing.  In this pivotal moment, the Court had an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to equality on behalf of all members of society, including LGBT people. It does not do so.

A statement from Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nations largest LGBT+ civil rights organization, said the courts decision is a dangerous step backward, giving some businesses the power to discriminate against people simply because of who we are.

President Joe Biden, noting the decisions arrival on the final day of Pride Month, said he is deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBT+ Americans.

More broadly, todays decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations  including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women, he added.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- June 30, 2023 marks the 8th anniversary of Li Auto, during which its CEO, Li Xiang, released a letter to all employees. He declared that the upcoming three years, from 2023 to 2025, will be the most critical phase in Li Auto's evolution, taking the company from stage 1 to stage 10.

Li Auto sets its sights on becoming the top-selling luxury brand in the Chinese market, with an ambitious annual delivery target of 1.6 million vehicles by 2025. By this time, the product matrix will comprise one super flagship model, five extended-range electric models, and five pure electric vehicle models, catering to a broader family market.

Photo credit: Li Auto

Li Xiang emphasizes in his letter that the team's unwavering commitment to three value propositions, agreed upon since the company's inception, remains the core of Li Auto's rapid growth over the past eight years.

The first value proposition revolves around electrification. The goal is to make electric vehicles capable of replacing fuel cars on a massive scale. Through extended-range and high-voltage pure electric technologies, the company aims to significantly reduce the cost of electric vehicles and set the most reasonable prices.

The second concerns intelligence, with a vision to integrate artificial intelligence into user's daily life. Large-model AI algorithms are beginning to break bottlenecks, opening up a whole new AI world.

Finally, the third value proposition focuses on customers, serving the high-quality group of family users steadfastly. Instead of designing cars around the needs of front-seat drivers and rear-seat bosses, Li Auto intends to take care of every member of the family, including spouses, parents, and children.
 Close Trump shares threatening fan-made video

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Donald Trump could be indicted by a grand jury investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 Capitol riot by Friday.

The Independent learned that a possible indictment could be handed down as soon as this week, charging the former president in his third criminal case.

Mr Trump announced on Tuesday that he had been sent a letter by special prosecutor Jack Smith informing him that he is the target of a grand jury investigation.

The target letter cites three statutes under which he could be charged including conspiracy to commit offence or to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under colour of law and tampering with a witness, victim or informant, multiple outlets reported.

William Russell, a former White House aide who now works for the Trump presidential campaign and spent much of January 6 with the then-president, is believed to have testified before the grand jury on Thursday.

The former president was given until today to report to the Washington, DC, federal courthouse but with a midnight deadline is not expected to appear.

Instead, he shared a fan video on Truth Social with a threatening mob boss feel using audio featuring an expletive and lifted from comments he made in 2020 on Iran.
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It was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, travelling to the ocean floor with a chance to view what few people have  the 111-year-old wreck of the Titanic.

By all accounts the British billionaire explorer, Pakistani-British father and son, French diver and OceanGate Expeditions chief executive boarded the submersible, named the Titan, with a sense of adventure and excitement.

But in a chilling echo of the doomed vessel, the expedition quickly took a tragic turn.

An hour and 45 minutes into the voyage, the submersible lost contact with the surface ship, around 900 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

For four days a frantic search-and-rescue mission was carried out to determine whether the sub and its five-man crew had survived.

There was a glimmer of hope as Canadian aircraft searching for the missing sub detected intermittent banging noises from the vicinity where it was last located.

The crew heard banging sounds every 30 minutes on 20 June and again four hours later, after additional sonar devices were deployed.

But the rescue mission ended in tragedy: The five crew members had died in a catastrophic implosion, the US Coast Guard announced on 22 June.

On 28 June, officials confirmed that presumed human remains had been recovered from the sea floor.

Five things we know about the missing Titanic submersible

Officials are continuing to investigate the debris site although the bodies of the five may never be recovered. Heres what is known about the tragedy:

What happened?

On 18 June at 9am Atlantic Daytime Time (8am EDT), the Titan, a submersible owned by OceanGate Expeditions, set off on its excursion to the Titanics underwater grave with research vessel, the Polar Prince.

The expedition began with a 400 nautical mile journey out into the Atlantic Ocean about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The submersible was released from the Polar Prince and began its descent 13,000 feet below the waters surface to the wreckage.

The Titan was supposed to transmit a signal back to the Polar Prince every 15 minutes but it lost contact around 10.47am EDT, one hour and 45 minutes into the journey.

The OceanGate Expeditions submersible vessel named Titan (PA Media)

Exactly what happened to the sub remains a mystery but the US Coast Guard said that debris consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber had been found.

Rear Admiral John Mauger said there did not appear to be a connection between the underwater noises detected during the search-and-rescue mission and the location of the debris on the seafloor.

The bodies of the five passengers may never be recovered from the ocean, the US Coast Guard said.

This was a catastrophic implosion of the vessel, which would have generated a significant broadband sound down there that the sonar buoys would have picked up, Mauger said.

OceanGate Expeditions alerted the US Coast Guard around 5.40pm EDT after the missing sub failed to surface at the expected time. Immediately, a search effort began.

Where did it go missing?

The US Coast Guard searched 900 miles east of Cape Cod, where the Titanic shipwreck lies.

The Titanic sits approximately 12,500 below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 380 nautical miles south of Newfoundland, Canada and 1,240 nautical miles east of New York City.

The shipwrecks coordinates are 414332N, 495649W.

Rescue teams from several countries spent days searching thousands of square miles of open ocean with planes and ships for any sign of the 22-foot (6.7-meter) Titan.

The US Coast Guard said that it was searching in depths of roughly 13,000 feet.

Rear Admiral Mauger said the area where the submersible went missing was remote, making the search challenging.

He also said it was too early to tell when the vessels failure occurred. The search operation had sonar buoys in the water for more than three days and had not detected any loud explosive noise during the period.

The buoys picked up some sounds which temporarily offered hope that the crew on the Titan were alive and banging on the hull.

But officials said analysis of the sound was inconclusive and that the noises might not have emanated from the Titan at all.

The worlds deepest search-and-rescue mission

Multiple agencies and countries, and both private and public organisations, desperately worked to find and rescue the five people onboard the Titan.

The search became the largest underwater search-and-rescue mission at those depths ever.

Efforts were led by the US Coast Guard in Boston, and also involved the Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian Armed Forces, and US Navy among others. The UK sent RAF planes.

A US Navy Curv-21, an unmanned submersible vessel that can reach a depth of 20,000 feet, is being used in the search for the missing Titanic wreck vessel (US Navy)

The US Coast Guard deployed two C-130 aircrafts, the New York Air National Guard deployed another C-130, the Canadian Coast Guard deployed one C-130 and one P-8 aircraft.

In addition, several Canadian Coast Guard ships, a French research vessel LAtalante and commercial vessels were used in the search.

The Royal Canadian Navy also deployed HMCS Glace Bay with a medical team specialising in dive medicine. Onboard was a six-person mobile hyperbaric recompression chamber used to treat or prevent decompression sickness.

The Deep Energy rescue ship carried two remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) capable of operating to a depth of 3,000m.

The John Cabot, which has side-scanning sonar capabilities, the Skandi Vinland and the Atlantic Merlin also joined the search on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard said on Twitter.

Despite the multi-agency mission, David Concannon, an attorney and explorer who pulled out of the Titanic expedition at the last minute, claimed that the rescue efforts were hampered by red tape, bureaucracy and a lack of urgency by the US government.

British company Magellan Limited had a deep-sea submersible craft ready to support the mission, with the ability to reach depths of 6,000 metres and experience of visiting the Titanic wreckage.

But the US First Coast Guard District told The Independent it had not requested assistance from the firm as the vessel was too far away.

Banging noises overheard

A Canadian P-8 aircraft reportedly detected intermittent banging noises from the area the submersible disappeared.

The US Coast Guard tweeted that it had detected underwater noises in the search area. As a result, operations were relocated in an attempt to explore the origin of the noises.

Internal email updates sent to Department of Homeland Security leadership read: The P-8 deployed sonobuoys, which reported a contact in a position close to the distress position. The P8 heard banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes. Four hours later additional sonar was deployed and banging was still heard.

On 22 June, Rear Admiral John Mauger said there did not appear to be any connection between the underwater noises and the location of the debris on the seafloor.

He said: So throughout the search efforts, we reacted to the information that we had available to us and while we continue to send it off for deeper analysis, again really complex operating environment for us to work in, let me check with the experts, but there doesnt appear to be any connection between the noises and the location on the seafloor.

Asked about the timing of the implosion, and whether it happened right at the moment the vessel lost contact, Rear Admiral Mauger said it was too early to tell, but added that the sonar buoys had not picked up any catastrophic events during the last 72 hours they had been in the water.

Who are the five who died?

World-record-holding, British explorer and billionaire Hamish Harding, 58, had travelled on the Challenger Deep to the bottom of the ocean and on Jeff Bezos Blue Origin into space.

Before the trip, he posted on Facebook: I am proud to finally announce that I joined OceanGate Expeditions for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic.

Hamish Harding (Jannicke Mikkelsen via REUTERS)

Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023.

The father-of-two was a seasoned explorer and held three Guinness World Records, including the longest duration at full ocean depth by a crewed vessel when in March 2021, he and ocean explorer Victor Vescovo dived to the lowest depth of the Mariana Trench.

Paul Henri Nargeolet (Getty)

In June 2022, he went into space on Blue Origins New Shepard rocket.

Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, led the first recovery expedition to the Titanic in 1987 and several more, becoming a leading authority on the wreck site.

Mr Nargeolet, described by OceanGate as the Titanics greatest explorer, had done 35 dives in the submersible.

Shahzada and Suleman Dawood (Family handout)

Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman Dawood, 19, were UK citizens. Shahzada Dawood was vice-chairman of one of Pakistans largest conglomerates, Engro Corporation, and Suleman studied at the University of Strathclyde.

OceanGate Expeditions chief executive Stockton Rush, 61, began his career as a pilot, becoming the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world at the age of 19.

Stockton Rush (OceanGate)

He served on the Museum of Flights Board of Trustees, the board of enterprise software company Entomo and as chairman of Remote Control Technology and founded OceanGate in 2009.
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An implosion that killed five crew onboard the Titan submersible is now the focus of investigations by agencies from four countries.

The sub was destroyed less than two hours into a dive to the Titanic shipwreck on 18 June, claiming the lives of OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush, father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Secret US Navy listening devices detected an anomaly near the Titanic shipwreck soon after the Titan departed from its support ship the Polar Prince, which is believed to be the moment sub suffered a catastrophic implosion of its carbon fibre hull.

Follow the latest updates on the missing Titanic submarine here

A desperate search for survivors continued for four days until a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) found a debris field that was later identified to be parts of the missing submersible. On 28 June, the US Coast Guard revealed that presumed human remains had been recovered from the sea floor near the debris.

Hopes had been raised when the US Coast Guard revealed that sonar devices had detected banging sounds coming from the search zone, a vast area of the North Atlantic Ocean twice the size of Connecticut.

The source of the banging sounds has not been identified, but experts have put forward several theories about their possible origin.

What were the banging noises?

On Tuesday 20 June, buoys detected tapping sounds coming from the search area, raising slim hopes that survivors could yet be found.

We dont know the source of that noise, but weve shared that information with Navy experts to classify it, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger told CBS This Morning.

The sound was detected at 2am local time by a Canadian P-3 aircraft.

It first came every 30 minutes and was heard again four hours later, the internal government memo obtained by CNN states.

The noises were picked up again on Wednesday 21 June.

Officials admitted that the noises were inconclusive and were being analysed by Navy experts as the search and rescue operation was still in full swing.

With respect to the noises specifically, we dont know what they are, to be frank with you, Captain Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District told reporters on Wednesday.

Mystery banging sounds were detected during the search for the Titan sub (OceanGate Expeditions)

On 22 June, Carl Hartsfield, an expert with the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution, told CBS News there were many possible explanations for the sounds.

The ocean is a very complex place, obviously  human sounds, nature sounds, and its very difficult to discern what the sources of those noises are at times, he told the news site.

The large number of vessels that were in the area would also emit noises picked up by sensors.

Some experts suggested that the banging sound was the noise of debris  from either the Titanic or the Titan  in the ocean.

Jeff Karson, professor emeritus of earth and environmental sciences at Syracuse University, told Mail Online while the search was underway that the noise could be a complicated echo coming from sounds bouncing around the Titanic debris field.

Its just not bouncing off of one thing. Its bouncing off a bunch of things. And its like, you know, dropping up a marble into a tin can. Its rattling around and that would confuse the location, he told the publication.

He said the suggestion that the banging sounds may have been linked to survivors was wishful thinking.

Is it really banging or just some unidentified sound? I think that is a more accurate description right now, he said last Wednesday.

Stefan Williams, a professor of marine robotics at the University of Sydney, told Insider the sounds may have been created by marine wildlife such as whales.

He said there had been reports of marooned submarine crews banging on the vessels hull to signal their location, and that acoustic noise will travel.

Chris Parry, a former British Royal Navy commander, told TalkTV the sounds could have come from any number of underwater sources.

You get a lot of mechanical noise in the ocean. Trying to differentiate it from tapping noises is a fools errand.
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In the days after OceanGate chief executive Stockton Rush and his four-paying crew members went missing on their dive to the wreck of the Titanic, experts had several theories as to their fate.

Perhaps the group had managed to surface and were awaiting rescue amid the Atlantic waves. Perhaps they were trapped underwater within the hull of their broken-down submersible, running out of air.

Or perhaps they had suffered the worst-case scenario: a sudden, catastrophic hull breach, causing their sub to rapidly buckle under the crushing pressure of the water above them.

Follow the latest updates on the missing Titanic sub

On 26 June, those worst fears were confirmed when the US Coast Guard announced that it had found pieces of the Titan submersible scattered across the ocean floor about 1,600 feet from the bow of the ill-fated ocean liner.

But what exactly caused the Titan to implode? While we dont yet know the truth of what happened, we do know enough to have some idea of what might have sealed the subs fate.

An unusual design for a deadly environment

The Titan set off from its mothership, the Polar Prince, on Sunday 18 June, heading for the remains of the Titanic some 3,800 metres below the surface of the ocean. Communications ceased about an hour and 45 minutes later when the sub was probably close to the bottom of its dive.

At that depth, any object  including a human body  is subject to water pressure more than 300 times stronger than the pressure Earths atmosphere exerts on us every day. On the surface, we only need to withstand 14.7 lbs per square inch (Psi) of pressure, whereas the Titan had to withstand 5,500 Psi.

The Titan was designed to survive this level of pressure, with two strong titanium domes at either end of the hull linked by a five-inch-thick cylinder of carbon fibre. According to reports, it was subjected to rigorous safety checks before every dive to make sure there were no defects or faults in the hull.

Carbon fibre is an unusual material for a deep-sea submersible because it is weaker than the solid steel or titanium of which such vessels are usually made. While widely-used in aircraft, it was largely untested in deep-sea diving.

OceanGates Titan sub (PA Media)

That was a calculated choice by OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, who believed that the material was more viable for such dives than commonly credited.

Unlike metal, carbon fibre is naturally buoyant beyond 2,000 metres, meaning the Titan could be far lighter and cheaper than previous subs.

Youre remembered for the rules you break, Rush told YouTuber Alan Estrada in 2021. Ive broken some rules to make this. I think Ive broken them with logic and good engineering behind me.

To offset this weaker material, the Titan was equipped with a real-time hull health monitoring system that could, in theory, detect any deformations, cracks, or other faults rapidly enough for the crew to attempt an emergency ascent.

Yet such depths offer little margin for error. If even one part of the hull fails and lets in water, the pressure would be so great, and the velocity of the incoming liquid so fast, that the sub and its occupants might be torn apart in mere milliseconds, monitoring system or not.

Indeed, a report in The Wall Street Journal suggests that whatever happened to the Titan, happened very fast.

Despite claims that rescuers had picked up tapping sounds every 30 minutes, suggesting the crew might still be alive and signalling for help, military insiders told WSJ that a top-secret US Navy system for detecting enemy submarines had heard an implosion soon after the Titan lost communications.

So what might have caused the hull to fail? The answers may lie within a lawsuit filed against OceanGate by one of its most senior former employees.

Critical safety concerns about the Titans hull and porthole

Now is the time to properly address items that may pose a safety risk to personnel. Verbal communication of [these problems] has been dismissed on several occasions, so I feel now I must make this report so there is an official record in place.

So wrote OceanGates then director of marine operations David Lochridge on 18 January 2018, according to a complaint filed by his lawyers as part of a court battle against the underseas tourism company.

Lochridge had begun working with OceanGate in 2015 and was allegedly tasked with conducting a final safety review of the Titan. His lawsuit, later settled out of court, claimed that he raised critical safety concerns about the subs experimental and untested design  only to be fired for his troubles.

Issues of quality control with the new submersible were raised, as there were evident flaws throughout the build process, the lawsuit alleged, noting that no carbon fibre submersible had ever achieved its target depth of 4,000 metres.

The OceanGate Expeditions submersible vessel named Titan (PA Media)

It argued that the carbon fibre hull was vulnerable to small defects being widened into large tears by the constant changes of pressure, and claimed that visible flaws were found in samples of the material produced for the Titan.

Indeed, Mr Rush would later admit to GeekWire after test dives in the Bahamas that the Titans hull showed signs of cyclic fatigue, meaning it had been stressed by repeated pressure changes. Trips to theTitanic were delayed while these problems were addressed.

Lochridge was also sceptical about the real-time monitoring system, which he believed would only show when a component was very close to failure  perhaps only milliseconds before an implosion. The lawsuit alleges that he pressed for the hull to be tested more rigorously but was denied.

Worse, the lawsuit claims that the Titans single porthole was only certified to withstand the pressure at 1,300 metres and that OceanGate refused to pay for a porthole certified to 4,000 metres.

Paying passengers would not be aware, and would not be informed, of this experimental design, the lack of non-destructive testing of the hull, or that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible, the lawyers said.

In its response, OceanGate said that Lochridge is not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan. It said he was fired not for raising safety concerns but for refusing to accept assurances from the companys lead engineer that its chosen testing methods were better suited to the situation than he believed.

OceanGate told The Associated Press that the missing Titan vessel was finished in 2020-21 - so not the same as the vessel described in Mr Lochridges lawsuit.

A rule-breaking CEO who refused outside regulation

Mr Lochridge was not the only person concerned about OceanGates methods. In 2018, 38 members of the Marine Technology Societys Manned Underwater Vehicles committee wrote to Stockton Rush expressing unanimous concern about the way Titan had been developed.

According to The New York Times, the committee was alarmed that OceanGate had not subjected Titan to a standard risk assessment by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), an international maritime classification body that writes and maintains technical standards for undersea vehicles.

While this may demand additional time and expense, it is our unanimous view that this validation process by a third party is a critical component in the safeguards that protect all submersible occupants, the letter said.

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

OceanGate defended its decision in a 2019 blog post.

When OceanGate was founded the goal was to pursue the highest reasonable level of innovation in the design and operation of manned submersibles. By definition, innovation is outside of an already accepted system... the company wrote.

Bringing an outside entity up to speed on every innovation before it is put into real-world testing is anathema to rapid innovation.

And, because the Polar Prince and the Titan operated in international waters, they were not subject to regulation by any country including a US law requiring passenger submersibles to be registered with the Coast Guard.

In the early days of the Toyota Motor Company, engineers were trained to diagnose a problem by repeating the question Why? five times.

If a car wont start, the first why might establish that there is a problem with the engine, but the fifth why might reveal that the engine was poorly constructed because its builders were badly trained and underpaid.

Therefore asking why the Titan imploded must eventually lead us to examine Stockton Rush, his attitude to safety, and the nature of OceanGate and its goals.

There hasnt been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years. Its obscenely safe, because they have all these regulations, Mr Rush told Smithsonian Magazine in 2019. But it also hasnt innovated or grown  because they have all these regulations.

Privately, in response to a letter from an OceanGate consultant imploring him to be more cautious, Rush reportedly said he was tired of industry players who try to use a safety argument to stop innovation.

He declared: We have heard the baseless cries of you are going to kill someone way too often. I take this as a serious personal insult.

The Titan was not a pure research vessel from a government agency or coalition of universities. It was a commercial vehicle, designed to help OceanGate turn regular Titanic voyages  and, eventually, the exploitation of undersea resources  into a profitable business, and its design followed from that reality.

Already many observers are asking the next set of whys, questioning the nature of the adventure industry, the wisdom of the super-rich, and the morality of ferrying paying tourists to perhaps the worlds most famous underwater mass grave.

Im struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night, said James Cameron, the director of the 1999 hit film about the ocean liner, who is also an experienced undersea explorer.

Those questions, however, are harder to answer, and may be debated for just as long as the meaning of the Titanic itself.
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A potential murder investigation has been launched after a woman and her seven-year-old son plunged from a ferry into the sea.

The pair were travelling from Sweden to Poland when the child fell into the water, Swedish authorities said.

His 36-year-old Polish mother jumped overboard in an attempt to save him, they added.

The two were winched to a helicopter and rushed to Karlskrona hospital in Sweden but were declared dead there.

When the alarm was raised, a large-scale rescue operation, involving a thermal imaging camera and both Swedish and Polish emergency services, was launched.

The Swedish ferry, the Stena Spirit, had been in the Baltic Sea, midway through its journey to Gdynia in Poland from Karlskrona in Sweden when the pair fell, officials said.

The countrys prosecution chiefs said on Friday they had launched a preliminary investigation in which the criminal charge was murder, but added that no suspect had been identified.

The investigation aims to try to clarify what happened, prosecutor Stina Brindmark said.

Polish police issued an appeal to passengers asking for information on how the accident happened.

The mother was in the water for 59 minutes before being picked up, and her son 66 minutes, Polish website Fakt reported.

It said resuscitation was started immediately but the two could not be revived.

Police questioned the crew of the ferry to reconstruct events, but officers have not made contact with anyone who saw what happened, according to Fakt.

Stefan Elfstrom, spokesman for Stena Line, said someone on the ferry raised the alarm.

Items have been found that belong to these people, but not the people themselves, he said of the woman and child. Then the alarm went off, the crew looked at the surveillance cameras and saw that two people had fallen into the water.

There is little information on whether there were relatives or people who knew the two people on the ferry. However, someone noticed that two people were missing.

A German Nato helicopter reportedly plucked the mother and son from the water.

Confirming the deaths, spokesman Mariusz Ciarka said: Unfortunately, in the morning we received information from the Swedish side that we have to pass on this terrible news to the family, because both the boy and the woman are dead.

The Swedish Maritime Administration said the boy fell from a height of about 20 metres (65ft).

First we received a report that one person had fallen overboard, then it turned out to be two, said Lars Blom, chief of rescue operations at the Swedish Maritime Administration rescue centre.

Stena Line said it could not confirm that the mother jumped in to save her son, but said the company was cooperating with police and other authorities to try to explain what happened.
 Close Police clash with rioters as unrest continues for fifth night

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Children as young as 12 or 13 have been detained for attacking law enforcement and setting fires during six nights of violence after the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Nahel Merzouk in suburban Paris.

The average age of the 3,354 people arrested over the past week was 17, the interior minister Gerald Darmanin said.

In all, 99 town halls have been attacked during the unrest, including an attempt to ram a burning vehicle into the home of lHay-les-Les Roses mayor Vincent Jeanbrun. His wife and one of his young children were injured during the attack, which began at the weekend while they slept.

We saw the real face of the rioters, that of assassins, Mr Jeanbrun said in an emotional speech. France and democracy itself were being attacked in the days of rioting, he said.

Meanwhile, an insulting fundraiser set up for the family of the police officer who shot Nahel has amassed more than 1 million (840,000).

Organised by Jean Messiha, a former adviser to the French far-right politician Marine Le Pen, the appeal has raised far more than the donation page set up for the family of the teenage victim.
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Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey is a sexual bully who delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a court has heard.

The Hollywood star, 63, was described by the prosecution as a man who sexually assaults other men as he stood trial at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.

Christine Agnew KC told the court: Kevin Spacey Fowler is an actor; many of you will already know that.

He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards. He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men.

A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully.

Spacey is on trial on charges he sexually assaulted four men (AP)

Spacey, described by one of his alleged victims as a star, a golden boy, denies 12 charges, including sexual assault and indecent assault.

Ms Agnew said the jury will hear from four men during the trial, all aged in their twenties or thirties, who attracted the attention of Spacey.

She said: None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way, but he doesnt seem to have cared very much for their feelings.

Actor Kevin Spacey outside court (AFP/Getty)

He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification.

What does the defendant say in answer to these allegations?

Well in relation to some he suggests that they are quite simply made up.

In relation to others, he accepts that there was a sexual encounter between him and the other man but asserts that anything that took place would have taken place with the consent of the other man.

The prosecutor warned jurors not to be star struck by the actor  urging them to keep yourself grounded and true to the oath that you have taken.

As she detailed allegations made by one of the complainants, Ms Agnew said it may well be that Spacey got a sexual thrill from the aggression he is alleged to have used against the man.

The prosecutor said the defendant had engaged in inappropriate and unwelcome touching with the man, before it allegedly progressed to occasions when [Spacey] would actually grab and grope him.

Another of Spaceys alleged victims recalled the actor making crude and seedy sexual remarks before grabbing him in an aggressive manner.

The complainant said he was grabbed with such force it was painful and that he pushed him away, saying no, Im not like that.

Ms Agnew added that Spacey simply laughed after the complainant pushed him away.

The prosecutor said a third complainant recalled feeling vulnerable and thinking that perhaps this was just how people in the acting world acted following an alleged encounter at Spaceys flat.

Ms Agnew said the man recalled he had either fell asleep or passed out at the flat and after an alleged unwanted sexual advance from the actor, the complainant sat and cried at a bus stop at 5am.

The actor pleaded not guilty in January to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

The two-time Academy Award winner also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
 Close Holes up to 2ft deep were dug up in the reservoir search, in the hope of unearthing clothing fibres, local media reported

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Police officers who scoured a reservoir in Portugal in the search for Madeleine McCann have warned against hope as they hit a fresh roadblock in their investigation.

A large section of the Barragem do Arade reservoir was cordoned off in May, about 30 miles from where three-year-old Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz 16 years ago.

It is believed that the main suspect in the case, convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner, regularly visited the reservoirs peninsula and had described it as a little slice of paradise.

But detectives searching the reservoir have now said there is no compelling evidence Madeleine is there.

Holes up to 2ft deep were dug up in the reservoir search, in the hope of unearthing clothing fibres, local media reported.

But despite initial hope, German public prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters told newspaper Bild: Please dont expect too much.

This comes after a former friend of Brueckner, Helge Busching, claimed that the jailed paedophile had told him she didnt scream during a conversation about the missing three-year-old.

He told Bild he revealed the crucial information to Scotland Yard in 2008 but was ignored.
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France has seen six consecutive nights of violence and unrest after police shot a 17-year-old boy during a traffic check in Paris.

Thousands have been arrested since clashes first erupted on Tuesday night in and around the Paris suburb of Nanterre where Nahel Merzouk was killed.

"I lost a child of 17-year-old, they took my baby," the mother said in a TikTok video.

"He was still a child, he needed his mother. This morning he gave me a big kiss and told me he loved me. I told him be careful and I loved him."

According to his mother, they both had left the house together. While he went to get a McDonalds takeout, she left for work.

"And then I am told they shot my son, what can I do," the heartbroken woman said.

"I only had him. I didn't have 10 like him. He was my life, my best friend. He was my son, He was my everything."

LIle-Saint-Denis city hall damaged during the riots in Paris (AFP via Getty Images)

Aftermath of clashes between protesters and police in Mons-en-Baroeul northern France (REUTERS)

This photograph taken 29 June 2023 in Brest, western of France shows a Biocoop, an organic supermarket partly burnt, two days after a 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest by police at point-blank range in Nanterre, a western suburb of Paris (AFP via Getty Images)

The victim's grandmother, who also remained unidentified said: I will never forgive them. My grandson died, they killed my grandson. We are not happy at all, I am against the government."

They killed my grandson, now I don't care about anyone, they took my grandson from me, I will never forgive them in my life, never, never, never.

A video shared on social media showed two police officers beside a Mercedes AMG car, with one shooting at the teenage driver at close range as he pulled away.

He died shortly afterward from his wounds, the local prosecutor said.

The teenager, who was too young to hold a full license in France, was driving illegally, a source familiar with the investigation told Reuters.

The Nanterre prosecutor said the boy failed on Tuesday to obey the officers orders.

A lawyer for Nahel's family, Yassine Bouzrou, said they want the police officer prosecuted for murder instead of manslaughter.

He said he would file an additional complaint for false testimony over the allegation that the victim had tried to run over the police officer.

President Macron said the killing was inexplicable and inexcusable and called for calm. Nothing justifies the death of a young person, he told reporters in Marseille on Wednesday.
UPDATE (12:10 p.m. 7.30.23): Pornhub officially announced via its Twitter page Friday morning that it has blocked access to its site in both Virginia and Mississippi, where age verification laws are set to simultaneously go into effect tomorrow, July 1. The site's full statement appears below:

MONTREALA spokesperson for MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, has confirmed to AVN that the site have blocked all IP addresses in the state of Virginia. This makes Virginia the second state, after Utah, to be geo-blocked due to recently enacted laws requiring age verification to access adult material and other age-restricted content online, including pornography, adult video games and more.

The MindGeek spokesperson confirmed a Thursday evening report by the Virginia Mercury indicating that Pornhub is no longer accessible to users in the state without the use of a VPN or proxy to circumvent the geo-block. The same spokesperson said that an official statement is due to be released on Friday, June 30.

The story of the Utah geo-block went viral when the Salt Lake Tribune reported that logging onto Pornhub resulted in a landing page that featured porn star Cherie DeVille in a rare clothed, safe-for-work video spilling the beans as to why consenting adults from the states population of over 3.3 million people could no longer watch the site's content. A similar message can be found when logging on from a Virginia IP address.

Pornhub warned other states with age verification laws, including Virginia, that geo-blocking could come if state officials and the lawmakers responsible for adopting these laws refused to consider device-based age verification rather than methods that require government identification cards, credit card numbers or other types of personal data, which pose security risks that could be exploited by hackers.

The safety of our users is one of our biggest concerns, reads the statement published to online users from Virginia devices. We believe that the best and most effective solution for protecting children and adults alike is to identify users by their device and allow access to age-restricted materials and websites based on that identification. Until a real solution is offered, we have made the difficult decision to completely disable access to our website in Virginia.

Adult industry trade group the Free Speech Coalition has sued the states of Utah and Louisiana in federal district courts on claims that these laws violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The group said that it is considering litigation in Virginias courts, including states with similar laws.
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Frances President Emmanuel Macron has urged parents to keep teenagers at home. while his government is considering "all options" to restore order after rioters torched cars and buildings and looted shops across the country in a third night of violence over the police killing of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb.

Mr Macron, who has so far resisted growing calls to declare a state of emergency, arrived in Paris from Brussels after leaving a European Union summit early to attend a second crisis cabinet meeting in two days. Of young rioters, he said: "We sometimes have the feeling that some of them are living in the streets the video games that have intoxicated them."

He also said he would ask social media platforms to remove "the most sensitive" footage of rioting from their feeds  saying that it is fuelling copycat violence. He did not specify the content he had in mind but said: "I expect a spirit of responsibility from these platforms". French authorities also plan to request, when "useful," the identities "of those who use these social networks to call for disorder or exacerbate the violence", the president said.

Follow the latest in our live blog here

The prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, said that "the priority is to ensure national unity and the way to do it is to restore order" during a visit to Evry-Courcouronnes outside the capital. She said that "all options" were on the table, when asked about the possibility of a state of emergency being declared. She has called the violence "intolerable and inexcusable".

The interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, asked local authorities to halt all bus and tram traffic from 9pm across the whole of the country, while authorities In the southern city of Marseille, France's second-largest, banned public demonstrations for Friday and said all public transport would stop at 7pm local time. Violence had flared there on Thursday night, along with Lyon, Pau, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and parts of Paris. Mr Darmanin also ordered a ban on the sale and carrying of powerful fireworks, which rioters have launched at police officers and buildings, as well as on the sale of canisters of gasoline, acids and other chemicals and flammable liquids, the ministry said.

There were at least 875 arrests overnight into Friday. Mr Macron said a third of the individuals of those were "young people, sometimes very young", and that "it's the parents' responsibility" to keep their children at home. Nearly half of those arrested were from the Paris region.

More than 200 police were also injured as 40,000 officers were deployed across dozens of cities. The Interior Ministry said 79 police posts were attacked overnight, as well as hundreds of buildings. The fire service were also called out to more than 6,000 fires across the country.

Shops and vehicles were set ablaze in the Paris suburb of Nanterre  where 17-year-old Nahel M was shot and killed by a policeman during a traffic stop on Tuesday  with residents worried about the escalating unrest.

Its getting worse and worse, said Pascal Matieus, as he picked shards of broken glass from the shattered windows of his salad shop on Friday morning. Its become completely out of control. The police have lost control.

French police stand in position as fireworks go off during clashes with protesters in Nanterre (Reuters)

It is the third clean-up operation in a row for residents and officials here, with one saying he expects to be back again on Saturday morning.

Looters also targeted shops in the Les Halles district of Paris. Outside the Nike store, tourists peered through caved-in windows while one local called out for them to be careful.

Its dead, its dead, theres no more order, he said, asking not to be named. His friend, who had come down with him from a northern suburb, countered: Its fine, its fine, just be careful at night. Its the police we hate, not tourists.

A number of towns around Paris, including Clamart, Compiegne and Neuilly-sur-Marne, have imposed full or partial night-time curfews, while a police intelligence report that was leaked to French media predicted widespread urban violence over the coming nights.

The Nike shop in Chatelet Les Halles (Anthony Cuthbertson/The Independent)

The unrest extended as far as Belgium's capital, Brussels, where about a dozen people were detained during scuffles related to the shooting in France and several fires were brought under control.

A lawyer for the 38-year-old officer who shot Nahel  who faces preliminary charges of voluntary homicide  said he had offered an apology to the teenagers family. The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family, Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV. He is devastated, he doesnt get up in the morning to kill people.

The Nanterre public prosecutor, Pascal Prache, said on Thursday that Nahel died from a single shot through his left arm and chest while driving off after being stopped by police. The officer said he had opened fire because he feared that he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car, according to Mr Prache.

The public prosecutor considers that the legal conditions for using the weapon have not been met, Mr Prache said.

Nahel's mother, identified as Mounia, told France 5 television that she is angry at the officer who killed her only child, but not at the police in general. "He saw a little, Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life," she said, adding that justice should be "very firm."

The remains of a car in the Paris suburb of Nanterre (Anthony Cuthbertson/The Independent)

"A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our children's lives," she said.

Nahel's grandmother told Algerian television Ennahar TV that her family has roots in Algeria. Algeria's foreign affairs ministry said in a statement Thursday that grief is widely shared in the North African country.

Nahel's death has brought to the surface grievances about racial profiling and police violence. Last year, 13 people were fatally shot during traffic stops in France, with Nahels death marking the third so far this year. Figures from Reuters show the majority of victims to be Black or of Arab origin.

The UNs human rights office said the current unrest in France is a chance for the country "to address deep issues of racism in law enforcement". A UN spokeswoman in Geneva pointed to a recent report by the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination, which last December expressed concern at aspects of policing in France, including what the report suggested was the disproportionate use of identity checks and imposition of fines on specific ethnic groups.

"Any accusation of racism or systematic discrimination in the police force in France is totally unfounded," the French government said in response.

A state of emergency would grant extraordinary powers in order to restore security. The last time such measures were introduced was in 2015 following the Paris attacks, when terrorists killed 130 people in a series of coordinated shootings and suicide bombings.

Th last time it was used in a situation like the current unrest was in 2005. It was used then to quell weeks of rioting around France that followed the death of two teenagers fleeing police. The boys were electrocuted after hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois.
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At least 667 people across France were arrested till Friday as Paris and other parts of the country burned for the third consecutive night over the killing of a 17-year-old boy.

Riots broke out in and around the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the teen of North African descent, identified as Nahel M, 17, was shot during a traffic check.

Police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes that damaged schools, police stations and town halls or other public buildings, the national police said.

The police officer accused of shooting the teenager reportedly sought forgiveness from the boys family, his lawyer has said.

Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV: "The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family.

"He is devastated, he doesn't get up in the morning to kill people. He didn't want to kill him."

Mr Lienard said the officer had aimed down towards the drivers leg but was bumped, which caused him to shoot towards his chest. He had to be stopped, but obviously [the officer] didnt want to kill the driver, he said.

The lawyer added that his clients detention was being used to try to calm rioters.

The officer was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude "the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met".

The prosecutor said Nahel died from a single shot through his left arm and chest while driving off after being stopped by police. The officer alleged that he opened fire as he feared that he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car.

A car burns during protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Mr Prache confirmed that two motorcycle police noticed a Mercedes, with one young driver and two passengers travelling quickly in a bus lane at 7:55am on Tuesday. Police twice attempted to indicate to the car to pull over and park, but the driver continued driving and the two police pursued the vehicle.

The Mercedes had to stop at a traffic light, at which point the police asked the driver to turn off engine and exit the vehicle.

The police officers said they drew their weapons and aimed them at the driver to stop him from taking off in the vehicle. However, the driver did pull away at which point the police decided to shoot.

Protesters clash with riot police in Nanterre, near Paris (EPA)

A bullet hit the driver through arm and chest, and the car crashed. One of the passengers fled. Firefighters were called to the scene at 8:21am. They provided first aid to the driver which was unsuccessful.

The shooting, which was caught on video, triggered clashes between police and young people in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The teenagers family and their lawyers have not said the police shooting was race-related and they did not release his surname or details about him.

French president Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to hold an emergency government meeting later on Friday.

Riot police officers charge youths during a demonstration (AP)

These acts are totally unjustifiable, Mr Macron said at the beginning of Thursdays emergency security meeting, which aimed at securing hot spots and planning for the coming days so full peace can return.

Vehicles were set on fire in Toulouse and a tramway train was torched in a suburb of Lyon, police said.

Bus and tram services in the Paris area were shut down before sunset as a precaution to safeguard transportation workers and passengers.

Mother of teenager fatally shot by French police shares last words she exchanged with son

A similar curfew was announced in Neuilly-sur-Marne.

The unrest reportedly extended even to Brussels, the EU administrative home and Belgian capital city, where about a dozen people were detained during scuffles.
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The mother of a teenage boy whose death has sparked furious riots in France has described their last moments together before he was fatally shot in the chest by police.

The 17-year-old, named only as Nahel M and described as a French citizen with Algerian heritage, was shot at near point-blank range on Tuesday as he attempted to drive away from police who had pulled over his Mercedes in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

His death, footage of which was shared to social media, has prompted three nights of intense riots across France, resulting in nearly 900 arrests.

Mounia attended Thursdays march in tribute to her son in Nanterre (REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)

The clashes have drawn comparison with three weeks of fury sparked by the deaths of two teenagers in 2005, electrocuted while hiding from police in a power substation in a Paris suburb.

During a peaceful march on Thursday, preceding clashes with riot police, Nahels mother Mounia led a procession from a flatbed lorry, holding a poster saying, Police kill, and raising a red flare as the march reached the local courthouse, while the crowds chanted her sons name.

In footage shared separately to TikTok, she could be heard telling a French activist: They took a baby away from me. He was still a child, he needed his mother.

This morning he gave me a big kiss and told me he loved me. I told him be careful and I loved him.

They had both left the house together on Tuesday morning, she said, with Nahel going to get a McDonalds as she left for work.

And then I am told they shot my son, what can I do, she said. I only had him. I didnt have 10 like him. He was my life, my best friend. He was my son, He was my everything.

Mother Mounia attended a march in tribute to her son in Nanterre (REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)

The officer accused of pulling the trigger at 9am on Tuesday has been charged preliminarily with voluntary homicide, after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigations indicated the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.

Mr Prache said officers tried to stop Nahel because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish number plates in a bus lane, and that the officer who fired the shot said he feared he, his colleague or a bystander could be hit by the car.

Frances interior minister Gerald Darmanin has ordered a complete shutdown of all public bus and tram services across the country to take effect before sunset on Friday, after what he described as a night of rare violence on Thursday.

Protesters lit fires at police stations and other public buildings on Thursday (AFP via Getty Images)

Police fired water cannon, tear gas and grenades at protesters as some erected barricades, lit fires at public buildings, looted shops and shot fireworks at police.

Nahels mother told broadcaster France 5 that she was angry at the officer who killed her only child but not at the police in general.

He saw a little, Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life, she said, adding that justice should be very firm. A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our childrens lives, she said.

Additional reporting by AP
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For those familiar with the history of Vladimir Putin, his recent imitation of a rockstar with crowds of adoring fans could be described as surprising to say the least.

In a rare public appearance in the Dagestan region, the Russian president broke from convention to enthusiastically interact with fans in a large crowd, shaking their hands and posing for selfies.

At one point, he was even seen kissing a girl on the cheek, as she pleaded with her mother to snap a picture of him by her side.

In another moment caught on camera, he can be seen shaking hands and adjusting the uniform of an officer, despite never greeting his security team over the course of his two decades in power.

Russia Mutiny Mysteries (Sputnik)

While a Kremlin spokesperson said that Putin could not refuse a greeting with his fans, his recent conduct has raised eyebrows considering his usual reserved and isolated approach.

More importantly, it has fuelled wild speculation that the ageing tyrant is increasingly relying on body doubles for his public appearances.

Infamous for his paranoid stance since the Covid-19 pandemic, anyone outside of Putins close circle of yes men have been forced to abide by strict two-week quarantines in armed state hotels, while Putin has rarely been a leader to physically engage with ordinary Russians.

Paranoid with Covid-19 and assassination attempts, Putin often sits metres away from his guests (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Bizarre pictures have even surfaced of the 71-year-old sitting isolated at a large marble table, metres away from his guests. Recent rumours suggest the dictator resides in underground bunkers, requires visitors to pass through a special tunnel of ultraviolet light and is so paranoid of assassination attempts that his security detail follow him everywhere.

And social media is awash with memes and jokes about his apparent double.

But what is the truth about the rumours?

Speaking to The Independent, Kyiv-based political strategist Jason Jay Smart said: It would seem quite possible that Putin is using body doubles. Putin has been notoriously cautious about interacting with people since Covid broke-out.

Moreover, there are reports that following the betrayal by Prigozhin, that Putin does not even meet his Security Council without his guards nearby. Given this context, it would seem more likely than not that Putin is using body-doubles to protect himself from sickness as well as from his own citizens.

A recent picture of the dictator with Chechen republic head Ramzan Kadyrov also fuelled rumours as he appeared bloated with mottled skin, with social media users pointing out the differences in height and ear shape.

This painted a stark contrast to the Putin seen in previous pictures, where he stripped topless to ride horseback or plunge himself into an icy lake.

Bizarre previous photoshoots have shown the President topless in masculine poses (AP2012)

Claims that the tyrant is suffering with poor health first began appearing in 2014, with the Kremlin previously denying that Putin was ill, after reports surfaced that he might be suffering from a form of cancer.

In March last year, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters: Some people say he has cancer and some people say he has brain-fog from Covid. Other people just think hes a complete raging bully.

Experts believe Putin has been weakened by the recent coup attempt led by Yevgeny Prigozhin (Sputnik)

Experts believe that his recent appearance, body double or not, in Dagestan was to demonstrate his popularity in the wake of Prigozhins coup attempt, which saw the Wagner group march to just 200km outside Moscow.

Putin has been significantly weakened by the Prigozhin coup attempt; Thus, his alleged trip to Dagestan, where he shook hands with cheering citizens on the street, is the Kremlins attempt to demonstrate that Putin has strong public support, Mr Smarth said.

The reality is that Putin may have well used a body double in Dagestan and the cheering is more analogous to that when North Koreans encounter their dictator, not to when Americans run into a rockstar. The Kremlin is now desperate to make Putin appear strong and in control - however, it is clear that he is losing control of Russia.

If Putin is using a body double, hes not the first Russian or national leader to do so. Stalin reportedly deployed a double for security reasons, while Hitler, Saddam Hussein and North Koreas Kim Jong-Un have also featured on the list.
 Close Crimean Bridge badly damaged after multiple blasts in early hours

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Russian president Vladimir Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback and is buying time to strike back against Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prighozin, CIA director William Burns said.

The Wagner mutiny last month was one of the toughest challenges to the Kremlin in decades and exposed some of the significant weaknesses in a system that Putin has built, Mr Burns said.

Putin is someone who generally thinks that revenge is a dish best served cold, he said at the Aspen Security Forum 2023.

In my experience, Putin is the ultimate apostle of payback so I would be surprised if Prigozhin escapes further retribution.

If I were Prigozhin, I wouldnt fire my food taster.

Meanwhile, the US has hit nearly 120 people and entities with new Russia-related sanctions, designed to block its access to electronics and battlefield supplies.

Russias embassy in Washington denounced the sanctions as part of endless attacks by Joe Bidens administration in the context of the hybrid war unleashed by the West against our country.

Elsewhere, US-supplied cluster munitions are in the Ukrainian militarys hands and are being deployed, John Kirby said.
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Russia is reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraines military intelligence agency has claimed, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of plotting a terrorist attack at the facility.

The number of military patrols around the site of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and in the nearby city of Enerhodar have gradually been decreasing, according to the Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR). Meanwhile, personnel remaining at the plant  which is occupied by Moscows forces  have been told to blame Ukraine in case of any emergency situations, says Kyiv.

According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, GUR said on the Telegram messaging app.

The GUR said that among the first to leave the nuclear power station were three employees of Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom who had been in charge of the Russians activities. It said Ukrainian employees who have signed a contract with Rosatom had also been advised to depart.

Employees should leave by 5 July, it said, and preferably head for the Crimea peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Earlier this month, Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv had received intelligence about an attack on the facility that would result in a radiation leak. He added that they had shared the information with partners including the United States, China, Europe, Brazil and India.

A Ukrainian emergency worker wearing radiation protection suit attends training in Zaporizhzhia (AP)

Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant  a terrorist act with radiation leakage, he said. Radiation has no state borders. Whomever it will hit is deterred only by the direction of the wind... The world has been warned, so the world can and must act, he added. The head of the GUR, Kyrylo Budanov, has also previously alleged that Moscow has mined a number of the power units at the plant, as well as a cooling pond.

Ukraine conducted nuclear disaster response drills in the vicinity of the plant on Thursday. The Kremlin has denied all of Kyivs allegations over the plant and yesterday, the foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused Ukraine of playing a dangerous game over the Zaporizhzhia plant claiming they were telling pure lies and that statements suggesting Moscow plans to blow up the plant were untrue.

Beyond Zaporizhzhia, Mr Zelensky has ordered military commanders to strengthen Ukraines northern military sector following the news that the Russian Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had arrived in Belarus following a failed mutiny against Moscow. Wagner forces have been invited to join Mr Progozhin and there has been speculation they could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 90km (50 miles) from the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

After pushing Russian forces out of northern regions last year, Ukraine took steps to tighten the defence of its border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia.

Right now, there is no direct threat of offensive actions from Belarus and Russia in the zone that is the responsibility of the Northern Group of Forces, North commander General Serhiy Naev said. But he said moves to strengthen Ukraines defence capabilities were needed in the event of a growing threat, and added: Our intelligence does not stop work to obtain information.

Elsewhere, a senior Ukrainian defence official said that Kyivs troops are advancing in all directions of their counteroffensive against Russian forces. Since the start of the counteroffensive this month, Ukraine says it has reasserted control over clusters of villages in the southeast although Russia still holds swathes of territory in the east, south and southeast.

If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions, the deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, told Ukrainian television.

Ms Maliar said Ukrainian troops were moving confidently on the flanks around the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, which is held by Russian forces, and the main fighting was going on around the city.

In the south, Kyivs forces were moving with mixed success and mainly levelling the frontline, she said.

In the south, we are moving with varying success, sometimes there are days when it is more than a kilometre, sometimes less than a kilometre, sometimes up to 2km, she said.

She noted that the effectiveness of the counteroffensive should be evaluated by a lot of different military tasks and not just by advances and the liberation of settlements.

In Washington, General Mark Milley of the US Army said the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces is going slower than people had predicted, but is making steady progress. It is advancing steadily, deliberately, working its way through very difficult minefields, et cetera, he said.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
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More than a dozen states have enacted policies banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender people, as Republicans nationwide have made limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ people a central part of their platform.

However, in US prisons, hardly known for vigorously protecting civil liberties, an unlikely revolution is underway, moving things ever so slowly in the opposite direction. Thanks to a group of pioneering inmates, in the last seven months, the federal prison system provided the first and second ever recorded cases of gender-affirming surgery for its prisoners.

The procedures were a culmination of decades of activism, perseverance, and lawsuits from transgender people in the carcercal system, who fought for legal recognition and dignity at the same time they were fighting for survival, with trans people behind bars facing staggering amounts of violence and sexual abuse.

Nonetheless, despite these milestones, incarcerated people and legal experts say the prison system still barely recognises the basic humanity of trans people, and puts up numerous hurdles to them getting the medical which they need  and which they are entitled to under the US Constitution.

There are an estimated 1,200 transgender people in the US prisons, less than one per cent of the total population behind bars. They may be a small population, but trans people face a disproportionate share of the violence and abuse that plagues the American prison system at large.

Being trans in prison exponentially increases the risk of being sexually abused and physically abused, Julie Abbate, national advocacy director at Just Detention International, a human rights organisation which seeks to end sexual abuse in prisons, told The Independent.

More than one third of trans people in prisons and jails experience sexual violence, the highest reported level of any group, according to a 2018 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Many struggle to access basic services from prisons, like being housed in the wing matching their gender or getting hormone treatments.

Donna Langan, who is housed at a federal prison in Texas, was one of those who fought against this onslaught of mistreatment.

Langan, 65, has been serving a life sentence without parole since 1996, after robbing two banks and assaulting federal officials while being part of a neo-Nazi group.

According to Langan, the violent persona was a mask for someone who was struggling for decades with their gender identity, and she has since disavowed her hateful views.

Ashley Diamond successfully challenged Georgias policy of limiting hormone access to trans people in prison (Ashley Diamond)

She once wrote her entire life has been shaped by the agonizing tension between the immutability of her gender identity and the often life-or-death danger of publicly living her truth.

Not long after entering the system, Langan began reckoning more directly with her gender, and started seeking hormone treatments, but it would take until 2012 to get hormone replacement therapy and take another four years to get moved to a womens facility.

In that long interval, she faced harassment from fellow inmates, and continued to plead with prison authorities for gender-confirming surgery.

I had to constantly think every day about different survival strategies, she told The Intercept in 2018. Youre like, Im not trying to be a victim, yet if youre too aggressive in defending yourself, you can get in trouble.

On paper, the process shouldnt have been that complicated. Prisons are required to provide inmates with necessary medical care, and under the standards of care from organisations like the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and the American Medical Association, gender-affirming surgery is a key tool in fighting the medical condition of gender dysphoria. Joe Biden had campaigned on a promise to ensure all transgender inmates in federal correctional facilities have access to appropriate doctors and medical care. And the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) even has a dedicated group, the Transgender Executive Council, which meets to work through issues and requests related to trans inmates.

Nonetheless, repeated requests from Langan went denied or simply unanswered. Finally, in 2020, she sued in federal court, claiming prison officials were violating her constitutional rights of equal protection under the law and breaking the 8th Amendment, which prevents cruel and unusual punishment.

Langan continued to experience debilitating anguish as a result of severe and inadequately treated gender dysphoria her complaint against the BOP in 2021 read. With a lawsuit looming, the agencys years of delay vanished, and Langan was fast-tracked for surgery, receiving the procedure at the end of 2022.

I hope that many others who need gender confirmation can get it too, Langan said in a statement after getting the surgery.

Trans teen defends affirming healthcare in Senate testimony

Her story  suffering in prison, seemingly arbitrary delays, a lawsuit forcing action  is hardly unique.

Cristina Nichole Iglesias has been in since 1994, almost always housed in mens facilities even though she is a transgender woman. The Florida inmate has been subject to vicious sexual and physical abuse as a result.

In 2016, she first began seeking gender-affirming surgery, after enduring years of mistreatment.

There were pretty regular thoughts about self-harm and self-castration. It was just almost debilitating for her, Li Nowlin-Sohl of the American Civil Liberties Union, which worked with Iglesias to challenge her treatment, told The Independent. Its extremely dysphoric to be in that situation. Its also very unsafe to be a woman, a transgender woman in her case, in her case someone who is on hormones and has breasts, to be in a male facility. There have been times when shes been forced to bathe within view of either male guards or male inmates. Shes received threats.

By 2019, the BOP still hadnt budged on Iglesiass surgery requests, with the agency claiming she needed to have been housed in a womens ward for a year before getting the treatment, even though petitioning for such transfers is nearly impossible in the federal prison system for all but a tiny group of inmates. That same year, she filed a lawsuit.

Another three years later, and the government eventually approved her request for surgery in summer of 2022, though it still took months for the surgery to be complete.

They just kind of kept not making a decision, even after the court ordered them to make a decision, Ms Nowlin-Sohl added. To us, it was potentially an intentional bureaucratic slowing down of the process.

Finally, in March of 2023, Iglesias got her surgery, and the BOP agreed in a settlement to set out timelines for gender-affirming treatments, and to commit to regarding permanent hair removal and gender-affirming care as medically necessary, even though medical officials have held this view for years.

I feel so relieved, Iglesias said in a statement after the surgery. I fought for so long to get the healthcare I need, but wasnt sure this day would ever come. Now, the federal government has finally agreed to provide me with gender-affirming surgery. This will change my life and allow me to live as the woman I am. Gender-affirming care is necessary, lifesaving, and for me and so many others  long overdue.

The victory was deep, but it may only be temporary. This year, as part of a suite of extreme restrictions on LGBTQ+ and in particular trans people, Florida governor Ron DeSantis passed a law that would forbid public funds from going to any hospital, city, or county, which provides gender-affirming care, potentially imperiling the ability of other Florida inmates like Iglesias to get the kind of care they are legally guaranteed.

Prisons, even ones that have approved gender-affirming treatments, often delay access for years (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The advances at the federal level followed activism from people in state justice systems.

In 2020, after fighting the Idaho prison system for years Adree Edmo became the second incarcerated person in the country to ever receive gender-affirming care, following a 2017 case in California prison.

Despite a 2012 diagnosis by prison doctors of gender dysphoria, it took a multi-year legal battle, including taking her case to the Supreme Court, before Edmos surgery was approved. Amy Whelan, senior staff attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, helped litigate Edmos case.

Some of [the prison systems] arguments were that this is a controversial aspect of medicine, which it is not. The medical community has known for decades how to treat gender dysphoria. Its very well established that those treatments are safe and effective and part of the standard of care, she said.

They also argued prisoners in particular do not get to choose the specific form of medical care that they can receive and that because Idaho had provided Ms Edmo with hormones and with other treatments like access to mental health care, that surgery was not required for her, she added. That was very contrary to the evidence in the case and the expert testimonyThe other treatments were so inadequate that she attempted self surgery in order to treat herself.

The herculean, multi-year battles in court to achieve these surgeries are at odds with the basic facts of the law: courts, including the US Supreme Court, have long held that its a violation of the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment for prisons to deny prisoners vital medical care.

The one thing that government officials cant ignore is the constitution, Beth Littrell, senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Centers prograame on LGBTQ+ rights, told The Independent.

Still, prisons have considerable discretion and power in interpreting what medically necessary care means.

The prison officials will say, in our opinion, this persons gender dysphoria is adequately treated, and then youve got to get in front of a court and prove theyre wrong and prove why this sort of treatment is inadequate. Its having the burden of proof in every case which of course for incarcerated people is no easy task, she added. On top of that, the thing were seeing is wholly unqualified healthcare providers who dont know anything about gender dysphoria, have never treated it before, or in fact are transphobic, and theyre the people who decide whether or not a trans person who is incarcerated needs gender confirming surgery.

Even to those who advocate on behalf of trans people in court, the rationale of when the BOPs Transgender Executive Council provides certain care and when it doesnt can be hard to parse.

Its not totally clear to people what their process is, Ms Whelan of the National Center for Lesbian Rights said. The BOP has this subcommittee that is made up of people, who they dont really disclose publicly, who considers issues related to transgender prisoners. They have private meetings about those people. Its not clear what standards theyre providing.

And what standards do make it from behind the curtain seem to fly in the face of basic medical ethics at times, including requirements that trans prisoners avoid disciplinary infractions before accessing certain kinds of care.

Republican states like Florida that penalise institutions for offering gender-affirming care could make access more difficult for trans prisoners (Getty )

They dont condition any other kind of medical care on disciplinary records, she added. That part of their policy is just blatantly unconstitutional. They would never say in any other context, for instance, well Im going to withhold insulin from this person or Im not going to fix their broken arm because they have this disciplinary history.

Even accessing less intensive treatments like hormones can be difficult, compounding the other structural disadvantages that put trans people in a vulnerable position well before they arrive in prison.

Ashley Diamond was born in 1978 to a strict Southern Baptist family in Rome, Georgia. She told her family at a young age she was a woman, and was kicked out of the house by the time she was a teenager, though she managed to find a doctor who prescribed hormone treatments and recommended living in her true gender.

In 2012, she was incarcerated after unknowingly pawning a stolen saw for her boyfriend, the beginning of a hellish journey through the Georgia prison system, out to freedom, then back again.

When she arrived in prison, Ms Diamond said she felt like a deer in the headlights, about to be housed in a mens prison after decades of living as a woman.

Back then, I was literally told, the state of Georgia literally told me, theyre going to make a man out of me. That was literally what I was told when I got there, she told The Independent. Im wearing Hannah Montana pajamas, I have long hair, with breasts, and Im in a mens prison.

Once inside the maximum security Valdosta State Prison, she asked a guard if there was a safe place for people like her. He asked if she could make a fist and fight. Get ready, he said, youre going to do a bunch of that.*

Not only was Ms Diamond housed with men, and sexually assaulted multiple times in prison, but she also lost access to her hormones, causing devastating and lifelong health impacts.

I was vomiting all the time. My breasts started shrinking up. My hips started shrinking up. My hair was not growing, she said. Like I was dying right in front of my eyes. I felt like a wilting flower.

Eventually, even though she says she thought victory had a snowballs chance of surviving in hell, she sued the state of Georgia, arguing their freeze frame policy, requiring proof of previous accces to hormones, was violating the 8th Amendment. The Justice Department filed a statement of interest in the case, and in 2016, she settled with Georgia, which put her out on parole and dropped its hormone policy. That wasnt the end.

Back in Rome, she was suddenly a celebrity, with people thinking she became rich from her settlement. Members of her family still shunned her. The Ku Klux Klan burnt a cross on her lawn.

I became very very depressed, she said. I needed help and I needed help from people who understood what I was going through.

In 2019, she was arrested for failing to appear at a court hearing and violating the terms of her parole because she crossed state lines to access a gender-affirming medical care centre in Florida.

Suddenly, she was back where she started, held in a mens facility, and besieged with violence once again, all while delays in prescriptions meant she functionally still didnt have access to her hormones. She filed a second lawsuit challenging her conditions in 2020, and in 2022, upon receiving parole, decided to drop the case.

Now, she shes in Rome once again, exhausted, but planning to get the hell out of Georgia and move to Los Angeles, where she hopes to pursue her interest in singing and finish making a record. She already works as a Whitney Houston impersonator and wants to move on from the psychological damage her battle with the state of Georgia caused. Family members recently ransacked her house.

Im still not where I need to be, she told The Independent. Im resilient. Ill be ok.

However, to move she still needs permission from the state of Georgia, the same institution that twice nearly killed her by putting her in mens prisons. Otherwise, moving away, and moving on with her life, could constitute another parole violation.

All of these people are descendants, in a legal sense, from Dee Farmer, a transgender inmate in Indiana who was the first trans person to bring a case to the US Supreme Court.

She alleged prison officials knowingly put her in danger, after she was sexually assaulted during her time in a mens prison ward. The high court agreed, finding that prison officials could be shown to be negligent for not protecting trans people. The decision has been cited numerous times and helped inspire the landmark 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act.

Her story illustrates both how much has changed, and how little has advanced, when it comes to the life of transgender people inside of prisons.

Like many transgender people now, Ms Farmer struggled as a young person with harsh bullying from her peers and living on her own. She dropped out of high school and soon racked up of a series of credit card-related infractions, which occurred when she was a teenager and young woman and didnt really understand what she was doing, other than using shopping as an escape.

On the outside, she couldnt get access to medical treatment.

I was already taking female hormones on the black market. I was getting them from some of the people I was hanging out with, some of them were trying to transition, she told The Independent.

In the system, officials lashed out at every turn. In court during her 1986 conviction, a judge demanded she stop dressing as a woman. After she was found guilty, a prison official made inappropriate remarks when she arrived in prison, saying, If I was locked up, you would be my wife.

She was housed with men and cut off from her hormones.

I never really even had considered that they would place me in a womans facility because you know back then it was never even heard of, she said. The term transgender wasnt even heard of. I didnt learn about gender dysphoria and all that stuff until I went to prison. The people out in the community that I lived in, even though there were many trans people in that community, they really didnt know about their conditions and their rights and stuff.

After being raped, she was put in segregation, a form of solitary confinement, with prison officials saying it was for her protection. To this day, many trans people, forced to endure the risks of living in a prison of the opposite gender, are housed in solitary in this manner, even though many human rights experts consider such solitude a kind of torture.

From behind her bars, Ms Farmer watched as her fellow brutalised LGBTQ+ inmates arrived in protective custody.

I just felt so horrible for them, she said. It was almost like weve all endured this.

Some people, faced with choosing life in segregation or violence in the general population, chose the latter after a few weeks of near-total isolation.

One of the only places Ms Farmer was allowed to go was the law library, where she read all day and helped her fellow inmates file legal challenges.

She only got hormone treatment towards the end of her time in prison, many years and numerous lawsuits later.

Ms Farmer, who is now a speaker and legal consultant, is amazed that people in US prisons are now getting gender-affirming surgeries.

Its amazing to me, she said. Since Ive been released, Ive had my own gender-affirming surgery. I tell people that I never envisioned the day that this would almost become the norm, that it would be acceptable and respected and its just really a good feeling. It just inspires me to want to do more and more and to open up as many doors as I can.

It is both vexing, and a potential glimmer of hope, that the treatments transgender people are seeking are legally protected and medically backed. That means, according to Julie Abbate of Just Detention, the main thing that needs to change in US prisons is not any particular policy, but rather the much fuzzier target of the culture within prisons at large.

People can do the right thing under most existing policies, she said. I think the change has to really be on a more basic level, on the level of dignity and respect and understanding. These changes are free. They cost no money.

And yet, as the stories of Donna Langan, Cristina Nichole Iglesias, Adree Edmo, Ashley Diamond, and Dee Farmer make clear, the fight for these basic tenants of human understanding can be the toughest battle of all in America.
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Dolly Parton has spoken of how she is concerned that using artificial intelligence (AI) technology will keep her soul grounded on earth.

The 77-year-old country music star was at a press conference in London on Thursday to talk about her new album Rockstar.

Her first rock and roll record has seen her collaborate with famous faces including Lizzo, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John.

When asked about living on in an artificial form in the future, Parton said: I think Ive left a great body of work behind.

I have to decide how much of that high-tech stuff I want to be involved because I dont want to leave my soul here on this earth.

I think with some of this stuff Ill be grounded here for ever  Ill be around, well find ways to keep me here.

Abba last year launched a purpose-built stadium in London featuring four 3D digital versions of the groups younger selves singing and dancing to 20 or so of their hits.

Sir Mick Jagger has said the virtual concert technology offers bands such as The Rolling Stones a breakthrough to secure their legacies.

Parton also joked that any intelligence she had and everything about her was artificial.

She has made numerous references in the past to cosmetic surgery she has had.

Parton also said she wanted Sir Mick in her new album so bad as her husband Carl Dean loves him.

She added: I wanted him to sing on Satisfaction but he wanted something new and different, which I dont blame him for that, so I wound up singing that with P!nk and Brandi Carlile.

We kept looking for the right song and he was doing an album in LA, and he did some stuff in Nashville, and I kept missing him everywhere. I ran him around like a high-school girl.

Parton also said Dean called her previous cover of Led Zeppelins Stairway To Heaven, Stairway To Hell but seemed to enjoy her more recent covers of rock songs.

She said: I chose songs he loved and some of my favourites  I made him sit down and listen to the whole (album).

So at the end, he said: Its really good To me, that was like somebody else jumping up and down saying Thats the best thing Ive heard. So that made me feel good. I wanted to please him, to be honest more than anybody else.

Parton also clarified whether the album was inspired by her 2022 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

She initially resisted the honour, saying she would respectfully bow out of the process, before later saying she would try to live up to the honour.

Speaking at the Four Seasons Hotel London on Thursday, Parton said: I didnt want to take (the honour) because I didnt think I had earned it. Thats the main reason I went ahead (with rock music).

Rockstar includes nine original songs and 21 well-known rock anthems.

The album is due for release on November 17 2023.
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Air travellers are being failed as no airlines have been fined due to regulatory action in 20 years despite numerous cases of unlawful behaviour, according to a consumer group.

Which? claimed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) should be doing more to pursue court action against law-breaking carriers, and urgently needs stronger enforcement powers.

The CAA was given the ability to apply to courts for enforcement orders against airlines in June 2003 but has used this power just once against a major carrier, in 2018, Which? said.

In that case, Ryanair escaped punishment following a three-year court battle after it agreed to pay passengers compensation for flights cancelled during a strike by pilots.

Which? noted that British Airways was fined $1.1 million (900,000) by the Department of Transportation (DOT) in the US earlier this month over delays in issuing refunds for flights to and from the country which were cancelled during the coronavirus pandemic.

The DOT said it took action after receiving more than 1,200 complaints.

The lack of similar action in the UK  where many more passengers suffered delays to pay outs from the airline  is an embarrassing indictment of weak passenger protections, Which? said.

The consumer organisations analysis found more than 24,000 complaints about airlines relating to compensation were made to the CAA and the UKs two alternative dispute resolution bodies in 2020.

In the UK, airlines are required to issue refunds for cancelled flights within seven days, but many consumers were forced to wait several months at the height of the virus crisis. Other nations whose regulators have fined airlines in recent years include Italy, Germany and Greece.

The Department for Transport (DfT) announced this week that it plans to give the CAA the power to fine airlines for breaches of consumer laws.

Which? called for this legislation to be included in the Kings Speech later this year.

That would demonstrate the Governments intention to implement the change during the next parliamentary session.

Which? director of policy and advocacy, Rocio Concha, said: The US government fining Britains flag carrier when our own authorities are powerless to do the same makes a mockery of aviation regulation in the UK, which has been failing travellers for 20 years.

Passengers have repeatedly endured unfair and, in some cases, unlawful treatment by some airlines in recent years and meaningful action is long past due.

The Government must act without delay and legislate to grant the CAA the powers it needs to issue hefty fines, and hold airlines to account when they break the law.

Until it does so, UK travellers rights will be worth no more than the paper they are written on.

CAA head of consumer Anna Bowles said: We have regularly asked for stronger consumer enforcement powers, including the ability to impose fines on airlines.

This would allow us to take faster action when appropriate and bring our powers in line with other sectoral regulators.

A British Airways spokesman said: Where a customers flight is cancelled, we always offer options including a full refund, rerouting or rebooking onto another service, including with other airlines. We always meet our legal obligations.

Ryanair said in a statement: Any Ryanair customers who are entitled to compensation due to staff strikes in 2018  and who applied directly to Ryanair for compensation  have received compensation directly from Ryanair in line with EU261.
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A tourist filmed carving names into the wall of Romes ancient Colosseum last week has been identified as a fitness trainer living in Britain. The identification was made using photographic comparisons, said Italian police.

They did not identify the suspect, saying only that the man and his girlfriend were a couple who are resident in England.

However, he was named by the Daily Telegraph as Ivan Dimitrov, a 27-year-old fitness instructor and delivery driver who is originally from Bulgaria and lives in Bristol.

He was filmed by an onlooker etching his and his girlfriends name into a wall of the 2,000-year-old monument last Friday. He used a key to write Ivan + Hayley 23.

An angry bystander who filmed the incident asked: Are you serious, man? The video, titled: A*****e tourist carves name in Colosseum in Rome, was uploaded to YouTube and went viral.

Italian police will send a note to the suspects home in England to inform him that he is under investigation, according to Il Messaggero, though it is unclear what will happen next.

It was reported that the man could face a fine of up to 15,000 (12,850) and a prison sentence of up to five years if convicted of defacing the historical monument.

Romes Colosseum is a Unesco world heritage site where gladiators fought with one another and with wild animals including lions, leopards, bulls and ostriches. Its construction began under the reign of the emperor Vespasian in the first century AD.

Visitors take photos of the ancient Colosseum in Rome (AP)

The Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano thanked the police for identifying the alleged suspect of the uncivilised and absurd act committed at the Colosseum.

It was an act that offended those around the world who appreciate the value of archaeology, monuments and history, he said. Now I hope justice will take its course by rigorously applying the laws.

The minister said that the government was considering a law that would impose stringent punishment on those found guilty of defacing or damaging the countrys historical and cultural heritage sites.

Those who cause damage will pay, he said.

In 2014, a Russian tourist was fined 20,000 (17,000) for engraving a K on a wall at the site, and given a suspended four-year jail sentence.

Italian tourism lobby Federturismo, backed by statistics bureau ISTAT, has said 2023 is shaping up as a record for visitors to Italy, surpassing even pre-pandemic levels that hit a high in 2019.
Two glistening red fire trucks were parked beside a ribbon of yellow caution tape that snapped in the wind near Taylor Hall on Northern Arizona University campus Monday morning. Those trucks werent ordinary fire response vehicles.

They belong to the Northern Arizona Regional Response or Special Operations Team, which is operated through the Flagstaff Fire Department.

Theyre manned by 18 specially trained firefighters.

Each person on the special ops team is both a certified hazardous materials technician and a certified technical rescue technician. In order to earn both titles, firefighters have to attend around 400 hours of tailored training. Then, they have to refresh what theyve learned and practice specialty response skills in real-life scenarios.

Thats exactly what the team was doing Monday morning.

Underneath North Campus, a team of firefighters worked on what they call confined space training. That training had the team members suited up and underground.

A series of tunnels snake beneath areas like Taylor Hall, cramped chasms that are no taller than 5 1/2 feet. The underground infrastructure at NAU is characterized by gray brick walls, dusty utility pipes and a dirt floor.

On Monday morning the tunnel air was warm and stale -- not that the training team of firefighters was breathing it in. In order to simulate a response in which oxygen tanks would be required, the special ops team wore masks and coveralls similar to their usual turnouts.

A mannequin was placed more than 20 feet inside the tight tunnels, set for the team to locate and rescue.

Using a yellow rope to mark their position, and communicating with the crew at the entrance to the hole, firefighters navigated on their knees through the tight space with an orange plastic litter  bound to rescue their simulated patient.

This kind of confined space response, Flagstaff Fire Battalion Chief Dave Wilson said, is manpower intensive. A lot of people are needed to help bring patients out of trapped in caves, underground tunnels, basements, or even recently dug trenches safely to the surface.

Thats why members of the special ops team dont ordinarily work together. Their schedules are staggered so that every Flagstaff Fire Department crew on every shift has a technical rescue and hazmat-certified tech on tap if theyre needed.

Thats because skills such as the ones the special ops firefighters were practicing underground are particularly useful in Flagstaff.

A lot of the businesses that you wouldnt even think of have subfloor basements. They have crawl spaces. Its very much needed, Wilson said.

FFDs special ops firefighters train for a diverse set of scenarios.

The same firefighters who navigated NAUs underground in cumbersome gear and oxygen masks are also adept at operations like rope rescue, knot tying, swift water rescues, ice rescue and standard water rescue.

It all works well in Flagstaff because we have ice. We havent had a lot of moving water except for the last two years. You go back to 2000, one of the floods from the wildfires, there was a fatality involved. Swift water is important. We have caves, we have confined space, said Wilson.

He added that the team responds throughout northern Arizona, making them a strong asset for a community that loves hiking, climbing and mountain biking in the great outdoors.

Flagstaff isnt just a place for recreation, so the special ops team also focuses on preparing for more industrial emergencies. While the technical rescue supplies are stored in one special operations truck, the other is packed to the gills with the supplies first responders need to respond to incidents involving hazardous materials.

Where Flagstaff is strategically placed, we have a major railroad, and then we have all our major highways, right? I-40, I-17, 89, said Capt. Kieth Cashatt, who oversees Flagstaff Fire Departments hazmat response. "Thats predominantly where we see most of our incidents -- over the highway. If you look across the country, most hazardous material incidents occur on the highway or in transportation."

Cashatt said the majority of hazardous materials his team has seen are flammable liquids, and a lot of those spills and leaks happen on the major highways.

About 65% of all hazardous materials have some sort of flammability. If you look at, it nationwide or globally, every single community has some sort of flammable liquid. We run on crude oil. Thats what we usually deal with a lot. Different kinds of flammable liquids. We deal with corrosive liquids, oxidizers, flammable gases, toxic gasses, all of those different things, Cashatt said.

While the technical rescue supplies are stored in one special operations truck, the other is packed to the gills with the supplies first responders need to respond to incidents involving hazardous materials.

Specialized support

The two trucks were purchased after Sept. 11, 2001, when federal grant funding came available to better outfit and prepare hazmat crews.

The grants were meant to boost the nations ability to respond to attacks and chemical spills. As time went on, the grant funding dissipated and a lot of hazmat programs took a hit.

In Flagstaff, with the proximity of communities to major highways and a major railroad, the city prioritized keeping the hazmat and technical rescue teams and trucks running, according to Wilson.

It costs lots of money to keep these trucks up. The citys been awesome just keeping this program and this tool for the city available, Wilson said.

For example, the hazmat truck carries three specialized suits. Theyre the same shape and shade of bright yellow that young people might associate with fictional first responders in Monsters Inc. They create an essentially self-contained environment for the wearer, enabling hazmat techs to work in caustic environments for extended periods of time. Those suits cost about $4,500 each.

The hazmat truck is also loaded with pipe fittings to fix leaks, over pack barrels that can contain whole oil drums or large quantities of flammable liquids, and clean-up materials for soaking up spills and decontaminating people, places and things.

Cashatt said its helpful if his team can identify the contaminants theyll be dealing with quickly in order to gauge their response.

Weve got some of that information, but predominantly if it [the incident happens] over the highway, we dont really know until we get there, Cashett said.

The Department of Transportation requires that all vehicles or rail cars carrying hazardous materials display a 12.75-inch diamond-shaped placard that tells first responders some crucial information about the substances they might be dealing with.

Thats giving us the hazard class. Is it a liquid, is it a solid? Were taking all of that information, Cashatt said.

Inside the cab of the citys hazmat truck is a kind of laboratory-meets-office space. Behind the drivers seat in the truck, the team has the space to examine samples of spilled substances to get a better idea of what theyre dealing with.

When you look at hazmat in general, a lot of times we may not know until we get there. We have different clues that we look at. Initially, we get dispatch information. A person dials 911 and whatever they relay to dispatch gets relayed to us, but we dont know if the [reporting party] is actually the truck driver who actually deals with the material or if it was somebody passing by, Cashatt said.

Some of the better advance notice of hazardous substances passing in or around Flagstaff often comes from transportation companies themselves. Flagstaff is bisected by BNSF railway, and, according to Cashatt, the railroad has been an important partner in preparing for the effects of a derailment involving hazardous materials.

The railroad can provide data sheets  manifests that detail whats traveling by rail. BNSF has also designed an app that first responders can use to find out whats moving through Flagstaff on the train.

Cashett said BNSF has its own internal response teams that prepare for derailments, and trains with Flagstaff's special ops crew.

Its two-fold. One were getting training, but were also making connections with those individuals. We gain trust in their capabilities and they gain trust in our capabilities, right? Cashett said. Ive got contacts with the railroad that I can call. Maybe its just a quick technical question about how a valve works and this and that. We do that a lot. Well get ahold of their experts and kind of get a little bit of information on the best action to take. Its a partnership.

Flagstaff firefighters say they have the same goals when responding to any kind of call  from a house fire or medical emergency to a rope rescue or hazmat spill.

When we look at any incident, it is life, safety, incident stabilization and property conservation. Those are our three objectives. The big cardinal three, Cashett said. Well do our best, well set up emergency decon and pull them out to make that rescue. Maybe its a really bad chemical that theyve been exposed to and we know its going to be a body recovery, so maybe we need to do more incident stabilization. Then well eventually get the body out. Well take care of the incident and stabilize the incident and then get the victim out. It just depends on the call. You never know, right?

He said that level of unpredictability can make a firefighters job rewarding.

It also puts the onus on first responders to prepare for nebulous threats. That, too, is part of the job and the reason why specially trained teams like special ops play a crucial role in keeping the city safe.
When polled over who would be in support of the proposed government Rwanda deportations, last nights Question Time audience (29 June), left Fiona Bruce stunned.

Debate was rife on the show after the plans were deemed unlawful by courts, much to the dismay of many politicians.

Even though we have more people that voted Conservative than for any other single party here, is there anyone here who supports sending people to Rwanda?, she asked the audience, all of whom remained silent.

Realising no one had put their hands up, the crowd broke out into applause.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that universities cannot consider race as a factor in admissions, striking down the landmark case Grutter v Bollinger (2003).

This ruling came in response to two cases brought to the high court by students who argued that Harvard and the University of North Carolina had denied their applications due to diversity quotas.

In the majority 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the 14th Amendment applies without regard to any difference of race, of color, or of nationality and therefore must apply to every person.

Here, the Independent looks at how affirmative action was struck down.
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I woke up on June 1 an American citizen enjoying equal protection under the law. I end Pride Month a second-class citizen.

In a 6-3 decision split along party lines, this Republican Supreme Court today ruled that it is lawful for Christian businessowners to discriminate against same-sex couples. The case was brought by one Lorie Smith, a Colorado web designer who is being supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a far-right Christian organization classified as an anti-LGBT+ hate group by the esteemed Southern Poverty Law Center.

Believing that same-sex marriages are false, she sued, alleging that Colorados anti-discrimination law violated her First Amendment rights by compelling her to produce speech which contradicts her sincerely held religious beliefs. The Supreme Court agreed with Smith and the ADF that serving a gay couple would be a bridge too far for this nice Christian lady. She has a right to discriminate.

As a writer and journalist, I believe very strongly in the sanctity of the First Amendment. Freedom of speech is precious. In that regard, even though I am gay, I am inclined to agree with Smith and the Court that compelled speech is a violation of that sacred right.

Except, Smith is not creating work from scratch or producing art in the way that a novelist or a painter or even a newspaper columnist like me is. Instead of creating a work of art and then selling it in the public market, she solicits customers with the stated intention of making a product to suit their needs. This is not about Smiths free expression, then. It is about same-sex couples rights to participate equally in the free market.

In a big city like Denver, this may not be an issue. Plenty of web designers will be happy to serve same-sex couples. In rural parts of Colorado, as is true across this nation, it becomes much more burdensome on lesbian and gay citizens.

Websites can be designed from anywhere, but the Courts logic applies to other creative industries as well. Suddenly, gay couples in rural America may find it difficult to locate a baker to make them a wedding cake, a photographer to take their wedding photos, or a caterer for their reception. Because discrimination is now legal under the guise of preventing compelled speech, any such profession where one hires themselves and their talents out  as opposed to producing art of their own  can now refuse to serve an entire segment of society based on who they are and their exercising of a Constitutional right. (At least, until this extremist Court takes away our right to equal marriage as well, which Justice Clarence Thomas has previously indicated a desire to do.)

Therein lies the crucial distinction this Court ignores. Smith was not being asked to endorse the concept of gay marriage. She was being asked to do a job  a job she would gladly do if the couple was not gay. Had she been asked to espouse a belief which violated her conscience, I would agree with the Courts decision. This actually happened in the case of Ashers Baking Company in Northern Ireland, where the UK Supreme Court found that the Christian owners had a right to refuse to bake a cake with the message support gay marriage because it violated their own beliefs. Support gay marriage is a political belief, which the British court rightly found could amount to compelled speech.

Serving gay people who happen to be entering into a legally recognized marriage, however, is not a political belief. It is discrimination against the couple based on a protected characteristic  in this case, their sexual orientation. Smiths attorneys assert their client would also refuse to serve a heterosexual couple whose marriage violated her beliefs (say, a union born of an adulterous relationship). There is no way she would even know that to be the case, though, unless she is psychic, the couple tells her, or we begin forcing cheating spouses to wear a scarlet A like they are Hester Prynne. No decent person wants that.

Gay couples do not have the luxury of hiding from Smiths prejudices. We are visible by the fact that we are not heterosexual. You dont have to ask if we are gay  if you see two male names or two female names, or you meet two men or two women, reasonable people can put two and two together. Unfortunately, people like Smith are not reasonable; the idea of two and two together doesnt equal four, it equals sin, and her right to judge is now more important than the couples right to exist in public without fear of discrimination.

Even that might be justifiable if turnabout was fair play. If a gay graphic designer could refuse to serve an evangelical heterosexual couple because their religion condemns homosexuality, we would have a chaotic but equal system.

That is not the case, though. If the shoe was on the other foot, the ADF would no doubt sue for religious discrimination under the First Amendment and/or the Civil Rights Act. It is inconceivable that this Court would find the same First Amendment it found protects a religious persons right to discriminate against same-sex couples also protects a gay couples right to sincerely held beliefs not to serve those they may deeply feel are hateful bigots for opposing their own equality under law.

If that sounds like strong language to a Smith or someone like her who wants to discriminate against gay couples because she thinks they are sinners destined to burn in Hell, well, Smiths own position is equally as offensive to me  not because she believes it, but because she wishes to use it to subordinate the civil rights of her fellow Americans to her own religious prejudices. If Smith was simply an evangelical Christian spouting what I believe to be offensive rhetoric online, but treating gay people equally under the law, I would have no grievance with her. I believe strongly in a pluralistic society, so do not actually have a problem with people holding orthodox religious views or believing homosexuality is a sin. I wouldnt be their friend, but I adopt a live-and-let-live mentality.

What I do have a problem with is people who want to force those views on the rest of us or deny equality to their fellow Americans because of them. I have an even bigger problem when a Supreme Court which should be protecting the rights of all Americans instead decides some Americans are more equal than others.

That is what happened today. While looking at the First Amendment, these reactionary extremists in judicial robes ignored the promise of the Fourteenth Amendment, which declares all Americans should enjoy equal protection under the law. It is as unconscionable as it is un-American.

The Supreme Court has now created a two-tiered justice system, one in which gay people can be discriminated against because of a persons prejudice but cannot themselves discriminate against that prejudice. Lesbian and gay Americans are no longer equal citizens under the law, but rather a subset of Americans who it is now acceptable to discriminate against  as long as you do it from behind the Bible.
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You have to wonder why it has taken quite this long for Boris Johnson crony Lord (Zac) Goldsmith to notice that the Sunak administration is uninterested in the climate crisis. The timing is interesting.

Could it, you might further wonder, be anything to do with the recent parliamentary reports on the lies of Partygate, during which our former prime minister and Goldsmith himself were sharply criticised? Apparently, Rishi Sunak asked (or told) Goldsmith to apologise for his remarks, but obviously this was too much for Goldsmiths over-inflated ego.

Might this sudden move also be the latest in Johnsons informal shadow campaign to destabilise Rishi?

The seemingly staged resignation  theres no policy announcement that has prompted it  fits well with the activities of the likes of Nadine Dorries, Jacob Rees-Mogg and that less celebrated Johnsonite, Nigel Adams, who has quit his Selby seat and forced a by-election, just as Johnson himself did in Uxbridge and Dorries is threatening to do in Bedfordshire. They are a dwindling band, these Boris fans, but they can be disruptive.

Loyal as he appears to be to Johnson, Goldsmiths resignation is a bit of a cheek as far as his party and its beleaguered leader is concerned. Resigning on a point of principle  and tacking the climate crisis is a righteous cause  to do so just as the prime minister delivers a keynote speech on the NHS seems cynical and vindictive.

Goldsmith, after all, has just been slammed for contempt of parliament in the latest Privileges Committee report, for his part in a coordinated campaign of vilification and intimidation.

The report noted that Goldsmith had retweeted a tweet calling the inquiry a witch hunt and kangaroo court, and stated: Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it. Its disgraceful, treacherous behaviour, and the government, despite his attempt to inflict maximum damage, is probably better off without him.

Were Goldsmith  a man of unimaginable wealth who seems to treat the environment as a rich mans hobby  still MP for Richmond in south west London, then hed probably have resigned from the Commons as well as the government by now, simply out of spite.

Except that he lost the seat to the Liberal Democrats some years ago, and he doesnt seem inclined to renounce his peerage. Indeed, thanks to his contacts, Goldsmith was swiftly put in the Lords after he messed up his political career.

As for taking principled stance  and sincerely green as he may be, he hardly needs the salary  he can slough it off with the same sense of gilded entitlement that he displayed when he took up the role.

In my opinion, he should be ejected from the Lords for the role he played in Johnsons Trumpian plot to undermine parliament, but you virtually have to murder someone to be stripped of that particular role.

Nonetheless, Goldsmith has been named and shamed in the Commons report, a special mark of shame, and placed in the same miserable bracket as Rees-Mogg and Dorries, Boris Johnsons other attack dogs.

For whatever reason, Goldsmith too seems to be part of the Branch Johnsonian sect, and is remarkably ungrateful to anyone else. Perhaps, like others, he dreams of a return to power and influence when Johnson himself is restored. If so he may as well wait for the return of the real Messiah.

And so the last Johnson sidekick has departed the government. He jumped maybe before he was going to be pushed in some future reshuffle; and to distract from his condemnation by MPs on the Privileges Committee for his behaviour.

Like Johnson himself, however, there will be no glad confident morning again for Goldsmith, and as the famous poem by Browning goes: Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more.
Bank of Ireland's app and online banking systems are not working. Stock image

Some employers have reported not being able to pay staff ahead of the weekend as customers of Bank of Ireland have been left frustrated after its app and online banking services stopped working.

BoI branches stayed open later this evening while the bank deals with the problem.

And the bank is opening 91 of its branches from 10am to 2pm on Saturday to assist customers.

In a statement this evening, the bank said: We are extremely sorry that customers are continuing to experience difficulty in accessing Banking 365 and mobile banking services.

"We are continuing to work on this as a top priority. We have extended opening hours at as many branches as possible until 6pm this evening, and increased the number of colleagues available to serve customers over the phone.

"All other Bank of Ireland services are operating normally including our ATMs, debit and credit cards, and Business Online. We apologise again for this inconvenience, and will provide a further update as soon as possible.

The bank apologised for the IT crash and said it was working hard to fix the issue.

But consumers were furious over the break-down in services, with some demanding the bank compensates them for being unable to use their app or online banking.

Customers of the bank took to social media to express frustration at the issue, and also complain about the banks communication strategy.

One customer said on Twitter: The Bank of Ireland app has been down all morning and I expect on the last Friday of the month many customers are trying to log in and make transactions.

Another asked: I assume Bank of Ireland will be compensating people who cannot log in to make transactions today? Will BOI be professional about this or the usual amateurs?

One person joked: I have a good mind to move my extensive overdraft to Ulster Bank. Oh God! Oh wait!

Customers have been advised to monitor official updates from the bank to find out when the issue is resolved.

In an interview with the Sunday Independent last week Bank of Ireland chief executive Myles OGrady said it was investing heavily in technology.

The bank will invest 1bn in the business over three years, particularly in technology, he said.

Our investments in recent years have been in core systems, in data, robotics, cyber protection, much of which is unseen by customers but which definitely improves the resilience of our technology platform. We also have made very good progress with our customer facing technology.

A failure to solve problems with its technology platforms between 2008 and 2015 led to a 24.5m fine being levied on the bank by the Central Bank in 2021.

The bank announced in March last year that it intends to hire 100 new technology staff.

This was on top of 130 technology hires in 2021.
Insurance companies have been called on to move fast to cut their premiums after a key legislative reform was passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas.

The move changes the law on duty of care. It is a key measure in the battle to crack down on Irelands compo culture.

The aim of the reform is to balance duty of care of clubs, property owners or businesses with the personal responsibility of customers or members of the public.

Up to now when a person has an accident and makes a claim it is often assumed the business or club is responsible.

The change, under the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022, will mean individuals will be expected to take more responsibility for their own safety when entering a business, a club or community building.

The Alliance for Insurance Reform said the legislation includes a significant reform of the duty of care which if commenced quickly and implemented fairly, rebalances duties owed to visitors by occupiers and ensures a fairer allocation of personal responsibility across society.

Alliance board member and grocery stores owner Flora Crowe said: We expect the new rules regarding the voluntary assumption of risk to afford protection to a whole swathe of activities where risks are willingly accepted by people well able to comprehend the nature and extent of those risks.

She said the Alliance was calling for the immediate commencement of the duty-of-care aspect of the legislation so that hard-pressed policy holders can begin to see the benefits intended by it.

Today's News in 90 Seconds - June 29th

Ms Crowe said that with legislation completing its progress through the Oireachtas, the Alliance expects insurers to deliver lower premiums immediately as the risk associated with every new or renewed policy has just reduced significantly.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023 has now been passed by both Houses and will be referred to the President of Ireland to be signed into law.

These measures strike a new and reasonable balance between the responsibilities of the owner or operator of a premises to keep their customers and visitors safe, and what individuals themselves must do when entering a business, club or community building for example.

The passage of this legislation marks an important step in our efforts to make insurance more available and cheaper, she said.

Junior Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who has responsibility for insurance, called on insurers to cut their premiums.

It is now time for insurers to step up, increase their risk appetites and reduce prices in response to these developments, and to work with their customers to ensure that the benefits of this legislation can be fully realised.

A number of new entrants have announced their intention to expand into Ireland which, she said, was a welcome development.

The junior minister said she had recently met with a number of these companies including OUTsurance, Coverys International and Revolut.

Knowing this legislative change was on track, and now that it is enacted, has helped make Ireland a more attractive market for such new entrants to come here and set up operations, she said.

The Alliance for Insurance Reform called on Ms Carroll MacNeill to keep a promise she made on RTEs Prime Time in May to contact the chief executives of insurance companies directly as soon as the legislation was passed and seek a meeting with them to press for lower premiums.
Alessia Bowman helps her father round up cattle at their home property on April 05, 2020 in Tarpoly Creek, Australia. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The European Union has failed to offer Australia satisfactory terms to seal a free-trade accord, Trade Minister Don Farrell said, as small but important sticking points threaten to derail plans to sign by the end of August.

EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said Wednesday evening in Brussels that it's possible the agreement could be signed at a NATO summit in Lithuania in mid-July, the Australian Financial Review reported. The five-year negotiations between the bloc and Canberra are in their "end-game," he told reporters, adding there is still "certain ground to be covered."

Australia remains dissatisfied with the level of market access being offered for agricultural products and isn't prepared to sign a deal without "meaningful commercial market access," Farrell said Thursday in a statement. "At this stage we haven't had a good enough offer from the Europeans," he said.

Behind the scenes, European negotiators believe the FTA could be agreed in coming weeks if differences over the last major sticking point market access for Australian beef are bridged, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

But Australia is signaling it's unhappy with the access on offer across a range of agricultural products, including beef, sugar and mutton. It needs to decide then whether to take what's on the table or walk away.

Australia is believed to want a deal similar to the FTA struck between the EU and Canada in 2014.

There are also disagreements over the EU's insistence on geographical indication protection for hundreds of products that could affect the branding of Australia's exports such as prosecco and feta.

EU negotiators consider these to be non-negotiables while Farrell has previously said it was an "emotional issue" for Australian farmers.

Resolving these are likely to be easier if the key issue of beef is resolved.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend the NATO summit in Vilnius starting July 11, while Farrell may return to the EU for further negotiations in early July, both potential opportunities to further or finalize the trade agreement.

Bloomberg.
Barrels in the cellar of the Guy Mea champagne house in Louvois, France, on Friday, March 24, 2023.

Sophie Moussie, head of the Guy Mea champagne house, in the cellars of the Guy Mea champagne house in Louvois, France, on Friday, March 24, 2023.

Sophie Moussie, head of the Guy Mea champagne house, tends to vines on the family's vineyard in Louvois, France, on Friday, March 24, 2023. In France, winery consolidation and surging land prices mean when a family head dies some must choose between long-term debt or selling an estate thats been passed down for generations. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- As a little girl helping her parents and grandparents in the rolling vineyards of northeast France, Sophie Moussie declared that she would one day run the family business.

These days, three young boys tag along as Sophie works the same rich soil. And the legacy vines that cling to the hillsides belong to her.

Moussie, 35, is newly head of the champagne house Guy Mea. Her maternal grandfather, for whom the winery is named, passed away last year and her parents decided to retire. So Sophie became the fifth generation to take ownership, to work the land, to make the wine, to assume the family heritage.

In doing so, she joins a wave of other young women in the Champagne-Ardenne region, and throughout France, leading these deep-rooted endowments into an uncertain future.

"The family patrimony is an inheritance, that is to say that one takes on one's shoulders a responsibility to perpetuate a business, a responsibility to maintain jobs," she said. "I have a responsibility to work with nature, the environment."

Sophie Moussie, head of the Guy Mea champagne house, in the cellars of the Guy Mea champagne house in Louvois, France, on Friday, March 24, 2023.

But the environment is changing, and pressure from outside investors is driving up the market values of family-run vineyards and farmland throughout the country to the point that some can't pay the inheritance tax without running up long-term debt or selling off a portion of their estate.

The pressure is especially acute for heritage vineyards like Guy Mea, which covers 7 hectares of grand and premier cru champagne vineyards gnarly vines, twisting out of limestone and clay soils, in a patchwork of plots mostly in the Montagne de Reims about 100 miles east of Paris.

When an estate operator dies in France an average inheritance tax now amounts to more than five years' worth of a winery's pure profit, the General Union of the Champagne Winemakers estimates.

"In France transmission is very expensive," said Moussie. "It's very, very expensive."

So while Moussie marks her first year as sole head of Guy Mea, her mind and valuable time are still occupied by the process of organizing her business and paying down the inheritance tax. And she's already planning for the time, perhaps decades from now, when the family business is handed down again.

"It's also my responsibility to conserve this story, this family history, this family patrimony," she says, "through the next generation."

'We Are Small Pawns'

The actual tax rate Moussie and others must pay to take over an estate depends on how well their parents or grandparents planned and organized their business and because this is an inheritance, the number of heirs.

In France the order of heirs and inheritance for landowners is set into laws that began under Napoleon. An heir can include the deceased person's spouse, children, parents, aunts and uncles, and first cousins, and others, depending on the marital status and presence of a will..

Without any special preparation and in the event of the death of the owner, each heir benefits from an allowance of 100,000 euros (about $109,000), after which the tax rate is progressive. It is for example 20% on an inheritance of 15,933 to 552,324 euros, then the rate increases to 30%, and upwards from there.

"When the transmission of a vineyard is not prepared and an owner dies, this can quickly represent an extremely high transmission cost for the heirs," said Charles Guillaume, legal manager for the Agricultural Cooperation and Winegrowers Cooperative, the Paris-based advocacy group for wine and agricultural cooperatives.

The budget passed by the French government late last year made a few changes meant to give farmers the same tax benefits as other businesses. An agriculture law now in the works could do even more, but its fate is uncertain.

French lawmaker Eric Girardin took to the floor of the National Assembly late last year to call for additional changes to the nation's tax structure for estate wineries.

"We are small pawns by generation to transmit this culture and to maintain French culture," said Moussie, seated at a farmhouse table surrounded by bottles of her family's champagne and photos of her three sons traipsing among the vines.

"But after a while between all the taxes, etc., the fact that there aren't more people who want to work in the vineyards can be a bit complicated."

Aging Farmers, Rising Land Values

France's farms and its nearly 60,000 vineyards are critical to the national identity and sovereignty of the country, as well as its bottom line. Wine makes up 14% of agricultural production by value in France, but uses just 3% of the agricultural land.

Exports of wine and spirits help offset France's foreign trade balance in 2021 wine and spirits represented a net surplus of 14.6 billion euros for foreign trade, according to a report by Girardin.

But France's farmers are getting old.

More than one out of two farmers will retire in the next 10 years, Girardin said. And France's wine growers, too, are aging.

Nearly 63% of wine growers are over 50 years old, according to the Champagne union. And only about 7,000 of the nation's vineyards are now headed by independent winegrowers, like Guy Mea.

Pair an aging owner and farmer population with rising land costs and you've got an inheritance problem.

And then there is the issue of an extended family of heirs, not all entirely committed to the wine growing way of life these minority partners can be "sensitive" to the value offered by potential outside investors, Girardin wrote in a report he produced on inheritance taxes.

France is seeing "a gradual disappearance of family farms and an increase in the acquisition of agricultural and wine-growing farms by foreign or institutional investors, who are not subject to such restrictive transfer taxes," Girardin said, calling for an easing of inheritance taxes in the new budget.

External investors corporate or private buy up land at rates not always linked to the profitability of farms, but instead tied to their prestige, said Guillaume, the Paris-based wine industry advocate.

In recent years Provence, with its rose now surging in popularity, has become the center of high-value acquisitions and deep-pocketed investment. In February, after much speculation, MoAt Hennessy announced it would take on a majority capital role in the Chateau Minuty, a grand cru classA estate in CAtes-de-Provence, held by the Matton family over four generations since 1955.

At the time of the announcement, Jean-Etienne Matton, one of the current owners and operators, told France's Figaro newspaper that he and his brother would have liked to pursue a family succession, "but we felt it would be complicated. It's a large family," he said. The brothers will continue to manage the estate, which in 2022 produced 9 million bottles of wine, for two or three years, he said.

The Fa'bulleuses

"The presence of such investors on the market can lead to an increase in the price of vineyard land and create competition with family transmissions which can see the opportunity for a strong capital gain in these takeover proposals," Guillaume wrote in an email.

The value of farmland in Saone and Loire in the Burgundy region doubled from 2009 to 2019, but the bottle price can't compensate for the increase in land valuations. And the spike in the cost of land comes even as wineries see a drop in grape yield because of climate change, Girardin's report found.

The Guy Guy Mea vines sit in an area where the average price per hectare of land today is 1.6 million euros. In the course of two decades, the price of the highest-level Appellation d'Origine ProtAgAe (protected designation of origin) of Champagne vines has more than tripled, according to the General Union of Champagne Winemakers.

"If you don't organize your transmission, you need to sell your vineyard. And who buys vineyards? LVMH," Moussi said, referring to LVMH, Hennessy Louis Vuitton, which owns brands like Chandon, Krug, Veuve Clicquot, as well as Dior, Givenchy, and others.

As a child, Moussi would tell people she wanted to be a "champagneuse," a made-up word that encapsulated the future she saw for herself in the family business. Now she frets that there are too few people who share her dream.

Moussi is part of a rarified group of French women who sit at the head of a vineyard business women make up just 12% of heads of operations in viticulture, compared to about 17% in agriculture in general, according to data from France's Agricultural social mutual organization. Through the Fa'bulleuses, a play on the words fabulous and the word for the ever-present bubbles in champagne, she joins a union of sorts with six other women also at the head of champagne houses who share their knowledge and experience, and advocate for their region and products.

Moussi already has seen the effects of corporate pressure, she said. A few of her new generation have sold their estates they looked at a life where success from year to year depends on an unpredictable climate, they calculated how much tax they'd pay to keep their land, and they decided they would rather have a big house, a nice car.

But that's it, their family heritage is gone forever, she said, in some cases taking with it centuries of French winemaking tradition.

Barrels in the cellar of the Guy Mea champagne house in Louvois, France, on Friday, March 24, 2023.

Pas Mal

Just as France's wine products vary a floral Blanc de Blancs Champagne bears little resemblance to a toffee-scented Cognaca the challenges facing each region's vineyards vary, Girardin found.

The number of holdings parcels or estates of vineyard land held by a family or company fell between 2010 and 2020 in nearly all French vineyard regions. The result is more consolidation and fewer owners per hectare.

Charente Maritime, where Cognac vineyards stretch across nearly 75,000 hectares, was an exception during this period of consolidation: the region saw an 11% increase in vineyard holdings, according to data provided by the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC).

Anthony Brun, a winegrower and the head of the viticulture family at the BNIC, was in the family business and had already begun the land transmission process when his father died unexpectedly. That made for a more expensive and complicated transmission, but still the cost could have been much more had they not already done some planning, he explained.

Generally, Brun said, in Cognac, the outlook remains rosy because there is still land to expand to and the product's success appeals to younger generations of winegrowers. There is a price increase for land because Cognac is doing well, but there are still plantable areas, which helps reduce pressure when a vineyard does sell, he said.

"We are not in the case of other names," Brun said, meaning other wine regions.

The key to keeping inheritance costs low is anticipation and preparation a in Cognac, groups like BNIC try to share the best information on how to ease generational transmission, he said.

France generally has a heavy taxation on inheritance transmission compared to neighboring countries. But not everyone is calling for change.

Viticulture benefits from a privileged place in the fiscal law in France, said Martin Rouzeau, a notary specially trained to help family estates prepare their inheritance process.

"The transmission of wineries is split over time. The cost is significant, but the winegrower is able to pay if the transmission project is well prepared in advance," he said about the inheritance process.

And unlike other areas with perhaps fewer resources, Champagne winegrowers are generally accompanied and advised by specialized professionals like a notary, lawyer, or an accountant, he said.

Rouzeau said that in his view the inheritance tax doesn't have to be a problem, especially in the Champagne region where the cost of wine has increased alongside the cost of land. But, he noted, it's not his money he's not the one who needs to have 120,000 euros on hand when parents or grandparents die.

Solutions Proposed

Some in French President Emmanuel Macron's government and the French legislature want to ensure the next generation of farmers is prepared to take on the work and that there are enough people who can and want to support French agriculture and wine growing.

Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau tasked Girardin with his report last year and the government and Parliament are working on a new agriculture law this year.

French businesses can benefit from a quasi-exemption from capital gains tax for corporate investors under certain circumstances thanks to the "niche Cope" named for the former budget minister Jean-Francois Cope, who developed the scheme to keep France's business environment competitive with neighboring countries.

Girardin pointed to this scheme when arguing for a leveling of the tax playing field for family owners and operators. Several benefits provided to agricultural inheritances exist already, such as a system of long-term leases they can pair with the advanced transfer of property to heirs at a lower rate of taxation.

The budget for 2023 changed one of those tax tools up to 500,000 euros of rural property can be transferred at a very reduced tax rate if it is rented by long-term lease and if the donee keeps the land for 10 years (instead of 5 years for the previous ceiling of 300,000 euros).

The Champagne union calls for the cap to be removed entirely a proposal Girardin put forward in his report and that could find its way into the new agricultural law.

Girardin's plan also would limit the impact of speculative purchases by removing the outliersathe most exceptional prices when calculating land values to determine how much of an inheritance can be transferred free of charge. This would bring down the overall land value for inheritance purposes and reduce the tax burden.

And Girardin wants France to create a "transmission check" for farm managers between the ages of 40 and 60 to get them thinking and acting for the future.

He also proposed a one-stop shop in the government for farmers to get specific answers directly about the estate transfer processes. And even more fundamentally he calls for strengthening the availability of advisers skilled in rural law.

Fesneau, the agriculture minister, is currently touring the country, speaking with agriculture groups and meeting with students in agriculture schools in advance of his new law and pact on agriculture. He expects to have a bill ready this summer for Parliament to debate in the fall.

The bill will particularly focus on climate change and the renewal of generations within agriculture, he said.

The Job

It's easy, Moussie said, for people outside of the industry to just see the money it's Champagne after all. But they don't consider the work of a winemaker: the mud, the stress of a late frost, the hands stained from picking and weighing bunches of grapes, the long, intense days of the harvest, the constant vigilance of aging the wine in barrels.

The work and family are showcased throughout the winemaking and cellar areas at Guy Mea a photo of Sophie pregnant clipping a vine; another image with four generations sitting among barrels; another still of the day they cut down the tree that would become their barrels. Even the champagne aging in barrels bears a personal touch each one is named for a family member of whom that blend of grapes reminds Moussie.

"If you are not in this environment, you will see just the money. Not the importance to have a vineyard to make a wine," she said.

Moussie believes deeply, she said, in her responsibility to her land and sees her family as creating a heritage not just for themselves, but for others and for France.

Occasionally she will hear from a customer with a story that stays with her. Like the man gifted a bottle of her family's champagne as a newborn, who wanted Sophie to know that the bottle had just been opened to toast the birth of his own child, the next generation.

"And so I did my job," Moussie said. "That is also my patrimony."

Bloomberg.
DOWNIEVILLE, Calif.  Using chainsaws, heavy machinery and controlled burns, the Biden administration is trying to turn the tide on worsening wildfires in the U.S. West through a multi-billion dollar cleanup of forests choked with dead trees and undergrowth.

Yet one year into what's envisioned as a decade-long effort, federal land managers are scrambling to catch up after falling behind on several of their priority forests for thinning even as they exceeded goals elsewhere. And they've skipped over some highly at-risk communities to work in less threatened areas, according to data obtained by The Associated Press, public records and Congressional testimony.

With climate change making the situation increasingly dire, mixed early results from the administrations initiative underscore the challenge of reversing decades of lax forest management and aggressive fire suppression that allowed many woodlands to become tinderboxes. The ambitious effort comes amid pushback from lawmakers dissatisfied with progress to date and criticism from some environmentalists for cutting too many trees.

Administration officials in interviews and during testimony maintained that the thinning work is making a difference. Work announced to date, they said, will help lessen wildfire dangers faced by more than 500 communities in 10 states. But they also acknowledged finishing the task will require far more resources than what's already dedicated.

As much money as we're receiving, it's not enough to take care of the problems that we are seeing, particularly across the West, said Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. "This is an emergency situation in many places, and we are acting with a sense of urgency."

Big money for big problem

Congress in the last two years approved more than $4 billion in additional funding to prevent repeats of destructive infernos that have torched communities including in California, Colorado and Montana.

By logging and burning trees and low-lying vegetation, officials hope to lessen forest fuels and keep fires that originate on federal lands from exploding through nearby cities and towns.

The enormity of the task is evident in an aerial view of California's Tahoe National Forest, where mountainsides are colored brown and gray with the vast number of trees killed by insects and drought. After work on the Tahoe was delayed last year, Forest Service crews and contractors recently started taking down trees across thousands of acres.

The forests as we know them in California and across the West, theyre dying. Theyre being destroyed through fire. Theyre dying from drought, disease and insects, said forest Supervisor Eli Ilano. "Theyre dying at a pace that were having trouble keeping up with.

The scale of spending is unprecedented, said Courtney Schultz with Colorado State University. The forest policy expert said millions of acres have been through environmental review and are ready for work.

If we really want to go big across the landscape  to reduce fuels enough to affect fire behavior and have some impact on communities  we need to be planning large projects, she said.

Key to that strategy is addressing forest patches where computer simulations show wildfire could easily spread to inhabited areas. Some areas have yet to get the extra funding for thinning despite facing high risk, including portions of Californias Sierra Nevada range, Montanas Bitterroot Valley and around Mescalero Apache lands in southern New Mexico.

Only about a third of the land the U.S. Forest Service treated last year was designated with high wildfire hazard potential, agency documents show. About half the forest was in the southeastern U.S., where wildfires are less severe but weather conditions make it easier to use intentional burns, the documents show.

The infrastructure bill passed two years ago with bipartisan support included a requirement for the administration to treat forests across 10 million acres  15,625 square miles or 40,500 square kilometers  by 2027. Less than 10% of that was addressed in the first year.

The Forest Service is obligating hundreds of millions of dollars, but not in the areas required by law, said Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Forest Service spokesman Wade Muehlhof said the agency was confident in the administration's strategy, but declined to say if it would meet the acreage mandates.

Mixed first-year results

An AP analysis of federal data reveals the scale of the challenge: Hundreds of communities are threatened by the potential for fires to ignite on federal forests and spread to populated areas.

In California, thinning zones announced to date address the risk to only about one-in-five houses and other buildings potentially exposed to fires on federal lands, the analysis shows. In Nevada and Oregon, it's about half of exposed structures, and in Montana it's one-in 25.

Most areas identified as hot spots where forest fires have high potential to burn into populated areas wont be addressed for at least the next several years, according to government planning documents. And computer models project up to 20% of areas that need thinning will be hit by fires before that work occurs.

Architects of the Forest Services strategy based it on tens millions of computer wildfire simulations being used to predict areas that pose the greatest risk. Those scenarios showed fires on only 10% to 20% of the land would account for 80% of exposure to communities.

This is a mapped plan through time, where we can laser-focus on one highly important issue: the problem of communities being destroyed by wildfires started on public lands, said Forest Service fire scientist Alan Ager.

Falling short in a risky area

In 2022, the Forest Service missed its treatment goals in four of 10 areas targeted as priorities. One was the Tahoe National Forest's North Yuba region, where the agency addressed only 6% of the acreage planned.

Small towns tucked into the forests canyons escaped disaster two years ago when the Dixie fire raged just to the north, destroying several communities and burning about 1,500 square miles (3,900 square kilometers) in the Sierra Nevada range. Those communities also escaped another fire to the south that burned more than 1,000 homes and structures. The previous year, yet another fire killed 15 people and torched more than 2,000 homes and structures in the region.

The same conditions that whipped those fires into infernos exist on the Tahoe forest  densely-packed trees and underbrush primed to burn following years of drought. And government computer modeling suggests its among the U.S. communities most exposed to wildfires on federal lands.

Five million trees died on the Tahoe last year alone, said Ilano, the forest supervisor.

What were realizing is were not moving fast enough, that the fires are burning bigger and more intense, more quickly than we anticipated, Ilano said.

Earlier this month, tracked vehicles including one known as a harvester worked through dense stands on the North Yuba, clipping large trees at their base and stripping them bare of branches in just seconds, then piling the trunks to be burned later. Elsewhere, work crews walked slowly behind a wood chipper as it was pulled along a forest road, stuffing the machine with small trees and branches cut to clear the understory.

The increased logging needed to reach the governments lofty goals has gained acceptance as the growing toll from wildfires softens longstanding opposition from some environmental groups and ecologists.

Gone are the days when things were black and white and either good or bad, said Melinda Booth, former director of the South Yuba River Citizens League. We need targeted treatment, targeted thinning, which does include logging.

Others think officials are going too far. Sue Britting with Sierra Forest Legacy says the North Yuba plan includes about nine square miles (23 square kilometers) of older trees and stands along waterways that should be preserved. Yet for most of the work, Britting said it's time to move forward on a thinning project years in the making.

Obstacles to thinning strategy

Hindering the Forest Service nationwide is a shortage of workers to cut and remove trees on the scale demanded, government officials and forestry experts say. Litigation ties up many projects, with environmental reviews taking three years on average before work begins, according to the Property and Environment Research Center, a Bozeman, Montana think tank.

Another problem: Thinning operations arent allowed in federally designated wilderness areas. That puts off limits about a third of National Forest areas that expose communities to high wildfire risk and means some thinning work must be carried out in a patchwork fashion.

Keeping track of progress presents its own challenges. Acres that get worked on are often counted twice or more  first when the trees are cut down, again when leftover piles of woody material on the same site are removed, and yet again when that landscape is later subjected to prescribed fire, said Schultz of Colorado State University.

Even where thinning is allowed, officials face other potential constraints, such as protecting older groves important for wildlife habitat. A Biden inventory of public lands in April identified more than 175,000 square miles (453,000 square kilometers) of old growth and mature forests on U.S. government land.

The inventory will be used to craft new rules to better protect those woodlands from fires, insects and other side effects of climate change. But theres overlap between older forests and many areas slated for thinning. That includes more than half of the treatment area at North Yuba, according to an AP analysis of mature forest data compiled by the conservation group Wild Heritage.

Whats driving all of this is insect infestation, drought stress, and all of that is related to the climate, said Wild Heritage chief scientist Dominick DellaSalla. I dont think you can get out of it by thinning.
More than 8,000 patients were admitted to Irish hospitals without a bed in June, new figures show.

According to the Irish Nurse and Midwives Organisation (INMO) Trolley Watch figures, 8,312 patients, including 164 children, were admitted to hospital without a bed this month. When compared to last year's figures for June, this is a 17pc decrease.

University Hospital Limerick had the highest level of overcrowding, with 1,689 patients on trolleys this month. This is followed by Sligo University Hospital, with 822 patients waiting.

Both Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Galway had 695 and 637 patients waiting for beds respectively, while St Jamess Hospital in Dublin recorded 599 patients, according to the INMO figures.

While the trolley count remains high across the country, new data shows the number has dropped by almost 4,000 in the last month.

Last month recorded 11,856 admitted patients without hospital beds where 309 were children.

The INMO said its figures are tallied every morning, looking at how many patients are waiting in emergency departments and in wards, for beds.

Meanwhile, the INMO welcomed the establishment of a new Health and Social Care Advisory Committee of the Health and Safety Authority.

Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney confirmed to the INMO that this Committee will be established before the end of the year.

General secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said recent INMO surveys show that over 65pc of nurses have faced some type of aggression at work.

The INMO has long called for this type of action to be taken in light of the often-dangerous conditions that nurses and midwives work in, she said.

It is not acceptable that over ten nurses and midwives are physically, verbally or sexually assaulted every single day all while working in overcrowded and understaffed wards.

The work of the HSA has been transformative in the construction and farming sectors. We look forward to strong worker representation in the work of the new Health and Social Care Advisory Committee.

Ensuring a safer workplace will go a long way to improving the retention levels in the health service.
Ryan Tubridy to remain off air next week, with Oliver Callan to host The Ryan Tubridy show

RTE has confirmed that Ryan Tubridy will not be returning to his radio show next week.

And the broadcaster also confirmed that the forthcoming season of The Late Late Show fronted by new host Patrick Kielty will be nearly two months shorter than in previous years.

Tubridy has been off air for editorial reasons since the scandal over extra undislosed payments to the presenter emerged last week.

Quizzed on whether Tubridy would return to the airwaves in the foreseeable future, an RTE spokesperson said he would not be returning to presenting duties on The Ryan Tubridy Show on Radio One next week, but would not be drawn on whether his absence would last longer than that.

RTE CFO reluctant to answer when asked about his salary

"RTE has legal obligations under the broadcasting legislation, that its editorial output must be objective and impartial. In circumstances where matters related to the presenter are of public interest and controversy, it is not appropriate for the presenter to be on air, the spokesperson said.

They also confirmed that comedian Oliver Callan would continue to fill in for Tubridy next week, and that they would provide an update on Tubridys return next week.

The broadcaster also provided clarity on the length of the autumn season of The Late Late Show, which will be fronted by Tubridys replacement, Patrick Kielty.

On Thursday, Northern Irish comedian and broadcaster Kielty revealed details of his contract with RTE, saying he would be paid 250,000 for three seasons of 30 episodes each, plus an initial fee of 20,000 for preparatory work on the show.

Patrick Kielty. Photo: Kevin Scott/Belfast Telegraph

However, he has waived expenses of 50,000 and will cover his own accommodation and travel costs.

Read more Eight of the most shocking moments from Public Accounts Committee meeting with RTE bosses

The last season fronted by Tubridy was 36 episodes, six episodes more than the 30 in Kieltys contract, and RTE says recent seasons have run from 35 to 37 episodes.

As he would be paid pro-rata for additional episodes, this raised the prospect of him being paid an additional 58,000, as reported this morning by Independent.ie

The Executive Board failed in its responsibility to act as a collective" RTE Interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch says

However, this evening, RTE confirmed that the next season would only run to 30 episodes  nearly two months shorter than previous seasons.

Ryan Tubridy received 515,000 from RTE in 2022. This was higher than the 440,000 originally stated by the broadcaster, and also covered his radio show.

The Friday night chat show typically finishes on the last weekend in May for its summer break and returns at the end of August or start of September for the winter season.

Tubridys last season as presenter of the show, which finished on May 26, contained 36 episodes.

In his statement on Thursday, Kielty said: I genuinely hope this helps clarify things going forward. I cant wait to get started.

RTE bosses have confirmed Kieltys contract to present the show has been signed by both sides.

RTE interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch said Kielty had recently been informed of the impending issue around Ryan Tubridys pay.

As soon as we were aware as an exec board, he was warned it was coming, Mr Lynch said.

Mr Tubridy announced his decision to step down as host of the chat show in March after 14 years.

Following news of his departure earlier this year, then Director General Dee Forbes said she would consider mixing up the format of the Late Late Show following Tubridys exit.

Leisure company Center Parcs' sponsorship of Tubridy's radio programme has been paused, RTE has confirmed.

Following reports in The Journal, RTE confirmed on Friday that Center Parcs would not be renewing its sponsorship deal of Tubridy's programme.

It also said that the current sponsorship of the radio programme has been paused since last Friday.

"Center Parcs confirmed, via their agency Core, on June 20 that they did not wish to renew their sponsorship of The Ryan Tubridy Show," RTE said in a statement.

"The current sponsorship has been paused since Friday 23rd June and the current sponsorship contract will expire on August 28."
The Workplace Relations Commission has ordered its largest payment this year of 133,000 to the former chief executive of a medical clothing firm who said its investors pulled funding and told him to either work for free or leave immediately without pay.

The sum awarded by the tribunal to Mario Kirstner against Suirsafe Technologies Ltd consists of 108,000 for constructive dismissal and a further 25,800 for illegal wage deductions.

The dismissal award is the largest payment ordered by the tribunal under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 so far this year, and amounts to the full six months of lost earnings claimed by Mr Kirstner after leaving the 216,000-a-year role.

His case was heard in the absence of the respondent company last month after the firm failed to appear to make out a defence.

In evidence, Mr Kirstner said he was put in an impossible position in April 2022 by the owners of Suirsafe Technologies Ltd when they cited a political/legal situation in China and said it could not continue to invest capital into the Irish firm.

He said the company was heavily reliant on shareholder funding just to survive  but that the investors, Li Sen and Cynthia Ye, put it to him that: [We] hope the management of Suirsafe will find ways to survive this critical period and avoid insolvency.

That position was entirely unreasonable, but he did his best to keep the company running  making sure that other staff were paid after May 2022 despite not receiving his pay after that time, he said.

Today's News in 90 Seconds - June 30th

After he wrote to staff telling them he feared insolvency without an immediate cash injection, the companys backers demoted him to chief operating officer and replaced him with one of the investors, Ms Ye, he told the tribunal.

The investors then ordered him to hand over full control of the firms bank accounts to Ms Ye and register her as a director, Mr Kirstner said.

He told the tribunal he opposed the demotion as unilateral and unreasonable but went along with the orders as Ms Ye had promised a funds transfer.

Mr Kirstner said he hoped the funding would arrive in time to keep the company running and save his colleagues jobs but that no money came.

He said his faith in the shareholders, Mr Li and Ms Ye, was misplaced.

Mr Kirstner said that he gave notice of resignation in May 2022 and agreed to serve out the six months notice set out in his contract.

However, he got an ultimatum back from Ms Ye to either continue working for the firm without a salary until it became profitable, or leave without what she referred to as a six months transition period.

This was a clear reference to his contractual notice period. Essentially, the Complainant was informed that he could work for free or leave without pay, his solicitors, McInnes Dunne Murphy LLP, wrote in a legal submission.

They added that Mr Kirstner had been left with no oversight of financial or other management matters and feared being left in breach of his duties as a company director.

The complainants lawyers said Ms Ye had complete disregard for [Mr Kirstners] rights as an employee and that their client had been treated in a demeaning, unfair and callous manner.

He had no choice but to resign, the solicitors argued, with the tribunal noting that Mr Kirstner quit his employment and his directorships of group companies with immediate effect on 14 June last year.

Mr Kirstner said Ms Ye cut off all communication with him after he resigned, blocking him on the Chinese messaging app WeChat and refusing to take his calls or answer his emails.

In his pay claim, Mr Kirstners position was that he got no salary payments between 1 May 2022 and the date of his resignation, and that this had been an unlawful wage deduction.

In his decision, WRC adjudicating officer Peter OBrien ruled that the company set about to commit a significant breach of the contract by not paying [Mr Kirstner] during the notice period or expecting him to work for six months for no pay.

The adjudicator wrote that the complainant was entitled to resign immediately without using the firms grievance procedure, and upheld the unfair dismissal claim.

Mr OBrien added that he was satisfied with Mr Kirstners explanation that the six month notice period set out in the contract left prospective employers reluctant to take him on until it expired, and awarded the full six months lost earnings sought, 108,000,

The adjudicator added that the companys failure to pay Mr Kirstner for six weeks between 1 May and 13 June 2022 was illegal  awarding 25,800 under the Payment of Wages Act 1991.
Snowdonia has been dealing with overcrowding in recent years, but some areas remain calm and quiet

I feel like Ive stepped through the wardrobe and into Narnia as we pull up to our hotel in Betws-y-Coed, our home for the next few days.

Set on the north-eastern edge of Snowdownia National Park, the village is only 23km from Snowdon and the mountains peak is visible at almost every corner.

The mountains tower around us, shrouding us from the wind and creating a bubble of tranquillity. Theres no one around but us  even the Royal Oak Hotel, where were staying, is deserted aside from the staff.

In recent years, Snowdonia National Park has been experiencing an overcrowding problem, with approximately 600,000 people visiting every year, mostly gathering on trails to reach the summit of Snowdon.

But that shouldnt put you off visiting, as there are still plenty of quiet areas to explore.

To help visitors find these more peaceful spots (and others across the UKs most popular areas), AllTrails has created a downloadable app, featuring trail maps along with photos, reviews, and user recordings crowdsourced from a community of over 50 million hikers, backpackers, mountain bikers and trail runners.

Eager to see how it all works, Ive joined a group on a mission to test the effectiveness of the app over the next few days.

Chynna and her friends halfway up Moel Siabod. Photo: PA

AllTrails offers the standard easy/moderate/hard and distance filtering you would expect from any hiking app, but you can also filter for accessibility, child-friendliness, and what kind of views youre after.

What Im most interested in, however, is the trail usage function, which allows me to filter out all the busier routes.

We dive in at the deep end with a walk to the summit of Moel Siabod, Snowdons neighbour. The hike is only 7.5km in total, but the challenge lies in the elevation. Parts of the trail are very steep and the thinner air means getting out of breath unfortunately becomes all too familiar. The hike is classified as hard and I can definitely feel it once we reach the summit.

Theres very little noise on our way up and we see a grand total of three people along the way  surprising considering how popular Snowdonia is as a hiking destination.

Instead, there are plenty of sheep, although I have no idea how they made it this far up the mountainside. Theyre having a grand old time though, bleating at us as we walk by.

The walk up is well sheltered  but Moel Siabod is on the edge of the mountain range, so once we reach the top theres nothing protecting us from the wind that comes barrelling across the Welsh landscape.

We stop for a few minutes; snack bars are shared around, and we all drink at least half a litre of water. I stand on the edge of the rocks looking down at the sweeping park views. Its hard to believe something so otherworldly exists in the UK.

The long way down feels much tougher. But even though my knees are aching, Im distracted by the scenery.

We stop for a quick pint a the bottom of the mountain before heading for dinner at the Pont-y-Pair Inn, just a little way down from our hotel (mains around 15/17.40). The building looks Victorian with its grey-brown bricks and triangle-shaped roof. Its a typical village pub, mostly empty aside from a few reliable regulars propping up the bar. My meal is delicious and pleasantly filling after the long hike.

Snowdonia National Park

Our second day starts with an early morning kayak session at Llyn Padarn in Llanberis  only a half-hour drive through the National Park. Despite the sun, 9:45am is still early enough to be a little bit chilly, and Im grateful for the full-length wetsuit Ive been given.

Ive kayaked before, so it feels familiar to be on the water again. Dan McGonigle, our instructor, gets us playing a game of keep away as he threatens to capsize us if we get hit by his ball. Thankfully, its a calm day, so theres plenty of time to admire the countryside views as sunshine sparkles on the water. Dan tells us that Llyn Padarn is one of just a small handful of lakes in the UK where you can find Arctic Charr, a breed of freshwater fish.

The wind picks up as were heading back to shore, and I can feel my arms begin to ache from the paddling.

Next, we head to Bryn Williams Porth Eirias, a beautiful beachside seafood restaurant in Colwyn Bay (portheirias.com; mains around 20/23), where a soundtrack of rolling waves accompanies my meal of freshly caught fish.

Later on, we head out on a mindfulness walk led by Davy Greenough  a local who takes hikers through guided meditations as they traverse the forest towards Llyn y Parc. The 6km trail begins right on the doorstep of our hotel, and is a much easier walk than weve been doing.

I savour the peace and tranquillity as we walk in silence for 20 minutes, listening to birds digging in the undergrowth as a breeze rustles through the trees.

In a secluded part of the forest, we have the opportunity to meditate on the edge of Llyn y Parc. Davy tells us he started doing the meditative walks by himself when he realised the stress of his day job was damaging his mental health. Now, he tries to keep the habit up daily.

Our third and final day dawns bright and early with an easy walk up to Llyn Elsi  a beautiful lake hidden away in the middle of Gwydir Forest, which encircles Betws-y-Coed. The first half of the hike is up a fairly steep hill, although still not as sharp of an incline as Moel Siabod.

The forest is so quiet  theres no one around but us and the conifer, oak and beech trees. The trail takes us around the entire lake, showing off all the different landscape Wales has to offer: mountains, forest, countryside and picturesque villages.

The trail feels shorter on the way down, perhaps because Im aware my time here is coming to an end.

Snowdonia is certainly the place to go to switch off and ignore your emails. And, if you know where to go, you wont be bothered by crowds.

How to plan your trip

The Royal Oak Hotel (royaloakhotel.net) has rooms from 130/150 a night, breakfast included.

Download the AllTrails app from the App Store or Google Play for free. Pro membership, which allows you to download trails for use offline, costs 2.99/month or 35.99/year.
A number of Irish dancing judges and teachers have been accused of fixing results before competitions. Photo: Getty Images

Irish dancing judges accused of cheating have been told they can return to competitions while they wait for disciplinary processes to start.

Letters sent to dozens of teachers and judges who were embroiled in the global cheating scandal have confirmed that their suspensions have now been lifted.

An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha (CLRG) has dropped the suspensions amid fears it would be paralysed by legal costs.

Earlier this year, one dance judge who was accused of feis-fixing successfully took the CLRG to the High Court to lift her suspension. A solicitor acting for Amanda Hennigan, the Irish dancing judge who took the case, warned the CLRG to drop all other suspensions or face similar litigation.

In a letter sent to those facing disciplinary hearings, and seen by the Irish Independent, the disciplinary co-ordinator for the CLRG has confirmed that the suspensions imposed after the scandal broke have now been rescinded.

As the newly appointed co-ordinator I will be liaising with you to arrange for the scheduling of your hearing and I will endeavour to ensure that this occurs in as timely a manner as possible, the letter said.

The scandal first became public last October. Allegations of cheating had been shared with the CLRG last summer, but it was not until the matter made it into the national and international media that the dance body took steps to suspend those accused of cheating.

It was promised that all those accused of rigging dance competitions would face disciplinary action, but eight months on this has not happened.

More than 40 people are accused of feis-fixing. It is understood there is growing anger among those accused of cheating, many of whom have been named online and shunned within the world of Irish dance. Some feel a small minority have been blamed for a practice that was reportedly endemic within the world of Irish dancing.

Text messages 'to judges' throw Irish Dancing world into chaos

A CLRG spokesperson confirmed that all of those who have been accused of cheating can officiate at CLRG competitions while the disciplinary process is ongoing.

They said that the CLRGs disciplinary co-ordinator is currently serving books of evidence and scheduling hearing dates for those individuals facing a disciplinary hearing. An effort is being made to accommodate individuals located in different time zones.

The spokesperson added: All cases will be heard by an independent external disciplinary panel convened by the disciplinary co-ordinator. CLRG has developed an enhanced set of disciplinary procedures and practices that allow the external disciplinary panel to hear CLRG disciplinary cases, address the differing degrees of misconduct, account for the international spread of cases to be heard, and permit legal representation.
The US military once had a policy of dont ask, dont tell, a compromise designed to allow all citizens to serve in the armed forces irrespective of sexual orientation. Someone must have advised RTEs senior management team to adopt the same formula during the Dee Forbes era, judging by responses to Oireachtas committee hearings this week.
In any engagement where the elephant is standing on the tail of the mouse, you can scarcely characterise the latter as the aggressor. Yet this was exactly what Vladimir Putin has repeatedly tried to do since invading Ukraine.

Kyiv has shown Moscow just how grievously mistaken it was to believe for a single instant it was dealing with a frightened rodent. But over the past seven days it was Putin who had every reason to feel he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

The seismic shock of Yevgeny Prigozhins revolt has yet to fully register. The Russian presidents power structure may still be standing, but few believe its core has not been rocked by the revolt.

So as leaders of the EU and Nato met to discuss critical assistance for Ukraine the subtext was about the wider implications of an unstable Russia.

The prospects of a civil war in a country with the most nuclear weapons on the planet are almost too terrible to think of, yet not to do so might be even more terrible. Putin has made himself a pariah, yet his grip on control gave some grounds for believing some order could be maintained. The possibility of the Wagner chief seizing authority or creating further turmoil, cannot be discounted.

For as Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said: The mutiny we saw at the weekend demonstrates that there are cracks and divisions within the Russian system.

Clearly there was an onus on all leaders not to make the situation any more volatile with incendiary comment. Nonetheless many feel the escapade has reached right into the Kremlin, and its implications could yet be enormous.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz would not be drawn into speculation but he did say: They  the consequences of the revolt  will certainly have a long-lasting impact in Russia.

The EUs top diplomat Josep Borrell was less circumspect, warning that the aborted mutiny has made Putin more dangerous to his Western neighbours. Its clear that Putin (comes) out of this crisis weakened, but a weaker Putin is a greater danger, he said.

EU leaders evidently believe the war in Ukraine and the events in Russia are now at a defining stage. For all that there is no appetite to commit to hard military guarantees, but every effort to exert more pressure on Moscow will be made.

There is a sharper focus on how the 200bn in frozen Russian assets within the EU might be used to assist Kyiv. But missing still is an agreed legal framework for doing so.

As calls for more concerted action grow, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Ireland had secured assurances regarding respect for our special position as a neutral country. The bloc also agreed to offer future security commitments amid the rising instability.

Kyiv is pressing for a clearer pathway into Nato to deter Moscow from further aggression. If ever there was a time for thinking before acting, and favouring cool heads and sober appraisals, this is it.
RTE Executives and Board members depart Leinster House yesterday (28/06/2023) after the media committee sitting. L-r; Richard Collins (Chief Financial Officer), Robert Shortt (Board Staff Representative), Adrian Lynch (Director of Audience, Channels and Marketing), Siun Ni Raghallaigh ( Chairperson of the Board), Rory Coveney ( Director of Strategy), Anne O'Leary (Chair of Audit and Risk Committee) and Geraldine O'Leary (Director of Commercial). Picture; Gerry Mooney

It was open season on RTE officials this week as they appeared before two Oireachtas committees to account for the hidden payments issued to Ryan Tubridy.

The Oireachtas Media Committee and Dail Public Accounts Committee, revealed verbal agreements, resignation demands and why Toy Show the musical was terminated.

Even Patrick Kieltys salary to host the Late Late Show and Ryan Tubridys own future at RTE were in the line of fire.

Fionnan Sheahan is joined by Irish Independent Political Correspondent Gabija Gataveckaite and Deputy Political Editor Hugh OConnell to look at what we learned from the Oireachtas committee hearings into RTE and ask if the reputation of the national broadcaster is damaged beyond repair?
A man arrested this week in connection with Garda investigations into the theft of livestock and agricultural machinery in the Kerry and West Cork Garda Divisions was released without charge yesterday afternoon.

The man, aged in his 30s, was the second person arrested in a matter of weeks as part of the ongoing investigations into the thefts between November 2022 and March of this year. As was the case with the first man arrested, he has been released without charge, and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Gardai confirmed to The Kerryman.

The stolen items amount to 110,000 in value. The first man arrested and subsequently released without charge this month was aged in his 20s. Gardai seized machinery at locations in the North and West of the county in the days before that man was released from custody.

It is thought that an organised crime group has links to the thefts.
Free wheelingAnto Cronin, left, will attempt to cycle the 1705km for this years Annual Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle on his Penny Farthing in aid of Kerry Mountain Rescue Team. Photo by Valerie O'Sullivan.

The annual Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle is one of the key parts of any summer season in Kerry, and as it marks its 41st event, it can no doubt boast that it is one of the longest-running charity cycles.

It also remains very popular and tomorrow, Saturday, July 1, will see around 4,500 cyclists take on the 170km cycle from Killarney around the popular tourist route, passing towns and villages such as Killorglin, Glenbeigh, Cahersiveen, Waterville, Sneem and Kenmare.

The majority, after completing the 170km cycle, will arrive back in Killarney at around the same time as the All Ireland quarter-final between Kerry and Tyrone is scheduled to start, 3.45pm. A big screen will be placed in the Beech Road Car Park for all cyclists to watch the match and celebrate their success.

This car park is closed both today, Friday June 30, and tomorrow, Saturday July 1. Number collection for registered cyclists will take place from 3pm today at the car park and will be open until 10pm tonight.

Rolling road closures are in place around the Ring of Kerry, and motorists are asked to be mindful that the event is on and that thousands of cyclists will travel the route.

This is particularly important for those travelling to the match as there is a detour at Caragh Bridge for those leaving from South Kerry.

Other road closures include the road from Sneem to Kenmare to Molls Gap, all the way to Torc, which is closed from 11am to 8pm tomorrow, July 1.

Mission Road in Killarney will also be closed in the morning until 9pm to allow for the official start of the event at 7.30am by Bishop of Kerry Ray Browne and new Cathaoirleach or Mayor of Killarney Cllr Brendan Cronin.

Since its inception back in 1982, close to 18million has been raised, with last years event alone  the first after a two-year hiatus  raising a cool 934,000.

The main beneficiary charities chosen this year include Breakthrough Cancer Research, Comfort for Chemo, Kerry Mountain Rescue, National Breast Cancer Research, Valentia Hospital and the Irish Community Air Ambulance under Critical Emergency Medical Response.

Other important local charities receiving support include Killarney Water Rescue, South West Counselling, Recovery Haven, Saoirse Foundation/Bumbelance, Clionas Foundation and AK Inspired (Muscular Dystrophy).

PRO Cathal Walshe has wished all the cyclists the best on their journey and has forecasted good weather for the day, though maybe a bit blustery!
Further priest retirements in the Kerry Diocese will see two more parishes served by pastoral area priests, Bishop Ray Browne has announced today.

Abbeydorney parish priest Fr Denis OMahony and Adrigole parish priest Martin Sheehan have both confirmed their retirements to Bishop Browne. Fr Jerry Keane (Eyeries) will now take up the Abbeydorney position, with Fr John Kerin (Tuosist) replacing Fr Keane in Eyeries.

The changes mean Kenmare Pastoral Area priests will now serve Tuosist parish, with Fr Niall Howard as moderator. The Beara Pastoral Area will serve Adrigole Parish, with Fr Noel Spring as moderator.

One of the most visible results of these appointments is change in the number and times of weekend Masses in the parishes of the pastoral areas, Bishop Browne said today. Unfortunately, in some situations people will have less choice of Masses. It will require extra effort/sacrifice for people to gather with their community for Sunday vigil/morning Mass.

Priests of all Pastoral Areas in the Diocese will take up different responsibilities outside of their own parishes, Bishop Browne has also announced. These changes will be communicated locally.

No priest in Kerry continues to work full-time within their own parish owing to their commitments in parishes without resident priests.

Killarney man Mark Moriarty will be ordained as a priest in St Marys Cathedral on August 13, Bishop Browne said on a more positive note for the Diocese.

The Bishop of Kerry said the changes announced today are typical of events in every Diocese in Ireland and Britain and, indeed, many Western countries.

With the two retirements, we now will have two more parishes served by the priests of their pastoral areas, he said. This causes change and adjustment in the lives of both clergy and people (especially parish staff and volunteers) in all the parishes of those pastoral areas.

It involves an extra workload on the priests. I deeply appreciate the willingness of all to do this. It is important to remember that not only are some parishes without a resident priest, but all priests are no longer full-time in their own parishes due to their commitments in the parishes without a resident priest.

Bishop Browne also thanked Fr OMahony and Fr Sheehan for their service.

They are fondly remembered by the people of the parishes where they served, he said. I wish them good health and happiness in retirement. I also thank the priests who have readily agreed to uproot and move to new parishes.
There is great sadness in South Kerry this week at the news that a well-known fisherman has passed away while out collecting lobster pots.

The man was discovered in his boat on Thursday by a fellow fisherman who had also gone out to pick up lobster pots and noticed a boat drifting in the water.

He pulled the boat to the shore and alerted gardai to the incident.

It is understood that there is nothing suspicious about the death of this fisherman, who is believed to have died of natural causes.

The man has been named locally as Joe OSullivan, known by everyone as Joe Jim, and he is from Direenmacken, Tahilla, near Sneem and Blackwater.

Teddy ONeill of the Blackwater Tavern paid tribute to him and said the whole community is saddened by his unexpected death.

"He would come in every Friday night and would always join in with a sing-song, he loved to sing a few songs," he said.

"He was a gentlemen and was friendly with everyone and he would always join the Blackwater Women's group community trip, which he loved going on. He had even booked for the next one in September.

Joe Jim loved fishing and would often take tourists out for trips and many came back to see him and remained friends with him having met on their holidays.

He loved his boat and was a very knowledgeable man, too, said Teddy.

"He will be missed by all his neighbours.

Tributes have also been paid to him on social media, with many expressing their sadness at his death.

While the exact circumstances are not known gardai, believe he went fishing from Tahilla on Wednesday evening, June 28, possibly to collect pots, and was discovered dead in his boat in the early hours of Thursday morning in Coomagilleagh, Tuosist.

A post-mortem took place yesterday, Thursday June 29, at University Hospital Kerry.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
TFI Local Link Kerry is launching a new bus service, which will improve connectivity between Waterville and Kenmare, from Monday July 10.

TFI Local Link Kerry is launching a new bus service, which will improve connectivity between Waterville and Kenmare, from Monday July 10.

This new route is part of the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan, which is a major national public transport initiative developed and funded by the National Transport Authority (NTA) as part of the Transport for Ireland (TFI) Network.

Route 281 will operate four return trips Monday to Sunday. The route will cover the Iveragh Peninsula and will facilitate onward travel at Kenmare for connections to Killarney, Tralee, Bantry and Skibbereen. The route will also provide a peak-time service for commuters and improved connectivity to regional bus services and the wider TFI network.

The route from Waterville to Kenmare will offer enhanced connectivity to villages and areas such as Sneem, Caherdaniel, Castlecove and Tahilla.

Route 281 is the first of three routes, in a planned phased roll out this summer of new and enhanced TFI Local Link bus services in Co. Kerry, which when used together, will allow passengers to travel around the Ring of Kerry, all year round.

Speaking ahead of the launch, TFI Local Link Kerry Manager, Alan OConnell said: Local Link Kerry is delighted that the NTA continues to support the ongoing development of local bus services under the Connecting Ireland Plan, and I am confident that the Waterville, Sneem to Kenmare bus service will be well supported by the local communities and visitors all along the route.

"The expansion of public transport services across the Iveragh Peninsula will open up opportunities not only for local residents to make connections for employment, health, education and recreational purposes but will also allow visitors to access the many areas of natural beauty along this breath-taking section of the Ring of Kerry."

"The timetable is designed to allow people who wish to travel from Waterville, Caherdaniel, Castlecove or Sneem to arrive into Kenmare & Killarney before 9am, with four return services Monday to Sunday. There are also timed connections in Kenmare with the recently expanded Route 270 Skibbereen - Bantry - Kenmare - Killarney bus service operated by Bus Eireann."
A High Court judge has refused to extradite a man to Scotland on humanitarian grounds after noting that prison overcrowding would see him locked up for 22 hours a day with less than three square meters of space, while authorities there also had "poor recognition" of neuro-developmental disorders.
While the Wexford Rose for 2023 Bronagh Hogan has been, quite rightly, lauded as she attempts to bring the crown back to The Model County, there will, in fact, be two Roses from the county appearing in Tralee this August. Although she will be representing her adopted city of Sydney when she appears at the Dome, Aoife Butler is Askamore born and bred and Wexford to the core.

During a visit to her home village Aoife explained how she had come to be selected as the Sydney Rose for 2023.

I entered at the end of March in Sydney where Ive been living for four years and now have permanent residency, she said. I work as a clinical nurse educator at St Vincents Hospital Sydney, my role is supporting students, those on internships and those within the Emergency Department mental health team. Entering the competition was something I wanted to do for the last while so I put in the application and luckily they gave me a chance. I was competing against 13 other ladies, all of us had Irish connections.

When it came to performing her party piece, Aoife had to face one of her biggest fears, had to do something which she had long since dreaded.

I sang and played guitar in the Sydney final, it was the first time Id ever sang in public and I had a huge fear of doing it. But it was a goal of mine to do that and even if I hadnt won I would have felt like Id achieved something, she said.

Having sang The Galway Shawl in Sydney, Aoife says she will sing again in Tralee but has yet to decide what song shell perform on stage. Regardless of what the song is she is guaranteed to have massive support both in Wexford and Sydney. But there is one person in particular who will be cheering loudest when Aoife appears beside Daithi.

Ive had great support from local businesses here in Askamore which I think is a testament to everyone in the area, and we had a great turnout at the school. Im going to be bringing around 40 people to Tralee to support me but my nanny Aggie, who raised me along with my sister Michelle, will be watching from her nursing home in Carnew. Shes actually the first resident to move in there, Im sure theyll have something on the night, shes very excited for me.

There will be one other person on Aoifes mind when she arrives in Tralee and slowly takes in the enormity of her achievements. Although he is no longer with her in person, she says her late brother Matthew is never far from her thoughts.

My brother Matthew had also lived in Australia but he passed away in 2016. I think that happening made me more determined to make the best of my life out there. Ive faced various challenges throughout my life, but now I want to become a positive role model for young people.

"If you had told me years ago that I would have ended up on stage representing Sydney in the Rose of Tralee I wouldnt have believed you, and thats why I think its an important message for young people, to show that you can overcome adversity, that not everything has to go perfectly in your life for you to succeed.
Awards acknowledge work carried out by schools in areas of science, technology, engineering and maths

The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, has congratulated the 15 County Wexford primary schools who have received the 2023 Curious Minds Award for their innovative approaches to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) learning and engagement.

Announcing the 2023 Curious Mind Awards, Minister Simon Harris, TD, said: I am delighted to announce the 15 winners of this years SFI Curious Minds Awards from Wexford. I want to congratulate all involved for their hard work and enthusiasm. Through programmes such as the Curious Minds Awards, we see first-hand teachers and schools empowering curiosity through a hands-on, inquiry-based approach to STEM learning.

The high level of engagement this year can be credited to the schools and teachers who have put effort into giving their students access to STEM in a fun, interactive and educational way.

Primary Schools received awards in three categories: The Silver Award, recognising schools entering for the first time; the Gold Award, for schools further along their STEM journey; and the Platinum Award, for schools who have achieved previous awards and want to integrate STEM into the community further.

In County Wexford this year, four schools received the Silver Award (Screen NS, Kilrane NS, St John of God Primary School, Scoil Mhaodhoig Poulfur), 10 received the Gold Award (Scoil Naisiunta Baile An Phiarsaigh, St Canices NS, Clonroche NS, Scoil Mhuire Coolcotts, Scoil Mhuire Rosslare, Gaelscoil Moshiolog, St Iberius NS, Kennedy Park NS, Scoil Mhuire NS, Castlebridge NS) and one received the Platinum Award (Gorey Central).

The Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) programme, run in conjunction with the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO), aims to increase interest in STEM among primary school students, parents, and teachers nationwide in a fun and interactive way.

The awards were granted for a wide range of innovative and engaging STEM activities from investigating renewable energy, growing vegetables, mini-beast hunts, learning about materials and maths through baking, design and make challenges, marble runs, enhancing their technology skills through coding, and using STEM to solve everyday problems.

Commenting on the awards, Professor Philip Nolan, Director General of Science Foundation Ireland said: At Science Foundation Ireland, we are committed to making science accessible to all. Introducing students to science in a practical, hands-on, enjoyable and interactive way, tapping into and nurturing their natural curiosity, is a core objective for SFI as we continue to break down barriers to engaging young people in STEM. The Curious Minds Awards are a perfect way to motivate students interest in STEM in the classroom. It is extremely positive to see so many primary schools in Wexford taking part, and I congratulate all the teachers, schools and parents for their commitment to STEM.
Nicola Cleary from EcoTrail Wicklow, with Nicola Fitzgerald, Failte Ireland, and Fred Verdier, Tourism Officer at Wicklow County Council, pictured on Bray Head.

Failte Ireland has come on board to support the EcoTrail Wicklow running festival, which taked places from Thursday, September 28 to Saturday, September 30.

The race day itself is on the Saturday, but Failte Ireland's backing will help create a festival atmosphere over the three days, and increase its awareness abroad to encourage international participation.

The event offers participants four distances to choose from, all going through stunning scenery in Wicklow, from Bray Head over the Sugar Loaf to Varty Lakes and back.

The 19km is a fantastic race for anyone who wants to have a go at trail running, taking runners over Bray Head, Killruddery, the Little Sugarloaf and Belmont Demesne.

The 30km offers an added challenge and includes a loop around the iconic Big Sugarloaf. There are then two ultra-running distance options, with the 46km extending to Powerscourt Waterfall and the Wicklow Way.

The 80km runners will follow the Wicklow Way to Lough Tay (or Guinness Lake) and a loop around the Vartry Reservoir, before working their way back to Bray.

Cathaoirleach of Wicklow County Council, Cllr Aoife Flynn Kennedy, said: EcoTrail Wicklow has found a lasting home in Bray. The incredible setting by the Irish Sea and the network of trail leading to Wicklow National Park and beyond make Bray a perfect year-round gateway to Wicklows outstanding outdoor playground.

And pointing to the international participants, Fred Verdier, Tourism Officer at Wicklow County Council, added: We are absolutely delighted to get Failte Irelands support and are busy planning for the event in September. After three editions, EcoTrail Wicklow is growing from strength to strength attracting participants from 40 different nationalities as far as Singapore, South Africa and Mexico.

Meanwhile, commenting on the import of such events for brand Ireland, Ciara Sugrue, Head of Festivals and Events at Failte Ireland, said: Developing unique visitor events like EcoTrail Wicklow plays an important role in the recovery of the tourism sector for Wicklow and the wider Irelands Ancient East region. Participative festivals like EcoTrail Wicklow create new and compelling reasons for visitors to explore Ireland and experience first-hand our world-class outdoor activity offering.

"Events like this have the ability to drive footfall for local businesses, which in turn generates revenue and supports jobs in communities and revenue generation.
There were heartwarming scenes as the latest class of children prepared to wave goodbye to Jolly Tots Creche.

Twelve children enjoyed their graduation ceremony at South Bray Resource Centre, on Thursday, June 22, where they sang songs and received their end-of-year folders.

There were also celebrations for the staff and clients of the creche as they celebrated achieving the Healthy Ireland Smart Start Birth- 3 and revalidation of the Pre-school Awards.

Mandy O Reilly, from Jolly Tots, said they are proud to help make changes that could impact the lives of children.

Ireland is currently in the grip of a national obesity epidemic, she said. I am extremely proud of Angela O Reilly and our excellent team for working so hard to attain these awards.

"The staff at Jolly Tots have worked closely with the parents/guardians who attend our service to implement the changes needed to have attained this award.

Jolly Tots is one of two creche services offered in Bray by the Bray Family Resource and Development Project.
Bray School Projects Annual Art Day, which is always a highlight in the school calendar, took place on Thursday, June 22, in beautiful sunshine on the school grounds. More than 100 artists and volunteers ran diverse arts activities for the children, from Junior Infants all the way up to 6th class.

Speaking about the day, Bray School Projects new Principal, Alan Bedford, said: When I first started here in December, the children were keen to check with me that we would still have our Art Day. I have heard so much about it in the months coming up to last Thursday.

"I have to say, I was blown away by the lovely atmosphere, the number of volunteers and the sheer scale of the event. This isnt something that could be easily replicated, it has grown over years and years and is the highlight of our school calendar.

Tara Kelly, who has been involved in Art Day for 15 years, said: As a volunteer on the Hattitude stall, I have had the pleasure of meeting so many children. The stall invites the children to think of a character and we quickly pull together a costume. Their ideas are wonderful and its a joy to meet them. As a community, Art Day has been so successful in bringing parents together and each year brings new ideas and enthusiasm.
WICKLOW County Council has joined forces with other local authorities from coastal regions to pledge their commitment to the Think Before You Flush campaign on all Blue Flag beaches.

Operated by Clean Coasts in partnership with Uisce Eireann, the campaign emphasises the importance of appropriate flushing behaviour and disposal of items, including wipes and other sanitary products in the bin, even if they are labelled as flushable. Only the three Ps, pee, poo and paper should be flushed down the toilet.

When items such as wipes and sanitary products are flushed down the toilet, they can cause serious blockages in sewage systems, leading to sewage overflows and ultimately polluting coastal waters and beaches.

Recognising the urgent need to protect Irelands remarkable coastal ecosystems, Wicklow County Council has united with other coastal local authorities around Ireland in their commitment to spread awareness about the campaign and promote responsible waste disposal practices.

Under this collaborative effort, participating councils will display Think Before You Flush signage on Blue Flag beaches, offering clear instructions on appropriate flushing behaviour, highlighting the main items people incorrectly flush down their toilets and encouraging visitors to use designated sanitary waste bins.

Sinead McCoy, Coastal Communities Manager at Clean Coasts, expressed her enthusiasm for Wicklow County Councils collaborative efforts and support of the campaign.

This joint commitment not only underscores Wicklow County Councils dedication to promoting environmental practices but also highlights shared responsibility for our coastal communities, she said.

Talking about the importance of safeguarding our water and local environment, Tom Cuddy, Uisce Eireann said: Everyday people flush thousands of sanitary items such as wet wipes and cotton buds down the toilet instead of simply putting them in the bin.

This causes blockages in our network, pumping stations and wastewater treatment plants and can lead to sewage overflows impacting some of our most beautiful coastal and river locations.

We clear approximately 10,000 blockages from our wastewater network every year.

Tom added: We are delighted to continue our partnership with Clean Coasts and collaborate with local councils and communities including those with Blue Flag beaches to preserve and protect our environment, and shine a light on the link between what you flush down the toilet and can end up on your local beach.
A wild pink lotus flower with two carpellary receptacles was captured by photographers at the Puzhehei scenic area in Qiubei county, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao autonomous prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province on June 28.

The blooming season of rare varieties of wild versicolor lotus flowers at the scenic spot lasts from late May until the middle of September every year.

In the past, twin lotus flowers on one stalk, lotus flowers with two colors, lotus flowers with three colors, twin lotus flowers with two colors, and twin lotus flowers with three colors, were spotted at the scenic area.
CLLR John Snell wants Wicklow County Council to give consideration to a compolsory purchase order (CPO) of a private site in Rathew, where illegal encampments pop-up regularly.

Speaking at last Junes meeting of Wicklow Municipal District, Cllr Snell said the site in questions was owned by members of the traveller community living in the UK.

Every few years caravans move onto the site and form an illegal encampment, he explained. This time the illegal encampment moved on and within a week it was replaced by a single caravan.

"There was an arson attack where a caravan was burnt out a number of years ago, but thankfully no one was in the caravan at the time. Wicklow County Council needs to look at a CPO for the site as its a game of cat and mouse and the ones losing out are the public and the tax payers.
The press watchdog has upheld a complaint that a Jeremy Clarkson opinion column in The Sun was sexist towards the Duchess of Sussex, describing some of the comments about her as pejorative and prejudicial.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) also rejected complaints that the piece  in which Clarkson wrote he had dreamed of Meghan being paraded naked through British towns and publicly shamed  was inaccurate, harassed the duchess and included discriminatory references to her on the grounds of race.

The newspaper will have to publish a summary of the findings against it on the same page as the column usually appears, along with a notice flagging the statement on the front page of Saturdays edition and on its website.

In a statement, the newspaper said it accepts that with free expression comes responsibility, adding it has a proud history of campaigning for women.

The Fawcett Society gender equality charity, which complained to Ipso, said the ruling is a landmark decision about a vile and offensive column.

The Duchess of Sussex was the subject of the column (Chris Jackson/PA)

The ruling is the first time a complaint to Ipso about discrimination relating to someones sex has been upheld, the regulator said.

Ipso found the article made references to the duchesss sex, including a claim that she exercised power over the Duke of Sussex because of her sexuality.

It said this was a reference to stereotypes about women using their sexuality to exert influence and implied that it was the duchesss sexuality  rather than any other attribute or accomplishment  which was the source of her power.

The regulator also found the articles use of comparison to Scotlands former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and serial killer Rose West was because the three are female.

In the article, Clarkson wrote: I hate her (Meghan). Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level.

Ipso also said Clarkson framed Meghans position as a specifically female negative role model when he referred to her influence on younger people, especially girls, and described his dream of her being publicly shamed in the streets of Britain as a form of humiliation and degradation.

It said: Ipso considered that any of these references, individually, might not represent a breach of the code.

However, to argue that a woman is in a position of influence due to vivid bedroom promises, to compare the hatred of an individual to other women only, and to reference a fictional scene of public humiliation given to a sexually manipulative woman, read as a whole, amounted to a breach of clause 12 (which relates to discrimination).

Ipso therefore found that the column included a number of references which, taken together, amounted to a pejorative and prejudicial reference to the Duchess of Sussexs sex in breach of the Editors Code.

Ipso said it also considered in detail the complaints relating to the duchesss race but concluded the elements cited did not provide a basis to establish that there was a pejorative reference to race.

It also said publication of one article was not sufficient to support a breach of harassment and it did not breach the accuracy clause.

The regulator launched the investigation following complaints from the Fawcett Society and the Wilde Foundation, a charity which supports women and girls who have been victims of abuse.

The duchess did not complain to Ipso or make any representations. The regulator said the duchess was given the chance to comment, but she indicated that she did not have any opposition to Ipso considering a complaint from the representative groups.

The article, which was published on page 17 of the newspaper on December 17 2022, became Ipsos most complained-about article, receiving more than 25,100 complaints.

Former Top Gear host Clarkson later apologised for the piece, describing his language as disgraceful and said he was profoundly sorry. The Sun also apologised and said it regretted the publication of the column, which was removed online.

The Duke of Sussex branded the article about his wife horrific, hurtful and cruel, adding what Clarkson had written would encourage people around the world to believe it is an acceptable way to treat women.

Ipso chairman Lord Faulks said the article was a serious breach of the Editors Code of Practice, notably clause 12 in relation to discrimination, and they found the imagery used to be humiliating and degrading towards Meghan.

Ipsos purpose is to protect the public and freedom of expression by upholding high editorial standards, he added in a statement.

Jeremy Clarksons column was published in December last year (Ian West/PA)

In this case, The Sun failed to meet these standards.

Ipso chief executive Charlotte Dewar said: The Editors Code of Practice protects the right of commentators to challenge, to shock, be satirical and entertain, but it states that the press must avoid discriminatory references towards an individual.

Fawcett Society chief executive Jemima Olchawski said it had made history with our complaints against The Sun for its publication of Jeremy Clarksons vile and offensive column about the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle.

All women are harmed if any woman is the target of sexist reporting and media misogyny is not acceptable.

This landmark decision is a real opportunity for our media to catch up with what women have known for years  misogyny and hate are not acceptable and they can no longer be dressed up as satire or banter.

Labour MP Harriet Harman, incoming chairwoman of the Fawcett Society, said: Women are no longer prepared to endure the sexism that generations of women have been subjected to. Fawcett will be vigilant about sexism in the media and challenge it wherever it appears. This is a big step forward for women in the battle against sexism in the media.

In a statement, The Sun said: After Jeremy Clarksons column was published in December, both The Sun and Jeremy Clarkson apologised. We said we regretted publishing the article and removed it from our website.

The Sun accepts that with free expression comes responsibility.

Half of The Suns readers are women and we have a very long and proud history of campaigning for women, which has changed the lives of many.

The Sun is committed to its work campaigning to strengthen legislation on domestic abuse, helping to provide beds in refuges and empowering survivors of abuse to seek help. Our most recent campaign, Baby Bank on Us, is raising money to help women struggling with the alarming costs of living and a newborn baby.

Ipso has ruled that The Sun published a column about the Duchess of Sussex which contained a pejorative and prejudicial reference to the duchesss sex. The committee did not uphold separate elements of the complaint that the article was inaccurate, harassed the Duchess of Sussex, and included discriminatory references to her on the ground of race.

The Sun is today publishing the summary of Ipsos findings.
Naomi Campbell has become a mother again at the age of 53 (Ian West/PA)

Model Naomi Campbell has become a mother for the second time, welcoming a baby boy.

The 53-year-old announced the news on Instagram as she shared a picture of her cradling the baby while it is assumed her young daughter was holding the babys hand.

She captioned the post: My little darling, know that you are cherished beyond measure and surrounded by love from the moment you graced us with your presence.

A True Gift from God, blessed! Welcome Babyboy. #mumoftwo.

She concluded the message, writing: Its never too late to become a mother.

Famous faces from the world of fashion including designer Donatella Versace and German model Claudia Schiffer shared messages of congratulations.

Meanwhile, Netflixs Bridgerton and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story actress Golda Rosheuvel wrote: Congratulations my love. Best news.

London-born Campbell had not previously revealed she was expecting her second child.

It comes after the supermodel surprised the world in May 2021 by announcing the news that she had become a mother to a baby girl shortly before her 51st birthday, in a post on Instagram featuring a picture of her hand holding a babys feet.

A beautiful little blessing has chosen me to be her mother, so honoured to have this gentle soul in my life there are no words to describe the lifelong bond that I now share with you my angel. There is no greater love, she said.

Naomi Campbell and her daughter on the March 2022 cover of Vogue (Steven Meisel/British Vogue/PA)

Last year, she posed with her daughter for the cover of British Vogues March issue and confirmed her daughter had not been adopted, saying: Shes my child.

She told the magazine: I can count on one hand the number of people who knew that I was having her.

But she is the biggest blessing I could ever imagine. Its the best thing Ive ever done.

Alongside her new motherhood duties, she continued to walk the runways of some of the worlds most illustrious fashion designers, including Versace, Alexander McQueen, Balmain and Lanvin.

The catwalk star was discovered as a schoolgirl and she went on to become the first British black model to appear on the cover of British Vogue.

She has now become a role model for a younger generation of black models who are dominating the fashion industry and helping to shift beauty ideals.

Campbell is also known for her charity work and in 2005 founded Fashion For Relief, a charity merging fashion and philanthropy.
Elon Musk suggested that the mixed martial arts bout could happen in the historic arena where gladiators fought to the death.

Mr Musk suggested that the mixed martial arts bout could happen in the historic arena, which long ago served as the home of gladiatorial contests.

Now it could see the two billionaires face off in a battle that could see the two revive some of that history, according to Mr Musk.

He tweeted that there was some chance that the fight happened in the Colosseum, joking that he would need to work on his endurance as he shared a clip from The Life of Brian.

Romes minister of culture has reached out to Mr Zuckerberg to propose the location, the TMZ website reported. Both the billionaires are said to be intrigued by the idea, the site said.

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerbergs promised cage fight could take place in Romes Colosseum. Photo: Anthony Devlin/PA

That request was passed on to Dana White, the head of the UFC who has expressed an interest in co-ordinating the fight. The three have been negotiating about the details of the fight daily, TMZ reported.

It is not clear where in the Colosseum the fight could actually take place. While it could once hold tens of thousands of people, it can no longer host more than a few hundred people inside special temporary seating, and it has hosted few large events in recent times.

The fight between the two billionaires originally appeared to begin as something of a joke, after rumours that Mr Zuckerberg was looking for a competitor and Mr Musk tweeted that he was up for a cage match. Mr Zuckerberg replied to that tweet in a post with the caption send me location, and the fight appears to now be moving forward.

That has led to much speculation over how the two men would fight, and suggestions that it would be the biggest face-off in history. The details of any such event are far from agreed  but that has not stopped speculation about who would actually win such a battle.
Home Economics: My infirm mother-in-law is moving in with us but we cant let or sell her house  are there supports to help financially?
Sunak suffers huge blow to his stop the boats policy

British prime minister Rishi Sunak said his government would appeal to the UKs top court after its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was deemed unlawful in a major blow to his pledge to stop asylum seekers arriving in small boats.
Scientists hoping irradiating insects will kill off species

Irradiated mosquitoes are unable to breed which scientists hope will lead to species dying out and diseases no longer being spread. Photo: Getty

Cyprus is releasing millions of mosquitoes that have been zapped with radiation and made infertile in a bid to stop the spread of dengue and other potentially deadly diseases across Europe.
Martin Griffiths said the 5bn UN humanitarian appeal for Syria  the worlds largest  is only 12pc funded.

The 12-year conflict in Syria has pushed 90pc of its population below the poverty line and millions face cuts in food aid next month because of a funding shortfall, the UNs humanitarian chief said.
This Fourth of July weekend, when you're not nudging people to tell them the real meaning behind Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA," head to some of these fine Billings area events.

'Hidden in Plain Sight' Walking Tour

One of the highlights of the many services offered by the Western Heritage Center is their historic walking tours, which are strolls through Billings neighborhoods led by a guide who can show you things you've never noticed before, despite walking past them a hundred times. On Friday, June 30 at 10 a.m., they're leading one of their most apt tours, called "Hidden in Plain Sight," which illuminates hidden histories of spots around downtown Billings. Tour departs from the Western Heritage Center (2822 Montana Ave.). It's $10 for adults, $5 for students, $3 for children, and free for kids under 6. They recommend pre-booking tickets at ywhc.org to be safe.

Farthouse Beats / Samantha Henson / Happy Belated Birthday at Kirks'

Any night is a good night to head to Kirks' Grocery, but Friday, June 30 is shaping up to be an especially good one. Catch tunes from Farthouse Beats, touring songwriter Samantha Henson, and an experimental sound set from Happy Belated Birthday, a motley crew of Billings standouts like Shane de Leon, Jon Lodge, Brad Spill, Brenden Fritzler and more. And there's one other siren song calling you to Kirks' this weekend. They've got air conditioning now! Now when folks call them the hottest room in town, they're just talking about the music. Show start at 7 p.m. $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

Lethalaid / Shotgun Shogun / Bobcat at Kirks'

So much happening at Kirks' this weekend, they get another slot. On Saturday, July 1, head to their pleasantly cool environs for set from Lethalaid, a Billings based rock and roll group making their Kirks' debut, Laramie, WY grunge band Shotgun Shogun, and Bobcat, a one man band with a guy playing banjo and bass drum at the same time. Tunes begin at 7 p.m. $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

Laurel Street Dance

Partying on July 4 is a given, but why not get a head start on Monday, July 3 by heading to Laurel for the Laurel Street Dance at Palace Bar and Lanes (305 E. Main St.)? Tunes start at 6 p.m. with The Richard Thistle Band, and continue at 9 p.m. with El Wencho, fresh off an Alive After 5 appearance. Because what work gets done on the Monday before the Fourth of July anyways? $10 cover at the door.

The Soul Funk Collective at Alive After 5

Dance the asphalt right off the downtown streets on Thursday, July 6 as The Soul Funk Collective play Alive After 5 at Thirsty Street Brewing Co. (2123 1st Ave. N.). Music starts at 5 p.m. (who'da guessed?), and while Alive After 5 is free, you gotta get a $2 wristband to drink. There's also a $10 VIP option if you want to stay out of the sun.

Honorable mentions

If you're one of those weirdos who somehow isn't scared by clowns, go the MetraPark Expo Center on June 30 and July 1 and 2 for The Jordan World Circus. Grab tickets at metrapark.com, and do yourself a favor and pick up one of those discount coupons that every business in Billings somehow has a huge stack of.

No second-run treats at the Babcock this week, but new release "Asteroid City" is there starting on Friday, June 30 and continuing for a couple weeks. It's Wes Anderson's newest film, so sure to be full of bold pastels, cheery atmosphere and a crushing sense of sadness.

Thirsty Street is hosting Hiahli on Friday at 8 p.m. They're a hip-hop group with live instrumentation from Fargo, North Dakota, of all places.

At Craft Local on Friday there are three bands worth seeing just because of how great their names are. Catch Walking Corpse Syndrome, Geimhreadh and Pressureknot starting at 7 p.m. $10 cover, all ages.

Let freedom ring at Craft Local on Saturday, July 1 at "Red, White and Booze!" a concert featuring Octopi Drive-By, SpIked MInd and Low Lifes and High Notes. Music starts at 7 p.m.

INVEST at Craft Local on Sunday, July 2, with Sophie Bell, Gorge Yourself and Bull Market. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 7:30 p.m. $10 cover.

Uncle Lucius, one of Texas' finest jam bands, make their way to Billings on Wednesday, July 5 for a concert at the Pub Station Taproom at 8 p.m. $20 tickets are at thepubstation.com.

The Pack-Rats, a full band tribute to the swing tunes of Sinatra, et al., are at the St. John's Campus (3940 Rimrock Rd.) on Thursday, July 6. Tom Blankenship and John Cooke open at 6 p.m., and the main act starts at 7 p.m.

Close out the week with noise at Kirks' on Thursday at 7 p.m., with sets from So Small, Skunk Ape and Archival Image. $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

Pennsylvania rockers Rivers of Nihil are at the Pub Station on Thursday at 8 p.m. Show up early for sets from Billings bands In Rapture and Render Me Silent. $15 tickets at thepubstation.com.
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City of Bath, UK: Author and academician Mahul Brahma launched his eighth book- Aesthetic Leadership in Luxury- in the City of Bath in UK, a UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

The book was launched by author, musician and academician John Strachan, who is Pro Vice Chancellor of Bath Spa University. The event took place at a heritage restaurant The Pump Room in the historic site of The Roman Bath.

Bath reflects two great eras in human history: Roman and Georgian.

During the launch, Strachan said: I am very glad to launch my friend Professor Mahul Brahmas wonderful new book Aesthetic Leadership in Luxury. This is a culmination of a series of insightful and persuasive mediations on our culture and I wish it very well.

Post this event at The Roman Bath, the book was also unveiled at the Bath Business School, Bath Spa University in the presence of fellow academics at the Newton Park campus.

Brahma is a Visiting Research Fellow at Bath Business School, Bath Spa University and he was invited to the UK as an Academic Visitor.

Brahma said: I thank my friend Professor John Strachan, fellow academicians at Bath Business School and Bath Spa University for the invitation and their unflinching support. Aesthetic Leadership in Luxury aims to unveil a new facet of leadership based on aesthetics that dominates the luxe industry. It explores how aesthetics is pivotal to the multi-billion-dollar quite luxury market comprising the uber-rich consumers who are classified as Connoisseurs and Aesthetes. This book is a research-based manual for a CXO as well as a luxury brand to transform into an Aesthetic Leader.

In the book the author has cited an interesting case study from India on aesthetic leadership of two brothers Ketan and Jatin Chokshi of Narayan Jewellers and how they managed to establish the prowess of aesthetics and design at a very young age in a nearly century-old brand.

The book aims at understanding the uniqueness of businesses that are dependent on beauty, art, design and why these need unique leadership acumen wherein the leader himself or herself has to be an integral part of generating the competitive advantage  aesthetics.

He says in the book, No matter how unconventional it is to cite the example of a tech company in luxury business, I cant possibly explain this without citing the example of Steve Jobs and Apple. Steve Jobs created a mythic value for not only him but also for his company  a combination of two contradictions of aesthetics or design and technology. Apples obsession with design has made it a leader and Jobs has communicated the obsession with design in every demonstration during the launches. He not only established his prowess as an aesthetic leader, but also established the supremacy of Apple as an aesthetic leader in the industry.

"Aesthetic leadership may not only refer to creativity or vision, rather it may emerge from insight into cultural, political, or interpersonal issues as well; aesthetic statements on social injustice or crucial cultural concerns; or, at a more general level, provide alternative ways of seeing problems, history or received wisdom. In this way, aesthetic leadership may either complement or contradict more traditional leadership forms, such as politics, religion, or management. It may be that aesthetic leadership draws some of its power from the position of the aesthetic producer outside conventional leadership positions," he said.

Brahma is a PhD and D.Litt and a TEDx speaker on the mythic value of luxury. He is a luxury commentator, columnist and author of eight books.

After working with several national and international brands in the field of journalism and corporate communication, Brahma has recently joined as Dean at NSHM Media School in Kolkata. He is a former Dean of Adamas University in Kolkata.
Image Credit: UNI

Imphal/UNI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Moirang in Bishnupur district and interacted with displaced people on Friday.

He was not allowed to travel by road to Moirang, about 45 km from Imphal, and reached by a chopper.

After arrival on Thursday, the former AICC President along with former Chief Minister O Ibobi, AICC GS Organization, KC Venugopal, State Congress President K Meghachandra and others had gone to Churachandpur.

However, the convoy was stopped at Bishnupur district for over two hours by Bishnupur Police.

The team came back to Imphal and Rahul Gandhi visited Churachandpur district where the violence began on May 3 and had lunch with the people displaced by the clashes in the state.

K Meghachandra said Rahul Gandhi was given permission to travel by road but it was cancelled after the convoy was about to reach Moirang.

He further said he discussed the security scenario with State Police but permission was not given to Congress leaders to go by road. Only a few people accommodated in the chopper.

The state Congress president further said the visit of Rahul Gandhi was to spread the message of love and peace.

The senior Congress leader will also interact with leaders of various civil societies , political parties, and student bodies.
Image Credit: UNI

New Delhi/UNI: The Congress on Friday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the current situation in Manipur by accusing him of not being sensitive over the matter.

"The PM has the time and inclination to ride on the metro to attend the centenary celebrations of the University that gave him a MA in Entire Political Science, which clearly did not teach him how to be sensitive to situations like the one prevailing in Manipur," Congress general secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh wrote in a tweet, while referring to PM's address at the valedictory session of the Delhi University.

The Congress has been questioning the silence of the PM over the Manipur situation.

The party blamed the BJP-led government for the current crisis in Manipur.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Moirang in Bishnupur district and interacted with displaced people on Friday.

He was not allowed to travel by road to Moirang, about 45 km from Imphal, and reached by a chopper.

After arrival on Thursday, the former AICC President along with former Chief Minister O Ibobi, AICC GS Organization, KC Venugopal, State Congress President K Meghachandra and others had gone to Churachandpur.

However, the convoy was stopped at Bishnupur district for over two hours by Bishnupur Police.
Image: S Jaishankar Twitter page

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and visiting Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo co-chaired the 5th India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) where the two leaders discussed issues related to broad cooperation.

S Jaishankar tweeted: " Just concluded a productive and comprehensive meeting of the 5th India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation with @SecManalo."

"Our talks covered enhancing contacts and broadening cooperation as we head towards the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic ties," he said.

Just concluded a productive and comprehensive meeting of the 5th India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation with @SecManalo .



Our talks covered enhancing contacts and broadening cooperation as we head towards the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic ties.



Our pic.twitter.com/4bauNOUz96  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 29, 2023

Jaishanakr said the agenda of the meeting covered defence, maritime security , counter-terrorism and transnational crimes

"Our agenda today covered defence, maritime security , counter-terrorism and transnational crimes. As also our growing economic ties, including in trade & investments; development cooperation; health & pharma; tourism; air services; agriculture; fintech; S&T and space cooperation," Jaishankar said.

"Noted the importance of greater people to people ties, specifically in tourism and education sectors," he said.

Jaishankar said: "Recognized our strong collaboration in ASEAN and in multilateral forums. As Indo-Pacific countries, underlined our strong convergence on key issues."
Image Credit: PIB

New Delhi/IBNS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which the two leaders discussed the "recent developments in Russia" in the wake of a failed armed mutiny by the Wagner group, as well as the situation in Ukraine.

During the call, the two leaders reviewed the progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

President Putin informed PM Modi about the recent developments in Russia, a statement said.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy.

Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries, it said.

The telephone call comes in the wake of the failed armed mutiny by the Wagner group, and its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has been a mainstay in the Ukraine conflict, moving to Belarus, according to reports.

A Kremlin readout of the telephone talk said that it was held at the initiative of the Indian side.

In connection with the events of June 24 in Russia, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens," the statement said.

When discussing topical issues of bilateral cooperation, they underscored the importance of further consistent implementation of the major joint projects in various areas and noted with satisfaction substantial growth in trade throughout 2022 and in the first quarter of this year.

Particular attention was paid to interaction within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the G20, in which India currently holds presidency, as well as in the BRICS format. In addition, Narendra Modi informed on his international contacts, including ones during his recent visit to Washington," it said.

The situation around Ukraine was touched upon as well. The Russian President gave his assessment of the current state of affairs in the special military operation zone, having stressed Kiev's utter refusal to undertake political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict.

The conversation was substantiative and constructive. The leaders reaffirmed their mutual intention to strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and agreed to maintain contact," the Kremlin statement said.
Unsplash

Jeddah: At least two people died in a shooting incident close to the US consulate in Jeddah on Wednesday.

One of the deceased was a consulate security guard.

A person in a car stopped near the American consulate building in Jeddah Governorate and got out of it carrying a firearm in his hand, Saudi state news agency SPA reported citing a statement by the Mecca city police spokesperson as quoted by CNN.

That person was killed in an exchange of fire with security forces, it said.

A Message from U.S. Ambassador Michael Ratney Following the Security Incident in Jeddah pic.twitter.com/o2nHHZXZsy  U.S. Embassy Riyadh (@USAinKSA) June 29, 2023

A Nepalese worker in the consulates security guards was injured and then later died, it also said.

A spokesperson for the consulate confirmed the incident.

"There were two fatalities, including a member of the Consulates local guard force as well as the assailant, who was killed by Saudi security forces, they were quoted as saying by CNN.

No American was harmed in the attack.
Pixabay

Ankara: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that another incident of Quran burning in Sweden was unacceptable and accused the Stockholm authorities of "complicity in a crime."

Earlier in the day, media reported that the Swedish police allowed a protest action featuring the burning of a Quran near the main mosque in Stockholm on the first day of Eid al-Adha, one of Islam's major holidays.

"I condemn the heinous act committed in Sweden against our holy book, the Holy Quran, on the first day of the blessed Eid al-Adha. It is unacceptable that these anti-Islamic acts are allowed under the pretext of freedom of speech. Turning a blind eye to such heinous acts is complicity in a crime," Fidan said on Twitter.

In April, the Stockholm Administrative Court ruled that the Stockholm police's refusal to issue a permit for the Quran burnings near the Iraqi and Turkish embassies was unfounded. The police later appealed the decision in court.

In January, Rasmus Paludan, the leader of the far-right Danish political party Stram Kurs, burned copies of the Quran in Sweden in protest against the Turkish leadership. In response, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Stockholm should not count on Ankara's support for its NATO membership bid.

(With UNI inputs)
Rajindar Singh Dhatt, one of the last surviving Sikh soldiers who fought in the Second World War, has been honored by U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with the prestigious Points of Light award. The recognition took place at a special UK-India Week reception held at 10 Downing Street.

At the age of 101, Mr. Dhatt received this distinguished accolade on June 28 in acknowledgment of his remarkable service during the war and his efforts in leading the Undivided Indian Ex-Servicemens Association. The organization aims to unite British Indian war veterans and provide them with support.

Having made Hounslow in southwest London his home since 1963, Mr. Dhatt was born in pre-Partition India in 1921. He valiantly fought alongside the Allied forces during the British colonial period.

Expressing his gratitude, Mr. Dhatt said, It is an immense honor to receive this recognition from the Prime Minister, to whom I would like to extend my deepest appreciation for acknowledging the importance and impact of the Undivided Indian Ex-Servicemens Association. The journey of establishing this organization was driven by a deep sense of duty as an ex-serviceman and the vision of fostering unity, support, and camaraderie. This award serves as a testament to the tireless efforts of countless individuals who have contributed to the success and growth of the association over the years.

He further added, Their unwavering commitment and selfless service have played a pivotal role in bringing about positive change in the lives of our ex-servicemen and their families.

Joining the British Indian Army during the Second World War, Mr. Dhatt demonstrated exceptional dedication and quickly climbed the ranks, achieving the position of Havildar Major (Sergeant Major) in 1943. He was later deployed to the Far East campaign, where he fought in Kohima, northeast India, to support the Allied Forces and aid in breaking through the Japanese defenses, as informed by Downing Street. After the war, Mr. Dhatt returned to India briefly before settling in London with his family.

In recent times, the association led by Mr. Dhatt has created an online community for veterans, sharing personal stories and providing opportunities for connection. Additionally, Mr. Dhatt continues to speak at memorial events and collaborate with war veteran charities, including the Royal British Legion and the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans. Through teaching packs and online resources, he ensures that stories of valor are passed down to future generations.

Mr. Dhatt considers this award a momentous occasion that inspires him to continue making meaningful contributions to society, even as he approaches his 102nd birthday.

The Points of Light award, according to Downing Street, is bestowed upon exceptional individuals whose service makes a significant difference in their communities. Their stories serve as inspiration for others, encouraging innovative solutions to social challenges both locally and globally.

Coinciding with a Downing Street reception celebrating the UK-India Week organized by the India Global Forum, Prime Minister Sunak praised Mr. Dhatt as an incredible man and thanked him for his service as a member of the Indian diaspora, referring to him as a living bridge between the two nations.

The Points of Light award recognizes the immeasurable contributions of Mr. Dhatt, honoring his valor and dedication during the Second World War and his ongoing commitment to supporting veterans. His remarkable journey continues to inspire and serve as a shining example of resilience, unity, and selflessness.

(Image and Text Credit: Khalsavox.com)
Image: File UNRWA

New York: The Secretary-General condemned on Wednesday Israels recent advancement of plans for over 5,500 housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank. He also denounced the retroactive regularization of three outposts adjacent to the settlement of Eli.

A strongly worded statement by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General reiterates that settlements are a flagrant violation of international law and relevant UN resolutions. Antonio Guterres, it says, urged the Government of Israel to halt and reverse the expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, to immediately and completely cease all settlements activities there and to respect its relevant legal obligations.

The statement refers to the Mondays advancement of plans for over 5,500 housing units in Israeli settlements in Area C of the occupied West Bank, including the retroactive regularization, under Israeli law, of three settlement outposts adjacent to the settlement of Eli.

Settlements impede peace

Antonio Guterres emphasized that Israel's persistent expansion of settlements, including in East Jerusalem, deepens humanitarian needs, fuels violence, increases the risk of confrontation, further entrenches the occupation, and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

The UN chief warned that the ongoing settlements are eroding the possibility of establishing a contiguous and viable sovereign Palestinian State, based on the pre-1967 lines and impede the ability to achieve a viable two-State solution, and a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.
A threat against Obama; clashes in France; MLB all-stars; and more morning headlines. Plus, celebrity birthdays and a look back at this day in history. Get caught up.
Image: Pixabay

Islamabad:Four people from the same family drowned in a dam in Jhelum district of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, the rescue service reported.

According to the reports, the incident took place on Thursday when a man along with his two sons and a brother-in-law were swimming in Raja Khalid Dam in the district.

Upon receiving the information of the incident, police and rescue workers reached the site and recovered the bodies from the dam, said the rescue service.

The father of the two sons was a session judge who went to the dam for a picnic on Eid al-Adha, Islam's major religious festival.

The police said in a statement that the bodies had been shifted to a local hospital while further investigation of the accident was underway.

(With UNI Inputs)
Wikipedia Commons

Karachi: An unidentified man hurled a hand grenade at a Rangers check post on Gareeb Shah Road Lyari in Pakistan's Karachi city recently, media reports said.

The attackers fled the spot immediately.

The police told ARY News that no casualties were reported in the attack.

Security officials reached the spot after the incident.
Image: Pixabay

The unemployment rate in Pakistan has touched 6.5 percent, reflecting the trouble people are facing in the country.

World of Statistics recently placed Pakistan at the 24th position in its global list as unemployment rate spiked in the country.

As per the World of Statistics, the highest unemployment in the world was recorded in Nigeria, where 33.3 per cent of the workforce, exactly one-third, was looking for jobs. A similar situation is also witnessed in South Africa which is second with 32.9 per cent unemployment, ANI reported quoting The Express Tribune.

Bosnia and Herzegovina have an unemployment rate of 29.28 per cent. Among others with comparatively higher rates is Iraq with a 15.55 per cent rate and Afghanistan with 13.3 per cent. The rate in the UK is 3.8 per cent and USA 3.7 per cent, according to The Express Tribune as quoted by ANI in its report.

The unemployment rate in China and Canada was recorded at 5.2 per cent. Bangladesh is ranked 34th with an unemployment rate of 4.7 per cent, while Qatar has the lowest unemployment rate of 0.1 per cent.
Image: Pixabay

As many as 17 prisoners escaped Pakistan's Chaman jail in the restive Balochistan province during Eid ul-Adha prayers, media reports said on Friday.

During the same incident, one prisoner was killed and two others injured when unidentified armed men attacked the prison.

As a result of the attack on the sub-jail located on Taj Road, a policeman was also injured and 17 inmates sentenced for heinous crimes escaped, reports Samaa.

The injured people were shifted to the hospital for treatment.

Authorities said that this morning, policemen were opening the doors to the lock-up for prayers in barrack number four of the police sub-jail on Taj Road when the prisoners attacked the policeman.

The suspects snatched the weapons and keys from the officials. They also fired at the lock-up and later the lock of the main gate, and also broke the rest of the locks of the jail, reports Samaa.

Upon resistance, the inmates opened fire on a police officer and injured him. In retaliatory fire, one suspect was killed and two others injured, while 17 prisoners named in serious cases escaped.
Image:Pixabay

Killings of men, kidnappings, and forced conversions of women in Pakistans Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces have made religious minorities feel unsafe.

But an account says that a hundred Hindu families in the Kashmore district of Sindh, are preparing to leave/migrate to India.

As per this report in the Urdu newspaper Ibrat (June 27, 2023), Badani and Kandhkot in Kashmore have witnessed six killings in recent months.

They are preceded by kidnappings for ransom. The latest incident in June concerned a businessman, Jagdish Kumar and a four-year-old child in Badani City.

The father-son duo was returning home from Badani to Kandhkot. About 100 families are preparing to leave/migrate to India, the Ibrat report said, quoting Advocate Abdullah C.

These families are among the 35,022 Hindus (three per cent of the total population, as per the 2017 census figures) in Kashmore, formerly Jacobabad, which is located deep inside Pakistan on the border of Sindh and is the gateway to Punjab and Balochistan, as per official records.

The Hindu minorities in Sindh have been particularly vulnerable to killings of men and forced conversion, after the abduction, of young Hindu girls.

An organised movement promoted by a Muslim priest, Maulana Mian Mithu has thrived for many years, with the administration  the police, the court and the state authorities  rendered ineffective.

This is despite frequent media reports and protests by human rights bodies. Of Kashmore, Advocate Abdullah C writes: This is the sixth incident in recent times with Hindus at Badani. Earlier, Srichand and his brother left for India when Gurnomal was kidnapped. Srichand and his brother, who were businessmen, used to get extortion threats.

I also recall my friends, Dilip Kumar and his brother, Thanwardas, who used to lend us books and pens too. They too left for India when the dacoits menace was at its peak in Badanis interiors. Lawlessness was on rise at Badani and decent and law-abiding Hindu families always used to be easy targets of these criminals and miscreants.

In past, the Badani population was meagre, but Hindus from other parts came here due to water and other issues in their areas. These Hindus have been living in Sindh even before partition times. They started their business too at Badani changing the look of Badani village and giving it a new urban look. Today, Badani tops the list of cities in the district as doing maximum grain business and credit for it goes only to Hindus.

Hindus at this place are much agitated because Jagdish Kumar was kidnapped in a daring daylight act.

Jagdish Kumar was a cloth merchant over the years at Badani. Others including Sikhs, Lunds and Mandhan also do business here.

Hindus living in Kandhkot and its vicinity have been living exemplary lives even before partition times. They always rush to help others including Muslims during tough times due to floods, or even during Kabila (clans) clashes.

Advocate Abdullah C. cautions: Today, conditions are too bad at Badani. If Hindus leave this city following recent kidnapping cases, then Badani will be back to its earlier times, which will mean a big loss to others living at Badani.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sikhs, another religious minority, have witnessed four daylight killings of businessmen in the last three months.

The Caretaker Chief Minister held a meeting with a Sikh delegation, gave assurances of improved law and order and paid compensation to the families of Manmohan Singh of Peshawar and of Trilok Singh. Calling the Sikhs a peace-loving community, he asked the IG of the police to form a plan for the security of the minorities and ordered to install CCTV cameras in the residential and business areas inhabited by the Sikhs, according to Urdu daily newspaper Aeen (June 27, 2023).
On Thursday, Mizoram celebrated the 37th anniversary of signing the Mizo peace accord.

Northeast Live

A photo exhibition commemorating 37 years of the historic peace accord was organised at the premises of the Vanapa Hall in Aizawl. The exhibition was inaugurated just before Remna Ni (Peace Day) on June 30.

Greetings to all the people of Mizoram on the occasion of the 37th Anniversary of the Mizoram Peace Accord.



The historic Mizoram Peace Accord signed in 1986 was the most time-tested exemplary accord not only in the country but also in the world, which have lasted till date. pic.twitter.com/5iUWTm2cUb  Zoramthanga (@ZoramthangaCM) June 29, 2023

The historic Mizoram Peace Accord, signed in 1986, brought to an end the 20-year-long uprising in the state.

A memorabilia

A collection of over 100 photos were displayed, with each image serving as a remembrance of Mizoram's journey toward peace.

Former PM Rajiv Gandhi-and Sonia Gandhi in Mizoram after the signing of the Mizo Peace Accord, July 11 1986/ PIB

This includes significant milestones such as signing of the historic peace accord, homecoming of the Mizo National Force cadres, and the visit of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and his family a few days after signing of the accord.

Storm before the peace

Mizoram had been part of the British Empire since 1870. Post-independence, it was made a part of Assam, and in 1952 a subsidiary government called the Lushai Hills District was created under Assam, which basically covered the later Mizoram.

But many opposed this, as the Mizo people were also spread in Manipur and Burma. They demanded freedom or to join Burma.

The feeling of alienation seeped in by 1959 when Mizoram was facing a famine, and authorities in Assam and the Indian authorities, in general, seemed negligent.

A local social organisation was then set up in 1960 for relief works, which later became the Mizo National Front (MNF). It turned into a full-fledged political party in 1961 with Laldenga as President.

Laldenga in a picture with current Mizoram CM Zoramthanga/ Twitter

Their goal was to create a Greater Mizoram that would encompass all the Mizo tribes in the territories of Tripura, Manipur and Cachar districts of Assam under a single political government.

Insurgency begins

The MNF created its armed wing, the Mizo National Army and launched Operation Jericho, under which it declared independence from India on 1 March 1966.

The government, in turn, declared Lushai Hills District as a disturbed area, banned MNF as a terror organisation under the Defence of India Rule and deployed the Indian Army. In 1967, AFSPA was applied to the state.

The military fight

By March 2, 1966, MNF had captured several smaller towns south of Aizawl. MNA snipers fired upon Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters.

So, on March 5, the IAF used heavy machine gun fire and incendiary bombs were dropped on suspected insurgent positions. The MNA sought refuge in the surrounding forests in Burma and then East Pakistan.

But this did not end, as the insurgency continued for 20 long years.

However, counter-insurgency efforts weakened the MNF; in 1974, Laldenga expressed his willingness to discuss a solution.

It took another 12 years for the Mizo Peace Accord to be finally signed.

Mizo Peace Accord

On June 30, 1986, the Mizoram Accord was signed between the Mizo National Front and the Government of India.

The Mizo Peace Accord being signed on June 30, 1986

The MNF brought out all their underground personnel, surrendered their arms, ammunition, and equipments, ensured their return to civil life and abjured violence altogether. The Government promised to initiate measures to confer Statehood on the Union Territory of Mizoram.

Pu Laldenga, the erstwhile MNF leader being sworn in as CM Mizoram by Lt Governor HS Dubey in Aug 1986 following Mizo Peace Accord pic.twitter.com/RD01BfjgOy   BN Sharma, IG (Retd) (@BholaNath_BSF) February 20, 2022

Statehood was finally bestowed on Manipur on the 7th of August, 1986, and Manipur became the 23rd state of the Indian Union.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
The Delhi Police have arrested a total of three people, including a juvenile, in connection with the gangrape of a 16-year-old girl in northwest Delhi's Shahbad Dairy area.

According to the police, on Tuesday, the victim was going through a park with her friend when the accused attacked the duo.

AFP/ Representational Image

Friend ran away

They threatened her friend, who escaped from the spot, leaving her behind. The accused people later took turns to rape her and fled away from the spot.

Based on the victim's complaint, two men were arrested and another juvenile was apprehended on Wednesday.

One accused on the run

The two arrested accused have been identified as Bobby (19) and Rahul (20), both residents of the Shahbad Dairy area, police said.

One accused is absconding and efforts are underway to apprehend him, police said.

A case was registered under sections 376D (gang rape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and 6 Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, police said.

BCCL/ File

Police said they are also looking for the friend of the victim who left her behind.

Apart from these three, two juveniles have also been apprehended in section 21 of the POCSO Act for failing to report the commission of an offence.

Shahbad Dairy murder case

Last month Shahbad Dairy had made headlines for another crime that sent shockwaves across the country.

A minor girl was stabbed multiple times, and her head was crushed with a boulder by a 20-year-old man on May 28.

The shocking murder was caught on camera.

SCREENGRAB

CCTV footage of the incident had gone viral on social media. In the footage, the accused could be seen repeatedly stabbing the hapless, even as seven to eight bystanders stood by without making any effort to rescue the girl.

The police later arrested the accused, Sahil, who worked as a fridge-AC repairing mechanic.

Police to seek death penalty for accused

He was booked under Sections 302 (murder), 354 A (punishment for sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Besides the above Sections, the accused has also been charged under the Arms Act, Section 12 of POCSO (punishment for committing sexual harassment upon a child) and different Sections of the Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

BCL

On Thursday, the Delhi Police said they will seek the death penalty for the accused.

"We have built a watertight case to ensure the harshest possible punishment -- death penalty -- for the accused. The murder was meticulously planned and carried out as an act of revenge. We possess substantial evidence, and within a month of the incident, we have presented the charge sheet to seek justice for the victim's family," Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Dependra Pathak, said.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.
President Emmanuel Macron faced a growing crisis as riots erupted across France overnight. The fatal police shooting of a teenager of North African descent during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb started the unrest.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin reported 180 arrests during the second night of unrest as public anger spilled onto the streets in towns and cities throughout the country.

Macron convened a crisis meeting with senior ministers to address the situation.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne dismissed calls for an emergency, while Darmanin announced the deployment of 40,000 police officers, including 5,000 in the Paris region, to suppress the violence.

"The state's response must be extremely firm," said Darmanin, speaking from Mons-en-Baroeul, where several municipal buildings were set ablaze.

The incident has amplified long-standing complaints of police violence and systemic racism within law enforcement agencies, voiced by rights groups and residents of low-income, racially mixed suburbs surrounding major cities in France.

The 17-year-old victim, identified as Nahel, was shot in Nanterre, a suburb on the western outskirts of Paris.

The officer involved has been placed under formal investigation for voluntary homicide, according to the local prosecutor.



Jeff Puech, president of the Ovale Citoyen Association, which focuses on assisting local youths in job market integration through sports, described Nahel as a determined individual seeking professional and social integration.

Puech emphasized that Nahel was not involved in drug-related activities or minor crimes and that those who knew him at the club believed he had a lot of potential.

Agencies

According to BFMTV, Nahel's lawyers said he was well-liked within the community. His grandmother, Nadia, described him as a good and kind boy. In a video shared on social media, Nahel's mother conveyed their close bond.

She recalled the affectionate moment when Nahel kissed her and said, "Mum, I love you."

She responded with the same sentiment and urged him to take care. However, within an hour, she received the devastating news that her son had been shot. Overwhelmed with grief, she expressed that Nahel was her life, her best friend, and everything.

The recent unrest in France has sparked memories of the 2005 riots that shook the nation for three weeks and led to a state of emergency declaration by then-President Jacques Chirac.

Agencies

The 2005 riots originated in Clichy-sous-Bois, a suburb of Paris.

They spread throughout the country after the deaths of two young individuals who were electrocuted while hiding from the police in a power substation.

Two officers involved in the incident were acquitted a decade after standing trial.

In 2023, Tuesday's killing marked the third fatal shooting during traffic stops in France, a decrease from the record 13 cases reported last year, according to a spokesperson for the national police.

Since 2017, a Reuters tally indicates that most victims in such incidents, including 2021 and 2020, were of Black or Arab origin.

Karima Khartim, a local councilor in Blanc Mesnil, northeast of Paris, expressed the growing impatience of the people, stating, "We've seen this injustice happen many times before."

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A Billings man is facing up to life in prison following accusations of distributing child sex abuse material.

Mark Andrew Partridge, 33, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Yellowstone County District Court to one count of sexual abuse of children. District Judge Colette Davies set Partridges bond at $250,000 during his arraignment.

He is clearly an extreme danger to the community, said Arielle Dean with the Yellowstone County Attorneys Office.

Earlier this month, court documents said, a law enforcement agent with a child exploitation task force in Laredo, Texas notified the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation of an online exchange with an account associated with Partridge. Partridge allegedly engaged in a series of messages encouraging child rape. During the exchange, according to charging documents, Partridge shared a nearly 30-second video depicting child sex abuse.

FBI agents traced Partridges location to Billings through his IP address, charging documents said, and he was arrested June 27. He agreed to speak with agents, and allegedly admitted to sending the video. Partridge said he received the video online, according to court documents, and told law enforcement he directed multiple people via the internet to sexually abuse children.

The non-profit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, created by Congress to combat child victimization, maintains a hotline and online portal for reporting child abuse. In 2021, over 99% of the 30 million Cybertips submitted to MCMEC were reports of suspected child sex abuse material.

Since 2002, the centers Child Victim Identification Program has identified nearly 20,000 victims in child sex abuse material produced in the United States. Last year, NCMEC notified local and federal law enforcement of more than 4,000 potential new victims.

Should Partridge make bail, Judge Davies is also requiring that he not have any contact with anyone under 18 and be monitored by GPS. Along with a life sentence if convicted, Partridge could also face fine of up to $10,00.
Croatia, known for its captivating beauty, is a highly sought-after destination in Europe, with the city of Dubrovnik drawing in many tourists annually. Its picturesque coastline, enchanting islands, delectable cuisine, and welcoming locals make it an appealing choice for visitors.

However, you might reconsider hauling a large wheelie suitcase if you plan to visit this popular location during the summer.

Tourists dragging their suitcases along Dubrovnik's famous stone-paved and cobbled streets have raised concerns about noise pollution.

They express frustration that this activity disturbs their peace at night and affects their sleep.

In response to the noise pollution concerns raised by residents, Mayor Mato Frankovic has implemented new regulations in Dubrovnik's Old Town.

These rules entail a ban on tourists dragging wheeled suitcases along the winding roads of the historic area.

"Sounds like a great idea. Can we do the same at airports and stations? They are a menace," one person wrote online about the new rule.

As part of a broader initiative to minimize the presence of suitcases in Dubrovnik, the local authorities have banned tourists from carrying any suitcase within the city.

Starting in November, a system will be established where travelers must deposit their bags outside the city limits. Dedicated couriers will then efficiently transport these bags to the guests' accommodations.

According to Schengenvisainfo News, this measure is part of the "Respect the City" program introduced by the Dubrovnik Tourist Office.

Despite these regulations, Dubrovnik continues to remain a popular destination for tourists.

The Dubrovnik Times reports that the city has recorded 289,000 arrivals and 763,500 overnight stays since the beginning of the year, marking a significant increase of 32 percent compared to the same period in 2022.

In addition to the suitcase ban, tourists have been encouraged to demonstrate respect towards the city by refraining from walking pets without a leash, avoiding climbing monuments, and maintaining appropriate attire by wearing shirts while exploring the area.



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Culinary exploration knows no bounds, from the truly bizarre to the outright daring. In viral food trends, one category has captured the attention of adventurous eaters and internet enthusiasts: weird food options involving animals.

Unsplash

These peculiar and often unconventional dishes have taken the internet by storm, rapidly gaining popularity and sparking debates among food enthusiasts worldwide.



A Taiwanese restaurant has garnered attention and sparked intrigue by recently introducing an extraordinary and unconventional dish.

According to Taiwan News, this peculiar creation, known as "Godzilla" ramen, ups the uniqueness ante by using crocodile meat as its main component.

The restaurant in Douliu City, Yunlin County, has garnered curiosity for its innovative approach to ramen preparation.

According to the news portal, the dish entails the steaming or braising a crocodile's front leg, creating the remarkable "Godzilla" ramen.

Twitter

A video clip captures a young female customer sampling the two variations of the dish and expressing her pleasant surprise at the flavors.



According to her, the braised meat in the dish resembles the taste of pork feet, while the steamed version carries a flavor reminiscent of chicken.

The restaurant owner acquired the recipe for the unique and hot "witch soup" during a trip to Thailand, which is believed to incorporate an impressive array of over 40 different spices.

Taiwan has become no stranger to viral dishes featuring unconventional ingredients, and the trend continues with a recent creation making waves on social media.

Unsplash

Last month, Ramen Boy Noodle Bar, located in Taipei's Zhongshan district, introduced a unique addition to their noodles: huge isopods, fascinating 14-legged deep-sea creatures.



Pictures of this extraordinary dish quickly spread across social media platforms, captivating audiences worldwide.

The restaurant took to its official Facebook page to announce the limited-edition offering, declaring they had finally acquired the coveted ingredient: the enormous isopod known as "the big king pods."

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The European Palestinians Conference, held in Malmo, Sweden on May 27, had clear and strong connections with Hamas
announced on Friday that it has signed an agreement with Ecomar Storage Solutions FZE, an affiliate company of Ecomar Energy Solutions located in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates , for the implementation of the "Ecomar Phase 3 Terminal Project". The company operates in the sectors of processing and trading in oil and natural gas , as well as sustainable safe refining.
The Edo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for abolishing the petrol subsidy scam and unifying the exchange rate.

According to the States PDP, the two economic policies already implemented by his administration will provide Nigeria with more than N2 trillion.

Chairman of the Party, Tony Aziegbemi, who stated this in Benin City on Thursday in a chat with newsmen said: The election has been declared by INEC, a winner has emerged and my party is in court. What we will do is to live with what we cant change now.

These two economic policies removal of subsidy and unification exchange rate dished out since he was sworn in were spot on.

And in my opinion, its the best way to go round this economy that would have been grounded if those measures were not taken.

READ ALSO: Tinubu Is No Saint But He Attended Chicago State University  Reno Omokri To PDP

Aziegbemi however cautioned that the palliatives that would be released arising from the subsidy removal would determine the success of the economic policies.

Speaking on the reason for commending an opposition-led federal government, Aziegbemi said: Its the paradigm shift in policies that we are bringing onboard in the PDP.

I am an economist. So, when I see good economic policies from a distance, I will know.

Meanwhile, he stated that Governor Godwin Obaseki who has done more for his state and its citizens than any other governor, is the most misunderstood governor in the country.

He however praised Obaseki for keeping his campaign promises to the people.

While outlining some of the Obaseki administrations people-oriented programmes, such as education and civil service reforms, health and technology hubs where youths are trained in software engineering, Azeigbemi said: In the next five years, we are going to have 15,000 trained software engineers that would generate programmes for companies like Google, Apple and others.
Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to urgently put a halt to steps by some government institutions to jack up prices of commodities and services.

According to the organisation, such step would further worsen the precarious situation of hapless Nigerians.

Information Nigeria reports that the reaction stems from the backdrop of planned increase in electricity tariff and the introduction of fees for proof of ownership certificate for vehicle owners.

Jare Ajayi, spokesperson of the organisation, though stated that such steps taken lately by the Tinubu-led administration might have the potential of lifting Nigeria up in the long run.

He however warned that there is need to ensure that the people are not squeezed out of breath before that good time comes, as its only a person who is wholesomely alive that would enjoy the largesse of tomorrow!

READ ALSO: Discontinue All Plans To Conduct Census  Afenifere Tells FG

Afenifere who beckoned on the President to checkmate steps capable of alienating his administration from the people, further urged him to be mindful of actions by government agencies that might be tantamount to sabotaging his good intentions.

He also faulted the recent directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for customers to supply their social media accounts.

According to him, the directive amounts to making members of the public to pay for the failure and negligence of relevant organs of the government in carrying out their constitutionally assigned duties.

Faulting the planned increase in electricity tariff on Naira exchange that went up from N441 to N750 per dollar, Ajayi wondered why service being rendered in Nigeria should be denominated in or predicated on US dollar.

Is the energy they are distributing imported from the United States of America? he queried.

He called on Tinubu to stop the planned increase on electricity tariff and ensure that the increase is not effected secretly as had been done before.
Immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor (retd), has officially pulled out of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that Irabor pulled out of the service in a short ceremony held at Mogadishu Cantonment, popularly known as Abacha Barracks, Abuja, on Friday.

The pull out ceremony is part of the military tradition to honour retiring generals. The event involved a march past by the officers of the Nigerian Army among others.

Recall that Irabor, on June 23, handed over the command of the Armed Forces of Nigeria to the new Chief of Defence Staff, Maj.-Gen. Christopher Musa.

In his remarks, Irabor urged his successor to ensure the value and professional standards of the military were upheld, adding that his successor is a tested and trusted officer and a role model for the Armed Forces.

Irabor noted that quite a lot had been achieved and was confident that the armed forces were in the right mood to achieve set targets.

He said: I appreciate the president for finding Maj.-Gen. Musa very suitable to take over the reins of the armed forces.

I ask that you redouble your efforts to maintain the cherished values and professional standard.

READ MORE: Flush Out Criminal Elements Disturbing Peace In South-East  Lucky Irabor Mandates Troops
Akinwunmi Ambode, former Governor of Lagos State, for the first time since his exit from office over four years ago, on Thursday, visited the Lagos State House, after meeting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Information Nigeria reports.

This broken jinx might be a remarkable return to the frontline politics for the former Governor as he met the President at a reception organised by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in honour of Tinubu.

While acknowledging Ambodes presence at the event, Tinubu said, Im glad to see Ambode. Thank you Akin!

READ ALSO: Emilokan: I Invoked Spirit Of Freedom In Ogun  Tinubu

The event was held to welcome Tinubu, who was visiting the State for the first time as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the Sallah break.

Recall that there were speculations over strained relationship between the incumbent Governor, Sanwo-Olu and his immediate predecessor, Ambode over the controversial manner he (Ambode) was displaced as governor, denying him of a second term in office.

This was the first time since Ambode left office in 2019 that all the four governors of the state since 1999 would be seen together at a public event.
Crypto casinos are the new part of a well-known gambling industry that combines the joy of online gaming with the advantages of cryptocurrency use. Different digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Solana, or Ethereum can be used for making all types of transactions in online casinos. It allows players to experience the transparency and enhanced privacy of the blockchain industry while enjoying their favorite games. Wide acceptance of cryptocurrencies directly influences the appearance of innovative crypto casinos all over the world. Nigeria is not an exception.

Online gambling in Nigeria is constantly growing and gaining popularity in recent years. Nigerians interest in online betting caused the expansion of online bookmakers platforms. The countrys increasing smartphone use has an enormous impact on the rise of online casinos while internet penetration is forcing the adoption of cryptocurrencies in daily life.

The Growing Popularity of Cryptocurrency

Blockchain technology is rapidly taking over the world. This financial innovation is being deeply integrated into Nigerias economy as well, and there are several factors that contributed to the adoption of digital currencies. Due to its decentralized financial system, cryptocurrency offers a large part of the unbanked population the ability to take part in financial transactions without being involved in the traditional banking system. Also, the global accessibility of crypto payments enables faster transactions with lower fees which is beneficial for Nigeria, with its significant amount of cross-border payments.

The youth in Nigeria is mostly geeky and interested in new technologies which caused fast adoption of cryptocurrencies as means of financial transactions and investments. Speaking of investing, Nigerians have an entrepreneurial spirit, and blockchain technology has created many opportunities for the crypto-based startup industry.

The Emergence of Crypto Gambling

Nigeria has a developed online gambling market which is constantly increasing. The popularity of online casinos forces the regulatory framework to evolve. It is aimed at enhanced transparency and consumer protection. Operators must ensure a safe and reliable gaming experience for players. It is also one of the main causes of the crypto casinos emergence. Platforms like Bitwin Nigeria are gaining popularity and therefore follow the rules of fair and beneficial customer service.

The Reasons Why Cryptocurrency Casinos Are Taking Over

Though traditional online casinos dominate on the Nigerian gambling market, the development and numerous benefits of the blockchain industry contribute to the speedy growth of cryptocurrency casinos.

Enhanced Privacy. One of the main advantages of cryptocurrency transactions is that they provide users with a higher anonymity level. This gives players the ability to enjoy gameplay without the need to reveal personal information which is impossible when using traditional banking payment methods.

One of the main advantages of cryptocurrency transactions is that they provide users with a higher anonymity level. This gives players the ability to enjoy gameplay without the need to reveal personal information which is impossible when using traditional banking payment methods. Fast Transactions. Traditional payment methods usually take some significant time to finish transactions. On the contrary, deposits and withdrawals made with digital currencies are quick if not instant. This gives players an enhanced gaming experience allowing them to enjoy their favorite games without the need to wait for the transactions to complete.

Traditional payment methods usually take some significant time to finish transactions. On the contrary, deposits and withdrawals made with digital currencies are quick if not instant. This gives players an enhanced gaming experience allowing them to enjoy their favorite games without the need to wait for the transactions to complete. Lower Transaction Costs. Compared with the fees of traditional banking transactions, crypto payments are beneficial for both players and operators because of lower transaction costs.

Compared with the fees of traditional banking transactions, crypto payments are beneficial for both players and operators because of lower transaction costs. Global Accessibility. Cryptocurrency allows Nigerian players to access international online casinos which are not controlled by traditional banking regulations. This is why crypto gambling platforms are often not limited to a particular location.

Cryptocurrency allows Nigerian players to access international online casinos which are not controlled by traditional banking regulations. This is why crypto gambling platforms are often not limited to a particular location. Mobile compatibility. Nigeria is experiencing growth in smartphone use. Mobile technology is adapting and being integrated into various sectors. Crypto casinos are not an exception. Online gambling platforms strive for providing players with ease of use which transforms into the mobile accessibility of the majority of cryptocurrency casinos.

Nigeria is experiencing growth in smartphone use. Mobile technology is adapting and being integrated into various sectors. Crypto casinos are not an exception. Online gambling platforms strive for providing players with ease of use which transforms into the mobile accessibility of the majority of cryptocurrency casinos. Crypto Community Expansion. Nigerias growing tech-savvy population contributes to the adoption of cryptocurrency in different spheres including online gambling. People are interested in technological innovations and are actively exploring the benefits of using the blockchain industry in daily life.

These factors continue to expand with the growing popularity of crypto casinos in Nigeria, developing new challenges and opportunities for the countrys gambling industry.

The Challenges of Crypto Casinos

Despite the numerous benefits and fast integration into the Nigerian gambling market, crypto casinos face several challenges which they need to fight off. Among them is the lack of a regulatory system. Rules and regulations of crypto transactions in the gambling industry are still developing and it creates some uncertainty for both operators and players. They might have concerns about consumer protection. Another challenge is price volatility in the cryptocurrency industry. Unexpected market movements and unstable exchange rates may affect the value of players funds. These objections force the crypto-gambling industry to adapt and evolve in order to build greater trust among the online gaming community.

Conclusion

Cryptocurrency casinos picked up stream in Nigeria, which is caused by faster, cheaper, and more secure transactions, global accessibility, enhanced privacy, mobile availability, and the growing crypto community. Even though traditional online casinos remain dominant in the Nigerian gambling market, the benefits of the blockchain industry influence the quick rise of crypto gambling. Still, there are particular challenges like the lack of a regulatory system and cryptocurrency volatility that slow down the crypto casinos blast-off. However, the tech-savvy population of Nigeria is open to exploring digital innovations and is interested in cryptocurrency in particular. This fact is driving the potential for the development and growing popularity of crypto gambling in Nigeria.
When the phone rang, Louis Johnson of Stanfield, Arizona, thought nothing of it. After all, he got a lot of phone calls each day. Mostly because, when it came to cotton farming, he was kind of a big deal.

Oh sure, hed dropped out of high school like a lot of guys did when they were his age back then. But he worked hard, dug most of the water wells in the Stanfield area and transformed desert wasteland into very productive farmland.

And that was precisely why he was getting the phone call, from another desperate farmer.

In fact, that farmer owned land right next to Louiss land and each year watched Louis make the big bucks while he instead approached bank foreclosure. So, he called Louis to see if he could work out some kind of deal to help turn his negative situation around. And luckily, after a short discussion, Louis agreed to help him out.

So, Louis, with his own credit, stopped the foreclosure proceedings and not only turned things around but handed his new partner a check for a $1 million profit, after that first years cotton harvest.

Of course, his new partner was ecstatic, and the result was the formation of a very successful partnership and friendship that would last for many years to come.

And who was that neighboring, desperate cotton farmer? It was John Wayne. Yes, THE John Wayne we all know and love.

From there The Duke and Louis partnered on a large ranching operation called the 26 Bar Ranch, which together with Northern Arizona grasslands featured the largest cattle feedlot in the country at the time. Plus, they sold a bull, or its semen, back then for $400,000. Something that is still a unique accomplishment today.

I mention all of this for one reason: Because I want to introduce you to Alice Johnson-McKinney. You see, Alice was Louis wife, and she and her family, and John Wayne and his family, became one big happy family.

Those were the good ole days for the Johnsons and Waynes because The Duke loved to have fun and so did Louis and thus a lot of pranks were pulled, and countless stories survive.

And yes, those stories do include days and nights spent on John Waynes converted World War II PT yacht. Plus attending the Academy Awards when The Duke took home the Oscar for "True Grit."

But more importantly, that relationship paints a picture of a soft-hearted, firm-in-his-beliefs, Hollywood icon who was about as much Hollywood as night is day.

Of course, both The Duke and Louis battled cancer and are long gone. But Alice survives and can best be described as lightning in a bottle. And through it all her downhome, rural, Arkansas roots have blessed her with common sense and a strong belief in God.

Meanwhile, her colorful past also includes being a teenage local radio singing star, a female stock car racer (long before Danica Patrick), a construction company owner and, of course, a partner with John Wayne.

Today she still lives on the 26 Bar Ranch compound near Stanfield and is an investment partner in the new Wild Rides TV streaming TV network.

So you could say the old partnership between herself, Louis and The Duke is today helping to gather rich Western history for generations to share. Which proves that, even though people die, they also live on.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu says he will not partake in the economic destruction of the country by retaining the petrol subsidy.

Tinubu who disclosed this on Thursday at a reception in his honour by the Lagos State government, added that bleeding of the countrys finances through the petrol subsidy should never be allowed to continue under any guise.

We will be needing the necessary resources to achieve the promise we made to Nigerians during our campaign

We need to stop the bleeding of our finances through fuel subsidy and the arbitrary exchange regime. We have no choice.

We have to re-engineer the effectiveness of control and management of our resources in order to meet the obligations owed to Nigerians.

I could have said yes I want a share of my benefit and participate in the arbitrage. But no, God forbid. Thats not why you elected me, he said.

According to the President, Nigerians would continue to see new and better initiatives that would benefit both the young and old.

He however pledged to work with the national assembly and state governors to achieve the renewed hope agenda of his administration.

On his part, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos, said his colleagues are in full support of the policies and programmes of the current administration.

Sanwo-Olu said the support of the State Governors is important for the realisation of the dream of a better Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Take Baby Steps Of Pain With Me, Well See Positive Changes  Tinubu Urges Nigerians

Godswill Akpabio, the Senates president, also promised to work with the executive arm of the government to ensure that Nigerians enjoy the dividends of democracy.

With what the president has done in Lagos, we are assured that Nigeria is in safe hands.

We didnt know this was the plan you had for the country, we wouldnt have contested with you at the party primaries.

These few decisions you have taken have served as a catalyst for the countrys development, Akpabio said.

According to him, Lagos has been a model of development for states in Nigeria, adding that the man that did the framework can also do it for Nigeria.

Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, said the governors are in support of Tinubus quest to reposition the economy of the country.

The removal of the petroleum subsidy and reversal of the arbitrary exchange regime was the right step in repositioning the country, AbdulRazaq said.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, a former governor of Lagos who was also at the event, assured the president of their continued support.

We want you to know that we are only a phone call away. Whenever you need us, any of the classes that you have mentored, we are ready to serve you once again, he said.
As part of efforts to strengthen good relationship between Igbo traders and their host community, Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State and Chairman, South East Governors Forum has intervened in the ongoing struggle between the south easterners and Yoruba in Lagos State.

The Imo State Governor led this out during his recent visit to Lagos, where he attended the Nigeria Governors Forum meeting and President Tinubus homecoming ceremony.

It was gathered that Governor Uzodimma took the opportunity to meet with the Igbo business community in the state.

INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that Governor Uzodimma listened attentively as the Igbo business community expressed their concerns and frustrations.

READ MORE: Alaba Market: Remove Your Microfocus From Lagos, Direct It To Anambra Omokri Slams Ezekwesili

He recognized the adverse impact these issues have had on their businesses and residence in Lagos, as well as the prevailing security challenges faced by both communities.

Uzodimma encouraged the Igbo business community to support the developmental strategies being formulated by the South East Governors Forum (SEGF).

He mentioned the upcoming South East Security Summit, organized by the SEGF, which aims to address the security challenges in the region and restore normalcy.

According to Vanguard report, the Governor also appealed for the support of the Igbo business community towards President Bola Ahmed Tinubus administration.

He further pledged to personally intervene and address any outstanding differences between the Igbo and Yoruba communities in Lagos as he is expected to meet with his Lagos State counterpart today before concluding his visit.

Recall that Alaba market demolition has created many controversies among Nigerians, as some political figures believed it is an attack to wipe Igbos out of Lagos, while some opined that it is part of Lagos government proactive measures to cub building collapse.
Spokesperson to former President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, says his principal never asked his successor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to investigate ministers and aides who served in the last administration.

Information Nigeria learnt that a report claimed that Tinubu, having met with Buhari in London during the week, assured Buhari that he and his close aides would be spared from any investigation pertaining to corruption.

Recall that the President had travelled to London from France for personal reasons after attending the new global financial pact summit held in Paris.

However, in a statement reacting to the claims, Shehu said there was nobody in the room when Tinubu met with Buhari in London.

The former presidential spokesperson said Buhari left his hometown in Daura, Katsina state, for London to have some rest.

READ ALSO: Shehu Sani Berates Buhari Over Alleged Agreement With Tinubu Not To Be Probed

It is fake, let us not discuss it or give it energy or air of publicity. This is fake news, and nothing more, the statement read.

Thankfully, there was no one other than the two leaders in the room in which they met, so no one was there to report their conversation.

As much as possible, the former president wishes to remain outside the spotlight so as not to distract the new administration.

He chose to go home in Daura hoping to find the type of quiet he wished for himself but realising that this was not the case, visitors trooping in morning, day and night, he moved out to a more distant place.

It remains his wish that he be allowed to have his needed rest, and for the Tinubu administration to have the right atmosphere to work on the realisation of the promises they made, the statement added
Janell Johnson-Washington says that unbeknownst to her after speaking with salespeople at her door, her electricity provider was switched from Peco to StateWise Energy, which resulted in bills that were far higher. Read more

The pitch sounded like a no-brainer: cheaper electric bills.

Janell Johnson-Washington stood on the doorstep of her East Germantown home in early 2020 and listened as two salespeople touted the benefits of switching to StateWise Energy, a third-party electric and gas supplier. They were there, she recalled them telling her, because they were working with Peco to lower energy costs in low-income neighborhoods.

Still, she didnt sign anything, she said, only giving a verbal yes when they asked whether she understood what they were telling her.

Three years later, Johnson-Washington cries when she recalls what happened next.

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Her electric bill skyrocketed, she said, jumping from around $50 to more than $200 one month. She thought it was just a fluke. But even during months she and her teenage son bunked in one room, a futile attempt to save money on air-conditioning and other electric costs, the bills remained at least double what they had been previously.

It was devastating, she said. There were times there wasnt enough food for me because I had to feed my boy.

The 56-year-old former EMT, who has a disability and a terminal illness, said she shared her story in the hopes of preventing others from falling victim.

Door-to-door marketing tends to increase in warm weather months, according to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which regulates the cost and reliability of the states utilities. In recent weeks, state agencies and utility companies have advised consumers to be on the lookout for potential scams on electric and gas bills, especially as fluctuating energy prices continue to make news.

Pennsylvania is one of nearly 30 states that have a fully or partially deregulated energy market, meaning consumers can choose to get their electricity and gas from a third-party supplier instead of their local utility company. The local utility still covers the energy delivery and sends the monthly bill.

But while deregulation has created competition in the market, which can lead to lower prices and higher-quality service, it has also paved the way for abuse, some experts say.

The people who are actually going door-to-door, they may have no relationship with the ultimate provider. They could be a separate marketing firm or marketing arm doing those sales, said Robert Ballenger, an attorney in the energy unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia who worked on Johnson-Washingtons case. There is an incentive to sign up as many people as you can, and theres an incentive to not be forthright about whats being offered. "

Over time, the vast majority of residential customers who do choose an alternative supplier end up paying more, he added, citing a 2022 National Consumer Law Center report on the impact of alternative energy suppliers.

An $800 partial refund

Johnson-Washington said StateWise misled her by saying they were Peco employees and signing her up for a contract without her written consent.

StateWise spokesperson Tamara Sinson-Banton declined a phone interview, saying via email that the company addressed Johnson-Washingtons concerns promptly and provided a refund. According to Johnson-Washington, StateWise refused to help her until Community Legal Services stepped in.

It took several months but with the help of Community Legal Services and the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office of the Consumer Advocate, Johnson-Washington eventually received a partial refund of more than $800, an estimation of how much more she spent on electric and gas with StateWise over nearly a year.

StateWise Energy submits that we take customer complaints very seriously, Sinson-Banton said, and we have customer protection initiatives in place to ensure that customers have full disclosure about our products and services.

StateWise also emailed Johnson-Washington contract terms and conditions, as well as cancellation rights. (Johnson-Washington said she received an email from StateWise, but she was unable to read it due to vision problems caused by a 2002 stroke and subsequent brain surgery. She prefers not to receive communications over email.)

StateWise is a PUC-licensed energy supplier that has a C rating by the Better Business Bureau, with a couple dozen customers nationwide saying they were misled by the company. StateWise, which is based in Ontario, has thousands of customers across the United States, according to Sinson-Banton.

The PUC would strongly encourage Washington-Johnson to file a complaint with its Bureau of Consumer Services so it can investigate, spokesperson Nils Hagen-Frederiksen said.

Door-to-door salespeople are never Peco employees or contractors, said Peco spokesperson Thomas Brubaker, and Peco sends letters to customers confirming a change in energy supplier. Johnson-Washington does not recall receiving this letter.

Peco supports the competitive energy market and encourages all customers to read and understand the terms of their energy supply agreements, he said.

Emotional toll

Until the issue was resolved, Johnson-Washington said she had no choice but to keep paying the utility bills. As a recipient of a Housing Choice Voucher, formerly known as Section 8, Johnson-Washington said she could not risk a late payment or a shutoff notice, which could jeopardize her eligibility for the program.

With all the money she was putting toward her energy bills, she sometimes didnt have enough money to buy groceries (she gets SNAP benefits, formerly called food stamps, but not enough to cover an entire months worth of groceries).

It was really hard, she aid, but my son, he was by my side and was like, Mom, youll find a way to work it out, youll be OK. 

But he didnt feel the shame she did, she said, when he opened the fridge to see empty shelves.

Johnson-Washington said she prioritized feeding him. For a three-day stretch, he ate only pancakes. Some days she would hardly eat at all, which led her to develop stomach issues, she said. The medication for her seizure disorder is supposed to be taken with food.

To make ends meet, she borrowed money from her father, she said, and paid other bills late.

After she received the $800 refund, she was able to pay back her father, she said, and pay off her other debts.

But the emotional toll remains.

It just didnt give me a good vision of myself going through all of that, she said. I pride myself on providing my son everything.

A couple weeks ago, Johnson-Washington got another knock on her door.

As she peered out, she said she could see it was door-to-door energy salespeople.

She didnt answer.
Janell Johnson-Washington looks through previous energy bills at her home on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Johnson-Washington says that unbeknownst to her after speaking with salespeople at her door, her electricity provider was switched from PECO to StateWise Energy, which resulted in bills that were far higher. Read more

U.S. consumers lost about $8.8 million to scams in 2022, a 30% increase over the previous year, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

To avoid falling victim to a door-to-door energy scam, here is what experts at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office, and Community Legal Services of Philadelphia suggest.

Ask for ID

Door-to-door agents in Pennsylvania are required to undergo criminal background checks and wear an ID badge in public. Residents should ask for this ID if it is not shown to them.

A proper ID would be prominently displayed and include the suppliers name, the agents full name, a photograph of the agent, and a customer-service phone number for the supplier.

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When you open the door, agents are supposed to first tell you their name, the suppliers name, and the reason for the visit.

Agents are required to tell potential consumers that they are not working for or affiliated with a local utility, or wear anything that indicates affiliation. If they dont make that clear, or suggest otherwise, thats a red flag.

Be on alert for pressure tactics

If a salesperson is urging you to buy now, be wary.

Remember that while you have the option to shop around for energy suppliers in Pennsylvania, you are not required to choose one.

Keep in mind, too, that if you ask an agent to leave your home, they are required to do so. You can also ask not to receive such solicitation from the supplier in the future.

If you make that request, the agent is supposed to notify the supplier, which should take your information out of their databases within two business days, according to the PUC.

Think it over

Remember that door-to-door salespersons and callers are trying to sell a product, Pennsylvania Consumer Advocate Patrick Cicero said. Do not make decisions or commitments on the spot  do your homework before signing or consenting.

After the sales agent leaves, you can do research on your own at papowerswitch.com. Read the fine print, paying attention to product terms, additional fees, and what happens when a contract or introductory period ends.

You may have to pay more than the advertised price per kilowatt hour. Suppliers sometimes tack on monthly charges, customer charges, and early cancellation fees.

Remember you dont have to engage

You can just not answer the door.

Thats the tactic preferred by Robert Ballenger, an attorney in the energy unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.

Generally speaking, if someone knocks on my door and tries to sell me something, Im not going to go for it, he said. If I make the decision to shop, Im going to do it on my time and terms.

Most of the door-to-door conversations start with the salespeople asking for your latest bill, he said, and he doesnt like to share his billing information. And in his experience, consumers can end up paying more with a third-party supplier, sometimes after an introductory period ends.

You have to have a tolerance for risk if you want to shop for these commodities, he said, and I think most residents should not, and have not, had that tolerance when it comes to vital, modern-day life essentials.

Report potential scams

If a sales agent seems aggressive or deceptive, you can contact PUCs Bureau of Consumer Services at 1-800-692-7380 to file an informal complaint. You can also contact the Office of the Attorney General at scams@attorneygeneral.gov or 1-800-441-2555.
Eagles center Jason Kelce pours a fireball for Abby Davidson of Kennett Square while working the Pattys Green bar at O'Donnell's Pour House in Sea Isle City, N.J., on Wednesday. Read more

Besides the obvious fun that Jason Kelce was having in Sea Isle City at the Ocean Drive for the latest edition of his annual fundraiser, the event turned out to be a roaring success as well.

The Eagles social media team tweeted out an impressive total from the array of activities, including Kelce tending bar, chugging beer, and doing an on-site podcast with his brother Travis, the tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles said that more than $380,000 was raised for the Eagles Autism Foundation.

 READ MORE: A knee injury helped Jason Kelce fall in love with Sea Isle and raise more than $100K for the Eagles Autism Foundation

Kelce has the Midas touch for events that put the fun in fundraising, as his Christmas album last year did extremely well. The proceeds from that were shared among two dozen Philadelphia-area charities.

 READ MORE: It gets more special all the time: The Eagles Christmas album has now raised $1.25 million
Jefferson Health is closing the emergency room at Einstein Medical Center in Elkins Park on Friday. Read more

Jefferson Health is closing the emergency department at Einstein Medical Center Elkins Park on Friday, as part of a plan to expand MossRehab on the same 30-acre campus.

Jefferson is directing patients who need emergency services to two other hospitals it owns, Einstein Medical Center Philadelphia and Abington Hospital.

Its plans to close the Elkins Park emergency room and its inpatient beds were first disclosed in 2020 during an antitrust trial that Jefferson won against the Federal Trade Commission, which tried to block the nonprofit health systems acquisition of Einstein Healthcare Network.

Jefferson officials testified during the trial that the Elkins Park campus handled only 16,000 visits annually  or about 44 per day, a relatively light volume. The inpatient unit was typically only half full. More recent data were not available from public sources because the Elkins Park facility operates under Einstein Medical Center Philadelphias license.

Jefferson announced its agreement to acquire Einstein Healthcare Network in March 2018, but did not complete the deal until October 2021, thanks to delays from the antitrust trial and the impact of COVID-19.

The changes at Elkins Park are part of an effort at Jefferson to reduce duplication of services  some of which are underutilized  at its 14 acute-care hospitals. The plans have not generated the level of alarm among politicians and others seen when Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. announced plans last year to close the emergency department at Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

Moving inpatient rehabilitation services at Abington Hospital to the Elkins Park campus will allow Abington to add 23 general medical beds, Jefferson said.
As of July 1 nursing homes in Pennsylvania are required to meet nurse staffing minimums. Read more

Stricter nursing home staffing requirements are going into effect in Pennsylvania this week, as part of the first major rewrite of the facilities regulations since 1997.

Beginning July 1, the Pennsylvania Department of Health will require all long-term care facilities to meet a new standard for the hours of direct care each nursing home resident receives. Facilities will be required to provide 2.87 hours of direct care to each resident daily, up from the 2.7 hours of daily direct care they currently need to provide.

A bigger jump to 3.2 hours of direct care per day is scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2024.

The new regulations also mandate for the first time a minimum number of care staff per shift  for example, one nurses aide for every 12 residents and one licensed practical nurse for every 25 residents during day shifts.

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 READ MORE: Pa. nursing homes could be hit with wider swings in Medicaid rates starting next month

The updated policies are intended to improve patient and worker safety as nursing facilities grapple with staffing shortages. Unsafe working conditions have pushed many nursing assistants to leave long-term care facility jobs in recent years, said Matt Yarnell, the president of SEIU Healthcare PA, a labor union that represents thousands of nursing home workers. The pandemic exacerbated the trend, he said, but the new staffing standards could bring workers back to the bedside.

The new ratios will make sure we never experience the overwhelming sickness and loss of life that we did this past three years, Yarnell said Friday.

There are roughly 700 nursing homes in Pennsylvania housing nearly 90,000 people, according to a recent U.S. Senate report.

Hope for better patient care

Liz Wright, a certified nursing assistant for 30 years in the Harrisburg area, said that staffing shortages harm patients. Residents eat meals in their beds or wait a long time to go to the bathroom because the nurses aide doesnt have enough time to tend to their needs.

Were always rushing to get everything done, Wright said. This is supposed to be their home, and you shouldnt have to rush in your home.

The health department is required by federal law to inspect each nursing home once every 15 months, and that will include ensuring compliance with the new standards, said Jeanne Parisi, deputy health secretary for quality assurance.

We will cite a facility thats failing to meet these ratios, Parisi said.

 READ MORE: Sen. Bob Casey worries that nursing homes are uninspected and neglected

Last month, a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging helmed by Pennsylvanias Sen. Bob Casey released a report that found that one in four nursing homes nationwide was not inspected in the last 16 months, as required. Pennsylvania, like most states, has a shortage of nursing home inspectors.

Pennsylvania nursing homes will need to hire 1,400 nursing aides to meet the new standard, Gloria Gilligan, who leads the Office of the Budget within the Department of Human Services, estimated at a Senate budget hearing in March. Pennsylvania has 66,800 nursing assistants, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but not all of them work in nursing homes.

The staffing changes go into effect as nursing homes in Pennsylvania could face wider swings in Medicaid rates, according to the Department of Human Services. The department did not provide more details but an Inquirer analysis showed that twice as many nursing homes as last year are facing a cut of 5% or more in their daily Medicaid rate. Industry representatives are worried that some nursing homes might not survive significant cuts.

Safe staffing push

The push for minimum staffing standards is a rallying cry of health-care workers nationwide.

In Pennsylvania, nurses and the unions representing them scored a win earlier this week when the state House of Representatives passed a bill that would mandate nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals.

 READ MORE: Pennsylvania House approves bill to require nurse staffing minimums in hospitals

The bill now goes to the Republican-held state Senate, where its passage is uncertain.

Sen. Maria Collett, a Montgomery County Democrat, introduced a similar bill earlier this session, but it never advanced out of committee. Versions of the bill introduced in previous sessions also stalled.

If the bill passes the Senate, Pennsylvania would be among the first states in the nation to enact minimum nurse staffing requirements in hospitals.

We are so close to getting this done, Collett, a registered nurse, said in a rally in Harrisburg after the passage of the bill on Wednesday.
Jen Shinefeld, a volunteer, cleans the wounds on the hands of a man named C.J. at Savage Sisters, an outreach organization based in Kensington, in January. Xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, has contaminated much of the city's fentanyl supply and can cause wounds that are quick to open and slow to heal, risking infection. A recent Centers for Disease Control Study found that xylazine-related overdose deaths are most pronounced on the East Coast. Read more

Pennsylvania and surrounding states have seen the nations highest rate of overdose deaths involving the animal tranquilizer xylazine, known on the street as tranq, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found.

Rates of death involving xylazine remain relatively low in the broader picture of overdose deaths nationwide, making up about 3% of all drug overdose deaths in 2021. But federal researchers say they have increased dramatically since 2018.

The rapid rise of xylazine-related deaths  from 102 Americans in 2018 to 3,468 in 2021  means health officials should be paying attention to the drugs increasing prevalence, said Merianne Spencer, a statistician for the National Center for Health Statistics and the lead author of the study.

The problem is most pronounced on the East Coast. The rate of xylazine-related overdose deaths in 2021 was 4.05 deaths per 100,000 residents in the region that includes Delaware, Washington, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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That was nearly double the rate in the next deadliest region of states, according to the federal health departments tracking. The second-highest rate of deaths were seen in the region that includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Rates on the West Coast were so low that they were not reported in the study.

 READ MORE: A powerful sedative in Phillys drug supply is causing severe wounds and agonizing withdrawals. Its quickly becoming unavoidable.

This is not a drug that is acting alone

Although xylazine-involved deaths increased across all age and racial groups in 2020 and 2021, the CDC report found that Black people had the highest rates of overdose death. Hispanic or Latino people saw the highest increase in death rates, which tripled between 2020 and 2021.

Overdoses in general have seen a demographic shift  nationally and locally  in recent years. Overdose deaths among Black Philadelphians rose by 70% between 2018 and 2021, and deaths among white residents have declined slightly by 9%.

Xylazine has exploded in Philadelphias dope supply in the last few years. (Dope is a catchall term the city health department uses to denote drugs marketed as heroin or fentanyl, both addictive and dangerous opioids.) By 2022, xylazine was turning up in 90% of the dope samples tested by the city health department.

Nearly all xylazine-related overdose deaths between 2018 and 2021 also involved fentanyl, the CDC study found.

This is not a drug that is acting alone, Spencer said.

Health officials in Philadelphia believe xylazine, which is not approved for human use, was initially added to fentanyl to produce a longer-lasting high. Fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid that replaced most of the heroin in the citys drug supply in the mid-2010s, is more powerful than heroin, but its effects wear off more quickly.

Xylazine isnt an opioid, but can have a similar sedative effect. Many people who use xylazine suffer from serious wounds that heal slowly, putting them at risk for infections and even amputations. Like opioids, it can slow the breathing, but it will not respond to naloxone, the drug used to reverse opioid overdoses. That can make it harder to bring a person out of a fentanyl-xylazine overdose.

The drug also causes serious withdrawal symptoms  severe chills, sweating, anxiety, and agitation among them  that Philadelphia-area doctors have scrambled to learn to treat in recent years.

Philadelphia health officials said that the city saw more than 100 overdoses involving xylazine in 2018. By 2021, 434 residents had died of xylazine-related overdoses.

Since Philadelphia was one of the first cities in the United States to start looking for xylazine and noting it on death certificates, many of the earliest diagnosed cases were found here, the health department said in a statement.

The department noted that some communities still are not testing for xylazine in autopsies, so the full spread in the United States might not yet be known.

The city is working to distribute xylazine testing strips, advising clinicians on treating xylazine overdoses and withdrawal from the drug, and expanding its capacity to provide wound care.

Gov. Josh Shapiros adding xylazine to the states controlled substances list has supported local initiatives, the department said.

On the state level, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs is funding two drop-in centers where people who use drugs can get access to treatment and resources to reduce the harm of drug use, said Stephany Dugan, a press secretary for the department. The state also expects to make free xylazine testing strips available in the coming months, she said.

The Shapiro administration remains committed to continuing to take a multidisciplinary approach to addressing this crisis, Dugan said.
North Dakota officials are seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit from a landowner rights group over laws that relate to property use for carbon storage.

The Northwest Landowners Association argues in a lawsuit filed May 31 that the states legal process for securing land for carbon storage projects is an unconstitutional taking. The lawsuit is against the state, the North Dakota Industrial Commission, and each of the commissions three members, Gov. Doug Burgum, Attorney General Drew Wrigley and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring.

The state denies the laws are unconstitutional and seeks dismissal of the lawsuit, along with reimbursement to the state of legal fees.

Special Assistant Attorney General Zachary Pelham argues in part that the landowner rights group has not suffered any compensable damages and lacks standing to bring the claim.

The lawsuit addresses landowner rights related to pore space, or small cavities below ground where companies are proposing to store climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions. State officials in approving storage areas use a process called amalgamation, which requires pore space owners who did not accept easements to be included in a storage facility.

Under North Dakota law, at least 60% of pore space owners must agree to the use of their pore space before amalgamation can be used. The Northwest Landowners Association argues that amalgamation is a taking of land that requires an eminent domain proceeding, which doesnt occur under the states current practices. Eminent domain refers to the court-ordered seizure of private property use, with compensation.

The landowner rights group also challenges North Dakota law that allows surveyors to access private land prior to it being condemned for public use.

Summit Carbon Solutions, the company proposing a regional CO2 pipeline that would pass north of Bismarck, this week filed a motion to intervene in the case. Summit's Midwest Carbon Express project aims to transport CO2 emissions from ethanol plants in five states through a 2,000-mile pipeline to Oliver County for permanent storage underground.

Summit argues it should be a defendant in the lawsuit because the laws being challenged affect its project. Summit attorney Lawrence Bender said in a court filing that the company anticipates more than 60% of landowners will consent to participate in a proposed CO2 storage area, but the company does not expect to get consent of 100%.

In addition, Summit has surveyed land for the project under North Dakota law that allows a common pipeline carrier access to survey property it is contemplating condemning, Bender said in the filing. Some North Dakota landowners refused survey access, prompting Summit to file lawsuits against the landowners. A May judgment ruled in favor of Summit in several related cases. Those cases are being appealed to the state Supreme Court.

A judge has not ruled on whether to permit Summit to intervene in the landowner lawsuit.

A scheduling conference is set for July 25. The case is filed in state court in Bottineau County.
A view of Red Rock Run within the former Camp PAWE in Pike County, Pa. The hunting camp has become part of Pennsylvania's Delaware State Forest. Read more

For generations, Camp PAWE was a private, gated haven for anglers and hunters in the Poconos, spread across 555 acres of ridges and knolls next to Pennsylvanias Delaware State Forest and not far from Bushkill Falls and the Delaware Water Gap.

It boasted a shooting range and ATV trails. Whitetail deer, black bear, and wild turkey roamed amid the hardwood forest, grassland meadow, and clear watered Red Rock Run.

As of this week, its all now part of the adjacent state forest, which was already 83,519 acres spanning four counties. The land was preserved as part of an agreement between The Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit, and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry (DCNR).

DCNR is grateful for the opportunity to take over as stewards of this beautiful forested area, and we are excited about the whats in store for Delaware State Forest with this new addition, DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said in the announcement.

The Conservation Fund purchased the camp at auction in 2021 for $1.8 million to save it from development. This week, The Conservation Fund sold it to the state for the same amount through grants from the DCNR and U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Services Forest Legacy Program.

The land is in Lehman and Porter Townships within Pike County.

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Permanently conserving these 555 acres and adding them to the Delaware State Forest affords the highest level of protection of the land while ensuring the greatest possible public access, said Kyle Shenk, the Conservation Funds Northeast regional director. Its the best of both worlds  and a sensational outcome for the people of Pennsylvania.

Officials said Pennsylvanias congressional delegation representing Pike County  Sen. Bob Casey Jr., Sen. John Fetterman, and Rep. Matt Cartwright  supported the use of federal funding for the purchase.

The new addition to Delaware State Forest includes more than 50 acres of wetlands along with Red Rock Run, a stream that supports native trout. It provides critical plant and wildlife habitat, officials said, and contains several seeps and springs.

Wesley Robinson, a spokesperson for the DCNR, said the agency would look at ways to improve the land for public use, but has no set plan yet.
Demonstrators gather Friday along 12th and Market Streets in Center City to protest against Moms for Liberty outside their national convention. Read more

With a field of GOP presidential hopefuls addressing them Friday, members of the controversial, self-described parental rights group Moms for Liberty vowed not to be deterred by protests that have dogged them since the beginning of their annual conference in Philadelphia.

But for a second day, demonstrators amassed outside to heckle attendees, organize banned-book giveaways, and wave signs with slogans like Moms for Bigotry and Stop the Hate.

I fought to defend against this, said Hanoch Fields, a rabbi and retired U.S. Army colonel and chaplain, who joined a crowd of about 60 demonstrators Friday morning across the street from the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, where the conference was taking place. Theres free speech, and then theres a lot of what this group is espousing.

 READ MORE: Photo Gallery: Protests at Moms for Liberty gathering as DeSantis, Trump, Haley appear

The demonstrations  though smaller Friday than the group that greeted summit-goers at a welcome reception a day earlier at the Museum of the American Revolution  were no less energized.

A decidedly older crowd of faith leaders, elected officials, suburban parents, and grandparents  some traveling from hours away  gathered outside conference sites across Center City and said they felt compelled to turn up to push back against Moms for Libertys contentious agenda of opposing diversity education and sensitivity to LGBTQ issues in schools.

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As former President Donald Trump arrived at the Marriott for his speech Friday afternoon, he was greeted by dozens chanting Lock him up. Some booed, while others held up their middle fingers. A lone bugler played Taps as Trumps motorcade entered the hotels parking garage.

I wanted to remind him what he is, said Tim Smith, 38, of Gettysburg. He held a blue sign emblazoned with a single word: Loser.

Inside the conference hall, attendees and featured speakers  who in addition to Trump included other 2024 GOP presidential primary contenders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley  appeared to draw energy from the hostility they encountered outside.

I see Moms for Liberty is coming under attack by the left, attack by the corporate media, protests out here in the streets, DeSantis said in a speech Friday morning. That is a sign that we are winning.

 READ MORE: DeSantis, Nikki Haley make their 2024 pitch at the Moms for Liberty convention in Philadelphia

Ryan Walters, superintendent of public instruction for the state of Oklahoma, likened Moms for Liberty to the nations founders.

You know who else was called a terrorist group, an extremist group? The Founding Fathers, he said. This is the most important conference in Philadelphia to happen since 1776.

 READ MORE: Why Trump, DeSantis, and GOP rivals are flocking to the Moms for Liberty convention in Philadelphia

Founded in Florida in 2021 amid protests over COVID-19 pandemic school closures, Moms for Liberty has since emerged as a leading force in training and recruiting conservative candidates for school boards across the country. The group says it has 285 chapters in 45 states  including in the Philadelphia region.

But the Southern Poverty Law Center earlier this year designated the organization an antigovernment extremist group trafficking in conspiracies and propaganda, citing the groups efforts to ban books from school libraries and its opposition to diversity and inclusion in classroom curriculum.

The organizations national conference, playing out this year in heavily Democratic Philadelphia, is expected to draw 650 attendees and is set to run through Sunday with protesters planning rallies and daily all-day dance party protests.

Addressing the convention Friday, organization cofounder Tiffany Justice likened what she described as indoctrination efforts from the groups critics to those deployed by Mao Tse-tung, Adolf Hitler, and terrorists. She said theyd be sending information about death threats they received to the FBI.

Protesters remained undaunted.

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) delayed a trip to Harrisburg to join demonstrators waving LGBTQ Pride flags and chanting get out of our city on the sidewalk across the street from the Marriott as DeSantis addressed the breakfast crowd.

Their ideas arent new, Kenyatta said. These ideas have lost before, and theyre going to lose again.

Others, like 63-year-old high school librarian Martha Hickson, said they were drawn by Moms for Libertys efforts to ban books that the organization has deemed pornographic. Critics have noted that books featuring LGBTQ themes and characters of color have been disproportionately singled out by the organizations efforts.

Hickson, who made the 90-minute trip from Hunterdon County, N.J., said her school district had beat back a book banning effort last year from parents whod called her a pornographer and pedophile.

Though the effort  which targeted books by LGBTQ authors like Jonathan Evison and Juno Dawson  ultimately failed, Hickson said she feared similar pushes would continue as groups like Moms for Liberty become more effective in organizing.

Each one of those books fills a need, she said. To erase the book is to erase the person.

Several parents of children attending schools in Central Bucks School District  which was the target of book banning efforts from groups affiliated with Moms for Liberty earlier this year  gathered outside the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia on the Parkway for a midday rally.

Anusha Viswanathan, mother of a kindergartner in the district, balked at Moms for Libertys characterization of itself as a parental rights organization, saying it stood instead for only some moms [and] their comfort and liberty.

How is it that you are going to ban books with certain words, when I was called those very same words, walking down the halls of school, Viswanathan said.

But despite the pushback outside its venues, the Moms for Liberty conference and its guest list of high-wattage speakers proceeded largely undisturbed with little contact between attendees and protesters.

In between Fridays speeches, they attended strategy sessions with titles like Dark Moneys Infiltration in Education with tips on stopping outside groups from bringing radical content into our schools and Comprehensive Sex Education: From Sex Ed to Sexualization, which organizers said would walk attendees step by horrible step through school sex-ed standards.

 READ MORE: Education officials tell Moms of Liberty attendees that schools need to get all this woke stuff out

Conference-goers have largely been shielded from the protests by police. Summit attendees were shuttled into Thursdays event at the Museum of the American Revolution by charter bus and protected by barricades.

Still, some contact between the groups members and their detractors was inevitable.

A group associated with the pro-LGBTQ Agenda PAC infiltrated the Marriott, booking hotel rooms so they could place door-hangers on each guest room, declaring: Please Disturb: Fascism in Progress.

Outside, Susan Hunter, 63, who introduced herself as a Christian mother, shouted at demonstrators saying she was fed up with Pride stuff being shoved down everyones throats. She hoped, she said, that Moms for Liberty could help restore Christian ideals to public school classrooms.

And as Trump departed, protesters followed, booing and shouting at those leaving the convention. Escorted by police, some conference-goers shouted back. One group of attendees followed by protesters waved American flags as a woman told the boisterous group to grow up.

Earlier in the day, James Calkins stood back from the hotel to marvel at the scene.

Mingling among the protesters in a Trump 2024 hat and with his two children by his side, the husband of a Moms for Liberty chapter president from Santa Rosa County, Fla., was peppered with questions from the crowd.

What would he do if his children came out as gay? Did he know he was not welcome in Philadelphia?

Calkins took the badgering in stride.

This is their freedom of speech, he said. I may not agree with what theyre saying, but I respect them.  I love debate.

Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article.
In between speeches from the Republican Partys would-be presidents, attendees at Fridays Moms for Liberty summit heard from a panel of state education leaders  but the underlying theme was much the same as that hammered by the political figures: Public schools are too woke.

The radicalism that the left has taken to try to force socialism and Marxism in our classrooms is the most outrageous thing this country has ever seen, said Ryan Walters, Oklahomas superintendent of public instruction. You all are on the front lines of it.

As hours-long protests continued outside, the 600-plus member crowd inside was energized, including at this lunchtime gathering in the Marriott ballroom  the only session outside the presidential speeches to which The Inquirer was granted access Friday, with other workshops closed to media. (Topics included: Comprehensive Sex Education: Sex Ed or Sexualization, Dark Moneys Infiltration in Education  and How to Fight It, and Driving the Narrative: If You Arent Telling the Story, Someone Else Is.)

This session, which followed remarks from former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, included a panel of education officials  Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva, and South Carolina Superintendent Ellen Weaver  who touched on some of the big challenges in education, including pandemic learning loss and a reckoning over reading instruction, which many experts say schools have been teaching improperly.

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But discussions about the so-called science of reading movement  a body of research calling for more systematic reading instruction  and efforts to improve literacy veered back to the idea that education was being undermined by schools devoting too much attention to LGBTQ issues.

Theres a problem when your LGBTQ+ whatever guide is 27 pages, and your reading strategies are three pages, Diaz said. We need to get all this woke stuff out.

Diaz noted Floridas rejection of dozens of textbooks, which the state said contained prohibited topics of social emotional learning and critical race theory. The former is common in school systems and involves lessons aimed at helping children manage their emotions; conservatives have claimed its being used to usher in what they deem critical race theory  an academic framework that examines racism as embedded in institutions that has become a catchall for discussions of race and racism.

Among his objections, Diaz cited an example of a math textbook including a mention of having two moms or two dads.

Remember, these are the foundations  if we allow that stuff to seep into our kids minds, what happens 10 years down the line? Diaz said.

Referring to the latest national standardized test scores showing stark drops compared to before the pandemic, Walters said it wasnt just COVID-19 school closures to blame.

Weve gone from not doing a good job teaching the science of reading, not driving home the basics of math, to now teaching gender ideology and critical race theory, Walters said.

He blamed teachers unions and the academic elite, claiming that superintendents come out of woke hiring organizations.

But the biggest applause came when Walters proclaimed that we dont need a federal Department of Education, drawing cheers from the crowd filling the ballroom. (Former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos issued a similar call at last years Moms for Liberty summit.)

In designating Moms for Liberty as an antigovernment extremist group, the Southern Poverty Law Center pointed to its support for abolishing the federal education department  one among a number of positions the civil rights group said Moms for Liberty had adopted threatening the public education system, and opposing student-inclusion efforts.

Some of the education officials were careful to try to draw a distinction between union leaders and rank-and-file teachers. The vast majority of educators in South Carolina do not believe this nonsense that Washington is trying to put on our schools, Weaver said.

She told the mothers: You all are not culture warriors. You are common-sense warriors. You are reality warriors.
A rendering of the proposed senior apartment project on the right, as seen from street view looking southwest on West Clearfield Street. On the left is the proposed commercial space. Read more

A 48-unit affordable-housing apartment complex for seniors and a 24,700-square-foot commercial space the size of a grocery store are slated for 3030 20th St. in North Philadelphia.

The project from affordable housing developer New Courtland is on the edge of a residential neighborhood and in a former industrial zone.

It is planned for land owned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

The residences are one-bedroom units targeted toward low-income seniors.

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The four-story apartment building would be on the north side of the 53,606-square-foot lot, with commercial space be on the south. In between would be a surface parking lot with 33 spaces.

The site is really ready for repositioning, and that whole area will get a tremendous boost from it, said Peter Kelsen, a real estate lawyer with Blank Rome who represents New Courtland.

There are a number of vacant sites around there, Kelsen said, but some great single-family residentials with good bones in there, too.

The site used to contain a warehouse, but its been vacant since 1980.

The design of the residential structure, by CBP Architects, includes a red brick veneer meant to reflect the architecture of the neighboring rowhouses and the defunct industrial structures.

The project requires permission from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to move forward because its zoning still reflects the historic industrial use and prohibits residential development. New Courtland will appear before the board on Aug. 30.

At a neighborhood meeting in June, community residents voted to support New Courtland before the zoning board.

Despite support for this project, the community meeting was laced with concern about affordable housing access throughout the neighborhood.

There was a huge amount of seniors here questioning because they seemed concerned [about] how they can get a place to live like this, said Don Stevenson, a neighborhood advocate who attended the meeting.

New Courtland applied for Low Income Housing Tax Credits, one of the most common forms of affordable-housing finance in the country, as well as an additional subsidy from the Redevelopment Authority.

Thirty-two of the units would be accessible to those at 50% of the areas median income (AMI), which is about $52,700. Six units would be for 30% of AMI, or those making at least $31,620. And 10 would be for those at 20% of AMI, or an annual income over just over $21,000.

Its a no-brainer for the city and the state, " Kelsen said. They really have to encourage this stuff.

The housing is the first phase of the project, with the expansive commercial space set up as the second phase. Kelsen would not comment on what was being planned for the commercial space.

The timeline of the project depends on both winning the variance request before the zoning board and being granted the Low Income Housing Tax Credits by the state housing finance agency.

If those pieces fall into place, construction could begin next year.
Andrea Vettori, Margie Winters, and Mark Segal (right) present Democratic mayoral nominee Jim Kenney with Papal artwork promoting social equality LGBT Family Papal Picnic on Sept. 26, 2015. Read more

Mayor Jim Kenney denounced the views of Moms for Liberty on Thursday as the groups three-day convention began in Center City.

I want to be very clear that as a welcoming and inclusive city, we find this groups beliefs and values problematic, Kenney said in a statement, calling the groups attempts to disregard history, ban books, and silence conversations about race, gender, and sexuality ... harmful to youth.

Kenney also stressed that the citys response would respect both demonstrators and convention participants rights to free speech, and protect the constitutional rights of all individuals without regard to the views expressed by any group.

Mayors dont typically send out a statement about a mid-sized convention coming to Philadelphia, a city that gets hundreds of conferences and conventions a year.

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But most conventions dont draw the ire that the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors convention has in heavily Democratic Philadelphia.

The group was designated an extremist antigovernmental, group this month by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a veteran civil rights organization that tracks domestic extremism.

In defending its designation, the SPLC noted the groups slogan that we do not co-parent with the government, its support for abolishing the federal Department of Education, and accusations that teachers unions are responsible for indoctrination. The group started with parents wanting schools to reopen during COVID but has since pivoted to targeting diversity education and how LGBTQ issues are handled by schools.

Several protests are planned through the weekend, including a banned book read-athon, dance party protests, and mobile billboards set to circle the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, where the convention is taking place.

Inside the Marriott, the convention will convene about 650 members from chapters around the country. The schedule includes panel discussions related to organizing school board elections and anti-LGBTQ topics such as Protecting Kids from Gender Ideology.

A slate of Republican presidential candidates will speak at the conference, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Moms for Liberty has defended its group as one devoted to empowering parents to be a part of their childs public school education.

Name-calling parents who want to be a part of their childs education as hate groups or bigoted just further exposes what this battle is all about, Moms for Liberty co-founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich said in a statement.

Who fundamentally gets to decide what is taught to our kids in school  parents or government employees? We believe that parental rights do not stop at the classroom door and no amount of hate from groups like this is going to stop that.

Other Democrats also condemned the group Thursday. Councilmember Kendra Brooks called the GOP speakers coming to pitch their campaigns power-hungry Republicans ... targeting our city and state to inflame the racist and transphobic sentiments.

Its important to send them a clear message Brooks said. Pennsylvanians will not go backward. We stand united in protecting young people against attacks on their books, their bodies, and their right to express themselves.

The Pennsylvania LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus and the citys delegation in the state House also weighed in, with state Reps. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) and Jessica Benham (D., Allegheny) calling it embarrassing that Pennsylvanias largest city will host one of the nations most hostile anti-LGBTQ+ groups during the month of Pride.

As mayor, Kenney established the Mayors Commission on LGBT Affairs, banned conversion therapy for minors, strengthened the Fair Practices Ordinance, and expanded protections for trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming Philadelphians.

Hes received some criticism from LGBTQ activists as violence against transgender people has continued in the city and for what they say has been inaction toward protecting homeless communities, which include a disproportionate number of LGBTQ people.

In Council, he was known for his focus on LGBTQ issues, introducing a LGBT Equity Bill that instituted sweeping protections for the LGBTQ community.

Celena Morrison, the citys director of LGBTQ affairs also released a statement Thursday acknowledging that some Philadelphians may be upset by the visit.

We know that the presence of Moms for Liberty may stir up fear or distress for our BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities. We urge all those affected to take the appropriate measures to ensure their well-being while Moms for Liberty is visiting our city.
With rallies, assorted protests, banned-book giveaways, and a decidedly unwelcoming message to the conventioneers from the mayor, the four-day summit by the controversial parental rights group Moms for Liberty got underway Thursday night in Philadelphia.

As if its controversial agenda werent enough  it has pushed for book bans and limiting classroom discussions about race and gender identity  the gathering in all likelihood will generate national attention, with former President Donald Trump and another Republican 2024 presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, scheduled to speak.

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And well before the proceedings started Thursday, they drew the attention of demonstrators who gathered under the smoky skies during the afternoon at LOVE Park and outside the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott, where about 650 conventioneers were staying.

 READ MORE: What to know about the Moms summit

Then, a few hours later, chanting Philly is a trans city and Philly is a Black city, a boisterous group of more than 50 assembled at the corner of Third and Chestnut Streets outside the Museum of the American Revolution, which was hosting a reception for the conventioneers Thursday evening.

In a tense exchange, police threatened to arrest anyone who blocked traffic. The protesters then pivoted to dancing and chanting and taunting every charter bus that off-loaded a fresh group of summit attendees. The chants were accompanied by queer anthems such as Beyonce's Break My Soul. One arrest was reported later.

Wearing heart-shaped glasses, trans youth Sam Donagi, 16, amped the crowd. They want to eradicate my queer joy and make this a society for them and not for everyone, Donagi said.

Despite the protests of several historian groups, museum officials  who told staff they could take the night off if they felt unsafe  have defended their hosting of the event, saying their aim is to share diverse and inclusive stories about our nations history with the broadest audience possible.

 READ MORE: What historians are saying about the group

We urge all museums and history organizations to think judiciously about the groups that are allowed to use their spaces and the impact these decisions have, the American Association for State and Local History said in a statement.

Moms for Liberty was founded in Florida in 2021 by two women, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, who the group says are former school board members who witnessed how short-sighted and destructive policies directly hurt children and families. Among other activities, it trains potential school board candidates.

We spread awareness and an understanding of the limited role of government, the group says on its website. We promote teaching the principles of liberty in our homes and community.

No summit attendees were available for comment, as police were quick to usher in guests arriving at the museum for the Moms for Liberty welcoming event.

While the group started with parents wanting schools to reopen during the COVID pandemic, it has turned to targeting diversity education and how schools address LGBTQ issues.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that has long tracked domestic extremism, has designated Moms for Liberty an extremist antigovernmental group, citing its support of abolishing the federal Department of Education, and accusations that teachers unions are responsible for indoctrination.

In his statement, Mayor Jim Kenney called the groups attempts to disregard history, ban books, and silence conversations about race, gender, and sexuality ... harmful to youth.

However, he took a tact similar to the museum, saying the city would protect the constitutional rights of all individuals without regard to the views expressed by any group.

The group, which has strong financial backing from Republicans, says it has more than 275 chapters, with the heaviest concentrations in Florida and eastern Pennsylvania.

But it evidently was not particularly welcome in Philadelphia, where Democrats hold a 7-1 registration advantage.

Dozens of people attended a rally shortly after 3 p.m. at LOVE Park to denounce the group and what it stands for.

They showed up in your town, Bernita Bradley, director of parent voice at the National Parents Union, said to the dozens who had gathered at LOVE Park around 3 p.m. for the banned-book giveaway that the union sponsored.

Do they represent your town? Bradley asked. A resounding No echoed through the park.

Among those attending was Jane Cramer, the parent of an incoming senior in the Pennridge School District. She said she had skipped a planned camping trip Friday, after the district moved to remove LGBTQ pride flags and other advocacy materials in the classrooms.

Kate Nazemi, a parent in the Central Bucks School District, where pride flags were banned in the classrooms, said the people against diversity are in the minority.

She added, The most important thing a student needs from the education environment is to know they are loved, Nazemi said. And our teachers are trying to show that with one hand tied behind their back.

Several protests are planned though the weekend, including a banned book read-athon, dance party protests, and mobile billboards set to circle the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.

 READ MORE: Kenney called the group 'problematic'

At the Marriott, members of the Federation of Jewish Mens Clubs, which is holding its biennial conference at the hotel, were surprised to learn the Marriott was hosting Moms for Liberty at the same time.

I just did a double take and I couldnt believe it, said Eric Weis, 72, of Wayne, N.J., a longtime board member, adding his group had booked first.

In a statement, the federation said that while the FJMC recognizes that Moms for Liberty and their speakers have the constitutional right to peaceably assemble, the FJMC does not endorse either the organization, its leadership, or the sentiments that they or their speakers may express.

He said he and a handful of other members decided not to attend. Marriott officials did not respond to a request for comment.

In a letter to the hotel, Weis said, the Moms For Liberty event in Philadelphia is beyond bizarre.

I have stayed at Marriott properties hundreds of times, he wrote. I can assure you that I will NEVER AGAIN spend another penny at any Marriott location for the rest of my life. ... Your Philadelphia staff has made a gross error in putting oil and water together in the same hot pot.

For Alana Byrd, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and a resident of Elkins Park, the Moms for Liberty groups behavior evoked the pre-Holocaust era. She said the recent slew of book bans and anti-LGBTQ legislation was reminiscent of the tales her grandparents told her. My parents told me their story and this is exactly how it starts, with people censoring things in schools and libraries and telling other people what they can and cannot do, Byrd said.

Hate has no place here, Byrd said. This is the City of Brotherly Love and we should make sure to keep it that way.

Staff writers Maddie Hanna, Oona Goodin-Smith and Julia Terruso contributed to this article.
Students gather outside Masterman, one of the district's special admissions schools, in this May 2022 file photo. Read more

The Philadelphia school district should consider eliminating standardized test requirements at some of its special-admissions schools and allow schools more flexibility in determining which students to accept, a new evaluation says.

The evaluation, presented by district-hired consultants during a school board meeting Thursday, also included a recommendation that eligible eighth graders attending special-admission middle-high schools be granted automatic admission to ninth grade.

And, the consultants said, the district needs to better communicate the school admissions process  which was revamped in 2021 with the goal of increasing equity, prioritizing students from certain underrepresented zip codes at a handful of selective schools.

But the changes  which came with strict admissions criteria  met with widespread dissatisfaction, resulting in unpredictable lottery outcomes and open seats at a number of schools.

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Just one in five people surveyed were happy with the admissions process, according to the consultants with Accenture, which the district hired after it began reviewing its process in August 2022. The firm sought feedback from students, parents, counselors and principals, and also evaluated how Philadelphias admissions process compared to that of other major urban school districts.

Many other districts have already optimized their systems and curated it based on their needs, said Nicole Newman, one of the Accenture consultants. She recommended that Philadelphia ensure that staff and families are trained on the process so that applying doesnt feel like a black box.

Superintendent Tony Watlington did not comment on specific recommendations at the meeting, but said the district would study the findings and announce changes by July 30 for the 2023-24 school year.

The district overhauled its admissions process in 2021, moving from a system where principals had some latitude in admissions to a computerized lottery system that included priorities for students from certain zip codes.

Officials were attempting to solve for a mismatch between the citys demographics and the composition of student bodies at some magnet schools, like Central and Masterman.

But the fixes often did not have the desired effect. A 2022 report found that while more students of color met admissions requirements for magnet schools, the percentage of Black and Latinx students who gained entry into the most elite schools remained quite low, under 10% for both groups at Central and Masterman.

For the 2023-24 admissions cycle, more problems were underscored. Hundreds of students walked out of their schools to protest the changes that resulted in hundreds of empty seats in some of the 39 criteria-based schools after not enough students met admissions criteria.

Prior to the changes, principals had the ability to admit students who came close to meeting admissions standards, allowing them to offer opportunities to students whose circumstances might go undetected otherwise  a student who had a high number of absences, for instance, because of responsibilities caring for siblings, or someone with a C because their family had been experiencing homelessness.

The shift to strict enforcement of admissions criteria was a key driver in reducing access to more criteria-based schools, said Nahomie Louis, another consultant. She said that academic studies also showed that weighing different eligibility criteria rather than imposing cutoffs has been a better predictor of academic success.

She and Newman noted that many didnt support using Pennsylvania System of Standardized Assessment (PSSA) scores to determine high school admissions  with 45% of principals strongly dissatisfied or dissatisfied with using the PSSAs as criteria.

The district could begin working with schools to evaluate admissions criteria, as well as begin a process to determine which schools should transition from criteria-based to citywide, Newman said.

The consultants recommended granting eligible eighth grade students attending special-admission middle-high schools automatic entry to ninth grade  citing research in favor of instructional program coherence, as well as frustration from high-performing eighth graders about reentering the lottery system.

Of 168 Masterman eighth graders eligible to attend the schools high school, only 33 received offers in the random lottery, Louis said. She noted that granting automatic entry means that certain class sizes at the middle school level will have to be reduced to ensure theres continuity.

Other recommendations included adding resources to support counselors and appeals teams related to students with disabilities applying to special-admissions schools, as well as optimizing the lottery system to ensure eligible students receive at least one offer; this year, 20% of eligible applicants received none, according to the consultants.
Bank offices have been in the Philadelphia Plaza Building at 101 N. Independence Mal, also known as 401 Market St., since 1973. Read more

Wells Fargo announced to its Philadelphia employees on Friday afternoon that the company is consolidating its office space in the city on West Market Street.

The company will leave its nine floors in the Philadelphia Plaza building at 101 N. Independence Mall for offices in Two Logan Square and Commerce Square.

We have more real estate than we need to support our current employee count in Philadelphia given our hybrid work schedule and the flexibility that we offer now after COVID, said Elise Corbett, spokesperson for Wells Fargo.

The company declined to say how many employees were affected.

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Corbett emphasized that there will be no layoffs, displacements of jobs outside the city, or changes to Wells Fargos existing hybrid schedule of three days in office and two days at home.

The company already has office space in Two Logan, so it will consolidate its presence around West Market.

Banking offices have been in the Philadelphia Plaza building, also known as 401 Market St., since it opened in 1973 as Philadelphia National Banks operations headquarters. Wachovia later acquired the bank, and then Wells Fargo.

Building owner Miller Real Estate Fund II said the building provides an opportunity for new tenants, with unique infrastructure related to its use as an operations and data center for Wells Fargo.

It has largely been unavailable to the broader tenant market since 1973, when it was built, said Matthew Ryan, investment professional with Miller Investment Management LP. We think it has some of the best light and air and exposure of any building in Philadelphia.

Wells Fargo would not comment on the square footage of their offices in the building, but a 2015 news release from Miller Real Estate listed it as having 500,000 square feet of space. The only other tenant, the American Bible Society, is on two floors with 130,000 square feet of space.

Weve been in this building since 1973, Corbett said. This [move] gives us a chance to have fresh space. There are fitness centers on-site. New state-of-the-art training and meeting facilities. Different views of the Parkway, when were used to looking over Independence Mall.

Corbett said the move is part of a larger national restructuring of commercial office space by Wells Fargo. Observers of the Philadelphia market say the move is not surprising, given larger post-COVID conditions.

A majority of the demand for space is not in the Independence Mall market. Those are users that usually have some geographic need or desire to be there, said Bill Luff, head of the commercial property consultancy CRE Visions in Philadelphia.

Wells Fargo already has a presence on western Market Street. Most of the financial services-related entities are already concentrated on western Market Street. So this does not surprise me, Luff said.

In a message to employees, Wells Fargo said that the move to the other side of Center City will be phased, beginning in the third quarter of this year. There is no word on the future of the companys other regional office spaces in Plymouth Meeting and Wilmington, Del.
Former State Senate Larry Farnese speaks in North Philadelphia in January 2020. Read more

Its the most wonderful time of the year for would-be judicial candidates in Philadelphia  magic seat season  when the citys Democratic Party can nominate candidates for judge who are sure to win.

As Clout explained in 2021, magic seats become available when current judges seeking to be retained for another term in Novembers general election decide instead to drop off the ballot.

The Democratic City Committee then nominates candidates to replace them. Thats often called a golden ticket because the nominees dont need to raise money for expensive campaigns or deal with hassles from political consultants and ward leaders to win a crowded primary.

Clout hears three names are on a short-list for potential nominations: former State Sen. Larry Farnese, James Eisenhower, and Raj Sandher.

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Farnese and Eisenhower were recommended by the Philadelphia Bar Association in March before suspending their campaigns for judge. Sandher, a lawyer since 2013 who was not rated by the bar, also suspended his campaign.

Potentially up for grabs: a 10-year term as a Common Pleas judge with an annual paycheck of $212,495.

Farnese, who served three terms before losing the 2020 Democratic primary to Nikil Saval, originally won his Senate seat with the backing of the man who held it before him, former State Sen. Vince Fumo.

But Fumo told Clout he sees nominees more qualified than Farnese.

Eisenhower, who ran twice for state attorney general and is a former president judge of the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline, represented local Democratic Party chair Bob Brady, a former U.S. House member, in a 2017 federal investigation that resulted in convictions for a pair of Brady aides.

Brady was not charged.

Farnese did not respond to Clouts hails. Eisenhower declined to comment. Sandher told Clout the future is uncertain.

That would be great if it happens, he said of a magic seat appointment. But nothing is definite.

There are 14 Common Pleas judges in Philadelphia up for retention for 10-year terms in November. Clout hears at least two or three could withdraw from the ballot before the Sept. 7 deadline.

The potential drop-outs are judges Rayford Means, Joel Johnson, and Jacqueline Allen.

Allen told Clout she is day-to-day in her decision about retention, noting that she still loves the work but has been doing it for 29 years.

We hear Allen is unhappy that her fellow judges did not pick her law clerk for jury commissioner in May, despite a letter of recommendation written by Brady. Time will tell if that plays into her decision.

Means, a judge since 1992, and Johnson, elected in 2003, did not respond to Clouts hails.

The Democratic City Committee in 2021 appointed six judicial candidates with magic seats  four for Common Pleas, including former State Sen. John Sabatina Jr., and two for Municipal Court.

Local 98 rejects Johnny Docs pick in runoff

John Johnny Doc Doughertys campaign to depose the man he backed 19 months ago to lead Pennsylvanias most politically powerful union was rejected Saturday as members of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers voted to keep Mark Lynch Jr. as their business manager.

Lynch won 55% of the vote in a runoff election against Todd Neilson, Doughertys candidate, who took 45% of the vote.

Both had campaigned on promises of putting the unions controversial past behind them.

That was a complicated task because both have direct ties to Dougherty, who was convicted in November 2021 on federal bribery charges along with the unions former political director, former City Councilmember Bobby Henon.

Dougherty still has two more criminal trials ahead of him, including one for charges that he and other Local 98 officials embezzled more than $600,000 from the union. Henon is already serving a prison term.

Lynch, in an email to Local 98 members last Friday, sounded a conciliatory note in what had become an acrid election.

Todd and I are not enemies, were just opponents, he wrote. Todds supporters are not enemies of my supporters. In the end, we all want a strong, united local.

Lynch, who fired Neilson from a union post after taking over, saved most of his invective in the election for Dougherty, who called him the right choice at the right time when he backed Lynch to lead Local 98 one day after his bribery conviction.

The two men had a falling out after Local 98 did not back Dougherty in a fight with the unions insurance carrier about paying for his continuing legal bills.

Lynch told Clout last week that Dougherty turned on him because I wouldnt cave to his demands for money and fought his attempts to maintain control.

After his victory, Lynch said he would work to reclaim our unions good name.

What matters most right now is that we set aside any political factions and recommit to one another as true union brothers and sisters, Lynch said of the divided union.

Quotable:

Philadelphia is not a golden gem of voting integrity

 State Sen. Doug Mastriano, explaining to Clout colleague Gillian McGoldrick why he was the lone vote in a committee hearing this week against approving former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, a fellow Republican, as Pennsylvanias secretary of state.

Mastriano, who got crushed in last years gubernatorial race, also repeated his debunked claims about the 2020 election. Totally on brand.

Clout provides often irreverent news and analysis about people, power, and politics.
Former President Donald Trump speaks on Friday during the Moms for Liberty convention in Philadelphia. Read more

Former President Donald Trump said the nation is teetering on the edge of tyranny in a wide-ranging, often inaccurate address to adoring members of Moms for Liberty, whose controversial convention drew appearances from several GOP candidates.

Youre not a threat to America, youre the best thing thats ever happened to America, Trump said on stage at the convention Friday evening. Joe Biden and the Democrats are the threat to America. And together, were going to throw them out of office on Election Day 2024.

Trump, appearing for his first time in Philadelphia since being indicted, called his prosecution the greatest abuse of power in American history.

He was the third GOP presidential candidate to speak in a lineup that included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. In between speeches, attendees went to sessions about sex education, protecting parental rights, and how to capture school board seats.

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DeSantis speech was most in tune with the themes of the convention, Haley appealed to some educational topics but focused heavily on international issues, and Trump alternated between reading off a teleprompter and rambling tangents on a variety of topics.

The convention, which runs through Sunday, has already sparked ongoing protests in heavily Democratic Philadelphia. The Southern Poverty Law Center recently designated Moms for Liberty an antigovernment extremist group, saying its views are conspiracy propagandist. The political group, which claims 285 chapters in 45 states  including in the Philadelphia region  expected 650 attendees.

DeSantis congratulated the group for drawing protests: That is a sign that we are winning this fight.

Haley, the only woman running in the crowded field, argued for fresh leadership: Weve got a country to save. But if we want to save her, we have to have a new generational leader. We cant look back.

The outpouring of GOP presidential hopeful interest shows the impact of the self-described parental rights group  and the culture war issues that have become its focus  on the Republican Party.

Trump rails against left-wing cultural revolution

Trump, whose motorcade passed protesters raising their middle fingers in the air and shouting Lock him up! outside the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, was welcomed warmly inside. Convention-goers wore MAGA Moms T-shirts and other Trump swag. While DeSantis has close ties to the group, it was clear the former president held significant appeal.

Trump railed against a left-wing cultural revolution he said is seeking to enforce their sick creed of communism on every man, woman, and child.

He promised to liberate our children from the Marxist lunatics and perverts, and said he would cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory or transgenderism.

Trump went off script and said he would move our education system back to the states  an apparent call for abolishing the federal Department of Education. Conservatives have pushed to scrap the department for years; Betsy DeVos, a former Trump education secretary, issued the same call at last years Moms for Liberty summit.

He also vowed to make school principals be elected by parents, a move that would be outside the purview of a president (or even a local superintendent).

On a day when several big rulings came down from the Supreme Court, he got loud applause as he reminded the audience hed appointed three justices and transformed the judiciary.

Early polls consistently indicate Trump maintains a significant advantage over his Republican primary rivals for the 2024 election. According to recent polls Trump has widened his lead following his federal indictment on 37 counts of mishandling classified documents and trying to hide them from federal investigators.

 READ MORE: Protesters denounce start of Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia: Hate has no place here

DeSantis rails against woke ideology

DeSantis hit on many of the culture war talking points hes framed his presidential campaign around. He railed against woke ideology, (he used the word woke 13 times in his 25-minute speech) and the teaching of critical race theory, and touted school library book bans and Florida laws that prevent kids from receiving gender-affirming care, casting them as part of a larger fight against indoctrination.

DeSantis focused on his resume in the free state of Florida, and made a few subtle jabs at Trump.

It is time to put up or shut up, DeSantis said. No more excuses about why we cant win against the left. No more excuses about why you didnt do what you said you would do.

DeSantis has also used the term no excuses to brand his immigration plan while calling Trump soft on Mexico.

DeSantis speech included several inaccuracies or statements lacking context.

He falsely claimed California parents can lose custody of children who identify as transgender if they do not consent to gender-affirming health care.

That falsehood, which has spread widely on social media, misrepresents a bill in the state that would allow minors 12 and older to receive mental health counseling or therapy without parental consent.

 READ MORE: Why Trump, DeSantis, and GOP rivals are flocking to the Moms for Liberty convention

DeSantis is running the closest to Trump in the crowded battle for the GOP nomination. He has close ties to Moms for Liberty, which started in Florida. Attendees on Friday welcomed him warmly with applause for declarations such as, We have prohibited puberty blockers, and Were not doing the pronoun Olympics.

Hes going to be the next president, said Loranne Mazzulo, who is running for school board in the Rose-Tree Media School District.

She said DeSantis has a track record in getting rid of this indoctrination, this wokeness, and right now prefers him to Trump.

I dont think he comes with the same baggage, she said.

Nikki Haley appeals mom-to-mom

While DeSantis speech seemed tailor-made for the audience, Haleys sounded more like a traditional stump speech that also covered her personal story of growing up in rural South Carolina, where hers was the only Indian family in her small town.

A mother of two, she appealed to the crowd, mom-to-mom.

When they mentioned that this was a terrorist organization, I said, Well, then count me as a Mom for Liberty, because thats what I am. 

Her speech, which was heavy on international affairs, got personal 20 minutes in when she mentioned her husband had just deployed last week for a yearlong tour in Africa.

She called transgender participation in sports one of the biggest womens issues of our time.

My daughter ran track in high school. I dont even know how I would have had that conversation with her, she said, noting rising suicide rates among young women.

While suicide rates among teen girls is rising, Haley left out another tragic statistic: Research has found LGTBQ youth are at a higher risk for depression, self-harm, and suicide than non-LGTBQ peers.

Moms for Liberty cofounder: You are the Thomas Paines

Moms for Liberty cofounder Tina Descovich opened the convention likening Moms for Liberty members to Revolutionary wartime patriots.

You are the courage in America right now. You are the Thomas Paines, the Ben Franklins, the Margaret Corbins, she said. We are in a fight for liberty, we are in a fight for the future of this country.

Outside of the Marriott on Filbert Street, a small group of about 60 protesters held up signs like, Try reading books instead of banning them!

Pennsylvania state Democratic chair Sharif Street slammed the top GOP candidates attendance at the convention as MAGA Republicans ... flocking to Philadelphia this weekend to rub shoulders with the same extremist group thats crusading to ban books from schools and force politics into classrooms across the country.

Staff writer Jeremy Roebuck contributed to this article.
A judge has ordered a psychological evaluation for a South Heart woman accused of threatening North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Jody Kuntz, 46, was to make her initial court appearance this week on a misdemeanor count of harassment-threat. That hearing was canceled when South Central District Judge Bobbi Weiler granted the defense request for an evaluation at the State Hospital in Jamestown.

"An issue has arisen as to Ms. Kuntz's criminal responsibility and fitness to proceed as a result of a mental disease or defect existing at the time of the alleged criminal conduct in this matter," defense attorney Steven Balaban wrote. "Ms. Kuntz has a history of psychiatric conditions and treatment."

Balaban said he "has concerns that these conditions may have been a factor in the underlying offense and certainly may affect her ability to comprehend and assist in her own defense."

The evaluation is to determine Kuntz's criminal responsibility and competency to stand trial. The charge against her carries a maximum punishment of a $3,000 fine and about one year in jail.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol in an affidavit alleges Kuntz in a 911 call on Feb. 12 said she was at the Capitol and that Burgums tenure was at its end. About a week later she left two voice messages on the governors office phone line in which she made threats to hang him in Medora, the Patrol said.

Kuntz in March allegedly called the state Department of Environmental Quality and stated, The governor should meet his demise. A few days later in a call to the Department of Public Instruction, Kuntz stated it was the governors final day and he should flee, the affidavit states.

Kuntz is being held at the Southwest Multi-County Correction Center in Dickinson.

Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki has declined comment to the Tribune on the alleged threats, citing "standard practice not to publicly discuss the governors security or comment on pending litigation."
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden vowed Friday to push ahead with a new plan providing student loan relief for millions of borrowers, while blaming Republican hypocrisy for triggering the days Supreme Court decision that wiped out his original effort.

Biden said his administration had already begun the process of working under the authority of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which he called the best path that remains to provide as many borrowers as possible with debt relief.

In the meantime, since student loan-payment requirements are to resume in the fall, the White House is creating an on ramp to repayment and implementing ways to ease borrowers threat of default if they fall behind over the next year.

The president said the new programs will take longer than his initial effort would have to ease student loan debt.

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Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden said borrowers now angry about the courts decision should blame Republicans. He is trying to stay on the political offensive even as the ruling undermined a key promise to young voters who will be vital to his 2024 reelection campaign.

These Republican officials just couldnt bear the thought of providing relief for working class, middle class Americans, Biden said. The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning.

Trying to place staunch opposition to student loan forgiveness on the GOP could allow Bidens reelection campaign to maintain the issue as one of strength in the short term. But that may ultimately offer little solace to 43 million Americans who benefited from the initial program and will now have to wait for its replacement to take shape.

We do not want to go into excruciating debt for our entire lives to enhance our education, Voters of Tomorrow, a Gen Z-led organization that promotes the power of young Americans, said in a statement.

The White House efforts to forgive loans were an attempt to keep a Biden promise stretching back to his 2020 campaign to wipe out student loan debt  an idea that was especially popular with young voters and progressives. Both will be key for the president in next years presidential race but may be less energized about supporting him after the high courts decision.

Wisdom Cole, the national director of the NAACP Youth & College Division, said Black Americans helped put Biden in the White House, so theres an obligation for him to finish the job with his pledges to provide relief for borrowers.

Its going to have a huge impact on the next election, Cole said, adding, If we dont do this, we continue the cycle of seeing our elected leaders make promises and not follow through.

A May poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 43% of U.S. adults approve of how Biden sought to handle student debt, similar to his approval rating overall of 40% in the same poll.

The poll suggested that Biden gets credit for his handling of the issue among young adults in particular. Fifty-three percent of adults under age 30 said they approved of Bidens handling of student debt, compared with only 36% who approved of his job performance overall.

Senior administration officials said Bidens top advisers had met frequently lately to prepare for a high court ruling on student loans. They also spoke with advocates and allies in Congress. After Fridays decision, Biden met with top advisers and ordered them to immediately begin implementing a new loan plan.

The White House argues that its new efforts will stand up to future legal challenges, even given the Supreme Courts 6-3 current conservative majority. However, the administration also insisted its original plan was legal .

Biden bristled at suggestions his efforts to ease student loan burdens got borrowers hopes up unnecessarily.

I didnt give any false hope, he said. The Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given.

The political stakes are especially high since progressive Democrats in Congress and activists have been clamoring for the administration to offer an alternative to Bidens original student loan plan for months, fearing that the Supreme Court would ultimately move to block the presidents original efforts.

Many progressives argued that the Higher Education Act was the best vehicle all along, though the administration worried that implementation might have been slower had it originally tried employing the act.

The new approach uses a provision allowing Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to compromise, waive or release student loans. The Biden administration used the same basis last year to forgive $6 billion in loans for borrowers who were deceived by their colleges.

The details of the new forgiveness will be negotiated through a federal rulemaking process that the administration launched Friday. The process allows the Education Department to write or change federal regulations with the weight of law.

But theres no guarantee that the plan could survive another legal challenge.

The Higher Education Act has been used to cancel student debt but never at this scale, and lawyers for the Trump administration concluded in 2021 that the education secretary does not have statutory authority to provide blanket or mass cancellation under the act.

The GOP has long countered that repaying student loans is a fairness issue, and many leading Republicans celebrated Fridays ruling. Betsy DeVos, who served as secretary of education under President Donald Trump, called Bidens original plan deeply unfair to the majority of Americans who dont have student loans.

Republicans now seeking their partys 2024 presidential nomination lined up to applaud the decision, with former Vice President Mike Pence saying he was pleased that the court struck down the radical lefts effort to use the money of taxpayers who played by the rules and repaid their debts in order to cancel the debt of bankers and lawyers in New York, San Francisco, and Washington.

Addressing the Moms for Liberty conference in Philadelphia on Friday, Trump slammed Bidens efforts on student loans as a way of trying to buy votes, thats all it was. Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the Supreme Court was right to throw out Joe Bidens power grab.

After Biden announced his response, some Republicans were equally quick to reject it.

Taxpayers just got sucker punched  again  by this administration, said Rep. Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican. Today, President Biden announced that taxpayers will be forced to pay for the costliest regulation in our nations history.
Governor Josh Shapiro speaks to a classroom of freshmen at George Washington Carver High School for Engineering & Science in Philadelphia in March. Read more

HARRISBURG  The Pennsylvania Senate advanced on Thursday a $103 million school voucher program to allow students from the states lowest-performing public schools to pay for private education using state dollars.

The GOP-controlled Senate voted 29-21 to approve the new student voucher program, called the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success. The issue has become a quagmire for Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, as he negotiates his first budget deal with a split General Assembly, with one chamber held by Democrats and the other held by Republicans.

But the tension isnt with Republicans. Shapiro will need to appease members of the Democratic House, who hold a one-seat majority and many of whom support the states teachers unions and public education. House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) already called the latest school voucher proposal a distraction and said it does not have the support to pass his caucus.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana)said in his floor remarks on Thursday that the bill was written with Shapiros input. The proposal included new income limits and accountability measures that werent in earlier drafts.

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Shapiros office said the governor remains open to the concept of school vouchers, as long as a budget deal includes historic investments in public education, special education, student mental health, universal free breakfast, and other school needs.

Shapiro and top leaders have been negotiating the budget from the governors gated residence, about a mile from the state Capitol building. Leaders from the House Democrats and Senate Republicans are at the table for the closed-door meetings.

The $100 million investment is a drop in the bucket of the states annual education spending. Shapiro proposed a nearly $800 million increase over last years basic education allocation, totaling more than $8.4 billion.

But public education advocates say any dollar steered away from public education hurts the students who still attend those schools. Whats more: a state appellate court ruled earlier this year that the states public education system is unconstitutional and must be redesigned.

It is incumbent upon the House and Governor Shapiro to unequivocally reject any and all voucher schemes and get to work on their court-ordered and moral obligation to fully fund public education, said Jerry Jordan, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.

The Senate incorporated the proposed school voucher program into another bill that passed the state House about ambulance reimbursement rates. The state House will still need to approve it, though Bradfords comments signal he wont allow the House to vote on it.

Why Meek Mill and others support vouchers

After news broke last week that Shapiro would support a school voucher program, unions representing one million Pennsylvanians immediately condemned it. But Shapiro doubled down and appeared on Fox News, where he said he believes every child of God deserves a shot here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Since then, Shapiro has been encouraged by conservative groups and personalities, from the Wall Street Journal editorial board to former Trump secretary of education Betsy DeVos. Even Phillys own rapper Meek Mill sent Shapiro words of encouragement.

The issue remains complicated for some Philadelphia Democrats, who understand that the citys public schools struggle to educate their students and student achievement ranks near the bottom of all urban districts nationally.

One Democrat  Sen. Anthony Williams (D., Philadelphia)  voted with Republicans in support of the school voucher program. He said that students deserve other options when the current public school system is failing them, and the system shouldnt be propped up by forcing students to stay because of economic necessity.

Rep. Martina White (R., Philadelphia) said school vouchers will help students in Philly schools and otherlow-performing districts across the state. But she blamed House Democrats for holding up the opportunity.

The fact that the progressives in the Democratic caucus are holding hostage the budget and trying to basically kill this opportunity for these children is really sad, she added.

Sen. Scott Martin (R., Lancaster), who chairs the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said waiting lists for similar programs show that parents want to be able to choose a better school for their children.

How long do we wait in a childs development for a school to better itself along the way? Martin asked. This really, truly is a lifeline to those families who are begging for their child to have a better opportunity, a better future. And we owe all of them.

Earlier in the day, Shapiro said in a statement that the budget deal, due Friday before midnight, will require both sides to compromise.

After a dozen years of total Republican control of the legislature, Senate Republicans need to give more than theyre used to  and after a dozen years in the minority, House Democrats cant expect to get everything theyve wanted over the last decade in one budget, Shapiro said.
At Zurich, we take acting in the best interests of our customers seriously and we support maintaining an industry-wide approach that holds all insurers to a high standard. The new code will impact all facets of our customer interactions, from how products are designed, to how they are sold, through to the claims experience, Delaney said.
Travellers opting out of travel insurance are putting themselves in an extremely vulnerable position. Even if the price of a policy has increased post pandemic, the cost of overseas medical bills or trip cancellations can far outweigh the cost of a policy, particularly in todays travel climate. Its important to consider those risks before even contemplating a holiday, Ball said. Ambulance costs alone can cost more than $5k. A stay in a US hospital can result in bills amounting to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is not a sum most people can begin to contemplate while on holidays. It is vital that all travellers put their health and safety first.
More than two years later, the final investigation into one of the Suez Canals most costly maritime disasters is complete. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the report into the grounding of the Ever Given container ship will be uploaded to its publicly accessible database in the coming days.
The Fourth of July holiday period will start out hot in the Bismarck-Mandan area but taper to cooler temperatures by the actual holiday.

Meanwhile, drought has diminished a bit in North Dakota, blue-green algae is impacting more water bodies, and skies above the state remain smoky due to wildfires in Canada.

The National Weather Service forecast for the metro area calls for highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s this weekend, dropping to the upper 70s on Monday and the mid-to-lower 70s on Tuesday, which is Independence Day.

Normal for July Fourth in the capital city is 82 degrees. But climate statistics show a wide range of temperatures are possible, according to the weather service. The hottest Fourth was 102 degrees in 2017.

Bismarck got 1  inches of rain last year on the Fourth. There's a 30% chance for rain this year. There also are chances of showers and thunderstorms Saturday through Monday, according to forecasters. Winds should generally be less than 10 mph through the weekend.

Drought recedes

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, released Thursday, shows a slight reduction in dry areas over the week in North Dakota, particularly in the southwest and south central regions.

"Abnormally dry" conditions -- the weakest of five drought categories -- receded in those areas, and now cover about 46% of the state, down from 56% last week. A patch of "moderate" drought in the northeastern corner of North Dakota went from covering 3.5% of the state to 2.4%.

"The Northern Great Plains received widespread heavy rainfall this week, leading to large-scale improvements to ongoing drought and abnormal dryness," National Drought Mitigation Center Climatologist Curtis Riganti wrote in the weekly report. He added that "the southern half of North Dakota saw rainfall of at least 2 inches over the last week."

The precipitation included 1.72 inches of rain in Bismarck and 2.79 inches in Jamestown last Saturday -- both city records for the date, according to the weather service.

Soil moisture supplies in North Dakota improved this week after declining the three previous weeks, according to the latest crop report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Topsoil moisture is rated 68% adequate to surplus and subsoil moisture is 65% in those categories.

Pasture and range conditions in North Dakota are rated mostly fair to good, and stockwater supplies are rated 90% adequate.

The wildfire danger throughout the state was rated "low," the weakest category, according to state Emergency Services.

The U.S. Drought Monitor is a partnership of the Drought Mitigation Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Smoky skies

NOAA mapping shows "medium" levels of smoke from Canadian wildfires drifting over North Dakota. Air quality in much of northwestern North Dakota on Friday was rated as "unhealthy" or "unhealthy for sensitive groups." The rating in the eastern and southern regions including Bismarck was mostly "moderate," meaning people who are especially sensitive should reduce activity outdoors.

The state Department of Environmental Quality said particulate matter -- tiny particles of ash and soot in the smoke -- was increasing in northwest and central North Dakota and would be moving east. The agency advised residents, especially those with respiratory conditions, to consider limiting prolonged outdoors activities.

Information on wildfires and air quality is on the state Department of Environmental Quality website, at bit.ly/3OhrD7E. The EPAs map of fire and smoke conditions is at https://fire.airnow.gov/. The AirNow mobile phone app, and many other weather apps, also include air quality information. Wildfire smoke pattern predictions can be found at https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/.

Miscellaneous

North Dakota Health and Human Services is reminding residents as summer heats up that cooling assistance is available to qualifying households to help with the cost of purchasing or repairing air conditioners and other cooling devices.

The aid is through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which serves households with incomes up to 60% of the state median income. More information including qualifying income levels and applications are online at hhs.nd.gov/applyforhelp/liheap. The Customer Support Center is at 866-614-6005, 711 (TTY).

North Dakotas Department of Environmental Quality has now issued blue-green algae advisories for six water bodies in North Dakota: Green Lake in McIntosh County, Homme Dam in Walsh County, Epping-Springbrook Dam in Williams County, Froelich Dam in Sioux County, Lake Darling in Renville County and Alkali Lake in Stutsman County.

Hot summer weather contributes to the algae that can produce toxins in the water called cyanotoxins. People and animals who swallow or come into contact with affected water can get sick, and animals and fish can die from it. Theres no known antidote for the toxins.

The algae discolor the water and cause foam, scum or mats to appear on the surface. In severe blooms, the water can have the appearance of spilled green paint or green pea soup. More information is at www.tinyurl.com/WMP-HABS.

The city of Bismarck is urging residents to observe the rules for yard waste collection sites.

The only materials that are to be placed into the dumpsters are grass clippings and leaves. Branches, garbage and bags of any kind are not allowed. A trash receptable is on site for bags after they're emptied.

Tree branches may be taken to the landfill or cut into 4-foot lengths, bundled together and placed out for collection with household garbage.
Much more distressing, however, is the hurt and discomfort so many of our members, partners and staff experienced as a result of his remarks. We do not in any way condone or agree with any of Mr. Rusbuldts statements, but we must take full responsibility for them.
Chris Cannon deeply regrets his actions that lead to the charges filed in this case, the statement read. He hopes his guilty plea provides some closure to those involved. He plans to pay everything back and rebuild the trust he once had with his family, friends, and the City of Elgin.
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Andover, Massachusetts-based Injured Workers Pharmacy (IWP) has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Controlled Substances Act by improperly filling prescriptions for controlled substances, including opioids, and submitting false claims for payment to the Department of Labor (DOL).

In addition, IWP will enter into a five-year corrective action plan with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said that as part of the settlement agreement, IWP admitted that between 2014 and 2019 it failed to adequately address prescriptions with red flags, including high doses of opioids, early refills and dangerous drug combinations, before dispensing them to injured workers. Red flags indicate prescriptions that may not have been issued for a legitimate medical purpose, such as abuse or diversion.

IWP previously settled a parallel investigation by the state attorney general into its dispensing practices for $11 million.

Levy said the settlement also concerns IWPs claims for payment submitted to DOL, which administers the federal workers compensation program. In 2017, in an effort to curb opioid abuse among injured federal workers, DOL began reviewing claims and flagged concerning prescriptions  a process called a Drug Utilization Review (DUR). Before paying claims flagged for a DUR, DOL requires pharmacies to represent that a pharmacist or the prescribing medical professional addressed the concerns raised by the DUR.

IWP admitted that, between 2017 and 2019, IWPs claims employees routinely represented to DOL that IWP consulted with prescribers about DURs when, in fact, IWP did not consult with those prescribers.

Under the terms of the settlement, over the next five years, DEA is allowed to conduct unannounced inspections of IWP without administrative inspection warrants. The DEA monitors pharmacy prescribing practices to ensure compliance with federal law.

To address issues uncovered in the investigation, officials said IWP has made improvements in its pharmacy practices, including developing additional procedures to review high-risk prescribing; increasing training for all employees; and eliminating production quotas for pharmacists and staff. The company also retained additional personnel to address high-risk prescribing,

Last week brought disturbing reports that opioid overdose deaths only increased last year in Massachusetts. Pharmacies are on the front lines of the prescription pill and opioid epidemic devastating our communities, said Levy. Pharmacies that distribute dangerous prescription pills have a solemn responsibility to comply with measures enacted to curb abuse and addiction.

Christopher J. Godfrey, director of the DOL workers compensation program, said the settlement allows his office to recover medical bill payments.

Topics Workers' Compensation
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Insurer GEICO has agreed to pay $805,000 total to settle class action lawsuits by claims adjusters alleging they were entitled to unpaid wages for overtime worked between May 27, 2019 and May 27, 2022.

The settlement affects 91 plaintiffs involved in five different actions filed against GEICO in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Florida over hours they claim they worked beyond 40 hours per week. The settlement came about as the result of direct negotiations between the parties attorneys after attempts at mediation with judges in August 2022 and again in January 2023 were unsuccessful.

Out of the $805,000 total, the plaintiffs will split $442,500 for alleged unpaid wages and damages. The remainder, $362,500, will go to Zipin, Amster & Greenberg, LLC, for the payment of attorneys fees and costs.

The lead plaintiffs are Susan Hart, Brian Russo, Candace Erford, Timothy Schwarzmann and Ryan Zambito.

The agreement reached is a reasonable compromise of highly disputed claims, the parties said in a joint statement urging the courts to approve the deal. It must still be approved by the courts.

The agreement does not contain an admission of liability by GEICO.

The adjusters primary duty was to write estimates on damaged vehicles. They inspected vehicles in the field, at body shops and at home. They worked outside the presence of their supervisors and recorded their own time in the insurers timekeeping system. They reported and were paid for different amounts of overtime.

According to the joint statement, the disputed issues concerned the adjusters claim that they did not report all their overtime because doing so would adversely affect their productivity rating, which is one part of their performance evaluation. In its defense, GEICO asserted that the plaintiffs were instructed to accurately report their time, that no one told them to work off-the-clock, and that they reported and were paid for significant amounts of overtime.

According to GEICO, the allegations raised the question that if the adjusters reported some of their overtime, how would their supervisor know they did not report other overtime? As a matter of law, GEICO asserted, it was not required to audit electronic records of the their work activity, such as claims files or emails, to see if employees were reporting all their time.

The plaintiff adjusters, by contrast, alleged and affirmed throughout discovery that GEICO knowingly suffered or permitted adjusters to perform off-the-clock compensable work duties, including duties resulting in overtime work exceeding 40 hours per week. The plaintiffs, however, recognized that quantification of the amount of uncompensated work each plaintiff worked was difficult to determine or prove with accuracy and they recognized there was a substantial risk that even if they could prove GEICOs underlying liability, the extent of alleged back wages owed to each plaintiff was at best, uncertain.

The parties agreed that absent a settlement, the cases would have resulted in substantially more discovery and litigation, and delay in resolution. At the close of discovery, GEICO intended to move for decertification of the five actions and GEICO and the plaintiffs intended to move for summary and/or partial summary judgment on the issue of liability.

Topics Claims
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The Pennsylvania Senate this week unanimously confirmed Michael Humphreys to serve as the states insurance commissioner. Governor Josh Shapiro nominated Humphreys, who previously served as acting commissioner, to the top position at the Pennsylvania Insurance Department in January.

Humphreys succeeded Jessica Altman, who resigned the position last February to become chief executive officer of Covered California.

Humphreys served as the chief of staff beginning in September 2019. Prior to coming to Pennsylvania, he served as assistant commissioner for insurance at the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, where he oversaw the insurance division.

Humphreys joined the department as it was working with Pennie, the state-based health insurance exchange created by Act 42, to ensure a successful roll-out of the new initiative as a source of affordable coverage.

Humphreys also co-chaired the Behavioral Health Commission for Adult Mental Health that recommended to the legislature how to best spend $100 million on adult behavioral health needs.

When nominated by Shapiro in January, Humphreys was tasked with strengthening enforcement of mental health parity laws. Humphreys said the department took immediate action to identify insurance companies for areas of non-compliance and improve resources for consumers and providers to understand potential parity violations.

Humphreys also launched a new round of market conduct examinations targeting insurer compliance with parity laws.

Humphreys said he is also working to carry out Shapiros priority of improved response times for professional licensing and pushing the department to work efficiently for licensed insurance producers.

Humphreys has a Masters in Public Administration from Bowling Green State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Buffalo.

Topics Pennsylvania Politics
This edition of International People Moves details appointments at brokers Aon and NFP.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Aon Promotes 4 in Global Reinsurance Clients Team

Insurance broker Aon plc announced a series of promotions in its Global Reinsurance Clients (GRC) segment, part of Reinsurance Solutions. The GRC team works with the firms largest insurer clients to navigate volatility, optimize capital and drive performance by harnessing the insights and expertise of Aons global platform.

Effective immediately, Dave Nicholson has been named head of GRC. Based in Boston, he is responsible for ensuring GRC clients continue receiving tailored insights and solutions, enabling them to make better business decisions.

Aon also announced the following promotions:

Jack Snowden will lead the GRC London team. He has supported GRC clients for 14 years, most recently as the account executive for QBE, a role he will continue in addition to leading the team in London.

will lead the GRC London team. He has supported GRC clients for 14 years, most recently as the account executive for QBE, a role he will continue in addition to leading the team in London. Sara Rausch will lead Catastrophe Analytics for GRC. Her background and knowledge in catastrophe modelling will help drive the delivery of valuable insights to clients from Aons Catastrophe Analytics team.

will lead Catastrophe Analytics for GRC. Her background and knowledge in catastrophe modelling will help drive the delivery of valuable insights to clients from Aons Catastrophe Analytics team. Chris Higgins will serve as the Insurance Industry leader for GRC, uniting industry specialists across both Risk Capital and Human Capital to bring more strategic value to insurer clients.

I am excited to lead the GRC segment as we continue delivering data-driven insights, solutions and transactional expertise to these key clients. The team has shown enormous resilience in a dynamic market, and through the untimely passing of our beloved colleague James Buchanan, commented Nicholson. Carrying on this legacy is a humbling responsibility, and I am grateful for the guidance of our GRC chairman, Bruce Selby Bennett, as the GRC generates new opportunities for our clients and colleagues.

***

NFP Hires Perkins to Lead N. America Trade Credit & Political Risk Practice

NFP has hired Andrew Perkins as senior vice president to lead its North American Trade Credit and Political Risk practice. This practice is responsible for developing solutions to protect clients accounts receivable and foreign investments and ensuring the safety of their key people.

Perkins reports to Guy Jolicoeur, managing director, Technical Risks and Specialty Lines, NFP in Canada, based in Toronto. (Parent company, NFP, the property/casualty broker and consultant, is heaquartered in New York City).

Perkins comes to NFP from Atradius CYC, where he served as vice president and commercial director for the firms Canada branch. He has 30 years of experience in the trade credit and political risk market, including senior leadership positions in sales, underwriting, account management, e-commerce and product development at leading underwriters of trade credit and political risk insurance.

Topics Reinsurance Aon
McDougall Insurance Brokers Ltd., the Belleville, Ontario-based subsidiary of Definity Financial Corp., announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of Drayden Insurance Ltd. for C$208 million (US156.9 million), subject to closing and post-closing adjustments.

The transaction will be funded by Definity, through McDougall, using a combination of excess capital and debt. After accounting for all related transactions, Definitys ownership interest in McDougall will increase to approximately 78%.

Founded in 1965, Drayden is a leading Alberta insurance broker with approximately C$125 million (US$94.3 million) in annual premiums and strong operating margins. Through its insurance broker and government registry service operations, Drayden employs over 170 people across eight locations in the Edmonton area.

After closing of the Drayden transaction, McDougall will have over C$860 million (US$648.6 million) in annual premiums with 860 employees in 65 office locations. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Definitys operating ROE and operating earnings per share. Definity continues to hold significant financial capacity for future opportunities.

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023, subject to the fulfillment of customary closing conditions including provincial regulatory approval related to the change of control of Draydens registries business.

The addition of Drayden will provide immediate scale and market leading presence outside of Ontario, said Rowan Saunders, president and chief executive officer, Definity. This acquisition reinforces Definitys commitment to build our insurance broker platform into another billion-dollar business for Definity.

Drayden has an experienced management team, highly valued brands, a great culture and strong operational alignment with our existing broker operations, stated Ross McDougall, chief executive officer, McDougall. This transaction will give McDougall a unique opportunity to expand nationally and immediately establish a leadership position in Albertas insurance broker market.

We are excited about the opportunity to join the McDougall family given our common focus and shared values, said Brian Nielsen, President, Drayden. For our employees and customers this combination underpins our commitment to provide unrivalled service and supports continued investment in growing our business in Edmonton and the broader Alberta region.

Source: Definity Financial Corp./McDougall Insurance Brokers

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Agencies Canada
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the constitutional right to free speech allows certain businesses to refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings, ruling in favor of a web designer who cited her Christian beliefs in challenging a Colorado anti-discrimination law.

The justices ruled 6-3 in favor of a web designer named Lorie Smith who cited her Christian beliefs in challenging a Colorado anti-discrimination law. The justices overturned a lower courts ruling that had rejected the Denver-area business owners bid for an exemption from a Colorado law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and other factors.

Smiths business, called 303 Creative, sells custom web designs, but she opposed providing her services for same-sex weddings. The dispute focused on protections for freedom of speech under the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment.

The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the ruling.

The courts three liberal justices dissented from the decision. In the dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.

She added: By issuing this new license to discriminate in a case brought by a company that seeks to deny same-sex couples the full and equal enjoyment of its services, the immediate, symbolic effect of the decision is to mark gays and lesbians for second-class status. In this way, the decision itself inflicts a kind of stigmatic harm, on top of any harm caused by denials of service.

The decision by the court, on the final day of rulings in its term that began in October, comes at a time when laws targeting the rights of transgender and other LGBT people are being pursued by Republican legislators in numerous conservative-leaning states.

The case pitted the right of LGBT people to seek goods and services from businesses without discrimination against the free speech rights, as asserted by Smith, of artists  as she called herself  whose businesses provide services to the public.

Kelley Robinson, president of LGBT civil rights group Human Rights Campaign, called the decision a deeply troubling crack in our progress and should be alarming to us all. People deserve to have commercial spaces that are safe and welcoming. This decision continues to affirm how radical and out-of-touch this court is.

Smith, who lives in the Denver suburb of Littleton, is an evangelical Christian who has said she believes marriage is only between a man and a woman. She preemptively sued Colorados civil rights commission and other state officials in 2016 because she said she feared being punished for refusing to serve gay weddings under Colorados public accommodations law.

The court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

Smith and her lawyers have said she is not discriminating against anyone but objects to messages that contradict her Christian beliefs.

Colorado, civil rights groups and numerous legal scholars warned of a ripple effect if Smith won, allowing discrimination based not only on a business owners religious beliefs, but potentially racist, sexist and anti-religious views.

Public accommodations laws exist in many states, banning discrimination in areas such as housing, hotels, retail businesses, restaurants and educational institutions. Colorado first enacted one in 1885. Its current Anti-Discrimination Act bars businesses open to the public from denying goods or services to people because of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and certain other characteristics.

Colorado argued that its Anti-Discrimination Act regulates sales, not speech, to ensure equal access and equal dignity. Smith thus is free to sell whatever she wants, including websites with biblical passages stating an opposite-sex vision of marriage.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement: Refusing service based on whom someone loves is just as bigoted and hateful as refusing service because of race or religion. And this is bigotry that the vast majority of Americans find completely unacceptable.

President Joe Bidens administration, supporting Colorado in the case, argued that Smiths bid for an exemption went too far because she sought a right to refuse to create a wedding website of any kind for a same-sex couple, even a basic one simply stating logistical details.

Smith said last year, My faith has taught me to love everyone, and thats why I work with everyone through my business. But that also means I cant create every message.

Smith is represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious rights group.

The court has supported religious rights and related free speech claims in recent years in other cases. The justices backed LGBT rights in cases such as the 2015 decision legalizing gay marriage nationwide and the 2020 ruling that federal law barring workplace discrimination protects gay and transgender employees.

The justices issued the decision in Smiths case the day after siding with another evangelical Christian plaintiff. In that case, the court the court in a 9-0 ruling bolstered the ability of employees to obtain accommodations at work for their religious practices, reviving a lawsuit by a former mail carrier accusing the Postal Service of discrimination after being disciplined for refusing to show up for work on Sundays.

Topics Legislation Colorado
A Texas insurance who previously served as mayor of Elgin pleaded guilty June 20 to theft of property, a third-degree felony.

Christopher Cannon, 38, acquired payments from the company Bakers Backhoe Services between January 2015 through August 2019 but failed to submit those payments to obtain insurance policies, according to the Travis County District Attorneys Office. During that time Cannon was president of Cannon Insurance Services, a Central Texas agency that specialized in auto, home, life and business insurance.

Cannon also served as mayor of Elgin from 2016 to 2020.

Cannon was indicted by a Travis County Grand Jury in April 2022 and was arrested the following month by the Elgin Police Department with the assistance of Texas Department of Insurance investigators.

As a result of the theft, the victim company didnt have any insurance coverage during that time, TDI Prosecutor Brian Chandler said at the time of indictment. Fortunately, the company didnt need to rely upon the insurance they thought theyd purchased, otherwise, the company could have suffered financial ruin. Toby Baker, co-owner of Bakers Backhoe Services, told news station KXAN in May 2022 that the certificates of liability insurance Cannon had been sending to Bakers clients were fake. At first, disbelief, Baker told the station. Like, this cant be happening. Twenty-five years in business. And I cant imagine this could ever happen to me. Cannon face a fine of up to $10,000 and/or confinement no longer than 10 years.

Topics Texas Fraud Agencies
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Three Florida men were arrested Thursday and charged with illegally making more than $22 million by insider trading ahead of the public announcement that an acquisition firm was going to take a media company owned by former President Donald Trump public.

The charges were outlined in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court that did not implicate Trump in any way. The indictment was among four separate insider trading cases brought against 10 people, including a Pfizer employee and an investment firm executive director.

According to the indictment pertaining to the media company, the men were invited to invest in the special purpose acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., and were provided confidential information that a potential target of DWAC and another acquisition company, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., was Trump Media & Technology Group.

Authorities said the defendants bought millions of dollars of DWAC securities on the open market before news of the Trump media business was made public.

After the public announcement, the men dumped their securities for a significant profit, according to the court papers.

Insider trading is not easy money, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a release. Its cheating. Its a bad bet. Because my Office, the Southern District of New York, is watching. And were working quickly to investigate and prosecute anyone who corrupts our financial markets. And well keep at it as long as it takes. You can bet on that.

The arrested men were identified as Michael Shvartsman, 52, of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida; Gerald Shvartsman, 45, of Aventura, Florida; and Bruce Garelick, 53, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was unclear who would represent them at Thursday afternoon initial court appearances in Miami.

Michael Shvartsman owned Rocket One Capital LLC, a venture capital firm. His brother, Gerald Shvartsman, was Rocket Ones chief investment officer, according to court papers.

According to the indictment, Garelick was given a seat on DWACs board of directors and had access to confidential information. It said he then shared that information with his co-conspirators.

A lawyer who has represented Garelick in the past did not immediately return a message seeking comment Thursday.

The indictment said that between June 2021 and November 2021, the men purchased securities including warrants of their own and shared the secrets with their friends and employees, who also bought tens of thousands of units of securities ahead of the merger announcement with Trump Media & Technology Group. Typically, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is formed with the intent to merge with a private company before the private company becomes publicly traded.

In early 2021, representatives of Trump Media, including Trump, began communicating with principles of Benessere about potentially merging to take Trump Media public, the indictment said.

Between March and June 2021, Trump Media and Benessere entered into nonbinding letters of intent to merge, it said.

The letters required confidentiality but did allow Benessere and its agents to share confidential information with investors in the special purpose acquisition companies, the indictment said.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Florida Numbers
The Business Value of a Unified Application Development and Delivery Platform with Red Hat executive summary In a digital-first economy, those organizations that can deploy new software capabilities quickly to meet customer demand will be the ones with the advantage. However, the complexity of new cloud-native apps and maintaining legacy apps presents challenges. However, there is a unified platform that can change that. Read on to see more.

State of workloads adoption on containers and Kubernetes Today, applications are being built as discrete functional parts that can be delivered as a container. However, that means there are more parts to manage, and more complexity to overcome. However, with a policy-driven, automated solution, you can dictate how and where containers will run in a consistent way. Read on to learn more about it.

6 considerations for choosing the right Kubernetes platform Organizations today have options when it comes to containerization. Some create a system from scratch, but if you do not have the time or resources, then an integrated platform that comes ready to build and manage applications can be what you need. Read on to learn more about the things you should keep in mind when choosing a Kubernetes platform.

7 considerations for choosing a modern application platform Organizations plan to modernize 78% of their custom applications within the next year, according to Red Hat. But how do you know which application platform to choose? Download this white paper to explore 7 key considerations for choosing the right platform for transforming your applications.

O Reilly Kubernetes patterns for designing cloud native apps Developers today design, build and run software in a significantly new way thanks to the evolution of microservices and containers. This OReilly e-book explains common reusable patterns and principles for designing and implementing cloud-native applications on Kubernetes. Get your copy.

State of Kubernetes security report 2023 67% of respondents reported delaying or slowing down deployment due to Kubernetes security concerns, according to this State of Kubernetes security report. This report is based on a survey of 600 DevOps, engineering, and security professionals from around the world, including large enterprises and small-to-medium businesses. Access the report.

Credit Agricole scales with Red Hat AAP An enterprise automation platform can provide significant operational improvements to organizations struggling with managing the complexity of todays environments. Discover how the worlds largest cooperative financial institution was able to automate their operations and simplify their IT experience in this case study.

Automate for digital transformation As part of digital transformation, organizations must focus on improving and sometimes replacing business practices. A key component in these efforts is automation. Learn how Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, Dell EMC PowerEdge rack servers, and the Intel Xeon Scalable platform help you automate effectively in this paper.

Discover saves 800K hours with Red Hat AAP Discover employs over 17,000 employees globally which requires them to examine processes to make sure the business is running effectively. Their goal was to take all of their manual processes in order to understand them, optimize them, automate it, or eliminate it altogether. Read more to learn about their aggressive goal and how they got there.

CEPSA automates IT with Red hat to Drive Operational Efficiency A leading global energy and chemical company needed to increase efficiency and stay compliant while reducing costs, risk, and downtime. Working in close collaboration with Red Hat Consulting, the company established automation as a core pillar of its innovation strategy. Discover how this process drove productivity up 35% in this case study.

The automated enterprise Download this e-book to learn how to create a strategy for automation success across your organization, including in areas like: infrastructure, security, DevOps, and automation at the edge.

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Enterprise automation with a DevOps methodology Adding automation to your enterprise application environment may just be the best way to better serve your customers. Use this high-level enterprise automation checklist to start your transition to a more automated, efficient environment. Download and save the checklist here.

Digital and data are unlocking public sector transformation As customer expectations rise in the digital age, so do their expectations of the public sector to deliver high-quality digital services. Download this IDC report to explore key business priorities, trends, considerations and challenges for governments as they attempt to reshape the next normal of public services and societies.

Automate Red Hat Enterprise Linux As your data center expands, so does its complexity. Automate Red Hat Enterprise Linux explores how applying automation to your operating system can help manage that complexity. Download the e-book to discover 6 ways that automation can benefit your investment in Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Mizuho Securities delivers virtual servers faster with automated processes In this case study, discover how Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform was able to help a major FinServ organization reduce its average lead time to within 3 days after automating more than 90% of its virtual server provisioning processes.

Automate infrastructure workflows Many organizations have incorporated automation by domain, which dont always integrate with each other. This practice leads to higher costs, lower efficiency and limited collaboration. Discover how a holistic approach to infrastructure automation can address these challenges in this e-book.

Automate Google Cloud with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform An enterprise automation platform can provide significant operational improvements to organizations struggling with managing the complexity of a hybrid cloud environment. Explore the benefits of hybrid cloud automation and the key features Ansible Automation Platform provides in this paper.

End-to-end Automation: a Strategic Advantage As the business landscape becomes increasingly competitive and dynamic, organizations are realizing that speed and innovation are crucial to staying ahead of the curve. Discover how automation has developed into an important strategic differentiator in achieving these goals in this white paper.

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Using Automation To Get The Most From Your Public Cloud The advantages of the cloud are clear, but what is not always clear are the challenges each organization faces when they migrate. Managing resources and controlling cloud spend can both be remedied with the implementation of automation  even in a public cloud environment. Read on to learn more about automation opportunities in the public cloud.

Automate Across Public and Hybrid Clouds Video Whether your organization uses a public cloud or a hybrid environment, there are always ways to implement automation to improve processes and workflows. Even if you utilize multiple clouds, there is a platform that allows you to enjoy common experiences regardless of provider and works easily with out of band changes. Watch the video to learn more.

Why Cloud Automation is Important in a Hybrid World IT automation is not a new concept. Having machines do the redundant work of employees improves productivity at scale. However, IT automation has seen a resurgence in popularity recently as an innovation buzzword. With the ability to protect data, provision devices faster, and more, the time to revisit this concept is now. Watch to learn why.

Datacom Increases Efficiency With Red Hat Ansible Automation When one of the largest IT managed service providers in APAC rolled out their annual voice of the customer survey, they learned that customers wanted them to be proactive to change and align their offerings to match the needs and visions of their clients. To do that, they needed a robust solution and the right partner. Read on to learn more.
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara awarded $50,545,239 in grants to 34 district attorney offices representing 44 counties in the state to combat insurance fraud.

The grants, funded through annual employer assessments, support law enforcement efforts in investigating and prosecuting fraud.

Lara also awarded $400,000 in grants to protect consumers from abuse involving the sale of individual life and annuity products as part of the Life and Annuity Consumer Protection Program.

Insurance fraud continues to be a drain on our economy. Partnership between my Departments investigators and local law enforcement is crucial in fighting fraud and educating the public, Lara said in a statement.

A large part of the grants will go to the investigation and prosecution of medical provider fraud in the workers compensation system.

Department investigators also work with law enforcement partners to target employer premium fraud, employer defrauding employee fraud, insider fraud, claimant fraud, uninsured employers operating within the underground economy, and exploitation of workers.

Topics California Fraud
A major U.S. railroad found liable for spreading hazardous asbestos that killed hundreds of people in a Montana town is trying to convince a federal jury that a local clinic submitted hundreds of asbestos claims for people who werent sick, earning them lifetime government benefits and bilking taxpayer funds.

The case focuses on the Center For Asbestos Related Disease in Libby, Montana, and the health clinics high-profile doctor, Brad Black, who has been at the forefront of efforts to help residents of the town, which came to national prominence when it was declared a deadly Superfund site in 2000.

Since 2003, Black and the CARD clinic have certified more than 3,400 people, primarily from the Libby area, with asbestos-related diseases, according to court documents.

BNSF Railway  controlled by billionaire Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate  alleged during a trial in Missoula that more than half the certifications were based on false medical submissions from CARD. The railway shipped asbestos-tainted vermiculite through Libby.

CARD and its attorneys deny the claims, arguing the clinic made its diagnoses in line with requirements of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which included special provisions for the Libby victims.

CARD was doing exactly what the law said, clinic attorney Tim Bechtold said Wednesday during closing arguments to the jury that followed 11 days of testimony in the case.

Asbestos-related diseases can range from a thickening of a persons lung cavity, hampering breathing, to deadly cancer. Under the health law, victims of asbestos exposure in the Libby area are eligible for taxpayer-funded services including Medicare, housekeeping, travel to medical appointments, and disability benefits for those who cant work.

Dr. Black is a pediatrician by specialty and has served as the Lincoln County Health Officer. He has previously said the ailments caused by the type of asbestos found in Libby are difficult to detect and can be missed by outside radiologists.

BNSF attorney Adam Duerk criticized Blacks stated ability to perceive early signs of asbestosis disease that others missed.

Thats not the practice of medicine, thats the practice of roulette, Duerk said. When you see it, when youre certain its there, thats when you diagnose, not before.

He alleged that CARD submitted at least 333 false claims on behalf of patients without getting outside confirmation that they had asbestos-related disease. The attorney said 1,369 people received federal benefits with no disease diagnosis. Damages could range from $363,000 to $3.3 million, he said.

BNSF first sued the clinic in 2019 under the False Claims Act, which allows private parties to sue on the governments behalf. The case was kept sealed under a court order for two years until the U.S. attorneys office of Montana declined to intervene. Officials have not given a reason.

Former Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, of Montana, authored the Libby provision in the health law. He said in depositions with attorneys that the clinics practice of declaring some patients eligible for benefits without a secondary confirmation of their condition was legitimate.

However, Judge Dana Christensen barred Baucuss statements from being introduced, saying it was the courts role to decide whether the law had been followed.

The outcome could have major implications for the clinic, which could face penalties of up to $10,000 or more for each instance of fraud verified. A victory by BNSF also could help it fend off lawsuits from Libby residents seeking damages for the railways mishandling asbestos-tainted vermiculite from a nearby mine.

They railway would be eligible under the False Claims Act for 15% to 25% of any proceeds to the government from the case.

At least 400 people have been killed by asbestos-related disease in the Libby area, according to health officials. Because of the long latency period for those diseases, symptoms can take decades to develop.

The tainted vermiculite came from a mine owned by the Maryland-based chemical company W.R. Grace. It polluted the Libby area over decades, including at a BNSF railway yard in the heart of the town of about 3,000 people.

Cleanup work began in 2000 after media reports of widespread health problems led to Libbys designation as a federal Superfund program contaminated site. In 2009, the EPA declared the agencys first public health emergency in the town.

Scientists say exposure to even a minuscule amount of asbestos can cause lung problems. Vermiculite from Libby was used as construction material in town, and it was shipped across the country as insulating material used in millions of homes.

A 2020 Montana Supreme Court ruling said BNSF should be held liable for its role in the contamination but didnt specify how.

BNSFs lawsuit also alleged the clinic overprescribed narcotics and opioids for pain from asbestos-related conditions. An expert for the clinic testified the pain can be unbearable, while an expert for BNSF said it does not last for more than a few weeks and can be treated with over-the-counter medications.

Because that falls under a medical disagreement, Bechtold argued there was no basis to find liability around that issue.

He also said if the Social Security Administration believes things should be done differently now, that doesnt take away from CARDs good faith effort.

Other lawsuits against companies and officials over the contamination in Libby have resulted in large settlements and awards for victims.

More than 2,000 Montana residents reached settlements with the state totaling $68 million in 2011 and 2017 for failing to warn them about the dangers of asbestos exposure. In February 2022, a jury awarded an Oregon man $36.5 million in a lawsuit against W.R. Graces workers compensation insurer from 1963-1973 because the company did not warn workers of those dangers.

Brown reported from Denver.

Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Claims
The Regents of the University of California sued Lloyds of London, arguing the company refused to reimburse the university system for the costs of data breaches covered in a cyber insurance policy.

The dispute is over a cyber attack from 2014 through 2015 that potentially exposed personal information of patients at UCLA Health.

The University of California paid millions of dollars to notify targets of the attack and limit it, and to defend and settle lawsuits filed by patients, but underwriters at Lloyds have repeatedly denied coverage for losses from the incident, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The Regents are 26 board members who govern the UC system.

Cyber insurance premiums in the US surged 50% last year, as increased ransomware attacks and online commerce drove demand for coverage. Premiums collected from policies written by insurers reached $7.2 billion in 2022 and tripled in the past three years, according to ratings firm AM Best.

The defendants named in the suit are associations of underwriters, known as syndicates, operating in the Lloyds of London insurance market in the UK. The underwriters had argued in a 2015 letter that the University of California didnt comply with provisions of the policy, according to the complaint.

Read More: Cyber-Insurance Premiums to Double to $23 Billion in Three Years

The university says the underwriters incorrectly argue that the statute of limitations for any coverage claim expired in June 2021, four years after coverage was denied. Under state law and rules, the statute of limitations was paused until the final ruling in the litigation filed by UCLA Health patients, according to the complaint.

Lloyds of London didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the suit. The suit was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

The case is Regents of the University of California v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyds, 238TCV14642, California Superior Court (Los Angeles).

Photograph: A visitor enters the Lloyds of London Ltd. building in London, U.K., on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Copyright 2023 Bloomberg.

Topics Lawsuits California Cyber Excess Surplus Lloyd's Education London Universities
What Is Affirmative Action?

Affirmative action refers to a policy aimed at increasing workplace and educational opportunities for people who are underrepresented in various areas of our society. It focuses on demographics with historically low representation in leadership and professional roles. It is often considered a means of countering discrimination against particular groups.

Businesses and governments commonly implement affirmative action programs by taking individuals' race, sex, religion, or national origin into account when hiring. It has been widely used in education settings in the United States, particularly in college admissions. However, in the 2023 ruling of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the Supreme Court said colleges and universities could no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis for granting admission.

Key Takeaways Affirmative action seeks to reverse historical trends of discrimination against individuals with certain identities.

Policies often implement hiring quotas, provide grants and scholarships, and may also deny government funding and contracts to institutions that fail to follow policy guidelines.

Affirmative action includes assistance for gender representation, people with disabilities, and covered veterans.

In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, the U.S. Supreme Court held that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

How Affirmative Action Works

The main purpose of affirmative action is to diversify various parts of society. The government-backed policy was developed to provide inadequately represented groups of people with access to opportunities in academia, the private workforce, and government jobs.

These opportunities have included admission to schools, jobs in professional positions, and access to housing and financing.

History and Implementation

The affirmative action policy rose to prominence in the United States in the 1960s as a way to promote equal opportunity for various segments of society. The policy was developed to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which sought to eliminate discrimination.

Early implementations of affirmative action largely focused on halting the continued social segregation of minorities and other disadvantaged individuals from institutions and opportunities.

Despite legislation that outlawed discrimination practices in the U.S., tangible change in the status quo was not immediate.

In more recent years, campaigns have expanded to make organizations and institutions even more inclusive by pushing for greater gender diversity. Newer policies are also aimed at providing more access to opportunities for covered veterans and people with disabilities.

In 2023, however, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that held that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. And in the ruling for Students for Fair Admissions v. the University of North Carolina companion case, the court overruled the previous precedent set in Grutter v. Bollinger and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke that had previously validated some affirmative action in college admissions allowed for race to hold a limited role in decision making by college administrators.

Covered veterans are veterans who are disabled, who served on active duty in a war or other campaign and have a campaign badge or a service medal, or who are recently separated from the Armed Forces.

Elements of Affirmative Action

Efforts to stimulate change have taken the form of financial assistance such as grants, scholarships, and other support earmarked to help with access to higher education opportunities.

In addition, hiring practices may be structured to require the inclusion of diverse candidates for consideration for job openings. Government agencies may mandate that companies and institutions populate their ranks with a minimum percentage of qualified professionals from varying ethnicities, genders, and cultures.

Failure to meet such requirements could disqualify institutions from receiving government funding or being able to compete for public contracts.



People confuse employment equity with affirmative action. There's a distinct difference between the two. Employment equity attempts to ensure that all individuals are treated equally while affirmative action actually supports those people in particular who historically have been denied opportunities.

Examples of Affirmative Action

Affirmative action has been put to work since the 1960s, despite a lack of progress at times and rulings by legal authorities such as the Supreme Court that have hindered it. Here are some examples of the policy in action.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246. It required that all government contractors and subcontractors expand job opportunities for minorities. It also established the Office of Federal Contract Compliance (OFCC) to enforce the order.

In 1970, the Labor Department ordered and authorized flexible goals and timetables to address the underutilization of minorities by federal contractors. In 1971, women were included in the order.

In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon signed the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It required agencies to submit an affirmative action plan to the EEOC that detailed the hiring, placement, and advancement of individuals with disabilities.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12432. It required every federal agency with substantial procurement or grant-making authority to develop a Minority Business Enterprise development plan.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act. A year later, he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

In 1998, the U. S. House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate stopped attempts to eliminate specific affirmative action programs. Both houses of Congress prohibited the abolishment of the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program. In addition, the House refused to allow the elimination of affirmative action in admissions in higher education programs funded through the Higher Education Act.

In 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that dozens of major U.S. companies including Apple, Alphabet, American Airlines, and General Motors were urging the Supreme Court to uphold the continued use of affirmative action policies in college admissions. They asserted that greater diversity on college campuses contributed to ongoing innovation in commerce and successful business endeavors.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Affirmative Action

The implementation and continued use of affirmative action policies have drawn strong support as well as staunch criticism.

Advantages

An obvious benefit of affirmative action is the opportunities it provides to people who otherwise might not have them. These opportunities include access to education for students who may be disadvantaged and career advancement for employees who may be blocked from rising up the corporate ladder.

Proponents of affirmative action say that the effort must continue because of the low percentages of diversity in positions of authority and in the media, as well as limited acknowledgment of the achievements of marginalized or unrepresented groups.

Disadvantages

Opponents of affirmative action frequently call these efforts a collective failure. They cite as evidence the tiny changes to the status quo after decades of effort. The cost of such programs, coupled with a belief that affirmative action forces the populace to make unwarranted accommodations, drives a significant part of the opposition.

Certain individuals believe that there is little or no bias in society. They argue that affirmative action results in reverse discrimination, which can often lead to qualified candidates being overlooked in academics and the workplace in favor of less qualified candidates who meet policy standards.

Pros Provides opportunities for minorities and people from disadvantaged groups

Diversifies society Cons Costs to implement policies can be too high

Draws focus from a person's merits or achievements

Affirmative Action Statistics

Affirmative action is a very controversial topic and often leads to heated debates between those who support it and people who feel it doesn't benefit society. Is there a way to quantify how people feel and how it's working?

According to a Gallup poll, more than half of Americans (61%) believe in affirmative action policies. This level of support has increased since the last poll, where only 47% to 50% of individuals thought affirmative action was necessary. This increase in support is especially important, given the active issues surrounding race and identity in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Many Americans feel positive about diversity. They are comfortable with the makeup of their communities, saying diversity positively impacts society as a whole.

There is some division when it comes to identifying race and ethnicity for purposes of hiring. In fact, about 74% of individuals feel that a candidate's racial or ethnic background shouldn't be considered when hiring or promoting them. They believe these activities should only be based on someone's merit and qualifications.

What Is the Goal of Affirmative Action? The goal of affirmative action is to increase opportunities for individuals and groups that historically have been underrepresented, or in some cases barred, from certain areas of academia, the government, and the private sector workforce. Affirmative action policies provide funding in the form of grants and scholarships to these communities. Policies were adopted to help those with different racial backgrounds and national origins. They have expanded to address gender, sexual orientation, and various disabilities.

How Did Regents v. Bakke Change Affirmative Action Policies? The Regents v. Bakke case changed affirmative action policies by striking down the use of racial quotas. The case was presented by Allan Bakke, who claimed he was denied admission to medical school at the University of California on two separate occasions because he was white. The Supreme Court upheld affirmative action but ruled in Bakke's favor, saying racial quotas were unconstitutional. The 2023 case Students for Fair Admissions v. the University of North Carolina overturned the ruling.

Which U.S. President First Defined and Used the Term Affirmative Action? That was President John F. Kennedy. He did so in 1961, telling federal contractors to take "affirmative action to ensure that applicants are treated equally without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or national origin."



The Bottom Line

Though affirmative action continues to be a source of controversy for some, such programs are a reality for all government-contracted businesses. What's more, many other employers choose to implement affirmative action programs as a helpful way to foster transparency in hiring and promotions, and diversity in the workplace.


The European Commission has contracted Pfizer's plants in Ireland and several European companies to reserve capacity to make up to 325m of vaccines per year in case of a future global health emergency.

The agreement covers mRNA, vector-based and protein-based vaccines and does not relate to existing covid vaccine agreements between the EU and vaccine makers including Pfizer.

The European Commission said in a statement announcing the deal that the covid pandemic showed that Europe needs to be better prepared for future health emergencies.

The deal ensures that companies are ready "to respond to a crisis" by keeping their facilities up to date and monitoring their supply chains, "including stockpiling where necessary", the Commission said. If a new public health emergency is declared, companies would "rapidly start production", it said.

But vaccine equity activists said the EU risked a repeat of what the World Health Organization dubbed "vaccine apartheid" during covid.

After a pandemic in which developing countries were sent to the back of the queue for vaccines and treatments, the EU and pharmaceutical companies seem to be planning to do it all over again in the next health crisis," said Peoples Vaccine Alliance co-lead, Mohga Kamal-Yanni.

The Commission has selected Pfizer's plants in Ireland and Belgium to reserve capacity to produce mRNA vaccines. It selected Spanish companies Reig Jofre and Laboratorios Hipra to reserve capacity for protein-based vaccines and Bilthoven Biologicals of the Netherlands for vector-based vaccines. None of the companies immediately responded to a request for comment.

The World Health Organisation has urged governments and manufacturers to reserve up to 20% of any tests, vaccines or treatments for the global agency to distribute in poorer countries to avoid a repeat of the "catastrophic failure" during the covid pandemic, according to a draft of a global pandemic agreement currently being discussed.

Reuters
This Is Not About You: A Menmoir, by Rosemary Mac Cabe (June 6)

This Is Not About You is a life story in a series of love stories where Rosemary Mac Cabe figures out just how much she was willing to sacrifice for her happy ending.

Okay Days, by Jenny Mustard (July 6)

Following the rise and fall of Sam and Lucas's relationship, Okay Days touches on male body dysmorphia and women's reproductive rights, and the pitfalls of modern love.

Kala, by Colin Walsh (July 6)

A group of former friends, estranged for fifteen years, reckon with the terrifying events of the summer that changed their lives in a seaside town on Irelands west coast.

The Couples, by Lauren Mackenzie (July 7)

The three couples away from Dublin for a birthday trip swap partners for a night. The women text the man of their choice. One night. No obligations. No expectations. No falling in love. But life doesn't follow the rules.

Silent City, by Sarah Davis Goff (July 13)

The story of Orpen, a young female warrior who must start a revolution if she and those she loves are to survive.

Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano (July 13)

Ann Napolitano, author

This vivid portrait of the unique bond and devastating betrayals of sisterhood follows the four Padavano girls in their close-knit Italian-American neighbourhood.

Ordinary Human Failings, by Megan Nolan (July 13)

A tabloid journalist probes the long-held secrets of an Irish family implicated in a shocking crime in this new novel from the author of Acts of Desperation.

Crook Manifesto, by Colson Whitehead (July 18)

Writer Colson Whitehead attends WSJ Magazine 2021 Innovator Awards at Museum of Modern Art on November 01, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

A sequel to Harlem Shuffle, Crook Manifesto examines how families work in the face of indifference, chaos and hostility.

The List, by Yomi Adegoke (July 20)

Covering secrets, lies and our lives online, The List looks at what happens when your name is shared by an anonymous account posting allegations on social media.

None of This is True, by Lisa Jewell (July 20)

When a podcaster agrees to a trial interview with an unassuming woman she meets in a pub, she can't resist the temptation to keep digging and soon uncovers some very dark secrets.
It didn't bother Kerrie Beattie what the sperm donor looked like, or what job he had. For the schoolteacher from Omagh, Co Tyrone, who had always wanted to be a mum, what mattered was the potential donors emotional intelligence.

Its the one thing I focused on. And the emotional intelligence of the donor I chose seemed very kind and caring. Staff [at donor sperm bank] said he came across as confident and well-mannered.

I wanted him to have similar interests to me, and hes interested in travel and so am I.

Now 38 and based in Singapore, Kerrie is single. Because she is gay, she always knew her journey to motherhood would involve a sperm donor  even if she had a partner. Based in the Cayman Islands for five years before moving to Singapore, even then she had thought about getting pregnant using assisted reproduction but hadnt felt ready.

By the time she moved to Singapore, she was. But disappointment awaited. Youre not allowed to seek assisted reproduction in Singapore if youre a single woman  you have to be in a marriage as a heterosexual couple.

In January 2022, Kerrie contacted Sims IVF in Dublin. I had a video consult with the clinic. The doctor talked through tests Id have to do in Singapore  blood tests to check my egg quality. IVF was recommended if this wasnt good. I wanted to try IUI (placing sperm directly into the uterus around the time of ovulation) first  its less invasive.

Kerrie was really relieved to find her egg quality was good. You assume every time youve a period that everythings OK, but I was aware I was getting older so, yes, I was relieved.

A fallopian tube test also checked out fine. It was time to choose her sperm donor from Danish-based Cryos International Sperm Bank. Due to have the IUI procedure when she returned to Ireland for her summer holidays, Kerrie endured an anxious few weeks in Singapore when it seemed possible the sperm wouldnt arrive on time.

I was massively upset, really devastated. A few weeks later they emailed to say the sperm would be there. I felt a million different emotions.

Back home, Kerrie began injecting herself with hormones to stimulate follicle growth in her ovary at the beginning of July. She underwent IUI in mid-July last year. The insemination was done within a minute. Id compare it to a smear test  afterwards, you just go about your day.

Kerrie was instructed not to do a pregnancy test until the morning after two weeks had passed. I was feeling really hopeful, but also nervous. I knew if it was negative Id be really gutted. It came up positive. I was sitting holding it, absolutely shaking. Just to confirm, I did a second one  that was positive too.

The next step was to confirm by blood test at the clinic. On the train, Kerrie waited until they were almost in Dublin before telling her mother  who was accompanying her  about the two positive pregnancy tests. She was so happy, she started crying.

With a follow-up blood test confirming the happy news, Kerrie felt so fortunate. Back teaching in Singapore, she had a smooth pregnancy, though gestational diabetes kicked in at the end. I had to be induced  but mostly I had a really lovely pregnancy.

Max, now 12 weeks, was born in Singapore in April. The birth was long, and quite traumatic. Nobody tells you how much of an impact birth has on your body. And emotionally its pretty overwhelming.

Always a really independent person, Kerrie says: At that moment, when I had him, I realised how much I needed someone else. It doesnt have to be a partner. Id have found it really hard in the first few weeks if Mum hadnt been here. I was looking after Max and she was looking after me and I needed that.

So, yes, having a child has really highlighted being single for me. I didnt think before about the little things thatd be lovely to share with someone, like the first time he does something, such as smile.

Under Irish legislation, all donor sperm used for treatment within the State must be non-anonymous. This means the donors identity will be available to the child once they reach 18 years. Kerrie intends to talk with Max about being donor-conceived. I dont want it to be some sort of secret. Someone will ask, Why dont you have a dad? I want him to be prepared for the questions and how to answer. Hell have questions himself too.

Right now, Kerrie cant wait to get Max home to Omagh. Ive got two young nephews whore dying to see him and have a cuddle.

Karen Ferguson, SIMS

Not openly talked about

Karen Ferguson, director of nursing and clinical services at Sims IVF, says theyve seen a rise across their three clinics in numbers of single women choosing to start a family on their own.

It varies between women who havent yet met the right person, to women who arent searching for that, but theyve always known this was a path they were going to take. Others might have been in a relationship and had a recent break-up and they dont want to hold off any longer.

Having a child, Ferguson says, is really a non-negotiable for many women. And now theres that option to have a child through sperm donation.

Ursula Lynch, Waterstone Clinic.

Ursula Lynch is fertility nurse specialist and donor sperm co-ordinator at Waterstone Clinic.

Last year, the clinic imported 123 sperm donations and Lynch says 64 of these were for single mothers by choice. When women choosing to be single parents approach the clinic, one key question always comes up in different guises.

Women ask if theyre the only ones whove thought of having a child in this way. So they ask: Do you do much of this? Or, Are you busy? says Lynch, who believes this is because assisted reproductive medicine is quite new compared to other areas of medicine.

Ovarian reserve and sperm donation arent openly talked about in society, so you still have people nervous they might be the only ones doing this. So we assure them its quite a busy area, and that its fantastic people have the choice to go down this route.

On average, the solo-by-choice women Lynch meets are aged 38 to 42. At the clinic, we treat women aged from 25 to 45, using their own eggs. At a certain age, a woman might be looking at double donation  donor egg and donor sperm. Weve had about 10 women whove done double donation, who are single by choice.

Out of everything in the world, what I wanted was a baby

Mum to a one-year-old boy, Mayo-based Martina* always assumed motherhood would happen straightforwardly. I assumed Id go through the normal channels of meeting the right lad, getting married and having kids, but that didnt happen. At 36 or 37, I thought, This is so important, I just want to do it. My biological clock was ticking and it was do or die.

Martina wasnt concerned about having a child on her own. The financial or emotional side, none of it factored in my decision. I knew I wanted a child, that Id be able to provide for and love a child. My only worry was what if it didnt work.

But with her egg quality good, Martina had high hopes for her first IUI. When it failed, it was upsetting, but not devastating  I still had the second straw of sperm.

Donor sperm is imported in units called straws and women are usually advised to purchase two or three so they have more opportunities for treatment  or even to have siblings in future.

Martinas second IUI failed too. I have polycystic ovary syndrome. It makes things more complicated. Having spent her money on IUI, Martina  who works in finance  now needed to save for IVF. Treatment prices vary between Irish clinics. On average, IUI costs approximately 950 and IVF approximately 5,000, after donor sperm is purchased.

But just before covid hit, Martina started a new relationship  and in June 2020 realised she was pregnant. She miscarried in August at just over 11 weeks. That devastated me. I realised, out of everything in the world, what I wanted was a baby.

Her relationship subsequently ended and Martina, having had IUI in a different clinic, switched to Waterstone Clinic for IVF. She started the process in June 2021 and it culminated in two embryos. Both were transferred at the same time to my uterus. I had just one go. I didnt have a back-up plan.

Fourteen days post-transfer, Martina got the longed-for positive pregnancy test. I was absolutely delighted, but also really worried it could be taken away. I was just a bag of anxiety from the embryo transfer in October 2021 to the 20-week scan.

While she had shared her plans with immediate family and some close friends, she waited until the 18-week mark before telling the news more widely. My aunts are aged from their 50s to their 70s. Their reaction was unbelievable. They were all just thrilled. I found it really humbling. A new life in a family is always a positive thing.

Her son was born by planned C-section in July last year. He had reflux for the first four months. Then one day it stopped. He started to get stronger and really thrive.

As a single mum, without a husband or boyfriend, it has been hard, but lovely too. I dont have any of that physical or emotional support, that look, youre brilliant and praising you. I have to be mindful of that. I have to say to myself youre doing brilliant and praise my boy as well.

Now in her early 40s, Martina plans to bring her child to Denmark, where the donor sperm was sourced. Hes always going to know hes half-Danish.

* Name changed

Steps to becoming a solo mum using sperm donation:

Woman attends clinic for initial consultation and fertility assessments. Based on results and ultrasound scan, a treatment plan is discussed and scheduled. When using donor sperm, treatment options are IVF or the simpler IUI.

In IVF, following egg retrieval, eggs and sperm are combined to allow fertilisation to occur  or, in a process called ICSI, a single sperm is selected and injected into a single egg. For single women, its usually the first method because, as Karen Ferguson of Sims IVF says, the sperm will be of a high quality.

Before treatment with donor sperm starts, the woman meets with in-house counsellor for implications counselling. This session is not an assessment, explains Ursula Lynch of Waterstone Clinic. Its a non-judgmental, open-minded conversation to help them prepare emotionally, physically, and logistically for their fertility journey and path to parenthood. Its a space to discuss potential and actual challenges and their solutions since fertility treatment can sometimes be overwhelming.

The woman is guided through the practical side of acquiring donor sperm. We discuss choosing a donor on the donor sperm databases, the legal framework in Ireland, and the amount of donor sperm the patient would like to purchase, says Lynch.

Sperm donor profile will have information on eye/hair colour, height, weight, type of build, race, particularities of appearance (for example, complexion), age, education or occupation, blood type, karyotyping, psychological profile, and infectious screening results.

Once someone decides to embark on the process, the timeline from start to treatment is approximately three to four months. Once donor sperm arrives at the clinic, they can get started on their treatment and within a few weeks could be having their first pregnancy scans, says Lynch.
The former lighthousekeeper of the very small Bantry Bay island, Roancarrigmore, has told this column of the huge waves that sometimes pummelled the lighthouse and crashed across its small courtyard: Roancarrig is such a low-lying rock that when you get a spring tide and a south-easterly gale the amount of water that will go over the rock will do a huge amount of damage.

There is barely a scrap of vegetation on the island and nothing manmade, at least nothing manmade that was meant as a fixture. In the centre of the island in a low pool lies the sorry sight of a shipwreck dating from 1990.

The Spanish trawler, Nuestra Senora de Gardotza, sank in a severe gale and very heavy seas in January that year. The crew of 16 was successfully rescued in an operation involving the LE Deirdre and the RAF Sea King helicopter. However, leading seaman Michael Quinn died in the rescue attempt and received a posthumous award of the distinguished service medal and also the Spanish cross of naval merit awarded by King Juan Carlos.

Dan MacCarthy at the wreck of Nuestra Senora de Gardtoza which sank in 1990 on Roancarrig Beg Island, Bantry Bay

The trawler had previously been arrested six times including one incident where the owner was penalised 120,000. On this occasion, it put to sea despite a gale warning. Furthermore, it even gave an incorrect location when sending out a mayday signal. It was the fourth Spanish vessel to run aground in a two-week period.

Today, the boats rusting hulk sits forlornly and stubbornly on Roancarrigbeg resisting any ideas the sea might have of flinging it back from whence it came. Engine parts and other assorted metal pieces, including the boats keel, are tossed about the island. One piece embedded beneath a boulder looks like it might have lettering on it. And what appears to be a metal chair is wedged under another rock.

The boat sank 33 years ago. However, a follow-up event 23 years later is enough to send shivers up your spine. On November 30, 2000, another Spanish ship, the Zorro Zaure, got into difficulties about 220km off Mizen Head. The trawler was in imminent danger of sinking so another rescue mission was launched and everyone aboard the vessel was taken off safely by helicopter. The Zorro Zaure, severely listing, was on the point of sinking but refused to go under. Instead, it was pushed towards the shore by strong westerlies, a ghost ship in charge of its own fate, destination unknown.

Wreck of Nuestra Senora de Gardtoza  a sister ship of the Zorro Zaure which also ended up at Roancarrig Beg Island. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

Visual sightings were then lost but a week later fishing boxes and an oil slick were spotted off Castletownbere. A Navy diving team was despatched to investigate and, you guessed it, the wreck of the Zorro Zaure was found just 400m from the Nuestra Senora de Gardotza. Whether brought by prevailing currents or the hand of destiny, we know not.

Nothing incredible there, that two ships should sink side by side, except for the fact that both ships were built in the same shipyard in Bilbao, had the same builder, were sister ships, and had the same owner.

The story is related in the kayaking book Oileain by David Walsh who perfectly sums up the coincidence: The Zorro Zaure had travelled 160 unguided and unplanned miles, barely floating and in her death throes, to lie forever in a foreign land immediately beside her sister the Nuestra Senora de Gardotza.

How to get there: No ferry. Kayak from a small pier on the opposite shore.

Other: irishnavalassociation.ie; Oileain, David Walsh, Pesda Press; Drogheda Independent; 26/02/1999
Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in comedy and drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for Little Miss Sunshine, has died aged 89.

His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony, confirmed their fathers death through the actors publicist on Friday.

Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man, they said in a statement.

A member of Chicagos famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, and peaked late in life with his win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit Little Miss Sunshine.

More than 40 years separated his first Oscar nomination, for The Russians are Coming, from his nomination for playing a conniving Hollywood producer in the Oscar-winning Argo.

In recent years he starred opposite Michael Douglas in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method, a role that earned him two Emmy nominations.

Arkin once joked to The Associated Press that the beauty of being a character actor was not having to take his clothes off for a role.

He was not a sex symbol or superstar, but was rarely out of work, appearing in more than 100 TV and feature films.

His trademarks were likability, relatability and complete immersion in his roles, no matter how unusual, whether playing a Russian submarine officer in The Russians are Coming who struggles to communicate with the equally jittery Americans, or standing out as the foul-mouthed, drug-addicted grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine.

Alans never had an identifiable screen personality because he just disappears into his characters, director Norman Jewison of The Russians are Coming once said.

His accents are impeccable, and hes even able to change his looks. Hes always been underestimated, partly because hes never been in service of his own success. While still with Second City, Arkin was chosen by Carl Reiner to play the young protagonist in the 1963 Broadway play Enter Laughing, based on Reiners semi-autobiographical novel.

He attracted strong reviews and the notice of Jewison, who was preparing to direct a 1966 comedy about a Russian sub that creates a panic when it ventures too close to a small New England town.

In Arkins next major film he proved he could also play a villain, however reluctantly.

Arkin starred in Wait Until Dark as a vicious drug dealer who holds a blind woman (Audrey Hepburn) captive in her own apartment, believing a drug shipment is hidden there.

He recalled in a 1998 interview how difficult it was to terrorise Hepburns character.

Just awful, he said. She was an exquisite lady, so being mean to her was hard.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter from 1968, in which he played a sensitive man who could not hear or speak, again elevated Arkins status in Hollywood.

He starred as the bumbling French detective in Inspector Clouseau that same year, but the film would become overlooked in favour of Peter Sellers Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.

Arkins career as a character actor continued to blossom when Mike Nichols, a fellow Second City alumnus, cast him in the starring role as Rossarian, the victim of wartime red tape in 1970s Catch-22, based on Joseph Hellers million-selling novel.

Oscar winners Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin teamed up as lifelong buddies Willie, Joe and Al in director Zach Braffs comedy Going in Style.

Through the years, Arkin turned up in such favourites as Edward Scissorhands, playing Johnny Depps neighbour; and in the film version of David Mamets Glengarry Glen Ross, as a dogged real estate salesman.

He and Reiner played brothers, one successful (Reiner), one struggling (Arkin), in the 1998 film The Slums of Beverly Hills.

I used to think that my stuff had a lot of variety. But I realised that for the first twenty years or so, most of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their environment, foreigners in one way or another, he told The Associated Press in 2007.

As I started to get more and more comfortable with myself, that started to shift.

I got one of the nicest compliments Ive ever gotten from someone a few days ago.

They said that they thought my characters were very often the heart, the moral centre of a film. I didnt particularly understand it, but I liked it, it made me happy.

Other recent credits included Going in Style, a 2017 remake featuring fellow Oscar-winners Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, and the TV series The Kominsky Method.

Arkin also directed the film version of Jules Feiffers 1971 dark comedy Little Murders, and Neil Simons 1972 play about bickering old vaudeville partners, The Sunshine Boys.

Born in New York Citys borough of Brooklyn, he and his family, which included two younger brothers, moved to Los Angeles when he was 11.

His parents found jobs as teachers but were fired during the post-Second World War era because they were Communists.

We were dirt poor so I couldnt afford to go to the movies often, he told the AP in 1998. But I went whenever I could and focused in on movies, as they were more important than anything in my life. He studied acting at Los Angeles City College, California State University and Bennington College in Vermont. He married a fellow student, Jeremy Yaffe, and they had two sons, Adam and Matthew.

After he and Yaffe divorced in 1961, Arkin married actress-writer Barbara Dana, and they had a son, Anthony.

All three sons became actors: Adam starred in the TV series Chicago Hope.

It was certainly nothing that I pushed them into, Arkin said in 1998. It made absolutely no difference to me what they did, as long as it allowed them to grow.
We went back to the Stardust. We didnt believe anybody was dead. Wed seen people walk into a load of ambulances, they were walking in themselves. Colm came to me and said the garda told him there was a body behind the door. We both said at the same time Jesus.

When we got back to Colm OBriens house, after we came back the second time looking for Michael Barrett, we heard the news on the radio. And that described how many people had died.

Danny Hughes had DJ-ed the disco dancing competition in the Stardust. The last song he played was Born To Be Alive, a late 1970s disco hit by Patrick Hernandez.

He saw the fire that would lead to the deaths of 48 people in the west alcove of the venue after he had handed the reins for the last few tunes to his colleague Colm.

Echoing what some other witnesses have said, he didnt think the fire was that dangerous when he saw it first towards the back of the alcove. Seeing staff heading over with fire extinguishers, he thought it was something they would be able to put out.

I didnt think it was serious at all, Mr Hughes said. He went out through the adjacent pub and around to the front of the Stardust with a mind to tell his colleague to play maybe three more records before calling it a night.

He said:

People were charging out the front door. Were only now 20 seconds after I first spotted the fire.

Mr Hughes saw his colleague at the exit door that bands and DJs used to bring in their gear. His whole body was black. His appearance shocked me. He was vomiting as he walked.

Mr Hughes testimony came on the last day of the fourth week of witness evidence at the fresh inquests for those who died in the Stardust tragedy at Dublin District Coroners Court. The questioning of witnesses has often been lengthy and forensic.

It has heard of the policy of draping locks over exit doors to give the appearance that they were, in fact, locked. It has heard of incidents prior to the night of the fire where people could recall seeing smoke in the venue. It has heard multiple staff members say they never had any training on what to do in the event of a fire.

It has heard from numerous people seeing the fire in the west alcovean area blocked off and behind a curtain or shutter on the night. It has heard of the lights going out and the panic that ensued. And it has heard harrowing details of what people witnessed as the fire rapidly spread.

It will have made for difficult listening at parts, particularly for families of the victims. Witnesses, themselves, have become emotional at times describing what they had seen. The delivery of witness evidence has taken three different forms.

Different types of witness testimony

There have been people giving evidence in court. Most of them so far have been men and women who worked in the Stardustwaitresses, barmen, and doormen; many of them in their teens at the time. Being asked to recall every last detail they can about what they saw and heard on that night 42 years ago.

The floor plan of the Stardust will likely be imprinted on anyone who has tuned in regularly, as witnesses are frequently shown the plan and asked to identify where they were at various junctures. They will know where the exits are, where the alcoves were, where the bars were.

And there has been evidence given via video link, by witnesses unable to attend in person. This led to the stark scenes last week where a barrister representing families of victims alleged that a witness had a disagreement with someone else in the room with him when the court had risen but his microphone was not muted.

The person who overheard it heard a person say that the doors were locked. And you said: Its nothing to do with me so Im not saying that, Des Fahy KC put to Phelim Kinahan, a floor manager at the Stardust back in 1981. I dont remember saying it, Mr Kinahan replied.

And then there has been evidence, essentially from the past. Witness statements and evidence given by people now deceased or unable to appear in court.

This has included statements given by the now-deceased Patrick Butterly, the patriarch of the business empire which included the Stardust nightclub and adjoining pub Silver Swan and restaurant The Lantern Rooms. His son Eamon was the manager of the Stardust, responsible for the day-to-day running of the premises.

The damage at the Stardust in 1981. File photo: Tony Harris/PA Wire

Patrick Butterly told the 1981 Tribunal that he thought the building was fireproof, and that he believed the building had been deliberately burned.

The court heard this week that that was also Eamon Butterlys initial reaction when he saw the flames in the west alcove. In his initial statement to gardai just a few days after the fire, Mr Hughes said he heard Mr Butterly say they have set us on fucking fire.

It should be noted that the original Tribunals conclusion that the fire was probable arson was struck from the Dail record in 2009, and these fresh inquests are examining the circumstances of the deaths of those 48 people including how the fire started and progressed.

Staff testimony

Many staff members managed to escape on the night through the Lantern Rooms or the Silver Swan, having a more intimate knowledge of the layout of the venue than the patrons. Some of them have described how they tried to get the attention of patrons to help lead them out but in the panic, they werent able to.

Part-time barman Colm OToole was at the main bar, having returned from pouring the contents of a fire extinguisher onto the blaze which had no effect.

I tried to tell the patrons there was an exit through the dispense bar, he said in his original statement. Nobody seemed to hear me. The smoke was getting dense at this stage.

Maeve Naughton, a waitress at the Stardust, recalled shouting "fire" while people were still dancing and headed back to the kitchen as the lights went out.

I called some of the crowd in the hall to come through the kitchen, they wouldnt take any notice, she said.

Mr O'Toole went on to say that "no plan kicked in", and people were acting as "individuals" trying to fight the fire and alert people to what was happening. "There were a few people trying to do their best," he said.

One of the witness statements read to court was from Patrick J Murphy, a doorman on the night. At one of the exit doors, he saw a young girl run towards the door and fall just inside. He said:

This person was completely on fire. When she fell, I and two others crawled in and pulled her out. When we got her out, she appeared to be dead.

He said that people were shouting through the windows of the toilets, and Mr Murphy said he helped others get the grating off the windows and helped two people out of the windows.

The inquests will sit for a few more weeks before breaking for the summer. When it returns in the autumn, its expected to last many more months.

The court has already heard distressing testimony from many of the workers there on the night. With many of the patrons there on the night yet to give evidence, further harrowing, but essential, testimony is yet to come.
Siddhartha Mukherjee (Bengali: ????????? ????????; born 21 July 1970)[1] is an Indian-American physician, biologist, and author. He is best known for his 2010 book, The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, that won notable literary prizes including the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction,[2] and Guardian First Book Award,[3] among others. The book was listed in the "All-Time 100 Nonfiction Books" (the 100 most influential books of the last century) by Time magazine in 2011.[4] His 2016 book The Gene: An Intimate History made it to #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list,[5] and was among The New York Times 100 best books of 2016,[6] and a finalist for the Wellcome Trust Prize and the Royal Society Prize for Science Books.

After completing secondary school education in India, Mukherjee studied biology at Stanford University, obtained a D.Phil. from University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and an M.D. from Harvard University. He joined New YorkPresbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center in New York City in 2009. As of 2018, he is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology.[7]

Featured in the Time 100 list of most influential people, Mukherjee writes for The New Yorker and is a columnist in The New York Times. He is described as part of a select group of doctor-writers (such as Oliver Sacks and Atul Gawande) who have "transformed the public discourse on human health",[8] and allowed a generation of readers a rare and intimate glimpse into the life of science and medicine.[9] His research concerns the physiology of cancer cells, immunological therapy for blood cancers, and the discovery of bone- and cartilage-forming stem cells in the vertebrate skeleton.[10]

The Government of India conferred on him its fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2014.[11]

Early life and education [ edit ]

Siddhartha Mukherjee was born to a Bengali Brahmin family in New Delhi, India. His father, Sibeswar Mukherjee, was an executive with Mitsubishi, and his mother Chandana Mukherjee, was a former school teacher from Calcutta (now Kolkata). He attended St. Columba's School in Delhi, where he won the school's highest award, the 'Sword of Honour', in 1989. As a biology major at Stanford University, he worked in Nobel Laureate Paul Berg's laboratory, defining cellular genes that change the behaviours of cancer cells. He earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa[12] in 1992, and completed his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in 1993.[1]

Mukherjee won a Rhodes Scholarship for doctoral research at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. He worked on the mechanism of activation of the immune system by viral antigens. He was awarded a D.Phil. in 1997 for his thesis titled The processing and presentation of viral antigens.[13] After graduation, he attended Harvard Medical School, where he earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in 2000.[14] Between 2000 and 2003 he worked as a resident in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. From 2003 to 2006 he trained in oncology as a Fellow at the DanaFarber Cancer Institute (under Harvard Medical School) in Boston, Massachusetts.[15][16]

Career [ edit ]

In 2009, Mukherjee joined the faculty of the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Columbia University Medical Center as an assistant professor.[1][17] The medical center is attached to the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.[18]

He was previously affiliated with the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has worked as the Plummer Visiting Professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, the Joseph Garland lecturer at the Massachusetts Medical Society, and an honorary visiting professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.[19] His laboratory is based at Columbia University's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center.[20]

Contributions [ edit ]

Cancer research [ edit ]

Mukherjee is a trained haematologist and oncologist whose research focuses on the links between normal stem cells and cancer cells. Through his findings, he had shown the roles of cells in cancer therapy.[21] He has been investigating the microenvironment ("niche") of stem cells, particularly on blood-forming (haematopoietic) stem cells. Blood-forming stem cells are present in the bone marrow in very specific microenvironments. Osteoblasts, cells that form bone, are one of the principal components in this environment. These cells regulate the process of blood cell formation and development by providing them with signals to divide, remain quiescent, or maintain their stem cell properties.[22] Distortion in the development of these cells results in severe blood cancers, such as myelodysplastic syndrome and leukemia.[23] Mukherjee's research has been recognised through many grants from the National Institutes of Health and from private foundations.[10][24][25]

Mukherjee and his co-workers have identified several genes and chemicals that can alter the microenvironment, or niche, and thereby alter the behavior of normal stem cells, as well as cancer cells.[26][27][28][29][30][31] Two such chemicals  proteasome inhibitors[26] and activin inhibitors[32]  are under clinical trials.[33][34] Mukherjee's lab has also identified novel genetic mutations in myelodysplasia and acute myelogenous leukaemia and has played a leading role in finding therapies for these diseases.[35][36]

Bone formation [ edit ]

Mukherjee's team is also known for defining and characterizing skeletal stem/progenitor cells (also called osteochondroreticular or OCR cells). In 2015, they prospectively identified these progenitor cells from bone, and showed, using lineage tracing, that these cells can give rise to bone, cartilage, and reticular cells (hence the term "OCR" cells). They established that these cells form a part of the adult skeleton in vertebrates, and that they maintain and repair the skeleton.[37]

OCR cells are among the newest progenitor cells to be defined in vertebrates.[38] The work generated wide interest and was described in journals as a major breakthrough for understanding biology and for understanding diseases such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.[39][40] Mukherjee's team have shown that OCR cells can be transplanted into animals, and they can regenerate cartilage and bone after fractures.[37] With Daniel L. Worthley's team at the University of Adelaide and South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute they have been working on the translational cell-based research on osteoarthritis and cancer.[37][41]

Metabolic therapies for cancer [ edit ]

Mukherjee's lab has also been investigating the interaction between cancer genetics and the microenvironment, including the metabolic environment. It has been well established that metabolism in cancer is fundamentally altered,[42] Mukherjee's team has found the role of a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet (ketogenic diet) in cancer therapy. They showed that ketogenic diet suppressed insulin production in the body, and this in turn enhances pharmaceutical inhibition of PIK3CA, a gene which is mutated and commonly overactive in cancers.[43]

Immune therapies for acute leukemia [ edit ]

Mukherjee's lab, with the help of PureTech Health plc, has been investigating chimeric antigen receptor redirected T cells (CAR-T) therapy in a joint venture called Vor BioPharma since 2016.[44] They have combined CAR-T therapies with genetically modified hematopoietic stem cells to specifically target malignant hematopoietic lineages, while transplanted stem cells replenish the lineage but remain antigenically concealed. This technology has been developed so that, in addition to B cell malignancies, other lineage specific cancers could be targeted.[45] This provides an important new approach to managing acute myeloid leukemia.[46]

Books [ edit ]

In 2010, Simon & Schuster published his book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer[47] detailing the evolution of diagnosis and treatment of human cancers from ancient Egypt to the latest developments in chemotherapy and targeted therapy.[48] On 18 April 2011, the book won the annual Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction; the citation called it "an elegant inquiry, at once clinical and personal, into the long history of an insidious disease that, despite treatment breakthroughs, still bedevils medical science."[49] It was listed in the "All-Time 100 Nonfiction Books" (the 100 most influential books of the last century)[4] and the "Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2010" by Time in 2011.[50] It was also listed in "The 10 Best Books of 2010" by The New York Times[51] and "Top 10 Books of 2010" by O, The Oprah Magazine.[52] In 2011, it was nominated as a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.[53]

Based on the book, Ken Burns made a PBS Television documentary film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies in 2015,[54] which was nominated for an Emmy Award.[55]

Mukherjee's 2016 book The Gene: An Intimate History provides a history of genetic research, but also delves into the personal genetic history of the author's family, including mental illness. The book discusses the power of genetics in determining people's health and attributes, but it also has a cautionary tone to not let genetic predispositions define fate, a mentality that led to the rise of eugenics in history and something he thinks lacks the nuance required to understand something as complex as human beings. Harriet Hall describes Cancer and The Gene as "the story of science itself".[56] The Gene was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016, "the Nobel Prize of science writing".[57] The book was also the recipient of the 2017 Phi Beta Kappa Society Book Award in Science.[58]

Ken Burns made a two-part PBS Television documentary film The Gene: An Intimate History in 2020.[59]

In his book The Song of the Cell, published in 2022, Mukherjee describes the history and medical mystery from the discovery of cell. Narrated in metaphors, many of which he created, such as "gunslinging sheriff" for antibody and "gumshoe detective" to T cell, he tells the development of cell biology and how it became vital to modern medicine, from genetic engineering to immunotherapies.[60] Suzanne O'Sullivan, reviewing in The Guardian, explains the book as a tool for "the reader to imagine they are an astronaut investigating the cell as if it is an unknown spacecraft".[61]

Criticism and response [ edit ]

In his 2016 article "Same but different" in The New Yorker, Mukherjee attributed the most important genetic functions to epigenetic factors (such as histone modification and DNA methylation). Giving an analogy of his mother and her twin sister, he explains:

Chance eventsinjuries, infections, infatuations; the haunting trill of that particular nocturneimpinge on one twin and not on the other. Genes are turned on and off in response to these events, as epigenetic marks are gradually layered above genes, etching the genome with its own scars, calluses, and freckles.[62]

Mukherjee also claimed that understanding of epigenetics "would overturn fundamental principles of biology, including our understanding of evolution," as he said:

Conceptually, a key element of classical Darwinian evolution is that genes do not retain an organism's experiences in a permanently heritable manner. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, in the early nineteenth century, had supposed that when an antelope strained its neck to reach a tree its efforts were somehow passed down and its progeny evolved into giraffes. Darwin discredited that model. Giraffes, he proposed, arose through heritable variation and natural selectiona tall-necked specimen appears in an ancestral tree-grazing animal, and, perhaps during a period of famine, this mutant survives and is naturally selected. But, if epigenetic information can be transmitted through sperm and eggs, an organism would seem to have a direct conduit to the heritable features of its progeny. Such a system would act as a wormhole for evolutiona shortcut through the glum cycles of mutation and natural selection... Lamarck is being rehabilitated into the new Darwin.[62]

The article, an excerpt from the chapter "The First Derivative of Identity" of his book The Gene: An Intimate History,[63] "unleashed a torrent of criticism" from geneticists, as The Guardian book review wrote.[64] As David Hornby of the University of Sheffield put it: "all (scientific) hell broke loose! It seemed to some that the slumbering giant of Lamarck was about to gain a new audience."[65] Mukherjee foresaw the reaction, as he noted: "These fantasies should invite skepticism."[62]

The article was critiqued by geneticists such as Mark Ptashne, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and John Greally, at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, because of overemphasis on histone modification and DNA methylation. They commented that these two processes have only minor influences in overall gene function. Steven Henikoff, at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, opined that, "Mukherjee seemed not to realize that transcription factors occupy the top of the hierarchy of epigenetic information," and said, "histone modifications at most act as cogs in the machinery."[66] Omission of transcription factors was viewed as an "overarching" mistake,[67] as Richard Mann at the Columbia University Medical Center remarked: "Only a talmudic-like reading can reveal a hint that something other than histone modifications are at play."[66]

It is now generally believed that histone modification and DNA methylations are major factors of epigenetic functions, aging and certain diseases,[68] and with an ability to influence transcription factors.[69] However, they contribute little to development.[70][71] In response, Mukherjee did admit that omission of transcription factors "was an error" on his part.[66] However, The New Yorker defended the article that: "None of it negates the fundamental importance of transcription factors."[67]

Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago remarked: "Until there is evidence for this kind of evolutionary transformationANY evidence, people should stop yammering about this kind of 'Lamarckian' evolution."[72] Phillip Ball, British science writer and editor of the journal Nature, also agreed that Mukherjee certainly "got some things wrong". Writing in the Prospect, he said, "Such claims [that some epigenetic changes can be inherited] are controversialbut even if they prove to be true, it seems highly unlikely that the effect will persist for many generations of will have long-term consequences for human evolution."[72] According to Ute Deichmann of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, even if there are evidences of variation by epigenetic inheritance, they would not be counted as Lamarckian as they are not acquired or adaptive.[73]

Mukherjee did not say that epigenetic processes have established Lamarckism, as he noted in his article that "epigenetic scratch marks are rarely, if ever, carried forward across generations."[62] In an interview on NPR, he said, "[Lamarckian inheritance is] very rarely true and I would say almost never true".[74]

Mukherjee also criticises the IQ test as a measure of intelligence, and endorses the theory of multiple intelligences (introduced by Howard Gardner) over general intelligence. He argues that the results of IQ tests for determining general intelligence do not represent intelligence in the real world. Reviewing the book in The Spectator, Stuart Ritchie, a psychologist at the University of Edinburgh, remarked that Gardner's theory is "debunked" and that "general intelligence is probably the most well-replicated phenomenon in all of psychological science."[75]

List of books published [ edit ]

Awards and honours [ edit ]

Siddhartha Mukherjee receiving Padma Shri Award from Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on 26 April 2014. Siddhartha Mukherjee receiving Padma Shri Award from Pranab Mukherjee, President of India, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on 26 April 2014.

Mukherjee has won many awards including:

2023: The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human. Notable Book, American Library Association. Reference and User Services Association.[93]

Personal life [ edit ]

Mukherjee lives in New York and is married to artist Sarah Sze, winner of a MacArthur "Genius" grant and representative of the United States to the 2013 Venice Biennale. They have two daughters, Leela and Aria.[94]
A Cork musician diagnosed with aggressive stage 4 cervical cancer has started a fundraising campaign to help get her album made.

Victoria Keating and her songwriting colleague Aine O'Gorman have raised more than 6,000 of their 8,000 goal, at the time of publication. The fundraising campaign ends on July 8.

The pair have been composing and performing together since they met while studying music in University College Cork. Having the album to concentrate on has been a lifeline for Ms Keating, who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer on May 9.

"Its so important to have a focus that is not cancer. To have a project, to be doing something useful that you get sink your teeth into," she said.

Her oncologist told her that treatmentaggressive rounds of immunotherapy and chemotherapywould not cure the cancer but could put it to sleep. And stopping its growth may give Ms Keating time to benefit from any future potential cure, she said.

I had all the emotions from A to Z. Im a very positive person but I said to my sister who was with me, I just want to be here for my kids."

Ms Keating qualified for immunotherapy, which uses the immune system to fight cancer by helping it recognise and attack cancer cells, in conjunction with chemotherapy. And the treatment is already working, she said.

Tumours had made sitting down painful, but after two sessions, they shrank enough to allow her to sit down again.

Im in the very privileged position of having my parents looking after me. They picked me up and took me home after the hospital. I had no idea how flattened Id be after treatment. I thought of all the other women who have to do this alone.

I was first diagnosed last year in May/June. I was given a course of treatment and told it was curable. I had radiotherapy, chemotherapy, brachytherapy therapy [a type of internal radiation therapy].

My post-treatment scan in December was clear, then in May, they told me I had stage 4. It was a huge shock.

The care Ive got from nurses has been amazing. The women who step up to the plate and form a ring around each other at times like this incredible. The treatment is tough. Im floored. But we need to have fallow times.

Im choosing love over fear. Love will prevail.

"Aine figures if I can stick around long enough, theyll find a cure. Shes been amazing, you figure out the extent of your friendships when something like this happens."

The Kickstarter campaign offers a range of options from a hard copy of the album for 20 to a songwriter workshop which will take up to 20 people, and teach the group to write a song with a performance at the end.

At 500, it would make a great hen party activity or memorable afternoon with friends, Ms Keating and Ms O'Gorman said. Ms OGorman said that they had started recording the album before Ms Keatings recent diagnosis.

It was our first day in the studio when she got her scan," Ms O Gorman said.

We had all these plans. Weve written a song for the Eurovision next year, we were making an album together. The diagnosis was such a tough thing to happen in the midst of all these plans.

Its hard to get your head around it. I thought lets get this album done and have something to focus on'.

The songs we write are steeped in our own personal experiences and deal with topics we feel strongly about. We have written songs about narcissists, the menopause and the rise of fascism.

We spent a lot on recording the album already so some of the money raised can pay Vickie back for that and help her cover her costs now," she added.

You can donate on Kickstarter.
How can a whole country come to be gripped by a single story?

What does it take to get everyones attention all at once? Something truly life-altering you might assume. The commencement of a war perhaps, a coup, or a famine?

Not so. We seem to prefer a scandal, a well-timed GOTCHA!

And once weve shared our outrage at the seedy, shabby nature of a backroom deal, we roll over, ignoring injustices playing out on a national scale, and occurring on a daily basis, and go back to sleep.

I couldnt quite believe it when I woke up last Saturday to Ryan Tubridys face plastered on every single newspaper in the country. Could you?

Thats what Id like to know this week. Id like to know if anyone else felt as misrepresented as I did.

Ryans voice had been silenced the day before, on the Friday following the revelations, and I for one, missed it. I like him on the radio; I enjoy his chat, humour, and intelligence. He is also just a single person, an individual with thoughts and feelings, strengths and foibles.

No one person deserves to be hung out to dry as he has been unless they have done something truly, deeply, incomprehensibly heinous.

But last Saturday, having missed the timbre of his voice the day before, I couldnt quite miss him because it seemed like every radio show was devoted to the man.

Listening to the panel on the Brendan OConnor show youd be forgiven for thinking we were a nation absolutely obsessed with one topic: the hidden payments made by RTE to our once-beloved golden boy.

But are we really that obsessed? Or, is the media telling us we were?

I find the RTE story compelling, sure. Certainly, I feel sorry for low-paid researchers and journalists, knowing how hard they work.

I feel annoyed that a few stupid decisions led to the public being misled. I wonder about Tubs. Could he maybe not have known? He admitted to not asking questions but maybe he assumed the discrepancy was above board and a matter for his accountant or agent? Or maybe hes an egotist who has let us all down? At this point, I simply dont know. Nor do I care, in the grand scheme of things.

I certainly dont need the front page coverage, the back-to back radio shows, or words like cataclysmic and devastating being bandied about all weekend and continuing into the week.

Do you?

Yes, its disappointing if our national broadcaster isnt doing what it should be doing. At most, it is unethical and unjust and should be remedied. If Tubridy knew what was happening, his persona is shattered. Grand, lets move on. If he didnt know, well then, he can carry on as before and pay more attention to his finances.

An investigation is underway. That should be the end of it.

I like to imagine a world in which a story catching our national attention is deserving of that attention.

To give one example, a Saturday morning where every paper leads with the regular announcement that our privileged little country chooses to spend the least money on education in the OECD, resulting in our most vulnerable children being ignored in the system.

I would then like the public-backed media to demand a full investigation into our State finances. How is it that a rich country with high taxes cant afford to build the schools we need? How is it that children are being let down so badly, especially children with intellectual and additional needs?

And why is it that as a country we react so viciously to corruption, generally speaking, and yet have the reaction of a corpse to gross and ongoing ineptitude, deeply felt social injustices, and neglect?

Why do we never have the sustained interest, the investigations, and the coordinated follow-up that GOTCHA moments receive?

When we uncover a real injustice that affects ordinary people, what do we do? We have a Prime Time episode, follow it up with a respectful but brief flurry of concern. We encourage embattled parents to come on and beg for basic dignity in their lives. Livelive is red hot with outrage for an hour or so. And then we forget about it.

We dont come to a standstill like we are now over Ryan Tubridys misrepresented pay cheque. Why is that? Is it because we are warped by the media or is the media just giving us what we want: a juicy story; a Shakespearean-type fall from grace; a melodramatic soap opera ending.

What makes one story spark our interest and another fade immediately to embers? Is it all about the flavour of the story?

We feel we know Ryan Tubridy and so, we feel slighted, duped. But we know our ministers too and let them get away with under-spending and mis-spending in far more damaging and unchecked ways.

Is it something to do with the science of empathy? They say that one person dying is a tragedy and a million people dying is a statistic. That might have relevance here but how depressing when you consider how self-destructive it is.

I mean, RTE may have misspent a few hundred thousand of taxpayer money on Tubs and lied about it. Yes, that is unacceptable. But how much is the State misspending or not spending on our transport system, our health system, and our education system? How many ordinary people are affected by these decisions every single day?

Where is the perspective?

Why was my 73-year-old mum left for days on end on a trolley in CUH? Why is it that I have to send my children to a school without a yard or a hall or adequate educational resources?

Why is it that so many people, including small children, dont have homes?

Our State seems to steal from us every day in so many painful ways but wed rather focus on a single scandal relating to an already overpaid celebrity. The governance of RTE is important, yes. But we should be far more interested in sorting out the governance of our more significant, truly life-altering public services.

As I see it, the hullabaloo over Tubridy is a national embarrassment. The measure of any nation is in how it treats its most vulnerable. We have very serious life-altering work to do before we should feel entitled to focus on a single, comparably trivial topic like Ryan Tubridys bank balance.
Much of the western analysis of the events in Russia last weekend has concluded that Vladimir Putin displayed his weakness by allowing Yevgeny Prigozhin and other Wagner group commanders to depart peacefully for Belarus, and the rank-and-file to join the Russian army or retire to their homes.

Of course, if Putin had in fact crushed the revolt by force and executed its leaders, commentators would have used this as more evidence of his brutality and ruthlessness, and perhaps also of the innate savagery and violence of the Russian national tradition.

These conclusions are coloured by an understandable dislike of the Russian leader, and they do not constitute sober and objective analysis. In fact, though Putin was obviously responsible for creating the background to this mess, we should consider the possibility that at the weekend he handled things well.

In his address to the nation on Saturday morning, he displayed determination and resolve. Putin made clear that he had no intention of surrendering to Prigozhins demands, and that if he and the other Wagner leaders continued their revolt, they would be charged with treason (and, by implication, probably executed).

Since it also quickly became apparent that there was going to be no mutiny in support of Wagner within the regular army, Prigozhin was faced with the choice of an attack on Moscow that would almost certainly have led to the slaughter of his men and his own death, or a surrender on terms.

Then Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev addresses business executives in San Francisco, in 1990. File picture: David Longstreath/AP

In these circumstances, Putin had nothing to gain by seeking violent revenge, which would have killed large numbers of Russians and badly undermined the Russian war in Ukraine. He had everything to gain by showing magnanimity. He had, after all, won.

In addition, a key reason why Putin did not act much sooner to suppress Prigozhin and end his feud with the Russian high command was precisely that for more than a year, Russian domestic propaganda had built up an image of the Wagner fighters as Russian military heroes.

Their slaughter would not have gone down well with ordinary Russians.

There are two wider lessons from what happened in Russia last weekend. The first relates to the long history of coups, quasi-coups and elite rebellions across the world.

A very large proportion of these were not intended to overthrow the ruler and seize supreme power, and nor did they lead to battles. Rather, they were armed demonstrations by the local equivalent of medieval barons, intended to pressure the monarch into redressing grievances, dismissing rival barons from court and granting some lucrative positions to the rebel chiefs.

Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin. File picture: AP

If the monarch stood firm, in many cases the barons involved would apologise, vow loyalty to the king, stand down their men and go into exile for a while. If the monarch yielded, they would stand down their men, pocket their gains and vow loyalty to the king  though in the process, as Edward II, Richard II and others found, the monarch might have lost so much authority that he fell to a subsequent revolt and came to a sticky end. Last weekend in Russia, the monarch stood firm.

The other lesson relates to the deep inhibition in Russian society against Russian soldiers shedding the blood of other Russians, connected in turn to deep fears of civil war and chaos. These have old roots in elite nightmares about Russian revolts, senseless and merciless, as Pushkin called them; but even more in inherited memories of the ghastly aftermath of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and in the anarchy and economic misery of the 1990s that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Putins words about 1917 in his speech on Saturday therefore have immense resonance for many Russians: A blow like this was dealt to Russia in 1917, when the country was fighting in the first world war. But the victory was stolen from it: intrigues, squabbles and politicking behind the backs of the army and the nation turned into the greatest turmoil, the destruction of the army and the collapse of the state, and the loss of vast territories, ultimately leading to the tragedy of the civil war  We will not allow this to happen again.

Russian president Vladimir Putin. Picture: Sergei Guneyev/Sputnik/AP

Perhaps the greatest single mystery about the fall of the Soviet Union is why the Soviet army did not fight much harder and kill many more people in an effort to hold it together, and why the attempted coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in August 1991 was rejected by most of the armed forces and therefore collapsed so quickly. These aspects of Russian history provide part of the answer to this mystery.

The events this weekend confirmed that the fate of the Putin regime will be decided in the first instance not by conspiracies within the Russian elite, but by what happens on the battlefield in Ukraine.

If the Russian army can hold its existing line, Putin will claim victory against what he has successfully portrayed to the Russian people as a united western attempt to destroy Russia.

If the Ukrainians break through, then Putin may be forced to resign, but he may also escalate towards nuclear war.

Perhaps the most dangerous effect of the blow to Putins prestige from the Wagner revolt may be that even without a Ukrainian victory, he will feel compelled to restore his image of strength by retaliating directly against the west for its support of Ukraine. In that case, the dangers to Putins regime will be eclipsed by those to humanity in general.
The first of the Ballinskellig Two supporters club arrived outside Brooklyns main courthouse at 225 Cadman Plaza East before 9.30am yesterday.

Over the next two hours, the numbers swelled, as family members, friends and work colleagues of siblings Donal OSullivan, 61 and Helen OSullivan, 62, from Coom, The Glen, near Ballinskelligs Bay, arrived to learn their fate.

Nearly two years after being convicted of 11 counts of felony, related to payroll fraud at Donals construction company, Navillus, which deprived unions of benefits funds, the day of reckoning had come.

Across the road in a leafy park, a chap dressed as a cowboy entertained a mother-and-toddler group with songs about wheels on a bus. Outside the courthouse, a man wearing something resembling a cowboy hat showed up too  Donal, immaculately dressed in a dark grey suit, white shirt, striped tie, and dark sunglasses.

Helen OSullivan, a payroll administrator for Navillus, arriving at Brooklyn Federal Court in New York on Friday. Picture: Yuki Iwamura

Helen was already there, neatly dressed in a dark pants suit with pale blue handbag and matching shoes and sporting a tidy bob.

There were men in t-shirts too, with the Navillus logo emblazoned across them, a reference to a topping-out ceremony at one of the companys projects.

Navillus has a huge profile in New York, having worked on a litany of prestige projects such as the 9/11 Memorial, Grand Central Station and One Vanderbilt.

Read More From high rise to hard fall at Navillus: Why two Kerry siblings are facing jail in New York

Donal and two of his brothers, Kevin and Leonard, built it from scratch since emigrating in the 1980s, Donal ultimately becoming the owner and president, Leonard returning to Kerry and Kevin founding Time Square Construction, and in Ireland, the Tower Group.

Supporter numbers continued to swell as the countdown to sentencing continued. Passing through the courthouse lobby, where those travelling to the courtroom on the fourth floor were required to hand over their phones, one security guard remarked: Theres an explosion of people here."

"Its the OSullivan case, her colleague answered, as if that explained it all.

When the courtroom doors opened just before 11.30am, Padraig Naughton had joined the crowd.

Navillus's prestige projects have included the 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Center, Grand Central Station, Madison Square Garden, and Apple's flagship store in Manhattan. Picture: Navillus Contracting

The former Navillus financial controller was sentenced earlier this week to one year and one day for each of the 11 counts of felony  for which he had also been convicted in 2021  to run concurrently. He was also sentenced to two years supervised release for each count, also to run concurrently.

As soon as he arrived, Mr Naughton embraced Donal, in what was probably his 50th embrace of the day. Irish accents, specifically Kerry accents were evident everywhere, with banter in the corridors about Coom and The Glen and where the best pints were to be had.

The atmosphere changed in the packed courtroom and a hush descended as the clock moved to the appointed time. Donal and Helen and their legal representatives sat at one table looking tense, while the governments legal representatives, the prosecutors, sat opposite.

One security guard outside Brooklyn Federal Court remarked: 'Theres an explosion of people here.' Her colleague replied as if it explained it all: 'Its the OSullivan case.' Picture: Yuki Iwamura

At 11.39am, Judge Pamela Chen swept in and spoke about possible sentences before referencing the large volume of letters she had received in support of the OSullivans. In fact such was the volume  344 for Donal, 114 for Helen  that the judge later remarked that it was perhaps the most [letters] I have ever received in relation to any case, enough perhaps for a John B Keane volume, if the Kerry playwright was still alive.

The judge was clearly impacted by the contents of the letters which she said revealed extraordinary acts of kindness and generosity throughout Donals life and noteworthy acts of philanthropy made more impressive by the fact that he was actively involved in helping others himself, and that this help went way beyond family members and friends, into the wider community, such as helping out the victims of Superstorm Sandy and the Haiti earthquake victims, paying for volunteers board and flights where required.

I do have to note though, that as many credits as he has earned, they dont completely erase the bad, the judge said, before imposing a six-month jail term for each of the 11 counts, to run concurrently, followed by two years of supervised release for each count, to run concurrently, and a special condition that he carry out 100 hours of community service during that time.

Donals sentence came in the wake of Helens. The letters of support were referenced again with the judge saying those letters for Helen really do illustrate an individual thats extraordinary, someone for whom society was better off if she was free.

Prior to sentencing, Helen was asked if she wished to speak. She declined, saying she had said all she wanted to say in a letter to the judge. The judge said while she did find Helens behaviour aberrant, against the backdrop of her life, it was aberrational.

It was clear, said Judge Chen, that she was a hardworking, kind-hearted person who was involved in a serious crime out of misguided loyalty.

She sentenced Helen to two years probation with a special condition of providing 100 hours community service. She was also fined $5,000.

Donal O'Sullivan and Helen OSullivan arriving at Brooklyn Federal Court in New York on Friday. Picture: Yuki Iwamura

Donal, who paid Mr Naughton and his sisters legal fees, was not fined, as restitution to victims defrauded by the multi-year payroll scheme is still to be ironed out. Prior to his own sentencing, Donal did address the court, apologising to his family and his six children for a situation that caused them much pain... sleepless nights... and an uncertain future.

He apologised to his elderly mother Theresa, to his brother with Down Syndrome, John D, to his elderly aunt in Kerry, to his co-workers and to his sister Helen for depriving her of the two most important things in her life  her family and her co-workers. He also accepted responsibility for what had happened, as the owner of Navillus.

After the siblings had been sentenced, the judge raised the issue of the harsher sentencing of Mr Naughton (50), announcing that she would be re-visiting it, in light of certain factors, indicating that it may be aligned more closely to that of the Kerry siblings. That announcement led to tears of joy from Mr Naughton and his supporters.

Outside the courtroom, one supporter remarked that the prayers and candles have worked. Helen did her best to remain composed.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, she said:

It should never have happened. Its not in our DNA to be crooks. Its not how we were reared.

She added that any good works she or Donal had done were not for recognition or praise.

Donal said he was relieved the sentencing was over and that he couldnt wait for the appeal to start, so that we can vindicate ourselves.

He pointed out that there were no victims that put in a claim in this case, including employees. In fact they wrote statements and letters saying they were not owed anything (the court had determined that in the order of $1.2m was owed).

As for his plans for the rest of the day? Im going for a few pints, he said.
Ukrainian forces are trying to wear down Russias army and reshape battle lines to create more favourable conditions for a decisive, eastward counteroffensive.

Ukraines troops were given a boost of morale last week by an armed rebellion in Russia that posed the most significant threat to President Vladimir Putins power in more than two decades.

Yet how the revolt by Wagner Group mercenaries under the command of Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin affects the trajectory of the war remains to be seen.

Ukraine has not yet fully committed elite units and western-trained brigades, signalling to experts and allies that the counteroffensive remains in its early stages.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 30 June 2023.



Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/ILW5iqvR7b



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/dVxlihVbhS  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) June 30, 2023

Its recapture of the small village of Neskuchne in the eastern Donetsk region on June 10 encapsulates the opening strategy of the major counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

Small platoons bank on the element of surprise and, when successful, make incremental gains in territory along the 930-mile frontline and battlefield intelligence.

We had a few scenarios. In the end, I think we chose the best one. To come quietly, unexpectedly, said Serhii Zherebylo, the 41-year-old deputy commander of the battalion that retook Neskuchne.

One strategy could be to try to split Russias forces in two so the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, is isolated from the rest of the territory it controls.

The infighting in Russia is a major distraction for Russias military and political leaders, but experts say the impact on the battlefield so far appears minimal.

For the past four days, Ukraine has stepped up operations around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Wagner forces seized after months of intense fighting and then handed over to Russian soldiers, who continue to lose some ground on their southern flank.

Although Ukrainian forces are making small and steady gains, they do not yet have the operational initiative, meaning they are not dictating the tempo and terms of action

Along the frontline, however, the strength of the Russian military remains unchanged since the revolt.

It is not clear where Ukraine will try to decisively punch through, but any success will rely on newly formed, western-equipped brigades that are not yet deployed.

For now, Russias deeply fortified positions and relative air superiority are slowing Ukraines advance.

Military experts say it is hard to say who has the advantage: Russia is dug-in with manpower and ammunition, while Ukraine is versatile, equipped with modern weaponry and clever on the battlefield.

But with the autumn muddy season only four months away, some Ukrainian commanders say they are racing against time.

Although Ukrainian forces are making small and steady gains, they do not yet have the operational initiative, meaning they are not dictating the tempo and terms of action, said Dylan Lee Lehrke, an analyst with the British security intelligence firm Janes.

This has led some observers to claim the counteroffensive is not meeting expectations, Mr Lehrke said.

But it was never going to resemble Ukraines blitzkrieg liberation of the eastern Kharkiv region last year, he said, because Russian forces have had too long to prepare fortifications.

An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine (Libkos/AP)

Russian authorities say Ukraine has suffered substantial losses since the start of the counteroffensive  259 tanks and 790 armoured vehicles, according to Mr Putin, whose claims could not be independently verified.

Grinding battles are being waged in multiple combat zones.

A catastrophic dam collapse last month in the southern Kherson region has altered the geography along the Dnieper River, giving Ukrainians more freedom of movement there.

Russian military bloggers claim a small group of Ukrainian fighters are making gains in the area, although Ukrainian officials have not confirmed these reports.

Across the agricultural plains of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian troops backed by tanks, artillery and drones appear to be chipping away more decisively against Russian positions.

Ukrainian troops will deal a severe blow to Russian forces if they manage to regain access to the Sea of Azov from this direction, effectively cutting off Moscows land bridge to Crimea.

It is too early to determine whether this is a realistic goal.

They are still a long way off.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, right, sits inside a military vehicle posing for a selfie with a local civilian on a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Saturday (Anton Sechin/AP)

In an underground command centre on the front, a Ukrainian Special Forces commander with the call sign Hunter stares intently at an aerial view of the lush green battlefield.

His men have just stormed an enemy position but the return fire is constant.

Russians blast rockets into the air while his fighters hide and wait for orders.

Hunter directs the drone operator to shoot.

On the screen, a huge plume of black smoke swells in the air.

A hit, he says.

The battle here will only get harder, analysts say.

Ukrainian troops are still several miles from Russias main defensive lines.

Since the launch of The Kremlins Special Military Operation in February 2022, there has been at least 700 attacks on Ukrainian medical facilities recorded.



#StandWithUkrainepic.twitter.com/8dlZOEH0rQ  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) June 29, 2023

As they penetrate deeper into occupied territory, the fighters will have to contend with Russian defences organised in a diagonal pattern, about six miles deep in some areas, including minefields, anti-tank ditches and pyramid-shaped obstacles known as dragons teeth.

And with each advance, they become more vulnerable to Russian air attacks.

At least 50 square miles of land has been regained in the south since the start of the counteroffensive, deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar said this week.

It is not the pace many hoped for.

A US official familiar with Joe Bidens administrations thinking said the counteroffensive is a long slog testing Ukrainian forces in ways that few other episodes of the 16-month-old war have.

The official, who was not authorised to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there never was expected to be a D-Day moment, but the early going suggests the pace of the counteroffensive will be tough and challenging for the Ukrainians.

Unlike some of the earlier battles in the war, in which Russian forces showed little resistance or even fled the battlefield, Ukrainian forces are currently facing stiff resistance, the official said.

In the north east, Russian forces have stepped up offensive operations in the direction of the Kreminna forest near Lyman with the aim of securing a buffer to prevent incursions close to Moscows supply lines, Mr Lehrke said.

A war is not a competition of raw force and strength of weapons and people, its more about whos more cunning

But it may well have a secondary aim  of forcing more Ukrainian deployments, he said.

The dense forested area has proven to be notoriously difficult terrain.

The Russians have sabotage groups going into the woods and there have been cases where they enter behind the first line of Ukrainian defences, said Pavlo Yusov, a press officer with the National Guards Thunderstorm brigade, currently in Lyman.

Colonel Volodymyr Silenko, a commander of the 30th Mechanised Brigade operating near Bakhmut, pays no mind to criticism over the pace of attacks.

It is much more important to focus on how the adversary is thinking and responding, he said.

A war is not a competition of raw force and strength of weapons and people, its more about whos more cunning, he said.

Colonel Silenko knows the Russians watch his men, the same way he watches theirs  Moscow sees their movements, how they change, how they evolve.

Our job is to outsmart them, he said.

The RIA Pizzeria restaurant after an attack by a Russian rocket in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine (Alex Babenko/AP)

Deception has been a key part of Ukraines most significant battlefield success to date, last falls Kherson ruse.

By making it appear that the city of Kherson was the main target of that counteroffensive, Ukrainian forces were able to swiftly retake the northern Kharkiv region.

That was a master class in deception, said Mr Lehrke.

Whether they can do the same this time remains to be seen.
Former US president Donald Trumps claims that absolute presidential immunity and free speech rights shield him from the defamation claims of a New York columnist have been rejected by a federal judge.

The writer, E. Jean Carroll, can continue to press claims that Mr Trump owes her at least $10m (9.2m) in damages for comments he made before and after she won a $5m (4.6m) sexual abuse and defamation verdict against him last month, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in a written opinion.

Mr Trump tried to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds he is entitled to absolute presidential immunity, his statements were not defamatory and his statements were opinion protected by free speech rights.

Mr Kaplan said Mr Trump surrendered absolute presidential immunity as a defence by failing to assert it years ago when the lawsuit was filed.

E. Jean Carroll arriving at Manhattan federal court in May (John Minchillo/AP)

The lawsuit was delayed until recently as appeals courts considered legal issues surrounding it.

Mr Trump countersued Ms Carroll this week, claiming she has libelled him by continuing to insist he raped her even after a jury found otherwise.

After a jury returned its verdict last month in Manhattan federal court, Mr Trump made comments on a CNN town hall that prompted Ms Carroll to assert new defamation claims in a 2020 defamation lawsuit.

The jury award resulted from a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit filed last November after New York state temporarily enacted a law allowing sexual assault victims to sue for damages resulting from attacks that occurred even decades earlier.

Mr Trumps claims in the CNN broadcast mirrored statements he made while president in 2019 when Ms Carroll published a memoir in which she claimed he raped her in the dressing room of a luxury Manhattan department store in spring 1996.

Within hours of excerpts from the book being published in a magazine, Mr Trump denied a rape occurred or that he ever knew Ms Carroll.

Mr Trump has countersued Ms Carroll, claiming she libelled him (Steven Senne/AP)

Mr Trump did not merely deny Ms Carrolls accusation of sexual assault, Mr Kaplan wrote.

Instead, he accused Ms Carroll of lying about him sexually assaulting her in order to increase sales of her book, gain publicity and/or carry out a political agenda.

The judge said the main purpose of presidential immunity is to avoid diverting the president from public duties, but it was not a get-out-of-damages-liability-free card that permits the president to say or do anything he or she desires even if that conduct is disconnected entirely from an official function.

Mr Kaplan said he took into consideration that Ms Carroll is now 79 years old and has pursued claims against Mr Trump for three-and-a-half years.

There is no basis to risk prolonging the resolution of this litigation further by permitting Mr Trump to raise his absolute immunity defence now at the 11th hour when he could have done so years ago, he said.

In rejecting claims that Ms Carrolls lawsuit was about protected speech, Mr Kaplan explained how libel and slander are handled in the courts and why Mr Trumps statements could be construed to fit the legal definition for defamation, including that a jury had already found it so.

Todays decision removes one more impediment to the January 15 trial on E Jeans defamation damages in this case

Mr Trumps lawyers did not immediately comment.

Robbie Kaplan, who represents Ms Carroll and is unrelated to the judge, said in a statement the judges ruling confirms that once again, Donald Trumps supposed defences to E. Jean Carrolls defamation claims dont work.

She added: Todays decision removes one more impediment to the January 15 trial on E Jeans defamation damages in this case.
Prince Harry should be awarded up to 320,000 (372,577) in compensation over the alleged misuse of his private information by a tabloid newspaper publisher, his lawyers have told the High Court.

Harry, 38, is suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for damages, claiming journalists at its titles  the Daily and Sunday Mirror and Sunday People  were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called blagging or gaining information by deception, and the use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

In a court document released to the media on Friday  the final day of a trial in London  Harry's legal team set out its suggestions for the amount of money Harry could receive if a judge rules in his favour.

Harry alleges 147 stories from 1996 to 2010, published by MGN titles, used information obtained through unlawful means.

The articles cover his relationship with his family and ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, a few injuries and illnesses, his military service and allegations of drug use.

Some 33 articles, dated between 1996 and 2009, were selected for examination during the trial of Harrys and others contested claims against the publisher.

In the document, Harrys lawyers suggested he could be awarded up to 320,000 (372,577) if his case is successful in relation to all of these 33 stories.

The Duke of Sussex with his barrister, David Sherborne, previously gave evidence at a High Court trial in central London (Jonathan Brady/PA)

He may also be awarded more if the judge, Mr Justice Fancourt, concludes Harry is also entitled to aggravated damages, for additional distress or injury to feelings arising from the nature of the alleged wrongdoing.

Harry has previously told the court that MGNs alleged intrusion into his life contributed to a huge amount of paranoia in his relationships.

In his witness statement, the duke said that he found it very hard to trust anyone, which led to bouts of depression and paranoia.

The highest amount sought for one article is 25,000 (29,120) in relation to a December 2003 story in the People.

The double-page article reported a disagreement between Harry and his brother William, now Prince of Wales, about whether to meet former royal butler Paul Burrell over his ongoing exposes about our mother.

Harry claims the articles author was a habitual commissioner of private investigators and that the reported phrase two-face shit he used to describe Mr Burrell could have been taken from a voicemail.

MGN has claimed the information came from a confidential source who specialised in royal matters and there was no evidence of phone hacking.

The Duke of Sussex previously told the court how alleged intrusion into his life had led to paranoia (Aaron Chown/PA)

Harrys lawyers also suggest he could be awarded up to 20,000 (23,296) in relation to a front page Mirror story in January 2002 entitled Harrys cocaine ecstasy and GHB parties.

The article claimed that some of the dukes friends had taken hard drugs in front of him, including ecstasy, cocaine and GHB, reporting that the then Prince of Wales  now the King  was terrified.

Harry said in his evidence to the court that it is not clear to me where the defendants journalists could have possibly obtained these quotes from.

However, MGN deny unlawful activity and said there is no evidence of phone hacking.

MGN has told the trial that it denies that 28 out of the 33 articles involved unlawful information gathering and that it was not admitted for the remaining five articles.

The publisher claims the stories came from a range of sources, including information disclosed by royal households or other royals, freelance journalists and news agencies as well as confidential sources with extensive royal contacts.

Its lawyers have said Harry should be awarded up to 500 (582) in damages for one admitted instance of unlawful information gathering in February 2004.

Andrew Green KC, for MGN, previously told the trial that it unreservedly apologises for this occasion and that it accepts he was entitled to appropriate compensation.

Harrys case is being heard alongside similar claims by actor Michael Turner, known professionally as Michael Le Vell (James Manning/PA)

The barrister said that it was admitted that a private investigator was instructed, by an MGN journalist at The People, to unlawfully gather information about his activities at the Chinawhite nightclub one night in February 2004.

Mr Green said that there was a People article published in February 2004 giving the recollection of a woman Harry spent time with at the club, but later told the court that it was not one of the 33 stories selected for the trial of Harrys claim, so it is not alleged that this instruction led to the publication of his private information.

The barrister also said MGN had set out the appropriate award should the judge find any of the articles complained of were the product of unlawful activity.

According to Harrys lawyers, MGN had suggested a potential total figure of 37,000 (43,103).

MGN lawyers have also argued that there is nothing significant in Harry and others claims to warrant any award of aggravated damages.

In written arguments they add that the court should ensure any award is proportionate, saying that figures proposed by the claimants would be grossly disproportionate given the absence of evidence and relatively limited interference in their private lives.

Harrys case is being heard alongside similar claims by actor Michael Turner, who is known professionally as Michael Le Vell and best known for playing Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, actress Nikki Sanderson and comedian Paul Whitehouses ex-wife Fiona Wightman.

MGN is largely contesting the claims and denies that any of the articles complained of resulted from phone hacking, while contending that the vast majority did not arise from any other unlawful activity.
Vets are preparing to airlift an Asian elephant from Sri Lanka back to its home country of Thailand this weekend, after it spent more than two decades at a Buddhist temple where activists alleged it was abused.

The Thai royal family gave the elephant as a gift in 2001 to Sri Lankas government, which in turn gave it to the temple where it was named Muthu Raja and given honoured roles in religious processions.

However, the activist group Rally for Animal Rights and Environment, or Rare, alleged it was being mistreated, including that it had a stiff leg from a long-neglected injury.

It lobbied last year for the intervention of Thai officials, who asked Kande Viharaya temple officials to allow the animals return to Thailand for medical treatment.

A veterinary surgeon treats Muthu Raja (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

This is not the end, but the beginning of a new life for Muthu Raja, Rare group founder Panchali Panapitiya said.

The temple agreed to transfer the elephant last November to Sri Lankas National Zoological Garden, where it has been receiving treatment and preparation for the airlift to Thailand on Sunday.

Madusha Perera, a vet at the zoo, said two big abscesses the elephant was suffering from when it arrived have mostly healed. However, the zoo has not been able to fully treat the animals leg because of a lack of facilities, she said.

Once he gets back to Thailand the experts there will attend to the conditions so that one day we will be able to see him walk the normal way, Ms Perera said.

Mahouts take Asian elephant Sak Surin, gifted by the Thai royal family, towards a container for transport back to Thailand (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

At the zoo, Muthu Rajas morning routine has included vet check-ups, bathing in a small pond and practising getting into the container that will carry him on the nearly six-hour flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The container is cushioned and has windows for feeding. His meals will include bananas, pumpkin and sugar cane. Zoo officials have hoisted the 9ft tall, four-ton creature in trial lifts to test the containers strength.

Muthu Raja will be sedated if necessary and two vets will monitor him during the journey. Three Thai and one Sri Lankan elephant tenders also will be on the plane.

Ms Panapitiya said her group had unsuccessfully tried to raise the issue of Muthu Rajas neglect with the Sri Lanka government for months before turning to the Thai government, and said the failure of Sri Lankan wildlife officials to act had brought disrepute to the country.

Prime minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament earlier this month that he expressed his regret to the Thai prime minister over the treatment of the elephant during a trip to Thailand in May.

Ms Panapitiya said her group is also pushing for the release of another elephant at the Kande Viharaya temple.
Frances interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, has said the coming hours will be decisive as violence triggered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager during a traffic stop in a Paris suburb flared for a fourth consecutive night.

Darmanin said on TF1 television that 45,000 police officers, including special forces, would be deployed across France on Friday night, adding: Entirely legitimate emotions can in no circumstances justify disorder and delinquency. Shops in several malls in Paris suburbs were looted on Friday afternoon, as well as an Apple store in the centre of Strasbourg, amid continuing rioting sparked by the shooting of Nahel M, 17, who was of north African descent, in Nanterre on Tuesday.

Bus and tram traffic was halted from 9pm across France. The southern city of Marseille, Frances second-largest, banned public demonstrations and said all public transport would stop at 7pm local time. Protests were also banned in Bordeaux, Lyon, Toulouse, Montpellier, Grenoble and Annecy.

Police patrol as youths gather on Concorde square during a protest in Paris, France, Friday, June 30, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron urged parents Friday to keep teenagers at home and proposed restrictions on social media to quell rioting spreading across France over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver. Writing on wall reads in French "Justice for Nahel" (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

On Friday evening police in Paris said an operation was under way to evacuate the Place de la Concorde after demonstrators gathered despite an overnight police ban on unauthorised gatherings at key city-centre sites including the Champs-Elysees and the Tuileries gardens.

The next hours will be decisive and I know I can count on your efforts, Darmanin told firefighters and police officers seeking to contain the unrest. He said more than 900 people had been arrested on Thursday night, with an average age of 17.

President Emmanuel Macron earlier on Friday urged parents to keep teenagers at home as the government said it was reviewing all options to contain the escalating violence after three consecutive nights of rioting.

Promising additional security forces, Macron, who left an EU summit in Brussels early to attend a crisis cabinet meeting, appealed to the responsibility of mothers and fathers and said it was not the job of the French republic to take their place.

The French president also said social media was playing a considerable role in the unrest, saying violence was being organised online and he wanted platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok to remove sensitive content.

Police officers face protesters on Concorde square during a protest in Paris, France, Friday, June 30, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron urged parents Friday to keep teenagers at home and proposed restrictions on social media to quell rioting spreading across France over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

He suggested some young people appeared to be copying violent video games. We sometimes have the feeling that some of them are playing out the video games that have intoxicated them in the streets, Macron said.

A total of 492 buildings were damaged, 2,000 vehicles burned and 3,880 fires started nationwide on Thursday night as mainly teenage rioters again torched buildings, cars and buses and looted shops across France.

The death of Nahel M has fanned longstanding resentment among poor, racially mixed, urban communities in France over repeated incidents of police violence and allegations of systemic racism.

The prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, said the government was examining all options, calling the violence intolerable and inexcusable. Armoured gendarmerie vehicles would be deployed in some areas on Friday evening, Borne said, and several major public events were cancelled including a rock concert at the Stade de France.

Police officers face protesters on Concorde square during a protest in Paris, France, Friday, June 30, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron urged parents Friday to keep teenagers at home and proposed restrictions on social media to quell rioting spreading across France over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

Under mounting pressure from rightwing parties to declare a state of emergency, which would give authorities extra powers to ban demonstrations and limit free movement, the government is desperate to avoid a repeat of 2005, when the death of two boys of African origin in a police chase sparked three weeks of rioting.

The foreign ministry rejected as totally unfounded accusations by the United Nations of police racism, after a spokesperson for the UN human rights office said this is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement.

In a widely criticised statement, unions representing half of French police said on Friday that they were fighting vermin, adding that police officers were at the frontline because we are at war. They added: Faced with these savage hordes, its no longer enough to call for calm, it must be imposed.

Laurent Escure, the head of the UNSA union federation, disavowed the statement by the police branch of the federation and called for calm and an end to the violence. The Greens party leader, Marine Tondelier, described it as an appeal for civil war, adding: Can we finally say that we have a structural problem in the police?

Despite the presence of 40,000 police officers around the country, the interior ministry said 79 police stations were attacked on Thursday night and 119 other public buildings, including 34 town halls and 28 schools.

Police patrol as youths gather on Concorde square during a protest in Paris, France, Friday, June 30, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron urged parents Friday to keep teenagers at home and proposed restrictions on social media to quell rioting spreading across France over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

Violence flared in Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse and Lille as well as in parts of Paris, and its suburbs, including the working-class suburb of Nanterre where Nahel was shot dead after failing to comply with a police order to stop.

Protesters also clashed with police in Paris, burned bins and looted shops, with a Nike shoe store broken into in the Chatelet shopping centre and store windows smashed along the rue de Rivoli. A tram was set alight in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses gutted in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.

The 38-year-old officer involved in the shooting, who has said he fired the shot because he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car, has been charged with voluntary homicide and placed in provisional detention.

His lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, told BFMTV his client had aimed down towards the drivers leg but was bumped, causing him to shoot towards his chest. Obviously [the officer] didnt want to kill the driver, Lienard said.

Prosecutors have said Nahel, who is not old enough to hold a full driving licence in France and was known to the police for previous refusals to obey stop orders, had been pulled over for speeding, jumping red lights and driving in a bus lane.

Several western governments including the US and UK warned their citizens in France to exercise caution. Americans should avoid mass gatherings and areas of significant police activity, the US embassy said in a tweet, while British residents and visitors were told to monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place and obey local authority advice.

- The Guardian
Two people were killed and another two dozen injured in a resistance drone attack on regime personnel inspecting a blown-up bridge in Mon States Bilin Township on Thursday, the secretary of the junta-run state government told The Irrawaddy.

Kyone Eait Bridge near Shwe Yaung Pya village was blown up around 9 pm on Wednesday.

A group went to check the bridge to make repairs on the Union Highway. They [resistance forces] dropped bombs [by drone]. A district engineer and an administrative clerk were killed. More than 20 others including, security personnel, suffered wounds to their heads, legs and so on. Most had minor injuries but some needed surgery, secretary U Toe Win told The Irrawaddy.

The bridge is located on the Union Highway that links the commercial capital of Yangon with the border trade hub of Myawaddy and passes through Mon States capital Mawlamyine and Karen States capital Hpa-an.

The concrete structure is 95 feet long and 36 feet wide. A 24-foot-wide section collapsed in the mine attack, but vehicles can still use the remaining 12-foot-wide section to cross the bridge.

Two private vehicles plunged off the bridge on Wednesday night, killing one driver, said U Toe Win.

As it was dark, they were not aware of the collapse, he said.

The bridge was blown up by Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 1, based in Thaton District, and a Peoples Defense Force (PDF) alliance, said Major Saw Kyaw Myint, chairman of Thaton District alliance committee.

The committee oversees 24 local PDF groups that merged in October last year under the single command of KNU Brigade 1. Resistance forces blew up the bridge because the regime was using that road to transport reinforcements and food supplies, said Maj Saw Kyaw Myint.

We aim to cause logistical problems for the regime, to create delays in transporting reinforcements, tanks, and artillery, he told The Irrawaddy.

Resistance groups dropped 10 bombs by drone on junta troops inspecting the bridge, he said.

Allied resistance forces under KNU command have lately targeted bridges on key regime supply routes. They blew up three bridges on June 6, including a span in Bago Regions Kyaukkyi Township which is controlled by KNU Brigade 3.

In response to frequent resistance attacks on its bases, police stations and checkpoints in KNU-controlled areas, junta forces have bulldozed some inter-village roads leading to their bases.
Hong Kong: Skewed remarks about NSL rejected

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today said it strongly disapproved of and firmly rejected the wanton slanders and smears concerning the implementation of one country, two systems and the National Security Law (NSL) in Hong Kong by certain US and UK politicians.



In a statement issued tonight, the Hong Kong SAR Government noted that such slanders and smears were recently made through a statement by certain members of the US Senate on the 26th anniversary of Hong Kongs return to the motherland and the third anniversary of the implementation of the NSL, and by the House of Commons of the UK Parliament through a debate on the aforesaid third anniversary.



It said it strongly disapproves of and firmly rejects the unfounded remarks and slanders by the US and UK politicians regarding the Hong Kong SAR where one country, two systems is successfully implemented.

It also strongly urges the politicians to immediately stop acting against the international law and basic norms of international relations and interfering in Hong Kong matters, which are purely Chinas internal affairs.



The Hong Kong SAR Government pointed out that the US and UK politicians wantonly put politics above the rule of law. Their attempts by despicable political manoeuvres to interfere in Hong Kongs law-based governance, and undermine the citys rule of law as well as its prosperity and stability, will only expose their own weaknesses and faulty arguments and be doomed to fail.



Once again, they ignored the acts and activities that severely damaged Hong Kongs society, economy and business environment in the black-clad violence and Hong Kong version of colour revolution back in 2019.



Neither did they say a word about the fact that the NSLs successful implementation has enabled the livelihood and economic activities of the Hong Kong community at large to resume as normal and the business environment to be restored.



Instead, they wantonly attacked, by making and spreading absurd, unfounded and fact-twisting remarks, the Hong Kong SAR in its dutiful, faithful and lawful implementation of the NSL. The politicians hypocrisy with double-standards have long been exposed. Their ill intentions will prove to be futile.



The statement stressed that the Hong Kong SAR is an inalienable part of the Peoples Republic of China. It is a local administrative region that enjoys a high degree of autonomy under one country, two systems and comes directly under the Central Peoples Government.



The judicial system of Hong Kong has always been highly regarded by international communities. Any attempt by any country, organisation, or individual to interfere with the judicial proceedings in the Hong Kong SAR by means of political power, in order to procure a defendants evasion of the criminal justice process, is a reprehensible act undermining the rule of law of Hong Kong.



Making remarks with the intent to interfere with or obstruct the course of justice, or engaging in conduct with the same intent, is very likely to constitute the offence of criminal contempt of court or the offence of perverting the course of justice.



That Hong Kong is a society underpinned by the rule of law and has always adhered to the principle that laws must be obeyed and lawbreakers held accountable is well recognised by international communities, the statement emphasised.



When discharging duties under the NSL, the Hong Kong SAR law enforcement agencies take law enforcement actions, based on evidence and strictly in accordance with the law, against any people, institutions or organisations that endanger national security. Such actions have nothing to do with their political stance, background or occupation.



The Hong Kong SAR Government specified that any suggestion that people, institutions or organisations with certain backgrounds should be immune from legal sanctions for their illegal acts and activities is tantamount to granting privileges to them to break the law. It is totally contrary to the spirit of the rule of law.



It explained that the Department of Justice (DoJ) of the Hong Kong SAR, by virtue of Article 63 of the Basic Law, controls criminal prosecutions, free from any interference. Independent prosecutorial decisions for each case are made in a rigorous and objective manner, strictly based on evidence and applicable laws and are in accordance with the Prosecution Code.



Prosecutions would be instituted by the DoJ only if there is sufficient admissible evidence to support a reasonable prospect of conviction, and if it is in the public interest to do so.



As guaranteed under the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, defendants charged with criminal offences shall have the right to a fair trial by an independent judiciary. Article 85 of the Basic Law clearly stipulates that the courts of the Hong Kong SAR shall exercise judicial power independently, free from any interference.



In all criminal trials, the prosecution has to prove beyond reasonable doubt before the defendant can be convicted, and the defendant has the right to appeal under the law.



The statement reiterated that the Hong Kong SAR steadfastly safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests, and fully and faithfully lives up to this top priority of the principle of one country, two systems.



It also made it clear that the Hong Kong SAR Government will resolutely, fully and faithfully implement the NSL and further strengthen the Hong Kong SARs legal system and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security to prevent, suppress and punish in accordance with the law acts and activities that endanger national security.



The statement added that at the same time, the Hong Kong SAR Government will safeguard the rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong people in accordance with the law. Its overarching goal is to ensure the steadfast and successful implementation of one country, two systems.

This story has been published on: 2023-06-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.


mason society for what?

ChatGPT

The term "Mason Society" could refer to different organizations or groups depending on the context. However, one common reference is to the fraternal organization known as Freemasonry, which is often referred to as the Masonic Society.

Freemasonry is a centuries-old fraternal order that focuses on personal development, moral values, and philanthropy. It is based on a system of rituals and symbols that encourage members to strive for self-improvement, brotherly love, and community service.

The Masonic Society promotes fellowship and camaraderie among its members, who are known as Freemasons. It operates through lodges, which are local branches of the society where members meet regularly for rituals, discussions, and charitable activities.

The specific objectives and activities of a Masonic Society may vary based on the jurisdiction and lodge, but common elements include promoting moral and ethical values, fostering personal growth, and engaging in charitable endeavors for the betterment of society.

It's worth noting that the Masonic Society is often surrounded by a certain level of mystery and symbolism, which has led to various myths and misconceptions. However, at its core, Freemasonry aims to encourage its members to be virtuous individuals, contribute positively to their communities, and support one another.

[User]

who is its member?

ChatGPT

Freemasonry, or the Masonic Society, consists of adult men who join the fraternity through a voluntary process. Membership is open to individuals who meet certain criteria and are of good moral character. The specific requirements for membership may vary from one jurisdiction to another, but generally, the following guidelines are followed:

Male Gender: Freemasonry traditionally admits only men as members. However, there are branches and affiliated organizations that admit women, such as the Order of the Eastern Star and the Co-Freemasonry.

Age Requirement: Prospective members must typically be at least 18 or 21 years old, depending on the jurisdiction.

Belief in a Supreme Being: Freemasonry requires its members to believe in a higher power or a Supreme Being, regardless of their specific religious beliefs. This belief in a higher power is an essential aspect of Freemasonry.

Moral Character: Freemasonry places a strong emphasis on moral and ethical values. Applicants are usually required to have a good reputation, demonstrate integrity, and uphold virtuous principles.

Willingness to Participate: Freemasonry expects its members to actively engage in lodge activities, attend meetings, and contribute to the fraternity's aims and objectives.

It is important to note that Freemasonry is a diverse and inclusive organization, welcoming individuals from various backgrounds, religions, and professions. The fraternity encourages brotherhood, respect, and unity among its members, emphasizing the principles of equality and friendship.

It's worth mentioning that Freemasonry is a voluntary and private organization. While membership is open to qualified individuals, joining Freemasonry is a personal choice, and individuals must express their interest in becoming a member themselves.

[User]

name some names

ChatGPT

While I cannot provide a comprehensive list of specific individuals who are members of Freemasonry due to privacy and confidentiality, here are some notable historical figures who have been associated with Freemasonry:

George Washington: The first President of the United States and a Founding Father, George Washington was a Freemason. He was a member of the Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 in Virginia.

Benjamin Franklin: A polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was an influential Freemason. He belonged to several lodges, including the St. John's Lodge in Philadelphia.

Mozart: The renowned composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a Freemason. He was initiated into the Lodge Zur Wohltatigkeit in Vienna, Austria.

Winston Churchill: The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Winston Churchill, was a Freemason. He was initiated into Studholme Lodge No. 1591 in London.

Voltaire: The Enlightenment philosopher and writer Francois-Marie Arouet, known by his pen name Voltaire, was a Freemason. He was a member of the Lodge Les Neuf Surs in Paris.

Simon Bolivar: Known as "The Liberator," Simon Bolivar played a crucial role in the independence movements of several South American countries. He was a Freemason and a member of the Lodge Lautaro in Peru.

These are just a few examples of well-known historical figures who were associated with Freemasonry. Freemasonry has a long history, and countless individuals from various walks of life, including artists, politicians, scientists, and community leaders, have been members of the fraternity throughout the years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gieWcPG2EXI

What do the Mason symbols mean?
Junta troops opened fire on residents of a village fleeing a predawn raid in Sagaing Region on Thursday, shooting one woman dead and injuring two others, including a child, according to local residents.

A military column of 70 troops attacked Sa Moon Village in the regions Sagaing Townshipa resistance strongholdat 5am, firing indiscriminately at residents trying to flee, according to Sagaing True News, the townships resistance media outlet.

Daw Khin Ma Ma, 50, died after being shot in her forehead while trying to flee to safety.

Daw Nu Nu Win, 45, was shot in the arm.

A six-year-old boy, Myo Naing Win, was shot in the head by junta troops.

Both survived.

Residents of the village who were unable to flee in time were detained by junta troops, local residents told Sagaing True News.

The news outlet reported that regime forces also looted the village.

They seized five vehicles from residents of the village as well as 50 million kyats (US$ 15,600), it said.

After looting Sa Moon Village, the military column advanced to nearby Padu Village and torched homes in the village, Sagaing True News reported.

The regime claimed on Thursday that its forces conducted a security-clearance operation in Sa Moon Village after being tipped off that members of a local Peoples Defense Force (PDF) were sheltering in the village.

It said several weapons, as well as ammunition, were seized from two vehicles parked at the villages monastery.

The junta referred to the alleged PDF members as terrorists.

It did not mention that its troops fired on civilians fleeing the predawn raid or that they shot one woman dead, injured another woman, and shot a six-year-old boy in the head.
Myanmar cronies flocked to Naypyitaw on Thursday as junta boss Min Aung Hlaing invited donations for a colossal statue touted as the worlds tallest marble sitting-Buddha image.

According to a junta statement, a total of 101 donors contributed 16.177 billion kyats (US$ 7.6 million).

The guest list for the event was dominated by cronies both big and small. Notable attendees included the founder of CB Bank U Khin Maung Aye, chairman of Max Myanmar Group of Companies U Zaw Zaw, U Tun Myint Naing of Asia World, U Zaw Win Shein of Ayeyar Hinthar Holdings, Yuzana Co founder U Htay Myint, Dagon Company founder U Win Aung, and Shwe Thanlwin Co owner U Kyaw Win.

Also present were Kyaw Ne Win, grandson of dictator Ne Win and owner of Omni Focus Co; UAB Bank owner Nay Aung and Pyi Aung, sons of the Than Shwe regime minister Aung Thaung; and U Shwe Kyaing, owner of Wah Wah Win Co.

The top donor was U Khin Maung Aye, contributing over 2.2 billion kyats, followed by Aung Thaungs sons including Myanmar Navy chief Moe Aung (over 512 million kyats), U Tun Myint Naing (500 million kyats), and U Zaw Zaw (297 million kyats).

Donating 300 million kyats each were U Zaw Win Shein, Shwe Taung Co founder U Aung Zaw Naing, and U Htay Myint.

U Win Aung contributed 297 million kyats, while U Shwe Kyaing and U Kyaw Win each stumped up 100 million kyats.

Eden Group, whose chairman U Chit Khine has been arrested by the regime, tossed in a whopping 1.5 billion kyats.

Also donating cash at the event was Maung Weik, founder of Sae Paing Co and the key prosecution witness in a corruption case against deposed civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Maung Weik announced on Facebook he had been released from junta detention on Thursday but failed to mention his attendance at the event on the same day.

Min Aung Hlaing led the cronies on a visit to the park in Dekkhinathiri Township where the 81-foot (24.69-meter)-tall Buddha image known as Maravijaya is being built.

He said he had been handed responsibility for its construction by his predecessor, former military dictator Than Shwe, in late 2017 under the aegis of the military. Than Shwe has barely appeared in public since his retirement in 2011, but visited the Buddha statue in February.

The business cronies are rarely seen together with junta generals in public, but they were also at the Independence Day dinner hosted by Min Aung Hlaing in January.
A junta-controlled court on Wednesday sentenced The Irrawaddys former publisher to five years in prison for sedition, in the regimes latest move to crack down on Myanmars independent media, which have been exposing the regimes atrocities since the coup in 2021.

U Thaung Win was arrested at his home in Yangon on Sept. 29 last year and charged with violating the Publishing and Distribution Act by reporting news that negatively affected national security, rule of law and public peace. He has been detained at Insein Prison since his arrest.

However, Western Yangon District Court sentenced him to five years imprisonment and fined him 100,000 kyats (about US$47) under Article 124-A of the Penal Code, which deals with the crime of sedition. The court has also issued arrest warrants for three other editors from The Irrawaddy, a court source said.

U Thaung Win applied for a publishing license for The Irrawaddy in late 2012 after Myanmar launched democratic reforms the previous year. However, he was never involved in the editorial department or its decisions. His arrest came a year-and-a-half after the regime first targeted The Irrawaddy by filing a lawsuit against it. After that its journalists went into hiding to avoid arrest by the junta, and The Irrawaddy now operates offshore. U Thaung Win left the organization when it moved offshore.

Sources close to the case said crony businessmen who enjoy cozy relations with the junta, including U Aung Ko Win of Kanbawza (KBZ) Group of Companies, were the motivating force behind the regimes prosecution of the former publisher.

Since the coup, The Irrawaddy has been at the forefront of reporting on the regimes atrocities against civilians while exposing the network of crony businessmen who enjoy shady links with the regime both at home and abroad. In September 2022, The Irrawaddy published a story about the close relations between regime chief Min Aung Hlaing and U Aung Ko Win. U Thaung Win was arrested by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) three days after the story was published. The CID is under the regimes Ministry of Home Affairs led by Lieutenant-General Soe Htut, who is close to U Aung Ko Win.

During his trial, U Thaung Win, who is in his mid-50s, testified that his involvement with The Irrawaddy was limited to the use of his name in applying for a publishing license, and that he wasnt involved in the editorial process. A former political prisoner, U Thaung Win took part in the pro-democracy uprising in 1988 as a university student.

U Ye Ni, the editor of The Irrawaddys Burmese Edition, condemned the juntas sentencing of U Thaung Win, saying the former publisher had nothing to do with the news outlets coverage.

But weve learned that he has become a victim as KBZs U Aung Ko Win was not pleased with our coverage and we have shared this exclusive information with international diplomats and embassies, he said.

Since the coup, the regime has banned more than a dozen news outlets, including The Irrawaddy, which was founded in 1993 in exile.

The jailing of the online news agencys publisher is the latest in a series of steps taken against The Irrawaddy by the junta since it seized power in February 2021.

In March of that year the military regime sued the news outlet under Article 505 (a) for disregarding the armed forces in its reporting on the anti-regime protests that were occurring at the time. The police opened a case against The Irrawaddy as a whole rather than against individual employees, making it the first news outlet to be sued by the regime after the coup.

On two occasions later that year, The Irrawaddys office in downtown Yangon was raided by regime troops. No one was arrested during the raids.

In August last year, Zaw Zaw, a former photojournalist who had once worked for The Irrawaddy, was sentenced to three years in prison for incitement. One staff member was temporarily detained in early 2022, and the home of one of the news organizations editors was also raided.

In October 2022, the junta officially ordered the closure of The Irrawaddy and revoked its publishing license.

Myanmar was the worlds third-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 42 members of the press behind bars, at the time of the Committee to Protect Journalists Dec. 1, 2022 prison census.
UN investigators said the frequency and intensity of war crimes in Myanmar have dramatically increased in recent months as the junta escalates aerial bombardments and shelling of civilian targets.

The United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said it has significantly increased its investigation and collection of evidence to share with international judicial authorities.

The junta has left more than 3,700 citizens dead and detained nearly 23,700, according to a domestic monitoring group. It has escalated massacres, aerial bombings and arson attacks on the civilian population. Its airstrike on Pazi Gyi village in Kantbalu Township, Sagaing Region, in April killed around 175 people, including children, in the deadliest airstrike since the 2021 coup.

In a statement on Wednesday, IIMM said given the enormous increase in violence in Myanmar, the mechanism is focusing its investigations on the gravest incidents and where the impact on victims is most severe.

It said it had collected evidence from over 700 sources, such as documents, photographs, videos, geospatial imagery, social media posts and other open-source material. The agency said it has interviewed around 200 survivors, eyewitnesses and defectors.

Over 135 case files with supporting information and analysis have been made available, IIMM said.

Nicholas Koumjia, head of the IIMM, said the agency had collected credible evidence of an array of war crimes and crimes against humanity across the country, including murder, rape, torture, unlawful imprisonment and deportation or forcible transfer.

He said his team collected evidence while it was fresh, analyzing it and preparing case files to be shared with the judicial authorities to hold perpetrators responsible.

Serious international crimes have no statute of limitations. This means that there is no time limit for perpetrators to be prosecuted and we are working to ensure that those responsible for these crimes will one day be held accountable, Koumjia said.

The final investigations will be published on August 8 and it will be presented to the Human Rights Council on September 11 and brief the General Assembly later in the year, the IIMM said.

IIMM added that it was continuing to investigate earlier crimes, particularly those committed during the 2016 and 2017 clearance operations against the Rohingya in Rakhine State.
The Myanmar junta has accused local ethnic armed group the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) of firing on a convoy carrying Chinese military representatives in Kachin State, denying media reports that the attack was carried out by a junta-controlled militia group and that it targeted a visiting consul.

7Stars News, a media outlet based in northern Shan State, earlier reported that a local militia group led by Shwe Min fired on the convoy on Tuesday morning as the delegation, led by a Chinese consul, was heading to Myitkyina to attend a meeting on the implementation of part of the Namjin Industrial Zone, which is under development in the Kachin State capital. Shwe Min is the chair of the Lisu National Development Party.

The Chinese consuls delegation canceled the meeting after the attack, 7Stars News said.

However, junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun said the delegation did not include a consul and was not visiting the economic zone project in Namjin.

It was just a delegation of representatives from Chinas armed forces, and they came to attend our regular bilateral meeting on military affairs and border security, he said in a statement on Thursday.

He said Myanmar military and Border Guard Force personnel provided security for the convoy, which was fired upon five times with a light firearm while heading toward Myitkyina, at a location 13 km from Kanpaiti.

Zaw Min Tun said no injuries or casualties were reported as a result of the incident, adding that the military had verified that the attack was committed by the KIA. The military would take further security actions as a result of the attack, he said.

Residents of Kanpaiti confirmed that a convoy carrying a Chinese delegation was attacked at around 10 a.m. on June 27, and that the convoy was guarded by junta military and police vehicles.

The residents said that on June 26-28, clashes broke out on the stretch of road between Kanpaiti and Sadone town, adding that forces of the junta military and Shwe Mins militia were deployed in that area and headed toward KIA outposts.

The clashes between the KIA and the junta and militia forces followed a junta air strike on a KIA camp near Kanpaiti on June 26.

KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw was not available for comment.
Maung Weik, a leading businessman and the juntas key prosecution witness in a corruption case against deposed civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, marked his release from prison this week by immediately making a donation to help fund the construction of a Buddha statue commissioned by regime chief Min Aung Hlaing.

The owner of Sae Paing Development Ltd. was the first crony detained by the Myanmar military following its coup in February 2021. He was accused of paying bribes to the civilian leader when she was in power.

He announced his release via his companys Facebook page on Thursday night, posting pictures of himself with a long beard. He said he had been released that day and was now home, adding that his mother was also happy.

But what he didnt say in the post was that on the same day, he traveled to Naypyitaw, where he joined 101 people, mostly from the business sector, making cash donations to Min Aung Hlaing for his Buddha image. The regimes Myanmar Radio and Television channel aired Thursdays donation ceremony, showing Maung Weik alongside other donors including established regime cronies like U Khin Maung Aye of CB Bank, U Zaw Zaw of Max Myanmar Group, U Htay Myint of Yuzana Group of Companies, U Win Aung of Dagon International and many others.

According to Maung Weiks Facebook post, he was detained for more than two years from Feb. 3, 2021 to June 29, 2023. It is not clear where or under what conditions he was held.

The Juntas Anti-Corruption Commission filed a complaint against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in May 2022 alleging that Maung Weik had given her about US$550,000 in illegal payments between 2018 and 2020 to protect his businesses.

The charge was based on comments made by Maung Weik during a regime press conference in March 2021. The property developer said he had made four payments: $100,00 in 2018, $150,000 in 2019, $50,000 in February 2020 and $250,000 in April 2020.

In a junta court, however, Maung Weik testified that the alleged bribe paid to the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader was actually a donation to her charity, according to a court source.

The regime opened a case under Article 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, alleging that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi accepted the bribe from Maung Weik on the pretext that the money was intended for the charity.

She has been sentenced by a military regime court to a total of 33 years in prison, including three years for the case.

Maung Weik was also reportedly a prosecution witness in corruption cases filed against other members of the NLD government including the partys vice chair, Dr. Zaw Myint Maung.

In 2008, the businessman was sentenced to 15 years in prison under the previous military regime for drug trafficking. He was released in 2014 under U Thein Seins quasi-civilian government.
At least 29 Myanmar junta forces were killed in the last three days as Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) and ethnic Karen revolutionary groups stepped up attacks on regime targets across the country.

Incidents were reported in Sagaing, Mandalay and Magwe regions and Mon State.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from the PDFs and the ethnic group.

Some military casualties could not be independently verified.

Junta township administration bombed by resistance drones in Mon

An engineer and an administration staffer were killed and at least 20 other junta forces and personnel were injured in Belin Township, Mon State on Thursday when the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), and PDF groups used drones to drop 10 bombs on a group of members of the junta-formed Belin Township Administration Council, according to the KNU and regime township officials.

The group, escorted by regime forces, was bombed while checking a key junta supply bridge that was destroyed by the KNU and PDF on Wednesday night.

The bridge is located on the Yangon-Mawlamyine highway.

Military transport ship sunk in resistance ambush in Sagaing

Resistance forces take part in an ambush of three military transport ships in Chaung-U Township on Wednesday. / Monywa District PDF battalion 12

At least five regime soldiers were killed and a military vessel was sunk in Chaung-U Township, Sagaing Region on Wednesday when local resistance groups ambushed three military vessels transporting rations and ammunition to pro-junta Kan Gyi Kone Village, which is home to regime-allied Pyu Saw Htee militia forces, claimed Monywa District PDF Battalion 12, which coordinated the attack.

The vessels were ambushed in the Chindwin River while traveling to the pro-junta village from the Northwest Military Command in Monywa town.

One of the vessels sank near the Sin Pyu Shin Bridge, the PDF groups claimed.

Regime targets bombed in Sagaing

Eagle Guerilla Forces, which forms Shwebo District PDF Battalion 15, said at least five regime forces were killed and others injured in Wetlet town, Sagaing Region on Thursday as it and four resistance groups used drones to drop 22 bombs on a police station, the township General Administration Department and the house of a pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia member.

During the drone strike, regime forces responded by indiscriminately firing nine 90-mm artillery rounds. Afterwards, junta fighter jets attacked nearby areas and villages outside the town.

At least 12 more regime forces and pro-junta militia members were killed when the aircraft wrongly attacked a Fire Service Station where regime forces are housed, the resistance group said, citing military informants.

Clashes erupt in Mandalay



Local resistance forces take part in recent anti-regime operations in Thabeikkyin Township. / Bo Lin Yone PDF

Many regime forces are believed to have been killed or injured in Thabeikkyin Township, Mandalay Region on Tuesday as three local PDF groups operating near a pro-junta village clashed with a military detachment heading to the village, said Bo Lin Yone, a local defense group that coordinated the attack.

Both sides used many heavy explosives. The resistance group used several mine clusters to attack the regime forces in the pro-junta village after conducting drone surveillance.

After the incidents, resistance scouts witnessed around 30 injured junta troops being transported in a vehicle, the PDF group said.

On the same day, four soldiers were killed in the township when the combined groups used heavy explosives and sniper rifles to ambush a military checkpoint where regime forces have been extorting money from boats on the Irrawaddy River.

The PDF groups also shelled regime forces stationed on a mountainside area in Thabeikkyin town.

Regime forces ambushed in Magwe



Combined resistance forces clash with regime forces in Pauk Township on Wednesday. / YRF

Local PDF group Young Revolution Front said it and three PDF groups clashed with 15 regime forces and Pyu Saw Htee militia members traveling near Thapyay Aye Village in Pauk Township, Magwe Region on Wednesday.

In the clash, a pro-regime militia member was killed. Regime forces retrieved four injured soldiers but left the dead militia members body behind.
Friday, Jun 30th, 2023 (12:11 pm) - Score 1,032

The Scottish Government has, in response to a Freedom of Information Request, published a useful progress update on their 600m Reaching 100% (R100) project with Openreach (BT), which reveals that 24,194 premises have now been covered by their rollout of a new superfast broadband (30Mbps+) capable ISP network.

At present 96% of premises in Scotland already have access to such a network and a further 115,000 premises are planned to be covered across the three R100 contract LOTs by March 2028 (here and here). LOT 1 (North Scotland and the Highlands) is expected to cover 60,764 premises (100% via FTTP) by 2027/28, while LOT 2 (Central Scotland) will reach 32,216 premises (95.6% via FTTP and the rest FTTC) by 2023/24 and LOT 3 (Southern Scotland) targets 21,889 premises (100% via FTTP) by 2024/25.

NOTE: In Scotland the responsibility for broadband is devolved to Westminster, but that doesnt stop local and devolved authorities from making their own investments (e.g. R100).

The latest figure of 24,194 premises completed  across the whole of R100  represents an increase from the 20,000 reported in March 2023 (plus 3,172 connections via vouchers, which is up from 2,800 in March). But theres clearly still a long way to go and the focus on remote rural areas means that the deployment pace will be fairly slow, although its already running years behind the original target of completion by the end of 2021.

However, the new FoI Request  as spotted by Thinkbroadband today, goes further than previous updates by giving both a rundown of the progress by each contracted LOT and by each constituency under the hardest North (LOT1) contract. The data for this is to the very end of May 2023.

R100 Rollout Progress vs Target

Premises delivered (R100 Contract) Premises delivered (R100 Vouchers) Premises left (R100) Lot 1 (North) 6,897 1,859 53,867 Lot 2 (Central) 8,905 810 23,311 Lot 3 (South) 8,392 503 13,497

R100 Progress  LOT 1 (North Scotland and Highlands)

R100 North Contract R100 Vouchers Aberdeen Central 0 0 Aberdeen Donside 165 2 Aberdeen South and North Kincardine 435 29 Aberdeenshire East 696 205 Aberdeenshire West 595 256 Angus North and Mearns 758 162 Angus South 0 74 Argyll and Bute 1,210 83 Banffshire and Buchan Coast 0 129 Caithness, Sutherland and Ross 1,121 139 Dundee City East 0 2 Dundee City West 0 17 Inverness and Nairn 395 41 Moray 0 229 Na h-Eileanan an Iar 0 0 Orkney Islands 342 66 Perthshire North 448 117 Shetland Islands 429 35 Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch 303 271 Stirling 0 2 Total 6,897 1,859

Meanwhile, were still waiting to hear how the UK governments Project Gigabit funding for Scotland (aka  LOT 39) will be handled, although the first procurements should launch sometime later this year. Some 447,170 premises across Scotland may need support from public funding to help them gain access to a gigabit-capable (1000Mbps) broadband service (here), which could rise if existing plans (inc. commercial builds) fall short.
T here are two ways of looking at the security pact that Antony Blinken, Americas secretary of state, signed with the prime minister of Papua New Guinea ( png ), James Marape, on May 22nd. The obvious one is as further evidence of the great-power contest between America and China that is playing out in ever-expanding ripples across the Pacific Ocean. In that contest, America had, by its own reckoning, previously neglected the role of Pacific island states, of which png , a diverse land with 10m people, is by far the biggest. America is now making amends. It opened an embassy in the Solomon Islands and Tonga, and has plans to do so in Kiribati and Vanuatu. While in Port Moresby, png s capital, Mr Blinken also signed renewed compacts of free association with Micronesia and Palau, island states between png and Americas dependency of Guam. A renewed compact with the Marshall Islands will follow. These states hand over their defence exclusively to America in return for aid guarantees and other benefits.

Yet the pact with png, the most striking evidence of renewed American engagement with the region, also represents a significant new opportunity for its island states. President Joe Biden had been due to travel to png to sign the pact. Americas fraught internal debt-ceiling negotiations nixed that. Even so, Mr Blinken is surely now the most influential American official to have visited png since General Douglas MacArthur.

The strategic thinking is this: if America is to deter China from invading Taiwan (or if it is to defend Taiwan if China invades), Guam will be a crucial American military base. It is outside the range of many Chinese missiles. But Guams resilience rests on safe seas and skies around it. Hence the importance of these other island states. In addition, were China to control the waters around png, Australia, an important American ally, could be bottled up. Some of the bitterest fighting of the second world war took place in png , where MacArthur was supreme allied commander, precisely because of its strategic importance.

Americas view of a titanic, superpower contest is officially deplored by Chinabut shared by it. Its envoy to the Pacific, Qian Bo, accuses America of possessing a cold-war mentality, of trying to sabotage Chinas relationships, and of being blinded by ideological prejudice. Perhaps. But China has a cold-war mentality, too. It vies unbendingly with Taiwan for influence with the Pacifics smaller states. In 2019 its financial inducements, some of them underhand, persuaded the Solomon Islands and Kiribati to switch diplomatic allegiance. A security pact that China signed with the Solomons last year led a panicked America to realise how much ground in the region it had lost.

Untrammelled competition between the two big powers is met by some islanders with foreboding (Port Moresby saw protests against the new pact). The Pacific islands history as hapless victims is seared into the collective memory; they were objects of colonial exploitation, then bloody battlefields and finally post-war sites for nuclear tests. But for those minded to see the upside for the Pacific states, as well as the risks, in their renewed geopolitical relevance, there are many opportunities to point to.

The island states are no longer victims. It has been years, says John Blaxland of the Australian National University in Canberra, since they enjoyed such favours from outside powers, in terms of high-level visits, offers of investment and other commitments (the $45m Mr Blinken promised impoverished png will help it fight transnational crime and climate change).

Great-power competition can mean growing options. The png deal underscores a level of comfort among Pacific states with outsiders that have English, Christianity and history in common with them. Last year they flatly rejected Chinas attempts to create a new geopolitical bloc. Yet they are happy to take Chinese investment. Mr Marape says png will not stop working with China; indeed it is negotiating a free-trade deal with it. png, says Mihai Sora of the Lowy Institute, a Sydney think-tank, is very deft at compartmentalising relationshipssecurity and development with America, trade and investment with China.

Other Pacific states are, too. Seen from a local perspective, the island countries are increasingly binding America and China into a web of Pacific obligations. It could make the region strongerand, by restraining the adventurism of both powers, perhaps even safer. 

Read more from Banyan, our columnist on Asia:

Myanmars conflict is dividing South-East Asia (May 18th)

A winner has emerged in the old rivalry between Singapore and Hong Kong (May 11th)

Americas closest Indo-Pacific allies are cosying up (May 4th)

Also: How the Banyan column got its name
Friday, Jun 30th, 2023 (12:01 am) - Score 3,600

Mobile benchmarking firm Opensignal has produced an interesting insight into how download speeds on 4G and 5G networks  across operators including EE (BT), Vodafone, O2 (VMO2) and Three UK  compare, both generally and at different times of the day.

The new research is based off crowdsourced data gathered from users on hundreds of thousands of devices (Smartphones etc.) between 1st March and 29th May 2023. Overall, 4G speeds were found to fall by a similar amount to 5G across most of the day. In fact, 4G appears to be slightly more resilient than 5G in the morning and afternoon. But users on both mobile network generations see their lowest average speeds between 6 and 9pm.

However, 5G still delivered the best speeds at all times of day, often by a very significant margin. Users 5G download speeds were found to be 3.9 to 4.3 times faster than 4G across the three-hour periods of each day Opensignal analysed.

As for the performance across different mobile operators. Customers of Three UK saw the fastest 5G download speeds across all hours of the day, but they also saw the greatest reduction in speed during busy times compared to the early morning (3-6am) peak (i.e. 23.5-29.9% lower than their daily peak, compared with 16.7-21.5% for EE, 13.3-22.1% for O2 and 19.5-24.4% for Vodafone).

By comparison, EE customers see the fastest 4G speeds across all hours of the day, while both EE and Vodafone users saw only relatively small declines from the download speeds seen in the early morning during peak hours.
I met this person once in a meeting of him, his mother, his social worker, his psychotherapist and officials from the county disability office for the patients application of certain social benefits for mentally incompetent people.

The most significant feature of this case is the patients age. Already in his 50s (~56), he is definitely the oldest autism patient I have met. A plump man with medium height, the patient can move around by himself fine but somehow not very stable. Later, I learnt that the patient has joint problems which affect his hands and knees as well as his gait.

His mother, who is already in her late 70s, is his caregiver, came with him. He also has a younger sister, who has already been married, and lives nearby. He is a native English speaker, but his mother mostly speaks Chinese and needed an interpreter. The patient was the primary speaker in this meeting, and his social worker and his psychotherapist supplemented, and his mother only spoke a little.

He came to the USA with his mother around 8-year-old, and as soon as he went to an American school, he was put into a special education program, and was diagnosed with autism soon after. He began to go to a school for special needs kids soon after he got to middle school, and stayed there until he was 21-year-old. Then he stayed in a vocational training school for special needs adults until he was 24/25-year-old. Afterwards, he went to learning programs for special needs adults to work on his GED (General Education Development), but never succeeded. Even now, he took the bus to a learning program one day every week.

He only worked several weeks in a Food Bank when he was about 24-25 years old. However, he could not focus long enough to keep his job. When asked what he wanted to do in life, he said he dreamed about getting his GED certificate and getting a job. However, it is really not a realistic hope.

He conducts most of his daily activity independently, such as dressing and undressing himself, taking a shower, keeping hygiene et al. However, he is unable to prepare food for himself or do simple purchases. He can do laundry, clean the house, and help to carry heavy items for his mother. But it is difficult for him to communicate with persons other than persons he is already familiar with. He likes to watch TV and listen to radio at home, and has never gotten into any trouble.

His mother said that she can take care of him now. However, she is worried what will happen to him if anything happens to her since she is quite old now. She would like him to go to a group home when she was unable to take care of him. The official said that the space in such a group home is very limited, and currently there is really nothing they can do to help his situation except for appointing a case manager to this family. They can contact him/her once their situation is altered, and the case manager would help them do an emergency application then to find if it is possible for the patient to go to a group home.

This should be a mild case of autism. Although the patient obviously has a learning disability, he does not have severe psychological symptoms. He can make meaningful communication and provide a little help to his mother. Currently, he lives a peaceful life and is well taken care of. I wish him and his family the best.
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.
FILE - In this photo provided by the South Korean Defense Ministry, U.S. B-52H bombers, center, and F-16 fighter jets and South Korean Air Force F-35A fighter jets, right bottom, fly over the Korean Peninsula during a joint air drill in South Korea on April 14, 2023. The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday, June 30, in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital.
Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, a tireless opponent of abortion access and LGBTQ+ equality, learned today that he will spend the next 20 years in prison after being convicted in the state's largest bribery scandal, reports The Ohio Capital-Journal. He was removed from the courthouse in handcuffs.

As he walked into the court building, OCJ/WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau asked Householder how he was feeling ahead of the sentencing. "I don't feelI don't feel anything," he responded. When asked what he was hoping for today, he replied, "I don't have a hope today."

He may not have hope today, but he certainly has hope tomorrow. If Trump gets elected in 2024, he could possibly spring Householder from prison in exchange for an oath of eternal loyalty. No doubt he would get reelected immediately.
A key document before the U.S. Supreme Court was likely faked, reports The New Republic, as it turns out the man who supposedly emailed a Christian graphic designer requesting her services for a gay wedding says he didn't send it. He wasn't getting married, he didn't need a graphic designer, and isn't gay.

Yes, that was his name, phone number, email address, and website on the inquiry form. But he never sent this form, he said, and at the time it was sent, he was married to a woman. "If somebody's pulled my information, as some kind of supporting information or documentation, somebody's falsified that," Stewart explained. (Stewart's last name is not included in the filing, so we will be referring to him by his first name throughout this story.)

"I wouldn't want anybody to  make me a wedding website?" he continued, sounding a bit puzzled but good-natured about the whole thing. "I'm married, I have a childI'm not really sure where that came from? But somebody's using false information in a Supreme Court filing document."

Here is what we knowthough, to be frank, I do not know what we have learned from this yearslong mystery, other than it looks like Smith and her attorneys have, perhaps unwittingly, invented a gay couple in need of a wedding website in a case in which they argue that same-sex marriages are "false."
A school resource officer who stayed outside during the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, was found not guilty on charges of child neglect, negligence and perjury. Unlike the 17 victims of America's deadliest high school shooting ever, Scot Peterson escaped with his life after "taking cover for more than 45 minutes outside the school's three-story 1200 building." Now he has his freedom too.

"I've got my life back," Peterson, a former deputy for the Broward County Sheriff's Office, told reporters outside court, describing the years since the shooting as "an emotional roller coaster." State prosecutors accused Peterson of ignoring his training and doing nothing as 17 people, including 14 students, were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in what remains the deadliest US high school shooting ever. His attorney argued the then-deputy didn't enter the school's 1200 building, the site of the attack, because he couldn't tell where the shots were coming from.

A challenge for prosecutors is that police have no duty to protect. Their case here reportedly hinged on applying a Florida caregiver statue to law enforcement. That Peterson remained at the scene to cower, rather than excusing himself entirely, showed more spine than the courts expect of him, and jurors weren't included to find any need for more.

If you're wondering what the cops in schools are there for, then, now that's a good question.
Gov. Ron DeSantis hopes to turn his plunging poll numbers around with a new bill that would allow roads to contain radioactive material. Because what Floridian wouldn't want their streets embedded with "recycled" mining waste that potentially causes cancer?

The new ingredient set to grace the roads of the Sunshine State if DeSantis has his way is phosphogypsum  fertilizer production waste  which emits radon and also contains radioactive uranium and radium, according to the EPA.

"No environmentally conscious or 'green' governor worth his salt would ever sign a bill into law approving roadbuilding with radioactive materials," People for Protecting Peace River attorney Rachael Curran said, via CBS News.

And according to Elise Bennett, Florida's director and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, the bill is a "reckless handout to the fertilizer industry."

From CBS:

Phosphate rock is mined to create fertilizer, but the leftover material, known as phosphogypsum, had decaying remains of those elements that eventually produce radon. That substance is known as a "potentially cancer-causing, radioactive gas," a spokesperson for the EPA previously told CBS News. And because of that risk, phosphogypsum is federally required to be stored in gypstack systems  not landfills  in an attempt to prevent it from coming in contact with people and the environment. "The Clean Air Act regulations require that phosphogypsum be managed in engineered stacks to limit public exposure from emissions of radon and other radionuclides in the material," an EPA spokesperson previously told CBS News. Before it can be used, the state's Department of Transportation will need to conduct a study to "evaluate the suitability" of its use, the bill says, and "may consider any prior or ongoing studies of phosphogypsum's road suitability in the fulfillment of this duty." That task must be completed by April 1, 2024.  "Gov. DeSantis is paving the way to a toxic legacy generations of Floridians will have to grapple with," Bennett said. "This opens the door for dangerous radioactive waste to be dumped in roadways across the state, under the guise of a so-called feasibility study that won't address serious health and safety concerns."

Let's just hope, for the health and sake of the good people in Florida, that DeSantis doesn't take advantage of President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal anytime soon.
Today

Generally sunny despite a few afternoon clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Partly cloudy skies. High 83F. Winds light and variable.
NEW YORK (AP)  Three Florida men were charged Thursday with making more than $22 million through illegal insider trading before the public announcement that an acquisition firm was going to take former President Donald Trump's media company public.

The charges were outlined in an indictment unsealed in New York that did not in any way implicate Trump or Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns his Truth Social platform.

The charges make it less likely that Trump Media will be able to pocket the $1.3 billion promised upon completion of a merger with the acquisition firm. The merger is pending the approval of securities regulators.

According to the indictment, the men were invited to invest in the special purpose acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., and were provided confidential information that a potential target of DWAC and another acquisition company, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., was Trump Media.

Authorities said the defendants bought millions of dollars of DWAC securities on the open market before news of the Trump Media business was made public. After the public announcement, the men dumped their securities for a significant profit, according to the court papers.

The indictment said one of the defendants tipped off a neighbor to buy stock in DWAC, calling it a good bet without saying how he knew.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams warned that insider trading is not easy money, calling it cheating."

It's a bad bet, Williams said in a release. "Because my Office, the Southern District of New York, is watching. And we're working quickly to investigate and prosecute anyone who corrupts our financial markets. And we'll keep at it as long as it takes. You can bet on that.

The arrested men were identified as Michael Shvartsman, 52, of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida; his brother Gerald Shvartsman, 45, of Aventura, Florida; and Bruce Garelick, 53, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

All three made initial court appearances Thursday afternoon in Miami and were freed on bonds.

Two lawyers representing the Shvartsman brothers, Grant Smith and Robert Buschel, declined to comment. Garelick's lawyer, Michael Hursey, also declined to comment.

Michael Shvartsman owned Rocket One Capital LLC, a venture capital firm. Garelick was Rocket One's chief investment officer, according to court papers.

According to the indictment, Garelick was given a seat on DWAC's board of directors and had access to confidential information. It said he then shared that information with his co-conspirators.

The indictment said that between June 2021 and November 2021, the men shared the secrets with their friends and employees, who also bought tens of thousands of units of securities ahead of the merger announcement with Trump Media & Technology Group. Typically, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is formed with the intent to merge with a private company.

In early 2021, representatives of Trump Media, including Trump, began communicating with principles of Benessere about potentially merging to take Trump Media public, the indictment said.

Between March and June 2021, Trump Media and Benessere entered into nonbinding letters of intent to merge, it said.

The letters required confidentiality but did allow Benessere and its agents to share confidential information with investors in the special purpose acquisition companies, the indictment said.

Jay Ritter, a University of Florida expert on stock markets who has followed Trumps media venture, said the new charges make it unlikely securities regulators will approve the merger.

Ritter added, though, that Trumps company may be able to find alternative partners to help fund it.

Trump Medias likelihood of being a profitable company is fairly good. This is not some pie-in-the-sky electric vehicle startup that needs to burn through millions of dollars and not come up with anything, he said. Some other company will come through and invest."

The $1.3 billion that Trump Media would miss out on if the merger doesn't go through could have been used to pay salaries and office rent and expand its operation. As for DWAC, securities rules would require it to liquidate if the deal isn't completed.

The potential merger was once greeted as a near certainty by investors. Many were political supporters of Trump, a Republican, who were enraged he had been pushed off Twitter after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. They saw Truth Social as a way to fight back against what they considered censorship on social media  and a sure moneymaker.

Fueling their enthusiasm was big talk about the new venture. Trump called his company a big tent social media rival that would allow all voices to be heard. Documents used to drum up interest in the company held out the prospect of taking on other media giants besides Twitter, including Netflix, Disney and CNN.

Shortly after the proposed merger deal was announced in late 2021, DWAC stock rocketed from about a $10 initial offering price to over $100, giving the combined company a potential market value in the billions of dollars.

But there were regulatory problems from the start. Besides possible insider trading, securities regulators were looking into news reports that there had been substantive talks between DWAC executives and Trump Media months before DWAC sold stock to the public for the first time, a possible violation of securities law.

Trump has called the investigations politically motivated witch hunts that had no substance in reality, a charge repeated by his many allies, including former congressman Devin Nunes, who is the CEO of Trump Media.

Stock in DWAC was trading at $12.70 in the early afternoon Thursday, down more than 50% over the past 12 months.

This story has been corrected to show Garelick, not Gerald Shvartsman, was Rocket Ones chief investment officer.

David Fischer contributed to this report from Miami.
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Ann Arbor (Informed Comment)  Conservatives in the United States have a stealth function of supporting white supremacy, even if they deny it. Maybe some do not even realize that is what they are doing. People focus on process and not outcomes when thinking of fairness, but what they think of as fair processes dont guarantee fair outcomes. Nothing is more threatening to white supremacy than affirmative action, which holds that the government and social institutions can reshape American society toward greater racial equality. Hence, the Federalist Societys corrupt SCOTUS struck down affirmative action in college and university admissions nationwide.

Nothing will change for my institution, the University of Michigan. In 2006 the good people of the state passed Proposal 2, forbidding the use of race as a factor in admissions.

This measure caused the percentage of African-American students to drop. In 2005 non-Hispanic Blacks made up 7.2% of the Ann Arbor undergraduate student body.

Today African-American students make up less than 4% of the undergraduate student body on the Ann Arbor campus. That is a 45% drop. Virtually the same thing happened in the University of California system when they had to stop doing affirmative action.

The University of Michigan drop came despite the universitys attempt to substitute hardship as an admissions criterion for race. Students wrote in their personal statements about difficulties and obstacles that they faced in life through their high school years. But of course, as hard as life might be for African-Americans in the United States, there are others who face obstacles and hardships  poor whites, LGBTQ+ people, and women, and many of these other disadvantaged people are white. So they seem to have taken up nearly half the slots formerly allotted to Black people.

In other words, hardship, which Chief Justice John Roberts admitted in his decision might be considered in admissions, just doesnt do the same work as race-conscious admissions do.

13.64% of Michiganders are African-American, so they are vastly underrepresented on the Ann Arbor campus.

Article continues after bonus IC video

MSNBC: Joy: Conservative justices welcome affirmative actionof legacy students

Leave slavery aside, when they were unpaid labor for as much as 400 years. From the 1930s to 1968 the practice of redlining in Michigan prevented African-Americans from accumulating wealth through home ownership. That gave white families a galactic advantage. Even since redlining was officially outlawed in the 1960s, it cast a long shadow on homeownership rates and pricing of houses by neighborhood. Informal segregation, sometimes abetted by realtors, continues to keep Detroit and Flint among the most segregated cities in the United states.



H/t Urban.org

That bastion of left-wing radicalism, the RAND think tank (which started out as an adjunct to the US Air Force) reports: The median Black household in America has around $24,000 in savings, investments, home equity, and other elements of wealth. The median White household: around $189,000, This happened because of redlining and other elements of systemic racism, not because of any fault of African-Americans themselves.

John Roberts believes that such injustices have already been made up. They havent. They havent begun to be. Having robbed Black people blind since 1619, the least we can do is try to give them educational opportunities consonant with their proportion of the population.

Personally, I think the University of Michigan should set up a magnet K-12 school in Detroit and promise admission to those who graduate from it with good grades. If it was our school, we should be able to do as we please with its graduates. If it was in Detroit, it would ipso facto have mostly African-American attendees, but that wouldnt be our problem.

There is a well-known fallacy among economists, called the lump of labor. Many people assume that if you increase job-holders among one group, it will reduce the jobs for another, that there is a fixed amount of labor to be done. This idea could not be more false. Look at Turkey in 2016-2017, when the economy grew 4% a year at a time of slowdowns for other countries. Economists concluded that the growth came about because two million Syrian workers had fled to Turkey from their civil war. That meant that farmers who wanted to expand suddenly had access to farm labor, and urban businesses that wanted to expand had access to educated Syrians, adding to the available work force. Turkey could do more work because it had more workers. Syrians didnt take jobs from Turks, they expanded the pie.

Opponents of affirmative action in higher education believe in a similar fallacy, the lump of education. So they think if you admit more minorities to colleges and universities, it will keep out some whites who might otherwise have gotten in. But the colleges and universities might expand their student body. This has happened at my university, In 1984 when I arrived at the University of Michigans Ann Arbor campus there were a little over 34,000 students, including about 6,000 graduate students. Today we have almost 50,000 students, including 17,000 grads. Michigans population was 9 million in 1984. It is 10 million today. The state grew 10%. The student body grew by 32%. Things change. In many cities and states meds and eds, medicine and education have replaced traditional industry as contributors to gross domestic project, and we can expect further expansion of education.

There is room in this growing economy for everybody. Lets find a way to benefit from the talents of all Americans of all races and backgrounds, and not systematically sentence some to menial labor based on the color of their skin.
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( Middle East Monitor )  On 30 August 2008, Italy and Libya signed their Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, ending their awkward past of feuding and diplomatic tensions over Italys colonisation of Libya from 1911 to 1943. Libya was seeking compensation, recognition of suffering of its people and, above all, an apology. Rome, as is the case with all former colonial powers, tried for years to close the matter without offering anything. The treaty, a success for Libya, might have ended the political and diplomatic struggle over the colonial past, but it will not wipe it out from history and peoples memories.

The idea of invading Libya came during the colonial rush that saw major colonial powers like France, United Kingdom and others divide the dying Ottoman Empire possessions in North Africa, the Middle East and southern Europe itself. Libya was part of that empire, very close to Italy across the Mediterranean Sea and, above all, Libyans lacked effective means to fight back after the Ottoman military garrison left the country.

The rise to power of the Republican Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini in 1922, gave the occupation of Libya another nostalgic dimension as the fascists strongly believed in the deceptive idea that modern Italy was the rightful heir to the Roman Empire and, therefore, they were responsible for recovering the possessions of the bygone empire. Another reason that made Libya more attractive to fascist Italy is the fact that Italy, united just 50 years earlier, became overcrowded and its farmers, particularly in the south, were eager to own land of which Libya has plenty. Mussolini used to call Libya the fourth shore of Rome.

Italians thought that the taking over of Libya would not be more than a few days sea trip and the entire country would be conquered. However, once the first amphibious forces tried to land on Tripoli shores in 1911, they were faced with stiff resistance from the locals, who rushed to defend their country with the little means they had.

As the invaders increased their numbers and widened their presence, the resistance shifted to new tactics, using the guerrilla tactics of hit-and-run. Outnumbered and out-gunned, the Libyans, mostly nomads and shepherds, figured out that direct confrontation with one of the most modern armies at the time was suicidal and destructive.

Instead of facing the Italian army directly, they waged rather small battles, mostly at night time. Benefitting from their detailed knowledge of the land and its geography, the Mujahidin, as they were called, managed to make life really difficult for the Italian army wherever it went. Facing a ghost enemy fighting on horseback, the Italian army started to use unheard of methods of war, scoring many firsts.

For instance, Italy was the first country to use air war and Libya became the first country to be bombed from the air. An Italian pilot named Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti, in a letter to his father, described how he threw the first bomb at an Arab [Libyan] camp in November 1911, just a month into the invasion. The young pilot wrote today I have decided to try to throw bombs from the aeroplane, before pointing out that it was the first time that we [Italian army] will try this and if I succeed, I will be really pleased to be the first person to do it.

Pilot Gavotti, indeed, succeeded in throwing the first ever bomb from an aeroplane, ushering in the age of air war for the first time in the history of mankind. He wrote and after a little while, I can see a small dark cloud in the middle of the encampment in Ain Zara, today a town, but at the time just an oasis south-east of Tripoli. Ain Zara became the first place on earth to be bombed from the air. The Italian pilot did not realise what he had just done and had no idea what his bomb had done to people, mostly civilians, below. He returned to base, overwhelmed by his success in hitting the target and went straight to report to General Caneva that he just registered his name in history as the first person to bomb a target from the air. Carlo Caneva was the first Italian commander to announce that Tripoli will be Italian, as his forces launched the first attacks on Libya. He led the earlier brutal stages of the invasion before being replaced later by another, crueler General Rodolfo Graziani in 1930.

Article continues after bonus IC video

The Colonisation of Libya

In the same year, the Italian army scored another world first when Benito Mussolini authorised, for the first time, the use of sulphur mustard to subdue Libyans. Bombing formations of fighters and civilian villages suspected of supporting the Mujahidin from the air but, this time, using poisonous gas, besides explosives.

In the 1920s, Libyan resistance intensified, particularly in eastern Libya with the rise of Omar Al-Mukhtar, a septuagenarian who suffered old age and chronic back pain, who became the national leader of the Mujahidin against fascist Italian occupation.

This forced General Graziani to revert to using collective punishment against entire civilian communities by forcing them into concentration camps across Eastern Libya. At one point, there were some 16 different camps in the Sirte desert and further east in which thousands of civilians including women, children, the elderly and young men were forced to live with their animals in desert plots surrounded by barbed wire and guarded, around the clock, by armed soldiers.

Despite this brutality, Al-Mukhtar and his colleagues fought for 20 years, until he was captured on 11 September 1931, after suffering an injury in a village called Slonta, south of Al-Bayda town in Libyas eastern Green Mountain region.

After a quick trial, he was sentenced to death by hanging on 16 September. Hundreds of civilians, including women and children were forced to watch as Al-Mukhtar was hanged in Suluq concentration camp, one of the most infamous, south-west of Benghazi. By staging such a gruesome show, the Italian authorities wanted to terrify Libyans who might think of following in his footsteps and fight them.

Modern Libya, before the NATO invasion of 2011, used to commemorate 16 of September as a national day of mourning to remember Al-Mukhtar and remind younger generations of what happened in Libya, decades before. New Libya, however, has forgotten the mourning day, while fascist concentrations camps are never really mentioned outside academic circles.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor or Informed Comment.

Via Middle East Monitor
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( Tomdispatch.com)  There must be some kind of way out of here

As night fell over the South River Forest, the music festival was in full swing. Young and old swayed to the sounds of Suede Cassidy. Families gathered around the grill. Little ones frolicked in an inflatable bouncy house bedecked with a banner that read: Stop Cop City.

While the band played on, a strike force of Georgia state troopers assembled in the shadows. They were there to clear the way for the creation of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, better known as Cop City, a $90-million training ground for the future of urban warfare. It would destroy more than half of that urban forest. For years, the project had faced mounting local opposition and this festival was, in essence, a coming-out party for the movement to defend a priceless bit of urban green space from the bulldozers blade.

Now, accompanied by the dull hum of drones and the buzz of helicopters overhead, officers of the peace descended from all directions, their fingers on the triggers of their semi-automatics. The orders came down with the force of live rounds: Get on the ground! Now!

I was playing All Along the Watchtower, funnily enough, remembers Suede Cassidy frontman Jeremiah Percival. Around halfway through our set, they started arresting people pointing AR-15s traumatizing kids for nothing. It was very stormtrooper-esque. Its a good reminder to know how fascism is in this country and how its very much alive.

It was after dark, recalls Stop Cop City activist Priscilla Grim. I was walking to see the concert. And I noticed that there was a drone tracking me. And the next thing I knew, men started chasing me, and I fell. They had me turn over on my stomach. And there was the red light of the gunsight to the right of my head. It was frightening!

Priscilla and 22 other protesters nabbed that night would go on to be charged with domestic terrorism  conduct allegedly intended to intimidate the civilian population or to alter, change, or coerce the policy of the government of this state  under a Georgia statute originally meant to deter would-be killers in the wake of the Charleston A.M.E. massacre. I was completely shocked when I heard that I was being charged with domestic terrorism, Priscilla told me. For wearing black! In a forest! Its absurd. Its illegitimate. Its an abuse And as a survivor of 9/11, I am insulted that the state of Georgia thinks that they can do this.

The Makings of an American Inquisition

Today, no fewer than 42 such cases are being prosecuted by Georgias attorney general. All 42 defendants stand accused of damaging property, not people. The only injuries that occurred were by police and correctional officers on the bodies of the accused. Some were then held for a month or more before being formally charged with a crime.

Georgia is hardly alone. The New York City Police Department recently attempted to charge multiple protesters with terrorism after they peacefully occupied a subway station to protest the choking to death of Jordan Neely, an unhoused New Yorker, by an ex-Marine. In an absurd turn of events, the charges were ultimately downgraded from terrorism to criminal trespassing before being dropped altogether last week.

And across the country, such police work continues under the guise of counterterrorism. Since the George Floyd movement, its been possible to see the makings of a future American inquisition in which the machinery of state is increasingly weaponized against the body politic itself  especially against its most leftwing, most marginalized parts.

Though the fanatics of the far right have been responsible for the preponderance of deadly political violence in recent years, its the heretics of the left  antiracists and antifascists, environmentalists and anticapitalists, pro-choice feminists and LGBTQ+ liberationists  who have attracted the most attention from police, prosecutors, and inquisitorial politicians.

It is they who have been profiled as domestic terrorists, branded as violent extremists, and subjected to terrorism-based sentencing enhancements, often yielding harsher prison terms and crueler punishments than those for their right-wing counterparts. As a result of such disparities, hundreds of participants in the George Floyd protests remain caged in federal facilities to this day.

The Long, Hot Summer of 2020

On May 31, 2020, just days after George Floyds murder, President Trumps Department of Justice (DOJ) all but declared war on the burgeoning racial-justice movement. Attorney General William P. Barr went before the press and promised to deploy federal forces to apprehend radical agitators, identify criminal organizers and instigators, and coordinate with our state and local partners.

The rioting is domestic terrorism, Barr went on to state, and will be treated accordingly.

Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Ken Cuccinelli had a nearly identical message for the media: Cities across America burn at the hands of antifa and anarchists while many political leaders are refusing to call it what it is: domestic terrorism. A DHS whistleblower later affirmed that Cuccinelli and others had specifically instructed him to play up the prominence of violent left-wing groups in his intelligence assessments  and downplay threats of terror from the far right.

And so began a long, hot summer of inquisition into, and counterinsurgency against, the Black Lives Matter movement. By the second week of June, more than 13,643 protest participants had been arrested by state and local authorities. Some, like a group of three teens in Oklahoma City, even faced charges of felony terrorism for alleged acts of property destruction.

By the time the protests were over, some 326 people had been apprehended by federal agents, including members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Department of Homeland Securitys Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC). At least 54 U.S. Attorneys offices were involved, as were all 56 of the FBIs Joint Terrorism Task Forces.

In May 2023, new reporting on FBI activities would reveal that the agency had improperly run batch queries of foreign intelligence sources for information on 133 individuals, all of whom were arrested in connection with civil unrest and protests in 2020. They were looking for counter-terrorism derogatory information on the arrestees. According to recently declassified documents from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, they were also spying on American citizens without any specific potential connections to terrorist-related activity.

In 20 of the cases prosecuted at the federal level, there is evidence of direct involvement by FBI agents in the arrests themselves. And in two particularly egregious cases, U.S. Marshals and their deputies functionally acted as judges, juries, and executioners, with Violent Offender Task Forces fatally shooting two suspects  antifascist activist Michael Reinoehl in Washington and Black Lives Matter advocate Winston Smith in Minnesota  on sight.

Up until January 6, 2021, the supposed danger posed by left-wing extremism continued to be deemed greater than, or at least equal to, the threat of right-wing terrorism. No matter that the right had been responsible for the lions share of lethal incidents linked to extremism of any kind.

There were, of course, no terrorism bulletins released ahead of the events of January 6th. Nor would there be terrorism enhancements after the fact awaiting those who participated in the Capitol siege. Such charges were reserved for Americans of a different description.

A Bipartisan Inquisition

The inquisition did not end with Trumps first term. For all the rhetoric about criminal justice reform  and for all the conspiracy theories claiming that the president had quietly pardoned thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters in 2021  Joe Bidens Department of Justice has doubled down in a determined fashion on an inquisitorial strategy of counterinsurgency in the name of counterterrorism.

In the White Houses National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, released in June 2021, the administration pledged to disrupt and deter those who launch attacks in a misguided effort to force change in government policies that they view as unjust. Subsequent documents, like last falls Strategic Intelligence Assessment, a joint product of the FBI and the DHS, confirmed what many in the Black Lives Matter movement already knew: that federal intelligence agencies had set their sights on threat actors motivated by real or perceived racism or injustice in American society.

Over the course of the Biden presidency, the DOJ has prosecuted Trump-era protest crimes with vigor and enthusiasm, while federal prosecutors have expanded the use of terrorism sentencing enhancements, delivering dozens of political prisoners to the doorstep of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. A grossly disproportionate share of them have been people of African descent.

The vast majority of federal cases involve offenses against property or commerce. At least 17 have faced felony charges for unlawful use of the Internet (for instance, using an instrument of interstate commerce to incite riots). One of every three defendants was charged with obstructing interstate commerce, one in five with crimes of civil disorder, and another one in five for conspiring, attempting, or aiding and abetting some underlying crime they did not themselves commit.

Take the case of a young Black woman named Tia Pugh, of Mobile, Alabama, who was initially charged with two simple misdemeanors for breaking a window on the night of May 31, 2020.

We were attacked first, she would recall. I was getting my people out of there We get killed for less. After being tracked down on Facebook, then interrogated by the FBI, she was brought up on felony charges for interfering with the police during the commission of a civil disorder which adversely affected commerce. Facing more than five years in prison, her sentence was reduced to time served after she spent more than a year in pretrial detention in an Alabama jail.

Though many have seen their charges dropped, others have seen their cases pursued to the bitter end by local prosecutors. Black activist Brittany Martin was, for instance, convicted in 2022 of breaching the peace for shouting in officers faces during a peaceable assembly in Sumter, South Carolina, in 2020. Although the alleged offense typically carries a maximum penalty of 30 days, prosecutors charged her with a crime of a high and aggravated nature. Last spring, she was sentenced, while pregnant, to no fewer than four years behind bars.

Future Enemies of the State

By any measure, the white supremacist movement is now officially acknowledged to pose the deadliest terrorist threat in America. The White House, the DOJ, and the DHS have made much of their commitment to confronting such far-right forms of terror, but the numbers coming from the federal government tell a different story.

On June 6th, the DOJs Office of the Inspector General released its annual internal audit, assessing the Departments strategy to address the domestic violent extremism threat. The audit revealed that investigations into white supremacist, racially motivated, and anti-government/anti-authority activity fell dramatically from 2021 to 2022. At the same time, the number (and share) of investigations involving abortion-related (including pro-choice) extremism skyrocketed, increasing by more than 800% and surpassing that recorded in any other year on record.

There is little mystery as to who is being targeted by such investigations since the Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health decision, which revoked a pregnant parents right to choose. Last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray clarified which side was the most suspect and which side considered the most victimized: You might be interested to know that, since the Dobbs decision, probably in the neighborhood of 70 percent of our abortion-related violence cases, are cases of violence or threats against pro-life where the victims are pro-life organizations. And were going after that.

The case of Pilsen Community Books (PCB), a worker-owned bookstore on Chicagos Lower West Side, is illuminating in this regard. PCB was recently revealed to be the subject of an FBI assessment, based on three factors: its status as a not police friendly place; its role as a meeting, planning, and networking venue; and its recent use by pro-abortion extremiststo prepare for a pro-abortion direct action. In other words, its a dangerous hotbed of constitutionally protected activity.

Everything is very much out there in terms of what we believe and what we do, says worker-owner Mandy Medley. I was shocked that the FBI would be interested in us this way Community organizing is not illegal and should not be treated as such.

Elsewhere, the Department of Homeland Security and its national network of 80 fusion centers have been hard at work collecting and aggregating data on anarchist or environmental violent extremists. And theyve cast a wide net, even ensnaring writers and artists in their web of surveillance.

State Terror in the Age of Counterterrorism

Meanwhile, back in Washington, D.C., inquisitorially-minded Republican politicians have been pressuring the FBI and DHS to crack down ever harder on their ideological adversaries. Last month, Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced legislation that would designate Antifa, and any other affiliated group or subsidiary of Antifa to be a domestic terrorist organization based on its unlawful conduct and its belief in communism, anarchism, socialism and lawlessness. That same month, the House Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing on Countering Left-Wing Organized Violence, at which Greene called for a clampdown on the newest enemy of the state: The movement that wants to use trans terrorism against Americans. No mention was made of the very real movement that approves of the use of terror against trans Americans.

One such trans American was Manuel Teran, an indigenous forest defender known as Tortuguita, who was killed by a barrage of 57 bullets one cold January day in that Atlanta forest. While it was a state trooper who fired the fatal bullet, it was DHS, the FBI, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that provided the intelligence for the operation. In the months since Tortuguitas killing, those very agencies have continued to beat the drums of war, warning of the threat of violent extremists in Georgia and singling out those motivated by anti-law enforcement sentiment.

In a real sense, it may be that this latest American inquisition has simply come full circle, returning us to our historical roots: to a society where the caging of Black people, the spilling of indigenous blood, and the violent policing of the body politic are the stuff of business as usual  a society where state terror, in the name of counterterrorism, is accepted as a way of life.

On the other hand, if Black Lives Matter and the movement for bodily autonomy are any indication, it may be that we, as a society, have a lower tolerance for state terror than we once did.

Copyright 2023 Michael Gould-Wartofsky

Via Tomdispatch.com
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stallion Discoveries Corp. (the "Company" or "Stallion") (TSX-V: STUD; OTCQB: STLNF; FSE: HM4) is pleased to announce that Mr. Darren Slugoski has joined the Company as Vice President of Exploration, Canada and will be based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Mr. Slugoski holds a B.Sc. Honours degree in Geological Sciences from the University of Saskatchewan and has over a decade of mineral exploration experience. The majority of his experience has been focused on uranium exploration in Saskatchewans Athabasca Basin. This experience centres around Mr. Slugoski involvement in the discovery of Purepoint Uraniums Spitfire deposit in the Western Athabasca Basin.

We are excited to welcome Darren to our team. His profound knowledge and extensive experience in the Athabasca Basin, especially on the western side, will undoubtedly supercharge our exploration efforts for our Athabasca Basin properties. His addition to our team is very timely as we work to progress our exploration plan in the months ahead, with the geophysical interpretation results expected in the coming weeks, stated Mr. Zimmerman, CEO of Stallion Discoveries.

Mr. Slugoski has extensive experience in managing and developing exploration programs across Western Canada including the Athabasca Basin (SK), Caribou Mining District (BC), La Ronge Gold Belt (SK), Great Bear Magmatic Zone (NT) and the Golden Triangle (BC). The majority of his professional experience has been dedicated to developing and managing exploration programs in the Athabasca Basin, with a specific focus on exploration in the world class Patterson Lake trend. Darren's exceptional skills and extensive experience will play a pivotal role in the advancement of Stallions exploration plan to unlock the potential of the Companys Uranium projects.



Mr. Slugoski shares his enthusiasm for his new role, I am thrilled to join Stallions dedicated team as we work towards the next significant discovery in the Athabasca basin, stated Mr. Slugoski. He continued to state that after reviewing the available data, I believe that the properties have been underexplored and have significant potential in the most prolific uranium region in the world. I look forward to working with the team to advance the exploration efforts towards discovery throughout the basin, but with a key focus on of the largest continuous land package in the Western Athabasca basin.

Further, the Company has granted an aggregate 275,000 incentive stock options (the "Options") to an officer and investor relations provider of the Company. The Options are exercisable at $0.22 per share for a period of five years from the date of grant and are subject to vesting over a one-year term. The Options have been granted under and are governed by the terms of the Company's incentive stock option plan.

About Stallion Discoveries

Stallion Discoveries is working to Fuel the Future with Uranium through the exploration of over 3,000 sq/km in the Athabasca Basin, home to the largest high-grade uranium deposits in the world. The company holds the largest contiguous project in the Western Athabasca Basin adjacent to multiple high-grade discovery zones.

Our leadership and advisory teams are comprised of uranium and precious metals exploration experts with the capital markets experience and the technical talent for acquiring and exploring early-stage properties.

Stallion offers optionality with two gold projects in Idaho and Nevada that neighbour world class gold deposits offering exposure to upside potential from district advancement with limited capital expenditures.

For more information visit Stalliondiscoveries.com or contact:

Lisa Stewart

Investor Relations

(604) 341-8177

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Drew Zimmerman

Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, forward-looking statements) that relate to the Companys current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as will likely result, are expected to, expects, will continue, is anticipated, anticipates, believes, estimated, intends, plans, forecast, projection, strategy, objective and outlook) are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this material change report should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date they are made.

Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Companys control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of them, or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
A massive explosion near Sudan's army headquarters on Thursday was felt across Khartoum, residents said, as fighting between rival forces continues despite tepid hopes of holiday calm.

Huge columns of smoke rose from the area of the military complex in the capital's centre on the second day of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, despite separate unilateral truces announced by the warring generals for the holiday.

Deadly fighting since mid-April between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left millions of Khartoum residents trapped, rationing electricity and water in the oppressive heat.

Residents seven kilometres (more than four miles) away from the army headquarters "felt the tremor in their walls," one of them told AFP.

The source of the explosion could not be immediately verified, and there was no immediate word on casualties.

In northwest Khartoum, army fighter jets launched "air strikes on RSF troops", witnesses said.

The brutal war between Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed at least 2,800 people, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

The tally is a conservative estimate, with many of the injured unable to reach health facilities and bodies left to rot in the streets in both Khartoum and the western region of Darfur, where most of the violence has occurred.

The war has sent 645,000 people fleeing across borders, according to the United Nations, with around 2.2 million more displaced within the country.

The fighting, which erupted on April 15, has shown no signs of abating as experts say both sides refuse to negotiate before claiming military advantage.

Burhan this week called for Sudanese "youth and all those able to defend" to take up arms with the military to defend against the "existential threat" posed by the RSF.

The call has been widely rejected by civilians, themselves raising alarms that what began as a power struggle between generals is spiralling into civil conflict.

The UN has warned that attacks by the RSF and allied ethnically Arab militias in Darfur could constitute "crimes against humanity".
In Sumy, North-East of Ukraine, the Zarichnyi District Court is trying the case of Oleksandr Ghen, former head of the Seredyno-Buda territorial community. Seredyno-Buda is a small town in the Shostka district at the very border with Russia. Ghen was elected mayor in 2020. He was a candidate from the Nash Krai (Our Region) party, led by former Member of Parliament Andrii Derkach whose constituency included Seredyno-Buda. Ukraines intelligence services SBU subsequently reported that Derkach was in charge of a network of agents in Ukraine for the Russian Army General Staff, who were supposed to help the enemy seize power. According to the prosecution, Ghen sided with the enemy during the war and organized an illegal cross-border transfer of people.

Ghen was arrested on April 29, 2022. The case has been in court since last November. However, 18 out of 21 members of the Seredyno-Buda City Council signed a positive recommendation for Ghen, which was submitted to the court.

Initially, Ghen, as former head of the Regional Territorial Community was imposed pre-trial detention with the possibility of bail in the amount of almost 1,5 million hryvnias (about 37,000 euros). But this decision was opposed by the former head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, and local activists. Judge Oleksiy Sybilov, who had imposed this measure of restraint, reportedly received threats. In May, the Sumy Appeal Court overturned the previous decision and imposed detention without bail due to a significant violation of the criminal procedure (under martial law, a judge has the right not to set bail in criminal proceedings for treason).

"My platoon was destroyed, and here the checkpoint was wide open"

According to one of the witnesses, after the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, Ghen announced that the power in the community had changed from Ukrainian to Russian. He also organized a meeting of the locals and urged them to surrender their weapons. Military man Volodymyr (his full name is not given for security considerations) told the court that after March 4, 2022, he came to the meeting to ask the mayor to open the bomb shelters. When he approached, he heard Ghen telling people to bring any weapon they had and hand them over to the police. Ghen denies it, saying that he didn't say anything about weapons, but only suggested that people gather near the police station to figure out what to do next.

During the Russian occupation that lasted until April 2022, residents of Seredyno-Buda were allowed to travel freely to Russia. Ghen also allegedly organized an unobstructed corridor to the aggressor country in order to transport fuel. The witness said that the checkpoint was left open and that he had seen it repeatedly. He said he reported it to the police, but was told "It's none of our business, we were told to stay out of it."

"As we drove closer, they [Ukrainian guards] run away from the checkpoint. They would shout: "Territorial defense! [from] Shostka!" They would go back and forth. The Russians would go over here, the local people would go over there," said Volodymyr. The witness believes that this happened on Ghen's instructions, although he knows this from other people's words and cannot confirm it personally.

"In what role were you in Seredyno-Buda and did you perform any actions at the checkpoint? Were you authorized?" the accused asked, using his right to address the witness directly.

"I had no authority, but as a military man, when a checkpoint with the aggressor country was open, I simply couldn't tolerate it. My platoon was destroyed, and here the checkpoint was wide open. My machine gunner worked for two hours and was brought back as a "200" [meaning dead], and here they go back and forth. I didn't arrest anyone, I would just come and call the police," the witness said.

"Who was your immediate superior? [Someone from] Shostkinsky?" the accused asked.

"I have my superior in Sumy, a brigade commander."

"Did he give you any instructions for your actions?"

"He told me to call 102. He said "Do what you can."

Who gave you the right to piss off the Russian National Guard?"

Volodymyr's sister is also a military officer. She filmed people crossing the border with Russia without any difficulties. "I received a call and was told that the checkpoint had been opened by order of Mayor Oleksandr Ghen. For me, as a military officer, it was a shock. I arrived in Seredyno-Buda from Shostka two weeks later and saw with my own eyes that the checkpoint was open, and subversive groups were crossing freely. The Russian Guard was also operating there," the woman said.

After February 24, as she explained, there were no Ukrainian border guards at the checkpoint, they were ordered to withdraw to other positions. "On March 29, I was on combat duty in Shostka. A man dressed as a civilian approached me, introduced himself as a senior officer and asked who gave me the right to come to Seredyno-Buda in uniform and "piss off the Russian Guard" with my appearance. I asked him what he meant by piss off the Russian Guard and what the Russian Guard even was. I thought the man had misspoken, but he hadn't. I asked: "Are you with Ghen?" He said "Yes". I asked: "Did he and you jointly decide that I shouldn't be there?" He said "Yes". Five people heard this. He named Ghen," the witness recalled.

"Do you think this was part of the plan - not to appear in Ukrainian uniform and not to irritate the Russians, not to cause unnecessary shooting or anything else? Irritate in the sense that you could have provoked them," the accused asked the witness.

"I don't think so. I am a citizen of Ukraine, I wear a military uniform. I took an oath."

The court examined the videos filmed by witnesses on their mobile phones. The footage shows people sitting at the checkpoint, transporting things on bicycles and cars, and when they see that they are being filmed, they turn away.

The best among all the heads of territorial communities

Viktor Hubenko, the head of the Shostka District State Administration, was also interrogated in court. He was the one who received the reports from the heads of the districts' communities. "After 11 o'clock on February 24, we were in the enemy's deep rear. I asked the heads of the communities in the WhatsApp group to inform me about the approach of the aggressors, their entry into the communities and their actions. Everyone reported on the movements of the Russians. Before the invasion, Ghen and I did not have very good communication. After the invasion, he was the best among all the heads of territorial communities. His reporting was almost the best," said Hubenko.

The witness cannot confirm whether Ghen provided all the information. However, he said that during their communication, Ghen's attitude was pro-Ukrainian and the witness was unaware of any cooperation with the occupiers.

"On February 25-26, Ghen reported on the arrival of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, they pushed apart the concrete blocks at this checkpoint and said that a bus would be provided for residents so that they could travel to Russia for food and to the pharmacy without restrictions. I replied not to allow such possibilities," said Hubenko.

"Do you confirm that Oleksandr Ghen informed you about his communication with the Russians?" the prosecutor asked.

"Yes."

"Do you know what Ghen was talking about with representatives of the aggressor country?"

"Ghen said that the aggressor would not obstruct people from going there [to Russia]."

Border communications

The first deputy head of the Shostka District State Administration, Oksana Tarasyuk, testified that in the first days of the invasion she advised the mayor to seek guidance from the head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration. In a phone conversation with her, Ghen said he spoke to the head of the administration of the Russian border town of Suzemka. He said the Russians assured him that everything would be calm in Seredyno-Buda and that its residents could access Suzemka freely. Tarasyuk, hearing this, replied to Ghen that this was improper".

On June 23, the prosecutor once again requested the extension of Ghen's preventive detention. He justified it by stating that Ghen lives near the Russian border and has close ties with the Russian authorities. Therefore, he could hide, influence witnesses or continue to commit criminal offenses. The defense lawyer, on the other hand, asked for a personal commitment and said that the suspicion against his client was unjustified. Ghen has no previous convictions, has not evaded the investigation, has a positive personal record and a third-degree disability. Nevertheless, the court granted the prosecutor's request and ordered Ghen to be held in custody until August 21. If found guilty, Ghen could face 15 years to life in prison with confiscation of property.

This report is part of our coverage of war crimes justice produced in partnership with Ukrainian journalists. A first version of this article was published on the "Sudovyi Reporter" website.
Tara Wasik is a Lockport native who has built her career with General Motors at its Town of Tonawanda engine plant over the past 24 years.

Now, Wasik has been named plant director, the first woman to lead the River Road engine complex in its 85-year history. She most recently served as assistant plant manager.

The GM Tonawanda plant has a rich history of bringing manufacturing excellence from Western New York to the rest of the world, Wasik said in a statement. As our industry and workforce continues to evolve, we remain committed to demonstrating agility and look forward to supporting the Western New York community for years to come.

GM on Friday also announced a leadership change for its Lockport components plant. Jason Rousell, a North Country native, was named regional director for both the Upper Mountain Road complex and GMs Rochester operations. His appointment took effect June 1.

Wasik, who was promoted to her new role on May 1, earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the University at Buffalo. She started out working as summer help at GMs Lockport plant.

Wasik succeeds Luis Cervantes, who has moved to a new role within GM. Cervantes took on the role of GM Tonawanda plant director three years ago, amid the pandemic.

Rousell took the reins of the Lockport plant from Ken Johnson, who is retiring from GM after nearly 38 years with the automaker. Johnson had led the Lockport plant for over three years; Friday was his final day of work.

GMs Tonawanda and Lockport plants are cornerstones of the regions manufacturing sector. The Tonawanda plant has 1,041 employees, while the Lockport plant has 1,657 employees.

GM reported paying $102.9 million in state taxable wages to employees of the Tonawanda plant in 2022, and $115.2 million to employees of its Lockport operations last year.

The Tonawanda engine plant earlier this year celebrated production of the 76 millionth engine in its history. And, in early 2022, GM announced it would invest $154 million in the Lockport plant over the next few years and add 230 jobs.

The two plants have undergone leadership changes as GM is preparing to negotiate a new labor contract with the United Auto Workers this year. Their current agreement is scheduled to expire in September.
Netflix continues to deliver exciting and remarkable new K-dramas that keep viewers looking forward to watching them.

Interestingly, this July will showcase a series of amazing shows featuring new K-dramas and sequels.

Here's the rundown of new K-dramas airing this July on Netflix.

'D.P 2'

The amazing duo Jung Hae In and Goo Kyo Hwan will return as private soldiers Ahn Joon Ho and corporal Han Ho Yul in "D.P." season 2.

Based on the famous webtoon "D.P. Dog Day," the sequel will showcase more drama and thrilling scenes as the deserter pursuit team hunts down the defectors.

However, Netflix hints at how the tables will turn this time as one of the chasers becomes one of the chased.

In "D.P. 2," returning cast members include Kim Sung Kyun, Son Seok Koo, and Go Kyung Pyo, along with new characters played by Choi Hyun Wook, Kim Ji Hyun, Ji Jin Hee, and more.

Viewers will get to see all the drama and action as the K-drama is set to premiere on July 28 exclusively on Netflix.

'The Uncanny Counter' Season 2

From one sequel to another, "The Uncanny Counter" season 2 is back, with the majority of the original cast members joining the sequel.

Cho Byeong Gyu, Yoo Joon Sang, Kim Se Jeong, Yeom Hye Ran, and Ahn Suk Hwan will reprise their respective roles.

In addition, "The Uncanny Counter" season 2 also introduces new faces joining the series.

"All of Us Are Dead" villain Yoo In Soo will be among the lead stars of the second season, while "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" star Kang Ki Young will play the K-drama's villain.

Adding to the list of cast members are Jin Seon Kyu, Kim Hi Eo Ra, Kim So Ra, and more.

"The Uncanny Counter" season 2 release date is scheduled for July 29, airing every Saturday and Sunday via tvN and Netflix.

'My Lovely Liar'

Adding to the list of new K-dramas airing on Netflix this July 2023 is "My Lovely Liar."

The upcoming rom-com series stars Hwang Min Hyun and Kim So Hyun.

It depicts the enchanting love story of two individuals with extraordinary abilities.

Mok Sol Hee, played by Kim So Hyun, can distinguish people who are telling lies, while Kim Do Ha, played by Hwang Min Hyun, harbors a mysterious secret.

Joining the duo as cast members are Seo Ji Hoon, Yun Ji On, Lee Si Woo, and more.

"My Lovely Liar" release date is slated for July 31, with broadcast dates every Monday and Tuesday.

Viewers will get to see the new episode via tvN and Netflix.

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramaStars.

KDramaStars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
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Police vehicles at Calgary Police Service headquarters in Calgary on April 9, 2020. Calgary police officers who shot at a woman 13 times after she pointed a fake gun at them should not be charged, says Alberta's police watchdog. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
KSU-Georgia Aquarium partnership takes teachers from rivers to reefs

KENNESAW, Ga. | Jun 30, 2023

A new partnership between Kennesaw State University and Georgia Aquarium is taking Georgia K-12 science teachers into the great outdoors so they can bring hands-on lessons back to the classroom.

Through the Aquariums revamped Rivers to Reefs program, three KSU Bagwell College of Education faculty and Georgia Aquarium staff will take area science teachers from the rivers of Atlanta, Georgia to the states coast to learn about water ecosystems and water quality in their communities. The partnership centers around lessons developed by the Aquarium and a water curriculum toolkit developed by KSUs Anna Arias, associate professor of elementary science education, and assistant professors of science education Rasheda Likely and Jessica Stephenson Reaves.

This partnership allows us to leverage the knowledge and resources of the Aquarium staff with our own knowledge and experience as educators, Arias said. The teachers can see how scientists at the Aquarium learn about water organisms and ecosystems and research the impacts of pollution, and as education professors, we bring knowledge of how to convert these concepts into curriculum, investigations and that teachers can bring back to their classrooms.

L to R: Anna Arias, Molly Johnson, Jessica Stephenson Reaves, Rasheda Likely

Following the lead of Molly Johnson, Georgia Aquariums manager of education programs, and her team, Arias, Likely and Stephenson Reaves will support a group of 16 science teachers from Title I schools across Georgia on a weeklong trip from July 10-14, with stops for lessons along the way. The group will begin their trip at the Aquarium, where theyll undergo training on water quality testing, pollution and water ecosystems.

The rest of the week includes visits to Panola Mountain, Juliette Dam, Piedmont Wildlife Refuge, a canoe exploration of the Altamaha, Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers, and stops at the salt marshes and estuaries on Skidaway Island near Savannah. The travel and training culminate in exploration of Grays Reef, where educators will investigate plankton and learn about the impacts of microplastics on water ecosystems.

The partnership will not only benefit K-12 teachers in the area, but also allow both KSU and Georgia Aquarium to research what participating teachers take away and how they use it in their classrooms, both from the Aquariums lessons and the use of the KSU water curriculum toolkit.

KSU has been instrumental in developing techniques for data collection throughout the trip, Johnson said. Georgia Aquarium is working to develop local advocates and stewards for Georgias waterways, and partnerships like these are an important component of instilling a sense of passion for our environment.

In addition to benefiting children in the classroom with the knowledge teachers will bring back from their trip, the KSU team will use the Rivers to Reefs program as a research opportunity. Their research will help KSU educators learn more about how K-12 teacher professional development opportunities with meaningful experiences outside the classroom can be provided in the state.

In experiential or outdoor education, teachable moments are literally around every bend in a river, or every curve on a trail, Stephenson Reaves said. Part of what well be doing is helping to highlight these exciting and unplanned learning opportunities that happen along the way, and making connections to the content standards, classroom activities, and other resources that support student learning based on the experiences that teachers are having.

For Likely, the trip and research combine all personal passions, from diversity and inclusion to a love for the water established as a native Floridian.

I think that with this KSU team and the partnership with Georgia Aquarium, we can create an inclusive, equitable, and accessible space for teachers and learners to experience science knowledge together, she said. I am so grateful to be able to combine all of the things I love into one educational experience.

Arias said the KSU-Georgia Aquarium partnership centers on one of the most basic needs in each of our lives  water  and allows participating teachers to establish an important connection between the waterfronts and drinking water in their communities and sources and health of water ecosystems around the state.

Water is a key part of all of our lives. We use water every day for eating, cooking, cleaning, and we know our water and wildlife resources are intrinsically tied to clean water, Stephenson Reaves said. The best way to engage the public in conservation is through education programs that teach the importance of these resources and how we can protect these resources for future generations. Everyone has a connection to water, and as educators if we can leverage those personal ties and experiences, we can make the message of conservation more personal and meaningful.

 By Thomas Hartwell

Photos by Matt Yung

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A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 43,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The universitys vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 7 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)  A tech industry trade group sued Arkansas on Thursday challenging a new state law that requires parental permission for minors to create social media accounts.

NetChoice, a group whose members include Facebook parent Meta, TikTok and Twitter, filed a federal lawsuit over the measure signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in April. The law requires social media companies to contract with third-party vendors to perform age verification checks on new users. The requirement is set to go into effect on Sept. 1.

The lawsuit argues that the new requirement violates the constitutional rights of users and singles out types of speech that would be restricted.

"S.B. 396 imposes onerous obligations on social media companies that severely burden both minors and adults First Amendment rights to speak, listen, and associate without government interference on the widely used online services that it covers," the lawsuit said.

Arkansas' law is similar to a first-in-the-nation restriction that was signed into law earlier this year in Utah. That law is not set to take effect until March 2024. NetChoice last year filed a lawsuit challenging a California law requiring tech companies to put kids safety first by barring them from profiling children or using personal information in ways that could harm children physically or mentally.

Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin, who was named as the defendant in the lawsuit, said he looked forward to vigorously defending the law.

The law is being challenged as social media companies have faced increasing scrutiny over their platforms' effect on teen mental health, one of the concerns Sanders cited as she pushed for the legislation. The governor said Thursday that she was confident in Griffin's ability to defend the law.

For years, social media companies have gotten away with exploiting kids, and its proven to have a negative impact on their mental health," Sanders said in a statement. "I promised to hold Big Tech accountable to protect kids and empower parents.

Last month, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that there is not enough evidence to show that social media is safe for children and teens and called on tech companies to take immediate action to protect kids now. Meta on Tuesday announced it was adding some new parental supervision tools and privacy features to its platforms.

The state earlier this year filed lawsuits against Meta and TikTok, claiming the social media companies misled consumers about the safety of children on their platforms and the protection of users private data.

Arkansas' restrictions would only apply to social media platforms that generate more than $100 million in annual revenue. It also wouldnt apply to certain platforms, including LinkedIn, Google and YouTube.

The lawsuit says the distinctions the measure makes between types of platforms that must adhere to the age-verification requirement and those that don't make no sense in theory or in practice.

Social media companies that knowingly violate the age verification requirement could face a $2,500 fine for each violation under the new law. The law also prohibits social media companies and third-party vendors from retaining users' identifying information after theyve been granted access to the social media site.
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Suspect pleads not guilty in Big Coppitt shooting

TED LUND/Free Press Brittany Holbrook awaits her arraignment in the shooting death of boyfriend Tyler Nulisch on Wednesday, June 28, at the Monroe County Courthouse before Judge Ruth Becker.

The Big Coppitt Key woman accused of fatally shooting her boyfriend entered a plea of not guilty to charges of second-degree murder on Wednesday, June 28.

Brittany Holbrook, 33, is accused of shooting boyfriend Tyler Nulisch, 30, in the back in the early morning of Saturday, June 17.

Assistant Public Defender Jason Smith entered the plea on Holbrooks behalf.

The Monroe County Sheriffs Office was called to a house on Avenue F on Big Coppitt Key at approximately 2:45 a.m. regarding a medical emergency.

Deputies arrived to find Nulisch with an apparent gunshot wound to his back. A 9mm handgun and a 9mm bullet casing were found nearby.

Roommate Jordan Kinn made the 911 call.

He is in bad shape. Hes hurt real bad, and there is a lot of blood.

On the 911 call recording, Kinn can be heard asking the victims girlfriend, Holbrook, where Nulisch was bleeding from. Holbrook said he was bleeding from his back.

Kinn told dispatchers that Nulisch and Holbrook were in an argument.

Nulisch was transported to Lower Keys Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 3:36 a.m.

Assistant State Attorney Joe Mansfield said an apparent domestic argument between Nulisch and Holbrook preceded the shooting.

When deputies arrived, they found Holbrook cradling Nulisch in her arms in the houses living room. Nulisch was unconscious but breathing.

Deputies located a Smith and Wesson handgun within the second-story living room area. Deputies also observed a fired cartridge casing in the living area near a dog kennel.

Nulisch made a dying declaration to deputies, saying, That (expletive) shot me in the back.

Nulisch sustained a gunshot wound to his lower left back.

We filed information on Ms. Holbrook indicating that she shot Mr. Nulisch with ill will, hatred and spite, said Mansfield.

Due to the gunshot being in the back, Mansfield indicated that he might bring the case before a grand jury to attempt upgrading the charge to first-degree, premeditated murder, as he did recently with parking lot shooter Preston Brewer.

I am considering it, he said Thursday.

Nulisch and Holbrook had been dating for nearly nine months before the killing.

When initially questioned, Holbrook said she didnt remember much. But as investigators pressed on, she filled in the gaps, according to reports.

Holbrook said she consumed several alcoholic seltzers and several beers. Late in the evening, Holbrook decided to go to bed and was followed by Nulisch.

They both fell asleep.

But Holbrook said she had a gap in her memory, and the next thing she knew, she was in the living room holding Nulisch, covered in blood.

Kinn said Holbrooks screaming woke him up and prompted him to call 911.

As the investigation continued, Holbrook said she remembered waking up with Nuslisch strangling her. She told detectives she didnt remember how she got away. The next thing she recalled was cradling Nulisch on the living room floor.

Holbrook then had another revelation.

She said Nulisch went to the bathroom, and when he returned, he was like a different person and began attacking her. Holbrook said he held her against the wall and squeezed her throat hard enough to restrict her breathing.

Deputies noted that no marks of any kind were observed around her throat.

Holbrook said she punched and scratched Nulisch. Bruising on several knuckles on her right hand was observed by officers. She told detectives she believed Nulisch was attempting to kill her.

She said she couldnt remember how she got away from Nulisch but had not fired a gun since moving from Stuart, Florida, more than nine months ago.

Holbrook remains in custody at the Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island with no bond. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 1, at 9 a.m. before Judge Mark Wilson.

National and international media outlets Fox News and the Daily Mail picked up the story from The Keys Citizen coverage.

ted.lund@keysnews.com
A contractor hired by the City of Buffalo is replacing a sidewalk under a Swan Street railroad bridge that was in such disrepair and full of debris that pedestrians had to walk in the street.

The Buffalo News published an investigative story June 19 about conditions at that railroad bridge underpass and others like it in neighborhoods on the citys East Side and in South Buffalo.

'Dirt and debris are everywhere': Hazardous sidewalks beneath bridges more prevalent in poorer Buffalo neighborhoods In the poorer neighborhoods of East and South Buffalo, the conditions under railroad bridges seem worse when compared to the well-maintained underpass sidewalks in more prosperous neighborhoods.

The article noted that one stretch of crumbling sidewalk under the bridge was in such bad shape pedestrians were not allowed to use it. A steel-barred barricade displayed a sign stating, SIDEWALKS CLOSED, NO TRESPASSING.

Buffalos public works commissioner said Friday that the repairs to the Swan Street bridge underpass, between Jefferson Avenue and Seymour Street, had been scheduled before The News story was published.

That said, the article you wrote really helped to shed some light on the topic, Commissioner Nathan Marton said in an email to The News.

Workers from Roman Construction Development were cleaning debris and pouring concrete on Thursday and Friday for new sidewalks under the Swan Street railroad bridge and on the street approaching it.

Paul Greco, co-owner of Roman, which has a contract with the City of Buffalo to repair sidewalks, said the sidewalk replacement work at the Swan Street bridge should be completed by the second week of July.

Marton, who was appointed Buffalos commissioner of public works, parks and streets last year, has told The News he is being proactive in addressing conditions with the 50 railroad bridges in the city. The city is responsible for sidewalks, railings and streets under them, while CSX railroad is responsible for the bridges.

For this underpass condition, we identified issues related to lighting, sidewalks and railings among others, Marton said of the underpass under the Swan Street railroad bridge. We worked with National Grid earlier this spring to address the lighting  replaced a number of lights that were out and converted old lights to LEDs. And then this current work, with the sidewalks and railings, was planned to be executed with our current set of contracts across the city.

Andrew Johnson, a lifelong Seymour Street resident, told The News weeks ago that conditions beneath the Swan Street railroad bridge have been in poor shape for years, including the sidewalk that is closed to pedestrians.

Is the bridge going to fall down? I dont think so, but a lot of people dont use the other sidewalk because there is all kinds of debris. They could trip or fall, Johnson said. Its a mess, and thats why they walk on the street.

In addition to the closed sidewalk on one side of Swan Street under the bridge, The News story noted there were piles of dirt on the sidewalk on the other side of the street that had turned into patches of mud, along with discarded trash. Water dripped down the side walls of the bridge onto the sidewalks and from the underside of the bridges rusty deck. At the end of the underpass closer to Jefferson Avenue, the approach to the sidewalk was partially blocked by overgrown tree limbs and shrubs, The News story noted.
The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) has asked school heads to honour the deadline for late registration of candidates for 2023.

According to the boards Public Relations Officer Jennifer Kalule, today marks the end of the 1st phase of late registration for the 2023 candidates.

This follows the extension of the normal registration period from May 31st to June 7th.

She warns that Uganda Commodity Exchange (UCE) and Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) candidates that will not have registered by midnight will be required to pay a surcharge of 50%, while Primary Leaving Examination ( PLE) candidates will pay a surcharge of 100% over and above the original registration fees.

The original registration fees were Shs34,000 for PLE, Shs164,000 for UCE, and Shs186,000 for UACE.

Kalule says that the final phase of late registration starts tomorrow, July 1st, and will attract a surcharge of 100% at all levels, warning that there will be no more registration of candidates.
Col Michael Walaka Hyeroba, the Commanding Officer of the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF) contingent operating in DR Congo on Thursday handed over a two-bedroomed house to a one Sefuko Ghato, an 80-year-old resident of Amafiga village, Kabanda sub-county in North Kivu, DRC.

UPDF is deployed in DRC under the mandate of the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF), on a peacekeeping mission.

According to Col. Deo Akiiki, the deputy Defence spokesperson, Col Walaka lauded the people of Rutshuru territory and the entire North Kivu for accepting UPDF peacekeepers in their territory during the handover of the house.

He pledged to work closely with the civil populace to ensure that total peace and stability return to North Kivu.

The construction of the house commenced on May 16, 2023, spearheaded by the UPDF contingent engineering unit.

The excited Ghato praised UPDF for fulfilling his dream.

Today my dream of getting a permanent house has been fulfilled by UPDF, said Ghato.

Capt Kato Ahmad Hassan, the contingent spokesman said the project is a gesture of appreciation to the community for their cooperation rendered to UGACON while executing the mandate of EACRF in DRC.

The handover was also witnessed by the contingent administrative officer, Lt Col Matin Tokwaro Komakech among other contingent headquarter staff officers.

The project site is approximately 11km from Bunagana border and 28 kilometers from the contingent headquarters located in Kiwanja-Nyongera town.
Within minutes of the Supreme Court releasing its decision striking down affirmative action in college admissions Thursday, higher education leaders and advocates in Western New York and across the nation began decrying it as a setback for diversifying college and university campuses.

The court voted 6-3 to prohibit race from being considered as a factor in college admission and recruitment at a time when many colleges and universities have been seeking to serve more underrepresented students and hire more diverse faculty.

Besides making it harder for schools to reflect the communities they serve, college officials say the ruling also may harm efforts to battle declining college enrollment everywhere by expanding recruitment of students outside the traditional demographic of financially privileged 18-year-olds, whose population is expected to drop in the near future.

The American Association of Colleges and Universities said the ruling greatly complicates the efforts of colleges and universities to design holistic admissions policies that advance their distinctive missions and to create educational environments and experiences that produce the learning outcomes they seek for their students.

Canisius University is among the Western New York schools that have embraced diversity as a key part of their mission. One of Canisius President Steve Stoutes first actions as president was to eliminate standardized test scores from the admissions process because they tend to skew in favor of more financially privileged students.

Stoute called Thursdays decision a difficult day for higher education and us as a nation but said Canisius will continue its efforts to provide opportunities for all students, including those whose experiences or perspectives may be related to their race.

Stoute paid attention to the cases filed by Students for Fair Admissions as president of a Catholic Jesuit college with a social justice tradition, as someone who holds a law degree and as a first-generation college student who immigrated to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago to attend a U.S. Catholic college, Seton Hall.

Based on how the oral arguments went and the questions the justices asked the lawyers, and how this court has evolved precedent over the years, it was clear this day would come, Stoute said.

So its not surprising, but its hugely disappointing, because our work as institutions is central to building a more just nation and society, and we are nowhere near done providing opportunities to all students regardless of the systemic barriers they face when they come to us in higher education. And the court misses that.

At the same time, he said nothing changes for Canisius because the court left a narrow path for schools to allow a students background to factor in the admissions process.

At the end of his opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.

Stoute said that will come into play as Canisius designs a more holistic admissions process now that it has eliminated standardized testing from consideration. He said it will include having students write about their challenges and goals and interviewing them about their hopes in pursuing higher education.

No longer can we ask, Whats your ethnicity? Black? White? Hispanic?  he said. But we can ask, How has your ethnicity impacted you and your life journey, and how will contributing that perspective benefit our living-learning community here at Canisius? 

St. Bonaventure University President Jeff Gingerich said the ruling will not impact our efforts to diversify our student body at the Olean-based school. We have programs and processes in place to welcome students, regardless of race, who have proven they deserve an opportunity no matter their economic situation, he said.

Still, he added, the ruling ignores the realities of a society that has yet to come close to providing equal opportunity for underrepresented people and runs counter to the idea that as a society we are concerned about improving the lives of all of our people. What better way is there to help level our still-tilted playing field than increasing educational opportunity?

Matthew Giordano, president of Villa Maria College, said the ruling overturns a long precedent of allowing colleges to consider race as a factor just as they consider legacy for students whose relatives are alumni.

There has been a history of inequality in higher education, and affirmative action has been a tool  not the only tool, but one tool  to help mitigate that inequity and make higher education more inclusive, Giordano said.

A college degree, despite rampant skepticism as of late, is still one of the main tickets to a better life, he said. So its really important that if were going to take social mobility and the righting of historical wrongs seriously, we need to have policies in place for higher education institutions to make sure the diversity of their institutions reflects the diversity of society.

Giordano said Villa has held diversity and inclusion as a priority for so long  including being test-optional, not having a legacy advantage and offering generous financial aid  that underrepresented and underfunded students will continue to seek an education there.

We feel like we have been doing a lot of these things that will help us continue to provide a quality education for all, he said, and by all I mean a demographic that truly reflects our community.

Niagara University president, Reverend James Maher, issued a statement that says that the potential changes to colleges nationally will not stop the universitys commitment to diversity.

Guided by our Catholic Social Teaching, as well as our Vincentian mission, we are called to be an inclusive community where all are welcome, he wrote in the statement. We will continue to admit students and hire faculty and staff that reflect the diverse world where we live in. We will do no less.

Satish Tripathi, president of the University at Buffalo, issued a statement saying that the university will work alongside SUNY offices of the chancellor and the general counsel to analyze the implications of the ruling.

With the analysis of the ruling underway, allow me to reaffirm that our values of social justice will continue to guide us in our expression of our university mission, the statement read.

SUNY Chancellor John King and the SUNY board of trustees issued a joint statement condemning the ruling and pledging to continue to pursue diversity, equity and inclusion within the law.

Today, the US Supreme Court attempted to pull our nation backwards in the journey toward equity and civil rights with an egregious ruling that will have serious impacts on students and families seeking the American dream of opportunity through higher education, the statement reads.

Race-conscious admissions policies have enriched our institutions and our nation. Yet despite the existence of race-conscious admissions policies, Black and Latino students, along with other groups, are still underrepresented across institutions of higher education as students, faculty members, and administrators.

Todays decision threatens to undermine what progress has been made, by throwing up roadblocks and barriers when whats needed are better paths and bridges ... At SUNY, our resolve to provide opportunity for all has never been stronger. The commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion will continue to be a factor in every goal we pursue, every program we create, every policy we promulgate, and every decision we make.

Jahare Hudson, president of Canisius College Undergraduate Student Association, woke up to the news and was shocked.
A local TD has queried why patients at St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny appear to be given bottled water despite Kilkenny's high-quality tapwater.

Fianna Fail's Jennifer Murnane O'Connor was speaking in the Dail on the issue of water quality, when she raised the issue with her constituency colleague, Minister of State Malcolm Noonan.

"I recently visited someone in the hospital in Kilkenny. Ninety percent of the time I was there, the patients were getting bottled water," she said.

"I do not know whether it is because of Covid, health and safety or a water issue. I have not heard anything about it. This is happening at a time when we are trying to eliminate the use of plastics and there is a cost issue as well. Are we using bottled water in a lot of places?

"Is this part of the Government plan? Will the Minister of State check that out for me? I do understand if it is a health and safety issue, particularly in hospitals."

Responding, Minister of State Noonan said he did not know what the reason is.

"The municipal water supply in Kilkenny is excellent. I do not know what the rationale is for that," he said.

Deputy Murnane O'Connor also expressed concerns with the ongoing saga of poor water quality in North Kilkenny, where frustrated residents continue to have to boil their water.

My statement on that EPA report and Ireland's deteriorating water quality, delivered in the Dail today. To #restorenature and reverse that decline, I'm calling for leadership, collaboration and honesty - something that's been missing from the debate on the Nature Restoration Law. pic.twitter.com/gKZBeO3byp  Malcolm Noonan T.D. (@noonan_malcolm) June 28, 2023

"Turbidity issues are affecting treatment processes at the water treatment plant in Kilkenny, which has resulted in a very long boil water notice in Castlecomer recently. Residents wrote to me complaining that the water quality is still no better after the lifting of the notices," she said.

"One couple who told me they had built a new home within the past two years have paid roughly 5,000 for water and wastewater connection along with all associated contributions to the local authority but have not yet had a consistent clean supply of water during that time. My understanding is that Irish Water is not providing clear updates and it appears that the current supply has eroded pipes as the colour of the water can sometimes be musty.

"The parents of a newborn baby who had to bottle feed for medical reasons told me they had to buy bottled water because they felt there was an issue with the water. They also told me that when they were bathing their baby, they thought the water colour was a bit off."

Deputy Noonan confirmed that the boil water notices in Castlecomer put in place on 16 December 2022 were lifted in January and reimposed on February 27 as a result of turbidity issues.

"Uisce Eireann is working to resolve those issues," he said.
A former deputy chairman of An Bord Pleanala has been sentenced to two months imprisonment, after pleading guilty to breaches of planning laws.

Paul Hyde, of Castlefields, Baltimore, Co Cork, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two instances of making false or misleading declarations of interest to the planning authority under section 147 of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

The architect resigned from his position on the board in July 2022 after controversy relating to his failure to declare a conflict of interest disclosure in relation to a planning decision.

Sentencing Hyde on Friday at Bandon District Court, Judge James McNulty said: In all the circumstances, the offences are still serious offences and sadly they involve a breach of trust.

He said openness, transparency and accountability in governance as well as independent, impartiality and integrity are among the important pillars on which a prosperous economy and modern democracy are built.

Judge McNulty noted that the planning board was at the high-end of the quasi-judicial system which has vast and vital functions as an appeal process for citizens and in making decisions on infrastructure and high-value strategic developments.

He said An Bord Pleanala has enormous power and influence on the lives of Irish citizens.

He said members in this special position cannot be above reproach.

Judge McNulty said to serve citizens from a position of trust is a great privilege with great responsibility.

The judge acknowledged there was no derived benefit from his failure to make a complete declaration nor any imputation of corruption against Hyde.

However, the judge said his level of culpability was very high and the offending was at the mid-range of the scale.

Judge McNulty said the importance of declarations of interests of members under section 147 of the act is abundantly clear and Hyde must have been aware of his various other obligations to make accurate disclosures.

He said given the seriousness of the offence and the high-level of culpability, neither a fine nor community service would be adequate, adding the court was also mindful of the objective of deterrence in sentencing.

Regrettably and sadly for the accused, the court considers a custodial sentence is warranted.

The judge added there was a serious aggravating factor.

The accused was in a position of both leadership and authority within An Bord Pleanala.

Judge McNulty said Hyde had significant influence and power within the planning system and it was incumbent on him to lead by example.

He said: Filing an annual declaration was easy but it was essential that the declaration be full, complete and accurate.

And the judge added that if those in leadership were lax or careless in these duties, others in lower positions would also: Almost as if compliance was optional.

The judge determined the appropriate sentence with this aggravating factor would be four months.

However, having regard for the early guilty plea and cooperation with the investigation as well as Hydes personal circumstances and lack of previous convictions, the judge said the court has some sympathy for the accused.

He was given the most gracious discount of a 50% reduction in the sentence.

Hyde was sentenced to two months for each offence, to be served concurrently.

The judge, who had earlier described himself as a curious cat, said there was broad public interest in the case.

Judge McNulty said planners at all levels from county councils to the top of An Bord Pleanala should not reassured and not alarmed to hear the ethical nature of their work revisited, their statutory duties emphasised and the likely consequences of any breach clarified.

In conclusion, it should be clear that ethical standards in public life matter.

Hyde had been prosecuted under nine summonses for alleged breaches of section 147 of the act between 2014 and 2022, and had pleaded guilty to two offences relating to incidents in 2015 and 2017.

The DPP withdrew the other seven summonses and Hyde immediately began the process of appealing against the sentence.

Defence barrister Paula McCarthy requested the sentence be suspended but the judge said this was politely and respectfully declined.

Judge McNulty said this would be the matter for the Circuit Court to consider.

Hyde is pursuing an appeal against the sentence.

Judge McNulty said the court would place no obstacle against that and he could be released on his own recognisance of 100 euro.

After the hearing, Hyde walked out of the courthouse and was driven away in a car by another man.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
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(Kitco News) - According to Chile's National Institute of Statistics (INE), the country's industrial production index (IPI) contracted by 4.5% in May 2023 y-o-y due to a decline in Chile's manufacturing, mining and electricity, gas and water sectors.

INE said that the domestic mining sector (IPMin index) decreased by 9.2% in May 2023 y-o-y, primarily due to lower activity registered in the country's metallic mining subsector, which declined by 9.9% y-o-y due to a decrease in the extraction and processing of copper.

According to the report, Chile, the world's largest producer of copper, mined 413,083 tonnes of copper in May 2023, which is a decline of 14% compared to 480,275 tonnes mined in May 2022.

Meanwhile, Chile's manufacturing production index (IPMan) decreased by 1.2% in May 2023 compared to the same month of the previous year, primarily due to the decline in manufacturing of chemical substances and products.

The agency added that the country's electricity, gas and water production index (IPEGA) fell by 0.2% in May 2023 compared to May 2022 primarily due to a decline in electricity generation.
BANGKOK, June 30 (Reuters) - Thailand's economy continued to recover in May as tourism gathered momentum and private and public spending increased while exports remained weak, the central bank said on Friday.

Economic activity was seen rising steadily with tourist arrivals still increasing, said Sakkapop Panyanukul, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand (BOT).

"The economic recovery remained on its recovery track," he told a briefing. "Economic activity in June and going forward should gradually improve," he added.

The BOT expects economic growth at 3.6% this year and 3.8% next year, with the vital tourism sector a key driver. Last year's growth was 2.6%.

The BOT projects the number of tourist arrivals at 29 million this year and 35.5 million in 2024. That compared with a record of nearly 40 million visitors in pre-pandemic 2019.

Exports, however, contracted for the eighth month in a row in May, down 5.9% from a year earlier, as global demand slowed.

Annual exports are expected to remain negative until at least the third quarter but monthly figures saw some improvement, Sakkapop said.

In May, Thailand recorded a current account deficit of $2.8 billion, compared to a revised deficit of $0.6 billion the previous month, the BOT said.

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy expanded by a better-than-expected 2.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier as the tourism sector gathered strength.

Global financial market volatility, as well as the formation of a new government and its policies, would be monitored going forward, Sakkapop said.

Thailand is in the process of forming a new government after May's election, but doubts linger over whether the leader of the winning Move Forward party has enough Thai Senate support to become prime minister.
While some have lingering questions about the cost and impact of asylum-seekers being bused here from New York City, an advocate said Erie County is doing a better job than other communities at coordinating efforts and getting asylum seekers resettled with as little disruption as possible.

Meghan Maloney De Zaldivar, a director with the New York Immigration Coalition, said that compared with how asylum-seekers have been dropped off and processed in other parts of the state, Erie Countys process has been far more successful.

Both in the Hudson Valley, as well as in Albany, folks were given very, very short notice that people were arriving, she said. And there wasnt a lot of communication with local government, whereas here, we would always love more coordination, but there were conversations and coordination with local organizations.

Over the past two weeks, about 125 asylum-seekers have been transported in five buses to Erie County and settled at a Cheektowaga hotel near the airport. They have been met by resettlement caseworkers with Jericho Road and other partnering agencies.

Maloney De Zaldivar was a representative for one of several agencies that appeared before the Erie County Legislatures Government Affairs Committee on Thursday to discuss whats happening with asylum-seekers.

The fact that DocGo, the New York City contractor responsible for busing migrants to other parts of the state and finding shelter for them, has formal contracts with immigrant resettlement agencies here made a big difference, Maloney De Zaldivar said. So is the fact that County Executive Mark Poloncarz has not attempted to block the transport of migrants to the county.

That has allowed people to be on the ground from the start, she said.

As an organizing director who has helped oversee efforts in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, she said theres a big difference between volunteer organizations trying to help an out-of-town contractor on one days notice, and having local agencies under contract who can quickly contact others in the community for help and services.

Initially, she said, New York City and DocGo seemed to provide very little advance notice to other communities in hopes of preventing opponents of the busing program from organizing protests ahead of asylum-seekers arrival. But that hasnt been helpful to local organizations who need a better heads-up to prepare for the arrival of dozens of people, most of whom come with few belongings or family connections.

The process in Erie County has been much better, though it still needs improvement, agency representatives said.

Theyre hoping to do this better in other places, after Buffalo, and kind of using a Buffalo as a model, Maloney De Zaldivar said.

Legislator Jim Malczewski of Elma, who had introduced a resolution calling for a state of emergency over the asylum-seekers, criticized a lack of transparency regarding who is coming and how much they will cost county and state residents. Other Republican legislators echoed similar comments.

Legislator Jeanne Vinal, D-Amherst, meanwhile, accused Malczewski of fearmongering.

What will incoming asylum-seekers cost Erie County? Here is what we know Based on some fact-finding by The Buffalo News, including communication with state and county officials and advocates, here are the best answers we have right now on the who is bearing what costs, why this is happening and what we still don't know.

New York City has contracted with a hotel to provide food and shelter for arriving migrants for up to a year, but Malczewski and other Republican legislators expressed skepticism about the citys ability to pay.

There is no process for providing the public with accurate information or updates about how many asylum-seekers have come or are coming to Erie County through the New York City program, in what communities they are sheltering, from what country they originate or any other demographic information. The Buffalo News has requested that information.

Benjamin Swanekamp, Poloncarzs chief of staff, said Albany County, which has been receiving migrants for weeks longer than Erie County, has received about 200 asylum-seekers so far, which doesnt suggest huge waves of migrants will suddenly be thrust upon Erie County. He also said Erie County had urged DocGo to partner with local agencies such as Jericho Road Community Health Center to assist with local processing and resettlement efforts.

So far, Swanekamp said, New York City has been reluctant to send families with school-age children here to avoid impacting local school systems.

Anna Ireland Mongo, chief programs officer for Jericho Road, clarified that asylum-seekers coming into the region are coming in one of several ways. Some are coming on their own to the VIVE Shelter, which been assisting asylum-seekers for decades, particularly those trying to reach Canada. Jericho Road is also receiving $3.5 million to resettle 200 asylum-seekers over the next two years through a program aimed at providing services to families that are eligible to work.

Those local programs are distinct from the New York City busing program.

Those programs are also distinct from other preexisting refugee resettlement programs. Refugees are immigrants who are forced to flee their homes and are granted permanent U.S. immigration status. The migrants being bused from New York City to Erie County chose to leave their homes and are claiming asylum in this country due to persecution. They have temporary legal status while their asylum application is pending in court, a process that can take years.

Asylum-seekers do not qualify for the same social services benefits as legal immigrants, but Republican legislators argued Thursday that they are still costing state taxpayers huge sums.

Minority Leader John Mills, R-Orchard Park, called the countys inability to control the influx of migrants to ensure it can provide sufficient services outrageous.

Democrats, meanwhile, pointed out that recent immigrants to this country are responsible for halting Erie Countys population decline, and they often join the workforce and become productive residents.
EAST AURORA, N.Y. (AP)  When Edward Cassano and his colleagues arrived in the remote stretch of ocean where the Titan submersible had gone missing, they quickly learned that they would have to do what other deep-sea experts had already tried unsuccessfully: to find the lost sub in some of the most forbidding depths of the North Atlantic.

They set to work deploying their own remotely operated vehicle, the Odysseus, from a ship with a giant umbilical cord, then lowered the behemoth to the ocean floor, a process that took about an hour and a half, Cassano said Friday at a news conference held at the suburban Buffalo headquarters of his company, Pelagic Research Services.

Just moments after Odysseus arrived on the seafloor, its high-definition cameras sent back images of debris that were undoubtedly what remained of the Titan. Their hopes for a rescue of the submersible's crew of five had faded.

I have to apologize, Cassano said, his voice cracking as he described the moment the debris was found. He said he and his crew were still experiencing a lot of emotion.

The Canadian ship Horizon Arctic brought Odysseus to the search area that had been established for the Titan, and the underwater robot was offloaded into the ocean on June 22. The ship returned to port Wednesday with mangled chunks of the submersible.

Investigating the debris is a crucial part of a multiagency investigation into why the Titan imploded on its way to view wreckage of the Titanic, killing five. The Coast Guard, which is leading the investigation, said it had retrieved what are likely human remains from the debris.

Its a very complex operation and fraught with danger, Cassano said of the process to locate, then retrieve the debris. "... Sadly, our rescue turned into a recovery.

He said when his team arrived at the site in the North Atlantic where the Titan had descended, there was already a fleet of 10 ships and aircraft. One of the ships was Deep Energy, which normally lays pipes and cables in deep water.

Cassano said Deep Energy deployed a submersible but it was only able to reach a depth of 2,700 meters (8,858 feet). The Titan's debris was located on the seafloor about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) underwater.

Pelagic's team conducted 24-hour operations with Odysseus even after finding the wreckage, Cassano said. While tethered to its mother ship, the robot used heavy lifting capabilities to retrieve the heavy debris from the ocean floor, he said.

Asked what he thought of the Titan's voyage, Cassano said that, based on his own experience with a company that focuses on deep-sea research, he believes the crew was motivated by a passion and a joy for exploration.

Pelagic has locations outside Buffalo and in Massachusetts. Odysseus was built by MPH Engineering of Largo, Florida, and became operational in 2016. Its primary use is deep-sea science, but Pelagic Research always knew that wed be called at some point, and so we prepared the system for rescue and recovery, Cassano said.

There are hundreds of remote-operated vehicles, or ROVs, operating around the world, using robotic arms, lights and cameras to work in parts of the deep ocean that would be dangerous or impossible for humans to access.

ROVs were first developed in the 1960s and have been used for military, scientific and industrial uses, such as underwater safety inspections of platforms and pipelines, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An ROV named Jason Jr. developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was used to explore the Titanic in 1986, the year after explorers discovered the iconic ocean liner's wreckage.

Even after years of ROV use in science and industry, removing items from the ocean floor remains painstaking and difficult, said Andy Bowen, a principal engineer at Woods Hole who specializes in remotely operated submersibles.

Once thats been accomplished, of course, then it has to be brought on board and done so carefully so that theres no damage done or evidence lost, Bowen said.

After the Titan was reported missing on June 18, the Navy analyzed acoustic data and found an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in area where the vessel was when communications were lost, according to a senior U.S. Navy official.

Debris from the Titan, which is believed to have imploded that day as it made its descent, was located roughly 1,600 feet (488 meters) from the Titanic on the ocean floor.

Stockton Rush, the Titan's pilot and CEO of OceanGate, the company that owned and operated the submersible, was killed in the implosion along with two members of a prominent Pakistani family, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood; British adventurer Hamish Harding; and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The company charged passengers $250,000 each to participate in the voyage. The Coast Guard hopes its investigation will result in measures to improve the safety of submersibles. Other government agencies in the U.S. and Canada are participating in the investigation.

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report.
On June 8, the Supreme Court ruled in Allen, Alabama Secretary of State, et al., v. Milligan et al., that the districting plan adopted by the State of Alabama for its 2022 congressional elections likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. 10301.

As the court stated in its decision, as originally enacted in 1965, Section 2 of the Act tracked the language of the Fifteenth Amendment, providing that [t]he right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged ...on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

While the Supreme Courts decision in Allen is welcome relief from its recent trend of restricting voting rights, the courts ruling does not go far enough to ensure that our congressional representatives will truly reflect the Peoples will. Until the court expands its thinking and holds that all forms of partisan gerrymandering by all states in our country are unconstitutional  whether based on race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, relative wealth, political-party affiliation, etc.  a truly representative government will not exist in this nation.

In 1964, the Supreme Court, in effect, held that the states may not disparage U.S. citizens right to vote for our representatives, declaring in the landmark case of Wesberry v. Sanders (1964) that the weight and worth of  citizens votes as nearly as is practicable must be the same. In other words, each person who casts a vote is equal to every other person who casts a vote. This principle is known as the One-Person, One-Vote Rule.

And yet, our Supreme Court ruled in Rucho v. Common Cause, on June 27, 2019, that federal courts lack the authority to hear challenges to partisan gerrymandering. Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts, wrote John Roberts in the courts ppinion.

Gerrymandering manipulates the boundaries of electoral constituencies within states to achieve a predetermined election result. By design, its goal is to devalue the worth of some voters and their votes in favor of other voters and their votes.

Gerrymandering is not simply a political question. A vote cast that is diluted in value through gerrymandering violates the One-Person, One-Vote Rule. In doing so, it undermines a founding principle of our republic  just government authority comes only from the consent of the governed.

Our Supreme Court ought to realize this and hold post haste that gerrymandering is per se unconstitutional. Otherwise, its Orwellian mindset will continue to prevail in elections for the Peoples House all voters and their votes are equal but some voters and their votes may be more equal than others.
Mcdonald Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK  Free Report) by 1.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,495 shares of the asset managers stock after selling 29 shares during the quarter. Mcdonald Partners LLCs holdings in BlackRock were worth $1,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its position in BlackRock by 78.6% in the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 50 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Horan Securities Inc. raised its position in BlackRock by 72.7% in the 4th quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 38 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Align Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, HBC Financial Services PLLC raised its position in BlackRock by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. HBC Financial Services PLLC now owns 42 shares of the asset managers stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.37% of the companys stock.

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BlackRock Stock Performance

NYSE BLK traded up $0.47 on Thursday, reaching $685.69. The stock had a trading volume of 72,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 666,681. The stock has a market cap of $102.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.20. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $668.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $689.59. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12-month low of $503.12 and a 12-month high of $785.65.

BlackRock Announces Dividend

BlackRock ( NYSE:BLK Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $7.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $7.71 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $4.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.24 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 13.66% and a net margin of 28.13%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $9.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that BlackRock, Inc. will post 34.28 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 8th were issued a $5.00 dividend. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 7th. BlackRocks payout ratio is currently 62.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BLK shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on BlackRock from $763.00 to $770.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on BlackRock from $800.00 to $779.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 29th. StockNews.com started coverage on BlackRock in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on BlackRock from $760.00 to $740.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on BlackRock from $583.00 to $542.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $755.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $696.00, for a total transaction of $2,088,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 71,307 shares of the companys stock, valued at $49,629,672. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other BlackRock news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 35,799 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $694.50, for a total value of $24,862,405.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 484,325 shares of the companys stock, valued at $336,363,712.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J. Richard Kushel sold 3,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $696.00, for a total value of $2,088,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 71,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,629,672. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.96% of the companys stock.

BlackRock Profile

(Free Report)

BlackRock, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to institutional, intermediary, and individual investors including corporate, public, union, and industry pension plans, insurance companies, third-party mutual funds, endowments, public institutions, governments, foundations, charities, sovereign wealth funds, corporations, official institutions, and banks.

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Argos Resources Ltd (LON:ARG  Free Report)s share price reached a new 52-week low on Friday . The company traded as low as GBX 0.10 ($0.00) and last traded at GBX 0.10 ($0.00), with a volume of 314339 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at GBX 0.55 ($0.01).

Argos Resources Trading Down 81.8 %

The firms 50 day simple moving average is GBX 0.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is GBX 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of 235,140.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.20 and a beta of 1.17.

About Argos Resources

(Free Report)

Argos Resources Ltd engages in the exploration of oil and gas properties in the Falkland Islands. It holds a 100% interest in license PL001 covering an area of approximately 1,126 square kilometers located in the North Falkland Basin. The company was founded in 1995 and is based in Stanley, the Falkland Islands.

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Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Barclays from $420.00 to $500.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on Eli Lilly and Company from $420.00 to $490.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Eli Lilly and Company from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 3rd. 3M reissued a maintains rating on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Eli Lilly and Company from $478.00 to $507.00 in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Eli Lilly and Company from $430.00 to $505.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Eli Lilly and Company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $437.90.

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Eli Lilly and Company Stock Performance

Shares of LLY stock opened at $464.47 on Tuesday. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $432.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $376.38. Eli Lilly and Company has a one year low of $296.32 and a one year high of $468.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $440.91 billion, a PE ratio of 73.84, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Eli Lilly and Company Announces Dividend

Eli Lilly and Company ( NYSE:LLY Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $6.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.87 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 61.42% and a net margin of 20.54%. Eli Lilly and Companys quarterly revenue was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eli Lilly and Company will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 14th. Eli Lilly and Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Eli Lilly and Company

In other Eli Lilly and Company news, EVP Patrik Jonsson sold 6,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $429.46, for a total transaction of $2,576,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 36,941 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,864,681.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Patrik Jonsson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $429.46, for a total transaction of $2,576,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,941 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,864,681.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 210,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.49, for a total value of $73,602,900.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 102,333,810 shares in the company, valued at $35,866,977,066.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,074,783 shares of company stock valued at $440,437,914. Company insiders own 0.13% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eli Lilly and Company

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LLY. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,588,317 shares of the companys stock worth $23,471,432,000 after purchasing an additional 996,990 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,582,472 shares of the companys stock worth $10,858,892,000 after purchasing an additional 168,444 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,839,322 shares of the companys stock worth $8,048,338,000 after purchasing an additional 4,412,664 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Eli Lilly and Company by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 20,324,267 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,979,760,000 after acquiring an additional 314,349 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Eli Lilly and Company by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,867,424 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,094,159,000 after acquiring an additional 159,964 shares in the last quarter. 87.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Eli Lilly and Company

(Free Report)

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. It offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; and Jardiance, Trajenta, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes.

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Close Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report) by 14.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,745 shares of the healthcare product makers stock after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the period. Close Asset Management Ltds holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $987,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,141 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $674,000 after buying an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Oak Family Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Oak Family Advisors LLC now owns 12,735 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $1,398,000 after buying an additional 1,703 shares in the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 2,859 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC grew its holdings in Abbott Laboratories by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 136,388 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $14,974,000 after buying an additional 22,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter valued at $1,128,000. 73.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 8,226 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total value of $909,466.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 70,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,786,409.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 8,226 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total value of $909,466.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 70,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,786,409.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.02, for a total transaction of $5,551,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 6,825,316 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $757,746,582.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the companys stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $132.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $107.00 to $103.00 and set an underperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $136.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $121.26.

NYSE:ABT opened at $107.66 on Friday. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $93.25 and a 12 month high of $115.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.22 billion, a PE ratio of 32.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.67. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $106.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.39.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.64 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 22.36% and a net margin of 13.98%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 14th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 13th. Abbott Laboratoriess payout ratio is 62.01%.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

(Free Report)

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Meniere's disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.

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Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE:EXP  Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of Moderate Buy from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $171.50.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on EXP shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $140.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Monday, May 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $165.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Friday, May 26th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Eagle Materials from $155.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Friday, May 19th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Eagle Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on Eagle Materials from $160.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Monday, May 22nd.

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Insider Activity at Eagle Materials

In other Eagle Materials news, CEO Michael Haack sold 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.50, for a total transaction of $852,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,229 shares in the company, valued at $17,771,044.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Eric Cribbs sold 4,749 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.01, for a total transaction of $783,632.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,698,573.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Haack sold 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.50, for a total value of $852,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,229 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,771,044.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 46,939 shares of company stock worth $7,804,980. Company insiders own 1.60% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Eagle Materials

Eagle Materials Price Performance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Eagle Materials during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Eagle Materials by 681.5% during the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the construction companys stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Eagle Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Eagle Materials during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Point72 Middle East FZE acquired a new stake in Eagle Materials during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 92.84% of the companys stock.

Shares of NYSE EXP opened at $184.92 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.30. Eagle Materials has a 52 week low of $101.98 and a 52 week high of $184.99. The companys 50-day moving average price is $163.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $148.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Eagle Materials (NYSE:EXP  Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 18th. The construction company reported $2.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.35 by $0.44. Eagle Materials had a return on equity of 40.09% and a net margin of 21.49%. The firm had revenue of $470.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $452.11 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.90 EPS. Eagle Materialss revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Eagle Materials will post 13.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Eagle Materials Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 15th. Eagle Materialss payout ratio is currently 8.03%.

About Eagle Materials

(Free Report

Eagle Materials Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells heavy construction materials and light building materials in the United States. It operates in four segments: Cement, Concrete and Aggregates, Gypsum Wallboard, and Recycled Paperboard. The company engages in the mining of limestone for the manufacture, production, distribution, and sale of Portland cement; grinding and sale of slag; and mining of gypsum for the manufacture and sale of gypsum wallboards used to finish the interior walls and ceilings in residential, commercial, and industrial structures.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of First BanCorp. (NYSE:FBP  Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on First BanCorp. from $14.00 to $12.50 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th.

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First BanCorp. Stock Performance

FBP opened at $12.34 on Monday. First BanCorp. has a 52-week low of $10.18 and a 52-week high of $16.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a PE ratio of 7.86 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $11.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.47.

First BanCorp. Dividend Announcement

First BanCorp. ( NYSE:FBP Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The bank reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.04. First BanCorp. had a return on equity of 21.11% and a net margin of 29.26%. The business had revenue of $274.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $226.91 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First BanCorp. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 24th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 23rd. First BanCorp.s payout ratio is 35.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First BanCorp.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FBP. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of First BanCorp. by 14.5% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 198,317 shares of the banks stock valued at $2,603,000 after purchasing an additional 25,060 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its position in First BanCorp. by 4.3% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 31,779 shares of the banks stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in First BanCorp. by 7.4% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 67,649 shares of the banks stock worth $893,000 after buying an additional 4,683 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in First BanCorp. by 42.3% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 99,028 shares of the banks stock worth $1,299,000 after buying an additional 29,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in First BanCorp. by 11.9% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 173,994 shares of the banks stock worth $2,283,000 after buying an additional 18,567 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.24% of the companys stock.

First BanCorp. Company Profile

(Free Report)

First BanCorp. operates as a bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico that provides a range of financial products and services to consumers and commercial customers. The company operates through six segments: Commercial and Corporate Banking, Mortgage Banking, Consumer (Retail) Banking, Treasury and Investments, United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations.

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Forum Financial Management LP cut its position in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS  Free Report) by 1.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,525 shares of the investment management companys stock after selling 62 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LPs holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $1,153,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group during the first quarter worth $66,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 1,505.1% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 41,300 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $13,633,000 after acquiring an additional 38,727 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 18.5% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 118,609 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $39,153,000 after purchasing an additional 18,540 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 79.4% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 827 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its position in The Goldman Sachs Group by 118.3% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 310 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 76.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $495.00 to $437.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. UBS Group raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $384.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 9th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reissued an outperform rating and issued a $410.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $389.17.

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GS traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $323.94. 369,721 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,598,244. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $328.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.41. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $277.84 and a twelve month high of $389.58.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS  Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The investment management company reported $8.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $8.14 by $0.65. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 9.84%. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $10.76 EPS. The Goldman Sachs Groups quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 29.9 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st were paid a $2.50 dividend. This represents a $10.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 31st. The Goldman Sachs Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,000 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.66, for a total value of $1,012,980.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,082,458.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,277 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $332.67, for a total value of $2,420,839.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,441,791.78. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian J. Lee sold 3,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.66, for a total transaction of $1,012,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 15,052 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,082,458.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,833,500 shares of company stock worth $646,620,506 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About The Goldman Sachs Group

(Free Report)

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc, a financial institution, provides a range of financial services for corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals worldwide. It operates through Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions segments. The Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; and relationship lending, and acquisition financing, as well as secured lending, through structured credit and asset-backed lending and involved in resale agreements.

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PT Bank Central Asia Tbk (OTCMKTS:PBCRF  Free Report) is one of 277 public companies in the BanksRegional industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare PT Bank Central Asia Tbk to similar businesses based on the strength of its risk, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.2% of PT Bank Central Asia Tbk shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 29.4% of shares of all BanksRegional companies are held by institutional investors. 15.1% of shares of all BanksRegional companies are held 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.

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Earnings and Valuation

This table compares PT Bank Central Asia Tbk and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio PT Bank Central Asia Tbk N/A N/A 0.00 PT Bank Central Asia Tbk Competitors $3.89 billion $868.98 million 259.51

Profitability

PT Bank Central Asia Tbks peers have higher revenue and earnings than PT Bank Central Asia Tbk. PT Bank Central Asia Tbk is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

This table compares PT Bank Central Asia Tbk and its peers net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets PT Bank Central Asia Tbk N/A N/A N/A PT Bank Central Asia Tbk Competitors 34.61% 9.53% 0.89%

Dividends

PT Bank Central Asia Tbk pays an annual dividend of $98.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 16,164.9%. PT Bank Central Asia Tbk pays out 15.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, BanksRegional companies pay a dividend yield of 13.2% and pay out 18.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. PT Bank Central Asia Tbk is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for PT Bank Central Asia Tbk and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score PT Bank Central Asia Tbk 1 1 0 0 1.50 PT Bank Central Asia Tbk Competitors 1112 2985 3029 7 2.27

As a group, BanksRegional companies have a potential upside of 335.20%. Given PT Bank Central Asia Tbks peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe PT Bank Central Asia Tbk has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

PT Bank Central Asia Tbk peers beat PT Bank Central Asia Tbk on 11 of the 13 factors compared.

PT Bank Central Asia Tbk Company Profile

(Free Report)

PT Bank Central Asia Tbk, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services to individual, corporate, and small and medium enterprise customers in Indonesia and internationally. It offers savings accounts; motorcycle financing, as well as car, housing, working capital, and investment loans; mutual funds and bonds; electronic money services; credit cards; business collection services; and home and eBanking, remittance, and customer services. The company also provides investment financing, working capital financing, auto and multipurpose financing, operating lease, other financing activities, money lending and remittance, securities brokerage dealing and securities issuance underwriting, general or loss insurance, life insurance, Sharia banking, and venture capital services. PT Bank Central Asia Tbk was founded in 1955 and is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia. PT Bank Central Asia Tbk is a subsidiary of PT Dwimuria Investama Andalan.

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Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH  Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of Hold from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.75.

A number of analysts recently commented on NCLH shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on Norwegian Cruise Line from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $17.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. StockNews.com began coverage on Norwegian Cruise Line in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a sell rating for the company. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $20.00 to $15.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 29th.

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Insider Activity at Norwegian Cruise Line

In related news, CEO Rio Frank J. Del sold 300,000 shares of Norwegian Cruise Line stock in a transaction on Monday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $5,532,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 926,505 shares of the companys stock, valued at $17,084,752.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Rio Frank J. Del sold 300,000 shares of Norwegian Cruise Line stock in a transaction on Monday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.44, for a total transaction of $5,532,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 926,505 shares of the companys stock, valued at $17,084,752.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Mark Kempa sold 4,700 shares of Norwegian Cruise Line stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.04, for a total value of $75,388.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 241,021 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,865,976.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 358,511 shares of company stock valued at $6,654,392. Company insiders own 0.87% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line Stock Performance

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 1.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 46,714,581 shares of the companys stock worth $530,678,000 after purchasing an additional 863,553 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 0.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,716,207 shares of the companys stock worth $318,983,000 after purchasing an additional 77,389 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 15.7% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 21,242,007 shares of the companys stock worth $464,775,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875,079 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 1.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,503,855 shares of the companys stock worth $181,627,000 after purchasing an additional 169,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 2.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,850,121 shares of the companys stock worth $118,885,000 after purchasing an additional 196,978 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.22% of the companys stock.

Shares of NCLH opened at $20.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 184.14. The company has a market capitalization of $8.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.08 and a beta of 2.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $15.98 and a 200 day moving average of $14.77. Norwegian Cruise Line has a 12 month low of $10.47 and a 12 month high of $21.58.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH  Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 1st. The company reported ($0.30) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($0.51) by $0.21. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. Norwegian Cruise Line had a negative return on equity of 448.59% and a negative net margin of 23.54%. Norwegian Cruise Lines revenue was up 249.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.90) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

About Norwegian Cruise Line

(Free Report

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a cruise company in North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands. It offers itineraries ranging from three days to a 180-days calling on various locations, including destinations in Scandinavia, Russia, the Mediterranean, the Greek Isles, Alaska, Canada and New England, Hawaii, Asia, Tahiti and the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, Africa, India, South America, the Panama Canal, and the Caribbean.

Further Reading

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NEWS EDITORIAL BOARD

Percent-for-art is a smart concept. It ensures that major development projects receiving public funds also include public art. That art can come in many forms, including murals, sculptures, mosaics, fountains, artist-created signage, video, light installations or even artful landscaping.

Public art adds color, vibrancy and  sometimes  even important ideas to the fabric of a place, but too often its forgotten. Or there arent enough funds. Thats where percent-for-art comes in.

The Erie County Legislature has adopted a new law requiring any county building construction project worth $250,000 or more to set aside 1% of the cost, up to $10,000 per project, solely to fund public arts projects and local public artists throughout Erie County.

With this, Erie County joins New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and many other municipalities in making sure art  and artists  contribute their rich, diverse sensibilities. With this, Erie County gains an even more distinctive sense of place.

The county also joins the City of Buffalo, which adopted a percent-for-art ordinance in 1999, though it has not been consistently invoked and  unlike the countys program  is not mandatory. Recently, though, Buffalo has fired up its public art game; in 2021, it installed artist Shasti OLeary Soudants Flora and Fauna, a series of 98 laser-cut steel panels, on Niagara Street light poles as part of the citys multiphase Niagara Street Reconstruction.

The Soudant project is a good example of public art thats so integrated with the streetscape that it takes a second or even third look to realize that this is not ordinary roadway signage. Soudants panels feature images of birds, squirrels, flowers and other wildlife, reminding  as the artist intends  that even this highly trafficked urban artery is surrounded by the natural world, fragmented though it may be.

Expanding the definition of public art is as important as supporting its existence. It may not be in place seemingly forever, like Delaware Parks replica of Michelangelos David. But temporary is OK, maybe even better, as long as the art keeps appearing  with bonus points if it appears in unexpected places.

In 2013, the AKG Art Museum introduced its Public Art Initiative, which is supported by both Erie County and the City of Buffalo. It has been a game changer for the entire region.

Thanks in large part to this collaboration, murals are now omnipresent throughout Western New York. But murals are vulnerable. For example, Jefferson Avenues Freedom Wall, an important visual document of Black history, will need regular  and frequent  conservation for as long as it remains up.

Mindful of such fragility, Erie Countys announcement that its starting a new public art program  in addition to those led by the AKG and by Buffalo  is some of the best news local fans of creative expression have ever had. It now looks like there is enough institutional commitment to make sure that we can maintain the art thats already here, replace it when necessary and  best of all  regularly bring in new projects. This will keep both locally based and out-of-town artists busy for decades to come.

It will also keep Buffalo looking like the artful place it is.
Aeroports de Paris (OTCMKTS:AEOXF  Free Report) and SATS (OTC:SPASF  Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and risk.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Aeroports de Paris and SATSs 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 Aeroports de Paris N/A N/A N/A $3.66 40.12 SATS N/A N/A N/A 0.16 12.34

SATS is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aeroports de Paris, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

Analyst Ratings

9.4% of Aeroports de Paris shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.8% of SATS shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Aeroports de Paris and SATS, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Aeroports de Paris 1 5 2 0 2.13 SATS 0 1 0 0 2.00

Aeroports de Paris currently has a consensus target price of $133.60, suggesting a potential downside of 8.90%. Given Aeroports de Paris stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Aeroports de Paris is more favorable than SATS.

Dividends

Aeroports de Paris pays an annual dividend of $1.85 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. SATS pays an annual dividend of 0.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.8%. Aeroports de Paris pays out 50.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SATS pays out 83.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Profitability

This table compares Aeroports de Paris and SATSs net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Aeroports de Paris N/A N/A N/A SATS N/A N/A N/A

Summary

Aeroports de Paris beats SATS on 6 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Aeroports de Paris

(Free Report)

Aeroports de Paris SA owns and operates airports worldwide. The company operates through Aviation, Retail and Services, Real Estate, International and Airport Developments, and Other Activities segments. The Aviation segment provides security and airport safety services, such as security checkpoints, screening systems, aircraft rescue, and fire-fighting services. The Retail and Services segment engages in the retail activities, including bars, restaurants, banks, car rentals, and retails shops, as well as leases space for terminals, advertising, restaurant, and car park services. This segment is also involved in the production and supply of heat, drinking water, and access to the chilled distribution networks. The Real Estate segment engages in the construction, commercialization, and lease management of office buildings, logistic buildings, and freight terminals; and provides property leasing services for airport terminals, as well as rents serviced land. The International and Airport Developments segment designs and operates airport activities. The Other Activities segment offers telecom and cybersecurity services. Aeroports de Paris SA was incorporated in 1945 and is based in Tremblay-en-France, France.

About SATS

(Free Report)

SATS Ltd., an investment holding company, provides gateway services and food solutions in Singapore, Japan, and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Food Solutions, Gateway Services, and Others. The Food Solutions segment offers inflight and institutional catering; food processing, distribution services, and airline laundry services. The Gateway Services segment provides airport services, which include airfreight handling services, passenger services, aviation security services, baggage handling services, and apron services, as well as cruise terminal services; and manages and operates marine bay cruise center. The Other Services segment provides rental and other services. In addition, the company offers air cargo, travel retail, security, passenger and private jet services; linen and laundry; food services-solution and distribution; commercial, institutional and aviation catering. The company serves airline, hospitality, healthcare, food, education, and government agencies; and airfreight and logistics industries. SATS Ltd. was formerly known as Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited and changed its name to SATS Ltd. In July 2010. The company was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Singapore.

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Daito Trust Construction Co.,Ltd. (OTCMKTS:DIFTY  Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 100 shares, a decline of 88.9% from the May 31st total of 900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 10,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.0 days.

Daito Trust Construction Co.,Ltd. Price Performance

Shares of DIFTY stock traded up $0.62 on Friday, hitting $25.12. The stock had a trading volume of 3,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,632. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.48. Daito Trust Construction Co.,Ltd. has a twelve month low of $20.00 and a twelve month high of $28.50.

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About Daito Trust Construction Co.,Ltd.

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Daito Trust Construction Co,Ltd. designs, constructs, and rents apartments, condominiums, and office buildings in Japan. It operates through three segments: Construction, Real Estate, and Finance. The company rental housing and other structure construction; ironwork and construction; whole building leasing, and building management and renovation; tenant guarantor services; advertising; and LP gas supply businesses.

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Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR  Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a sell rating to a hold rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Spirit AeroSystems from $44.00 to $37.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. TD Cowen cut shares of Spirit AeroSystems from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $28.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Spirit AeroSystems from $50.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Spirit AeroSystems from $36.00 to $32.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Spirit AeroSystems from $38.00 to $29.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $35.71.

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Spirit AeroSystems Price Performance

SPR traded up $0.43 during trading on Thursday, hitting $29.41. The company had a trading volume of 1,739,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,565,910. The company has a market cap of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of -3.98 and a beta of 1.64. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.72 and a 200-day moving average of $30.97. Spirit AeroSystems has a 1-year low of $21.14 and a 1-year high of $38.55.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spirit AeroSystems

Spirit AeroSystems ( NYSE:SPR Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The aerospace company reported ($1.69) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($1.38). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Spirit AeroSystems had a negative return on equity of 365.67% and a negative net margin of 14.64%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Spirit AeroSystems will post -1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SPR. Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new position in shares of Spirit AeroSystems during the 4th quarter valued at about $218,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Spirit AeroSystems by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 63,505 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $1,411,000 after purchasing an additional 14,829 shares in the last quarter. HRT Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Spirit AeroSystems during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,873,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Spirit AeroSystems by 1,851.0% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 121,740 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $3,604,000 after purchasing an additional 115,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Spirit AeroSystems by 97.6% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 19,059 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 9,415 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.07% of the companys stock.

Spirit AeroSystems Company Profile

(Free Report)

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc engages in the design, engineering, manufacture, and marketing of commercial aerostructures worldwide. It operates through three segments: Commercial, Defense & Space, and Aftermarket. The Commercial segment offers forward, mid, and rear fuselage sections and systems, nacelles, struts/pylons, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, flaps and slats flight control surfaces, wing structures, and fully functional and tested wing systems.

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CROWN POINT  A Winfield mother detailed the horrors of finding her daughters body in February during a hearing to determine whether the Merrillville man charged with her daughters killing would receive bail.

Raju Rawal, 65, was charged March 21 with the murder of Winfield nurse Haley Losinski, 36.

Rawal was in court Thursday for the bail hearing, alongside attorney Kevin Milner. In Indiana, defendants held on murder charges typically arent granted bail unless a judge finds that theres not a strong presumption of guilt.

Charging documents said Rawal killed Losinski because he was a jealous lover. Rawal told police that he and Losinski were "friends with sexual benefits" and that he loved her, according to the probable-cause affidavit.

Losinskis mother told the court that she went to her daughters home Feb. 27 because she hadnt heard from her for a few days. She said the two are close and typically keep in contact relatively often, so she found it troubling that her daughter hadnt respond to her text or calls.

Milner asked the mother if she and Losinski had spoken about Losinskis divorce, and more specifically whether Losinski and her ex-husband had gotten divorced because of alcohol problems and infidelity.

The woman said that was not the case, and the couple ended their marriage on good terms, remaining friends for their son. She added that her daughter did not have a drinking problem at that point, so it didnt affect their marriage.

The woman said her daughters drinking often hit peaks and valleys, and there were times when her daughter would drink a lot for a few weeks and then not for a few months.

When Losinskis mother got to the townhome, the front door was locked, which she said was unusual for her daughter.

Eventually when she went upstairs with her husband, the woman said through sobs that she found her daughter kneeling on a pillow by her bedside with her head down, and when she touched her arm, Losinski was cold.

Shes cold, shes stiff, shes dead, the woman said through tears.

The autopsy report determined that Losinski died Feb. 23; her death was ruled a homicide, caused by blunt-force trauma to the head.

Surveillance footage obtained from cameras near Losinskis townhome on Pike Place showed a man visit her residence multiple times between Feb. 20 and 23, the affidavit said, and officers later identified him as Rawal.

Police wrote in the affidavit that Rawal was the last person seen entering Losinski's home before she was found dead.

The first officer at the crime scene also testified at Rawals bail hearing. He said when he arrived at the townhome, Losinski's mother was standing outside screaming Shes dead.

Milner honed in on whether the doors and windows were locked during his cross-examination of Losinskis mother and the officer who testified.

He repeatedly asked the mother if she knew whether her daughter wouldve locked her back door, sliding door or windows, and the woman said she is quite certain she would have, but Milner repeatedly asked How do you know?

The woman replied that she doesnt know for sure that her daughter locked the doors and windows.

Milner asked the officer if he checked whether any of the other doors and windows in the house were locked or unlocked, and the officer said he did not.

A decision on Rawals bail has not been made. Bail proceedings are set to continue Aug. 21 in Magistrate Mark Watsons courtroom.

Gallery: Recent arrests booked into Lake County Jail
Actually they have worked together before, and, for me, it is a picture of what heaven on earth would be like. Such a variety of people all united in service to the poor, the stranger, the person different in color or religion or education - and with the support of political and church leaders.

In the midst of present divisions in government, churches and families, a union created to do good again shows that God can work through our tattered selves if we try. Furthermore, Buffalo is not called The City of Good Neighbors for no reason. So I hope many of us will take the time to support whichever organization speaks to us. These refugees will be helped, and as the years pass, they will become the grateful hard-working citizens of Buffalo. We have grown and improved because of them. The gifts that we have given refugees have been returned to us over and over again.
In a recent appearance on the SBS power FM radio show 'Cultwo Show,' U-KISS, the renowned K-pop group, unveiled exciting news about their highly anticipated 15th anniversary comeback.

On this occasion, Soohyun, one of the group's members, shared insights into the journey that led to the reunion of six out of the ten original members for their upcoming album.

Soohyun stated,

"Hoon, Kiseop, and I have remained signed with a company as U-KISS, engaging mostly in solo activities. However, I've always held a deep affection for U-KISS and desired to see the group achieve greater success. My aim was to make the 15th anniversary truly meaningful by releasing an exceptional song. The company recognized the significance of this milestone and made it possible for us to reconnect with the other members."

From K-pop Sensation to Finance Prodigy: AJ's Remarkable Transformation

He further expressed his concerns regarding Eli, who has been occupied with running his restaurant in the United States. In addition, Soohyun doubted whether Siyoon (AJ), who currently works at a finance company, and Alexander, who left the group 12 years ago, would be enthusiastic about the idea of a reunion. However, when Soohyun reached out to them, he was delighted to find that all the members responded positively.

READ ALSO: EXO Unveils Vibrant Group Teaser Photos for Upcoming 7th Full Album 'EXIST'

AJ then surprised the listeners by revealing his current profession, stating, "I have been working as a research assistant for financial analysts."

The DJs were taken aback upon discovering that AJ had pursued psychology at Columbia University

In response to their astonishment, AJ lightened the mood with a humorous comment, saying, "Please refrain from asking me to guess your thoughts. That falls under mind reading, not psychology," generating laughter among the hosts and audience.

Meanwhile, U-KISS marked their grand return on June 28 with the release of their title track, "The Wonderful Escape," from their highly anticipated 15th anniversary album titled 'Play List.'

This unexpected career revelation by AJ showcases the diverse paths that U-KISS members have embarked on since their previous activities as a group. Fans worldwide eagerly anticipate the remarkable music U-KISS will deliver as they unite once again to celebrate their remarkable 15-year journey in the K-pop industry.

READ MORE: BTS Suga Shocks Fans With an Unexpected Gesture During Concert

Follow and subscribe to KpopStarz for more K-pop news and lists.

Cassidy Jones wrote this.

KpopStarz owns this article.




It was late afternoon on a clear day last December when my sister Marlene was struck by a pickup truck while walking in a well-illuminated and marked crosswalk by the Lancaster Opera House. The inattentive driver pulled over after mowing her down, the police came and an ambulance arrived and whisked her  dazed and bleeding from the head  to Erie County Medical Center.

The accident didnt make the papers, and police didnt look into it until informed that Marlene was lying comatose in the hospital trauma unit in critical condition. They assumed, I was told at the police station, that she was taken to the hospital and subsequently released. The driver might have gotten only a ticket for his extreme carelessness but even that was questionable, according to the lieutenant detective who finally launched an accident investigation at my urging.

Now, six months later, my sisters life has been changed possibly forever by that accident. She spent nearly two months at ECMC before she was transferred to a subacute rehab facility where she now resides. Marlene, 61, knows who I and my wife and children are but her mind is in sharp decline, a jumble of incoherent thoughts and hallucinatory images she sees in her room and outside her window. Her personality remains sweet and agreeable but a conversation with her is anything but lucid.

Not to make this sound like an obituary, but something within Marlene has died  what made her a person of comprehensive thought. The severe brain injury she suffered on that fateful afternoon legally crossing a village street scene framed by a flurry of Christmas lights has rendered her relatively mindless. She functions bodily, but her mind is scattered toward parts unknown.

Marlene was content with the small village life she led in Lancaster, snug in her nearby garage apartment with kind and considerate landlords next door. Seemingly everyone knew her, as she was a daily presence, walking often with her personal shopping cart (she gave up driving some time back), saying hello and stopping to talk with neighbors, shoppers and shop ownerson her rounds, petting every dog and cat that she encountered along the way.

Marlene was careful to obey the rules regarding pedestrians, sidewalks and streets. However, obeying the rules when crossing the street was not in her favor that December afternoon, thanks to a thoughtless driver.

I feel this could be a cautionary tale for all pedestrians. I find that in my daily walks, from a Buffalo-area life for 73 years to a Florida life for the past five months, walking can be a tenuous experience. While a number of motorists yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, sidewalks and roadside paths, there are some who tend to wield machine over man. Ive gotten my share of honks and screeched brakes when crossing legally at a crosswalk, stop sign or stop light, and rightfully facing traffic while walking at roadside.

The answer, of course, is vigilance. You may know your right of way as a pedestrian, but in an unanticipated showdown between vehicle and walker, you know whos got the edge.

New York State law says pedestrians have the right of way in all crosswalks and at intersections with marked or unmarked crosswalks, and that drivers are required to stop for a pedestrian in the crosswalk, even when the pedestrian isnt in the drivers lane. Unfortunately, that law wasnt on my sisters side that December afternoon.
Although he previously called the measure unneeded, Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a controversial bill into law that seeks to restrict Louisiana minors access to material it defines as sexually explicit. (Photo by Remi Tallo)
MANSFIELD, La.  Melissa Welch was delivering newspapers early on the morning of March 30, 2010 when she saw a man in a green Action Taxi cab 
News / Local

by Staff reporter

President Mnangagwa has said Zimbabwe will not allow observers to dictate to its citizens and biased observer missions will not be able to observe the country's harmonised elections on August 23.President Mnangagwa, who was addressing an interface meeting with small to medium scale miners in Gweru on Wednesday, said some countries had already predicted and announced Zimbabwe's election results.He said such countries with a biased view of the country's electoral process will not be allowed to be observers."Elections are upon us," said President Mnangagwa. "Those who want to come and observe our elections can come. But there are some who have already predicted our election results even before the elections are held."They must not come. Why should they come when they claim they already have the results?"President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe could not be lectured about democracy by outsiders when the country waged a protracted liberation war to attain the same democracy."No one can teach us democracy because we fought for democracy," he said."We fought for democracy because we wanted democracy. So who are you to then come today intending to teach us democracy? We fought for democracy and we are enjoying democracy and we shall entrench it."President Mnangagwa said those who wish and crave for a violent election in Zimbabwe will not succeed.He said Zimbabwe was one of the most peaceful countries on the continent and was capable of running a free, fair and peaceful election."There are some who wish for a violent election in Zimbabwe, that will not happen," he said."We are one of the most peaceful countries on the continent, we are a peaceful country, we are united and we are democratic."
News / Local

by Staff reporter

Small to medium scale miners have appealed to the Government to scrap a mining law that protects individuals in possession of large tracts of land under an exclusive prospecting order (EPO) resulting in prospective miners struggling to obtain new claims.Speaking during a Presidential interface meeting with small to medium scale miners from across the country under the banner, Miners for ED in Gweru yesterday, the body's national co-ordinator, Mr Rodrick Mumbire said a few elites were holding on to EPOs that give them exclusive rights to control large tracts of land of up to 35 000 hectares with the majority of prospective miners left with no place to search for gold."Your Excellency, we now have a problem in the mining sector which is affecting your vision of achieving a US$12 billion mining economy.He said most of the areas under EPOs remain idle without being used.President Mnangagwa said Government will look into the concerns of the miners with the view of correcting the anomalies in the mining sector.He said miners were the rightful advisers to inform decision making in mining so were farmers when it comes to farming."We have heard of your concerns and I will ask the ministry of Mines and Mining Development to look into the matter. I think they are already aware of what you have just said. You are the ones on the ground so you are the most affected so we take decisions informed by you as miners," said President Mnangagwa.He said small to medium miners contribute 60 percent of the total gold mined in the country hence their importance in the growth of the economy. "We are achieving the $12 billion mining economy and at the core of this achievement are small scale miners who contribute 60 percent of that."So when you said you wanted an interface meeting with the President, I could not give excuses,I had to come despite the fact I came back from Angola very late."We have to support you and appreciate the work you are doing as miners in contributing to the growth of our economy," he said.The President said he was happy that there was peace from among the artisanal miners with the issues to with violent machete gangs now a thing of the past."Under the Second Republic, we have said no to violence in the mining sector. We must mine in harmony. If there is a gold rush at (Minister Oppah) Muchinguri's mine claim we don't want issues where you go there wrestle her out of her mine and start mining yourself; this should not be tolerated and we want respect."We must mine in peace and harmony", he said.The President said Government was also supporting women in mining.


Colombo, Sri Lanka - June 12th, 2023: The Colombo Port City Economic Commission (the "Commission") would like to announce an invitation for Expressions of Interest, in line with the objectives of developing and improving the area of education, with a need to proceed with identifying possible investors for developing an International University within Colombo Port City.

The Development Control Regulations (DCR) has identified a specific plot for this purpose and similar to the requirements for investors in the School and Hospital projects, the Commission seeks an investor with a globally recognized brand and world-class standards for the International University.

The following guidelines outline the requirements for submitting an Expression of Interest to the Commission, to establish an International University within Colombo Port City:

The International University is to be established within the Colombo Port City, to consist of faculties in the areas such as business, accounting, finance, banking information technology, engineering, and medicine. The International University together with the faculties to be established should be globally ranked, and at the minimum operate programs that issue diplomas, and Undergraduate and Postgraduate certifications. The International University is to position itself as a regional facility in support of the vision of the government to promote Colombo as an educational hub. The developer of the International University should have in place agreements with the selected International University which ensures that the International University and ensure the faculties established within the Colombo Port City would have the same branding. The development of the International University is to commence within 6 months of executing the appropriate agreements with the Colombo Port City Economic Commission. The quality assurance of all programs managed by the International University is to be in line with what is offered on their campuses overseas.

Interested parties are invited to submit their EOI by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We encourage the submission of EOI within three months of the publication date to receive priority consideration. Should any additional information or clarifications be required, kindly reach out to the same email address.

For further information please contact.

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: +94 11 7560 006

For more information please also visit www.portcitycolombo.gov.lk


Sri Lankas candidate Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam was elected to the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families at the election held on 27 June 2023 at the United Nations in New York.

Ambassador Kariyawasam is a retired career diplomat and has previously served in the Committee three times, during which he was also the Chairperson during the Committees initial formative stages.

In addition to Ambassador Kariyawasam, candidates from Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Turkiye, Mexico and Burkina Faso got elected to the seven member Committee. Sri Lanka obtained the second highest number of votes together with Algeria.

In the post pandemic context, and the prevailing global economic situation, migrant workers are facing enormous challenges while contributing to the growth of economies across the world. The nomination of a candidate to the Committee by Sri Lanka is an endorsement of the countrys commitments to protecting and promoting rights of migrant workers.

The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW) is a body comprising of 14 independent experts that works to protect the rights of migrant workers around the world and monitors the implementation of the Convention, an important International Human Rights Treaty.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Colombo

28 June 2023
Patna, June 30: Three people were injured after their car collided head-on with another vehicle on Bailey Road here and hit a divider, police said. The injured were admitted to a hospital for treatment, said the police.

One of the passengers was trapped with his leg stuck under the seat. He was rescued from the car after three hours of rescue efforts, said Sunil Kumar, Station Head of Kotwali Police Station, Patna. Bihar Road Accident Video: Speeding Car Hits Seven Girls Riding Bicycle in Bettiah, Shocking CCTV Video Surfaces.

Bihar Road Accident Video:

#WATCH | Patna, Bihar | A person being rescued from a car after two cars collided on Bailey Road. pic.twitter.com/XEY2gViY7J  ANI (@ANI) June 29, 2023

Passenger Gets Trapped With His Leg Stuck Under Seat:

The person was saved, he has been sent to the hospital...we are normalising the traffic...: Anil Kumar, Traffic DSP, Patna pic.twitter.com/fAo6PfTKdj  ANI (@ANI) June 29, 2023

"Three people were injured after a car collided head-on with another car and hit a divider. One of the passengers was trapped with his leg stuck under the seat. It took about three hours for the workers of a nearby car repair garage to cut the car and rescue him," he said. Bihar Road Accident: Vehicle Collides With Parked Truck on National Highway in Purnea, Five Killed; CM Nitish Kumar Expresses Grief.

Further information is awaited.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 30 (ANI): The India Meteorological Department (IMD) updated about heavy rainfall activity over a few places of Konkan and adjoining Western Ghat areas of central Maharashtra.

"Due to active monsoon conditions enhanced rainfall activity with heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected at a few places over parts of Konkan and adjoining ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra during the next 2-3 days," said the official statement.

Also Read | Virgin Galactic Completes First Commercial space Flight.

According to the official release, the Konkan and Ghat regions of Maharashtra experienced extensive rainfall, with isolated areas receiving moderate to extremely heavy rainfall, while the monsoon remained active across most of these regions.

"Monsoon remained active over most parts of Konkan and Ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra. They received widespread rainfall with heavy to very rainfall at isolated places. Extremely heavy falls also occurred at isolated places over parts of North Konkan yesterday," the statement said.

Also Read | Mumbai Rains Turns Deadly! Infant, Man Killed In Two Separate House Collapse Incidents As Heavy Downpour Lash City.

Due to squally weather, the IMD issued a caution to fishermen around the North Maharashtra coast not to travel along and off from June 29 to July 3.

"Warning for coastal areas for North- Maharashtra coast: Squally weather with wind speed 40-45 kmph gusting to 55 kmph is likely along and off North Maharashtra coast from June 29 to July 3.

Fishermen were advised not to venture along and off North Maharashtra Coast during above mentioned period, added the official statement.

Additionally, the IMD statement also gave advisories to fishermen around coastal areas of the South Maharashtra Coast and told them not to venture along and off the coast for the next five days.

"Warning for coastal areas of South Maharashtra- Goa coast: Squally weather with wind speed 40-45 kmph gusting to 55 kmph is likely along and off South Maharashtra - Goa coast from June 29 to July 3.

As per the official statement, the impact of the incessant rainfall would cause several issues such as water logging and inundation over most parts of low-lying areas and river banks.

"It would cause disruption to road, rail, air and ferry transport, while also affecting major roads and the local trains. Additionally, possibilities of flash floods and uprooting of weak trees and collapse of old and unmaintained structures and buildings," stated the official statement.

Subsequently, the IMD directed the people to take precautions before moving out of the house.

"Check for traffic congestion on your route before leaving for your destination. Follow any traffic advisories that are issued in this regard. Avoid going to areas that face water logging problems often. Avoid staying in vulnerable structures," said the statement.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) also predicted moderate rainfall over Mumbai, Thane and Raigad districts.

According to the IMD high rainfall was recorded in several stations of the Central Railway.

"Today's highest rainfall reported at Igatpuri (94 mm), Vashind (86.5 mm), Lonavla (76.5 mm), Kasara (61.8 mm), Monkeyhill (61.1 mm), Kanjurmarg (47.68 mm) and Thane (47.20 mm) respectively," stated the IMD.

Additionally, the IMD said no waterlogging was reported in the main line, harbour, Transharbour, Kharkopar and Khopoli suburban and non-suburban sections of the Central Railways.

Earlier, the IMD issued a yellow alert for Mumbai, indicating heavy rainfall at isolated places, and an orange alert for Thane, Palghar and Raigad, indicating heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places.

A 38-year-old was killed after a tree fell on him, uprooted in the heavy rain in Mumbai's Malad area on Wednesday, Mumbai Fire Brigade said. The man was identified as Kaushal Doshi.

Mumbai and its sub-urban areas have been receiving isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall. The city is already under an orange alert, as issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for Heavy to Very Heavy rainfall.

The average rainfall in Mumbai Metropolitan from 8 am to 8 am on June 29 was recorded at Mumbai City (93 mm), the Eastern Suburbs at 127 mm and the Western Suburbs at 123 mm.

The weather office also said the heavy rainfall intensity is likely to decrease gradually from Friday.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner I S Chahal yesterday inspected various flood-prone locations, including Mithi River and Gandhi Market in King's Circle and instructed ward-level officers to closely monitor the situation in subways.

On Wednesday, the Andheri subway got inundated and was closed to traffic.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert for heavy rains in Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Nashik, Pune and Satara on Tuesday.

Earlier on June 25, the IMD issued an Orange alert for Raigad and Ratnagiri as heavy rainfall lashed parts of Maharashtra.

The India Meteorological Department also stated that the monsoon">southwest monsoon advanced over Mumbai and Delhi.

According to the Regional Meteorological Centre, Mumbai received a peak of 148.5 mm of rainfall on Wednesday, compared to the 104 mm of rain received on Tuesday. The eastern suburbs and western suburbs received 123 mm and 139 mm of rain on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the Andheri subway in Mumbai was closed for vehicular movements after waterlogging was triggered by heavy rainfall. The traffic was diverted towards the Swami Vivekananda road."Rainfall intensity to gradually increase over parts of Maharashtra during next 4- 5 days. Indication of expected severe weather in the next 5 days," said Regional Meteorological Centre on June 25. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Udhampur (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], June 30 (ANI): An Amarnath Yatra security convoy vehicle met with an accident in Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir on Friday morning, leaving four people including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) injured, the police said.

The incident took place when the Amarnath Yatra security convoy vehicle fell into a drain along the sides of the road on the Jammu-Srinagar highway, near Bali Nallah in Udhampur, officials said.

Also Read | Telangana Shocker: Techie Falls From Moving Train While Saving His Mobile Phone From Snatchers Near Bibinagar Railway Station, Dies.

According to the Senior Superintendant of Police, Vinod Kumar, four people were injured in the accident, and have been shifted to Udhampur District Hospital for treatment.

"Among those injured also includes a deputy superintendent of police," SSP Kumar said.

Also Read | Delhi Weather Forecast: National Capital Records Minimum Temperature of 25 Degrees Celsius; Overcast Skies With Light Rain Expected Today, Says IMD.

More details are awaited.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, flagged off the first batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims from the Jammu base camp here early Friday.

The first batch of Amarnath Yatra pilgrims left for Pahalgam and Baltal under tight security, a senior Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer said.

The 62-day yatra, which commenced on July 1 and will culminate on August 31, is an important pilgrimage for Hindus who visit the Amarnath Cave, believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva. It started from the ancient paths of Nunwan in Pahalgam and Baltal in the Ganderbal district of Kashmir where pilgrims set off on their solemn trek. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Imphal (Manipur) [India], June 30 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is on his two-day visit to the state, arrived in Moirang on Friday to meet people affected due to violence in the state. He will also meet 10 like-minded party leaders and members of civil society organisation in Imphal.

Manipur Congress president, Keisham Meghachandra informed that the Congress leader will also meet 10 like-minded party leaders and United Naga Council (UNC) leaders and civil society organisation members after returning to Imphal.

Also Read | Delhi Factory Collapse: Man Dies, Another Injured As Ceiling of Factory Collapses in Anand Parbat Area.

"Rahul Gandhi will meet all the affected families and visit the relief camps in Moirang. After that, he will be back in Imphal. At Imphal Hotel he will meet civil society organisation leaders, United Naga Council's leaders, 10 like-minded political parties and women leaders. He is here only for peace," Meghachandra said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Congress leader met violence-affected people in Manipur's Churachandpur on the first day of his two-day visit to the state that has seen ethnic violence.

Also Read | Telangana Shocker: Techie Falls From Moving Train While Saving His Mobile Phone From Snatchers Near Bibinagar Railway Station, Dies.

Rahul Gandhi in a tweet earlier said Manipur needs healing and peace has to be the only priority.

"I came to listen to all my brothers and sisters of Manipur. People of all communities are very welcoming and loving. It's very unfortunate that the government is stopping me. Manipur needs healing. Peace has to be our only priority," he said.

Rahul Gandhi, who landed in Imphal on Thursday, returned to the state capital after local police prevented his convoy from proceeding to Churachandpur. Police said it had been done for "security" reasons and the Congress leader could go by air.

The Congress leader's convoy was stopped at a checkpost near Bishnupur, which is about 20 kilometres from Imphal. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 30 (ANI): With an aim to prevent electricity-related accidents during monsoon, the Yogi government has issued a set of guidelines for the department officials, which include rectifying faults occurring during rainfall and adhering to prescribed standards in maintenance work.

M Devraj, Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), has issued directives to prevent accidents, involving especially outsourced workers of the Electricity department during the monsoon season and has directed officials to ensure strict compliance with the directives.

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The Chairman has stated that the training of outsourced workers should be organized as soon as possible by scheduling it in each distribution area and at the divisional level through the Discoms.

As per the predictions of the Meteorological Department, Uttar Pradesh is likely to face heavy rainfall in the coming days.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh School Van Fire Video: Vehicle Carrying Students Catches Fire in Indore, BSF Jawans Rescue Kids and Driver.

As the occurrence of local faults increases during rainfall, posing a risk of accidents, the Government has instructed electrical workers involved in distribution to exercise caution and follow specific precautions to prevent accidents. The Government has also warned of strict action as per the rules in case of negligence on the part of an official that leads to an accident.

The guidelines include an arrangement of safety equipment as per the prescribed safety standards for outsourced personnel deployed through the outsourced agency at each 33/11 KV sub-stations, including helmets, gloves, pliers, safety belts, earth chains, safety shoes, ensuring that each gang has the necessary safety equipment during line work.

In accordance with the directives, it has been stated that the chief engineer, superintending engineer, executive engineer, assistant engineer, and junior engineer of the distribution area will be responsible for inspecting the safety equipment on residential premises and ensuring its availability as well as provision to the workers by the outsourcing agency.

The respective chief engineer will be responsible for informing the corporation headquarters about this through their discom. If the outsourcing agency fails to provide the safety equipment, the respective superintendent engineer will be held responsible, the release stated.

The concerned officials will also ensure that the outsourced workers use safety equipment, it stated.

UPPCL Chairman M Devraj has also warned of strict action as per the rules if negligence is found to be the reason behind an accident.

He further directed that wherever such accidents occur, necessary arrangements should be made for the complete care and treatment of the injured employees, and timely payment of the entitled compensation should also be ensured in accordance with the rules. (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, June 30: Cyber security watchdog CERTin has barred the use of remote desktop softwares like Anydesk and Teamviewer in the government department under new security guidelines released on Friday. The guidelines prescribe government departments use virtual private networks (VPN) for accessing network resources from remote locations and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) for VPN accounts.

"Ensure to block access to any remote desktop applications, such as Anydesk, Teamviewer, Ammyy admin etc," Guidelines on Information Security Practices for Government Entities said. CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team ) said the purpose of these guidelines is to establish a prioritised baseline for cyber security measures and controls within government organisations and their associated organisations. Online Games Involving Betting, User Harm, Addiction to Be Banned in India: Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in an official statement said the government has taken several initiatives to ensure an open, safe and trusted and accountable digital space. "We are expanding and accelerating on Cyber Security  with focus on capabilities, system, human resources and awareness. The guidelines are an important part of our larger cybersecurity framework being built under the leadership of our PM Narendra Modi ji, as India takes rapid strides towards USD 1 trillion Digital Economy," Chandrasekhar said.

According to the guidelines, critical servers should be either made stand-alone or members of a dedicated secure zone and the servers need not communicate amongst themselves unless they are part of the same application with dedicated ports and authenticated applications. "In the wake of certain allegations and assumptions that AIIMS servers were compromised by ransomware and alleged leak of government data from entities, it is good that CERT-In has issued standard operating guidelines. These will standardise cyber security postures across India. It will help reduce the number of cyber security attacks in the country," Voyager Infosec, Director of Digital Lab, Jiten Jain, said. Twitter Plea Challenging Blocking Orders Dismissed by Karnataka High Court; Government Reiterates All Social Media Apps Must Comply With Indian Laws.

Besides the security of computer and network infrastructure, the guidelines have also incorporated security measures for social media of government department accounts. The guidelines mandate approval of content from appropriate authorities before it is posted on an official social media account.

"Content to be posted on social media handles should be approved by the appropriate authority within the organisation," the guideline said.

The guidelines bar use of official social media platform accounts on public devices or unauthorised devices. CERT-In guidelines call for the prevention of IT systems from unauthorised access, physical damage, and tampering by implementing physical security. "Important and sensitive zones should be monitored through CCTV cameras and footage should be stored for at least 180 days," the guideline said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Seine-Saint-Denis, June 30: At least thirteen buses from the RATP depot in Aubervilliers were set on fire after a teenager was shot dead in a fatal police shooting in Nanterre, BFM TV reported.

BFM TV is a 24-hour rolling news and weather channel based in France and available globally via digital, cable and satellite television. France Riots New Videos: Violence Spreads to Several Cities as Rioting Continues for Third Consecutive Day, Horrifying Footages of Arson and Looting Surface.

Riots in France:

BREAKING  Riots in France, massive fire reported at bus depot in Aubervilliers pic.twitter.com/o9xLAWsel8  Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 30, 2023

With the looting, fires, and firing of fireworks, Paris and its suburbs were plagued on Thursday by a new incident of violence after the death of the teenager 17, identified as Nal after being stopped for a traffic violation in the Paris suburb town of Nanterre on Tuesday. The officer who is accused of shooting him was taken to jail.

Buses Set on Fire in Aubervilliers During Violent Protest:

BREAKING: Massive fire at bus depot in Aubervilliers, France, amid ongoing riots.pic.twitter.com/KPDKChYyo1  The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) June 30, 2023

Bus depot set ablaze in Aubervilliers, a suburb north of Paris. Everyday citizens are terrified. pic.twitter.com/8Cbvn16EwP  Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 30, 2023

Till now, at least 421 people have been arrested across France in protests, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNN affiliate BFMTV. Of those, 242 arrests took place in the Paris region in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, BFMTV said citing Paris police.

Earlier, the lawyer of the police officer under formal investigation for the fatal shooting of a French teenager slammed the treatment of his client as "political," claiming his prosecution was being used to try and calm the violent tensions. France Riots: Paris-Area Town Imposes Overnight Curfew in Response to Rioting Over Police Killing of Teen.

"He committed an act in a second, in a fraction of a second. Perhaps he made a mistake, justice will tell," Laurent-Franck Lienard, the officer's lawyer told CNN affiliate BFMTV in an interview.

The officer is "devastated" by the death of the teenager Nahel, his lawyer said, adding that he didn't want to kill him. Taking to Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron, on Thursday, said, "Violence against police stations, schools, town halls, against the Republic, is unjustifiable. Thank you to the police, gendarmes, firefighters and elected officials mobilized. Meditation, Justice and calm must guide the next few hours". He also convened a crisis meeting with senior ministers on Thursday in the wake of the situation, CNN reported.

Footage From Riots in Marseille

BREAKING: Footage from riots in Marseille, France.pic.twitter.com/AIGALSwkL1  The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) June 29, 2023

Speaking at the meeting, Macron said: "Clearly the emotion that comes with the death of a young man calls for contemplation and calm, and it's what the government has constantly called for. I think this is what should continue to guide the next hours and the tributes."

Calling the violence "absolutely unjustifiable", the French President thanked those who are working to bring back calm."The last hours have been marked by violent scenes against police stations but also schools and town halls, and basically against institutions and the Republic. It's absolutely unjustifiable," Macron said.

He added, "I would like to thank those who are out during the night, like yesterday, to protect these institutions and bring back calm".In another statement, Macron defended the 'right to protest' and urged people to maintain calm.

"We have always safeguarded the right to protest...but we need harmony and we need a lot of collective goodwill," President Emmanuel Macron told the newspaper Ouest France, while urging calm, reported France24.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
News / Local

by Staff reporter

OUTSPOKEN South African opposition leader, Mmusi Maimane, says the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is to blame for the immigration crisis in that country by condoning Zanu-PF's bad governance.Maimane made the comments after a South African High Court ruled that the termination of Zimbabwe Exemption Permits (ZEPs) was unconstitutional.The permits were due to expire tomorrow, but Pretoria had already given ZEP holders a further six months to regularise their stay or face deportation.Maimane said ANC had brought problems on South Africa by ignoring rigged elections in Zimbabwe."The immigration crisis was caused by a democracy crisis in Zimbabwe. As a robust constitutional democracy, we have a role to advance democracy in Africa and to defend democracy in Zimbabwe," said Maimane in a series of tweets yesterday."To solve the immigration crisis in South Africa we must go directly to the source of the problem. We must treat the disease and not just the symptoms."He said ANC had emboldened Zanu-PF misgovernance."The courts have no choice but to uphold refugee laws and the Constitution. If we want to solve the immigration crisis we have to go directly to the root of the problem, namely the dictatorship in Zimbabwe," he said.."We must stop supporting elections which are not conducted in a free and fair environment, we must stop supporting elections that are rigged and we must stop allowing South African banks to be used by money laundering members of the Gold Mafia.""We must be honest and direct with them and tell them that we cannot afford to keep paying the bill for their oppression and corruption. Time is up."To solve this issue we need to make sure that there are free and fair elections in Zimbabwe in August. South Africa has influence on Zimbabwe and we must use it, more than we use our influence on Russia and Ukraine because this is happening in our neighbourhood."Maimane called for the release of Citizens Coalition for Change MP Job Sikhala who has clocked a year in remand prison.
Mexico City, Jun 30 (AP) Mexican health authorities say there have been at least 112 heat-related deaths so far this year, acknowledging the deadliness of a recent heatwave that the president previously said was being overblown by alarmist journalists.

The report, released late Wednesday, also shows a significant spike in heat-related fatalities in the last two weeks. So far this year, the overall heat-related deaths are almost triple the figures in 2022.

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The Health Department normally issues a report on heat-related fatalities each week, but in June  at the height of the heat wave  it skipped a week, for reasons that remain unclear.

The deaths reached a peak in the week of June 18-24, with 69 deaths in one week nationwide, an unprecedented number. Temperatures in some parts of Mexico have risen to over 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in recent weeks.

Also Read | France Riots: Paris-Area Town Imposes Overnight Curfew in Response to Rioting Over Police Killing of Teen.

The week of June 11-17 was also unusually bad, with 31 deaths across the country.

So far this year, the largest number of deaths from heatstroke and dehydration have occurred in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon, home to the industrial hub of Monterrey.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador claimed last week that mounting reports of heat deaths were untrue, and were part of a media campaign against his administration.

There is an alarmist, yellow-journalism trend, Lopez Obrador said, citing lower death figures that were already outdated at that time.

The high number of heat-related deaths appeared to be due in part not only to high temperatures, but to a delay in the onset of seasonal rains that normally come to Mexico in mid-June and tend to cool things off a bit.

The Health Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the delay in its delay in reporting the fatalities.

Nor was it clear why the president thought the deaths were a political issue, possibly because several media outlets reported claims that some of the deaths were caused by electricity shutoffs at some of the victims' homes.

Lopez Obrador is a staunch defender of the state-owned power utility. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Islamabad [Pakistan], June 30 (ANI): Around 1,34,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, almost all from Afghanistan will require settlement in Pakistan, reported Dawn citing the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) report.

In the 'Projected Global Resettlement Needs Assessment for 2024', UNHCR anticipates a 20 per cent increase in global refugee resettlement needs for the next year.

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As per the Dawn, Pakistan, the third-largest refugees hosting country, have been significantly expanded in 2022. Apart from Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, and Malaysia, are the largest refugees hosting countries throughout the Asia-pacific region, and have repeatedly highlighted the need for responsibility-sharing and tangible contributions to the refugee response.

The latest assessment in the report shows that while resettled refugees from host countries represent a sliver of the total population and needs, engagement by third countries to support and receive those most in need among the population is recognised and appreciated by host governments and opens space for UNHCR to engage on broader protection issues.

Also Read | France Riots: 13 Buses Set on Fire in Aubervilliers During Violent Protest Over Killing of Teenager by Police in Nanterre, Videos of Arson Go Viral.

Currently, 5.2 million individuals from Afghanistan live as refugees or in a refugee-like situation in the region. The report states that they reside in major host countries, Pakistan and Iran, driven by the deteriorating human rights situation at home, and the number may increase by the end of 2023.

According to Dawn, Pakistan is providing refuge to 3 million Afghans. It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention nor its 1967 Protocol and does not have a national asylum system.

However, Pakistan's provision of protection and assistance to Afghan refugees is generally under international standards and Pakistan's international human rights obligations.

The principle of non-refoulement and the right to asylum is largely respected and UNHCR's role is recognized in the Cooperation Agreement of 1993.

UNHCR Pakistan says there are high numbers of women-at-risk and single-parent households that lack adequate protection and the means to support themselves.

Female-headed households are particularly at risk and struggle to be self-reliant given the overall protection environment, lack of access to the formal labour market, and limited family or community support.

While gender-based violence (GBV) is underreported, female GBV survivors who do report are often placed in safe houses to avoid retaliation from alleged perpetrators or the wider community, reported Dawn.

There is also a significant number of children at risk, including those who work daily to support their families and can therefore not attend school. This exposes them to exploitation, and physical risks and impedes their cognitive and emotional development. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
United Nations, Jun 30 (AP) The UN humanitarian chief has warned that the 12-year conflict in Syria has pushed 90 per cent of its population below the poverty line, and that millions face cuts in food aid next month because of a funding shortfall.

Martin Griffiths said that the USD5.4 billion UN humanitarian appeal for Syria  the world's largest  is only 12 per cent funded, meaning that emergency food aid for millions of Syrians could be cut by 40 per cent in July.

Also Read | Affirmative Action Decision: US Supreme Court Strikes Down Race-Based College Admissions.

Griffiths delivered the grim news to the UN Security Council along with an appeal to members to renew the authorization for the delivery of aid to the country's rebel-held northwest from Turkey, which expires July 10.

But Russia's UN ambassador, whose country is Syria's most important ally, called the cross-border aid deliveries a zero-sum game that is undermining Syria's sovereignty, discriminating against government-controlled territory, and fueling illegal armed groups including terrorists in Idlib.

Also Read | France Riots: Paris-Area Town Imposes Overnight Curfew in Response to Rioting Over Police Killing of Teen.

Syria's uprising-turned conflict, now in its 13th year, has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of its prewar population of 23 million. A deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked large swaths of Syria in February, further compounding its misery.

Griffiths, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs who returned Wednesday from Damascus, said the Syrian people are facing profound humanitarian challenges." He said they were gathering Thursday on the Muslim holy day Eid al-Adha with less food on their plates, little fuel in their stoves, and limited water in their homes and their hardship comes at a time when the UN and its humanitarian partners have limited means to help.

Russia's Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the emergency humanitarian appeal for USD397 million to help earthquake victims was funded in the first months, but the overall UN appeal for Syria was only 12 per cent funded near the end of June. And he accused the US and its allies of spending far more on weapons for Ukraine than the USD55 billion the UN is seeking for global humanitarian needs this year, saying this lays out Western priorities very clearly.

Britain's UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward retorted that the UK's USD190 million pledge on June 15 brought their contribution to Syria to over USD4.8 billion to date and said: I look forward to Russia announcing its contribution in due course following the recent announcement that Russia spends USD2 billion a year on the Wagner Group.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, after the founder of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and his forces staged a revolt inside Russia, that Wagner and its founder had received almost USD2 billion from the Russian government in the past year.

Woodward, who visited the Turkish-Syria border earlier this month, echoed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for a 12-month extension of the authorization for cross-border aid deliveries to ensure humanitarian access to 4.1 million people in Syria's northwest.

In January, the council approved a resolution extending humanitarian aid deliveries to Idlib for six months until July 10 as Russia demanded. Many of the people sheltering in the area have been internally displaced by the conflict. The resolution allowed for aid deliveries to continue through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, but after the earthquake Syria's President Bashar Assad allowed aid to go through two additional crossings at Bab al-Salameh and al-Rai.

US deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who said the United States made its largest commitment to Syria of USD920 million on June 15, called it essential to keep all three crossings open for 12 months. He cited Guterres' latest report which said anything less would be inadequate to meet humanitarian needs in the northwest which have never been greater. The UN chief called it a moral and humanitarian imperative.

Russia and Syria have pressed for aid deliveries to the northwest across conflict lines and UN aid chief Griffiths said a 10-truck convoy from Aleppo recently travelled from Aleppo to Idlib safely, with aid for some 22,000 people. But Russia's Nebenzia dismissed it as the only cross-line delivery in the last six months clearly timed to coincide with today's meeting.

Do you seriously expect us to consider the situation with cross-line convoys to be satisfactory after this?, he asked.

Griffiths said expanding early recovery programs  another key Syrian and Russian demand  is the humanitarian community's best chance to support the future of the Syrian people.

He urged a stronger international consensus on the importance of these programs and a relaxation of rules to allow not only vocational training but mentoring for young people, construction of irrigation systems without qualifying them as development projects, and the opening of schools regardless of whether they are described as rehabilitated or reconstructed. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Falls Church, Jun 30 (AP) A federal appeals court's ruling last month about the admissions policy at an elite public high school in Virginia may provide a vehicle for the US Supreme Court to flesh out the intended scope of its ruling on Thursday banning affirmative action in college admissions.

The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, outside the nation's capital, routinely ranks as one of the best public schools in America; admission is highly competitive.

Also Read | Bangkok Shocker: Woman Loses Leg After Rescuers Carry Out Amputation To Free Her After Getting Stuck in Travelator at Don Mueang International Airport.

A coalition of parents, backed by a conservative legal foundation, filed a lawsuit in 2021 challenging the admissions policy at TJ, and the foundation is asking the Supreme Court to take up the case. The suit raises similar but not identical issues to those addressed by the high court's ruling rejecting admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina as unconstitutional.

The colleges' admissions rules took an applicant's race into account as one of many factors to be considered. In the TJ case, though, all sides agree the admissions polices are race-neutral on their face.

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But the coalition that filed the lawsuit says the admissions criteria amount to race-based proxies implemented to achieve racial balancing.

They say the policy discriminates against Asian Americans, who had constituted 70 per cent of the student body.

The coalition also cites the debate among Fairfax County School Board members when they implemented their new policy in 2020.

Board members and administrators expressed frustration that Black and Hispanic students had been woefully underrepresented at TJ for decades. The coalition argues the new policies are intended to boost Black and Hispanic representation at the expense of Asians.

The first freshman class admitted under the new rules saw a significantly different racial makeup. Black students increased from 1 per cent to 7 per cent; Hispanic representation increased from 3 per cent to 11 per cent. Asian American representation decreased from 73 per cent to 54 per cent.

The new policies replaced a standardised test with a process that allocates a percentage of seats on a geographic basis and takes a student's experience factors into account, like whether they come from a low-income household or speak English as a second language.

Last year, a federal judge found the admissions policy unconstitutional, saying "the discussion of admissions changes was infected with talk of racial balancing from its inception.

But in May, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond reversed that ruling. In a 2-1 decision, the judges said the school board had a legitimate interest in increasing diversity and that labeling those efforts as discrimination against Asian Americans simply runs counter to common sense.

The Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents the parents claiming anti-Asian discrimination, is asking the US Supreme Court to take the case.

We think it presents a really strong vehicle and the time is right. And we're certainly hopeful the court will take it up, said Joshua Thompson, a senior attorney at the foundation.

Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at George Mason University, said there will be years of follow-up cases to Thursday's ruling, as is typical with major Supreme Court cases, as colleges drag their feet and look for ways to salvage policies to which they are ideologically committed.

He was less certain, though, that the TJ case will be significant. He said the debate over the constitutionality of TJ's policies will be fact-intensive and center on what can be proved about the school board's motivations in implementing the policy.

More likely, he said, is debate over how colleges use essay questions on topics like diversity to achieve the same results as the now-banned affirmative action programs.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion left a little bit of wiggle room on that front when he wrote that colleges can consider an individual's application essay and how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise.

But Roberts also noted that colleges may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today.

Kontorovich said colleges will ask essay questions about topics like diversity that will give them the latitude to quietly take race into consideration in ways that will be more subtle. Ultimately, though, he thinks the court, at least as it's currently constituted, will reject those sorts of end-around attempts.

Fairfax County Public Schools declined to comment on the Supreme Court ruling.

Thompson said Pacific Legal expects to formally submit its petition to the Supreme Court in August and will likely know by the end of the year whether the case will be heard.(AP)

(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, June 30: The Modi government launched the GST or Goods and Services Tax on July 1 in 2017. As the GST introduction set to complete six year on July 1, the government shared a list of items and services that became cheaper post 2017. The list of items and services on which tax rates were reduced following the GST implementation includes hair oil, toothpaste, soap, detergent, cosmetic, pencil, milk powder, sewing machine, TV up to 27 inches, mixer, juicer, gas stove, etc. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik Writes To Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman, Urges To Withdraw 18% GST on Kendu Leaf.

"GST, which was introduced six years ago by subsuming 17 taxes and 13 cesses levied by the central and state governments, has not only helped in reducing tax burden on the citizens but has also proven to be the engine for driving consumption in the country," said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's office. GST on 'Horse-Trading'? Nirmala Sitharaman's Slip of Tongue While Speaking on GST on Horse Racing Goes Viral; Watch Video.

List of Items and Services That Became Cheaper After GST:

GST, which was introduced six years ago by subsuming 17 taxes and 13 cesses levied by the central and state governments, has not only helped in reducing tax burden on the citizens but has also proven to be the engine for driving consumption in the country. #6YearsofGST pic.twitter.com/59gLy0PWiv  Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) June 30, 2023

GST has turned out to be a gamechanger in Indias indirect tax system and has provided a wide range of benefits to all stakeholders. #6YearsofGST pic.twitter.com/kqTIGZ1RBR  Nirmala Sitharaman Office (@nsitharamanoffc) June 30, 2023

The law governing GST was passed in the parliament on March 29, 2017 and it was implemented across India on the 1st of July 2017. According to the government, GST has replaced many indirect taxes in India, such as the excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc on select items and services. This has simplified the tax structure and made it easier for businesses to comply with the law.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 30, 2023 11:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, June 30: Congress on Friday targeted the Centre for calling Rahul Gandhi's Manipur visit a drama, and said the BJP-led government does not have a democratic mindset but that of a dictatorship. Speaking to media outside his residence, Kharge, when asked about Rahul Gandhi visiting relief camps in Manipur and BJP calling it a drama, said, "They are habitual of speaking with jealousy. If a Congress leader goes there (Manipur) to try and understand the difficulties of the people, they call it a drama."

Slamming the BJP, the Congress leader said that they call the opposition meeting in Patna a photo session. "They are not of a democratic mindset but of dictatorship as they cannot tolerate that in the country there is democracy and opposition. But, every time their spokesperson keeps on saying that this is drama and all." "Speaking such things doesn't suit them and I condemn such statements from the BJP," the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said. Rahul Gandhi Reaches Manipur: Congress Leader Arrives in Imphal for Two-Day Visit, To Meet Victims of Violence in Relief Camps (See Pics).

Questioning the government, Kharge said that when their leaders and ministers can visit and meet people, then why not the opposition leaders. "And I condemn such ideology. They created such an atmosphere that they were denying permission to Rahul Gandhi to go by road because he could have known the reality and condition in villages enroute. And a man, who has walked 4,000 km, can't be provided security by the government to see the situation there." Rahul Gandhi Visits Motorcycle Mechanics' Workshop in Delhi's Karol Bagh (See Pics and Video).

Attacking the BJP, he said that they were aware about the programme of Rahul Gandhi four days ago and he didn't go there by hiding. "They have the habit of blaming Congress and I condemn that," he said, adding that they always spread such misinformation about Rahul Gandhi and they should understand that he is a senior leader and such kind of thinking is not good. His remarks came in the wake of Rahul Gandhi's two-day visit to Manipur. The BJP has dubbed the visit of Rahul Gandhi to violence-hit Manipur as a drama.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 30, 2023 03:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Mumbai, June 30: A distressing incident occurred at Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport in Thailand on Thursday, where a 57-year-old Thai passenger had to undergo amputation of her leg. The unfortunate incident occurred in Terminal 2 of the airport when the woman was about to board a morning flight bound for the southern Nakhon Si Thammarat province. Tragically, her leg got trapped by a moving walkway, leading to severe injuries that necessitated the amputation.

According to the officials, a medical team eventually had to cut her left leg off from above the knee. Following this, the woman was rushed to a hospital to reattach her leg, unfortunately, the doctors could not do so. The woman then requested to be transferred to another hospital to assess the possibility. The travelator was shut down following the incident. Texas Airport Accident: Worker Dies After Being 'Ingested' Into Delta Air Lines Flight Engine at San Antonio International Airport.

Woman Loses Leg After Getting Stuck in Travelator

The photos posted on Facebook by Don Mueang International Airport show the woman seated on the travelator, with the lower section of her leg caught beneath the belt at the end of the walkway. Airport staff were present to provide assistance to her during the incident. Additionally, a nearby suitcase was observed with two missing wheels, and the yellow comb-like plates, which usually cover the edge of the belt where the moving walkway concludes, appeared to be broken off. 24-Hour Sex Lands German Tourist in Italy Hospital, Sexual Intercourse Under Drugs Influence Leads to Penis Amputation Possibility.

"On behalf of the Don Mueang International Airport, I would like to express my deepest condolences regarding the accident. I would like to insist that we will ensure that no such accident will happen again," Airport Director Karun Thanakuljeerapat said. He added that the airport will cover the woman's medical expenses, and they are open to discussions regarding any additional compensation she may be entitled to.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 30, 2023 09:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
On 29 June Brazils top electoral court (TSE) held the third session of the trial on the alleged abuse of power committed by the right-wing former president(2019-2023), in which two more judges found him guilty.

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On 29 June, Bolivias Presidentdefiantly removed and re-appointed his interior minister,, following his censure in a no confidence vote passed in the legislative assembly earlier this week.

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A former school resource officer accused of neglecting his duty to confront a shooter who claimed the lives of 17 individuals at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida in 2018 was acquitted of child neglect and negligence charges during the Parkland shooting trial Thursday.

The defendant, Scot Peterson, a 60-year-old Broward County sheriff's deputy who has since been terminated, arrived at the scene of the Valentine's Day mass shooting armed with a handgun, USA Today noted.

Prosecutors argued that instead of engaging the assailant, Peterson opted to seek cover and "chose to run," prioritizing his safety.

In response, his defense team contended that Peterson was unfairly made a scapegoat, emphasizing the chaotic nature of the incident, which hindered his ability to discern the source of the gunfire.

Peterson faced multiple charges, including seven counts of felony child neglect for four students who tragically lost their lives and three injured within a classroom building.

Additionally, he faced three counts of misdemeanor culpable negligence for the deaths of a teacher and an adult student, as well as the injury of another teacher.

Furthermore, he was charged with perjury for allegedly providing false statements under oath regarding his actions and comprehension of the events that transpired that day.

After more than 19 hours of deliberation spread over four days, the jury delivered a verdict of acquittal on all counts.

READ NEXT: Parkland School Shooter Sentenced to Life in Prison

Scot Peterson Speaks Out After the Parkland Shooting Trial Verdict

In his post-proceedings statement to reporters, Peterson expressed his sense of reclaiming his life, stating, "I got my life back."

He also emphasized the significance of acknowledging the tragic events that unfolded on February 14, reiterating, "Don't anybody ever forget this was a massacre on February 14."

Scot Peterson placed the blame squarely on the perpetrator, referring to them as a "monster," per CBS News.

Recognizing their limitations, he remarked, "We did the best we could with the information we had, and God knows we wish we had more."

When asked about his message to the victims' families, some of whom had previously commended the authorities following his arrest, Peterson expressed his willingness to engage with them.

"I would love to talk to them... That may not be what they're feeling at this point. Maybe now, they'll get a little understanding, but I'll be there for them."

Victims' Families Not Happy with the Parkland Shooting Trial's Verdict

The verdict delivered on Thursday left the families of the victims in a state of disbelief, particularly after grappling with the shooter's life sentence.

Tony Montalto, the father of 14-year-old Gina Montalto, who tragically lost her life on the first floor of the 1200 building, expressed his bewilderment at the jury's decision.

He voiced his perplexity, stating, "We don't understand how this jury looked at the evidence that was presented and found him not guilty."

The outcome profoundly shook Montalto's faith in the justice system.

Montalto drew attention to recently released body camera footage from a shooting incident in Allen, Texas, last month.

The footage showed an officer actively searching for and ultimately neutralizing the assailant. Montalto cited this as an example of decisive action, remarking, "We saw that officer run to address a threat, to take the initiative to go and stop the threat, even though he didn't know where the shots were. That's the kind of action we all hope (to see)."

Regarding Peterson, Montalto expressed the continued sentiment that he should bear the burden of his failure to act, stating, "We still feel he should be haunted every day by his failure to act."

Darren Levine, a survivor of the 2018 shooting and a teacher at the time, shared his disappointment during an interview with CNN.

He expressed feeling "very deflated" on behalf of the victims' families and the students and teachers who had to testify after enduring years of waiting.

Levine conveyed a sense that the Marjory Stoneman Douglas community's voice had not been fully heard by the legal system, concluding with a somber tone, "It's another sad day."

READ MORE: Parkland School Shooting: Shooter Had Thoughts About Escaping

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Former Parkland School Officer Bursts Into Tears, Hysterical After Verdict Is Read - From Law&Crime Network
4 signs Indigenous knowledge is finally being woven into environmental policies

Click here to view the video

Indigenous people in Canada have been the caretakers and protectors of the environment for thousands of years, but oftentimes their voices are not heard by those shaping the very climate policies that affect them.

Here are four ways thats slowly starting to change.

Follow The Weather Network's climate coverage on Instagram here

New partnerships

Not only are there many Indigenous-led environmental groups working hard on the climate crisis, but many well-established organizations are also realizing that not implementing Indigenous knowledge would be a mistake.

One example would be the Indigenous Knowledges component of the Climate Atlas of Canada, which launched in 2022, that looks to bridge the gap between Indigenous knowledge and western science. Another is the Canadian Climate Institutes partnership with the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources for its Indigenous Perspectives series.

It came to be when recognizing that theres a gap in Indigenous-led research in Canada, said Rick Smith, the president of the policy research organization, in a recent Indigenous leadership panel.

The storytelling series was conducted by First Nation community members and knowledge holders that look at areas hard hit by the impacts of human-caused climate change.

Themes included dealing with the aftereffects of the 2021 heat dome, how to protect water, the impact of dwindling salmon populations, and wildfires. The case studies identified issues that should be tackled as climate policies are put together, and solutions that help. One example is the fact that First Nation communities in B.C. have to ask permission for controlled burns on their land despite the fact they have been a useful tool in their culture for thousands of years, and they are often disproportionately affected by the fires due to their remote areas.

We shouldnt have to ask permission to protect our own land, said Sheri Lysons, the former fire chief for the Adams Lake Indian Band near Kamloops, B.C.

Former Kanaka Bar chief Patrick Mitchell  who also took part in the series  said despite many levels of bureaucracy, he has hope that meaningful solutions can bring hope to future generations, like his grandson. He says plans need to be coordinated not only in First Nation communities, starting with individual households, but surrounding municipalities and at the provincial and federal level too.

How do you bring five governments together? Easy peasy lemon squeezy. You put up a buffet, or you have rice for door prizes, he joked while presenting his case study.

Launching new programs

Another way to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into environmental policies is to teach it to the next generation of researchers.

Dr. Susan Chiblow is an Anishinaabe assistant professor for the University of Guelphs School of Environmental Sciences at the Ontario Agricultural College. Originally from Grand River First Nation, she was told by her grandmother from a young age that her gift for learning would lead to pursuing a Western education in order to better help her people. Her father also took her out on the land harvesting as she grew up.

So being on the land has always been my first love, Chiblow told The Weather Network.

Now shes spreading her knowledge to students from all backgrounds in what she says is the first Bachelors of Science in Indigenous knowledge and practice, which has more of a land-based approach as opposed to just a classroom setting.

I tell them that when they do graduate, they're not going to be knowledge holders, but they're going to know how to work with Indigenous peoples and their knowledge, she said, adding that many non-Indigenous students of hers are often shocked by what they learn about Canadas colonial past.

As a water expert, with concerns about nuclear reactors on water bodies and building dams that could have environmental impacts, she also took part in a COP27 panel in Egypt held at the Canadian pavilion.

If water was taken away from the earth, everything would die, including humans, she said. So I think we need to understand that we are part of the cycle and we're not above it. We're not outside of it. And we cannot manage it if it actually manages us.

But Chiblow has hope there will be more room at the table for Indigenous perspectives, especially given how passionate young people are being more inclusive when it comes to solutions.

Youth empowerment

Thats the mission behind SevenGen Indigenous youth council, which envisions a future where our kin seven generations ahead are able to live harmoniously while protecting the stewardship of the Earth. The group is empowering Indigenous youth across Canada with the ability to make genuine change in their communities for the better.

Mihskakwan James Harper, a proud citizen of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and the organization's vice chair sponsorship, says their goal is to build strong partnerships with industry, government, and other allied organizations to help us progress on our mission.

SevenGen James Harper

SevenGen's mission is to "create a space where Indigenous youth and communities are mobilized to advance in the energy and sustainability sector," according to their website. (Submitted by Mihskakwan James Harper)

Indigenous people hold very special and valuable knowledge that, you know, has existed since time immemorial, on how to peacefully and and sustainably coexist with the natural world around us, he told The Weather Network after attending COP27 in Egypt last year.

He says there is little chance to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels  a benchmark of the Paris Agreement to keep our world livable  without including Indigenous peoples.

Watch the video above to hear more about why he is a climate advocate

Jordyn Burnouf, a SevenGen co-chair and advisor to the vice president of the Metis Nation in Saskatchewan, agrees. She was also able to attend COP27 and take part in the negotiation process.

So that was like a whole different world for me. And to be able to experience like, OK, we have a place here, and we have a voice here. she told The Weather Network last November.

I want to be able to go into [COP28] next year like full steam ahead and us to have a team that can actually come into these spaces and bring some of that perspective that otherwise might not be included.

Four conservation areas

Another key component to climate policy is designing programs that have Indigenous input at the top.

Last December, as climate advocates from around the world gathered in Montreal for the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Trudeau government announced $800 million in funding over seven years to establish four large Indigenous-led conservation projects covering almost a million square kilometres of land.

"Communities have been clear  safeguarding lands and waters will help build a strong future for generations to come," Trudeau said at the time. "As a government, our role is to listen and support that vision.

Those areas include B.C.'s Northern Shelf Bioregion, N.W.T.'s tundra and taiga-boreal forest, the northernmost region of Nunavut known as Qikiqtani, and the Hudson Bay lowlands in western James Bay  which have been termed the breathing lands by elders that live there.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about the push to mine Ontarios Ring of Fire

We are pleased that our on-going stewardship of our globally significant lands and waters is being recognized by Canada, and international, and Canadian philanthropic partners of Project Finance for Permanence, says Mushkegowuk council Grand Chief Linklater, the first woman to be elected to the position, said in a press release.

Thumbnail image: The northern lights over Courtenay, B.C. (Ron Ross)
Ron DeSantis's controversial Florida immigration bill will finally take effect soon, and the hospitals in the Sunshine State will be required to check the citizenship of those they are treating. This would have some very significant effects on the state's significant immigrant population.

The new law will require hospitals in the state to begin collecting data on patients' immigration status, in addition to requiring employers also to check the immigration status of their employees.

The healthcare part of the bill, SB 1718, is one of the most criticized parts of the new law, as healthcare experts warn that this could deter sick people from seeking needed care. Many call the law harsh and draconian and a political stunt aimed to boost DeSantis's popularity among white conservatives.

The law is set to take effect on July 1, and according to Yahoo! News, when that day comes, hospitals that accept Medicaid not only have to ask about a patient's immigrant status but also de-identify this data and submit quarterly reports to the Agency for Healthcare Administration. The agency is the one tasked to calculate the state's annual cost of uncompensated care for undocumented immigrants.

The new Florida immigration law signed by Ron DeSantis had been heavily criticized by immigration advocates, healthcare professionals, and human rights defenders. They argue that the state is deterring people from much-needed care and could increase healthcare costs.

"Deterring any segment of our population from seeking healthcare is not only dangerous and life-threatening for individuals, but negatively impacts public health and undermines our efforts to improve the health of all," read a joint statement from 80 healthcare providers in Florida. "We should be doing all we can to encourage use of primary and preventive care, a far more efficient use of our overtaxed healthcare system."

Florida hospitals and clinics are facing widespread understaffing, with medical professionals in the state facing burnout. Healthcare professionals warn that the new law's administrative requirements will exacerbate that.

READ MORE: Florida Republican Seen Begging Latinos Not To Leave

How the New Florida Immigration Law Will Affect Non-Immigrants

It is not just healthcare professionals who will be affected, as the new law is already causing worker shortages across the state. This means that ordinary people will also feel the Ron DeSantis-backed law affects them.

Miami-Dade Democratic state Rep. Dotie Joseph warned, "Floridians will see higher costs for our groceries due to worker shortages, longer waits at restaurants, struggles to keep employees, less housing options as construction workforces flee Florida, and it will be harder to find people to care for our children and our aging population."

Florida businesses that employ over 20 people must now use the E-Verify system to check the legal status of their workforce, according to the Florida Phoenix. This has so far led to farms and construction sites going empty as immigrant workers flee the state, thus creating a labor crisis.

Florida Agricultural Workers Bracing for Changes Due to New Ron DeSantis Law

Immigrant workers are mostly employed in Florida as cheap labor. Many of them are working in agriculture. However, with the new Florida immigration law, one worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity to NBC News admitted that she is worried.

"I would like to stay in Florida, but the work situation is going to become very demanding," admitted the worker, who said she is originally from El Salvador. She says her husband lacks legal documentation, and she is worried about him.

Workers leaving has also hit Homestead, Florida, one of the state's biggest agricultural producers. Many of the workers have already left the state as they are scared of being deported.

READ NEXT: Florida Could Face Mass Labor Shortage Due to Ron DeSantis' New Immigration Law

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Hillsborough County Sheriff releases message ahead of Florida's newest immigration law - WFLA News Channel 8
A January 6 rioter known for spreading conspiracy theories has been arrested near the home of former president Barack Obama in Washington DC. He was identified as 37-year-old Taylor Taranto, who is not only wanted for participating in the January 6 Capitol insurrection but is also being sued by the widow of one of the police officers who died after the riot incited by former President Donald Trump.

Online sleuths identified Taranto back in August 2021. He was one of the people who assaulted MPD Officer Jeffrey Smith on January 6, leading to the officer committing suicide, according to NBC News. The deceased officer's widow sued him and co-defendant David Walls-Kaufman.

Reports say that Taranto had been living inside a van near the D.C. jailhouse and had openly been wondering why he had not been arrested over January 6 yet, as he has posted a video of himself participating in the riot. However, the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that he had been arrested under an outstanding arrest warrant.

When he was arrested, officers found materials to make explosives and other weapons inside his vehicle, which was located near the Barack Obama home. An explosives disposal team was called in and conducted a sweep of his van soon after he was arrested.

NBC News recently reviewed Taranto's Telegram account and found that he posted a link to a website touting conspiracy theories about the Obamas' home. On Truth Social, he re-posted an alleged address of the ex-POTUS's home and noted it was near a mosque.

"Got them surrounded!" he wrote.

Authorities say he had plans to blow up the former president's Washington, DC home.

January 6 Rioter Sentenced for Using a Stun Gun on a Police Officer

Taranto's arrest came a week after another January 6 rioter was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his participation in the insurrection, as well as assaulting a police officer.

READ NEXT: Donald Trump Verdict: Ex-POTUS Reacts After Losing Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

According to ABC News, January 6 rioter Daniel Joseph Rodriguez pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts this year. He also admitted to attacking then-Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone with a stun gun. This resulted in him receiving a sentence of over 12 years imprisonment.

Ss he was taken from the courtroom, Rodriguez yelled, "Trump won!" Like many January 6 rioters, he was one of the people who believe ex-President Trump won the election, though recounts and court cases say otherwise.

Convicted January 6 Rioter Says Donald Trump is Misusing Her Story

While many January 6 rioters still believe Trump's "Big Lie," a few are pushing back against him. One of them is 69-year-old Pam Hemphill, who was convicted for participating in the riot. She told the ex-president to stop using her story for his political purposes.

A Truth Social post from Donald Trump claimed that Hemphill will spend more time in jail than Hunter Biden, who received a reduced sentence after a plea deal. However, the grandmother responded to Trump, "Please @realDonaldTrump don't be using me for anything, I'm not a victim of Jan6, I pleaded guilty because I was guilty! #StopTheSpin," she wrote in response to the Truth Social post, according to Yahoo! News.

READ MORE: Tucker Carlson, Other Fox News Stars Privately Blasted Donald Trump's Election Fraud Claims

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Man with weapons, explosives arrested near Obama's D.C. home, sources say - CBS Evening News
Puerto Rico, which has been facing electricity problems since Hurricane Maria hit, will be rebuilding a key dam to help alleviate its electricity woes. However, increasing electricity rates have led to protests across the US territory.

The territory's Electric Power Authority will be working with the US Army Corps of Engineers in this multimillion-dollar project. The damaged Puerto Rico dam, known as the Guajataca Dam, will be rebuilt and improved, though it is expected to take a decade to complete it.

"We are talking about a very complex undertaking," said Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi regarding the project seen to bolster the island's electricity production.

According to the Associated Press, an early warning system will be installed in the new dam, which was notably lacking when Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico back in September 2017. The dam was destabilized and forced many who lived nearby to evacuate.

Located in northwest Puerto Rico, the Guajataca Dam underwent emergency repairs after the storm. It is currently the source of potable water for more than 300,000 people living in the area, as well as providing water for crops around the region. It is owned by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority Proposes Electricity Price Increase

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority is currently facing financial woes. As part of its measures to deal with this, the company has proposed raising the price of electricity across the US territory, according to Nation World News.

The price increases will be part of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's debt restructuring plan to pull it out of bankruptcy. The initiative has already failed several times, with bondholders threatening to sue them.

READ NEXT: Hurricane Warning: Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands Need to Monitor Tropical Storm

If the initiative is approved, Puerto Ricans will see their current residential rate of 25 cents per kilowatt-hour nearly double in price within 30 years. A hearing on the case was held last Wednesday after some delays in the debt restructuring plan's approval.

Puerto Rico announced it was unable to pay its debts back in 2015, forcing nearly all of the island's government agencies to have its debts restructured. The bankruptcy was attributed to the corruption of many of the territory's officials, and residents are unhappy that it is they who are supposed to foot the bill.

Hundreds Protest Proposed Electricity Price Increase in Puerto Rico

Many are unhappy with the increase, with the Puerto Rico Energy Information Administration pointing out that electricity prices in Puerto Rico are already nearly double that of the US mainland, with industrial and commercial prices being more than double.

Puerto Ricans have now mobilized against this recent price increase, with hundreds of protesters marching to the governor's mansion to make their voices heard.

Cristina Miranda Palacios, executive director of the League of Puerto Rican Cities, a nonprofit organization, spoke with the Associated Press and said that the price increases are unfair and unacceptable.

"It's inconceivable that the people, including the most marginalized and economically disadvantaged populations, have to bear this cost for a highly questionable quality of service," said Palacios.

READ MORE: Puerto Rican Soups Perfect During Cold Winter Days

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Puerto Rico's power grid is still a mess. Who's to blame? - CBC News: The National
In a brazen incident indicative of escalating cartel violence, a suspected booby trap or car bomb detonated in Celaya, a cartel-dominated city in Mexico, late Wednesday, causing injuries to several National Guard officers, Al Jazeera reported.

Using a car bomb as a deliberate tactic to harm law enforcement officers represents a dangerous escalation in the ongoing clashes between rival cartels.

Some analysts have drawn parallels to a similar incident in 2010 when a Mexico car bomb detonated in Ciudad Juarez, a northern border city, claimed three lives during the height of the 2006-2012 drug war.

The National Guard officers were responding to a report about a parked vehicle with apparent bodies inside. As they approached the car, it exploded, resulting in the officers being thrown by the force of the blast.

At the time of reporting, there is no immediate information on the condition of the wounded officers. However, it is known that at least three individuals sustained significant injuries requiring hospitalization.

READ NEXT: Mexico: 14 Police Officers Abducted

National Guard Officers Were Checking the Car Following a Phone Tip

Following the Mexico car bomb attack that targeted the National Guard in Celaya, Governor Diego Sinhue Rodriguez of Guanajuato state revealed that initial reports suggest the involvement of explosives in the blast, according to Reuters.

According to Rodriguez, authorities are currently examining information indicating that the explosion occurred after security officials responded to a tip regarding the presence of bodies inside the vehicle.

The governor emphasized the need to ascertain whether the attack targeted the National Guard, Mexico's federal security force overseen by the army.

In response to the incident, the federal attorney general's office has announced its intention to investigate the case.

Rodriguez requested their intervention while forensic experts work to determine the cause of the explosion. Several media outlets in Mexico have characterized the incident as a "car bomb."

Rodriguez stated that local authorities are exploring potential connections between the attack and recent arrests and assaults on local police.

He also mentioned that he had recently met with Army officials to discuss strengthening security measures in the area.

As part of the investigation, authorities will thoroughly examine the involvement of any corrupt police officers, with a commitment to bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Mexico Drug Cartels Are Shifting to Terrorist-Style Tactics, Security Analyst Says

The recent Mexico car bomb attack in Celaya, Guanajuato indicates a potential shift towards terrorist-style tactics by Mexico drug cartels, according to security analyst David Saucedo, ABC News noted.

While cartels have used improvised explosive devices sporadically, this car bomb represents a more alarming progression in its methods.

Saucedo suggests that such high-impact actions aim to instill terror in the population and generate extensive media and social media coverage.

Car bomb attacks enable the cartels to cause casualties among their rivals without assuming significant risks.

The production of such bombs is relatively inexpensive and poses a low level of risk for the perpetrators.

The incident also raises concerns about the vulnerabilities within Mexico's National Guard, which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador established to serve as the country's primary law enforcement agency.

Saucedo noted that local police in Celaya, who have experienced many colleagues' murders this year, generally exercise more caution when approaching abandoned vehicles.

However, the National Guard officers on Wednesday "fell into the trap."

READ MORE: Honduras Fortifies Crack Down of Prison Gangs

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Mexico drug gangs start using car bombs - From Al Jazeera English
Residents of Allentowns First Ward neighborhood and public officials gathered Thursday in La Placita between Second and Hamilton streets to celebrate the unveiling of the citys newest mural, titled Grow in Peace.

The mural was painted by local artist Hector Castro with support from the Allentown Mural Arts Commission. AARP Pennsylvania sponsored the project.
Editors note: This story has been updated with sale information from Barnes & Noble in Whitehall.

A popular jewelry retailer will open its first regional store within weeks, while another major chain will temporarily close at the Lehigh Valley Mall in Whitehall.

Kendra Scott plans a grand opening ceremony on Friday, July 14, according to Lehigh Valley Mall Director of Marketing Elizabeth Diduca. It will open in the former Vera Bradley space at the malls Lifestyle Center. Fundraising events will follow.

The 1,448-square-foot Kendra Scott store features a new design, the third of its kind in the northeast, said Joy Saunders. Shes the Kendra Scott chains regional marketing and philanthropy manager. The next closest Kendra Scott store is at the King of Prussia Mall in Montgomery County.

The Lehigh Valley Mall store includes the retailers famed color bar, which patrons customize jewelry by mixing and matching gems. The store has an on-site engraving machine which customizes jewelry in minutes.

The brands flagship store and design headquarters are in Austin, Texas. Thats where each Kendra Scott piece is designed. Jewelry ranges from bracelets, necklaces, rings and earrings to watches, charms and chains.

The store will offer a wide variety of layered sets. Metals include gold, silver, rose gold, gunmetal and mixed metal, as well as demi-fine options, such as gold vermeil and sterling silver. Fine jewelry ranges in 14 karat white, yellow or rose gold. Theres a wedding collection with engagement rings, wedding bands and honeymoon pieces.

The store also sells home decor: candles, spiral notebooks, wine tumblers and tote bags.

Barnes & Noble plans to shut its doors July 24, 2023 at the Whitehall Township shopping destination. It'll reopen temporarily in another space at the mall sometime in early October, a posting on the mall store's Facebook page states.

Closing shop

As the Kendra Scott store nears its opening, mega-bookseller Barnes & Noble will close temporarily at the mall for a months-long renovation.

It will close July 24 and reopen in early October at a temporary space at the mall. Barnes & Noble wont reopen in its original space near the malls main entrance until 2024, a post on the Whitehall stores Facebook page states.

Barnes & Noble patrons can shop at The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley in Upper Saucon Township and Southmont Plaza in Bethlehem Township while the mall store is closed.

The Facebook post mentions a revamped store and cafe. Shelves will be stocked with bestsellers and hidden gems, as well as toys, games and an expansive vinyl record collection, according to the post.

A Facebook posting on Saturday went on to post nearly everything at the Whitehall store would be 50% off, until July 14. Patrons who are premium members receive triple stamps and reward members receive double stamps during the promotion, the posting states.

The renovation is not a surprise. Barnes & Noble reported recent growth in sales and revenue. Sales increased 11% for the chain in its third quarter of 2023 compared to last years third quarter.

A June news release attributes demand for books to word-of-mouth and social media recommendations. Barnes & Noble opened more bookstores in 2022 than it had from 2009 to 2019, the release says. The mega bookseller expects to open more than 30 bookstores this year, the release states.

Unique Boutique plans to stay at the mall's Lifestyle Center until at least September 2023, its owner told lehighvalleylive.com.

More coming and goings

Barnes & Noble isnt the only major retailer getting a facelift at the mall at MacArthur Road and Route 22.

Victorias Secret has been undergoing renovations since this past spring. The store relocated temporarily to the space that previously occupied Small Business Gallery, now known as Unique Boutique, near Macys, on the main level.

The shift sent Unique Boutique this past spring to the former Williams Sonoma space at the Lifestyle Center. Owner Jennifer Smith told lehighvalleylive.com Thursday she expects to stay in the temporary spot until at least early September.

An online store directory shows Blue Monkey Vapes, selling e-liquids and vaping devices, moved into the former space of Things Remembered. The gift provider shuttered earlier this year.

Also on the move is Cloud City, which is expected to relocate on Aug. 1, a store employee told lehighvalleylive.com Thursday.

Cloud City is known for its comics, games and collectibles. Itll move from the former Disney Store space to a newly-renovated site near Macys on the upper level. Cloud City opened a Palmer Park Mall store in Palmer Township in 2021.

T-Mobile moved to the malls main level next to Better Life with Bry. Pepper Palace, a hot sauce retailer, moved from the Lifestyle Center to the malls main level between Verizon and Hamsa Exoticz, according to the malls directory map.

Also new this summer will be Face Foundrie, an all-inclusive focused facial bar chain, which moved into Pepper Palaces former spot next to Warby Parker.

Face Foundrie offers full facials, mini facials and add-on enhancements, which target specific skin concerns. The facial chain has about 40 national locations, the website states.

The Lehigh Valley Mall continues to grapple with a handful of vacancies. The mall hasnt replaced Country Memories, between Against All Odds and All Weather Selvedge. It hasnt replaced Ruby Tuesday or Almost Vegan. There are at least three empty spaces between Austin 5 and Charlotte Russe.

At the Lifestyle Center, Bravo! Italian Cucina remains empty. The restaurant closed for good in October 2022.

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
There was highly unlikely that Scot Peterson could have taken down Nikolas Cruz, before the former-student-turned-gunman would kill 17 people and injure 17 more at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

The thing is, he didnt even try.

Peterson was the only school resource officer on the scene when Cruz began his deadly rampage. Peterson, though armed, not only didnt rush into the school where people were screaming and being slaughtered, he didnt enter the school building at all. Footage from a security camera caught much of what he did  and what he didnt do  earning the derisive nickname, The Coward from Broward.

Thursday, in a Broward County courtroom, Peterson was acquitted of seven counts of child neglect and three counts of culpable negligence for the deaths and injuries of 10 people on the third floor of the building where the shooting occurred. He arrived about two-and-a-half minutes after shooting started. By then, those on the first floor of Building 1200 had been shot; Cruz had headed to the third floor, skipping the second.

Peterson not only failed to enter the building when he arrived, he remained outside long after other police officers showed up and stormed in.

He was also found not guilty of one count of perjury. He had told police that he heard only a few gunshots and saw no children running from the building.

His relief upon hearing Thursdays verdict was obvious  as was the grief of the few parents and others in the courtroom who lost loved ones in that Feb. 14 massacre. Peterson put the palms of his hands together as if in prayer and nodded to the jurors in gratitude.

The parents likely could only wonder: When does it end? When will the punishment fit the horror of what happened? Last year, they and other survivors of those killed were stunned when Cruz, who pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, nevertheless received life in prison without parole, after one juror balked at the death penalty.

Petersons acquittal rubbed salt in wounds that wont heal.

Prosecutors might not have done themselves any favors in charging Peterson with child neglect. According to The New York Times, jurors would have to agree that he was a caregiver responsible for the students welfare. Even the judge expressed skepticism from the bench at the argument that the former deputys inaction could be said to have caused harm.

And there may be precedent: In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police are not always constitutionally required to help a victim against violence.

Five years on, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting continues to roil our expectations of elected officials, appointed leaders, law-enforcement officers and Florida law  for good and for ill.

One grieving  and aggrieved  parent, Lori Alhadeff, was voted onto the Broward County School Board.

Angry students and their supporters refused to take No for an answer and pressured reluctant state lawmakers into passing legislation that, among other things, raised the age to buy rifles and long guns to 21 from 18. Then-Gov. Rick Scott signed it into law. The NRA challenged it almost immediately, of course, but the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law.

(This year lawmakers in the Florida House took the low road and voted 69-36 to lower the age to 18 again. But no one in the state Senate filed a companion bill, and the initiative rightly died.)

State lawmakers this year also gave Gov. DeSantis yet another misbegotten victory with legislation  now the law  declaring jury decisions no longer need be unanimous to impose the death penalty  just 8-4. This misstep is directly related to the Cruz verdict. Florida now has the sorry distinction of having set the lowest bar in the country for the death penalty in a state with the highest number of exonerations of inmates wrongly accused and convicted of murder.

What Parkland hasnt changed is our expectations that police officers are supposed to protect us, with our understanding  and admiration  that their jobs are wholly unpredictable, frightening and dangerous.

Peterson did not meet expectations; and, as far as Parkland survivors are concerned, neither did Broward prosecutors.

Peterson might not have been thinking clearly when, speaking for himself and his wife after the verdict, Weve got our life back after four and a half years. Its been an emotional roller coaster for so long.

Knowing full well that they will never, ever regain the lives of their daughters and sons and spouses, the victims survivors likely would concur with only the second sentence of Petersons statement.
More victims have come forward in a Hellertown womans alleged estate sale scam, and the total lost is now more than $50,000, prosecutors said.

Amy Richline, 49, faced seven felony counts each of deceptive or fraudulent business practices, theft and receiving stolen property and was charged earlier this month in Northampton County district court.

Richline was free on 10% of $50,000 bail in that case when, on Wednesday, she was arraigned in a new case and charged with deceptive or fraudulent business practices, theft and receiving stolen property.

This time, Richline was sent to Northampton County Prison after failing to post $75,000 bail in the new case, records show.

Defense attorney Theodore Skaarup declined to comment on the accusations. Richline in an email to lehighvalleylive.com previously denied the claims made by prosecutors.

The Northampton County District Attorneys Office initially announced Richline bilked seven victims out of $25,000 after being hired to conduct estate sales under her business Top Notch Estate Sales.

After announcing the charges, Bethlehem Township police said another ten victims came forward with the same accusations, and the amount taken from the new victims totaled more than $25,000.

At issue are estate sales held by Top Notch Estate Sales in Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties, where the victims allege Richline did not pay their share of the estate sale proceeds, according to court records.

Investigators said Richline would tell customers she mailed them checks, but they never received them.

Northampton County is prosecuting all of the cases. If anyone believes they were victims of fraudulent business practices involving Richline or Top Notch Estate Sales, they should contact Investigator Ed Fox at 610-419-9646 or via email efox@bethlehemtwp.com.

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Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.
Walking trails and outdoor amenities throughout Laois have been allocated over 60,000 for maintenance work.

In total 21 outdoor sites in Laois are set to benefit from the funding which was part of a national announcement of 3 million.

Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys announced the funding to develop and upgrade over 300 forest parks, walking trails and outdoor amenities across the country.

The majority of the 21 sites in Laois are located in the Slieve Bloom Mountains but the list includes other areas such as Garryhinch and Emo Court.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Sean Fleming said he is pleased that 60,480 has been awarded in Government funding to Laois Forest Parks, Walking Trails and Outdoor Amenities.

I welcome the announcement of Government funding for the upgrade and maintenance of Laois forest parks, recreation sites and walking trails.

This 60,000 worth of grants will help repair and maintain 21 of these local amenities in Laois. This includes maintenance and re-surfacing of car parks, re-fencing and general maintenance along the walking trails, said Minister Fleming.

Laois walking trails and forest parks are some of the best in Ireland. They are fantastic walking routes and scenery for families, young and old.

These amenities are also great for our physical and mental health. A good walk is the best way to clear the head and maintain your overall health, he said.

This Government investment highlights the importance of tourism in rural communities in Laois, Minister Fleming added.
Ten days after it was first issued to almost 4,000 householders, a boil water notice remains in place for Clonaslee.

Irish Water/Uisce Eireann said in partnership with Offaly and Laois County Councils it is working to lift the Boil Water Notice as quickly as possible for customers on the Tullamore South and Clonaslee Water Supply.

The Boil Water Notice was issued on June 20 to protect the health of approximately 3,900 customers due to raw water quality issues which are impacting the treatment processes at the water treatment plant.

Uisce Eireann advises that all customers on the Tullamore South and Clonaslee Water Supply including Spollanstown, Charleville Road, Clonminch, Clonaslee village, Castlecuffe and surrounding areas should continue to boil their water until further notice.

Drinking water experts are working to implement solutions to lift the notice as quickly as possible in consultation with the HSE.

In conjunction with Offaly County Council, we are continuing to address the raw water issues at the treatment plant. Once these issues have been addressed, and the plant is fully operational, we will undertake sampling, monitoring the performance of the plant with a move towards lifting the Boil Water Notice, in consultation with the HSE. Please be assured we are working to resolve the issue and lift the notice as quickly as possible, Irish Water/Uisce Eireanns John Gavin said.

Public health remains our number one priority and we appreciate the impact that this notice is having on our customers in the area, he said.

In the meantime, all customers on this supply are advised to boil and cool their water before use until further notice. Customers can check if their property is included by visiting the Water Quality section of www.water.ie and entering the propertys Eircode or by calling the Uisce Eireann customer care helpline, open 24/7, on 1800 278 278.

A map of the area is available to view on the supply and service section of water.ie. Vulnerable customers who have registered with Uisce Eireann receive direct communication on Boil Water Notices. Customers are reminded that the water is safe to consume once boiled.

Updates and advice are available on water.ie, on Twitter @IWCare and via the customer care helpline, open 24/7 on 1800 278 278.
The death has been announced of Laois priest Monsignor Kevin (Caoimhin) O'Neill by the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin.

Bishop Denis Nulty said in a statement that was with "great regret" that he announce the death of Msgr. Caoimhin who died on Thursday, June 29.

A native of Trumera near Mountrath, he ordained in Mountrath on 15 June 1969. He taught in the Parish School in Edenderry from 1969-1972 while also ministering as CC in the parish.

In 1972 he was appointed to Carlow College, St. Patricks where he held many roles and served as President from 1994-2015. His many achievements in the College and elsewhere included being granted the Freedom of Carlow in 2006 and being named Carlow Person of the Year in 2009. He was also elevated to Monsignor by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.

"Many priests in Kildare & Leighlin and far beyond these Irish shores will be forever indebted to his guidance and support during their formation days. In 2015 he retired to Abbeyleix where he had an opportunity to pursue his great love of art and culture.

"He will be remembered as an accomplished artist, a scholarly poet, a raconteur but most of all as a faithful priest who served Kildare & Leighlin for 54 years. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam uasal," he concluded Bishop Nulty.

The deceased is a brother of Liam O'Neill who is a former President of the GAA.

His remains will be received at the Church of the Holy Rosary, Abbeyleix at 7pm Friday evening, June 30. Requiem Mass will be celebrated at 11am Saturday, July 1 with burial afterwards in St Fintans Cemetery, Mountrath.
Two Laois towns have formally received their 2022 national TidyTowns awards, with judging already well underway in the 2023 competition.

Abbeyleix was the big winner last year, and representatives travelled to the county who won the top award, Meath.

The 2022 SuperValu TidyTowns awards for the Midlands & East region were presented on Wednesday, June 28, at a prize-giving ceremony at St Lomans GAA Clubhouse in Trim.

Each of the winners were presented with their awards by Councillor Paul McCabe, Leas Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council and Anthony Robinson, SuperValu Regional Manager who are this year celebrating their 32nd year of partnership and sponsorship of the competition.

Mary White, Abbeyleix Tidytowns, accepted the the Gold medal for County Laois in the 2022 Supervalu Tidytowns Competition, from Cllr McCabe, Mr Robinson.

Cllr John Joe Fennelly, Abbeyleix Tidytowns accepted the prize of being Laois, County winner on behalf of the group.

Caroline Whitelegg, Portarlington Tidytowns accepted the Endeavour award in the 2022 Supervalu Tidytowns competition.

First round judging of the 2023 SuperValu TidyTowns has already begun across Ireland this June, with no forewarning of when judges might call to the many towns and villages around Laois taking part.

There are high hopes for Abbeyleix who won Ireland's Tidiest Small Town in 2021, just pipped at the post by one point for the overall title of Ireland's Tidiest Town.

The local committee have urged all residents and businesses to do their best this year.

"Please help tidy towns by maintaining your property / business or estate with painting, cleaning, weeding (no spraying), litter picking, sweeping, bin dog poo, bin your butts, planting (pollinator friendly), litter picks, helping neighbours".
There were changes at the helm of the Manorhamiltion Municipal District with Cllr Felim Gurn elected to serve as Cathaoirleach for the coming year.

He was elected at the Annual Meeting of Manorhamilton Municipal District which was held on June 19th.

The Independent councillor was first elected to Leitrim Co Council in 2014, and previously served as Manorhamilton MD Cathaoirleach in 2018-2019.

He was the outgoing Leas Cathaoirleach with Cllr. Mary Bohan succeeding him in that role.

Cllr Gurn plans to use his role to raise rural issues.

First on his agenda is the roll out of a night-time rural bus link, with Cllr Gurn wanting to see Leitrim being used for the first such pilot scheme in the country.

He also wants to see the Sligo, Leitrim, Northern Counties Railway (SLNCR) Greenway being developed to promote tourism in the region. Its going to be a game-changer, he said.

Cllr Gurn also wants to see a reversal of a policy which he says allows a dairy farmer in Cork write-off their carbon footprint by planting Sitka Spruce trees in Leitrim.

For the first time [in many years], the Leitrim population has gone up, Cllr Gurn said. He said there are also job opportunities in the country, with people able to find employment locally.

We dont want to see our brightest and best talents going abroad, he said.

He stressed the importance of housing being built and provided in Leitrim, in addition to planning permission being granted to allow people build homes in the local community.

Cllr Gurn is in favour of those who train in Ireland to be teachers, nurses or doctors, facing a moratorium to stop them travelling to work abroad for two years, in recognition of the contribution the State makes to their training and education.

The Independent councillor said it is vital that young people are able to stay and work in their own communities.
French Minister for the Economy and Finances Bruno Le Maire addresses a press conference in Ettersburg near Weimar, eastern Germany, on June 27, 2023. JENS SCHLUETER / AFP

French public-sector debt topped 3 trillion for the first time ever, statistics authority Insee said on Friday, June 30, as it presented data for the first three months of 2023. Following a massive surge of borrowing to cushion the impact of the Covid and cost-of-living crises, the debt level reached 112.5% of annual GDP at 3.01 trillion by the end of March, far above the European Union's target of 60%.

The growing debt mountain and a credit downgrade by ratings agency Fitch have prompted Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire to vow to get public spending under control  saving Paris this month from a similar step by Standard and Poor's.

At a seminar reviewing government spending last week, Le Maire announced "at least 10 billion of savings" already identified in areas including the health system and tax breaks for certain kinds of fuel.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes French still critical of taxes, but less so than before

Emmanuel Macron's government aims to reduce public debt to just over 108% of GDP by the end of the president's second term in 2027, as well as bringing annual deficits below the EU target of 3% percent.

By then ministers hope to have ended support for energy bills deployed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as to see benefits from Macron's bitterly contested reform to the pension system that has raised the minimum retirement age to 64.

But the government must also find resources for costly line items including the energy transition and boosting French defence capabilities.
Attendees hold placards reading (from L to R) "90 percent of people killed by police are non-white", "The police is racist and kills children" and "At 17, one does not play cops and robbers anymore" during a commemoration march for a teenage driver shot dead by a policeman, in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, on June 29, 2023. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP

France must address deep issues of racial discrimination in its police, the United Nations said on Friday, June 30, after a third night of unrest sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager. The death of 17-year-old Nahel during a traffic stop has revived longstanding grievances about policing and racial profiling in France's low-income and multiethnic suburbs.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes France endures a third night of unrest as violent rioting spreads across the country

"We are concerned by the killing of a 17-year-old of North African descent by police in France on Tuesday," UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva. "We note that an investigation has been launched into alleged voluntary homicide. This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and discrimination in law enforcement." French President Emmanuel Macron was to lead a crisis meeting of ministers on Friday, June 30, after a third night of protests saw cars torched, shops ransacked and hundreds arrested.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes French police's aggressive crowd control runs counter to its European neighbors

"We also emphasise the importance of peaceful assembly," Shamdasani said. "We call on the authorities to ensure use of force by police to address violent elements in demonstrations always respects the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, non-discrimination, precaution and accountability."

"Any allegations of disproportionate use of force must be swiftly investigated."

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes UN rapporteur on environmental defenders: 'The French state's response seemed largely disproportionate'

The French government said it rejected UN accusations of racism among its police. "Any accusation of racism or systemic discrimination in the police force in France is totally unfounded," the Foreign Ministry said.
The United Nations' scientific, educational and cultural organization agreed to readmit the United States as a member on Friday, June 30.

UNESCO's governing board voted 132-10 to accept the US proposal to rejoin the Paris-based agency. America's membership will become official once Secretary of State Antony Blinken or a designee formally accepts the invitation, according to Biden administration officials.

Russian, Palestinian and North Korean representatives had held up consideration of the US proposal on Thursday with hours of procedural delays. That session was adjourned due to fatigue on the part of UNESCO interpreters. In addition to Russia, North Korea and the Palestinians, those that voted against readmitting the US were Belarus, China, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Nicaragua and Syria.

The Biden administration had announced in early June that it would apply to rejoin the organization mainly because it was concerned that China was filling a gap left by the US absence from the body. The 193-member UNESCO plays a major role in setting international standards for artificial intelligence and technology education around the world.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes US ready to rejoin UNESCO and pay off arrears, six years after leaving

The Trump administration in 2017 announced that the US would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias. That decision took effect a year later. The US and Israel stopped financing UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011.

The Biden administration has requested $150 million for the 2024 budget to go toward UNESCO dues and arrears. The plan foresees similar requests for the ensuing years until the full debt of $619 million is paid off. That makes up a big chunk of UNESCO's $534 million annual operating budget. Before leaving, the US contributed 22% of the agency's overall funding.

Israel has long accused the United Nations of anti-Israel bias. In 2012, over Israeli objections, the state of Palestine was recognized as a nonmember observer state by the General Assembly. The Palestinians claim the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip  territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war  for an independent state. Israel says the Palestinians' efforts to win recognition at the UN are aimed at circumventing a negotiated settlement and meant to pressure Israel into concessions.

The United States previously pulled out of UNESCO under the Reagan administration in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance Soviet interests. It rejoined in 2003 during former President George W. Bush's presidency.

Read more The welcome return of the United States to UNESCO
LIMERICK gardai are advising members of the public to be aware of a scam accusing people of possessing child sex abuse images.

I was shocked to see it pop up on my screen, in a moment of panic I nearly replied to them immediately. I find it worrying that more vulnerable people might get targeted by this and be fooled by it, explained one Limerick woman who contacted the Limerick Leader/Limerick Live after she was targeted by this scam.

Divisional crime prevention officer for Limerick, Sergeant Ber Leetch has advised the public to be aware of these types of scams and report them immediately.

We will never ever issue a summons by email; they would be personally handed over or delivered through registered post that you would have to sign for, she stressed.

The victim receives an email which claims to be a court summons from An Garda Siochana, accusing the recipient of possessing digital child sex abuse content.

The recipient is then requested to get back in contact with a copy of their passport, with the goal of extorting them for digital payments.

Reports suggest after being targeted by a similar scam a 17-year-old boy with autism in England took his own life after believing he was in legal trouble. A man in France also died by suicide after being forced to pay thousands of euros.

French police have reported a combined 3.5 million was stolen as a result of email scams accusing the victim of similar crimes.

This is the latest form of phishing scams. These occur when an attacker poses as an official entity and attempts to get the victim to reply to a text or email with personal information.
Italian brands are taking the U.S. market by storm this summer.

The Italian Trade Agency, in collaboration with Confindustria and Confindustria Moda, the main association representing manufacturing and service companies in Italy, will be bringing 30 brands to the Cabana Show in Miami in early July as part of a nationwide intiative called Inspr Italia.

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This follows the organizations sizable presence at the Chicago Collective mens show in February and the Los Angeles womens market in March. After Miami, the Italian road show will move to the Dallas Mens Market at the end of July and back to Chicago the first week in August. Both the Miami and Dallas shows, where 20 brands will participate, represent new markets for the group.

In Miami, 30 Italian brands will be presenting at the Cabana Show July 8 to 10 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Among the brands that will be exhibiting are Alibi, Amorissimo, Chiara Boni Mare, Edelvissa, Fefe Napoli, Ferruccio Vecchi Studio, Lido, Peninsula Swimwear and Vanni. They will be featured in a dedicated area, Pop Up Italia.

As always, were dedicated to supporting our brands to ensure they are set up for success during the time they have with U.S. retailers, said Paola Guida, head of fashion and beauty for the ITA. Logistically this task requires an enormous amount of preparation, but its also equally important to us to create memorable experiences for U.S. retail buyers attending the show that convey the Italian lifestyle that everyone aspires to  no matter where they are from.

In addition to showcasing the collections, the ITA will host workshops on fabric sustainability and Italian craftsmanship during the swimwear show.

Gianfranco di Natale, director general of Confindustria Moda, said the decision to expand the groups presence in Miami comes as a result of the citys rising importance in the high-end market. After New York and Los Angeles, Miami is gaining more and more importance in the American market, he said. Two key factors have led Miami to occupy this position: the increasing number of luxury shops together with the fact that the city is a tourist destination all year round; for this reason many Italian and European brands, more generally, are showing interest in opening stores in Miami. When the fashion distribution panorama enlarges, many opportunities to enter the market for Italian quality products arise.

This presence at the U.S. trade shows is part of a special Made in Italy program spearheaded by the Italian government to expand the countrys share of international trade. Inspr Italia showcases small- to medium-size Italian apparel and accessories brands. This effort included a weeklong promotional campaign in New York in May, called Italy on Madison, where more than 80 Italian brands came to town to promote the Italian lifestyle.

The U.S. market is of upmost importance to Italian fashion manufacturers, representing the largest non-European market for its products. In addition, Italy is the fourth-largest supplier of U.S. imports in the fashion sector, accounting for $13.3 billion worth of products in 2022. The top imported products included footwear at 18.2 percent of total imports, apparel at 15.8 percent and leather goods at 17.4 percent.

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THE COMMUNITY of Loughill and Ballyhahill is delighted to see three defibrillators in the local parish.

The defibrillators, located in both national schools in the parish and outside the Knockdown Arms Bar were funded by the local text alert committee.

According to Declan Hallet from Loughill the idea of getting three new defibrillators came from the local wren boys group who succeeded in obtaining funding for a defibrillator at Kilteery Pier in the area.

Kilteery Pier became a popular destination with members of the community during the Covid lockdowns.

Unfortunately, an elderly gentleman passed away in the water there last year. The area would have been popular with the children in the junior wren boys group, Mr Hallet said.

When we asked them what we should do with the money they mentioned installing a defibrillator at the pier.

The money for this was funded after there was a drive by the text alert committee in the area to gather as many annual text alert subscriptions for the first few weeks of the year.

The drive was successful and funding for the text alert for the coming year was easily obtained. The surplus was enough to fund the three defibrillators and heated units.

There is now a total of nine defibrillators in the Loughill and Ballyhahill parish, seven of which are outdoors and accessible to the public.

The initiative of having nine fully functional defibrillators in a small parish would not have been possible without the support and generosity of the community and shows the value there is to be gained in paying text alert subscriptions on time, Mr Hallet added.

A special mention to the driving force behind it all, our youthful musicians whose thoughtfulness on a cold January evening triggered a response that may yet save lives in our parish for years to come, he added.

Mr Hallet says that the next item on the agenda for the Community Text Alert Committee is to organise a defibrillator training day with the view of setting up a voluntary defibrillator group.

It is envisaged that when this group is fully functional that there will be trained members on duty 24/7 via a rostered rota.
AS POP giants Madness will be playing in King Johns Castle this Friday, Dolans has asked concert-goers to be mindful.

The English pop band Madness will be returning to the city for another sold-out performance in Limerick.

Ahead of the gig, Dolans had advised the public that the concert is a walk-to event and to use public transportation if possible.

Please do not drive or bring your car, as the venue is in a residential area, they said. Please be mindful when leaving the venue and do not enter peoples property or litter, and please keep the noise to a minimum.

According to Dolans, its best to dress accordingly and be aware that the ground is uneven as its covered in stones. They have also said that no umbrellas are allowed, and that the concert is a fully standing show.

Doors will be open at 7pm sharp as the show will start at 7.30. Madness performance will be over by 10.30pm.
THE COUNTDOWN to the 2023 Limerick Chamber Business Awards is now under way.

Details of the awards were announced at a launch event which was hosted by the Castletroy Park Hotel.

On Friday, November 17, ten awards will be given out to companies and individuals from across the region at a black-tie event in the Strand Hotel.

Awards will be given for the best employer, best not for profit company, innovation excellence, and the best emerging firm.

There will also be honours for the best small to medium sized enterprise, while firms which have a focus on the environmental impact will be given an award.

Therell be a prize for excellence in customer experience, and a community award.

One of these companies will also win the overall gong at the gala event, while there will be a lifetime achievement award given by Chamber president Miriam O'Connor.

All entries for the awards must be received by Limerick Chamber by Saturday, September 9.

Speaking to Business Leader at the launch event, Chamber chief executive Dee Ryan said the awards represent a great opportunity for business people

It's a great opportunity to show the work and innovation that's going on in your business. The awards event is the largest and most prestigious business event in the Mid-West's calendar, she said.

The Limerick Leader/Limerick Live is once again a media partner of the awards, which are being sponsored by Technological University of the Shannon (TUS).

TUS president Dr Vincent Cunnane said: Working closely with businesses and industry is in our DNA, and our commitment to this is a win for the regional economy, our students and our partners.

Dr Cunnane added:  Our close connection with business allows us to support industry with research, development and work ready, highly skilled graduates and to help drive the sustainable development of the region.

At the launch, the current president of Limerick Chamber, Miriam O'Connor of Sellors LLP, spoke of the ingenuity of the business community in Limerick and across the Mid-West region.

She said: Through these awards, we aim to shine a spotlight on outstanding leaders, groundbreaking ideas, and transformative ventures that are shaping the future of business.

We believe that recognising and celebrating achievements not only motivates the winners but also inspires others to push their boundaries and strive for greatness.

For more information on the Limerick Chamber awards and to enter, visit the Limerick Chamber website, www.limerickchamber.ie, or phone 061-415180., or phone (061) 415180.
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Mumbai: Rajiv Jain-led global boutique asset manager GQG Partners LLC, on Friday, acquired about 3% stake in Adani Transmission Ltd. for at least 2,626 crore even as the companys stock fell 6.2% to 769 apiece on the bourses in an otherwise rising equity market.

A person familiar with the development confirmed this on the condition of anonymity.

With the latest stake purchase, GQG Partners total investment in Adani Group firms has gone up to 26,445 crore in just over three months, which followed a damning report on the Gautam Adani-led conglomerate by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research. The seller of the shares were the promoters of Adani group, which would mean that the monies invested by GQG will accrue to the promoters. The share sale includes Adani group promoter entity Fortitude Trade and Investment Ltd selling 33.92 million shares to GQG Partners at 786.17 each for 2,666.47 crore.

While the embattled group faces a multi-regulatory scrutiny after Hindenburg alleged the group of pulling the biggest con in corporate history", Jains GQG Partners, which manages over $92 billion in assets globally, continues to bet on the embattled group, particularly after reaping quick super-normal gains from its 3 March investments in Adani group firms.

On Friday, GQG Partners bought around 33 million shares in Adani Transmission at 797.85 each, while the stock of the countrys largest private sector power distribution company was trading much lower in the open market.

In March, GQG bought stakes in four Adani group firms from the promoters for 15,446 crore and now the value of this investment has gone up by over 50% to about 23,300 crore.

GQGs fresh round of investment comes despite reports that regulators, including the Securities Exchange Commission and Indian market regulator Sebi are investigating the group.

However, throughout the past week the shares of Adani group firms have been trading under pressure after certain reports suggested that US regulators are examining the veracity of the allegations made by Hindenburg Research.

Separately, as per a Supreme Court directive the group is under an investigation by Indias markets regulator for any potential round-tripping of funds through 13 suspicious FPIs. The apex court is expected to hear the case and analyse the Securities and Exchange Board of Indias (Sebi) probe report on 14 August.

The series of share-sale by the promoters of Adani Group over the past four months implies a change in the groups strategy as an aftermath of the Hindenburg report.

Before Hindenburg put out its report on 24 January, the group was planning a 20,000 crore follow-on public offering (FPO) via sale of the groups listed flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd.s shares.

The proceeds of the FPO, which was called off soon after the Hindenburg report, was meant to be used for the groups expansion from AELs books of account. On the other hand, the money from the series of share sales by Adanis promoters to India-born Jains GQG Partners as the only investor, will be solely benefiting Gautam Adanis family and other promoter group associates.

With Fridays purchase, GQGs stake in Adani Transmission will go up to 5.45%. The asset manager has upped its stake in AEL to 4.96%, to about 6.32% in Adani Green Energy Ltd. and about 4.1% in Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd.

On Wednesday, GQG Partners acquired stakes worth $1 billion in AEL and AGEL from promoter group entities including SB Adani Family Trust and Infinite Trade and Investment Ltd.

The series of investment from GQG Partners has resulted in a sharp rally in Adani group firms after the group suffered a massive $150 billion erosion in market value soon after the Hindenburg report release.

Shares of AEL, AGEL, Adani Ports and Adani Transmission have gone up by 134.4% to 2,383.60 apiece, by 115.23% to 945.60, by 87% to 738.90 and by 21.8% to 767.50 per share respectively from their 52-week lows, which were hit after the Hindenburg reports allegations.

The rally has added over 29,000 crore to investor wealth in the 10 Adani group companies, raising their combined market cap to over 10 trillion.

GQGs Jain had told Mint earlier that he was very bullish on the groups business prospects. We are very bullish on the group as it is playing a very important role in infra buildout for India. We want to be strategic partners in helping India build world-class infrastructure."
On Thursday, Inflection AI, a startup supported by prominent figures in Silicon Valley, announced that it secured $1.3 billion in funding from notable investors such as Microsoft and Nvidia. This investment comes at a time of significant growth in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

According to Reuters, the recent investment in Inflection AI, totaling $1.3 billion, was a combination of cash and cloud credit. This funding round resulted in the valuation of the one-year-old company at $4 billion.

Inflection AI, co-founded by Mustafa Suleyman, a co-founder of Google DeepMind, and Reid Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, specializes in developing AI products for consumers. The startup recently introduced its chatbot named Pi. Inflection AI is recognized as a leading competitor to OpenAI in the field of consumer-focused AI solutions.

Pi, the chatbot developed by Inflection AI, utilizes generative AI technology, similar to ChatGPT, to engage in interactive dialogues with users. This allows individuals to ask questions and provide feedback. Inflection AI's goal is to create a personalized AI that assists people in tasks such as planning, scheduling, information gathering, and more.

Inflection AI, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, currently employs approximately 35 individuals. In early 2022, the company secured $225 million in its initial funding round from investors including Greylock, Microsoft, and Reid Hoffman.

Recently, Inflection AI published a report on its Inflection-1 model, which powers Pi. The company asserts that its model has surpassed the performance of most other available models.

According to the CEO of Inflection, a significant portion of the funding will be allocated towards expanding the computing power infrastructure. The objective is to enhance and strengthen the foundation model, enabling the development of a more robust and powerful AI system.

"We'll be building a cluster of around 22,000 H100s. This is approximately three times more compute than what was used to train all of GPT4. Speed and scale are what's going to really enable us to build a differentiated product," Suleyman said at Collision Conference on Thursday.

Following the viral success of OpenAI's ChatGPT bot, the AI sector has garnered significant attention and is regarded as the next frontier in technology. In recent months, numerous investors have shown interest in the industry as companies explore ways to integrate AI into their operations. At the same time, regulators are deliberating on how to address the implications of this technology.

In the latest funding round for Inflection, Microsoft, an existing investor and supporter of OpenAI, took part. Additionally, Nvidia, which has recently increased its investments in AI, as well as prominent figures such as Reid Hoffman, Bill Gates, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, also participated in Inflection's funding round.

(With inputs from Reuters)
The deadline for updating 50% of locker agreements in Indian banks is today, and customers are being urged to sign the new contracts. However, the process has become a source of frustration due to a lack of uniformity not only across different banks but even between branches of the same bank.

One of the major issues customers are facing is the inconsistency in stamp duty denominations. While some public sector bank branches accept a stamp duty of 100, branches of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank insist on a higher value of 500. This discrepancy has left customers confused and dissatisfied, as they expect a standardised approach across all branches.

"Indian Bank is requesting customers to bring 500 stamp paper, while State Bank has provided only 100 stamp paper for existing clients. In addition to the excess value of the stamp paper, Indian Bank is also charging its clients an additional 500 to 1,000 as registration fees," said Kedar Chandak, a bank customer from Mumbai, as quoted by TOI.

Indian Bank responded, stating branches are instructed to collect only the required stamp duty amount according to state laws when customers submit the modified locker agreement.

Furthermore, many bank branches are unprepared for the signing process, lacking the necessary documents despite notifying customers to visit and update their agreements. This lack of readiness has resulted in delays and inconvenience for customers, who were expecting a smoother and more efficient experience.

The initiative to update locker agreements was prompted by a 2021 Supreme Court order, with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) instructing banks to have customers sign new contracts by January 2023. However, the RBI later extended the deadline to December 2023 and called for a revision to the model agreement drafted by the Indian Banks Association.

The revised agreement mandates that banks take measures to prevent fire, theft, and building collapse, while limiting their liability to 100 times the annual locker rent. Additionally, it requires 50% of locker renters to sign the updated agreement by the end of June 2023. Customers who had previously signed agreements are also required to sign supplements to their existing agreements.

The lack of standardised practices regarding the payment of stamp duty has further compounded the issue. Most banks expect customers to bear the cost, while the State Bank of India (SBI) has stated it will cover the documentation expenses for the supplementary agreement.

BANK OF BARODA More Information
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha is set to commence the annual Amarnath Yatra by flagging off the first batch of pilgrims from the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu today, June 30.

The pilgrims will will leave for the twin base camps in Kashmir to undertake a pilgrimage to the 3,880-meter-high cave shrine of Lord Shiva in the south Kashmir Himalayas.

The 62-day-long pilgrimage will officially begin on July 1 from the twin tracks of Nunwan-Pahalgam and Baltal. The traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag district is longer while the 14-km Baltal route in Ganderbal district is shorter but steeper. Over 3,500 pilgrims have already arrived in Jammu to proceed to Amarnath.

"The Yatra from Jammu will begin with the first batch of pilgrims being flagged off from Jammu base camp by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha tomorrow," an officer said, reported PTI.

He added that the Yatra will formally commence from the twin base camps of Baltal and Pahalgam on Saturday that is 1 July.

Also read: Mandaviya reviews health services for Amarnath Yatra

Stringent multi-tier security measures have been implemented at the Bhagwati Nagar base camp, and the convoy carrying the pilgrims will be safeguarded by CRPF troops, with the Army and police responsible for area domination.

As the chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha visited the yatri niwas base camp on 29 June to oversee the arrangements for the pilgrims. He inspected facilities such as food and lodging, security measures, control rooms, langar stalls, registration counters, power and water supply, healthcare services, and sanitation. He also reviewed the facilities of transportation, deployment of health staff, fire tenders and emergency services. Sinha extended a warm welcome to pilgrims from all over the country.

The city administration established on-the-spot registration centres for unregistered pilgrims and sadhus. The registration process has commenced, with a dedicated centre for unregistered pilgrims in the Shalimar area and a special camp for sadhus at the Ram temple complex in Purani Mandi.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lauded China for 'saving' his country from default amid an ongoing financial crisis. The remarks came even as Islamabad closed in on a $3 billion IMF bailout on Friday - mere hours before the country's current agreement expires. The PM said that discussions had ended on a positive note, with the deal now subject to approval by the IMF board in July.

IMF talks have concluded on a very positive note. Paris meeting with IMF MD was a turning pointDuring this period China saved Pakistan from default," he said.

Sharif also thanked Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirate for their financial help over the past months. All three nations had extended financial aid to the country as it remained in the throes of a major economic crisis earlier this year. Pakistan had received a rollover loan of $2 billion from its "all-weather" ally China, followed weeks later by Saudi Arabia approving funding of an additional USD 2 billion in deposits.

ALSO READ: Pakistan seals $3 Billion lifeline: IMF deal offers hope for economic resurgence

The deal comes after an eight-month delay and offers some respite to Pakistan, which is battling an acute balance of payments crisis and falling foreign exchange reserves. As reports quoting IMF mission chief Nathan Porter noted, Pakistans economy has faced several heavy blows recently. The long list includes the devastating floods last summer that killed 1,739 people, caused $30 billion in damage and impacted millions of Pakistanis. The country had also been affected by an international commodity price spike in the wake of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war.

In a statement the top IMF official said that reserves have declined to very low levels and liquidity conditions in the power sector also remain acute in spite of efforts to educe imports and the trade deficit.

Given these challenges, the new arrangement would provide a policy anchor and a framework for financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners in the period ahead," an IMF statement read.

(With inputs from agencies)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the closing ceremony of the Delhi University's centenary celebrations today. The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of three buildings virtually and release a set of coffee table books.

PM Modi informed about his visit to DU on Twitter, he wrote, Looking forward to joining the University of Delhi's centenary celebrations at 11 AM tomorrow, 30th June. As a premier centre of learning, DU has been nurturing talent and fostering intellectual growth for a century. Congratulations to the DU fraternity on this milestone."

According to news agency PTI, some DU colleges have rolled out a set of guidelines ahead of PM Modi's live telecast today including compulsory attendance for students and teachers, no black dresses and suspension of classes between 10 am to 12 noon.

A set of guidelines issued by Hindu College charge Meenu Srivastava read, The presence of all students is mandatory during the live streaming of the event. The entry to college should be done by the beginning of the first period, that is, 8:50 am to 9 am in order to avoid any traffic diversion or disruptions later in the DU campus,"

Meanwhile, Zakir Hussain College mandated its staff members and newly appointed teachers to be present at the multipurpose hall, University of Delhi for the valedictory function.

However, many other colleges have clarified that there is no attendance for the valedictory function and they have only requested students and faculty to attend the event. DU administration has also clarified that they have not made attendance compulsory and even arranged for a live telecast of the event for those who cannot watch it physically.

Delhi University was established on May 1, 1922 and it has expanded to include 86 departments, 90 colleges and over 6 lakh students in the last hundred years.

(With inputs from PTI)
The Aging and Disability Resource Centers of Dunn, Chippewa and Eau Claire counties, partnering with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, will participate in the states new Independent Living Supports pilot program, officials have announced.

This pilot program, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, is intended to help people to remain in their homes longer and to achieve better health outcomes and better quality of life. Enrollees will have access to program benefits for up to 12 months. The program offers short-term, flexible services for older adults and people with disabilities.

The Independent Living Supports pilot program offers a unique opportunity for our communities to access essential services that promote independent living, said Tracy Fischer, manager of the ADRC of Dunn County. We are proud to partner with DHS in implementing this pilot program and look forward to making a positive impact on the lives of Wisconsin residents.

The pilot will offer up to $7,200 in one-time, periodic or continuing services based on the needs of participants. Possible supports reflect the broad range of what people might need, including:

Specialized medical equipment and assistive technology.

Home and vehicle modifications.

Personal care, care management or supportive home care.

Personal emergency response systems.

Internet/Wi-Fi services.

Financial management, legal assistance and more.

The Independent Living Supports pilot program aims to improve the ability of Wisconsin residents to live independently, increase health outcomes, explore the cost effectiveness of this approach and provide insight into potential barriers for people who need to access services and supports, said state Medicaid director Jamie Kuhn.

To be eligible for this pilot, program participants must:

Be a Wisconsin resident and a U.S. citizen or eligible immigrant.

Live in a pilot service area.

Be over age 18.

Not be currently enrolled in Medicaid long-term care programs or living in a licensed or certified residential or long-term care facility.

Earn less than 300% of the federal poverty level with no deductible or consideration of spousal income.

Have at least one eligible functional need.

Have a qualifying diagnosis (may be a long-term disability) if under age 55.

The ADRCs of Dunn, Chippewa and Eau Claire counties will help identify eligible participants, assist them with enrollment, coordinate one-time and ongoing services and support participants in transitioning to other services when the pilot ends.

We are excited about the potential impact of this pilot program on the lives of Wisconsin residents and look forward to sharing updates and results as the program progresses, said DHS Secretary-designee Kirsten Johnson.

For more information about the Independent Living Supports pilot program and how it benefits the local community, please contact the ADRC of Dunn County at 715-232-4006, the ADRC of Chippewa County at 715-726-7777 or the ADRC of Eau Claire County at 715-839-4735.
As Manipur violence continues and the law and order situation worsens in the northeastern state, Chief Minister N Biren Singh is likely to resign from his position today, Friday, June 30, according to media reports.

The reports stated that CM Biren Singh is expected to hand over his resignation letter to Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey at 1 pm today.

Singh met Shah on Sunday and after the meeting said he had briefed the home minister about the "evolving situation on the ground" in Manipur and that the state and central governments have been able to control the violence to a "great extent".

Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uikey also called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah here on Tuesday, two days after the restive state's Chief Minister N Biren Singh met him.

The central government on June 10 constituted a peace committee in Manipur headed by the Governor and for facilitating a peacemaking process among various ethnic groups and initiating dialogue between conflicting parties and groups.

However, office bearers of several civil society groups have refused to be part of the peace committee for different reasons.

On June 4, the Centre had set up a Commission of Inquiry, headed by former chief justice of the Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba, to probe the recent violence in Manipur.

The Union Home Ministry said the commission will make inquiry with respect of the causes and spread of the violence and riots targeting members of different communities, which took place in Manipur on May 3 and thereafter.

Violent clashes broke out in Manipur after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organized in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Nearly 120 people lost their lives and over 3,000 have been injured ever since the ethnic violence broke in Manipur nearly two months ago.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh issued a clarification on Friday amid protests over his resignation. Thousands of demonstrators had blocked the lawmaker's convoy from proceeding towards the Raj Bhavan earlier today. More than 100 people have lost their lives amid ethnic clashes in the northeastern state since May. Most recently, there was an exchange of fire between security forces and suspected rioters in Kangpokpi district on Thursday with three being being killed.

At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister," Singh tweeted on Friday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, unconfirmed reports had claimed that the CM had typed out a resignation letter but was persuaded by his supporters to tear it up.

A PTI report quoting sources had also said that there were strong rumours in Imphal about the Chief Minister's exit. He was reportedly contemplating resigning from the post after renewed violence in the state on Thursday that claimed three more lives and left 5 injured.

(With inputs from agencies)
The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Twitter Inc on Friday challenging several blocking and take-down orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, saying the company's plea was devoid of merits. The High Court has moreover imposed a cost of 50 lakh on the company. The fine has to be paid to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days.

The single-judge bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit which dictated the operative portion of the judgement also imposed a cost of 50 lakh on Twitter and ordered it to be paid to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days. Reading the operative portion, the HC said, "In the above circumstances this petition being devoid of merits is liable to be dismissed with exemplary costs and accordingly it is. Petitioner is levied with an exemplary cost of 50 lakh payable to the Karnataka State Legal Service Authority, Bengaluru, within 45 days. If delay is brooked, it attracts an additional levy of 5,000 per day." "I am convinced with contention of the Centre that they have powers to block tweets and block accounts," the judge said while dismissing Twitter's petition. Reacting on the High Court's decision, Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "The court upholds our stand. Law of the land must be followed." Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar has also reacted on Karnataka HC's order and said all social media platforms have to comply with the law of the land.

Twitter had claimed that as per 69A, the account holders had to be informed about taking down their tweets and accounts, but no notice was issued by the Ministry to these account holders.

The Government issued notices to the Compliance Officer of Twitter on June 4, 2022 and again on June 6, 2022 to appear before it and explain why the Blocking Orders were not carried out and why action should not be initiated against it.

Twitter replied on June 9 that the content against which it had not followed the blocking orders does not seem to be a violation of Section 69A.

On June 27, 2022 the Government issued another notice stating Twitter was violating its directions.

On June 29, Twitter replied asking the Government to reconsider the direction on the basis of the doctrine of proportionality. On June 30, 2022 the Government withdrew blocking orders on 10 account-level URLs but gave an additional list of 27 URLs to be blocked. On July one, 10 more accounts were blocked. Compiling the orders "under protest," Twitter approached the HC with the petition challenging the orders. Justice Dixit had completed hearing the arguments and reserved the judgement on April 21, 2023. The operative portion of the judgement was pronounced in the court on June 30.

(With inputs from PTI)
The Narendra Modi government at the Centre is considering the introduction of a bill on implementing a Uniform Civil Code ( UCC during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament. highly -placed sources have revealed to India Today that the bill may be referred to the parliamentary standing committee, which will seek input from various stakeholders on the matter of a uniform civil code. LiveMint could not independently verify the report.

This development follows a notice issued by the Law Commission of India, wherein it sought the opinions of stakeholders on this issue. The parliamentary standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law, and justice recently scheduled a meeting to discuss the UCC and announced its intention to gather the views of stakeholders.

Members of the committee, including BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi, have been informed that their input on the UCC will be sought and considered during the meeting, which is scheduled for July 3.

The concept of a uniform civil code involves the formulation and implementation of personal laws that would apply to all citizens of India, irrespective of their religion, sex, gender, or sexual orientation. At present, personal laws are governed by religious scriptures within various communities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has argued in favour of uniform laws for all citizens, highlighting the importance of equality as enshrined in the Constitution.

On June 14, the Law Commission of India invited the public and recognized religious organisations to provide their views and ideas on the Uniform Civil Code. This move demonstrates the commission's commitment to examining this issue in a comprehensive manner.

The implementation of a uniform civil code would harmonise personal laws and ensure equal treatment for all citizens. The government's intention to table a bill on this matter underscores its efforts to promote equality and uphold the principles enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

(With ANI inputs)
Karnataka High Court in India dismissed Twitter's plea challenging the government's orders to block tweets and accounts, and also imposed a fine of 50 lakh ($60,943.65), according to a lawyer representing Twitter, reported Reuters.

This ruling comes after allegations made by Twitter's former CEO, Jack Dorsey, who accused India of threatening to shut down the platform unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the government's handling of farmer protests in 2021. The Indian government has dismissed these accusations as false.

The court stated that Twitter had received notices, but failed to comply with them, as mentioned by India's Deputy Minister for Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a tweet. Twitter has not yet provided any comment on the verdict, and attempts to reach the company immediately were unsuccessful.

Last year, Twitter had approached the court seeking to overturn government orders to remove certain content from its platform. These orders were issued in response to content related to an independent Sikh state, alleged misinformation about farmer protests, and critical tweets about the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So you have not given any reason why you delayed compliance, more than a year of delay... then all of sudden you comply and approach the court," the bench said during the verdict on 30 June, Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics & Technology) tweeted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the impact of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative on the Indian economy, according to a report by RT. RT is a Russian state-controlled international news television network.

Speaking at an event in Moscow, Putin highlighted India's example and acknowledged the visible effect that the 'Make in India' concept has had on the country's economy. He referred to Prime Minister Modi as a great friend of Russia and commended the initiative's contribution. "Our friends in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a great friend of Russia, a few years ago presented a concept 'Make in India' and it had a very visible effect on the Indian economy," said Putin.

The Russian President drew on India's experience to promote the development of domestic products and brands within Russia, as reported by RT.

Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov in New Delhi recently expressed the strength and continued growth of the "special Russia-India strategic partnership." Speaking at a state reception dedicated to the National Day of the Russian Federation, Ambassador Alipov mentioned the daily dissemination of false information about Russia on a global scale and efforts to disrupt Russia-India relations. "There have been lies about Russia on a daily basis and on a global scale. Efforts are being made to disrupt Russia - India relations," said Envoy Alipov.

Also read: Belarus Prez says Vladimir Putin wanted to 'wipe out' Wagner chief during mutiny attempt in Russia

Commending the 'special Russia - India strategic partnership', the envoy said despite all challenges, he emphasised the unwavering strength of the strategic partnership, stating that it continues to grow stronger than ever. "The indispensable truth however is- the special Russia-India strategic partnership has shown strength and we keep growing stronger than ever" the envoy added.

Also read: Russia highlights: Wagner mercenary chief Prigozhin starts exile in Belarus

(With inputs from ANI)
The US Supreme Court has effectively barred universities from using race as a factor in admissions. Voting 6-3 along ideological lines, the court found that programs at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violated the Constitutions equal protection clause. This decision marked a significant shift in higher education and rolled back previous precedents.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, rejected the argument that these programs were necessary for ensuring campus diversity.

Many universities have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin," Roberts wrote. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."

Studies indicate a majority of selective US universities now consider race in admissions, though nine states including California and Florida ban the practice at public institutions. And the ruling could mean fewer Black, Hispanic and Indigenous students at the countrys top universities and force hundreds of schools to revamp their admissions policies. But will it also affect the Indian students seeking admission in US colleges?

The SC ruling likely to hurt Indian diaspora

An Open Doors 2022 report showed that Indian students constitute nearly 21% of the over 1 million foreign students in the US. In the 2021-22 academic year, around 200,000 Indian students chose the US for higher education, a 19% increase from the previous year.

According to a 2023 Pew Research Center study, 60% of Indian students view affirmative action positively, higher than Korean (50%), Vietnamese (48%), and Chinese (45%) adults. Notably, Indian Americans have the highest proportion of college degree holders (75%) among the six most populous ethnic groups, while Vietnamese Americans have the lowest (32%).

Arguing that affirmative action is crucial, Twitter user Yashica Dutt said, it is important for an equitable and just society, whether in India or the U.S. As a Dalit person who was able to access education solely thanks to Dr Ambedkars Reservation, this is a devastating loss for racial equity & fairness.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin , said on Thursday Putin has been "somewhat weakened" by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

"I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war," Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Speaking expansively about foreign policy, the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination also said China should be given a 48-hour deadline to get out of what sources familiar with the matter say is a Chinese spy capability on the island of Cuba 90 miles (145 km) off the U.S. coast.

On Ukraine, Trump did not rule out that the Kyiv government might have to concede some territory to Russia in order to stop the war, which began with Russian forces invading Ukraine 16 months ago. He said everything would be "subject to negotiation", if he were president, but that Ukrainians who have waged a vigorous fight to defend their land have "earned a lot of credit."

"I think they would be entitled to keep much of what they've earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we don't have that right now," he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO allies want Russia out of territory it has seized in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive that has made small gains in driving out Russian forces.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last year proposed a 10-point peace plan, which calls on Russia to withdraw all of its troops.

"I think the biggest thing that the U.S. should be doing right now is making peace - getting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace. You can do it," Trump said. "This is the time to do it, to get the two parties together to force peace."

As president, Trump developed friendly relations with Putin, who Biden said on Wednesday has "become a bit of pariah around the world" for invading Ukraine.

Trump said Putin had been damaged by an uprising by the Russian mercenary force, the Wagner Group, and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, last weekend.

"You could say that he's (Putin) still there, he's still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people," he said.

If Putin were no longer in power, however, "you don't know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse," Trump said.

As for war crime charges levied against Putin by the International Criminal Court last March, Trump said Putin's fate should be discussed when the war is over "because right now if you bring that topic up you'll never make peace, you'll never make a settlement."

Trump was adamantly opposed to China's spy base on Cuba and said if Beijing refused to accept his 48-hour demand for shutting it down, a Trump administration would impose new tariffs on Chinese goods.

As president, Trump adopted a tougher stance on China while claiming a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping that soured over the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'd give them 48 hours to get out. And if they didn't get out, I'd charge them a 100% tariff on everything they sell to the United States, and they'd be gone within two days. They'd be gone within one hour," Trump said.

Trump was mum on whether the United States would support Taiwan militarily if China invaded the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

"I don't talk about that. And the reason I don't is because it would hurt my negotiating position," he said. All I can tell you is for four years, there was no threat. And it wouldn't happen if I were president."
The US Supreme Court has delivered a significant ruling, declaring that race can no longer be considered as a factor in university admissions. This decision marks a departure from long-standing US policies on affirmative action", also known as positive discrimination, and has ignited widespread debate. Affirmative action was introduced in the 1960s as a means to enhance diversity in educational institutions.

Supreme Court ruling

Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the majority opinion, expressed the view that universities had wrongly placed undue emphasis on an individual's racial identity, asserting that the colour of one's skin should not be the touchstone for evaluating an applicant. Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative advocate for ending affirmative action, concurred, describing such programs as unconstitutional.

The dissenting liberal justices, including Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman appointed to the court, and Sonia Sotomayor, voiced their opposition to the ruling. They argued that the decision entrenched a superficial principle of colorblindness in a society that remains inherently segregated.

While the ruling impacts affirmative action policies in university admissions, it is worth noting that nine US states already have bans on race-based college admissions in place.

Reactions

The ruling, which had been highly anticipated, has drawn differing views from prominent figures. US President Joe Biden expressed strong disagreement with the decision, stating that discrimination still persists in America and that this ruling should not be the final word on the matter.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona emphasised the importance of maintaining diversity on college campuses, highlighting the need for universities to find legal ways to achieve this objective.

What is affirmative action?

Affirmative action is a policy aimed at addressing historical prejudices against individuals from certain identity groups. Specifically, in the context of higher education, affirmative action refers to admissions practices that seek to increase the representation of Black, Hispanic and other minority students in colleges and universities.

This policy takes into account various factors in the application process, including grades, test scores, extracurricular activities and race, as part of a holistic approach.

The objective of implementing race-conscious admissions policies is to foster diversity among students, with the aim of enhancing the overall educational experience.

Alongside admissions, educational institutions also employ recruitment programs and scholarship opportunities to encourage diversity, but the focus of recent Supreme Court litigation has been on admissions policies.

Affirmative action in the United States has been compared to the reservation system in India, as both are controversial topics in their respective countries. In India, reservations were introduced in the constitution shortly after independence, with the aim of acknowledging historical injustices faced by backward groups and providing them with improved access to resources and opportunities.

These policies seek to rectify historical discrimination and promote inclusivity in educational institutions. The intention is to create a level playing field by considering various aspects of an applicant's profile, including their race or social background, in order to address systemic disadvantages faced by certain groups.

Affirmative action and reservation systems serve as tools to promote equal representation and opportunities for historically-marginalised communities.
Geneva's international airport is set to experience a temporary halt in flights on June 30 morning as a result of a strike by airport workers, according to a spokesperson. The strike will last for four hours, from 0400 GMT to 0800 GMT, during which no flights will operate.

The non-operation of flights at Geneva airport will affect around 8,000 passengers, according to airport spokesman Ignace Jeannerat.

Airlines will assess the situation and make decisions regarding the maintenance, cancellation, or delay of their scheduled flights based on this information. The strike action will impact the airport's operations and may cause disruptions to travel plans during the specified period.

"Based on this information, airlines will decide whether to maintain, cancel or delay their flights," Jeannerat told AFP, noting that no flights will take place during the said period.

Official statistics reveal that approximately 6.8 million passengers have utilized the airport from January to May. In an effort to prevent a recurrence of the disarray witnessed at European airports in the previous year, the aviation industry has been vigilant.

During the Covid pandemic, the sector experienced a shortage of staff after letting go of thousands of employees, resulting in challenges in managing the surge in travel.

As a consequence, passengers encountered extensive queues, mishandled baggage, and flight delays. Alongside this, worker strikes have impacted various European airports and airlines.

Geneva Airport earlier informed about the possible strike. likely to cause flight delays and cancellations at the start of the summer travel season.

"The strike announced by the public service trade union is regrettable because it is taking place on the first day of vacation departures, including those of employees," the airport said in a statement on June 29. "Flight delays and cancellations are likely."

(With agency inputs)
India-Russia ties: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a big friend of Russia', said President Vladimir Putin on Thursday at a forum in Moscow organized by Russias Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI).

He also praised the central government's Make in India campaign, saying that it has a truly impressive effect on the country's economy, according to a report published by the news agency PTI, citing RT News.

The 'Make in India' initiative was launched by PM Modi in 2014 and aimed to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products made in the country and incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing.

Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy," Putin said.

"It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it," the Russian President added.

His remarks came while discussing the opportunities for Russian companies due to the West's sanctions policies, and the need for Moscow to offer support tools to help the companies market their product more efficiently.

Putin credited Indian leadership for creating an effective model to develop local manufacturing capabilities and wooing foreign investors.

He further emphasized the need to think about making our products more convenient and functional, with a modern look and properties", the RT News report said.

India has the largest population of over 1.4 billion people and the 5th largest GDP of around USD 3.7 trillion.

In recent years, India has emerged not only as an alternative destination for license manufacturing for global companies but also as a massive consumer market for foreign investors, the report said.

The country's export performance has improved, according to official data, from around USD 468 billion in 2014 to an estimated USD 770 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year, PTI reported.

India has also seen a significant increase in foreign direct investment inflows, from USD 36 billion in 2014 to over USD 81 billion in 2020-21.

Putin and Modi last met on the sidelines of a regional security bloc summit in Uzbekistan in September 2022.

(With PTI inputs)
According to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND), nine Chinese military aircraft and four naval ships were monitored by Taiwan as they operated in the vicinity of Taiwan from 6 am on June 29 to 6 am on June 30.

"9 PLA aircraft and 4 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m.(UTC+8) today. R.O.C. Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond these activities," Taiwan's Defence Ministry said in a tweet.

As reported by ANI, the ministry further said in a statement that 9 PLA aircraft and 4 PLAN vessels around Taiwan were detected by 6 a.m.(UTC+8) today. 1 of the detected aircraft had entered Taiwan's southwest ADIZ. R.O.C. "Armed Forces have monitored the situation and tasked CAP aircraft, Navy vessels, and land-based missile systems to respond to these activities," the ministry noted.

During the period of June 27 to June 28, Taiwan reported that 11 Chinese aircraft had violated the median line in the Taiwan Strait.

According to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND), out of the 11 People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, three were detected within Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). This includes a BZK-005 reconnaissance drone, which crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait in the southwest area of the zone. The information was reported by Taiwan News, citing the MND.

According to Taiwan News, in the southwest sector of the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), one WZ-7 reconnaissance drone and one Harbin Z-9 anti-submarine warfare helicopter were also monitored.

Taiwan has taken action by deploying aircraft, naval ships, and land-based missile systems to monitor the activities of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in response.

According to Taiwan News, China has intensified its use of grey zone tactics since September 2020, gradually increasing the presence of military aircraft and naval ships in the vicinity of Taiwan. In the current month alone, China has deployed 318 military aircraft and 142 naval ships near Taiwan.

The report noted that grey zone tactics refer to a range of actions that go beyond traditional deterrence and assurance measures, aiming to achieve security objectives without resorting to direct and significant use of force. In recent events, Taiwan monitored a total of 24 Chinese military aircraft and five naval ships between June 11 and June 12.

MND noted that ten of the 24 People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including four Shenyang J-11 fighter jets, four Shenyang J-16 combat jets, and two Sukhoi Su-30 fighter planes, entered Taiwan's air defence identification zone (ADIZ) and crossed the Taiwan Strait median line.

(With inputs from ANI)
US President Joe Biden's plan to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt ran into a massive hurdle on Friday as the Supreme Court blocked the move. The sharply divided apex court ruled that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority in trying to curb student loans for millions of Americans. With the move putting nearly half a trillion dollars of debt back on household balance sheets, the President is now set to announce new actions to protect borrowers.

The $400 billion plan announced by President Joe Biden last year would have canceled up to $20,000 in federal student loans for 43 million people. Of those, 20 million would have had their remaining student debt erased completely.

The 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority however held that the administration needs Congress' endorsement before undertaking so costly a program. Barring an act of Congress, American households who collectively owe $1.6 trillion in education debt must soon restart making hundreds of dollars a month in loan payments for the first time in more than three years.

While the move has now left borrowers on the hook for repayments, it is however likely to prompt a major reduction in this year's deficit - at least on paper.

The Department of Education had estimated that the debt relief would cost taxpayers about $30 billion annually over the next decade through foregone loan repayments - about $2.5 billion per month - or about $305 billion in total. The Department estimated the net present value of the loan forgiveness at $379 billion over a decade.

Last year the US Treasury took a $430 billion charge against the fiscal 2022 budget results to cover these costs as well as an extension of the general COVID-19 moratorium on payments through the end of 2022. The move had the effect of limiting a dramatic reduction in the fiscal 2022 deficit to $1.375 trillion from $2.775 trillion the prior year.

(With inputs from agencies)
OceanGate, the company behind for the ill-fated Titan submersible expedition to the Titanic shipwreck, is still promoting future trips to the underwater ruins on its website, despite the tragedy that claimed the lives of all five passengers just over a week ago.

According to the OceanGate website, two expeditions to the Titanic have been scheduled for 2024, taking place from June 12-20 and June 21-29. The site also mentions that the 2023 mission is currently in progress.

Each expedition costs $250,000 per person, offering one submersible dive, private accommodations, necessary training, expedition gear, and all meals during the journey. The maximum capacity for each dive is limited to six individuals, with a minimum age requirement of 17 years.

The website provides details about the accommodations, including stateroom bedrooms and shared bathrooms, along with the availability of Wi-Fi connectivity on the submersible. In addition to textual information, the site features photographs and videos showcasing scenes from previous expeditions and testimonials from participants, reported HT.

Also read: Titanic Submarine highlights: US, Canada probe submersible implosion, formal inquiry yet to be launched

Described as an "8-day expedition to dive on the iconic wreck," the journey departs from the Atlantic coast of Canada, located 380 miles offshore and 3,800 meters beneath the surface. Intrepid travelers will sail from the Atlantic coast of Canada for an 8-day expedition to dive on the iconic wreck that lies 380 miles offshore and 3,800 meters below the surface," the OceanGate website stated.

OceanGate's marketing drive highlights that the dive not only offers an exciting and unique travel experience but also contributes to scientific research and understanding of the wreck and the deep ocean environment.

You dive will provide not only a thrilling and unique travel experience, but also help the scientific community learn more about the wreck and the deep ocean environment. Every dive also has a scientific objective and you can learn more about the research we support here," stated OceanGate website.

The trip spans 8 days and 7 nights, commencing in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. The dive to the Titanic wreckage begins on day 3 and concludes on day 7, with the return to St. John's on day 8.

Despite the recent tragedy, the website mentions potential content experts who may join future expeditions. Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77, a renowned Titanic expert, was among the passengers who tragically lost their lives during the most recent ill-fated expedition.

Also read: First glimpse of debris from imploded Titanic submersible

The other passengers onboard the Titan submersible during the catastrophic implosion were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush,61, British billionaire Hamish Harding,58, prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood,48, and his son Sulaiman Dawood,19. It is suspected that all passengers suffered immediate fatalities as a result of the implosion that occurred on June 18, reported HT.
The World Bank's press service said on Friday that the board of directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a USD 1.5 billion loan to Ukraine.

As reported by ANI citing TASS, the funds "will help provide relief to households and mitigate the impacts" of Russia's special military operation.

The loan provided to Ukraine is backed by the government of Japan through the Advancing Needed Credit Enhancement for Ukraine Trust Fund (ADVANCE Ukraine) initiative.

CNN, citing local authorities, reported earlier this week that a Russian missile struck a crowded area in Kramatorsk, located in eastern Ukraine. The incident resulted in the tragic deaths of at least four individuals, including a child, while several others sustained injuries.

Following the missile strikes, emergency services promptly arrived at the location to provide assistance to the injured individuals.

In the previous year, the World Bank approved a package of loans and grants amounting to USD 723 million for Ukraine. This financial support was intended to provide budgetary assistance to the Ukrainian government.

Moreover, the bank said in a statement that the international lender approved a supplemental budget support package for Ukraine, called Financing of Recovery from Economic Emergency in Ukraine - or FREE Ukraine - for USD 489 million.

Additionally, the World Bank announced that the initial support provided to Ukraine was augmented by guarantees from the Netherlands, amounting to 80 million euros (equivalent to USD 89 million), and Sweden, with a contribution of USD 50 million.

To date, the World Bank has mobilized a total of more than USD 37.5 billion to assist Ukraine in fulfilling its essential requirements.

(With inputs from agencies)
Chinese President, Xi Jinping, will attend the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), being hosted by India, next week, Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced, "At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend via video conference in Beijing the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and deliver important remarks on July 4,"

According to the statement issued by the SCO, the virtual SCO Council of Heads of State is slated to be held on July 4, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi serving as the chair.

"The theme of the Summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'. The SECURE acronym was coined by the Prime Minister at the 2018 SCO Summit and stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment. These themes have been highlighted during our Chairmanship of SCO," the statement read.

In adherence to SCO protocol, Turkmenistan has been invited as the guest of the Chair. Additionally, the heads of the two SCO Bodies, namely the Secretariat and the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), will be in attendance. Furthermore, leaders from six international and regional organizations, including the United Nations (UN), ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU, and CICA, have also been invited to the summit.

"India has set up new pillars of cooperation under its Chairmanship - Startups and Innovation; Traditional Medicine; Digital Inclusion; Youth Empowerment; and Shared Buddhist Heritage. In addition, India has worked towards fostering greater people-to-people ties that celebrate the historical and civilizational bonds between our nations. These include the various socio-cultural events hosted by Varanasi under the framework of the first-ever SCO Cultural and Tourist Capital for 2022-23," the statement added.

India's Chairmanship of SCO has been a period of intense activity and mutually beneficial cooperation between Member States. India has hosted a total of 134 meetings and events, including 14 Ministerial-level meetings.

India remains committed to playing a positive and constructive role in the organization and looks forward to a successful SCO Summit as the culmination of its Chairmanship.

India currently holds the rotational presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) until September 2023. This presidency, assumed by India in 2022, signifies a noteworthy moment in the country's commitment to regional collaboration and its pursuit of fostering a cohesive neighbourhood.

(With inputs from ANI)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said that Rahul Gandhi 's visit to the violence-hit Manipur is nothing but media and the senior leader is trying to get political advantage from the tragic situation in Manipur. Sarma noted central and state government are trying to get the situation in control in Manipur and such one-day visits are not going to change anything on the ground.

"Had the visit (Rahul Gandhi's) brought a positive effect in the situation which is being addressed by the state and the Centre, it would have been a different scenario. But it is just a one-day media coverage. No result is bound to come. We should not take political advantage of the situation," Assam Chief Minister was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times

The BJP leader termed Rahul Gandhi's visit to Manipur as a one day media hype and observed that no one should try to take advantage of such tragic situations in a state.

The Assam Chief Minister also attacked Rahul Gandhi via a tweet on Thursday, he wrote, Situation in Manipur demands bridging differences through compassion. Its not in nations interest for a political leader to use his so called visit to exacerbate fault lines. Both the Communities of the State have clearly rejected such attempts."

Rahul Gandhi's two-day visit to Manipur has become a bone of contention between the BJP and the Congress. The former Congress president's convoy was stopped midway during a visit to relief camps in Churachandpur on Thursday and he had to take a helicopter to reach his destination.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh shared videos on his Twitter account of locals questioning why Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to meet the people of the state. Meanwhile, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also shared some pictures and claimed that the former Congress president's visit was being discouraged by locals and that there were no takers for Gandhi's 'Mohabbat ki Dukaan'.

(With inputs from PTI)
DMK is evaluating legal and political implications of Governor RN Ravi's initial decision to dismiss Minister V Senthil Balaji. Party leaders and officials will consult to devise a strategy on the matter, sources close to the development cited. This comes after the Governor sacked Senthil Balaji from the cabinet and later after the outburst he said the decision to sack Senthil Balaji is 'abeyance' until further communications.

"The Governor has backtracked and he has been exposed thoroughly," an office-bearer told PTI adding all the political maneuvering of the BJP to target the DMK has been backfiring in Tamil Nadu.

Sources revealed that after initially dismissing Balaji from the cabinet, Ravi later decided to put the dismissal on hold. Therefore, at that moment, there was no immediate requirement to consider legal aspects or other factors such as potential political interests or counter-strategies.

However, they also mentioned that the DMK might evaluate legal options in the future to address alleged excesses by the Governor and politically challenge the BJP when the timing is appropriate.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief minister MK Stalin is having a discussion with Law Minister S Regupathy, DMK Rajya Sabha MP & Senior advocate NR Elango and TN Advocate General R Shunmagasundhram and a few others at Tamil Nadu Secretariat regarding the ongoing legal tussle between TN Governor RN Ravi and the state government.
Virgin Galactic, the space venture established by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, has achieved a significant milestone as it successfully completed its first manned mission to the edge of space. The inaugural commercial flight, which took place on June 29, marks a momentous achievement for Virgin Galactic after two decades of dedicated efforts.

The mission featured two Italian Air Force personnel who were funded by the organisation. Colonel Walter Villadei, who is also slated for a future paid SpaceX mission to orbit, and Lieutenant Colonel Angelo Landolfi, a physician trained as a crew surgeon for Russian cosmonauts, were among the passengers.

Additionally, Pantaleone Carlucci, an engineer affiliated with Italy's National Research Council, and Colin Bennett, a Virgin Galactic astronaut instructor who previously flew with Branson in 2021, were part of the group. Bennett's role was to assess the flight's comfort and functionality, providing valuable feedback to enhance Virgin Galactic's rocket-powered spaceplane, VSS Unity.

Unlike its competitor Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, this particular mission had a research-oriented focus rather than catering to celebrities and affluent thrill-seekers, according to CNN. Nevertheless, future flights by Virgin Galactic are anticipated to encompass a diverse array of high-profile clientele.

The journey unfolded in multiple stages, commencing at Virgin Galactic's spaceport in New Mexico. The passengers boarded VSS Unity, which was securely attached beneath the wing of the enormous twin-fuselage mothership known as VMS Eve.

Similar to an aircraft, VMS Eve accelerated down the runway before ascending to an altitude exceeding 40,000 feet. After reaching the designated altitude, VMS Eve released VSS Unity, allowing it to ignite its rocket engine and ascend directly upward, propelling it toward the outer realms.

Ascending more than 80 kilometres above Earth's surface, VSS Unity reached the altitude recognized by the United States government as the edge of outer space. It achieved supersonic speeds during its ascent and experienced moments of weightlessness at the peak of its flight, as it entered freefall and glided back to the spaceport for a runway landing. The entire expedition lasted approximately 90 minutes.
World Asteroid Day is an annual global event which is held on June 30, the anniversary of the Tunguska event in 1908 when a meteor air burst decimated about 2,000 square km (500,000 acres) of pine forest in central Siberia, Russia. The Tunguska asteroid event was the Earth's largest asteroid impact in recorded history.

World Asteroid Day aims to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard and to inform the public about the crisis communication actions to be taken at the global level in case of a credible near-Earth object (NOEs) catastrophic threat to our planet. The NEO is an asteroid or comet, which passes close to the Earth's orbit. According to NASAs Center for NEO Studies, there are over 16 000 Near Earth Asteroids discovered.

World Asteroid Day: History

The Asteroid Day was cofounded in 2014 (the year after the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor air burst) by renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, astrophysicist Brian May and some others. On 15 February 2013, an extraordinarily large fireball, travelling at a speed of 18.6 kms per second, entered the atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia. According to NASA, the diameter of the asteroid was estimated at 18 meters and its mass at 11,000 tons. The total impact energy of the Chelyabinsk Fireball was 440 kilotons.

In December 2016 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution declaring 30 June as Word Asteroid Day. The event aims to raise awareness about asteroids and what can be done to protect the Earth, its families, communities, and future generations from a catastrophic event.

What are Asteroids?

Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun. They are left over from the formation of our solar system approximately 46 billion years ago. Although, they orbit the Sun like planets, but are much smaller than the planets. No two asteroids are alike. They have jagged and irregular shapes. Most of the asteroids are made of different kinds of rocks, but some have clays or metals, such as nickel and iron. There are lots of asteroids in our solar system. Most of them live in the main asteroid belta region between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

International Asteroid Day 2023: Significance

This day serves as a reminder of the devastating impact asteroids can have on Earth and highlights the incident of the 1908 Tunguska event and the Chelyabinsk event of 2013 in recorded history. The catastrophic impact of an asteroid on earth can understand from the fact that around 65 million years ago a chain reaction started by an asteroid impact led to the extinction of the dinosaurs and affected all life on Earth. It is also an ideal day to think of measures to save the planet from the hazardous effects of asteroids

Since asteroids formed at the same time as other objects in our solar system, these space rocks can give scientists lots of information about the history of planets and the sun. Scientists can learn about asteroids by studying meteorites: tiny bits of asteroids that have flown through our atmosphere and landed on Earths surface.

Five interesting Asteroid hit places on Earth to see

Meteor Crater, Arizona, USA

Meteor Crater is located in the Arizona desert and was formed by an asteroid impact around 50,000 years ago. It has a diameter of 1.2 kilometres and is one of the most well-preserved impact craters on Earth. The site offers a rare chance to learn about the science and history of asteroid impacts while surrounded by the breathtaking desert scenery. During the 1960s and 1970s, NASA astronauts trained in the crater to prepare for the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Sudbury Basin, Ontario, Canada

The Sudbury Basin, located in Ontario, Canada, is home to one of the oldest and third-largest asteroid impact craters on Earth. This basin, which stretches over 130 kilometres, was formed approximately 1.85 billion years ago and is currently a highly valued mining site known for its abundant reserves of nickel, copper, and other minerals. NASA used the site to train the Apollo astronauts in recognizing rocks formed as the result of a very large impact, such as breccias.

Chicxulub Crater, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

The Chicxulub Crater is located under the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and is famous for its connection to the extinction of dinosaurs over 66 million years ago. This enormous crater, with a diameter of around 180 kilometres, provides essential insights into the history of our planet. The crater is estimated to be 180 km in diameter and 20 km in depth. It is the second largest confirmed impact structure on Earth, and the only one whose peak ring is intact and directly accessible for scientific research.

Ries Crater, Bavaria, Germany

The Ries Crater, situated in Bavaria, Germany, is an ancient impact structure that formed roughly 15 million years ago. With a diameter of about 25 kilometres, this well-preserved crater grants a unique perspective into the Earth's past. This site was also used to train Apollo 14 astronauts.

Gosses Bluff, Northern Territory, Australia

Gosses Bluff, or Tnorala, situated in the Australian Outback, is a circular feature formed by an asteroid impact around 142 million years ago. This crater is having a diameter of 24 kilometres. The Western Arrernte and Aboriginal people hold this site in high regard as it is a sacred place for them. Western Arrernte people attribute its origins to a cosmic impact.
Binance Played a Crucial Role in Israel's Historic Counterterrorism Effort Against Iran and Hezbollah

Source: Pixabay

Binance has disclosed a collaboration between its Sanctions Investigation Team and Israels Ministry of Defense in a counterterrorism operation against Iranian and Hezbollah terrorist groups.

A June 29 blog post revealed that this operation aims to track down terrorism financing operations linked to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp , Quds Force.

This effort demonstrates Binances commitment to fostering security in the global crypto and blockchain ecosystem.

Binance Sanctions Investigations Team Seize Millions of Dollars Linked to Irans Terrorist Group

According to the blog post, Binance collaborates with global law enforcement agencies and regulators to fight illicit cyber financial crime and repel bad actors.

Through its collaboration with the Israeli defense ministry, Binance aided in seizeing millions of dollars in cryptocurrency stolen by Irans Quds Force for terrorism financing.

The Binance Sanctions and Counter-Terrorist Financing Investigation team helped identify the terrorist and circumvent their operation.

The crypto exchange noted that the team only targets sanctioned entities, not innocent cryptocurrency users.

After the recent crackdown, Israel's National Bureau of Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) and Israeli National Cybercrime Unit commended Binances team for contributing to the fight to preserve global security.

Also, the Binance team said it is pleased with the successful crackdown against the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force funding.

Fight Against Cybercrime and Crypto-related Terror Financing

The current cryptocurrency landscape is particularly susceptible to bad actors who hijack innocent user funds for illicit activities.

The crime could be partly due to the scanty regulations in the market. However, Binance noted that its team keenly monitors these illicit activities by identifying and flagging operations by sanctioned and suspicious accounts.

Keeping the crypto market free from bad players is crucial to facilitating mainstream crypto adoption.

According to Binance, a critical element of keeping the crypto markets open across the globe is ensuring the markets remain clean and free of illicit actors.

This case wasnt the Binance team's first time working with law enforcement agencies to fight financial crimes.

The June 29 blog post revealed that the Binance Investigations team worked on over 47,000 cases with law enforcement agencies.

The team disclosed that it has helped freeze and seize over $1 billion in illicit transactions and funds, with $900 million this year alone.

To accelerate efforts in mitigating financial and cybercrimes, Binance created a coordinated training program dubbed Law Enforcement Training Program across the globe.

The aim is to assist law enforcement agencies and prosecutors in detecting financial crimes and prosecuting bad actors.

Cryptocurrency has become a preferred medium used by terrorist groups to launder illicit funds and finance their operations. This is mainly due to the anonymity offered by crypto transactions.

A notable example is North Korea's Lazarus Group, a notorious cybercrime organization that steals user funds from crypto firms.

So far, Lazarus Group has allegedly stolen billions of dollars in cryptocurrency from different protocols.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) said on Friday that a cybersecurity incident involving one of its IT hardware suppliers has led to the leak of the vendor's company data. TSMC is one of the chip supplier to Apple .

In a statement to Reuters, the company has confirmed that its business operations or customer information were not affected following the cybersecurity incident at its supplier Kinmax.

"TSMC has recently been aware that one of our IT hardware suppliers experienced a cybersecurity incident which led to the leak of information pertinent to server initial setup and configuration," the company said in a statement.

The chip maker was hit by LockBit group that has reportedly obtained the company's sensitive information which commands 60% of the global foundry market.

According to William Thomas, a cyber threat intelligence researcher at Equinix (via TechCrunch), the gang is threatening to publish data stolen from the company, unless the company pays a $70 million ransom demand. This is one of the largest known ransom demands in history.

In the case of payment refusal, also will be published points of entry into the network and passwords and logins company," LockBit wrote.

Victims range from U.S. government departments, UK's telecom regulator, to energy giant Shell, all affected since a security flaw was discovered in Progress Software's MOVEit Transfer product last month.

The TSMC vendor breach is part of a larger trend of significant security incidents affecting various companies and government entities. TSMC said it has cut off data exchange with the affected supplier following the incident.

In a statement to TechCrunch, a TSMC spokesperson confirmed that a cybersecurity incident" at one of the companys IT hardware suppliers, named as Kinmax Technology, led to the leak of information pertinent to server initial setup and configuration."

Upon review, this incident has not affected TSMCs business operations, nor did it compromise any TSMCs customer information. After the incident, TSMC has immediately terminated its data exchange with this concerned supplier in accordance with the Companys security protocols and standard operating procedures," the spokesperson added.

(With inputs from agencies)
In an industrial estate on the outskirts of Longford town the Eir building is a symbol of an industry that has changed remarkably in the 42 years of its existence.

Built in 1981, the foundation stone declares it was laid by Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, Albert Reynolds TD.

After 44 years of service at the Longford town business, a period that saw the company and the services it offers transform, Olly Kenny is retiring.

Olly joined the P&T (Posts and Telegraphs) on September 17, 1979 training as an installer at 21 years of age: It was seen as a very good job at the time. There weren't a whole lot of jobs to be had in the country. It was a civil service job, a job for life, and it turned out to be just that, he recalls.

The prevailing opinion in late 70's Ireland was if you got a job for life, you were made. Telecommunications was still an emerging industry. The P&T were a significant local employer. At the peak there were 85 people employed in the Longford depot.

It was a loose job description, because there were a whole lot of different sections in the job. There were heavy construction gangs, light construction gangs, installers, linemen. They all came under one umbrella, Olly said of the early days.

The end of the 70s required employees to be flexible: I started out as a training installer. Then I worked in construction gangs, polling and cabling. I did line repair, telephone installations and telephone repairs. In 1994 I got my first management role. I managed a team that oversaw the construction and change-over when the bypass in Longford was being built. That was my first big project.

The ramping up of the telecommunications industry was in no small part down to a commitment made by Minister for Post and Telegraphs at the time, Albert Reynolds: The Irish system was based on a British model. Heavy construction, putting up poles and open wire. I brought copper wires to people's houses. Polythene insulated cables followed that. It went from a year and a half waiting list to get a telephone, to Albert's promise to have it done in weeks.

Those early days saw work on the infrastructure, like telephone cables, bring P&T workers to every town and village in the region. It also saw the transition from manual switchboard, to new state-of-the-art exchanges: Granard was operated on a switchboard. That's where a caller got an operator and asked to speak to say Granard 23. You had big industries like Pat the Baker, working on these manual switching systems.

Albert Reynolds as Minister for Post and Telegraphs went straight from a manual operated switching system to a digital system.

The impact of such a change was immense: It was amazing. It was utterly transformed. The technology sprung from an analogue system to a digital system in a very short space of time. It had an enormous social impact.

One of the reasons this change was so profound was because of the prevailing economic climate in the 1980s: It was built in the depth of a depression. When things picked up in the 90s it was a vital component of the national infrastructure.

The changes in the 1990s would see telecommunications move from a State monopoly to a private company. From the P&T to Telecom Eireann in 1984 then to Eircom in 1999 the company was transformed.

In the 1990s it was an absolutely wonderful place to work. We had a really genuine customer service ethic. The company was driven by customer service. It was a great place to work and we took immense pride in what we did.

Olly says Telecom Eireann was very important to Longford: It built more houses. It saw people married, families reared, kids put through universities than ever before in this country. It paid for holidays. There was a wonderful staff.

The strength of the company was the staff. Great people on the ground, especially the field staff, Olly recalled.

The social changes Ireland was going through at this time was a mirror of the technological changes the industry was experiencing. The rate of technological change since Olly first started in P&T has been astonishing.

When I joined I was putting up 'open wire' to serve people's telephone service, which progressed to bringing digital fibre optics into people's homes, with a gigabit of data speed. Data speed in the early eighties was 64 kilobits. It's a massive leap.

Yet that fibre optic infrastructure could be obsolete in 10 years.

I've personally implemented transformations. We've had five or six really big transformations of the way we operate our business. Back in 2000 I was printing off orders every day for lads to do work, handing them out every morning. Now they have it on their phones, the retiring manager says.

Olly will leave the Eir HQ in Longford which now has a staff of seven. Nationally the staff has also shrunk dramatically. A peak workforce of 19,500 is now down to just 3,000 souls.

It's technology. My brief was preventative maintenance work on the network and its upkeep. Making sure it's up to the standard required. I've had teams of between 18 to 25 staff for the last 15 years. Now it's 11, and very soon there'll be only nine.

We cover all of Longford and Westmeath, Cavan, Leitrim, parts of Sligo, Roscommon, part of Mayo, a good chunk of East Galway, North Offaly, he tells.

There are many good memories of his time with the company: The people I worked with down the years were incredible. We had amazing people here in Longford. They created, and they contributed greatly, to the fabric of Longford and the Midlands. It was a pleasure working with them all. The customers were also great. The feedback we got from customers was always very positive.

You were either going to repair their line or else you were doing an installation. An installation they were waiting on for ages. Bringing a telephone into a person's house in the early eighties was like bringing them a pot of gold. People love to see you coming.

That welcome spawned thousands of stories: The welcome and hospitality you got from customers was amazing. I remember one old guy who lived on his own. He lived up near Lough Gowna, up a road, off a side road, down the bottom of a field. It was a freezing cold day. We were frozen and this man brought us into his home. He gave us a lunch of slices of ham, boiled eggs, cheese and bread. It was manna from heaven.

He was such a lovely man. He had such amazing stories about how he was farmed out as a boy to a big farmer. Moments like that will live long in the memory.

As Olly brought the gates of Eir together for the final time last Friday he had one final message: I have to say thank you to the people of Longford who welcomed so many of our workers into their homes. Also the people who worked for Eir down through the years, people who gave great service. It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with those people.
Two gardai were allegedly slapped and caught in a headlock by a man who punched his partner in the face in front of an 18 month old child, it was claimed last week.

Fabiano Moraes Freitas (24) Tully House, Eyrecourt, Galway was in attendance at last week's sitting of Longford District Court to hear details in relation to an alleged incident at 36 Thomond Lodge, Ballymahon, Co Longford on November 6 last year.

Sgt Conor McShane, for the prosecution, said gardai were called to deal with an alleged incident at the above named property.

He said when gardai arrived, they noticed two men, one of whom being the accused standing outside.

During the incident, the court heard Mr Moraes Freitas punched his partner in the eye in an alleged attack that left her with bruising.

Sgt McShane said the alleged assault took place in front of a one and a half year old child.

Asked by Judge Bernadette Owens if the injured party availed of hospital treatment, Sgt McShane said the woman was encouraged to do so but ultimately declined the offer.

Sgt McShane said Mr Moraes Freitas was extremely aggressive and violent during his arrest.

The court heard that level of alleged unruliness coincided in Mr Moraes Freitas slapping Garda Emma Kiernan across her face before becoming embroiled in a scuffle with Garda Thomas Killian on the ground.

During that melee, Judge Owens was told Mr Moraes Freitas allegedly trapped the male officer 's head and neck in a headlock with the use of his legs.

That resulted in Mr Moraes Freitas being charged with two Section 19 alleged offences of resisting or obstructing a garda during the course of their duties.

He was further charged with a section 3 assault causing harm charge and two counts of public intoxication and using threatening or abusive behaviour respectively.

Upon hearing the State's case, Judge Owens accepted 'jurisdiction', meaning the case could be disposed of within the parameters of the District Court.

An order for 'disclosure' of all statements relating to the case was approved by Judge Owens with Mr Moraes Freitas being remanded on continuing bail to a sitting of Longford District Court on July 25.

It's expected that on that date, a plea or date for hearing will be made.
A man found under the influence of alcohol as he persistently shouted in the middle of a Longford housing estate has spoken of how he has been left very ashamed and embarrassed by his actions.

Rama Briody (32), 44 Gleann Riada, Strokestown Road, Longford, was before last week's District Court sitting accused of being found drunk in public and of engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour at Ard Alainn, Longford on June 10.

In defence, solicitor Frank Gearty said his client was a man who when, off alcohol, was more than cordial.

By and large he manages that extremely well, he said, in referencing Mr Briody's ability to steer clear of drink.

In a more light hearted twist to proceedings, Mr Gearty name-dropped how the incident before the court was in some ways akin to a a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke dubbed 'Rendezvous with Rama'.

This was the kind of rendezvous nobody wanted, he quipped.

Mr Gearty signed off on his mitigation to the court by explaining how Mr Briody was a father of one and was committed to steering clear of alcohol.

Judge Bernadette Owens said the court was open to sparing Mr Briody a criminal conviction on the basis that he tendered 350 to the court poor box on the next occasion.

In adjourning the case to October 3, she told Mr Briody: If (the money) is paid, I may be persuaded to take a benign view.
Longford couple Evelyn and Enda Neary opened Cians Kennels on May 20, 2022, in memory of their son Cian, who passed away from a rare form of cancer in September 2019, aged just 15.

Cians Kennels is a first of its kind pet visiting facility which allows children who are in-patients in CHI Crumlin to spend time with their dogs while in hospital.

The DSPCA has since partnered with Cians Kennels to provide overnight care for the dogs in their nearby kennels, once they have visited their owner. Their mission is to bring pets closer to sick children and their families.

We cant find anywhere else in the world where this exact model has been attempted, said Evelyn. And sometimes I can understand why, she laughed, talking about all the hard work that goes into it.

Now, a year later, the plans are in motion to move Cians Kennels to the new Childrens hospital when it opens and will continue to service children across the country.

Speaking about future plans for Cians Kennels, Evelyn said, When we first set up in 2020, we had two distinct phases for the short to medium term. Phase one is now complete and that was the pet visiting facility at CHI Crumlin. As everybody knows CHI Crumlin will become part of the new Childrens hospital so our phase two plans revolve around the new childrens hospital at the St. James's site. So, we are currently in the very early stages of thinking where our facility might be and how it might look, so we are looking forward to getting started on that.

When Cian was initially diagnosed, the doctors suggested that he should ask his parents for something very special. Cian asked for a puppy, and that is when Cooper joined the Neary family.

Cian spent the last three months of his life in Crumlin Hospital and the Nearys realised very quickly that Cooper was going to play a hugely significant role in Cians life. From when Cian was initially diagnosed, he didnt go back to school and spent a lot of time between home and the hospital. Walking Cooper, feeding Cooper, training Cooper, just gave him a reason to get up every day if he wasnt feeling well, said Evelyn.

It became obvious to Evelyn, Enda and his younger brother Shane, that when Cian was in hospital, he really missed Cooper, which is when they moved Cooper to Dublin to be near Cian while he was in hospital. At the time, Cooper stayed in Kennels nearby and visited Cian outside St. Johns Oncology Unit, in the very same spot that the pet visiting facility is now.

The feedback from families has been overwhelming at times, said Cians mother. There are days when everything that we have done so far becomes worthwhile and those days are becoming more and more plentiful now, which is fantastic. When you see the impact you are having on a family that is going through a difficult time and by bringing their pet up there to them and allowing the visits, you are just bringing a bit of normality, you're bringing a bit of fun."

The charity has two vans equipped to carry dogs. There are volunteer drivers who collect the dogs from their homes in the midlands and there is also a van based in Dublin to bring the dog from the kennels to the hospital. The vans are well equipped with cages and cushions, air conditioning and compartments for food and water to keep them comfortable and safe.



During the journey I talk to the dog, explained volunteer driver, Miriam Kelly. They like to hear your voice. What I have done in the past is put on a bit of music for the dog as well. They seem to know where they are going. We can take up to three dogs at any one time.

The charity has around forty volunteers at present, with the hope of gaining more over time.

Its a huge amount of effort, and they are hugely passionate, energetic people, that it has been a pleasure getting to know and work with, said Evelyn.

Joanne Smyth, Volunteer and Project Co-Ordinator of the charity said that she joined the team after meeting the Neary family while Cian was in Hospital with her son, Darragh, and even though didnt have a dog while Darragh was in Hospital, they got him one soon after to help with his recovery.

We try to make the whole process as simple as possible for the families, they fill out a very simple form, there are only about five questions on it. said Joanne.

The charity mainly relies on sponsorship and funding and has gained funding from the Late Late Toy Show appeal of twenty thousand euro, and recently from the National Lottery after being selected in the Good Causes Awards in 2022.

Fundraising is our other key focus at the moment, particularly as we look towards plans for phase two, said Ms Neary. We find it heartwarming that schools are getting involved in smaller fundraisers, everything from bake sales to wear funny socks days. When its people who knew Cian and they are now fundraising for a charity in his name, its very uplifting.

Evelyn believes that Cian started this when he began to question the hospital staff as to why this service was not readily available to patients.

There is a sense that he was the first person to do this, and the hospital was aware that this was having a very positive impact on him. In many respects he started it, but certainly after he passed away, we were very conscious of how much it meant to us and to Cian and thats where the idea came from.

Cians Kennels focuses on patients at CHI Crumlin, but they have also started to reach out to other care services and hospices such as the Laura Lynn Foundation.

Find out more at https://www.cianskennels.ie/
Longfords Panelto Foods is poised for further significant growth following the exciting news that it is to join the European Bakery Group.

Panelto Foods, which employs over 300 people, secured a new multi-million euro deal with Lidl, valued at 22 million in May, enabling them to showcase their breads on shelves in Ireland and across more than 950 Lidl stores in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

And this week, it was announced by 3i Group plc that the Longford bakery, which specialises in bake-off artisan breads, will merge with Dutch and German companies in the European Bakery Group.

Brian OGrady, CEO Panelto Foods, said, We are delighted to be joining European Bakery Group. Together, we will be able to reach new markets, capitalise further on the growth opportunities within the UK, Ireland and Europe and benefit from the size and scale of the combined platform.

The European Bakery Group was formed in May 2023 with the combination of Dutch Bakery, a leading bakery group specialised in home bake-off bread and snack products, and coolback, a leading German-based bakery group specialised in bake-off bread.

Going forward Dutch Bakery, coolback and Panelto Foods will be key pillars of the European Bakery Group.

Panelto Foods has a leading position in the UK and Ireland across its key product categories of pre-packed thaw and display rolls, bake-off sandwich breads and rolls, bake-off loaves and baguettes. The company benefits from state-of-the-art production facilities and has long-term relationships with key retailers in its markets, driven by its high-quality products, product innovation and market-leading service levels.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Longford, Panelto Foods underwent a major expansion in 2018 with the support of Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Strategic Investment Fund. Panelto has grown into a key player in the UK and Ireland bake-off bread market and employs more than 300 people across two state-of-the-art bakeries.

Enterprise Ireland CEO, Leo Clancy, said, Enterprise Ireland has worked closely with Panelto Foods to assist them with their ambitious growth plans and in making a significant contribution to the local economy in Longford, now employing over 300 people. We welcome Paneltos entry to the European Bakery Group. Panelto has an established reputation for quality and service and this new development will see the company benefiting from the expanded reach of the new group. Its a great fit for Panelto and will see the company continue to compete and win in very competitive markets and we look forward to continuing to support the company.

The enlarged group will benefit from a complementary product assortment and customer base across Europe.

The combination will enable European Bakery Group to capitalise on its capabilities to offer an innovative, high-quality and comprehensive product assortment to its customers, which is produced sustainably and with natural ingredients at its core.

Raoul Vorage, CEO European Bakery Group, said: Panelto Foods is an excellent fit for European Bakery Group with complementary product assortments and geographies. We look forward to partnering with Panelto Foods and continue to execute on the international growth strategy of European Bakery Group.

Bastiaan Peer, Partner 3i, said: The combination of coolback, Dutch Bakery and Panelto Foods firmly establishes a high quality pan-European platform in the fragmented European private label market for bake-off bread, which has been at the core of our original investment thesis. With Panelto Foods, European Bakery Group further expands its footprint, diversifies its customer base, and further strengthens the platform for continued organic as well as inorganic growth.

The transaction is subject to customary merger clearance.
Crime

By Chris Boyle Published: June 30 2023

Thomas DiNapoli shot wife with rifle and brother-in-law with shotgun; jury returned verdict after hour of deliberation.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Levittown man was convicted at trial yesterday afternoon for the murder of his wife and attempted murder of his brother-in-law in August 2020 at their Cord Lane home.

Thomas DiNapoli, 70, was convicted by a jury yesterday of Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony), Attempted Murder in the Second Degree (a B violent felony), and Assault in the First Degree (a B violent felony). The defendant is due back for sentencing before Judge Tammy Robbins on July 27, 2023, when he faces a potential maximum of 50 years to life in prison.

The trial started on June 16, 2023, and summations were yesterday. The jury deliberated for approximately one hour before delivering their verdict.

Thomas DiNapoli brutally murdered his wife by firing a rifle twice at her face, striking the woman in the neck and eye, DA Donnelly said. Cheryl DiNapolis brother then ran to the bedroom, where he observed the defendant with a gun. He wrestled the gun away from the defendant and called for help. DiNapoli then retrieved a second weapon, a shotgun, and fired the weapon, striking the man in the arm. Cheryls brother attempted to grab the second gun and the struggle continued on the lawn of the Levittown home. Thanks to the quick response of the Nassau County Police Department and Cheryls brother, the defendant was apprehended. I thank our prosecutors and the police officers who helped convict this remorseless defendant.

DA Donnelly said that on the evening of August 13, 2020, the defendant and his wife, Cheryl DiNapoli, were arguing in the bedroom of their home in Levittown. The defendant shot the 61-year-old victim in the eye and neck with a 9mm rifle.

The womans younger brother, who was also living at the home, entered the couples bedroom and struggled with the defendant for possession of the gun, ultimately taking it away from DiNapoli.

The defendant then went downstairs to a safe in the garage where he retrieved a second weapon, a shotgun. DiNapoli then shot his brother-in-law, who was behind a door, in the right arm.

The two men physically fought in the house and the struggled continued to the front lawn of the home. There, the brother-in-law was able to take the shotgun away from DiNapoli.

At that point, at approximately 11:49 p.m. that evening, responding officers from the Nassau County Police Department arrested the defendant.

Cheryl DiNapoli was pronounced deceased at the scene. The injured man was taken to the hospital and is recovering from his wounds.
Charlottesvilles embattled animal shelter has hired a new director to oversee foster, adoption, intake and rescue-transfer operations.

The addition comes roughly a month after the Charlottesville Albemarle Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals brought on a new interim executive director after the prior chief of the organization was accused of mismanagement and misconduct.

The Charlottesville SPCA has hired Taylor Maddox to lead all foster, adoption, intake, and rescue-transfer, or FAIR, operations effective June 28. Maddox has a degree in business management from Lynchburg College and extensive experience in animal welfare, previously serving as shelter operations manager at a shelter in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the SPCA.

The team is pleased to join me in welcoming Taylor Maddox to CASPCA, interim Executive Director Sue Friedman said in a statement. She brings impressive experience and skills to our organization, and we look forward to continuing our growth with her leadership role.

As part of the announcement, Friedman also said the SPCA has hired a community cat and feline enrichment specialist as well as a canine enrichment specialist as part of the Animal Behavior Department. The names of those hires, though, were not immediately made available.

Friedman took over the interim position in May after former Charlottesville SPCA CEO Angie Gunter was placed on administrative leave after current and former employees and volunteers at the shelter accused her of creating a toxic culture and supporting unethical practices at the shelter.

A group of those past and present shelter works, calling itself CASPCA Concerns, claimed that Gunters leadership resulted in poor conditions and care for the animals, overcapacity and understaffing, lack of transparency and collaboration, and low morale and high turnover among staff and volunteers.

A letter calling for Gunters resignation garnered more than 100 signatures, protests were held in front of the SPCA shelter on Berkmar Drive and a social media campaign attracted widespread attention.

Not long after the protests began, a state Department of Agriculture inspection on Feb. 14 found multiple documents at the shelter were missing information required by law.

The shelters board of directors eventually hired international law firm McGuireWoods to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations. At the conclusion of that investigation, Gunther was placed on leave.

Gunters departure and Friedmans arrival was not the end of the trauma, however.

Since Friedman took over the post in May, at least 12 volunteers at the animal shelter have been asked to stay away for the summer. Friedman previously told The Daily Progress that their presence causes trauma after everything that happened earlier this year.

When those volunteers enter the building, we are reminded of all the things theyve said and done, and it brings back all the fresh trauma, Friedman told The Daily Progress last month. Experts were really clear that until we have a safe, welcoming, nontraumatic place, the team wont be able to move forward. So what I am asking is that these volunteers give us the summer to let us heal.

Friedman has said the dozen or so volunteers who have been asked to take a summer vacation will potentially have the opportunity to volunteer again in August.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: June 30 2023

The defense industry plays a critical role in Suffolk Countys economy, providing hundreds of good-paying jobs, said LaLota.

Today, June 30th, 2023, Rep. Nick LaLota (NY-01), a Navy Veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee, announced that hundreds of new jobs will be coming to Suffolk County after Advanced Acoustic Concepts and BAE Systems were awarded government defense manufacturing contracts.

The defense industry plays a critical role in Suffolk Countys economy, providing hundreds of good-paying jobs, said LaLota. My position on the Armed Services Committee allows me to better advocate for this important part of our economy and better prepare our military to take on growing threats from China and Russia. I will always fight to ensure that Suffolk County gets the federal resources and funding we deserve.

Background:

Advanced Acoustic Concepts contract of $11,128,633 will cover costs for Littoral Combat Ship Mission Package Computers, Software and Trainer components and engineering services. 35% of the contract, roughly $3,895,021, will be for work at a facility in Hauppauge.

BAE Systems contract of $18,943,442 will cover costs for the production and delivery of 18 AN/UPX-50(C) DI boxes and 50 retrofit kits to convert AN/UPX-41(C) to AN/UPX-50(C) in support of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. 70% of the contract, roughly $13,260,409, will be for work at a facility in Greenlawn.

Earlier this year, LaLota announced that both Boeing and Raytheon had been awarded similar government contracts for work in Hauppauge and Setauket, respectively.
(Alliance News) - Kodal Minerals PLC on Friday said that it has approved an extension of the long stop date to August 31 from June 30 to complete its January 19 funding package at the Bougouni lithium project in Mali.

Shares in Kodal Minerals, the London-headquartered, West African-focused lithium and gold-focused exploration and development company were down 14% at 0.46 pence in London on Friday morning.

Kodal Minerals, alongside its UK-subsidiary Kodal Mining UK Ltd, Hainan Mining Co Ltd and Hainan's wholly owned UK-incorporated subsidiary Xinmao Investment Co Ltd, have approved a further extension of the long stop date in order to meet certain conditional precedents outlined in the May 31 announcement that remain to be completed.

The Bougouni project covers an area of 350 kilometres near Bamako, Mali, where Kodal Minerals is focussing on lithium mining operations.

Bougouni is an emerging lithium province that has attracted investors and off-take partners seeking to secure a long-term supply of lithium.

The January 19 funding package was agreed between Kodal Minerals and Hainan Mining Co Ltd and its UK subsidiary, with USD100 million committed to Kodal Mining UK by the Hainan Group, and a USD18 million equity subscription by the Hainan Group into Kodal at the price of 0.5 pence per share.

Kodal Minerals said that the condition precedents to be met include the transfer of the Bougouni Project to a new Mali mining company owned by Kodal Mining UK.

"The parties are fully committed to the completion of the funding transaction as soon as possible and continue to work together to prepare for the development of the project with activities including additional metallurgic testwork, engineering planning and review and finalisation for the proposed dense medium separation development," Kodal said.

Kodal Minerals said it remains in regular contact with the local government to satisfy these precedents.

Hainan and Xinmao have confirmed that all approvals obtained from the Chinese government authorities remain valid, and are ready to complete the transaction when the condition precedents are met.

"Kodal and Hainan remain firmly committed to completing the transaction and are working together towards the completion of all condition precedents," said Chief Executive Officer Bernard Aylward.

By Will Neill, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Tax on 3 billion in windfall profits would be used to help Ukraines reconstruction

Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel arrives for the second day of a meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Friday  Photo credit: AFP

European Union leaders are backing plans that would impose a windfall tax on profits generated by more than 200 billion of Russian central bank assets to aid Ukraines reconstruction, and will seek the political support of key Group of Seven countries.

During a summit in Brussels Thursday, EU leaders supported cautiously exploring the windfall option despite the range of complex issues regarding how to use the sanctioned assets, according to people familiar with the talks.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen previously said she would present a plan before the summer break, but the timing of the proposal is now unclear given the number of obstacles that still need to be addressed, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private.

The Russian central bank assets immobilized in the EU are expected to generate some 3 billion in windfall profits. Over half the assets are in cash and deposits, while a substantial amount of the remainder is in securities that will transform to cash as they mature in the next two to three years, Bloomberg previously reported. Many of the funds are in Belgium at settlement giant Euroclear Ltd., where they generated nearly 750 million by the first quarter of this year.

A spokesman from the commission declined to comment on the plan.

The prospect of taxing and seizing the windfall profits raises legal as well as financial questions. Several leaders at the summit highlighted concerns first raised by the European Central Bank, which warned that using the proceeds from the assets could encourage official reserve holders to turn their back on the euro, according to the people.

Supporters of the plan have noted that the greater stability risk had been crossed when the central bank assets were blocked in the first place.

As part of those same efforts, the EU will seek support from G-7 countries even though the vast majority of the sanctioned central bank assets are in Europe. Thats because several states want G-7 buy-in as a condition to move ahead, the people said. However, it would likely remain an EU proposal, not a G-7 initiative, another person said.

The EU and US have already been talking about the plans and the Biden administration has been informed of the progress, one of the people said. Discussions with the US and others will continue in the coming days and weeks.

A spokesperson from White House National Security Council declined to comment.

A UK official said Britain was supportive of the EUs windfall tax plan and talking to the bloc about it.

Legal Hurdles

Politically, the EUs executive arm will also first want a number of key member states firmly on board, including Belgium and France where most of the assets reside, before presenting a formal proposal.

The EU had previously assessed that a separate option it was considering  setting up an entity to invest the funds and use the proceeds for Ukraines reconstruction  was too complex and legally dubious. It has also concluded that seizing the assets outright isnt possible.

Still, while the windfall option is the least problematic of the ideas that have been explored, there is some legal risk that it could eventually be challenged in court. Some argue that the interest and profits generated from the funds stem from sanctioned assets that ultimately belong to Russia.

A formal proposal for the windfall option would be handled like a foreign policy tool  the same tool under which sanctions get adopted  and would require the backing of all member states to be adopted, the people said.

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
In the wake of the Supreme Courts decision to ban colleges from using race as a factor to admit students, it is unclear what the University of Virginia will do now.

The commonwealths flagship university said it remains committed to creating a diverse campus after Thursdays landmark ruling, but details were scant on how that will be accomplished in a post-affirmative action world.

"We are still evaluating the opinion to determine how it may affect our current admissions approach and what changes we may need to make as a result. We will, of course, continue to follow the law. We will also continue to do everything within our legal authority to recruit and admit a class of students who are diverse across every possible dimension and to make every student feel welcome and included here at UVA," UVa President Jim Ryan said in a statement.

Our commitment to diversity, in short, is not diminished, even if our ability to pursue that goal is constrained. Diversity, in all its forms, is critical to the educational experience, because students learn not just from their professors but from each other, Ryan said.

Experts say that the most likely outcome is that the university will adopt a host of what are called race-neutral policies. But as history shows, race finds a way to factor into those policies as it finds ways to factor into all of life, and race-neutral policies have faced their own criticism and legal scrutiny.

Looking to the past

Many think Virginia will approach the issue in a way similar to how California did when it became the first state to ban race-conscious admissions in 1996.

Based on admissions data, the big takeaway from California is that nothing can fully substitute for how affirmative action increased diversity at universities. Not even using proxies for race, such as income and parental education levels, worked as well as affirmative action.

When the ban took effect, the diversity at the most selective schools plummeted. In 1998, the first admissions cycle affected by the ban, Black and Hispanic first-year students at the University of California, Los Angeles, and U.C. Berkeley dropped by nearly half. However, less selective California universities saw little change in their Black and Hispanic enrollment.

Those less selective U.C. schools lost some students because of the ban on affirmative action, but they gained new Black and Hispanic students who would have likely gone to UC Berkeley or UCLA but could not be admitted without affirmative action, Zachary Bleemer, a Yale University professor of economics who studies affirmative action, told The Daily Progress.

By the fall of 2006, the number of Black first-year students at UCLA dropped to 96 students in a class of nearly 5,000  a number so low that the students became known as the Infamous 96.

Numbers have bounded back close to pre-ban levels, but only after millions of dollars were spent to recruit diverse candidates. The California university system has spent more than $500 million in outreach to underserved minority students since 2004, according to a Supreme Court brief filed by lawyers for the U.C. system last year.

Similarities

Like UCLA, UVa is the commonwealths flagship university and a highly selective one at that. That is why Bleemer expects rapid drops in the next few years at UVa and other elite institutions in the next few years.

I expect to see the number of minority students especially at those very selective schools, like UVa, to take a nosedive.

The only concrete policy that UVa has outlined to help increase diversity is strikingly like UCLAs largely unsuccessful effort to reach diverse communities.

In early June, UVa committed to expanding its staff of recruiters with plans to target 40 high schools throughout the state that have little history of sending applicants. The decision was prompted after UVa found that, while 20% of 12th-graders at the wealthiest Virginia schools applied, only 6% of students at the most disadvantaged schools did.

University officials did not say how much the expansion would cost or who would be footing the bill. And Bleemer was skeptical of how well the program would work.

Large-scale outreach to minority-majority high schools does not work like officials think, Bleemer said. Despite that policy, California still saw little gains for minority students, and then the programs were largely discontinued.

Lessons for UVa

Californias long struggle to bring diversity to its campuses offers lessons to UVa now that it must stop using race as a factor in admissions.

In the early 2000s, UCLA realized the evident lack of diversity after Proposition 209 was adopted. To fix it, the school started using holistic review in admissions. That meant the university would consider a wide range of factors in its admissions decisions, including but not limited to grade point average, family income, geography and first-generation station.

Importantly, race was not one of the factors, but the wanted outcome was achieved. he percentages of Black and Latino students began to rebound. Critics say the holistic factors worked as proxies to determine a persons race.

After a few years, things got complicated. A UCLA professor released a study in 2012 claiming the school was letting Black and Latino students in at higher rates than White or Asian students who should have ranked just the same under the new holistic review. Essentially, that meant the university was breaking California law and instituting affirmative action.

Like UCLA, UVa already uses a holistic admissions process. The one key difference is that it factors in race in admissions.

For the moment, UVa will be able to keep tabs on student demographics.

Even with quotas being banned, critics have said the university has them. Trends of admittance at the university in the past 10 years show a commonality of demographics for each first-year class. Those demographic statistics closely resemble the statewide demographic populations for each group

Hiding the box

To the relief of colleges across the country scrambling to cope with the Supreme Courts decision, many may already have been given a legal lifeline for the time being.

In May, the Common App preemptively acted on the so-called race box on applications around the country. Starting Aug. 1, colleges will have the option to hide the information in those boxes from their own admissions teams.

The race box is the section of a college application where students can check a box disclosing whether they identify as Hispanic, Asian, Black or White, among other choices.

Each year, millions of students apply to more than 1,000 colleges and universities through the universal Common Application. The new option is supposed to help colleges comply with whatever legal standard the Supreme Court will set in regard to race in admissions, Common App said in a statement.

The opt-out feature for colleges could put more pressure on applicants to talk about their racial and ethnic background through other means, mainly in essays or teacher recommendations.

UVas admissions office, Board of Visitors and the presidents office did not respond to a request for comment.

Other options

Beemer outlined that UVa might also consider other race-neutral admissions policies, such as continuing test optional policies for students.

The popular trend right now appears to be test optional policies. Many were adopted in the pandemic and have not left, he said.

In 2020, amid the pandemic, almost every college in the nation, UVa included, gave students the option to opt out of standardized testing as an admissions factor. That policy has remained in place, even as it has become safe to return to the classroom.

The rationale many point to is that standardized tests, such as the ACT or SAT, perpetuate systemic disparities as wealthier and Whiter students have greater access to tutoring and test prep that help them excel over student who do not have such privileges.

Another option Bleemer said is available to colleges is something called a percent plan. The policy is already in place in Texas. Percent plans guarantee admission to a certain percentage of top graduates from each high school in a state or region.

Texas adopted the top 10% plan when affirmative action was struck down by a federal court there. It said the top 10% of every high school graduate in the state will be admitted to the University of Texas, and they said the reason for that would that would help create racial diversity, Kim Forde-Mazrui, a UVa law professor who also studies affirmative action, told The Daily Progress.

Yet, many of these plans are already facing legal challenges. It remains likely that race-neutral policies are the next step for an emboldened and far more conservative Supreme Court. In his opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas outlined his strong belief the Constitution is colorblind, and thus any direct or indirect consideration of race would be unconstitutional.

Regardless of what path UVa takes next, Bleemer was insistent that diversity is in serious peril.

The educational losses experienced by Black and Hispanic students with the loss of affirmative action and the courts decision today far exceed any of the aggregate gains of White and Asian students.
When I get together with Lance, I love hearing what he has been up to, although Im sure he gives me the PG-rated version, she said. Im proud of everything he has achieved and really value the time we get to spend with each other.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) on Friday hosted a special flag raising ceremony to honor Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime Bautista and commemorate his first year as a Cabinet member in the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The ceremony, according to CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio, also marked the last day of the DOTrs temporary stay at the agencys main building and signaled the departments move to its new headquarters in Metro Manila.

Bautista thanked the CAAP for its hospitality, saying it graciously allowed and welcomed the DOTr to use CAAP main buildings 4th floor as its temporary home. Joel E. Zurbano

While the DOTrs primary office at Primex Tower in San Juan City is undergoing renovations, the CAAP office served as the departments tentative base of operations.

Bautista recalled numerous significant experiences, highlighting the encounters with ambassadors from various nations, the oath-taking ceremonies of DOTr officials and its attached agencies, and the crucial meetings with stakeholders from diverse transportation sectors, greatly contributing to the Secretarys understanding and appreciation not just of the aviation industry but also of the transport sector as a whole.

Meanwhile, he outlined his future plans for the aviation sector, emphasizing the development of airports in provinces across the country. These, he said, aim to enhance accessibility, improve safety standards, and stimulate economic growth by connecting more regions through efficient air transport.

As the DOTr prepares to move to its new main office in San Juan, Bautista said he and the entire department remain steadfast in their dedication to providing efficient and sustainable transportation services and solutions for its stakeholders and most importantly, the Filipino people.

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Putin accused Prigozhin of treason and vowed to punish the perpetrators, accusing them of pushing Russia to the brink of civil war

ParisThe Wagner mercenary groups mutiny has weakened President Vladimir Putin and could affect the course of the war in Ukraine, analysts say.

The aborted weekend revolt led by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhinwho declared a sudden pull-back after marching towards Moscowhas damaged Putins image, boosted morale among Ukrainian troops, and generated confusion.

It marked the biggest challenge yet to Putins long rule and Russias most serious security crisis since he came to power in 1999.

But its not clear if it will translate directly onto the battlefieldas Rob Lee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute points out, Wagner no longer had a key role in the Ukrainian theater.

Wagner forces were replaced in Bakhmut (in eastern Ukraine, the site of the wars longest and bloodiest battle) at the end of May-early June, Lee wrote on Twitter.

I dont think any Wagner troops are currently on the front lines, or were pulled from there for this event.

Wagner is designed for assaults and not for defensive operations. It was never clear what role they would play during Ukraines counteroffensive, he added.

Ukrainian soldiers returning from the front line on Sunday said the Wagner revolt had not noticeably affected fighting around Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine.

Putins weakened credibility

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Wagners aborted revolt exposed real cracks in Putins authority.

Prigozhins rebellion marked a direct challenge to Putins authority, the top American diplomat said.

French President Emmanuel Macron took a similar line, saying the revolt shows the divisions that exist within the Russian camp, and the fragility of both its military and its auxillary forces.

Prigozhins long-standing feud with military top brass over the conduct of the Russian operation in Ukraine boiled over on Saturday last, when Wagner forces seized a military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and advanced towards the capital.

In a fiery speech Saturday, Putin accused Prigozhin of treason and vowed to punish the perpetrators, accusing them of pushing Russia to the brink of civil war.

Just hours later, however, he had accepted a deal brokered by Minsk granting an amnesty for the Wagner chief and his men, and exile to Belarus for Prigozhin himself.

This episode weakens the credibility of Putin, who appeared to be in panic on television on Saturday, William Alberque of the International Institute for Strategic Studies told AFP.

Everyone in Moscow is wondering: If it was a five-minute insurrection, why did the president talk about civil war?

On the other hand, if Prigozhin stays alive, all the Russian security players will feel they have impunity, he warned.

The threat from Belarus

Kyiv had said the unrest offered a window of opportunity for its long-awaited counter-offensive.

But Moscow insisted that the mutiny would not affect its operations in Ukraine. Russian strikes continued Saturday, killing five people in Kyiv, according to the citys mayor.

On Sunday, Russia said it repelled several Ukrainian assaults in the east and south of the country, where Kyiv had announced gains.

But experts believe the mutiny will be a blow to the morale of Russian troops in Ukraine, who have endured heavy losses in 16 months for marginal territorial gains.

This must affect Russian morale, said Pierre Razoux, academic director of the France-based Mediterranean Foundation of Strategic Studies.

On the Ukrainian side, there is perhaps a momentum to be used to break through the front line, or at any rate to gain positions.

But he warned Ukraine would also have to secure the Belarus border because they are not safe from a treacherous blow.

If 15,000 of Wagners men pour in from Belarus, they can do some damage. Maybe thats what Prigozhin has negotiated with Putin. AFP

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The Philippines cannot just lease to Taiwan, Japan or South Korea any of those bases designated under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement

The request made by the US for the Philippines to accept Afghan refugees constitutes a violation of the countrys sovereignty.

The Philippines, as a sovereign and independent state, has the exclusive right whom to accept its would-be citizens.

No state has the right to tell us whom we are going to accept as our citizens whether as refugees or asylum seekers.

What happened to these people is not of our own making.

If some turned out to become terrorists or religious bigots, it was the US that waged a cruel and nasty war against them only to mold bitterness against countries that unknowingly adopted them.

The acceptance of people classified as refugees is solely for the state to determine.

It is equivalent to self-determination and independence.

To pass on to other states the responsibility of who should be its citizens is to escape the duty of sustaining its own people their basic necessities of life.

In which case, the primary responsibility of the US is to accept those Afghan refugees irrespective of the circumstances why they were stranded or politically disenfranchised in their own county.

The country that sponsored their terroristic ideology in exchange for the alleged promise of liberation and freedom should stand responsible for the consequences for its action.

The US alone should take the responsibility in absorbing those displaced people now seeking employment and better opportunities abroad.

For the US to arbitrarily allocate 50,000 Afghan refugees for each of its allies that supported the war of aggression as its quota to accepting these asylum seekers, many of whom are of dubious background, is constitutionally untenable.

Principally, the Philippines never supported that US imperialist war in Central Asia.

Logically, the US cannot now collect from us as payment for our support more that it resulted in a shameful debacle.

The President and his favorite lapdog should bear in mind that the country never voted to support American intervention in Afghanistan like voting for the approval of a UN resolution to intervene.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo even sought the immediate pullout of our military contingent then headed by General Palparan with most US embassy personnel seeing the decision distasteful.

As said, the acceptance of people classified as refugees is solely for the state to determine.

To pass on to other states that responsibility is to avoid the requirement that goes with the duty of sustaining the life of its own people.

To demand from a country to impose a quota of 50,000 Afghan refugees is to preempt on our right to choose the number Afghans we are obligated to accept with us wondering whether the US is willing to match the number it imposed on us as a lackey.

The whole of Latin America from Mexico to Argentina are watching just how the US have been stringent in holding and detaining questionable immigrants along its border.

Many of them have been languishing for years without the possibility of being allowed entry into the US.

If the US cannot de-clog its swelling number of immigrant applicants, it is with more reason why we should not comply with their dictate of accepting questionable immigrants.

They do not owe an iota of service and gratitude to this country.

Maybe they served as interpreters and/or spies for the US forces during the occupation, but not for the Philippines.

Examining the records just how we messed ourselves into this interventionist policy of the US, it would seem the country rather promised to accept the 50,000 Afghan as refugees.

Such act is unconstitutional, not to say illegal.

The allocation given to countries constitute a gross interference in our internal affairs by a permanent member of the UN security council.

Right now, there are millions of Mexican immigrants awaiting to have their immigration papers processed.

In their desire to pass this stringent sanitation, many cannot hope to pass through this US policy.

Professor Clarita Carlos, the former national security adviser of the President, is also opposed to the idea of accommodating Afghan refugees.

She said that giving entry to the to the Taliban is risky and an added cost to our security problem.

She added it was the US that provoked the war in the name of democracy and recruited many traitors to defend their cause not knowing they will end up losing the war characterized by their abrupt pullout of its troops like what they did in Vietnam in 1973.

Americans knew that many of these Afghans enlisted themselves as interpreters and have little knowledge about freedom and democracy but are mainly seeking employment hoping they will be absorbed as immigrants after the fall out.

This recommendation by Ambassador Romualdez to allocate potential terrorists is similar to his suggestion of lending some areas we allocated to the US as military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

The fellow does not seem to understand the concept of sovereignty of the State, that foreign military bases, even if they are on lease or for rent, cannot be the subject of further sublease by the state.

Such must comply with the Constitutional requirement.

In which case, the Philippines cannot just lease to Taiwan, Japan or South Korea any of those bases designated under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.

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Lebanon ended its search for a public place where people can sleep, ahead of pending state law, by not selecting and formally designating a camping site.

Rather than identify a specific lot within the citys borders where someone can set up a tent or sleep, elected officials on Wednesday, June 28 narrowed the list of all public places where someone cannot shelter overnight.

Whats left, staff said, are portions of city property next to a train station and meeting hall and the lawn in front of the Lebanon Police Department.

I think an unmanaged, overnight camp site is going to be a challenge, City Manager Nancy Brewer said.

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Since spring, city officials have been examining portions of little-used streets, medians and public parking lots in an effort to identify where police can move unhoused people from other parts of the city as part of a new law that took effect July 1.

Federal courts have found criminalizing sleep is cruel and unusual punishment. A decision out of Boise in 2019 set a federal standard for all states in the U.S. Court of Appeals sprawling Ninth Circuit: Police cant arrest someone for violating an anti-camping rule if there is no place for that person to sleep.

Cities across Oregon have rushed to designate such places after Oregon in 2021 passed a law codifying the decision. Municipalities have interpreted the rules to mean if no specific sleeping site is provided to the public, then every public space is that site.

You got to remember public property includes the sidewalks throughout town, the space between the sidewalk and the curb on the street; it includes the streets; it includes right of way; it includes riparian areas that have been dedicated to the city as non-developable property; it includes the trail system, Brewer said.

Councilors received a 37-page petition from a local business with signatories asking to keep the site out of downtown Lebanon.

Several told the council they didn't want any potential sleeping site established near their houses or businesses.

Ian Martiszus described state laws as a failure.

"Then Lebanon could do little to prevent the city from turning into a miniature version of Portland's homeless dystopia," Martiszus said.

Kathryn Merritt told the council she was homeless for nine months before she moved to Lebanon in 2014, hoping to rent an inexpensive apartment.

"I don't think it's worthy or humane to put people on a slab and call it protection from the elements," Merritt said.

Under city ordinances passed in April, no one can be in Lebanons parks between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and the citys law had prohibited camping in public spaces or rights of way.

Councilors on Wednesday passed a rule making any property owned by the taxpayers of Lebanon an overnight sleeping area  so long as that site isnt closed to the public, a sidewalk, within 1,000 feet of a school or 50 feet of a trail, a waterway or a city government building.

The City Council added a 100-foot buffer around railroads.

Lebanon will allow the public to sleep from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. outside Santiam Travel Station, at West Sherman and South Third streets, and the Police Department, about 2,400 feet to the north.

Taken together, the restrictions effectively deny the public from sleeping in downtown Lebanon and bar sleepers from most of the rest of the city.

A proposal in May sought to establish a place where police can send people between 4 p.m. and 7 a.m. so that police effectively regain the power to trespass sleepers from public property.

Staff and councilors estimate Lebanon has a population of about 25 people without housing or permanent shelter in the citys community.

About point-zero-zero-one percent of the population, Mayor Kenneth Jackola said. We have to remember the rest of that percentage.

Councilors said they had visited managed sleeping sites at a shelter with a low barrier for entry in Sweet Home. They saw unmanaged sleeping sites just outside the property.

Those sites inside a fence appeared orderly. But outside, Ward 2 Councilor KJ Ullfers said, he was approached by several men with machetes and handguns.

Jackola described a similar scene: They were borderline mountain man-type guys."

Ullfers, who has managed Lebanon Soup Kitchen and helped found social services nonprofit Crossroads Communities, said he believed a sleeping site can work with tight control.

But tight control costs money.

The Lebanon City Council balked at paying for a site where the city would have placed a portable toilet and handwashing station and picked up trash.

If its not managed, its just not going to work, Ullfers said.

Related stories:
The Celtics traded one defensive-minded guard last week in Marcus Smart as part of the Kristaps Porzingis trade and may be looking to the free agent market to find a cheaper replacement. According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports, the Celtics are a potential suitor for veteran Patrick Beverley, who is also expected to draw interest from the Bulls and other teams.

The 34-year-old Beverley finished last season with the Bulls after he signed with Chicago following a buyout with the Magic. He made $13 million last season in the final year of his contract so will be looking at a sizable paycut in his next destination after signing for the veterans minimum with the Bulls on a buyout.

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Analysis

Its hard to envision Beverley seeing much of a fit for himself right now for Bostons current roster without more movement in their backcourt with Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon and Payton Pritchard all under contract. However, if Brogdon or Pritchard were on the move in a separate deal, an opportunity could be available for a veteran like Beverley in a bench role.

The Celtics dont have much to offer Beverley in free agency as the team is currently composed. If Grant Williams is a part of Bostons plans (unclear at this point), the Celtics wont have the ability to offer even the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5 million) and still stay under the second apron (which would become a hard cap if they use the MLE). Boston could offer Beverley the veterans minimum but odds are likely that Beverley may have a bigger market than that (closer to taxpayer mid-level) if there are multiple suitors for him.

Either way, Beverley probably wont be among the first players to land deals as cap space is used on Friday night but is a player to watch as a possible bench option for Boston if there is more dealing to come in the backcourt.
As the families of La Familia Dual Language School say goodbye to their space and prepare to move to Chandler Magnet School, parents are beginning to have concerns about the condition of the new building.

In response to concerns, Worcester Public Schools held a meeting last week at Chandler Magnet so parents could walk through the facility and learn more about upgrades that are planned over the summer before students arrive in late August.

We understand that a well maintained school is crucial for providing a conducive learning environment, Executive Director of Doherty Quadrant Ellen Kelley and Director of Facilities Rich Ikonen wrote in a letter to families before the meeting, which was shared with MassLive. We appreciate your understanding, patience and continued support as we undertake these necessary upgrades. Together we will create a school environment that will provide an optimal learning experience for all students.

The letter said that work to renovate and update some classrooms and clear out unwanted furniture and outdated materials would begin immediately. In addition, repairs to broken tiles, classroom updates, cleaning of the gymnasium and other work is planned for the summer.

Lashana Fulton, a member of the La Familia PTO, said she and other parents remain concerned about the building that their elementary-aged children will move into. Her biggest worries, she said, are air quality and mold.

Weve been told broken promises before, Fulton said. We have children who have health problems. Theres no reason why there should be mold anywhere in this school.

She was also concerned about the state of the lockers in the building, which are rusted through. She said the district told parents the cost of replacing the lockers was too expensive to do all at once, so they would remain locked so students cant access them.

In a statement, a Worcester Public Schools spokesperson said that in addition to deep cleaning, the school will receive new flooring in three classrooms, replacements for damaged floor tiles in hallways, a new wall in a large classroom to divide the space and an air quality assessment by a third-party company.

The WPS Facilities Department is working hard, and within their available resources, to ensure classroom spaces are inviting and sustainable for all students, the district said. WPS administrators recently met with Chandler Magnet Elementary families to answer their questions about facility work as part of the districts commitment to keeping families informed during the school merger process. ... WPS recognizes there are other deferred maintenance needs at Chandler Magnet that will be addressed in the future.

The district could not provide an exact estimate for how much the work at Chandler Magnet would cost, but expected it to be more than $100,000.

Chandler Magnet is not the only school in the district with declining facilities. Superintendent Rachel Monarrez said in an interview in March that the aging buildings throughout the city have presented challenges with lack of space and deferred maintenance.

However, she said at the time, the district does not receive enough funding to adequately address those issues, and the Massachusetts School Building Authority process for approving construction and repair products is too slow for Worcesters needs.

All Worcester schools will receive deep cleanings over the summer, and many, like the Chandler Magnet, will undergo repair work, the district said this week.

Worcester Public Schools announced in April that La Familia would close at the end of the school year after Catholic Diocese of Worcester opted to terminate the districts lease for the building early. La Familia opened in 2021 in the former St. Stephen School and was about two years into a five-year lease.

While the Diocese did not give a reason for ending the lease early, Monarrez said that it had mentioned terminating it during a previous meeting about the districts sexual health education curriculum.

Students at La Familia were guaranteed a place at Chandler Magnet for the 2023-2024 school year.
Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down affirmative action enrollment practices in the college admissions process, higher education institutions in Western Massachusetts pledged Thursday to maintain their support of practices they called inclusive and necessary while also adhering to the law.

That might pose a delicate balancing act after the court rejected affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, and established that race cannot be a factor in the enrollment process.

According to a statement by University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan and chancellors of the five campuses in the UMass system, race alone has not been a determining factor for which students are accepted in the first place. It was among several responses that showed an adherence to the ruling  but a defiance to allowing it to stifle their commitment to diversity.

Our admissions process has, for the past decade, employed a holistic approach that considers the entirety of an applicants life experiences. Holistic admissions, which does not use race as a determinative factor, has served us well, the UMass statement said.

Since 2011, the percentage of students of color in the incoming class has grown from 21% to 37%. We should, however, prepare for this ruling to have profound ramifications for higher education more broadly, it said.

Meehan and the chancellors cited trends since Californias passage of Proposition 209, a measure passed by voter referendum in 1996 that prohibited public universities in that state from using race as a criteria. They said there are far-reaching implications to ending affirmative action. Opponents of the California proposition say passage had a damaging effect on representation by underrepresented groups at state institutions.

The court ruling might have disappointed members of the Western Massachusetts academic community, but did not surprise them.

While we have been anticipating and preparing for this outcome for some time, the Courts decision dismantling affirmative action in college admissions marks a historic and challenging moment for all of higher education, including institutions such as ours that are deeply invested in inclusive education, UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy said.

While the Court may require us to change our methods, it cannot change our mission. A commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is a core value of UMass, Subbaswamy said.

Smith College President Kathleen McCartney and her successor, Sarah Willie-LeBreton, issued a joint statement with a similar message.

We will comply with the Courts decision. At the same time, the college will continue to work to ensure that our student body remains diverse, the joint statement said.

Our admissions process is a holistic one that considers various aspects of an applicants background and experiences - including grades, curriculum, extracurricular activities, work experience, geography, socioeconomic background and more - so that each applicants unique voice and perspective are fully appreciated.

The ruling comes on the eve of Willie-LeBretons first day as president. She will formally assume the position on Saturday, ending McCartneys 10-year tenure as Smith College president.

How institutions fulfill the dual promises of abiding by the ruling while still offering opportunity to underrepresented groups remains to be seen. While race can no longer be used to determine enrollment, broader inequities traced at least in part to race  particularly regarding disparate past opportunities and economic levels  still appear to be in play.

Not every critic of the ruling thinks the diversity mission will be so adroitly maintained. The president of the Massachusetts Medical Society said it has the potential damage the future of equity and opportunity in medical education, but pledged to combat such impact.

Todays decision is disheartening and threatens to undermine the efforts of the medical community to address racial disparities in health care access and outcomes, MMS president Dr. Barbara S. Spivak said. Despite this decision, the Massachusetts Medical Society will continue to push forward with our commitment to minimizing health disparities and promoting equity across the heath care spectrum.

Springfield College President Mary-Beth A. Cooper said the decision requires institutions to review their policies in order to continue offering opportunity to diverse populations.

As we look at our policies, procedures, and practices, Springfield College remains committed to creating and sustaining a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming educational environment and will remain vigilant in our efforts to provide educational access and equality for all, said Cooper, who expressed concern about the long-term impact of the ruling.

At American International College, the goal of reaching 25% Hispanic student enrollment  the benchmark to qualify as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI)  now has a new factor to be considered.

AIC President Dr. Hubert Benitez, however, said the court decision will have minimal impact on the Springfield institution.

I have always believed that diversity and inclusion are fundamental to higher education. Despite this ruling, I remain optimistic that institutions will uphold these principles, Benitez said.

(AIC) has always operated based on core values that prioritize access, opportunity, and diversity. Given our student demographic, diversity naturally thrives at AIC, and we must continue to serve this diverse population.

According to statistics supplied by the college, AICs student population is 24% Hispanic or Latino  barely below the HSI benchmark that would qualify the college for federal funding in some cases. Its so close, in fact, that AIC is designated as an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution (eHSI).

Another 23% of AICs student body is African-American.

Some institutions were more candid than others in venting their opposition to the decision.

Mount Holyoke College is deeply disappointed about todays Supreme Court decision overturning affirmative action as it overturns decades of settled law. Make no mistake, however: our values and our commitment to progress and continued representation in higher education remain undaunted, a college statement read.

The college will continue to break down barriers to higher education so that all students see themselves in our community. Mount Holyoke will ensure that students of color, LGBTQ+ students, first generation students and all students historically underrepresented in higher education are welcomed and valued on our campus and in our community. Todays decision will not change our unwavering commitment to these students, it continued.

Westfield State University and Western New England University were among institutions that referred to the statement issued by the office of Gov. Maura T. Healey as their stance as well.

Healeys statement railed against the decision and pledged that the states equity mission would be undeterred.

Massachusetts will always be welcoming and inclusive of students of color and students historically underrepresented in higher education. Todays Supreme Court decision overturns decades of settled law, the statement read.

In the Commonwealth, our values and our commitment to progress and continued representation in education remain unshakable. We will continue to break down barriers to higher education so that all students see themselves represented in both our public and private campus communities.

Healeys message was co-signed by members of her administrations political, academic and legal framework. It was also endorsed by dozens of college and university presidents and administrators.

Signers included officials from UMass, Amherst College, Bay Path University, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, Springfield College, Western New England University, Westfield State University, Springfield Technical Community College, Holyoke Community College and Greenfield Community College.

State Sen. Joanne M. Comerford of the Hampshire-Franklin-Worcester District and chair of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, called the court decision misguided .... and threatens to turn back the clock on decades of progress.

The Democrat pledged that Massachusetts will not yield, and added that the state Senate is showing its commitment with strong support of public higher education and a goal to make community college free of charge.
The Dighton police chief was placed on administrative leave Thursday after being charged in connection with a 2020 inside trading scheme in New York, according to officials.

Police Chief Shawn P. Cronin, 43, was charged with three counts of securities fraud under Title 15, three counts of tender offer fraud, one count of securities fraud under Title 18, and a conspiracy charge, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office in the Southern District of New York. If convicted, Cronin could face a maximum of 150 years in prison.

The district attorneys office claims a childhood friend told Cronin about Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.s upcoming acquisition of Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc. However, that information was not public. His childhood friend, Joseph Dupont, was Alexions vice president.

Read more: Carlos Asencio sentenced to life without parole for murdering Amanda Dabrowski

Cronin then purchased shares of Portola stock and out-of-the-money call options for Portola stock, officials said. He also told this information to another childhood friend, Jarett Mendoza.

Alexions acquisition of Portola was publicly announced May 5, 2020, and Portolas stock increased significantly in value, officials said.

Cronin sold his shares of Portola and call options for Portola stock, reaping millions of dollars of illegally obtained trading profits. Officials claim the police chief and two others made more than $2.2 million in the illegal scheme.

In 2020, Cronin was a sergeant but has since become police chief.

The Dighton Board of Selectmen met in an emergency session on Thursday. The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to place Cronin on administrative leave, a statement read.

Read more: Three families file lawsuit over body parts stolen from Harvard Medical School

Administrative Sergeant George Nichols was put as acting chief of police. Nichols then suspended Dupont, who was a reserve officer.

Cronin and Dupont appeared in federal court in Boston on Thursday, the Boston Globe reported. Cronin was released on a $250,000 bond, and Dupont was released on a $200,000 bond, the newspaper reported.

Mendoza pled guilty pursuant to a cooperation agreement, according to officials.
Gordon Ramsay is opening another restaurant in Boston in July with this one being centered around burgers.

Gordon Ramsay Burger will open July 5 inside Canopy by Hilton Hotel at 111 North St.

I am thrilled to finally open Gordon Ramsay Burger in the amazing city of Boston. Boston is a foodie city that truly embraces new and exciting dining experiences, and Im honored to be a part of its growing restaurant scene, Ramsay said.

It will focus on the chefs signature butter-basted burgers, fries, scratch-made sauces, and hand-spun milkshakes.

From traditional to modern burger preparations, there is a perfect burger for every palate, the company said in a statement.

It will also offer a vegan burger, which the company said is a must-try.

The space will have more than 4,000 square feet of restaurant space and one-of-a-kind roof deck on the second level with views of downtown. The views will also include the West End, the North End and the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

With close proximity to Faneuil Hall, Haymarket Station, and the Financial District, Gordon Ramsay Burgers central location is accessible to residents and tourists alike, a press release stated.

Another one of Ramsays restaurants, known as Ramsays Kitchen, opened in Boston on Jan. 24, 2022, at the Mandarin Oriental.

Ramsay told MassLive he first fell in love with Boston years ago.

I want to become one of the locals, he said.
Maura Healey, the first openly gay governor of Massachusetts, said shes disappointed and that the commonwealth will always stand for freedom and equality after a SCOTUS decision on a wedding website designers refusal to create websites celebrating same-sex marriages.

This decision is deeply disappointing and yet another example of the Supreme Courts callous disregard for the wellbeing of the very communities that need protecting, the statement read.

The Supreme Courts conservative majority ruled Friday that a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples.

The court ruled 6-3 for designer Lorie Smith, despite a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith had argued that the law violates her free speech rights.

Smiths opponents warned that a win for her would allow a range of businesses to discriminate, refusing to serve Black, Jewish or Muslim customers, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants. But Smith and her supporters had said that a ruling against her would force artists  from painters and photographers to writers and musicians  to do work that is against their beliefs.

The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the courts six conservative justices.

Read more: Massachusetts Teachers Association condemns SCOTUS racial education ruling

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent that was joined by the courts other liberals. Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class, Sotomayor wrote.

Healey referenced a case five years ago of a Christian baker who objected to designing a cake for a same-sex wedding. The court issued a limited ruling in favor of the baker, Jack Phillips, saying there had been impermissible hostility toward his religious views in the consideration of his case.

Phillips lawyer, Kristen Waggoner, of the Alliance Defending Freedom, also brought the most recent case to the court.

Massachusetts will always stand for freedom and equality because it wasnt about a cake then, and its not about a website now, Healeys statement read.

Freedom, she said, isnt using the First Amendment as license to shut your doors on LGBTQ+ customers. Freedom is the ability to live and love openly without fear.

The Associated Press contributed to this reporting.
Massachusetts officials are hoping the Supreme Court ruling on student loan forgiveness isnt the last word.

Todays decision is a judicial attack on the millions of student loan borrowers who have relied on the Biden Administrations debt relief plan and will struggle to make ends meet when repayment resumes in October, said Attorney General Andrea Campbell. However, this ruling must not be the last word.

On Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down President Joe Bidens proposal to cancel $430 billion of student loan debt, forcing millions of borrowers to have to restart payments in September.

In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the Administrations argument that a 2003 law allowed them to cancel student debt. The Supreme Court stated that the Biden Administration needed clear congressional authorization before implementing such a sweeping program.

The Biden administration had planned on forgiving up to $10,000 of federal student debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year. Meanwhile, Pell Grant recipients would receive an extra $10,000 in debt relief.

Campbell is now calling on the president to look for other avenues to provide assistance to people.

We strongly urge the President to consider other avenues for providing much needed assistance to struggling borrowers, she wrote in a statement.

She also said her office is open to help Massachusetts borrowers prepare for payments to resume and access the other time-limited debt relief opportunities that are available today.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said canceling student debt would change and save lives. And the Supreme Court decision is something with which she strongly disagrees.

The Supreme Court got it so wrong with this #CancelStudentDebt ruling, she tweeted.

The Supreme Court got it so wrong with this #CancelStudentDebt ruling.



But this isnt over. @POTUS and @SecCardona must use other tools available to swiftly cancel student debt.



My full statement pic.twitter.com/RnLgEkZPhD  Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) June 30, 2023

Rep. Katherine Clark commented on several of the recent Supreme Court decisions.

Its out with the Constitution and in with extreme MAGA ideology, she wrote.

The Supreme Court has decided to:



- eliminate reproductive freedom



- slam the door on equal opportunity



- push students off the path to financial security



- legitimize bigoted discrimination in the marketplace



It's out with the Constitution and in with extreme MAGA ideology.  Katherine Clark (@WhipKClark) June 30, 2023

Sen. Elizabeth Warren also noted the fight is not over.

Extremists on the Supreme Court have once again substituted politics for the rule of law, but this fight is not over, she tweeted. The president has more tools to #CancelStudentDebt, and he must use them.
The number of white sharks in Cape Cod waters will begin to uptick within the next two weeks, according to researcher Greg Skomal, the Senior Fisheries Scientist at Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

Skomal, who has been prepping for his summer of shark tagging and other field duties over the past month with his team, said his field work depends on when the white sharks return, and expects he could be back on the water starting the first week of July.

Before the field season begins, Ive just tried to get as much done as I can before Im on the water. Theres not a lot of sharks around yet; youve seen on the Sharktivity app, theres not much, Skomal said as of June 27.

Im going to wait  maybe, maybe late next week, well go do a reconnaissance trip. But Im thinking the week after, [Ill] definitely [be on the water], Skomal said.

This is no different from past years, Skomal explained, as peak season for white sharks near Cape Cod is from August to October, and researchers generally start their work in July.

The first white shark of 2022 was tagged by Atlantic White Shark Conservancy and researcher Greg Skomal.

Over the last month, the researchers have been deploying acoustic receivers throughout waters in the state and prepping field gear, Skomal said.

Once on the water, the researchers main duty will be applying two to three different types of tags, including acoustic, satellite and camera, to the sharks they detect, Skomal said. They will also be cataloguing fish, checking shark tag receivers and deploying real-time receivers.

Were using this technology to enhance public safety, thats ultimately our goal; were really focused on that, Skomal said, explaining the data collected from the tags is information used to protect the public and their aquatic activities.

As of June 29, there have been at least 25 confirmed shark sightings and detections altogether in Cape Cod waters in June, and one unconfirmed sighting reported near Provincetown, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancys tracking app, Sharktivity.

Paulie, a great white shark, swimming off the coast of Cape Cod. (Photo courtesy of Atlantic White Shark Conservancy).

Though many of the sharks are confirmed sightings from the general public, some of these sharks were detected from single-point buoys stationed throughout the Cape, including those previously detected and named by researchers.

These sharks include Froot Loops, who was detected at one buoy north of Eastham on June 20 at 5:23 a.m., then again lower down the Cape that morning at 9:30 a.m. in Chatham.

Brody is another shark whos been repeatedly detected, once at the Chatham buoy on June 28 at 2:29 a.m., then at the buoy north of Eastham on June 29 at 4:36 a.m.

The sharks are drawn in to the Cape for the immense seal population, Skomal explained, citing legislation such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act as to how the seals have restored their numbers over the years to previous abundance after being nearly hunted to extinction throughout Massachusetts, the rest of New England and Canada.

If you were around maybe 100 years ago, maybe 200 years ago, you would have seen seals all over the Cape beaches, because this is their natural habitat. Now that weve brought them back, [the sharks are also] obviously going to be in their natural habitat, which is the Outer Cape, Skomal said.

To keep updated on current shark sightings, researchers recommend downloading the public Sharktivity app to stay informed on sightings and detections.
WEST SPRINGFIELD  A family optical business that calls itself The Best in Sight will close at the end of July, ending a 60-year run.

The Russo Opticians Inc. sent letters to customers June 1 about the approaching retirement of its owners, Jerry Drudi and Karen Russo Drudi.

The couple says they are ready to take time building memories with their family.

We are at a point in our lives where we want to enjoy our five grandkids, spend some time traveling and pursuing old and new hobbies, Karen Drudi told The Republican.

Customers have been coming in to order their last pair of glasses, she said. They have also been stopping by to say thank you for taking care of their family and their visual needs for all these years.

Patrick F. Russo, Karens father, operated a business from a side porch at 153 Bristol St. in Springfield, in the evenings and on Saturdays from 1964 to 1968.

In 1968, Russo opened his first store, located in his hometown of West Springfield on 1421 Westfield St. It moved, in 1978, to 1025 Westfield St.

Russo Opticians Inc. in West Springfield. The 60-year-old business is closing at the end of July. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

Patrick Russo later opened stores in Springfield and in Enfield and Norwich, in Connecticut.

Karen Russo started working part-time at the family business in high school, doing office work. She and Jerry Drudi started dating in high school, when her father was looking for an apprentice.

Upon graduation, Jerry accepted the apprenticeship and Karen went off to optical school in Framingham. Later, Jerry became a licensed optician in Massachusetts and Connecticut and took over management of the West Springfield store in 1991, when Russo retired.

Karen Drudi, also a licensed optician, and her husband decided to retire to have more time to themselves. Its wonderful to own your own business, however it is always in the background, no matter if youre home, no matter if youre off, and no matter if youre on vacation. It is somehow always in the background, Karen Drudi said.

She said her husband will miss the business. We see, husbands, spouses, mothers, and children. We really see the whole family, she said. Jerry loved to come to work and what he did for a living. Thats probably why it took me three years to get him to retire with me, Karen Drudi said with a laugh.

Recently, Karen Drudi said, a customer reminded them they had been seeing her son since he was a child.

That was almost 20 years ago, she said. Its a community.

With every industry digitizing, customers can get glasses online without having to visit a store. For that reason, the future of family optical businesses lies in customer support.

The determining factor is what public demand is, she said. If people like and want the service of small, independent opticians, they must shop at independent opticians, she said.
HOLYOKE  A portrait of William Dwight Sr., an influential figure in Holyokes history and the newspaper industry, was revealed on Wednesday at the Holyoke Public Library.

Dwight, who passed in 1996, was the publisher of the Holyoke Transcript-Telegram, which closed in 1993. The newspaper played a pivotal role in the lives of Holyokers, chronicling the civic and political scenes.

Until recently, the oil painting resided on a meeting room wall at publisher Newspapers of New Englands headquarters in Concord, New Hampshire. The newspaper chain and the Dwight family agreed the Holyoke Public Librarys history room was a more suitable setting for the portrait.

The history room has an extensive collection of papers and artifacts from the Dwight family.

The effort was led by Joan Steiger; Aaron Julien, the board chair of Newspapers of New England; and Eileen Crosby, director of the history room. Dwights portrait hangs next to paintings of his parents, Minne and William G. Dwight, an artistic family reunion.

American artist and illustrator Roy Spreter captured Dwights likeness between 1959 and 1960. Dwights pose is relaxed, sitting sideways on a chair, arms resting comfortably. Hes wearing a lightweight blazer and gray trousers. His maroon tie is askew.

The portrait of publisher William Dwight Sr. now hangs in the Holyoke Public Library's History Room. (Dennis Hohenberger photo)

George Mettey, the librarys board president, thanked the Dwight family and Steiger for securing the painting.

The Dwights have a legacy in Holyoke and the library, and so very pleased we have the portrait, Mettey said.

Crosby said William Dwight joined the familys newspaper in 1930 as managing editor when he was 27. His mother became a publisher, holding the position for decades. While the paper shaped public opinion, the residents were always the focus.

That began his 50-plus-year career with the paper. ... He never moved on from the paper. It was always the Holyoke Transcript, Crosby said. Dwight also co-founded WHYN radio.

He later served as president of the American Newspaper Publishers Association. According to Crosby, a New York Times obituary credits Dwight with getting journalists on the ground in China, a time when McCarthyism gripped the nation.

Steiger said, Mr. Dwights brilliance was his theory of what a local newspaper should be and what it should provide. He put it in one word: names. He made sure to get the names of everybody in every club, organization and neighborhood. It was a daily newspaper, and everybody read it.

Steigers family owned the department store that anchored the High Street retail scene for generations. The store often took out full-page ads in the Transcript-Telegram.

Steiger added that the paper was a trusted source of information and fostered a sense of community. Dwight encouraged her father to run for alderman in Ward 7, eventually becoming the bodys president.

Julien, whose wife, Abigail, was Dwights granddaughter, said the publisher liked people, as was evident by his approach to running the daily newspaper.

He was just crazy about talking to people. He enjoyed it, Julien said.
The Supreme Court of the United States on Friday struck down President Joe Bidens proposal to cancel $430 billion of student loan debt, forcing millions of borrowers to have to restart payments in September.

In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the Administrations argument that a 2003 law allowed them to cancel student debt. The Supreme Court stated that the Biden administration needed clear congressional authorization before implementing such a sweeping program.

Last August, the Biden administration announced that he planned on forgiving up to $10,000 of federal student debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year. Meanwhile, Pell Grant recipients would receive an extra $10,000 in debt relief.

However, Bidens proposal was met with discontent from six states  Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina  that collectively filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in 2022. They claimed the president had overstepped his legal authority, as only Congress has the power to create laws related to student loan forgiveness.

The Biden administration has defended itself by arguing that it does have the authority to enact a loan forgiveness program under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act or HEROES Act. The 2003 law allows the U.S. Secretary of Education to waive or modify or modify any requirement or regulation applicable to the student financial assistance programs if the president declares a national emergency.

But on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled otherwise.

The Secretarys power under the Act to modify does not permit basic and fundamental changes in the scheme designed by Congress, the Supreme Court wrote. Instead, modify carries a connotation of increment or limitation, and must be read to mean to change moderately or in minor fashion. That is how the word is ordinarily used and defined, and the legal definition is no different.

Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote a dissent joined by justices Sonia Sotomayor and Kentanji Brown Jackson, wrote that the Supreme Courts decision had overstepped its limited role in government. Specifically, the liberal justice wrote that the Court was substituting itself for Congress and the Executive Branch.

Congress authorized the forgiveness plan (among many other actions); the Secretary put it in place; and the President would have been accountable for its success or failure, Kagan wrote. But this Court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides, because (so says the Court) that assistance is too significan[t].

To understand the courts decision, read the full opinion either in the embed above or at this link: Biden v. Nebraska
SPRINGFIELD  Amtrak, in a change of policy it did not explain to Springfield officials, refuses to open the gate blocking a grade-level rail crossing at the foot of State Street. City officials say it will be harder for people to access Riverfront Park for Tuesdays Star Spangled Springfield July Fourth festivities.

But the show will go on, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said at a hastily called Friday morning news conference about the shift in the relationship between city and rail company.

Judy Matt, president of Spirit of Springfield that puts on the event, said the refusal follows a $2,900 payment to Amtrak and months of negotiations for permission that in recent years was automatically granted.

Its bull, Matt told reporters.

Organizers asked visitors to be patient and to arrive early for whats promised to be a world class fireworks show.

Amtrak did not immediately return a request for comment.

Sarno said the city has been in contact with Amtrak for months trying to resolve the issue.

Pedestrian access to Riverfront Park, cut off by a rail line from the city, has been an issue for years and the city has a $3 million grant from Amtrak to create a permanent solution. City Department of Public Works Director Christopher Cignoli said design work starts later this summer and he hopes to begin construction next year.

But for now, city police and firefighters will direct foot traffic Tuesday to a set of steps just north of the State Street crossing. A ramp underpass a few yards even further north will serve as an wheelchair accessible entrance.

But the fear is that people confronted with a bottleneck will find their own way, trespassing on the track and creating an even worse safety hazard than would have existed had the gate been opened, said Springfield Deputy Police Chief Lawrence Akers. Hes putting extra police on the scene.

Amtrak acquiesced to opening the gate after the 9:30 p.m. fireworks show, but only for half an hour. Not nearly enough time to clear pedestrians, Akers said.

The gate is on city property, Cignoli said. Its an extension of State Street.

This map provided by the city of Springfield shows where pedestrians will have to walk to access Riverfront Park.

Not normally one to hide emotion, Sarno was particularly frustrated Friday as he issued a personal plea directly to federal Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Only a mayor knows the trials and tribulations of being a mayor, Sarno said.

Hes also working with U.S. Rep Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, and U.S. Sen. Edward Markey to resolve the situation.

Neals office has been working on the issue for weeks, said Neal spokesman Jack Chamberland. He said the city has been proactive in working with the railroad but the situation is puzzling because Amtrak has opened the gate before for previous Independence Days.

We are trying to figure out what has changed between this year and last year, Chamberland said.

Sarno and Cignoli have filed a formal complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities to require Amtrak to fulfill their contractual obligations with the city.

Sarno said its up to Amtrak.

I hope Amtrak corrects the situation, he said. I put this all at Amtrak.

The at-grade crossing at State Street was open for many years, Cignoli said.

But in March 2017, Longmeadow Department of Public Works employee Warren Cowles was killed plowing snow at another crossing along the same rail line. Cignoli said the incident prompted a review of all the crossings and new Amtrak safety regulations.

The city negotiated a deal with Amtrak, Cignoli said, even though the footpath in question is city property that promised city access and an open crossing for special events and truck access across the tracks when necessary.

In most instances, pickup trucks and smaller equipment can access Riverfront Park through the underpass. But larger equipment cannot make it.

This railroad overpass goes across an access road from West Columbus Ave. to Riverfront Park in downtown Springfield. (Hoang 'Leon' Nguyen / The Republican)

Patrick J. Sullivan, executive director of parks, buildings and recreation management for the city of Springfield, said hes also been unable to get Amtraks cooperation allowing portable toilets into the park for a salsa dancing event.

For Tuesday, Matt said Amtrak is opening the gate for truck access in preparation for the fireworks event.

During the time of the event, there are five north-south passenger trains scheduled to pass by Riverfront Park.
A 35-year-old Springfield man pleaded guilty to the December 2020 kidnapping and murder of a Chicopee man in a New Haven, Connecticut, federal court hearing.

Brandon Batiste, also known as B, admitted in U.S. District Court in New Haven Friday that he and an accomplice, Calvin Roberson of Waterbury, Connecticut, kidnapped Francisco Roman, Jr., 28, from his Chicopee home, and later shot him to death as the three drove to Hartford.

Batiste agreed to a binding plea agreement with federal prosecutors that, if accepted by the court, will see him spend between 30 to 45 years in federal prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 22.

According to court documents, Batiste and Roberson went to Romans Chicopee home the night of Dec. 24, 2020, and threatened him with a gun. The two stole cash, marijuana and other items from the handcuffed Roman, then forced him into his own car and drove away from the scene.

As the three traveled on Interstate 91 toward Hartford, prosecutors said Batiste shot and killed Roman.

Once in Hartford, the pair parked Romans car, with his body inside, on a Hartford street. Two days later Hartford police and firefighters responded to a reported car fire, extinguished the blaze and discovered Romans charred body riddled with bullet holes in the rear of the wreckage.

Batiste and Roberson were arrested following an investigation and both have now entered guilty pleas to one count each of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and one count of causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm. Both are being held pending sentencing.

In April of this year, Roberson pleaded guilty to three separate murders in Hampden Superior Court.

In his plea agreement, Roberson admitted to killing Loan Nguyen in a 2006 unsuccessful nail salon robbery. He also admitted shooting brothers Yonaides and David Pichardo in separate incidents.

Yoniades Pichardo was found shot to death in his car on Sycamore Street in Springfield in 2016, while David Pichardo was shot and killed as he did his laundry in a Boston Road laundromat in Springfield in December 2017.
The Supreme Court of the United States on Friday struck down President Joe Bidens proposal to cancel $430 billion of student loan debt, forcing millions of borrowers to have to restart payments in October.

In a 6-3 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the Administrations argument that a 2003 law allowed them to cancel student debt. The Supreme Court stated that the Biden administration needed clear congressional authorization before implementing such a sweeping program.

Read more: Supreme Court rules for designer who refused to make wedding websites for gay couples

Last August, the Biden administration announced a plan to forgive up to $10,000 of federal student debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year. Meanwhile, Pell Grant recipients would receive an extra $10,000 in debt relief.

However, Bidens proposal was met with discontent from six states  Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina  that collectively filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in 2022. They claimed the president had overstepped his legal authority, as only Congress has the power to create laws related to student loan forgiveness.

The Act requires a real connection to a national emergency. But the Departments reliance on the COVID-19 pandemic is a pretext to mask the Presidents true goal of fulfilling his campaign promise to erase student-loan debt, Nebraska Solicitor General James Campbell wrote in the states brief.

According to Campbell, since the current economic conditions are not directly attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Education has failed to link the debt cancellation to a national emergency.

The Biden administration has defended itself by arguing that it does have the authority to enact a loan forgiveness program under the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act or HEROES Act. The 2003 law allows the U.S. Secretary of Education to waive or modify or modify any requirement or regulation applicable to the student financial assistance programs if the president declares a national emergency.

But on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled otherwise.

The Secretarys power under the Act to modify does not permit basic and fundamental changes in the scheme designed by Congress, the Supreme Court wrote. Instead, modify carries a connotation of increment or limitation, and must be read to mean to change moderately or in minor fashion. That is how the word is ordinarily used and defined, and the legal definition is no different.

The Courts ruling is also paired with a separate, but similar case filed by two student loan borrowers from Texas. In that case, the Supreme Court said the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue the Biden administration and dismissed the suit.

However, in the lawsuit filed by the six states, the Court said that at least Missouri had standing to sue the government as Bidens proposal wouldve cost the states Higher Education Loan Authority roughly $44 million a year in fees.

The Secretary also contends that because MOHELA can sue on its own behalf, itnot Missourimust be the one to sue, the Court wrote. But where a State has been harmed in carrying out its responsibilities, the fact that it chose to exercise its authority through a public corporation it created and controls does not bar the State from suing to remedy that harm itself.

Justice Elena Kagan, who wrote a dissent joined by justices Sonia Sotomayor and Kentanji Brown Jackson, said that the Supreme Courts decision had overstepped its limited role in government. Specifically, the liberal justice noted that the Court had substituted itself for Congress and the Executive Branch.

Congress authorized the forgiveness plan (among many other actions); the Secretary put it in place; and the President would have been accountable for its success or failure, Kagan wrote. But this Court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides, because (so says the Court) that assistance is too significan[t].

Bidens proposal is the most recent pandemic-related initiative that has failed before the Supreme Court. In 2021, the Court ended a federal eviction moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year, the Court blocked a proposal that wouldve required vaccination or at least regular testing at the nations largest employers and limited the Environmental Protection Agencys ability to reduce carbon emissions.

The HEROES Act was first triggered by the Trump administration in 2020, during the early phases of the pandemic and later carried by the Biden administration.

In a statement from the White House, Biden said the Supreme Courts decision was wrong. The president went on to also call out the hypocrisy of the Republican-led states who filed the suit against him.

They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses  including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses, Biden said in a statement. And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.

As for now, the president is expected to detail steps his administration will take to assist borrowers with student loan debt.
In a 6-3 majority opinion, the Supreme Court of the United States decided to end President Joe Bidens student loan forgiveness plan.

Last August, Biden proposed a plan that wouldve cleared up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt from millions of borrowers in the U.S. Specifically, the government had planned on forgiving up to $10,000 of federal student debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year. Meanwhile, Pell Grant recipients would receive an extra $10,000 in debt relief.

But, now that the presidents proposal has officially faulted, borrowers will have to repay their federal student loans this fall.

Federal student loans will start accruing interest starting on Sept. 1, 2023, due to a debt ceiling plan Biden signed in June, according to the Department of Education. Meanwhile, official loan repayments will resume on Oct. 1, 2023.

The U.S. Department of Education will notify borrowers before loan repayments restart, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Experts suggest that borrowers start creating repayment strategies sooner-than-later to prepare for the coming payments, the Journal reported.
When Cas Arbuckle joined the team at Worcesters Central Street Starbucks location more than a year ago, they felt supported and welcomed as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Arbuckle, who uses she/they pronouns, said they were especially pleased with the Pride display the employees set up last year.

Our entire store was decked out. We had a beautiful Pride flag.

This year, she said, it all changed.

Arbuckle and a group of employees from both the Worcester location and the store in Gardner, picketed in front of the Central Street coffee shop in Worcester Friday from 10 a.m. to noon, wearing Pride shirts, waving signs and flags and chanting pro-LGBTQ+ and pro-union slogans.

The protest comes amid tense contract negotiations between the Seattle-based chain and Starbucks Workers United  the union to which the two shops belong.

I definitely feel that it has changed, Arbuckle said of the company.

When I was first hired, it was not at all like it is now.

Bailey Fulton, another employee who has worked at Starbucks for more than a decade, said that in contrast to Pride decorations in the past, employees at the Central Street store were given much more limited options this year  either decorate the whole store for one day as a community event, decorate only the back room, or decorate a community board which the location doesnt have.

Workers at other store locations have documented opposition from management to Pride displays, including some managers throwing decorations in the trash, according to media reports.

Fulton also said the chain has made gender-affirming care less accessible, which stands in contrast to how the brand has portrayed itself as a supporter of LGBTQ+ people.

Its very gaslight energy, she said.

Store management referred questions for comment to the Starbucks corporate office.

Corporate officials called the unions claims false, referencing a letter recently released by Executive Vice President Sara Trilling.

Trilling wrote in her letter that there has been no change to any of our policies as it relates to our inclusive store environments, our company culture, and the benefits we offer our partners. (emphasis included)

Trilling added that the company plans to issue clearer guidelines on decorations.

Communications manager Andrew Trull in an email said Friday that Starbucks has filed unfair labor practices charges against Workers United for false claims about the Pride decorations and changes to gender-affirming care.

CEO Laxman Narasimhan said in a statement, We want to be crystal clear  Starbucks has been and will continue to be at the forefront of supporting the LGBTQIA2+ community, and we will not waver in that commitment!

Fulton said Friday that the company should be embarrassed for allowing managers to do things like throw out Pride flags.

They need to allow their workers to self-express comfortably.
A 20-year-old man was taken to the hospital Thursday night after Worcester police responded to two shootings within minutes of each other, according to the Worcester Police Department.

The shootings happened within about three minutes of each other and about a mile apart in the Vernon Hill area.

Read more: La Familia parents worry about Chandler Magnet conditions ahead of move

At 10:03 p.m., a ShotSpotter activation alerted police to gunshots near 103 Dorchester St. Responding officers found evidence shots had been fired there, but did not find any victims, according to police.

At 10:06 p.m., gunshots were reported near 65 Upsala St., according to police. Officers did find a gunshot victim there, the unidentified 20-year-old man who was treated and taken to the hospital.

The shooting is being investigated by police detectives and is ongoing.

The police department asks that if you have information about this incident, please send an anonymous text to 274637 (TIPWPD) or send an anonymous message at worcesterma.gov/police. Calls can also be made to the Worcester Police Detective Bureau at (508) 799-8651.
Le Cabinet des Ministres a donne son accord pour la signature dun protocole daccord entre le MInistere de lEducatuion et la Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation concernant la programmation et la diffusion des programmes educatifs ainsi que des informations dans les journaux radios et televisuels.

Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology and the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation for the broadcast of programmes pertaining to the education sector. The Memorandum of Understanding provides, inter alia, for:

(a) the broadcast of communiques during Radio and TV news regarding national educational issues; and

(b) the broadcast of educational programmes on relevant MBC channels during a time period falling within normal schooling hours in case of unforeseen school closure during national emergencies.
ICEX Spain Trade and Investment and the African Development Bank have signed a cooperation agreement to consolidate engagement of Spains private sector for urban development in Africa.

The agreement will more specifically foster cooperation between the Spanish business entity and the Urban and Municipal Development Fund (UMDF) a multi-donor trust fund hosted by the African Development Bank.

The Spanish public agency will mobilize Spanish expertise for African Cities, including cross participation in events, data and knowledge sharing.

The agreement was concluded on the margins of the Jornadas Multilaterales, an event promoting dialogue between Spanish entrepreneurs and Ivorian economic actors organized by ICEX in Abidjan, Cote dIvoire this month. During the event, questions related to sustainable urban development were the theme of a panel discussion.

The Bank is very pleased with the Spanish-African partnership, especially its collaboration between ICEX and the UMDF, supporting project development of urban Infrastructure and Planning, said Stefan Atchia, Manager of the Banks Urban Development Division, who signed on behalf of the institution.

Maria Pena Mateos, CEO of ICEX, noted that, Spain has large experience with innovation and technology for urban services, which we want to make available for African cities. Moreover, the memorandum has agreed to facilitate the African Development Banks participation in the Smart Cities Expo World Congress, to be held in Barcelona in November, to learn more about the objectives and technologies related to urban development, inclusiveness and sustainability.

The signed partnership document would form the foundation for a long-standing alignment of interests between the two parties, according to its terms.

The Urban and Municipal Development Fund promotes sustainable, resilient and inclusive urban planning in the Banks member countries. The Fund facilitates infrastructure project financing and implementation across Africa. It emphasizes the crucial role of private sector expertise and financing to fill the important services and urban infrastructures gap in African cities.

ICEX (www.ICEX.es) is engaged in fostering Spanish companies participation in projects promoting sustainable development. The agency acts as a prescriber and public body of reference in the field of sustainable internationalization, under the conviction that internationalization can and should be part of the solution to the major global development challenge, driving innovation as a catalyst for more inclusive and sustainable products and processes.
FIANNA Fail county councillor Michael Loftus has become the first Crossmolina man ever to be elected Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council.

Cllr Loftus was elected unopposed at the Annual General Meeting of the local authority at Aras an Contae this afternoon.

He was proposed as Cathaoirleach Cllr Damien Ryan and seconded by Cllr Annie May Reape, both fellow Fianna Fail members.

Castlebar-based Martin McLoughlin (Fianna Fail) will serve as Leas-Cathaoirleach after being proposed and seconded by Cllr Ryan and and Cllr Al McDonnell (both Fianna Fail).

Speaking following his election, Cllr Loftus hit out at 'unjust online abuse' being leveled at councillors, who he said were expected to be available on a '24/7' basis.

The long-time businessman said he was 'deeply concerned' about the impact on businesses of a new rates valuation system which is to be introduced later this year.

He also doubled down on his call for the for the new pyrite redress scheme to be expedited.

The Mayo Joint Policing Committee member called for more gardai to be put in place in Mayo and said drugs had become a major problem in the county.

He also raise the issue of a delay in the long-awaited Crossmolina flood relief scheme, which he said was causing 'immense anxiety' for locals.

Cllr Loftus, who is the son of the late All-Ireland winner Dr Mick Loftus, was first elected to the local authority in 2014 and was re-elected at the 2019 local election.

Councillors from across part lines extended their praise to Cllr Loftus, with fellow Fianna Fail councillor Brendan Mulroy describing him as 'one of life's good guys'.

Outgoing Cathaoirleach Cllr Seamus Weir said it was a source of 'great pride' to serve in the role after a 'busy, busy year'.

During his term, Cllr Weir attended the opening of the new N5 dual carriageway from Turlough to Westport.

He also formally welcomed US President Joe Biden to Mayo when he landed at Knock Airport, which he described as his 'biggest highlight'.

The Independent councillor paid tribute to his family, his fellow councillors Mayo County Council's executive staff for their support during his term.

Fianna Fail whip Cllr Damien Ryan said that Cllr Weir represented the council in an 'exemplary' fashion and wished him the best for the future.

Fine Gael whip Cllr Michael Burke also extended his thanks to Cllr Weir, whom he described as 'fair and reasonable'.

There will be more coverage plus reaction to the election of Cllr Michael Loftus in Tuesday's edition of The Mayo News.
ONE of the greatest musicals in history is coming to the West of Ireland after Ballinrobe Musical Society announced the staging of The Phantom of the Opera in 2024.

The highly acclaimed show, which has run on Broadway and the West End for several decades, will be staged by the society from February 11-17.

With a spellbinding score and mesmerising technical set pieces, Phantom rightly holds its place among the great masterpieces of musical theatre.

Scored by the legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, the show features some of the best-known songs in musical theatre, including Phantom of The Opera and The Music Of The Night and Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again.

Based on the novel by Gaston Leroux, the story takes place in a majestic Paris opera house inhabited by the mysterious Phantom, a mask-wearing musical genius shunned by society for a hideous facial deformity.

He takes the promising young soprano Christine under his wing to groom her for fame and success before falling deeply in love with her.

However, terror quickly unfolds when Christine instead falls for a handsome young man from her past, with the daring Phantom determined to stop at nothing to win her affections.

Staging this show has been a long-held dream for many in the Ballinrobe Musical Society and at four oclock on February 11, that dream will finally become a reality.

Ballinrobe Musical Society Chairman Kenneth McCarthy said: We are thrilled to stage one of all-time great shows.

This show has been a firm favourite among many cast members over the years. We are extremely excited to stage it right here in Ballinrobe.

2024 will mark the 50th anniversary of our societys re-formation. We are delighted to mark this anniversary by staging this magnificent show, continued Mr McCarthy.

We were absolutely blown away by the reaction to Me And My Girl, which we staged earlier this year after a long three-year hiatus. Already, we are looking forward to getting back to rehearsals with Alan, Finola and Aoife this autumn.

Mr McCarthy added: I would also like to sincerely thank our patrons and sponsors for their continued generosity. Without their support, it would simply not be possible to stage our annual show.

The show will be directed by Alan Greaney alongside long-time society Choreographer Aoife McClafferty, Musical Director Finola Higgins and Stage Manager Kenneth McCarthy.

Finola Higgins, Ballinrobe Musical Societys Choral Mistress and Musical Director, said: Im honoured and so excited to be musical director for this phenomenal show.

This show has the most incredible score with such songs as All I Ask Of You, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again and, of course, Masquerade.

I cannot wait to start working on this with the extremely talented cast of Ballinrobe Musical Society.

The Phantom of The Opera held its Irish amateur premiere earlier this year when Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society staged the show after overwhelming demand for tickets.

Ballinrobe Musical Society will be announcing details for auditions and rehearsals for their annual show in the coming months.

MORE

For more information, check out their Facebook or Instagram pages or email ballinrobemusicsociety@gmail.com.
by Tanya Gazdik , June 29, 2023

BMW is collaborating with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and an internationally renowned New York-based artist to create the 20th BMW Art Car.

Julie Mehretu was unanimously chosen by an international jury of museum directors and curators and will be given total creative freedom to design the next installment in BMWs collection of rolling sculptures.

BMW will enter Mehretus BMW M Hybrid V8 Art Car in the 24-Hour race of Le Mans next June. This continues an almost 50-year tradition that appeals to motorsport enthusiasts, but also anyone into design or the arts, technology and mobility.

The BMW Art Car initiative came from French racing driver and art lover Herve Poulain, who, in collaboration with then Head of BMW Motorsport Jochen Neerpasch, asked his artist friend Alexander Calder to paint an automobile. The result was a BMW 3.0 CSL that competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975, where it became a crowd favorite.

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Other artists who have created BMW Art Cars include Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Cao Fei, and John Baldessari.

The BMW Art Cars are not only shown at their home, the BMW Museum in Munich, but also travel around the world as part of international exhibitions.

The collaboration between BMW and Mehretu also includes an outreach aspect. Mehretu and Mehret Mandefro, co-founder of the Realness Institute, which aims to strengthen the media ecosystem across Africa, will host a series of gatherings in eight African cities over the course of nine months to open up space for artists to meet.

These workshops create a forum for the artists to consider new pathways to implementing just civic futures in their respective local communities and harness the power of the translocal collective, according to the automaker.

The outcome and results of the workshops will be presented together with the 20th BMW Art Car at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town in 2025.
by Ray Schultz , June 29, 2023

Google says it will block Canadian news following passage of the Online News Act, C-18.

Unfortunately, we've made the difficult decision that when Bill C-18 takes effect, we will remove Canadian news links from our Search, News and Discover products.

The law requires that tech platforms compensate publishers for linking to their content.

Meta, living up to threats it made earlier, also announced it is removing news from its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

The timing is not clear: The law may not take effect for months.

Googles move follows days of negotiations with Canadas Liberal government, Durgahregion.com writes.

Reuters reports an estimate by the independent budgetary watchdog in Canada that news businesses could receive about C$330 million ($249 million) per year from deals mandated under the legislation.

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According to CTV, Google will remove news links from its search engine, Google News and Google Discover for Canadian publishers and readers.

Google will also end Google News Showcase through which it licenses news from over 150 local publishers in Canada.

"Once the law takes effect, we wouldn't anticipate continuing the agreements," Kent Walker, president of global affairs for Google and its parent company Alphabet, told CTV. "We won't have a news product to be able to feature, (and) the agreements are premised on the ability to showcase Canadian news."

In addition, Meta said Wednesday it is terminating a contract with The Canadian Press to support the hiring of a of emerging journalists. The program has funded 30 reporting fellowship positions since its start in 2020.

The tech giants argue that they help local news publishers by linking to their content.

They have also threatened to block news in California if that state passes a similar bill.

In Australia, the tech firms struck deals with news publishers followed similar threats and the blocking of news for nearly a week, NPR reports.

It remains to be seen which side will blink first in the Canada standoff.

News is a relatively small feature on the tech platformsan estimate puts it at 3% on Facebook and Instagram.

Moreover, critics argue that negotiation programs could be taken over by fake news sites.

"At a moment when disinformation swirls in our public discourse, ensuring public access to credible journalism is essential, so it's deeply disappointing to see this decision from Google and Meta," Liz Woolery, who leads digital policy at PEN America, an organization that supports freedom of expression, told NPR.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, June 30, 2023

Where do online shoppers start product searches and where do people get information on news? It's been a topic of discussion for years after reports began to surface that 20-somethings were using TikTok to search for restaurants and other information on the site.

CivicScience released trends this week showing significant implications for brands, publishers and news agencies based on ways to advertise and disseminate news.

June data suggests most U.S. adults still use Amazon first, then Google, to research and shop for products online. It also shows a decline of two percentage points in the use of TikTok as a search engine.

Similar to the 2022 CivicScience study, most people using TikTok, Instagram, or Reddit as a starting point for product searches belong to the younger generation, such as Gen Z and younger Millennials.

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But the data shows a steep decline in TikTok as an ecommerce search engine among these younger generations. The use of Amazon as a search engine rose for both of these age groups, to 45% and 44%, respectively.

Use fell from 18% to 11% among Gen Z and from 10% to 5% among young Millennials, from August 2022 to June 2023. CivicScience cites possible growing concerns surrounding TikToks privacy and security.

For breaking news, a greater percentage of young adults turn to social media platforms for breaking news and fewer use social media as search engines.

Where people turn first for breaking news differs based on age. CivicScience data shows close to 90% of adults aged 18 to 34 use social media, compared with 71% of those aged 55 and older.

Gen Z and Millennials are the most likely to turn to social media for breaking news. The data also suggests social media has grown as a news source for all adults under age 55 since Q3 2021.

Data on how different age groups seek news:
by Todd Wasserman , June 30, 2023



Dominos Pizza delivered its first pizza via jetpack in the U.K. last week -- at the Glastonbury festival, which featured Rocketman Elton John performing

Sam Wilson, Domino's jet suit deployment director, told The Daily Mail that, When we realized pitching up to serve slices inside the festival was impossible, we took inspiration from this years' headliner to launch our own rapid delivery trial  it was a bit of a no brainer.

The suits, manufactured by Gravity Industries, are worth hundreds of thousands of British pounds. Gravity customized a suit that keep the pilot safe and the pizza warm.

Dominos hasnt said whether this was a one-off or if it plans to launch delivery via jetpack. Google parent Alphabet can now use drones to reach homes in Australia, Finland and the U.S. Amazon launched its Prime Air project a decade ago.

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Dominos also struck a deal with self-driving delivery company Nuro in 2021. Dominos customers in parts of Houston can choose to have deliveries from Nuros R2 robot. Nuros R2 is the first completely autonomous, occupant-ess on-road delivery vehicle with regulatory approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Dominos previously tested self-driving delivery with Ford, with a vehicle that was staffed with a driver.
Electromyography (EMG) is an electro diagnostic medicine technique used to evaluate the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. This is done by using an instrument known as electromyograph that produces a record called as electromyogram.

Electromyogram records the electrical potential generated by muscle cells once they are electrically or neurologically activated.

EMG may be ordered by a doctor if there are any signs or symptoms of nerve or muscle disorder. The symptoms may include:

Muscle weakness

Muscle pain or cramping

Tingling

Numbness

Pain in limbs

There are number of other conditions where EMG results may be useful:

Muscle disorders: e.g., muscular dystrophy or poliomyositis (inflammation of many muscles)

Myasthenia gravis is the commonest disorder of neuromuscular contraction/

Peripheral nerves disorders: e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome (numbness and tingling in the hand), peripheral neuropathies.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrings disease

Herniated disk in the spine, where nerve root is affected

While EMG is being conducted, a related test known as nerve conduction study (NCS) may be performed. NCS is done before an EMG if both tests are being conducted and can take from 15 min to 1 hour, depending on how many nerves and muscles are being studied. NCS is used to determine the amount and speed of conduction of electrical impulse through a nerve. Further, it also helps to estimate damage and destruction to the nerve. Both these procedures assist in determining the presence, location and extent of disease that damages the nerve and muscles. Care must be taken to keep the body temperature normal during the NCS test, as low body temperatures slow down the nerve conduction.

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Though EMG is a low-risk procedure and without known complications, there could be:

Small risk of bleeding, infection and nerve injury when an electrode needle is inserted.

Leakage of air into the area between lungs and chest wall, thereby causing collapse of lung (pneumothorax), when muscles along the chest walls are examined with needle electrode.

Patients with gross edema and taut skin can have leakage of serous fluid, when their skin is punctured by needle electrodes. This oozing of serous fluid may result in cellulitis. Hence prior risks need to be weighed by the physician.

No known cases of cellulitis, infection or other risks have been reported in patients with lymphedema. But, still caution has to be observed in doing needle examinations in lymphedematous regions so as to avoid complications.

In pregnant patients, no known complications have been reported.

Before the procedure

Your doctor (usually a neurologist) will explain to you about the process and give an opportunity to you for asking questions. Generally, there is no need for fasting before the test and in some cases, cigarettes and caffeinated beverages like, tea, coffee and cola have to be restricted for 2-3hours before the test.

Notify your doctor about the following if:

Taking any medications and herbal supplements



Any pacemaker or any other electrical device has been inserted



Using any blood-thinning medications



Suffering from hemophilia

You may be asked:

To dress in clothes that permit access to the areas to be tested and which are easily removable.



Avoid using lotions or oils on your skin for a few days before the procedure or refrain from using during the day of testing.

Taking a bath before the procedure in order to remove oil from your skin.

During the procedure

EMG procedure is done on an outpatient basis or as an inpatient procedure.. The procedure may vary depending on your condition and your doctors practices. This process is immediately done after nerve conduction study.

You will be given a gown to wear and will be asked to remove clothing, jewelry, hairpins, hearing aids, any metallic objects, eyeglasses or any other objects that may interfere with the process.

You will be made to sit or lie down for the test and your doctor (neurologist) will locate the muscle that needs to be studied.

The skin would be cleansed with an antiseptic solution and sterile needle will be inserted into the muscle. A ground electrode would then be kept under your arm or leg.

Usually more than 5 needle insertions may be necessary for the test and therefore you may experience slight pain, but its otherwise painless. In case if you feel pain, you must inform your examiner as this may interfere with the test result.

Relaxation may be needed during the test and you will also be required to do slight or full-strength muscle contractions.

Electrical impulses from your working muscle will be measured and shown on the oscilloscope.

During the whole process, an audio amplifier may also be used for evaluating appearance and sound of electrical potentials. Sound of muscle contraction can be heard if recorder is connected to an audio amplifier.

After the procedure

Electrodes will be removed from the skin and also any paste attached to it.

You can resume your normal activities, unless differently advised by doctor. Also, additional information may be given after the procedure, but this varies as per individuals situation.

There may be slight bruising where the needle electrodes are inserted, which will fade out eventually. If it persists, contact your doctor.

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During EMG

Clothing : You will be asked to wear a hospital gown for the procedure and lie on examination table.

: You will be asked to wear a hospital gown for the procedure and lie on examination table. Electrodes : Various surface electrodes may be placed at several locations of your skin depending on where the symptoms are experienced, or needle electrodes may be inserted at different sites depending on the symptoms.

: Various surface electrodes may be placed at several locations of your skin depending on where the symptoms are experienced, or needle electrodes may be inserted at different sites depending on the symptoms. Consciousness : Electrodes inserted or placed will transmit minute electrical current that can give a feeling of twinge or spasm. Pain can also be experienced from needle electrodes on their removal. Any concerns related to pain should be discussed with your neurologist and if possible short break can be taken during the procedure.

: Electrodes inserted or placed will transmit minute electrical current that can give a feeling of twinge or spasm. Pain can also be experienced from needle electrodes on their removal. Any concerns related to pain should be discussed with your neurologist and if possible short break can be taken during the procedure. Directions: Any kind of electrical activity in your resting muscle during the needle EMG procedure will be assessed by your neurologist. You will be provided with a specific set of directions for resting and contracting a muscle at appropriate times. Depending on the type of muscles that is being examined, your doctor would ask you to alter your positions during the procedure.

Health tips
Gynecologic cancers are cancers arising from the organs of the female reproductive tract. These include the uterus, ovary, cervix, vulva and vagina.

It is estimated that every year in the US alone, nearly 90,000 women are diagnosed with gynecologic cancer and nearly 30,000 die from the disease. Although all women are at risk of developing gynecologic cancer, the risk increases with age.

It is important that every woman is aware and is able to recognize signs and symptoms which may be suggestive of gynecologic cancer and seek immediate medical advice for the same.

Like all cancers, early diagnosis and treatment offer a better chance of cure.

The five types of gynecologic cancer include the following:

1. Uterine or womb cancer  Arises from the lining of the uterus (endometrium), the pear shaped organ in which the baby grows.

2. Ovarian cancer  Begins in the ovaries, which are 2 in number and which are tiny almond shaped organs located on either side of the uterus.

3. Cervical cancer  It is also termed cancer cervix and is the lower part of the uterus.

4. Vaginal cancer  This cancer arises from the vagina, the hollow tubular organ that connects the cervix to the outside of the body. It is also referred to as the birth canal.

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5. Vulval cancer  The vulva forms part of the womans external genitalia and includes the inner and outer lips of the vagina, the clitoris, and the opening of the vagina and its glands.

Cancer Type Risk factors Cervical cancer Human Papilloma virus (HPV) infection

Chlamydial infection

Smoking

Unprotected sex, early age of intercourse and/or giving birth

Multiple childbirths, three or more

Longterm oral contraceptive pill use

Reduced immunity Uterine cancer Being obese or overweight

Increasing age more than 50 years

Difficulty in becoming pregnant

Genetic factors (Lynch syndrome)

Diabetes

Estrogen hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopause

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

Taking Tamoxifen, a drug used to treat breast cancer

Oral contraceptive pill reduces the risk of uterine cancer Ovarian cancer Increasing age- middle aged or older

Family history (presence of BRCA gene mutations, Lynch syndrome)

History of breast, uterine or colorectal cancer

History of infertility

History of endometriosis

Longterm use of estrogen alone (without combining progesterone)

East European or Jewish ancestry

Oral contraceptive pill reduces risk of ovarian cancer Vulvar cancer Smoking

HPV infection

History of cervical cancer or precancer

Ongoing vulvar itching or burning Vaginal cancer Smoking

HPV infection

History of cervical cancer or precancer

Reduced immunity

Cancer Type Clinical features Cervical cancer Vaginal bleeding after sex

Bleeding in between periods, or after menopause

Abnormal foul smelling vaginal discharge

Pain and discomfort during sex

Back pain Uterine cancer Vaginal bleeding after menopause

Bleeding in between periods in premenopausal women

Abnormal bloodstained vaginal discharge

Pelvic pain Ovarian cancer Abdominal distension and persistent bloated sensation

Persistent abdominal and pelvic pain

Abnormal vaginal bleeding or discharge

Unable to eat, feeling nauseous, feeling full after small quantity of food

Changes in bowel habits

Frequent need to pass urine Vulvar cancer Raised lump on the vulva that may be painful, itchy or bleeding

Persistent non-healing ulcer on the vulva

Painful or thickened area on the vulva Vaginal cancer Vaginal bleeding after sex

Abnormal bleeding in between periods or after menopause

Raised lump on the vaginal skin

Sore area on the vagina that may bleed on touch

Frequent need to pass urine

Cancer Type Methods of Prevention Cervical cancer Protect form HPV infection by practising safe sex, limiting number of sexual partners

Avoid intercourse at young age

Quit smoking

Regular followup with the gynecologist from 30 years until menopause to undergo Pap smear test that detects precancerous changes in the cervix and HPV infection

HPV vaccine for all girls aged 9-11 years reduces risk of HPV associated cancer of cervix, vulva and vagina; if you are older consult your doctor for further advice Uterine Cancer There is no method known to prevent uterine cancer. However you can reduce your risk by the following measures: Maintain a healthy body weight and be active

Use birth control pills

If you are taking estrogen alone, combine with progesterone

Followup regularly with your doctor if you have a family history of uterine, ovarian or colon cancer Ovarian Cancer Seek immediate medical attention if  You notice any signs or symptoms of breast cancer for at least two weeks

You have a history of breast, uterine or colorectal cancer (high risk)

A close relative like your mother or sister tests positive for BRCA mutation or had ovarian cancer (high risk) Your doctor may advise you to undergo tests such as rectal and vaginal examinations, transvaginal ultrasound and CA-125 blood test, all of which may aid in diagnosis of ovarian cancer. If you are a high risk person you will be advised regular followup to detect any abnormalities early and start treatment Vulvar Cancer and Vaginal Cancer Protect from HPV infection by practising safe sex, and limiting number of sexual partners HPV vaccine of all girls aged 9-11 years; if you are older consult your doctor for further advice Quit smoking

The following measures will help to ensure that you receive optimal treatment associated with a better outcome and longterm prognosis.

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Ensuring Referral to a Gynecologic Oncologist

If a woman is suspected to have gynecologic cancer, she should immediately be referred to a gynecologic oncologist. A gynecologic oncologist is an obstetrician/gynecologist who has specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of cancers of the female reproductive system, such as cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal and vulvar cancers.

With a gynecologic oncologist, the woman and her family can be confident of receiving the most optimal treatment that includes performing accurate staging surgery, debulking surgery to remove tumors that have spread to the abdomen and pelvis, knowledge of administering chemotherapy and radiotherapy, taking into consideration the womans concerns on sexual life and childbearing, and her emotional and physical well-being.

Studies indicate that patients treated by gynecologic oncologists have a better outcome when compared to patients not treated by cancer specialists.

Addressing Concerns Regarding Fertility and Emotional Issues

The woman should feel free to discuss fertility preserving options, sperm banks, referral to reproductive endocrinologists, and adoption agencies.

The woman and her family should enquire about availability of a psychologist to address their emotional needs and spiritual support and resources available. Ask about availability of financial help if needed.

Choosing the Right Center for Treatment

When choosing the center to undergo treatment, it is essential to choose a hospital where specialist gynecologic oncologists and their team are available and the center handles a good volume of gynecologic cancer patients. The center should have facilities to address the emotional and mental issues of the patient and her family as well such as psychotherapy and counseling.

Knowing the Disease Stage

Staging systems are clinically used to assess the severity of an ongoing cancer and generally divided into four stages. The first stage refers to the early phases of the disease, when malignant cells occur in a relatively limited region and are easy to treat, while the fourth stage denotes a very advanced condition in which cancerous cells have spread to adjacent organs and tissues and are more challenging to treat.

The treatment modalities offered will vary depending on the stage of the cancer and the patients condition.

Knowing about Treatment Options Available

The various treatment options available include surgery chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. The ideal treatment options or treatment combinations will vary for each patient depending on the stage of the disease and other considerations. You should discuss with your doctor about the expected duration of treatment, and the possible side effects.

Surgery is done in early stages to remove the tumor and adjacent lymph nodes; in later stages, debulking surgery is performed to reduce tumor burden when cancer has spread to other organs and sites.

Chemotherapy involves administration of drugs that kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be given before or after surgery depending on each case. Chemotherapy is associated with side effects such as nausea, vomiting, hair loss, and decreased immunity with increased susceptibility to infections. Your doctor will discuss these with you.

Radiotherapy involves administration of radiation either externally (external radiotherapy), or internally called intracavitary brachytherapy/radiotherapy (administering radiation into the body cavity such as vagina). Brachytherapy or internal radiation therapy, enables giving a higher total dose of radiation to treat a smaller area and in a shorter time than is possible with external beam radiotherapy. In interstitial radiotherapy, radiation needles are placed directly into the cancer and surrounding tissues.

Latest modalities in gynecologic cancer treatment include immunotherapy where immunotherapeutic agents are given to activate the bodys immunity to fight the tumor; immunotherapy also works by reversing tumor immunosuppressive mechanisms that have enabled the tumor to escape - the tumors can then be overcome by the patients immune system.

Learning How the Prognosis or Outcome is Determined

The prognosis is determined by evaluating the results of various tests such as biopsies, ultrasounds or PET-CT scans that determine the size, extent, genetic makeup, degree of spread and the aggressiveness of the tumor. Other factors taken into consideration include the age, overall health condition and fitness of the patient.

Health Tips
Chest radiography is commonly used not only in the diagnosis of various health conditions, but also used to monitor the progress of treatment. In such scenarios, a series of chest X-rays may be produced over a specific period of time to help track progression of a disease and response to treatment.

Chest radiography is a commonly used imaging diagnostic tool. It involves the use of chest radiographs, more commonly referred to as chest x rays . This is a widely used method of diagnosis for a wide range of conditions as it provides health care experts with images of the heart, lungs, large arteries, chest bones and spine. A chest radiograph can also reveal the presence of fluid in or around the lungs.

Chest X-ray films may not appear to reveal much when examined by a lay person, but this is because the individual is not trained to interpret the results. Technicians at the laboratory and doctors will be able to interpret chest X-ray results and give a better insight into what the test reveals.

When Do You Need a Chest X-Ray?

As is the case with any diagnostic test, you do not need to and should not get a test done unless your doctor has advised you to do so. Your health care provider will determine when an X-ray is required and will advise you accordingly. Doctors generally ask patients to first undergo chest radiography if they suspect any heart or lung disease, or if there is an injury in the region. There are certain circumstances under which you may be asked to do a chest x ray and these are:

If you have suffered from a persistent cough that does not respond to conventional treatment.

If you have suffered an injury to the chest.

If you have been experiencing chest pain and the cause is unknown.

If you have been experiencing difficulty breathing.

If traces of blood have been observed in the sputum or phlegm.

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Chest radiography will help your health care provider arrive at a more accurate diagnosis, which is obviously the key to a successful treatment of any health condition. In other cases, it will help to rule out certain possible health conditions.

Lung Health: A chest radiograph will help in the detection of cancer, a respiratory tract infection, the accumulation of fluid in and around the lungs or pneumothorax, which is an abnormal accumulation of air in the area around a lung. It can also help reveal the presence of chronic lung diseases like cystic fibrosis or emphysema and other complications.

Heart Disease: A chest radiograph can be used to find changes in the shape and size of the heart that may be indicative of heart failure, pericardial effusion or heart valve problems. In certain cases respiratory problems may also result from heart problems such as the accumulation of fluid in the lungs resultant from congestive heart failure. Chest x rays can also reveal heart damage that occurs as a result of calcium deposits.

A chest radiograph can be used to find changes in the shape and size of the heart that may be indicative of heart failure, pericardial effusion or heart valve problems. In certain cases respiratory problems may also result from heart problems such as the accumulation of fluid in the lungs resultant from congestive heart failure. Chest x rays can also reveal heart damage that occurs as a result of calcium deposits. Blood Vessel Problems: X-ray images give doctors an insight into the health of the larger blood vessels around the heart such as the aorta and pulmonary arteries and veins. This can help to identify certain blood vessel problems, aortic aneurysms and congenital heart disease.

X-ray images give doctors an insight into the health of the larger blood vessels around the heart such as the aorta and pulmonary arteries and veins. This can help to identify certain blood vessel problems, aortic aneurysms and congenital heart disease. Physical Injuries: Any disease or injury that causes skeletal changes can be picked up through chest radiography. Rib or spine fractures are commonly identified from chest X-rays.

Any disease or injury that causes skeletal changes can be picked up through chest radiography. Rib or spine fractures are commonly identified from chest X-rays. Postoperative and Post Treatment Use: Chest X-rays are routinely used after the medical devices like catheters, pacemakers and defibrillators are installed just to make sure that the procedures were successful. Similarly X-rays are used after surgeries to treat heart, lung or esophageal disorders.

You can get a chest X-ray done at any clinic or diagnostic center, in most hospitals and even in some doctors clinics. When you go in for a chest X-ray you will first need to remove all clothing and jewelry from the waist up. This is necessary as both fabrics and jewelry can obscure the results of X-ray imaging.

You will be asked to stand in front of the machine and hold your breath while the X-ray is being taken.

More often than not an X-ray image is taken from 2 angles.

In this case, you will first be asked to stand facing the machine and then sideways.

You will not experience any discomfort while undergoing a chest X-ray.

Make it a point to inform your health care provider if you are pregnant. Your health care provider will advise you accordingly, but in most cases chest X-rays are not conducted during the first two trimesters of a pregnancy.

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Understanding the Risks

It is understandable for one to be concerned about the risk of exposure to radiation from X-rays, but the risk is in fact extremely low. Radiography machines are monitored regularly and have to meet stringent safety requirements. They utilize the minimum amount of radiation that is required to obtain your radiograph image. Moreover, the minimal risks presented from this form of radiation far outweigh the benefits. The risk is obviously higher if you undergo radiography regularly. Under normal circumstances, X-rays are only required occasionally and therefore present no real danger.

Pregnant women and children are not advised to undergo X-rays unless absolutely necessary as the risks are higher for them.
Last Updated on Sep 06, 2017

Corneal transplantation or keratoplasty is the surgical replacement of a partial or full thickness portion of the diseased cornea in a patient with a healthy donor cornea from another individual.

Corneal blindness ranks fourth among the leading causes of blindness worldwide, after cataract, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. There are almost 10 million people who are blind due to bilateral corneal disease world-wide.

Corneal transplantation was the first successful solid human organ transplantation and was performed first in 1905 by Dr Edward Zirm, an Austrian ophthalmologist. Corneal transplant is the most frequently performed organ transplant. The main goals of corneal transplant are maintenance of clarity of the cornea, and restoration of vision. Unlike most other organs in the body, the cornea has neither blood vessels nor lymph vessels. This is the reason that rejection in corneal grafts is much less than that for other organ transplants, thereby making it the most successful organ transplantation.

The cornea is the transparent part of the front portion of the eye that refracts (changes the direction of) light entering it. In cross section, it has six microscopic layers.

From outside to the inside these are -

Layer Properties Epithelium Outermost layer of cornea that provides a barrier to external stimuli Bowmans membrane Separates the epithelium from the stroma Stroma Constitutes > 90% of cornea. Consists of collagen and water Presdescemets or Duas layer Discovered very recently by Dr Harminder Singh Dua Descemets membrane Intact membrane necessary to prevent hydration and swelling of the corneal stroma Endothelium The most vital layer of the cornea Contains an enzyme pump that helps keep the cornea in a dehydrated state

Corneal transplantation or keratoplasty is broadly of 2 types 

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1. Full thickness or penetrating keratoplasty

The full thickness (all 6 layers of the cornea) are transplanted

2. Partial thickness or lamellar keratoplasty, which can be classified as:

a. Anterior lamellar keratoplasty (only the superficial layers are transplanted  performed when the Descemets membrane and endothelium are healthy). It can be of the following types:

Superficial anterior lamellar keratoplasty (SALK)

Deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK)

b. Posterior lamellar keratoplasty (The Descemets membrane and endothelium are transplanted  performed when the anterior cornea is healthy). It can be of the following types:

Descemets stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK)

Descemets stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) (graft thickness ~ 170 microns)

Descemets membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) (graft thickness ~ 20 microns)

There are also other varieties like rotational autograft (a procedure where, in a small central corneal opacity, the scarred portion is cut, rotated 1800, and then sutured back in the same place) and keratoprosthesis, which is a corneal transplantation using an artificial cornea.

Donor corneas are almost always obtained from a person after death (cadaveric donor). Either just the cornea (along with a rim of attached sclera), or the entire eyeball is removed from the dead person within 6-8 hours after death, and stored in an eye bank. Nowadays with good preservative techniques, donor corneas can be preserved for up to 2 weeks or more, providing adequate time to process the tissue and select a candidate for transplantation.

Any person with a permanent opacification of the cornea is a candidate for corneal transplant, provided the rest of the eye is healthy. Some of the indications are -

Conditions for which corneal transplantation is performed Keratoconus A condition associated with progressive thinning of the cornea and outward bulging resulting in diminished vision and scarring Fuchs endothelial dystrophy Bilateral slowly progressive swelling of the cornea due to dysfunction in the endothelium of the cornea in elderly patients Pseudophakic bullous keratopathy Chronic corneal swelling due to surgical damage of the endothelium during cataract surgery with IOL(intraocular lens) implantation Previous graft failure Following a previous corneal transplantation Injury to cornea Resulting in corneal scarring Healed corneal ulcers Resulting in corneal scarring Perforated corneal ulcer A deep corneal ulcer which gives way to expose the interior of the eye Acid or alkali injuries Resulting in corneal scarring Congenital corneal disorders Such as corneal dystrophies Non-healing corneal infection Transplantation done to remove the infective load and promote healing

Penetrating keratoplasty is the most common type of keratoplasty performed. However, nowadays there is a greater tendency towards lamellar procedures, which avoid some of the disadvantages of penetrating keratoplasty. The decision to perform either a penetrating or a lamellar procedure depends on the type of corneal opacification and the experience and comfort of the surgeon. Anterior lamellar keratoplasty is nowadays preferred over penetrating keratoplasty in cases such as keratoconus, and superficial corneal scars. DSEK and DSAEK are preferred over penetrating keratoplasty in cases such as Fuchs endothelial dystrophy and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy.

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A thorough ophthalmic evaluation is done to identify any infection, inflammation, dryness of the eyes or reduced corneal sensation, any condition that may alter the success of the graft such as presence of abnormal blood vessels in the cornea or raised intraocular pressure, or any condition that may prevent restoration of vision following the graft such as retinal or optic nerve disorders. The above can be identified with slit lamp examination, measurement of intraocular pressure, and retinal examination.

Avoid eye makeup from 3 days prior to surgery

You may be prescribed antibiotic eye drops from 1-3 days prior to the surgery by your doctor

This is a day care procedure and does not require admission. You may reach the hospital on the day of your procedure

An oral anti-anxiety medication may be recommended to be taken on the morning of the procedure to calm you down.

In the operation theatre, you will be made to lie down on the operating table. The skin around your eyes will be cleaned with povidone  iodine or alcohol for antiseptic purposes.

Penetrating keratoplasty is usually performed under local anesthesia, except in children and uncooperative adults where general anesthesia is preferred. The anesthetic solution is injected into the tissue around the eyeball.

A sterile drape will be placed over your face to expose only the eye that is being operated. An instrument will then be placed in your eye to keep the eyelids separated so that your eye remains open. You might feel some pressure but there will be no pain.

The donor cornea is placed on a Teflon block and the required size of the corneal donor button is cut with the help of a trephine (a circular blade to cut tissue). A scleral fixation ring may be sutured to your sclera to prevent collapse of the eye. Your cornea will also cut with a trephine (about 0.5 mm smaller than the donor button) to remove the abnormal area. The donor cornea is then placed on your eye and sutured with 10-0 continuous or interrupted nylon sutures. An injection of steroid and antibiotic under the conjunctiva is given, the eye is patched and a protective shield is placed over it.

Nowadays some eye surgeons use the femtosecond laser (which uses an infrared scanning pulse to cut tissue) instead of the microkeratome to make the cut in donor and recipient tissue in both penetrating and lamellar keratoplasty for more precision.

After penetrating keratoplasty you may be allowed to go home after about an hour or two, if there are no other systemic or local complications

You will need to visit your eye doctor the next day when he will open your eye patch.

You will be instructed to instil antibiotic and dilating eye drops for up to month. Steroid eye drops are usually continued for one year following surgery.

You will need to visit your eye doctor regularly for check-ups for a minimum period of one year. Sutures are generally not removed before one year.

Here are some dos and donts after the procedure:

DO avoid rubbing and squeezing of the eyes. Use a fresh clean tissue (can be moistened with clean warm water) to gently clean the outside of your eyelids if there is any watering or crusting.

You may shower the next day, but wear the protective eye shield. If you are washing your hair, tilt your head back so that water does not get into your eyes.

DO wear sunglasses when you go outdoors

DO wear the plastic protective eye shield at night till your doctor tells you to stop. This may be anywhere from one to six months. In the daytime, wear either your glasses or the protective shield.

DO NOT lift any weights over 5 kilograms, or do any strenuous work

DO NOT engage in sports, swimming, jogging, exercise (other than walking) or coitus till one month after surgery. Confirm with your doctor regarding when you can continue with the above activities

DO NOT engage in any activity that puts your head lower than the rest of the body, including yoga.

Some of the complications that can arise after the procedure are -

Early: Wound leak, raised intraocular pressure, infection, primary graft failure, graft rejection.

Late: Astigmatism, glaucoma, cystoid macular edema (swelling of the macular region of the retina), recurrence of the original disease in the graft, graft failure, graft rejection.

Recent years has seen a greater requirement for donor corneas due to better results following adaptation of lamellar procedures. However, the the limited availability of donor material is the major hurdle to reducing the burden of corneal blindness world-wide. The main focus of current research is to either produce methods to find an alternative to corneal transplantation, or to reduce the risk of graft rejection.

Even though rejection in case of corneal transplantation is much less compared to other organ transplants, it is still the major reason for graft failure (loss of graft clarity). Efforts are on to see whether HLA matching (HLA or human leucocyte antigens are situated on the surface of most cells and are responsible for organ transplant rejections) which is performed routinely for other organ transplants, will help reduce the risk of corneal transplant rejection as well. Successful primary grafts reduce the burden of repeat surgeries, which diminish the demand for donor procurement.

A new technique in corneal transplantation in keratoconus is isolated Bowman's layer transplantation  the Bowman layer is dissected out of the donor eye and transplanted into the stroma of a recipient eye diagnosed with keratoconus. This strengthens the cornea and stabilises the outward bulging in keratoconus.

A biosynthetic implants such as recombinant human collagen implants (which are free of cells) have been tried to enable regeneration of a normal cornea in place of the abnormal one.

Efforts are being made to culture corneal endothelial cells (by harvesting from a single donor eye, and then transplanting to multiple recipients), in an effort to replace the cornea for conditions such as Fuchs endothelial dystrophy and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy.

Preliminary attempts being made to regress pathologic corneal lymph vessels are showing some promise in trying to improve graft survival rates.

Attempts are being made to administer interleukin -2 to improve graft survival rates.

Most of these are in the very preliminary stages and it may be some time before they actually come out in practice.
Update: The ramps from northbound and southbound I-25 to I-225 have reopened following the crash investigation.

A crash on the ramp from Interstate 25 to Interstate 225 killed a woman Thursday morning, the Denver Police Department said.

DPD said in a tweet at 3:26 a.m., Thursday it was investigating a single-vehicle traffic crash on the southbound ramp from I-25 to I-225.

The Denver Office of the Medical Examiner will release the name of the victim after the investigation.

Approximately at 3:45 a.m., the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) reported all lanes of northbound I-225 closed between I-25 and Yosemite Street due to the crash. I-25 northbound and southbound onramps to I-225 were also closed. Drivers were advised to seek alternate routes.

This article will be updated as more information is made available.
With the Army yet to release a servicewide strategy for combating suicide that was due in the fall of 2021, individual formations have been left to develop their own solutions.

For the 10th Mountain Division, that has meant creating its own set of web-based tools with a comprehensive list of resources, including contact information for marriage counseling that the division, based out of Fort Drum, New York, released in March.

The tools sound simple but are filling a void left by the lack of direction for the Army as a whole, as young soldiers with no formal training are being tasked with identifying suicide risks and are also expected to intervene. The Army saw a drop in suicides last year, but the issue remains a devastating problem for the force, with soldiers dying by suicide far outpacing combat deaths during most of the years of the post-9/11 wars.

Read Next: An Army Couple Had Their Daughter at a Military Hospital. Then the Collections Calls Started for $600,000.

In 2022, 135 active-duty soldiers died by suicide, down from 175 the previous year, according to Pentagon data.

Suicide in the military is not typically tied to combat trauma, most research shows. And post-traumatic stress disorder from overseas missions is becoming less common as the wars have winded down. In many cases, the most at-risk population is composed of younger troops, with their suicides often coinciding with financial stress, rocky romantic relationships and breakups.

"It's complex environmental factors that come together," Command Sgt. Maj. Nema Mobar, the top enlisted leader of the 10th Mountain Division, told Military.com. "And then something triggers it and, and quickly, they spin out of control."

Some formations, such as the 11th Airborne Division in Alaska, have implemented mandatory mental health screenings. That solution might not work across the force, as the Army has struggled to staff its clinics with therapists and psychiatrists while it struggles to compete with the private sector and as many bases are not located in high-demand areas to live.

Meanwhile, the Army has relied on mid-level, non-commissioned officers to identify when a soldier in their formation may be at risk, leaving those soldiers with unclear policy on how it expects a unit to intervene.

Three years ago, the Army started to develop new prevention resources, though that effort was put on the back burner due to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's push for uniform prevention policies across the services, as recommended by an independent commission that finished work in February.

Mobar said he's readjusting his formation to be more proactive, instead of reactive. While he says mental health care is a precious resource for soldiers, it has become a go-to in some cases for units that need to balance the dichotomy of making that resource easily available while also trying to get to the root of what is causing friction in a soldier's life. Rethinking how to tackle the issue of suicide, according to Mobar, has yielded some anecdotal evidence it's working.

That includes encouraging his subordinates, leaders and commanders in the division to send soldiers to specific resources, such as marriage counseling, when behavioral health might not always be the best answer, especially as most installations suffer from a backlog of mental health-care appointments.

"It's vitally important to get soldiers to the right resources, and that might not be behavioral health. That might be a substance-abuse, or grief counselor; it might be a financial expert," Mobar said, while stressing that no soldier would ever be denied mental health-care resources.

The same sentiment has been shared in the past by Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston, the service's top enlisted leader, who has stressed that one key to combating suicide in the force is addressing red flags and personal issues before those problems get out of control.

Moving forward, Mobar said the division is working on its program, dubbed Mountain CARES, or Critical Assistance with Resources for Environmental Stressors, to include training on identifying at-risk soldiers for all of its junior leaders during in-processing and for all of its commanders and first sergeants. Service leaders talking about and encouraging mental health care is relatively new, and some of the past stigma associated with seeking help remains at the unit level, where junior troops serve and where the highest stress factors of service permeate.

Veterans and service members experiencing a mental health emergency can call the Veteran Crisis Line, 988 and press 1. Help also is available by text, 838255, and via chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon

Related: A Soldier Attempted Suicide in Poland. Left to Roam at Fort Riley, He Killed Himself.
Japans efforts to re-arm in response to escalating threats from China and North Korea are well-known. Less understood are controversial efforts by some in Japans ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to reestablish world class intelligence and counterespionage capabilities.

Not everyone is on board.

There has been a group interested in getting intelligence right for decades, says MITs Richard Samuels, author of Special Duty: A History of the Japanese Intelligence Community. Theyve tried a lot of engineering and reengineering but have encountered much institutional inertia.

Successful reforms in the 1990s and 2000s focused on consolidating and coordinating military intelligence, Samuels told SpyTalk. In 1997 the Japanese government created the Defense Intelligence Headquarters, modeled on the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, to consolidate signals and imagery intelligence operations against potential adversaries. These technical collection efforts expanded between the mid-2000s and mid-2010s as tension mounted across East Asia, and as Japan sent more personnel abroad for UN peacekeeping assignments.

But this was the easy part. For historical reasons, spying operations of any sort, particularly domestic counterespionage work aimed at squelching foreign espionage networks on Japanese soil, were much more sensitive topics.

Ghosts in the Woodwork

Tokyos dark record from World War Two was always a consideration. In the 1930s and 40s, Japan had famously infiltrated agents across Asia in advance of their conquering forces. During wartime, anti-spying paranoia against everything foreign at home, even against people who simply spoke a foreign language in the closing years of the war, created an escalating climate of fear. It was a legacy that post-war Japanese voters were loath to see revised, fearing a return to militarism, neighborhood informants, and other mass spying against the population.

Under the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan made significant progress in reforming foreign intelligence collection and slowly expanded HUMINT (human intelligence gathering) abroad. But domestic counterintelligence, said Samuels, was a sort of stepchild to a lot of these reforms.

For this reason, since the 1950s counterespionage investigations have been conducted not by a powerful agency, such as the FBI or Britains MI-5, but by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Its Public Security Bureau (PSB) can be effective but lacks sufficient manpower, according to a former senior Japanese intelligence official interviewed in Tokyo by SpyTalk, asking for anonymity in exchange for talking freely about such sensitive matters.

The PSB does have federal input. It cooperates with a counterintelligence unit under the Justice Ministry, the similarly named Public Security Intelligence Agency. The PSIA labors under a cloud, however, which may have diminished its power. It was blamed for insufficient attention to the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult after its 1994 sarin gas attack on the Matsumoto subway system, which was followed by the cults even more deadly strike on the Tokyo subway the following year. In a decades-long mea culpa of sorts, PSIA devotes considerable attention to the remaining cult members in Japan.

Though further efforts to consolidate and strengthen Japans intelligence and counterintelligence organizations might seem logical in Washington, such plans face significant opposition from those government institutions, politicians, and parts of the business community that support closer relations with Beijing.

Perception Gap

Those opposed to strengthening intelligence perceive China as rising and America in decline, according to the former senior Japanese intelligence official. A pro-China coalition inside the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the Japan-China Friendship Association, is headed by Toshihiro Nikai, who works closely with the pacifist Komeito clean government party to cultivate good relations with Beijing, another former official told SpyTalk.

On the commercial side, a brisk trade relationship with China has been promoted by such governmental institutions as the Japan Science and Technology Agency and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which has an office in Beijing to arrange tech transfers. Their activities and those of like-minded organizations are described in detail in a study by William Hannas and Huei Mee Chang in the 2021 book Chinas Quest for Foreign Technology. They write that many (overt technology) transfer techniques fielded by China in other parts of the world were pioneered by Japan in the post-war era.

These political and economic interests oppose improvements in Japans counterintelligence efforts, citing privacy concerns and fears of a return to the era of imperialist military rule, both former officials said. A former advisor to the late Shinzo Abe told SpyTalk that many voters seem caught between fear of China and fear of a return to militarism.

MITs Samuels sees this debate in part as a longtime struggle among Japans elites to fine tune Tokyos relationship with Washington and Beijing and deal with the legacy of imperialism. Their watchword: Keep the Americans close enough, but not so close that it antagonizes China.

Autonomous Defense

Three main points of view contend for dominance in Japans raucous political sphere: accommodation with Beijing, a full and unambiguous alliance with Washington, or a more independent policy dubbed autonomous defense. The late Yasuhiro Nakasone, prime minister in the mid-1980s, advocated such an independent stance, as did the two-term Abe, who was assassinated last July. As Samuels and others argue, Abe was the most effective advocate of rebuilding Japans intelligence and counterintelligence agencies. Perhaps not coincidentally, Abe demonstrated less concern than his contemporaries about Beijings sensitivities, whether they were over military and intelligence reforms or his visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which memorializes Japanese war dead, including war criminals from World War Two, a fact that rankles Japans relations with China and both Koreas.

Abe is gone, but his former advisors remain on the scene. In a 2022 book published in Japanese, Facing Up to China, the Odd Superpower, Shigeru Kitamura, the former secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat under Abe, described lax technology controls and espionage cases in past decades that benefitted Russian, North Korean, and Chinese military programs. Wielding in-depth case histories, Kitamura advocates more effective export controls and counterespionage work.

In particular, Kitamura argued in his book that continued close and less than restricted economic relations with China are against Japans long term security interests, given Beijings increasingly aggressive policies vis-a-vis its neighbors and trade partners, Tokyo in particular.

But not everyone is convinced. Samuels, who also authored an essay on the reinvention of Japans intelligence community in The Handbook of Asian Intelligence Cultures, published in 2022, relates a conversation with a retiring Japanese business leader. Centuries ago, he said, the Dutch were one of the worlds greatest powers, and Japan learned from them. Then came the British. Then the Americans. Now, he concluded, Japan should not walk away from China, the future great power.

The task for Washington now is to persuade not only Japanese elites, but the countrys voters, of American resolve, reliability, and support. That makes for a prickly challenge.

Matthew Brazil, a former US government officer in Beijing, is co-author of the authoritative, Chinese Communist Espionage, An Intelligence Primer.
The Braves announced that they have recalled right-hander Michael Soroka to start tonights game. This will be his first start in front of Atlanta fans since 2019, with the 2020 season being played in empty stadiums because of the pandemic. He then missed 2021 and 2022 entirely before making two road starts this year.

His roster spot was already opened by the club optioning left-hander Jared Shuster to Triple-A yesterday. Additionally, they selected infielder Charlie Culberson to the roster, optioning catcher Chadwick Tromp to Triple-A in a corresponding move. To open a 40-man roster spot for Culberson, left-hander Dylan Lee was transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Its been a strange season for Culberson, who signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in March. He was selected to the big league roster in mid-May and spent a month on the bench without getting into a single game. He was then designated for assignment, became a free agent and re-signed with the club on another minor league deal. Hes now back on the roster less than two weeks after being designated for assignment.

It seems hes mostly around in a break glass in case of emergency type of role. Hes played every infield position and the outfield corners in his career, as well as a few mop-up pitching appearances. That means he could be called upon when some other player suffers an injury or needs time off. That didnt happen in the month that he was on the roster but could theoretically happen at any point going forward. Given his versatility, hes a good fit for such a role. Hes hit .247/.292/.385 in his career but slashed just .204/.234/.255 in Triple-A this year before getting called up.

As for Lee, hes been on the injured list since mid-May due to shoulder inflammation. Hell now be ineligible to return until 60 days from that initial IL placement, which would be mid-July. Hes recently been throwing bullpen sessions but has yet to embark on a rehab assignment. Since hes probably a few weeks away from a return anyway, this transaction seems to be a mere formality that doesnt indicate any sort of setback.

Soroka made two starts for the big league club earlier this year but allowed nine earned runs in 9 2/3 innings. Hes been much better in the minors, with a 3.31 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts this year. Hes probably not a long-term solution in the rotation since he hardly pitched at all in the 2020-2022 period due to injuries and has already tallied 64 innings this year. The club has an off-day next week and the All-Star break is the week after that.

Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder have three rotation spots spoken for but the club has rotated various pitchers through the other two with Max Fried and Kyle Wright on the injured list. Soroka, Shuster, Kolby Allard, AJ Smith-Shawver and Dylan Dodd have all received starts this year and each has options. That will allow the club to continually weave them on and off the big league club as they see fit until they get their injured guys back or perhaps make a move at the upcoming deadline.
Snoop Doggs High School Reunion Tour brings a night of old school hip-hop classics to Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston next month.

Snoop Dogg also has Midwest stops in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio with tickets available at Stubhub, Vivid Seats and Ticketmaster.

Snoop Doggs High School Reunion Tour is set to hit Pine Knob Music Theatre with Wiz Khalifa and Too Short on July 23 and tickets are already a blazing hot item for the tours early stops.

Snoop Dogg is one of highest-selling hip-hop artists of all times. Snoop Doggs 2010 collaboration with Katy Perrys California Gurls single has reached Diamond Certified status this year.

Snoop Dogg, recently performed at Wrestlemania while co-hosting a segment. He also teamed up with Willie Nelson for the Bic Lights Up America Campaign. and Snoop joined Willie Nelson on his 90th Birthday to help him sing a rendition of Roll Me Up.

Get tickets for the High School Reunion Tour which are still available at Stubhub, Vivid Seats and Ticketmaster.

July 23 -- Pine Knob Music Theatre, Clarkston, MI

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Ticketmaster

July 20 -- Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, Noblesville, IN

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Vivid Seats

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July 21 -- Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, Tinley Park, IL

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July 22 -- Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati, OH

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ROYAL OAK, MI  Two young bison have been added to the herd at the Detroit Zoo.

Juniper and Willow, both 1 year old, are adjusting to their new home in the American Grasslands habitat at the zoo in Royal Oak.

They are making themselves at home, the zoo said in a social media post announcing their arrival.

The newcomers join resident full-grown bison Takoda and Teetonka. Juniper and Willow are both quite a bit smaller than the older girls but will reach their full size by spring 2024.

RELATED: Detroit Zoo says goodbye to popular gorilla brothers

Female bison can weigh up to 1,000 pounds and stand 5 feet tall at the shoulder. Their average life span is 15 to 20 years.

Though a bit shy, Willow and Juniper are growing more confident and comfortable by the day, the zoo said. We cant wait to see their personalities bloom as they explore their new habitat.

The Detroit Zoo is located at 8450 W. 10 Mile Road in Royal Oak. Advance tickets are required and can be purchased online here.

Juniper, a 1-year-old bison, is adjusting to her new home at the Detroit Zoo.Provided by Detroit Zoo

Willow, a 1-year-old bison, is adjusting to her new home at the Detroit Zoo.Provided by Detroit Zoo

Juniper and Willow, 1-year-old bison, are adjusting to her new home at the Detroit Zoo.Provided by Detroit Zoo

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Tuvalus Minister for Justice, Communication, and Foreign Affairs, Simon Kofe, gives a COP26 statement while standing in the ocean in Funafuti, Tuvalu 5 November 2021. Photo: Tuvalu Ministry of Justice, Communication, and Foreign Affairs / REUTERS

By Jonathan Watts

27 June 2023

(The Guardian)  Small island nations would rather fight than flee, but rising sea levels have prompted apocalyptic legal discussions about whether a state is still a state if its land disappears below the waves.

The Pacific Islands Forum, which represents many of the most vulnerable countries, has invited international legal experts to consider this question and begun a diplomatic campaign to ensure that political statehood continues even after a nations physical fabric is submerged.

At the heart of this discussion is the scientific certainty that oceans will continue to rise for at least another century and a sense of injustice that those worst affected are among the least responsible for the climate crisis. The Alliance of Small Island States represents more than a quarter of the worlds countries, but is responsible for less than 1% of global carbon emissions, most of which come from big industrialised countries in the global north.

This has locked in an expansion of the worlds oceans that is already under way and will accelerate in the second half of this century. Island maps are already being slowly redrawn and coastlines are increasingly threatened by storm surges. Within decades, archipelagos could lose outlying atolls that define national borders. A century from now  if not sooner  entire states could become uninhabitable, raising doubts about what will happen to their citizens, governments and resources.

The World Bank had said current regulations on these matters were drawn up in a period of climate stability and may need to be reassessed to account for an unprecedented situation for international law.

At a conference on this topic in Fiji this year, the prime minister of the Cook Islands, Mark Brown, framed this debate in a series of existential questions: As our shorelines are eaten away by sea level rise, what will become of our sovereignty, of our lands, our titles, our homes? What will become of our fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by our constitutions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? How can we realise our shared vision when our very status as states is being questioned? How can we fulfil our responsibility to our peoples if their homes and livelihoods are taken away from them? These questions are difficult but real. They require solutions.

Simon Kofe, the foreign minister of Tuvalu, one of the most vulnerable nations, stressed the need for a redefinition of global rules and a recognition of what is due to citizens of the worst-affected countries. The threats of sea level rise and the erosion of our statehood are not mere hypotheticals, but very real and present dangers that we must face head on, he said. Our discourse is not limited to legal instruments and policies but encompasses the survival of our people and nations. We have the power to make a significant impact by acting urgently and decisively.

The priorities for action are largely determined by the timing of expected impacts. The science of sea level rise is well established, but there are several uncertainties related to future levels of greenhouse gas emissions and the speed at which the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets melt.

Robert E. Kopp, an earth sciences professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey and one of the lead authors for the IPCC report on global sea level rise, said that a country like Tuvalu  which has an average elevation of 2 metres  was unlikely to be completely flooded until the 22nd century. The possible collapse of the giant Thwaites glacier in Antaractica could bring that forward as it would add 1.5 metres to ocean heights, but this would take decades. The more immediate risk, he said, was from storm surges: Its not just sea level rise, but when a place gets flooded multiple times a year. This view was echoed by Peter Girard of Climate Central, who said floods would hit long before total inundation: It could become impossible to live along the coast without protection.

Tuvalu and other island states have recently begun reinforcing some of their coastlines with concrete flood barriers, but these are only a partial defence that will diminish over time and always be vulnerable to tsunamis or other big flooding events, as well as to upsurges of groundwater.

Faced by these threats to the integrity of the nation, protection of legal rights is a priority. In 2020, the Pacific Islands Forum called for international guarantees of existing maritime zones  and the resources within them  even if land territory is eroded.

More recently, Tuvalu has launched a diplomatic push for other nations to recognise its statehood regardless of the physical impacts of climate change.

Kofe noted that the definition of statehood under international law was reflected in the Montevideo convention, which sets out four criteria: a physical territory, population, government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other countries. If we were to take that definition, Tuvalu could possibly lose its status as a state if we lose our physical territory or we are forced to relocate to a different location, he said. So we are just imagining this worst-case scenario  if it does come to that, we would want the world to continue to recognise our statehood as being permanent.

So far, seven governments have made this commitment: Venezuela, the Bahamas, Saint Kitts, St Lucia, Vanuatu, Niue, Palau, Gabon, and Taiwan. Tuvalu is also discussing the matter with bigger neighbours such as New Zealand and Australia. [more]

We could lose our status as a state: what happens to a people when their land disappears
WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI -- A 19-year-old accused of shooting four people in Washtenaw County has been charged with two counts of murder.

Tamar Young, 19, was arraigned in 14B District Court on Friday, June 30, on 12 charges in connection with the death of two people and the injury of two others.

Young was arraigned on two charges of open murder, two charges of assault with intent to murder, four counts of the use of a firearm in a felony and four charges in relation to discharging a weapon in or at a building causing death or injury.

The shooting took place on the 800 block of George Place in Ypsilanti Township around 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 27.

There was an ongoing dispute between the victims and the defendant, said Patricia Reiser, Assistant Washtenaw County Prosecutor. The defendant encountered them, immediately grabbed his weapon and began shooting at them, chased them out of the house where they were at.

Read more: 16-year-old and 20-year-old die from injuries in Ypsilanti-area shooting

Young is accused of killing Dallas Williams, 16, and Tyrese Burks, 20, as well as injuring Williams two brothers ages 14 and 19. Both are stable with serious injuries, police said on social media Tuesday afternoon.

Young also allegedly said on social media that he was sorry for the smoke but that he didnt have any remorse for what he had done, according to Reiser.

In the hearing, Young denied he had posted to social media.

Young was also arraigned on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon in August 2022.

Young will next appear in court on Thursday, July 13. He is currently being held in the Washtenaw County Jail. His bond was denied.

Read more from The Ann Arbor News:

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WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI -- Officials have released the name of the 16-year-old charged with murder in connection with a death on a Washtenaw County freeway last week.

Kendall Newbern, 16, was arraigned on charges of open murder, armed robbery, assault with intent to rob while armed and larceny from a person in the 14A District Court on Tuesday, June 27.

His name was not originally released by officials, but was later confirmed by Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit. Newbern was charged as an adult.

Newbern is accused in the death of an 18-year-old man last week.

Michigan State Police troopers were called to westbound I-94 near Parker Road in Lima Township around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 21, for a report of a single-vehicle crash.

The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead. Police have identified the victim as Jason Gregory, 18. Police have not released a cause of death.

When troopers arrived, they also found evidence a weapon had been used in the death, police said.

Police did not release what type of weapon was involved.

Gregory was originally from Alabama, but had recently moved to Michigan, police said.

Newbern was arrested later that day in connection with the incident, police said. It is unclear if the boy was in the same vehicle as Gregory.

Police did not initially release information on the incident.

Newbern is next set to appear in court on Thursday, July 6.

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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ANN ARBOR, MI - The state carved out hundreds of millions of dollars combined for the three University of Michigan campuses in the $82 billion budget passed June 28.

The $2.3 billion higher education budget includes at least a 5% increase in operating funds for each of the states 15 public universities, including the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses.

The Ann Arbor university saw the biggest state funding commitment of $357 million, a 5.1% increase from last years budget.

Our leaders in Lansing know that investing in higher education is a proven strategy to boost our states prosperity today and into the future, Chris Kolb, the universitys vice president for government relations, said in a statement.

With additional support, we are better able to carry out our public mission of developing the next generation of leaders and citizens, and making new discoveries that propel our state and country forward, he said.

Michigan as a state has lagged nationally in higher education funding for the last two decades, according to the Michigan Association of State Universities. The last 20 years saw a 40% reduction in funding per pupil, wrote Dan Hurley, the associations CEO, in a 2021 article.

Hurley said in a June 28 statement the overall higher education budget marks another major step forward in improving college affordability, maintaining high academic quality and strengthening the states future talent pipeline.

Read more: Michigan schools given record per-pupil funding, $204M for at-risk students

The Dearborn campus will receive $31.2 million, or an 11% increase from last year. Dearborn is also one of five state universities that will see $1.7 million to fund a $4,500-per-student funding floor for historically underfunded institutions, university officials said.

The Flint campus will receive $26.4 million, or a 5% increase.

The universities must not increase in-state tuition more than 4.5% or by $676, whichever is greater, in order to receive the funding, officials said. In-state students in Ann Arbor saw a 2.9% tuition increase from the June 15 Board of Regents meeting, while Dearborn was raised 4.4% and Flints dollar amount was below the $676 cap.

Read more: 5 things to know about next years University of Michigan budget

The university also will receive a portion of a one-time $79 million boost to fix infrastructure and update technology. That funding will become available in January 2024, officials said.

Michigan Achievement Scholarships also saw an additional $50 million allocation to help eligible in-state students attend public universities or other higher education institutions. The statewide funding for that program is now $300 million for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer must sign the budget bill by Sept. 30 to ratify it into law.

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WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI - In 2023, Washtenaw County foreclosed on six properties with unpaid taxes. Five were vacant lots.

Thats out of some 6,000 properties that were sent to Washtenaw County Treasurer Catherine McClarys office for the collection of back taxes, she said. About 1,000 of those went to forfeiture, a legal process that happens when people are two years behind on their tax bills and precedes foreclosure.

But Washtenaw County boasts some of the lowest tax foreclosure rates in Michigan, thanks in part to a slew of programs aimed at maintaining wealth for Black families, helping older adults on fixed incomes and preserving homeownership.

We really believe in preventing foreclosure, in keeping people in their homes. The home youre living in is the most affordable home, McClary said.

Since 2017, the county has not foreclosed on more than 25 properties in a given year, with the rate of forfeited properties undergoing the process kept at just 1 or 2%, putting it at the bottom of the list of 83 Michigan counties, according to data from the state Department of Treasury.

Thats partially because McClary pioneered hiring a social worker in the office in the early 2000s to work with property owners to help address the reasons theyre behind on tax bills, connect them to assistance and collect delinquent taxes. Its a practice thats since been widely adopted, she said.

Her staff also works hard to bring in outside money, like resources from the Michigan Homeowner Assistance Fund, a COVID-era program that helps with back taxes, condo fees, delinquent utility bills and other hardships. The Treasurers Office has helped 249 families apply to receive some $2.3 million, McClary said.

Thats on top of other unique county programs aimed at keeping residents housed which have won national awards and are being duplicated elsewhere.

$3.4M in wealth secured for Black families

McClary, a former Ann Arbor county commissioner first elected treasurer in 1996, knows every single piece of land in the county that falls behind on property taxes. If townships and cities cant collect them, theyre turned over to her office the next year.

Through that process, McClary realized she had about 50 families who had inherited their homes without formal legal claim to them, and many had fallen behind on taxes.

In many cases, the predicament had roots in racist housing policies of the early 1900s, like the GI Bills exclusion of Black veterans returning from World War II from homeownership benefits or redlining, the federal governments refusal to insure mortgages in and near Black neighborhoods.

Read more: Researchers map Ann Arbors racist history of housing discrimination

As a result, many African Americans bought homes informally, and lacked legal title to residences that had been passed down in their family for generations, McClary said. That locks them out of tax-saving benefits like the principal residence exemption and Michigan homestead tax credit, she said.

A program she established in 2018 in partnership with county Probate Judge Julia Owdziej offered a solution, by enlisting an army of pro-bono attorneys to spend hundreds of hours doing heir and document research before making a request to the courts that deeds be issued in the homeowners names.

The initiative, called Home for Generations, has worked for 21 properties, transferring a combined $3.4 million in wealth to families and attempting to right a historic injustice, according to the treasurers office.

There is a real racial legacy that continues from slavery in this country to today. White Americans have seven times the wealth of Black Americans on average, McClary said, adding homes are the primary source of that wealth.

The program was honored with awards from the National Association of Counties in 2021 and Washtenaw County Bar Association in 2022. McClary is now offerings assistance to establish similar efforts in Calhoun, Wayne and Genesee counties, she said.

And in Washtenaw County, 13 more Home for Generations cases are now in progress, according to her office.

Catching up on delinquent taxes ensures affordability, treasurer says

Even with a valid deed to their homes, families in Home for Generations and others facing medical bills, unexpected emergencies or job loss can find themselves behind on their property taxes.

Thats where another Washtenaw County program, Bridge Loans to Affordability, comes in. The initiative, dating back to 2019, offers a way for families not eligible for other programs to catch up in a way that will be sustainable long-term for the county.

The program, also recently honored by the National Association of Counties, offers no-interest loans that catch up homeowners on delinquent taxes, if they can demonstrate an ability to pay them going forward. The loan becomes a lien placed on the property, which is then paid off when the home is sold or transferred, bringing the money back into the revolving county fund.

The effort has so far saved 10 homes from tax foreclosure, loaning some $55,000, the majority to older adults on fixed incomes, according to the treasurers office. But with a new $500,000 infusion from the county board in the 2023 budget, McClary hopes to expand its reach.

We will be able to spend this money for years and years, and we believe that we can really put this county into a position where we have people caught up on their taxes and they stay caught up, she said.

McClary makes the case that there are significant public benefits for doing so. Research conducted during the Great Recession showed people facing foreclosure had higher incidences of heart attacks, ER visits, mental health breakdowns and hospitalization, burdening public resources, she said.

If we can keep you in your home youre not part of the homeless population. Youre not using ER services in lieu of going to a doctor. Your kids stay in the same school with the same schoolmates, so they can perform, she said.

Other studies have shown neighboring property values also tend to drop around foreclosed homes, McClary said.

All this matters a great deal in Washtenaw County, with some of the least affordable housing costs in Michigan, she said.

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ANN ARBOR, MI - With summer in full swing, so is road construction season, including fresh pavement coming to downtown Ann Arbor and an Ypsilanti bridge getting a facelift.

If youre traveling for Independence Day weekend, state construction crews are suspending work on almost 60% of Michigans state road and bridge projects, with pauses in effect from 3 p.m. Friday, June 30 to 6 a.m. Wednesday, July 5, according to the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Read more: Michigan to ease construction closures for 4th of July weekend

Restrictions will remain on U.S. 23 and Michigan Avenue near Ann Arbor, as well as at the MDOT construction ongoing at the Willis Road interchange, officials say.

Heres a full list of road work that could affect commute times and travel across Ann Arbor and the county.

ANN ARBOR

West Madison Street: The street will close to all traffic between Ashley and Main streets from Wednesday, July 5 to Tuesday, July 11 to allow for a DTE Energy contractor to install a new underground electrical conductor for an apartment building.

Newport Road: The road between Sunset Road and Down Up Circle, near the Bird Hills Nature Area, will see flagging and temporary signals as crews install new sidewalk through Friday, Aug. 25.

South State Street: The street is closed between Granger and Dewey avenues, as well as between Hill Street and South University Avenue, as a two-year redesign of State and Hill streets gets underway. State is also shut down in the southbound direction between Hill and Packard Street, and the Packard intersection is closed to through traffic at State.

The Granger, Dewey, Hill and South U intersections remain open, though the blocks in between are fully closed to traffic. This wave of closures will continue until the next phase of the project beginning Wednesday, July 12, bringing modified restrictions.

Downtown, the street is also closed to vehicle traffic between North University Avenue and Huron Street until Friday, Sept. 1, for the second phase of a major overhaul extending curb-less design in the area near the University of Michigan Diag and bringing water and sewer upgrades.

The intersections on either side of the work zone will remain open. Regular updates can be found online from the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority.

Huron Street: The downtown street will see a single-lane closure in the eastbound direction from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 30.

Brooks Street and Mixtwood Road: A five-month streets project in the Water Hill neighborhood has shuttered Brooks Street to all through traffic between Miller Avenue and Sunset Road, as well as Mixtwood Road between Brooks and Red Oak Road.

The construction  bringing a mini roundabout, new sidewalk and replacement water mains  is scheduled for completion by Saturday, Nov. 4.

East and South University avenues: Both streets have traffic restrictions for construction on a 12-story high-rise project.

East University Avenue is closed in both directions between South U and Willard Street. Eastbound South U is closed between Tappan Avenue and Church Street. The closures are set to last until Friday, July 14.

Glen Avenue: The street is closed to all traffic through Friday, July 21 for a utility project.

Geddes Avenue: The street will be closed to through traffic between Observatory and Hill streets for a resurfacing and utility project.

The road is expected to run through Wednesday, July 19, with the road re-opened in the westbound direction only as of early June.

South Main Street: The street is closed between Liberty and Huron streets for the second phase of a major resurfacing project. The Washington and Main intersection is also closed.

Pedestrians can still access the businesses in the Main Street commercial district. Crews will replace a water main, make crosswalk improvements and put new pavement on the crumbling downtown street.

The project is slated to run until July 12 with a third phase in the cards within the Main/Huron intersection, beginning after the Ann Arbor Art Fair, July 20 to 22.

Broadway Street: The street is closed through Monday, Aug. 21 between the Traver Creek pedestrian crossing island, just south of Jones Drive, and Plymouth Road for a project bringing water main upgrades, sidewalk improvements and pavement resurfacing.

The dead-end section of Broadway southwest of the roundabout next to the Beekman on Broadway development is also closed through Saturday, July 8 as crews complete utility installation.

Platt Road: The road on the citys east side is reduced from four lanes to two between Packard Road and Huron Parkway until Friday, Aug. 1.

The restrictions will allow for crews to replace an existing water main, as well as replace curb, sidewalk and ramps while resurfacing Platt Road. Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction.

Washtenaw Avenue: The street will see single-lane closures in both directions between Wilmot Street and Glen Avenue, with a lane shift in place, until 5 p.m. on June 30.

Long-term projects: North Fifth Avenue from Detroit to Catherine streets will have a lane shift through June 2024 for a new development.

Eastbound South University Avenue traffic between East University Avenue and Church Street is closed long-term for high-rise construction.

The Liberty Road bridge over I-94 is reduced to single-lane traffic, with temporary traffic signals, until further notice after being damaged by a truck on March 13. The Michigan Department of Transportation plans to design and contract for a bridge replacement, officials say, though no timeline has been released for the project.

OTHER WASHTENAW COUNTY PROJECTS:

Pittsfield Township - U.S. 23/Michigan Avenue: A major project widening Michigan Avenue in Pittsfield Township and upgrading the U.S. 23 interchange will cause shoulder closures and lane closures on U.S. 23 south of Ann Arbor.

On Michigan Avenue between Carpenter and Textile roads, a single-lane closure is in place.

The construction is scheduled to run through November. Pittsfield Township is posting regular updates.

Ypsilanti - Hamilton Street: A single lane in the southbound direction is closed between Pearl and Ferris streets through Thursday, Aug. 31.

Ypsilanti - Michigan Avenue: The downtown avenue will see a single-lane closure in the eastbound direction between Washington and Huron streets for water main installation.

Other downtown Ypsilanti street closures are possible as a major utility and street overhaul project continues. See the citys webpage on the project for updates.

Read more: Construction coming to downtown Ypsilanti as utility, street renovation projects resume

Ypsilanti - Washtenaw Avenue: Single lane closures will be in place in both directions from Cross Street to Hamilton Street for construction through 5 p.m. on June 30.

Ypsilanti - Huron River Drive: The road is closed to all westbound traffic between Lowell and Cornell streets as of June 20 for a major city reconstruction project. Officials are posting updates on the city website.

Ypsilanti - Forest Avenue bridge: The bridge will be closed beginning July 5 and into the fall for rehabilitation work.

Ypsilanti Township - Michigan Avenue/I-94 ramp: A road reconstruction project has closed Michigan Avenue between I-94 and a point just east of Hewitt Road. The construction, which began in mid-May, is estimated to last eight weeks.

A detour map is available online, and north/south traffic on Hewitt will be maintained with lane restrictions.

The westbound I-94 off-ramp at Michigan Avenue is also closed during the project.

York Township - U.S. 23/Willis Road interchange: Willis Road at U.S. 23 is closed in both directions through mid-July as bridge and ramp construction takes place. The eastbound Willis Road ramp to northbound U.S. 23 also is closed during the project.

The northbound U.S. 23 off-ramp to Willis Road will also close through 11 p.m. on June 30.

Sylvan Township - M-52: The highway will see a single-lane closure between Sager and Pritchard roads from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 30.

Sylvan/Lima townships - I-94: The interstate will see overnight single-lane closures in both directions between Freer Road and the Washtenaw/Jackson county line until mid-July.

Augusta/Ypsilanti townships - Intersection of Bemis and Whittaker roads: The intersection will close completely for the construction of a new roundabout through Sept. 1. A detour map is available online.

Ann Arbor Township - Dhu Varren Road: The road will see intermittent lane restrictions between Whitmore Lake Road and Dhu Varren Court between July 5 and July 14 for road resurfacing.

Ann Arbor/Northfield townships - Joy Road: The road will see intermittent lane restrictions between Earhart and Dixboro roads until Monday, July 3 for drainage and forestry work. This project has been extended.

Augusta Township - Rawsonville Road: The road is closed between Talladay and Willis roads until Aug. 21 for drainage improvements.

Dexter Township - North Territorial Road bridge: The bridge over the Huron River between Dexter-Pinckney Road and Huron River Drive will see lane restrictions from July 5 to Friday, July 7

Lima Township - Dancer Road: The road will see intermittent lane restrictions between the railroad tracks and township line until Thursday, July 6 for gravel resurfacing. This project has been extended.

Lima/Scio townships - Parker Road: The road will close between Shield Road and Dexter-Chelsea Road through August for a culvert replacement. A detour map is available online.

Manchester Township - Herman Road: The road will see intermittent lane restrictions between Sharon Hollow Road and Deer Valley Road from July 5 to Thursday, July 13 for forestry work.

Lyndon/Sylvan townships - Various roads: Several roads in the townships will see intermittent lane restrictions through July for a Consumers Energy natural gas pipeline replacement project.

Read more: From turtle rescues to trenches: How Consumers Energy is constructing a $550M pipeline in Michigan

Sylvan Township - Sibley Road: The road will be closed between Conway and Bush roads from April 17 to Saturday, July 1 for the Consumers pipeline project. A detour map is available online.

Pittsfield Township - Morgan Road: The road between Carpenter Road and Michigan Avenue is closed for water main and road work until Friday, Aug. 4. A detour map is available online. This project has been extended.

Pittsfield Township - Platt Road: The road will see intermittent lane closures between Bemis Road and Michigan Avenue through September for construction of a non-motorized pathway.

Pittsfield Township - Crane Road: The road is closed between Textile Road and Michigan Avenue through July 7 for sanitary sewer installation. A detour map is available online. This project has been extended.

Pittsfield Township - Textile Road: The road is closed between Carpenter and Crane roads for sanitary sewer installation. The project runs through September. A detour map is available online.

Salem Township - Joy Road: The road will close between Gotfredson Road and a half-mile east of the intersection from through Monday, Aug. 14 for sanitary main work. A detour map is available online.

Scio Township - East Delhi Road: The road will see intermittent lane restrictions between the railroad tracks and Huron River Drive through July 13 for crack sealing.

Scio Township - Rose Drive: The road will see intermittent lane restrictions between Wagner Road and the end of the road from through July 13 for crack sealing.

Sharon Township - Meyers Road: The road will see intermittent lane restrictions from Bethel Church Road to Pleasant Lake Road through July 6 for drainage and forestry work. This project has been extended.

Superior Township - Stephens Drive: The road will see lane restrictions at the approach off Stamford Drive from Monday, July 5 to July 10 for road resurfacing.

Superior Township - Stamford Drive: The road will see lane restrictions between Barrington Drive and MacArthur Boulevard from July 5 to July 10 for road resurfacing.

Superior Township - North approach of Harris Road at Geddes Road intersection: The road will see lane restrictions from July 5 to July 10 for road resurfacing.

Sylvan Township - Kilmer Road: The road will see intermittent lane closures between Notten and Hoppe roads from July 5 to July 13 for gravel resurfacing.

Sylvan Township - Ridge Road: The road will see intermittent lane closures between McClure Road and south to the pavement from July 5 to July 13 for gravel resurfacing.

Ypsilanti Township - Jay Avenue: The road will see daytime lane closures between Grove Road and Jeffery Street between June and November for DTE Energy gas line replacement.

Ypsilanti Township - Levona Street: The street will see daytime lane closures between Janet Avenue and Service Drive through November for a DTE gas line replacement project.

Ypsilanti Township - Grove Road: The road will see daytime lane closures through November between Arthur and Emerick streets for a DTE gas line replacement project.

Ypsilanti Township - Holmes Road: The road will see lane restrictions between Prospect Road and Ford Boulevard through July 7 for road resurfacing.

An updated list of Ann Arbor city street closures, the weekly Washtenaw County Road Commission schedule and the MDOT road closure map are all available online.

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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FLINT, MI -- Booms have been deployed in the Flint River near the Utah Avenue Bridge after what the city described as a large spill of an unknown substance in the area.

The city announced the spill on Alert Flint, its emergency message notification system on Thursday, June 29, and a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said Friday, June 30, that a contractor has dropped booms in the area in an effort to contain the spill.

Jill Greenberg, the EGLE spokeswoman, said the agency is investigating what the spill consists of, its volume and where it came from.

The citys announcement says that in addition to EGLE, the Genesee County hazmat team is on the scene and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be working closely with the city of Flint as this investigation continues.

Flints announcement says residents should avoid contact with the river until further notice.

Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter.

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LAPEER COUNTY, MI  The gun used in the November 2011 murder of Andrea Eilber may have been recovered in the possession of a second suspect arrested earlier this week in Montana, records show.

According to an affidavit sworn out in Utah, a .38-caliber Colt revolver model SA Army was recovered in the possession of Chadwick Shane Mobley, a 42-year-old man arrested Wednesday, June 28, in Montana following a tip from Facebook followers.
UPDATE: Flint looks into sewers to trace source of Flint River spill

(This story has been updated with additional information.)

FLINT, MI -- The spill of what appears to be a petroleum-based substance into the Flint River has been contained and appears far less significant than another discharge that occurred here one year ago.

In a message broadcast on Facebook on Friday, June 30, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson said the substance appears to have been contained by booms that were deployed in the area of the Utah bridge and dam after the spill was discovered late on Thursday, June 29.

A spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy also said an oily sheen associated with the spill doesnt appear to have spread to the Hamilton Avenue bridge, where another boom has been deployed.

Multiple government agencies are involved in the ongoing investigation.

It could be a fresh spill. It could be something that kind of burped up from years past. We dont know, Swanson said. We dont have active dangers. Were very thankful for that.

Swanson said the spill is not at the level at all of a spill of thousands of gallons of a stew of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in June 2022 but said the investigation aims to determine where did it come from and do we have to worry about more coming out.

The city of Flint hasnt used the river as a drinking water source since October 2015 so the spill has no effect on city tap water.

Swanson, a county hazmat team, the county Health Department, the city of Flint, and EGLE are among the agencies responding to the incident.

EGLE said Friday morning that the agency cant yet say what the spilled substance is, the volume of the discharge or the responsible party.

Swanson and the city each advised residents to avoid contact with the river in the area of the spill and a spokesman for the county Health Department said officials are working to determine the boundaries of a no-contact area of the river.

After last years spill, the Health Department ordered residents and visitors to stay out of the river from Flint to the Montrose area.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Pamela Hackert has the authority to issue such orders, which carry the force of state law once she determines that there is an imminent danger to the publics health.

Lockhart Chemical, the company responsible for last years spill, has since suspended its operations in Flint and filed for bankruptcy protection.

Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Two members of news leadership and two staffers at WOOD TV8 have been fired after a leaked newsroom memo directed a scale back of LGBTQ Pride month event coverage to cow to unhappy viewers, according to reports.

According to media news outlet The Desk, WOOD TV News Director Stanton Tang and Assistant News Director Amy Fox were fired this week for their role in drafting and sending out the memo to staff earlier this month.

Two executive producers, Luke Stier and Madeline Odle, were also fired after Nexstar Media Group, the corporate parent of WOOD TV, accused the pair of leaking the memo to news media, according to The Desk.

Tang could not immediately be reached for comment. On social media, he posted that he left his position.

Nexstar corporate communications did not return calls for comment. Odle declined to comment.

Stier and Odle on social media Friday, June 30, confirmed they were no longer at WOOD TV. In a joint statement, the pair said they have been told their non-compete clauses remain in effect, potentially barring them from working at other newsrooms in the area.

The memo, which The Desk reported was ordered by Tang and written and released to staff by Fox, stated the station had already done a number of valuable stories on Pride month-related events but that we have also started to hear pushback from viewers who are not happy to see those Pride-related stories.

Related: Staff push back after West Michigan TV station seeks to scale back LGBTQ Pride coverage

We know that West Michigan is a conservative area in many ways, the memo, obtained by MLive/The Grand Rapids Press, stated. We need to recognize that some stories related to LGBTQ issues are going to be controversial and polarizing in our community. While you personally may not agree with a certain position, people are entitled to their opinions and they are our viewers.

The memo went on to say that if theres a news reason for a story, reporters should do it. But if its just more coverage of another Pride event, that may not be a good enough reason to do the story.

For Pride events that are covered, the memo asked staff to present both sides of the issue. The memo didnt outline what the opposing side of a Pride event is.

We should not cover every Pride event that we learn about, the memo from the assistant news director stated. We need to do some work to discern the newsworthy-ness of the event.

If we are covering pride events we need to consider how to make the story balanced and get both sides of the issues.

The memo was met with pushback from WOOD TV staff, a number of whom took to social media to publicly criticize it and voice their concerns.

State Rep. Phil Skaggs, D-East Grand Rapids, in a tweet Friday, June 30, applauded Nexstar for firing Tang and Fox but called on the company to reinstate Stier and Odle.

However, Nexstar Medias decision to fire the courageous whistleblowers  Luke Stier and Madeline Odle  is wrong, Skaggs said. The termination of journalists, simply because they wanted to inform us about the diverse human interests of our community cannot stand.

Nexstar previously issued an apology following the leak of the memo, saying it wasnt consistent with the companys values and that they would be taking appropriate action as necessary to address the situation.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Grand Rapids police are investigating after a man was shot on the citys Southeast Side Thursday night.

Police responded to reports of gunfire sounds around 11 p.m. Thursday, June 29, in the area of Diamond Avenue and Logan Street, Grand Rapids Police Department spokesperson Jennifer Kalczuk told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.

While police were checking the area, a man arrived at a local hospital who said he had been shot near Bemis Street and Diamond Avenue. The mans injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

Police did not have information on the shooter. The investigation is ongoing.

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Thai operator AIS partnered with ZTE and Qualcomm to complete a trial of mmWave 5G standalone technology in Bangkok, a step towards the operator commercialising the technology.

In a statement from ZTE, the Chinese vendor detailed the trial was conducted at the AZ centre in Thailands capital, showcasing download speeds of up to 7.04Gbps, upload speeds of 2.12Gbps, and latency of less than 4ms.

A single CPE prototype powered by Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System from Qualcomm and ZTEs latest mmWave AAU network infrastructure equipment was used to conduct the trial.

ZTE detailed the trial lays a roadmap to enable subscribers to tap into use cases such as online gaming, virtual reality, and autonomous vehicles.

AIS head of nationwide operations and support business unit Wasit Watansap said the trial is part of the operators goals to provide a growth platform for the Thai digital economy, which relies on the robustness of digital technology infrastructure.
KENTWOOD, MI -- A former East Kentwood High School student alleges the school district failed to stop ongoing sexual assaults by a custodian in 2019 and 2020, according to a lawsuit.

Attorney Jon Marko said he filed a lawsuit Wednesday, June 28, in Kent County Circuit Court on behalf of the former student.
WEST MICHIGAN -- Two men, one from Grand Haven and the other Rockford, face child porn charges after state police investigations.

State police on Friday, June 30 said that Brian Ray Stefono, 54 of Grand Haven, and Randy Edward Roossien, 63, of Rockford, had been charged in separate cases.

Both were arraigned earlier this week.

Police said Stefono was arrested in the aftermath of a tip received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The state police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force began investigating and police seized digital evidence from Stefonos residence.

He then was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of child sexually abusive activity-aggravated, three counts of child sexually abusive material-aggravated possession, five counts of using a computer to commit a crime and one count of resisting and obstructing.

Roossien also was arrested following an investigation by the state police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Police alleged there was evidence that Roossien was downloading, viewing, and sharing files of child sexually abusive material on the internet. Police searched his residence.

He then was charged with one count of aggravated child sexually abusive material, one count of aggravated distribution of child sexually abusive material, one count of aggravated possession of child sexually abusive material, and three counts of using a computer to commit a crime.

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JACKSON, MI  A man accused of breaking into a Jackson apartment building and starting a fire that destroyed multiple units has been found guilty.

Jurors found Deshawn Ellison guilty Thursday, June 29, on charges of first-degree arson and first-degree home invasion for a break in and fire that occurred at Reed Manor

Ellison, 43, was found guilty of breaking into the D Building of the apartment complex at 301 Steward Ave. on Jan. 18, 2021, and starting a fire that severely damaged six units and displaced about 25 residents.

Related: Man accused of Reed Manor arson heads to trial

Investigators found Ellison had broken into an apartment through a sliding glass door before entering another unit and starting the fire around 10 p.m., police said.

He was burned during the fire and was taken to the University of Michigan Health System burn center before being arrested and taken to the Jackson County Jail, police said.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 17 before Jackson Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson.

He faces a maximum sentence of up to life in prison.

The displaced residents, mostly senior citizens, were assisted by the American Red Cross and the Jackson Housing Commission which housed them in hotels while repairs were made.

Related: Community rallies with hot meals and more for residents displaced by Reed Manor arson fire

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SAUGATUCK, MI -- A fight is brewing near the scenic shores of Lake Michigan.

A developer has its sights set on the picturesque dunes of Saugatuck, with a vision for homes with a canal and private marina at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River at Lake Michigan.

Environmentalists have dug in with opposition. They are concerned about plans that call for removal of about 230,000 cubic yards of sand to transform the dune area into a residential setting.

Opponents believe the privately owned land is worth more to the community as an untouched natural resource.

More than 100 people gathered to talk about the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliances anti-development efforts at a meeting this week. According to organizers of the opposition group, people were urged to contact state regulators and share their concerns.

David Swan, of the Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance, says the area is considered critical dune habitat. It is crucial for lake sturgeon, Eastern box turtles, endangered Prairie Warblers and other creatures, Swan said.

He worries how permanently changing the land could harm them.

When I hear of a proposed project that would really privatize the profits and socialize the costs, to build a marina in the wild heart of what weve built -- I take that personally, Swan told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette this week.

It would erase nearly seven acres of critical dune area nestled among land that residents have worked for years to protect, Swan said.

They want to stop the project before a 1,600-foot-long canal is dug into the sandy embankments, Swan said.

Thats about as long as the iconic Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is tall.

If approved, it would be located on 135th Avenue, south of Saugatuck Dunes State Park.

The application was submitted to the state by Scott Bosgraaf and North Shores of Saugatuck LLC. It asks for approval to build a 6.5-acre marina basin, lined in steel, in Saugatuck Township.

Sand would be excavated from an area 1,639 feet long and up to 200 feet wide, the application states. A foot of clay, covered by a foot of sand, would be installed at the bottom of the basin.

An attorney representing the developer said the land in question is private property.

Just because a very vocal minority wants to obstruct any development of the NorthShore property, does not mean their objections are valid, attorney Carl Gabrielse said, speaking on behalf of the company.

The developer, NorthShore of Saugatuck, has taken significant steps to ensure it will not negatively impact the community or the environment, Gabrielse said.

Digging the L-shaped trench into the landscape would facilitate a place for 50 boats to dock and construction of adjacent homes. The company needs a permit from the state, which Swan and others hope to hamper.

Marina slips would be offered for boats up to 80 feet long. Seventeen 60-foot by 25-foot permanent boat lifts would be installed along the seawall.

The goal is to develop a world-class residential development that strikes the proper balance between an economic return and preservation the application states.

The development would sit between two large dune features, the developer said.

When NorthShore acquired this property, it made a commitment to develop it in a responsible and balanced manner, Gabrielse said. He stressed that it calls for less than 50 home sites on over 300 acres.

In short, NorthShore let the contours of the landscape dictate the location of its development activities with a goal of preserving as much of the property in its natural state as possible, Gabrielse said.

A view of the land that would be excavated to create a new private marina with homes on the water, located at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River leading to Lake Michigan. (Photo provided by Saugatuck Dunes Coastal Alliance)

Since acquiring the property in 2017, Gabrielse said, NorthShore has done more due diligence and research than any other developer in Allegan County that he has seen. NorthShore retained archeologists and a zoology expert for the design, for example, he said.

NorthShore retained biologists and marina design experts to advise it on the best practices regarding lake sturgeon and water quality, he said. The company believes the plan will cause no negative impacts to either lake sturgeon or water quality, Gabrielse said.

Opponents are worried about the impacts.

The Gun Lake Tribal Council said in a prepared statement the proposed marina would adversely affect the Kalamazoo River Mouth Traditional Cultural Property which has unique historical, cultural and religious significance to the Pottawatomi people.

It is a shame to permanently change and ruin a significant place and landscape for the enjoyment of just a few people, Gun Lake Tribal Council said in the statement.

The loss of these cultural resources would be devastating, the tribal council said.

The cultural resources, such as nme (lake sturgeon) and mnomen (wild rice) are not only culturally significant, they are integral to who the Pottawatomi were and who the Pottawatomi are today, the Gun Lake Tribal Council said.

Other resident concerns touch on the areas of visual changes to the landscape, groundwater, safe boating and impacts for the nearby historical Singapore area.

Holly Engel, who is a charter boat captain and runs Best Chance Charters in Saugatuck with her family, said the proposal would hinder safe movement of boats in the river mouth. It is already an issue in the river and the location of this development and more mega yachts would cause issues for boats, including many tourists who come to enjoy the water, she said.

It would negatively impact fish, she said.

They come to the Kalamazoo River to spawn, to create more fish, she said, and the changes being proposed for the canal would cause issues.

The Kalamazoo River has a spawning population of about 180 adult lake sturgeon, Michigan DNR Lake Michigan Basin Coordinator Jay Wesley said.

Adult lake sturgeons use the mouth of the Kalamazoo River in early spring to stage for spawning before they swim upstream. In the fall, juveniles use the area for feeding prior to moving out into Lake Michigan, Wesley said.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources Parks and Recreation Chief Ron Olson said the department is assessing the development as part of the process led by the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, before permits can be issued.

Were aware of it and havent concluded anything, Olson said on Thursday, June 29. State officials have spoken to Swan and others who shared concerns, Olson said.

Fish habitat will be considered and DNR fisheries staff will be consulted in the permitting process, Olson said.

EGLE will hold a virtual public hearing on the permit from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. July 10.

This fight has gone on for years.

An online fundraiser started by the opposition in March 2018 has brought in about $49,000. The alliance has a website that offers different ideas to stop the dig, from calling out local and state officials, to making comments to state permitters opposing the construction.

Swan says residents have stopped other developments from locating in the area.

Our community has been here before and were really effective at enforcing state and federal laws to protect the public trust, Swan said.

They plan to do what it takes, Swan said, to protect the creatures who call the dunes home.

Want more Kalamazoo-area news? Bookmark the local Kalamazoo news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Kalamazoo daily newsletter.

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MUSKEGON, MI  Youre visiting this Lake Michigan city on vacation or wrapping up a long day at the beach at Pere Marquette Park, and now youre in search of a nearby restaurant where you can grab a bite to eat.

And, youre looking for a unique dining experience, one where you can have a great meal and still spend time along the water.

Weve got you covered, with four local eateries along lakes that are sure to leave you full and satisfied.

Whether youre a tourist whos new in town, or a local revisiting a favorite spot, keep scrolling to read these popular waterfront restaurants in Muskegon.

The Deck restaurant, shown in this file photo, is located on the Pere Marquette beach in Muskegon along Lake Michigan. (MLive file photo)

The Deck

We would be remiss if we didnt start with The Deck, Muskegons popular lakefront barbecue joint and bar. It is located on the beach along Lake Michigan at Pere Marquette Park.

If youve never been there, picture scenic beachfront dining, delicious food and cocktails, live music, and an adult playground full of outdoor games in the sand. The entire vibe will make you feel like youve been transported to a beach in Florida.

The Deck, which opened in summer 2014, is a popular spot at Pere Marquette for tourists and residents. In 2017, it was ranked among the best beach bars in America by Thrillist, a digital publication focused on food, drink and travel.

The restaurant, located at 1601 Beach Street, recently expanded to include 12,000 feet of beach property. The newly fenced-in beach area now houses an outdoor bar and a stage, volleyball and bocce ball courts, and games including cornhole.

People want a fun place on the beach to just hang out, and thats what were going to give them, co-owner Fred Scharmer told MLive.

Some of their menu items include beach burrito bowls, handheld sandwiches and sliders, beach tacos and hot dogs. Theyve also got delicious cocktails that come in a 16 ounce cup or 32 ounce pail to quench your thirst.

The Deck is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 11 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m.

A view outside Dockers restaurant located at 3505 Marina View Point, in Muskegon on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. Kayla Renie | MLive.com

Dockers

Dockers Fish House is a 10-minute walk or a quick drive from Lake Michigan, and serves up delicious seafood thats perfect after a long day at the beach. The restaurant, featuring views of Muskegon Lake and the adjacent marina, has docks for customers to arrive by boat.

Located at the Harbour Towne Marina, off the channel between Muskegon Lake and Lake Michigan, Dockers is a lakeshore favorite. The restaurant, located at 3505 Marina View Point, has been highlighted by MLives Michigans Best in the past as a top restaurant to visit in 2020.

Some of the local favorite dishes include the house fish and chips, the mussels appetizer plate, the tuna poke baja bowl, the spicy fish sandwich, and the crab and lobster mac and cheese.

The restaurant also serves up weekday specials from 3-6 p.m. including $3 off mussels on Mondays, $3 off nachos and tacos on Tuesdays, BOGO fish and chips on Wednesdays, and a $50 seafood boil on Thursdays.

Theres live music every week, with a summer schedule for live performances listed on the restaurants website.

Dockers is open Monday through Thursday from noon to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 11 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 7 p.m.

A view outside The Lake House restaurant, located along Muskegon Lake, is shown in this file photo. (MLive file photo)Kayla Renie | MLive.com

The Lake House

Located right on Muskegon Lake, The Lake House Waterfront Grill offers marina-side dining that is casually elegant, with a professional, yet welcoming vibe.

The restaurant is located at 730 Terrace Point Road, connected to Muskegons waterfront hotel, The Shoreline Inn.

The restaurant has a beautiful patio area for outdoor dining, plus indoor seating if youre looking to get out of the sun. You can also catch a fantastic sunset right from your seat, inside or out.

The menu includes burgers, sandwiches and entrees like walleye, salmon and vegetable risotto, lake perch, and seafood pasta. You can find the full menu here.

The Lake House is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays; from 4-9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; and 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Bear Lake Tavern in North Muskegon serves up several dishes, including fish, in a waterfront setting. (MLive file photo)

Bear Lake Tavern

Bear Lake Tavern is located along the channel between Muskegon Lake and Bear Lake. Recent improvements also added more docks so you can arrive by boat, plus a popular tiki bar.

If youre craving fish, we recommend making the drive there.

A North Muskegon staple since 1929, Bear Lake Tavern prides itself on premium cuisine rather than traditional bar food.

The tavern, located at 360 Ruddiman Drive, has everything from classic comforts to sea-to-table dishes and offers a variety of appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches and cocktails.

The restaurant is North Muskegons home of the famous Yellow Belly Perch, a tavern tradition since 1929. The dish is a top seller at the tavern, selling for $22. It comes with lemon atop a lightly breaded and golden perch, French fries, coleslaw and tartar sauce on the side.

Another menu staple, the Tavern Burger, sells for $13 and offers foodies Angus Beef ground chuck, applewood bacon, smoked ham and cheddar cheese with a side of fries.

Bear Lake is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m. You can find their full menu on their website, linked here.

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MUSKEGON, MI - The Muskegon Yacht Club is opening its doors to the public this weekend in celebration of bringing together nearly 130 sailboats, enthusiasts and community members for an unforgettable 84th Queens Cup Finish party.

Typically, the Muskegon Yacht Club at 3198 Edgewater St. is only open to members of the club or a guest of a member. But for this community party, anybody is welcome, organizers said.

Leading Muskegon-based marketing firm Revel and local craft brewery Pigeon Hill Brewing Company joined forces in branding the highly anticipated sailing party event at the Muskegon Yacht Club, naming it Reach to the Beach.

The 84th Queens Cup Regatta Finish party is scheduled for Saturday, July 1 along Muskegon Lake, aiming to create a memorable experience for attendees while showcasing Muskegons rich history and vibrant spirit.

Anybody can come out to the party, whether youre interested in what the yacht club is all about or into boating, said Sarah Powers, vice president of account services at Revel. The No. 1 thing the community can expect is a great party thats open to the public.

This year, nearly 130 boats will be departing from Milwaukee, WI, for Muskegon this week. In the past, boats came from as close as Chicago and as far as New York City, organizers said.

Also new for this year is an event-exclusive beer from Pigeon Hill Brewing Company called Reach to the Beach, Please. The brew is a summer ale, according to the Revel news release.

Attendees can get their hands on the limited-edition cans by purchasing a $5 beer ticket during the event. There will also be live music by Kindred and Sweet Justice, food and drinks provided by Muskegon Yacht Club, trivia games, prizes and an open pool all day long.

Derek Dile, graphic designer at Pigeon Hill Brewing Company said hes excited to provide something special for the regatta finish party.

It feels good to be able to put some of my own creativity into an event like this, Dile said in the news release. Perhaps more importantly, though, building stronger relationships between downtown Muskegon businesses is always a good thing. Community is arguably the most important thing to the identity of Pigeon Hill, along with great beer.

The collaboration will create an immersive experience that reflects Muskegons Maritime heritage while infusing elements of excitement and modernity, the release said.

Not only are we bringing two fundamental Muskegon businesses together in a really unique way, but the brand is totally unique in the sailing community, Powers added. Im excited to see the impact this brand will have, and Im excited about what else Revel may create with Pigeon Hill in the future.

Read below to see the full schedule of events taking place Saturday:

6 a.m. - Breakfast buffet

8 a.m. - Bloody Mary bar

10 a.m. - Beer tent opens

11 a.m. - Trivia with prizes

11 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Lunch buffet

1 p.m. - South Shore Yacht Club flag awards

2 p.m. - Live music with Kindred

5 p.m. to 8 p.m. - Dinner

7 p.m. - Live music with Sweet Justice

For more information about the party and the partnership between Revel and Pigeon Hill, visit queenscupfinish.com.

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KENT COUNTY, MI - When Caledonia resident Jordan Baker and his staff drove into work at Comodo Motors in May, they were devasted to find a one-of-a-kind 2020 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye nowhere to be found.

Baker learned the car was stolen with just two clues left behind: glass from a broken window and a Crafty Crab wrapper.

He felt sick to his stomach but wanted to figure out what exactly happened. After reviewing the surveillance footage, it was revealed the thieves parked across the street early Wednesday, May 10, before crawling under the $120,000 widebody Hellcat to access a computer module and program a key.

Baker recounted the story for MLive.

On May 10, Baker noticed the thieves approached the unique Sinamon Stick colored Hellcat at 4:16 a.m. Two minutes later, the suspects were speeding off the lot at Comodo Motors on Broadmoor Avenue SE with a getaway car following close behind.

RELATED: Stolen Dodge Challenger Hellcat worth $120K gone in 2 minutes

This was the first time a car had been stolen off the lot and it left him feeling violated, Baker said. Refusing to take the loss, he rushed to take matters into his own hands once he handed over necessary information to the Kent County Sheriffs Office and other area law enforcement agencies.

After contacting Dodge, Baker was able to learn the cars GPS was reporting the unique car was in northern Michigan, near Frankfort.

Too many car dealers get these cars stolen, he said. They dont have the technology to be able to find them or they dont know what to do. So when we find out its being driven, we went after it and chased it all over up north.

Comodo Motors kept coming to dead ends. A call would come in one day from Traverse City and another the next day from Frankfort, and both would end up being the wrong car.

In 2020, there were over 50,000 challengers made. Of those, only 53 were Sinamon Stick orange, 15 had a black hood and only 6 were equipped with a black roof and trunk.

But only two of those specialty American muscle cars had brass wheels and only one had hood pints, making Bakers Hellcat truly one of a kind. It was safe to say the car was special.

Baker spent four days traveling in northern Michigan chasing different leads and sharing his story with locals he met.

Were running through all these leads and then were just sitting here scratching our heads, he said.

Then, on Sunday, May 28, a phone call and a suspicious video from a man in Kentucky popped up on Bakers phone at 4:30 a.m. The video in question proved that it was the special car the dealerships been looking for.

When I saw it, I said, Oh, this is the best lead that we have, but none of the data points that way, Baker said. Thats when this lawyer from Mississippi reached out to me and said, Hey, if you want to work together, I think I can help you find this thing. And I said, Well, Ive got one good lead right now but no way to prove it. So, lets try.

Gatling Law Firm in Ridgeland, Mississippi, took on the task of officially locating the car by working with a Kent County detective to subpoena the information. Twenty-four hours later, the car was located in Louisville via a computer. After that, it took just over five days to locate the car at a parking garage.

Most people just take the insurance loss and move on, Baker said. Everybodys premiums are higher while these thieves are driving our cars. We found it, and I was like, Im not going to sit here and be complacent. Were going to get it.

Thats when Baker hired what he called, the dream team, or whats known in the Louisville area as 502 Towing and Recovery.

There were nights we were talking until two and three in the morning while they were tracking this car, he said. Thats why I said they were the dream team because we kind of got lucky on a lot of different fronts.

His dream team found the one-of-a-kind car and trapped it in just a little over five days. By June 11, the car was back after being inspected by Kent County sheriffs deputies. The car came back with 3,000 miles more on the odometer, a clipped antenna and a couple of minor dings.

The 797-horsepower beast was gone from Comodo Motors in two minutes Wednesday, May 10. A whole month later, it's back in the lot with 3,000 miles less on the odometer, a couple of dings and a ruined antenna. (Photo provided to MLive by Jordan Baker)

The suspect allegedly ripped out the antenna configuration to the car before fleeing to Kentucky, which kept the location geo-locked and further led Baker on a goose chase through Northern Michigan.

Baker said the Louisville Police Department is working with the Kent County Sheriffs Office on apprehending the suspect.

He said he only had the car nearly a month before it was stolen. Now, the focus is on figuring out how much its going to cost to get the car fixed through insurance before it shines bright in all its rare glory at the Comodo Motors lot again.

He said he isnt looking to go after people, and that hes just glad the car is back.

We stand with other dealers and people, Baker said. If you work hard enough and you work for enough time, you can find it. If its not parted and trashed, you can find your car and you dont have to take the pill of losing money on the car. There are people out there that can help you do this stuff and we tried to bring it justice.

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Student loan payments are coming back.

After more than three years without payments or interest, student loan borrowers will have to start paying their debt in October. A debt limit bill signed by President Joe Biden in early June prevented more extensions on a COVID-era payment pause. And the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a plan to forgive up to $10,000 per borrower and $20,000 per Pell Grant recipient.

Related: Student debt forgiveness plan struck down by U.S. Supreme Court

This will likely burden many of the 45 million borrowers who hold $1.3 trillion in federal student debt.

Nearly three-quarters of borrowers used money saved during the payment pause to buy food and about two-thirds spent the money on housing and utilities, the Student Debt Crisis Center found in a series of surveys. And about half of borrowers reported feeling anxious, stressed or depressed.

Here are five important student loan dates to put on your calendar.

July 1 - Updated debt relief programs

New rules that expand student debt relief programs go into effect July 1.

The updates announced by the U.S. Education Department of Education last year target the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, borrower defense and discharge programs for students with disabilities and closed schools. These changes mostly broaden who qualifies who student debt relief and provides more pathways for borrowers.

Borrowers entitled to debt relief under the Higher Education Act should be able to get it without wading through red tape and confusing tricks and traps, Under Secretary of Education James Kvaal said in a statement last year.

Aug. 1 - Income-driven repayment plans

More than 3.6 million federal borrowers will receive three years of credit toward loan forgiveness this year.

Borrowers on an income-driven repayment plan or enrolled in the Public Student Loan Forgiveness program can see their debt erased after making a required number of payments (ranges from 10 to 25 years). For low-income borrowers, their repayment plan could be $0 a month.

Under the Biden administrations IDR Income Readjustment plan, borrowers will receive credit toward their loan forgiveness.

Any borrowers who hit a 20- or 25-year repayment with the credit by Aug. 1 will likely see their debt discharged in coming months, Forbes reported.

Sept. 1 - Student loan interest resumes

Interest on student loans will start accruing again on Sept. 1.

Rates will go back to whatever they were for borrowers before the pause went into effect.

Interest can be a significant cost burden for student loan borrowers with the average student loan gaining $27,000 in interest over a 20-year period, according to the Education Data Initiative. Up to 42% of the average borrowers total repayment is generated interest.

Its estimated the pause saved borrowers $1.5 billion a month in interest payments, according to the Financial Health Network.

October - Payments start again

The U.S. Department of Education put a note on the top of its website in mid-June warning about repayments.

Congress recently passed a law preventing further extensions of the payment pause. Student loan interest will resume starting on Sept. 1, 2023, and payments will be due starting in October, the notice said.

An exact date as not been determined yet.

That notice was updated Friday, June 30 after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Bidens student loan forgiveness program.

The Supreme Court has issued a ruling on whether we can move forward with our student debt relief program. We are reviewing the Courts decision to determine next steps, it says.

Dec. 31 - Deadline for IDR adjustment

Anyone who has not yet applied for the $10,000 or $20,000 student loan forgiveness program has until Dec. 31.

Additionally, borrowers who have federal student loans will automatically be considered for the Income Driven Repayment Account Adjustment plan.

But for those with commercially-held Federal Family Education Loans, Perkins loans held by a school or Health Education Assistance Loans, they have until Dec. 31 to consolidate their loans and be considered for an adjustment, according to the National Consumer Law Center.

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Today brought a whole new financial future for 43 million Americans, including Michiganders who stood to have up to $20,000 in student loan debt canceled.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, June 30, 2023, struck down a student loan forgiveness program, effectively killing the $400 billion plan by the Biden administration.

About 1.4 million Michiganders have federal student loan debt, of which 864,000 applied or were deemed automatically eligible for forgiveness last year, according to the White House.

Among them is Ethan Hogan, 25.

Related: Student debt forgiveness plan struck down by U.S. Supreme Court

After graduating from Central Michigan University in 2019, Hogan was left with $39,000 in debt, and that was after scholarships and help from his dads G.I. bill. If the $20,000 had been relieved his monthly payment would have gone from $400 to $160.

Now Hogan, who works at a public sector consulting firm, is is reworking his budget once again.

Short-term that means saving less and saying no more. Long-term that means reassessing his goal to buy a house in the next two years. Hogan is currently living in Chicago for the summer while on assignment. That means he has two rent payments  one in Chicago and one in Davis, Michigan, where he shares a townhome with his mom. He was hoping to recoup the higher expenses of Chicago life after the lease was up in August but now that money will go straight to paying off debt.

Fridays decision also shifted his mindset on where he wants to get his masters. After the Supreme Court decision Hogan said hes seriously considering going abroad for graduate school instead.

Europe is not going to put me in as deep of a hole as U.S. institutions, just because of the cost, he said.

Changing and delaying milestones feels like a constant frustration as he navigates adulthood, Hogan said.

The staircase feels like wider steps with taller jumps, he said. This American Dream that weve been presented all of our lives, I just feel so far behind.

Researcher William Elliott, University of Michigan professor, said this outcome was expected given the conservative-leaning makeup of the high court. That doesnt lessen the financial hit, though.

Many borrowers have not had to address their debt at all because of a pandemic pause on payments. Without an act of Congress, the courts decision means those 43 million borrowers nationwide must begin payments starting in October.

So certainly this will be a major blow to many families who are counting on having this reduction in the cost of their student loans. And now we wont be getting that, said Elliott, who studies college debt and wealth inequality.

Alex Murphy, 35, knew the expected high court ruling wasnt going to be in favor of relief.

I think theyve shown who they are, she said of the conversative-leaning court. It doesnt come as a surprise, since the Roe v. Wade ruling last year, it still comes as a shock and its still disappointing and sad.

Murphy, a program director for a Detroit nonprofit, is expecting to see her $100,000 in debt relieved through the federal public service loan forgiveness program. Murphy completed her bachelors degree at DePaul University and earned a masters from Yale University.

Those experiences changed her life beyond the degree, she said. The networking, the job opportunities, the social life  she met her husband at Yale  all led to her decade long career in public service.

I didnt think that education should be something that just the wealthy have access to, she said. I knew I was going to have to take on that debt. And at 18 I was like, I dont know, Ill figure it out. Again, at 21, I was still like, this is important enough to me, and Im worth it and Im investing in myself.

The Supreme Courts decision to not approve the Biden administrations $20,000 forgiveness will directly impact the community Murphy serves in the City of Detroit. The program launched during the pandemic to administer food, housing, and health assistance.

I dont feel happy for myself, she said. I work for the city of Detroit, which is an 80% Black city. [Black borrowers] are disproportionately holding student debt in a way that impacts peoples lives. I care, frankly, more about what this decision means for others than I care about what it means me.

While Murphy finds some solace in her ability to help others, shes frustrated by higher levels of government leaving 1.4 million borrowers in Michigan with $51.3 billion in debt.

I dont know that Im there yet to feeling like, Its OK. Were going to hit the streets tomorrow and make it all better, she said. Decisions like these are not easily overturned, and theyre not easily changed. Were just going to have to sit with this a little bit longer to know exactly what the next steps are.

Assistant Professor Daniel Collier at the University of Memphis said the debt forgiveness program offered many borrowers a chance to improve their lives and many were banking on this financial relief.

The pause has been extremely helpful to individuals to buy homes, to buy newer cars, not new cars, but newer cars because new cars are really expensive lately. To pay down all their debts, he said.

For Taylor Apperson, 26, the pandemic pause was both a relief and a lingering anxiety.

She graduated in summer 2019 from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in hospitality management. The federal pause came so soon after graduation that she had barely touched her federal loans and fully shifted her budget to paying her private loans through Sallie Mae.

When the pandemic shut down the hospitality industry, she put her unemployment checks toward the loans. But when it reopened, she still could not make the math work. She switched out of her desired career path and picked up bartending to meet the steep monthly payment of $750.

Everything feels like a rip off, she said. The fact that Im working in the job that I went to school for and I cant afford to pay for the school that I did to get this job. It just doesnt make sense.

Apperson now works as a social media manager at a hospitality company. Since graduating four years ago shes already paid nearly $7,000 toward her private debt. If the federal forgiveness plan had held up in court, Apperson would have $5,000 left to pay instead of $25,000.

Private and federal together, Apperson is looking at a monthly debt payment of $1,000. Its more than her shared rent in Kalamazoo.

These payments are just eating me up, she said. I know Im going to have to go and ask for a raise. Thats what has to happen because theres no way Im going to be able to make these payments.

Many of these borrowers were not counting on being back in the red for their once-forgiven student loans and that frustration may have a lasting political impact, Collier said.

Democrats are definitely going to be stuck on forgiveness now. I think that this will be their call in 2024, to give Biden a majority Democratic House, a bigger majority Democratic Senate, Collier said.

They already started shaping the narrative that Republicans have wanted to take away your forgiveness and today it happened. Well see if that translates to anything substantial, I suppose. It seems like student loan forgiveness is pretty popular, even across party lines.

In the meantime, Hogans little sister will be a freshman at Michigan State University this fall. All summer Hogan, the CMU graduate, helped her proofread scholarship applications and research how to patchwork funding together.

I know the burdens of student loan debt and Im doing everything to help my sister get as much paid for [as possible], he said.

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LANSING, MI  An Ann Arbor businessman who led the Michigan League of Conservation Voters (LCV) board and is vice chair of the states Council on Climate Solutions has been appointed Michigans top environmental regulator.

Phil Roos, CEO of Upland, a strategic consulting firm formerly known as Great Lakes GrowthWorks, was named director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday, June 30.

Roos succeeds Liesl Clark, who stepped down in December amid a second-term shakeup on Whitmers cabinet. The agency has been led by two acting directors in the meantime.

Im honored and excited to take on this important assignment at EGLE, said Roos in a statement. We have a tremendous opportunity to seize the moment and take action to grow Michigans economy, protect our land, air, and water  today and into the future  and improve the lives of the citizens of Michigan. Im ready to work with anyone to make sure we do right for the people we all serve.

Roos will take the helm of an agency with a budget thats being increased to about $1 billion in fiscal 2024 under a state budget passed by the Legislature this week.

Roos currently serves on the board of directors for the National Wildlife Federation and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, of which he is past board president. He has held corporate leadership positions at companies such as Little Caesars and Quaker Oats and is the founder of the Arbor Strategy Group brand consulting firm.

In 2021, Whitmer appointed Roos to the Council on Climate Solutions. The council helped develop the states MI Healthy Climate Plan, which calls for the state to get 60 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. State lawmakers are attempting to accelerate and codify that goal into law this summer through clean energy legislation.

His appointment is subject to approval by the Senate. Under a Democratic party trifecta, he is unlikely to receive the same legislative scrunty as his predecessor. In 2019, Clark went before advice-and-consent hearings resurrected by Republicans who battled Whitmer over her plans to restructure the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) into Michigan EGLE and disband two controversial internal oversight panels with significant polluting industry sway.

Clark was recently named the director of sustainable climate action engagement at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability on June 27.

Dan Eichinger, the former director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, took over as acting EGLE director in December. Eichinger was succeeded in May by Aaron Keatley, the chief deputy director at EGLE, upon taking a government affairs position at Ferris State University.

Kara Cook, Whitmers former energy and environmental policy advisor, has also been hired as chief of staff at EGLE. Cook is former government affairs manager at Michigan LCV.

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Foxconn gained approval from authorities in Vietnam to invest US$246 million into two projects to assemble telecom and electric vehicle parts in the country.

Reuter reported the projects will be constructed in Quang Ninh province, the north of Vietnam, and they will be led by Foxconn Singapore.

Around $US200 million will go into setting up a factory to build EV chargers and components with production expected to start in January 2025, with a workforce of 1,200 to be hired.

The total investment into Vietnam made by Foxconn will total US$3 billion after these projects.

Foxconn has been operating in Vietnam for almost 20 years and also plans to operate a new factory in the central province of Nghe An, with an investment of US$100 million, as was revealed by authorities last month.

Foxconn is moving its operations outside of China to Vietnam and Mexico due to continuing tensions between the US and the far east nation.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a student loan forgiveness plan Friday, June 30 that would erase up to $20,000 of debt per borrower.

The high court voted 6-3 against President Joe Bidens broad student debt relief program in the case Biden v. Nebraska. In a second case, Department of Education v. Brown, the court ruled unanimously the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion saying the 2003 HEROES Act does not authorize the student loan forgiveness program.

The HEROES Act allows the Secretary to waive or modify existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, but does not allow the Secretary to rewrite that statute to the extent of canceling $430 billion of student loan principal, Roberts said.

The Biden administration argued the 2003 HEROES Act allows the U.S. Department of Education to change the federal student loan system during national emergencies. This law is what both former President Donald Trump and Biden used to freeze student loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Roberts contended the HEROES Act allows the education secretary to modify the student loan system but it does not allow basic and fundamental changes in the scheme.

In sum, the Secretarys comprehensive debt cancellation plan is not a waiver because it augments and expands existing provisions dramatically, Roberts wrote in the opinion that was backed by the five other conservative justices on the court.

Liberal justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

Kagan argued in the dissent the HEROES Act allows the education secretary to do what was necessary to alleviate the emergencys impact on affected borrowers ability to repay their student loans.

The Secretary, that is, could give the relief that was needed, in the form he deemed most appropriate, to counteract the effects of a national emergency on borrowers capacity to repay. That may have been a good idea, or it may have been a bad idea. Either way, it was what Congress said, Kagan said.

In August last year, Biden announced a plan forgive $10,000 per federal student loan borrower and $20,000 for those who received Pell Grants. The program would have wiped out more than $400 billion in federal student debt for 43 million borrowers earning less than $125,000 individually or $250,000 for households.

About 1.4 million Michiganders have federal student loan debt, of which 864,000 applied or were deemed automatically eligible for forgiveness last year, according to the White House. And 566,000 of those borrowers were already approved for federal debt forgiveness before courts halted the plan in October.

The Supreme Court has issued a ruling on whether we can move forward with our student debt relief program. We are reviewing the Courts decision to determine next steps, the U.S. Department of Education said in a notice on its website.

The plan faced almost immediate legal challenges with the two lawsuits making their way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Biden v. Nebraska, six Republican-led states claimed the Biden administration overstepped its executive powers and the program threatened their tax revenue from student loan servicer MOHELA. The court agreed that at least Missouri has standing to challenge the program.

Here, as the Government concedes, the Secretarys plan would cost MOHELA, a nonprofit government corporation created by Missouri to participate in the student loan market, an estimated $44 million a year in fees, Roberts wrote in the decision.

This impact on MOHELA, Roberts continued, will cause a direct injury to Missouri itself.

The other lawsuit, Department of Education v. Brown, was brought by two Texas borrowers  backed by the Job Creators Network, a conservative advocacy group  Myra Brown who is ineligible for relief and Alexander Taylor who doesnt qualify for $20,000 of forgiveness.

Because respondents fail to establish that any injury they suffer from not having their loans forgiven is fairly traceable to the Plan, they lack Article III standing, so the Court has no jurisdiction to address their procedural claim, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the opinion.

Justices seemed skeptical about the program after hearing oral arguments in February.

Chief Justice John Roberts questioned whether the Biden administration sidestepped Congress with the broad debt relief, saying it presents extraordinarily serious, important issues about a separation of powers.

I think most casual observers would say, if youre going to give up that much amount of money, if youre going to affect the obligations of that many Americans on a subject thats of great controversy, they would think thats something for Congress to act on, he said.

Payments are set to restart in October with interest resuming Sept. 1. Congress passed a law earlier this month preventing additional pauses as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

Advocates argue restarting payments could take a toll on 45 million borrowers who have not been required to make payments for over three years. About one in five are at risk of struggling with their student loan payments this fall, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor raised this issue noting many will be burdened by repayments.

The evidence is clear that many of them will have to default. Their financial situation will be even worse because once you default, the hardship on you is exponentially greater. You cant get credit. Youre going to pay higher prices for things. They are going to continue to suffer from this pandemic in a way that the general population doesnt, she said.

The high courts decision Friday dealt a blow to broad debt relief but several Democratic lawmakers have reportedly been pushing for a backup plan. No details about a Plan B have been released yet.

More on MLive:

What Michigan borrowers need to know about a student loan forgiveness plan

5 facts about how much student loan debt Michiganders have

Will student loans be forgiven? A $10K plan could erase debt for thousands of Michiganders.
For the first time in the states history, environmental regulators issued air quality warnings for two pollutants in the same areas  a one-two punch of high ozone and smoke blown in from Canadian wildfires.

The seven-county Detroit area and the lakeshore in West Michigan both remain under the double air pollution alerts.

But this is not the only bad air record set this month. June 2023 brought a series of poor air quality firsts.

Michigans first air quality alert because of wildfire smoke pollution went out this month. The state also had its first air quality alert in the Upper Peninsula for any pollutant. Additionally, the first statewide air quality alert went out just this week across Michigan for the smoke pollution.

Related: First statewide air quality alert issued for wildfire smoke

Now the latest first: Michigan regulators issued double-pollutant air quality alerts for ozone and smoke for Thursday and Friday, June 29 and 30, in southeastern Michigan and along the lakeshore in West Michigan.

Im kind of down on my hands and knees and knocking wood and everything that this is just one of those things like a 100-year flood or something like that, said Jim Haywood, senior meteorologist on the air quality team for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

This is hopefully not the new normal. This is hopefully an outlier. But we dont know. Nobody knows.

The new pollution variable this month is the wildfire smoke from Canada. Its been blown into the U.S. Midwest on winds out of the north and east, the opposite direction of normal prevailing summertime winds for the region.

Haywood said these smoky conditions are apt to continue until either the fires in Canada burn out or there is a sustained period with winds shifted back into normal summer patterns out of the south and the west. And even if the wind does shift, he warned it wont mean the air will immediately clear up.

The problem is that this area of smoke that we have right now thats been coming down this way doesnt stop at Michigan. Its been going down to Illinois, Indiana, and points even further south, Haywood said.

Michigan could remain under the hazy plume as the smoke is pushed back in the opposite direction, he explained.

That big cloud of smoke may go back and forth a little bit. But right now, were not seeing any good clean out, Haywood said.

Medical professionals are warning against lengthy exposure to these unhealthy air conditions. And the forecast is that Michigan may be in for a smoky summer.

Exposure to the smoky air can have short-term health consequences, causing things like shortness of breath, chest tightness, cough, sore throat, and irritated eyes. Symptoms can set in quicker and be more serious for individuals with underlying conditions such as asthma, COPD, emphysema, allergies, and history of heart or lung disease.

Ozone is a naturally occurring gas that protects Earth from ultraviolet radiation in the upper atmosphere, but which can trigger chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and inflame respiratory problems when it forms low enough where people can breathe it.

Extended exposure to these poor air conditions can be expected to continually heighten health risks.

As total exposures to air pollutants and smoke increase, the risk for severe health effects increases, and asthma attacks and heart attacks are more likely in those with asthma and heart disease, said Robert Wahl, an environmental epidemiologist and assistant professor at Michigan State University who studies the effects of air pollution on those with asthma and the health effects of climate change.

He said the harm from the recent influx of wildfire smoke from Canada will be further exacerbated when ozone levels rise to harmful levels.

In addition to increasing numbers of wildfires due to climate change, ozone levels are likely to continue to increase in the summer months. Ozone is an airway irritant, and it is added on top of a persons air pollution and wildfire smoke burden, increasing the number of asthma attacks among people with asthma and COPD, Wahl said.

Environmental regulators suggest the most protective option during unhealthy air periods is to stay indoors with air conditioning or air filtration, reduce strenuous activities, and limit time outdoors.

When staying indoors is not an option, those who go outside during poor air quality are encouraged to wear N95 masks for protection.

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Related articles:

Air quality monitors in Michigan growing in importance

Why Detroit air can meet ozone standards but West Michigan does not

Michigan doctors warn about lengthy exposure to unhealthy air

Better get used to smoky Michigan skies; computer model, experience show why
The 4th of July weekend is one of the best weekends to visit the shores of the Great Lakes. However, there is always the question of where to go - and where will the waters be warm enough to swim? Lake Huron will be your best bet temperature-wise, but afternoon showers may put a wrench in the plan.

Temperatures on the water will vary depending which Great Lake you visit, but Lake Huron, especially near the Saginaw Bay, could see temperatures in the 60s and 70s.

Temperature loop through 7/3

Lake Michigan could see temperatures in the 50s and 60s throughout the weekend, but Lake Superior will continue to be unbearably cold, with temperatures as low as 30 degrees in some spots.

Some Lake Michigan readings from today, from the National Weather Service:

Ludington State Park: 60 degrees

P.J. Hoffmaster State Park north of Ferrysburg: 63 degrees

Grand Haven State Park: 60 degrees

Holland State Park: 53 degrees

Saugatucks Oval Beach: 68 degrees

In addition, we are still battling wildfire smoke that refuses to leave the area.

Forecasted smoke through 7/2

This is forecast to move off to the east by Saturday evening, but with how much this forecast has varied this week alone, we will continue to keep you updated.

A third component to the weekend are some spotty showers, primarily along the southern Michigan border.

Radar loop through7/3

The greatest threat is some downpours, as well as a rumble of thunder, but isolated hail could appear in some storms.

Wherever you decide to go this weekend, you need to be careful while on the water. Temperatures beneath the surface of the Great Lakes could easily be below 60 degrees, inducing a cold shock should you fall in. In addition, due to the Great Lakes being freshwater, it will be harder to float in the water when compared to the oceans saltwater.
29.06.2023 LISTEN

Nigerian musician Iyanya said his side of the story is coming following allegations in Yvonne Nelson's memoir.

Iyanya and well-known actress Tonto Dikeh were implicated in Yvonne Nelson's book, which shed light on their previous relationship.

In her memoir, Yvonne Nelson detailed the traumatic experience of betrayal in her relationship with Iyanya, who even went so far as to get her initials tattooed on his wrist.

Prior to the cheating rumors and subsequent breakup, the couple had a seemingly decent relationship.

Iyanya hinted at addressing the allegations of cheating on social media following the publication of Yvonne Nelson's book.

He expressed surprise at Yvonnes claims and promised to share his side of the story.

In a social media post, Iyanya stated, So Yvonne Nelson said I cheated on her with Tonto Dikeh? Oh wow. Ill respond to this later. I no go write book, but For now, make I go watch my new video Director just send me now. Love & Trust Ft Joeboy .
Ghana's Afropiano star King Vudumane says the ongoing scuffle between Sarkodie and Yvonne Nelson is unhealthy, and such dark secrets should not be discussed in the public domain.

Vudamane has recently gone viral for sharing his thoughts on Sarkodie's rebuttal to Yvonne Nelson's memoir, which revealed her relationship with the rapper and resulted in a termination of pregnancy in 2010.

According to the US-based artiste who doubles as a producer, Yvonne Nelson was wrong in detailing her private affair with Sarkodie while condemning the latter for his response.

"It is just unpleasant seeing what is going viral in Ghana. Yvonne Nelson and Sarkodie are two huge influencers and shouldn't be portraying certain dark secrets and justifying them in their own creative ways," he stated.

Vudumane further stated that Ghanaians should not be encouraging such behaviour. He noted that it is wrong to write about abortion or compose a song talking about certain sensitive issues.

Vudumane's video has sparked a lot of debate on social media, with many people agreeing with his views while others disagree.

Some people believe that Yvonne Nelson should have the right to tell her story, while others believe that it was wrong for Sarkodie to make a song about it.
A stakeholder in education is someone who is directly or indirectly affected by the decisions made by the educational institution.

Students, parents, instructors, policymakers, and the business sector are all stakeholders in education. Each of these organizations has a strong interest in ensuring that our educational system is efficient and satisfies the needs of all concerned.

In this lesson, I want to share with you the top 15 stakeholders in education you must know.

Students

Students are maybe the most important stakeholders in education since they are the ones who are performing the work of learning.

A solid education may offer students with the information and skills they require for future success.

Students, on the other hand, cannot become better adults if their instructors fail them.

Because students are stakeholders in their own education, progressive educators argue that they should be consulted on what and how they are taught.

Parents

Parents have an interest in their childrens education because they want to guarantee that schools teach the values that they want their children to learn. They do not want their children to be exposed to things that they believe are dangerous or unsuitable.

Parents, more than anybody else, have a vested stake in their childrens educational achievement.

The parent is ultimately accountable for the childs upbringing.

In private schools, parents pay directly for their childs education, giving them even more control over what is taught to the youngster.

Teachers

Teachers are examples of internal stakeholders since they are the ones who really carry out the task of educating kids. They have a lot of say over what and how students learn in their classes.

Teachers have a strong interest in maintaining school effectiveness since their employment is dependent on it. If parents believe their child is not learning, they may withdraw their child from school, resulting in the school failing.

Another reason teachers believe they are undervalued is that they believe they have the competence to know what to teach and how to teach it to their pupils.

As a result, teachers work closely with other stakeholders (particularly parents) to devise the best ways to educate each child.

School administrators

The principal, assistant principals, and other school leaders are examples of school administrators. They are responsible for ensuring that the school works smoothly and successfully, as well as that there is a strong school culture.

They are frequently hired for their extensive understanding of education, which means they are a trusted source of advice on how to enhance the school.

However, school administrators are frequently the individuals, who must be careful when making strategic decisions, listen to various stakeholders and solicit their feedback so that schools represent the ideals of their communities.

Business Community

The business community is an interested party in education because they want to guarantee that students are prepared for the workforce. They aim to ensure that graduates have the required skills and knowledge to be effective employees.

Many of the resources that schools require, such as financing, books, and supplies, are provided by the business community. Furthermore, corporations frequently collaborate with schools to create internship and job opportunities for students.

Philanthropists and Charitable Organizations

Philanthropists are those who make charitable contributions to organizations. Philanthropists might help with education by making contributions to schools, providing scholarships, and engaging in other activities that support education.

Philanthropists are interested in education because they want their money to be put to good use in improving the lives of others. They want to know that their contributions are making a difference in the world and that they are going to a good cause.

Local state and federal governments

Local and state governments are interested in education because they want to guarantee that their population is educated and ready for the workforce.

They also want to ensure that schools are educating children for the future so that they may be productive members of society.

Federal governments may also have an interest in ensuring that students learn citizenship skills and values. This will make them become knowledgeable and involved citizens.

Representatives of the government

Local lawmakers, members of Congress, and state governors all have an interest in education since they are the elected representatives who establish the general strategic direction of a school system.

They typically run for the government on an education platform, and if elected, they have a strong interest in executing that program so that they can return to the people and show results.

If education systems fail, government officials may be held accountable. As a result, they wish to keep a close check on the course of the educational system.

Taxpayers

Taxpayers have an interest in education since they are the ones who pay for it with their revenue.

They want to ensure that their money is being spent wisely and that their children are receiving a high-quality education.

Furthermore, taxpayers may wish to ensure that schools teach children the values and skills that they believe are vital to the nation.

Unions

Teachers and other education personnel interests are represented through unions. They bargain for their members salaries, benefits, and working conditions.

Unions also seek to guarantee that their members are fairly treated and have a say in issues that impact them.

They want to ensure that teachers have the resources they need to conduct their jobs well and are not overworked or underpaid as workers.

Unions exist to guarantee that workers receive a fair days pay for a fair days labor.

Policymakers

Because they create the rules and regulations that govern schools, policymakers have a vested interest in education. They also appropriate the cash required for schools to function.

Policymakers strive to ensure that schools are functional and efficient so that taxpayer dollars are used wisely. They also want to ensure that schools are educating pupils for employment and citizenship.

As a result, policymakers frequently collaborate with other stakeholders to ensure that schools satisfy the requirements of children, parents, companies, and the community.

Voluntary Voters

Voters are the ones who by their vote have elected the individuals who create the rules and regulations that regulate schools.

They also elect the members of the school board who administer the schools in their area.

Voters want to know that their tax funds are being spent properly and that all children are receiving a decent education.

Furthermore, voters may wish to ensure that schools are teaching pupils the values and skills that they believe are vital to the country.

Universities and colleges

Universities are interested in high school education because they want to guarantee that pupils are adequately prepared for university.

If high schools are not providing kids with the necessary skills and information to thrive in university, then universities

will have to spend more money on remedial courses as a result.

Furthermore, colleges also seek to ensure that high schools send them eligible pupils in order for them to maintain their academic standards.

School Board

School boards are made up of community people who are chosen to govern their districts schools. School boards are legally obligated to guarantee that the schools in their district provide a high-quality education to all children.

They also have a financial obligation to spend public money wisely and to be excellent stewards of the resources provided to schools.

School board members frequently feel a personal duty to ensure that the schools are efficient and effective.

They will do all possible to assist kids in achieving their goals.

Members of the community

The local community is invested in education since it is the community that benefits most from an educated populace.

A highly educated populace is more likely to be employed, earn higher earnings, and rely less on government aid.

Furthermore, educated people are more likely to be civically engaged and committed in their community. A well-educated populace allows the community to grow, address future challenges, and become more affluent.

Summary

Being a stakeholder in education is very crucial. There are several stakeholders in education. Everyone has their own set of interests and ambitions. In school, a stakeholder can help teach students, in the business community a stakeholder can provide internships, in the community a stakeholder can be a role model.

From the government, a stakeholder can help students become law-abiding and good citizens, from the university, a stakeholder will ensure that kids learn the needed skills in high school, as a voluntary voter, a stakeholder will make sure to elect an individual who will ensure that schools teach kids the necessary values needed for a good society.

Conclusion

All stakeholders no matter where they come from, share a common goal: to guarantee that schools provide high-quality teaching and learning to all students.

The fundamental issue comes when the interests of stakeholders collide (for example, taxpayers want to reduce expenditures while teachers want to be paid more). In these cases, officials must balance the desires of all parties in order to chart a course ahead.

Policymakers may make more informed decisions that represent the views of the greatest number of community members by talking with a diverse group of stakeholders.

What do you think about stakeholders in education?

Leave a comment below and lets learn from you also.
The National Democratic Congress Council of Elders Chair in South Africa, Mr. Benjamin Kofi Quashie has indicated that the results from the Assin-North by-elections cast a slur on Nana Akufo-Addo and Bawumia's government.

According to him, the results show that most Ghanaians are disgruntled and unsatisfied with the performance of the New Patriotic Party administration.

"Note that this is a swing constituency, not like Kumawu and the NPP cannot win. Not surprised at all about the NDCs win because things are not too good in the country. We knew we were going to win", he stated.

In a telephone conversation on GBC Radio Central Special Morning Show edition on Wednesday, 28th June, 2023 he said the "Vigilance and hard work on the part of the NDC ensured their win.

"The NPP is known for political manipulations but, our vigilance ensured that such manipulations were curtailed to ensure that the people's mandate was declared as expected."

When asked whether it was only vigilance that ensured their win or the constituents of Assin-North just like the NDC candidate, he said, "The two of these played a very crucial role and they are intertwined. Our vigilance was also good; then the message Gyakye Quayson brought and that of the NDC were very clear on development and also we wanted this to be an assessment on Nana Akufo-Addo and Bawumia's government."

The NDC SA Council Chair admitted that the Assin-North By-elections was actually won based on vigilance.

"If people would remember, this isn't what happened during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-elections. But, because this time around with the extra vigilance and the fact that the elections cannot be rigged coupled with the general hardships, the results ought to be what it is," he stated.

He further indicated that the results from Assin-North By-elections has sent shivers down the spine of the NPP government and "I think they would have a meeting today at the Jubilee House to appreciate that Ghanaians are tired and Assin-North has indicated what would happen in 2024."

Mr. Kofi Quashie praised President John Mahama for taking time off his busy schedule to campaign for the NDC candidate.

He commended the Police Service, especially Dr. George Akuffo Dampare for the professionalism he and his team exhibited during the elections.

"Mr. Quayson is the most humble person I've ever seen and God has vindicated him again. He should not be complacent and continue to be the Gyakye Quayson he has always been. He should continue with his good works. I thank all the MPs who served as polling station agents and all other party members who made sure we won," he stated.
30.06.2023 LISTEN

Seyram Kawor, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Finance, University of Cape Coast has stated that the perennial flooding situation in Ghana is a major issue that requires a comprehensive strategy.

He said until government engage stakeholders to find lasting solutions to the perennial flooding, it will continue to destroy lives and properties.

Speaking on GBC Radio Central's sociopolitical show dubbed, 'Centre Stage' on Saturday 24th June, 2023, he outlined some key measures that can be taken to address and mitigate the impact of flooding in Ghana.

1. Improved Urban Planning and Infrastructure: it is the view of the Senior Lecturer that, we need to develop and enforce strict land-use regulations to prevent construction in flood-prone areas.

2. Improve urban planning practices, including proper drainage systems, flood retention ponds, and green spaces to absorb excess water. Upgrade and maintain existing infrastructure, including stormwater drainage systems, canals, and reservoirs.

3. Early Warning Systems and Disaster Preparedness: We need to establish and strengthen early warning systems to provide timely alerts and information to communities in flood-prone areas.

Enhance disaster preparedness and response mechanisms, including the provision of emergency shelters, evacuation plans, and training for rescue and relief teams.

4. Environmental Protection and Reforestation: Ghana needs to protect and restore natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and riverbanks, which act as natural buffers against flooding.

Implement sustainable land management practices to prevent deforestation, soil erosion, and the degradation of water bodies.

5. Climate Change Adaptation: As global warming discussions are ongoing, Ghana also needs to a way to incorporate climate change considerations into infrastructure planning and design, considering increased rainfall intensity and frequency.

Promote climate-resilient agriculture practices and water management techniques to reduce vulnerability to floods.

6. Public Awareness and Education: Ghana needs to conduct public awareness campaigns to educate citizens about the causes and risks of flooding and how they can contribute to prevention and preparedness.

Foster a culture of environmental responsibility, encouraging individuals and communities to take actions that reduce flood risks, such as proper waste management and avoiding the blocking of waterways.

7. Collaborative Approach: We to foster collaboration among government agencies, local authorities, communities, and international partners to coordinate efforts, share knowledge, and pool resources for effective flood management.

Encourage public-private partnerships to leverage expertise and resources for sustainable flood prevention and mitigation measures.

In conclusion, Seyram Kawor underscored the fact that addressing perennial flooding requires a long-term commitment and sustained efforts from all stakeholders.

"Additionally, adequate funding, effective implementation of policies, and continuous monitoring and evaluation are crucial for the success of flood management strategies", he stated.
29.06.2023 LISTEN

The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has strongly condemned the massive vote-buying during the recent Assin North by-election held on Tuesday.

New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) traded accusations of vote-buying throughout the by-election.

Prominent members from both political parties have vehemently denied the allegations of vote-buying practices.

However, Albert Kofi Arhin, the National Coordinator of CODEO, expressed deep concern over the reports of vote buying and emphasised the need to address them promptly in order to safeguard the country's democratic principles.

In an address to the media, Arhin stated, "I heard a lot of people talking about money exchanging hands, being given to voters, and that's a very bad sign.

It's been happening, and people have been talking about it, and if we are not careful, this will destroy the democracy that we are building," he stated.

According to Mr. Arhin, both politicians and voters must acknowledge the severity of the situation and work together to find effective solutions since it poses a significant threat to the democratic process.

How can you give money to a voter to cast a ballot for you? It is surely a bad sign.

So I think both politicians and voters need to look at this and find solutions to it because it is not good for our democracy, he stated.

CODEO had deployed 15 observers to monitor the proceedings of the Assin North by-election.

This deployment was in line with its mission to mobilise citizens for active participation in the electoral process and to support the efforts of the Electoral Commission in ensuring a transparent, free, fair, and peaceful election.
Mr. Hariprasad Viswanathan, Head a Sub Saharan Africa, VFS Global.

29.06.2023 LISTEN

With the surge in travel demand from Ghanaians, visa applications submitted for various countries are at volumes higher than ever before.

With this increased demand for visa application appointments, scammers are posing as employees or associates of VFS, promising unsuspecting Ghanaians an early appointment at an additional cost of between GHC 1000 and GHC 1,500. Here are some of their common modus-operandi particularly in the digital space:

It is important for applicants to bear in mind that appointment slots are offered online based on the volume of demand or forecast and in conjunction with the Embassys own internal capacity planning. Once scheduled, it is recommended that you be at the Centre 15 minutes before the appointed time to avoid missing your slot. We strongly advise all applicants to be careful of touts and fraudulent parties who falsely promise early appointment bookings in exchange for payment.

The service fee charged for applicants are duly approved by respective client government and is made either cash deposit in the nominated bank account or through EFT/Card online. This depicted on our platforms like the customer facing websites for the understanding of our applicants with an official receipt issued if service is availed. Service fees varies for each country and is dependent on the different services provided, to offer applicants an enhanced visa application experience. Applicants may visit our website www.vfsglobal.com for more details on service fees and charges for optional value-added services. Please note that services like Premium Lounge are an optional service for applicants for an additional fee to enhance their overall application experience and are not mandatory.

Touts could also reach out to customers via chat apps, offering simple assistance such as booking an appointment slot to apply for a visa when appointments are available online on a first-come-first-served basis completely free of cost.

Phishing is a commonly used fraudulent attempt to acquire personal & sensitive information such as passwords & credit card details, through digital means by misusing official credentials. Considering the presence of imposter sites, it is important to be mindful to never share your personal information on an HTTP website to begin with. Always look for websites that begin with HTTPS when you are likely to seek or share information.

Another technique used by a scammer is to trap unsuspecting aspirants with the false promise of overseas settlement. An all-too-frequent strategy involves a scammer using new software and other technology to clone official web pages of companies like VFS Global and mask their phone numbers, so it appears that the call has indeed come from an official line. The victim is then asked to verify the number on the official website, leading him/her to further believe the caller. The initial call is backed by fabricated job offer letters and official-looking documentation sent via email. To show acceptance of the job offer or immigration opportunity, the email states that the individual will have to make an up-front payment and share personal information to take things forward.

With the presence of location pins and information on popular social media and search platforms, many such fraudsters create a fake presence using the company credentials like logos, official name etc. and include their contact details in the details provided on these pages that deceive genuine travellers who mistake these details as the official presence of the company.

Here are some warning signs that indicate a scam:

 Scammers usually request advance payments to personal bank accounts with the threat of visa application rejection or deportation.

 They seek personal information under the pretext of re-validating information in the application.

 Emails about job offers or immigration are sent from fabricated email IDs, usually via commonly used personal email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo.co.in, etc.).

 Pixelated and out-of-proportion logos are used on fabricated documentation (such as job offer letters and contracts).

 All communication stops with the scammer once payment has been made.

Furthermore, one must be very careful in what they share, like their passport or visa application numbers via public domains on the internet or social media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, as scammers are constantly on the lookout for such information.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR STUDENT VISA APPLICANTS

During student season, which typically starts from mid-May and goes on till September, the rush for visas is high especially for Australia, Canada and select Schengen locations. Thus, it is important for students to be wary of miscreants looking to take advantage of this peak demand period. Here are some key tips to key an eye out for:

 Students are advised to exercise caution when being approached by third-party entities who pose as visa service providers, promising an appointment or favourable visa decision by misusing our companys name or otherwise.

 Students should also conduct proper due diligence and vet the details of the educational institutions that they intend to study at.

 Given the unprecedented pent-up demand for outbound travel from Sub Saharan Africa, it is advisable to apply for visas as early as possible to avoid falling prey to such grey operators.

Tackling fraud at VFS Global To make both applicants as well as the general public more aware of such fraudulent entities, VFS Global ensures adequate measures are in place including stringent data privacy norms to tackle fraud-like messages at multiple touchpoints, including:  Prompt replies to email enquiries or complaints  Communicating measures to detect fraud on our social media platforms regularly  SMS and call centre voice messages  Advertisements/posters

VFS Global is the world's largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions. VFS Global is the trusted partner of 68 client governments, operating a global network with more than 3,300 Application Centres in 145 countries. The company has processed over 264 million applications since its inception in 2001. The company manages non-judgmental and administrative tasks related to applications for visa, passport, and consular services for its client governments, enabling them to focus entirely on the critical assessment task. VFS Global has its headquarters in Zurich/Switzerland and Dubai/United Arab Emirates. About the author: Hariprasad Viswanathan is the Head  Sub Saharan Africa, VFS Global
Beatrice Annan Esq

29.06.2023 LISTEN

Member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Beatrice Annan Esq has lashed out at the conduct of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) members in the just-ended Assin North by-elections.

According to Beatrice Annan, alleged 'macho men' (strong men) were bused by the leaders of the NPP to intimidate delegates.

Speaking in an interview on TV3, she said, Its a shame NPP reduced the election to auction, they have deceived their followers that some way somehow they can rig every election. A night before there were claims by the NPP saying they will win Assin North. How do you win Assin North?"

She continued,  What I am saying is that what they plan to do, they knew their plans, they themselves by the time it was 1:00pm on the day of elections, Nana Bs macho men wanted to cause destruction this was right before my eyes.

They came to the Police station they wanted to cause chaos, when they themselves came, they realized that almost 70 percent of our people had voted, the macho men they had bused four metro mass bus had failed to cause destruction, Beatrice Annan stated.

She continued They saw that 70 percent of our people had voted so you saw them the general secretary of the NPP was present, Afenyo Markin, Gabby Okyere Darko were all complaining why are the NDC members intimidating them."

James Gyakye Quayson was declared the winner by the Electoral Commission (EC) with a total of 17,245 votes, representing 57.56% of the total votes cast.
The Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean receive an exceptional amount of sunshine every year. A tousim hotspot they also have high renewable energy potential. Nevertheless, tthey still depend on fossil fuels for 80% of its electricity. Last December, the regional parliament set an ambitious target of sourcing 92% of its energy from green technology by 2040. However, there are still significant obstacles to overcome. Stefanie Schuler, with the support of the European Union, has this report.

Standing facing the Atlantic Ocean, Jose Antonio Valbuena describes the ongoing challenges facing the archipelago.

Renewable energy problems

He is the outgoing Canary Islands' minister for the fight against climate change and ecological transition.

The Spanish Canary Islands, he explains, are a system of eight volcanic islands that make up an archipelago.This means that each island has to resolve its own energy problems by itself as the islands are not interconnected to either the African continent or to the European continent.

"All these factors hinder the development of renewable energy," he said.

There are other problems too. Dimitriu Barreto works for the Technology Institute of Renewable Energy, a research center that specialises in energy transition.

It has three wind farms and the biggest photovoltaic plant on the Canary Islands. However, as an engineer, he regrets that the development of renewable energy is being done without modernising the electricity network.

Here's an example," he told RFI."Each week, when the wind is strong and we have surplus energy thanks to our new wind farms, the system operator orders us to reduce our production because this energy cannot be absorbed. In addition, no energy storage system has been put in place. So, this free energy is lost.

The Canary Islands advantage

Change is on the way, however. The new energy transition plan for the Canary Islands has accelerated the production of photovoltaic panels, which are being installed on roofs of houses by the hundreds.

The problem at the moment, Jose Antonio Valbuena says, is that there is no legislative framework to enable the development of renewable energy.

Despite this, he points to the advantages the Canary Islands offer and that European continent doesn't have.

He told RFI: The annual per capita energy demand is lower in the Canary Islands than in the rest of the European Union. This is for two reasons: first, we don't need to heat our houses in the winter or to cool them in the summer, we have a stable climate. And second, our industries are responsible for less than 7% of the energy consumption here. This is an advantage."

Of the eight Canary Islands, Ferro, the westernmost and smallest of the islands, has advanced furthest in energy transition.

Ten years ago, the smallest island focused on a new type of renewable energy model. At the time, it was described as the first island in the world to be fuelled 100% by renewable energy.

One of the developements that enabled this was the construction of a hydro-wind plant at a cost of 83 million euros, part of it financed by the European Union.

This is now starting to bear fruit, according to Renan Andres Morales, an engineer in renewable energies in the Gorona del Viento hydro-wind plant.

"The main benefits [from the plant] is the fuel savings that we achieved for the island...It means a reduction of CO2 emissions. Last year, we used seven thousand tons less fuel, which is the equivalent of 20 thousand tons of CO2."

The winds of change

But ten years later, the reality is different. It is difficult to know exactly how climate change will impact the winds or the ocean currents among other things.

The problem is that in recent years we have been noticing that the wind is changing, but our wind plant has been designed in relation to these north-north east winds explains Renan Andres Morales.

So, if the winds come from the west or the south, it means that our wind plant is not installed in the right location," he said.

"This is the reason why we have to diversify our renewable energy sources as much as possible until we have a more precise idea of what our meteorological conditions will be like in the future. Now, our main goal is to install a photovoltaic solar power plant.

There are also wave energy converters. But it will be very difficult to achieve 100% renewable energy on the island.

The problems with this kind of scenario are already apparent. The hydro-wind plant of Gorona del Viento on Ferro Island was closed for ten days in May 2023 because of lack of wind.

When there is no wind, the sun can take over. When there is no sun, we have the water. But when we don't have the water, it will become very complicated," Renan Andres Morales adds.

These north-north-east winds, along with the sun, the sea, and the volcanoes, are part of what made the Canary Islands special. With the climate change, they're now posing the islands' biggest challenge.
Kofi Adams, a Member of Parliament from the Buem constituency has lauded the people of Assin on the victory of James Gyakye Quayson.

According to Mr Adams, Ghanaians have endured enough suffering under the Akufo-Addo-led administration.

In an interview with Metro TV, he asserted that the results of the elections show the Assin people have a clear message.

From all of us Ghanaians who have suffered so much about this moment that the Assin North people spoke clearly so they deserve some commendation, Kofi Adams stated.

He continued by expressing gratitude to the NDC Party leadership and executives for their hard work.

In this input, I also commend our executives, National, Regional, Constituency executives and branch executives who were out there and I saw them through NDC force. They believed that when we work as a team, we will achieve everything and anything, he added.

Flagbearer elect of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has applauded the people of Assin North for their unwavering support and massive endorsement of James Gyakye Quayson in Tuesday's by-election.

He shared in a post, A big thank you, Assin North, for supporting James Gyakye Quayson and rejecting the non-performing NPP in the by-election. Your vote for Justice and Development is truly inspiring. Lets keep working together to build the Ghana we all dream of.

James Gyakye Quayson beat his opponent Charles Opoku after polling 17,245 votes representing 57.56%, New Patriotic Party's candidate (NPP) Charles Opoku amassed 12,630 votes representing 42.15% and the Liberal Party of Ghanas (LPG) candidate, Sefenu Bernice Enyonam polling 87 votes representing 0.29%.
The Member of Parliament for Buem Constituency Kofi Adams has cautioned members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to be prepared for a big surprise following the National Democratic Congress (NDC) recent victory in Assin North by-election.

According to Mr Adams, NPP members have been whipped to think that the scores are settled by winning the Kumawu by-election.

Speaking in an interview on Metro TV he said in the Kumawu by-elections NPP won and that we came to concede victory in Assin so it is 1-1. You will be deceiving yourself.

He indicated that the NDC votes in both Kumawu and Assin North elections have appreciated indicating a wind of change about to hit the NPP in election 2024.

We saw an appreciation in terms of the performance of NDC from 8.3 % to about 17.29%. So clearly you are seeing an appreciation for our party.

In the Kumawu by-elections, you claim your win which was your stronghold. Anyway, that no other party can contest, however there was an appreciation in the NDC votes. In 2020, in Assin North the NDC votes turn out the same but if you observe, there was an appreciation this year. This doesnt occur normally," he emphasised.

NDC's James Gyakye Quayson beat his close opponent NPP's Charles Opoku after polling 17,245 votes representing 57.56%, against 12,630 votes for the NPP candidate representing 42.15%.

The Liberal Party of Ghanas (LPG) candidate, Sefenu Bernice Enyonam polled 87 votes representing 0.29%.
Fresh clashes broke out in a Paris suburb on Thursday evening, where thousands of people had gathered for a march to remember a French teen killed by police during a traffic stop. The officer has been charged with homicide, but public anger over the shooting of 17-year-old Nahel M. is expected to fuel a third night of violence.

The memorial march led by Nahel's mother in the suburb of Nanterre started peacefully but ended in unrest, as people on the sidelines hurled objects and set cars alight. Police in riot gear fired tear gas back.

Some 40,000 officers are being deployed across France as the country braces for more turmoil following an incident that has revived long-standing concerns over police tactics.

The teenager was shot in the chest at point-blank range in Nanterre on Tuesday. Police initially reported that an officer had shot the teenager because he was driving straight at him, but this was contradicted by video footage circulating on social media.

The police officer involved has been formally charged with voluntary homicide and remanded in custody, prosecutors said on Thursday afternoon.

Buses cancelled, local curfew

More than 6,000 people turned up for the march in memory of the victim, according to a police count.

"The whole world must see that when we march for Nahel, we march for all those who were not filmed," activist Assa Traore, whose brother died after being arrested in 2016, told the rally.

Nahel's mother Mounia waved at the crowds from an open-top truck wearing a white t-shirt with the slogan "Justice for Nahel 27/06/23". The protest went from the family's housing estate to the local police station, where the clashes took place.

They came after two nights of unrest in which cars were torched, buildings vandalised and nearly 200 people arrested.

With protests expected to continue into Thursday night, bus and tram services in and around Paris will be reduced over the evening and halted altogether from 9:00 pm, said the president of the surrounding Ile de France region, Valerie Pecresse.

After several trams and buses were targeted at Wednesday's protests, the decision was made "to ensure the protection of staff and passengers", she posted on Twitter.

Metro and overground train services were expected to run as normal, according to public transport operator RATP.

Another suburb of Paris, Clamart to the south-west, declared a weekend curfew in response to Wednesday's unrest. Its 50,000 residents will have to remain indoors between 9:00 pm and 6:00 am from Thursday until Monday, the mayor's office said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has ordered a massive police presence across France on Thursday. He said that 170 security personnel had been injured in clashes with protesters overnight Wednesday that resulted in 180 arrests.

"This wasn't about small protest. It was about a small group of people deciding to attack the symbols of the republic," he said, referring to vandalism directed at public buildings including city offices and schools.

Violence erupted after midnight on Wednesday in the Paris region, where around 2,000 riot police had been deployed. Unrest was reported in other French cities, including Toulouse, Dijon and Lyon.

Police tactics under scrutiny

The prosecutor for Nanterre told a press conference on Thursday that the police officer who shot Nahel did not meet the "legal conditions for the usage of firearms", according to a preliminary investigation.

Prosecutor Pascal Prache said the officer is being investigated for intentional homicide.

The incident has reignited debate in France about police tactics long criticised by rights groups over the treatment of people in low-income suburbs, particularly ethnic minorities.

"It's the final straw. We can't put up with it anymore," Corinne, a black resident of Nanterre in her 40s, told French news agency AFP. "It's always the same people who get killed."

"Everyone hates the police!", people chanted at the rally on Thursday, along with "Justice for Nahel!".

A record 13 people were killed by police during traffic stops in France last year.

Another policeman was charged with voluntary manslaughter on Wednesday in the south-western city of Angouleme, after he shot and killed a black 19-year-old supermarket employee as he drove to work earlier this month.

(with AFP)
The UK government said it would challenge a court ruling issued Thursday that blocks its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, a set-back to its controversial bid to cut migrant numbers.

Three Court of Appeal judges ruled that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country, after a challenge to the policy by 10 migrants and a charity supporting asylum seekers.

The ruling was welcomed by human rights groups but sparked an indignant response in Kigali, which insisted it met UN standards for the treatment of refugees.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he respected the court but "fundamentally" disagreed with the judges' conclusions.

"I strongly believe the Rwandan government has provided the assurances necessary to ensure there is no real risk that asylum-seekers relocated under the Rwanda policy would be wrongly returned to third countries," he said.

"Rwanda is a safe country. The High Court agreed. The (UN refugee agency) UNHCR have their own refugee scheme for Libyan refugees in Rwanda.

"We will now seek permission to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court."

Tackling asylum claims has become a political headache for Sunak's ruling Conservative government in London, which promised to "take back control" of the country's borders after the UK left the EU.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman lashed out at "phoney humanitarianism" standing in the way of ending Channel crossings and said the system was "rigged against the British people".

Former prime minister Boris Johnson brought in the contentious deportation proposal to try to tackle record numbers of migrants crossing the Channel from northern France by small boats.

More than 11,000 people have already crossed the Channel in small boats from northern France this year, while the backlog of asylum claims being processed has reached record levels.

Rights breach

Rights groups and charities protested against the deportation plan, and the first removal flights due to take off last June were successfully blocked by legal action.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Home Secretary Suella Braverman have pledged to continue the controversial Rwanda policy. By JESSICA TAYLOR (UK PARLIAMENT/AFP)

Two High Court judges dismissed claims about the legality of the scheme in December last year.

That prompted the 10 asylum seekers -- from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Sudan and Albania, plus the charity Asylum Aid -- to appeal.

At the appeal court, the judges agreed the UK government could not guarantee that asylum seekers sent to Rwanda would not be deported to the country from which they were fleeing.

"The deficiencies in the asylum system in Rwanda are such that there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk that persons sent to Rwanda will be returned to their home countries, where they faced persecution or other inhumane treatment," the judges said.

A majority of judges were not convinced by Rwanda's assurances, saying that although made in good faith the evidence they presented "does not establish that the necessary changes had by then been reliably effected or would have been at the time of the proposed removals.

"In consequence, sending anyone to Rwanda would constitute a breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights" which states that no one shall be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, they added.

'Rare good news'

Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch, called the verdict "some rare good news in an otherwise bleak landscape for human rights in the UK".

Ten asylum seekers and a charity challenge the deportation plan, first at the High Court, then the Court of Appeal. By Daniel LEAL (AFP)

"Rather than treating human beings like cargo it can ship elsewhere, it (the government) should be focusing on ending the hostile environment towards refugees and asylum seekers," she added.

The UNHCR urged the UK government to "pursue other measures, including cooperation with the UK's European neighbours and fair and fast asylum procedures, that would be more humane, efficient and cost-effective".

In Kigali, government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo insisted Rwanda was "one of the safest countries in the world" and said "we have been recognised by the UNHCR and other international institutions for our exemplary treatment of refugees".

"While this is ultimately a decision for the UK's judicial system, we do take issue with the ruling that Rwanda is not a safe country for asylum seekers and refugees," she added.

The deportation scheme applies to anyone deemed to have entered the UK illegally since January 1.

Sunak and Braverman have both said urgent action is needed to break smuggling gangs and to prevent further tragedies in the Channel.

An impact assessment report released this week estimated the plan will cost 169,000 ($210,000) per person, but that most of those costs would be recouped by not having to accommodate the claimants.
NCCE Logo

30.06.2023 LISTEN

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) for Builsa North Municipality, successfully held a youth engagement session at the Municipal Assembly Hall in Sandema in the Upper East Region.

The youth engagement forms part of a European Union-funded project on preventing and containing violent extremism (PCVE) in the Northern area of Ghana.

The event that took place on Tuesday, June 27 2023, brought together a cross-section of the youth in the municipality.

The District Police Command and the Office of the Justice and Peace Commission in the Wiaga Deanery were the key stakeholders present as resource persons for the exercise.

The NCCE in 2023 conducted a baseline survey on preventing and containing violent extremism in Northern Ghana where the youth formed a greater proportion of the respondents.

Stemming from this, the Municipal NCCE director, Jeffery Addah in his address shared that, engagement with the youth was necessary for the fight against violent extremism as they are the most vulnerable and susceptible to recruitment into extremist groups.

He added that the main objective of the project was to prevent and contain violent extremism through the promotion of social cohesion, peace and tolerance in the five northern regions and other hotspots in Ghana.

The Builsa North NCCE directorate also pledged to work closely with all religious bodies and communities to create public awareness of the values of mutual trust, tolerance, confidence building, negotiation, mediation and dialogue considering cultural diversities.

He concluded by appealing to traditional leaders to also employ local mechanisms of maintaining peace and peaceful co-existence between and among communities and ethnic groups.

The NCCE director acknowledged the tremendous support of the European Union (EU) over the years and in the current project to equip the youth with relevant information on violent extremism and radicalism.

The District Superintendent of the Ghana Police Service for Builsa North; DSP Kwesi Amankwah speaking at the event as a resource person, led a session on the theme Preventing Violent Extremism in Ghana.

He educated participants on the Terrorism Act, tactics and weapons used by terrorists, possible signs of radicalization, and how to identify and report suspicious persons and items. Participants also had firsthand information on how some protective security measures to take and what to do during attacks. DSP Kwesi Amankwah invited participants to form or be part of community surveillance groups in conjunction with the Ghana Police Service to soar up security efforts.

PP Baba Apaabey, the former Upper East Regional NCCE director and the current President of the Justice and Peace Commission for the Wiaga Deanery led the final session on Peace Building Mechanisms and National Cohesion.

Using illustrative examples, his session covered the key terms of the theme, triggers of peace, gender dimensions and Social cohesion. Reiterating the need for good governance, resource equity and low level of corruption as fundamental requisites to ensure peace in communities in Ghana.

Lauding the Municipal NCCE for youth engagement, he concluded on the need for ongoing public education and socialization as strategies that promote social cohesion.

Resource persons responded to the questions and concerns of the participants at the end of the session.

Youth leaders present, finally pledged their commitment to the fight against violent extremism with a communique on practical steps they will take after the session in their various communities.
Scruffy depots packed with bags of ore line a road leading to the Democratic Republic of Congo's mining capital Kolwezi, in the southeast of the vast mineral-rich African country.

Behind depot walls scrawled with "CoCu" -- signifying cobalt and copper -- traders assess the purity of illegally mined ore brought in by informal miners, and fix a price.

But the miners, who mostly work in dire conditions, complain that traders rig purity readings to rip them off.

"There's trickery everywhere," said miner Paul Bande, 45, at the Kamilombe artisanal mine near Kolwezi.

Kamilombe artisanal mine near the city of Kolwezi, in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. By Emmet LIVINGSTONE (AFP)

An ambitious scheme is now taking shape in Lualaba province to fix the problem by establishing a government-backed depot.

Known as the Musompo Trading Centre, it would cut out mercenary middlemen by offering to test and warehouse ore on behalf of the miners.

Willy Yav, the head of Congolese firm SudSouth tasked by the Lualaba government with running the centre, described the average ore trader as a "mafia guy".

The trading centre would also help burnish the image of artisanal cobalt, he explained, and lead to more money and better working conditions for miners.

A traceability and certification scheme, for example, would ensure that ore in Musompo has only been sourced from artisanal mines that meet certain rights and safety conditions.

A worker crushes ore by hand in the artisanal copper-cobalt mine of Kamilombe. By Emmet LIVINGSTONE (AFP)

Congo produces over 70 percent of the world's cobalt, a metal critical to batteries used in electronics and electric cars.

Most cobalt is extracted from giant industrial mines, but over 200,000 people are estimated to work as so-called artisanal miners at illegal mining sites.

Accusations of child labour, dangerous working conditions and corruption in the artisanal sector weigh on Congo's whole cobalt industry.

The impoverished country relies heavily on mining: the sector represented 95 percent of export revenues, and about a quarter of GDP between 2016 and 2021, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Legal issues

SudSouth CEO Willy Yav admitted that legal issues hinder the Musompo Trading Centre, which is not yet up and running.

Accusations of child labour, dangerous working conditions and corruption in the artisanal sector weigh on Congo's whole cobalt industry. By Emmet LIVINGSTONE (AFP)

Under Congolese law, artisanal miners are only permitted to work in government-designated zones and must be members of approved cooperatives.

Yet the law is not enforced. Most artisanal miners work outside the designated zones, in pits and tunnels dug with rudimentary tools, on concessions owned by mining multinationals.

Without a resolution of the legal issues, legitimate buyers will struggle to purchase ore from Musompo.

Other complications abound. For example, the role of Congo's Entreprise Generale du Cobalt (EGC), a state company with a monopoly on buying and marketing artisan mined cobalt, is unclear.

Kamilombe is a sprawling artisanal site of an estimated 1,000 tunnels. By Emmet LIVINGSTONE (AFP)

Congo launched EGC in 2021 hoping to develop the artisanal sector and to influence world cobalt prices. But the state firm has not yet bought any cobalt.

'Impatience'

Yav hopes the trading centre can work with the Kamilombe artisanal mine, on a pilot basis. Success could then serve as model for reforming the entire informal cobalt sector.

"It's very important to fix this," he said, noting that informal diggers will keep invading corporate concessions because they have families to feed.

"Everyone's interest is met through a model like the trade centre".

A USAID critical minerals adviser, who requested anonymity, said the scheme could work but that legal issues, as well as finding buyers for artisan mined cobalt posed complications.

Most cobalt is extracted from giant industrial mines such as Tenke Fungurume, in DR Congo, one of the largest copper and cobalt mines in the world, owned by Chinese company CMOC. By Emmet LIVINGSTONE (AFP)

"There's a lot of interest from the provincial government that has an interest in cleaning up this supply chain and also generating a fair tax revenue," he said.

There is enthusiasm for the scheme in Kamilombe -- a sprawling artisanal site of an estimated 1,000 tunnels not far from Kolwezi and located on a state-owned concession.

Bande, the miner, said he was waiting with "impatience" for the opening of the government-backed trading centre.

Traders only pay miners for either copper or cobalt, he explained, even though the ore they dig often contains both.

AFP visited both the Musompo Trading Centre and the Kamilombe artisanal mine as part of a trip facilitated by the Cobalt Institute, a lobby group.
30.06.2023 LISTEN

It is exactly 41 years today that some heartless coup enthusiasts needlessly and barbarically murdered three prominent Judges and an Army Officer on 30th June 1982.

June 30th 1982 continues to remain a dark spot in the nations political history and a nightmare for all judges in the country, after the three High Court Judges, namely, Mr. Justice Fred Poku Sarkodie, Mrs. Justice Cecilia Koranteng- Addow and Mr. Justice Kwadwo Agyei Agyapong as well as a retired army officer, Major Sam Acquah, were callously murdered under strange circumstances at the Bundase Military Range in the Accra Plains, after being abducted on the night by some unidentified assailants (rawafrica.com).

If you would look deeper, history is broad yet deep that binds the core existence of the world. Hence, history keeps the records of events that happened.

History is a lesson in the past but can also be the greatest regret of the future. Yet the reason why there is history is because of the events that were created by man (Hughes 2010).

Understandably, the NDC faithful would never agree with some of us for persistently critiquing the current affairs through the lenses of the past events.

But I am afraid we cannot make sense of the present happenings if we refused to take stock of the past events.

To be quite honest, some of us cannot help but to shrill, grouch, censure and highlight the revoltingly risible and inborn predilection of the devotees of the 31st December 1981 coup detat.

In any case, I feel duty bound as a bona fide Ghanaian to offer free remedial history tutorials to the benighted and the younger generation.

The story is told that in their desperate attempt to impose themselves on Ghanaians, the founders of the NDC disgustingly took arms and succeeded in overthrowing the constitutionally elected government of Dr Hilla Limann on 31st December 1981.

The founders of NDC formed a government which they called the Provisional national Defence Council (PNDC) and appointed Rawlings as the chairman.

In their weird attempt to get rid of the alleged sleazes and corruption, many Ghanaians were unjustifiably murdered or tortured mercilessly for apparent insignificant offences.

Market women were regrettably stripped naked in the broad daylight and whipped for hauling their products or selling on high prices. While their male counterparts were wickedly shaved with broken bottles and whipped for offences that would not even warrant a Police caution in a civilized society.

Regrettably, three eminent High Court Judges and a prominent Army Officer were barbarically murdered by some mindless stooges of PNDC on 30th June 1982 for carrying out their constitutionally mandated duties.

Investigations revealed that all the three Judges were sitting on review cases brought by citizens disgusted over the treatment meted out to them by the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council which the military junta formed after June 4.

The Judges dutifully ordered the release of persons who had been unlawfully sentenced to long terms of imprisonment during the despotic rule of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).

The Army Officer, Major Sam Acquah, was the head of administration who signed dismissal letters for some GIHOC workers, including one of the murder suspects, Joachim Amartey Kwei, whose services were terminated for invading and destroying property at the Parliament House.

Subsequently, the PNDC fatuous apologists savagely murdered the three eminent High Court Judges and the Army Officer because their judgement did not go in their favour.

The Special Investigation Board (SIB) however concluded that the abduction and murder was a fiendish plot orchestrated by, and with the connivance of the members of the Provisional National Defence Council.

As a matter of fact, Ghanas coup detat days under the founders of the NDC could be likened to: in the China of the Great Helmsman, Kim Il Sungs Korea, Vietnam under Uncle Ho , Cuba under Castro, Ethiopia under Mengistu, Angola under Neto, and Afghanistan under Najibullah.

May their souls rest in perfect peace.

Damiri fa due due due!!!!!!

K. Badu, UK.

[email protected]
A childrens advocacy group, Child Online Africa (COA) has called on the management of Media General to discontinue its Sunday night dating reality show, Date Rush aired on TV3.

COA describes as inappropriate, alarming and child unfriendly" the content.

In a press release copied to ModernGhana News, COA said the shows content is inappropriate live content that could have serious consequences on children, including emotional distress, negative influence on values and morals, and normalization of inappropriate behavior.

Exposure to inappropriate content could have serious consequences on a childs emotional well-being, cognitive development, and overall mental health, the press release said.

COA called on TV3 and other media stakeholders in Ghana to take immediate steps to rectify this issue and prioritize protecting children.

The group recommended strengthened content moderation, pre-broadcast screening, age-appropriate content ratings, greater collaboration between media and regulators, and new legislation to strengthen existing regulations.

Children's well-being should be a collective responsibility. We urge the TV station in question to take immediate action to rectify the situation, the press release stressed.

Awo Aidam Amenyah, Executive Director of COA who signed the release said, there is an urgent need for stricter content moderation and proactive measures to ensure the protection of our children.

We call on all stakeholders in the media to prioritize the protection of children by taking immediate steps to rectify this issue, the Group appealed.

Read a full copy of the release below:

Urgent Action Needed to Protect Children from Inappropriate Content on TV3 Date Rush

Child Online Africa is deeply concerned about the recent incident of TV3 broadcasting inappropriate live content during the Date Rush program that has a general viewership; by extension children included. COAs position is in alignment with the African Charters consideration that the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of the child also imply the performance of duties on the part of EVERYONE. Therefore, this alarming development highlights the urgent need for stricter content moderation and proactive measures to ensure the protection of our children.

COA also recognizes the child has physical and mental development needs that require particular care concerning health, physical, mental, moral, and social development, as well as legal protection in conditions of freedom, dignity, and security. Exposure to inappropriate content could have serious consequences on a childs emotional well-being, cognitive development, and overall mental health.

The harms associated with exposing children to inappropriate content are numerous and include: Emotional Distress -Psychological Impact -Normalization of Inappropriate Behaviour- Negative Influence on Values and Morals.

We, therefore, call on all stakeholders in the media to prioritize the protection of children by taking immediate steps to rectify this issue. With inspiration from Article 4 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and Section 2 of the Childrens Act of Ghana (Act 560), COA recommends the following measures:

1. Strengthened Content Moderation: TV stations must implement robust content moderation policies to ensure that all content, especially that is targeted at the general public; undergoes thorough review and screening before broadcast. This includes setting clear guidelines on what is considered appropriate for young audiences.

2. Pre-Broadcast Screening: Establishing a pre-broadcast screening process to help identify any potentially inappropriate content and prevent it from being aired during programs aimed at the general public, which could include children.

3. Age-Appropriate Content Ratings: Implementing a standardized content rating system which could provide useful and clear guidance to parents and caregivers on the age-appropriateness of the programs, enabling them to make informed decisions about what their children should watch.

4. Collaboration: There is a need for TV station owners and editors, National Communications Authority, National Media Commission and other agencies to team up in establishing best practices, share resources, and develop effective policies that prioritize child safety and well-being.

5. Legislation: we call on regulators and policymakers, especially the parliamentary caucus on Communications, to come up with standards informed by our cultural values and principles to strengthen existing regulations and enforce them effectively to safeguard the best interests of our children while checking some of these excesses.

Children's well-being should be a collective responsibility. We urge the TV station in question to take immediate action to rectify the situation.

Together, we can create a safer, more empowering, and more positive, nurturing media environment for children.

SIGNED

Awo Aidam Amenyah

(Executive Director)
Chairman of the Works and Housing Committee of Parliament, Isaac Asiamah is asking the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to release funds to deal with perennial flooding in the country.

This comes after the Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye appealed to Parliament to consider allocating portions of the road and sanitation levy funds to the Ministry to help in addressing the challenge.

Reacting to the presentation, Mr Asiamah said the Ministry must be adequately resourced to discharge its mandate.

I am happy today that the finance minister is here. When we are prioritising areas, flooding should be indicated. Last year, the minister for works and housing was given only 18 percent of his release, so he is really suffering. Minister of finance please finance the works and housing ministry so that they can work, he stated.

The Minority Chief Whip, Governs Agbodza however called for attitudinal change as government makes efforts in mitigating the impact of flooding.

Sometimes it is not merely the non-availability of money. The problems are not natural disasters, we are creating them. The Minister of Finance can release every money if we all neglect the regulations around building in waterways he will give us the money, he can actually go and desilt all the gutters but because we have gone to block more channels the flooding will still happen, he stated.

-citinewsroom
Matilda Amissah Arthur, the wife of the late former Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur has disclosed that she repeatedly begged her husband to resign during his tenure as Vice President of Ghana.

Despite her persistent requests, her husband chose not to heed her suggestions.

In an upcoming interview on Accra-based Joy News, Matilda Amissah Arthur shared this revelation in response to a question regarding whether she wanted her husband to resign due to the demanding nature of his job.

She candidly admitted that she had asked him to step down "many times."

Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur, an economist and former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, served as Ghana's Vice President and headed the economic management team under President John Dramani Mahama.

His unexpected passing occurred five years ago on June 29, 2018, during a fitness training session.

Following the untimely demise of President John Evans Atta Mills, who was Ghana's first sitting president to pass away while in office, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur assumed the role of Vice President alongside President Mahama.

-Classfmonline.com
Politics: the art of using euphemisms, lies, emotionalism and fear  mongering to dupe average people into accepting  or even demanding  their own enslavement  Larken Rose

It was a titanic by-election. At stake was the right to represent the good people of Assin North. It was clearly a straight  fight between NPP's Charles Opoku and NDC's James Gyakye Quayson. The LPG candidate, Bernice Enyonam, could have seen from the beginning that she was only going to be an also-ran.

Assin  Bereku  born Michael Ankomah Nimfah had invoked the Supreme Court's jurisdiction to interpret and enforce the Constitution with a case that Mr. Quayson's election in 2020 was unconstitutional, and that was on May 17, 2023.

On June 5, 2023, the Supreme Court filed its full judgment and concluded thus: Upon a true and proper interpretation of Article 94 (2)(a), the decision of 2nd Defendant (Electoral Commission) to permit the 1st Defendant (James Quayson) to contest the parliamentary election of Assin North when the 1st Defendant had not shown evidence of the cancellation of his citizenship of Canada is an act which is inconsistent with, and violates, Article 94(2) (a) of the 1992 Constitution. So, Quayson's election was null and void and of no legal effect. And, finally the Supreme Court ordered Parliament to expunge the name of the 1st Defendant James Gyakye Quayson as Member of Parliament. Coram (Before), Jones Dotse JSC, Nene Amegatcher JSC, Mariama Owusu (Ms) JSC, Gertrude Torkornoo (Mrs) JSC, Prof Henrietta Mensah  Bonsu (Mrs) JSC, YonnyKulendi JSC, BarbarnAckah  Yensu (Ms) JSC.

And Article 94 (2) (a) of the 1992 constitution says: A person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament if he owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana.

The by-election became inevitable. The choice of a candidate for NPP fell on 40-year-old Charles Opoku rather than Abena Durowaa Mensah whose votes of 14,193 (44.79%) in 2020 could not match NDC's James Gyakye Quayson's of 17,498 (55.21%).

The NDC's choice of candidate was the self  same James Gyakye Quaison. The third candidate was Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG's) candidate of Bernice Enyonam.

The campaign was vigorous. It was an invasion of all of political heavyweights. All kinds of words were thrown into the fray. Sammy Gyamfi the National Communications Officer of the NDC who had pitched camp at Assin North for one month, called the NPP candidate: Charles Opoku  a political prostitute. He came to us to tell us to make him our candidate and drop Quayson. But we told him we (NDC) don't work like that, so he should join the queue he had no principles, no convictions, no track record, and doesn't even vote here.

The road project in the Assin North intensified and just as it had happened at Kumawu, the NPP government had even in the morning of Tuesday June 27, 2023, been working. The Member of Parliament for Agona West, Cynthia Mamle Morrison refuted claims that the road works were to influence the constituents. She noted Basically, the road was being done before the by-election and you know with by-election, projects go on and you can't hide it and so this one is good for us because of the weather.

The President, Akufo-Addo was upbeat about the choice of an MP. He noted: It is crucial for us to exercise our voting rights responsibly we should not support or vote for individuals who are entangled in legal controversies that may eventually lead them to face imprisonment we need someone who can come to help you, someone who will come and work in your interest can Gyakye Quayson work from jail? We vote for people to go to Parliament to work, how can he work from prison don't vote for someone who will end up in jail

Ex-President Mahama reacted to the claim that Quayson's case was the same as NPP's Adamu Sakande's which got him jailed, and criticised the president for the statement. Says Mahama: The President is wrong when he says that, because he is prejudicing the case in court.

Adamu Sakande, the late MP for Bawku Central was sued in Court by Sumaila Bielbiel seeking a declaration that defendant is a holder of a British and a Burkinabe passports and therefore, owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana and is, therefore, disqualified from holding the office of Member of Parliament.

The Supreme Court juggled with the word 'and' in Article 130(1) of the 1992 Constitution, Sakande was jailed two years for a second-degree felony which would attract 10 years in July 2012 after being found guilty of perjury and forgery. His lawyer, Yonny Kulendi, had pleaded for leniency on account of Sakande's heart disease.

Sakande was granted unconditional amnesty in December 2012 by President J.D. Mahama.

The NDC is not irked nor worried by the possibility of jail of Quayson by the court. They liken the situation to that of South Africa's Nelson Mandela (the Black Pimpernel) who was jailed for a total of 27 years, some years in Robben Island. His had been 'a long walk to freedom, to become President on May 10, 1994, at the age of 75. OR take the first President Kwame Nkrumah who, after serving almost a year of three years' sentence, starting in January, 1950, was released from James Fort Prison in February in 1951, having won the Accra Central (Ashiedu Keteke) seat, under Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Charles Arden Clark. But Nkrumah and Mandela were simply Political Prisoners.

In the campaign trail, the Vice President was walking in the rain to go and inaugurate an Astro-Turf. Defy the rain, no umbrella nor rain-coat: the contract is said to have been started in 2022. And a local resident remarked that V-8 cars are here in their numbers as if they were bought with pesewas. And constructing roads in June, the rainy season!

The money- sharing was for T and T. the NDC was doling out GH100 per person; the NPP was dishing out GH200  all allegations, no truth in money-cracy the money was not to influence the recipients to vote, and the politicians will defend it. Why not? Mahama is quoted as saying in the Volta Region that to succeed as a politician, you have to mix lies with truths.

Did Quayson win on account of the general economic hardships-soaring prices which propel salaried workers to use all their salaries on food. Did Quayson win because his case touched the voters' hearts, enabling him to garner sympathy votes? How did the political parties organize themselves for the election-the speeches; the display of wealth; the arrogance of power the persona of the candidates themselves; what was the strategy?

Or did the story of NPP government supporting LGBTQ sink into the minds of the electorate? Propaganda? As if the people of Assin North could not think! The supporters of James Quayson sang Charles Opoku sika no y'adi' (We have chopped Charles Opoku's money). Charles Opoku was not a voter in Assin North, even though he hailed from Assin Bereku, the same town where James Quayson came from.

An NPP adherent lamented: Things didn't go well for us and in a dolorous, crest fallen state, said farewell to Assin North.

The police must be congratulated on organizing itself well, to supervise the election in peace. Of course, the greatest gratitude goes to the inhabitants of Assin North who composed themselves remarkably to ensure peace. No ill-will. Up Ghana's democracy.

Africanus Owusu-Ansah

[email protected]
The moment the dust settled on the Assin North by-election last Tuesday, all manner of commentators started giving reasons for the outcome of the poll.

To the NDC and its collaborators, it is a dress rehearsal of and referendum of 2024. That explains why the NDC and its leader, Mr. John Mahama and supporters are all over the place celebrating the victory of James Gyakye Quayson.

May we ask whether this NDC victory is a bought one by the manner in which they distributed goodies and money? We ask this question because till today the NDC keeps accusing the NPP of vote buying in the Kumawu by-election. To the NDC, what is good for the goose can never be good for the gander. The double standard and hypocrisy of the NDC is legendary.

Paradoxically, while the NDC still complains about Kumawu, the NPP in a sportsmanlike manner has conceded defeat and congratulated the NDC and its candidate. The President of the Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo and his governing NPP have publicly commended the NDC for retaining the seat, while encouraging their supporters not to be downhearted but learn useful lessons from the by election as they prepare for the 2024 polls.

One of the takeaways from Assin North is the reminder to the NPP to be always wary of NDC propaganda and misinformation. And on most occasions the NPP as the party in power will allow the opposition NDC to set the agenda for the conduct of national affairs. When it comes to that the NPP is unable to match their opponent boot for boot and give the space to the opposition to have a field day.

The NDC went to Assin North with only two messages; that the NPP wants the seat because they want the numbers in Parliament to kick against the anti-gay bill and the government deliberately refusing to pay cocoa farmers because the Finance Minister had stolen all the money.

Whereas the governing NPP was concerned about development projects to uplift the standards of living of the people, the NDC was giving the electorate fish instead of teaching them how to fish.

Again, the NDC and Mahama have the effrontery to accuse President Akufo-Addo of contempt for saying that Gyakye Quayson could go to jail so the people should not vote for him, but Mahama has forgotten since he is a forgetful person that he had said that if someone must go to jail, it should be NAM1. He also said Gyakye Quayson will not go to jail today or tomorrow, and typical of Mahama, he is not prejudicing the criminal case against Quayson. The problem with us as a people is our inability to call a spade a spade instead of a long spoon because of our political lenses.

Again, the propagandist are putting a spin on the little challenge that arose when Dr. Bawumia appeared at the rally ground at Assin North last Sunday while Alan Kyerematen was on stage addressing the supporters. Alan stopped talking when Bawumia arrived because he understands the protocol for which he must accord the Veep the due respect irrespective of the fact that they are all in the contest to be flagbearer of the party.

While there appears to be no problem, the opponents of the government and their cohorts in the media and academia as well as civil society are making it an issue to knock the heads of supporters of the Veep and Alan. 'Breaking the 8' is a big mantra that needs all hands on deck to achieve the coup de grace to give the NPP another mandate to do more for mother Ghana. Going forward, the NPP must put in place a formidable and invincible team that the NDC propaganda cannot break, so that 'Breaking the 8' will not become a mere propaganda.

The Assin North by-election is now history. Therefore, there is no need for the NPP to cry over spilt milk but get to the drawing board to craft the strategies to win the 2024 general elections. These include but not limited to building a corps of friendly media but not mere megaphones, an efficient communication team and security arrangements such that the opposition NDC will not intimidate voters on any Election Day. The NPP and the government should not put all their trust in the IGP and his men to protect the interest of the people, judging from what happened in Assin North.

It must be clear by now that the NDC is hungry for power and will use lies to confuse the people for power for their personal gains and abandon the core mandate of good governance where dumsor and other policy failures will no longer be part of our national life.

The present leadership and the government have a Herculean task ahead by ensuring that going forward their policies and programmes convince the people to retain the NPP in power because the alternative is still scary. Food for thought.

Source: Daily Guide
It is estimated that two percent (about 18,000) of babies born in Ghana are born with sickle cell disease (SCD). Early screening of newborns for sickle cell disease can ensure early identification of the disease and linkage to care. Without proper diagnosis and treatment, 50-90 percent of newborns with sickle cell anaemia, the most severe form of sickle cell disease, risk dying before age five.

There is limited education on the disease making it difficult to fight it in Ghana. It is for this reason that AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi mine has taken it upon itself to educate the people of Obuasi on the causes, prevention and treatment of sickle cell disease.

The company through their quarterly mini-clinic held at Boete in the Obuasi East District decided to spread the message on the disease as well as screen people for other diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis b and also offer dental services.

AngloGold Ashanti's mini clinic has been rotated in different communities since it was introduced in 2021. The program which forms part of the health component of its 10-year Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) is aimed at taking quality health care to the doorsteps of host communities.

Speaking to the media at the sidelines of the program, Mavis Nana Yaa Kyei, the Social Development and Gender Superintendent of AngloGold said the focus on sickle cell for this edition of the mini clinic was to mark this year's celebration of World Sickle Cell day which fell on 19th June, 2023.

She said the disease though prevalent in Ghana, there was little sensitization on it. She urged couples to know their genotype before deciding to give birth. She urged those with the condition to seek appropriate treatment.

She described the mini clinic as the first primary health care for communities in the mine's operational area. She lauded the AGA Health Foundation (AGAHF), GIZ and the Otumfuo Foundation for collaborating with AGA for the successful implementation of the program.

A team of health professionals including doctors, nurses, dispensary technicians and other auxiliary health providers attended to the people, providing most of the services they could access in health facilities.

Patrons were also given medication with those who needed further treatments were referred to health facilities for further examination.

Dr Justin Sonaa Dakora, Principal Medical Officer of the AGA Health Foundation expressed his excitement over the patronage saying it was an indication that the people were conscious about their health and the need to seek early treatment.

On sickle cell anaemia, Dr. Dakorah said the disease was not contagious hence advised people not to discriminate against those with the condition.

He again mentioned the need for people to screen for sickle cell to enable them to make informed decisions about marriage and childbirth.
The maiden edition of the WACOMP Made-in ECOWAS Exhibition has officially commenced in Accra under the theme Enhancing Intra-regional Trade to Empower Local Industries.

Over 60 MSMEs operating in the processed fruits, cassava, and cosmetics sectors will showcase their products and services from the 29th of June to the 1st of July at the forecourt of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) office complex.

The WACOMP Made-in-ECOWAS exhibition is being organized by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) with support from the European Union (EU) and UNIDO as part of the West African Competitiveness Programme.

In her opening address, the CEO of GEPA, Dr. Afua Asabea Asare, reiterated GEPAs commitment to supporting local manufacturers to be able to compete globally.

She highlighted initiatives undertaken by GEPA to support SMEs to market their products across Africa, such as the opening of the Ghana Trade House in Kenya, the Women Icons Exhibitions, and GEPAs Impact Hub, which provides IT and other business solutions for free to Ghanaian exporters.

Dr. Asabea Asare expressed confidence that the initiative will boost the performance of locally produced processed fruits (particularly mango and pineapple), cassava, as well as cosmetics and personal care products under the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

This exhibition will, among other things, promote intra-regional trade by increasing awareness of the high-quality goods produced in West African nations and by making it easier to source components and raw materials from the region to support domestic processing and manufacture. This is particularly important because the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has presented every SME in Africa with a great opportunity. But this opportunity is meaningless if we take things easy and go about business as we have in the past. Business is not, as usual, any more, we must be deliberate with every decision and step we take, taking into account the huge market potential and benefits, she said.

The Chief Technical Advisor for WACOMP, Dr. Charles Sackey, encouraged SMEs to build networks to increase exports to new markets.

He cited instances where some Ghanaian manufacturers managed to secure strategic partnerships with foreign companies while showcasing their products at trade fairs.

The West Africa Competitiveness Programme, which began rolling out in 2019, aims to support selected value chains at the national and regional levels to promote structural transformation and better access to regional and international markets while taking into account social and environmental concerns.
Early this month, June, this author discussed the murder of Charloe Musu, a young female university student in Liberia. She died in the house of former Supreme Court chief justice Gloria Scott. Mrs. Scott was her traditional mother in African culture. According to the information, Charloe lived with her since the deceased was a girl. This edition updates the case.

On June 21, 2023, the Liberian National Police (LNP), through the Justice Ministry, arrested Mrs. Scott and three other co-defendants for murder, criminal conspiracy, and false reports to law enforcement officials regarding Charloe Musu. On June 22, LNP detailed the arrest, indicating that there was no intruder into the house by their investigations. That the defendants killed the deceased, conspired, and reported to LNP that an intruder murdered the victim.

Upon the arrest, supporters of the former Supreme Court judge complained that the arrest was politically motivated and asked that the defendants be freed. Seemingly, the support was for the former Supreme Court judge and not the other co-defendants, ordinary Liberians. Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf described the case of Cllr. Scott as a sad day says that Liberias Justice System has reverted to the bad ways of the past, which I have personally experienced. Sirleafs expression refers to her imprisonment during Samuel Does regime for criticizing and insulting the government. Some observers reacted that her statement was uncalled for because her jailing was for advocacy while Scotts is for killing. Nevertheless, Counselor Tiawan Gongloe, a presidential candidate, called the arrest unfair and unfortunate. A director of a justice movement stated that LNP has a conflict of interest, that the police cannot be trusted, and that an independent counsel should be appointed for the case. Nyowo Scott, a son of Mrs. Scott, called the arrest political and said his mother and the other defendants were innocent. The murderer is out there, and nobody is saying [anything], he said. However, other Liberians are pleased that the government has finally taken action on the case and hope justice will be served because no one is above the law.

A team of over 30 lawyers is representing the defendants. The attorneys include some of the best legal minds in Liberia with Philips Banks, retired associate Supreme Court judge, and Counselor Negbalee Warner, past dean of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law, University of Liberia. Regardless, the court denied the lawyers appeal for bail. The defendants are in a maximum security cell.

On June 28, the Special Grand Jury indicted the defendants. The document says, among other things, the following.

That, on February 22 A.D., 2023, at about 10:00pm, the Defendants Clir. Gloria Musu-Scott, Gertrude Newton, Alice Johnson, and Rebecca Youdeh Wiser, with criminal minds and intent, armed with a sharp instrument believed to be a knife, and pepper spray, willfully, intentionally, purposely, and maliciously inflicted several bodily injuries on the person of Charloe Musu, including her chest, right hand, left thigh and left armpit, which led to her death, thereby committing the crime of murder.

That the Defendants knew what they had done was wicked and barbaric, and co-defendant ClIr. Gloria Musu-Scott, being an experienced lawyer and criminal justice practitioner, decided to lie by creating a story that would shield them from the gruesome act of murder. That is why Defendant Gertrude Newton narrated a story that no reasonable mind would ever believe; that after the man allegedly stabbed the deceased in the back, she took the knife from him, but he took it back from her, indicating that the multiple wounds found on the body of the deceased were inflicted by the alleged man who no evidence has established ever existed. That co-defendant Scott also lied that she pepper sprayed the man in his face after she encountered him in the doorway of her room.

In an attempt to cover up the truth about what transpired in the house, the defendants decided to concoct a story that a known man entered the house and stabbed the deceased to death; but to the contrary, it was the defendants who murdered the deceased after they were involved in an altercation, evidenced by the outlook of the room when the investigators appeared on the crime scene.

The defense has requested that the trial venue be changed from Monrovia, Montserrado County, to a different county, arguing that their clients would only get a fair trial if the city was not too involved in the case. According to experts, the request is within the law, and the court should grant the appeal. This means the case could be heard in Margibi County or Bomi County, the nearest counties to Montserrado. The defense also has called for bail again, saying that the persecutors have failed to name a single person committing the murder.

Some experts have pointed out that it would be difficult to get a murder guilty verdict since the weapon has not been located. But the persecutors believe they would win based on the evidence and witnesses. For instance, the state maintains that there was no intruder into the house and that a security guard came to the house upon hearing a crying sound coming from inside the house, and found the deceaseds body in co-defendant Scotts private bathroom with bloodstains. Her living quarter is separated from the general quarter with a secured bar. Moreover, the victims face is said to have a foreign substance believed to be a pepper spray, which collaborates with Scotts earlier statement that she discharged pepper spray. Why was the victims body in her bathroom?

The case should start in August this year. While Liberians look forward to the trial, the government has asked the public for calm, withheld sentiments, and allowed the law to take its course.
Traditional medicine, also known as complementary and alternative medicine, is the oldest form of healthcare that has endured the test of time. The World Health Organisation (WHO) acknowledges that nearly 80% of the world's population uses traditional medicine in some capacity. In other words, for millions of individuals worldwide, traditional medicine serves as their first line of defence in the fight against a wide range of illnesses. And nowadays, traditional medicines complement significantly to modern medicines.

Many African countries are already well-versed in traditional medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises African traditional medicine's significant contributions to the health and well-being of the continent. Since 2003, in recognition of its contribution to the African health system, WHO commemorates August 31 as African Traditional Medicine Day (ATMD).

Currently, more than 40 African nations have developed national traditional medicine strategies. Additionally, 30 of them have incorporated traditional medicine into their national strategies. Furthermore, 39 countries have created regulatory frameworks for traditional medicine practitioners. Traditional medicine research and development is an extremely promising field in Africa, with 34 research centres in 26 countries. If adequately promoted internationally, it also has enormous financial potential. Ghana, which has already established traditional medicine clinics in 40 regional hospitals, is one of the forerunners in this area. Similarly, the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) has expressed its dedication to ensuring that African Traditional Medicine (ATM) is standardised in Nigeria and beyond.

Most African Member States today cultivate medicinal and aromatic plants to promote continental efforts toward equitable access to medical goods and technologies. In 14 countries, more than 100 herbal medicines have been registered with national regulatory agencies, and 19 others have facilities for the domestic manufacturing of herbal medicines. Over 45 herbal medicines are registered on the national critical medication lists across Africa.

Further, 39 countries have established legal frameworks for those practising traditional medicine. Another 25 countries now teach traditional medicine as part of their health science curricula. Training programmes have been established for both traditional health practitioners and health science students to improve the human resource base for primary healthcare and traditional medicine.

It has been found that many Africans go to hospitals as a last resort, as their first port of call is conventional or faith healers. And these traditional healers are well-trusted and extremely popular. Their popularity is ascribed to their thorough consideration of their patients' socio-cultural backgrounds. Many of the traditional medicines that they use can be found in India. Therefore, India-Africa collaboration on traditional medicine will augur well for both continents, benefitting billions of people.

On the other hand, traditional medicine has a long history in India. In fact, Indian traditional medicine is one of the oldest branches in the history of medicine. India has always played a pioneering role in spreading the knowledge of traditional medicines across the world. While Egyptians learnt about it through sea trade with India, Greeks and Romans learnt through Alexander's invasion. Likewise, the knowledge of traditional medicine from India spread to the east with the spread of Buddhism. As India excels in this domain, India must play a more active role in its global development.

According to some studies, traditional medicine accounts for 70% of primary healthcare in rural India. Among others, Ayurveda is currently the most widely used form of traditional Indian medicine. Ayurveda is based on the notion that people can achieve physical, mental, and emotional healing by living in harmony with nature. Unsurprisingly, Holistic care is the principal feature of Ayurveda, which addresses the body, mind, and spirit together.

India is one of the world's most natural resource-rich countries. India is home to 47,000 plant species, 15 agroclimatic zones, and 15,000 medicinal plants. About 7,000 of these species are applied in Ayurveda, 700 in Unani, 600 in Siddha, and 30 in modern medicine. Recognising the importance of its bioresources, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) has marked India as one of the 17 mega-biodiverse countries.

Indian traditional medicine has long attracted interest from the international community as well as funding for study and development. In fact, Indian conventional medicine is regarded as world's one of the most advanced alternative treatment method. In recognition of India's contributions to the field, the WHO has planned to open its Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat, on April 19, 2022. Beyond India, traditional medicines also have a lot of potential across the world. Currently, 170 of the 194 WHO Member States, representing more than 80% of the world's population, are using traditional medicine in some form or other. Through this centre, the Indian Ministry of Ayush would be able to assist all these member states across the world by gathering reliable information and data on diverse traditional medical practices.

India has a robust industrial base, a thriving pharmaceutical industry, and a wealth of knowledge concerning the traditional medical system. India has successfully fused the best features of wellness practice and modern medicine. Today, India has one of the most accessible, affordable, and high-quality healthcare systems in the world. Furthermore, India and Africa have striking similarities in climatic conditions, biodiversity, physiognomy, people, cultures, and family values. Patients commonly receive care from traditional medical systems in both India and Africa. Several existing Indian traditional medicines can benefit Africa. For example, Ayush 64, a polyherbal formulation that has been effective in treating asymptomatic, mild, and moderate COVID-19 infection in India, can also be used on African COVID patients.

When the world desperately seeks a more sustainable and inclusive future, Africa has a unique opportunity to set the trend. Africa can leverage its indigenous medical knowledge to contribute to the global health agenda. For Africa, traditional Indian medicine, including Ayurveda, Yoga and Unani medicine presents an opportunity to prevent and treat different physical and mental diseases. By promoting and incorporating these practices into the health system, Africa can preserve and expand this priceless knowledge for future generations. And for this a strong partnership with India will be vital.
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30.06.2023 LISTEN

Residents of Lugni in the Nanumba South District of the Northern Region have fled for their lives after a chieftaincy dispute led to several gunshots.

The dispute began when the regent of Bimbilla gave kola to one Konkomba leader to be enskinned as the chief of the Konkombas in Lugni. However, another clan among the Konkombas was against that decision.

The feuding clans are the Binyam and Naamuhi clans.

Sources tell Citi News that on Thursday night, when preparations were underway to outdoor the chief, the aggrieved clan started firing gunshots. The Naamuhi clan was allegedly attacked by the Binyam clan.

The Naamuhi clan was enskinned by the regent of Bimbilla as the Konkomba chief for Lugni, and the Binyam clan is against that, leading to the shooting incident on Thursday evening.

This has led to a serious tension in the town. Meanwhile, the police and the military have moved in to salvage the situation.

The police have confirmed the incident and said they are investigating the matter. They have also called for calm in the town.

-citinewsroom
Mr Angel Carbonu, President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers, has issued a stern warning to teachers regarding their actions when denying exeat to sick students.

He questioned the benefits teachers derive from refusing permission to sick children to go home and seek necessary medical treatment.

He highlighted instances where parents, who are the biological caretakers of their own children, approach schools to request taking their child home for valid reasons, only to be denied by the school authorities.

He expressed his dismay at the fact that when problems arise as a result of these refusals, the burden is then placed on all teachers to share.

Angel Carbonu raised the issue of inadequate compensation for teachers, emphasising that their efforts often go unrecognized. He urged his colleagues not to invite negative criticism and derogatory comments by engaging in actions that neglect the well-being of students.

He questioned the motives behind denying exeat to sick children, stressing the importance of prioritising the health and welfare of students.

Mr Angel Carbonu urged teachers who find the responsibilities of their position overwhelming to consider resigning rather than failing to fulfill their duties.

He emphasized that the incident at hand, where an innocent student at St Monicas Senior High School lost her life due to a housemistress's negligence, should serve as a wake-up call for all educators.

The focus should be on creating a safe and supportive environment for students, where their health and needs are given utmost consideration

Angel Carbonu, further criticised the management of St. Monica's Senior High School in Mampong following the tragic death of a female student.

According to reports, the housemistress of the school denied the student's request for an exeat to seek medical help, which ultimately resulted in her untimely demise.

The school management has been interdicted pending an investigation into the incident, which occurred in May 2023.

In an audio recording, an outraged Angel Carbonu condemned the school's management for refusing to grant the sick student an exeat, a decision that allegedly led to her death.

He expressed his disappointment at the situation and revealed that he had received numerous complaints from teachers at the school, who were also facing verbal abuse on local radio stations.

Addressing his fellow teachers, Angel Carbonu stated, "There is an unfortunate development at Mampong St. Monica's SHS, which has led to the interdiction of the management of the school.

I have received a lot of complaints from our members to intervene in the case.

But I wonder how and why this situation should arise in the first place."

He went on to narrate the incident, emphasizing the gravity of the situation.

He questioned the motives behind denying the student an exeat, particularly when there was evidence of her illness.

Angel Carbonu also criticized teachers who turn away sick students seeking exeat, describing the incident as deeply saddening.

He expressed his frustration at the unnecessary burdens placed on teachers, who are often not properly compensated for their efforts.

He urged those who find the responsibilities of being a housemistress overwhelming to consider resigning rather than neglecting their duties.

He stressed that the loss of an innocent life could have been prevented if the housemistress had fulfilled her duty.

The President of NAGRAT concluded by cautioning teachers against engaging in negative exchanges and allowing themselves to be drawn into confrontations.

He called for empathy and a focus on the well-being of students, reminding educators of their role in shaping young lives.

He urged all teachers to prioritize their responsibilities and avoid situations that could lead to tragic outcomes such as the one witnessed at St. Monica's SHS.

-Classfmonline.com
Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture Yaw Frimpong Addo has commended the Ghana Rice Project, describing it as key to the success of the governments Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Program.

Speaking at the close-out and learning event for phase one of the KFW-AGRA program in Accra, he said: the success of PFJ cant be mentioned without mentioning these projects in Ghana.

The Public-Private Partnership for Competitive and Inclusive Rice Value Chain Development Project popularly called the Ghana Rice Project which run from 2018 to 2022, supported the implementation of a consortium grant targeting smallholder rice farmers. The partners also provided an additional grant to mitigate the secondary effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on smallholder farmers in Ghana.

In this partnership, AGRA provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Ministry of Trade and Industry to develop appropriate public-private partnership models to facilitate and mobilise public and private investment in the rice value chain.

Consortium partners led by the John A. Kufuor Foundation and Hopeline Institute, as well as Sparkx Farms, Volta City Farms, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, implemented the project.

The rice consortium supported production and marketing systems around lead processors to create commercial opportunities for rice farmers, which resulted in increased access to markets, long-term business relationships with processors, improved access to services and products including financing, high-quality inputs, productivity-enhancing technologies, and mechanisation services.

The deputy minister described the project as one of the most instrumental projects implemented by partners to support farmers. I would want on behalf of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to express my sincere gratitude to KfW and AGRA who secured the necessary funds to operationalise the project that has been one of the key transformational projects in the rice value chain, he said.

AGRA Ghana country manager Juliette Lampoh  Agroh said the project seeks to build an agricultural value chain that works for all the stakeholders. Kofi Atta Agyepong of KfW said the support for this project is inspired by their desire to address causes of structural hunger and food insecurity, hidden hunger, malnutrition, among others. It sought to promote rural development to provide opportunities to escape poverty. And build systems that enhance sustainable production and consumption, financing and also preserving the environment, he said.

Ebow Graham of Hopeline Institute told the meeting through the project, about 103,000 rice farmers have been trained in good agronomic practices, and 60,000 metric tonnes (mt) of fertiliser has been mobilised and distributed to farmers. Also, 5 mt, 100 mt, and 6,357 mt of breeder seeds, foundation seeds, and certified seeds have been produced for farmers. Additionally, 300 farmer-based organisations have been mobilised to participate in the program and obtain inputs on credit each season. He said the project has also facilitated the distribution of improved rice seeds under the PFJ campaign in collaboration with the Ghana Rice Interprofessional Body (GRIB).

Bashiru Musah who is Program Officer at AGRA said the project is helping ensure inclusivity among agricultural sector stakeholders, improving collaboration between research entities and seed companies, expanding on agricultural extension services, as well as strengthening partnerships.

Partnership is key because no one institution can do it on their own Initially, the thought was for us to invest in about 8 regions. But we were able to move to cover almost all the 16 regions of Ghana I give credit to key implementing partners including John A. Kufuor Foundation and Hopeline Institute, he said.

Additional impact

Through the project, the Eat Ghana Rice campaign was launched. Ghana Rice was also listed on the Ghana Commodities Exchange. Through the Ghana Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending and National Board for Small-Scale Industries, credit facilities were provided to players in the sector.

The government in 2020 directed all state agencies including schools to buy Ghana rice. A national rice development strategy was drafted and rice companies have been directed by government to source at least 30% of their rice locally. Through the project, there is increased consumption of Ghana rice. Now, a lot more high-quality, well-packaged Ghana Rice brands approved by the Food and Drugs Authority, as well as Ghana Standards Authority are on the market, which are better than imported ones.
Osama Makkawi, UNICEF Representative in Ghana

30.06.2023 LISTEN

ACCRA, 30 June 2023 - Mr Osama Makkawi Khogali has today officially taken up the position as the new UNICEF Representative in Ghana after receiving accreditation from Honourable Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Mr Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, MP.

Formerly the Representative in Tajikistan, Mr Makkawi Khogali joins the UNICEF office in Ghana in June 2023, as the new Country Programme of Cooperation between UNICEF and Government of Ghana begins this year (2023 to 2027).

I am honoured to serve as the UNICEF Representative to Ghana. As the first country in the world to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Ghana has long been a pacesetter in the region when it comes to championing child rights. As the Government of Ghana and UNICEF embark on our new joint Programme of Cooperation, I am excited that together we can continue our efforts to ensure that every child and adolescent, particularly the most disadvantaged and excluded, is provided with equitable and inclusive opportunities to fulfil their potential.

Prior to assuming the role as Representative to Ghana, Osama Makkawi Khogali held the posts of UNICEF Representative to Tajikistan (2020 to 2023), Montenegro (2017 - 2020) and Oman (2013 - 2017). Mr Makkawi Khogali was UNICEF Deputy Representative to Iraq (2009  2013), Regional Emergency Specialist for UNICEF Middle East and North Africa Regional Office (2006 to 2009); and served as Principal Emergency Coordinator and in other positions with UNICEF Pakistan Office.

Originally from Sudan, Mr. Makkawi Khogali began his career with UNICEF in Sudan from 1992 to 1998. Mr Khogali also served between 1998 and 2001 as Development and Aid Advisor for the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Sudan.

UNICEF has had a presence in Ghana for just over 40 years, consistently applying its expertise to collaborate with the government and other partners to respect, protect and uphold the rights of the child. With offices in both Accra and Tamale, the sections within the UN child-rights agency include health and nutrition, education, child protection, water sanitation and hygiene, social policy, social protection, supply and procurement, adolescent, gender, youth and innovation, social and behavioural change and advocacy.
Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin South, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour has denied allegations that he shared money in an attempt to buy votes in the recently held Assin North by-election in the Central Region.

According to him, he never engaged in such acts and thus such claims should be disregarded.

In a Facebook post on Friday, June 30, the Deputy Education Minister accused the former National Organiser of the National Democratic Congress, Joshua Akamba of spreading such claims.

My attention has been drawn to a false and malicious allegation made by Joshua Akamba.

I wish to state categorically that I never engaged in vote buying neither did I share money nor goods before or during Assin North by-election.

Already, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has rejected claims that it induced voters during the by-election.

The opposition NDC accused the governing party of giving out money to some constituents to woo them to cast their vote for Charles Opoku.

The Director of Communications for the NPP, Richard Ahiagbah said the claims are false.

-Citi Newsroom
Minority in Parliament has accused the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta of discriminatory payment of the debt owed Independent Power Producers (IPPs) which the caucus bemoans would not help in resolving concerns of the group.

The IPPs which control 50 percent of the country's generation mix have threatened to shut down their plants starting July 1, 2023, unless the government provides an interim payment of 30 percent of the outstanding debt of 1.7 billion dollars owed them.

The approach taken by the Finance Minister will not resolve the issue. The Finance Minister instead of dealing with the Chamber of IPPs is engaged in selective and discriminatory payment selecting some preferred IPPs, paying them and leaving them to their own fate.

We wish to call on the government and particularly the president to intervene urgently in this matter and ensure that we find an amicable solution. The debt as we speak now is about $1.7 billion, and it keeps compounding. ECGs losses today are over 30 percent, forex losses alone account for more than $300 million, fuel supplied that has not been paid runs into 100s of millions of dollars, the Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament, John Jinapor told journalists in Accra on Friday.

He appealed to the IPPs to rescind their decision while urging the government to show commitment to resolving their grievances.

Please reconsider your decision towards shutting your plants on July 1. Please give government and the nation some more time.

We also call on the government to demonstrate leadership, to show commitment to resolving this issue, Mr Jinapor stated.
The United Nations mission in Mali was never the leading player in the conflict against jihadists, but its looming withdrawal opens up a security vacuum in the country and wider Sahel region.

The UN Security Council's vote on Friday to end at Bamako's request the decade-old peacekeeping operation, known as Minusma, triggers the departure of more than 13,000 troops, who although they didn't provide offensive roles, contributed to the security of large towns in northern Mali.

Once the departure takes effect, the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) will only have for partners the Russian mercenary group Wagner, described by the ruling junta as "instructors".

The outlook for the land-locked nation is bleak, according to experts interviewed by AFP.

"The security vacuum already exists. But this is the final blow," said Djallil Lounnas of the Al Akhawayn University in Morocco.

"It wasn't Sabre or Barkhane," he said, referring to missions by French forces deployed until 2022, but the blue helmets "covered part of the territory".

The country extends over 1.24 million square kilometres (479,000 square miles), of mainly semi-desert terrain, neglected for years by the central government.

The UN Security Council's vote on Friday to end at Bamako's request the decade-old peacekeeping operation, known as Minusma. By Marco LONGARI (AFP/File)

In the wind- and sand- beaten confines, power is disputed by armed groups that are signatories of the 2015 Algiers accords, which were never implemented -- the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), which is Al-Qaeda-linked, and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS).

'Disintegration of the state'

"The Malian state is disintegrating. These UN troops maintained a semblance of government and order, the last islands are going to blow up with them," Lounnas said, looking to the emergence of a "coalition of armed groups that rely on Al-Qaeda to fight the Islamic State".

In Bamako, the messaging is one of reassurance.

"We are not afraid of the departure of Minusma. We have what it takes to defend the national territory as far as Kidal," a stronghold of former rebels in the northeast, said a Malian officer, adding that "the Malian army is growing in strength".

But the dispersed urban centres and logistical challenges of the region are complicating the effort.

Analysts and French military said that the anti-jihadist Barkhane operation, consisting of 5,500 troops, achieved some success against jihadist groups for nine years.

But Bamako was never able to restore essential services in the secured areas.

After Minusma's departure the deployment of another external force is unthinkable. By FLORENT VERGNES (AFP/File)

For its part, "the Malian army carries out virtually no military operations on the ground and often contenting itself with airstrikes coordinated by... Wagner. This strategy has its limits," said an elected official from Timbuktu.

For Michael Shurkin, a US-based specialist on the Sahel, "The Malian military is better than it used to be but it is still too small and too weak to be used in more than one place at a time."

"The military think they are turning the tide. All the empiric events show that this is not true."

At the same time, Wagner's position is in question.

Its future is unclear since its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was exiled to Belarus after an incredible attempted mutiny in Russia a week ago.

No other option

And Wagner's record across the continent, from the Central African Republic to Mozambique, is marred by accusations of violations for human rights and pillaging of resources rather than peacekeeping.

In a recent report, the International Crisis Group revealed that until now jihadists had not attacked nine towns in the north of the country where Minusma had a base.

But "the withdrawal of peacekeepers may prompt jihadists to reassess their strategy and lay siege to urban centres."

A violent face-off between the failing state, armed groups and jihadists is brewing.

"Of the three, the Malian state is the least capable of doing anything useful," Shurkin said.

The junta is increasingly tempted to confront the armed groups who were signatory to the peace deal.

"The withdrawal of Minusma could push Bamako to denounce the Algiers peace accord, which is already in jeopardy, or even to seek to attack Kidal, whose insubordination profoundly irritated the regime," said a senior French military official.

In a worst-case scenario, in Mali like elsewhere, jihadists thrive on chaos.

The situation will also be worsened by the loss of local employment that Minusma provided, another source of added insecurity.

After Minusma's departure, as in the departures of Barkhane, Sabre and the European task-force Takuba, and seeing the regional isolation of Mali, the deployment of another external force is unthinkable.

All of which is making Mali's neighbours nervous.

"No one has any options. I intervene, I lose. I don't intervene, I lose anyway," said Lounnas.

"We need innovative options but no one knows what they are."
The Bawku West District Chief Executive, Ahmed Issahaka Tahiru, has reiterated that the ban on slaughtering of 4-leg animals in the region is still in force.

He advised residents during the Eid-ul-Adha celebration to abide by the directives and consider fowl for consumption.

The Parliamentary Candidate of the NDC, Hon Ebenezer Ndebilla Alumire on behalf of the Member of Parliament for Zebilla Cletus Avoka admonished all residents irrespective of ones religious, ethnic and political affiliations to embrace peace and love one another.

He urged the youth of the area to see themselves as national assets and live meaningful lives.

Chief Imam of Bawku West, Alhaji Issaka Tahiru, during his sermon after the prayers, charged the people to use Islam as a tool for development but not destruction.

Mallam Tahiru reminded the people to observe the Eid celebrations with a sense of sacrifice.
Nuhu Sulley, the 33-year-old scrap dealer

30.06.2023 LISTEN

Nuhu Sulley, the 33-year-old scrap dealer who was granted a GHc50,000 bail by an Accra Circuit Court for stealing an American rapper's iPhone, has been arrested for another phone theft.

Sulley, who was granted bail five months ago for grabbing Meek Mills cellular phone, is in the grips of the police for stealing a phone valued at GHC4,000 belonging to a medical officer at Madina.

He appeared before an Adentan Circuit Court for allegedly stealing the medical officer's phone when he (the complainant) attempted to board a commercial vehicle from Madina to Oyibi.

Sulley's accomplice, whose name was only given as Junior is said to be at large.

Charged with conspiracy to steal and stealing, Sulley has pleaded not guilty.

The court presided over by Mrs Sedinam Awo Balokah has admitted Sulley to bail in the sum of GHC 100,000 with three sureties one to be justified.

He is expected to reappear on July 20 as police mount a search for his accomplice.

An Attorney from the Attorney General's Department opposed the grant of bail extended to Sulley pointing out that he was the same person who was before an Accra Circuit Court for charges of phone theft against American rapper Meek Mills at the Independence Square during the Afro nation concert last December.

According to state prosecutors, Sulley, when granted bail, was likely to commit a similar offence, and was a flight risk.

In Sulley's application for bail, Defence Counsel described Sulley as a law-abiding person who had never had a brush with the law and was also a peaceful member of society.

According to his lawyer, Sulley has people who were ready to stand as sureties.

The prosecution's case was that the complainant is a Clinical Physician and a resident of Oyibi, Accra.

It said Sulley was unemployed and resided in Madina. Sulley's accomplice, known as Junior, is at large.

The prosecution said on March 10, 2023, at about 2100 hours, the complainant was boarding a car from Madina to Oyibi when he felt a hand in his pocket where he had kept his Huawei mobile phone valued at GHC4,000.

It said by the time the complainant could get hold of the hand in his pocket; the person absconded.

The prosecution said the complainant saw Sulley running away with the phone.

It said when the complainant enquired from some people around the scene, he (the complainant) was told that the accused person was a Loading boy, at the place and the scene was where he plies his trade.

The prosecution said the following day, Sulley resurfaced, and he was arrested.

It said Sulley, however, resisted arrest and raised an alarm which attracted about 20 people who tried to rescue Sulley.

In the process, the complainant and a witness in the case were injured.

The prosecution said the Police and the assembly member for the area were able to put the situation under control.

It said in Sulley's caution statement, he denied stealing the phone but indicated that it was Junior, his accomplice who had stolen the phone.

Sulley further stated that he chased Junior and collected the phone from him.

The prosecution said Sulley and Junior went and gave the complainant's mobile phone to someone to decode for them.

According to the prosecution, Sulley showed where they took the phone, and it was retrieved.

The prosecution said an investigation was underway.

GNA
30.06.2023 LISTEN

Former President John Dramani Mahama has made an appeal to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to reconsider their decision to shut down power supply over debts owed them by government.

He urged the government to act quickly to meet the IPPs and resolve their concerns.

As a concerned citizen, I would like to make a plea to the Chamber of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to reconsider their decision to shut down their plants effective July 1, 2023

If the IPPs, who account for almost half of the countrys total power generation and over two-thirds of Ghanas thermal power, go through with this plan, it will have a disastrous impact on Ghanas economy and negatively affect the lives and livelihoods of countless Ghanaian families.

I strongly urge the government to take immediate action and initiate discussions with the IPPs to find a sustainable solution to the impending power crisis. It is imperative that these discussions begin without delay and be given the highest priority, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said in a Facebook post.

The Chamber of Independent Power Producers, Distributors, and Bulk Consumers (CIPDiB) has given the government until July 1 to clear its debts or face a power outage (dumsor) in the country.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elikplim Kwabla Apetorgbor, stated there have been series of negotiations with the government to address their concern but government has failed to fulfil its part of the agreement.
The United States said Friday that it was easing restrictions on aid to Ethiopia, pointing to progress on human rights after a ceasefire with Tigrayan rebels.

The move comes just weeks after the United States halted food assistance to Ethiopia, alleging widespread diversion of badly needed aid for sale on local markets.

The resumption of assistance will be focused on work to promote peace and reconciliation, including through demining, officials said.

"We are lifting some restrictions on certain kinds of assistance, while pausing food aid," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Kirby said that the State Department made the decision last week "in light of continuing improvements on human rights, particularly following the cessation of hostilities agreement signed in November" between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebels.

"Our fundamental approach here has been to reinforce progress toward enduring peace, while not overlooking concerns in Ethiopia when we assess that our assistance is being misdirected," Kirby said.

The easing of US language on Ethiopia's human rights situation could also allow the United States to be more supportive as Africa's second most populous country looks for new assistance from the International Monetary Fund.

But the step does not for now meet one of Ethiopia's priorities -- a return to a major trade agreement.

The United States terminated Ethiopia's trading preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act effective the start of 2022, pointing to human rights concerns.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in March that Ethiopian and Eritrean troops as well as rebels committed war crimes during the brutal two-year conflict.

He pointed to sexual violence and the targeting of communities based on their ethnicity.

The United States has previously estimated that some 500,000 people died in the two-year conflict, making it one of the deadliest wars of the 21st century and dwarfing the toll from Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The State Department said separately Friday that the change in guidance did not erase US concerns about the situation in Ethiopia.

"We will continue to raise concerns and speak out about reports of serious human rights abuses, including by non-state actors in Western Tigray, and urge the government to protect civilians and hold perpetrators accountable," a State Department spokesperson said.

The conflict erupted in November 2020 as Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched an offensive against the Tigray People's Liberation Front in response to attacks on the military by the rebel group, which once dominated Ethiopian politics.
U-Haul Company of Alabama, Inc. is pleased to announce that Elba Antiques and Mini Mall signed on as a U-Haul neighborhood dealer to serve the community.

Elba Antiques and Mini Mall at 611 North Claxton Ave. will offer essential services like U-Haul trucks and trailers.

Normal business hours are 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Reserve U-Haul products at this dealer location by calling (334) 554-0007 or visiting https://www.uhaul.com/Locations/Truck-Rentals-near-Elba-AL-36323/042242/ today.

Elba Antiques and Mini Mall owner Tom Cauley is proud to team with the industry leader in do-it-yourself moving and self-storage to better meet the demands of Coffee County.

U-Haul has teamed with independent dealers to offer rental equipment to do-it-yourself movers since 1945. During these challenging times for small businesses, more than 21,000 dealers across the U.S. and Canada are generating supplemental income through their U-Haul affiliation. When customers rent from a U-Haul dealer, they are directly supporting an independent small business in their community.

The local affiliates are not U-Haul franchises as there are no financial investments required to be a neighborhood dealer. These small businesses have committed a portion of their lot space for U-Haul equipment, and a portion of their time to help meet the mobility needs of their neighbors. Learn more about the dealer program and how to join by visiting uhaul.com/dealer.

U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 allows customers to create an online account and pick up their truck at any hour using only their smartphone with photo feature and GPS. Trained Live Verify agents support customers online, enabling them to skip the lines and go straight to their truck.

Founded in 1945, U-Haul is the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers with more than 23,000 rental locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. Customer patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to 192,200 trucks, 138,500 trailers and 44,500 towing devices. U-Haul is the third largest self-storage operator in North America with 949,000 rentable units and 81.2 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities.
Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Invesco China Technology ETF (NYSEARCA:CQQQ  Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,892 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Invesco China Technology ETF by 1,245.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 632,685 shares of the companys stock worth $22,985,000 after purchasing an additional 585,652 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Invesco China Technology ETF during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,939,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Invesco China Technology ETF by 49.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 140,566 shares of the companys stock worth $6,599,000 after purchasing an additional 46,640 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Invesco China Technology ETF by 240.9% during the 2nd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 89,196 shares of the companys stock worth $4,501,000 after purchasing an additional 63,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its stake in shares of Invesco China Technology ETF by 480.1% during the 4th quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. now owns 87,735 shares of the companys stock worth $3,808,000 after purchasing an additional 72,610 shares during the last quarter.

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Invesco China Technology ETF Stock Up 0.6 %

CQQQ traded up $0.23 on Friday, hitting $39.75. The companys stock had a trading volume of 27,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 171,116. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $40.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.05. The firm has a market cap of $828.79 million, a P/E ratio of 77.33 and a beta of 0.64. Invesco China Technology ETF has a 12 month low of $29.86 and a 12 month high of $51.19.

Invesco China Technology ETF Profile

Guggenheim China Technology ETF (the Fund), formerly Claymore China Technology ETF, seeks investment results that correspond generally to the performance, before the Funds fees and expenses, of an equity index called the AlphaShares China Technology Index (the Index). The Fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets in common stock, American depositary receipts (ADRs), American depositary shares (ADSs), global depositary receipts (GDRs) and international depositary receipts (IDRs) that comprise the Index and depositary receipts or shares representing common stocks included in the Index (or underlying securities representing ADRs, ADSs, GDRs and IDRs included in the Index).

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Agricultural Bank of China Limited (OTCMKTS:ACGBY  Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,700 shares, a growth of 350.0% from the May 31st total of 600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 25,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.1 days.

Agricultural Bank of China Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of ACGBY stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $9.50. The companys stock had a trading volume of 35,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,332. The company has a market capitalization of $132.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.26. Agricultural Bank of China has a 1-year low of $7.04 and a 1-year high of $10.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $9.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.17.

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Agricultural Bank of China (OTCMKTS:ACGBY  Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 30th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $22.46 billion during the quarter. Agricultural Bank of China had a net margin of 21.36% and a return on equity of 9.95%.

Agricultural Bank of China Cuts Dividend

Agricultural Bank of China Company Profile

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.6772 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 7th. Agricultural Bank of Chinas payout ratio is currently 24.81%.

(Free Report)

Agricultural Bank of China Limited provides banking products and services. The company operates through Corporate Banking, Personal Banking, and Treasury Operations segments. It offers demand, personal call, foreign currency call, time or demand optional, foreign exchange call, foreign exchange time, savings, agreed term, and negotiated deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; and loans, including housing, consumer, business, fixed asset, working capital, real estate, and entrusted syndicated loans, as well as trade finances, guarantees and commitments, and loans with custody of export rebates accounts.

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Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP  Free Report) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 94,755 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 2,718 shares during the period. Molson Coors Beverage makes up approximately 0.8% of Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLCs holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLCs holdings in Molson Coors Beverage were worth $4,897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in TAP. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 1,781.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the companys stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 85.7% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 650 shares of the companys stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Red Tortoise LLC acquired a new position in shares of Molson Coors Beverage during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 96.4% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 760 shares of the companys stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.73% of the companys stock.

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Molson Coors Beverage Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:TAP opened at $65.22 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $63.64 and a 200-day moving average of $56.16. Molson Coors Beverage has a twelve month low of $46.69 and a twelve month high of $68.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Molson Coors Beverage Announces Dividend

Molson Coors Beverage ( NYSE:TAP Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $2.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.23 billion. Molson Coors Beverage had a positive return on equity of 7.16% and a negative net margin of 1.97%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Molson Coors Beverage will post 4.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 2nd were issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 1st. Molson Coors Beverages dividend payout ratio is -137.81%.

Insider Activity at Molson Coors Beverage

In related news, insider Geoffrey E. Molson sold 1,840 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $111,540.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 25,904 shares in the company, valued at $1,570,300.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Molson Coors Beverage from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, June 8th. Citigroup reaffirmed a positive rating on shares of Molson Coors Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. 92 Resources reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Molson Coors Beverage in a research report on Thursday, June 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on Molson Coors Beverage from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Molson Coors Beverage from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Molson Coors Beverage has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $60.80.

About Molson Coors Beverage

(Free Report)

Molson Coors Beverage Company manufactures, markets, and sells beer and other malt beverage products under various brands in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers flavored malt beverages including hard seltzers, craft, and ready to drink beverages. It provides its products under Aspall Cider, Blue Moon, Coors Original, Hop Valley brands, Leinenkugel's, Miller Genuine Draft, Molson Ultra, Sharp's, Staropramen, and Vizzy Hard Seltzer above premier brands; Bergenbier, Borsodi, Carling, Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Jelen, Kamenitza, Miller Lite, Molson Canadian Lager, Molson Dry, Molson Export, and Niksicko, Ozujsko under the premium brands; and Branik, Icehouse, Keystone, Miller High Life, Milwaukee's Best, and Steel Reserve under the economy brands.

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StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS  Free Report) (TSE:BNS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Monday morning.

Several other research firms have also commented on BNS. Scotiabank lowered Bank of Nova Scotia from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Barclays lowered Bank of Nova Scotia from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Bank of Nova Scotia from $86.00 to $77.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group downgraded Bank of Nova Scotia from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $86.06.

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Bank of Nova Scotia Trading Up 1.4 %

Bank of Nova Scotia stock opened at $49.48 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Bank of Nova Scotia has a one year low of $45.26 and a one year high of $63.75. The stock has a market cap of $59.28 billion, a PE ratio of 9.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.02.

Bank of Nova Scotia Increases Dividend

Bank of Nova Scotia ( NYSE:BNS Free Report ) (TSE:BNS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 24th. The bank reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.32 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $5.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.91 billion. Bank of Nova Scotia had a net margin of 14.16% and a return on equity of 13.99%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of Nova Scotia will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.7851 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.35%. This is a boost from Bank of Nova Scotias previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 3rd. Bank of Nova Scotias payout ratio is presently 59.92%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BNS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of Nova Scotia by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,204,955 shares of the banks stock worth $2,055,261,000 after buying an additional 1,423,155 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 26,507,279 shares of the banks stock valued at $1,302,752,000 after purchasing an additional 2,262,915 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 555.3% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 22,840,226 shares of the banks stock valued at $1,118,692,000 after purchasing an additional 19,354,619 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 16,557,752 shares of the banks stock valued at $809,940,000 after purchasing an additional 659,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of Nova Scotia by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 13,025,275 shares of the banks stock valued at $655,795,000 after purchasing an additional 348,669 shares during the last quarter. 37.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Bank of Nova Scotia

(Free Report)

The Bank of Nova Scotia provides various banking products and services in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Colombia, the Caribbean and Central America, and internationally. It operates in four segments: Canadian Banking, International Banking, Global Wealth Management, and Global Banking and Markets.

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Beazer Homes USA (NYSE:BZH  Free Report) had its target price boosted by B. Riley from $22.00 to $28.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on BZH. StockNews.com started coverage on Beazer Homes USA in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Wedbush boosted their target price on Beazer Homes USA from $18.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th.

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Beazer Homes USA Stock Performance

BZH stock opened at $27.88 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.04. Beazer Homes USA has a 1-year low of $9.47 and a 1-year high of $27.89. The company has a current ratio of 16.37, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $874.04 million, a PE ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 2.17.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Beazer Homes USA

Beazer Homes USA ( NYSE:BZH Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The construction company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.29. Beazer Homes USA had a return on equity of 21.32% and a net margin of 8.54%. The firm had revenue of $543.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $519.91 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.45 EPS. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Beazer Homes USA will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Beazer Homes USA by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,387 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in Beazer Homes USA by 60.3% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,618 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Beazer Homes USA by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 34,963 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,827 shares of the construction companys stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Beazer Homes USA by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,062 shares of the construction companys stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 1,116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.62% of the companys stock.

About Beazer Homes USA

(Free Report)

Beazer Homes USA, Inc operates as a homebuilder in the United States. It designs, constructs, and sells single-family and multi-family homes under the Beazer Homes, Gatherings, and Choice Plans names. The company sells its homes through commissioned new home sales counselors and independent brokers in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Indiana, Delaware, Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

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Bell Bank boosted its position in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG  Free Report) by 17.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 314,228 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 47,362 shares during the period. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF makes up approximately 3.3% of Bell Banks investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Bell Banks holdings in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF were worth $31,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AGG. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 145.5% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,590 shares of the companys stock worth $705,000 after purchasing an additional 3,906 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 36.2% in the first quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 52,003 shares of the companys stock worth $5,570,000 after purchasing an additional 13,829 shares during the last quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF during the first quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 2.0% during the first quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 14,640 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,568,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.13% of the companys stock.

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iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Stock Up 0.0 %

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF stock opened at $97.76 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.78. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF has a fifty-two week low of $93.20 and a fifty-two week high of $104.39.

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Profile

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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Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT  Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of Moderate Buy by the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $13.30.

CLVT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on Clarivate in a report on Wednesday, March 15th. They set a neutral rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Clarivate from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, March 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Clarivate in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer initiated coverage on Clarivate in a report on Monday, June 12th. They set an outperform rating and a $11.00 price objective on the stock.

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Clarivate Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:CLVT opened at $9.42 on Friday. Clarivate has a 1-year low of $7.16 and a 1-year high of $14.99. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $8.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.54, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.07.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Clarivate

Clarivate ( NYSE:CLVT Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.04. Clarivate had a positive return on equity of 8.39% and a negative net margin of 151.76%. The firm had revenue of $629.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $626.31 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Clarivate will post 0.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Clarivate by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 14,343 shares of the companys stock valued at $240,000 after acquiring an additional 765 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Clarivate by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 45,072 shares of the companys stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in Clarivate by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 23,631 shares of the companys stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Clarivate by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,853 shares of the companys stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Clarivate by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 234,023 shares of the companys stock worth $1,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.80% of the companys stock.

About Clarivate

(Free Report

Clarivate Plc, an information, analytics, and workflow company, provides structured information and analytics for discovery, development, protection, commercialization, and measurement of scientific research, innovations, and brands. The company operates through three segments: Academia and Government, Life Sciences and Healthcare, and Intellectual Property.

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Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS  Free Report) by 8.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,367 shares of the investment management companys stock after buying an additional 107 shares during the period. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLCs holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $447,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 37,848 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $12,996,000 after purchasing an additional 5,725 shares in the last quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 45.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,456 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $845,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 16,529 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $5,676,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC raised its holdings in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 41.3% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 85,716 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 25,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc acquired a new stake in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth $210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.90% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

GS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. JMP Securities lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $460.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $429.00 to $414.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $389.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance

In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 9,000,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total transaction of $105,570,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,676,439 shares in the company, valued at $606,164,629.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link . In other The Goldman Sachs Group news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 9,000,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total transaction of $105,570,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,676,439 shares in the company, valued at $606,164,629.47. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link . Also, insider Kathryn H. Ruemmler sold 7,277 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.67, for a total transaction of $2,420,839.59. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,334 shares in the company, valued at $1,441,791.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,833,500 shares of company stock worth $646,620,506. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NYSE GS traded up $1.53 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $324.62. 659,876 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,601,158. The company has a market cap of $107.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.41. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $277.84 and a 12-month high of $389.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $328.74 and a 200 day moving average of $339.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25.

The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS  Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 18th. The investment management company reported $8.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.14 by $0.65. The firm had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.66 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a net margin of 13.23% and a return on equity of 9.84%. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $10.76 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 29.9 earnings per share for the current year.

The Goldman Sachs Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 1st were given a dividend of $2.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 31st. This represents a $10.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. The Goldman Sachs Groups payout ratio is currently 35.60%.

The Goldman Sachs Group Profile

(Free Report)

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc, a financial institution, provides a range of financial services for corporations, financial institutions, governments, and individuals worldwide. It operates through Global Banking & Markets, Asset & Wealth Management, and Platform Solutions segments. The Global Banking & Markets segment provides financial advisory services, including strategic advisory assignments related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, corporate defense activities, restructurings, and spin-offs; and relationship lending, and acquisition financing, as well as secured lending, through structured credit and asset-backed lending and involved in resale agreements.

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Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. (NYSE:BAM  Free Report) (TSE:BAM.A) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 8,224 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Brookfield Asset Management by 0.7% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 38,228 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,161,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA raised its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 35.5% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 1,057 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 0.6% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 54,530 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,085,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Kirr Marbach & Co. LLC IN raised its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 1.3% in the first quarter. Kirr Marbach & Co. LLC IN now owns 32,320 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,058,000 after buying an additional 421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Brookfield Asset Management by 2.5% in the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 19,877 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $1,125,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 57.29% of the companys stock.

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Brookfield Asset Management Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAM opened at $32.22 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $32.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.94. Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. has a 52-week low of $26.76 and a 52-week high of $36.50.

Brookfield Asset Management Dividend Announcement

Brookfield Asset Management ( NYSE:BAM Free Report ) (TSE:BAM.A) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $966.00 million during the quarter. Analysts forecast that Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. will post 1.35 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 30th.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on BAM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Brookfield Asset Management in a research note on Tuesday, May 30th. They issued a hold rating for the company. StockNews.com started coverage on Brookfield Asset Management in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Brookfield Asset Management to an underperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Asset Management in a research note on Tuesday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $43.57.

Brookfield Asset Management Profile

(Free Report)

Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. provides alternative asset management services. Its renewable power and transition business includes the ownership, operation, and development of hydroelectric, wind, solar, and energy transition power generating assets. The company's infrastructure business engages in the ownership, operation, and development of utilities, transport, midstream, data and sustainable resource assets.

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China Youzan Limited (OTCMKTS:CHNVF  Free Report) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,824,000 shares, a drop of 73.8% from the May 31st total of 14,573,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 16,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 236.0 days.

China Youzan Stock Performance

China Youzan stock remained flat at C$0.02 during midday trading on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of C$0.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of C$0.03. China Youzan has a fifty-two week low of C$0.01 and a fifty-two week high of C$0.04.

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About China Youzan

(Free Report)

Further Reading

China Youzan Limited, an investment holding company, provides online and offline e-commerce solutions in the People's Republic of China, Japan, and Canada. The company operates through five segments: General Trading, Third Party Payment Services, Onecomm, Merchant Services, and Others. It trades in watches and other good; sells integrated smart point of sales devices; and offers third party payment and related consultancy services, as well as third party payment management services.

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The Level Plains Police Department leadership met with Gov. Kay Ivey last week to thank her in person for the $20,000 grant that will enable the department to upgrade equipment and purchase dash camera systems for the patrol cars.

Level Plains Police Chief Johnny Summers, Capt. J. Williams and Sgt. Mikki Welch traveled to the state capitol to thank Ivey for the funds received from her office in May of this year made possible by a U.S. Department of Justice grant administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

Summers said the visit was the result of a thank you letter he wrote the governor in which he said that he was humbled and appreciative of the citys selection for the grant and that he would like the opportunity to thank her in person.

Level Plains was the only city in Dale County and one of only three in the state to receive the grant.

Ivey awarded nearly $68,000 to provide upgrades to police departments in Level Plains, Headland, and Taylor.

The grants, administered by ADECA, came from more than $750,000 allocated by the U.S. Department of Justice for law enforcement equipment.

I was pleased to visit today with Chief Summers, Capt. Williams, and Sgt. Welch of the Level Plains Police Department in Dale County to discuss equipment upgrades made possible by a U.S. Department of Justice grant administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, said Ivey. These funds will enable the Level Plains Police Department to obtain new vehicle dash cameras to help document traffic stops.

I salute the dedication of Chief Summers and his department to protecting the public along the busy U.S. 84 corridor of southeast Alabama, she added.

It is a blessing to have lived in this great state my entire life and to know from the very top official in this state, that they care about the police in this state, Summers said. We are only on this earth for a short time and I want to make a positive impact on it and leave it better than I found it.
Cloud Peak Energy Inc. (OTCMKTS:CLDPQ  Free Report) shares crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $0.00 and traded as high as $0.00. Cloud Peak Energy shares last traded at $0.00, with a volume of 106,200 shares traded.

Cloud Peak Energy Price Performance

About Cloud Peak Energy

(Free Report)

Cloud Peak Energy Inc produces coal in the Powder River Basin and the United States. The company operates through Owned and Operated Mines, and Logistics and Related Activities. It owns and operates three surface coal mines comprising the Antelope Mine and the Cordero Rojo Mine located in Wyoming; and the Spring Creek Mine located in Montana.

Further Reading

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Coston McIsaac & Partners boosted its stake in shares of The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO  Free Report) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,920 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 2,803 shares during the quarter. Coca-Cola makes up approximately 2.1% of Coston McIsaac & Partners holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Coston McIsaac & Partners holdings in Coca-Cola were worth $5,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Coca-Cola by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,784 shares of the companys stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its position in Coca-Cola by 2.8% in the first quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 205,400 shares of the companys stock worth $12,741,000 after purchasing an additional 5,557 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 87,563 shares of the companys stock worth $5,432,000 after purchasing an additional 758 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Coca-Cola by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 19,700 shares of the companys stock worth $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Coca-Cola by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 253,000 shares of the companys stock valued at $15,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.61% of the companys stock.

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Coca-Cola Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of KO stock opened at $60.05 on Friday. The Coca-Cola Company has a 12-month low of $54.01 and a 12-month high of $65.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.00 and a 200-day moving average of $61.63. The company has a market capitalization of $259.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.55.

Coca-Cola Announces Dividend

Coca-Cola ( NYSE:KO Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $10.78 billion. Coca-Cola had a return on equity of 42.96% and a net margin of 22.69%. The companys revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Coca-Cola Company will post 2.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 16th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 15th. Coca-Colas payout ratio is 80.70%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Henrique Braun sold 16,950 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $1,085,308.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,272 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,682,196.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Coca-Cola news, insider Nikolaos Koumettis sold 253,102 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.63, for a total transaction of $16,104,880.26. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 184,563 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,743,743.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Henrique Braun sold 16,950 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $1,085,308.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,272 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,682,196.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 420,786 shares of company stock valued at $26,886,224 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Coca-Cola from $61.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. HSBC reduced their price target on Coca-Cola from $77.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Coca-Cola from $71.00 to $74.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. Barclays raised their target price on Coca-Cola from $72.00 to $73.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Coca-Cola from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Coca-Cola has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $67.67.

Coca-Cola Profile

(Free Report)

The Coca-Cola Company, a beverage company, manufactures, markets, and sells various nonalcoholic beverages worldwide. The company provides sparkling soft drinks, sparkling flavors; water, sports, coffee, and tea; juice, value-added dairy, and plant-based beverages; and other beverages. It also offers beverage concentrates and syrups, as well as fountain syrups to fountain retailers, such as restaurants and convenience stores.

Further Reading

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Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW  Free Report)s stock had its reiterates rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on EW. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Edwards Lifesciences from $97.00 to $101.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. 92 Resources reaffirmed a reiterates rating on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. TheStreet raised shares of Edwards Lifesciences from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $85.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $80.00 to $83.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Edwards Lifesciences presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $90.00.

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Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance

Shares of EW traded up $2.00 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $94.02. 726,068 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,092,766. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.00 billion, a PE ratio of 38.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.14 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.75. Edwards Lifesciences has a fifty-two week low of $67.13 and a fifty-two week high of $107.92. The company has a quick ratio of 2.17, a current ratio of 3.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Insider Activity

Edwards Lifesciences ( NYSE:EW Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 26th. The medical research company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.01. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 27.07% and a return on equity of 25.81%. The business had revenue of $1.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. The companys revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Edwards Lifesciences will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,725 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.09, for a total transaction of $558,780.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 62,824 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,220,046.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, VP Catherine M. Szyman sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.81, for a total value of $429,050.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 35,056 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,008,155.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Donald E. Bobo, Jr. sold 6,725 shares of Edwards Lifesciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.09, for a total value of $558,780.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 62,824 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,220,046.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 201,151 shares of company stock worth $17,523,816 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.29% of the companys stock.

Institutional Trading of Edwards Lifesciences

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,556 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $5,127,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Edwards Lifesciences by 1.0% during the first quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,487 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. Geller Advisors LLC raised its stake in Edwards Lifesciences by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 1,965 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Edwards Lifesciences by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,015 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Finally, Rockland Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 8,639 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.78% of the companys stock.

Edwards Lifesciences Company Profile

(Free Report)

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation provides products and technologies for structural heart disease, and critical care and surgical monitoring in the United States, Europe, Japan, and internationally. It offers transcatheter heart valve replacement products for the minimally invasive replacement of heart valves; and transcatheter heart valve repair and replacement products to treat mitral and tricuspid valve diseases.

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El Puerto de Liverpool, S.A.B. de C.V. (OTCMKTS:ELPQF  Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 311,300 shares, a decline of 58.1% from the May 31st total of 742,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3,113.0 days.

El Puerto de Liverpool Stock Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS:ELPQF remained flat at $6.15 during mid-day trading on Friday. El Puerto de Liverpool has a 52 week low of $5.90 and a 52 week high of $6.47. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $6.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.90.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Citigroup cut shares of El Puerto de Liverpool from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th.

About El Puerto de Liverpool

El Puerto de Liverpool, S. A. B. de C. V., together with its subsidiaries, operates a chain of department stores in Mexico. The company operates through Liverpool Commercial, Suburbia Commercial, Real Estate, and Credit segments. Its stores offer various products, such as clothes and accessories for men, women, and children; household goods; furniture; cosmetics; and other consumer products.

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Field & Main Bank increased its stake in shares of United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS  Free Report) by 5.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,785 shares of the transportation companys stock after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the quarter. Field & Main Banks holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $734,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UPS. RB Capital Management LLC increased its position in United Parcel Service by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 2,689 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $577,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC purchased a new stake in United Parcel Service during the 1st quarter worth about $1,162,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in United Parcel Service by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC now owns 1,233 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank acquired a new stake in United Parcel Service in the 1st quarter worth about $515,000. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in United Parcel Service in the 1st quarter worth about $701,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.94% of the companys stock.

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United Parcel Service Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UPS traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $175.97. The stock had a trading volume of 653,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,279,481. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a one year low of $154.87 and a one year high of $209.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $151.14 billion, a PE ratio of 14.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.09. The firms 50 day moving average price is $173.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.20.

United Parcel Service Dividend Announcement

United Parcel Service ( NYSE:UPS Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 25th. The transportation company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.01. United Parcel Service had a return on equity of 57.68% and a net margin of 10.90%. The business had revenue of $22.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.05 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 10.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th were given a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. United Parcel Services dividend payout ratio is currently 52.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on UPS shares. Wolfe Research raised United Parcel Service from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. Atlantic Securities started coverage on United Parcel Service in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. They issued a neutral rating and a $162.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on United Parcel Service from $199.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on United Parcel Service from $219.00 to $212.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on United Parcel Service from $220.00 to $214.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, United Parcel Service has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $191.23.

About United Parcel Service

(Free Report)

United Parcel Service, Inc, a package delivery company, provides transportation and delivery, distribution, contract logistics, ocean freight, airfreight, customs brokerage, and insurance services. It operates through two segments, U.S. Domestic Package and International Package. The U.S. Domestic Package segment offers time-definite delivery of letters, documents, small packages, and palletized freight through air and ground services in the United States.

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Flowers Foods (NYSE:FLO  Free Report) was downgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Flowers Foods from $26.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Monday, May 22nd.

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Flowers Foods Stock Performance

Shares of FLO stock opened at $24.90 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.90 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $27.25. Flowers Foods has a one year low of $24.06 and a one year high of $30.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

Flowers Foods ( NYSE:FLO Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 19th. The company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.55 billion. Flowers Foods had a net margin of 4.35% and a return on equity of 17.95%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Flowers Foods will post 1.2 EPS for the current year.

In related news, insider H Mark Courtney sold 14,272 shares of Flowers Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.39, for a total transaction of $348,094.08. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 41,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,011,892.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 11.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FLO. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 42.9% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 28,758 shares of the companys stock valued at $710,000 after acquiring an additional 8,630 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,836,544 shares of the companys stock valued at $81,523,000 after acquiring an additional 143,658 shares during the period. Covea Finance lifted its position in shares of Flowers Foods by 95.4% during the 1st quarter. Covea Finance now owns 127,000 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,481,000 after acquiring an additional 62,000 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Flowers Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $308,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Flowers Foods by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,028,909 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,571,000 after purchasing an additional 138,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.27% of the companys stock.

About Flowers Foods

(Free Report)

Flowers Foods, Inc produces and markets packaged bakery food products in the United States. Its principal products include fresh breads, buns, rolls, snack cakes, and tortillas, as well as frozen breads and rolls under the Nature's Own, Dave's Killer Bread, Wonder, Canyon Bakehouse, Mrs. Freshley's, and Tastykake brand names.

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Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC increased its position in Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN  Free Report) by 19.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,524 shares of the energy companys stock after purchasing an additional 20,934 shares during the quarter. Devon Energy makes up about 1.3% of Gilman Hill Asset Management LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLCs holdings in Devon Energy were worth $6,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DVN. State Street Corp boosted its position in Devon Energy by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,814,521 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $2,574,437,000 after acquiring an additional 2,902,180 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Devon Energy by 96.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,608,577 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $344,984,000 after acquiring an additional 2,752,752 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its position in Devon Energy by 90.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,386,490 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $331,323,000 after acquiring an additional 2,562,584 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Devon Energy by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 77,173,489 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $4,640,442,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Devon Energy by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,141,280 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $609,794,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469,557 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.00% of the companys stock.

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Devon Energy Stock Performance

DVN stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.82. The stock had a trading volume of 3,600,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,261,967. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.49. The stock has a market cap of $31.93 billion, a PE ratio of 5.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 2.33. Devon Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $44.03 and a 52-week high of $78.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.09.

Devon Energy Cuts Dividend

Devon Energy ( NYSE:DVN Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 8th. The energy company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.82 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 47.42% and a net margin of 31.39%. The companys revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Devon Energy Co. will post 6.14 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.90%. Devon Energys payout ratio is currently 8.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Devon Energy

In other Devon Energy news, EVP Dennis C. Cameron sold 8,292 shares of Devon Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.97, for a total transaction of $414,351.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 218,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,914,347.46. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.63% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Devon Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. They set a neutral rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Devon Energy from $75.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. StockNews.com cut Devon Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Devon Energy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on Devon Energy from $71.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, May 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $67.39.

Devon Energy Profile

(Free Report)

Devon Energy Corporation, an independent energy company, explores for, develops, and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. It operates in Delaware, Anadarko, Williston, Eagle Ford, and Powder River Basin. The company was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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SimCorp A/S (OTCMKTS:SICRF  Free Report) is one of 298 publicly-traded companies in the SoftwareApplication industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare SimCorp A/S to related businesses based on the strength of its valuation, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends and earnings.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

41.9% of SimCorp A/S shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.7% of shares of all SoftwareApplication companies are held by institutional investors. 29.6% of shares of all SoftwareApplication companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

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Dividends

SimCorp A/S pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. SimCorp A/S pays out 59.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, SoftwareApplication companies pay a dividend yield of 1.8% and pay out 70.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings & Valuation

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio SimCorp A/S N/A N/A 116.15 SimCorp A/S Competitors $419.17 million -$12.88 million 573.76

This table compares SimCorp A/S and its rivals revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

SimCorp A/Ss rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than SimCorp A/S. SimCorp A/S is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares SimCorp A/S and its rivals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets SimCorp A/S N/A N/A N/A SimCorp A/S Competitors -32.16% -249.28% -10.29%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for SimCorp A/S and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score SimCorp A/S 0 2 0 0 2.00 SimCorp A/S Competitors 385 1471 3392 18 2.58

As a group, SoftwareApplication companies have a potential upside of 29.60%. Given SimCorp A/Ss rivals stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe SimCorp A/S has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Summary

SimCorp A/S rivals beat SimCorp A/S on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About SimCorp A/S

(Free Report)

SimCorp A/S, together with its subsidiaries, provides investment management solutions for asset management, fund management, insurance, life/pension, central banks, asset servicing, treasury, sovereign wealth, and wealth management companies. It provides investment management services, including portfolio management and trading, compliance management, performance and risk management, investment operations, investment accounting, fund administration, multi asset investments, alternative investments, investment book of record, and data warehouse and business intelligence, as well as environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) investments. The company also offers data management, corporate actions, ESG data management, market data management, and security master services; and client communications, such as client reporting and sales enablement, and digital engagement platform. It has operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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CrossAmerica Partners (NYSE:CAPL  Free Report) and Parkland (OTCMKTS:PKIUF  Free Report) are both oils/energy companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares CrossAmerica Partners and Parklands net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets CrossAmerica Partners 1.14% 106.25% 4.47% Parkland N/A N/A N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CrossAmerica Partners and Parklands top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio CrossAmerica Partners $4.97 billion 0.15 $63.70 million $1.45 13.57 Parkland N/A N/A N/A $0.75 32.94

Institutional and Insider Ownership

CrossAmerica Partners has higher revenue and earnings than Parkland. CrossAmerica Partners is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Parkland, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

24.4% of CrossAmerica Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.3% of Parkland shares are owned by institutional investors. 52.0% of CrossAmerica Partners shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for CrossAmerica Partners and Parkland, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score CrossAmerica Partners 0 0 0 0 N/A Parkland 0 1 1 0 2.50

Parkland has a consensus price target of $39.57, suggesting a potential upside of 60.99%. Given Parklands higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Parkland is more favorable than CrossAmerica Partners.

Dividends

CrossAmerica Partners pays an annual dividend of $2.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.7%. Parkland pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. CrossAmerica Partners pays out 144.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Parkland pays out 134.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

CrossAmerica Partners beats Parkland on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CrossAmerica Partners

(Free Report)

CrossAmerica Partners LP engages in the wholesale distribution of motor fuels, operation of convenience stores, and ownership and leasing of real estate used in the retail distribution of motor fuels in the United States. It operates in two segments, Wholesale and Retail. The Wholesale segment engages in the wholesale distribution of motor fuels to lessee dealers, independent dealers, commission agents, and company operated retail sites. The Retail segment is involved in the sale of convenience merchandise items; and retail sale of motor fuels at company operated retail sites and retail sites operated by commission agents. CrossAmerica GP LLC operates as the general partner of the company. The company was formerly known as Lehigh Gas Partners LP and changed its name to CrossAmerica Partners LP in October 2014. The company was founded in 1992 and is based in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

About Parkland

(Free Report)

Parkland Corporation operates food and convenience stores in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company's Canada segment owns, supplies, and supports a coast-to-coast network of retail gas stations, electronic vehicle charging stations, frozen food retail locations, convenience stores, cardlock sites, bulk fuel, propane, heating oil, lubricants, and other related services to commercial, industrial, and residential customers; transports and distributes fuel through ships, rail, and highway carriers; and stores fuel in terminals and other owned and leased facilities, as well as engages in the low-carbon activities. This segment sells its products under the M&M Food Market, On the Run / Marche Express, Ultramar, Esso, Chevron, Pioneer, Fas Gas Plus, Bluewave Energy, Pipeline Commercial, Columbia Fuels, and Sparlings Propane brand names. Its international segment operates and services various retail service stations under the Sol, Esso, Mobil, Shell, and Texaco brand names; and owns the Sol Shop, a convenience store, as well as sells refined crude oil to commercial, industrial, and aviation businesses. The company's USA Segment delivers fuel, lubricants, and other related products to commercial and wholesale customers; operates a network of retail fuel and convenience stores under the On the Run, Arco, Cenex, Chevron, Conoco, Exxon, and other brands, as well as cardlocks under various brands; and operates terminals, storage facilities and trucks, contracts with pipeline, storage facilities, and third-party carriers to support its network. Its Refining segment refines fuel products, such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel; co-processes bio-feedstocks and blends low-carbon-intensity fuels with gasoline and diesel to produce greener fuels. The company was formerly known as Parkland Fuel Corporation and changed its name to Parkland Corporation in May 2020. Parkland Corporation was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

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Hengan International Group Company Limited (OTCMKTS:HEGIF  Free Report) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,040,200 shares, a decline of 51.4% from the May 31st total of 2,139,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 288.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Hengan International Group from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 17th.

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Hengan International Group Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:HEGIF traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $4.22. The stock had a trading volume of 100 shares, compared to its average volume of 217. Hengan International Group has a one year low of $3.90 and a one year high of $5.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.70.

Hengan International Group Company Profile

Hengan International Group Company Limited, an investment holding company, manufactures, distributes, and sells personal hygiene products in the People's Republic of China and internationally. The company offers pocket handkerchiefs, box and soft tissue papers, kitchen towels/papers, toilet rolls, first-aid products, enema, garbage and food bags, preservation papers, table cloths and disposable toilet brush, sanitary napkins, pantiliners, overnight pants, wet tissues, maternal and child care products, adult and baby diapers, and cleansing products.

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ENTERPRISE-A first-ever urgent care medical clinic for pets officially opened for business in Enterprise Wednesday.

The family- and veteran-owned Pet Urgent Care of Enterprise LLC was welcomed to its 805 East Lee St. clinic by city and chamber of commerce officials and a bevy of beauty queens during an official ribbon cutting and open house.

Caring hands when you need them, is the motto of the walk-in clinic opened by Michael Jansen, Dr. Kim Ousley and Dr. Troy Jones.

Jansen is the non-medical member of the team with over 20 years of experience in the residential real estate market as a home builder, investor, and landlord. He is currently an executive with a tier-one defense company in Baltimore, Maryland, were he leads a large portfolio of Department of Defense programs. He served in the Air Force as an F-16 combat pilot and developmental test pilot.

There is a growing demand for urgent care walk-in clinics for humans to treat health issues that at arent quite emergency room level but are concerns, Jansen said. This is a first such clinic for small animals in the area. Their vision is to see this as the first in a southeast regional network of pet urgent care clinics.

We are a healthcare provider that allows you to bring your fur-baby in to be seen without an appointment. We understand that your pets are an important part of your family, and we are here to provide top-notch care at affordable prices when your furry loved ones need it the most, Jansen said.

Our team of highly trained veterinary professionals brings a unique level of expertise and compassion to every animal that comes through our doors, he added. We are dedicated to providing personalized care for every patient and creating a welcoming and stress-free environment for you and your pet.

Ousley has been a practicing veterinarian for more than 24 years, most recently at Eastmont Animal Clinic in the Montgomery area.

I became a veterinarian because I deeply respect the human/animal bond, she said. Im still moved by it every time I see it. Its why we work so hard. I always say, Your baby is my baby. The minute you step in here with your fur-baby, we treat them like they are ours.

Ousley worked with military working dogs at Osan Air Base in Korea after graduating from Auburn University cum laude. She served as a contractor with the Navy.

I worked on dolphins, sea lions, and whales out in San Diego, California. She has been a veterinary consultant for 15 years traveling nationwide to small animal hospitals teaching.

Ousley said she met Jones while the two were attending vet school at Auburn and has practiced throughout the years as colleagues in Alabama. His path has not been as exciting as hers, Jones said.

Im just a south Alabama veterinarian. Currently he owns and operates Luverne Veterinary Hospital in Luverne, a mixed veterinary practice with a dual emphasis on small animal medicine and beef cattle production medicine.

Jansen said that the team chose to locate in Enterprise because it is a great central location for the region.

You toil over where you are going to open up a business. You do a lot of research, he said, thanking the city for its support. I will say that its very humbling to see this crowd here today. Its a perfect example of how this community has come together and helped us out.
StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of International Tower Hill Mines (NYSEAMERICAN:THM  Free Report) (TSE:ITH) in a research note published on Tuesday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the mining companys stock.

International Tower Hill Mines Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of THM stock opened at $0.37 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $72.37 million, a P/E ratio of -18.57 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $0.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $0.52. International Tower Hill Mines has a 12 month low of $0.37 and a 12 month high of $0.75.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On International Tower Hill Mines

An institutional investor recently raised its position in International Tower Hill Mines stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (NYSEAMERICAN:THM  Free Report) (TSE:ITH) by 25.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 161,859 shares of the mining companys stock after buying an additional 32,559 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 0.08% of International Tower Hill Mines worth $69,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors own 55.34% of the companys stock.

International Tower Hill Mines Company Profile

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd., a mineral exploration company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties. It holds or has rights to acquire interests in the Livengood gold project covering an area of approximately 19,546 hectares located to the northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska.

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Shares of Kenmare Resources plc (OTCMKTS:KMRPF  Free Report) shot up 49% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $5.87 and last traded at $5.87. 1,000 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 142% from the average session volume of 414 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.94.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Berenberg Bank reduced their target price on shares of Kenmare Resources from GBX 820 ($10.43) to GBX 780 ($9.92) in a research note on Thursday, May 4th.

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Kenmare Resources Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.98.

About Kenmare Resources

Kenmare Resources plc, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells mineral sand products in China, the rest of Asia, Europe, the United States, and internationally. It operates the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine located on the northeast coast of Mozambique. The company's products include ilmenite, rutile, and zircon; and concentrates, including secondary zircon and mineral sand concentrates.

Further Reading

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Shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada (TSE:LB  Free Report) crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of C$32.92 and traded as high as C$33.32. Laurentian Bank of Canada shares last traded at C$32.90, with a volume of 110,205 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on LB. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$36.00 to C$34.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. CIBC cut their price objective on shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$40.00 to C$37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. National Bankshares cut their price objective on shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$42.00 to C$39.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. Finally, CSFB lowered their target price on shares of Laurentian Bank of Canada from C$35.00 to C$32.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of C$39.55.

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Laurentian Bank of Canada Stock Down 1.1 %

The businesss 50 day moving average is C$31.86 and its 200-day moving average is C$32.93. The firm has a market capitalization of C$1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.12, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.16.

Laurentian Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

Laurentian Bank of Canada ( TSE:LB Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 1st. The company reported C$1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of C$1.14 by C$0.02. The business had revenue of C$257.17 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of C$261.70 million. Laurentian Bank of Canada had a net margin of 21.97% and a return on equity of 7.69%. Research analysts forecast that Laurentian Bank of Canada will post 4.7701493 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 30th. This is a boost from Laurentian Bank of Canadas previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Laurentian Bank of Canadas payout ratio is presently 40.52%.

Laurentian Bank of Canada Company Profile

(Free Report)

Laurentian Bank of Canada, together with its subsidiaries, provides various financial services to personal, business, and institutional customers in Canada and the United States. It operates through three segments: Personal Banking, Commercial Banking, and Capital Markets. The Personal Banking segment offers financial services, such as financial advisory services to financial intermediaries; and operates digital direct-to-customer platform to retail clients.

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Lesa Sroufe & Co raised its stake in Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV  Free Report) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 236,172 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock after buying an additional 9,670 shares during the period. Telefonica Brasil comprises 1.8% of Lesa Sroufe & Cos holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Lesa Sroufe & Cos holdings in Telefonica Brasil were worth $1,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Credit Suisse AG lifted its holdings in shares of Telefonica Brasil by 543.6% in the 3rd quarter. Credit Suisse AG now owns 7,485 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 6,322 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Telefonica Brasil during the 2nd quarter valued at $68,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Telefonica Brasil during the 4th quarter worth $66,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Telefonica Brasil by 191.7% in the second quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,028 shares of the Wireless communications providers stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 6,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Telefonica Brasil in the third quarter worth about $91,000. 5.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on VIV shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Telefonica Brasil from $10.00 to $11.00 in a report on Friday, May 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a research note on Tuesday, May 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $10.00 target price for the company. TheStreet cut shares of Telefonica Brasil from a c- rating to a d+ rating in a report on Wednesday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Telefonica Brasil in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a buy rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $10.50.

Telefonica Brasil Stock Performance

Shares of VIV traded up $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.10. The stock had a trading volume of 384,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,979,026. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a PEG ratio of 4.00 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $8.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.85. Telefonica Brasil S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $6.49 and a fifty-two week high of $9.26.

Telefonica Brasil (NYSE:VIV  Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The Wireless communications provider reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Telefonica Brasil had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 6.01%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Telefonica Brasil S.A. will post 0.49 EPS for the current year.

About Telefonica Brasil

(Free Report)

Telefonica Brasil SA, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a mobile telecommunications company in Brazil. Its fixed line services portfolio includes local, domestic long-distance, and international long-distance calls; and mobile portfolio comprises voice and broadband internet access through 3G, 4G, 4.5G, and 5G, as well as mobile value-added and wireless roaming services.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VIV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV  Free Report).

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Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Deere & Company (NYSE:DE  Free Report) by 0.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,600 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement Systems holdings in Deere & Company were worth $7,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Deere & Company by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,093,821 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $7,376,906,000 after acquiring an additional 208,053 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Deere & Company by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,792,394 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $2,050,356,000 after purchasing an additional 72,865 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Deere & Company by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,576,183 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $1,962,085,000 after purchasing an additional 554,133 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Deere & Company by 104,373.8% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,219,883 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $1,380,557,000 after purchasing an additional 3,216,801 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Deere & Company during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,326,177,000. 71.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on DE. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Deere & Company from $492.00 to $436.00 in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Deere & Company from $450.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Monday, June 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Deere & Company from $500.00 to $493.00 in a report on Monday, May 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Deere & Company from $505.00 to $460.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Deere & Company from $398.00 to $367.00 in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Deere & Company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $446.64.

Insider Activity at Deere & Company

Deere & Company Price Performance

In other Deere & Company news, CEO John C. May II sold 52,967 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.02, for a total transaction of $22,035,331.34. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 109,126 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,398,598.52. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website . In other Deere & Company news, insider Pentz Markwart Von sold 27,933 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.59, for a total value of $10,658,953.47. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 57,115 shares in the company, valued at $21,794,512.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link . Also, CEO John C. May II sold 52,967 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.02, for a total value of $22,035,331.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 109,126 shares of the companys stock, valued at $45,398,598.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Over the last quarter, insiders sold 88,010 shares of company stock worth $35,230,351. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the companys stock.

Deere & Company stock opened at $401.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market cap of $117.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.48, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $380.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $402.28. Deere & Company has a 12-month low of $283.81 and a 12-month high of $448.40.

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 19th. The industrial products company reported $9.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $8.57 by $1.08. The business had revenue of $16.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $14.87 billion. Deere & Company had a return on equity of 43.11% and a net margin of 15.00%. The companys revenue was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Deere & Company will post 31.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Deere & Company Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 8th. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 29th. Deere & Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.78%.

About Deere & Company

(Free Report)

Deere & Company manufactures and distributes various equipment worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Production and Precision Agriculture, Small Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services. The Production and Precision Agriculture segment provides mid-size tractors, combines, cotton pickers and strippers, sugarcane harvesters, harvesting front-end equipment, sugarcane loaders, pull-behind scrapers, and tillage and seeding equipment, as well as application equipment, including sprayers and nutrient management, and soil preparation machinery for grain growers.

Further Reading

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Nadler Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report) by 2.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,167 shares of the healthcare product makers stock after buying an additional 374 shares during the quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc.s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $1,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 154,563,421 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $14,955,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011,683 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 74,138,862 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $7,173,676,000 after purchasing an additional 351,136 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 38,966,499 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $4,278,132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,886,954 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 30,598,624 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $3,352,840,000 after purchasing an additional 537,808 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 104,649.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 30,247,436 shares of the healthcare product makers stock valued at $3,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 30,218,560 shares during the period. 73.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE ABT traded up $0.88 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $108.54. 691,864 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,072,399. The companys 50 day moving average price is $106.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Abbott Laboratories has a 12 month low of $93.25 and a 12 month high of $115.69.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

Abbott Laboratories ( NYSE:ABT Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.64 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a return on equity of 22.36% and a net margin of 13.98%. Abbott Laboratoriess quarterly revenue was down 18.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.73 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 14th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 13th. Abbott Laboratoriess dividend payout ratio is 62.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ABT. Raymond James boosted their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $116.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $117.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $136.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Abbott Laboratories from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $112.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $121.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.02, for a total value of $5,551,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,825,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $757,746,582.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 8,226 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total transaction of $909,466.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 70,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,786,409.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.02, for a total value of $5,551,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,825,316 shares of the companys stock, valued at $757,746,582.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the companys stock.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

(Free Report)

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Meniere's disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.

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North American Tungsten Co. Ltd. (OTCMKTS:NATUF  Free Report) shares passed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $0.00 and traded as high as $0.00. North American Tungsten shares last traded at $0.00, with a volume of 0 shares.

North American Tungsten Price Performance

About North American Tungsten

(Free Report)

North American Tungsten Corp. Ltd. engages in the exploration, development, and operation of mineral properties. It produces, processes, and sells tungsten concentrate. The company portfolio includes Cantung mine site and Mactung deposit projects. North American Tungsten was founded by Stephen Martin Leahy on October 18, 1979 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada.

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Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund (NYSE:NXJ  Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 29,400 shares, a decrease of 58.5% from the May 31st total of 70,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 66,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE NXJ traded up $0.05 on Friday, reaching $11.45. 26,986 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 73,905. Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund has a fifty-two week low of $10.52 and a fifty-two week high of $13.24. The company has a 50 day moving average of $11.45 and a 200 day moving average of $11.57.

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Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.0305 per share. This represents a $0.37 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund

Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund Company Profile

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 126,873 shares of the companys stock worth $1,698,000 after buying an additional 913 shares during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC now owns 15,490 shares of the companys stock worth $181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,745 shares of the companys stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc grew its holdings in shares of Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 30,712 shares of the companys stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its position in Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 13,386 shares of the companys stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares in the last quarter.

(Free Report)

Nuveen New Jersey Quality Municipal Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of New Jersey. The fund invests in undervalued municipal securities and other related investments that are, exempt from regular federal and New Jersey income taxes that are rated Baa or BBB or better.

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Opal Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO  Free Report) by 22.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,347 shares of the companys stock after selling 394 shares during the quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in NVO. Schubert & Co grew its stake in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S by 96.2% during the 4th quarter. Schubert & Co now owns 204 shares of the companys stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC bought a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. RFP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Worth Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC bought a new position in Novo Nordisk A/S in the 1st quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 6.30% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on NVO shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a strong-buy rating for the company. Credit Suisse Group upgraded Novo Nordisk A/S from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 13th.

Novo Nordisk A/S Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NVO traded up $4.64 on Friday, hitting $161.67. The companys stock had a trading volume of 275,242 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,387,543. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.39. Novo Nordisk A/S has a 1 year low of $95.02 and a 1 year high of $172.97. The company has a market capitalization of $362.75 billion, a PE ratio of 41.33, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.27. Novo Nordisk A/S had a return on equity of 77.39% and a net margin of 32.53%. The firm had revenue of $7.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $7.86 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Novo Nordisk A/S will post 5.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novo Nordisk A/S Profile

(Free Report)

Novo Nordisk A/S, a healthcare company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products worldwide. It operates in two segments, Diabetes and Obesity care, and Rare Disease. The Diabetes and Obesity care segment provides products in the areas of insulins, GLP-1 and related delivery systems, oral antidiabetic products, obesity, glucagon, needles, and other chronic diseases.

Further Reading

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Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. decreased its position in Orion S.A. (NYSE:OEC  Free Report) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,180 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.s holdings in Orion were worth $500,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Orion by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,347,559 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $59,620,000 after acquiring an additional 102,751 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Orion by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,224,106 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $19,574,000 after acquiring an additional 25,368 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Orion by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,144,285 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $20,380,000 after acquiring an additional 146,728 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Orion by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,067,704 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $16,581,000 after acquiring an additional 392,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Orion by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,040,847 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $18,537,000 after acquiring an additional 30,532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.98% of the companys stock.

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Orion Stock Performance

Orion stock traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $21.17. 72,468 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 477,748. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.94 and a beta of 1.65. Orion S.A. has a one year low of $12.87 and a one year high of $26.91.

Orion Announces Dividend

Orion ( NYSE:OEC Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $500.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $522.19 million. Orion had a return on equity of 29.94% and a net margin of 5.67%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Orion S.A. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.021 per share. This represents a $0.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. Orions payout ratio is currently 4.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on OEC shares. Loop Capital cut their price target on Orion from $41.00 to $35.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Orion from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $26.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, April 14th. Credit Suisse Group started coverage on Orion in a report on Monday, March 13th. They issued an outperform rating and a $31.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Orion in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. One investment 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.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $29.00.

Orion Profile

(Free Report)

Orion SA, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells carbon black products in Luxembourg and internationally. It operates in two segments, Specialty Carbon Black and Rubber Carbon Black. The company offers post-treated specialty carbon black grades for coatings and printing applications; high purity carbon black grades for the fiber industry; and conductive carbon black grades for polymers, coatings, and battery electrodes.

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The Australian Innovation Competition has been launched to unearth extraordinary Australian innovations that have been flying under the radar.

The competition invites participants of all ages from across the country to submit their creative ideas and practical solutions aimed at tackling real-world problems.

Open to all ages and completely free to enter, the Australian Innovation Competition provides a platform for individuals from all walks of life to showcase their inventive ideas and solutions.

With a total prize pool of $150,000, the Australian Innovation Competition seeks to recognize and reward the brightest minds behind the winning ideas. Five outstanding winners will be selected to receive a share in this generous prize pool, providing them with both financial support and a significant boost to propel their innovations forward.

Open to all ages and completely free to enter, the Australian Innovation Competition provides a platform for individuals from all walks of life to showcase their inventive ideas and solutions.

Kylah Morrison, the General Manager of Skills and Innovation for Industry Growth Centre METS Ignited, expressed the competitions purpose, stating, Through this competition, we aim to celebrate Australian ingenuity and shed light on hidden innovations that have the potential to transform various sectors of our economy. Morrison emphasised the wealth of exceptional ideas originating from schools, universities, research organizations, and private companies across the nation. The goal is to discover these hidden gems, celebrate them, and provide a platform for shaping Australias future.

The competition is open to all ideas, regardless of size or industry, from every corner of Australia. Participants have the opportunity to showcase their creations on a national stage, amplifying their reach and expanding their potential impact for the betterment of society.

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To be a part of this extraordinary celebration of Australian ingenuity, simply submit your entry by the deadline of 31 August 2023. Dont miss your chance to have your innovation recognized on a national stage, while also contributing to the advancement of Australias innovation ecosystem.

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Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. lowered its position in iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (NYSEARCA:IVE  Free Report) by 3.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,259 shares of the companys stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc.s holdings in iShares S&P 500 Value ETF were worth $1,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TIAA FSB raised its position in shares of iShares S&P 500 Value ETF by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. TIAA FSB now owns 17,328 shares of the companys stock worth $2,630,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of iShares S&P 500 Value ETF by 12.5% in the 1st quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,897 shares of the companys stock worth $1,198,000 after acquiring an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in shares of iShares S&P 500 Value ETF by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 49,831 shares of the companys stock worth $7,562,000 after acquiring an additional 7,105 shares in the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. bought a new position in shares of iShares S&P 500 Value ETF in the 1st quarter worth approximately $181,000. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of iShares S&P 500 Value ETF by 452.7% in the 1st quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,028 shares of the companys stock worth $156,000 after acquiring an additional 842 shares in the last quarter.

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iShares S&P 500 Value ETF Stock Up 0.5 %

IVE stock opened at $159.56 on Friday. iShares S&P 500 Value ETF has a twelve month low of $127.33 and a twelve month high of $161.48. The firm has a market cap of $25.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average of $154.26 and a 200 day moving average of $151.69.

iShares S&P 500 Value ETF Company Profile

iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares S&P 500 Value Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500 Value Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization value sector of the United States equity market and consists of those stocks in the S&P 500 exhibiting the strongest value characteristics.

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Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. (OTCMKTS:PNGAY  Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 18,000 shares, a drop of 89.8% from the May 31st total of 177,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 346,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.1 days.

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of OTCMKTS PNGAY traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $12.81. The stock had a trading volume of 87,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 169,183. The businesss 50 day moving average is $13.66 and its 200-day moving average is $13.90. Ping An Insurance has a 52 week low of $7.80 and a 52 week high of $16.76.

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Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 14th will be paid a $0.3718 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 13th. This is an increase from Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of Chinas previous dividend of $0.26.

About Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China

Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. provides financial products and services for insurance, banking, asset management, and technology businesses in the People's Republic of China. Its Life and Health Insurance segment offers term, whole-life, endowment, annuity, investment-linked, universal life, and health care and medical insurance to individual and corporate customers.

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Providence Resources P.l.c. (LON:PVR  Free Report) crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 3.25 ($0.04) and traded as low as GBX 3.10 ($0.04). Providence Resources shares last traded at GBX 3.25 ($0.04), with a volume of 1,470,563 shares.

Providence Resources Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of 34.84 million and a P/E ratio of -3.19. The business has a fifty day moving average of GBX 3.25 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 3.25.

About Providence Resources

(Free Report)

Providence Resources P.l.c. operates as an oil and gas exploration company in Ireland. Its principal project is the Barryroe project located in the North Celtic Sea Basin. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE  Free Report) by 8.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,642 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLCs holdings in TotalEnergies were worth $392,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of TotalEnergies in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of TotalEnergies by 940.9% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 458 shares of the companys stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in TotalEnergies by 63.3% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 490 shares of the companys stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in TotalEnergies by 58.6% in the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 509 shares of the companys stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Fortis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in TotalEnergies in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 6.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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TotalEnergies Price Performance

Shares of TTE traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $57.67. 159,677 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,620,083. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.70 and a 200-day moving average of $61.12. TotalEnergies SE has a 52 week low of $44.61 and a 52 week high of $65.05. The stock has a market cap of $141.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.97, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.14.

TotalEnergies Increases Dividend

TotalEnergies ( NYSE:TTE Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $2.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.18. TotalEnergies had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 28.51%. The business had revenue of $62.60 billion during the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that TotalEnergies SE will post 10.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be issued a $0.585 dividend. This is an increase from TotalEnergiess previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 16th. This represents a $2.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. TotalEnergiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of TotalEnergies from $68.00 to $64.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of TotalEnergies from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, March 21st. Six 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 presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $64.00.

About TotalEnergies

(Free Report)

TotalEnergies SE, a multi-energy company, produces and markets fuels, natural gas, and electricity in France, rest of Europe, North America, Africa, and internationally. It operates through Integrated Gas, Renewables & Power; Exploration & Production; Refining & Chemicals; and Marketing & Services segments.

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Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM  Free Report) by 52.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,484 shares of the basic materials companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLCs holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SQM. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile during the 1st quarter worth $184,773,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile by 373.7% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 926,507 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $77,391,000 after purchasing an additional 730,931 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. bought a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile during the 4th quarter worth $53,992,000. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile by 61,196.7% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 617,258 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $49,282,000 after purchasing an additional 616,251 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile by 392.1% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 681,908 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $54,444,000 after purchasing an additional 543,343 shares during the period. 17.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SQM traded up $1.26 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $72.73. 118,421 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,739,921. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. has a 12-month low of $60.21 and a 12-month high of $115.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.48, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market cap of $20.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.29, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.95. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $69.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.13.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile Increases Dividend

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile ( NYSE:SQM Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 18th. The basic materials company reported $2.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.12 by ($0.49). Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile had a return on equity of 82.96% and a net margin of 35.24%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.44 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. will post 12.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $3.2237 per share. This is a positive change from Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chiles previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 11th. This represents a $12.89 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.73%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chiles payout ratio is presently 60.50%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile in a research note on Friday, May 19th. They issued a sell rating and a $60.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Scotiabank cut Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $113.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile from $134.00 to $97.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $87.86.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile Company Profile

(Free Report)

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA produces and distributes specialty plant nutrients, iodine derivatives, lithium derivatives, potassium chloride and sulfate, industrial chemicals, and other products and services. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers.

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Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD  Free Report)  Research analysts at Zacks Research increased their FY2023 earnings per share estimates for shares of Pioneer Natural Resources in a research note issued on Monday, June 26th. Zacks Research analyst N. Banerjee now expects that the oil and gas development company will post earnings per share of $18.33 for the year, up from their prior estimate of $18.13. The consensus estimate for Pioneer Natural Resources current full-year earnings is $20.59 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Pioneer Natural Resources Q4 2023 earnings at $4.76 EPS, Q1 2024 earnings at $4.94 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $4.76 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $18.40 EPS.

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PXD has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources from $293.00 to $265.00 in a report on Friday, March 10th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Pioneer Natural Resources from $229.00 to $220.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources from $266.00 to $278.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Pioneer Natural Resources from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Pioneer Natural Resources from $319.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $258.50.

Pioneer Natural Resources Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of PXD stock opened at $206.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $207.67 and a 200-day moving average of $214.13. The firm has a market cap of $48.17 billion, a PE ratio of 7.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Pioneer Natural Resources has a 12 month low of $177.26 and a 12 month high of $274.70.

Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD  Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The oil and gas development company reported $5.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $4.90 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $4.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. Pioneer Natural Resources had a net margin of 31.15% and a return on equity of 30.71%. The businesss revenue was down 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.74 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pioneer Natural Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Pioneer Natural Resources by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,283,043 shares of the oil and gas development companys stock valued at $4,175,358,000 after purchasing an additional 511,005 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,337,964 shares of the oil and gas development companys stock worth $884,893,000 after acquiring an additional 149,026 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 46.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,242,203 shares of the oil and gas development companys stock worth $968,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343,601 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Pioneer Natural Resources by 108.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,469,309 shares of the oil and gas development companys stock worth $859,012,000 after acquiring an additional 1,802,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Pioneer Natural Resources by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,568,917 shares of the oil and gas development companys stock valued at $642,307,000 after acquiring an additional 51,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.73% of the companys stock.

Pioneer Natural Resources Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, June 1st were given a $3.34 dividend. This represents a $13.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.48%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 31st. Pioneer Natural Resourcess dividend payout ratio is currently 17.72%.

Pioneer Natural Resources Company Profile

(Free Report)

Pioneer Natural Resources Company operates as an independent oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States. The company explores for, develops, and produces oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and gas. It has operations in the Midland Basin in West Texas. Pioneer Natural Resources Company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Irving, Texas.

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Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF (NYSEARCA:IMTM  Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 734,384 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 19,641 shares during the quarter. iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF accounts for approximately 1.2% of Ritholtz Wealth Managements investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Ritholtz Wealth Managements holdings in iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF were worth $23,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in IMTM. LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF by 2.6% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,142 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF by 159.9% during the 2nd quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 145,186 shares of the companys stock worth $4,345,000 after buying an additional 89,313 shares in the last quarter. Armbruster Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Armbruster Capital Management Inc. now owns 412,870 shares of the companys stock worth $11,090,000 after buying an additional 25,224 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF by 406.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 194,288 shares of the companys stock worth $5,219,000 after buying an additional 155,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 907,961 shares of the companys stock worth $24,388,000 after buying an additional 129,733 shares in the last quarter.

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iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF Stock Performance

Shares of iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF stock traded up $0.43 on Friday, reaching $33.15. 25,110 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 216,750. The company has a market capitalization of $981.24 million, a P/E ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.78. iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF has a 52 week low of $26.44 and a 52 week high of $33.65. The firms 50-day moving average is $32.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.21.

iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF Company Profile

The iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF (IMTM) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI World ex USA Momentum index. The fund tracks an index of large- and mid-cap stocks from developed countries, ex-US. The momentum-selected stocks are weighted by market cap and momentum. IMTM was launched on Jan 13, 2015 and is managed by BlackRock.

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Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,675 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 900 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company makes up approximately 0.8% of Rocky Mountain Advisers LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLCs holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $1,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WFC. Silicon Valley Capital Partners purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. US Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Studio Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in Wells Fargo & Company by 494.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,754 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,291 shares during the period. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in Wells Fargo & Company in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,000. 72.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WFC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $46.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Friday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 24th. Finally, VNET Group reissued a reiterates rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Wednesday, June 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $48.71.

Wells Fargo & Company Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $42.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $161.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.47 and a 200 day moving average of $41.88. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $35.25 and a fifty-two week high of $48.84.

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC  Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $20.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.06 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 15.93% and a return on equity of 10.07%. Wells Fargo & Companys quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wells Fargo & Company Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 5th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Companys payout ratio is currently 34.38%.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

(Free Report)

Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company, provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.

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Stewart & Patten Co. LLC grew its position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,296 shares of the payment services companys stock after buying an additional 4,413 shares during the quarter. American Express accounts for about 3.3% of Stewart & Patten Co. LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Stewart & Patten Co. LLCs holdings in American Express were worth $19,348,000 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 AXP. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in American Express by 118,198.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,732,068 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $2,028,913,000 after purchasing an additional 13,720,460 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $911,554,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in American Express by 162.6% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,961,999 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $289,885,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,731 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in American Express by 79.6% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,713,458 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $366,073,000 after purchasing an additional 1,202,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CI Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $124,325,000. 82.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on AXP. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of American Express from $186.00 to $188.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of American Express from $182.00 to $180.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 4th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $152.00 to $150.00 and set a sell rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $194.00 to $185.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of American Express from $179.00 to $172.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $174.50.

American Express Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:AXP traded up $1.90 during trading on Friday, reaching $173.98. The stock had a trading volume of 842,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,353,307. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 1.55. The firms fifty day moving average is $160.97 and its 200 day moving average is $161.89. American Express has a 52 week low of $130.65 and a 52 week high of $182.15. The stock has a market cap of $129.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.18.

American Express (NYSE:AXP  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The payment services company reported $2.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.66 by ($0.26). American Express had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 29.44%. The firm had revenue of $14.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.73 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that American Express will post 11.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 10th. Investors of record on Friday, July 7th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 6th. American Expresss payout ratio is currently 25.24%.

American Express announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 8th that authorizes the company to repurchase 120,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the payment services company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the companys board believes its stock is undervalued.

About American Express

(Free Report)

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides charge and credit payment card products, and travel-related services worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Global Consumer Services Group, Global Commercial Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services. Its products and services include payment and financing products; network services; accounts payable expense management products and services; and travel and lifestyle services.

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StrategIQ Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (NYSEARCA:XAR  Free Report) by 9.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,550 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 818 shares during the period. StrategIQ Financial Group LLCs holdings in SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF were worth $1,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF by 21.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,438 shares of the companys stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 12,068 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,505,000 after buying an additional 1,233 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in shares of SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF by 295.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,579 shares of the companys stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp purchased a new position in shares of SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF in the 1st quarter worth approximately $548,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in shares of SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF by 61.6% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 5,746 shares of the companys stock valued at $716,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190 shares in the last quarter.

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SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF Stock Up 0.2 %

SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $121.70. 11,809 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 73,959. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $115.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $115.40. SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF has a one year low of $91.37 and a one year high of $122.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50 and a beta of 1.09.

SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF Profile

The SPDR S&P Aerospace & Defense ETF (XAR) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in industrials equity. The fund tracks an equal-weighted index of US aerospace & defense companies. XAR was launched on Sep 28, 2011 and is managed by State Street.

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Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) is one of two platinum sponsors for the 2023 Singapore Regional Business Forum to be held in Hanoi on July 7.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of bilateral ties and 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership between Singapore and Vietnam.

The forum will be graced by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Titled "Strengthening Regional Collaboration for Sustainable Growth," the event is expected to gather over 500 business and political leaders, and will include a number of plenary sessions, panel discussions, dialogues with political officeholders, and networking sessions.

It comes at a challenging time with economies facing market fluctuations while recovering from the Covid pandemic and the risk of supply chain disruptions.

At a virtual press conference on Wednesday, Jens Lottner, CEO of Techcombank, said he is proud that his bank has the chance to support this forum as it approaches its 30th founding anniversary.

"We are focusing on our mission to lead the transformation of the Vietnamese banking industry, as well as being a pioneer for the wider region.

"With our partners, we can encourage innovation, share knowledge and constantly push new boundaries to achieve our goals. We look forward to all we can achieve together."

Jens Lottner, CEO of Techcombank. Photo courtesy of Techcombank

Techcombank was honored by Financial Asia as "Best Bank in Vietnam 2023."

The Asian Banker urges businesses to choose Techcombank as it is one of the "Best Collection Management solutions via Virtual Account" in the Asia Pacific, "Best Payment Bank in Vietnam" for three consecutive years and "Best Supply Chain Financing Bank in Vietnam 2022."

This year Techcombank aims to elevate itself into a leading, pioneering private bank in Vietnam and a rising star in Asia, with a clear vision to "change banking, change lives," and lead the transformation of Vietnams financial industry.

This is executed through a three-pillar strategy based on digital, data and talent.

Accordingly, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted flow of transactions and optimizing operating costs are the key to business survival and for which digitalization and digital transformation are critical.

As part of its "digital" and "data" pillars, the bank continues to invest in even more cutting-edge digital platforms and cloud transformation initiatives, enabling it to deliver a bespoke banking experience and achieve partnership-led growth.

The whole customer journey with Techcombank will be digitalized. The customer interactive experience will also be personalized in real-time across digital and offline touchpoints.

The collaborations and partnerships across the region allow the bank to achieve its goals as it works to follow its "Change banking, change lives" vision.

With the "talent" pillar, Techcombank will focus on enhancing employees' skills, constantly training and upskilling.

Its employees received nearly 900,000 hours of training in 2022, equivalent to 70 hours per employee through virtual classrooms, e-learning and classroom sessions.

It also made further investments in employees' data and digital capabilities via partnership with Amazon Web Services. Some 2,800 have received advanced training in cloud technology, receiving approximately 250 different certifications from AWS.

Techcombank was also the first Vietnamese lender to organize overseas talent roadshows in Singapore, London, San Francisco, and Sydney, which allowed it to engage Vietnamese talents with unique international experience.

Supporting the strategic progress of the bank are several landmark transactions which contributed to setting new records in Vietnam.

In November 2022 it completed a loan guarantee transaction for Vinfast Singapore, enabling that company to access international lending arranged by a major international bank worth US$300 million.

It was the first time Techcombank had guaranteed a transaction for an overseas company.

In June 2022 it successfully concluded a landmark $1 billion syndicated loan facility, setting another milestone in its offshore fundraising activity.

This marked Techcombanks third foray into the offshore loan syndication market after a $500-million transaction in 2020 and a $800-million financing in 2021.
TKG Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Murphy USA Inc. (NYSE:MUSA  Free Report) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,435 shares of the specialty retailers stock after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the quarter. TKG Advisors LLCs holdings in Murphy USA were worth $370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. BerganKDV Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $52,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Murphy USA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $69,000. Finally, Paragon Wealth Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy USA by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Paragon Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 250 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. 85.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Murphy USA Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of Murphy USA stock opened at $305.09 on Friday. Murphy USA Inc. has a 12-month low of $226.09 and a 12-month high of $323.00. The stock has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.50. The businesss 50 day moving average is $283.65 and its 200-day moving average is $271.65.

Murphy USA Increases Dividend

Murphy USA ( NYSE:MUSA Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The specialty retailer reported $4.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.62. Murphy USA had a return on equity of 86.87% and a net margin of 2.68%. The company had revenue of $5.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.08 EPS. The businesss revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Murphy USA Inc. will post 20.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th were paid a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Murphy USAs previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. Murphy USAs dividend payout ratio is currently 5.67%.

Insider Transactions at Murphy USA

In related news, Director Jeanne Linder Phillips sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.97, for a total value of $156,183.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 2,874 shares in the company, valued at approximately $816,129.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Murphy USA news, SVP Robert J. Chumley sold 1,075 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.72, for a total value of $298,549.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,661 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,849,892.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jeanne Linder Phillips sold 550 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.97, for a total value of $156,183.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,874 shares in the company, valued at $816,129.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,628 shares of company stock worth $455,611 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the companys stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Murphy USA from $325.00 to $330.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Murphy USA from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $315.60.

Murphy USA Profile

(Free Report)

Murphy USA Inc engages in marketing of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. The company operates retail stores under the Murphy USA, Murphy Express, and QuickChek brands. It operates retail gasoline stores principally in the Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest United States. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas.

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Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP  Free Report) had its price objective boosted by UBS Group from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, June 8th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $53.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Molson Coors Beverage from $74.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Molson Coors Beverage from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Molson Coors Beverage from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $68.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Molson Coors Beverage has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $60.80.

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Molson Coors Beverage Stock Performance

TAP stock opened at $65.62 on Monday. Molson Coors Beverage has a 1-year low of $46.69 and a 1-year high of $68.13. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $63.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.16. The company has a market capitalization of $14.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -55.14, a PEG ratio of 3.36 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Molson Coors Beverage Dividend Announcement

Molson Coors Beverage ( NYSE:TAP Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.28. Molson Coors Beverage had a negative net margin of 1.97% and a positive return on equity of 7.16%. The company had revenue of $2.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Molson Coors Beverage will post 4.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 1st. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Molson Coors Beverages dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -137.81%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Geoffrey E. Molson sold 1,840 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $111,540.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 25,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,570,300.48. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 2.30% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Molson Coors Beverage

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Molson Coors Beverage in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in Molson Coors Beverage by 2,192.0% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 573 shares of the companys stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Molson Coors Beverage by 1,781.3% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 602 shares of the companys stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Molson Coors Beverage by 85.7% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 650 shares of the companys stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Red Tortoise LLC purchased a new stake in Molson Coors Beverage in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.73% of the companys stock.

Molson Coors Beverage Company Profile

(Free Report)

Molson Coors Beverage Company manufactures, markets, and sells beer and other malt beverage products under various brands in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers flavored malt beverages including hard seltzers, craft, and ready to drink beverages. It provides its products under Aspall Cider, Blue Moon, Coors Original, Hop Valley brands, Leinenkugel's, Miller Genuine Draft, Molson Ultra, Sharp's, Staropramen, and Vizzy Hard Seltzer above premier brands; Bergenbier, Borsodi, Carling, Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Jelen, Kamenitza, Miller Lite, Molson Canadian Lager, Molson Dry, Molson Export, and Niksicko, Ozujsko under the premium brands; and Branik, Icehouse, Keystone, Miller High Life, Milwaukee's Best, and Steel Reserve under the economy brands.

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Charter Oak Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF (BATS:VSGX  Free Report) by 5.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 122,350 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 6,367 shares during the period. Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF accounts for 0.9% of Charter Oak Capital Management LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC owned 0.19% of Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF worth $6,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Milestone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Koesten Hirschmann & Crabtree INC. acquired a new stake in shares of Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000.

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Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF Price Performance

Shares of VSGX stock traded down $0.12 on Friday, hitting $52.50. The companys stock had a trading volume of 101,984 shares. The firms fifty day moving average price is $53.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.15. The firm has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.84.

Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF Company Profile

The Vanguard ESG International Stock ETF (VSGX) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the FTSE Global All Cap ex USA Choice index, a market-cap-weighted index of global ex-US companies screened for environmental, social, and corporate governance criteria. VSGX was launched on Sep 18, 2018 and is managed by Vanguard.

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Western Financial Corp CA grew its stake in Occidental Petroleum Co. (NYSE:OXY  Free Report) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,452 shares of the oil and gas producers stock after acquiring an additional 891 shares during the period. Western Financial Corp CAs holdings in Occidental Petroleum were worth $777,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OXY. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Occidental Petroleum in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $267,173,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $153,255,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 87.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,276,078 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $185,885,000 after buying an additional 1,532,100 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Occidental Petroleum by 96.7% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,094,009 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $194,892,000 after buying an additional 1,521,409 shares during the period. Finally, Anomaly Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Occidental Petroleum during the 4th quarter worth approximately $95,058,000. 78.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Occidental Petroleum Stock Performance

Occidental Petroleum stock traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $59.30. 4,751,330 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,349,987. The stock has a market cap of $52.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 1.09. Occidental Petroleum Co. has a 52-week low of $55.51 and a 52-week high of $77.13. The firms 50 day moving average is $58.95 and its 200 day moving average is $61.31.

Occidental Petroleum Announces Dividend

Occidental Petroleum ( NYSE:OXY Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The oil and gas producer reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $7.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $7.37 billion. Occidental Petroleum had a return on equity of 45.10% and a net margin of 27.06%. The firms quarterly revenue was down 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. Analysts predict that Occidental Petroleum Co. will post 4.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 8th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Occidental Petroleums payout ratio is currently 8.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired 993,494 shares of Occidental Petroleum stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $58.46 per share, for a total transaction of $58,079,659.24. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 213,872,911 shares of the companys stock, valued at $12,503,010,377.06. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders bought 6,469,323 shares of company stock worth $376,269,362. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on OXY. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Occidental Petroleum from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. 51job reissued a maintains rating on shares of Occidental Petroleum in a research report on Tuesday, June 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Occidental Petroleum from $64.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.29.

Occidental Petroleum Company Profile

(Free Report)

Occidental Petroleum Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of oil and gas properties in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America. It operates through three segments: Oil and Gas, Chemical, and Midstream and Marketing.

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Meridian Financial Partners LLC raised its position in WestRock (NYSE:WRK  Free Report) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,543 shares of the basic materials companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the quarter. WestRock comprises 0.7% of Meridian Financial Partners LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Meridian Financial Partners LLCs holdings in WestRock were worth $599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in WestRock by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,619,872 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $1,440,053,000 after acquiring an additional 252,490 shares during the last quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of WestRock by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 12,686,720 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $386,564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,752,196 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of WestRock by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,923,063 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $182,965,000 after purchasing an additional 619,458 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of WestRock during the 4th quarter worth $194,739,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of WestRock by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,239,813 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $183,904,000 after purchasing an additional 51,127 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.54% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of WestRock in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of WestRock from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 15th. Citigroup raised WestRock from a neutral rating to a buy rating and cut their target price for the company from $34.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, March 20th. UBS Group lowered their price target on WestRock from $42.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded WestRock from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report on Thursday, April 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $34.00.

WestRock Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of WestRock stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $28.81. 291,337 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,405,465. The firm has a market cap of $7.38 billion, a PE ratio of -5.90, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.53. WestRock has a 1 year low of $26.84 and a 1 year high of $43.37. The stocks fifty day moving average is $28.65 and its 200 day moving average is $31.54.

WestRock (NYSE:WRK  Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.23 billion. WestRock had a positive return on equity of 9.98% and a negative net margin of 5.86%. WestRocks revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that WestRock will post 2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

WestRock Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 11th were paid a $0.275 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 10th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. WestRocks dividend payout ratio is currently -22.63%.

WestRock Company Profile

(Free Report)

WestRock Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates in four segments, Corrugated Packaging, Consumer Packaging, Global Paper, and Distribution. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers.

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Whitcomb & Hess Inc. grew its position in shares of iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (NYSEARCA:EWM  Free Report) by 1.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 287,149 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after buying an additional 5,262 shares during the quarter. iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF accounts for approximately 2.4% of Whitcomb & Hess Inc.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Whitcomb & Hess Inc.s holdings in iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF were worth $6,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James & Associates purchased a new position in iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,543,000. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new position in iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $377,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF by 141.8% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 365,804 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $9,368,000 after buying an additional 214,520 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,200,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF by 4,535.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 133,141 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $3,409,000 after buying an additional 130,269 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.60% of the companys stock.

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iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF Trading Down 0.1 %

iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF stock opened at $19.99 on Friday. iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF has a 1-year low of $19.60 and a 1-year high of $24.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.03.

iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF Profile

iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF, formerly iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund (the Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of publicly traded securities in the Malaysian market, as measured by the MSCI Malaysia Index (the Index).

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British Airways chief executive officer Sean Doyle on June 30 said that there is a need for India and the United Kingdom to negotiate additional flying rights to operate more flights to Delhi and Mumbai from London.



"BA (British Airways) and VA (Virgin Atlantic) have completely utilized the air services agreements (ASAs) to operate flights from London to Delhi and Mumbai. There is a need to open them up," Doyle told reporters at a press conference in Delhi.



He added that British Airways had asked policymakers on both sides to view aviation as a catalyst for the expansion of trade ties.



"ASAs must keep pace with growing demand and should be more liberal, Doyle said.



British Airways operates three daily flights to Mumbai from Heathrow Airport in London and two daily flights to Delhi from London, while Virgin Atlantic operates one daily flight between London and Mumbai and two daily flights between London and Delhi.



In total both airlines combined operate 28 weekly flights to Mumbai from London and 28 weekly flights to Delhi from London.



Doyle became the second head of an international airline to call for increased bilateral flying rights to India after Emirates Airline's President Sir Tim Clark.



Clark, the head of flag carrier Emirates, had in March said that Indian airlines are missing out on revenues to the tune of $800-900 million due to limited bilateral agreements between India and Dubai.



He added that Dubai has asked India to approve 50,000 extra seats per week between Dubai and India, but the response from New Delhi has been dismissive till now.



Indian authorities have said that they are planning to stop providing any more flying rights or bilateral rights to foreign carriers, as part of the country's plans to push its own domestic carriers on the international routes.



Doyle added that British Airways is keen on expanding its operations to India and currently operates 56 weekly flights connecting five Indian cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.



British Airways Chairman added that the airline operates more flights to India now even when compared to pre-Covid times when it used to fly 49 times to India in a week.



"Our network to the UK for Indian travellers is very significant... We have the biggest network to connect India with the US to serve 31 cities and also have extensive network in Canada," Doyle said.



In the Indian market, Doyle said there is a strong connecting traffic and also mentioned the growth of the Indian diaspora in the US as a factor for rising travel demand.



While noting that partnerships are important, Doyle also emphasised building its own proposition for India.



British Airways has also opened CallBA, its new call centre located in Gurugram, offering an enhanced customer experience to travellers across the globe.



It has 1,400 staff who provide support to customers from the US and Europe, through to Asia Pacific.



British Airways has more than 2,000 employees in the country, the airline's Chief Customer Officer Calum Laming said.



It has a total global workforce of more than 35,000 people.



British Airways has also partnered with IndusInd Bank and joint business partner Qatar Airways for a multi-branded airline credit card.



From July, card holders will be able to collect Avios and elevate their travel experience, with benefits ranging from fast-track to meet-and-greet and concierge services, Doyle said



Indian customers travelling between Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru can enjoy the airline's newly designed Club Suite (business class) cabin, with direct aisle access, a suite door for greater privacy and luxurious flat-bed seats in a 1-2-1 configuration.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on June 30 said the launch of Centralised Information Management System (CIMS) would lead to a fundamental change in the central banks economic analysis in the short to medium term. In the short to medium term, it would lead to a paradigm shift in the Reserve Banks economic analysis as well as supervision, monitoring and enforcement across multiple domains, Das said. Das was giving the inaugural address at the 17th Statistics Day Conference organised by the Department of Statistics and Information Management, RBI. CIMS is a warehouse of data. This system uses state-of-the-art technology to manage Big data and will serve as a platform for power users to carry out data mining, text mining, visual analytics and advanced statistical analysis connecting data from multiple domains, such as, financial, external, fiscal, corporate and real sectors as well as prices. The new system is starting with reporting by scheduled commercial banks and will be gradually extended to urban cooperative banks (UCBs) and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Das said a major recommendation on system-based submission of the remaining email-based reporting will be implemented through CIMS in the coming months. Das also informed that weekly statistical supplement (WSS) for the week ended June 23 was also complied and processed in the CIMS. " It will disseminate more data for public use and will also support on-line statistical analysis by external users at their end. Regulated entities will also have access to their past data and their assessment on quality parameters in the new system," Das added.

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will conduct an audit of Go Firsts facilities in Mumbai and Delhi from July 4-6 focused on safety, according to a senior DGCA official.



Following the audit, the regulator will take a call on whether to permit the cash-strapped airline to resume operations and sell tickets.



After a preliminary review of the resumption plan submitted by the Resolution Professional (RP) for Go First on June 28, 2023, DGCA has planned to conduct a special audit of the Go First facilities at Mumbai and Delhi, DGCA said in a statement on June 30.



The airlines resolution professional, Shailendra Ajmera and Chief Executive Officer Kaushik Khona on June 28, gave a detailed presentation to the DGCA on the airlines revival plan.



DGCA said the audit will also focus on continued compliance with the requirements to hold an Air Operator Certificate, as well as on physical verification of the arrangements made for the resumption of flight operations.



"The special audit to be conducted from July 4-6 shall be focused on the safety-related aspects and continued compliance of the requirements to hold an Air Operator Certificate, as well as on physical verification of the arrangements made for the resumption of flight operations," the DGCA said.



Go First plans to resume operations with 26 aircraft  22 to be used and four to be kept on standby  at 22 airports and 78 routes with nearly 160 daily flights.



The airline on June 30 formally submitted its revival plans to the DGCA after securing the committee of creditors nod for interim funding for Rs 450 crore



We will take a call on the restart plan after examining the condition of the aircraft they plan to use to ensure they can be used safely. We will see whether the airline has the required number of cockpit and cabin crew and other staff, including engineering. All their claims will need to be checked closely as safety is paramount, a DGCA official said.



DGCA in May issued a show cause notice to the airline before directing it to stop the sale of tickets. It later issued another notice to the cash-strapped airline over the sudden cancellation of flights and failure to continue operations.



The airline operated at 29 domestic destinations prior to the grounding, which has now been reduced to 23.



Jaipur, Lucknow, Kannur, Patna, Varanasi and Ranchi are not a part of their revival plan. The funds would be sufficient to run the airline for at least a year and a half," said a DGCA official.



The revival of Go First has gathered pace after the formation of the airline's Committee of Creditors (CoC), comprising Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Deutsche Bank, on June 10.



To oversee the insolvency process, the CoC of Go First appointed Shailendra Ajmera as the resolution professional (RP). Ajmera has been entrusted with the task of formulating a revival plan, which will be submitted to the DGCA for review.



Earlier this month, the Wadia Group was looking to raise funds to restart Go First as soon as possible and had approached lenders to borrow up to Rs 225 crore, Moneycontrol had reported.



Lenders to the cash-strapped airlines have said that they are open to providing new loans in order to revive their operations once a clear resolution plan is in place.



An insolvent company can raise funds to remain operational, as sanctioned by an interim RP. The sanctioned limit of funds can be raised in the future if lenders agree.



On May 2, Go First announced that it had filed an application for voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Delhi.



The announcement was made by the airlines Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kaushik Khona, shortly after the Wadia Group-owned carrier said it would temporarily suspend flight operations on May 3 and 4 due to a "severe funds crunch".
India proposes to introduce rules to reduce the gap between the cost of power and the tariff approved by states and to bring down the regulatory assets in the power sector, aimed at financial sustainability of the power sector, according to the draft amendments to the Electricity Rules, 2005 issued by the government.



The move may in the long run lead to higher price of power for consumers but can help the beleaguered power distribution companies (discoms) reduce their mounting losses. Typically, the discoms have struggled with high regulatory assets which represent costs that are deferred for recovery through future tariff revisions. The proposed rule will ensure time-bound liquidation of regulatory assets.



Other than this amendment, the draft includes three more amendments as per the notification issued late June 28 by the Ministry of Power (MoP). Moneycontrol has a copy of the notification. The second key amendment includes capping the open access charges levied by states. The third asks for doing away with the need for a transmission licence to connect large consumers with the grid. And the fourth is about preventing frivolous litigations before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) by paying at least 50 percent of the payable amount upfront while filing an appeal against any order issued by the appropriate commission.



The ministry has now sought comments and suggestions from stakeholders on the proposed amendments.



Power tariffs likely to rise annually in the coming years



The government has proposed that any gap between the approved Annual Revenue Requirement (ARR) and the estimated annual revenue from approved tariff will be capped at 3 percent of the approved ARR. At present, there is no such limit and such gaps grow as wide as 20 percent or more in some states.



The tariffs should be cost reflective, the amendment says. It has been observed that in many states there is large gap in the approved ARR and the estimated revenue on approved tariff. To discourage such practice there is s need to make statutory provisions to avoid such gap. It is also imperative that liquidation of any such gaps in the revenue required and the estimated approved tariff is done in a time-bound manner, the MoP said in a note on the proposed amendments.



The notification also states that such gap, along with the carrying costs at the base rate of the late payment surcharge, shall be liquidated in maximum three equal yearly instalments from the next financial year.



In states where such gap or regulatory asset already exists in discoms under the current notified tariffs, it will have to be liquidated in maximum seven equal yearly instalments starting from the next financial year.



These proposed rules are likely to result in timely tariff revisions by state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs). It would also make an annual increase in power tariffs across most states inevitable in order to ensure proper financial health of the discoms.



Capping various open access charges



Open Access is one of the key features of the Electricity Act, 2003, but its implementation has been slow due to high open access charges levied by states. At present, these charges are being arbitrarily levied by states in the absence of a framework, which becomes prohibitive for the commercial and industrial sector (C&I) for offtake of electricity, especially renewable energy.



Open Access charges need to be reasonable throughout the country. So, it has been proposed to rationalise such charges by prescribing a methodology for computing various open access charges. Basically, we are capping various open access charges so that no state can charge in excess of the normative rate, Alok Kumar, secretary, Ministry of Power, told Moneycontrol.



The notification stated, The charges for using State Transmission Utilities (STU) network by the consumers availing short-term open access shall not be more than 110 percent of the charges levied on consumers using STU network on long-term basis (not less than seven years).



Besides, it stated that the additional surcharge levied on any open-access consumer shall not be more than 50 percent of the wheeling charges for that category of consumers.



Wheeling charge will be calculated by dividing the Aggregate Revenue Requirement towards wheeling by the energy wheeled during the year," the draft amendment stated.



No transmission licence to connect Green Hydrogen, RE or ESS projects with the grid



The proposed rule states that anyone setting up a captive generating plant or an energy storage system (ESS) or a consumer having a load of not less than 25 megawatt (MW) in the case of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) and 10 MW in the case of State Transmission System (STS) shall not be required to obtain a licence under the Electricity Act for establishing, operating or maintaining a dedicated transmission line to connect to the grid.



We received requests from stakeholders to allow large consumers such as Green Hydrogen manufacturers to establish, operate or maintain dedicated transmission lines with ESS without the requirement of licence. Of course, provided they comply with the regulations, technical standards, guidelines and procedures issued under the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, Kumar said.



This amendment has been proposed keeping in mind the green hydrogen hubs or large-scale green hydrogen manufacturers that would come up in the coming years, he said.



Pay at least 50 percent for an appeal at APTEL



The government has proposed that any person while filing an appeal before Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (APTEL) will have to pay at least 50 percent of the payable amount as per the order of the appropriate commission.



Provided that in case of matters related to Change in Law as defined in Electricity (Timely Recovery of Costs due to Change in Law) Rules, 2021, such payment shall be, 75 percent of the payable amount as per the order of the Appropriate Commission, read the notification.



However, it also states that in case any excess amount is paid by the appellant to the other party(ies) at the time of filing the appeal, the amount shall be refunded along with the interest at the base rate of late payment surcharge within 90 days from the date of the order passed by the APTEL.
Vinamilk shared its development journey and visions for the Vietnam dairy industry at a global dairy congress in London.

Nguyen Quang Tri, Marketing executive director of Vinamilk, shared the highlights of the company's journey of development over the last 47 years at the 2023 Global Dairy Congress held in London with the theme "Reimagining Dairy".

During the congress, Vinamilk Super Nuts was honored for "Best Dairy Alternative 2023" at The World Dairy Innovation Awards 2023. This marks the first time the company attended this event, demonstrating its commitment to product innovation and development in the industry.

This is the third time Vinamilk presented at this global congress as the sole representative from ASEAN. With Vietnams population set to reach the milestone of 100 million people, Tri highlighted at the beginning of his presentation that this opportunity is a mark of great potential and dynamism for the dairy industry.

Nguyen Quang Tri, marketing executive director of Vinamilk. Photo courtesy of Vinamilk

Despite starting with limited resources for dairy development such as modern factories and large-scale dairy farms, the Vietnamese dairy industry finally has a new look after nearly half a century.

A prime example of this transformation is the Dielac brand, launched 34 years ago. It was the first Vietnamese baby formula to be exported and has since become Vinamilk's main export product.

During its development journey, Vinamilk has crossed many major milestones, including a US$100 million investment in 2013 to build the first infant formula mega factory with an annual capacity of 54,000 tons. This investment marked a breakthrough in both the capacity and quality of the product for Vinamilk.

Vinamilk is continuing to expand cooperation and invest in factories and farms with an estimated investment of $600 million planned for future market demands.

Recently, Vinamilk has cooperated with the world's leading nutrition experts groups, such as DSM, CHR Hansen, Gnosis, Kanematsu, AKK and Beneo, to develop world-class nutrition solutions that meet the latest-update international standards.

In 2023 all of Vinamilk's formula products have won the "Purity Award," the U.S. award for purity and safety standards for food based on more than 400 important criteria.

As one of the largest dairy companies in Vietnam, Vinamilk ranks also among the top 40 dairy companies in the world in terms of revenues and is among the 10 most valuable dairy brands (6th position) with the best systems in the world.

The company operates farms and factories across the country, exporting dairy products to nearly 60 countries and territories. The dairy industry in Vietnam is undergoing a strong transformation into a sustainable and constantly innovating one.

Richard Hall, chairman of the 16th Global Dairy Conference, said he was inspired by the journey of Vinamilk and the Vietnamese dairy industry in general.

"I am fascinated by the story of Vinamilks CEO and the company, from the early beginning in very difficult circumstances. They have created a world-ranking business. They are developing amazing products, taking care of social problems, and all the health and well-being issues. And now, they are reaching into the world of dairy."

Piercristiano Brazzale, president of the International Dairy Federation (IDF), said Vinamilk is a large, dynamic, innovative, and efficient company in Vietnam. The IDF also has welcomed Vietnam to join the organization and cooperate with Vietnam and Vinamilk to further develop the dairy industry, he said.

Piercristiano Brazzale (C), president of the International Dairy Federation. Photo courtesy of Vinamilk

Vietnam's dairy industry has grown to be worth over US$5 billion, however, it still holds a lot of potential for further development. Despite being one of largest dairy producers in Southeast Asia, per capita dairy consumption in Vietnam remains low at 27 liters per person per year, compared to Thailands 35 liters and Singapores 45 liters, as of 2021.

Nevertheless, a report by Research and Markets forecasts per capita dairy consumption in Vietnam to grow at 4% annually and reach 40 liters by 2030.

The Dairy Research Networks report indicates that global production has been on the rise and demand of dairy products is expected to be 35% higher by 2030. This trend is particularly evident in developing countries, where people are becoming increasingly accustomed to consuming milk.

Hall highlighted that the health benefits of dairy products and ingredients are also creating opportunities for the development of the industry. However, he also warned that achieving sustainable development is a pressing challenge and an urgent requirement for the dairy industry in the context of the global response to climate change.
Indias coconut products export grew by about 10 percent in FY23 even as the coconut production in the country witnessed a drop.



As per the preliminary estimates of the Coconut Development Board (CDB), the exports stood at around Rs 3,555 crore in FY23, up 9.8 percent from the previous year. However, the export growth was much higher at 41 percent at Rs 3,237 crore in FY22.



Activated carbon and coconut oil, which together account for over 75 percent of the export value, saw a lower growth during the last fiscal with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war and fluctuation in prices.



Russia is a major consumer of activated carbon. The war with Ukraine led to disruption in cargo movement with several shipping lines reluctant to go to Russia. But the US, South Africa, etc, continue to buy. Though our rates are not competitive, as they are 10 percent higher in the global market, our quality is superior,  said M M Abdul Basheer, MD of Indo German Carbons Ltd.



Activated carbon finds wide application in the purification of water and oil and for odour removal. It is also extensively used in gold refineries, and higher demand for gold has raised its demand. In the current year, the market appears subdued in the first half. We hope it will be better in the second half, Basheer said.



The price angle



Higher prices of coconut oil from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines had raised demand for coconut oil from India in the last couple of years. Usually, Indian coconut oil prices are much higher than the global rates because of high domestic demand in the cosmetics industry. Early last year the global prices soared to a new high of over $2,000 per tonne before falling and stabilising under $1,000 per tonne, which led to parity with Indian rates enabling the country to export more.



The edible oil supply in the world market last year was disrupted by Indonesias export ban on palm kernel oil. The lifting of the ban pushed the prices down by the middle of the year. Indonesias supply of coconut oil is also back to normal making its rate competitive. In India, the domestic prices of coconut oil have now dropped in tandem with the rates of other edible oils, which could widen the scope for exports in the current year.



Indonesian coconut oil is much cheaper than that of India and hence not much export is happening Moreover, the market has become more credit-based, which may not be suitable for smaller players, said Prajwal Gupta, director of Raj Exports and Traders. Though India is the largest coconut producer in the world, Indonesia and the Philippines, which occupy the next two slots, export more by-products.



The case of desiccated coconut (DC) powder, another important item in the export basket, is no different with India losing its competitive edge in the global market because of premium price and increasing internal demand. There is no price parity with Sri Lanka, Vietnam or the Philippines. In fact, a lot of DC from Sri Lanka is flowing to India illegally under the guise of oil cake and poultry feed circumventing the import duty of Rs 150 per kg. This has affected the domestic producers, said Praveen Kumar, partner, Mahavir Coconut Industries.



Production falls



While the coconut production in the country for 2022-23 (the preliminary estimates for 2021-22) is yet to be calculated, the preliminary figures have shown a 7 percent year-on-year drop in output to 19,260 million nuts, as per CDB estimates. The production has fallen below 20,000 million nuts for the first time in the last decade.



CDB sources said whitefly pest infestation in Tamil Nadu, which is the second-largest coconut-producing state in the country, and cyclone impact in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh could have led to the decline. In a significant development, Karnataka has become the largest coconut producer in the country, pushing the hitherto leader Kerala to the third position.



Karnataka has become a commercially important market for coconut products with many tender coconut water brands and desiccated coconut powder units located in the state. This has raised the demand for coconuts leading to more cultivation. Untimely rains and rampant Root wilt disease in the southern districts of Kerala have affected the output in the state in the last few years. The southern states account for around 90 percent of coconut output in the country.
Christopher Wood, Global Head of Equities at Jefferies, has doubled down on his investment in Zomato by adding another percent of weight to it in the India long-only portfolio. The celebrated fund manager announced the change in his latest edition of weekly newsletter Greed & Fear published on June 29.



In late May, Wood had included Zomato to two of his long-only portfolios, assigning a weight of 4 percent each.



The investment in Zomato in the India long-only portfolio will be increased by one percentage point by shaving the investment in Oil and Natural Gas Corp, Wood said, without explaining further. Now Zomato has 5 percent weight in the portfolio.



In another tweak in his portfolio, he removed investment in JD.com in the Asia ex-Japan long-only portfolio replacing it by an investment in Baidu.



Growing bullish on bitcoin



Wood said the regulatory picture is getting clearer on bitcoin in the US and thus it paves the way for the long-anticipated Bitcoin spot ETF. BlackRock has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission to set up a spot Bitcoin ETF. Bitcoin is up 22 percent since that announcement.



Greed & Fears assumption is that BlackRock would not have filed such an application unless it was confident that it would be approved. This view has also been further strengthened by the fact that other players such as ARK, VanEck and Invesco have also now filed similar applications, Wood said.



Also read: Why does Chris Woods call to add Zomato in his portfolio deserves a three-episode miniseries



Though, one should keep in mind that previously there have been about 30 such applications made by various entities all of which have been rejected by the SEC. But, now, many hope that situation will be different this time.



Another key reason that Wood finds to be bullish on bitcoin is that the next halving is now only ten months away in April 2024. Halving is a phenomenon that happens every four years. In this phenomenon, the block reward given to Bitcoin miners for processing transactions is cut in half.



So far it has always paid to buy Bitcoin in the run up to the halving. After the first halving on 28 November 2012, Bitcoin rose about 90 times in the following 12 months, while the second halving on 9 July 2016 resulted in a 30-fold gain within 18 months. As for the last halving on 11 May 2020, Bitcoin rose 7.5-fold in the following 11 months to a high in April 2021 and was up eight-fold in 18 months to an all-time-high of US$68,992 in November 2021, highlighted Wood.



Wood initiated a 3 percent investment in the US-quoted Grayscale Bitcoin Trust in the global long-only equity portfolio. This is trading at a 30 percent discount to the Bitcoin price. The investment will be paid for by removing the investment in Bayer, he added. This comes after he had doubled his exposure to bitcoin to 10 percent in the portfolio for US dollar denominated pension funds earlier this month.



Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
The Nifty index has achieved a new all-time high, driven by a renewed sense of optimism. This rally was backed by a consolidation breakout observed on the daily chart, indicating a strong upward movement.



Additionally, the Nifty index has successfully invalidated a Dark Cloud Cover pattern on the weekly chart. It's worth noting that failed patterns often result in more significant price movements than the initial pattern itself.



In the short term, the overall trend for the Nifty index is expected to remain positive as long as it stays above the support level of 18,700. This level is significant because Put writers, who provide downside protection, are actively positioned there to prevent a substantial decline in the index.



The immediate resistance for the Nifty index is identified at 19,000. If the index breaks above this level convincingly, it may induce an upward movement towards 19,450.



The Bank Nifty index experienced a strong bullish momentum as the bulls maintained control and pushed the index higher throughout the day. The previous resistance level of 44,000 has now transformed into a strong support level, providing a cushion for the bulls.



On the upside, the immediate hurdle is now at 44,500, where call writing is visible. Once this level is surpassed, it is likely to lead to further upside towards the 45,000 mark. Traders and investors should adopt a buy approach, using the mentioned support level as a stop loss and waiting for higher levels to be achieved.



Here are three buy stocks for short term:



Sun Pharmaceutical Industries: Buy | LTP: Rs 1,022 | Stop-Loss: Rs 998 | Targets: Rs 1,100-1,120 | Return: 10 percent



Sun Pharma witnessed a strong breakout on the daily chart accompanied by increased volumes. The stock surpassed the previous two-week high, indicating a bullish momentum.



The momentum indicator, RSI (relative strength index), confirmed the buy signal with a crossover. The stock has a support level at 20-day moving average (20-DMA) positioned at Rs 998, which can act as a cushion for the bulls. The potential upside targets for Sun Pharma are at Rs 1,100 and Rs 1,120.







Tata Motors: Buy | LTP: Rs 587 | Stop-Loss: Rs 574 | Targets: Rs 605-610 | Return: 4 percent



Tata Motors has moved above the previous congestion on the daily chart, suggesting a rise in optimism. On the daily timeframe, the stock has been sustaining above the near-term moving average.



Additionally, the RSI is in a bullish crossover. Over the short term, the stock is likely to move towards Rs 610; whereas, on the lower end, support is pegged at Rs 574.







NTPC: Buy | LTP: Rs 189 | Stop-Loss: Rs 184 | Target: Rs 195-199 | Return: 5 percent



NTPC recently experienced a consolidation breakout on the daily chart accompanied by increased volumes. The stock's momentum indicator, RSI, confirmed a buy signal with a crossover.



It also surpassed the previous week's high on a closing basis. The overall undertone for NTPC appears extremely bullish.



The stock has strong support at Rs 184, which can act as a foundation for further upward movement. The potential upside targets for NTPC are at Rs 195 and Rs 199.







Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on Moneycontrol.com are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Multi Commodity Exchanges decision to extend its licence and maintenance contract with 63 Moons Technologies for six more months comes as a nasty surprise to institutional investors who were assured by the management that the bourse was on track to fully migrate to the new trading platform by end-June. Domestic institutionsmostly mutual fundsown around 37 percent in MCX, and foreign institutions around 27 percent. The MCX stock too had rallied 24 percent since hitting a low of Rs 1,320 in late May, as the market was betting on a smooth transition.



Between May 23 and June 5, MCX held five investor callsfour of them with individual fund houses and one collectiveand the consistent message from the management was that progress on the migration to the Tata Consultancy Services-developed technology was good.



Commodity traders on the MCX platform have nothing to worry about, since trading will continue smoothly on July 1. But shareholders have plenty to fret about. The latest contract extension will cost MCX Rs 250 crore (Rs 125 crore per quarter). That is nearly 70 percent more than the Rs 149 crore of net profit the bourse had clocked in FY23.



MCXs situation has been made difficult by the uneasy relationship with 63 Moons Technologies, the erstwhile Financial Technologies India Ltd. and the ex-promoter of MCX. In 2014, FTIL was forced to divest its entire stake in MCX following the Rs 5,600 crore scam at the National Spot Exchange, also an FTIL group company. In its new avatar, 63 Moons has driven a hard bargain with MCX, insisting on a contract for two quarters at a 50 percent mark-up over the one ending this month, and then mocked the bourse publicly.



When asked by an analyst in a May 23 call if there were any big red flags being addressed with respect to the migration, MCX MD PS Reddy had replied: We are good to go kind of thing.  various audits are underway and parallel runs and enough of test all of them are happening simultaneously, so we should be able to complete it.



The MCX management exuded similar confidence in an analyst call one week later with Franklin India Mutual Fund.



To a question on the severity of the bugs in the new software, Reddy had said: There are hardly any severity 1 and 2, hardly any. There could be some data migration related issues. So, it's more to do with the data migration, but otherwise, no, we have not found any major severity, he said.



The company maintained that the mock trading sessions to test out the new software were progressing well, but market players said there were quite a few problems. Twice in June, MCX had rescheduled its mock trading sessions.



To be fair to MCX, bugs are common in any new software. The GST portal had teething problems for a long time, as did the Income Tax portal; users of the IRCTC portal complain to this date about the slowness of the website.



The tricky thing about an exchange software is that 95 or even 98 percent glitch free is not good enough, said the fund manager at a domestic mutual fund with a stake in the bourse. the 2 percent bug can have huge financial repercussions if something goes wrong during live trading.



The original contract with 63 Moons had ended in September, and since then MCX has been missing deadlines to get on to the new platform developed by TCS.- And the delay has turned out to be financially crippling for the bourse. It reported a small loss at the operating level in the March quarter due to the steep rise in the maintenance and license cost that it pays to 63 Moons.



MCXs problem is that even if it is ready with the new software, by say, in a month, it will still have to pay Rs 250 crore to 63 Moons. And that could mean possibly reporting a net loss in FY24, unless it is able to grow its revenues dramatically.



In the coming days, irate shareholders will grill the MCX management on whether it could have managed the transition better. There will be questions asked if MCX was right in shifting to a new technology vendor, or if it should have accepted 69 Moons' offer to buy out the source code back in 2020. It is not clear how much MCX had asked the source code. Both MCX and 63 Moons declined to comment on the figure.



Market sources peg the figure around Rs 800 crore. Back in the time when MCX was paying around Rs 16 crore a quarter as maintenance and licence cost, the amount may have seemed huge. MCX may have still been right in its decision if it had managed to find a replacement for the old platform in time. But the delay has cost MCX dearly. The extension of the 63 Moons contracts for nine months starting October 2022 has already burnt a Rs 242-crore hole. There is another Rs 250 crore to pay over the next six months.



At the collective analyst call hosted by UBS on June 5, the management once again expressed confidence in going live by the end of this month. In the same call, it also said the only plan B available in case things did not go to plan was going back to 63 Moons.



What is plan B? I think Plan B will be nothing but going back to the 63 Moons that's the way the Plan B is. There is no other way that we can manage it, which again is been eroding the shareholders wealth or whatever the reserves that we have. So, that is what we are least interested in doing it, but God forbid if that is the only way to happen, there is no other way, Reddy said. The gods appear to have willed otherwise.



Moneycontrol was the first to report on August 22, 2022 in its Insider column that MCXs new trading platform would not be ready by October 2022 as had been planned
India is in the middle of hectic negotiations on the terms of the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA). One of its key architects, Lord Dominic Johnson, Minister of Trade, UK, told Moneycontrol in London that while the agreement is still work-in-progress, India needs to ensure that international investors feel protected. That their investments are safe.



Asked how the Indian government can ensure that international investors feel safe, he responded: Can the government intervene in disputes? What are the protections accorded by the courts? These are important in FTAs. Every country has to work at projecting that international investors are safe. Its not like one country is better than the other but its how they project themselves, he added.



Elaborating further, Johnson explained that International capital should be treated the same as domestic capital. That there should be no favouritism when it comes to judgements.



His comments come at a time when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is investigating Rolls-Royce and BAE systems of engaging in corruption in deals to supply fighter jets to India. The CBI has alleged that between 2003 and 2012, the companies had engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cheat the government of India. The investigation revives allegations of wrongdoing against Rolls-Royce that had reached a deferred prosecution agreement in 2017 with the UKs Serious Fraud Office. Apart from that, the Indian government fought a long battle with Vodafone and Cairn over tax claims. Both cases went to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague.



Indias digital leap, IBC, and demonetisation



Johnson also said that India has continued to develop its economy and that recent reforms such as the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) are important measures. Bankruptcy regulation is very important, because it was a very sclerotic process to try and recover lost assets. Legislation is very important in terms of changing the tempo on how markets can be liberalised and capital can be injected into the economy.



The second most important policy intervention, according to Johnson, was demonetisation, Which was a shock to the economy, but again was very valuable. Because the more formalised the economy, the more the government can collect taxes, which could lead to lower tax rates, and help manage the economy better.



The third, game changer, according to Johnson, is the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) which we dont have here, he said.



By giving people an identity and removing cash from the market while allowing capitalism to do its work, you set an exceptional stage for investment. I am really fascinated by the penetration of banking services, in the agriculture sector for example, he said.



A believer in the India story, Johnson told Moneycontrol: India is a very attractive market for the long term. It is a long way into structural reforms in the economy, and there is also a great sense of national endeavour. Britain had it in the 19th century, America had it. You cant underestimate the cultural and psychological significance of strong initiative and the desire to get somewhere.




In July, you will have to file your income tax returns to avoid a penalty. Also, you will need to know the implications of not linking your PAN with your Aadhaar before June 30. Then, if you are their customer, you will need to be aware of the impact of the HDFC Bank and HDFC amalgamation on depositors and borrowers.



Lets look at each of these in a little more detail.



File your tax returns now



The due date for filing income tax returns for financial year 2022-23 (assessment year 2023-24) is July 31. Get started with the exercise right away instead of waiting until the last minute.



If you miss the due date but complete the process by December 31, you will have to shell out a penalty of Rs 5,000. However, if your income is less than Rs 5 lakh, the late filing fee will be restricted to Rs 1,000.



Also read | ITR filing: Annual Information Statement gets bigger, but crucial omissions give taxpayers a headache



Apply for higher pension on actual salary by July 11



The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has extended its June 26 deadline for choosing the higher pension option to July 11.



Employees who were members of the EPFO and EPS, prior to September 1, 2014, and who continue to be in service but missed availing of the higher pension option earlier, are eligible to apply for this facility. Those who retired before this date and had signed up for the higher pension option will have to validate the information.



You will have to take a call on whether you want to file a joint application  with your employer  to claim higher pension on your actual salary or not. You will have to complete this process by June 26 through the online facility provided on the EPFOs member portal.



Currently, your employer deducts 12 percent of your basic salary towards your employees provident fund (EPF) contribution. The organisation also contributes an equal amount to create your retirement kitty. A part of the employers contribution (8.33 percent) goes to the employees pension scheme (EPS), while the balance flows into your provident fund. However, this contribution is calculated on the statutory wage ceiling of Rs 15,000. So, currently, out of your employers contribution, Rs 1,250 (8.33 percent of Rs 15,000) goes towards EPS. This amount joins the pool created under EPS to pay regular pension income to member-employees with at least ten years service and their dependent family members.



You can, however, now choose to direct 8.33 percent of your actual salary towards the pension pool, translating potentially into a higher pension post-retirement, thanks to a Supreme Court verdict in November 2022. Additionally, 1.16 percent from your employers contribution will also be funneled into the EPS, with the balance 2.51 percent flowing into your EPF.



You will have to exercise this choice by July 11. If you spot errors in your application, you can delete the application and file it again. However, you cannot do so if your employer has already validated the application. Next, EPFO officers will evaluate and approve your application for a higher pension.



However, several grey areas around the process and final pension formula persist, making it difficult for employees to exercise their choice.







Also read | Higher pension calculation: EPFO announces formula for calculating higher pension on actual salary



Consequences for not linking PAN with Aadhaar



The deadline to seed your PAN with your Aadhaar is June 30, 2023. If you have not taken action on time, your 10-digit PAN will become inoperative from July 1.



Moreover, there will be other repercussions, too. If the tax department owes you a refund for excess taxes paid, the refunds will not be issued, and if any interest is due on such an amount, it will not be paid for the period during which the PAN remains inoperative.



Also, tax deducted at source (TDS) and tax collected at source (TCS) will attract higher rates.



An inoperative PAN will mean that you will not be able to file your income tax returns. The linkage is also required as per the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) rules to invest in mutual funds and stocks. No financial and service requests will be processed for a PAN that is not linked with Aadhaar.



IDCW (Income Distribution cum Capital Withdrawal) will continue to be paid, but at a higher tax of 20 percent instead of 10 percent for Resident Indians who have not linked their PAN and Aadhaar.



Also read | PAN-Aadhaar linking: Link your PAN and Aadhaar by June 30 to avoid PAN deactivation



HDFC Bank and HDFC merger effective from July 1



The amalgamation of the country's largest private sector bank, HDFC Bank, and mortgage lender, Housing Development Finance Corporation, is effective from July 1.



After amalgamation, account holders and borrowers need to keep track of home loan rates, deposit rates and operational changes post-merger. Also, you need to know whether existing HDFC Ltd branches in your vicinity will be converted to full-service bank branches or closed.
Inclusivity  ensuring equitable access to all segments of society to resources, services and economic opportunities  lies at the heart of the Delhi Master Plan 2041 and developing better infrastructure in the national capital is its key focus, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena said.



As the population grows, it is essential to strengthen our infrastructure to meet the needs of the people. The master plan also focuses on the transport system, healthcare facilities, and digital connectivity. These advancements will enhance the quality of life and ensure that the residents have opportunities for growth," Saxena said at a session on Delhi 2041  New Master Plan at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry on June 28.



The Lt. Governor highlighted the importance of public participation in achieving better results and stressed that coordination among departments can help achieve objectives.



The Delhi Development Authority accorded preliminary approval to the draft Master Plan for Delhi 2041 in June 2021 and approved the draft in March 2023. The master plan is yet to be notified and implemented.



Also Read: Delhis Draft Master Plan 2041 likely to be notified soon



The objective of the master plan, a vision document prepared by the citys planners and land-owning agency, sets out the course of development in the national capital. It aims to foster inclusive growth and prosperity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and job creation and contribute to economic development of the city.



Saxena listed out initiatives such as cleanliness and development of the Yamuna flood plains and the refurbishing of roads during his tenure in the past one year. He said heritage is also a major subject in the city and the DDA is making efforts to restore sites such as the Mehrauli Archaeological Park.



Also Read: Explained | All you need to know about the Master Plan of Delhi 2041



The Delhi Development Authority has been at the forefront, trying to help and bring about a synergy between all the thought processes of the citizens and their aspirations and bringing them together as a master plan," said Subhashish Panda, vice chairman of the DDA.
In a move that could bring relief to thousands of homebuyers stuck with unfinished projects for years, several banks have expressed a willingness to cede their rights over stuck real estate projects in favour of new lenders willing to offer priority funding to speed up completion, people aware of the matter told Moneycontrol. The original lenders have classified these projects as non-performing assets.



The issue of whether the stuck assets fund set up by the government requires more funds was also discussed at recent meetings between commercial banks and the Reserve Bank of India.



Experts told Moneycontrol that the RBI needs to put in place a handover framework. Only if banks and lenders have clarity on whom to hand over charge to, and arrive at a one-time settlement (OTS) and the price at which the loan should be settled, will new lenders come forward to extend credit to stuck projects.



Queries have been sent to the RBI.



The government is keen to find a solution to almost five lakh real estate projects that are stuck across the country. The committee on stalled real estate projects, chaired by former NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amitabh Kant, has over the last few weeks met representatives of apartment owners associations, bankers and builders after its formation by the housing ministry on March 31. The panel is expected to submit its report soon.



In November 2019, the Union government launched the SWAMIH Investment Fund to help complete over 1,500 stalled housing projects, including those that have been declared non-performing assets (NPAs) or admitted into insolvency proceedings.



The government had put an additional Rs 5,000 crore into the SWAMIH Invest Fund-I to help the stressed realty investment platform achieve its final close at Rs 15,530 crore in December 2022. The fund intends to provide priority debt financing for the completion of stressed, brownfield and residential projects registered with regulatory bodies that are in the affordable, mid-income housing category.



Amit Goenka, MD and CEO of Nisus Finance Services Co Pvt Ltd, told Moneycontrol that while several stuck projects have been completed through SBICap funding, challenges still persist. Several projects that are stuck have not been able to arrive at a resolution as lenders are not forthcoming to take a haircut or infuse additional funds. Many banks have also been hesitant to surrender their first right over cashflows.



Lenders currently do not have the ability to cede charge  under RBI rules they are expected to keep the assets current and standard. In the event of an asset becoming an NPA, there are prescribed norms on what needs to be done. A lender has the option to either invoke the SARFAESI Act (Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act), it can sell the asset to an asset reconstruction company and exit or can initiate insolvency proceedings. However, there is no predetermined structure available on whether a lender can hand over charge and help complete the stuck project and get residual value, he explained.



The recent meetings have deliberated on this issue. If a framework on ceding charge is put in place, banks and lenders would have more clarity on whom to cede charge to and also arrive at an one-time settlement (OTS) or the price at which the loan needs to be settled, he said.



He added that lenders are better placed to relinquish charge in an upcycle, when real estate markets are doing well, as there is a greater possibility of the first lender recovering the money rather than in a low market, when they may not see any residual value in their favour, he said.



If there is no framework in place on how to give up the first charge, lenders may not come forward to extend credit to stuck projects, he added.



Creating a charge means establishing the lenders right over assets of the borrower in order to recover the principal and interest in the event of default on the borrowers part. A charge can be created on the same asset by more than one lender. The lender in whose favour the first charge gets created is known as the first charge. If a subsequent charge gets created in favour of a different lender on the same asset, that charge holder is known as the second charge. When the first charge holder disposes off the asset in its favour to recover dues from the borrower, the second charge holder is entitled to receive the residual value of the assets, if any, that accrue to the first charge holder. This may be possible only if the first charge holders dues are fully liquidated.



This will encourage banks to lend to stuck projects. Also, there are a lot of PE players and special situation funds that would be interested in funding stuck projects as long as they get equal treatment as the SWAMIH fund, said Prashant Thakur, senior director and head, Research, ANAROCK Group.



A meeting of the Noida and Greater Noida authorities and representatives of banks and real estate developers was also held recently in Noida to thrash out the issues that plague the two markets. It also looked at ways to resolve the deadlock between real estate companies and the development authorities of Noida and Greater Noida over legacy land dues of nearly Rs 39,000 crore, and discussed an action plan for stuck housing units in the region.



In an earlier interview with Moneycontrol, Irfan A Kazi, chief investment officer, SWAMIH Investment Fund, said that most banks and NBFCs (the existing lenders) have been reluctant to give up on the first charge.



Queries have been sent to SBICap.
























The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Friday imposed a penalty of 3 million rupees ($36,567.503) on metals-to-oil conglomerate Vedanta Ltd for violating the market regulator's disclosure requirements. SEBI said Vedanta had broken its rules by publishing a press release on its website that made it appear it had partnered with Foxconn to make semiconductors in India, when the deal was with Vedanta's holding company. The publication led to Vedanta Ltd's share price moving significantly, SEBI said. Vedanta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside business hours.

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Shares of asset management companies (AMCs) surged in the early trade on June 30 after the marker regulator deferred its decision to rationalise the total expense ratio (TER), or the expenses that mutual fund (MF) schemes can charge their investors.



The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was expected to redefine TER by bringing many charges within its limits, a proposal that had AMCs concerned. Analysts had expected a 20-30 percent drop in profits for AMCs if proposals were accepted by SEBI Board which met on June 28.



At around 9.50 am, UTI Asset Management was up nearly 7 percent to Rs 774.95, HDFC Asset Management 10 percent at Rs 2,265, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC 6 percent at Rs 391 and Nippon Life Asset Management added nearly 13 percent to Rs 283 on BSE.



SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch said the regulator would soon come up with a second consultation paper on rationalising the TER.



Follow our live blog for all market action



The board got feedback from the MF industry and more granular data that demonstrated that economies of scale have, in fact, been achieved to quite an extent, Buch said on June 28.



"The MF industry gave us data that over the last 5 years, economies of scale has been achieved. When we (Sebi) saw the granular data, we understand, therefore that our proposals need to undergo a change," Buch said. SEBI takes its decision based on hardcore numbers and the proposals were based on an exercise undertaken earlier this year, she said.



Now that SEBI has more data, it will come out with a second consultation paper on TER soon. "The MF industry will be quite happy with our second set of proposals," hinting that the new proposals would be less stringent than the earlier ones.



Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
The United States welcomes the adoption by consensus of the eighth review of the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy, known as the GCTS.

First adopted in 2006, the GCTS is reviewed by the General Assembly every two years. Its purpose is to enhance national, regional, and international efforts to counter terrorism.

U.S. Acting Deputy Representative to the United Nations Jeffrey DeLaurentis pointed out the current counterterrorism landscape looks very different from 2006:

The threat is more ideologically and geographically diffuse than ever before. Al-Qaida and ISIS branches and affiliates remain resilient and determined, especially in Africa and Afghanistan.

Ambassador DeLaurentis noted that terrorists are using new and emerging technology, such as unmanned aerial systems, artificial intelligence, and encrypted communications to radicalize new recruits to violence:

We must continue our collective efforts to sustain effective counterterrorism pressure against these adversaries. Through this update to the GCTS, we can keep pace with this evolving threat.

Ambassador DeLaurentis expressed satisfaction that the GCTS review resolution preserved its robust text on the important role of civil society, gender equality, and human rights.

Ambassador DeLaurentis expressed disappointment, however, that the resolution was not updated to include a more significant focus on the use of unmanned aerial systems for terrorist purposes.

In an additional explanation of position, submitted for the record concerning this years adoption of the GCTS, the United States, among other problematic issues, warned against unjust criticism of Israel. The United States cannot accept the divisive reference to foreign occupation in preambular paragraph 43 of the resolution that serves to justify terrorist acts, which are categorically unacceptable under any circumstances, and undermine a Member States exercise of its legitimate self-defense, the U.S. stated. All forms and manifestations of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable.

Ambassador DeLaurentis said, We must continue to enhance transparency and accountability and monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the GCTS by UN entities. We look forward to 2026, when we will reconvene to mark twenty years since the initial adoption of the strategy.
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Shares of Easy Trip Planners fell over 4 percent in early trade on June 30 after a big block of equity for 4.1 crore shares - amounting to 2.3 percent equity and worth Rs 164 crore - changed hands on the bourses. The buyers and sellers could not be ascertained immediately. At 10:30 am, the stock was quoting at Rs 40.70 on the NSE, lower by nearly 3 percent from previous close. Follow our live blog for all the live market action As of March end, promoters held 74.90 percent stake in the company. Of this, Nishant Pitti held 32.27 percent, Prashant Pitti held 10.49 percent and Rikant Pitti held 32.14 percent. Life Insurance Corporation of India also holds over 2 percent stake in the company. The online travel company has been on aggressive expansion mode. On June 21, it opened its offline retail store in Patiala, Punjab. In 2023 alone, Easy Trip Planner has already opened offline storefronts under the franchising model at Patna followed by Surat and Jaipur. In March, the company also signed a pact with the Andhra Pradesh government for promotion of tourism in the state. Andhra Pradesh receives the third highest number of tourists in the country, it said. In November 2022, the company had announced stock split as well as bonus share issue in 3:1 ratio. Also Read: Easy Trip stocks 40% gain after bonus raises eyebrows; calls for scrutiny, say experts In Q4FY23, Easy Trip Planners posted a 33.5 percent jump in net profit on back of strong post-pandemic demand for travel. The companys consolidated net profit for the quarter rose to Rs 31.15 crore, compared to Rs 23.34 crore a year earlier. However, its operating margins have tumbled to 42 percent from 50 percent over the past one year due to higher expenses, specially three-fold increase in advertising costs.

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HDFC Bank is most likely to replace Housing Development Finance in the FTSE Global Equity indices but the eligibility screening will be done only in the next quarterly review in September.



"The eligibility screenings for HDFC Bank will be assessed in the subsequent quarterly review after the merger, including liquidity and minimum foreign headroom requirement screens as a constituent, as well as reviewing shares and Foreign Ownership Restriction attributed to the HDFC Bank," FTSE said in a note on June 29.



Follow our live blog for all the market action



This means, at the time of the merger, FTSE will continue with the current free float shares of HDFC Ltd in the indices and rename the constituent with the acquirers name HDFC Bank. This will result in no weight changes.



According to Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research, "In the subsequent review, FTSE will combine the original HDFC Bank shares provided sufficient liquidity, no foreign ownership restriction and 10 percent plus foreign headroom is available."



This could lead to a potential weight-up inflow of around 63 million shares of the merged entity worth $1.3 billion.



"In terms of impact this shouldnt be very significant for the humongous size of the merged entity," Nuvama added.



Also Read: Merged HDFC entity could see $200 million outflow after MSCI tweak



Currently, July 1 is the tentative date for the completion of the merger of HDFC Ltd with HDFC Bank. The tentative record date is July 13. Both entities are moving closer to completing all the formalities.



For instance, HDFC has now made HDFC Life a subsidiary by increasing its stake to over 50 percent in the insurer. HDFC now holds 50.33 percent of the total paid-up share capital of HDFC Life after getting the green light from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.



Once the merger is done, HDFC Ltd shareholders will hold 41 percent in HDFC Bank. The bank will maintain swap ratio of 25:42, so for every 25 shares of HDFC Ltd, 42 shares of HDFC Bank will be given.



At 9.33 am, HDFC Bank was trading at Rs1,691 on the National Stock Exchange, up 0.89 percent from the previous close. HDFC was up 0.69 percent at Rs 2,798.20.
The Indian Air Force is expected to get deliveries of Light Combat Aircraft Tejas MK-1A from February next year, and the new variant of the indigenously-built jet will be capable of firing a plethora of weapons, including beyond visual range missiles, the Ministry of Defence said on Friday. As the jet completes seven years in service in the IAF, the ministry said the aircraft and its future variants will form the mainstay of the Indian Air Force (IAF).



In February 2021, the ministry sealed a Rs 48,000 crore deal with state-run aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd for procurement of 83 Tejas MK-1A jets for the IAF. Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.



Egypt, Argentina, the US, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are among the countries showing keen interest in procuring Tejas aircraft. On Saturday, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) will complete seven years of service in the IAF.



"The confidence that the IAF reposes in the Tejas is borne by its order for 83 LCA MK-1A," the ministry said. The ministry said the LCA MK-1A will have "updated avionics as well as an active electronically steered radar, updated electronic warfare suite and a beyond visual range missile capability."



"The new variant will be capable of firing a plethora of weapons from increased stand-off ranges. Many of these weapons will be of indigenous origin. The LCA MK-1A will see a substantial increase in the overall indigenous content of the aircraft," the ministry said. It said the deliveries of the aircraft are expected to commence in February 2024.



Tejas has been designed to undertake the air defence, maritime reconnaissance and strike roles. The ministry said Tejas offers carefree handling and enhanced manoeuvrability, and that this capability is further enhanced with its multi-mode airborne radar, helmet mounted display, self-protection suite and laser designation pod.



The first IAF squadron to induct the Tejas was No 45 squadron, the 'Flying Daggers'. Over the years, the squadron progressed from Vampires to Gnats and then onto the MiG-21 Bisos, before being equipped with its current steed.



Each of the aircraft flown by the Flying Daggers has been manufactured in India -- either under license production or having been designed and developed in India. In May 2020, No 18 Squadron became the second IAF unit to operate the Tejas.



The IAF has showcased India's indigenous aerospace capabilities by displaying the aircraft at various international events, including at Dubai Air Show in 2021, Sri Lanka Air Force anniversary celebrations in 2021, Singapore Air Show last year and Aero India Shows from 2017 to 2023. Whilst it had already participated in exercises with foreign air forces domestically, the exercise Desert Flag in the United Arab Emirates in March was the Tejas' maiden exercise on foreign soil.
A parliamentary standing committee has called representatives of the Law Commission and the law ministry on July 3 on a recent notice issued by the law panel seeking views of stakeholders on the issue of a uniform civil code. According to the schedule of the standing committee on law and personnel, it will hear the views of representatives of the law panel and legal affairs and legislative departments of the law ministry "on public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on 14th June, 2023, inviting views from the various stakeholders on the Uniform Civil Code, under the subject Review of Personal Laws". Till Tuesday evening, the law panel had received nearly 8.5 lakh responses on its public notice.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next week's virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India, it was announced here on Friday.



At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release.



This is the first official announcement about Xi's participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India.



Later answering a question at a media briefing on Xi's participation, another Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning said besides delivering 'important remarks', the Chinese President together with 'other participating leaders, chart the course for the future growth of the organisation.



"With the concerted efforts of all sides, the SCO will achieve greater progress and boost development and prosperity in regional countries," she said.



Mao said since its establishment, the SCO has continuously consolidated good neighbourliness and political mutual trust between member states, deepened cooperation in various sectors, and played an important and constructive role in international and regional affairs.



"In a world marked by change and disorder and fraught with increasing instability, uncertainties and unpredictable factors, regional countries, as well as other members of the international community, look to the SCO to play a bigger role in safeguarding regional security and promoting common development," she said.



"As a founding member, China views the SCO as a priority in its foreign affairs," she said. "We stand ready to work with other members to act on the Global Development Initiative, (GDI) the Global Security Initiative, (GSI) and the Global Civilization Initiative, (GCI) to build an even closer SCO community with a shared future, and usher in a brighter future for the Eurasian continent," she said.



The GDI, GSI and GCI are the new set of doctrines put forward by Xi to advance China's strategic influence in the world.



The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.



The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.



India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.



Ahead of the summit to be held for the first time under India's Presidency, India on Tuesday inaugurated an exquisitely designed New Delhi Hall at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.



While the SCO's six founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have their halls highlighting their cultures and unique features, India is the first to add its own.



Virtually inaugurating the hall, External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar in his address said the New Delhi Hall, is conceived to be a mini-India showcasing various facets of Indian culture.



To make you visualise the depth of India's artistic tradition and cultural identity, the Hall has been designed with exquisite patterns and motifs representing the rich architectural craftsmanship found throughout India, he said.



Last year, the in-person SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that was attended by all top leaders of the grouping including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.



In September, India will host the G20 summit for which it is going to invite Xi and Putin, besides other leaders of the bloc.



The theme of the summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'.



The SECURE acronym was coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.



These themes have been highlighted during India's chairmanship of the SCO.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a "meaningful" conversation over the phone, and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership while exchanging views on the conflict in Ukraine.



The telephone conversation between the two leaders came days ahead of the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which is being hosted by India on July 4. It also came a day after Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval discussed bilateral ties and the latest security developments in Russia.



Modi and Putin reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, the Ministry of External Affairs said.



Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries, it said.



"The conversation had a meaningful and constructive character. The leaders reiterated mutual commitment to strengthening the privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and agreed to continue communication," the Kremlin press service said, noting that the phone call was initiated by the Indian side.



The leaders discussed bilateral cooperation and noted the importance of continuing joint projects in various spheres. They stated that trade between Russia and India had considerably increased in 2022, spilling over into the first quarter of 2023.



Russian President Putin informed Modi of Ukraine's categorical refusal to settle the conflict through diplomacy, it said about the raging war in Eastern Europe since February last year.



"The two leaders discussed the situation around Ukraine. The Russian president assessed the current situation in the special military operation zone, pointing to Kyiv's categorical refusal to take political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict," Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoted the Kremlin statement as saying.



While discussing the situation in Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.



India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.



The Kremlin statement also said Modi briefed Putin about his recent US visit and talks with President Joe Biden.



"Narendra Modi informed him (Putin) about his international contacts, including during his recent visit to Washington," it said.



The two leaders also discussed their countries' cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the G20.



"Special attention was focused on cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20, where India holds the presidency, as well as within the BRICS format," the statement said.



The Kremlin statement also said Prime Minister Modi has expressed support for the actions taken by the Russian leadership in connection with the short-lived armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group last week.



"In connection with the June 24 developments, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the resolute actions by the Russian authorities to defend law and order, and ensure stability in the country and security of its citizens," it said.



The rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group on Saturday marked the most serious challenge to President Putin in more than two decades of his rule and triggered questions over his leadership.



The Wagner mercenary group had taken control of Rostov-on-Don town. The revolt ended when Prigozhin ordered his troops back.
The Mumbai-Madgaon (Goa) Vande Bharat Express train on Wednesday completed its maiden commercial run in 9.30 hours and reached the destination nearly 30 minutes before its scheduled arrival.



Notably, the semi-high-speed Madgaon (Goa)-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express was flagged off virtually from Bhopal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. The had train completed its inaugural run on the Goa-Mumbai route, a distance of nearly 600 km, in 10:15 hours.



The Mumbai-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express departed two minutes late from CSMT in Mumbai at 5:32 am on Wednesday. It reached Madgaon station at 3.06 pm, 24 minutes ahead of its scheduled arrival, officials said.



As per the National Train Enquiry System of Indian Railways, the train reached Panvel station 8 minutes late at 6.38 am. After a 12-minute delay, the train left at 6.44 am. It reached Khed station in Ratnagiri district one minute behind the schedule at 8.49 am and departed at 8.51 am for the onward journey.



The train reached Ratnagiri station 8 minutes before time at 10.32 am. It departed at 10.47 am, after a delay of 2 minutes. The train reached Kankavli station in Sindhudurg district and Thivim in Goa before time. It reached Madgaon at 3.06 pm.



The Mumbai-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express will run every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Mumbai and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Madgaon during the rainy season, according to Central Railway. This train will run six days a week, except on Friday, during non-monsoon months.



As per the monsoon timetable, the train will take around 10 hours to cover the distance between Indias financial capital and Madgaon. During the non-monsoon months, the Vande Bharat Express will cover the 586 km distance in around 8 hours.



It will depart from CSMT at 5.25 am on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and reach Madgaon at 3 pm. The train will leave Madgaon at 12.20 pm every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and will reach Mumbai CSMT at 10.25 pm, said CR.



The train will depart at 5.25 am from Mumbai CSMT and reach Madgaon at 1.10 pm, while it will leave Madgaon at 2.20 pm and reach CSMT at 10.25 pm.
With ten months to go for general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has blown the poll bugle. What was touted as the launch of the Madhya Pradesh assembly election campaign, with the Prime Minister in Bhopal to flag off five Vande Bharat trains, saw Modi unfurl a five-pillar strategy for Bharatiya Janata Party in 2024.

The focus of BJP is going to be on:

* Gaon (rural areas)

* Kisan (farmer)

* Bhrashtachar (corruption)

* Pasmanda (weaker Muslims)

* Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

Addressing party workers, PM Modi took multiple jibes at the Opposition and said that the BJP had decided it wont adopt the path of appeasement and votebank politics in the run-up to the polls.

The Rural And Farm Vote

With a significant section of the population still rural, Modi highlighted how India cant progress without adequate development of villages. Electorally, no party can win elections without winning the trust of the rural voters. Out of 190 purely rural seats, BJP won 115 in 2019.

As the maximum chunk of labharthis reside in villages, Modi exhorted party workers to ensure maximum enrolment of voters in villages in eligible schemes so that the benefits percolate to the lowest level. NDA got 27.5 crore votes in 2019 and the beneficiaries of various schemes were more than 22 crore in five years. The BJP government has launched a series of initiatives like opening bank accounts, building toilets in villages, supplying LPG cylinders to poor women and constructing houses.

The PM highlighted various schemes launched for the farmers in his tenure including PM Kisan Nidhi and Crop Insurance Scheme. He accused the Congress of pushing farmers into a debt trap and then announcing farm loan waivers in states which it never fulfils whereas the BJP government has focussed on raising incomes by increasing MSP from time to time.

Farmers account for the biggest voting bloc. It is said that the mood of the farmers decides the elections in India. The annual monsoon rainfall, which is spread between June, July, August and September, has started off with a deficit in 2023. Modi knows that the farmer needs to be kept in good humour. Farm union protests brought the government to its knees on the agri reform laws.

Anti-Corruption Has Traction

Taking a leaf out of the 2014 campaign and the fact that corruption remains a Top-5 issue in most surveys, Modi accused the Opposition of being self-serving, wanting to do good only to their party for a share of the proceeds from corruption, commission, and cut money. Taking a dig at the Opposition's recent attempts to unite, PM Modi termed it as helplessness.

Modi wants to drive home the narrative that all the leaders of opposition who are embroiled in one or the other corruption scandal have joined hands to oust him. He is also helped by the fact that there have been no big scams in his tenure, something the middle class would also have noticed.

But the BJP will worry that it lost its state government in Karnataka, primarily due to 40 percent commission allegations. The party has prided itself on the argument that corruption has significantly come down in the last 9 years, but how this rhetoric would impact voters remains to be seen.

Muslims: A Twin-Track Approach

In order to make a dent in the Muslim vote, the PM highlighted that Pasmanda Muslims have been facing widespread discrimination in the name of votebank politics. The party has made elaborate plans to woo the community in order to split the minority vote just like the Hindu vote on the basis of caste.

Minority voters have been consolidating against the BJP in favour of opposition parties, recent examples being Karnataka 2023 and Uttar Pradesh 2022. UP, Bengal and Bihar accounting for 162 seats have higher percentage of Muslim population than the national average, with many seats where they could influence the outcome. This would explain why the BJP's Minority Morcha has been holding events to connect with Pasmandas, who are pegged at over 80 percent of the country's Muslim population.

In his speech, PM Modi also batted for a Uniform Civil Code: "Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country be run on two laws? The Constitution also talks of equal rights. The Supreme Court has also asked to implement UCC."

He further accused the Opposition of opposing the UCC for "votebank politics" and hurting interests of Muslim women. Clearly this could be one of the main election planks of BJP in 2024  One Nation, One Law. However, it remains to be seen whether UCC can have similar fervour as nationalism and if it can swing the ideologically neutral voters. Elections are not won by hardcore supporters. But UCC enactment may fire up right-wing voters by fulfilling one more of BJPs long cherished promises.

Modi has set the tone for BJP's campaign in 2024. Now it remains to be seen how the opposition counters this strategy.

Amitabh Tiwari is a former corporate and investment banker-turned political strategist and commentator. Twitter: @politicalbaaba. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Microsoft will track its performance using Constellation's hourly carbon-free energy (CFE) matching platform, which delivers state-of-the-art accounting to demonstrate environmental results. Hourly CFE matching is a relatively new Constellation retail product offering that leverages software technology to help customers establish and achieve their environmental goals. Constellation is now leveraging its innovative Microsoft Azure-based hourly matching CFE platform and retail structuring expertise to design flexible and comprehensive retail solutions for customers looking to match their power demands with regional carbon-free energy around the clock.

"Constellation and Microsoft have been working collaboratively for several years to pioneer this technology, so it is fitting that Microsoft is one of our first hourly CFE matching customers," said Jim McHugh, executive vice president and chief Commercial Officer. "We are confident this agreement will demonstrate the value and impact of hourly matching in the fight to address the climate crisis."

"Microsoft is proud to offer technology that enables other climate conscious companies to also reduce their carbon footprint," said Adrian Anderson, general manager of renewable and carbon free energy at Microsoft. "Our collaboration with Constellation makes real-time matching of regional clean power generation and demand available to all companies that want to advance the energy transition."

Prior to the evolution of hourly CFE matching, much of the clean energy that American companies procured to reduce their use of fossil-fueled generation was produced elsewhere, at a different time of day, month or even year. This approach offered no guarantee that clean, carbon-free power was being used, leaving many customers guessing about what resource mix actually met their needs. It also provided little to no incentive for developers to locate clean generation where power was needed.

To learn more how Hourly CFE matching is changing America's energy landscape, click here.

About Constellation

Headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation Energy Corporation (Nasdaq: CEG) is the nation's largest producer of clean, carbon-free energy and a leading supplier of energy products and services to businesses, homes, community aggregations and public sector customers across the continental United States, including three fourths of Fortune 100 companies. With annual output that is nearly 90% carbon-free, our hydro, wind and solar facilities paired with the nation's largest nuclear fleet have the generating capacity to power the equivalent of 15 million homes, providing around 10% of the nation's clean energy. We are further accelerating the nation's transition to a carbon-free future by helping our customers reach their sustainability goals, setting our own ambitious goal of achieving 100% carbon-free generation by 2040, and by investing in promising emerging technologies to eliminate carbon emissions across all sectors of the economy. Follow Constellation on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Indias polity is sui generis  meaning thereby, it is unique in its existence. The heterogeneity represented by diverse languages and religions is the hallmark of our democracy. A rights based democracy, however, demands that a conscious departure be made from the socio-religious considerations in order to provide basic rights to all citizens without any discrimination on the grounds of religion or gender.

Laws which govern our interpersonal relationships are marred by inherent injustices which puts citizens on unequal pedestals and ultimately interferes with their quality of life. The cacophony around a Uniform Civil Code is therefore, necessary, justified and futuristic.

Tyranny Of Personal Laws

Before India became independent from the British, there was an architecture of personal laws based on religious texts which was followed throughout the nation. Our Constitution drafters were in a state of immense predicament of whether to steer India clear of shackles of religious heterodoxy or to sustain the umbilical cord of religion connected to the citizenry.

Personal laws related to marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption were consciously left untouched to ensure that the country was not engulfed in the communal fires raging at that time. The Uniform Civil Code was confined to the Constitution's unenforceable part  Directive Principles of State Policy (Article 44).

Despite strong opposition from a section of the Hindu community, the Hindu Succession Act 1956, was finally amended in the year 2005 to incorporate the right of daughters in father's property. This legislative act emancipated women from notions of patriarchy and entrenched the constitutional tenets of gender equality.

Despite strong strides being made in the personal laws of the Hindu community, the injustices to women in personal laws of the Muslim religion remained undisturbed by the legislature. The inheritance law of the Muslim community discriminates against women in the devolution of property.

Judges And Religious Dogma

The unfair personal laws which are more religious than adhering to constitutional principles, derive their strength from Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of conscience, the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion to all citizens. The Supreme Court of India had, in Commissioner, Hindu Religious Endowments, Madras v. Sri Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiar of Sri Shirur Mutt, 1954 SCR 1005 propounded what came to be known as the "Essential Religious Practices Doctrine".

According to this, the Court would have to undertake the exercise of delving into the religious text to ascertain whether a religious activity was essential to the religion. If the Court found that the concerned activity was not essential to the religion, then it could be struck down. Otherwise, it would be protected by Article 25.

In 2017, while delivering the infamous Triple Talak verdict, Justice Rohinton Nariman (now retired), applied the doctrine of "manifest arbitrariness" to hold that the practice of Triple Talaq was hit by Article 14 (Right to Equality). It was a statement that discriminatory and unjust personal laws could be invalidated on the touchstone of the Constitution alone, without wading into troubled waters of religious texts.

It was a startling reminder that Courts should always remain logical and follow constitutional jurisprudence. At no point in time, should a Court assume the role of a priest. If at all a Uniform Civil Code comes into existence, it should be adjudged singularly on the touchstone of our Constitutional edifice.

Convince The UCC Sceptics

Be that as it may, any law that attempts to subsume conflicting religious beliefs into a homogenous legislation should be a holistic document that harmonises the nation. The Constitution must be the guiding light. The premise of the scepticism harboured by the detractors of Uniform Civil Code is that the Union Government will propose a legislation which would impose the traditions of the Hindu majority community on the minorities.

Such misgivings and apprehensions must be allayed through constructive dialogue from the Government. Parliamentary function of debate and discussion must be invigorated. The part of the laws which are in conflict with our constitutional ethos must be revoked.

Retaining of innocuous parts of personal laws which do not perpetuate any injustice must be considered thoroughly so that every citizen is provided with a semblance of the right to practise her own faith. The focus should be to put an end to gender injustice perpetuated by religion.

Right to lead a dignified life should be extended to each citizen irrespective of her religion or gender. The concerns of the LGBTQI+ community must also be taken into account to curate a comprehensive legislation which caters to all categories of stakeholders.

Politics must not be allowed to jeopardise something that we hold very dear  fraternity. Great impetus must be given to debate, discourse and discussion so that Uniform Civil Code is passed with consensus and not just "unanimity". In pursuance of attaining uniformity, amity must not dissipate.

Kaustubh Mehta is an advocate who practises in Delhi. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Affirmative action died today at the hands of the Supreme Courts conservative constitutional revolution. In a 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court overturned nearly 50 years of precedent and held that its unconstitutional for universities to take account of racial diversity in their admissions.



The opinion eviscerated the diversity arguments that have become central to many universities self-conception over the last few decades. Roberts wrote that the goals of diversity were too diffuse and nonspecific to be measured; that since admissions are zero-sum, giving help to students of some races necessarily hurts those of others; and that there was no end in sight to programs that the Supreme Court warned 20 years ago needed an eventual sunset.



More fundamentally, Roberts articulated a theory of equal protection that conservatives have been advocating almost since affirmative action began: that it is effectively always wrong to treat people differently based on race, no matter why. It doesnt matter whether the objective is to help rectify past injustice or foster more social mobility. Under this so-called colorblind theory of the Constitution, the 14th amendment, drafted and ratified to protect formerly enslaved African Americans, can be used to block descendants of those freed people from attaining social equality.



The origin of the precedent that the Roberts court overturned was a solo opinion by Justice Lewis Powell in the 1978 case, Regents of University of California v. Bakke. In it, Powell basically rejected affirmative action in university admissions as a mechanism to right past wrongs. But Powell embraced the view, advanced by Harvard University in a friend of the court brief, that it was appropriate to take account of race as part of the overall effort to create a diverse student body. Harvard argued that such diversity would enhance the educational experience of all students  and by implication, that admitting to Harvard a broad cross-section of students would create a more diverse elite.



The Bakke precedent was subsequently reaffirmed and embraced by a majority of the court two separate times: once in 2003, when Justice Sandra Day OConnor adopted a version of it, and again in 2013, when Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion allowing it as part of a holistic admissions process.



Roberts in theory likes to follow precedent. So he made sure to point out that, in her 2003 opinion, OConnor had written that affirmative action should be over in 25 years  20 of which have now elapsed.



But Roberts wasnt really following OConnors logic, which strongly hinted that she believed it was untenable for the US, which gets so much of its elite from graduates of selective universities, to have elite institutions without significant numbers of Black and Latino students. OConnor was influenced by briefs from corporate America and the US military that echoed the concern of insufficient racial diversity in national leadership. Roberts mostly doesnt seem to care about this concern. (Although in a footnote, Robertss opinion excluded the US military academies from the decision, implying possible recognition of the need for racial diversity in the officer corps and inviting a new lawsuit on the subject.)



Roberts, instead, is following the approach of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, an inveterate foe of affirmative action; and of Justice Antonin Scalia, who frequently emphasised the importance of applying the colorblind Constitution theory to block affirmative action. As Roberts put it, racial discrimination is invidious in all contexts.



What is left of race-based distinctions after Robertss opinion? The chief justice wrote that the government can only use them temporarily to prevent immediate harm; to remedy workplace discrimination for people who were themselves injured by discrimination; and in schools to produce distribution of students comparable to what it would have been in the absence of constitutional violations. These are all extremely narrow. They effectively mean that the era of affirmative action in admissions is over. And they signal that affirmative action will also be treated as unconstitutional or unlawful in nearly all workplace and other educational contexts.



A new fight over university admissions is inevitable. Roberts ended his opinion by stating that universities may still consider how an applicants race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. He added that a benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination  must be tied to that students courage and determination. So race can still be taken into account individually, though not systematically.



Roberts went out of his way to refute the possibility, hinted at in Justice Sonia Sotomayors dissent, that universities could now still consider race on an individualised basis. Universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today. He added acidly that a dissenting opinion is generally not the best source of legal advice on how to comply with a majority opinion.



For her part, Sotomayor called Robertss willingness to allow race to be considered as part of an individuals experience lipstick on a pig.



Theres plenty more to be said about the details of the opinions in this case, including Justice Clarence Thomass harsh treatment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksons dissent  the first time two African-American justices have fought about race in the same Supreme Court case.



Theres also the bigger historical question of whether this decision will eventually be read as the grand statement of racial justice that the conservatives, including Thomas (who wrote a separate concurrence) and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh (who also did) clearly wanted it to be.



For now, however, the key point is that the conservative justices believe they have brought an end to lawful affirmative action based on race.



Another decades-long conservative goal has been met  and decades of precedent overturned.



Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and host of the podcast Deep Background. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.



Credit: Bloomberg
It will be a long time before the unvarnished truth about last weekends rebellion by the Wagner military group is available to the public, if at all. But when the true sequence of events and their background comes out  like the flood of information when the Soviet Archives were opened after the end of Communist rule in Russia  its very many truths will typify how Vladimir Putin has ruled from the Kremlin for almost 23 years.

Access to the Soviet Archives led to projects like the Washington-based Wilson Centers Cold War International History Project, which contributed to global scholarship on 74 years of closed Bolshevik rule in the worlds largest and one of two most powerful countries in the history of mankind. Till such an eventuality in todays Russia, many events in the 16-month

Ukraine war and Yevgeny Prigozhins antics can only be understood on the basis of circumstantial evidence, but most of all, by eschewing gleeful Western disinformation.

Tactical moves

Enough circumstantial evidence is already available for those who want to objectively dissect the Wagner rebellion. The most important question to be asked is: how did Prigozhins phalanx of soldiers, ammunition and heavy equipment like tanks and rockets end up in an orderly manner in Lugansk  a city in Ukraine which pro-Russian separatists took control of in 2014  and later in Rostov-on-Don inside Russia? Were they not supposed to have been stationed in Bakhmut, the Ukrainian city on the frontline of the war, which Wagner forces captured  almost entirely  at a great cost in men and material? The answer holds a key to the momentous recent events in Russia. Although Bakhmut was a war trophy for Prigozhin, by May 25, a month before his mutiny, Russian troops had replaced Wagner fighters in the city and along the combat frontline. This was the earliest hint that Putin was taking steps to gradually neutralise Wagner. Its fighters were relocated to Lugansk.

Simultaneously, sections of the Russian media reported sighting in Lugansk special forces from Chechnya, where separatism was subdued by Putin. They were brought in as rear guard to the Wagner troops. Chechen special forces have a history as ferocious fighters. It was clear that Chechen forces would be an insurance against any trouble by Wagner forces in Lugansk. All this was largely ignored by the Western media. Major intelligence agencies in Washington and European capitals would have, doubtless, been aware of Putins tactical moves.

The next step by Russias Defence Ministry was to move Prigozhin and all his men to Rostov-on-Don on the pretext that they deserved rest and recreation for their contribution for many months in the fight to capture Bakhmut. Wagner complied with those orders although Prigozhin may have had suspicions about the intentions of Russias army top brass. That was why Prigozhins rantings against Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Army Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov intensified.

Service contracts decree

There has been speculation since January that the United States Central Intelligence Agency and the United Kingdoms MI6 foreign spy outfit had made contact with Prigozhin through their Russian-speaking Ukrainian counterparts. Such stories can never be confirmed in the shadowy world of intelligence until some concrete outcomes in action validate those contacts. Putin, in all probability, did not want to take chances and have his entire war effort in Ukraine crippled, if these stories were true. Hence, on June 10, Shoigu signed a decree that Wagner  and other private military companies  must sign service contracts with the Defence Ministry in three weeks. That was the trigger for Prigozhins rebellion. Those in the West who insist that Putin was caught off guard by the uprising ignore the entire sequence of events on the Bakhmut front since May. When the rebellion broke out, Putin was fully prepared for it: that is why it ended peacefully without any significant bloodshed. That is why Wagner is now out of the Kremlins way.

Prigozhins rise and fall has many parallels in Russias recent history since Putin came to power. Putin has dealt with the Wagner chief exactly as he has dealt with numerous oligarchs who usurped the wealth of the Russian people during the misrule of his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, and then moved on to acquire political power in Yeltsins second term. A month into his first elected term in mid-2000, Putin called a meeting of about two dozen top oligarchs and gave them an offer they could refuse only at their peril. Keep your ill-gotten fortune, but stay out of Russias politics. Many of them accepted the Presidents offer and are still flourishing. Those who dared to refuse paid a heavy price. It is early to tell whether Prigozhins fate is with those who kept their wealth and stayed below the political radar or if he will be destroyed like the other oligarchs who did not heed Putins advice 23 summers ago. The story is still developing.

Meanwhile, it is safe to assume that the Wagner forces will remain, even if they undergo an institutional transformation. The difference between the Russian Army and the Wagner company is that the former are patriots, the latter are super patriots. This explains the respect they got in Rostov-on-Don throughout their stay in the city. Those who describe the Wagner as mercenaries make a mistake. They are like a combination of the French Foreign Legion and US military contractors abroad, such as Blackwater. Putin admitted in the last of his three nationally televised speeches this week that Wagner was entirely funded by the Russian state. Wagner was a product of combined Russian intelligence services by cloning the French and US outfits. Much thought went into its creation. So, Putin will use it one way or another.

KP Nayar has extensively covered West Asia and reported from Washington as a foreign correspondent for 15 years. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Delhi minister Atishi has been given the additional charge of Revenue, Planning and Finance departments following LG V K Saxena's nod to the cabinet reshuffle proposal, officials said on Friday. The three departments were earlier with minister Kailash Gahlot. With the additional charge, Atishi, who also holds the distinction of being the only woman minister in the cabinet, will now hold 12 portfolios, the highest among all ministers. "Delhi LG VK Saxena has approved the proposal and the file reached the government," said the official. A row had erupted over the cabinet reshuffle issue on Thursday with government officials claiming that the file pertaining to it was lying with the Lt Governor for four days, a charge denied by the latter's office. Atishi along with Saurabh Bharadwaj was inducted into the cabinet following the resignation of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain after their arrest. While Sisodia was arrested in connection with excise policy case, Jain was arrested last year in connection with a money laundering case.

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Byju's recently organised a townhall meeting to address the concerns of its employees amidst the ongoing crisis triggered by the resignation of board members and auditor Deloitte. The townhall, presided over by Byju Raveendran, the co-founder and CEO of Byju's, aimed to instill confidence and provide clarity to the employees during this challenging period.



Following the event, co-founder Divya Gokulnath took to Instagram to share positive messages from team members, highlighting the success of the townhall and the optimism within the company.



One employee said after the townhall they have newfound confidence, "We didn't come this far to just come this far."



Another message conveyed the resounding belief among employees that the townhall had dispelled any doubts about their ability to achieve remarkable feats as a team.



The townhall left no doubt in minds that we are capable to achieving incredible things as a team. Will harness the positive energy from the townhall, channel it into our work and achieve benchmark numbers, they wrote.







Gokulnath termed the messages as an "outpouring of love". One team member wrote: Hey Divya, When the going gets tough, the tough gets going  this is exactly how I felt post the townhall. Addressing all issues with so much clarity has helped clear the air across  if anyone had any doubt, the townhall has completely cleared it away. Yes, we have challenges but we will all stick together to address and overcome each one of them. We have not come this far, just to come this far. Lets continue writing history.



Employees, in other messages, expressed their happiness that Raveendran had directly addressed them and clarified many of their doubts. The employees expressed confidence that together, they would emerge stronger from the current challenges.



Another message showed unwavering support for the leadership. The employee acknowledged the presence of allegations, resignations, and negativity but believed that the company's focus on sustainable growth and the ever-relevant field of education and edtech would prevail.



A fifth message emphasized the tough spirit prevalent among the employees following the townhall. It recognized the clarity provided by the event, which helped dispel any lingering doubts. The employee acknowledged the challenges ahead but emphasized the unity within the organization to address and overcome them.



Moneycontrol earlier reported that during the townhall, employees had the opportunity to submit their questions, although immediate answers were not provided, leaving some employees with lingering uncertainties regarding layoffs, hikes, incentives, and provident fund payments.



At the townhall, Raveendran reassured the employees, saying that the company would bounce back stronger. He acknowledged the tough phase Byju's was going through but highlighted the enduring nature of the edtech sector and the company's pioneering position within it.



Regarding the resignations of the board members and Deloitte, Raveendran clarified that the board members' departure was unrelated to Deloitte's resignation. He expressed gratitude to the board members for their support and guidance. As for Deloitte, Raveendran stated that their resignation was a mutual decision, and the company had already initiated the process of changing auditors.



Raveendran further informed the employees about the progress in discussions with the company's term loan B lenders regarding the recent issues. He expressed optimism, mentioning that these discussions were yielding positive developments and expected significant progress within weeks.



Read: Byju's not just my work, my life: Founder Raveendran writes to employees



In an email to employees on June 29, Raveendran wrote: This company is not just my work; it is my life. For 18 years, I have dedicated more than 18 hours a day to BYJUS, pouring my heart and soul into this mission. And I want to do this for at least 30 more years.
A Chinese mother has invited backlash after mocking her sons teacher for riding a bicycle to school. The mother reportedly insisted the teacher buy a car, otherwise her son would think a teacher cant make money and that studying is useless.



According to a report in South China Morning Post, a screenshot of the conversation between the mother and the teacher has gone viral on Chinese social media platforms.



The incident occurred in June when the teacher, surnamed Wang, was riding his bike to school. On the way, he encountered one of his students, the boy in question, and exchanged polite greetings. However, when Wang reached the school, he found a strange message from the boys mother sent on the WeChat group for parents and teachers.



Teacher Wang, do not ride a bike any more. Youd better buy a car, wrote the mother of the boy, nicknamed Rongrong. The message was visible to all 58 members of the group, and it is not clear how its screenshots surfaced online.



Wang responded to the message saying he enjoyed riding his bicycle to school and that his house was close to his place of work.



If it rains, it will be inconvenient. So its better to buy a car, Rongrongs mother insisted in response.



If it rains, I wont ride the bike. I will hold an umbrella and walk to school. Anyway, walking is perfectly fine for me, Wang countered.



The conversation took an even stranger turn when the mother kept on insisting he buy a car because she wanted her son to value education and not think his teacher was poor. She also revealed u



My son has been riding in a BMW since his birth. The people around him all have luxury cars. You are his teacher. You ride a bicycle. What will he think, in your opinion? she wrote.



Every day I tell him to study hard. And he finds you riding a bike to work, what will he think? He will definitely think that a teacher cant make money and studying is useless, the mother continued. You work hard for half of your life but your living standard is not as good as my sons  he has had a BMW to sit in since his birth. I bet he wont study hard in future.



The screenshots do not show how Wang responded to this personal attack, but social media users who saw the exchange slammed the mother for acting snobbish and elitist.
Mohit Joshi has been named the MD & CEO designate of Tech Mahindra. An Infosys veteran, Joshi will take over as MD & CEO of Tech Mahindra on December 20, 2023, after its longtime chief executive officer CP Gurnani retires on December 19. His appointment was announced in March this year, and Joshi joined Tech Mahindra last week.



On Thursday, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra shared a Twitter post welcoming Mohit Joshi to Tech Mahindra. There is an enormous sense of anticipation at Tech Mahindra as you begin your run-up to becoming CEO, he wrote. To me, leadershipespecially of the thousands of people in an IT companyis a sacred responsibility. But its a responsibility which also brings an opportunity to make a huge impact and hence is potentially one of the most rewarding opportunities in life. I wish you great success and joy in the years ahead.



Welcome on board, @joshimohit_ygl There is an enormous sense of anticipation at @tech_mahindra as you begin your run-up to becoming CEO. To me, leadershipespecially of the thousands of people in an IT companyis a sacred responsibility. But its a responsibility which also pic.twitter.com/lQ3eQ96odc

 anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 29, 2023



In a LinkedIn post last week, Joshi said he was excited to join Tech Mahindra and build on its strong foundation by opening up new avenues of growth.



Here is what we know about Mohit Joshi, who is going to become the new CEO of Tech Mahindra:



Mohit Joshi, 47, has over two decades of experience in the technology and software sector. He spent nearly 23 years with Infosys, where he started his career as a Senior Business Development Manager in 2000.



Over the years, he was promoted to Global Head of Sales & Marketing - Banking & Capital Markets, VP & Head of Financial Services in Europe and Executive Vice President  Global Head Financial Services.



For the last seven years, he had served as President of Infosys  a role for which he was based in London, UK. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters.



According to a Times of India report, Joshis resignation from Infosys left a leadership vacuum at the top, coming as it did only five months after the companys only other president, Ravi Kumar, quit to lead Cognizant. Infosys reportedly tried to convince Joshi to stay, but his appointment as Tech Mahindra CEO designate was announced in March 2023.



According to an Infosys filing, Joshi was the highest-paid employee in his last year, drawing Rs 57.32 crore as compensation.



Joshi is an alumnus of Delhi Public School  RK Puram. He studied history at DUs St Stephens College and completed his MBA from the Faculty of Management Sciences in 1996.



He was chosen as a Young Global leader in March 2014 by the World Economic Forum, in which capacity he attended the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century programme at Harvard Kennedy School.



Joshi started his career at ANZ Grindlays Bank in 1996. Over the decades, he has worked across Latin America, Europe, Asia and America.
Water in a Japanese port has turned blood red in colour, alarming locals. The dramatic change in colour was caused by a food colouring leak from a nearby beer factory, BBC reported. The river in Nago city in Japans Okinawa turned a vivid red due to food colouring dye that flowed into the water through rain gutters. Officials at Orion Breweries, the beer factory responsible for the leak, apologised for the incident but assured locals that the dye was not hazardous or unsafe for humans. In a statement, Orion Breweries said it was sorry for causing enormous trouble and worry. Hajime Murano, presidents of the brewery, said it was investigating how the leak occurred. Murano promised the company would take steps to ensure the incident was not repeated. A port in Nago city, #Okinawa, #Japan, has stirred concern among residents as its waters turned a vivid blood red colour. pic.twitter.com/rGJ6U69nw1  ilie zavragiu (@iliezavragiu) June 28, 2023 On social media, commenters described the red river as gruesome and venomous. Officials attributed the change in colour to propylene glycol, a synthetic food additive that serves various purposes in the food, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and cosmetic industries. In the food industry, it is usually used as a solvent for food colours and flavours. According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, propylene glycol is generally recognized as safe. Earlier this year, the Hindon river in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, turned a similar red colour. The colour change was caused by discharge from the several illegal dyeing units that have cropped up around the area.

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A woman lost part of her leg after it became trapped in a moving walkway at a Bangkok airport on Thursday. The 57-year-old Thai woman, whose name has not been released, tripped over her suitcase at Bangkoks Don Mueang Airport. Her leg became stuck in the moving walkway at terminal 2 of the airport, according to The New York Post.



A medical team at the airport had to amputate her limb above the knee to free her. She was stabilised and rushed to a nearby hospital in Sai Mai district of Thailand, where she was told her leg could not be reattached.



However, doctors at the Banrungrad International Hospital, where the woman sought a second opinion, are hopeful the leg can be reattached.



Airport authorities will cover the cost of the womans medical treatment and are open to talks of additional compensation.



"On behalf of the Don Mueang International Airport, Id like to express my deepest condolences regarding the accident," Don Mueang Airport Director Karun Thanakuljeerapat said during a news conference, according to The Associated Press. "Id like to insist that we will ensure that no such accident will happen again."



Thanakuljeerapat said the walkway in question was manufactured in 1996 by the Japanese company Hitachi. It had not been updated since, and the sensors on the walkway are different from those found on newer versions.



Thanakuljeerapat said the airport had planned to replace its old walkways by 2025, but the process may be expedited after the shocking accident. Meanwhile, the walkway in question has been closed by airport authorities.
Through RCEP and the free trade agreement that New Zealand and China have in place, there are many opportunities for the two countries to explore, said Brett O'Riley, chief executive of the Employers & Manufacturers Association (EMA), New Zealand's largest business association, in an interview with China News Network.

O'Riley pointed out that New Zealand can draw experiences from China in areas like horticulture and clean energy. He mentioned that the technology of indoor cherry cultivation by Chinese enterprises has left a deep impression on him. In the context of climate change, this technology is crucial for ensuring food security, while New Zealand is still in the early stages of this technology.

Additionally, O'Riley noted that China has made tremendous progress in clean technology. He hopes that China can work together with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region to help improve the environment, reduce carbon footprint, and expand those opportunities to some of the smaller countries.
Women seeking jobs in Bill Gatess private office were asked sexually explicit questions, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. An external security firm tasked with interviewing candidates for Gates Ventures asked female candidates about their sexual history, the kind of pornography they liked, if they had nude photographs on their phone, extramarital affairs and whether they had experimented with drugs, among other such questions.



The questions were purportedly asked as part of a background check to see whether the candidates would be vulnerable to blackmail, but male applicants for the same positions were not asked about such personal details, according to the WSJ report.



The questioning was carried out by Concentric Advisors, but the company denied asking these questions. Concentric Advisors CEO Mike LeFever told WSJ that it complied with applicable state and federal laws while interviewing candidates for Bill Gatess personal office.



However, some women who spoke to WSJ said they were asked if they had previously "danced for dollars," and one woman revealed she was asked if she had ever contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Others spoke about being questioned over past drug use, extramarital affairs, sexual history and more.



A spokesperson for Gates Ventures said she had personally not heard about Concentric Advisors asking sexually explicit questions, but said the "line of questioning would be unacceptable and a violation of Gates Ventures agreement with the contractor."



We have never received information from any vendor or interviewee in our 15+ year history that inappropriate questions were asked during the screening process, she said in a statement. We can confirm, that after a comprehensive review of our records, no employment offer has ever been rescinded based on information of this nature.
Volkswagen's Audi named the German group's strategy chief as its new CEO on Thursday, as the luxury carmaker seeks to catch up with rivals in the dash towards electrification, including in China, the world's top car market. Gernot Doellner, who replaces Markus Duesmann, will become CEO with effect from September, Audi said, after the luxury automaker's supervisory board passed a resolution on Thursday. Doellner is a Volkswagen Group veteran who joined the company as a doctoral student in 1993 and rose through the ranks to become head of product development at Porsche. He headed up the Panamera series from 2011 to 2018 and became head of product strategy at Volkswagen AG in 2021. "Audi is a fantastic company with a rich history," Doellner said, adding: "I look forward to shaping the company's future together with the entire team at Audi." Duesmann's replacement is the second major leadership reshuffle at Volkswagen Group on Chief Executive Oliver Blume's watch, after he dismissed all but one of the executive team at software unit Cariad and appointed Bentley production chief Peter Bosch as its head. A source close to Volkswagen, who declined to be named, said managers at the highest level at Audi were dissatisfied with the premium carmaker's business performance, leading to Duesmann's replacement. Audi has lagged behind fellow German carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the pivot towards electrification and its sales performance in China has fallen short of expectations. A new electric SUV model, the Q6 e-tron, will be released at the end of this year after numerous delays. Its launch will mark the start of a product offensive spanning more than 20 new models - half of them electric - by 2025.

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A South Korean chip executive imprisoned over industrial espionage charges rejected allegations he had sought to build a copycat chip factory in China with sensitive information developed by Samsung Electronics.



In a handwritten letter to Reuters, his first comments to media since he was detained on May 25, Choi Jinseog elaborated on his defence plan and said the allegations against him regarding the Xian plant were not substantiated.



Prosecutors earlier this month indicted the former Samsung executive for illegally obtaining secret information to build a semiconductor plant only 1.5 km (1 mile) from a Samsung factory in Xian, China.



Choi is in custody at a detention centre in Suwon, a city south of Seoul where Samsung has its headquarters. He previously denied all the charges through his lawyer.



In the letter, Choi said the factory was planned for Taiwan's Foxconn, for early test production of DRAM memory chips, while Samsung's plant in Xian was designed to manufacture NAND flash memory chips.



Choi said DRAM process technology is more than 30% different from making NAND flash chips because it is more complicated, and some equipment used in manufacturing both chips is also different.



"They use different equipment and the layout of (Samsung's) NAND flash chip equipment is really of no use for us," Choi said in the letter.



Several semiconductor industry experts interviewed by Reuters, who aren't involved in the case, confirmed there are differences in processes and equipment used for NAND and DRAM production, without specifying them precisely.



Samsung declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigations.



Neither Foxconn or companies contracted build the Samsung plant were accused of any wrongdoing.



Foxconn, formally called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, referred Reuters to earlier comments where it said it was "aware of speculation" around the case but doesn't comment on ongoing investigations.



"We abide by laws and regulations governing jurisdictions we operate in," Foxconn said.



SECRET DATA



According to an unreleased 18-page indictment, reported earlier by Reuters, prosecutors allege Choi planned to build a DRAM factory in Xian for Foxconn, and illegally used secret data his company's employees obtained from workers of two Samsung contractors.



A NAND flash chip is a storage chip that retains data even when a device is turned off, unlike a DRAM chip which loses data when the power is off. Both are used in smartphones, computers and many other electronic devices.



Prosecutors claim Choi poached "a large number" of employees from Samsung and its affiliates and pressured several employees to obtain secret information involving management of special semiconductor "clean rooms", plus factory blueprints and layouts, to shorten construction time for the planned China factory.



Choi's lawyer, Kim Pilsung, says this information is non-sensitive data easily accessible to those in the chip supply chain. Prosecutors argue they are "core national technology" protected by law and their theft caused more than $200 million in damages to Samsung.



NOT XIAN



Choi sent the letter to Reuters via his adviser who recently visited him. The adviser, also a close friend, requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.



Choi confirmed the letter was genuine, according to Roh Hwa-wook, another long-time friend of Choi, who visited him on Thursday.



In his letter, Choi said his plan was to build a research and development chip line and he didn't need to copy Samsung's chip facilities designed for mass production.



The plant, known as a fab, was never built after Foxconn pulled out, Choi and his lawyer said.



"What we were planning to build was a R&D fab and there is no R&D fab at (Samsung's) Xian plant. When there is no R&D fab to copy, there is no reason to copy," Choi said.



Prosecutors declined to comment on the content of Choi's letter ahead of his trial scheduled for July 12. They have said the focus of the case is illegal acquisition and use of sensitive information, which Choi denies.



Choi also rejected the claim by prosecutors that it was Xian where he wanted to build the alleged copycat factory, saying the plan was to build a plant in Qingdao after weighing several cities including Xian.



Neither the Qingdao or Xian city governments responded to Reuters' request for comment.



Choi's lawyer Kim said he plans to seek bail, citing Choi's health condition after he underwent a heart procedure earlier this year.



Choi's adviser said the accused felt "cornered" and "distraught" by the industrial espionage charges, which are viewed by several chip industry experts interviewed by Reuters as part of South Korea's efforts to slow China's progress in chip manufacturing.
Inflection AI, a startup backed by several Silicon Valley heavyweights, said on Thursday it had raised $1.3 billion from investors including Microsoft and Nvidia, amid a boom in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.



The investment, a mix of cash and cloud credit, valued the one-year-old company at $4 billion, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.



Inflection released its chatbot Pi last month. Founded by Google DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, it focused on building consumer-faced AI products and is considered a top rival of OpenAI.



Pi uses generative AI technology, similar to ChatGPT, to interact with users through dialogues, allowing people to ask questions and share feedback. Inflection said it wants to build a personal AI that will help people plan, schedule, gather information and perform other tasks.



Palo Alto, California-based Inflection AI has about 35 employees. It raised $225 million in a first round of funding in early 2022 from Greylock, Microsoft and Reid Hoffman.



Last week, it released a report on its model Inflection-1, which powers Pi, and claims it has outperformed most models available.



Most of the funding will be used to build computing power to develop a more powerful foundation model, according to Suleyman, chief executive at Inflection.



"We'll be building a cluster of around 22,000 H100s. This is approximately three times more compute than what was used to train all of GPT4. Speed and scale are what's going to really enable us to build a differentiated product," Suleyman said at Collision Conference on Thursday.



The AI space has been hailed as the next frontier for technology after OpenAI's bot ChatGPT became a viral sensation late last year.



The industry has drawn several investors in the past few months as corporates examine ways to integrate the technology into their businesses, while regulators have been mulling over how to tackle the technology.



Microsoft, an existing investor and also backer of rival OpenAI, participated in Inflection's latest fundraise.



Nvidia, which has stepped up its AI investments recently, Hoffman, Bill Gates and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt also participated in the latest round, Inflection said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Thursday, meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and touring the war-torn country as it fights Russian aggression.



Pence, who this month launched his campaign for the Republican nomination for president, has been deeply critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.



He has called on the US to deliver more military aid to the country and criticised GOP rivals who have questioned the ongoing US involvement, saying there is no room in the party for Putin apologists" and pushing back against those who want the US to take on a more limited role on the world stage.



Pence spent roughly 12 hours in the country on Thursday, according to an adviser, with stops in Moshchun, Bucha and Irpin, according to NBC News, which travelled with him.



I'm here because it's important that the American people understand the progress that we've made and how support for the Ukrainian military has been in our national interest, he told the network.



I truly do believe that now, more than ever, we need leaders in our country who will articulate the importance of American leadership in the world. In addition to his meeting with Zelenskyy, Pence received multiple briefings, including one from Ukrainian officials on the country's current security situation and one on allegations of human rights violations by Russians accused of abducting Ukrainian children in a bid to weaken Ukrainian resolve, the adviser said.



Pence also participated in a commemoration ceremony to honour Ukrainians killed during the defense of Moshchun during Russia's offensive and visited the destroyed Romanov Bridge, where he was briefed on the civilian evacuation efforts.



Pence visited St. Andrew's Church and Pyervozvannoho All Saints in Bucha, the site of a civilian mass burial site, and laid flowers at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine at St. Michael's Cathedral in Kyiv.



The trip was the second by Pence to the region. In March 2022, he made an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian border with Poland, where he crossed into Ukraine and helped deliver aid to the flood of refugees who escaping the war's initial invasion.



Both trips were arranged by Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian humanitarian aid organization.



Pence's GOP rivals have been far less eager to push for more US involvement in Ukraine, reflecting broader scepticism within the party.



A February poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research found only about a quarter of Americans  26 per cent  believe the US should have a major role in the conflict, down from as high as 40 per cent in March 2022. Among Republicans that number is even lower, with the number saying the US should have a major role dropping to just 17 per cent.







Both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who are also seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, have said the defence of Ukraine is not a vital US national security interest.



Trump has stressed the humanitarian cost of the war and called for its end. DeSantis once called the Russian invasion a territorial dispute", but later walked back those comments in the face of criticism.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met on Thursday with Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and prominent European figures who are forming a working group to address ecological damage from the 16-month-old Russian invasion. The meeting in the Ukrainian capital came as fighting continued around the country. The governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said two people were killed in the region's capital in a Russian strike that hit residences, a medical facility and a school where residents were lined up to receive humanitarian aid. Another person was killed in a morning strike on the village of Bilzoerka, the regional prosecutor's office said. The presidential office said Thursday morning that at least eight civilians died in Russian attacks during the previous 24 hours. The working group on the environment includes Thunberg, former Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Margot Wallstrom, European Parliament Vice President Heidi Hautala, and former Irish President Mary Robinson. Zelenskyy said forming the group is "a very important signal of supporting Ukraine. It's really important, we need your professional help." Thunberg said Russian forces are deliberately targeting the environment and people's livelihoods and homes. And therefore also destroying lives. Because this is after all a matter of people. The objectives of the working group are evaluating the environmental damage resulting from the war, formulating mechanisms to hold Russia accountable, and undertaking efforts to restore Ukraine's ecology. In Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill met with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Vatican envoy for seeking peace between Russia and Ukraine. Kirill, a supporter of the war, said "It is very important that the Christian communities of East and West take part in the process of reconciliation, according to video circulated by the Russian church.

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Integrated services giant Downer Edi announced today that it had secured a $4.6 billion contract with the QLD Government to build and maintain 65 new trains for Brisbane. The announcement saw Downers shares rise by 2.41%, trading at $4.035 per share.

Downer EDI [ASX:DOW] shares are up by 2.41% today, trading at $4.035 per share. This comes after the announcement that it had achieved a contractual close on the Queensland Train Manufacturing Program (QTMP), the largest investment in new rolling stock in QLD history.

In the last 12 months, DOW has seen shares tumble by 20.69% as one of the worst performers in the sector. Todays news will be very welcome by shareholders that have seen a turbulent year as Downer continues to feel the sting of controversy.

Last December, Downer revealed an overstatement of earnings of $40 million in one of its maintenance contracts  blaming accounting irregularities.

As a result of this disclosure, shares plummeted by 20% in a single day, leading to a lawsuit, an anti-corruption probe, and the forced resignation of several directors  including former chairman, Mark Chellew.

Will todays news turn around the ailing infrastructure giant?

Source: TradingView

Better news for Downer

Shares of integrated services giant Downer are up today after it signed a contract with the QLD Government to design, manufacture, and commission 65 new six-car passenger trains.

The trains will be manufactured in Queensland and be used on the Southeast QLD public transport system to help bolster public transport in time for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.

The agreement will also see Downer build a rail facility on the Gold Coast in Ormeau to maintain the fleet for 15 years with a possible extension to a maximum of 35 years.

According to Downers release today, the contract is worth approximately $4.6 billion and will create up to 3,000 jobs in the region.

Chief Executive Peter Tompkins said that he was proud of supporting QLD jobs and the Olympics project.

Downer has more than 100 years of experience in delivering rollingstock projects.we look forward to working closely with the DoT and Main Roads to deliver this iconic project for the people of QLD.

Downer will also establish Australias first standalone Green Syndicated Bank to support the delivery of the project.

This new facility emphasises Downers position as a leading provider of sustainable transport services, Mr Tompkins said.

Outlook for Downer

Its unclear if the bolstered share prices will improve the long-term outlook for Downer as the company continues to struggle to shake off the controversy and post substantial profits.

Its biggest investor Allan Gray called the leadership inept in February after the company issued another profit warning downgrade. The continued downgrades were blamed on similar contract accounting issues at the start of FY23.

Current group earning margins are approximately 2.2% for the first half of the year, a far cry from their goal of 4.5% by 2025. This shows that the company has a long path to cut costs and drive profits for the future. In the last annual report, the company blamed rising subcontractor costs as it struggled to find staff for many of its big projects.

Source: Downer EDI

In April this year, Downer announced it planned to cut 400 full-time jobs by mid-2024 as it tries to boost earnings and restore investor confidence.

Downer also plans to save $100 million in FY25 by combining the AU/NZ businesses and selling off more non-core assets, but investors may need clearer signals to get back on track.

If industry giants continue to downgrade profit guidance and markets look shaky  where can investors find wins in this market?

Small-caps overlooked opportunity

Want to learn more about small caps and our editors strategy?

We can show you how in our new report.

Our small-caps experts will show you three ASX small-cap stocks with a market capitalisation of less than $500 millionstocks that are turning steady profits and paying dividends.

One is a mining services company serving Australias booming mining sectorand growing its earnings by 29% annually.

Another is a leading retailer in its niche that ended 2022 with an $18.5 million profit.

But despite their bright prospects, the market is currently undervaluing these stocks.

Will they soar once the market realises its mistake?

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But given their proven business models and healthy balance sheets, they could.

This is why adding these stocks to your watchlist today could be a smart move.

Learn more about these three stocks in our new FREE report.

Regards,

Charles Ormond

For Money Morning
A boat accesses An Bang Island of Vietnam's Truong Sa (Spratly). (Photo: VNA)

The delegation was led by Assoc. Prof. and Dr Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, Director of the East Sea Institute under the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.

The hybrid conference saw the participation of policy makers and officials from the US departments of state and defence, along with experts and scholars from the US, India, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. They included Congresswoman Jennifer Kiggans, a member of the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, and US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink.

It was an occasion for participants to discuss and analyse developments in the East Sea region over the past years and made forecasts for the time ahead. They looked into the recent East Sea situation, new points on legal affairs and management of disputes in the waters, and the role of external entities such as the Quartet, the AUKUS alliance (Australia, the UK, and the US), and the Europe.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, Anh said that like at previous conferences, Vietnams presence in the event aimed to express its viewpoints and stance on the East Sea issue, clarify the just nature and legal basis of Vietnams claims in the East Sea, and show the countrys constructive attitude of being ready to peacefully resolve disputes in the waters to help maintain regional peace and stability./.
The total number of international tourists to Vietnam in the first 6 months of the year reached 5,574,969 arrivals. (Photo: VNA)

Particularly in June 2023, the number of international tourists to Vietnam reached 975,010 arrivals, an increase of 6.4% compared to May 2023. In which, the largest international tourist markets include the Republic of Korea, China, Taiwan (China), the US, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and Australia.

According to data from Google's travel trend tracking tool, since the beginning of the year, the number of searches about Vietnam's tourism has continuously increased. Search for Vietnam is in the top of the world, from 11th position to 6th position. Vietnam is also the only destination in Southeast Asia in this group.

Accordingly, Vietnam has a growth rate of 10% - 25%, ranking 6th in the world, much higher than the general growth rate of Southeast Asia. The markets where international tourists are most interested in Vietnam tourism include the US, Japan, Australia, India, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the UK, Malaysia, Germany and France. These are also key markets of Vietnam's tourism.

According to the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, this shows that international tourist demand for Vietnam's tourism is recovering very quickly, at a much higher rate than competitors in the region. Therefore, Vietnam has a good opportunity to attract international visitors in the near future.

The Vietnamese National Assembly has agreed to extend the e-visa from 30 days to 90 days, valid for multiple entry. At the same time, the country increases the temporary stay period for those entering the visa-free category from 15 days to 45 days. This policy will officially take effect from August 15. On the other hand, the Government is also considering expanding the unilateral visa exemption to attract international visitors to Vietnam.

The Vietnam National Authority of Tourism affirmed that new breakthrough policies will contribute to facilitating visas, entry and exit, together with positive market trends, and the tourism industry is expected to attract a large number of international visitors in the near future, especially during the peak season for international tourism which will start around September 2023./.
June 30, 2023

The Over-Hyped 'Spy' Balloon That Didn't

With regards to China President Joe Biden said on June 20 2023:

And the reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two boxcars full of spy equipment in it is he didnt know it was there. No, Im serious. Thats whats a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didnt know what happened. That wasnt supposed to be going where it was. It was blown off course up through Alaska and then down through the United States. And he didnt know about it. When it got shot down, he was very embarrassed. He denied it was even there.

I commented that:

Biden acknowledges that the weather balloon was 'blow off course' and thereby debunks previous claims that it was steerable. China had no intent to let the balloon cross Canada and the United States. And if there had really been 'two boxcars full of spy equipment' on the balloon why hasn't the U.S. shown any of it? Why would or should a president of the U.S. or China know of some weather balloon floating somewhere? Xi was embarrassed by the circus the U.S. made over that affair?

...

Xi denied that the ballon was where it was to whom? And the U.S. would know about that how?

There were so many questions about those 'spy balloon' claims that, from the very beginning, I was sure and said that it was all bunk:

But the Biden administration created a scandal over the randomly floating weather balloon. It thereby opened itself to criticism from the hawks in the Democratic and Republican parties. It canceled, without need, the planned mission of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to China.

Well - as it turns out it all was bunk, just as I had claimed.

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal headlined:

Chinese Balloon Used American Tech to Spy on Americans

Preliminary U.S. findings show the craft collected photos and videos but didnt appear to transmit them, officials say

The 'spy balloon' was not spying at all. It had a U.S. made camera on board for this or that (navigational orientation?) purpose and was not submitting any pictures from it:

The US gear was intermixed with more specialized Chinese sensors and other equipment with the purpose of snapping photos and capturing videos and other information to transmit to Beijing, according to the Journal. Despite the spy balloons surveillance capabilities, the Defense Department does not believe the spy balloon collected data while it was flying over US territory, Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday.

Via Reuters the Pentagon confirmed that the 'spy balloon' was just a balloon that was not spying at all:

A Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States earlier this year before being shot down did not collect information as it went across the country, the Pentagon said on Thursday. "We assess that it did not collect while it was flying over the U.S.," Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told reporters. The balloon spent a week flying over the United States and Canada before the U.S. military shot it down off the Atlantic Coast on Biden's orders.

Biden had already confirmed that the balloon was 'blown of course' which had been immediately clear to me and to anyone who could look up and understand the relevant weather maps of pressure systems and their atmospheric wind directions and strength.

The balloon was also not a spying device because there are obviously much better ways, like satellites, to gain more precise information than a randomly floating weather balloon will ever be able to catch.

The Biden administration is intentionally using anti-Asian racism to create an 'enemy' by alleging that the Chinese are doing wrong in this or that or in whatever may randomly float over the horizon. At the same time it is copying those Chinese policies it had previously criticized:

Bidenomics seems increasingly likely to play a pivotal role in US President Joe Bidens upcoming 2024 presidential election campaign. With great fanfare in a June 28 speech in Chicago, he offered a stirring endorsement of industrial policy as the centerpiece of his economic strategy.

...

For the US, there is a certain irony, possibly even hypocrisy, in embracing industrial policy as an effective strategy to counter China. Washington has long been critical of Chinese industrial policy as one of its most egregious anti-competitive sins. That was a key allegation in the Trump Administrations March 2018 Section 301 report that quickly became the foundational evidence for tariffs and the broader trade war that was to follow. The Section 301 report argued that China was unique in relying on the subsidies and targeting of industrial policya conclusion I took strong issue with in Chapter 4 of Accidental Conflict, in which I presented evidence of a legacy of industrial policy strategies in Japan, Germany, and, yes, the United States. And now the Biden Administration, which has endorsed most of the tactics of Trumps trade war with China, is embracing the very same industrial policy approach that China has long practiced.

Well, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Doing like China does, because what China does is successful, is now the new normal.

Next: A U.S. weather balloon, with a defunct Chinese camera on board, unintentionally crossing China. "U.S.A., U.S.A., ..."

Unfortunately the U.S. is not good at imitating China's policies:

[T]he point I am trying to make here is that both approaches rely on the governments ability to target the so-called vital, strategic industries of the future. Japan failed miserably at that, and the US didnt exactly distinguish itself the last time it triedironically aimed at the same semiconductor industry that is getting all the attention today. Indeed, the failure of the then widely-heralded Sematech effort of the late 1980s seems all but forgotten.

...

The US economy is performing well by many accounts. Competitiveness, however, always remains a major challenge. Bidenomics is aimed at addressing this key challenge, a goal I certainly applaud. But is industrial policy, one of Chinas hallmark tactics that we, ourselves, have been so critical of, really the best way to pull it off?

The tax-payer money that Biden is now providing to industries is likely to bump up stock prices and CEO wages through major bullshit projects like the over-hyped garbage in-garbage out patter recognition algorithms that are sold to the public as Artificial Intelligence.

Is there, after all the previous promises and investments, any autonomous driving vehicle out there today that is trusted to do no harm? No?

Well, get ready for another such marketing hype.

Posted by b on June 30, 2023 at 8:41 UTC | Permalink

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June 30, 2023 Ukraine's Zaluzhny Is Back And Asking For More Weapons Last December the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, talked with The Economist. He asked for more weapons which, he said, would allow him to throw the Russian forces out of Ukraine: I know that I can beat this enemy. But I need resources. I need 300 tanks, 600-700 IFVs, 500 Howitzers. Then, I think it is completely realistic to get to the lines of February 23rd. Some seemed to believe his talk. Following the request Ukraine received more or less all of what it had requested. Ukraine then loudly announced a counter-offensive but took several months before launching it. In the meantime it threw all available resources into a useless battle to hold onto the city of Bakhmut against the steady advance of the Wagner mercenary forces. That fight alone cost the Ukraine some 70,000 casualties. Meanwhile the Russian army engineers were building multiple reinforced defense lines which any counter-offensive will now have to overcome. At the beginning of June, under pressure for the U.S., the Ukrainian army finally launched its counteroffensive. It was a dud. The Ukrainian troops entered the Russian security zone miles away from the real defense lines and immediately ran into mine fields and came under intense artillery fire. After 4 weeks of fighting they 'liberated' some 50 square miles of open land and a few small settlements. This came at significant costs: There were fewer than 50 men in the unit, he said, and 30 did not return  they were killed, wounded or captured by the enemy. Five of the units armored vehicles were destroyed within the first hour.

...

For the first hour and a half of the 37ths assault near Velyka Novosilka, the Russians bombarded the unit with nonstop shelling that penetrated their AMX-10 RC armored vehicles, according to Grey, another soldier in the battalion who spoke on the condition that he be identified only by his call sign. The armored vehicles, sometimes called light tanks, were not heavy enough to protect the soldiers, Grey said, and had to be positioned behind them instead of in front.

...

Everyone expected that we would have some kind of support, but unfortunately, for some reason, there was none, Lumberjack said. His commander had little experience, he said, and had counted on assistance from artillery units. But he got confused when he saw that there was none. At this speed it will take the Ukraine many years of fighting and an unlimited supply of weapons and men to kick the Russians out: To put the matter in perspective: Today, Russia controls about 17 percent of the territory that was previously Ukraines. If Ukrainian forces are no more successful in the weeks ahead than they have been so far, Ukraine will not recapture all of its territory for 16 years. Over the last months I used a spreadsheet to list and sum up the Ukrainian casualties as they are listed in the daily reports of the Defense Ministry of Russia. These numbers are likely a bit too high but by what percentage, 10 or 20%, is hard to say. From June 1 to June 30 the numbers sum up to: 313 tanks, 815 Infantry Fighting Vehicles and other armored vehicles, 313 howitzer and other long range artillery systems. The Ukraine also lost some 21,900 men which gives an average of 730 per day. During the month the Russian air defense claimed to have shot down 15 Ukraine planes, 5 helicopters, 200 HIMARS and 20 Storm Shadow 'wonder weapon' missiles. Those numbers do not include the significant damage Russia has done to defense repair shops, weapon and ammunition depots all over Ukraine with its constant long range missile attacks. In total the Ukraine lost in one months more than Zaluzhny requested back in December and more than it has received during the time since. In the Washington Post Zaluzhny is back and begging for more weapons: For Ukraines counteroffensive to progress faster, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the top officer in Ukraines armed forces, says he needs more  of every weapon. And he is telling anyone who will listen, including his American counterpart Gen. Mark A. Milley as recently as Wednesday, that he needs those resources now. In a rare, wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post, Zaluzhny expressed frustration that while his biggest Western backers would never launch an offensive without air superiority, Ukraine still has not received modern fighter jets but is expected to rapidly take back territory from the occupying Russians. American-made F-16s, promised only recently, are not likely to arrive until the fall  in a best-case scenario. His troops also should be firing at least as many artillery shells as their enemy, Zaluzhny said, but have been outshot tenfold at times because of limited resources. Zaluzhny wants F-16s and more ammunition but also more of 'every weapon'. Here are the problems. When Zaluzhny will get his F-16s he will immediately learn that the Russian Su-35 is by far superior to them. Its radar can see farther than the F-16's and its long range over-the-horizon missiles can kill the F-16s before they even have a chance to fire their own ones. The 'west' is currently unable to produce as much ammunition as Ukraine wants to fire. And while the U.S. still has some Bradleys and Abrams battle tanks in its reserves the depots for 'every weapon' in other NATO countries are already empty. There are no more tanks, armored vehicles or howitzers they could give away. In total there simply is not enough to replace the losses the Ukraine has on a daily base. Meanwhile Russia is already producing more of every weapon than its military needs for its daily operations. There is no way the Ukraine can win this fight or even hold on to its current positions. That was easy to foresee and predict. Those who urged Ukraine on should be condemned for the murderous slaughter they caused. Ukraine needs to make peace with Russia. Yes, it will come with conditions that are not easy to swallow. Still, there is no other way out. To continue the fight, with ever increasing losses of men and land, is not a sustainable alternative. Posted by b on June 30, 2023 at 15:05 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
President Vo Van Thuong, military officials, and members of Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 5 and Engineering Unit Rotation 2 at the deployment ceremony on June 29 (Photo: VNA)

The event saw the presence of President Vo Van Thuong, Commander of the peoples armed forces and Chairman of the National Defence and Security Council.

Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 5, which will replace Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 4 in South Sudan, consists of 63 members, including 11 females. Meanwhile, Engineering Unit Rotation 2, replacing Engineering Unit Rotation 1 in Abyei, has 184 members, including 19 females.

In his speech, President Vo Van Thuong affirmed the Party and States consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and diversification and multilateralisation of external relations for regional and global peace, cooperation, and development. He stressed that the country's political commitment is to stay ready to join hands in settling difficult issues and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for cooperation and development.

So far, the country has sent 533 officers and professional soldiers to UN peacekeeping operations, and they have properly fulfilled their tasks. The achievements by the UN peacekeeping force of Vietnam have been highly valued, helping with the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Millennium Development Goals of the UN.

The State leader affirmed that the Party and State always put trust in the Vietnamese peacekeeping force, are proud of the forces achievements, and also believe that the deployed units will build up attainments of their predecessors and bring into play their mettle, wisdom, and capabilities during the performance of the noble duties assigned by the Party, State, army, and people to meet requirements of the UN.

President Vo Van Thuong also took this occasion to thank the UN, international partners, and peace-loving people around the world for their precious assistance for Vietnams national construction and safeguarding, as well as preparations for and deployment of personnel to UN peacekeeping missions./.
The Guam Department of Education headquarters is seen Monday, June 26, 2023, in Tiyan. Legislation to require the Guam Department of Education to create standardized procedures to locate and mitigate health hazards and keep the public adequately informed made headway Tuesday, June 27, 2023, during session of the Guam Legislature.
Highlands women make a stand against the senseless killing of another victim of sorcery accusation-related violence.
Cars race down the track on May 21, 2023, at the Guam International Raceway in Yigo.
People visit a China-Africa achievement exhibition during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

As the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off in Changsha on Thursday, a further boost is widely expected in China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

CHANGSHA/NAIROBI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Earlier this week, the first batch of Kenya's dried anchovies arrived at the Changsha Huanghua International Airport in central China's Hunan Province, adding to a long list of African products that were granted access to the Chinese market.

The small dried fish has become the latest epitome of prospering China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. And as the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off in Changsha on Thursday, a further boost is widely expected in China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

COOPERATION BOOMING

At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in September 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the decision to establish the China-Africa economic and trade expo.

Over the years, the biennial expo has become an important platform for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

The current edition of the expo has witnessed remarkable growth, with the main exhibition hall occupying a larger area and over 1,500 exhibitors participating, a 70 percent increase compared to the previous event.

Grace Njapau, director of Kakanga Food Suppliers in Zambia, is attending the expo for the second time. This time, she treats Chinese customers to organic honey and moringa seeds.

"Every time we come to China, we discover new business opportunities. The Chinese market is a land of opportunity, and we are also willing to bring higher quality African goods to China," said Njapau, who has been doing business with her Chinese partners since 2001.

Over the past more than 20 years, Njapau has witnessed and experienced the progress of China-Africa economic cooperation towards prosperity.

In a congratulatory letter to the expo in 2019, Xi said it is hoped that the two sides will actively explore new paths for cooperation, open up new points of growth for collaboration, and promote China-Africa economic and trade cooperation to a new level.

Over the years, the expo has become a booster for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. The previous two editions have witnessed the signing of 216 cooperative projects or agreements worth a total of 43.02 billion U.S. dollars.

From the trading and processing center for African non-resource products to the China-Africa cross-border RMB center, the expo is expanding the scope of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

This photo taken on May 23, 2023 shows containers to be transported near the Nairobi Station of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway in Nairobi, Kenya. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

BROADENING PROSPECT

A day before the expo opened, South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga C. Cwele arrived in Changsha and showcased in a live stream a variety of African specialties to Chinese consumers, including South African white wine, Ethiopian coffee beans, and Guinean drums, which attracted a large audience, hence a flurry of orders.

In recent years, an increasing number of African products have entered the Chinese market and gained popularity among consumers. China now has become the second-largest destination for African agricultural exports.

Such an achievement was made as a visible result of the nine programs in deepening China-Africa cooperation put forward by Xi at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2021.

As the scale and scope of trade between China and Africa continue to expand, bilateral cooperation is extending into emerging fields such as digital and green industries.

During a meeting with President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May this year, Xi said that China is ready to provide new opportunities for African countries with its new development.

Under the spotlight at the expo are Chinese companies engaged in Africa's new energy industries, including Hunan Hyliess New Energy Technology Co., Ltd, a company from Changsha, which has already declared cooperative intentions with over 100 African customers.

"The new energy industry in Africa is developing rapidly," Li Zhenchao, sales manager of the company, told Xinhua. Currently, business from the African region accounts for nearly half of the company's total, Li added.

Cooperation with China is a win-win process with positive results, Cwele told Xinhua after finishing his live stream. "We see a lot of opportunities from our cooperation."

An exhibitor introduces products to a visitor during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

MOVING FORWARD

China has been Africa's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years. In 2022, the total trade volume between China and Africa reached 282 billion dollars, representing an 11.1 percent year-on-year growth.

Specifically, China's exports to Africa amounted to 164.5 billion dollars, increasing by 11.2 percent, while imports from Africa reached 117.5 billion dollars, growing by 11 percent.

An ever-closer trade and economic relationship is a testament to the success of building a China-Africa community with a shared future.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Xi's proposal of the concept of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, and the right approach to justice and interests, the guiding principles of China's Africa policy.

Over the past decade, under those principles, China-Africa relations have been propelled into the fast lane of development.

This photo shows an outdoor exhibition area at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

In his message to the 36th African Union Summit in February, Xi said that cooperation between China and Africa is moving steadily forward in an all-round, multi-tiered and high-quality fashion, which takes the lead in international collaboration with Africa.

Xi added that he stands ready to work with leaders of African countries to build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.

Echoing Xi's remarks, Costantinos Berhutesfa, a professor of public policy at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said that it's the political justice, mutual economic benefit, win-win cooperation, and common development that laid the basis for a shared future of Africa and China.

Africans are already benefiting from such a shared future.

For Kenyan fisherman Abdi Bakari Dura, whose source of livelihood has been anchovy fishing for over a decade, the opening-up of the Chinese market means a steady and sustained income for him.

"Thanks to the vast Chinese market, we no longer have to worry that our fish may go unsold," said the 30-year-old fisherman.

Editor: GSY
The color guard of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force marches in the 75th Liberation Day parade July 21, 2019, in Hagatna.
Maryna Holub, founder and , GOLUBi GROUP Communications Agency

When Elon Musk commits a managerial error or voices an absurdity, this puts new cracks in the reputation of a visionary genius created by successes of his automobile Tesla start-up. SpaceX space company, and Starlink satellite internet network. Musks contradictory peace-making statements which caused Ukrainians indignation, the unsuccessful Twitter story which has shattered belief in his business competence, do contain ample material not for hate but for analysis. The trajectory of the rise of the superhero entrepreneur proves that we have a lot in common. The reason for his fall will give the answers to the most important question: what can go wrong with us Ukrainians when we are victorious in this war?

The rise of the SpaceX demolishes the myth that the wealth of the Western world has grown on the soil of hothouse conditions for business. Here is just one episode from the biographic book, Liftoff. Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days (available in the Ukrainian translation as well). A small group of staff members of a space start-up were at last ready to present a product they developed at a special platform. A competing state structure has let them there clearly with a thought that there was a 98-percent probability that this start-up fails, just as many of its predecessors. The start-uppers have worked for several years, they paid their rent regularly, they had invested several million dollars in equipping the premises, and then it turned out that they were ready to launch their device and present it to potential clients. So what does the platforms owner, the state structure do? They thank the start-uppers very much and assure them that they could present their apparatus on this platform. However, there was a nuance: first, the state structure would launch their apparatus there. We dont know the precise timeline, the state structure says, but you are second in line, one hundred percent! The delicate art of sending someone off without ever saying no is the language of state structures of every country. Ukrainian agrarians who got permission for transit of grain through Europe with some nuances are well aware of how it works

Musk tried to build a space rocket not like anyone else: employing 200 people, not 20,000; in a garage, not at a plant; having designed it on a computer worth 700 Dollars, not 5 million. He had invested a lot of time, money, and emotion in his company, and for several years had got almost nothing in return. Maybe, instead of sending Musk to follow the Russian warship after his peace-making statements another tone should have been chosen, as well as different communication senses. Parallels should have been drawn with the time when his SpaceX was a small start-up whose success was very much doubted while the big space was divided between big players. We could have said that this was really the situation of the state of Ukraine! We could have convinced other people that Ukraine is not a beggar and not a hoover for the money of American taxpayers but a brave start-up country. That for us, 24 February 2024 was what September 2008 was for him, when he realized that there were just two options left for SpaceX: they either rise to the sky or they meet their end. The three first launches were all failures, the money was running out, the economic crisis was nearing, and all the rational arguments proved that his companys chances of survival were too small. The competitors, in abundance in that community, were counting days until Musks company was supposed to cease to exist which meant that they would be able to further get generous government order without any risks. SpaceX, however, had not surrendered! Ukraine has not surrendered as well, it resisted, contrary to all forecasts of the best intelligence services of the world.

Since olden times, people were looking for the answer: what to do and in which order to be successful and happy? Part of the niche occupied several centuries ago wholly by religion is now filled by non-fiction literature on successful entrepreneurs. It may seem at the first glance that in Twitter Elon Musk has repeated the order of action that we see in descriptions of success of SpaceX. He risked huge money; he challenged authorities and competitors; he was maintaining the tonus and the tension within the team. When SpaceX was rising, Musks staff were working for 16 hours a day at a Pacific island, and slept on the shore under naked sky so that their rocket is not suddenly blown away by the wind. In Twitter, Musk has created such conditions that in order to meet deadlines conscientious employees sleep in offices in sleeping bags. But is the introduction of the blue paid tick mark in Twitter something that will change the world? Will it really motivate people to give their life time and health to this?

Today, many countries of the world unconditionally believe in Ukraines victory, consider us a superhero country, and are prepared to oversee the rebuilding of our ruined cities. On the one hand, we have to rejoice: the entire world wants to build Ukraines future. Do we know, however, what is the basic principle for our reconstruction, and what our future is going to be? The documents of the conferences on Ukraines rebuilding that we saw in London and in Lugano speak of economy, education, roads, and how much money is needed for this. However, the main thing is not there: what our idea is?

Lets remember the first migratory processes to the USA. Why the huge number of people from the world over wanted to go there? What could they have known then about this country in closed societies, without Internet? For them, it was enough to know that the American Dream was there. Theres the idea that people go somewhere for the sake of better life. However, is this better life measured only by the size of salary? Many Ukrainians live now in various European countries. Have their lives become better just because their salaries have grown? Is it only money that is the measure of what the country should be? Can we say that well be given a certain number of billions, and Ukraine will become happy at once? Certainly not. Lets look at Elon Musk. He wanted to build his rocket not to earn money but to go into space not depending on state-owned monopoly companies, and to study Mars! The SpaceX employees knew and shared his idea. They were ready to risk their careers and their future in order to implement it.

Yes, they will help us to rebuild our ruined schools. But what they will teach there? Will there be the specialists required by the current life? Or will we stay within the framework of the Soviet system, and young Ukrainian specialist wont be capable of working within the global context because they would not know two or three European languages, not to mention the basic English here? What kind of education system will we build and how we have to become integrated in European and global science? How will we rebuild our cities? Will we be just restoring what we had before, with the same inferior communal services system? Who, what and how will ride our roads? If we announce that we want to get rid of the carbon dioxide dependency and that we are aiming at renewable energy and electric cars, this means that the rebuilt roads should be different.

Ukraines heroic resistance has caught attention and hearts of the civilized world. However, emotional fuel has a limited usage period, and everything will change once we are victorious. The superheros halo wont hide lack of vision and wont provide the life-long immunity against critical assessment and inconvenient questions.

When Elon Musk bough Twitter, thus entering the highly competitive social networks market, it became clear that all his money, all his excentric actions, all the desperate efforts are in vain if there is no dream, no idea that would capture the world. The idea of boundless freedom of speech in Twitter does not make you hold your breath! The idea of planting money wherever it can be buried can fascinate diggers only, and temporarily, at that. The post-war Ukraine will also face a colossal competition for money, for resources, for people. Very many people have left Ukraine. What has to be done for them to want to come back? I assure you that raising minimal salary wont help us bring those people back. Putting end to combat wont help to bring them back either. The Ukrainian Dream and Idea will help do this. They just have to be there for this!
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed creating a platform where the business community will have a regular opportunity to share problematic issues, Deputy Head of the President's Office Rostyslav Shurma will lead this initiative, Andy Hunder, President of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), told its members following the meeting of the head of state with business on Thursday.

According to the head of AmCham, among the issues discussed was pressure on business from law enforcement agencies.

"The key topic of discussion was the sudden raids of armed security forces in the homes of businessmen and security checks. The President is considering the possibility of creating only one agency responsible for the checks," Hunder said.

According to co-founder of the Center for Economic Recovery Andriy Dlihach, who also participated in the meeting, the only body that can have direct physical contact during inspections may be the Economic Security Bureau when it is rebooted.

"Pressure from the security forces and other government agencies. Our studies show that 65% of entrepreneurs suffer from this. The President is aware. And he proposes a solution," Dlihach wrote on the issue of a single inspection body.

He added that the issue of the return of checks was also discussed as an obligation under the program with the IMF. "The solution is only for large businesses. And physically only from a single body," the co-founder of the Center for Economic Recovery said.

Hunder stressed that there is a huge demand for justice and now is the time to join forces. "We stand ready to give the government our best support through our legal committee, which includes more than 1,000 of the best lawyers. Business just needs a champion of judicial reform to work and achieve this together," the President of AmCham said.

He added that at the business meeting with Zelenskyy, the illegal market was also discussed: the share of illegal tobacco products in the total volume of the Ukrainian market in 2023 reached 20.2%.

Hunder also said that the reduction of tax rates during the war, according to the memorandum of the IMF, is unlikely, this issue will arise after the end of the war.

According to Dlihach, the meeting raised the issue of claims of the State Audit Office in connection with the profit pledged by the suppliers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in contracts, which Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal promised to quickly resolve.

The co-founder of the Center for Economic Recovery also said that the president heard about the problems in the work of ARMA and promised to look into the situation.

"The meeting made a good impression, even if the president and the team were more ready for discussion than business. Our task in the future is more specific," Dlihach said.
London prosecutor calls Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey a sexual bully who preys on men View Photo

LONDON (AP)  Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey got a thrill preying on other men and escalated his behavior from touchy-feely advances to hostile fondling and worse, a prosecutor told jurors Friday during Spaceys sexual assault trial in London.

Spacey is a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable  a sexual bully, prosecutor Christine Agnew said in her opening statement. His preferred method of assault is, it appears, to grab aggressively other men in the crotch.

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen charges involving four men and allegations that date from 2001 to 2013, when he worked at Londons Old Vic Theatre. The charges include sexual assault, indecent assault and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The stakes for the American actor are high. A conviction could send him to prison, while an acquittal could allow for a career comeback.

Defense lawyer Patrick Gibbs said Spacey denied all allegations of nonconsensual activity and told jurors to ask themselves as they listened to the evidence what  if anything  had occurred when he was with the men. He suggested the alleged victims had other motives and said that Spacey had left himself open to opportunists when he came out as gay in 2020.

What has been reimagined with a sinister spin? Gibbs said. What has been made up or twisted and why and when because all of these allegations happened a long time ago.

He said jurors would hear truths, half-truths, deliberate exaggerations and many damned lies.

Spacey, wearing spectacles and dressed in a light gray suit, white shirt and gold tie, leaned forward behind a window in the dock, listening intently as his lawyer provided a brief overview of the case. Gibbs will present a longer opening statement after the prosecution rests its case.

The actor served as the Old Vic Theatres artistic director from 2003 until 2015. The four men who have accused Spacey of sexual assault, now in their 30s or 40s, did not know each other, but all had the misfortune to attract his attention, Agnew said.

One victim said he was frequently groped against his wishes by Spacey in the early 2000s, culminating with a day when he was driving and the actor, who had been drinking, grabbed his privates so hard it took his breath away and he nearly ran off the road. He told Spacey to never do that again.

Spacey laughed and commented that his getting angry simply turned him on, Agnew said.

Spacey narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips as Agnew spoke, occasionally jotting notes with a pencil on the pages of a large black binder he carried into court.

During questioning by police last year, Spacey said he was baffled and deeply hurt by those allegations from someone he considered a friend. He said the events had been reimagined into lies.

Agnew said Spacey seemed to be confident the men wouldnt tell anyone  that the word of a celebrity would be more believable than from someone who wasnt famous.

None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey  in a sexual way, but he doesnt seem to have cared very much for their feelings, the prosecutor said. He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification.

Another man who said Spacey groped him at a charity event in 2005 only told one friend about it until speaking with police in 2017.

Kevin Spacey  was a star, a golden boy as he put it, Agnew said about the man. He wasnt sure he would be believed, and even if he had been, he didnt think that he would receive any support.

In his statement to police, Spacey said he hadnt done anything without consent. He said it was entirely possible and indeed likely he had made a clumsy pass but denied grabbing anyones crotch. He suggested some of the men were seeking financial gain.

An aspiring actor who said he reached out to Spacey for career advice ended up at his London apartment drinking beer and smoking marijuana in 2008. He either fell asleep or passed out on the sofa and when he awoke, Spacey was performing oral sex on him, Agnew said.

The man, who was in his early 20s, said Spacey told him not to tell anyone what had happened and not to mention he had been in Spaceys apartment. The man said he was in shock as Spacey held the door open for him to leave, and that he then walked to a bus stop where he sat down and cried.

He decided to speak with police in 2017 after reading about allegations against Spacey in the U.S., Agnew said.

Spaceys career was derailed when sexual misconduct allegations against him arose as the #MeToo movement exploded. He was written off the Netflix political thriller House of Cards, where he played lead character Frank Underwood, a ruthless and corrupt congressman who becomes president. He was cut from the completed film All the Money in the World, with the scenes getting reshot with Christopher Plummer.

A jury of nine men and five women, including two alternates, will decide his fate during the four-week trial in Southwark Crown Court, where he is identified by his full name, Kevin Spacey Fowler. The actor, who has homes in London and the U.S., is free on bail.

Spacey became one of the most celebrated actors of his generation in the 1990s, starring in films including Glengarry Glen Ross and LA Confidential.

He has earned multiple prominent acting awards for the theater, the silver screen and television. He won an Academy Award for supporting actor in The Usual Suspects in 1995 and best actor Oscar for the 1999 movie American Beauty.

Spacey recently had his first film role in several years, appearing in 2022 in Italian director Franco Neros The Man Who Drew God, and playing the late Croatian President Franjo Tudjman in the biopic Once Upon a Time in Croatia. He also stars in the unreleased U.S. film Peter Five Eight.

He has suggested he would be in demand if he is acquitted.

There are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges, Spacey said in an interview published this month in Germanys Zeit magazine.

Agnew told jurors they would have to evaluate the credibility of the victims and decide if they were telling the truth or manufacturing allegations for profit.

The prosecution suggest that Mr. Spacey  abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him, Agnew said. Taking what and who he wanted, when he wanted.

By BRIAN MELLEY

Associated Press
Police ID 4-year-old girl whose remains were found in Toronto dumpster last year

TORONTO (AP)  Canadian police on Thursday identified a young girl whose remains were found in a construction-site dumpster in Toronto more than a year ago.

Hank Idsinga, unit commander of Torontos Homicide and Missing Persons Unit, identified her as four-year-old Neveah Tucker.

Police said there have been no arrests or charges in the case and they continue to investigate. A cause of death has not yet determined.

She would have been nearing 5 years old when her body was found in the dumpster, Idsinga said.

Investigators believe Neveah, who was born in May 2017, died sometime in 2021. Her remains were found in the dumpster in May 2022.

Idsinga said police were able to make the identification in part through a tip from a member of the community and the work of forensic investigators.

Police say the girls mother, who lives in Toronto, was told earlier Thursday about the identification.

Last year Toronto police released two sketches of the girl, completed by an artist with Ontario Provincial Police who works with the coroners office.

The girls body was found wrapped in a butterfly patterned baby blanket inside a plastic bag, which itself was wrapped in a burgundy and red blanket, investigators said.

The discovery last year shocked the neighborhood  one of the wealthiest in the country  and sent investigators in search of the missing girl all over Canada and around the world.
Pope meets with wife and family of Julian Assange, who says pontiff concerned by his suffering

Pope meets with wife and family of Julian Assange, who says pontiff concerned by his suffering View Photo

VATICAN CITY (AP)  Pope Francis met Friday with imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assanges wife Stella, who said the popes gesture in receiving her was evidence of his ongoing show of support for our familys plight and concern over her husbands suffering.

In an interview with The Associated Press after the audience, Stella Assange recalled that Francis had sent a letter to her husband in March 2021, during a particularly difficult period.

He has provided great solace and comfort and we are extremely appreciative for his reaching out to our family in this way, she told AP. He understands that Julian is suffering and is concerned.

Assange has spent four years in Britains Belmarsh Prison fighting extradition to the U.S., where he faces up to a 175-year sentence on espionage charges for publishing classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.

Before that, Assange had taken asylum for seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations.

Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed, but British judges have kept Assange in prison pending the outcome of the long-running extradition case.

The Vatican didnt release any details of the private audience, other than to confirm that it happened. The Argentine Jesuit pope has long expressed solidarity with prisoners, frequently visiting detainees on his foreign visits and prioritizing prison ministry when he was archbishop in Buenos Aires.

Stella Assange, a lawyer who married her husband in prison in 2022, said she and Francis spoke in Spanish, and that she showed him two photos of their wedding. She called the audience overwhelming and noted that she brought along her mother, brother and the couples two young sons, Gabriel and Max, who were conceived during Julian Assanges time in the embassy.

The visit came as Stella Assange has been seeking to drum up political support for her husbands cause, including a visit to his native Australia last month. She said there was a growing consensus that his continued detention was inhumane.

I have a lot of faith that the situation will change, and there are a lot of people around the world, from all parts of the world here and elsewhere, who are trying to get justice and see freedom for my husband, she said.

Citing Australias intervention, human rights organizations and press freedom organizations, she said there was growing consensus that what is being done to my husband is inhumane, that he is suffering, that hes been in prison for four years for publishing true information revealing the killing of innocents and criminality and injustice.

To his supporters, Assange is a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. American prosecutors allege he helped former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks later published, putting lives at risk.

___

Nicole Winfield contributed; Jill Lawless contributed from London.

By REBECCA PRECIUTTI

Associated Press
As Mexican town mourns slain anti-gang leader, brother warns community would take up arms again

As Mexican town mourns slain anti-gang leader, brother warns community would take up arms again View Photo

LA RUANA, Mexico (AP)  As people mourned the slain leader of an armed civilian defense movement, his younger brother warned Friday that he and others who fought with Hipolito Mora would take up arms again if the government does not provide swift justice.

Mora, a beloved lime grower-turned-vigilante leader, inspires loyalty in the rural west of Michoacan state. And much as they did when he led an uprising a decade ago, residents feel abandoned by the government to the whims of multiple criminal organizations battling over the territory.

If the governor does nothing to get us justice in the next few days and get these (gangsters) out of here, were going to call on the people; were going to take up arms, Guadalupe Mora Chavez, the slain leaders younger brother, said. He said many people had called him offering their support and ready to join the fight again.

There has to be justice, Mora Chavez said. If the government doesnt do it, we are going to do it.

The Michoacan state prosecutors office said Mora was killed Thursday when unidentified gunmen cut off his SUV and his bodyguards pickup truck on a street in La Ruana, his hometown. The assailants opened fire, riddling Moras vehicle with bullets, and then set it on fire, the prosecutors office said.

Three other men, believed to be members of his security detail, were also killed. Prosecutors said one of the four bodies matched Moras description.

Mora was one of the last surviving leaders of Michoacans armed vigilante movement, in which farmers and ranchers banded together to expel the Knights Templar cartel from the state in 2013 and 2014.

In more recent years, Mora unsuccessfully ran for congress and governor. He continued speaking out about the violent gangs and went back to tending his lime orchards.

His younger brother blamed another homegrown cartel terrorizing the area for Moras killing. The cartel that is here, the Viagras, were the ones who killed him, Mora Chavez said.

Mora Chavez said he saw armed men driving around La Ruana earlier Thursday and called his brother to warn him. He said his brother told him he was aware.

Mora Chavez, who lives beside a local military base for Mexican army and National Guard troops, said that after seeing armed men in town, he climbed onto his roof to look over a base wall. There was no one inside.

The soldiers had left the base early Thursday and did not arrive at the scene until after the attack, which lasted nearly an hour, he alleged. He does not think it was coincidence.

They left in agreement with them (the attackers) so that they could come him and kill them, Mora Chavez alleged. The townspeople threw buckets of water to put out (the fire) and (the troops) didnt arrive.

The security forces at the base in La Ruana fought to keep the hyper-violent Jalisco New Generation cartel from entering but did nothing against the homegrown Viagras as they extorted locals and taxed everything from tortillas to soft drinks and beer, suffocating local business, the grieving brother alleged.

Mora Chavez said people should remember his brother as a leader who fought for his people, but unfortunately, this government didnt support him. It was against him.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denied the military was in any way involved in Moras death.

Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ramirez Bedolla had asked Mora to leave La Ruana for his own safety, Lopez Obrador said the governor had told him.

Meanwhile, in the state capital, Morelia, another person who fought alongside Mora read Friday from what he said was a posthumous message from the slain leader.

I said it many times, I knew this day would come, David Cevallos said as he read the words that he said Mora composed at some point before his death. I said it, I am going to die fighting.

The message also addressed those in power, telling government leaders to focus on the citizens before your campaigns and your pockets.

Dont let my death be in vain, and to my family, my friends, my loyal followers, do what you have to do so that the fight that I started continues being on behalf of a just cause for citizens, Mora wrote.

Back in La Ruana, small knots of people, perhaps 50 in all, gathered quietly on the dirt road outside the home where Moras coffin lay, surrounded by candles and religious imagery.

Many of the mourners  some of whom participated alongside Mora in the 2013 uprising  spoke on condition of anonymity, citing their fear of the drug cartel gunmen who they say still lurk in the area. Moras brother lamented fear had kept more people from showing up to pay their respects.

One relative drew a long sigh when asked if the yearslong struggle to throw out the cartels was worth it. No, she said, I think it wasnt. Were worse off now than we were.

Lopez Obrador said Moras killing was very regrettable. But he also said that violence in Michoacan state had antecedents. The president then embarked on one of his preferred harangues about how former President Felipe Calderon launched the failed war on drugs from the very state of Michoacan, something Lopez Obrador blames for the violence that continues to plague Mexico today.

Asked during his daily news briefing Friday to comment on Moras killing, Lopez Obrador said, That is a remnant of the violence that the government sponsored and allowed.

A relative of Moras who also requested anonymity fearing reprisals brushed off the presidents assurance that Mora had been warned he was in danger. This is his town. His lime orchards are here, he was watching them, the relative said. Of course he had to come back. How wouldnt he?

Moras brother accused the governor of being in bed with the Viagras. Those who govern here are supporting organized crime, he said.

At the spot a short distance away from where Mora died, there was nothing left but a charred patch of dirt street, traces of a tire, someones eyeglasses and broken glass. The windows of a house facing the street were completely shot up.

There was no visible presence of the National Guard, soldiers or police.

A witness to Thursdays attack who requested anonymity out of fear said the attack had been an ambush. The witness said that while under attack, Mora got out of his armored SUV and returned fire. After he was killed, the attackers set fire to his vehicle and started shouting in celebration.

A video showed gunmen firing from inside a white truck with what appeared to be wood slat sides around its bed. A number of shots from a large caliber gun thunder, followed by rapid fire from a machine gun.

Others in the town felt bereft and unprotected following Moras death.

(Mora) answered for the people, he fought, a retired lime packer said as he and his wife had lunch at a local restaurant. Now who is going to look after us?

___

Fernanda Pesce contributed; Christopher Sherman and Maria Verza contributed from Mexico City.

By MARK STEVENSON and EDUARDO VERDUGO

Associated Press
UC Merced Campus View Photo

Sacramento, CA  California has banned affirmative action at its state-run universities since the passage of Proposition 209 in the mid-nineties, and the US Supreme Court has now ruled that affirmative action as a means for admissions is unconstitutional at all universities.

Governor Gavin Newsom is criticizing the earlier state action, and the new ruling. He says, The impact of Prop 209, and the impact the regents made, has been profound and consequential. Now, the impacts will be felt in private universities, not just public universities. It will be felt at Stanford, USC, Caltech, and other universities that will struggle, like the UC and CSU systems have struggled to make up for it. It is going to have a big impact across this country.

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher is praising the ruling, stating, Treating people differently based on the color of their skin is wrong no matter what. Hiring and college admissions decisions should be based on each individuals qualifications, not their race. California has led the way by rejecting affirmative action and the Supreme Court has rightfully given everyone an equal opportunity at higher education. Todays decision is a victory for our values of equality and opportunity.

California voters declined to reinstate affirmative action at the state universities when it was asked as a 2020 ballot measure.

The US Supreme Court is expected to release a ruling today on President Bidens student loan forgiveness action, and on an LGTBQ rights case.
FNL Tuolumne County Summerville Bears Campus Action Group students attended the FNL Summit student conference in Anaheim November 2022 (L to R Kaleah Caudillo, Ben Diamond, Jace Hewitt and Madi Soto; Audrey Patey standing in the background). Photo courtesy of ATCAA View Photo

Sonora, CA  ATCAA will receive $240,000 to expand its successful Friday Night Live youth initiatives.

In response to an increasing number of students struggling with mental health challenges, members of the California Friday Night Live Partnership (which covers 50 of the states 58 counties), were challenged through a grant process to come up with ways to expand and strengthen their programs in tandem with local county schools.

Friday Night Live (FNL) is focused on substance use prevention, and helps students foster leadership, communication and relationship-building skills. The programs also focus on social-emotional learning best practices.

The Amador Tuolumne Community Action Agency already has FNL chapters at Summerville, Sonora and Gold Rush High Schools, and similar programs for younger students at Gold Rush Country School.

With the new revenue, ATCAA hopes to establish 10 more chapters, including a countywide FNL Youth Council and FNL Mentoring.

Schools that are interested in participating may contact Youth Development Programs Coordinator Tori Bors at tbors@atcaa.org and/or Prevention Programs and YES Partnership Director Bob White at rwhite@atcaa.org.

Yes Partnership Director White says, Poor mental health has become an epidemic among youth across the country and continues to worsen in rural areas like Tuolumne County, which already exceeds the statewide average for youth depression, anxiety, suicide ideation and substance use  so this grant could not have come at a better time.

ATCAA Executive Director Joe Bors adds, The new funding allows us to enhance our already strong partnership with local schools. It provides more positive youth development opportunities and supportive campus and youth activities that are consistent with our mission to promote the well-being of our youth and their families, enabling them to thrive.

Summerville High 2023 graduate Audrey Patey, who also serves as Tuolumne Countys representative on the FNL California Youth Council (CYC) adds, As a student I wanted to be more involved in my community while also pushing forward positive changes in my school as well as the county and Friday Night Live was just the club to help me accomplish those goals and more. Not only does it encourage students to be in touch with their community but also provides fun and educational activities that empower students and advocate for healthy lifestyles whether that be supporting positive relationships or discouraging substance abuse. I am very grateful to still be involved with this wonderful organization.

ATCAA notes that it also plans to hire three full-time Youth Development Program staff members in July.
The Nova Poshta group of companies has launched the first Nova Post branch in the German capital, Berlin, according to a press release on Friday.

"We plan to continue to enter new markets and develop a network in those countries where we already have a presence, because we strive to logistically connect Ukraine with the world, and eventually connect all countries with each other," Volodymyr Popereshniuk, co-owner of Nova Poshta, said.

By the end of the year, the company plans to open branches in Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, Munich and Cologne.

According to Nova Poshta, delivery to Germany will be carried out from five days, and its cost is determined according to the scheme: parcels up to 1 kg - 250 UAH, up to 2 kg - 400 UAH, up to 10 kg - 600 UAH, and the cost of a parcel up to 30 kg - UAH 1,200.

In the first branch in Berlin, private customers and businesses can receive and send parcels up to 100 kg, it is open from Monday to Saturday.

As reported, Nova Poshta is already operating in Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Moldova and Romania.
UN votes to establish independent body to clarify fate of over 130,000 Syrians missing in conflict View Photo

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Thursday that will establish an independent body to determine what happened to more than 130,000 people missing as a result of the conflict in Syria.

The resolution, an important response to appeals by their families and loved ones, was adopted by the 193-member world body on a vote of 83-11 with 62 abstentions. Among those opposing the resolution was Syria, which said it will not cooperate with the new institution. Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and Iran also voted no.

The resolution, spearheaded by Luxembourg, noted that after 12 years of fighting in Syria little progress has been achieved in alleviating the suffering of families by providing answers as to the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons.

It authorizes the establishment of an Independent Institution of Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic, under U.N. auspices, to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons  and to provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing.

It says victims, survivors and the families of the missing should be represented in the new body, which will be guided by principles including do no harm, impartiality, transparency and the confidentiality of sources and information.

Under the resolution, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres must present terms of reference for the new institution within 80 working days and take steps to speedily establish the body and put it in operation. It requests the U.N. chief to report on implementation of the resolution within 100 working days.

Luxembourgs U.N. ambassador, Olivier Maes, told the General Assembly before the vote that every day families, especially women, face administrative and legal difficulties, financial uncertainties and deep trauma as they continue to search for their missing loved ones.

He noted that Guterres recommended in a report last August that U.N. members consider establishing an independent institution to clarify the fate of the missing. The U.N. chief cited insufficient coordination among current bodies dealing with Syrias missing and said families often had to report disappearances to multiple places.

Maes said the new institution will be a one-stop shop and serve as a single place to collect and compare data and ensure coordination and communication with all parties.

Syrian Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh called the resolution politicized, saying it clearly reflects flagrant interference in our internal affairs and provides new evidence of the hostile approach of the United States and other Western nations to his country.

Urging a no vote, he said Syria has addressed the issue of missing persons, processed all claims of disappearances submitted to law enforcement authorities and carried out independent investigations in accordance with Syrian law and on the basis of available information and resources.

U.S. deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis said many of the missing were unjustly detained or taken by the parties to the conflict, including individuals believed to be missing at the hands of the Islamic State extremist movement and other terrorist groups.

Nearly every Syrian family is affected by this issue, he said. Confirming the fate and whereabouts of the miissing, securing their release, and returning the remains of those who perished to their families is a moral and humanitarian imperative.

DeLaurentis said that even with limited or no initial cooperation from Damascus, we believe this institution will make meaningful progress.

Syrias uprising-turned conflict, now in its 13th year, has killed nearly a half million people and displaced half of its prewar population of 23 million. The International Commission on Missing Persons cites U.N. estimates that in 2021 more than 130,000 Syrians were missing as a result of the conflict.

In the run-up to the vote, over 100 civil society organizations and 23 U.N. human rights experts had urged the General Assembly to establish an independent institution.

The organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and a dozen Syrian groups, called on U.N. member nations to support the families right to truth. They noted that the call was also supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross and others.

By EDITH M. LEDERER

Associated Press
Hiroshima peace park and Pearl Harbor memorial will work together to promote peace View Photo

TOKYO (AP)  Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor, two symbols of World War II animosity between Japan and the United States, are now promoting peace and friendship through a sister park arrangement.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui signed a sister park agreement on Thursday for Hiroshimas Peace Memorial Park and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial of Hawaii.

Nobody can go to Pearl Harbor, and nobody can go to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and enter the front door, walk out the exit door and be the same person, Emanuel said at the signing ceremony at the American Embassy in Tokyo.

I think the hope here is that we inspire people from all over the United States and all over Japan to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial and to visit Pearl Harbor so they can learn the spirit of reconciliation, Emanuel said.

Under the sister park arrangement, the two parks will promote exchanges and share experiences in restoring historic structures and landscapes, the use of virtual reality and digital images for preservation and education, and best practices in youth education and tourism management, the embassy said.

The sister arrangement between the two parks related to the beginning and end of the war will be a proof that mankind, despite making the mistake of waging a war, can come to senses and reconciliate and pursue peace, Matsui said.

Japans attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, propelled America into World War II. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killing about 140,000 people, and a second one on Nagasaki three days later, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending the war and a nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.

Since the war, the two countries have built a powerful alliance.

In Hiroshima, some atomic bombing survivors raised concern about the sister park arrangement, saying it could help justify the use of nuclear weapons and should be reconsidered.

I understand anguish and angst is an emotion but I dont think you should be trapped by that, Emanuel said. He said reconciliation between the United States and Japan is the example of what I think this world desperately needs right now.

Emanuel said Pearl Harbor is a revered place in the American psyche, while Hiroshima is an equally revered place in the Japanese psyche, which is why you want to build a sister park agreement to learn from each other.

The two parks became places of reconciliation when then-President Barack Obama paid tribute to atom bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Park as the first serving American leader to visit in May 2016, and then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in return, visited Pearl Harbor in December that year.

Those were key steps in deepening the alliance between our two nations, Obama said in a statement congratulating Thursdays sister park signing and calling it another historic accomplishment.

By connecting our two peoples to our shared past, we can build a shared future grounded in peace and cooperation, he said.

The sister park arrangement is the second between the U.S. and Japan, following one signed in 2016 between Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania and Gifu Sekigahara Battlefield Memorial Museum in what is now Gifu prefecture.

The Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 was an important battle in Japans feudal history. Gettysburg in 1863 is considered a turning point in the U.S. Civil War.

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

Associated Press
Parents of transgender youth are suing to block Georgias gender-affirming care ban View Photo

ATLANTA (AP)  Parents of four transgender children have filed a lawsuit challenging a Georgia law set to take effect Saturday that bans most gender-affirming surgeries and hormone replacement therapies for transgender people under 18.

The law passed along party lines this year by the Republican-majority General Assembly and signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp was hotly contested, with Democrats, parents and medical providers making impassioned arguments against it. Georgia is one of at least 20 states that have enacted laws that restrict or ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, with most currently facing lawsuits.

The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday night, asks a judge to permanently block the law. U.S. District Judge Sarah Geraghty set a hearing for Wednesday on an accompanying motion to prevent the laws enforcement while the legal challenge plays out.

The Georgia law, Senate Bill 140, does allow doctors to prescribe puberty-blocking medications, and it allows minors who are already receiving hormone therapy to continue.

Supporters argue the law will prevent children from making decisions they could later regret.

But opponents say it will have devastating effects on young people, who are making decisions under parental and medical supervision. They argue the law further marginalizes people who are already prone to taking their own lives at disturbingly high rates.

The federal lawsuit was filed by the parents of four transgender girls and by TransParent, an organization that supports parents and caregivers of transgender children. The suit was filed on their behalf by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

They argue the law violates the fundamental rights of parents to make medical decisions to ensure the health and well-being of their children and violates the guarantees of equal protection by denying transgender youth essential, and often lifesaving, medical treatment based on their sex and on their transgender status.

The lawsuit names state health officials as defendants.

Kara Richardson, a spokesperson for Attorney General Chris Carr, said Friday morning that they hadnt received the suit yet.

That said, the Attorney General will do his job, which includes defending laws passed by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, she wrote in an email.

Puberty blockers are only intended to be used for a few years. Delaying puberty for longer carries risks, including keeping their bodies from developing bone density which generally happens during puberty, the suit says.

If the law goes into effect, young people already on puberty blockers will not be able to proceed to hormone therapy. That means they will have to choose between the negative consequences of prolonged use of that medication or stopping the medication and going through puberty to develop secondary sex characteristics that do not match their gender identity, the lawsuit says.

For those not already on puberty-blocking medication, the law discourages doctors from prescribing it at all because allowing a young person to take such medication until they turn 18 is not a viable option under the appropriate standards of care, the lawsuit says.

Prohibiting access to necessary medical care is just cruel, Southern Poverty Law Center Attorney Beth Littrell said in a statement. Laws like this are predicated on prejudice, misinformation, and manufactured fears, and they are as indefensible as they are unconstitutional.

The families who sued have asked the court to let them proceed under pseudonyms because of concerns about their privacy and safety.

Some families said the law would force them to make the disruptive choice to uproot their families to move to a state that allows their children to receive the health care they believe is necessary for them to live happily and thrive.

Gender-affirming health care is best-practice, evidence-based medical treatment that is necessary for the health and happiness of many transgender youth, said ACLU of Georgia legal director Cory Isaacson.

The lawsuit is the latest to target bans on gender-affirming care, after a wave of legislation passed in conservative-led states.

A federal judge struck down Arkansas ban as unconstitutional, and federal judges have temporarily blocked bans in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. Oklahoma has agreed to not enforce its ban while opponents seek a temporary court order blocking it. A federal judge has blocked Florida from enforcing its ban on three children who have challenged the law.

The states that have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, South Dakota and West Virginia.

By KATE BRUMBACK

Associated Press
Floridas new DeSantis-backed laws address immigration, guns and more View Photo

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Employers who hire immigrants in the country illegally will face tough punishments and gun owners will have more freedoms when more than 200 new Florida laws take effect Saturday, many of which Gov. Ron DeSantis will highlight as he seeks the Republican presidential nomination.

DeSantis has taken a hard line on illegal immigration as he campaigns, saying hell finish the Mexican border wall his one-time supporter, Donald Trump, promised to build. Hes also carried out political gimmicks like flying immigrants from Texas to blue states, supposedly before they can get to Florida.

The new employer penalties are a chance for DeSantis to show he doesnt just talk tough on illegal immigration, but hes put in place what some critics say the harshest state law in the country. DeSantis has largely echoed the border policy of Trump, whose endorsement propelled DeSantis to the governors office in 2018. DeSantis is now the former presidents leading competitor for the White House.

The new law expands worker verification requirements, among other provisions. The governors office blames the Biden administration for what it says is a crisis at the southern border.

Any business that exploits this crisis by employing illegal aliens instead of Floridians will be held accountable, said DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern.

But in a state where the largest industries  tourism, agriculture and construction  rely heavily on immigrant labor, there are concerns that the economy could be disrupted when employers are already having a hard time filling open jobs. Floridas unemployment rate is 2.6%.

Samuel Vilchez Santiago, the American Business Immigration Coalitions Florida director, said there are 400,000 undocumented immigrants working in the state and far fewer applicants than jobs.

We are in dire need of workers, especially in construction, the service industry and agriculture, he said. So there is a lot of fear from across the state  that this new law will actually be devastating.

The law forces any company with 25 or more employees to use E-Verify to document new hires eligibility to work or face a loss of business license or fines of $1,000 per day per employee.

The law also forces hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask patients if they are citizens or legally in the United States and voids drivers licenses issued by other states to people in the country illegally.

Protesters have rallied around the state. Dozens of people on Friday waved signs and Mexican, Cuban and American flags in front of the historic Capitol. Rubith Sandoval, 15, helped organize the protest. Her family moved from Mexico and now owns a farm in Quincy.

We work hard in the fields. We pick tomatoes, we pick strawberries, we pick watermelons, oranges, and whos going to do that now? Sandoval said. My parents now have documents, but they still havent forgotten how it was not to have documents.

Republicans have a supermajority in the House and Senate, and only one Republican opposed the legislation. Given DeSantis power and reputation for being vengeful, there has been little vocal opposition among GOP elected officials about the new immigration policy. But that doesnt mean all Republicans are supporting it, either

Independently-elected Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, a Republican, said illegal immigration is a federal problem.

Our state solutions are limited, not particularly effective, and have unintended consequences, Simpson said in an email. I think the Legislatures work to tackle illegal immigration is necessary, whether or not it is effective is yet to be seen.

DeSantis will also be able to tout expanded gun rights under a new law that allows anyone legally able to own a gun to carry it concealed in public without a permit. While concealed weapons permits will still be issued, those choosing to carry without one wont be subject to a background check or training.

The law doesnt ease background checks on gun sales that already require one. Another new law prohibits credit card companies from tracking gun and ammunition sales to prevent them potentially using the data to flag people who make large purchases.

Florida has also banned colleges from using state or federal funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a consistent DeSantis target, and schools will be prohibited from requiring teachers and students to use pronouns that match someones gender identity.

Beginning Saturday, Chinese nationals will be banned from purchasing property in large swaths of the state. A new law applies to properties within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of military installations and other critical infrastructure and also affects citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. But Chinese citizens and those selling property to them face the harshest penalties.

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing in federal court to stop the law, but a judge wont consider an injunction until nearly three weeks after it takes effect. The U.S. Department of Justice provided a brief to the court saying it believes the law is unconstitutional.

DOJ has weighed in because Floridas law is blatantly unconstitutional and violates the Fair Housing Act. Their brief underscores just how egregious the law is, ACLU lawyer Ashley Gorski said in an emailed statement.

DeSantis defended the law using his campaign Twitter account, saying President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland are siding with the Chinese Communist Party.

I side with the American people, the tweet said. As governor, I prohibited CCP-tied entities from buying land in Florida. As president, Ill do the same.

One new law Democrats and Republicans agreed unanimously on is a sales tax exemption on baby and toddler products, including diapers, strollers, cribs and clothing. The tax package also includes exemptions for dental hygiene products and gun safety devices, such as trigger locks.

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON

Associated Press
SOUTHINGTON  Town officials could create an affordable housing trust fund, described as a lock box for money designated to increase cheap housing options in Southington.

However local leaders arent sure how it would be funded and are considering how such a trust would be overseen. Creating such a fund was one of the recommendations in a state-mandated affordable housing study Southington commissioned. The study was completed last year.

A lock box with nothing in it yet

The towns Planning and Zoning Commission has been looking at the studys recommendations and forwarded the idea of a trust fund to the council for consideration. On Monday, the council started discussions on the topic. In addition to questions about how such a trust would be administered, theres concern about how such a trust would be funded.

Connecticut law allows the creation of the trust fund, according to the towns attorney Louis Martocchio. That keeps the money earmarked to increase affordable housing and nothing else.

The money that goes in there, it stays in there, Martocchio told the council. The council, (Board of) finance, has no authority to take them out and use them for anything else except for expenses related to affordable housing.

A proposal before the council would create the trust without an advisory body or funding mechanism. State law also allows towns to raise money for affordable housing through a variety of means.

One of the possible ways of funding it would come from development, a fee associated with developments in town, even a portion of building permits, Martocchio said. Its not required or mandated, but its encouraged.

Councilors question trust set up, funding

Democratic Town Councilor Val DePaolo said the ordinance created by town attorneys to set up the trust fund was a good first step. She wants to see additions such as the creation of an advisory committee thatll oversee the trust and which can advocate for affordable housing.

This advisory committee could really dive deep and see what we have currently, what we could potentially work on, DePaolo said.

She suggested the council continue to consider the ordinance and look at more options at a future meeting.

The addition of another town board, and the possibility of new fees or taxes to fund the trust, bothered some Republican councilors. Republicans hold a majority on the council.

Michael DelSanto, a Republican councilor and former chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said he supports the creation of affordable housing.

I think every community should have it. My concern is, at what cost? Whos going to fund it? he said. Its not fair to hammer the middle class its not fair to hammer business, its not fair to hammer developers.

Republican Town Councilor Tom Lombardi said he had great reservations about the trust and any associated taxes or fees to fund it. During Mondays meeting, he asked about the Southington Housing Authority and if trust money could be used to increase that agencys holdings.

The housing authority is a separate entity from the town and isnt funded by the towns budget. Martocchio and DePaolo, an attorney, were unsure whether the trust could fund a housing authority expansion.

State-set affordable housing goals

Housing should consume no more than 30 percent of a households expenses, according to state officials. Theyve set a goal that each town and city have 10 percent of its housing stock affordable.

With a total of about 18,000 housing units, Southington has an estimated 8,000 houses and apartments that would qualify based on cost alone. But state officials also require that affordable units, to be counted toward the goal, have a deed restriction preventing the rent or cost from rising above affordable limits.

In the last survey of affordable housing conducted by the state, Southington had 5.3% of its housing considered affordable. Much of that was owned by the housing authority, with some deed-restricted affordable housing in other developments. Section 8 housing vouchers, which are tied to a person not a property, also count toward the affordable housing goal.

In towns that dont meet the goal, developers can invoke a state statute that allows them to largely disregard local zoning regulations if a project contains a portion of affordable units. Its an ability thats frustrated town zoning officials and resulted in lawsuits over denied applications.

On Monday, the council tabled the issue. They could discuss it again at its next meeting on July 10.

jbuchanan@record-journal.com203-317-2230Twitter: @JBuchananRJ
JV Nibulon LLC (Mykolaiv), one of the largest operators in the grain market of Ukraine, has attracted EUR 27 million from the Export Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) to increase the capacity of the Besarabsky branch in Izmail, where a granary and a flour mill will be built, the company's press service reported on Facebook.

"We are extremely impressed with the speed of decision-making and support from Denmark in these difficult times for the Ukrainian economy. We need more and more of these positive signals so that others can emulate them," CFO of Nibulon Olha Babanina said.

According to the grain trader, the borrowed funds will be used to build the granary for the simultaneous storage of 118,500 tonnes of grain and a high-tech modern mill with a daily capacity of 750 tonnes.

This infrastructure solution will allow Nibulon to increase the monthly export capacity of the branch to 300,000 tonnes, supply flour to the domestic market, and serve the interests of the mission of protecting food security of the UN World Food Programme through the Danube ports, the company said.

In addition, adding to the company, the construction of new production facilities will increase the number of jobs in the region and attract 100 specialists to work.
How to Remove a Tick Field & Stream

Google accused of ripping off advertisers with video ads no one saw. Now, the expert view The Register

U.S. Economy Shows Surprising Vigor in First Half of 2023 WSJ

Climate

Worlds Largest Gas Station Is a New Buc-ees With 120 Pumps The Drive. Sounds like T.R. Schmidts McHooligans.

Wildfire smoke may have contributed to thousands of extra COVID-19 cases and deaths in western U.S. in 2020 Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Water

#COVID19

Top NIH Official Advised Covid Scientists That He Uses Personal Email to Evade FOIA The Intercept

Uruguay to close schools as paediatric care nears collapse Nate Bear. Why? Tis a mystery!

We Just Learned Something Important about Bird Flu Jessica Wildfire

China?

China Beige Book says credit easing isn't expanding demand. If the problem for businesses was scarce credit, easing credit would be the right way to boost business investment. But if credit is ample and demand is weak, easing credit can't help. https://t.co/Vfq3042G93

Myanmar

The Koreas

India

European Disunion

Protests rock France after police shooting of teenager CNN. Handy maps:

Cartographie des emeutes https://t.co/oHE9npQJc7 pic.twitter.com/JRN4Nl7KQG  Fdesouche.com est une revue de presse (@F_Desouche) June 29, 2023

(If readers have alternative sources to recommend on the riots, or the rebellion, or whatever it is, please leave them in comments; this one is apparently on the far right. There are a ton of videos floating around, and some maps, but the provenance on them all is miserably inadequate.)

France descends into anarchy as violence explodes across country while Emmanuel Macron parties with Elton John GBN

Protests erupt in Belgium over killing of teen delivery driver in France by police Anadolu Agency

Migration mutiny: EU summit deadlocks Politico
On Monday 3 July 2023, the NATO Secretary General, Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, will meet with the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, Mr. James Cleverly, in Brussels.

There will be no media opportunity.

Photographs of the meeting will be available on the NATO website after the event.



For more information:

Contact the NATO Press Office

Follow us on Twitter (@NATO, @jensstoltenberg and @NATOPress)
Texas college FIRES biology professor for teaching students biological fact that chromosomes determine sex

A college in San Antonio, Texas, reportedly terminated a biology professor for teaching students the biological fact that chromosomes determine sex.

Dr. Johnson Varkey was fired by St. Philip's College (SPC), part of the Alamo Colleges District, back in January. His termination stemmed from four students who walked out of his class while he was discussing the standard teaching about X and Y chromosomes in November 2022.

"In his role as an adjunct professor, Varkey taught human anatomy and physiology to more than 1,500 students since 2003," First Liberty Institute (FLI), a law firm representing the fired professor, said in a statement.

"During [his] 20-year employment as a biology professor at SPC, he consistently received exemplary performance reviews and was never subject to discipline. Throughout that time, he never discussed with any student his personal views  religious or otherwise  on human gender or sexuality."

But Varkey's unsullied reputation was tarnished by students denying basic biological truths. Two months after the November 2022 walkout, SPC issued Varkey a notice of discipline and termination of the employment contract letter.

The letter alleged that the college "received numerous complaints" about his "religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric and misogynistic banter." It also falsely claimed that his teaching "pushed beyond the bounds of academic freedom with [his] personal opinions that were offensive to many individuals in the classroom." (Related: 'Woke' researchers claim scientists should ignore biology and drop terms like 'male,' 'female,' 'mother,' 'father.')

FLI pointed out: "In other words, he was fired for teaching true and widely accepted concepts. The statements he made are supported by research, and consistent with his professional experience and education."

Given this, the firm sent a letter to SPC asking the institution to "immediately reinstate Varkey to his position and clear his record of any wrongdoing."

SPC's termination of Varkey unlawful

FLI's letter to the college stated that Varkey's unlawful termination violates several laws that protect Americans from being punished for holding or expressing their religious beliefs.

"When decision-makers at SPC terminated Varkey because of his religious beliefs and classroom statements about biology, they violated several federal and state laws. [These include] the First Amendment, the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," it said.

The law firm also noted that Varkey's scientific statements also reflect his devout Christian religious beliefs. The fired professor also serves as an associate pastor at his San Antonio church and hosts a Bible study ministry on radio.

FLI continued: "Like millions of religious Americans, Varkey has a sincerely held belief that God created humankind male and female. His faith teaches that one's sex is ordained by God; that one should love and care for the body that God gave [them]; and that one should not attempt to erase or alter [their] sex whether through drugs or surgical means."

"From the boardroom to the break room, this hostile corporate culture and anti-religious bias are a serious threat to religious freedom. This reduces good people to second-class status  which is outrageous, wrong and makes a mockery of laws that protect religious Americans from discrimination."

The firm ultimately remarked that Varkey "is the latest example of an everyday American who lost his job to a toxic cancel culture that is infecting employers across the country." It continued: "What SPC did is wrong and Varkey should get his job back. Public universities have no business firing professors for teaching actual science. It's harmful to academic freedom [and] harmful to religious liberty, as the college is sending a message that people of faith are not welcome and need not apply."

Watch this episode of "Another Renz Rant" about the ejection of Pastor Greg Schulz over his stance against racism.

This video is from the Thomas Renz channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Canadian professor fired for refusing to get injected with covid vaccine.

VINDICATED: School district agrees to REINSTATE and PAY teachers fired for refusing COVID-19 shots.

Substitute teacher was FIRED for refusing to "meow" to a student who claims to self-identify as a CAT.

Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

FirstLiberty.org

Brighteon.com
Popular app Discord is being exploited by evil people to GROOM and EXTORT children

Social media has helped people stay in touch regardless of distance, but some apps can also be used for evil purposes. According to a shocking report, the social platform Discord is home to many hidden communities and chat rooms full of adults who exploit the platform to groom children

Data from the review also found evidence that the app is used to trade child sexual exploitation material (CSAM) and extort minors that adults have fooled into sending nude images.

Discord launched in 2015 and rose to fame as a hub for online gamers. During the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, users with different interests spent a lot of time on the app to talk to other people who also wanted to talk about topics like crypto trading and K-pop.

To date, Discord is being used by 150 million people worldwide.

In a review of international, national and local criminal complaints, news articles and law enforcement communications published since 2015, NBC News identified at least 35 cases over the past six years in which adults were prosecuted on charges of grooming, kidnapping or sexual assault.

These cases were allegedly linked to communications on Discord, with 22 occurring during or after the pandemic. At least 15 of the prosecutions ended with guilty pleas or verdicts, and there are still many pending cases. (Related: Majority of parents think big tech, social media corrupting kids.)

Stephen Sauer, the director of the tipline at the Canadian Center for Child Protection (C3P), warned that this is "only the tip of the iceberg."

The cases are varied. In March of this year, a 13-year-old girl from Texas was taken across state lines, raped and found locked in a backyard shed. According to police, the teenager was groomed on Discord for months.

The review also identified 165 more cases, including four crime rings, where adults were prosecuted for sending or receiving CSAM through Discord. Others were prosecuted for allegedly using the social platform to extort children into sending sexually graphic images of themselves, a form of sexual exploitation also called sextortion.

Globally, it is illegal to consume or create CSAM in nearly all jurisdictions. It also violates the app's rules. At least 91 of the prosecutions have resulted in guilty pleas or verdicts, but there are many ongoing cases as of writing.

Discord's young userbase makes it a perfect hunting ground for child predators

Several reports from 2022 revealed that Discord isn't the only platform dealing with distressing issues like online child exploitation.

However, experts believe that Discord's young user base, decentralized structure and multimedia communication tools, together with its steadily growing user base, have turned the app into a hotbed for people who intend to exploit children.

Discord can be used for casual text, audio and video chat in invite-only communities called servers. Some servers are set to provide open invitations to anyone who wants to join. Unlike other platforms, Discord doesn't require the users' real identities. The app can also be used to host large group video and audio chats.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), reports of CSAM on the social platform skyrocketed by an alarming 474 percent from 2021 to 2022. NCMEC operates the U.S. government-supported tipline that receives complaints and reports about child sex abuse and associated activity online.

When Discord responds and cooperates with tiplines and law enforcement, they provide detailed information like account names, messages and IP addresses.

But NCMEC said the platform's responsiveness to complaints has significantly slowed down. In 2021, complaints were addressed in an average of three days. But in 2022, Discord's response time can take at least five days. Other tiplines also complained that Discords responsiveness isn't always reliable.

John Shehan, NCMEC's senior vice president, lamented that the organization has observed an alarming increase in child sexual abuse material and exploitation on Discord.

Discord is currently unable to automatically detect newly created CSAM that hasn't been indexed or messages that could contain signs of grooming.

In a review of publicly listed Discord servers created in May, 242 appeared to have marketed sexually explicit content of minors using thinly veiled terms like "CP" to refer to child sexual abuse material. At least 15 communities appealed directly to teenagers themselves by claiming to be sexual communities for minors. Some of these communities have more than 1,500 members.

Experts are still having a hard time analyzing the full scope of the issue of child exploitation on Discord, but organizations that track reports of abuse on tech platforms have identified themes that they have gleaned from thousands of Discord-related reports they process annually: grooming, creation of child exploitation material and encouragement of self-harm.

Both NCMEC and C3P warned that reports of enticement, luring and grooming, where adults are communicating directly with children, are increasing throughout the internet. Shehan said enticement reports made to NCMEC had almost doubled from 2021 to 2022.

Sauer explained that the group has observed an increase in reports of luring children that involve Discord, which may be attractive to those who want to exploit children because of the apps' many young users and closed-off environment.

He cautioned that many predators will talk to children on other platforms, such as Roblox and Minecraft, before asking them to move to Discord so they can talk directly and privately to the children. In most cases, these adults will set up an individual server that isn't moderated.

Grooming on app often linked to abductions

Grooming that allegedly took place on Discord has resulted in the abduction of dozens of children.

In 2020, a 29-year-old man taught a 12-year-old girl from Ohio whom he met on Discord how to kill her parents. Charging documents revealed that the man told the girl in a Discord chat that he would come and get her after she killed them, after which she could be his "slave."

Prosecutors said the girl then tried to set their house on fire.

The same man encouraged another minor, a 17-year-old girl, to cut herself and send him sexually explicit photos and videos. Prosecutors reported that he admitted to sexually exploiting both minors. He also pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 27 years in prison.

An NCMEC report revealed that for the past two years, Discord has struggled to deal with an allegedly organized group of offenders who have sextorted many children victims to produce CSAM, engage in self-harm or even torture animals or pets.

On dark web forums frequented by child predators, users share tips on how to fool children on Discord. These "tips" included pretending to be teenagers to receive videos and pictures from their victims.

The tactics described in the post line up with child sex abuse rings on Discord that has been busted by U.S. federal authorities within the past few years.

Prosecutors have described rings with organized roles, including "hunters" who searched for young girls to invite into a Discord server.

"Talkers" were tasked with chatting with the girls and enticing them, while "loopers" streamed previously recorded sexual content and pretended to be minors to encourage actual children to engage in sexual activity.

Shehan said NCMEC often receives reports from other tech platforms mentioning users and traffic from Discord, which suggests that the platform has indeed turned into a center for illicit activity targeting children.

Visit Trafficking.news for more stories about child exploitation.

More related stories:

Tucker Carlson went there: says "It's time we talked about the elite pedophilia problem."

Wall Street Journal confirms existence of "Pizzagate" pedophilia network.

PEDO PLATFORM: Instagrams algorithms promote a "vast pedophile network," report reveals.

Sources include:

NBCNews.com 1

NBCNews.com 2

Brighteon.com
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a telephone conversation with President of Guatemala Alejandro Giamattei, during which they discussed the implementation of the Peace Formula, possible formats of the Ukraine-Latin America summit and cooperation in the defense sector.

We coordinated efforts ahead of upcoming international events. Discussed the implementation of the Peace Formula, possible formats for the Ukraine  Latin America Summit, and security cooperation, including support for Ukraine with demining experts and equipment, the head of state said on Telegram Thursday evening.

He also thanked for initiating a declaration in support of Ukraine at the General Assembly of the Organization of American States and for your regional leadership in the Core Group on the establishment of a Special Tribunal.
EV COLLAPSE: Electric vehicle manufacturer Lordstown Motors files for bankruptcy

Electric vehicle manufacturer Lordstown Motors filed for bankruptcy protections on Tuesday, June 27, after announcing that it would put itself up for sale . It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections in a bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Lordstown stated that it will be looking for potential buyers to take over its assets, including the manufacturing of the company's lone commercially-available EV, the Lordstown Endurance pickup truck. According to its recent filings, Lordstown Motors just had $108.1 million in cash available at the end of March. During the first quarter of 2023, it posted a loss of $171.1 million. (Related: Ford to lay off 1,000 employees as focus on EVs costs the company BILLIONS.)

The company's bankruptcy is not the first  and likely will not be the last  among the many EV startups that went public in the past few years.

But Lordstown's downfall is seen as a high-profile case due to the company positioning itself as being a potential competitor to the core consumers of the legacy automakers from Michigan who are relying heavily on selling high-margin pickup trucks. The Ohio-based company launched with massive fanfare and significant financial backing in 2018 after it acquired a factory from General Motors.

The company's Endurance electric pickup is built at its small-car factory in Lordstown, Ohio, and is sold primarily to commercial customers such as local governments. Lordstown CEO Edward Hightower believes the business that the Endurance could bring could prove attractive to another automaker looking for a fast entry into the EV market at a time when federal policies are providing more incentives for more EV manufacturing.

"We remain confident than an orderly, expedited sale process will maximize value for our stakeholders and enable the talent and technology behind the Endurance to find new and supportive ownership," said Hightower. "While in Chapter 11, Lordstown will continue to support our customers."

"The bankruptcy of Lordstown signals that the days of successful EV startups is in the rear-view mirror," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at the hedge fund Great Hill Capital. "Moving forward, it will be Tesla and the traditional incumbents  that will duke it out for market share."

Lordstown sues Foxconn over promised investment

Lordstown is blaming much of its financial situation on Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which wavered on a $170 million investment deal earlier this year that would involve Foxconn and Lordstown working together on a range of new electric vehicles.

"Despite our best efforts and earnest commitment to the partnership, Foxconn willfully and repeatedly failed to execute on the agreed-upon strategy, leaving us with Chapter 11 as the only viable option to maximize the value of Lordstown's assets for the benefit of our stakeholders," said Hightower in a statement. "We will vigorously pursue our litigation claims against Foxconn accordingly."

Lordstown is accusing Foxconn of fraud for failing to abide by the previous agreement. According to the company, Foxconn paid the first installment of the deal  $52.7 million  last year. The next payment, $47.3 million, was due within 10 days of regulatory approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Lordstown secured the committee's approval in late April, but Foxconn never made the payment.

Instead, Lordstown alleged that Foxconn told the company that it was in breach of the deal for allowing its stock price to fall below $1 per share for 30 days in a row. Lordstown countered by stating that Foxconn's argument has no merit and accused Foxconn of acting in "bad faith" to get control over the company without supporting its products, notably the Endurance. Nevertheless, Lordstown executed a reverse stock split to push its share price back over the $1 mark.

In a statement to media outlets, Foxconn claimed the company had maintained "a positive attitude in conducting constructive negotiations with Lordstown," but claimed that the EV company was reluctant to carry out all of the terms of their investment agreement.

"Foxconn originally hoped to continue discussions and reach a solution that could satisfy all stakeholders, without resorting to baseless legal actions, but so far the two parties have yet to reach a consensus," said Foxconn.

In light of this litigation and what Foxconn characterized as Lordstown's attempts to "mislead the public," all further talks are suspended, and Foxconn noted that it reserves the right to take legal action of its own.

Learn more about electric cars and their manufacturers at RoboCars.news.

Watch this clip from Newsmax as Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst talks about how President Joe Biden's push for electric vehicles is unrealistic.

This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Jaguar recalls nearly 6,400 electric vehicles due to high risk of batteries catching fire when they overheat.

Over 1.1 million Tesla electric cars in China RECALLED over dangerous braking defect.

Going green may cost you LOTS of greenbacks: Ohio man billed $42,000 to fix his Rivian pickup EV following fender bender.

Two American vehicle companies recall over 600 electric trucks due to safety issues.

Ford halts production and shipping of F-150 Lightning EV due to unspecified battery issue.

Sources include:

TheHill.com

CNBC.com

Reuters.com

Engadget.com

Brighteon.com
HSBC brings cryptocurrency trading services to its online investment platform in Hong Kong

Hong Kongs biggest bank, HSBC, is now offering its customers local cryptocurrency trading services, making it the first bank in Hong Kong to offer clients this functionality through its online platform.

Crypto investment products have been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since December and the bank allows its customers to trade all publicly listed ETFs. However they have now given their customers access to the ETFs from their own investment platform, underscoring the momentum the cryptocurrency community is currently enjoying as more major financial centers and institutions embrace crypto.

The exchange currently lists three types of crypto ETFs: Samsung Bitcoin Futures Active ETF, CSOP Bitcoin Futures ETF and CSOP Ethereum Futures ETF. HSBCs move will expand customers exposure to cryptocurrencies, and they will now be able to trade on crypto exchange-traded funds.

Access to Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs will give customers an opportunity to diversify their investment portfolios and learn more about investing in digital assets from the safety net of a regulated financial system. The bank had around 1.7 million active mobile customers in March, and 95 percent of its retail transactions are processed online.

Hong Kong has been gaining increasing attention as it positions itself as a possible global crypto hub of the future. On June 1, Kong Kongs Securities and Futures Commission started accepting applications for crypto trading platforms, and they extended an invitation to Coinbase to register there.

HSBC also recently unveiled its Virtual Asset Investor Education Center, which aims to protect investors from the risks involved in cryptocurrency. Users will be required to read these materials and risk disclosures before they invest.

HSBCs new offering comes not long after news emerged that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has been pressuring major banks to start taking on crypto exchanges as clients. The regulator and central bank reportedly interrogated HSBC and other major banks, such as Bank of China and Standard Chartered, about why they were not accepting crypto exchanges as clients.

While some executives of major banks in Hong Kong have been reluctant to take on crypto clients following recent high-profile collapses in the crypto industry, HKMA has been trying to allay their fears.

An individual with knowledge of the conversations told the Financial Times: HKMA encouraged the banks to not be afraid. There is resistance from a conventional banking mindset ... we are seeing some resistance from senior executives at traditional banks.

Hong Kong is an up-and-coming crypto hot spot

CoinDesks Emily Parker recently identified Hong Kong as one of two potential up-and-coming crypto hot spots in the Far East, along with Tokyo. She noted they have been publicly welcoming crypto, even at a time when places like the U.S. have been cracking down on it.

She said that although mainland China has been taking a more cynical view of the crypto industry, Hong Kong has been taking steps to position itself as a key player. For now, the special administrative region appears to have quiet backing from Beijing despite trading being banned on the Chinese mainland.

Circle Internet Financial has been following regulatory developments in Hong Kong closely. In an interview for Bloomberg Television, Co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said: Hong Kong clearly is looking to establish itself as a very significant center for digital assets markets and for stablecoins and we are paying very close attention to that.

The company, which issues USD coin, considers Asia a huge area of focus. They recently received a license allowing them to offer digital payment token services and money transfer services in Singapore.

Sources for this article include:

SHTFPlan.com

CoinDesk.com 1

CoinDesk.com 2

Finance.Yahoo.com
There are now more illegal immigrants than homeless people housed in New York Citys shelters

The illegal immigrants New York City is housing in homeless shelters have now outnumbered the homeless New Yorkers

The tipping point  when the illegals or "asylum seekers" outnumbered the city's homeless  came on Sunday, June 25, when the illegal immigrants logged under the city's care reached 50,000. Meanwhile, there are approximately 49,700 homeless New Yorkers at local shelters. (Related: Mayor of sanctuary city New York angry as HALF the hotel rooms fill up with illegal aliens.)

Reports note that New York City's expansive homeless shelter system has essentially doubled in occupancy due to the recent influx of illegal immigrants, mostly from Latin American nations like Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia.

Keeping the 50,000 illegals in shelters makes things more expensive, especially for the city's taxpayers. Without work permits, many so-called "asylum seekers" are unable to work to pay for basic necessities. These illegals are also not entitled to the same public assistance benefits as citizens. And for migrants, the city is not collecting its usual share of shelter subsidies from the state and federal governments.

The city under Democratic Mayor Eric Adams has already spent over a billion dollars in taxpayer funds to house the illegals since they started arriving in large numbers beginning in the spring of 2022. By the spring of 2024, the city expects the bill to surge to anywhere between $4 billion to $4.5 billion.

The illegal immigrants are being housed at over 150 sites, including hotels, regular homeless shelters, massive "emergency relief centers" and "respite centers."

New York City unlikely to receive state or federal aid to deal with illegals

"You see from today's numbers that we have reached a tipping point," said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. "We now have more asylum seekers in our care than longtime New Yorkers. We all are facing a humanitarian crisis here in the five boroughs."

While Williams-Isom believes it is important for the city to welcome the surge of illegal immigrants with dignity, she admitted that the numbers are "unsustainable" due to limited resources.

"My heart breaks a little bit, and I have these conflicting feelings," said Williams-Isom while touring a new arrival center at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. "[The staff] are working 12-hour shifts. We thought that we would see some relief. But there is no relief coming. There is no cavalry coming."

Since spring 2022, more than 81,200 so-called "asylum seekers" have poured into New York City's intake system, according to Williams-Isom, and thousands more continue to pour in every week.

"We are still in the middle of this [migration] wave," said Williams-Isom. "And so, is it going to get more, is it going to get less? I have no idea because we are just dealing with it in terms of what comes to the front door and doing the best that we can as people come to the front door."

"I know we're at a breaking point," she added. "And my heart breaks when I see children coming into our arrival center and sitting there and being exhausted and wondering and hoping that we have enough space for them."

Mayor might ask residents to shelter migrants in their homes

As New York City officials continue to struggle to house the nearly 100,000 illegal immigrants in the city, Adams suggested the possibility of housing migrants in private homes.

"It is my vision to take the next step to this, to go to the faith-based locales and the move to private residents, there are residents who are suffering right now because of economic challenges," said Adams. "They have spare rooms, they have locales and if we can find a way to get over the 30-day rule and other rules that government has in its place, we can take that $4.2 billion, $4.3 billion maybe now, that we potentially will have to spend and we can put it back in the pockets of everyday New Yorkers, everyday houses of worship, instead of putting it in the pockets of corporations."

This comes after Adams similarly received backlash for busing some arriving illegals to New York City's suburbs, and then suing over 30 New York counties over local orders intended to prevent the city from housing migrants in their towns.

More news about the thousands of illegal immigrants pouring into the United States can be found at InvasionUSA.news.

Watch this episode of the "Health Ranger Report" as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, interviews veteran writer and photographer Michael Yon about how the migrant invasion and occupation of the United States has been engineered.

This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Deep State propaganda: Illegal alien SMUGGLERS allowed to run successful video channels on YouTube, TikTok  but not Americans who tell truth about vaccines.

RFK Jr. visits southern border, says US hospitals are packed with so many pregnant migrants that American women are having to delay deliveries.

Actual invasion of US underway: Hundreds of thousands of military-aged males pouring into country with help from the Biden regime.

Parents infuriated as illegal migrants enroll at Chicago schools without health records (while vaccine mandates are forced on American kids.

PLANNED OCCUPATION: Biden regime ensuring that illegal migrants released into American interior will never come back for asylum hearing.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

NBCNewYork.com

NYTimes.com

Newsmax.com

FoxNews.com

DailyCaller.com

Brighteon.com
NBC journalist goes into hiding after blaming conservatives for LGBTQ coming for your kids chant

NBC News is in big time damage control mode at the moment. Their journalist, Tyler Kingkade has ducked for cover by locking his Twitter account. This move comes after his article for NBC blaming conservatives for the creepy chant of were coming for your kids at an LGBTQ+ pride event.

(Article republished from Revolver.news)

They are not hiding their agenda ? They say that there coming for your kids ?? pic.twitter.com/6bES1X0lvO  KellyCurrie45 (@KaCurrie_45) June 24, 2023

Many members of the public are furious and calling Kingkades piece a ludicrous attempt to shield the LGBTQ+ community from criticism.

This isn't happening and it's good that it's happening and it's happened forever you're just a bigot who's imagining things. Take note! The author (https://t.co/SSLHldwxwj) tweets quite heavily against banning pornographic and sexually graphic materials in schools. https://t.co/M4XzSp03kw  RustCohlAsIce *Oyster King* (@RustCohlAsIce) June 28, 2023

Hi, @tylerkingkade. I read your piece for @NBCNews about the "We're coming for your children" video. Could you provide a source for your claims here? Were these anonymous sources you have to protect? Does NBC realize the original video was retracted?https://t.co/9YRIOh6BEW pic.twitter.com/Cu3ki6qI8F  Pastor Ben, Church of Antifa (@BenjaminPDixon) June 28, 2023

.@tylerkingkade at NBC wants you to know that chanting "we are coming for your children" is a way for LGBTQs to "regain control." pic.twitter.com/XVJDX784XH  Flipside (@contextflexed) June 28, 2023

This is what Tylers Twitter account looks like right now:

Tylers piece suggests that its you whos to blame for these creeps chanting about targeting your kids. He spins it to make them out as the real victims.

NBC News:

The coming for your children chant has been used for years at Pride events, according to longtime march attendees and gay rights activists, who said its one of many provocative expressions used to regain control of slurs against LGBTQ people. And in this case, they said, right-wing activists are jumping on a single video to weaponize an out-of-context remark to further stigmatize the queer community.

Uh-huh. Kingkade then interviews a hardcore gay activist to get his hot take on the situation. Apparently, they chant naughty things all the time! No big deal!

NBC News:

To conservative pundits, activists and lawmakers, the video confirmed the allegations theyve levied in recent years that the LGBTQ community is grooming children. But to Brian Griffin, the original organizer of the NYC Drag March, if thats the worst they heard, its only because he wasnt there this year. Griffin said he chanted obscene things in the past, like Kill, kill, kill, were coming to kill the mayor, and joked about pubic hair and sex toys during marches. People at the Drag March regularly sing God is a lesbian.

Its all just words, Griffin said. Its all presented to fulfill their worst stereotypes of us.

Apparently a confession that they also chant blasphemy and other obscenities absolves them and makes them akshually just upstanding citizens  just like you and I. Hey, remember when the big LGBTQ talking point was that they just wanted the freedom to do indulge in perverted fetishes in the privacy of their own bedrooms?

According to Kingkade, its the LGBTQ that are the victims of Republican backlash.

NBC News:

Conservative politicians and pundits have increasingly referred to advocates for LGBTQ rights as groomers, associating people who oppose laws that restrict drag performances or classroom discussions of gender identity with pedophiles. The charge is an echo of a decades-old trope anti-gay activists have used to paint the community as a threat to the countrys youths, an allegation that some advocates say endangers LGBTQ people. And the intense reaction to the video has scared some attendees, who insist the quip has been taken out of context. Its really scary to us, said Fussy Lo Mein, a drag performer and activist who was at this years march and declined to give their real name because of safety concerns. It doesnt represent everybody  it represents that individual. I thought it was a dumb idea, and I started chanting on top of it with alternate verses.

So when the LGBTQ warns that theyre coming for your kids, youre a paranoid bigot if you believe them, right? Trust this guy, America. Hell never lie to you:

A man twerks for children at a family-friendly pride event in Minnesota pic.twitter.com/tDfyGL7BYX  Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 27, 2022

Tyler appears to be yet another hardcore LGBTQ activist masquerading as a mainstream media unbiased reporter. His biography states that Tyler Kingkade is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles, known primarily for his coverage of abusive treatment of young people, culture war fights, sexual assault and harassment cases, extremism, and reporting on vulnerable populations. He has posted tweets in the past like this one, stating:

Conservatives took control of a school board in a small mountain town within a heavily GOP county I spoke to lifelong Republicans and conservative Christians who are furious over what the board has done since

A Revolver story uncovered similar shenanigans  activists masquerading as journalists  at the supposedly unbiased Associated Press. That report is entitled, APs ham-handed Soviet-style tranny propaganda should make you blush You can read it here.

The thing about hiring subversive activists as journalists is they eventually cant help themselves and go mask-off. For some reason, we dont suspect that AP and NBC News are conversely hiring hardcore MAGA movement activists or DeSantis supporters to report on the Republican primary. But when it comes to topics like Agribusiness or Big Pharma or LGBTQ, its often the fox thats guarding the henhouse. And we certainly dont expect AP or NBC News to clean house and purge the liberal activists in their midst  they hired these people for a reason. They want you fat, sedated, and gay.

Just another day in the Longhouse.

Read more at: Revolver.news
Groomers have done their homework: Self-identifying non-binary students in New Jersey public schools INCREASE by more than 4,000%

Recent enrollment data from the New Jersey Department of Education has shown a more than 4,000 percent increase in the number of public school students who are self-identifying as "non-binary" over the past four years.

During the 2019 to 2020 school year, a mere 16 students identified as non-binary. This figure has increased to 675 for the 2022 to 2023 academic year. This represents a more than 4,118 percent increase. Of those 675 students, 41 are elementary schoolchildren. (Related: School district in Maryland reports almost 600% increase in students who identify as NON-BINARY.)

The explosion in self-identified "non-binary" children in New Jersey public schools comes as the state's liberal leaders argue in favor of not informing parents if their children express desires to identify as different genders or sexual identities.

When the school board of Hanover Township decided to pass a policy to better inform parents about anything that could have "a material impact on a student's physical and/or mental health," New Jersey's Democratic attorney general, Matthew Platkin, sued the district for allegedly discriminating against LGBTQIA+ students for requiring teachers to "out" students "to their parents without their consent." The state's Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, endorsed this lawsuit.

"Hanover Township Board of Education's new policy requiring staff to 'out' LGBTQ students to their parents violates the rights of our students  jeopardizing their well-being and mental health," claimed Murphy.

New Jersey also isn't alone in experiencing this sudden significant surge in students self-identifying as non-binary or otherwise "gender nonconforming." Maryland's largest public school district, Montgomery County Schools (MCP), recently reported a 582 percent increase in students self-identifying as gender nonconforming in just two years  from 35 in 2019 to 239 in 2021, with 18 of those being in elementary, 92 being in high school and the majority in middle school.

Debate over parental rights and LGBTQ education intensifies amid increasing enrollment of non-binary students While this rise in non-binary student enrollment has been observed in other states as well, New Jersey has become a focal point of the debate due to the response of leftist politicians advocating withholding information about a child's gender identity or sexual orientation for parents, especially when it deviates from societal norms. Erika Sanzi, who works at Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit organization focused on parental rights, stated that the rise in non-binary students is not surprising, as she associates this surge with new liberal school policies and curricula that put a greater emphasis on teaching children gender ideology. "These numbers aren't surprising to anyone who has been following the massive social contagion of adopting different gender identities," said Sanzi, who added that this increase is becoming more prevalent especially among adolescent girls. Nicole Stouffer, a parent from New Jersey and a biostatistician who founded the parent advocacy group NJ Fresh Faced Schools, stated that the increase in self-identified "non-binary" students holds statistical significance and is medically relevant. Stouffer expects this count to continue to rise in the upcoming 2023-2024 school year as non-binary gender is increasingly normalized in schools. Visit Gender.news to stay updated on the latest gender issues.

Watch this clip as Muslims in Montgomery County, Maryland protest against LGBT books in the school of their children.

More related stories:

GROOMERS: Public school teachers caught trading tips on "subversively and quietly" transitioning students to LGBT.

Promotional video urges confused teens to delay puberty using chemical hormone blockers.

Openly queer teacher admits to socially transitioning 3rd grade students.

Calif. school sets up transition closet for young students to swap out what parents approve so they can wear clothing that suits their chosen gender.

Chicago hospital blasted over video of mother coaching adopted child to talk about being non-binary.

Sources include:

ThePostMillenial.com

FreeBeacon.com

HarbingersDaily.com

Brighteon.com
Show your CCP loyalty: Republicans linked to Sequoia Venture Capital are acting very weird

Democrats are being exposed for their connections to the Chinese Communist Party, as a post from June 25 shows, calling Democrat John Kerry out for his massive investments in Chinese energy, which sounds a whole lot like what we hear about the Biden Crime Family lately and what we know about the families of the Clintons and the Peosis.

(Article by Kari Donovan republished from FrontlineAmerica.com)

But it is not just Democrats who betrayed the American people in these ways by giving access to foreign groups. And the money was not just being made on energy.

The flow of capital and profit was going towards weapons and making people nervous, (in 2018). There were investigations into how the CCP used Wall Street, which were shut down. Three investigations were happening in parallel at the same time, and Mike Turner shut those down. Sequoia never had to answer the inquiry from the committee, and then Sequoia became Kevin McCarthys top donor, Brian Costello told Steve Bannon, host of the War Room, on Wednesday.

Bannon, who says that America has become a tributary state for the CCP because of the greed of too many American politicians, talked about that 2018 era committee and recalled that US Rep. Devin Nunes was head of the House Inteli public select committee on China at the time. He deputized two people to investigate the CCP actions, and that the FEC, DOJ, and FBI all looked away.

and nothing ever came from any of it.

US Rep Mike Turner (R-OH) had joined the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2015 and was appointed Chairman on January 23, 2023.

They actually stopped going to the government and started going to Wall Street because they know that the the people running the country are the ones who are stuffing the politicians pockets, Costello, who identified Bannon that he was the source for that intelligence committee investigation into Sequoia in 2018, because he knew who was taking the money.

Costello says he warned McCarthy not to take funds from Sequoia and that it was an Open Secret in DC about who was funding him, even in the Speaker race.

The discussion between Bannon and Costello was in reaction to an explosive Wednesday Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article about a CCP-linked Venture Capital Fund called Sequoia, which is getting mainstream interest this week because it threatens to reveal who in the US and India was profiting along with them.

Costello is pulling no punches on the topic of the CCPs actions. He exposed a lot of government corruption to Bannons War Room audience. Costello does appear to have a firm grasp on the financial dealings of many people.

For example- Costello called out another firm. Two of the top funders are Sequoia Capital vs. Hillhouse: which the media calls Chinas Fiercest Investor Rivalry.

Costello pointed out that American politicians are involved with both groups and slammed Kerry for his conflict of interest, as Kerry was trying to entice Americans to invest in foreign energy companies for Hillhouse- but remember, it is not just Kerry he is ripping:

So says the Climate Czar, with a $1m stake in Hillhouse, China, who makes alternative energy investments. Gross conflict. What's the ROI on your private equity investment (Hillhouse) undermining US energy to favor China @JohnKerry. Do you expect $20, $30, or $50 million back? https://t.co/jh8UqU1Bok  Brian Costello (@bpcostello) June 25, 2023

Costello also has much more to say about who was involved with Sequoia and named people who are acting weird- this week- in public as they tried to denounce President Donald J. Trump.

Paul Ryan (R-WI) and embattled Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) both publicly commented about their negative feelings about Trumps chances for the Presidency in 2024 and then tried to backtrack on what they said.

The denunciation appeared to be a show of obedience to foreign money sources who want Trump to lose.

And that makes sense because the CCP loves their denunciation rallies- or their struggle sessions.

In other words, it appears the American public is seeing the ouster of Republicans secretly married to the CCP and Chinese investment groups. They are the Republicans who are going to say they do not like Trump after pretending to support him in the past.

On Wednesday, Ryan, the former speaker of the house, appeared on the show- Squak Box- to slam Trump and marginalize Trumps supporters:

Paul Ryan must have something is his closet to be controlled this bad. pic.twitter.com/DvJJoFkRLO  cagrown5 (@cagrown5) June 28, 2023

Read more at: FrontlineAmerica.com
RFK Jr.: Im proud Trump likes me even if we dont agree on most issues

Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. refused to attack former President Donald Trump and insisted that he is proud the former president likes him even if they disagree on most issues.

(Article by Jordan Dixon-Hamilton republished from Breitbart.com)

NewsNation anchor Elizabeth Vargas noted that Kennedy has been getting a lot of support from a lot of leading voices on the right like Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, former President Donald Trump, during Wednesdays town hall event.

Vargas then highlighted Trumps recent comments about Kennedy, praising the Democrat as a common-sense guy.

Hes been very nice to me. Ive actually had a very nice relationship with him over the years. Hes a very smart guy and a good guy, Trump said of Kennedy. Hes a common-sense guy and so am I. So, whether youre conservative or liberal, common sense is common sense.

What kind of man do you think Donald Trump is? Vargas asked Kennedy.

Heres what Im not gonna do in this race. Im not gonna attack other people personally. I dont think its good for our country, Kennedy Jr. responded.

Kennedy then said he strives to bring people together and to try to bridge the divide between Americans as his father, Robert F. Kennedy, tried to do.

So Im proud that President Trump likes me, even though I dont agree with him on most of his issues because I dont wanna alienate people, Kennedy continued.

I want to bring people together. Im proud that all these people like me and that I have independent supporters and Democratic supporters, he added. Every Democrat says, I want to end the polarization, but how do you do that without talking to people who dont agree with you?

Read more at: Breitbart.com
Second whistleblower says Hunter Biden willfully evaded MILLIONS in taxes through elaborate money laundering scheme

Hunter Biden, the son of fake president Joe Biden, agreed this week to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay his taxes on time. Meanwhile, a second whistleblower has come forward to accuse Hunter of also willfully evading paying millions of dollars in taxes through an elaborate tax scheme.

This second whistleblower, who is the lead case agent at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for Hunter's case whose name has been redacted, told the House Ways and Means Committee in a testimony last week that Hunter knew he was committing a crime with the tax scheme but did it anyway.

What Hunter allegedly did is use Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company, the board of which he was a member, as well as a Chinese business associate, to skip out on paying taxes he owed to the IRS.

Even before Hunter's dad was installed as vice president under Barack Hussein Obama, Hunter already owed the IRS hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes. Then, while Joe was in his second term as vice president and was in charge of policy in Ukraine  and when Hunter sat on Burisma's board of directors  Burisma paid Biden $666,667 to "do little or no work," one news outlet reported.

The whistleblower alleges that Hunter took the money from Burisma but rather than report it as income and paying taxes on it he instead laundered the money into a Chinese firm run by one of his associates, who then "loaned" said money to Hunter.

"If you are an owner of a company and your friend tells you, 'I want to pay my wages to your company and you're going to loan the money back to me,' that's essentially what happened here," the whistleblower testified.

"He took loans from that corporation, which were distributions. And he didn't pay taxes on those loans."

"So essentially for 2014, we had found that Hunter didn't report any of the money he earned from Burisma. So, the reason why this is important is because Hunter set it up this way, to not  to essentially earn the money through his friend's corporation and then have his friend pay him back half of the money as 'loans.'"

(Related: It was also confirmed this week that Hunter Biden demanded bribe money from a CCP-linked businessman via WhatsApp while "sitting" in the same room next to daddy Joe.)

Hunter Biden guilty of "sham" transactions, IRS whistleblower confirms

Unfortunately for the 2014 tax year, the statute of limitations, which is seven years, has already run out. However, if future tax years show similar behavior, then Hunter deserves to be prosecuted for tax evasion and money laundering.

"You can't loan yourself your own money," the whistleblower clarified about Hunter's wrongdoing. "It just doesn't make any sense."

When asked if Hunter's transactions constitute a "sham," the whistleblower responded in the affirmative, stating that:

"Yes, I would agree that the transactions would  you would want to sham the transactions, yes."

To sum it all up, Hunter, while "working" for the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma as a member of its board of directors, took in large sums of money that he then handed off to his buddies at a communist Chinese company. Said communist Chinese company then "loaned" him back his own money and voila: no income taxes.

It turns out that a wealthy Hollywood celebrity lawyer named Kevin Morris has paid off the $2.2 million that Hunter Biden owed to the IRS between the years of 2014 and 2019.

The latest news about the goings on of the Biden Crime Family can be found at Treason.news.

Sources for this article include:

Breitbart.com

NaturalNews.com
Top 8 WARS being fought the WRONG WAY by the USA

Americans can appreciate a good cause and will "get behind" it if they think it makes sense. It's easy if it supports something they believe in and want to help improve, but what if that "support" turns out to do exactly the opposite, by making the problem much worse? The US government needs the majority of the populace (taxpayers) to support their embezzlement schemes and their depopulation agendas, so mainstream media runs constant disinformation campaigns and blandishments in this regard.

Fake news is key to millions of Americans giving up their hard-earned money, human rights, constitutional rights, and emotional support to fake "wars" that literally help fund their own demise. Let's take an inside look at this decades-long phenomenon that empties the wallets and the minds of Americans while they believe they are helping heal the country, even though they are helping wreck the Republic.

Eight "Wars" being fought against Americans, even though the majority support them because they believe in fake news

#1. War on Drugs (open borders, fentanyl crisis)

#2. War on Cancer

#3. War in Ukraine (NATO and CCP-led Biden regime)

#4. War on Humans (AI, population reduction, gun control)

#5. War on Disinformation (AI and censorship)

#6. War on Democracy and the Republic (fixed elections and imploding economy)

#7. Biological War on Covid (dirty vaccines and health-damaging treatments)

#8. War on Environment (climate change and pesticides)

People love to "walk for the cure" for cancer or other common, preventable diseases, especially when one of their loved ones, friends, neighbors, or coworkers gets "infected" or dies from one. Yet, the money they donate and the time they spend at the event is often to support the administrative folks who run these organizations, without ever really even searching for a "cure," or approaching it in a useful manner. That's because Big Pharma runs most of the major organizations that fight these fake "wars" against disease and disorder, while pushing toxic food, toxic drugs, and deadly treatments that spread disease and disorder, rather than beating it.

Then there is the military industrial complex, where politicians and geo-political gurus (globalists) pretend that communist aggressors are taking over the world by attrition, while Americans watch TV and read the fake news, and think that our tax money needs to support "innocent countries" in need of democracy and weapons and food. It's all a farce. Take for example the "War on Ukraine." Notice how fake news called it the war ON Ukraine, as if they are a humble little country being bullied by those pesky Russians who helped Trump win (another horrible hoax).

As the Biden Regime runs guns, prints trillions of dollars, and sends our much-needed supplies to Ukraine to "fight Russia," the truth of the matter is that the real enemies of the world are right there in Washington DC, running the Republic into the ground as quickly as they can.

The war on information is also one of the biggest wars that is being waged in full throttle right now. Anyone who is not engaging this is losing, because American's rights are being stripped away systematically and methodically as you read this. The right to free speech, free press, to bear arms, to travel freely, and medical freedoms are all being dismantled by the plandemic, the Biden Regime, and the CCP-led tyranny. Wake up and smell the toxic fumes.

Tune your internet dial to NaturalMedicine.news for more tips on how to use natural remedies for preventative medicine and for healing, instead of succumbing to Big Pharma for toxic injections and fake "wars" that spread disease and disorder and ruin the Republic.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

TheGatewayPundit.com
Anheuser-Busch confirms: 2 Marketing execs behind disastrous Mulvaney campaign now FIRED

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch has confirmed that two of its marketing executives involved in Bud Light's disastrous partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney are no longer employed by the company

Customers disgruntled with the partnership between Mulvaney and the beer brand expressed their disdain through boycotts. Amid this fiasco, Alissa Heinerscheid and Daniel Blake were placed on leave and were not heard of for some time.

However, text messages from an anonymous source inside Anheuser-Busch that were sent to the Daily Caller confirmed that both no longer work for the brewer. The tipster remarked that Heinerscheid and Blake are "gone, gone" as of June 27.

The company reportedly used the term "leave of absence" instead of "firing" to avoid potential legal consequences, as Anheuser-Busch publicly announcing their termination could have exposed the company to potential lawsuits. The source added that wholesalers would be in a ruckus had Heinerscheid remained at Anheuser-Busch. However, they held a more sympathetic view toward Blake.

"To be fair, Blake was actually awesome. I think he was just caught in [the] crossfire. But also, he did hire her  so that's a fault."

In a separate text message, the same anonymous source disclosed: "Wholesalers were told they are both gone for good by leadership during in-person conversations. They already shifted all their direct reports to new people and the head of marketing."

The source's confirmation served as the denouement to multiple efforts by the Daily Caller to confirm the employment status of Heinerscheid and Blake. The outlet initially sent an email to the St. Louis-based brewer to inquire about the two. It asked whether the two were still on leave; if their leave was paid or unpaid; and if they were expected to return to work.

Anheuser-Busch did not respond to the email despite the deadline for a response being extended. While a spokesperson confirmed the leave of absence for both, they declined to provide additional information "in the interest of employees' safety and privacy."

Heinerscheid wanted to change Bud Light's branding  with disastrous consequences

Back in March, Heinerscheid  then the vice president of marketing for Bud Light  emphasized the need to change the brand's "fratty" image and outdated sense of humor during a podcast appearance. She did so by pivoting toward identity politics, with disastrous consequences.

Ahead of LGBT Pride celebrations in June, Bud Light released a can featuring a rainbow design with the slogan "celebrate everyone's identity" and different pronouns printed. Another can featured the likeness of Mulvaney; the special edition can was meant to celebrate the influencer's "365 days of womanhood." (Related: Bud Light sales are horrific after marketing ploy with trans-activist backfires that the company is buying beer back from wholesalers.)

It later came to light that Heinerscheid had engaged in the same "fratty" culture she wanted Bud Light to drop. Pictures on her now-deleted Facebook page from 2006 that were obtained by the Daily Caller showed her enjoying a campus scavenger hunt, blowing up condoms like balloons, and downing beers during a "boozefest."

According to the New York Post, the pictures were from an event organized by Harvard University's ISIS Club. The Harvard Crimson, the university's student newspaper, previously described the club as a "haven of inebriated ditzes."

Shortly after the pictures leaked, reports emerged of Heinerscheid taking a leave of absence from the company and Blake following suit.

Wokies.news has more stories about Bud Light's pivot toward wokeism.

Watch this interview with Alissa Heinerscheid as she explains using gender inclusivity as a marketing strategy to promote Bud Light to younger generations.

This video is from the Puretrauma357 channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Anheuser-Busch CEO blames Bud Light boycott on social media misinformation.

Anheuser-Busch embroiled in civil rights backlash for discriminating against whites in hiring.

Ad agency responsible for Bud Lights disastrous Dylan Mulvaney campaign in serious panic mode as it is likely to LOSE future big clients.

PR expert blasts Anheuser-Busch for bewildering response to Mulvaney endorsement backlash.

Get woke, go broke: Anheuser-Busch loses $15.7 billion in value after disastrous Bud Light transgender influencer campaign.

Sources include:

DailyCaller.com

NewYorkPost.com

Brighteon.com
Ten out of 13 launched shaheds destroyed in south  AFU Air Forces

On Friday night, 10 out of 13 shock drones Shahed-136/131 were destroyed by the forces and means of air defense of the Air Forces and air defense of other components of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in the south-eastern direction.

"Thirteen Iranian-made kamikaze drones Shahed-136/131 were struck from the east coast of the Sea of Azov (Primorsko  Akhtarsk) and four anti-aircraft guided missiles with the S-300 air defense system ... destroyed 10 out of 13 attack drones ...," the Telegram channel says.

In addition, it is noted that the Russians attacked military and infrastructure facilities in Zaporizhia region.

There are no victims reported.

Local military administrations will be informed about the consequences of the attacks.
Biden education department unveils Pride seminar for children pushing them to take puberty blockers and mutilate their bodies

The Department of Education under fake president Joe Biden held an LGBT "Pride" seminar last week where a transgender eighth grader spoke in favor of puberty blockers, artificial hormones, and ratting out classmates for "misgendering" and "deadnaming."

The 13-year-old child, who now goes by the name of "Hildy Edwards," begged the audience to "please just let [my generation] access their health care that they need because I just started estrogen and I have never felt even more like a woman if I'm being honest."

Based on these statements, Edwards is presumably a biological male who is trying to become a "female" with pharmaceutical drugs, surgery, and a whole lot of delusional wishful thinking. And the Biden regime is all-too-excited to promote this kind of thing as if it was completely normal, which it is not.

"Like, I feel so womanly, and I feel so much more like myself and it just feels so good. I have never been happier," Edwards went on to gush about how amazing he or she (or whatever) feels now that all the drugs and surgery have run their course.

(Related: The Biden regime is full of child-grooming predators and perverts who are desperately trying to normalize all forms of LGBT perversion  and especially the kind of LGBT perversion that sexualizes children at the youngest possible age while grooming them into all forms of body mutilation and sexual deviancy.")

"Acceptance isn't the ultimate goal," LGBTs admit  everyone must also affirm and obey

It is no longer enough for LGBTs to just be "accepted," though. Edwards and the panel expressed a desire to have everyone around them also actively approve and affirm of their transgenderism, as well as play the fake pronoun and fake name game on demand.

Edwards explained that he has reported other classmates for "deadnaming" him, meaning fellow students refer to him by the name his parents gave him at birth rather than the name he made up for himself to reflect his "womanhood."

"I have had to report people at school a lot more than I would have wanted to this year for multiple reasons, like dead-naming, misgendering, slurs," Edwards said.

"But the time that I did get dead-named, I was literally like freaking out. I was like 'how? I haven't told anyone my dead-name since like five-years-old ever since I first transitioned."

Edwards went on to reveal that the very next day, the principal at his school came groveling with an apology, promising to punish the other students for committing the deadnaming and misgendering violation.

"A day later, [the principal] was like '[the student] confessed, he was very sorry' blah blah blah, 'he will get lunch detention.' And I was like, yes, I feel heard. He is getting punished. Sucker. When you mess with me, you have to pay"  because nothing says femininity quite like calling your peer a "sucker" and delivering a "don't mess with me" speech like some kind of mobster.

This is the true impetus behind Title IX, by the way, which is being used to punish "wrong speak" in this manner. Those who refuse to conform to the LGBT agenda will face the wrath of transgenders like Edwards who seems to take a lot of pride and joy in bullying his classmates for refusing to play LGBT make believe.

"We're not going to tone down our queerness," were some of the other words uttered at the Biden LGBT seminar. "You can tell us to shut up but we're not going to  we are loud and we are really, really, really queer."

Is fake president Joe Biden and his regime the most wicked one yet to rule America? Learn more at Evil.news.

Sources for this article include:

Summit.news

Newstarget.com
Prather Point: FBI is a corrupt intel organization with law enforcement function  Brighteon.TV

Jeffrey Prather described the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a corrupt intelligence organization with a law enforcement function on the June 23 episode of his program "The Prather Point" on Brighteon.TV

"The FBI is not a law enforcement organization," he began. "It is an intelligence organization with a law enforcement function."

"Everybody knows that the FBI is out of control. They are the new Praetorian Guard; they decide who gets to hold office. The old Praetorian Guard ran the show after the Roman Republic had fallen, and there were emperor dictators. They actually auctioned off the emperorship at one point."

Despite the FBI's own claims that it is the greatest law enforcement organization in the world, Prather thinks otherwise. He said that this claim is false as the agency isn't really working as a law enforcement organization. The former intelligence officer also stressed that the FBI isn't the greatest, as attested by anyone in the law enforcement community.

Moreover, the "Prather Point" host remarked that it was common knowledge that most FBI agents who have never cuffed anybody in their entire careers were "desk guys" for the most part. Prather ultimately remarked that the FBI is totally corrupt, just like the majority of Congress and the federal government. Most people still do not understand what is happening in the FBI, so it is very important to get a handle on it.

Prather touches on congressional hearings about FBI misconduct

The Brighteon.TV host also touched on congressional hearings about the FBI's misconduct. He first cited Garrett O'Boyle, a former FBI special agent who turned whistleblower. According to O'Boyle, the FBI is running its own information influence operations inside and outside the United States.

Prather attested to the whistleblower's remarks, adding that the FBI's claim that such operations are only done overseas is blatantly false. Aside from this, he also noted that the bureau interferes with elections on a regular basis. This, Prather added, was all about controlling who gets to be president and who gets to be in Congress.

The Daily Caller reported that for his brave testimony before lawmakers, the FBI retaliated against O'Boyle. According to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, he reported possible illegal actions to his supervisor. This led to the agency reassigning him to a different department, forcing his family to relocate.

But upon reaching the new department he was assigned to, O'Boyle was placed on "unpaid, indefinite suspension." The move left his family homeless and deprived them of personal belongings, including the clothes of his young children.

Prather also mentioned the Durham Report and the congressional hearing about it. He remarked that it simply served as a denouement to the Trump-Russia collusion probe. (Related: FBI BYE-BYE: Durham report makes it clear: FBI should be defunded or disbanded because it cannot be reformed.)

"This is just the closing of this. This is all a show. And nothing ever comes up out of this corrupted Congress. I learned this the hard way 15 years ago," said Prather. He added that the only good thing about it is Rep. Matt Gaetz exposing and talking about the corruption during the Republican-controlled House of Representatives' probe on the FBI.

Follow FBICorruption.news for more news about the FBI.

Watch the June 23 episode of "The Prather Point" below. Tune in to "The Prather Point" with Jeffrey Prather every Friday at 10-11 a.m. and every Saturday at 7-8 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Prather Point: Jeffrey Prather claims FBI, CIA shaping the narrative via information influence, psychological ops  Brighteon.TV.

FBI whistleblower reveals bureau has stepped up spying on pro-Trump conservatives as politicization worsens.

FBI analyst who pushed Trump-Russia hoax, lie that Hunter Bidens laptop was Russian disinformation, now identified.

Top FBI official flips, says bureaus search of Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate was rife with improprieties.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

DailyCaller.com
Florida issues MALARIA alert as mosquitos emerge in Sunshine State

The Florida Department of Health has issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness alert after four people in Sarasota allegedly fell ill with malaria this week.

After the four Florida cases and another one out of Texas came to light, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning of its own  the first, in fact, to be issued for locally transmitted malaria in the United States since 2003.

All four of the people in Sarasota who were bitten by malaria-spreading mosquitoes have since recovered. All of them contracted P. vivax malaria, according to state health officials, which is said to be a less fatal strain.

Symptoms of malaria include headaches, nausea, vomiting, sweating, fever, and chills. Those who develop such symptoms unexpectedly are encouraged to seek medical help within 24 hours of onset.

The Florida Department of Health is also urging all residents across the state to take precautions whenever outdoors by using appropriate bug spray and avoiding mosquito-prone and mosquito-infested areas, especially at sunrise and in the evening when mosquitoes are most active.

(Related: Last fall, the bioweapons industry released genetically modified [GMO] mosquitoes into the wild that spread malaria-causing plasmodium parasites.)

Only mosquitoes can transmit malaria  people can't spread it to other people

All five cases were locally transmitted, which is unusual in that most cases of malaria in the U.S. occur in people who recently traveled overseas, particularly to third-world countries in Africa, and became infected.

While it is good news that malaria does not transmit from person to person, authorities are concerned that infected mosquitoes will continue spreading it in the communities where it has been detected.

In both Sarasota and Manatee counties, officials and local partners will conduct both aerial and ground spraying operations to try to rid the area of malaria-spreading mosquitoes.

The Texas case was confirmed in Cameron County, which includes the city of Brownsville near the Mexican border, suggesting that perhaps the single case there occurred in an illegal alien or "migrant" crossing the border.

The CDC does not believe that the cases in Florida are related to the case in Texas as there is no definitive evidence linking them to one another.

Back in 2003, eight reported cases of mosquito-borne malaria were reported in Palm Beach County on the other side of Florida, this being just the second time in 20 years that local transmission of malaria has occurred in the U.S.

To prevent mosquitoes from infesting your property, officials suggest getting rid of all standing water in things like buckets and trash cans where mosquitoes love to breed. It is also advised to discard all refuse; regularly clean bird baths and pet bowls at least once a week; and maintain swimming pools.

To keep mosquitoes away from your body, apply mosquito repellant, preferably a natural variety containing oil of lemon eucalyptus and / or citronella. For children under age two, mosquito netting in particularly infested areas can provide protection.

"I hear hydroxychloroquine is a good remedy for malaria," one commenter added. "I know many people who have used it. Will they let people use this common drug or force an inferior and much more expensive patented alternative?"

"What further draws suspicions about the entire gene-edited mosquito release in Florida is the fact that the Oxitec project is being supported by two highly controversial agencies  Gates Foundation and the Pentagon's DARPA," wrote another about how this sudden malaria outbreak could be a bioweapons operation.

"Malaria isn't the only thing walking across our borders every day," wrote another.

The latest news about the malaria-spreading mosquito problem in Florida can be found at Plague.info.

Sources for this article include:

Yahoo.com

Newstarget.com
FORCED PERVERSION: Biden HHS director threatens to cut Medicare payments to hospitals if they dont allow genital mutilation of children

For years, Democrats and Republicans have blamed one another for wanting to cut Medicare and Medicaid, and now it could finally happen. Like some direct order straight out of a communist regime, Biden officials just revealed their plan to cut Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals and states if they do not universally allow for the chemical castration and genital mutilation of children.

At a recent health symposium, Biden HHS director Xavier Becerra announced: We have issued some guidelines that say that a provider who receives Medicare and Medicaid funding, must be prepared to offer gender affirming care.

If you want that Medicaid dollar to come to your state, were gonna make sure you check the box, Becerra demanded.

Biden regime to force genital mutilation of children by leveraging Medicare and Medicaid programs

The 10th annual Aspen Ideas: Health symposium just concluded in Colorado, with various corporate media, Big Tech, and Big Government figures providing insight into their plans and motivations. The symposium featured medical correspondents from CNN, ABC, and NBC News and other health personalities like Chelsea Clinton from the Clinton Foundation. Anthony Fauci was there, too, along with Vivek Murthy, the disgraced US Surgeon General who also worked unconstitutionally with the Big Tech companies to censor dissent against COVID origins, lockdowns, and unlawful vaccine mandates.

Of note at the symposium was Bidens Director of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra, who sat down in a speech and threatened to cut Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals if they dont allow for the hormonal castration and genital mutilation of children. Becerra refers to these gross violations of children as gender affirming care and is now pursuing a communist approach to enforcing these needless procedures on children across the United States.

We have issued some guidelines that say that a provider who receives Medicare and Medicaid funding, must be prepared to offer gender affirming care, he demanded. We unfortunately ran into a couple of circuit courts that said differently, and so we are now in the process of having to work under those rulings, but we are not going to stop - everywhere we have an opportunity at the federal level.

Using classic doublespeak, he said: Again, I go back to yesterdays conversation. We do not control healthcare. We do not control how gender affirming care is provided or if it is provided. But where we have laws that require you to fulfill your obligations, if you want that Medicaid dollar to come to your state, were gonna make sure you check the box.

Just like that, the US federal government announced their plans to coercively experiment on children's psychology, pump them full of hormones that destroy their development, and push forth the mutilation of their private parts. This is the federal government plan to pushback against hospitals like the Texas Children's Hospital, which recently announced they will stop mutilating children.

Over the last few years, the most macabre forms of child molestation have been incorporated into standard medical practices all across the United States. These practices are marketed as gender affirming care" and are referred to as gender transitions that are necessary to save the lives of children who are on the verge of suicide. Now, in the spirit of communism, the federal government is threatening to withhold Medicaid and Medicare tax dollars from states if they do not go along with the psychological abuse, hormonal torture, and castration of childrens private body parts.

Where is the law and order on this issue that impacts the future generations? Will the courts hold the government accountable for leveraging these programs in a coercive and harmful manner?

Sources include:

Twitter.com

AspenIdeas.org

NaturalNews.com

Gender.News
House report concludes: CISA engaged in massive COVER-UP of Biden censorship scheme

We now have definitive proof that the Biden regime colluded with Big Tech and various government-funded "third parties" to censor free speech on social media.

An interim report from the House Judiciary Committee and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government explains that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a little-known agency housed within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), conspired with tech giants and other entities to surveil and silence speech online. And CISA did this by acting well beyond its legal jurisdiction, which makes all of this unconstitutional and criminal.

Documents that were previously undisclosed and not available to the public reveal that CISA engaged in a "censor by proxy" operation. The report states that CISA then tried to conceal its "plainly unconstitutional activities" from the public, hoping nobody would notice and tie it all back to the Biden Crime Family and other deep state entities.

(Related: The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government also confirmed this week that the Biden regime constructed this massive Censorship Complex to deal specifically with the spread of "malinformation," which means true but inconvenient-to-Biden-and-his-cronies information that the government does not want people seeing.)

CISA engaged in unconstitutional, illegal behavior on behalf of the Biden Crime Family

In a failed attempt to circumvent the First Amendment, CISA used government-funded third parties to do the actual dirty work. These third parties played a critical role in conspiring with Big Tech platforms like Facebook and Twitter to stop the spread of truthful information that paints the Biden Crime Family in a negative light, as well as to prevent people from talking about the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) "pandemic" in a skeptical or outright objectionable way.

"CISA is not a law enforcement agency and is not authorized to act as an intelligence agency," the report reads. "But, in practice, that is how CISA has behaved, arrogating to itself the authority to conduct surveillance of Americans on social media."

"CISA expanded its unconstitutional practice by developing an elaborate social media censorship apparatus spanning multiple organizations in order to facilitate the censorship of Americans' political speech both directly and by proxy."

The report further highlights how CISA established a "rapid response" team to deal with "misinformation." As it did this, CISA outsourced all operations to a third-party "non-profit" organization to try to keep a lid on what was going on while also attempting to evade accusations that this was just a government propaganda operation in disguise.

The original reason why CISA was created, we are told, was to protect "critical infrastructure" like the electrical grid from cybersecurity threats. Many worried at the time of its creation, however, that CISA would be abused and used for nefarious purposes, which we now know is exactly what happened.

CISA's operations changed big time after the 2016 election to also include "election infrastructure." The narrative is that "the Russians" stole the 2016 election for Donald Trump, and that this "attack" had to be mitigated to stop another election "steal" in 2020.

Ironically, the 2020 election was stolen, but not by Trump. Joe Biden was illegally installed through a coup, and to this very day the United States is still being led off a cliff because the results of that phony election were allowed by the American people to persist.

"A giant dose of chemotherapy is needed throughout D.C.  NOW," one upset commenter wrote about how the Washington, D.C., swamp is a cesspool of corruption in desperate need of draining.

The latest news coverage about the Biden regime's massive Censorship Complex and efforts by Congress to hold the Biden Crime Family and all others involved accountable can be found at Censorship.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Judiciary.House.gov

NaturalNews.com
Looking Back: Were coming for your children group, the Radical Faeries, was founded by a man-boy loving Marxist

Over the weekend, Pride parades occupied the streets of some large metropolitan cities across the Untied States. As reported by The Gateway Pundit, one such event in New York City was shared by the Timcast News Twitter:

(Article by Brian Lupo republished from TheGatewayPundit.com)

NYC Drag Marchers chant were here, were queer, were coming for your children https://t.co/ucK1qM4fv5 pic.twitter.com/OhBguhWwZY  Timcast News (@TimcastNews) June 24, 2023

NBC News was quick to come to the defense of the radical group and defend their actions as just one voice that was louder than the crowd. It is clear from the video that it is more than just one voice over the rest. You can literally read their lips. Furthermore, just five short (real short!) paragraphs later, in paradoxical fashion, NBC cites long time parade attendees and gay rights activists that said the coming for your children chant has been used for years at Pride events.

More interestingly, however, is later in the article where NBC noted that the Radical Faeries is one of the groups that organized this event. The Radical Faeries is a semipublic gay community through which the rights of homosexuals were coupled with ideas of spiritual renewal and New Age practices. The group was founded by long-time gay rights activists Harry Hay, who died in 2002.

According to Britannica:

As Banks Fail and Americans Scramble to Protect Retirement Accounts With Physical Gold and Silver, A Faith-Based Company Shows Them How

Hay was born in England , he moved as a young boy to California with his family, and he later attended Stanford University . However, due to health reasons, he left college in 1932. The next year he discovered Marxism , which he believed would support homosexuality under its principles. Hay was later introduced to the Communist Party (CPUSA)  Hay resumed his role as a gay rights pioneer and leader in 1969 when he helped found the Los Angeles-based Gay Liberation Front. However, he was disappointed in the measured spirit of the 1970s gay movements. As a result, Hay cofounded the Radical Faeries

Being a Communist is controversial enough, especially considering at the time Hay joined the Marxist religion, he was forbidden from being a member of the CPUSA as a gay man, so he took a wife as cover. But there was still another facet of Hays life that isnt oft talked about but is something that sheds some light on the were coming for your children! groomer chants seen by the Radical Faeries organization he co-founded:

A champion for a diverse homosexual identity, Hay often waded into contentious debates, notably by advocating for such controversial organizations as the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), a pro-pederasty group.

Now it makes sense. Hay wasnt officially a member of NAMBLA, however, he did speak at NAMBLA conferences in 1984, 1986, and 1994 in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York, respectively. In his 1984 speech (I must warn you before reading this speechit is very disturbing), speaking of his childhood and the probably five or six times he was molested, he said:

I mention that because I think that the twelve-year-old, thirteen-year-old boy approaching puberty knows very well that there are things about himself that he needs to find out, that he needs to discover, and he wants very much to reach out and find someone who will give this to himHe already has the instinct to know that a great many of the things that he feels in himself are things he cannot share with anybody. He feels that the thing that he is he is alone in the world, that he cannot share it with his parents, he cannot share it with his teachers, he cannot share it with many, even most, people. But he needs to look for that someone with whom he can share.  This is something that in our own past as gay people we all must have experienced one way or another. We do have this sense of loyalty. We do have this gay way of being manipulated or being exploited; molested we are not. Being brainwashed we are not. We are actually participants in this little game.

Hays speech is nothing shy of an attempt to normalize adult men molesting pre-pubescent boys in the name of helping them discover themselves, in Hays case, it occurred in a community pool using an underwater hold your breath game, groom them into believing sexual activity with a grown-man is a learning experiencesomeone with whom he can share.

So before NBC sticks up for such a disgusting chant as were coming for your children and writes it off as if its just one of many provocative expressions used to regain control of slurs against LGBTQ people, perhaps they need to examine the history of the organization shouting this, and especially the Marxist pro-pederasty co-founder.

Read more at: TheGatewayPundit.com
New report reveals how $200B in COVID-19 relief aid was STOLEN

A federal watchdog's investigation strongly suggests that more than $200 billion in taxpayer dollars may have been stolen from two large Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) relief initiatives.

This is according to the inspector general of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and represents a much greater loss through fraud than the office's previous projections and underscores the vulnerability of the two relief programs  the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (COVID-EIDL)  especially during the early stages of the pandemic. (Related: "The Great Grift:" New AP investigation reveals stunning scope of COVID fraud.)

According to the inspector general's report, at least 17 percent of PPP and COVID-EIDL funds "were disbursed to potentially fraudulent actors."

The fraud estimate for the COVID-EIDL program is more than $136 billion, which represents around 33 percent of the total money spent on that program. The PPP fraud estimate is $64 billion.

The inspector general's previous estimate suggested that the amount of fraud from the COVID-EIDL program and PPP were $86 billion and $20 billion, respectively.

SBA Inspector General Hannibal "Mike" Ware said in a statement that the report "utilizes investigative casework, prior [inspector general] reporting and cutting-edge data analysis to identify multiple fraud schemes used to potentially steal over $200 billion from American taxpayers and exploit programs meant to help those in need.

"We will continue to assess fraud until we're finished with the investigations on these things," he added, noting that his office has a backlog of more than 90,000 actionable leads into pandemic relief fraud. This strongly suggests that the amount of fraud in the two programs may be significantly larger.

Government may have lost more taxpayer dollars to fraud and waste

This bombshell report may be the lower estimate of how much taxpayer dollars the government lost through fraud and waste. One other report suggests that $420 billion in COVID relief funding was lost either to fraud or wasted spending.

This estimate, based on a previous investigation by the Associated Press (AP), suggests that $280 billion in COVID relief funding was lost to fraud, while another $123 billion was wasted or misspent.

Both sums represent around 10 percent of the more than $4.2 trillion in taxpayer dollars that the American government has doled out so far on COVID-19 aid.

According to the AP, the fraud comes from thieves passing off the social security numbers of dead people or federal prisoners as their own in order to be eligible to receive unemployment checks. Some of these thieves even collected benefits from multiple states.

Dan Fruchter, chief of the U.S. attorney's fraud and white-collar crime unit in the Eastern District of Washington, said that the government-encouraged perception that COVID-19 relief funds were an "endless pot of money" practically encouraged the crime wave.

"Here was this sort of 'endless pot of money' that anyone could access," said Fruchter. "Folks kind of fooled themselves into thinking that it was a socially acceptable thing to do, even though it wasn't legal."

Like Ware's analysis, the AP believes much of the fraud and waste came from the programs administered by the SBA, in part because fraud protection measures were waived to ensure rapid relief for those who truly needed it.

Learn more about the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic at Pandemic.news.

Watch this video about the $420 billion COVID grift, which exposes the even larger scam of the Welfare State.

This video is from the Red Voice Media channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

MONEY PIT: Thieves stole more than $200 BILLION in COVID-19 aid, federal watchdog group now says.

America's top 20 nonprofit hospitals received over $23 billion in COVID-19 payments (while killing or injuring millions of people).

America spent $11 TRILLION on COVID-19 but nearly NOTHING on compensating those injured by the vaccines.

Life insurance payouts hit record high of $100 billion in 2021  the first full year of mass COVID-19 vaccination.

Small Business Administration may have given away $1.3 billion in COVID-19 relief to FOREIGNERS and criminal organizations.

Sources include:

APNews.com

DailyMail.co.uk

WashingtonExaminer.com

Brighteon.com
Invasive mice species are gnawing to death adult albatrosses on the uninhabited Marion Island, located in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean between South Africa and Antarctica. The threat could be considered as an ecological disaster as the invasive species threaten the albatross population on the island. The ferocious mouse swarm also attacked invertebrates and plants living on the island.

Albatrosses are large seabirds that can be found mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, where Marion Island is situated. These avians are known for their hardened stamina for long flights, meaning they can travel far distances without rest. Despite their aerial resilience, the said birds are vulnerable to predators while on the ground.

Previous research has found that certain invasive mouse species are causing albatross numbers to plummet and that the seabirds are more vulnerable to predation than previously thought, a story also covered by Nature World News last year. In this context, albatrosses, the world's largest flying seabirds, are at risk more than ever.

Marion Island Invasive Mice

The invasive mice on Marion Island are known for eating native invertebrates and seabird chicks that breed in the remote island for decades. However, the said discovery is the first time documentation of invasive mouse attacking adult albatrosses, Live Science reported.

In April, researchers found eight dead adult albatrosses, raising concern among conservationists. A researcher from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, Maelle Connan, told Live Science that it is becoming problematic when mice start to attack adult seabirds.

This comes as the mouse population on the island has grown significantly over the past several decades.

Also Read: Albatross and Petrels: Intentionally Killed and Mutilated by Fishermen in Southwestern Atlantic

What are Albatrosses?

Aside from covering a vast distance of 500 miles a day, albatrosses can fly at a sustained speed of 50 miles per hour, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. The white ocean bird belongs to the biological family Diomedeidae with the same scientific name. They are related to diving petrels, procellariids, and storm petrels of the order Procellariiformes.

Most albatross species can be found from Antarctica to South America. They also have a presence in southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The massive seabirds can also be found in other parts of the world, such as the North Pacific albatrosses which can be found from Hawaii to Japan, Alaska, and California, according to the BBC Wildlife Magazine.

Albatrosses mainly feed on small fish and squid and they can also scavenge animal carcasses floating on the surface of the water.

Albatross Threats

Aside from invasive mice species, there are other threats to albatross populations worldwide, particularly anthropogenic factors like commercial and fishing vessels due to potential collisions. In addition, other invasive alien species and climate change also put the seabirds at risk, according to the wildlife magazine.

In fact, 15 out of 22 albatross species are already considered at risk of extinction, according to the IUCN Red List. The primary cause of injury of death of albatrosses is getting caught at longline fishing, since they also spend most of their life at sea.

Related Article: Invasive Mouse Threatens Albatross Population
The success of a recent demonstration puts hope on hungry hogs feasting on larvae to eradicate the invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle infestation in Oahu.

Hungry Hogs in Eradication Plan

The Department of Agriculture is betting on the ability of hogs to decimate the coconut rhinoceros beetle infestation on Oahu by feeding their appetites.

Hungry pigs will be utilized as part of a larger strategy that also includes the construction of transfer stations for green garbage. Because mulch is where the beetles prefer to breed, these stations will serve as bait for the beetles.

The hungry hogs will be sent out to find them after they've dozed off and devour them.

The plan has been nicknamed "Plan B" for the nearly decade-long battle to control the beetle, which has the potential to wipe out populations of coconut palms, according to DOA Director Sharon Hurd.

Since the beetle landed on Oahu in late 2013, eradication operations have been in progress, successfully controlling the number until this month, when insect larvae were found on Kauai.

In a demonstration Wednesday at North Shore Stables in Waialua, five pigs attacked a mulch mound that contained around 150 beetle larvae. Within 20 minutes, the pigs had removed and eaten all but 11 of the larvae.

That serves as a proof of concept for a small group of farmers from the North Shore who wish to contribute to the solution to the rhinoceros beetle issue, which is endangering a significant crop in Hawaii.

North Shore Stables owner Adam Lee compared the method of luring CRB to the method of attracting flies with a fly bag.

Infestation in Oahu

Since the destructive beetles pose a hazard to more than just coconut trees, Lee contacted DOA roughly one month ago to see if the organization was interested in working together to find an alternative solution.

The pigs were a potential supplementary answer, according to Hurd, even though earlier eradication and control attempts were excellent and gave valuable information.

Because of the breeding circumstances created by the green waste, the primarily nocturnal beetles are attracted to mulch.

Additionally, coconut trees will be planted in the vicinity of landfills for green garbage to attract insects.

The rhinoceros beetle is regarded as a serious menace to various palm species, including African oil palm and coconut palm.

Adults harm living palm trees, either directly killing them or exposing the plant to further death at the hands of other insects or viruses, according to Hawaii Invasive Species Council.

When outside of their native range, CRB populations can have disastrous effects on palm species that are essential to agriculture, ecosystems, economics, and cultural heritage, according to the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response.

Eradication Efforts

Sniffer dogs, insecticides and herbicides, traps, and drones have all been used so far and financed nearly completely by the federal government and carried out by the University of Hawaii.

Hurd claimed that the infection has now spread to Kauai and that a new strategy, in this case: hungry hogs, must be implemented.

According to Daniel Anthony of the agricultural NGO Hui Aloha Aina Momona, the goal is to establish a long-term partnership between the community, the government, and farmers.

Anthony said that the procedure is also more environmentally friendly than pesticides.

Also Read: Invasive Giant African Land Snail Sightings Reported in Florida Again, Counties Under Quarantine

During this year's legislative session, state legislators did contribute money, putting aside two sets of $1 million tranches for projects aimed at reducing the beetle population.

Programs for the management of green waste and the CRB response effort will each get $1 million.

Since the contracts are going to be subjected to a competitive bidding procedure, it is unclear how that money will be distributed. The DOA has not made any financial commitments to the swine-driven approach, according to Hurd.

According to Lee, the pricing of the program, as well as a more detailed plan for the hungry hogs and transfer stations, will be announced next month.

However, the pigs from the farms are already on hand and can be made readily available through the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response team, according to Lee via Civil Beat Honolulu.

Related Article: Australia Takes Out Feral Cats via Solar-Powered Lasers Rigged with Toxic Gel
Locals in Nago City, Okinawa were alarmed on Tuesday when a dye spill from a neighboring beer brewery caused the normally clean port waters to turn a "gruesome" blood-red.

An area of usually clear blue water in Japan's Nago city has turned a deep shade of red after a beer plant owned by Orion Breweries sprung a leak https://t.co/vR59NJLDvP  Bloomberg (@business) June 27, 2023

Blood-Red Dye in Okinawa Port Waters

The port water's new temporary color was created by a food coloring dye that poured into a river, according to Orion Breweries, who also added that there were no health dangers.

However, the brewery apologized for causing the people of Nago City, Okinawa, so much grief and distress.

On social media, locals referred to the blood-red waters as "gruesome" while some said they appeared "venomous." Still, propylene glycol is "generally recognized as safe" for use in food and is used to absorb excess water, according to the CDC.

The leak, which is thought to have started in one of the cooling systems used in the brewery, happened on Tuesday and was stopped at 9:30 local time, according to Japanese media.

The gutters allowed it to spill into the river.

Hajime Murano, president of Orion Breweries, told Japanese media that the organization was looking into how the leak had happened and that steps would be taken to stop such an issue from happening again.

Nago is well-known for its pineapple farms in addition to fishing.

A lager by the name of Orion is popular for its delicate flavor. Along with being the distinctive beer of the subtropical Okinawa, which distinguishes itself from the Japanese mainland, the BBC News reported.

Propylene Glycol in the Environment

A synthetic liquid called propylene glycol is used to manufacture polyester compounds, deicing solutions, and antifreeze, and it absorbs water. It is a transparent, flavorless, odorless additive and solvent that has been approved by the FDA.

Most of the discharges into the air, water, and land are caused by waste streams from the production of propylene glycol.

When used as a runway or aircraft de-icing agent, propylene glycol can leak into the environment.

Additionally, the disposal of products containing propylene glycol might introduce the chemical into the environment. It is unlikely to be present in significant quantities in the air.

Regarding what happens to propylene glycol in the air, little is known by the CDC.

Also Read: Grand Canal in Venice Tinted Bright Green with Chemicals, Officials Suspect Protesters

Small amounts that might be inhaled are probably going to degrade quickly. If it is released into the atmosphere, it will take up to 50 hours for half of it to decompose.

Propylene glycol can totally dissolve in water and permeate the soil. In surface water and soil, it can degrade relatively quickly-within a few days to a week, according to the CDC - Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

When propylene glycol breaks down in surface waters, it is known to impose significant biochemical oxygen demand. Because it depletes the oxygen that aquatic species need to survive, this process could have a negative impact on aquatic life.

Organic contaminant concentrations that pose a health risk can exist below existing detection limits.

The EPA's sediment screening values are typically used in conjunction with fish tissue levels for the detection of these chemicals.

Considering that organic pollutants can bioaccumulate in fish, it's crucial to ensure that people can safely eat catfish and other species, as per Cumberland River Compact.

Related Article: Pacific Ocean Turns Pink Off California Coasts for Scientific Experiment
The Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine notes that "according to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant."

"Three employees of Rosatom, who ran the actions of the Russians, were among the first to leave the station. Ukrainian employees who signed a contract with Rosatom also received recommendations to evacuate. According to the instructions received, they must leave before July 5. The desirable direction is the territory of the occupied Crimea. To date, it is known about the departure to the peninsula of head of the legal department Mantsurova, chief inspector Shtatsky and deputy of the station on provision Gubarev," the GUR said on Telegram.

Also, on the territory of the ZNPP itself and in the satellite city of Enerhodar station, the number of military patrols is gradually decreasing.

The personnel remaining at the station were instructed "to blame Ukraine in case of any emergency situations," the GUR notes.
99% of the endangered southern resident orcas may have experienced an increase in the occurrence of skin diseases, such as sores, due to human-induced obstacles to finding enough food, hearing, or communicating with one another, according to findings made by scientists.

Skin Lesions on 99% of Orcas

Based on visual evidence, 99% of the orcas under study had skin lesions. Over time, these lesions, which included gray patches and targets, increased in frequency.

Scientists are worried about the lesions' potential link to the diminishing physical health, immune system strength, and population health of the endangered orcas.

The cause and health effects of the lesions are still unknown.

Only 73 southern resident orcas were counted in the most recent census, which was the lowest number since the 1970s. Images submitted to the study by the Center for Whale Research showed six different forms of lesions, including erosions, gray patches, targets, indentations, and discolorations.

Possibly Related to Immune System

No link between orca fatalities and lesions was discovered by researchers working under the direction of SeaDoc Society science director Joseph Gaydos.

The orcas' decrease is most likely symptomatic rather than caused by the lesions.

However, Gaydos and his team worry that the problem might be becoming worse because they have noticed an increase in immune system-related incidents.

These lesions can be a sign that the orcas' immune systems are being suppressed by further environmental stressors or outside elements.

It highlights the necessity to make investments in the recovery of salmon (orca's favorite food), lessen boat disturbance, and deal with other issues affecting the survival of the southern people.

The study made the assumption that climate change, deteriorated coastal ecosystems, and increased solar ultraviolet radiation worsen diseases, but there wasn't enough evidence to support this claim.

The most likely reason, according to the experts, is an infectious agent, such as bacteria, fungi, or viruses.

The research looked at the orcas' overall well-being through the condition of their skin, adding to their health records and igniting more investigation into lesions and other health issues in orcas.

Recovery Plan and Population Decline

The southern residents were added to the Endangered Species Act's list of threatened species in 2005, and a recovery plan was completed in 2008.

They were included in NOAA's 2015 initiative "Species in the Spotlight" to draw attention to and protect the marine species that are most in danger.

Generally speaking, the southern inhabitants confront at least three threats that are making it difficult for them to survive: a scarcity of Chinook salmon in their foraging zone, pollution, and underwater noise that disrupts their hunting behavior.

Also Read: New Bill Protects Orcas with 1000-Yard Buffer From Boats -Washington

According to recent studies, the southern resident orcas are spending less time in the San Juan Islands, where they usually spend the summer, since there are fewer Chinook salmon to consume.

Researchers found that between 2004 and 2020, sightings of the southern people in the archipelago decreased by 75%. That coincided with a 50% decrease in the amount of Chinook salmon, the preferred meal of orcas, in the Fraser River in British Columbia.

That study follows recent research that discovered southern resident females hunt less successfully than their northern neighbors, and that a declining, inbred population of southern residents may be on the verge of extinction, Seattle Times reports.

The peer-reviewed research by the team of Gaydos and Giles was published in the journal Public Library of Science PLOS ONE this month.

Related Article: Mysterious Whale Deaths Continue on the US East Coast, Experts Weigh In in Increasing Toll
A man in New Jersey is facing charges of around $1.5M after illegally cutting down 32 trees on his neighbor's property to improve his view of the New York City skyline.

For the Love of an NYC Skyline View

To have better views of the Manhattan skyline, a New Jersey homeowner cut down 32 of his neighbor's trees on a hillside in a small town

.As a result, the neighbor is upset and officials saif that the homeowner might now be required to pay more than $1.5 million in fines as well as the additional replacement costs.

Kinnelon resident Samih Shinway is upset that a fourth of his oaks, birches, and maples were cut down.

According to borough forester John Linson on Tuesday, his neighbor Grant Haber, a specialist in munitions, received a first fine of $32,000 ($1,000 per tree cut down) for removing a portion of the lush, 7-acre property in March, NorthJersey.com reported.

According to a municipal rule, anyone who illegally cuts down a tree in Kinnelon is also required to replace it with a tree of a similar or superior type.

The issue is that repairing the toppled trees will necessitate creating a road to the location and watering the newly planted trees for two years, a labor-intensive task expected to cost $1.5 million, according to Shinway.

According to Shinway, Haber will also need to account for the cost of adding soil, getting rid of unwanted species, and cleaning up.

Illegal Tree Removal and Trespassing

On Wednesday, Haber, the CEO of a business that fights terrorism, was unavailable for comment. His business, American Innovations, provides equipment to spot IEDs on the battlefield.

According to Kinnelon prosecutor Kim Kassar, the sapling slasher is also accused of trespassing in addition to at least 32 counts of illegal tree removal.

Early in March, according to Shinway, he saw workmen allegedly felling treasured fir trees on his estate, which is located about 35 miles west of New York City.

Shinway hopped on a four-wheeler and headed over when he heard several chainsaws. That's when He came across a cemetery of 20 to 150-year-old conifers that had been cut into pieces with a chainsaw.

Also Read: Tree Rings: Scientists Use a Simple Method to Unlock Trees' History Without Cutting

More Fines

Four contractors and a landscape vehicle with a sizable shredder were seen on Shinway's property. They stated that the "owner" who hired them desired a view of the city and mountains.

Shinway demanded a replacement for his trees after he called the police. The potential penalty for two contractors is $400,000. The event was described in a tweet by Linson's friend Sam Glickman, which went viral and disrupted a Zoom court hearing.

The case of Shinway against Haber was later postponed to July 18.

Glickman estimated in a tweet that replacing the trees that Haber had already cut down would cost $32,000 in addition to the cost of the trees themselves, which is according to the bylaws stated by Borough of Kinnelon.

A final cost estimate for cutting conifers has not been confirmed by municipal officials.

In order to protect an "active criminal prosecution," Kinnelon Town Prosecutor Kim Kassar did not respond to inquiries, New York Post reports.

Related Article: Maple Trees In Oregon's Willamette Park Being Illegally Logged Burl by Burl
According to information published by the Singapore MINDEF on June 30, 2023, the fourth bilateral Exercise Pacific Griffin between the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and the United States Navy (USN) was successfully concluded in the waters around Guam.

Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Independence-class littoral mission vessel RSS Dauntless firing MICA anti-air missile. (Picture source: Singapore MINDEF)

Singapore's naval participation included the Formidable-class frigate RSS Tenacious, equipped with an embarked S-70B Seahawk naval helicopter, and the Independence-class littoral mission vessel RSS Dauntless.

The USN represented themselves with the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh, which hosted an embarked MH60R Seahawk naval helicopter.

They also included the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Manchester, with an MH60S Seahawk and an MQ-8C naval helicopter, and the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Cesar Chavez. The event also saw the involvement of naval divers from both the RSN and USN.

The exercise tested both navies in advanced naval warfare drills such as escorting high-value assets, naval gunnery firing, and a surface action group exercise, where both navies' assets and personnel executed a series of warfare missions.

The RSS Tenacious launched an anti-surface Harpoon missile, and the RSS Dauntless conducted the inaugural firing of the MICA anti-air missile. RSN naval divers also underwent training in areas such as maritime explosive ordnance disposal and maritime counter-terrorism operations.

Commencing biennially since 2017, Exercise Pacific Griffin underscores the strong naval relations between Singapore and the US, reinforcing their bilateral defense relations.

About the MICA

It is primarily designed to be launched from various platforms, including aircraft such as the Dassault Rafale, Mirage 2000, Mirage F1, and Su-30MKI, as well as from ground batteries, surface vessels, and submarines.

The Mica missile has specific specifications that make it a highly capable weapon. It has a mass of 112 kilograms (247 pounds) and measures approximately 3.1 meters (10 feet) in length. With a diameter of 160 millimeters (6.3 inches), the missile is compact and streamlined for efficient flight.

The warhead of the Mica missile weighs around 12 kilograms (26 pounds). It can be detonated through either proximity or direct impact mechanisms, allowing for effective engagement of targets. The missile is propelled by a solid-propellant rocket motor, which provides the necessary thrust for its flight.

The Mica missile has impressive operational ranges depending on the launch method. When air-launched, it can reach distances ranging from 0.5 to 80 kilometers (0.31 to 49.71 miles) or up to 100 kilometers (62 miles).

In vertical launch scenarios, the missile can achieve altitudes of up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) and fly at speeds of up to Mach 4, making it a high-speed interceptor.

The guidance system of the Mica missile consists of both midcourse and terminal guidance. During the midcourse phase, the missile employs inertial guidance, which enables it to navigate towards the target based on pre-programmed data.

In the terminal phase, the Mica missile utilizes either the MICA-RF/EM variant with active radar homing or the MICA-IR variant with infrared homing, depending on the specific version used.
After the attempt of an armed rebellion in the Russian Federation, the FSB was given the task of liquidating its organizer, owner of the so-called Wagner PMC Yevgeniy Prigozhin, head of the Main Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said.

As Budanov stated in an interview with American journalist Howard Altman, Ukrainian military intelligence has long been aware of intentions to commit such actions inside Russia.

We cannot talk about their serious influence [on Russia's war against Ukraine], because all these events lasted for a very short period of time. However, some damage was done to the Russian military space forces. Secondly, we do not expect the appearance of Wagner PMC in Ukraine as a separate entity performing its own operations. And I think this factor is quite important for us, Budanov said.

He also clarified that as a result of Prigozhin's short riot, eight Russian military aircraft were destroyed, including an air-protected command post based on the IL-22 M aircraft.

According to the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Russian special services were tasked to kill Prigozhin.

We know that the task of killing Prigozhin was entrusted to the FSB. Will they be successful in this? Time will show. One way or another, all potential assassination attempts will not be quick. They will need some time to develop suitable approaches and reach the stage when they will be ready for a large-scale operation. But I would like to emphasize that this is a big open question. Will they be able to do it? Will they dare to carry out this order? Budanov said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with former Vice President of the United States, Senator Mike Pence, who is visiting our country for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression.

The Head of State emphasized the extremely important powerful support for Ukraine from the American people, U.S. President Joseph Biden, the Congress and both parties, the presidential press service said.

"This support is not only with weapons, which is the main priority today. The United States provides us with financial assistance, humanitarian and political support. We appreciate that both major US parties, the Republican and Democratic, remain united in their support for Ukraine. And, of course, we feel the strong support of the people of the United States," he emphasized.

In this context, Zelenskyy thanked the United States for the recent defense assistance packages worth $2.1 billion and $500 million, allocated on June 6 and June 27, respectively, and emphasized the unprecedented total amount of support provided, which has reached $43.1 billion since February last year. The Head of State expressed gratitude for the loud voice of Mike Pence in support of Ukraine in the U.S. Republican Party.

He briefed the former U.S. Vice President on the situation on the battlefield and shared Ukraine's assessment of recent events in Russia and how they will affect security in the region.

In this regard, Zelenskyy emphasized the primary importance of continuing and strengthening defense assistance for Ukraine from partners, including artillery and long-range weapons. The Head of State emphasized the importance of training Ukrainian pilots as quickly as possible and providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, the message reads.

In addition, the President shared his expectations from the NATO Summit in Vilnius. He said that the partners should demonstrate determination and give Ukraine certainty about its future membership.

"This is what will motivate our people. And this is also a weapon, but a political one. Perhaps it is even more powerful than missiles. For this, we must see our future in NATO," the Head of State emphasized.

Also, during the meeting, Zelensky told Mike Pence about the humanitarian situation in the southern regions of Ukraine after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam by Russian occupiers. In this context, the President thanked American charitable organizations that help provide drinking water to the territories affected by this crime.

In turn, the President of Ukraine wrote on the Telegram channel that during the meeting they discussed defense, bilateral cooperation and cooperation in the field of security, as well as the importance of the partners' determination and certainty regarding Ukraine's future membership in NATO.

"The support of the United States for our struggle for freedom is vital. All Americans, every American family, all social forces, Congress - both parties, both chambers. And of course, the support of the President of the United States Joe Biden. I thank you for this support!" Zelenskyy wrote in a message published on Thursday evening.
Uma Kannan By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: One of the highlights of Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent US visit was his discussion with US President Joe Biden on the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). Both the leaders identified iCET as the pivot with which the two countries can take their technical cooperation to the next level.

At a broader level, New Delhi and Washington seek to reap strategic and economic benefits through meaningful collaboration with each other. Under the tech partnership, India and the US will coordinate on science and tech research, civilian space, quantum technology, and semiconductor supply chains, among others.

What is iCET?

The esoteric-sounding term, coined in May 2022 when Modi and Biden announced the initiative in Tokyo, simply means partnership between Indian and US governments, private sector, institutions and academia to foster progress in strategic, emerging and complex technologies.

Under iCET, there will be technology partnerships and defence industrial cooperation between government, businesses and academic institutions of the two countries.

Both India and the US have said they are committed to fostering an open, accessible, and secure technology ecosystem, based on mutual trust and confidence.

Context and relevance

The strategic collaboration comes at a time when many businesses are focusing on AI, biotech and space. After the inaugural meeting held in Washington, DC in January 2023, both countries discussed opportunities for greater cooperation in critical and emerging technologies.

The US and India underlined their commitment to working to resolve issues related to regulatory barriers and business and talent mobility in both countries through a standing mechanism under iCET in January this year.

At the Washington meeting, led by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan, both sides noted the value of establishing innovation bridges in key sectors, including through expos, hackathons, and pitch sessions.

They also identified the fields of biotechnology, advanced materials, and rare earth processing technology as areas for future cooperation.

Progress so far

Before PM Modi's visit to the US, Doval and Sullivan reviewed the progress of iCET. Sullivan, who flew down to New Delhi, said one of the key focuses of iCET is to remove barriers to collaboration from both sides so as to exploit the full potential of bilateral cooperation. He said leading firms are looking to make investments in both directions.

The US and India are poised to lead in clean energy transformation, shore up and diversify global semiconductor supply chains and supply chains in other critical goods, and lead the revolution in AI, advanced computing, biotech and quantum, he added.

After Modis meeting with Biden, both leaders called on governments, businesses, and academic institutions to realise their shared vision for the strategic technology partnership.

In the meeting, it was said that the US and India will sustain and grow quantum training and exchange programmes and work to reduce barriers to US-India research collaboration.

A $2-million grant programme was launched for the joint development and commercialisation of AI and quantum technologies, and encouraged public-private collaborations to develop high-performance computing facilities in India.

FOCUS AREAS

Partnership between the US-based National Science Foundation and Indian science agencies to expand international collaboration in a range of areas including AI, quantum technologies, and advanced wireless.

Indo-US Quantum Coordination Mechanism with participation from industry, academia, and government to facilitate research and industry collaboration.

Promoting collaboration on High Performance Computing.

Developing a new bilateral Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap to accelerate technological cooperation between both countries for the joint development and production.

Launching a new Innovation Bridge that will connect US & Indian defence startups

Supporting the development of a semi-conductor ecosystem.

Advancing cooperation on research and development in 5G and 6G; facilitating deployment and adoption of Open RAN in India.

BENGALURU: One of the highlights of Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent US visit was his discussion with US President Joe Biden on the India-US Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET). Both the leaders identified iCET as the pivot with which the two countries can take their technical cooperation to the next level. At a broader level, New Delhi and Washington seek to reap strategic and economic benefits through meaningful collaboration with each other. Under the tech partnership, India and the US will coordinate on science and tech research, civilian space, quantum technology, and semiconductor supply chains, among others. What is iCET? The esoteric-sounding term, coined in May 2022 when Modi and Biden announced the initiative in Tokyo, simply means partnership between Indian and US governments, private sector, institutions and academia to foster progress in strategic, emerging and complex technologies.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Under iCET, there will be technology partnerships and defence industrial cooperation between government, businesses and academic institutions of the two countries. Both India and the US have said they are committed to fostering an open, accessible, and secure technology ecosystem, based on mutual trust and confidence. Context and relevance The strategic collaboration comes at a time when many businesses are focusing on AI, biotech and space. After the inaugural meeting held in Washington, DC in January 2023, both countries discussed opportunities for greater cooperation in critical and emerging technologies. The US and India underlined their commitment to working to resolve issues related to regulatory barriers and business and talent mobility in both countries through a standing mechanism under iCET in January this year. At the Washington meeting, led by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and his American counterpart Jake Sullivan, both sides noted the value of establishing innovation bridges in key sectors, including through expos, hackathons, and pitch sessions. They also identified the fields of biotechnology, advanced materials, and rare earth processing technology as areas for future cooperation. Progress so far Before PM Modi's visit to the US, Doval and Sullivan reviewed the progress of iCET. Sullivan, who flew down to New Delhi, said one of the key focuses of iCET is to remove barriers to collaboration from both sides so as to exploit the full potential of bilateral cooperation. He said leading firms are looking to make investments in both directions. The US and India are poised to lead in clean energy transformation, shore up and diversify global semiconductor supply chains and supply chains in other critical goods, and lead the revolution in AI, advanced computing, biotech and quantum, he added. After Modis meeting with Biden, both leaders called on governments, businesses, and academic institutions to realise their shared vision for the strategic technology partnership. In the meeting, it was said that the US and India will sustain and grow quantum training and exchange programmes and work to reduce barriers to US-India research collaboration. A $2-million grant programme was launched for the joint development and commercialisation of AI and quantum technologies, and encouraged public-private collaborations to develop high-performance computing facilities in India. FOCUS AREAS Partnership between the US-based National Science Foundation and Indian science agencies to expand international collaboration in a range of areas including AI, quantum technologies, and advanced wireless. Indo-US Quantum Coordination Mechanism with participation from industry, academia, and government to facilitate research and industry collaboration. Promoting collaboration on High Performance Computing. Developing a new bilateral Defence Industrial Cooperation Roadmap to accelerate technological cooperation between both countries for the joint development and production. Launching a new Innovation Bridge that will connect US & Indian defence startups Supporting the development of a semi-conductor ecosystem. Advancing cooperation on research and development in 5G and 6G; facilitating deployment and adoption of Open RAN in India.
Mayank Singh By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force is preparing to host its biggest-ever multinational exercise, which will see participation from some of the most advanced air forces in the world.

The exercise, to be held in the last quarter of this year, is named Tarang Shakti. Air forces of 12 countries are to participate, with six nations joining with their air assets and the other six will be joining as observers, said a source privy to the information.

The exercise is likely to bring together the frontline aircraft, including combat jets, transport aircraft, mid-air refuellers, and airborne warning and control system aircraft. All the preparations for the exercise in the Rajasthan sector have been done and the approval of the government is expected soon.

Sources in the defence and security establishment hinted that the advanced air forces, including those of the Quad nations, United States, Japan and Australia in addition to that of France and the United Kingdom, are the ones sending their aircraft for this exercise.

A major exercise like Tarang Shakti will lead to better professional interactions, enrich the employment philosophy of the forces and get valuable insight into the participating contingents best practices, said the source. The Indian Army and Navy have hosted multilateral exercises in the past. The Multinational maritime exercise Milan-22 saw the participation of 40 countries. Indian Army held the Africa-India Field Training Exercise-2023 in Pune in March this year with the participation of 25 African nations.

The armed forces of India have been participating in multiple bilateral and multilateral exercises and their professional prowess has been well-acknowledged. In the months of April and May, the IAFs air warriors were part of bilateral and multilateral exercises. In April, the Indian Air Force went to France to participate in Exercise Orion at Mont-de-Marsan, an air force base of the French Air and Space Force (FASF). For the first time, Indian Air Forces four Rafales participated in an overseas exercise.

Besides the IAF and the FASF, air forces from Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain and the United States of America participated in this multilateral exercise. Also, Exercise Cope India 23 was held at air force station Kalaikunda in April between the Indian Air Force and the United States Air Force. Personnel from the Japanese Air Self Defence Force were present as observers.

Grounds prepared for event in Western Sector

Indian Air Forces Tarang Shakti exercise is likely to bring together the frontline aircraft, including combat jets, transport aircraft, mid-air refuellers, and airborne warning and control system aircraft. All the preparations for the exercise in the Rajasthan sector have been done and the approval of the government is expected soon.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force is preparing to host its biggest-ever multinational exercise, which will see participation from some of the most advanced air forces in the world. The exercise, to be held in the last quarter of this year, is named Tarang Shakti. Air forces of 12 countries are to participate, with six nations joining with their air assets and the other six will be joining as observers, said a source privy to the information. The exercise is likely to bring together the frontline aircraft, including combat jets, transport aircraft, mid-air refuellers, and airborne warning and control system aircraft. All the preparations for the exercise in the Rajasthan sector have been done and the approval of the government is expected soon. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Sources in the defence and security establishment hinted that the advanced air forces, including those of the Quad nations, United States, Japan and Australia in addition to that of France and the United Kingdom, are the ones sending their aircraft for this exercise. A major exercise like Tarang Shakti will lead to better professional interactions, enrich the employment philosophy of the forces and get valuable insight into the participating contingents best practices, said the source. The Indian Army and Navy have hosted multilateral exercises in the past. The Multinational maritime exercise Milan-22 saw the participation of 40 countries. Indian Army held the Africa-India Field Training Exercise-2023 in Pune in March this year with the participation of 25 African nations. The armed forces of India have been participating in multiple bilateral and multilateral exercises and their professional prowess has been well-acknowledged. In the months of April and May, the IAFs air warriors were part of bilateral and multilateral exercises. In April, the Indian Air Force went to France to participate in Exercise Orion at Mont-de-Marsan, an air force base of the French Air and Space Force (FASF). For the first time, Indian Air Forces four Rafales participated in an overseas exercise. Besides the IAF and the FASF, air forces from Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain and the United States of America participated in this multilateral exercise. Also, Exercise Cope India 23 was held at air force station Kalaikunda in April between the Indian Air Force and the United States Air Force. Personnel from the Japanese Air Self Defence Force were present as observers. Grounds prepared for event in Western Sector Indian Air Forces Tarang Shakti exercise is likely to bring together the frontline aircraft, including combat jets, transport aircraft, mid-air refuellers, and airborne warning and control system aircraft. All the preparations for the exercise in the Rajasthan sector have been done and the approval of the government is expected soon.
Rajesh Kumar Thakur By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have called a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on July 3. The PM is likely to take stock of the performance of each ministry and equip the minister concerned with the government's stand on various issues.

A senior source in the government said the meeting of the Union Council of Ministers comes a few days after the PMs meeting on Wednesday with the partys top leaders on issues including uniform civil code (UCC), next Parliament session, organisational matters and a possible reshuffle of the Council of Ministers.

It is guessed that the PM may drop hints to some of the ministers to get ready for LS elections. A discussion over Cabinet reshuffle, which is expected, may also be held at this meeting, said a party source.

The monsoon session, which is likely to start after July 15, is almost sure to be stormy over the UCC, Manipur crisis and the Balasore rail mishap, besides other issues. In such a situation, it is believed that the PM will share tips with his ministers on how to tackle the situation on the floor of the House on the issue of UCC, the Manipur crisis and the recent major rail mishap in Odishas Balasore, a source hinted, adding that the first opposition meet held in Patna and the second to be held in Bangalore on July 13, will also be countered by the present members of treasury benches.

There is also a buzz that the expected Cabinet reshuffle may get the final shape at the meeting in which the ministers who are likely to be dropped from the Cabinet will be asked to resign and told to focus on Lok Sabha elections or organisational matters.

It may be recalled that in the July 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, 12 ministers were dropped and 17 new ministers were sworn in. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar and Santosh Gangwar Bareilly were dropped before Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal and Ashwini Vaishnaw were inducted into the cabinet. Recently, law minister Kiren Rijiju was dropped from the law ministry and was replaced by Arjun Ram Meghwal.

The Union Council of Ministers consist of Cabinet ministers, ministers of state and the minister of state (independent charges). At present, there are 58 Union ministers handling 93 departments of various ministries. Discussions on the impact of the Aspirational Districts Programme, Ujjwala scheme, Har Ghar Jal, farmers welfare schemes, railway projects and many other minority-centric welfare schemes started by the Modi government in the last nine years are also expected to come up for discussions.



NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have called a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on July 3. The PM is likely to take stock of the performance of each ministry and equip the minister concerned with the government's stand on various issues. A senior source in the government said the meeting of the Union Council of Ministers comes a few days after the PMs meeting on Wednesday with the partys top leaders on issues including uniform civil code (UCC), next Parliament session, organisational matters and a possible reshuffle of the Council of Ministers. It is guessed that the PM may drop hints to some of the ministers to get ready for LS elections. A discussion over Cabinet reshuffle, which is expected, may also be held at this meeting, said a party source.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The monsoon session, which is likely to start after July 15, is almost sure to be stormy over the UCC, Manipur crisis and the Balasore rail mishap, besides other issues. In such a situation, it is believed that the PM will share tips with his ministers on how to tackle the situation on the floor of the House on the issue of UCC, the Manipur crisis and the recent major rail mishap in Odishas Balasore, a source hinted, adding that the first opposition meet held in Patna and the second to be held in Bangalore on July 13, will also be countered by the present members of treasury benches. There is also a buzz that the expected Cabinet reshuffle may get the final shape at the meeting in which the ministers who are likely to be dropped from the Cabinet will be asked to resign and told to focus on Lok Sabha elections or organisational matters. It may be recalled that in the July 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, 12 ministers were dropped and 17 new ministers were sworn in. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar and Santosh Gangwar Bareilly were dropped before Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal and Ashwini Vaishnaw were inducted into the cabinet. Recently, law minister Kiren Rijiju was dropped from the law ministry and was replaced by Arjun Ram Meghwal. The Union Council of Ministers consist of Cabinet ministers, ministers of state and the minister of state (independent charges). At present, there are 58 Union ministers handling 93 departments of various ministries. Discussions on the impact of the Aspirational Districts Programme, Ujjwala scheme, Har Ghar Jal, farmers welfare schemes, railway projects and many other minority-centric welfare schemes started by the Modi government in the last nine years are also expected to come up for discussions.
Ramashankar By

Express News Service

PATNA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Congress failed to launch party leader Rahul Gandhi 20 times, emphasizing that now people had to decide if they wanted to give another term to Narendra Modi as Prime Minister or want to make Rahul their next PM.

Shah also attacked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumars opposition unity drive alleging that leaders of those 20 parties who had assembled in the state capital were responsible for Rs 20 lakh crore scams when the Congress-led UPA was in power.

Addressing a public meeting in Lakhisarai, Shah said, Congress is a vichitra (strange) party as it launches its leader. It has made 20 attempts to launch Rahul, but failed. It had tried to launch Rahul in the meeting of opposition leaders in Patna too, but again it failed.

He said now people had to decide who should be their PM. Modi, who had added to the glory of the country and also ensured its safety, or Rahul who could not be successfully launched as a leader. He also appealed to people to ensure that NDA won all 40 Lok Sabha seats of the state in the 2024 election. Launching a blistering attack on Nitish by calling him a betrayer and paltu ram for snapping ties with BJP and forming a new government with the Grand Alliance, he exhorted people to punish him in the Lok Sabha election as well as in the 2025 state assembly elections.

He said that Nitish was also befooling RJD chief Lalu Prasad as he was not going to become Prime Minister and would continue to stick to the post of chief minister. It was Shahs 5th visit to Bihar in the last 10 months. The Home Minister said that Nitish had built his political career by fighting against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Lalu but now he had joined hands with Congress and RJD.

He alleged that Nitish should be shameful for sacrificing his principles for the lust of power and joining hands with Lalu and Arvind Kejriwal. He said people of Bihar would not be with the corrupt people as it was the land of revolutionary leader Jayaprakash Narayan. Now, Nitish is sitting in the doorstep of Congress, he alleged. Shah claimed that law and order situation in Bihar was worsening as goonda raj had returned to the state with RJD coming back to power as liquor mafia and sand mafia had become active.

Shah said that Nitish should tell what his government had done for Bihar before questioning the Centre. He said the Centre opened engineering and medical colleges in Munger as it also gave `3 lakh crore for 13 greenfield expressways in the state and `13,400 crore for Patna Metro. Reacting to Shahs meeting, JD-U chief and MP from Munger Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said Shahs nervousness over BJP losing ground in the state was visible during his address at Lakhisarai on Thursday. Lakhisarai assembly constituency comes under Munger Lok Sabha seat.

He alleged that several schemes that Shah mentioned in his speech were launched by Nitish Kumar. For example, Centres funds were not used in Jal Jivan Mission to provide tap water supply to people in the state. RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari claimed that BJP will not be able to open its account in Bihar in next years Lok Sabha election.

PATNA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Congress failed to launch party leader Rahul Gandhi 20 times, emphasizing that now people had to decide if they wanted to give another term to Narendra Modi as Prime Minister or want to make Rahul their next PM. Shah also attacked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumars opposition unity drive alleging that leaders of those 20 parties who had assembled in the state capital were responsible for Rs 20 lakh crore scams when the Congress-led UPA was in power. Addressing a public meeting in Lakhisarai, Shah said, Congress is a vichitra (strange) party as it launches its leader. It has made 20 attempts to launch Rahul, but failed. It had tried to launch Rahul in the meeting of opposition leaders in Patna too, but again it failed.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); He said now people had to decide who should be their PM. Modi, who had added to the glory of the country and also ensured its safety, or Rahul who could not be successfully launched as a leader. He also appealed to people to ensure that NDA won all 40 Lok Sabha seats of the state in the 2024 election. Launching a blistering attack on Nitish by calling him a betrayer and paltu ram for snapping ties with BJP and forming a new government with the Grand Alliance, he exhorted people to punish him in the Lok Sabha election as well as in the 2025 state assembly elections. He said that Nitish was also befooling RJD chief Lalu Prasad as he was not going to become Prime Minister and would continue to stick to the post of chief minister. It was Shahs 5th visit to Bihar in the last 10 months. The Home Minister said that Nitish had built his political career by fighting against former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Lalu but now he had joined hands with Congress and RJD. He alleged that Nitish should be shameful for sacrificing his principles for the lust of power and joining hands with Lalu and Arvind Kejriwal. He said people of Bihar would not be with the corrupt people as it was the land of revolutionary leader Jayaprakash Narayan. Now, Nitish is sitting in the doorstep of Congress, he alleged. Shah claimed that law and order situation in Bihar was worsening as goonda raj had returned to the state with RJD coming back to power as liquor mafia and sand mafia had become active. Shah said that Nitish should tell what his government had done for Bihar before questioning the Centre. He said the Centre opened engineering and medical colleges in Munger as it also gave `3 lakh crore for 13 greenfield expressways in the state and `13,400 crore for Patna Metro. Reacting to Shahs meeting, JD-U chief and MP from Munger Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said Shahs nervousness over BJP losing ground in the state was visible during his address at Lakhisarai on Thursday. Lakhisarai assembly constituency comes under Munger Lok Sabha seat. He alleged that several schemes that Shah mentioned in his speech were launched by Nitish Kumar. For example, Centres funds were not used in Jal Jivan Mission to provide tap water supply to people in the state. RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari claimed that BJP will not be able to open its account in Bihar in next years Lok Sabha election.
By PTI

GUWAHATI: A police inspector was dismissed from service for allegedly assaulting a girl and taking her objectionable photographs in a police station in Assam's Nalbari district, a top officer said.

After initially being placed under suspension on Thursday, the inspector who is currently absconding was dismissed from service later the same day, he said.

"Being convinced of the instant case being rarest or rare, and as the Director General of Police and Head of Police Force of Assam, and in accordance with extant law & rules, I have decided to dismiss Inspector (UB) Biman Roy from Assam Police," DGP GP Singh said in a Tweet late on Thursday.

The case originated when a minor girl filed a complaint against the police officer, alleging that he clicked nude pictures of her and harassed her in the presence of other officials inside the lock-up. The incident occurred at Ghograpar Police Station in Nalbari.

The girl and a man were taken into custody on June 21 in connection with a child marriage case.

Inspector Biman Roy, who served as the former OC of Ghograpar Police Station, is the prime suspect in the case.

A case against the police officer has been registered with Nalbari police station under IPC Sections related to wrongful confinement of a person with the intent to insult the modesty of a woman read with certain sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) related to use of children for pornographic purpose. Following the victim's FIR, the DGP assured that the strongest lawful action would be taken against the sub-inspector if found guilty.

The Nalbari Superintendent of Police had admitted that the police had violated the norms by keeping a girl in the police station at night when she should have been sent to a state-run home for a night stay.

Expressing his anguish over the incident, the DGP said Assam Police will work to ensure that its glory remains intact and the dismissal of the inspector will serve as a warning to all officials to maintain the 'sanctity' of police stations.

"When we entered the police service at SVP National Police Academy Hyderabad, it was always taught to us that the police station is a temple for all police personnel and the safest refuge for the citizens. Today I am deeply disheartened and anguished at the turn of events," the DGP Tweeted.

While an inspector has "let us all down" and the entire force stands distraught, the DGP assured that he shall use the power vested on him "to the maximum to ensure that the glory of Assam police remains intact".

When we entered the police service at SVP National Police Academy Hyderabad, it was always taught to us that police station is a temple for all police personnel and the safest refuge for the citizens. Today I am deeply disheartened and anguished at the turn of events. One  GP Singh (@gpsinghips) June 29, 2023

The DGP said the dismissal of the inspector should send a strong message to all serving police personnel about adherence to the law of the land and the idea of the chief minister to shape the force dedicated to the service of the people.

"This may also be taken as a warning and advice to all Assam Police personnel, to maintain the sanctity of police stations and ensure that police stations remain the safest place for our children and women," Singh wrote on the micro-blogging site.

He added that anyone not discharging the duty to keep the citizens safe in police stations "shall invariably face similar consequences".

GUWAHATI: A police inspector was dismissed from service for allegedly assaulting a girl and taking her objectionable photographs in a police station in Assam's Nalbari district, a top officer said. After initially being placed under suspension on Thursday, the inspector who is currently absconding was dismissed from service later the same day, he said. "Being convinced of the instant case being rarest or rare, and as the Director General of Police and Head of Police Force of Assam, and in accordance with extant law & rules, I have decided to dismiss Inspector (UB) Biman Roy from Assam Police," DGP GP Singh said in a Tweet late on Thursday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The case originated when a minor girl filed a complaint against the police officer, alleging that he clicked nude pictures of her and harassed her in the presence of other officials inside the lock-up. The incident occurred at Ghograpar Police Station in Nalbari. The girl and a man were taken into custody on June 21 in connection with a child marriage case. Inspector Biman Roy, who served as the former OC of Ghograpar Police Station, is the prime suspect in the case. A case against the police officer has been registered with Nalbari police station under IPC Sections related to wrongful confinement of a person with the intent to insult the modesty of a woman read with certain sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) related to use of children for pornographic purpose. Following the victim's FIR, the DGP assured that the strongest lawful action would be taken against the sub-inspector if found guilty. The Nalbari Superintendent of Police had admitted that the police had violated the norms by keeping a girl in the police station at night when she should have been sent to a state-run home for a night stay. Expressing his anguish over the incident, the DGP said Assam Police will work to ensure that its glory remains intact and the dismissal of the inspector will serve as a warning to all officials to maintain the 'sanctity' of police stations. "When we entered the police service at SVP National Police Academy Hyderabad, it was always taught to us that the police station is a temple for all police personnel and the safest refuge for the citizens. Today I am deeply disheartened and anguished at the turn of events," the DGP Tweeted. While an inspector has "let us all down" and the entire force stands distraught, the DGP assured that he shall use the power vested on him "to the maximum to ensure that the glory of Assam police remains intact". When we entered the police service at SVP National Police Academy Hyderabad, it was always taught to us that police station is a temple for all police personnel and the safest refuge for the citizens. Today I am deeply disheartened and anguished at the turn of events. One  GP Singh (@gpsinghips) June 29, 2023 The DGP said the dismissal of the inspector should send a strong message to all serving police personnel about adherence to the law of the land and the idea of the chief minister to shape the force dedicated to the service of the people. "This may also be taken as a warning and advice to all Assam Police personnel, to maintain the sanctity of police stations and ensure that police stations remain the safest place for our children and women," Singh wrote on the micro-blogging site. He added that anyone not discharging the duty to keep the citizens safe in police stations "shall invariably face similar consequences".
Dilip Singh Kshatriya By

Express News Service

AHMEDABAD: Even as the Central government claims to be working hard to expand organic farming throughout India, Gujarat is yet to pick up the pace as land used for organic farming has not risen by an inch in the last six years.

Every year, the government announces the budget for organic farming but has failed to captivate Gujarat farmers. In Gujarat, around 9,60,000 hectares of land are cultivated, with just 32092.51 hectares being organically cultivated.

According to official data, organic farming covered 30,092 hectares in 2014-2015, and it expanded by 2,000 hectares in 2015-2016. However, from 2016 to 2022 there is no substantial rise in land used for organic farming.

The Central government launched the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) to promote organic farming.

The Gujarat government which has already developed its own organic farming strategy, appears to have failed to entice farmers to organic farming. With over 10,27,865 organic agricultural farmers in the country registered under PKVY, Gujarat's farmer's name goes missing.

According to Lok Sabha's answer on 21st March 2023, the Central government also has not released any funds for Gujarat in 2021-2022 under the PMKY scheme as there has been slow progress in utilizing funds of PMKY.

Gujarat Congress spokesperson Parthiv Raj Kathwadia claimed, "According to the Lok Sabha reply, 8184.81 crores have been released in the country under PKVY during the year 2021-2022, but Gujarat has been given zero funds in 2021-22, and not a single penny has been spent by the Gujarat government to attract or encourage organic farming farmers."

It is significant that the Gujarat Natural Farming and Organic Agricultural University was established six years ago by the Gujarat government to guide and divert farmers in Gujarat to organic farming.

According to the vice-chancellor of this university, farmers in Gujarat show more interest towards natural farming than organic farming.

Dr C.K. Timbadia Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Natural Farming and Organic Agricultural University said Natural farming has become more popular among Gujarat farmers, with cow-based natural farming growing in popularity. There are currently 5,37,000 thousand farmers practising natural farming in Gujarat, with natural farming covering 5.17 thousand hectares.

Another important point is that we have not made much progress in the certification of organic farming. While the process of natural farming certification is handled by a committee of the Government of India, farmers in Gujarat are shifting from organic farming to natural farming as the volume of natural farming increases.

AHMEDABAD: Even as the Central government claims to be working hard to expand organic farming throughout India, Gujarat is yet to pick up the pace as land used for organic farming has not risen by an inch in the last six years. Every year, the government announces the budget for organic farming but has failed to captivate Gujarat farmers. In Gujarat, around 9,60,000 hectares of land are cultivated, with just 32092.51 hectares being organically cultivated. According to official data, organic farming covered 30,092 hectares in 2014-2015, and it expanded by 2,000 hectares in 2015-2016. However, from 2016 to 2022 there is no substantial rise in land used for organic farming. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Central government launched the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) to promote organic farming. The Gujarat government which has already developed its own organic farming strategy, appears to have failed to entice farmers to organic farming. With over 10,27,865 organic agricultural farmers in the country registered under PKVY, Gujarat's farmer's name goes missing. According to Lok Sabha's answer on 21st March 2023, the Central government also has not released any funds for Gujarat in 2021-2022 under the PMKY scheme as there has been slow progress in utilizing funds of PMKY. Gujarat Congress spokesperson Parthiv Raj Kathwadia claimed, "According to the Lok Sabha reply, 8184.81 crores have been released in the country under PKVY during the year 2021-2022, but Gujarat has been given zero funds in 2021-22, and not a single penny has been spent by the Gujarat government to attract or encourage organic farming farmers." It is significant that the Gujarat Natural Farming and Organic Agricultural University was established six years ago by the Gujarat government to guide and divert farmers in Gujarat to organic farming. According to the vice-chancellor of this university, farmers in Gujarat show more interest towards natural farming than organic farming. Dr C.K. Timbadia Vice Chancellor of Gujarat Natural Farming and Organic Agricultural University said Natural farming has become more popular among Gujarat farmers, with cow-based natural farming growing in popularity. There are currently 5,37,000 thousand farmers practising natural farming in Gujarat, with natural farming covering 5.17 thousand hectares. Another important point is that we have not made much progress in the certification of organic farming. While the process of natural farming certification is handled by a committee of the Government of India, farmers in Gujarat are shifting from organic farming to natural farming as the volume of natural farming increases.
By PTI

AHMEDABAD: Heavy rains lashed several parts of Gujarat with some areas receiving more than 200 mm showers in the last 30 hours, while rain-related incidents claimed the lives of nine persons over the past two days in the state, an official said.

Heavy rains lash Gujarat, 9 dead in 2 days in rain-related incidents

Edited video is available in video section on https://t.co/lFLnN4nCOn pic.twitter.com/kPeMRrIKGl  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 30, 2023

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy showers for isolated parts of different districts on Saturday and light to moderate rain on Sunday and Monday, he said.

Normal life was thrown out of gear at several places in Junagadh, Jamnagar, Morbi, Kutch, Surat and Tapi districts due to heavy rains during the day, he said.

Heavy waterlogging was witnessed in several towns and cities, while roads were closed in rural areas on Friday morning due to a heavy spell, the official said.

As per the data shared by the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), 37 talukas of the state received more than 100 mm of rainfall in 30 hours ending at 12 pm on Friday.

A resident at his house amid heavy monsoon rains, in Junagarh on June 30, 2023 | PTI

Vyara taluka of Tapi district received a staggering 299 mm of rainfall in 30 hours ending at 12 pm, it said.

According to the data, Vyara was followed by Junagadh city (298 mm), Valod taluka of Tapi (288), Mahuva in Surat (256 mm), Jamnagar city (236 mm), Bardoli of Surat (223 mm), Mendarda in Junagadh (207mm) and Dolvan in Tapi district (206 mm).

Fifteen talukas received more than 40 mm of rainfall between 6 am and 12 pm on Friday, while Jamnagar taluka of Jamnagar district received 177 mm of rainfall, which resulted in heavy waterlogging in Jamnagar city in the same period, it stated.

In the forecast issued on Friday, the IMD has predicted heavy rains at isolated places in Gandhinagar, Kheda, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and Valsad districts on Saturday and light to moderate rain in different parts of the state on Sunday and Monday.

A street is seen flooded after heavy monsoon rains, in Junagarh on June 30, 2023 | PTI

Nine people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents in the last two days, the SEOC release stated.

Four children were killed in Panchmahal district and two in Anand in incidents of wall collapse on Thursday, it said.

Apart from this, two men drowned in Jamnagar and Arvalli districts on Thursday, while a woman drowned in flood waters in Lathi taluka of Amreli district on Friday, the report said.

AHMEDABAD: Heavy rains lashed several parts of Gujarat with some areas receiving more than 200 mm showers in the last 30 hours, while rain-related incidents claimed the lives of nine persons over the past two days in the state, an official said. Heavy rains lash Gujarat, 9 dead in 2 days in rain-related incidents Edited video is available in video section on https://t.co/lFLnN4nCOn pic.twitter.com/kPeMRrIKGl  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 30, 2023 The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy showers for isolated parts of different districts on Saturday and light to moderate rain on Sunday and Monday, he said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Normal life was thrown out of gear at several places in Junagadh, Jamnagar, Morbi, Kutch, Surat and Tapi districts due to heavy rains during the day, he said. Heavy waterlogging was witnessed in several towns and cities, while roads were closed in rural areas on Friday morning due to a heavy spell, the official said. As per the data shared by the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), 37 talukas of the state received more than 100 mm of rainfall in 30 hours ending at 12 pm on Friday. A resident at his house amid heavy monsoon rains, in Junagarh on June 30, 2023 | PTI Vyara taluka of Tapi district received a staggering 299 mm of rainfall in 30 hours ending at 12 pm, it said. According to the data, Vyara was followed by Junagadh city (298 mm), Valod taluka of Tapi (288), Mahuva in Surat (256 mm), Jamnagar city (236 mm), Bardoli of Surat (223 mm), Mendarda in Junagadh (207mm) and Dolvan in Tapi district (206 mm). Fifteen talukas received more than 40 mm of rainfall between 6 am and 12 pm on Friday, while Jamnagar taluka of Jamnagar district received 177 mm of rainfall, which resulted in heavy waterlogging in Jamnagar city in the same period, it stated. In the forecast issued on Friday, the IMD has predicted heavy rains at isolated places in Gandhinagar, Kheda, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and Valsad districts on Saturday and light to moderate rain in different parts of the state on Sunday and Monday. A street is seen flooded after heavy monsoon rains, in Junagarh on June 30, 2023 | PTI Nine people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents in the last two days, the SEOC release stated. Four children were killed in Panchmahal district and two in Anand in incidents of wall collapse on Thursday, it said. Apart from this, two men drowned in Jamnagar and Arvalli districts on Thursday, while a woman drowned in flood waters in Lathi taluka of Amreli district on Friday, the report said.
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Russias Security Council Secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, spoke with Indias National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Wednesday and briefed him about the latest developments in his country. This comes close on the heels of a short-lived mercenary rebellion that shook the Kremlin earlier this week.

The current issues of Russian-Indian cooperation in the field of security and the prospects for their deepening within the framework of bilateral and multilateral formats were discussed in detail, according to a statement issued by the Russian government.

Patrushev and Doval had met in person on March 29 on the sidelines of the SCO National Security Advisors meet in Delhi. The two had discussed cooperation between India and Russia in the area of security.

In light of the recent rebellion that shook Russia, Patrushev would have reached out to Doval to not only apprise him of the situation in Russia but also seek possible solutions. It may be recalled that Doval had also met President Putin in person in Moscow in February at a meeting on Afghanistan.

The rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group on June 24, Saturday, had posed a serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin  a probable first in more than two decades  raising questions about his dwindling control and leadership.

The Wagner mercenary group had taken control of Russias Rostov-on-Don town. The revolt ended when Prigozhin decided to stop in his tracks and made a deal with the Kremlin. The mercenary chief will now relocate to Belarus.

Interestingly, until now the Wagner Group had been a key piece of Russias strategy in Ukraine, with the groups forces being deployed to hold cities such as Bakhmut. The tension between Russias defence ministry and Wagner Group escalated dramatically on June 23 (Friday), when Prigozhin accused Russian forces of attacking their camps in eastern Ukraine, which resulted in some casualties.

This angered Prigozhin, who indicated through a video message that same evening his intent to rebel.

Thereafter, Wagner forces left Ukraine and marched into Russia on Saturday, taking control of the Russian military headquarters for the southern region in Rostov-on-Don, which has been overseeing the fight in Ukraine. President Putin called the uprising a stab in the back through a televised address on Saturday.

All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment, Putin said, The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders.

Though a full-fledged rebellion was averted, the incident laid bare chinks in the Russian establishment, which the Kremlin wants to cover. They are not just looking at enhancing their security within Russia but also seeking help from its ally India to help them counter anything similar in the future, said an expert on India-Russia relations.

The Wagner Group is actually a group of entities that operate as a Private Military Company (PMC). These PMCs can be hired by governments for security or combat services and are common in war zones. The United States too had a private military during its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there are some structural differences in how they are used in different parts of the world.

Security a continuous dialogue

Ajit Doval and Nikolai Patrushev had met on March 29 on the sidelines of the SCO National Security Advisors meet in Delhi. The two had discussed cooperation between both the nations in the area of security. In light of the recent mercenary rebellion in Russia, Patrushev appraised Doval of the situation and also sought possible solutions. Doval had also met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last February at a meeting on Afghanisthan.

NEW DELHI: Russias Security Council Secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, spoke with Indias National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Wednesday and briefed him about the latest developments in his country. This comes close on the heels of a short-lived mercenary rebellion that shook the Kremlin earlier this week. The current issues of Russian-Indian cooperation in the field of security and the prospects for their deepening within the framework of bilateral and multilateral formats were discussed in detail, according to a statement issued by the Russian government. Patrushev and Doval had met in person on March 29 on the sidelines of the SCO National Security Advisors meet in Delhi. The two had discussed cooperation between India and Russia in the area of security.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); In light of the recent rebellion that shook Russia, Patrushev would have reached out to Doval to not only apprise him of the situation in Russia but also seek possible solutions. It may be recalled that Doval had also met President Putin in person in Moscow in February at a meeting on Afghanistan. The rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group on June 24, Saturday, had posed a serious challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin  a probable first in more than two decades  raising questions about his dwindling control and leadership. The Wagner mercenary group had taken control of Russias Rostov-on-Don town. The revolt ended when Prigozhin decided to stop in his tracks and made a deal with the Kremlin. The mercenary chief will now relocate to Belarus. Interestingly, until now the Wagner Group had been a key piece of Russias strategy in Ukraine, with the groups forces being deployed to hold cities such as Bakhmut. The tension between Russias defence ministry and Wagner Group escalated dramatically on June 23 (Friday), when Prigozhin accused Russian forces of attacking their camps in eastern Ukraine, which resulted in some casualties. This angered Prigozhin, who indicated through a video message that same evening his intent to rebel. Thereafter, Wagner forces left Ukraine and marched into Russia on Saturday, taking control of the Russian military headquarters for the southern region in Rostov-on-Don, which has been overseeing the fight in Ukraine. President Putin called the uprising a stab in the back through a televised address on Saturday. All those who prepared the rebellion will suffer inevitable punishment, Putin said, The armed forces and other government agencies have received the necessary orders. Though a full-fledged rebellion was averted, the incident laid bare chinks in the Russian establishment, which the Kremlin wants to cover. They are not just looking at enhancing their security within Russia but also seeking help from its ally India to help them counter anything similar in the future, said an expert on India-Russia relations. The Wagner Group is actually a group of entities that operate as a Private Military Company (PMC). These PMCs can be hired by governments for security or combat services and are common in war zones. The United States too had a private military during its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there are some structural differences in how they are used in different parts of the world. Security a continuous dialogue Ajit Doval and Nikolai Patrushev had met on March 29 on the sidelines of the SCO National Security Advisors meet in Delhi. The two had discussed cooperation between both the nations in the area of security. In light of the recent mercenary rebellion in Russia, Patrushev appraised Doval of the situation and also sought possible solutions. Doval had also met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last February at a meeting on Afghanisthan.
The nuclear threats of the Russian Federation and the possible preparation of a terrorist attack at the Zaporizhia NPP, will not "put on hold" the work of the Ukrainian forces to de-occupy the country, said commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhny.

It doesnt stop me at all, Zaluzhny said. We are doing our job. All these signals come from outside for some reason: Be afraid of a nuclear strike. Well, should we give up? Zaluzhny said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Speaking about the mutiny of leader of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, in Russia last weekend, Zaluzhny expressed doubt that the Ukrainian counteroffensive received a successful impetus from this. According to the general, the Wagner fighters had already left the front line after the capture of the eastern town of Bakhmut a month ago, so there were no noticeable changes on the battlefield when the uprising took place.

We didn't feel that their defense got weaker somewhere or anything, he said.

However, according to the The Washington Post, Ukraine may have to take into account a new, additional threat on its northern border in connection with the relocation of the fighters of the Wagner PMC to Belarus.

I have a lot of fears, and Wagner is among them Zaluzhny said.

And theyre not the only ones. If we start talking about it now, my head will spin.  Our task is to prepare for the worst and most possible scenarios. And we will try to minimize the possible consequences of what could be, the general noted.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The countrys largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday at its annual general meeting informed shareholders that it has banned six employees and six business associate firms and an investigation is going on with three more employees.

For the first time, the company mentioned on record the banning of six employees with regard to the alleged jobs-for-bribe scam at the company. Earlier, in a BSE filing, it had said no key managerial person of the company has been found to be involved.

TCS Chairman N Chandrasekaran said the company received two whistleblower complaints (one related to India, and another one related to US) towards February-end and March-end and both the complaints were investigated. The complaints were about certain favouritism being done and favours being received in recruitment of BAs (business associates), he said.

He explained that the company has two departments -- one is the HR and talent acquisition, which hires people, and the second one is the Resource Allocation Group (RAG), which is about deployment of the available resources into projects. Whenever there is a talent shortage or a particular skill that is not available at that point in time in the location where we need them, the company has a set of, we call them business associate firms, the firms to get contract employees, he added.

At any point in time in the overall deployment of resources, about 2-3% are such BA associates or contractors. And this complaint was related to certain individuals in the company working with certain BA firms to be recruiting in their favour, he informed.

Chandrasekaran also said that the investigation in India is done by a senior officer in the company and in the US market, they had an external firm to do that. He said they found six employees did not follow the ethical conduct. While we cannot quantify what favours they got, they certainly behaved in a way that they were favouring certain firms, he said.

BENGALURU: The countrys largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday at its annual general meeting informed shareholders that it has banned six employees and six business associate firms and an investigation is going on with three more employees. For the first time, the company mentioned on record the banning of six employees with regard to the alleged jobs-for-bribe scam at the company. Earlier, in a BSE filing, it had said no key managerial person of the company has been found to be involved. TCS Chairman N Chandrasekaran said the company received two whistleblower complaints (one related to India, and another one related to US) towards February-end and March-end and both the complaints were investigated. The complaints were about certain favouritism being done and favours being received in recruitment of BAs (business associates), he said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); He explained that the company has two departments -- one is the HR and talent acquisition, which hires people, and the second one is the Resource Allocation Group (RAG), which is about deployment of the available resources into projects. Whenever there is a talent shortage or a particular skill that is not available at that point in time in the location where we need them, the company has a set of, we call them business associate firms, the firms to get contract employees, he added. At any point in time in the overall deployment of resources, about 2-3% are such BA associates or contractors. And this complaint was related to certain individuals in the company working with certain BA firms to be recruiting in their favour, he informed. Chandrasekaran also said that the investigation in India is done by a senior officer in the company and in the US market, they had an external firm to do that. He said they found six employees did not follow the ethical conduct. While we cannot quantify what favours they got, they certainly behaved in a way that they were favouring certain firms, he said.
By PTI

AMETHI: A man has been arrested in connection with a threatening post on social media against Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad who was shot at by unidentified assailants two days ago, police said on Friday.

A bullet grazed Azad's abdomen when unidentified assailants opened fire at his car in Saharanpur district's Deoband on Wednesday. The car used in the attack has been recovered while the Bhim Army chief was discharged from hospital on Thursday.

VIDEO | Police officials talk to Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad at a hospital in UP's Saharanpur, where he is undergoing treatment after being hit by a bullet shell on his back during an attack on his convoy earlier today. Azad's injury is not serious as the bullet grazed pic.twitter.com/i6kltbWtuV June 28, 2023

In a statement on Friday, Amethi's Superintendent of Police Elamaran G said that taking cognisance of the death threats to Azad on the Facebook page 'Kshatriya of Amethi', the police on Thursday registered a case under section 506 of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Vimlesh Singh (30) was arrested on Thursday in connection with the post.

Prima facie, Singh was not found to be involved in the attack on Azad, but preventive action was taken to maintain peace and order, the police statement said. Advance legal action will be taken if any new fact comes to light during the investigation in the case, it said.

Six days ago, a post on the Facebook page claimed that Azad would be killed by the Thakurs of Amethi in broad daylight.

On Thursday, another post on the same page said that Aazad has been shot in the waist, but "next time he will not survive". It also warned of a massive agitation if any innocent Rajput is implicated in the attack against the Bhim Army chief.

Talking to reporters after being discharged from Saharanpur District Hospital on Thursday, Chandra Shekhar Azad accused the Uttar Pradesh chief minister of turning a blind eye towards incidents of crime in the state.

"Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's silence on this incident shows that he is patronising crime in Uttar Pradesh," he alleged.

AMETHI: A man has been arrested in connection with a threatening post on social media against Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad who was shot at by unidentified assailants two days ago, police said on Friday. A bullet grazed Azad's abdomen when unidentified assailants opened fire at his car in Saharanpur district's Deoband on Wednesday. The car used in the attack has been recovered while the Bhim Army chief was discharged from hospital on Thursday. VIDEO | Police officials talk to Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad at a hospital in UP's Saharanpur, where he is undergoing treatment after being hit by a bullet shell on his back during an attack on his convoy earlier today. Azad's injury is not serious as the bullet grazed pic.twitter.com/i6kltbWtuVgoogletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); });  Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 28, 2023 In a statement on Friday, Amethi's Superintendent of Police Elamaran G said that taking cognisance of the death threats to Azad on the Facebook page 'Kshatriya of Amethi', the police on Thursday registered a case under section 506 of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology (IT) Act. Vimlesh Singh (30) was arrested on Thursday in connection with the post. Prima facie, Singh was not found to be involved in the attack on Azad, but preventive action was taken to maintain peace and order, the police statement said. Advance legal action will be taken if any new fact comes to light during the investigation in the case, it said. Six days ago, a post on the Facebook page claimed that Azad would be killed by the Thakurs of Amethi in broad daylight. On Thursday, another post on the same page said that Aazad has been shot in the waist, but "next time he will not survive". It also warned of a massive agitation if any innocent Rajput is implicated in the attack against the Bhim Army chief. Talking to reporters after being discharged from Saharanpur District Hospital on Thursday, Chandra Shekhar Azad accused the Uttar Pradesh chief minister of turning a blind eye towards incidents of crime in the state. "Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's silence on this incident shows that he is patronising crime in Uttar Pradesh," he alleged.
Rajesh Asnani and Harpreet Bajwa By

Express News Service

JAIPUR/CHANDIGARH: Top BJP leaders are descending on poll-bound Rajasthan and reaching out to other towns and cities in preparation for the Lok Sabha polls due next year.

A day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited parts of Jodhpur, it was the turn of party chief JP Nadda to highlight the achievements of the Modi government in the last 9 years in the states Bharatpur district.

In the plains of Haryanas Yamunanagar, Rajnath sought to deflate Congress slogan of market of hate (nafrat ka bazaar) coined against the BJP.

Addressing a public gathering in the Nadbai assembly constituency of Bharatpur, Nadda characterised the Congress as a party dominated by a single family. Nadda also criticised the Congress government in Rajasthan, accusing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of facilitating rampant corruption.

Nadda praised Prime Minister Modi, highlighting his global standing. However, the Congress resorts to using derogatory language against the PM, said Nadda.

The BJPs condition is particularly weak in the Bharatpur division. In the 2018 assembly elections, the party secured only one seat out of 19 in the districts of the eastern division. In Yamunanagar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his market of hate (nafrat ka bazaar) remarks.

The so-called shop of love (mohabbat ki dukan) is not needed because where is hate? Singh asked.

While addressing Gauravshali Bharat rally in Yamunanagar on the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Rajnath Singh said whether it was Ram temple in Ayodhya or abrogation of Article 370 in J&K, whatever the BJP promised, it has delivered.

JAIPUR/CHANDIGARH: Top BJP leaders are descending on poll-bound Rajasthan and reaching out to other towns and cities in preparation for the Lok Sabha polls due next year. A day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited parts of Jodhpur, it was the turn of party chief JP Nadda to highlight the achievements of the Modi government in the last 9 years in the states Bharatpur district. In the plains of Haryanas Yamunanagar, Rajnath sought to deflate Congress slogan of market of hate (nafrat ka bazaar) coined against the BJP.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Addressing a public gathering in the Nadbai assembly constituency of Bharatpur, Nadda characterised the Congress as a party dominated by a single family. Nadda also criticised the Congress government in Rajasthan, accusing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of facilitating rampant corruption. Nadda praised Prime Minister Modi, highlighting his global standing. However, the Congress resorts to using derogatory language against the PM, said Nadda. The BJPs condition is particularly weak in the Bharatpur division. In the 2018 assembly elections, the party secured only one seat out of 19 in the districts of the eastern division. In Yamunanagar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his market of hate (nafrat ka bazaar) remarks. The so-called shop of love (mohabbat ki dukan) is not needed because where is hate? Singh asked. While addressing Gauravshali Bharat rally in Yamunanagar on the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Rajnath Singh said whether it was Ram temple in Ayodhya or abrogation of Article 370 in J&K, whatever the BJP promised, it has delivered.
Shruti Kakkar and Preetha Nair By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of the 22nd Law Commissions decision to look at the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) afresh, a parliamentary panel on July 3 will hear views of the Department of Legal Affairs, the Legislative Department and the Law Commission in the matter.

Members are reminded that the next meeting of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice will be held at 3 pm on Monday, 3rd July 2023, to hear the views of representatives of the following organisations on public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on the Uniform Civil Code, Rajya Sabha Secretariat stated in a public notice dated June 28.

The consultations by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice come days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for UCC at a BJP rally in Madhya Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Law Commission Chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, speaking exclusively to this newspaper, said that every relevant personal law will be considered by the commission. The commission on June 14 invited views from the public and recognised religious organisations on the issue within 30 days.

Soon after the 30-day period, the consultations will start individually and wider discussions are required on the subject. We will hold meetings with the concerned religious groups, womens groups and other organisations. We will have discussions with all stakeholders. It cannot be done in a day or two, it is going to be a time-consuming process, he said, adding that the PMs pitch for UCC in Bhopal has nothing to do with the panels work.

The decision on UCC was taken by the Law Commission after taking into consideration the relevance and importance of UCC and the various court orders pertaining to it. Speaking to this paper, Sushil Kumar Modi, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, said, The meeting is being called to understand the issues involved regarding the UCC and to discuss the consultation paper issued by the 21st Law Commission on August 31, 2018.

According to sources, Awasthi will not attend the meeting. Another member of the Law Commission would attend the meeting on his behalf, they said. The 21st Law Commission did not make any consultation paper on the creation of UCC. Their work suggested amendments in the existing personal laws on a few subjects such as marriage, divorce and inheritance, among others. They also highlighted disparities in various family laws, he said.

The 21st Law Commission, in its 2018 consultation paper, had suggested that UCC was neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. It said that amendments should be made to family laws of various religions to make them gender-just. It also said that women must be guaranteed their freedom of faith without any compromise on their right to equality.

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of the 22nd Law Commissions decision to look at the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) afresh, a parliamentary panel on July 3 will hear views of the Department of Legal Affairs, the Legislative Department and the Law Commission in the matter. Members are reminded that the next meeting of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice will be held at 3 pm on Monday, 3rd July 2023, to hear the views of representatives of the following organisations on public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on the Uniform Civil Code, Rajya Sabha Secretariat stated in a public notice dated June 28. The consultations by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice come days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for UCC at a BJP rally in Madhya Pradesh.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Meanwhile, Law Commission Chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, speaking exclusively to this newspaper, said that every relevant personal law will be considered by the commission. The commission on June 14 invited views from the public and recognised religious organisations on the issue within 30 days. Soon after the 30-day period, the consultations will start individually and wider discussions are required on the subject. We will hold meetings with the concerned religious groups, womens groups and other organisations. We will have discussions with all stakeholders. It cannot be done in a day or two, it is going to be a time-consuming process, he said, adding that the PMs pitch for UCC in Bhopal has nothing to do with the panels work. The decision on UCC was taken by the Law Commission after taking into consideration the relevance and importance of UCC and the various court orders pertaining to it. Speaking to this paper, Sushil Kumar Modi, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, said, The meeting is being called to understand the issues involved regarding the UCC and to discuss the consultation paper issued by the 21st Law Commission on August 31, 2018. According to sources, Awasthi will not attend the meeting. Another member of the Law Commission would attend the meeting on his behalf, they said. The 21st Law Commission did not make any consultation paper on the creation of UCC. Their work suggested amendments in the existing personal laws on a few subjects such as marriage, divorce and inheritance, among others. They also highlighted disparities in various family laws, he said. The 21st Law Commission, in its 2018 consultation paper, had suggested that UCC was neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. It said that amendments should be made to family laws of various religions to make them gender-just. It also said that women must be guaranteed their freedom of faith without any compromise on their right to equality.
Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath on Friday said that prior to 2017, a personal dwelling was a distant dream for poor and deprived sections of society in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) but with the formation of double engine government in UP, more than 54 lakh poor people have got a dwelling of their own.

The UP CM was handing over the keys of houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-Urban) to 76 beneficiaries of the low-income group (LIG) in Lukarganj area of Prayagraj. The houses are built on land freed from the "illegal" possession of slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad.

Atiq Ahmad along with his brother Ashraf was shot dead from point-blank range by three assailants posing as journalists in Prayagraj on April 15.

Addressing the gathering, CM Yogi slammed previous regimes allegedly for patronizing the mafia when it came to freeing the land from their illegal possession.

"Six years ago, not a single person got a house under this scheme. The poor did not get houses because the state government, at that time, did not think about them. The poor were forced to erect huts here and there. The central government used to write letters to provide accommodation but the state government did not want to deliver the houses. Today, the state government is standing with the poor, providing them houses," he added.

The CM also issued directives to all the development authorities across the state to build houses for the poor on the land freed from the land mafia. He mentioned that this was in line with the spirit of good governance which was reflected in the nine-year tenure of PM Modi.

The CM informed the gathering that his government had built housing for the poor at a cost of Rs 6.6548 crore on the land freed from the mafia's illegal possession. He claimed that 54 lakh poor people in the state were allotted houses under PMAY during the last six years and 10 lakh more houses would be ready for allotment soon.

According to a Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) official, one BHK flat of the four-storey towers costs Rs 6 lakh each. The beneficiaries paid Rs 3.5 lakh, the Centres share was Rs 1.5 lakh while the state government paid Rs 1 lakh for every house, the official said.

Each flat has a balcony, electricity, sewage and a parking facility.

Emphasizing the fact that Prayagraj was the city of pilgrimage since ancient times, the CM said: It is the land of religion, spirituality and culture. Prayagraj is the mother of education and justice. The double engine government is taking forward the development schemes with double speed.

In a veiled reference to end the reign of terror of the likes of Atiq Ahmad and their syndicate, CM Yogi said that there was a rule of law in the state.

With the mafias still operating in the state, it would not have been possible for us to attract investment proposals worth Rs 36,000 crores during the Global Investor Summit held in February this year,  he remarked.

CM Yogi said that Kumbh 2025 of Prayagraj will be Bhavya and Divya (grand and divine).

We have to be mentally prepared for this from now onwards. We must elect a government that will be led by PM Modi in 2024 once again to establish India as the biggest power on the world map. If the Indian economy continues to grow at the current pace, it will surely become the third largest economy of the world by 2027 and will emerge as one of the greatest powers globally.

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath on Friday said that prior to 2017, a personal dwelling was a distant dream for poor and deprived sections of society in the state under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) but with the formation of double engine government in UP, more than 54 lakh poor people have got a dwelling of their own. The UP CM was handing over the keys of houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY-Urban) to 76 beneficiaries of the low-income group (LIG) in Lukarganj area of Prayagraj. The houses are built on land freed from the "illegal" possession of slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad. Atiq Ahmad along with his brother Ashraf was shot dead from point-blank range by three assailants posing as journalists in Prayagraj on April 15.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Addressing the gathering, CM Yogi slammed previous regimes allegedly for patronizing the mafia when it came to freeing the land from their illegal possession. "Six years ago, not a single person got a house under this scheme. The poor did not get houses because the state government, at that time, did not think about them. The poor were forced to erect huts here and there. The central government used to write letters to provide accommodation but the state government did not want to deliver the houses. Today, the state government is standing with the poor, providing them houses," he added. The CM also issued directives to all the development authorities across the state to build houses for the poor on the land freed from the land mafia. He mentioned that this was in line with the spirit of good governance which was reflected in the nine-year tenure of PM Modi. The CM informed the gathering that his government had built housing for the poor at a cost of Rs 6.6548 crore on the land freed from the mafia's illegal possession. He claimed that 54 lakh poor people in the state were allotted houses under PMAY during the last six years and 10 lakh more houses would be ready for allotment soon. According to a Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) official, one BHK flat of the four-storey towers costs Rs 6 lakh each. The beneficiaries paid Rs 3.5 lakh, the Centres share was Rs 1.5 lakh while the state government paid Rs 1 lakh for every house, the official said. Each flat has a balcony, electricity, sewage and a parking facility. Emphasizing the fact that Prayagraj was the city of pilgrimage since ancient times, the CM said: It is the land of religion, spirituality and culture. Prayagraj is the mother of education and justice. The double engine government is taking forward the development schemes with double speed. In a veiled reference to end the reign of terror of the likes of Atiq Ahmad and their syndicate, CM Yogi said that there was a rule of law in the state. With the mafias still operating in the state, it would not have been possible for us to attract investment proposals worth Rs 36,000 crores during the Global Investor Summit held in February this year,  he remarked. CM Yogi said that Kumbh 2025 of Prayagraj will be Bhavya and Divya (grand and divine). We have to be mentally prepared for this from now onwards. We must elect a government that will be led by PM Modi in 2024 once again to establish India as the biggest power on the world map. If the Indian economy continues to grow at the current pace, it will surely become the third largest economy of the world by 2027 and will emerge as one of the greatest powers globally.
Yeshi Seli By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: President Putin along with other SCO leaders Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are expected to attend the SCO summit 2023 virtually on July 4th.

Putin was all set to travel to Delhi to attend the summit in person. However, when Delhi announced on May 30th that the summit would be virtual he had to change his plans. Putin is also expected to address the summit.

This will be the 23rd meeting of the SCO leaders.

"For the upcoming SCO summit, under Indias ongoing chairmanship, we had earlier agreed upon some mutually agreeable dates and had planned the trip of President Putin to attend it in person in Delhi. However, the Indian side decided to make it virtual and we confirmed participation for that too as we attach priority to SCO, said Kremlins Foreign Policy Advisor, Yuri Ushakov.

Chinese Premier Xi Jinping has confirmed his participation and will also make some remarks, according to Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Hua Chunying.

Pakistans Foreign Ministry, too has confirmed the participation of PM Sharif.

"PM Sharifs participation illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO as an important forum for regional security and prosperity and enhanced engagement in the region, according to Pakistans Foreign Ministry.

Meanwhile, most members of the SCO are disappointed with the summit being converted into a virtual event as they were all gearing up for the event.

We had been looking forward to our leaders meeting in person until we heard that the summit would now be virtual. Since December 2022, we were gearing up for the event and stopped in our tracks when the announcement to host the event virtually was made in May, said a representative of an SCO member country.

India took the chairmanship of the SCO from Uzbekistan after the conclusion of the SCO Summit in Samarkand in September 2022. After hosting nearly 134 meetings in person, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on May 30 that the summit would be held virtually on July 4.

India has been too consumed by the G20 Presidency and the events revolving around it, as a result of which the events under the SCO chairmanship have been lost. The only time SCO came into prominence briefly was during the SCO foreign ministers meet in Goa, said another member.

The SCO grouping is by no means insignificant if one was to consider the geographic scope and population. It is the worlds largest regional organisation in terms of area, covering approximately 60 per cent of Eurasia and 40 per cent of the world population, with a combined GDP of 20 per cent of the global GDP. So, it is only natural for us to have expected it to be more visible, lamented another SCO member.

The members of the SCO include India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Iran is likely to become a member this year. The SCO also has dialogue partners that include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt are also expected to be dialogue partners.

NEW DELHI: President Putin along with other SCO leaders Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are expected to attend the SCO summit 2023 virtually on July 4th. Putin was all set to travel to Delhi to attend the summit in person. However, when Delhi announced on May 30th that the summit would be virtual he had to change his plans. Putin is also expected to address the summit. This will be the 23rd meeting of the SCO leaders. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "For the upcoming SCO summit, under Indias ongoing chairmanship, we had earlier agreed upon some mutually agreeable dates and had planned the trip of President Putin to attend it in person in Delhi. However, the Indian side decided to make it virtual and we confirmed participation for that too as we attach priority to SCO, said Kremlins Foreign Policy Advisor, Yuri Ushakov. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping has confirmed his participation and will also make some remarks, according to Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Hua Chunying. Pakistans Foreign Ministry, too has confirmed the participation of PM Sharif. "PM Sharifs participation illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO as an important forum for regional security and prosperity and enhanced engagement in the region, according to Pakistans Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile, most members of the SCO are disappointed with the summit being converted into a virtual event as they were all gearing up for the event. We had been looking forward to our leaders meeting in person until we heard that the summit would now be virtual. Since December 2022, we were gearing up for the event and stopped in our tracks when the announcement to host the event virtually was made in May, said a representative of an SCO member country. India took the chairmanship of the SCO from Uzbekistan after the conclusion of the SCO Summit in Samarkand in September 2022. After hosting nearly 134 meetings in person, the Ministry of External Affairs announced on May 30 that the summit would be held virtually on July 4. India has been too consumed by the G20 Presidency and the events revolving around it, as a result of which the events under the SCO chairmanship have been lost. The only time SCO came into prominence briefly was during the SCO foreign ministers meet in Goa, said another member. The SCO grouping is by no means insignificant if one was to consider the geographic scope and population. It is the worlds largest regional organisation in terms of area, covering approximately 60 per cent of Eurasia and 40 per cent of the world population, with a combined GDP of 20 per cent of the global GDP. So, it is only natural for us to have expected it to be more visible, lamented another SCO member. The members of the SCO include India, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Iran is likely to become a member this year. The SCO also has dialogue partners that include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt are also expected to be dialogue partners.
Rajesh Asnani By

Express News Service

JAIPUR: Ahead of Rajasthan polls scheduled to be held this year-end, the top BJP leadership is going all out to woo the voters. On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the tribal-dominated Mewar region where he said that the Gehlot government runs on riots, atrocities against women, and Dalits.

On the Kanhaiyalal murder case, Shah argued that if the case had been heard in a special court, the perpetrators would have been hanged by now.

Further, he criticized Chief Minister Gehlot's alleged inaction and politicization of the Kanhaiyalal murder case and the Jaipur bomb blast case.

Shah questioned the lack of security provided to Kanhaiyalal and pointed out the alleged corruption within the Rajasthan Secretariat.

MEWAR

The Mewar region, which is politically significant due to its proximity to Gujarat, includes districts like Udaipur, Banswara, Dungarpur, and Chittorgarh. Historically, tribals have been a loyal vote bank for the Congress party, but now the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) is also gaining influence, causing concerns for the BJP.

While addressing the tribal community, Shah reminded the gathering that Draupadi Murmu, a tribal woman from a poor background, was elevated by Prime Minister Modi. He also highlighted the BJP's efforts in building schools for tribal children and increasing the budget for the Tribal Ministry.

Shah took a dig at the "opposition unity" saying that the 21 parties that gathered in Patna last week "want to make Rahul Baba the Prime Minister to indulge in corruption.

If Rahul becomes the Prime Minister then scams and corruption will become the destiny of India.

If Modi becomes the Prime Minister again, the corrupt will go behind bars."

He further added that "the target of 21 parties is the future of their sons. Sonia Gandhi aims to make Rahul the Prime Minister, Lalu Yadav aims to make son Tejashwi the CM, Mamta Banerjee aims to make nephew Abhishek the CM and Ashok Gehlot aims to make his son Vaibhav the CM."

Shah claimed that the honour bestowed upon Prime Minister Modi at the G-7 summit was not only for him or the BJP but for the people of Mewar, Rajasthan, and the entire nation.

Shah-Gehlot trade charges over Kanhaiyalal beheading.

Home Minister Amit Shah's rally in Udaipur has ignited a row as he claimed that "the Gehlot government did not even want to catch the killers of Kanhaiyalal. They were caught by the NIA."

This statement drew a sharp counter from Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who hit back and accused Shah of lying.

Taking to Twitter, Gehlot said that "Kanhaiyalal's killers Riyaz Attari and Gaus Mohammad were caught by the Rajasthan Police within 4 hours. The incident took place on June 28, while the probe into the matter was handed over to the NIA on July 2." Gehlot also made public the order handing over the investigation to the NIA by tweeting it.

Addressing the gathering, Home Minister Amit Shah said that "Gehlot is doing politics even on the Kanhaiyalal murder case in Udaipur. Gehlot didn't even want to catch the killers, NIA caught them and Gehlot lies that no action was taken. I say that if the hearing was held in the special court, the killers would have been hanged. Not only this, the Advocate General of the Gehlot government does not have time to hear the accused in the Jaipur blast."

On this statement of Shah, Gehlot tweeted- "It is expected that people sitting in responsible positions will not do politics on a serious issue like terrorism, but what Home Minister Amit Shah did in Udaipur today is an irresponsible act."

Gehlot also asserted that "both the killers were active workers of BJP. They should get an inquiry done about who were the BJP leaders who helped these two, who used to call the police stations for them. In an open and shut case, why did it take so long for the charge sheet to be filed and why have they not been punished yet?"

This entire spat relates to the horrific incident in Udaipur district last year when two Muslim youths had beheaded a tailor Kanhaiya Lal for openly expressing his support for Nupur Sharma the former BJP leader who had made offensive remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

JAIPUR: Ahead of Rajasthan polls scheduled to be held this year-end, the top BJP leadership is going all out to woo the voters. On Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the tribal-dominated Mewar region where he said that the Gehlot government runs on riots, atrocities against women, and Dalits. On the Kanhaiyalal murder case, Shah argued that if the case had been heard in a special court, the perpetrators would have been hanged by now. Further, he criticized Chief Minister Gehlot's alleged inaction and politicization of the Kanhaiyalal murder case and the Jaipur bomb blast case.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Shah questioned the lack of security provided to Kanhaiyalal and pointed out the alleged corruption within the Rajasthan Secretariat. MEWAR The Mewar region, which is politically significant due to its proximity to Gujarat, includes districts like Udaipur, Banswara, Dungarpur, and Chittorgarh. Historically, tribals have been a loyal vote bank for the Congress party, but now the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) is also gaining influence, causing concerns for the BJP. While addressing the tribal community, Shah reminded the gathering that Draupadi Murmu, a tribal woman from a poor background, was elevated by Prime Minister Modi. He also highlighted the BJP's efforts in building schools for tribal children and increasing the budget for the Tribal Ministry. Shah took a dig at the "opposition unity" saying that the 21 parties that gathered in Patna last week "want to make Rahul Baba the Prime Minister to indulge in corruption. If Rahul becomes the Prime Minister then scams and corruption will become the destiny of India. If Modi becomes the Prime Minister again, the corrupt will go behind bars." He further added that "the target of 21 parties is the future of their sons. Sonia Gandhi aims to make Rahul the Prime Minister, Lalu Yadav aims to make son Tejashwi the CM, Mamta Banerjee aims to make nephew Abhishek the CM and Ashok Gehlot aims to make his son Vaibhav the CM." Shah claimed that the honour bestowed upon Prime Minister Modi at the G-7 summit was not only for him or the BJP but for the people of Mewar, Rajasthan, and the entire nation. Shah-Gehlot trade charges over Kanhaiyalal beheading. Home Minister Amit Shah's rally in Udaipur has ignited a row as he claimed that "the Gehlot government did not even want to catch the killers of Kanhaiyalal. They were caught by the NIA." This statement drew a sharp counter from Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot who hit back and accused Shah of lying. Taking to Twitter, Gehlot said that "Kanhaiyalal's killers Riyaz Attari and Gaus Mohammad were caught by the Rajasthan Police within 4 hours. The incident took place on June 28, while the probe into the matter was handed over to the NIA on July 2." Gehlot also made public the order handing over the investigation to the NIA by tweeting it. Addressing the gathering, Home Minister Amit Shah said that "Gehlot is doing politics even on the Kanhaiyalal murder case in Udaipur. Gehlot didn't even want to catch the killers, NIA caught them and Gehlot lies that no action was taken. I say that if the hearing was held in the special court, the killers would have been hanged. Not only this, the Advocate General of the Gehlot government does not have time to hear the accused in the Jaipur blast." On this statement of Shah, Gehlot tweeted- "It is expected that people sitting in responsible positions will not do politics on a serious issue like terrorism, but what Home Minister Amit Shah did in Udaipur today is an irresponsible act." Gehlot also asserted that "both the killers were active workers of BJP. They should get an inquiry done about who were the BJP leaders who helped these two, who used to call the police stations for them. In an open and shut case, why did it take so long for the charge sheet to be filed and why have they not been punished yet?" This entire spat relates to the horrific incident in Udaipur district last year when two Muslim youths had beheaded a tailor Kanhaiya Lal for openly expressing his support for Nupur Sharma the former BJP leader who had made offensive remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
Ramashankar By

Express News Service

PATNA: Police in Bihar's Saran district on Friday arrested seven persons on charges of lynching a 55-year-old truck driver on suspicion of transporting beef in his vehicle on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday.

The deceased was identified as Zahiruddin, a resident of Majhwalia village in Saran district.

Saran superintendent of police Gaurav Mangla said that the injured driver was rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctor declared him 'brought dead'.

Doctors suspected internal injury to be the primary cause of his death.

The police arrested seven persons in connection with the case. The accused have been identified as Vishal Kumar Singh alias Vivek Singh, Mohit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh, Prince Kumar Singh, Rishu Kumar Singh and Prabhat Kumar.

They were in the age group of 19-25 years. They were booked under sections 302 (murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 147 & 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of Indian Penal Code.

SP Mangla said that while six persons have been named as accused, 20-25 others were unidentified.

Raids were on to arrest others involved in the incident, he told this reporter over phone on Friday.

Police investigation revealed that Zahiruddin used to transport bones to a licensed Mathura based factory using bones for medicinal purposes.

There was nothing unusual in it, an investigating officer said.

The police later contacted the owner of the factory Mohammad Haider, who alleged that the driver was thrashed in front of the police personnel, a charge denied by Saran district police officials. He revealed to the police that the deceased driver was transporting bones for his industrial unit.

Cattle bones are used to make gelatine for the pharmaceutical industry. Gelatine is used to make capsules and also in cosmetics, health supplements and some other medicinal products.



PATNA: Police in Bihar's Saran district on Friday arrested seven persons on charges of lynching a 55-year-old truck driver on suspicion of transporting beef in his vehicle on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. The deceased was identified as Zahiruddin, a resident of Majhwalia village in Saran district. Saran superintendent of police Gaurav Mangla said that the injured driver was rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctor declared him 'brought dead'.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Doctors suspected internal injury to be the primary cause of his death. The police arrested seven persons in connection with the case. The accused have been identified as Vishal Kumar Singh alias Vivek Singh, Mohit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh, Prince Kumar Singh, Rishu Kumar Singh and Prabhat Kumar. They were in the age group of 19-25 years. They were booked under sections 302 (murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 147 & 148 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of Indian Penal Code. SP Mangla said that while six persons have been named as accused, 20-25 others were unidentified. Raids were on to arrest others involved in the incident, he told this reporter over phone on Friday. Police investigation revealed that Zahiruddin used to transport bones to a licensed Mathura based factory using bones for medicinal purposes. There was nothing unusual in it, an investigating officer said. The police later contacted the owner of the factory Mohammad Haider, who alleged that the driver was thrashed in front of the police personnel, a charge denied by Saran district police officials. He revealed to the police that the deceased driver was transporting bones for his industrial unit. Cattle bones are used to make gelatine for the pharmaceutical industry. Gelatine is used to make capsules and also in cosmetics, health supplements and some other medicinal products.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Twitter moving to a court against the government notice to block some accounts was "part of the fiction" that company's former CEO Jack Dorsey had put out, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday.

Dorsey, who had quit as Twitter CEO, has claimed that the Indian government "pressured" the company with threats of a shutdown and raids on employees if it did not comply with requests to take down posts and restrict accounts that were critical of the government over the protest by farmers against new agri laws in 2020 and 2021.

In response to views on the Karnataka High Court order rejecting Twitter's appeal, the minister said that the order clearly lays down non-compliance to government order is not an option and all platforms, big or small, need to comply with Indian laws.

"In this particular case as you remember they (Twitter) were given a large number of directions under the law which they did not comply with and then when they were sent a legal notice they chose to go to the courts. This is part of the fiction that Mr Dorsey had also put out," Chandrasekhar told PTI on the sidelines of a Broadband India Forum event.

Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Twitter last year in which the social media firm challenged several blocking and take-down orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

The court ruled that the company's plea was "devoid of merits".

The single-judge bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit which dictated the operative portion of the judgement also imposed a whopping cost of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter and ordered it to be paid to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days.

"I am very glad that the court has today laid down very clearly that non-compliance is not an option regardless of where your jurisdiction is, or who you think your owner is. The platforms in India, all platforms big or small, Indian or foreign have to comply with the Indian law and the rules that are enacted under the law," Chandrasekhar said.

He said that the government's relationship with the platforms is not adversarial and Meity only insisted that the laws be followed and laws be complied with.

ALSO READ | 'We'll shut you down, raid homes': Ex-Twitter CEO on Indian govt's pressure during farmers protest

NEW DELHI: Twitter moving to a court against the government notice to block some accounts was "part of the fiction" that company's former CEO Jack Dorsey had put out, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Monday. Dorsey, who had quit as Twitter CEO, has claimed that the Indian government "pressured" the company with threats of a shutdown and raids on employees if it did not comply with requests to take down posts and restrict accounts that were critical of the government over the protest by farmers against new agri laws in 2020 and 2021. In response to views on the Karnataka High Court order rejecting Twitter's appeal, the minister said that the order clearly lays down non-compliance to government order is not an option and all platforms, big or small, need to comply with Indian laws.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "In this particular case as you remember they (Twitter) were given a large number of directions under the law which they did not comply with and then when they were sent a legal notice they chose to go to the courts. This is part of the fiction that Mr Dorsey had also put out," Chandrasekhar told PTI on the sidelines of a Broadband India Forum event. Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Twitter last year in which the social media firm challenged several blocking and take-down orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The court ruled that the company's plea was "devoid of merits". The single-judge bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit which dictated the operative portion of the judgement also imposed a whopping cost of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter and ordered it to be paid to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days. "I am very glad that the court has today laid down very clearly that non-compliance is not an option regardless of where your jurisdiction is, or who you think your owner is. The platforms in India, all platforms big or small, Indian or foreign have to comply with the Indian law and the rules that are enacted under the law," Chandrasekhar said. He said that the government's relationship with the platforms is not adversarial and Meity only insisted that the laws be followed and laws be complied with. ALSO READ | 'We'll shut you down, raid homes': Ex-Twitter CEO on Indian govt's pressure during farmers protest
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: After a brief lull, violence returned to Manipur with two persons being killed and many others injured in a fresh incident of firing on Thursday.

According to Army sources, armed rioters opened unprovoked fire, targeting the Haraothel village on the border of Meitei-majority Imphal West and Kuki-majority Kangpokpi districts at 5:30 am. The troops deployed in the area were immediately mobilised to prevent escalation of the situation.

Armys 3 Corps, based in Nagalands Dimapur, said when the personnel were heading to the site, they came under fire. The troops responded in a calibrated manner to prevent any collateral damage. Swift action by the troops resulted in the cessation of firing, it added.

A defence ministry statement said there was intermittent firing at 4 pm, but the situation was brought under control by prompt response. But around 5.15 pm, an exchange of fire was reported from Bethel village. The statement said the troops were deployed to dominate the area and the situation was being monitored.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said three persons were killed in Thursdays firing.

GUWAHATI: After a brief lull, violence returned to Manipur with two persons being killed and many others injured in a fresh incident of firing on Thursday. According to Army sources, armed rioters opened unprovoked fire, targeting the Haraothel village on the border of Meitei-majority Imphal West and Kuki-majority Kangpokpi districts at 5:30 am. The troops deployed in the area were immediately mobilised to prevent escalation of the situation. Armys 3 Corps, based in Nagalands Dimapur, said when the personnel were heading to the site, they came under fire. The troops responded in a calibrated manner to prevent any collateral damage. Swift action by the troops resulted in the cessation of firing, it added.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); A defence ministry statement said there was intermittent firing at 4 pm, but the situation was brought under control by prompt response. But around 5.15 pm, an exchange of fire was reported from Bethel village. The statement said the troops were deployed to dominate the area and the situation was being monitored. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said three persons were killed in Thursdays firing.
After visit of Cardinal Zuppi to Russia, Vatican to consider further initiatives on Ukraine

Pope Francis will review the results of the talks held this week in Russia by his envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and will consider what further initiatives on Ukraine can be, the Vatican said on Friday.

"The Holy Father will be informed regarding the results of the visit in view of further steps to be taken, both at the humanitarian level and in the quest for paths to peace," the Vatican said in a press release.
Narendra Sethi By

Express News Service

DEHRADUN: The committee set up to implement the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand has announced that the drafting of the proposed Uniform Civil Code has now been completed. The expert committee will soon submit its report to the government after it is printed.

Justice Ranjana Desai, chairperson of the expert committee on UCC, said the draft of the proposed Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand has been prepared.

"The committee has met 63 times since July 4, 2022," senior committee member Shatrughan Singh told the newspaper quoting chairperson Ranjana Desai. A sub-committee was formed last year, which will seek public opinion by inviting written submissions as well as conducting public dialogue programmes.

"The UCC committee started its public outreach programme from the border tribal village of Mana and visited 40 different locations covering all the districts of the state, which culminated in a public discussion in Delhi on 14 June 2023, with participation from residents of Uttarakhand living there", UCC Committee

member Shatrughan Singh said, adding "Sub-committee meets 143 times in Dehradun and other places".

"The committee also interacted with representatives of political parties, state statutory commissions as well as leaders of various religious denominations", Singh told.

The Chairman of the Law Commission of India had requested to interact with the members of the Expert Committee. The interaction was held on June 2, 2023, in which members of both the Law Commission and the Expert Committee as well as the Chairman were present.

Member Shatrughan Singh further told, "The committee has taken into account all kinds of opinions and has looked into various laws and uncodified laws, including the statutory framework in select countries". Apart from this, the committee has tried to understand the nuances of various traditional practices

prevalent in different parts of the state.

The Pushkar Singh Dhami government had set up an expert committee to examine various existing laws regulating the civil matters of residents of Uttarakhand. The notification in this regard was issued on May 27, 2022, and the terms of reference were notified on June 10, 2022.

DEHRADUN: The committee set up to implement the Uniform Civil Code in Uttarakhand has announced that the drafting of the proposed Uniform Civil Code has now been completed. The expert committee will soon submit its report to the government after it is printed. Justice Ranjana Desai, chairperson of the expert committee on UCC, said the draft of the proposed Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand has been prepared. "The committee has met 63 times since July 4, 2022," senior committee member Shatrughan Singh told the newspaper quoting chairperson Ranjana Desai. A sub-committee was formed last year, which will seek public opinion by inviting written submissions as well as conducting public dialogue programmes.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "The UCC committee started its public outreach programme from the border tribal village of Mana and visited 40 different locations covering all the districts of the state, which culminated in a public discussion in Delhi on 14 June 2023, with participation from residents of Uttarakhand living there", UCC Committee member Shatrughan Singh said, adding "Sub-committee meets 143 times in Dehradun and other places". "The committee also interacted with representatives of political parties, state statutory commissions as well as leaders of various religious denominations", Singh told. The Chairman of the Law Commission of India had requested to interact with the members of the Expert Committee. The interaction was held on June 2, 2023, in which members of both the Law Commission and the Expert Committee as well as the Chairman were present. Member Shatrughan Singh further told, "The committee has taken into account all kinds of opinions and has looked into various laws and uncodified laws, including the statutory framework in select countries". Apart from this, the committee has tried to understand the nuances of various traditional practices prevalent in different parts of the state. The Pushkar Singh Dhami government had set up an expert committee to examine various existing laws regulating the civil matters of residents of Uttarakhand. The notification in this regard was issued on May 27, 2022, and the terms of reference were notified on June 10, 2022.
Sudhir Suryawanshi By

Express News Service

Shinde Sena support the Uniform Civil Code while Uddhav Thackeray yet to take decision over it

MUMBAI: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena on Friday extended unconditional support to Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and said a bill supporting UCC should be passed in the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly.

Shiv Sena (Shinde) Lok Sabha MP Rahul Shewale said that the Shiv Sena has decided to extend complete support to the proposed UCC.

We request Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde to bring in a resolution in support of UCC in the upcoming monsoon session of the state legislature. Once it is approved, the resolutions should be sent to the centre informing Maharashtra's stand on the issue. We will also request PM Narendra Modi to hold a discussion on the UCC in the Parliament's monsoon session and a whip will be issued to all Sena MPs to support it," Shewale added.

Shewale said that the implementation of UCC was one of the three dreams of Shiv Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray for the country.

"Balasaheb Thackeray had prominently three dreams - setting up a grand Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, scrapping Article 370, and implementing a Uniform Civil Code in the country. PM Narendra Modi has fulfilled two of his dreams and the last dream of having a UCC will be completed soon. So, Shiv Sena is with BJP for this decision," said Shewale.

Shewale said that Balasaheb Thackeray supported the bill because it is in the interest of every citizen, especially women who need equal status under the law.

While Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena yet to take a decision over supporting the UCC, Sanjay Raut said that if the central government brings the draft of the UCC bill, then they will take a call over it.

Raut said the BJP-led central government wants to bring uniformity to UCC, but there are several laws in the country that are misused by the BJP.

Central agencies are using one law for corrupt leaders of the BJP while another law for the political opponent of the BJP. Why only non-BJP mainly anti-BJP leaders and parties are targeted if the law is equal to everyone? It is easy to say all, therefore let's first see the draft of the UCC, then we will take the decision, Raut said.

Meanwhile, Rahul Shewale criticized Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray's meeting with the members of the All India Muslim Personal Board.

"His father openly supported the UCC. Yet today, he is wary of it and even spreading misinformation about Hindus getting affected by it. The leaders of the Muslim personal board went to meet Uddhav Thackeray because they know that he will oppose it. His real face has been exposed and the people of Maharashtra are watching it," said Shewale.

Shinde Sena support the Uniform Civil Code while Uddhav Thackeray yet to take decision over it MUMBAI: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena on Friday extended unconditional support to Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and said a bill supporting UCC should be passed in the monsoon session of the Maharashtra Assembly. Shiv Sena (Shinde) Lok Sabha MP Rahul Shewale said that the Shiv Sena has decided to extend complete support to the proposed UCC.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); We request Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde to bring in a resolution in support of UCC in the upcoming monsoon session of the state legislature. Once it is approved, the resolutions should be sent to the centre informing Maharashtra's stand on the issue. We will also request PM Narendra Modi to hold a discussion on the UCC in the Parliament's monsoon session and a whip will be issued to all Sena MPs to support it," Shewale added. Shewale said that the implementation of UCC was one of the three dreams of Shiv Sena founder late Balasaheb Thackeray for the country. "Balasaheb Thackeray had prominently three dreams - setting up a grand Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, scrapping Article 370, and implementing a Uniform Civil Code in the country. PM Narendra Modi has fulfilled two of his dreams and the last dream of having a UCC will be completed soon. So, Shiv Sena is with BJP for this decision," said Shewale. Shewale said that Balasaheb Thackeray supported the bill because it is in the interest of every citizen, especially women who need equal status under the law. While Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena yet to take a decision over supporting the UCC, Sanjay Raut said that if the central government brings the draft of the UCC bill, then they will take a call over it. Raut said the BJP-led central government wants to bring uniformity to UCC, but there are several laws in the country that are misused by the BJP. Central agencies are using one law for corrupt leaders of the BJP while another law for the political opponent of the BJP. Why only non-BJP mainly anti-BJP leaders and parties are targeted if the law is equal to everyone? It is easy to say all, therefore let's first see the draft of the UCC, then we will take the decision, Raut said. Meanwhile, Rahul Shewale criticized Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray's meeting with the members of the All India Muslim Personal Board. "His father openly supported the UCC. Yet today, he is wary of it and even spreading misinformation about Hindus getting affected by it. The leaders of the Muslim personal board went to meet Uddhav Thackeray because they know that he will oppose it. His real face has been exposed and the people of Maharashtra are watching it," said Shewale.
By PTI

MUMBAI: Lack of security in the Mumbai local trains continues to pose a hassle for women. The second sexual harassment case on a moving train in a month raises women's safety concerns on local trains.

A 24-year-old woman was allegedly sexually harassed by an unidentified man on a local train here, police said.

The incident took place between Charni Road and Grant Road stations of the Western Railway on the night of June 23, said a police official on Thursday.

The woman approached the Railway Police with a complaint on Wednesday, five days later, he said.

A First Information Report was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 354-A (sexual harassment) at the Mumbai Central Railway police station.

The woman boarded the Churchgate-bound train at the Charni Road station. As it approached the Grant Road station, the man made lewd gestures at her and used obscene language before getting down, as per her complaint. Police have identified a suspect, the official said, adding that probe was on.

Earlier this month, a 20-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man in the ladies compartment of a moving Mumbai local train when she was travelling alone.

The incident occurred on June 14 morning when the woman, a resident of Girgaon in Mumbai, was headed towards Belapur in Navi Mumbai where she was supposed to appear for an exam. Police later arrested a 40-year-old man for the offence.

MUMBAI: Lack of security in the Mumbai local trains continues to pose a hassle for women. The second sexual harassment case on a moving train in a month raises women's safety concerns on local trains. A 24-year-old woman was allegedly sexually harassed by an unidentified man on a local train here, police said. The incident took place between Charni Road and Grant Road stations of the Western Railway on the night of June 23, said a police official on Thursday.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The woman approached the Railway Police with a complaint on Wednesday, five days later, he said. A First Information Report was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 354-A (sexual harassment) at the Mumbai Central Railway police station. The woman boarded the Churchgate-bound train at the Charni Road station. As it approached the Grant Road station, the man made lewd gestures at her and used obscene language before getting down, as per her complaint. Police have identified a suspect, the official said, adding that probe was on. Earlier this month, a 20-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man in the ladies compartment of a moving Mumbai local train when she was travelling alone. The incident occurred on June 14 morning when the woman, a resident of Girgaon in Mumbai, was headed towards Belapur in Navi Mumbai where she was supposed to appear for an exam. Police later arrested a 40-year-old man for the offence.
TVS Motor Company strengthens its electrification journey; announces association with Zomato to accelerate last mile green deliveries

NewsVoir, Bangalore, June 28: TVS Motor Company, a reputed manufacturer of two-wheelers and three-wheelers globally, today announced a strategic association with the food ordering and delivery platform, Zomato.

TVS Motor Company strengthens its electrification journey; announces association with Zomato to accelerate last mile green deliveries

This association is in line with TVS Motor's commitment towards its green and sustainable mobility solutions. It further strengthens the company's electrification journey across diverse mobility segments and aligns with Zomato's efforts to enable the adoption of EVs through last-mile delivery partners. This collaboration aims to reshape the future of urban transportation by combining TVS Motor's cutting-edge electric scooter technology with Zomato's extensive network of delivery partners.As part of this strategic partnership, TVS Motor will deploy over 10,000 TVS electric scooters over a course of two years, powered by its advanced electric powertrain and superior battery technology. These vehicles will contribute towards revolutionising last-mile delivery, enabling Zomato to further reduce carbon footprint. TVS Motor will also ensure that delivery partners onboarded on Zomato have access to charging stations within their radius and receive smooth digital integration to ensure ease of delivery.Speaking on this association, Manu Saxena, Senior Vice President, Electric Vehicles, TVS Motor Company, said, "With the success of TVS iQube Electric, we are expanding our electric offerings across multiple segments and last-mile delivery services stands at the opportune inflection point towards faster adoption of EVs. TVS Motor is proud to partner in the mission for electrification of Zomato's delivery partners' vehicles. This strategic partnership adds another milestone in TVS Motor's journey to provide smart and reliable EV products and services with lowest total cost of ownership to our delivery partners."Zomato's Chief Operations Officer, Rinshul Chandra, added that, "At Zomato, we are committed to 100 per cent EV adoption by 2030, and are the first food ordering and delivery platform to join Climate Group's EV100 campaign. We are now partnering with over 50 companies in the EV ecosystem with the intent of onboarding over 100,000 EV-based delivery partners on our platform within the next 2 years. This association with TVS Motor adds further momentum to our commitment, given their global repute in the sustainable mobility domain. We are excited to jointly facilitate greener last-mile deliveries by transitioning our delivery partners' vehicles to EVs."TVS Motor Company marked its foray into the electric mobility segment in 2020; and since then has been receiving a heartening response from customers. With its commitment towards offering best-in-class on-road range in the electric two-wheeler segment, the company is grateful to its 1,00,000+ customers who choose to ride these scooters into a better and greener tomorrow together.TVS Motor Company is a reputed two and three-wheeler manufacturer globally, championing progress through Sustainable Mobility with four state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Hosur, Mysuru and Nalagarh in India and Karawang in Indonesia. Rooted in our 100-year legacy of Trust, Value, and Passion for Customers and Exactness, we take pride in making internationally aspirational products of the highest quality through innovative and sustainable processes. We are the only two-wheeler company to have received the prestigious Deming Prize. Our products lead in their respective categories in the J.D. Power IQS and APEAL surveys. We have been ranked No. 1 Company in the J.D. Power Customer Service Satisfaction Survey for consecutive four years. Our group company Norton Motorcycles, based in the United Kingdom, is one of the most emotive motorcycle brands in the world. Our subsidiaries in the personal e-mobility space, Swiss E-Mobility Group (SEMG) and EGO Movement have a leading position in the e-bike market in Switzerland. TVS Motor Company endeavours to deliver the most superior customer experience across 80 countries in which we operate.For more information, please visit .Launched in 2010, Zomato's mission is better food for more people. Zomato is a restaurant search and discovery, and food ordering and delivery platform. It connects restaurant partners, delivery partners and customers, serving their multiple needs.(Disclaimer The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)ANI28 June 2023

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Al Wadi Islamic Boutique Pvt. Ltd. receives prestigious Karnataka Business Award 2023

SRV Media, New Delhi, June 29: Al Wadi Islamic Boutique Pvt.

Al Wadi Islamic Boutique Pvt. Ltd. receives prestigious Karnataka Business Award 2023

Ltd., a renowned business specializing in designer Burkhas, was honored with the prestigious Karnataka Business Award. The award was presented by the honorable Health Minister, Dinesh Gundu Rao, at a grand ceremony that recognized exceptional businesses in the state. Juhair Ali, the Managing Director of Al Wadi Islamic Boutique, expressed his gratitude for the recognition and shared exciting plans for expanding the brand's presence across major cities in India and launching mobile apps to enhance accessibility.During the event, Juhair Ali expressed his appreciation to the Karnataka Traders Chamber of Commerce for acknowledging and honoring Al Wadi Islamic Boutique's unique concept and idea. The award is a testament to the company's commitment to providing fashionable Burkhas of international quality and standards. With this recognition, Al Wadi Islamic Boutique aims to make significant strides in the fashion industry and cater to a broader customer base.In a press release, Juhair Ali revealed that Al Wadi Islamic Boutique Pvt. Ltd. plans to introduce more fashion brands in the future, further diversifying their offerings. The company's dedication to maintaining international quality and standards ensures that customers have access to a wide range of high-quality Islamic fashion choices. The Karnataka Business Awards, organized by the Karnataka Traders Chamber of Commerce, have emerged as a prestigious platform that honors businesses across the state. With over 20 award categories, the event recognizes enterprises that demonstrate excellence and innovation in their respective industries. These awards serve as a catalyst for businesses to strive for continuous improvement and contribute to the overall growth and development of Karnataka's business landscape.The recognition received by Al Wadi Islamic Boutique Pvt. Ltd. at the Karnataka Business Awards not only celebrates their achievements but also highlights the brand's dedication to providing fashionable and high-quality Burkhas to customers. As the company expands its presence across major cities in India and embraces technology through the launch of mobile apps, it is poised to make a significant impact on the fashion industry and cater to the evolving needs of its discerning clientele.With the prestigious award in hand, Al Wadi Islamic Boutique Pvt. Ltd. embarks on an exciting journey of growth and innovation, promising a future filled with new fashion brands and a continued commitment to excellence in the world of Islamic fashion. The award serves as a testament to their success and positions them as a leading player in the 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)ANI29 June 2023

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There is a strong enemy group of up to 50,000 personnel, over 300 tanks and 330 artillery systems deployed today in the Bakhmut direction, and there are no more Wagner Private Military Company fighters there, Spokesperson for the Eastern Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Serhiy Cherevaty has said.

"Yes, today, there is no criminal Wagner group in the Bakhmut direction. There is a rather strong enemy group of up to 50,000 personnel, over 300 tanks, over 330 artillery systems and 140 multiple launch rocket systems deployed there. But these are airborne and infantry units of the enemy, combat army reserve, the so-called BARS, territorial enemy troops like Veteran," he said on the air of the national telethon on Friday.

Ten combat clashes occurred in the Bakhmut direction in the past 24 hours during which 104 occupiers were killed, 166 wounded, and six captured, Cherevaty said.

"Our Defense Forces continue to hold the initiative in the Bakhmut direction of the front and pose pressure on the enemy on the northern and southern flanks. The enemy also shows strong resistance: it attacked our positions 445 times in the past 24 hours using cannon and rocket artillery, inflicted two air strikes," he said.

Two enemy Grad systems, an anti-tank missile system, a combat reconnaissance vehicle, one battalion command and observation post and three field ammunition depots were also destroyed.

According to Cherevaty, in the Lyman-Kupiansk direction, the enemy made three attempts to attack Ukrainian positions in the past 24 hours, inflicted 303 artillery and three air strikes.

"While repelling the attacks, 22 occupiers were killed, 59 injured. Also, two mortars, an unmanned aerial vehicle and an ammunition depot were destroyed," he said.
UKPNP chief voices concern over oppression of religious minorities in PoK, China

Geneva, June 29: Shaukat Ali Kashmiri, exiled chairman of United Kashmir People's National Party (UKPNP) raised concerns and miseries of religious minorities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at a symposium organised here.

UKPNP chief voices concern over oppression of religious minorities in PoK, China

Interfaith International organised a symposium on Freedom of Religion, Human Rights and Politics on Wednesday.At the outset of the symposium, Kashmiri expressed his gratitude towards Dr Charles Grave, Secretary General of Interfaith International, for providing space to highlight the plight of suffering minorities."Some governments are not ready to give space for religious minorities. Every government has their own agenda but only the democratic countries recognised our basic rights but all those countries where there is no democracy are not ready to give us a taste to human rights," he said.The rights activist further noted the floating problems of the PoK."And we are the unfortunate as we are divided forcefully and now our area which is under Pakistani occupation used as a launching pad for the terrorist activities and nobody is ready to open their eyes to see what happened," he added.Kashmiri recalled a recent incident where 22 children hardly 17-18 years old were kidnapped following which their parents protested but were threatened and asked to not say anything regarding these missing children.He said, "It is one of the prescribed organisations who kidnap them and now they are in that prescribed organisation for study. And the government of Pakistan is saying then it has dismantled all the terroristic infrastructure and all the organisations out there, but it is an open secret that still the terrorist activities are going on in our areas and the people are protesting."Kashmiri then spoke about the oppression of Muslim minorities who live in China."It is a very sad story regarding the Muslims who lived in China, their miseries, their freedom of expression, their freedom of religion is totally compromised," he said.In China, Muslims have no right to practice their religious beliefs and become a victim of personal liking and disliking of the systems as they are not pro-people they are not pro-democracy and they do not believe in religious harmony," exiled chairman of UKPNP concluded.ANI29 June 2023

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Its copped a battering: David Warner continues to battle with bruised hand in 2nd Ashes Test

London, June 29: Australia Opener David Warner revealed that he battled through the pain of a bruised hand at Lord's in the second match of the Ashes 2023 series and he will have the injury reassessed after the match.

It's copped a battering: David Warner continues to battle with bruised hand in 2nd Ashes Test

Warner has taken multiple blows on his hands in the past few weeks, which includes one from Mohammed Shami in the World Test Championship 2023 final and recently in the nets he received another blow on his hand from batting coach Michael Di Venuto."It's copped a battering the last two games, and in the nets, so it's little bit sore at the moment, bit of a bruise but I'll just see how we go after the game and I think we'll examine it then. At the moment it's quite tender," Warner said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.After bruising his hand, Warner's contention to play in the second match became a doubt. But he ruled out this speculation after the end of the first day."[I was] never in doubt, [but] it was quite sore. Initially it was more in the palm, I've got a hotspot where my thumb is and every time the ball hits the bat it just jars. Then today I got hit back in the knuckle which I think Mohammed Shami hit me [on] in that World Test Championship. I've had my hand in an ice bucket all afternoon, so we'll play it by ear and assess it after the game," Warner added.Even with a bruised hand, Warner turned back the clock, he still went on to score a half-century. After ruling out his injury to be not serious Warner is likely to play the rest of the Ashes and eventually get his farewell match at the Sydney ground against Pakistan which he decided to do at the beginning of this month."If I can get through this (WTC final and ensuing Ashes campaign) and make the Pakistan series I will definitely finish up then," Warner said, according to cricket.com.au.Warner's impressive performance played a crucial role in taking Australia's score to 339/5 at the end of Day 1.ANI29 June 2023

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Toronto: Challenges of AI, technologys impact on democracy discussed at Collision Tech Conference

Toronto, June 29: A conference titled How is Tech reshaping Democracy? was held at Enercare Center, Toronto, which discussed technology's huge impact on democracy and access to information to common people.

Toronto: Challenges of AI, technology's impact on democracy discussed at Collision Tech Conference

The Collision Tech conference was organised here on Tuesday at 11 am (local time) in which Anita Sharma, CTV News and Freelancer took part as a moderator. Commissioner of the US Federal Election Commission Ellen Weintraub and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party Melissa Lantsman were the panellists at the conference.The conference also discussed the technology's huge impact on democracy and access to information to common people, freedom of speech, and internet freedom and also addressed the challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI).Anita Sharma, in relation to India, said that with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the US and with Tech Titans, the US is sending a message to China that technology is transforming and that the US is finding a new partner in India.With regard to China, Sharma said China's premier coming out saying China still wants to be America's factory and warehouse and wants to work with America ignoring the geopolitical issues.Meanwhile, Melissa Lantsman said that human rights abuses against Uyghurs in China, allegations of interference in Canadian elections and the regime in Beijing's hostage diplomacy with Canada have posed some bigger questions on Canada's relationships with China.She mentioned India having huge young talents and Canada's welcoming approach towards them.She emphasised that if Canada wants to be the leader of Technological change then Canada should be partnering with countries like India which have shared values.She added that Canada has lost core diplomatic relations with India and stressed that Canada's relationship with India "should have been better, they could have been better and again one day they will be better."In her concluding remarks, Anita said that the US is deeply involved with India and Silicon Valley is proof of that.ANI29 June 2023

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NSA Ajit Doval, Russian Security Council Secy Nikolai Patrushev discuss issues of cooperation

Moscow, June 29: Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev on Wednesday held a telephonic conversation with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and discussed current issues of cooperation between India and Russia in the security sector, according to the official statement released by Security Council of Russia.

NSA Ajit Doval, Russian Security Council Secy Nikolai Patrushev discuss issues of cooperation

Patrushev also briefed Doval about the latest events in Russia.The two sides discussed prospects for deepening the cooperation between the two nations within the framework of bilateral and multilateral formats. The two sides agreed to continue the dialogue."The current issues of Russian-Indian cooperation in the field of security and the prospects for their deepening within the framework of bilateral and multilateral formats were discussed in detail. In addition, N. Patrushev informed A. Doval about the latest events in Russia," the Security Council of Russia said in an official statement.It further said, "The interlocutors agreed to continue a confidential dialogue."Earlier in March, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation between the two nations.Russian Embassy in India took to its official Twitter handle to share details regarding the meeting. "In #NewDelhi, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev was received by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. Issues of #RussiaIndia bilateral cooperation of mutual interest were discussed," tweeted Russian Embassy in India.Nikolai Patrushev also met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in New Delhi. During the meeting, the two sides outlined ways for further cooperation between Russia and India in the security sector.Russian Embassy in India tweeted, "While on a visit to #NewDelhi, #Russia'n Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev met with #India's National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India Ajit Doval."It further said, "Ways have been outlined for further cooperation between #Russia and #India in the field of security. A thorough exchange of views on topical regional and international issues took place as well."Nikolai Patrushev also attended the 18th Meeting of the Secretaries of the Security Councils of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states that took place in New Delhi.During the meeting, Nikolai Patrushev paid special attention to the need to uphold universal human values, prevent interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states as well as counter the policy of unilateral sanctions and restrictive measures.Patrushev emphasised specific measures to jointly fight transnational organized crime, terrorism and the revival of neo-Nazism. He also underscored Russia's commitment to the SCO's principles of equal and indivisible security and respect for the fundamental norms of international law.ANI30 June 2023

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No specific responsibility, we will work together, says newly-appointed Chhattisgarh Dy CM TS Singh Deo

Raipur, June 29: The newly-appointed Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo on Thursday said that the Congress government in the state will work together as a family for the welfare of the people.

No specific responsibility, we will work together, says newly-appointed Chhattisgarh Dy CM TS Singh Deo

When asked about any differences in the party, he said, "World wars took place and large numbers of people lost their lives but the problem was eventually resolved with talk. If something comes to mind, then the solution available to human beings is to resolve it by having a mutual conversation. There is no such issue here (in the party) and even if it happens, we can discuss it and move ahead."He further said that he doesn't have specific responsibility as Deputy CM gets a protocol and designation while the responsibility remains the same as the minister along with departments.On being asked that opposition and political analysts consider the development as a damage control move to deal with differences within the party, Singh Deo said, "It is their (opposition's) analysis and they are free to do so. We are working together, we are doing it and will continue to do so."TS Singh Deo further said that he is grateful for being given the responsibility. "Our priority will be to work together for the development of the state. I will fulfil the responsibilities given to me. The biggest responsibility is to take everyone along. We will fight together and that is how Congress works."In response to a query about the pendency of a few poll promises that include a ban on liquor sales and related to housing facilities for the poor, Singh Deo said that it will be difficult to implement (a ban on liquor) while initiative regarding the housing is underway and works will start after obtaining a loan from the bank."The work will start after the monsoon," he added.Speaking about the issues to be focussed during the coming elections, Singh Deo said that the priority will be to work extensively in (department he is having) health department, GST and the 20-points programme and complete the pending works."Efforts are on to start four medical colleges and a new hospital in Dr B R Ambedkar Memorial Hospital Raipur. Moreover, several units of the health department in the districts have to be started. The biggest responsibility that I feel is reaching out to the people and sharing the achievements of the government and gaining their trust for the coming five years," he added.Notably, ahead of the big Lok Sabha election next year, five states -- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram -- will go to the polls in 2023.ANI30 June 2023

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Arunima Sharma opens up about challenges of shooting for Jee Karda during her third trimester

Mumbai, June 29: 'Jee Karda' writer-director Arunima Sharma recalled shooting for the web series during her third trimester. She opened up about the challenges of continuing the shoot and how she managed to do it.

Arunima Sharma opens up about challenges of shooting for 'Jee Karda' during her third trimester

She shared, "We filmed the majority of the show during my third trimester, spanning 51 days. Interestingly, the entire team of 'Jee Karda' was more concerned about my pregnancy and being cautious around me than I was, which had a humorous yet enjoyable aspect to it. I am immensely pleased that we created a show infused with love, and I am sincerely grateful for the overwhelming audience response.""The idea for the show originated when we were in our late twenties, envisioning that our lives would be sorted out by the time we turned 30, and I would have already directed my first film. However, reality turned out differently. So, I approached Hussain (Dalal) and Abbas (Dalal) with this concept and pitched them the idea and thus, Jee Karda was conceptualized," added the director.Directed by Arunima Sharma and produced by Dinesh Vijan's Maddock Films, Jee Karda is co-written by Hussain Dalal, Arunima Sharma and Abbas Dalal. 'Jee Karda' features Tamannah Bhatia, Aashim Gulati, Suhail Nayyar, Anya Singh, Hussain Dalal, Sayan Banerjee, and Samvedna Suwalka.It streams on Amazon Prime Video.ANI30 June 2023

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Take decision on women reservation before UCC: Sharad Pawar to Centre

Pune, June 29: While speaking to reporters in Pune on Thursday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar said the Central Government should give reservation to women before thinking about the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

Take decision on women reservation before UCC: Sharad Pawar to Centre

Sharad Pawar said, "Recently, Prime Minister Modi spoke about Uniform Civil Code. Our view in UCC is that the Central government has given this issue to the Law Commission and it has sought proposals from various organisations.""As of now, the Commission has received 900 proposals. I have no idea what is mentioned in those proposals, they did not make it public. Law Commissions, like responsible institutions, should study and work on the proposal/suggestion given to them," Sharad Pawar added.He further said, "The second thing in UCC is that the stand of Sikh, Jain and Christian communities should be cleared. I am worried about one thing, I heard that the Sikh community has a different stand. I am collecting more information but I have heard that the Sikh community is not in favour of UCC. The stand of this community cannot be ignored."While addressing a press conference on Thursday, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar said the NCP would make their stand clear only after considering all these factors.He also said a meeting of NCPs national leaders took place in Delhi on Wednesday.A meeting of the youth wing and women's wing also took place. The final noting of the meeting will come out in some days"Some suggestions and discussions took place in four meetings held in Delhi. One of the topics of discussion was UCC. We will study the law commission and other factors related to UCC but before that Central government should take the decision on giving a reservation to women like I did when I was CM of Maharashtra," Pawar added."We gave 33 per cent reservation to women in various Zilla Parishad, Mahanagar Palika, Nagar Palika, Gram Panchayat etc. Later raised it to 50 per cent. As a result, we saw improvement in various organisations and institutions. By taking this into consideration, the central government should give reservations to women," NCP Chief said."If the PM Modi government takes these steps, then we would support them. In fact, I will also make an effort for other parties to support it," he added.Pawar said, "After seeing the current picture of the nation and the displeasure among the people about the current government, I feel that this is an attempt to divert the mind of the people from it. It looks people's displeasure and restlessness have reached the PM."ANI30 June 2023

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Harrison Ford reveals Indiana Joness weakness: ravages of time

Los Angeles, June 25 : 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' star Harrison Ford opened up about his future and said that retiring is not a possibility. While being interviewed by Chris Wallace, the CNN host asked Ford if he was retiring as the actor turns 81.

Harrison Ford reveals Indiana Jones's weakness: ravages of time

I don't do well when I don't have work, Ford said, reported 'Deadline'. I love to work... I love to feel useful. It's my Jones, I want to be helpful.Wallace followed up and asked him what he liked about acting so much to which the star said, It is the people that you get to work with. The intensity and the intimacy of collaboration... it's the combined ambition, somehow forged from words on a page. I don't plan what I want to do in a scene and I don't feel obliged to do anything but I am naturally affected by the things that I work on.The actor has said his final time playing the archeologist will be in the upcoming Dial of Destiny.This is the final film in the series, and this is the last time I'll play the character, Ford told Total Film magazine.I anticipate that it will be the last time that he appears in a film.'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' is set to be released on June 30, 2023, and it also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Kretschmann, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas and John Rhys-Davies.IANS30 June 2023

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Actor Prithviraj shares health update after injury, promises to get back to action soon

Mumbai, June 27: Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran recently injured his leg during a shoot and was admitted to the hospital where he underwent a keyhole surgery.

Actor Prithviraj shares health update after injury, promises to get back to action soon

The actor, who is currently on a road to recovery, has shared a health update and has promised to get back to work soon. The actor was shooting for an action sequence for his upcoming film 'Vilayath Buddha' when this unfortunate incident happened.The pan-India star took to social media to share an update with his well-wishers who were eagerly waiting for a health update.Sharing an update, the actor wrote, Hello! So yes...I had an accident while shooting an action sequence for VILAYATH BUDDHA. Fortunately, I'm in the hands of experts who performed a keyhole surgery and I'm now recouping.It's rest and physiotherapy ahead for a couple of months. Will try my best to use that time constructively, and I promise to fight through the pain to recover fully and get back into action asap. Thank you to all those who reached out and expressed concern and love.The shooting for the film has been wound up and will resume after the actor returns from injury.IANS30 June 2023

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Akshay Oberoi gains 10kgs of muscle for his role in Fighter

Mumbai, June 27: Actor Akshay Oberoi, who is gearing up for his upcoming release 'Fighter', in which he will be seen along with stars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, has undergone physical transformation.

Akshay Oberoi gains 10kgs of muscle for his role in 'Fighter'

The actor has gained 10 kgs of muscle for his role of an air force pilot in the film. Instead of going the conventional way of training with a trainer, the actor took this opportunity to undergo this look transformation by training himself.The results the actor has achieved are quite impressive within three months of prepping for the role. Talking about the same, Akshay said, I have been working out extensively before and during the filming of the movie.The idea was to build up muscles with intense training for which I personally trained myself. The role required me to have a broader body frame to look right for the role of an Air Force pilot.The actor revealed that in order to gain muscle, he did strength training with intervals of cardio. I'm playing the role of an air force officer and his physical appearance has to compliment the character and hence I took it upon myself to undergo this transformation as it was a necessity. I went through rigorous training for months ahead, he added.'Fighter' is directed by superstar director Siddharth Anand, who delivered one of the biggest blockbusters of Bollywood - 'Pathaan' earlier this year.Apart from this, Akshay will soon be starting working on a new season of 'Broken News', 'Laal Rang 2' and is anticipating the release of his film 'Varchasva'.IANS30 June 2023

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Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said that each ministry should present a roadmap to implement the Ukrainian Doctrine presented by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"On Wednesday, speaking in the Verkhovna Rada, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed guidelines and elements of a new Ukrainian doctrine. This is a new vision and a new philosophy of what our success will look like, what we need to do, what are our values and guidelines," Shmyhal said at the government meeting on Friday.

The prime minister said the relevant guidelines are in tune with many projects that the government has identified as priorities this year.

"Now, each ministry should submit a roadmap for changes in line with the elements of the new Doctrine announced by the president. This should be a comprehensive, clear, and public strategy. Everything should be presented in a clear and precise structure. All these documents should be available for public review and discussions," he said.

Shmyhal said that the development of the roadmap would be the personal responsibility of each minister.
Xi Jinping to participate in SCOs virtual summit hosted by India: Chinese Foreign Ministry

Beijing, June 30: Chinese President, Xi Jinping, will attend the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), being hosted by India, next week, Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Xi Jinping to participate in SCO's virtual summit hosted by India: Chinese Foreign Ministry

"At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend via video conference in Beijing the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and deliver important remarks on July 4," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced Friday, as per Xinhua News Agency.The SCO Council of Heads of State is scheduled to take place on July 4, and will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually, according to the statement released by SCO.As per SCO tradition, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair. Heads of the two SCO Bodies - the Secretariat and the SCO RATS - will also be present. Heads of six international and regional organizations have also been invited, viz. UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA."The theme of the Summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'. The SECURE acronym was coined by the Prime Minister at the 2018 SCO Summit and stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment. These themes have been highlighted during our Chairmanship of SCO," the statement read."India has set up new pillars of cooperation under its Chairmanship - Startups and Innovation; Traditional Medicine; Digital Inclusion; Youth Empowerment; and Shared Buddhist Heritage. In addition, India has worked towards fostering greater people-to-people ties that celebrate the historical and civilizational bonds between our nations. These include the various socio-cultural events hosted by Varanasi under the framework of the first-ever SCO Cultural and Tourist Capital for 2022-23," the statement added.India's Chairmanship of SCO has been a period of intense activity and mutually beneficial cooperation between Member States. India has hosted a total of 134 meetings and events, including 14 Ministerial-level meetings. India remains committed to playing a positive and constructive role in the organization and looks forward to a successful SCO Summit as the culmination of its Chairmanship.The rotational presidency remains with India until September 2023.In 2022, India assumed the presidency of the SCO, marking a significant milestone in the country's role in regional cooperation and its endeavour of advocating for an integrated neighbourhood.ANI30 June 2023

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UCC: Parliamentary panel calls meeting on July 3 to hear views of stakeholders

By Ashoke Raj, New Delhi[India], June 29: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice on Thursday called a meeting on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) during which it said it will hear the views of stakeholders.

UCC: Parliamentary panel calls meeting on July 3 to hear views of stakeholders

The committee led by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi informed all the 31 MPs and members of the committee that their views on UCC would be sought and considered at the meeting on July 3."Members are reminded that the next meeting of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice will be held at 03.00 PM on Monday, July 3, 2023," read a release on the committee's agenda.Further, the committee stated, "To hear the views of representatives of the following organisations on public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on June 14, 2023, inviting views from the various stakeholders on the Uniform Civil Code, under the subject 'Review of Personal Laws'."Putting forward a strong argument in favour of uniform laws for people across communities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the country cannot be run with "two laws" when the Constitution talks about equality for all."Will a family function if there are two different sets of rules for the members? How will a country run then? Our Constitution, too, guarantees equal rights to all irrespective of religion caste and creed," PM Modi said.The Uniform Civil Code is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply to all citizens equally regardless of their religion, sex, gender and sexual orientation.Currently, the personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures.Also, on June 14, the Law Commission of India solicited the views and ideas of the public and recognised religious organisations to examine the Uniform Civil Code.ANI30 June 2023

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First summer heat wave to hit Southern California this week

San Francisco, June 28: The US National Weather Service has announced that the first heat wave of the summer is expected to hit Southern California later this week.

First summer heat wave to hit Southern California this week

With a high-pressure system building over Southern California, temperatures are forecast to heat up Thursday and into the weekend, culminating in a heat wave over the Fourth of July holiday, Xinhua news agency quoted the NWS as saying in its latest update.First heat wave of the summer is expected by the holiday weekend, focused across interior areas. Triple digit temperatures likely across the hottest interior areas, the weather service added.Health officials are urging residents to avoid heat stress by seeking out shade or air-conditioned locations, drinking more water and avoiding sunburn.The announcement comes amid an extreme heat wave that has baked much of the southern US , with over 55 million people currently under heat alerts.The heat wave has scorched Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, among other southern parts over the past week, setting or challenging all-time records.The life-threatening oppressive heat dome was producing dangerous heat and humidity in Texas and spread into the lower Mississippi River Valley, according to the NWS.Extreme heat has been the greatest weather-related cause of death in the US for the past 30 years -- more than hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding or extreme cold -- killing over 700 people per year, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.In addition, the heat crisis does not affect people equally. Extreme heat mortality disproportionately affects Native American and Black communities, as well as those living in the urban core or very rural neighbourhoods, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Studies have shown that climate change is making heat waves both more frequent and more intense, increasing the risks of heat-related illnesses and deaths, droughts and wildfires.IANS30 June 2023

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Modi, Kharge pay tributes to late PM Narasimha Rao on birth anniversary

New Delhi, June 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday paid tributes to late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao on his birth anniversary.

Modi, Kharge pay tributes to late PM Narasimha Rao on birth anniversary

Remembering PV Narasimha Rao Ji on his birth anniversary. His far-sighted leadership and commitment to India's development was noteworthy. We honor his invaluable contributions to our nation's progress, Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet.Also taking to Twitter, Kharge said that the late veteran leader's tremendous contribution towards economic transformation of India and nation building shall always be cherished.Born on June 28, 1921 in Laknepalli village, Telanagana, Rao was the first person outside of the Nehru-Gandhi family to complete the full five-year term as Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996.He was voted out in 1996.Under Rao, India's then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh brought in the economic reforms in 1991.It was Rao, who gave Singh the political wherewithal and shielding to carry out his decisions.He passed away on December 23, 2004 at the age of 81.IANS30 June 2023

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Milk war: Karnataka decides not to expand Nandini outlets in Kerala

Bengaluru, June 28: The Karnataka Milk Federation has decided not to expand Nandini outlets in neighbouring Kerala following strong objection by the VijayanA government, sources confirmed on Wednesday.

Milk war: Karnataka decides not to expand Nandini outlets in Kerala

The decision was made following talks between Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development J. Chinchu Rani and KMF CEO.Nandini milk and milk related products are sold in huge quantities across Kerala. The brand is popular, especially in the bordering districts of Karnataka such as Kasargod.However, the decision has left a large number of Kannada people, who live in Kerala border regions, disappointed. The decision has been taken as per the directions of the newly elected Congress government in Karnataka.Earlier, Kerala had objected to the sale of milk, curd and other dairy products by the Karnataka Milk Federation run by the Karnataka government. The neighbouring state complained of the Kerala Milk Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation brand Milma being affected by the sale of Nandini products.The Congress and JD in Karnataka had earlier strongly opposed the move of the previous BJP government to allow sale of Amul milk and curd in Karnataka.The issue was raised during the Assembly elections and then the BJP government had to clarify the matter. It was also alleged that the then BJP government was conspiring to merge Nandini with Amul.KCMMF had questioned that if Nandini sells its milk in Kerala, what will happen to the milk which is produced and sold to Milma by the Kerala farmers. It had also objected that Karnataka had violated the cooperative framework of the national dairy sector.IANS30 June 2023

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Google to remove news from search results in Canada over law on paying publishers

California, June 30: Google, on Thursday, announced that it will remove Canadian news content from its search, news, and discover products after the government passed a bill, which requires online platforms to pay news publishers takes effect in the country.

Google to remove news from search results in Canada over law on paying publishers

In a statement, Google said Canada's Bill C-18-Online News Act, which was passed last week, "remains unworkable"."We have now informed the Government that when the law takes effect, we, unfortunately, will have to remove links to Canadian news from our Search, News and Discover products in Canada and that C-18 will also make it untenable for us to continue offering our Google News Showcase product in Canada," Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs, Google and Alphabet, said in a blog.He further added, "We're disappointed it has come to this. We don't take this decision or its impacts lightly and believe it's important to be transparent with Canadian publishers and our users as early as possible."The decision comes after the Canadian Government's contentious C-18 legislation passed Parliament last week. The bill has been criticized by tech giants like Meta and Google who say it's unfair to impose what amounts to a tax on links.Google also stated that they support Canadian journalism.Pointing out its work in Canadian news service, Google said that last year, the company linked to Canadian news publications more than 3.6 billion times -- at no charge -- helping publishers make money through ads and new subscriptions. This referral traffic from links has been valued at USD 250 million CAD annually.Kent Walker also stated that ever since the Government introduced C-18 last year, Google has shared its experiences in other countries and has been clear that unworkable legislation could lead to changes that affect the availability of news on Google's products in Canada."Last week, just as the Bill was approaching final passage and Royal Assent, the Government agreed to discuss the possibility of addressing some of the most critical issues, which we welcomed. In that discussion, we asked for clarity on financial expectations platforms face for simply linking to news, as well as a specific, viable path towards exemption based on our programs to support news and our commercial agreements with publishers," he said."While we appreciate the Government's acknowledgement that our concerns were reasonable and confirmation that the law will not apply until they adopt implementing regulations, they have not provided us with sufficient certainty that the regulatory process will be able to resolve structural issues with the legislation (such as forced payment for links and uncapped financial liability)," he added in his blog.Earlier, Meta Platforms announced that it will end access to news on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada after the country's Parliament approved legislation designed to compel internet giants to pay publishers, Al Jazeera reported."Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act taking effect," Meta said in a statement afterward.ANI30 June 2023

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Idris Elba refused to play James Bond after being put off by racism

Los Angeles, June 28: Hollywood star Idris Elba was one of the biggest contenders for portraying James Bond after Daniel Craig left the franchise. However, he shared that he refused to play the famous MI6 spy-assassin due to high racist backlash.

Idris Elba refused to play James Bond after being put off by racism

According to Deadline, the actor told the 'Smartless' podcast Essentially, it was a huge compliment that every corner of the world except from some corners, which we will not talk about, were really happy about the idea that I could be considered.He said Those that weren't happy about the idea made the whole thing disgusting and off-putting because it became about race. It became about nonsense, and I got the brunt of it.The actor also said that getting the offer to play the role was highly flattering.The truth is, I was super complimented for a long time about this. I was like, 'This is crazy!' Because James Bond... We're all actors and we understand that role. It's one of those coveted , Elba said.He added Being asked to be James Bond was like, 'Okay, you've sort of reached the pinnacle.'As per Deadline, the actor had earlier told Esquire UK this year that he was no longer describing himself as a black actor, saying when I realised it put me in a box. We've got to grow. We've got to. Our skin is no more than that it's just skin. Rant over.Elaborating on that statement, he later tweeted There isn't a soul on this earth that can question whether I consider myself a BLACK MAN or not. Being an 'actor' is a profession, like being an 'architect', they are not defined by race. However, If YOU define your work by your race, that is your Perogative. Ah lie?IANS30 June 2023

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World Banks Ajay Banga named in Carnegies 2023 Great Immigrants list

New York, June 29: World Bank President Ajay Banga has been named to this year's Great Immigrants list by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which honours contributions by immigrants to American life.

World Bank's Ajay Banga named in Carnegie's 2023 'Great Immigrants' list

Indian-American Banga, who became the 14th president of the top bank this year, was among 35 honorees from diverse backgrounds and fields whose contributions and actions enriched and strengthened American society and democracy.From India, he is the only honouree in the prestigious Carnegie list, which has named more than 700 Great Immigrants since 2006.With over 30 years of experience in key positions, Banga is expected to usher in transformative policies at the World Bank to combat poverty and address climate change, opening opportunities for people around the globe, a Carnegie statement said on Wednesday.We need to find ways to embrace the value and talent immigrants have to offer -- not the least of which is their diversity. Their diverse perspectives and experiences make us stronger, Banga was quoted as saying in the statement.Earlier this month,Banga became the new president of the World Bank, the first-ever Indian American to lead the institution.He started his career in India, spending 13 years at Nestle India and two at PepsiCo, and in 1996, he joined Citigroup, eventually leading the Asia-Pacific region as CEO.Later moving to the US, he served as President and CEO of Mastercard for 12 years before being named executive chairman.Among numerous honors, he was awarded the Foreign Policy Association Medal, Padma Shri and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.The Class of 2023 Great Immigrants has individuals from 33 countries, who, according to the Corporation, have fostered opportunities for others through their work as educators, mentors, philanthropists, job creators, public servants, storytellers, and advocates.The 35 naturalized citizens honored today embody that tradition, reminding us that the contributions of immigrants make our country more vibrant and our democracy more resilient, said Dame Louise Richardson, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, and a naturalized citizen who first came to the US from Ireland as a graduate student.Other honorees in the list are esteemed leaders in their fields, including two Nobel Prize laureates, an Olympian, a member of Congress, a university president, a public theologian and immigration advocate.It also includes celebrities such Elle magazine editor-in-chief and TV personality Nina Garcia, bestselling novelist Min Jin Lee, seven-time Grammy Award winner Alanis Morissette, Hollywood star Pedro Pascal, and Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan.IANS30 June 2023

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Shimla Police introduces river guard system to prevent drowning incidents during monsoon

Shimla, June 29: Shimla Police on Thursday said that it will deploy guards on the banks of the rivers in the district to prevent drowning cases in the region.

Shimla Police introduces river guard system to prevent drowning incidents during monsoon

The move comes amid a surge in drowning cases due to the ongoing monsoon season and heavy rainfall in the region.In this regard, Superintendent of Police Shimla District Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said that along with River Guards near the rivers, signage would be placed which will mention not to go near the banks of the river."The drowning incidents are happening in the district, we have studied the data of drowning during the past five years. Over 100 people died due to drowning in the district. We have decided that we shall deploy 'River Guards' near the rivers and more clear and strong signage would be placed instructing not to go to river banks," SP Shimla Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said."As the monsoon is proceeding the water level in the river of the Shimla district is also increasing. The flow of water in hills is very fast and youth are attracted towards this. We shall depute the police and home guards in these areas. We have the areas of Rohru, Jubbal and some areas of Rampur and Sunni areas where we have reported drowning cases and this will be our main thrust," he added.He further stated that district police officials have been directed to keep a close watch in these areas."We have directed the SDPOs, Dy Sps and SHOs to keep a close watch on these areas so that drowning cases can be prevented. "Identify places which have access to Rivers, Rivulets, Conduct meetings with local people to spread awareness. Deploy Homeguards and Police constables during the rainy season, on such vulnerable," he said.He further mentioned that the river guards with motorcycle and mobile parties will keep a vigil in such vulnerable areas.ANI30 June 2023

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Indian researchers find evidence of ultra-low frequency gravitational waves

Roorkee, June 29: In a significant breakthrough, an international team of astronomers including from the Indian Institutes of Technology Roorkee has provided scintillating evidence for the relentless vibrations of the fabric of our universe caused by ultra-low frequency gravitational waves.A .

Indian researchers find evidence of ultra-low frequency gravitational waves

The team, including from Japan and Europe, found the evidence from monitoring pulsars -- dubbed as nature's best clocks -- using six of the world's most sensitive radio telescopes, including India's largest telescope, the upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope .To detect these gravitational-wave signals, astronomers created a galactic-scale gravitational-wave detector, which was synthesised by incorporating 25 meticulously chosen pulsars in our Milky Way Galaxy.This helped the teams to access the variations in the pulse arrival times created by gravitational waves with a frequency of oscillation 10 billion times slower than those first observed in 2015 by the two ground-based LIGO detectors in the US.The researchers explained that the ultra-low frequency gravitational waves originated from a large number of dancing monster black hole pairs with masses that are ten-to-hundred crores times more than the mass of our Sun.Such dancing monster black hole pairs, expected to lurk in the centres of colliding galaxies, create ripples in the fabric of space-time, which the astronomers call nano-hertz gravitational waves.The relentless cacophony of gravitational waves from a large number of supermassive black hole pairs create a persistent humming of our universe. These light-year-scale ripples can only be detected by synthesising a galactic-scale gravitational-wave detector using pulsars-the only accessible celestial clocks for humans.The findings, led by members of the Indian Pulsar Timing Array and European Pulsar Timing Array consortia, were published in two seminal papers in the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal. These are a crucial milestone in opening a new, astrophysically-rich window in the gravitational wave spectrum.According to Einstein, gravitational waves change the arrival times of these radio flashes and thereby affect the measured ticks of our cosmic clocks. These changes are so tiny that astronomers need sensitive telescopes like the uGMRT and a collection of radio pulsars to separate these changes from other disturbances, explained Prof. Bhal Chandra Joshi of NCRA Pune and Adjunct Faculty, IIT Roorkee, who founded the InPTA collaboration, in a statement.The slow variation of this signal has meant that it takes decades to look for these elusive nano-hertz gravitational waves, he added.For the galactic-scale gravitational-wave detector, data was collected over 25 years with six of the world's largest radio telescopes, including more than three years of very sensitive data collected using the unique low radio frequency radio telescope, the uGMRT.Measurements of the exact arrival times of the pulsar were compared with both data to study the influence of gravitational waves.The results presented today mark the beginning of a new journey into the Universe to unveil some of these mysteries. More importantly, this is the first time that an Indian telescope's data is used for hunting gravitational waves, said Prof. A. Gopakumar, TIFR, Mumbai, and Chair of the InPTA consortium.The InPTA experiment involves researchers from NCRA , TIFR , IIT , IISER , IIT , IMSc and RRI along with their colleagues from Kumamoto University, Japan.IANS30 June 2023

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Denmark will provide Ukraine with another package of military assistance worth DKK 1.3 billion, the Danish Defense Ministry said.

"The government is ready to provide assistance in the amount of 1.3 billion Danish crowns. The assistance package includes air defense missiles and funds for the purchase of artillery ammunition to support the Ukrainian liberation struggle," the Danish Ministry of Defense said on Friday on the official website.

The defense ministry said Ukraine needs missiles for air defense and other types of ammunition, vehicles for sapper work.

"The total value of the donation package is about DKK 1.3 billion and is based on the needs and requests of Ukraine, dialogue with international partners and professional advice from the military," the ministry said.

Danish Acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said today's aid package sends an important signal that Denmark will stand by Ukraine for as long as necessary.

"International cooperation is absolutely essential to continuously support the Ukrainians' struggle for freedom. Unfortunately, the war seems to be dragging on, and with numerous donations, we and our allies are sending a strong signal that we support Ukrainians in the long term," the acting Defense Minister of Denmark said.

As of June 30, DKK 1 corresponds to $0.15.
Samsung SDI finishes all-solid-state battery pilot line, samples due in H2: CEO

Seoul, June 30: Samsung SDI has completed the pilot line for all-solid-state batteries and will begin producing samples in the second half of the year, its CEO has said.

Samsung SDI finishes all-solid-state battery pilot line, samples due in H2: CEO

Choi Yoon-ho, president and CEO of the South Korean battery maker, made the remarks during an in-house event, referring to the solid state battery pilot line in its Suwon research and development centre, 30 kms south of Seoul.We have completed the pilot line for all-solid-state batteries and are ready for sample production in the second half of the year, Choi said during the event celebrating the 53rd anniversary of the company's establishment.Solid-state batteries are considered a game changer that would significantly reduce fire risks because they use a solid electrolyte, instead of the liquid and gel electrolytes used in lithium-ion batteries, reports Yonhap news agency.They also have a higher energy density, which allows for a longer driving range.Samsung SDI has been stepping up to gain an edge in the solid-state battery technology and launched the pilot line construction in March last year.Samsung SDI aims to begin commercial production of its solid-state batteries in 2027.Choi also said the mother line for 46-millimeter-wide cylindrical batteries, located in its Cheonan plant, 85 km south of Seoul, is complete and getting ready to develop and produce new products on a large scale.Samsung SDI is working to mass produce the 46-mm-wide cylindrical cells, in a diversification of its lineup from primarily making prismatic cells. The 46-mm-wide cells are regarded as a next-generation product expected to perform far better than the existing 18-mm-wide or 21-mm-wide cells.IANS30 June 2023

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Email-based phishing attacks surge 464% in 1st half of 2023: Report

New Delhi, June 30: In the first half of 2023 alone, the number of email-based phishing attacks has surged 464 per cent globally when compared to 2022, a new report said on Friday.

Email-based phishing attacks surge 464% in 1st half of 2023: Report

According to Swiss technology company Acronis, there has also been a 24 per cent increase in attacks per organisation over the same frame.In the first half of 2023, the report observed a 15 per cent increase in the number of files and URLs per scanned email, plus cybercriminals have also tapped into the burgeoning large language model -based AI market, using platforms to create, automate, scale, and improve new attacks through active learning.The volume of threats in 2023 has surged relative to last year, a sign that criminals are scaling and enhancing how they compromise systems and execute attacks, said Candid Wuest, Acronis VP of Research.Moreover, the report showed that phishing remained the most popular form of stealing credentials, making up 73 per cent of all attacks, with business email compromise scams making up 15 per cent and malware comprising an additional 11 per cent.The LockBit gang was responsible for major data breaches.In Q1 2023, about 30.3 per cent of all received emails were spam and 1.3 per cent contained malware or phishing links.There were 809 publicly mentioned ransomware cases in Q1 2023, with a 62 per cent spike in March over the monthly average of 270 cases, the report mentioned.To address the dynamic threat landscape, organisations need agile, comprehensive, unified security solutions that provide the necessary visibility to understand attacks, simplify context, and provide efficient remediation of any threat, whether it may be malware, system vulnerability, and everything in between, said Wuest.IANS30 June 2023

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Vitamin D supplements may prevent heart attacks in people over 60s: Study

New York, June 30: Vitamin D supplements may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attacks among people aged over 60, finds a study.

Vitamin D supplements may prevent heart attacks in people over 60s: Study

Cardiovascular disease is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels and is one of the main causes of death globally. CVD events such as heart attacks and strokes are set to increase as populations continue to age and chronic diseases become more common.Published by The BMJ, the study of 21,315 people showed that the rate of major cardiovascular events was 9 per cent lower in the vitamin D compared with the placebo group .The rate of heart attack was 19 per cent lower and the rate of coronary revascularisation was 11 per cent lower in the vitamin D group, but there was no difference in the rate of stroke between the two groups.Researchers including from QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, in Queensland, Australia said their findings suggest that vitamin D supplementation may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular events.There was some indication of a stronger effect in those who were using statins or other cardiovascular drugs at the start of the trial, but the researchers said these results were not statistically significant.Overall, the researchers calculated that 172 people would need to take monthly vitamin D supplements to prevent one major cardiovascular event.This protective effect could be more marked in those taking statins or other cardiovascular drugs at baseline, said Rachel E Neale, Professor, from QIMR along with other researchers. The team suggested further evaluation to help to clarify this issue.In the meantime, these findings suggest that vitamin D supplementation does not alter risk of cardiovascular disease are premature, they conclude.The trial was carried out from 2014 to 2020 and involved 21,315 Australians aged 60-84 who randomly received one capsule of either 60,000 IU vitamin D or placebo taken orally at the beginning of each month for up to 5 years.During the trial, 1,336 participants experienced a major cardiovascular event .The researchers acknowledge that there may be a small underestimate of events and said the findings may not apply to other populations, particularly those where a higher proportion of people are vitamin D deficient. However, this was a large trial with extremely high retention and adherence, and almost complete data on cardiovascular events and mortality outcomes.IANS30 June 2023

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At present, there is no direct threat of a ground offensive on Ukraine from Belarus and Russia in the area of responsibility of the Pivnich (North) Group of Forces, Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev has said.

"However, in the event of an increase in the level of threats, it is planned to build up forces and means, as well as take other practical measures to strengthen the defense capabilities of the group. Our intelligence does not stop its work to obtain information. In addition, we are in constant working contact with our foreign partners and exchange information every day," he was quoted as saying by the press service of the Command on the Telegram channel on Friday.

He also said that the military command is aware of the information available and does not waste time.

"This means that without exception, all military personnel in the Pivnich operational zone professionally perform the tasks assigned to them. In turn, the command is gradually increasing its defense capabilities and taking measures to improve the training of personnel. The personnel is well-coordinated, and the commanders know how to properly manage their subordinates and what to do in case of necessary strengthening," Nayev said.
Well tell you about a mowed-down patch of prairie in Urbana  security at our local trauma center  wholl get to park at the new south-campus parking deck  and why its so hard to keep litter out of the Second Street basin in Champaign. Oh, and you know those turquoise-colored rental bikes that seemed to be everywhere in C-U last summer? Theyre ba-a-a-ack ...
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked the government of Denmark for its timely support for Ukraine.

"Grateful to the Government of Denmark led by Mette Frederiksen for a new defense aid package of around $190 million. Additional air defense missiles, ammunition, artillery rounds, demining equipment are critical needs on the battlefield. Thank you for your timely support and important contribution to our joint victory," he said on Twitter on Friday.
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The operators of the underwater robot that located the missing submersible Titan quickly learned that it was up to them to find the vessel after other deep-sea experts had tried unsuccessfully
Mature trees were split in two and shredded of limbs and leaves, semis were blown over on the interstate backing up traffic for hours, a grain
In a recent study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, scientists examine how awareness about alcohol being a risk factor for certain types of cancers relates to alcohol consumption levels among the adult United States population.

Study: Alcohol and cancer risk beliefs as correlates of alcohol consumption status. Image Credit: sama_ja / Shutterstock.com

Background

Alcohol consumption has been linked to the incidence of certain types of cancers including esophageal, hepatic, breast, and colorectal cancers. Recent statistics report that about 5.6% of incident cancers in the U.S. are linked to alcohol consumption, thus suggesting that it is a modifiable risk factor.

Over 50% of the adult population in the U.S. reports consuming alcohol over the past month. However, a large portion of the population remains unaware of the increased risk of cancer associated with alcohol consumption, with awareness of this association depending on the type of alcoholic beverage being consumed.

About the study

In the present study, researchers examine a representative group of the adult U.S. population above the age of 21 years using data from the Health Information National Trends Survey conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in 2020. The final dataset comprising no missing data consisted of information from 2,906 participants.

The primary independent variable being examined was awareness about alcohol consumption as a risk factor for cancer. To this end, the participants were queried about the level of cancer risk associated with the consumption of wine, beer, and liquor, each of which were assessed separately.

Responses were categorized into three groups including alcohol consumption increases the risk of cancer, alcohol consumption has no effect or decreases the risk of cancer, or the participant is not aware of the association, for each of the examined alcohol types.

The number of days in a week that the participants consumed any alcoholic beverage, as well as the average number of drinks consumed each drinking day, were used to calculate the average weekly consumption of alcohol for each participant, which was considered current alcohol consumption. These results were then further categorized into two groups based on no consumption or the consumption of one or more drinks a week.

The status of current alcohol consumption was then used to calculate the weighted proportions of different categories of cancer risk awareness related to alcohol consumption. Additionally, the association between current alcohol consumption and awareness about the consumption of each type of alcoholic beverage and cancer risk was evaluated separately using weighted logistic regression models. These models were also adjusted for factors such as sex, age, education levels, and race and ethnicity.

U.S. adults largely unaware of cancer risk with alcohol

Over 50% of the participants consumed alcohol regularly. As compared to individuals with no alcohol consumption, a substantial portion of alcohol drinkers believed that alcohol consumption either had no effect on or decreased the risk of cancer, irrespective of the type of alcoholic beverage consumed.

Among those who reported current consumption of alcohol, 34% believed that consuming wine either decreased the risk of cancer or had no effect on cancer risk. Furthermore, the logistic regression models that were adjusted for various demographic factors reported that those who believed that drinking wine or beer had no effect on or reduced the risk of cancer had a higher probability of consuming any type of alcohol.

Conclusions

The current study examined the awareness about the correlation between alcohol consumption and an increased risk of hepatic, colorectal, breast, or esophageal cancers on the average consumption of various types of alcohol among the U.S. adult population. Over 50% of the representative sample of the adult population consumed alcohol regularly, with a significant portion of alcohol drinkers believing that the consumption of any type of alcohol either had no effect on or decreased the risk of cancer.

These findings indicate that, along with the other strategies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption for various other health reasons, there is a need to inform the public about the increased risk of cancer associated with alcohol consumption. Increased awareness about the cancer risks associated with alcohol intake might help lower the overall public health burden due to alcohol-related illnesses.
Looking for an at-home HIV test on CVS' website is not as private an experience as one might think. An investigation by The Markup and KFF Health News found trackers on CVS.com telling some of the biggest social media and advertising platforms the products customers viewed.

And CVS is not the only pharmacy sharing this kind of sensitive data.

We found trackers collecting browsing- and purchase-related data on websites of 12 of the U.S.' biggest drugstores, including grocery store chains with pharmacies, and sharing the sensitive information with companies like Meta (formerly Facebook); Google, through its advertising and analytics products; and Microsoft, through its search engine, Bing.

The tracking tools, popularly called "pixels," collect information while a website runs. That information is often sent to social media firms and used to target ads, either to you personally or to groups of people that resemble you in demographics or habits. In previous investigations, The Markup found pixels transmitting information from the Department of Education, prominent hospitals, telehealth startups, and major tax preparation companies.

Pharmacy retailer websites' pixels send a shopper's IP address  a sort of mailing address for a person's computer or household internet  to social media giants and other firms. They also send cookies, a way of storing information in a user's browser that in this case helps track a user from page to page as the user browses a retailer's site. Cookies can sometimes also associate individuals on a site with their account on a social media platform. In addition to the IP address and cookies, the pixels often send information about what you've clicked or bought, including sensitive items, such as HIV tests.

"HIV testing is the gateway to HIV prevention and treatment services," said Oni Blackstock, the founder of Health Justice and a former assistant commissioner for the New York City Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, in an interview.

"People living with HIV should have control over whether someone knows their status," she said.

Many retailers shared other detailed interaction data with advertising platforms as well. Ten of the retailers we examined alerted at least one tech platform when shoppers clicked "add to cart" as they shopped for retail goods, a capacious category that included sensitive products like prenatal vitamins, pregnancy tests, and Plan B emergency contraception.

Supermarket giant Kroger, for instance, informed Meta, Bing, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest when a shopper added Plan B to the cart, and informed Google and Nextdoor, a social media platform on which people from the same neighborhood gather in forums, that a shopper had visited the page for the item. Walmart informed Google's advertising service when a shopper browsed the page of an HIV test, and Pinterest when that shopper added it to the cart.

A previous investigation from The Markup found that Kroger used loyalty cards to track, analyze, and sell an array of data about customers to advertisers.

Using Chrome DevTools, a tool built into Google's Chrome browser, The Markup and KFF Health News visited the websites of 12 of the U.S.' biggest drugstores and examined their network traffic. This monitoring tool allowed us to see what information about shopping habits and, in some cases, prescriptions, were sent to third parties.

Over the course of the investigation, retailers frequently changed their trackers  sometimes activating them, sometimes removing them. Some retailers appeared to be taking steps to limit tracking on sensitive items.

For example, Walgreens' website prevented some trackers from activating on the pages of some products, which included Plan B and HIV tests. This code didn't prevent all tracking, though: Walgreens' site continued sending Pinterest information about those sensitive items a user added to the cart.

Walgreens shared a new policy after learning of The Markup and KFF Health News' findings. Spokesperson Fraser Engerman said that while the chain already had a "robust privacy program," it would no longer share browsing data related to reproductive health and HIV testing. Engerman also told us that "Pinterest confirmed that the data will be deleted and that it has not been used for advertising purposes." Crystal Espinosa, a spokesperson for Pinterest, said the company "can confirm that we will be deleting the data Walgreens requested."

The pharmacy vs. the pharmacy aisle

In the U.S., drugstores and grocery stores with associated pharmacies are only partially covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. The prescriptions picked up from the pharmacy counter do have this protection.

But in a separate section, sometimes confusingly called the pharmacy aisle, stores also often sell over-the-counter medications, tests, and other health-related products. Consumers might think such purchases have similar protections to their prescriptions, but HIPAA only covers the pharmacy counter's clinical operations, such as dispensing prescriptions and answering patients' questions about medication.

This distinction can be confusing enough inside the brick-and-mortar location of a retailer. But the line can become even harder to make out on a website, which lacks the clarifying delineations of physical space.

What's more, descriptions about what will happen with retail data are generally in retailers' privacy policies, which can usually be found in a link at the bottom of their webpages. The Markup and KFF Health News found them murky at best, and none of them were specific about the parts of the site that were covered by HIPAA and the parts that weren't.

In the "Privacy Notice for California Residents" part of its privacy policy, Kroger says it processes "personal information collected and analyzed concerning a consumer's health." But, the policy continues, the company does not "sell or share" that information. Other information is sold: According to the policy, in the last 12 months, the company sold or shared "protected classification characteristics" to outside entities like data brokers.

Kroger spokesperson Erin Rolfes said the company strives to be transparent and that, "in many cases, we have provided more information to our customers in our privacy notices than our peers."

Brokering of general retail data is widespread. Our investigation found, though, that some websites shared sensitive clinical data with third parties even when that information would be protected at a HIPAA-covered pharmacy counter. Users attempting to schedule a vaccine appointment at Rite Aid, for example, must answer a survey first to gauge eligibility.

This investigation found that Rite Aid has sent Facebook responses to questions such as:

Do you have a neurological disorder such as seizures or other disorders that affect the brain or have had a disorder that resulted from a vaccine?

Do you have cancer, leukemia, AIDS, or any other immune system problem?

Are you pregnant or could you become pregnant in the next three months?

The Markup and KFF Health News documented Rite Aid sharing this data with Facebook in December 2022. In February of this year, a proposed class-action lawsuit based on similar findings was filed against the drugstore chain in California, alleging code on Rite Aid's website sent Facebook the time of an appointment and an identifier for the appointment location, demographic information, and answers to questions about vaccination history and health conditions. Rite Aid has moved to dismiss the suit.

After the lawsuit was filed, The Markup and KFF Health News tested Rite Aid's website again, and it was no longer sending answers to vaccination questions to Facebook.

Rite Aid isn't the only company that sent answers to eligibility questionnaires to social media firms. Supermarkets Albertsons, Acme, and Safeway, which are owned by the same parent company, also sent answers to questions in their vaccination intake form  albeit in a format that requires cross-referencing the questionnaire's source code to reveal the meaning of the data.

Using the Firefox web browser's Network Monitor tool, and with the help of a patient with an active prescription at Rite Aid, KFF Health News and The Markup also found Rite Aid sending the names of patients' specific prescriptions to Facebook. Rite Aid kept sharing prescription names even after the company stopped sharing answers to vaccination questions in response to the proposed class action (which did not mention the sharing of prescription information). Rite Aid did not respond to requests for comment, and as of June 23, the pixel was still present and sending the names of prescriptions to Facebook.

Other companies shared data about medications from other parts of their sites. Customers of Sam's Club and Costco, for example, can search names of prescriptions on each retailer's website to find the local pharmacy with the cheapest prices. But the two websites also sent the name of the medication the user searched for, along with the user's IP address, to social media companies.

Many of the retailers The Markup and KFF Health News looked at did not respond to questions or declined to comment, including Costco and Sam's Club. Albertsons said the company "continually" evaluates its privacy practices. CVS said it was compliant with "applicable laws."

Kroger's Rolfes wrote that the company's "trackers disclose product information, which is not sensitive health information unless one or more inferences are made. Kroger does not make any inferences linking the product information collected or disclosed by trackers to an individual's health condition."

A huge regulatory challenge

Pharmacies are just one facet of a huge health care sector. But the industry as a whole has been roiled by disclosures of tracking pixels picking up sensitive clinical data.

After an investigation by The Markup in June 2022 found widespread use of trackers on hospital websites, regulatory and legal attention has homed in on the practice.

In December, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights published guidance advising health providers and insurers how pixel trackers' use can be consistent with HIPAA. "Regulated entities are not permitted to use tracking technologies in a manner that would result in impermissible disclosures" of protected health information to tracking technology or other third-party vendors, according to the official bulletin. If implemented, the guidance would provide a path for the agency to regulate hospitals and other providers and fine those who don't follow it. In an interview with an industry publication in late April, the director of the Office for Civil Rights said it would be bringing its first enforcement action for pixel use "hopefully soon."

Lobbying groups are seeking to confine any regulatory fallout: The American Hospital Association, for example, sent a letter on May 22 to the Office for Civil Rights asking that the agency "suspend or amend" its guidance. The office, it claimed, was seeking to protect too much data.

This year the Federal Trade Commission has pursued action against companies like GoodRx, which offers prescription price comparisons, and BetterHelp, which offers online therapy, for alleged misuse of data from questionnaires and searches. The companies settled with the agency.

Health care providers have disclosed to the federal government the potential leakage of nearly 10 million patients' data to various advertising partners, according to a review by The Markup and KFF Health News of breach notification letters and the Office for Civil Rights' online database of breaches. That figure could be a low estimate: A new study in the journal Health Affairs found that, as of 2021, almost 99 percent of hospital websites contained tracking technologies.

One prominent law firm, BakerHostetler, is defending hospitals in 26 legal actions related to the use of tracking technologies, lawyer Paul Karlsgodt, a partner at the firm, said during a webinar this year. "We've seen an absolute eruption of cases," he said.

Abortion- and pregnancy-related data is particularly sensitive and driving regulatory scrutiny. In the same webinar, Lynn Sessions, also with BakerHostetler, said the California attorney general's office had made specific investigative requests to one of the firm's clients about whether the client was sharing reproductive health data.

It's unclear whether big tech companies have much interest in helping secure health data. Sessions said BakerHostetler had been trying to get Google and Meta to sign so-called business associate agreements. These agreements would bring the companies under the HIPAA regulatory umbrella, at least when handling data on behalf of hospital clients. "Both of them, at least at this juncture, have not been accommodating in doing that," Sessions said. Google Analytics' help page for HIPAA instructs customers to "refrain from using Google Analytics in any way that may create obligations under HIPAA for Google."

Meta says it has tools that attempt to prevent the transfer of sensitive information like health data. In a November 2022 letter to Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) obtained by KFF Health News and The Markup, Meta wrote that "the filtering mechanism is designed to prevent that data from being ingested into our ads." What's more, the letter noted, the social media giant reaches out to companies transferring potentially sensitive data and asks them to "evaluate their implementation."

"I remain concerned the company is too passive in allowing individual developers to determine what is considered sensitive health data that should remain private," Warner told The Markup and KFF Health News.

Meta's claims in its letter to Warner have been repeatedly questioned. In 2020, the company itself acknowledged to New York state regulators that the filtering system was "not yet operating with complete accuracy."

To test the filtering system, Sven Carlsson and Sascha Granberg, reporters for SR Ekot in Sweden, set up a dummy pharmacy website in Swedish, which sent fake, but plausible, health data to Facebook to see whether the company's filtering systems worked as stated. "We weren't warned" by Facebook, Carlsson said in an interview with KFF Health News and The Markup.

Carlsson and Granberg's work also found European pharmacies engaged in activities similar to what The Markup and KFF Health News have found. The reporters caught a Swedish state-owned pharmacy sending data to Facebook. And a recent investigation with The Guardian found the U.K.-based pharmacy chain LloydsPharmacy was sending sensitive data  including information about symptoms  to TikTok and Facebook.

In response to questions from KFF Health News and The Markup, Meta spokesperson Emil Vazquez said, "Advertisers should not send sensitive information about people through our Business Tools. Doing so is against our policies and we educate advertisers on properly setting up Business Tools to prevent this from occurring. Our system is designed to filter out potentially sensitive data it is able to detect."

Meta did not respond to questions about whether it considered any of the information KFF Health News and The Markup found retailers sending to be "sensitive information," whether any was actually filtered by the system, or whether Meta could provide metrics demonstrating the current accuracy of the system.

In response to our inquiries, Twitter sent a poop emoji, while TikTok and Pinterest said they had policies instructing advertisers not to pass on sensitive information. LinkedIn and Nextdoor did not respond.

Google spokesperson Jackie Berte said the company's policies "prohibit businesses from using sensitive health information to target and serve ads" and that it worked to prevent such information from being used in advertising, using a "combination of algorithmic and human review" to remedy violations of its policy.

KFF Health News and The Markup presented Google with screenshots of its pixel sending the search company our browsing information when we landed on the retailers' pages where we could purchase an HIV test and prenatal vitamins, and data showing when we added an HIV test to the cart. In response, Berte said the company had "not uncovered any evidence that the businesses in the screenshots are violating our policies."

KFF Health News uses the Meta Pixel to collect information. The pixel may be used by third-party websites to measure web traffic and performance data and to target ads on social platforms. KFF Health News collects page usage data from news partners that opt to include our pixel tracker when they republish our articles. This data is not shared with third-party sites or social platforms and users' personally identifiable information is not recorded or tracked, per KFF's privacy policy. The Markup does not use a pixel tracker. You can read its full privacy policy here.

This article was co-published with The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates how powerful institutions are using technology to change our society. Sign up for The Markup's newsletters.
In a strong response to incidents of unauthorised individuals being present in the cockpit, aviation regulator DGCA issued an advisory on Friday stating such incidents are likely to distract the cockpit crew from carrying out sensitive functions, leading to potential errors that could jeopardise the security of airline operations.

Taking in view of the recent instances where unauthorised people were allowed inside the cockpit during scheduled flights, it states that those authorised to enter the cockpit and occupy the jumpseat in aircrafts registered in India are specified under the Aeronautical Information Circular (AIC) 17 of 2019. The notice states crew members, officer of the Civil Aviation Department, India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Civil Aviation of the rank of Joint Secretary and above or a duly authorised representative of the manufacturer odf the aircraft are allowed to enter the cockpit.

Any one so authorised to enter the cockpit shall comply with the requirement of CAR Section 5 Series F Part III regarding flight and post-flight BA test," it reiterated.

The DGCA has asked the heads of operations to sensitise their pilots and cabin crew members to strictly follow the AIC measures and prevent any unauthorised entry in the cockpit through appropriate means.

Any non-compliance with the applicable regulation, dealing with unauthorised cockpit entry, shall be dealt with strictly and may also invite stringent enforcement action," it said.

The DGCA had made strong note of the incident in which an Air India pilot permitted a female friend to enter the cockpit during a Dubai-Delhi flight.

The top aviation regulator had also suspended the licence of an Air India pilot by one year for allowing an unauthorised person in the cockpit of the Chandigarh-Leh flight earlier this month. The licence of the Pilot-in-command was suspended for one year while the licence of the First Officer was suspended for a period of one month, the DGCA said.

Following the incident that took place on June 3, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered grounding of both pilots pending investigation.
IndiGo made a significant announcement on June 27, unveiling its plans to enhance its flight services. Effective July 1, the airline will launch a new flight route linking Mumbai and West Bengals Durgapur, as well as resume flights between Mumbai and Kannur in Kerala.

Mumbai-Kannur Flight Timings

Passengers travelling from Mumbai to Kannur can now benefit from the convenience of IndiGos new flight, which will depart from Mumbai at 1:50 pm and arrive in Kannur at 3:45 pm. The return journey will start at 4:15 pm, with the flight touching down in Mumbai at 6 pm. IndiGo has allocated the Airbus 360 aircraft, accommodating up to 186 passengers, for this service.



With this latest expansion, IndiGo solidifies its presence in Mumbai, operating over 170 daily flights to and from the city. The airline boasts an extensive network of 155 domestic flights and 20 international flights, offering travellers a wide range of destinations.

IndiGo New Flights from Mumbai





Furthermore, IndiGo has introduced additional frequencies on several routes to meet the growing demand. Since June 3, passengers can enjoy increased flight options on routes such as Dehradun-Mumbai, Leh-Mumbai, Srinagar-Mumbai, Hyderabad-Mumbai, Jammu-Mumbai, Ranchi-Mumbai, Varanasi-Mumbai, Nagpur-Mumbai, and Amritsar-Mumbai. These added frequencies not only cater to the peak summer season but also contribute to maintaining affordable fares, according to the airline.



Vinay Malhotra, IndiGos Head of Global Sales, expressed his delight in announcing the additional frequencies, emphasizing their impact on trade, commerce, and tourism. He said, Indias commercial capital, Mumbai, is also a popular tourist destination, offering a diverse selection of attractions and experiences. He further explained mentioning that the increased accessibility provided by these flights will support the Maharashtra governments vision of transforming Mumbai into a thriving tourist hub while stimulating job creation.



We strongly believe that increased accessibility contributes to economic growth and will continue to offer more flight options to our customers across an unparalleled network, Malhotra added.



Meanwhile, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, the parent company of IndiGo, achieved a significant milestone by becoming Indias first aviation company to surpass a market capitalization of Rs 1 trillion. IndiGos remarkable performance in the market has propelled it to the 10th position among the worlds top 10 listed aviation firms in terms of market value.
Stocks To Watch On June 30: The Nifty futures contract traded on the Singapore Exchange indicates a positive start to domestic equities. The contract was trading at 19,191, up 105 points or 0.55% from the previous close.

TCS: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has banned six employees and six business associate firms for violating ethical conduct following whistleblower allegations around a recruitment scandal.

ICICI Bank/ICICI Securities: ICICI Securities on Thursday announced that it will become a wholly owned subsidiary of its parent company ICICI Bank upon delisting. The public shareholders of ICICI Securities would be allotted 67 equity shares of face value Rs 2 each of ICICI Bank for every 100 equity shares of the company. The proposal was approved at a meeting of the board of directors of the company on 29 June 2023, pursuant to which ICICI Bank will issue equity shares to public shareholders of the domestic brokerage in lieu of cancellation of their equity shares in the company.

BPCL: BPCL rights issue: The board of directors of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has considered and approved fundraising through the issuance of rights issues. The Maharatna company aims to raise up to Rs 18,000 crore through the rights issue. The public sector undertaking (PSU) company informed Indian stock market exchanges in this regard and said that BPCL rights issue price, record date and other details will be shared in the near term.

Adani Total: Adani Total Gas Ltd, the joint venture of billionaire Gautam Adanis group and French energy giant TotalEnergies, will invest Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore in the next 8 to 10 years to expand infrastructure for retailing CNG to automobiles and piping gas to households and industries, its CFO said. The company retails CNG to automobiles and pipes gas to household kitchens for cooking purposes in 52 licences that cover 124 districts of the country. It has 460 CNG stations in the country and about 7 lakh consumers of its piped cooking gas.

Tata Communications: Tata Communications is set to acquire US-based enterprise messaging firm Kaleyra for $100 million in an all-cash deal, it said on Wednesday. Kaleyra provides integrated communication services with a set of proprietary platforms, offering targeted personalisation through messaging, video, push notifications, e-mail and voice-based services and chatbots. With this transaction, Tata Communications will gain an industry-proven platform with strong capabilities and scale, the statement said.

ONGC: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has sold the initial gas it is producing from its KG basin fields in the Bay of Bengal to three firms, including Torrent Gas, sources said. In an e-auction, the firm sold 1.4 million standard cubic meters per day - a fraction of the planned output from the block that sits next to Reliance Industries prolific KG-D6 area in the Bay of Bengal, to Torrent Gas Pune Ltd, GAIL (India) Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).

TVS Motors/Zomato: TVS Motor Company announced a strategic partnership with the food ordering and delivery platform Zomato on June 28 to accelerate green mobility solutions for last-mile deliveries. As part of the deal, TVS Motor will deploy over 10,000 electric scooters over the next two years for Zomatos delivery fleet, according to a regulatory filing by the auto major to the stock exchanges. The inclusion of EVs will contribute towards transform last-mile delivery. TVS Motor will also ensure that delivery partners onboarded on Zomato have access to charging stations within their radius.

Religare Enterprises: Religare Enterprises Ltd is in early talks with private equity (PE) investors to sell 6-7% of its subsidiary Care Health Insurance Ltd to raise as much as Rs 1,200 crore, three people close to the matter said. The talks are at an initial stage, one of the three people said on condition of anonymity. Religare is seeking very high valuations for its stake, in line with the robust performance of health insurance businesses in the country, a second person said, also declining to be named. However, it is unlikely that they will be able to raise such a high amount."

Tilaknagar Industries: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has directed the removal of Prag Distillery Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Tilaknagar Industries Limited, from the liquidation proceedings. In addition, the NCLT order permits the reinstatement of the board of directors to resume management operations. Located in Andhra Pradesh, Prag Distillery has an annual bottling capacity of approximately six lakh cases.

TD Power Systems: TD Power Systems Ltd, a producer of AC generators and motors, is planning to offload a 24% stake in the company, or over 37 million shares, as per a term sheet reviewed by Mint. The shares are expected to be sold at a 4.12% discount to Thursdays closing price, or for over Rs 800 crore ($98 million). TD Powers selling shareholders include Nikhil Kumar, Mohib Nomanbhai Khericha, Hitoshi Matsuo, Sofia Mohin Khericha and Lavanya Sankaran. Currently, the promoters hold a 58.45% stake, which will be reduced to 34.45% upon completion of the sale.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan have reached Delhi University to attend the valedictory ceremony of the centenary celebrations of the varsity. DU has completed 100 years today, June 30, 2023. The university was established on May 1, 1922.

On the occasion, PM Modi said, there was a time when DU had just 3 colleges, and now it has more than 90 colleges. Today the number of girls studying at the varsity and its colleges is more than boys. He further added, that there was a time when India used to come under the list of fragile economies and today it is among the top five economies in the world.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi, says There was a time when Delhi University had just 3 colleges, now it has more than 90 colleges. There was a time when India used to come under the list of fragile economies and today it is among the top 5 economies in the world. Today pic.twitter.com/bxZ0Uw7l5U ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

The third decade of the 20th century gave a new speed to the freedom movement and the third decade of this 21st century will give a new speed to the development journey of the country. There has been a rapid increase in the number of IIT, IIM, NIT, and AIIMS colleges in the last few years. These institutes are becoming the building blocks of New India," PM Modi further added.

He also added that the global recognition of Indian Universities has increased. In 2014, a total of 12 Indian universities made it to the QS World University Rankings but it has now increased to 45. To improve the quality of educational institutes, we are working continuously. There were around 100 startups in India before 2014, today the number has crossed 1 lakh," Modi added.

While the education minister said that with the completion of 100 years of DU, our responsibility has increased. National Education Policy (NEP) was implemented under the Prime Ministers leadership. I congratulate DU for implementing NEP fully in the last 3 years," he said.

PM Modi also laid the foundation stone of three buildings of DU. These buildings are for the faculty of technology (North Campus), a computer centre, and an academic block to be built in Maurice Naga. The seven-storeyed buildings will have state-of-the-art infrastructure. The construction work of these buildings will be completed in the next two years.

#WATCH | Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays the foundation stone of Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of Faculty of Technology, and of the Academic Block of Delhi University. pic.twitter.com/3fy16JmdSa ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

The Prime Minister will also release three coffee table books, including a logo book, which will contain the logos of various colleges and their mottos. One book will have activities planned for the whole year and the other will have our historical achievements, Prakash Singh, director of DU South Campus said.

To reach DU, PM Modi took the Delhi metro wherein he interacted with several youngsters. He took the metro from Lok Kalyan Marg station to Vishwa Vidyalaya station. Earlier, the PM had tweeted, Looking forward to joining the University of Delhis centenary celebrations at 11 AM tomorrow, 30th June. As a premier centre of learning, DU has been nurturing talent and fostering intellectual growth for a century. Congratulations to the DU fraternity on this milestone."

 with input from agencies
Sixteen charred and ransacked vehicles, including auto-rickshaws, pick-up vans, small trucks and private cars, are lying abandoned near the BDOs office in Bhangar II  signs of violence and arson that rocked the rural belt in West Bengals South 24 Parganas district a fortnight ago. Vandalised and gutted shops add to the scene at the ground adjacent to this office, which is popularly known as Bijoyganj Bazarer Math (Bijoyganj market ground).

Bhangar I and Bhangar II blocks, which have a total of 19 Panchayats, witnessed violent clashes between members of the ruling Trinamool Congress and Indian Secular Front (ISF) during the filing of nominations. Three persons were killed while half a dozen were shot at and scores were left injured. The nomination process is now over and central security forces are camping in the area, where protests have died down for the time being but there remains a simmering tension.

The panchayat elections in Bengal have been violent for decades. Even as reports of clashes from other districts continue to pour in, the violence in Bhangar was unique.

Here, it is a turf war between two sections of Muslims  one belongs to the ruling TMC while the other is a disgruntled lot that jumped ship and joined the two-year-old ISF floated by a member of the Peerzada Siddiqui family of the states influential shrine  Furfura Sharif. Naushad Siddiqui won the Bhangar assembly seat, which is dominated by Muslims, in 2021.

TMC up against new player ISF

The South 24 Parganas district has 29 blocks. Of these, two are under the Bhangar assembly constituency. According to the final synoptic report of the state election commission (SEC), the district has 6,383 panchayat seats. The TMC has fielded candidates in all, while the BJP has fielded 2,951 candidates and CPI(M) are contesting 2,772 seats.

The ISF, which has an alliance with the CPI(M) at a local level, has fielded around 1,000 candidates, said Siddiqui. In Bhangar, there are close to 300 seats across 19 panchayats, where the ISF has fielded at least 90 candidates. The TMC had won all the 19 panchayats in 2018.

We could field candidates in the panchayats in Bhangar I. Out of 82 seats, we fielded in two. In Bhangar II, we have fielded 170 candidates in 180 seats. Of the total, 82 were rejected on frivolous grounds. We have petitioned before the HC (high court) and the hearing is pending. (Chief minister) Mamata Banerjee is shaken because she can see her Muslim vote bank is slipping through cracks, Siddiqui told News18.

They have slapped at least five cases, including murder, attempted murder and cases under the Arms Act against me. My candidates were intimidated, arrested in false cases. Our worker was killed and five were shot. We are still struggling to register an FIR, said the MLA of the newly formed party.

Allegations of corruption

At Shanpukur gram panchayat, where the TMC won all 13 seats, a massive section of voters joined the ISF. Muslim votes in south Bengal have always consolidated in favour of Mamata but in 2021, for the first time, the ISF  a new party  won in that area. Hence, a section of Muslim workers and TMC supporters defected to the ISF alleging corruption at a panchayat level, sanction of grants and scheme benefits.

Israil Mondal, a candidate of the ISF said, We all were Trinamool workers and we used to worship Didi. But, we were deceived and deprived by the local party leaders and panchayat members. They used to put our details on the grant certificates, but the account number was of the panchayat members. We never received the government grant, the relief money after the Amphan cyclone. Any protest would earn us a criminal case. This is how we joined the ISF, he said.

Senior TMC leaders are divided over the charges of corruption. Former MLA Sabyasachi Dutta and a senior leader in the area said: I was given the charge of the area on June 17. I have spoken with the local residents and there are grievances. There are certain faults of some of our local leaders and we have identified them; corrective measures have been taken. Minority votes have always been with Didi (Mamata Banerjee) and they will again vote for Didi. They were aggrieved and they almost unwillingly voted for the ISF. They will come back to us.

Addressing a press conference after the violence in the area, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh had said the ISF was a front for the BJP, Congress and CPI(M). The ISF is actively in touch with central leaders of BJP and they are acting as a plant to create confusion, he had said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held several meetings on internal and foreign policy on Friday.

"Held several meaningful preparatory meetings today, both regarding the internal context in our state, relevant domestic events, and international events. A very fundamental period of foreign policy is beginning," he said in a video address on Friday.

"This is a work for the expansion of the world, through the expansion of our security capabilities, our alliances and cooperation. The next weeks will be extremely active and the positions of our state are clearly defined. All our officials know what to do," Zelenskyy said.
Rupali Gangulys Anupamaa has gained an enormous following thanks to its compelling narrative centred on the turbulent life of the shows titular character. The serial has garnered exceptional ratings, leading the TRP chart for the past several months. Starring Rupali Ganguly as Anupamaa and Gaurav Khanna as her husband, Anuj in the lead role, Anupamaa keeps the viewers hooked and often creates buss on various social media platforms. Now, the shows plot is set to take a new turn as it is revealed that Dimpy is adamant to get Pakhi out of the Shah house and ruin her position in the Kapadia family.

According to Tellychakkar, Dimpy manipulates Adhik against Pakhi while she is busy in the preparations for Anupamaas farewell party at the Shah House. She told him that she will make Pakhis life living hell by giving her the taste of her own medicine.

Dimpy strongly wants Pakhi to leave the Kapadia House once Anupamaa leaves for America.

Previously, despite Dimpys efforts, Pakhi returned to the Kapadia House to reconcile with Adhik and invest time in her relationship.

Will Pakhi be able to save her relationship from Dimpys plan? Only time will tell.

The focus of Anupamaas current storyline revolves around Mayas obsession with Anuj. According to a Telly Chakkar report, Maya meets a tragic road accident and is pronounced dead. While the specific details of the incident remain undisclosed, this unfortunate event could disrupt Anupamaas intentions of going to the USA, as she might decide to stay back and take care of Choti Anupamaa and Anuj.

Earlier reports from the same source suggested that Mayas mental stability would deteriorate when Anupamaa returns to the Kapadia mansion for her second farewell party. In a fit of anger, Maya may attempt to harm Anupamaa by trying to stab her with a knife. However, Anuj intervenes just in time and decided to admit Maya to a mental institution for treatment.

Viewers are eagerly anticipating the upcoming three-year leap in the show, as they are curious about the creators plans for Anupamaa and Anujs love story. The storyline has been filled with drama ever since Anupamaa joined Gurukul.
The Bigg Boss house and its contestants have often made headlines because of their controversies. This time, two of the popular contestants, Akanksha Puri and Jad Hadid, became hot topics when they both broke into an unexpected French kiss. This steamy moment was part of a challenge given by Avinash Sachdev. However, things did not sit well with Akanksha.

In the recent episode of Bigg Boss OTT2, Akanksha opened up about this sudden kiss with Jad and expressed her discomfort. She said, I wanted Jad to understand that as an Indian female artist, the kiss made me feel awkward". The actress added, I expected him to come and speak with me, to clear out my headspace about the whole situation. Communication is important, and I needed that reassurance."

This is not the first time Akanksha has voiced her displeasure about Jads actions. The Middle Eastern model came under fire when fans called him out when he was seen touching the actress inappropriately. He was seen pulling Akanksha closer by her waist, but she pushed him away and warned him for his behaviour. Jad Hadid, the Dubai-based model, is popular for his flirtatious nature and charms. Both Akanksha and he had hit it off in the Bigg Boss house. He even confessed his feelings to her and said that she was like the female version of him.

Bigg Boss OTT 2 premiered this month on June 17. The show, hosted by Salman Khan, will air for six weeks, after which a winner will be crowned. All the contestants are locked up in a house under CCTV surveillance, where they would have to live together and complete tasks to win. The show is currently streaming on JioCinema.

The contestants for this season include Akanksha Puri, Jad Hadid, Avinash Sachdev, Pooja Bhatt, Jiya Shankar, Falaq Naaz, Cyrus Broacha, Manisha Rani, Bebika Dhurve, and Abhishek Malhan.
Shoaib Ibrahim and Dipika Kakar have recently become parents to a baby boy. The popular television couple on Thursday celebrated their first Eid ul Adha as new parents in the hospital. The actor took to his Instagram stories and shared a lovely photo. He also wished his fans.

In the photo, we can Shoaib, dressed in ethnic wear, posed with his mother, mother in-law, wife Dipika Kakar and others. Dipika is looking gorgeous in blue colour ethnic wear. She has applied little makeup. He has not captioned the photo. However, the same photo was shared by Dipika on her handle too. To note, the couple has not revealed the face of their little munchkin as he is in NICU since his birth. Recently, Shoaib has shared that the little boy is recovering and will be soon out of the NICU.

Take a look at the photo here:

On Monday, the actor also took to his Instagram handle and shared a photo with a caption reading, 21-06-2023 & The parenthood journey begins. In the photo, both can be seen posing together and it is from the hospital.

In the vlog, Shoaib also revealed that he wanted to quit his show Ajooni for enjoying his fatherhood and giving more time to Dipika. But the makers asked him not to leave as they will take out some way. The new parents also shared they have decided on the babys name which they will reveal soon.

Dipika Kakar and Shoaib Ibrahim announced their pregnancy in January this year. Back then, the couple shared a joint statement on Instagram and dropped a picture in which they were seen sporting caps with Mom to be and Dad to be written on them respectively. Sharing this news with you all with our hearts full of Gratitude, Happiness, Excitement and Also nervousness Humari life ka ye Sabse khoobsurat phase haiYessss We are Expecting Our First Child!! Going to Embrace Parenthood Soon," their statement read.
The Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist) Liberation, an alliance partner of the grand alliance government in Bihar, on Friday demanded the removal of Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi for transgressing his jurisdiction." In an unprecedented move, Ravi on Thursday dismissed with immediate effect" arrested minister V Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers, only to backtrack on his decision late in the night.

Ravi has decided to keep the dismissal order of Senthil Balaji in abeyance for the time being and informed Chief Minister M K Stalin about it, PTI reported.

How Did DMK React?

The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu on Friday strongly asserted that appointment and dismissal of ministers is the sole prerogative of the chief minister and lashed out at Governor R N Ravi for his move of dismissing V Senthil Balaji from the MK Stalin-led Cabinet, which was subsequently retracted on the advice of the Union Home Ministry on the matter.

Stating that the Tamil Nadu government was disregarding" the Governors action of sacking Balaji, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said Stalin will write a detailed letter to Ravi on the matter. The party also said it may weigh all options and legal factors related to Ravis action, which came in for criticism from allies of the ruling party as well as other quarters.

Addressing the press here along with Law Minister S Reghupathy and Rajya Sabha member P Wilson, who is also an advocate, Thennarasu recalled Stalin earlier saying the Governor has no right to sack Balaji and that the issue will be faced legally.

Can a Governor Dismiss a Minister?

Article 164(1) of the Indian Constitution outlines the appointment of the Chief Minister and other ministers. The Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor, and the other ministers are appointed by the Governor on the advice of the CM. It is important to note that ministers hold office at the pleasure of the Governor.

Constitution expert PDT Achary told India Today that the Governor must act based on the aid and advice of the Chief Minister. The Governor can only dismiss the government if it loses majority and refuses to step down.

In the case of the Governors decision to remove a minister unilaterally, legal experts suggest, as per the report, that the affected government can approach the court. They believe that the Governors action goes against the Constitution, and they would challenge the decision in the appropriate legal forum.

Advocate KV Dhananjay told India Today that while a Governor can recommend the dismissal of a state government to the President based on the political situation, it is ultimately the President who has the final say. However, the dismissal of a minister from the Cabinet is not within the purview of the Governors powers. The Governor should act based on the aid and advice of the elected Chief Minister.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde emphasized, as per the report, that the Governors actions are constitutionally incorrect. India follows a parliamentary system, not a presidential one. Governors and Presidents have a symbolic role, and the elected officials, such as the Chief Minister, have the authority to govern.

Important Judgements

The case of Shamsher Singh versus State of Punjab saw a seven-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court ruling that there cannot be a parallel administration within a state by allowing the Governor to go against the advice of the council of ministers. This means that the Governor should not act independently and should follow the advice of the council of ministers, as per the India Today report.

In the case of Sanjeevi Naidu vs State of Madras, it was held that the Governor is primarily a constitutional head, and the government is effectively run by the Council of Ministers. The decision-making authority lies with the Council of Ministers, and matters in which the Governor is required to exercise discretion must be decided by the Council of Ministers.

In the case of Nabam Rebia vs Deputy Speaker And Ors in 2016, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Governor can only act on the advice of the Council of Ministers. This means that the Governors actions should be in accordance with the advice given by the elected government and its ministers, the report said.

PTI contributed to this report
Draft of the proposed Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand is complete and would soon be submitted to the state government, Justice (retd) Ranjana Prakash Desai said on Friday. Desai, who heads the committee of experts set up by the Uttarakhand government last year, said the panel has drafted the code taking into account all shades of opinions and looking into various statutes and uncodified laws, including the statutory framework in select countries.

It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the drafting of the proposed uniform civil code for Uttarkhand is now complete," Desai told a press conference here. The report of the committee along with the draft code would soon be printed and submitted to the government of Uttarakhand," she added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday also made a strong push for a UCC, asking how can the country function with dual laws that govern personal matters. The Law Commission had on June 14 invited views from all stakeholders, including people and recognised religious organisations, on the politically sensitive issue.

Amid the developments, lets take a look at what the UCC is, and how it could impact society:

What is the Uniform Civil Code?

The UCC refers to a single set of laws that would be applicable to all religious communities in India regarding matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption, maintenance, and others. Currently, India has a uniform criminal code that applies to all its citizens, but it does not have a uniform civil law.

The provision for a Uniform Civil Code is mentioned in Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, which is part of the directive principles of state policy. Article 44 states that the state shall strive to establish a Uniform Civil Code for all citizens throughout the territory of India.

The need for a Uniform Civil Code was highlighted in the well-known Shah Bano case in 1985. The Supreme Court of India stated that Article 44 remained a dead letter," emphasizing the importance of implementing a uniform civil code in the country.

Why is it in Limelight Again?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed the need for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). He recently stated that the country cannot function with a dual system of separate laws for separate communities. However, in response to Modis statement, opposition parties, including the Congress, DMK, and AIMIM, accused him of engaging in divisive politics, and that the BJPs push for the UCC was a poll tactic before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Learn here what parties are in support and against the UCC.

How Will UCC Affect Personal Laws?

The implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) would have an impact on various religious communities in India. Here are some ways it would affect them:

Hindu community: Existing laws like the Hindu Marriage Act (1955) and the Hindu Succession Act (1956) would be dissolved and incorporated into the UCC. This would lead to standardization and uniformity in marriage, divorce, inheritance, and succession laws for Hindus.

Muslim community: The UCC would replace certain aspects of personal laws that are currently applicable to Muslims. Practices such as contract marriage (mutah), Nikah halala, misyar marriage, and polygamy would likely become ineffective if the UCC is implemented.

Sikh community: The Anand Marriage Act of 1909 governs the marriage laws of Sikhs. However, there is no provision for divorce. If the UCC is introduced, a common law for divorce is likely to be applied to all communities, including Sikhs.

Parsi community: The UCC would impact the laws of adoption within the Parsi community. Currently, Parsis do not recognize the rights of adoptive daughters, and adopted sons have limited inheritance rights. The UCC may introduce reforms to address these disparities.

Guardianship and custody: The UCC would bring about a common set of laws regarding guardianship and custody for all religious communities. This would ensure uniformity and equality in these matters across the board.

Its important to note that the UCC aims to provide a unified legal framework for all citizens, regardless of their religious affiliation, and promote equality and consistency in matters of personal law. However, the specifics of its implementation and potential implications for different religious communities remain subject to debate and discussions.

With inputs from agencies
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned model Arbaaz Merchant and others in connection with the Sameer Wankhede bribery case, sources told CNN-News18 on Friday. They have all been asked to join the investigation in Delhi.

Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Wankhede and four others have been accused of seeking a bribe of Rs 25 crore from actor Shah Rukh Khan for not implicating his son Aryan in the Cordelia cruise drug bust case. Arbaaz is said to be a friend of Aryan who was with him on the cruise ship.

The sources said those summoned have been asked to narrate the sequence of events in 2021 of the arrest of Aryan, Arbaaz, and others by Wankhede and his team. They will also be asked about the bribe Wankhede, the then zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), allegedly wanted from them, the sources added.

Wankhede, who was the officer in charge of the case against Aryan Khan, has been accused of corruption and extortion. His tenure with the NCB ended in December. After that, he was moved to an income tax department branch in Chennai.

A special inquiry team of the NCB under deputy director general Gyaneshwar Singh found several irregularities in the manner in which Wankhede conducted the investigation.

The names of 17 suspects had allegedly been dropped from the official documents filed in connection with the case.

Wankhede allegedly allowed two civilians, KP Gosavi and his aide Sanville DSouza, to accompany the team of NCB officials on the Cordelia raid. Later they gave the suspects the impression that they were NCB officials.
Mohsin Khan, Mira Road resident in spotlight for bringing a goat to his house ahead of Bakrid, has fallen into another trouble. A 63-year-old woman from a neighbouring complex has reportedly filed an FIR claiming that Mohsin had molested" her as the ruckus for the goat ensued.

According to a report in Mid-Day, the elderly woman from another society, who was present at the accuseds society on Tuesday night when the fight happened, has alleged that Mohsin Khan called her budhiya, abused her and pushed her on the chest.

The Kashimira police have booked Mohsin under IPC Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), the report stated.

This comes two days after Mohsin had filed a complaint against 30-odd residents of his society, alleging that they assaulted his wife while she was trying to shield him from their attack.

ALSO READ | Terrified Child Pooped in Pants: Mumbai Couples Version as New Video Emerges in Mira Road Goat Row

A massive row broke out on Tuesday evening when a section of residents of a housing complex in Maharashtras Thane district objected to the Muslim family bringing a goat to their house. Police have made no arrest in either case.

The Mid-Day report quoted Mohsin as saying that some of the society residents had planned the attack and gathered people from other societies, too. When the publication asked him about the allegations of assault and molestation, he said, Every corner of my building is under CCTV surveillance and the footage can be checked to verify her claims. The scuffle was also caught on a CCTV camera.

I joined the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde a few days back and was appointed shakha pramukh (head) of ward number 8 from Dahisar division. Today, I have resigned from both the party and the post, because I do not want to give this matter a political colour. It is a personal matter and thousands of Muslims are standing with me. I do not want to make it communal, because both my religion and I are peace-loving, he was quoted as saying.

Some radical enemies in the society want to spoil the peace in the country by giving this incident a religious colour. Now, they are doing politics to hide their mistake and have pressurised the police to file an FIR against me, Mohsin added.

Mohsin had earlier clarified that he had no intention to sacrifice the goats in the society, and the ritual would be conducted outside the area like always". He told news channels that he had brought the goat to his flat after the builder refused permission to keep the goats at a designated space in the society.

We performed qurbani at the Kashimira BMC slaughter market, like every year, he was quoted as saying. The police said they are investigating both complaints.
The rain alert for Mumbai is yellow for Saturday and green thereafter.

Commuters on certain routes, including the Central Railways Harbour line operating services on the route between Panvel and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), said there were delays in the morning train operations. Trains on the Main line of the Central Railway also experienced minor deviations from their usual schedules.

The suburban train services of the Central Railway and Western Railway were normal, the railway authorities said.

#WATCH | Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Heavy rainfall leads to waterlogging in several parts of the city. pic.twitter.com/oavxjGKRrK  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

The IMD has forecast heavy showers for isolated parts of different districts on Saturday and light to moderate rain on Sunday and Monday.

As per the data shared by the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), 37 talukas of the state received more than 100 mm rainfall in 30 hours ending at 12 pm on Friday. Vyara taluka of Tapi district received a staggering 299 mm of rainfall in 30 hours ending at 12 pm, it said.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel visited the State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC) late at night to assess the situation and guide the district administration after widespread rains in Gujarat. He underlined the importance of focusing on rescue and relief operations, including the relocation of people from low-lying areas to safer places. The Chief Minister received detailed information about the impact of heavy rains on the lives of the people, particularly in Jamnagar, Junagadh, and Kutch.
Authorities of Dibrugarh Central Jail on Friday rejected reports of Waris Punjab De Chief Amritpal Singh and his associates being on a hunger strike due to deplorable facilities and clarified that the inmates had requested phone facilities, which would now be allowed once a week.

Dibrugarh Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Pegu and SP Shwetank Mishra visited the oldest jail in Northeast India, located in the Dibrugarh district of Upper Assam.

This visit came after a day after Kirandeep Kaur, the wife of Amritpal Singh, claimed that her husband and his associates were on a hunger strike to protest against the deplorable facilities in the jail." According to the reports, Kaur learned about their protest during her weekly visit to meet Amritpal on Thursday.

There is no hunger strike. I have personally met with them. They want access to phone facilities. They will be allowed to make a phone call once a week for 15-20 minutes. There are no complaints about the quality of food. There was only one instance when there was a complaint about the food," Biswajit Pegu, Deputy Commissioner of Dibrugarh said.

Kaur claimed that the NSA detainees were not given permission to make phone calls and were being served unhygienic food. She also complained that the person in charge of cooking used tobacco, which goes against the Sikh rehat maryada (code of religious conduct).

The DC has informed us that whatever issues were there, they have been sorted out. The problem with the phones has been resolved, and the food situation is being taken care of," stated a relative of one of the detainees.

Speaking to reporters, Kaur had said she travels from Amritsar to Dibrugarh jail to meet her husband every week. During her last visit, she said she learned that all the Sikh prisoners, including Amritpal, are on a hunger strike. One of the reasons behind their strike is that the Punjab government does not allow them to contact their respective families over the phone. If they are given this facility, each family member visiting the jail can save an amount ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. Not every family can afford this expense. This facility will also keep them mentally fit."

On April 23, after being on the run for 35 days, Amritpal Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police from a Gurdwara in Rode village, Moga district. He was sent to Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam under the NSA.
The crocodile menace in Kendrapara districts continues to create panic among locals as the deadly reptile killed three persons within 16 days.

While two people have been dragged by the crocodile in the last two weeks, another similar incident was reported on Thursday when another person was dragged by the reptile in the Brahmani river.

Gangadhar Tarai of Ghagaradia village, a resident of Kendrapada block, was attacked and killed by the crocodile while he was visiting the fields in the morning near the river.

Soon after, the fire personnel launched a search operation which went on for almost 7 hours. They later rescued Gangadhars body.

He was attacked by the crocodile while he was in the water and began to shout. While I tried to save him, the crocodile dragged him deep into the water until it was impossible to save him," Pratap Majhi, an eyewitness said.

As soon as we got the information we reached the spot and started the rescue operation. We were at the lower line of the river where people spotted the crocodile and informed us. The crocodile fled by the time we reached the spot," said fire personnel Asit Kumar Kar.

The villagers say that they have to depend on the river due to the scarcity of water in the village.

This is the third incident in Kendrapara district in the last 16 days.

First, a 10-year-old boy was dragged by a crocodile in front of his mother in Nimpur village of Pattamundi block on June 14.

Similarly, Sitarani Das of Hatiagarh, Rajnagar Block, was killed by a crocodile while she was washing dishes in a pond on June 21.

Despite such incidents, the local administration is not taking our problems seriously and making an effort to solve our problem. We have had to depend on rivers due to water scarcity for the last few years. As a result, many precious lives are lost. We demand a permanent solution to the problem" said villager Subas Tarai

On the other hand, Pattamundai Tehsildar Dilip Sethi said, Crocodiles are coming into the river and pond due to new rainwater. We are creating awareness among the people and placing barricades wherever necessary."
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called the release of Zmiinyi Island exactly a year ago "one of our most significant victories."

"Remember, last year, in the spring, no one expected from Ukraine that we would be able to implement, in particular, this fundamental defense task  to ensure the security of the Zmiinyi Island, and therefore, a significant part of the Black Sea area," he said in a video address on Friday.

"But our warriors did it. Russian terrorists needed the Zmiinyi Island to destroy the entire south of our country, our beautiful Odssa and other cities. Our soldiers stopped them, expelled them from Zmiinyi," he said.

Ukrainians, the president said, "are much stronger than anyone thinks of us. Sometimes stronger than we used to think about ourselves."
External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday said China should also believe in a workable relationship" with India if both countries were to maintain decent" bilateral ties. He said the current downturn in Indo-China relations were the neighbouring countrys creation and not Indias. It takes two hands to clap. China, too, must also have that belief in a workable relationship with India," Jaishankar said in Kolkata.

#WATCH | "It takes two hands to clap. China too must also have that belief in a workable relationship..," says EAM Dr S Jaishankar on current India-China relations, in Kolkata pic.twitter.com/nTlm1qPoz3 ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

The minister was speaking after he delivered the Shyama Prasad Lecture on New India and the world. He said China needed to stop trying to unilaterally change the status quo and must understand that relations between two countries work on mutual interest and respect.

Our problem is that the present downturn in our ties was not our creation; it was created by China by violating two agreements of 1993 and 1996. If we are to have a decent relationship, they need to observe those agreements and stop trying to unilaterally change the status quo. And they need to come to an understanding that relations between major countries work only when they are based on mutual interest and respect," Jaishankar said.

He further said it was his endeavour to make China understand that it was important to maintain bilateral ties even though there were some issues in the border areas that remain unresolved. It is my endeavour to make them understand this. I can only say I am working very hard at it. In the border areas, we have resolved some issues but there are some that remain unresolved. In diplomacy you never give up," he added.
A five-member panel, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, on Friday addressed a press conference on Uttarakhands Uniform Civil Code, and informed that the draft is ready. The committee was given the responsibility to draft the UCC for the northern stated.

It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that the drafting of the proposed uniform civil code for Uttarakhand is now complete. The report of the committee along with the draft code would soon be printed and submitted to the government of Uttarakhand," Desai told a press conference in New Delhi.

A report in Times of India on Thursday stated that the committee has finally prepared the UCC documentation after over 13 months of meetings, consultations, field visits and interactions with experts and members of the public.

In a meeting that spanned more than 10 hours on Wednesday, crucial aspects of the UCC were discussed and finalised, TOI quoted officials as saying. The draft will be sent for printing soon, it is learnt, and subsequently, a copy of the draft is expected to be handed over to the state government, the report stated.

Desai had earlier said that the UCC being drafted by the committee of experts will promote gender equality and help fight economic, social and religious inequalities.

The committee will make recommendations for bringing a uniform civil code for a range of issues including marriage, divorce succession, guardianship, custody and inheritance with a primary focus on safeguarding the interests of women, children and the differently-abled. We are focusing more on women, children and specially-abled people. We are working for gender equality," Desai had said.

Modi made a strong push for a UCC on Tuesday, asking how can the country function with dual laws that govern personal matters, and accused the opposition of using the issue to mislead and provoke" Muslims.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, have hit out at the prime minister on the issue. In a veiled reference to Modis push for a UCC ahead of a string of Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said his party will not allow the BJP to divert attention from public issues.

Notably, in BJPs 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto, the party promised the implementation of UCC if it came to power.

Desai was appointed as the chairperson of the Delimitation Commission of India on 13 March 2020. She was also one of the judges who had ruled for a provision of NOTA in voting.
Indias first-ever Academy Award-winning director, Kartiki Gonsalves has won hearts across the globe for her powerful documentary short film, The Elephant Whisperers. However, the celebrations are not over yet!

The remarkable filmmaker was invited and presented with the prestigious Tara Award at the hands of Kings Charles III and Queen Camilla, at the Animal Ball 2023 hosted at the Lancaster House in London.

Speaking exclusively to News18, Kartiki Gonsalves, said, Humbled and truly honoured to have received the Tara Award by the Royal Highness King Charles III and Queen Camilla for directing The Elephant Whisperers. The Tara Award, is inspired by the sacred bond between elephants and humans and recognises extraordinary achievements in storytelling and advocacy for coexistence. And the award truly celebrated and recognised Kartikis dedication and contribution to raising awareness about our gentle giants and wildlife.

Exuding grace and simplicity, Kartiki took to the stage wearing a multi-abstract print maxi wrap dress and went on to thank everyone who were a part of the film and also thanked the organisers for recognising her work. Kartiki shared the heartwarming speech with News18, which read as, Thank you for recognising me as a talent tonight for directing The Elephant Whisperers whose story about coexistence and respect for our natural world continues to inspire viewers of all ages across the world. I am humbled by this great honour. I thank Bomman and Bellie for sharing their beautiful story of coexistence with elephants and their natural world.

Kartiki also went on to thank King Charles III and Queen Camilla for their lifelong support for the conservation of elephants. I would also like to thank your Majesties for your lifelong support for the conservation of elephants and other species, and your work to save our natural environment. Hopefully, with all of us pulling together we can build a better future for humans and elephants and all the myriad life forms that share and enhance our planet. Thank you !

The Animal Ball which was taking place after a gap of three years also marked the 20th anniversary of the Elephant Family, a non-profit organisation. A moment of pride for India and Indian cinema, Kartikis masterpiece beautifully captured the essence of the vision held by Mark Shand, the founding force behind The Elephant Family.

The event was attended by an array of guests from the world of fashion, film, art and music. This year, representing India were Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Anita Dongre and Janhvi Kapoor.
NATIONAL DOCTORS DAY 2023: India annually commemorates National Doctors Day on July 1st to acknowledge and appreciate the invaluable contributions made by doctors and other medical professionals in the nations development. Doctors play a crucial role in our lives, guiding us towards a healthier and happier existence. They help us understand our bodies and make informed choices to promote well-being. This significant day aims to recognise the dedication and selfless service of physicians towards the betterment of society.

National Doctors Day 2023: History & Theme

National Doctors Day, observed on July 1st since 1991, celebrates the outstanding contributions of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy to the medical field. He dedicated his life to serving people and treating countless individuals. Dr Roy was the personal doctor of Mahatma Gandhi. In 1976, the B.C. Roy National Award was established in his memory and the award is the highest honour a doctor can receive in India. This day is a tribute to all doctors for their efforts in promoting healthcare. The theme for National Doctors Day 2023 is Celebrating Resilience and Healing Hands.

National Doctors Day 2023: Significance

Doctors play a crucial role in society, dedicating their lives to the well-being of citizens and ensuring people are free from illness. Through years of hard work, they acquire knowledge and skills to provide accurate and effective treatments. National Doctors Day aims to acknowledge and appreciate their significance in our lives. Every citizen should take pride in having skilled experts who tirelessly care for us, especially during emergencies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors displayed heroic efforts in the battle against the virus. These healthcare professionals risked their own lives to save others and played a crucial role in treating patients, conducting research and ensuring essential healthcare services were available. Their dedication and tireless work helped us emerge even stronger.
Bollywood diva Sonam Kapoor has shared a number of mesmerising images on social media, leaving fans in awe of her flawless style and grace. Sonam Kapoor is pictured donning a custom-made saree with a brown colour from Pankaj S Heritage.

The actress showed her enthusiasm for distinctive and artistic outfits by donning a mesmerizing brown tone saree with a marine green border. Her attire has a whimsical element thanks to the exquisite decorations of the saree, which included several creatures and birds. The saree also had frills on the palla, which improved its appearance.

Check out Sonams post right here-

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sonam Kapoor Ahuja (@sonamkapoor)

Sonam Kapoor added a touch of wild sophistication to her gorgeous outfit by teaming the saree with an elegant cheetah print stole. She selected a shirt with a black foundation and colourful multicolor thread embroidery for a stunning contrast with the saree. She chose magnificent green drop earrings and rings for her hands as accessories, which improved her appearance even more.

Sonam Kapoor opted for a brown-hued smokey eye look to draw attention to her eyes, along with a bronzed face and bare lips for a natural and radiant appearance. She chose a sleek lower bun with a centre division to finish off her hairstyle, which added a touch of traditional elegance.

Sonam Kapoors exquisite taste and passion for fine details were on full display in the custom-made saree made by Pankaj S Heritage. She donned a Celine stole, which gave her classic outfit a dash of modern style. Celine is a well-known fashion label. She had Alice Cicolini Fine Jewellery, jewellery on her fingers and ears, which nicely complemented her overall appearance.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by JioCinema (@officialjiocinema)

Fans are excited for Sonam Kapoors forthcoming movie, Blind. following a four-year hiatus since her last starring performance in The Zoya Factor." She plays a sight impaired police officer in the movie Blind," who is zealously hunting down a serial killer. Along with Purab Kohli, Vinay Pathak, and Lillete Dubey, the thriller is a remake of the famous 2011 Korean film of the same name. Glasgow, Scotland, was the site of the majority of the movies filming, providing a mesmerising backdrop for the compelling plot. On July 7, Blind" will make its television debut on Jio Cinema, offering audiences a gripping and emotional cinematic experience.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PARLIAMENTARISM 2023: Every year, June 30th marks the celebration of the International Day of Parliamentarism, a day dedicated to commemorating the formation of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The theme for this years celebration is Parliaments for the Planet. The IPU was established with the noble objective of promoting democratic governance, fostering accountability, and encouraging collaboration among national parliaments.

It serves as a crucial institution in advocating for the democratic rights of individuals on a global scale. This occasion also serves as a reminder for parliaments to reflect upon their practices, policies, and initiatives, with the aim of enhancing the relationship between representatives and the citizens they serve.

International Day of Parliamentarism: History

The International Day of Parliamentarism was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 to acknowledge the importance of parliamentary institutions. This date holds historical importance as it marks the establishment of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in 1889. The IPU was founded through the collaborative efforts of two visionary individuals, William Randal Cremer from England and Frederic Passy from France. Despite their different social backgrounds, both shared a common belief in resolving international conflicts through peaceful negotiation.

Randal and Passy united Members of Parliament from various countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Liberia, the United Kingdom, and the USA, in the initial inter-parliamentary meeting held in Paris, France.

International Day of Parliamentarism: Significance

The International Day of Parliamentarism carries great importance as it provides leaders time to assess the developments made by parliaments in promoting transparency, accountability and inclusivity. It also encourages the adoption of new technologies and the participation of women and young parliamentarians. By adopting these principles, parliaments can effectively represent the voices of their citizens and ensure democratic governance.

This year, the International Day of Parliamentarism will mark its 134th anniversary. According to the website, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) recently launched the campaign Parliaments for the Planet.

This campaign promotes the idea that climate action should begin within parliaments themselves. It emphasizes the importance of leading by example, encouraging parliaments and parliamentarians to adopt sustainable practices within their institutions before advocating for broader change among the general public. By prioritizing sustainability within their own operations, parliaments can effectively contribute to addressing the challenges of climate change.
WORLD ASTEROID DAY 2023: The United Nations has designated June 30 as World Asteroid Day to raise public awareness about the dangers of asteroid strikes and measures that need to be taken in case of a near-earth object threat. Asteroids are celestial rocks smaller than a planet but revolve around the sun like them. They are leftovers from the formation of our solar system. From being as small as 10 meters across to as huge as 530 km in diameter, asteroids have varied sizes.

World Asteroid Day: History

The United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution A/RES/71/90 in December 2016, designating June 30 as International Asteroid Day. The date was chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroids impact over Siberia on June 30, 1908. The Association of Space Explorers submitted the proposal to observe the day, which was then approved by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

World Asteroid Day: Significance

World Asteroid Day is dedicated to preparing the planet for an asteroid impact. Another goal for the day is to speed up the discovery of asteroids. Scientists think that only a small percentage of asteroids have been detected in space thus far, with hundreds more still to be discovered.

As per the UN website, The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) employs well-defined communication strategies and procedures to help governments analyse potential asteroid impacts and plan mitigating responses. The Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) is an inter-space agency group that analyses technologies required for near-Earth Object deflection and seeks consensus on planetary defence ideas.

World Asteroid Day: Quotes
In recent years, discussions surrounding inclusivity and equal rights have gained momentum worldwide. Among the many facets of this discourse, providing accessible and sanitary facilities for LGBTQ+ individuals is of paramount importance. One such crucial amenity is inclusive toilets.

Before we delve into the specifics of hygiene, lets take a step back and understand the need for inclusive toilets in the first place. Just for a moment, join us in a thought experiment.

Lets assume youre a cisgender man. Youre at an event, and youve really got to go to the toilet. You reach the toilets, but there are no mens toilets! Just toilets for women. What do you do? Lets assume that you choose to quickly run in, do your business, and get out before anyone notices. While youre in one of the stalls, a group of women walk in, and are now queueing up outside your stall. You delay as long as you can, and then, sheepishly, step out. The women all glare at you. Some even call you out on your behaviour. You apologise continuously as you wash your hands, hoping that everyone remains reasonable, and get out of there as quickly as you can just as one of the women threatens to call security.

Should going to the bathroom involve this much stress? No, of course not. But it does for this transgender, intersex and non-binary community. Gendered toilets come from a binary understanding of gender. We know better now.

Inclusive toilets, also known as gender-neutral or all-gender toilets, play an essential role in fostering equality and dignity. They provide a safe space for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming individuals, who might otherwise face harassment or discrimination in gender-segregated facilities. For these community members, the availability of inclusive toilets is not just about convenience, but also about affirming their identity and ensuring their safety.

A dirty toilet is an unusable toilet

Inclusive toilets are for everyone - they dont discriminate. We can all use them. Which means they are a collective responsibility to keep clean. However, inclusive toilets in India inherit the same problems that gendered toilets suffer from. The chief amongst these, is our mindset gap.

While access to toilets has greatly improved in India, the accompanying change in behaviour is yet to take root. Public toilets, be they at your local cinema, on flights or even the local Sulabh Sauchalaya, are considered to be *someone elses responsibility*, and therefore become no ones responsibility. The state of our public toilets reflect how we, as a society, feel about sanitation overall.

Building a culture of hygiene through education and awareness

Behaviour change is the second half of the problem of sanitation. This is where education and awareness play an outsized role. According to a report of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, behavioural change is an area of continued focus. The Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) strategy includes measures like:

Involving political and social/thought leaders, celebrities and media houses to spread the message of the importance of cleanliness and sanitation.

Extensive media campaigns in the form of electronic, web and print to be used for conveying messages and encouraging the people to pay for usage of public toilets for their sustainability.

Advocacy of the concept of three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Communications to ensure that cleaning occupations must be seen as dignified work and widely respected.

The Sub-Group of Chief Ministers also came up with an education strategy that encompasses several key measures:

Inculcating sanitation practices in children by including a chapter in the school curriculum from the first standard itself.

In each school and college, a team of students may be formed which will be called the Swachhata Senani, to spread awareness about sanitation and cleanliness

Skill Development courses/ Diploma courses may be introduced in State ITIs and polytechnics/ colleges to train personnel in the field of solid and liquid waste management.

Specialised courses on Environmental Sciences, Public Health Engineering and Municipal Engineering with focus on sanitation and waste management may be introduced at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Joint Research Programmes with foreign universities/higher educational institutions would enhance knowledge and capacities to work on waste management technologies.

We were also extremely fortunate that in India, brands also took up the mantle of sanitation communication. Brands like Harpic, which is a leader in the lavatory care segment, have built strong communication strategies around the need for good toilet hygiene habits in particular, and sanitation overall. Harpic decided to take the lead in the sanitation and hygiene movement by creating innovative, thought provoking campaigns and outreach programs. They partnered with Sesame Workshop India, an educational non-profit working for the early developmental needs of young children, to promote positive sanitation, hygiene knowledge and behaviours among children and families through schools and communities, engaging with 17.5 million children across India. This, in addition to the messaging they already aimed at adults.

Harpic, in addition to creating programming aimed at young children, also pioneered a programme to raise awareness and reinforce healthy toilet and bathroom habits among young children, developing and recognising them as Swachhta Champions". These initiatives are a part of the larger umbrella campaign, Harpic Mission Swachhta and Paani, with News18.

Mission Swachhta aur Paani is a movement that upholds the cause of inclusive sanitation where everyone has access to clean toilets. It advocates equality for all genders, abilities, castes and classes and strongly believes that clean toilets are a shared responsibility. As a part of this campaign, they organised workshops in several schools to discuss good sanitation practices, and the numerous ways in which these simple practices could add (healthy!) years to their own lives and those of their families. These were named Swachhta ki Paathshala and engaged celebrities to help amplify key messages.

Creating a hygiene ecosystem

Culturally, we still see sanitation work as dirty work and this labelling unfortunately extends to sanitation workers. As a society, we need more sanitation workers. But can we attract people to a profession that has so few rewards and so much discrimination?

At the 2019 Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, in an unprecedented gesture, PM Narendra Modi washed the feet of five sanitation workers, hailing them as Karma Yogis and expressing his gratitude for their service. This symbolic act sent a powerful message to the entire nation that sanitation workers are an essential part of society and their work needs to be recognized and respected.

Three years before this extraordinary gesture, Harpic took a different approach to the problem via the creation of Harpic World Toilet Colleges. First established in 2016, these Toilet Colleges work towards improving the quality of life of manual scavengers through their rehabilitation by linking them with dignified livelihood options. The college operates as a knowledge sharing platform with an aim to uplift the lives of the sanitation workers by educating them about their rights, health hazards, use of technology and alternate livelihood skills.

Workers trained by the college are provided placement with various organisations. Following the successful proof of concept in Rishikesh, World Toilet Colleges have opened in Maharashtra, Aurangabad, in partnership with Harpic, Jagran Pehel and Maharashtra Government. As Dr Surabhi Singh observed at a recent Mission Swachhta aur Paani event, Harpics creation of World Toilet Colleges uplifts the entire profession - no longer is it seen as unskilled, dirty work. It is now seen as a profession that requires specific skills and training; and sanitation workers are seen as trained, skilled professionals performing essential services.

Clean, inclusive toilets help everyone

Human beings come in many genders, not just male and female. As we continue to recognise, reinforce and embrace that truth, we will continue to shift our society towards a more egalitarian one, where respect, acceptance and safety for all is a given. Inclusive toilets are a small, but significant part of that movement.

Mission Swachhta aur Paani, a remarkable collaboration between Harpic and News18, recognizes the profound significance of toilets, viewing them not merely as functional spaces but as beacons of safety and acceptance for the marginalised. This exceptional mission is built upon the firm belief that clean and inclusive toilets are vital for fostering a society that embraces and empowers us all, unconditionally. With unwavering dedication, Harpic and News18 actively include and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, propelling the message that every individual deserves access to safe and accepting spaces, where their dignity is upheld, and their presence is celebrated.

Seen from that lens, LGBTQ+ rights are our rights. They are the rights we want for our friends, our families, our colleagues and everyone else: the right to exist, the right to be seen, the right to be accepted and the right to be safe. Who wouldnt want that? Who wouldnt we want that for?

To know more about how you can play a part in this national conversation, join us here.
When it comes to the hierarchy of needs, the need for clean and safe toilets ranks right up there with the need for good nutrition, basic income, housing and healthcare. At a societal level, it is when we take care of these basic needs, that our people can look beyond mere survival, and aspire to something greater.

Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General has written that toilets save lives. The World Health Organization estimates that 432,000 people die each year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor toilet sanitation, with children under the age of five being the most vulnerable. According to the World Bank, poor toilet sanitation costs the global economy $260 billion per year in lost productivity. When we dont provide clean and safe toilets to women at schools, they drop out. On the other hand, for every dollar invested in toilet sanitation, there is a fourfold return in increased productivity and reduced healthcare costs. Economic benefits include an overall estimated gain of 1.5% of global GDP and a $4.3 return for every dollar invested in water and toilet sanitation services due to reduced health care costs for individuals and society.

After the Swachh Bharat Mission, every Indian has access to toilets. As our toilet sanitation practices improve, so does the health of our communities, even when we define our communities at the city level. Lower disease burden means higher productivity in our offices, factories and homes, and better attendance in our schools. The line from accessible toilets to economic progress is a direct one.

And yet, we have a community in our midst that has not benefited from these improvements. Individuals who identify as transgender, intersex or non-binary cant squeeze themselves into male or female identities, to be able to use our gendered toilets. Whether they choose to go to the ladies toilet or gents toilets, they are always at risk of being called out, humiliated, shunned, asked to leave the premises, verbally attacked and in some cases, even physically harmed.

When transgender, intersex and non-binary people dont have gender neutral bathrooms and must use gendered spaces, they are at risk of being verbally harassed in public restrooms, physically attacked, and sexually assaulted. Toilets are an integral part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which call for ensuring access to water and sanitation including clean & safe toilets for all, and reducing inequalities based on gender, disability or any other status.

For the LGBTQ+ community, one of the pivotal areas where the community needs allies is in ensuring equal access to public amenities, particularly hygienic toilets.

How allies have fought for LGBTQ+ rights in the past, and won

The fight for LGBTQ rights in India is largely led by grassroots movements and the current push for marriage equality is only the latest example. The fight to repeal Article 377 reads almost like an epic in itself, and is a testament to the staying power and effectiveness of grassroots movements in India. It took 17 years of advocacy and litigation, but in 2018, a more progressive bench revisited the issue. The court unanimously struck down the law and apologised for the delay in ensuring rights for LGBTQ+ people.

What we need now is a similar push for toilet inclusivity - we all need a safe, hygienic, private space to go to the toilet. Right now, our gendered toilets are neither welcoming, nor safe for transgender, intersex and non-binary individuals.

The more visibility we bring to the issue, the more acceptance it creates. As with the successful push to repeal Article 377, the movement built support from the ground up: conversations led to understanding, understanding led to acceptance, acceptance led to advocacy. Its important to note that it wasnt only the LGBTQ+ community who marched against Article 377, their cisgender allies did too.

Thats how lasting change is made - when we stand up for one another.

How can you be an effective ally?

Advocacy is not just the work of activists and NGOs; it is a collective responsibility that involves all of us. Advocacy comes in all shapes and stripes - it doesnt need to involve protest marches, but it can, if thats what you want to do. It doesnt need to involve grand gestures of support either. Sometimes, the most important work we do is in the small, everyday conversations we have.

Start with educating yourself . Understand the issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community, particularly with regard to access to public toilets. Learn about the different gender identities and expressions, and the unique challenges faced by each. Harpic and News18s Mission Swachhta aur Paani initiative has some great content you can dip into on its website.

Once you feel like you have a good enough grasp of the issues at hand, talk to people in your orbit . It is easier for people to accept a new idea when it comes from a friend, a family member or a colleague, than it is from reading an article somewhere. Each conversation you have, even unsuccessful ones, adds up. Youre moving the needle, one conversation at a time.

Another way to show support is to consider participating in advocacy efforts . Join campaigns, sign petitions, take part in meetings and demonstrations that focus on advocating for gender-inclusive public toilets. Next, support NGOs and grassroots organisations . Contribute in terms of money and/or time to these organisations - they always have a number of projects up in the air, and you never know where your expertise (or just your presence!) may be best used.

Work with the corporate sector . This is what CSR programs are made for! Encourage them to contribute to initiatives that focus on providing equal access to hygienic toilets for all. Even if you dont succeed, youll have given them ideas on what they can do, in their own business. Imagine the ripple effect of every corporation making the switch from gendered to gender neutral toilets and youll have played a part in making it happen. Of course, if youre a business owner yourself, consider turning your own gendered toilets into gender neutral ones.

Engage with Local Government : Write letters, emails, or meet local representatives to communicate the importance of inclusive public toilet sanitation facilities. Propose policy changes and suggest measures to make existing facilities more accessible - you know your locality best. Try and drum up support from your friends, or through your posts on social media, reach out to local celebrities and other people with a large following, and ask them to back your requests.

Mighty corporations make mighty allies

Corporations with their deep pools of resources can be potent drivers of change. The Swachh Bharat Mission is a great example of this. The GoI joined hands with several organisations across various stages of the program. To name a few, Mahindra Group, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Adani Group contributed to construction of toilets, or set funds aside for them.

Harpic, Indias leading brand in the lavatory care segment, has worked on several initiatives that are adjacent to the Swachh Bharat Mission - for instance, the establishment of Harpic World Toilet Colleges. Harpic has also taken the lead in designing campaigns and initiatives that not only focus on toilet sanitation but also inclusivity.

Creating awareness about the struggles faced by LGBTQ+ individuals and sensitising the public and policymakers is an essential aspect of advocacy. Initiatives like Harpic and News18s Mission Swachhta aur Paani transcends the concept of cleanliness alone. It is a movement that recognizes the profound significance of toilets, viewing them not merely as functional spaces but as beacons of safety and acceptance for the marginalised. This exceptional mission is built upon the firm belief that clean and inclusive toilets are vital for fostering a society that embraces and empowers us all, unconditionally. With unwavering dedication, Harpic and News18 actively include and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, propelling the message that every individual deserves access to safe and accepting spaces, where their dignity is upheld, and their presence is celebrated.

By joining forces with Mission Swachhta aur Paani, advocacy groups are able to raise awareness about the particular challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community as well as galvanise public support for inclusive toilet sanitation policies.

Embracing our diversity

Anyone who lives in Indias metros can attest to our blended and diverse society. We learn, work and play side by side with people who speak different languages, pray to different gods, vote for different political parties, celebrate different festivals and come from all parts of the socioeconomic spectrum. When we can embrace all these differences, why do we draw the line at gender diversity?

That too, when India has a long legacy of embracing diverse genders. The Hijra community, which comprises of transgender, intersex and eunuch individuals, has always been a part of our royal courts and cultural ceremonies, our weddings and our death rituals. Before colonisation, the community was considered both enigmatic and revered.

We have shed so much of our colonial past. We are a vibrant economy that has overtaken some of the worlds strongest economies to claim the 5th largest economy spot, and are headed to claim third place soon. Our literacy rate has jumped from a mere 18.3% in 1951 to 77.7% in 2022. We are the worlds leading adopters of technology, be it mobile penetration, digital payments, or even telemedicine. We are, in essence, stepping confidently into the future.

In 1947, we shed the mindset that we werent fit for self rule. We have steadily worked to erase mindsets that treat women as inferior, and good only for housework". We have a steady, burgeoning and diverse workforce brimming with well qualified women - all the way from STEM to the arts. We are breaking the shackles of our caste system to the point where most of us who grew up in metros have no idea what castes we or our parents belong to.

Isnt it time we shed the last vestiges of our colonial mindsets by wholeheartedly embracing gender inclusivity too? Lets do it. Lets create a society where all of us have acceptance, respect and dignity. Lets create spaces where all of us feel safe and welcome. Lets change the dialogue from other to us. Lets be allies.

To quote PM Narendra Modi, our diversity is our greatest strength. Join us here, in learning how you can participate in this national transformation.
Access to safe and hygienic toilets is a basic necessity for every human being. However, not everyone enjoys this privilege equally. Many amongst us face discrimination, harassment, and violence when they use public toilets, especially those who identify as transgender, non-binary, or intersex.

You see our toilets are segregated based on a binary understanding of gender - male or female. People who are transgender, intersex or non-binary dont fit into either bucket, and are hence, in the wrong toilet. For these individuals, the simple act of going to the toilet carries with it the risk of being called out, being humiliated, being verbally or physically abused, being denied use of the toilet, and being targeted by phobics and haters.

Should going to the toilet be this stressful? Of course not. But for anyone who doesnt identify as male or female, that is the sad reality.

Toilet Inclusivity as a Human Right

Toilet inclusivity is the concept of providing toilets that are accessible and welcoming to all people, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. Toilet inclusivity recognizes that toilets are not just physical spaces, but also social and cultural ones. Toilets reflect the norms and values of a society, and can either reinforce or challenge the existing power structures and inequalities. Toilet inclusivity aims to create toilets that respect the diversity and dignity of all human beings, and that promote social justice and human rights.

One way to achieve toilet inclusivity is to provide gender-neutral toilets , which are toilets that can be used by anyone, regardless of their gender. Gender-neutral toilets can take various forms, such as single-stall toilets, multi-stall toilets with individual cubicles, or mixed-gender communal toilets. Gender-neutral toilets can benefit not only transgender, non-binary, and intersex people, but also other groups who may face difficulties or discomfort in using gender-segregated toilets, such as parents with young children of a different gender, or people who need assistance from a caregiver of a different gender.

Toilet inclusivity also requires policy reforms and legal protections to ensure that all people have equal access and rights to use public toilets without fear of discrimination or violence. This means enacting laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of gender identity or expression in public places, including toilets. It also means providing legal recognition and documentation for transgender, non-binary, and intersex people, so that they can access public services and facilities without hassle or humiliation.

Of course, the most inclusive toilet can be rendered unusable if it isnt maintained and stocked appropriately. This involves providing adequate facilities and amenities, such as sanitary napkins, soap, water, and waste disposal systems. It also means ensuring that the toilets are well-maintained and cleaned regularly , by staff who are trained not only on the hygiene aspects, but also have undergone sensitivity training to better understand and help with the needs of the LGBTQ+ community, differently abled people, and other marginalised communities.

Furthermore, it means raising awareness and educating the public about the issues and challenges faced by transgender, non-binary, and intersex people in accessing public toilets, and fostering a culture of respect and inclusion.

Indias winds of change

In India, weve already taken the first step - legislation. In 2014, a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court of India recognized transgender persons as a third gender. This recognition has spurred dialogue around gender inclusivity in public spaces, including toilets and the Supreme Court has led by example: nine gender-neutral bathrooms have been set up within the august corridors of the Court itself.

The Delhi government, too, has mandated that all its departments, offices, district authorities, municipal corporations, state-run companies, and the Delhi Police have separate and exclusive washrooms for transgender persons. This order not only facilitates the establishment of transgender toilets but also states that transgender individuals shall continue to have the option to use gender-based toilets corresponding to their self-identified gender.

Universities have also taken up the mantle. One notable case is the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, where gender-neutral restrooms were installed on campus as early as 2017. This initiative was championed by Saathi, an LGBTQ+ student support group at IIT Bombay, showcasing the power of student-led advocacy in fostering inclusivity.

Another institution leading the way is the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai, which also introduced gender-neutral restrooms on its campus in 2017. The effort was spearheaded by Queer Collective, an LGBTQ+ student group at TISS Mumbai, emphasising the importance of student-driven initiatives in creating safe and inclusive spaces for all.

Today, several Indian universities are recognizing the need for gender-neutral toilets. Institutions such as IIT Delhi have taken the initiative to inaugurate gender-neutral washrooms on their campuses. In fact, IIT Delhi now boasts 14 such facilities. Additionally, Tezpur University in Assam and the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) in Andhra Pradesh have also embraced gender-neutral washrooms, recognizing the importance of providing an inclusive environment for all students. NALSAR goes a step further by adopting a gender-neutral trans policy and the recognition of a gender-neutral title, Mx," on students certificates, paving the way for other institutions to follow.

When our governments, universities, workplaces, movie theatres, stadiums, event venues, public transport hubs, toll stations, police stations, hospitals and all other public spaces create a physical space that signals their acceptance of the gender spectrum, it becomes a powerful statement of affirmation, and a potent signal to those who practise discrimination.

It also signals to the LGBTQ+ community that we stand with them, and that we are all allies.

Learning How to Be an Ally: Lessons from Harpic

Harpic, a brand that has nestled itself in the hearts of the Indian households as a synonym for cleanliness, decided to don the cape of change. Understanding the importance of both inclusivity and cleanliness, Harpic makes products that cater to everyone in our diverse and beautiful country, including the LGBTQ+ community.

Recognizing that education is the key to transforming attitudes, Harpic has launched inspiring campaigns that illuminate the beautiful diversity of gender identities. Through these powerful initiatives, society is awakened, nurtured, and encouraged to create environments where acceptance thrives.

Mission Swachhta aur Paani, a remarkable collaboration between Harpic and News18, transcends the concept of cleanliness alone. It is a movement that recognizes the profound significance of toilets, viewing them not merely as functional spaces but as beacons of safety and acceptance for the marginalised. This exceptional mission is built upon the firm belief that clean and inclusive toilets are vital for fostering a society that embraces and empowers us all, unconditionally. With unwavering dedication, Harpic and News18 actively include and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, propelling the message that every individual deserves access to safe and accepting spaces, where their dignity is upheld, and their presence is celebrated.

Creating cultural change takes work. But fortunately, there are so many of us to do it! Being an ally doesnt have to involve grand gestures, it can start with something as simple as a conversation.

Start with educating yourself . Understand the issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community, particularly with regard to access to public toilets. Learn about the different gender identities and expressions, and the unique challenges faced by each. Harpic and News18s Mission Swachhta aur Paani initiative has some great content you can dip into.

As responsible citizens, its time to support this cause wholeheartedly. Our collective efforts can help in shaping an India where we are all treated equally - irrespective of our identities. Join us here, to know more about how you can play a part in this national transformation.
On Friday, June 30, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Dell Loy Hansen, American businessman and philanthropist, founder and CEO of Wasatch Group real estate investment company, the press service of the head of state has said.

As was noted during the meeting, Wasatch Group, in partnership with To Ukraine With Love charity organization, plans to build 600 fully furnished modular homes in Ukraine, in Kyiv region, in 2023-2024 for people whose homes were destroyed by the war.

Hansen also presented to Zelenskyy the project of the multi-apartment residential complex "Hansen's Village," the main idea of which is to create a large community for the elderly, war veterans, widows, orphans and those with disabilities. The project will include centers for medical and emotional care as well as physical therapy, art therapy and other needed services.

"This village will be able to replace several family-type orphanages destroyed during the war. We know that more than 100 such institutions were destroyed, and First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska is taking care of the issue of their restoration," Hansen said.

He also told the Head of State about the initiative to build residential buildings for homeless elderly people in several regions of Ukraine. A dental clinic, hairdressing and manicure services, a hot food center and a cinema will be provided for the needs of their residents free of charge.

Zelenskyy thanked Hansen for this idea and such important care for the elderly. The president of Ukraine also discussed with the founder of Wasatch Group the possibility of his company's participation in the construction of new, modern rehabilitation centers for war veterans, which the state will support in every possible way.

"I know you implement very important projects to support our people. We really appreciate that you are investing in life, in helping people," Zelenskyy said.

For his part, Hansen said he admires the leadership of the President of Ukraine and the entire Ukrainian people in protecting the values of freedom and democracy and expressed his belief that support for Ukraine in this struggle must remain unwavering.
Bollywood superstar Anil Kapoor sent netizens into a frenzy after a video of him holding Sobhita Dhulipala close while posing for the paparazzi went viral on social media. Anil Kapoor and Sobhita Dhulipala were recently spotted together for the promotions of their show The Night Manager: Part 2. During a photo-op after the event, paparazzi requested Anil and Sobhita to pose together. What happened next left social media divided.

In a video, which is now going viral all over the internet, Anil and Sobhita pose together for the photographers when a paparazzo screams nice jodi." The comment leaves Sobhita and Anil extremely embarrassed, but they laugh it off. However, a section of the internet wasnt very happy with how the whole episode turned out.

One user wrote, Thats disgusting." Another one wrote, Thats quite surprising!" Aww, you can tell she feels a bit uncomfortable, but shes smiling through it to be a good sport,'" a third user said.

Meanwhile, Sobhita Dhulipala might have kept her personal life away from the public glare all these years but it is only recently that her love life has come under the scanner. Speculations are rife that she has been dating actor Naga Chaitanya. While the duo has never confirmed their alleged relationship, a photo of Chaitanya posing with a chef during his trip to London with Sobhita in the background went viral in March this year.

In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Sobhita, without mentioning anyone, told us that she remained unfazed by the spotlight cast on her private life. But she was quick to add that such things tend to take the focus away from her work. Whats there to be bothered? If I say dont say this, theres no way people would know about it I mean, its not a nice thing to talk about my own accomplishments. Its not like Im asking people to look at my accomplishments and the name I made for myself but its more like, I come from Vizag and Ive worked hard at every step along the way, says the actor, who will next be seen in Disney+ Hotstars The Night Manager: Part 2.
The much-awaited comedy blockbuster, Carry On Jatta 3, has hit the screens and its already garnering rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. The films pre-release screening in Chandigarh witnessed the star-studded presence of Gippy Grewal, Sonam Bajwa, Kavita Kaushik, Gurpreet Ghuggi and Jaswinder Bhalla, along with the surprise appearance of Punjabs Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann. As a former comedian himself, Mann interacted with the media and shared his thoughts on the film, expressing hope for more instalments in the future.

During the press meet, the CM extended his wishes to the team and praised the film for its quality and brilliant situational comedy. While acknowledging that the movie was shot in London, he suggested to the films team that they should consider shooting the next parts of the franchise in Punjab itself. The politician also encouraged Bollywood filmmakers to consider shooting in the state as well.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann was accompanied by his wife, Dr Gurpreet Kaur. Additionally, Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwa was also present at the pre-release screening of Carry On Jatta 3.

As per Punjabi Manias report, Carry On Jatta 3 achieved a historic collection on its opening day, surpassing all records for the biggest opening of any Punjabi film. The previous record holder was Diljit Dosanjh, Sonam Bajwa and Shehnaaz Gills Honsla Rakh, with a collection of 2.7 Crore.

However, the Gippy Grewal starrer has broken this record by earning over 4.5 Crore on its opening day, making it a remarkable milestone for the film.

In May, the trailer launch of Carry On Jatta 3 witnessed a star-studded event with Aamir Khan and comedian Kapil Sharma present. During the event, the Dangal star was seen expressing his admiration for Sharma.
Nawazuddin Siddiquis former wife Aaliya has opened up about how her daughter Shoras reaction to her new relationship. In a recent interview, the Bigg Boss OTT 2 fame revealed how Shora asked her about the new man in her life and even shared that she would respect her mother for whatever decision she takes.

My daughter had asked about him, I told her there is nothing like that. She even told me that she will respect me if I tell her the truth. I will tell my daughter for sure but this is not the right time. There is always a right time for such things but this is not the time, Aaliya told Bollywood Bubble.

Earlier this month, Aaliya introduced her new-lover to the world by dropping a picture with him on social media. It has taken over 19 years to get out of the relationship that I treasured. But in my life, my childrens are my priority, they were always and they will be. However, there are few relationships that are bigger than and beyond friendship, and this relationship is the same relationship and I am very happy about the same hence shared my happiness with you all. Dont I have the right to be happy?" she had written.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Aaliya Siddiqui (@aaliyanawazuddin)

Meanwhile, in the same interview, Aaliya also denied plans of getting married again and claimed, Its just a friendship". Nawazuddin Siddiquis former wife further argued that she just wanted a companionship, friendship, someone to spend time with".

Aaliya Siddiqui was previously married to Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Before entering Bigg Boss OTT 2 house, their divorce battle caught everyones attention. The two levelled several allegations against each other. Aaliya claimed that Nawazuddin disowned their children and alleged that the actors mother Mehrunisa harassed her by not giving her access to the actors Mumbai home. However, the Tiku Weds Sheru actress denied the charges and claimed that Aaliya only wanted money.
2023 marks twenty years for actor Priya Mani Raj in the film industry. Her first release was the Telugu film, Evare Atagaadu (2003). Over the years, she has proved her mettle with strong performances in films Thirakkatha (2008), Raavanan (2010) and Chaarulatha (2012), and the web series, The Family Man. She went on to bag the National Film Award for Best Actress for the Tamil language romantic drama, Paruthiveeran (2007). Her dance number 1 2 3 4 Get On The Dance Floor in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer comedy film, Chennai Express (2013), also grabbed her a lot of attention.

In a career spanning two decades, Priya has faced many ups and downs. Needless to say, her priorities as an actor have witnessed a drastic change today. In an exclusive chat with News18, she says that versatility is still important to her but reveals what is the biggest deal-breaker for her now. I wont kiss onscreen. That would be a no for me. I know its just a role and its my job but on a personal note, I wont be comfortable if Ive to kiss another man onscreen, simply because Ive to be answerable to my husband, she tells us.

Following her wedding to Mustafa Raj in August 2017, she has explicitly taken the decision to not engage in kissing scenes with her co-stars in a film or a show. I feel its a responsibility from my end. Even when we were seeing each other, I never got any role where I had to kiss somebody and even if I did, I would definitely tell them that Im awkward, says Priya.

The actor, who will next be seen in Jawan and Maidaan, recalls an episode during a shoot that required her to play out an intimate scene. Talking about how she managed to dodge it, she shares, There was an instance recently. I was doing a web show called His Storyy themed where my characters husband is gay. In that show, I had to do a make-out scene with Satyadeep (Mishra; actor). When the story was narrated to me, the director had told me about the scene and I made it very clear that it gets written in my contract that Im not going to kiss or make-out onscreen.

Priya further continues, Im not comfortable with anything more than a kiss on the cheek. There were many projects that came my way that had such scenes and I told them that Im not comfortable with it.

The 39-year-old emphasises that its a decision she has solely taken on her own keeping her family in mind. I know that both sides of my family will watch any project when it comes out. They also know that its my job but I dont want them to cringe. I dont want them to think, Why is my daughter-in-law doing this even after marriage? Why is somebody else putting their hands on her? They will not voice it out but its my personal choice, she states.
Ram Charan and his wife Upasana Kamineni recently became proud parents to a baby girl and the new parents gave a name to their mega princess today. The couple welcomed a baby girl, 11 years after their marriage. The news of their baby was shared by Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad, where Upasana was admitted. After Upasana was discharged from the hospital, the RRR actor spoke to the media and expressed gratitude towards all for sending wishes. Thanks to all the fans for their prayers. Forever indebted to the fans and well-wishers in India and other countries," he said and shared that his daughter looks like him. And, as per the traditions, the couple hosted a name-keeping ceremony for their daughter today, June 30.

Through a social media post, Ram Charan announced the name of their daughter Klin Kaara. The name was chosen by the grandparents and holds special significance. Ram Charan shared pictures from the baby naming ceremony, along with a note signed by Klin Kaaras grandparents explaining the meaning behind her name.

With the blessings of the Chenchu tribal Goddess Bhauramma Devi, we introduce our beloved granddaughter Klin Kaara Konidela. Taken from the Lalitha Sahasranamam - the name signifies a transformative, purifying energy that brings about a spiritual awakening - lots of love - Surekha, Shobana, Chiranjeevi and Anil."

Upasana wrote on her Instagram, KLIN KAARA KONIDELA  Taken from the Lalitha Sahasranamam the name signifies a transformative, purifying energy that brings about a spiritual awakening. A big big hug to our daughters grandparent."
In a big development in Sushant Singh Rajputs death case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said that they are still awaiting responses from Facebook and Google. In 2021, CBI sent a formal request seeking details regarding late actors deleted chats, posts and emails from the social media giants. With this deleted information, the agency plans to examine what might have really transpired in June 2020.

We are still waiting for a response from the US on this technical evidence, which may help us take the case to a logical conclusion. The case is pending finalisation (because of this), said a CBI officer, who wishes to keep his identity hidden told Hindustan Times.

This comes just a couple of days after the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharastra, Devendra Fadnavis, shared that the credibility of the evidence in the case is being examined and the investigation is still underway. At first, the information available was based on hearsay. However, some individuals asserted that they possessed substantial evidence regarding the case. In response, we reached out to them and requested that they submit the evidence to the police," he told Republic.

Currently, we are in the process of examining the credibility of the presented evidence. The investigation is still in progress, and it would be premature for me to provide any comments on the eventual outcome of the case at this stage," the politician added.

Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging in his Mumbai apartment in June 2020. Starting with the Mumbai Police, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) were brought in to investigate various angles in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.

DISCLAIMER: This news piece may be triggering. If you or someone you know needs help, call any of these helplines: Aasra (Mumbai) 022-27546669, Sneha (Chennai) 044-24640050, Sumaitri (Delhi) 011-23389090, Cooj (Goa) 0832- 2252525, Jeevan (Jamshedpur) 065-76453841, Pratheeksha (Kochi) 048-42448830, Maithri (Kochi) 0484-2540530, Roshni (Hyderabad) 040-66202000, Lifeline 033-64643267 (Kolkata).
Hemant Birje, an actor who made history with the movie Tarzan in the 1980s, has had a remarkable career in the Indian film industry. While he gained immense popularity and a dedicated fan following, his journey was not without its share of challenges and setbacks. In a recent interview with Bollywood Thikana, Hemant candidly shared his experiences, shedding light on the highs and lows he encountered throughout his career.

After the success of Tarzan, Hemants career took off, and he received a multitude of offers, starring in 107 films, including the memorable Adventure of Tarzan. The audience loved watching him on the big screen, attracted not only by his impressive physique but also by his talent and screen presence. Hemants unique appeal led to him becoming a sought-after figure in the industry. Actors like Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt would visit him on sets, seeking to gain insights into bodybuilding and fitness.

During that era, the image of a hero in Bollywood differed from the strong, muscular archetype prevalent today. Instead, heroes were known for their kind-heartedness, singing and dancing abilities, strong dialogue delivery, and good looks. Hemant embodied these characteristics, capturing the hearts of the audience with his performances.

In his interview, Hemant expressed his admiration for Mithun Chakraborty, describing him as a kind-hearted person and revealing that they had worked together in 20 films. Mithuns support and guidance acted as a pillar of strength for Hemant throughout his journey.

However, not all of Hemants experiences were positive. He shared the challenges he faced while working with Dharmendra and Govinda on the sets of Kaun Kare Kurbanie. When Hemant first met Dharmendra, the veteran actor expressed his reservations in Punjabi, questioning the choice of Hemant as the hero. However, the director, Arjun Hingorani, reminded Dharmendra of the support he had received in the past and persuaded him to give Hemant a chance.

Hemants encounter with Govinda was also less than favourable, as he described the actor as stubborn and difficult to work with on set. These experiences reflected the competitive nature of the industry, where established actors were often hesitant to share the limelight with rising talents.

Despite facing such challenges, Hemants passion for acting remained undeterred. He continued to work on various projects, including the 2005 film Garv, where he shared the screen with Salman Khan. Hemant also expressed his eagerness to collaborate with Shah Rukh Khan, sharing that he had approached SRK with the idea of working together, and Shah Rukh had shown interest in the prospect.

Hemant Birjes journey in Bollywood is a testament to his resilience, determination, and unwavering spirit. Despite facing obstacles and losing opportunities due to industry dynamics, Hemants talent and dedication have allowed him to leave an indelible mark on the Indian film industry. He serves as an inspiration for aspiring actors, reminding them that success often requires perseverance, even in the face of adversity. Hemants story serves as a reminder that passion and unwavering commitment can lead to triumph, no matter the challenges faced along the way.
Manoj Bajpayee, who has been in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu film industry for almost three decades now, has proved his talent and mettle time and again on screen. Besides his good movie theatre presence, the actor has decided to go big on OTTs as well. His Amazon Prime Video series, The Family Man has won hearts. The actor has well portrayed the role of a middle-class man, who works as an intelligence officer secretly, trying to protect both the country and his little world, his family. His 23rd May premiered Zee5 show, Bandaa is receiving good response as well, with global #1 trending and 200m+ views. (Image: Instagram)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reshuffled his cabinet for the third time in four months, giving the significant portfolios of Finance, Planning and Revenue to Atishi, who, along with Saurabh Bhardwaj, was inducted into the cabinet following the resignations of Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain in March this year. With the addition of these portfolios, Atishi, inducted just four months ago, has shot up to the number 2 position in the cabinet.

Atishi, who worked closely with Sisodia in education reforms, is the only woman in the Delhi cabinet of seven ministers, including the chief minister. She was given the charge of six ministries  Women and Child Development, Education, Tourism, Art, Language and Culture, PWD and Power. Earlier in June, she was given the charge of Public Relations and now has additional charges of Finance and Revenue. The total number of ministries and departments under her have shot up to 10 from six.

Incidentally, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot is the biggest loser in this reshuffle, for he been in charge of all the three ministries. In fact, it was Gahlot who had presented the Delhi budget in the absence of Sisodia. Gahlot still holds Home, Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs, Transport, Administrative Reforms, and Information Technology.

Saurabh Bhardwaj is in charge of Vigilance, Services, Health, Industries, Urban Development, Irrigation and Flood Control and Water. Unlike Atishi, there are no additions to his portfolios though he holds the all-important portfolios of Services, which was earlier held by Sisodia, and Vigilance, which was earlier with Jain.

AAPs Kalkaji MLA Atishi is clearly the biggest gainer in the reshuffle. She is also the only cabinet minister to have travelled with Kejriwal when he embarked on a mission to solicit support of opposition parties against the Centres May 19 ordinance on control of administrative services in the national capital. Others in the entourage included Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha. Atishi was also seen sharing space with the Delhi CM when he inaugurated three schools in the capital and charging stations for EVMs.

Meanwhile, Gopal Rai is the Delhi minister whose portfolios have shrunk steadily. He is now in charge of General Administration Department, Environment, Forest and Wildlife.

Imran Hussain, the Muslim face of the Kejriwal cabinet, has just two portfolios  Food & Supply and Election.

The Dalit face in the cabinet, Raj Kumar Anand, who was inducted after the resignation of Rajendra Pal Gautam in October last year, holds Gurudwara elections, SC&ST, Social Welfare, Cooperative, Land & Building, Labour, and Employment. He is MLA from Patel Nagar.
The Karnataka BJP has served notices to eleven party men so far for allegedly indulging in anti-party activity" during the Assembly election, and also to those causing embarrassment by making public statements against it and its leaders.

The party has decided to inquire into the anti-party activities and take disciplinary action against those involved.

The decision was taken at a meeting of BJP leaders attended by state party president Nalin Kumar Kateel and former chief minister and parliamentary board member B S Yediyurappa among others on Friday.

It has been decided to inquire into those who have indulged in anti-party activities during the election and take disciplinary action. We have personally spoken to those who are making statements that have caused embarrassment to the party.

Notices have been issued, and they have been clearly told not to make such statements in the future," Kateel told reporters after the meeting.

Asked for details about who has been given notice, Kateel, without revealing names, said, We have given notice to 11 people so far."

Yediyurappa said that the party men have been instructed that none of them should make statements that will cause embarrassment to the BJP.

We have called those who have made such statements and spoken to them. They have been told to be cautious and ensure that such a situation doesnt arise, or else appropriate action will be taken. A decision has been taken in this regard," he said.

Karnataka BJP on Thursday issued notice to former Honnali MLA M P Renukacharya for his anti-party" remarks. He has been given one weeks time to give a written reply to the show cause notice issued by the state disciplinary committee of the party.

The party had officially released the notice served to Renukacharya, but not others.

Renukacharya on Thursday said the partys state president Kateel should have resigned from the post, taking moral responsibility for the Assembly poll debacle.

Targeting party leaders without taking any names, the former minister alleged that the BJP office has been turned into a corporate office", and urged them to introspect and work towards strengthening the party and boosting the morale of the workers for the Lok Sabha elections and the zilla and taluk panchayat polls, among others.

Several BJP leaders have recently come out in the open criticising their own colleagues, following the Assembly polls debacle, with statements that adjustment politics" (with a section of the Congress leaders) contributed to the partys rout in the Assembly elections, sparking off a political debate.

Mysuru MP Pratap Simha and BJP national secretary C T Ravi were among those who had alleged adjustment politics".

Though they had not named anyone, it was largely seen as comments directed at former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and his predecessor B S Yediyurappa.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting today, Yediyurappa said it has been decided that he along with other leaders will lead the protests on July 4 both inside and outside the Legislature, demanding that the Congress government in the state implement poll guarantees in full, as promised.

Congress had gone door to door and had given guarantee cards signed by Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar (Deputy CM and state Congress chief). We have discussed demanding full implementation of those guarantees without fail.

On July 4 in front of the Gandhi statue at Vidhana Soudha, hundreds of our party workers will stage a day-long protest Satyagraha," he said.

Inside the Legislative Assembly and Council, BJP legislators will stage protests on the same issue, Yediyurappa said, adding, that the Congress government, as promised, should give 10 kg of free rice to the poor, Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduates, Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders, 200 units of free power without conditions to households, Rs 2,000 to women per month. It should also withdraw the power tariff hike, he added.

Kateel too urged the government to fulfil the promises made ahead of the polls.

He said, Along with 5 kg of rice provided by the BJP government at the Centre, the state government should give 10 kg as promised by the Congress. Congress is now saying that they will give only 5 kg and that too not rice, but will give money instead. We will fight demanding that the state government give 10 kg of rice in addition to 5 kg by the Centre."
Leaders of the European Union's member states have pledged further support for the reforms carried out by Moldova "on its European path" and noted the efforts made by Georgia to meet EU admission criteria.

"The European Council acknowledges the Republic of Moldova's commitment and substantial efforts to meet the required conditions in its EU accession process," the European Council said in a statement late on Thursday night.

The European leaders welcomed a package of measures developed by the European Commission and the European External Action Service to support Moldova's rapprochement with the European Union and the launch of the European Union Partnership Mission in Moldova.

The European Council thanked Moldova for "the successful organization of the second European Political Community Summit on June 1, 2023."

According to the statement, the European Council "takes note of the steps recently taken by the Georgian authorities."

"The European Union will continue to work closely with Georgia to support it in meeting the required conditions to advance on its European path," the statement said.
N Biren Singh on Friday clarified that he will not be resigning from the post of chief minister as it was a crucial juncture" for Manipur. At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister," he tweeted after high-voltage drama unfolded in Imphal over his resignation as thousands of demonstrators blocked his convoy from proceeding towards Raj Bhavan.

At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister. N.Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) June 30, 2023

Under fire over his handling of the ethnic violence in the state for two months now, Singh was contemplating resigning especially after renewed violence on Thursday left three more dead and five injured. But he was persuaded by women demonstrators to decide against it.

He was to meet the governor first at 1 pm, but hundreds of youth wearing black shirts and women sat down in front of his residence demanding that he should not resign. There was much sloganeering  Manipur cant be broken, Government cannot resign and No Presidents rule in Manipur  outside when he came out at 3 pm to meet the governor but had to retreat.

There were unconfirmed reports that the chief minister had typed out a resignation letter, which he was forced to tear up. The crowd slowly dispersed only after women leaders who met him defused the situation by assuring the crowd that he was not resigning.

State health minister Sapam Ranjan Singh said the CM was upset since Thursday, so he took time from the governor and wanted to resign. But as the news that he may resign started spreading, a large crowd gathered outside his residence. When he stepped out, people did not allow him to move. Then he spoke with them and returned inside. People were not convinced so they wanted to see the resignation letter to be torn up. We are happy he is not resigning," he said.

Kshetrimayum Shanti, a women leader, told news agency PTI that at this critical juncture, the Biren Singh government should stand firm and crack down on troublemakers.

We do not want the CM to resign, he should not resign. He is doing a lot of work for us. We are giving support to the CM," a local resident told news agency ANI.

Another woman agitator told ANI, We have been under a situation of turmoil since two months. We are looking for the day when the Government of India and Manipur will resolve this conflict in a democratic manner. In such a situation if the Manipur CM resigns, how will the people live here? Who will lead us? He has been leading us from the beginning of the conflict. I do not want him to resign. We trust him."

More than 100 people have been killed in the ethnic clashes between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state so far. Meiteis account for about 53 percent of the states population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals  Nagas and Kukis  form another 40 percent of the population and reside in the hill districts.
July 1 will be a big day not only for Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party but also for Aaditya Thackeray, who will be leading a protest. For the past two weeks, party chief Uddhav Thackeray and son Aaditya have been preparing for this rally against alleged irregularities and malpractices happening in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

But to weaken the possible impact of this protest, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis have got a counterstrategy. On the same day, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena camp is roping in a close aide of Aaditya Thackeray, Rahul Kanal, who is all set to join the ruling outfit.

Kanal had stopped working for the Shiv Sena UBTs youth wing Yuva Sena in Bandra West a few months ago. According to sources, he was not happy with how the outfit was operating. They also said that Kanal tried to reach out to Yuva Sena chief and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya to inform him about the issues but he couldnt get time from Matoshree (the Thackeray family residence). A month ago, Kanal left the WhatsApp group of core members of Yuva Sena and wasnt added back.

When news of Rahul Kanal joining the Shinde-led Shiv Sena on July 1 started floating in the media, Yuva Sena office-bearers from Bandra West appointed on his recommendation were removed from their posts. In a tweet, Rahul Kanal expressed his displeasure over this move by the Aaditya Thackeray camp.

Feeling Sad !!! Very well know who has done this but removing people who have worked for you without a hearing is arrogance and you could remove me but not the people who have worked day and night yet Chalo acha hai sabko pata chale ke Ego Aur arrogance kya hota hai !!! pic.twitter.com/JFlB9uZjUU Rrahul Narain Kanal (@Iamrahulkanal) June 30, 2023

The Fadnavis-led Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra has also planned to counter Aaditya Thackerays rally on Saturday. The BJPs youth wing, Yuva Morcha, will be holding a counterprotest at the same time at Nariman Point area of Mumbai, just a few kilometres away from the spot where Aaditya will take out his rally. Yuva Morcha has also started sharing posters on social media, calling its protest rally Chor Machaye Shor.

Speaking with the media, BJP Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar said, With this protest, we would be asking some questions to the party that enjoyed 25 years of power in the BMC and is now crying foul and taking out a protest rally. This is another tactic of their party to divert attention from the SIT inquiry and ED probeWhy Congress and NCP who are their partners in MVA are not supporting this protest rally?
Kerala Chief Minister and Congress opposed the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code, calling it a majority communal agenda" and divisive" while Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena extended support for Balasaheb Thackerays vision of one nation, one law.

Centres move can only be seen as a plan to implement the majority communal agenda of one nation, one culture by wiping out the cultural diversity of the country", Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, accusing the BJP of electoral agenda in bringing up the sudden debate on the Uniform Civil Code."

Vijayan said instead of imposing a uniform civil code, efforts should be made to reform and amend discriminatory practices within personal laws. The support of that particular community is essential for such efforts. It should be through discussions involving all the stakeholders," he said.

Triggering debates around Uniform Civil Code is an electoral ploy by Sangh Parivar to press their majoritarian agenda for deepening communal divide. Lets oppose any attempts to undermine Indias pluralism and support reforms through democratic discussions within communities," chief minister Vijayan said in a tweet.

Triggering debates around Uniform Civil Code is an electoral ploy by Sangh Parivar to press their majoritarian agenda for deepening communal divide. Let's oppose any attempts to undermine Indias pluralism and support reforms through democratic discussions within communities. Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) June 30, 2023

The Congress has also opposed the move and said termed UCC as DCC - Dividing Civil Code" that seeks to divide the countrys politics. Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said the UCC is not the agenda, rather the agenda is to divide the people of the country".

The issue is to divide politics and people and spread hatred among them. Even the prime minister is naming a particular section of people, whereas this issue is not of one section. This is an issue of every section, every religion and every language. If you are doing some work, it should be acceptable to all," he said.

Lawyer and Congress MP Manish Tiwari, in an interview with CNN-News18, described the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) as a dog whistle" and viewed it as another attempt to polarize. He argued that the UCC already exists, citing the Special Marriages Act of 1954 alongside the Indian Succession Act and said that it represents a comprehensive Uniform Civil Code.

Elaborating on the Civil Codes being religious agnostic, Tiwari explained that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians have their own personal laws and statutes. If individuals choose not to follow these statutes, they have the option to marry under the Special Marriage Act," he said.

Meanwhile, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena supported the UCC, stating it aligns with Balasaheb Thackerays vision of one nation, one law and urged the Centre to hold a discussion in Parliaments Monsoon session.

We also request PM Narendra Modi to hold a discussion on UCC in Parliaments monsoon session, and a whip will be issued to all Sena MPs to support it," Shiv Sena leader and Lok Sabha MP from south central Mumbai, Rahul Shewale said.

Uddhav Thackerays Shiv Sena (UBT) will also back the central governments push for UCC, according to a report by India Today. However, in UBTs editorial in its mouthpiece Saamana on Thursday, the party said that mere opposition to Sharia" cannot be the basis for the Uniform Civil Code.

Only opposing the Sharia law of Muslims is not the basis for Uniform Civil Code. Having equality in law and justice is also Uniform Civil Code," the editorial said.

BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad welcomed the implementation of UCC and stated the BJP-led government at the Centre will implement its promises like it did with Article 370, building of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and abolishing of Triple Talaq. The Chairman of the Parliament will speak on that Has Article 370 ended or not? The temple of Lord Ram is being constructed Was the temple of Vishwanath Ji built in Kashi or not? Was Kedarnath built or not? Triple Talaq was abolished or not? Similarly, the Uniform Civil Code will also be implemented," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a strong pitch for UCC, stating Muslims are being instigated over the sensitive issue and lashed out at the Opposition parties for playing vote bank politics" over its implementation. Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rightsSupreme Court has also asked to implement UCC. These (Opposition) people are playing vote bank politics," he had said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had condemned the move accused the prime minister of escalating religious conflicts in a bid to win the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He (PM Modi) said that Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented and said that there should not be two laws in our country. He is looking to escalate religious conflicts and confuse people to win (elections). I am sure, people will teach a lesson to BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections," he said.
Displeased with a section of the BJP leaders turning into undisciplined men", party veteran and former deputy chief minister KS Eshwarappa has cautioned that the central leadership is keeping a close watch. He said that the Congresss hawa of indiscipline" is seeping into the BJP, and action will be taken against leaders found falling out of line.

In a freewheeling exclusive interview to News18, Eshwarappa spoke on the issue of reclaiming places where allegedly once temples existed but later mosques were built over them. Critical of the Congresss five guarantees, he said that these will come back to bite the Congress". Edited excerpts:

You have made a statement that wherever mosques have been built over temples, they will be demolished and temples reconstructed. How many such temples are there?

Let me answer this by giving you a national perspective first. In Ayodhya, we all know the history of the Ram Mandir there and how we are fighting to reclaim its sanctity. Its been more than 500 years that the struggle has been on and now the Ram Mandir has finally got some form and identity that it truly deserves. By Makar Sankranti next year, well all be able to witness the beauty and divinity of the temple. In the same way, the issue around the Kashi Vishwanath temple is in the courts. The court has issued an order for a survey to be conducted. Thirdly, the Mathura Sri Krishna templeone look at it shows that the Krishna Mandir was demolished and a mosque was built in its place. In this context, just by the look of it, wherever we have had temples, places where mosques have been built, be it 50 or 500 years ago, in those places, temples will be built again. We do not have issues wherever mosques have been newly built by Muslims.

What about in Karnataka and disputed religious places like the Malali mosque near Mangaluru? Will that also be part of the change that you are speaking of?

Wherever we can fight for our rights legally and build our temples back again, we will give our first preference there. A further plan of action will be decided later.

Are you conducting a survey of places where, as you claim, there were temples initially and then mosques were built over them?

As I said earlier, we will conduct surveys and submit evidence to the courts on places that were once temples and later turned into mosques. We will fight it out in the courts and rebuild temples there.

The Goa chief minister had said that his government will identify all the temples that were allegedly desecrated by the Portuguese, shifted out, or built churches in those places, and those temples and deities will be brought back to their original place of consecration. Is this move similar to that?

Let me ask you one thing. Why did we fight for the independence of our country? We fought to safeguard our Indian culture and tradition. We fought to save our faith and free our culture and traditions from external factors that were threatening to hurt our socio-religious-cultural fabric. Our freedom fighters have even sacrificed their lives for this. We should ensure that we keep our parampara and sanskriti (tradition and culture) intact in order to ensure their sacrifice has not gone in vain. We should oppose cow slaughter, oppose religious conversions, and ensure that we safeguard all our punyakshetras or religious shrines. We will do everything within the purview of the law.

The Congress, which is in power in Karnataka, is speaking of reviewing and reversing two controversial laws that were passed in the previous BJP government: the anti-cow slaughter and the anti-conversion law. How do you react to it?

The Congress is alive in India only because it has the support of the Muslims. In places where it does not have the support of the Muslim community, there Congress is a dead political party. The Congress was able to come to power in Karnataka because the entire Muslim community voted in favour of it. The BJP took resolutions to bring to a stop forced conversions into Islam and also banned the PFI. The Congress is taking decisions only to satisfy the Muslim community. The Karnataka BJP has decided to vehemently oppose the move by the Congress to reverse the BJP governments decision against cow slaughter and forced religious conversions. We will protest in the Vidhan Sabha and outside the assembly premises in the upcoming session as well.

How do you see the Congress governments efforts to implement the five guarantees like the Gruha Lakshmi scheme, Gruha Jyothi scheme, Shakti bus scheme, etc?

They brought these guarantees only to secure votes in their favour and this led to their win in the assembly elections. Now these very guarantees are coming back to bite them. They have promised 3,000 rupees to unemployed graduates. A single graduate has not received the promised monetary guarantee. They are now putting conditions on who can avail of the scheme and graduates from which year (2022-23). This clause was not there when they made the promise. Women are still waiting for the stipend of Rs 2,000 and they also claim they will give 10 kg of food grains. It is the BJP government at the Centre that is giving 5 kg, beyond that the Congress is unable to give even 1 kg to the people as promised. With the free power guarantee, now they have doubled the price of power for the consumers. Now they are doing a U-turn on their promises. All their promises are a 100 per cent failure. If they do not deliver, they will face the wrath of the voters and we as the opposition also will not remain quiet.

How do you see the shared responsibility between Siddarmaiah and DK Shivakumar after the tussle between them for the chief ministerial seat?

I read in the media that there is an agreement of sharing power for 2.5 years each between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. Later, we heard the ministers MB Patil and HC Mahadevappa saying that Siddaramaiah will remain CM for the full term of five years. But Siddaramaiah has remained mum on the issue. Randeep Singh Surjewala also has gagged the Congress leaders from commenting on the matter. The day Surjewala says that Siddaramaiah will be the CM for five years, this Congress government will collapse that very second.

The BJP got just 65 seats in the assembly polls. Did you expect such a poor performance?

We did not expect to get just 65 seats. The Congresss guarantees impressed the voters and helped the party win. I do agree we had issues within the BJP as well. We were trying to manage it and work unitedly. People believed the five guarantees that the Congress promised. There is infighting in the BJP, but its not a big issue. We will straighten out those causing issues and bring them in line with the BJPs disciplinary culture. No person is bigger than the BJP.

There is serious trouble brewing in the Karnataka BJP and the infighting within is hurting the image of the party as well. You had said that those who came from the Congress into the BJP were the cause of these internal squabbles. Is this true?

We do not have problems with those who joined the BJP recently. What I said in Hubballi was that we suffered losses due to the poor performance of the BJP in the Bombay-Karnataka region. I have been misquoted in the media that I said the new entrants were the issue. What I said is that the BJP is a disciplined party, but of late the party is facing the hawa (air) of indiscipline as seen in the Congress. The BJP national leaders are closely monitoring this and very soon they will bring back the discipline and order that the BJP is proud of. The central leaders are keeping a close watch on those who are trying to break the discipline of the BJP and strict action will be taken against them.

Why has the BJP not decided on a leader of opposition yet in Karnataka? Are the internal squabbles in the party causing the delay?

We will make a decision when the time is right. The legislative assembly session will begin on July 3, we will do it before that. What is the hurry?

Why the delay?

There is no delay, we will do it when it is time. There are burning issues that the central leadership is handling like the situation in Manipur. In Karnataka, the decision will be taken soon.

Senior BJP leaders like Basangouda Patil Yatnal have been making statements against former CM Basavaraj Bommai. We have also seen statements from other senior leaders like Murugesh Nirani. There seems to be a blame game playing out in the state unit of the BJP.

This is not the disciplinary culture of the BJP. I believe that it should be sorted out within the four walls of the party and resolved amicably.

Will you take disciplinary action against those who make such public statements targeting other BJP leaders?

Let them first try to sort it out within closed doors. If not, then action can be taken. But it is important to hold detailed discussions within the party and not in public.

Will Nalin Kateel be changed as the BJP state unit chief?

The state president himself has said that his term is over. The decision to change or not is left to the national leaders. We all will accept what the central leadership decides.

Are you in the race of being made the BJP state unit president?

The decision is left to the central leaders. I am just a disciplined soldier of the BJP. The national leaders told me not to contest elections. In less than half an hour, I made a decision and sent my letter to the high command, saying I will not contest. This party has given me everything. I was even the deputy CM of Karnataka. I am not at all upset. I will do the task that the leaders ask me to do.

With the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, do senior leaders like you and BS Yediyurappa have a plan of action for the partys success?

Seven special teams have been touring the state to revive and invigorate the cadre and leaders. Yediyurappa, Kateel, and I have been touring and boosting the morale of the party workers to ensure we win handsomely. I do agree that in some areas like Bagalkot, there have been issues, but we are working hard for the parliamentary elections. We will win all the seats and the Congress will be reduced to nil.
In this day and age, online scams are becoming more and more common, taking on a variety of formsfrom call forwarding scams to online job scams on WhatsApp and Telegram. In one recent incident, a 43-year-old doctor from Visar lost a whopping Rs 1 crore in a movie rating reviews scam.

According to The Times of India, the scammers contacted the Visar doctor on Telegram under the pretext of offering money to rate movies online. The message was sent by a user named Hafiza@094. Per the report, the man was able to make Rs 830 in the first transaction by rating a movie 5 stars.

Next, to lure the doctor, the Telegram user asked him to transfer a sum of Rs 9,900 to an unknown bank account in order to be eligible for higher commission. Now, post doing this, his online ticket rating account displayed that he made a staggering Rs 31 lakh in commission profits, but when he wanted to withdraw the said commission, the fraudsters asked him to deposit a sum of Rs 15 lakh. This cycle went on, and eventually, the commission value became Rs 1.96 crore in a few days.

Per Arnala Police, the doctor deposited a total of Rs 1.09 crore in hope of recovering his commission.

Scams of this nature are becoming more commonespecially on social media. It is important to be aware of when someone might be trying to take advantage of you, especially if they are offering something that seems too good to be true. Always do your research and avoid responding to random messages or calls offering jobs or money for simple tasks.
Two U.S. authors sued OpenAI in San Francisco federal court on Wednesday, claiming in a proposed class action that the company misused their works to train its popular generative artificial-intelligence system ChatGPT.

Massachusetts-based writers Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad said ChatGPT mined data copied from thousands of books without permission, infringing the authors copyrights.

Matthew Butterick, an attorney for the authors, declined to comment. Representatives for OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft Corp, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several legal challenges have been filed over material used to train cutting-edge AI systems. Plaintiffs include source-code owners against OpenAI and Microsofts GitHub, and visual artists against Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt.

The lawsuit targets have argued that their systems make fair use of copyrighted work.

ChatGPT responds to users text prompts in a conversational way. It became the fastest-growing consumer application in history earlier this year, reaching 100 million active users in January only two months after it was launched.

ChatGPT and other generative AI systems create content using large amounts of data scraped from the internet. Tremblay and Awads lawsuit said books are a key ingredient because they offer the best examples of high-quality longform writing.

The complaint estimated that OpenAIs training data incorporated over 300,000 books, including from illegal shadow libraries that offer copyrighted books without permission.

Awad is known for novels including 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl and Bunny. Tremblays novels include The Cabin at the End of the World, which was adapted in the M. Night Shyamalan film Knock at the Cabin released in February.

Tremblay and Awad said ChatGPT could generate very accurate summaries of their books, indicating that they appeared in its database.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money damages on behalf of a nationwide class of copyright owners whose works OpenAI allegedly misused.
A wedding is often an exciting time for not just the couple but also their families. However, for one groom and his family, the day turned out to be shocking. A man from a village in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh married a woman from Secunderabad, Telangana. Everything looked just fine until the woman complained of acute stomach ache on her wedding night. It got to the point where she had to be rushed to the hospital. Upon reaching there, the doctors gave the man and his family shocking news. The woman was seven months pregnant. India Today reported that the woman gave birth to a baby girl the very next day.

Turns out the bride and her family were aware of this the entire time. The wedding had taken place on June 26. The family of the bride had deliberately hid the information from the groom and his family. How did they do this? According to India Today, the grooms side of the family was told that the bride had undergone a surgical process. This was done to remove her kidney stones. It was also the reason they gave behind her swollen belly. The grooms family who bought into the lie agreed to marry their son to the woman. Needless to say, when the truth unfolded, the groom and his family were left shocked.

The portal also reported that the station in charge of Dankaur police station, Sanjay Singh, shared that the police had received information about this entire situation that had unfolded. However, no police intervention was required as the families reached a mutually agreed-upon solution.

The brides family reached Greater Noida after they were informed of the incident. Her in-laws had refused to accept the bride or her baby. The family had agreed to take their daughter and the newborn baby back home to Secunderabad, Telangana.

In another incident, the infamous Bengaluru traffic helped a runaway groom slip away from his chasing wife. The incident happened in the Mahadevpura tech corridor in the city. The bride had figured out the groom was having an affair while he was working in Goa. The groom decided to flee the next day. The bride who filed a police complaint claimed that the girl he was having an affair with had threatened to leak their intimate photos on social media. Fearing that it might happen, the groom decided to run away.
Scientists have discovered a genetic variant linked with multiple sclerosis becoming more debilitating over time, in research hailed as a first step towards a new drug. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a lifelong condition in which a persons body is attacked by its own immune system, causing a range of symptoms including problems with vision, movement and balance. For some people, the symptoms can come and go in phases called relapses, while in others they become progressively worse.

There are treatments that can help control the symptoms, but there is no cure or way to slow down the disease from getting worse.

In a study published in the journal Nature Wednesday, researchers from more than 70 institutes around the world said they had found the first-ever genetic variant linked to MS severity.

First, the researchers combined the genetic data of 12,000 people with MS to study what variants they shared and how quickly their disease advanced.

Out of seven million variants, they found a single one associated with the disease progressing faster.

The variant sits between two genes called DYSF and ZNF638, which had never before been linked to MS, according to the study.

The first gene works to repair damaged cells, while the other helps control viral infections.

The genes are much more active in the brain and spinal cord than the immune system, where drug research has previously focused, the study said.

To confirm what they found, the researchers then looked at the genetics of nearly 10,000 more patients, finding similar results.

Inheriting this genetic variant from both parents accelerates the time to needing a walking aid by almost four years," US researcher and study co-author Sergio Baranzini said in a statement.

Ruth Dobson, a neurologist at the Queen Mary University of London who was not involved in the research, told AFP there was a lot of excitement about this study" in MS circles.

Its the first step towards treatments that work in a different way," she said, emphasising that any such drug was a long way from being available.

That the research points to the nervous system, rather than the immune system, opens up a new potential pathway for treatments, which is really exciting", she added.

More than 2.8 million people worldwide live with multiple sclerosis.
City parks and green spaces help counter heat, boost biodiversity, and instill a sense of calm in the urban jungle.

They also help slow biological aging, with people who have access to green spaces found to be on average 2.5 years biologically younger than those who do not, according to a new study published Wednesday in Science Advances.

Living near more greenness can help you be younger than your actual age," Kyeezu Kim, the studys lead author and a postdoctoral scholar at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine, told AFP.

We believe our findings have significant implications for urban planning in terms of expanding green infrastructure to promote public health and reduce health disparities."

Exposure to green spaces has previously been linked with better cardiovascular health and lower rates of mortality.

Its thought that more physical activity and social interactions are at play, but whether parks actually slowed down aging on a cellular level has been unclear.

To investigate, the team behind the study examined DNA chemical modifications known as methylation."

Prior work has shown that so-called epigenetic clocks" based on DNA methylation can be a good predictor of health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, cognitive function, and a more accurate way of measuring age than calendar years.

Kim and colleagues followed more than 900 white and Black people from four American cities  Birmingham, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Oakland  over a period of 20 years, from 1986-2006.

Using satellite imaging, the team assessed how close the participants residential addresses were to surrounding vegetation and parks, and paired this data with blood samples taken in years 15 and years 20 of the study, to determine their biological age.

The team constructed statistical models to evaluate the results, and control for other variables, such as education, income, and behavioral factors like smoking, that might have affected the results.

They found that people whose homes were surrounded by 30 percent green cover within a five kilometer (three mile) radius were on average 2.5 years younger biologically compared to those whose homes were surrounded by 20 percent green cover.

The benefits were not evenly shared. Black people with more access to green space were only one year biologically younger, while white people were three years younger.

Other factors, such as stress, qualities of the surrounding green space, and other social support, can affect the degree of benefits of green spaces in terms of biological aging," said Kim, explaining the disparities required further study.

For example, parks in deprived neighborhoods used for illicit activities might be less frequented, negating the benefits.

Next steps might involve investigating the link between green spaces and specific health outcomes, she added. Its also not yet clear how exactly greenery reduces aging  only that it does, added Kim.

Epidemiologist Manuel Franco, of the University of Alcala and Johns Hopkins, called the research a well designed study."

We have more and better scientific evidence to increase and promote the use of urban green spaces," added Franco, who was not involved in the study.
Ridhaan Shah, a second-grader from Mumbai, has recently achieved a remarkable feat that sets him apart from many kids his age. He emerged as a medalist in a competition held by the India Book of Records in May of this year, showcasing his exceptional abilities. During the event, Ridhaan simultaneously solved a 3 x 3 tiny Rubiks Cube while skillfully spinning a hula hoop atop an upside-down earthen pot. This incredible display of talent and coordination has earned him a well-deserved place in the record books. In just six and a half minutes, Ridhaan managed to spin a staggering 669 hula hoops.

We wanted Ridhaan to set a unique record since solving Rubiks cube and hula hoops had already been accomplished," explained Rimple Shah, Ridhaans mother. There are individuals who have successfully completed over 1000 hula hoops in 10 minutes, which is already a record. In order for Ridhaan to compete with others, we felt the need to elevate the challenge. Thats when we decided to take it up a notch, with Ridhaan standing on an earthen pot," she added.

Also read: Meet 9-Year-Old Chinese Boy Who Solved Rubiks Cube In Record-Breaking Average Time

According to India Book of Records, the seven-year-old can solve 7 different types of Rubiks Cube - 33, 22, Pyramix, 44, mirror, windmill and Megamix.

He learnt Hula hoop in his summer vacation on his own and his father started teaching him some Rubik cube. For others we have kept a trainer. He is really passionate in what what he does, which is why we decided to apply for India Book of Records, said Rimple.

Ridhaan has now joined a number of other young people who have achieved fame, such as Devarsh K. Sahin from Kerala, who set a record for solving a 3 x 3 Rubiks Cube the quickest while moving on roller skates.

Also read: You Can Solve Rubiks Cube in Just Four Moves with This Insane Hack

Before this young achiever, Garigipati Jhaswik Sriyan held the record for completing 50 jigsaw puzzles in the shortest time, achieving a remarkable feat of 5.02 minutes.

In a related story, a boy from China has created a new world record by solving a Rubiks cube in the fastest average time. 9-year-old Yiheng Wang has been garnering praise and appreciation for breaking the record for the fastest average time to solve a 3x3x3 Rubiks cube. He achieved the feat in just 4.69 seconds. As per Guinness World Records, Yiheng astonished everyone by solving the puzzle cube with an amazing speed in an average time of just 4.69 seconds during the semi-final of the Yong Jun KL Speedcubing 2023 event.

The event was held in Malaysias Kuala Lumpur on March 12. Starting from the first round to the fifth one, Yiheng Wang recorded times of 4.35, 3.90, 4.41, 5.31 and 6.16 seconds. His fastest and slowest times were discounted while calculating his average best, according to the rules mentioned by the World Cube Association rules.
The head of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA), Olena Duma, has claimed pressure on the competition commission after the vote of one of its members was withdrawn.

"Regarding yesterday's statement about the recall of Dmytro Ostapenko's vote. The law does not provide for a mechanism for recalling the vote. The fact that Ostapenko backed my candidacy is recorded. Moreover, later, he commented on my candidacy, and it was quite positive. It's all on his official page on Facebook. The commission members had six months to get acquainted with the information about each candidate. Given these facts, I believe that the statement about the withdrawal of the vote is an undermining of the legal system of the state," Duma said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

According to her, an attempt to disrupt the competition is an act of pressure on the competition commission and the government to preserve corruption schemes. In addition, the withdrawal of the vote harms the business reputation of the candidate, she said.

"I have no doubts in such a situation that Ostapenko needs to be protected. He is under extreme pressure and needs the protection of the state. I ask the law enforcement agencies to consider this my statement about checking the fact of pressure on a member of the competition commission. This should be the task of authorized bodies, and not the subject of discussions in social networks," Duma said.

She considers unsubstantiated claims that her appointment to the position would entail reputational risks for the country and the effective and independent operation of the anti-corruption ecosystem and law enforcement agencies.

"Warnings about my candidacy appeared only after the competition was held and I was determined the winner. There were no warnings for six months," Duma said.

She said that the decision of the competition commission to appoint the head of ARMA can only be canceled in court, in case of establishing the fact of violation of the competition procedure.

The Duma rejected allegations of political involvement and lack of proper qualifications for the position of ARMA head, including statements made public by Transparency International Ukraine. She also denies ties with political parties, as well as participation in agitation or attempts to discredit any political forces.

As reported, the winner of the competition to select the head of ARMA was ex-deputy head of Chernihiv Regional State Administration Olena Duma, six of the eight members of the competition commission backed her candidacy. However, later a member of the competition commission, Dmytro Ostapenko, withdrew his vote. According to the current legislation on ARMA, the commission's decision is considered adopted if at least six members present at the meeting backed it.
Octopuses are fascinating because of their tentacular intelligence, which brings them so close to human beings. But thats not all they have in common with us. According to a new Japanese-American study, these sea creatures are also capable of dreaming. Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and the University of Washington examined the brain activity and skin color changes of 29 octopuses belonging to the nocturnal Octopus laqueus species. They found that, during the day, the octopuses closed their eyes and adopted a resting posture akin to sleep. Every hour or so, these animals also underwent rapid changes in skin color lasting about a minute, as well as changes in respiratory rate, and body and eye movements.

These observations enabled the scientists to deduce that octopuses go through two different sleep stages: quiet sleep and active sleep. It is in the latter phase that contractions of different parts of the octopuss body and rapid changes in the texture and pattern of its skin occur, as the researchers describe in their paper, recently published in the journal Nature.

To test this hypothesis, the biologists verified whether the octopuses were really asleep in the active sleep stage by subjecting them to various external stimuli. In particular, they tapped on the tanks in which the animals were resting to observe their reactions. The sea creatures reacted differently when they were awake or in a quiet or active sleep phase. The research team also found that, if the octopuses were deprived of sleep for two days, they subsequently entered the active sleep stage earlier and more frequently. This finding suggests the existence of a homeostatic process, which is one of the key criteria for sleep.

Reliving past experiences

In addition, probes recording the neuronal activity of octopuses revealed the existence of brain waves resembling sleep spindles. Sleep spindles are a set of waves thought to protect sleep by inhibiting sensory input. Although their exact function is still a mystery, even in humans, scientists believe that these spindles contribute to the consolidation of memories. Biologists have noted that, in octopuses, these waves occur in brain regions associated with learning and memory, suggesting that they potentially have a function similar to that in humans.

These sleep spindles could explain the changes in octopus skin patterns observed by scientists. Indeed, octopuses can imitate their environment by modifying the texture and appearance of their epidermis instantly and in a variety of ways, thanks to thousands of pigmented cells called chromatophores. This defense mechanism enables them to hide from potential predators.

During the active sleep stage, the scientists observed that octopuses alternate the same skin patterns. This phenomenon could be explained by the fact that the animals use their sleep to train their camouflage skills, or simply to ensure that their chromatophores are working properly. But another hypothesis put forward is that octopuses could be reliving and learning from past experiences, such as hunting or hiding from a predator, and reactivating the skin pattern associated with each memory. In other words, they could be dreaming.

In this sense, while humans can verbally report what kind of dreams they had only once they wake, the octopuses skin pattern acts as a visual readout of their brain activity during sleep," said Dr. Sam Reiter, associate professor and head of the Computational Neuroethology Unit at OIST, quoted in a news release. He added: We currently dont know which of these explanations, if any, could be correct. We are very interested in investigating further."
The unrest in France sparked by the death of a 17-year-old in the hands of the police after he failed to stop for a traffic check has rocked the nation for three days in a row. The death of Nahel, the teenager, has led to protests and accusations that there are racism-related issues in the French police which have not been addressed for a long time.

The incident occurred in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre and the region itself has become the flashpoint of the recent strife. Several other cities of France, including Roubaix, Marseille and Nantes, have also been impacted by the riots but Paris remains most impacted.

The riots are being carried out by certain miscreants who are attacking innocent shop owners and businesses, leaving those to wonder how they are connected to the incident.

The video of the incident which was released by the AFP showed two police officers trying to stop the vehicle and one pointing his weapon at the driver, moments later a shot was fired and Nahel sustained a gunshot wound to his chest and died on the scene shortly afterwards.

Here are the top updates from the situation in France:

How Has Macron and His Cabinet Reacted?

French President Emmanuel Macron is not having an easy period following his reelection. First, the riots and unrest over pensions and now the death of the French Algerian teenager Nahel, these incidents have hurt the faith of the French citizens in his governance.

He abruptly left early from an EU summit in Brussels on Friday to return to France.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said all options are on the table and lashed out at rioters saying that violence is inexcusable.

She also thanked police and firefighters for tackling the rioters and miscreants and helping minimise the damage.

Natalia Pouzyreff, who is from Macrons Renaissance party, said that far-left parties are trying to fan the flames by accusing the police force of racism as they are not taking into account the mixed racial backgrounds of many officers, the BBC said.

The French PM said that Macron will hold a crisis meeting amid calls from parties for declaring a state of emergency.

Arrests, Damage and Injuries

Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said that at least 667 people have been arrested following a third night of protests. He further added that 249 police officers and gendarmes were injured in last nights riots.

A site of an Olympic swimming pool, reported to be under construction for the 2024 Games, central shopping street of Rue de Rivoli, mini supermarkets across multiple cities,

I am so sorry for the young man who died, but I dont understand what my business has to do with it, one shopkeeper told the BBC.

12 buses were set ablaze at a depot in Aubervilliers. Transport minister Clement Beaune said the attack is an attack on the weaker sections of the society who depend on these transportation services.

The Westfield Forum des Halles, the headquarters of the tech company Tessi and the area near Louvre and Champs-Elysees also reported widespread looting.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State Summit which will take place in a virtual format next week, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday.

At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend via video conference in Beijing the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and deliver important remarks on July 4, Hua Chunying, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson announced, according to reports by news agency ANI and China-based Xinhua News Agency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually chair the SCO Council of Heads of State meeting on July 4. The meeting will be attended by the heads of the two SCO Bodies - the Secretariat and the SCO RATS. Turkmenistan is invited to the meeting as the guest of the Chair.

Also attending the meeting are the heads of six international and regional organisations, namely, the UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA.

The theme for this years summit which is being held under Indias presidency is Towards a SECURE SCO. Coined by Prime Minister Modi the acronym SECURE stands for Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environment.

India has set up new pillars of cooperation under its Chairmanship - Startups and Innovation; Traditional Medicine; Digital Inclusion; Youth Empowerment; and Shared Buddhist Heritage. In addition, India has worked towards fostering greater people-to-people ties that celebrate the historical and civilizational bonds between our nations. These include the various socio-cultural events hosted by Varanasi under the framework of the first-ever SCO Cultural and Tourist Capital for 2022-23, a statement released by the SCO said.

The statement further added that Indias chairmanship of the SCO witnessed a period of intense activity and mutually beneficial cooperation between the member-states.

During Indias presidency, a total of 134 meetings and events, including 14 ministerial-level meetings were held. India remains committed to playing a positive and constructive role in the organisation and looks forward to a successful SCO Summit as the culmination of its chairmanship, the statement said.

The rotational presidency remains with India until September 2023.
Iran will be formally approved as a member of the regional Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with China, Russia and Central Asian countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.

At the meeting of heads of state on July 4, the full membership of Iran will be approved," Lavrov said at the opening of an SCO centre in Moscow.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian later had a phone conversation with the Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Zhang Ming, Irans foreign ministry said.

I am confident that the full membership of Iran will provide a novel and increasing capacity to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation," Amir-Abdollahian said according to a statement.

Zang, the Iranian foreign ministry state added, said Irans membership would be officially announced at the upcoming meeting of the organisation.

From July 4th, Iran will enjoy all the rights related to the member countries of the organisation," he said.

Iran has intensified its diplomacy with friends and foes alike in recent months, seeking to reduce its isolation, improve its economy and project strength.

SCO membership was already on the cards and Iran is also hoping to be quickly accepted into another grouping that excludes Western countries  the BRICS group with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The SCO, which has its headquarters in China, is a diplomatic organisation with eight members, including India and Pakistan.

Kremlin ally Belarus is also applying to join, and Lavrov said Friday that next weeks virtual summit would begin the procedure" for that membership to go ahead.
At least 48 people were killed when a truck apparently lost control and rammed into other vehicles and pedestrians at a busy junction in western Kenya on Friday night, police said.

So far we can confirm 48 dead and we are suspecting one or two are still trapped under the truck," local police commander Geoffrey Mayek told AFP after the accident on the highway between the towns of Kericho and Nakuru.

Thirty people have been seriously injured and rushed to various hospitals. The numbers could be more but as of now we are sure about 30."

Heavy rains are hindering rescue operations, local media reports said.

We are suspecting a truck which was being driven towards Kericho lost control and rammed into matatus (local minibuses) that were packed at a bus stop, running over those matatus and injuring passengers and pedestrians who were standing by the bus stop."

Images posted by local television stations showed several mangled vehicles.

My heart is crushed," Kericho governor Erick Mutai said on Facebook.

It is dark moment for the people of Kericho. My heart goes out to the families who have just lost their loved ones," he said, adding that ambulances had been mobilised and all health facilities were on standby.

The number of people killed on Kenyas roads has increased in recent years, according to government statistics.
The government on Friday welcomed Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharifs decision to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State Summit which will take place in a virtual format next week.

We welcome PM Shehbaz Sharif to the SCO meeting. SCO is a global forum and personal tensions should not come in between (in these kinds of multilateral meetings), people from the Indian government familiar with the developments said.

This time Iran is a new member and we aim to work on regional issues together in this forum. We expect Pakistan to understand that issues between two countries are different from regional issues. We need to behave in a more mature way, the aforementioned people said.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the 23rd Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) being held in video conference format on 4th July 2023. The invitation to the Prime Minister to attend the SCO-CHS was extended by the Prime Minister of India in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO. The Prime Ministers participation in the CHS illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO, as an important forum for regional security and prosperity, and enhanced engagement with the region, the Pakistan Prime Ministers Office said in a statement.

Earlier, the Pakistan government said it was likely that Shehbaz Sharif would attend the meeting but did not provide a confirmation.

On Friday, the Chinese foreign ministry also announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the SCO Summit which is being held in a virtual format.

At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend via video conference in Beijing the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and deliver important remarks on July 4, Hua Chunying, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson announced, according to reports by news agency ANI and China-based Xinhua News Agency.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually chair the SCO Council of Heads of State meeting on July 4. The meeting will be attended by the heads of the two SCO Bodies - the Secretariat and the SCO RATS.

PM Modi has also invited Turkmenistan to the summit and the heads of the UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA will also be present.
A Muslim mob attacked a gurdwara in Sukkur Sindh of Pakistan and stopped a kirtan, according to local sources.

The Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee said the attackers allegedly asked them to stop the music and not do kirtan in the future. They said they have been doing this for almost 100 years and no one has ever stopped them.

They said no first information report (FIR) has been filed so far.

The committee said no action has been taken against the attackers and they were released before management reached the spot.

Around 300 Sikh families, mostly Pashtun Sikh, are currently living in colonies in Peshawar. The community members have been living under the constant threat of violence as they have been targeted by gunmen in the recent years.

**We are deeply saddened to hear about the cold-blooded murder of Manmohan Singh in Peshawar, Pakistan today.**Manmohan Singh was a Sikh man who ran a grocery store in Rashid Garhi, Peshawar. He was the sole breadwinner for his family. He is survived by his wife, a child, pic.twitter.com/V3EN5s0qRX  UNITED SIKHS (@unitedsikhs) June 24, 2023

FEELING UNSAFE

CNN-News18 had recently reported on the killing of Sikhs in Peshawar, which is making them feel unsafe.

A grocery store owner, Manmohan Singh, was killed in a firing by unknown armed motorcyclists in Yakatoot area of Peshawar last Saturday. Singhs was the third attack on a Sikh community member this year in Pakistan.

Last Friday, a Sikh shopkeeper, identified as Tarlok Singh, was shot at by unidentified men. He suffered injuries. Last month, assailants gunned down Sardar Singh in a passer-by shooting in the eastern city of Lahore. Sardar Singh received a fatal gunshot to the head.

JAN TO JUNE REPORT

From January to June 2023, 38 women from Christian and Hindu communities have been abducted or force converted, and seven killed, according to a survey. According to the data collected by the Centre for Social Justice, at least 2,120 persons suffered due to false allegations, prolonged trials, dislocation, and worse between 1987 and 2022.

ALSO READ | Bodies Mutilated, Skin Peeled Off, Women Raped & Converted: Paks Minority Atrocities Report | Exclusive

88 persons were killed extra-judicially after allegations under the blasphemy laws during the period of 36 years, which tarnished the image of Pakistan.

According to the UN Human Rights, every year, 1,000 attacks are reported on non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan. The most affected areas are Sindh, Peshawar, Karachi, Baluchistan.
Iraqi protesters breached Swedens embassy in Baghdad on Thursday, angered by a Quran burning outside a Stockholm mosque that sparked condemnation across the Muslim world.

A crowd of supporters of firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr stayed inside the compound for about 15 minutes, then left as security forces deployed, an AFP photographer said.

Our constitution is the Quran," read a message on leaflets carried by the protesters, and a message sprayed on the compounds gate said Yes, yes to the Quran".

The protest came a day after an Iraqi citizen living in Sweden, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight in front of the capitals largest mosque.

Swedish police had granted him a permit in line with free-speech protections, but authorities later said they had opened an investigation over agitation".

Within 10 days I will burn the Iraqi flag and the Quran in front of Iraqs embassy in Stockholm," Momika told a Swedish newspaper late Thursday.

The Quran burning, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, sparked anger across and beyond the Middle East.

Iraqs foreign ministry condemned Swedens decision to grant an extremist" permission to burn the Quran and said such acts inflame the feelings of Muslims around the world and represent a dangerous provocation".

Late Thursday, the Iraqi foreign ministry said it had summoned the Swedish ambassador to Baghdad to inform her of the countrys strong protest" over the authorisation decision.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Washington was deeply concerned by the act" of the Quran burning which he said could threaten religious minorities in Sweden, but supported the decision to allow the demonstration.

Issuing the permit is not an endorsement of the demonstrations actions," Miller said.

Saudi Arabia, which hosted around 1.8 million hajj pilgrims, denounced the Quran burning, with the foreign ministry calling it part of hateful and repeated attacks" on Islam.

- Assault on faith -

The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said it would hold an emergency meeting" to discuss the situation. An OIC official said the talks would most probably be held on Sunday in the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah.

Iran joined in the condemnation, with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian saying the Quran burning was an insult" against religious sanctities".

Calling these behaviours freedom and democracy only encourage terrorism and extremism," he warned in a tweet.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also denounced Sweden for allowing a protest, further clouding the Nordic nations chances of quickly joining NATO.

We will eventually teach the arrogant Westerners that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought," Erdogan said in televised remarks.

We will show our reaction in the strongest possible terms, until a determined victory against terrorist organisations and Islamophobia is achieved."

Egypt called the Quran burning a disgraceful act provoking the feelings of Muslims" as they mark Eid, while the Cairo-based Arab League branded it an assault on the core of our Islamic faith".

The United Arab Emirates foreign ministry said it had summoned the Swedish ambassador and stressed that Sweden disregarded its international responsibilities and demonstrated a lack of respect for social values".

- Sweden complacent -

Kuwait said perpetrators of hostile acts" must be brought to justice and prevented from using the principle of freedoms as a ploy to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith".

Bahrain said that insulting religions generates hatred, extremism and violence", while Libyas foreign ministry said such action contradicts international efforts aimed at bolstering tolerance and moderation".

In neighbouring Tunisia, the foreign ministry denounced an odious crime" while Morocco summoned Swedens charge daffaires in Rabat and recalled its ambassador over these repeated provocations, committed under the complacent gaze of the Swedish government".

The Palestinian foreign ministry denounced a flagrant attack on human rights, values of tolerance, acceptance of others, democracy and peaceful coexistence".

Syria slammed a disgraceful act" while the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement in neighbouring Lebanon said Swedish authorities were complicit in the crime".

Further afield, Pakistans foreign ministry said it strongly condemns the despicable act", while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he was disgusted and appalled" by the Quran burning in front of a mosque.

I have no words to adequately condemn this anti-Islam act, which is clearly meant to hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world," Sharif said.

Afghanistans Taliban government, which enforces a strict interpretation of Islamic law, also reacted angrily, labelling the Quran burning an act of utter contempt towards this noble religion".
Russian President Vladimir Putin engaged in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and discussed a wide range of issues, including the recent Wagner Group mutiny, bilateral cooperation and the Ukraine conflict.

Referring to the recent mutiny by Wagner mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin on June 24, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens," Kremlin said in a statement.

The rebellion led by Prigozhin on Saturday was the the most significant challenge to President Putin during his more than two-decade rule. On Wednesday, Russias Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev briefed National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on the latest developments in the country following the rebellion.

Meanwhile, Moscow said during the discussion on bilateral cooperation, both leaders underlined the importance of further and consistent implementation of major joint projects in various fields, adding a significant increase in trade in 2022 and in the first quarter of this year was noted with satisfaction."

Particular attention was given to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the G20, where India currently holds the chairmanship, as well as in the BRICS format, Kremlin said.

PM Modi informed about his international contacts, including his recent visit to Washington, the statement read. PM Modi concluded his three-day state visit to the US last week, during which he engaged in various interactions and engagements aimed at strengthening the friendship between India and the United States.

Moscow said it briefly discussed the Ukraine conflict and PM Modi was told that the President of Russia assessed the current state of affairs in the special military operation zone, emphasizing Kyivs categorical refusal to take political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict."

PM Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy," an official statement by the PMO said.

The Kremlin described the conversation as informative and constructive", with the leaders reaffirming their mutual commitment to enhancing the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between Russia and India.

The statement came a day after Putin called PM Modi a big friend" of Russia and praised the Make in India campaign, terming it as a truly impressive effect" on Indias economy.

Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it," the president was quoted as saying by the RT News.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modis Make in India initiative, stating the policy has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy.

Since its launch in 2014, the Centres flagship program has facilitated investment, fostered innovation and enhanced skill development.

Recording substantial accomplishments in strategic sectors, Make in India is transforming the country into a global manufacturing and investment destination.

Speaking at an event hosted by a state-funded forum, Putin said it would do no harm to Russia to emulate what is working well in India.

Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it," Putin said at a plenary session of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) forum.

Of course, we need to think about making our products more convenient and functional, with a modern look and properties. Therefore, industrial and product design should become an important resource for the development of domestic business," he added.

This praise by the Russian president comes a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, said that India-Russia ties have been very good and it would be a mistake to reduce its importance.

Our relations with Russia have been kept steady despite all turbulence. We have made our own evaluation over the years regarding the importance of this. It is a mistake to dumb down ties with Russia to just defence dependences, Jaishankar said.

While talking about Indias relationship with Russia, he added India has an upswing in the economic part of its relations with Russia.

Notably, Indian refiners are now swiftly acquiring discounted crude.

According to the news agency Reuters, this shift comes as the West has abandoned the purchase of oil from Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has now redirected its energy supplies from traditional European markets to Asia, particularly India and China.
On the eve of the Constitution Day of Ukraine a group of public intellectuals signed a document in Lviv that declares the need to make significant changes to the basic law of the state after the victory: to balance the declared ideals and the real situation and to establish a new public consensus. The constitutional manifesto "A New Birth of Ukraine" emphasizes the unique historical opportunity to channel the unity of Ukrainians created by the war into the formulation of common values and ideals which may become the foundation for building a new Ukrainian society. "The basic law that can be easily ignored by those in power is by definition a bad constitution," the manifesto reads.  The main purpose of the constitution is actually to structure the system of power and create incentives to comply with its prescriptions. Our constitution will continue to be an empty declaration until we change it in a way to create the conditions for its effective application." The best time for change is the end of the war, according to the authors of the manifesto,  when the unity of the country will be maximal.

The manifesto had been developed for about six months. Among the co-authors: David Williams, professor of law at the Indiana University School of Law, head of the Indiana University Center for Constitutional Democracy; Svitlana Khilyuk, director of the Ukrainian Catholic University School of Law; Gennadi Druzenko (who previously studied with Professor Williams), chairman of the board of the Center for Constitutional Modeling, co-founder and president of the First Volunteer Mobile Hospital named after Mykola Pirogov.

Among the first signatories: Nobel laureate Oleksandra Matviychuk; president and deputy rector of UCU, Metropolitan-Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia Borys Gudziak; founding member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group Myroslav Marynovych; philosopher, head of PEN Ukraine Volodymyr Yermolenko; judge of the European Court of human rights from Ukraine (2010-2022), member of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Hanna Yudkivska; doctor of historical sciences, UCU professor Yaroslav Hrytsak; "The First of December" Initiative group member Yosif Zisels; ILF law firm managing partner, co-founder of the foundation "Health Solutions" Tetyana Gavrish; journalist, editor-in-chief of "Den" newspaper Larisa Ivshina; serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ihor Lutsenko.

The authors of "A New Birth of Ukraine" remind us that for decades: "...the political system was getting less and less sensitive to the needs of ordinary Ukrainians", but the new public consensus will depend on the new quality of politics, which should offer Ukrainians "reasons to trust their political system" and "feel unity which does not suppress diversity, and national identity which is based on something more than resistance to a common enemy." Now, during the war, when power is inevitably concentrated, the authors emphasize that it is necessary to remember that "when peace reigns, it will be extremely important to decentralize it (the power). In order for this to happen, it will first be necessary to change the very way of Ukrainian thinking from a military to a peaceful one. A new social consensus is needed to form in Ukrainians a vision of their own country, focused on the opportunities that the future can offer and which require thoughtful reflection."

The document does not provide any suggestions as to what exactly needs to be changed in the Constitution of Ukraine, because the authors want to refrain from imposing or advocating specific ideas, they emphasize that "this should be decided by the people of Ukraine"  after extensive discussion. For the openness and inclusiveness of the constitutional process, they suggest using recorded public hearings, constitutional discussion communities or clubs in each city, an elected constitutional assembly together with expert support and a referendum.

The co-author of the manifesto, dean of the UCU School of Law, Svitlana Khilyuk, emphasizes: "We must redefine the relationship between a person and the state: decide whether we want to develop the idea of personal freedom and responsibility, or whether we want to preserve a paternalistic system with an excess of positive rights. If we declare our commitment to the idea of freedom, we must be ready to take responsibility. A new social contract should start not with isolated solutions, but with a general framework, a jointly defined strategy: where we are going and what we strive for."

One of the signatories of A New Birth of Ukraine, co-founder of Health Solutions for Open Society foundation Tetyana Havrysh believes that the Manifesto text is incredible for the Ukrainian legal tradition: "It absolutely resonates with the conceptual vision of Health Solutions - about achieving a public consensus on the idea that at the center of post-war reconstruction should be a person, not only their life and security, but also their freedom and dignity. Because the current Constitution, I remind you, perceives a person as a means, while freedom as a value is absent - the current Constitution does not contain that concept. It is essential for us that the new social contract should respect human subjectivity and be based on shared responsibility. As of today, we have a post-communist Constitution, which in its essence stimulates paternalistic models and does not stimulate greater responsibility of citizens."

The document is currently open for discussion.
The man who burned pages of the Koran outside a Stockholm mosque, sparking protests and a wave of condemnations, told Swedish media Thursday that he intended to burn another Koran within 10 days.

After being granted a permit to protest by Swedish police, Salwan Momika, 37, stomped on the Islamic holy book and set several pages alight in front of the capitals largest mosque on Wednesday.

The Koran burning, coinciding with the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, sparked anger across and beyond the Middle East.

Speaking to newspaper Expressen, Momika said he knew his action would provoke reactions and that he had received thousands of death threats".

Nonetheless, he was planning further actions in the coming weeks, he said.

Within 10 days I will burn the Iraqi flag and the Koran in front of Iraqs embassy in Stockholm," he said.

Swedish police had granted him a permit in line with free-speech protections, but later said they had opened an investigation over agitation against an ethnic group," noting that he had performed the burning so close to the mosque.

Momika, however, denied that his actions constituted a hate crime" or agitation towards any group".

The police have the right to investigate whether the burning is a hate crime. They could be right and they can be wrong," Momika told the newspaper, adding that it would be up to a court to decide in the end.

The police authorisation for the protest came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected the polices decision to deny permits for two demonstrations in Stockholm which were to include Koran burnings.

Police had at the time cited security concerns, following a burning of the Muslim holy book outside Turkeys embassy in January which led to weeks of protests, calls for a boycott of Swedish goods and further stalled Swedens NATO membership bid  which is being blocked by Ankara.

The appeals court however in mid-June ruled that police were wrong to ban those, saying the security concerns cited by police were not sufficient to ban the events.
The US Supreme Court severely limited the scope of affirmative action policies in American college admissions after hearing several cases on Thursday, the Hill said in a report.

American institutions for decades have used affirmative action programs to select students from their applicant pools.

The US Supreme Courts conservative justices, six out of nine, said Harvard and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills (UNC) admissions practices did not comply with the 14th Amendments guarantee of equal protection.

Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints, US Chief Justice John Roberts was quoted as saying by the Hill.

In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individualnot on the basis of race, he further added, saying that universities have done the opposite for too long.

The US Chief Justice, however, pointed out that nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life.

How Did Liberal Justices React?

The three liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented against the ruling. Sotomayor, who is considered the most liberal, said the court rolled back decades of precedent and momentous progress.

It holds that race can no longer be used in a limited way in college admissions to achieve such critical benefits. In so holding, the Court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter, Sotomayor said.

Ketanji Brown Jackson recused herself from the case because she served on Harvards Board of Overseers until last spring.

She, however, said: The best that can be said of the majoritys perspective is that it proceeds (ostrich-like) from the hope that preventing consideration of race will end racism. But if that is its motivation, the majority proceeds in vain. If the colleges of this country are required to ignore a thing that matters, it will not just go away. It will take longer for racism to leave us.

How Have the Colleges Reacted?

UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said that the university will carefully review the decision and take the necessary steps in order to comply with it.

He said the university remains committed to bringing together talented students with different perspectives and life experiences and continues to make an affordable, high-quality education accessible to the people of North Carolina and beyond.

Harvard said it will look at the ruling and determine how to preserve, consistent with the Courts new precedent, its essential values.

The leaders of the Association of American Medical Colleges said they were deeply disappointed.

What are the Political Reactions?

The US President Joe Biden criticised the ruling and said the apex court of the land is not a normal court.

Take a look at how its ruled on a number of issues that have been precedent for 50, 60 years sometimes. And thats what I meant by not normal. Across the board the vast majority of the American people dont agree with the majority of decisions the court is making, Biden said.

Republicans lauded the decision and Colorado Republican Ken Buck asked Black American students to look to role models like South Carolina Republican Tim Scott and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, both of whom are Black Americans, according to a report by the Hill.

As a Black woman who had the audacity to attend college, I am disgusted that our country just enshrined racial inequity in higher education and economic immobility into law, Pennsylvanias Black American House of Representatives member Summer Lee said.
Artek Medical Group LLC helped the Poltava Regional Clinical Hospital named after M.V. Sklifosovsky with the purchase of a new CT scanner. The company's Facebook page states that the device has already been put into operation and is actively used in diagnostic and treatment activities for residents of the region, internally displaced persons, and wounded soldiers.

Despite the logistical and security challenges posed by the hostilities, Artek Medical Group managed to organize the delivery, preparation of the premises, and installation of the new device in a matter of months by working with the manufacturer under a direct contract. The company strictly complied with the requirements of the tender documentation and Ukrainian legislation and fully fulfilled its obligations to the customer.

The wide-profile CT scanner handed over to Poltava Regional Hospital is capable of generating 32 to 64 submillimeter slices per rotation using IVR technology. The scanner is designed for fast and safe examination of internal organs, cardiovascular and nervous systems. This makes procedures usually available for specialized equipment possible as part of routine diagnostics and increases not only the throughput of the tomograph but also the quality of the examinations.

The model of the tomograph received by Poltava doctors also provide maximum radiation protection for both patients and medical staff, and it is possible to control the functions of the device from a portable workstation in the form of a tablet.

"Poltava region is constantly receiving evacuees, wounded Ukrainian defenders, and internally displaced persons. We are glad that we managed to satisfy the need of Sklifosovsky Hospital for modern and efficient diagnostic equipment," said Natalia Kurashko, Director of Artek Medical Group LLC.

For reference.

Artek Medical Group LLC is one of the leaders in the supply of heavy diagnostic equipment and the only company working under a direct contract with the manufacturer. The list of medical equipment that the company specializes in includes computed tomography scanners, magnetic resonance imaging, angiography, X-ray machines, ultrasound systems, etc. The ultimate beneficiaries of Artek Medical Group LLC are Natalia Kurashko and Ruslan Stretovych.

Source: Artek Medical Group Facebook page
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. Riots broke out in France after a police officer deadly shot a teenager of Algerian origin in Nanterre suburb of Paris. Despite arrest of the policeman, the teenager's killing has led to riots. Barricades were erected in Nanterre, cars were set on fire, and there were clashes with the police. The riots spread to other suburbs of Paris, and several cities.

Today, the number of people arrested during protests in France has reached 150 people. In this regard, the President of France Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting of the interdepartmental crisis group at 08:00 (GMT +2).

Commenting on the issue, Azerbaijani political analyst Tural Ismayilov said that after Macron came to power, racism in France reached its peak.

France ignored human rights for many years, throughout history we have seen the consequences of its cruel, unacceptable, inhumane policies, and today the country continues to adhere to this fascist mentality," he said. "France was not brought to international justice for the massacre of Algerian Muslims, the participation of France in a number of crimes across the African continent - in Rwanda and elsewhere, is a proven fact. While Germany is responsible to the world for its former fascist policies, France throughout history has not been held accountable for any of its crimes."

According to Ismayilov, opinion polls also show that racism and ethnic intolerance have reached the highest level in France. According to polls, one of the main reasons for such sentiments in society are the radical fascist political forces in France.

Elements of fascism are widely spread in the present-day France, from the main opposition party led by Marine Le Pen to the rule of Macron.

"The killing of the 17-year-old Algerian teenager in the context of ethnic hatred and intolerance is a great political disgrace. But, unfortunately, institutions such as the European Parliament, PACE, which have turned into a 'political province' of France and the Armenian lobby, don't show the proper reaction to these France's inhuman steps," the analyst noted.

"Therefore, I believe that all NGOs and civil activists worldwide, as well as media representatives, should be active in this matter, campaign more actively at the international level against these crimes of France," he added.

Azerbaijani MP Vugar Iskandarov, commenting on cases of violence in France, noted that the events in the country once again testify to the true essence of this country.

"By killing the 17-year-old teenager on the grounds of racial hatred, the representative of the power structure of France, positioning itself in the world as the 'herald of democracy', once again demonstrated the true image of this state. Of course, this case, which was sharply condemned by the people of France, caused mass riots," Iskandarov also noted.

"What is happening now in France is in fact the result of a complete crisis of Macron's policies because now the people of France are aware of Macron's despotism. Having positioned itself as the 'center of democracy', France is turning into a dictatorial country," he said. "The brutal and cold-blooded murder of an Algerian teenager by the police shows how this state treats its people. As you can see, Macron has already forgotten such concepts as democracy and tolerance."

The mass disobedience demonstrated by the people of France indicates their dissatisfaction with the fact that the future of the country is entrusted to this politician, Iskandarov explained.

He pointed out that mass protests are taking place in several cities of France. France, having suffered numerous setbacks in foreign policy, has also faced serious internal problems.

"In this situation, the image of French President Emmanuel Macron and his team is collapsing even faster. If France had correctly pursued its own domestic policy at one time instead of interfering in the internal affairs of other states, including Azerbaijan, today there would be no such massive riots against Macron. Today, the situation in France is seen as if the government is not in favor of any concessions to society, rather it is busy destroying the democratic foundations," the MP said.

"At the same time, unfortunately, the Western media and international organizations don't react to all this, as if in countries like France, the violation of human rights is normal, but as soon as something happens in other countries at the local level, this is immediately turned into an 'event' and put on the international agenda. It would be good if Western institutions, such as PACE and European Parliament, would see what is happening right under their noses," Iskandarov said.
On the verge of tears, Nathan Nkunzimana recalled watching a video of a child being molested and another of a woman being killed. His job as a content moderator for a Facebook contractor required him to look at horrors. Some overwhelmed colleagues would scream or cry, he said. Now, the AP reports Nkunzimana is among nearly 200 former employees in Kenya who are suing Facebook and local contractor Sama over working conditions that could have implications for social media moderators around the world. It is the first known court challenge outside the United States, where Facebook settled with moderators in 2020. The group was employed at the social media giant's outsourced hub for content moderation in Kenya's capital of Nairobi, where workers screen posts, videos, messages, and other content from users across Africa.

The moderators from several African countries are seeking a $1.6 billion compensation fund after alleging poor working conditions, including insufficient mental health support, and low pay. Earlier this year, they were laid off by Sama as it left the business of content moderation. They assert that the companies are ignoring a court order for their contracts to be extended until the case is resolved. Facebook and Sama have defended their employment practices. Facebook invested in moderation hubs worldwide after being accused of allowing hate speech to circulate in countries like Ethiopia and Myanmar, where conflicts were killing thousands of people and harmful content was posted in a variety of local languages.

Sought for their fluency in various African languages, content moderators hired by Sama in Kenya soon found themselves looking at graphic content that hit painfully close to home. The two years that Fasica Gebrekidan worked as a moderator roughly overlapped with the war in her native Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, where hundreds of thousands of people were killed and many Tigrayans like her knew little about their loved ones' fate. "You run away from the war, then you have to see the war," Fasica said. "It was just a torture for us." Fasica blames Facebook for a lack of proper mental health care and pay and accuses the local contractor of using her and letting her go. "Facebook should know what's going on," she said. "They should care about us."

Such work has the potential to be "incredibly psychologically damaging," but job-seekers in lower-income countries might take the risk in exchange for an office job in the tech industry, said Sarah Roberts, an expert in content moderation at the University of California, Los Angeles. What's unusual in the Kenya court case, she said, is that the moderators are organizing and pushing back against their conditions. The usual tactic in such cases in the US is to settle, she said, but "if cases are brought in other places, that might not be so easy for the companies to do that." (Read more Facebook stories.)
A grand jury decided Thursday to not indict Travis Scott or anyone else in the deaths of 10 people at the 2021 Astroworld Festival in Houston. Thousands of people were injured, as well, in the crowd surge . The Harris County grand jury spent the day weighing criminal charges against the rapper-producer and other organizers of the concert, KTRK reports. A lawyer for Scott called the outcome a relief. "It's something we were hoping, something we expected based on lack of evidence," Kent Schaffer said. No one has been charged in the case so far.

Kim Ogg, the county's district attorney, said in a news conference Thursday the grand jury found that there was no crime committed and that "no single individual was criminally responsible." Scott was onstage when the surge began and did not respond to shouts from the crowd to stop the concert. He said later he didn't hear the screams, per People. The victims were found to have died of accidental compression asphyxia. Scott, other organizers, and Live Nation face several lawsuits over the deaths; they've denied allegations of negligence, per CNN. His lawyer said Scott, who is out of the country, is "ecstatic" about the grand jury's decision. "It's a huge weight that has been removed from his shoulders," Schaffer said. (Read more Travis Scott stories.)
Following the Supreme Court ruling gutting affirmative action at US colleges and universities, Michelle Obama came forward to talk about how the policy affected her when she was an undergraduate student at Princeton University. Affirmative action "wasn't perfect," she wrote in a joint statement issued alongside her husband, but it offered "new ladders of opportunity for those who, throughout our history, have too often been denied a chance to show how fast they can climb." While she recalls sometimes wondering if people might assume affirmative action was the reason she'd been accepted, she says she and her fellow students of color proved they belonged at Princeton as much as anybody else there, Politico reports.

Former President Obama agreed: The policy had its problems, but "it allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged." Added the former first lady, "So often, we just accept that money, power, and privilege are perfectly justifiable forms of affirmative action, while kids growing up like I did are expected to compete when the ground is anything but level. So today, my heart breaks for any young person out there who's wondering what their future holdsand what kinds of chances will be open to them." President Biden also condemned the ruling (and, asked whether the current SCOTUS bench is a rogue court, said it's "not a normal court"). But, perhaps not surprisingly, former President Trump said it marked "a great day for America," ABC News reports.

"This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing. It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world," he said in a statement. "Our greatest minds must be cherished and that's what this wonderful day has brought. We're going back to all merit-basedand that's the way it should be!" Fellow 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, however, used his own response as an opportunity to dig at Trump, the Guardian reports. The Florida governor's campaign team posted a 2015 clip in which Trump said, "I'm fine with affirmative action. We've lived with it for a long time. And I lived with it for a long time. And I've had great relationships with lots of people." (Read more affirmative action stories.)
A suspect wanted in connection with the Capitol attack was arrested near former President Obama's home in Washington, DC, on Thursdayand while the address is not a secret, it might not be a coincidence that former President Trump shared it on Truth Social hours earlier. A Truth Social account linked to suspect Taylor Taranto reposted the article Trump shared and added, "Got them surrounded!" A law enforcement source tells the New York Times that firearms, ammunition, and materials that could make explosives were found in Taranto's van.

NBC reports that according to Taranto's social media accounts, he has spent the last few weeks living in his van near the Washington jailhouse where numerous Jan. 6 suspects are being held. He shared conspiracy theories about Obama's home online and livestreamed his activities on the day of his arrest, speaking of underground tunnels he believed were in the neighborhood. He also said he had a detonator, CNN reports. It's not clear whether Obama and his family were at home when Taranto was detained by Secret Service officers.

Taranto, who had an open warrant for his arrest on charges related to the Capitol attack, was charged with being a fugitive from justice, report CNN. Taranto is also a defendant in a lawsuit filed in 2021 by the widow of a police officer who took his own life after the attack, the Washington Post reports. Lawyers for Erin Smith said Taranto handed a cane or crowbar to David Walls-Kaufman, who hit Jeffrey Smith in the face with it. Smith's death nine days later was ruled a line-of-duty death. Walls-Kaufman was arrested last year and sentenced to two months in prison. (Read more Capitol riot stories.)
A thief who posed as an employee of a coin-cashing company sent to tend to the machines, only to break into them and take the coin vaults with him, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison. The US attorney's office for Oregon said Richard Pena repeated the scam dozens of times in 2021, stealing a total of hundreds of thousands of dollars in coins, NBC News reports, while driving a van from Las Vegas to Portland. His run ended that December when a suspicious store employee called police, prosecutors said. Officials said Pena's toll, in stolen coins and damage to machines, came to $715,000.

The day before he was arrested, prosecutors in Portland said, Pena took about $10,000 from a store in Hillsboro, Oregon, then almost $7,000 from another store in town. Less than an hour after that, the Las Vegas man pocketed almost $3,000 from a store in Beaverton and another $3,000 from a second store in the same city, per KGW. Sheriff's deputies who searched his rental van, U-Haul truck, and hotel room said they found 1.5 million coins totaling more than $133,000 in laundry baskets and bags, court documents say. "This was not pocket change," prosecutors wrote. Pena took a plea deal on a conspiracy charge. His sentence calls for $581,858 in restitution. (Thieves took 2 million dimes from the Philadelphia Mint in April.)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. The Media Development Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan has issued a statement in connection with the attack on employees of the Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting CJSC, Trend reports.

"Employees of Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting CJSC were attacked while performing their duties in France, their cameras were taken away and they were threatened with weapons.

This incident is a clear example of pressure on freedom of speech and expression, freedom of journalism in general, and restriction of the rights of journalists to access information.

The Media Development Agency strongly condemns the attack on media representatives carrying out their professional activities and calls on the French authorities and relevant institutions to legally assess the incident, identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

At the same time, the agency calls on international journalistic organizations and institutions specializing in the protection of media rights to take note of this and show solidarity regarding the adoption of legal measures related to the incident," the statement says.

The employees of Azerbaijan Television and Radio Broadcasting CJSC (owning AzTV channel) were attacked during filming of protest rallies in France. As a result, the reporter and cameraman were injured, and the camera was taken away and broken. When the AzTV employees demanded the return of the camera, they were threatened with a weapon.

The protests began after the murder of a 17-year-old teenager who disobeyed an order of the traffic police in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre in the province of Ile-de-France.
Students at Jeremiah E. Burke High School in Boston say the classmate they knew as Daniella chose the jersey number 32 when she joined the girls' basketball team. They didn't realize that was also her age. Investigators say former social worker Shelby Hewitt posed as a student at three Boston high schools during the 2022-23 school year, enrolling under different aliases and submitting forged documents, the New York Times reports. She faces charges including document forgery and identity fraud. Authorities say she worked off and on for the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families from 2016 until February this year.

Boston school superintendent Mary Skipper said in a letter to families that Hewitt also attended Brighton High School and English High School, "utilizing the student transfer process and enrolling under multiple pseudonyms," WBUR reports. After a man claiming to be her father tried to withdraw her from English High earlier this month, saying she had been bullied, officials found irregularities in her paperwork and notified police. A criminal complaint filed against Hewitt does not give a motive for the deception and authorities have declined to comment further, though the "human trafficking" box is ticked on a police incident report from June 14.

Skipper said that so far, officials "have not identified any incidents of harm to students or staff." Classmates say Hewitt claimed to be 16 or 17 years old and they find the deception puzzling and disturbing. They say Hewitt ate lunch and gossiped with fellow students, though she often seemed upset, especially when teachers urged her to work harder. Janell Lamons, 15, who befriended the woman at Burke because she seemed lonely, says she claimed to be in foster care but her story kept changing, the Boston Globe reports. Other students say she dressed a little too well and seemed a little too old to be in high school. "It was low-key like she was lying about something," says Isaiah Price, 16. (Read more Boston stories.)
Former President Trump's claim that he had a "standing order" to declassify documents taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago has long been debunked as "dubious" and called "total nonsense" by Trump White House officials. Now, another blow to Trump's story: the Week reports that last August, after the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, Bloomberg reporter Jason Leopold filed a Freedom of Information Act request with both the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to see if he could dig up any proof of such an order.

Leopold's search was initially fruitless: Last month, government attorneys told Bloomberg in a court filing that it wasn't able to confirm or deny the existence of such an order, due to the criminal probe underway against Trump. Things changed this week, though, after a judge in a similar Massachusetts case ruled that the agencies couldn't hold back such information for that reason. Government lawyers then told Bloomberg on Thursday that neither agency has "records responsive to your request."

The New York Times reported more extensively last year on the process involved in declassifying documents, which presidents do have the constitutional authority to do. Still, certain protocols must be followed: Bloomberg cites ex-intelligence officials who say that a "standing order" like the one mentioned by Trump would "have to be memorialized in writing and shared with the intelligence community," including the DNI. Whatever agency classified a certain document would also likely receive notice of such an order.

In answering the question "Can a president secretly declassify information without leaving a written record or telling anyone?," the Times was clear: "That question, according to specialists in the law of government secrecy, is borderline incoherent." One secrecy specialist noted, "The system is not meant to be deployed in such an arbitrary fashion." Trump is facing 37 federal felony counts, with charges including obstruction of justice, willful retention of classified documents, and making false statements. (Read more Mar-a-Lago indictment stories.)
A judge has ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to release police dashcam videos, recordings of 911 calls, and other records related to the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, which stands out from other recent mass shootings due to its death toll and what has been dubbed the " disastrous police response ." Officers were on scene for more than an hour before confronting and killing the shooter, who had by then killed 19 children and two teachers. More than a dozen media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and ABC, sued the department last year, saying its refusal to release records related to the shooting violated state law.

The department declined to release most records related to the caseincluding forensic records, the names of personnel who responded, and the training records of department officersciting an ongoing investigation by the local district attorney. But news organizations disputed that reasoning on the basis that the guilt of the 18-year-old shooter who acted alone "is not in question," per the Texas Tribune, which also joined the suit. US District Court Judge Daniella Deseta Lyttle sided with the media outlets on Thursday, saying the department must release the recordsbut they won't become available immediately.

The department has until Aug. 31 to submit a list of proposed redactions before a hearing on the proposal in September, per CNN. The department could appeal before then. But "we're hopeful DPS won't fight this decision and we'll begin the process of providing transparency," Reid Pillifant, an attorney for the plaintiffs, tells the Tribune. "The public deserves a full accounting of what happened that day." As Laura Lee Prather, another lawyer for the plaintiffs, noted in filing the suit last year, per CNN, the department's "inconsistent accounts of how law enforcement responded ... and its lack of transparency has stirred suspicion and frustration in a community that is still struggling with grief and shock." (Read more Uvalde mass shooting stories.)
One of the Supreme Court's final rulings for this term is due out Friday regarding LGBTQ+ rights, but ahead of its release comes a report on a key document in the case. It appears that document may be phony, reports the Guardian, which notes that "[raises] the possibility that important evidence cited in [the case] might be wrong or even falsified." The news was first reported Thursday by the New Republic, in a story with the eyebrow-raising headline, "The Mysterious Case of the Fake Gay Marriage Website, the Real Straight Man, and the Supreme Court." More here:

The case: 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis challenges a Colorado law that bars businesses that serve the public from discriminating against gay people. Plaintiff Lorie Smith, a web designer, says her religious objections should exempt her from designing websites for same-sex weddings.

303 Creative LLC v. Elenis challenges a Colorado law that bars businesses that serve the public from discriminating against gay people. Plaintiff Lorie Smith, a web designer, says her religious objections should exempt her from designing websites for same-sex weddings. The document: Smith's lawyers included in court filings an inquiry from a man named Stewart (his last name is being kept under wraps), who in September 2016 contacted Smith through her website for work on his wedding to his fiance, Mike. Stewart's email and phone number were included in the filing. "This week, I decided to call Stewart and ask him about his inquiry," Melissa Gira Grant wrote for the New Republic.
Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar, has died. He was 89, per the AP . "Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man," Arkin's sons Adam, Matthew, and Anthony said in a statement to People . "A loving husband, father, grand- and great-grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed." A member of Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof The Russians Are Coming! the Russians Are Coming! and peaked late in life with his 2007 Oscar win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit Little Miss Sunshine.

Born in Brooklyn, Arkin and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was 11. His parents found jobs as teachers, but they were fired during the post-World War II Red Scare because they were Communists. "We were dirt poor, so I couldn't afford to go to the movies often," Arkin told the AP in 1998. "But I went whenever I could ... as they were more important than anything in my life." He studied acting in college and married a fellow student, Jeremy Yaffe, with whom he had two sons, Adam and Matthew. After he and Yaffe divorced in 1961, Arkin married actress-writer Barbara Dana and they had a son, Anthony. All three sons became actors; Adam starred in the TV series Chicago Hope. "It was certainly nothing that I pushed them into," Alan Arkin said in 1998. "It made absolutely no difference to me what they did, as long as it allowed them to grow."

Arkin once joked to the AP that the beauty of being a character actor was not having to take his clothes off for a role. He wasn't a sex symbol or superstar, but he was rarely out of work, appearing in more than 100 TV and feature films. His trademarks were likability, relatability, and complete immersion in his roles, no matter how unusual. "Alan's never had an identifiable screen personality because he just disappears into his characters," The Russians Are Coming director Norman Jewison once observed. While still with Second City, Arkin was chosen by Carl Reiner to play the young protagonist in the 1963 Broadway play Enter Laughing, based on Reiner's semi-autobiographical novel. TMZ notes he picked up a Tony for that role. He attracted strong reviews and the notice of Jewison, who was preparing to direct a 1966 comedy about a Russian sub.

Arkin's rise continued in 1968 with The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, in which he played a sensitive man who couldn't hear or speak, and his career continued to blossom when Mike Nichols, a fellow Second City alumnus, cast him in the starring role in 1970's Catch-22, based on Joseph Heller's novel. Through the years, Arkin turned up in such favorites as Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, and The Slums of Beverly Hills, in which he and Reiner played brothers. Other recent credits included the 2017 remake Going In Style, as well as in Netflix's The Kominsky Method, with Michael Douglas. He also was the voice of Wild Knuckles in the 2022 animated film Minions: The Rise of Gru. "When I was a young actor people wanted to know if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny one," Michael McKean tweeted Friday. "I'd answer 'Which kind is Alan Arkin?' and that shut them up."

(Read more Alan Arkin stories.)
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. International community can raise awareness about the potential environmental impacts of the construction of the metallurgical plant in the village of Arazdayan, located on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijans Nakhchivan, an environmental activist, Maryam Danesh, at Washington and lee University (US) told Trend.

"The international community generally places great importance on environmental sustainability, and projects that contribute to environmental degradation may be viewed unfavorably. It is crucial for countries to balance economic development with environmental considerations and seek sustainable solutions," she said.

Regarding the violation of human rights of Azerbaijanis living around the area, she pointed out that a thorough assessment would be necessary to determine the impact on local communities.

"Environmental pollution can indeed have adverse effects on people's health and well-being, and it is important to protect the rights of individuals in such situations. To prevent violations of international conventions on environmental pollution, it is essential for countries to adhere to existing regulations, engage in comprehensive environmental impact assessments, and implement appropriate mitigation measures. Transparency, accountability, and effective enforcement mechanisms are key to ensuring compliance with these conventions," the expert added.

Its worth noting that the Armenian-American steel plant covers an expansive area of 16,500 square meters and is expected to have an annual production capacity of 180,000 tons.
, Jun 30 ( Kyodo ) - Three former members of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual indecency against a female subordinate in 2021 during their trial's first hearing on Thursday.

The case has gained substantial public attention as the victim, Rina Gonoi, 23, made the rare move last year of coming forward to expose sexual offenses while serving as a GSDF member. This prompted the Defense Ministry to dismiss the three and increase its efforts in addressing harassment issues.

At the Fukushima District Court, the three former GSDF sergeants -- Shutaro Shibuya, Akito Sekine and Yusuke Kimezawa -- claimed they did not press their lower bodies against Gonoi at a training facility in Hokkaido in August 2021, denying charges of indecency through compulsion. ...continue reading
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Boillon has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, Trend reports.

The ambassador was asked to clarify the recent meeting between President Emmanuel Macron and representatives of Armenia's Dashnaktsutyun party and the Armenian lobby in France and statements in the press about some of the opinions expressed by the French president at this meeting.

It was brought to the attention of the ambassador that the French side should clarify these statements made on behalf of Macron.

Thus, representatives of Dashnaktsutyun party and the Armenian lobby in their statements in the media, quoting Emmanuel Macron, said that, immediately after the Chisinau meeting, the French president said that he was more active in the "Karabakh issue" than Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, and would further strengthen this activity.

In response, the ambassador said that she had no information on this issue.

The Azerbaijani side is waiting for Paris to confirm or refute the opinions expressed on behalf of Emmanuel Macron. If they are confirmed, it is possible that official Baku will take appropriate steps at the diplomatic level.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. Armenia grossly violates human rights of Azerbaijanis, including those people in the entire region, by building thethe metallurgical plant in the village of Arazdayan, located on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijans Nakhchivan, Peter Ngola, Executive at Wote Youth Development Projects CBO (Kenya), told Trend.

"The establishment of this large-scale metallurgical plant blatantly disregards internationally recognized standards and principles will have global repercussions. The construction of such a factory harms people or the planet and marks a red line for civil society, given its far-reaching implications and the threat it poses to human health, the environment and true sustainability. The potential repercussions of the metallurgical plant's toxic chemical waste on the local ecosystem are significant. This environmental impact will definitely affect human health and safety, flora, fauna, soil, air and water structures. By committing these environmental crimes, Armenia completely violates this resolution, being in the opposite position to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular the 3rd goal on good health and well-being, the 6th goal on clean water and sanitation, the 13th goal on combating the consequences of climate change, and the 15th goal on protecting the soil ecosystem," he said.

Moreover, as the expert pointed out, the Aarhus Convention plays a vital role in fostering access to information, public participation, and justice in environmental matters, and, as a signatory to this convention, Armenia must fulfill its obligations by ensuring that affected communities have access to information regarding plant activities, meaningful participation in decision-making processes, and avenues for seeking redress in case of environmental harm.

"We demand Armenia to create an enabling environment for civil society organizations and local communities to actively engage in dialogue and decision-making processes related to the building of the sizable steel plant," the expert added.

Ngola noted that already civil societies from Kenya, Nigeria, UK, USA, Cambodia, India , Pakistan, Botswana, Japan have signed the petition to prevent this construction from happening.

"But that is not enough. The global citizen should attend international forums and shame the investors and nations supporting this disastrous investment by holding street protests during climate meetings, use social media and any other avenue to air their grievances. We, as global activists, are looking forward to coming to Azerbaijan to join hands and raising our voices to stop this. Global CSOs can go to the UN court and accuse those responsible for violating human rights," he concluded.
PEI to improve catastrophic drug coverage program to make medication more affordable and accessible

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE, June 30, 2023 /CNW/ - No Canadian should have to choose between paying for prescription drugs and putting food on the table. Unfortunately, many are faced with this impossible decision every day. As part of the Improving Affordable Access to Prescriptions Drugs (IAAPD) program, supported by the Government of Canada, the Government of PEI will reduce Island residents' out-of-pocket costs for many prescription medicines.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada's Minister of Health, and the Honourable Mark McLane, Minister of Health and Wellness for Prince Edward Island (PEI), announced that as of July 1, 2023, PEI will enhance its Catastrophic Drug Program by lowering the cap on the amount of money a household needs to spend out of pocket on eligible medications. The province has added more income threshold levels and adjusted household income expenditure calculations. As such, after July 1, 2023, eligible PEI household enrolled in the Catastrophic Drug Program will not have to spend more than 6.5% of their household income on eligible medications. With this change, once the 6.5% cap has been reached, eligible medication costs for the remainder of the year from July 1 to June 30 will be paid through the Catastrophic Drug Program. These new changes are expected to save eligible Island residents an estimated total of $430K annually.

This latest improvement to PEI's drug programs marks another important milestone in improving the affordability and accessibility of prescription drugs for Island residents that will result in better health outcomes for many. Details on PEI's support for the cost of prescription medication are available on the Prescription Care website.

Through this partnership with the Government of Canada, PEI is aiming to make further improvements to their drug programs, such as increasing coverage and simplifying access. Under the IAAPD, those who experience the most vulnerability, including uninsured Island residents, seniors, and families with high burden of medication cost, will benefit from improved access to medications.

Quotes

"For too many Canadians, the cost of medication is an additional barrier to accessing the health care they need. This partnership continues to improve access and affordability to essential medications for Island residents who need it the most. Together we can bring essential medications within reach for everyone who needs them on PEI while we continue our work toward improving access and affordability for all Canadians through a national pharmacare program."

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos

Minister of Health

"Since we signed the funding agreement in March 2022, these funding dollars have helped us ensure that more medications are in reach for Islanders and Island families. The addition of these changes to the Catastrophic Drug program provides opportunity for eligible residents to save on medication costs each year. We know that medications are a critical part of health care on Prince Edward Island and recognize many Islanders face challenges in getting access to the medications they need to live a healthier life."

The Honourable Mark McLane

Minister of Health and Wellness, Government of Prince Edward Island

"For too many people in PEI, the burden of prescription drug costs gets in the way of accessing vital health care. Today, I am thrilled that the expansion of our program means greater affordability for prescription drugs. The expanded program will ensure more Island residents in need can obtain essential medications and life-saving treatments."

The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay

Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence

"Lowering the threshold for access to these medications will ensure Island residents who need it most have access to the essential drugs, without suffering financially or having to make difficult choices, like choosing between good food and shelter or medications. Financial barriers should not limit access to required treatments. These changes promote equity in health care on PEI."

Dr. Michael Gardam

Chief Executive Officer at Health PEI

Quick Facts

Based on the previous year in the Catastrophic Drug Program, it was determined that more than 1,100 PEI residents will benefit from these changes to the Program. These new changes will save Island residents enrolled in the Catastrophic Drug Program an estimated $430K annually.

annually. With this agreement, PEI is receiving $35 million over four years (2021-22 to 2024-25) in federal funding to improve access to and make prescriptions drugs more affordable.

over four years (2021-22 to 2024-25) in federal funding to improve access to and make prescriptions drugs more affordable. This funding is in addition to the concrete steps the government is taking toward the implementation of national pharmacare, as outlined in Budget 2022.

This announcement builds on previous changes made by the Government of PEI to improve access to medications, including the addition of 61 medications on its list of covered drugs. These improvements include medications used in the treatment of cancer, heart disease, migraine, multiple sclerosis, and pulmonary arterial hypertension.

In March 2023 , the Government of Canada supported PEI in announcing the expansion of its provincial drug coverage to reduce Island residents' out-of-pocket costs on many prescription medicines. This included expanding access to the Catastrophic Drug Program and increase access to the High-Cost Drug Program.

, the Government of supported PEI in announcing the expansion of its provincial drug coverage to reduce Island residents' out-of-pocket costs on many prescription medicines. This included expanding access to the Catastrophic Drug Program and increase access to the High-Cost Drug Program. In June 2023 , the Government of Canada supported PEI in reducing copays for commonly prescribed, eligible medications to $5 for residents covered under the Seniors Drug, the Family Health Benefit, as well as the Generic Drug and Diabetes Drug programs. This includes medications used to manage mental health, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and represents about 60% of prescriptions that Island residents use on a regular basis.

, the Government of supported PEI in reducing copays for commonly prescribed, eligible medications to for residents covered under the Seniors Drug, the Family Health Benefit, as well as the Generic Drug and Diabetes Drug programs. This includes medications used to manage mental health, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and represents about 60% of prescriptions that Island residents use on a regular basis. Also in June 2023 , the Government of Canada supported PEI in adjusting the High-Cost Drug Program to remove financial and administrative barriers for those in the lowest income brackets.

Associated Links

Governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island Continue Work to Save Islanders Millions Under Expanded Coverage

Government of Canada and Prince Edward Island accelerate work to implement pharmacare

Public input sought on PEI's prescription drug coverage

SOURCE Health Canada

For further information: Guillaume Bertrand, Senior Communications Advisor and Press Secretary, Office of Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, 613-957-0200; Media Relations, Health Canada and Public Health Agency of Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]; Samantha Hughes, Media Contact, Health and Wellness, [email protected], 902-316-1323; Public Inquiries:613-957-2991, 1-866-225-0709
On July 1, enjoy free admission at national parks, historic sites, and marine conservation areas

OTTAWA, ON, June 29, 2023 /CNW/ - Parks Canada administers a vast network of protected areas that is a gateway to nature, history, and 450 000 km of stories from coast to coast to coast. National historic sites, national parks and national marine conservation areas represent the diversity of natural and cultural heritage in Canada and tell stories of who we are.

The Marine Environment Discovery Centre, Saguenay-St. Lawrence Marine Park  Parks Canada. (CNW Group/Parks Canada)

On July 1, the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, invites Canadians and international visitors to connect with some of the most iconic destinations in Canada with free admission at all national historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas.

Canada Day is an opportunity to celebrate what unites us, the diverse facets of history and culture in Canada, and to take time to reflect and talk to one another about how we can work towards a more inclusive and open-minded society. With opportunities to learn more about Canada's history or to soak in breathtaking views, Parks Canada administered places allowing visitors to experience the country's rich and diverse natural and cultural heritage. This includes learning more about the historic and contemporary contributions of Indigenous peoples, their histories, and cultures, as well as the special relationships Indigenous peoples have with ancestral lands and waters.

Parks Canada is committed to providing visitors with high quality and meaningful experiences across the country. 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

"On July 1, admission will be free at all national historic sites, national parks, and national marine conservation areas administered by Parks Canada. I encourage everyone to make the most of this national holiday by learning more about our country's diverse history or connecting with friends and family in nature. These treasured places offer visitors unique opportunities to have open discussions about what this day means to them and how we can all work together to listen to and accept one another. Happy Canada Day!"

The Honourable Steven Guilbeault,

Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada

Quick Facts

Parks Canada protects a vast network of cultural and natural heritage places that includes 171 national historic sites, 47 national parks, five national marine conservation areas and one national urban park.

protects a vast network of cultural and natural heritage places that includes 171 national historic sites, 47 national parks, five national marine conservation areas and one national urban park. National historic sites, national parks and national marine conservation areas are an important part of local economies, helping to generate billions of dollars annually and employing tens of thousands of people. Parks Canada works with partners and nearby communities to help grow local tourism and create jobs.

works with partners and nearby communities to help grow local tourism and create jobs. 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. Admission is free year-round, for youth 17 and under, to all Parks Canada administered places. Heritage places are a great way for youth to experience the outdoors and learn more about the environment and history.

In celebration of families and diversity, Parks Canada offers free admission to new Canadian citizens for one year through the Institute for Canadian Citizenship's Canoo mobile app.

Want the ultimate ticket to nature, history, and adventure? The Parks Canada Discovery Pass provides unlimited admission for a full year to over 80 destinations across the country. Visitors can purchase their Parks Canada Discovery Passes online, on-site, and at partner retailer locations across the country.

Associated Links

SOURCE Parks Canada

For further information: Contacts: Kaitlin Power, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 819-230-1557, [email protected]; Media Relations, Parks Canada, 1-855-862-1812, [email protected]
TSXV Trading Symbol: VPI

VANCOUVER, BC, June 29, 2023 /CNW/ - Vitality Products Inc. (TSXV: VPI) (the "Company" or "Vitality") is pleased to report its financial results for the first quarter ended April 30, 2023.

The financial results of the Company for the three months ended April 30, 2023 show a net loss of $115,747 or $0.00 per share compared to a net loss of $158,425 or $0.00 per share for the same period last year. Sales for the three months ended April 30, 2023 of the Company's premium natural health products decreased 21% to $195,069 (2022 - $245,713). Revenues decreased due to a decline in sales directly to Canadian natural health retailers.

The Company's general selling expenses decreased to $77,591 (2022 - $130,499). Selling fees decreased to $7,882 (2022 - $28,149) as the Company discontinued the outsourcing of its distribution and warehousing. The Company's general and administrative expenses for the three months ended April 30, 2023 decreased to $176,595 (2022 - $205,201) as wages and salary decreased to $95,759 (2022 - $128,685). The Company continues its effort to improve overall operating efficiencies while remaining focused on the launch of its complete line of products in the United States and expanding distribution and growing sales nationally.

Vitality exhibited at CHFA NOW in April 2023 in Vancouver, Canada where Vitality was nominated for three industry awards including: Women of Influence for Cheryl Grant, President & CEO, Brand Impact Award and Marketing Award. Vitality met with current and prospect retailers at the CHFA NOW show, one of Canada's largest industry tradeshows, to reconnect with established retailers and meet prospect retailers and online sellers.

In March 2023, Vitality promoted its award-winning line of vitamins and supplements to US retailers at Natural Products Expo West - the industry's largest US tradeshow. Vitality exhibited its products in its own 10' x 20' booth in the Supplements Hall at the Anaheim Convention Centre on March 9 to 11, 2023 (www.expowest.com). The US tradeshow occurred shortly after Vitality was included in Natural Products Canada's report Game Changers: Leading Companies Powered by Women, a new list of 100 companies that provides an interesting look at the women leading Canada's growing natural and bio-based industries (www.canadiangamechangers.ca).

The Company's condensed interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended April 30, 2023 and 2022 are available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

About Vitality

Visit our new Investor site: investinvitality.com

VITALITY is an award-winning line of clean vitamins and supplements, marketed to natural health retailers and health and wellness conscious consumers. Manufactured locally in BC, Canada and currently sold in 600 natural health stores and online, the products are non-GMO and third party tested. Following the proven success of the line through repeat orders and same store sales growth, the Company is focused on expanding distribution and growing sales in-store and online; evaluating, researching and developing new products for future distribution; and exploring new markets for its products. To view our products, visit: www.vitality.ca.

On behalf of the Board of

VITALITY PRODUCTS INC.

"Cheryl A. Grant" (signed)

_____________________________

Cheryl A. Grant, President & CEO

Forward-Looking Information

Information set forth in this news release involves forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve 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. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with marketing and sale of securities; the need for additional financing; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers or directors with certain other projects; and the volatility of common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to 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 SECURITIES LEGISLATION.

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 Vitality Products Inc.

For further information: Vitality Products Inc., Cheryl A. Grant, President and CEO, (604) 591-1322, [email protected]
Tesla will shutdown the Giga Texas Model Y production lines in July, 2023 for give days to improve the Model Y production lines and increase production. Tesla Texas production is currently 5000 cars per week. Tesla will shift some of its workers from the Model Y to support the start of Cybertruck production.

Want some interesting Giga Texas updates & information? This is assembled from various channels & a few observations I've made. Model Y production will be paused for line upgrades in the beginning of July. The period of down time is scheduled to last approximately 5 days. Giga  Joe Tegtmeyer   (@JoeTegtmeyer) June 28, 2023

Giga Texas is switching away from swing shifts, instead going to Day and Night shifts only. This will take into effect after the production line upgrades are completed. This seems to be a very popular change with employees.

Expect an initial short-term decline in Model Y production rate after the upgrades. This is to allow employees to be trained & become familiar with the revised production lines, equipment, & layouts, then rapidly recover.

After this short period, expect production rate to increase (more Model Ys can be produces per unit of time)  uncertain what the increased production weekly rates will be, but higher than the recent 5K Model Ys per week rate Giga Texas achieved.

Personnel who were formerly on the swing shift are being redirected to the Cybertruck production lines to finalize testing, calibration & get the lines into production status. This will likely take place throughout July and into early August.

Ford Laysoff 1000 Employees

Ford has plans to fire at least 1,000 salaried and contract workers. This is to save about a billion dollars which is being invested into the transition to electric vehicles. The layoffs will be in the engineering, gas-engine and commercial-vehicle divisions.

Volkswagen Reducing EV Production by 30%

Volkswagen is reducing output of electric cars at its Emden plant in northern Germany due to a drop of about 30% in expected EV sales.

Production of the ID4 full-electric SUV and the brands new ID7 all-electric sedan will be cut over the next two weeks, the Nordwest-Zeitung newspaper reported, citing the factorys works council.

The plants three-week summer vacation will be extended by one week for a week for employees working on electric cars and about 300 of the 1,500 temporary workers currently employed in Emden will be laid off from August.

Demand for electric cars built in Emden is nearly 30 percent below the originally planned production figures, the head of the factorys works council, Manfred Wulff, told the Nordwest-Zeitung.

VW hopes that ID7 sales will be strong toward the end of 2023.

April, 2023 saw around 197,000 plug-in vehicles registered in Europe, which is up 25% year on year.

VW cuts ID4, ID7 output at German plant

Demand for electric cars built in Emden is nearly 30% below planned production figures. Volkswagen is reducing output of electric cars at its Emden plant in northern Germany due to flagging sales. Production of the ID4 full-electric SUV pic.twitter.com/gDuVOJ2Dhx  Nicklas T (@NicklasNilsso14) June 28, 2023

VWs ID.4 jumped to the runner-up spot in April with 6,682 registrations. Manufacturing sites in the US and Germany adding additional volume to the original plant in Zwickau. The ID.4s main markets were Germany (2,203 registrations), followed by the UK (620 registrations), Norway (602 registrations), and Sweden (661 registrations).

The Tesla Model Y lead the overall market for the sixth month in a row, gathering 10,778 European registrations in April.

In the first four months of 2023, the Tesla Model Y recorded three times as many deliveries in Europe as the runner-up, the Volvo XC40.
Ajayi Crowther University (ACU) in Oyo state has been ranked among best universities in sub-Saharan Africa by Times Higher Education (THE).

The institution was among 51 Nigerian universities that made the maiden edition of the ranking released by the British magazine on June 26.

Covenant University  which ranked 7th  was the only Nigerian institution that made the top 10 list of best varsities in the region.

The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta was ranked 26th  making it the second most ranked Nigerian university on the list.

ACU was ranked between 51st and 60th best varsities in the region.

The ranking was unveiled at a recent ceremony in Accra, Ghana.

Speaking at the event, Peter Okebukola, chairman of the Nigerian universities ranking advisory committee, said the ranking used five major indices namely resources and finance, access and fairnes, teaching skills, student engagement, and Africa impact.

Since this is the first edition of the sub-Saharan university rankings, by the next and subsequent editions, Nigerian universities will leap to the lead, he said.

Reacting to the ranking, Timothy Adebayo, the vice-chancellor of ACU, said the development was an attestation to the hard work of the school management and staff.

The governing council, management and the schools congregation acknowledge the recognition by Times Higher Education, a reputable university ranking agency of international standard, he said.

We will continue to improve on research, entrepreneurial training and other academic activities until we reach the desired position, which is the top in Nigeria and Sub-Sahara Africa. Indeed, gaining international recognition is a source of encouragement and we shall gladly explore all the opportunities that this new height brings for the good of our students and development of the university.

Other Nigerian varsities on the list include Benson Idahosa University, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, University of Ilorin, Redeemers University, University of Ibadan, University of Benin, and Cross River University of Technology.

They also include Obafemi Awolowo University, Umaru Musa YarAdua University, Adeleke University (45), Ahmadu Bello University (46), Lagos State University, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. As Azerbaijan and Armenia approach the point of breaking through the stalemate, thanks to the steadfastness of the international mediators, President Macrons statements paint a troubling picture of his South Caucasus vision.

Discussions between Baku and Yerevan can hardly be described as easy or smooth, however incremental progress is being made. While both sides work out different angles to find acceptable solutions to existing problems, the French Head of State makes extremely controversial comments regarding his views on the direction of the talks and his overall outlook on the qualities exhibited by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. In short, President Macron accused the Armenian PM of not doing enough to normalize relations with Azerbaijan on terms beneficial to Armenia.

While Macron is busy playing a geopolitical chess game, the situation in France remains tense. Social injustices, coupled with poor economic policies, indicate that French interests would be better served by a president capable of handling domestic crises, which have rocked the country in the last few months.

The pitfalls of Macrons rhetoric

The position of the French president is dangerous, primarily for Yerevan and Paris. The issue here is that Macron labels Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as the key hurdle to reaching an agreement on Karabakh that will favor Armenia. On a surface level, this can seem like an innocent statement, however, a more in-depth look may uncover more sinister aspects to this thought. The first issue here is that President Macrons words indicate that he is interfering with domestic matters of another state. This is a very serious point of concern because his words can be interpreted as a call for a coup detat. In essence, Macrons views on how Armenia should be run optimally contradict the basic principle of international relations, diplomatic norms, and openly calls to overthrow a government, which France previously labeled as democratically elected. Furthermore, the hypocritical approach of President Macron endangers the long-term future of Armenia and stability in the South Caucasus as such views will lead to increased hostilities in the troubled region.

Consequently, this will harm the interests of Armenia, which President Macron aims to protect.

This brings us to second crucial point. The vision of Armenia with a pro-Armenian Prime Minister, who will be more resolute in their pursuit of an agreement with Azerbaijan, endangers Yerevan. Armenia has a very limited arsenal for promoting its desired agenda vis-a-vis Azerbaijan. The lack of influence over the process can be attributed to several factors, including the loss in the second Karabakh war, limited economic growth potential, and lack of diplomatic power to sway political sentiments in favor of Yerevan. Pursuing an agreement, which will favor the Armenian position will inadvertently lead to a more difficult discussion with a high possibility of a consequent breakdown of talks. This development would be devastating for the region as hostilities in the South Caucasus will be renewed, essentially returning the situation to its starting point.

However, the renewal of hostilities would be something that France would welcome, as Paris will have an opportunity to expand its influence to the South Caucasus via Armenia. This would enable Paris to accomplish several objectives. First, France would have a chance to exact revenge on Turkiye in the regions of Ankaras strategic interests. Additionally, President Macron seeks to amend the tarnished political image of France, which has suffered several geopolitical defeats during his presidency. Consequently, a more volatile South Caucasus would help Macron to become a regional player, which would give him a much-needed geopolitical win.

No leverage against Azerbaijan - key issue for Macron

Another matter to consider in this context is that President Macron has no leverage to influence Azerbaijan. It is possible to argue that France is a major political power with a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). True, this is something that is very real, however, it is hard to argue that Paris can utilize it as a coercive mechanism against Azerbaijan, which Baku may feel threatened by. The reason why Azerbaijan does not feel threatened is simple  France has already utilized this approach in the past and failed. Therefore, Baku knows what it deals with and how to respond to the possible threats. Furthermore, due to a well-developed diplomatic network, Baku can thwart the threats posed by France even in the UNSC.

On the contrary, France has a level of dependence on Azerbaijan as it uses the territory of Azerbaijan for the movement of strategically important goods via the Middle Corridor to Asia. It is hard to envision that businesses and French society would be happy with a shortage of vital goods and services due to Macrons policies. From this perspective, France should be quite careful when interfering with regional affairs, as the blowback of playing a power projection game may be quite significant for the French economy.

Is Macron capable of handling domestic political crises?

Although President Macron is trying to establish an image of a capable politician, his domestic record indicates that most of his economic policies failed miserably. The yellow vest protests, the French labor law reform, and high fuel tax protests are just a few that spring to mind.

The overarching theme of these protests was the economic struggles of the population. However, the latest round of protests illustrates that there are more problematic issues  Islamophobia, racism, and excessive use of force by police. The fatal shooting of a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent sparked riots in several major cities in France. Incidents like this lead to an extremely volatile domestic situation, which is not a new phenomenon in French society, unfortunately.

And the grievances are quite understandable. The feeling of relative deprivation, which can be summarized as a lack of opportunities to sustain the lifestyle that individuals or society are accustomed to or that are widely encouraged or approved in the society to which they belong is a strong mechanism for protests. While France promotes the principles of equality it is hard to argue that a person of French origin would be treated the same way that most Algerian or Moroccan youth are used to. The perceived distance between political elites in France, and the general population, is another reason for the grievances. Young people in disadvantageous suburbs do not feel that politicians are willing to listen and improve their lives for the best, which is a ticking time bomb and a recipe for future crises.

Despite the issues, President Macron tends to overlook the problems, by paying little attention to the divide in French society. Considering the domestic trouble brewing in France non-stop from the day of President Macrons election, it is hypocritical of him to protect the interests of any other nation while his voters have to deal with a wide array of issues on their own.

It currently looks like the French head of state is more comfortable waiting on the sidelines and hoping the protests will lose steam. To be fair, this strategy worked well for President Macron in the past, however freezing the domestic divide is not a wise policy option to pursue because smaller issues will snowball into a more contentious situation in the future.

Back to the South Caucasus

Freezing problems seems to be the preferred modus operandi for President Macron. He is unwilling or unable to address domestic issues, and it is looking likely that he is not going to do anything about it.

Leaving the problem for future leaders and generations is also his preference when it comes to the situation in the South Caucasus. As President Macron pushes the agenda of reaching a pro-Armenian deal with Azerbaijan, he is willing to increase the costs of the conflict both for Baku and Yerevan. But this trade-off is acceptable for him as it will enable the Head of the French State to extend the nations influence in the South Caucasus.

Does the end justify the means? It is an age-old philosophical question, which most politicians usually answer correctly. But also, their actions sometimes do not correlate with their words. Just as President Macron demonstrated, once again.
Olukayode Egbetokun, acting inspector-general of police (IGP), has summoned some officers alleged to be involved in running over a man with a vehicle in Edo state.

Outrage has trailed a viral video showing some police officers running over a handcuffed man with a Sienna vehicle.

The incident occurred on Thursday in Ekpoma, Edo state.

The victim was handcuffed by a team of officers attached to the Ekpoma police division over his refusal to allow them to go through his mobile phones.

In a statement on Friday, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the police spokesperson, said IGP condemned the act, adding that the erring police officers have been asked to report to the force headquarters on Monday.

The Ag. inspector-general of police, Olukayode Adeolu Egbetokun, PhD, NPM, has condemned the disturbing incident where a police team ran a vehicle over a citizen on Thursday, June 29, 2023, at Ekpoma, Edo state, the statement reads.

The IGP has, therefore, directed the erring policemen, who have been in detention in Edo state, to report to the force headquarters in Abuja on Monday for further action.

Members of the public, particularly the people of Ekpoma, are implored to remain calm as the present leadership of the NPF will not condone such an act of unprofessionalism and illegality.
President Bola Tinubu says he will not partake in the economic destruction of the country by retaining the petrol subsidy.

According to NAN, Tinubu spoke on Thursday at a reception in his honour by the Lagos state government.

The president said the bleeding of the countrys finances through the petrol subsidy should never be allowed to continue under any guise.

We will be needing the necessary resources to achieve the promise we made to Nigerians during our campaign, he said.

We need to stop the bleeding of our finances through fuel subsidy and the arbitrary exchange regime. We have no choice.

We have to re-engineer the effectiveness of control and management of our resources in order to meet the obligations owed to Nigerians.

I could have said yes I want a share of my benefit and participate in the arbitrage. But no, God forbid. Thats not why you elected me.

The president said Nigerians would continue to see new and better initiatives that would benefit both the young and old.

Tinubu pledged to work with the national assembly and state governors to achieve the renewed hope agenda of his administration.

On his part, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, said his colleagues are in full support of the policies and programmes of the current administration.

Sanwo-Olu said the support of the state governors is important for the realisation of the dream of a better Nigeria.

Also speaking, Godswill Akpabio, senate president, promised to work with the executive arm of the government to ensure that Nigerians enjoy the dividends of democracy.

With what the president has done in Lagos, we are assured that Nigeria is in safe hands, Akpabio said.

We didnt know this was the plan you had for the country, we wouldnt have contested with you at the party primaries.

These few decisions you have taken have served as a catalyst for the countrys development.

Akpabio said Lagos has been a model of development for states in Nigeria, adding that the man that did the framework can also do it for Nigeria.

AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, governor of Kwara, said the governors are in support of Tinubus quest to reposition the economy of the country.

The removal of the petroleum subsidy and reversal of the arbitrary exchange regime was the right step in repositioning the country, AbdulRazaq said.

Raji Fashola, a former governor of Lagos who was also at the event, assured the president of their continued support.

We want you to know that we are only a phone call away. Whenever you need us, any of the classes that you have mentored, we are ready to serve you once again, he said.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari has denied asking his successor, President Bola Tinubu, not to probe him and some of his ex-officials.

Buhari described the report of him asking Tinubu not to probe him and his former aides as fake news.

The former president was reported to have made the request when Tinubu visited him in London.

Condemning the claim, Buhari insisted that nothing of such was discussed during his meeting with Tinubu.

He disclosed this through his former media aide, Garba Shehu via Twitter.

According to Shehu: If social media is to be believed, former President Muhammadu Buhari is requesting his successor, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to investigate some former officials of his government.

It is fake; let us not discuss it or give it energy or air of publicity. This is fake news, and nothing more.

Thankfully, there was no one other than the two leaders in the room in which they met, so no one was there to report their conversation.

As much as possible, the former President wishes to remain outside the spotlight so as not to distract the new administration.

He chose to go home in Daura hoping to find the type of quiet he wished for himself, but realizing that this was not the case, visitors trooping in morning, day and night, he moved out to a more distant place.

It remains his wish that he be allowed to have his needed rest, and for the Tinubu administration to have the right atmosphere to work on the realisation of the promises they made.
Timipre Sylva, governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa, has asked a federal high court in Abuja to disregard claims that he has served two terms as governor of the state.

Sylvas defence is contained in a counter affidavit he deposed and filed through Adelani Ajibade, his lawyer.

The affidavit was in response to a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023, filed by Demesuoyefa Kolomo, a member of the APC.

Kolomo wants the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delete Sylvas name from the list of candidates contesting the governorship poll in Bayelsa on November 11.

The plaintiff averred that by the provisions of section 182(1)\(b) of the 1999 constitution (as amended), Sylva was not qualified to contest the election on APCs platform or any other political partys platform because he was elected in April 2007 and May 2008.

But in his affidavit, Sylva said he was elected once as the states governor, insisting there was no election in 2007.

I have only occupied the office of the governor of Bayelsa state on one occasion, Sylva said.

I was elected as the governor of Bayelsa state on 27th May 2008.

While referencing a court of appeal judgment in April 2008 that nullified the 2007 election, the former minister maintained that he is within his constitutional and legal right to contest the governorship poll in November.

BACKGROUND OF THE 2007/2008 POLL

Sylva won the Bayelsa state governorship election which was held on April 14, 2007, polling 776,715 votes.

He was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and defeated Ebitimi Amgbare of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Aggrieved, Amgbare challenged the outcome of the poll at the tribunal.

In its judgment, the tribunal affirmed Sylvas election as the governor but Amgbare further appealed at the court of appeal.

In a unanimous decision delivered on April 14, 2008, a five-member panel of judges in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, nullified the 2007 poll.

The appeal court ordered the immediate swearing-in of Werinipre Seibarugo, speaker of the state house of assembly, as governor of the state, pending when a new election would be conducted.

The court also ordered INEC to conduct a new governorship election in the state within three months.

A fresh election was conducted on May 24 and Sylva was declared the winner of the poll.




British supermodel, Naomi Campbell, has announced the arrival of her second child.





The 53-year-old shared the good news via her Instagram page on Thursday.





She described the child as a true gift from God.





She revealed the gender of the child by writing, welcome baby boy.





The supermodel stated that Its never too late to become a mother.





Recall that Naomi Campbell welcomed her first child, a girl, in May 2021, at the age of 50.
The German parliament passed an immigration law on Friday designed to encourage more people from outside the European Union, including Nigeria, to come to Germany for work.

According to Interior Minister of Social Democrats (SPD), Nancy Faeser, the draft law secures prosperity in Germany.

It would only work if the bureaucratic hurdles were dismantled during its implementation, she said.

Like many countries in Europe, Germany is facing a shortage of skilled workers.

In 2022, the countrys labour shortage rose to an all-time high: the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) found 1.74 million vacant positions throughout Germany.

Together with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, she emphasised removing bureaucracy and improving the digitisation and efficiency of the system, according to Euro News.

We know that we can only guarantee our future, the efficiency of our economy and the efficiency of our social security systems if we have enough skilled workers at our disposal, said Scholz.

From within the European Union, thats not so difficult, because there is freedom of movement. With regard to the rest of the world, it is a greater challenge, he added.

Here are key things to know about how the law opens job opportunities for Nigerians and other nationals.

1. According to Euro News, the reforms are to modernise the countrys immigration legislation expected to make it easier for third-country nationals to work in Germany. It could increase the number of non-EU workers in Germany by 60,000 per year.

2. The reforms to the Skilled Immigration Act particularly focus on workers with vocational, non-academic training. Existing rules for qualified professionals with university degrees will also be relaxed.

3. Germany is hoping to combat its shortage of skilled workers with a new opportunity card called chancenkarte. The chancenkarte will use a points system to enable workers with required skills to come to Germany more easily.

4. The points-based system will take into account qualifications, professional experience, age, German language skills and ties to Germany.

5. Every year, quotas will be set depending on which industries need workers. Three out of four of the following criteria must also be met to apply for the scheme: a degree or vocational training, three years professional experience, language skills or a previous stay in Germany and 35 years old or younger.

6. Currently, most non-EU citizens need to have a job offer before they can relocate to Germany. A visa for job seekers already exists, but the chancenkarte is expected to make it easier and faster for people looking to find work in Germany.

7. Citizens of certain countries with visa agreements can already enter Germany for 90 days visa-free but are only permitted to take up short-term employment.

8. The opportunity card will allow people to come and look for a job or apprenticeship while in the country rather than applying from abroad. Applicants must be able to prove they can afford to pay their living expenses in the meantime.

9. The exact details of the scheme are yet to be formalised. The chancenkarte is not expected to be available until at least the end of 2023.

10. The new system will make it easier for people with professional experience  rather than a university degree  to come and work in Germany.

11. Germany will become more open to job experience and professional qualifications that are recognised in workers native countries. Currently, the country is strict about which qualifications it recognises.

12. It will also be easier for those without a job offer to seek work in Germany via the opportunity card.

13. Qualified job seekers with degrees or vocational certificates will be allowed to stay in the country for one year as they search for employment. While looking for full-time employment, they will be permitted to work up to 20 hours per week.

14. Rules will also be eased for those with a job offer and a recognised diploma. Salary thresholds will be lowered, it will be easier for workers to bring their families to Germany, and it will be easier to gain permanent residency.

15. Job opportunities are open in Germany for immigrants that are craftspeople, electrical engineers, IT specialists, careers, nurses, catering and hospitality professionals.
Point of Sale agents in Lagos State will soon begin to charge customers N500 for N10,000 cash withdrawals.

This is after the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, announced a new price list for PoS transactions on Channels Televisions Business Morning programme by the Public Relations Officer, Lagos Chapter, Stephen Adeoye, on Friday.

According to him, the associations price list is to eradicate price discrepancies in the industry.

He said, Let me tell you the price list, N1000N2,400 will be N100 for withdrawal. N3500 to N4000 will be N200; N4,100 to N6,400 will be N300; N6,500 to N7,900 will be N400; N8500 to N10,900 will be N500; N11,000 to N14,000 will be N600; N14,500 to N17,900 will be N700; N18,000 to N2000 will N800 for withdrawal.

Like we said, depending on your location, you can also step it down for people depending on the circumstances. But it should not go more than this.

He further stated that for deposits and transfers, agents can now charge N100 for N1,000 to N4,900; N200 for N5000 to N10,900; N300 for N11,000 to N20,900; N400 got N21,000 to N30,900; N500 for N31,000 to N40,000; and N600 for N41,100 to N50,000.

Adeoye said the chairman of the Lagos chapter of the association, David Abiodun, recently released the new price list to excos at a symposium. He noted that the purpose of the list was to curb the activities of agents that were still overcharging their customers.

He said, Although, we agreed that depending on ones area, they can lower the charges. But it should exceed these new prices. This is why we expect everyone to paste it in their locations so that customers can see it.

Commenting on how the association intends to enforce its price list, the PRO states that it will leverage its relationship with the police and a task force in their area of operations.

Adeoye explained, To enforce this new price list is easy because we have a good relationship with the Lagos State Command, Police Force, and all the DPOs in the area. Very soon a task force will be set up in each zone so that they will work along with it.

Today, someone can get a PoS and start working, but we would soon get to everyone. Registered members have a number and certificate, and we have a good collaboration with the CBN both in Lagos and in Abuja. AMMBAN is part of meetings around financial inclusion.

So, enforcing this will be easy for us. We have zones in almost all the local governments. So, our task force in each zone will locate those who are there. We also have our website, and everyone has to register.

In January, National President, AMMBAN, Victor Olojo, told The PUNCH that the association did not have any plans to increase its service charges. In February, the Central Bank of Nigeria released emergency telephone numbers where Nigerians could report PoS agents charging above N200 for withdrawal of amounts up to N10,000.




The founder of Omega Power Ministries, Apostle Chibuzor Gift Chinyere, on Friday, slumped at a yet-to-identified airport over an undisclosed illness.

The apostle, well known for his philanthropic gestures, has been in the news recently, one of which was sending the Happy Boys abroad after the Chicken Republic, where they worked as security personnel, sacked them for dancing while on duty.

Another is securing the late Deborah Samuels parents three-bedroom flat rent and gifting them a car.

The philanthropic gestures have been followed by controversy, with allegations that the gifts were discontinued, Apostle Chinyere has, however, denied the accusations.

In a viral video circulated across social media platforms, Chinyere was seen lying on the floor before being rushed to the hospital.

A terse post on the churchs verified Facebook page revealed that the Rivers State-based cleric was truly unconscious at the airport.

It read, Please let us all endeavour to put our Father in the Lord in our prayers.

Meanwhile, many of his church members and followers have taken to social media to pray for the clerics health.
Former governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode, has made a remarkable return to the frontline politics  he (Ambode) broke the jinx on Thursday after meeting President Bola Tinubu in Lagos.

The duo met at a reception organised by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu in honour of Tinubu.

Ambodes presence at the event marked the first time he would be visiting Sanwo-Olu at state House since he left office over four years ago as Governor.

Acknowledging Ambodes presence at the event, Tinubu said, . Im glad to see Ambode. Thank you Akin!





The event was held to welcome Tinubu, who was visiting the state for the first time as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the Sallah break.

Tinubu had on Tuesday, returned to Lagos after seven-day trip abroad.

Recall that there were speculations over strained relationship between the incumbent Governor, Sanwo-Olu and his immediate predecessor, Ambode over the controversial manner he (Ambode) was displaced as governor, denying him of a second term in office.

Also, Sanwo-Olu, recently visited Ambode in his Epe residents on the ocassion of his birthday where they exchanged pleasantries.

The Grand Reception had in attendance prominent personalities, which included: Deputy Governor, Dr Femi Hamzat, Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, And Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola and Minister of Works and Housing, former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, Business magnate, Aliko Dangote, Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, Tajudeen Olusi, chairman Lagos State Governors Advisory Council, GAC. All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftains, among others.

We ll work together to make Nigeria work

Meanwhile, President Tinubu has stressed the need for governors across party lines to work with his administration at the federal level to make Nigeria work again for the upcoming children and future of the country.

Tinubu, while addressing the gathering, expressed his gratitude for the sincere support and trust they reposed in him before, during and after the elections.

According to him, This is a challenging time for us all and we must try our best to change it for the better. All I want to say here today is to say thank you all.

Thank you for spreading the understanding to Nigeria people. On the economy, we need to take the steps to stop the bleeding of our fathers resources and the speedy action on fuel subsidy. We had no choice.

We are re-engineering the economy through effective control management of our resources in order to meet the obligations we owe Nigerians. We are on.

Am assuring you (Governors) that we will be working with all of you and the 25 million Nigerians. We can not afford to go down the lane of being Father Christmas to the neighbouring countries. We cant just afford the fuel subsidy and is eating our foreign exchange, yes we can share our benefits.

Thats why you elected me. you chose me to bring about necessary changes that will benefit not only you but your grandchildren and our tomorrow. We havent started.

We have to re-engineer our fiscal system of the country. We have to practice true federalism. We will work together, run open door policy that will save Nigeria from the brink to a resilient economy.

We have to make Nigeria work again. You will see reward in this country, we will prosper fir the sake of our children and the future of Nigeria. Im glad to see Ambode. Thank you Akin!

Earlier, the President had visited The Awujale of Ijebu Kingdom, Oba Sikiru Adetona and later Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo III.
Vice President Kashim Shettima has assured Nigerians that the administration of President Bola Tinubu will promptly address the infrastructural deficits in the country.

Shettima gave the assurance on Wednesday in Maiduguri when he paid a Sallah homage to the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai El-Kanemi.

He said that all the infrastructural challenges in the country would be addressed, including the Gamboru Ngala, Dikwa and well as Damboa Roads in Borno.

The Shehu of Borno raised some very poignant issues facing the society, especially with regard to the infrastructural deficit.

The Shehu talked about issues concerning the roads that should be immediately addressed, especially the Gamboru Ngala and Dikwa Roads. Certainly, it would be addressed and that of Damboa will also be addressed.

I am here to assure the Shehu of the maximum support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and that all the challenges confronting us as a people would be surmounted,  he said.

In his remarks, Gov. Babagana Umara Zulum extolled the vice president as a man of the people and a grassroots politician.

He said Shettima`s first visit to the state as the nations vice president was very important to the people of Borno and pointed out that it was a homecoming for our son.

Also in his welcome remarks, the Shehu praised the vice president as a worthy son of Borno and stressed that the love he enjoyed was reflected in the massive support the people gave to him.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Boillon has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, Trend reports via the MFA.

Protest was expressed to the French side due to the anti-Azerbaijani statements of French President Emmanuel Macron at the meeting with the Armenian community in Marseille.

The ministry demanded explanations on the matter.

The ambassador was notified that the voicing of biased views by President Macron, who has repeatedly made anti-Azerbaijani statements, is a clear example of the fact that he is a tool in the hands of the Armenian lobby of France.

It was pointed out that the biased statements disseminated against the background of Armenia's recognition of the Karabakh district as an integral part of Azerbaijan and support for the territorial integrity of the country not only hinder the establishment of peace and tranquility in the region, but also contribute to the further expansion of the destructive activities of those who encourage and support separatism and terrorism.
A convicted killer facing four murder charges in New Mexico declined to enter a plea in one those cases on Friday morning.

Sean M. Lannon, who was sentenced last year to 35 years in a New Jersey prison for the 2021 killing of his childhood mentor, was extradited to New Mexico earlier this month to face charges in another killing in Albuquerque and appeared via video for a post-indictment arraignment hearing.

A grand jury indicted him last week on a charge of first-degree murder in the February 2021 bludgeoning death of 60-year-old Albuquerque resident Randall Apostalon.

On Friday, Lannon did not enter a plea of guilty or not guilty in the Apostalon case, but chose to stand silent, according to his attorney, Chandler Blair. That means Lannon doesnt take a formal stance on guilt.

Second Judicial District Court Judge Cindy Leos entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Via his attorney, Lannon waived a formal reading of the charges against him during the brief hearing.

Lannon, 49, is also charged in the killings of three people, including his estranged wife, Jennifer, in the town of Grants, New Mexico. Hes scheduled to appear in court July 24 for a post-indictment arraignment hearing in that case.

The Lannons and their three kids moved from New Jersey to Grants for work several years ago.

He is accused of shooting his ex-wife to death in the home they shared in Grants in January 2021, then lured two acquaintances to the home on separate days and killed them, authorities have said. Lannon stowed all three bodies in plastic totes, which he later moved 80 miles east to Albuquerque, prosecutors said.

Apostalon had agreed to move the totes to a storage facility using his pickup truck, according to court documents, but the pair feuded when they couldnt find a spot for the containers. Lannon allegedly beat the man to death.

In New Mexico, Sean Lannon is accused of killing his estranged wife, Jennifer, as well as Jesten Mata (top, right), Matthew Miller (bottom, left) and Randall Apostalon.

In March 2021, police found Apostalons truck parked at the Albuquerque International Sunport airport. Apostalons body was in the passengers seat covered with a tarp and the remains of the Grants victims were in the back, still in the totes.

Investigators then learned Lannon had flown out from the airport to Philadelphia a day earlier with the couples children. He left the kids with family in South Jersey and later visited Dabkowskis home in East Greenwich.

In his guilty plea to a murder charge, Lannon admitted beating Dabkowski to death, before stealing his vehicle. He was arrested March 10, 2021, in St. Louis.

Lannon confessed to all five killings, according to prosecutors.

Dabkowski mentored Lannon and his brother through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program in the 1980s and Lannon claimed the man molested him as a child. He told investigators he had gone to Dabkowskis home to recover photographs of the abuse, but no evidence of the photos was ever presented in court.

On Thursday, the district attorneys office handling the Apostalon homicide filed a notice with the court of witnesses it intends to call in the case, including family, friends and associates of Apostalon and the Lannon family, as well as 22 members of the Albuquerque Police Department, two detectives from Grants Police and two from the Gloucester County Prosecutors Office in New Jersey.

Lannon remains detained in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center pending the resolution of the Apostalon case.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com.
As of this week, there are 33 legal weed stores throughout New Jersey, with many more to open this year. The speed at which these retail spots are opening has increased dramatically from last year.

Last month, three stores opened their doors. This month has seen just as many openings  not in North Jersey, where most of the dispensaries were located at this time last year  scattered across Central and South Jersey.

Heres the skinny on the three most recent additions (for store websites, click on the name of the town; for map directions, click on the phone number).

NJ Leaf opened in Monmouth County, Union Chill in Hunterdon County and MPX on the Gloucester County-Camden County border all opened their doors to recreational consumers aged 21 and over by the start of the summer.

NJ Leaf

NJ Leaf debuted sales in Central Jersey with a celebration on June 21 in Freehold. The retail location is located at 546 Park Ave., and its hours of operation are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. everyday. For more information, call (732) 204-7172.

They carry brands that are available across the country in different markets such as Ozone, Kynd, Cookies and Anthologie products. They also stock products from New Jerseys only stand-alone cultivator, Hillview Medical.

Union Chill

Union Chill is located in downtown Lambertville at 204 N. Union St., in the heart of the business district. The city is known for its antiques, historic architecture and artisans, drawing tourists from all over the Northeast, and it sits on the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border, across the Delaware River from its sister town, New Hope.

The majority women-owned facilitys hours of operation are Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-7 p.m. and on Sundays 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Call: (609) 483-2350. The boutique-style store sells cannabis products as well as items from local artists and other businesses.

MPX

MPX NJ brand opened its second recreational franchise  the first is in Atlantic City  in South Jersey. The Sicklerville store, 581 Berlin - Cross Keys Rd, is on the border of Gloucester Township, Washington Township, and Winslow Township.

This stores hours of operation are Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-9 p.m., and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday. For more information call (848) 292-2764 or visit their website. They carry products from brands such as Gage, Airo, Black Label and Verano.

We are excited to see the New Jersey legal weed market expanding faster and wider. Hopefully soon there will be a dispensary in every county that opted into the sale of cannabis.

Have a question about consuming weed? Ask me anything.

RELATED STORIES ABOUT LEGAL WEED IN N.J.:

N.J.s newest legal weed store opens in tourist town bordering Pa.

4 things to know before visiting one of N.J.s legal weed stores

Heres what to know about using weed at the Jersey Shore this summer

Weed edibles in N.J.: Rules of engagement for beginners and where to buy them

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Gabby Warren is NJ.coms Cannabis Life reporter. Shell be covering all things weed retail, commerce and culture.
Dozens of errant logs, shorn branches and scattered wood chips litter a steep section of an expansive boulder-strewn yard in a particularly scenic section of Kinnelon.

The stunning propertys owner, Samih Shinway, surveyed the damage with NJ Advance Media on Wednesday, still seething over what happened, and how the bizarre suburban tale took on a life of its own on Twitter this week.

In what could end as a costly neighbor overstep of colossal proportions - one estimate by a private company put restoration cost at $1.5 million - Shinways neighbor is facing 33 summonses accusing him of illegal tree removal, along with a trespassing ticket, according to court records.

The fines for the tree removal citations alone could total $32,000, or $1,000 per tree, based on local ordinances. But replanting a grove of majestic oaks to resemble what once stood for decades is whats jacking up the cost, Shinway said while touring the wreckage.

His neighbor, Grant Haber, did not return multiple requests for comment, and his attorney, Matthew Mueller, declined to comment except to confirm that Haber was his client.

Shinway said he had barely spoken with Haber in the four years since Shinway bought his home. That was, until Feb. 27, when Shinway heard the sounds of the landscaping crews felling trees on his property, which is separated from Habers by a fence.

I confronted them, Shinway said.

He took his ATV up the steep, rocky hill on his property to investigate, and says he saw a crew at the top of his backyard, surrounded by chopped down trees, with a wood chipper grinding away just over the fence in Habers backyard. The landscaping crew said theyd been hired by Haber to cut down trees on Habers property.

After initially sending Shinways calls to voicemail, Haber came into the yard when the landscaping crew called. Haber said it was a misunderstanding, Shinway said.

But that story didnt add up to Shinway given the fence separating the properties the crews had to scale.

Hes just entitled, just like, I can do whatever I want, Shinway said of his neighbor, while standing amidst the felled trees, gnats swarming in the sticky June air.

Samir Shinway's Kinnelon yard after he said a neighbor illegally cut down his trees. (Katie Kausch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

There are a number of bright yellow no trespassing signs on trees in Shinways yard, including on a tree that was cut down, he said. The section of the trunk that once held the sign was hidden under other branches, more proof the crew members knew what they were doing, Shinway said.

Shinway estimated 40 giant trees were cut to the stump. In addition, a small area of cedar trees was chopped off at the top, which Shinway said was likely done to make Habers view of the New York City skyline clearer.

Township officials could only verify that 32 trees were cut down, Shinway said, a number the borough arborist confirmed to NJ Advance Media.

The shortened cedar trees show the real intent, Shinway said.

If you just told them to cut down trees on your property, then why did they cut off the top of those trees and not cut them down? Thats the smoking gun in my opinion, Shinway said.

Haber had never even discussed the height of his trees, Shinway said. In the four years hed lived in the home, he had only spoken to Haber once or twice.

Samir Shinway's Kinnelon yard after he said a neighbor illegally cut down his trees. (Katie Kausch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Habers 6.9-acre property backs up against Shinways, with an impressive pool waterfall, a shed and small plastic playhouse visible in his yard from the very back of Shinways property, where the trees once stood. Habers property is secluded, and sits at the top of a winding driveway long enough that you cant see the home from the road.

Shinways yard is similar in size at about 7 acres.

Habers property isnt the only house on the block with a view. A neighbor from down the street surveying the damage with Shinway on Wednesday afternoon pulled up photos from her own property, where a glittery city skyline could be seen under a bright orange sunset.

The view from Habers home was among the selling points a real estate listing for his property still available on Zillow, though his home is not currently for sale. The listing said the home has a balcony off the main bedroom from which to enjoy seasonal NYC skyline, water and valley views, and says that the next owner can Watch sunrise light up New York City skyline like gold.

Kinnelon police responded to the home on Feb. 27, but the incident is a zoning matter outside of the police departments scope, Detective Patrick McDonnell said.

Copies of the summonses issued to Haber were not immediately available Wednesday afternoon, Kinnelon borough officials said. They did not comment further.

Haber tried to resolve the issue privately at first, Shinway said, asking a lawyer in the neighborhood to mediate. That approach fell apart, and Shinway was hoping that a Zoom municipal court date earlier this week, the fourth time it had come before a judge, would finally bring closure.

But then the story went viral.

A Twitter thread from someone Shinway says he doesnt know detailed the incident and the eye-popping damage estimate. It quickly gained thousands of likes ahead of a Tuesday court hearing. As a result, people jammed into the virtual Zoom court session, blocking the prosecutor from logging on.

I cant tell you to leave, but I am asking you, Judge Andrew Wubbenhorst said to the more than 100 virtual attendees during the Tuesday court hearing.

Habers attorney requested an adjournment. The case was rescheduled for an in-person trial on July 18.

Shinway, who was shocked by the sudden interest in the case, told NJ Advance Media that he has not filed a civil lawsuit at this point. The $1.5 million estimate for restoration came from a private landscaping company hired by Shinway, he said.

He expects that figure would be used in court as a reference to show that a $32,000 fine would be a slap on the wrist compared to the damages that were done.

John Linton, the boroughs arborist, confirmed to NJ Advance Media that Haber was accused of having 32 trees cut down, but declined to comment on any possible replacement costs or fines.

Part of high replacement cost stems from the borough code, which requires that illegally cut down trees to be replaced with like or superior trees. The code also requires that the trees must be guaranteed for two growing seasons, adding additional cost.

The geography of Shinways yard is another factor, he said. The area is not easily accessible by road, and its not possible to bring in heavy machinery without first building a road through another neighbors property, he said.

Shinway said hes already noticed the affects of the deforested section of his property.

Theres been streams of water down the steep hill into his perfectly manicured lawn, something that never happened before. Invasive plants have already started to weasel their way into the clearing, and thats to say nothing of the crows that have since started swarming.

Its like an Alfred Hitchcock movie now, Shinway said as a crow shrieked.

Shinway was not planning on drawing attention to the case, but once it went viral he was left with no choice.

I feel like it would have fallen on deaf ears if I didnt talk about it, Shinway said.

Samir Shinway's Kinnelon yard after he said a neighbor illegally cut down his trees. (Katie Kausch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

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Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch.
Travelers at Newark Liberty Airport  along with those across the nation  coped with canceled and delayed flights this week that have added days to their trips and forced some to camp out at airports waiting to get home.

It took Kathy OBriens daughter 43 hours to return to Newark from Minneapolis, which included sleeping on a mattress on the floor of that airport and on a cot in OHare, and multiple canceled flights. OBrien picked her daughter up Thursday instead of Tuesday as scheduled.
State authorities announced Friday they had taken civil action on behalf of three New Jersey residents  including a teacher in Monmouth County  who allegedly faced discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Too often, members of the LGBTQIA+ community in New Jersey face discrimination in their communities and their places of work. But our laws are clear: discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression is illegal in New Jersey, Sundeep Iyer, the director of the Division on Civil Rights, said in a statement.

In one of the cases, a Monmouth County teacher was told not to talk to students about their gender identity and forbidden from wearing a pin listing their preferred pronouns after they came out as non-binary. The school was not identified.
By Brian L. Strom

When Tesla began supplying ventilators to New Jersey hospitals three years ago to fight COVID-19, many thanked the carmaker for its generosity. Left unsaid was what it took to make some of those machines compatible with New Jersey equipment.

Connecting donated machines to systems at Rutgers teaching hospitals required reengineering adaptors to ventilators commonly used in the state. With resources strained and hundreds dying daily, we called upon the Rutgers School of Engineering to help solve the problem. Within days, Rutgers engineers designed a 3D-printed adaptor that linked Teslas devices to our ventilators  and kept our patients breathing.

New Jersey was the nations COVID-19 epicenter back then, but to my knowledge, not a single person in the state died due to the lack of a ventilator that spring. Teslas generosity was one reason why. Interdisciplinary collaborations at Rutgers, facilitated by the largest higher education merger in United States history, was another.

This month marks 10 years since the creation of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS), which transferred to Rutgers most of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jerseys assets, valued at more than $895.5 million. This included New Jersey Medical School, New Jersey Dental School and School of Nursing in Newark, and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, among others.

The goal of this integration was multifaceted. Rutgers long had sought a medical school to help it become a comprehensive public research university that was on par with peers like the University of Michigan. Then-Gov. Chris Christie wanted to create economic opportunities and strengthen New Jerseys health care system in the process.

In the decade since RBHS was born, the results have exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts. In 2012, Rutgers was ranked No. 25 on U.S. News and World Reports list of public U.S. colleges. Today, were No. 19, tied with the University of Maryland and Florida State (which both have medical schools). As weve climbed in the rankings, students have taken notice. This year, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School received 5,800 applications, an 83% increase from 2012. The New Jersey Medical School received 5,880 applications in 2023, a 70% jump from 2012.

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New research support also has found its way to Rutgers. Today, were a research powerhouse, with expenditures topping $730 million annually. In 2022, Rutgers faculty generated $872.8 million in research grants and sponsored programs. More than half of that was RBHS-related research. RBHS has also brought $3.6 billion in new extramural awards into Rutgers in the last decade.

A crowning achievement  and affirmation of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers integration  was the award in 2019 of a $29 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health to help translate clinical research into patient care and treatments.

The ongoing partnership between Rutgers Health with RWJBarnabas Health has continued to produce the most comprehensive academic health system in the state. The longstanding affiliation with University Hospital in Newark and other partnerships have allowed Rutgers Health to continue to strive toward its mission of equitable health care access and outcomes for all New Jerseyans. With programs like these, Rutgers is a complete bench-to-bedside-to-community institution, bringing discoveries in the lab directly to patients statewide.

These efforts are having a direct impact on the states economy, too. Before the creation of RBHS, new pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies were rarely drawn to New Jersey, opting instead for states such as California or Massachusetts to be close to Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford. Today, companies are coming to New Jersey because of Rutgers and RBHS. In 2012, the life sciences industry contributed an estimated $33.5 billion to the states gross domestic product. Today, its well over $100 billion.

RBHSs value to the state is expected only to increase. A public-private biomedical center being built in downtown New Brunswick, which will house RWJMS and a Rutgers translational research facility, will further cement these connections and help facilitate the spinout of new therapeutics.

Of course, as the pandemic demonstrated, RBHS is a clinical, educational, and research innovator for todays health care challenges as well.

Three years ago, little was known about the coronavirus. For example, epidemiologists, including myself, didnt know if personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and gloves were effective at protecting health workers against the virus. To find out, RBHS launched the worlds first COVID-19 cohort study of health care workers, which ended up showing that PPEs were working.

Our contributions didnt stop there. A team of Rutgers researchers created the first FDA-approved rapid test for COVID-19, and a different team developed the first saliva test for COVID-19. When Johnson & Johnson sought participants for its Phase 3 vaccine trials, RBHS stepped in, enrolling more people than almost any other organization in the world. And when the virus pushed health care workers to the brink of exhaustion, we graduated medical, nursing, and pharmacy students early so they could help augment labor shortages in the state.

We provided dormitory space to our healthcare workers, so they didnt need to return home and possibly endanger their families. And our School of Public Health also trained 2000 contact tracers for the states health department.

Because of RBHS, Rutgers is now a complete university  both from a health education standpoint and because of our ability to translate research into results. While our work isnt done, our success during COVID-19 demonstrates just how far weve come.

The legislation that created RBHS a decade ago predicted big things for our states flagship university. Having medical schools will attract top-flight researchers and thus research grants to Rutgers, the legislation foresaw. The addition of medical schools to Rutgers will also increase interdisciplinary opportunities among the academic departments of the school.

On these, and so many other measures, RBHS is delivering  for Rutgers, for the state and for our patients.

Brian L. Strom is chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences (RBHS) and the executive vice president for health affairs at Rutgers University.

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Let freedom ring!

Happy 247th birthday, America!

From the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, to this day, America has been a unique experiment. Unlike many nations, the United States places its destiny in the hands of her people.

Freedom is the theme of the Declaration of Independence. Freedom is an endearing and enduring value, virtue and asset. As Americans, we firmly believe that freedom is so valuable that it must be protected and defended, even though the cost of preserving our right of  and to - freedom could be (has been) great.

The spirit of freedom is contained within one of the most brilliant documents ever created, the Constitution of the United States. That living document has guaranteed our basic rights and freedoms for over 200 years, and it continues to serve as a shining beacon of freedom throughout the world. Even though our nation has expanded and evolved, the Constitution has continued to endure and adjust to the growing pains of this great democracy.

All Americans, whether born in the U.S. or naturalized, share one thing in common: freedom.

So, let freedom ring on this 4th of July!

John Di Genio, Jersey City

Oh, to have the future wide open

Re: The Glorious Summer of Springsteen turns 50, by Peter Begans, June 24:

In the summer of 1973, my best friend and I were 19 and 20 and hung out in Sea Bright, Long Branch and Asbury Park. Songs from Greetings From Asbury Park were playing constantly on the jukeboxes in every bar.

The previous summer we often heard Bruce playing in the Student Prince and other bars along the Shore. But the summer of 73 was the best ever!

We were young, healthy with our futures wide open and when I returned to college in September, I was filled with a new sense of enthusiasm and optimism.

Steve McCormick, Rockville, Maryland

Keep on rocking

Loved the piece on the Summer of 73. Rock on!

John Montone, Reporter (retired), 1010WINS

Re The dangerous hate of Catholic homophobia, by the Rev. Alexander Santora, June 28:

Love is love

I am not Catholic, but your words of acceptance as the Christian message resonated with me.

Angry people who see the Bible as a purity test forget that Christ brought light to this world and he asked us to emulate that in love for our neighbors. Who am I to say what kind of love is the right kind of love?

I only know that condemnation is hatred and hatred is darkness. Nothing could be more contrary to the Bibles most basic lesson.

Thank you for speaking to that and modeling love.

Chris Fisher, Ewing Township

Send letters to the editor and guest columns for The Jersey Journal to jjletters@jjournal.com.
For more than a year, Sean Caddle has remained free.

Even after pleading guilty to a horrific murder-for-hire scheme that ended in the grisly death of Michael Galdieri, a former associate repeatedly stabbed in the head and neck by two hitmen who poured gasoline on the body and set his apartment ablaze, Caddle was allowed to stay in his Sussex County townhouse awaiting sentencing while cooperating with the FBI.
Mama June: From Not to Hot is premiering the 9th episode of its 6th season on Friday, June 30 at 9 p.m. The series will be available to watch on Philo (free trial).

Heres the information youll need to watch a free live stream of Mama June: From Not to Hot online without cable.

How to watch Mama June: From Not to Hot without cable

If youre a cord-cutter or dont have cable, you can live stream Mama June: From Not to Hot on Fubo TV, Philo, or DIRECTV Stream. Each streaming service offers a free trial.

When is Mama June: From Not to Hot on?

Mama June: From Not to Hot continues its 6th season on Friday, June 30 at 9 p.m. on WETV Network. It will air bookended by reruns of previous episodes.

What channel is WETV?

You can use the channel finder on your providers website to locate it: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, Dish.

How to watch Mama June: From Not to Hot online on-demand

If you missed an episode of Mama June: From Not to Hot or want to binge watch the entire series online as it becomes available, check out Fubo TV, Philo, or DIRECTV Stream. Each streaming service offers a free trial.

What is Mama June: From Not to Hot about?

According to the official description of the WETV series: Pumpkin and Josh are raising five kids, with only $800 in child support for Alana; June and Justin start planning a big wedding, but June is suddenly rushed to the hospital; Pumpkin finds out June moved to Alabama and assumes she is on drugs again.

The series stars Mama June, Honey Boo Boo, Pumpkin, Big Mike, and Doe Doe.

Heres a look at a scene from an episode of Mama June: From Not to Hot, courtesy of WETVs official YouTube account:

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Joseph Rejent covers TV, writing about live television, streaming services and cord-cutting. He can be reached at jrejent@njadvancemedia.com.
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 1. Today we have a real opportunity to finally put an end to the confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Elchin Amirbayov, Assistant to the First-Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, stated in an interview with the Polish TV, Trend reports.

"In 1992, a part of Azerbaijan fell under Armenian occupation, and no one reacted to this injustice. Perhaps if international organizations had responded in the early 1990s immediately after the Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan, and if this reaction had been noticeable, the scale and consequences of this tragic conflict would have been different. And other similar conflicts in the world would not have erupted, including those neighboring us. However, I want to emphasize that today we have a real opportunity to put an end to this long-standing conflict," he said.

Amirbayov stressed that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declares Armenia's full readiness to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

"After the cessation of the negotiation process by Armenia since December last year, the negotiations were resumed in May 2023. The Armenian side probably understands that it is difficult to achieve peace without negotiations with Azerbaijan. We have already had several new meetings, and some progress has been made. We are confident that the next rounds will allow us to reduce the disagreements between us," he noted.

Assistant to the First Vice-President also pointed out that Armenian citizens themselves start to understand that without peace with Azerbaijan, their country cannot achieve full economic development.

"It is necessary to think pragmatically. The end of the conflict will lead to the opening of borders, as well as new economic and other opportunities for the entire region. In 30 years, Armenia has not become a more economically successful state. They see the state of their economy and the fact that they cannot develop, and the reason is that for 30 years they have been focused on occupying a part of our territory. We offer Armenia peace, and, in our view, it is a win-win situation for all parties. We want a lasting peace that will encompass the entire South Caucasus. We do not want our countries to see each other as enemies. We want them to consider themselves at least neighbors, and perhaps even friends," said Elchin Amirbayov.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. A total of 31 people involved in drug smuggling from Iran to Azerbaijan have been detained over the past 10 days, Trend reports via the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan.

The mentioned people were detained during operations conducted by employees of the Main Drug Enforcement Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan in the cities of Baku, Sumgayit, Lankaran, Absheron, Beylagan districts, as well as in other regions of Azerbaijan.

As many as 243 kilograms of drugs worth 13 million manat ($7.6 million) - heroin, opium, hashish, marijuana, methamphetamine, as well as 5,300 methadone tablets were seized.

A total of 183 cannabis bushes, 2 firearms, 17 cartridges and 1 hand grenade were identified during operations against persons engaged in the cultivation of plants, as well as persons illegally acquiring and storing firearms.

Residents of Baku Ashrafag Alizada and Azad Amirov were detained during the recent operations carried out by employees of the Main Drug Control Department in the Sabunchi district of Baku, as well as in the Absheron district. They had 42 kilograms of drugs - 19 kilograms of heroin, 13 kilograms of marijuana, 10 kilograms of methamphetamine.

As a result of operational measures carried out by employees of the regional department of the Main Drug Enforcement Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Border Service, 102 kilograms of drugs were seized in Beylagan district, including 97 kilograms of marijuana, 5 kilograms of heroin and 1200 methadone tablets.

During the operation carried out in the southern region of Azerbaijan by employees of the regional branch of the Main Directorate for Combating Drugs, a previously convicted Gadir Jafarov, who was engaged in drug smuggling from Iran, was detained in the city of Lankaran. A total of 54 kilograms of drugs were found in his car, including 11 kilograms of heroin, 41 kilograms of marijuana, 2 kilograms of hashish and 3,000 methadone tablets.

Criminal cases have been initiated under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code, a preventive measure in the form of arrest has been chosen against the detainees.
FILE - Activists demonstrate as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on a pair of cases that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions, in Washington, Oct. 31, 2022. The Supreme Court ruled Thursday, June 29, 2023, that colleges and universities must stop considering race in admissions, forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies. In a 6-3 decision, the court struck down admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation's oldest private and public colleges, respectively.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority has ruled a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples. The decision is a defeat for gay rights. The court ruled 6-3 on Friday for designer Lorie Smith despite a Colorado law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith argued the law violates her free speech rights. Smith's opponents warned a win for her would allow a range of businesses to discriminate against customers. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court's six conservative justices that the First Amendment envisions a United States where people are "free to think and speak as they wish."
ARKADAG, Turkmenistan, June 30. Dovletmamed Azadi library has hosted the first international media forum dedicated to the establishment of the first smart city in Turkmenistan - Arkadag, Trend reports.

Within the framework of the forum, the sessions "City of Arkadag - the first "smart city" in the region", "The emergence of ecological culture in the system of innovative urban planning", "Gaining the importance of the city of Arkadag in the developing paradigm of "healthy cities"" were held, as well as issues of media cooperation were considered.

The high level of organization of events dedicated to the opening of the city of Arkadag, historical ties and fraternal relations between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, the importance of holding a forum for cooperation and exchange of experience between foreign media and experts in this field were highlighted.

Speakers at the forum: Derya Orazov, Chairman of the Arkadag City Construction Committee, Ilyas Demirdzhi, Secretary General of the Association of Engineers and Architects of Turkic-Speaking Countries, Gurbanmurada Mezilov, Rector of the Oguz Khan Engineering and Technology University, Fundare Salvatore, Head of the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT), Department of International Relations of the Ministry of Nature Protection and Environment of Turkmenistan Berdy Berdiyev, Director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Turkmenistan Ogulmakhri Geldiyeva, Editor-in-Chief of Business Central Asia magazine and others.

For more information about the grand opening of the city of Arkadag, follow the link:

https://en.trend.az/casia/turkmenistan/3767322.html

For more information about the holiday concert, follow the link:

https://en.trend.az/casia/turkmenistan/3767494.html
Childrens Hospital New Orleans advances the health of students from birth through graduation in partnership with NOLA Public Schools and Agenda for Children
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. The Black Sea electricity project to unleash Azerbaijans renewable energy generation potential, an EU official told Trend.

"We stand behind the Member States and the partners supporting this initiative to build an electricity cable under the Black Sea to connect the Southern Caucasus region and the European Union. This project has the potential to enhance energy security on both sides, and enable trade in electricity from renewable sources across our markets, as well as unleashing the solar and wind power generation potential of Azerbaijan," said the EU representative.

The official noted that EU is therefore following with great interest the ongoing feasibility study commissioned by the World Bank and, building on that, the work of the Bucharest Green Energy Memorandum between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary.

"The EU is at the forefront of the global clean energy transition. Accelerating investment in renewables has become particularly critical in the context of the double climate and energy crisis. In line with our REPowerEU plan, we are already supporting our South Caucasus neighbours and partners in increasing their renewable energy generation. It is crucial to have the right regulatory environment in place to encourage private investment, including unbundling power generation from transmission, establishing an independent electricity market operator, and establishing renewable energy auctions. Azerbaijan is taking crucial steps in this regard," said the EU official.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary, and Romania signed an agreement in Bucharest on December 17, 2022 to build an underwater electric cable under the Black Sea. The project could become a new power source for the European Union. The 1,100-kilometer cable from Azerbaijan to Romania will provide Azerbaijani energy for the rest of the continent. The project could be completed within three to four years.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
To showcase the range of rewarding and skill enhancing roles available in their community nursing team, the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation is running a series of recruitment roadshows.

The next event is being held at Bideford Hospital on Saturday, July 15.

The event in North Devon, is aimed at student nurses, registered nurses, and nurses who would like to return to practice who would like to make a difference where they live. Attendees will have the chance to take a tour of the hospital, talk to members of the community nursing team, learn about equipment kit bags used, discover the different role options available and even have an interview.

Nurses who would like flexible hours that provide a great work-life balance are encouraged to apply as full and part-time roles are available at locations across Devon and include community inpatient, community nurse, urgent community response, and out-of-hours.

Alison, community nurse team manager and a return to practice nurse at the Royal Devon said: Community nursing is very different to working in a hospital environment which has a much more rapid turnover of patients. As a community nurse, you have a lot of contact with the patients and with their families, we really get to know them over the years and its amazing to be able to care for someone and see their journey to recovery.

To anyone looking for independence, excitement, huge variety and the opportunity to build a relationship with their patients I would say try community nursing.

The Royal Devon Community Nursing Roadshow will be at Bideford Hospital, Abbotsham Road, Bideford, EX39 3AG on Saturday, July 15, from 9 am -12 pm. For more details visit the dedicated events page: https://bit.ly/RD_CommunityEvents

Future Roadshows events:
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. Canadian Chicken Ltd (Kazakhstan), AgroTechManagement (Kazakhstan), and Georgian Industrial Group Ltd (Georgia) signed commercial agreements to promote Kazakhstan's agriculture, Trend reports.

The companies, as noted by Kazakhstan's prime minister's office, are going to invest approximately $50 million in the construction of a state-of-the-art agricultural machinery plant and the establishment of an integrated agro-cluster in Kazakhstan.

The agreements outline the collaborative efforts of the involved parties in developing a comprehensive agro-cluster, which will comprise a poultry and livestock feed plant, poultry farms, and a fish feed mill.

On June 23, Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov arrived on an official visit to Georgia. As part of the visit, the PM held one-on-one and expanded meetings with his Georgian counterpart. During these meetings, it was noted that over the past 17 years, Georgian investors have invested about $400 million in Kazakhstan, with over $100 million invested only last year. In turn, Kazakh entrepreneurs have invested more than $530 million in the Georgian economy.

It was also noted that the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Georgia from January through April this year amounted to $167 million, which constitutes an increase of 5 times.

Moreover, last year the trade turnover between the countries increased 7 times, reaching a record figure of $600 million.
VALPARAISO  A 23-year-old Portage man who pleaded guilty to injuring a county security guard while fleeing arrest this year was sentenced Friday to three years behind bars, with the potential of modifying the term after 18 months.

Erik Tidwell pleaded guilty to a felony count of battery resulting in bodily injury to a public safety officer in the Feb. 6 incident at the county building, 157 S. Franklin St. in Valparaiso.

He also admitted to two probation violations.

The plea agreement that his attorney, Mark Chargualaf, struck with prosecutors calls for a potential modification of the prison time if Tidwell completes a recovery program and has no disciplinary violations during his first 18 months behind bars. He would then be eligible to petition the court for a shorter term.

Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer also approved a request from the victim for restitution of $716 to cover lost wages and approved a plan for transferring Tidwell's $500 cash bond toward that fee.

Clymer and others said they were under the impression that the guard wanted to make a statement during sentencing, but he did not make an appearance.

Police said they were called out at 12:36 p.m. Feb. 6 to the county building, which houses offices of the county prosecutor's, adult probation and child support services and the 911 dispatch center.

A security officer said that when Tidwell showed up at the building, Tidwell was informed that there was a warrant for his arrest and he was asked to turn around to be handcuffed.

The guard "then stated Erik pushed him and took a swing at him," county police said.

The guard told police he was able to pin Tidwell against the wall, but the young man was able to "wiggle" his way out.

"During that time, Erik knocked over the Garrett metal detector in the main lobby, causing heavy damage to it, and ran out the front doors," police said.

The security officer suffered injuries that left an elbow bleeding and his knees swollen, the incident report says.

Valparaiso police reportedly located Tidwell a short distance away at the Lifestyles store on Lincolnway.
Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner announced on Friday her appointments to the newly formed Gary Community School Corp. Board of Trustees.

Jenner selected Michael L. Suggs, Danita Johnson and Shontrai Irving.

Suggs serves as director of Integration Planning and External Affairs at NIPSCO, while Johnson is the president and CEO of Edgewater Health and Irving is a professor of business law at Purdue University Northwest.

Jenners picks come a day after Mayor Jerome Prince and the Gary Common Council made their appointments to the school board. Prince chose Akilia McCain, who previously served on the Gary Schools Advisory Board and as president of the Gary Public Library Board. The council unanimously selected Vanessa Allen-McCloud, president and CEO of the Urban League of Northwest Indiana.

The five-member school board was established in May when Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Senate Enrolled Act 327. It authorizes the mayor of Gary and the Gary Common Council to each select a school board member and gives three selections to the Indiana secretary of education, who must appoint at least one resident of Gary, one resident of Gary or Lake County and one member from anywhere. The school board will eventually replace the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board as the school districts governing body.

DUAB and MGT Consulting have run the Gary Community School Corp. since 2017. The former elected board was disbanded after it spent $21.5 million more than the district took in, accumulated $103 million in debt, frequently struggled to make payroll, stiffed vendors, routinely failed to remit to the IRS tax payments withheld from employees paychecks and fell $3 million behind on paying employee health insurance premiums.

Michaela Spangenburg of the Gary Education Coalition said they are cautiously optimistic about working with the new school board.

The best system to develop community engagement and ensure the safety and betterment of our students is through direct elections, which must be the ultimate goal for genuine transition back to local control. Intermediary measures can be taken along that road to progressively increase accountability, build trust, and bolster support for the transitional boardWe congratulate all appointees and look forward to working with them toward a successful transition back to local control and the recovery of our schools. Spangenburg said in a statement.

The Gary Education Coalition had previously established a pool of candidates. Applicants were asked to email their materials to IDOE chief of staff Brian Murphy but according to Spangenburg, almost none of the 22 people in the pool of candidates were interviewed by the IDOE.

The new board is set to take effect July 1, with Suggs serving as chairman. It will be initially tasked with advising the districts emergency manager and will take full control, including the power to appoint a superintendent, on July 1, 2024, or a later date when DUAB certifies Gary schools are no longer financially distressed.
CROWN POINT  A sign outside of Cafe Fresco in Crown Point reads: Please bring in outside food and drink. We love supporting small businesses.

Cafe owner, Breanne Zolfo, said an aspect of community would be lost if she didnt support other small businesses on the square.

For the past 10 years, Zolfo has wired her caffeinated community with bottomless compassion and a splash of coffee. Not to mention other beverages, everything from bubble tea to fruit smoothies.

Her cafe became a staple in Crown Point for the inspirational messages hand-written on every coffee sleeve. Believe in yourself a little more is one of many messages.

I always wanted my cafe to be a place where people feel they belong, said Zolfo, 35, who was raised in Crown Point. I dont want anyone to ever feel alone.

To celebrate the cafe's 10th anniversary, Zolfo has had 10 guest baristas this week raise money for a charity of their choice with the tips theyve made. Alan Myszkowski has a newfound respect for the coffee business industry after volunteering as a guest barista.

Its always fun jumping into fields you have no idea about and this was one of them, said Myszkowski, a close friend of Zolfo. Im good at ordering coffee. Im not good at making it.

Crown Point Mayor Pete Land was another guest barista Thursday afternoon. Cafe Fresco has become a go-to spot for Land and his son. Its hard to believe the cafe has already been open for a decade, he said.

Breanne is just a rock star when it comes to doing community work, and giving back to Crown Point and the surrounding area, Land said. Im very proud of her and her business. Shes a huge ambassador for the city of Crown Point.

Giving back has allowed Zolfo to gain national attention through Community Love.

Over the past 10 years, Cafe Fresco has donated over $142,600, and helped more than 2,300 people in need through Community Love. A chalkboard wall inside the cafe reads, Community Love started with the belief that we have the power to brighten someones day.

This concept began as a regular tip jar. At the end of each week, whatever tips were collected from the jar were donated to someone in need in the community. This concept has allowed Zolfo to be featured on CBS This Morning, the nationally televised news show in New York, and the Steve Harvey show, based in Los Angeles.

In the 10 years shes received countless awards and countless attention that she doesnt seek, said friend and customer, Martin Oleksy. She isnt doing this to apply for this or that award. The awards find her. Thats when you know shes doing something right.

Receiving the Circle of Corydon Award in October 2020 from Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb has been one of her most significant achievements, she said. Zolfo is still shocked shes sparked so much attention from her simple acts of kindness.

Its crazy how it all unraveled, she said. Growing up I watched my parents give back to people. To me it was just how we lived our life.

Dale Holsti said its easy to support someone like Zolfo when theyre a good, kind and charitable person. Holsti recalled contacting Zolfo when he saw musical artist Flintface stuck on the side of the road because his bus broke down. The artist had performed at Holstis sons school earlier in the day, educating students on mental health.

Once Zolfo heard about the situation, she loaned the artist her car and gave him gift cards so he could perform at his next show while his bus got repaired.

He was the perfect stranger and Bree was all into helping him, Holsti said.

Zolfo had no idea the impact shed have on the community when purchasing the fire-damaged property at 1 N. Court St. at a sheriffs sale in 2013. She initially wasnt even sure what to do with it. All she knew was she wanted to have a piece of history in Crown Point.

She recalled having the crazy idea to open her own cafe after purchasing coffee equipment from a man retiring his coffeehouse business while she was on vacation in Florida.

Cafe Fresco has now become the greatest adventure of her life.

This is the community I wanted to create, she said. Its somewhere people know they can find a friendly face. I want people to feel like they belong.

Cafe Fresco celebrates 10th anniversary Breanne Zolfo Breanne Zolfo and Mayor Pete Land Crown Point Mayor Pete Land Baristas Cafe Fresco Cafe Fresco Cafe Fresco Alan Myszkowski
The board is slated to take effect July 1 and will be tasked initially with advising the districts emergency manager. It will take full control, including the power to appoint a superintendent, on July 1, 2024, or a later date when DUAB certifies that Gary schools are no longer financially distressed.

In an email Wednesday to the Times, Indiana Department of Education spokesperson Christina Molinari said the IDOE expects "appointments to be made this week." Molinari did not respond to questions about how many people applied to be the IDOE's appointment or about how many candidate interviews were conducted.

Michaela Spangenburg of the Gary Education Coalition said "initially, there was no process" for people to apply to the IDOE. However, the Gary Education Coalition established a pool of candidates, creating a Google Doc where people could submit their names and professional experience. The online document is automatically updated every five minutes; it had 22 names as of Thursday evening.

"When people view this list, the only reasonable conclusion can be that the people of Gary are the most qualified to lead our schools back to local control," Spangenburg wrote in a news release.

Applicants were asked to email their materials to IDOE chief of staff Brian Murphy. However, Spangenburg said that as far as she knows, almost none of the 22 people in the Gary Education Coalition's pool of candidates was interviewed by the IDOE.

"Everyone is feeling like this process is a sham at this point," Spangenburg said.

Some candidates applied to the IDOE and to the Gary Common Council.

At the June 12 meeting, Councilwoman Lori Latham, D-at large, said she was at the Legislature when Senate Enrolled Act 327 was being discussed. During the hearing, Latham said, people questioned whether Gary had enough qualified candidates for an elected school board.

Ultimately, the Gary Education Coalition would like to see the restoration of an elected school board.
MERRILLVILLE  Indiana had nearly 40,000 homes listed for sale in 2014, but that number has declined to just over 9,200.

The Hoosier State has just 1.4 months of housing inventory to meet the demand; four to five months is typically considered necessary for a healthy balanced market.

U.S. Sen. Todd Young is proposing a raft of legislation to address housing shortages and affordability in the Hoosier State. He touted his "Housing Affordability Agenda" while giving a talk to the Northwest Indiana Realtors Association as part of a statewide tour.

"It turns out though this wasn't something I anticipated actively working on as I got into my term of service in the Senate every roundtable brought this up not as a secondary issue but as a primary issue of concern for their local residents," he said.

"So as I began looking into this issue a few things stood out. One, we had labor challenges that were a function of the 2008 financial crisis. Many smaller builders went out of business and never went back into business. So our construction workforce is sort of reconstituting itself. We need more people.

"The other issue that stood out across the state was land use and zoning policy. This is generally a state or, more frequently, a local issue. But it's something that invokes federal concern because we give federal money around the country to localities  significant amounts of it  for housing."

Young is proposing the Yes in My Backyard Act, or YIMBY, playing off NIMBY, an acronym for Not in My Backyard in reference to people who oppose new development nearby that they fear would hurt their property values. The legislation would require local officials to be more transparent about their land-use and zoning decisions in the hope that it would result in fewer regulations that increase housing costs and drive the construction of more housing.

Local officials would retain control of those decisions but would have to explain all their policies on the record to voters to remain eligible for federal housing grants.

"Other states are seeing their home prices skyrocket on account of their land-use and zoning policies," he said. "We want to shine a light on those policies so that each Hoosier taxpayer dollar goes a little further when it goes to Washington, DC, and we're not paying way more than we should."

Young is also proposing the Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, which aims to incentivize more private investment in blighted houses in distressed neighborhoods. A federal tax credit would cover the excess cost of renovating dilapidated homes and building houses in struggling communities. The hope is that it would lead to the revitalization of 9,570 structures and generate $9.4 billion in development revenue in Indiana over the next decade.

"It's designed to increase the amount of housing stock available to all of you and to all of your customers and neighbors and so forth, so that rents and mortgages will be affordable, and so they can live near where the opportunities are and where the jobs are," he said. "At the same time, we want to remediate the blight we see in our urban and rural communities."

He's also proposed the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, which would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit that's helped fund the construction or restoration of more than 3.5 million housing units nationwide, including 90% of all federally funded affordable housing units.

Realtors say the state is suffering from a housing shortage: Indiana added more than 250,000 residents since 2014 but has seen the inventory of homes listed for sale decline by 75% in the same period.

"Inventory is a national challenge, but Indiana is leading the Midwest in population growth, and that puts pressure on our housing market," Indiana Association of Realtors CEO Mark Fisher said. "Indiana's housing shortage has become a fact of life for homebuyers looking for homes and to put down roots and for employers looking to grow and create jobs across the state of Indiana."

Wages haven't kept up with home prices, which hit an average of $255,000 last month, which Fisher said is barely affordable for a family earning $65,000 a year. The average home price has risen twice as fast as the per-capita income in the state since 2018.

"We have a shortage of housing across Indiana affordable to middle-class families earning good wages paid by growing employers," he said. "It's a threat to cost of living, quality of life and neighborhood investment."

Local real estate agent Nathan Reeder said 550 houses under $300,000 are listed for sale in the seven-county Northwest Indiana region, and only 315 of them were not in the urban centers of Gary, Hammond and East Chicago.

"Northwest Indiana is growing. Lake County has turned around a decade of net migration losses to gain more than 2,500 new residents in the past four years," real estate agent Judith Rooney-Davis said. "Our inventory of homes for sale has dropped by 45% since the start of 2019. So we appreciate Senator Young's focus on the need for new housing development and the bigger-picture impact of affordability on homeownership and household stability as well as our regional economy."

Federal investment in housing can affect labor market conditions and broader growth of the economy, Young said.

"This is a labor market issue," he said. "There are jobs located in this area or Lafayette or down in Clarksville, and there aren't enough people to fill those jobs. One of the main drivers is a lack of workforce housing. I've investigated the root causes and there are policies that can create more housing supply and bring more people into jobs.

"The rate of economic growth will increase. The money going into our federal treasury will increase. All of these things are related. If you're overlooking a key component, the housing market, you're really overlooking an opportunity for economic growth."
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UniFirst's quarterly profit dipped 3.2% to $24.3 million in the third quarter of its fiscal year, which ended on May 27, down from $25.1 million the same time a year prior.

The Massachusetts-based uniform, workwear and laundry service giant operates a 64,000-square-foot facility at 4029 Calumet Ave. in Hammond. It entered the Northwest Indiana market by buying Arrow Uniform a few years ago and now supplies uniforms, workwear, floor mats, mops, wipers, towels, bathroom products and other workplace necessities to companies across the Calumet Region from the new $12 million plant it built.

The company grew revenue in the third quarter of its 2023 fiscal year by 12.7% to $576.7 million. Operating income fell by 0.9% to $33.4 million.

Earnings per share in the third quarter fell 3% to $1.29, down from $1.33 the prior year.

The company's earnings before interest, taxes., depreciation and amortization rose to $64 million in the third quarter, up 6.1% compared to the previous quarter. Its laundry operations' EBITDA margin declined to 9.9% from 11.4%.

We are pleased with our strong top-line performance in the quarter, but continue to be focused as a company on mitigating the cost pressures impacting our operations," President and CEO Steven Sintros said. "The early days of our recently closed acquisition of Clean Uniform have been very constructive with initial efforts being focused primarily on retaining Cleans most important assets  its people and its customers. We continue to be excited about the strength and quality of the Clean business and what we continue to believe the combined companies will be able to achieve in the markets we serve together."

The company has more than 14,000 employees at 260 locations, outfitting an estimated 2 million workers a day.

"As always, I want to thank our over 14,000 team partners who continue to always deliver for each other and our customers as we strive towards our vision of being universally recognized as the best service provider in the industry, he said.
An Indiana law enacted last year sharply restricting access to abortion is poised to again take effect: The Indiana Supreme Court lifted a judicial hold Friday on enforcing the statute.

At the same time, the state's high court recognized for the first time that the Indiana Constitution protects the right to abortion, in some circumstances, and said further litigation and legislation is needed to fully understand the limits of the state's authority to regulate abortion.

The 4-1 decision by the five Republican-appointed justices turned on the narrow question of whether the preliminary injunction halting enforcement of Senate Enrolled Act 1 (2022)  issued Sept. 22, 2022, by Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon after the law had been in place for eight days  accurately recognized that there are no circumstances under which Indiana's abortion restrictions pass constitutional muster.

Justice Derek Molter, a Newton County native with 10 months of Supreme Court service, said in writing for the majority that even the plaintiffs challenging the statute, primarily abortion providers represented by the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, acknowledged that there is some point in a pregnancy before birth when the state may generally prohibit abortions, with life and health exceptions, notwithstanding a woman's interest in terminating her pregnancy.

"Our precedents have long recognized that protecting prenatal life is an appropriate exercise of the police power, which plaintiffs acknowledge. And plaintiffs do not argue that Senate Bill 1's general ban on abortions with limited exceptions has no reasonable relation to protecting prenatal life," Molter said. "That is reason enough not to affirm the injunction on the basis that the law is unconstitutionally arbitrary.

"None of this is to comment on whether the General Assembly's approach has been wise or unwise, just or unjust, moral or immoral. We simply recognize that enjoining Senate Bill 1 as a facially arbitrary law would not be an appropriate exercise of our judicial review power. Because there are circumstances in which Senate Bill 1 can be enforced as a proper exercise of the states police power, plaintiffs cannot show a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of their facial challenge."

In reaching that decision, the court explicitly confirmed that Article I, Section 1 of the Indiana Constitution  a guarantee of the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," which Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita attempted to write off as mere rhetorical throat-clearing by the constitution's framers  is a judicially enforceable restriction on the powers of the state.

Moreover, the high court majority, comprised of Molter, Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Mark Massa, said this right to self-protection means "the General Assembly cannot prohibit an abortion procedure that is necessary to protect a woman's life or to protect her from a serious health risk."

Molter declined to address what constitutes "a serious health risk" that would entitle a woman to obtain an abortion, such as whether that includes only specific physical impairments or the potential mental health consequences associated with pregnancy and childbirth.

He said the limited nature of this case, based only on briefing and argument relating to a preliminary injunction, "does not present an opportunity to establish the precise contours of a constitutionally required life or health exception and the extent to which that exception may be broader than the current statutory exceptions."

Justice Geoffrey Slaughter, a Crown Point native, concurred in the court's judgment but said the preliminary injunction could have been struck down based on the litigant's lack of standing, instead of having the court establish a limited constitutional right to abortion.

"We should refrain from taking such a giant jurisprudential leap until we are presented with an appeal that squarely presents these constitutional questions. This appeal does not," he said.

Molter certainly believes those appeals are coming. Even though the facial challenge to the entire statute necessarily failed, he said, individual plaintiffs remain free to pursue facial challenges to specific portions of the law or may bring an as-applied challenge to enforcement of the law under certain circumstances.

"By saying Senate Bill 1 is not unconstitutional in its entirety in all circumstances, we do not say the opposite either  that every single part of the law can be applied consistent with our Constitution in every conceivable set of circumstances. We do not prejudge those questions," Molter said. "To be sure, abortion legislation must still comply with the constitutional limits that apply to all legislation. That includes limiting governmental authority to a proper exercise of the police power."

Meanwhile, Justice Christopher Goff said he agreed with much of the ruling but dissented from the decision to terminate the preliminary injunction based on his reading of a broader right to bodily autonomy in Article I, Section 1 of the Indiana Constitution.

Goff said Hoosiers have long recognized that liberty includes the opportunity to manage one's own life except in those areas yielded up to the body politic, and pregnancy, similar to the decision to continue life-sustaining medical care, is such a private decision involving what will be done to a person's body that "the right to choose may well comprise an inalienable, core liberty value."

"If liberty means being let alone to manage ones own life, then some scope for reproductive choice seems essential. It cannot be that, upon becoming pregnant, women relinquish virtually all rights of personal sovereignty in favor of the Legislature's determination of what is in the common good," he said.

"Because Senate Bill 1 fails to recognize a liberty right to reproductive choice or provide any means to balance bodily autonomy against the state's legitimate interest in regulating abortion, there is, in my view, a reasonable likelihood that it is unconstitutional, at least as applied to plaintiffs who, according to the limited record before us, have long provided abortion services safely and are now prohibited from performing even those services that remain legal under Senate Bill 1."

Goff said the best way to resolve the question is to put it directly to Hoosier voters in the form of a constitutional amendment clarifying the meaning of liberty within the scope of Article I, Section 1  particularly because many of the liberties long-protected by the federal government, including the right to travel, to marry, to access contraception, to refuse medical care, or to educate one's children as one sees fit, appear vulnerable to reversal by the same U.S. Supreme Court that last year overturned the right to abortion established by its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

"I believe that the abortion question is fundamentally a matter of constitutional dimension that should be decided directly by the sovereign people of Indiana," Goff said. "In my view, even those who abhor abortion in all circumstances should be wary of unfettered government power over the most personal, private aspects of a persons life."

According to the Indiana Rules of Appellate Procedure, the litigants have 30 days to request that the Supreme Court rehear the case or reconsider all or part of its ruling, only after which time the high court decision will be certified and take effect.

Absent any change in the outcome of the case, the near-total abortion ban contained in Senate Enrolled Act 1 could go into force as soon as July 31.

Under the law, all abortions in Indiana would be prohibited from the moment of conception, except within 10 weeks of fertilization for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, or 20 weeks if necessary to prevent serious physical impairment or the death of a pregnant woman, or because of a lethal fetal anomaly.

However, the ACLU won a second injunction against the statute Dec. 2, 2022, from an Indianapolis judge who determined that the law runs afoul of the states 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, potentially allowing women who claim a religious need for an abortion to obtain one in Indiana even if they don't meet the strict requirements of the statute.

The attorney general's office also is pursuing appellate review of that injunction and a subsequent order certifying the case as a class action.

Rokita did not personally comment on the Indiana high court's decision Friday, despite taking time to post on Twitter his thoughts on U.S. Supreme Court rulings issued the same day relating to anti-discrimination protections and student loan forgiveness.

His office issued a statement declaring victory in the abortion case, even though the Indiana Supreme Court rejected its arguments that the litigants lacked standing; that Article I, Section 1 is not judicially enforceable; and, even if it were, it does not protect the right to abortion.

"The Indiana Supreme Court has just upheld the abortion laws passed by the Indiana General Assembly. We celebrate this day  one long in coming, but morally justified. Thank you to all the warriors who have fought for this day that upholds life," the attorney general's office said.

Senate President Rod Bray, R-Martinsville, who helped shepherd the abortion restrictions through the Republican-controlled General Assembly and onto the desk of Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who signed them into law, also applauded the ruling.

"We set out to pass a bill in the special session that would protect life and support mothers and babies, and that's what we did," Bray said. "It was always our intent to draft a bill that could withstand a constitutional challenge, and I am grateful to see Indiana's Supreme Court recognize that the General Assembly has the constitutional authority to protect unborn life in the womb."

Holcomb simply acknowledged the decision in a statement issued by his office: "The injunction has been lifted and upon certification by the court, the law will go into effect as related litigation continues through the judicial process."

On the other hand, the abortion-provider plaintiffs in the lawsuit vowed through a statement issued by the ACLU to "keep fighting to restore reproductive rights in Indiana and to help Hoosiers get access to the services they need."

"We are devastated by the Indiana Supreme Courts ruling today, which will deprive more than 1.5 million people in Indiana  particularly black, Latino and Indigenous people, people with low incomes, and LGBTQ+ people, who already face the most challenges when seeking medical care  of life-saving, essential health care," they said. "Now, patients will be forced either to flee the state to access abortion if they have the means, seek abortion outside of the health care system, or carry pregnancies against their will with profound medical risk and life-altering consequences."

Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, an attorney who voted against the abortion restrictions, likewise said he was "incredibly disappointed" that the court permitted the law to stand.

"This ruling is going to have incredibly adverse effects on women, increase Indianas abysmal maternal mortality rates and drive healthcare providers out of Indiana," Pol said. "Im also deeply worried about the precedent set by this ruling  this decision affirms the governments right to pass sweeping, hyper-intrusive legislation concerning the bodies and lives of individual citizens.

"If the state is allowed to make a decision this personal and private on behalf of Hoosiers, I dont know where its authority over us ends. This ruling and this law undermine the core ideals of bodily autonomy, freedom and privacy that Hoosiers hold dear. Ill continue to work for an Indiana where all citizens are guaranteed liberty and the right to self-determination."

Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond, vice chairwoman of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, said she's "terrified to think about the effect this will have on women, girls and public health outcomes in Indiana."

"We cannot forget that this near-total abortion ban will disproportionally impact African American women and women of color. Indiana already has the third-highest rate of maternal mortality in the nation, and the rates for black women are much higher than the average rate for Hoosier women overall. We simply cannot afford to do anything that will put pregnant Hoosier women at greater risk for health complications, and yet, here we are," Jackson said.

Should Indiana's abortion restrictions eventually take effect, women living in Northwest Indiana can travel to nearby clinics in Illinois or Michigan to obtain an abortion.

Gallery: Get to know these new Indiana laws that took effect July 1 AirTags Alcohol permits Animal facilities Annexation Book bans Bullying Charter schools Child molesting Childrens hospitals Domestic violence Drinking water Electric/hybrid vehicles Encroachment FAFSA Financial literacy Firefighting equipment Food and beverage tax Gender-affirming care Gary schools Gasoline tax Human trafficking Illiana Expressway Inmate gender Insurance fund Juror pay Juveniles Lake County convention center Lake County recorder Landlords Little Calumet River Lost farmland Machine guns Mail-in ballots Mental health Military bases Military pay Pension investments Public health School board elections Service animals Sex education SNAP assistance Speed cameras State comptroller Storage units Tax sales Taxpayer receipt Teachers unions Throwing stars Transit Development District 21st Century Scholars Valparaiso lawsuit Xylazine
When one parent leaves the Hasidic way of life, it fundamentally destabilizes the environment of those who remain, leaving the other parent challenged to maintain just what they had signed up for, said Rabbi Moshe Hauer, the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, an umbrella organization representing religious Jews.

Rabbi Hauer and others emphasized that parents who disagreed over their childrens education often came to do so only after one of them had left the community. Some parents interviewed by The Times said that was true, and for good reason: They did not have enough exposure to the secular world to understand that their children could benefit from both secular and religious education.

Ten lawyers who handle Hasidic divorces in the state court system told The Times they had seen a marked uptick in cases in which education was a major issue, pointing to several dozen in the past decade. The true number of such cases, however, is not known because they almost always play out in family court proceedings, the records of which are not public. And still more are resolved in the beth din before they can even make it to New York State courts.

As Hasidic leaders have become increasingly concerned that parents might withdraw their children from Hasidic yeshivas, some have recently turned to prenuptial agreements to head off that possibility before the children are even born.

One such agreement, which was drawn up in part by Martin Friedlander, a New York City-based Orthodox divorce attorney, includes an addendum that requires divorcing parents to raise children pursuant to what is expected in practice and spirit by the schools the children are attending at the time of the split.
For years, Kiryas Joel, a bustling village north of New York City, has run one of the most unusual public school districts in America.

The village is almost entirely populated by Hasidic Jews, and the district was created to serve just one group: Hasidic children with disabilities. Most other children attend the communitys private religious schools, which stress the rigorous study of Jewish law and prayer but offer little instruction in secular subjects.

Created a little over 30 years ago, the unique public school system immediately drew concerns that a school district created for members of a single faith could never separate itself from their religious institutions.

Then, in 2009, New York auditors identified a glaring conflict of interest: Two of the school districts board members had voted to use tens of millions of tax dollars to lease a building from a private religious school organization that they also helped run.
For me, the only Icee is the one that Kon Ping Young  Mr. Young to me  used to make at the Crack Seed Store in Honolulu, where I grew up, in what people in Hawaii call small-kid time. The base was always strawberry, the rosy slush whorling down into the cup. Halfway through, Mr. Young would stop the machine and spoon in the liquid skimmed off a jar of li hing mui, a local snack of preserved plums soused on a brew of sugar and licorice. (Crack seed is the catchall term for any fruit treated thus.) Hed sneak in one of the whole plums, which hed cover with more slush. Id find it buried deep, a shriveled prize, so tangy that when I sucked on it, the world condensed to that one flavor, a tiny neutron star of sweet-sour-salt.

Lusher than sorbet, more ethereal than ice cream.

Neale Asato loved that li hing Icee, too. It was the inspiration for his li hing float, a meld of strawberry sherbet and vanilla ice cream with hidden seams of li hing sauce, one of the best sellers at Asato Family Shop in downtown Honolulu. I first heard about Asato and his sherbet in 2018 from a friend who spoke in something between a whisper and a hiss: You must never write about this. At the time, Asato was making sherbet in his home kitchen and selling it online, by subscription  a side gig from his day job at a pizzeria. Now he has a proper storefront just off the Pali Highway, although its open only two days a week, and a scoop truck in Waikiki. Flavors are ever in rotation, including a homage to another local snack, gummy bears dusted with pulverized pickled lemon peel, and Green River, a lime soft drink concocted in Iowa and popularized during the Prohibition era that somehow became a staple of drive-ins in Hawaii.

Sherbet is lusher than sorbet, more ethereal than ice cream. For people in Hawaii, Asatos take is a nostalgic callback to guri-guri, the nearly century-old specialty at Tasaka Guri-Guri, a cash-only, counter-service spot on Maui. Jokichi and Rise Tasaka, immigrants from Japan, opened the first iteration of the shop in the early 20th century  the exact date is unknown  and their son, Gunji, reportedly came up with what he originally called goodie-goodie (say the name fast) in the 1920s.

The recipe is a secret. (Could any sentence make you want a recipe more?) So is Asatos. But he has an easy home version that hes willing to share, with no ice-cream maker required. Bring strawberry soda to a boil  you can do it in the microwave  add a packet of gelatin as a stabilizer, stir in condensed milk and spike with vanilla extract. Freeze to a slush, then whip on high speed, letting in the air until it expands, a pink cloud rising. Mix in more strawberry soda (and evaporated milk, if you have it on hand, to temper some of the sweetness; and if youre curious, li hing sauce, for a puckering finish), then freeze again. Break out an ice-cream scoop. Shiver.
In Pittsburgh, the air quality was so poor on Thursday that smoke covered the tops of downtowns skyscrapers. City pools were closed for the second day in a row, and the Pittsburgh Pirates delayed the start of their game against the San Diego Padres.

It looks pretty gross out there, said Maria Montano, the mayors press secretary.

In Cleveland, Christopher Jen, a 23-year-old dental student, was showing relatives around town on what felt like a hot and muggy winters day. His guests had stopped trying to take pictures of the sights, he said, because the haze made it so hard to see anything.

Still, he said, the conditions were not as bad as he might have feared, so they vowed they would not let the smoke get us down. To prove their point, he and his family even went to an amusement park, he said.

It was kind of nice because it was really smoky at Cedar Point, so no ones out there, he said. We went on all the rides.

At Ziegler Park, in Cincinnati, children splashed around at the pool on Thursday as smoky conditions persisted. The pool manager, Justin Gunn, said there had been no talk of closing.
The woman, Jeanie Dubnau, an 84-year-old housing activist and molecular biologist, said in an interview afterward that her Jewish family had fled Europe during the Holocaust. She said that the rent increases were a disaster for seniors and she believes that the mayor attacked her because he did not have a strong defense for allowing them to happen.

It was a complete deflection from what I was saying because he has no answer, she said.

Mr. Adams, the citys second Black mayor, has often raised concerns about racism when he has felt under attack. During the 2021 mayoral primary, he argued that his competitors, Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia, had joined forces to prevent a person of color  specifically a Black or Latino person  from becoming mayor. When he was blamed for Democrats losing the 2022 midterms in New York because he had raised fears over crime, Mr. Adams said his critics were insulting the Black and Latino communities who were most affected by gun violence.

More recently, he has twice compared himself to Kunta Kinte, a character from the 1977 television series Roots who was beaten for refusing to accept the slave name Toby.

I know you think you can whip me and make me go from saying Kunta Kinte to Toby, but damn it, Kunta Kinte is all I know, the mayor said at a Juneteenth celebration at Gracie Mansion after receiving criticism for the abrupt departure of his police commissioner, Keechant Sewell, who announced her resignation earlier this month.

Mr. Adams also claimed recently that there was a coordinated effort to prevent him from winning a second term. When asked who was coordinating that effort, the mayor again compared himself to Kunta Kinte and said, Theres a body of people who were pleased with 30 years without having a mayor that looked like me.
INTERNATIONAL

An article on Tuesday about restoring ecological health to Ireland misstated Randal Plunketts age. He is 40, not 30.

Because of an editing error, an article on Thursday about gravitational waves misstated when the waves were discovered. They were first detected in 2015, not 2016. Additionally, the article misstated the manner in which the waves were first detected. They were observed in data, not as audible chirps.

NATIONAL

An article on Thursday about a grand jury decision not to indict a man who stabbed a subway passenger misstated the reasons that a manslaughter case against Jordan Williams ended. A grand jury in Brooklyn voted not to indict Mr. Williams. The district attorney did not drop charges.

SPORTS

An article on Thursday about the first time in a normal professional baseball season a team with a losing record could make the playoffs misstated the nickname of the N.B.A. team based in Philadelphia in the 1952-53 season. It was the Warriors, not the 76ers.
At English High School, she went by Ellie. At Jeremiah E. Burke High School, she introduced herself as Daniella.

But the authorities have now learned that Ellie and Daniella were the aliases for Shelby Hewitt, a 32-year-old former state social worker who they say posed as a high school student at three Boston public schools  where she gossiped with teenagers during lunch and complained about homework.

On Tuesday, she was charged with three counts of forgery of documents, two counts of false writing and one count of identity fraud in West Roxbury Division Boston Municipal Court, records show.

Ms. Hewitt  who enrolled under different aliases in the 2022-2023 school year at English, Jeremiah E. Burke, and Brighton High schools by forging paperwork  had not been arrested as of Thursday, according to the Boston Police Department, which declined to answer questions about the case.
Christine King Farris, the last living sibling of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., died on Thursday. She was 95.

Her death was announced by her niece, the Rev. Bernice King, in a statement. The statement did not say where she died.

Ms. Farris, Dr. Kings older sister, supported him politically and personally. She joined him in 1965 for the March for Voting Rights in Alabama and in 1966 for the March Against Fear in Mississippi. She also lent him money so he could buy his engagement ring.

She lived through multiple tragedies over the next few years: the assassination of Dr. King in 1968; the death, by drowning, of her other brother, Alfred Daniel King, known as A.D., in his swimming pool in 1969; and the assassination of her mother, Alberta King, during a church service in 1974.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. Turkmenistan and Lithuania are ready to develop ties in the energy sector, Trend reports.

According to the official source of Turkmenistan, this opinion was expressed during a meeting in Ashgabat of the delegations of Turkmenistan headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vepa Hajiyev and Latvia headed by Vice Minister Mantas Adomenas.

The diplomats analyzed the current state of cooperation between the two countries and expressed readiness to intensify it in the energy sector, as well as in such areas as transport and logistics infrastructure, ecology, etc.

Furthermore, according to the parties, Turkmenistan and Lithuania have a good potential for expanding cooperation in the trade and economic direction.

Meanwhile, recently, the Turkmen Logistics Association signed a memorandum of understanding with the Lithuanian National Association of freight forwarders and logistics.

The signing of the document aimed at the development of the TRACECA transport corridor took place within the framework of a working trip of representatives of the Turkmen Association to Lithuania.
In an extraordinary exchange that played out among the pages of a landmark decision by the Supreme Court declaring race-conscious admissions at colleges and universities across the nation unlawful, two Black justices battled over the merits of affirmative action.

In sharp rebuttals, Justices Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson harshly criticized each others perspectives, reflecting the deep divisions and passions Americans have over the practice. Even as they appeared to agree over the policys aim  remedying the longstanding discrimination and segregation of Black Americans  they drew opposite conclusions on how and what to do.

Both justices were raised by Black family members who suffered under Jim Crow and segregation, and both gained admission to elite law schools (Justice Jackson to Harvard, Justice Thomas to Yale) before ascending to the Supreme Court. But their interpretation of the law and their understanding of affirmative action and its role in American life could not be farther apart.

In his concurring opinion, Justice Thomas called out Justice Jackson directly in a lengthy critique, singling out her views on race and leveling broader criticisms of liberal support for affirmative action.
Hunter Biden had been paying $20,000 a month in child support for several years, for a total of $750,000, according to his attorneys. He had argued that he was not financially able to support the original child-support order. The new amount is lower than had been originally ordered, according to a person familiar with the case.

But Ms. Roberts and her attorneys argued that the girl, 4, was entitled to the same benefits that her four half-siblings receive.

Ms. Roberts and Mr. Biden met in Washington. In mid-2018, Ms. Roberts was working as his personal assistant, according to a person familiar with the case. Their daughter was born later that year, but by then, Mr. Biden had stopped responding to Ms. Robertss messages, including one informing him of the childs birth date, according to a person involved in the case, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Ms. Roberts filed a lawsuit in May 2019, and DNA testing that year established that Mr. Biden was the father of the child. In a motion for custody filing in December 2019, Ms. Roberts said that he had never met their child and could not identify the child out of a photo lineup.

A bench trial had been scheduled for mid-July in a court in Arkansas, where Ms. Roberts lives, and her attorneys had enlisted Garrett Ziegler, a conservative activist who had compiled the contents of Hunter Bidens laptop into an online database, as an expert witness with knowledge of Mr. Bidens finances.
The State Department placed President Bidens envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, on unpaid leave on Thursday amid a review of his security clearance.

I have been informed that my security clearance is under review, Mr. Malley said in an email. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave.

The State Department confirmed that Mr. Malley was on leave, but did not provide additional details. Axios and CNN had earlier reported that Mr. Malleys security clearance was being evaluated.

Mr. Malley, a longtime Middle East diplomat and analyst, is well known as an advocate of dialogue between the United States and Iran. As a senior official in the Obama White House, he was instrumental in the negotiation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which limited Tehrans nuclear program in exchange for economic sanctions relief.
They called him their son, their brother, their friend, and they came by the thousands to grieve, to vent and to revolt.

Most of the marchers who gathered for a vigil on Thursday for a 17-year-old from the Paris suburbs who was shot and killed by a police officer earlier this week had not known him.

It just felt as if they had.

In the life and death of Nahel M.  the only name by which the young man has been identified publicly  they saw their own plight as French Algerians, French Moroccans, French Muslims and Black French people living in minority-dominated enclaves in a majority-white country that professes not to see differences in color.
Kader Mahjoubi, 47, who is of Moroccan heritage, said that as he drove to the march he thought of all the times he and his friends had been stopped by the police because, he believed, of the color of their skin.

I was born French, but the police dont see that, he said. Its racism.

If the left saw the shooting as typifying a government with a tough law-and-order agenda, the right stepped up its denunciations on Thursday of the protests that left cars, schools and government buildings in flames overnight.

Eric Dupond-Moretti, the justice minister, declared that those who spit on the police and on justice are the moral accomplices of the acts of violence committed.

The deadly confrontation started when Nahel ran a red light to avoid a first stop, the prosecutor said, and the officers approached the vehicle once it got stuck in traffic. The police officer who fired the shot told investigators that he wanted to prevent the driver from fleeing and was worried that he or his colleague would be hurt if the vehicle was driven away.

That reasoning did not convince prosecutors. But it resonated with police unions, which have accused politicians of ignoring the risks officers face in the field. Those unions have long argued that their job has become increasingly dangerous because of the governments failure to address deep-seated social problems.
Prosecutors in New Mexico said in a court filing Thursday that the armorer who loaded the gun on the set of the film Rust before it went off during a rehearsal, killing the cinematographer, transferred a small bag of cocaine to someone after she was interviewed by police on the day of the fatal shooting.

The armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the case. Last week, prosecutors added a new evidence tampering charge, accusing her of passing drugs to another person to avoid criminal prosecution.

The prosecutors, Kari T. Morrissey and Jason J. Lewis, gave new details about the evidence tampering charge in a request to a judge asking that their key witness  the person who says Ms. Gutierrez-Reed handed the cocaine off to them  have their identity protected initially.

The filing referred to the witness only as S1. The filing said that the witness will testify that the defendant transferred a small bag of cocaine to S1 on the evening of Oct. 21, 2021, after the defendant returned from her interview at the police station on the day of the fatal shooting.
The current Supreme Court has been out of step with public opinion in some of its highest-profile rulings, including on abortion and environmental protection. Yesterdays ruling restricting race-based affirmative action at colleges and universities was different.

In a 6-3 decision, the courts six conservative justices declared that colleges use of race as a factor in student admissions is unconstitutional. They cited the Fourteenth Amendment, which prohibits discrimination based on race.

Their ruling appears to align with public opinion. Most Americans oppose the consideration of race or ethnicity in college admissions, surveys have found. Even in liberal California, the public has voted twice to prohibit affirmative action. (Americans opinions can shift somewhat depending on how the survey question is framed.)

The publics views could make it difficult for Democrats to rally Americans in support of affirmative action as they have with abortion rights since the court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Still, Democrats quickly condemned the affirmative action ruling. We cannot let this decision be the last word, President Biden said yesterday.
The Supreme Courts six-member conservative supermajority imposed its authority today in a pair of major decisions that were applauded by the right and denounced by the White House. In both cases, the three liberal justices offered vigorous dissents.

Justices struck down President Bidens student debt cancellation program.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Education Department did not have the authority to forgive up to $20,000 of student debt, as Biden had promised last year. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the program  which would have cost $400 billion and been one of the most expensive executive actions in U.S. history  required clear approval by Congress, which is unlikely to happen in the short term.

The roughly 16 million Americans who had already been approved for debt cancellation will now find themselves owing significantly more than they thought they would, just as student loan payments are set to resume in October. Biden criticized the decision and vowed to find other ways to help student borrowers.

My colleague Ron Lieber outlined six other ways in which you can still cancel your student debt.

The court also backed a business that refused to provide services for gay couples.
The exception, said Jason Schwartz, a partner at the law firm Gibson Dunn, is that companies can take race into account if members of a racial minority were previously excluded from a job category  say, an investment bank recruiting Black bankers after it excluded Black people from such jobs for decades. In some cases, employers can also take into account the historical exclusion of a minority group from an industry  like Black and Latino people in the software industry.

In principle, the logic of the Supreme Courts ruling on college admissions could threaten some of these programs, like those intended to address industrywide discrimination. But even here, the legal case may be a stretch because the way employers typically make decisions about hiring and promotion differs from the way colleges make admissions decisions.

What seems to bother the court is that the admissions programs at issue treated race as a plus without regard to the individual student, Pauline Kim, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in employment law, said in an email. But employment decisions are more often individualized decisions, focusing on the fit between a candidate and a job, she said.

The more meaningful effect of the courts decision is likely to be greater pressure on policies that were already on questionable legal ground. Those could include leadership acceleration programs or internship programs that are open only to members of underrepresented minority groups.

Many companies may also find themselves vulnerable over policies that comply with civil rights law on paper but violate it in practice, said Mike Delikat, a partner at Orrick who specializes in employment law. For example, a companys policy may encourage recruiters to seek a more diverse pool of candidates, from which hiring decisions are made without regard to race. But if recruiters carry out the policy in a way that effectively creates a racial quota, he said, that is illegal.
In its 75-year history, Le Journal du Dimanche, Frances leading Sunday newspaper, has almost never missed publication. But its operations ground to a halt this week after an editor with a far-right track record was abruptly appointed just ahead of a takeover of the paper by the French billionaire Vincent Bollore, prompting a mass walkout by journalists and igniting a firestorm in French media and political circles.

Mr. Bollore, an industrialist often described as Frances Rupert Murdoch, has been steadily building a conservative media empire, anchored by a Fox-style news network, CNews. The appointment of the editor, Geoffroy Lejeune, who was formerly at a far-right magazine that was fined for racist insults, raised concerns that one of Frances most prominent newspapers could be transformed into a right-wing platform.

For the first time in France since the Liberation, a large national media will be run by a far-right personality, said an open letter published this week in Le Monde, Frances biggest newspaper, signed by 400 academics, economists, cultural figures and left-leaning politicians backing the JDD, as the paper is known. This is a dangerous precedent which concerns us all, the letter said.

Journalists at the JDD, known for its interviews with government leaders and largely centrist policy analysis, voted on Thursday to prolong their walkout to protest the hiring of Mr. Lejeune, 34, who was fired last year from the magazine Valeurs Actuelles amid a dispute with the owner over editorial direction. The paper did not publish Sunday, only the second time since its founding in 1948, and on Thursday evening the website was still leading with news from last week.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, July 1. By the end of 2023, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China will take practical steps towards the construction of an international railway connecting those three countries, Trend reports.

Currently, the economic foundations of the project have been prepared. Before the end of the year, the countries will take practical steps towards building the railway.

This project will reduce the distance and transportation time for Andijan entrepreneurs, shortening the transportation distance with China by 1,200 kilometers and reducing the duration to 10 days.

On June 13, the first freight train traffic has been launched on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan multimodal transport corridor.

An agreement on the construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway was signed on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Samarkand on September 14, 2022.

The railway will have a total length of 523 kilometers, with 213 kilometers in China, 260 kilometers in Kyrgyzstan, which will include approximately 90 tunnels and a final stretch of 50 kilometers in Uzbekistan.
Fox News has agreed to pay $12 million to Abby Grossberg, a former Fox News producer who had accused the network of operating a hostile and discriminatory workplace and of coercing her into providing false testimony in a deposition.

Parisis G. Filippatos, a lawyer for Ms. Grossberg, said the settlement concluded all of Ms. Grossbergs claims against Fox and the people she had named in her complaints, which included the former host Tucker Carlson and some of his producers.

Ms. Grossbergs legal team filed a request in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday to dismiss a remaining lawsuit against Fox in light of the settlement.

Ms. Grossberg said in a statement on Friday that she stood by her allegations, but she was heartened that Fox News has taken me and my legal claims seriously.
There are still plenty of ways to get your student debt wiped away.

The Supreme Courts decision on Friday to block President Bidens loan forgiveness program will be an enormous disappointment for the 43 million people who might have benefited from having up to $20,000 of debt canceled, but millions of borrowers have already gotten relief thanks to a grab bag of methods that are still available.

Thats because the Supreme Courts disapproval of the plan does not change laws and regulations that already give many federal student loan borrowers an escape hatch.

On Friday afternoon the White House announced a new effort to provide loan cancellation using the so-called settlement and compromise authority it has under the Higher Education Act. This effort will take months at a minimum, and its scope and the number of people who could benefit is not yet clear.

What follows is a list of ways to eliminate your federal student loan balance aside from paying in full. (Rules are different for private student loans that do not come from the government, and theyre generally much more strict.) It includes many citations for other articles, F.A.Q.s and explainers we have published on these topics.
Now, imagine that you have three children, are separated from your spouse and are earning just $11.50 an hour after spending years raising them. That was the predicament that Joanna Leiserson found herself in when she was living in Spokane, Wash., in 2000 and her oldest child was about to start college.

PLUS loans were the only way to afford the schools that best fit her childrens needs. After years of being unable to afford the payments  she became an Episcopal priest in 2005  and having the debt in forbearance, shes finally in an income-driven repayment program and has consolidated her $157,000 in debt to allow her to enroll in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Her debt will be eliminated if she works another nine years. Otherwise, it could easily be with her until she dies.

It does weigh on me, she said. Im not sure that its true, but it feels like society will pay for it if I dont.

But any taxpayer subsidy is established public policy, based on laws that both Democrats and Republicans signed off on over the years. And then there is the matter of any higher power that might have an opinion on the matter.

I believe that God doesnt weigh in on the specifics of our debts, but rather wants us as a community to consider the policies and the underlying principles and values of our nation and ask ourselves whether they align with Gods values, Ms. Leiserson said. Which is a community in which all persons can live sustainable lives of dignity and respect.
United Airlines appeared to restore more normal operations on Friday after a weeklong struggle to recover from flight delays and cancellations ahead of the busy Fourth of July holiday.

The airlines disruptions began last weekend in the New York area. At the time, United blamed thunderstorms and federal air traffic control staffing shortages and inexperience. Other airlines suffered flight delays and cancellations at the time, too, but by Wednesday Uniteds problems stood out as they spread to its operations across the country.

Adding to the bad publicity for the airline, the companys chief executive, Scott Kirby, on Wednesday took a private jet to Denver, where the airline has a hub, from Teterboro Airport, which is close to Newark Liberty International Airport, one of Uniteds biggest hubs. The airline said it did not pay for the trip and, in a statement on Friday, Mr. Kirby said he regretted taking that flight.

Taking a private jet was the wrong decision because it was insensitive to our customers who were waiting to get home, he said. I sincerely apologize to our customers and our team members who have been working around the clock for several days  often through severe weather  to take care of our customers.
The floods and fires exacerbated by climate change will push an increasing number of people out of their homes.

It turns out, though, that many people whove already had to move out of harms way havent gone very far. At least not in the United States, according to a new study by researchers at Rice University who focused on floods. And race appears to be a factor in how and where they move.

The authors combed through data on thousands of Americans who moved out of their homes because of flood risks between 1990 and 2017, after being bought out through a program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. About three-quarters stayed within a 20-mile drive of their old homes.

To find out more about the paper and what policymakers can learn from it, I talked to one of the researchers, James R. Elliott, a sociologist who has been studying disaster recovery since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.
Fresh cheeses made from raw milk cant be imported at all, though aged cheeses like Pecorino Romano can be. The winds keep changing, said Zach Allen, who has overseen food imports at the U.S. locations of Eataly and the fast-growing Florentine sandwich chain AllAntico Vinaio.

The imports used to be so heat-treated and over-cured that they didnt taste anything like the original, he said, referring to regulations imposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on cured meats

Over decades, Mr. Allen has painstakingly developed relationships and recipes with U.S. producers who make what he needs, like a fatty, fennel-spiked Tuscan salami called sbriciolona for La Favolosa, a top-selling sandwich at the New York locations of AllAntico. The Rosciolis are at the very beginning of that process.

Alessandro Pepe, the head sommelier at Rimessa Roscioli, the familys wine bar, is leading the New York opening, and said that while they are building relationships, the core ingredients for their classic pastas will be coming from Rome: aged pecorino and Parmigiano-Reggiano, their own dried and jarred tomatoes, olive oil and dry pasta. They are the kind of dishes anyone could have on the shelves and make at the last minute, he said.
As the summer may bring a little extra time to catch up on movies, our critics have selected a handful of options worth your time. All are available in theaters or on demand.

Asteroid City

In theaters

The story: Wes Andersons latest follows the staging of a play about the goings-on in a small desert town in the 1950s. But that play is actually shown as if it were a movie, one featuring Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hanks and many more.

Manohla Dargiss take: Written by Anderson, the film is about desire and death, small mysteries and cosmic unknowns and the stories that we make of all the stuff called life. Part of what makes his work memorable and often unexpectedly touching is that his filmmaking  the stylized way he orders the world with his richly populated cast of collaborators  expresses how he navigates the worlds confusions. Read the review.
Matter out of Place

Stream it on Ovid.

This documentary by Nikolaus Geyrhalter is something of a visual oxymoron: it is a visually gorgeous, even pristine, movie about, well, garbage. The Austrian filmmaker weaves together observational portraits of trash and its handlers from across the world, from immigrant cleaners at an island resort in the Maldives, to a mechanized sorting plant in Austria, to volunteers who pick up after Burning Man in the Nevada desert. But this is no navel-gazing exercise in aestheticizing detritus or finding beauty in ugly places. Rather, Geyrhalters keen, rigorous tableaux provoke us to think about the massive global industry required to deal with the rubbish we so casually generate in our everyday culture of disposability.

The overwhelming, even breathtaking scale of certain shots  a truck full of garbage bags is airlifted across a snowy valley; speck-size trash-pickers trawl through hills covered with litter  remind us that our relentless consumption accumulates immense collateral, and that keeping our homes and lives clean means relegating other places and people to the dirt.

Girlfriends and Girlfriends

Stream it on Mubi.
The film had its beginnings in 2015, the same year the book was published, and is that rarest of Hollywood literary makeovers. For decades, gay characters and relationships in literary classics were straightwashed on the big screen, whether in The Maltese Falcon and Breakfast at Tiffanys or Fried Green Tomatoes and The Color Purple.

In Nimona, the story became more queer friendly on its way to Hollywood, not less.

For Stevenson, much of the book spoke to his own upbringing and experiences. Coming from a really conservative family and the evangelical church in the South, he said, the story is definitely a reaction to that.

On a recent afternoon, Stevenson was at the Netflix Animation studio in Burbank discussing how his film came to be. Dressed in a green Big Sur Monterey County sweatshirt and flannel trousers, his red hair cut short, Stevenson talked about his background, his beginnings as an artist and how the story morphed  much like the shape-shifting Nimona  on its way from book to screen.

Stevenson, 31, was born and raised in Columbia, S.C., the middle child of five siblings. After years of home-schooling and two more at the local high school, he went to the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he began posting Nimona comics online in 2012, a project that became his senior thesis. When I first started making the comic, I didnt consider myself a writer, he said. I was in school for illustration. But comics was kind of my way of tricking myself into thinking like, no, I am a writer.

Online, the series quickly gained fans, and in graphic novel form, Nimona won several awards including an Eisner, the comics industrys most prestigious honor, and was a National Book Award finalist. Stevenson was 24. That year, Fox Animation acquired the rights to make an animated feature based on the comic, and called on Blue Sky Studios (the Ice Age franchise) to make it.

The next five years were busy and creative ones. In addition to adapting Nimona, Stevenson collaborated with several others in creating and writing Lumberjanes, an Eisner-winning comic book series set in a summer camp for hardcore lady types. He also became the show runner of the DreamWorks series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a fantastical, queer-friendly reboot of the 1980s cartoon, which went on to win an Emmy and a GLAAD Media Award.
With a $5 billion budget gap projected for fiscal 2025 and even larger deficits forecast for the two years after that, some watchdogs said that the budget agreement should have done more to trim the sails. What they settled on is essentially a one-year budget that again unfortunately delays the wise but hard choices needed to stabilize the citys fiscal future, said Andrew Rein, president of the independent Citizens Budget Commission.

Under the budget agreement, funding for several Council priorities that the mayor had targeted was restored  among them the citys three public library systems.

After warning that the proposed cuts would mean many branch libraries would have to close on weekends, the libraries started a campaign to increase support, with social media posts from celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker and Chelsea Clinton. Outside the main branch of the New York Public Library in Manhattan, a large banner appeared that read No Cuts to Libraries.

The top officials of the three systems said on Thursday that they were thrilled with the outcome.

Amid unprecedented attempts to ban books and silence diverse voices, they said, New York City has sent a clear message about the power of public libraries. The officials  Linda Johnson, the president of the Brooklyn Public Library; Anthony Marx, the president of the New York Public Library; and Dennis Walcott, the president of the Queens Public Library  also said in a joint statement that they were tremendously grateful to the mayor.

The Council had pushed for $60 million to expand the Fair Fares NYC Program, which provides discount MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers. The budget agreement called for only $20 million more.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. At the upcoming meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which will be held on July 4, Iran is expected to be fully accepted into the organization, Trend reports.

This information was confirmed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the presentation of the SCO National Center for People's Diplomacy.

"Iran's full-scale membership will be officially accepted at the upcoming meeting on July 4, and a memorandum on Belarus' obligations to join the SCO will be signed. This event will launch the procedure for Belarus' full-fledged entry into the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation," Lavrov said.

The SCO focuses on cooperation with international and regional organizations. The SCO is governed by the Heads of State Council (HSC), its supreme decision-making body, which meets once a year.

It is the world's largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population, covering approximately 60 percent of the area of Eurasia, 40 percent of the world population. The SCO is the successor to the Shanghai Five, formed in 1996 between the People's Republic of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.
While other Republicans prepared to celebrate Independence Day with the traditional red-white-and-blue glad-handing, Representative George Santos found himself in the labyrinth of the American court system, appearing on Friday before a federal judge for the first time since he pleaded not guilty to 13 felonies in May.

Mr. Santoss case is still in limbo, with no trial date yet set. But in a hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes, the prosecution and defense agreed to reconvene on Sept. 7. Mr. Santos and his lawyer said they would spend Congresss August recess poring over the evidence provided by prosecutors thus far  80,000 pages of it.

Mr. Santos, who wore a gray checked jacket and a light red tie, was silent throughout the proceeding. Gone was the pugilistic defiance that had characterized his news conferences and social media posts. After the hearing, he slid on a pair of dark sunglasses and left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.

Mr. Santos  whose misadventures include a stint at a firm purported to be running a Ponzi scheme, accusations of check fraud in Brazil and Pennsylvania, and lies about everything from college volleyball to the Holocaust  is facing up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds. Mr. Santos, who represents parts of Long Island and Queens, was indicted last month and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Michael Horodniceanu, who as the Metropolitan Transportation Authoritys president of capital construction helped complete gargantuan, seemingly interminable transit projects in New York City, died on June 22 at a hospice facility in the Bronx. He was 78.

His son Oded said the cause was pancreatic cancer.

From 2008 until 2017, Dr. Horodniceanu oversaw wildly complicated construction projects that cost New York billions of dollars. He tried to ensure that they became boons for the citys transportation system rather than boondoggles.

In a construction site, there are always problems, Dr. Horodniceanu told the M.T.A. board in 2009, after a gap between the platform and track that was about an inch too wide delayed the opening of a more than $500 million South Ferry subway station. My job is not to bring the problems, but the solutions.

There were five ambitious projects under Dr. Horodniceanus control: East Side Access, a plan to extend the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal; an extension of the No. 7 train to the Hudson Yards on Manhattans Far West Side; the Fulton Transit Center, a thorough redesign of a downtown subway hub that made switching between nine train lines less of an ordeal; the new subway station at South Ferry; and the Second Avenue subway, which Upper East Siders had dreamed about since the Great Depression.
The results of the citys investigation were summarized in letters sent to state education officials on Friday. Of the 18 schools the city found to be deficient, officials made a final determination that four were breaking the law. The city recommended that the state make the same determination about the remaining 14. Under the law, the city has the power to make final determinations about some private schools but not others. A spokesman for the state Education Department said officials there were reviewing the citys recommendations.

City officials also said five other schools they investigated were complying with the law only because of their affiliations with state-approved high school programs. Those schools will not face additional scrutiny.

Just two of the more than two dozen schools the city investigated were found to be in compliance with the law based on the quality of their instruction, echoing preliminary findings issued by the de Blasio administration late in 2019. One of the schools was a yeshiva for girls.

In the letters summarizing the investigation, officials described visiting schools and finding deficiencies in course planning or proof of teacher training. In some cases, officials reported seeing no instruction at all in core subjects.

After multiple visits to Oholei Torah in Crown Heights, one of the largest yeshivas in the state, inspectors said they had found insufficient evidence that teachers have the appropriate knowledge, skill and disposition to deliver adequate secular instruction.
Its scary that we are at this benchmark and we dont even know how accurate it is, how many are unaccounted for, said Adolfo Abreu, the housing campaigns director at Vocal-NY, a social services agency.

Such an explosion of migrants, which is estimated to cost $4.3 billion by July 2024, would test any American city. In New York, the arrivals were met by a system that had already been under pressure because of factors of the citys own making.

New Yorkers spend more on rent than ever. And when they stop being able to pay, lose their homes and avail themselves of the citys unique right to shelter, they find it harder than ever to get affordable permanent housing. So they linger longer in the facilities than past generations did  the average stay for families with children is more than 530 days, according to the most recent figures, double 15 years ago.

More homeless people compete for homes, until the shelter becomes the home.

In 2022, the floodgates opened when a bus arrived from Texas carrying a mere 40-some people. It was met by aid workers with blankets and the handshakes and cheers of a city that prided itself on stepping up.

The applause stopped, and the cameras turned elsewhere, but the buses  and airplanes  kept coming. Shelters opened faster than pop-up restaurants, more than 170 since last spring, sometimes overnight.
Edward Caban, the New York Police Departments first deputy commissioner and an ally of Mayor Eric Adams, will become the interim head of the agency, the mayor said Friday.

Theres a natural process in place that the first deputy commissioner falls in line until we make a permanent announcement on who the commissioner is going to be, Mr. Adams said during a radio appearance on 1010 WINS. And we are going to find a suitable replacement.

The announcement coincided with the last day in office of Keechant L. Sewell, the departments first female commissioner, who abruptly announced her resignation two weeks ago, after finding that her powers had been circumscribed by the mayor and his allies.

Her departure is one of a wave of high-level officials exiting the still-young administration. The mayor has also lost or is losing his chief housing officer, Jessica Katz, in the midst of a housing crisis; his social services commissioner, Gary Jenkins, in the midst of a record-setting homelessness crisis; his chief counsel, his communications director, his chief efficiency officer, his buildings commissioner and his chief of staff.
Lets be honest about the painful reality: America has functioned as a full democracy  guaranteeing the franchise to all  for less than one human lifetime. In practice, our democracy is younger than me.

I was born in 1959, into an America rived by apartheid. When I was a child, the adults in my life were technically eligible to vote. However, in the Louisiana and Texas towns where I grew up, they were prevented from doing so by the social and cultural norms of the American South.

During the first two decades of my life, the American people finally acknowledged this truth and, to borrow a phrase, acted affirmatively to address it. A new generation of American founders mobilized into a great, multiracial movement, challenged our nation to live up to its ideals and initiated a national construction project on the foundation of the Constitutions 14th Amendment (which was violated with impunity for an entire century after the nation ratified it).

In the courts majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts held that eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it  a new version of his old affront that the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.
There was a moment during the Trump administration when the president and his most ideologically committed advisers searched for a way to end birthright citizenship.

Enshrined in the first sentence of the first section of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, birthright citizenship means that anyone and everyone born on American soil is an American citizen. Written to secure the social transformations wrought by the Civil War, it is a cornerstone of the United States as a multiracial democracy.

President Donald Trump would end it, he decided, by executive order. It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. Guess what? You dont, he said when announcing the effort in 2018, falsely asserting, Were the only country in the world where a person comes in and has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States  with all of those benefits. Its ridiculous. Its ridiculous. And it has to end.

Fortunately, Trump was wrong. There is no way, short of a constitutional amendment, to nullify the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment. Nor was there any question of its meaning and intent. After fierce pushback from legal scholars on both the left and the right, Trump dropped the issue.
Im mostly done with my legal career. In 2015, after more than 20 years of full-time litigation, I hung up my courtroom spurs and moved into the world of writing and thinking for a living. But every now and then, I re-enter the fray. Last year I wrote an amicus brief in a case called 303 Creative L.L.C. v. Elenis, arguing that a wedding website designer had a First Amendment right not to speak. And on Friday the Supreme Court reached a decision in the case, ruling for the website designer and holding that the State of Colorado could not require her to design websites that, for example, celebrated same-sex weddings.

This case was not, as it has been widely described, about whether a website designer could refuse gay customers. That would be both illegal and immoral, and I would not participate in such a case. Indeed, the parties stipulated that the web designer, Lorie Smith, was willing to work with all people regardless of classifications such as race, creed, sexual orientation and gender, and she will gladly create custom graphics and websites for clients of any sexual orientation. She was simply not willing to design websites that contained messages that violated her religious beliefs.

The case was not about whether a business could refuse to provide goods or services but whether it could refuse to generate specific expressions with which it disagreed. Here the parties agreed that all of the graphic and website design services Ms. Smith provides are expressive and that websites and graphics Ms. Smith designs are original, customized creations that contribute to the overall messages her business conveys.

As a result, no one should think that the Supreme Court sanctioned, say, whites-only businesses or permitted a business owner to slam the door shut on gay and lesbian customers. Indeed, the majority opinion was written by the same justice, Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the majority opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended the reach of Title VII to protect gay and lesbian Americans from employment discrimination.
The problem is that, as a matter of history, its not true. The 14th Amendment, ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, was expressly intended to allow for race-conscious legislation, as Justice Sotomayor noted emphatically on Thursday. The same Congress that passed the amendment enacted several such laws, including the Freedmens Bureau Acts, which helped former slaves secure housing, food, jobs and education.

The bureau was an obvious and essential measure to remedy at least some of the harm that slavery inflicted on Black Americans. The first affirmative-action programs, a century later, had the same goal, only then it was necessary to address the decades of state-sanctioned discrimination against Black people that followed Reconstruction, and that continued to impose unique and specific hurdles to their ability to fully join American society. As President Lyndon Johnson said in a 1965 commencement speech at Howard University, You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, You are free to compete with all the others, and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.

And yet despite the success of affirmative action programs in raising minority enrollment, or more likely because of it, the pushback was immediate. Allan Bakke, a white man rejected by the medical school at the University of California, Davis, said he was the victim of racial discrimination and filed a lawsuit. In a complicated split opinion in the 1978 Bakke case, the Supreme Court allowed race to be considered in college admissions, but only for the purpose of increasing diversity on campus, not as a way to alleviate the long-term effects of discrimination.

The focus on diversity was an orchestrated compromise meant to win over the courts key swing justice, Lewis Powell. It worked, and yet at the same time it set the stage for affirmative actions ultimate demise. By limiting it to a hard-to-define concept like diversity, the court opened the door to endless challenges. Some justices have asked, for example, why certain types of diversity mattered more than others. Why only racial diversity and not religious or political diversity?

But diversity  whether on campus, in business, or in government and society at large  remains a vital goal for any institution, and it will now be more difficult to achieve. The word is not a trendy slogan, as Justice Jackson wrote in her dissent. Diversifying medical schools by opening up the profession to Black physicians can save lives, she notes. Black infants, for example, are more likely to survive under the care of a Black doctor. Diversity also expands economic benefits and social understanding. A diverse student body, she wrote, means that students of every race will come to have a greater appreciation and understanding of civic virtue, democratic values, and our countrys commitment to equality.
ezra klein

From New York Times Opinion, this is The Ezra Klein Show. Before we begin, we are doing another ask me anything episode, our quarterly A.M.A. This will be the last one before I go on book leave for a bit. So if youve got anything you want to hear me answer on the show  anything at all  send it in to at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com, with the subject line A.M.A. But to todays show, and to just the world, what the hell happened in Russia last weekend? All of a sudden, we had Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group marching not on Ukraine, but on Russia? They took control of a city, they shot down helicopters, and they advanced about 125 miles outside Moscow. They were led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who swore, no, no, no, this was not an attempted coup of Putin. It was just an effort to topple the corrupt and ineffective military leadership Putin appointed and relies on and surrounds himself with. Then, unexpectedly, a cease-fire was negotiated by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Somehow in that deal, there were no criminal charges  no criminal charges at all  for Prigozhin. And he got a secure exile, at least in theory. I mean, that was something new. You can march on Russia, and Putin will let you out not only alive, but without even facing charges? So what was this? Was it a mutiny, a coup attempt? What does it mean for Vladimir Putin and the solidity of his regime? What does it mean for Ukraine? And I should say here, there is just a lot we still dont know, a lot we are still learning. The situation is changing  and youll hear it in this conversation  even as we went to tape. But to have, I think, any chance of seeing through the fog here, you need a sense of how authoritarian regimes work, and particularly how they work in Russia. And thats why I wanted Stephen Kotkin to come on the show. Kotkin is a leading scholar of Russian history at Stanford. Hes best known for his multivolume biography of Stalin, but hes very connected in the region and has been a crucial interpreter of Putins regime, too. As always, my email for guest suggestions, thoughts, and AMA questions, ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. Stephen Kotkin, welcome to the show.

stephen kotkin

Thank you for the honor of the invitation.

ezra klein

I want to take people through a little bit of the background here. So what is the Wagner Group, and what has their role in Putins regime in the war in Ukraine been?

stephen kotkin

So the Wagner Group is a private business. Its a private business that does state business in Russia. Everything in Russia is state-private overlap; it doesnt matter which side it initiates from. And so they have vast interests  African gold mines, many other very lucrative businesses in Africa, as well as at home in Russia. And in order to guarantee the cash flow of their business, the security of their business, they created a security arm. That security arm then grew into a business on its own. So what was originally a means to an end became yet another business, an end in itself. That business, we dont know quite what the revenues have been, but theyve been very substantial and enriched the people involved. In addition, it had connections to Russian military intelligence, so that Russian military intelligence, the so-called G.R.U., could use these guys, but with implausible deniability while they used them. So theres this guy Utkin. No ones ever heard of him. Utkin is the guy whose nom de guerre, or call signal, is Wagner. And the reason he chose Wagner is because hes a quasi-fascist, and Wagner was, of course, the beloved composer of Hitler and many others in the Nazi regime. So you have a kind of private business making a lot of money, which also does dirty work with this implausible deniability for Russian military intelligence  Syria, Mali, Central African Republic, all the way in an arc towards Dubai. Dubai is the center of the Russian illicit economy. And so theres this fantastic personality named Yevgeny Prigozhin. And Prigozhin starts out with a cafe. And before you blink, hes catering Kremlin events for Vladimir Putin. And more than that, hes doing the meals for the defense ministry  some of those no-bid government contracts where not only is the price inflated, but the skimming is almost unlimited. And so he rises as a result of this opportunism, and hes got all of these businesses, plus the militia or the death squads  however you want to call them  and plus hes attached to the regime in these nontransparent typical ways for Russia. But theyre going to take his businesses away. Hes now going to be subordinated to his enemies inside the Russian Ministry of Defense, and theyre going to expropriate him. Theyre going to take every one of his businesses and cut him down. And so he decides to move against that minister of defense, Sergey Shoigu, and that chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, before they take him down. The other piece that you need to know is that this guy is just really good at social media. He has an artistic side, a creative side. He plays a thug. He plays a thug who is tougher than any other thug, but who also is out for the little guy and against the elites. That is to say, hes got that faux populism streak. And so hes very successful in the social media sphere in creating impressions about who he is and what he can get done and how powerful he is. And hes telling truth about the corruption and incompetence of the Ministry of Defense, about the failures of the war in Ukraine, about the motives  the corrupt motives over the war in Ukraine. So hes this liar whos doing truth-telling with this tremendous social media following on Telegram channels in Russia who has what I think is probably more than a billion-dollar business at stake. And, lo and behold, before they can take him down, he tries to move against them.

ezra klein

So during this period before his actual move comes, he is, as you note, on social media, on Telegram  which is a major platform in Russia, for people who arent familiar with it  and, as you say, is making these searing criticisms, not of Putin, but of the rest of the defense leadership. He is, in a sense, truth-telling and, in another sense, protecting his interests. But you know, hes out there with a lot of followers, with a real imprimatur to his own name, attacking the conduct of the war that ultimately resolves down to Putins decision-making. And one question that those of us who are unfamiliar with the dynamics here have, is it  in this world of highly censored media, it seems that, on the other hand, Putin is allowing Prigozhin, and also many of these more right-wing nationalist war bloggers, to take a very critical line on the conduct of Russias invasion of Ukraine and on the competence of the people Putin has appointed to run it. So why, through these months  long months  when Prigozhin is making these attacks, why is Putin permitting it?

stephen kotkin

Thats a great question. Could he fully have controlled it? Thats an open question for me. Could he have controlled it better? Yes, theres no doubt. But heres the thing. In the animal kingdom, just about every animal has a predator. In other words, every animal is looking over its shoulder or is racing away to try to escape dangerous situations because thats just how nature is  red in tooth and claw. Well, authoritarian regimes are like this too. Each powerful individual has an enemy or a predator. Most of those enemies are natural because theyre competing for the same resources or the same prestige or the ear of the leader. Some of that is, in fact, deliberately instigated by the leader. So the leader will give overlapping jurisdictions. The leader will give the same assignment to multiple groups. The leader will set up or exacerbate the conflict. Why would a leader do that? The same reason a leader appoints less than competent people to positions of power  because if theyre good, they become a threat to the regime itself. If theyre not so clever, but loyal, then you see them getting promoted to positions of power. This gives you an inherent inefficiency, a low-quality performance for authoritarian regimes, because they have what we call negative selection  promotion of people precisely because theyre not the most talented. And it also means theres endemic conflict, usually underneath the carpet, not easy to see. Occasionally, it becomes visible. But in this case, in the social media environment that Russia is in today, like the whole world, it was well above the carpet for a long time. But the idea must have been or could have been  or lets speculate that it might have been  that this is under control because the natural enemies will balance each other, and theyre all dependent on the leader, the single leader, for protection. And so they wont cross the line, or, if they do cross the line, their predators will take them down. And so theres a way in which this is supposed to be partially automatic. And so there can be some complacency in addition to a lack of understanding of social media on the part of Putin because he himself doesnt use it. He doesnt participate. Hes not on the internet, as far as we know. But in addition to that, theres some complacency that sets in. And then, of course, finally, authoritarian regimes degrade over time. They just get fat and happy, worse and worse, more and more corrupt, and they corrode themselves. And so all of those processes are at work. It still, nonetheless, was a surprise that it got this far.

ezra klein

So when he is making his arguments about how the Wagner Group has been mistreated, Prigozhin is saying, one, of course, that the war is being run in a corrupt and incompetent way. But he says that the Wagner Group is being starved of ammunition. He then says there was an airstrike conducted against them  an airstrike against Russian mercenaries by the Russian military. And then, on June 10, the state military announces that all fighters will have to sign contracts directly with the Ministry of Defense. So they cant be this independent force anymore; they actually have to sign up. How much of this was, in your sense of it, truly Prigozhin losing a series of fights? How much of it was  I mean, its hard to know what to make of the airstrike allegation. I have no idea if its true. But initially, the theory was, maybe this is a coup. And then, quickly, the theory in the West begins to become, this guy was hanging on for dear life and finally attempts this very high-risk gamble to just try to survive. Which theory do you subscribe to at this point?

stephen kotkin

Yeah, so its both. Thats how these regimes work. Offense is the best defense. You have to be on the front foot against your enemies before they get to you. So hes conducting an offensive on the front lines against Ukrainian forces, and hes conducting an offensive behind his back, on the home front, against his other enemies  which are, as I said, the Ministry of Defense and the chief of staff. And so he is not necessarily under siege the way that he described it. I think we have to be careful, taking at face value, like you said, the idea that he was being bombed. But nonetheless, theyre clearly trying to undermine him and his work at every turn. And you can see state media take credit for some of the Wagner quasi-achievements on the battlefield in that hellhole that everybody now knows about, Bakhmut. And so you can be angry about that. You do the hard work, your guys are the ones who die, and then somebody back in a comfortable office gets the credit for it  or the medal for it, as it were  in the state media. And so theres just roiling anger, resentment, fury, back and forth because Prigozhin is talking about the incompetence and corruption of the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff. These are the guys who have the other nuclear football besides the president in Russia. And at the same time, they are pouring poison into state media and into the presidents ear behind his back. And so this kind of stuff, we normally dont get to see it as well as we got to see it. But its both a quasi-coup, or attempted coup, or what I would call an improvised coup most coups fail. This one sort of failed but, in an odd way, maybe not. Its an improvised coup, but its a defensive reaction to his potential expropriation. You mentioned the June 10 announcement, which could only have come with President Putins acquiescence  we dont know if Putin initiated it, but certainly he would have had to sign off on it  which was the death knell for Wagner as an independent force and therefore all of that business thats at stake. You can now see Putin trying to protect, trying to keep in play all the Wagner businesses from Syria through Africa and beyond, without Prigozhin. The value of that to Russia is enormous. And so can Putin manage to retain that value without the guy who created it, for the most part, Prigozhin? And what will happen to the people who sparked this by going after Prigozhin and that he then went after, but are still, as it were, in their positions? So what we dont know is much greater than what we do know, but this kind of stuff is what authoritarian regimes are self-susceptible to.

ezra klein

I think that point  that what we dont know is more than what we do know  is really important for everyone listening here to keep in mind. And I think in some ways, one thing that underscores it is were speaking on Wednesday, June 28. And you mentioned this as being an improvised coup. And theres some new reporting sourced to U.S. Defense that suggests maybe its more improvised than people realized. So The Wall Street Journal has a story today, and Im going to read just a bit of it here. They write, quote, Mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin planned to capture Russias military leadership as part of last weekends mutiny, Western official said, and he accelerated his plans after the countrys domestic intelligence agency became aware of the plot. The plots premature launch was among the factors that could explain its ultimate failure after 36 hours. And the story goes on to say that the plan was to capture the defense minister and general during a visit that they were planning to a Southern region that borders Ukraine. So there was in some ways  again, according to this, and sourced to Western intelligence  there was, according to this, a much more aggressive theory or plan here that then leaks, and Prigozhin simply has to improvise and move faster. Im curious what you make of that.

stephen kotkin

Yeah, I would just be cautious about the word plan you get into the archives of these regimes after they fall  or even before they fall, if youre lucky  and the word plan would not be the first word that would come to mind. Its much more chaotic, much more improvised. In addition, you have a collective action problem for any coup. If you at The New York Times decide that the current executive editor is not to your liking and you want to organize an action against the executive editor and bring that person down 

ezra klein

Keep an eye out, Joe Kahn.

stephen kotkin

 right, the first person you talk to is thinking, oh my god, is this a provocation? Is my loyalty being tested here? And that person has to then run to Joe Kahn and say, Joe, theyre talking about an insurrection behind your back. And then he names who it is. And so you have a very hard time  even if you all agree that the person should come down, you have a very hard time trusting anybody else with your desire to do that because they dont know if youre serious or if youve been sent by Joe Kahn to test their loyalty. And so this is what its like inside an authoritarian regime, right? They dont trust their own elites. They cant trust their own elites. Theres no trust among them  or, as we like to say, theres no honor among thieves. And so for them to organize a coup, to have a plan, is extremely difficult because the first person who learns this is going to rat them out  or the second person or the third person. And its not a plan if its one person. Its only a plan if its a many people, and you would need many people. So, maybe. We always have to be careful of our excellent intelligence services manipulating us through leaks to shape stories. And I have a very high regard for the capabilities of our people who work in our intelligence services  their level of analysis, their humility, their self-correction when they dont get things right. But I wonder  we pick up eavesdropped conversations. A lot of this is electronic or signal intelligence. And people talk. People chatter. People say things. They make stuff up. They make themselves out to be more important. They speculate. They say, I heard this rumor, et cetera. And so the chatter is one of the things that we get. Now, its different when you see movement of tanks, movement of ammunition. Thats what our intelligence people picked up. They saw the Wagner Group stockpiling  and stockpiling not in the front, where they were going or supposed to go, towards the Ukrainians  but stockpiling in the rear. And so that was the tip-off that something was up. Because if youre stockpiling in the rear while youre complaining youre not getting stuff  so here you are saying theyre shortchanging you ammunition, and then you get this massive ammunition dump not far from Russian military headquarters running the war in Ukraine. So I think that was a pretty big signal that our people picked up, and thats different from the chatter, the eavesdrop, bragging, boasting, or rumor-mongering.

ezra klein

Well, to pick up on that, so when I look at these stories that have been coming out today where American, I guess, intelligence officials  I mean Im not the one getting the leaks  but some members of the American intelligence establishment are telling newspapers that we believe that there was more of a plan here, the plan was more dangerous, and one of the pieces of intelligence here is that other generals  or, at least, another general  knew that there was somewhat more communication between Prigozhin and other members of the Russian defense establishment than had been reported before. And you wonder, well, why is that being told to the American media? I mean, you have to suspect a little bit that there is an intention or an interest in making Putin feel that his own government and his own army is less trustworthy, more dangerous. And maybe there are more elements plotting against him than he thought in an effort, I would assume, to reduce the regimes efficacy. So thats my sort of internal media assumption of what Im seeing. Im curious if that seems right to you.

stephen kotkin

Hell, yeah, for sure. Their best general whos anywhere near the top, Sergei Surovikin, hes the one that our intelligence services are implicating in the plot. And if you want to take out one guy from the Russian military whos competent and could do the war in Ukraine a lot better, he would be your target. Having said that, it could be true. Im not disputing that there could be a basis in fact here. But yeah, the idea of targeting Surovikin, who supposedly was in with Prigozhin, knew that this was happening  But you can spin this out, Ezra, forever. So lets say sort of Surovikin knows. If he doesnt tell President Putin, hes toast. So hes got to tell the President. He tells the President, but the president may say, thats crazy. Prigozhin would never do that. Hes not that kind of guy. I know him, you know, way back from St. Petersburg days. So just because some people might have been in on it, or been told, or heard rumors, or warned about it, doesnt necessarily mean that, through the chain of command, that had any effect  or the kind of effect that it should have had  for someone like Putin. But you have here the situation where, again, theres no trust. Everyones got a predator. Theyre assigned to each other. These people are, officially, each others enemies. And so you think, well, theyre all on the same side. They all wear the same jersey. Theyre supposed to be working to score in the Ukrainian goal, not in their own goal. But, in fact, as we know from hundreds of years of history on the Russian side, Russia always fights a two-front war  one against whichever enemy on the battlefield, and another on the home front where the various factions are going after each other hammer and tongs. And so well get the story eventually. This place leaks like a sieve, and they have almost no control over their electronics. And so we have an overload of information. And in our system, a lot of that will come out. Some of its come out already as youve been alluding to. But lets just wait before we make any far reaching conclusions about who knew what and why, et cetera. So the improvisation, who knows? There might have been five ideas or six ideas. You get around talking over the campfire, or on your cell phone with somebody else using Signal, and you start throwing ideas off. What if we do this? What if we do that? What if we try this? What if, when they come to the Rostov military headquarters, we take them hostage, and then they cant expropriate our businesses, right? So thats what we mean by a plan, I think, on the inside. And then, the idea that things accelerate or things leak and  well, yeah, thats how every single coup is. And nobody knows whats happening on the inside of a coup. Its like a revolution. You dont know its a revolution until afterwards and someone writes a book telling you it was a revolution, in some cases. And other cases, youre trying to instigate a revolution and it doesnt work, or youre trying to instigate a coup. And these things are a mess on the inside. And they all fail until, suddenly, in a few cases, they succeed, unexpectedly to all those involved. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein

Lets talk through what we sort of know or, at least sort of could see, that happened here. So the Wagner Group turns into Russia. The forces enter Rostov. And they move through the city and move over a pretty good amount of land easily and dont seem to pick up much resistance from the Russian military. And at a certain point, they really could. Theyre not far at all at this point from Moscow. So one thing that has been out there, at least in commentary, is that there is a lot of information that should make Putin look bad or be afraid, but there didnt seem to be more resistance to them. On the other hand, maybe just people didnt understand what was happening. What did you make of the initial ease of their march?

stephen kotkin

Yeah, so this was what we call an unintentional referendum on the Putin regime that he ended up catalyzing or organizing. So you start with the fact that this is about Ukrainian valor and ingenuity. Ukrainian resistance, Ukrainian courage on the battlefield, Ukrainian ingeniousness has put this pressure on Putins regime. So this starts with them. And then, as I said, there are all of these inherent tensions within an authoritarian regime, a lot of which the leader either instigates or tries to instigate and exacerbate. And now youve got the equivalent of an unintentional referendum. What do I mean by that? So when Xi Jinping in China does Zero Covid, and its very draconian, and the local governments are going broke testing everybody so frequently, and lockdowns where theres no economic activity and theres discontent, Ezra, you dont know what the other people feel. You know your feelings about the regimes policy, but youre not sure what the other people think because you have a censored media space, and its also very costly to find out  to go out there on a limb, say some negative things, and see what the reaction might be, or to engage your neighbors in the conversations that they might rat on you. But when Xi Jinping does this, he sparks protests from people who just cant take it anymore. So he effectively stages a referendum on the regime where people who are not happy discover that theres a lot of other people like themselves. Thats something that the regime has kept hidden, as Ive just described. And then, he goes from Zero Covid, the draconian lockdowns with this extremely frequent testing, to Let-It-Rip Covid. Thats also a version of the referendum because people see that the regime is not very competent. It turns out that they dont know what theyre doing. It turns out that they dont know more than we know. It turns out that we cant rely on them, that the propaganda about how theyre bringing prosperity to China, its a lie. And so authoritarian regimes that catalyze these unwitting referendums cant put the genie back in the bottle, right? You cant restore the aura, the mystique of power  this mystique of power, the aura of power, where you know more, you see more, youre more competent. Other people may think youre not doing that well, but its just because around you, there are minions who are not up to speed or whatever. But you are the one. You are the guy. And so once you lose that mystique of power, its very difficult to get that back. Thats what Putin lost in Ukraine well before this recent Prigozhin incident. The mystique, the aura, the magic of power was gone. Nobody believed he knew better. He knew what he was doing. He was smart. He was infallible. He was watching everything. He was controlling everything. The war exploded that. You can be a military genius in propaganda, but war is something that really is revealing of whether thats true or not. And thats done. And this is prior to Prigozhin. So the mystique, the aura, is gone. However, you have the mechanisms of power. You hold in your hand the levers of power. And those levers of power are so substantial. We underestimate what it means to sit in the Kremlin or to sit there in Beijing in charge of China. The levers of power are enormous and very far-reaching, and this collective action problem of moving against them, as I said, is a very high bar. And so Putin has this hollow regime thats still strong. Its a paradox. Its hollowed out. The aura is not there. The mystique is gone. The corruption is now so corrosive. The corruption is the system, and yet, its destroying the system. So were in this period now where Putins regime has been shown not to have a lot of support. We had these surveys  do you support the war in Russia, or would you like to go to jail? Weve had a whole bunch of surveys like this. Do you support the war, or would you like your children to be kicked out of school? Do you support the war, or would you like to lose your job, right? They dont ask the second question. Its implied in the survey. And the war that people support is also the war they see on television where its Ukraine, its NATO committing the aggression against Russia, and its the fate of the Russian state which is at stake. Now we see, with this unwitting referendum, that it turns out theres not a lot of support there. It turns out that people didnt rush to show their loyalty. They stood back. They were either apathetic or, worse, indifferent, yes, in most cases. But some were opposed. Its just too costly to show your opposition, potentially, until theres more clarity. And so he staged that referendum in a kind of emperor no clothes fashion, unintentionally. Thats what Prigozhin just did. So even though the aura had been lost already, the mystique was gone, and even though he still has the levers of power, he now has to look over his shoulder and wonder, who else was in on this? Who else wants to take me down? Who else are my potential enemies? And hes already paranoid because paranoia is the job description of an authoritarian ruler, especially in these Eurasian regimes like Russia or China. And so now, the paranoia becomes, potentially, even more dysfunctional, becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. If he goes after them, he could further destabilize. If he doesnt go after them, he doesnt know if theyll be there for him, if another accidental crisis or structural crisis thats triggered by accident confronts him. And so it is destabilizing, but remember, these regimes, theyre always brittle. Theyre all powerful and brittle at the same time. And every day is existential for them, right? We here in America, we hyperventilate. Four years of Trump and its the end of the world. Its the end of democracy. Its the end of America as we know it. And then we have, even, events like January 6, and here we are on the other side of that, and America is still here. Now, the other side is talking about how Biden, its the end of the world. Well never get through this. Its the end of the American way of life. And Ive got to tell you, at some point, Biden will not be President anymore, and America will still be here. Its not existential for us. Were wrong to think that these kinds of problems in America are existential. But for authoritarian regimes, little everyday quotidian built-in issues can become existential. Theyre subject to a kind of permanent potential political bank run on their regimes.

ezra klein

You brought up the loss of mystique in Ukraine for Putin, and it seems like theres  at least from the commentary and analysis Ive seen  another one here, which is Prigozhin is marching. Theyve taken a city. There have now been skirmishes with Russian military. Theyve shot at Russian military aircraft, and theres fear of him and Wagner marching on Moscow. And he doesnt do that, but nor is he killed, or taken into prison, or executed. What happens is it a deal is struck  and we dont know everything about the deal  but with the help of the Belarusian president, Lukashenko. And from what we can understand, there are no criminal charges for Prigozhin. Prigozhin is now in exile, not in jail. And theres a surprise, I think, that you can move against  I mean, he says he wasnt moving against Putin himself. He was moving against the defense minister and others in the administration. But, you can move against Putins government and survive. You can move against Putins government and just go into exile. And that also seems to be either a mystique-losing moment for Putin, or a new kind of information, potentially, for others in the regime, and also just something people didnt expect from Putin. He didnt seem like the kind of guy to take that and come to a quick negotiated settlement, as opposed to salt the earth with the remains of his enemies. What did you make of that?

stephen kotkin

The key element here  and I think the piece that I got wrong most substantially, or I would say the biggest mistake I made in the heat of the moment analysis  was the Belarus, Lukashenko piece. So Aleksandr Lukashenko, a former collective farm chairman, has been running a Belarus like a collective farm for as long as I can remember. I forget when the exact date of his presidency, dictatorship kicked in, but my hair was black, and I had a lot more of it when he started. So Lukashenko is in trouble. He has a tremendous opposition internally, and hes arresting people who are rival candidates in elections, and then arresting or pushing into exile their spouses. Hes clamping down on every journalist he, can and hes dependent utterly on Moscow to save his butt. So he shows up recently in Moscow at a meeting, which is on live on Russian television. And the first two minutes of the meeting where they let the press in, you have that kind of meet and greet. And they exchange words, and Putin says, thank you for coming. You know, welcome to Moscow. Thank you for coming. And Lukashenko says to Putin, what choice did I have? And so this is shown on television. Thats the part that they show, not the part that they conceal. And so the guy is treading water. And he intervenes in this crisis, just very shrewdly, and makes himself indispensable  and, potentially, acquires the militia part of Wagner for Belarus. Moreover, hes now  everyone saw that Lukashenko saved the situation in Russia. So rather than Lukashenko being under Putins boot, now theres a quasi sense that Putin was at least dependent in this episode on Lukashenko. So that was quite a reversal of fortune, very clever intervention. Well get the details eventually. Be careful  a lot of the details are going to be fake. But well be able to sort it out eventually. But I did not have Lukashenko being this clever. I thought he was in bigger trouble and would muff this and would come out worse as a result of this. But hes the one thats come out looking the best. And so where this is going  once again, I dont know the future, and I dont have full information, and we want to be as humble as possible in discussing what could happen further here. But one thing thats happened so far is that Lukashenko has turned the tables on Putin in terms of his own dependency, at least in the short term. And so if theres a winner here  and generally speaking, I dont think there are any winners yet; I mean, well get to the Ukrainian battlefield and counteroffensive at some point, Im sure  but Lukashenko comes out looking a lot better than I had him for. And so I stand corrected on that. Why didnt Putin smoke this guy, Prigozhin? Putins got tremendous assets in the military sense. Hes got everything he would have needed to smoke this guy, and he didnt. And what does that mean? A lot of people speculating, does it mean its because Putin was uncertain of the reaction  that he would give the order and the military wouldnt implement it, or that he would kill this guy and this guy would become a martyr and a hero, and worse in death than he is in life? I dont the answer to that. Those speculations, to me, are worthy of keeping an eye on. Now, the other piece of this is that when they were marching on Moscow, they didnt galvanize the rest of the Russian military. In other words, the death squads, the special forces, the militia that Prigozhin controlled, known as the Wagner Group, wasnt gaining size like a snowball running downhill as it was marching. And so neither side, as it were, galvanized the public or galvanized the security and military structures. So it was a kind of standoff that neither side was sure that they could win  or neither side, lets say, was confident in the potential outcome. Now, Putin, allegedly, according to reports tracking the airplanes, his plane took off and he went to Valdai, which is a presidential retreat between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Its possible the planes took off. Its also possible Putin wasnt on them. His planes are traveling in multiple directions all the time in order to scramble people not knowing where hes located at any given time. So did he flee Moscow? Did he flee the Kremlin or his dacha outside Moscow? Lets wait to see if we get more hard information on that. But clearly, didnt rally. But to go back to the point, Ezra, about the levers of power, so Putin has a Praetorian Guard. They are very, very substantial. Hes got his own Wagner Group equivalents. One of them is the so-called F.S.O., which is the old bodyguard directorate of the K.G.B.  the directorate that guarded Gorbachev, the Politburo members. It was split off as a self-standing organization, and its colossal. Exactly how many soldiers does it have? Im not sure  20,000, 30,000, Ive seen different estimates from people that I trust who have good information. But whatever the number is, its big. And theres this guy, Kochnev, whos in charge. Hes a general. Hes in charge. And they look like they are loyal to Putin right down the line. Theres another group called the National Guard, which is run by this guy, Zolotov. Zolotov was Yeltsins bodyguard and was on the tank in 1991, if you know that famous picture of Yeltsin, opposing the coup attempt by the security forces in summer of 1991, just before the Soviet final collapse. And Yeltsin was up on that tank, and Zolotov was Yeltsins bodyguard and is on the tank. He then became, eventually, a bodyguard for Putin, and now, he is the general in charge of the National Guard. So you have the federal bodyguard directorate, the F.S.O., and youve got the National Guard. And so youve got these two really, really big militias that are as loyal as loyal can be. So thats a lot of protection. Thats a nice cocoon to be living in. And if those guys dont defect, if those guys dont turn on you, its very hard to bring this regime down because you cant get near the actual regime, because its in this cocoon. And so the machinations about whether to take Prigozhin out or not, we still dont know. The skirmish that took place outside the city of Voronezh, is between Rostov  Rostov is the city in the South where Prigozhin was holed up in a bunker. The military headquarters of the Russian war, aggression against Ukraine, is in Rostov, and thats where Prigozhin was in a bunker. He didnt go to Moscow himself. He sent several fighters  5,000, 8,000, weve seen different numbers. There was a skirmish outside Voronezh, which is between Rostov and Moscow  so its on the way to Moscow, much closer to Moscow. But its not clear what the circumstances of that skirmish involved because it looks like there were some helicopters that the Wagner guys shot down. But those helicopters were not attacking them. They were conducting surveillance over the march  kind of like when they tell you that things on the Gowanus are sluggish. Theyre looking at the traffic above New York City to try to advise people on their commute, of all the idiotic roads to be on, which is the least idiotic. Well, so theyre watching with the helicopters, and the Wagner guys just shoot the helicopters down because they dont know that the helicopters are just there for surveillance. And then, a couple of planes also seem to have been shot down. Its not clear, once again, quite what those planes were doing, but it looks to be the case that they were not attacking the Wagner guys. So even the one area where there was a skirmish does not look like it was a two-sided skirmish. It looks like one side opened fire on the other without knowing what the other was up to. And so I know its hard to understand, but the uncertainty of the moment, the fact that were not sure if killing Prigozhin is more beneficial, less beneficial to the Putin regime because he could be a martyr  and on it goes. This uncertainty is typical. Theres a lack of decisiveness in the last many years of Putins rule  kind of out to lunch, complacent, procrastinating, not making decisions and letting things, hopefully, resolve themselves naturally  kind out to lunch, disengaged. In the early years, Putin would have prided himself on shooting things down, on killing people, on showing just how tough he was. We saw that in those Chechen wars when he first came to power. Its a different regime now, but I think its more the uncertainty that was built into the situation as much as it was a lack of decisiveness. We dont know if he gave an order that wasnt implemented. We dont with whom he was in contact. And the Lukashenko intervention, as I said, also might have changed the equation. Because you saw the press reports that Lukashenko blabbed  we have no idea if this is true  but he blabbed that he talked Putin out of using force to kill these guys. That could be just Lukashenko talking out of his  well, I wont say it. This is a family show, but you understand which part of the anatomy I have in mind here. And so a lot of uncertainty, but the main issue remains that Putin has lost the aura, has huge levers of power and loyalists, and is seen as the only alternative so far to the abyss.

ezra klein

Right as this crisis was ongoing, resolving itself, Politico ran a good feature where they asked I think it was 14 Russia watchers what they thought. And this goes, I think, to the point youre making there. But I was so struck by the range of opinion  from, this regime is rotting, Putin is vulnerable, this shows he is losing power, losing control, the elites are fractious. All the way to, this doesnt matter that Prigozhin was not moving on Putin. It was a last ditch effort. That maybe this even strengthens Putin by bringing the military closer to him. Maybe he cracks down on the elites. Maybe he doubles down in Ukraine. And these are all people who are knowledgeable and have watched Russian politics for a long time. So I wont ask you to try to have an answer where one cant emerge or one cant be held solidly. But what kinds of information  or what kinds of signals  would you be looking for in the coming months to see if something has changed, to see if there are more cracks or more difficulty for Putin in managing the sort of elite coalition around him, or to see if he is as in control as ever?

stephen kotkin

Yeah, Ezra, so if he uses somebody as the main instrument to crack down  in other words, he empowers somebody to put the lid back on  the problem with that is the person who puts the lid back on is immediately, in everybodys eyes, an alternative to Putin  not an alternative on the democratic opposition side, but an alternative on the regime side, where it really counts. And so hes kind of stuck here. Its very paradoxical. He needs to put the lid back on. He needs to reassert his power. It cant be just the speech. Hes made a couple of speeches already. The speeches have no effect. Even with all the choreography that the manipulators, the spin doctors at the Kremlin can come up with  and they got a lot of great stuff, right? He was in front of the Palace of the Facets, one of Ivan the Terribles palaces inside the Kremlin. He walked down the red carpet. You could see the Palace of the Facets right off to his left shoulder. It was tremendous imagery, but its really just imagery on T.V. and then it passes. And so how does he put the lid back on? Heads have to roll. Well, if heads roll, whos going to take their place? And if the people who take their place are competent people, then why dont they take the presidents place? So in some ways, that helps explain how Lukashenko could insert himself successfully. We know he tried to insert himself, but how was he successful? Its because maybe Putin saw that empowering the Belarusian dictator was less empowering domestically in Russia than anybody he would have tasked with putting the lid on at home. So theres that. Theres watching the empowerment or refusal to empower somebody to put the lid back on and how Putin manages to put the lid back on. Then, theres the raveling or unraveling of the Wagner global empire. Can Putin successfully bring that home, as it were, without Prigozhin? And if so, who gets it? Does it go to Shoigu, the failed Minister of Defense? Does it go to Zolotov, the head of the National Guard, who has a militia but doesnt have the kind of businesses that Prigozhin built because hes not on that level? So thats something else to watch. Other things to watch, of course, are the domestic fiscal situation. It looks like theyve managed pretty well to not crash the economy and do much better than all the economists predictions and expectations in terms of GDP decline, and instability, and macroeconomic instability. Theyve done pretty well. How long does that go on? The gulf between the revenues and the expenses has widened very, very significantly. And this is all about a bank run  in the economic sense, not in the political sense  meaning if depositors in Russia think that theyre going to lose their money, theyre going to try to get their money before they lose it, which will create the situation of them losing their money, which also could crash the regime from a fiscal, macroeconomic point of view. So thats a major point of vulnerability. The main thing to watch, of course, is the front, is the battlefield in Ukraine. So the Ukrainian counteroffensive has the potential to destabilize, maybe even cause a battlefield bank run with the Russian army, which would have consequences potentially  not automatically, but potentially  in Moscow. So far, the Russian side of the battlefield has held really well. Thats both before the Prigozhin events and since. Its very early yet. A lot of people who know much more about military matters than I know, Ive talked to them, and they are convinced that Ukraine can do this  not that they will succeed, but they can potentially succeed. That there will be multiple counteroffensives, not just one  that this will be a longer, protracted process, potentially, and we should be less eager for results every minute while were refreshing our screens. As General Cavoli, who is the Supreme Commander of Europe for the United States and Supreme Commander of NATO, and is playing a very big role as a partner to the Ukrainians  as he told me not that long ago, Ukraine doesnt have to be the best army in the world. They just have to be the best army in Ukraine. And if that turns out to be the case, that could have political repercussions in Moscow. Its not automatic. Putin could ride out even a lost war. The problem with Ukrainian successes is Putins capabilities to lash out  not on a global scale with strategic nuclear weapons, but on the scale of Ukraine. I worry about this more than anything else. You see, Russia doesnt need Ukraine; Ukraine needs Ukraine. And Putins strategy has amounted to a failure, but hes now got a backup plan. And that backup plan is, well, I cant have Ukraine? Nobody can have Ukraine. And so we saw him blow up the dam on the Dnipro River, which was extraordinary. And people thought, oh, he did that in order to blunt the Ukrainian offensive. It had next to no impact on the front line on the Ukrainian side. And so youve got to see that thats a message. Hes telling you that  hes bombing the residences. Hes bombing the schools. Hes bombing the hospitals. Theyre committing rapes and other atrocities. Theyre destroying or looting Ukrainian cultural artifacts. Thats what this is about now. I cant have it? OK, nobody can have it. And so youre looking at that Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, pretty much on the same location as the river, just a little bit more up river, and youre thinking, oh my god. If it goes up in smoke like the dam, what happens to Ukraine? He can irradiate Ukraine without even using a nuclear weapon for generations  kind of Chernobyl style, but deliberately rather than accidentally. Im not saying hes going to do that. I have no idea what his plans and intentions are. But he has that capability, and that worries me because you can win the war, and you win back territory, and its irradiated. And so we have to take those capabilities out of his hands.

ezra klein

Lets end, then, on the point of how Ukraine could get some of the capabilities that would take some of those capabilities out of Putins hand. And a lot of that comes from the calibration of Western support and materiel, and money, and industrial capacity. And so far, theres been no evidence that the events of the Wagner mutiny had any real effect on Russian battlefield presence. But a world in which the West sees Putins regime as under more stress, as beginning to crack under the pressure of flailing about in Ukraine, is plausibly a world where theres more Western commitment. I mean, there has been a fair amount of Western commitment to Ukraine, but it is always calibrated. Theyre always giving just enough and no more. Theyre not giving the thing Ukraine would really like to have on the battlefield, and they give some of that but not the next thing. And one plausible consequence of this is a sense in the West that maybe this is working. Maybe Ukraine has a better shot of, to some degree, pushing the regime into crisis in a way that would be a meaningful outcome for them. Do you think thats true?

stephen kotkin

We hear every day that the world order is at stake in Ukraine. And yet, we also hear at the same time that we cant put any of our soldiers or NATO soldiers into Ukraine. So weve done quite a lot  an extraordinary amount  and its been fantastic because the Ukrainians have made the sacrifices that theyve made. And theyve used our stuff, but theyve used also  the vast majority of what theyve used successfully has been Soviet-era kit, Soviet-era weaponry that, sure, has been rejiggered, has been improved. Also, the drones that the Ukrainians themselves rejigger in order to carry grenades, they need to evade the Russian electronic jamming and everything. Its been extraordinary what theyve accomplished, and our support for it. And its inspiring to see that. Its inspiring to see the revival of the West. Yes, there is now a renewed sense that Ukraine can do this, just like there was after the Kharkiv offensive, which was another success on the Ukrainian side that happened in an earlier phase of the war where they pushed the Russians out of that big province around the city of Kharkiv. And people said, oh, Ukraine can win this. Now we should support them even more. Thats just not a way to understand this. This is the ninth year of the war, going back to 2014 when Putin took Crimea and then, not long after that, supported or instigated the uprising in Eastern Ukraine  so-called Donbas. This is a generational problem where Ukraine has to win the peace over the long haul. Winning the peace means not just preserving the existence of your nation and the sovereignty of your state  thats what Ukraine has achieved so far. It means joining the West, becoming a Western-oriented, Western-integrated, prosperous, noncorrupt, rule of law, Democratic society with a dynamic new economy, not the old Soviet-style economy of heavy metal that they had before. Thats not a one-day, or a one-week, or a one-counteroffensive or one-year proposition. Thats a multiyear proposition. Here, the conundrum of Crimea will come into play, which is an almost exclusively Russian ethnic area that Ukraine is trying to reclaim since it was illegally annexed by Russia. We have questions like that. Aleksei Navalny, the opposition figure in Russia, who is in prison now and is looks like hes going to get his prison term extended even more on fabricated charges, Navalny has said that Crimea is Russian territory. Boris Yeltsin, before Putin, demanded Crimea back from Ukraine. How Ukraine lives alongside of Russia, how they win the peace, how they are able to join the West, get a security guarantee, enter the European Union? For all its faults, the European Union is the best path forward for Ukraine, and they would all recognize that as victory, winning the peace. How all of that happens over the generations so that this doesnt happen again two years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now. We want a situation in which Russia is not incentivized to do this again, whether thats under the Putin regime or after. And so a victory on the battlefield in the short term, taking back some territory, reclaiming territory thats, of course, ruined, its completely flattened, its rubble, getting the refugees back into the country, getting the Ukrainian children back in Ukrainian language schools from abroad  all of that is critical for the survival of Ukraine going forward. But whats also critical is theyre going to live next to Russia, and Russia is not going  you cant pick up Russia and move it to the other side of China. And so you can arm yourself to the teeth, porcupine-style, maybe. Someones got to pay for that, and that also has repercussions on your domestic institutions, on your liberty, and I could go on. And so being a state thats a garrison state has many domestic implications that we should be careful about encouraging. Russia needs to have a stake in the international system in some fashion. It cant be incentivized only for spoliation, only for wreaking havoc, only for doing nasty things out of spite, whether its to Ukraine or to somebody else. Russia is in terminal decline right now. They are on a pathway  theyre so weak, and in order to overcome their weakness, theyre making themselves even weaker. Putin is achieving the exact opposite aims that he set out to achieve. Gorbachev did the same thing. Gorbachev set out to make Russia stronger, and he made it weaker. He did it with a bet on the West  partnership with the West. Putin started out with the partnership with the West. Eventually, he decided it was anti-Westernism that he would make the big bet on. But either way, Putin has done even more damage to Russias strategic position than Gorbachev ever did, unwittingly. And so Russia has just too many capabilities and its geography  and I could go on  for it to be completely outside the International system. Its committed these crimes. I understand that it needs to pay the price for those crimes. Im just worried that we have to understand better how to win the peace over the generations.

ezra klein

I think thats a good place to end. So then, always our final question, what are three books you would recommend to the audience?

stephen kotkin

Oh my god, only three? Seriously, Ezra?

ezra klein

[LAUGHS] I apologize.

stephen kotkin

I read about 120 books a year on average, unless I get distracted. Lets do one in biography. I would probably recommend the John Richardson Picasso, but its four volumes, so lets leave that aside. Lets do the Jackie Wullschlager Chagall biography. Its my favorite biography in the arts. Im writing a biography myself of an artist  well, of a political artist, in a way  and so Im very favorably disposed towards great biographies. And Chagall is from Vitebsk, and that happens to be the city where my fathers side of the family is from. If you know those Chagall paintings of those peasants flying in the air out of the village, thats my family. Anyway, Wullschlagers Chagall is great. I do a lot of stuff on China I read just about every book on China. Very hard decision here. I wish I could mention 100 of them. I wont do Eric Schwartzels Red Carpet, which is one of my favorites, because Ive done that on someone elses podcast. So Ill do Scott Rozelle, Invisible China. I think thats the China book that your listeners would learn the most from of all the China books because its just so unexpected and its so data-rich, Invisible China. And then, third, lets do American history, or American policy. We live in America. I try to keep up. Pekka Hamalainens Indigenous Continent, I wont do that here because I did that on a previous podcast. So Ill go for David Bernstein, Classified, which is the untold story of racial classification in America, which is also full of incredible surprises and is right on point for where we are in the culture today.

ezra klein

I really appreciate it. Ive never heard this strategy before, but it worked well, saying, Im not going to do this book, wink wink, nudge, nudge, but heres the book Im recommending. Nice way to expand the ambit there. Stephen Kotkin, Thank you very, very much.

stephen kotkin

Ezra, it was my pleasure. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. India is actively promoting its own technology and making significant strides in reducing carbon emissions, according to Thabang Linus Kholumo, the High Commission of the Kingdom of Lesotho, said, Trend reports.

Speaking at the Boiler Expo 2023 in the national capital, Kholumo commended India for its commitment to "Make in India" and "Make for the World" initiatives.

He praised India's efforts in reducing environmental pollution and expressed his own dedication to contributing to global carbon footprint reduction. Kholumo also highlighted the importance of these technologies in preserving the environment, acknowledging their value beyond his own country of Lesotho.

"It is a great privilege for me to have come to this exhibition at the invitation of the Global Trade and Technology Council of India. I am very pleased to see that the companies which have participated here are as old as 90 years, 100 years and that is very amazing to see. And all these companies who are here, are exhibiting their products, they are doing innovation," he said.
To the Editor:

Re Justices Rule Against Affirmative Action (front page, June 30):

While I share the outrage directed at the Supreme Courts striking down affirmative action, as the founder and director of a preschool day care center and having devoted my life to early childhood interventions, I know that the starting point for creating equality in this country was never at the college level.

The reason affirmative action has been necessary to equalize college admissions is that the needed resources have not been spent to prepare children for learning when they first start formal schooling. Children of color from disadvantaged backgrounds need quality preparation to develop attitudes, skills and behaviors that are essential to eventually passing their classes, graduating and writing a college application.

While protesting the recent Supreme Court decision is cathartic, the real solution to providing a diverse population ready for college is to pour more resources into early schooling and a variety of parent supports. Then a wider demographic will be qualified and admitted and can enjoy the fruits of higher education.

There is nothing deficient in the childrens smarts, just their preparation.

J. Susan Cedar

Santa Fe, N.M.
But it soon became a problem. Mr. Prigozhin, riding a wave of popularity, became increasingly personal and insulting in his denunciations of Mr. Shoigu. Yet Mr. Putin failed to mediate. Though he arranged a meeting between the two men in February, he did not, according to a source in the presidential administration, say anything specific in the conversation, hoping the gathering itself was a sufficient warning to stop the public attacks. Mr. Prigozhin did not take the hint, however, and continued to fulminate against the military commanders.

In the weeks after the meeting, Mr. Prigozhin traveled the country as if he were a politician running an election campaign, meeting with potential supporters and criticizing the war effort. In this again he was unhindered by the Kremlin, which knew of his plans but chose to do nothing about them. As Mr. Prigozhin grew in popularity, even pulling in a former deputy defense minister as a deputy commander for Wagner  a clear sign he had high-ranking admirers among the security forces  Mr. Putin kept to himself. Sources close to him tell me he hasnt met with Mr. Prigozhin for months.

This silence was crucial. In early June, when Mr. Shoigu sought to clamp down on private militias like Wagner by making all mercenaries sign a contract with the army, Mr. Prigozhin couldnt get in touch with the president to object. In the language of Russian bureaucracy, this signals the highest degree of disfavor. A source close to the president told me Mr. Putin could easily have prevented the uprising if he had just talked to Mr. Prigozhin or at least instructed someone in the administration to do so. Instead, without access to the Kremlin and fearing the loss of his autonomy, Mr. Prigozhin embarked on his aborted uprising.

The fallout was immediate. For Mr. Prigozhin, spurred on by pride and anger, it surely signals the end of his political and military career. Had he bided his time, waiting until perhaps the fall to raise a rebellion while building deeper support across the security apparatus, things could have been very different. Instead, after a deal brokered by President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus  who has known Mr. Prigozhin for decades  the Wagner chief is in Belarus. Exile in the Central African Republic, where the Wagner group has a military base, is reportedly in the cards.

The situation for Mr. Putin is equally serious. In comments this week, he has sought to project control. But theres no doubt much more will be needed to flush away the memory of the revolt. Despite Mr. Putins promises to pardon those involved in the rebellion, repression of the so-called patriotic camp is surely to come. Until now, such figures  hard-liners operating largely on the Telegram social messaging app, who generally support Mr. Prigozhin  could criticize the authorities with some impunity. Now it has become obvious that this hard-right, fascist wing is no less dangerous than the liberals persecuted by the Kremlin, not least because it includes many armed supporters. A purge is to be expected, starting with Gen. Sergei Surovikin, a former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine who is said to have known of the mutiny in advance.
I dont know whether the Supreme Courts decision on student loan forgiveness on Friday was right or wrong on legal grounds. I do know that it will most likely cause a lot of delinquencies and defaults. Many borrowers simply dont have the money to repay. You cant squeeze blood from a stone.

After the court handed down its ruling, I called Constantine Yannelis, an associate professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In May, he and two co-authors released a research brief that reached a surprising and concerning conclusion: By and large, borrowers who were allowed to pause payments on their student loans didnt use their spare cash to pay down other debt or build up savings. Instead, they increased other borrowing. And while they were free to keep paying down their student loans if they wanted to, they mostly did not.

Whether the borrowers behaved wisely or not is a fair question. But however you feel about that, the fact remains that a lot of them are in no shape to resume payments on loans that they were told by the Biden administration last year they would never have to think about again.
In a critique of the political thinker James Burnham, penned in the wake of World War II, George Orwell wrote:

Power worship blurs political judgment because it leads, almost unavoidably, to the belief that present trends will continue. Whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible. If the Japanese have conquered South Asia, then they will keep South Asia forever, if the Germans have captured Tobruk, they will infallibly capture Cairo; if the Russians are in Berlin, it will not be long before they are in London: and so on.

Orwell was characterizing the intellectual response to a conflict that had fairly clear directional trends  steady advances for the Axis powers until about 1942, followed by a grinding, brutal but consistent Allied counteroffensive. But a war that seems stalemated, that grinds without dramatic shifts, poses a somewhat different challenge to political judgment; the observer is always tempted to discern a certain trend, a sweeping historical judgment, amid a state of ebb and flow and wartime fog.

The war in Ukraine is a case study, yielding very different big-picture arguments based on developments from month to month and even week to week. Thus you see, one moment, the delays and the disappointingly slow progress of a Ukrainian counteroffensive securing realist skeptics in their certainty that the war will inevitably turn Russias way. The next moment, the bizarre Yevgeny Prigozhin mutiny secures hawkish certainties about the direction of the conflict  Putinism is faltering, the Russian regime is starting to crack, full Ukrainian victory is within reach.

The same pattern applies to analysis of how the war fits in the global power picture. I will use my own columns as examples: At various times in the past year and a half I have interpreted the war through the lens of revived great power conflict and the waning of the post-Cold War Pax Americana, but then also through the lens of the persistent weaknesses of Americas major adversaries, the deficits of legitimacy and competence in illiberal regimes. You could accuse my interpretations of being in tension with each other, or you could defend them by saying that each captures something about a shifting and unstable reality  a world where Samuel Huntingtons theory of civilizational conflict and Francis Fukuyamas end of history both have claims to relevance.
The first time Isabella Delgado Reyes realized that Andrew Charles Sublett really liked her was when the two were having lunch together on Feb. 17, 2010 at the University of California, Berkeley. He brought her a tube of mini M&Ms, her favorite candy.

She immediately gave it back to him, though not because she didnt appreciate the gesture.

It was Lent and Ms. Reyes had given up candy. I thought he was just pranking me, she said, and tossed the M&M's back at him, much to his confusion.

The two, both now 32, had met on Aug. 26, 2009 in Ms. Reyess dorm room. It was a little bit of a twist of fate, Mr. Sublett said. A few other people from my high school went to U.C. Berkeley and one happened to be Isabellas roommate.

Ms. Reyes and Mr. Sublett hit it off right away, and soon began spending time together, sitting with each other at lunch at the universitys cafeteria and going out for frozen yogurt.
In September 2018, Lauren Davis Pariani and Kate Elizabeth Schatz met on a school playground. Their sons, who had just started kindergarten, soon after became best friends and during multiple play dates the two women forged a close bond.

At the time, both lived in Alameda, Calif., a small island community just off Oakland, with their husbands.

When I met Kate I knew that she would change my life, but I didnt exactly know how, said Ms. Pariani, who works in patient advocacy at the biotechnology company Genentech. I remember thinking, Im not the only one like me.

Ms. Pariani was going through some challenges in her marriage and the supportive friendship was a godsend. Yet the texts that flew between her and Ms. Schatz seemed more intimate than what she imagined was normal for a mom friendship, she said.
Erics Kun was fighting yawns the first few times he and Sahra Nguyen got together in the fall of 2016. This was no reflection on her. After staying up all night in his bartending job, he couldnt pass up the chance to see her for early morning coffee.

I would get off my shift at 6 a.m., Mr. Kun said, and Sahra would text me at 7 or 8 to say, Wanna go get coffee? Before I put my head down to rest Id go see her. The caffeine he relied on to stay alert those mornings, at Little Skips in Bushwick, Brooklyn, would become a running theme in their relationship.

Ms. Nguyen, whose family is from Vietnam, is the founder and chief executive of Nguyen Coffee Supply, which combines her appreciation for a bold cup of joe with her culture. Cafes in cities including New York and San Francisco use the companys beans for their Vietnamese iced coffee. Home brewers buy it at Whole Foods and other stores.

Inspiration for the brand, which started taking shape in 2016 before becoming official in 2018, arrived courtesy of the Brooklyn coffee shops Ms. Nguyen once hung out in as an independent documentary producer, writer and director.
High-heeled roller skates, a palm-frond umbrella and a shower in a can  these are just a few of Pippa Garners hundreds of inventions. For the past 50 years, the artist has been satirizing U.S. consumer habits with designs that are not always entirely useful. Few things have escaped her restless, imaginative tinkering, from automobiles to her own body, which she began, in her words, gender-hacking in the mid-1980s. That may be why the art world establishment long treated Garner, 81, as a fringe character, more madcap inventor than conceptual artist in the tradition of Marcel Duchamp or Andy Warhol.

But this year, things seem poised to change for Garner, who debuted her first U.S. solo museum show at Art Omi, the international arts organization in Columbia County, N.Y., on June 24. The exhibition includes a recreation of her 1974 sculpture and performance Backwards Car, for which Garner lifted and flipped the chassis of a 59 Chevy so that, when she drove it across the Golden Gate Bridge, it appeared to be traveling in the wrong direction. There are meticulous pencil and ink drawings of unrealized inventions whose formats lampoon magazine advertisements. (Some of her most ambitious works were commissioned by actual publications, such as Esquire and Rolling Stone.) There are T-shirts printed with Garners sardonic proto-meme images and slogans, including one featuring the actor Nick Nolte and the words I pay my stalker a living wage in all caps. These hang alongside the suit with a cropped, navel-baring blazer that Garner wore for a 1982 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, shortly before she began her gender transition.
Tourists who pause outside Federal Hall, a Wall Street memorial maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, will find its neoclassical facade covered in scaffolding. Its front steps, which host a bronze statue of George Washington, are occluded, too. But until July 22, the man himself can be found inside, fussing over his dentures, his sleep and his coming inauguration.

Oh, hon, his wife, Martha, says. Dont lead with your anxieties.

George (Tom Nelis) and Martha (Erin Anderson) are characters in The Democracy Project, a collaboration among five playwrights and two directors with a song composed by Michael R. Jackson. Commissioned by Federal Hall, the 45-minute site-specific performance, offered free of charge in the halls grand Greek Revival rotunda, is both a pageant-style survey of significant events at the site and an informed critique. Yes, George and Martha are here, but so too are Billy Lee (Nathan Hinton), an enslaved man owned by Washington, and Ona Judge, an enslaved woman owned by his wife, as well as Alexander McGillivray, the Creek chief who signed the Treaty of New York, a short-lived agreement of peace and friendship, as its text claims, between the Indigenous people and the fledgling nation.

We try to get as much information and complexity into it as we can, one of the contributing playwrights, Lisa DAmour, said of the show in a recent interview.

The project began when Marie Salerno, the chief executive officer of Federal Hall, and Lynn Goldner, a producer, were strategizing how to raise the memorials profile ahead of the nations 250th anniversary in 2026. Where Federal Hall stands (the original hall was demolished in 1812) was the site of Washingtons inauguration and the first Capitol building. Few besides history buffs  and Hamilton viewers  now recall this.
Its a different mind-set, but it doesnt bother me that I might have to stop for 20 minutes, or even longer, said Mr. Cowing, 41, a father of two and the chief executive and founder of Protectli, a computer hardware manufacturer. Especially with kids. By the time we all get out of the car and into the bathroom, grab some snacks, its not such a big deal.

Here are five scenic drives around the United States that are well suited to E.V. travel:

California: up the coast, down through wine country

California is lousy with scenic drives, from its extensive, 840-mile coastline to routes through the magnificent Sierra Nevada. But its hard to beat the majesty of the coast north of San Francisco, where Highway 1 twists and turns along vertiginous cliffs and jaw-dropping panoramas of the wild Pacific. Head north from San Francisco to Point Reyes National Seashore before following the coast through Bodega Bay and Jenner, where a meal or an overnight at the Timber Cove Resort or the Sea Ranch Lodge will recharge you for the 60-mile leg to the picturesque town of Mendocino. Loop back and head east through the redwood forests of Philo and Boonville and south to San Francisco via Highway 101, right through Sonoma wine country. Youll find charging stops in Healdsburg, Sebastopol, Sonoma and Petaluma, and wineries like Ridge and Martin Ray are equipped with charging stations as well.

Washington: White Pass Scenic Byway

The Pacific Northwest is a gold mine of stunning scenery, boasting everything from rugged coastline and towering mountains to wildlife-rich forests. The White Pass Scenic Byway cuts through the heart of Washington from between the towns of Chehalis and Castle Rock to Naches via U.S. Route 12. The 120-mile route is a fine way to explore much of the wild and remote parts of the state, including a stretch that passes through Okanogan-Wenatchee and Gifford Pinchot National Forests and offers views of Mount Rainier. The road, winding past rivers and waterfalls, is known as a place for excellent wildlife spotting; its also a great starting point for hikes, fishing trips and more (find suggested itineraries online or via the byways trip planner app). The route is also the focus of a new electric vehicle-centric initiative, with eight new E.V. charging stations are currently being built, all of which will have at least one Level 3 fast charger. (A ribbon cutting for the newly electrified route is planned for July 11.)

Colorado: West Elk Loop

Colorado has been a leader in the United States when it comes to electrifying its scenic routes, and has committed to installing charging stations on its 26 scenic and historic byways by 2030. While theres no way to go wrong when planning a Colorado road trip  circuits in the Rockies, through the desert and around historic mining towns are all options  we love the West Elk Loop for its combination of natural beauty, wildlife viewing and destination-worthy towns. Circling the West Elk Mountains, highlights include the charming towns of Carbondale and Crested Butte, fruit orchards and wineries in the North Fork Valley and the absolutely jaw-dropping beauty of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The route takes you past opportunities for boating, mountain biking and hot springs dips, plus live music and art festivals in the summertime.

New Mexico: The High Road to the Enchanted Circle

A road trip between Santa Fe and Taos  two standout New Mexico destinations  is a decided win. The route has beautiful scenery, a dose of history and is easily doable in an E.V. Start by accessing the states helpful E.V. planning tool and then hit the 56-mile High Road to Taos, which passes through villages with epic views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Worthy stops include El Santuario de Chimayo, a church built in 1813 thats still a destination for pilgrims. From Taos, the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway winds through striking mountain scenery (some of which was featured in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and mountain towns like Red River and Questa  these towns are excellent bases for hiking, fishing and other outdoor adventures. A detour to Taos Ski Valley is well worth taking, both for a charge and for mountain biking.
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 30. Ganbold Dambajav, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to India, emphasized the potential for collaboration between India and Mongolia, particularly in environmental protection and eco-protection, Trend reports.

Dambajav shared these views while attending the Boilers Expo 2023. Speaking to ANI, he expressed his happiness to be a part of the event and recognized its significance. The collaboration for the expo was arranged jointly with the Global Trade and Technology Council of India (GCTI).

Dambajav highlighted the ample opportunities for cooperation between Mongolia and India, specifically in terms of environmental protection and eco-protection. He expressed optimism for future collaborations between the two countries. Additionally, he extended his best wishes to the organizers of the event and expressed hope for a similar event to take place in Mongolia, where Indian product manufacturers can participate and collaborate.

The ambassador also acknowledged the potential benefits for Mongolia through cooperation with Indian industries. After observing the products and exhibitions, he recognized the advantageous aspects of partnering with Indian industries like Jindal, which possess advanced technologies and a strong focus on economic and environmental sustainability. Dambajav believed that Mongolia could derive substantial benefits from such cooperation.
For months leading up to Jean Franco Riveras one-year wedding anniversary, he had the perfect plan to celebrate: Travel to Disney World and go on all his favorite rides with his husband, Ahmed, and brother-in-law, Luis. The three men, all gay and Latino, are originally from Puerto Rico, but now live in Texas. As the trip approached, Jean Franco, 42, said they felt somewhat concerned about traveling to a state that had passed legislation targeting L.G.B.T.Q. people in recent months.

But in the end, they went.

And on a recent Saturday, they were just part of the usual throng of people at the Orlando theme park, waiting in line for Space Mountain, Guardians of the Galaxy and Jean Francos favorite ride, Flight of Passage. At Disney World that day, you would never have known that the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the L.G.B.T.Q. organization Equality Florida had all recently issued warnings telling people to reconsider coming to Florida because of the policies of Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican lawmakers.

I had traveled to Florida in the wake of the N.A.A.C.P.s advisory to see whether the warnings had any effect. The Riveras and other travelers told me that while they were against many laws recently passed in Florida,they didnt feel that canceling their vacations would help anyone  or change the policies. In fact, several travelers said that they visited Disney and certain parts of Florida to get away from politics.

Coming to Disney, especially, is like entering a safe zone, Stephanie Kate Jones, who was visiting the park from Wales in the United Kingdom, told me. Coming here is a way to escape reality and the stress of everyday life.
Violent protests have spread across France over the past week since the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old in a Paris suburb.

More than 800 people were arrested on Thursday night after protesters caused widespread destruction in dozens of cities, setting cars and buildings on fire, looting stores and clashing with the riot police. On Friday, many roads in the Paris region and other major cities like Marseille were cordoned off, and public transport routes were disrupted as more than 40,000 police officers were deployed across the country to bring the protests under control.

With the peak summer travel season underway, many tourists are headed to Paris and other parts of France for their summer vacations. Heres what you need to know about how your trip might be affected.

Which cities have been hit hardest?

The clashes began in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday night, after the police shot and killed the male teenage driver  a French citizen of North African descent, publicly identified as Nahel M.  who was stopped at a traffic light. The violence quickly spread to nearby areas in the greater Paris region as news of the killing reignited decades-long grievances over racial discrimination in working-class areas. The police officer who shot the driver was detained on Thursday on charges of voluntary homicide.
The Supreme Courts decision to end race-conscious admissions will very likely change higher education in complicated ways. Some of them will be obvious, including immediate changes in the demographics of campus.

Others, though, could also change society, affecting the doctors who treat you, the judges who hear your cases, and the college choices of Black students.

Here are a few things that could happen, now and in the future.

The campus will look different.

What will happen to the student body at the 100 or so selective colleges and universities that practice race-conscious admissions?

Nine states already ban this form of affirmative action at their public universities, providing a guide to what could happen.
Air quality remained poor in the Northeast on Friday, but conditions were improving across much of the Midwest as rain and winds from the west and south began to disperse wildfire smoke from Canada that had hung over much of the country this week.

Rain and southerly winds were expected to continue across most of the Eastern United States at least through the Fourth of July, clearing the way for fireworks, cookouts and other outdoor activities over the holiday weekend, said David Roth, a forecaster with the federal Weather Prediction Center.

One exception to the general clearing trend may be in Minnesota, where a lack of rainfall means the smoke will be more persistent there, Mr. Roth said.

At various times this week, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, all experienced air quality that qualified as very unhealthy or hazardous according to AirNow.gov, a source for air-quality data run by the Environmental Protection Agency. By Friday afternoon, the skies in all three cities were beginning to clear, with only moderate pollution, according to AirNow.
Upside, which has facilities in Berkeley and Emeryville, has partnered with the chef Dominique Crenn, who will begin to serve the companys lab-grown chicken at her San Francisco restaurant, Bar Crenn, in the coming weeks. Good Meat, based in Alameda, plans to begin selling its own cultivated chicken to the chef Jose Andres to use at China Chilcano, his restaurant in Washington, D.C., company officials told me.

So what, exactly, is lab-grown meat? Ill let my colleague Kim Severson, who last year wrote an excellent deep dive on the burgeoning industry, explain:

It begins with stem cells from an animal biopsy, an egg or even a feather that multiply rapidly in a stainless steel tank called a bioreactor or cultivator. The cells feed on a complex broth that contains nutrients like carbohydrates and amino acids, and some type of growth factor, to become muscle, fat or connective tissue. Taste and nutrition are controlled by cell selection and the broth they grow in.  And the taste? In the Upside Foods test kitchen, I sampled a slightly grainy chicken pate and a perfectly round breakfast patty blended with plant-based proteins that fried up nicely. Generous seasoning masked the flavor of the meat.

The United States is only the second country to approve the sale of meat grown from stem cells; Singapore was the first in 2020. That year, Good Meat debuted cultivated meat for sale at a private club in Singapore, where the company, as Kim wrote, tucked the meat into a bao bun and turned it into a crisp patty on a maple waffle.

The arrival of lab-grown meat isnt without pushback. While supporters say growing meat in tanks will bring environmental benefits and relieve animal suffering, opponents worry it could be scientifically risky and create allergens and untested byproducts.

Theres even debate about what to call this new product. Supporters prefer cultivated or clean meat, while opponents like synthetic or engineered meat. The Agriculture Department is still drafting regulations on how the products should be labeled, but for now the agency is going with cell cultivated chicken.

Crenn, the San Francisco chef, told The New York Times last year that she was initially turned off by the idea of cooking with cultivated meat.
As long as the ban was blocked, abortion remained legal in the state until 22 weeks of pregnancy, making Indiana critical to abortion access for women in nearby states that enacted near-total bans. The state became the center of the abortion debate last summer after a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio, where abortion was banned, sought an abortion in Indiana.

The Indiana ban is scheduled to take effect on Aug. 1, but the courts decision left a small opening: A separate lawsuit argues that the ban violates a religious freedom act passed in 2015, because some religions permit abortion. A judge in that case put a temporary injunction on the ban in December, and the case is to be heard in September. Until then, those who say that the abortion ban violates their religious liberty can still seek abortions.

The four out of five justices who agreed on Friday to allow the ban to take effect said, essentially, that the Indiana legislature had the right to ban abortion because it had a long tradition of doing so. That tradition was interrupted only under protest in 1973 when Roe v. Wade established that states could not ban abortion until the third trimester, and then only in limited circumstances.

Our laws have long reflected that Hoosiers, through their elected representatives, may collectively conclude that legal protections inherent in personhood commence before birth, the opinion said, referring to Indiana residents, so the states broad authority to protect the publics health, welfare and safety extends to protecting prenatal life.

One justice, Christopher M. Goff, disagreed that the state Constitution did not protect a more fundamental right to abortion, saying that within its bundle of liberty rights was the fundamental right to be let alone. He wrote that many of the liberties Hoosiers take for granted  the right to vote, to travel, to marry, to educate ones children as one sees fit, or to refuse medical treatment  stand on federal precedents that are also now vulnerable to reversal.
A California woman and Instagram mom influencer who falsely reported and posted online that a couple had attempted to kidnap her two young children in 2020 was sentenced Thursday to 90 days in jail, prosecutors said.

A Sonoma County Superior Court judge sentenced the woman, Katie Sorensen, 30, the Sonoma County District Attorneys Office said in a statement. She was convicted in April of making a false report, a misdemeanor.

The district attorney, Carla Rodriguez, said that 60 of the 90 days could be served on a work-release program.

Ms. Sorensen was also sentenced to 12 months of informal probation. During this time, she was ordered to have no social media presence, to submit to warrantless search and seizure of her electronic devices and to complete a four-hour implicit bias training program, in addition to paying various fines and fees, the district attorney said. Ms. Sorensen had faced a maximum sentence of six months in jail.
In 1973, The New York Times called Ms. Yorkin the queen of Hollywood society, noting her work as president of SHARE Inc. (the initials stand for Share Happily and Reap Endlessly), a Beverly Hills charity that benefits children with disabilities. She often described herself as a typical 50s housewife  a product of her time who, like many women, was emboldened by second-wave feminism.

She threw herself into the womens movement in the 1970s, pushing for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment among other efforts. After she left SHARE, she went on to run the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival and then the L.A. Public Theater, producing work by playwrights like A.R. Gurney and John Guare. But it was only after her divorce from Mr. Yorkin in 1986, when Ms. Yorkin was 60, that she was able to fully focus on the work that would bring her national attention.

It wasnt until a 30-year marriage had gone bust and I reaped the benefits of the California community-property laws that I was able to do something concrete about feminism, she said in an interview for her entry in the 1999 book Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia.

Ms. Spillar, who is now executive director of the Feminist Majority, remembered Ms. Yorkin saying that in the days before the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, she helped women find doctors in Mexico who could provide abortions. She said, Ms. Spillar recalled: I want us to think big and I want us to do more and I want us to hurry up. Im not going to live forever and I want this done in my lifetime.

Peggy Diem was born on April 16, 1927, in New York City. (She loathed her given name and went by Margaret in high school and then by Peg.) Her mother, Dora (Lavine) Diem, was a homemaker who had wanted to be an actress. Her father, Frank, was a still photographer who worked for D.W. Griffith and other filmmakers.
President Biden accused Supreme Court justices of having misinterpreted the Constitution and vowed on Friday to seek new ways to relieve the crushing weight of student debt after the courts conservative majority rejected his $400 billion plan to forgive federal loans.

Speaking from the White House after the court issued its 6-to-3 decision, Mr. Biden lashed out at Republicans who challenged his plan, saying they were willing to forgive loans for business owners during the pandemic, but not for Americans struggling with college debt.

The hypocrisy is stunning, he said.

The president suggested that the court had been influenced by Republican elected officials and special interests who opposed his plan, which would have forgiven up to $20,000 in debt for as many as 40 million people.

They said no, no, Mr. Biden said of the justices, literally snatching from the hands of millions of Americans thousands of dollars in debt relief that was about to change their lives.
Lawyers for the Biden administration told the Supreme Court that it could cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in student debt because Congress had given it that authority in the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, which is usually called the HEROES Act.

A version of the law enacted in 2001 after the Sept. 11 attacks gave the secretary of education the power to waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision to protect borrowers affected by terrorist attacks.

In 2003, Congress expanded that power to include borrowers affected by a war or other military operation or national emergency. In March 2020, President Donald J. Trump declared that the coronavirus pandemic was a national emergency, and his administration invoked the HEROES Act to pause student loan repayment requirements and to suspend the accrual of interest.

The Biden administration followed suit. The payment pause has cost the government more than $100 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office.
For decades, opposition to same-sex marriage was a marquee issue for the religious right in the United States. Activists like Anita Bryant, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson characterized homosexuality as a threat to traditional family life.

When the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, the head of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins, initially warned that the case would be the downfall of America. The evangelist Franklin Graham told Christianity Today in 2015 that the country had taken a nosedive off of the moral diving board into the cesspool of humanity.

But the Obergefell ruling changed the landscape, ending state-by-state battles over the question and somewhat deflating the marriage issue specifically among the religious rights base, which is now much more focused on issues about gender.

Public opinion on same-sex marriage has turned rapidly toward acceptance this century. In the early 2000s, about 60 percent of Americans opposed it, according to the Pew Research Center. Now, that is the same share that support it. And views have also been shifting among many Christians, including young evangelicals. Another poll by Pew found that almost half of white evangelicals born after 1964 favored same-sex marriage in 2017, compared to about a quarter of older white evangelicals.
Much of the Republican field of presidential candidates was unanimous in praising the Supreme Courts decision on Friday to reject President Bidens student loan forgiveness plan.

Former President Donald J. Trump praised the ruling during an address to attendees at the Moms For Liberty conference in Philadelphia.

Today the Supreme Court also ruled that President Biden cannot wipe out hundred of billions, perhaps trillions of dollars in student loan debt, which would have been very unfair to the millions and millions of people who paid their debt through hard work and diligence, very unfair, he said.

He called Mr. Biden a corrupt president and lamented that the plan was a way to buy votes.

Senator Tim Scott, Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence were among the first of the 2024 contenders to signal their alignment with the six conservative justices in supporting the decision.
The Supreme Court on Friday struck down the Biden administrations massive student loan forgiveness program, ruling that the Education Department had exceeded the authority granted to it by Congress to alter loan conditions in a national emergency like the coronavirus pandemic.

The ruling was six to three, with the courts Republican-appointed conservative majority delivering a major setback to President Bidens policy agenda over the vigorous dissent of its three Democratic-appointed liberal justices. Here are some key excerpts.

A central part of the dispute was how expansively to interpret a provision of the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or HEROES Act, in which Congress said that the secretary of education may waive or modify any provision of federal student loan programs in a declared national emergency. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that the Biden administration had stretched the words too far.
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to consider whether the government may forbid people subject to domestic violence orders from having guns, setting up a major test of its ruling last year vastly expanding peoples right to arm themselves in public.

The case will turn on the scope of a new legal standard established in that decision, one whose reliance on historical practices has sown confusion as courts have struggled to apply it, with some judges sweeping aside gun controls that have been on the books for decades.

It comes as the nation struggles to address a seemingly unending series of mass shootings and other gun violence, and about a year after Congress briefly broke its partisan deadlock to pass a modest bipartisan gun control law.

Last year, in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the court, by a 6-to-3 vote, struck down a New York law that placed strict limits on carrying guns outside the home.
Former President Donald J. Trump moved on Friday to outflank Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida as they wrestled for conservative loyalties at a gathering of right-wing activists in Philadelphia, pushing a shared agenda of forcing the federal government to the right, restricting transgender rights and limiting how race and L.G.B.T.Q. issues are taught.

Speaking hours after Mr. DeSantiss address, Mr. Trump aimed to one-up his top rival by vowing to target federal diversity programs and to wield the power of the Justice Department against schools and corporations that are supposedly engaged in unlawful racial discrimination.

Mr. Trump said that, to rigorously enforce the Supreme Courts ruling a day earlier rejecting affirmative action at the nations colleges and universities, he would eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the entire federal government.

He added that he would direct the Justice Department to pursue civil rights claims against any school, corporation, or university that engages in unlawful racial discrimination.
In 1997, more than 100 countries agreed not to use or maintain stockpiles of antipersonnel land mines, small explosive weapons that are typically buried just below the grounds surface. When stepped on, they detonate with enough force to blow off a persons leg.

Injuries from mines of this kind can also be fatal.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which monitors treaty compliance and collects data on land mine contamination, said that in 2021 at least 5,544 people had been injured or killed by mines around the world. Most of those casualties were civilians, the report said, half of whom were children.

Ukraine signed the agreement, often called the Mine Ban Treaty, in 1999 and ratified it in 2005. The United States and Russia have refused to join the pact.

In 2014, the Obama administration affirmed a Clinton-era policy stating that the Pentagon would use antipersonnel mines only on the Korean Peninsula, but the Trump administration overturned that directive in 2020, citing a new focus on strategic competition with major powers. The Biden administration returned to the Obama-era policy in June 2022.

Russian and Ukrainian troops have also widely used anti-tank land mines, which are much larger than antipersonnel land mines and are typically designed to explode only when hundreds of pounds of pressure are applied  such as when a truck or an armored vehicle drives over one. These devices generally are not banned under international law.
With his hands and legs trussed up and his mouth gagged, Rwandas most prominent dissident was relieved when after two days in detention, his blindfold was finally taken off.

Standing in front of him, blocking the blinding light, were two senior Rwandan government officials, he said, who promised to free him quickly if he began cooperating. He said that they promised him any government post he wanted  an ambassadorship, a ministerial position, just not the presidency  if he disclosed the foreign governments and accomplices they suspected were backing his rebellion.

You can get anything else you want, Paul Rusesabagina, the hotelier whose heroism in the face of the genocide in 1994 inspired the Oscar-nominated movie Hotel Rwanda, recalled that the officials told him. It is you to make a choice.

But Mr. Rusesabagina knew he didnt have a choice.

Instead, that episode just days after he was captured in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in August 2020, began two and half years of imprisonment that brought international scrutiny to the landlocked nation in Central Africa. Mr. Rusesabagina was tortured and denied medication, he said, then charged with terrorism and sentenced to 25 years in prison in a trial that drew global condemnation.
Brazilian election officials on Friday blocked former President Jair Bolsonaro from seeking public office until 2030, removing a top contender from the next presidential contest and dealing a significant blow to the countrys far-right movement.

Brazils electoral court ruled that Mr. Bolsonaro had violated Brazils election laws when, less than three months ahead of last years vote, he called diplomats to the presidential palace and made baseless claims that the nations voting systems were likely to be rigged against him.

Five of the court's seven judges voted that Mr. Bolsonaro had abused his power as president when he convened the meeting with diplomats and broadcast it on state television.

This response will confirm our faith in the democracy, said Alexandre de Moraes, a Supreme Court justice who leads the electoral court, as he cast his vote against Mr. Bolsonaro.
The usually very active Facebook account for Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia appeared to have been deleted on Friday, a day after the oversight board for Meta, Facebooks parent company, recommended that he be suspended from the platform for threatening political opponents with violence.

The showdown pits the social media behemoth against one of Asias longest-ruling autocrats.

Mr. Hun Sen, 70, has ruled Cambodia since 1985 and maintained power partly by silencing his critics. He is a staunch ally of China, a country whose support comes free of American-style admonishments on the value of human rights and democratic institutions.

A note Friday on Mr. Hun Sens account, which had about 14 million followers, said that its content isnt available right now. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Hun Sen had preemptively deleted it, as he had vowed to do in a post late Thursday on Telegram, a social media platform where he has a much smaller following. A Meta spokesman said on Friday that the company had not suspended or otherwise removed Mr. Hun Sens Facebook account.

That he stopped using Facebook is his private right, Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Cambodian government, told The New York Times on Friday. Other Cambodians use it, and thats their right.
Josephine Komara was depressed. She had recently divorced. She had moved into a small house. Her business supplying fabric for lampshades was lucrative but unfulfilling. Ms. Komara sipped her wine and smoked a cigarette. She sank to the floor, dipping her hands into two wooden chests filled with antique Indonesian textiles.

In one chest, Ms. Komara recently recalled, were batik designs from the island of Java, in the other elaborate weavings from Indonesias outer islands. She swallowed more wine, inhaled clove-scented smoke from an Indonesian cigarette  and considered how to enrich the heritage of a nation of more than 17,000 islands.

Since that melancholic night nearly four decades ago, Ms. Komara has refashioned an ancient art by entwining disparate textile traditions with an aesthetic all her own to create a modern Indonesian silhouette. Her batik and other designs for her fashion house, BINhouse, have transformed a cultural expression that was intricate and lovely but so locked in tradition that it bordered on staid.

Ms. Komara, known by her nickname Obin, no longer depends on lampshades for a living as BINhouse has become a global force in spreading batiks beauty.
William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, called the leader of Russias foreign intelligence service after last weeks rebellion to assure the Kremlin that the United States had no involvement in it, according to a U.S. official.

Mr. Burns called Sergei Naryshkin, the leader of Russias foreign intelligence service, which is known as the S.V.R., said the official, who was briefed on the call and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The two men have met at least once before, in Turkey, to discuss concerns over the threat of nuclear escalation in Russias war in Ukraine.

The C.I.A. declined on Friday to comment on the matter, which was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The Biden administration has taken pains to emphasize to Russian officials that the United States was not involved in the aborted efforts by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and his Wagner private military company to drive Russian defense officials from their offices in southern Russia or in their march to Moscow, and that the U.S. viewed the matter as an internal Russian affair.
President Emmanuel Macron of France urgently appealed to parents on Friday as the country braced for another night of unrest over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old, with French officials saying that the protests were driven mostly by angry young people and coordinated on social media.

Mr. Macrons government is struggling to contain the rage unleashed by the killing, in which a police officer fatally shot a teenage driver during a traffic stop in Nanterre, west of Paris, on Tuesday. Anger over the shooting tapped into decades-long complaints about police violence and persistent feelings of neglect and racial discrimination in Frances poorer urban suburbs.

Speaking at the end of a crisis cabinet meeting in Paris  the second this week  Mr. Macron called the violence unjustifiable and said it had no legitimacy whatsoever.

There is an unacceptable manipulation of a teenagers death, said Mr. Macron, who had taken the rare step of leaving early from a European Union summit in Brussels to attend the crisis meeting.
For years, French police unions argued that officers should get broader discretion over when to shoot at fleeing motorists. Time and again, lawmakers refused.

Finally in 2017, after a string of terrorist attacks, the government relented. Eager to be tough on crime and terrorism, lawmakers passed a bill allowing officers to fire on motorists who flee traffic stops, even when the officers are not in immediate danger.

For politicians, because this was real politics, it was hard to say no, recalled Frederic Lagache, a leader of the police union Alliance Police who pushed forcefully for the law.

Since that law passed, the number of fatal police shootings of motorists has increased sixfold, according to data compiled recently by a team of French researchers and shared with The New York Times. Last year, 13 people were shot dead in their vehicles, a record in a country where police killings are rare.
The fatal shooting of a French teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent by a police officer has set off days of violent protests that have rocked France.

In Nanterre, the working-class Paris suburb where the teenager was shot, and across the country from the northern city of Lille to the Mediterranean city of Marseille, demonstrators have burned cars, damaged buildings and even targeted local officials in clashes with the authorities.

Here is how the events have unfolded.

Tuesday morning

The Fatal Shooting

On June 27 after a French police officer shot an unarmed teenager, French news media, citing anonymous police sources, initially reported that the teenager, driving a yellow Mercedes, had plowed into police officers, leading one of them to shoot.
President Emmanuel Macron has often denounced a new incivility in France and called for mutual respect. But the deadly shooting of a teenager of Algerian-Moroccan descent by a police officer has only deepened the discord, as the government scrambles to contain the violent fallout from viral images of the death of Nahel M.

The broad initial denunciation of the shooting on Tuesday morning, including Mr. Macrons description of it as inexcusable, has given way, as violence has mounted, to tribal expressions of allegiance, whether to a law-and-order camp or to a movement of those who see ethnic profiling and racism in a pattern of police killings or manhandling of minorities.

The fatal confrontation during a traffic stop in the western suburb of Nanterre has become a kind of Rorschach test of a divided French society. Whatever French people see in the ink blots seems to be increasingly ugly and irreconcilable.

In a statement on Friday, Alliance Police Nationale, the largest police union, denounced the savage hordes and vermin behind the burning of 2,000 cars and the looting of several stores in riots on Thursday night that led to the arrests of over 800 people. Another police union, Unsa, joined Alliance in what it said was a call to combat in a war that the government must take account of.
The mercenary rebellion that shook Russia was merely a minor trouble, the foreign minister said on Friday, warning the West not to think that President Vladimir V. Putins grip on power had weakened, even as the Kremlin continued to move against the leader of the mutiny.

Speaking at a news conference, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov asserted that Russia would emerge stronger and more resilient after the short-lived putsch last Friday and Saturday by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin and his Wagner group troops, who have played a vital role in Russias invasion of Ukraine. Mr. Lavrov dismissed the rebellion, which drove an armored column to within 125 miles of Moscow before turning back, as insignificant.

If someone in the West has doubts about this, then thats their problem, he said. He added that the Western nations backing Ukraine were misguided if they hoped that the facade of the Russian government had cracked.

The Kremlin has insisted repeatedly that the uprising had no support and the nation was united behind Mr. Putin, who has described the episode as an important test that Russia had emphatically passed. But it is clear that the government is still cleaning up its aftermath.
After months of Russian bombardment, the town of Avdiivka in southeastern Ukraine has been reduced to rubble.

The fighting remains fierce in the vicinity as Ukrainian forces have dug in to resist the Russian assault.

With no electricity, running water or regular supply of food, the people who remain largely rely on aid from volunteers.

The threat of a strike from Russian jets or artillery is never far off. Still, they stay.
BIDEN U. NEBRASKA Syllabus obligation to report any waivers and modifications he has made. The Secretary's ability to add new terms "in lieu of the old is limited to his authority to "modify" existing law. As with any other modification issued under the Act, no new term or condition reported pursuant to 1098bb(b)(2) may distort the fundamental nature of the provision it alters. In sum, the Secretary's comprehensive debt cancellation plan is not a waiver because it augments and expands existing provisions dramatically. It is not a modification because it constitutes "effectively the introduction of a whole new regime." MCI, 512 U. S., at 234. And it cannot be some combination of the two, because when the Secretary seeks to add to existing law, the fact that he has "waived" certain provisions does not give him a free pass to avoid the limits inherent in the power to "modify." However broad the meaning of "waive or modify," that language cannot authorize the kind of exhaustive rewriting of the statute that has taken place here. Pp. 13-18. (b) The Secretary also appeals to congressional purpose, arguing that Congress intended "to grant substantial discretion to the Secretary to respond to unforeseen emergencies." On this view, the unprecedented nature of the Secretary's debt cancellation plan is justified by the pandemic's unparalleled scope. But the question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it. As in the Court's recent decision in West Virginia v. EPA, given the "history and the breadth of the authority"" asserted by the Executive and the "economic and political significance' of that assertion," the Court has "reason to hesitate before concluding that Congress' meant to confer such authority." 597 U. S. (quoting FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 529 U. S. 120, 159-160). This case implicates many of the factors present in past cases raising similar separation of powers concerns. The Secretary has never previously claimed powers of this magnitude under the HEROES Act; "[n]o regulation premised on" the HEROES Act "has even begun to approach the size or scope" of the Secretary's program. Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Servs., 594 U. S. (per curiam). The "economic and political significance"" of the Secretary's action is staggering. West Virginia, 597 U. S., at (quoting Brown & Williamson, 529 U. S., at 160). And the Secretary's assertion of administrative authority has "conveniently enabled [him] to enact a program" that Congress has chosen not to enact itself. West Virginia, 597 U. S., at The Secretary argues that the principles explained in West Virginia and its predecessors should not apply to cases involving government benefits. But major questions cases "have arisen from all corners of the administrative state," id., at and this is not the first such case to arise in the context of government benefits. See King
South Africa: Government to address service delivery challenges in Ladysmith

President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured communities in the uThukela District Municipality, in Ladysmith that government Ministers will work to resolve their challenges and that their issues will not be put on the back burner.

President Ramaphosa was speaking on Friday during the 7th Presidential District Development Model (DDM) Imbizo at the Oqungwini Sport Field. The Imbizo follows similar engagements that have taken place in the six provinces of the North West, Free State, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Northern Cape and the Western Cape.

The President interacted with people and listened to their experiences of daily life, their service delivery challenges as well as their initiatives and solutions to improve socio-economic conditions.

We have heard all that you have said here, I am happy you gave us the time to listen to what we had to say to you in regards to the service delivery challenges you face. The challenges you laid out here will be addressed and Ministers will do follow up visits to see that they are resolved, the President said.

In the spirit and theme of leaving no one behind, the President and leaders from the three spheres of government interacted with members of communities on service delivery issues and general problems in municipalities.

Basic services such as water and sanitation, electricity, network connectivity, dilapidated roads, unemployment, the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant, limited healthcare facilities, and a lack of recreational centres were the main challenges the communities laid bare to the President.

The President acknowledged that network connectivity was one of the biggest challenges.

It is true that network is not there, the Premier has already explained that coverage and penetration is only 11% - which is not sufficient. I sympathise with you, as you have already mentioned that it is difficult for you to get feedback when you apply for jobs due to the shortage of network.

We have a programme called SA connect which we will utilise to connect the entire country especially rural areas, so we are going to make sure that you also get connected so that you can have your own network, the President said.

On the issue of policing, the President told communities that their cries have been heard and said the Minister of Police Bheki Cele would return to the area to work with local authorities.

We have heard about the issues of police stations around here and Minister Cele will come back to work with MECs and aMakhosi to resolve issues of crime and policing, he said.

Some residents complained that services or projects stopped because there had been a change in leadership. In response to this, the President said the work of government must be consistent and it must not stop because of change in leadership.

Regarding the poor state of some of the roads, the President promised the residents that had gathered at the event that government would do more when it comes to roads while noting that there has been some improvement in certain areas.

President Ramaphosa said government will come up with more projects like the Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) to create more jobs for the youth.

The issue of unemployment does not only affect those who are 18-35, it is right across the country. We will come up with projects that will provide employment opportunities. We currently have the PES, which hired one million people throughout the country.

We want it to continue, we are working hard to create more jobs to boost the economy. We must start building our jobs at a local government level, as well as provincial level, the President said.

President Ramaphosa said government was busy resolving the water challenges across the country.

He told the community members that the Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu has been visiting different areas to assess their challenges and that he was working hard to resolve them.

It is not true that government is doing nothing regarding the water challenges. We are doing a lot and we are laying out money here in the province and nationally as well to address water challenges.

President Ramaphosa extended his gratitude to the scores of residents for gathering at the venue and thanked those who acknowledged the work being done by government in their communities.

The Imbizo follows a commitment he made to engage with communities throughout the country in his 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The imbizo platform builds on the District Development Model (DDM), which calls for greater cooperation between citizens and public representatives.

The DDM embodies an approach by which the three spheres of government and state entities work in unison in an impact-oriented way, and where there is higher performance and accountability for coherent service delivery and development outcomes.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-06-30. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Swedish-Swiss tech solutions multinational corporation ABB is expanding its investments in the Egyptian market, Sherif Ismail, ABB Egypts vice president and the electrification commercial leader Egypt and Central Africa, told Ahram Online.
The Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade helped Democrats stave off an expected red wave during the 2022 election.

A re-run is in order.

The Courts rulings this week that killed affirmative action for college admissions, junked the student debt relief program and allowed discrimination against gay people will power Democrats to victory in the 2024 election.

Young people, Blacks, women, and LGBTQ voters will turn out in droves to keep Joe Biden in the White House for another term.

The decision that gave a website designer the right to refuse to make wedding sites for same-sex couples is especially insidious.

Whats next? Can a business decline to serve Catholics, Jews, Muslims and gypsies?

The sweet irony of the legal rampage: Donald Trump is the guy who put the three hard-liners on the bench who made the conservative rulings possible.

Their decisions will ensure that Trump doesnt get re-elected president.

Mike Pence had a good PR week with his surprise trip to Ukraine on June 29 to meet with its president Volodymr Zelensky and victims of the Russian invasion.

The former vice president made the journey though Republican support for aid to Ukraine is slipping. Pew Research found that 44 percent of Republicans believe the US is providing too much aide to Ukraine. Thats the highest level since Russia launched its attack in February 2022.

Pence told NBC News that he isnt worried about polls, saying it was more important for him to see first-hand what Ukrainians have endured.

He said hes now better equipped to be able to go home as I speak to the American people about the vital importance of American support to repel Russian aggression. Spread the word far and wide, Mike.

Its a shame that Pence doesnt have a chance to win the Republican presidential nomination.
TULLAMORE is being let down by ''two heavily littered sites''. That's according to the latest Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) results.

The town came 26th out of the 40 towns inspected by An Taisce who carried out the surveys and while it was deemed to be Clean to European Norms it scored the least marks out of the four main towns in the midlands. Mullingar was 17th, Athlone 22nd and Portlaoise 23rd.

IBAL described the results as: A solid result for Tullamore on its return to the League, but let down by two heavily littered sites. The approach routes leading into Tullamore presented well, creating a very good first impression.

This was continued at the residential area of Ardan View and the shopping area of Columcille Street. Colourful planting was very much a feature at many of the sites surveyed e.g., Patrick Street, Car Park at Bridge Centre and Columcille Street. There were two heavily littered sites  the area around Lock 27 at Canal Walk and Bring Centre at St. Kyrans Street / OConnell Street  the latter was particularly poor as it was subject to dumping.

The Cathaoirleach of Tullamore Municipal District has described the mark as ''disappointing.''

Councillor Declan Harvey said; ''we will never win gold in the Tidy Towns with that mark. Considering the effort that the Tidy Towns are putting in, it's very disappointing. I am asking business people to make more of an effort outside their premises. In 2016 when we won the Entente Florale, a huge effort was put in by everybody and we won. We need a big push now to win the Tidy Towns, he said.

IBAL has given a breakdown of the areas inspected below.

N52 Approach: Grade A. (from town speed limit to Arden Roundabout). Excellent impression, overall. The area was characterised by well-maintained grass verges and hedges and clean road surfaces and kerbs.

Ardan View: Grade A. The residential area of Ardan View looked very well with spring flowers along one side of the road and plenty of tree planting throughout. The Dog Fouling Signage was accompanied by a sign asking the public to Leash and Clean Up After Your Dog  signage was freshly presented. There was a complete absence of litter throughout the area surveyed.

Columcille Street: Grade A. The lovely paving along Columcille Street created a very fresh impression. There was a nice use of floral and on-street planters, some of which had wooden seating attached. The opportunity to separate street waste is one to be welcomed  this is being increasingly rolled out throughout the country and great to see it in Tullamore. Columcille Street was excellent with regards to litter.

Car Park at The Bridge Centre: Grade A. Colourful planting / low lying shrubbery is a lovely feature at this car park. Apart from some cigarette butts / chewing gum, this was a very clean survey site. Signage relating to the use of the facility was in good order. Overall, this was a top-ranking site.

Cormac Street / Charleville Road: Grade A. A very welcoming approach to Tullamore with attractive flower beds - a wonderful bank of white spring flowers lined the base of one wall. Clean pavements / road surfaces / built environment were in very good condition.

N80 Portlaoise Approach Road: Grade A. Attractive floral displays and well attended roundabout contributed to the overall impression created along this route. Road surface / markings / signage were freshly presented, and the overall impression was of a very clean route leading into Tullamore.

The Bridge Centre: Grade B. The level of litter at this shopping centre environment was such that it was verging towards being seriously littered. Litter was particularly pronounced at the trolley bay at the building entrance. It was a mix of recent and long-lie items, mostly food related, with cigarette butts and shopping receipts.

Patrick Street: Grade B+. Cigarette butts were very much a feature along Patrick Street, particularly within the large planter boxes. There were a few separate provisions for same and yet they were a very obvious litter item, with lower levels of alcohol bottles and food related items.

Lock 27 at Canal Walk: Grade C+. An attractively presented waterside environment with pathway and bollards in good order. There were some litter items within the water, but it was really the vacant building which harboured most of the litter, much of it alcohol related. This area will only deteriorate further if not addressed.

Bring Facility at OConnell Street & St. Kyrans Street: Grade C. This site was by far the most heavily littered site surveyed in Tullamore. The Bring Centre facility was freshly presented with bin units and associated signage in good order. However, it wasnt just casually littered but subject to dumping. Items had also been stuffed between and behind the units. The area to the rear of the units was heavily littered.
A MAN who was already in custody on an assault charge appeared at last week's district court.

On June 2, 2023, Gardai received a report of a man jumping out in front of traffic at Ballyegan, Birr at 10.20pm

Thomas Headon, (40) of Wraymount Stud, Birr was not wearing any high viz clothing and was completely in black.

He was a danger to himself and was arrested for his own sake, Sgt James O'Sullivan told the court.

He also failed to provide his name and address to Garda Vincent Hogan on the same date.

Solicitor Donal Farrelly said his client was a 40 year old man who had been residing with his parents in Birr.

He said he is currently serving an 18 month sentence with nine months suspended for an assault. His conviction had taken place in a Dublin court the previous Tuesday.

Mr Farrelly said he was in Brazil for ten years but had returned to Ireland for this case.

Mr Farrelly asked Judge Andrew Cody to take into account the sentence he is already serving.

Judge Cody imposed a one month sentence which he suspended for two years.
THE students from Rang 6 in Gaelscoil na Laochra in Birr had a very special day recently when they were invited to Microsoft Headquarters in Dublin to receive a Platinum Award for their coding skills and their self-made video documenting their class work in this area.

Earlier in the school year, the students had been chosen as Microsoft Dreamspace Ambassadors which involved them teaching coding and technology to their peers and producing a video to document their work throughout the year.

The students gave an excellent presentation to the team at Microsoft on their video documenting their coding development throughout the year and were delighted to receive the highest accolade possible for their work.

The students were also delighted to hear that the team at Microsoft were so impressed with their work and its bilingual presentation that they asked the school if their video could be used by Microsoft in the future.

Gaelscoil na Laochra are very proud of their achievements and the support of their class teacher, Colm o hAnluain, who himself is no stranger to innovation as presenter of Na hInnealtoiri on TG4. With their recent success, we look forward to seeing what the future holds for these young innovative students!
Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB) have been awarded an Outstanding Contribution Award for its contribution to the development of Irelands remote work ecosystem by social enterprise Grow Remote.

The award recognises the fundamental role of the LOETB in developing Irelands remote work ecosystem, by enabling organisations to successfully transition to this new way of working and by driving the development of a remote-ready workforce across the country.

Since 2019, in partnership with IDA, Solas and Grow Remote, the LOETB has successfully trained over 2,000 individuals in the skills needed to lead remote teams and to thrive in a remote work environment. Through its national training programmes the LOETB has supported the creation of hundreds of jobs that can be done from anywhere in Ireland, leading to better outcomes for businesses and employees, more opportunities for job-seekers, and re-energised local communities.

The Outstanding Achievement Award was awarded to the LOETB team by Grow Remote Co-Founder Tracy Keogh at the recent Grow Remote Summit in Portlaoise. A unique stone sculpture created by Irish artist Pat OConnor was awarded, which represented the forward-thinking, innovative and courageous work of the LOETB over the past 4 years.

Tracy Keogh, Grow Remote Co-Founder said: We gave this award to the LOETB team in front of an audience of international, national and local stakeholders in the remote work ecosystem as a way of saying thank you for their incredible work and contribution to the remote work ecosystem, not only in Ireland but internationally. The impact of the LOETB extends far beyond the borders of Laois and Offaly and can be seen not only across Ireland but also internationally as other countries seek to replicate what has been achieved here. The LOETB took a pioneering approach to developing the remote work ecosystem in Ireland, understanding that a completely new set of skills are required to make remote work and that these skills could only be developed through taking an industry-led approach. They have led the way in ensuring Ireland is ahead of the curve internationally when competing for remote talent and inward investment from global remote companies.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, said: I would like to congratulate Laois Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB) on the awarding of the Outstanding Contribution Award from Grow Remote. Early in the pandemic, LOETB in partnership with IDA Ireland and Grow Remote worked to make this programme available in a very short space of time and I am pleased to see that over 2,000 individuals have been successfully trained since then. This is a great example of how the Further Education and Training sector can provide agile and flexible responses to the skills needs of the economy. As we have emerged from the pandemic, we are now seeing how remote working has become a key feature of working in Ireland and this programme equips employees and employers with the skills needed to succeed and thrive in this environment.
Cairo University, established for 115 years, climbed 184 spots in the QS World University Rankings 2024, now ranking in the top 25 percent of global educational institutions.

In the QS World University Rankings 2024, Cairo University surpassed the American University in Cairo (AUC), with a rank of 371, up from 551-560 in 2023. Meanwhile, AUC dropped one spot to 415 on the 2024 list.

Cairo University, which has 28 faculties and institutions, serves Arab and international students and researchers through education and research services. QS World University Ranking 2024 reports around 200,000 students, including 10,572 international students, attend the university.

15 Egyptian universities on the list

The QS World University Rankings 2024 includes 1,500 institutions in 104 locations worldwide, featuring 15 Egyptian universities on the list.

Quacquarelli Symonds, a global higher education analyst, publishes the ranking annually since 2004. The ranking includes indicators such as academic reputation, faculty-student ratio, and sustainability.

Ain Shams University, a public university in Egypt, improved its rank from the 801-1000 range in 2023 to the 721-730 range on the current QS World University Rankings list.

Public Alexandria University improved its ranking from 1001-1200 in 2023 to 901-950, while Mansoura University moved up from 1201-1400 to 1001-1200 on the current QS World University Rankings.

Public Assiut University and Future University in Egypt maintained their positions in the 1001-1200 category.

Public Al-Azhar University, Helwan University, Suez Canal University, Tanta University, and Zagazig University, along with private universities British University in Egypt (BUE) and German University in Cairo (GUC), maintained their positions in the 1201-1400 category.

The Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport made its debut on the QS World University Rankings after several years, bringing the total number of ranked universities to 15 in 2024, up from 14 in the previous year.

The Egyptian universities' progress in the QS ranking 2024 resulted from measures such as training on international academic publishing, according to a statement by the Ministry of Higher Education on Thursday.

The Ministry of Higher Education emphasized the universities' efforts to motivate researchers in different fields to publish their studies in renowned international journals.

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OPINION: Shopian Rape Case: Weaponising Misinformation

Feature

lekhaka-Balbir Punj

From the smouldering battlefields in Ukraine to sporadic terrorist attacks in Jammu & Kashmir, we live in a world marked by bloodshed and blogs. Mass media -- television, newspapers, twitter, blogs, WhatsApp and a whole lot of new communication tools, report on, and at times purposely provoke, such sordid developments. After all, we are living in the golden age of "fake news", and frequently end up as its unsuspecting victims, usually at a great social cost.

The mischief potential of this disturbing phenomenon came to fore once again recently, when the Jammu and Kashmir administration terminated the services of two doctors for allegedly "actively working" with Pakistan-based groups and fabricating evidence in the 2009 Shopian "rape-murder" case. The two medicos - Dr. Bilal Ahmad Dalal and Dr. Nighat Shaheen Chilloo -- were sacked for allegedly working at the behest of Pakistan.

The investigation, according to sources, revealed top echelon of the then government knew about the facts, which were conveniently buried, while Kashmir burnt for seven months. From June to December 2009, the Valley witnessed 42 strike calls by groups like Hurriyat, which resulted in widespread rioting. Around 600 minor and major law and order incidents occurred, the impact of which lasted till the next year. A total of 251 FIRs were registered in different police stations for rioting, stone pelting, arson, etc.

Seven civilians lost their lives and 103 were injured during these protests. Additionally, 29 police personnel and six paramilitary personnel suffered injuries. As per an estimate, Rs 6,000 crore worth of business was lost in those seven months. Above all, India's image as a civilised country suffered an enormous damage.

J&K: 3 Terrorists killed in Shopian encounter; search operation on

On May 29, 2009, Neelofar Jan, 22, and her 17-year-old sister-in-law Asiya Jan went missing after returning from their orchard in Bongam village of Shopian, some 50 km from Srinagar. The dead bodies of the two were found the next day in a shallow stream amid allegations that the two were "raped before being murdered by security forces" camped close to the area.

The then ruling Omar Abdullah-led State government had initially termed the incident as a case of drowning, but following manufactured public outcry, it constituted a one-man commission headed by (retired) Justice Muzaffar Jan to probe the case. The Commission pointed towards "foul play" saying that it was impossible for someone to drown in water level of ankle height in the stream where the bodies were recovered. It also indicted the police officials for dereliction of duty and had recommended reconstitution of the probe against them.

In August 2009, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe and found that the two women were never raped or murdered. The agency in December 2009 filed a chargesheet against 13 persons, including the two doctors for "misleading the investigations and fabricating evidence about rape and murder." The ultimate aim of the two doctors, working in tandem with Pakistan, was to create disaffection against the Indian State by falsely accusing the security forces of rape and murder.

The CBI probe exposed the devious role of specific lawyers, doctors and others who subverted and obstructed justice. The CBI probe also revealed that the four police officers, including a district SP, who were arrested in the case, were actually falsely implicated. Yet, justice remained elusive as the local CBI counsel was threatened by terror outfits and their assets not to pursue the case.

The absence of the CBI's local counsel went unnoticed for a shocking period of around eight years and three months. The CBI counsel's absence helped the 13 accused (six doctors, five lawyers and two civilians), especially Dr. Nighat, to escape the law and saved them from being tried for creating false evidence.

The Shopian 'rape' case fabrication and its aftermath were all parts of the insidious tool-kit, which Commies, Jihadis and evangelists frequently use to vilify the Hindu society and run down India.

The same phenomenon -- of painting the town red, using a manufactured narrative -- was in action during the BJP leader Nupur Sharma's episode. On May 27, 2022, a self-proclaimed fact-checker Mohammad Zubair cleverly edited Nupur's TV debate video clip and posted it on the Internet. Thanks to the global Commie-Jihadi networking, it was viral world over in no time. None questioned or discussed the contents of what she had said.

An avalanche followed. Editorial writers went berserk -- used millions of words to demonise Nupur. It was lynch mindset at its peak. A total of nine FIRs, in quick succession, were filed against her in different parts of the country. Subsequently, they were clubbed by Supreme Court. There were global protests, particularly in Islamic nations.

Nupur started getting rape and death threats. Violent protests broke out in many cities with raising of slogans like "Gustakh-e-Nabi ki ek saza, sar tan se juda." Two brutal murders, one each in Udaipur and Amravati, four fatal assaults and death threats followed. Poor Nupur had just repeated what Islamic scholars keep saying all the time in their religious discourses. But such is the mischief potential of 'fake news' and the resulting venomous narrative, that hapless Nupur continues to be in hiding, fearing for her life.

Kashmiri Pandit shot dead in JK's Shopian: KFF claims responsibility

Through Karnataka Hijab issue (2021-22), divisive forces successfully pushed their agenda to paint India "intolerant" in the global arena and demonise BJP/RSS as anti-Muslim, fascist and insinuate that the Muslim women were being forced to give up Hijab as a part of Sangh Parivar's diabolical plan to eventually create a Hindu Rashtra. Interestingly, what Karnataka was doing then, its immediate neighbour Kerala had already done, and no questions were asked.

The 'toolkit' used by this 'hate India' pack frequently resorts to half-truths and total lies to push its diabolical agenda. Way back in 2002, when the Gujarat riots broke following the burning of 59 Kar Sevaks coming back from Ayodhya, Arundhati Roy, a well-known writer with pronounced Leftist bias, wrote a long article in the weekly Outlook (May 6, 2002) giving a vivid description of the horror of riots.

Arundhati's Outlook account of riots, moving and vivid, however, was a complete fiction, based on her imagination -- a typical toolkit performance. In a subsequent rejoinder (Outlook, May 27, 2002), I conclusively called her bluff. However, the Jihadi-Commie pack continued with their relentless tirade to demonise Narendra Modi, on the basis of a manufactured account of riots. Their misadventures were put paid finally by the apex court of the country.

A Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and C.T. Ravi Kumar delivering a judgment on June 24, 2022, observing: "At the end of the day, it appears to us that a coalesced effort of the disgruntled officials of the State along with others was to create sensation by making revelations which were false to their own knowledge. The falsity of their claims had been fully exposed by the SIT... Intriguingly, the present proceedings have been pursued for (the) last 16 years... including with the audacity to question the integrity of every functionary involved in the process of exposing the devious stratagem adopted (to borrow the submission of learned counsel for the SIT), to keep the pot boiling, obviously, for ulterior design... All those involved in such abuse of process, need to be in the dock and proceeded with in accordance with law."

On March 12, 1993, Mumbai was hit by a series of 12 bomb blasts. Sharad Pawar, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, rushed to the Doordarshan studio and announced that there were 13 blasts -- the 13th one was 'invented' by him -- to show that Muslims also had suffered in the attacks, engineered by Hindus. Later, to underline his 'secular' credentials, Pawar unabashedly admitted his lie.

Subsequently, UPA Home Ministers P. Chidambaram and Sushil Kumar Shinde made repeated efforts to build a paradigm of 'Hindu terror'. The 26/11 terror attack (2008) in Mumbai was sought to be pasted on the RSS and to create a bogey of 'Hindu terror'. However, the arrest of Ajmal Kasab put paid to their diabolical plan.

Misinformation and hate speech are weapons of war. The landscape, in which we operate, is more hazardous today, any time in memory, for its heavily laid with land mines of clever sophistry, half-truths and white lies. The Indian security forces, combatting insurgents in various parts of the country, particularly in North East and Kashmir valley, are not only facing terrorists and criminal groups but also a host of foreign inspired cliques, who have a vested interest in perpetuating the chaos in which they thrive.

The weapons they wield are not just guns and bombs. Their arsenal also includes misinformation, disinformation and hate speech. Disinformation isn't just misleading, it's dangerous and deadly, fuels violence against the innocent. They have global expertise in using these (mis)communication tools to achieve their ends.

It's through this crooked narrative that Pakistan and their side-kicks in Kashmir managed to change the perception of our tricolour in the Valley from that of security, peace and prosperity it represents into a target of attack. The recent Shopian incident has once again brought under focus the mischief potential of manufactured narratives, laced with toxicity.

(Mr. Balbir Punj is a Former Member of Parliament and a Columnist. He can be reached at: [email protected])

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 10:19 [IST]
IUML Declines CPI(M) Invite To Seminars In Kerala On UCC, Points To Congress Not Being Invited

BJP's Key Ally NPP Raises Objection To Uniform Civil Code

India

oi-Prakash KL

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Friday expressed his reservation over the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC), saying it is against the country's identity as a diverse nation.

"NPP feels that UCC will go against the idea of India being a diverse nation, with diversity being our strength and identity," PTI quoted him as saying. His National People's Party (NPP) President is a key ally of the BJP in the Northeast.

The Northeast has a unique culture and society and will want to remain that way, he said. However, he claimed it will be difficult to go into the details without seeing the actual content of the UCC draft.

Noting that Meghalaya has a matrilineal society and there are different cultures in the Northeast, he asserted, "These cannot be changed."

Earlier, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), another ally of the BJP in Nagaland, raised its objections on the implementation of the uniform civil code. "The Nagas have been ensured the protection of our customary practices and traditions by the insertion of Article 371(A) in the Constitution of India," the NDPP said in a statement.

The UCC refers to a common set of laws that are applicable to all citizens of India that is not based on religion and dealing with marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption among other personal matters.

However, Goa is the only state in India that has a uniform civil code. It has been following the Portuguese Civil Code 1867, which is also called Uniform Civil Code. After its liberation from Portuguese rule, the UCC survived through Section 5(1) of the Goa, Daman and Diu Administration Act, 1962.

The fresh debate on the UCC took centre stage after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made a strong push for a Uniform Civil Code, asking how can the country function with dual laws that govern personal matters.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 23:52 [IST]
24-Year-Old Man Electrocuted To Death While Using Treadmill In Gym In Delhi

Delhi Govt Moves Supreme Court Against Centre's Ordinance

India

oi-Prakash KL

The Delhi government on Friday moved the Supreme Court against the Centre's ordinance over control of services in the national capital, officials said.

Advocates Shadan Farasat and Hrishika Jain filed a plea asserting that the ordinance transfers authority over civil servants working for the Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD) from the GNCTD to the unelected Lt Governor (LG).

"It does so without seeking to amend the Constitution of India, in particular Article 239AA of the Constitution, from which flows the substantive requirement that power and control in respect of services be vested in the elected government," it said.

Earlier in the day, the AAP had announced that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will burn copies of the Centre's ordinance at the party office in central Delhi on July 3.

The party had on June 11 organised a maha-rally against the ordinance.

The Centre had on May 19 promulgated the ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of IAS and DANICS officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a circumvention of 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 the transfer of and disciplinary proceedings against Group-A officers.

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.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor Kejriwal and the senior leadership of the party will not participate in the protests and agitations against the Centre's Ordinance on the Delhi government on July 3 as the matter is now sub-judice in Supreme Court.
What Happened With Daughters Can Never Be Forgiven: PM Modi On Manipur Parade Incident

Delhi University Not Merely A University But A Movement: PM Modi

India

oi-Deepika S

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said Delhi University is not just a university, but a movement.

Addressing the valedictory ceremony of Delhi University's centenary celebrations, PM Modi asserted that futuristic policies and decisions taken in the last few years in the education sector have boosted global recognition for Indian universities.

The Prime Minister noted that the centenary celebrations of the University of Delhi are taking place at a time when India is celebrating the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav after completing 75 years of its independence.

"The universities and educational institutions of any nation present a reflection of its achievements", the Prime Minister said. In the 100-year-old journey of DU, the Prime Minister continued, there have been many historic landmarks which have connected the lives of many students, teachers and others.

He remarked that Delhi University is not just a university but a movement, and it has filled every single moment with life.

Watch: PM Modi Travels By Delhi Metro To Attend DU Centenary Celebrations

The Prime Minister said, "If during these hundred years, DU has kept its emotions alive, it has kept its values vibrant too". Underscoring the importance of knowledge, the Prime Minister noted that when India had vibrant universities like Nalanda and Takshila, it was at the peak of prosperity.

"India's rich education system is the carrier of India's prosperity", he said, underlining the high Indian share in the global GDP of that time. Continuous attacks during the period of slavery destroyed these institutions leading to obstruction of the intellectual flow of India and bringing the growth to standstill, he added.

He said after Independence, universities played a crucial role in giving concrete shape to the emotional swell of post-independence India by creating a strong generation of talented youngsters. Delhi University too played a major part in that, he said. This understanding of the past gives shape to our existence, shape to our ideals and expansion to the vision of the future, he said.

"When the resolve of an individual or an institution is towards the country, then its achievements are equated with the achievements of the nation", the Prime Minister remarked.

The Prime Minister said that due to the futuristic educational policies and decisions, recognition of Indian universities is increasing. He informed that while in 2014, in the QS world ranking there were only 12 Indian universities, today this number has reached 45.

He credited India's youth force as the guiding force for this transformation. The Prime Minister hailed today's youth for transcending the concept of education being limited to placement and degrees. He said that they want to blaze their own trail and presented more than one lakh startups, 40% more patent filing as compared to 2014-15 and a rise in the Global Innovation Index as proof of this thinking.

The Prime Minister highlighted the deal on the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology or iCET with the USA during his recent visit and said that it will create new opportunities for the youth of India in various sectors ranging from AI to semiconductors. He said that it will enable access to technologies which were once beyond the reach of our youth and enhance skill development.

The Prime Minister informed that companies like Micron, Google, Applied Materials etc. have decided to invest in India and it provides a glimpse of the bright future for the youth.

"The Industry 4.0 Revolution is knocking on India's doors", the Prime Minister remarked as he noted that technologies like AI, AR and VR which could only be witnessed in the movies have now become a part of our real lives.

He noted that Robotics has become the new normal from driving to surgery and said that all these sectors are creating new avenues for the young generation of India.

In the past years, the Prime Minister continued, India has opened its space and defence sector and made huge changes in the policies related to drones which have provided a chance to move forward for the youth.
'Disha' App Gets Great Response But Cops Fail To Achieve Its Objective

India

oi-Sanjeev Nayak

Designed to help women stay safe and aware of their surroundings, the Disha mobile application (app) has created a record with more than 1.17 crore registrations since its launch in Andhra Pradesh but it has not been able to deliver the required results because of the apathy and laxity on the part of the police.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had launched the app and also inaugurated the first Disha police station at Rajamahendravaram in East Godavari three years ago to combat crime against women of the State. The initiative came following the brutal rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad which shook the conscience of the nation.

The main objective behind launching the mobile was to assist women in need and alert the closest police patrol car by prompting the SOS button or simply by shaking the phone five times. The police department from time to time encouraged not only women but also men to download it on their smartphones.

The app is available for free download on Google and has gained immense popularity among the woman mobile users. It has even overtaken 'Dial 100' helpline in the number of calls received in a day. The Disha Control Room at Tech Tower, AP Police Headquarters, Mangalagiri, Hyderabad, is said to be receiving more than 15,000 calls per day against 5,000 by Dial 100 Control Room.

No doubt increasing downloads of the app reflect the growing confidence among women in the security offered by the application and the ease of its use. Police are said to be getting about 250 calls a day and their response time is 5 to 7 minutes in urban areas and 14 minutes in rural areas.

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As far as overall response is concerned, it all look honky-dory. However, on the flip side, not all the calls from the app have had satisfactory responses, nor the police have registered FIRs in all the reported cases on the app. The data provided by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) shows that only 11 per cent of the calls received through Disha app find their way into police records.

Moreover, the lack of seriousness of the callers too has become a matter of concern. It is observed that women often would use the app in non-emergency cases domestic disputes, marital discord, husband coming home drunk and creating nuisance, parents not accepting a marriage alliance, etc. This irritates the cops and hence hampers their response rate.

There is a need to give widespread publicity for proper use of the app which can help women in distress in case they face a threat to their modesty or life. The State government should put up billboards and banners at all educational institutions, public and private offices as well as village and wards. The app should also be publicised through film theatres, cable TV and social media platforms, so that more people use them in the nick of time and save themselves.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 16:40 [IST]
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Friday distanced himself from this week's protest at which a Koran was burned outside a Stockholm mosque, which sparked outrage in parts of the Muslim world.

"It is difficult to say what the consequences will be. I think there are many people who have reason to reflect," Kristersson told a press conference.

"This is a serious security question. There's no need to insult other people," the right-wing head of government said.

On Wednesday, after being granted a permit to protest by Swedish police, Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika stomped on a copy of the Koran and set several pages alight outside Stockholm's largest mosque on Wednesday.

The incident, which coincided with the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha and the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, sparked protests in Iraq and elsewhere.

Kristersson called for calm and reflection.

Swedish police had granted Momika, 37, permission to stage his protest in line with free speech protections.

They later said they had launched an investigation into "agitation against an ethnic group," noting that Momika had burnt pages from the Islamic holy book very close to the mosque.

"I think that just because some things are legal, they are not necessarily appropriate," Kristersson said on Friday.

In Iraq, protesters on Thursday briefly breached the Swedish embassy in Baghdad.

"It is of course completely unacceptable to have people who unlawfully break into Swedish embassies in other countries," Kristersson said.

Authorisation for Momika's demonstration came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected a police decision to deny permits for two protests in Stockholm which were to include Koran burnings.

Police had at the time cited security concerns, following a Koran burning outside Turkey's embassy in January which led to weeks of protests, calls for a boycott of Swedish goods and further stalled Sweden's NATO membership bid -- which is being blocked by Turkey.

After the January burning, Turkey temporarily broke off NATO admission talks with Sweden.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the latest Koran burning.

Kristersson stressed it was too early to say what the consequences of this week's events would be.

"I think we should focus on the right things now. It's important that Sweden becomes a member of NATO. We have important and large issues to deal with," he said.

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Seema Haider Once Been To Jail, Now Out On Bail: UP Cop On Pakistani Woman

Flats Built On Land Seized From Gangster Atiq Ahmed Handed Over To The Poor

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday visited Prayagraj for a special purpose as he inaugurated the flats for the poors, built on land confiscated from slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed, in Prayagraj. The flats were built as part of an affordable housing project under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). The project was launched by Adityanath on December 26, 2021, after the land was freed from Ahmed's possession.

A total of 76 flats have been built in two blocks. The flats are 41 square meters in size and have two rooms, a kitchen, and a toilet. They cost Rs 6 lakh each, but beneficiaries will only have to pay Rs 3.5 lakh.

The flats were allotted through a lottery on June 9. The lottery was held in the auditorium of Allahabad Medical Association. After verifying the applications of 6030 people, 1590 were found eligible to participate in the lottery.

#WATCH | Prayagraj | Visuals inside the apartment - the flats of which will be handed over to the poor, by Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath shortly.



These have been built on land confiscated from slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed. pic.twitter.com/jYKcHsaYMg  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 30, 2023

The beneficiaries are excited and happy about the project. They are looking forward to receiving the keys to their flats from Adityanath.

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In addition to inspecting the flats, Adityanath will also be handing over the keys to the beneficiaries. He is expected to arrive in Prayagraj on Friday morning and will inspect the flats in the afternoon. He will then hand over the keys to the beneficiaries in the evening.

#WATCH | A beneficiary says, "It feels great. I could never have imagined that I will get my own house. Now nobody will tell me to leave from here..." pic.twitter.com/u42PpG1ddK  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) June 30, 2023

The project is seen as a major achievement for the Adityanath government. It is also seen as a way to provide affordable housing to the poor and needy.
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High-Voltage Drama in Imphal over Manipur CMs Resignation

India

oi-PTI

High-voltage drama unfolded in Imphal after thousands of demonstrators blocked Manipur Chief Minister Biren N Singh's convoy from proceeding towards Raj Bhavan.

However, after women leaders came out of his residence and told the crowd that the CM has assured them that he is not resigning, the mob slowly dispersed from his residence.

Unconfirmed reports said that the CM had typed out a resignation letter but was persuaded by his supporters to tear it up.

Earlier in the afternoon, hundreds of youth wearing black shirts and women sat down in front of the CM's residence demanding that Biren Singh should not resign.

Sources said there were strong rumours in Imphal since morning that the chief minister was contemplating resigning from the post after renewed violence in the state on Thursday that claimed three more lives and left 5 injured.

Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh Likely to Step Down Amid Ongoing Violence

Kshetrimayum Shanti, a women leader said, "At this critical juncture, the Biren Singh government should stand firm and crack down on troublemakers." The toll in exchange of fire between security forces and suspected rioters in Kangpokpi district a day before, rose to three on Friday, with one more person succumbing to injuries in hospital, officials said.

Armed rioters had opened unprovoked firing at Haraothel village on Thursday. The Army said security forces personnel "responded in a calibrated manner" to tackle the situation, they said.

Members of the community to which two of the rioters belonged collected their bodies on Thursday and took out a procession to the CM's residence here, they said.

The demonstrators, led by women, even dared police to arrest them, and were also seen burning tyres in the middle of the road to prevent police movement, the officials said.

As security personnel stopped them from marching to Singh's residence, the processionists turned violent, prompting police to use tear gas shells and resort to lathicharge to disperse the mob.

More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state so far.

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.
It Takes Two Hands To Clap: EAM Jaishankar On Relations With China

India

oi-Prakash KL

It takes two hands to clap and the current downturn in the bilateral relationship between India and China is not the result of New Delhi's actions, S Jaishankar said on Friday.

"The present downturn in our ties was not our creation...It was created by China, it was created by China ..violating two agreements of 1993 and 1996 and moving forces to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in violation of those agreements," ANI quoted the Union Minister as saying at the Syama Prasad Lecture: New India and the World in Kolkata.

He agreed that it has to be mutual efforts from both sides in order to sustain a diplomatic relationship while claiming that China should stop trying to unilaterally change the status quo.

"Now, if we are to have a decent relationship, I think...they need to observe those agreements, they need to stop trying to unilaterally change the status quo. They need to come to the understanding that relationships between major countries work only when they are based on mutual interest, mutual sensitivity, and mutual respect. They need to understand this. And my endeavour is to make them understand this," Jaishankar said.

He highlighted that the violations of India's sovereignty and territorial integrity, committed by China, were damaging actions.

Jaishankar said, "What has hurt our interest more is the actual violation of our sovereignty and territorial integrity... and that violation was by China. As I noted, this began in 1963 and kept increasing thereafter through connectivity initiatives." "We later saw that developed into the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said. India and China have been in a military standoff since April-May 2020 and deployed heavily in the border areas. India has also deployed an almost equal number of troops along the Eastern Ladakh sector to counter any possible misadventure by the Chinese in the future.

India and China are locked in a border standoff in eastern Ladakh for over 36 months. The bilateral relationship came under severe strain following the deadly clash in Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh in June, 2020.
Karnataka HC Rejects Twitter's Plea Against Centre's Account Blocking Orders

India

oi-Deepika S

The Karnataka High Court on Friday rejected Twitter's plea against the Centre's orders to block certain social media accounts and tweets.

The court also imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter Inc and said that the social media company had approached the court without complying with government orders.

Reading the operative portion, the HC said, "In the above circumstances this petition being devoid of merits is liable to be dismissed with exemplary costs and accordingly it is. Petitioner is levied with an exemplary cost of Rs 50 lakh payable to the Karnataka State Legal Service Authority, Bengaluru, within 45 days. If delay is brooked, it attracts an additional levy of Rs 5,000 per day."

"I am convinced with contention of the Centre that they have powers to block tweets and block accounts," the judge said while dismissing Twitter's petition.

Last year, Twitter had challenged the various takedown orders of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

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The Centre had asked Twitter to block several social media accounts and tweets between February 2021 and February 2022. Out of these, Twitter had challenged 39 blocking orders.

The company claimed that it was barred from even informing its account holders about the takedown.

The HC order comes weeks after Twitter's ex-CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey accused the government of threatening to shut down the social media in India unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the handling of farmer protests in 2021.

In a YouTube Show 'Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar', Jack Dorsey claimed that Twitter had received many requests from India to block accounts covering farmers' protests and those critical of the government.

During the interview, Dorsey said, "India for example, India is one of the countries which had many requests around farmers protests, around particular journalists which were critical of the government, and it manifested in ways such as 'we will shut Twitter down in India'... 'we would raid the homes of your employees', which they did; 'we will shut down your offices if you don't follow suit'. And this is India, a democratic country."

However, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar strongly denied Dorsey's allegation of receiving many requests from India to censor reporting on farmers' protests, as well as threats of shutting down the platform.
PM Modis remarks to Putin at SCO consistent with Indias position on Ukraine war: Jaishankar

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Make in India Had Visible Effect on Indian Economy: Putin Praises Big Friend PM Modi

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and commended the significant impact of his 'Make in India' initiative on the Indian economy.

Putin expressed his admiration during a forum organised by Russia's Agency for Strategic Initiatives in Moscow, as reported by the Russian television network RT.

Referring to India as an exemplary country that encourages local development, manufacturing, and assembly of products, Putin highlighted the need to emulate successful strategies, even if they were formulated by others. He specifically mentioned the 'Make in India' initiative launched by Prime Minister Modi, acknowledging its impressive effects on India's economy.

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In addition, Putin underscored the importance of supporting Russian companies in marketing their products more efficiently, drawing inspiration from India's approach to promoting domestic products and brands. He commended India's effective model for fostering local manufacturing capabilities and attracting foreign investors.

Putin emphasised the significance of enhancing product convenience, functionality, modernity, and design, considering industrial and product design as valuable assets for domestic business development, as reported by RT.

Launched globally in September 2014, the 'Make in India' initiative aims to position India as a preferred global manufacturing destination. The objective is to integrate India into the global supply chain and empower Indian companies to excel in a globalized workspace.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has stated that the initiative encompasses measures to improve the ease of doing business, driving India's economic growth.
Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh Likely to Step Down Amid Ongoing Violence

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Amidst the ongoing violence in Manipur, there are strong indications that Chief Minister Biren Singh is likely to tender his resignation. A senior official in Manipur who is close to Singh said that he is likely to resign on Friday. According to reports, Singh has an appointment with Governor Anusuiya Uikey, during which he may submit his resignation.

The news of CM Biren Singh's resignation gained momentum following a news report published in a prominent English daily in Manipur, citing his alleged failure to quell the violence as the primary reason.

According to the report in Sangai Express, Singh received multiple calls from New Delhi on Thursday, offering him the choice to resign voluntarily or face the imposition of central administration. The report suggested that the legislative assembly could potentially be placed under temporary suspension. It should be noted, however, that there has been no official confirmation regarding the likelihood of Singh's resignation.

Manipur Violence: Three Killed In Fresh Firing

The news of Singh's possible resignation comes after a series of violent incidents in Manipur in recent weeks. The violence has been blamed on several armed groups, including the Kuki National Army (KNA) and the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The KNA has been demanding a separate state for the Kuki community, while the PLA is fighting for an independent Manipur. The violence has displaced thousands of people and caused widespread damage to property.

Singh has been under fire from both the opposition and his own party for his handling of the violence. The opposition has demanded his resignation, while some BJP leaders have also expressed dissatisfaction with his performance.

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Manipur violence: CM Biren Singh likely to resign as tension escalates in the state | Oneindia News

This development comes two days after Governor Uikey's visit to New Delhi, where she held separate meetings with President Draupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, among others, to brief them about the situation in Manipur and the measures taken to restore peace.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is currently visiting the violence-hit state.

Singh has faced criticism not only from opposition parties but also from within his own party. Union Minister of State for External Affairs Raj Kumar Ranjan Singh, who hails from Manipur, openly accused the state government of failing to maintain law and order.

Singh made this accusation following an incident where his residence in Imphal was set ablaze by unidentified persons.

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Home Minister Amit Shah met with Singh in New Delhi on June 25 to discuss the violence in Manipur. Shah is said to have expressed concern about the sporadic incidents of violence and Biren's failure to stop them.

Biren Singh, a Meitei leader, switched from the Congress party to the BJP in 2016 and assumed the role of Chief Minister after the BJP secured an absolute majority in the state during the 2017 Assembly elections. He began his second term as Manipur CM last year.
Opposition Parties Attack Governor After TN Minister Senthil Balaji Briefly Sacked

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi's decision to dismiss minister Senthil Balaji on account of criminal charges against him has sparked a controversy. The Governor's decision was met with widespread criticism from the opposition parties, who accused him of acting unconstitutionally.

The Governor's office said that Balaji was dismissed because he was in judicial custody in a criminal case being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. The office also said that there were other criminal cases against Balaji under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.

However, the opposition parties argued that the Governor did not have the authority to dismiss a minister without the advice of the chief minister. They pointed to Article 164 of the Constitution, which states that a minister can be removed only on the advice of the chief minister.

The AAP, the Trinamool Congress, and the RJD all issued statements criticising the Governor's decision. The AAP called it "outrightly unconstitutional," while the Trinamool Congress said that the Governor had acted unilaterally and without consulting the chief minister. The RJD said that the Governor must have received a diktat from Delhi.

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The BJP, on the other hand, defended the Governor's decision, saying that he had every right to dismiss Balaji. The party also said that the Governor had given reasons for his decision.

Senthil Balaji was arrested on June 14 in a cash-for-jobs scam. He was admitted to a hospital immediately after his arrest as he complained of chest pain. The minister underwent a bypass surgery on June 21.

The Governor's decision to dismiss Balaji is likely to further strain the relations between the Tamil Nadu government and the Governor. The Governor has been accused of being biased against the DMK government, and this latest decision is likely to add to those accusations.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 9:29 [IST]
Opposition Mantra Is Of, By And For Family: PM Modi

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PM Modi To Launch National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission Tomorrow

India

oi-Deepika S

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission on July 1.

The Mission aims to address the pressing health challenges posed by sickle cell disease, particularly among the tribal population.

The launch will mark a crucial milestone in the Government's ongoing efforts to eliminate sickle cell disease as a public health problem by 2047.

The National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission was announced in the Union Budget 2023.

This will be implemented in 278 districts of 17 high focused states in the country namely Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, and Uttarakhand.

So, what is Sickle Cell anaemia?

Sickle cell disease is the name for a group of inherited health conditions that affect the red blood cells. The most serious type is called sickle cell anaemia.

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According to NHS, People with sickle cell disease produce unusually shaped red blood cells that can cause problems because they do not live as long as healthy blood cells and can block blood vessels.

Sickle cell disease is a serious and lifelong health condition, although treatment can help manage many of the symptoms.

Symptoms of sickle cell disease

People born with sickle cell disease tend to have problems from early childhood, although some children have few symptoms and lead normal lives most of the time.

The main symptoms of sickle cell disease are:

Children suffering from sickle cell anemia witness many diseases from birth

There is pain in the bones and muscles

Spleen of children increases in size

There may be swelling in the body

Frequent infections

Vision problems

Frequent blood transfusions may be required

Causes of sickle cell disease

Sickle cell disease is caused by a gene that affects how red blood cells develop.

If both parents have the gene, there's a 1 in 4 chance of each child they have being born with sickle cell disease.

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The child's parents often will not have sickle cell disease themselves and they're only carriers of the sickle cell trait.

What is the condition of sickle cell anaemia in India?

According to statistics data 3 per cent of India's tribal population suffered from sickle cell anaemia, and the other 23 per cent were carriers, that is, their genes can spread the disease.

India witnessed a rapid increase in anaemia after 1970, despite taking precautions.

How will the goal of eradicating anemia be accomplished?

The government has announced various initiatives to eradicate anemia. In 2018, the Modi government came out with the strategy of Anaemia Mukt Bharat. This included Poshan Abhiyaan, treatment of anemia using testing and digital methods and point of care, provision of fortified foods, and awareness raising through government-funded public health programs.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 16:58 [IST]
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PM Modi, Vladimir Putin Discuss Ukraine, Wagner Mutiny Over Call

India

oi-Prakash KL

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation around Ukraine and how Kremlin resolved an armed mercenary mutiny in a telephone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, Moscow said.

In connection with the events of June 24 in Russia, PM Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens, a statement from Kremlin said.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, a press release from the PMO stated.

Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue. The two leaders also discussed their countries' cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the G20.

"Special attention was focused on cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20, where India holds the presidency, as well as within the BRICS format," the statement said.

Last week, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the mercenary private military company the Wagner Group launched a brief rebellion against Putin which marked the most serious challenge to Russia in more than two decades of Putin's rule and triggered questions over his leadership.

He pulled back his troops after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's intervention.
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Rahul Gandhi Meets People at Relief Camps in Manipurs Moirang

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday met people living in relief camps after ethnic violence broke out in Manipur early last month.

He is scheduled to visit the relief camps at Moirang in Bishnupur district and after that, he will meet like-minded parties in Imphal.

Gandhi will also meet intellectuals and civil society representatives in Imphal during the day, besides visiting relief camps in the capital of Manipur, they said.

On Thursday, he had visited relief camps in Churachandpur, one of the worst affected towns in the ethnic rioting, which has plagued the northeastern state for the last two months.

Love & kindness will always defeat violence!



Shri @RahulGandhi shares lunch with children at the relief camp in violence-hit Churachandpur, Manipur.



Photos: 29 June 2023 pic.twitter.com/LksKgF1xSO  Congress (@INCIndia) June 30, 2023

High drama ensued during the trip, as his convoy of cars was stopped at Bishnupur by the local police, fearing the carcade may face attacks.

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Gandhi eventually turned back and flew down to Churachandpur by a helicopter.

The Congress leader is on a two-day visit to Manipur to "bring a healing touch" to local communities.
France's president was to lead a crisis meeting of ministers on Friday after a third night of protests over a policeman's killing of a teen saw cars torched, shops ransacked and hundreds arrested.

Related France arrests dozens in unrest after police kill teenager

Police sources said that rather than pitched battles between protesters and police, the night was marked by pillaging of shops, reportedly including flagship branches of Nike and Zara in Paris.

Public buildings were also targeted, with a police station in the Pyrenees city of Pau hit with a Molotov cocktail, according to regional authorities, and an elementary school and a district office set on fire in Lille.

The unrest has come in response to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Nahel, whose death has revived longstanding grievances about policing and racial profiling in France's low-income and multiethnic suburbs.

The Elysee announced Macron would cut short a trip to Brussels, where he was attending a European Union summit, to chair a crisis meeting on the violence -- the second such emergency talks in as many days.

Around 40,000 police and gendarmes -- along with elite Raid and GIGN units -- were deployed in several cities overnight, with curfews issued in municipalities around Paris and bans on public gatherings in Lille and Tourcoing in the country's north.

Despite the massive security deployment, violence and damage were reported in multiple areas.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 667 people had been arrested in what he described as a night of violence, while 249 police officers were injured, none of them seriously.

Macron under pressure

France has been rocked by successive nights of protests since Nahel was shot point-blank on Tuesday during a traffic stop captured on video.

In her first media interview since the shooting, Nahel's mother, Mounia, told the France 5 channel: "I don't blame the police, I blame one person: the one who took the life of my son."

She said the 38-year-old officer responsible, who was detained and charged with voluntary manslaughter on Thursday, "saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life".

The memorial march for Nahel, led by Mounia, ended with riot police firing tear gas as several cars were set alight in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the teenager lived and was killed.

Heightened security appeared to do little to deter unrest Thursday night.

In the city centre of Marseille, a library was vandalised, according to local officials, and scuffles broke out nearby when police used tear gas to disperse a group of 100 to 150 people who allegedly tried to set up barricades.

Multiple public buildings were also targeted in Seine-Saint-Denis, in the Paris metro area, according to a police source.

In the suburb of Drancy, rioters used a truck to force open the entrance to a shopping centre, which was then partly looted and burned, a police source said.

Firefighters in the northern municipality of Roubaix, meanwhile, dashed from blaze to blaze throughout the night, with a hotel near the train station also catching fire, sending its dozen or so residents fleeing into the streets.

In Nanterre, the epicentre of the unrest, tensions rose around midnight, with fireworks and explosives set off in the Pablo Picasso district, where Nahel had lived, according to an AFP journalist.

The government is desperate to avoid a repeat of 2005 urban riots, sparked by the death of two boys of African origin in a police chase, during which 6,000 people were arrested.

Macron has called for calm and said the protest violence was "unjustifiable".

The riots are a fresh challenge for the president, who had been looking to move past some of the biggest demonstrations in a generation sparked by a controversial rise in the retirement age.

'Bullet in the head'

Nahel was killed as he pulled away from police who were trying to stop him for a traffic infraction.

A video, authenticated by AFP, showed two police officers standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver.

A voice is heard saying: "You are going to get a bullet in the head."

The police officer then appears to fire as the car abruptly drives off.

Clashes first erupted as the video emerged, contradicting police accounts that the teenager was driving at the officer.

The officer's lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, told BFMTV late Thursday that his client had apologised as he was taken into custody.

"The first words he pronounced were to say sorry, and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family," Lienard said.

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Union Minister Gadkari Shares Stage With Congress' Digvijaya Singh, Praises Him

India

oi-Prakash KL

Union minister Nitin Gadkari shared the dais with senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh during a book release function near Pune city and praised the latter for his annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur, a temple town in Maharashtra. Singh visits Pandharpur, which houses the famous temple of Lord Vitthal and Goddess Rukmini in Solapur district, every year to offer prayers to the deity on Ashadi Ekadashi when the palanquins carrying sacred footprints of Sant Tuakram and Sant Dnyaneshwar reach the town along with lakhs of 'warkaris' (devotees).

Gadkari and Singh on Thursday came together to release a book on late Congress leader Ramkrishna More at Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune. During his speech, Gadkari praised Singh for his annual pilgrimage to Pandharpur on Ashadi Ekadashi, which was celebrated on Thursday.

"I won't get that kind of courage (to walk) although I am younger than you. But you walk so much (during the pilgrimage)...I congratulate you and thank you," the Minister of Road Transport and Highways said. Singh responded saying that Gadkari should also give it a try so that he starts taking part in it regularly. Notably, Gadkari had in 2018 withdrawn a case of defamation against Digvijaya Singh after the latter expressed regret over his statement.

A joint petition for withdrawal of the case was filed in Delhi's Patiala House court. Gadkari had filed the defamation case against Singh in 2012 for allegedly dragging his name into alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks. The BJP leader had then accused the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister of trying to divert people's attention from a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on coal blocks allocation by making allegations that a business partner of Gadkari gained a profit of Rs 490 crore from coal mines in Chhattisgarh.

India's Road Network Now 2nd Longest In World, Grew 59% In 9 Years: Nitin Gadkari

Speaking at the event further, Gadkari also lauded the political culture of Maharashtra and said that although there were different parties in the state, there was no bitterness among them. "There can be differences of opinion, but there should be no 'manbhinnata' (differences in relationship) and Maharashtra is a fine example of it," he said. The minister said the government was developing the Palkhi Marg (palanquin route) at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore. He said he has asked the engineers to lay grass along the route so that warkaris can walk on it instead of going barefoot on a hot road.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 18:03 [IST]
Chinese President Xi speaks to Ukrainian counterpart, offers to mediate to end war with Russia

Chinese President Meets 'Old Friend' Bill Gates, Says 'China Always Placed Hopes In American People'

Ahead Of PM Modi's Visit To US, Xi, Blinken Agree To Stabilise Tense US-China Relations

China's Xi Jinping To Virtually Attend SCO Regional Meet Hosted By India

International

oi-PTI

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next week's virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India, an official announcement here said on Friday.

At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release.

This is the first official announcement about Xi's participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

SCO Summit Under Indias Chairmanship On July 4; PM Modi To Chair The Meet

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.

Ahead of the summit to be held for the first time under India's Presidency, India on Tuesday inaugurated an exquisitely designed "New Delhi Hall" at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.

While the SCO's six founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have their halls highlighting their cultures and unique features, India is the first to add its own.

Virtually inaugurating the hall, External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar in his address said the New Delhi Hall, is conceived to be a "mini-India" showcasing various facets of Indian culture.

"To make you visualise the depth of India's artistic tradition and cultural identity, the Hall has been designed with exquisite patterns and motifs representing the rich architectural craftsmanship found throughout India", he said.

Last year, the in-person SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that was attended by all top leaders of the grouping including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In September, India will host the G20 summit for which it is going to invite Xi and Putin, besides other leaders of the bloc.

SCO Summit 2023: Jaishankar, Russian FM Lavrov hold talks on wide range of issues

The theme of the summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'.

The SECURE acronym was coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.

These themes have been highlighted during India's chairmanship of the SCO.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 9:09 [IST]
Who Is Geeta Rao Gupta? New Ambassador-At-Large For Global Womens Issues In US

How Biden Reacted to US SC's Decision To End Race-Based Admissions

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

US President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed his strong disagreement with the Supreme Court's decision to strike down race-based admission programs in colleges and universities. The decision effectively ends affirmative action policies that have been in place for decades.

"I strongly disagree with the Supreme Court's decision to strike down race-based admission programs," Biden said in a statement. "The court has effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions."

We cannot let the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action be the last word.



Here's what my Administration is doing: pic.twitter.com/QnfPrPLwET  President Biden (@POTUS) June 30, 2023

Affirmative action programs have been used by colleges and universities to increase diversity on their campuses. These programs consider race as one factor among many in admissions decisions. The Supreme Court has upheld affirmative action policies in the past, but the conservative majority on the court has become increasingly hostile to them in recent years.

The Supreme Court's decision in the case of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University was a 6-3 ruling. The majority opinion was written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who argued that race-based admissions programs are no longer necessary to achieve diversity in higher education.

US Supreme Court Bans Use Of Race, Ethnicity In University Admissions

The decision is expected to have a significant impact on college admissions nationwide. Colleges that have relied on race-conscious admissions policies will now have to find new ways to achieve diversity on their campuses. Some colleges may focus on recruiting more low-income students or students from underrepresented groups. Others may use other factors, such as socioeconomic background or life experiences, to make admissions decisions.

President Biden has called on Congress to pass legislation that would codify affirmative action into law. However, it is unclear whether Congress will be able to pass such legislation, given the current political climate.
Enormous Good Fortune For Country To Have Somebody Like Him: Jaishankar Hails PM Modi

India, Philippines To Strengthen Ties Amid South China Sea Tension

International

oi-Sanjeev Nayak

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has described the 5th India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) meeting, which he co-chaired with the visiting Philippines Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique A. Manalo in New Delhi yesterday, as "productive and comprehensive".

The two countries have announced plans to commence negotiations on a bilateral preferential trade agreement, while also signalling an upward trajectory in defence and security ties between them which will intensify their defence cooperation in the wake of China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.

The two countries also emphasised the need to implement the 2016 United Nations (UN) arbitration court's South China Sea verdict. This ruling, awarded in favour of Manila in its case against China's territorial claims, has been dismissed by Beijing despite global pressure. The South China Sea, a vital source of hydrocarbons, has become a hotbed of international disputes with China's sweeping claims of sovereignty countered by several regional countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.

The enhanced focus on defence was underscored by a $375 million deal concluded last year, under which the Philippines procured three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile from India. Both sides expressed a strong desire to continue cooperating in the defence sector, including the potential establishment of a defence attache office in Manila, and India's offer for a concessional Line of Credit to satisfy the Philippines' defence needs.

India will Soon Embark On Passport Seva Programme Version 2.0: S Jaishankar

The joint statement released after the talks highlighted the shared interest of both countries in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific. It emphasised peaceful settlement of disputes and adherence to international law, specifically the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the arbitral award on the South China Sea.

In addition to defence, the dialogue prioritised enhancing bilateral ties in counter-terrorism, health, and trade. In the fiscal year 2022-23, bilateral trade crossed the $3 billion mark for the first time, spurring both sides to explore further avenues for economic engagement.

Among the broad spectrum of discussed areas, connectivity expansion, tourism growth, trade and investment facilitation, and people-to-people exchanges were emphasised. An early negotiation for a bilateral mutual legal assistance treaty on criminal matters and a treaty on the transfer of sentenced persons were also encouraged.

India and the Philippines also agreed to collaborate at the United Nations for tangible outcomes on UN Security Council reforms. They concurred on the urgent need for expanding both permanent and non-permanent categories of membership, along with reforms of the council's working methods.

During the meeting, Manalo, who is on a four-day visit to India, expressed the Philippines' desire to forge a "very robust" defence partnership with India and its interest in procuring additional military hardware.
My Heart Breaks: Obamas Condemn SC Ruling On Affirmative Action

International

oi-Deepika S

Former President Barack Obama reacted to the US Supreme Court's decision to ban the use of race and ethnicity in university admissions, saying that affirmative action policies had allowed generations of students including him and his wife Michelle to prove we belonged.

Obama argued that these policies were essential to ensuring that all students, regardless of race or ethnicity, have the opportunity to succeed.

"Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society. But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of America's key institutions-it gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table," Obama wrote on social media.

"In the wake of the Supreme Court's recent decision, it's time to redouble our efforts," he added.

Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society. But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of Americas key institutionsit gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table.



In the https://t.co/Kr0ODATEq3  Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 29, 2023

The US Supreme Court ruled that Harvard University and the University of North Carolina's admissions programs were in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

US Supreme Court Bans Use Of Race, Ethnicity In University Admissions

The Supreme Court justices voted along ideological lines in a 6-3 decision that struck down the policy - a decision hailed by the Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, and slammed by Democrats.

"My heart breaks for any young person out there who's wondering what their future holds - and what kinds of chances will be open to them," former First Lady Michelle Obama said in a separate statement.

"And while I know the strength and grit that lies inside kids who have always had to sweat a little more to climb the same ladders, I hope and I pray that the rest of us are willing to sweat a little, too," she added. "Today is a reminder that we've got to do the work not just to enact policies that reflect our values of equity and fairness, but to truly make those values real in all of our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods."

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 10:33 [IST]
The risk factor for India as Pakistan goes from one crisis to another

Pakistan stands embarrassed again for sending aid back it got from Turkey in 2022

Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif To Attend Virtual SCO Summit On July 4

International

oi-Deepika S

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on July 4.

In a statement, Pakistan's foreign ministry said Sharif's participation in the summit illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO, which is an important forum for regional security and prosperity and enhanced engagement with the region.

''Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the 23rd Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) being held in video conference format on 4th July 2023,'' it said.

''The invitation to the Prime Minister to attend the SCO-CHS was extended by the Prime Minister of India in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO,'' the statement said.

At the summit, the leaders will deliberate on important global and regional issues and chart the future direction of cooperation among SCO Member States. This year, the SCO CHS will also welcome Iran as a new member of the organisation, it said.

China's Xi Jinping To Virtually Attend SCO Regional Meet Hosted By India

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

India assumed the rotating chairmanship of the SCO at the Samarkand Summit on September 16 last year.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced in May that India will host the annual summit of the SCO in the virtual format on July 4. However, it did not cite reasons for holding the summit in the virtual mode.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 15:45 [IST]
Russian General Believed To Be Detained in Aftermath of Wagner Mutiny

International

oi-PTI

Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, is believed to have been detained days after mercenaries staged a revolt inside Russia, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday, citing US and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. It's not clear whether Surovikin faces any charges or where he is being held, reflecting the opaque world of the Kremlin's politics and uncertainty after the revolt. But his reported detention comes days after Wagner Group mercenaries took over the military headquarters in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and were heading toward Moscow in what appears to have been an aborted insurrection.

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has spoken positively of Surovikin while criticizing the country's military brass and suggested that he should be appointed the General Staff chief to replace Gen. Valery Gerasimov. The New York Times this week reported that US officials believe Surovikin had advance knowledge of Prigozhin's plan to stage the revolt. The White House and the Kremlin declined to comment. Surovikin, who has longtime links to Prigozhin, hasn't been seen since the start of the rebellion when he posted a video urging an end to it.

A Russian military blogger, the Moscow Times, and the Financial Times reported that Surovikin, who is also the commander of the Russian air force, has been arrested. There has been intense speculation that some top military officers may have colluded with Prigozhin and may now face punishment for the mutiny that briefly sent a virtually unchallenged march toward Moscow that Putin has labelled treason and a "stab in the back."

Russia Drops Charges Against Prigozhin And Others Who Took Part In Brief Rebellion

Alexei Venediktov, former head of the Ekho Moskvy, a prominent independent radio station that was shut down by authorities after Moscow invaded Ukraine, said Surovikin and his close lieutenants haven't been in contact with their families for three days, but stopped short of saying that he was detained.

Another prominent military messaging channel, Rybar, which is run by a former Defence Ministry press officer, reported a purge in the ranks was underway as authorities looked into allegations that some could have sided with Prigozhin. Surovikin has been linked to Prigozhin since when both were active in Syria, where Russia has waged a military action since 2015 to shore up Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and to help him reclaim territory after a devastating civil war. While Prigozhin had unleashed expletive-ridden insults at Shoigu and chief of the General Staff Gen.

Valery Gerasimov before last week's mutiny in which he demanded their ouster, he has continually praised Surovikin and suggested naming him to replace Gerasimov. When the rebellion began, however, Surovikin recorded a video urging a halt to the mutiny.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that US officials believed that Surovikin had advance knowledge about the mutiny. Asked about that report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shrugged it off as part of "speculations and gossip".

On Thursday, Peskov refused to comment on whether Surovikin had been arrested. Asked by the AP if the president still trusts Surovikin, he replied that Putin works with the defence minister and the chief of the General Staff and referred questions about officers to the Defence Ministry. He also referred all other questions about Surovikin and his status to the ministry.

As to whether Putin considers it necessary to dismiss military officials who had had links with Prigozhin, Peskov said "the issue isn't my prerogative, and I have nothing to say on that." The bald, fierce-looking Surovikin, who was nicknamed "General Armageddon" by Western media for his brutal tactics in Syria and Ukraine, was credited with shoring up Russian defenses after Moscow's retreat from broad areas of Ukrainian territory last fall amid a swift counteroffensive by Kyiv. Named by Putin in the fall to lead Russian forces in Ukraine, Surovikin presided over the bombing campaign that targeted Ukraine's power plants and other vital infrastructure but failed to knock out power supplies.

In January, Putin replaced him with Gerasimov, putting the General Staff chief in charge of the Russian battle in Ukraine. Surovikin was demoted to the position of Gerasimov's deputy.Gerasimov's own fate also is unclear after the abortive mutiny. While Shoigu showed up at several events attended by Putin, Gerasimov was mysteriously absent. If a purge is indeed underway, it could destabilize the military chain of command and erode troop morale amid the early stage of Ukraine's latest counteroffensive and offer Kyiv a chance to reclaim more ground.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 7:42 [IST]
Violent Protests In Paris After Teenager Shot Dead For Traffic Violation

International

oi-Sanjeev Nayak

With looting, fires and firing of fireworks, Paris and its suburbs were plagued by a new wave of violence after a teenager was shot dead in a fatal police shooting in Nanterre. Angry protesters also set afire at least 13 buses from the RATP depot in Aubervilliers on Thursday.

According to a report, 17-year-old Nahel was killed by the police after being stopped for a traffic violation in the Paris suburb town of Nanterre on Tuesday. The officer who is accused of shooting him has been taken to jail, local BFM TV reported from Seine-Saint-Denis.

Till now, at least 421 people have been arrested across France in protests, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told CNN-affiliate BFM TV, which is a 24-hour rolling news and weather channel based in France and available globally via digital, cable and satellite television.

Fact Check: Image of Israeli protests shared as those from France

Of those, 242 arrests took place in the Paris region in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, BFM TV said citing Paris police.

Earlier, the lawyer of the police officer under formal investigation for the fatal shooting of a French teenager slammed the treatment of his client as "political", claiming his prosecution was being used to try and calm the violent tensions.

"He committed an act in a second, in a fraction of a second. Perhaps he made a mistake, justice will tell," Laurent-Franck Lienard, the officer's lawyer told BFM TV in an interview. The officer is "devastated" by the death of the teenager, the lawyer said, adding that he didn't want to kill him.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said, "Violence against police stations, schools, town halls, against the Republic, is unjustifiable. Thank you to the police, gendarmes, firefighters and elected officials mobilized. Meditation, Justice and calm must guide the next few hours."

Macron also convened a crisis meeting with senior ministers in the wake of the situation, CNN reported. Speaking at the meeting, he said: "Clearly, the emotion that comes with the death of a young man calls for contemplation and calm, and it's what the government has constantly called for. I think this is what should continue to guide the next hours and the tributes."

Calling the violence "absolutely unjustifiable", the French President thanked those who are working to bring back calm. "The last hours have been marked by violent scenes against police stations but also schools and town halls, and basically against institutions and the Republic. It's absolutely unjustifiable," Macron said.

France, Australia to send artillery shells to Ukraine

"I would like to thank those who are out during the night, like yesterday, to protect these institutions and bring back calm," he added.

In another statement, Macron defended the 'right to protest' and urged people to maintain calm. "We have always safeguarded the right to protest... but we need harmony and we need a lot of collective goodwill," President Emmanuel Macron told the newspaper Ouest France, while urging calm, reported France24.

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Story first published: Friday, June 30, 2023, 11:04 [IST]
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The United States rejoined UNESCO on Friday, reversing its withdrawal during the Trump administration, the UN's cultural agency said.

Donald Trump announced in 2017 that he was pulling the United States out of UNESCO, alongside Israel, accusing the body of bias against the Jewish state, a decision that took effect in 2018.

An extraordinary session of the UN body's General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for the return of the United States, an AFP reporter present at the vote said, with around 132 members voting in favour, 10 against and 15 abstentions.

Dissenting voices included Iran, Syria, China and Russia whose delegations appeared to seek to delay the vote through several statements on procedure and suggested amendments.

The United States, a founding member of UNESCO, was a major contributor to its budget until 2011, when the body admitted Palestine as a member state.

That triggered an end to the contributions under US law, leading up to the formal withdrawal announcement six years later.

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The wry character actor demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama across more than a hundred television and feature films.
France witnessed a third night of riots amid high public anger over the fatal shooting of a teen by a policeman. Meanwhile, the unrest has spread to neighboring Belgium. DW has the latest.
Hundreds of protesters were detained in a night of "rare violence," French interior minister has said. President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a crisis meeting with his cabinet amid the unrest. DW has the latest.
The French president said many of the arrested rioters were "young, or very young" and parents should take responsibility. Meanwhile, the UK issued a travel warning on France for its citizens. DW has the latest.
Leaders of the bloc also called on China to press Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine. Leaders failed to reach consensus on a statement on migration in the Brussels summit, after it was blocked by Poland and Hungary.
Rumble 08 Jul 2023

The Kremlin says that will not affect operations in Ukraine and that the compulsory recruitment of new soldiers will not be needed.
EU leaders at the Brussels summit also called on China to press Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine. But they failed to agree on a plan to distribute migrants in the bloc, after it was blocked by Poland and Hungary.
The court says the doctor violated hygiene rules, infecting 51 patients in a little over a year. The now retired physician received a two-year suspended sentence.
The Wiener Zeitung's final front page told of 116,840 days, 320 years, 12 Austrian presidents, 10 Kaisers, two republics and one newspaper. It plans to continue online and with a monthly print edition.
At a summit in Brussels, European leaders have reaffirmed their commitment to beefing up Ukraine's security. Meanwhile, there's growing speculation about the wherabouts of a top Russian general. DW has the latest.
Poland and Hungary's refusal to go along with a widely agreed EU revision of asylum rules soured a summit of the bloc's leaders that wrapped up Friday, detracting from unity on other issues including on Ukraine.

Warsaw and Budapest baulked at a summit declaration that would have enshrined the general EU agreement for member states to share out the hosting of asylum-seekers -- or pay those that do.

That forced the summit's chair, European President Charles Michel, to instead issue a statement in his own name saying that "work will be stepped up" on migration issues, but noting Poland and Hungary's dissent.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the preliminary June 8 agreement revising asylum rules that was adopted by a big majority of EU countries was a "watershed", and she expected it to be made into legislation before the end of this year

Unity on Ukraine

She, Michel and other leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, insisted that the main message from the summit was unity on Ukraine.

The EU leaders jointly endorsed reinforced support for Ukraine, and to lay the ground for a "Global Peace Summit" that would discuss post-war peace for the country "within its internationally recognised borders".

They also agreed to look at "future security commitments" for Ukraine, suggested by France.

Diplomats said they would likely take the form of bilateral guarantees, rather than ones involving the whole bloc, as Ireland and Austria maintain military neutrality.

French President Emmanuel Macron did not expound on the initiative to media, because he cut his summit presence short to return to France to address widespread rioting there triggered by the fatal police shooting of a teenager of North African origin.

The idea of imposing a "windfall tax" on interest raised from Russian central bank assets frozen under EU sanctions to go to Ukraine was also raised at the summit -- but to varied reception.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said "we are working" on the topic, which could raise three billion euros ($3.3 billion) annually for Ukraine's reconstruction.

But Scholz, concerned that such a step could harm the euro's reputation, was more cautious. He called the idea "terribly complicated" adding that "nobody knows at the moment what is possible".

Migration dispute

The dispute on migration generated the most drama at the summit, but Poland and Hungary's stance looked unlikely to derail the EU agreement to share the burden where it came to asylum-seekers.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he did not want "forced relocations" of migrants to be in the summit text -- and drew a link between the issue of migration and the violence erupting in France.

"Put these two images together: that of Paris suburbs today, with big riots, the looting of stores, broken windows, cars on fire," against "calm Polish towns.... The image that we are defending is probably obvious: Poland has chosen security, peace and public order," he said.

The EU disagreement was playing out in the shadow of a June 14 sinking of an overcrowded migrant boat off Greece in which at least 82 people drowned.

A Dutch-based rights group, Lighthouse Reports, accused Greek authorities of tampering with survivors' testimony to avoid allegations -- made by some survivors -- that the tragedy occurred because the Greek coast guard tied a rope to the vessel and powered away, causing it to capsize.

Survivors told AFP that they were pressured by Greek authorities to not speak to media, and to not attribute responsibility for the capsizing to the Greek coast guard.

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HRW said it has uncovered "additional" evidence Ukraine used banned antipersonnel mines in 2022. Meanwhile, European leaders reaffirm their commitment to beefing up Ukraine's security. Follow DW for more.
France has not ruled out a state of emergency as President Emmanuel Macron is set to hold a crisis meeting. The UN called on France to address racism in police after a killing of a teen sparked anger. DW has the latest.
HRW said it has uncovered "additional" evidence Ukraine used banned antipersonnel mines in 2022. Meanwhile European leaders reaffirm their commitment to beefing up Ukraine's security. Follow DW for more.
From the Rawanda genocide to the invasion of Ukraine, celebrated photojournalist Ron Haviv has long documented the horror of war. Today he is also working to expose the threat of AI.
The telephone conversation between the two leaders came days ahead of the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which is being hosted by India.
euronews (in English) 01 Jul 2023

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Dozens of media personalities and entities mourned the head of Al-Nahar TV network, with social media and news headlines filled with posts during the third day of Eid Al-Adha.

Abu Zaid had extensive experience directing hit TV programmes featuring popular actors such as Ghada Adel, Ahmed Helmy, Ashraf Abdel-Baki, and Riham Abdel-Ghafour, as well as star anchors like Injy Ali, Samar Yousri, and Mariam Amin.

Over two decades, he held important positions at major Egyptian channels including El-Mehwar and DMC, as well as serving as a senior producer at United Media Services, the leading Egyptian media production company.

After graduating from the High Cinema Institute in 1988, Abu Zaid collaborated with notable Directors of Photography (DOPs) such as Tarek El-Telmissany, Mohsen Ahmed, and Samir Farag before directing numerous advertisements.

The Egyptian Cinema Syndicate and Censorship Authority were among the cultural organizations mourning Abu Zaid, offering condolences to his family and friends.

Several actors, including Amir Karara, Salah Abdulla, Riham Abdel Ghafour, and Tamer Farag, were among those expressing their condolences for Abu Zaid's passing.

Abu Zaid's final words on social media were, "Time will make you realize who God protected you and blessed you with what you needed. Alhamdulillah," were widely shared in news and social media posts.

His funeral was held on Friday at a mosque in El-Tagammo El-Khames (Fifth Settlement), with media personalities such as anchors Amr Ellissy and Mofida Shiha, as well as film director Moataz El Tony, in attendance.

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Kochi: The owner of an educational consultancy has been arrested for providing a fake degree certificate to former SFI leader Nikhil Thomas.



Saju Sasidaran, the owner of Orion, has been named the third accused in the sensational case which embarrassed the students organisation and its parent outfit, the CPM.

Along with the forged degree certificate, Nikhil had also bought counterfeit mark lists, migration certificate and transfer certificate. These were submitted to the MSM College, Kayamkulam, for obtaining post-graduate admission.

Abin C Raj, the second accused in the case, was paid Rs 2 lakh by Nikhil in order to procure the forged documents. The former took Orion's services for the deal.

Abin had revealed that he had contacted the Orion via an agent he had met at the entrance of a college in Thiruvananthapuram.

Police hope to expose more similar forgery by interrogating Saju. There are 15 cases pending in Kochi against Saju.

The Ernakulam North police had earlier arrested him in a major overseas job fraud. He allegedly swindled Rs 1 lakh each from 40 people after promising jobs in Malta.

In Kochi city, Orion has offices at Palarivattom, Kaloor, and Thrikkakara. The probe team has seized digital records, including computers and hard disks, from Orion office in Kaloor.

The digital records have to be examined to confirm whether the fake certificate was fabricated at the Orion office itself. This can be confirmed only after checking the records seized by the Kochi city police and submitted in court.
Putting many centuries of pain and bitterness aside, Hiroshima and Pearl Harbour are all set to be 'sisters' from now on. The two symbols of animosity between Japan and the United States in World War II are now promoting peace and friendship through a sister park arrangement.

US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui signed a sister park agreement on Thursday for Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park and the Pearl Harbour National Memorial of Hawaii.

Nobody can go to Pearl Harbour, and nobody can go to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and enter the front door, walk out the exit door and be the same person, Emanuel said at the signing ceremony at the American Embassy in Tokyo.

I think the hope here is that we inspire people from all over the United States and all over Japan to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial and to visit Pearl Harbour so they can learn the spirit of reconciliation, Emanuel said.

Under the sister park arrangement, the two parks will promote exchanges and share experiences in restoring historic structures and landscapes, the use of virtual reality and digital images for preservation and education, and best practices in youth education and tourism management, the embassy said.

The sister arrangement between the two parks related to the beginning and end of the war will be a proof that mankind, despite making the mistake of waging a war, can come to senses and reconciliate and pursue peace, Matsui said.

Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 propelled America into World War II. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing about 140,000 people, and a second one on Nagasaki three days later, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered on August 15, ending a nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.

Since the war, the two countries have built a powerful alliance. In Hiroshima, some atomic bombing survivors raised concern about the sister park arrangement, saying it could help justify the use of nuclear weapons and should be reconsidered.

I understand anguish and angst is an emotion but I don't think you should be trapped by that, Emanuel said. He said reconciliation between the United States and Japan is the example of what I think this world desperately needs right now.

Emanuel said Pearl Harbour is a revered place in the American psyche, while Hiroshima is an equally revered place in the Japanese psyche, which is why you want to build a sister park agreement to learn from each other".

The two parks became places of reconciliation when then-President Barack Obama paid tribute to atom bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Park as the first serving American leader to visit in May 2016, and then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in return, visited Pearl Harbour in December that year.

Those were key steps in deepening the alliance between our two nations, Obama said in a statement congratulating Thursday's sister park signing and calling it another historic accomplishment".

By connecting our two peoples to our shared past, we can build a shared future grounded in peace and cooperation, he said.

The sister park arrangement is the second between the US and Japan, following one signed in 2016 between Gettysburg National Military Park and Gifu Sekigahara Battlefield Memorial Museum.

(With PTI inputs)


Book Cover of Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty Four

(Image by Michael Kennar (creator)) Details DMCA



Misinformation

During World War II, George Orwell worked at the British Ministry of Information, which became the model for the fictional Ministry of Truth in his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. When writing the novel, Orwell had the Soviet Union in mind, but he drew on his experience at the British Ministry of Information to write his book. Orwell worked for the BBC from 1941 to 1943, broadcasting propaganda talks to India, and his wife worked in the Ministry's censorship division.1 In the novel, The Ministry of Truth's motto was, 'Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.' We always heard the BBC was reliable, but that was part of the propaganda effort.

The justification was the alternative, Nazi Germany and later the Soviet Union, which were authoritarian countries with their own propaganda and misinformation. But if you were a fascist or a communist, you would see it differently. During the Cold War, the BBC cooperated with the government to promote moderate social democratic views within the Labour Party and discredit the radical left, for instance, by fostering anti-communist sentiments. These efforts included planting unattributable propaganda.2 The BBC is part of the mainstream media. The current liberal order in the West increasingly faces challenges from illiberal forces, so more and more people question the reliability of the mainstream media as they favour the views and priorities of the elites of the current order and do not always tell the truth.

Recently, the BBC introduced BBC Verify, a team of reporters dedicated to countering the growing threat of disinformation. With the introduction of the Internet and later social media, fake news and conspiracy theories spread faster. Social media corporations have employed artificial intelligence algorithms to increase user engagement to generate advertisement income. These algorithms soon discovered that pushing our emotional buttons by spreading sensational conspiracy theories works better than appealing to our reason with mundane explanations of the facts. Since then, social media corporations tried to manage what happened on their platforms. And that is hard to do as you need your own Ministry of Truth, which can result in politically motivated censorship and accusations thereof.

The Twitter Files and the controversies they raised provide insight into the complicated nature of content moderating. For instance, moderators first suppressed the New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop, revealing he used his father's position for personal gain. Moderators believed it was misinformation because fifty intelligence officials claimed it had all the earmarks of a Russian intelligence operation. One might suspect that because the story ran a few weeks before the elections. The story proved to be true. And so, you might suspect these officials used their intelligence credentials for a political agenda. But you cannot trust conservative media either. Fox News allowed talk-show hosts to peddle right-wing conspiracy theories in prime time. It is therefore not surprising that many people do not trust the media and the government. Donald Trump made use of it. After he lost the election, he made baseless allegations about election fraud, causing some of his followers to attack the Capitol to prevent the election from being certified. Several polls in 2021 and 2022 indicated that about 70% of Republicans thought Joe Biden was not the legitimate winner of the 2020 election.3

There have been issues with the integrity of US presidential elections in the past, for instance, in 1960 and 2000. Still, Trump's claim was false and damaging to the existing political order. It demonstrates the severity of the threat of misinformation. If you think the election result is illegitimate, you may think you have the right to revolt and use violence. That is what the Trump supporters storming the Capitol did. Trump and social media are not the primary cause of the distrust. They only amplified it. Problems were already brewing in US society and the political system, for instance, wealth inequality, corruption and dirty politics because elections are win-lose races, racial tensions, neoliberalism undermining the belief in society and the common good, and a growing divide between liberals and conservatives. Misinformation can undermine trust in society and the political system, but so can the truth. There always are things the elites do not want us to know. The Internet changed how we access information, so the elites need to go to greater lengths to keep us believing their narrative. So, can we trust the mainstream media like BBC? Probably not always, but if the alternative is peddling fake news we will not be better off. That is not a satisfactory conclusion if you prefer truthful, factual reporting, high-quality investigative journalism, reasoned debates, and rational decision-making. But can we handle the truth? After all, we need stories to believe in.

Truth in danger

When journalists report the truth, they are not safe from prosecution, as the ongoing saga of Julian Assange demonstrates. In 2006, he founded Wikileaks which published a wide variety of documents obtained by hackers, for instance, diplomatic cables from the United States and Saudi Arabia, emails from the governments of Syria and Turkey, and documents about police killings in Kenya. WikiLeaks published about US military operations and surveillance by the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and private corporations. Assange also obtained Democratic Party emails from the Russian secret service indicating Democratic party bosses preferred Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders and had tried to undermine Sanders's presidential campaign. Assange did not deny that the murdered Democratic staffer Seth Rich was the source when asked by saying he never reveals his sources, fueling speculation by right-wing conspiracy theorists in the United States that people inside the Democratic Party had murdered Seth.

Assange faces trial in the United States for espionage by publishing classified information about US military operations abroad, charges that could result in a 175-year prison sentence. In 2012, he fled to the Ecuadorian embassy and applied for political asylum in Ecuador. On 16 August 2012, the Ecuadorian foreign minister announced Ecuador granted Assange political asylum because of the threat represented by the United States' investigation against him. The stated reason was that as a consequence of Assange's determined defence of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, a situation may come where his life, safety or personal integrity will be in danger. The Ecuadorian President confirmed Assange could stay at the embassy indefinitely. But in April 2019, Ecuador revoked Assange's asylum, and the Ecuadorian Ambassador to the UK invited the British police to enter the embassy and apprehend Assange. He faces extradition to the United States.

On 1 November 2019, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, sounded the alarm on Assange's health, saying Assange showed all the symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture. Melzer added, 'While the US Government prosecutes Mr Assange for publishing information about serious human rights violations, including torture and murder, the officials responsible for these crimes continue to enjoy impunity.'4 In 2022, several global media organisations have urged the US to end its prosecution of Assange as it threatens free expression and freedom of the press.5

Coming clean about the past

While the West tries to come clean about its colonial past and slavery, it has yet to face the truth about what happened after World War II. Under the guise of bringing human rights and democracy, the United States and its allies committed atrocities and destabilised countries by supporting insurgencies. The total death toll of the conflicts in which the West intervened could be 10,000,000 or more. Apart from that, these conflicts destroyed millions of lives and the infrastructures of several countries. And even though the West was not directly responsible for all these deaths, and other parties share part of the blame, the interventions of the West caused many of these conflicts or lengthened them.

Western leaders used propaganda techniques like false flags or inventing stories about weapons of mass destruction and spreading them via the media. For centuries, leaders used these methods to move the public and motivate them to go to war. The leaders of the West made unprovoked aggression look like wars of liberation or blockades that starved civilians appear as humane efforts to pressure abusive governments with sanctions. The former US Ambassador to the United Nations, Madeleine Albright, once said that sanctions on Iraq were worth the deaths of half a million Iraqi children, which was their estimated death toll. It was a rare instance of candidness reflecting the thinking of those in power. It is in our nature not to care much about people we do not know, for instance, immigrants drowning in the sea. And so, we allow our leaders to do these things.

The list of Western interventions since World War II is long. Many are nefarious or at least questionable, for instance, the overthrow of the Chilean government in 1973, the selling of arms to Iran to fund an insurgency in Nicaragua between 1981 and 1986, and the toppling of Khadaffi in 2011. Only dictators that opposed the West faced regime change. The two most sinister acts perpetrated by the West since World War II probably are:

Starting the Vietnam War after falsely claiming the North Vietnamese navy attacked US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. The estimated death toll of the Vietnam War is 2,500,000. And the use of agent orange led to the birth of children with defects.

Invading Iraq using a fabricated claim of weapons of mass destruction. Estimates of the death toll in Iraq range from 150,000 to 450,000. The US forces used depleted uranium in this war, which can lead to cancer and birth defects.

To use Samuel Huntington's words, 'The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion, but rather by its superiority in applying organised violence.' This rule applied throughout history, so any future hegemon likely will do the same. Vladimir Putin is willing to kill hundreds of thousands of Russians in his Ukraine War. But he does not have to deal with public opinion as much as Western leaders, so Russian propaganda is not as sophisticated as Western propaganda. And it would be naive to think China will do better once it becomes the hegemon. China is building an impressive military and intimidates its neighbours. Chinese leaders may think they have time on their side and not start a war now, but that may change. And the Chinese Communist Party controls what the Chinese hear and see on the news.

We need a new story

Every social order needs a story. Without one, we do not have order but chaos. That is because of human nature. We can lie and cheat if we believe we benefit from it. Some do it more than others, but hardly anyone is entirely sincere. And we cooperate using shared imaginations, for instance, religions and ideologies. We believe our stories and not those of others. Enemies try to undermine our society by telling their truths, exposing our lies, and spreading misinformation. Revolution and civil war usually are worse than dealing with the omissions and falshoods in the stories that hold the existing social order together. But not always. That is why revolutions do happen but are rare. There is a Christian story, an Islamic story, a socialist story, a story about slavery and the civil rights movement, the story of indigenous peoples, a Chinese story, and a liberal story of individual freedom that centres around the Magna Carta, the European enlightenment, the Glorious Revolution, the American and French revolutions, universal suffrage, and overcoming fascism in World War II where D-Day and not Stalingrad features as the hallmark event. And children in the West learned it at school. It is a skewed version of history to explain why the liberal order is the best. And most people in the West believed it because every order needs a story.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union threatened the liberal order, and it was a significant threat, so the elites considered communists and socialists dangerous. In the United States, it led to McCarthyism, with accusations of disloyalty or subversion without evidence and using criminal investigations to suppress opposition. In the Netherlands, the intelligence services spied on journalists and planted anti-communist stories in the newspapers.6 But our stories are falling apart, including the liberal one. Magna Carta and the Glorious Revolution mean nothing to Indians or Africans who look at a colonial past of oppression and exploitation. And other peoples show little interest in the great history of China or the stories of indigenous peoples. Most people are hardly interested in their own history, let alone the history of others. If the liberal order fades and a quasi-fascist one replaces it, which seems plausible, the media will not become more reliable. That has already happened in several places, for instance, in Hungary, where the president and his cronies control the press. So whatever order there is, deviant views are not appreciated, and if the elites feel threatened, they could grow increasingly authoritarian and the media less reliable. Indeed, the condition for a free press and truthful media could be an unchallenged social order. But that requires a new and powerful story that eclipses all the others.

Featured image: original book cover of Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty Four (public domain).

1. Orwell, 1984 and the Ministry of Information. Dr Marc Patrick Wiggam. School of Advanced Study, University of London (2017).

2. The original 'fake news'? The BBC and the Information Research Department. Morningstar.

3. Most Republicans still falsely believe Trump's stolen election claims. Here are some reasons why. Poynter (2022).

4. UN expert on torture sounds alarm again that Julian Assange's life may be at risk. United Nations (2019).

5. Top media outlets demand US end prosecution of Julian Assange. Al Jazeera (2022).

6. Bij 'verdachte journalisten' werd door geheime dienst BVD een kanttekening geplaatst: 'Heftige linkse sympathieen'. NRC (2023).
After Fred Meyer leaders saw record high levels of theft at their Portland stores this past year, they asked the city for help.

That request led to a partnership that the city and retailers leaders hope will crack down on retail crime and increase safety at its stores.
Federal authorities are still seeking information about the boater captured on video repeatedly aiming a fishing vessel toward large groups of sea lions in the Columbia River in April.

Michael Milstein, public affairs officer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said there was no progress to report as of yet in the case, which shocked onlookers because of the brazen targeting of the protected sea lions.

We hope that the public can help by sharing the Reward poster as widely as possible, Milstein said. The agency is offering up to $20,000 for information.

Sea lion populations have increased, leading to tensions between the protected mammals and people who fish for salmon or steelhead. There are legal, nonlethal ways to deter the animals from damaging gear or stealing a catch but only while actively fishing.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimated that sea lions have in the past consumed up to 44% of the Columbia River spring chinook run and 25% of the Willamette winter steelhead run each year.

NOAA Fisheries is asking anyone with information about the boat to call its law enforcement hotline at 800-853-1964 or to submit the information through its website for reporting violations.
In a legislative session that had its fair share of fireworks, one topic was perhaps the most polarizing for Oregonians: self-serve gas.

Lawmakers repealed a 72-year-old ban on self-serve gas, and will soon allow drivers throughout the state to fill up their own gas tanks, instead of waiting for an attendant. Some residents cheered the chance to skip waiting in line, while others argued that Oregon should hang on to the decades-old ban.

Regardless of how you feel, heres what you can expect when it goes into effect:

The law takes effect as soon as the governor signs it  but she hasnt yet

Gov. Tina Kotek has 30 days from the end of the legislative session to review and sign all the bills that passed. On Wednesday, she said she hasnt ruled out vetoing anything. She said she wants to hear from Oregonians about their thoughts on the new law, noting that she herself grew up in a state with self-serve gas (Pennsylvania). Oregonians can comment on Koteks website.

Attendants will still staff some gas pumps

Those who cant pump their own gas  or dont want to  can still get help from an attendant. The law requires that gas stations staff at least half of their open pumps for people who want or need assistance, such as elderly drivers or people with disabilities.

Prices will be the same at staffed and self-serve pumps

Drivers who pump their own gas wont see a difference on their receipts. Gas stations are prohibited from charging different prices at self-service and attended pumps.

Smoking or vaping at the pump is still a bad idea

As Oregonians get used to pumping their own gas, its a good idea to remember that smoking or vaping while refueling is dangerous. Gasoline is flammable, and vapors from the gas can combust if they come into contact with flammable objects such as a cigarette or any kind of spark. Many stations have their own rules banning smoking at the pump.

The push for self-serve gas goes back a few years

Oregon has heard the call for self-serve gas before. In 2021, two statewide polls showed that more than 60% of Oregonians were in favor of having the option to pump their own gas. And in the 2022 short session, lawmakers introduced a similar bill that died before reaching a vote. Fuel companies have long pushed for the change, saying its getting harder to staff fuel pumps. Earlier this year, the Northwest Grocery association argued that the bill wont eliminate jobs, because many stations already have gas pumps closed due to lack of staffing.

Patchwork of regulations simplified

If youve driven through a rural Oregon county since 2015, you may have already pumped your own gas. In 2015, the state legalized self-serve gas at night in some rural and coastal counties. It expanded that rule to all rural counties in 2017, and temporarily permitted self-serve gas in Oregon every summer since 2020, due to wildfires and heat waves. The new law would simplify all those rules, legalizing self-serve fuel everywhere in Oregon.

Jayati Ramakrishnan; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com
Portland police are asking for the publics help in finding a 40-year-old man suspected of attacking another man this month outside a food cart pod in Southeast Portlands Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood.

Portland detectives are investigating the June 15 attack as a bias crime, police said, and investigators on Thursday named Daniel Thomas Warren as the suspect.

Efforts so far to find and arrest Warren have not been successful, police said.

Investigators are asking anyone who sees Warren to not approach him and instead call 911, and for anyone with information about Warrens whereabouts to email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov.

Darell Preston, 36, was standing on the sidewalk next to his food truck, LoRells Chicken Shack, about 7 p.m. in the 3800 block of Southeast 52nd Avenue, when a white man attacked him without warning while calling him racist slurs, according to Prestons attorney, Alicia LeDuc Montgomery. Preston is Black.

Prestons wife drove him to a hospital where he was treated for severe facial injuries, including bone fractures and lacerations, LeDuc Montgomery said.

Photos of Prestons face immediately after the attack show one of his eyes leaking blood and completely swollen shut, and the other eye swollen and partially filled with blood.

Preston is still recovering from his injuries and has not yet returned to work, LeDuc Montgomery said Thursday. He and his family are cooperating with the Portland Police Bureau and the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office to bring the attacker to justice, she said.

The (Preston) family deeply appreciates anyone who can come forward with information, LeDuc Montgomery said.

Portland police are seeking this man, identified as Daniel Thomas Warren, 40, in the attack June 15 on a Southeast Portland food cart operator.

Warren has a criminal record in Oregon stretching back to 2003, with convictions for domestic violence strangulation, assault and burglary, court records show.

Lincoln County sheriffs deputies most recently arrested Warren Dec. 11 in Yachats after his girlfriend told police he had punched her in the face up to five times and bit her arm. Warren was sentenced Feb. 2 to 180 days in Lincoln County Jail with credit for time served after pleading guilty to a charge of fourth-degree assault constituting domestic violence, according to court records.

Warren wrote in a May 24 letter to Lincoln County Circuit Judge Sheryl Bachart that he had been working on anger management and sobriety while in jail, court records show.

Warren is suspected of attacking Preston less than a month later.

A video of the June 15 assault taken across the street from the food truck appears to show a bald white man punching and kicking a man identified by LeDuc Montgomery as Preston who is crumpled on the sidewalk. The man on the sidewalk appears to struggle to sit up, only to be beaten back down, according to the video, which was reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Passing cars can be heard honking and one driver yells at the attacker to stop, according to the video. The attacker appears to stop beating the man and walks away from the scene with his hands in his pockets.

Detectives started investigating the attack as a bias crime after speaking to Prestons family on June 18, three days after the attack, police said.

LeDuc Montgomery sent a letter to the City of Portland and the Multnomah County district attorney on Monday notifying them that she was investigating the attack, along with the timeliness and sufficiency of the governments response, according to a copy of a letter reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Officers responded the night of the attack but initially thought they were looking for a pedestrian struck by a car. When they arrived, firefighters who had already arrived told them there had been an assault and that both the attacker and victim had left the area, said police spokesperson Sgt. Kevin Allen.

When officers found Preston at his food truck, he gave them a general description of his attacker. They asked him more details about the assault but he refused to say more, Allen said.

Officers offered to summon paramedics, but Preston declined, according to the Police Bureau.

LeDuc Montgomery said this week her client was too terrified and wounded to talk to officers. He could hardly speak because his face had been so badly beaten in, she said.

A GoFundMe for Prestons family had raised over $63,000 by Thursday afternoon.

 Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_

Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe.
The suspect in an adult-shop murder had been boxed in by police when the man fired two quick shots, one striking the windshield of an occupied Portland police patrol car, the Clackamas County District Attorneys Office said in a new report on the shooting.

Clackamas County sheriffs Deputy David Sloboda and Portland police Officers Nick Wombold and Brian Wheeler returned fire and fatally shot Jack J. Watson on April 24, according to the report released Wednesday.
Reassembling the political alliance of 30 June is high on the agenda of the national dialogue that opened in Cairo on Tuesday.

Egypts pro-government and opposition figures and parties are holding talks on the nations top political and economic concerns. The national dialogue, promised by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi fewer than three months ago, held its opening session on Tuesday against a background of hopes, scepticism, and anticipation.

This was the first such meeting since 2016 when President Al-Sisi met with the countrys intellectuals and political figures to discuss priorities, including certain liberties over which critics were expressing concerns and plans for the economic reform agenda being launched at the time.

The national dialogues 19-member Board of Trustees met to review the details and timetable of a series of meetings that will be held after Eid Al-Adha holidays. In a press conference held on the launch of the first meeting, Press Syndicate chairman and coordinator of the dialogue Diaa Rashwan said that Tuesdays meeting of the board finalised the details of the working group and the agenda.

He said that the public would be kept informed of the progress of the dialogue in a transparent manner. At the end of the dialogue debates, he added, recommendations would be referred to the president, the House of Representatives, the lower house of Egypts parliament, and the government so they could be implemented.

If the recommendations require legislative amendments, they will be passed to the House, and if they require executive steps, they will be referred to the president and the government, Rashwan noted.

He stated that the dialogue will be held in a number of stages, with the recommendations reached at the end of each stage being referred to the president. This will give people the sense that something concrete is being achieved.

The call and preparations for the national dialogue have been associated with wide debate about its objectives and potential participants. Officials have said on record that the dialogue is designed to pave the way for the new republic that President Al-Sisi has promised. Earlier this week, Al-Sisi said that those who were in office during the massive demonstrations of the 30 June Revolution would not be invited to the dialogue.

Al-Sisi said that on 3 July 2013 he had proposed to the then ruling regime that it should listen to the demands of the protesters calling for early presidential elections. However, the office-holders of the time had refused to take part in any political dialogue.

One faction will not be invited to the present dialogue because it preferred the language of terrorism to the language of dialogue, Al-Sisi said, adding that since you chose violence and the hijacking of the country to serve your own interests, it would be meaningless to hold a dialogue with you.

At the start of the dialogue on Tuesday, Rashwan said that today we are opening a new stage in Egypts republican system, with no faction excluded from the dialogue, except those who resort to, incite, or participate in violence and those who refuse to recognise the legitimacy of the state and the 2014 constitution, even as we are aiming to create a strong state with a functioning constitution.

In a press conference on the same day, Rashwan told reporters that the organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood is not invited to the national dialogue.

Those who oppose the constitution and the legitimacy of the regime are effectively calling for a coup and cannot be included in the dialogue, he said.

Rashwan added that the main job of the national dialogue is to resurrect the spirit of the 30 June alliance. It should not only give room to all forces to voice their opinions on Egypts political, economic, security, and cultural conditions, but also help to provide answers to some pressing problems.

He pointed out that the objective of the dialogue is to create common ground among all the political forces in order to reach a unified agenda on reform.

The Egyptian people have high hopes that this dialogue will help to achieve many of their aspirations and goals, he added.

Dialogue secretary-general Mahmoud Fawzi said that more than 400 invitations had been extended to political parties, syndicates, unions, and public figures, while delegations from more than 25 political parties had visited the National Training Academy (NTA) where the dialogue is being held to present their proposals on the agenda.

Proposals submitted online number 69,532, in addition to the 15,000 received in print. We have also received more than 793 text messages and 435 WhatsApp messages from all the governorates, with Cairo at their head. This reflects the very positive response to the dialogue, Fawzi said.

We were keen to make sure that all factions were represented in the dialogue, but in particular the invitations targeted civil-society organisations, the political and intellectual elite, journalists, media people, MPs and senators, businessmen, human rights organisations, representatives of Al-Azhar and the Coptic Church, opposition figures, research centres, and universities.

The dialogues secretariat-general has been divided into four teams, with each responsible for organising and coordinating the meetings of the national dialogue, he added.

Fawzi said that calls for political reform had come out on top of the proposals submitted to the dialogues secretariat-general. Most want the laws regulating the political parties and elections to be reformed, he said, adding that other key proposals focus on human rights, local councils, and legislative reform.

Abdel-Azim Hammad, a member of the Civilian Movement, a loose political alliance of opposition figures and parties, said the movement wanted all those detained for political reasons to be released, adding that this would help it to participate in the dialogue.

Gouda Abdel-Khalek, a former minister of social solidarity and a leading figure in the left-wing Tagammu Party, said that political reforms should top the agenda of the dialogue.

It is high time that Egypt exited from political stagnation, he said.

Negad Al-Borai, a human rights activist, stressed that the dialogue should focus on political issues and should not be allowed to go into minor everyday problems, as this could cause us to become bogged down.

Prominent writer Mohamed Salmawy said that the fact that an overwhelming number of Egyptians gave a positive response to the dialogue gives it the required legitimacy, not to mention the fact that the call for the dialogue was made by the legitimately elected president.

Salmawy said that the 2014 constitution should be the main reference for the dialogue, as each article speaks the language of a modern, civil, and democratic state standing up against all forms of violence.

Amr Hashem Rabie, a senior researcher at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, said there should be a time limit on the dialogue. We want a dialogue that lasts for no more than two months and not for six months, Rabie said, adding that it is clear that political reforms are those that will lead to reforms in other sectors, and these are what we should focus on.

Rashwan said at the press conference that he is hopeful that the dialogue will lead to greater freedom of the press and presidential pardons leading to the release of imprisoned activists.

Following his original call for the national dialogue, President Al-Sisi signed presidential pardons for several activists. At the same time, the prosecution released over 100 held in pre-trial detention.

The next session of the dialogue is scheduled for 19 July.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 7 July, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Oregon State Universitys Food Innovation Center is looking for candidates to taste test new hard cider offerings in downtown Portland next month.

The OSU Food Innovation Center works with clients to bring food products to market and [advance] Northwest foods, according to its website.

The taste tests will take place Wednesday, July 19, and Thursday, July 20, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. in downtown Portland.

Sessions are 1 hour and the incentive is $50, the OSU Portland Sensory Lab said in a Facebook post, promoting the tasting sessions.

Hey Portlanders! Apply TODAY for our upcoming PAID beverage taste test that is happening at the Food Innovation Center... Posted by OSU Portland Sensory Lab on Monday, June 26, 2023

To participate, you must by 21 or older. Interested? Apply here.

READ MORE:

-- Julie Evensen

jevensen@oregonian.com

https://twitter.com/juliecevensen

@juliecevensen.bsky.social
The charges on a credit card issued by a rural fire district just north of Portland had no apparent connection to firefighting.

Bank statements showed $40 spent at Scandalous Hair Design in downtown St. Helens, then $90 at another beauty salon in Scappoose. By the end of the day, charges totaled $265 for what appear to be makeovers to honor a group of senior volunteers and $45 more on groceries and pizza.
Three Portland children under 4 overdosed within 10 days of each other after coming in contact with fentanyl in their homes, the Portland Police Bureau said Thursday.

Police officials said a 3-year-old and two 1-year-olds overdosed in June after they were exposed to fentanyl left unsecured in their homes. Capt. Jake Jensen of the bureaus Specialized Resources Division, which includes the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit, said the string of overdoses in young children is unprecedented in the citys recent history.

Jensen would not characterize the current condition of any of the three children, or even confirm that all three were alive, citing open investigations. The overdoses are not believed to be connected, he said.

The most common forms of fentanyl we see are pills and powder, Jensen said. Often these pills and powder are brightly colored, which means they can easily be mistaken for candy and accidentally eaten by a young child. Because childrens bodies are smaller than adults, even the tiniest amount of residue can kill.

Jensen said these three cases are part of a troubling rise in overdoses across age groups. Portland has recorded 137 fatal overdoses in the first half of 2023, well on pace to surpass last years 155 total known fatal overdoses, he said. Three of the deaths this year occurred on the day police responded to 11 suspected overdose calls in the city.

According to a 2022 analysis by the Oregon Health Authority, drug-overdose deaths nearly tripled statewide between 2019 and 2021, with officials attributing the increase to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid estimated to be 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The ingestion of just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can prove fatal to adults.

Oregons voter-approved Measure 110, which in 2021 removed criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of fentanyl and other street drugs, including methamphetamine and heroin, has made it difficult to combat the rise of overdoses, Jensen said.

Decriminalizing small quantities of drugs has made it harder for us in our investigations, to get warrants to get into drug networks, Jensen said. Its also made it hard for us to force people into drug treatment because a big part of the drug sentences for possession was being required to be on probation and go into treatment.

Jensen is not alone with those concerns. A report from Portland State University published earlier this month  part of a multi-year study  said law enforcement officers in Oregon see Measure 110 as ineffective and harmful to public safety.

But Jensen said hes hopeful that a bill passed last week by the Oregon Legislature thats aimed at cracking down on some fentanyl use will make a difference.

House Bill 2645 makes having more than 1 gram and less than 5 grams of a substance with fentanyl a misdemeanor, and it also allows prosecutors to charge people based on how many fentanyl pills theyre accused of possessing  not just how much the pills weigh. When the bill goes into effect upon the governors signature, having between five and 24 pills will be a misdemeanor crime.

As a police officer, the legislature and the city council hand me the laws and its my job to work with the stuff that weve been given to provide public safety, Jensen said.

Having less than 1 gram of a substance with fentanyl or fewer than five pills is still a non-criminal violation subject to a $100 fine under Measure 110.

 Nick Gibson; ngibson@oregonian.com; 971-393-8259; @newsynicholas

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A 22-year-old man died inside his cell at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem Thursday night.

Prison staff performed CPR on Grayson Painter until paramedics arrived. Painter died at 7:30 p.m. inside his cell, said Betty Bernt, an Oregon Department of Corrections spokesperson.

The Oregon State Polices Medical Examiner will determine Painters cause of death, Bernt said.

Painter was arrested in May; a Hillsboro police officer said he appeared to be under the influence of methamphetamine when officers attempted to arrest him on a warrant May 9, according to court records.

Painter was sentenced May 23 to two years in prison in Washington County Circuit Court for a charge of assaulting a public-safety officer.

Painter is the second young person to die in Oregon custody in recent weeks.

Donovan Anthony Wood, 26, died May 2 at Multnomah Countys Inverness Jail after being found unresponsive in his cell at the Northeast Portland facility.

The Multnomah County Medical Examiners Office is investigating and will determine Woods cause of death. A toxicology test was ordered that could take up to eight months to complete, according to Multnomah County Sheriffs Office spokesperson Chris Liedle.

Wood was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on Dec. 20 after allegedly attacking a man with a pick ax, trying to slit his own throat and setting a fire at his sisters Northwest Portland home.

Woods sister told police that she suspected her brother had used meth, according to a probable cause affidavit.

-- Catalina Gaitan, cgaitan@oregonian.com, @catalingaitan_

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The state is working to recoup tens of thousands of dollars in retirement benefits and employer contributions to the state pension plan stemming from the Columbia River Fire & Rescue districts improper classification of eight former employees as firefighters, according to the state retirement agency and an audit.

The eight either worked in administrative jobs or as mechanics for the fire district but didnt get paid to fight fires, making them ineligible for the more lucrative pension payments under the fire retirement system, the forensic audit found.
Travel website Trips to Discover ranked the most beautiful landmarks in the United States.

Both Haystack Rock on the Oregon coast and Crater Lake in southern Oregon made the list.

Beachgoers are able to explore tide pools and watch puffins nest in the rocks at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach during summer low tides.Mark Graves/The Oregonian

Trips to Discover called Cannon Beach, where Haystack Rock sits, a breathtaking stretch of Oregon coastline. The ranking suggests that visitors should be sure to check out the tide pools near Haystack Rock at low tide.

The Oregon coast will see extremely low tides several times this summer. The next one will be July 31 to Aug. 3.

Haystack Rock is almost famous for its iconic appearance in the beloved film The Goonies.

This isnt the first time that Trips to Discover has shown Cannon Beach some love. Earlier this year, the travel website ranked three Cannon Beach hotels among the nations top resorts.

FILE - In this January 2006 file photo, the sun rises over Crater Lake, Ore. Mark Adamus/AP

Crater Lake National Park is one of the most recognizable sites in Oregon. Trips to Discover recommends that visitors take a boat tour of the lake to check out the craters island.

Crater Lake will be one of the best places in the country to view this Octobers annular solar eclipse. Nearby Klamath Falls will host Eclipse Fest 2023, with live music and activities running the weekend of the eclipse, Oct. 13-16.
Paducah, KY (42003)

Today

Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy early, becoming mostly clear after midnight. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.
As increasing numbers of Korean expatriates returned to home for medical treatment, the resulting burden on the National Health Insurance Corporation over the last five years mounted to W41.2 billion (US$1=W1,190). Under the current system, Koreans living overseas can get health insurance benefits so long as they pay the monthly fee, which is normally around W 60,000. This is seen by some as a free ride.

According to a report submitted by the NHIC to Grand National Party lawmaker Son Sook-mee on Monday, the number of Koreans living overseas who registered with the national health insurance after arriving in Korea doubled from some 9,600 in 2003 to 19,600 last year. The number of cases of medical treatment more than tripled in the same period from 110,000 to 350,000. The cost quadrupled from W3.7 billion in 2003 to W14 billion.

While the NHIC bore average medical costs of W12.53 million per person among the top 100 who received the most expensive medical treatment in 2005, the figure jumped to W21.2 million in 2007. Among patients, 82 percent returned from advanced countries such as Canada, Japan and the United States, where medical costs are higher than in Korea.

"When 25 percent of the registered members of the national health insurance, or 2.06 million households, are not benefiting from the insurance because they are unable to pay for it, a system that allows excessive benefits to Koreans living overseas must be amended," Son said.
Rabat, Morocco (PANA) - Congo are keen on finishing their Under-23 AFCON campaign on a high note when they take on hosts Morocco in their final Group A match on Friday
Photo: (Photo : Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)

The Supreme Court ends affirmative action in higher education.

The Supreme Court has delivered a significant blow to affirmative action in higher education by ruling that the race-conscious admission policies of Harvard College and the University of North Carolina (UNC) violate the Constitution.

This decision brings an end to the practice of considering race in college admissions, with far-reaching implications for campuses across the nation.

Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action in Higher Education

In a highly anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court declared that the affirmative action policies employed by Harvard College and UNC are unconstitutional.

According to NBC News, the court's decision, delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts, states that these admission programs fail to meet the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause and utilize race in a manner that perpetuates negative racial stereotypes.

The majority opinion, supported by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, highlights the lack of focused and measurable objectives in these programs and emphasizes the need to evaluate students as individuals rather than based on their race.

The Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action in college admissions is expected to have a profound impact on higher education institutions across the country.

More than 40% of universities and 60% of selective schools currently consider race to some degree in their admissions decisions, according to filings from Harvard.

The decision to end race-conscious admissions programs raises concerns about the potential decline in the representation of Black and Hispanic students, particularly at elite institutions.

The court's decision effectively overturns its previous precedent established in the 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger, which allowed schools to consider race in admissions decisions.

Justice Thomas, in his concurring opinion, stated that the 2003 decision is essentially overruled.

According to Politico, this shift in the court's stance has been met with criticism from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who accused the conservative majority of overruling decades of precedent.

The two cases brought before the Supreme Court involved Harvard, the nation's oldest private institution, and UNC, the oldest public university.

Students for Fair Admissions, an organization founded by conservative activist Ed Blum, initiated both lawsuits in November 2014.

The group claimed that Harvard's admission policies discriminated against Asian-American applicants by assigning them lower ratings on personality traits and restricting their numbers.

In the UNC case, the organization argued that the university overlooked race-neutral alternatives to achieve diversity among its student body, thus violating the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Read Also: Chicago Grapples with World's Worst Air Quality as Canadian Wildfire Smoke Engulfs City

Reactions and Future Considerations

While the Supreme Court's ruling marks a significant shift in the landscape of college admissions, universities have reiterated their commitment to diversity and inclusion.

According to CNN, Harvard, in a message to its community, expressed its dedication to preserving essential values and determining a path forward that aligns with the new precedent set by the Court.

UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz stated that the university would comply with the ruling while continuing to prioritize bringing together students from diverse backgrounds.

The decision of the Supreme Court may lead to a reevaluation of admissions policies across the nation, with institutions seeking race-neutral alternatives to promote diversity.

Proponents of affirmative action argue that considering race as part of a holistic evaluation is crucial for increasing diversity and ensuring equal access to educational opportunities for underrepresented groups.

As colleges and universities navigate the aftermath of this landmark ruling, discussions about diversity, equality, and the role of race in college admissions are expected to continue, shaping the future of higher education in the United States.

Related Article: Hyundai, Kia's Increasing Theft Cases Nationwide Doesn't Meet Criteria for Recall
Photo: (Photo : Saul Martinez/Getty Images)

In a highly emotional trial, a Florida jury has acquitted Scot Peterson, a former school security officer, of charges relating to his inaction during the Parkland shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018.

Peterson, who worked as a Broward County sheriff's deputy and served as a resource officer at the school, had faced multiple charges, including neglect of a child and perjury.

The verdict, announced on Thursday, delivered a blow to the prosecution, as Peterson was found not guilty on all counts.

According to NBC, the charges against him carried a potential maximum sentence of 9612 years in state prison. The trial, which stirred strong emotions on both sides, left bitter feelings among the victims' families and the wider community.

Scot Peterson was the only other armed person present at the school when the shooter opened fire, and his failure to confront the gunman became a focal point of the case. Peterson, now 60, was forced to retire after the shooting.

Relief and Controversy: Reactions Abound as Scot Peterson Found Not Guilty in Parkland Shooting Case

Following the acquittal, an emotional Peterson expressed relief and stated that he had regained his life after enduring years of turmoil. He also emphasized the emotional roller coaster he had experienced throughout the process.

Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor, in a post-verdict statement, defended the decision to prosecute Peterson, highlighting the importance of holding an armed school resource officer accountable for their duties. Pryor addressed those who tried to politicize the case, emphasizing that the expectation for someone to do their job, especially when it involves protecting children and staff, should not be a political matter.

According to NY Times, the arrest of Scot Peterson came after a 15-month investigation, which concluded that he had failed to investigate the source of the gunshots, retreated during the active shooting while victims were being targeted, and directed other law enforcement officers to remain away from the building where the tragedy was unfolding.

While Peterson's acquittal brought relief to his defense team, Tony Montalto, the father of one of the victims, expressed disbelief and disappointment outside the court. Montalto found it difficult to comprehend how the jury arrived at the verdict because he thought Peterson's inaction had contributed to the suffering of the entire community.

Read Also: Nashville School Shooting Prompts Nationwide Boost in Active Shooter Training, Childhood Preparedness Protocols

Acquittal in Parkland Shooting Trial Renews Calls for Justice and Healing

The Parkland shooting resulted in the tragic loss of 17 lives, with several more individuals sustaining injuries. According to BBC, the former student responsible for the shooting pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder, receiving a life sentence in prison without parole.

Scot Peterson, in a tearful interview with NBC's "Today" show months after the shooting, apologized to the families of the victims and expressed remorse for his actions. He attributed his failure to enter the building during the incident to the chaos, miscommunication, and his assumption that the gunfire was originating from outside.

Peterson's lawyer, Mark Eiglarsh, celebrated the acquittal as a victory for law enforcement officers, asserting that it vindicated the actions of dedicated police officers across the country who perform their duties diligently every day.

The acquittal of Scot Peterson has left lasting impressions on the Parkland community, continuing the painful journey of healing and seeking justice for the victims and their families. The trial has rekindled debates surrounding the responsibilities and expectations placed upon school resource officers in similar situations and the broader issue of school safety.

Related Article: Suspect of Shooting Incident Involving 6-Year-Old Girl, Parents, Neighbor Now Under Police Custody: 'Turned Himself In'
Photo: (Photo : Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

The rainy season in California has resulted in a significant surge in mosquito populations, raising concerns about the spread of diseases to humans.

In response to this alarming situation, the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District has introduced an innovative solution: drones equipped with larvae-killing bacterial spore pellets. This cutting-edge technology allows for precise and efficient mosquito control, targeting areas such as marshes, large ponds, and parks that are breeding grounds for these disease-carrying insects.

Mosquito Surge in the Wake of a Wet Winter

According to KTLA, California's rainy season, following an extraordinarily wet winter, has led to a proliferation of mosquitoes across the state. The excess water has created ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes, causing their populations to surge.

According to the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District, their traps have captured three times the average number of mosquitoes compared to the past 15 years.

This mosquito surge poses a significant public health threat due to the potential transmission of diseases to humans. To combat the mosquito infestation, the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District has embraced advanced technology by deploying drones.

These drones are equipped with bacterial spore pellets that effectively kill mosquito larvae. Unlike traditional methods such as backpack sprayers, trucks, airplanes, or helicopters, drones provide more precise treatments and minimize the need for human intervention in sensitive areas.

Using the drones allows the district to access hard-to-reach areas that cannot be easily reached by ground-based methods.

The drone operators, who hold Federal Aviation Administration remote pilot licenses and California Department of Pesticide Regulation unmanned aircraft vector control technician licenses, fly the drones at higher altitudes to ensure they do not disturb nesting birds.

With the ability to treat an acre of land in under two minutes, the drones offer a highly efficient solution that surpasses the capabilities of manual labor.

Read Also: Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action in Higher Education; Ruling Harvard, UNC Admissions Policies Unconstitutional

Environmental Benefits and Disease Prevention

According to Terminix, unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, are increasingly utilized by mosquito control programs to address mosquito populations in hard-to-reach remote areas.

These drones offer surveillance capabilities, allowing operators to assess potential larval production sites and monitor drainage patterns, soil types, and topography in real-time.

Compared to helicopters, drones are a less disruptive and potentially more cost-effective option for mosquito control in such areas. They can carry and apply larvicides and adulticides to targeted locations, aided by GPS tracking for precise flight patterns and insecticide application.

Operators can control the drones remotely or opt for autopilot programs, making them versatile tools for larvicide and adulticide applications in specific areas.

Drones also expand the possibilities for smaller mosquito control programs with limited budgets, eliminating the need for piloted aircraft applications and increasing their effectiveness.

According to ABC, studies conducted by the district indicate that birds quickly return to the treated areas after the drone passes over, further affirming the minimal disruption caused by this innovative approach.

The rise in mosquito-borne diseases has become a growing concern globally, exacerbated by the effects of climate change.

The European Union's disease prevention authority recently issued a warning that climate warming increases the risk of mosquito-borne viral diseases.

Additionally, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported cases of locally transmitted malaria in Florida and Texas, marking the first occurrence in two decades.

In California, West Nile virus remains the most common and serious mosquito-borne disease, responsible for thousands of human cases and numerous fatalities since 2003.

By leveraging drones, the district can efficiently target mosquito larvae in hard-to-reach areas, minimizing the risk of disease transmission.

This advanced approach not only improves the effectiveness of mosquito control efforts but also offers environmental benefits by reducing the need for invasive treatments.

As mosquito-borne diseases continue to pose challenges, advancements in technology like drone utilization offer hope for gaining ground in the battle against these disease-carrying insects.

Related Article: CDC Issues Health Alert: Local Malaria Cases Detected in Florida, Texas
Photo: (Photo : Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Project Angel Food)

Marianne Williamson, the Democratic presidential candidate and renowned self-help author, has returned to the campaign trail after a month-long hiatus to celebrate the birth of her first grandchild in England. Now reinvigorated, Williamson is ready to dive back into her presidential bid, despite facing various challenges and a shifting political landscape.

During her absence, Williamson experienced the departure of her second campaign manager, Roza Calderon, shortly after former campaign manager Peter Daou's departure.

According to ABC, these changes occurred against the backdrop of allegations made by former staffers, who claimed that Williamson displayed uncontrollable rage and created a distressing work environment. In response to these claims, Williamson defended herself, asserting that her directness and straightforwardness might not be suitable for everyone, but she has maintained positive relationships with many former staff members.

Williamson's campaign team argues that the criticism she faces is often directed at women in positions of leadership. When asked about the most valid criticism of her, Williamson embraced her own toughness, acknowledging that running for president demands a strong and resilient individual.

Marianne Williamson Faces Significant Lead by President Joe Biden

Despite facing an uphill battle against President Joe Biden, who continues to maintain a significant lead in polling and fundraising, Williamson remains optimistic and believes that American politics is inherently unpredictable.

According to Washington Post, she intends to focus on her strengths and policy proposals, which include advocating for fundamental economic reform, universal healthcare, tuition-free college, and free childcare.

Regarding recent controversies surrounding Hunter Biden's legal issues, Williamson emphasized that they are not directly related to the presidential candidate himself. Instead, she aims to criticize what she perceives as the Biden administration's incremental approach to addressing the pressing issues faced by Americans.

While being labeled a long-shot candidate and facing skepticism, Williamson resents the notion that her campaign should be undermined or dismissed. She believes that her lack of traditional political experience should be seen as an asset rather than a liability. Williamson asserts that it is time to change course and prioritize the well-being of individuals' lives, shifting away from a singular focus on healing the soul of America.

As Marianne Williamson resumes her campaign, she remains determined to be taken seriously as a viable candidate. While acknowledging the challenges ahead, she aims to bring her unique perspective and fresh ideas to the political landscape. Williamson highlights the need for profound political change and offers herself as a compelling alternative to traditional politicians.

With the 2024 presidential race unfolding, Marianne Williamson strives to leave her mark and ensure that her message resonates with voters seeking a different path for the nation. By promoting transformative ideas and advocating for a shift in priorities, Williamson presents herself as a viable choice for those yearning for substantive change in American politics.

Read Also: Donald Trump News: Why Celebrities Would Abandon America If Donald Trump Wins The 2016 US Presidential Elections?

Marianne Williamson's Vision: Universal Healthcare, Tuition-Free College, and Free Childcare

Despite the considerable lead held by President Joe Biden in both polling and fundraising, Williamson remains optimistic and resilient. She firmly believes that American politics can be unpredictable, offering her hope that she can make a significant impact in the race. Williamson's policy platform encompasses key issues such as fundamental economic reform, universal healthcare, tuition-free college, and free childcare. By advocating for these progressive policies, she hopes to address the pressing challenges faced by everyday Americans and bring about meaningful change.

Addressing the recent controversies surrounding Hunter Biden, Williamson emphasized that they should not overshadow the presidential race. She stressed that Hunter Biden is not running for president and that his legal issues are not her concern. Instead, she aims to direct her focus on critiquing the Biden administration's incremental approach, arguing that more comprehensive solutions are required.

While some view her campaign as a long shot, Williamson rejects this notion and resents the attempts to delegitimize her candidacy. According to The Guardian, she emphasizes that her lack of traditional political experience should be seen as an asset rather than a liability. Williamson believes it is time to depart from the current trajectory and prioritize the well-being of individuals' lives rather than solely focusing on healing the soul of America.

As Marianne Williamson reenters the campaign trail, she remains steadfast in her commitment to being taken seriously as a viable candidate. Despite the challenges she faces, she brings a unique perspective and fresh ideas to political discourse. By advocating for profound political change, Williamson positions herself as a compelling alternative to the status quo. With the 2024 presidential race underway, Marianne Williamson is determined to leave her mark and ensure that her message resonates with voters seeking transformative leadership. Through her bold ideas and commitment to change, Williamson offers a distinct vision for the future of American politics.

Related Article: Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Agree On One Issue: Marijuana Should Be Legalized - Here's What The Presidential Nominees Say
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In early-January, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo surprised the market with his prediction that Chinese display maker BOE would overtake Samsung for iPhone 15 displays, taking as much as 70% and leaving Samsung with 30%. That prediction put Samsung into legal mode to stop that from happening. In late-January Patently Apple reported that Samsung Display had filed a complaint to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) against 17 U.S. repair shops using displays from competitors. It was an indirect attack on Apple display supplier BOE. Then in April, the U.S. ITC launched a formal investigation to BOE display possibly infringing Samsung. Then in May, BOE display struck back and sued Samsung for patent infringement.

Today we're learning from a Korean Business news site that Samsung has stepped up its fight against BOE Technology by suing them for infringing their iPhone 12 OLED patents. Samsung Display sued BOE in the Texas Eastern District Court, a court usually reserved for patent trolls.

Their intensifying legal dispute highlights Chinas efforts to eat away at Samsungs dominance in the OLED panel market. In the LCD market, Samsung was overtaken by BOE as the worlds No. 1 player in 2021, giving up its 17-year-long supremacy.

Samsung knows all too well that BOE is now gunning for dominance in the OLED display sector. Currently, the Korean Display Industry commands 81.3% of the global OLED market, trailed by China with a 17.9% share.

While Samsung will fight BOE Technology in the courts, especially U.S. courts, it should be noted that this is now becoming an issue with the U.S. Government. A year ago, Washington launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) aimed at regrouping advanced democracies amid the rise of some autocratic states such as China, which U.S. President Joe Biden described as " a battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century and autocracies."

The alliance of techno-democracies protects technologies seen as critical such as 5G, quantum communication, facial recognition, AI, EV batteries and displays in their rivalry with China, with the help of its Asian allies. Korea and Taiwan are the leaders in semiconductors, and keep these high-tech ecosystems afloat.

While displays are currently a lower priority, Korea is working with U.S. officials to officially add displays to Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. Should Korea and U.S. agree to add displays to the framework, the U.S. Government could put pressure on U.S. tech companies like Apple to use displays from Korea in their devices over Chinese rivals.

Without it being an official U.S. policy, Apple will continue to use the best technology at the best price that could very well mean using displays from BOE. That's why Samsung must continue on the path of filing patent infringement lawsuits to unofficially put Apple on notice.
Windows Copilot is one part Bing, one part Windows. Its a ChatGPT AI assistant who can perform tasks for you one moment, but then pleads ignorance the next. Microsofts AI assistant within Windows 11 certainly has potential, but during my time with it, achieving a consistent experience was one of its unexpected challenges.

Windows Copilot, the migration of Microsofts AI-powered Bing Chat into Windows, debuted Thursday as part of the latest Windows Insider build for the Dev Channel; Microsoft announced Copilot at the end of May, with a promise to bring it into testing by the end of June. Its now here, though it hasnt reached its full potential yet.

To experience Copilot, youll need to sign up for the Windows Insider Dev Channel, download the build, and make sure that Microsoft Edge is also updated to its latest version. If you dont see the small Windows Copilot icon resting to the left of the search icon/box on the Taskbar, thats most likely why. Otherwise, you can click the icon (or use the Windows + C shortcut), and Windows Copilot will slide out from the right-hand navigation pane as a vertical column for conversation.

How to use Windows Copilot

Microsoft opened up the Bing Chat AI chatbot near the end of May, so you should be familiar with its basic structure: You can interact with Copilot a number of times (currently 30) before you have to start over and refresh the conversation. Thats still the case with Windows Copilot. You can also interact with Copilot in a Creative, Balanced, or Precise voice, though it wont affect how Copilot performs PC-centric tasks.

To be clear: Windows Copilot is almost entirely Bing Chat, complete with the Microsoft Edge requirement, as Windows Centrals Zac Bowden noted. Windows Copilot, for now, is just a slight upgrade from when Microsoft added Bing Chat to the Windows search box.

Youll find Windows Copilot here, on the Taskbar. Mark Hachman / IDG

Ask Copilot a question and youll sometimes receive additional suggestions for follow-up queries. On other occasions, youll see some visually jarring maps and/or ads for local businesses, if your query addresses those. As with Bing Chat, Copilot will add footnoted links for follow-up queries. NSFW queries continue to be out of bounds.

But thats where some of the problems begin. Windows Copilot isnt Copilot; it self-identifies as Bing, and in doing so wanders back and forth between what it can do and what questions it can answer. This isnt a case of trying to force it to adopt the Sydney persona, which led to all sorts of unhinged conversations. Windows Copilot sometimes just isnt quite sure of what it is: a search engine, a chatbot, or a Windows assistant. The latter, however, is whats new.

Windows Copilot will ask to capture information from the active Edge window, such as summarizing the page. Mark Hachman / IDG

Windows Copilot has been programmed to cut through all the clutter and menus, and to do what you tell it to do. So far, unfortunately, this has been limited to just a handful of actions, which include switching to light or dark mode, taking a screenshot, and little else. Phrasing occasionally matters, too: Just as some chatbots can be fooled into allowing an action or question by rephrasing it, Copilot refused to switch to light mode once when I phrased it poorly, though it then learned (?) and didnt repeat the mistake.

Advanced users probably wont see much value from this, as they can either navigate quickly to whatever submenu they need, use a shortcut, or find some other way of doing what they want. For the average user, though, this is extraordinary. Windows has always lacked a robust help function, and this is an opportunity to help users do what they want to do, full stop.

Windows Copilot can perform some tasks itself; for others it will have to tell you how to perform them yourself. Mark Hachman / IDG

Windows Copilot has several problems to solve

Copilot has potential, clearly, and well talk about that a bit later. But right now Copilot has at least two major issues.

Perhaps the most significant is how Microsoft will handle tasks. Microsoft doesnt distinguish between actual questions (what is heat?) and tasks (set my PC to dark mode) but its clear there are certain things Windows Copilot will do, and many more it wont. This matters because users will inevitably find themselves in situations where Windows Copilot simply wont do what a user wants it to.

To its credit, I was impressed that Windows Copilot actually answered a question about using the Windows registry to modify the Windows 11 taskbar  but it didnt actually perform those modifications, and Im not sure it ever will. But its hard to see how users wont be left ultimately unsatisfied by what Windows Copilot offers, especially if its magic is just limited to a handful of tasks.

Windows Copilot is also unsure of what it can do. I asked it for the local temperature and a forecast, and it correctly identified my location. But Copilot failed when I asked for a list of nearby lunch places, and suggested some restaurants in Austin instead of the Bay Area where I live. Its those discrepancies that may make perfect sense when seen in one context, but in another (does Copilot know me, or not?) is confusing and a trifle frustrating, too.

The future could be bright

How successful Copilot ends up is in Microsofts hands. Users are going to quickly expect Copilot to do the vast majority of the tasks they either cant do themselves or are unwilling to spend the time on. If Microsoft opens up Windows to allow this, Copilot will become a significant part of the Windows architecture. Will it be able to hook into apps? Perform backups? Query your PC for a file or files? Analyze CPU performance under load? The future is bright for Copilot as a platform, but its not clear whether it will meet its potential.

Right now, however, Windows Copilot is just the Bing Chat robotic butler, helpfully answering questions and now holding a door open for you, too. To succeed, it must have more to offer.

This story was updated at 1:02 PM on June 30 with additional detail.
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has congratulated James Gyakye Quayson, the MP-elect for the Assin North Constituency in the recent by-election.



In an official statement released Wednesday, June 28, 2023, the NPP expressed its appreciation to all party members and supporters who contributed to the partys preparations for the by-election.



The statement highlighted the Partys profound gratitude to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Vice President, and Mrs. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Chief of Staff, among others for their unwavering dedication and overwhelming support.



It also acknowledged the efforts of all Ministers, Members of Parliament, Chief Executive Officers, Deputy Chief Executive Officers, MMDCEs, government appointees, and Party adherents for their diverse contributions towards the partys efforts.



The NPP stated that it had diligently worked towards reclaiming the Assin North parliamentary seat but respected the decision and judgment of the people of the Constituency.



The Party commended the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on their electoral victory and added that the recent two by-elections demonstrated the strength of Ghanas democracy, with outcomes favouring different political parties.



The Party also commended the security services for their joint efforts during and after the elections, despite the conduct of some personnel of the Ghana Police Service deployed to man the elections.



It further expressed gratitude to the Electoral Commission for ensuring a successful election.



In conclusion, the New Patriotic Party promised to collaborate with other political parties, key electoral stakeholders, and the people of Ghana to further enhance the practice of democracy in the country.



It urged party supporters to submit their comments and recommendations to the national secretariat of the party for consideration and possible implementation.



The statement was signed by Justin Kodua Frimpong, the General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party.











Source: Daily Guide









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Meta Platforms' Oversight Board on Thursday called for the suspension of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for six months, saying a video posted on his Facebook page had violated Meta's rules against violent threats.

The board, which is funded by Meta but operates independently, said the company erred in leaving up the video and ordered its removal from Facebook.

Meta, in a written statement, agreed to take down the video but said it would respond to the recommendation to suspend Hun Sen after a review.

A suspension would silence the prime minister's Facebook page less than a month before an election in Cambodia, although critics say the poll will be a sham due to Hun Sen's autocratic rule.

The decision is the latest in a series of rebukes by the Oversight Board over how the world's biggest social media company handles rule-breaking political leaders and incitement to violence around elections. The company's election integrity efforts are in focus as the United States prepares for presidential elections next year.
Another group of six persons standing trial in connection with violent demonstration in the Volta Region in calling for the separation of the region from the rest of Ghana have been handed a total of 26 years in hard labour prison term.



The six, who were members of the prohibited Western Togoland Restoration Front, an offspring of Papavis Trans Volta Togoland Group, were convicted on May 20, 2023, by an Accra High Court presided over by Justice Mary Yanzuh, which found them guilty of the 19 charges levelled against them.



This bring to eleven, the total number of people jailed for their involvement in the violent acts that include the burning of two STC buses in Ho and a raid on the Aveyime and Mepe police stations where guns, a police patrol vehicle and other items were stolen.



Raymond Yao Blu alias Captain, Kennedy Awunyo, Kwame Tornyevidzi alias Abizibey, Edem Nukornu alias FBI Commander, Jerry Kpeglo and Sylvanus Sheshie, were each sentenced four years imprisonment in hard labour for attending meetings of a prohibited organisation, participating in a campaign of a prohibited organisation and being members of a prohibited organisation.



Raymond Yao, Edem Nukornu and Sylvanus Seshie were also sentenced to four years for making contributions to a prohibited organisation, while Kennedy Awunyo was again sentenced to four years in jail for accepting contributions of a prohibited organisation.



Kwame Tornyevidzi alias Abizibey, who was also found guilty for stealing an AK47 rifle from the Aveyime police station, was sentenced to six years while Raymond Yao was also sentenced for another two years for unlawful training.



The sentences are to run concurrently, all the convicts will each serve four years in prison except Kwame Tornyevidzi who would serve six years in hard labour.



Justice Yanzuh, in handing down the sentences, indicated that circumstances of the case and the evidence led by the prosecution demands that the sentence serves as deterrent to others who harbour the intention to do same.



Charges



The convicts were charged with 19 counts made up of six counts of attending meetings of a prohibited organisation, one count of participation in a campaign of a prohibited organisation, three counts of making contributions for the benefit of a prohibited organisation, a count of accepting contributions for the benefit of a prohibited organisation, six counts of being a member of a prohibited organisation, stealing and unlawful training.



Prosecuting Facts



The prosecutions facts, according to court documents, indicated that officers of the National Security Council, based on intelligence gathered, embarked on an exercise to identify and arrest members of the Western Togoland Restoration Front (WTRF) who, on September 25, 2020, blocked the road at Juapong and Sogakope and set fire to two STC vehicles.



It said on same day, the group of people also attacked the Aveyime and Mepe police stations respectively, freed the inmates in the cells, locked up the policemen on duty in the cells, took arms and ammunitions from the armoury of the police stations and bolted.



It indicated that investigations led to the arrest of the accused persons who admitted being members of Western Togoland Restoration Front.



The prosecution stated that, they also admitted playing active roles in its organisation and activities, such as attendance of meetings, contribution of funds and the receipt of funds for the running of the organisation.



The prosecution stated that, when a search was conducted in the room of the first accused person, Kennedy Awunyo, quantities of Western Togoland flags and stickers were found.



The first accused person also received and disbursed funds of the Western Togoland Restoration Front to ensure that the plans of the organisation materialised.



The second accused person, Kwame Tornyevidzi alias Abizibey, was found to have stolen one AK47 rifle at the Aveyime Police Station during the raid on September 25, 2020.



The facts stated that, the third accused person, Raymond Yao Blu alias Captain, admitted participating in Western Togolands gorilla military training after which he was issued with a certificate.



It further stated that, when a search was conducted in the room of the third accused person, a Western Togoland membership card and an army gorilla training certificate in his name and with his picture embossed on it, were found.



Again, the third, fourth and sixth accused persons were also found to have contributed funds for the running of the Western Togoland Restoration Front.



But for the vigilance of the security agencies, the activities of the accused persons and others at large would have led to the disruption of the presidential and parliamentary elections on December 7, 2020 in the Volta and Oti regions respectively.













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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Atik Mohammed says the Assin North by-election should teach the ruling New Patriotic Party(NPP) a big lesson as they head for the 2024 general elections.



To him, the Assin North by-election is a precursor to the main national elections, thus the outcome of the election proves how unhappy Ghanaians are with the government.



He noted that the New Patriotic Party has a lot of work to do if they want to clinch victory in the 2024 elections.



"The NPP has a lot to do going forward. If the 2024 election is indeed their heart desire and they really want to win, there is a lot of work to do. First, there is internal party disappointment or disillusionment . . .and again there are all kinds of perceptions about what is happening within the NPP and so on . . . the other issue is that Ghanaians generally are unhappy at this point and let nobody kid himself into saying this is not true," he said on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' show.



Atik Mohammed slammed President Nana Akufo-Addo for making Ghana's economy "hard" for Ghanaians and cautioned the ruling party stressing "when the economy is tight, nobody is excited. Nobody is happy. So, I'm happy Ghanaians showed their unhappiness on the ballot".



He also lambasted the NPP over claims of vote buying during the by-election.



"I am disgusted at this practice of buying votes and politicians are hypocritical. When they buy and lose, they blame others but when they buy and win the elections, they attribute it to hard work."





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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James Gyakye Quayson will be sworn in as the Member of Parliament for Assin North today.



The Speaker of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin made this known this morning [June 29].



Parliament is resuming sitting today [June 29], following the abrupt end of proceedings last Tuesday.



This was due to the lack of quorum required for a parliamentary business to go on, as many Members of Parliament (MPs) on both the Majority and Minority sides travelled to the Assin North Constituency in the Central Region to join the political campaign and monitoring of the by-election.



Gyakye Quayson will be in court this morning for his criminal trial after which he will go to Parliament for the swearing in.



The Speaker of Parliament was speaking during a visit to the office of Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to meet with management and the editorial staff.



The Speakers working visit to Graphic was to interact with management and staff at the editorial department.



This is aligned with the Speakers desire to strengthen Parliament-Media Relations.





It is the first official visit of the Speaker to a media organisation since he was elected Speaker of Parliament.



He was accompanied by some staff from his office.

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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The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has condemned the incidence of vote-buying in the Assin North by-election held on Tuesday.



There were accusations and counter accusations of vote buying between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the just-ended by-election.



Leading members of both partys have since denied the allegations of vote buying.



However, the National Coordinator of CODEO, Albert Kofi Arhin, in an interview said such acts ought to be nipped in the bud to safeguard the countrys democracy.



I heard a lot of people talking about money exchanging hands, being given to voters and thats a very bad sign.



Its been happening and people have been talking about it and if we are not careful this will destroy the democracy that we are building.



How can you give money to a voter to cast a ballot for you?



It is surely a bad sign, so I think both politicians and voters need to look at this and find solutions to it because it is not good for our democracy, he stated.



Arrest

In a related development, the Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante, who was part of the team that observed the by-election, for his part suggested that in future elections the Police and the Office of the Special Prosecutor should deploy under cover personnel to arrest people involved in vote buying.



Then, he said, if people were arrested it would send a signal that it was an offence, adding that they should be also prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.



He said voters taking money from politicians to vote did not increase the cost of the election but bred corruption in government.



Dr Asante commended the security personnel for the high sense of professionalism exhibited during the election.



Observers

The CODEO deployed 15 observers for the just ended by-election.



The deployment, it said, was in fulfilment of its mandate to mobilise citizens to actively participate in the electoral process and to complement the efforts of the Electoral Commission in ensuring a transparent, free, fair and peaceful by-election.

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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James Gyakye Quayson of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) says he is committed to bringing development to the people of Assin North following his victory in last Tuesdays parliamentary by-election.



I sought this position because of my deep commitment to the Assin North development agenda. I remain determined to mobilise resources from within and without to prosecute this agenda with all my energy, no matter the cost, he said in a statement.



The people of Assin North have spoken. They have said without equivocation that they want me to represent them in the eighth Parliament. They have told us to stop the politics and focus on solving their problems. This is a victory, not just for me and the NDC, but also for justice.



I am deeply humbled by the confidence the people have expressed in what I stand for and what I have done. I am also fully aware of the reciprocal responsibilities that this massive show of confidence imposes on me. My solemn pledge is to work as hard as I can for the people who have made tonight possible.



Addressing the media earlier, Mr Quayson said his win was a win for the conscience of right-thinking Ghanaians who could not be bought by money.



Poll



Mr Quayson polled 17, 245 votes, representing 57.56 per cent of votes cast, to beat his closest contender, Charles Opoku of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who polled 12,630 votes, representing 42.15 per cent of votes cast.



A third contestant, Bernice Sefenu of the Liberal Party of Ghana, polled 87 votes, representing 0.29 per cent of votes cast.



President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday congratulated Mr Quayson and the other candidates, the Electoral Commission and its staff, the police, political parties and the voting public on the peaceful polls in Assin North.



The General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Kwetey, said the victory was a judgement on the governance of the NPP and an indication that Ghanaians would vote the NPP out in 2024.



Declaration



The returning officer for the election, Kofi Tsibu, made the declaration close to midnight, more than six hours after the close of voting in the 99 polling stations in the constituency.



In a poll widely seen as peaceful and incident-free, with praise for general security, there were 29,962 valid votes out of the 30,418 votes cast, representing 74.23 per cent of voter turnout.



The poll had been characterised by allegations of vote-buying in the frantic efforts by the NDC and the NPP in particular to claim the seat.



But a Senior Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba, Dr George Asekere, has called for a public discourse on monetisation in the countrys politics.



He said voters should also be educated that money is not enough to buy their conscience.



We should also tell the voter to reject politicians who come with money, he said.



We should also be looking at amending the Political Parties Act to criminalise the use of money to buy votes, he emphasised.



Dr Asekere also charged the police to prosecute persons who were arrested for engaging in illegalities and to make public the political parties they were aligned to.



That, he said, was to serve as a deterrent to those who would want to cause mayhem in the system.



Trust, transparency



Meanwhile, a Peace and Development lecturer with expertise in Security at the University of Cape Coast, Dr Patrick Osei-Kufour, said trust and transparency in the electoral systems would gradually remove vigilantism from the nation's electoral process.



While commending the police for the security measures adopted for last Tuesdays Assin North by-election, Dr Osei-Kufour said the stakes for the 2024 general election were higher and required a lot more to keep the country's peace.



Speaking with the Daily Graphic on the peaceful polls, Dr Osei-Kufour, who is also the Vice Dean of the School of Development Studies, said a lot more was needed to ensure a peaceful general election in 2024.



He observed that the unarmed policemen policy, which was the first layer of security measures, worked well, stressing that the mere presence of policemen with guns removed trust and scared people off.



He said although it was known that there were a lot of vigilante groups that bad trooped to the Assin North Constituency, the transparency and acts of trust by the police rendered the vigilantes almost useless.



Discerning citizens



He said citizens were also becoming discerning and awake, and that once there was a trusted system, the activities of the vigilantes would not be required.



He commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for conducting its work profusionally, saying it contributed to the peaceful by-election, and further urged the EC to enhance transparency through education of citizens to make the process easy for all.



Background



The by-election was triggered by the Supreme Courts declaration of Mr Quaysons victory in 2020 as null and void over his allegiance to Canada.





Source: graphiconline.com









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The second edition of the Diaspora Ghana Property Awards and Housing Exhibition was held in London over the weekend, bringing together real estate developers from Ghana to showcase their exceptional properties and investments.



The prestigious event took place at the iconic Wembley Stadium, Brent Civic Center and attracted audience of industry professionals, investors and individuals interested in Ghanaian real estate.



The event aims to promote Ghana's booming real estate sector and provide a platform for Ghanaian developers to present their innovative projects to an international audience as well as bring together real estate developers, real estate brokers and real estate lawyers from Ghana.



Adom City Estates was honored with the "Mass Social Housing of the Year" award 2023 while Ace Heights took home the prestigious title of "Affordable Luxury Real Estate Brand Ghana".



The company's dedication to addressing the housing needs of Ghanaians, particularly those in lower-income brackets, has earned them widespread acclaim and appreciation.



Adom City Estates win in the "Mass Social Housing of the Year" category is a testament to their unwavering commitment to social impact and community development.



Ace Heights Limited, which is also a subsidiary under the Adom Group of companies, is a prominent player in the luxury real estate market.



Several awards went to deserving companies which included trusted Real Estate Agent Broker of the Year 2023; E Wells Realty & Consultancy, Best Residential Developer Middle Income Luxurious of the Year; Elegant Homes & General construction limited, PropTech Innovation of the Year; DGM Property and Asset Management System.



Others included the best Real Estate Marketed Company of the Year; Sucasa Limited.



Speaking at the event, Ms. Irene Agyenkwa, the founder and leader of Ghana Property Awards and African Property Magazine, expressed her satisfaction with the success of the event and its positive impact on the Ghanaian real estate industry.



She said; "We are thrilled to witness the growth and innovation within the Ghanaian real estate sector."



In a speech read on behalf of the Founder and group Chairman of Adom Group of Companies, Noble Dr. Bright Adom, revealed his companys commitment and dedication to providing quality affordable homes to Ghanaian public with innovation, excellent customer services, impeccable architectural design and impact on the community.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Pennsylvania Senate on Thursday approved a $100 million targeted school voucher program that would give students at the states worst performing public schools a taxpayer-funded grant to attend a nonpublic school.

The fast-tracked measure which is a sticking point in the 2023-24 state budget talks, passed the Senate on 29-21 near-party-line vote with Democratic Sen. Anthony Williams of Philadelphia joining the Republican Caucus in supporting the bill.
On July 1, 1863, Confederate and Union soldiers clashed in and around Gettysburg, Pa., in what would become the turning point - and the bloodiest battle - of the Civil War.

Soldiers fought for three days. In the end, the Union Army defeated the Confederate.

The three-day conflict resulted in more than 50,000 casualties and proved to be a major turning point in favor of the Union Army. Ever since, the town has never been the same. The story of Gettysburg continues to draw millions annually to Adams County, Pennsylvania, where people from around the world walk in the footsteps of history, said Destination Gettysburg.

The 160th anniversary of that historic battle is going on now with tours, re-enactments, living history portrayals and hikes.

Gettysburg National Military Park will offer a variety of events this weekend.

July 1-3

David Willis House Museum

Open 1-5 p.m. The home of David and Catherine Wills was where Abraham Lincoln completed the Gettysburg Address.

Gettysburg History Hike, 90 minutes

10 a.m. daily, meet at Ranger Station 1 behind the Museum and Visitor Center. Hike is from the center to Cemetery Ridge.

National Cemetery Tour, 60 minutes

5:30 p.m. daily, meet the licensed battlefield guide at the Taneytown Road entrance to the cemetery.

100 Nights of Taps

7 p.m. daily, meet at the Soldiers National Monument.

Twilight Tour: Stories from the Soldiers National Cemetery, 45 minutes

7:45 p.m. daily, meet inside the Taneytown Road Gate.

Sacred Trust talks and book signings with the Gettysburg Foundation

Four each day, July 1-3, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 to 8 p.m. Day talks are in a tent on the front lawn, evenings ticketed for theater seating. Authors will sign books in the main lobby inside the Museum and Visitor Center. Books will be available for purchase. You can see the schedule here.

On Saturday, July 1; Sunday, July 2; and Monday, July 3, events to be held include Key Moment programs, anniversary hikes, living history camps and demonstrations and family programs with children ages 4 to 13 in mind.

The full schedule and titles and times for programs hosted by the National Park Service are listed here.

From June 30 to July 2, the Gettysburg Battlefield Preservation Association, will present a re-enactment at the Daniel Lady Farm that includes a living history village, epic battle re-creations and demonstrations on a variety of subjects including Civil War medicine, cooking and childrens games.

Destination Gettysburg said a re-enactment on July 2 will take place at the Shriver House Museum and will show visitors the fierce fighting that occurred in the streets of Gettysburg during the battle in 1863. This event ... gives a unique perspective on the war and how Gettysburgs townspeople were impacted by the arrival of 170,000 soldiers as they waged the largest battle on the continent.

At 11 a.m. on July 3, two historic landmark signs will be unveiled at the Welty House, the site of gruesome fighting during the Battle of Gettysburg. The house is part of the Brickhouse Inn at 452 Baltimore St.

The National Park Service offered this guidance for visitors:

In the event of thunderstorm or tornado warnings, or a heat index more than 105 degrees, all programs will be canceled. In the event of a heat index more than 91 degrees, programs will be shortened and modified.



Visitors should stay hydrated, drink water and not overexert. There is a lot of walking involved at the park.

Visitors are encouraged to use bug spray and wear long pants because of ticks, mosquitoes and chiggers. Sunscreen and a hat also are recommended.

Visitors should keep all four tires of their vehicle on the pavement and abide by parking directions. On all park rods, park vehicles on the right unless otherwise directed.

Visitors also are reminded that Little Round Top remains closed for a rehabilitation project that started last summer. Rose Farm and Rose Lane also are closed for rehabilitation. Paving projects in the park will be suspended during the anniversary.

READ MORE

Guide to new Civil War museum: Gettysburg Beyond the Battle.

Photos from the 158th Battle of Gettysburg at the Daniel Lady Farm.

In 1938, on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, soldiers returned in friendship.
Dozens of errant logs, shorn branches and scattered wood chips litter a steep section of an expansive boulder-strewn yard in a particularly scenic section of Kinnelon, New Jersey.

The stunning propertys owner, Samih Shinway, surveyed the damage with NJ Advance Media on Wednesday, still seething over what happened, and how the bizarre suburban tale took on a life of its own on Twitter this week.

In what could end as a costly neighbor overstep of colossal proportions - one estimate by a private company put restoration cost at $1.5 million - Shinways neighbor is facing 33 summonses accusing him of illegal tree removal, along with a trespassing ticket, according to court records.

The fines for the tree removal citations alone could total $32,000, or $1,000 per tree, based on local ordinances. But replanting a grove of majestic oaks to resemble what once stood for decades is whats jacking up the cost, Shinway said while touring the wreckage.

His neighbor, Grant Haber, did not return multiple requests for comment, and his attorney, Matthew Mueller, declined to comment except to confirm that Haber was his client.

Shinway said he had barely spoken with Haber in the four years since Shinway bought his home. That was, until Feb. 27, when Shinway heard the sounds of the landscaping crews felling trees on his property, which is separated from Habers by a fence.

I confronted them, Shinway said.

He took his ATV up the steep, rocky hill on his property to investigate, and says he saw a crew at the top of his backyard, surrounded by chopped down trees, with a wood chipper grinding away just over the fence in Habers backyard. The landscaping crew said theyd been hired by Haber to cut down trees on Habers property.

After initially sending Shinways calls to voicemail, Haber came into the yard when the landscaping crew called. Haber said it was a misunderstanding, Shinway said.

But that story didnt add up to Shinway given the fence separating the properties the crews had to scale.

Hes just entitled, just like, I can do whatever I want, Shinway said of his neighbor, while standing amid the felled trees, gnats swarming in the sticky June air.

Samir Shinway's Kinnelon yard after he said a neighbor illegally cut down his trees. (Katie Kausch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

There are a number of bright yellow no trespassing signs on trees in Shinways yard, including on a tree that was cut down, he said. The section of the trunk that once held the sign was hidden under other branches, more proof the crew members knew what they were doing, Shinway said.

Shinway estimated 40 giant trees were cut to the stump. In addition, a small area of cedar trees was chopped off at the top, which Shinway said was likely done to make Habers view of the New York City skyline clearer.

Township officials could only verify that 32 trees were cut down, Shinway said, a number the borough arborist confirmed to NJ Advance Media.

The shortened cedar trees show the real intent, Shinway said.

If you just told them to cut down trees on your property, then why did they cut off the top of those trees and not cut them down? Thats the smoking gun in my opinion, Shinway said.

Haber had never even discussed the height of his trees, Shinway said. In the four years hed lived in the home, he had only spoken to Haber once or twice.

Samir Shinway's Kinnelon yard after he said a neighbor illegally cut down his trees. (Katie Kausch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Habers 6.9-acre property backs up against Shinways, with an impressive pool waterfall, a shed and small plastic playhouse visible in his yard from the very back of Shinways property, where the trees once stood. Habers property is secluded, and sits at the top of a winding driveway long enough that you cant see the home from the road.

Shinways yard is similar in size at about 7 acres.

Habers property isnt the only house on the block with a view. A neighbor from down the street surveying the damage with Shinway on Wednesday afternoon pulled up photos from her own property, where a glittery city skyline could be seen under a bright orange sunset.

The view from Habers home was among the selling points a real estate listing for his property still available on Zillow, though his home is not currently for sale. The listing said the home has a balcony off the main bedroom from which to enjoy seasonal NYC skyline, water and valley views, and says that the next owner can Watch sunrise light up New York City skyline like gold.

Kinnelon police responded to the home on Feb. 27, but the incident is a zoning matter outside of the police departments scope, Detective Patrick McDonnell said.

Copies of the summonses issued to Haber were not immediately available Wednesday afternoon, Kinnelon borough officials said. They did not comment further.

Haber tried to resolve the issue privately at first, Shinway said, asking a lawyer in the neighborhood to mediate. That approach fell apart, and Shinway was hoping that a Zoom municipal court date earlier this week, the fourth time it had come before a judge, would finally bring closure.

But then the story went viral.

A Twitter thread from someone Shinway says he doesnt know detailed the incident and the eye-popping damage estimate. It quickly gained thousands of likes ahead of a Tuesday court hearing. As a result, people jammed into the virtual Zoom court session, blocking the prosecutor from logging on.

I cant tell you to leave, but I am asking you, Judge Andrew Wubbenhorst said to the more than 100 virtual attendees during the Tuesday court hearing.

Habers attorney requested an adjournment. The case was rescheduled for an in-person trial on July 18.

Shinway, who was shocked by the sudden interest in the case, told NJ Advance Media that he has not filed a civil lawsuit at this point. The $1.5 million estimate for restoration came from a private landscaping company hired by Shinway, he said.

He expects that figure would be used in court as a reference to show that a $32,000 fine would be a slap on the wrist compared to the damages that were done.

John Linton, the boroughs arborist, confirmed to NJ Advance Media that Haber was accused of having 32 trees cut down, but declined to comment on any possible replacement costs or fines.

Part of high replacement cost stems from the borough code, which requires that illegally cut down trees to be replaced with like or superior trees. The code also requires that the trees must be guaranteed for two growing seasons, adding additional cost.

The geography of Shinways yard is another factor, he said. The area is not easily accessible by road, and its not possible to bring in heavy machinery without first building a road through another neighbors property, he said.

Shinway said hes already noticed the affects of the deforested section of his property.

Theres been streams of water down the steep hill into his perfectly manicured lawn, something that never happened before. Invasive plants have already started to weasel their way into the clearing, and thats to say nothing of the crows that have since started swarming.

Its like an Alfred Hitchcock movie now, Shinway said as a crow shrieked.

Shinway was not planning on drawing attention to the case, but once it went viral he was left with no choice.

I feel like it would have fallen on deaf ears if I didnt talk about it, Shinway said.

Samir Shinway's Kinnelon yard after he said a neighbor illegally cut down his trees. (Katie Kausch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Katie Kausch may be reached at kkausch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieKausch.
The median age rose in almost every state last year, census estimates show, continuing a long-term trend that is pushing states to prepare for aging populations.

Seventeen states had median ages over 40 in 2022, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates of the age at which half of residents are older and half are younger. Thats up from 12 states in 2020 and just seven in 2010.

Nationwide, the median age was below 30 until 1980, but it rose to 38.9 as of 2022, according to the bureau estimates.

That leaves more states planning for future health and housing challenges for older residents. Some states have issued or are considering executive orders, agency plans and legislation to assist state residents who need more help with health crises, housing and long-term care as they live longer.

Millennials started turning 40 last year, and the youngest baby boomers are quickly approaching 60.

As the nations median age creeps closer to 40, you can really see how the aging of baby boomers, and now their children  sometimes called echo boomers  is impacting the median age, said Kristie Wilder, a Census Bureau demographer, in a statement.

Lower birth rates also play a role and will likely continue to drive median age slowly but steadily higher, Wilder added. Some states have passed legislation requiring that health insurers cover fertility treatments in response to lower fertility rates, according to a University of California, Irvine study published last year. New York states 2020 law, for example, requires coverage of in vitro fertilization in some cases.

No states saw a drop from 2021 to 2022, and states with unchanged medians were Alabama, Maine, Tennessee and West Virginia, along with the District of Columbia. The largest increase in median age in recent years was in Delaware, where it rose three years since 2010 to age 41.8.

The portion of Delaware residents over 60 will jump from a quarter to more than a third of the state population by 2040, according to a 2020 state report, creating new challenges for state services. A Delaware Journal of Public Health report published in 2021 said a growing number of Delawares older residents suffer from dementia, requiring more expensive help from the state and family caregivers.

Vermont held six public listening sessions around the state last year to help prepare recommendations this year for Age Strong Vermont, its road map for an age-friendly state.

Vermont had this older demographic for a long time but its taken a while for the state broadly to really reckon with that, said Angela Smith-Dieng, Vermonts Adult Services Division director. Part of the challenge is that older Vermont residents tend to live in big rural houses and need help with in-home health care, renovations for mobility and transportation on demand, she said.

A New York executive order in November also calls for a statewide plan on aging.

Vermont and New York joined other states already planning comprehensive strategies for aging populations: California, Colorado, Massachusetts and Texas, according to a January report by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Californias Master Plan for Aging, released in 2021, aims to create an age-friendly California by 2030, including housing and health care strategies. A bill currently progressing in the state legislature would create a statewide system of respite providers by 2025 to help give primary caregivers of older adults enrolled in Medi-Cal, the states Medicaid program for low-income residents, a break.

Elsewhere, an Oregon bill to study long-term care needs for older residents has passed both chambers of the legislature.

Only North Dakota is younger now than it was in 2010, down 1.2 years from age 37 to 35.8. The states burgeoning oil industry has drawn younger workers to jobs that pay well and dont require four-year college degrees.

Energy counties in other states have seen similar influxes of young people. Loving County, Texas, for example, saw its median age decrease from 52.7 in 2010 to 35.3 in 2022, a difference of more than 17 years.

Skeet Lee Jones, county judge there, said the tiny county has work camps for more than 1,000 oil workers and hundreds more young workers living in recreational vehicle camps, with good-paying jobs that create their own challenges for county government.

Weve had to start paying our own county workers what we call oil-field wages just to get things done, about four or five times minimum wage, Jones said.

The oldest state in the country remains Maine at 44.8. It also was the oldest in 2010, at 42.7.

Other states with median ages at 40 or above in 2022: New Hampshire (43.3), Vermont (43.2), West Virginia (42.8), Florida (42.7), Delaware (41.8), Pennsylvania and Connecticut (40.9), Hawaii (40.7), Rhode Island (40.6), Wisconsin (40.4), New Jersey, Oregon and South Carolina (all 40.3), Montana and Michigan (40.2), and Massachusetts (40.1).

The youngest states and the only ones with median ages below 37 were Utah (31.9), the District of Columbia (34.8), Texas (35.5), and Alaska and North Dakota (35.8).

On the county level, the median age in 2022 was as low as 20.9 in Madison County, Idaho, home of Brigham Young University-Idaho, where many young students are also starting families.

The median age was as high as 68.1 in Sumter County, Florida, part of the sprawling The Villages retirement community. In 2010 Sumter Countys median age was 62.7, the only county with a median age of 60 or higher in the nation at the time.

In 2022 there were six others: Catron County, New Mexico (62.1); Jeff Davis County, Texas (61.7); Harding County, New Mexico (60.5); Jefferson County, Washington (60.4); Charlotte County, Florida (60.2); and Highland County, Virginia (60.0).

Tim Henderson of Stateline.org wrote this story. Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

2023 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Why Pennsylvania needs a master plan written for  and by  older adults | Opinion

Bill helps 20,000 Pa. seniors remain eligible for prescription assistance
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday decisively struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions, ruling that consideration of a student's race to help decide who is admitted to the halls of higher learning was unconstitutional.

In a 6-3 ruling, the court's conservative majority specifically overturned admission plans at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, the country's oldest private and public colleges, respectively.

The high court's decision will force colleges and universities across the United States to look for new ways to achieve diverse student enrollment without considering race, such as looking more closely at the economic background of prospective students' families and the nature of the communities where they grew up.

Writing for the court's majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long, universities have "concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."

Hundreds of schools have for decades utilized affirmative action programs to one degree or another to boost the admissions of racial minorities at places where whites only had dominated. U.S. businesses and government agencies have also utilized affirmative action plans, although Thursday's ruling dealt only with admission to colleges.

In a dissent, one of the court's liberals, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said the decision "rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress." In a separate dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson -- the court's first Black female justice -- called the decision "truly a tragedy for us all."

U.S. President Joe Biden said, "I strongly, strongly disagree with the court's decision. I believe our colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse."
By Stephanie Ritenbaugh, The Tribune-Review, Greensburg

Shells massive petrochemical plant in Beaver County has yet to spur major economic growth in the region, according to a recent study by nonprofit research group.

Since 2012, when the project was first announced, the most recent economic data available show Beaver County has lagged both the state and the nation in nearly every measure of economic activity, the Ohio River Valley Institute found.

Shells $6 billion ethane cracker plant, formally known as Shell Polymers Monaca, converts natural gas into plastic pellets to be used to make products such as household goods, consumer and food packaging and other items. It is the first major polyethylene manufacturing complex in the Northeastern United States and has a designed output of 1.6 million tons annually, according to Shell.

The 386-acre petrochemical complex in Potter Township took about four years to build, bringing in about 9,500 workers at peak construction. It officially began operations in November and employs about 600 people, according to Shell.

The Ohio River Valley Institute, a progressive think tank established in 2020, said the project hasnt boosted Beaver Countys gross domestic product.

Beaver County, like Pennsylvania and the rest of the U.S., struggled economically during the pandemic. According to federal statistics, Beaver Countys GDP dropped sharply, mirroring both state and national trends, the report said. Although Beaver County GDP appeared to bounce back in 2021 from 2020 lows, Beaver County experienced an overall decline in GDP between 2012 and 2021 (-5.9%), while Pennsylvania and the U.S. experienced strong and consistent growth in GDP (apart from 2020), adding 9.7% and 20.6% to their economies, respectively.

The study cites data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing Beaver County lost jobs between 2012 and 2022 (5,436 fewer jobs, a decrease of nearly 10%) while Pennsylvania and the United States added jobs, at a growth rate of 5.1% and 13.9%, respectively.

The petrochemical project did not shield the county from the economic impact of the pandemic-induced recession. Nor has it buoyed the county in its recovery, the report said.

The Ohio River Valley Institute, which has received funding from the Heinz Endowments, is a project of the Johnstown-based Community Foundation for the Alleghenies.

The ORVI report shows a different picture than a 2021 report by Robert Morris University.

Using economic modeling software, RMU found that during the total construction phase of the project, labor income related to employment of Beaver County residents is estimated to have risen by $513 million.

The RMU study was commissioned by Shell but the company didnt participate in the research, the university said.

That study found that in Beaver County alone, the complex is expected to produce $260 million to $846 million in annual economic activity  the net value of wages, benefits and related spending  depending on the number of county residents who are employed at the plant. Local wage tax receipts would tally between $550,297 and $902,254 each year, RMUs study found.
State police say a western Pennsylvania man sexually assaulted one of two 12-year-old girls he enticed to meet him via Snapchat, according to media reports.

Evan Deckard, 26, of Bethel Park, Allegheny County, faces 14 charges, including sexual assault and indecent assault. Online court records show that he was being held in the Washington County Jail on Friday after failing to post $100,000 bail.

WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh reported that Deckard talked to the girls, who he knew were 12 years old, via Snapchat and an app called Wink and offered them vape pens in exchange for sexual favors.

Deckard drove to a street in Canton Township, Washington County, to meet one girl in March, the Washington Observer-Reporter reported. The girl said she felt uncomfortable and left.

However, Deckard returned to the township in April to meet the other girl and sexually assaulted her, according to the Observer-Reporter.

WPXI reported that the two planned to meet again because Deckard did not give her a vape pen as promised.

The station also reported that the mother of one girl tried to identify Deckard by printing and distributing flyers titled, I desperately need your help!

Deckards bail was initially set at $250,000 and then lowered to $100,000, court records show. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for July 18.
A Philadelphia man was convicted of murder Thursday in the death of a 3-year-old boy who died from complications two years after being shot, according to news sources.

Francisco Ortiz, 33, was found guilty of third-degree murder in the 2019 shooting of Yaseem Jenkins, who was shot in the back, the chest, and the buttocks during a botched drug deal in Philadelphias Hunting Park, according to reports from The Philadelphia Inquirer and NBC10.

Jenkins, then 11 months old, had been in the back seat of a car along the 700 block of West Luzerne Street on Oct. 19, 2019, when his father Nafes Monroe, who was a passenger, bought marijuana from Ortiz. When Ortiz realized that Monroe paid for the drugs with counterfeit money, he fired seven shots at the car as it drove away.

While Monroe was the intended target, the bullets struck Monroes young son instead, according to reports.

Monroe drove the boy to a home located on the 4900 block of North Camac Street, instead of taking him to the hospital, officials said. He then dropped his son off at Einstein Medical Center and left. The 11-month-old was then sent to St. Christophers Hospital in critical condition, NBC10 reported.

Monroe was also accused of using the child as a human shield while buying drugs.

Its our belief ... that he intentionally had his child with him when he was making such types of purchases with the idea or belief that if someone saw that he had a child in the car that they would not fire upon him, Anthony Voci Jr. said during a 2019 press conference.

Monroe has since been arrested and charged with reckless endangerment. Ortiz was also arrested at the time and was initially charged with aggravated assault, firearms violations and other related offenses, NBC10 reported.

Jenkins survived the shooting but was paralyzed and spent a year in the hospital as he recovered. Even though he was eventually discharged, he was never able to roll over, speak or eat. Unfortunately, Jenkins died on April 19, 2022, after choking on his feeding tube, the Inquirer reported.

Ortizs charges were then upgraded to murder a month later.

His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 13.

Read more via The Philadelphia Inquirer and NBC10.

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Police are investigating a string of robberies and abductions involving a group of teenagers or young men and a white U-Haul cargo van in Philadelphia, according to news sources.

At least three crimes have been reported between 3:40 a.m. and 5 a.m. this week, with the first incident occurring on Tuesday, according to reports from 6ABC and NBC10.

A woman was walking north along the 12000 block of Academy Road around 4:20 a.m. when four teenagers dressed in black clothing and wearing black ski masks robbed her at gunpoint and forced her into a white U-Haul van.

The woman was then punched in the face by one of the teens. She got out of the van when the driver of the vehicle pulled a gun and fired twice at her. Fortunately, she wasnt hit.

The second incident occurred less than an hour later that morning on the 6300 block of Roosevelt Boulevard in Oxford Circle, where a man was inside his 2011 black Mercedes Benz using a bank drive-thru when a white U-Haul van pulled up and blocked the exit path.

Two masked gunmen in their late teens to early 20s then came out of the vehicle and held him at gunpoint for money. But when the man was unable to withdraw money from the ATM, the robbers stole his vehicle and drove off.

The third and final incident was reported Thursday around 3:40 a.m. when a man was walking along the 9200 block of Delaware Avenue in the citys Torresdale neighborhood. A white U-Haul cargo van pulled up next to him and forced him into the vehicle at gunpoint. The victim was reportedly threatened to be killed if he didnt give them money.

The suspects then drove to a convenience store on the 9100 block of Frankford Avenue where the victim withdrew $300 from an ATM. When they attempted to get more money at another ATM, they were unsuccessful, according to reports.

The complainant was told to transfer money using a banking app. He called his mother to do so and she sent him an additional $300. His phone was taken and they fled in an unknown direction, authorities said to 6ABC.

So far, no arrests have been made.

The first suspect has been described as a Black man in his 20s with a brown complexion and hazel eyes that is between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-7, wearing all-black clothing and military-style boots.

The second suspect has been described as a dark-skinned and heavy-set man in his 20s that stands between 6-feet and 6-foot-1, wearing a gray Champion hoodie and black pants, according to NBC10.

The pattern is very similar. The individuals, the descriptions is similar, Philadelphia Police Inspector Matthew Gillespie said to NBC10. The area where its occurring is geographically close so were very concerned. We want to make sure the public is aware of it.

Police are urging residents to be cautious and on alert, and travel in groups.

Anyone with additional information on the suspects whereabouts is asked to contact Philadelphia Police.

Read More:
Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate on Friday doubled-down on the plan they laid out on Thursday night by passing a $45.5 billion budget that includes funding for a school voucher program.

That plan, as expected, met resistance in the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, meaning the state will enter the 2023-24 fiscal year, which begins Saturday, without a budget.
The Pennsylvania Senate is preparing to consider a $45.5 billion state budget plan on Friday that includes a historic $1.1 billion increase in education spending and could up the ante making it harder for House Democrats to oppose a proposed targeted school vouchers program it includes.

The Senate budget plan is said to be an agreed-to proposal that Gov. Josh Shapiro negotiated with the Senate Republican majority. It includes $100 million for a targeted school voucher bill dubbed the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success Scholarship Program, or PASS.

House Democratic leaders made it clear on Thursday evening after the Senate-passed standalone bill that provided for a voucher program, they would not support the plan and didnt have the votes in their caucus to support that measure.
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Washington. The conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court is ending its latest term with a fierce flurry of attacks on liberal values. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Mariam Zuhaib
President Yoon Suk-yeol carried out his first major reshuffle on Thursday, replacing two ministers and 13 vice ministers in the hope of pushing through key policies.

The new unification minster will be Kim Yung-ho, an expert in inter-Korean affairs at Sungshin Women's University. Current Korean ambassador to Thailand Moon Seong-hyun will be his deputy.

Former prosecutor Kim Hong-il has been named commissioner for Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights.

Five key vice ministerial positions are to be filled with incumbent presidential secretaries.

The cabinet shake-up is seen as a bid to improve the ruling parties chances in next year's general election as key officials reposition themselves to enter the race.

Presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye says the president asked his new appointees to break down corrupt power relations and interest groups that hurt the public interest.

As vice ministers can be appointed directly, they will take up their new roles from Monday, but the unification minister-designate will have to go through a parliamentary confirmation process.
Korea is making it tougher for foreigners to gain permanent residency amid reports that many Chinese people take advantage of the easy requirements to milk the public health system.

The Justice Ministry on Thursday said it has raised the investment barrier that qualifies foreigners for an F2 visa or one-year residence permit from W500 million to W1.5 billion (US$1=W1,318).

The decree takes immediate effect.

Previously any foreigner investing more than W500 million or the price of a condo in Korea received a residence permit or F-2 visa, consolidating into permanent residency or an F-5 visa if they maintain the investment for five years.

The barrier for immediate permanent residency has also risen from W1.5 billion to W3 billion with the promise of maintaining the investment for five years.

The government also scrapped a program that allowed foreigners over 55 to retire to Korea when they invest more than W300 million.

Brokers in China often recruit people to invest in Korea in return for residency, which gives them access to Korea's lavishly funded public health system and qualifies them to vote in local elections. According to ministry data, 70.8 percent of 1,799 foreigners who invested in Korea to obtain residence permits from 2018 to 2022 were Chinese.
The National Tax Service is training its laser sights on top private tutors who are treated like superstars for their supposed ability to drill students in acing the annual university entrance exam. The Fair Trade Commission meanwhile plans to look into false advertising by high-priced crammers that employ superstar tutors with nicknames such as "god of math" or "god of Korean language" for their skills in teaching shortcuts to difficult exam questions. The moves are part of the government's efforts to crack down on the lucrative private education industry that is bleeding parents dry and making young couples fearful of having children.

/Newsis

Some top private tutors earn more than the CEOs of top conglomerates from both online and offline classes and entrance-exam study guides. Hyun Woo-jin, the "god of math" at Megastudy, the leader in the online lecture market, said in 2017 that he paid W12 billion in income tax alone (US$1=W1,318). A video on social media shows Hyun wearing a W135 million watch while teaching. The NTS intends to look into suspicions that tutors failed to report earnings from their study guides and extra lessons. The NTS already targeted the owners of private crammers and top tutors in a special probe in April. One industry insider said, "Some top tutors who sell their study guides through the crammers that employ them collect the money in cash" to avoid tax.

/Yonhap

The FTC meanwhile believes that expensive crammers are taking unfair advantage of parents' anxieties in Korea's highly competitive educational environment, where they often give up on public schools entirely. "Some ads from crammers fan the anxieties of parents and students," FTC Chairman Han Ki-jeong said. "Excessive spending on private education is a huge financial burden on the whole of society, which prompted the FTC to monitor them in order to stimulate fair competition."
An exhausting second day of Event #65: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em 6-Handed has drawn to an end at the 2023 World Series of Poker. Another massive field was recorded for this event with a total of 1,199 entries, creating a prizepool of $5,046,200. There will be 48 players that still have a chance at glory by capturing the first-place prize of $938,244 and the WSOP gold bracelet.

After a prolonged Day 2 to this event, caused by the long late registration lines, the tournament staff agreed with the players to push back the restart of Day 3 to 1 p.m. local time. That didn't seem to phase the Brazilian contingent down the stretch, as they finished in the top two spots of the leaderboard. Vitor Dzivielevski edged out his countrymate Pedro Garagnani for the top spot heading into Day 3.

End of Day Top 10 Chip Counts

Rank Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Vitor Dzivielevski Brazil 3,425,000 137 2 Pedro Garagnani Brazil 3,220,000 129 3 Cody Jones United States 2,855,000 114 4 Chuanshu Chen China 2,520,000 101 5 Norbert Szecs i Hungary 2,345,000 94 6 Douglas Ferreira Brazil 2,135,000 85 7 Tyler Cornell United States 2,125,000 85 8 Georgios Sotiropoulos Greece 1,960,000 78 9 Danny Tang Hong Kong 1,940,000 78 10 Omar Lakhdari Algeria 1,845,000 74

Dzivielevski, the older brother of Yuri who has three WSOP titles to his name, is looking to make his first mark on the WSOP stage. The Brazilian had an upward trend throughout much of the day en route to bagging up a stack of 3,425,000 chips. Garagnani, on the other hand, came into the day with a sub-average stack but rallied late in the night to join the leaders. Garagnani can often be seen in the high-roller circuit throughout the year but is still looking for his breakout victory in his short career.

There were many former bracelet winners in the field and some of them were able to able to maneuver through the field and bag a healthy stack. Norbert Szecsi (2,345,000), Tyler Cornell (2,125,000), Danny Tang (1,940,000), Day 1 chip leader Yuliyan Kolev (1,540,000), Ryan Leng (1,425,000), and Scott Seiver (615,000) will all be looking to add to their collection over the next couple of days.

Danny Tang

It was a delayed start to the afternoon as over 100 late entries showed up at the crack of noon which halted play for at least 40 minutes. When the cards finally went in the air on Day 2, there was a total of 1,199 entries and just shy of 500 players still remaining.

Many of the new entries were the first to hit the rail as a starting stack was only worth 20 big blinds at this point. The field was quickly thinning out through the opening couple of levels with only 180 players getting paid. That number would be reached just after the second break and it came in a hurry. As the dealers were told to finish the hand they were on and hold up, there were multiple eliminations that took place. No hand-for-hand was necessary as the field was trimmed to the necessary number to reach the money.

It was a mad dash to the payout desk following the bubble burst, as many of the short stacks were unable to spin it up. Some of the early notables bowing out of the event included Eric Wasserson, Stephen Song, Ryan Laplante, and a couple of Germans who have been absent from the poker scene as of late. Rainer Kempe and Steffen Sontheimer have been known to compete at the highest stakes in poker but have not been in the live tournament scene for some time. Both players managed to squeak into the money but were unable to make a deep run.

Steffen Sontheimer

Phil Ivey was attempting to make another deep run and have a chance at adding to his WSOP bracelet collection as he quietly went about his business. Ivey was one of the players to take advantage of the late registration on Day 2 and managed to 10x his stack at one point. However, in one of the last levels of the night, Ivey's pocket jacks were defeated by a big blind special that flopped two pair, sending the 10-time bracelet winner to the rail.

The fast-paced action continued throughout the day right up until the final hands of the night. The field was dwindled down to just 48 players after another 10 levels were played on Day 2, and they will be returning with an average stack of around 50 big blinds.

The remaining 48 players will return to the felt at 1:00 p.m. local on June 30 and play down to the final table, where the winner will be crowned on Saturday afternoon. The action will be resuming on Level 21 with the blinds at 10,000/25,000 and a 25,000 big blind ante.

Each player has already locked up at least $16,261 thus far, but the pay jumps will become more significant as the tournament progresses.

The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to bring you all of the action as it unfolds en route to crowning a champion in the coming days.
On the 32nd day of the 2023 World Series of Poker, nine players are returning to Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas to battle it out for the first-place prize of $228,632 and some more bounties in Event #68: $1,000 Super Turbo Bounty. The tournament collected 2,854 entries on the first day to create a total prize pool of $2,513,360.

Returning at 2 p.m. PDT, Brazil's Gabriel Schroeder will start the day with a chip lead of 13,675,000, worth 46 big blinds. He is joined by Jordan Jayne and Elson Lima in the top three at the start of the day. Daniel Lowery, Joel Wertheimer, Jose Brito, Ryan Goindoo, Andy Black, and Jonathan Akiba complete the line-up for today's final table.

$1,000 Super Turbo Bounty Final Table Seat Draw

Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Andy Black Ireland 2,600,000 9 2 Gabriel Schroeder Brazil 13,675,000 46 3 Joel Wertheimer United States 4,125,000 14 4 Elson Lima United States 9,000,000 30 5 Jordan Jayne United States 12,100,000 40 6 Daniel Lowery United States 6,525,000 22 7 Ryan Goindoo Trinidad & Tobago 3,000,000 10 8 Jonathan Akiba United States 2,475,000 8 9 Jose Brito Portugal 3,750,000 13

All players have secured at least $21,340. Schroeder's biggest WSOP cash came when he finished in 11th place in Event #15: $1,500 6-Handed No-Limit Holdem earlier this summer for $36,799. Jayne's biggest cash in a WSOP tournament was in the 2021 WSOP Main Event for $30,000 for finishing in 382nd place.

The more familiar players with significant cashes in the WSOP branded events at the final table are Black ($2.5 million), 13-time WSOP Circuit Ring winner Lowery ($1.6 million), and Goindoo ($449,972). In comparison, it looks like this will be Wertheimer's first WSOP cash ever.

Remaining Payouts

Place Prize 1 $228,632 2 $141,298 3 $105,337 4 $79,142 5 $59,929 6 $45,741 7 $35,191 8 $27,293 9 $21,340

When play resumes, they will start in Level 33 at blinds of 150,000/300,000 with 600,000 big blind ante. The level duration will remain at 20 minutes throughout the day until a winner is found.

PokerNews will be there from the moment the bags are opened until the bracelet has been awarded so make sure to follow along with all the updates.
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The hacktavists over at the Supreme Court are busy today looking to destroy more of the American way of life by striking down affirmative action, which is ironic as heck because Clarence Thomas himself said of race conscious admission policies, But for them (affirmative-action laws), God only knows where I would be today. These laws and their proper application are all that stand between the first 17 years of my life and the second 17 years.

The ACLU explained:

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear two cases concerning affirmative action today. If the court strikes down affirmative action  also known as race-conscious admissions policies  it would make it unconstitutional for universities across the country to consider a students race as one factor in a holistic admissions review process. The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Massachusetts, and ACLU of North Carolina filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold universities ability to consider race in college admissions earlier this year.

Clarence Thomas life is a perfect example of what affirmative action was meant to do (until he decided that only he should be allowed to benefit). He grew up dirt poor. In the 1994 The Higher Education of Clarence Thomas by Jane Mayer and Jill Abramson*: He saw himself as stigmatized rather than helped by race-conscious aid, an analysis that no doubt reflected the emotional pain he felt but that again overlooked the advantages he had enjoyed  such as his admission to St. John Vianney, Immaculate Conception, and Holy Cross in the first place. The resentment Thomas felt toward he helping hand he grasped set him apart from a number of other minority students at the time many of whom didnt care as much about others perception of how they had gotten there.

They describe Thomas as feeling he had never gotten enough acceptance, which caused some friends to wonder if the problem wasnt more internal than external.

So the gist of this is that Thomas is what he projects onto others. He was so angry about being seen as someone who benefited unfairly from affirmative action that he began to hate the mechanism that saved him, and to seek  out of what seems like emotional pathology  to deny anyone else the same helping hand.

The contradiction and hypocrisy is so blatant, but it is hardly new. Back in 1995, Seattle Times published a piece laying it out, entitled Clarence Thomas: Poster Boy For Affirmative Action:

THERE is something unseemly about a guy who has just built a house on the beach and is now leading the charge to stop all further beach-front construction.



Or a beneficiary of affirmative-action programs who climbs the ladder of success by attacking affirmative action.

That kind of unseemliness was demonstrated this month by Justice Clarence Thomas. But few reporters took note  even though it should be the medias job to spotlight hypocrisy.

Thomas cast the deciding vote in the Supreme Courts 5-to-4 decision to narrow federal affirmative-action programs. But Thomas went beyond even fellow conservatives on the bench  he argued for an immediate end to affirmative action.

Theres an obvious contradiction here: Clarence Thomas benefited enormously from the kind of affirmative-action programs he now seeks to kill.

Yes, Thomas has been trying to shut the door on Black people behind him for decades. It took white supremacist-appeasing Donald Trump to stack the court so Clarence Thomas could finally spit on those below who seek to climb the same ladder as he did.

In fact, it seems Thomas is on this very court because he OPPOSED the civil rights movement. His opposition, while being Black, led to two civil-rights posts in the Reagan White House and President Bush, who also opposed the Civil Rights Act, then chose Clarence Thomas to fill Thurgood Marshalls seat on the Supreme Court.

Since the early 1980s, Thomas career soared thanks to a perverse form of racial preference. It was his race, as Thomas has admitted, that got him two civil-rights posts in the Reagan White House; the jobs came because he opposed the civil-rights movement. So did his boss, President Ronald Reagan, whose opposition dated back to the years of Martin Luther King Jr.

President Bush  who, like Reagan, had opposed the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act  later chose Thomas to fill the Supreme Court seat of civil-rights legend Thurgood Marshall, the only other African American to sit on the highest court.

By being so against civil rights and affirmative action, Thomas is also giving the white elite establishment types what we now call pick me energy. This is like the cool girl who hates other women being chosen as the token woman for anti-womens rights campaign. (Also visible on this same court in handmaid type religion Amy Coney Barrett.)

If Thomas Clarence werent so singularly destructive of our democracy and so corruptly grabbing power not his to take  including refusing to recuse himself on cases involving his own wifes attack on our country  he would be someone compelling of a certain kind of sad empathy. Not pity. No, not pity.

But its understandable that anyone who fights so hard to get ahead and feels they never fit in has a bristly vibe. Thomas worked hard for his degrees. He came from nothing. Its an accomplishment.

However, what he has also taken with him in his rise to the top is a seething resentment against those he feels wronged him wayyyyy back in his college years. He seems to identify those people as liberals. He did in the 90s, at any rate, tell his law clerks he wanted to serve for 43 years to make liberals lives miserable.

Well played, rage monster.

Thomas is free to get his hate on and be emotionally unstable to this degree, but theres a big problem: According to the American Bar Association, judicial temperament means that a judge exhibits compassion, decisiveness, open-mindedness, sensitivity, courtesy, patience, freedom from bias and commitment to equal justice.' BallotPedia explains.

These traits are MIA in Thomas, though reports are hes civil to his colleagues, but Id argue they arent the people impacted by his decisions and Thomas is not civil to half the country, so this seems like an attempt to make his mission to make other peoples lives much worse more palatable.

The man who refuses to cede any ground, including the most obvious conflicts of interest, as he serves as a justice on the highest court in the land is also motivated by petty vindictiveness against half the country and seeks to hold down other minorities lest anyone look down on him for getting help.

Is this man fit to be a judge anywhere in America? His temperament says not, his actions say definitely not, and his irrational, decades-long tour of palpable vindictive spite agree most definitely not.

*Mayer, Jane, and Jill Abramson. The Higher Education of Clarence Thomas. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 6, 1994, pp. 95100. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2962477. Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.
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Special Counsel Jack Smith is reportedly ready to indict Rudy Giuliani and other Trump lawyers for alleged crimes.

The Independent reported, It is understood that Mr Smiths team is ready to bring charges against several of the attorneys who have worked for Mr Trump, including those who aided the ex-president in his push to ignore the will of voters and remain in the White House despite having lost the 2020 election. One of those figures is Mr Trumps erstwhile personal attorney, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

If this report is accurate, it will contextualize Giulianis recent voluntary meetings with federal prosecutors. Rudy Giuliani might be talking to the feds as part of a deal to get a lesser charge that would not result in jail time. Giuliani was the coordinator of the fake elector plot.

If they come to be, the charges for Trumps lawyers will almost definitely be related to the fake elector plot. The Trump campaign filed forged papers with the federal government naming a slate of fake Trump electors for several swing states that President Biden won. The filing of the documents was a federal crime.

However, there could also be charges related to the Trump lawyers efforts to overturn election results at the state level by pressuring election officials. A third layer to the potential criminality is the 1/6 attack on the Capitol.

If Jack Smith charges Trumps lawyers and they start flipping on him, there could be a whole new round of legal charges that would kill any dreams that Trump has of returning to the White House.
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Trump predicted that Fulton County, GA District Attorney Fani Willis would drop the charges against him, but the former president hasnt been charged yet.

Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, I predict that the Racist District Attorney in Atlanta, with the per capita WORST crime record in the Country, Fani Willis, where murderers get away with murder, and are seldom charged and almost never prosecuted, will be dropping all charges against me for lack of a case. I made a PERFECTLY LEGAL PHONE CALL, AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ABOUT AN ELECTION THAT I STRONGLY FEEL WAS RIGGED AND STOLLEN. NONE of the MANY LAWYERS on the call minded my words, or even hinted at wrongdoing. SCAM!

That is a bold prediction by Trump considering that he hasnt been charged yet, and Willis has given no indication that she will charge the one-term president in public.

Does Trump know something that the rest of the country doesnt?

Why is he preemptively trying to spin and get out ahead of charges that havent been filed yet?

The odds are that Trump knows he will be criminally charged in Georgia.

According to DA Williss timeline, charges could be coming for Trump and his accomplices sometime in August.

Trump is already about Georgia, and the former president has never been very clever if Trump is talking about Fani Willis, that is a sure signal that criminal charges are coming soon.
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 94F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 73F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
But it has now agreed postpone it again, according to industry sources on Thursday.

The commission originally planned to announce its decision by July 5 but postponed it to Aug. 3 as it asked Korean Air to submit fresh documents to address monopoly concerns resulting from the merger.

The EU Commission has delayed the deadline to approve Korean Air's takeover of Asiana Airlines at the request of the Korean carrier.

Korean Air had until last Friday to submit proposals that would alleviate concerns of a monopoly on certain routes due to the merger with Asiana. But the carrier requested more time to prepare them.

"To address monopoly concerns, it is necessary to coordinate with various stakeholders, but the summer vacation has begun in Europe and we don't have time to deal with all the practical details," Korean Air said. "So we asked for more time and the EU commission agreed. We will need about two more months."

The airline is considering ceding some takeoff and landing slots at European airports after the merger and looking for a carrier that could take over Asiana's.

The commission earlier flagged concerns that the merger would "reduce competition in the provision of passenger transport services on four routes between [Korea] and France, Germany, Italy and Spain" and cargo services between "all of Europe and [Korea]."
Aiken County residents looking to enjoy barbecue for July 4 have several options.

For clarity's sake: In the South, the word "barbecue" refers to meat, usually pulled pork, smoked for several hours and served with sauce. The word does not mean the activity, also known as a cookout, of gathering for hamburgers and hot dogs in one's backyard or the device, also known as a grill, used to prepare those hamburgers and hot dogs.

The Pot Smoker BBQ

651 Silver Bluff Road, Aiken; 803-226-0941 and 340 Edgefield Road, North Augusta; 803-279-2271

Owner Philip Pye said the Aiken Pot Smoker's barbecue is hickory smoked for around 20 hours. He added the restaurant offers five sauces including an Alabama white sauce that includes mayonnaise.

He said there are a variety of sides available, the most popular of which is the hash and rice.

The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on July 4th.

Shane's Rib Shack

2645 Whiskey Rd., Aiken; 803-226-0192

Shane's Rib Shack is a franchise restaurant based in Georgia. The company's website describes its sauce as a mix of tomato, vinegar and mustard sauces.

Bobbys Bar-B-Q Buffet

1897 Jefferson Davis Highway, Warrenville; 803-593-5900

Owner Bobby Griffin said his restaurant serves a combination of South Carolina (mustard-based) and Georgia (tomato-based) sauces. He added the restaurant's sides are made using unique recipes.

Griffin said the restaurant will be open from 9 a.m. until they run of food for take out only. He advised potential patrons to arrive as early as possible.

Carolina Bar-B-Que

109 Main St., New Ellenton; 803-652-2919

Owner Thomas Zeigler said his restaurant uses fresh, never frozen pork.

He said his restaurant offers two types of sauce: a mustard/pepper sauce "with a little kick" and a tomato-based sauce. He added those sauces are prepared fresh every morning.

Zeigler said the restaurant's sides are prepared using recipes dating from the 1960s.

He added the restaurant will be closed the week of July 4th, but the restaurant will be open for bulk orders from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

BBQ Barn

10298 Atomic Road, North Augusta; 803-378-7202

Owner Jody Glover said BBQ Barn hickory smokes its barbecue for 20 hours and offers five different kinds of sauces including its signature Georgia red sauce that's vinegar-based, a more traditional red sauce, a spicy red sauce, a classic Carolina gold sauce and a spicy version.

He added the restaurant would be open early on July 4 and be open until it ran out of food.

Freeman's Bar-B-Que

1060 Sand Bar Ferry Road, Beech Island; 802-627-1623

Owner James Freeman said his restaurant uses fresh, never frozen meat. He said the hogs that become meat in his restaurant are going "oink oink" on Monday and are served as barbecue on Thursday.

Freeman said the restaurant will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 3 and from 9 a.m. until they run out of food on July 4.
COLUMBIA  As the Medical University of South Carolinas health system continues its expansion across the Palmetto State, well beyond its Charleston base, its financial strategy will be focused on spending money to add the doctors and services necessary for its ballooning enterprise.

In its capital budget for the 2024 fiscal year, which starts July 1, MUSC's governing board is expected to set aside $23 million for its most recent hospital purchase, MUSC Hospital Authority finance chief Lisa Goodlett reported at the university and hospital authority's joint budget meeting June 30.

The acquisition of Orangeburg Regional Medical Center, announced in February, brought the health system's total to 15 hospitals. County officials and state legislators took over the struggling Midlands provider, which took a hit during the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Patrick Cawley, CEO of MUSC Health, told The Post and Courier in February.

Caley also said MUSC is investing "millions" on additional equipment and doctors at the Orangeburg facility, adding to the hospital's obstetrics, oncology, cardiology and orthopedics departments.

As the hospital arm of the state's largest medical university expands its statewide reach, operating expenses for the hospital authority are expected to increase more than $500 million over the level during the prior financial year, Goodlett reported.

Even with the added expense, MUSC Health still expects a 1.5 percent positive margin of revenues over expenses, after contributions to pensions, which is consistent with its 2023 numbers.

MUSCs major expansion outside of its Charleston base, where it had been contained for nearly 200 years, started with the acquisition of four community hospitals in 2019. Today it has medical centers in Lancaster, Florence, Marion, Chester, Columbia, Camden and Lake City, in addition to Orangeburg.

Since purchasing the former Providence Hospital in downtown Columbia, for example, Cawley said MUSC has hired 54 more doctors and 64 advanced practitioners. Providence and its affiliated Midlands area hospitals employed some 2,000 workers when MUSC took them over.

On the university side, the medical school is expected to generate $1 billion in revenue for the first time in its history, said MUSC chief facilities officer Patrick Wamsley, who classified the school's performance as "stable and consistent."

MUSC has continued to see a bump in its student count, especially in its health profession and nursing programs. It has prompted major investments in the Charleston campus, including a new $70 million Health Professions building and a $200 million College of Medicine building.

Together, the university and hospital system is projected to spend $6 billion on operations, a 17.6 percent increase over 2023.
Columbia, SC (29201)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 96F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph.
MURRELLS INLET  Normal activities resumed at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital about an hour and a half after a bomb threat was called into security staff on the morning of June 30.

Georgetown County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jason Lesley said hospital security received a call from an as of yet unidentified man around 8 a.m. on June 30 claiming that there was a bomb in the 124-bed hospital. Sheriff's deputies responded, but no explosives were found in a "detailed and careful" sweep of the building.

Visitor access was restricted temporarily, but Lesley said staff and patients remained in the building.

An investigation is ongoing into the telephoned threat.
GREENVILLE  Garver, a multi-discipline engineering and environmental services firm, is opening a new Water Design Center in Greenville that is expected to create close to 100 new jobs in the downtown area.

The Water Design Centers main focus is complex water and wastewater design. Garver describes them as a place where academia, industry, research and application come together.

Garver has already hired 25 employees in the area and is expecting to expand to between 30 to 40 by the end of the year. Greenville office director Chris Gatling said he expected to expand the facility into Two Liberty Square this October. The completed office is expected to bring in both transfers and new hires as it approaches the end goal of 100 employees.

The new Greenville office is hoping to support new and existing water and wastewater clients in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama.

Our in-person collaboration and small teams approach delivers expertise and creativity necessary for each project," Gatling said. "And it means that we offer more mentoring, leadership, and growth opportunities to team members, making our operation nimble and more effective overall which ultimately benefits the client.

Greenville County Council Chairman Dan Tripp expressed his excitement for Garver to establish new offices downtown, saying that Greenvilles unique community is what provides the primary draw for big national organizations like Garver to choose the upstate.

GarverGives, the firms corporate giving program, focuses on encouraging local STEM education and home communities through grants, and employee giving. Since 2015, GarverGives has invested more than $1.6 million in funding for local involvement.

Garver was founded in 1919 and is an employee-owned firm with more than 1,200 employees stationed in the U.S. In addition to water and wastewater design, they also provide services focused on aviation, buildings and construction, enterprise solutions, surveying and transportation.

Garver is listed among the top 100 in Engineering News-Records Top 500 Design firms and has been consistently recognized as a Best Firm to Work for.
When it comes to the work-from-home movement, Greenville is something of a contradiction. Many of the multi-million-dollar lake and mountain homes outside the city are occupied by wealthy transplants who were freed to work from anywhere during the pandemic. But nearer to downtown, Greenville Read moreWill County Square redevelopment ease downtown Greenvilles office crunch?
Kingstree, SC (29556)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 96F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms in the evening. Partly cloudy skies overnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
As a result, Asiana Airlines has been unable to hire new workers or buy more aircraft.

Airlines around the world are seeing surges in earnings since the end of the coronavirus pandemic. But Asiana Airlines' woes are deepening as Korean Air's takeover attempt is being held up by various governments around the world that have to approve it.

"We cannot accept a mere 2.5 percent raise after a record operating profit of W733.5 billion last year," the pilots' union said (US$1=W1,318). But management said financial conditions remain tight as Asiana Airlines waits to be taken over by Korean Air.

Pilots of Asiana Airlines have been staging a go-slow delaying takeoffs since June 8 in a dispute over wages. They are demanding a 10 percent hike in salaries even though the carrier is broke, but the airline is offering only a 2.5 percent raise.

Established in 1988, Asiana Airlines became Korea's second airline in an industry that had been monopolized by Korean Air, alleviating a chronic shortage of seats and stirring competition to improve inflight service. But Asiana Airlines began suffering from a cash shortage after 2010, compounded by declining earnings and increased competition from budget carriers. It was put up for sale in 2019.

State-run Korea Development Bank, the main creditor, announced the takeover bid from Korean Air in November 2020. So far, 11 countries have given the merger the green light, but the U.S., EU and Japan have not yet made their final decision and demanded Korean Air alleviate monopoly concerns.

The merger cannot be completed if only one of the three objects.

As the process dragged on, Asiana Airlines has been unable to improve its financial condition. It managed to achieve a record operating profit last year thanks to surging demand for cargo transport, but its debts are sky-high and it paid W170 billion in interest payments alone.

In the first half of this year, operating profit halved on-year to W92.5 billion, while its debt-to-equity ratio soared from 1,780 percent in the previous quarter to 2,013 percent.

Korean Air and budget carriers have been buying new aircraft to deal with soaring travel demand since the pandemic ended, but Asiana Airlines' hands are tied.

Even if the merger is approved, Asiana Airlines could end up relinquishing a large portion of routes and takeoff and landing slots as demanded by the U.S., EU and other countries. The U.K. authorized the merger in March on condition that Asiana Airlines cedes seven slots at London's Heathrow Airport to Virgin Atlantic, while China demanded the carrier hand over nine slots.

Asiana Airlines currently operates 43 flights on five routes to the U.S. and 24 flights on five routes to mainland Europe. If the merger is approved, most of them will go.

If it falls through, Asiana Airlines faces an uncertain fate amid intensifying competition from low-cost carriers and costly long-term leases of aircraft. At present, 51 out of 78 aircraft operated by Asiana Airlines are leased, while Korean Air owns around 70 percent of the 156 aircraft in its stable.
Being a person with a disability and graduating from school can mean the sudden loss of a support network meant to help people achieve independence. A nonprofit created by former public educators and private therapists aims to fill that gap between school and employment.

Be the Change Charleston started after Halie Tumblestone, 30, and Shaina Bermudez, 31, who went to College of Charleston together and later worked side-by-side in special education in area public school, grew frustrated at the bureaucracy surrounding their jobs. The red tape left them feeling as if their students weren't given the the priority they deserve, said Tumblestone.

Together, they hope to provide the employment support they said is lacking for people with disabilities. Founded in 2019 and beginning operation in 2022, the group has helped its members receive their driver's licenses, develop interviewing and budgeting skills, and find jobs.

In honor of its one year of work, the nonprofit will host its first Employment through Empowerment Celebration from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on July 8 at Beyond Distilling Co., 2157 Rich St. Suite 203 in North Charleston. So far, Tumblestone and Bermudez have helped four people with the free individualized employment program that is funded through local donations, merchandise sales and family foundations.

"I feel like theres a constant need in the Charleston area for advocacy and raising awareness of the abilities of people with disabilities," said Amy Hatten, a 37-year-old Charleston resident who Be the Change helped with job searching.

South Carolina has long ranked among the worst states in the nation for employing people with disabilities, according to U.S. Census Bureau data compiled by the Institute of Disability at the University of New Hampshire. The employment inequality is why Tumblestone and Bermudez created their nonprofit, said Tumblestone.

About 14 percent of South Carolina's approximate 5.2 million population identify as having some form of disability, according to the 2023 Annual Disability Statistic Compendium. More than half of the state's about 730,000 residents with disabilities are of employment age. Of the some 370,000 residents with disabilities who are of working age, only about 36 percent are employed.

Be the Change chose Beyond Distilling because of its commitment to advancing employment opportunities and equality for people with disabilities. Kerianne Krause, co-owner of the distillery, came from a similar background as Tumblestone and Bermudez, and hosting the event was a natural fit. All of Krause's 32 employees have some sort of disability, and she played a key role in pushing South Carolina lawmakers to close the legal loophole that allowed employers to pay people with disabilities subminimum wages.

The event on July 8 will feature booths for employers, resources and other support services, as well as food trucks, a jump castle and additional activities.

The celebration at the distillery is part of Disability Pride Month and a broader series of events this year in conjunction with disability organizations HEART Inclusive Arts Community and Disability Pride SC. Disability Pride Month is an observance of the history, successes and challenges of this community in the United States. President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law on July 26, 1990.

Hatten, who is blind, went to Tumblestone and Bermudez this year after she left her job because she said she faced significant accessibility challenges at work. The nonprofit helped her rebuild her resume, look over her cover letter and apply for jobs. Hatten has a master's degree in clinical rehabilitation counselling and has done similar work to Be the Change. She now has a job as an intake specialist at Neighbors Together in North Charleston.

"I felt really defeated," said Hatten. "When I found Be the Change, they provided the positive support and encouragement I needed to not give up hope that I can find employment that is meaningful to me."

For Hatten, the help from Be the Change gave her reassurance about her past employment in disability advocacy and support.

"There are people in life that are out there, are able to and willing to support those with disabilities," said Hatten. "And, they believe in those people with disabilities, that they can continue living their life through meaningful employment."

Employment doesn't mean an end to the nonprofit's individualized employment program. One of the core principles of the nonprofit is community, and Tumblestone and Bermudez stick with their clients after they land a job and continue to offer support as they navigate their workplaces. The program can vary from client to client, with sessions taking place in-person or online. Everything the nonprofit tackles is based on what their clients tell them they need, ranging from therapy to how to make friends to daily living skills and job readiness skills.

In one instance, they even accompanied one client to a job interview at a Publix.

Employment is at the center, but its not the only thing we support them with," said Tumblestone.

Diana Gray, another client of the nonprofit, has had jobs before at summer camps and property management companies. But, the support she received in school didn't have the depth she needed for building life skills in the one-on-one, interactive manner Be the Change focuses on.

Gray, a 26-year-old Goose Creek resident, has a nonspecific learning disability. She struggles to ask for help when she needs. Tumblestone and her have worked on a document she carries with her when she needs help. She has had jobs before, but Tumblestone has helped her work on lasting interviewing and job searching skills. She's waiting for a call back on a job now.

"Theres not been really resources like this, which I think there should be more resources like this," said Gray. "Its a life changer, and it helps everybody in the long run."
CBS News "Sunday Morning" plans to profile The Post and Courier-led Uncovered project on July 2, highlighting the newspaper and its partner efforts to expose corruption and questionable government conduct throughout South Carolina.

The Post and Courier launched the project in 2021 with a handful of print media partners. It has since grown to include a network of 19 community newspapers from every corner of the Palmetto State.

The project produced more than 70 stories to date, spawning reform initiatives and at least 10 state investigations and audits in the process.

In doing so, the ongoing series highlighted the vital role newspapers play as watchdogs of taxpayer dollars and democracy.

Venerable journalist Ted Koppel, a senior contributor for "Sunday Morning," traveled to South Carolina this spring to interview people involved with the effort, including Pierre Manigault, chairman of the board of directors for Evening Post Publishing, Inc., the parent company of The Post and Courier.

Also interviewed were senior projects reporter Tony Bartelme, watchdog editor Glenn Smith and representatives from partner papers.

"We are so pleased that CBS is highlighting the work of The Post and Courier," P.J. Browning, president and publisher of The Post and Courier, said. "We have the same struggles as other newspapers as we reinvent our business model in a digital world. What sets us apart is the unwavering support of our owner and the importance of local journalism in the communities we serve."

"Sunday Morning," hosted by Jane Pauley, is a weekend morning show that unfolds at a different pace, allowing correspondents to offer longer segments on a variety of topics, from architecture to ballet to music to pop culture to politics.

The segment on Uncovered is expected to air during the July 2 broadcast, which begins at 9 a.m. and can be found in Charleston on WCSC-TV, in Columbia on WLTX-TV and in Greenville on WSPA-TV.

Among other reports, the Uncovered project exposed how officials steered business to themselves and their partners, and how others spent hundreds of thousands of public dollars on junkets.

It also revealed how a pharma company paid state staffers who regulated one of its businesses, and exposed a massive problem with mold in South Carolinas public universities.

The project has been honored with a National Headliner Award and several awards from the South Carolina Press Association.
It was disappointing to see Lexington County School District 1 settle the lawsuit last week that claimed without any support that it was teaching controversial concepts about race and gender that are barred by S.C. law.

Not because we think school districts should teach kids that theyre inherently inferior (or superior) based on their race or sex, or that they ought to feel guilty about the actions of other people of their race or gender  which is essentially what state law prohibits schools from doing. They absolutely should not.

Not because we think government should squander money fighting lawsuits just for bragging rights, which in one sense is all this lawsuit was about.

And certainly not because we like to see policy matters settled by lawsuit. Indeed, it is our disdain for that practice that makes this settlement disappointing.

As we noted when the S.C. Houses Freedom Caucus filed the lawsuit last year, this was clearly a harassment suit: Even if you believed that everything the freedom fighters alleged in their complaint was true  and thats a dubious assumption  the district still wouldnt have been violating state law.

It would have been violating a law that the small group of radical malcontents wishes South Carolina had, a law the caucus tried unsuccessfully again this year to pass, but not S.C. law. S.C. law doesn't prohibit teachers from having students read books by black authors as well as white authors, for instance, or with mostly black main characters, as the consultant EL Education favors.

And the settlement created the impression  buttressed by a clearly erroneous national news report based on the caucus unvetted, exaggerated claims  that the district had been violating the law and the caucus had forced it to stop.

None of that would have been a big problem if this were an isolated incident. Indeed, we might have applauded the settlement in that case, because Superintendent Gerrita Postlewait  formerly of the Charleston County School District  had completely appropriate reasons to settle: It became clear that the caucus was on a fishing expedition and that the district was going to have to divert huge amounts of money away from the classroom in order to find and produce requested documents and fight the lawsuit.

Additionally, the district didnt have a vested interest in winning the suit, since it wasnt violating state law and all the settlement required it to do was stop contracting with a consulting group (something school districts spend way too much money doing in the first place, regardless of the topic) that might have at least one rogue employee. We cant say for sure about the employee whom the caucus surreptitiously recorded talking about how ED Education works to circumvent state law, because the caucus edited the recording.

Moreover, the district didnt have to admit to any wrongdoing or pay anything to the plaintiffs, which is often a good indication that it wasnt doing anything wrong.

The problem with settling this case is that this wasnt an isolated incident. The caucus has filed a similar lawsuit against the Charleston County district, and its been threatening governments throughout the state with other lawsuits that would similarly make dubious claims of state law violations.

So it would have been good for our society for the caucus to be forced to prove that its allegations were true, and that what it alleged was against state law, neither of which would have been easy if even possible.

What would not be good is for the caucus to succeed in its effort to use this settlement to scare other governmental bodies into changing their policies based on what its members wish state law says.

Also not good would be for the settlement to cause teachers in Lexington 1 or anywhere else to conclude that their superintendent and principal are ready to roll over to extremists and that there is therefore too great a chance that theyll get in trouble if they teach things that state law clearly allows and even encourages them to teach but that generate harassment, threats or lawsuits. When that happens, a small minority of fringe legislators is able to effectively change our laws without actually changing them.

So its even more important now for state and local agencies to fight back against any such intimidation by letting the public know whenever the caucus or anyone else tries to intimidate them based on what they wish state law said. Thats really the only way we have to reduce the chance that critics are quietly enforcing a law that our Legislature refuses to pass.

Click here for more opinion content from The Post and Courier.
LANCASTER COUNTY  A Costco is coming to Indian Land, the first location of the popular warehouse store in the a rapidly-growing South Carolina communities near Charlotte.

The Lancaster County Council in June voted for a rezoning of 28 acres on U.S. 521 south of S.C. Highway 160, also known as Fort Mill Highway for construction of a Costco store.

Charlotte developer Crosland Southeast has been clearing property for a project called the Exchange at Indian Land, which will include residential properties and other retailers, as well as the Costco, across 130 acres.

It would be Lancaster's first warehouse retailer along the lines of BJ's or Sam's Club.

"Certainly it's something people are excited about," said John McCain, CEO of the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce. "People want the convenience of having it close and not having to drive to Charlotte to go to Costco."

The nearest Costco to Fort Mill and Indian Land around 10 miles away in Charlotte. The Indian Land location would be just a few miles away from the York County line and five miles from downtown Fort Mill. The areas are among the fast-growing in the state, according to Census Bureau data.

York County does not have a Costco. Costco has six locations in South Carolina, including two in the Upstate, two around Charleston and one each in Columbia and Myrtle Beach.

"Fort Millians are right down the road from it on Highway 160," said Dean Faile, CEO of the York County Regional Chamber of Commerce. "I don't expect to see a lot of people from Rock Hill making the trip since there's a Sam's Club there. But it is good to see that tax money will stay in South Carolina rather than go across the state line."

Yates Dunaway, senior vice president for Crosland Southeast, said at a Lancaster County Council meeting on June 12 that the proposed Costco could have $1 million property tax benefit along with a $2.6 million in sales tax revenue. The latter is based on an expected $200 million in annual sales, he said.

"Indian Land in northern Lancaster is our hot property," McCain said. "It's enjoying from Charlotte's expansion. There's tremendous residential activity along 521 and Costco will have a pull regionally as well."
Industry insiders here complain that the U.S. cities have made a political decision to shift their own responsibility to foreign carmakers. They say if GM or Ford were in a similar position, they would never have been targeted with such a barrage of lawsuits, and the hidden plan is simply to thwart their burgeoning U.S. sales.

Hyundai and Kia argue there is nothing wrong with their cars, and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also said earlier this week that the case does not warrant a recall.

Eighteen major U.S. cities such as Baltimore, New York and Seattle are suing the automakers for causing a public nuisance and enabling a "spiraling epidemic" of car thefts by joyriders.

Hyundai and Kia are embroiled in a massive lawsuit in the U.S. as older models with a mechanical key instead of an electronic fob have been targeted for bizarre TikTok-driven "theft challenges."

Targets for theft challenges are cars with no engine immobilizer, which stall the engine if a car is hotwired. In the U.S., there are some 9 million Elantras (Avantes in Korea), Sonatas and Venues made before November 2021 that do not have an engine immobilizer.

The criminal game of Hyundai and Kia thefts is being fueled by TikTok or YouTube challenges. Hyundai and Kia have kept pointing out that the anti-theft device is available as an option, so its absence cannot be seen as a fault of the manufacturer.

The plaintiffs claim that thefts are on the rise because the automakers make their cars too easy to steal, and now American taxpayers' money is wasted cracking down on joyriders.

The automakers' "decisions to reduce costs, and thereby boost profits, by foregoing common anti-theft technology have resulted in an epidemic of thefts," New York city said in its suit.

But there is no U.S. law that makes it mandatory to install an engine immobilizer. According to annual reports on car thefts by the U.S. National Insurance Crime Bureau, Hyundai and Kia are not even in the top 10 in terms of numbers of stolen cars, where American cars such as Fords or GMs rank high. "The blame lies with the spread of videos about theft challenges on TikTok and YouTube, but only Hyundai and Kia are blamed," an insider said.

Korean carmakers mutter darkly of a conspiracy to stall their U.S. sales. Last year, Hyundai took third place in global rankings with sales of 6.84 million cars and came third in the U.S. electric vehicle market after Tesla and Ford.

Last month, Hyundai and Kia agreed to pay US$200 million in settlement of a class action suit over vehicles without engine immobilizers and now they face even more legal costs.
As I predicted, colleges are determined to defy the Supreme Courts ruling today. Harvards new president issued a statement about how this is a hard day, along with a signal that they stand ready to find a workaround:

I guess they missed this part of Robertss opinion:

Despite the dissents assertion to the contrary, universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today. (A dissenting opinion is generally not the best source of legal advice on how to comply with the majority opinion.)

Meanwhile, let the underlined sentence here sink in:

Now tell me who the racist is.

Chaser:

Many leftists have an intense identification with the problems of groups that have an image of being weak (women), defeated (American Indians), repellent (homosexuals) or otherwise inferior. The leftists themselves feel that these groups are inferior. They would never admit to themselves that they have such feelings, but it is precisely because they do see these groups as inferior that they identify with their problems. (We do not mean to suggest that women, Indians, etc. ARE inferior; we are only making a point about leftist psychology.)

Yupthis is the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski again, showing that he had the character of the left nailed a long time ago. His time at Harvard, Michigan, and Berkeley were not wasted.

P.S. Justice Thomas and Justice Jackson do not see eye to eye about this case. Well cover this drama in the podcast.
I thought that President Bidens claim of authority to wipe out some $430 billion in student debt under the HEROES Act was absurd. As I noted when President Biden exercised his purported authority to confer the giveaway, the issue of standing was key to the outcome of the two cases challenging Bidens purported authority. Today the Supreme recognized Missouris standing and held 6-3 in Nebraska v. Biden that the HEROES Act doesnt cut it. Biden lacks such royal authority. Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion of the Court. Its all over for Bidens student loan giveaway.

By contrast, the Court held that plaintiffs in Department of Education v. Brown lacked standing in a 9-0 opinion written by Justice Alito. I thought the standing argument in that case was beyond attenuated. It was an embarrassment.

When these cases were in process, Politico Playbook quoted the requisite (anonymous) person familiar with the administrations thinking on the cases: Were confident were going to win because the other side doesnt have standing. Wrong, moose breath.

The Playbook gurus conjured this unintentionally hilarious nightmare: The alternative, in any case, is chilling: Granting these litigants standing could open the door to a flood of future challenges to federal initiatives. Their enthusiasm will miraculously revive if a Republican is ever elected president again.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 08:01:16

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Canadian Filing Extension for Audited Annual Financial Statements GrantedBRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Bradda Head Lithium Ltd. (AIM:BHL)(TSXV:BHLI)(OTCQB:BHLIF) ("Bradda Head" or the "Company"), the North America-focused lithium development company, is pleased to provide more information in respect of the information included in its press releases of 13 June 2023, announcing its change of auditor, and of 29 June 2023, announcing that the British Columbia Securities Commission ("BCSC") has issued a management cease trade order (the "MCTO") in relation to the late filing of the Company's audited financial statements for the year ended 28 February 2023 ("Financial Statements") which resulted due to the required change of auditor.The Board wishes to make clear that the MCTO has no effect on general trading in the Company's shares, either on AIM or the TSX-V. The only individuals affected are the Company's CEO and the CFO. Equally, the Company is not in breach of any AIM rules. As previously stated, the only reason for a change in auditor was to comply with the TSX-V requirement for an auditor to be recognised by the Canadian Public Accountability Board which our previous auditors were not. As a result of this change, the Company's new auditors understandably required additional time to complete this new assignment, hence the need for a short extension.The newly granted TSX-V filing deadline of 28 August 2023 aligns with the requirement under AIM Rule 19 to publish the Financial Statements by 31 August 2023. The Company currently expects to publish the Financial Statements in late July/early August 2023, well ahead of AIM deadlines and the extended filing date granted pursuant to the MCTO.Charles FitzRoy, CEO of Bradda Head Lithium, Commented"The Company remains well funded with a strong cash balance of 5.4 million as at 31 March 2023, and has an extensive drill programme planned to start shortly at its San Domingo pegmatite district in Arizona that the Board believe will generate material catalysts for the Company."Drilling is also underway at the Company's lithium-in-clay Basin project in Arizona which will lead to a further significant resource upgrade in H2 of this year." For further information please visit the Company's website: www.braddaheadltd.com For further information, please contact:Bradda Head Lithium Limited+44 (0) 1624 639 396Charlie FitzRoy, CEODenham Eke, Finance DirectorBeaumont Cornish (Nomad)James Biddle/Roland Cornish+44 20 7628 3396Panmure Gordon (Joint Broker)+44 20 7886 2500John PriorHugh RichShard Capital (Joint Broker)+44 207 186 9927Damon HeathIsabella PierreRed Cloud (North American Broker)+1 416 803 3562Joe FarsTavistock (PR)+ 44 20 7920 3150Nick ElwesAdam Baynesbraddahead@ tavistock.co.uk About Bradda Head Lithium Ltd.Bradda Head Lithium Ltd. is a North America-focused lithium development group. The Company currently has interests in a variety of projects, the most advanced of which are in Central and Western Arizona: The Basin Project (Basin East Project, and the Basin West Project) and the Wikieup Project.The Basin East Project has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 21.2 Mt at an average grade of 891 ppm Li and 3.5% K for a total of 100 kt LCE and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 73.3 Mt at an average grade of 694 ppm Li and 3.2% K for a total of 271 kt LCE. In the rest of the Basin Project SRK has estimated an Exploration Target of between 300 to 1,300 Mt of material grading between 600 to 850 ppm Li which is equivalent to a range of between 1 to 6 Mt LCE. The Group intends to continue to develop its three phase one projects in Arizona, whilst endeavouring to unlock value at its other prospective pegmatite and brine assets in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. All of Bradda Head's licences are held on a 100% equity basis and are in close proximity to the required infrastructure.The Mineral Resource statement for the Basin Project was authored by Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, FGS who works for SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd, an independent mining consultancy. Mr. Pittuck has over 25 years' experience undertaking and reviewing Mineral Resource estimates and has worked on lithium clay estimates for over 5 years. Mr. Pittuck consents to the inclusion of the technical information in this press release and context in which they appear. Reference is made to the report entitled "Independent technical report on the Basin and Wikieup Lithium clay projects, Arizona, USA" dated October 18, 2022 with an effective date of June 10, 2022 was prepared by Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, FGS, and Kirsty Reynolds MSci, PhD, FGS and reviewed by Nick Fox MSc, ACA, MIMMM. The Report is available for review on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com) and the Company's website www.braddaheadltd.com Bradda Head is quoted on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange with the ticker of BHL, on the TSX Venture exchange with a ticker of BHLI, and on the US OTCQB market with a ticker of BHLIF.Forward-Looking StatementsNeither 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 includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "intends to", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forwa
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Canadian Regulatory Announcement: Update on Application for Management Cease Trade OrderBRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2023 / Bradda Head Lithium Limited (AIM:BHL)(TSXV:BHLI)(OTCQB:BHLIF) ("Bradda Head" or the "Company") is providing an update on the status of a management cease trade order (the "MCTO") application to the British Columbia Securities Commission (the "BCSC") that the Company announced on June 27, 2023.As a result of delays due to an auditor change, the Company's annual financial statements for the year ended February 28, 2023 and related management discussion and analysis (collectively, the "Financial Statements") and the CEO and CFO certificates relating to the Financial Statements (the "Required Filings"), were not finalized by June 28, 2023, being the date that such filings were due under applicable Canadian securities law requirements.The BCSC has granted the MCTO, pursuant to which the Company will have until August 28, 2023 to file the Required Filings.The Company is providing this default announcement in accordance with National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203"). The MCTO will prohibit the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer of the Company from trading in securities of the Company for so long as the Required Filings are not filed. The issuance of the MCTO does not affect the ability of persons other than the chief executive officer and the chief financial officer of the Company to trade in the Company's securities.The Company proposes to remedy the default working with its new auditor to ensure the filing of its Required Filings as soon as possible. The Company expects to be in a position to issue and file the Required Filings by no later than August 28, 2023.The Company therefore fully expects to file its Required Filings prior to the end of the period prescribed by NP 12-203. The Company has confirmed that it intends to satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines described in sections 9 and 10 of NP 12-203 for so long as it remains in default for failure to file the Required Filings. Should the Company fail to file the appropriate Default Status Reports as prescribed by NP 12-203, the securities commissions or regulators may, as a result of such failure, impose a cease trade order.The Company confirms that it is not subject to any insolvency proceeding as of the date hereof. The Company also confirms that there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that have not been generally disclosed as of the date herein.For further information please visit the Company's website: www.braddaheadltd.com For further information, please contact:Bradda Head Lithium Limited+44 (0) 1624 639 396Charlie FitzRoy, CEODenham Eke, Finance DirectorBeaumont Cornish (Nomad)James Biddle/Roland Cornish+44 20 7628 3396 Panmure Gordon (Joint Broker)+44 20 7886 2500John PriorHugh RichShard Capital (Joint Broker)+44 207 186 9927Damon HeathIsabella PierreRed Cloud (North American Broker)+1 416 803 3562Joe Fars Tavistock (PR)+ 44 20 7920 3150Nick ElwesAdam Baynesbraddahead@ tavistock.co.ukAbout Bradda Head Lithium Ltd.Bradda Head Lithium Ltd. is a North America-focused lithium development group. The Company currently has interests in a variety of projects, the most advanced of which are in Central and Western Arizona: The Basin Project (Basin East Project, and the Basin West Project) and the Wikieup Project.The Basin East Project has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 21.2 Mt at an average grade of 891 ppm Li and 3.5% K for a total of 100 kt LCE and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 73.3 Mt at an average grade of 694 ppm Li and 3.2% K for a total of 271 kt LCE. In the rest of the Basin Project SRK has estimated an Exploration Target of between 300 to 1,300 Mt of material grading between 600 to 850 ppm Li which is equivalent to a range of between 1 to 6 Mt LCE. The Group intends to continue to develop its three phase one projects in Arizona, whilst endeavouring to unlock value at its other prospective pegmatite and brine assets in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. All of Bradda Head's licences are held on a 100% equity basis and are in close proximity to the required infrastructure.The Mineral Resource statement for the Basin Project was authored by Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, FGS who works for SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd, an independent mining consultancy. Mr. Pittuck has over 25 years' experience undertaking and reviewing Mineral Resource estimates and has worked on lithium clay estimates for over 5 years. Mr. Pittuck consents to the inclusion of the technical information in this press release and context in which they appear. Reference is made to the report entitled "Independent technical report on the Basin and Wikieup Lithium clay projects, Arizona, USA" dated October 18, 2022 with an effective date of June 10, 2022 was prepared by Martin Pittuck, CEng, MIMMM, FGS, and Kirsty Reynolds MSci, PhD, FGS and reviewed by Nick Fox MSc, ACA, MIMMM. The Report is available for review on SEDAR ( www.sedar.com) and the Company's website www.braddaheadltd.com Bradda Head is quoted on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange with the ticker of BHL, on the TSX Venture exchange with a ticker of BHLI, and on the US OTCQB market with a ticker of BHLIF.Forward-Looking StatementsNeither 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 includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "intends to", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunitie
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 17:01:07

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New Site Details Innovative IT Solutions, Services, and TechnologiesFISHERS, IN / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Braden Business Systems, the leading provider of office technology solutions headquartered in Indiana, is excited to announce the launch of its new website.The updated site features Braden Business Systems' full range of IT services and solutions, from managed services and IT consulting to state-of-the-art office equipment. The new site also features informative tech blogs and resources for businesses to further their IT education."Our new company website represents a significant milestone in our journey. Our goal was to present Braden Business Systems' capabilities in an easier-to-consume and more modern experience to our clients and prospects. With this new website, we aim to enhance engagement and provide a seamless platform for our visitors to explore our comprehensive solutions," details Managing Partner Erik Braden.Site visitors can also view Braden Business Systems' product catalog and information on its high-level business benefits, client testimonials, and more.Sales Manager of IT Services Ryan Hahaj also added, "The modernization of our website signifies a major step forward in showcasing the Braden brand story. We have leveraged out-of-the-box capabilities to deliver exciting and meaningful communication to our target markets. Through this enhanced digital platform, we are confident in capturing the attention and interest of our audience, creating a lasting impact, and fostering stronger relationships." About Braden Business SystemsBraden Business Systems is an industry-leading, locally owned provider of high-quality technology solutions, office equipment, and IT services for businesses of all sizes. Our fast response and risk-free solutions ensure our clients get the attention and value they deserve. To learn more, visit our website or call 463.220.4421.Contact InformationJoseph LobracoControllerjlobraco@ bradenonline.com (317) 733-5275Erik BradenManaging Partnerebraden@ bradenonline.com SOURCE: Braden Business Systems
PR-Inside.com: 2023-07-01 00:14:36

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Emergent Metals Corp. (TSXV:EMR), (OTCQB:EGMCF), (FRA:EML), (BSE:EML) ("Emergent" or the "Company") announces that Kennecott Exploration Company ("KEX"), a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group, has elected to terminate the Option to Earn-in Agreement (the "Agreement") with Emergent on the New York Canyon Property, NV (the "Property") with effect as of June 29, 2023. Pursuant to the exit terms in the Agreement KEX will be providing Emergent with exploration results from the 2023 drill program on the Property, when available, as, described below.New York Canyon is located 30 mi (48 km) east of Hawthorne, Nevada and directly south of and abutting Lahontan's Santa Fe Mine. The Property consists of 21 patented claims and 152 unpatented claims owned by Emergent and 265 unpatented claims owned by KEX., for a total of 21 patented claims and 417 unpatented claims (8,700 ac or 3,500 ha in size). The claims are located in two blocks, North and South (the "North Block " and "South Block"). The North Block, subject to the Agreement, consists of 27 unpatented claims. The South Block, subject to the Agreement, consists of 21 patented claims and 390 unpatented claims.As part of its 2023 exploration program, KEX planned to drill two diamond drill holes. One is located on the South Block of claims testing a potential extension of the Copper Queen prospect based on a geophysical anomaly identified in 2022. KEX also planned to drill a second diamond drill hole in the North Block of claims, targeting the Emma prospect, based on soil and rock chip sampling completed in 2022.KEX completed in 2023 a total of four diamond drill holes totaling 4,359.02 ft (1,238.63 m). In the South Block of claims, Hole NYCN0011 was drilled to a depth of 772.01 ft (235.31 m) and Hole NYCN0012 was drilled to a depth of 1,404.00 ft (427.94 m). In the North Block of claims, Hole EMMA0001 was drilled to a depth of 171.00 ft (52.12 m) and Hole EMMA0002 was drilled to a depth of 2,012.01 ft (613.26 m). Note EMMA0001, planned at a dip of 77 degrees was terminated by geologists in the field and replaced by EMMA0002, which as drilled at a shallower dip of 60 degrees to better intercept the Emma target.Drill core was quick logged in the field and sent to KEX's core logging facility in Salt Lake City. Core is now being logged in detail and processed, after which samples will be sent to an independent laboratory for assaying. Additional details on the drill program, assay results, and QA/QC procedures will be provided in future press releases, likely within 60-90 days.Since optioning the Property in February 2020, KEX completed:Geological mapping,Re-assaying of selected intervals of 10 historic core holes,Surface rock chip sampling,UAV magnetic geophysics survey and DEM survey,Passive seismic geophysics survey,Carbon-oxygen isotope analysis , and5,809.1 m of core drilling in 14 holes.KEX will be transferring exploration data in its possession to Emergent in the near future in accordance with the exit terms of the Agreement.David Watkinson, President and CEO of Emergent, stated, "We are disappointed to lose KEX as an exploration partner on this Property. Their team was great to work with and we obtained significant knowledge about the Property, which we will use in our future exploration efforts. KEX confirmed the presence of widespread copper skarn mineralization on the Property and the potential remains for the Property to host one or more copper porphyry systems. We plan to search for a new partner to help us explore and develop the Property." Mindora Property UpdateEmergent has made the final payment of US$25,000 and completed the purchase of the Mind 1-12 claims at its Mindora Property, NV from Nevada Sunrise LLC (see May 21, 2019, press release for details). Mindora is a gold, silver, and base metal exploration property located approximately 20 mile southeast of Hawthorne, NV. The property consists of 147 unpatented mining claims.As announced on May 15, 2023, Emergent has signed a binding Term Sheet ("Term Sheet") and plans to complete an Option to Purchase Agreement ("Agreement") with Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSXV: LG) ("Lahontan"). Lahontan, subject to certain terms and conditions, will have the option ("Option") to acquire a 100% interest in Mindora by completing US$1.8 million in cash/share payments and US$1.4 million in work expenditures on the property (total US$3.2 million) over a seven-year period. Lahontan is renaming the property "West Santa Fe" due to its synergy with their flagship asset, the Santa Fe Mine, located just 10 mi (15 km) to the east. The companies have amended the Term Sheet to allow 75 days from May 15, 2023, to complete the Agreement.Qualified PersonAll scientific and technical information disclosed in this new release was reviewed and approved by Robert Pease, CPG, a consultant to Emergent and a non-independent qualified person under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Pease is a consultant to the Company.About EmergentEmergent is a gold and base metal exploration company focused on Nevada and Quebec. The Company's strategy is to look for quality acquisitions, add value to these assets through exploration, and monetize them through sale, joint ventures, option, royalty, and other transactions to create value for our shareholders (acquisition and divestiture (A&D) business model).In Nevada, Emergent's Golden Arrow Property, the core asset of the Company, is an advanced stage gold and silver property with a well-defined measured and indicated resource. New York Canyon is a base metal property that host copper skarn and porphyry mineralization. The Mindora Property is a gold, silver, and base metal property located twelve miles from New York Canyon. Buckskin Rawhide East is a gold and silver property leased to Rawhide Mining LLC, operators of the adjacent Rawhide Mine.In Quebec, the Casa South Property, is an early-stage gold property adjacent to Hecla Mining Corporation's (NYSE:HL) operating Casa Berardi Mine. The Trecesson Property is located about 50 km north of the Val d'Or mining camp. Emergent has a 1% NSR in the Troilus North Property, part of the Troilus Mine Property being explored by Troilus Gold Corporation (TSX:TLG). Emergent also has a 1% NSR in the East-West Property, owned by O3 Mining Corporation (TSX:OIII) and adjacent to their Marban Property.Note that the location of Emergent's properties adjacent to producing or past producing mines does not guarantee exploration success at Emergent's properties or that mineral resources or reserves will be delineated.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 14:01:00

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TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Gratomic Inc. ("Gratomic", "GRAT," or the "Company") (TSXV:GRAT)(OTCQX:CBULF)(FSE:CB82) announces that commercial commissioning has begun at its Aukam Graphite mine in Namibia to prepare the first 100 tonnes of product to send customers for final inclusion into value-added applications. Aukam's primary focus in product development has been to become one of the first projects in the world to successfully introduce Vein Graphite into anode on a large scale. The Company succeeded in achieving this milestone with the assistance of its partner Graphex Technologies LLC. Through independent testing, Graphex was able to verify the suitability of Vein Graphite and its degree of graphitization as suitable for anode inclusion (see the Company's Press Release dated June 8, 2023).Over the next four to six months, Gratomic will be calibrating the Aukam Processing Plant on a scale large enough to meet exact end-user specifications. This program is the final step before commencing full operation of the facility. Once the plant is wholly operational and optimized, the Company will focus on fine-tuning costs to ensure the best outcome for all parties involved. The cost optimization phase will involve installing a solar power station on site to reduce the overall power cost and ESG footprint.The past four months have seen ground crews working tirelessly to accomplish this momentous achievement. The Company thanks all its employees and upper management for the late nights and countless hours of overtime to meet the required deadlines three days ahead of schedule.Gratomic is becoming a pioneer in the mining industry by demonstrating that through innovation, determination, and perseverance, mining companies such as itself can successfully transition to operation without the aid of debt, streaming, or royalty instruments that generally result in strenuous economics in the early days of mining.Gratomic has recently appointed a reputable sales representative in Europe to sell all the non-anode material the Company produces over the duration of mining activity at Aukam.Gratomic also wishes to take this opportunity to thank the Namibian government for its endless support in providing the opportunity to transition successfully to this critical juncture. You have proven to be a worthy ally in the investment community. We also support the Namibian legislative change banning exports of unprocessed critical minerals, citing that it is important for mining companies to maximize creating value within the borders of the country.Arno Brand, President and CEO of Gratomic, stated, "It is truly unbelievable that we were able to transition to this enormous achievement for the Company. It has suffered greatly under tough market conditions in the past 18 months. Nonetheless, we were determined to persevere without losing sight of out goal despite any challenges thrown at us. To the shareholders, your backing has given us the means necessary to achieve our objectives. We are indebted to you for your continued support and humbled by your commitment to help us realize our vision." Gratomic wishes to emphasize that no Preliminary Economic Analysis, Preliminary Feasibility Study, or Feasibility Study has been completed to support any level of production. In fact, no mineral resources, let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam property.The Company is working towards completing a Feasibility Study (FS) on the Aukam Processing Plant. The study, its recommendations, and their subsequent implementation, will provide conclusions and recommendation at a FS level of comfort about scaling-up the existing processing plant to a commercial facility that can produce the desired concentrate grades and production rates.Gratomic wishes to emphasize that the supply of graphite is conditional on bringing the Aukam Project to production phase, and for any graphite produced meeting certain technical and mineralization requirements.Risk FactorsNo mineral resources, let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam property. The Company is not in a position to demonstrate or disclose any capital and/or operating costs that may be associated with the processing plant until the Feasibility Study is completed.The Company advises that it has not based its production decision on even the existence of mineral resources, let alone on a Preliminary Feasibility Study or Feasibility Study of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability. As a result, there may be an increased uncertainty about achieving any particular level of mineral recovery or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit.Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that production will begin as anticipated or at all, or that anticipated production costs will be achieved.Failure to commence production would have a material adverse impact on the Company's ability to generate revenue and cash flow to fund operations. Failure to achieve the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact on the Company's cash flow and future profitability.About GratomicGratomic is a multinational company with projects in Namibia, Brazil, and Canada. The Company is focused on becoming a leading global graphite supplier and aims to secure a strong position in the EV battery supply chain. With the continued development of its flagship Aukam project and further exploration on the Company's Capim Grosso property, Gratomic sets itself apart by seeking out unique top-quality assets around the world. True to its roots, the Company will continue to explore graphite opportunities displaying potential for development.Large quantities of high-quality vein graphite have been shipped for testing to confirm its viability as an anode material. Gratomic is confident that the test results will provide a unique competitive advantage in its desired target markets. The Company will continue to update the public on the status of these tests and will provide results as soon as they become available.The Company has formed a collaboration agreement with Forge Nano. With its patented ALD coating, this cooperation is a key element in supporting Gratomic's strategies towards the value-added phases of producing graphite for anode applications, namely micronization, spheronization, and coating, making Gratomic graphite a preferred choice for use in lithium-ion batteries.For more informationVisit the websit
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 18:30:18

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BROOKLYN, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / IEH Corporation (OTC:IEHC) announced today that in the past week it has booked over $1 million in new orders for their hyperboloid connectors in support of the Boeing 737Max jet.Dave Offerman, President and CEO of IEH Corporation commented, "This is a very positive development for our company, especially for the revenue we generate from the commercial aerospace sector. The orders themselves are meaningful, but even more significant is what they portend; that the post-COVID recovery of the commercial aviation industry has begun to impact the 2nd and 3rd tier component suppliers in the aerospace supply chain, which includes IEH.As discussed in prior communications, the worldwide grounding of the Max jet in late 2019, followed by the steep decline in air travel in early 2020 due to COVID, was incredibly disruptive to the commercial aerospace supply chain. It created long delays and bottlenecks, and as people began flying again, severe imbalances in supply and demand. It has taken a long time for the airplane manufacturers and their Tier 1 suppliers to work through the inventory that had accumulated pre-COVID, and reach a stage where components like connectors would again be necessary to complete module and subsystem builds. While the recovery will continue to be gradual and measured, this influx of orders signifies that the return to pre-COVID levels of production is approaching, which bodes well for IEH's revenue recovery over the coming quarters." About IEH CorporationFor 80 years and 4 generations of family-run management, IEH Corporation has designed, developed, and manufactured printed circuit board (PCB) connectors, custom interconnects and contacts for high performance applications. With its signature Hyperboloid technology, IEH supplies the most durable, reliable connectors for the most demanding environments. The company markets primarily to companies in defense, aerospace, space and industrial applications, in the United States, Canada, Europe, Southeast and Central Asia and the Mideast. The company was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995Certain statements contained in this press release, and in related comments by the Company's management, include "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical facts, including, without limitation, statements or expectations regarding our financial condition, statements or expectations regarding our revenues, cash and backlog, expectations regarding future cash requirements, revenue and revenue recovery, including for fiscal year 2024, projected timelines for making our SEC filings or successfully preventing our registration from suspension or revocation and expectations regarding our efforts and ability to resolve our inventory accounting issues are forward-looking statements. These statements often include words such as "believe," "expect," "estimate," "plan," "will," "may," "would," "should," "could," or similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These statements are based on certain assumptions that the Company has made on its current expectations and projections about future events. The Company believes these judgments are reasonable, but you should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results, and you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company's actual performance or results could differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, both positive and negative, as they will depend on many factors about which we are unsure, including many factors beyond our control. Among other items, such factors could include: any claims, investigations or proceedings arising as a result of our past due Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") periodic reports, including changes in the proceedings related to the SEC's Order Instituting Administrative Proceedings and Notice of Hearing pursuant to Section 12(j) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended; our ability to remediate our inventory accounting issue; our ability to reduce costs or increase revenue; changes in the macroeconomic environment or in the finances of our customers; changes in accounting principles, or their application or interpretation, and our ability to make accurate estimates and the assumptions underlying the estimates; our ability to attract and retain key employees and key resources; and other risk factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the SEC, including those factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on June 22, 2023, and in subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC. Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in our filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. Except as may be required by applicable law, we do not undertake or intend to update or revise our forward-looking statements, and we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information or future events or developments. Thus, you should not assume that our silence over time means that actual events are bearing out as expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. You should carefully review and consider the various disclosures we make in our filings with the SEC that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks, uncertainties and other factors that may affect our business.Contact:Dave OffermanIEH Corporationdave@ iehcorp.com 718-492-4448SOURCE: IEH Corporation
Less than a year ago, Channel 4 in the UK premiered Untold: Inside the SHEIN Machine, an expose by journalist Iman Amrani of the Chinese factories that produce garments for the online fast-fashion retailer. Channel 4 has so far refused to reveal the exact locations of these factories. The documentary revealed significant worker exploitation, like the women who washed their hair during lunch breaks because of their long hours. The factory workers earn $600 a month, at best, and are forced to work on Sundays and holidays. A garment-making error could potentially cost a worker up to two-thirds of their daily wages.

SHEINs statement responding to the documentary said, We are very concerned about what was shown in the documentary, which violates the codes of conduct agreed upon with our suppliers. We have asked Channel 4 for more information in order to conduct an investigation. However, what the documentary exposed was already an open secret. SHEIN unveils over 1,000 new garments daily on its website, with prices mostly under $10. Such low prices make it near impossible for SHEINs suppliers to uphold ethical production practices. A recent report by the US Congress claimed that SHEIN and Temu, another Chinese fashion brand, have allegedly utilized forced labor in the Xinjiang region of northwest China, where the Uighur minority faces severe repression from the Chinese government. SHEIN denied having suppliers in that region.

Bad press forced SHEIN into launching an image makeover, but their clumsy attempts at whitewashing dubious business practices have produced more missteps. The company recently invited six influencers to tour SHEINs innovation center. Now their reports have gone viral, but not in a good way. Dani Carbonari, Marina Saavedra, Aujene, Fernanda Stephany Campuzano, Kenya Freeman and Destene Sudduth traveled to Guangzhou to a hand-picked SHEIN factory that bore little resemblance to the ones in the documentary. It was spotless and full of smiling people working with well-maintained, technologically advanced equipment. The influencers began to post that they were pleasantly surprised. Daniele Carbonari even posted a now-deleted TikTok video in which she decried the narrative fed to us in the US about SHEIN. Carbonari is the only one who has addressed criticism of the trip by saying she was not paid for the trip I went to get the facts and see it with my own two eyes. But her followers began to post comments like, Where is your apology for promoting a brand that does so much social, environmental, and ethical harm?

Susan Bailey, a Twitter user experienced in the textile industry who has worked with Chinese suppliers, compiled a detailed thread analyzing the influencers videos and unmasking the fake SHEIN factory. Where are the fire extinguishers? The emergency exit signs? And several machines arent operating in a company that produces tens of thousands of garments daily. Susans posts pointed out many details indicating that the factory was staged for social media.

SHEIN reacted by reaching out to the supplier for their response to the allegations and emailing a statement. SHEIN is committed to transparency and this trip reflects one way in which we are listening to feedback, providing an opportunity to show a group of influencers how SHEIN works through a visit to our innovation center and enabling them to share their own insights with their followers. Their social media videos and commentary are authentic, and we respect and stand by each influencers perspective and voice on their experience.

SHEINs promotional strategy includes an influencer gifting program, where garments are given away to a diverse range of influencers, regardless of their follower count. These influencers then promote SHEINs products on social media platforms. Other fast-fashion brands like Fashion Nova have similar influencer programs. The highly staged factory tour was part of SHEIN 101, the companys image restoration initiative that shares videos showcasing their operations. The #shein101 hashtag has already garnered over 17 million views on TikTok.

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2023 / This press release is being disseminated as required by National Instrument 62103  The Early Warning System and Related Take Over Bids and Insider Reporting Issuers in connection with the filing of early warning reports (the "Early Warning Reports") by Kings Chapel International Limited ("Kings Chapel") in respect of its ownership position in CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV:CTH) (the "Corporation"). Kings Chapel is owned by an irrevocable discretionary trust associated with Julian Treger, the Corporation's Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Corporation.On June 28, 2023, Kings Chapel acquired 650,000 common shares of the Corporation ("Common Shares") from a single vendor in a private transaction at a price of C$0.53 per share for aggregate consideration of C$344,500. The transaction was completed in reliance on the exemption from the formal bid requirements of Canadian securities legislation set out in Section 4.2 of National Instrument 62-104.Prior to the private transaction, (i) Kings Chapel owned or controlled 17,316,307 Common Shares representing approximately 31.70% of the 54,627,430 issued and outstanding Common Shares as well as 11,011,948 warrants to purchase Common Shares and (ii) Julian Treger owned or controlled 2,708,500 Common Shares representing approximately 4.96% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as well as 2,731,371 options to purchase Common Shares and 2,303,500 warrants to purchase Common Shares.Immediately following the private transaction, (i) Kings Chapel owned or controlled 17,966,307 Common Shares representing approximately 32.89% of the 54,627,430 issued and outstanding Common Shares as well as 11,011,948 warrants to purchase Common Shares and (ii) Julian Treger owned or controlled 2,708,500 Common Shares representing approximately 4.96% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares as well as 1,924,466 options to purchase Common Shares and 2,303,500 warrants to purchase Common Shares.Kings Chapel and Mr. Treger. Jonker hold Common Shares for investment purposes. Each of them has a long-term view of the investment and may acquire additional securities including on the open market or through private acquisitions or sell the securities including on the open market or through private dispositions in the future depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other relevant factors. Depending on market conditions, general economic and industry conditions, the Company's business and financial condition and/or other relevant factors, each such shareholder may develop such plans or intentions in the future.A copy of the Early Warning Reports to be filed by Kings Chapel in connection with the transactions described above will be available on the Corporation's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com The head office of the Corporation is located at Suite 428, 755 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1X6.Kings Chapel's address is No. 2 The Forum, Grenville Street, St. Helier, Jersey, JE1 4HH.To obtain a copy of the Early Warning Report filed under National Instrument 62-103, please contact Braam Jonker at (604) 992-5600.SOURCE: CoTec Holdings Corp.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 22:25:13

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ALEXANDRIA, VA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / The Aerospace States Association (ASA) has elected Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser of Louisiana to Vice Chair and Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears of Virginia to Secretary. Lt. Governors Nungesser and Earle-Sears will join the leadership team of Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera of Colorado (National Chair) and Michael Heil of Ohio (Treasurer)."I am excited to welcome Lt. Governors Nungesser and Earle-Sears to the Aerospace States Association leadership team. They each bring valuable perspectives which will help the Association continue to advance our mission of supporting the Aerospace community and expanding industry opportunities nationwide," said Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera of Colorado, National Chair of the ASA.Billy Nungesser is the 54th Lieutenant Governor. Lt. Governor Nungesser returned to work as a public servant from retirement as a successful business owner to serve two terms as Plaquemines Parish President. People remember Lt. Governor Nungesser as the voice of Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in 2005. He again became a national spokesperson for the unmet needs of the Gulf Coast in 2010 after the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred, one of the worst man-made disasters in U.S. history."Louisiana is an aerospace state. We are home to NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility and are building our nation's next rocket system to the Moon and Mars. Our airports transport millions of passengers annually, our citizens and farmers depend on GPS navigation and weather satellite systems, our offshore oil industry depends on helicopter aviation, our emergency services now use drone technology in ways never fathomed during Hurricane Katrina, and much more. It is for these reasons, I am excited to take on this new position and announce that New Orleans will host the 2024 ASA Annual Meeting and 5th State Aerospace Policy Summit," said Lt. Governor Nungesser of Louisiana, National Vice Chairman of the ASA.Winsome Earle-Sears, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, immigrated to the United States at the age of six. She is proud to have served in the United States Marine Corps. Winsome was first elected in 2002 to a majority Black House of Delegates district, a first for a Republican in Virginia since 1865. She is the first female Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the first Black female elected to statewide office. She holds a B.A. in English with a minor in Economics, and an M.A. in Organizational Leadership, with a concentration in Government."The Commonwealth is built for today's aerospace economy. In doing so, Virginia has created a robust transportation (spaceports included) and electrical infrastructure while facilitating an exceptional education system, both at k-12 and into the advanced degrees. Our Commonwealth is home to NASA Langley Research Center, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), an FAA Drone test site and multiple military installations. On top of that, the Old Dominion is one of only three states that launch to the International Space Station. Virginians have always led our nation into the bright unknown, and we are continuing to do so in aerospace. I am excited to take on this new position, and delighted to announce that Virginia will host the 2025 ASA Annual Meeting and 6th State Aerospace Policy Summit," said Lt. Governor Earle-Sears of Virginia, National Secretary of the ASA.Lt. Governor Nungesser's term will complete the term of past ASA Vice Chair, Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer of Alaska, who decided not to run for reelection in Alaska. Lt. Governor Earle-Sears will complete the term of Amy Hudnall (Georgia Lt. Governor Appointee) who retired.About the Aerospace States AssociationThe Aerospace States Association (ASA) is a non-partisan 501c (3) organization comprised of Lieutenant Governors, Governor appointed delegates, state legislators, territorial and tribal government representatives and associate members from aerospace organizations and academia working to advance aerospace and aviation in member states and throughout the nation. ASA is the only aerospace advocacy organization promoting State based perspectives in federal aerospace & aviation policy development. Visit www.aerostates.org for more information on the Aerospace States Association.Press Contact:Ross B. Garelick BellExecutive Director703-402-6304SOURCE: Aerospace States Association
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 18:45:16

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CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Perisson Petroleum Corp. (TSXV: POG.H) ("Perisson" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that on June 23rd, the Company completed filing its December 31, 2022, audited year-end financial statements and its March 31, 2023, interim financial statements. These recent filings, combined with filings made earlier in June, represent the final outstanding continuous disclosure items for Perisson.Perisson has formally requested the Alberta Securities Commission to lift its cease trade order and will begin the process with the TSX Venture Exchange to begin trading the Company's common shares on the Exchange as soon as possible.Also, Perisson has signed an agreement to transfer the operations of its VMM-17 exploration licence area to a local company in Bogota, Colombia, for a combined value of USD 2.75 million. The Agreement includes an upfront payment to Perisson, a 3% gross overriding royalty from future production on the licence area, and a drilling commitment delineating two discovery oil pools first identified by Perisson seismic operations several years ago.About Perisson Petroleum Corp.Perisson Petroleum Corporation is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange NEX board and trades under the symbol " POG.H" The Corporation owns certain oil and gas producing properties in the Twining and Wainwright areas of Alberta, Canada.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:Gary ChenBrad R. PerryCEOCFO403.800.0042 ext. 8888403.800.0042 ext. 8880gchen@ perisson.combperry@perisson.comFORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTSThis news release contains forward-looking statements relating to the timing and completion of the future operations of Perisson and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will", "may", "should", "anticipate", "expects" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the proposed Acquisition and the future plans and objectives of Perisson, are forward looking statements that involve 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. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Perisson's expectations are risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by Perisson with securities regulations.This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities offered have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.Trading in the securities of Perisson Petroleum Corporation should be considered highly speculative. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.SOURCE: Perisson Petroleum Corp.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 16:00:19

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RIGID Constructors has completed site work for Kindle Energy's $750 million power station in Iberville ParishLAFAYETTE, LA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / RIGID Constructors, a Louisiana-based, privately held construction company, has begun work on additional phases for the Magnolia Power Generating Station, a $750 million, 700-megawatt electric generation plant in Iberville Parish.RIGID Constructors Begins Work on Additional Phases for Magnolia Power Generating Station The station is expected to provide electricity to power more than 500,000 homes per year for five rural utility cooperatives across Louisiana beginning in 2025.RIGID Constructors was contracted for site work and the construction of an access road that will allow the transporting of major pieces of equipment and materials from the power plant at the back of Magnolia Power's industrial property to River Road. This access road is 32' wide and 1.3 miles long with drainage ditches on either side of the road and several drainage pipes under the road at specific locations. Asphalt will be added on the access road after most of the construction on the power plant has been completed, expected in June 2024. RIGID is currently performing additional excavation and embankment work. Commercial operations for Magnolia Power are expected to start in May 2025."We operate one of the largest fleets of earthmoving equipment in the South," said Cody Fortier, owner of RIGID Constructors. "Our fleet of earth-moving equipment is specifically designed to work in the soil conditions of the Gulf Coast Region." According to Kindle Energy, the Magnolia Power Generating Station will create up to 475 jobs during peak construction. The Louisiana Economic Development expects the project to create 119 new jobs in the Capital Region."This investment by Kindle Energy is a win for job creation, emissions reduction, and rural resilience," said Gov. John Bel Edwards during a groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 13, 2023. Also in attendance were Iberville Parish President Michael Ourso and Kindle Energy CEO Lee Davis."Magnolia Power will increase the affordability and sustainability of electricity to some of the state's most rural communities," said Edwards. "It also will modernize the state's public utility infrastructure by employing gas turbine technology that uses natural gas and carbon-free hydrogen rather than carbon-intensive coal as its fuel source." "Kindle Energy is excited to bring the Magnolia Power Generating Station to Louisiana to serve the 1803 Electric Cooperative and deliver clean, efficient power across the state," said Davis. "Magnolia Power represents substantial progress toward the cleaner, more efficient energy mix of the future, and supports Gov. Edwards' goals to reduce Louisiana's carbon footprint by 2050."Ourso said, "With a strong footprint of success, Kindle Energy's Magnolia Power Generating facility will no doubt become a strong community partner." RIGID Constructors has successfully completed several site work projects in difficult soil conditions by leveraging its civil and marine expertise and equipment. "We are excited to use our experience and knowledge on projects knowing it will help provide jobs and supply power for the surrounding community," said Cody Fortier, owner of RIGID Constructors.RIGID Constructors' team has decades of experience in site work, as well as earthwork and infrastructure. RIGID's expertise and innovative approach allows them to maximize constructibility by expediting scheduling and increasing cost-effectiveness without compromising the quality of work.About RIGID ConstructorsRIGID Constructors is a Louisiana-based, privately held construction company that started with the idea that innovation and technology are key components in providing first-class construction services and developing strong client relationships. We are committed to providing safe and quality service to our client base located throughout the Gulf Coast Region of the United States. RIGID Constructors provides Heavy Civil and Marine construction services to our clients in both the public and private sectors.Contact Information:Megan MurphyMarketing Manger, Ivory Digitalmegan@ ivorydigitalstudio.com (225) 255-0359SOURCE: RIGID Constructors
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 23:20:11

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The Securities Law Firm of KlaymanToskes Offers Employees With Investment Losses in Rite Aid Recovery OptionsNEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / National investment loss attorneys KlaymanToskes encourages current and former Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) employees who suffered losses of $1,000,000 or more to contact the firm immediately at 888-997-9956. Disclosure: Investors that had self-directed accounts who did not rely on the advice of a financial advisor are not eligible for our services.KlaymanToskes is investigating brokerage firms that managed current/former employees' positions in Rite Aid Corporation and misrepresented or failed to disclose known risks to investors. Brokerage firms that failed to recommend risk management strategies to customers with large, concentrated or margined positions in Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) may be liable for investor losses.Investment portfolios holding large concentrated stock positions carry significant downside risks. The failure to use risk management strategies and the failure to "hedge" the value of a concentrated portfolio directly exposes an investor's concentrated position to the fluctuations of volatile securities markets.A recent class action complaint states Rite Aid "ignored evidence that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions, and intentionally deleted internal notes about suspicious prescribers written by concerned pharmacists." By knowingly filling unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances, Rite Aid allegedly violated the Controlled Substances Act, and further allegedly violated the False Claims Act, by seeking reimbursement from federal healthcare programs.Although a class-action was filed, current and former Rite Aid employees should know that class-actions may take many years to resolve, and payouts are generally heavily undervalued. KlaymanToskes believes FINRA arbitration is the best solution for investors that suffered losses in Rite Aid Corp. at full-service brokerage firms.Investors that suffered losses in excess of $1,000,000 should immediately contact attorney Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq. for a free consultation at 888-997-9956 or lklayman@ klaymantoskes.com to discuss recovery options.About KlaymanToskesKlaymanToskes is a leading national securities law firm which practices exclusively in the field of securities arbitration on behalf of retail and institutional investors throughout the world in large and complex securities matters. The firm has recovered over $250 million in FINRA arbitrations and over $350 million in other securities litigation matters. KlaymanToskes has office locations in California, Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico.ContactKlaymanToskes, P.A.Lawrence L. Klayman, Esq.888-997-9956lklayman@ klaymantoskes.com SOURCE: KlaymanToskes, P.A.
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 16:30:47

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges SentinelOne, Inc. (NYSE:S) investors who suffered substantial losses submit your losses now.Class Period: June 1, 2022 - June 1, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Aug. 7, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/S Contact An Attorney Now: S@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895SentinelOne, Inc. (S) Securities Fraud Class Action:The complaint alleges Defendants made false and misleading statements and failed to disclose that: (1) SentinelOne lacked effective internal controls over accounting and financial reporting; (2) as a result, the company's key reported business metric annualized recurring revenue or "ARR" was overstated; and (3) as a result, the company's guidance was overstated.Investors learned the truth on June 1, 2023, when after the market closed, SentinelOne published a press release titled "SentinelOne Announces First Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Financial Results." Therein, the Company disclosed that "[a]s a result of a change in methodology and correction of historical inaccuracies, which we further describe in our letter to shareholders, we made a one-time adjustment to ARR of $27.0 million or approximately 5% of total ARR." The Company also revised its fiscal year 2024 revenue guidance downward to a range of $590 million to $600 million from a range of $631 million to $640 million.In a shareholder letter published the same day, SentinelOne further explained that "we . . . discovered historical upsell and renewal recording inaccuracies relating to ARR on certain subscription and consumption contracts, which are now corrected" and that "[w]e are applying a comparable estimated adjustment to the remaining quarters in fiscal year 23, which we believe is a reasonable approximation of the impact in those periods." On this news, SentinelOne's stock price fell $7.28 per share, or more than 35%, to close at $13.44 per share on June 2, 2023."We're focused on investors' losses and proving SentinelOne first became aware of the historical inaccuracies in ARR and the decline in customer usage well before the company's disclosures," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in SentinelOne and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firm's investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman.Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding SentinelOne should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email S@ hbsslaw.com # # #About Hagens BermanHagens Berman is a global plaintiffs' rights complex litigation law firm focusing on corporate accountability through class-action law. The firm is home to a robust securities litigation practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com . Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.Contact:Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895SOURCE: Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 04:25:30

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NEW ORLEANS, LA / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2023 / Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until August 7, 2023 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against SentinelOne, Inc. (NYSE:S), if they purchased the Company's securities between June 1, 2022 and June 1, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.What You May DoIf you purchased securities of SentinelOne and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email ( lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com) , or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-s/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by August 7, 2023.About the LawsuitSentinelOne and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.On June 1, 2023, the Company disclosed that "[a]s a result of a change in methodology and correction of historical inaccuracieswe made a one-time adjustment to ARR of $27.0 million or approximately 5% of total ARR" and that the Company had slashed its fiscal year 2024 revenue guidance from a range of $631 million to $640 million to a range of $590 million to $600 million, due to the discovery of "historical upsell and renewal recording inaccuracies relating to ARR on certain subscription and consumption contracts, which are now corrected." On this news, shares of SentinelOne fell $7.28 per share, or more than 35%, to close at $13.44 per share on June 2, 2023.The case is Johansson v. SentinelOne, Inc., et al., No. 23-cv-02786.About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCKSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking recoveries for investment losses emanating from corporate fraud or malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.To learn more about KSF, you may visit http://ksfcounsel.com/ CONTACT:Kahn Swick & Foti, LLCLewis Kahn, Managing Partner1-877-515-18501100 Poydras St., Suite 960New Orleans, LA 70163SOURCE: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC
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SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SPR) investors who suffered $500k or more in losses submit your losses now.Class Period: Apr. 8, 2020 - Apr. 13, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: July 5, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/SPR Contact An Attorney Now: SPR@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. (SPR) Securities Fraud Class Action:The litigation focuses on Spirit AeroSystem's past statements concerning its operational performance and quality controls, particularly with respect to supplying its largest customer (Boeing).According to the complaint, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (1) Spirit lacked adequate production quality controls; (2) Spirit incorrectly installed fittings designed to join the aft fuselage to the vertical tail for some Boeing 737 MAX airplanes; (3) Spirit would have to develop an inspection and repair procedure for the affected fuselages; and (4) the foregoing would negatively impact Spirit's financial results.Investors began to learn the truth on Apr. 13, 2023, when the financial press reported that Spirit notified Boeing of a quality problem that could stretch back to 2019. Reuters reported that "[t]he issue will likely affect a significant' number of undelivered 737 MAX airplanes both in production and in storage, and could result in lowered 737 MAX deliveries in the near term" and "[t]he problem, which affects a portion of the 737 MAX family [] involves the installation of two fittings that join the aft fuselage made by Spirit to the vertical tail, which were not attached correctly before it was sent to Boeing." Most recently, on May 3, 2023, Spirit announced that fuselage repair costs would negatively impact 2023 gross profit by $31 million and said that additional costs are expected.These events have driven the price of Spirit shares sharply lower."We're focused on investors' losses and proving Spirit knew it embarked on a cost cutting program that adversely affected quality control," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in Spirit and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firm's investigation, click here to discuss your legal rights with Hagens Berman.Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Spirit should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at 844-916-0895 or email SPR@ hbsslaw.com About Hagens BermanHagens Berman is a global plaintiffs' rights complex litigation law firm focusing on corporate accountability through class-action law. The firm is home to a robust securities litigation practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and fraud. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com . Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw.Contact:Reed Kathrein, 844-916-0895SOURCE: Hagens Berman
PR-Inside.com: 2023-06-30 19:50:52

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 /Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. ( TSX.V:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF) (the "Company" or "Stillwater") is pleased to announce the completion of a 9.99% strategic equity investment by Glencore Canada Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Glencore plc ("Glencore"). Pursuant to the placement, Stillwater issued 19,758,861 units at a price of $0.25 per unit for gross proceeds of approximately $4.94 million.Each unit was comprised of one common share and 0.70 of a common share purchase warrant. Each full warrant (each, a "Placement Warrant") entitles Glencore to purchase one additional common share for $0.375, providing up to approximately $5.2 million in additional funding if all Placement Warrants are exercised in full. The Placement Warrants are exercisable for three years, subject to early acceleration if the volume weighted average trading price of Stillwater's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSX-V") is greater than $0.5625 for a period of 20 consecutive trading days. All securities issued pursuant to the placement are subject to a hold period of four months and one day.Stillwater Critical Minerals President and CEO, Michael Rowley, stated, "We are very pleased to bring Glencore to the underexplored yet truly world-class geology of the Stillwater Igneous Complex via this cornerstone investment in Stillwater. Together, we are focused on advancing the next phase of critical mineral supply from this iconic American district. Preparations are underway now for Phase One drilling with a focus on expansion of high-grade nickel sulphides with significant copper, cobalt, palladium, platinum, rhodium, and chrome, as defined in our past campaigns. We look forward to announcing further details in the coming weeks, along with the start of drilling." Proceeds from the placement are intended to be used for exploration and development activities at the Company's North American nickel projects, as well as for working capital and general and administrative expenses. Stillwater has established a technical committee which includes a Glencore right to participate that will act in a non-binding advisory capacity to the board of directors of Stillwater.In connection with the placement, the parties entered into an investor rights agreement pursuant to which Glencore is entitled to certain customary rights including: (i) participation in future equity issuances and a right to maintain its pro-rata position in Stillwater; (ii) certain rights on the sale of products from Stillwater West Project, and (iii) standstill provisions in favour of Stillwater.Warrant ExtensionThe Company further reports that it has applied for TSX-V approval to extend the expiry date of certain warrants that are due to expire July 17, 2023 (the "July Warrants"). Per the application, 21,635,000 July Warrants that were originally issued as part of a financing completed in July 2020 will be extended to a new expiration date of January 17, 2024. Each July Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at an exercise price of $0.30.About Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.Stillwater Critical Minerals ( TSX.V:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF) is a mineral exploration company focused on its flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co + Au project in the iconic and famously productive Stillwater mining district in Montana, USA. With the addition of two renowned Bushveld and Platreef geologists to the team and a strategic investor by Glencore, the Company is well positioned to advance the next phase of large-scale critical mineral supply from this world-class American district, building on past production of nickel, copper, and chromium, and the on-going production of platinum group and other metals by neighboring Sibanye-Stillwater. An expanded NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate, released January 2023, delineates a compelling suite of critical minerals contained within five Platreef-style nickel and copper sulphide deposits at Stillwater West, which host a total of 1.6 billion pounds of nickel, copper and cobalt, and 3.8 million ounces of palladium, platinum, rhodium, and gold, and remains open for expansion along trend and at depth.Stillwater Critical Minerals also holds the high-grade Black Lake-Drayton Gold project adjacent to Treasury Metals' development-stage Goliath Gold Complex in northwest Ontario, currently under an earn-in agreement with Heritage Mining, and the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co critical minerals project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinums Wellgreen deposit in Canadas Yukon Territory.The Company's address is 904, 409 Granville Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 1T2.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director - Stillwater Critical MineralsEmail: info@ criticalminerals.com Phone: (604) 357 4790Web: http://criticalminerals.com Toll Free: (888) 432 0075Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding the use of proceeds from the financing, the exercise of the Placement Warrants and the use of proceeds therefrom, the TSX-V's approval, if any, of the extension of the expiry date of the July Warrants, potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Stillwater Critical Minerals 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 or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, futu
Polish deputy prime minister and PiS chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski last Saturday at a convention of the United Right coalition, in an image released on Twitter. Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc

The impetus that Polands ultra-conservative government needed in its campaign for re-election next fall has been unwittingly provided by Brussels. The European Commissions proposal to close a migration pact by sharing refugees or paying up to 22,000 ($24,033) per refugee that each country refuses to take has served Law and Justice (PiS) and its coalition partners to recover two issues that helped it come to power in 2015 and that mobilize its most conservative base. On the one hand, there is the xenophobic discourse that criminalizes immigration of Muslims by linking it to security concerns, and on the other hand, there is the confrontation with the EU on account of the defense of national sovereignty. To tie both ideas together, Jaroslaw Kaczynskis party plans to hold a referendum.

Warsaw has already protested vociferously in Brussels and intends to veto the migration proposal. Meanwhile, it has sought to cement its rejection at home with actions that have few repercussions at the European level, but with a national political impact in the election period. The Sejm, the lower house of Parliament, passed a resolution against the system proposed by Brussels on June 15, and from the rostrum that same day, Kaczynski launched the idea of the referendum. Poles need to speak out on this issue, he proclaimed.

In the 2015 campaign, when Europe was engulfed in the refugee crisis, mainly from the Syrian war, Kaczynski flagged the rejection of the EUs proposed quotas and claimed that migrants bring all kinds of parasites and diseases long eradicated in Europe. In these elections, where security is a central issue, with a war in neighboring Ukraine, the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, justifies his refusal to accept people from outside the country with the argument of national security. Our government is the only guarantor that our borders will remain secure, and that women and children will be able to walk safely at night, not like in other European countries, he said at the Sejm session on June 15.

Ewa Marciniak, from the Department of Sociology of Politics and Political Marketing at the University of Warsaw, believes that the message this time is heard by a different country, and recalls that there are more than 200,000 people from Asia and the Middle East working in Poland. They are already part of the Polish landscape in big cities, she notes. Where there is almost no direct daily contact with people of other cultures and religions, the rhetoric of threat can be constructed, she says. However, she adds, The referendum will be held against the backdrop of that rhetoric of danger.

Her colleague Maciej Duszczyk, a migration expert at the University of Warsaw, also believes that PiS is trying to convince Poles that they are under threat. In the governments discourse Duszczyk has analyzed, there are migrants who are welcome, such as the more than one million Ukrainians who arrived before the war and the 1.3 million who took refuge in Poland after the invasion, and those who contribute to economic competitiveness. And then there are those who bother: Those who cross EU borders illegally and can be divided among the Member States.

The PiS governments extremely harsh and inflexible response to such immigration is well known to those who have ventured to reach the EU through the Belarusian border. Since 2021 when Aleksandr Lukashenkos regime began its hybrid attack on EU border countries though the orchestrated people smuggling of thousands of migrants, countless violations of human rights and the international right to asylum have been documented. There have also been dozens of deaths on both sides of the border, which Poland has tried to shield with a security fence. Not even on the most critical occasions, with women and children sheltering in a wooded area in sub-zero temperatures, has the PiS Executive has its arm twisted.

Last Saturday, at a convention of the United Right coalition, which unites PiS with its minority partners, Kaczynski assured his audience that attacks on the Polish-Belarusian border are starting again. We will not let anyone decide for us. That is why the referendum will be called, he declared. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, a government partner with the Eurosceptic Sovereign Poland party (even further to the right of PiS), doubled down on the same theme in his speech: We cannot accept the decisions forced by Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz to relocate tens of thousands of Islamic immigrants to Polish cities without the consent of the residents, he said, adding the anti-German aspect, which is another recurring element in the governments narrative.

Duszczyk believes that the government is using migrants as a tool to attack the EU for mandatory relocation, not so much for the solidarity mechanism. The opposition meanwhile conveys the message that PiS is overreacting to an invented problem: Poland, they insist, could apply for exemption from the European plan as a country already under pressure from migration. He further estimates that the number of refugees the country would have to take in would be less than 2,000. For the government, however, it is not a question of numbers or exemptions, but of politics. As Aleks Szczerbiak, politics professor and expert on Poland at the University of Sussex, puts it, its about opposing the principle that the EU can decide for itself on migration policy.

The Brussels proposal suits the ultra-nationalist Polish government as a means to activate the most conservative voters. It is not an issue that will change things electorally, but we are facing a very close election with little change in the polls, in which mobilizing loyal voters will be key, the political scientist points out.

Campaign with no punch

PiS continues to lead the polls with an average voting intention of 36%, but without a majority to govern. Their campaign has lost momentum, and although they should not panic, because they have not lost support, as Szczerbiak stresses. Kaczynskis party is seeking to reinvigorate it after seeing the oppositions momentum, especially the liberal Civic Platform party, with its marches and mass rallies. The ultra-nationalist party has made organizational changes  the party chairman has returned to government as deputy prime minister, and the campaign manager has been changed  as PiS tries to show unity and entrench doorstep concerns such as security, which appeals to more centrist voters, along with others such as immigration and the EU.

Key details about the referendum, such as the questions and the date, have not yet been revealed, but as Szczerbiak points out, the government would like to hold it on the same day as the election to ensure that the issue becomes a central campaign issue. Also to avoid abstention, because to be valid, such a public consultation needs at least 50% participation.

Analysts predict an unpleasant electoral campaign. It will be negative, even violent, says Marciniak, who expects to see malicious smear campaigns orchestrated against Donald Tusk and other opposition politicians. Both camps believe that a lot is at stake in these elections, Szczerbiak notes: The government thinks that, if it wins, it will be able to finish its reforms and these will have to be accepted by other countries, while the opposition sees that such an outcome could undermine democracy and civil rights.

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At the beginning of the election year, Chichi Ojei of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) was the only female presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections. However, less than 10 days before the presidential elections, her party withdrew support for her.

According to the party, the decision was made after evaluating the democratic credentials of Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The party said it considered it appropriate in the national interest to adopt Atiku for president in the forthcoming election.

Ms Ojei, like many other Nigerian women, had her dream dashed before the competition proper.

Nigerias female population amounted to approximately 106 million in 2021 out of 213 million people. Despite this almost equal population with men, women have less representation in governance.

Only one woman has ever occupied any of the top four positions in Nigerias governance  a five months stint as Speaker in 2007. As of 2022, only five per cent of Nigerias federal lawmakers were women, one of the lowest representation rates globally.

Furthermore, no woman has ever been elected governor.

Since the return of civilian rule in 1999, the participation of women in politics has continued to decline despite various efforts by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSO).

The results of the just concluded 2023 elections have not proven any better with little or no results in some quarters. For state houses of assemblies, women have only 4.7 per cent representation. Out of the 1,019 females who contested, only 48 were elected. Though the number of representations increased by three, it is only a one per cent increase which is a far cry from what is desired.

A total of 378 women ran for various seats in the 10th National Assembly, but only 17 were successful for both chambers.

The European Union (EU) in its 2023 report described the representation of women as the lowest in the National Assembly since Nigerias return to democracy in 1999.

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The challenges faced by women in the Nigerian political ecosystem range from funding, sexual harassment, male monopoly and even societal and religious perception.

CDD in this report highlights these issues.

Issues of Sexism, Ageism and Societal Perception

Although sexism happens to both genders, it is more prevalent against women, including in Nigeria.

Often regarded as a mans game, women in politics are often very disadvantaged due to sexism.

Banke Ilori-Oyeniyi of the KOWA party, while speaking on the roles sexism and ageism play in sidelining women, noted that questions bordering on marital status, and depth of knowledge were part of the questions that were asked whenever a woman decided to vie for any political position. As such, women work twice as hard for a position than their male counterparts due to the patriarchal nature of the country.

Citing examples from her experiences, Nafisa Atiku, a member of the PDP and Founder of Girls Just Want to Run (GJWR), a non-governmental organisation, explained how sexism and societal perception affect how women act and even how they appear.

I once wore a corporate dress below my knees to the secretariat and an elderly man tapped me and told me not to wear this type of dress again because I was drawing male attention to myself. Let me just say this, many times when abuse of sexism plays out, it does so in the presence of other men and elders who say nothing because of societal background.

I wasnt in boy shorts to the secretariat, and I think a woman can wear that after all its her body. But then I was still told I was indecent.

When I sometimes speak on gender inequality, I get tonnes of backlash even on social media. A man once came to my DM to accuse me of anti-Islamism. According to him, what I was saying was against Islam, being a Muslim woman.

I speak with many younger people and women who make similar complaints. I cant wear corporate dresses and most time, I have to wear Ankara. Its not like I love Ankara so much but just to blend into the society that has been created.

she added, So you see a narrative that says if you are not married as a female politician, you can never get married and if you are married, you need to take permission from your husband.

Sexual Exploitation/Violence

Sexual exploitation and violence against women are not a new phenomenon. However, the urge to avoid being a victim of this hideous crime often leads women to be reserved or out of the limelight.

Olabisi Olaleye, a former member of the PDP, explains that she has over time had to deal with sexual exploitation very early in her political career.

Ms Olaleye, who while at the University of Jos was the vice president of the Department of Biochemistry and a member of the House of Parliament in her 200 and 300 levels respectively, explained that even while at the university, there were people who tried to exploit female candidates by asking for sex as a reward for sponsorship or some sort of advantage.

I have seen this first-hand in my experience and that of a mentor. My mentor who is contesting at the local level was told by the local chairman that he wanted to taste her.

She said the practice would not cease unless drastic action was taken.

I think years from now we will still experience this. I think it might grow worse, she said.

Loveth Izekor, director-general of Young Ladies in Politics (YLP), said sexual exploitation and violence were part of the vices that discourage women from being involved in politics.

The trend of women being sexually assaulted makes young girls avoid politics. When they hear stories from other women who have been victims, they become discouraged. When they hear stories from those who stood firm to their principles and still failed, they get discouraged. Its a tricky situation.

However, the YLP director pointed out that some women are enablers of this practice.

When you see women in positions that they are not qualified for, they indirectly tell other women that this is the only way to get it, she said.

Citing the experiences of a former PDP Kogi governorship candidate, Natasha Akpoti, Mrs Ilori-Oyeniyi stressed that the dynamics of violence against women have advanced over time with physical assaults being perpetuated by political opponents.

She nonetheless suggested that the crime continues to be perpetrated because of the lack of prosecution.

Those who have been arrested havent been prosecuted and I guess thats a problem with Nigeria as a whole. and though candidates have been accused, nothing has been done, she said.

Interparty politics and funding

Ms Atiku questioned the notion that the only position available for women within the party was Womens leader.

She said, Women are not top of mind amongst party chieftains, and I think its deliberate. Within the party, women are sidelined because of the way the party is structured. And many times, its a result of selfish interest. Why would one think that the only position befitting of a woman in political parties is womens leader? And it gets worse even for younger women. There are stereotypes and societal inclinations.

Mrs Ilori-Oyeniyi, however, insisted that people tend to act a certain way not because they are bad but because of already programmed societal norms.

There are good people in politics. I have met the good and bad in different parties.

I think its important to note that privileged people tend to hold on to that privilege and sometimes it is selfish. Some do this intentionally and others dont.

While the women in Nigerian politics narrate the societal and institutional challenges they face that discourage other women, some male politicians blame them for not being interested in politics.

One such is Alfa Mohammed, the spokesperson of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who suggested that women were not willing to put in the work and as a result, were not often considered when it came to party appointments.

The truth is that many women are not interested in politics, especially the young ones. They feel that politics is dirty, so they dont want to get involved. Unfortunately, once the party succeeds, they pick those who were really involved.

In politics, we dont beg people to occupy political positions because there are many people vying for the same positions. Women hardly come forward to occupy these positions even when we zone it to regions or states. So, what do we do? We use those available. We cannot say because you are a woman you should take the job, he said.

Misconceptions about women in larger parties in contrast to those in smaller parties

Both Ilori and Atiku were of the opinion that women in smaller political parties have the chance of growing together with the parties and occupying more relevant positions than those in larger parties.

I was National Publicity Secretary before I was 27 years, the youngest so far. Smaller parties give you an opportunity to learn. I would not have had the leadership opportunity I have, had I been in a bigger party, I dont have parents that are political chieftains. I encourage young people to do the hard work and build from scratch.

Today we have a third force and it is because you have to change the shape of things for larger parties. It would take time but its worth it, Ms Ilori said.

A couple of years ago I was part of a smaller party and I think it was easier there than it is now.

In the bigger parties, selfish interest plays a big role in how women are elected. In smaller parties, the issue of self-interest was there but it wasnt above the central objective, Ms Atiku said.

Changing the narratives

Arome Salifu, the director of the Africa Youth Growth Foundation (AYGF), explained that for women to change the narratives, they need to build capacity and character and have the necessary requirements to succeed in the political space.

He encouraged women to research the needs of the positions they aspire for before venturing.

Ms Mohammed shared a similar view, stating that she believes more women need to be encouraged to be part of politics.

We try to encourage women to take part in politics by ensuring that fees for political position tickets are slashed and political forms are free.

I think NGOs should also encourage women to be part of politics and do a lot of orientation because, to be honest, many men do not even encourage their wives to be part of politics.

Ms Atiku, despite acknowledging the improvement in womens participation, suggested stronger legislation in the adoption of the 35 per cent affirmative action.

The Girls Just Want to Run founder advised women to begin taking part in politics even at the grassroots level. She called for political orientation embedded in civic education, especially in secondary schools.

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The global fact-checking community, Thursday, in Seoul, South Korea, judged PREMIUM TIMES and DUBAWAs investigation on the famous low-market medicinal brew, Baba Aisha Herbal Medicine, as the winner for the 2023 highest impact fact-check entry at its annual summit.

This was announced at GlobalFact10, the yearly forum of the over 100-member community officially known as the International Fact-Checking Network [IFCN].

The investigation, titled; Baba Aisha, Nigerias fake doctor cashing out on deadly concoction that cures nothing, competed against four nominees in the highest impact fact-check category.

The nominees for the highest impact fact-check were; DUBAWA (Nigeria), AFP Fact-Checking (France/USA), Myth Detector (Georgia) and Taiwan FactCheck Centre (Taiwan).

Part of the impacts of the investigation was the probe into the product, sealing of the factory, mopping up of the products from the streets and the arrest of the said doctor by the regulatory agency, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Reactions

The reporter of the investigative story, which took five months to put together, Kemi Busari, said his greatest accomplishment as a journalist is to make an impact.

He said: I am glad our team won this award. It is a testament to the fact that people worldwide appreciate the little work we do in our closets, and we hope to continue to do more impactful fact-checking that will change peoples lives in Nigeria and West Africa.

I would like to state that the first award for us and me as journalists is the impact we can drive with this story and the positive changes we can effect in peoples lives.

He also recognised the efforts of the regulatory agency- NAFDAC since the investigation was published.

Since we published this, the authorities have lived up to expectation in some ways, and we hope that we can fully bring the culprit to book and sanitise our society of harmful concoctions, he added.

About IFCN

The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is housed at the Poynter Institute Miami, Florida, United States. It was launched in 2015 to bring together the growing community of fact-checkers around the world and advocates of factual information in the global fight against misinformation.

IFCN says it enables fact-checkers through networking, capacity building and collaboration[and] promotes the excellence of fact-checking to more than 100 organisations worldwide through advocacy, training and global events.

The IFCN team also monitors trends in the fact-checking field to offer resources to fact-checkers, contribute to public discourse and provide support for new projects and initiatives that advance accountability in journalism.

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President Bola Tinubu on Thursday in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, said he remained hopeful and optimistic about achieving victory in the last presidential election, despite the ineffective cashless policy implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The President spoke in separate remarks at the palaces of the Paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, in Ijebu-Ode and Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, in Abeokuta , during a thank-you visit to the Royal Fathers.

Reflecting on the challenges in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, President Tinubu recounted his concerns about the confiscation of funds and the failure of the cashless policy, and how he had previously sought wisdom and guidance from Oba Adetona during his visit to the palace.

According to the President, he invoked the spirits of freedom and determination, symbolised by Baba Emilokan, to overcome the obstacles in the election.

Our monies were confiscated. The cashless policy didnt work, it was terrible then. I realised that, I came to Ogun State to invoke the spirit of freedom which we are noted for.

I invoked that spirit twice. The spirit of Baba Emilokan. Thats Baba. Being blunt, being decisive, thats him, he will tell you. The second spirit is that money or no money (we will do the election and we will win), he said.

President Tinubu acknowledged that these spirits had been the driving force behind his service and expressed his gratitude to Oba Adetona, all the Obas, elected officials, particularly his personal friend, Senator Gbenga Daniel, the Senator representing Ogun East.

He thanked them for their loyalty and commitment during those crucial times in the 2023 election.

The President, who described his visit to Ijebu-Ode as a homecoming, told Kabiyesi:

The way you have taken me, the way you have responded to me, all I can say is thank you. May you live long and may you witness a prosperous Nigeria.

He also acknowledged the presence of Chief Mike Adenuga, Nigerian billionaire businessman, and expressed pride in his contributions to the Nigerian economy.

During his visit to Abeokuta, President Tinubu thanked the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, for receiving him, describing him a great leader.

He expressed his commitment to fulfilling his promises and appealed for prayers from the citizens of the state to ensure progress and stability in the country.

I have redeemed my pledge that I will come back with victory and the crown.

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The hope is recharged; the hope is here. That hope will never fail. That hope will recharge your lives in a positive manner.

By the grace of Almighty God, we shall reap the fruits of our labour, Nigeria will see positive change, just endure these baby steps of pain.

This country is the only one we have. I have been a refugee and I know what it means to be a refugee and my green passport is what I still have now.

In separate remarks at the palaces of the Paramount ruler of Ijebuland and Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, in Abeokuta, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State thanked the President for the visit to the State, describing him as a man of uncommon grace and a living testimony of resilience.

Chronicling the Presidents antecedents as a visionary politician, the governor said the pronouncement of President Tinubu in the first few weeks in office had defined him as rightly prepared and qualified for office.

Oba Adetona and Oba Gbadebo, in separate remarks in their palaces, commended President Tinubu for his leadership, acknowledging him as an instrument of God chosen to rectify past shortcomings.

They offered prayers for the Presidents guidance and good health, urging Nigerians to support his administration.

Also speaking, Oba Babatunde Ajayi, the Akaraigbo of Remoland, who commended the President for starting his administration exceptionally well, noted that the people need urgent palliatives to mitigate the effects of the current challenges.

He lauded the wise decisions so far taken by the administration, reminding the President of his promise to bring development to Remo.

I remember when you came to the palace and all we said is our dream is for you to go and win the primaries, and that once you win the primaries, Im sure that God will take us there. Im glad that God took us there.

I want to remind you of what you said when you came to Remo. You said with the proximity of Shagamu to Lagos, you were surprised at the level of development in Remo. This is the time Mr President to walk that talk, he said.

Dele Alake

Special Adviser to the President

Special Duties, Communications and Strategy

June 29, 2023

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President Bola Tinubu Thursday in Lagos said he could have chosen to maintain the former multiple foreign exchange systems and benefit from it, but instead opted to unify the official and parallel market rates to save the country from financial hemorrhage.

Speaking at a civic reception organised in his honour by the Lagos State Government at the Lagos House, Marina, President Tinubu said he took the decision in the nations best interest just like he did with fuel subsidy removal.

I could afford to share the benefit by participating in the arbitrage, but God forbid! Thats not why you voted for me, he said.

The president said it was imperative to take those decisive actions in the early days of his administration.

We need to take the steps to stop the bleeding of our finances through speedy action on fuel subsidy. We have no choice, he said.

President Tinubu said as a way of ensuring good use of available resources, the government would re-engineer the effectiveness of the control and management of our resources in order to meet the obligations to Nigerians by political office holders.

He used the opportunity to solicit the support of governors present at the event to work with him in ensuring even development of the country.

We will work together with an open door policy. We will bring Nigeria from the brink to a resilient economy. I want us to be partners so that we can rescue our land and make it a born-again nation.

An elated President Tinubu, who was thankful to the Lagos State Government for putting together the reception and to his friends and associates who attended, apologised to some of his friends in the audience who, he said, had been yearning to see him but could not, because of the demands of his office.

The assignment is greater than the love of the living room. We got to do the job, he said.

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was overwhelmed with joy, while appreciating guests, expressed gratitude to God for making President Tinubu the leader of Nigeria. He described him as a competent manager of human and financial resources with the midas touch to turn around the economic fortunes of the country.

Speaking on behalf of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Kwara State Governor and Chairman of the forum, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, pledged that state chief executives, regardless of party affiliations, were ready to cooperate and work with the president to ensure the country becomes better and safer for all citizens.

NGF is excited that both the president and vice president are alumni of the Governors Forum. We are committed to work with a federalist who worked to get things done in a truly federal system. We reiterate our support for a renewed hope agenda regardless of our parties.

President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who spoke on behalf of members of the National Assembly, thanked President Tinubu for his leadership in smoothening the take-off of the 10th National Assembly.

You will succeed. Nigerians are proud of you and the National Assembly is here for you 100 per cent. We will do whatever is legislatively possible to make you succeed, Mr Akpabio said.

The immediate-past Minister of Works and Housing and former Governor of Lagos, Babatunde Fashola, pleaded with governors and Nigerians that the work of remaking Nigeria should not be left alone to the president, stating that good governance must be replicated across the 36 states.

Going down memory lane, leader of Lagos Governors Advisory Council (GAC), Tajudeen Olusi, said the emergence of President Tinubu was a pay-back time for the state having contributed significantly to the political evolution of Nigeria since the colonial era of Herbert Macaulay till date.

Those who have led this country were tutored in Lagos. We are grateful that the president of Nigeria this time finally came from Lagos. We have a man whom we are proud of. He has already started well and Nigerians have seen his first 30 days as remarkable.

The event was also attended by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima; wife of the president, Oluremi Tinubu; All Progressives Congress National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu; Speaker of House Representatives, Tajudeen Abass, special advisers and Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, among others.

Lagos Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat delivered the vote of thanks at the occasion which was also attended by serving and former govenors from across party lines in solidarity with the President.

Dele Alake

Special Adviser,

Special Duties, Communications and Strategy

June 29, 2023

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The National Vice President of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Munnir Lamido, has been reported missing.

Mr Lamido has not been seen for about a week, his friends and family members have said.

A family source, who asked not to be named because he has not been authorised to speak with the press, said the last time Mr Lamido communicated with his family, on 23 June, he was travelling to Kaduna from Zaria.

On Friday, MACBAN confirmed that Mr Lamido was missing in a statement by its spokesperson, Muhammad Nuru.

MACBAN is the umbrella association of Fulani cattle rearers in the country.

The family source said Mr Lamido, an engineer, left his private residence in Katsina last Friday for an official engagement in Kaduna. He was alone in his car.

When he reached Zaria (Kaduna State), he called and communicated with his family. He said he stopped to eat in a restaurant. From there on, the family failed to reach him after several attempts, he said.

Efforts by the relative, who is also the MACBAN chairman in Katsina State, to reach him later were unsuccessful as his two phones were all switched off.

The MACBAN, in its statement, said his car was found on Wednesday around Maraban Jos, before entering Kaduna.

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His two phones and other belongings were in the car, but he was not found.

His vehicle was discovered yesterday on Jos  Kaduna road around Maraban Jos, parked, with all his telephones inside. All efforts to trace him have proved abortive so far.

By this notice, anyone with useful information on his whereabouts should kindly contact the nearest police station or reach out to us at MACBAN, Mr Nuru said in the statement.

The police spokesperson in Katsina State, Abubakar Sadik, also confirmed that Mr Lamido is missing.

Parts of Kaduna and Plateau states are historical conflict areas between pastoralists and farming communities.

Thousands of people have either been killed or kidnapped by opposing sides.

The circumstance around Mr Lamidos disappearance is yet to be determined.

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Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has suspended almost all the permanent secretaries and the head of service in the states civil service.

This was contained in a statement by the governors spokesperson, Kazie Uko, on Thursday.

Mr Otti explained that the decision followed the inauguration of a judicial panel of inquiry tasked with recovering government properties and funds from past officials who served under the former governor of the state, Okezie Ikpeazu.

The governor also approved the appointment of Joy Maduka as acting Head of Service (HoS) to replace the suspended HoS.

Mrs Maduka serves as the Director, Ministry of Education in the state before her latest appointment.

The governor, Dr Alex Otti, has directed the immediate suspension of the head of service and all permanent secretaries in the state civil service, the statement read in part.

The statement said the suspension of the officials had taken immediate effect.

All the (affected) permanent secretaries are by this notice directed to hand over to the most senior director in the respective ministries, department and agencies, it said.

However, the Clerk of the State Assembly, Johnpedro Irokansi, and the State Solicitor-General, Uzoamaka Ikonne, were excepted from the suspension, according to the statement.

Mrs Ikonne is the wife of the former PDP governorship candidate in Abia State, Uche Ikonne, who died weeks before the 2023 general elections.

Mr Otti is a member of the Labour Party (LP), under which he won the 18 March governorship election in the state.

During the inauguration of the 8th Abia House of Assembly on 14 June, Mr Irokansi was accused of ignoring nominations from lawmakers who are members of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

His action was believed to have resulted in the election of two first timer-lawmakers as speaker and deputy speaker of the House from the ruling LP, despite being the minority in the assembly.

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The police in Akwa Ibom State, South-south Nigeria, said they had arrested a suspected ritualist with a human skull.

The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko Macdon, disclosed this on Friday in a text of the second quarter news briefing by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Olatoye Durosinmi.

The suspect, Edu Ime of Mbak Etoi in Uyo Local Government Area, was arrested on 15 May at a popular Urua Ekpa Junction around Calabar-Itu Highway, Mr Durosinmi said.

Suspect could not give any reasonable explanation as to why he was in possession of a human skull but named their ring leader, who is a suspected ritualist, he said.

Reviewing the police achievements in Akwa Ibom in the last three months, Mr Durosinmi said 269 suspects had been arrested for offences ranging from murder, kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and cultism.

Arrest of suspected kidnappers

The police spokesperson, Mr Macdon, said the police in the state also arrested a gang who, on 14 April, kidnapped a vice chancellor of a private university in the state.

Mr Macdon did not disclose the identity of the victim and the university.

He identified the suspect as Prince Okon, a former domestic worker sacked by the vice chancellor because of criminal tendencies.

The suspect, Mr Macdon said, masterminded the victims kidnapping in collaboration with two of his gang members, Saviour Luke and Richard Friday.

The sum of N1, 270, 000 cash was recovered as part of the ransom paid, while N250,000 was left in one of the suspects accounts. The Toyota Corolla used for the operation was also recovered. The VC has been reunited with his family, he said.

Besides the suspected ritualist and kidnappers, the police said they arrested five suspected cultists who terrorised residents of Uyo during the cult clash around Nwaniba.

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President Bola Tinubu said Thursday that he was certain that the naira redesign policy of his predecessor would not stop Mr Tinubus victory in the 2023 presidential election.

The Muhammadu Buhari administration had announced that that policy would, among other things, limit the influence of money in the 2023 general elections.

Many Nigerians believed that the policy was targeted at preventing Mr Tinubu from becoming president despite being the candidate of Mr Buharis party. Some leaders of the ruling party, APC, such as then governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State publicly stated that the policy was meant to weaken the party during the election.

The policy involved the confiscation of trillions of old naira notes and replacement with new notes for the highest denominations of the naira.

However, the new notes were grossly inadequate leading to the scarcity of naira and suffering by millions of Nigerians, particularly the poor citizens, who rely on cash for their daily transactions.

The policy was only suspended after a Supreme Court ruling, some days before the general election.

Mr Tinubu, after his inauguration on 29 May, suspended the main driver of the policy, Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, who is now under detention and being investigated by security agencies.

In his speech in Ogun State Thursday, Mr Tinubu said he was confident the policy would not stop him from winning the general election.

Our monies were confiscated. The cashless policy didnt work, it was terrible then. I realised that I came to this palace to invoke the spirit of freedom which we are noted for, he said.

Details of Mr Tinubus statement in Ogun was contained in a press release by his spokesperson, Dele Alake.

Read Mr Alakes full statement below.

President Bola Tinubu on Thursday in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, said he remained hopeful and optimistic about achieving victory in the last presidential election, despite the ineffective cashless policy implemented by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The president spoke in separate remarks at the palaces of the Paramount ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, in Ijebu-Ode and Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, in Abeokuta , during a thank-you visit to the Royal Fathers.

Reflecting on the challenges in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election, President Tinubu recounted his concerns about the confiscation of funds and the failure of the cashless policy, and how he had previously sought wisdom and guidance from Mr Adetona during his visit to the palace.

According to the president, he invoked the spirits of wisdom and determination, symbolised by Baba Emilokan, to overcome the obstacles in the election.

Our monies were confiscated. The cashless policy didnt work, it was terrible then. I realised that I came to this palace to invoke the spirit of freedom which we are noted for.

I invoked that spirit twice. The spirit of Baba Emilokan. Thats Baba. Being blunt, being decisive, thats him, he will tell you. The second spirit is that money or no money (we will do the election and we will win), he said.

President Tinubu acknowledged that these spirits had been the driving force behind his service and expressed his gratitude to Mr Adetona, all the monarchs, elected officials, particularly his personal friend, Gbenga Daniel, the senator representing Ogun East.

He thanked them for their loyalty and commitment during those crucial times in the 2023 election.

The president, who described his visit to Ijebu-Ode as a homecoming, told the monarch:

The way you have taken me, the way you have responded to me, all I can say is thank you. May you live long and may you witness a prosperous Nigeria.

He also acknowledged the presence of Mike Adenuga, Nigerian billionaire businessman, and expressed pride in his contributions to the Nigerian economy.

During his visit to Abeokuta, President Tinubu thanked the Alake of Egbaland, Adedotun Gbadebo, for receiving him, describing him a great leader.

He expressed his commitment to fulfilling his promises and appealed for prayers from the citizens of the state to ensure progress and stability in the country.

I have redeemed my pledge that I will come back with victory and the crown.

The hope is recharged; the hope is here. That hope will never fail. That hope will recharge your lives in a positive manner.

By the grace of Almighty God, we shall reap the fruits of our labour, Nigeria will see positive change, just endure these baby steps of pain.

This country is the only one we have. I have been a refugee and I know what it means to be a refugee and my green passport is what I still have now.

In separate remarks at the palaces of the Paramount ruler of Ijebuland and Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, in Abeokuta, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State thanked the President for the visit to the state, describing him as a man of uncommon grace and a living testimony of resilience.

Chronicling the presidents antecedents as a visionary politician, the governor said the pronouncement of President Tinubu in the first few weeks in office had defined him as rightly prepared and qualified for office.

Mr Adetona and Mr Gbadebo, in separate remarks in their palaces, commended President Tinubu for his leadership, acknowledging him as an instrument of God chosen to rectify past shortcomings.

They offered prayers for the presidents guidance and good health, urging Nigerians to support his administration.

Also speaking, the Akaraigbo of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Ajayi, who commended the president for starting his administration exceptionally well, noted that the people need urgent palliatives to mitigate the effects of the current challenges.

He lauded the wise decisions so far taken by the administration, reminding the president of his promise to bring development to Remo.

I remember when you came to the palace and all we said is our dream is for you to go and win the primaries, and that once you win the primaries, Im sure that God will take us there. Im glad that God took us there.

I want to remind you of what you said when you came to Remo. You said with the proximity of Shagamu to Lagos, you were surprised at the level of development in Remo. This is the time Mr President to walk that talk, he said.

Dele Alake

Special Adviser to the President

Special Duties, Communications and Strategy

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The federal government says it will re-open both the Eko and Apongbon Bridges to road users ahead of schedule by midnight of 9 July.

According to it, this is to alleviate the suffering of road users.

The Director, Highways, Bridges and Designs in the Federal Ministry of Works, Omotayo Awosanya, gave the assurance while leading top engineers from the federal team and Lagos State on an inspection tour of the bridges.

The team earlier had a closed door meeting with Buildwell Plants and Equipment Industries Ltd, contractors on the project at their construction yard in Costain.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the federal government had earlier set 15 July completion deadline for the bridges.

NAN further reports that the joint team inspected Apongbon Bridge both up and beneath, and Ijora-Olopa section of the Eko Bridge.

Mr Awosanya said the date review was borne out of the need to relieve stress commuters have undergone for almost a year since fire gutted Apongbon section and later Ijora Olopa portion.

At exactly midnight on Sunday, July 9, the bridges will be re-opened so that commuters will have smooth passage on Monday morning of July 10.

He said that when the bridges are re-opened, there will be intermittent short closures to continue repairs.

He said an existing contract for rehabilitation of the entire Eko Bridge had reached 50 per cent completion.

The director added that a total of 150 bearings had been replaced with additional 150 to be installed in subsequent rehabilitation works.

He said full scale rehabilitation would continue on other sections of the Eko Bridge, as the contract is meant to last three years.

We have come here to urge the contractor to reduce five days out of the 15th of July, we are now going to open the bridge on the 9th at 12.00 midnight.

And a minute after 12.00 a.m on the 9th, the bridge will be opened for traffic on the 10th.

This is as a result of close collaboration between federal government and Lagos State Government because we are mindful of the stress the closure of this bridge has caused to Lagosians and we have put pressure on the contractor to open the bridge on Monday for traffic.

This will reduce the stress presently on other bridges connecting the island and Victoria Island, he said.

He warned that the federal government would evacuate all illegal squatters under all Lagos Bridges causing damage to the infrastructure.

He noted that the collaboration of the federal and state governments would help to achieve the eviction of the squatters under the Apongbon, Ijora bridges, as well as other bridges.

The Permanent Secretary Office of Infrastructure in Lagos State, Olufemi Daramola, expressed satisfaction with the level of work, assuring residents of better motoring experience on the axis after re-opening of both bridges.

Mr Daramola said with what is on ground, 9th of July is very realistic, assuring that, arrangements were at high level towards protection of all bridges.

On her part, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Olukorede Kesha, appreciated the Lagos public for their patience while the repairs of both bridges lasted.

Kesha appealed to residents to be vigilant and report illegalities and vandalism, adding that, they should take ownership of all infrastructure to prevent wastage of scarce resources that go into repairs.

NAN reports that the joint team from the Federal and Lagos State governments also inspected the Ijora Olopa section of Marine Bridge scheduled for completion in September 2023.

During the inspection, Kesha assured that demolition had been completed on all the five panels destroyed by vandals, adding that, casting of concrete was set to begin.

NAN reports that both Apongbon and Eko Bridges were razed by fire caused by human activities in 2022.

Apongbon Bridge was affected by fire in March 2022 and efforts for its December completion were stalled by another fire that affected the Ijora Olopa section of Eko Bridge on 4 November 2022.

The delivery date for Apongbon Bridge was extended to May 2023 because some materials for its repairs were used to start emergency repair of Ijora Olopa section.

The federal government later set another deadline for 15 July which was reviewed downward to 9 July.

The 4.1km Eko Bridge links the Lagos Island with Mainland. It directly links to Apongbon on the Island side.

Eko Bridge has been undergoing phased rehabilitation but contract for its comprehensive maintenance was awarded in February 2022 and expected to extend to 2026.

On the other hand, the Ijora Olopa section of Marine Bridge damaged by vandals was shut on 17 May for safety of the public.

The deck on pile bridge caved in on 16 May leading to immediate assessment and closure.

A deck on pile is a bridge that does not have piers.

(NAN)

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Retailers of local concoction, Baba Aisha Herbal Medicine have either taken off the streets or discontinued the sales of the product, a recent survey by DUBAWA and PREMIUM TIMES shows.

This development follows efforts by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) since we published an investigation which exposed the harmful nature of the concoction.

In one of its several responses, NAFDAC said it had commenced a nationwide mop-up of the toxic concoction, mostly in circulation in Abuja and adjoining states.

Making the announcement at a press conference recently, the Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, a professor of Pharmaceutics and Manufacturing, said the effort would extend to other fake and unregistered products in circulation.

She added that the exercise was to ensure the herbal product, whose registration number expired over three years ago, is off the market.

We have commenced a nationwide mop-up of the Sacra Herbs in circulation. We have also intensified crackdown on all illegal manufacturers and distributors of herbal preparation and other unregistered preparations, to bringing perpetrators to book and minimise the usage of the substance, she said.

What our survey shows

Following this announcement, we went back to the streets to see if the mop-up has had any effect.

This newspaper observed that the concoction is gradually leaving the shelves of retailers who have either stopped selling it or completely shut down their kiosks.

For instance, at the Nyanya axis where at least three stationary vehicles park daily to sell the concoction to the public, we found that only one of them still opens for sales.

The seller, who quickly gave a dismissal look when our reporter asked to purchase Baba Aisha Herbal product, said he doesnt have any in stock.

At Mararaba, a densely-populated dwelling at the east of Abuja, sellers who, in the recent past, clustered to serve the teeming populace were nowhere to be found during several visits.

A trader on the Mararaba bridge said its been up to two weeks since she saw any of the retailers or their vehicles last.

Meanwhile, the stationary Honda car where the concoction is being sold in Kurudu is still there but it now wears a new look.

Before DUBAWA and PREMIUM TIMES publication, the car was branded to boldly reflect Baban Aisha to attract customers.

However, on several visits throughout the week after NAFDACs announcement, we also found that the part of the car that bears the brand name has been repainted to fade out the name completely.

No more dont go to the hospital

The most significant development in the ongoing efforts is the stoppage of the advert, which daily misinforms the public. In the 9-minute advert, the voice-over artist asks people not to visit or take their children to the hospital.

Even if you have the intention to go to hospital, I Dr Salisu Sani say dont go. Even if you go (theyll) only say your children need drip or add them blood, the producer, Baba Aisha said in the recorded ad.

The advert, according to NAFDACs Herbal Medicine and Related Products Advertisement Regulations gazetted in 2021, ought to be approved by the agency before use.

NAFDAC has since clarified that it did not grant approval for the use of the advert.

All sellers of herbal products in areas we visited have since stopped playing the hitherto popular advert.

While some have totally stopped playing any ad, a few have switched to other ads, also advertising herbal products.

We could not ascertain if any of these ads was approved by NAFDAC.

What next?

Its been 19 days since the publication of the investigation and 15 days since the arrest of the producer, questions continue to be raised about the next steps.

For instance, the agency promised to conduct its investigation and make its findings public but is yet to revert on this promise.

Following the publication, NAFDAC raided the building where the concoction is being produced, confiscated several items and arrested two people.

The next day, the producer himself was arrested and detained after he visited NAFDACs office.

NAFDAC is yet to give an update on the arrest. Part of the questions begging for answers is if Baba Aisha has been granted bail and if he has been officially charged to court.

The latest attempt by DUBAWA and PREMIUM TIMES to get some answers from the agency has yielded no positive result.

The Director-General of the agency promised on Thursday that she would confirm the update on the arrest from the enforcement unit, pledging to revert with details. However, as of the time of filing this report no update has been provided.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, applauds Col. Gen. Sergei Surovikin during an awards ceremony for troops who fought in Syria, in the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 28, 2017.

Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, is believed to have been detained days after mercenaries staged a revolt inside Russia, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday, citing U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Its not clear whether Surovikin faces any charges or where he is being held, reflecting the opaque world of the Kremlins politics and uncertainty after the revolt.

But his reported detention comes days after Wagner Group mercenaries took over the military headquarters in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and were heading toward Moscow in what appears to have been an aborted insurrection.

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin has spoken positively of Surovikin while criticizing the countrys military brass and suggested that he should be appointed the General Staff chief to replace Gen. Valery Gerasimov. The New York Times this week reported that U.S. officials believe Surovikin had advance knowledge of Prigozhins plan to stage the revolt.

The White House and the Kremlin declined to comment.

Surovikin, who has longtime links to Prigozhin, hasnt been seen since the start of the rebellion when he posted a video urging an end to it.

A Russian military blogger, the Moscow Times, and the Financial Times reported that Surovikin, who is also the commander of the Russian air force, has been arrested.

There has been intense speculation that some top military officers may have colluded with Prigozhin and may now face punishment for the mutiny that briefly sent a virtually unchallenged march toward Moscow that Putin has labeled treason and a stab in the back.

Alexei Venediktov, former head of the Ekho Moskvy, a prominent independent radio station that was shut down by authorities after Moscow invaded Ukraine, said Surovikin and his close lieutenants havent been in contact with their families for three days, but stopped short of saying that he was detained.

Another prominent military messaging channel, Rybar, which is run by a former Defense Ministry press officer, reported a purge in the ranks was underway as authorities looked into allegations that some could have sided with Prigozhin.

Surovikin has been linked to Prigozhin since when both were active in Syria, where Russia has waged a military action since 2015 to shore up Syrian President Bashar Assads government and to help him reclaim territory after a devastating civil war.

While Prigozhin had unleashed expletive-ridden insults at Shoigu and chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov before last weeks mutiny in which he demanded their ouster, he has continually praised Surovikin and suggested naming him to replace Gerasimov. When the rebellion began, however, Surovikin recorded a video urging a halt to the mutiny.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that U.S. officials believed that Surovikin had advance knowledge about the mutiny. Asked about that report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shrugged it off as part of speculations and gossip.

On Thursday, Peskov refused to comment on whether Surovikin had been arrested.

Asked by the AP if the president still trusts Surovikin, he replied that Putin works with the defense minister and the chief of the General Staff and referred questions about officers to the Defense Ministry. He also referred all other questions about Surovikin and his status to the ministry.

As to whether Putin considers it necessary to dismiss military officials who had had links with Prigozhin, Peskov said the issue isnt my prerogative, and I have nothing to say on that.

The bald, fierce-looking Surovikin, who was nicknamed General Armageddon by Western media for his brutal tactics in Syria and Ukraine, was credited with shoring up Russian defenses after Moscows retreat from broad areas of Ukrainian territory last fall amid a swift counteroffensive by Kyiv.

Named by Putin in the fall to lead Russian forces in Ukraine, Surovikin presided over the bombing campaign that targeted Ukraines power plants and other vital infrastructure but failed to knock out power supplies.

In January, Putin replaced him with Gerasimov, putting the General Staff chief in charge of the Russian battle in Ukraine. Surovikin was demoted to the position of Gerasimovs deputy.

Gerasimovs own fate also is unclear after the abortive mutiny. While Shoigu showed up at several events attended by Putin, Gerasimov was mysteriously absent.

If a purge is indeed underway, it could destabilize the military chain of command and erode troop morale amid the early stage of Ukraines latest counteroffensive and offer Kyiv a chance to reclaim more ground.

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Several countries have condemned the burning of the Quran by one Salwan Momika, an Iraqi refugee who moved to Sweden several years ago.

The act happened in front of the Stockholm Central Mosque on Thursday where the Muslims gathered to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday.

According to an Aljazeera report, Mr Momika strutted into view behind rows of police officers outside the mosque, waving two Swedish flags as the national anthem blasted over a speaker system.

With white AirPods in his ears and a cigarette hanging nonchalantly from his mouth, he then desecrated the Quran repeatedly on Wednesday by tearing it up and lighting it on fire, it reported.

The refugee seeking to ban the Quran in Sweden also laid a strip of bacon on the holy book and began stamping on it with his foot. Another unidentified man with him spoke to the crowd through a megaphone.

The Swedish police had initially prohibited the man from burning the Quran but allowed him after a Swedish appeal court ruled that such a ban was a violation of his rights.

Hundreds of Iraqis protested at the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad following the act in Stockholm. Reports said that some burnt down a rainbow-coloured flag at the embassy while others carried the Quran and a portrait of an influential Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr while chanting.

This act has drawn condemnation from several countries including countries in the Middle East.

How the world is reacting

Turkey whose support Sweden needs to become part of NATO condemned the incident saying it will never bow down to a policy of provocation or threat.

We will teach the arrogant Western people that it is not freedom of expression to insult the sacred values of Muslims, Aljazeera quoted President Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey as saying.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in a tweet described the act as despicable adding that it is unacceptable to allow these actions under the pretext of freedom of expression.

To condone such atrocious acts is to be complicit, he tweeted.

Morocco condemned the act and recalled its ambassador to Sweden for an indefinite period.

For Iran, it is provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable.

The government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran  do not tolerate such an insult and strongly condemn it, said foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani, adding that the Swedish government is expected to seriously consider the principle of responsibility and accountability in this regard while preventing the repetition of insulting the holy sanctities.

We believe the demonstration created an environment of fear that will impact the ability of Muslims and members of other religious minority groups from freely exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief in Sweden, Aljazeera quoted US Department of State spokesperson Matt Miller as saying.

We also believe that issuing the permit for this demonstration supports freedom of expression and is not an endorsement of the demonstrations actions, he added.

Iraq in response to the act summoned the Swedish ambassador to Iraq on Thursday.

It called the act racist and irresponsible, adding that it condemns the repeated acts of burning copies of the holy Koran by individuals with extremist and disturbed minds.

They are not only racist but also promote violence and hatred, the Iraqi government said in a statement.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemned the act saying These hateful and repeated acts cannot be accepted with any justification, as they clearly incite hatred, exclusion, and racism, and directly contradict international efforts seeking to spread the values of tolerance, moderation, and rejection of extremism, and undermine the necessary mutual respect for relations between peoples and states.

Jordan also summoned the Swedish ambassador in Amman and informed her of the countrys strong protest, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement.

It described the act as racist and an incitement noting that burning the Holy Quran is an act of dangerous hate, and a manifestation of Islamophobia that incites violence and insulting religions and cannot be considered a form of freedom of expression at all.

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The Nigeria military on Friday pulled out of service, the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Lucky Irabor, a general, following the change of leadership of the armed forces by President Bola Tinubu.

Mr Tinubu had on 19 June approved the appointment of new service chiefs, which culminated in the retirement of the former chiefs from the service of the armed forces.

The president named Christopher Musa, a major general, as Mr Irabors replacement.

Pulling Out Parade is a traditional military ceremony to mark officers retirement from service, which involves a review of parade by the retiring senior officer

The ceremony also involves a march past by troops and pull out of the retired officer by top generals.

Mr Irabor said that he left the Nigeria Armed Forces bigger, stronger and more capable of delivering on its constitutional mandate.

The former CDS said he felt honoured to be pulled out after 37 years of unblemished service to the nation and has served as the CDS in the past 29 months.

According to him, ensuring national security in a large and diverse country like Nigeria is not an easy task.

In 2021, the nations security situation was admittedly in a state of dynamic flux.

Efforts made by the Federal Government of Nigeria using the armed forces in collaboration with the police, other security agencies and critical stakeholders were in different stages of gestation.

We were encouraged to pursue these measures in addition to other initiatives to reinvigorate the national security architecture to deliver critical national security functions.

I make bold to say that Im leaving the armed forces of Nigeria today, bigger, stronger and more capable to deliver on its constitutional mandate and national security functions, he said.

The event was attended by the Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Ibrahim Kana.

Also in attendance were former defence chiefs, including Ibrahim Ogohi, Marshal Oluseyi Petirin, Alexander Ogomudia, Martin Luther Agwai, and Gabriel Olonisakin.

Others at the event were the immediate past Chief of Army Staff, Faruk Yahaya, a lieutenant general, the current Chief of Defence Staff, Mr Musa and the three services chiefs.

(NAN)

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The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has called on leaders in the North-west region of the county to unite and support the present administrations efforts in addressing challenges confronting the people.

The vice president made the call Friday in his remarks when he paid Sallah homage to the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar 1 in his palace.

According to him, President Tinubu is aware of the challenges facing the people  the insecurity that has pervaded the North-west region, and he is taking far-reaching measures to address the situation.

I urge our political leaders to unite in order to confront the common challenges of insecurity, poverty and underdevelopment in the region.

While conveying President Tinubus felicitations, the vice president emphasised the importance of peace and unity, noting that there can never be peace without development, there can never be development without peace.

He added that the Tinubu administration, in acknowledgement of the role of the traditional institution, remains committed to giving it the necessary support to contribute to the nations progress.

Vice President Shettima has also tasked the State Governor, Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, to provide purposeful leadership while admonishing him to maintain cordial relationships with leaders across the state.

Speaking earlier at a brief reception for Mr Shettima at the Government House, Governor Aliyu Sokoto expressed gratitude for the visit, describing the gesture by the vice president as a show of deep love for Sokoto State and its people.

He described Mr Shettima as a man of patience, tolerance and courage, assuring him of the states support for the success of the Tinubu administration.

On his part, the Sultan of Sokoto thanked the VP for the Sallah homage and prayed God to grant him wisdom and strength to discharge tasks assigned to him as the nations number two citizen.

He commended the federal government for the bold steps taken so far to address challenges confronting the nation, noting that it is better to take certain decisions now, no matter the hardship, emphasising that the gains of the future are more important.

The revered religious leader pledged the support of the Sultanate for the federal governments policies and programmes, assuring that we support you 100 per cent all of the time and we give you our word on this. We will do whatever it takes to maintain peace and stability in our country Nigeria.

Other dignitaries at the Sallah homage were Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State; Sokoto State Deputy Governor Idris Gobir; the senator representing Sokoto North senatorial District, Aliyu Wamakko; the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Hadejia; the APC Deputy National Chairman (North), Abubakar Kyari and Speaker of Sokoto State House of Assembly, Tukur Bodinga, among others.

*Olusola Abiola*

*Director Information*

*Office of the Vice President*

*30th June 2023*

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The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lucky Irabor, has warned politicians to desist from playing politics with the military, saying the service possessed strong unity and bond that could not be broken.

Mr Irabor, who retired as a general, gave the warning while speaking at a reception organised by the Defence Headquarters after his Pulling-Out-Parade from service on Friday in Abuja.

He said the friendship and unity within the armed forces could not be found anywhere else.

The former CDS described the military as an institution that had people from the 774 Local Government Areas of the country being represented.

According to him, contrary to beliefs, no military personnel takes any special injection but for the training and indoctrination from the regimentation.

The military is a family for those who may not know, and I have answered so many questions on we being given an injection.

What is that injection? There is no injection. The injection is training and discipline.

They also said we operate like a cult; the process alone there is nothing wrong if I say we are in a cult, but it is a good cult.

In the training establishment when I was a cadet, we spend three years, but two years later, it became a five-year programme.

When it was three years, the admission was every six months, and when it became five year, the admission became every year.

For you to finish a three-year programme means that you will have five sets of your senior and five sets of your junior.

The bonding that comes with it, you cant find it in any other place, and that is why you think is a cult.

The values and traditions are transmitted from one generation to the other, and when you get to the field, you see yourself as brothers, he said.

Mr Irabor expressed joy in handing over the task of defending the nation to the new CDS, adding that he left a safer and better country.

He also cautioned against destructive criticism of the armed forces, calling on Nigerians to constructively criticise if needed.

He also called on his successor to follow up with the president to implement his policies for the greater good of the armed forces of Nigeria.

During my last interaction with the president, he made some promises to the military, and I urge you to follow up on the promises because those promises would be of greater good for the armed forces and the nation, he added.

Earlier, the new Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Musa, a major general, said Mr Irabor left a tall task and pledged not to disappoint.

Mr Musa commended Mr Irabor and past service chiefs for working in synergy for a common purpose and vowed to continue to promote synergy and work collectively to attain peace and stability.

I want to assure you that we will continue from where you have stopped; we will complete all ongoing projects.

We will continue the synergy you have started, and we will always come to you because of the experience you have had.

I will not allow your experience to waste. We willl work together with the citizens of Nigeria.We will not relent until there is total peace in Nigeria, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Irabor had earlier been pulled out of service in a colourful parade following the announcement of the change of leadership of the Armed Forces of Nigeria by President Bola Tinubu.

Mr Tinubu had, on 19 June, approved the appointment of new service chiefs, marking the retirement of the former chiefs from the service of the armed forces.

The parade is a traditional military ceremony to mark officers retirement from service, which involves review of parade by the retiring senior officer, a march past by troops and the pulling out of the retired officer by top Generals.

(NAN)

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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has criticised the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) recently introduced by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Based on the law establishing it, the university regulatory agency is empowered by Section 10(1) of the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, Cap E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, to set the minimum standards for all universities and other degree awarding institutions in Nigeria, and conduct the accreditation of their degrees and other academic awards.

However, in what it described as an imposition, ASUU said NUC failed to carry along relevant organs of the university system. It said the new benchmark was imposed on the institutions and called for an urgent review.

The union further described NUCs action as an aberration to the Nigerian University System.

About CCMAS

In 2022, NUC said it already developed the CCMAS to replace the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) the curriculum guide for Nigerian universities, which had been in use since 2007.

The CCMAS also expanded BMAS from 12 to 17 disciplines to reposition the system to reflect the realities of the 21st century.

According to the regulatory body, developing the CCMAS involved a blend of academic experts, academies, government (represented by NUC), professional bodies and the private sector, represented by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).

NUC said the drafts were presented to all critical stakeholders, including the academic units in the universities.

In order to enrich the draft documents, copies of each discipline were forwarded to all critical stakeholders, including the relevant academic units in Nigerian universities, the private sector, professional bodies and the academies for their comments and input, NUC wrote on the CCMAs webpage.

These inputs, along with the curriculum of programmes obtained from some foreign and renowned universities, served as major working materials for the various panels constituted for that purpose.

NUC added that CCMAS would make up 70 per cent of the curriculum while the university decides what to include in the remaining 30 per cent.

Rejection

In a statement issued on Friday and signed by its President, Emmanuel Osodeke, a professor of Soil Science, noted that NUC should accept proposed innovations from the universities instead of the top-to-bottom model used for the CCMAS.

The statement reads in part, NUC should encourage universities, as currently being done by the University of Ibadan, to propose innovations for the review of their programmes. Proposals from across universities should then be sieved and synthesised by more competent expert teams to review the existing BMAS documents and, or create new ones as appropriate.

ASUU said the process adopted by NUC amounts to encroaching on the powers of the Senate of universities.

It is inexplicable that the National Universities Commissions (NUC) pre-packaged 70 per cent CCMAS contents are being imposed on the Nigerian University System (NUS), leaving university Senates, which are statutorily responsible for academic programme development, to work on only 30 per cent, the union said.

The union added that while it understands that setting academic standards and assuring quality in the system is within the remit of the NUC, the process of generating the standard is as important (if not more important) than what is produced as minimum standards.

Inadequacies

The inadequacies of the CCMAS, according to ASUU, have resulted in dissatisfaction among university administrators, whom it said are shying away from making their reservations public.

ASUU wrote: However, some university Senates did not hide their displeasure with the ongoing efforts to impose CCMAS on Nigerian universities by the NUC. For instance, at the Special Meeting of the University of Ibadan (UI) Senate held on 16th June 2023, it was observed that the ratio of 70 to 30 per cent recommended does not permit the exhibition of the uniqueness of disciplines across institutions.

Based on this and other observations, the UI Senate decided that submissions made by various departments, reflecting the desirable contents, be submitted to the NUC.

The union also listed inadequacies of the CCMAS, including the failure of the NUC to inform universities of the planned revision of the BMAS, making university Senates to become mere spectators in their own affairs.

It added that many important components of university academic programmes were completely phased out in the new 70% CCMAS and the 30% local content is insufficient to remedy the lacunae.

For example, there are no Chemistry courses for students of B. Sc. Physics. Apart from Departmental and General Studies (GES/GST) courses, the 70% CCMAS has left out all other Faculty or University courses like Engineering Mathematics for Engineering students, Statistics for Science students, Philosophy and Sociology of Education courses for education students, etc. Almost all departments reported one major deficiency or the other in the CCMAS.

It added that the CCMAS has watered down the standards in some BMAS courses as their equivalents in the 70 per cent CCMAS were poorly developed.

It added: A typical example is Biochemistry, where courses at the 300 and 400 levels were weakened and made superficial, bereft of contemporary trends.

Unbundling some programmes as contained in the 70% CCMAS would render graduates of such programmes limited, inadequate, and subsequently unemployable in the sectors that would ordinarily want to engage their services.

For example, the unbundling of the Mass Communication or Communication Studies would give products of the programme narrow specialisations. The specialisation idea in the CCMAS was poorly conceived, making multi-disciplinary understanding impossible in this age of the interconnectedness of things.

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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Three persons died, while one other sustained injury in an accident along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Friday.

The accident involved a Toyota Sienna vehicle with registration number BDG 426 HT and a DAF truck marked RNG 558 XC.

It was gathered that the Sienna driver rammed into the DAF truck coming out of a trailer park.

Florence Okpe, the Public Education Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ogun command, confirmed the incident to reporters in Abeokuta.

Mrs Okpe disclosed that the accident occurred around Total Petrol Station on the expressway.

According to her, seven people were involved in the accident, including four male adults, two female adults, and one child.

Mrs Okpe attributed the cause of the accident to excessive speed on the part of the Sienna driver.

The injured victim was taken to Isaara General Hospital for medical attention while the corpses were deposited at FOS Morgue, Ipara.

Operatives are still on ground managing the traffic situation, she said.

Mrs Okpe stated that the Sector Commander had cautioned motorists on excessive speed and advised them to use common sense speed limits.

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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Verily, all praise is for Allah. We praise Him, we seek His assistance and we ask for His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Him from the evils of ourselves. Whoever Allah guides, none can misguide. Whoever He misguides, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar!

To proceed:

Dear brothers and sisters, be conscious of Allah Almighty on this great day. For it is the best of the days and it has the most deeds of Hajj.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illalLah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lilLahil Hamd!

Allahu Akbar! Your pilgrim brothers and sisters stayed yesterday in Arafat. Allahu Akbar!

And how many supplications did they make to Allah Almighty. Allahu Akbar! How many needs did Allah fulfill. Allahu Akbar! And how many people were accepted by Allah Almighty yesterday. Allahu Akbar! And how many sins were forgiven yesterday. Allahu Akbar! And how much mercy did Allah bestow. And how many were spared from the Fire. Oh Allah accept from us and the pilgrims and from all the Muslims. And make us and them from those whom You have forgiven their sins and rewarded their efforts and accepted their deeds and obligated mercy for them and spared them from the Fire.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illalLah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lilLahil Hamd!

Respected servants of Allah, your brothers and sisters performing Hajj pilgrimage are now proceeding to the jamarat after having spent the night in Muzdalifah in large assemblies, exalting, magnifying and praising Allah. So, glory be to the One Who guided them to Islam! And glory be to the One Who moved their tongues to make Zikr and remembrance of Him, and magnify Him. And glory be to the One who made these rituals in such few days! And glory be to the One Who within these days made the hearts move and the eyes tear!

That [is so]. And whoever honours the symbols [i.e., rites] of Allah  indeed, it is from the piety of hearts. [Quran, 22: 32]

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illalLah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lilLahil Hamd!

Dear brothers and sisters, know that the greatest blessing that Allah Almighty bestowed upon the believers is their guidance to Islam. For it is the true religion. Allah Almighty said:

Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam. [Quran, 3:19]

And Allah will not accept from anyone a religion other than it. Allah the Most High says:

And whoever desires other than Islam as religion  never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers. [Quran, 3: 85]

And it is the religion that Allah Almighty perfected for His servants. Allah Almighty says:

This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. [Quran, 5: 3]

And He the Most High says:

And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can alter His words, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing. [Quran, 6: 115]

And Islam is from the words of Allah Almighty that he perfected, truth in what He informed and fair in His decree. And Islam through the protection of Allah Almighty is preserved from addition, subtraction, alteration, and distortion. Because through Islam, Allah sealed the Books. And sealed the Prophethood with Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). So Islam shall remain until the end of time, so that humanity is guided through it. Allah Almighty said:

Indeed, it is We who sent down the message [i.e., the Quran], and indeed, We will be its guardian. [Quran, 15: 9]

And the Quranic verses of the perfection of Islam were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) during his farewell Hajj. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

I know the place where it was revealed and the day on which it was revealed. It was revealed to the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) at Arafat, on a Friday. [Bukhari and Muslim]

And with regards to the perfection of Islam, people are divided into three groups:

The first group are those who introduced into the religion of Islam unfounded religious practices and misguidances that have nothing to do with the Islam. And they deceived their followers with worships for which Allah Almighty has not sent down any authority. So they went astray and misled. And they are the common introducers of unfounded religious practices and those who follow them in their fabricated practices. And the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

If anyone introduces into this affair of ours (Islam) anything which does not belong to it, it is rejected. [Bukhari and Muslim]

And the second group are those who succumbed to the pressures of the times. So they have renounced some of the Islamic rulings and removed and omitted from it that which is inconsistent with the contemporary pressures on Islam and its followers. So they have permitted a number of forbidden matters and dropped a number of religious duties. And they dabble in the anomalies of jurisprudence and points of disagreement to extinguish the clear religious texts. And to reach their goal, they relied on the mistakes of those scholars who preceded them. And some of them did that for worldly aim. So how bad is what they did. They traded their religion for a worldly gain.

And some of them did that in defense of Islam, as they claim, to repel attacks against it, and this is from their ignorance. For the antagonists will not be satisfied with them until they destroy all of Islam, not some of it and until their way is followed. For they have ruined their souls and exposed it to the sources of sins and destruction. Islam is a great victorious religion, even if falsehood besieges it. Indeed the good consequence is for the Allah conscious.

And the third group are those who know the perfection of Islam, and worship Allah Almighty by it, and adhere to His ordainments, and do not add anything to it and do not subtract anything from it. And they are the greatest majority of Muslims, praise be to Allah the Almighty. And those in this group who fall short in adhering to their religion and those who wrong themselves by sinning, do not consider what they commit of the forbidden as permissible. And they do not consider what they leave out of the obligations as not required. Nor do they alter anything from Islam. Rather, they admit their negligence in their religion and their transgression upon themselves. They hope for repentance and ask others to supplicate for them. And such people are close to repentance and befitting for being given success in attaining it, since following desires did not destroy their hearts, nor do misleading unfounded religious practices divert them from the truth. For they know the perfection of Islam, just as they know their mistakes regarding the rights of their religion and their own rights. And a man was brought to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) to be disciplined for drinking alcohol, so another man said:

O Allah, curse him. How often he is brought to the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him)! So he (Peace be upon him) said, do not curse him, for he loves Allah and His Messenger. [Bukhari]

And this does mean taking the major sins and misdeeds lightly. But rather those who become weak before sin then fall into it, while blaming themselves for what they did, are better than those who consider the sin permissible or take it lightly even if they do not commit it.

Respected brothers and sisters, one of the requirements for belief in the perfection of Islam is adherence to all of its ordainments, and care in not splitting it by accepting some parts and not others. For Allah Almighty rebuked people who did that and warned them of humiliation in this world and torment and punishment in the hereafter. The Almighty addressed them saying:

So do you believe in part of the Scripture and disbelieve in part? Then what is the recompense for those who do that among you except disgrace in worldly life; and on the Day of Resurrection they will be sent back to the severest of punishment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do. [Quran, 2: 85]

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illalLah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lilLahil Hamd!

Dear servants of Allah, so be conscious of Allah Almighty on this great day. And thank Him for favouring you with this religion (Islam), and for what He guided you to its rituals and rulings which are the best of rituals and ordainments. And ask Him for steadfastness upon it until death, for the hearts are in the Hands of the Allah Almighty and He turns them as He wills. Oh Allah, the Changer of the Hearts, make our hearts steadfast upon Your religion (Islam), ameen.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illalLah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lilLahil Hamd!

Dear and respected Muslim women, know that the religion of Islam in its perfection and what it has of justice and mercy has not changed. For its rulings for women are the same rulings from when Allah Almighty revealed them to His Messenger Muhammad (Peace be upon him). So nothing was removed from it and nothing was added to it, in spite of attempts of some of the afflicted to distort, change or take away from it.

Indeed the woman who loves her Lord and religion and is certain of the perfection of Islam, adheres to all of the religion and holds on to it with determination and strength. And the words of the people of base desires and false notions do not deviate her from any part of her religion. And she is not turned away from the religion by the many women who take its rulings lightly. Because her greatest aim is pleasing her Lord, the Almighty and seeking the home of the hereafter. So she does not back down from this goal even if it means losing this entire worldly life. So how could she while she hears what Allah Almighty has permitted for her, and it is a lot, and she has pleased her Lord, Most glorified and she is pleased with herself. For the knot of sin around the heart is not unraveled except through repentance. And the pain of the sin does not leave the believer, because their modesty before their Lord, Glory be to Him, and their consciousness of His grace upon them. O believing women, adhere to all of Islam. For Islam is the religion of justice and perfection, and the reward for it is great, and this worldly life is short.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illalLah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lilLahil Hamd!

Respected Muslims, and let the hearts that are far apart from one another gather together on this great day. And be brothers and sisters in religion. And remove what you have in your hearts of ill feelings. And be dutiful to your parents and join your kinship. And be good to your neighbours. And bring happiness to your family and your children. And enjoy what Allah Almighty has made lawful for you, and beware of sin, for it is evil and a burden upon those committing them in this world and the Hereafter.

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha illalLah, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, wa lilLahil Hamd!

Make Allah Almighty repeatedly bestow upon us and you and upon all Muslims faith and blessings and safety and security. Make Allah accept from us and you the righteous deeds. Indeed Allah is All Hearing, Answering.

I conclude with this and send prayers of blessings and peace upon our beloved Prophet as your Lord commanded:

Indeed, Allah confers blessing upon the Prophet, and His angels [ask Him to do so]. O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace. [Quran, 33: 56]

O Allah, guide us with those whom You have guided, grant us well-being among those You have granted well-being, be an ally to us along with those whom You are an ally to, and bless what You have bestowed upon us, and save us from the evil of what You have decreed. For verily You decree and none can decree over You. He whom You support can never be humiliated. Glory is to You, our Lord, You are Blessed and Exalted.

O Allah, I ask You for all that is good, in this world and in the Hereafter, what we know and what we do not know.

O Allah, I seek refuge with You from all evil, in this world and in the Hereafter, what we know and what we do not know.

O Allah, I ask You for the good that Your servant and Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) has asked You for, and we seek refuge with You from the evil from which Your servant and Prophet sought refuge.

O Allah, I ask You for Paradise and for that which brings one closer to it, in word and deed, and we seek refuge in You from Hell and from that which brings one closer to it, in word and deed. And we ask You to make every decree that You decree concerning us good.

Dear servants of Allah, indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

Remember Allah, the Great  He will remember you. Thank Him for His favours  He will increase you therein. And seek forgiveness from Him  He will forgive you. And be conscious of Him  He will provide you a way out of difficult matters. And, establish the prayer.

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation; may Allah extol the mention of our noble Prophet Muhammad in the highest company of Angels, bless him and give him peace and security  and his family, his Companions and all those who follow him correctly and sincerely until the establishment of the Hour.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumuah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okenes Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumuah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Dhul-Hijjah 12, 1444 AH (June 30, 2023).

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Doubtlessly, Presidents Xi, Biden and Putin are big men in our small world, but the world is big enough for all countries to fly without bumping into themselves. We need courage to insist on this and tell the big man that we prefer a world at peace than one perpetually on war footing.

The tension which has enveloped the universe for over a century, has been exacerbated by the multinational war in Ukraine, so any candle light for peace gives a ray of hope. That was what the United States (US) and China offered the world when, on 19 June, their officials ended a two-day meeting in Beijing, with the announcement of the drilling of a communication channel, and planned bilateral agreements.

However, the next day, President Joe Biden, the leader of the free world, deliberately shot a missile at the peace move, and 24 hours later, China responded in similar measure. With that, the peace candle just lit by the two largest armies and economies in the world, was blown out. Predictably, Russian President Vladimir Putin lampooned Biden, and surprisingly New Zealand, a trusted ally of the US, also lashed out against Biden.

This months talks were the first high level meeting between the two countries in the last five years. They seemed doomed from inception, as the previously scheduled one in February failed to hold. The US had accused China of sending a surveillance air balloon over Alaska, with China responding that the Americans were merely being hysterical.

For the June talks, the US had picked its 71st Secretary of State, 61-year-old Anthony John Blinken, to lead its delegation to China. He had served as Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy Secretary of State in the Obama administration.

In the two days, the US delegation met with President Xi Jinping, director of the Chinese Communist Partys Central Foreign Affairs Office, Wang Yi, and Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

The US-China tension had risen significantly on 2 August, 2022, when Nancy Pelosi, as the speaker of the US House of Representatives, led five other American legislators on a pointedly provocative visit to Taiwan, Chinas breakaway territory.

Pelosi had told the world that: The visit should be seen as an unequivocal statement that America stands with Taiwan, our democratic partner, as it defends itself and its freedom. Taiwanese fighter jets had escorted her and China had responded by launching military exercises around Taiwan, in addition to cancelling eight official military programmes with the US.

But at the Beijing talks, the US assured China that there has been no change to the US one China policy, based on the Taiwan Relations Act.

In analysing the outcome, it is difficult to guess what President Biden objected to, but he clearly was not happy with the outcome of Blinkens trip; perhaps the events were happening too fast for him. Whatever his reasons, he went all out the next day to shoot down the peace process.

Blinkens Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said both countries had candid, substantive, and constructive discussions and emphasised the importance of maintaining open channels to reduce the risk of conflict.

They agreed to establish joint Work Groups, strengthen people-to-people exchanges and increase the number of direct flights between both countries.

The US statement said both countries agreed to work together on shared transnational challenges, such as climate change, global macroeconomic stability, food security, public health, and counter-narcotics. In agreeing to follow-on senior engagements in Washington, the Americans invited Foreign Minister Qin to Washington to continue the discussions.

In analysing the outcome, it is difficult to guess what President Biden objected to, but he clearly was not happy with the outcome of Blinkens trip; perhaps the events were happening too fast for him. Whatever his reasons, he went all out the next day to shoot down the peace process.

Biden, at a fundraiser in California, made fun of China for allegedly passing through real economic difficulties. He presented no facts to back up his claims. Then he launched the verbal missile on China: The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didnt know it was there. No, Im serious. That was the great embarrassment for dictators, when they didnt know what happened.

China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, next day, described Bidens attacks as extremely absurd and irresponsible.

The day after Chinas response, Biden doubled down. At a joint press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said his verbal attacks against China are just not something Im going to change very much.

Given what may well be an apparition revolt by the Wagner Group, the US has apparently reviewed its claims that Putin is a dictator, while maintaining Xi is one. Perhaps the real dictator is Biden who, with a hawkish foreign policy built on a war culture and industry, is wrecking peace moves and pushing non-diplomatic solutions in a conflict-weary world.

Apparently aware that his comments had wrecked the peace talks, the American President added: I expect to be meeting with President Xi sometime in the future, near-term. And I dont think its had any real consequence.

Poor Blinken, who saw his best diplomatic efforts wrecked within minutes by his boss, had no choice but to concur. On 25 June, he told the media: The President speaks clearly, he speaks candidly. Ive worked with him for more than 20 years and he speaks for all of us.

However, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, unlike Blinken, had no inhibitions. He told Biden that Xi is no dictator: No, and the form of government that China has is a matter for the Chinese people. He added: If they (the Chinese) wanted to change their system of government, then that would be a matter for them. Hipkins comments came a week before his on-going visit to China in which both countries are discussing exports, education and tourism.

In 2022, Biden had described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine. Last week, Russia pointed out that there is a disconnect between the outcome of the Blinken visit to Beijing and Biden labelling Xi a dictator. Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said while Blinkens visit had various conciliatory statements, Bidens follow-up comments are incomprehensible. Moscow said: These are very contradictory manifestations of US foreign policy, which speak of a large element of unpredictability. The Russian presidency added: However, thats their business. We have our own bad relations with the United States of America and our very good relations with the Peoples Republic of China.

Ironically, the US that has consistently labelled Putin a dictator who brooks no opposition, now says the attempted revolt by the Russian mercenary Wagner group shows that Putin is weak. Blinken said: Weve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade. It is too soon to tell exactly where they go, and when they get there.

Given what may well be an apparition revolt by the Wagner Group, the US has apparently reviewed its claims that Putin is a dictator, while maintaining Xi is one. Perhaps the real dictator is Biden who, with a hawkish foreign policy built on a war culture and industry, is wrecking peace moves and pushing non-diplomatic solutions in a conflict-weary world.

Doubtlessly, Presidents Xi, Biden and Putin are big men in our small world, but the world is big enough for all countries to fly without bumping into themselves. We need courage to insist on this and tell the big man that we prefer a world at peace than one perpetually on war footing.

Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.

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The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said that 11 people were killed in a multiple-accident on the Ore-Benin Road on Thursday.

This is contained in a statement by the Corps Public Education Officer, Bisi Kazeem on Thursday in Abuja.

The statement said that the accident occurred on kilometer 20 Ovia Bridge inward Benin, Edo State at 9:04 a.m.

The multiple accident involved 19 people, 10 male adults, eight female adults and one female child.

The corps said 11 people were killed, comprising three female adults, seven male adults and one female child, while eight people sustained various degrees of injuries.

A total of three vehicles were involved, comprising a Dangote trailer at the rear, one Kia saloon car with registration number LSD553HY which was brushed aside and a Toyota Hiace Bus with registration number KET779AV in front, Mr Kazeem said.

Reacting to the accident, the Corps Marshal of FRSC, Dauda Biu, advised drivers to avoid being careless whenever they notice mechanical faults in their vehicles.

Mr Biu also reiterated the need for drivers to ensure routine and regular maintenance of their vehicles.

This, he said, was to avert unwarranted road accidents that could lead to loss of human lives and damage to properties.

Mr Biu said that investigation conducted revealed that the accident occurred as a result of a brake failure which resulted in loss of control.

He said that the injured were evacuated to the Saving Grace Hospital, Ovbiogie in Benin, Edo State, while the dead had been deposited at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital mortuary.

The Corps Marshal directed that a technical investigation should be conducted into the immediate and remote causes of the accident in order to prosecute those who are culpable.

(NAN)

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An appendage of a two-story hotel has collapsed in the Ada-George area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Four people injured from the incident are receiving treatment in hospital.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the two-storey building belonging to 1708 Hotel, Rumuoke by Okilton Junction, off Ada George, collapsed at about 6.15 a.m. on Thursday.

The incident occurred when some residents of the area were still asleep, and occupants of the building, who were mainly site workers, were getting ready to resume for the days job.

Emeka Woke, the Rivers State Commissioner for Works, while inspecting the level of damage and causal effect of the incident, said that the government would take every measure to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the collapse.

Early this morning, the governor, Siminialaye Fubara, was informed about this building collapse. He directed that I immediately visit the site on his behalf and assess the extent of the damage and report back to him.

Having seen the building, the first thing we did was carry out a personnel audit and from available records, no life was lost, but we have been told that four persons sustained some injuries and were taken to the hospital for treatment, he said.

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The commissioner said that the governor also directed that the premises of the collapsed building be sealed off pending investigation.

He, however, noted that operations were ongoing at the site, basically to evacuate the rubbles.

Isa Aghaebne, an engineer handling the integrity test on the collapsed building, said a structural integrity test would commence on Friday.

He, however, noted that the collapse might be due to foundation failure or failure of the structure itself.

We cant ascertain now until we have concluded an integrity test, which is expected to last for about two weeks, he said.

NAN gathered that the collapsed building is part of the expansion of an existing building.

(NAN)

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Brazils Ministry of Foreign Affairs lights up its building to celebrate International LGBTQ+ Pride Day; June 28, 2023. SERGIO LIMA (AFP)

Brazil implemented university admission quotas for poor and Black students a decade ago, transforming the lives of hundreds of thousands of families seeking a better future. Minister of Labor and Employment Luiz Marinho has now announced his intent to create specific hiring quotas for transgender (2%) and Indigenous people (2%). He also wants to increase the positions for Black and mixed-race Brazilians to 45%, and 6% for people with disabilities. The initiative is a response to the widespread public resistance to adding 900 government jobs for labor inspectors. Marinhos ministry is actively investigating the legal means to translate this political goal into concrete action.

Marinhos announcement came just a few hours after International LGBTQ+ Pride Day was celebrated in Brazil and shortly before the US Supreme Court decided to end affirmative action in universities. Like President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Marinho belongs to Brazils Workers Party, but its not clear whether the president and others in his administration support the proposal to increase quotas for public sector employment. The ministry confirmed the initiative to EL PAIS, but the minister himself has yet to respond to our questions.

Brazils announcement and the court ruling in the United States may reignite the debate about quotas. In 2012, Brazil implemented quotas to expand opportunities for disadvantaged students. The multi-layered system positively discriminates in favor of low-income, mixed-race and Black public school students, in that order. Students in more than one category have a better chance of obtaining a quota-reserved position. The measure struck a nerve with White families a decade ago, but the controversy subsided over time. Nevertheless, on an individual basis, the quota system has been a remarkable stride towards narrowing the gap of inequality among students.

In a country where Black and mixed-race people make up 56% of the population, these groups now constitute the majority of students in public universities. Hundreds of thousands of families have also been transformed by having a college graduate in the family, paving the way for greater prosperity.

Quotas for transgender individuals are likely to intensify the ongoing animus between a government that champions diversity and a reactionary right-wing movement led by Jair Bolsonaro. Like leaders in other parts of the world, Bolsonaro has deliberately focused on undermining LGBTQ+ rights, especially trans rights, his primary arena for confronting progressive ideals. Several of Brazils prominent government buildings, including the National Congress and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Itamaraty Palace, embraced the spirit of International LGBTQ+ Pride Day by illuminating their facades with a vibrant array of multicolored lights.

The issue of quotas in government procurement and hiring is especially sensitive because Lulas administration has announced several public bids for government jobs since taking office six months ago, including hundreds of positions for labor and environmental inspectors. The government expects these new hires to contribute significantly to the battle against modern slave-labor practices and deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

The most populous country in Latin America has experienced significant and visible progress in transgender rights. Four transgender women won public office in the recent elections  two in the National Congress and one each in the Rio de Janeiro and Sergipe state legislatures. Some private companies are also starting to show interest in hiring transgender employees as part of their diversity plans. However, transgender individuals in Brazil continue to face daunting hurdles when seeking employment or simply adapting to the natural process of aging  their life expectancy is well below that of their fellow citizens. Tragically, Brazil maintains its unenviable position as the most perilous country for this marginalized community. An alarming Trans Murder Monitoring report, compiled by an international network of NGOs, documented the murder of 96 transgender people in Brazil between October 2021 and 2022.

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Peter Obi, the Labour Partys 2023 presidential candidate, on Tuesday, criticised President Bola Tinubu for his long convoy in Lagos.

Mr Tinubus convoy, with over 100 vehicles, was seen in a viral video from the airport to his home in Ikoyi.

Mr Tinubu arrived in the state from London, where he went on a private visit after attending the signing of a New Global Financial Pact with other global leaders in Paris, France.

The president visited Lagos to celebrate last Thursdays Sallah, where he was joined by hundreds of other Muslims to say the Eid prayer at the Obalende Eid Prayer Ground in the state.

Many Nigerians expressed outrage over the long convoy, with some accusing the president of being extravagant.

Peter Obi reacts

Reacting, Mr Obi said Mr Tinubu and other Nigerian leaders must lead the country by example, stressing that it was improper for the president to use the long convoy while Nigerians battled with suffering.

Ive been asked questions related to cutting down the cost of governance and the complaints by Nigerians concerning a trending motorcade video. I wasnt opportune to see the video, but I will repeat what I said, he wrote on his Twitter handle on Friday.

The present Nigeria requires that all those who serve and lead must do so by example. Their behaviour, character and public conduct (of those who serve) must be in consonance with what society requires today, the LP candidate stated.

Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, made a similar comment on Thursday in Awka, the state capital, when he was asked about his views on the long convoy of the president.

He also posted a video clip on the handle, which showed him making the comment at Awka during the burial service of Maxwell Anikwenwa, a late cleric of the Anglican Church in the state.

You cannot continue to preach to people to sacrifice without sacrificing. The sacrifice must start now from the leaders, visibly, measurably at all times, because the people are suffering, and we must now be at the forefront of addressing the suffering, Mr Obi further wrote, repeating the exact words he used in the video clip.

The comment that leaders must make sacrifices came days after Mr Tinubu called on Nigerians to make sacrifices for the countrys prosperity.

Mr Obi lost in the 25 February presidential election to Mr Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress.

The LP candidate and others are challenging Mr Tinubus victory at Abujas Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

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Hipolito Mora, in Los Reyes de Salgado, Michoacan on February 24. Juan Jose Estrada Serafin (Cuartoscuro)

Hipolito Mora, the former leader and founder of a self-defense militia in the state of Michoacan (southwest Mexico), was killed on June 29 in La Ruana, a small town in the municipality of Buenavista (Michoacan). The farmer and community leader who organized local militias in 2013 to defend communities against the criminals that plagued the state, was shot and killed by heavily armed attackers. According to Guillermo Valencia, a former mayor of Tepalcatepec and Moras friend, he was traveling in a large armored vehicle with two bodyguards assigned by the Ministry of Public Safety, who also died in the attack.

The videos of the attack reveal the sharp sound of a high-caliber weapon being fired at the vehicle. Then they set fire to the truck, said Valencia. This violent reality persists in Michoacan, while the authorities continue to deny the problem. The region has long been plagued by the relentless turf war between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the United Cartels. Mora, a lemon farmer, had a price on his head and had been attacked several times before.

A La Ruana resident who wishes to remain anonymous, told EL PAIS that they heard the first gunshots at 12 noon. When the shooting started, I made sure my family was all safe and told them not to leave the house, she said. The locals then began sharing videos of the attack showing criminals armed with long guns. It looks like an AK-47 and some 9mm pistols, she said. But it had to be a bazooka [that set the vehicle on fire] or something similar, judging by how it sounded.

After 15 minutes of gunfire, the town fell silent and people ventured out to the crime scene, where they saw two vehicles: the armored pickup truck Mora traveled in with two bodyguards, and an unarmored Ford pickup with two more guards. If verified, this would increase the death toll to five (four guards and Mora), more than Guillermo Valencias initial report of three casualties.

The National Guard and police units normally stationed in the town didnt show up for two hours. A few locals put out the fire in the burning truck while other residents cautiously approached. People here say the authorities didnt arrive until 2:20 pm, when a helicopter from the Attorneys Generals office landed to inspect the crime scene. The authorities vanished [when the shooting started], but everyone knows that the National Guard just patrols the area  they dont actually do anything, said the woman who talked to us.

Mora lived under constant threat by organized crime groups. His home was strafed by gunfire a few days before the attack that ended his life, and his longtime friend and bodyguard, Jorge Alberto Correa, was killed a year ago in Uruapan. Mora received threatening phone calls, text messages and even videos on social media every day.

Reactions to the death of this community leader who once dabbled in politics flooded in from all parts of Mexican society. Former President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012) tweeted: With deep sadness, I heard about the cowardly murder of Hipolito Mora. My condolences to the family. I join in the demands for justice. May he rest in peace. Former Michoacan Governor Silvano Aureoles said, Hipolito Mora was shot and his body burned. The Tierra Caliente is a war zone because of the federal governments erratic policies.

Mora and other farmers in Michoacan took up arms against the Knights Templar, a peculiar criminal organization that professed to follow a quasi-religious creed while it produced methamphetamine and extorted farmers and merchants in Michoacan. The self-defense militias finally succeeded in driving out the Knights Templar, but the conflict was so bloody the federal government had to send a special envoy to negotiate peace.

Hipolito Mora at his home in Felipe Carrillo Puerto (Michoacan); 2019. HECTOR GUERRERO

With part of the problem solved, the federal government asked the local militias to join the rural police, hoping to maintain control over these fighters. Mora agreed, but soon ran into legal problems when he was arrested on suspicion of murdering two people close to another community leader nicknamed El Americano. He was also arrested for his involvement in a shootout. On both occasions, he was released without charges.
CHANGSHA, China, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE) kicked off on June 29 at Changsha International Conference Center in Hunan province.

Common Development for a Shared Future -- The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off in Changsha.

Running from June 29 to July 2 and themed "Common Development for a Shared Future", the Expo have eight African countries as the guests of honor, including Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria and Zambia, and Shandong and Hubei as the theme provinces, according to the Organizing Committee of China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo. Nearly 20 achievements including the Report on China-Africa Economic and Trade Relations and the China-Africa trade index will be released during the Expo.

During the Expo, nearly 40 activities of various kinds will be organized, including 9 high-end activities, 7 economic and trade communications, 3 special seminars and 13 local special events, covering a number of sectors including green infrastructure, customs and quarantine, medical and healthcare service, agricultural food products, light industry & textile, industrial parks, women & youth, vocational education.

Unlike previous ones, the Expo is held on a platform with greater influence, featuring a greater number of more wonderful exhibits and a significantly increased number of participating countries. As of June 26, 1,590 exhibits from 29 countries were registered for the Expo, an increase of 165.9% over the previous session, contributed by 1,500 exhibitors, increased by 70% over the previous session. During the Expo, there are 218 cooperation projects worth US $19.1 billion to be signed and communicated.

CAETE is the biggest platform for economic and trade cooperation under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Since the first CAETE in 2019, China has been keeping expanding imports from Africa. The contract value of the second CAETE was US 22.9 billion. From January to May this year, Hunan's import and export to Africa reached RMB 27.01 billion, up 54.5 % YoY.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=441362

Caption: Common Development for a Shared Future -- The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off in Changsha.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2144930/Expo.jpg

SOURCE Organizing Committee of China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo
Within the framework of the trade agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the United States (CUSMA, T-MEC, USMCA) and the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, the top environmental officials of Canada, Mexico and the United States convened for the 30th Council Session of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

___________________

VICTORIA, BC, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - We, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) Council Members, representing Canada, Mexico and the United States, met today for the annual Council Session in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The Council addressed many of the most pressing environmental challenges facing North American communities, particularly vulnerable communities and Indigenous Peoples that are oftentimes disproportionately burdened with environmental impacts.

This year's CEC Council Session builds on the January 2023 North American Leaders' Summit, in which Prime Minister Trudeau, President Lopez Obrador and President Biden recognized the critical nature of taking rapid and coordinated measures to tackle the climate crisis and respond to its consequences. This includes achieving our respective 2030 nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement and coming together to align approaches on estimating the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions. We collectively understand the important role of the CEC for enhancing trilateral cooperation amongst our countries to drive collaborative efforts on environmental protection and climate action that contribute to the health of our shared environment and our people.

The CEC is continuing to help our countries build and implement the region's ambition on climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience, helping implement regional commitments stemming from the North American Leaders' Summit, including new regional priorities to reduce methane emissions from the waste sector; accelerating the deployment of clean energy solutions, particularly for remote and Indigenous communities; and promoting climate adaptation solutions, such as developing a regional climate adaptation workplan to improve early warning systems for extreme events.

Through our trilateral work at the CEC, and in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, we reiterate our pledge to protect biodiversity, to work toward ending deforestation, and to do our part to conserve 30 percent of the world's land and waters by 2030, consistent with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

We committed to building on the progress of the CEC's successful grant programs. Through 39 active grants valued at more than C$6 million, the CEC is supporting climate resilience and environmental action at the community level. With the Environmental Justice and Climate Resilience (EJ4Climate) and the North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action (NAPECA) grant programs, we are taking collaborative action to promote a healthier environment and building back a prosperous and equitable economy for all.

We expressed a shared commitment to further empower our citizens and communities to establish Indigenous and urban approaches to climate adaptation, seeking to ensure a sustainable future for all communities across North America as climate change continues to impact our region.

In particular, we support action to preserve traditional ecological knowledge and practices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities as part of our trilateral model and regional approach to environmental collaboration.

Our shared vision to lead the way in promoting complementary regional environmental and trade policies rests on our unwavering commitment to sustainable development and environmental justice and equity. Through the CEC, we will continue to drive an ambitious agenda that promotes awareness, participation and engagement of local actors in environmental governance and stewardship, mobilizes collective action, and facilitates the inclusion of a diverse network of stakeholders and partners.

Indigenous and Urban Approaches for Climate Adaptation

This year's theme for the 2023 Council Session, "Indigenous and Urban Approaches for Climate Adaptation," focused on the CEC's engagement with Indigenous climate leadership and the consideration of actions to promote environmental justice in urban environments. The Council Session was aimed at identifying ways we can help communities be more resilient and better prepared for intensifying climate impacts while also ensuring that we are effectively engaging the most climate-vulnerable and disadvantaged groups that are suffering disproportionate consequences of climate change across North America. The significance of this theme is timely, as it promotes the development of local and context-specific strategies as well as an international cooperative approach for managing and responding to environmental and socio-economic risks across the whole of society.

This year's Council Session addressed several topics supporting the development of community-led projects and initiatives. Our exchange with the Joint Public Advisory Committee, the Traditional Ecological Knowledge Expert Group (TEKEG) and the CEC Secretariat led to a constructive discussion of immediate priorities and pressing needs, including opportunities ranging from specific, innovative, and nature-based solutions to the improved use of traditional and local knowledge that incorporates Indigenous perspectives to tackle our most pressing environmental priorities.

As part of the Council Session, we were pleased to benefit from the two open public forums, which provided an invaluable space for sharing information with many of our partners and other stakeholders, along with an opportunity for questions, comments, and suggestions from the public on the CEC's trilateral work. This year's Session included both in-person and virtual attendance, with broad representation of diverse groups of interested individuals and stakeholders from across North America.

Specifically, as part of the Council Session we:

Announced C$500,000 to launch a new Council-led initiative, "Reaching Horizon 2030: An Environmental Outlook for North American Cooperation," that will detail how to prepare for the emerging environmental and climate challenges North America is expected to face from the present until 2030 and beyond.





to launch a new Council-led initiative, "Reaching Horizon 2030: An Environmental Outlook for North American Cooperation," that will detail how to prepare for the emerging environmental and climate challenges is expected to face from the present until 2030 and beyond. Announced C$500,000 to launch a cities initiative focused on sharing approaches and best practices to adaptation planning and implementation, as well as visiting concrete, on-the-ground projects that respond to the needs of urban citizens.





to launch a cities initiative focused on sharing approaches and best practices to adaptation planning and implementation, as well as visiting concrete, on-the-ground projects that respond to the needs of urban citizens. Announced US$2 million for the third cycle of the EJ4Climate grant program that will focus on projects to build resilience to climate change. The EJ4Climate grant program assists underserved and vulnerable communities and Indigenous communities in Canada , Mexico and the United States in preparing for climate-related impacts.





for the third cycle of the EJ4Climate grant program that will focus on projects to build resilience to climate change. The EJ4Climate grant program assists underserved and vulnerable communities and Indigenous communities in , and in preparing for climate-related impacts. Contributed C$1,750,000 to fund a new cycle of the North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action (NAPECA) grant program to engage and empower Indigenous communities in climate adaption. Since 2011, NAPECA has been supporting the delivery of projects led by non-profit and non-governmental organizations that build partnerships and drive action at the local level.





to fund a new cycle of the North American Partnership for Environmental Community Action (NAPECA) grant program to engage and empower Indigenous communities in climate adaption. Since 2011, NAPECA has been supporting the delivery of projects led by non-profit and non-governmental organizations that build partnerships and drive action at the local level. Endorsed two new projects focusing on shared environmental priority areas, with Fast Mitigation Strategies for Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, with a particular focus on addressing methane, and Food Loss and Waste.





Engaged with the winners of the 2023 CEC Youth Innovation Challenge from Canada , Mexico and the United States on their innovative and tangible water solutions for sustainable development. We were impressed with their skill, dedication, and vision and we look forward to the implementation of their solutions.





, and on their innovative and tangible water solutions for sustainable development. We were impressed with their skill, dedication, and vision and we look forward to the implementation of their solutions. Reviewed the progress made under the ongoing CEC Operational Plan and the projects we endorsed last year.

"The 30th session of the CEC Council has allowed us to hear the voices of different communities in North America and the efforts they are making to address the negative effects of climate change. The Government of Mexico values and listens attentively to these voices, as well as the learning and knowledge that indigenous communities share with us to find common paths to advance in the environmental challenges of the region."Ivan Rico Lopez, Undersecretary of Environmental Policy and Planning, Semarnat

"It has been an honour to host the 30th annual CEC Council meeting in Victoria, BC. A beautiful urban center and home to diverse Indigenous peoples, it has been a perfect location to explore how Canada, the United States of America and Mexico can work with Indigenous and urban partners to adapt to climate change. I continue to be encouraged by the cooperation and progress our three countries make together, trilaterally through the CEC. Our shared commitment to North American environmental cooperation and climate action has never been stronger or more important, as we respond and adapt to the serious impacts of climate change."The Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada

"The United States is proud of the work we are doing with the CEC to confront the climate crisis while also advancing environmental justice. We will continue building partnerships with our neighbors in Mexico and Canada, and with Indigenous communities and state and local governments to efficiently, effectively and equally implement climate change adaptation strategies for a resilient North America."United States Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe

Moving forward

Building on our strengths and longstanding tradition of facilitating cooperation and promoting public participation, we will strengthen our resolve to modernize and enhance the effectiveness of our regional efforts to conserve and protect our shared environment. We will strive to expand our collaboration by promoting awareness of environmental issues of common concern as well as advancing solutions to our environmental challenges, with a view to ensuring a more sustainable future for our communities across North America, by sharing knowledge in support of evidence-based decision-making, and by contributing to building capacity in communities across the region.

We affirm the urgent need to tackle the devastating effects that climate change poses to the well-being of our communities. We emphasize the unequivocal threat of the unfolding climate crisis, ranging from increased, recurring and more intense extreme weather events, such as floods, wildfires, and drought, to the implications of climate change to our food systems, to our continent's biodiversity, and to vulnerable and underserved communities, which all have lasting environmental, economic, and societal impacts. We recognize the importance of adequately assessing the impacts of climate change, including estimating the social cost of greenhouse gas emissions. We will continue to collaborate to advance this work.

We underline the importance of promoting collective action to address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, including in relation to innovation and climate adaptation approaches, to ensure clean air, land, and water for present and future generations, and to conserve and protect our ecosystems and the rich flora and fauna found in our shared environment.

The path to a healthier environment and meaningful progress toward sustainable development in our region depends on our collective determination to succeed, as well as on the persistence to find and promote solutions that protect the environment, support the sustainable use and conservation of our natural resources, and maximize the socio-economic benefits from empowering our communities.

We greatly look forward to our continuing work on regional environmental cooperation and meeting together next year at the CEC's 2024 Council Session in the United States.

APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL:

___________________________________

Steven Guilbeault

Government of Canada

___________________________________

Ivan Rico Lopez

Government of the United Mexican States

___________________________________

Janet McCabe

Government of the United States of America

SOURCE Commission for Environmental Cooperation
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- More and more companies are asking employees to return to the office, but many of these workers are ignoring the request.

According to a new survey by The Conference Board, 54 percent of companies are mandating or strongly encouraging workers to be on-site. However, nearly 80 percent are still working either fully remote or hybrid schedules.

In fact, workers' dissatisfaction with return-to-office mandates may lead more workers to jump ship. Indeed, nearly a third of those required to come back to the workplace said their intent to stay with their organization had decreased.

The survey also reveals the pros and cons of fully remote versus fully on-site work. Most strikingly, the results suggest a relationship between companies with fully-remote employees and layoffs. 33 percent of remote employees report their companies have implemented layoffs, compared to only 13 percent of fully on-site workers.

The latest workforce survey from The Conference Board was fielded from April 25 to May 5 and polled nearly 1,300 US employeespredominantly office workers. Respondents weighed in on their work arrangements, return-to-the-office policies, productivity, engagement levels, and more. Key findings include:

FULLY ON SITE OR FULLY REMOTE: THE BATTLE RAGES ON

Nearly 80 percent are working either fully remote or hybrid (partially remote) schedules.

Only 15 percent of survey respondents are on site 5 days per week.

28 percent are fully remote.

50 percent work some variation of a hybrid schedule (remote some of the time).

More than half say working on site is either strongly encouraged or mandated by their organizations.

Mandated: 29 percent

Strongly encouraged: 25 percent

RETENTION

Mandating that employees work on site may hurt worker retention.

28 percent of those whose organizations mandated they work on-site say their intent to stay with the company decreased in the past six months.

LAYOFFS

Are layoffs more common among remote employees?

33 percent of fully remote employees say their organizations have implemented layoffs in the past six months, compared to 25 percent of hybrid workers and only 13 percent of those fully on site.

PRODUCTIVITY

Fully-remote workers say they are more productive.

35 percent of fully remote workers say their productivity is higher than 6 months ago, compared to 20 percent of those fully on site and 22 percent of hybrid workers.

19 percent of fully on-site workers report decreased productivity, compared to 16 percent of hybrid and 8 percent of fully-remote workers.

TEAM BUILDING

Hybrid and fully remote workers are concerned about limited connection with their colleagues.

37 percent of hybrid workers and 45 percent of fully-remote workers say they are concerned about limited connection with their colleaguesthe top response for each.

35 percent of fully-remote workers say they have no concerns.

Blurred work-life boundaries are also a concern for fully-remote (31 percent) and hybrid workers (30 percent).

Less than half of organizations offer in-person team building and celebratory events.

Only 47 percent of organizations now offer in-person team building and celebratory events.

"In a world that can often seem like its gone mad, we need to reimagine the workplace as an oasis for workers," said Rebecca Ray, Executive Vice President, Human Capital, The Conference Board. "Businesses should not only be thoughtful about why they're asking people to come back to the office but make it a place where people can come to do their best work, can learn and grow, and can have a meaningful impact."

ON-SITE WORRIES: OVERALL

Half of those working fully on site have no concerns about working in a physical workplace.

52 percent say they have no concerns.

28 percent are worried about the increased time and cost to commute.

21 percent are worried about increased interruptions or distractions.

ON-SITE WORRIES: GENDER

Men are much less concerned about working fully on site.

Significantly more men working fully on site say they have no concerns about working in the physical workplace (60 percent) than women (38 percent).

Women are more concerned about distractions in the office (35 percent versus 14 percent), the time and cost of commuting (38 percent versus 22 percent), and constant expectations of being on or available (28 percent versus 7 percent).

ON-SITE WORRIES: GENERATIONS

Millennials working fully on site are more concerned about the commute, work-life integration, and the expectation to be available than other generations.

38 percent of Millennials working fully on site are concerned about the time and cost of commuting, compared to 27 percent of Gen Xers and 24 percent of Baby Boomers.

35 percent of Millennials working fully on site are concerned about work-life integration, compared to 20 percent of Gen Xers and 14 percent of Baby Boomers.

31 percent of Millennials working fully on site are concerned about the constant expectation to be available, compared to 14 percent of Gen Xers and 12 percent of Baby Boomers.

"Workers are looking for opportunities to connect with their colleagues," said Robin Erickson, Vice President, Human Capital, The Conference Board. "Offering chances to get together and celebrate may provide some with enough of a reason to go into the office. But keep in mind that being together in person is not the only way to recognize accomplishments and celebrate as a team. Leaders should be intentional about building culture and comradery in a remote setting as well."

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for what's ahead. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

SOURCE The Conference Board
Industry leading awards programs acknowledge comprehensive technology platform for consecutive years

CHICAGO, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Advyzon, a comprehensive service and technology platform and portfolio management solution for financial advisors and investment managers, has been named a finalist in the 2023 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards, an annual competition and industry-leading awards program often referred to as the Wealthies, for the third consecutive year. In the 2023 awards, Advyzon was named a finalist in two categories under Technology Providers: 'Unified (All-In-One) Systems' and 'Rebalancing'.

For the ninth year this September, WealthManagement.com will honor the best companies, individuals, and organizations that support financial advisor success at its annual Industry Awards. This year's winners across 92 categories, chosen by an independent panel of judges from more than 400 finalists, will be announced on September 7th at a black tie gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City. The finalists were culled down from more than 1,000 entries from 413 companies, and 81 firms were recognized in multiple categories, including Advyzon.

This recognition reinforces all of our hard work and the enhancements we continually make to our platform. Tweet this

To see the full list of finalists and to learn more about the 2023 WealthManagement.com Industry Awards, please click here. To learn more about the 2023 Industry Awards gala and activities, please click here.

ADVYZON A FINALIST IN THE 2023 THINKADVISOR LUMINARIES AWARDS

In addition, Advyzon was named a finalist in the 2023 ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Awards in the Financial & Investment Innovation category among Fintech/TAMP Platforms. The Luminaries Awards shine a spotlight on individuals and firms that are taking the most creative and boldest steps to push the investment advisory industry forward, while having the biggest impact. This marks the second consecutive year Advyzon has been named a finalist in the Luminaries Awards, as CEO Hailin Li was named a finalist in the Executive Leadership category in 2022.

"We're very excited to be named a finalist again in both of these industry-leading awards programs," said John Mackowiak, Chief Revenue Officer at Advyzon. "This recognition reinforces all of our hard work and the enhancements we continually make to our platform in order to best serve our advisors and their clients."

The 2023 Luminaries program will culminate at the 3rd Annual ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Awards Dinner held in New York City on November 28th.

To see the full list of finalists and to learn more about the 2023 ThinkAdvisor Luminaries, as well as the Awards Dinner, please click here.

A FULLY COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION FOR FINANCIAL ADVISORS

Advyzon was named a finalist in the rebalancing category of the Wealthies thanks to Advyzon Quantum, their robust rebalancer seamlessly integrated into the Advyzon platform, which was officially launched in April 2022. In the past 18 months, in addition to launching Quantum, Advyzon also launched Advyzon Investment Management (AIM), a comprehensive turnkey asset management program (TAMP), as well as a new model marketplace called Nucleus, both of which are fully integrated into Advyzon's award-winning, cloud-based platform.

All three of these important initiatives moved Advyzon closer than ever to offering a fully comprehensive solution for financial advisors and investment managers and were the main factors in being named a finalist in the Luminaries Awards.

The accolades come on the heels of Advyzon achieving top marks and high client satisfaction ratings across multiple categories in the 2023 T3 / Inside Information Software Survey, including earning the highest rating in the All-In-One Software category for the sixth year in a row.

ABOUT ADVYZON

Advyzon provides comprehensive, intuitive, cloud-based wealth management technology and investment management services for independent financial advisors and registered investment advisors (RIAs). The Advyzon tech platform combines portfolio management, customizable performance reporting, trading and rebalancing, client web portals, client relationship management (CRM), client billing, and document storage, along with investment management services and a model marketplace offered by Advyzon Investment Management, LLC. A team of entrepreneurs led by CEO Hailin Li, Ph.D., CFA, Advyzon strives to innovate in strategic and useful ways. Financial advisors inspire Advyzon's innovation and integrations. Their exceptional technology and unmatched service exist to improve the advisor experience  whether it's via portfolio and firm management or client relationships and growth. To learn more about Advyzon, visit www.Advyzon.com. To learn more about Advyzon Investment Management, visit www.AdvyzonIM.com.

Media Contact:

Jonny Swift

Impact Communications, Inc.

913-649-5009

[email protected]

SOURCE Advyzon
DUBLIN, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AerCap Holdings N.V. ("AerCap" or the "Company") (NYSE: AER) today announced it will host a conference call and webcast for investors and analysts on Monday, July 31, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time to review its second quarter 2023 financial results.

AerCap's second quarter 2023 earnings press release will be released before financial markets open in the United States on July 31, 2023. A copy of the press release will be posted on the "Investors" section of AerCap's website at www.aercap.com. At the same time, the presentation slides for the conference call will also be posted on AerCap's website.

The call can be accessed live by dialing (U.S./Canada) +1 646 828 8193 or (International) +353 1 246 5638 and referencing code 8163072 at least 5 minutes before start time, or by visiting AerCap's website at www.aercap.com under "Investors".

The webcast replay will be archived on the "Investors" section of the company's website for one year.

About AerCap

AerCap is the global leader in aviation leasing with one of the most attractive order books in the industry. AerCap serves approximately 300 customers around the world with comprehensive fleet solutions. AerCap is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (AER) and is based in Dublin with offices in Shannon, Miami, Singapore, Memphis, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Dubai, Seattle, Toulouse and other locations around the world.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements, estimates and forecasts with respect to future performance and events. These statements, estimates and forecasts are "forward-looking statements". In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "intend," "will," "aim," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negatives thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements and are based on various underlying assumptions and expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors, including the impacts of, and associated responses to: the Ukraine Conflict, the Covid-19 pandemic, that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. As a result, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate or correct. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future performance or events described in the forward-looking statements in this press release might not occur. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and we do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake any obligation to, and will not, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For more information regarding AerCap and to be added to our email distribution list, please visit www.aercap.com and follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/aercapnv.

SOURCE AerCap Holdings N.V.
TAIPEI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global AI market is expanding at a rapid and unprecedented pace, transforming the semiconductor industry at the same time. As the demand for high-performance chips increases with the widening scope of AI applications, DIGITIMES Asia, in cooperation with Cadence and MediaTek, is set to host the 2023 Strategy+ Symposium @ Bay Area on July 19th, 2023. Titled 'AI Ushers in the Golden age of Semiconductor industry', the symposium will explore how the latest AI revolution changes the IC design sector in the context of generative AI, edge computing and Asia's supply chain.

KT Moore, VP of Corporate Marketing at Cadence. Credit: Cadence

KT Moore, the vice president of Corporate Marketing at Cadence, will speak at the event about optimizing performance from chips to systems with generative AI. In a preliminary interview with DIGITIMES Asia, the Cadence VP also shares his views on AI deployment in chip design and its implications for the company.

Intelligent system design

According to Moore, Cadence already anticipated the growing role of AI in chip design approximately ten years ago. Back then, said Moore, people were already talking about data being the new oil. "We were being bombarded with large amounts of data, and data sets that were being generated by the act of doing design and doing verification," said Moore. That was when Cadence took the first step to address the issue, as the company worked on the capabilities to handle the data, especially using the data intelligently and quickly.

Moore highlighted the company's strategy of "Intelligent System Design", which also encompassed being able to apply AI. Building on years of experience, Cadence is already applying AI to design flows, enabling designers to tackle bigger challenges concurrently, as opposed to the iterative process of the past.

"When designers are going through the process, they're looking at one iteration at a time. They make a change, and then they go back and do another iteration," said Moore. AI, according to him, significantly automates the manual process, and gives the designer more power to solve multiple problems, multiple variables, and design constraints concurrently at the same time.

"When it comes to chip design, in the early days, we used to just optimize for one variable, and it was usually the chip performance," Moore pointed out, noting that nowadays one has to consider more variables such as power, area, thermal constraints, electromagnetic constraints, etc. "Once you start adding more of these things, it's an exponential increase in complexity, and AI will enable fewer engineers to solve those problems," observed Moore.

Generative AI deployed to explore larger data sets

AI, according to Moore, is basically incorporated throughout a wide range of Cadence's product offerings. When it comes to generative AI, Moore indicated that it could help build the learning data sets. In turn, the data sets can be used to create other future designs. Generative AI also enables design teams to explore larger data sets, opening engineers up to more possibilities. "AI helps at the beginning of a project. It can help explore additional options and converge on a good optimum starting point and learn from there," noted Moore.

Regarding analog chips, where design automation progressed at the same rate compared to that of logic ICs, Moore also sees AI having a role. "With logic designs, you're really talking about massive data. You're talking about billions of elements or hundreds of millions of elements that you're trying to optimize," explained Moore. "Typically, analog designs are not going to have as many elements as the digital designs, but they still require mathematical computation. There are still computations that the analog designer has to do manually." According to the Cadence VP, as long as one can create a model to cover the math that goes into analog design, it can be put into a generative AI engine or an AI engine or a machine learning engine for the design process to be automated.

Hitting an inflection point

"I think we're just at the beginning," remarked Moore, when asked how far the industry has gone for AI to design a chip fully on its own.

"If I were to draw a graph of innovation over time, the slope would look pretty low during some periods," said Moore, "but then we hit an inflection point when we were able to run on massive computers." Measured by performance, massive computers made the slope "go up a little higher," observed Moore, but in the last five years, he recognized a huge increase in what the industry can do as a result of AI.

"It's possible that AI can design a chip, but I think we have a lot more learning to do."

Register and join us at the symposium on July 19th, 2023 to be part of this pioneering discussion.

SOURCE DIGITIMES ASIA
WASHINGTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The American HFC Coalition applauds the U.S. Department of Commerce for initiating anti-circumvention inquiries to determine whether imports of Chinese hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are circumventing the 2016 antidumping duty order on HFC blends. Since 2016, importers have been blending Chinese-origin HFC components, including R-125, R-32, R-134a and R-143a, in third countries and in the United States in an effort to evade the antidumping duty order. Importers have more recently begun importing blends, such as R-410B and various "custom" blends, that do not have any commercially approved use. After importation, these unapproved HFC refrigerant blends are simply reblended into one of the products covered by the antidumping duty order. The U.S. Department of Commerce's initiation notices signal that it will investigate all of these efforts to circumvent U.S. law and evade antidumping duties.

These requests were triggered by the staggering 340% increase in the volume of R-410B imports originating in China or blended in Turkey from Chinese components. In fact, imports of R-410B in 2022 exceeded U.S. imports of all other HFC blends. Such imports can be reblended at a fraction of the cost of manufacturing HFCs. For example, R-410B is easily reblended into R-410A, which can then be sold in the U.S. market. As a result, U.S. HFC manufacturers suffer depressed prices, declining sales revenues, and lost market share.

Commerce has already found that "unfinished" blends of R-32 and R-125 from China are circumventing the antidumping order. It similarly found that HFC blends using Chinese components blended in India were circumventing the order. And, it found that imports of a patented blend, which were reblended in the United States after importation, were circumventing the order. This latest strategy to evade the antidumping law must also be remedied.

The American HFC Coalition trusts that these inquiries will uncover the relentless efforts by Chinese exporters and importers to escape the discipline of the antidumping duty order by flooding the U.S. market with unfairly low-priced HFC refrigerants and will remedy the harm to the domestic industry by applying the full extent of the law. We expect that the U.S. Department of Commerce will proceed quickly with its investigations and will issue final determinations within 300 days.

SOURCE The American HFC Coalition

SOURCE The American HFC Coalition
As more TMS & SCM solutions look to improve the accuracy and efficiency of their solutions, Amital chooses to integrate Windward Maritime AI insights and capabilities into the Unifreight SCM solution for increased data accuracy.

LONDON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Windward (LSE: WNWD), the leading Maritime AI company, has announced a partnership with Amital Data , a leading company in Israel providing software solutions for freight forwarders, shipping agents, customs brokers, importers, and exporters. The partnership will see Windward's AI insights integrated into Unifreight, the company's Supply Chain Management (SCM) system for improved cargo visibility.

Amital Data's decision to integrate Windward's insights comes as more TMS providers are looking to AI to help their users manage by exception and improve the efficiency and accuracy of their solutions. Windward's models, developed by maritime and AI specialists, are specifically trained to understand the multitude of factors affecting the movement of goods at sea. The integration of Windward's Ocean Freight Visibility (OFV) solution into the Unifreight TMS allows customers to predict what lies beyond the horizon, reduce uncertainty, prepare optimally for any change, in order to make better business decisions, and maximize business potential.

"In today's volatile supply chain climate, we are seeing an increasing number of TMS & SCM companies stepping up to make their systems more efficient and competitive in line with customers' expectations to have the benefits of AI included in their systems. This partnership is a representation of Amital's commitment to excellence and to providing their customers with insights that empower them to conduct business with confidence," said Ami Daniel, CEO and Co-Founder of Windward. "We're excited to be integrating our AI solutions via API to Unifreight creating a new standard of support for the business needs of their customers."

Windward's Ocean Freight Visibility (OFV) solution offers Maritime AI Predicted ETA, a tool utilizing robust datasets and behavioral models to provide accurate ETA predictions and real-time visibility into container and vessel journeys allowing users to better predict, plan, and proactively mitigate supply chain risks.

About Windward

Windward (LSE:WNWD), is the leading Maritime AI company, providing an all-in-one platform for risk management and maritime domain awareness needs to accelerate global trade. Windward's AI-powered decision support platform and exception management offers a 360 view of the maritime ecosystem and allows stakeholders including ocean freight forwarders, shipping companies, insurers, energy companies, banks, and governments to make real time, predictive intelligence-driven decisions to achieve business and operational readiness.

For more information visit: https://windward.ai/ .

Media Contact

David Hoffman

Headline Media

[email protected]

+972-52-842-1955

SOURCE Windward
SHANGHAI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As China's biggest exhibition across HoReCa, HOTELEX Shanghai International Hospitality Equipment & Foodservice Expo lowered its curtain in June 1st at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), amid the robust recovery of consumption and economy.

More than 3,000 exhibitors brought over 150,000 exhibits to the four-day event, which welcomed 245,000 visitors to its 15 pavilions. HOTELEX Shanghai 2023 covers an area of 400,000 square meters and included 12 categories which were kitchen equipment and supplies, tabletop supplies, meal ingredients, food and beverage, coffee and tea, ice cream equipment and materials, baking equipment and materials, wine and spirits, food and beverage packaging, food and beverage design and supporting, franchise and chain resources.

HOTELEX is much like the weathervane for China's coffee and tea markets. In 2021, the scale of China's coffee market has reached 381.7 billion yuan, and brands have begun to "omni-channel" layout, offline chain brands have laid out online, and online categories have also begun to open stores offline, which actively reach consumers through different ways to increase brand publicity and influence. According to iResearch Consulting, China's coffee market has entered a stage of rapid development, the industry is expected to maintain a growth rate of 27.2%, 2025 China's coffee market will reach 1 trillion yuan.

After the second quarter of 2023, China's consumption enthusiasm is expected to be ignited, and the market size of new tea drinks in 2023 is expected to recover to 145 billion yuan, restoring a three-year compound growth rate of nearly 20%. Combined with the historical growth rate, it is conservatively estimated that by 2028, the size of China's new tea market is expected to exceed 250 billion yuan, and the compound growth rate of about 12% from 2023 to 2028.

HOTELEX Shanghai gathered the downstream and upstream enterprises of coffee and tea industries. There're more than 800 brands showcased their fresh products across coffee bean, coffee machine, tea and other related raw materials on the site of HOTELEX. Among the diversified activities, an international Shanghai Coffee & Food Festival during the expo brought together more than 300 boutique cafes to showcase their products, inviting coffee lovers to share coffee culture together. HOTELEX also hold the fashion drinks competition and a series of world coffee competitions to promote the in-depth integration and innovation of coffee and tea industry.

HOTELEX Shanghai 2023 with an expansion and upgrade this year, successfully served as an 'accelerator' of the high-quality development of hotel and foodservice market, an 'incubator' of new types of consumption scenes, a 'catalytic converter' of business opportunities and an 'ignitor' of the consumption market. Taking your chance and marching into China market with HOTELEX Shanghai 2024!

Contact us

Ordering Booth:

Alex Ni

Tel: +86 21 3339 2242

[email protected]

Media & Visitor Consulting:

Lizzy Chen

Tel: +86 21 3339 2566

[email protected]

SOURCE HOTELEX
DUBLIN, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Antibody Drug Conjugate- Competitive landscape, 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This "Antibody Drug Conjugate- Competitive landscape, 2023" report provides comprehensive insights about 180+ companies and 300+ drugs in Antibody Drug Conjugate Competitive landscape. It covers the therapeutics assessment by product type, stage, route of administration, and molecule type. It further highlights the inactive pipeline products in this space.



Antibody Drug Conjugate: Overview



Antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) are one of the fastest growing anticancer drugs. This approach comprises a mAb conjugated to the cytotoxic payload via a chemical linker that directed toward a target antigen expressed on the cancer cell surface, reducing systemic exposure and therefore toxicity. ADCs are complex molecules that require careful attention to various components. Selection of an appropriate target, an mAb, cytotoxic payload, and the manner in which the antibody is linked to the payload are key determinants of the safety and efficacy of ADCs. Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) is a new emerging class of highly potent pharmaceutical drugs, which is a great combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy. The concept of ADC was first presented by the German physician and scientist Paul Ehrlich almost 100 years before. One of the most important aspects of ADC development for cancer is the identification of the unique antigenic target of the mAb component. There are 328 unique antigens used in antibody-based therapy as a target.

The selected antigen needs to fulfill several requirements. First, the target antigen needs to have high expression in the tumor and no or low expression in the healthy cell. Second, the target antigen should be displayed on the surface of the tumor cell to be available to the circulated mAb. Third, the target antigen should possess internalization properties as it will facilitate the ADC to transport into the cell, which will in turn enhance the efficacy of the cytotoxic agent. In ADCs, the most targeted antigens are ERBB2, CD19, CD33, CD22, and MSLN (mesothelin). In addition, over 50 different known antigens have been used in ADC as a target. However, previous studies showed that some tumor antigens also show low expression in the normal cell. The idea behind ADCs is the optimal delivery of a highly potent payload to its target using a specific carrier. Administration of ADCs is done intravenously into the bloodstream to avoid gastric acid and proteolytic enzyme degradation of the mAb.

Ideally, exclusive expression of the target antigens on tumor cells, but not on normal cells, is the prerequisite for the mAb component of ADCs to find and bind to it. Upon recognition and attaching to its target, internalization of the ADC-antigen complex into the cell takes place via receptor-mediated endocytosis. Internalization takes place via three different routes: (i) clathrin-mediated endocytosis (the major route of intracellular uptake of ADCs), (ii) caveolae-mediated endocytosis, and (iii) pinocytosis. The rate and efficiency of the ADC-antigen complex to be internalized depends on the type of target and the cytotoxic compounds. Insufficient affinity (Kd > 10 nmol/L), in case of low binding affinity that does not result in binding to the receptor, may result in inefficient internalization leading to the off-target release of ADC and therefore results in systemic toxicity.



Report Highlights

In April 2023 , Mythic Therapeutics, announced preclinical data highlighting the potential of MYTX-011, its investigational cMET-targeting ADC, for treating a broader range of cMET+ cancers than other cMET-targeting ADCs in development. These data were presented as a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting. MYTX-011 demonstrated higher internalization in cMET+ tumor cells and broader, more potent efficacy, including a greater than 3-fold increase in efficacy in mouse models of NSCLC, as compared to other cMET-targeting ADCs.

, Mythic Therapeutics, announced preclinical data highlighting the potential of MYTX-011, its investigational cMET-targeting ADC, for treating a broader range of cMET+ cancers than other cMET-targeting ADCs in development. These data were presented as a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting. MYTX-011 demonstrated higher internalization in cMET+ tumor cells and broader, more potent efficacy, including a greater than 3-fold increase in efficacy in mouse models of NSCLC, as compared to other cMET-targeting ADCs. In April 2023 , Araris Biotech AG, announced the company delivered two poster presentations at this year's American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2023 Annual Meeting, being held April 14-19, 2023 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida . The presentations highlighted late-breaking preclinical data on anti-Nectin-4 and anti-HER2 ADCs generated using the company's proprietary linker technology. Both ADCs demonstrated improved anti-tumor activity compared to respective FDA approved ADCs in head-to-head in-vivo studies.

Antibody Drug Conjugate: Analytical Perspective

In-depth Commercial Assessment: Antibody Drug Conjugate: Collaboration Analysis by Companies



The Report provides an in-depth commercial assessment of drugs that have been included, which comprises collaboration, agreement, licensing and acquisition - deals values trends. The sub-segmentation is described in the report which provide company-company collaboration (licensing/partnering), company academic collaboration and acquisition analysis in tabulated form.



Antibody Drug Conjugate: Competitive Landscape



The report comprises of comparative assessment of Companies (by therapy, development stage, and technology).



Antibody Drug Conjugate Report Assessment

Company Analysis

Therapeutic Assessment

Pipeline Assessment

Inactive drugs assessment

Unmet Needs

Key Questions Answered

How many companies are developing Antibody Drug Conjugate drugs?

How many Antibody Drug Conjugate drugs are developed by each company?

How many emerging drugs are in mid-stage, and late-stage of development for the treatment of Antibody Drug Conjugate?

What are the key collaborations (Industry-Industry, Industry-Academia), Mergers and acquisitions, licensing activities related to the Antibody Drug Conjugate therapeutics?

What are the recent trends, drug types and novel technologies developed to overcome the limitation of existing therapies?

What are the clinical studies going on for Antibody Drug Conjugate and their status?

What are the key designations that have been granted to emerging and approved drugs?

Key Players

NBE-Therapeutics

ImmunoGen, Inc.

Seagen Inc.

ADC Therapeutics

Mythic Therapeutics

Sutro Biopharma

Merck KGaA

Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc.

Peak Bio

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Asana BioSciences

Tanabe Research Laboratories USA

OBI Pharma

Sanofi

Navrogen, Inc.

Key Products

Zynlonta

Ladiratuzumab Vedotin

NBE-002

IMGN151

Camidanlumab tesirine

ADCT-602

ADCT-901

ADCT-701

ADCT-212

ADCT-601

IMGN-632

IMGC 936

IMGN-151

MYTX-011

M1231

STI-6129

Torpedo

BCMA ADC

REGN5093-M114

ASN004

TR 1801 ADC

OBI 999

R 992

NAV-001

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/gsegj8

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]

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Firefighters put out flames in a bombed-out house in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia, June 21. Luis de Vega

The hum of the planes engine over Orikhiv spreads panic, more so even than the artillery shells that have been hitting this town in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia for some time. After a few seconds of scanning the sky and listening intently to confirm the worst omens, a generalized rush to the nearest basement breaks out. Everyone take cover! Orikhiv, which for months was a battleground between the Ukrainian and Russian armies, is today one of the staging points for Kyivs counteroffensive to the south. The city is in Ukrainian hands, but it continues to be punished by Moscows forces.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia earlier this week and reported that his troops had advanced on all fronts. On Wednesday, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar quantified the advances to be between 1,200 and 1,500 meters south of Bakhmut and around 1,300 meters in the direction of Berdiansk, in the Zaporizhzhia region.

The noise in the sky above Orikhiv interrupts the work of a group of firemen who are emptying an official building, its windows completely blown out, of administrative documents. They have positioned their red truck to directly to extract dozens of cardboard boxes from the second floor, which contain papers and documents that make up the citys archive. They will be moved to the city of Zaporizhzhia, before the records are destroyed by bombing.

Moments later, in the protective depths of the shelter, the firemen meet a group of soldiers. The military officer in charge is concerned by the possibility that the presence of two cameras, one belonging to the Ukrainian emergency services and the other to EL PAIS, might reveal the coordinates of their position. At first, he rejects the explanations that all those present have restricted coverage. He asks for the images to be deleted, but after a few minutes, he relents. Activating airplane mode on cell phones is mandatory in frontline areas to prevent Russian troops from detecting positions through cell coverage.

Firefighters work to safeguard the municipal archives in Orikhiv. Luis de Vega

The Ukrainian counteroffensive has its sights set on two strategic sites relatively close to Orikhiv, which are under Russian control: the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the corridor on the shores of the Sea of Azov that facilitates logistics for the Kremlins occupation forces. One of the targets halfway between Orikhiv and that supply line is the town of Tokmak.

Vitali Chorni, 34, was the chief of the fire station in Tokmak until last September, and he now holds the same position in Orikhiv, where there has been no water or electricity supply for months. He says that during the seven months he worked in the emergency corps under the Russian occupation he experienced no problems, but when the chance arose, dressed in civilian clothes, he escaped together with other residents. In Orikhiv, the situation is hard and complicated, especially during the last three weeks, he says, describing the hostilities unleashed after the Ukrainian counteroffensive was launched in the first week of June.

On the main road in Orikhiv, as in many frontline towns, a grocery store that relies on a generator to stay open serves as a meeting place and an information and supply center. While firefighters refill two large tanks of drinking water for the neighborhood, Anastasia Bolous, 26, who is married to one of them, attends to several servicemen from behind the counter. Uniformed men make up the bulk of the stores clientele, she says. She remained in the city because, in addition to her work in the store, her parents also still live in Orikhiv: only around 10% of the pre-war population of 14,000 remains. Bread is delivered from Zaporizhzhia twice a week and is distributed to residents by the emergency services.

Anastasia Bolous attends to several soldiers in the store that she runs in Orikhiv. Luis de Vega

We have no choice but to stay here, says Roman Semenovic, 46, whose family is in exile in Poland. He is another employee of the same store and, in flip-flops, shorts and a tank top, goes about his work while several shells whistle through the air before striking a few hundred meters away. The notion of fear and danger seems altered among those who have been living for months in Orikhiv and other towns like it, where the war has taken root.

It is as if residents assume that nothing will prevent fate in the daily lottery of living under constant bombardment. Anastasia serves the soldiers and laughs when asked why she doesnt panic under fire. Sometimes Im scared, she says without giving it much thought. Outside, several stray dogs roam. Some become restless. Others dont even flinch. Burnt-out cars, destroyed buildings and rubble litter the streets, where, aside from the military, civilians on foot or on bicycle can be seen from time to time.

Firefighters distribute humanitarian aid among the few residents who remain in Orikhiv. Luis de Vega

One of the shells explodes next to several houses. The column of smoke alerts the firemen, who point their vehicle in that direction - the same vehicle that unloaded the boxes from the archive, which also distributes bread and delivers water. Now it serves its original purpose as a pump truck. They quickly unwind the hose and pull out the ladders. There was one casualty from the strike, who has already been evacuated by the time they arrive. A group of residents watch the flames devouring a building in the middle of a thick cloud that alternates between black and white.

Im only afraid of God, says Vyacheslav Koutun, a 72-year-old retired artist, who has come to collect bread and a box of humanitarian aid at a municipal building. He looks with sadness at the building, a late 19th-century construction with shrapnel holes in its walls and a destroyed roof half-covered by a blue UN tarpaulin. His wife, Tamara, 66, joins the conversation: Im tired. Lets see if we win the war already. We want to celebrate our victory here, at home, in Orikhiv. We want to eat meat and drink beer... a feast of local products, adds Vyacheslav, pointing to the sky. People look upwards not only when they detect Russian aircraft and missiles. They also do so when they pray, as in this case, for it all to come to an end.

A column of smoke from a Russian shell, which destroyed several houses. Luis de Vega

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Orlando Brings Extensive Sales and Business Experience in Beauty and Direct Selling Industries

IRVINE, Calif., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arbonne International pbc, a Delaware public benefit company and a global leader in personal care, nutrition, beauty, and wellness products, announces that Jen Orlando has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer. The announcement follows organizational changes at its parent company, Groupe Rocher.

Her focus will be to continue to strengthen the corporate office and sales field partnership through technology innovation, enhanced communication and increased entrepreneurial education opportunities.

Orlando Brings Extensive Sales and Business Experience in Beauty and Direct Selling Industries as New Arbonne CEO Tweet this Arbonne International Announces New CEO Jen Orlando

"This is an exciting time to be a part of Arbonne as we transition our legacy to its next level of success," said Jennifer Orlando, Chief Executive Officer, Arbonne. "New formulas, new products and new technology are transforming our company, and I am looking forward to partnering with our teams both at the home office and in the field to position Arbonne for future growth."

Orlando returned to Arbonne in 2023 as the Chief Growth & Innovation Officer following more than 18 years of industry experience with several beauty and wellness companies.

"Working with motivated entrepreneurs and helping them to flourish is my passion and I look forward to leading this powerful community of dedicated professionals and independent contractors into the future of beauty and wellness," said Orlando.

"Jen brings a strong track record of business growth and a disciplined background in sales and transactional building with a passion for Arbonne's sales field, employees and future," said Groupe Rocher CEO, Jean-David Schwartz. "We are confident she is the right person to lead the company as we continue to innovate, grow and maximize the business opportunities Arbonne offers."

Orlando replaces Tyler Whitehead, who recently left the company to pursue other opportunities.

ABOUT ARBONNE

Arbonne is a global force in sustainable healthy living since 1980. A healthy living community that connects personal consultation with an immersive digital experience to help people find wellness products that find their needs today and tomorrow. Arbonne's philosophy embraces the relationship between clean, effective plant-based products, conscious sustainability practices, and connecting people together for their healthy living journey. Arbonne won't rest when it comes to clean and safe formulations, starting with its Not Allowed List of over 2000+ banned ingredients. Arbonne makes every effort to be gluten-free, vegan, non-GMO, with no artificial colors, fragrance, flavors, or sweeteners. As a purpose driven company, Arbonne's consistent business practices help empower people to flourish and create a sustainable planet for the future. At Arbonne, both people and the planet are considered in every decision made. Arbonne is a proud Certified B Corporation. CLEAN. CONSCIOUS. CONNECTED.

Follow Arbonne on Social Media

Facebook: @arbonne Twitter: @arbonne Instagram: @arbonne Pinterest: @arbonne

SOURCE Arbonne International, LLC
Honorees Recognized at 2023 Bigger Together Celebration in Anaheim, California

TAMPA, Fla., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA), the preeminent one-to-one youth mentoring organization in the United States, announced the Bigs and Littles of the Year at the 2023 Bigger Together celebration, part of the organization's four-day national conference in Anaheim. Two volunteer mentors ("Bigs") and two youth ("Littles") were selected to represent the over 400,000 Bigs, Littles, and families participating annually.

BBBSA Big & Little of the Year Jose Carlos and Juan Carlos, BBBS of Central Arizona BBBSA Big & Little of the Year, Angi and Jenna, BBBS of Northeast Indiana

"It's a privilege to celebrate the transformative connections and personal growth we witness between our Bigs and Littles as they build life-long relationships. We are thrilled to honor Jose Carlos and Juan Carlos, and Angela and Jenna as our Bigs and Littles of the Year," said Artis Stevens, President and CEO, BBBSA. "These matches exemplify the profound impact of mentorship and connection, illustrating the extraordinary bonds formed daily through Big Brothers Big Sisters."

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America celebrates two incredible matches each year, nominated by their local agencies, to serve as the national representatives of Big Brothers Big Sisters. These matches demonstrate the influence that a mentoring relationship has on empowering Littles to pursue their goals in a 'big' way while creating a long-lasting impact on both the young person and the Big.

Big Jose Carlos and Little Juan Carlos, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona

"His family makes me feel welcome. They have taken me on their family vacations. I even went to my Big Brother's wedding. I see my Big Brother as family."

Jose Carlos and Juan Carlos first matched in May 2014. Sharing similarly challenging upbringings, their relatability of lived experiences fostered a genuine understanding and natural bond, which still holds strong after ten years.

Throughout Jose Carlos and Juan Carlos's tenure as a match, the two have supported each other and grown exponentially. From teaching Juan Carlos how to drive, to giving much-needed time and attention, and modeling the importance of education, Jose Carlos has been instrumental in Juan Carlos's growth  all while pursuing his own collegiate education and working two jobs.

Juan Carlos witnessed how bright his future could be with Jose Carlos as his role model  with Jose Carlos's positive example setting, emotional support, and advice, Juan Carlos is now a first-generation high school graduate. To Littles entering the mentorship program, Juan Carlos says: "I would say that the program has changed my life for the better. I would recommend the program to any kid that is in need. I would also say to be yourself with your Big. Don't try to be someone you are not. You and your Big will get closer if you be yourself."

Big Angela and Little Jenna, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana

"Angi is always going to be one of my closest friends. She's always going to be there for me."

When Jenna and Angi were matched in 2015, Jenna was struggling with low self-esteem, difficulties in school, and turbulent family trauma. Despite the challenges Jenna faced, Angi loved her from the moment they met, and made it her mission to support Jenna in reaching her fullest potential.

The pair regularly visited bookstores to pick out books to read together and after just a few months, Jenna's reading comprehension and vocabulary improved significantly. Jenna and Angi are continuing this academic momentum by researching college programs and creating a plan of action for the future. Angi also makes an effort to model self-confidence and inner beauty for Jenna, regularly planning photo shoots and fashion shows to show that every person, any size, is beautiful.

Jenna is thankful for her thriving relationship with Angi, and credits Angi with her transformation into a more confident individual who embraces her uniqueness. To those considering joining the program, Jenna says: "If I could say anything to other kids who might want to be part of BBBS, I would tell them to go for it! To Bigs, I would say, just talk to your Little!"

About Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Founded in 1904, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is the largest and most experienced youth mentoring organization in the United States. The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Big Brothers Big Sisters' evidence-based approach is designed to create positive youth outcomes, including educational success, avoidance of risky behaviors, higher aspirations, greater confidence, and improved relationships. Big Brothers Big Sisters has over 230 local agencies serving more than 5,000 communities across all 50 states. For more information, visit: www.bigbrothersbigsisters.org .

SOURCE Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
DUBLIN, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --The "Bio-LNG Market - A Global and Regional Analysis, 2023-2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global bio-LNG market was valued at $618.4 million in 2022 and is anticipated to reach $3.6 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 20.3% during the forecast period 2023-2032.

The demand for bio-LNG is anticipated to grow with the increasing demand from end-use industries such as automotive, ships, and others. Furthermore, it is anticipated that during the projected period of 2023-2032, there will be an increasing adoption of bio-LNG in the automobile industry, and several governments are expected to implement policies and incentives to encourage the production and use of bio-LNG in various regions. For instance, the European Union has been setting targets to increase the use of renewable energy in the transport sector.

In addition, the European Union has introduced the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive, which aims to support the development of infrastructure for alternative fuels such as bio-LNG. However, the high cost of bio-LNG as compared to LNG is anticipated to hinder market growth in the future.

Market Lifecycle Stage

The global bio-LNG market is in the growth phase. Rising sales of vehicles and increasing focus on decarbonization and controlling pollutants are expected to boost the market growth. Furthermore, the increasing numbers of LNG trucks and rising environmental concerns are creating significant growth opportunities for bio-LNG. Bio-LNG is an inexhaustible substitute for conventional fuel and is one of the best options to meet the rising need for energy while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, owing to the aforementioned factors, its demand is increasing. Moreover, the global bio-LNG market is expected to benefit from favorable government policies, which are expected to promote market expansion. The requirement for bio-LNG is being stimulated by ships as well.

Industrial Impact

Growing demand for decarbonization is the main driving force behind the growing consumer interest in bio-LNG. As a result, these fuels are getting prominence in a variety of industries, including buses, trucks, ships, and others. One area where their implementation has been significantly greater is trucks and ships, which is expected to create opportunities for both existing market participants and market entrants.

Furthermore, bio-LNG has a moderate to high impact on end-user industries; however, in the upcoming future, with increased production of automobiles, ships, and other applications, the impact is anticipated to increase.

Impact of COVID-19

The bio-LNG market was affected moderately by COVID-19. The demand for energy in transportation and other industries has dramatically dropped because of business restrictions, travel bans, and border closures, which have led to a decrease in the use of bioenergy and other renewable sources. Similarly, disruptions in the transportation of raw materials and finished products have also impacted the bio-LNG supply chain. The pandemic has also impacted the funding of bio-LNG projects, as investors have become more cautious due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Overall, the pandemic has had a significant impact on the bio-LNG market. It has also drawn attention to the significance of renewable energy sources and the necessity of resilience in the face of universal challenges.

Market Segmentation

Segmentation 1: by Application

Automotive

Ships

Others

Based on application, automotive led the global bio-LNG market in terms of value in 2022.

Segmentation 2: by Source

Agriculture Residues

Industrial Waste

Household Waste

Others

The global bio-LNG market was led by agriculture residues in terms of source by value in 2022.

Segmentation 3: by Region

North America - U.S., Canada , and Mexico

- U.S., , and Europe - Germany , France , Netherlands , Italy , Scandinavian, and Rest-of- Europe

- , , , , Scandinavian, and Rest-of- China

U.K.

Asia-Pacific and Japan - Japan , India , South Korea , Australia , and Rest-of- Asia-Pacific and Japan

and - , , , , and Rest-of- and Rest-of-the-World - South America , and Middle East and Africa

In the global bio-LNG market, Europe dominates the market owing to several bio-LNG production facilities already operational and more in the pipeline. This is due to several factors, including the strong regulatory support for renewable energy and decarbonization in the region, the availability of feedstocks for bio-LNG production, and the high demand for low-carbon fuels in the transportation and shipping sectors.

Recent Developments in the Global Bio-LNG Market

In February 2023 , GREEN CREATE built manure-fed biomethane production facilities in Wijster, Netherlands . The plant produces renewable natural gas (RNG) from agricultural waste, specifically manure that can be further upgraded to bio-LNG, which can then be used as a low-carbon fuel in the transportation sector.

, GREEN CREATE built manure-fed biomethane production facilities in Wijster, . The plant produces renewable natural gas (RNG) from agricultural waste, specifically manure that can be further upgraded to bio-LNG, which can then be used as a low-carbon fuel in the transportation sector. In February 2023 , Liqvis announced migration to bio-LNG for heavy-duty transportation starting in 2023 as it broadens its range of bio-LNG suppliers. Beginning in mid-2023, Liqvis would gradually migrate to CO2-neutral bio-LNG and sell it as a substitute fuel at its refueling facilities.

, Liqvis announced migration to bio-LNG for heavy-duty transportation starting in 2023 as it broadens its range of bio-LNG suppliers. Beginning in mid-2023, Liqvis would gradually migrate to CO2-neutral bio-LNG and sell it as a substitute fuel at its refueling facilities. In April 2023 , the U.K.'s largest owner of bio-CNG and bio-LNG plants, Nottingham-based Roadgas, recently transferred its assets to Pretoria Energy Group, which is funded by Mercuria Clean Energy Investments. Roadgas provides customized on-site fuelling options using biomethane made in the U.K. Within five years, the firm aims to power more than 2,500 gas-fuelled trucks annually.

Demand - Drivers and Limitations

The following are the demand drivers for the global bio-LNG market:

Rising Environmental Concerns

Increasing Number of LNG Trucks

The market is expected to face some limitations as well due to the following challenges:

Limited Availability of Feedstocks

High Price of Bio-LNG as Compared to LNG

How can this report add value to an organization?

Product/Innovation Strategy: The product segment helps the reader to understand the different sources involved in producing bio-LNG. Moreover, the study provides the reader with a detailed understanding of the global bio-LNG market based on the application (automotive, ships, and others). Bio-LNG is gaining traction in different applications on the back of sustainability concerns and less nitrogen oxide emissions. They are also being used for controlling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Growth/Marketing Strategy: The global bio-LNG market has seen major development by key players operating in the market, such as business expansions, partnerships, collaborations, mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. The favored strategy for the companies has been product developments, business expansions, and acquisitions to strengthen their position in the global bio-LNG market. For instance, in October 2022, Titan LNG announced a plan to produce around 200,000 tons of bio-LNG annually. At its location in the port of Amsterdam, Titan LNG is expected to construct and run the bio-LNG plant, enabling delivery to ships and trucks.

Competitive Strategy: Key players in the global bio-LNG market analyzed and profiled in the study involve bio-LNG manufacturers and the overall ecosystem. Moreover, a detailed competitive benchmarking of the players operating in the global bio-LNG market has been done to help the reader understand how players stack against each other, presenting a clear market landscape. Additionally, comprehensive competitive strategies such as partnerships, agreements, acquisitions, and collaborations will aid the reader in understanding the untapped revenue pockets in the market.

Key Market Players and Competition Synopsis

The companies that are profiled have been selected based on inputs gathered from primary experts, analyzing company coverage, product portfolio, and market penetration.

The global bio-LNG market has been segmented by different application, among which automotive captured around 66% of the market as of 2022, ships accounted for around 29%, and other end-use industries accounted for around 5% of the total demand in 2022 in terms of value.

Key Companies Profiled

TotalEnergies SE

Linde plc

MAKEEN Energy

Nordsol

BoxLNG Pvt Ltd

Flogas Britain Limited

DBG Group BV

Gasum Ltd

RUHE Biogas Service GmbH

LIQVIS GmbH

Andion Global Inc

Cycle0

Titan LNG

Alexela

EnviTec Biogas AG

Scandinavian Biogas Fuels International AB

Scale Gas Solutions

GREEN CREATE

Biomet SpA

Air Water Inc

Key Topics Covered

1 Markets

1.1 Industry Outlook

1.2 Business Dynamics

1.3 Start-Up Landscape

2 Application

2.1 Bio-LNG Market (Applications and Specifications)

2.2 Demand Analysis of Bio-LNG Market (by Application), Value and Volume Data

3 Products

3.1 Global Bio-LNG Market (Source & Specifications)

3.2 Demand Analysis of Bio-LNG Market (by Source), Value and Volume Data

3.3 Product Benchmarking: Growth Rate - Market Share Matrix, by Source, 2022, Product Benchmarking (by Source)

3.4 Patent Analysis

3.5 Global and Regional Level: Average Pricing Analysis, Bio-LNG

4 Regions

4.1 North America

4.2 Europe

4.3 U.K.

4.4 China

4.5 Asia-Pacific and Japan

4.6 Rest-of-the-World

5 Markets - Competitive Benchmarking & Company Profiles

5.1 Competitive Benchmarking

5.2 Company Profiles

6 Research Methodology

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ymmcpp

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]

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DALLAS, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BioNTX and grant partners Dallas College and the DFW Hospital Council Foundation collaborated with Swiss American CDMO to launch the Biotechnology and Healthcare Industry Alliance of North Texas (BHIANT).

The result of a United States Economic Development Administration jobs grant; the BHIANT brought together executives from biotechnology, biomanufacturing, hospitals and healthcare firms in North Texas on June 22nd at the Swiss American CDMO plant in Carrollton, Texas to forge an alliance championing an industry-led, workforce partnership. This alliance will ensure that North Texas employers have a diverse, skilled labor force including pathways to high-paying, quality jobs in biotechnology, biomanufacturing and related entry-level positions.

A victory for industry, education and workforce development, the event gave industry leaders a platform to discuss the exciting ecosystem and establish priorities for industry, employment growth, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Our partner, Dallas College is the largest community college in Texas, offering associate degree and technical certificate programs in more than 100 areas of study. Swiss American is a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) and BioNTX is a biotechnology trade organization dedicated to building and supporting the biotechnology, manufacturing, and life science ecosystem in North Texas.

"We are honored to have Swiss American, a well-respected, global CDMO that has been in the DFW area for over 30 years as a champion of the project sharing their expertise in leading growth and innovation and advancing the life sciences ecosystem," said Kathleen Otto, CEO of BioNTX, adding "this industry-led partnership will help develop pathways to ensure equity and diversity in the life sciences and biotech manufacturing industry. As the industry scales and grows, new jobs will grow with it".

About BioNTX

BioNTX is a leading bioscience and healthcare innovation trade organization in North Texas. We work to build a strong life science community through collaborative peer to peer networking events, high-level educational programming, supporting companies with a purchasing consortium and by being the voice and champion for the North Texas biosciences and healthcare innovation community.

About Swiss American CDMO

Swiss American CDMO delivers breakthrough innovation and superior manufacturing solutions to global skin care companies and personal care products. Dallas-based Swiss American has helped build popular brands through marketplace insight, scientific formulation, and quality-driven, lean manufacturing expertise.

Media Contacts:

BioNTX: Kathleen M. Otto, CEO, [email protected]

Swiss American CDMO: Mitchell West, VP, Marketing and Client Engagement, [email protected]

SOURCE BioNTX
Union Demands Assembly, Governor Pass Free Speech Legislation into Law

SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters are celebrating the passage of Senate Bill 399 (SB399) out of the California Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment. The legislation bans mandatory attendance at "captive audience" meetings  employer-held, closed-door gatherings where workers are forced under threat of termination to listen to lies and propaganda designed to dissuade them from organizing.

"We'd like to thank State Senator Aisha Wahab, State Senator Maria Elena Durazo, and all of the assemblymembers who voted in favor of approving this bill for a floor vote," said Chris Griswold, Teamsters International Vice President At-Large and President of Teamsters Joint Council 42. "Mandatory captive audience meetings are tyrannical and morally abhorrent. We now call on every member of the chamber to vote for this legislation, and on Governor Gavin Newsom to sign it into law. Make no mistake  this is a litmus test for organized labor in California."

"This legislation protects the free speech rights of workers by preventing them from being subjected  involuntarily  to deceptive, misleading, fundamentally undemocratic tirades against the human right to organize," said Jason Rabinowitz, Teamsters Joint Council 7 President. "This is why California needs to enact this into law as soon as possible. Elected officials need to know that if you're not with unions on this bill, then you're not with us at all."

Similar legislation has already been enacted into law in Oregon, Minnesota, and Connecticut. A New York ban on mandatory captive audience meetings has already been passed by the legislature and is awaiting approval from Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Matt McQuaid, (202) 624-6877

[email protected]

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
STOCKHOLM, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Annual General Meeting in Boliden on April 25, 2023 resolved on an automatic share redemption procedure including a share split 2:1 of Boliden's shares, whereby one existing share was divided into two shares. As previously communicated, the number of shares and votes in Boliden therefore increased during May 2023 by 273,511,169 to 547,022,338.

The 273,511,169 redemption shares issued through the share split were redeemed during June 2023 as part of the redemption procedure. As of June 30, 2023, the number of shares and votes in Boliden therefore again totals 273,511,169.

For more information about the redemption procedure, please see Boliden's website www.boliden.com.

For further information, please contact: Klas Nilsson, Director Group Communications,

phone: +46 70 453 65 88

[email protected]

This information is information that Boliden AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 08.00 CET on June 30, 2023.



The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/997/3795777/2157812.pdf Press release (PDF)

SOURCE Boliden
Leads Biolabs and Chime Biologics initiate strategic cooperation to accelerate IND application and provide clinical trial materials in China .

BeiGene and Chime Biologics establish strategic cooperation to facilitate IND applications overseas and clinical trial materials supply.

SHANGHAI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chime Biologics, a leading CDMO that enables its partners' success in biologics, announced that it has established 3-way strategic cooperation with Leads Biolabs and BeiGene to accelerate LBL-007 mAb development and manufacturing for speedy clinical advancement.

LBL-007 is a novel antibody targeting the LAG-3 pathway developed independently by Leads Biolabs. The phase I clinical trial data of LBL-007 in patients with later-stage solid tumors have been announced at the 2021 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Previously, Leads Biolabs and BeiGene reached an authorization and cooperation agreement. Leads Biolabs grants LBL-007 exclusive global development and production license to BeiGene, as well as a commercial manufacturing license outside China.

Leads Biolabs and Chime Biologics initiate strategic cooperation to accelerate IND application and provide clinical trial materials in China.

Leads Biolabs has entrusted Chime Biologics with the file supporting work related to the production of LBL-007 project and clinical trial materials in mainland China. Now, the project is progressing into clinical phase II stage. At 2023 ASCO conference in Chicago from June 2 to 6, Leads Biolabs presented a poster summarizing the latest clinical data research results on safety and efficacy of anti-LAG-3 (lymphocyte activating gene-3) antibody LBL-007 in the treatment of advanced or metastatic melanoma. This is an open-label, multicenter, dose-escalation or expansion Phase I clinical trial research conducted in China, focusing on safety, RP2D, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

BeiGene and Chime Biologics establish strategic cooperation to facilitate IND applications overseas and clinical trial materials supply.

BeiGene is also entrusting Chime Biologics to provide support for clinical development and manufacturing of clinical trial materials in order to facilitate multiple clinical trials. The indications encompass colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, as well as other solid tumors. Clinical trials have been conducted in numerous countries worldwide, including Australia and the United States.

The three parties have established a comprehensive strategic partnership based on the principle of "Complementary Advantages, Resource Sharing, Strong Alliance, and Win-win Cooperation". Through 3-way cooperation, multiple clinical studies are advancing rapidly based on the global development distribution of LBL-007. We hope anti-LAG-3 antibodies can bring good news to cancer patients as soon as possible.

A Trusted Partner in Biologics Commercial Manufacturing

Chime Biologics serves as a long-term partner to biopharmaceutical clients with sound solutions for manufacturing and more recently moved into late stage and commercial manufacturing. We support various stages of new drug registration and application, provide production service for preclinical, clinical and listed drugs, including non-GMP standard production and the first modular biopharmaceutical factory in the world which meets the global cGMP standards.

Dr. Kang Xiaoqiang, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Leads Biolabs, stated: "We are so pleased to cooperate with BeiGene, a global leading enterprise in oncology field, and Chime Biologics with extensive antibody production experience. LBL-007 is the first innovative antibody drug with global intellectual property which we developed independently. I believe that the development and commercialization of LBL-007 can be expedited through our triangular cooperation, so we can address unmet medical needs and bring hope to cancer patients."

Dr. Wang Lai, Global R&D Director of BeiGene, said: "The clinical candidate drug developed by Leads Biolabs has a broad prospect, not only enriching our tumor immunotherapy drug pipeline but also supporting us for global clinical development strategic priorities and development opportunities. Chime Biologics has advanced drug commercial manufacturing experience, a sound quality system and efficient production management, providing assurance of LBL-007 for global development. Although the cooperation is not too long, LBL-007 has launched nearly ten Phase I and II clinical trials worldwide in the last year, with indications covering colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell cancer, melanoma and other solid tumor cancers. I believe that this cooperation will bring new opportunities for the medical community to further conquer cancer."

Dr. Wei Jianzhong, President of Chime Biologics, stated:" We are glad to be the partner of these two leading Biopharma enterprises to provide the IND filing support of LBL-007 project and clinical trial materials production. The three parties will work together to deepen cooperation and promote the clinical trial process of LBL-007 project. Chime Biologics has always focused on quality management and technological innovation. This cooperation project is a remarkable milestone of company's global development. We are very proud to be able to empower biopharma partners to bring more drugs to the market as soon as possible and benefit patients worldwide."

About LBL-007

LBL-007 is a fully humanized anti-LAG-3 (lymphocyte activating gene-3) monoclonal IgG4 antibody consisting of two IgG4 heavy chains and two  light chains linked by disulfide bonds, with high affinity to human LAG-3, and exerts antitumor effects by blocking LAG-3 activation of immune function. In preclinical models, LBL-007 in combination with anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) showed synergistic antitumor activity. Results from the phase I a study of LBL-007 monotherapy have been published in ASCO 2021 (Abstract 2523); preliminary safety and efficacy data for LBL-007 combined with toripalimab in patients with advanced melanoma (Part A) have been reported in ASCO 2022 (Abstract 9538/Poster 131), showing a favorable safety profile and better antitumor activity, particularly in anti PD-(L)1 naive patients with acral melanoma. Several clinical studies of LBL-007 are currently in rapid progress based on global layout.

About Leads Biolabs

Nanjing Leads Biolabs Co.Ltd. is a clinical-stage R&D biotech company founded in Nanjing by a team of senior U.S.-educated antibody drug developers. Since 2014, Leads Biolabs has been dedicated to the research and development of novel antibody drugs with independent intellectual property rights for the treatment of oncology and other major diseases, mainly focused on the unmet pharmaceutical needs, especially the problems and challenges in tumor immunotherapy areas. Leads Biolabs already have a rich R&D pipeline with more than twenty novel tumor immunotherapy antibody projects based on monoclonal antibody and bispecific antibody development technology platform. Leads Biolabs will continue to expand its innovation to provide patients with safe, effective, accessible and affordable new drugs to meet the unmet pharmaceutical needs.

For more information, please visit: www.leadsbiolabs.com

About BeiGene

BeiGene is a global biotechnology company that is discovering and developing innovative oncology treatments that are more affordable and accessible to cancer patients worldwide. With a broad portfolio, we are expediting development of our diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics through our internal capabilities and collaborations. We are committed to radically improving access to medicines for far more patients who need them. Our growing global team of more than 9,400 colleagues spans five continents, with administrative offices in Beijing, China; Cambridge, U.S.; and Basel, Switzerland. To learn more about BeiGene, please visit www.beigene.com and follow us on Twitter at @BeiGeneGlobal.

About Chime Biologics

Chime Biologics is a leading CDMO with the world's first modular biopharmaceutical factory, KUBio. It empowers the entire biologics processes  from cell line development to commercial manufacturing. Chime Biologics provides one-stop CMC solutions to worldwide biomedical customers, relying on cell line development and advanced technology development from its Shanghai Innovation Center and proven success in IND-enabling through BLA filing at its Wuhan campus. We share a common goal to make cutting-edge biologics affordable and accessible to all patients globally, fulfilling its commitment to human health. For more information, please visit www.chimebiologics.com

Chime Biologics Limited

Bldg #5, No.1227 Zhangheng Rd

Pudong District, Shanghai, 201203

China

SOURCE Chime Biologics
JOHANNESBURG, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb today announced the promotion of Zelda Mostert, currently Chief Financial Officer South Africa, to the role of Country President.

In her new role, Mostert will be responsible for managing the performance, strategy and development of all Chubb's accident and health, consumer and digital business in South Africa. She will remain based at Chubb's Sandton office and will report to Mark Roberts, Division President, United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. The appointment is effective 1 July.

Mostert succeeds Gary Jack who is relocating to the UK to take up a new role as Regional Manager for Chubb's Midlands & South Region.

Prior to joining Chubb in 2013, Mostert held senior finance and treasury roles at businesses across a variety of sectors in South Africa.

Mark Roberts said: "Over the past decade, Zelda has been very closely involved in the development of our business in South Africa. This makes her perfectly placed to lead Chubb through our next phase of expansion in South Africa as we concentrate on growing our A&H, consumer and digital business there.

"I would also like to take this opportunity thank Gary for his exceptional leadership since 2015 and wish him every success in his new role with Chubb in the UK."

About Chubb

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs approximately 34,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/324916/4145275/Chubb_Logo_v2.jpg

SOURCE Chubb
VANCOUVER, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- City Office REIT, Inc. (NYSE: CIO) ("City Office" or the "Company") announced today it will release its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, before the market opens on Thursday, August 3, 2023.

City Office's management will hold a conference call at 11:00 am Eastern Time on August 3, 2023 to discuss the Company's financial results. Additionally, a supplemental financial package to accompany the discussion of the results will be posted on www.cioreit.com.

Webcast

Click on the webcast link under the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website at www.cioreit.com.

Telephone Conference Call

Domestic: 1-833-470-1428

International: 1-404-975-4839

Passcode: 067504

Please dial in at least 10 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Conference Call Replay

Domestic: 1-866-813-9403

International: 1-929-458-6194

Passcode: 968587

A replay of the call will be available later in the day on August 3, 2023, continuing through November 1, 2023. A replay will also be available at "Webcasts & Events" in the "Investor Relations" section of the Company's website.

About City Office REIT, Inc.

City Office REIT is an internally-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, owning and operating high-quality office properties located predominantly in Sun Belt markets. City Office currently owns or has a controlling interest in 5.7 million square feet of office properties. The Company has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Contact

City Office REIT, Inc.

Anthony Maretic, CFO

+1-604-806-3366

[email protected]com

SOURCE City Office REIT, Inc.
LOS ANGELES, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Clark recently hosted community and business leaders at an open house to celebrate the grand opening of its new office in Los Angeles. Located in the heart of downtown, the office is designed to bring Clark closer to its local clients, partners, and community stakeholders.

Clark Construction's new Los Angeles office.

"This office represents the continuation of Clark's long-standing commitment to our team members, clients, and partners in the greater Los Angeles area," said Kwaku Gyabaah, senior vice president and business unit leader leading efforts at the new office. "We look forward to this being a place where meaningful connections are fostered, and ideas that shape the future are generated and executed."

Clark's history in Los Angeles dates back to the 1980s, with the Ronald Reagan State Office Building. Since then, Clark has delivered more than 100 projects that strengthen the region's infrastructure and communities, including LA LIVE and Nokia Theater; US Courthouse, Los Angeles; and historic renovations of Los Angeles City Hall and Hall of Justice.

Delivering projects across a variety of market sectors, Clark has partnered with public and private development clients such as the City and County of Los Angeles; the City of Long Beach; the City of Beverly Hills; the University of Southern California; the University of California, Los Angeles; Pepperdine University; Los Angeles World Airports; Los Angeles Unified School District; and many others.

Projects underway in Los Angeles include the LACMA Building for the Permanent Collection and Century City Center, a new high-rise office building for JMB Realty Corporation.

With the opening of this new location, Clark now operates four offices in California, including Irvine, San Diego, and San Francisco.

About Clark Construction Group

At Clark Construction, we build what matters. From the academic buildings where students find their passion and the hospitals where people are healed to the roads that connect us, we create the assets and infrastructure that make the United States a stronger, safer place. As one of the largest building and civil construction firms in the country, we are passionate about delivering high-quality experiences and products to our clients. With offices strategically located across the country, we pride ourselves on being a local builder with national reach. To learn more, visit www.clarkconstruction.com.

Media Contact:

Shanna Wilson

[email protected]

SOURCE Clark Construction Group
Seconds before plunging into the sea, Kamal, a 27-year-old Syrian refugee, looked at his watch. It was 2:05 a.m. on June 14. His body was sinking into the darkness alongside some of the 750 people who were traveling with him aboard an old blue fishing boat bound for Italy. The Coast Guard towed us at high speed, and we capsized, he says. The water, which had been calm until then, was filled with people desperately trying to save themselves, screaming, men tearing off their clothes to escape from others who were grabbing them to stay afloat...A short distance away, the Greek Coast Guard boat witnessed the scene. When the young man looked at his wrist again, now aboard the superyacht that rescued him, it was 4:15 a.m. Id been swimming for over two hours, he recalls.

Testimony given by Kamal, a survivor of the tragic shipwreck that occurred three weeks ago in the portion of the Mediterranean known as the Ionian Sealess than 80 kilometers from the Greek coastcontradicts the Greek authorities version of events. But Kamal is not alone. A joint investigation by EL PAIS and Lighthouse Reports, Reporters United, Monitor, SIRAJ and Der Spiegel has interviewed 17 witnesses separately, and 16 offer the same account: when the trawlers engine stopped working, a Coast Guard ship towed them with a rope at high speed. The trawler capsized. Some believe the Coast Guards botched action was an accident, while others believe it was intentional. Two survivors claim that they recorded the towing with their cell phones but complain that the Greek Coast Guard confiscated their devices. All of the interviewees requested pseudonyms for fear of reprisals.

An aerial image of the trawler Adriana in the Greek search and rescue (SAR) zone, photographed by the Frontex Eagle 1 aircraft on June 13.

The ship had left Libya five days earlier. It was carrying around 750 people crammed together: Syrian, Afghan, Egyptian and Pakistani refugees. Men and womenseveral of whom were pregnantas well as teenagers and children were trapped in the hold of the ship with no chance of survival. Only 82 bodies have been recovered. The presumed number of victims, surely over 600, already makes this the second worst shipwreck in the Mediterranean, behind an April 2015 shipwreck that left 1,100 dead.

For those who survived, the difference between life and death was a matter of 100 or 200, which the traffickers demanded from passengers who asked to travel on deck and not in the hold, a floating trap from which there was no way out.

The Greek government denies any responsibility, but it still has no answer to a key question: How could hundreds of people drown despite the fact that its Coast Guard was close to the trawler for hours? Serious accusations have emerged: was the Coast Guard responsible for the sinking of the boat? Did it delay its rescue even as people were drowning? Did it intend to prevent hundreds of migrants from disembarking in its territory at all costs?

Until today, theres been no definitive evidence to refute the Greek version, but an increasing number of elements now cast doubt on it. The only open legal proceeding related to the case will try the nine alleged Egyptian traffickers who were on the ship.

This joint investigation by EL PAIS with Lighthouse Reports and its partners provides new information that reinforces the accusations against the Greek authorities. The investigation reveals the hardships of a journey in which passengers had to drink urine and seawater; shows the modus operandi of the criminal organizations; and, above all, sheds light on the Coast Guards actions. Internal reports from Frontex, which flew over the area with a plane and a drone; documents from the court case; and 17 interviews with those who experienced the tragedy suggest that the Greek authorities never prioritized the rescue of that huddled and exhausted crowd.

Additionally, analysis of the statements that survivors made to the Coast Guard within hours of disembarking suggests that some of the testimony was copied and pasted identically into the files, possibly indicating manipulation of the facts.

Survivors on board the Mayan Queen IV in the port of Kalamata, Greece, on June 14. EUROKINISSI (via REUTERS)

A luxury yacht to the rescue

The authorities reluctance to initiate a rescue operation, which already happened in the shipwreck off the Italian coast of Cutro in February, is a key element of what happened in this case. The Greek Coast Guard only activated the rescue of the trawler over 14 hours after the Greek and Italian maritime coordination centers located it sailing in precarious conditions. They only did so when the trawlercalled Adrianawas already sinking.

Before the ship sank, a spokeswoman confirms, Frontex offered the Greek authorities air support. But we didnt receive a response, she says. They did answer the offer to deploy a drone but directed it to another boat, off the island of Crete, where 80 people were in immediate danger. When it returned, the rescue was already underway.

A 93-meter (305-foot) luxury yacht, the Mayan Queen IV played a crucial role in the Greek-coordinated operation; it lowered its lifeboat and assisted in the search for survivors. The testimony that its captain, Richard Kirkby, gave to the Greek authoritiesto which this investigation had accessreveals that he received notice of the shipwreck at 2:30 a.m. and he was the first commercial vessel to arrive in the area at 2:55 a.m. If that time is accurate (the captain of an oil tanker who also participated in the search claims to have received the message at 2:12 a.m.), the alert would have been issued almost half an hour after the Adriana sank.

The captain stated that, guided by the cries for help, his crew pulled 15 castaways from the sea. Later, eight enormous ships participated in the search and rescue efforts with little success. When they arrived, the sea had already swallowed everything up; it seemed as if nothing had happened there.

At six oclock in the morning, the British captain received an order by radio to pick up the people waiting on the Coast Guard ship and take them to port. Once the transfer had been made, a hundred people and four members of the Coast Guard set sail for Kalamata, four hours away. Asked if he wanted to add anything else to his statement, Kirkby nods. Yes, I would like to say that in addition to the 10-15 people we rescued, my crew informed me that there were many more floating on the surface of the sea.

This investigation conducted interviews with 16 survivors that provide conflicting accounts of what happened in the early hours of the morning of the shipwreck; only 104 people survived, while some 600 others sank into one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean. Contradicting the official Greek account, witnesses claim that they did call for help, desperately and repeatedly. At around 13:00 [1 a.m.] an airplane flew over us, and we started to make hand gestures asking for help. At that time, two people had already died of starvation, and we put the bodies in the captains cabin, on top of the boat, so that the plane could see them, says Amin, a Syrian survivor in his 40s.

Three witnesses also claim that the Coast Guard ordered them to continue the journey to the Italian rescue zone, outside their jurisdiction. Our agreement with the Greek Coast Guard was that we would follow their ship to Italian waters where there was a rescue ship that could take us to Italy. [The Greek ship] had a green light and we followed it until our engine stopped running, recalls Manhal, a Syrian bricklayer in his 30s, who lost his brother in the shipwreck.

A deadly dragnet

A blue rope helps unravel the Greek authorities initial account of the events. At first, the Coast Guard denied having thrown a rope to the trawler, but as the survivors began telling journalists their account of events, the hypothesis that the Coast Guard did, in fact, tow the trawler gained traction. The people responsible for the rescue operation have finally acknowledged that they did throw a rope but insist that it was by no means intended to drag the vessel, much less to Italy. Among other things, the Greek authorities have claimed that the Italian search and rescue area was over 130 kilometers (81 miles) away, a distance that would require sailing for two to three days.

Hassan, a 23-year-old Syrian, describes the risky operation. They told us that they would take us to the [Italian] rescue ship, which was sailing only two hours west. They towed us like a car. The first time, our boat almost capsized, but it stabilized. The second time, the boat tilted to the right and capsized; I didnt even have time to make the decision to jump into the water. After cutting the rope, the Coast Guard boat started to pull away from us. Several testimonies corroborate this version of events.

From the Malakasa refugee camp, located 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Athens, 26-year-old Syrian dentist Maher shares his memories of that early morning. I was on deck when we capsized; I fell into the water and the boat made a huge wave that threw me about 30 meters [98 feet] away from it. It was pitch dark. The Greek ship stopped about 500 meters [1640 feet, or 1/3 of a mile] from us, maybe more. Im still confused...why didnt it come back? Why did they remain stopped? They could have saved many lives.

Survivors of the shipwreck rest in a warehouse in the port of Kalamata, 150 miles from Athens. Thanassis Stavrakis (AP)

The Greek Coast Guard is known to expel migrants and refugees from its waters and has been accused of similar actions in the past. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Greeces behavior toward a boat carrying 27 Afghan, Syrian and Palestinian refugees that was sailing off the Greek island of Farmakonisi in January 2014. The Greek Coast Guard attempted to tow the overloaded boat until it capsized. Eleven women and children died in the wreck. Then, too, the Greek Coast Guard claimed that the refugees panic and sudden movement on board had caused the vessel to sink.

Beyond the Adriana, the Greek Coast Guards actions in the Aegean Sea have shaken Frontex. Violations of international law in its waters have led the border agencys fundamental rights officer to recommend that it stop cooperating with Athens. The main concern is the documented practice of dragging groups of refugees out to sea and placing them in lifeboats that they take into Turkish waters. The New York Times reports that the official has called for the strongest possible measures to bring Greece back into compliance with the law.

Copied and pasted identical testimonies

The coast guard has claimed that the survivors testimonies, which were sparse at the beginning, have since been influenced by outside actors. The change in the content of the statements coincides with the transfer of the witnesses to Malakasa to whommembers of NGOs and lawyers quickly gained access, the Greek daily Kathimerini reported this week.

But analysis of the survivors statements to the Coast Guard indicates a different intervention. The official interviews contain at least four nearly identical statements about a key moment in the voyage and the shipwreck, despite the fact that the testimonies were given by four different people who had different translators. Moreover, in one case, a member of the Coast Guards acted as the translator. The number of practically identical phrases suggests that the statement was copied and pasted in several interviews. According to official documentation, the four survivors all literally said: Many people started to complain because [we lacked] food and water, and many passengers thought that the [captain] was lost and did not know how to get to Italy, so the captain was forced to ask for help.

Two statements about the moment of the shipwreck also coincide in addition to omitting any mention of the Coast Guards responsibility in the episode. The two witnesses, using different interpreters and speaking at different times, would have said verbatim: At some point in the night, a Coast Guard boat arrived to help and suddenly the boat capsized [...] Then they rescued us with an inflatable boat. Then two [to] three more boats arrived [...]. At dawn, they transferred us to one of them and took us to the port where we are now. They also gave us water. The official documents also say that four people testifiedin virtually the same wordsthat the trawler sank because it was old and there were no life jackets.

Of the nine statements to the Coast Guard to which this investigation had access, only one mentions the towing of the trawler as the cause of the disaster, which the person heard from someone else. But in interviews with the prosecutor, six of these same witnesses explained in greater detail that their boat was dragged before it sank.

This investigation interviewed two of the nine survivors who gave statements, first to the Coast Guard and then to the prosecutor. Both maintain that the Coast Guard omitted the part of their testimony in which they mentioned the towing of the trawler. They asked me what happened to the boat and how it sank. I told them that the Coast Guard came and tied the rope to our boat, towed us and caused it to capsize, one of them explains. They didnt write that in my statement, he says. This survivor also claims that he felt pressured to falsely identify the traffickers. They asked me about the Egyptian traffickers [...] I was tired, so I told them what they wanted to hear, he explains.

A young man talks with some of the survivors of the shipwreck on June 19 at the Malakasa refugee camp, 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) from Athens. Petros Giannakouris (AP)

Eight months secluded in a warehouse

At the time of the Adriana shipwreck, many of the victims were already presumed dead. The 750 people who boarded the ship paid over 4,500 for the trip, and they were subjected to months of mistreatment and extortion. They believed that this was the only way they could flee their countries and reach Europe. The Libyan network that organized the tripwhich has branches in Lebanon and Syriakept some of the passengers in a warehouse near Tobruk, a city 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the border with Egypt. The victims had no contact with the outside world, no passports and only a ration of bread and a piece of cheese to eat each day. The survivors say that the guards beat and insulted them and killed anyone who caused trouble. If they dug around the Tobruk warehouses, they would find a lot of bodies, says Kamal. Some people were locked up there for eight months, waiting for the criminal organization to give the boat permission to leave.

Greece, the European Commission and Frontex have all blamed the traffickers for the tragedy. But they neglect to mention that, in some cases, the criminals who profit from the migrants money also profit from European funds, which they receive in exchange for their promise to stop peoples arrival. As three separate sources have confirmed, one of the trafficking ring leaders who organized the Adrianas departure, works for the Libyan Navy, under the control of General Jalifa Hafter, a leader and warlord in the eastern part of the country. According to a Libyan source, a curfew was imposed on the night of the Adrianas departure to facilitate the operation. Nothing that happens in that region is out of the generals control. Italy and Malta recently invited Hafter to find ways to curb irregular immigration to the EU.

Once at sea, the voyagewhich was only supposed to take a maximum of three daysbecame difficult. On the second day, they realized that the captain was lost. The boat was left under the command of a dozen Egyptians who worked for the criminal network; according to some survivors statements, they insulted and beat the rest of the passengers. Fear and panic took hold of us, Kamal recalls. We wanted to ask to be rescued, even if it was by the Libyan coast guard, because we were in danger, Manhal recalls.

The food and water ran out on the third day. People started to get sick and faint. It was extremely hot during the day and very cold at night. An Egyptian and a Pakistani were the first passengers to die of thirst. Then the captain died, reportedly of a heart attack. The passengers drank sea water sweetened with dates and urine mixed with dirty water from a radiator.

Thus, on the afternoon of the fourth day, when two oil tankers approached the Adriana to deliver supplies at the Coast Guards request, confusion and panic reigned, and fights broke out over food and water. We [told] the second boat that came (Faithful Warrior) that we didnt want water or [food] because they were creating a panic by throwing bottles to us. We asked them to take us on board [because] their boat was big, but they [refused] to rescue us, Manhal maintains. His statement contradicts the official version, which claims that those aboard the ship never asked to be rescued.

When the ship had capsized at around 2 a.m. on June 14, dozens of people climbed onto the hull, already face down, but the waves caused by the trawler sinking and the movement of the Coast Guard patrol made it difficult to hold on. The castaways, they say, clung to the ship as best they could to what was left of the Adriana. Four witnesses say that the Greek ship caused more casualties by circling the vessel and creating large waves around it, instead of acting immediately to rescue people.

I was exhausted and swam toward our boat. I held on to a piece of metal for about 10 minutes, but the boat that sank us came closer and made a big wave. All the people who were holding on fell into the water, recalls Samir, a 37-year-old Syrian. A second wave made the fishing boat disappear. [It was] as if nothing had happened, he says. Maher adds that the Greek ship did nothing for almost 30 minutes...I cant explain it. Why didnt they come back immediately? If they had, at least, they could have rescued the many refugees who were still alive.

It took time before they sent a small boat, agrees Nassim, a 20-year-old who fled Syria. He asserts that the boat he accuses of sinking them remained still and watched them from a distance. We were afraid to approach and swam away until we saw them start rescuing [people]. One of the Egyptians who survived recalls staying in the water for two hours, floating and waiting for help. The Greek boat was about 50 meters [164 feet] away and they did nothing for half an hour.

Manhal, the bricklayer who lost his brother, does remember a quick intervention by the Coast Guard after the Adriana sank, but he had already given himself up for dead by the time he saw the rope tied to the bow of the trawler. We knew that [them] towing us was a dangerous move. Even someone inexperienced would tell you that to stabilize a boat you have to use ropes on both sides of the boat, not just on the front... They are members of the Coast Guard; we thought they knew what they were doing.

With reporting by Bashar Deeb, Tomas Statius, Sara Creta, Klaas van Dijken and Eman El-Sherbiny.

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Broadband trailblazers build brighter future in Sunshine State, poised to reach nearly 100,000 Floridians with multi-gigabit internet access

KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rural fiber broadband leader Conexon and five Florida partner electric cooperatives have collectively secured nearly $56 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding awards to deploy multi-gigabit-capable fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks in rural communities across the state.

Beginning with its work on Florida's first electric co-op FTTH project with Tri-County Electric Cooperative in 2022, Conexon has, in one year, expanded its operations throughout the state, helping co-ops work with counties and other broadband bodies to secure vital funding, and then building networks with the co-ops. In addition to Tri-County Electric's Big Bend area, the company is building networks in southwest Florida with Glades Electric Cooperative; northwest Florida with Escambia River Electric Cooperative; and north central Florida with Central Florida Electric Cooperative and Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative.

"The availability of reliable and affordable high-speed internet changes the prospects of our communities," said Julius Hackett, CEO of Tri-County Electric Cooperative. "It attracts additional residents and allows those already living here to thrive and access new opportunities. Thanks to statewide collaboration and support for co-op broadband, digital equity is well on its way to becoming a reality."

Conexon and its Florida co-op partners are building networks that collectively span 20 counties to ultimately reach the co-ops' nearly 100,000 members. Conexon's internet service provider (ISP) arm, Conexon Connect, serves as the ISP for the Tri-County Electric, Glades Electric and Escambia River Electric projects, while the company is managing network design and construction and some operational aspects of the Central Florida Electric and Suwannee Valley Electric projects.

"The collaboration between Conexon and electric cooperatives has sparked a movement that will transform Florida's rural communities into destinations that rival any other urban or suburban location in the country," said Jeff Brewington, CEO of Glades Electric Cooperative. "The foresight and commitment of our Governor's office, counties and local technology planning teams are helping make these critical projects a reality to bring superior broadband to all of rural Florida."

Conexon's expansion in Florida follows on the heels of its success in other states, notably Georgia, where 2019 legislation paved the way for co-ops to offer broadband. Since that time, Conexon has joined forces with 13 Georgia co-ops, collectively serving nearly half a million members. Nearly 11,000 miles of fiber are built, giving broadband access to nearly 100,000 Georgia homes and businesses.

Since 2018, Conexon has secured more than $2 billion in local, state, and federal funding to help co-ops build and operate FTTH networks. With its partners, the company builds more fiber broadband than anyone else in the nation, today passing 1 million people in electric cooperative service territories that span 10 percent of the geography of the country.

"Seven years ago, my partner Randy Klindt and I had a simple idea. The idea was that every single member of every single electric cooperative in the country should have access to fiber-based broadband service," said Conexon Partner Jonathan Chambers. "Why? Because the best investment of public or private dollars in this particular field is in fiber, not other technologies.

"Our goal was to get the entire country built out with the same quality service you get in urban and suburban areas. But nobody would invest in rural areas  just like the 1930s for electric networks. So, we turned to electric cooperatives. Cooperatives are built upon a covenant that all members, no matter where they live, deserve the same quality service at the same rates. That covenant is as true today as it was in the 1930s."

Through its work and scope, Conexon has established an industry-leading fiber broadband infrastructure and ecosystem to power cooperative success, ensuring Conexon client partners have access to the materials and resources to meet aggressive funding milestones and requirements and economically deploy fiber in their communities.

"For over 80 years, electric cooperatives have been foundational to rural America, recognized and depended on for their commitment to improving lives and communities," said Randy Klindt, Conexon founding partner and CEO of Conexon Connect. "Since our earliest days, we have made it our mission to provide the advice, industry expertise and resources to help electric co-ops meet the growing need of their members for high-speed internet access and we are grateful for the funding opportunities making these projects possible."

About Conexon

Conexon works with Rural Electric Cooperatives to bring fiber to the home in rural communities. The company is comprised of professionals who have worked in electric cooperatives and the telecommunications industry and offer decades of individual experience in business planning, building networks, marketing and selling telecommunications. Conexon offers its electric cooperative clients end-to-end broadband deployment and operations support, from a project's conception all the way through to its long-term sustainability. It works with clients to analyze economic feasibility, secure financing, design the network, manage construction, provide operational support, optimize business performance and determine optimal partnerships. To date, Conexon has assisted more than 275 electric cooperatives, 75 of which are deploying fiber networks, with more than 500,000 rural Americans connected to fiber to the home. The company has secured more than $2 billion in federal, state and local grants and subsidies for its clients.

Cindy Parks

913-526-6912

[email protected]

SOURCE Conexon
CHICAGO, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the near future, the CRISPR industry is poised to revolutionize various sectors with its unprecedented potential. The widespread adoption and advancements in CRISPR gene-editing technology have opened up new possibilities in healthcare, agriculture, and biotechnology. In healthcare, CRISPR is expected to play a crucial role in personalized medicine, allowing precise modifications to the human genome to treat genetic disorders and enhance disease prevention. Additionally, CRISPR-based diagnostics are likely to enable rapid and accurate detection of various pathogens and diseases. In agriculture, CRISPR holds immense promise for developing crops with enhanced traits, such as improved yield, disease resistance, and nutritional value, addressing global food security challenges. Moreover, the biotechnology industry is expected to leverage CRISPR for the development of novel therapies, biofuels, and industrial enzymes. As the CRISPR industry continues to expand, there will be a growing emphasis on ethical considerations, regulatory frameworks, and responsible use of this powerful technology to ensure its safe and equitable application for the benefit of humanity.

CRISPR Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $3.4 billion in 2023 and is poised to reach $7.1 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 15.6% from 2023 to 2028 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Some of the prominent factors driving the growth of this market are technological advancements in the field of CRISPR, substantial support and funding for research and development in the CRISPR field from government and pharmaceutical companies are boosting the growth of the market. However, risk of off-target effects and safety concerns of CRISPR technology can hamper the market growth.

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CRISPR Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2023 $3.4 billion Estimated Value by 2028 $7.1 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 15.6% 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, Application, End User, and Region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East Africa Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Development of new vaccine and treatment of genetic diseases Key Market Drivers Growing Investment and Funding from the Government for CRISPR Technology

CRISPR products accounted for the largest share of the CRISPR market

Among the products & services, the CRISPR market is segmented into CRISPR products, and CRISPR services. In 2023, the CRISPR products segment accounted for the largest share of the CRISPR market. Growth in this market segment can be attributed to prevalence of genetic disorders, such as inherited diseases and certain types of cancers, and the potential of CRISPR products to enhance the efficacy and precision of gene editing for therapeutic purposes.

Drug Discovery & Development segment is the fastest-growing segment of the CRISPR market

In 2023, the drug discovery & development segment accounted for the fastest-growing share of the application segment of CRISPR market. Market growth can largely be attributed to the potential of CRISPR technology to develop personalized therapies by precisely editing patient-specific genetic variations. The market is also driven by its application in drug target validation and lead optimization, increasing investment from both the public and private sectors, as well as CRISPR based functional genomics screening expediting the drug discovery process.

Asia Pacific: The fastest-growing region in the CRISPR market

The Asia Pacific CRISPR market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, mainly due to increasing awareness of the importance of the research and development activities in the healthcare industry, large patient population, and advancements in sequencing technologies. The Asian market has also garnered significant attention from global players due to the increased focus on personalized medicine, driving the demand for CRISPR products.

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CRISPR Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

Growing Investment and Funding from the Government for CRISPR Technology

Restraints:

High Technical challenges associated with CRISPR technology

Opportunities:

Development of new vaccine and treatment of genetic diseases

Challenges:

Regulatory Hurdles for CRISPR Advancements

Key Market Players:

The market for CRISPR is highly fragmented, with key players strategizing to capture the market. Prominent players in the CRISPR market are Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. (US), Merck KGaA (Germany), Agilent Technologies, Inc. (US), Genscript Biotech Corporation (China), CRISPR Therapeutics AG (Switzerland), Editas Medicine (US), Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (US), Beam Therapeutics Inc. (US), Caribou Biosciences, Inc. (US), Lonza Group, Ltd. (Switzerland), Danaher Corporation (US), PerkinElmer, Inc. (US), Hera Biolabs (US), OriGene Technologies, Inc. (US), Cellecta, Inc. (US), Mammoth Biosciences, Inc. (US), Applied StemCell (US), New England Biolabs Inc. (US), ToolGen Inc. (South Korea), GeneCopoeia, Inc. (US), Twist Bioscience Corporation (US), Synthego Corporation (US), eGenesis (US), Inscripta, Inc. (US), and Precision BioSciences, Inc. (US).

Recent Developments:

In May 2023 , Thermo Fisher Scientific opens cell therapy facility at UCSF to accelerate development of breakthrough therapies. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and the University of California, San Francisco accelerated advanced cell therapies for difficult to treat conditions, including cancer, rare diseases, and other illnesses, from a newly opened cGMP manufacturing facility adjacent to UCSF Medical Center's Mission Bay campus.

, Thermo Fisher Scientific opens cell therapy facility at UCSF to accelerate development of breakthrough therapies. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and the accelerated advanced cell therapies for difficult to treat conditions, including cancer, rare diseases, and other illnesses, from a newly opened cGMP manufacturing facility adjacent to UCSF Medical Center's Mission Bay campus. In April 2022 , Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. launched the new GMP-manufactured Gibco CTS TrueCut Cas9 Protein to support genome editing for research and manufacturing applications, including CAR T-cell therapy research.

, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. launched the new GMP-manufactured Gibco CTS TrueCut Cas9 Protein to support genome editing for research and manufacturing applications, including CAR T-cell therapy research. In November 2021 , GenScript announced today that it has launched the GenWand Double-Stranded DNA (dsDNA) Service for the manufacture of CRISPR knock-in homology- directed repair (HDR) templates in T cell engineering.

, GenScript announced today that it has launched the GenWand Double-Stranded DNA (dsDNA) Service for the manufacture of CRISPR knock-in homology- directed repair (HDR) templates in T cell engineering. In October 2020 , Merck announced that it signed agreements licensing its CRISPR technology to two companies PanCELLa, a cell therapy firm based in Toronto, Canada and Takara Bio USA , Inc., a biotechnology company based in Mountain View, California , USA.

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CRISPR Market Advantages:

Precision: CRISPR technology offers precise gene-editing capabilities, allowing for targeted modifications to specific genes or regions of the genome. This precision minimizes off-target effects and enhances the accuracy of gene editing, making it a powerful tool for therapeutic applications and research.

Cost-effectiveness: Compared to traditional gene-editing methods, CRISPR is relatively cost-effective. The simplicity and efficiency of CRISPR systems reduce the time and resources required for experiments, making it more accessible to researchers and industries with limited budgets.

Versatility: CRISPR has broad applications across various sectors, including healthcare, agriculture, and biotechnology. It can be used for gene therapy, developing diagnostic tools, creating genetically modified crops with improved traits, and engineering microorganisms for industrial purposes. This versatility expands the potential market for CRISPR-based products and services.

Scalability: CRISPR technology can be scaled up for high-throughput applications, allowing for efficient editing of multiple genes or large-scale screening of genetic targets. This scalability is particularly beneficial for drug discovery, functional genomics, and other high-volume applications, driving its adoption in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Ongoing advancements: The field of CRISPR research and development is rapidly evolving, with continuous advancements and refinements being made to the technology. New variations and modifications of the CRISPR system, such as base editors and prime editors, further enhance its capabilities, expanding the range of potential applications and increasing its market advantage.

Potential for personalized medicine: CRISPR has the potential to revolutionize personalized medicine by enabling targeted treatments for genetic disorders. The ability to edit specific genes associated with diseases offers new possibilities for developing tailored therapies, enhancing patient outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs.

Ethical and regulatory considerations: Despite the advantages, the CRISPR market also faces ethical and regulatory challenges. Establishing robust ethical guidelines and regulatory frameworks will be crucial for responsible use and addressing potential concerns related to the technology's ethical implications and unintended consequences.

Collaborative opportunities: The CRISPR market fosters collaboration between academia, industry, and research institutions. The technology's widespread adoption has led to partnerships and collaborations to leverage collective expertise and resources, driving innovation and accelerating the development of CRISPR-based products and services.

Overall, the CRISPR market's advantages lie in its precision, cost-effectiveness, versatility, scalability, ongoing advancements, potential for personalized medicine, and collaborative opportunities, positioning it as a transformative force with significant market potential.

CRISPR Market  Report Highlights:

The value chain analysis, ecosystem analysis, and regulatory scenario are added in the market overview chapter.

The new edition of the report provides updated market breakdown with detailed analysis on product & services, application and end user.

The new edition of the report provides updated financial information till 2022 (depending on availability) for each listed company in a graphical representation. This would 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 are helpful to understand market trends and growth strategies adopted by players in the market.

Tracking product portfolios of prominent market players helps to analyze the major types in the CRISPR market. The new edition of the report provides an updated product portfolio of the companies profiled in the report.

Market evaluation framework, market share analysis and competitive leadership mapping have been added in competitive landscape chapter of the report.

The competitive leadership mapping has been updated considering recent developments in the company evaluation matrix.

Related Reports:

Genomics Market - Global Forecasts to 2028

Proteomics Market - Global Forecasts to 2028

NGS-based RNA-sequencing Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Next Generation Sequencing Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Genome Editing Market - Global Forecasts to 2026

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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.

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SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
BEIJING, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Civilizations flourish with exchanges and mutual learning. Such exchanges and mutual learning form an important drive for human progress and global peace and development.

The first episode of season three of the China Daily series Youth Power, "The Bonds of Culture", was broadcast online on June 30.

First episode of season three of Youth Power, The Bonds of Culture

In this episode, Gen Zers from China, Romania, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom and other countries gathered in London to talk about how civilizations are enriched by communication.

With cultural responsibilities in promoting cultural exchange and advancement, Gen Zers play an important role in enhancing cultural communication between countries, one result by that Chinese culture can be better understood around the world.

Victor Kovalets from the UK said he has found that Chinese culture is attracting growing attention with its rich history and unique features. "Nowadays, everywhere you go there are new Chinese restaurants opening up," Kovalets said, adding that through eating hotpot we can better understand the culture behind traditional Chinese cuisines.

His love of Chinese culture began with the Chinese TV series The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he said. He retold the story of the "the empty city strategy" with great enthusiasm, saying that stories such as these are not only interesting but also profound, showing the depth of Chinese culture.

After hearing Kovalets' story, Gen Zers said they hoped countries can combine the culture of other countries into their education systems, providing students with a more comprehensive understanding of the world, of philosophies and of different ways of thinking.

Lisa Maslova, a Russian Gen Zer, said her favorite app is Little Red Book, a popular Chinese social platform. It is like a map of life for her because she can find all kinds of useful suggestions there, she said.

Yan Qiuhao of China said TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in many places.

"It's a window for us to find out about your own culture, and a way to broadcast your own culture to a broader population."

Many are attracted by TikTok videos about China, and some even want to visit the country, Yan said. From this perspective, TikTok opens up a window for people outside to know more about China.

In addition to talking of popular apps developed in China, many young people who talked to Youth Power told of their love for Chinese dumplings, red envelopes, escape rooms and detective games. Chinese culture is becoming more and more influential, with Chinese TV series and internet literature drawing fans, especially Gen Zers, worldwide.

However, the process of exchange and mutual learning among civilization is not always smooth and easy. Kevin Zhu, a Gen Zer with parents of different nationalities, said that what makes a civilization resilient is its ability to integrate and include, like a melting pot.

Kevan Kennedy, a student from Gibraltar studying for a PhD at Oxford University, said culture should not be considered a "neutral playing ground". Culture is a historical phenomenon that comes with certain imbalances and inequalities, so even though we may start from the right spot we can still end in the wrong place, thus offending other cultures, he said.

Lisa Maslova of Russia cited the case of the French fashion house Dior being accused last year of culturally appropriating a traditional Chinese costume called "horse face skirts" in some of its designs, and Chinese students protesting against this. "We should acknowledge where we got our inspiration from," Maslova said. "It's like using references when doing academic writing."

Young people interviewed on the streets of London also talked about their opinions in this episode of Youth Power. Many said the best way to stop cultural conflicts and break cultural barriers is to engage in intercultural communication. Mario Gonzalez Iniesta from Spain said he attached great importance to open-mindedness relating to different cultures and the drive to ask questions.

Adrian Murgoci from Romania encouraged young people to communicate more with foreigners. He suggested that interest in a certain culture can lead to further explorations about that culture, and one possible way to do this is by learning a country's language.

Youth Power, organized by China Daily and first broadcast in June 2021, aims to build a global platform of communication and exchange, focusing on the interests and ideas of Generation Z. The program comes in the form of interviews, forums and speeches, with topics related to anything of current interest in the world.

SOURCE China Daily
TSX.V: DME

U.S. OTC: DMEHF

Frankfurt: QM01

VANCOUVER, BC, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY CORP. (the "Company") (TSXV: DME) (U.S. OTC: DMEHF) (Frankfurt: QM01) From the President of the Company. Desert Mountain Energy Corp. announces the immediate resignation of Jessica Davey from the Board of Directors. The Company thanks Jessica for her contribution and wishes her success in all future endeavours.

ABOUT DESERT MOUNTAIN ENERGY

Desert Mountain Energy Corp. is a publicly traded resource company primarily focused on exploration, development and production of helium, hydrogen and noble gases. The Company is primarily looking for elements deemed critical to the renewable energy and high technology industries.

We seek safe harbor

"Robert Rohlfing"

Robert Rohlfing

Exec Chairman & CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in polices of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements made in this press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results may differ from the Company's expectations.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding the Company's anticipated performance in the future the planned exploration activities, receipt of positive results from drilling, the completion of further drilling and exploration work, and the timing and results of various activities.

Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and the United States; financial risks due to helium prices, operating or technical difficulties in exploration and development activities; risks and hazards and the speculative nature of resource exploration and related development; risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Company's title to properties.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the continued operation of the Company's exploration operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, 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 statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. The Company does not intend to, and nor does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Desert Mountain Energy Corp.
CHICAGO, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Joe Cecala, Founder and CEO of Dream Exchange, was featured on the Marketplace Morning Report, with renowned journalist David Brancaccio. Mr. Cecala's appearance provided a unique opportunity to discuss the mission of Dream Exchange, the first minority-governed and owned stock exchange in the history of the United States.

Marketplace Morning Report, renowned for its insightful analysis and in-depth coverage of business, economics, and finance, reaches millions of listeners across NPR's extensive network. As the Founder and CEO of Dream Exchange, Joe Cecala joins a list of influential figures, industry leaders, and innovators to share his vision for instilling trust, fairness, and humanity in the public capital markets.

"Marketplace Morning Report offers a comprehensive view of the forces shaping our economy and society. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share the inspiring mission of Dream Exchange. We believe that the public capital markets have the power to change lives and reshape the world. As we make our way towards opening the first minority-governed and owned stock exchange, it is important for us to continue connecting with legacy journalists so that the American public is aware that we are here." -said Joe Cecala.

You can catch the replay and the transcript of the interview here.

Mr. Cecala and Dwain Kyles, Director of Dream Exchange, also appeared on the Roland Martin show. You can catch the replay of their appearance here: Roland Martin show.

About Dream Exchange

The Dream Exchange is preparing its application and operations to become registered as the first minority-governed and owned company to operate a stock exchange in the history of the United States. In addition, Dream Exchange is championing the creation of a new type of stock exchange called a venture exchange, to list and trade smaller, early-stage company stock. Dream Exchange's mission is to create access and equality of opportunity for all people in a fair marketplace that instils ethics, integrity, and humanity.

Visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn for more.

MEDIA CONTACT

Vanessa Jean-Louis

Director of Public Relations and Strategic Partnerships

1-773-914-1182

[email protected]

SOURCE Dream Exchange
JACKSON, Miss., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- EastGroup Properties (NYSE: EGP) (the "Company", "EastGroup") announced today that it will hold its Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call and Webcast on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. On the call, Marshall Loeb, CEO, and Brent Wood, CFO, will discuss the Company's second quarter results, current operations, and earnings outlook for 2023.

EastGroup plans to release financial results for the quarter after the market closes on July 25, 2023. The earnings release and supplemental information package will be posted on the Company's website, www.eastgroup.net, at that time.

A live broadcast of the conference call is available by dialing 1-888-346-0688 (conference ID EastGroup) or by webcast through a link on the Company's website at www.eastgroup.net. If you are unable to listen to the live conference call, a telephone and webcast replay will be available on Wednesday, July 26, 2023. The telephone replay will be available until Wednesday, August 2, 2023, and can be accessed by dialing 1-877-344-7529 (access code 9872527). The replay of the webcast can be accessed through a link on the Company's website at www.eastgroup.net and will be available until Wednesday, August 2, 2023.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE: EGP), a member of the S&P Mid-Cap 400 and Russell 1000 Indexes, is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and North Carolina. The Company's goal is to maximize shareholder value by being a leading provider in its markets of functional, flexible and quality business distribution space for location sensitive customers (primarily in the 20,000 to 100,000 square foot range). The Company's strategy for growth is based on ownership of premier distribution facilities generally clustered near major transportation features in supply-constrained submarkets. EastGroup's portfolio, including development projects and value-add acquisitions in lease-up and under construction, currently includes approximately 57.1 million square feet.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. press releases are available at www.eastgroup.net .

SOURCE EastGroup Properties
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The electric two-wheeler market size is estimated to grow by USD 36,605.79 million from 2022 to 2027. The market is estimated to progress at a CAGR of 15.72% according to Technavio. Download a Sample Report Now!

Electric two-wheeler market Insights -

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Electric Two-Wheeler Market 2023-2027

Vendors : 15+, Including Aima Technology Group Co. Ltd., ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd., Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Bounce Infinity, Cake 0 Emission AB, Damon Motors Inc., Energica Motor Company Spa, Gogoro Inc., GOVECS AG, Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd, Jiangsu Xinri E Vehicle Co. Ltd., Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., Piaggio and C. Spa, Terra Motors Corp., VinFast LLC, Vmoto Ltd., Yadea Group Holdings Ltd, Zero Motorcycles Inc., Harley Davidson Inc., Hero MotoCorp Ltd., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Okinawa Autotech Internationall Pvt. Ltd., and Yulu Bikes Pvt. Ltd., among others

: 15+, Including Aima Technology Group Co. Ltd., ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd., Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Bounce Infinity, Cake 0 Emission AB, Damon Motors Inc., Energica Motor Company Spa, Gogoro Inc., GOVECS AG, Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd, Jiangsu Xinri E Vehicle Co. Ltd., Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., Piaggio and C. Spa, Terra Motors Corp., VinFast LLC, Vmoto Ltd., Yadea Group Holdings Ltd, Zero Motorcycles Inc., Harley Davidson Inc., Hero MotoCorp Ltd., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Okinawa Autotech Internationall Pvt. Ltd., and Yulu Bikes Pvt. Ltd., among others Coverage: Parent market analysis; key drivers, major trends, and challenges; customer and vendor landscape; vendor product insights and recent developments; key vendors; and market positioning of vendors

Parent market analysis; key drivers, major trends, and challenges; customer and vendor landscape; vendor product insights and recent developments; key vendors; and market positioning of vendors Segments: Battery Type (Lithium- ion battery, Sealed-lead acid battery, and Others), Vehicle Type (E-scooter and E-bike), and Geography (APAC, Europe , North America , South America , and Middle East and Africa )

To understand more about the Electric two-wheeler market, request a sample report

Electric two-wheeler market - Vendor Insights

The growing competition in the market is compelling vendors to adopt various growth strategies such as promotional activities and spending on advertisements to improve the visibility of their services. Technavio report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors including Aima Technology Group Co. Ltd., ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd., Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Bounce Infinity, Cake 0 Emission AB, Damon Motors Inc., Energica Motor Company Spa, Gogoro Inc., GOVECS AG, Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd, Jiangsu Xinri E Vehicle Co. Ltd., Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., Piaggio and C. Spa, Terra Motors Corp., VinFast LLC, Vmoto Ltd., Yadea Group Holdings Ltd, Zero Motorcycles Inc., Harley Davidson Inc., Hero MotoCorp Ltd., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Okinawa Autotech Internationall Pvt. Ltd., and Yulu Bikes Pvt. Ltd.

Electric two-wheeler market  Market Dynamics

Major Drivers -

An increase in demand for electric two-wheelers drives the growth of the market during the forecast period. These days, people are more aware of the environmental condition and the impact of their actions on it. As a result of this realization, they are switching to eco-friendly alternatives such as electric two-wheelers.

Their low running costs, in contrast to gasoline vehicles, drive the demand for electric motorcycles. This is because they do not need to buy fuel, which can be expensive in the long run. Instead of fuel, they are powered by a battery that can be recharged with electricity from a socket. As a result, the operating costs of electric motorcycles are significantly lower than those of gasoline motorcycles. Hence, such factors drive the demand for the electric two-wheeler market during the forecast period.

Significant Trends -

The use of the Internet of Things and smart infrastructure in electric two-wheeler charging stations for load management is an emerging market trend. Load management is important since many e-bikes charge their batteries at the same time, which increases the load on the charging station infrastructure. Using advanced technologies like IoT and intelligent infrastructure, these stations can effectively handle load management. Thus, these can be deployed to address these and many other challenges.

For instance, some cities such as Amsterdam and Barcelona already have smart charging systems in which charging stations are connected to a central control system. These systems can be monitored and managed remotely, which allows stations to operate more efficiently, provide real-time data on energy consumption, and enable peak load management. Hence, such trends are expected to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Key challenges -

The high cost of electric two-wheelers challenges the growth of the market during the forecast period. Electric two-wheelers are the future of personal mobility. This is because they reduce pollution and have the potential to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. But their high cost limits their accessibility for most people.

The initial cost of ownership of an electric scooter may seem low. However, it is important to note that the replacement cost of the lithium-ion battery, which makes up the majority of the cost of an electric scooter. The replacement ranges from USD 275 to USD 345. On the other hand, gas-powered scooters like the Honda Activa 6G made by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda) are made for around USD 920. Also, the cost of a petrol scooter engine is negligible. Hence, such factors impede market growth during the forecast period.

Drivers, Trends and challenges have an impact on market dynamics, which can impact businesses. Find more insights in a sample report!

The electric two-wheeler market report provides critical information and factual data, with a qualitative and quantitative study of the market based on market drivers and limitations as well as future prospects.

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What are the key data covered in this electric two-wheeler market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the electric two-wheeler market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the electric two-wheeler market and its contribution to the market with a focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the electric two-wheeler market across APAC, Europe , North America , South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of electric two-wheeler market vendors

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Electric Two-Wheeler Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 15.72% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 36,605.79 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 13.24 Regional analysis APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 70% Key countries US, China, India, Japan, and UK Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Aima Technology Group Co. Ltd., ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd., Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Bounce Infinity, Cake 0 Emission AB, Damon Motors Inc., Energica Motor Company Spa, Gogoro Inc., GOVECS AG, Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd, Jiangsu Xinri E Vehicle Co. Ltd., Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., Piaggio and C. Spa, Terra Motors Corp., VinFast LLC, Vmoto Ltd., Yadea Group Holdings Ltd, Zero Motorcycles Inc., Harley Davidson Inc., Hero MotoCorp Ltd., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Okinawa Autotech Internationall Pvt. Ltd., and Yulu Bikes Pvt. Ltd. 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.

Table of Contents

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 Battery Type



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Vehicle Type



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 electric two-wheeler market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on global electric two-wheeler market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Battery Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Battery Type Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Vehicle Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Vehicle Type 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 Battery Type

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Battery Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Battery Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Battery Type

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Battery Type



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Battery Type

6.3 Lithium- ion battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Lithium- ion battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Lithium- ion battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Lithium- ion battery - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Lithium- ion battery - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Sealed-lead acid battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Sealed-lead acid battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Sealed-lead acid battery - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Sealed-lead acid battery - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Sealed-lead acid battery - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by Battery Type

Exhibit 46: Market opportunity by Battery Type ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Market opportunity by Battery Type ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Vehicle Type

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 48: Chart on Vehicle Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Vehicle Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Vehicle Type

Exhibit 50: Chart on Comparison by Vehicle Type



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Comparison by Vehicle Type

7.3 E-scooter - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 52: Chart on E-scooter - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on E-scooter - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 54: Chart on E-scooter - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on E-scooter - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 E-bike - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 56: Chart on E-bike - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on E-bike - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 58: Chart on E-bike - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on E-bike - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by Vehicle Type

Exhibit 60: Market opportunity by Vehicle Type ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Market opportunity by Vehicle Type ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 62: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 63: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 65: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 66: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 67: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 68: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 69: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 70: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 71: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 73: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 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 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 79: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 82: 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 83: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 85: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 87: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 89: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 91: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 95: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 97: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 99: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 100: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 101: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 102: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 103: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 104: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 105: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 106: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 107: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)



Exhibit 108: 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 109: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 110: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 111: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 112: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 113: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 114: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Aima Technology Group Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 115: Aima Technology Group Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 116: Aima Technology Group Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 117: Aima Technology Group Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.4 ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 118: ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 119: ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 120: ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.5 Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 121: Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 122: Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 123: Ather Energy Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.6 Bayerische Motoren Werke AG

Exhibit 124: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Overview



Exhibit 125: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Business segments



Exhibit 126: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Key news



Exhibit 127: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 128: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG - Segment focus

12.7 Energica Motor Company Spa

Exhibit 129: Energica Motor Company Spa - Overview



Exhibit 130: Energica Motor Company Spa - Product / Service



Exhibit 131: Energica Motor Company Spa - Key news



Exhibit 132: Energica Motor Company Spa - Key offerings

12.8 Gogoro Inc.

Exhibit 133: Gogoro Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 134: Gogoro Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 135: Gogoro Inc. - Key offerings

12.9 GOVECS AG

Exhibit 136: GOVECS AG - Overview



Exhibit 137: GOVECS AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 138: GOVECS AG - Key offerings

12.10 Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd

Exhibit 139: Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 140: Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd - Business segments



Exhibit 141: Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd - Key offerings



Exhibit 142: Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd - Segment focus

12.11 Jiangsu Xinri E Vehicle Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 143: Jiangsu Xinri E Vehicle Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 144: Jiangsu Xinri E Vehicle Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 145: Jiangsu Xinri E Vehicle Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.12 Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.

Exhibit 146: Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 147: Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 148: Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 149: Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 150: Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. - Segment focus

12.13 Piaggio and C. Spa

Exhibit 151: Piaggio and C. Spa - Overview



Exhibit 152: Piaggio and C. Spa - Business segments



Exhibit 153: Piaggio and C. Spa - Key offerings



Exhibit 154: Piaggio and C. Spa - Segment focus

12.14 Terra Motors Corp.

Exhibit 155: Terra Motors Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 156: Terra Motors Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 157: Terra Motors Corp. - Key offerings

12.15 Vmoto Ltd.

Exhibit 158: Vmoto Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 159: Vmoto Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 160: Vmoto Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 161: Vmoto Ltd. - Segment focus

12.16 Yadea Group Holdings Ltd

Exhibit 162: Yadea Group Holdings Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 163: Yadea Group Holdings Ltd - Product / Service



Exhibit 164: Yadea Group Holdings Ltd - Key offerings

12.17 Zero Motorcycles Inc.

Exhibit 165: Zero Motorcycles Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 166: Zero Motorcycles Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 167: Zero Motorcycles Inc. - Key offerings

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 168: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 169: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 170: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 171: Research methodology



Exhibit 172: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 173: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 174: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide 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 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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SOURCE Technavio
During MWC Shanghai 2023, Fibocom announces the launch of its 5G smart module SC151-GL empowered by the Qualcomm QCM4490 Processor. The global version of SC151-GL aims to provide a "one unit fits for world" solution for 5G AIoT markets, and enables the access of mobile smart terminals to the 5G service anywhere, anytime.

SHANGHAI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fibocom, a global leading provider of IoT (Internet of Things) wireless solutions and wireless communication modules, announces the availability of SC151-GL at MWC Shanghai 2023. Based on the Qualcomm QCM4490 Processor, Fibocom SC151-GL is the industry-first 5G smart module that supports mainstream frequency bands under 5G network architecture worldwide, which is crucial for customers that require global roaming on their devices to deploy the smart wireless solution faster, more efficient compared to the regional versions.

Fibocom SC151-GL provides a comprehensive smart wireless solution empowered by the Qualcomm QCM4490 Processor. Compliant with 3GPP Release 16, the module is capable of offering Gigabit 5G experience, in addition to the support of Wi-Fi 6/6E, allowing the connections of multiple end devices simultaneously as well as the high-capacity of data throughput, these features can significantly improve the uplink performance, especially for the latency-sensitive scenarios like warehouse management and manufacturing detection. In terms of network utilization, the SC151-GL is also backward compatible with 4G/3G bands in addition to the compatability of 5G SA/NSA and EN-DC. It is worth highlighting that the module delivers a power-efficient solution for end devices enabled by the added-value TWT (Target Wake Time).

The convergence of AI and IoT is inevitable in the fast-growing digital transformation, and 5G is the key accelerator to implement the migration in 5G AIoT era. Fibocom SC151-GL is a "one unit fits for world" smart wireless solution for customers from the industrial handheld, industrial tablet, point-of-sale devices, body-worn cameras, PoC (push to talk over cellular) industries to minimize the R&D cycle and reduce hardware investments in the early stage of global deployment. Equipped with a set of rich interfaces including MIPI/ USB/ UART/ SPI/ I2C, etc., the module is scalable to meet the demands of various AIoT applications, and the support from software is fully capable of future upgrades to Android 18.

"The booming market of 5G has driven more and more IoT devices to evolve from 4G to 5G, especially for the smart devices such as industrial handheld terminals or tablets that require seamless roaming to satisfy the processing speed of edge computing," said Eden Chen, General Manager of MC Product Management Center, Fibocom. "We are confident to say that the launch of SC151-GL, the industry-first 5G smart module that integrates the capability to support global frequency bands in one unit will help our customers to lead the 5G transformation and digitalization more efficiently."

About Fibocom

Fibocom is a leading global provider of wireless communication modules and solutions as well as the first wireless communication module provider listed on China A-shares stock market (stock code: 300638). Fibocom offers a one-stop solution for industry customers by integrating wireless communication modules, IoT solutions and cloud service. With over two decades of engagement in M2M and IoT communication technology and extensive expertise, we are capable of bringing reliable, convenient, secure and intelligent connectivity service to every industry, enriching smart life with a perfect wireless experience. Fibocom's product portfolio ranges from cellular modules (5G/4G/3G/2G/LPWA), automotive-grade modules, AI modules, android-smart modules, GNSS modules and antenna service. Together, we aim to empower digital transformation across industries such as ACPC (Always Connected PC), mobile broadband, smart retail, C-V2X, robotics, smart energy, IIoT, smart cities, smart agriculture, smart home, telemedicine, etc.

SOURCE Fibocom Wireless Inc.
MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare recommends individualized patient treatment plans to alleviate or control pain, minimize organ damage, prevent infections and live healthy with the disease.

Millions of people throughout the world, including nearly 100,000 Americans, have sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that affects red blood cells. The disease occurs in approximately one of every 365 Black or African-American births and in one of every 16,300 Hispanic-American births.

"Alarmingly, the prevalence of sickle cell disease in Shelby County, Tenn., where Memphis is located, is significantly higher than the reported national average," said Rana Cooper, nurse practitioner with the Methodist Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center. "Fortunately, Memphis is a hub for innovative sickle cell research. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare provides world-class and evidence-based patient care to help individuals with sickle cell disease live longer and healthier lives."

People living with sickle cell disease may experience anemia, jaundice, fatigue, vision problems, frequent infections, stroke and frequent pain episodes commonly referred to as a sickle cell pain crisis. Symptoms can be mild or severe enough to require emergency care or frequent hospitalizations.

Sickle cell disease symptoms can be managed with long-term and continuous care from a comprehensive sickle cell center or a healthcare provider well trained in sickle cell disease.

The Methodist Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center customizes patient treatment plans that address:

Blood transfusions

Counseling

Exercise

Medication management

Nutrition

Sickle cell disease or the sickle cell trait can be confirmed with genetic testing or a blood test. If you are unaware of your sickle cell status, contact your healthcare provider.

About Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare

Based in Memphis, Tennessee, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has been caring for patients and families regardless of their ability to pay for more than 100 years. Guided by roots in the United Methodist Church and founded in 1918 to help meet the growing need for quality healthcare in the greater Memphis area, MLH has grown from one hospital into a comprehensive healthcare system with 13,000 Associates supporting six hospitals, including nationally ranked Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient facilities, a hospice residence and physician and specialty practices serving communities across the Mid-South. From transplants and advanced heart procedures to expert neurology services and compassionate cancer care, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare offers clinical expertise with a focus on improving every life we touch.

SOURCE Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare
The emergence of chemical manufacturing facilities across the world is anticipated to drive the growth of the global gasification market during the forecast period from 2023 to 2032. The Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow at a tremendous CAGR by 2032.

PORTLAND, Ore., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research has recently published a report, titled, "Gasification Market by Type (Fixed Bed, Fluidized Bed, Entrained Flow), by Feedstock (Coal, Petroleum, Gas, Petcoke, Biomass, Waste), by Feed Type (Dry, Slurry), by Gasifier Medium (Air, Oxygen, Vapor), by Application (Electricity, Chemicals, Fertilizers, Liquid Fuels, Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG), Hydrogen): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032". According to the report, the global gasification market generated $472.2 billion in 2022, and is anticipated to generate $836.6 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 5.7% from 2023 to 2032.

Request PDF Brochure: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/932

Prime Determinants of Growth

Over the years, there has been an emergence of numerous chemical factories around the world. As a result, there is an increase in demand for gasification technology which is predicted to be one of the important factors driving the growth of the global gasification market in the forecast timeframe. However, the high installation costs related to the deployment of gasification systems may hamper the gasification market growth in the coming period. On the contrary, the rising power demand across the globe has increased the adoption of gasification technologies which is expected to offer growth opportunities for expansion of the gasification market in the 2023-2032 forecast period.

Report Coverage & Details:

Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20232032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $472.2 billion Market Size in 2032 $836.6 billion CAGR 5.7 % No. of Pages in Report 308 Segments covered Type, Feedstock, Feed Type, Gasifier Medium, Application, and Region Drivers Rising emergence of chemical manufacturing companies around the world The growing expansion of coal industry Opportunities Increasing energy demand in the world leading to rising adoption of gasification technologies The rising trend of urbanization and industrialization around the world Restraints High installation costs associated with the deployment of gasification systems



COVID-19 Scenario

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on the growth of the global gasification market. The manufacturing industries were shut down during the pandemic which affected the demand for gasification technologies, thus reducing the growth rate of the market.

Also, the overall global energy demand reduced during the pandemic which brought down the growth rate of the gasification market.

The gasification market is, however, projected to show steady growth in the future due to the increasing pace of industrialization and expansion of the coal industry.

Gasifier Medium: Air Sub-segment Projected to be Highly Dominant During the Forecast Period

The air sub-segment accounted for the highest gasification market share in 2022 and is expected to continue to maintain its dominance in terms of market share during the forecast period. Air gasification is economically attractive for large-scale industrial plants and offers flexibility in terms of the types of feedstocks that can be used. As a result, there is a huge demand for air gasification which is predicted to boost the sub-segment's growth by 2032.

Procure Complete Report (308 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, and Figures) @ https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/checkout-final/gasification-market

Application: Chemicals Sub-segment to be Flourish Immensely by 2032

The chemicals sub-segment generated the highest market share in 2022 and is predicted to continue to hold the majority of the market share by 2032. Gasification is an ideal technique for chemical production as it enables the utilization of low-value feedstocks, including biomass and waste materials, which reduces dependence on fossil fuels. This utility of gasification in chemical manufacturing is predicted to boost the sub-segment's growth by 2032.

Type: Fixed Bed Sub-segment Projected to Gather Huge Market Revenue During the Forecast Period

The fixed bed sub-segment accounted for the highest gasification market share in 2022 and is expected to generate significant revenue during the forecast period. Fixed bed gasifiers provide flexibility to industries to choose the most suitable feedstock based on availability, cost, and environmental considerations which is predicted to boost the sub-segment's growth by 2032.

Feedstock: Coal Sub-segment to Grow Rapidly by 2032

The coal sub-segment generated the highest market share in 2022 and is predicted to grow at a high CAGR by 2032. Coal is an affordable feedstock compared to other alternatives, such as natural gas or biomass and is an attractive option for gasification, especially in regions where coal is abundant. This advantage of coal is predicted to boost the sub-segment's growth by 2032.

For Purchase Inquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/gasification-market/purchase-options

Feed Type: Dry Sub-segment Projected to One of the Most Profitable During the Forecast Period

The dry sub-segment accounted for the highest gasification market share in 2022 and is expected to grow at a significant CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period. Dry feed gasification technologies enable efficient conversion of feedstock into syngas, which can be further processed for various applications, such as power generation, chemical production, and fuel synthesis which is predicted to boost the sub-segment's growth by 2032.

Region: Asia-Pacific Market to be the Most Dominant by 2032

The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share in the global gasification market in 2022 and is expected to rise at the highest CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period. The rapid industrialization and increasing energy demand in various countries of this region are expected to be the two main growth drivers of the market in Asia-Pacific region by 2032.

Leading Players in the Gasification Market:

Royal Dutch Shell

SEDIN Engineering Company Limited

KBR

Air Liquide

Siemens

Thyssenkrupp AG

General Electric

CB&I

Synthesis Energy Systems Inc.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

The report provides a detailed analysis of the key players of the global gasification market. These players have adopted different strategies, such as new product launches, collaborations, expansion, joint ventures, agreements, and others to increase their market share and maintain their dominance 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.

Trending Reports in Gasification Industry (Book Now with 10% Discount):

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Waste to Energy Market: Global Insight and Industry Growth, 2020  2027

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Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions." AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.

We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Allied Market Research CEO Pawan Kumar is instrumental in inspiring and encouraging everyone associated with the company to maintain high quality of data and help clients in every way possible to achieve success. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
The mother of Nahel, the young man who died on Tuesday by a policeman's shot, on top of a van during a demonstration on Thursday in Nanterre (France)

Just when France seemed to be calming down after a winter of political crisis and protests against pension reforms, tensions flared up again, reopening an old wound that never seems to fully heal. The wound is in that part of French society called the banlieue  the multicultural and impoverished city suburbs populated by generations of immigrants from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. Often treated as second-class citizens, they harbor a simmering resentment towards French institutions, especially the police.

When a 17-year-old was shot to death by a traffic cop in Nanterre, a city of 93,000 in the western suburbs of Paris, the banlieues erupted. The killing was recorded on video  all of France and half the world have seen it. Approximately 40,000 police officers were deployed on June 29 to contain a third night of rioting all over the country.

According to Frances Ministry of the Interior, law enforcement authorities arrested 875 people and 249 police officers sustained injuries. The ministry reported attacks on 79 police stations and 119 public buildings, including 34 town halls and 28 schools. Le Monde reported that for the first time, the riots extended to the heart of Paris where looters emptied a Nike and a Zara store. Citing security reasons, French authorities announced the suspension of all public transportation from 7:00-9:00 pm in Marseille, Lyon, and Ile-de-France, where Paris is located.

France looks like a country on the verge of a nervous breakdown  socially and politically. President Emmanuel Macron has called for an end to the violence, and will meet for the second day in a row on Friday with a Cabinet-level crisis team. The left-wing opposition has vehemently pushed back on Macron, declaring that its not just calm but justice thats needed. Meanwhile, the far-right seeks to cast itself as the guardian of law and order, and wants a state of emergency to be declared.

Let it burn, said Lena Benahmed, a 22-year-old student of Tunisian origin with blonde hair and blue eyes. She has never experienced racism herself and says everything is going great for her. Nonetheless, she said, Burn it all down.

Benhamed went with a friend to a protest march in Nanterre on June 29. It was led by the mother of Nahel, the teenager who was shot by police two days earlier. Nahel was driving a Mercedes when police ordered him to stop. Instead, Nahel, the only son of a single mother and a good kid, his friends say, stepped on the accelerator. The officer fired. He has been charged with voluntary manslaughter and is currently in jail.

Were here at this demonstration to support the family, said Benhamed. But at night, we will set fire to the system  its the only way.

Despite being organized with just one days notice and in a small city instead of downtown Paris, the demonstration during working hours managed to draw an impressive crowd of 6,200 people. The march concluded with clashes between protesters and the police.

Well keep on burning

If they keep it up, so will we, said Diarra, an 18-year-old young man who went to the demonstration with his friend, Elomri. Born and raised in France, both have African roots. Diarra says they are the police, the authorities, the powers that be who repress the people of the banlieue. If they keep killing our brothers, well keep on burning, said Elomri.

France has never shied away from political violence  street barricades have long been part of the Republics revolutionary heritage. But cries of outrage are now ringing in the halls of the French Parliament. Radical leftist leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said, The watchdogs demand peace. We demand justice. Green Party leader Marine Tondelier admonished, Peace is not decreed, it is built.

Meanwhile, far-right leader Marine Le Pen is accusing the left of inciting disorder and violence, and says that Macron is shirking his constitutional responsibilities out of fear of more rioting, which only encourages them.

Its a political divide that Macron is trying to carefully navigate. While he sympathizes with Nahels family and understands the anger over his death, he must avoid throwing the police under the bus. The countrys police forces claim to be exhausted from non-stop crises  terrorist attacks, weekly yellow vest protests, demonstrations over pension reforms and more.

The death of a young man should be a cause for peaceful reflection, said the president on June 29. Instead we see violent attacks on police stations, schools and city halls. These are attacks on our institutions and our Republic, and its absolutely unjustifiable.

Some people are taking advantage of the situation to destroy and steal  this is wrong, said Nadir Kahia of the Gennevilliers Banlieue Plus association, a municipality north of Paris that was hit hard by riots this week. The banlieues have been simmering for 40 years, he said. In the 1960s and 1970s, public housing projects were built in response to an economic problem  the need for immigrant labor. A lot of people were invited in and these people had children, French children. But they dont feel French because this country has never treated them as such. We havent solved basic problems of education, housing, inequality, discrimination and police violence.

Policing is a main cause of the discord. A 2020 report from the French government ombudsman indicated that 80% of youth perceived as black or Arab reported being stopped by the police or law enforcement officers between 2012 and 2017, compared to 16% for the rest of the population.

France has also been singled out repeatedly by NGOs and international human rights organizations like the Council of Europe, for allegations of excessive force by police. The country must contend with a two-headed monster: a trigger-happy police force and a large group of citizens who readily resort to violence (or condone it) and are quick to confront authorities in everyday situations.

Now there is talk about revising the 2017 law that allows use of force in circumstances that dont strictly qualify as self-defense. The law states, [Use of weapons] is permitted when [agents] are unable to stop a driver of a vehicle, boat or other means of transportation who fails to comply with a halt order, and when the occupants are likely to threaten the safety and lives [of agents] and others while escaping.

Since the law took effect, sociologist and author Sebastian Roche says the number of deaths from police shootings has increased when a driver refuses to stop. In June alone, there have been two fatal shootings, says Roche. Its not Brazil, but its a significant number for a Western democracy.

At the Nanterre protest, a woman told us, We trust in our institutions. The 54-year-old womans name is Zahera Bensaad, and she emigrated from Algeria to France 30 years ago. She has three children ranging in age from 17 to 28. The death penalty was abolished long ago, but its now used to punish our young people simply for not having a drivers license, she said. But Bensaad still rejects violence as the answer, and before the protest march started, she said she hoped that Nahels mother would make a plea for calm. It didnt happen. Violence wont bring her son back. If this continues, it will turn into guerrilla warfare.

The scenes this week evoked the 2005 uprising sparked by the deaths of two young people pursued by the police and lasted for three weeks. Those days haunt leaders on all sides who are terrified of a repeat. Perhaps thats what will happen, but remakes are never exactly the same as the originals. A fuse has been lit, and nobody knows when or how it will end.

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DUBLIN, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Bioethanol Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023-2028)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Bio-Ethanol Market size is expected to grow from 106,786.15 million liters in 2023 to 137,265.48 million liters by 2028, at a CAGR of 5.15% during the forecast period (2023-2028).



The Bioethanol Market was adversely affected by COVID-19 due to disruptions in the supply chain. However, the market rebounded in 2021. The major factors driving the market were the increasing government initiatives and the increased restrictions on marketing gasoline containing a higher percentage of ethanol in the United States.



Over the short term, increasing favorable initiatives, blending mandates by regulatory bodies, and rising environmental concerns about the use of fossil fuels and the need for biofuels are the factors driving the market's growth.



Phasing out of fuel-based vehicles due to rising demand for electric cars and shifting focus to bio-butanol are the factors hindering the market's growth.



Developing second-generation bio-ethanol production and increasing consumption of biofuels like bioethanol in the aviation industry is likely to create opportunities for the market in the future.



North America dominated the global market, with the United States having the most significant consumption.



Bioethanol Market Trends

Increasing Usage in the Automotive and Transportation Sector



The most extensive bioethanol applications are fuel and fuel additives in the automotive and transportation industries. It is used alongside conventional petrol to fuel petrol engines in road vehicles. It can also produce ETBE (ethyl-tertiary-butyl-ether), an octane booster used in many types of petrol.



Blending bioethanol with conventional fuels improves its renewability. E10 energy is so named because it contains 10% ethanol. Bioethanol is a low-carbon fuel that may help to decarbonize the transport industry.



In the United States, tax incentives have been provided to gasoline marketers for using bio-ethanol as an octane enhancer and gas extender over the past three decades. This has driven boosted the usage of bio-ethanol in this sector.



Biofuel producers in the United States received a boost from the latest legislation, which encompasses funding and critical tax credits for producing low-carbon fuels. Funding of USD 500 million was allocated for biofuel infrastructure improvements by installing storage tanks and related equipment for ethanol-biodiesel blends.



In 2022, according to OICA data, the overall production of automobiles increased by 6% compared to 2021. The global automotive production in 2022 was around 85.02 million units.



The Asia-Oceania and Americas regions recorded automotive production of 50.02 million and 17.75 million units in 2022, registering an increase of nearly 7% and 10%, respectively, compared to 2020. However, Europe recorded a production of 16.21 million units in 2022, a decrease of 1% from the production achieved in 2021.?



Furthermore, in 2021, the United States Department of Energy announced to provide USD 64.7 million in funds for research and development projects dedicated to producing low-cost biofuels as fossil-fuel replacements for heavy-duty transportation like airplanes to bolster America's commitment to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.



With various economies announcing their plans to increase bio-ethanol consumption in fuels, the demand for bio-ethanol will likely surge during the forecast period.



North America to Dominate the Market



The North American region is dominating the bioethanol market share. The United States is the largest producer of bioethanol globally, followed by Brazil, China, India, and Canada. It is also the largest consumer of bioethanol.



In recent years, bioethanol production increased due to higher renewable fuel standard (RFS) targets and growth in domestic motor gasoline consumption, almost all of which is now blended with 10% ethanol by volume.



In 2021, the overall production of automobiles in North America was around 13,427,869 units compared to 13,374,404 units in 2020.



Around 93% of the country's 263 million registered automobiles may operate on E15. Furthermore, around 22 million flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) in the United States can run on ethanol blends up to E85.



The Canadian Clean Fuel Standard requires liquid fuel (gasoline, diesel, and home heating oil) suppliers to gradually reduce the carbon intensity of the fuels they produce and sell for use in Canada over time, resulting in a reduction in the carbon intensity of liquid fuels used in Canada of approximately 13% (below 2016 levels) by 2030.



Some initiatives include the Canadian government's recent USD 1.5 billion investment in a Low-carbon and Zero-Emissions Fuels Fund, which may enhance support for local production and adoption of low-carbon fuels like hydrogen and biofuels.



Due to all the factors mentioned above, the demand in the market studied is expected to increase in the North American region.



Key Topics Covered



1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Study Assumptions

1.2 Scope of the Report



2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY



3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



4 MARKET DYNAMICS

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Increasing Favorable Initiatives and Blending Mandates by Regulatory Bodies

4.1.2 Rising Environmental Concerns by the Use of Fossil Fuels and Need for the Bio-fuels

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Phasing out of Fuel-based Vehicles Due to Rising Demand for Electric Vehicles

4.2.2 Shifting Focus to Bio-butanol

4.3 Industry Value Chain Analysis

4.4 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

4.4.1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.4.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.4.3 Threat of New Entrants

4.4.4 Threat of Substitute Products and Services

4.4.5 Degree of Competition



5 MARKET SEGMENTATION (Market Size in Volume)

5.1 Feedstock Type

5.1.1 Sugarcane

5.1.2 Corn

5.1.3 Wheat

5.1.4 Other Feedstock Types

5.2 Application

5.2.1 Automotive and Transportation

5.2.2 Food and Beverage

5.2.3 Pharmaceutical

5.2.4 Cosmetics and Personal Care

5.2.5 Other Applications

5.3 Geography

5.3.1 Asia-Pacific

5.3.2 North America

5.3.3 Europe

5.3.4 South America

5.3.5 Middle-East and Africa



6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

6.1 Mergers and Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, Collaborations, and Agreements

6.2 Market Share (%) Analysis

6.3 Strategies Adopted by Leading Players

6.4 Company Profiles

6.4.1 Abengoa

6.4.2 ADM

6.4.3 Alto Ingredients Inc.

6.4.4 Blue Bio Fuels Inc.

6.4.5 Cenovus Inc.

6.4.6 Cristalco

6.4.7 Cropenergies AG

6.4.8 Ethanol Technologies

6.4.9 Granbio Investimentos SA

6.4.10 Green Plains Inc

6.4.11 Henan Tianguan Group Co. Ltd.

6.4.12 Jilin Fuel Ethanol Co. Ltd.

6.4.13 KWST

6.4.14 Lantmannen

6.4.15 Poet LLC

6.4.16 Raizen

6.4.17 Sekab

6.4.18 Suncor Energy Inc.

6.4.19 Tereos

6.4.20 Valero

6.4.21 Verbio Vereinigte Bioenergie AG



7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS

7.1 Development of Second-generation Bio-ethanol Production

7.2 Increasing Consumption of Bio-fuels in the Aviation Industry

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/fhgmk8

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Trading Symbols: TSX: GGD

OTCQX: GLGDF

HALIFAX, NS, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - GoGold Resources Inc. (TSX: GGD) (OTCQX: GLGDF) ("GoGold", "the Company") is pleased to announce the filing of a National Instrument 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") Technical Report (the "Report") for their Los Ricos North Project located in Jalisco State, Mexico. The highlights of the Report were previously announced in a news release dated May 17, 2023, and the effective date of the Report is May 17, 2023.

Figure 1: Los Ricos North Block Model Visualization (CNW Group/GoGold Resources Inc.)

This is the Company's second PEA completed within the Los Ricos District, in addition to the Los Ricos South PEA completed in January 2021, with an updated Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") and PEA for Los Ricos South expected to follow this summer.

Highlights of the PEA, with a base case silver price of US$23/oz and gold price of US$1,800/oz are as follows (all figures in US dollars unless otherwise stated):

After-Tax NPV (using a discount rate of 5%) of $413 Million with an After-Tax IRR of 29% (Base Case);

with an After-Tax IRR of 29% (Base Case); 13-year mine life producing a total of 110.3 Million payable silver equivalent ounces ("AgEq"), consisting of 68.0 Million silver ounces, 221,700 gold ounces, 22.8 Million pounds of copper, 144.1 Million pounds of lead and 242.2 Million pounds of zinc;

Initial capital costs of $221 Million , including $29 Million in contingency costs, over an expected 18 month build, additional expansion capital of $137 Million , and sustaining capital costs of $6 Million over the life of mine ("LOM");

, including in contingency costs, over an expected 18 month build, additional expansion capital of , and sustaining capital costs of over the life of mine ("LOM"); Average LOM operating cash costs of $9.50 /oz AgEq, and all in sustaining costs ("AISC") of $9.68 /oz AgEq

/oz AgEq, and all in sustaining costs ("AISC") of /oz AgEq Average annual production of 8.8 Million AgEq oz in years one through twelve;

Approximately 3/4 of LOM production is from four open pits containing oxide mineralization and approximately 1/4 is from a separate open pit which contains only sulphide mineralization.

"We're pleased to file our technical report for the Los Ricos North PEA which provides the details of the strong economics of the project  showing average annual production of 8.8 Million AgEq oz at a first quartile AISC of $9.68/oz AgEq. Los Ricos North forms a pipeline of growth after Los Ricos South, which we see as a high grade bulk underground mine targeted to be our first deposit advanced to production," said Brad Langille, President and CEO. "The filing of the Report represents one of the milestones for the 2023 year in the Los Ricos District. The other key milestones for the 2023 year in the Los Ricos District are an updated Mineral Resource and PEA in Los Ricos South incorporating the Eagle Zone, followed by a Pre-Feasibility Study in Los Ricos South which is anticipated before year's end. With US$100 Million in cash we are well positioned to develop Los Ricos South pending the results of the upcoming studies."

PEA Summary

The PEA was prepared by independent consultants P&E Mining Consultants Inc ("P&E"), with metallurgical test work completed by SGS Canada Inc.'s Lakefield office ("SGS"), process plant design and costing by D.E.N.M. Engineering Ltd., and environmental and permitting led by CIMA Mexico.

Table 1 below shows the key economic assumptions and results of the PEA, with Table 2 showing the physical attributes, Table 3 showing a sensitivity analysis based on varying metal prices and assumptions, and Table 4 showing a sensitivity analysis based on changes to operating and capital costs.

Table 1  Los Ricos North PEA Key Economic Assumptions and Results

Assumption / Result Unit Value

Assumption / Result Unit Value Total Oxide Feed Mined kt 25,557

Net Revenue US$M 2,307 Total Sulphide Feed Mined kt 9,964

Initial Capital Costs US$M 221 Total Plant Feed Mined kt 35,521

Expansion and Sustaining Capital Costs US$M 143 Total Strip Ratio Ratio 6.0

Mining Costs $/t Mined 2.07 Mine Life Yrs 13

Mining Costs $/t Plant Feed 12.28 Average process rate t/day 8,000

Operating Cash Cost US$/oz AgEq 9.50 Silver Price US$/oz 23.00

All in Sustaining Cost US$/oz AgEq 9.68 Gold Price US$/oz 1,800

After-Tax NPV (5% discount) US$M 413 Copper Price US$/lb 4.00

Pre-Tax NPV (5% discount) US$M 645 Lead Price US$/lb 1.00

After-Tax IRR % 29.1 Zinc Price US$/lb 1.40

Pre-Tax IRR % 39.8 Payable AgEq Moz 110.3

After-Tax Payback Period Yrs 3.0

Table 2  Los Ricos North PEA Summary of Physical Attributes

Attribute Unit Oxide Sulphide Total Plant Feed Mined kt 25,557 9,964 35,521 Silver Grade1 g/t 83.2 30.1 68.3 Gold Grade1 g/t 0.29 0.07 0.23 Copper Grade1 % - 0.12 - Lead Grade % - 0.87 - Zinc Grade % - 1.24 - Silver Recovery % 87 88 87 Gold Recovery % 87 76 86 Copper Recovery % - 89 89 Lead Recovery % - 75 75 Zinc Recovery % - 89 89 Payable Silver Moz 59.5 8.5 68.0 Payable Gold koz 205.2 16.5 221.7 Payable Copper Mlb - 22.8 22.8 Payable Lead Mlb - 144.1 144.1 Payable Zinc Mlb - 242.2 242.2 Payable AgEq Moz 75.5 34.8 110.3

1. Grades shown are LOM average plant feed grades. Dilution of approximately 10% was used.



Table 3  Los Ricos North PEA Metal Price Sensitivities

Sensitivity





Base

Case





Silver Price (US$/oz) 17 19 21 23 25 27 30 Gold Price (US$/oz) 1330 1487 1643 1800 1957 2113 2348 Copper Price (US$/lb) 2.96 3.30 3.65 4.00 4.35 4.70 5.22 Lead Price (US$/lb) 0.74 0.83 0.91 1.00 1.09 1.17 1.30 Zinc Price (US$/lb) 1.03 1.16 1.28 1.40 1.52 1.64 1.83 After-Tax NPV (5%) (US$M) 120 222 318 413 508 603 746 After-Tax IRR (%) 13.3 19.2 24.3 29.1 33.6 37.9 44.0 After-Tax Payback (years) 5.4 4.4 3.6 3.0 2.5 2.1 1.8

Table 4  Los Ricos North Operating Expense and Capital Expense Sensitivities

Sensitivity -20 % -10 % Base

Case 10 % 20 % Operating Costs  NPV (US$M) 503 458 413 368 323 Operating Costs  IRR (%) 33.4 31.2 29.1 26.8 24.5 Capital Costs  NPV (US$M) 457 435 413 392 370 Capital Costs  IRR (%) 36.3 32.2 28.8 25.9 23.4

Capital and Operating Costs

The Los Ricos North Project has been envisioned as an open pit mining operation, with contract mining comprising five open pits. The first four pits contain oxide mineralization and will be mined over years one to nine of the Project, with the final pit containing sulphide mineralization which will be mined in years 10 to 13.

The processing plant is comprised of conventional crushing, grinding, cyanide tank leaching, tailings filtration (dry stack), and Merrill Crowe precipitation for the oxide mineralization. For the sulphide mineralization, processing will be completed through a flotation circuit which is included in expansion capital and will be constructed in year eight of the Project.

Water supply to the process plant will be provided by a nearby surface water source and high voltage grid power will be provided by the local utility.

Key components of the capital cost estimate are provided in Table 5 and operating costs are provided in Table 6.

Table 5  Capital Cost Estimate

Type Initial (US$K) Expansion (US$K)1 Sustaining (US$K) Total (US$K) Process plant direct costs 141,020 25,864 5,000 171,884 Pre-stripping and haul roads 10,268 88,090

98,358 Project indirect costs 19,108 2,870

21,978 EPCM 13,792 2,328

16,120 Infrastructure 7,680



7,680 Total 191,869 119,151 5,000 316,020 Contingency (15%) 28,780 17,873 750 47,403 Total 220,649 137,024 5,750 363,423

1. Expansion capital is not included in AISC calculations

Table 6  Operating Costs (Average LOM)

Operating Costs (Average LOM) US$/tonne Plant Feed US$/tonne

Rock Mining 12.28 2.07 Processing 13.81

General and admin 1.02

Total 27.12



Mining

The open pit mining will be contracted and carried out by drilling and blasting followed by conventional loading and truck haulage to the waste rock storage facilities and the process plant.

Metallurgy

A preliminary metallurgical test program was carried out by SGS Lakefield of Ontario, Canada on four Los Ricos North deposit areas  Favor, Trini, Casados, and Orito. Based on the zone geology, Favor, Trini, and Casados (oxide) were designated for whole mineralized material cyanidation testing. The Orito (sulphide) sample was deemed to be flotation ideal. The subsequent oxide testing included grinding (no comminution testing) and leaching only. The sulphide testing included grinding and bulk flotation to produce a single bulk concentrate with locked cycle (LCT) testing completed. The samples were comprised of four drill core rejects representing the noted zones of the Mineral Resource. This preliminary test program estimated a gold and silver oxide recovery of 87% for both. The sulphide recovery on the Orito sample recovered 76% gold, 88% silver, 89% copper, 89% zinc, and 75% lead.

Mineral Resource Estimate

The basis for the PEA is the Mineral Resource Estimate completed by P&E in the National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the Los Ricos North Project located in Jalisco State, Mexico, which has an effective date of December 1, 2021. A summary of the Mineral Resource Estimate is provided in Table 7.

Table 7: Los Ricos North Mineral Resource Estimate (1-11)

Deposit Tonnes Average Grade Contained Metal Au Ag Cu Pb Zn AuEq AgEq Au Ag Cu Pb Zn AuEq AgEq

(Mt) (g/t) (g/t) ( %) ( %) ( %) (g/t) (g/t) (koz) (koz) (Mlb) (Mlb) (Mlb) (koz) (koz) Indicated:





























El Favor 7.7 0.27 98 - - - 1.61 119 68 24,413 - - - 399 29,454 Casados 3.2 0.42 124 - - - 2.09 154 43 12,871 - - - 218 16,061 La Trini 3.1 0.54 74 - - - 1.54 114 54 7,428 - - - 155 11,424 Mololoa 0.4 0.36 130 - - - 2.12 157 5 1,788 - - - 29 2,161 Silver-Gold Oxide Zone 14.5 0.37 100 - - - 1.71 127 171 46,500 - - - 801 59,100 El Orito Sulphide Zone1 7.8 0.06 28 0.11 0.88 1.33 1.55 114 15 7,011 19 151 229 389 28,708 Total Indicated 22.3









1.66 122 186 53,510





1,190 87,808 Inferred:





























El Favor 12.4 0.27 89 - - - 1.47 108 106 35,505 - - - 587 43,350 Casados 1.8 0.35 108 - - - 1.82 135 21 6,323 - - - 106 7,843 La Trini 0.1 0.43 108 - - - 1.89 139 1 201 - - - 4 260 Mololoa 0.7 0.39 94 - - - 1.66 122 9 2,102 - - - 37 2,739 Silver-Gold Oxide Zone 15.0 0.28 91 - - - 1.52 112 136 44,131 - - - 734 54,191 El Orito Sulphide Zone1 5.5 0.06 28 0.12 0.74 1.20 1.46 108 11 4,888 15 90 146 258 19,007 Total Inferred 20.5









1.51 111 148 49,019





992 73,198

1. El Orito is a silver-base metal sulphide zone, all other deposits are silver-gold oxide zones. 2. 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. 3. The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an 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 news release were estimated in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines (2014) prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council and CIM Best Practices (2019). 5. Historically mined areas were depleted from the Mineral Resource model. 6. Approximately 98.9% of the Indicated and 91.3% of the Inferred contained AgEq ounces are pit constrained, with the remainder out-of-pit. See tables 4 and 6 for details of the split between pit constrained and out-of-pit deposits. 7. The pit constrained AgEq cut-off grade of 29 g/t Ag was derived from US$1,550/oz Au price, US$21/oz Ag price, US$3.66/lb Cu, US$0.90/lb Pb, US$1.26/lb Zn, 93% process recovery for Ag and Au, 90% process recovery for Cu, 80% process recovery for Pb and Zn, US$18/tonne process and G&A cost. The constraining pit optimization parameters were US$2.00/t mineralized mining cost, US$1.50/t waste mining cost and 50-degree pit slopes. 8. The out-of-pit AuEq cut-off grade of 119 g/t Ag was derived from US$1,550/oz Au price, US$21/oz Ag price, US$3.66/lb Cu, US$0.90/lb Pb, US$1.26/lb Zn, 93% process recovery for Ag and Au, 90% process recovery for Cu, 80% process recovery for Pb and Zn, US$57/t mining cost, US$18/tonne process and G&A cost. The out-of-pit Mineral Resource grade blocks were quantified above the 119 g/t AgEq cut-off, below the constraining pit shell within the constraining mineralized wireframes and exhibited sufficient continuity to be considered for cut and fill and longhole mining 9. No Mineral Resources are classified as Measured. 10. AgEq and AuEq calculated at an Ag/Au ratio of 73.8:1. 11. Totals may not agree due to rounding

Qualified Persons

Robert Harris, P.Eng. and David Duncan, P.Geo. are the GoGold Qualified Persons and Eugene Puritch, P.Eng., FEC, CET, President of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. and David Salari, P. Eng., DENM Engineering Ltd. are Independent Qualified Persons all as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and whom are responsible for the technical information in this press release.

VRIFY Slide Deck and 3D Presentation

VRIFY is a platform being used by companies to communicate with investors using 360 virtual tours of remote mining assets, 3D models and interactive presentations. VRIFY can be accessed by website and with the VRIFY iOS and Android apps.

The VRIFY 3D Slide Deck for GoGold can be viewed at: https://vrify.com/companies/gogold-resources-inc and on the Company's website at: www.gogoldresources.com.

Los Ricos District Exploration Projects

The Company's two exploration projects at its Los Ricos Property are in Jalisco state, Mexico. The Los Ricos South Project began in March 2019 and an initial Mineral Resource Estimate was announced on July 29, 2020, which disclosed a Measured & Indicated Mineral Resource of 63.7 Million ounces AgEq grading 199 g/t AgEq contained in 10.0 Million tonnes, and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 19.9 Million ounces AgEq grading 190 g/t AgEq contained in 3.3 Million tonnes. An initial PEA on the Project was announced on January 20, 2021, indicating an after-tax NPV 5% of US$295M. The Eagle Concession was acquired in October 2022 and is adjacent to the Main Area which contains the initial Mineral Resource.

The Los Ricos North Project was launched in March 2020 and an initial Mineral Resource Estimate was announced on December 7, 2021, which disclosed an Indicated Mineral Resource of 87.8 Million ounces AgEq grading 122 g/t AgEq contained in 22.3 Million tonnes, and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 73.2 Million ounces AgEq grading 111 g/t AgEq contained in 20.5 Million tonnes.

About GoGold Resources

GoGold Resources (TSX: GGD) is a Canadian-based silver and gold producer focused on operating, developing, exploring and acquiring high quality projects in Mexico. The Company operates the Parral Tailings mine in the state of Chihuahua and has the Los Ricos South and Los Ricos North exploration Projects in the state of Jalisco. Headquartered in Halifax, NS, GoGold is building a portfolio of low cost, high margin projects. For more information visit gogoldresources.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:

The securities described herein 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, or for the benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy of any of GoGold's securities in the United States.

This news release may contain "forward-looking information" as defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Los Ricos South and North projects, and future plans and objectives of GoGold, including the NPV, IRR, initial and sustaining capital costs, operating costs, and LOM production of Los Ricos South, constitute forward looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information is based on a number of factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such information but which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions in connection with the continuance of GoGold and its subsidiaries as a going concern, general economic and market conditions, mineral prices, the accuracy of Mineral Resource Estimates, and the performance of the Parral project. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from GoGold's expectations include exploration and development risks associated with GoGold's projects, the failure to establish estimated Mineral Resources or Mineral Reserves, volatility of commodity prices, variations of recovery rates, and global economic conditions. For additional information with respect to risk factors applicable to GoGold, reference should be made to GoGold's continuous disclosure materials filed from time to time with securities regulators, including, but not limited to, GoGold's Annual Information Form. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date of this release.

SOURCE GoGold Resources Inc.
The new vitola was unveiled by Kaliman Caribe, exclusive distributor of Habanos, S.A. for Bulgaria , in front of more than 500 lucky people at an exclusive event held in Sofia .

Monterreyes NO. 4 (55 ring gauge x 145mm length) is the seventh limited edition under the Hoyo de Monterrey brand.

HAVANA, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Habanos, S.A., through its exclusive distributor for Bulgaria, Kaliman Caribe, presented in Sofia a new Limited Edition of the prestigious Hoyo de Monterrey brand, the Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola. In a unique atmosphere between the Vitosha Mountain and the Iskar River, the Bulgarian capital witnessed a magical evening with live music, dance shows and, of course, the best Habanos. A select group of 500 guests from Albania, Armenia, Croatia, Cuba, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Ireland, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom were the first to discover and taste the new vitola that owes its name to the plantation of the same name, from the Vuelta Abajo* area in the Pinar del Rio* region, land of what is considered the world's best tobacco.

MONTERREYES NO. 4 EDICION LIMITADA (PRNewsfoto/Habanos, S.A.)

Limited Editions have a unique place among the specialties in Habanos, S.A.'s portfolio, not only because of the careful selection of its leaves, aged for a minimum period of two years. But also, for its presentation in special packaging and with an additional black and gold vitola with the year it was launched. Monterreyes NO. 4 is presented in a wooden box designed for the occasion with 10 Habanos of each.

This new vitola is even more special because it is the seventh limited edition of the brand since the launch of the Epicure Especials vitola in 2004, which ended up becoming one of the references sizes in the Hoyo de Monterrey portfolio. Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola existed in the 1960s and is now reintroduced in a trendy format, adding to the large thick ring gauge vitolas that are so popular for brand lovers.

For the second time, this territory is hosting the worldwide launch of a limited edition. In this regards, Jorge Perez Martell and Jose Maria Lopez Inchaurbe, commercial vice-president and Development vice-president, respectively, of Habanos, S.A. explained in a video broadcast during the event that: "Bulgaria is a very important market for Habanos, S.A. and we are proud to be able to present this launch together with Kaliman Caribe ". The Bulgarian aficionado is a great lover of Hoyo de Monterrey-brand Habanos, and of such exclusive specialties as limited editions. "We are sure that not only in Bulgaria, but all over the world, they will welcome this long-awaited limited edition with great enthusiasm," they concluded.

Enthusiasts of mild-strength, aromatic and delicate Habanos from all over the world will be able to find the new Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola after its worldwide launch at the different official points of sale in more than 140 countries where Habanos, S.A. distributes its products.

Hoyo de Monterrey Monterreyes NO. 4

Market name : Monterreyes Num.4

Factory name: : Maravillas NO.4

Measures : 55 ring x 145 mm length

Wrapper : Habano of an excellent appearance, dark and bright color that makes it very authentic and special.

Tasting notes:

An aromatic Habano with very pleasant woody notes, which allows a fresh and pleasurable enjoyment.

Burn : excellent and combustibility with a wide breath thanks to its large size, which delights with a very fresh and aromatic smoke and some light bitter notes, being faithful to the mild flavor of its blend.

Ash: light gray in color and compact.

Smoking time: About 50 minutes.

Pairing : Can be enjoyed with 12-year-old Whisky, smooth, floral with light notes of toasted malt with a light finish that combined with the smooth taste of this blend makes an excellent combination.

Click here to download high resolution product images.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2145300/Hoyo_de_Monterrey.jpg

SOURCE Habanos, S.A.
TORONTO, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Hydro One Inc. (Hydro One) is pleased to announce it has reached tentative settlements for two collective agreements with the Power Workers' Union (PWU) covering employees in front-line roles across the company's operations in Ontario.

"Hydro One is pleased to reach these two tentative agreements and I want to thank our respective teams for negotiating in an open and productive way to reach this outcome," said David Lebeter, Hydro One President and CEO. "The PWU represents critical front-line roles who provide exceptional customer service and contribute to delivering safe and reliable electricity to communities across the province."

Negotiations covered the renewal of two collective agreements: the main collective agreement, which includes front-line staff, and the Customer Service Operations collective agreement, which includes staff in customer facing roles.

Union members will vote on these tentative agreements with the outcome anticipated by the end of July. Once ratified, these agreements will be in effect until September 30, 2025.

Hydro One Limited (TSX: H )

Hydro One Limited, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, is Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with approximately 1.5 million valued customers, approximately $31.5 billion in assets as at December 31, 2022, and annual revenues in 2022 of approximately $7.8 billion.

Our team of approximately 9,300 skilled and dedicated employees proudly build and maintain a safe and reliable electricity system which is essential to supporting strong and successful communities. In 2022, Hydro One invested approximately $2.1 billion in its transmission and distribution networks, and supported the economy through buying approximately $1.9 billion of goods and services.

We are committed to the communities where we live and work through community investment, sustainability and diversity initiatives. We are designated as a Sustainable Electricity Leader by Electricity Canada.

Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the TSX and certain of Hydro One Inc.'s medium term notes are listed on the NYSE. Additional information can be accessed at www.hydroone.com, www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov.

Forward-Looking Statements and Information:

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Words such as "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "attempt", "may", "plan", "will", "can", "believe", "seek", "estimate", and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking information. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or actions and involve assumptions and risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking information. Some of the factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from the results expressed, implied or forecasted by such forward-looking information, including some of the assumptions used in making such statements, are discussed more fully in Hydro One's filings with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Hydro One does not intend, and it disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking information, except as required by law.

SOURCE Hydro One Limited
CHICAGO, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In-Circuit Test Market is projected to reach USD 1.4 billion in 2028 from USD 1.2 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 3.6% according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. In-circuit testing (ICT) is a method used to test electronic components and printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) while they are still in the operational circuit. It is a type of functional testing that is performed during the manufacturing process to ensure the quality and functionality of the assembled PCBAs. ICT is used in a wide range of applications such as automotive electronics, aerospace & defense, consumer electronics, telecommunication, medical equipment, industrial electronics, and energy industries. Growing demand for automotive electronics and consumer electronics along with increasing adoption of high-density interconnect (HDI) technology for printed circuit board (PCB) assembly are expected to drive the demand for In-Circuit Test Market.

Browse in-depth TOC on "In-Circuit Test Market"

200 - Tables

35 - Figures

231  Pages

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=107876766

In-Circuit Test Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Size USD 1.4 billion in 2028 Growth Rate 3.6% of CAGR Largest Market Asia Pacific Market Dynamics Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities & Challenges Forecast Period 2023-2028 Forecast Units Value (USD Million/USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered In-Circuit Test Market by type, portability, application, and region. Geographies Covered Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, South America, and Middle East & Africa. Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Rising 5G Technology Key Market Drivers Growing demand for automotive electronics

The Mixed In-Circuit Test segment, by type, is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

Based on type, the In-Circuit Test Market has been segmented into analog in-circuit test and mixed in-circuit test. The Mixed in-circuit test segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment during the forecast period. The mixed signal circuits are generally cost-effective solutions, which are widely used in modern consumer electronic applications. Mixed signal in-circuit test is expected to be the fastest market in the future because of the increasing use of custom chips having mixed signal technology, i.e., a combination of analog and digital circuitry on the same chip. Mixed signal in-circuit test is widely used in the North America region as the investments in the semiconductor industry is increasing year-on-year in the region.

The consumer electronics & appliances segment, by application, is expected to be the largest segment during the forecast period

This report segments the In-Circuit Test Market based on application into six segments: consumer electronics & appliances, aerospace, defense, and government services, medical equipment manufacturing, automotive, and energy sector. The medical equipment segment is expected to be the second largest segment during the forecast period. Owing to the variation in heartbeats and the firing of an electrical synapse, it is highly recommended to test and calibrate the equipment in the medical field, before shipping it to the end user. The increasing demand for diagnostic equipment to detect all kinds of diseases in their early stages boosts the medical equipment industry.

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Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest region in the In-Circuit Test Industry

Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest In-Circuit Test Market during the forecast period. The Asia Pacific region, comprising major economies such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, are witnessing significant growth for consumer electronics owing to increased demand for household appliances and smartphone users. Rising investments in automotive industry is expected to support market grow in Asia Pacific as it can attribute to the increasing demand for automotive electronics, which in turn increases the demand for the in-circuit test.

Key Market Players:

Some of the major players in the In-Circuit Test Companies are Teradyne Inc. (US), Test Research Inc. (TRI) (Taiwan), Keysight Technologies (US), Hioki E.E Corporation (Japan) and Kyoritsu Electric Corporation (Japan). The major strategies these players adopt include new product launches, contracts, agreements, partnerships, and investments & expansions.

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Recent Developments

In August 2022 , SPEA S.p.A. and JTAG Technologies have entered a technological collaboration to significantly improve the integration of boundary scan options within flying probe and bed-of-nails testing equipment. By incorporating boundary scan capabilities into in-circuit testing, fault coverage of interconnections, logic elements, and in-signal passives will be increased.

, SPEA S.p.A. and JTAG Technologies have entered a technological collaboration to significantly improve the integration of boundary scan options within flying probe and bed-of-nails testing equipment. By incorporating boundary scan capabilities into in-circuit testing, fault coverage of interconnections, logic elements, and in-signal passives will be increased. In June 2022 , Bosch Automotive Group selected SPEA S.p.A. as its global and exclusive supplier of ICT Automatic Testers for its global manufacturing plants for the third time in a row. Bosch Automotive has picked the SPEA ICT Tester model 3030 as the most effective for its circuit boards.

, Bosch Automotive Group selected SPEA S.p.A. as its global and exclusive supplier of ICT Automatic Testers for its global manufacturing plants for the third time in a row. Bosch Automotive has picked the SPEA ICT Tester model 3030 as the most effective for its circuit boards. In May 2022 , Digitaltest incorporates SMH Technologies' FlashRunner 2.0 into their fixtures, In-Circuit and Flying Probe Test Systems. It is especially ideal for programming multi-PCB panels and complex boards because to its flexibility, wide library, and user-friendly software wizard.

, Digitaltest incorporates SMH Technologies' FlashRunner 2.0 into their fixtures, In-Circuit and Flying Probe Test Systems. It is especially ideal for programming multi-PCB panels and complex boards because to its flexibility, wide library, and user-friendly software wizard. In April 2022 , Teradyne, Inc., received a contract from Nations Technologies, an established Chinese microcontroller unit (MCU) and security integrated circuit (IC) chip maker, for the supply of the 7,000th unit of its industry-leading J750 semiconductor test platform.

, Teradyne, Inc., received a contract from Nations Technologies, an established Chinese microcontroller unit (MCU) and security integrated circuit (IC) chip maker, for the supply of the 7,000th unit of its industry-leading J750 semiconductor test platform. In March 2022 , MIDEL, Test Research, Inc. (TRI) introduced of the TR8100H SII high-density pin count In-Circuit Tester (ICT) with vacuum fixture for full coverage testing. The TR8100H SII is the latest version of the high-performance board test system designed for low-voltage testing and complex PCBAs.

Browse Adjacent Markets: Energy and Power Market Research Reports & Consulting

Related Reports:

Test and Measurement Equipment Market - Global Forecast to 2028

Automated Test Equipment Market - Global Forecast to 2027

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#1 Macaron Franchise Poised to Meet Year-End Goal of 80 Units in the U.S.

SARASOTA, Fla., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Le Macaron, the leading French Pastries and Macaron franchise in the United States, announced it is on track to meet its year-end goal of 80 franchise units following remarkable growth in 2002 and an impressive first quarter in 2023 with multiple franchise openings. As the #1 macaron franchise with 76 units nationwide in various stages of development, the popular French patisserie will open 10 new locations this summer in Tucson, Gaithersburg, New York, Columbus, Tarpon Springs, FL, Pembroke Pines, FL, and three California stores in Long Beach, Sacramento, and New Port Beach. In addition, the company reported a third Le Macaron cafe is slated to open in Nashville.

"Le Macaron is fueling America's growing love affair with macarons, resulting in a constant stream of inquiries from investors and entrepreneurs. We are on track to increase our total number of units to 80 by the end of this year." "I researched a lot of franchise opportunities, but I was drawn to Le Macaron because of the high quality of their products," Bermingham stated. "It didn't hurt that I have always had a bit of a sweet tooth! I believe this store will thrive in our high traffic location that attracts residential and tourist customers year-round."

"We are pleased that our growth plans are exceeding expectations," said Le Macaron spokesperson Greg Guillem. "Le Macaron is fueling America's growing love affair with macarons, resulting in a constant stream of inquiries from investors and entrepreneurs. We are on track to increase our total number of units to 80 by the end of this year."

New owners Gary and Stacy Haggart will open the first Le Macaron cafe in Arizona this summer with the first of three units planned for Tucson. Located at 260 E. Congress Street in the heart of downtown Tucson, the Haggarts said they are looking forward to introducing authentic French macarons and pastries to the community.

"Not many cafes or bakeries can say their macarons are freshly prepared daily by French chefs," said Gary Haggart. "Tucson is a diverse, sophisticated market that is perfect for the Parisian cafe Le Macaron experience."

Franchisee Michael Bermingham said he is anticipating a soft opening in August for his Long Beach location in Belmont Shore on Second Street. Bermingham pivoted from a career in technology to follow his dream of owning a food business.

"I researched a lot of franchise opportunities, but I was drawn to Le Macaron because of the high quality of their products," Bermingham stated. "It didn't hurt that I have always had a bit of a sweet tooth! I believe this store will thrive in our high traffic location that attracts residential and tourist customers year-round."

Co-founder Rosalie Guillem said prospective franchisees are encouraged by the brand's significant year-over year as well as Le Macaron's commitment to franchise support. She said the total investment for a Le Macaron franchise averages approximately $250,000, including a $45,000 franchise fee.

"Prospective franchisees are ultimately choosing Le Macaron because we are the industry leader with premium products, beautiful store designs, and an excellent track record from existing franchisees who are experiencing success nationwide," she said. "Our confectionery is now producing more than 32,000 macarons per day, which is more than 30,000 per day we produced at this time last year."

With the $17.1 billion bakery and cafe industry experiencing 0.8% growth in 2023 alone when profit will reach 5.4%, Le Macaron sets itself apart by treating customers to a taste of Paris, including vibrant, colorful decor, traditional music, and a menu featuring freshly prepared macarons, pastries, gelato, coffee, gourmet chocolates, cakes, eclairs, European style beverages and more. Available in more than 20 delicious flavors, macarons are also available in seasonal flavors to commemorate holidays and special occasions, and the company has a thriving catering and corporate gifting business year-round.

For more information about the Le Macaron French Pastries franchise opportunity please visit http://lemacaronfranchise.com/.

About Le Macaron French Pastries

Founded in 2009 by Rosalie Guillem and her daughter Audrey, Le Macaron French Pastries is an elegant retail specialty French patisserie that offers guests the finest, authentic French macarons and pastries. Headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, the brand began franchising in 2012 and has since grown to more than 75 locations across the U.S. Le Macaron French Pastries is ranked on Inc. 5,000 2016, #17 on the 2019 Top Emerging Franchise List as well as ranking on the Top 100 Food and Beverage category by Entrepreneur and holds a No. 9 ranking in the baked goods category. Le Macaron was recently named to the FranServe 2022 Fran-Tastic 500 list, which recognizes the top franchises in the country. For more information, visit http://lemacaron-us.com/.

Contact: Rhonda Price

[email protected]

(561) 371-9407

SOURCE Le Macaron French Pastries
STOCKHOLM, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sandvik will publish its second quarter results on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at approximately 11:30 AM CEST.

A combined webcast and conference call for investors, analysts and financial media will be held at 1:00 PM CEST.

The report will be presented in a webcast and conference call by Stefan Widing, President and CEO as well as by Cecilia Felton, CFO.

The presentation will be broadcasted live on our website home.sandvik

Dial-in details for the conference call:

SE: +46 (0) 8 505 10 031

UK: +44 (0) 207 107 06 13

US: +1 (1) 631 570 56 13

From about 12:30 PM CEST presentation slides will be available on our website home.sandvik

Stockholm, June 30, 2023

Sandvik AB

For further information, contact: Louise Tjeder, Vice President Investor Relations, phone: +46 70 782 6374 or Johannes Hellstrom, Press and Media Relations Manager, phone: +46 70 721 1008.

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/208/3797403/2162888.pdf Invitation - presentation of Sandvikas report of the second quarter 2023

SOURCE Sandvik
Certified in Cybersecurity recognized for its role in delivering positive improvement to the UK and global cybersecurity skills shortage

LONDON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- (ISC)  the world's largest nonprofit association of certified cybersecurity professionals  today announced that its Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) certification has won the Best Professional Training or Certification Program award at the 2023 SC Awards Europe. The award win was confirmed as part of the SC Awards Europe ceremony in London on June 20, 2023.

The award judges noted that Certified in Cybersecurity was "one of the few certifications designed for those with non-technical backgrounds to affirm their aptitude and interest in a career in cybersecurity. The program prides itself on being attainable for newcomers looking to enter the cyber workforce without direct IT experience while providing employers confidence in the skills and knowledge of potential job candidates."

"We are delighted to have won the award, but we are particularly pleased for the recognition it shows to all our members and candidates who have earned the Certified in Cybersecurity certification," said Ed Parsons, Regional Managing Director for the UK and Europe at (ISC)2. "Industry recognition from a respected industry source like SC Media further underscores the value Certified in Cybersecurity has for individuals and employers, as well as how the certification is making a cybersecurity career more accessible to more people in the UK and around the world."

Winners in the Best Professional Training or Certification Program category were selected by a panel of cybersecurity practitioners, industry experts and business leaders from both the private sector and government agencies.

New Roads to Cybersecurity Career Success

Through the Certified in Cybersecurity Certification program, more than 21,000 people have become certification holders since August 2022. The rapid growth of the certification highlights the importance of creating new and diverse pathways into the industry for entry-level professionals.

"I'm switching career paths to move into cybersecurity," said Eric Turner, Systems Integration Developer, MSD of Warren Township. "The (ISC) Certified in Cybersecurity entry-level certification is another great way to demonstrate my knowledge."

To learn more about the (ISC) Certified in Cybersecurity certification, please visit: https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/CC.

To begin your career journey towards becoming a Certified in Cybersecurity certification holder, sign up as an (ISC) Candidate here: https://www.isc2.org/candidate.

About (ISC)

(ISC) is an international nonprofit membership association focused on inspiring a safe and secure cyber world. Best known for the acclaimed Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification, (ISC) offers a portfolio of credentials that are part of a holistic, pragmatic approach to security. Our association of candidates, associates and members, more than 365,000 strong, is made up of certified cyber, information, software and infrastructure security professionals who are making a difference and helping to advance the industry. Our vision is supported by our commitment to educate and reach the general public through our charitable foundation  The Center for Cyber Safety and Education. For more information on (ISC), visit www.isc2.org, follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 2023 (ISC) Inc., (ISC), CISSP, SSCP, CCSP, CGRC, CSSLP, HCISPP, CISSP-ISSAP, CISSP-ISSEP, CISSP-ISSMP and CBK are registered marks, and CC is a service mark of (ISC), Inc.

Media Contact:

Amanda Steinman

Senior PR Manager

(ISC)

[email protected]

SOURCE (ISC)2
BOSTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: BTO) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC and subadvised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, announced today sources of its quarterly distribution of $0.6500 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of June 12, 2023, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Notification of Sources of Distribution

This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: BTO) with important information concerning the distribution declared on June 1, 2023, and payable on June 30, 2023. No action is required on your part.

Distribution Period: June 2023

Distribution Amount Per Common Share: $0.6500

The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable June 30, 2023, and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.





For the period 4/1/2023-06/30/2023

For the fiscal year-to-date period 1/1/2023-06/30/2023 1 Source

Current Distribution ($)

% Breakdown of the Current Distribution

Total Cumulative Distributions ($)

% Breakdown of the Total Cumulative Distributions Net Investment Income

0.1264

19 %

0.2233

17 % Net Realized Short- Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0 %

0.0000

0 % Net Realized Long- Term Capital Gains

0.2400

37 %

0.5925

46 % Return of Capital or Other Capital Source

0.2836

44 %

0.4753

37 % Total per common share

0.6500

100 %

1.2911

100 %

















Average annual total return (in relation to NAV) for the 5 years ended on May 31, 2023

-3.14 %





Annualized current distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of May 31, 2023

11.20 %





Cumulative total return (in relation to NAV) for the fiscal year through May 31, 2023

-27.67 %





Cumulative fiscal year-to-date distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of May 31, 2023

5.56 %

_____________________ 1 The Fund's current fiscal year began on January 1, 2023 and will end on December 31, 2023.



You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.

The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The Fund has declared the June 2023 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed quarterly distributions in the amount of $0.6500 per share.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.

About John Hancock Investment Management

A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
The political and social situation in Venezuela remains at a standstill, but contacts continue to take place at the highest level to try to unblock the situation. Three weeks ago, the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly and Nicolas Maduros right-hand man, Jorge Rodriguez, met in Doha, the capital of Qatar, with Juan Gonzalez, advisor to Joe Biden, according to official sources. The meeting took place without the presence of mediators or third parties.

Qatar has unexpectedly assumed a leading role in the mediation between the White House and the Venezuelan government. In addition to hosting this meeting, it has taken steps to intercede between the two countries, which have barely been in contact in recent months. Despite the urgency of organizing transparent elections in Venezuela in 2024, the distance between the two countries is absolute. The monarchy headed by the Al Thani family has filled the space left by Colombia, which has gone from being fully involved during the first months of Gustavo Petros government to putting the issue aside from its foreign policy priorities.

Rodriguez and Gonzalez, advisor for the Western Hemisphere at the US National Security Council, met to establish a direct channel of communication, according to the same sources. In the meeting, they talked about the release of prisoners and the need to normalize political life in Venezuela, something that at present seems very distant. This type of meetings at the highest level are usual in processes as entrenched and complex as that of Venezuela and its relationship with the United States, but they are kept secret so that no one can interfere in the dialogue. Neither Rodriguez nor Gonzalez, consulted by this newspaper, wished to comment on the matter.

No date for elections

The stances of the two countries are very far apart. Maduro has still not set a date to hold the general elections in which, in theory, there should be an opposition candidate who could challenge him for the presidency. The resignation of the National Electoral Council (CNE) has made it even harder to hold the opposition primaries. In addition, Caracas demands the release of Alex Saab, the Colombian businessman allied with Maduro who is being tried in the United States for money laundering and corruption and who is considered a Venezuelan diplomat by the Venezuelan government. The White House has interpreted these gestures as a challenge and a clear sign that it is not giving in despite international pressure, which demands a democratization of the country.

Maduros argument for maintaining a firm position is that the US has not lifted the international sanctions against his government. He blames these punishments for the deep economic crisis the country has been experiencing for the past seven years. If they want free elections, we want elections free of sanctions, said the president in November. The statement leaves no room for interpretation. Caracas has also accused Biden of not releasing Venezuelan funds frozen abroad -between 3 and 5 billion dollars-, as agreed with the opposition at the dialogue table in Mexico at the end of last year. That money, managed by a UN trust fund, was supposed to be a lifeline for the serious Venezuelan crisis.

However, the US considers that Maduro, after showing willingness to negotiate, has suddenly become stubbornly immobile. Other countries share the same opinion. The French and Colombian Presidents, Emmanuel Macron and Gustavo Petro had asked him to set a date for the elections to bring positions closer, but he has not done so and it does not seem that he will do so in the short term. Washington granted a license to the oil company Chevron to operate in Venezuelan soil, which seemed to represent an outstretched hand. From that moment on, the most optimistic ones expected that concessions from one side and the other would follow, but the reality is that this has not been the case. No progress has been made in the last semester.

Maduro has no intention of ceding any ground or facilitating any path out of the standstill. In recent months, he has regained internal authority and diplomatic status. After years without leaving the country, he has shown himself in some international and regional summits. The economic situation has overcome the terrible period experienced two years ago thanks to oil revenues and a certain liberalization of the economy, although the growth is still within the reach of very few. As a result, the President has toughened his demands within the context of political negotiations with the opposition.

The outlook is not promising. Talks with the opposition in Mexico have been paralyzed since November and the Venezuelan government refuses to return to the table. Now, Maduro is demanding the full and not progressive lifting of sanctions, as had been agreed, to restart the dialogue. With this difficult to resolve rift, the two sides met in Qatar, a most unexpected location. The secret meeting, which has now come to light, is supposed to lay a bridge, albeit a minimal one, between two parties that do not trust each other at all. The results remain to be seen.

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BOSTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE: HEQ) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC (the "Adviser") and subadvised by Wellington Management Company LLP (the "Subadviser"), announced today sources of its quarterly distribution of $0.2900 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of June 12, 2023, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund

Notification of Sources of Distribution

This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE: HEQ) with important information concerning the distribution declared on June 1, 2023, and payable on June 30, 2023. No action is required on your part.

Distribution Period: June 2023

Distribution Amount Per Common Share: $0.2900

The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable June 30, 2023, and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.





For the period 4/1/2023-06/30/2023

For the fiscal year-to-date period 1/1/2023-06/30/2023 1 Source

Current Distribution ($)

% Breakdown of the Current Distribution

Total Cumulative Distributions ($)

% Breakdown of the Total Cumulative Distributions Net Investment Income

0.2022

70 %

0.3333

57 % Net Realized Short- Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0 %

0.0000

0 % Net Realized Long- Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0 %

0.0000

0 % Return of Capital or Other Capital Source

0.0878

30 %

0.2465

43 % Total per common share

0.2900

100 %

0.5798

100 %

















Average annual total return (in relation to NAV) for the 5 years ended on May 31, 2023

2.35 %





Annualized current distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of May 31, 2023

10.24 %





Cumulative total return (in relation to NAV) for the fiscal year through May 31, 2023

-1.06 %





Cumulative fiscal year-to-date distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of May 31, 2023

5.12 %

______________________ 1 The Fund's current fiscal year began on January 1, 2023 and will end on December 31, 2023.



You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.

The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The Fund has declared the June 2023 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed quarterly distributions in the amount of $0.2900 per share, which will continue to be paid quarterly until further notice.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.

Wellington Management Company LLP is an independent and unaffiliated investment subadviser to John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund.

About John Hancock Investment Management

A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
KAZUNO, Japan, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

- Video Featuring Kazuno's Charms Introduces Mysterious, Spectacular Spots -

Kazuno City in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Akita opened social networking service (SNS) accounts for foreign visitors to Japan on June 29, 2023. The city government has produced a promotional video using the "Tabisuru Kazuno" (Traveling Kazuno) website operated by Kazuno Kanko Bussan Kosha, a local destination management organization (DMO), running the video on the SNS accounts to attract foreign tourists.

The video, aimed at showing spectacular and mysterious tourist spots in Kazuno City to people around the world, features beautiful scenery and otherwise unknown tourist spots filmed by drones. The video of mysterious and impressive scenes is designed to enchant foreign travelers. The video was released on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. It is part of the Kazuno Municipal Government's efforts to communicate the city's charms to the world and attract international tourists.

For charms of Kazuno City, please visit: https://explorekazuno.jp/ (Japanese)

Kazuno City is home to the "Oyu Stone Circles," a World Cultural Heritage site, as well as three UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage elements--"Dainichido Bugaku" (a form of traditional Japanese court music and dance), "Hanawa Bayashi" (a traditional Japanese performing art form), and "Kemanai Bon Odori" (Buddhist festival dance). The city also has a unique history and prolific traditional culture such as the "Oyu Odaiko (big drum)" and the historic "Osarizawa Mine" site. The city is in a region rich in food culture as it is believed to be the birthplace of "Kiritanpo" or mashed rice kneaded around skewers, an Akita Prefecture specialty.

YouTube:

https://youtube.com/@KazunoJapanTravelGuide-ur2gb (English)

https://youtube.com/@KazunoNhatBankhachdulich-sf8hm (Vietnamese)

TikTok:

https://tiktok.com/@kazuno.japan.travel.us (English)

https://tiktok.com/@kazuno.japan.travel.vn (Vietnamese)

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/kazuno.japan.travel.us (English)

https://www.instagram.com/kazuno.japan.travel.vn (Vietnamese)

Photo spots:

Yuze Valley

It was formed through erosion by the Yoneshiro River. There is a walking trail to enjoy scenery in all four seasons. The clear river water and new lush green leaves bring relief to visitors.

Oyu Stone Circles

This is inscribed as a World Cultural Heritage site, a huge site comprising two stone circles. Visitors can experience the atmosphere of about 4,000 years ago in the vast wilderness preserved since the late Jomon Period.

Fukenoyu

It is known as the oldest onsen (hot spring) in 1,613-meter Mount Hachimantai that straddles the border between Akita and Iwate prefectures. It is not just an open-air spa. There are several outdoor hot-spring baths overlooking the sky where visitors can enjoy the pleasure of onsen, such as bathing in a square wooden bath and an "iwaburo" (rock bath), while feeling nature with their five senses.

About Kazuno City:

It is situated in the north of Akita Prefecture. With a population of 28,016, the city is endowed with rich regional resources such as cultural heritages and specialty products.

SOURCE Kazuno City
SHANGHAI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: YUMC and HKEX: 9987, "Yum China" or the "Company") today announced that KFC China has hosted its latest Public Welfare Awareness Event in Hangzhou. At the event, KFC China announced the expansion of several corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that cover a wide range of areas, including supporting the disadvantaged, preserving the environment and reducing food waste. KFC China's first Goodwill Ambassador, Olympic Champion Guo Jingjing, also attended the event.

Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China, Zhu Dongyun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Children and Teenagers' Fund, and KFC Chinas first Goodwill Ambassador, Olympic Champion Guo Jingjing, share gift packages with Little Migratory Bird representatives Warton Wang, General Manager of KFC China, and KFC Chinas first Goodwill Ambassador, Olympic Champion Guo Jingjing at the event

"Giving back to society is deeply embedded in our culture. We actively support causes that can have positive impact on the communities we serve," said Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China. "We aim to create an effective platform that inspires people to come together with a shared purpose and make a difference in our community."

Warton Wang, General Manager of KFC China, added, "KFC China will continue leveraging its extensive restaurant network to further its social responsibility initiatives, with a particular focus on supporting the disadvantaged, promoting sustainability and climate action, as well as advocating for healthy lifestyles."

At the event, KFC China announced the following expanded CSR initiatives:

As a joint effort between KFC China and the China Children and Teenagers' Fund, the "KFC Little Migratory Bird Fund" will undergo significant enhancements, aiming to expand the fund's support for underprivileged children who face challenges such as poverty and disabilities. Since 2016, the fund has been promoting the physical and mental development of left-behind children through reading, sports, and arts activities across the country. KFC China also shared that it aims to provide financial assistance to 1,000 children and organize 200 caring and companionship activities by the end of 2024.

KFC China launched a reusable serving basket made from KFC's coffee grounds to promote climate action. The baskets will initially be rolled out at 1,500 KFC restaurants in Beijing , Shanghai , Guangzhou , Shenzhen , and Hangzhou , before being progressively introduced at restaurants nationwide. In addition, KFC China is committed to introducing more carbon neutral products through forest planting initiatives in key areas to support environment protection and restoration.

, , , , and , before being progressively introduced at restaurants nationwide. In addition, KFC China is committed to introducing more carbon neutral products through forest planting initiatives in key areas to support environment protection and restoration. KFC China will expand its Food Bank Program, which distributes free surplus food from its stores. The program is set to be expanded to more than 700 stores in over 100 cities by the end of 2023, doubling that from 2022. The program reduces food waste and GHG emissions.

KFC China unveiled a new "Angel Restaurant" in Hangzhou , the host city for the 19th Asian Games and 4th Asian Para Games. KFC China will select outstanding "Angel Employees" from its "Angel Restaurants" to form a special service team for the Asian Games. The "Angel Restaurants" initiative creates a welcoming and inclusive workplace for people with special needs. As of the end of June 2023 , KFC China has 36 "Angel Restaurants" in 32 cities, employing over 200 individuals with special needs each year. These restaurants are equipped with upgraded visual devices, and custom visual learning materials to enhance work environment of "Angel Employees".

Since entering mainland China 36 years ago, KFC China has remained steadfast in its commitment to social responsibility. With a network of over 9,200 stores across 1,800 cities, KFC China strives to utilize its extensive reach as a powerful engagement platform that brings people together in supporting the disadvantaged, protecting the environment and fostering a more caring society.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including under "2023 Outlook." We intend all forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and by the use of forward-looking words such as "expect," "expectation," "believe," "anticipate," "may," "could," "intend," "belief," "plan," "estimate," "target," "predict," "project," "likely," "will," "continue," "should," "forecast," "outlook," "commit" or similar terminology. These statements are based on current estimates and assumptions made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that we believe are appropriate and reasonable under the circumstances, but there can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the future strategies, growth, business plans, investment, dividend and share repurchase plans, earnings, performance and returns of Yum China, anticipated effects of population and macroeconomic trends, the expected impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, pace of recovery of Yum China's business, the anticipated effects of our innovation, digital and delivery capabilities and investments on growth and beliefs regarding the long-term drivers of Yum China's business. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and could cause our actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by those statements. We cannot assure you that any of our expectations, estimates or assumptions will be achieved. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are only made as of the date of this press release, and we disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law. Numerous factors could cause our actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: whether we are able to achieve development goals at the times and in the amounts currently anticipated, if at all, the success of our marketing campaigns and product innovation, our ability to maintain food safety and quality control systems, changes in public health conditions, including the COVID-19 pandemic, our ability to control costs and expenses, including tax costs, as well as changes in political, economic and regulatory conditions in China. In addition, other risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial could affect the accuracy of any such forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty. You should consult our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including the information set forth under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q) for additional detail about factors that could affect our financial and other results.

About Yum China Holdings, Inc.

Yum China is the largest restaurant company in China with a mission to make every life taste beautiful. The Company has over 400,000 employees and operates over 13,000 restaurants under six brands across 1,800 cities in China. KFC and Pizza Hut are the leading brands in the quick-service and casual dining restaurant spaces in China, respectively. Taco Bell offers innovative Mexican-inspired food. Yum China has also partnered with Lavazza to develop the Lavazza coffee concept in China. Little Sheep and Huang Ji Huang specialize in Chinese cuisine. Yum China has a world-class, digitalized supply chain which includes an extensive network of logistics centers nationwide and an in-house supply chain management system. Its strong digital capabilities and loyalty program enable the Company to reach customers faster and serve them better. Yum China is a Fortune 500 company with the vision to be the world's most innovative pioneer in the restaurant industry. For more information, please visit http://ir.yumchina.com .

Investor Relations Contact:

Tel: +86 21 2407 7556 / +852 2267 5801

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Tel: +86 21 2407 7510

[email protected]

SOURCE Yum China Holdings, Inc.
DETROIT, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wayne State University Board of Governors voted unanimously today to elect Kimberly Andrews Espy, Ph.D., as the university's 13th president, effective Aug. 1, 2023. Mark Gaffney, chair of the Board of Governors, made the announcement.

Espy will succeed M. Roy Wilson, who has served as president since Aug. 1, 2013, and announced last year that he would not be renewing his contract. She will be the first woman to serve as Wayne State University's president.

Kimberly Andrews Espy

"Upon receiving the news from President Wilson that he would be stepping down, we assembled a thoughtful and diverse search committee to find the next president for our university," Gaffney said. "After a thorough search that included four publicly held presidential search listening sessions where students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the university assembled and provided input, the board reached a unanimous decision to elect Dr. Espy as our next president. Her strong leadership roles in higher education and research and her national reputation for advancing institutional, academic and student success will be invaluable to maintaining the momentum of Wayne State into the next decade of growth and beyond. We are confident the skills she brings to this important leadership position will keep our university advancing toward its vision of being a preeminent public, urban research university. We are thrilled that she's joined us here at Wayne State and we know our community will be as well."

Espy's appointment is the result of an extensive search that started last summer. "Wayne State is a uniquely positioned R1, urban, public university that is nationally recognized and respected for its scholarship, student success and engagement with a resurgent Detroit. When the Presidential Search Committee launched a national search, there was a great deal of interest from a wide range of strong candidates across the country," Gaffney added.

Espy currently serves as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), a position she has held since 2018. With more than 25 years of experience in higher education, she has consistently championed social and economic opportunity by promoting affordable access to a top-quality R1 university education. During her tenure, UTSA earned the distinction of an R1 classification by the Carnegie Foundation in 2021, was invited to join the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities and earned the Seal of Excelencia from Excelencia in Education for its commitment to serving Hispanic students  and, by extension, all students. UTSA also was named a 2022 Degree Completion Finalist by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities in recognition of a 40% increase in awarded degrees, which marked a 12-point improvement in six-year graduation rates under her leadership. Espy's commitment in this area played an important role in making UTSA one of only five research universities nationwide to receive a $40 million gift from Mackenzie Scott in 2021 to advance student success to those underserved by higher education.

As UTSA's provost, Espy has strived to advance social mobility through improved student learning, which she has strengthened through a strong focus on the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty who are leaders in their disciplines. Employing both traditional departmental and targeted institutional hiring mechanisms created under Espy's leadership, UTSA hired 183 outstanding new, diverse faculty across the campus, with more than 27 percent identifying from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education.

Under her tenure, UTSA strengthened its commitment to preparing students for success beyond graduation. In 2020, the university established the Najim Center for Innovation and Career Advancement to provide students with resources for career exploration and preparation. The center plays a key supporting role in UTSA's Classroom to Career Initiative, which focuses on expanding experiential learning opportunities to ensure students graduate career ready. Espy also played a key role in UTSA's contributions to San Antonio's economic development. The San Pedro 1 Building, the new home for UTSA's School for Data Science, opened in 2022 and is the university's latest investment in the city's downtown. For her commitment to the community and her work as an agent of change, Espy was recognized with a Women's Leadership Award from the San Antonio Business Journal in 2022.

Prior to serving as UTSA's provost, Espy was senior vice president for research at the University of Arizona, where she increased research and development awards to record levels. She also served as vice president for research and innovation and dean of the graduate school at the University of Oregon, where she helped secure funding from the Oregon state legislature to advance economic development and value to the state. She started her academic career at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, a rural, community-oriented medical school where she taught first-year medical student neuroscience using the then-pioneering problem-based learning curriculum, which has been widely adopted across the United States.

A native of Cincinnati, Espy received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Rice University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology from the University of Houston. She also completed a clinical/pediatric psychology internship at the University of Louisville School of Medicine/Bingham Child Guidance Center and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. Espy is a licensed clinical psychologist.

Espy is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Psychological Association. Her work has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2002, and she has earned more than $22 million in funding to study how young children control their attention to promote learning, academic, and health outcomes; how such skills are related to medical, environmental or social factors; and how they, in turn, predict later school, cognitive, health, psychiatric, and life outcomes. She has also served on several national and state leadership boards and committees, including the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable.

"I am proud to accept this position to serve as the next president of such an exceptional institution of higher learning in the heart of the Detroit, a storied city that is on the move. Wayne State has played an important role in Detroit's recent revitalization, and I'm excited about the opportunities that exist to continue building on that growth," Espy said. "Wayne State University is a national model for student success, is recognized for its community impact, and is respected across the nation and around the world for its scholarship and health services, particularly in addressing health disparities in major cities. I am honored that the board has chosen me to be this university's next leader, and I am excited to begin charting the journey we will all take together to continue to create and advance knowledge for our community and our world."

SOURCE Wayne State University
LANSING, Mich., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lansing Community College ("LCC") is providing notice of a recent data privacy event that may have affected personal information related to certain individuals. At this time, there is no evidence of any identity theft or fraud occurring as the result of this incident. The confidentiality, privacy, and security of information is one of LCC's highest priorities and LCC takes this matter very seriously.

On or around March 14, 2023, LCC became aware of suspicious activity on its computer network. LCC immediately launched an investigation, with the assistance of third-party computer specialists. Through the investigation, LCC determined that, between December 25, 2022 and March 15, 2023, an unauthorized actor may have had access to certain systems. In an abundance of caution, LCC reviewed the information on those systems to confirm what information is contained within, and to whom it relates. This process was completed on May 24, 2023. Although LCC has no evidence of any identity theft or fraud in connection with this incident, LCC is notifying individuals whose information was present in its systems at the time of the incident by letter. This letter includes specific detail as to the data potentially accessible for each person.

LCC notified federal law enforcement and is cooperating with its investigation. LCC also notified the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office for Civil Rights and relevant state authorities. Individuals who have questions about this incident can contact our dedicated call center at 1-866-547-5959 between 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except holidays, or visit our website at https://www.lcc.edu/.

LCC encourages potentially impacted individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud, to review account statements, and to monitor their credit reports and explanation of benefits forms for suspicious activity. LCC is providing potentially impacted individuals with contact information for the three major credit reporting agencies, as well as providing advice on how to obtain free credit reports and how to place fraud alerts and credit freezes on their credit files. The relevant contact information is below:

Equifax P.O. Box 105069 Atlanta, GA 30348 1-888-298-0045 www.equifax.com Experian P.O. Box 9554 Allen, TX 75013 1-888-397-3742 www.experian.com TransUnion P.O. Box 2000 Chester, PA 19016 1-800-916-8800 www.transunion.com

Potentially impacted individuals may also find information regarding identity theft, fraud alerts, security freezes and the steps they may take to protect their information by contacting the credit bureaus, the Federal Trade Commission or their state Attorney General. The Federal Trade Commission can be reached at: 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20580; www.identitytheft.gov; 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338); and TTY: 1-866-653-4261.

Instances of known or suspected identity theft should also be reported to law enforcement or the individual's state Attorney General.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Rich Aponte-Boyd

267-930-4888

SOURCE LANSING COMMUNITY COLLEGE
BOSTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the nation's most trusted nonprofit partner for implementing high-impact tutoring, Saga Education, announced that it is the latest recipient of the Equity in Education grant from the Foundation for MetroWest.

"We feel incredibly fortunate to be awarded this funding from The Foundation for MetroWest which will help 20 students receive high-impact tutoring in an afterschool program," said AJ Gutierrez, Co-Founder of Saga Education. "This grant will help to provide training for tutors on the pedagogy of tutoring, Saga curriculum and Saga Connect, as well as push our continued support throughout the upcoming school year for the district leadership."

This new funding will go directly towards supporting the work that Saga Education is doing in Milford, Massachusetts. This grant will give the Milford math tutoring pilot program key programmatic support, including district design and implementation support, session curriculum, tutor training, and a robust live online tutoring platform for students and tutors.

"Foundation for MetroWest is thrilled to provide a grant to Saga Education as a key partner in launching a pilot after-school tutoring program to address math proficiency for 20 middle school youth in Milford, MA in the upcoming school year," said Jay Kim, executive director of Foundation of MetroWest. "Through partnering with the Milford School District and Life Science Cares Boston, we know Saga's strong evidence-based tutoring model and curriculum will have an incredible impact here in the region and help students succeed."

In the research conducted by the University of Chicago Urban Labs on Saga Education, not only did student attendance in schools improve but it was found that students learn up to two and half year's worth of math in one academic year, as well as reducing math course failures by as much as 63%.

About Saga Education

Saga Education is an evidence-based, personalized, in-school-day tutoring intervention designed to support students with math, to support them in generating confidence and academic strength to graduate high school and pursue their dreams. In 2020, the organization was named to Fast Company's prestigious list of the World's Most Innovative Educational Companies, recognized for its evidence-based, scalable tutoring model that serves students in high-need schools. For more information, visit sagaeducation.org.

SOURCE Saga Education
LIAOCHENG, China, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dongchang New-year wood-block print, Dongchang gourd carving, Chiping paper-cutting, Family Wei's wickerwork production techniques, Linqing dough modeling, Lu brocade and filigree production techniques... At the event celebrating the return of Hong Kong to the motherland held at the Victoria Park of Hong Kong on June 30, Liaocheng of Shandong province shows up with a number of intangible cultural heritages with an extremely rich regional culture flavor to showcase the charm and innovation of Liaocheng's traditional culture to citizens of Hong Kong with the theme of "A Watertown in Jiangbei: A Date with Two Rivers and a Trip to Liaocheng".

Liaocheng's intangible cultural heritages in Hong Kong to celebrate the 26th Anniversary of Hong Kong's Return to the Motherland Liaocheng's intangible cultural heritages in Hong Kong to celebrate the 26th Anniversary of Hong Kong's Return to the Motherland

In order to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the Chinese cultural carnival is held at the Victoria Park on June 30, which is to last three days. During the event, the celebration organizing committee from all circles of Hong Kong organizes activities such as exhibition and performance of traditional Chinese culture and exhibition of intangible cultural heritages to let Hong Kong citizens experience the richness and diversity of Chinese cultural heritages, according to the News Office of Liaocheng Municipal People's Government.

Liaocheng of Shandong was born and is thriving and beautiful with water as a famous "watertown in Jiangbei and an ancient capital at the canal", reputed as "Venice in the Northern China". In this event, the exhibition area of Liaocheng is designed based on its characteristics as a "watertown", with rich exhibits and smooth lines to show the elegance and flexibility of Liaocheng's water bodies. The entire exhibition area applies different forms of exhibition such as pictures, texts and real objects to showcase Liaocheng's rich intangible cultural heritage resources, unique artistic charm and profound cultural connotations to each circle of Hong Kong.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=441391

Caption: Liaocheng's intangible cultural heritages in Hong Kong to celebrate the 26th Anniversary of Hong Kong's Return to the Motherland

Link: https://iop.asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=441392

Caption: Liaocheng's intangible cultural heritages in Hong Kong to celebrate the 26th Anniversary of Hong Kong's Return to the Motherland

SOURCE The News Office of Liaocheng Municipal People's Government
LOMA LINDA, Calif. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 800 resident physicians and fellows at Loma Linda University Health Education Consortium (LLUHEC) have won the right to unionize with the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD). This is the first unionized group of workers at LLUHEC.

"As a corporate healthcare institution, Loma Linda University Health is bound to the same labor laws as any other corporation and we are calling on LLUHEC to respect and acknowledge our union victory. The nation is watching as you continue to dismiss the voices of your residents and fellows," said Dr. Jessica Munoz, emergency medicine resident physician. "I look forward to LLUHEC recognizing the Loma Linda chapter of UAPD and sitting down to bargain in good faith to improve resident working conditions."

With 71 percent majority support, this landslide victory gives LLUHEC resident physicians and fellows staffed at hospitals across the Inland Empire a voice in patient care. The National Labor Relations Board certified the results of the election on June 30.

"I am incredibly proud of my co-residents and fellows for choosing to stand up for themselves and to improve working conditions for themselves and generations of physicians to come," said Dr. Darya Tajfiroozeh, pediatric resident physician. "Let our voices never be silenced again."

"Today, the house staff employees of Loma Linda University Healthcare Education Consortium affirmed their rights to collectively bargain with their employer. The Union of American Physicians and Dentists looks forward to beginning bargaining as soon as possible for a mutually beneficial contract," said Dr. Stuart Bussey, UAPD president.

About the Union of American Physicians & Dentists

The Union of American Physicians & Dentists (UAPD) has organized physicians and providers since 1972. With more than 5,000 members in California, New Mexico, and Washington State, UAPD is the largest union of licensed physicians and advanced practice clinicians nationwide. Members work for state and county governments, large healthcare organizations and nonprofit health systems, as well as providers in private practice. Affiliated with AFSCME and AFL-CIO, UAPD brings the strength of the labor movement to the aid of providers in the interest of better medicine for all. Learn more at www.uapd.com.

Contact Information:

Vivi Le

Communications Manager

Union of American Physicians & Dentists

(714) 552-9841

[email protected]

SOURCE Union of American Physicians and Dentists
Food Poisoning Sickens 210 in 22 States

RIDGWAY, Colo., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cyclospora attorneys at Marler Clark have filed the second lawsuit in a nationwide Cyclospora outbreak that has sickened 210 individuals in 22 states. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Patricia Pitts against Taco del GNAR, in the District Court of Ouray County, Colorado. Mr. Wilson is represented by Seattle based, Marler Clark, the Nation's Food Safety Law Firm, and local counsel, Montgomery, Little & Soran, PC. Complaint # 2023CV30010.

On June 5, 2023, Ms. Pitts purchased a buffalo chicken taco, and a shrimp taco at the Taco del GNAR restaurant located at 630 Sherman St., Ridgway, CO. Immediately after ordering and paying for her order, Taco del GNAR closed for business claiming a "kitchen emergency". Before leaving, Ms. Pitt's was served her food in a to-go container. She proceeded to take the two tacos and accompanying tater tots and beans to her house and ate them in her home.

Marler Clark Files the Second Case in National Cyclospora Outbreak - Food Poisoning Sickens 210 in 22 States Tweet this

On June 14, 2023, Ms. Pitts began to experience diarrhea, nausea, body aches, and fatigue. Her symptoms became so significant that she could not stay at work. She experienced multiple episodes of diarrhea, often occurring several times in an hour. She felt embarrassed and physically miserable.

On June 15, 2023, Ms. Pitts learned through a co-worker that there was a Cyclospora outbreak at the Taco Del GNAR. When she contacted the health department, they suggested she seek medical treatment immediately as she was likely a victim of the current Cyclospora outbreak. A test revealed that she was positive for Cyclospora, a parasite associated with eating fresh fruits and vegetables. Antibiotics were prescribed; however, Ms. Pitts continues to experience on-going symptoms of her Cyclospora infection.

What we know about the current Cyclospora outbreak

As of July 20, 2023 , a total of 210 laboratory confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis have been reported in 22 states.

, a total of 210 laboratory confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis have been reported in 22 states. Illness onset dates range from April 1- June 9, 2023 .

. 30 people have been hospitalized; no deaths have been reported. The true number of illnesses is likely higher, as people often recover without medical care and are not tested for Cyclospora.

20 cases were reported in Georgia and Alabama and positively linked to raw broccoli. However, broccoli was not a food ill people in other states consumed, therefore, no specific food items has been identified yet as a source of the other illnesses.

and and positively linked to raw broccoli. However, broccoli was not a food ill people in other states consumed, therefore, no specific food items has been identified yet as a source of the other illnesses. States reporting Cyclospora cases include - Arizona , Alabama , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Florida , Georgia , Illinois , Maryland , Minnesota , Michigan , Nebraska , New Jersey , New York , North Carolina , Pennsylvania , South Carolina , Tennessee , Texas , Virginia , West Virginia , Wyoming .

cases include - , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Nearly 60 Cyclospora illnesses in Colorado have been linked to Tacos del GNAR.

For more information on Cyclospora, see What you need to know about Cyclospora during an Outbreak.

Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation's leading firm representing victims of Cyclospora outbreaks. The Cyclospora lawyers of Marler Clark have represented numerous victims of Cyclospora and other foodborne illness infections and have recovered over $850 million for clients in the last 30 years. Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.

If you or a family member became ill with Cyclospora infection after consuming food and you are interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact Marler Clark Cyclospora attorneys for a free case evaluation. Call or text (206) 794-5043 or email [email protected].

SOURCE Marler Clark, The Nation's Food Safety Law Firm
Workers Choose Teamsters Local 639 to Improve Pay, Working Conditions

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Parking ambassadors at the MGM National Harbor Hotel & Casino in Maryland have voted unanimously to join Teamsters Local 639.

"Congratulations to the MGM National Harbor Hotel & Casino workers on their successful organizing victory," said Bill Davis, President of Local 639 in Washington, D.C. "These workers provide exceptional service to casino visitors and play a pivotal role in MGM's daily operations. We look forward to helping them secure their first Teamster contract."

"We provide a key service for visitors at MGM National Harbor and deserve to be compensated fairly," said Steve Williams, parking ambassador at MGM National Harbor Hotel & Casino. "I know that Teamsters Local 639 will hold management accountable and help us get the respect, improved working conditions, and decent wages we need to provide for our families. We can't wait to start working on our first collective bargaining agreement."

Teamsters Local 639 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia since 1934. For more information, go to teamsters639.com.

Contact:

Matt McQuaid, (202) 624-6877

[email protected]

SOURCE Teamsters Local 639
41-year-old Fernando at the Gregorio Maranon Hospital in Madrid, where he has gone for treatment for his addiction to 'chemsex.'

Fernando, 41, describes his chemsex days as a dark night. The drugs that he began taking to maintain more intense and prolonged sexual relations especially methamphetamine (as seen on Breaking Bad) and GHB (or liquid ecstasy) ruined a time in his life: My life began to be destroyed: my family ties, my work, my friendships. There comes a time when you find yourself alone and very depressed.Practices like the ones he stopped after a lot of therapy are on the rise, especially in the community of men who have sex with men.

Infectious diseases clinics can attest to the growing phenomenon. At the clinic of the Gregorio Maranon Hospital in Madrid, in a single year the number of patients who were known to be regulars at chemsex sessions has multiplied by five. In 2017, the Madrid centers dedicated to drug addiction treated 50 people with problems related to chemsex; in 2022, the number of patients had multiplied by 10 to 512.

Maricela Valerio, infectious disease specialist at the Gregorio Maranon Hospital, says that prevention practices are growing less common. Samuel Sanchez

Dating apps play an important role in the explosion of sexual relations with strangers while under the influence of drugs. And, parallel to this phenomenon, there has been a general relaxation of condom use throughout society. We have completely forgotten. We are no longer afraid of infections and sexually transmitted diseases: since we can prevent HIV, we forget about the others. But syphilis, gonorrheawe dont have respect for them, says Dr. Maricela Valerio, infectious disease specialist at Gregorio Maranon Hospital.

Blaming these practices for the growing prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases would be simplistic. But experts are concerned about them. They bring together several risky practices: sex with unknown people, multiple partners at the same time, often without protection. In this environment it is not normal for condoms to be used, says Fernando.

HIV is the only STI that is not on the rise, surely in part thanks to Prep, a prescription prophylactic treatment that prevents infection. (There is a version for emergencies to be taken after exposure to a risk, similar to a morning-after pill.) The rest are on the rise. In the last 10 years, in Spain gonorrhea diagnoses have multiplied by six (12,359 cases) and those of syphilis have more than doubled (5,822). The STIs diagnosed are predominantly male: 82% of the patients are men.

Loneliness, shame and addiction

Throughout his life, Fernando had flirted with drugs. Nothing special: parties, weddings, the usual stuff. At one point, emotionally everything began to collapse. Chemsex was a tool. He fits the typical profile: mostly gay men, between 31 and 39 years of age, with a university degree, who live in towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants. At first, you use it associated with sex. In the end, you end up not being able to have sex; you only consume. You cant interact with anyone, he explains.

The chemical cocktail in these sessions is a polydrug involving methamphetamine, GHB, mephedrone (3-MMC) and ketamine. All are NPS (new psychoactive substances) or emerging drugs, as they have been synthesized in recent years with small variations in their chemical structure to try to avoid the drug label. Although rare, there are deaths associated with them, mainly due to overdoses on GHB and meth.

What led Fernando to take drugs? There is a lot of loneliness, judgment towards myself, shame, emotions we dont like, that we try to avoid. In my life I did not get the tools to manage them, and now I am having to take care of them. Fernando also talks about homophobia and adolescence: When you start to have desire, to experiment, you realize that this is wrong. That is a wall. The fear of not being accepted, the aggressiveness, remains. Thats all part of the addiction.

This is called minority stress, explains Ivan Zaro, a psychologist at Imagina MAS, who relates it to chemsex. Gay men have seen attempts to devalue our masculinity. Body standards were imposed on us. Our attitude was attacked, and we were hypersexualized, he stresses. Often, the men who practice it are seeking to get away from a crushing reality through sexual experiences.

Methamphetamine is such a strong drug that it can take on all other addictions. I was using for three years. There came a time when the highs were continuous, narrates Fernando. He began to inject himself: That lasted a year. My mind was destroyed, my thoughts were crazy, I had crises, hallucinations, violence. It becomes hell. When the rehabilitation process began, four years ago, all the problems that operate in chemsex were not addressed. They knew how to treat alcoholics, cocaine addicts or heroin addicts, he recalls, but they didnt use the approach that experts now advocate: approach chemsex comprehensively, assessing not only the substances, but also the homophobic conditioning factors involved in chemsex.

The majority of users come asking for psychological care. These are patients who have been wanting to reduce the amount of consumption for a long time or who have no other pastimes on the weekend, explains Alba Alonso, a psychologist at Imagina MAS who has worked with Fernando since he turned to the organization to end his addiction. There are also issues related to sex life: some do not remember the last time they had sober sex, adds Alonso, who warns that coming out of addiction takes time, often years.

The process has been slow, says Fernando, who still goes to therapy once a month. Now Im working and getting to know someone. I have my life back. I lived through my own hell. That suffering, and leaving it behind, has led me to respect myself and love myself more. Ive become a person I like more.

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Leading Pest Control Company Urges Mosquito Prevention Amidst New Malaria Cases

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mosquito Joe, a Neighborly company, is urging homeowners to take immediate action against mosquitoes following the public health alert issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this week, confirming the presence of malaria cases in Florida and Texas. These cases are the first instances of the mosquito-borne disease in the country since 2003. As nationwide concerns arise from this news, Mosquito Joe is committed to educating the public about the factors contributing to malaria transmission, its symptoms, and how to protect themselves ahead of the Fourth of July festivities.

Malaria is a serious and potentially fatal disease that is transmitted through the bite of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. An infected person may show signs of symptoms that can range from fever, chills, and nausea to more severe complications if left untreated. Though extremely rare in the U.S., there are more than 240 million cases of malaria diagnosed each year, according to the CDC. The reasons that the disease is now emerging in the U.S. may be due to an increase in travel activity, along with the ongoing rise in global temperatures. The combination of these conditions allows the Anopheles mosquito to thrive.

"The recent confirmation of malaria in both Florida and Texas is concerning as locally transmitted cases of the disease haven't been seen in the U.S. for the past 20 years," said David Price, Associate Certified Entomologist for Mosquito Joe. "Mosquitoes can rapidly multiply and become a serious threat to public health. Preventing mosquito bites is the best way to avoid new cases of malaria. At Mosquito Joe, we are committed to taking an active role in educating the public on effective mosquito prevention techniques to safeguard our communities from diseases like malaria."

The Fourth of July weekend is approaching and many will be spending hours outdoors celebrating. Mosquito Joe provides the following tips to stay safe from these blood-sucking insects and the potential diseases they carry:

Use Mosquito Repellent: Apply an effective mosquito repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, or other EPA-approved ingredients when spending time outdoors. Don't forget to reapply as needed. Wear Protective Clothing: Mosquito activity peaks in the evening, so consider wearing long sleeves, pants, and socks when watching the fireworks to protect exposed skin. Opt for light-colored and loose-fitting clothing for comfort and better visibility. Maintain Your Yard & Pools: Fourth of July weekend brings plenty of pool parties and the cleaner the pool is, the more fun for everyone! Keep swimming pools clean, properly circulated and filtered throughout the holiday weekend. Use a pool cover when not in use to prevent mosquitoes. For the yard, regularly mow the lawn to avoid tall grass, a resting area for mosquitoes. Remove or empty containers like flowerpots, watering cans, and buckets that hold standing water, as they can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Use Outdoor Fans: Mosquitoes do not like excessive air movement, so setting up an outdoor fan around any picnics or gatherings can create a breeze that makes it difficult for them to fly and infest the area. Keep Doors & Windows Screened: Make sure that any open windows or doors are equipped with intact screens, free from holes or gaps, in order to prevent mosquitoes from entering your home. Call in the Professionals: If you're worried about a mosquito infestation ruining your holiday plans, consider hiring a professional pest control company, like Mosquito Joe, to eliminate the bugs from the yard.

Mosquito Joe is dedicated to helping homeowners protect themselves from the dangers of mosquitoes and the associated health risks. Franchise locations across the U.S. offer professional services that provide reliable and effective mosquito control solutions. Mosquito Joe's certified technicians are trained in the Mosquito Joe Pollinator Protection Management Program, which focuses on deep familiarity with each customer's property, professional application procedures, and the use of appropriate products. They are also trained and certified to meet state guidelines.

Last year, the brand was awarded the Silver Tier by the EPA's Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP) for its work on emphasizing integrated pest management (IPM), education, pollinator protection, and stewardship of the environment.

For more information about Mosquito Joe and mosquito preventive measures, visit MosquitoJoe.com.

About Mosquito Joe

Dedicated to making outside fun again by eliminating mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas from customers' yards, Mosquito Joe, a Neighborly company, is a leader in the outdoor pest control industry. The brand was founded in 2010 and has since expanded to more than 350 locations throughout the U.S. Acquired in 2018, Mosquito Joe is part of Neighborly, the world's largest home services company with more than 30 brands and 5,000 franchises collectively serving 12 million+ customers in six countries, focused on repairing, maintaining, and enhancing homes and businesses. Through Neighborly.com and the Neighborly mobile app, Neighborly connects consumers to local service providers that meet rigorous franchisor standards across 19 service categories. For more information about Mosquito Joe, visit www.mosquitojoe.com. To learn about franchising opportunities with Neighborly, click here.

Media Contact: Camille Douglas, Fishman Public Relations, 248-841-0937 or [email protected]

SOURCE Mosquito Joe
WASHINGTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of the first asteroid sample collected by the U.S. arriving on Earth in September, media are invited on Monday, July 24, to meet mission scientists and see NASA's newly-built OSIRIS-REx Sample Curation Laboratory where the agency will study the sample at its Johnson Space Center in Houston.

NASA's OSIRIS-REx curation team rehearse the opening of the asteroid sample canister in the newly built OSIRIS-REx Curation lab at Johnson Space Center.

The asteroid Bennu, the target of the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security  Regolith Explorer) mission, is a carbonaceous asteroid whose regolith may record the earliest history of our solar system. The Bennu sample may contain the molecular precursors to the origin of life and Earth's oceans, and its study also will help scientists understand planet formation.

The media day will include opportunities to speak with subject matter experts and capture still and moving imagery at the curation lab. Full interviews with subject matter experts will be available after the lab tour concludes.

U.S. and international media interested in participating must request accreditation no later than 5 p.m. CDT Friday, July 7, by contacting the NASA Johnson newsroom at: 281-483-5111 or [email protected]. Media accreditation is limited due to space.

Johnson houses the world's largest collection of astromaterials from the solar system under one roof, including samples from asteroids, comets, Mars, the Moon, Sun, and dust from other stars. Scientists use world-class laboratories to perform research on planetary materials and the space environment to investigate the origin and evolution of our solar system and beyond.

SOURCE NASA
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boards of the Neuberger Berman mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and listed closed-end funds have appointed Ami Kaplan and Franklyn Smith as board members.

Ms. Kaplan was a partner at Deloitte LLP, where she worked with global financial services clients. She is member of the New York and New Jersey State Societies of CPA and has held a variety of roles with not-for-profit company boards.

Mr. Smith was a partner at PricewaterhouseCooper LLP, where he worked with mutual fund clients. He is a CPA with a license in New York, holds an advanced degree in public accounting, and serves on the Board of a not-for-profit organization.

The Neuberger Berman listed closed-end funds are set forth below.

Neuberger Berman California Municipal Fund Inc. NYSE American: NBW Neuberger Berman Energy Infrastructure and Income Fund Inc. NYSE American: NML Neuberger Berman High Yield Strategies Fund Inc. NYSE American: NHS Neuberger Berman Municipal Fund Inc. NYSE American: NBH Neuberger Berman New York Municipal Fund Inc. NYSE American: NBO Neuberger Berman Next Generation Connectivity Fund Inc. NYSE: NBXG Neuberger Berman Real Estate Securities Income Fund Inc. NYSE American: NRO

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategiesincluding equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge fundson behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. Neuberger Berman's investment philosophy is founded on active management, engaged ownership and fundamental research, including industry-leading research into material environmental, social and governance factors. Neuberger Berman is a PRI Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms. With offices in 26 countries, the firm's diverse team has over 2,700 professionals. For nine consecutive years, Neuberger Berman has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). The firm manages $436 billion in client assets as of March 31, 2023. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund's performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund's investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.

Contact:

Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC

Investor Information

(877) 461-1899

SOURCE Neuberger Berman
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman High Yield Strategies Fund Inc. (NYSE American: NHS) (the "Fund") has announced a distribution declaration of $0.0905 per share of common stock. The distribution announced today is payable on July 31, 2023, has a record date of July 17, 2023 and has an ex-date of July 14, 2023.

Under its level distribution policy, the Fund anticipates that it will make regular monthly distributions, subject to market conditions, of $0.0905 per share of common stock, unless further action is taken to determine another amount. The Fund's ability to maintain its current distribution rate will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and stability of income received from its investments, the cost of leverage and the level of other Fund fees and expenses. There is no assurance that the Fund will always be able to pay a distribution of any particular amount or that a distribution will consist only of net investment income.

Due to an effort to maintain a stable distribution amount, the distribution announced today, as well as future distributions, may consist of net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. In compliance with Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, a notice would be provided for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. The notice would be for informational purposes and not for tax reporting purposes, and would disclose, among other things, estimated portions of the distribution, if any, consisting of net investment income, capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2023 will be made after the end of the year.

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategiesincluding equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge fundson behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. Neuberger Berman's investment philosophy is founded on active management, engaged ownership and fundamental research, including industry-leading research into material environmental, social and governance factors. Neuberger Berman is a PRI Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms. With offices in 26 countries, the firm's diverse team has over 2,700 professionals. For nine consecutive years, Neuberger Berman has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). The firm manages $436 billion in client assets as of March 31, 2023. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund's performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund's investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.

Contact:

Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC

Investor Information

(877) 461-1899

SOURCE Neuberger Berman
DUBLIN, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "North America MNO Directory 2023-2024" directory has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This directory will help telecom service providers interested in doing business with mobile network operators throughout North America. It features over 30+ operators from over 4 countries.

The product is known among industry stalwarts as the most trusted resource for gaining backdoor access to decision-makers holding influential positions within operator businesses. The 2023 special edition offers a new design and almost 3 times the number of management contacts as compared to the older edition. Over the past 15 years, these Directories have paved the way for telecom vendor businesses to connect with mobile operators/service providers and enabled thousands of business connections and collaborations to flourish.



This directory is carved out as a niche product that specifically helps 'service providers to mobile operators' obtain and gain new business. Featuring important operator business info to contacts of key executives holding influential roles, the directory offers the following information for any mobile operator business across North America:

Operator Details - Registered Name, Brand, Region, Market Share (%), Ownership, Group Information

Business Details - Network portfolio, Subscribers/Growth Trend, Network Penetration, Technologies offered, Contact Details

Online presence - website/URL

CXO/Management/Decision - Makers/Influencer contacts

Formats Available - PDF & Excel

What's special about the 2023-2024 edition?

Whole North America covered: 30+ Operators from over 4 countries

covered: 30+ Operators from over 4 countries 100% Anti-Spam US Law, European GDPR compliant

250+ CXO/Management/Decision-making contacts: Up to 300% more contacts than previous edition

Available in PDF & Excel: New user friendly PDF & campaign friendly XLS design

First time with detailed Executive Summary & Questions Answered: Giving a clear and precise understanding of the North American telecom market to corporates

1-Update free of cost (subject to availability)

Audience: Those looking to do business with MNOs or MVNOs e.g. Network Enablers, Hubbing Partners, Interconnection usage providers, Roaming partners, Handset manufacturers, Infra service providers, Chipset Providers, Core Solutions, Digitalisation Experts, Consultants, 4G/5G specialists, Other telecom service providers.

Key Topics Covered

1. Executive Summary

2. Questions Answered by the Study

3. North America MNO Directory 2023-2024 (Q4, 2022)

For more information about this directory visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/mswuhb

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
OSU cuts ribbon for LaunchPad Center for Advanced Air Mobility with Tulsa Innovation Labs and Osage Nation; Signs Space Act Agreement with NASA

TULSA, Okla., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Friday, Oklahoma State University and partners  including Tulsa Innovation Labs and the Osage Nation  celebrated a ribbon-cutting at the LaunchPad Center for Advanced Air Mobility at OSU-Tulsa's Helmerich Research Center (HRC).

The LaunchPad Center will house dedicated resources to promote the development of new technologies in advanced air mobility, including staff to solicit projects from industry, engineers and researchers to build new products, and supporting services to help commercialize technologies and grow new companies.

Local, tribal, state and national leaders  including representatives from the Department of Defense, Tinker Air Force Base, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Economic Development Administration  were on hand for the event, which culminated in an unmanned aerial systems demonstration.

"A key pillar of Oklahoma State University's strategy is leading in aerospace and aviation innovation, but we know our success is shared success," OSU President Kayse Shrum said. "This is why we are so excited about our strategic partnerships with NASA, Tulsa Innovation Labs, and Osage LLC, an Osage Nation enterprise. Additionally, the U.S. Economic Development Administration recognizes that taking Oklahoma's aerospace and aviation to the next level has national benefits, and we appreciate the agency's critical support."

The LaunchPad Center will support the development and deployment of emerging aviation technologies, including unmanned aerial systems with uses ranging from critical infrastructure inspection and agricultural monitoring to emergency response and last-mile delivery. Given Tulsa's strategic position as an urban hub in a rural region, the LaunchPad Center will also focus on developing new air transportation systems to safely and sustainably move people and goods in places currently underserved by aviation, including rural and tribal communities.

"Aviation is entering its third 'golden age' and the LaunchPad Center for Advanced Air Mobility is on the cusp of translating research into significant industry advancements," said Dr. Jamey Jacob, executive director of the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education (OAIRE), director of the Counter-UAS Center of Excellence and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at OSU. "OAIRE and the creation of the LaunchPad Center under the OAIRE umbrella will bridge the gap between early stage research and applied technology, deploying developments to improve industry, the economy and to move the research tied to aviation and space forward."

Jennifer Hankins, deputy managing director of Tulsa Innovation Labs, said they were thrilled to see this vision come to life.

"Not only will the LaunchPad Center position Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma for global competitiveness in advanced air mobility, but equally important is the signal this moment sends to our local community," Hankins said. "This investment in OSU-Tulsa is part of our commitment to supporting the ongoing revival of Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District, where the center will be located. We are eager to see this project inspire Tulsa's next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and young people interested in careers in the next wave of the aerospace and aviation industries."

The LaunchPad Center will be housed with state-of-the-art research and development laboratory assets in the HRC, capitalizing on the campus' strategic location, educational connections and industry partnerships. LaunchPad's first industry partner, WindShape, will create an environmental test facility in the HRC, gathering data on any conditions UAS will experience while in flight but in a controlled laboratory environment. This includes environmental test facilities to evaluate drones in wind, rain, icing and wildfire conditions.

The LaunchPad Center is one of four projects under the new Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility (TRAM) Cluster, which received $38.2 million in funding from the Economic Development Administration's Build Back Better Regional Challenge. This grant also created the Skyway Range, a flight test facility which connects the Osage Nation and its enterprises' Skyway36 Droneport in Tulsa, OSU's Unmanned Aircraft Flight Station near Stillwater and two additional nodes in the region to create an unparalleled asset for testing and evaluation of new technologies.

"We believe this facility will be the first of its kind in the United States," Jacob said. "With the Skyway Range test flight facility, we have the capacity to test capabilities in the real world, eventually in both urban and suburban settings. With our partnership with the Osage Nation and their Skyway Range, located 5 miles north of the LaunchPad Center, we have the capacity to solve last-mile delivery problems. The long-term goal is to support the ecosystem for external researchers as well as entrepreneurs with startup concepts they would like to transition from early stage to field testing."

The Skyway 36 Droneport, a working airport where OSU research is already under way, is now fully dedicated to advanced air mobility applications. It will include immediate access to manufacturing space and allow researchers to work hand-in-hand with industry to advance innovation seamlessly and quickly.

"Exposing our youth to emerging aviation technologies is critical for the next generation to be competitive in advanced air mobility," said Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear. "Osage Nation Education and STEAM departments have laid a strong foundation for these opportunities through strategic partnerships such as this, and we are excited for the LaunchPad Center to be a resource to continue this forward momentum."

Space Act Agreement

Coupled with the ribbon-cutting for the LaunchPad Center, OSU also signed the Space Act Agreement, opening the door to expanded opportunities for education, workforce development and research.

NASA Education and OSU are celebrating more than 55 years of continuous partnership that has inspired students and immersed them in NASA's work with programs such as Teacher in Space and Teaching from Space, Explorer Schools, Digital Learning Network and INSPIRE.

Under the agreement, OSU and NASA will work together to facilitate joint research, technology transfer, technology development and educational and outreach initiatives that build upon the long outreach and research history that NASA has with OSU. The overarching goal is to create a sustained pipeline of diverse talent for STEM careers at NASA and foster entrepreneurship and commercial opportunities in Oklahoma startup companies that provide support for NASA operations.

NASA Director of STEM Engagement Gamaliel Cherry said the new Space Act Agreement will build on the existing foundation and create an innovative university partnership to leverage NASA and the university's research opportunities.

"We're excited to ensure that OSU is the cornerstone of what NASA has to offer," Cherry said. "NASA has a university collaborations initiative that focuses on making sure that key universities have a focus in helping us achieve our mission, not only today, but in the future. And we're proud to be here today to say that OSU is going to be a part of that."

OAIRE faculty will also have the opportunity to engage with NASA through research and educational collaborations and support companies engaged in NASA Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. The LaunchPad Center will benefit from this arrangement by providing an additional opportunity space for LaunchPad Center researchers and companies to collaborate with NASA on their advanced air mobility efforts.

PHOTOS: flic.kr/s/aHBqjAKMVy

VIDEO: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s3e3hhKogyM6SA1enfkH80ojzjf90p19

MEDIA CONTACT: Shannon Rigsby | Associate Director of Public Information | 405-744-9081| [email protected]; Jessica Remer | Tulsa Innovation Labs, Manager, Marketing and Communications | 918-759-0288 | [email protected]

About Oklahoma State University - OAIRE

OAIRE is leading the way in Advanced Air Mobility, which will revolutionize the use of autonomous aircraft including drones in more universal ways such as daily transportation for people and goods. OSU  as part of the Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility Cluster  will help create the next intersection point between aerospace and intelligence by furthering uncrewed technology and urban air mobility. Through state-of-the-art research and groundbreaking discoveries, OSU continues to build the future of aerospace and invest in the future of Oklahoma.

About Tulsa Innovation Labs

Recognizing that the jobs of the future are rooted in a thriving innovation economy, the George Kaiser Family Foundation pioneered Tulsa Innovation Labs to develop a citywide strategy that positions Tulsa as a tech hub that leverages the strengths of the Heartland. Through a diverse coalition of public and private partners, TIL is creating programs that seek to make Tulsa the nation's most inclusive tech community.

About Osage LLC - Skyway 36 Droneport

Osage LLC - Skyway 36 is an enterprise of the Osage Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribal government with headquarters in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. We are proud of our heritage, poised for the future, and driven to deliver prosperity for our people and partners.

About NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is America's civil space program and the global leader in space exploration. At its 20 centers and facilities across the country  and the only National Laboratory in space  NASA studies Earth, including its climate, our Sun, and our solar system and beyond. The agency conducts research, testing and development to advance aeronautics, including electric propulsion and supersonic flight, and develops and funds space technologies that will enable future exploration and benefit life on Earth.

SOURCE Oklahoma State University
OAKLAND, Calif., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) will hold a conference call on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Pacific Time) to discuss its second quarter 2023 results. The public can access the conference call through a simultaneous webcast. The link is provided below and will also be available from the PG&E Corporation website.

What: Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call When: Thursday, July 27, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time Where: http://investor.pgecorp.com/news-events/events-and-presentations/default.aspx

A replay of the live conference call and webcast will be available at

http://investor.pgecorp.com/news-events/events-and-presentations/default.aspx.

Alternatively, a toll-free replay of the conference call may be accessed shortly after the live call through August 10, 2023 by dialing (800) 770-2030. Confirmation code 64421 will be required to access the replay.

Please contact Investor Relations at [email protected] if you have any questions.

PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is a holding company headquartered in Oakland. It is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, an energy company that serves 16 million Californians across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pgecorp.com.

SOURCE PG&E Corporation
RADNOR, Pa., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Phoenix Services LLC (the "Company" or "Phoenix"), a premier provider of mission-critical services to leading, global steel producing companies, today announced that it has successfully completed its financial restructuring process and has emerged as a reorganized company from its chapter 11 case after only nine months. Phoenix's chapter 11 plan and the transactions contemplated thereunder were supported by the Company's lenders, who provided $45 million in new-money exit financing to support the operations going forward.

Through its successful restructuring efforts, Phoenix has:

deleveraged its balance sheet by more than $400 million ;

; strengthened its portfolio of customer contracts;

preserved more than 1500 employee positions across the United States and internationally;

and internationally; successfully restructured its capital lease portfolio; and

assumed over 200 contracts with important counterparties.

"This milestone marks the final step in the Phoenix's comprehensive restructuring," said Mark Porto, Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Services LLC. "As we launch this next phase of the company's story, I want to express my sincere gratitude to our employees for their unwavering dedication to safety, reliability, and operational excellence at all of our sites. With a deleveraged balance sheet, strengthened customer and lease portfolios and a committed workforce, Phoenix Services is well positioned to realize its long-term growth potential."

Phoenix Services LLC was advised by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. as its legal advisors, AlixPartners, LLP as its financial advisor, PJT Partners LP as investment bankers and Sitrick And Company as strategic communications advisors.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as counsel and Evercore served as financial advisor for the ad hoc group of first lien lenders.

For additional information about the cases please visit http://cases.stretto.com/phoenix.

Phoenix Services

Phoenix Services LLC is dedicated to sustainable solutions and maximizing efficiency for the global steel industry with minimal environmental impact. Services include removal, handling, and processing of molten slag at customer sites, as well as preparation and transportation of metal scraps, raw materials, and finished products.

SOURCE Phoenix Services LLC
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Paul W. Glimcher, PhD, has been named as the director of NYU Langone Health's Neuroscience Institute and chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, effective July 1. Dr. Glimcher, one of the foremost researchers in the study of human behavior and decision-making, currently serves as a professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology and in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is also co-director of the Computational Psychiatry Program in the Department of Psychiatry and the Julius Silver Professor of Neural Science at New York University.

Paul Glimcher, PhD, founder of the field of neuroeconomics, was named director of NYU Langone Healths Neuroscience Institute and the new chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology.

Dr. Glimcher is credited as the founder of the field of neuroeconomics, which bridges neuroscience, psychology, and economics to understand human decision-making. In 2004, Dr. Glimcher founded the Center for the Study of Neuroeconomics, now known as the Institute for the Study of Decision Making at NYU, which aims to tackle the next generation of human behavior research challenges and translate that research into improved public policy.

The Neuroscience Institute strives to make scientific breakthroughs that advance our understanding of brain function by fostering collaboration between research faculty and clinical partners and also between departments from across NYU's schools.

"I am honored to continue this fascinating and interdisciplinary work with my wonderful colleagues at NYU Langone Health," Dr. Glimcher said. "As we begin to understand the biological foundations of human behavior in health and disease, this work urges us to seek new insights into our friends, families, and the world around us to improve quality of life through both biological interventions, research, and public policy solutions."

Dr. Glimcher has employed many of the insights derived from his academic work into an award-winning clinical data collection system marketed for clinical trial research by Datacubed Health. He served as Datacubed Health's founding CEO from 2016 to 2020. His academic research has been cited in academic literature over 20,000 times, and he is the author of several award-winning books on neuroeconomics. In addition to his research accomplishments and accolades, Dr. Glimcher is a passionate educator and, amongst his numerous teaching honors, he received the NYU Distinguished Teaching Award in 2006.

"Paul is considered one of the foremost researchers in the study of human behavior and decision-making, and we are thrilled to see him take the helm of the Neuroscience Institute," said Robert I. Grossman, MD, dean and CEO of NYU Langone Health. "I'm excited to see how his leadership and insights will shape the future of neuroscience research."

After receiving his doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and completing his postdoctoral research there, Dr. Glimcher joined NYU as an assistant professor in the Center for Neural Science in 1994.

Dr. Glimcher will be succeeding Richard Tsien, DPhil, who joined NYU Langone in 2011 as the inaugural director of the Neuroscience Institute and served as chair of the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology since 2012. Under Dr. Tsien's leadership, the neuroscience community at NYU Grossman School of Medicine expanded to 25 labs supported by Neuroscience Institute administration and grew to have the fourth largest grant portfolio at NYU Langone.

Media Inquiries

Colin DeVries

[email protected]

212-404-3588

SOURCE NYU Langone Health
CHICAGO, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the near future, the revenue cycle management (RCM) industry is expected to undergo significant transformation and growth. Advancements in technology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, will drive automation and optimization of RCM processes, reducing administrative costs and expediting revenue cycles. Data analytics will play a crucial role in identifying revenue leakage and improving financial outcomes. Moreover, there will be a greater emphasis on patient experience, with transparent pricing, cost estimates, and convenient payment options becoming integral to RCM practices. Compliance with evolving regulatory requirements will be a key focus, leading to increased demand for specialized RCM expertise. Outsourcing and strategic partnerships will continue to be prevalent, allowing healthcare organizations to leverage the expertise and scalability of RCM vendors. As the industry adapts to evolving payment models, such as value-based care, RCM processes will need to align with new reimbursement methodologies. Overall, the future of the RCM industry holds immense potential for innovation, efficiency, and improved financial outcomes for healthcare organizations.

Revenue Cycle Management Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $49.6 billion in 2023 and is poised to reach $84.1 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 11.1% from 2023 to 2028 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. The shift from fee-for-service to value-based reimbursement models is transforming the RCM market. Value-based reimbursement models are based on patient outcomes rather than the volume of treatments rendered to patients. Value-based reimbursement models have enhanced patient experience and facilitated financial workflows for providers. This has positively impacted the RCM market growth to a certain extent. Also, growing regulatory requirements & government initiatives are expected to drive demand of the RCM market during the forecast period.

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Revenue Cycle Management Market Scope:

Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2023 $49.6 billion Estimated Value by 2028 $84.1 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 11.1% 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 & services, delivery mode, end user and region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Growing demand for AI & cloud-based deployment Key Market Drivers Growing need to manage unstructured healthcare data

By product & services segment, the outsourcing services segment is expected to grow at the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

The outsourced services segment is anticipated to expand at a considerable CAGR among the product & service categories throughout the forecast period. This can be attributed to its ability to optimize revenue cycle operations through the utilization of specialized resources and expertise from third-party providers. By doing so, healthcare organizations can focus on their core competencies, achieve cost reductions, and enhance operational efficiency. Furthermore, outsourcing services grant access to advanced technology platforms, enabling seamless integration, streamlined workflows, and robust data analytics capabilities. With scalability and adaptability, outsourcing services drive revenue cycle management advancements, bolster financial stability, and elevate overall performance for healthcare providers.

By delivery mode, the on-premise segment is expected to account for the largest revenue cycle management market share.

In 2022, the on-premise segment held the largest market share for revenue cycle management globally. The significant market share of this segment can be attributed to the security and data safety features possessed by on-premise deployment. Easy data access within the interdependent facilities of a healthcare setting has further elevated the market share.

By end user, the healthcare providers segment is expected to account for the largest share of the revenue cycle management market.

Healthcare payers and providers are the two market segments for revenue cycle management based on end users. RCM offers numerous benefits for healthcare providers, helping them optimize financial performance, improve operational efficiency, and enhance the overall patient experience. These factors have elevated the adoption of RCM solutions amongst healthcare providers, thus, positively impacting the market growth.

North America dominates the revenue cycle management market during the forecast period.

In 2022, North America held the largest market share for revenue cycle management. The large share of this region can be attributed to several factors, including strict regulations, an increase in the number of claims denials, well-established government payers and high numbers of private healthcare payers, and a sizable number of healthcare IT companies.

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Revenue Cycle Management Market Dynamics:

Drivers:

Growing need to manage unstructured healthcare data

Restraints:

Deployment costs include licensing and subscription costs

Opportunities:

Growing demand for AI & cloud-based deployment

Challenges:

Issues related to data security and confidentiality

Key Market Players:

R1 RCM (US), Oracle (US), Optum (US) are the leading players in the market. Other players include McKesson Corporation (US), Change Healthcare (US), 3M (US), Experian plc (Ireland), Conifer Health Solutions (US), Veradigm (US), GE Healthcare (US), Cognizant (US), athenahealth (US), SSI Group LLC (US), AdvantEdge Healthcare (US), and Huron Consulting Group (US)

Recent Developments:

In 2023, Optum partnered with Owensboro Health to manage revenue cycle and information technology and improve patient outcomes and safety.

In 2022, the R1 RCM announced 10-year end-to-end RCM partnerships with Scion Health, Sutter Health, and St. Clair Health to streamline workflow standardization and improve patient access platforms.

In 2022, McKesson signed a definitive agreement to acquire Rx Savings Solutions to offer medication therapy more affordable and increase medication adherence to improve outcomes.

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Revenue Cycle Management Market Advantages:

Improved Financial Performance: RCM solutions help healthcare organizations optimize their revenue streams by streamlining billing, coding, claims processing, and payment collection processes. By enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of these processes, RCM solutions minimize revenue leakage, reduce claim denials, and expedite payment cycles, leading to improved financial performance for healthcare providers.

Cost Savings: Implementing RCM solutions can result in significant cost savings for healthcare organizations. By automating manual tasks, reducing paperwork, and minimizing errors, RCM solutions reduce administrative expenses and enhance operational efficiency. Moreover, RCM solutions provide insights into billing patterns and revenue trends, enabling organizations to identify areas for improvement and implement proactive strategies to maximize revenue generation.

Enhanced Revenue Integrity: RCM solutions ensure the integrity of revenue by improving coding accuracy and compliance with regulatory requirements. With ever-changing healthcare regulations and reimbursement policies, RCM solutions help healthcare organizations stay up-to-date and compliant, reducing the risk of penalties and revenue loss due to non-compliance.

Increased Productivity: RCM solutions automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, enabling healthcare professionals to focus on patient care rather than administrative burdens. By reducing manual intervention, RCM solutions streamline workflows, enhance productivity, and allow staff to allocate their time and expertise more effectively, leading to improved overall operational efficiency.

Real-time Analytics and Reporting: RCM solutions provide real-time data analytics and reporting capabilities, offering healthcare organizations valuable insights into key performance indicators, revenue trends, and financial metrics. These insights enable informed decision-making, identification of revenue optimization opportunities, and implementation of proactive strategies to address revenue cycle challenges.

Patient Satisfaction and Experience: RCM solutions contribute to improved patient satisfaction by enhancing the financial experience for patients. Transparent pricing, accurate cost estimates, and convenient payment options provided through RCM systems empower patients to make informed financial decisions and ease the burden of medical billing. This, in turn, enhances patient loyalty and contributes to a positive overall patient experience.

Scalability and Adaptability: RCM solutions can be tailored to the specific needs and size of healthcare organizations, making them scalable and adaptable. Whether it is a small clinic or a large hospital system, RCM solutions can accommodate varying volumes of transactions and adapt to evolving industry requirements, supporting the growth and changing needs of healthcare organizations.

In conclusion, the revenue cycle management market offers advantages such as improved financial performance, cost savings, enhanced revenue integrity, increased productivity, real-time analytics, patient satisfaction, and scalability. These advantages position RCM solutions as essential tools for healthcare organizations seeking to optimize revenue streams, improve operational efficiency, and provide an enhanced financial experience for patients.

Revenue Cycle Management Market  Report Highlights:

The global revenue cycle management market is projected to reach USD 84.15 billion by 2028 from USD 49.6 billion in 2023, at a CAGR of 11.1% during the forecast period. The market growth is majorly attributed to the need for increased patient volumes and the growing need to manage unstructured healthcare data. Also, growing regulatory requirements & government initiatives are expected to drive demand growth in the revenue cycle management market during the forecast period.

Recession Impact on Revenue cycle management market

Recession after Covid-19 did not have a substantial impact on the RCM market. In fact, according to industry experts, demand for RCM solutions increased to overcome the growing expenses and shortage of funds faced by healthcare providers. The highly efficient RCM solutions helped the healthcare providers to achieve their financial goals with the help of predictive analytics. However, few small healthcare practices shifted their economic focus to essential medical services due to budgetary constraints. This had affected the market growth to a certain extent.

R1 RCM (US), Oracle (US), and Optum (US) are among the significant providers of the Revenue cycle management market.

Coverage of market players

We have covered 25 companies in the report, including R1 RCM (US), Oracle (US), Optum (US), McKesson Corporation (US), Change Healthcare (US), 3M (US), AdvantEdge Healthcare (US), Conifer Health Solutions (US), Veradigm (US), GE Healthcare (US), Cognizant (US), Huron Consulting Group (US), SSI Group LLC (US), Experian plc (Ireland), and athenahealth (US).

Updated financial information and recent developments of the profiled players

The report contains the updated financial information for each listed public company from January 2021 to March 2023. It also includes the recent developments undertaken by market players as well as their strategic overview.

Recent developments help identify market trends and popular growth strategies market players adopt. The current analysis shows that service launches and acquisitions were prominent growth strategies for players between January 2020 and August 2022.

Market Overview and Industry Insights

Updated the market overview inclined to new recent developments and recently available statistics. Ecosystem/ market map, tariff, and regulatory landscape, case study analysis, key conferences & events in 2022-2023, Porter five forces analysis, adjacent market analysis, trends, key stakeholders and buying criteria, and indicative pricing analysis are added in industry insights.

Related Reports:

Patient Access Solutions Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

North American Healthcare IT Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

Medical Terminology Software Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

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Clinical Decision Support Systems Market - Global Forecasts to 2027

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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.

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Brad Pitts next film project, as announced in May, will be a movie about Formula 1 and, according to Variety, the Hollywood star will be paid around $30 million. A couple of months ago, Pitt sold a mansion in Los Angeles for $40 million, 24 times the price he paid for it three decades earlier. Perhaps he decided to sell his Los Angeles home to cover the expense of the purchase last August of a house overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Carmel, California, for around the same value. These are the economic parameters in which the actor moves, something that, however, a woman from Granada, Spain, appeared to be unaware of after a fraudster posing as Brad Pitt, whom she met on the internet, conned her out of up to 170,000 ($184,000).

The story of this scam begins in 2022, according to Antonio Estella Aroza, the womans lawyer, when her client joined a fan club dedicated to the actor on Facebook. As her involvement with the group increased, eventually Brad Pitt himself ended up interacting with her directly, or so she believed. The only information that has been made public is that the fraud victim is from Granada and is middle-aged. Her lawyer has elected not to provide any more information.

One of the images of Brad Pitt used by the scammers, in which the actor appears to hold a message for the victim.

The scammers worked their scheme for a little over a year. As Aroza explains: They are professionals; they mark times, they know when to provide affection and when not to respond. And, finally, when to ask for money. As there is only one step from friendship to love when it comes to a scam, the actor suddenly fell in love with the woman. It was always a distance relationship, as usually happens in these cases, until the scammers made the promise that the fake Brad Pitt would come to Spain to meet her in person. As if that was not enough, she was also promised that they would shoot a movie together.

Then the requests for money began. The lawyer explains that the woman made transfers of up to 30,000 ($32,500) at a time to various accounts at Spanish and European banks. Aroza says that, in line with his experience of such cases, these accounts were opened with stolen identity cards. A little less than a month ago, the woman realized her relationship with the actor was a trick and approached the lawyer. A suit has been lodged in a Granada court for fraud, identity theft  that of Pitt - and money laundering, as Aroza believes the banks should have followed the money trail of the transfers due to the large amounts. In a series of transfers, the woman deposited 170,000 in the swindlers accounts to finance the film.

The scammers used the now traditional system of photomontages to maintain the ruse, using images of the genuine Brad Pitt with superimposed messages bearing words of affection toward the woman in somewhat sloppy Spanish. As yet, the court has not ordered any investigation, Aroza says. While the real Brad Pitt looks to his next Hollywood project, there is nothing to guarantee that the fake one is not out there fishing for another victim.

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Growing number of key assets in space highlights the importance of working together globally on space

sustainability

MUNICH, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rivada Space Networks has joined the #Astra Carta initiative to accelerate space sustainability. Launched by the Sustainable Markets organization, Astra Carta brings to reality a vision for space sustainability outlined by His Majesty King Charles III, when he was the Prince of Wales, at the UK Government's Summit for Space Sustainability in 2022.

King Charles III greets Rivada Chief Regulatory Officer Ann Vandenbroucke at Astra Carta launch event in London, June 2023 Rivada's OuterNET offers unprecedented coverage, capacity and speed.

Following the Global Leaders on Space Sustainability Symposium held in London this week, Ann Vandenbroucke, Chief Regulatory Officer at Rivada Space Networks, attended the ceremony at Buckingham Palace where His Majesty King Charles III unveiled the Astra Carta seal to mark the launch of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Astra Carta framework, accelerating space sustainability efforts and goals.

"Rivada Space Networks is proud to be a signatory of the Astra Carta principles. We are committed to holistic space sustainability  from design to operation," Vandenbroucke said. "We are already working with OKAPI:Orbits to provide our constellations with satellite mission-analysis tools and collision avoidance and de-orbiting strategies, demonstrating our commitment to using space responsibly and applying the highest standards in terms of space sustainability and debris mitigation. We welcome this initiative and look forward to working together globally to bring this vision for space sustainability to reality."

With technological progress increasing accessibility and unlocking new use cases, particularly in low earth orbit (LEO), space sustainability is becoming increasingly important to avoid damage to key space infrastructure and to ensure we continue to enjoy the enormous potential of space here on earth.

Rivada Space Networks will soon be launching a first-of-its-kind LEO constellation, which will offer access to a secure satellite network with pole-to-pole reach, with end-to-end latencies similar to or better than terrestrial fiber. Rivada's unique system architecture creates the first true "OuterNET" by combining inter-satellite laser links with advanced onboard data routers to create a global mesh network in space. It will deliver ultra-secure and highly reliable global connectivity for business operations in the telecom, enterprise, maritime, energy and government services markets. The first satellite launch is set for 2025, with global service starting in 2026.

Declan Ganley, CEO, Rivada Space Networks, said: "We are building something unique in low earth orbit, the OuterNET: the first truly private global network on which data travels through space alone to provide ultra secure, highly reliable low latency communications anywhere on the globe." He added: "We will continue to work very closely with the global space community to ensure the responsible use of space and the success of this ground-breaking satellite constellation."

For more information on the Astra Carta, please visit:

https://www.sustainable-markets.org/astra-carta/astra-carta-seal/

https://www.sustainable-markets.org/news/the-launch-of-the-astra-carta/

About Rivada Space Networks

Rivada Space Networks GmbH is a disruptive new company set to establish and operate the first true "OuterNET": a global low latency point-to-point connectivity network of LEO satellites. By connecting its satellites with lasers, Rivada Space Networks will provide resellers and B2B customers with the ability to securely connect any two points on the globe with low latency and high bandwidth. The constellations, comprising 600 low-earth-orbit communications satellites, will represent a fundamental change in the availability of secure, global, end-to-end enterprise-grade connectivity for Telecom, Enterprise, Maritime, Energy and Government Services markets. Rivada Space Networks is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rivada Networks, Inc. www.rivadaspace.com Follow Rivada Space Networks on:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/rivadaspace

Twitter: @rivadaspace

Media Contacts

Melanie Dickie, SVP Marketing & Communication

Rivada Space Networks GmbH

Tel: +31 6 14 22 97 62

Email: [email protected]m

Brian Carney, SVP Corporate Communications

Rivada Networks, Inc

Tel: +1 (207) 256-0386

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Rivada Space Networks
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues its investigation of potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Prudential plc (NYSE: PUK) (OTC: PUKPF) resulting from allegations that Prudential may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Prudential securities you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the prospective class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=16906 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

WHAT IS THIS ABOUT: On May 31, 2023, Prudential disclosed that its Chief Financial Officer James Turner had resigned amid a probe into a "code of conduct issue" relating to a recent recruitment.

On this news, the price of Prudential's American Depositary Receipts ("ADR") fell $1.71 per ADR, or 6.08%, to close at $26.43 per ADR on May 31, 2023.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources, or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually litigate securities class actions. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

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NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The rugged smartphone market size is estimated to increase by USD 274.56 million from 2022 to 2027, at a CAGR of 4.46%, according to a recent market study by Technavio. This report also offers a 5-year historical (2017-2021) data projection of market size, segmentation, and region. Discover some insights on market size before buying the full report -Request a sample report

Rugged Smartphone Market 2023-2027: Vendor Analysis and Scope

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Rugged Smartphone Market

The rugged smartphone market report also offers information on the criticality of inputs, R&D, CAPEX, technology, and products of 15 vendors listed below -

American Reliance Inc., Atexxo Manufacturing BV, BARTEC Top Holding GmbH, Caterpillar Inc., CROSSCALL, Doke Communication HK Ltd., Getac, Gigaset AG, Honeywell International Inc., Kyocera Corp., OUKITEL, Panasonic Holdings Corp., Pepperl and Fuchs SE, RugGear GmbH, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Shenzhen Tinfull Technology Co. Ltd., Sonim Technologies Inc., Ulefone, Unitech Computer Co. Ltd., and Zebra Technologies Corp.

Chart & Data Table on 5-Year Historic (2017-2021) Market Size, Comparative Analysis of Segments, and Y-O-Y Growth of Rugged smartphone market Download Sample

Rugged Smartphone Market  Market Segmentation

The market is segmented by type (semi-rugged, fully rugged, and ultra-rugged), end-user (industrial, commercial, military and defense, and government)

The market share growth in the semi-rugged segment will be significant during the forecast period. The gap between traditional consumer smartphones and fully rugged, industrial-grade devices is bridged by these devices. Furthermore, these devices can withstand harsh environments and rough handling which are required by the workers in various industries. As a result, people are preferring them over commercial smartphones because of their rigidness though they are expensive. Hence, the demand from various end-users is expected to drive the growth of the segment during the forecast period.

Geographical Overview

The market is segmented by geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa)

North America is estimated to contribute 31% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. The region is an important market for vendors because of its higher level of technology adoption. Advanced technologies are being highly adopted by the industrial and defense sectors to remain competitive in the market. Furthermore, various factors such as emerging applications of rugged smartphones, digitization of business processes by vendors, and development of technologically advanced products are driving the market growth in the region.

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Rugged Smartphone Market  Market Dynamics

Key driver

Strategic collaborations among market participants are the key factor driving the growth of the market. The companies are focusing on expanding their customer base and geographic footprint, enhancing their product offerings, and exploring new opportunities by forming strategic partnerships. As a result, it helps accelerate the product development of rugged smartphones and addresses application demand in various sectors. For example, in June 2022, Zebra Technologies Corp announced its Partnership with Connect Public Sector Specialization Program for Channel Partners. Furthermore, these strategic collaborations will increase the profit margin of vendors. Hence, these factors are expected to drive the market growth during the forecast period.

Major Trends

A growing preference for feature-rich devices is the primary trend shaping the Rugged Smartphone Market. The demand for rugged smartphones is rapidly increasing due to the advancement of technology in retail, manufacturing, and logistics. Most rugged smartphones use Windows CE or Windows Mobile OS for their operation. Furthermore, manufacturers upgrade processors, memory, memory, and displays so that they easily accommodate newer, more versatile operating systems (OS). Advanced modern technologies such as radio-frequency identification (RFID), global positioning systems (GPS), high-quality /images and scanners, multi-sensor technology, and integrated high-resolution cameras are frequently introduced in rugged smartphones. Such feature developments in rugged smartphones are expected to drive the market during the forecast period.

Significant Challenge

The use of consumer-grade devices in place of rugged devices is a major challenge impeding the growth of the Rugged Smartphone Market. The primary reason for the growth of consumer smartphones is their low-cost pricing. As a result, the demand for consumer smartphones is rising. Furthermore, the various features offered by consumer smartphones such as barcode scanning, artificial intelligence (AI), multiple IoT applications, and advanced technologies such as AR, gesture recognition, voice recognition, and virtual reality (VR) are getting popular among consumers. Hence, these factors are expected to restrict the growth of the market during the forecast period.

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What are the key data covered in this Rugged Smartphone Market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the rugged smartphone market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the rugged smartphone market and its contribution to the market with a focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the rugged smartphone market across North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and the Middle East and Africa

, , APAC, , and the and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of rugged smartphone market vendors

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The smartphone market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3.44% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecasted to increase by 226.17 million units. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by price range (between USD150-USD800, less than USD150, and greater than USD800), technology (Android, iOS, and others), screen size (between 5-6 inches, greater than 6 inches, and less than 5 inches), and geography (APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The increasing adoption of premium smartphones in emerging countries is notably driving market growth.

The refurbished smartphone market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.69% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 51.79 billion. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by OS (android and IOS), price range (low-priced, medium-priced, and premium), and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa). The growth in the smartphone repair industry is a key factor driving the market growth during the forecast period.

Rugged Smartphone Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 4.46% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 274.56 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 4.0 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 31% Key countries US, China, Japan, Germany, and the UK Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled American Reliance Inc., Atexxo Manufacturing BV, BARTEC Top Holding GmbH, Caterpillar Inc., CROSSCALL, Doke Communication HK Ltd., Getac, Gigaset AG, Honeywell International Inc., Kyocera Corp., OUKITEL, Panasonic Holdings Corp., Pepperl and Fuchs SE, RugGear GmbH, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Shenzhen Tinfull Technology Co. Ltd., Sonim Technologies Inc., Ulefone, Unitech Computer Co. Ltd., and Zebra Technologies Corp. 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, and Market condition analysis for the 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.

Table of Contents

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 Type



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



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 rugged smartphone market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on global rugged smartphone market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Type Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 End-user Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  End-user 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 Type

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Type

6.3 Semi-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Semi-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Semi-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Semi-rugged - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Semi-rugged - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Fully-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Fully-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Fully-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Fully-rugged - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Fully-rugged - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Ultra-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Ultra-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Ultra-rugged - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Ultra-rugged - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Ultra-rugged - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 46: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by End-user

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 48: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 50: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

7.3 Industrial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 52: Chart on Industrial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Industrial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 54: Chart on Industrial - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Industrial - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Commercial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 56: Chart on Commercial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Commercial - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 58: Chart on Commercial - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 59: Data Table on Commercial - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Military and defense - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 60: Chart on Military and defense - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 61: Data Table on Military and defense - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 62: Chart on Military and defense - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 63: Data Table on Military and defense - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Government - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 64: Chart on Government - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 65: Data Table on Government - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 66: Chart on Government - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 67: Data Table on Government - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.7 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 68: Market opportunity by End-user ($ million)



Exhibit 69: Data Table on Market opportunity by End-user ($ 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 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 79: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 83: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 84: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 85: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on APAC - 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 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 99: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 101: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 103: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 105: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on China - 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 American Reliance Inc.

Exhibit 123: American Reliance Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 124: American Reliance Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 125: American Reliance Inc. - Key offerings

12.4 Caterpillar Inc.

Exhibit 126: Caterpillar Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 127: Caterpillar Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 128: Caterpillar Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 129: Caterpillar Inc. - Segment focus

12.5 Doke Communication HK Ltd.

Exhibit 130: Doke Communication HK Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 131: Doke Communication HK Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 132: Doke Communication HK Ltd. - Key offerings

12.6 Gigaset AG

Exhibit 133: Gigaset AG - Overview



Exhibit 134: Gigaset AG - Business segments



Exhibit 135: Gigaset AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 136: Gigaset AG - Segment focus

12.7 Honeywell International Inc.

Exhibit 137: Honeywell International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 138: Honeywell International Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 139: Honeywell International Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 140: Honeywell International Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 141: Honeywell International Inc. - Segment focus

12.8 Kyocera Corp.

Exhibit 142: Kyocera Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 143: Kyocera Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 144: Kyocera Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 145: Kyocera Corp. - Segment focus

12.9 OUKITEL

Exhibit 146: OUKITEL - Overview



Exhibit 147: OUKITEL - Product / Service



Exhibit 148: OUKITEL - 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 Pepperl and Fuchs SE

Exhibit 154: Pepperl and Fuchs SE - Overview



Exhibit 155: Pepperl and Fuchs SE - Product / Service



Exhibit 156: Pepperl and Fuchs SE - Key offerings

12.12 RugGear GmbH

Exhibit 157: RugGear GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 158: RugGear GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 159: RugGear GmbH - 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 Tinfull Technology Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 165: Shenzhen Tinfull Technology Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 166: Shenzhen Tinfull Technology Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 167: Shenzhen Tinfull Technology Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.15 Sonim Technologies Inc.

Exhibit 168: Sonim Technologies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 169: Sonim Technologies Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 170: Sonim Technologies Inc. - Key offerings

12.16 Ulefone

Exhibit 171: Ulefone - Overview



Exhibit 172: Ulefone - Product / Service



Exhibit 173: Ulefone - Key offerings

12.17 Zebra Technologies Corp.

Exhibit 174: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 175: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 176: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 177: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 178: Zebra Technologies Corp. - Segment focus

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

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DUBLIN, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Saudi Arabia Specialty Chemicals Market, By Application (Construction Chemicals, Dyes & Pigments, Agrochemicals, Surfactants, Others), By Region and Competition, Forecast and Opportunities, 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Saudi Arabia Specialty Chemicals Market Size is USD 16,551.03 million in 2022 and is expected to register a CAGR of 4.34% to 2028

Specialty chemicals are chemical products that are used in a variety of sectors, including paints and coatings, textiles, mining, plastic additives, and others. Antibiotics, adhesives, and pesticides are examples of specialty chemicals since they are produced in small quantities to meet specific demands. For example, antibiotics are developed to address the problems associated with a particular disease.

The industrial consumption of specialty chemicals in Saudi Arabia has significantly increased in recent years. Due to COVID-19 several market changes were observed in terms of the supply and demand sides of specialty chemicals however , government support helped the market maintain its positioning, leading to the steady growth of industries such as specialty chemicals.

The availability of feedstocks has been one of the major factors in the expansion of Saudi Arabia's specialty chemicals sector. The country contains large hydrocarbon deposits, which are the primary ingredients needed to make a variety of chemicals. As a result, Saudi Arabia has been able to build a strong petrochemical industry that serves as the sector's backbone.



In addition, specialty chemicals are used in the automotive industry to maintain and protect cars and trucks. These include brake fluid, antifreeze, rust inhibitors, radiator seals, engine and transmission additives, auto cleaners, polishes, and waxes.

As per the International Trade Administration, Saudi Arabia is the dominant player in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which is growing at an extraordinary rate of 36%. Moreover, Saudi Arabia accounted for 52% of the vehicles sold in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and 35% in the MENA region in 2021.

Government regulations to support investments for uplifting the country's pharmaceutical sector are soaring the demand for specialty chemicals, further driving the growth of Saudi Arabia Specialty Chemicals Market during the forecast period. As per the data released by International Trade Administration, Saudi Arabia accounts for 60% of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries' healthcare investment expenditure.



Furthermore, agrochemicals are becoming necessary for better crop protection and production due to the growing population base and increased food consumption, which is expected to fuel the expansion of the specialized chemicals industry during the next few years.

According to the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, Saudi Arabia's agriculture segment contributes USD 14.13 billion to the annual GDP, and the country has the largest dynamic agricultural projects in the Middle East related to date palm, poultry, dairy, and aquaculture.

The demand for specialist water-proofing compounds, repair and restoration compounds, joint fillers, and tile-fixing adhesives is also anticipated to rise in Saudi Arabia because of growing public and private investments in infrastructure development projects. It is projected that the ongoing construction of significant projects including Red Sea Islands, Al Faysaliya, King Abdullah's Economic City, Galleria of Saudi Arabia, and Jabal Omar in Saudi Arabia will spur market expansion for the country's specialty chemicals market share.



Construction chemicals are used by the construction and civil repair industries. These substances provide water tightness, improve the quality and strength of concrete, and shield concrete structures from deterioration brought on by the atmosphere. According to the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA), the value of construction chemicals will increase from 0.8 MMT in 2020 to 0.9-1.0 MMT by 2025.

Owing of their ability to alter and improve the physical and chemical properties of structures, such as compressive strength, durability, surface finish, and resistance to uncertain weather and working conditions, construction chemicals are becoming more and more important to the construction industry.



Increasing Demand for Personal Care Products is Driving the Market



Owing to the increasing participation of women in the workforce, sales of colored cosmetics such as pigments and dyes in Saudi Arabia are steadily rising.

Moreover, as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads throughout the world, top manufacturers in Saudi Arabia are noticing a significant rise in demand for hygiene products, including hand sanitizers, liquid soaps, disinfectant sprays, and contaminant wipes. According to the government of Saudi Arabia, the cosmetics market was estimated at USD 16 billion in 2021, and the number of imported cosmetics in the past year exceeded USD 0.6 billion in the country.

The demand for performance chemicals is predicted to increase across all end-use sectors in Saudi Arabia, including oil and gas, paper, construction, water management, food, mining, pharmaceutical, agricultural, and personal care for use in specialized applications. Moreover, it is anticipated that the availability of a variety of formulation chemicals, such as electronic chemicals, institutional and industrial cleansers, surfactants, and flavors and fragrances, will boost the market's expansion.



Rising Demand from Food & Beverage Industry



Consumer demand is the main driver of the expansion, with industries such as pharmaceuticals, personal electronics, and food and beverage. The demand for flavoring compounds has increased as processed foods and beverages have become more popular in developed nations.

According to the Saudi Arabian General Authority for Investment (SAGIA), the Saudi F&B industry accounted for 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, and the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry in Saudi Arabia is the largest in the Middle East and is valued at USD 45 billion.



Increasing Usage in Pharmaceutical Industry



Many specialized chemicals, such as catalysts, are employed in industrial pharmaceutical operations, including the manufacture of paracetamol, vitamin K, and erythromycin. Additionally, to address growing climate change concerns, modern catalysts like nano catalysts aid in making the drug development process cleaner and greener.

On the back of technological and medical advancements, the Saudi Arabian pharmaceutical industry's growth landscape is undergoing a significant transition. In 2022, the Government of Saudi Arabia has declared to spend USD 36.8 Billion for Healthcare and Social Development, which will drive the growth of Saudi Arabia's Specialty Chemicals Market during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape



Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies in Saudi Arabia Specialty Chemicals market.

Saudi Basic Industries Corporation

Saudi Arabian Oil Company

Rabigh Refining & Petrochemical Company

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company

Saudi International Petrochemical Company

Gulf Stabilizers Industries

NAMA Chemicals Co.

National Industrialization Company (Tasnee)

Advanced Petrochemical Company

Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, LLC

Report Scope:



Saudi Arabia Specialty Chemicals Market, By Application:

Construction Chemicals

Dyes & Pigments

Agrochemicals

Surfactants

Others

Saudi Arabia Specialty Chemicals Market, By Region:

Northern & Central

Western

Southern

Eastern

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ji3p0d

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DUBLIN, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Saudi Arabia Water Treatment Chemicals Market, By Type, By Application, By End User (Commercial, Industrial, Residential), By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Saudi Arabia Water Treatment Chemicals market is anticipated to grow significantly through 2028 due to the growing demand for clean water

Lack of precipitation, rising temperatures, global warming, and rapid industrialization in the country have led to a release of a massive amount of wastewater which pollutes the environment if not treated properly.

Therefore, the growing environmental concerns are projected to boost the establishment of wastewater treatment plants which can lead to a surge in demand for water treatment chemicals, propelling the market's growth in the upcoming years.

Water Disasters and Inadequate Administration

Saudi Arabia's lack of water supplies has become an issue, especially for the locals. The Borgen Project lists Saudi Arabia as one of the world's most water-scarce countries, with an absolute water scarcity rating of 89.5 m3 per person, per year, in the area. Even though oil is a crucial natural resource for the nation, poor management has led to a rise in the value of water in the area.

The region's poor water management practices, severely straining the already meager water supplies, and the declining groundwater table is other important aspect of this situation.

Additionally, the region's climatic characteristics, such as desertification, are a major environmental problem since they reduce the amount of agricultural land available and the water management that goes along with it. To overcome this problem, the treatment of water is necessary; therefore, the demand for water treatment chemicals increases which will increase the market's growth in the upcoming year.

Increasing Demand for Desalination of Water

Water treatment is necessary as the demand for clean water increases, which is accomplished using different chemicals and processes. Desalination is a procedure used to purify water sources of salt, minerals, and other impurities to produce fresh water for use in industrial and domestic applications. According to the Water Project, around 70% of the world's desalination plants are in the Middle East, mainly in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

In addition, Ras Al Khair Desalination Plant, owned and operated by Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), is the largest desalination facility of its sort in the world. The facility can provide for around 3.5 billion people in Riyadh. Since new technologies are being developed and established ones are being expanded, it is anticipated that advances in water treatment technologies will further propel the water treatment chemical market in Saudi Arabia.

Coagulants and Flocculants Will Continue to Be Key Type

Saudi Arabia possesses approximately 17 % of the world's petroleum 1P reserves and ranks as one the largest net exporters of petroleum. Saudi Arabia has the second-largest proven oil reserves in the world. The major factors attributed to the growth of this segment include the increased use of these chemicals in municipal and wastewater treatment in various industries such as power, oil & gas, chemical, and petrochemical.

Coagulation and flocculation are mostly used in the tank of chemical products of oil and gas plants. The coagulation process accelerates the sedimentation process. Coagulants are added to eliminate 90% of the suspended solid particles from the wastewater during treatment. Thus, the coagulant & flocculants type segment is anticipated to grow rapidly in Saudi Arabia Water Treatment Chemicals Market during the forecast period.

Recent Developments

In September 2022, Civil Works Company (CWC) signed with the National Water Company (NWC) 7-years contract for the Management Operation and Maintenance of water services of the Western Cluster, including the major cities of Jeddah, Makkah, and Taif in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In March 2022, Acwa Power celebrates the excellence of Rabigh 3 IWP in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest reverse osmosis desalination plant.

In January 2022, Saudi Arabia's largest desalination plant, Shuqaiq 3, has a total production capacity of 450,000 cubic meters per day, capable of meeting the water demand of over 1.8 million Saudis across the Asir and Jizan provinces.

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies in Saudi Arabia Water Treatment Chemicals market.

Saudi Water Treatment Company (SWTC)

Al-Jazira Water Treatment Chemicals (Al Qahtani Chemicals Company)

Atlad Chemical Trading Est.

Fouz Chemical Co.

SVS Chemicals Corporation LLP

Al-Haitam Company

AES Arabia Ltd

Al-Koshi Cleaning Chemicals

Chemsbro

Raha Water Treatment Corporation

Business Overview

Product Offerings

Recent Developments

Financials (As Reported)

Key Personnel

SWOT Analysis

Report Scope:

Saudi Arabia Water Treatment Chemicals Market, By Type:

Corrosion Inhibitors

Scale Inhibitors

Biocides & Disinfectants

Coagulants & Flocculants

Chelating Agents

Others

Saudi Arabia Water Treatment Chemicals Market, By Application:

Boiler Water Treatment

Cooling Water Treatment

Raw Water Treatment

Water Desalination

Others

Saudi Arabia Water Treatment Chemicals Market, By End User:

Commercial

Industrial

Residential

Saudi Arabia Water Treatment Chemicals Market, By Region:

Northern & Central

Western

Southern

Eastern

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/k2a4au

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Launched to honor Apollo 9 astronaut Russell "Rusty" Schweickart, it recognizes students, and early career individuals working towards planetary defense solutions

SAN FRANCISCO, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, on June 30th, International Asteroid Day, B612 Foundation announced the Schweickart Prize , named in honor of renowned Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, which will recognize individuals who have made exceptional contributions to planetary defense and advancing life's evolutionary journey. The prize acknowledges the significance of embracing our collective responsibility for safeguarding humanity's transition into the broader cosmos. "Through the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), we worked on the issue of planetary defense from asteroid impacts. Rusty Schweickart took a leadership role with the ASE to enable others to bring this global issue to the United Nations. This topic is now debated on a global stage as a result of Rusty's commitment. This prize in Rusty's honor is a fitting tribute to his lifetime of leadership," said Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz , NASA astronaut, CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Co, and NASA's first Hispanic astronaut.

Renowned Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart holding the first annual Schwieckart Prize at California Academy of Science on Asteroid Day 2023. Awardees in subsequent years will consist of undergraduate and graduate students as well as early career professionals dedicated to asteroid-focused planetary defense and they will receive the prize and $10,000 USD.

The Schweickart Prize emphasizes the need to address existential risks like asteroid impacts. "As citizens of Earth, we have to do everything in our power to preserve it and save it from all sources of danger. The Schweickart Prize encapsulates this concept and will be a beacon of achievement for all those working to prevent asteroid impacts here on Earth," said Anousheh Ansari , CEO of XPRIZE, private space explorer and first Iranian astronaut.

The prize will be awarded annually to exceptional individuals, specifically undergraduate and graduate students and early career professionals actively involved in planetary defense. Their work will demonstrate notable progress in threat discovery, mitigation strategies, civil protection, public education, or responsible geopolitical decisions. "The Schweickart Prize will recognize a new generation of students who will contribute to future advancements in space exploration for the benefit of all life on Earth, particularly in the face of existential challenges like asteroid impacts," said Nicole Stott , NASA astronaut, artist, co-founder of Space For Art Foundation, and first watercolor painter in space. The open call for Schweickart Prize nominations will be posted this October at Schweickartprize.org .

The future awardees will have achieved accomplishments, including facilitating international cooperation, addressing legal issues, stimulating student engagement, validating NEO deflection techniques, establishing public credibility, developing visual tools, or exploring innovative approaches to minimize NEO impacts. "The California Academy of Sciences stepped up as one of the inaugural supporters of Asteroid Day because we want our audiences to take an interest in understanding the risks and opportunities of asteroids. We are proud to support the Schweickart Prize, which we hope will increase interest in this topic and enable us to develop more visualization tools and techniques to enhance public understanding of planetary defense," said Ryan Wyatt , Senior Director of Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization, California Academy of Sciences.

Beginning in 2024, Schweickart Prize awardees will receive a cash prize of $10,000 USD and gain global exposure through a press campaign to acknowledge their achievements. The awardees will also receive a prestigious unique award with a museum-quality meteorite, symbolizing the existential nature of the prize's purpose.

"The Schweickart Prize Award Committee comprises representatives from renowned universities and organizations worldwide, specializing in astronomy, planetary science, aerospace, and space policy programs," said Danica Remy , President of B612 Foundation and co-founder of Asteroid Day. Committee members representing the many facets of the planetary defense issue will play a vital role in the process. Committee members include Anousheh Ansari, astronaut, XPRIZE (USA); Dr. Richard Binzel, MIT (USA); Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, astronaut, MIT (USA); Dr. Irmgard Marboe, University of Vienna (Austria); Dr. Patrick Michel, Lagrange Laboratory at the Cote d'Azur Observatory (France); Hong-Kyu Moon, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Korea); Oliver Morton, The Economist (UK); Dr. Soichi Noguchi, astronaut, Mirai Space Co. (Japan); Dorin Prunariu, cosmonaut, Asteroid Foundation (Luxembourg); Dr. Frans G. von der Dunk, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA) and other distinguished members to be added in the future. See SchweickartPrize.org for more information.

Founding Sponsors who have generously funded the first five years of the Schweickart Prize program include several anonymous donors, Anousheh Ansari , Barringer Crater Company , B612 Foundation , Future Ventures , Geoffrey Notkin , Jurvetson Family Foundation , Meteor Crater , Randy Schweickart and Michelle Heng, and Rusty B. Schweickart and Joanne Keys.

The Schweickart Prize launch ceremony and reception Friday, June 30, 2023, is generously funded by Lynmar Estate , California Academy of Sciences , George & Loretta Whitesides, David Ramsey, Matthew Ramsey, Will & Anya Wright and Tito's Vodka.

About B612 Foundation and the Schweickart Prize

Since 2002, B612 Foundation has supported research and technologies to enable the economic development of space and enhance our understanding of the evolution of our solar system through its Asteroid Institute program and supporting educational programs, including Asteroid Day. Founding Circle and Asteroid Circle members and individual donors from 46 countries provide financial support for the work. For more information, visit B612foundation.org or follow on social: Twitter , Facebook .

The Schweickart Prize, a program of B612 Foundation, is an annual award that celebrates individuals who have contributed to planetary defense and the evolutionary future of life. It aims to recognize and stimulate advancements in critical areas of planetary defense, encouraging global cooperation and responsible decision-making. The prize is named after Russell "Rusty" Schweickart, renowned Apollo 9 astronaut, co-founder of the Association of Space Explorers and co-founder of B612 Foundation. For more information, visit Schweickartprize.org .

Press Release Photos can be found here .

SOURCE B612 Foundation
NEW YORK, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The smart office furniture market size is estimated to increase by USD 95.69 million from 2022 to 2027, at a CAGR of 9.07%, according to a recent market study by Technavio. This report also offers a 5-year historical (2017-2021) data projection of market size, segmentation, and region. Discover some insights on market size before buying the full report -Request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Smart Office Furniture Market 2023-2027

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of vendors has been conducted to help clients understand the wider business environment as well as the strengths and weaknesses of key market players. Data is qualitatively analyzed to categorize vendors as pure play, category-focused, industry-focused, and diversified; it is quantitatively analyzed to categorize vendors as dominant, leading, strong, tentative, and weak. The Bargaining Power of Buyers & Suppliers and the Threat of New Entrants, Rivalry, and Substitutes have also been analyzed and rated between LOW-HIGH to provide a holistic view of market favorability.

Find Technavio's Exclusive Analysis of Price Sensitivity, Adoption Lifecycle, Customer Purchase Basket, Adoption Rates, and Purchase Criteria

One of the core components of the customer landscape is price sensitivity , an analysis of which will help companies refine marketing strategies to gain a competitive advantage .

, an analysis of which will help companies refine . Another key aspect is price sensitivity drivers (purchases are undifferentiated, the purchase is a key cost to buyers, and quality is not important) , which range between LOW and HIGH.

, which range between Furthermore, market adoption rates for all regions have been covered.

The smart office furniture market report also offers information on the criticality of inputs, R&D, CAPEX, technology, and products of 15 vendors listed below -

Avnet Inc., Berco Designs, DEKOM AG, Featherlite Pvt Ltd, GoBright B V, Haworth Inc., Humanscale International Holdings Ltd., Interogo Foundation, Kimball International Inc., Kinnarps AB, KOKUYO Co. Ltd., Konig Neurath AG, Mikomax Sp z o o, MillerKnoll Inc., Nilkamal Ltd., Schiavello International, Smart Furniture LLC, Steelcase Inc., Tabula Sense, and ZHEJIANG SUNON FURNITURE MANUFACTURE CO. LTD. Download a Sample Report!

Smart Office Furniture Market - Segmentation Analysis

This smart office furniture market report extensively covers market segmentation by distribution channel (offline and online), product (smart tables, desks, storage, smart seating benches, and stools), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

The market share growth by the offline segment will be significant for market growth during the forecast period. This segment of the global smart office furniture market consists of four categories namely direct sales, dealers, distributors, and retailers. The offline sales channel offers a large number of stock units (SKUs), giving end users a wide range of choices to choose from. Furthermore, offline sales channels also have a wide variety of brands available at retail outlets and multi-branch outlets. Hence, such factors boost the segment growth during the forecast period.

To procure the data - Buy report!

Smart Office Furniture Market - Market Dynamics

Key Drivers

Developments in connectivity technologies drive market growth during the forecast period. Essential connectivity technologies such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and IoT are used for smart office furniture. Such technological developments are driving the launch of various smart office furniture products such as smart desks, smart tables, and smart chairs.

Additionally, technological developments are driving the launch of various smart office furniture products such as smart desks, smart tables, and smart chairs. Hence, such factors drive the market growth during the forecast period.

Significant Trends

Increasing online retailing is an emerging smart office furniture market trend. Online retail includes various retail models. It includes business-to-business (B2B), business-to-business (B2C), and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sales of goods and services remotely via smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

Moreover, the high adoption of smartphones and other technologically advanced devices is one of the main factors driving the sales of smart office furniture products. Furthermore, most smart office furniture manufacturers, retailers, and exclusive distributors are now promoting and selling their products online to increase product awareness and online presence. Hence, such trends boost the market growth during the forecast period.

Major Challenges

Long product replacement cycles challenge the growth of smart office furniture during the forecast period. Most furniture solutions, especially those for official purposes, are designed for long-term use. Also, in most cases, do not require frequent modernization or replacement.

Additionally, most intelligent office furniture products require a large investment, which is considered a one-time expense. Furthermore, high acquisition costs and long replacement cycles hamper the annual growth of the market. Hence, such challenges impede market growth during the forecast period.

Smart Office Furniture Market - Regional Analysis

The market is segmented by region North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa. An analysis of key leading countries has been included.

North America is estimated to account for 47% of the growth of the global market during the forecast period. The US, Canada, and Mexico are some of the key countries contributing to the growth of the smart office furniture market in the region. Efficient use of office space is highly valued in the region. Also, many employers are installing smart furniture for employee health and since many employers are installing smart furniture for employee health. Hence, such factors boost the regional market growth during the forecast period.

For Insights on the market dynamics & segmentations VIEW PDF SAMPLE !

What are the key data covered in this Smart Office Furniture Market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the smart office furniture market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the smart office furniture market and its contribution to the market with a focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the smart office furniture market across North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , APAC, , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of smart office furniture market vendors

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The camping furniture market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.99% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 2,097.58 million. This camping furniture market report extensively covers market segmentation by distribution channel (offline and online), product (camping chairs and stools, camping tables, and camping cots and hammocks), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa). One of the key factors driving the global camping furniture market growth is the government initiatives encouraging camping.

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Smart Office Furniture Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 9.07% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 95.69 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 8.49 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 47% Key countries US, Canada, China, Germany, and France Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Avnet Inc., Berco Designs, DEKOM AG, Featherlite Pvt Ltd, GoBright B V, Haworth Inc., Humanscale International Holdings Ltd., Interogo Foundation, Kimball International Inc., Kinnarps AB, KOKUYO Co. Ltd., Konig Neurath AG, Mikomax Sp z o o, MillerKnoll Inc., Nilkamal Ltd., Schiavello International, Smart Furniture LLC, Steelcase Inc., Tabula Sense, and ZHEJIANG SUNON FURNITURE MANUFACTURE CO. LTD 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.

Table of Contents

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 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 smart office furniture market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on global smart office furniture market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 Distribution Channel Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Distribution Channel Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  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 Distribution Channel

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Distribution Channel

6.3 Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Offline - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Offline - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Online - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Online - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Online - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Product

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 44: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 46: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Comparison by Product

7.3 Smart tables desks and storage - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 48: Chart on Smart tables desks and storage - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Smart tables desks and storage - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 50: Chart on Smart tables desks and storage - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 51: Data Table on Smart tables desks and storage - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Smart seating benches and stools - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 52: Chart on Smart seating benches and stools - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Data Table on Smart seating benches and stools - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 54: Chart on Smart seating benches and stools - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 55: Data Table on Smart seating benches and stools - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 56: Market opportunity by Product ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Data Table on Market opportunity by Product ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 58: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 59: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 61: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 63: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 65: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 66: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 67: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 68: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 69: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 70: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 71: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 73: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 74: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 75: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 77: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 78: 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 79: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 81: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 83: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 84: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 85: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 87: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 89: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 91: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 93: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 95: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 97: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 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 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 103: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)



Exhibit 104: 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 105: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 106: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 107: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 108: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 109: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 110: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Avnet Inc.

Exhibit 111: Avnet Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Avnet Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 113: Avnet Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 114: Avnet Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: Avnet Inc. - Segment focus

12.4 Berco Designs

Exhibit 116: Berco Designs - Overview



Exhibit 117: Berco Designs - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Berco Designs - Key offerings

12.5 Featherlite Pvt Ltd

Exhibit 119: Featherlite Pvt Ltd - Overview



Exhibit 120: Featherlite Pvt Ltd - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Featherlite Pvt Ltd - Key offerings

12.6 Haworth Inc.

Exhibit 122: Haworth Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 123: Haworth Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 124: Haworth Inc. - Key offerings

12.7 Humanscale International Holdings Ltd.

Exhibit 125: Humanscale International Holdings Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 126: Humanscale International Holdings Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 127: Humanscale International Holdings Ltd. - Key offerings

12.8 Interogo Foundation

Exhibit 128: Interogo Foundation - Overview



Exhibit 129: Interogo Foundation - Product / Service



Exhibit 130: Interogo Foundation - Key offerings

12.9 Kimball International Inc.

Exhibit 131: Kimball International Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 132: Kimball International Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 133: Kimball International Inc. - Key offerings

12.10 Kinnarps AB

Exhibit 134: Kinnarps AB - Overview



Exhibit 135: Kinnarps AB - Product / Service



Exhibit 136: Kinnarps AB - Key offerings

12.11 KOKUYO Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 137: KOKUYO Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 138: KOKUYO Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 139: KOKUYO Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 140: KOKUYO Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.12 Konig Neurath AG

Exhibit 141: Konig Neurath AG - Overview



Exhibit 142: Konig Neurath AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 143: Konig Neurath AG - Key offerings

12.13 Mikomax Sp z o o

Exhibit 144: Mikomax Sp z o o - Overview



Exhibit 145: Mikomax Sp z o o - Product / Service



Exhibit 146: Mikomax Sp z o o - Key offerings

12.14 MillerKnoll Inc.

Exhibit 147: MillerKnoll Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 148: MillerKnoll Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 149: MillerKnoll Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 150: MillerKnoll Inc. - Segment focus

12.15 Nilkamal Ltd.

Exhibit 151: Nilkamal Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 152: Nilkamal Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 153: Nilkamal Ltd. - Key offerings

12.16 Schiavello International

Exhibit 154: Schiavello International - Overview



Exhibit 155: Schiavello International - Product / Service



Exhibit 156: Schiavello International - Key offerings

12.17 Smart Furniture LLC

Exhibit 157: Smart Furniture LLC - Overview



Exhibit 158: Smart Furniture LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 159: Smart Furniture LLC - Key offerings

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 160: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 161: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 162: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 163: Research methodology



Exhibit 164: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 165: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 166: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provide 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 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.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com

SOURCE Technavio
WICHITA, Kan., June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., a subsidiary of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. [NYSE: SPR] ("Spirit AeroSystems"), welcomes today's ratification of a new four-year contract with members of Local Lodge 839 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).

The company announced it will begin restoring operations at its Wichita plant tomorrow, Friday, June 30, and begin to fully resume production on Wednesday, July 5.

"We listened closely to our employees and brought forward a fair-and-competitive offer," said Tom Gentile, President and CEO of Spirit AeroSystems. "With its approval by our IAM-represented employees, we look forward to getting back to the important work of delivering quality products to our customers."

Spirit will closely coordinate with its suppliers and customers as it restarts production, and the company remains focused on safety and quality standards as it ramps up production.

Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. ("Spirit") is a subsidiary of Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. [NYSE: SPR] ("Spirit AeroSystems").

About Spirit AeroSystems Inc.

Spirit AeroSystems is one of the world's largest manufacturers of aerostructures for commercial airplanes, defense platforms, and business/regional jets. With expertise in aluminum and advanced composite manufacturing solutions, the company's core products include fuselages, integrated wings and wing components, pylons, and nacelles. We are leveraging decades of design and manufacturing expertise to be the most innovative and reliable supplier of military aerostructures, and specialty high-temperature materials, enabling warfighters to execute complex, critical missions. Spirit also serves the aftermarket for commercial and business/regional jets. Headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, Spirit has facilities in the U.S., U.K., France, Malaysia and Morocco. More information is available at www.spiritaero.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that may involve many risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "could," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "forecast," "intend," "may," "might," "objective," "outlook," "plan," "predict," "project," "should," "target," "will," "would," and other similar words, or phrases, or the negative thereof, unless the context requires otherwise. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown. Our actual results may vary materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in such forward-looking statements and that should be considered in evaluating our outlook include, without limitation, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and operations; the timing and conditions surrounding the full worldwide return to service (including receiving the remaining regulatory approvals) of the B737 MAX, future demand for the aircraft, and any residual impacts of the B737 MAX grounding on production rates for the aircraft; our reliance on Boeing for a significant portion of our revenues; our ability to execute our growth strategy, including our ability to complete and integrate acquisitions; our ability to accurately estimate and manage performance, cost, and revenue under our contracts; demand for our products and services and the effect of economic or geopolitical conditions in the industries and markets in which we operate in the U.S. and globally; our ability to manage our liquidity, borrow additional funds or refinance debt; and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These factors are not exhaustive and it is not possible for us to predict all factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in our forward-looking statements. These factors speak only as of the date hereof, and new factors may emerge or changes to the foregoing factors may occur that could impact our business. Except to the extent required by law, we undertake no obligation to, and expressly disclaim any obligation to, publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCE Spirit AeroSystems
Statement of the American Cancer Society, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, The Center for Black Health & Equity (formerly the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network) and the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund (public health intervenors in the case)

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting July 1, the major U.S. tobacco companies must begin to post eye-catching signs telling the public the truth about the deadly consequences of cigarette smoking at about 220,000 retail stores across the nation that sell cigarettes. Under a federal court order, the signs will be installed near cigarette displays in these stores between July 1 and September 30 and must be displayed until June 30, 2025. This is a long-overdue step in holding the tobacco industry accountable for decades of lies that led to addiction, disease and premature death for millions of people.

These signs are the final step in implementing the "corrective statements" the tobacco companies were first ordered to make in 2006, when U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued a landmark judgment that these companies violated civil racketeering laws and lied to the public for decades about the health risks and addictiveness of cigarettes and their marketing to children. The tobacco companies fought these point-of-sale corrective statements in court for 16 years, but the parties to the case  including the U.S. Department of Justice, our organizations (public health intervenors) and the tobacco companies  negotiated an agreement last year for the corrective statement signs to finally be posted. A federal court order formalized the agreement in December.

The order applies to tobacco companies Altria and its Philip Morris USA subsidiary, R.J. Reynolds and ITG Brands.

The point-of-sale signs will tell the public the truth about the health harms of smoking and secondhand smoke, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine, and the industry's manipulation of cigarettes to make them more addictive. Critically, this truthful information will be provided to consumers at the point where they are making decisions whether to purchase cigarettes.

The corrective statements are powerful reminders that tobacco's horrific toll is no accident. It stems directly from the tobacco industry's deceptive and illegal practices. As Judge Kessler found in her nearly 1,700-page final opinion, the tobacco companies have engaged in massive deception and wrongdoing:

"Over the course of more than 50 years, Defendants lied, misrepresented, and deceived the American public, including smokers and the young people they avidly sought as 'replacement smokers,' about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke, they suppressed research, they destroyed documents, they manipulated the use of nicotine so as to increase and perpetuate addiction, they distorted the truth about low tar and light cigarettes so as to discourage smokers from quitting, and they abused the legal system in order to achieve their goal  to make money with little, if any, regard for individual illness and suffering, soaring health costs, or the integrity of the legal system."

Importantly, Judge Kessler concluded, "The evidence in this case clearly establishes that Defendants have not ceased engaging in unlawful activity. Their continuing conduct misleads consumers in order to maximize Defendants' revenues by recruiting new smokers (the majority of whom are under the age of 18), preventing current smokers from quitting, and thereby sustaining the industry."

Judge Kessler's words were prescient. Today, Altria and Reynolds are waging deceptive campaigns claiming that they have changed despite the fact they continue to spend billions to market cigarettes and aggressively fight policies that actually reduce smoking. In the latest example, these companies are fighting federal, state and local efforts to end the sale of menthol cigarettes  products that make it easier for kids to start smoking and harder for smokers to quit and that these companies have intentionally marketed to Black communities at enormous cost in health and lives. These companies are also fighting proposed graphic warnings on cigarette packs in the U.S.  a best-practice policy adopted by over 125 countries around the world. The industry, together with its front groups and allies, continues to fight to defeat and roll back statewide smoke-free laws, especially for hospitality workplaces, thereby unfairly endangering the health of a workforce that employs a high percentage of women and people of color.

Policymakers at all levels must stand up to the tobacco industry and its lies and take bold action to protect children and save lives.

Implementation Details

The corrective statement signs will be installed in stores between July 1 and September 30 and must be displayed until June 30, 2025. They will appear in about 220,000 stores covered by marketing agreements with the defendant tobacco companies. The signs will be in both English and Spanish, with the latter required in geographic areas with significant Spanish-speaking populations. There are 17 distinct corrective statements, all specified by the court many years ago.

The court order includes measures to ensure compliance. Among other steps, independent auditors will monitor compliance at the manufacturers' expense, and a tip line will be established so that the public can report incidents of non-compliance.

The corrective statements have previously been disseminated through newspaper and television ads and on cigarette packs, and they will remain indefinitely on the tobacco companies' websites. The statements are intended to prevent and restrain future fraud by an industry that has lied to the American people for decades.

More information:

Department of Justice press release

American Cancer Society Action Network: Fact sheet on the point-of-sale corrective statements

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: More information about the federal government's racketeering lawsuit and Judge Kessler's 2006 judgment.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorney Advertising: Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP, a national leader in data breach and privacy cases, is investigating potential claims against Genworth Financial, Inc. resulting from a data breach that exposed the sensitive personal information of Genworth's policyholders and insurance agents.

What is Genworth Financial, Inc: Genworth Financial, Inc. is an insurance company based in Richmond, Virginia. Genworth provides life insurance, long-term care insurance, mortgage insurance, and annuities to customers across the United States.

Stueve Siegel Hanson is investigating the Genworth data breach that exposed 2.5M policyholders and insurance agents. Tweet this

What happened: On June 22, 2023, Genworth disclosed that between May 29, 2023, to May 30, 2023, an unauthorized party took advantage of a vulnerability in the MOVEit file transfer software used by a vendor of Genworth. As a result, the sensitive personal information of at least 2.5 million Genworth policyholders and insurance agents was breached.

What information was accessed: For policyholders, the stolen information includes policyholders' Social Security numbers, names, dates of birth, zip codes, states of residence, and policy numbers. For insurance agents, the stolen information includes the agent ID, name, date of birth, and full address.

What can you do: If you were impacted by the breach and wish to seek a free legal consultation, you can contact Stueve Siegel Hanson . Stueve Siegel Hanson attorneys have represented data breach victims in many of the largest data breach cases in history, including cases against Equifax, T-Mobile, and Capital One. The firm's Data Breach and Privacy class action practice has received local and national recognition, including being named among Law360's Cybersecurity & Privacy Practice Groups of the Year.

Disclaimer: This is attorney advertising sponsored by Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP, located at 460 Nichols Road, Kansas City, Missouri 64112. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.

SOURCE Stueve Siegel Hanson LLP
Spain was beginning to emerge from the most serious part of the Covid-19 pandemic, in May 2020, when Saimir Sula, a 31-year-old Albanian citizen, noticed that he had a fever. He went to the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona for a PCR test and did not make it out alive. When his body was repatriated for an autopsy, the forensic experts in his country made a startling discovery: Saimirs body was missing his heart. After three years of lawsuits and letters between the Spanish and Albanian authorities, both are now finalizing the transfer of the organ.

But how did this situation come about? Why was the organ extracted, and how can anybody be 100% sure that it is his heart that will be returned to Albania? All these are questions that the Prosecutors Office in Tirana wants to resolve by completing the autopsy and performing DNA tests, given the suspicion that Sula may have been a victim of organ trafficking  a hypothesis that has been discarded by the Spanish judicial system.

Majlinda Sula, Saimirs sister, suspected from the outset that something strange had happened. Saimirs medical reports said that he was very agitated and that he died after hospital security guards had to restrain him. The autopsy, performed by the Catalan Institut de Medicina Legal i Ciencies Forenses, concludes that his death was the consequence of cardiac arrest due to subcritical coronary atheromatosis and acknowledges that the presence of bronchiolitis, fever, agitation and restraint were factors in the outcome, causing increased cardiac demand.

Before that, he called me and told me that he was being treated badly, so I refused to sign a paper that they gave me so that he could be cremated without further ado. I asked for the body to be repatriated to Albania so that they could do the autopsy there, Majlinda explains by telephone from Barcelona, where she has lived since she was a teenager.

At the same time, she contacted lawyer Carlos Sardinero, who works for an NGO specialized in the rights of patients and malpractice, to handle the case. Sardinero explains that  despite the case having been closed twice because the judges ruled the necessary tests had been carried out to prove that Sula died of natural causes  there are many pieces of the puzzle that do not fit.

A spokeswoman for the Hospital del Mar told EL PAIS that the institution cooperated actively from the outset and that the judge ruled out any responsibility on the part of the center. The result of the autopsy, which was not performed at the Hospital del Mar, ruled out that the death had any relation with the hospitals actions, concluding that it was attributable to the previous pathologies suffered by the patient, the spokeswoman said.

Theoretically, Saimirs heart is at the National Institute of Toxicology (INT). But the date given for the initiation of the tests is April 22, 17 days before the death of the Albanian, who had been living in Spain for 10 years. They told us it was an error, but they havent given any more clarification than that. Inexplicably, the Provincial Court of Barcelona rejected the DNA testing of the patients heart, as requested by the family and the Albanian government. It was filed with a series of unprecedented contradictions: it was established that there was insufficient evidence to consider that the patients death was the result of a violent death due to the restraint measures taken by the hospitals security personnel; however, they then went on to say the opposite, stating that the intermediate cause of his death was the agitation and restraint that he was subjected to, says Sardinero.

The lawyer considers that the Spanish justice system is adding obscurity to the matter by not performing something as quick and simple as a DNA test. It could be quickly verified that it is his heart. They tell us that there is no reason to do more tests but at no time was it stated that the organ was going to be extracted and, when it was, the chain of custody was broken, adds Sardinero.

Given these loose ends, the suspicion of the Albanian judicial authorities is that Saimir was a victim of organ trafficking and that his heart is now beating in someone elses body. I dont know if thats what it is, or if the guards simply beat him up and killed him. Thats why we want them to do the autopsy and the DNA test, to find out the truth, says Majlinda.

A three-year search for the truth

Majlinda has spent three years trying to find out what happened to her brother. First, to determine the cause of his death and later, when it was discovered that his body had no heart, to find out what had become of it.

She has written to both the Spanish and Albanian authorities and has protested in both countries, and in Brussels. Saimirs case is well-known in Albania and a documentary has even been made about it. However, she says it has not been easy to be heard.

She succeeded in getting the Prosecutors Office and the Albanian authorities to request the heart through various channels, something that was ignored on several occasions by the Spanish courts. In March of this year, the diplomatic efforts bore fruit. After processing a rogatory commission promoted by Albania, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the relevant court in Barcelona to initiate the repatriation of the organ.

The courts response came this month, when it asked the INT to provide details of the method of preservation and the technical means for transferring the heart to Albania as quickly as possible. Once these details are finalized, the organ will be transferred and the mystery of whether it belongs to Saimir will finally be solved. At the same time, Sardinero is still fighting in the courts and has filed a motion for annulment for the case to be reopened to get to the bottom of what he understands to be a violation of fundamental rights.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition
BRASILIA, Brazil, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bezos Earth Fund today announced it has awarded $50 million in grants to support conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon. The announcement was made during a convening with leaders of the Brazilian government and representatives of the Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Brasilia this week.

"The future of the Brazilian Amazon is critical to our planet and to the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who call it home," said Lauren Sanchez, Vice Chair of the Earth Fund. "Prosperity and sustainability can go hand in hand  protecting the Amazon Rainforest is good for people and for the planet."

The grants announced today will support local and international groups working on the creation and management of protected areas and Indigenous territories, the early detection and response to forest fires, supporting economic development and jobs based on the forest, and building capacity for carbon markets.

"Elevating socio-environmental protection and the fight against climate change to the center of government decisions is a priority for the Brazilian government," said Marina Silva, minister of the Environment and Climate Change of Brazil. "The Amazon is the greatest resource the country has to reintegrate itself into the world, attract investment, generate jobs, and once again be a protagonist in solving humanity's greatest collective problem  the climate crisis."

"The Amazon is one of the most important areas in the world for biodiversity and climate and supports the lives of millions of Indigenous Peoples and local communities," said Cristian Samper, Managing Director and Leader of Nature Solutions at the Bezos Earth Fund. "The Bezos Earth Fund is committed to helping Brazil to protect this critical region while also reducing the drivers of deforestation by finding alternative paths to prosperity for the people living in the Amazon."

Creating and Enhancing Protected and Conserved Areas Across the Amazon

The Earth Fund granted $30.9 million to support the creation of over 8 million hectares of new protected and conserved areas and to improve the protection of 60 million hectares of tropical forests, an area larger than California. These grants will support the designation and protection of Indigenous territories in the northern Amazon of Wayamu, Tumucumaque, Roraima, and Rio Negro, as well as the Javari territories on the border of Peru.

The funding will support the work of local and international organizations, including Nia Tero, the Rainforest Foundation Norway, Rainforest Trust, and the Wildlife Conservation Society to work with other local partners.

Preventing and Fighting Forest Fires

As peak fire season approaches in Brazil, forest fire prevention, monitoring, and preparedness are critical. The Earth Fund granted $5 million to Re:Wild to be distributed across more than 20 organizations in the nine Amazonian States to support the early detection of fires through remote sensing, training of forest guardians, providing equipment required to combat fires, and mobilizing fire crews to the impacted areas of the Brazilian Amazon.

Finding Alternative Paths to Prosperity

Protecting the Amazon region requires developing alternative paths for people to prosper, including innovative measures to derive greater value from healthy forests, sustainable agricultural methods, expanding local bioeconomies, and stronger economies across the Amazon.

Carbon Market Training for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities

Only a small fraction of climate and forest finance reaches Indigenous and local communities, leaving critical rightsholders and stakeholders too often pushed to the margins when negotiating climate and forest finance. The Earth Fund granted the Environmental Defense Fund, leading Brazilian NGOs, and Indigenous organizations $9.7 million to provide training and legal and logistical support to Indigenous and community leaders in two Brazilian States. The grant will help them engage and benefit from emerging carbon market opportunities in the Brazilian Amazon.

Building Forest-Protecting Economies in the Brazilian Amazon

To create a prosperous and sustainable Amazon, the communities, cities, and states in the Amazon need strong economies and good jobs that are based on healthy, biodiverse forests. The Earth Fund is providing a $6 million grant to Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS) to bring together a network of Brazilian economic researchers and analysts, especially from universities and think tanks in the Amazon. The network will provide leaders in government, business, finance, and civil society with the research, data, and advice they need to design policies, make investments, and create businesses that support standing forests and provide economic opportunities for the people of the Amazon.

About the Bezos Earth Fund

The Bezos Earth Fund is Jeff Bezos' $10 billion commitment to fund scientists, activists, NGOs, and other actors who will drive climate and nature solutions. By allocating funds creatively, wisely, and boldly, the Bezos Earth Fund has the potential for transformative influence in this decisive decade. Funds will be fully allocated by 2030the date the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals must be achieved.

SOURCE Bezos Earth Fund
NEW YORK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The first and only FSC certified charcoal sold in the US  The Good Charcoal  is launching in Kroger stores across the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area today, June 30. Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, Dallas BBQ enthusiasts can ensure their classic American fare is made with a cleaner and more sustainable product this year.

The Good Charcoals Premium Hardwood Lump Charcoal

The Good Charcoal, a company on a mission to disrupt the charcoal industry, began as a threefold idea between Ben Jablonski and Rob Silverman in 2020. Their goals included offering the best-made chemical-free hardwood lump charcoal in the US, feeding Americans experiencing food insecurity, and improving the economic prosperity of farmers in Namibia while restoring grassland habitats to their native state.

Today, the company offers hardwood lump charcoal from the Namibian bush in Africa, one of the hottest places on earth. The team derives the charcoal from the Acacia bushes of South Africa, which is a denser wood than oak and hickory. Thus, it burns hotter, cleaner, and more evenly (resulting in delicious flavors and less charcoal used per BBQ).

Utilizing acacia bushes also make for the greenest charcoal. In Namibia, the overgrowth of Acacia causes "bush encroachment," threatening open grasslands necessary for people and wildlife alike. It has become so severe that it's threatening the cheetah population as the thick acacia bush makes hunting more difficult. Because of this, The Good Charcoal created a product that would offer a solution for bush encroachment while offering consumers a cleaner charcoal alternative.

For those looking to make the switch, consumers can purchase The Good Charcoal 8lb Premium Hardwood Lump Charcoal at 119 Kroger stores in DFW starting today. Prices begin at $8.99 per bag.

For more information on The Good Charcoal or specific store locations where the product is available, please visit thegoodcharcoal.com .

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2144829/Good_Charcoal.jpg

SOURCE The Good Charcoal
Awardees Expected to Demonstrate More than $1Billion of Real Estate Transactions

WASHINGTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) launched its prestigious NAREB TOP 100 Awards today, a process that will honor the Top 100 African American real estate professionals across the United States. The trailblazing recognition will celebrate the remarkable achievements of the best and brightest Black agents each year.

"This is a celebration of excellence, a spotlight on innovation, and a testament to the outstanding contributions Black agents make to the real estate industry," said Lydia Pope, NAREB's president. "NAREB TOP 100 Awards signifies our unwavering commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and empowerment in the real estate realm."

Dr. Courtney Johnson Rose, the NAREB president-elect, agreed, "The Awards will be a historical, memorable, and transformative event that will shape the future of real estate in America. We welcome the beginning of an extraordinary journey."

The inaugural NAREB TOP 100 Awards ceremony will be held in Houston, TX, on Thursday, August 3, at the NAREB Annual Conference. The theme will be Black Wall Street Reimagined, a recognition of the success of Black businesses over the decades. The attire for the event will be the Roaring 20s style and atmosphere. Attendees will be the Top 100 African American real estate agents, industry leaders, influential sponsors, special guests, and media. The event will be held at a glamorous venue with a red-carpet reception and an exclusive networking dinner. Event details will be released soon.

"The real estate and financial services industries frequently look for opportunities to meet and recruit top talent into their organizations; our NAREB TOP 100 event will provide them with networking opportunities to mingle with the best Black real estate agents and brokers," said Renee Wilson, who is NAREB's, executive director. "We invite these corporations and franchises to take advantage of this opportunity. In one room, we will have individuals and teams who have topped $ 1 billion in transactions."

The NAREB TOP 100 will honor agents in the following categories - Top 50 Individuals, Top 20 Teams, Top 20 Loan Officers, Top 10 Commercial Brokers, and Emerging Leaders. There will also be a Community Impact Award, a Rising Star Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Luminary. Award selections for Individuals, Teams, Loan Officers and Commercial Brokers will be based on production with a minimum volume of transactions required. The Emerging Leaders, Community Impact, Rising Star, and Lifetime Achievement awards selections will come from members, community leaders, and local, regional, and national real estate community nominations.

An online application process will be developed and announced soon. The awards are open to members and non-members of NAREB. All non-members who are winners will receive a one-year membership to their local chapters. Applications must include a 30-second video promoting the applicant and their accomplishments. Winners will be announced before the August event, and rankings will be displayed on the day of the event.

"A panel of industry experts and NAREB representatives will carefully evaluate nominees based on their outstanding performance, meaningful community engagement, and transformative impact on the real estate industry," said Wilson, who has led the planning for the event. "Our rigorous, transparent selection process guarantees the credibility and prestige of these awards."

And Wilson noted, "The NAREB TOP 100 is poised to revolutionize the industry by celebrating and honoring the accomplishments of African American real estate agents in an unprecedented way. This trailblazing event will propel our award recipients into the limelight and inspire a new generation of real estate professionals to chase greatness."

Learn more by going to http://www.narebtop100.com .

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REAL ESTATE BROKERS

NAREB was formed in 1947 to secure equal housing opportunities regardless of race, creed, or color. NAREB has advocated for legislation and supported or instigated legal challenges that ensure fair housing, sustainable homeownership, and access to credit for Black Americans. Simultaneously, NAREB advocates for and promotes access to business opportunities for Black real estate professionals in each real estate discipline. From the past to the present, NAREB remains an association proud of its history, dedicated to its chosen struggle, and unrelenting in its pursuit of the REALTIST's mission/vision embedded goal, "Democracy in Housing."

Contact:

Michael K. Frisby

[email protected]/202-625-4328

SOURCE NAREB
WASHINGTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Organization of Black County Officials (NOBCO) is profoundly disappointed by the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court to end affirmative action in the college admissions process. This ruling represents a significant setback in the ongoing pursuit of racial equality and social justice in our society.

Affirmative action has been a critical tool in addressing historical disadvantages faced by underrepresented groups, particularly African Americans, in higher education. By allowing universities to consider race as one of many factors in admissions decisions, affirmative action has played a vital role in creating more diverse and inclusive campuses. It has provided opportunities for individuals who have long been denied equal access to quality education due to systemic racism and discrimination.

Statement from Milli Moto, CEO/Executive Director of NOBCO:

"The Supreme Court's decision to end affirmative action is deeply disheartening. It undermines the progress we have made in advancing educational equity and perpetuates the structural barriers that have hindered the success of marginalized communities. Affirmative action has helped us combat these systemic injustices, and its elimination sends a distressing message that the fight for equal opportunity is no longer a priority. Our fight for equal access to education remains steadfast, and we call upon lawmakers, including our county officials and their local institutions, to seek alternative solutions that promote fairness and opportunity for all."

NOBCO firmly believes that striving for diversity is a moral imperative and its attainment an essential element for a robust and thriving society. The idea of America has long been a catalyst for world change; it is a dream that we mustn't let die. When educational institutions reflect the diversity of our nation, they foster a richer learning environment that prepares students for a globalized world. Affirmative action has been a mechanism that attempts to level a playing field that, frankly, has never been leveled at all. Its elimination threatens to perpetuate disparities and limit opportunities for underrepresented individuals who want - and simply deserve - a fair chance at what belongs to each and every one of us.

As an organization committed to the welfare and empowerment of Black communities, NOBCO will continue to work tirelessly to promote policies that advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. We call upon elected officials, universities, and concerned citizens to join us in seeking alternative solutions that ensure equal access to higher education for all people, irrespective of their racial or ethnic backgrounds.

Now more than ever, we seek to collaborate with like-minded organizations, community leaders, and individuals to ensure that the voices of the underrepresented are heard and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all aspiring students.

About NOBCO:

The National Organization of Black County Officials (NOBCO) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the professional development and representation of over 700 Black county officials across the United States of America. NOBCO is dedicated to promoting the interests and representation of black communities through best practices in county governments, networking opportunities, limitless resources and advocacy to support the success and empowerment of its members and affiliates. NOBCO strives to achieve equity, justice, and equal opportunities for all through policy advocacy, community engagement and executive education. For more information contact [email protected].

SOURCE National Organization of Black County Officials
BOSTON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The next generation deserves quality climate educational tools and programming to prepare them for the future  to offset the impacts of the climate crisis. We must follow the pathways set by our global leaders and act with the urgency of now to affect change.

Progress Report: Climate Education in the U.S.

New Jersey and Connecticut are the first states to legislate a mandate requiring schools to teach climate education.

and are the first states to legislate a mandate requiring schools to teach climate education. Hawaii passed legislation in 2013 requiring schools to offer courses in sustainability to all public-school students.

passed legislation in 2013 requiring schools to offer courses in sustainability to all public-school students. Arizona , Minnesota , New Hampshire , New York , Rhode Island , and Washington are pursuing legislation.

, and are pursuing legislation. The National Center for Science Education rated 20 states a C+ or lower with Alabama , Georgia , South Carolina , Pennsylvania , Texas , Virginiareceiving an F. report

Progress Report: Climate Education Leaders in Europe and Asia

Today, Portugal has the best track record in Europe with other leaders: Spain, Finland, Greece and South Asia.

PORTUGAL: Portugal's Political Constitution includes a provision (Article 66) that ensures the right to a healthy environment and ecologically balanced human lives.1 Educational initiatives include:

The Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality 2050. 2

The National Strategy for Citizenship Education (2017). 3

The Framework of Environmental Education for Sustainability (2018). 4

The National Environmental Education Strategy (2020).5

SPAIN: The Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO) is implementing a national climate change curriculum in public primary and secondary school. Spain's role as the host of COP25 prompted the creation of additional public climate change education programs, including PAEAS.

FINLAND: Finnish Upper Secondary teachers facilitate planning and integration of climate change education into their teaching practices6; recent curriculum document expands multidisciplinary approach of climate change education to include language studies, natural sciences, philosophy, and ethics.7

GREECE: Climate and Environmental Education (EE) Policy

83% climate change is the greatest challenge faced by humanity in the 21st century.

88% believe that climate change has a direct impact on their daily lives of Greeks (EU average 77%)

95% advocate for educational initiatives and raising awareness with children as a solution.

SOUTH ASIA: In a regional U-Report poll on South Asian countries by UNICEF, it was found:

65% learned about climate change in school.

64% do not understand climate change and are unable to explain it. 8

78% reported climate change had affected their education.

What's Next?

Survey results of 36 European countries on climate education by Eramus, School Education Gateway (2020):

The responsibility of climate education lies with schools.

70% respondents stated that the current school curriculum doesn't address climate education

66% of teachers lack of expertise or training.

51%: shortage of climate education resources.

Only 29% felt climate education is already adequately covered in the school curriculum.

What's required of us?

It's time to demand more access to climate education tools and programs, and higher quality resources to serve this pressing need of our global communities that need them most. We must follow these new pathways set forth by our climate leaders and act with the urgency of NOW.

About The Institute

For 25 years The Institute has been a leader developing climate education and sustainable workforce development tools, trainings, and initiatives (Case Studies). The Institute's Stone Soup Climate Education Curriculum is based on the real-life 100 stories in the book, Stone Soup for a Sustainable World: Life-Changing Stories of Young Heroes.

Stone Soup Leadership Institute  www.stonesoupleadership.org

Contact:

Jim ONeill

(617) 299-6185

[email protected]

SOURCE Stone Soup Leadership Institute
SHENZHEN, China, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 27, 2023, Shenzhen Longsys Electronics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Longsys") and Powertech Technology Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "PTI") reached an agreement that Longsys would acquire 70% equity of Powertech Technology (Suzhou) Limited (hereinafter referred to as "PTI Suzhou"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of PTI, through its wholly-owned subsidiary.

Founded in May 1997, PTI, a listed company in Taiwan (stock code: 6239.TW), is the world's largest third-party memory chip packaging and testing service provider with globally leading memory chip packaging and testing processes and technologies. PTI Suzhou, formerly known as Advanced Micro Devices and Spansion, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of PTI in 2009. Its main services cover chip packaging, testing, and SMT, and its main products include flash memory chips, memory chips, and logic chips.

Since its establishment, Longsys has been focusing on the comprehensive application of semiconductor storage. After spending more than 20 years in R&D, innovation, and market growth for storage products, Longsys has forged its renowned industrial storage brand FORESEE and its international high-end consumer storage brand Lexar, and has gained a significant market influence and popularity in domestic and overseas markets. In the field of memory chip design, Longsys has successfully launched its self-developed SLC NAND flash chip. In the fields of storage, packaging, and testing, Longsys is also capable of design simulation and process development.

By following the development trend of the storage industry, Longsys actively strengthens cooperation with leading enterprises in the global storage industry chain, and promotes the integration and layout of resources in the upstream and downstream of the storage industry chain. After the acquisition, Longsys will build a strategic partnership with PTI based on PTI Suzhou, jointly increase investment in storage packaging and testing technologies, and further enhance Longsys's innovation capability, product quality, and competitiveness in the storage industry. PTI Suzhou will continue to provide outstanding packaging and testing services for existing customers and empower the innovation of the domestic storage industry chain.

Through the acquisition, Longsys will further enhance its packaging and testing capabilities of memory chips, improve the resource layout in the storage industrial chain, and strengthen business cooperation relationship with storage wafer manufacturers. With regard to aspects such as reducing production costs and promptly responding to customer needs, Longsys will work together with PTI Suzhou to enhance its core competitiveness and market influence, realize its strategic company transformation from a storage technology brand to a semiconductor storage brand, improve long-term profitability, and boost shareholder returns.

SOURCE Longsys Electronics
DANDERYD, Sweden, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tobii Dynavox AB ("Tobii Dynavox"), the world leader in assistive communication, has entered into an agreement to acquire all the shares in the German companies EIYott GmbH and Rehadapt Engineering GmbH & Co. KG (together "Rehadapt"). Rehadapt is a worldwide provider of mounting solutions for assistive technology. Tobii Dynavox will pay EUR 15 million in cash, on a cash and debt free basis. The transaction is subject to relevant regulatory approvals and other customary conditions, which are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

Background

Rehadapt is a premium provider of medically certified mounting solutions for assistive technology, including out-of-the-box and flexible solutions to support individual communication, independent mobility kits and customized accessories. Based on over 20 years of expertise and innovative development, Rehadapt has created a well-respected brand and a valuable asset base in the field of mounting solutions. Rehadapt's products are currently sold together with Tobii Dynavox's products as well as by many other companies in assistive communication. Rehadapt has approximately 50 employees and is headquartered in Kassel, Germany with a local subsidiary and distribution center in the United States. Rehadapt's turnover in 2022 was approximately EUR 10 million with an adjusted EBIT margin of approximately 20%. The seller, Rehadapt's CEO Uli Ehlert, will remain with Rehadapt for a period of at least one year.

Reasons for the acquisition

Tobii Dynavox considers the primary value creation resulting from this acquisition to arise from accelerated innovation and development of technologies for mounting solutions, which is often an integral part of assistive communication solutions. In addition, the acquisition creates the conditions for increased sales of both companies' products.

"Our ultimate goal is to give all people with communication impairments a voice and the opportunity to be who they want to be," says Fredrik Ruben, CEO of Tobii Dynavox. "Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have been successful partners for many years. The acquisition will deepen this relationship further, providing opportunities to create solutions that make it easier for our users to access and use their communication aids. Rehadapt has a best-in-class team and product portfolio and will remain an independent subsidiary to Tobii Dynavox that continues to serve and support all current customers and segments in an unchanged manner," Fredrik Ruben, CEO of Tobii Dynavox continues. Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have highly complementary core areas of expertise. Tobii Dynavox's core expertise is the development, sales and support of its clinically developed assistive communication, while Rehadapt's core expertise is mounting solutions for assistive technology. By bringing together the expertise in these technologies, Tobii Dynavox can accelerate the development of solutions for the entire industry. Both Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have global sales networks that will open up opportunities to improve operational capabilities. Kassel, Germany is a premium location to service European countries efficiently.

"Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have a long successful history as partners with similar driving forces and cultures. Both companies have been built around exceptional products with a focus on enabling the best possible life for people with functional impairments" says Uli Ehlert, CEO of Rehadapt. "We are proud of what we have accomplished as a company and with Tobii Dynavox, I am confident we will find a great home for our staff, our products, our customers and the users. I'm very much looking forward to taking the next step in our journey," Uli Ehlert, CEO of Rehadapt continues.

Purchase consideration, terms and conditions and timetable for the acquisition and financing

Tobii Dynavox, has today entered into an agreement with the sole shareholder, Mr. Uli Ehlert, to acquire all the shares in Rehadapt. The total purchase consideration for all the shares amounts to EUR 15 million paid in cash, on a cash and debt free basis. Additionally, a potential earn-out consideration of up to EUR 3.5 million 12 months after closing of the transaction will be paid depending on the continued financial development of Rehadapt. Closing is subject to relevant regulatory approvals and other customary conditions which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2023.

To finance this acquisition, Tobii Dynavox has increased its total credit facility with Swedbank to SEK 800 million by signing and extending its credit facility with an additional term loan of SEK 100 million. Tobii Dynavox will use this new term loan and its revolving credit facility to pay for this acquisition.

About the acquisition

Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt have been successful partners for many years. The acquisition will deepen this relationship further, providing great opportunities to create solutions that make it easier for our users to access and use their communication aids. With a shared focus on supporting people who need assistive communication, both Tobii Dynavox and Rehadapt will benefit from accelerated innovation and development of technologies for mounting solutions, which are an integral part of assistive communication solutions. Rehadapt will run as an independent, fully owned, subsidiary to Tobii Dynavox under the current Rehadapt management.

This information is information that Tobii Dynavox AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted, through the agency of the contact person set out below, for publication at 08:15 CET, on June 30, 2023.

Contact: Linda Tybring, CFO, Tobii Dynavox, phone: +46 (0) 7068 14 980, email: [email protected]

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Main/11919/3797601/2163523.pdf Press release Tobii Dynavox enters agreement to acquire Rehadapt Engineering, improving mounting solutions for communication aids https://news.cision.com/tobii-dynavox/i/julia-communication-aid-with-mount,c3196068 Julia communication aid with mount

SOURCE Tobii Dynavox
VANCOUVER, BC, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Trevali Mining Corporation (the "Company") announced that on June 28, 2023, on application by the Company, the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the "Court") granted an order dated June 28, 2023 in the Company's ongoing Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act proceedings (the "CCAA Proceedings") pursuant to which FTI Consulting Canada Inc., the Court appointed "Monitor", has been granted enhanced powers in the CCAA Proceedings with respect to the Company's business and affairs.

In connection with the order of the Court enhancing the Monitor's powers to manage the Company, the Company's remaining officers (being Brendan Creaney, Chief Financial Officer, and Steven Molnar, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary) and all other employees have ceased their employment with the Company. In addition, Russell Ball has resigned as a director of the Company effective as of June 29, 2023.

About Trevali Mining Corporation

The Company is a base-metals company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. All inquiries regarding the Company and the CCAA Proceedings should be directed to the Monitor (email: [email protected] or telephone: +1-877-294-8998). Information about the Company's CCAA Proceedings, including all court orders, are available on the Monitor's website (http://cfcanada.fticonsulting.com/trevali/).

For further details on the Company, readers are referred to the Company's regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE Trevali Mining Corporation
Mike Tyson's Acclaimed Cannabis Brand TYSON 2.0 Expands its Reach with East Coast Cannabis Partnership on the Champ's Birthday.

ELIOT, Maine, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Maine: the Champ is here. TYSON 2.0, the premium cannabis brand co-founded by cultural icon Mike Tyson, launches today in partnership with elite operator East Coast Cannabis. As Mike Tyson celebrates his birthday today, join us in honoring the Champ's extraordinary legacy and his tireless efforts to make undisputed cannabis accessible to all through TYSON 2.0.

"I am very grateful to bring TYSON 2.0 to Maine, as the New England region holds a special place in my heart. Our expansion here represents not just the growth of TYSON 2.0, but also our dedication to excellence and quality. We believe in enriching peoples' lives through the responsible use of cannabis, and I can't wait for the people of Maine to experience what we've passionately built with TYSON 2.0," said Mike Tyson, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Officer of TYSON 2.0.



The award-winning lineup of Tyson 2.0 products that have been brought to Maine consist of high-end indoor flower across various sizes, elite concentrates and vapes, and the world-famous Mike Bites edible line. Tyson 2.0 and East Coast Cannabis will closely collaborate on cutting-edge genetics that will make each product launch undisputed, core to the shared ethos of both groups.

"Our motto is 'live the adventure,' and few embody that ethos like Mike," said Ryan Ward, co-founder of East Coast Cannabis. "Our mission has always been to provide the best customer service and the highest-quality cannabis to our customers. TYSON 2.0 shares that mission."

"We're thrilled to partner with East Coast Cannabis and launch TYSON 2.0 across Maine. Creating the world's best cannabis products and exceptional customer service are the core of what we do," said Adam Wilks, CEO of TYSON 2.0. "East Coast Cannabis shares our values, and now, together we will continue to deliver an experience unlike any other in Maine."

About Tyson 2.0

TYSON 2.0 launched in October 2021. Now TYSON 2.0's award-winning cannabis line, branded accessories, and other products are available across a vast global network of more than 100,000 retail outlets that span 17 countries. For more information on TYSON 2.0, visit tyson20.com. TYSON 2.0 branded merchandise is available for purchase at shoptyson20.com. TYSON 2.0 hemp-based products are available for purchase at tyson20global.com.

About East Coast Cannabis

East Coast Cannabis of Maine began in a barn in 2017. Today, it is a state-of-the-art, award-winning cannabis operator that embodies Maine's adventurous spirit. Every day, East Coast Cannabis works the New England way to improve the lives of all who seek relief, relaxation, adventure, and play. Proud to be grown in Maine. For more information on East Coast Cannabis, please visit: www.eccannabis.com.

Media Inquiries

Brian Roberts

Chief Communications Officer, TYSON 2.0

908-616-7822

[email protected]

SOURCE TYSON 2.0
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of Independence Day, Walt Disney World Resort plans to host breathtaking U.S. Air Force flyovers over Magic Kingdom Park on July 4, 2023.

Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

The Air Force is expected to showcase their capabilities with two flyovers (weather dependent) as part of their national outreach program which aims to engage and inspire the next generation of patriotism. Beginning at approximately 10:30 a.m. a squadron of F-35 stealth fighter jets flown by the 33rd Fighter Wing will make two passes over the world-famous theme park. The first flyover will also include a KC-135 tanker flown by the 6th Air Refueling Wing. 2023 marks the Air Force's 100 years of aerial refueling capabilities. This year is also the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company.

Fourth of July is a time for patriotic celebrations across the United States, and there is no better place to salute the stars and stripes than Walt Disney World Resort. Star-spangled spectaculars are a time-honored tradition across the resort, reflecting Walt Disney's deep love of America and faith in the nation's future.

The flyover is also the latest example of Disney's long history of support for the military dating back to Disney's founders, Walt and Roy Disney, who both served their country during the First World War. That tradition continues today with events like the daily Flag Retreat ceremony at Magic Kingdom Park, where an active-duty military member or veteran is selected from the park's daily visitors to be honored. The Walt Disney Company has also been a leading proponent of hiring, training and supporting military veterans with the Heroes Work Here initiative, the Heroes Supply Here program and Disney's Veterans Institute.

SOURCE Walt Disney World
The Supreme Courts ruling on the end of affirmative action has left almost no one indifferent in the US. Republicans, headed by Donald Trump, have applauded the decision, while President Joe Biden, has condemned it. The conservatives have imposed their 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court to end a practice that has allowed generations of mainly Black and Latino students realize their ambitions. Curiously, it is two Black Supreme Court justices who have clashed the most sharply over the issue.

The two judges sit at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. Clarence Thomas, 75, is one of the most conservative justices in the country and the most senior. Ketanji Brown Jackson, 52, is the latest appointment and perhaps the most left-leaning. Despite both being African-American, their positions on racial issues are diametrically opposed.

Regarding Jackson, Thomas said in his concurring opinion that as she sees things, we are all inexorably trapped in a fundamentally racist society, with the original sin of slavery and the historical subjugation of Black Americans still determining our lives today. The panacea, she counsels, is to unquestioningly accede to the view of elite experts and reallocate societys riches by racial means as necessary to level the playing field, all as judged by racial metrics. I strongly disagree.

Jackson struck back at Thomas, saying, He does not dispute any historical or present fact about the origins and continued existence of race-based disparity (nor could he), yet is somehow persuaded that these realities have no bearing on a fair assessment of individual achievement. Justice Thomass opinion also demonstrates an obsession with race consciousness that far outstrips my or the University of North Carolinas holistic understanding that race can be a factor that affects applicants unique life experiences. The takeaway is that those who demand that no one think about race (a classic pink-elephant paradox) refuse to see, much less solve  the race-linked disparities that continue to impede achievement of our great Nations full potential.

The nine justices of the US Supreme Court: Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Ketanji Brown Jackson J. Scott Applewhite (AP)

The two judges are not the only ones at loggerheads. In the political realm, President Joe Biden has lambasted the decision. I believe our colleges are strongest when they are racially diverse, he said. I also believe that while talent, creativity, and hard work are everywhere across this country, not [so] equal opportunity. Its not everywhere across this country. He went on to repeat three times, Discrimination still exists in America. Discrimination still exists in America. Discrimination still exists in America. Todays decision does not change that. Its a simple fact.

Biden proposes taking advantage of an ambiguity in the decision which would allow colleges to consider the obstacles a student has overcome compared to more qualified applicants. We cannot let this decision be the last word, he insisted. Our nations colleges and universities should be engines of expanding opportunity through upward mobility. But today, too often thats not the case. Today, for too many schools, the only people who benefit from the system are the wealthy and the well-connected. The odds have been stacked against working people for much too long, he added.

Closing ranks

On the other side of the divide was deafening applause from Trump and the rest of the Republicans. This is a great day for America, Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, adding, People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our country, are finally being rewarded. This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing. It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world. Our greatest minds must be cherished and thats what this wonderful day has brought. Were going back to all merit-basedand thats the way it should be!

Three of the six judges who voted in favor of eliminating affirmative action based on race were appointed by Trump during his four-year presidency.

Other Republicans have chosen to take the same line. College admissions should be based on merit and applicants should not be judged on their race or ethnicity, said Ron DeSantis, Trumps chief rival in the 2024 presidential primary. The Supreme Court has correctly upheld the Constitution and ended discrimination by colleges and universities.

Meanwhile, Kevin McCarthy, speaker of the House of Representatives, spoke out in a similar vein: Now students will be able to compete based on equal standards and individual merit. This will make the college admissions process fairer and uphold equality, he said in a tweet.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a primary candidate of Asian origin, has also been adamant about the fairness of the decision. The majority of Black students at Harvard are not descendants of slaves but descendants of immigrants. Giving special preferences to someone who looks like a person who once suffered is not justice. We should finally embrace colorblind meritocracy in America rather than repeat our past mistakes, he said.

Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator and also a candidate for the 2024 presidential election, also weighed in with: This is the day where we understand that being judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin, is what our constitution wants, adding the decision is something the country should celebrate.

In contrast, Democrat and House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, an African-American and member of the Congressional Black Caucus, criticized the ruling, calling the Supreme Courts conservative justices right-wing ideologues who gutted reproductive freedom last year. He went on to say, The very same extremists just obliterated consideration of racial diversity in college admissions. They clearly want to turn back the clock. We will NEVER let that happen.
DUBLIN, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "US Biosimilar Market: Insights & Forecast with Potential Impact of COVID- 19 (2023-2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The US biosimilar market is forecasted to reach US$50.68 billion in 2027, experiencing growth at a CAGR of 40.17% during the period spanning from 2023 to 2027.

Growth in the US biosimilar market is supported by factors such as rising prevalence of cancer, growing geriatric population and favorable environment. However, the market growth is expected to be restrained by complexities in manufacturing, excess competition and complexities in pricing.

The US biosimilar market by drug class can be segmented as follows: monoclonal antibodies, filgrastim & pegfilgrastim and others. In 2022, the dominant share of the US biosimilar market was being held by monoclonal antibodies, followed by filgrastim & pegfilgrastim. As of 2022, there have been 41 approvals and 30 launches in the U.S. biosimilar market.

The US biosimilar market by product can be categorized as follows: Prolia (Denosumab), Xolair (Omalizumab), Rituxan (Rituximab), Humira (Adalimumab) and Stelara (Ustekinumab). The US Biosimilar market landscape by class can be categorized as follows: Supportive Care, Oncology, Long Acting Insulin, Rapid Acting Insulin, Ophthalmology and TNF blockers. Factors such as patent expiry Of biologics and research on new indications has been supporting the US biosimilar market.

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new challenges for the pharmaceutical industry, including makers of biosimilars. The pandemic threatened to derailed product pipelines. During the height of the outbreak, resources were diverted away from the research and development of new biosimilars and towards the fight against COVID-19.

Companies Mentioned

Celltrion, Inc.

Samsung Biologics Co., Ltd.

Amgen Inc.

Pfizer Inc.

Novartis AG

Viatris Inc.

Scope of the report:

The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the US biosimilar market with impact of COVID-19.

The market dynamics such as growth drivers, market trends and challenges are analyzed in-depth.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Market Overview

2. Impact of COVID- 19

3. The US Market Analysis

3.1 The US Biosimilar Market Forecast by Value

3.2 The US Biosimilar Market by Drug Class

3.3 The US Biosimilar Approvals

3.4 The US Biosimilar Launches

3.5 The US Biosimilar in Pipeline

3.6 The US Biosimilar Market by Product

3.6.1 The US Prolia (Denosumab) Biosimilar Market Forecast by Value

3.6.2 The US Xolair (Omalizumab) Biosimilar Market Forecast by Value

3.6.3 The US Rituxan (Rituximab) Biosimilar Market Forecast by Value

3.6.4 The US Humira (Adalimumab) Biosimilar Market Forecast by Value

3.6.5 The US Stelara (Ustekinumab) Biosimilar Market Forecast by Value

3.7 The US Biosimilar Market Landscape

3.7.1 The US Supportive Care Biosimilar Market Landscape

3.7.2 The US Oncology Biosimilar Market Landscape

3.7.3 The US Long Acting Insulin Biosimilar Market Landscape

3.7.4 The US Rapid Acting Insulin Biosimilar Market Landscape

3.7.5 The US Ophthalmology Biosimilar Market Landscape

3.7.6 The US TNF blockers Biosimilar Market Landscape

3.8 The US Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.1 The US Supportive Care Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.2 The US Oncology Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.3 The US Insulin Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.4 The US Ophthalmology Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.5 The US TNF blockers Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.6 The US Immunosuppressant Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.7 The US Bone Health Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.8 The US Growth Hormone Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

3.8.9 The US Infertility Biosimilar Pipeline Landscape

4. Market Dynamics

4.1 Growth Drivers

4.1.1 Rising Prevalence of Cancer

4.1.2 Increasing Health Expenditure

4.1.3 Growing Geriatric Population

4.1.4 Payors Favoring Biosimilars

4.1.5 Cost Effective

4.1.6 Favorable Environment

4.2 Key Trends & Developments

4.2.1 Patent Expiry of Biologics

4.2.2 Research on New Indications

4.3 Challenges

4.3.1 Complexities in Manufacturing

4.3.2 Excess Competition

4.3.3 Complexities in Pricing

5. Competitive Landscape

5.1 Global Market

5.1.1 Forecasted Market Share - Key Players

6. Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/oa4uoy

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
MENLO PARK, Calif., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gamma Biosciences, a life sciences platform created by global investment firm KKR to address the advanced therapy bioprocessing market, today announced that its operating company, Univercells Technologies ("UT"), a leading provider of novel biomanufacturing technologies for flexible and scalable advanced therapies and vaccine production, has been acquired by Donaldson Company, Inc. (NYSE: DCI).

Donaldson is a leading worldwide provider of innovative filtration products and solutions. The deal follows several recent acquisitions by Donaldson in the field of bioprocessing, including Solaris Biotechnology, Purilogics and Isolere Bio. UT's single-use bioreactor systems and integrated biomanufacturing platforms, focused on the production of viruses used in cell and gene therapy, viral vaccines and other therapeutics, will add to Donaldson's growing offering in life sciences.

"I am proud of the achievements of our team during this journey with Univercells and Gamma Biosciences, as we ramped-up our development, production and service capabilities and continued to innovate and launch novel products," said Mathias Garny, CEO of UT. "We are now looking forward to this new era with Donaldson to further strengthen our market position and deliver robust, end-to-end biomanufacturing solutions to our customers as they advance towards commercialization of advanced therapies and vaccines."

"We are delighted that UT will join Donaldson as it expands its presence in biomanufacturing, leveraging its legacy of filtration technology leadership" said Matt Gunnison, CEO of Gamma Biosciences. "UT has developed a best-in-class platform for efficient manufacturing of gene therapies and vaccines and will be well positioned as part of the larger Donaldson organization to support the market going forward."

Gamma Biosciences first invested in UT in June 2020 and has worked closely with the company to fund the development, manufacture and commercialization of the scale-X and NevoLine product lines, which are based on the company's novel structured, fixed-bed design for high-density adherent and suspension cell culture.

According to the terms of the transaction, Donaldson acquired all outstanding shares of the business from Gamma and its fellow shareholder, Univercells SA, for approximately 136M in cash net of debt. Rothschild & Co acted as financial advisor to Univercells Technologies. Sidley Austin LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer US LLP acted as legal advisors to Gamma and Univercells, respectively.

About Gamma Biosciences

Gamma Biosciences is a life sciences tools platform created by KKR. Gamma's mission is to support leading players in next-generation bioprocessing for advanced therapies by acquiring or investing in high-potential businesses with outstanding technology and accelerating their growth.

About Donaldson Company, Inc.

Founded in 1915, Donaldson (NYSE: DCI) is a global leader in technology-led filtration products and solutions, serving a broad range of industries and advanced markets. Our diverse, skilled employees at over 140 locations on six continents partner with customersfrom small business owners to the world's biggest OEM brandsto solve complex filtration challenges. Discover how Donaldson is Advancing Filtration for a Cleaner World at www.Donaldson.com.

About Univercells Technologies

Univercells Technologies is a global provider of innovative biomanufacturing technologies to achieve cost-effective advanced therapies and vaccines production from R&D to commercial scales. The Company offers a comprehensive technology portfolio leveraging the strengths of process intensification and chaining as a direct answer to the growing demand of viral vectors and viral vaccines. Univercells Technologies is committed to helping customers increase performance with minimized footprint and costs today, while anticipating the needs of tomorrow.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1295160/Gamma__Logo.jpg

SOURCE Gamma Biosciences
The Ancient Bulgarian Herb Is a Natural Way to Kickstart a Person's Sex Drive Without the Negative Side Effects of Chemical Alternatives

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VemoHerb is a well-established health brand known for its range of gold-standard supplements. While the company includes many different wild-grown herbs in its formulations, it has a unique corner on the market for one herb, in particular  an herb that hails directly from its home region of Bulgaria: Tribulus Terrestris.

"Bulgaria has many wild herbs that we harvest and incorporate into our standardized formulas," says VemoHerb co-owner Vasil Zlatev, "But at the end of the day, Tribulus Terrestris is one of our most important herbal ingredients."

Tribulus Terrestris has a reputation for its potential to increase strength and muscle growth and clean the body of toxins. It's also well-known as a natural libido booster for both men and women . Its aphrodisiac effect increases sexual desire and satisfaction.

The herb is a safe and simple alternative to stronger drugs like Viagra and Cialis, which use chemical ingredients like tadalafil and sildenafil , respectively. These are harsh on the body and can lead to a plethora of side effects from headaches and heartburn to nausea, nosebleeds, numbness, and even changes in color vision.

In contrast, Tribulus Terrestris has been shown to safely and effectively boost libido. Using a clean, potent dose of the herbal extract can reignite an individual's sex drive without the need to risk other symptoms or side effects in the process. Of course, the key factor is finding a "clean, potent dose." That's where VemoHerb comes into the picture.

"I can proudly say that currently, we are the leading manufacturer of genuine Bulgarian Tribulus extract," says Zlatev, adding that VemoHerb's Tribulus Terrestris-based products are created with a unique know-how technology and production process that his company has developed for more than 20 years. From quality to consistency to standardization, VemoHerb's supplement is one of the most potent and genuine Bulgarian Tribulus Terrestris extracts on the market. It is standardized at a minimum of 60% furostanol saponins determined as protodioscin. (Furostanol saponins are the compound responsible for many of the herb's biological activities.)

The resulting product is a powerful way to enhance physical performance and improve overall health. It is also an excellent way to tap into a natural libido booster that doesn't require chemical ingredients or prescription drugs. For those considering using Bulgarian Tribulus Terrestris as a natural way to recapture some of their former passion in the bedroom, there is nothing cleaner, stronger, or more consistent than VemoHerb's Bulgarian Tribulus.

About VemoHerb

VemoHerb is a health and wellness enterprise with over two decades of experience in the supplement industry. Founded in 1999, the family-owned label was established to develop and market innovative herbal extracts and food enzymes. The brand prides itself on its closed-loop production process, which starts with harvesting wild-grown herbs from the Balkan mountain region, includes cutting-edge active ingredient extraction via the company's in-house lab, and ends with elite supplements with transparent and informed labels. Learn more at vemoherb.us .

Deyana Zdravkova

International Marketing & Sales Services

Vemo 99 LTD

88 Rozhen Blvd, 1271 Sofia, Bulgaria;

Phone: +359 2 931 66 21

[email protected]

SOURCE VemoHerb
MEXICO CITY, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta, S.A.B. de C.V. ("Vesta"), a fully-integrated, internally managed real estate company that owns, manages, develops and leases industrial properties in Mexico, today announced that it has priced its initial public offering of 12,500,000 American Depositary Shares ("ADSs"), representing 125,000,000 of its common shares, at a price of US$31.00 per ADS.

Vesta intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to fund its growth strategy, as described in its registration statement on Form F-1.

The ADSs have been approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange and will start trading on June 30, 2023 under the ticker symbol "VTMX". The offering is expected to settle on or about July 5, 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. In connection with the offering, Vesta has granted to the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,875,000 ADSs representing 18,750,000 common shares at the initial public offering price. The over-allotment option will be subject to the underwriting commissions.

The offering is being made through an underwriting group led by Citigroup, BofA Securities and Barclays who are acting as joint global coordinators, Morgan Stanley and Scotiabank who are acting as joint bookrunners, and UBS Investment Bank who is acting as underwriter.

In order to minimize trading volatility, Vesta has requested the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores, S.A.B. de C.V. ("BMV") to temporarily suspend the trading of its common shares on the BMV from the opening of the trading session on June 30, 2023 until trading in Vesta's ADSs on the New York Stock Exchange has normalized.

A registration statement on Form F-1 relating to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Copies of the registration statement can be accessed through the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation, or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus, when available, may be obtained by contacting: Citigroup Global Markets Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, telephone 800-831-9146; BofA Securities, NC1-022-02-25, 201 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department, or by e-mail to [email protected]; Barclays Capital Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717 (or by email at [email protected] or telephone at 1-888-603-5847); Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014, or by email to: [email protected]; Scotia Capital (USA) Inc., 250 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10281, Attention: Equity Capital Markets, at (212) 255-6854, [email protected]; or UBS Securities LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019, by telephone at (888) 827-7275 or by emailing [email protected].

About Vesta

Vesta is a real estate owner, developer and asset manager of industrial buildings and distribution centers in Mexico. As of March 31, 2023, Vesta's portfolio was comprised of 202 buildings in modern industrial parks in 15 states of Mexico, totaling a gross leasable area of 33.7 million square feet (3.1 million square meters). Vesta has several world-class clients participating in a variety of industries such as automotive, aerospace, high-tech, pharmaceuticals, electronics, food and beverage and packaging.

SOURCE Corporacion Inmobiliaria Vesta, S.A.B. de C.V.
Viking Only Line to Win Best in Both River and Ocean Categories for Four Years

LOS ANGELES, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Luxury Travel Advisor has named Viking (www.viking.com) the "Best Luxury River Cruise Company" and "Best Cruise Line for Luxury Ocean Cruises" in the publication's 2023 Awards of Excellence. Viking is the first and only line to be named best in both the river and ocean categories for four years. The announcement also marks the eighth time Viking has been voted "Best Luxury River Cruise Company" during the annual awards.

Luxury Travel Advisor has named Viking the Best Luxury River Cruise Company and Best Cruise Line for Luxury Ocean Cruises in the publications 2023 Awards of Excellence. Viking is the first and only line to be named best in both the river and ocean categories for four years. The announcement also marks the eighth time Viking has been voted Best Luxury River Cruise Company during the annual awards. For more information, visit www.viking.com. Luxury Travel Advisor has named Viking the Best Luxury River Cruise Company and Best Cruise Line for Luxury Ocean Cruises in the publications 2023 Awards of Excellence. Viking is the first and only line to be named best in both the river and ocean categories for four years. For more information, visit www.viking.com.

Luxury Travel Advisor, a prestigious travel publication, annually selects companies and individuals considered elite suppliers in the luxury travel industry as honorees through an exclusive voting opportunity by the publication's advisory board. The list of nominees represents a range of categories including hotels, resorts, individuals, cruise lines and professional services that exceed expectations in delivering memorable experiences, a symbol of the luxury travel industry; the full results can be found at https://www.luxurytraveladvisor.com/your-business/luxury-travel-advisor-announces-2023-awards-excellence-winners.

"Thank you to Luxury Travel Advisor for this honor. We are proud to be recognized once again as the best in river and ocean voyages," said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. "At Viking, we are dedicated to exploring the world in comfort, and we are very pleased that this mission continues to resonate with our guestsas well as with experts in the luxury travel industry."

The announcement follows Viking's continued celebration of its 25th anniversary and its most successful single month of bookings in January 2023, following recent years of strong growth. Since 2020, Viking has welcomed 17 new ships to its fleetincluding eight new award-winning Viking Longships on the rivers of Europe; new vessels on the Mekong, Nile and Mississippi rivers; four new, identical ocean ships; and two Polar Class expedition vessels. Viking has also received other new accolades recently, including being voted "Best Cruise Line" by Food & Wine readers in the publication's inaugural Global Tastemakers Awards, named one of the best for relaxation in the 2023 Men's Health Travel Awards, and "Best River Cruise line" by Women's Health in its inaugural Healthy Travel Awards. Viking also dominated Cruise Critic's 2023 Cruisers' Choice Awards, receiving top honors in six categories including "Best Overall Line," "Best River Line," and "Best Dining" for its ocean and expedition voyages.

Media Assets

For more information about Viking, or for images and b-roll, please contact [email protected].

About Viking

Viking was founded in 1997 and provides destination-focused journeys on rivers, oceans and lakes around the world. Designed for experienced travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers experiences for The Thinking Person. Viking has more than 250 awards to its name, including being the first cruise line to ever be named both the #1 Ocean Line and the #1 River Line in a single year in Travel + Leisure's 2022 "World's Best" Awards. Viking has also been rated the #1 River Line and #1 Ocean Line by Conde Nast Traveler in the publication's 2022 and 2021 Readers' Choice Awards. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-800-2-VIKING (1-800-284-5464) or visit www.viking.com. For Viking's award-winning enrichment channel, visit www.viking.tv.

SOURCE Viking
Under the theme "Reimagining Dairy", this year's Global Dairy Congress served as a rallying call to address the universal challenges faced by the industry. To achieve sustainable growth, the global sector is implored to reevaluate its core values and harness its intrinsic motivation to propel itself toward the future.

Vinamilk, the sole company from Southeast Asia, amongst other prestigious organizations with over 200 industry professionals at the congress, presented a tour de force on the remarkable development of the local sector's half-a-century history. Mr. Nguyen Quang Tri, CMO of Vinamilk, captivated the audience as he shared Vinamilk's extraordinary 47-year journey and its impact on Vietnam's flourishing dairy industry.

This tale took on added significance as Vietnam is entering its golden population milestone of 100 million people, a mark of great potential and dynamism. Once a nation with limited resources for dairy development, Vietnam has now metamorphosed the dairy sector into a thriving one capable of meeting the nations' demands and stamping its presence globally with the industry leader Vinamilk being a world ranking dairy manufacturer and brand.

The Chairman of Global Dairy Congress, Richard Hall, expressed his fascination with Vinamilk for its thriving history within the industry, "I am fascinated by the success story of Vinamilk's CEO and the company, from the early beginning in very difficult circumstances. They have created a world-ranking business. They are developing amazing products, taking care of the social problems, and all the health and well-being issues. And now, they are reaching to the world of dairy."

Alliances for a rapid global growth

During the presentation, Vinamilk shared a case study of their infant formula products with a concept of "Nurturing sustainable growth for an emerging nation of 100 million people". Coming from only one factory in 1990, Vinamilk Dielac became the first "made in Vietnam" infant formula product and began exporting in 1997.

In 2013, Vinamilk invested $100 million to build the Vietnam Powder Milk Mega Factory to boost the annual production capacity. The leading manufacturer continues to expand its horizons and is investing roughly $600 million in production facilities, engineering and farming projects to upgrade supply capacity in anticipation of stronger future market demands.

This year, Vinamilk formed strategic alliances with leading global nutrition expert groups from Europe and Japan such as DSM, CHR HANSEN, GNOSIS, KANEMATSU, AKK and BENEO to develop world-class nutrition solutions that adhere to the highest global standards. Additionally, all Vinamilk's infant formula products have proudly achieved the coveted "Purity Award", a rigorous accolade that reflects unwavering commitment to purity and food safety.

As the dairy industry in Vietnam undergoes a fundamental transformation leveraging its full potential, Vinamilk's CMO, Mr. Nguyen Quang Tri concluded: "We envision a sustainable, advanced, and relentlessly innovative dairy industry  a beacon of new possibilities that lie ahead for Vietnam with Vinamilk at the forefront."

About Vinamilk

Founded in 1976 in Vietnam, Vietnam Dairy Products JSC (Vinamilk) is the leading national dairy company specializing in dairy and nutritious products. Vinamilk manages 15 farms and 17 factories supplying up to 250 SKUs in the product portfolio, exported to 60 countries and regions. The dairy brand is currently among the Top 40 largest dairy companies and the sixth most valuable dairy brand worldwide.

SOURCE Vinamilk

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CHANGSHA, China, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Zoomlion"; 1157.HK) is showcasing nine flagship products from five major categories at the 3rd China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (the "Expo") in Changsha, China, from June 29 to July 2.

Zoomlion Highlights Intelligent Products at the 3rd China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo

During this period, more than 200 international organization officials, ambassadors to China, representatives of chambers of commerce, and business partners from 23 African countries, including Nigeria, Guinea, Mali, Uganda, and Cameroon, are visiting Zoomlion's Smart Industrial City and Lugu Industrial Park.

Themed "Common Development for a Shared Future," the Expo, combined with the factory tour, is offering an in-depth insight into Zoomlion's achievements in intelligent manufacturing and its advanced products and technologies with extensive applications in the African market. The visitors were impressed by Zoomlion's intelligent manufacturing capabilities as well as the superior quality of the products upon the tour.

As Zoomlion's market presence continues to increase in Africa, Zoomlion's construction machinery products, known for their high performance, quality, and comprehensive after-sales services, are gaining traction in the integrated African market.

Today, Zoomlion has become one of the most prominent construction and agricultural machinery exporters to the African market, with more than 10,000 units of Zoomlion equipment currently in service in Africa. The products displaying at the Expo are tailored to African working environments.

Agricultural machinery is one of the main product categories that Zoomlion exports to Africa. At the Expo, Zoomlion is highlighting its RN904 and RS1304 tractors, TE100 wheat machine with intelligent operation controls, and FH100 rice machine, that minimizes losses during reaping. The four respective products can adapt to the various working environments in Africa and have received rave reviews from local customers.

In the meantime, Zoomlion's construction machinery products are also delivering an excellent performance in Africa. The ZE245E excavator features a customized Cummins engine with a rated power of 133kW, and a new intelligent electronic control system that adapts to working conditions with one click, balancing low fuel consumption with high efficiency.

Zoomlion believes that intelligent manufacturing has the power to bring tremendous opportunities to the development of Africa, and the company committed to supporting Africa with excellent products and services, bringing more options and possibilities that will also push forward the development of global equipment manufacturing industries.

SOURCE Zoomlion
The Tang West Market Group cultural & artworks Metaverse project represents a significant innovation practice by Tang West Market Group, China Mobile, and ZTE Corporation in leveraging 5G to empower digital culture and establish sustainable economic models

By constructing a cultural & artwork Metaverse platform and a transaction platform, this initiative propels Tang West Market Group towards the expansion from traditional cultural industries to the realm of digital culture

SHANGHAI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a leading global provider of information and communication technology solutions, has announced the success of the Tang West Market Group cultural & artworks Metaverse project. Created through a collaborative effort between ZTE Corporation, Tang West Market Group, China Mobile Communications Group Shaanxi Co. Ltd., China Mobile Cloud, Hainan International Culture and Artworks Exchange, and the Non State Museums Committee of the Chinese Museums Association, the project has been honored with the prestigious 5G Industry Challenge Award at the GSMA 2023 Asia Mobile Awards (AMO) held during the MWC Shanghai.

ZTE helps Tang West Market Group win prestigious 5G Industry Challenge Award at the GSMA Asia Mobile Awards

The GSMA Asia Mobile Awards (AMO), established in 2006, represent a highly esteemed accolade within the Asian telecommunications industry. The 5G Industry Challenge Award aims to honor those who exemplify sustainable economic models and showcase the transformative power of 5G in revolutionizing industries, thereby contributing to a brighter future.

Drawing on the refined cultural industry chain of Tang West Market Group and the extensive experience of China Mobile Shaanxi Branch and ZTE Corporation in the realms of 5G+XR and video, Tang West Market Group, in collaboration with its partners, is spearheading the exploration of cultural digital innovation. They are dedicated to crafting the Tang West Market Group cultural & artwork Metaverse, a visionary endeavor that seeks to forge new paradigms, chart uncharted territories, and achieve groundbreaking advancements in the development of unique cultural industries.

By constructing a cultural & artwork Metaverse platform and a transaction platform, this initiative propels Tang West Market Group towards the expansion from traditional cultural industries to the realm of digital culture. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies including 5G, XR, video, cloud computing, and vSTB, the project establishes a digital infrastructure for showcasing and interacting with digital artifacts and cultural artworks, known as "Art Realm". Furthermore, leveraging the prowess of 5G, blockchain, and cloud computing, an art trading platform is created, facilitating the online exhibition and transaction of cultural artworks. Leveraging the resources of Hainan International Culture and Artworks Exchange, this endeavor materializes the tangible presentation and circulation of digital cultural assets.

The Tang West Market Group cultural & artworks Metaverse project represents a significant innovation practice by Tang West Market Group, China Mobile, and ZTE Corporation in leveraging 5G to empower digital culture and establish sustainable economic models.

Moving forward, ZTE Corporation will continue to collaborate with its ecosystem partners to drive exploration in the field of 5G+XR for cultural digitalization. Through the fusion of "technology + culture", they aim to introduce more cultural digitalization services, enrich people's spiritual and cultural lives, and promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the digital cultural industry.

ABOUT ZTE:

ZTE helps to connect the world with continuous innovation for a better future. The company provides innovative technologies and integrated solutions, its portfolio spans all series of wireless, wireline, devices and professional telecommunications services. Serving over a quarter of the global population, ZTE is dedicated to creating a digital and intelligent ecosystem, and enabling connectivity and trust everywhere. ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. www.zte.com.cn/global

FOLLOW US:

Facebook www.facebook.com/ZTECorp

Twitter www.twitter.com/ZTEPress

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/zte

YouTube www.youtube.com/@ZTECorporation

MEDIA INQUIRIES:

ZTE Corporation

Communications

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE ZTE Corporation
Police evacuated the area around the Supreme Court on Thursday shortly after two landmark rulings that have dealt a fatal blow to affirmative action in college admissions. A police officer explained that it was due to an unidentified package that could potentially contain explosives. It was a false alarm. The only explosive thing on Thursday was the decision of the court, which has taken a new conservative turn. Groups of demonstrators both for and against the decision challenged one another verbally, sometimes physically, outside the court.

The decision, which overturned admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nations oldest private and public colleges, respectively, have not only divided judges, but also political parties and a large part of society. Its consequences will be far-reaching, especially for Latino and Black communities. The experience of the nine states that have already prohibited affirmative action in college admissions shows that the representation of these minorities decreases significantly. Universities are now scrambling to find alternative ways to achieve a diverse student body.

The problem is that, as Chief Justice Judge John Roberts said, access to university is a zero-sum game. Positively discriminating against someone because of their race implies negatively discriminating against another because of theirs. It is an argument that may seem logically flawless, but it leaves out the effect of historical and systemic racial discrimination that eliminates equal opportunity.

"Historic moment"

At the doors of the Supreme Court, Eva Guo, an Asian American who lives on the outskirts of Washington, celebrated the victory of Students for Fair Admissions, the group created by the conservative activist Edward Blum that has successfully challenged the admissions systems of the two aforementioned universities. Guo, who belonged to the board of Students for Fair Admissions, shared her story with EL PAIS and declared herself excited by the historic moment she was experiencing.

Guo says her two sons have been harmed by affirmative action. One boy was rejected from a program for talented students where other non-Asian boys with much lower scores were admitted. And last year, her eldest son failed to get into the universities he applied for, even though other students with lower scores who were not Asian were admitted. It is unfair. They were denied the opportunity to pursue their dreams just because of their race, she says.

Across from Guos group, in which Indian, Chinese and Filipino Americans were in the majority, a group of young students, almost all African-Americans, were protesting the decision: We will not back down. The Supreme Court has bowed to the personal beliefs of an extremist minority, said Derrick Johnson, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), via email. We will not allow hateful people in power to turn back the clock and undermine our hard-won victories.

California, Michigan, Washington, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma already prohibited affirmative action. The experience of those states shows a displacement of Black and Latino students to lower-ranked universities. A chain effect is generated. It is not just that they have lower scores, but that they perceive that they are less likely to be admitted to top colleges and submit fewer applications. Added to this is the prohibitive price of elite universities, which already generally entails some degree of segregation.

So far, achieving diversity by other means does not seem to work very well. In California, affirmative action disappeared after a referendum in the second half of the 1990s. The representation of Latinos fell by half despite the fact that universities made efforts to promote themselves in their neighborhoods or to assess other socioeconomic and cultural factors in admissions tests that came to replace the racial ones.

Although Latino and Black households have lower median incomes, in absolute terms there are still more low-income white households. The zip code, what high school the applicant attended, being a first-generation university student and other alternatives are also being used to achieve this diversity, but the results are not as effective as with affirmative action.

In 2020, affirmative action was put to a referendum in California again and was flatly rejected by voters. In the country as a whole it is not a popular policy either, although the results of the surveys vary a lot depending on the way in which the question is formulated. Citizens generally seem willing to allow race to count as long as it is not the deciding factor.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 30, 2023 - 18:45 | All, Japan, World

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Japan on Tuesday to present the findings of its safety review of the country's plan to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, the government said Friday.

During his four-day stay, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi will also inaugurate an IAEA office at the site of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which was devastated by a massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March 2011, an agency official said.

Grossi is expected to meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday to hand over the safety assessment.

At the new field office, members of the IAEA task force that conducted the safety review will be stationed around the time the water discharge begins, according to the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.

The wastewater has been treated using an advanced liquid processing system, or ALPS, that removes most radionuclides except for tritium.

Kishida's government will review the IAEA assessment before making a definitive decision regarding the timing of the water discharge, which the government and TEPCO have aimed to begin around this summer.

On Friday, Kishida instructed relevant ministries to continue efforts to gain understanding at the local and international levels amid concerns that the water could pose risks to the marine environment, food safety and human health.

Neighboring China and Russia have expressed opposition to the discharge plan, as have local fishermen worried about the potential reputational damage to their products.

In May, a South Korean delegation of experts from government agencies and affiliated organizations visited the crippled Fukushima power plant for inspections amid public concern in their country over the potential impact of the discharge.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference that Kishida expressed the government's readiness to take thorough measures to ensure the safety and prevent reputational damage as well as provide accurate information about the water discharge.

Industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said at a separate press conference that the construction of discharge facilities was completed Monday, and the Nuclear Regulation Authority is currently conducting its final safety screening of them.

"We will continue our efforts to sincerely listen to opinions and requests of people involved in fisheries, as well as explain (the discharge plan) to them, including the content of the IAEA report," he said.

Japan first announced its policy of discharging the ALPS-processed water in April 2021 and requested the IAEA to review the safety of the plan against international standards, which serve as a global reference for protecting people and the environment from the harms of ionizing radiation, according to the IAEA.

At the plant, water injected into reactors for cooling, along with groundwater and rain flowing into the reactor buildings, becomes contaminated by directly contacting melted fuel or mixing with radioactive water accumulated in the buildings.

Such water undergoes treatment to remove radioactive materials in stages before being stored in tanks, which occupy a large area of the site.

TEPCO said it must free up space to advance decommissioning work of the defunct reactors by disposing of treated water in the tanks.

Related coverage:

South Korea begins briefings to ease anxiety over Fukushima water

FEATURE: Fukushima seafood businesses adapt as treated water release looms
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Amethi, June 30 : The Amethi police have arrested a driver who allegedly issued a death threat to the Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekhar Azad, the police said.

Vimlesh Singh, 30, was arrested from the Gauriganj police station area, the police added.

Amethi Superintendent of Police (SP), Elamaran G, said that Vimlesh drove a carriage van in Haryana.

The SP added that Vimlesh made the comments on Facebook because he felt "outraged and humiliated" by the remarks made against his community by the Bhim Army chief.

On Thursday, the police had registered an FIR against an unidentified person in Amethi district for a Facebook post where a death threat had been issued to Azad, days before the attack on him in Saharanpur on Wednesday evening.

The FIR, registered under IPC Section 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and Section 66 under the IT Act, was lodged at the Gauriganj police station.The death threat was issued from a Facebook page called 'Kshatriya of Amethi'.

The post, which has now been deleted, said that Azad would be killed by the Thakurs of Amethi at a road crossing in broad daylight.

Another post shared on this Facebook page on Thursday said that "he (Azad) will not survive next time".Azad is a very clever man, he needs security, a bulletproof vehicle and jacket, the post said and warned of a big movement if any innocent Rajput was framed for the attack.A bullet had grazed the Bhim Army Chief's abdomen when unidentified assailants opened fire at his car in Saharanpur's Deoband on Wednesday evening.--IANS

amita/khz
Unnao : , June 30 (IANS) A selfie taken with bundles of currency notes by the family of a police officer in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, has created a furore and led to his transfer, the police said.

An investigation has been launched against the police officer after the selfie taken by his wife and children went viral on social media, in which they were seen posing with bundles of Rs 500 currency notes.

The photo, which is now making rounds on social media, shows the police officer's wife and two children sitting on a bed with a huge pile of cash worth Rs 14 lakh.

As soon as the photo of the officer with bundles of notes went viral, a senior police officer immediately ordered an investigation into the matter.

The officer who was the Station-In-Charge, Ramesh Chandra Sahani, has been transferred to the police lines.

However, Sahani has defended himself and said that the photo was taken on November 14, 2021, when he sold a family property.

Giving details of the incident, a senior police officer said, "A photograph of a Station House Officer is going viral on social media. It shows the cop's wife and his children with bundles of currency notes. We have taken cognisance of the matter and the cop has been transferred to the police line. An investigation has been launched."
Amman, June 30 : Jordan's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Swedish Ambassador in Amman in protest of the burning of a copy of the Muslim holy book Quran in Stockholm.

The Ministry said on Thursday in a statement that it was a racist act of dangerous hate and a manifestation of Islamophobia that incites violence and insults religions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Such acts cannot be justified in the context of freedom of expression, as they represent a crime and a provocation to the feelings of more than two billion Muslims across the world, it added.

In Sweden's capital Stockholm on Wednesday, a person said to be an Iraqi national burned a copy of Quran outside the central mosque of Stockholm. The move was authorised by a Swedish court.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 30, 2023 - 11:24 | Arts, Japan, All

Internationally renowned U.S. guitar brand Fender opened a flagship store in Tokyo on Friday, calling it its first anywhere in the world in its 77-year history.

Located in the capital's Harajuku district, a center of youth fashion, the Fender Flagship Tokyo store spans three floors and a basement and sells guitars in every series the company produces.

The decision to base its flagship store in Japan, with a lineup that includes limited edition guitars only available in the shop, comes as the firm looks to grow in Asia while benefitting from Tokyo's appeal to international tourists.

Established in California in 1946, Fender's stratocaster guitars first created in the 1950s have been the go-to choice for a number of rock's most famous musicians, including Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison and Buddy Holly.

The move to establish a major store dedicated to its own products is new ground for the instruments company, which usually sells through musical instrument stores handling guitars from a variety of makers.

The 1,070-square-meter shop offers different experiences across its four levels.

On the second floor, visitors can test-play electric guitars at high volume before buying.

Its third-floor section, billed as the store's "dream factory," is home to its Fender Custom Shop that combines the atmosphere of a guitar museum with that of a boutique shop.

There, customers can order specially made Fender guitars crafted by the company's master builders who have created instruments for world renowned guitar heroes including Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Some guitars on offer are priced as high as around the 4 million yen ($27,600) level.

The store also has a cafe in its basement, and the company is launching a lifestyle brand called "F is for Fender" in time with the opening. The range is set to update seasonally.

At an event on Thursday ahead of the store's opening, Fender Musical Instruments Corp. CEO Andy Mooney pointed to a surge in people taking up the guitar during the coronavirus pandemic as evidence of the instruments' enduring appeal.

A survey by his company and polling firm YouGov showed that in the two years from October 2021, around 16 million people in the U.S. began learning the guitar, with a majority citing the pandemic as a key motivator.

The choice of Tokyo for the store reflected expectations that Asia will become the world's biggest music market in the next 10 years, with Japan the most influential place on the continent, he said.
United Nations, June 30 : Since fighting broke out in Sudan two-and-a-half months before, more than 2.6 million people have fled their homes, with more than 5,60,000 of them becoming international refugees, UN humanitarians said.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Thursday, more than 2.1 million people were internally displaced since April 15, including 1.4 million people who fled the capital Khartoum.

More than 5,60,000 people fled across the border into neighbouring countries, mainly to Egypt, Chad and South Sudan, Xinhua news agency reported.

OCHA said humanitarian organisations reached more than 2.8 million people nationwide with food, nutrition, health, water and protection services.

However, humanitarian partners say they are impeded in their work by insecurity and limiting bureaucratic access, including the lack of visas for international non-governmental organisation personnel.

"Attacks against humanitarian premises and warehouses, continue to hamper our ability to safely deliver aid," OCHA added.

"We face tremendous difficulties in reaching people in conflict-affected areas in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan."

The office said that since the start of the crisis, 13 humanitarian workers have been killed and many more injured. Some humanitarian personnel are missing.

Partners of the UN reported that the looting of 43 humanitarian warehouses has made it challenging to resume and scale-up aid operations.

The office added that it continues to facilitate the movement of relief supplies from Port Sudan and across conflict lines. Between the end of May and the end of June, 480 trucks carrying about 19,700 metric ton of aid were delivered to Al-Jazirah, Khartoum, Gedaref, Kassala, Sennar, Northern State, River Nile and Blue Nile states.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it delivered emergency food and nutrition assistance to more than 1.2 million people in 14 of Sudan's 18 states, including some hard-to-reach areas in Darfur.

Despite access challenges, the WFP added it has supported more than 4,20,000 people in the Darfur region with emergency food assistance and nutrition support. West Darfur remains largely inaccessible, and the WFP hubs and stores have been largely looted and destroyed.

The UN agency said it delivered food assistance to around 50,000 people trapped in the Khartoum metropolitan area, with plans to support 5,00,000 as the security situation allows.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported that more than 2,00,000 people have fled into neighbouring Chad, including both Sudanese and Chadians who previously fled into Sudan from their country. Before the fighting in Sudan, Chad hosted nearly 6,00,000 refugees, including 4,00,000 from Sudan.

The refugee agency and the Chadian government relocated people from the border area exposed to flooding and security risks, UNHCR said.

The UN relief chief, Martin Griffiths, allocated $6 million from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund for Chad, to support host communities in eastern Chad in their lean season in need of food and livelihood support following floods and the impact of the Sudan crisis.
Kiev, June 30 : NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that Ukraine's aspirations to join the alliance will be discussed after the NATO summit in Vilnius, media reported.

"After the NATO summit, we will discuss Ukraine's aspirations for NATO membership. And I am absolutely sure that the allies will send a very strong message of support to Ukraine," Stoltenberg was cited as saying on Thursday.

All allies agree that NATO's door is open and Ukraine will become a member of the alliance, the Secretary General added.

He stressed that only Ukraine and NATO will decide when is the right time to extend the full invitation for Ukraine to join, Xinhua news agency reported.

Stoltenberg noted that the decision of the EU to grant Ukraine candidate status has an impact on the discussions that are underway within NATO.

On June 23, 2022, EU leaders accepted Ukraine as a candidate for membership in the bloc.

The Vilnius NATO Summit is slated for July 11-12 in Lithuania.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Paris, June 30 : French security forces have deployed tear gas as they clashed with protesters during a rally triggered by the fatal shooting of Nahel M, a 17-year-old teenager, by a police officer during a traffic stop.

The march in Nanterre, a town on the western outskirts of Paris, was proceeding peacefully at first, with Nahel's mother leading the crowd. But later, some protesters began throwing projectiles at police outside the main local administration building in Nanterre, and security forces then dispersed the protest by firing tear gas, according to local media reports released on Thursday.

Burning vehicles were also seen in the streets during a march, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on Thursday, Nanterre Prosecutor Pascal Prache held a press conference detailing the circumstances of Nahel's death.

He said that French police officers had made two attempts to make a Polish-licensed Mercedes pull over, but the driver refused to comply.

The police officer who fired his gun later told investigators that he had acted for fear of the car causing a fatal accident.

According to Prache, however, preliminary investigations indicate that the police officer's use of his gun was not "justified".

The prosecutor's office is therefore expected to charge the police officer in question with intentional homicide, he added.

Tuesday's shooting triggered violent protests on Wednesday throughout France, which led to the police arresting nearly 150 people in major French cities.

To avoid further violence, Valerie Pecresse, the president of the Ile-de-France region, announced that buses and tramways would not be running in the region on Thursday night after 9 p.m.
Jerusalem, June 30 : Judges of an Israeli court have proposed that the prosecution consider dropping the bribery charge in the corruption trial of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a statement from the court.

The judges of Jerusalem District Court made the suggestion during a meeting with prosecutors and Netanyahu's lawyers on Tuesday.

They said on Thursday there were "difficulties in establishing the bribery offense" and that "against the backdrop of these difficulties, it was suggested that the State Attorney's Office withdraw the bribery charge".

Prosecutors disagreed with the move, saying that only "a partial picture" of the case had been presented so far, Xinhua news agency reported.

This statement from the court confirmed a previous report by Channel 13, a local TV news channel, which had sparked controversy in the country.

Ministers in Netanyahu's ruling coalition welcomed the court's proposal, echoing the Prime Minister's longstanding claim that "there is nothing" to charge against him.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara clarified that no charges would be dropped at this stage. She expressed surprise at the judges' remarks, emphasising that a substantial amount of evidence in the case has yet to be presented during the trial.

The bribery charge, dubbed "Case 4000," is the most severe allegation against Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister. The case accuses him of providing regulatory and financial advantages to Shaul Elovitch, the former owner of Walla, a news site, and Bezeq, Israel's largest telecom company, in exchange for favourable coverage on Walla.

In addition to the bribery charge, Netanyahu was accused of fraud and breach of trust in two other cases.

However, the Prime Minister has denied all allegations, calling the trial part of a "witch hunt".
Miami, June 30 : A former school resource officer who stayed outside during the February 2018 massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has been found not guilty of failing to protect the victims.

Florida prosecutors had accused Scot Peterson of ignoring his training and doing nothing as 17 people, including 14 students, were gunned down in the school on February 14, 2018, in what remains the deadliest ever US high school shooting, CNN reported.

His attorney argued the then-deputy did not enter the school's 1200 building, the site of the attack, because he could not tell where the shots were coming from.

When the judge read the verdict on Thursday, the 60-year-old wept in court as he was found not guilty of seven counts of felony child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury.

"I've got my life back," Peterson, a former deputy for the Broward County Sheriff's Office, told reporters outside court, describing the years since the shooting as "an emotional roller coaster".

Peterson also said that he would like to speak to the parents of the students who were killed, reports the BBC.

"If they need to really know the truth of what occurred... I'll be there for them," he was quoted as saying.

"The only person to blame was that monster," Peterson said of the shooter Nikolas Cruz, a former student of the school.

"It wasn't any law enforcement, nobody on that scene, from BSO, Coral Springs. Everybody did the best they could. We did the best we could with the information we had, and God knows we wish we had more at that point."

The outcome, however, was a disappointment for some of the victims' families, many of whom were upset by a jury's decision last year not to unanimously recommend the death penalty for Cruz.

He is serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after pleading guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.

Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was one of the students murdered, said he continued to blame Peterson for not trying to stop the shooting.

"His inaction contributed to the shock, the devastation of students and teachers at that school," the BBC quoted Montalto as saying to mediapersons.

"We don't understand how this jury looked at the evidence that was presented and found him not guilty."

"It's another failure. The system did it again and again and again," Manuel Oliver, the father of student Joaquin Oliver who also died in the massacre, told CNN.

"I'm watching this individual crying like a victim. He signed for a job that he did not deliver. Shame on him for that, too," he added.
Kanpur : , June 30 (IANS) The court of additional sessions judge Kanpur Nagar, Vikas Goyal, has dismissed the anticipatory bail application of accused Arpit Kushwaha, charged for house trespass and physically exploiting a married woman.

The victim in her complaint stated that on June 5 when she was alone in the house, Arpit Kushwaha had forced his entry into her house and forcibly established physical relations with her. When she opposed, he thrashed her.

On the other hand, the accused in his bail application claimed. that he had visited the house of the victim on her call to help her in administering medicines to the child, said Additional District General Council Sanjay Kumar Jha.

The court, in its order on Thursday, observed that the medical examination revealed that the victim had suffered injuries at her face and other body parts. She also stated about the incident in her statement recorded under section 164 CrPC.

In view of the facts and circumstances and seriousness of the offence, there is no ground to grant anticipatory bail to the accused, hence his anticipatory bail application is being dismissed, the court stated in its order.
London, June 30 : To eventually compete with Google and Apple's app stores, Meta is reportedly planning to allow people in the European Union (EU) directly download applications through Facebook ads.

Some Android app developers will test the new type of ad as soon as later this year, reports The Verge.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA)-- a new regulation in the EU-- that is anticipated to take effect in the spring, provides Meta with an opportunity to try this feature. "It deems Apple and Google as 'gatekeepers' and requires that they open up their mobile platforms to alternative methods of downloading apps," the report said.

Android technically already supports sideloading, though Google makes it challenging by integrating in-app charging and licensing with the Play Store and by displaying scary warnings whenever someone attempts to download an Android app from a different source.

Even yet, Meta believes that it is safer to run its test on Android first than Apple's iOS. The pitch made by the company to developers taking part in the test is that by hosting their Android apps and enabling direct Facebook downloads without forcing users to visit the Play Store, they will experience greater conversion rates for their app install ads.

Developers in the experiment could use whatever billing systems they like because, at least initially, Meta doesn't plan to collect a percentage of in-app income from participating apps, the report said.

"Weave always been interested in helping developers distribute their apps, and new options would add more competition in this space. Developers deserve more ways to easily get their apps to the people that want them," said Meta spokesperson Tom Channick.
Shimla, June 30 : The two-week long Shrikhand Mahadev pilgrimage, considered tougher than the journey to the Amarnath cave shrine in Kashmir, will begin in Himachal Pradesh on July 7 with a portion of the trek still marooned in snow, officials said on Friday.

The first batch of devotees will leave from Jaon village, the base camp some 150 km from state capital Shimla, on July 7 and will last till July 20, Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) Manmohan Singh, who is in-charge of the pilgrimage, told IANS.

This time the pilgrimage is going to start almost a week in advance keeping in mind the monsoon rains.

The 32-km one-way journey, mostly vertical, on foot starts is treacherous.

This time a minimum of 5 km trek is still laden with snow after the region witnessed the snowfall in the first week of this month.

Earlier 1-2 km of the man-made trek made from rocks and boulders piled under snow.

The SDM said a team of the Shrikhand Mahadev yatra trust has carried out the survey of the entire trek and the government would now carry out the necessary repairs for the convenience of the pilgrimages.

Trust founder member B.C. Thakur said the entire trek is being repaired, while a snow-covered path is also being made for the pedestrians.

"All works relating to relaying of the trek and places to hold langars (community kitchens) and to position rescue and medical teams would be completed before the start of the yatra," he added.

After passing through rugged, cold and inhospitable terrain, the pilgrimage concludes at Shrikhand Mahadev peak, where the devotees pay obeisance to 72-foot tall lingam.

It is believed that Lord Shiva meditated at Shrikhand and the Pandvas also used the trek to reach the peak during Mahabharata.
New Delhi, June 30 : A 55-year-old man died while another was injured after a ceiling of a factory collapsed in Central Delhi's Anand Parbat area, an official said on Friday.

The deceased was identified as Shatrughan Chand, a resident of Uttam Nagar while the injured Shesh Narayan Tiwari, a resident of Anand Parbat is undergoing treatment at the hospital.

According to police, on Thursday around 7 p.m., an information from ESIC hospital was received regarding a person brought dead and another injured due to collapse of second floor ceiling in a factory located at street No. 6, Industrial area of Anand Parbat.

"On getting information police team rushed to ESIC hospital and it came to know that Shatrughan Chand was brought dead and Tiwari was found under treatment but unfit for statement," said a senior police official.

A case under section 304A/34 IPC was registered at Anand Parbat police station and the accused identified as Sarabjeet Singh, a resident of Tilak Nagar and owner of the Building was arrested, the official added.
Jerusalem, June 30 : Israel's intelligence service Mossad announced that it has arrested the Iranian mastermind behind a plot to attack Israelis in Cyprus last week.

The suspect, Yousef Shahabazi Abbasalilu, was arrested on Iranian soil and questioned by agents, Xinhua news agency quoted the Mossad as saying.

The Mossad said Abbasalilu was the leader of a cell that had attempted to carry out the attack in Cyprus last week.

The cell was uncovered by Cypriot security services, who arrested several members of the group.

Abbasalilu fled to Iran after the arrests were made.

The Mossad said the plot was "a serious threat to Israelis" and that it had prevented "a major terror attack".

The Iranian side has not commented on the arrest or Israel's accusations.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 30, 2023 - 21:43 | World, All, Japan

Kumamon, the popular black bear character and mascot of southwestern Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture, has been on a "business trip" to China for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, sparking excitement for local fans thrilled to have the opportunity to interact with the character once again.

With a visit to Shanghai, Kumamon returned to mainland China after a hiatus of some three and a half years. The character, known as "Xiong Ben Xiong" in China, has gained popularity in the country, and some fans took pictures with him while others hugged the mascot at an event in the city on Wednesday.

Kumamon, who calls himself a "sales manager" tasked with bringing happiness to people, also handed out his "business cards" to event participants and promoted tourism to the prefecture.

A woman in her 20s said she was happy to "see Xiong Ben Xiong in action for the first time" at the event.

On Friday, Kumamon visited a Shanghai secondary school that promotes Japanese language education. He thanked former students who donated to help those affected by the major 2016 earthquakes in Kumamoto.

Following the pair of quakes in Kumamoto, volunteers at the school collected donations worth 6,000 yuan ($825) and sent messages of encouragement to those affected by the disasters.

Mao Liming, 15, said the donation campaign was "proof of a China-Japan friendship" and expressed hope that she will visit Kumamoto and join exchange activities between the two countries.

Kumamon was initially created in March 2010 to promote Kumamoto ahead of the launch of the Kyushu shinkansen bullet train service the following year.
Kolkata, June 30 : Uncertainty looms over the appearance of actress-turned-politician and Trinamool Congress' state youth wing president Sayani Ghosh at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in the Bengal school recruitment case on Friday.

The probe agency had served a notice to Ghosh on June 27 asking her to be present at the ED's Salt Lake office on June 30 at 11.30 a.m.

However, till the filing of the report, the ED had not received any communique from Ghosh on whether she would be appearing or would seek some more time to be present for interrogation.

In fact, since the news of ED's interrogation notice to Ghosh surfaced, the actress-turned-politician kept herself incommunicado from the media and even from the leadership of Trinamool Congress.

Sources said that a team of the interrogation officials of central agency is ready with a four-page questionnaire. Even a contingent of local Bidhannagar Police Station too have cordoned off the entrance of the ED office at central government office (CGO) complex which houses the ED office at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata.

Ghosh has been summoned along with all related documents like details of the bank accounts as well her property and asset details.

BJP's state president in West Bengal and the party Lok Sabha member Sukanta Majumdar has ridiculed Ghosh for going incommunicado.

"Probably a new movie titled 'Sayani Ghosh Missing Mystery' will be released soon," Majumdar told newspersons.

The notice to Ghosh was issued after two clues came to notice of ED sleuths. The first was recovery of some WhatsApp chats exchanged between her and expelled youth Congress leader Kuntal Ghosh, who is currently in judicial custody because of his alleged involvement in the case.

Secondly, some banking transactions between Saayoni Ghosh and Kuntal Ghosh relating to some purchase of property.

The WhatsApp chat history has been recovered from the mobile phone of Kuntal Ghosh.
Halol : , June 30 (IANS) Four children under the age of five lost their lives when the wall of an abandoned factory collapsed onto their makeshift tents.

The incident happened on Thursday in Halol taluka of Panchmahal district in Gujarat after heavy rainfall.

Five other individuals, including two children, sustained injuries in the unfortunate incident.

The children, who have lost their lives, are Chiriram Damor (5), Abhishek Bhuriya (4), Gungun Bhuriya (2), and Muskan Bhuriya (5).

According to the police, the affected families had migrated from Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district to work as labourers at a construction site situated near an unused chemical factory in Chandrapura village, Halol taluka.

To shelter themselves, the families had set up temporary tents adjacent to the boundary wall of the factory. As heavy rain continued to lash the region, the ground became saturated, and the factory wall collapsed over the tents of the labourers.

In addition to the fatalities, five other individuals, including two women and two children, sustained injuries in the incident. Swift action was taken to provide medical aid to the injured victims.

They were immediately rushed to a hospital in Halol, where they received essential medical attention.

One of the injured victims required further specialised treatment and was subsequently transferred to Vadodara for advanced medical care.

Himanshu Solanki, the District Superintendent of Police, expressed deep sorrow over the incident. He said that the relentless heavy rain had played a significant role in the wall collapse, leading to this tragic loss of lives.
Kochi, June 30 : Preparations are underway in this Kerala city as it gears up to host an international meet of around a thousand magicians in August.

While the magicians will hold meetings on August 12-13, the third day would be open to the general public.

Among those likely to attend the event titled 'Manthra-2- International Magic Convention' are Vladyslav from Ukraine, Sombat Mamada from Thailand, Sai from Taiwan, J from Vietnam, Alona from Paris and Tora Hossien from Iran.

The live wire of the event is none other than the internationally acclaimed Kerala magician Samraj, who is the winner of the prestigious "Merlin Award", popularly known as the "Oscar of Magic".

While interacting with IANS, the 67-year-old engineer-turned-magician said this is the second edition when the first one was held in 2016.

"The first one was a success and this time we have got support from the Culture and Tourism departments of Kerala, Mazma India and Thailand based Academy of Magic," said Samraj.

He added that this is basically a meeting to strengthen the network of magicians at all levels and the highlight would be the presence of hundreds of street magicians from the country .

"The meeting will also discuss the changing face of magic as like in every field, magic also undergoes numerous changes. This is a must for all of us as we will get to learn from one another," said Samraj.
Chennai, June 30 : The move of the Tamil Nadu Governor to remove Minister V. Senthil Balaji from the cabinet without the knowledge of the government following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has evoked mixed response from the ruling and opposition political parties.

DMK flayed the Tamil Nadu Governor whereas AIADMK slammed Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.

DMK leader T.K.S. Elangovan stated on Friday that the Governor has no right, as per the constitution, to remove any minister without the knowledge of the CM.

"But, this Governor has never respected the Constitution. He had violated the Constitution continuously. Merely charged with a crime will not get him disqualified as a minister. That is the law of the land," he stated.

AIADMK Spokesperson Kovai Sathyan stated that they have been saying that "Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has been the most incompetent CM Tamil Nadu has ever had. Governor had initially sent a letter that arrested V. Senthil Balaji cannot continue as a minister. M.K. Stalin's double standards are being exposed, when he was in the opposition his stand was different and being in the ruling party his stand was different."

Balaji was arrested on June 14 by the ED in connection with a job scam of 2015.

Presently, he is lodged in judicial custody and under treatment in a private hospital after undergoing a heart bypass surgery.

Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi had dismissed Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers on Thursday evening. Chief Minister Stalin had attacked the Governor over the move and stated that he had no such power to issue an order in this regard.

"Governor has no power to dismiss a minister. We will wage a legal battle against the move," Stalin stated.

DMK cadres put up posters outside party headquarters in Chennai questioning Governor Ravi on Union ministers who have several cases against them and still continue to be ministers.

Meanwhile Tamil Nadu Advocate General R. Shunmagasundaram reached the state secretariat to discuss the legal course of action against the Governor's move with CM Stalin and DMK leader N.R. Elango.
Washington, June 30 : US President Joe Biden exited the set of a live TV interview before the host wrapped up the session.

As cameras were still rolling during the MSNBC interview on Thursday, the President got out of his chair, shook hands with host Nicolle Wallace and awkwardly walked away after she thanked him for the interview, The New York Post reported.

"Don't go anywhere," the MSNBC host told viewers as Biden made his exit, walking directly behind her.

It is unusual for guests to leave the set of cable news shows before the host cuts to a commercial break.

The clip has gone viral on social media, prompting mixed responses.

"The Biden Presidency in one clip," former Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wrote in a tweet sharing the video.

While one Twitter user wrote, "Maybe he had to go bad", another said: "And this is a problem for whom?"

One Twitterati joked: "It was close to closing time at the ice cream shop, and they were serving Mint Chip, his favorite."

During the 20 minute-long interview, the President discussed the Supreme Court's ruling to outlaw affirmative action in higher education acceptance decisions.
Bengaluru, June 30 : The Karnataka High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Twitter challenging blocking orders issued by the Central government and also imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on the microblogging platform.

The court ruled that Twitter's petition was devoid of merit.

The bench headed by Justice Krishna S. Dixit also ruled that exemplary costs of Rs 50 lakh be paid by Twitter in a span of 45 days to the Karnataka Legal Services Authority. Rs 5,000 to be paid for every additional day if any delay in payment, the bench stated.

"Twitter has not given reasons for not complying with the central government's demands for blocking. Twitter is not a farmer or ordinary person but it is a billionaire company," the bench said.

While dismissing the petition, the bench stated that it is convinced by the Union of India's submissions. The bench also stated that it referred to laws in America, Australia and Canada, English judgments and Supreme Court judgments on the cascading effects of the tweets.

The Karnataka High Court had pronounced the order on Friday on Twitter's petition challenging the blocking orders issued by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on the ground that account-level blocking violates user's rights.

Twitter had submitted in its petition that blocking orders by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) under IT Act are demonstrating excessive use of powers and disproportionate.

The micro blogging platform contended that MeiTY had served a notice warning of serious consequences of non-compliance of blocking orders.

The notice has also warned of criminal proceedings and stated that it would be a lost opportunity to comply with orders of blocking accounts.

The Karnataka High Court had issued a notice to the ruling Modi-led government at the Center in connection with issuing blocking orders of nearly 1,100 Twitter accounts by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

The single division bench headed by Justice Krishna S. Dixit gave the order after the arguments by senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Twitter, explained that if the blocking order continues the whole business of Twitter will close. For the accounts to be blocked, as per rules reasons have to be recorded and given to the micro blogging platform which is not being done.
Kolkata, June 30 : Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Friday questioned the "morality" of the state police personnel while tweeting a picture of a cop holding an umbrella for a local Trinamool Congress leader who is addressing a rally for the July 8 panchayat elections.

"Look at the video, a Policeman is holding an umbrella when Pravat Chatterjee; a TMC Trade Union leader of the Kanksa Block; Paschim Bardhaman district, is delivering a political speech on stage," Adhikari said in his official Twitter handle .

The fact that that the incident took place when the model code of conduct is in force poses doubts on the ability of the police forces to ensure free and fair polls in the state, he stated.

"This happens when the Model Code of Conduct is in force; and we expect the Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate & the rest of WB Police Force to conduct a free & fair Election !!!," his Twitter message read.

According to the leader of the opposition, such immoral acts of the police personnel acting blatantly on behalf of the ruling Trinamool Congress, are being witnessed since the dates of the rural civic body polls were announced.

"Another day, another illustration that depicts how biased & partial Mamata Police actually is. While some Officers participate in the political processions of the Regional TMC Party, some beat up BJP candidates for not withdrawing candidature and some hold an umbrella as an act of servitude while TMC leader delivers a speech on stage," his Twitter message read.

Reacting to the post, Trinamool Congress's state vice-president in West Bengal Jaiprakash Majumdar said, "First it has to be seen whether the policeman concerned was part of the security duty of the leader. Secondly, the event proves the human face of police. The leader of the opposition is unnecessarily politicizing the issue."
Los Angeles, June 30 : Actor Kevin Costner's estranged wife Christine Baumgartner fled Los Angeles with two of their three children as the exes continue to duke it out in court.

The handbag designer, 49, was photographed getting dropped off at Los Angeles airport, just hours after Costner, 68, accused her of seeking nearly $250,000 in monthly child support payments to pay for her plastic surgery, reports 'Page Six'.

Baumgartner, who arrived at the airport with a white carry-on suitcase and cup of coffee, wore a floral blouse and black pants.

As per 'Page Six', kids Hayes Logan, 14, and Grace Avery, 13, came prepared for the long travel day wearing grey sweatshirts and pajama pants.

Amid the pair's bitter divorce, she has been refusing to leave Costner's $145 million mansion - despite their long-standing prenup agreement stipulating that she had 30 days to vacate their home after she filed for divorce on May 1.

However, she recently agreed to move out of the estate under one condition: more money.

According to court documents obtained by 'Radar Online', Baumgartner said she will vacate the home by the end of August as long as the 'Yellowstone' star pays his yet-to-determined court-ordered support.

Costner, who also shares 16-year-old Cayden Wyatt with Baumgartner, has allegedly already given his ex over $1.2 million for his prenuptial obligations.

In her filing, the mother of three claimed that the actor wants her to move out without an agreed-upon "financial plan in place." She noted that it would be unfair to their kids to have to move multiple times if she ends up in a rental she cannot afford.

However, in court documents obtained by 'Page Six', Costner alleged that his estranged wife actually wants the money for herself, not their children.

Costner, who has a reported net worth of $250 million, claimed his forensic accountant discovered that she was secretly spending more than $100,000 on cosmetic surgery procedures, in addition to thousands of dollars on boutique shopping, ATM withdrawals and more.

--IANSaa/svn
Imphal, June 30 : A day after he was stopped by a huge Manipur Police contingent, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday visited relief camps in Moirang, Bishnupur district, where he met people affected by the ethnic violence.

Manipur state Congress President Keisham Meghachandra Singh said that Rahul went to Moirang by helicopter and after returning to Imphal, he will meet 10 like-minded party leaders and members of civil society organisations.

He will also hold talks with leaders of the United Naga Council (UNC), influential women bodies, prominent citizens and intellectuals.

Upon his arrival on Thursday, the senior Congress leader visited relief camps in Imphal West District and Churachandpur, where displaced people have taken shelter in the wake of the violence which has killed 120 people, injured over 400 others and also led to the damage of a massive number of properties, houses, vehicles and important installations since it erupted on May 3.

"In both districts, Rahul Gandhi patiently listened to the hardship of the distressed people," Singh told the media, adding that the Congress leader had dinner at the relief camp in Imphal.

But when Rahul Gandhi left for Bishnupur by road on Thursday, his convoy was stopped some 20 km from Imphal by a huge contingent of police led by Bishnupur SP Heisnam Balram Singh, citing law and order issues.

Tear gas shells were fired by police in front of the Bishnupur police station to disperse the women-led demonstrators, who shouted slogans to allow Rahul Gandhi to visit the violence-affected people.

Rahul Gandhi later tweeted: "I came to listen to all my brothers and sisters of Manipur. People of all communities are very welcoming and loving. It's very unfortunate that the government is stopping me. Manipur needs healing. Peace has to be our only priority."

All top Congress leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the Manipur Police action.

Congress leaders alleged that Manipur Police, under the instructions of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh stopped Rahul Gandhi from visiting Bishnupur district.

--IANS

sc/ksk
Shivamogga, June 30 : A tiger attacked a man sleeping inside his hut in Marathi village in Karnataka's Shivamogga district.

The big cat sneaked into the hut in the wee hours on Thursday and attacked Ganesh who was fast asleep. As Ganesh shouted and screamed for help, neighbours rushed to rescue him and the tiger ran away.

Ganesh, 47, who suffered serious injury in hand, was shifted to Kundapura government hospital and forest authorities were informed.

After the incident, the villagers and people of the region are scared to venture out as the region is located in the backwaters of Sharavathi in Sagar taluk.

The forest officers have launched a hunt for the feline.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 30, 2023 - 15:45 | All, Japan, World

The European Union is poised to lift its remaining import restrictions on Japanese food products imposed in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, a diplomatic source said Thursday.

An announcement is expected possibly at the end of July, paving the way for the removal of a requirement for radiation test certificates for seafood and mushrooms from 10 prefectures, including Fukushima.

Japanese farm minister Tetsuro Nomura said Friday in Tokyo that he is "aware that there are positive moves" on the issue and will meet with EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski next Monday.

Nomura is expected to reiterate Japan's call for the measures to be dropped.

The EU has apparently decided that the restrictions are no longer necessary based on radiation monitoring. The issue is also likely to be discussed when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida travels to Brussels in July for a Japan-EU summit.

Import restrictions on Japanese food remain in countries such as South Korea and China, which have also expressed concerns over Japan's plan to release treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex into the sea as part of the site's ongoing cleanup efforts.

A spokesperson for the European Commission, while declining to officially confirm the EU's potential removal of import restrictions on Japanese food products, said food safety has been "a crucial priority" for the 27-nation bloc and is the reason why the "special conditions" were imposed after the Fukushima accident.

She also told Kyodo News, "The EU measures are discussed on a regular basis and, if necessary, amended to consider recent developments and new scientific data."

The EU was one among many economies around the world that placed restrictions on imports of Japanese food amid fears of potential radiation contamination in the wake of the Fukushima accident, the world's worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl crisis.

The number of countries and regions with such restrictions increased to 55 at one point, but many have since moved to eliminate the measures.

The United States lifted all of its post-Fukushima restrictions on imports of food products from Japan in September 2021. The EU has been progressively relaxing the restrictions, including elimination of a requirement for certificates of origin for cultivated mushrooms in October 2021.

Related coverage:

Japan asks EU to lift restrictions put on exports after 2011 disaster
Mumbai, June 30 : Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, who is returning to films after a gap of two years following her maternity break, has stated that she will be very selective with films and intends to do two projects every year.

The actress wants to spend quality time with her family and doing two films a year will allow her to manage time in a better way.

Talking about the same, Sonam said, "I took two years off as I was pregnant and then wanted to take some time off with my son. Two years are not done yet and I have signed onto two projects - one show and one film that I will start working on. It will be released in another year, because that is how films work. Then my idea is to do two pieces of content every year, that's it, not more because I want to spend time with my family as well."

The actress, who will be soon seen in the streaming project 'Blind' playing the titular role, was recently invited to the British Prime Minister's reception at 10 Downing Street to represent India and its cultural impact globally. The actress also feels that India is gaining momentum on the international platform as Indian celebrities command colossal soft power.

She said, "International brands are taking Indian actors as brand ambassadors and they are showcasing them more because they realise the power of Indian celebrities to understand how far reaching they are and how far reaching (they can be). It is interesting to see that now since the world is getting smaller because of social media and OTT etc., the recognition is coming easier."

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kochi, June 30 : Eight months after he wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan about withdrawing the 'pleasure' in Finance Minister K.N.Balagopal, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Friday asserted that he still stands by his statement.

Clarifying to media that withdrawal of pleasure does not mean dismissal, the Governor said, "I still hold the same view that there was a violation of the oath but the Chief Minister felt otherwise, hence Balagopal is continuing," said Khan.

In October, when Khan was already up in arms against the state government over the withdrawal of vice-chancellors of 11 universities, he had written to Vijayan that he has withdrawn the "pleasure" in the finance minister.

Khan's move followed Blagopal's speech, in which without naming Khan, he said that those who come from Uttar Pradesh where vice-chancellors move around with armed security guards, does not know the quality of the universities in Kerala.

But then Vijayan wrote back to Khan stating that the speech was nothing but a political response and it was not meant to lower the governor's dignity.

--IANS

sg/shb
New Delhi, June 30 : The World Bank has cleared $1.5 billion financing to accelerate India's low carbon transition.

In a statement issued on Friday, the global lender said the funding will incentivise India's transition towards low-carbon energy by scaling up renewable energy, developing green hydrogen and stimulating climate finance for low-carbon energy investments.

"The programme will support the successful implementation of the National Green Hydrogen Mission that aims to stimulate $100 billion in private sector investment by 2030," said Auguste Tano Kouame, World Bank Country Director for India.

The programme plans to push renewable energy supply by reducing costs and improving power grid integration, while helping India reach its committed 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030.

The World Bank reiterated that it will support India in developing green hydrogen.

The low-carbon hydrogen energy is produced by electrolysis of water powered by renewable energy.

The lender further said that while India's per capita energy consumption was only one-third of the global average, demand was expected to grow rapidly with the expansion of the economy.

This calls for phasing down of fossil-based energy sources in line with India's goal of achieving net-zero by 2070, the statement added.

--IANS

ans/ksk
New Delhi, June 30 : Auto and IT stocks are in the limelight as the BSE Sensex traded up more than 500 points on Friday.

The Sensex is well past the 64,000 mark and breaching new highs on strong global cues.

Among the Sensex stocks, M&M and Indusind Bank were up more than 3 per cent.

Sun Pharma, Infosys, Maruti, TCS were up more than 2 per cent each.

Since valuations are rich from the short-term perspective some profit booking can be considered by investors who do not have a long-term time horizon, says V. K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Investors should remain invested in the market. Long-term investors can continue with their systematic investments. High quality financials are even now trading at fair valuations, he added.

The momentum in the market has picked up again and the undercurrent has the potential to take the benchmark indices to new highs. The global support to the bullishness is coming from the mother market US where the market is resilient supported by better-than-expected Q1 GDP growth of 2 per cent and declining weekly jobless claims, he said.

This resilience of the US economy, which was not anticipated and discounted by the market, is the strongest pillar of support for the global markets now.

In July the market trend will be influenced by auto sales numbers in June, Q1 results, progress of the monsoon and the Fed rate decision and commentary by month end.

Market valuations are rich now, and therefore, investors should exercise some caution, he added.
Jaipur, June 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Green Express Highway between Amritsar and Jamnagar on July 8 in Rajasthan's Bikaner, Union Law Minister and BJP MP Arjun Ram Meghwal said on Friday.

On this occasion, a general meeting of the Prime Minister will also be held at Naurangdesar near Bikaner.

The express highway has been built at a cost of more than Rs 20000 crore, the Bikaner MP said.

With this highway, the journey between Amritsar and Jamnagar will come down to 12 hours from 23 hours. Five districts of Rajasthan will also be connected with this expressway.

Mid-way hotels, toll plazas, petrol pumps and charging centres are also being built in the middle of the highway.
New Delhi, June 30 : Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday reiterated that all social media platforms have to comply with the law of the land, after the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Twitter challenging blocking orders issued by the government.

The court ruled that Twitter's petition was devoid of merit, and also imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on the microblogging platform.

"All platforms have to be in compliance with the Indian law and Twitter under Jack Dorsey repeatedly refused to do so," the Minister said in a tweet.

In response to the government's notice for non-compliance, the micro-blogging platform approached Karnataka High Court.

"Your client (Twitter) was given notices and your client did not comply. Punishment for non-compliance is 7 years imprisonment and unlimited fine. That also did not deter your client," the Minister posted, citing the court ruling.

"You are not a farmer but a billon dollar company," the bench said while pronouncing the verdict.

Earlier this month, Chandrasekhar hit out at the "fiction" put out by former Twitter CEO Dorsey who had claimed on a YouTube podcast that the Centre had threatened to shut down the platform in the country.

He lashed out at Dorsey for claiming that the Central government conducted raids on employees' homes, saying it was an attempt to "brush out that very dubious period of Twitter's history".

"This is an outright lie by @jack -- perhaps an attempt to brush out that very dubious period of Twitter's history. Twitter under Dorsey and his team were in repeated and continuous violations of the India law," Chandrasekhar had said in a tweet.

The Minister said that as a matter of fact, Twitter was in non-compliance with law repeatedly from 2020 to 2022 "and it was only June 2022 when they finally complied".

"All social media intermediaries operating in India have to comply with laws to ensure that the internet is safe, trusted and accountable," he added.

--IANS

na/ksk
New Delhi, June 30 : The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice has called a meeting on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to hear the views of stakeholders on July 3.

According to an official communique, the committee led by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi informed all the 30 MPs and members of the committee that their views on UCC would be sought and considered at the meeting.

It said that members are reminded that the next meeting of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice will be held at 3.00 p.m. on July 3.

It also said that to hear the views of representatives of the following organisations on public notice issued by the Law Commission of India on June 14, 2023, inviting views from the various stakeholders on the Uniform Civil Code, under the subject 'Review of Personal Laws'.

The move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday during his address to BJP workers in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal pitched for UCC.

Modi's strong push for a Uniform Civil Code, asking how the country can function with dual laws that govern personal matters, has triggered a war of words between the BJP and the opposition, with the latter accusing the government of pushing for the UCC keeping in mind the Lok Sabha polls.

The opposition parties have also dubbed this as an attempt by the BJP government at the Centre to divert attention from issues like price rise and unemployment.
Rome, June 30 : Italy's Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano announced that the Carabinieri, a military police force, has identified the tourist who carving names into a wall of the 2,000-year-old Colosseum in Rome.

The individual sent shockwaves around the world when he was filmed carving "Ivan+Hayley 23" on a brick wall and grinning when he realised he was caught on camera, reports CNN.

But in a tweet on Thursday night, Sangiuliano said that the Carabinieri had "identified the person presumed to be responsible for the uncivilised and absurd act committed at the Colosseum".

"An act that offended everyone across the globe who appreciate the value of archaeology, of monuments and of history," he added.

His tweet confirmed that "Ivan and Hayley" are thought to be the names of the tourist and his girlfriend.

In another tweet, the Ministesuggested that the case will go to trial.

"I hope that justice will take its course, applying the law rigorously. If it comes to trial, the Ministry of Culture will appear as a plaintiff."

If convicted, the man could face a fine of at least 15,000 euros ($16,360) or up to five years in prison, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

The Piazza Venezia branch of the Carabinieri told CNN that the suspect had been traced, and the couple are believed to be from the UK.

Police "identified the main suspect through traditional investigations and photographic comparison", the branch said.

"The Carabinieri have confirmed that that it is a couple, a man and a woman, resident in England.

"It should be noted that proceedings are at the preliminary investigation stage so the suspect must be considered innocent until any final (court) ruling," the branch told CNN.

In recent years, several reports have surfaced of the Colosseum being vandalised.

In 2020, an Irish tourist was reported to the police for allegedly carving his initials into a wall.

Last August, an American couple were caught carving their initials into the Arch of Augustus, a 2,000-year-old monument beside the Colosseum.
Lucknow, June 30 : The Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP) in Lucknow has set up a first-ever centre for promotion of geoheritage and geotourism in the country that would help in conservation of unexplored natural sites that have the potential to be developed as global geoparks.

The centre will provide information about sites that have the potential to be developed as global geoparks of India to various stakeholders.

It will provide consultancy, expertise and recognition of such sites and develop them as per Unesco standards.

"People must know their natural heritage, their importance and the need to conserve them. Sustainable development of our geological heritage is the promotion of geotourism where the common man will be benefitted at large," said BSIP Prof Nitin R. Karmalkar.

Some of such unexplored geo heritage sites are Janki Kund in Chitrakoot that apparently has 2,000 million-year-old blue-green algae stromatolites (living fossils and the oldest living lifeforms on our planet) and a dancing rock in Lalitpur.

BSIP director Vandana Prasad said: "India is blessed with great geological heritage and a large number are globally recognised. We need to understand that development should not hamper our geological heritage and we must conserve them."

She said geological heritage and geotourism are still lesser-known terms in India, whereas globally they are being promoted by Unesco.

"The conservation of these geological heritage is important as it is a non-renewable natural resource and once destroyed, cannot be rebuilt. As such, geo conservation is considered an emerging discipline within geosciences," she said.

Former deputy director general of Geological Survey of India, Satish Tripathi said: "Conservation of geological heritage in a sustainable way is promoting geotourism. If we develop tourism, the local community will be greatly benefitted because their participation in the geopark administration is made mandatory by Unesco. Local food, culture and history are also promoted in the concept of geopark."

He said just like ODOP scheme of the Uttar Pradesh government, each district should nominate one geoheritage site as their emblem.

"This way we will be able to conserve our geological heritage. The dancing rock of Latitpur must be protected," he said.

BSIP scientist Swati Tripathi said: "Uttar Pradesh is geologically very important. The stromatolite fossils of Sonbhadra and Chitrakoot are very significant because these 2,000-million-year-old blue green algae actually consumed carbon dioxide of the atmosphere and released oxygen because of which life thrived."

She said Chitrakoot is potential Unesco Geopark as it is only place in Central India where Vindhyan rocks resting over Bundelkhand granite basement.
New Delhi, June 30 : With an spurt in the smartphone and internet use, the amount of money spent on apps is projected to reach around $800 billion (Rs 64 lakh crore) in India by 2030, a report showed on Friday.

The Indian economy is expected to be around $6,600 billion by 2030 and the app spending is likely to be around 12 per cent of the GDP, according to the report by Broadband India Forum (BIF).

The growth being observed in the app economy is around 32 per cent, which is more than four times the GDP growth, which can be attributed to the larger multiplier effect of smartphone users and overall economic expansion.

The report was unveiled by the Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar here.

"India's aspiration to become a $5 trillion economy in the next few years is premised on a $1 trillion contribution from the digital economy," said Aruna Sundararajan, BIF Chairperson and former telecom secretary.

"Apps are an integral part of the digital economy as they empower individuals, businesses, and governments to make informed, data-driven decisions. They are expected to have a positive impact on overall productivity and GDP," she added.

It is interesting to note that the contribution of the app economy to India's GDP is higher than that for the EU and the UK for 2021.

Nearly 85 per cent of the total digital transactions in India, which include credit and debit cards and internet banking are made through mobile payments.

"Considering the significant impact of the apps ecosystem on the country's economy and the socio-economic welfare of its citizens, the government must be commended for enabling this through the current policies and regulations for apps," said said T.V. Ramachandran, President, BIF.

"The same support should be continued to help unlock the true potential of the app ecosystem in India," he added.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 30, 2023 - 21:20 | World, All

A Japanese freelance journalist known for his coverage of Hong Kong's 2019 pro-democracy protests said Friday he was sent back to Japan by the territory's authorities after being denied entry into the city.

Yoshiaki Ogawa, 54, arrived at Hong Kong's international airport on Thursday evening but was detained by officials and interviewed for around an hour about the purpose of his visit before being denied entry. He was sent on a return flight to Japan the next morning.

The journalist told Kyodo News he intended to be in the former British colony for the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China on Saturday, adding that he was not given a clear reason for being denied entry.

Ogawa also said he thought his previous coverage of Hong Kong's 2019 protests may have contributed to the decision. "It's saddening...Hong Kong has completely changed," he added.

Ogawa began covering Hong Kong during the Umbrella Movement protests in 2014, which called for democratic change in the semiautonomous region, and wrote the book called "Chronicles of the Hong Kong Protests" that detailed the events surrounding the city's pro-democracy movement in 2019.

It was Ogawa's first trip to Hong Kong since February 2020, before the implementation of the Beijing-imposed national security law in June of that year, criminalizing acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

In December, Japanese freelance photographer Michiko Kiseki, who previously hosted an exhibition featuring photos of the 2019 pro-democracy protests, was barred from entering the city.

Earlier this month, a Japanese busker known as Mr. Wally was also sent back to Japan by Hong Kong's authorities after being denied entry.
Lucknow, June 30 : The Uttar Pradesh government will now impart specialised training to students soon after they are re-admitted, as part of the ongoing campaign to bring dropouts back to school.

The attempt is aimed to bring nearly 2. 85 lakh out-of-school children (OOSC) and dropouts at par with their counterparts in age-appropriate classes.

The special training is in sync with the Right to Education (RTE) Act and is being implemented through the Sharda programme that enrols OOSC identified during the 2022-23 academic year in age-appropriate classes.

These students will be trained in the current academic session.

As per directives issued by director general, school education, Vijay Kiran Anand, the nine-month training will begin from July 1. Each school has designated a nodal teacher, appointed by the block education officer (BEO), who will be responsible for the special training.

Additionally, periodic assessments will be conducted on a quarterly basis. The initial evaluation of OOSC will be completed by July 20 through Sharda app.

Based on the assessment results, the nodal teacher will create a customised teaching plan, said a government spokesperson.

During the training, nodal teachers will assess OOSCs on a quarterly basis. The tasks and worksheets done by the children in the special training centres will be preserved in the folders or profiles of the children. Special educators have been asked to extend support to nodal teachers in conducting the training.

Special educators in nyay panchayats will monitor 20 schools every month.

The divisional assistant director of education, district basic education officer and BEOs will conduct regular inspections of the special training centres. The school principal will actively engage in regular meetings with the guardians and parents of children attending the special training programme.

During these meetings, the principal will provide updates on the childrenas attendance, learning ability and overall progress. In case of irregular attendance, efforts will be made to identify the reasons for the absence and address them accordingly.

The participation of the school management committee will be ensured in the identification, enrollment and education of disabled children and they will be monitored until the completion of their elementary education.
Quito, June 30 : An Ecuadorian Air Force flight transported food, medicine and other essential items to the Galapagos Islands, one of the country's top tourism destinations, to ease shortages amid rising prices.

The Governing Council of Galapagos said on social media that it had negotiated a total of six flights with the Ministry of National Defense to transport perishable foods, such as eggs, and medicine, reports Xinhua news agency.

Isla de la Plata, one of the two ships that used to supply the Galapagos twice a month, had a mishap on March 26 and became inoperable.

Only one vessel, with a capacity of 3,500 tonnes, has been running supplies since then, leading to shortages and price hikes of essential foods.

According to local authorities, the residents on the islands consume some 9,000 tonnes of products monthly.

The islands are also facing a shortage of domestic gas cylinders, which has affected hotels and restaurants amid the peak tourism season in the Galapagos.

The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands located some 1,000 km from the South American continent.

These islands and the surrounding marine reserve have been called a unique aliving museum and showcase of evolutiona.
New Delhi, June 30 : Samsung on Friday unveiled the 2023 line-up of Odyssey G9 OLED gaming monitors powered by Neo Quantum Processor Pro, in the country.

"The Odyssey G9 is a power-packed gaming monitor with a DisplayHDR True Black 400," the company said in a statement.

Equipped with next-level artificial intelligence (AI) upscaling technology, that enhances every visual detail for optimised picture quality, the new monitors feature a 1800R curvature with a 240 Hz refresh rate and 0.03 response time.

"To meet the demands and expectations of even the most experienced gamers, we engineered the G9 series with cutting-edge technology and unrivalled features," said Puneet Sethi, Vice President, Consumer Electronics Enterprise Business, Samsung India.

Measuring 49-inch in size, the Odyssey OLED G9 is the first OLED monitor to offer Dual Quad High Definition resolution with a 32:9 ratio, the company said.

Moreover, it features a slim design housed within a sleek metal frame, and comes with the CoreSync and Core Lighting+ on the back which uses advanced lighting technology to match the colours on-screen.

According to the company, the addition of the Neo Quantum Processor Pro sets the Odyssey OLED G9 apart from other OLED gaming monitors.

It uses a deep learning algorithm to intelligently analyze images and automatically upscale to adjust brightness while amplifying contrast.

"The Smart TV experience coupled with IoT Hub and Voice Assistance is the perfect blend of cinematic excellence," it added.

The Odyssey G95SC OLED monitor comes in Black colour and costs Rs 1,99,999.

We are now live with Odyssey OLED G9. Connect with us NOW to grab limited period offers like never before on https://t.co/NpCsM0Xp4D. #SamsungLive #LiveTheGame https://t.co/c5WkbXPTCX  Samsung India (@SamsungIndia) June 30, 2023

Customers can buy monitors -- G95SC OLED and G93SC -- from the company's official online store, Amazon and all leading retail stores.

Meanwhile, the South Korean tech giant has announced that it plans to open 'Game Portal', an online store specialising in gaming, on Samsung.com in more than 30 countries around the world, starting with the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Brazil in late June.

--IANS

-- Syndicated from IANS
Jaipur, June 30 : After making T.S. Singh Deo the Chhattisgarh deputy Chief Minister, the Congress high command is now deciding to resolve the ongoing Gehlot-Pilot tussle in view of forthcoming Assembly polls in Rajasthan.

Sources said that the party leaders are working on a three step formula.

Under the first formula, it is being discussed that Pilot be made party's national general secretary, CWC member, and also be given the charge of Rajasthan Assembly poll campaign committee.

Second formula is to bring Pilot back as state party chief. In this case, the Gehlot camp will be upset as it wants the party Chief to be a person from their group.

The Gehlot group says that removing current PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra during election year can lead to a dent in the Jat vote bank. However, the party high command is discussing if Dotasra can be made Deputy Chief Minister in case.

Third formula being discussed is to make Pilot and Gehlot sit face to face and resolve differences and if Pilot can be made the next CM face for this election. The party wants Gehlot and Pilot to come together and contest next polls unitedly, said party leaders.
Kolkata, June 30 : West Bengal Chief Secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi on Friday got an extension in service for six months as desired by the state government.

The Centre's approval on the proposal reached the state secretariat of Nabanna just hours before his official retirement.

Dwivedi was supposed to retire from bureaucratic services on Friday only.

State government sources said that the letter of approval from the Union ministry of personnel, public grievances and pension reached the office of the additional chief secretary to the state personnel & administrative reforms department at around 12.15 p.m. when the speculations had already started in the corridors of power on Dwivedias successor.

The issue of Dwivedias extension had been going through lots of speculations for quite some time as the Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari had been opposing the proposal tooth and nail.

It is learnt that the Adhikari had personally interacted with his partyas central leadership so that extension proposal does not get clearance.

Dwivedi, a 1988- batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, took over as stateas chief secretary in June 2011 from his predecessor Alapan Bandopadhyay, who is currently the chief advisor to the chief ministeras office.

Like Bandopadhyay, Dwivedi had always been an extremely close confidant of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

He had served in a number of important bureaucratic positions in the state, with his longest stint being with the state finance department first as a principal secretary and then as an additional chief secretary for nine years.

Before taking charge as the state chief secretary, Dwivedi had also served as the additional chief secretary to the state home department.

State government sources said that following the Centre's approval, the state administration has heaved a sigh of relief since the forthcoming panchayat elections in the state will be conducted with the existing bureaucratic setup.
Lucknow, June 30 : With cases of typhoid fever on the rise, experts are calling upon individuals, particularly children and those with compromised immune systems, to prioritise receiving the typhoid vaccine.

Despite affecting 45 lakh people, especially children, and causing 9,000 deaths yearly in India, with 27 per cent of cases originating from UP alone, concerns have been raised regarding the low awareness of typhoid immunization.

Paediatrician Dr Nyay Gupta said, "Typhoid causes high fever, headache, weakness, discomfort, cough, fatigue and constipation. Children are more prone to it. Severe cases can lead to intestinal bleeding, bowel perforation and meningitis that can be fatal. Urgent vaccination and prevention are essential, especially in the rainy season."

He said there are two safe and effective typhoid vaccines: a conjugated vaccine (TCV) and a non-conjugated polysaccharide vaccine (ViCPS). The TCV vaccine is recommended for infants, children (6 months and older), and adults up to 45 years.

It provides nearly 90 per cent protection and requires only one shot. The polysaccharide vaccine needs to be taken again every three years. A wholesale vaccine supplier in Lucknow, said ViCPS are available at Rs 200 per dose and TCV at Rs 2,000 per dose.

Prof Kauser Usman of KGMU said, "About 7-8 typhoid patients visit the OPD daily and the numbers are expected to increase. Besides vaccination, one should drink clean water and avoid contaminated food."

Prof Nishant Verma of KGMU's paediatrics department said although the Indian government does not include typhoid vaccination in its mandatory immunization programme, the Indian Paediatrician Society recommends prioritising children due to their developing immune systems.

Dr Himanshu Chaturvedi of Balrampur hospital emphasised the importance of vaccination for individuals with compromised immune systems, such as cancer patients, transplant recipients and those with autoimmune disorders, to protect against severe complications.

He underlined the need for campaigns to raise awareness about typhoid fever, its risks and preventive measures, including vaccination, to reduce the disease burden.
Mumbai, June 30 : Nawazuddin Siddiqui's ex-wife Aaliya Siddiqui has been evicted from 'Bigg Boss OTT' Season 2, and she says that if she gets a wild card entry, she will settle her scores with everyone.

Aaliya was interacting with the media after her eviction from 'Bigg Boss OTT' Season 2, hosted by Salman Khan.

When asked about the possibility of a wild card entry, Aaliya said: "If I get one, I don't think I will let anything slide this time. They attacked my personal life, Bebika even said something about my daughter. If I go back, I think I'll settle score with everyone."

Aaliya is still unsure about why she was let go but found happiness from the positive feedback she got from the audience.

She said: "I don't know the reason for my eviction, I seriously don't know, and I don't feel good about it. But when I came out, and I saw the audience reactions, and the way I was appreciated, I liked it.

"People were talking positively about me, writing positive things about me. That is a big achievement for me. I am happy about the way the audience supported me."

Aaliya also revealed that Falak Naaz, TV actor Cezanne Khan's sister, was being two faced, targeting her for not opening up and conspiring behind her back.
Beijing, June 30 : China's new Law on Foreign Relations, adopted by the country's top legislature on Wednesday, will take effect on Saturday asserting Beijing's interests on the world stage.

Of the 297 laws currently in effect in China, there are 52 foreign-affairs laws and more than 150 laws containing foreign-affairs clauses, reports Xinhua news agency.

But the legal system concerning foreign affairs still has some shortcomings, said an official of the Legislative Affairs Commission, adding that in particular, gaps exist in laws concerning safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests.

"Speeding up the building of the legal system concerning foreign affairs will help China more effectively deal with risks and challenges," the official said.

According to the Legislative Affairs Commission, the new law "expounds China's stance in international exchanges, improves the institutions related to the country's foreign relations, and presents China's image as a responsible major country that champions peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit via a law-based approach".

The legislation also threatens to punish entities that act in ways "detrimental" to China's interests but does not specify which lines should not be crossed, the BBC reported.

"The People's Republic of China conducts foreign relations to uphold its system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, safeguard its sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity, and promote its economic and social development," the law states.

It adds that China conducts foreign relations "under the guidance of" the political ideologies of Xi Jinping, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Marxism-Leninism, among others.

China's top diplomat Wang Yi has called the law "an important measure to strengthen the Communist Party Central Committee's centralised and unified leadership over foreign affairs".
Bhopal, June 30 : Politics over Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar seems to have intensified in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh with both the principal parties -- Congress and BJP -- exchanging frequent barbs over the freedom fighter.

With the BJP ceaselessly proclaiming its devotion to V. D. Savarkar and his ideology, its Madhya Pradesh unit, which is in power at present, has decided to include his biography in school syllabus.

The announcement was first made by State School Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar, alleging that the Congress, which ruled the country for a major part after Independence, ignored many revolutionaries while concentrating on glorifying just one family.

The minister's mention of "one family" was in reference to "Nehru-Gandhi family".

Later, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan confirmed that Savarkar's biography would be included in the school syllabus as part of the National Education Policy (NEP).

Chouhan said Savarkar served double life sentences in the infamous Cellular Jail in the Andamans and such was the rigors that he came to know about the incarceration of his brother (Ganesh Savarkar) "years later".

"Even today if you go to Cellular Jail, you will know how he lived there. Lessons on someone who dedicated his entire life to the nation will be taught in schools," Chouhan further said,

Along with Savarkar, others whose biographies are proposed to be included in the school syllabus are Bhagwan Parshuram, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Subhash Chandra Bose etc.

Lessons of the Gita will also be included (in the syllabus) as part of India's knowledge tradition so that people get to know about their contribution, as Chief Minister Chouhan said on Thursday.

However, it's not the first time CM Chouhan made an announcement of teaching Savarkar's biography to the school students in the state. As per the reports, a similar announcement was made back in 2011 also, however, it could not be executed due to unknown reasons.

State Congress made a prompt reaction regarding Savarkar's biography to be included in school syllabus and called it an attempt by the ruling BJP to divert attention from real issues ahead of the assembly elections.

Muslim Congress MLA from Bhopal, Arif Masood, reacting on the matter said, "It is unfortunate that they want to include Savarkar. He apologised to the British and including him in the syllabus is an insult to freedom fighters."

It is an established fact that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) backed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress stand apart on Savarkar's issue.

While the right-wing supported BJP would glorify Savarkar, calling him "Veer Savarkar", the Congress with liberal and secular tags, would attack on the BJP and RSS in the name of Savarkar.

For instance, during the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi continued to corner the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government on the name of Savarkar.

Often BJP and Congress would often be seen exchanging barbs over V. D. Savarkar.

Notably, in November last year, Rahul Gandhi had shown some old documents during a press conference in Akola district of Maharashtra claiming they contained a letter written by Savarkar to the British.

He had then read out a part of the letter which said, "I beg to remain your most obedient servant."

As a reaction, right wing organisations had put up posters in Burhanpur city criticising his remarks on the freedom fighter and staged a protest just a day before the Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Madhya Pradesh.

In Madhya Pradesh, where the elections are barely four months away and the BJP and Congress are in direct contest for 230 Assembly seats, Savarkar's biography is more likely to spark a political controversy.

Notably, in 2019, some right-wing organisations had distributed the biography of Savarkar in government-run schools, which had prompted the Kamal Nath-led Congress government to take action against school administration.
Bengaluru, June 30 : Two teachers have been accused of torturing their 16-year-old girl student who ended her life by committing suicide, police said on Friday.

The deceased girl was a student of Millennium Public School and a resident of Parvathipura in Bengaluru Rural district.

Police said that girl was depressed after coming home from school on June 20. Her parents noticed this, but ignored it. The girl had food and later went to her room. When she didn't come out of the room and did not respond, the parents broke open the door and saw her hanging from a ceiling fan.

Though she was rushed to the nursing home, the doctors could not save her, said the police.

According to the police, the parents recently got to know about the torture and harassment by two teachers, Nalina and Qamar Taj, through her friends. Both the teachers allegedly scolded the girl for silly reasons and humiliated her often.

The girl was asked to do 100 sit-ups in the classroom in front of the students days before her suicide. Nalini had scolded her in front of the class that she didn't want to see her face and asked her to sit in the last bench. The day she committed suicide, Sara was called by both the teachers to a separate room and while coming back the students noticed that she was in tears.

Sara was also allegedly harassed by Hamin, the son of teacher Qamar Taj.

Hamin pestered her with a love proposal and forced her to enter into a relationship with him. He had told all his friends that he loves the girl and will marry her. He had also threatened that she would be taught a lesson if she refused his proposal.

The girl had told her friends that she didn't want to live and wanted to die.

The parents have mentioned all the facts in the complaint, said the police.

After lodging the complaint, teacher Qamar Taj has disappeared. Hosakote police have registered the case and are preparing to question the accused teachers.
By Tomoyuki Tachikawa, KYODO NEWS - Jun 30, 2023 - 19:41 | All, World, Japan

In a bid to shore up support for his Cabinet ahead of a possible general election, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to dedicate himself to realizing a summit with North Korea, but his attempt is unlikely to come to fruition anytime soon.

Kishida, who put off dissolving the House of Representatives for a snap election during the ordinary parliamentary session through June 21, has expressed an eagerness to resolve the long-standing issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

In late May, Kishida made a sudden commitment to establish high-level negotiations between Tokyo and Pyongyang to pave the way for an early meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, although he has not elaborated on what kind of official talks he envisions.

Some lawmakers have suggested that Kishida's intention behind this diplomatic initiative is to strengthen his chances of winning the lower house election and securing re-election as the president of the Liberal Democratic Party in September next year.

But many pundits expect a Kishida summit with Kim will not materialize, as Japan has lost communication channels with North Korea after Pyongyang broke a bilateral accord on principles toward the settlement of the abduction issue, confirmed in 2014 in Stockholm.

Since the breach of the pact in 2016, Japan has ramped up sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile development in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, while Pyongyang asserts that the abduction issue has already been resolved.

Formal talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang have been dormant, even when the United States, Japan's security ally, was engaged in dialogue with North Korea for denuclearization for about two years from 2018 under the administration of Donald Trump.

As the Stockholm deal was reached when Kishida served as foreign minister for around five years through 2017 before becoming premier in October 2021, he has had "an unwavering determination to resolve the abduction issue," a source familiar with the situation of North Korea said.

Kishida is "ready to provide humanitarian aid to North Korea if such a move is judged to be effective in achieving the return" of Japanese abductees by Pyongyang, the source said.

If Kishida could lay the groundwork for a summit with North Korea, it would "enhance his image of having a major hand in foreign affairs and generate a huge tailwind for him, definitely prompting him to dissolve the lower house soon," the source added.

The two Asian nations have no diplomatic ties. Kishida seems to be seeking secret negotiations with North Korea similar to those held by a senior Foreign Ministry official who orchestrated former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's historic visit to Pyongyang in 2002.

The official held talks with his North Korean counterpart, referred to only as "Mr. X," who is believed to have had strong relations with Kim's father and former leader Kim Jong Il.

According to Stephen Nagy, a professor at International Christian University, a Japan-North Korea summit "would be something that both parties could agree to" under the condition that Kishida pledges to provide assistance in areas like infrastructure and food, thereby contributing to "strengthening the regime."

Given the deterioration of North Korea's economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of interaction with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, Kim may try to use the abduction issue to "get some kind of concession on sanctions" from Japan, Nagy said.

Negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang over denuclearization and sanctions relief have stalled since late 2019, as North Korea refused a U.S. demand to scrap all of its nuclear facilities and programs.

Immediately after Kishida voiced his intention to start talks with Pyongyang, North Korea's Foreign Ministry official said through its state-run media that there is "no reason" for the two countries "not to meet."

Nagy said it could be possible for Japan "not only to create discussions with North Korea, but perhaps be some kind of middle man between the United States and North Korea."

Other political experts, however, said Kishida's efforts to realize a meeting with Kim would end in failure, as North Korea has become more hostile toward Japan since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pursued his "maximum pressure" policy against Pyongyang.

In 2014, the government under Abe -- known as a conservative and hawkish politician who was premier for about one year from 2006 and staged a comeback as Japan's top political leader in 2012 -- struck the Stockholm accord with North Korea.

Under the pact, Japan vowed to relax its sanctions on North Korea in exchange for its commitment to conducting a full-scale investigation into the abduction issue.

Nevertheless, North Korea repeatedly postponed reporting the survey results. The nation then disbanded its investigation team and suspended the probe after Japan imposed additional sanctions in 2016 in reaction to Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests.

Afterward, Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, strived to persuade other democracies to bolster punitive measures against North Korea, pushing the nuclear-armed country to firmly insist that the abduction issue has already been resolved.

In 2019, Song Il Ho, North Korea's top negotiator on normalizing ties with Japan, censured Abe as "rude and immoral." Even after Abe resigned as premier in 2020 and died after being shot last year, Pyongyang has urged Tokyo to alter its stance on the abduction issue.

Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan, said the dispute "remains a significant obstacle, and it seems unlikely that Kishida can meet North Korea's expectations and that Pyongyang will budge on its position that the issue is resolved."

North Korea "is facing severe economic problems, and recent reports paint a grim portrait of living conditions, but this vulnerability does not mean Pyongyang will soften its positions on nuclear weapons, missile testing or the abductions," Kingston said.

Kim, meanwhile, has intensified the country's nuclear and missile development, including a planned launch of a military reconnaissance satellite, which has prodded Japanese bureaucrats to put more pressure on North Korea due to the heightened security concerns.

Japan is "looking for an opportunity behind the scenes to sound out North Korea about the possibility of talks" but would be "forced to adopt a tougher attitude" should the nation step up provocations, threatening regional peace and stability, a government source said.

After five abductees were brought back to Japan in 2002, Tokyo has sought the return of 12 others officially recognized as having been abducted by North Korea.
Moscow, June 30 : Documents have suggested that Russian General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russian military operations in Ukraine whose whereabouts are currently unknown, was a secret VIP member of the Wagner mercenary group, a media report said.

The documents, obtained by the Russian investigative Dossier Center, showed that Surovikin had a personal registration number with Wagner, CNN reported.

Surovikin is listed along with at least 30 other senior Russian military and intelligence officials, who the Dossier Center said are also VIP Wagner members.

Surovikin has not been seen in public since June 24, when he released a video pleading for Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin to stop his short-lived mutiny.

Surovikin is a decorated commander of the Russian Air Force and became nicknamed "General Armageddon" for his ruthless tactics bombing cities in Syria, CNN reported.

It is unclear what Wagner's VIP membership entails, including whether there is a financial benefit.

Surovikin was known to have links with the mercenary group, but the documents raise questions about the closeness of senior members of the Russian military and Wagner, CNN reported.

The Kremlin has remained silent on the topic, embarking instead on an aggressive campaign to reassert the authority of President Vladimir Putin.

On Wednesday, the Russian-language version of the independent Moscow Times cited two anonymous defense sources as saying that Surovikin had been arrested in relation to the failed mutiny, CNN reported.

Rybar, a popular blogger, noted on Wednesday that "Surovikin has not been seen since Saturday" and said nobody knew for certain where he was.

"There is a version that he is under interrogation," he added.
Bhopal, June 30 : The Gwalior bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court has recommended to the Centre to consider lowering the age from the current 18 years to 16 years under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The HC made this observation while hearing a petition of a 17-year-old boy, who was booked under the POCSO Act on the basis of a complaint of a 14-year-old girl in Gwalior.

The accused was arrested in 2020 for rape charges. The girl, who was a student, had got pregnant and abortion was done with prior permission of the court in 2020.

On Friday, the defence counsel argued that the physical relation was developed with the consent of both (victim and accused). After hearing the arguments from both sides, the bench quashed the FIR against the accused person and requested the Centre to consider lowering the age from 18 to 16.

"In the era of the Internet, youths are getting mature much earlier. Many youths develop physical relationship before completing 18 year of age limit, and some times, they are booked for rape and their future get destroyed," Madhya Pradesh High Court observed.

Notably, in the past few years, the High Courts of several states have recommended the same at different times.

In 2022, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud had also appealed to Parliament, to have a relook at the issue of age of consent, as cases involving consensual sexual relationships among adolescents posed "difficult questions for judges across the spectrum".

The reports suggested that CJI D. Y. Chandrachud had also pointed out that the peculiar challenge posed by POCSO was that it criminalises all sexual activities for those under the age of 18 years even if consent was factually present between two minors.
San Francisco, June 30 : Google-owned YouTube is testing a three strikes policy for people using ad blockers.

This was first discovered by a Reddit user, now the company has confirmed this test to Android Authority. "Weare running a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium. Ad blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable ad blockers," a YouTube spokesperson said.

The company also provided details on how the policy works, while noting that "ad blockers violate YouTube's Terms of Service."

The affected users will receive "repeated notifications" asking them to allow ads on the platform. "In extreme cases, where viewers continue their use of ad blockers, playback will be temporarily disabled," the company explained.

The company also said that it takes disabling video playback "very seriously," and will only disable playback if users repeatedly refuse requests to disable ad blocking on the platform. aIn cases when viewers feel they have been falsely flagged as using an ad blocker, they can share this feedback by clicking on the link in the prompt," it added.

--IANS

aj/svn
New Delhi, June 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said Delhi University has played a major role in creating a strong generation of talented youngsters, and that India's rich education system is the carrier of the nation's prosperity.

Addressing the gathering during Valedictory Ceremony of Centenary Celebrations of the University of Delhi, PM Modi said the contributions of the personalities which have emerged out of the University give a glimpse of the life of Delhi University.

Earlier, PM Modi took a metro ride to reach the University. He also interacted with the students during the journey. Upon arriving, the Prime Minister took a walk-through of the exhibition - 'Journey of 100 Years of the University'. He was the chief guest of the Valedictory Ceremony of Centenary Celebrations here.

PM Modi pointed out that there were only three colleges under Delhi University when it began but today there are more than 90 colleges under it. He also underlined that India which was once considered a fragile economy and has now become one of the top 5 economies in the world. Noting that the number of women studying at DU is more than men, the Prime Minister pointed out that the gender ratio has significantly improved in the country.

The PM said, "If during these hundred years, DU has kept its emotions alive, it has kept its values vibrant too".

Underscoring the importance of knowledge, the PM noted that when India had vibrant universities like Nalanda and Takshila, it was at the peak of prosperity. "India's rich education system is the carrier of India's prosperity," he said, underlining the high Indian share in the global GDP of that time. Continuous attacks during the period of slavery destroyed these institutions leading to obstruction of the intellectual flow of India and bringing the growth to standstill, he added.

He said after Independence, universities played a crucial role in giving concrete shape to the emotional swell of post-independence India by creating a strong generation of talented youngsters. Delhi University too played a major part in that, he said. This understanding of the past gives shape to our existence, shape to our ideals and expansion to the vision of the future, he said.

He emphasized the importance of an interconnection between the resolutions of a University and a nation and said that the deeper the roots of the educational institutions, the higher the progress of the country.

The Prime Minister noted that the goal of Delhi University was India's independence when it first began, but now that the institution will complete 125 years when India reaches 100 years of Independence, the goal of Delhi University should be to make India a 'Viksit Bharat'.

"The third decade of the last century gave new momentum to the struggle for India's Independence, now the third decade of the new century will give impetus to the development journey of India," PM said.

The Prime Minister emphasized that education is not merely a process of teaching but also a way of learning. He pointed out that after a long time, the focus is shifting to what a student wants to learn. He talked about the flexibility in the new National Education Policy for selecting subjects.

PM said that due to the futuristic educational policies and decisions, recognition of Indian universities is increasing. He informed that while in 2014, in the QS world ranking there were only 12 Indian universities, today this number has reached 45. He credited India's youth force as the guiding force for this transformation.

The Prime Minister highlighted the deal on the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology or iCET with the US during his recent visit and said it will create new opportunities for the youth of India in various sectors ranging from AI to semiconductors. He said that it will enable access to technologies which were once beyond the reach of our youth and enhance skill development. He informed that companies like Micron, Google, Applied Materials, etc. have decided to invest in India and it provides a glimpse of the bright future for the youth.

"The Industry 4.0 Revolution is knocking on Indiaas doors," PM remarked as he noted that technologies like AI, AR and VR which could only be witnessed in the movies have now become a part of our real lives. He noted that Robotics has become the new normal from driving to surgery and said that all these sectors are creating new avenues for the young generation of India.

He asked Delhi University that when they celebrated 125 years, they should figure among the top-ranking universities in the world. "Future making innovations should be done here, world's best ideas and leaders should emerge from here, for this you will have to work continuously," the PM said.

Concluding the address, PM Modi emphasized the need to prepare our minds and hearts for a goal that we set for ourselves in life.Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan and Vice Chancellor of University of Delhi Yogesh Singh were present on the occasion.

He also laid the foundation stone of the building for the Faculty of Technology, Computer Centre and Academic Block, to be built in the North Campus of the University. PM Modi released Commemorative Centenary Volume - Compilation of Centenary Celebrations; Logo Book - Logo of Delhi University and its colleges, and Aura - 100 Years of University of Delhi.

--IANSgcb/dpb
Bhubaneswar, June 30 : The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police has arrested another fraudster for his involvement in misappropriating government subsidies of Rs 7.16 crore meant for supply of agricultural equipment to farmers, an EOW official said Friday.

The accused Bidyadhara Behera, proprietor of Kalpana Motors, was arrested from Bhadrak.

During investigation, the EOW found that Varushapriya Agrotech Pvt. Ltd., a Bengaluru-based company having its branch office here at Baramunda, was dealing with the business of supplying paddy transplanters to the farmers across the country and also delivering services and supplies to the Odisha government under various subsidized schemes.

Srinath Rana, prime accused in the case, was earlier working as regional manager in the said company was authorised to register the sale of machinery in Odisha and to facilitate subsidies to the beneficiaries/farmers by accessing the state Agriculture department website.

During the period from 2017-21, accused Srinath Rana having a criminal conspiracy along with the present accused Bidyadhara Behera and others had fraudulently uploaded the details of more than 556 paddy transplanters and equal number of beneficiaries covering 18 districts of Odisha.

The accused did it without the knowledge of the complainant farm, the officials said. By submitting fake documents, the accused managed to get release of subsidy amount to the tune of about Rs 7.16 crore in favour of the beneficiaries.

Soon after the credit of subsidy amounts in accounts of beneficiary farmers, the accused persons in a criminal conspiracy with others, used to lure the beneficiaries by giving them some token amount and were grabbing the subsidy amount, they said.

The cost of the trans-planter ranges from Rs 2.33 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and the government released subsidy amounts ranging from Rs 93,320 to Rs 1.50 lakh.

Out of 556 paddy transplanters, 46 are shown to have been supplied by Bidyadhara Behera, proprietor of Kalpana Motors, who was also the authorised dealer of Varushapriya Agrotech Pvt. Ltd. So far, five accused persons, including main accused Srinath Rana, have been arrested in this case and forwarded to court.
Imphal, June 30 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that Manipur needs peace and there is scarcity of medicines and other essentials in the relief camps.

The government must take immediate actions to overcome these crisis, he said.

The Congress leader who is on a two day visit to violence hit Manipur, met the Governor Anusuiya Uikey at the Raj Bhavan on Friday. He was accompanied by Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal and AICC in-charge of several northeastern states Ajoy Kumar.

After meeting the Governor, Rahul Gandhi said that he and his party would do whatever possible to restore peace and normalcy in the state.

"I want peace to be restored first. I visited some relief camps and met the affected people. There are shortages of medicines and other essentials in these relief camps, the government should take steps," Gandhi told the media in front of the Raj Bhavan.

Saying that he met people of different communities, the former Congress President said that violence would not yield any result.

"I appealed to all people, all communities and leaders to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur," he said.

He later tweeted: "I share the pain of the people of Manipur. It is a horrible tragedy. It is extremely sad and painful for all the people of Manipur and the people of India as well. I went to the camps and met people from all communities. One of the things I would say to the government is that the basic amenities at the camps need to be improved. Food needs to be improved. Medicines need to be supplied. Such complaints have come from the camps."

"I would appeal to everybody in Manipur that we need peace. My strong appeal to everyone is that violence will not get anything for anybody. Peace is the way forward and everybody should now talk about peace and start moving towards it.

I am here and will help in any way I can to bring peace to this state. I love all the people of Manipur, and once again, this is a terrible tragedy, and we need to bring peace here."

A day after he was stopped by a huge Manipur Police contingent, Congress leader earlier on Friday visited relief camps in Moirang in Bishnupur district, where he met people affected by the ethnic violence.

Manipur state Congress President Keisham Meghachandra Singh said that Rahul went to Moirang by helicopter and after returning to Imphal, he will meet 10 like-minded party leaders and members of civil society organisations.

He will also hold talks with leaders of the United Naga Council (UNC), influential women bodies, prominent citizens and intellectuals.

Upon his arrival on Thursday, the senior Congress leader visited relief camps in Churachandpur and Imphal West District, where displaced people have taken shelter in the wake of the violence which has killed 120 people, injured over 400 others and also led to the damage of a massive number of properties, houses, vehicles and important installations since it erupted on May 3.

"In both districts, Rahul Gandhi patiently listened to the hardship of the distressed people," Singh told the media, adding that the Congress leader had dinner at the relief camp in Imphal.

But when Rahul Gandhi left for Bishnupur by road on Thursday, his convoy was stopped some 20 km from Imphal by a huge contingent of police led by Bishnupur SP Heisnam Balram Singh, citing law and order issues.

Tear gas shells were fired by police in front of the Bishnupur police station to disperse the women-led demonstrators, who shouted slogans to allow Rahul Gandhi to visit the violence-affected people.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "I came to listen to all my brothers and sisters of Manipur. People of all communities are very welcoming and loving. It's very unfortunate that the government is stopping me. Manipur needs healing. Peace has to be our only priority."

All top Congress leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the Manipur Police action.

Congress leaders alleged that Manipur Police, under the instructions of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh stopped Rahul Gandhi from visiting Bishnupur district.
Imphal, June 30 : Amid intense speculation on Friday that Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh may resign, he was prevented from going to the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey.

Singh accompanied by several ministers and leaders at around 2.30 p.m. came out of his official bungalow and when his cavalcade tried to move towards Raj Bhavan, thousands of people, mostly women encircled his car and forced him to return.

Some media displayed Singh's torn resignation letter addressed to the Governor.

Manipur government spokesman and Health and Family welfare Minister Sapam Ranjan Singh said huge crowds prevented the Chief Minister from going to the Raj Bhavan.

"Chief Minister was upset over the incidents that took place during the past few days in Manipur. Now we are discussing the next course of action," Singh told the media.

Some women holding banners and placards told the media that they would not allow Singh to resign.

Local media reported that the Chief Minister was supposed to meet the Governor at 10 a.m, then it was deferred to 1 p.m. and then to 3 p.m.

Raj Bhavan sources refused to say anything about the latest development, and did not confirm the Chief Minister's meeting with the Governor.

Biren Singh went to Delhi on June 25 and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who also visited Manipur for four days (May 29 - June 1) and announced a series of measures.

The measures included, constitution of a three-member Commission of Inquiry headed by former Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba, CBI inquiry in six cases, formation of a Joint Security Command headed by former CRPF Director General Kuldiep Singh and a relief package for the victims and the affected families.

The development in Manipur comes when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was touring the violence-hit state and visiting various districts and meeting the affected people.
New Delhi, June 30 : The Supreme Court has sought response from the CBI on a plea challenging Jharkhand High Court order, which declined to quash proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) initiated against a resolution professional (RP) appointed under Section 22(3)(a) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of the corporate debtor.

A bench comprising justices A.S. Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra, in an order passed on June 28, said: "Issue notice to the respondent on the SLP as well as on the interim relief..".

Petitioner Sanjay Kumar Agarwal moved the apex court through advocate Vaibhav Niti and senior advocate Maninder Singh argued the matter before the court.

Agarwal moved the apex court assailing the high court judgment, passed on April 5, 2023, which rejected his application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and declined to quash proceedings under the PC Act initiated against him, an RP appointed under Section 22(3)(a) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 by the CoC of the corporate debtor. An RP is appointed once a company files for bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings are initiated.

The plea said: "Petitioner is seeking examination of an important and substantial legal issue involved in the present matter, which has come across for interpretation before the courts for the 'first time' after the promulgation of the Code relating to the legal status of the RP appointed by the CoC under Section 22(3)(a) of the Code that is, whether RP is a public servant and falls within the ambit of Section 2 (c) (v) & (vill) of the PC Act and within the jurisdiction of the CBI".

The high court had held that the petitioner, who is a resolution professional, is a public servant under the PC Act. "The present petition thus raises a substantial question of law that has far reaching consequences in various proceedings pending before various courts in the territory of India: whether a resolution professional appointed under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, is a public servant as defined under the PC Act, and thus can be subject to proceedings and prosecution under the PC Act?"

The plea argued that the high court had not at all considered the relevant provisions of the code relating to the appointment, duties, and functions of the RP appointed by CoC before declaring the RP to be public servant under the PC Act. "The Petitioner humbly states that under the Code, CIRP being conducted by the RP, is not a duty in discharge of which the State, the Public or the community at large has an interest. Rather, the duty is discharged only towards the stakeholders of the corporate debtor and them alone", said the plea.

The plea contended that there is a specific exclusion of the IRPS / RPs' from Section 232 of the Code, which seems to be the intent of the legislature to not include IRPS/RPs' in the class of public servant. "Therefore, the High Court erred in not appreciating the positionand hence, erred in not appreciating that RP' / IRP' is not a Public Servant' under the PC Act.", said the plea.

The petitioner was appointed as an RP by corporate debtor Adi Ispat Private Limited, after the complainant had defaulted on a loan from the State Bank of India.

It is alleged that the complainant filed a frivolous case against the petitioner. "The petitioner, as RP, informed the CoC that due to grave suspicion of misappropriation of funds by the complainant (being suspended/ erstwhile director), the preferential/ fraudulent transactions are required to be identified", said the plea. The petitioner also brought to the notice of the CoC the financial irregularities and misappropriation of funds of the corporate debtor done by the complainant.
Bangalore, June 30 : Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has been invited to inaugurate the national programme 'Behtar Bharat Buniyadi' to be held next month by the National Youth Congress.

The conference is being held in Bangalore for three days and aims to take the youth power in the country in the right direction through the youth group.

According to Rashtriya Yuva Congress General Secretary, AICC member M.S Raksha Ramaiah, the biggest youth conference being held as a prelude to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, and senior party leaders and experts will guide the youth group on various issues for three days.

AICC Joint Secretary and youth Congress in charge Krishna Alavaru, Youth Congress National President B.V. Srinivas and Raksha Ramaiah met the Chief Minister and submitted a request.

Chief Minister's Political Secretary Govindaraju was present on the occasion.
London, June 30 : UK Environment Minsiter Zac Goldsmith on Friday quit as a government minister and criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, accusing him of showing "apathy" on climate change issues.

Taking to Twitter, Goldsmith, in a two-page resignation letter, posted: "It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govt's apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down."

"Was horrified at the government abandoning its environmental commitments and withdrawing its leadership on the world stage," Goldsmith wrote in the resignation letter, BBC reported.

He wrote: "The problem is not that the government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our prime minister, are simply uninterested. That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis."

The resignation comes a day after the Tory peer was accused of putting "improper pressure" on the Privileges Committee's probe into former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's partygate denials to MPs.
KYODO NEWS - Jun 30, 2023 - 16:10 | All

Kyodo News presents a bilingual podcast for English learners about the ins and outs of news writing and how to translate tricky Japanese phrases into English. Have fun listening to journalists discuss recent articles as they occasionally go off on unrelated tangents.

Episode 1: Japanese summer festivals

Looking forward to one of the most famous fireworks displays in Japan? Three journalists  Yamaguchi-san, Toma and Rei  talk about the Sumida Fireworks Festival, which will be held for the first time in four years after the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn about the difficulties of finding the right phrasing for certain seasonal words and the writers' experiences at other events around the world.

Article mentioned in the podcast: Annual Tokyo fireworks festival to be held for 1st time in 4 years

Related coverage:

Podcast [English World] Episode 2 - Rainy season

More podcasts from Kyodo News (in Japanese)
Bengaluru, June 30 : Newly elected Congress government is worried over the steady rise in prices of pulses in Karnataka, and has imposed stock limits for traders.

The pulses, especially the price of tur dal has jumped from Rs 100 to Rs 200, raising a concern among people.

All other pulses such as urad dal, horse gram, chickpeas have also seen a hike of Rs 30 to Rs 40.

Dharmesh, a trader from Bengaluru Agriculture Marketing Committee (APMC), told IANS that the reason for the price hike in pulses is because of failed rain.

"It is feared that Monsoon may fail this year and prices may see a steady rise. The hopes are for the second half of the rainy season and the farmers will have to reap good second crop in November and December. The prices will remain more or less upwards for a year. The tur dal is fetching Rs 140 per kilogram in the wholesale market," he stated.

However, Paramashivaiah, a farmer leader, explained that there is still hope for the Monsoon as it will begin from July. Though the state has received less rainfall compared to last year, the farmers have sowed tur dal and other pulses in large quantities in north Karnataka districts such as Kalaburagi, Bidar.

"The regions have received a good rainfall already once, they will need another round of rainfall from now onward. Once Monsoon starts lashing from the first week of July, the anxiety and fear of price rise would disappear," he explained.

Meanwhile, the Food Department officials are visiting APMC and called for a meeting of purchasers and stockists on Friday evening.

The authorities have imposed a limit on stocks by traders to prevent the exorbitant price hike in the retail market.

Sources said the stockists are not releasing the pulses to market expecting more price hike and eyeing on more profits.

The sources in the Congress government stated that they would rein in the situation and would not want to spoil the goodwill generated through implementation of guarantee schemes.
Imphal, June 30 : Seeking to put all speculations of a leadership change in Manipur at rest, Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Friday said that he would not resign at this "crucial juncture".

"At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister", he tweeted following day-long suspense.

Amidst around two-month long ethnic violence, since Friday morning, there was speculation and media reports that Biren Singh would resign from his post, but late Friday afternoon he was prevented from going to the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Anusuiya Uikey.

Biren Singh, accompanied by several ministers and leaders, came out of his official bungalow at around 2.30 p.m. but when his cavalcade tried to move towards Raj Bhavan, thousands of people, mostly women, surrounded his car and forced him to return.

Some media even displayed Singh's purported resignation letter addressed to the Governor.

Manipur Health and Family Welfare Minister and government spokesman Sapam Ranjan Singh said that the huge crowds prevented the Chief Minister from going to the Raj Bhavan.

"Chief Minister was upset over the incidents that took place during the past few days in Manipur. Now we are discussing the next course of action," he told the media.

Some women holding banners and placards told the media that they would not allow Singh to resign.

Local media reported that the Chief Minister was supposed to meet the Governor at 10 a.m, then the meeting was deferred to 1 p.m. and then to 3 p.m.

Raj Bhavan sources refused to say anything about the latest development or confirm about the Chief Minister's meeting with the Governor.

Biren Singh went to Delhi on June 25 and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who had also visited Manipur for four days (May 29-June1) and announced a series of measures. The measures include, constitution of a three-member Commission of Inquiry headed by former Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court Ajai Lamba, CBI inquiry in six cases, formation of a Joint Security Command headed by former CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh and a relief package for the victims and the affected families.

The latest developments in Manipur come when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is touring the violence-hit state and visiting various districts and meeting the affected people.

--IANS

sc/vd
Kolkata, June 30 : The tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the West Bengal secretariat over the control of affairs in state universities may turn more murkier in the coming days with the Governor's House deciding to introduce parallel awards on its behalf for outstanding educationists, students and researchers associated with these universities.

Governor C. V. Ananda Bose has decided three categories of awards on behalf of Raj Bhavan.

The first award of Rs 5,00,000 will be for 'Best Educationist' of the year, second award of Rs 2,00,000 will be for 'outstanding student of the year' and the third award of Rs 2,00,000 for 'Outstanding researcher of the year'.

Political observers feel that this development might open up another front between the Governor's House and the state secretariat, as traditionally the state education department had been the authority for announcing such awards in the education sector of the state.

However, the argument from the Raj Bhavan is that since the Governor, by virtue of his chair is also the chancellor of all state universities, he has the complete authority to announce any award on behalf of the education sector.

Sources said that the decision to confer such awards was taken at a meeting of the Governor with interim vice-chancellors of 10 state universities at the University of North Bengal at Siliguri in North Bengal on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the Governor faced massive protests and was shown black flags by the Trinamool Chattra Parishad, the studentsa wing of Trinamool Congress, after he arrived at the campus of the University of North Bengal .

The development took place the same day when a division bench, led by the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam, had dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the decision of the Governor to appoint interim vice-chancellors for 11 state universities without the concurrence of the state education department.

The division bench had also observed that the appointments of vice-chancellors in 11 state universities were totally valid. The bench also observed that it is the responsibility of the state government to pay the salaries, allowances and other financial entitlements to these vice-chancellors.
New Delhi, June 30 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will burn copies of the Centre's ordinance at the party office in central Delhi on July 3, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference, party leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said copies of the ordinance will be burned across the 70 Assembly constituencies of the national capital.

"On July 3, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, cabinet ministers and all the MLAs will burn copies of the black ordinance at the ITO party office," Bhardwaj, who is also a minister in the Delhi government stated.

He said that on July 5, the copies of the ordinance will be burned across all 70 Assembly constituencies. Between July 6 and 13, the copies of the ordinance will be set on fire at every corner of Delhi, he said.

The AAP leader also said that seven vice presidents -- Dilip Pandey, Jarnail Singh, Gulab Singh, Jitender Tomar, Rituraj Jha, Rajesh Gupta, and Kuldeep Kumar -- who were also present in the press conference will ensure that they are burned in every area of Delhi.

Launching an attack on the BJP-led central government, Bhardwaj accused the government of trying to take illegal control of Delhi through the black ordinance. The party had on June 11 organised a massive public meeting against the ordinance.

The Centre had on May 19 promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of IAS and DANICS officers in Delhi, with the AAP government calling the move a circumvention of the Supreme Court verdict on control of services.

The AAP has also sought support from the opposition parties to not support the ordinance if it is brought in the Rajya Sabha as Bill.

Kejriwal had met several opposition leaders seeking support against the Centre's ordinance.
Prayagraj : , June 30 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday handed over keys to the beneficiaries of 76 affordable housing units constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) on the land reclaimed from the possession of slain gangster Atiq Ahmed.

Adityanath interacted with the children at the site of the flats that have been handed over to the beneficiaries. He also inspected the flats for the poor.

Beneficiaries will get a flat built on 41 sq mt for only Rs 3.5 lakh.

Officials said that a flat with two rooms, a kitchen, and toilet facilities costs Rs 6 lakh. As many as 76 flats built for the poor on land confiscated from slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed in Prayagraj were allotted through a lottery on June 9.

"The lottery was drawn for allotment and after verification of 6,030 applicants, 1,590 were found eligible to participate in the lottery," Arvind Kumar Chauhan, Vice Chairman of Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) said.

The Chief Minister, on December 26, 2021, had laid the foundation stone for this affordable housing project on 1,731 square meters of land after it was freed from the possession of Atiq in the Lukerganj area of Prayagraj.

This project has been taken up by the District Urban Development Authorities (DUDA) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), and as many as 76 flats have been built in two blocks, officials said.

Atiq Ahmed was accused in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal and also in the killing of a key witness in that case, Umesh Pal, in February this year.

Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead by men posing as journalists on April 15 this year, while they were being taken for a medical examination in Prayagraj.
Moscow, June 30 : Buoyancy in global markets and the advance of monsoon lifted Indian stock markets to new highs with the BSE Sensex surging by more than 800 points on Friday.

Domestic equities continued their northbound journey after a dayas break, supported by positive global data, healthy FII buying and strong progress in monsoon.

Nifty opened gap up and strengthened throughout the day to close near the dayas high with gains of 213 points (+1.1 per cent) at 19,186 levels. The broader market too participated in the rally with the Nifty midcap 100 at a fresh record high. All sectors ended in the green, except metals, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head-Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Auto and IT stocks are in the limelight as the BSE Sensex closed at a record 64,718 points. The Sensex is well past the 64,000 mark and breaching new highs on strong global cues.

Among the Sensex stocks, M&M was the top performer gaining 4.1 per cent. Infosys jumped 3.2 per cent while Indusind Bank was up 3 per cent.Sun Pharma gained 2.8 per cent, TCS up 2.6 per cent, Maruti up 2.5 per cent and L&T was up 2.2 per cent.

Indian indices are on a record-breaking spree, ending the month of June with gains of 3.5 per cent (Nifty) on the back of strong FIIs flow of Rs 20,900 crore MTD and the advance of the southwest monsoon that boosted investor sentiments.

aWe expect the uptrend in Indian equities to continue in the near term," Khemka added.

Next week, the market will take cues from economic data to be released locally as well as globally. Investors would also watch out for FOMC minutes to get insights into the US Central Bankas future course of direction. The auto sector is expected to be in the limelight, as companies would release monthly sales data.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said the lack of global support had restrained the Indian indices from pursuing their record highs earlier, despite the presence of a resilient domestic macroeconomic background.

With positive surprises assisting buoyancy in the global market and the advance of the southwest monsoon, the domestic market succeeded in marching to new highs with renewed strength. Global investor sentiments were uplifted by a favourable revision in Q1 GDP, a fall in jobless claims, and the positive outcome of the Fedas US bank stress test, he added.
London, June 30 : The UK's competition watchdog on Friday announced that its initial investigation into software major Adobe's $20 billion purchase of cloud-based designer platform Figma has found that the acquisition could reduce innovation and result in a "substantial lessening of competition".

Adobe has five working days to submit proposals to address the concerns else, the investigation will proceed to an in-depth phase 2 review, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement.

"This merger will be referred for a phase 2 investigation unless the parties offer acceptable undertakings to address these competition concerns," said the CMA.

In September last year, Adobe announced it would acquire Figma for about $20 billion in a cash and stock deal.

"We're worried this deal could stifle innovation and lead to higher costs for companies that rely on Figma and Adobe's digital tools --as they cease to compete to provide customers with new and better products," said Sorcha O'Carroll, Senior Mergers Director at the CMA.

Unless Adobe can put forward viable solutions to our concerns in the coming days, we will move to a more in-depth investigation, O'Carroll added.

The CMA has identified concerns in the supply of screen design software, where Adobe's and Figma's products compete.

It found that Figma has established a substantial share of the market for screen design software and that Adobe has been continuously investing in and competing in this segment.

"Products sold by Adobe and Figma are critical for the development of digital services that people and businesses use on a daily basis  be that popular apps and websites selling anything from holidays to streaming the latest movies.

The CMA also found that competition between Figma and Adobe has driven investment in updating and developing screen design software, and this important rivalry could be lost if the deal goes ahead.

The watchdog also identified concerns in the provision of creative design software, where Adobe offers some of the leading tools for image, video, and animation content.

Many start-ups and other businesses rely on the software products provided by Adobe and Figma to produce apps and websites, as well as engaging content.

Reports also surfaced this month that Adode's acquisition of Figma is under scrutiny by the antitrust regulators in the European Union.

The EU regulators are preparing to launch a formal investigation into the acquisition, the Financial Times had reported.
Bad Homburg : , June 30 (IANS) Top seed Iga Swiatek was on Friday forced to withdraw from her Bad Homburg Open semifinal against Lucia Bronzetti due to GI illness.

"I'm so sorry but I have to pull out of my match today," Swiatek said in a statement on Twitter.

"I had a restless night because of some fever and possible food poisoning. I'm not able to perform today and I need to take care of myself. I hope I'll be fine soon. Your support in Bad Homburg was amazing, thank you," she added.

Swiatek had defeated opponents including Wimbledon semifinalist Tatjana Maria and No.9 seed Anna Blinkova to reach her first grass-court semifinal in Bad Homburg. Having captured her fourth Grand Slam title at Roland Garros last month, she will carry a 10-match winning streak into Wimbledon next week, where she opens up against Zhu Lin.

Meanwhile, No.65-ranked Bronzetti gets a walkover and advances to her second final of 2023, and first of her career on grass. The Italian won her first WTA Tour trophy in Rabat last month, in the week preceding Roland Garros.

Bronzetti's opponent in the final will be either No.2 seed Liudmila Samsonova, Katerina Siniakova or Emma Navarro. Samsonova and Siniakova's quarterfinal match was delayed overnight because of darkness at one set all.
Thiruvananthapuram, June 30 : The Congress on Friday hit out at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over allegations by senior journalist G. Sakthidharan that he is under the control of 'Kitchen Cabinet' who is running the government in the coastal state.

Sakthidharan, in a post on his Facebook page, claimed that, "Vijayan is now under the control of a kitchen cabinet consisting of three or four people who now run the show, on account of his ill-health".

Part of the editorial team of CPI-M party mouthpiece Deshabhimani, Sakthidharan left it many years back after serving it at a top post. While working with the newspaper, the journalist was very close to most of the stalwarts of CPI-M.

Taking up the allegations, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly V.D. Satheesan also said that a group in Vijayan's office controls everything. It is a shame that when very grave allegations have surfaced against Vijayan, the police are being used to target the opposition leaders, he added.

"Just look into what Sakthidharan has written, but there is no probe about it. Only the opposition leaders are being haunted and hunted. This is the double standard of Vijayan," he said.

Last week, journalist Sakthidharan in a Facebook post -- though he did not explicitly name Vijayan -- dropped numerous hints that it was Vijayan who stayed for two days at the Kochi office of the party mouthpiece and counted money over Rs 2 crore.

After writing about the alleged scam, Sakthidharan wrote that he has been under duress as his family members have been attacked by the party over the issue.

"The entire family of mine has come under 'attack' in the social media and they have not spared my late parents, nor my grandchild and all this is being done with the blessings of the party. Now that I am unable to handle this barrage of abuse, I have decided to stop writing on my Facebook, instead I will have an online version of Janasakthi and also a YouTube channel," the senior journalist wrote on Facebook.

The opposition Congress attacked Vijayan over the allegation made by the senior journalist and lodged a complaint with the state police chief.

Congress Lok Sabha member Benny Behanan said he has filed a complaint however there has been no action taken regarding the complaint.

"Though Sakthidharan did not name anyone but I am saying that the person was Vijayan and the other person who was with him was the former CPI-M party legislator P. Jayarajan," Behanan alleged.

He said that the third person named by the senior journalist is a cabinet minister which needs to be probed.
Thane, June 30 : Shiv Sena president and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde profusely thanked his ally Bharatiya Janata Party's Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and cut a 30-kg cake at his hometown Thane to mark the first anniversary of their alliance government here on Friday afternoon.

Speaking on the occasion, Shinde said that his administration was "the fastest ever and working round-the-clock" towards the welfare of the people from all sections of society.

"When we broke up last year, many were asking questions like what will be my fate and the future of the 50 MLAs.... But look, we are right here before you. We have completed one successful year in government and are marching ahead strongly," said Shinde.

He also expressed gratitude to Fadnavis and his 50 MLAs for supporting him in the past one year after they broke off from the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government which collapsed on June 29, 2022

In a warm gesture, Shinde made a video-call to Fadnavis - who is out of Mumbai for some engagements - on his mobile phone, and the latter greeted the Chief Minister and joined the celebrations "online" in Thane.

Despite widespread speculation that the Shiv Sena may formally become a part of the National Democratic Alliance and his party may be rewarded with a couple of berths in the Union Cabinet, the Chief Minister kept mum on these possibilities nor did he give any hints of going for the much-anticipated expansion of his own cabinet.

Shinde listed a series of achievements of his people-friendly government in the past one year on the social front, investments, infrastructure development, public welfare, health schemes, including the latest universal health cover for the entire state population.

"We have increased the insurance amount from Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 5 lakh under the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY). Not only this, we have now brought the entire 12.50 crore population of the state under its ambit. Maharashtra is perhaps the only state in the country to do this," said Shinde.

He assured that unlike the MVA, his government will continue in the same vein for the benefit of the people and thanked the masses for their support. Earlier, braving intermittent heavy rains, Shinde was received by thousands of his supporters and family members this afternoon when he reached Thane, garlanded by local leaders and cheered by the commoners there.

In mid-June 2022, Shinde along with 40 MLAs from the erstwhile Shiv Sena, dumped the MVA government and toppled the then CM Uddhav Thackeray. On June 30, Shinde and Fadnavis took oath as the heads of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government which completed a year in office today.
KYODO NEWS - Jul 1, 2023 - 07:34 | All, Japan

Households and businesses in the Tokyo area on Saturday began a period of power conservation, spanning from July to August, as the electricity supply is forecast to become tight in the area this summer.

The Japanese government has issued a request based on the projection that the reserve power capacity rate in the region served by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. in July could drop to 3.1 percent, slightly above the lowest level for maintaining a stable supply, if a once-in-a-decade level of extreme heat grips the area.

Since electricity demand could swing about 3 percent from the anticipated level, it is necessary to secure at least a 3 percent reserve, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The rate is projected to improve to 4.8 percent in the TEPCO-serving region in August, while that in other regions is expected to stay above 5 percent in July and August, a ministry official said.

Last year, the government issued a nationwide power-saving request from July to September, but the latest request only targets the area served by TEPCO.

Last summer's request was the first issued since fiscal 2015 when all of the country's nuclear reactors were offline in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster in 2011.

The country's weather agency has predicted Japan may face a hotter summer due to the influence of the El Nino climate pattern -- warmer water in the central and eastern Pacific -- among other reasons.

Besides the nation's capital, TEPCO serves Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Tochigi, Gunma, Ibaraki, Yamanashi and part of Shizuoka prefectures, according to the utility.
New Delhi, June 30 : Numerous areas in Delhi-NCR on Friday experienced a pleasant bout of rainfall, which also resulted in water logged roads and traffic snarls, affecting normal life.

Meanwhile, the IMD said that conditions are favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into remaining parts of the country (i.e. remaining parts of Rajasthan and Haryana and Punjab) during the next two days.

For the next five days, IMD has said that a cyclonic circulation lies over central parts of south Uttar Pradesh and neighbourhoods in lower and middle levels. "An east-west trough runs from northwest Rajasthan to Nagaland and another from the cyclonic circulation over central parts of south Uttar Pradesh to Northeast Arabian Sea in lower levels. The off-shore trough at mean sea level runs from Maharashtra coast to Kerala coast. A cyclonic circulation lies over Southeast Bay of Bengal in middle levels," it said.

With low-lying areas of Delhi and adjoining areas expected to experience water logging, occasional reduction in visibility, partial harm to plantations, horticulture, standing crops and vulnerable structures, the IMD has issued a 'Be Prepared' alert for several states till July 2.

In northwest India, light/moderate scattered to fairly widespread rainfall is very likely to continue during the next two days.

"Isolated heavy rainfall is very likely over Uttarakhand on June 30, July 3 and 4; west Rajasthan, west Uttar Pradesh on June 30, east Uttar Pradesh and east Rajasthan on June 30 and July 1. Isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely over east Uttar Pradesh and east Rajasthan on June 30," an IMD' press release read.

Central India could experience light/moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls very likely over Madhya Pradesh during the next two days.

In eest India, light/moderate fairly widespread to widespread rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall is very likely over Konkan and Goa and Ghat areas of central Maharashtra during the next five days and Gujarat during the next two days.

For east and adjoining northeast India, the IMD said that fairly widespread to widespread light/moderate rainfall with isolated heavy to very heavy falls very likely over Sub-Himalayan West Bengal & Sikkim, Bihar, Assam & Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh during the next five days.

Isolated heavy rainfall is also likely over Gangetic West Bengal on June 30 and July 3; Jharkhand on July 3 and Odisha on 3 and 4.

For south India, the IMD has predicted light/moderate scattered to widespread rainfall very likely over Kerala and Mahe, and coastal and south interior Karnataka during the next five days.

"Isolated heavy rainfall is also likely over coastal Karnataka and Kerala during the next five days; south interior Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during July 2 to 4; coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema on July 3 and 4; Telangana on July 4. Isolated very heavy rainfall is also likely over coastal Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu on July 3 and 4."

For the impacts rain may have in the cities, the IMD has suggested to follow any traffic advisories that are issued in this regard, avoiding staying in vulnerable structures and staying indoors and avoiding travel, if possible.
Los Angeles, June 30 : Hollywood star Kevin Spacey has been labelled a "sexual bully" who "sexually assaults other men" and "delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable" by the prosecutor opening the 'American Beauty' star's trial.

Spacey was variously accused by complainants of waking up to find him performing oral sex on them and of "grabbing (the complainant's) penis with such force it was painful," reports Deadline.

Christine Agnew KC for the prosecution told 12 jurors that Spacey's preferred method of assault is to "grab aggressively other men in the crotch" but that "on one occasion things went further than that."

The Oscar-winning 'House of Cards' and 'Se7en' star denies the 12 charges against him, including sexual assault and indecent assault, alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013.

As per Deadline, Agnew, who urged jurors to "keep yourself grounded" and avoid becoming "star struck," said the jury over the next four weeks will hear from four men during the trial, all in their 20s or 30s, who attracted the attention of Spacey  who is being tried under his real name, Kevin Spacey Fowler.

She said: "None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way but he doesn't seem to have cared very much for their feelings. He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification."

"What does the defendant say in answer to these allegations?," she added. "Well, in relation to some he suggests that they are quite simply made up. In relation to others, he accepts that there was a sexual encounter between him and the other man but asserts that anything that took place would have taken place with the consent of the other man."

Agnew labelled Spacey a man who "sexually assaults other men, a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully."

Concluding her opening remarks to the jury, Agnew KC said Spacey had "abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him."--IANSaa/kvd
Jaipur, June 30 : : Union Minister Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday attacked Ashok Gehlot, saying the Rajasthan Chief Minister is unnecessarily roaming around in the state at this age.

"CM Ashok Gehlot is unnecessarily roaming around in Rajasthan at this age. He is eyeing to make his son Vaibhav Gehlot the next Chief Minister of the state," Shah said while addressing a rally in Udaipur.

Shah said that Gehlot is doing politics even on the Kanhaiya Lal murder case in Udaipur.

"He didn't even want to arrest the killers. The NIA caught them yet Gehlot lies that no action was taken," he said.

Shah said: "I say with confidence that if hearing is held in a special court, the killers will be hanged. The Advocate General of the Gehlot government does not even have time to hear the case of the accused in Jaipur serial blast case."

Shah also said that the aim of the opposition leaders, who recently met in Patna, is to secure the future of their sons.

"These people want to make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister. If Modi becomes Prime Minister again, the corrupt will be put behind bars. But Sonia Gandhi aims to make Rahul the Prime Minister, Lalu Prasad aims to make his son Tejashwi the CM, Mamata Banerjee aims to make her nephew Abhishek the CM, and Ashok Gehlot wants to make his son Vaibhav the CM," Shah said.

"The UPA government ruled for 10 years. There were only 90 schools to teach tribal children. But the BJP has built more than 500 schools," he said.

Shah said that earlier the budget of the Tribal Ministry was Rs 1,000 crore, which Prime Minister Modi has increased to Rs 15,000 crore.

"It was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who created the Tribal Ministry and former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, increased the reservation for tribals," he said.

On the popularity of Modi, Shah said that when the Prime Minister went to the G-7 summit, some people were busy taking his autograph while others were touching his feet.

"The honour received around the world is not for Modi or BJP, but for the people of the country," Shah said.

He also said that from the support that is seen for Modi across the country, it is certain that Modi will once again become the Prime Minister in 2024 with BJP winning more than 300 seats.

"In 2023, the BJP will form the government in Rajasthan as well with a huge majority," he said.

Interestingly, after state BJP chief C.P. Joshi finished his speech, Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore requested Amit Shah to deliver his speech, but the latter pointed towards Vasundhara Raje and asked her to speak first.
New Delhi, June 30 : The latest 1000-point milestone journey for the BSE Sensex occurred in about 144 sessions or 7.1 months, said Sriram BKR, Senior Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Sensex crossed and closed above 64,000 points for the first time on Friday. The latest 5,000-point milestone took place in 443 sessions or 21.7 months, Sriram said.

Sensex CAGR as measured by Price Return Index for the past 20 years stood at 15.5 per cent and by Total Return Index at 17.2 per cent.

Sensex Total Return Index, which includes the dividends as well, stood 1.52 times the price index, which was 1.06 times in 1999 and 1.41 times when Sensex crossed 30,000.In terms of investmentas growth, Rs100,000 invested in June 2003 would be worth around Rs 24 lakh as of Jun 30, 2023 in TRI terms (and around Rs18 lakh as per PRI).

It took 31.3 years for the index to climb the 30,000 points milestone, in April 2017. The next 30,000 points got added over the next 4.4 years (a rise of 100 per cent), Sriram said.

BSEas total market capitalisation climbed to an all-time high of Rs 296.5 lakh crore, up by Rs 8 lakh crore, in the latest 1,000-point rally.

Sensex average EPS computed by the trailing 12M PE for Jun a23 stood at around Rs 2,706, a 10 per cent growth YoY, 29 per cent CAGR over two years and 20 per cent CAGR in 3 years.

Buoyancy in global markets and the advance of the monsoon lifted Indian stock markets to new highs with the BSE Sensex surging by more than 800 points on Friday.

Domestic equities continued their northbound journey after a dayas break, supported by positive global data, healthy FII buying and strong progress in monsoon.

Nifty opened gap up and strengthened throughout the day to close near the dayas high with gains of 213 points (+1.1 per cent) at 19,186 levels. The broader market too participated in the rally with the Nifty midcap 100 at a fresh record high. All sectors ended in the green, except metals, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head-Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Auto, IT, PSU bank and pharma were the front-runners. Indian indices are on a record-breaking spree, ending the month of June with gains of 3.5 per cent (Nifty) on the back of strong FIIs flow of Rs 20,900 crore MTD and the advance of the southwest monsoon that boosted investor sentiments.

aWe expect the uptrend in Indian equities to continue in the near term," Khemka added.

Next week, the market will take cues from economic data to be released locally as well as globally. Investors would also watch out for FOMC minutes to get insights into the US Central Bankas future course of direction. The auto sector is expected to be in the limelight, as companies would release monthly sales data.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said the lack of global support had restrained the Indian indices from pursuing their record highs earlier, despite the presence of a resilient domestic macroeconomic background.

With positive surprises assisting buoyancy in the global market and the advance of the southwest monsoon, the domestic market succeeded in marching to new highs with renewed strength. Global investor sentiments were uplifted by a favourable revision in Q1 GDP, a fall in jobless claims, and the positive outcome of the Fedas US bank stress test, he added.
London, June 30 : World no 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland will open her Wimbledon 2023 women's singles campaign against Zhu Lin while defending champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan has been handed a tough first-week draw.

Fresh off a successful Roland Garros title defence, Swiatek is projected to face No.7 seed Coco Gauff, against whom she has yet to lose a set in seven meetings, in the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, the Kazakh No.3 seed will open her campaign against the American Shelby Rogers, who has defeated Rybakina twice in five previous meetings.

In the second round, Rybakina could face Alize Cornet, whose 25 triumphs over Top 10 opponents include an upset of Swiatek at Wimbledon 2022 that snapped the World No.1's 37-match winning streak.

There could also be a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final in the quarterfinals, where Rybakina is projected to face No.6 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.

Marquee first-round matches also include a clash of wild cards between seven-time major champion Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina, and Gauff against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.

Gauff could also meet the winner of the Williams and Svitolina tie in the third round, followed by either No.11 seed Daria Kasatkina or No.19 seed Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round.

Australian Open champion No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka starts against Panna Udvardy. In the round of 16, She could face Karolina Muchova, in a rematch of the Roland Garros semifinals where she lost from match point up to Muchova.

The no.4 seed Jessica Pegula starts with a familiar foe: fellow American Lauren Davis. She is projected to face No.5 seed Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals.

Former World No.2 Anett Kontaveit of Estonia, who is playing the final event of her career, has also been drawn in this quarter, will play qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini in the first round.
Kolkata, June 30 : The leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Friday accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of fielding general category candidates in seats reserved for SC/ST nominees for the July 8 panchayat elections.

Adhikari also accused the ruling party leadership of using fake caste certificates with active support from a section of administrative officials.

"I apprehend that a large section of TMC candidates contesting on the seats reserved for the SC, ST & OBC communities in the upcoming panchayat elections have falsified or distorted their documents in order to wrongfully contest on these seats. This scam has been perpetrated systematically by TMC in collusion with a section of corrupt state government officials," Adhikari tweeted.

Adhikari also claimed that he has already sought information from the state public information officer, and the State Election Commission under Section 6 of the Right to Information Act, 2005.

This is not the first time that the leader of opposition has made such an allegation. On June 15, he had made a similar allegation wherein he accused a section of the state administrative machinery of providing fake caste certificates to ruling party candidates for contesting the panchayat polls.

"The BCW (Backward Classes Welfare and Tribal Development) Department is entrusted with the social, economic and cultural development of the people belonging to the SC, ST and OBC communities in West Bengal. Their responsibilities include issuance of caste certificates and enforcement of reservation rules in services, posts and educational institutions. This malpractice is being widely carried out in Malda Sadar, Basirhat, Chanchal and Islampur sub-divisions," he had alleged in a Twitter message.
New Delhi, June 30 : Concerned about rising complaints of malpractices across several e-commerce platforms like Zomato, Amazon, Ola, Google and many others, the government is all set to frame guidelines within the next two months to curb what is known as "dark patterns" in online purchases, and is likely to introduce jail term as a penal provision to stop the menace.

"Dark pattern" refers to misleading offers which are given to consumers during online shopping, that tend to trap them into fraudulent or loss making deals.

The Consumer Affairs Ministry has, in fact, started helpline number 1915, where consumers are being encouraged to complain about such instances.

This facility began on June 28 and the ministry is confident that it would be able to get to some "solid numbers" on such instances by July 31.

Earlier this month, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh had held a meeting with leading e-commerce platforms in Mumbai, where they were asked to refrain from indulging in dark pattern practices and were advised to practice self-restraint.

Sources said that during that meeting, the stakeholders had given a blanket assurance that they would look into the matter. However after 15 days, when the instances of consumers getting lured by such practices did not show any sign of abating, the helpline number was started on June 28.

The stakeholders have been informed by the government that complaints are now being registered regarding such malpractices, and once the specific guidelines are prepared within the next two months, then there is a likelihood of a jail term for offenders and their services could even be discontinued, official sources said.

There are several categories of dark pattern practices on e-commerce platforms which the government has identified. Some examples of these are false urgency, wherein the consumer is induced to purchase something under the pressure of being given a limited time offer on a particular product. Another example is that of "confirm shaming", where the consumer is lured by questions like "are you sure you don't want to buy?"

Hidden cost is one of the common forms of such malpractice, where an online ticket is offered at a reduced rate but when it is purchased, the price is much more than it was offered earlier.

The ministry plans to take action on several influencers on social media, especially in the field of finance and health to begin with, mainly those who promote specific financial products or medicines. Their veracity needs to be verified and therefore their credentials would be checked, and if found to be false, then action would be taken as per the guidelines, ministry officials said.
Jaipur, June 30 : Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday accused the Union Home Minister Amit Shah of presenting fake facts and termed his remarks on the Udaipur terror plot as "irresponsible".

Amit Shah, while addressing a public rally earlier in Udaipur, had said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested the accused of Kanhaiyalal murderers.

In response, Gehlot said: "It is expected that those sitting on responsible positions will not do politics on serious issue like terrorism. However, what Union Home Minister Amit Shah did in Udaipur was an irresponsible act.

"Amit Shah lied in Udaipur today saying that murderers of Kanhaiyalal -- Mohammd Riyaz Attari and Ghouse Mohammed -- were arrested by the NIA. The reality is that the accused were caught by Rajasthan Police within four hours of the attack".

On June 28, 2022 tailor Kanhaiya Lal was beheaded in broad daylight by Mohammd Riyaz Attari and Ghouse Mohammed, who entered the tailor's shop posing as customers.

The Chief Minister said that Amit Shah knows that both the killers were active BJP leaders.

"He should rather investigate that who were the BJP workers who were calling police stations requesting for the release of these accused," the Chief Minister said.

He said that it is open and shut case and why it took much time in filing the charge sheet in case and why these accused have not yet been punished.

Gehlot also attached a detailed production and receipt memo where the case was transferred to NIA.
Mumbai, June 30 : Bhojpuri actor Pradeep Pandey Chintu is coming up with his next film, which is a rom-com titled 'Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo'. Speaking on the importance of comic timing in a rom-com, Pandey said that while comic timing may look easy, it is in fact quite a challenge.

The film tells the story of Satya (Pradeep), a man notorious for lying, and conning everyone in his village by making false promises. The Mukhiya (village chief) of the village warns Satya to stop his penchant for lying or else he will be kicked out of the village.

Speaking on the subject, Pradeep said: "While working on a rom-com it is important to get the comic timing right and that is something I worked really hard on for this film. It may look easy but it is surely challenging. I hope the audience enjoys watching the film."

Following the warning, Satya's friends tell him to woo Mukhiya's niece Lovely and make her fall in love with him. Satya plans accordingly and subsequently his plan works as Lovely falls for him. But now Satya is stuck in a dilemma as he does not want to marry Lovely.

Talking about the film, the actor further said: "'Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo' is very close to my heart. When I heard the story I was quite sure that the audience will like it because of its unique concept."

Directed by Premanshu Singh and produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Abhay Sinha and Tinu Verma 'Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo' stars Pradeep Pandey Chintu and Harshika Poonacha in lead roles.

'Sajan Re Jhooth Mat Bolo' is all set to stream for free from July 1 on JioCinema.
New Delhi, 30 June : The Defence Ministry on Friday signed Rs 2,725 crore contract with Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd for a medium refit of Indian Navy's Shishumar class SSK submarine INS Shankush, an official statement said.

The delivery of the submarine post the medium refit with life certification (MRLC) will be in 2026. After its completion, INS Shankush will be combat ready and will join the active fleet of the Indian Navy with upgraded combat capability

According to the Defence Ministry, this project is an important step towards development of MDL as Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Hub for supporting the industrial ecosystem of India.

The project would involve more than 30 MSMEs and would lead to employment generation of 1,200 Mandays per day for the project duration. The project will be a proud flag bearer of Atmanirbhar Bharat in consonance with the Make in India initiative of the government, the defence officials added.

--IANS

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KYODO NEWS - Jul 1, 2023 - 07:37 | World, All

China's revised counterespionage law took effect Saturday, broadening the scope of what constitutes spying activities to safeguard national security, with expatriates and foreign businesses worried about its arbitrary enforcement in the country.

The amended law, which was originally adopted in 2014 to guard state secrets, makes it possible for Chinese authorities to crack down on stealing and disseminating "documents, data, materials and items related to national security and interests."

The revised legislation, which was endorsed at the country's parliament in April, newly covers cyberattacks on state organizations and key infrastructure by "spying entities and their agents" as part of Beijing's efforts to bolster cybersecurity.

The updated law also obligates all citizens to report on spying activities and allows authorities to inspect the belongings of suspects. Under China's penal code, the maximum punishment for espionage is death.

As the definition of national security remains unclear, the legislation has raised fears among expat and foreign business communities.

In China, it is customary for allegations concerning national security not to be released, and trials are closed to the public. Even after rulings are finalized, the details are usually not announced.

In March, a senior employee of Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma Inc. was detained by China on suspicion of engaging in spying activities, but it remains unknown how he allegedly violated the law. Several U.S. consulting firms have also been raided in recent months.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, in a speech delivered on Tuesday at a World Economic Forum meeting in Tianjin, pledged to advance the nation's high-standard opening-up efforts, calling for foreign investment as the world's second-largest economy recovers from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But he told senior foreign business representatives at the meeting that rule violators will be punished.

As for concerns that the new law could limit reporting activities of foreign journalists, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Wednesday, "As long as one abides by laws and regulations, there is no need to worry."

Tetsuro Homma, head of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China, told a Beijing news conference in June that whether predictability, fairness and transparency are maintained in the Chinese market is "a matter of great concern" to the group.

Homma said the chamber will monitor any negative impacts of the implementation of the amended anti-espionage law on business activities and take actions as necessary.

Since the counterespionage law came into force in China in November 2014, 17 Japanese citizens have been detained for their alleged involvement in spying activities. Five of them are still being held, according to the Japanese government.

A recent business confidence survey by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China showed 64 percent of respondents said doing business in China became more difficult in 2022, the highest figure since 2014, faced with growing risks and a more volatile operating environment.

Akio Takahara, a professor of Chinese politics at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, said Beijing has prioritized safeguarding national security amid an intensifying rivalry with Washington.

Takahara urged Japanese business circles to strongly seek the release of the Astellas Pharma official, saying they cannot do business when detentions can happen for "unclear reasons."

Naoki Tsukioka, senior economist at Mizuho Research & Technologies, said the new law could dampen economic activities in China because companies face the risk of detentions when authorities deem their information gathering as spying activities.

"Expats should avoid secretly meeting with Chinese government, industry body and state-owned company officials for information exchange," he said.
Patna, June 30 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday called a meeting of his JD-U legislators, leading to political speculation while the opposition BJP termed it a "stampede in waiting".

However, the lawmakers who met the Chief Minister at his 1, Anne Marg residence. said that the meeting was called take the feedback of their respective constituencies.

The opposition BJP had been first to react on the developments, claiming that a "stampede" is waiting to take place anytime in the JD-U.

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi claimed that a 'stampede' will take place soon in the JD-U and that is why Nitish Kumar had called an emergency meeting.

"The JD-U has no future in Bihar. It will be destroyed in 2024 and 2025. The legislators are thinking about what would happen after Nitish Kumar," he said.

He said that the RJD of Lalu Prasad will be run by his sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav while Congress will be run by Rahul Gandhi.

"Who will run JD-U after Nitish Kumar? Hence, there is a stampede-like situation in JD-U. Nitish Kumar wants to stop stampede in the party. He has already announced that his political successor will be Tejashwi Yadav. How could the leaders of JD-U accept it?" he claimed.

Several JD-U law makers including Ajay Chaudhary of Benipur, Hilsa MLA Prem Kumar, Pipara MLA Ram Vilash Kamat, Parbatta MLA Dr Sanjiv Kumar, MLC Neeraj Kumar, Gulam Gaush and others attended the meeting.

"There was no discussion over politics with the Chief Minister. He wanted to take feedback from our respective constituencies. He also directed us to complete the ongoing government projects in the constituencies," said Prem Kumar.

Nitish Kumar's meeting with the legislators comes a day after the rally of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Bihar.
Seoul, June 30 : Hollywood star Tom Cruise went behind the lens to photograph 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' co-stars Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Vanessa Kirby at the Seoul premiere of the film.

The Hollywood legend delighted fans at the premiere of his new movie in Seoul when he briefly commandeered a photographer's camera to take a snap of his co-stars.

"This guy loves to give his leading ladies the spotlight," Atwell captioned a video of the moment she shared on Instagram on Friday.

In the clip, a dapper-looking Cruise is handed a camera as he stands among a group of photographers at the event. The text over the screen reads aThe Moment Vs The Photo", as the actor familiarises himself with the camera's settings, as per People.

Then Cruise, 60, crouches down to capture the three women posing in their gowns on a stage above the event's red carpet.

An image of the photograph then appears in the clip.

"How does it look," a voice asks Cruise as he walks away.

"Good," the actor replies with a smile.

Earlier, Cruise had a rapturous welcome at the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in western Seoul on Wednesday.

He was mobbed by an excited crowd, and Cruise, who is known for his dedication to his fans, happily made his way around greeting everyone, Daily Mail reported.

He was showered with presents and kept hold of a large bunch of flowers as he shook hands and snapped selfies. Cruise was joined by the movie's director Christopher McQuarrie at the event. Tom Cruise has been celebrating the film launch around the world over the past few weeks.

The world premiere, which happened in Rome earlier this month, received rave reviews from early critics, who branded it "dynamite" and tipped it to be a summer blockbuster.

The film follows Ethan Hunt and the IMF team as they track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity if it falls into the wrong hands

The movie is the seventh installment of the famous spy-action film franchise 'Mission: Impossible'.
Guwahati, June 30 : A police officer in Assam's Nalbari district, who was absconding after a minor girl accused him of taking her objectionable photographs after forcing her to go nude inside a police station, has been dismissed from service, the police said on Friday.

On Monday, a 17-year-old girl had lodged a complaint stating that the officer-in-charge of Ghograpar PS had molested her inside the police station besides taking her nude photos.

The accused officer, identified as Biman Roy, was immediately placed under suspension.However, when a senior police officer of DIG rank reached the Ghograpar police station for a probe into the matter, it was found that the accused officer was on the run.

The police circulated a notice that anyone who can give information about the absconding officer will be rewarded.

Taking to Twitter, Assam DGP G.P. Singh wrote, "Being convinced of the instant case being rarest or rare, and as the Director General of Police and Head of Police Force of Assam, and in accordance with extant law and rules, I have decided to dismiss Inspector (UB) Biman Roy from Assam Police."

"This decision shall also send a strong message to all serving police personnel about adherence to the law of the land and the thought process of the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Assam about the shape Assam Police should take to serve the people of Assam," he added.

According to Assam's top cop, this may also be taken as a warning and advice to all state police personnel to maintain the sanctity of police stations and ensure that they remain the safest place for children and women.

He said, "Anyone not discharging the duty to keep the citizens safe in police stations, especially the women and children, shall invariably face similar consequences."
New Delhi, June 30 : The Delhi High Court has set aside a trial court's order convicting a man for murdering his daughter for allegedly having a love affair and sentencing him to life imprisonment, and acquitted the accused.

The man had challenged the trial court's verdict, saying that the prosecution wasn't successful in establishing the case against him.

The man was arrested for not giving convincing answers. According to the prosecution, his and his wife's blood samples were taken and sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), CBI for DNA profiling and matching them with the DNA of the deceased, and they had matched.

However, a vacation bench of Justice Mukta Gupta and Poonam A Bamba said: "This court finds that merely based on the DNA analysis evidence opining that the dead body was of the biological daughter of the appellant, it cannot be held that the prosecution has proved its case beyond reasonable doubt against the appellant of having committed the murder of  punishable under Section 302 IPC as also offence punishable under Section 201 (destruction of evidence) IPC."

The court then directed the man be released forthwith, if not required in any other case.

On May 10, 2013, as per the prosecution, police had received information about the recovery of a body packed in a gunny bag in a drain in the Mehrauli area. The remains were of a woman who could not be identified.

After the man claimed that he had killed his daughter and dumped the body in the drain as he was angry about her relationship with someone he did not approve of, a murder case was registered at Mehrauli Police Station.
Kolkata, June 30 : External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Friday that while India is keen on having a workable relationship with China, the neighbouring country too should display similar sincerity.

"It always takes two hands to clap. China must also have that belief in a workable relationship," Jaishankar said at a programme conducted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Kolkata on Friday evening.

Speaking on the occasion, Jaishankar also claimed that India's traditional ties will not have any negative impact for the country having an equally strong relationship with the United States.

The minister alsosaid India's relationship with Russia is not exclusive to defence ties.

"Our relationship with Russia has a bigger economic gambit," the minister said.
New Delhi, June 30 : Haryana's Anuradha Devi and Navy's Kunal Rana won the women's and men's 10m air pistol T6 events respectively, as the National Selection Trials 5 & 6 for Group A rifle and pistol shooters concluded at the Karni Singh Shooting range, here on Friday.

Anuradha led a Haryana sweep in the women's event after scoring 243.7 in the final while Kunal, after a seesaw battle with Uttar Pradesh's Varun Tomar (241.3), emerged triumphant with a score of 243.2.

Kunal shot 586 in qualification to top the field, while another Haryana shooter Sumit, also finished on the same score, but took second position on lesser inner 10s.

From the 17th to the 21st shot of the final, the lead kept swinging between Kunal and Varun, but a perfect 10.9 for his 22nd shot meant that he went into the final two shots with a lead of 1.1 over Varun which came down to 0.8 with the final shot remaining, but an 8.6 from Varun handed the title to Kunal.

In the Women's Air Pistol T6, Anuradha did an encore by topping the qualification with a score of 582.

In the final, Indian international Rhythm Sangwan was leading initially while Anuradha was fifth after the first series of five shots. She stayed in touch throughout and slowly crept up on the field to take the lead after the 16th shot.

However, Rhythm came back well to go ahead yet again, but Anuradha finished strongest with her final three shots reading 10.7, 10.9 and 10.2. In the end, she won with a comfortable 1.8 to spare.

Haryana also swept the two junior finals of the same event as Parmod shot 241.8 to win the junior menas T6 trials which was yet another Haryana 1-2-3. The junior women's crown was won by Lakshita who shot 242.9 to thwart Chandigarh's Sainyam.
Kolkata, June 30 : Kamtapur Liberation Organisation's (KLO) chief Jeevan Singh, who is currently underground, on Friday described the Trinamool Congress and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the "enemy" of the people of Rajbanshi community.

In a video message shot at an undisclosed location - a copy of which is available with IANS, he also called upon the people of the community to boycott Trinamool in the forthcoming panchayat polls.

"An election wave is going on in West Bengal. Leaders from Kolkata are coming and trying to lure the people from the community. But remember that they are enemies of our people and our land. They are deliberately trying to keep Cooch Behar as a part of West Bengal," Singh said in the video message.

He also accused the Trinamool of "ruining the lives" of the people of the proposed Kamtapur region.

"We have seen how the Chief Minister opposed the formation of a separate Kamtapur state. The Trinamoolleaders and activists are torturing our people. They are killing our people. Our people are being framed in false cases. The Chief Minister is our enemy," Singh added.

He also hit out at the previous Left Front regime in West Bengal. "The previous regime was responsible for taking away our land from us," he said. He also claimed that he has dedicated his life to achieving the separate Kamtapur state.

Meanwhile, a political slugfest between BJP and Trinamool Congress erupted over the video. On one hand, a Trinamool leader from Cooch Behar district has alleged that Singh has read out the script prepared by the BJP, and on theother, BJP's district President Sukumar Roy had said that his party cannot take responsibility for the video released by Singh, who is no way associated with BJP.
New Delhi, June 30 : Four men, wanted for abduction and murder of a college principal in Jharkhand, were nabbed from Delhi's Khanpur area, police said on Friday.

The accused were identified as Rustam Ali, 64, his sons Sakib, 32, and Suban, 25, and Amrit Thakur, 25, all residents of Jharkhand's Godda district .

According to police, on June 9, complainant Fatima Khatun reported that on June 8 at about 10 a.m, her husband Najiruddin, the principal of a college in Godda, had left for Bihar's Bhagalpur by car.

"At about 6.30 p.m, when he was coming back, he was abducted from the flyover of Gerua river. Total 17 persons were named in the FIR registered at Basantrai police station," said a police officer.

During the investigation, a police team from Basantrai had recovered the body of Najiruddin from the roadside at Diyajorimahajama in Godda.

Four accused were arrested, however, the main culprits, Rustam Ali, the brother of the deceased, and his sons were still at large.

"The accused were hiding in the southeast district area of Delhi. Hence, a team of Basantrai police station reached Delhi and shared the information with southeast district police for assistance," the police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Southeast, Rajesh Deo said that one of the wanted criminals, Amrit, was apprehended from Shutter Wali Gali, Khanpur.

Sakib, Saban and Rustam Ali were also apprehended from Tughlakabad Extension in Govindpuri, he said.

"All the accused were interrogated and subsequently handed over to Basantrai police team for further proceedings," the officer added.

--IANS

ssh/prw
Srinagar, June 30 : Chief Justice of India, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said on Friday that the rules must be re-engineered to make them relevant to present times.

Addressing the 19th All India Meet of Legal Services Authorities here, the CJI said that we must understand that we have inherited a judicial system when summons were served on horse back and on camels.

aWe must re-engineer rules to make these relevant to the present times. Our rules were designed when summons were served on horseback and camels. Our rules are not relevant to the times," he stressed.

aOur constitution aims to create a legal environment based on liberty, equality and social justice. All of us have a salient role on demystifying and simplifying the legal system to make it accessible for the common citizens.

aWhen we travel and see nature as I have faced during my travel on Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, we can to learn that human existence is but a speck before the enormity of nature.

aOur judiciary is mostly known by the decisions we deliver or the decisions we donat deliver and the delays. But, enormous work is done in the back offices of the judiciary and this must be highlighted," he said.

The CJI also quipped that as judges, "we are lauded and revered, thankfully we are not worshipped".

He also stressed that for people to trust legal aid, it must be competent and of desired quality.

"We need to increase the capabilities of lawyers and para-legal volunteers... encourage them to unlearn their social biases... I would urge legal services institutions to encourage more women and transgender persons to serve as lawyers and para-legal volunteers," he said.

aWe must make use of social media to make people conscious of their legal rights. We, as judges, believe that we are not in marketing. The best medium to spread awareness about the legal system is by using the social media," he added.

CJI Chandrachud said across the country, there are 1,700 law colleges and these must be made into legal clinics.

Recounting a recent case about lack of awareness, he said: aJust a few months ago, I heard a case where the charge was violation of the electricity act.

aThe accused pleaded guilty. He was handed down a sentence of two years in each of the nine charges.

aBut the sessions judge forgot to mention that the sentences would run concurrently. The decision attained finality.

aThree years later the accused moved the high court under Section 480, saying how can I be sentenced for 18 years for electricity theft. The high court said 'sorry, the decision has attained finality and dismissed the section 480 petition.

aHe eventually travelled to the Supreme Court and it had to intervene.

aI am not saying that we did something great, but to mention the fact that there are numerous people who are unaware of their rights.

"The Legal Services Act, 1987 has attempted to humanise the law and provide justice through legal aid and legal service," he asserted.

The Union Law Minister, all the judges of the Supreme Court, and the Chief Justices and all the judges of the high courts in the country were present at the meet.
Shillong, June 30 : Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said on Friday that Uniform Civil Code (UCC) goes against the actual idea of India.

Sangma, who is the President of the National Peopleas Party (NPP), told mediapersons here that UCC does not suit the country and goes against the actual idea of India, which is a diverse nation characterised by unity in diversity.

aI am talking from the party point of view. Uniform Civil Code, according to NPP, goes against the actual spirit of India. The diverse cultures, traditions, lifestyles and religions are the countryas strength," Sangma said.

aMeghalaya is a matrilineal society and that is our strength. The culture and other aspects we have been following for a long time cannot be changed. As a political party, we realise that the entire northeast region has got a unique culture. We will not like our tradition and culture to be touched," Sangma said.

The NPP, which is an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), leads the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) .

The BJP with two MLAs is a partner in the MDA government. The NPP has a strong political base in Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh besides Meghalaya, and the party has reasonable number of MLAs in these four northeastern states.After Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently pushed for the implementation of UCC, the Parliamentary standing committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice said that it will hear the views of all the stakeholders.

The committee led by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi informed all the 31 MPs and members of the committee that their views on UCC will be sought and considered at a meeting on Monday.

The Uniform Civil Code is a proposal to formulate and implement personal laws for all the citizens, regardless of their religion, sex, gender and sexual orientation.

Currently, the personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures.

Also, on June 14, the Law Commission of India solicited the views and ideas of the public and recognised religious organisations to examine the Uniform Civil Code.
Press Release

June 30, 2023 Villanueva: Clarifying living wage criteria is the way to go Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said that clarifying the criteria of what constitutes a living wage is the way to go to provide for nourishment and general well-being of a family of five consistent with the country's direction in Ambisyon 2040. Villanueva made the call after the National Capital Region (NCR) Regional Wage Board approved a P40 wage hike for the daily minimum wage of workers in the region. "There is no sugar-coating the situation of Filipino workers - the minimum wage as presently determined is not enough for a family of five to live decently. Hindi na po pantay ang kinikita ng bawat manggagawang Pilipino sa taas ng bilihin ngayon," Villanueva said. Senate Bill No. 2140, filed by Villanueva, seeks to amend the wage fixing criteria in the Labor Code of the Philippines to put living wage in the front and center in the determination of regional minimum wage. The bill provides that living wage must ensure the employees' and their families' nourishment, clothing, shelter and education, and general well-being. He said Filipinos who receive the current daily minimum wage from P306 to P570 have to make do with these amounts for the family's daily needs such as food, transportation, medicine, shelter and education, and a P40 wage increase will not make a dent. Citing a study of the IBON Foundation, a family of five in the National Capital Region (NCR) needs at least P1,160 a day to live decently. "This means that the NCR minimum wage is only half of the required living wage," Villanueva said. "The Constitution itself guarantees to all workers the right to a living wage. This is the intent of our bill," he added. "It is important that we have clear standards which will serve as a basis in considering proposed wage increases to ensure a right balance in affording workers their families' basic needs and sustainability and competitiveness of business," he said. In determining the regional minimum wages, the bill stressed that the "estimated cost of living for a determined size of a family in the region" shall be considered. Other relevant factors include the "wage adjustment vis-a-vis the consumer price index; the needs of workers and their families; the need to induce industries to invest in the countryside; improvements in the standards of living; the prevailing wage levels; and, equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic and social development." Villanueva pointed out that there are laws which grant reprieve to businesses on the payment of minimum wage, in recognition of their financial ability to cope with rising prices. For example, barangay micro-business enterprises are exempt from complying with the minimum wage, while enterprises employing less than 10 employees may, in certain circumstances, also be exempted from the payment of minimum wage. Villanueva: Panahon na para magkaroon ng malinaw na Living Wage Criteria Dapat umanong linawin ang kriterya kung paano matutukoy ang living wage na makakapagbigay ng nourishment at general well-being sa isang pamilya na may limang miyembro, alinsunod sa direksiyon ng Ambisyon 2040, ayon kay Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva. Nanawagan si Villanueva matapos aprubahan ng National Capital Region (NCR) Regional Wage Board ang P40 wage hike para sa daily minimum wage ng mga manggagawa sa Metro Manila. "There is no sugar-coating the situation of Filipino workers - the minimum wage as presently determined is not enough for a family of five to live decently. Hindi na po pantay ang kinikita ng bawat manggagawang Pilipino sa taas ng bilihin ngayon," sabi ni Villanueva. Sa Senate Bill No. 2140 na inihain ni Villanueva, layunin nitong amiyendahan ang wage fixing criteria ng Labor Code of the Philippines para ilagay ang living wage o sahod sa sentro ng pagtukoy ng regional minimum wage. Nakasaad din sa panukala na dapat tiyakin na ang living wage na natatanggap ng mga manggagawa ay makakatulong para mabigyan ng sapat ng pagkain, damit, tirahan at edukasyon at general well-being ang kanilang pamilya. Sabi pa ni Villanueva, pinagkakasya lamang ng mga Pilipinong manggagawa ang kasalukuyang daily minimum wage na P306 hanggang P570 para sa pang-araw-araw na pangangailangan ng kanilang pamilya tulad ng pagkain, transportasyon, gamot, tirahan at edukasyon. Batay sa pag-aaral ng IBON Foundation, ang isang pamilya na binubuo ng lima sa NCR ay kailangan ng P1,160 kada araw para magkaroon ng disenteng pamumuhay. "This means that the NCR minimum wage is only half of the required living wage," ayon kay Villanueva. "The Constitution itself guarantees to all workers the right to a living wage. This is the intent of our bill," dagdag niya. "It is important that we have clear standards which will serve as a basis in considering proposed wage increases to ensure a right balance in affording workers their families' basic needs and sustainability and competitiveness of business," sambit pa ng Majority Leader. Sa pagtukoy ng regional minimum wages, nakasaad sa panukala na dapat ikonsidera ng "estimated cost of living" base sa laki ng isang pamilya sa rehiyon. Ang iba pang konsiderasyon ay ang mga sumusunod: "wage adjustment vis-a-vis consumer price index; the needs of workers and their families; the need to induce industries to invest in the countryside; improvements in the standards of living; the prevailing wage levels; and, equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic and social development." Punto pa ni Villanueva, may mga batas na nagbibigay ng reprieve sa mga negosyo sa pagbabayad ng minimum wage, bilang pagkilala sa kanilang financial ability upang makayanan ang tumataas na presyo ng mga bilihin at serbisyo. Halimbawa, ang mga barangay micro-business enterprises ay exempted sa pagsunod sa minimum wage habang ang negosyo na may empleyado na hindi bababa sa sampu ay libre din sa pagbabayad ng minimum wage. __________________________ Here's the copy of Senate Bill No. 2140: http://legacy.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/4153037817!.pdf
Choe Ryong-hae (2nd R), member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Wang Yajun (2nd L) attend a ceremony marking the completion of an interior remodeling project for the China-DPRK Friendship Tower in Pyongyang, the DPRK, June 28, 2023. (Chinese embassy in the DPRK/Handout via Xinhua)

SEOUL, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a ceremony Wednesday to mark the completion of an interior remodeling project for the China-DPRK Friendship Tower in Pyongyang.

Choe Ryong-hae, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of DPRK attended the ceremony, among other officials from the country's ruling party, government and armed forces as well as citizens of the capital city.

At the invitation of the DPRK side, Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Wang Yajun attended the ceremony.

Im Kyong Jae, minister of urban management of the DPRK, said at the ceremony that the Friendship Tower has been a proof and symbol of the DPRK-China friendship.

The successful completion of the interior remodeling project bears important significance in inheriting through generations the spirit of the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV), he added.

Wang said that the successful completion of the project demonstrated the importance the DPRK attaches to bilateral ties under the new circumstances.

He stressed that under the strategic design and guidance of the top leaders of China and the DPRK, the traditional friendship between the two countries has been lifted to a new and higher level.

He said China is willing to work with the DPRK to implement the important consensus of the top leaders of the two parties and the two countries, so as to carry forward the traditional friendship through generations, and bring benefits to the two countries and their people.

The speeches were followed by a solemn wreath-laying ceremony, and all participants observed a moment of silence in honor of the CPV martyrs.

The Friendship Tower was built in 1959 in Pyongyang to commemorate the martyrs of the Chinese People's Volunteers who sacrificed their lives during the Korean War. 

Choe Ryong-hae (2nd R), member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), and Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Wang Yajun (2nd L) cut the ribbon during a ceremony marking the completion of an interior remodeling project for the China-DPRK Friendship Tower in Pyongyang, the DPRK, June 28, 2023. (Chinese embassy in the DPRK/Handout via Xinhua)
Bengaluru, June 30 : Karnataka's Large and Medium Industries Minister M.B. Patil on Friday said that Taiwanese companies have expressed interest to collaborate with the state Karnataka in converting diesel-run BMTC buses to electric buses.

Briefing reporters after a high-level delegation from Taiwan met him here to discuss industrial collaboration, he said: "Converting the diesel-powered Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) buses to electric buses would enable us to take a step forward towards sustainability".

He said that his department would facilitate further talks with the Transport Department in this regard.

Noting that Taiwan-based companies have the required expertise to transform diesel vehicles into electric vehicles, he added that such a technology is the need of the hour.

Taiwanese companies have also evinced interest to collaborate in machine tools and manufacturing, ESDM, automotive and auto components, clean energy production, and aerospace, Patil said.

As part of the meeting, a visual presentation on the industrial ecosystem of the state, facilitation and incentives provided by the government was made.

Over 50 Taiwanese investors were present at the meeting, facilitated by the TIBA (Taiwan India Business Association), including George Lien who led the visiting delegation.

TECC Director General Richard Chen, Principal Secretary, Industries, S.Selva Kumar, and Commissioner, Industries Gunjan Krishna were also present at the meet.
Visakhapatnam, June 30 : Two workers were killed and five others injured in a blast and a huge fire at a pharma unit at Special Economic Zone at Atchutapuram in Anakapalli district of Andhra Pradesh on Friday.

The fire broke out after a reactor exploded at Sahithi Pharma Private Ltd.

Thick smoke engulfed the surroundings of the pharma unit. Three fire fighting personnel were also injured while battling the blaze.

With the fire raging even after five hours, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was called to help the fire fighting personnel.

The huge blast and fire sent panic among workers in the unit. Seven workers were injured, four of them critically.

The injured were shifted to KGH Hospital in Visakhapatnam. Two of the injured P. Satti Babu (35) and U. Tirupati (40) succumbed while undergoing treatment.

The condition of Ramesh (45) of Bhubaneswar and Nuki Naidu (40) was critical.

The other injured were identified as Raju Babu, Apa Rao, and P. Santosh Kumar.

Superintendent of Police Murali Krishna said 35 workers were on duty at the time of the incident. While 28 workers ran out to safety, seven sustained injuries. Two of the injured later succumbed. The SP said efforts were on to bring the fire under control.
New Delhi, June 30 : To dismantle the nexus between organised criminal gangs in the northern region and terror groups operating abroad, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that it has initiated coordinated efforts with police forces of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh to put a curb on them.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by the NIA Chief Dinkar Gupta which was also attended by the three police forces on Friday. During the meeting, Gupta stressed the need for collaborative action to combat organised crime.

"Enhanced cooperation and information sharing among NIA, Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana Police will effectively address the growing threat posed by these criminal syndicates, particularly in the northern region," Gupta said in the meeting.

A NIA spokesperson in New Delhi said that during the meeting, it was decided to establish a collective institutionalised mechanism for real-time as well as regular information sharing and coordinated action and operations against the gangster ecosystem in the northern region.

The NIA official said that it was also decided to set up a aJoint Listing Committeea, with representative officers from the NIA and the three police forces, to list out and map the entire network of the various criminal syndicates active in the northern states and union territory.

"It was further decided to hold monthly meetings of all the stakeholders to address the issue of organised crimes and criminals in these areas," the official added.

The official said that this was the second such meeting steered by the NIA Director General for tackling the menace of the organised criminal terror syndicates.

The NIA Chief had initiated these meetings to collectively deal with such syndicates through sharing of findings and inputs among the various police agencies and forces.

The anti-terror probe agency which is investigating three such cases against criminal terror syndicate, also shared its findings and observations on the methodology adopted by the syndicates operating from jails.

NIA emphasised the need for fast tracking of trials against these gangsters as an effective tool to tackle the problem, along with the need for a witness protection plan, the official said.

Meanwhile, Haryana Director General of Police (DGP) P.K. Agrawal underlined the urgency of taking swift and decisive action to dismantle the networks of these criminal syndicates, disrupt their activities and ensure justice.

Even Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav emphasised that international liaison and cooperation with LEAs in foreign countries is essential to extradite and deport active leaders and members based abroad in various countries while Chandigarh DGP Praveer Ranjan highlighted close inter-state coordination and joint operations between police forces of affected states as the criminal syndicates were operating all over, including Chandigarh.

Interventions required at both the structural level as well as the operational level to dismantle the terror syndicateas ecosystem were discussed threadbare, and it was decided to formulate an institutionalised mechanism for timely sharing of actionable inputs with all the stakeholders, the official added.

During the meeting, discussions were also held on activities of leaders and members of organised criminal syndicates and groups operating in the northern states and the ongoing investigations in the various criminal cases connected to them.

The growing nexus between criminals and gangsters, with their inter-state linkages and conflicts, has become a cause for concern for the northern states.

The foot soldiers, recruits, harbourers etc. of these criminal gangster-syndicates are spread across the states of north India, requiring a coordinated and synergised effort by the police of different states to deal with them effectively, the agency said in the statement.
Hyderabad, June 30 : Meeting a long-pending demand of tribals, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday launched distribution of titles for more than 4 lakh acres of Podu land across the state.

He formally launched the programme in Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district by handing over documents to 12 Adivasi beneficiaries.

KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly known, said 4.06 lakh acres of Podu lands will be distributed among 1.5 lakh farmers across 26 districts.

The programme was launched simultaneously by the ministers in different districts. The land titles are being issued in the name of women beneficiaries.

In Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district, pattas were given for 47,000 acres of Podu lands in one day.

The Chief Minister said the distribution of pattas will be completed in 2-3 days.

The beneficiaries will also received financial assistance of Rs10,000 per acre at par with other farmers under Rythu Bandhu schemes.

KCR said that Podu land pattas are also being given to non-tribals, provided they prove that their families have been residing in those land for the last 75 years.

He said due to legal issues, this process is taking time.

The Chief Minister also directed the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police to withdraw cases of forest land encroachment booked against those tribals who have now receive the land titles.

He also directed the officials to immediately make arrangements to ensure three-phase electricity connections to agricultural lands in the forest areas.

In February this year, the Chief Minister had announced that 11.5 lakh acres of Podu lands will be distributed. He told the Assembly that the government will provide not just pattas (titles) to tribals tilling these lands but will also supply them electricity and extend benefits of Rythu Bandhu, and investment support scheme for farmers. He, however, made it clear that after completion of this process, there will be no podu land and if the beneficiaries try to encroach forest land, their pattas will be cancelled.

The Chief Minister said a written undertaking will be taken from those being given pattas that they will stake no further claim on forest lands.

Signatures of village committees and local public representatives will also be taken on the undertaking. The beneficiaries will also be asked to work as protectors of forests and a written commitment will be taken from them in this regard.

KCR had also stated that the issue will be closed forever and the government would act firmly to protect forests. He said after fixing the boundaries of forests, the government would arrange patrolling of armed personnel.

Podu is the practice of shifting cultivation on forest land by tribal and non-tribal forest dwellers. They raise crops on a piece of land in one season and move to different locations the next season.

The long-pending dispute led to clashes between the cultivators and the forest employees at several places in the state in recent years.

Realising the need to settle the long-pending issue once for all, the state government in 2021 decided to embark an exercise to receive applications from eligible beneficiaries claiming Podu lands. The Podu lands were identified during a state-wide survey undertaken last year. The authorities received over 4 lakh claims from both tribals and non-tribals. The tribals and other forest dwellers claim that plantation by the Forest Department on Podu lands violate their rights, guaranteed under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (RoFR Act).

The government received 4.14 lakh claims in 2,845 gram panchayats for issue of apattasa (titles) under RoFR Act. According to Minister for Tribal Welfare Satyavati Rathore, 68 per cent of the applicants are tribals and remaining 32 per cent are non-tribals.

The claims were made for 12.49 lakh acres of forest lands by tribal and non-tribal farmers.

The Chief Minister had earlier suggested that tribals involved in the Podu cultivation within the forest should be provided with an alternative government land nearby for cultivation. If there is no government land available, they should be provided with land on the outer periphery of the forestland.
Patna, July 1 : Mired with poverty and helplessness, a family in Bihar's Samastipur district on Friday reached the blood bank of Sadar hospital to sell their blood and obtain money to repay their loans.

Gulnaz Devi had borrowed Rs 35,000 with the help of "Swayam Sahayata Samuh" from a bank for agricultural purposes.

As the money she was earning was low, she was unable to return the amount to the lender.

"I, along with my husband, tried every possible way to earn money or borrow it from relatives or friends to repay the loan amount but no one helped us. Then we got the idea to sell the blood and earn some money to deposit the installment. The lender was applying pressure on us to deposit the installment," Gulnaz Devi said.

When they heard about the plight of Gulnaz and her husband, the blood bank officials informed local administration about the incident.

Contacted, an officer of Waris Nagar block office in Samastipur said: "We have learnt about such an incident in Sadar hospital's blood bank. The officials have informed us but we have not received any letter from the victims. We are approaching the family to solve this problem. Under the RBI guidelines, lenders cannot apply pressure on the borrowers in case of installments not being paid."

In Bihar, there are 10 lakh Swayam Sahayata Samuhs operational. Each of them comprises 10 to 15 women in every village or Panchayats. They recommend women of their respective village a loan of up to Rs 2 lakh for business and agriculture purposes. Following their recommendation, the bank gives loans with a nominal interest of 2 per cent to 4 per cent to individual women.
Hyderabad, July 1 : The Telangana government on Friday decided to provide 'Y' category security to BJP MLA and former minister Eatala Rajender following his claims of threat to his life from a political rival.

Five guards will be deployed for his security.

This came a few days after Rajender's wife Jamuna alleged that he faces threat to his life from MLC P. Kaushik Reddy of ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

She had alleged that the MLC was ready to spend Rs.20 crore for killing her husband.

Responding to Jamuna's concern, state minister K.T. Rama Rao directed the Director General of Police Anjani Kumar to address and investigate the security issue.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Medchal, G. Sandeep had Thursday visited the MLA at his residence in Shameerpet on the outskirts of Hyderabad and assured him that a detailed report would be prepared and submitted to the Cyberabad CP Stephen Raveendra and the DGP regarding the security concerns raised.

During the four-hour visit, the DCP and his team inspected the MLA's residential premises, searching for any potential dangers or signs of an impending attack.

Rajender had quit the BRS and joined the BJP in 2021 after he was dropped from the Cabinet following allegations that he encroached lands of some farmers for poultry business run by his family. Rajender had also resigned from Assembly and contested the by-election on BJP's ticket. He had retained the seat with a comfortable majority.

Addressing a press conference on June 27, Rajender's wife Jamuna had made the sensational allegation that BRS MLC Kaushik Reddy was planning to assassinate her husband.

"Kaushik Reddy's arrogance comes from the support provided to him by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao," said Jamuna, a businesswoman. She said that if any of her family members are harmed, the Chief Minister will be responsible.

Kaushik Reddy had denied the allegations. He claimed that it was Rajender who was involved in murder politics.
Guwahati, June 30 : Authorities at Dibrugarh Central Jail on Friday denied claims that 'Waris Punjab De' chief Amritpal Singh and his associates are on a hunger strike because of the jail's "deplorable conditions" and made it clear that the accused had requested phone access, which will now be permitted once a week.

Dibrugarh Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Pegu and SP Shwetank Mishra visited the jail on Friday after Amritpal's wife Kirandeep Kaur claimed that her husband and some of his aides were on a hunger strike in protest against the "deplorable facilities in the jail".

Pegu said, "There is no hunger strike in the jail. I have spoken to the NSA detainees in person. They asked for access to phone facilities and they will be permitted to make a 15-20 minutes call once a week."

"Regarding food quality, there are no complaints, barring on one occasion," he added.

Earlier, Kaur had claimed that she came to know about the hunger strike on Thursday when she went to the jail to see Amritpal.

Kaur had said that she makes weekly trips from Amritsar to Dibrugarh to see her husband.

According to Amritpal's wife, she learnt that all the Sikh prisoners, including Amritpal, are on a hunger strike as they were provided unhygienic food in the jail.

She also said that the authorities forbid the inmates from speaking on the phone to their family members, which was one of the causes for their strike.

Kaur had said: "Each family member visiting the jail could save anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 if they are given the option of speaking over phone. Not all families are able to cover this cost."

Amritpal was apprehended by the Punjab Police on April 23 from a gurdwara in Punjab's Moga district, after he had been on the run for 35 days. Under the NSA, he was shifted to the Dibrugarh Central Jail in Assam. Prior to Amritpal's arrest, eight of his associates were brought to the Dibrugarh jail.
New Delhi, July 1 : A Delhi court on Friday ordered the Enforcement Directorate chief to conduct an investigation into the unjustified imprisonment of an accused individual in jail for 17 days.

The accused, Om Prakash, was held in judicial custody without any application for extension or release being filed by the investigating agency.

Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala criticised the agency for its careless approach, which he deemed a violation of the accused's fundamental right to personal liberty as guaranteed by the Indian Constitution and contrary to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC).

Ordering the immediate release of Om Prakash from jail, the court highlighted the precarious situation that arose due to the agency's inconsistent actions.

Initially, the agency obtained non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against the accused and arrested him, but later, the investigating officer stated that the agency no longer wanted his custody after the 17-day period.

The court emphasised that it was the responsibility of the arresting officer to either request an extension of custody or file an application for the accused's release but the agency failed to fulfill this legal requirement.

It stressed that the arresting authority could not simply state that it no longer wished to extend the accused's custody after 17 days, as there was no change in circumstances. If there had been valid grounds for arresting the accused, those grounds should still be applicable, as nothing significant had occurred during the intervening period, it added.

The court asserted the importance of personal liberty, considering it an essential aspect of a civilised society, and called on all government authorities to respect the constitutional guarantee of personal liberty.

Additionally, it emphasised that the power of arrest should not be exercised arbitrarily and that a person should only be arrested when justified circumstances exist. It stated that no individual should be detained in custody without reasonable grounds.

The court also directed that a copy of the order be sent to the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Finance's Department of Revenue for information purposes.

--IANS

spr/vd
Chennai, July 1 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday sent a scathing reply to Governor R.N. Ravi's order - later kept in abeyance -dismissing minister V. Senthil Balaji from the state cabinet.

The decision had been kept in abeyance by the Governor but the political high drama continued in the state.

In a letter to the Governor, Stalin, starting with a polite greeting, made scathing remarks on his decision to dismiss Senthil Balaji, saying his order needs outright disregard and accused him of acting in haste and showing the scantiest regard for the Constitution.

The Governor has no power to dismiss his minister and it is the prerogative of the elected CM, he stressed, adding that he enjoyed full support of the cabinet and they are the ultimate sovereign.

"Though your letters require only an outright disregard, I am writing to you to clarify both the facts and law on the issue at hand. The fact that within a few hours after you issued such a strongly worded first letter, even alluding to breakdown of constitutional machinery, a not so veiled threat, you withdrew it to seek the opinion of the Attorney General. This shows that you had not even taken a legal opinion before such an important decision," Stalin wrote.

Stalin further stated that the constitutional bench of the apex court had left it to the wisdom of the Prime Minister and Chief Minister to decide whether a person should continue as their cabinet minister.

Therefore, merely because an investigation agency has commenced investigation against a person, he or she does not become legally incapacitated to continue as a minister, he noted.

In conclusion, he said: "Your unconstitutional communication dismissing my minister without my advice is void ab initio and non-est in law and hence has been disregarded."

Ravi had dismissed Senthil Balaji, who is judicial custody after his arrest by the ED in an old cash for job scams, from the council of ministers on Thursday evening, leading to sharp attack from Stalin and the DMK who stated he had no such power to issue an order in this regard.

"Governor has no power to dismiss a minister. We will wage a legal battle against the move," Stalin had said.

DMK cadres put up posters outside party headquarters in Chennai questioning the Ravi on Union Ministers who have several cases against them and still continue to hold their posts.

--IANS

mka/vd
New Delhi, July 1 : A Delhi court on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to withdraw a look out circular (LOC) that was issued against an accused in a bank fraud case.

Thecourtruled that there was no valid justification to maintain the circularagainsttheaccused, Mahendra Kumar Sharda.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mahima Rai Singh granted the accused's application tocanceltheLOCand dismissed theCBI's argument that individuals involved in economic offenses tend to flee the country, adversely affecting investigations and the economy.

The judge observed that the charge sheet had already been filed in thecaseand theaccused had been granted bail on September 19, 2022.Thecourt noted that there was no evidence to suggest that the accusedposed a flight risk or had any intention of evading trial by leaving the country.

Furthermore, theaccusedhad not evaded arrest, appeared before the trialcourtas required, and had obtainedcourtpermission to travel abroad, which he did not misuse.

Given these circumstances, the judge concluded that there was no valid reason to maintain theLOCagainstSharda.

The judge also directed theaccusedto inform thecourtin advance if he planned to travel abroad during the ongoingcase, providing details of his itinerary, place of stay, and contact information.

Theaccusedargued in the application that he had cooperated with the investigation and that the charge sheet had been filedagainsthim without his arrest. He also emphasised that he had been granted bail after appearing in response tocourtsummons.

TheCBIopposed the application, asserting that the allegationsagainsttheaccusedwere serious and that theLOCwasissuedto ensure his presence during the investigation and trial.

TheCBIfurther argued that if theaccusedwere to flee the country, his extradition would be a cumbersome and costly process.

According to theCBI, theaccusedindividuals conspired to manipulate and falsify the financial records of Holystar Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, their company, and submitted these records to IDBIBankto obtain a loan.

Subsequently, they allegedly misappropriated thebank's funds, causing a wrongful loss of Rs 28 crore while gaining financially themselves.

--IANSspr/arm
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United Nations, July 1 : The United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution to end the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

It also requested the mission to immediately start on July 1 the cessation of its operations, transfer of its tasks, as well as the orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal of its personnel, with the objective of completing this process by December 31, 2023.

Resolution 2690 was adopted unanimously by the 15-member council, Xinhua news agency reported.

It asked the UN Secretary-General to engage with the Malian government to articulate a plan for the transfer of MINUSMA's tasks, and present it to the Security Council by August 15.

The resolution also called on the Malian government to cooperate fully with the UN during MINUSMA's drawdown, withdrawal and liquidation to ensure the orderly and safe withdrawal of the mission.

Until September 30, "acting within its means and capabilities in its immediate vicinity," MINUSMA is authorised to respond to imminent threats of violence to civilians and contribute to the safe civilian-led delivery of humanitarian assistance, it said.

The resolution decided that until its final departure, MINUSMA is authorised to fulfil functions including to provide security for UN personnel, facilities, convoys, installations and equipment and associated personnel, and to execute operations in order to extract UN personnel and humanitarian workers in danger.

MINUSMA was established by Security Council resolution 2100 in April 2013 to support political processes in Mali and carry out a number of security-related tasks.

By adopting resolution 2164 in June 2014, the Security Council further decided that the mission should focus on duties such as ensuring security, stabilisation and protection of civilians.

A key principle of the UN peacekeeping is that operations are deployed with the consent of the host country and other main parties to the conflict.

Speaking at a Security Council briefing on June 16, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop asked for the withdrawal, without delay, of MINUSMA.

While paying tribute to all the peacekeepers, he noted that the reasons leading to the mission's establishment in 2013 were to stabilise threats in the north of Mali.

Diop said security had worsened in other areas, such as the country's centre, adding that the mission has not achieved its main work.

The mission has become a part of the problem and is creating distrust among civilians, he added.

In the resolution on terminating MINUSMA's mandate, Security Council members commended the efforts made since 2013 by the mission, paying tribute to MINUSMA personnel who gave their lives, and expressing deep appreciation for the contribution and dedication of the troop and police contributing countries to the work of the mission.

In an explanation of vote, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the UN, said historical experience has proven that peacekeeping operations must follow the basic principles developed in practice of a long period of time, in particular the principle of consent of the countries concerned.

"Missions should maintain communication with the governments of the countries concerned and keep a relationship of mutual trust and cooperation, which is a prerequisite for smooth peacekeeping operations," he added.

China expects the international community to pay attention to the practical difficulties and needs faced by Mali and other countries in the region, and continue to provide assistance and support on the basis of respect for the sovereignty and leadership of the countries concerned, said Zhang.

Since 2013 when China began its involvement in the UN peacekeeping operations in Mali, Chinese peacekeepers have faithfully fulfilled the peacekeeping mission despite all difficulties and dangers, and contributed Chinese efforts to the maintenance of peace and stability in the country, he noted.

"China will continue to support Mali in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security, and make more contributions to its peaceful development via multilateral and bilateral channels," the envoy said.
Islamabad, July 1 : Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that his government's stand-by agreement with the IMF for $3 billion will help in bringing economic stability and growth to the country.

Addressing a press conference in the eastern city of Lahore, the Prime Minister on Friday added that the IMF executive board is scheduled to meet in mid-July to accord formal approval, which has already been achieved at the staff level.

Earlier on Thursday, the IMF announced the staff-level agreement on policies to be supported by a stand-by arrangement, adding that it will support the authorities' immediate efforts to stabilise the economy from recent external shocks, preserve macroeconomic stability and provide a framework for financing from multilateral and bilateral partners.

Sharif said the agreement with the IMF was inevitable for the country and that his government is committed to completing this programme while making efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in the future, Xinhua news agency reported.

He added that his government is leading dedicated efforts by all the state institutions to execute an economic revival plan to stabilise the economy by enhancing investment in agriculture, mining and information technology, and by increasing exports.

On the occasion, the country's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said Pakistan will receive $1 billion soon after the approval by the IMF executive board in mid-July.
Kigali, July 1 : Remains of 10,224 victims of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi were accorded a befitting burial in the Rwandan capital of Kigali.

The remains were recovered from Nunga and Karembure villages in the Kicukiro district in Kigali, and transferred to the Gahanga memorial site, as the government is building new sites with enough space for proper preservation, said Fanfan Rwanyindo Kayirangwa, Minister of Public Service and Labour, while addressing government officials and families of the victims, on Friday.

Kayirangwa added the public should resist genocide ideology and also criticised the people who conceal information about the whereabouts of victims' remains, nearly three decades after the genocide, Xinhua news agency reported.

Rwandans launched commemoration activities in April to mark the 29th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide under the theme "Remember-Unite-Renew". The activities will continue until July 4 to mark the 100-day calamity, during which more than one million people, mainly Tutsi and moderate Hutus were killed.
Ouagadougou, July 1 : Forty-one people, including eight soldiers and 33 volunteer militiamen, were killed this week in two terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso, the Army said in a statement.

On Tuesday, a military unit was ambushed near Tia in Mouhoun province. The military unit responded and killed more than 30 terrorists, the statement said on Friday, adding that eight soldiers were killed and nine others were wounded.

On Monday, the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) of Noaka in Sanmatenga province, which were army auxiliaries, reacted to a terrorist attack targeting their positions, Xinhua news agency reported.

The VDP members killed about 50 terrorists and recovered a large quantity of equipment, the Army said, adding that 33 VDP members died during the clash.
This is the Accelerators second round in a multi-year collaboration to accelerate regional economic growth, create job opportunities with higher wages, and provide access to capital needed for businesses to grow and scale.

This morning at the Center for Economic Inclusions 2023 Powering Inclusion Summit held at the Hilton Minneapolis, the Center, in partnership with Founders First CDC and NEOO Partners, Inc., announced the finalists of the 2023 Centers Vanguard Accelerator, an accelerator that supports Black, Indigenous, and Latina-owned businesses based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.

This is the Accelerators second round in a multi-year collaboration to accelerate regional economic growth, create job opportunities with higher wages, and provide access to capital needed for businesses to grow and scale. A number of finalists have been selected for each component of the Centers accelerator.

Inclusive growth is the only path to real and sustainable growth. The data is clear on that fact, stated Tawanna A. Black, Founder, and CEO of the Center for Economic Inclusion. This Accelerator supports the Twin Cities economic growth by providing tangible and relevant resources to grow business  the connections, capacity, and capital that disparately eludes minority-owned enterprises. We strive to boost the impact of the Accelerator for many years to come.

Kim Folsom, Founder of Founders First CDC noted, This Accelerator is well-positioned to create real change in the MSP region and Founders First CDC is honored to be a partner. This cycle marks the largest grant fund to be dispersed to date and we are pleased to have a helping hand in that. As a long-time business owner, I know from experience that every cent matters when you are growing a business and no amount is too small to make an impact. I am excited to see the difference these finalists make in their communities and the MSP region.

There are three parts to the Accelerator and applicants are eligible to receive one or more of the support functions:



$5,000 unrestricted grants to support their business growth as well as full tuition into a business accelerator based on the companys annual revenues.

Forgivable loans to support growth, sustainability, and job creation.

Predevelopment technical assistance including site development and redevelopment to enhance the organizations brick-and-mortar real estate impact.

Having the ability and opportunity to create value, jobs, and wealth is more than a gift, its a calling. Throughout the years, Founders First CDC has been dedicated to accelerating the growth of diverse-led businesses, continued Shaylon Scott, Executive Direct of Founders First CDC. To be able to expand our reach to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul is so exciting and to be partnered with the Center for Economic Inclusion and NEOO Partners in this work is even more amazing.

The nine finalists for the unrestricted grants are:



Cecilia Stanton of Stanton Adams Consulting

Maria Burns Ortiz of 7 Generation Games

Jon Crappel of NATIV3

Anissa Keyes of Arubah Emotional Health Services

Terresa Moses of Blackbird Revolt

Antoinette Flores of Clutch Logistics

Tamara Taylor of SnackChat Networking Lounge

Khadija Ali of Global Language Connections

Babette Buckner of Moltron Builders

JPMorgan Chase is committed to building up underserved and underinvested communities by supporting initiatives designed to create systemic change, said Joanna Trotter, Executive Director & Senior Program Officer, Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase. Our Annual Challenge focuses on the long-term prosperity of Black and Latina women and organizations committed to these ideals. The Centers Vanguard Accelerator powered by Founders First is an exemplary beneficiary.

The six finalists for the forgivable loans are:



Cecilia Stanton of Stanton Adams Consulting

Maria Burns Ortiz of 7 Generation Games

Anissa Keyes of Arubah Emotional Health Services

Antoinette Flores of Clutch Logistics

Wendy Sullivan of Wenrich PD Construction

Damaris Hollingsworth of Design By Melo

Real estate plays a significant role in building and preserving wealth for individuals and businesses. But it can also carry risks that require careful research. Its our mission to provide real estate and community planning expertise to communities of color that would not otherwise have access to the technical assistance we provide. We are honored to be a part of the 2023 Vanguard Accelerator. stated Christina Berry, Senior Economic Development Advisor of NEOO Partners.

The three finalists for the site redevelopment services include:



Veronica Anczarski of Solomons Bakery

Anissa Keyes of Arubah Emotional Health Services

Kali Terry of Life Juices

To qualify to apply for the 2023 Vanguard Accelerator, the founder must be a Black, Indigenous, or Latina business owner with an active business in a targeted growth sector, based in the Twin Cities, have annual revenues between $75,000 and $3 million, employ at least three full-time employees, a minimum of three years in business and operate B2B. Grant applications were accepted from April 17, 2023, through May 16, 2023, at the Centers website: https://www.centerforeconomicinclusion.org/accelerator-grant-application.

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Center for Economic Inclusion

The Center for Economic Inclusion, founded in 2017 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the nations first organization dedicated exclusively to equipping public and private sector employers and policymakers to close racial employment, income and wealth gaps and catalyze inclusive economic growth. The Center is a think-and-do tank, an accelerator responsible for producing the business and government executives, and Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latino business owners who will transform regional economies into thriving, racially equitable ecosystems for everyone. The Center offers research, education, advocacy, job creation, and transformation consultancy services in services of its mission to educate, equip and influence 20,000 leaders, employers, and policymakers to take anti-racist actions to ensure that 3,000,000 people experience a racially just, inclusive, and economically vibrant economy by 2028.

Learn more: https://www.centerforeconomicinclusion.org/

Vanguard Accelerator and Vanguard Fund

The Center for Economic Inclusions Vanguard Accelerator and Vanguard Fund are fueled by a multi-sector collaboration to maximize wealth-building opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and Latina-owned businesses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. Vanguard offers bank-ready businesses in high-growth industries proven tools and resources to scale, while also building racially inclusive and equitable corporate and government supply chains. The Vanguard Accelerator and Fund complement the diverse array of business development programs for start-ups, by intentionally arming Black and Brown business owners with the tools, financial and human capital necessary to scale those businesses and become job creators and wealth builders, by competing for and securing corporate and government contracts for revenue growth. Learn more: https://www.centerforeconomicinclusion.org/accelerator-grant-application

Founders First CDC

Founders First CDC is a nonprofit 501c3 that was founded in 2015 and has received significant support from the regional community reinvestment banks to empower diverse founder-led, revenue-generating small businesses through three primary programs: (1) Founders Challenge; (2) Founders Bootcamp; and (3) Founders FastPath. By building recurring revenues, tech enablement, and essential solution focus, Founders First is a catalyst for positive change for underserved entrepreneurs and founders to become leading employers in their communities. Since launching, Founders First CDC has awarded more than $620,000 to minority and underserved business owners throughout the United States, focusing on Texas, Chicago, Southern California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey regions. Through this partnership, Founders Frist CDC has officially expanded its impact offering to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Learn more: http://www.foundersfirstcdc.org.

NEOO Partners, Inc.

NEOO Partners is a creative urban planning, place-making, and real estate consulting firm for small to medium-sized businesses, non-profit organizations, and local units of government. Clients benefit from creating a shared vision with the help of the firm grounded in culturally competent solutions and human-centric experiences. NEOO leverages applied empathy to deliver thoughtful yet people-focused solutions for clients by cultivating sustainable relationships in the community and layering quantitative data with the qualitative experiences of residents, businesses, and stakeholder organizations. Learn more: https://www.neoopartners.com/.
I never dreamed this would happen when I started my career 43 years ago, said Myron. This recognition is a true testament to the hard work and dedication of the Hartfiel Automation team and Im so proud of the contributions we have been able to make to this incredible industry.

Friday, June 30, 2023, Houston: alliantgroup is proud to announce that Strategic Advisory Board Member and Chairman Emeritus of Hartfiel Automation, Myron Moser, will be inducted into the International Fluid Power Society (IFPS) Hall of Fame.

The Global Fluid Power Market is estimated to reach over $57 billion in the U.S. this year alone. The IFPS seeks to honor those who have dedicated their careers to make significant contributions to this industry and Fluid Power technology. Each year, nominees are selected from every area, including hydraulics, pneumatics, automation, and mechatronics. Myron was chosen among a number of other nominees for this prestigious recognition.

I never dreamed this would happen when I started my career 43 years ago, said Myron. This recognition is a true testament to the hard work and dedication of the Hartfiel Automation team and Im so proud of the contributions we have been able to make to this incredible industry.

Myron is the creator of CPR, a trademarked customer ROI-proving process. From 1990 to 2021, he dedicated himself to Hartfiel Automation where he went on to become CEO. During that time, his team purchased five companies and founded four more. Today, all nine locations are growing in pneumatics, automation, motion control, and robotics.

Myron also serves as chairman of the Hennepin Technical College Foundation. He raises funds for grants, scholarships, and in-kind donations. The HTC Foundation Board has raised over $18 million since inception in 1999.

Myron is also a board member for a national building products manufacturer and is a Strategic Advisory Board member with alliantgroup. He has also lobbied U.S. Senators and Representatives in Washington, D.C., advocating for increased Pell Grant and Perkins funding to benefit underserved populations.

alliantgroup is the nations premier consulting and management engineering firm with a mission to strengthen American businesses through reinvestment in innovation and job growth. We educate businesses, the industry groups that serve them and the accounting firms that advise them on federal and state credits and incentives that are legislated by our government to keep the U.S. competitive in the global landscape. alliantgroup is headquartered in Houston, Texas with additional offices located in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, New York, Irvine, Sacramento, Washington, D.C.; and Bristol and London in the U.K.


Cochran & Mann is delighted to share news of several promotions within their organization. This move furthers their goal of continued growth, and broadening their client base, markets, and future opportunities. Charles R. Turrell, also known as Charlie, and Keith A. McDonald have both been promoted to Vice president. They have both demonstrated exceptional leadership and expertise in their roles.

Charles R. Turrell - Charles R. Turrell's career in the paint, coating, and wall coverings industry began long before joining. Cochran & Mann in 2015. In fact, Charlie began working in the industry at age 16, diligently honing his skills, steadily progressing from a field crew leader to a division manager, and eventually earning the role of Senior Project Manager.

Throughout his 40+ year career journey, Charlie has been a true inspiration to everyone, clients, and company owners. His unwavering commitment, humble demeanor, and positive attitude have made Charlie an inspiring figure to all of his clients and company owners; and never shying away from a challenge, he has proved invaluable to the success of the business.

Keith A. McDonald - Keith A. McDonald, a tenured project manager, joined Cochran & Mann in 2011 after working with a specialty coatings contractor in the light industrial energy and retail sectors. From the outset, Keith's extensive knowledge, exceptional people skills, strong organizational acumen, and unwavering ambition were readily apparent.

Keith built strong relationships with both his team members and clients. His dedication to teaching and mentoring proved to be an invaluable asset, enhancing the overall success of the projects. Additionally, his exceptional ability to form lasting connections significantly contributed to project outcomes.

Recognizing Keith's exceptional contributions, he was promoted to the position of Senior Project Manager in 2018. Since then, he has continued to excel, expanding Cochran & Mann's reach beyond the local DC Baltimore region.

Cochran & Mann is delighted to promote Charles R. Turrell and Keith A. McDonald to Vice Presidents. This is a well-deserved recognition of their hard work and dedication. These promotions reflect the trust, respect, and admiration they have earned from their colleagues throughout their careers. It is certain that Charles and Keith possess exemplary leadership skills and an unwavering dedication to the company's mission and vision.

Their promotions to Vice President signify the immense value they bring to Cochran & Mann. Their extensive experience, industry knowledge, and exceptional leadership will undoubtedly play a crucial role in driving the company's continued success. This achievement is a testament to their hard work, perseverance, and commitment to excellence.

As we move forward, Cochran & Mann anticipates new challenges and opportunities on the horizon. We are confident in Charles R. Turrell and Keith A. McDonald's guidance and leadership. This will equip us to navigate the waters and take advantage of the possibilities ahead.

We invite you to join us in extending heartfelt congratulations to Cochran & Mann for these well-deserved promotions. Together, we are poised to embark on an exciting journey toward a prosperous future under the guidance of these exceptional leaders.

About Cochran & Mann

Cochran & Mann is a family-owned business specializing in paint and wall-coverings for commercial, industrial, and residential buildings. Since 1990, they have built a strong reputation in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and Maryland for delivering award-winning commercial painting and wallcovering services.
Dr. Adam Schell (center) and Dr. Mara Vucich (right) chat with Medoscopy host Dan Collins regarding their professional and personal lives as Mercy Medical Center's monthly talk show continues.

Adam J. Schell, M.D., a Fellowship-trained orthopedic spine surgeon, and physiatrist Mara Vucich, D.O., both of The Maryland Spine Center at Mercy, are the featured guests on Mercy Medical Centers monthly talk show, Medoscopy, airing Wednesday and Thursday, July 19th and 20th at 5:30 p.m. EST (http://www.facebook.com/MercyMedicalCenter).

Drs. Schell and Vucich see patients at The Maryland Spine Center, part of the renowned Orthopedic Specialty Hospital at Mercy Medical Center, named a High Performing Hospital in Spinal Fusion by U.S. News and World Report and one of America's 100 Best Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery and Spine Surgery by Healthgrades.

A 30-minute pre-taped program exploring the background and lives of Mercy clinicians, patients and others, Medoscopy was launched in spring 2021 and airs in two 15-minute segments. To view past episodes, visit the Medoscopy playlist on the Mercy Medical Center YOUTUBE channel.

In this latest installment, Dr. Schell discusses his progression from chemistry research and pharmaceutical development into orthopedic surgery. Dr. Vucich explores how her childhood interest in science set the stage for her interest in physical medicine, rehabilitation and pain relief.

Both Dr. Schell and Dr. Vucich share items of personal interest as well, including Dr. Vucichs standup paddleboarding hobby and Dr. Schells pursuit of strength training.

Medoscopy is filmed on the campus of Mercy Medical Center in downtown Baltimore with video, sound, and lighting by Zinnia Film.

Founded in 1874 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Medical Center is located in downtown Baltimore City, about six blocks from Baltimore's famed Inner Harbor. A university-affiliated teaching facility, Mercy is a Catholic hospital with a national reputation for women's health care, orthopedics, and other specialties. Mercy is home to the renowned Weinberg Center for Women's Health & Medicine, and the $400+ million Mary Catherine Bunting Center. For more information, visit http://www.mdmercy.com, and MDMercyMedia on Facebook and Twitter, or call 1-800-M.D.-Mercy.

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"We are honored to be recognized as entrepreneurs doing meaningful work. Our entire business model is built to enable other entrepreneurs to grow and succeed, so they can deliver the dream of homeownership everywhere," said Ben Kinney, co-founder of PLACE.

Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) recently announced that Ben Kinney and Chris Suarez, co-founders of PLACE, were named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Mountain West Award winner. The Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards program is one of the preeminent competitive awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. Ben Kinney and Chris Suarez were selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous award winners, leading CEOs, investors, and other regional business leaders. The candidates were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth, and impact, among other core contributions and attributes.

"We are honored to be recognized as entrepreneurs doing meaningful work. Our entire business model is built to enable other entrepreneurs to grow and succeed, so they can deliver the dream of homeownership everywhere," said Ben Kinney, co-founder of PLACE. "It is a privilege to be awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year 2023 Mountain West Award by Ernst & Young along with such an amazing group of business leaders."

PLACE is the industrys only real estate technology and services platform designed for top teams, regardless of brokerage. PLACE technology, services, and proven systems enable agents to deliver a superior consumer experience while improving productivity and profitability.

Real estate agents and business owners themselves, Kinney and Suarez identified a gap in the industry: top real estate teams need an end-to-end system that allows for big-company scale while thriving as independent businesses. In late 2021, PLACE closed its series A round led by Goldman Sachs with participation from 3L Capital and Viewpoint Ventures for $100 million, yielding a $1 billion valuation. The organization has since developed partnerships with leading teams across 44 US states and Canada, and its partners collectively lead the nation in both productivity (transaction sides) and sales volume.

Today at PLACE, Ben and Chris are tackling the biggest problem in real estate  simplifying a notoriously complex process by making home buying, selling, and maintenance easier for consumers, and in parallel, providing the tools, training, and insights that will build better real estate agents.

The Entrepreneur of the Year awards represent an impressive community of visionaries who are transforming a variety of industries, which is exactly what we aim to do at PLACE, added Chris Suarez, co-founder of PLACE. "We firmly believe that entrepreneurship, vision, and collaboration drives transformative change and lasting value, and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to EY for recognizing the positive force of PLACE.

As Mountain West award winners, Ben Kinney and Chris Suarez are now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 National Awards. The National Award winners including the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nations most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2024.

About PLACE

PLACE is the real estate industrys only all-in-one services and technology platform that enables top teams at any brokerage to provide a superior consumer experience while driving productivity and profitability. PLACE is valued at over $1B, thanks to a $100 million investment from Goldman Sachs, with participation from 3L Capital and Viewpoint Ventures, just two years after launching the industrys only brokerage-agnostic platform of its kind in 2020. For more information, please visit place.com or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year

Entrepreneur Of The Year is the worlds most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National Overall Award winners go on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year title. Visit ey.com/us/eoy.


We are so thankful for GOVX and continue to be humbled by the overwhelming support they provide year-over-year to the families we serve. - Col. Nick Nichols, Folds of Honor President

GOVX, the online shopping site exclusively for current and former military, law enforcement, first responders, emergency medical professionals, educators, and other government employees, proudly announces its latest monthly donation through its GOVX Gives Back program. This latest donation - $14,603  was provided to the non-profit organization, Folds of Honor. Fueled by the vital support of the GOVX member community, this donation contributes directly to the Folds of Honor mission to provide the families of fallen or injured US military servicemembers and first responders with life-changing educational scholarships.

GOVXs donation is part of the ongoing GOVX Gives Back charitable initiative, raising funds every month for non-profits serving the military and first responder community. Through the program, a portion of the proceeds from every single order made through GOVX.com are donated to that months non-profit partner.

We are so thankful for GOVX and continue to be humbled by the overwhelming support they provide year-over-year to the families we serve, shared Col. Nick Nichols, Folds of Honor President. Through this partnership, GOVX is providing life-changing educational scholarships to the children and spouses of our military and first responder heroes. We are proud to stand alongside the GOVX team and their patrons, ensuring that no family is left behind on the field of battle.

GOVX is dedicated to the mission of Folds of Honor and their meaningful work to make a difference for deserving families, nationwide. Since 2007, Folds of Honor has awarded over 44,000 educational scholarships to families of Americas fallen or disabled military and first responders.

The commitment shown to the families of the fallen is a constant source of inspiration at GOVX. said GOVX CEO and President, Alan Cole. Their mission to provide educational scholarships and pave the way for a better future is one were proud to contribute to.

GOVX is honored to assist our nations finest non-profit organizations through every single order placed through GOVX.com.

To support GOVX Gives Backs charitable initiatives and learn more, visit https://www.govx.com/t/govx-gives-back.

ABOUT GOVX

GOVX is dedicated to serving those who serve our country and communities  military service members, first responders, law enforcement officers, emergency medical professionals, educators, and other government service personnel. With a customizable suite of solutions, GOVX provides leading brands who share in our mission with a unique opportunity to support this deserving audience AND grow sales. Through our flagship site, GOVX.com, brands can authentically reach our growing community of 7M+ members with their own storefront. With our verification app, GOVX ID, brands can easily enable service member discounts within their own checkout flow. By leveraging our GOVX marketing services solutions, brands can effectively amplify their products or services within our engaged member community and reinforce their support for those who serve.

For more information, visit GOVX.com.

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. Beginning in 2022, Folds of Honor expanded its mission to include first responders. Its educational scholarships support private-school tuition or tutoring in grades K-12 as well as post-secondary tuition. It is rated a four-star charity by Charity Navigator and Platinum on GuideStar. It was founded by Lt Col Dan Rooney, an F-16 fighter pilot, who is currently stationed at Headquarters Air Force Recruiting Service Detachment 1, at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, TX.

For more information visit FoldsOfHonor.org.
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia, in Beijing, capital of China, June 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing met with Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia, on Friday in Beijing.

Zhang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era maintained healthy and stable development.

China is ready to work with Russia, guided by the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, to give play to the inter-governmental cooperation mechanism, upgrade industrial cooperation and boost the development of the two countries, said Zhang.

Manturov said that Russia is willing to make joint efforts with China to develop positive and forward-looking industrial cooperation between the two countries. 
"Satellite offices provide us with massive flexibility and allow us to better serve clients in different regions", said CEO Joe Beccalori. "We still do quite a few face-to-face meetings with key clients, prospects, partners, and networking organizations, and they appreciate the proximity."

Interact Marketing, a leading NY digital marketing agency, announced this week that they will be opening a satellite office on Main Street in New Paltz, NY. This is the fifth satellite location for the business, which has maintained its headquarters in Orange County, NY, since its inception in late 2007, and maintained other office locations in the area - including an embedded office at the Orange County Chamber of Commerce for several years.

"Satellite offices provide us with massive flexibility and allow us to better serve clients in different regions", said CEO Joe Beccalori. "We still do quite a few face-to-face meetings with key clients, prospects, partners, and networking organizations, and they appreciate the proximity and convenience of a nearby meeting location, something that is quite rare especially in the post-pandemic era."

The satellite offices have enabled the company to have a physical presence in strategic geographic areas. They provide options for executives and salespeople to have choices on where they can work and then launch to nearby meetings and events. Specifically, New Paltz was selected because of it's proximity to SUNY, a long-standing recruiting base for company interns and employees, and a place where the company contributes to events, guest lectures, and charitable causes.

The company recently moved it's headquarters from Executive Drive in New Windsor, to the Newburgh Waterfront. Other Satellites are in Fair Lawn, NJ, and Midtown Manhattan.
Sneaux on the Geaux made an appearance at the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals Conference in New Orleans.

Acadiana youth are gaining experience running a business with Sneaux on the Geaux, a pilot program in the form of a snoball stand. Eckerd Connects Workforce Development is offering this opportunity in partnership with Acadiana Workforce Solutions.

This pilot program is giving up to 50 Acadiana youth a chance to work with Sneaux on the Geaux as a fully functional business. In addition to providing a sweet and cool treat to the community, the youth participants are also being paid for their work experience. They will have the opportunity to work with Sneaux on the Geaux for up to 300 hours earning $10 per hour.

Providing youth, especially underserved youth, with the opportunity to gain hands on entrepreneurial experience, is an invaluable opportunity that wasnt previously available to our community, said Keidrian Kunkel, Eckerd Connects Workforce Development.

Acadiana Workforce Services has agreed to both subsidize the wages for the young adults assigned to Sneaux on the Geaux, and to use local funds to provide staffing support.

The job has its requirements, as well. Youth participants will be required to develop and promote their own personalized snoball flavor. That is the fun part!

The youth participants will also receive training required to obtain a National Retail Federation Customer Service Certification, ServSafe Food Safety Certification, and standardized entrepreneurship training through utilization of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurships curriculum.

Nationwide, Eckerd Connects operates over 50 workforce development programs for youth with paid work experience. The goal is to create a unique small business entrepreneurship component of workforce development services that can be replicated in other programs across the country.

Sneaux on the Geaux is currently in the rollout stage but will be mobile in all eight of the Acadiana parishes by the end of July. Local residents may find Sneaux on the Geaux at special events, farmers markets, festivals, and other community activities.
QE Home Fulfills Dreams of Efficiency with Centric PLM as the Single Source of Truth

Centric Software , the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) market leader, is pleased to announce that QE Home, Canadas largest fashion bedding specialty retailer and manufacturer, has selected Centric PLM to speed time to market. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to plan, design, develop, source price and sell products such as home decor, apparel, footwear, sporting goods, furniture, consumer electronics, cosmetics, food & beverage and luxury to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Established in 1992, QE Home evolved from a small family business into a Canadian household name. The company has a team of in-house designers and experts creating products using sustainable, high-quality materials. New bedding collections are launched every season in line with fashion and interior trends. Based in British Columbia, they sell a wide range of bedding and sleep accessories through their e-commerce site and 75-owned stores across Canada from coast to coast.

Christina Xu, VP of Brand Management at QE Home explains why QE sought out a PLM solution. With our rapid growth, the number of SKUs and brands, plus our focus on creating collections for each season, we realized that there's a need to make sure all the teams are on the same page, that product information is consolidated and up-to-datea single source of truth.

The company wants to improve visibility and communication both internally and with suppliers. Phil Eng, CFO and President of QE Home, says, Working with our vendors in different time zones can be a challenge. Were chasing emails back and forth, or sample products get shipped but we don't really know where to find the status or location. We want one tool that handles everything from pre-production samples to discussing quality and giving feedback  all in a central area so everybody can see the information.

There is also the desire to pull the companys IT together. Xu says, Over the years weve pieced together different technologies to do various tasks, but they werent all scalable or didnt integrate. Our assets are housed in many different places. We wanted a holistic solution that covers everything.

QE Home reached out to several PLM providers. Says Xu, Centric Software had the most relevant platform and has done a lot of work with retail and fashion brands, which is the model that we follow with our own business when introducing spring, summer, fall and winter collections. Ultimately, we felt it was worth investing in a company that would teach us a few things vs. having to dictate exactly what we want. She adds, Once we saw the demo there were sparkles in our eyes, just seeing the potential! We could see a lot of alignment with our workflows already, vs. some of the other demos that didnt align as well or were heavy in manufacturing. On another note, our Centric Software sales rep was so good; very fast communication and response.

After implementation, Xu says she is looking forward to more consistency internally and better oversight of our whole product portfolio. Regarding the supply chain, Xu continues, Over the last few years, things on the supplier side have not necessarily been easy or predictable. A better understanding of the moving parts will help with our pricing decisions. And last but definitely not the least benefit, Improved communication between teams resulting in happier team members!

Eng adds, In the past, training was a little convoluted for new employees coming on board. Centric PLM will make our operations at the office a lot more effective for anybody that's going to be working on the product, whether they're designing, in labelling/packaging... It's just going to be a much more efficiently run team.

CEO of Centric Software, Chris Groves says, We are proud to play a part in a company that puts their customers front and center, mirroring Centric Softwares own philosophy. This is an exciting time for QE Home as consumers treat their bedrooms more like fashion and reflect their taste.

Learn more about Centric PLM

Request a Demo

QE Home (http://www.QEHomeLinens.com)

QE Home (formerly known as Quilts Etc.) is a family-owned bedding retailer based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1992, the Canadian company is a leader in the specialty luxury bedding market, providing stylish, comfortable, and affordable sleep solutions. Working directly with manufacturers around the world to source high-quality, sustainable materials, their in-house designers introduce new bedding lines every season. Their teams are passionate about providing exceptional and knowledgeable customer service and care in each of their 75+ stores across Canada and online at QEHomeLinens.com.
'Working side-by-side with leaders at Comcast has allowed us to demonstrate how generative AI solutions enable companies to connect with customers on a one-on-one level by delivering personalized videos at an unmatched scale for sales, marketing, and customer education purposes."

Rephrase.ai, the generative AI startup that aims to humanize communication through synthetic media, officially graduated from the Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Generative AI Accelerator program yesterday during a summit held at the Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia. During the six-week immersive program that Rephrase.ai participated in alongside seven other highly promising generative AI startups, it established proof of concept. As a result, its now collaborating with Comcasts Customer Experience team on a pilot project utilizing its text-to-video technology to create personalized customer education videos.

We were fortunate to be hand selected from hundreds of applicants to participate in Comcast NBCUniversals distinguished accelerator, and as we conclude the program, were thrilled to be collaborating on this pilot, said Asheray Malhotra, Rephrase.ais co-founder and CEO. Working side-by-side with leaders at Comcast has allowed us to demonstrate how generative AI solutions enable companies to connect with customers on a one-on-one level by delivering personalized videos at an unmatched scale for sales, marketing, and customer education purposes.

Rephrase.ai aims to democratize video production by using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that creates a mapping between a person's facial features and audio to replicate a digital avatar of them to be used in future videos with text-to-video scripts. With video becoming the new default mode of communication, this synthetic video creation empowers businesses to scale and humanize their engagement efforts. The company has worked with over 15,000 customers and over 50 global enterprises to date, including Castrol, Xiaomi, and Mondelez, which was recently honored alongside its agency Ogilvy with the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix award at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for its Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad campaign, which Rephrase.ai powered.

The Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Generative AI Accelerator is currently led by Laura Plunkett and Luke Butler, Executive Directors of Startup Engagement at Comcast NBCUniversal, in partnership with VentureFuel, an organization that helps corporations around the world innovate through startup collaborations. During the program, founders receive the opportunity to grow alongside teams at Comcast, NBCUniversal, and Sky by sharing insights, as well as scoping out new projects that showcase their technology and how it can provide value to large enterprises.

Given the caliber of the startups selected for the LIFT Labs Accelerator, its no surprise that we have identified growth opportunities for each one of them, said Sam Schwartz, Chief Business Development Officer, Comcast. We are excited to continue learning from these innovative startup founders to deepen our understanding of the potential of emerging technologies such as generative AI.

About Rephrase AI

Rephrase.ai is a deep learning company that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create synthetic video content. With the help of its AI technology, Rephrase.ai can clone any person to create their digital avatar. Using its re-generative AI platform, Rephrase.ai helps businesses create synthetic videos of real humans to communicate with their customers, employees, and other stakeholders with only text required as input. The Company was founded in 2019 by Ashray Malhotra, Nisheeth Lahoti, and Shivam Mangla, who are IIT alumni and Forbes Asia 30 under 30. For more information visit https://www.rephrase.ai/.
The RCI awards ceremony was held on June 28 with great success, during which the prestigious Gold Crown 2022-2023 award was given to the four Sunset World Group resorts, a recognition that is granted to resorts that offer superior quality and exceptional service as rated by RCI members who have stayed at them. The evaluations consist of qualifying five hospitality criteria: cleanliness, maintenance, facilities, amenities and services.

The resorts awarded with the Gold Crown 2022-2023 were Hacienda Tres Rios, which has received it for 15 consecutive years since its opening; Sunset Royal, which has received it for 31 consecutive years since its opening; Sunset Marina, which has received it for 26 consecutive years since its opening; and Sunset Fishermen, which has hosted it for 23 consecutive years since its opening.

Sunset Royal, Sunset Marina and Sunset Fishermen also obtained the Excellence in Service award and it should be noted that this award is received by only 2% of the affiliated resorts worldwide, indicating that they had the highest ratings in said evaluations. In addition, RCI awarded three Top Producer plaques to Sunset World Group for its outstanding sales performance. This year, Orlando Arroyo, CEO and President of the group, was in charge of receiving the President's Award, which recognizes the best performing RCI affiliated resorts around the world.

The ceremony was held in the theater of the Sunset Royal hotel in Cancun and leading the ceremony, on behalf of Sunset World Group, were Orlando Arroyo, CEO and President, Martha Richardson, Director of Operations, Erika Garcia, CEO of Yucatan Holidays, CancunCards and M4SG, and Anna Kiseleva, Vice President of Customer Care and Fulfillment. On behalf of RCI, Alejandra Espinoza, Director of Business Development, Carolina Zapata, Junior Development Service Manager and Jazziel Rodriguez, Account and Business Development Executive attended.

"For me it is an honor to witness the delivery of the RCI awards to our hotels every year since their respective openings," said Orlando Arroyo, President and CEO of Sunset World Group. "This speaks of the determination, perseverance and effort of my managers and all the Group's employees, they are the ones who make it possible for our members and guests to spend unforgettable vacations," he concluded.

Sunset World Group is a Mexican family business founded by some of the pioneers of Cancun who helped turn it into the most sought-after tourist destination worldwide. Sunset World Group has more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry and a sincere passion for environmental conservation, which is why it implemented an Energy Efficiency Program by substituting supply technologies in its four hotels in Cancun and The Riviera Maya. In addition, all Sunset World hotels are supplied with clean and renewable energy produced at Mexican wind farms and geothermal plants, which has considerably reduced the company's carbon footprint. The activity and gastronomy programs in all four hotels are updated and expanded constantly for the enjoyment of all family members, since Sunset World Group always focuses on providing the best vacation experiences for its members and guests.
Brandon Powell, Managing Director, Ziegler Senior Living Finance added, Even though 2023 has been a challenging year for senior living municipal new issues, we are pleased to have successfully placed these bonds in the marketplace....

Ziegler, a national boutique investment bank, is pleased to announce its role in the successful closing of $25,340,000 of Series 2023 Bond Anticipation Notes (the Series 2023 Notes) for Forefront Living San Antonio (FLSA). The Series 2023 Notes are comprised of $22,340,000 Series 2023A Tax-Exempt Revenue Notes (the Series 2023A Notes) sold publicly to institutional investors and $3,000,000 of Series 2023B Subordinate Taxable Revenue Notes (the Series 2023B Notes) placed with affiliates of FLSA.

The proceeds of the Series 2023 Notes will be used to finance (i) the cost of acquiring a tract of land consisting of approximately 27 acres situated in the city of San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, (ii) the preconstruction development costs of a new senior living community to be known as Bella Vida at La Cantera, and (iii) the costs of issuing the Series 2023 Notes.

FLSA will own and operate the Community, which is planned to include 153 independent living apartments, 40 independent living cottages, and 16 memory support assisted living units, as well as a covered parking deck, common areas and administrative support spaces. Forefront Living is the parent and sole corporate member of FLSA. Forefront Living is a Texas nonprofit corporation whose mission is to make each moment matter for those we serve. Forefront Living has full authority over Forefront Living San Antonio and will provide certain management services to Bella Vida at La Cantera.

We are eager to serve the residents of San Antonio with the citys first new non-profit senior living community in more than 30 years. The team at Ziegler continues to be a valuable resource to us and their expertise is a key component in our organizations success, Tim Mallad, Forefront Living CEO, stated.

Brandon Powell, Managing Director, Ziegler Senior Living Finance added, Even though 2023 has been a challenging year for senior living municipal new issues, we are pleased to have successfully placed these bonds in the marketplace. This is the second new campus development for Forefront Living since 2020. It is always rewarding to assist a long-standing client further their mission.

Ziegler is the nations leading underwriter of financing for not-for-profit senior living providers. Ziegler offers creative, tailored solutions to its senior living clientele, including investment banking, financial risk management, merger and acquisition services, seed capital, FHA/HUD, capital and strategic planning as well as senior living research, education, and communication.

For more information about Ziegler, please visit us at http://www.ziegler.com.

About Ziegler:

Ziegler is a privately held, national boutique investment bank, capital markets and proprietary investments firm. It has a unique focus on healthcare, senior living and education sectors, as well as general municipal and structured finance. Headquartered in Chicago with regional and branch offices throughout the U.S., Ziegler provides its clients with capital raising, strategic advisory services, fixed income sales, underwriting and trading as well as Ziegler Credit, Surveillance and Analytics. To learn more, visit http://www.ziegler.com.

Certain comments in this news release represent forward-looking statements made pursuant to the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This clients experience may not be representative of the experience of other clients, nor is it indicative of future performance or success. The forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, in particular, the overall financial health of the securities industry, the strength of the healthcare sector of the U.S. economy and the municipal securities marketplace, the ability of the Company to underwrite and distribute securities, the market value of mutual fund portfolios and separate account portfolios advised by the Company, the volume of sales by its retail brokers, the outcome of pending litigation, and the ability to attract and retain qualified employees.
CANBERRA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has fast-tracked funding for essential infrastructure damaged by natural disasters.

Kristy McBain, the minister for regional development, on Friday announced that local government areas across the country will be able to access 1.8 billion Australian dollars (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) in funding to repair roads, bridges and other infrastructure assets damaged by floods and bushfires in recent years.

Of the total funding, almost half will go to communities in New South Wales, Australia's most populated state, which was affected by the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires and widespread catastrophic flooding in 2022.

McBain said the need for immediate funding was impressed on her during meetings at the Australian Council of Local Government conference in Canberra earlier in June.

"Mayors and council representatives were clear about the growing need for more up-front help," she said.

"Councils are on the front line of disasters, and we need to ensure they are adequately supported both in planning for and recovering from disasters."

Queensland, Australia's most-disaster-prone state, will be the other major beneficiary of the announcement, with 758 million AUD (501 million U.S. dollars) to be funneled to projects.

Tony Sheldon, the government's special envoy for disaster recovery, said the funds would help communities get back on their feet.

"With many communities suffering from reoccurring disasters, it's clear the financial burden is weighing on flood-impacted regions," he said.

"When I visit communities, undoubtedly the recovery workload, and the costs associated with that are creating challenges for local councils -- they're finding it particularly difficult to keep up with repairs to roads and other infrastructure such as bridges, culverts, levees, bike lanes and footpaths." 
ISLAMABAD, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister (PM) Shahbaz Sharif will attend the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) through video link from Islamabad on July 4, said an official statement on Friday.

The Media Wing of the PM Office said that Sharif would attend the meeting on the invitation extended by the prime minister of India in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO.

"At the highest forum of the SCO, the leaders will deliberate on important global and regional issues and chart the future direction of cooperation among SCO Member States," said the statement.

The PM Office added that the prime minister's participation in the meeting illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO as an important forum for regional security, prosperity, and engagement with the region. 
The Ukrainian novelist Victoria Amelina was hospitalized and remains in critical condition after a Russian missile struck a restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast on June 27. She was dining with fellow writers Hector Abad and Catalina Gomez, both from Colombia, who were also injured. The three have been active in war reporting and as peace activists. At least 12 people are known to have died in the attack and a further 60 were wounded.

Abad, whose books are published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the U.S., told El Pais, "An explosion jolted us like a bolt of lightning. Time seemed to slow down as everything fell around us. My body was covered with dark splatters, so I thought I was injured, but I didnt feel any pain. They say that when youre hurt, sometimes theres no pain. I stayed quiet. My ears were ringing  I still have it. People were screaming all around me from fear and pain. I somehow managed to stand up.

Amelina has published several novels, though none yet translated into English and was expected to take up a position as writer-in-residence at the Paris location of Columbia University later this summer. She won the Joseph Conrad Literature Prize for her prose works, including the novels Doms Dream Kingdom and Fall Syndrome, and was a finalist for the European Union Prize for Literature and the UN Women in Arts Award. She is also founder of the New York Literature Festival, which took place in a village called New York in the Bakhmut area of Ukraine. Excerpts of her work have been published in English by Arrowsmith Press.

Starting in 2022, Amelina worked with Ukrainian NGOs, including Truth Hounds and the Center for Civil Liberties, as a field investigator of Russias war crimes in the liberated territories in eastern, southern, and northern Ukraine, including Kapitolivka near Izium, where she found the diary of the writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was killed by Russians. Her work in progress is a nonfiction book, Looking at Women Looking at War: War and Justice Diary.

PEN Ukraine said in a statement, "The shelling of Kramatorsk is another Russia war crime in Ukraine, as on 27 June 2023, the Russians deliberately launched their missiles on a civilian target in Kramatorsk where many people used to gather." PEN said it will offer updates on Amelina's condition as they are released.

Book Arsenal gathers literary community

The three writers traveled to Kramatorsk after attending the Kyiv Book Arsenal, the country's largest book fair, over the weekend. The fair offered more than 100 events and featured 200 speakers over four days in the capital. Several thousand people attended the event, including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as 18 foreign writers, including Jonathan Littell, Peter Pomerantsev, and Witold Szablowsky. Yale historian Timothy Snyder gave a video lecture from the U.S., and Gvantsa Jobava, International Publishers Association vice president and publisher from Georgia, offered a seminar on international cooperation, according to Ukrainian trade journal Chytomo.

Bookstores served as the primary exhibitors, instead of publishers, as 80% of Ukraine's publishing and printing capacity is based in the eastern city of Kharkiv, which has been targeted by Russia during the war.

During the last year of the full-scale war, no bomb, no siren air raid has deprived cultural, intellectual, and literary life in Ukraine. We can continue our existence, Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, director of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, said at the opening of the festival.

Kateryna Ivanova, cofounder of the Knyzhkovyi Lev, an independent bookstore in Lviv, concurred. "In a broader sense, Kyiv Book Arsenal serves as a signal to readers in Ukraine and colleagues abroad that the Ukrainian book publishing industry is operational, and that, in itself, communicates a strong message," she said. "I believe that cultural events happening in Ukraine, despite all the odds, should excite, and we need this excitement."
The 2023 American Library Association Annual Conference concluded on Tuesday, June 27. Another year removed from the strain of the pandemic restrictions, and in the midst of an ongoing political attack on the freedom to read, this year's conference delivered something the library community has been sorely in need of: a powerful show of support.

ALA officials reported 15,842 attendees, a decent bump from the 14,003 who attended last year's post-pandemic comeback show in Washington, D.C. And while attendance still lags well below pre-Covid-19 levels (in 2017, the ALA drew more than 23,000 to Chicago), ALA executive director Tracie D. Hall sounded an optimistic note about the future. "We're having good conversations about inclusion and about equity and diversity and about accessibility and also about LGBTQIA+ and disability voices, and history, and how we need all of that to keep our society strong and that people need to see themselves in libraries and in literature," Hall told PW. We're happy to gather. We're heartened. And I think we're a little bit emboldened to imagine not just the future of our organization, but what our conferences are going to look like.

Among the ALA conference highlights covered by Publishers Weekly: Ibram X. Kendi praised librarians as modern day freedom fighters at the ALA's first ever Rally for the Right to Read; Judy Blume thanked librarians for their work in her opening keynote; advocates surveyed the book banning battlefield in a robust education program; Amanda Gorman and Christian Robinson spoke about sadness and hope in a closing keynote.

The ALA's American Libraries offers a lot of detailed coverage of the conference, including the main speakers and a host of excellent education sessions. Be sure to check out the posts on the work of the ALA Council. Among the Council III session notes: "a resolution on ALAs objection to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) choosing Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as the location for IFLAs 2024 World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) because of the citys criminalization of homosexuality." And, a resolution calling on ALA to "investigate the possibility of changing dates for future Annual Conferences," noting that LGBTQ members regularly have to miss their local Pride events to attend the conference.

Here's how the hometown Chicago Tribune covered the the 2023 ALA Annual Conference. "Grade school librarians wore T-shirts reading 'Librarians Threaten Ignorance.' Plastic bowls offered 'Libraries Are Essential' pins, and the ALA offered an oversize cushy chair as a photo-op, which you could climb onto and read passages of banned books," the report notes. "But beneath pieties and speeches of togetherness was a fresh rhetoric of battle, with eagerness for real action. A handful of panel titles'Be Fierce,' 'Combating Book Bans,'SOS: Stock Our Shelves'hinted at this new unwillingness to play the stale role of the meek librarian anymore."

 How did we get from there to here? Blame politicians, mainly Republican, who saw electoral gold in those book bans. 

In Iowa, an editorial in the local Gazette reflects on how librarians have come to be falsely portrayed as pushing obscene materials. "How did we get from there to here? Blame politicians, mainly Republican, who saw electoral gold in those book bans," writes Jerry Elsea. "In Des Moines, Florida-bred Moms for Liberty stalks legislators, demanding removal of materials 'not age-appropriate' from school curriculum and library shelves. The real targets are books dealing with racism and LGBTQ issues. Moms for Liberty pressure has yielded results, including Gov. Kim Reynolds proposal that if one school removes a book, so should all the districts schools."

Librarians who've dealt with meeting room policies can certainly relate to this: The New York Times reports that a number of scholarly groups, including the nations two largest associations of professional historians, called on the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia to cancel an agreement to rent space to Moms for Liberty for a gathering. "The letter recognized the groups right to argue for its preferred approach to history education," the paper reports, but said the group has "crossed a boundary in its attempts to silence and harass teachers, rather than participate in legitimate controversy.

In a release this week, PEN America slammed Moms for Liberty, but defended the Museum's decision not to cancel the rental contract with the group. "Moms For Liberty plays a central role in promoting efforts to ban books, to suppress ideas and information in schools, to erase LGBTQ+ identities from bookshelves and classrooms, and to distort the teaching of history. Reports of the organization encouraging harassment or firing of teachers and librarians are especially disturbing. Moms for Liberty has propagated falsehoods and stoked fear and bigotry to advance restrictions on the freedom to read and learn, including by mischaracterizing books as 'pornographic literature,' and its members have been connected to incidents of harassment of parents, school board members, and educators," PEN officials state, in a release. However, "the antidote to those who seek to suppress open discourse cannot be to embrace their wrongheaded and pernicious tactics," PEN officials write. "We must confront head-on the attacks on public education, democracy, and equality that Moms For Liberty has spearheaded. But we must do so without resort to suppressive tactics."

The local Cobb County Courier has an interview with Katie Rinderle, the Georgia elementary school teacher who was fired under a new Georgia state law, HB 1084, that prohibits teachers from talking about so-called divisive concepts. In a story that has garnered national headlines, Rinderle was fired after reading Scott Stuart's My Shadow Is Purple to her fifth grade class, even though she had bought the book at a school book fair and the class had chosen the book to be read to them. "The lesson was about embracing yourself and the differences in each other and having confidence. Looking at our unique differences. That different students have many interests and sometimes struggle to fit in with the rest of the school population," Rinderle told the paper.

At Book Riot, Kelly Jensen begins her weekly censorship news column with a useful look at the terminology around book banning. "This week, for example, an author talked on Twitter about how his book was being 'soft censored' because a school board decided to pull the book from shelves before it could raise a concern from community members. Though it conveys the same thing, this is not actually what soft censorship is. This is textbook censorship, no softness about it," Jensen explains. "To communicate the true extent of what is happening and on how many different levels, a shared understanding of words and their meanings is crucial."

Slate has a piece this week about what it's like for college and university librarians in Florida. "Public and K-12 librarians have become some of the most recognizable voices of the culture wars in recent years for speaking out against coordinated efforts to restrict or remove access to materials concerning sex, gender, and race," the article states. "In Florida, however, the fallout from the political takeover of a small public liberal arts college coupled with uncertainty around how public higher education institutions will implement a series of new laws signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis have another type of librarian wondering if theyre next."

The Washington Post has a piece on libraries evolving to serve remote workers post-pandemic. "Long before WeWork, libraries were the original co-working spaces," the article notes. "While many companies have used sprawling offices packed with amenities as recruiting tools, many public libraries offer the benefit of a sleek work environment for free. Of course, some public library systems are better-funded and more expansive than others. Some libraries, especially in rural areas, are struggling. But those that have evolved are seeing usage climb closer to pre-pandemic levels."

And finally, good news for New York City libraries. A budget deal has been reached that spares the libraries deep cuts that would have impacted service. The NYPL website has a statement: Amid unprecedented attempts to ban books and silence diverse voices, New York City has sent a clear message about the power of public libraries that will be seen and felt across the nation.

The Week in Libraries is a weekly opinion and news column. News, tips, submissions, questions or comments are welcome, and can be submitted via email. Previous columns can be viewed here.
Nihar Malaviya has recently completed his first six months as interim global CEO of Penguin Random House, a position he has held since December when he was named to the role after Markus Dohle resigned following PRHs failed attempt to buy Simon & Schuster. PRH parent company Bertelsmann is expected to remove the interim tag by fall and Malaviya continues to act like the permanent head of PRH. Malaviya recently replaced Dohle as the PRH representative on the board of the Association of American Publishers, a post Dohle had continued to hold since his December resignation.

During his brief tenure, Malaviya has begun a number of initiatives to reshape PRH, the most recent one being a voluntary separation offer (VSO). The offer was made this spring to all employees at least 60 years old and who have been with the company for at least 15 years. Employees had until June 20 to decide whether or not to accept the VSO and according to sources, 49% of eligible employees signed on.

The VSO offers employees separation pay based on their weekly base pay as well as an extra 16 weeks of pay. All offers vary according to an employee's years of service. Given the terms, some well-known staff members, from editors to publishers to production personnel, will be departing the company. Most employees who accepted the offer will formally leave September 1, though some may remain until December 15. In addition, some editors will be able to continue to work with some of their long-time authors even after leaving.

The VSO is the most significant move made by Malaviya since February, when he split the Random House Publishing Group back into two groups, encompassing a slimmer RHPG and recreating a separate Crown Publishing Group (CPG)albeit with some significant differences from its prior iteration, which was folded into the RH group in 2017. The reorg also including the creation of a committee of division heads to oversee PRH US, rather than finding an individual to replace former PRH US CEO Madeline McIntosh, who left the company following the restructuring.

Separating from Dohle

Malaviyas moves put his own stamp on PRH, one different from that of Dohle. Since his resignation, Dohle has served as an advisor to the global publisher. He turned up at the Bologna Book Fair, the Sharjah Booksellers Conference, and the London Book Fair, where he was celebrated by PRH colleagues.

In addition to advising PRH, Dohle continues to be on several industry boards, but he is not representing PRH in those cases. He continues on the PEN America board, where he made a donation of $500,000 in February 2022, as well on the National Book Foundation board. In May, he was appointed to the newly created board of the Sharjah Book Authority, where he is listed as executive v-p of the PEN America Board of Trustees. Earlier this week, he was named to the board of Canadas largest bookstore chain, Indigo Books & Music, where again he is not serving as a representative of PRH. A source at the publisher told PW the company was not aware of the Indigo appointment until they read about it.

With reporting by Gayle Feldman.
First Amendment advocates are weighing in and asking the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a 2022 lower court decision blocking Floridas controversial Stop W.O.K.E. Act from taking effectincluding lawyers for the award-winning nonprofit publisher The New Press. In an amicus brief filed last week, New press attorneys told the court that the specter of the draconian law coming into force has already impeded the publisher's academic mission and negatively impacted sales in the state.

This statutewhich prohibits Florida professors in state colleges from endorsing an enumerated list of viewpoints, including those recognizing the existence of systemic racial inequalityhas chilled the distribution of The New Presss books on Florida campuses, the brief reveals, noting that many New Press titles "espouse viewpoints prohibited by the law," in particular, books involving race relations and criminal justice reform. A significant portion of the New Presss book sales occur at colleges: when a professor assigns a book for discussion, a bookstore attendant upon the college will order a relevant quantity of the book to be available for student purchase. Since the passing of the Act, when a professor has felt compelled not to assign or recommend a New Press book for reading, such sales have ended.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed the Stop W.O.K.E. (Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) Act, also known as HB 7, on April 22, 2022, hailing the effort as the centerpiece of his anti-WOKE legislative agenda. On August 18, 2022 a group of Florida educators and students supported by the ACLU filed suit challenging the law on Constitutional grounds. And on November 17, 2022, federal judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary restraining order blocking the law from taking effect.

The law officially bans professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints, Walker observed in his 140-page opinion and order. Defendants argue that, under this Act, professors enjoy academic freedom so long as they express only those viewpoints of which the State approves. This is positively dystopian.

In March, the 11th Circuit refused to stay Walkers preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect. But the court is now considering the case on the merits, with a host of criticsincluding publishersarguing that the law clearly violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by imposing unconstitutional, discriminatory viewpoint-based restrictions on teachers and students in the state.

 Florida has made no secret of the Acts true discriminatory purpose. 

Florida officials, however, insist the law falls within the state's power to regulate curricula in the state. The constitutional question in this case thus boils down to this: Who decides what is, and is not, to be taught in Floridas college classroomsindividual professors or their employer, the state, Florida state lawyers argued in an April brief. And in a theory that critics say would harm public education if sanctioned, Florida argues that the state has the right to regulate the lessons of professors teaching in "the States classrooms, on the States time, in return for a State paycheck."

But the law, The New Press amicus brief argues, wears its prejudice on its sleeve, with its stated purpose to silence one side of the debate on matters of the highest public concern and to dictate concepts that Florida educators may or may not express in the classroomsuch as critical race theory.

"Far from a valid regulation of school curriculum," Florida officials have has made no secret of the law's "true discriminatory purpose," The New Press brief argues: to "tilt the academic debate in favor of the States preferred opinions, and to banish so-called "woke" ideas.

Professors on Florida public campuses justifiably fear the consequences of appearing to endorse any of these proscribed viewpoints in their course instruction. Such consequences include causing their college or university to become ineligible for performance funding, risking disciplinary measures, and facing termination for failure or refusal to comply with the statutes provisions," the brief explains. "The Act, in essence, subjects professors to the Hobsons choice of either risking these consequences or self-censoringthereby preventing them from freely teaching subjects such as structural racism, policing and criminal justice, critical race theory, and implicit bias.

The New Press is one of the nations leading publishers of progressive ideas, including national bestsellers as Michelle Alexanders The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (which, the brief notes, has sold some 1.8 million copies); Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement, a collection of essays by Kimberle Crenshaw; Brown Is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created A New American Majority, by Steve Phillips; and Elie Mystals bestselling Allow Me To Retort: A Black Guys Guide to the Constitution. In 2021, New Press publisher Ellen Adler was named Publishers Weeklys Person of the Year.

The brief also calls out Floridas leading role in what the brief calls a nationwide burn the books campaign, rendering it essential that the 11th Circuit send a strong message by holding the legislation to be unconstitutional.

"Floridas Stop W.O.K.E. Act is but one state legislative measure in the nationwide campaign against books and ideas that do not conform to anti-woke orthodoxy, the brief states. It is respectfully submitted that it is essential for this Court to act forcefully to affirm the District Courts issuance of a preliminary injunction to stem the tide of these flagrant attacks on First Amendment rights in the education contextin Florida, specifically, and then, by way of precedent, across the nation.

At press time, the 11th Circuit has yet to set a date for oral argument in the case.
The more we learn about the war in Ukraine, the more we come to know that drones will play an increasingly important role on the modern battlefield. But how is the U.S. military thinking about what role these aircraft might play in future wars? When paired with modern sensors, could they offer an asymmetric advantage in future competitions?

To help answer these questions and many others, we spoke to Clint Hinote, a lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force. For the last several years, Hinote has led a team of Air Force officers with the goal of solving the problem of projecting air power in the Pacific. Early in our conversation, Hinote summarized more than a decade's worth of experiences in trying to fight against China's military in the Western Pacific: Not only were we losing the wargames, we were losing the wargames faster.

He has, he told us, made it his mission to bring the losing to an end.

Hinote described for us the breakthrough thinking on ways in which old and new technology can be brought together to frustrate any attempts China might make to invade nearby territory, especially Taiwan. He described the need for a truly joint command-and-control systemnot as a system with separate nodes for Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps forces, but one that uses a mixture of air and naval forces, including submarines. Dronesrelatively inexpensive dronesare an important new element that could complicate China's invasion plans. In the simulations that Hinote has conducted, drones play an especially important role.

If fielded at low cost and in high numbers, drones present China with a dilemma that Hinote and other specialists believe Beijing could not effectively counter. Swarmed with such drones, China might be forced to ignore the cheapest, smallest ones, which would let them operate in a contested battlespace, providing surveillance and targeting solutions for other weapons-delivery platformsboth air and seain the vicinity. Or China could engage the relatively inexpensive and numerous drones with relatively more-expensiveand limiteddefense systems to try to destroy them.

If it takes expensive weapons to destroy inexpensive targets, you are on the losing end of the cost curve with every target that is exchanged. Share on Twitter

Either way, as Hinote put it, they either have to expend very expensive missiles to shoot them down, or they have to suffer the consequences of whatever they're doing. This is a problem U.S. military planners know all too well: If it takes expensive weapons to destroy inexpensive targets, you are on the losing end of the cost curve with every target that is exchanged.

For decades, American military strategists have worried that U.S. adversaries were far better at imposing costs on us than we were on them. For over two decades, insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan used improvised roadside bombs to kill and maim U.S. forces. Countering these efforts came at considerable cost, and still does: In 2021, in the final days of U.S. troop involvement in Afghanistan, 13 American service members were killed by a bomban extraordinary loss.

Thinking about cost-imposing strategies is a favorite pursuit of Hinote's. A centerpiece of one of his ideas is what the Air Force calls low-cost attritable aircraft technology, or LCAAT. These are relatively small, cheap, and expendable drones. Hinote has been running simulations with researchers at the RAND Corporation that deploy LCAATs in a mesh network, which can be used to identify and destroy targets while they saturate the airspace. Even when a link the chain is brokenan LCAAT is destroyedthe network remains.

One idea out of these simulations is to use LCAATs to watch shipping traffic in the Taiwan Strait. We might think of these dronesladen as they are with off-the-shelf, mass-produced sensorsas flying iPhones. An invasion of Taiwan would have to come via shipswarshipsand the best way to know if an invasion is coming is to see the ships on the move. The best way to do that is to have lots of small, inexpensive drones flying over the strait, talking to each other and sending signals back to aircraft, submarines, and ships that have the weapons needed to destroy the warships.

An invasion of Taiwan would have to come via shipswarshipsand the best way to know if an invasion is coming is to see the ships on the move. Share on Twitter

The drones would be so small and light that they could be sent aloft with bottle rockets and cost around $500,000 apiece. The missiles China would need to use to destroy them cost a few million dollars eacha viable cost-imposing strategy.

When we talked to Hinote about what it would take to put a system of LCAATs into place, he was more circumspect. He gave us the sense that there was momentum moving in the right direction, but he was not sure change would come fast enough. This type of change, he told us, is going to be pretty radical, certainly from the military point of view, and there is not yet a sense of urgency at all levels to align around that level of change.

What Hinote wants is a plan. While we won't know for some time whether Hinote and his many colleagues in the Air Force have seized on exactly the right idea, what we do know is this: He wants to bring the losing to an end, and LCAATs might well be part of the way to do that.

Andrew Hoehn is senior vice president for research and analysis at the RAND Corporation, and formerly served as a strategist for the U.S. Defense Department. Thom Shanker is director of the Project for Media and National Security at George Washington University, and previously reported and edited for The New York Times. This commentary was adapted from their book Age of Danger: Keeping America Safe in an Era of New Superpowers, New Weapons, and New Threats.

This commentary originally appeared on Defense News on June 29, 2023. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
NEW DELHI, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Fifty-two bodies from India's deadly train crash on June 2 haven't been identified yet and they will be cremated soon, said a senior government representative on Friday.

Nearly 300 people died in the crash, in which two passenger trains and one goods train collided in the eastern state of Odisha, resulting in one of the worst train accidents in the country's recent history.

Most of the dead bodies were damaged beyond recognition, and their DNA samples were sent for identification. Out of the total 81 bodies, DNA samples could be matched for 29 only. The dead bodies have been kept at a hospital in Odisha's state capital Bhubaneswar for nearly 28 days.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Mayor Sulochana Das on Friday told reporters that there were many claimants so bodies could not be given.

"The samples were sent to Delhi and 29 have been confirmed. Five families have come to take the bodies," private news agency ANI quoted her as saying.

According to government orders, a hassle-free cremation process has to be conducted, and the bodies need to be transferred to their native areas.

"The bodies which are not claimed will also be cremated. For that, we have prepared two cremation grounds," Das said. 
It is time to create a multilateral Arctic fisheries management plan before a moratorium on fishing in Arctic high seas sunsets in 2037. We have an opportunity to get this right, but not for long.

Signatories to the 2021 moratorium include Canada, China, Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the European Union, Iceland, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. This band of signatories is significant in that it includes both Arctic nations that have territorial Arctic Ocean access and authorities and those that do not but have made it clear they would like to be involved in Arctic resource extraction.

At this point, there is not much lost from agreeing not to fish in the Arctic. Scientists don't know what fish species currently live in the Arctic, let alone their populations or commercial viability. The ice cover makes access dangerous. Getting to the Arctic is expensive, infrastructure is minimal, and the vast Arctic region suffers the tyranny of distance. Current fish prices and fish stock levels mean that operating in the Arctic likely is not worth the risk or the cost.

Overfishing and climate change are likely to lead to multiple fish stocks collapsing, which will decrease supply and increase prices. Share on Twitter

These deterrents won't last forever. The moratorium does have an end date. The ice is melting. Overfishing and climate change are likely to lead to multiple fish stocks collapsing, which will decrease supply and increase prices. At the same time, demand is expected to continue to rise.

As the Arctic evolves, so too will the demands on fisheries. Although current fish populations and commercial viability are unknown, it is reasonable to expect that there are valuable seafood commodities in the Arcticand even if there are not, it would be foolhardy not to plan for increased fisheries activity in the Arctic. In fact, Alaska and Russia are gearing up to start fishing after the 2037 deadline.

The Arctic Ocean high seas are the last global commons. Never before has the opportunity existed to properly manage fisheries in an ocean without overfishing. The challenges of accessing the Arctic, as well as the Arctic Ocean's geography, mean that these high seas could be treated as a limited-entry fishery. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Arctic high seas are not accessible except via an Arctic nation's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and UNCLOS also allows for nations to dictate whether other nations will be permitted to transit their EEZs with fishing gear on board. Because of this, the Arctic high seas have the potential to be a limited-entry, cooperatively and sustainably managed fishery.

This is the only ocean in the world that has ever had, or will ever have, this opportunity.

In the world of fisheries management, properly managing a limited access region with invested stakeholders is the simplest and most effective strategy. The best practices for science, governance, and law enforcement for fisheries management are well known. Fisheries management is a mature field and, if managed properly, fisheries can provide economic stability and high-value/low-input protein in perpetuity.

Fisheries management is a mature field and, if managed properly, fisheries can provide economic stability and high-value/low-input protein in perpetuity. Share on Twitter

Limiting access to the Arctic high seas to just Arctic Ocean-adjacent nations introduces a global resource equity problem. Arctic nations and those with the ability to access the Arctic are generally the wealthier and less food-insecure in the world. If access to the high seas is limited to Arctic nations only, one (or more) of the gatekeeping nations could unilaterally decide to allow access to other interested parties outside of the agreement. To avoid this situation and more equitably allow access to resources, a limited-entry agreement with strong science, management, and oversight could be formed to include non-Arctic nations that want to access Arctic high seas for fishing.

Historically, armed conflicts have occurred over fisheries. There is no shortage of examples of nations stealing fish from other nations. There are certainly examples of people taking too much and destroying the hope of a long-term income and food source.

The way to prevent the Arctic from becoming the last global commons to succumb to tragedy is to prioritize Arctic fisheries management, with an eye on limited global entry and agreements. But we must act now. Agreements can lead to economic and food security for partners; a lack of coordination will lead to conflict, environmental degradation, and overfishing. The clock is ticking.

Kate Nixon Anania is a policy researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

This commentary originally appeared on The Messenger on June 16, 2023. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
This week, we discuss the implications of the Wagner Group's mutiny; ensuring safety and sustainability of outer space; how Truth Decay affects national security; addressing the housing crisis in Los Angeles; the growing problem of cyberstalking; and helping aging veterans.

Photo by Stringer/Reuters

The world watched with fascination last weekend as the Wagner Groupa Kremlin-backed paramilitary companymade a direct challenge to the Russian military establishment.

Led by Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, 25,000 mostly Russian fighters marched from Ukrainian territory toward Moscow, taking over military commands in three Russian towns before retreating.

This was not a coup or actual attempt to take over political power, says RAND's Molly Dunigan, an expert in Russian mercenary groups. It was a theatrical power play by Prigozhin.

Despite the uprising, Wagner is an important source of income for the Kremlin and will likely remain operational. However, Russia could rebrand the group, install new leadership, or even withdraw Wagner fighters from Ukraine to reduce the risk of another mutiny.

Importantly, this last option could have significant implications for Russia's ability to effectively fight a ground war, Dunigan says.

More Insights from RAND Experts
The Flight Attendant Murders is a 4 x 60 documentary series produced by UK based indie Flicker Productions which explores the murders of four flight attendants in the 1970s and 1980s in Texas. All four women worked for the same airline and their murders bear striking similarities. While one man, Jon Reed, is in prison, found guilty of the first murder, three of the other murders took place while he was in prison. Over four episodes the series unpicks the story, reassessing the evidence available and tracing the timeline of each case to ask if the cases are individual crimes or could potentially tie together.The show explores what it is like for the victims families to exist in limbo for decades and asks whether present day DNA techniques and modern policing can finally provide a definitive answer as to what really happened to each of the women.The show is executive produced for Flicker Productions by Colleen Flynn and Charlotte Nicholls and Paul Heaney for BossaNova Media. Director of photography is Duncan Stingemore and series producer is Karen Hoy. The series is also produced and directed by Jasleen Kaur Sethi.The pitch for The Flight Attendant Murders was one of the winning offerings in terms of buyer feedback at BossaNovas Development Day in January 2022. BossaNova says it will now split future Development Days into separate strands to accommodate both live and virtual events to better serve domestic and international buyers needs. The first of these new live events will be held in Central London on 12 October 2023 where Getty Images will partner with BossaNova for the first time, sponsoring the event and selecting projects that have clear potential to be archive led.With an unparalleled archive and deep expertise in how archival content can support producers in making compelling, cost-efficient programming, we are well positioned for creative partnership - from the idea stage through to production, said Simon Wood, senior sales director at Getty Images. Having supplied a range of content to various Bossanova Originals over the past few years, we are excited to take a more creative, developmental role in helping generate the next raft of Bossanova Originals as part of its Development Days initiative.Claire Runham, who recently joined BossaNova as its new head of acquisitions , added: The Flight Attendant Murders is another excellent example of our precise curating on what buyers tell us they want to be pitched and then using this data to get these shows into production. The new Development Days are evolving each time and we hope to provide buyers on their way to MipCom with the perfect pitch.
Accordingly to press reports, the Biden administration is considering entering a very narrow nuclear agreement with Iran that would impose many fewer restrictions on that countrys nuclear program than the original Iran nuclear deal (also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA).

Most analysts ascribe the administrations renewed interest in diplomacy with Iran to electoral politicsthe deal under consideration wont do much to restrain Irans nuclear weapons program, but it can be expected to postpone any crisis with Iran till after the 2024 presidential election. But there is an even more urgent Ukraine problem that may be motivating the administration to want a deal now.

On October 18, 2023 a UN-imposed prohibition of the export of missile systems by Iran will expire pursuant to the provisions of the JCPOA. The end of this embargo will strengthen Russias hand in Ukraine, because Iran is one of the only countries that has been providing weapons to Russia in support of President Putins war of aggression. Most notably, Iran has been transferring drones that Russia has been using to conduct a brutal aerial campaign targeting Ukrainian cities and civilians.

The Biden administration asserted months ago that provision of these drones violates the UN prohibition. Iran disputes this, insisting that any drones it has transferred are exempt from the UN prohibition due to their limited range. However, in deference to UN restrictions, Iran reportedly has refrained from exporting longer-range missiles to Russia that unquestionably would be subject to the prohibition, such as its 700-kilometer range Zolfaghar missile, and its 300-kilometer range Fateh-110 missile.

There will be no remaining legal restrictions on drone and missile transfers from Iran to Russia after the UN prohibition expires on October 18 unless the Biden administration and Americas allies in Europe stop this from happening. It can be done. If any JCPOA participant state complains to the Security Council about significant non-performance of commitments under the JCPOA, a process will be triggered under UN Security Council Resolution 2231 leading automatically to the snapback of all UN sanctions that were in place against Iran prior to the JCPOA.

Such a snapback would not only have the effect of keeping in place the UN prohibition of missile and drone transfers by Iran, but would also re-impose on Iran the UN embargo on transfers of conventional arms that expired in October 2020.

The conventional arms embargo would render illegal all forms of military assistance by Iran to Russia, including the short-range combat drones and artillery shells and ammunition it is currently providing. It would also render illegal the weapons transfers that Russia is making to Iran in exchange for Irans support of the Russian war effort, including the promised delivery of Su-35 fighter aircraft.

Neither the Biden administration nor the Europeans want to trigger a sanctions snapback because this would be an admission that their effort over the past two and a half years to persuade Iran to rejoin the JCPOA has failed.

But allowing the missile transfer ban to expire is a choice that the administration and its European allies are making, despite the fact that it will benefit Russia and increase the threats facing Ukraine. And unfortunately for the administration, at about the same time the choice takes effect, it will need Congress to vote on appropriating billions more in U.S. assistance to Ukraine.

The most recent $45 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine appropriated by Congress last December is expected to run out by the end of October. If Congress does not appropriate more money when this happens, the United States will have to suspend military and financial support to the Ukrainian war effort.

Persuading Congress to appropriate billions more for Ukraine will be a challenge, especially in the House of Representatives, where the MAGA wing of the Republican party has become increasingly opposed to funding the war.

Congressional skeptics of the next Ukraine aid request are sure to ask the Biden administration why they should appropriate tens of billions of dollars in additional funding for the war when neither the United States nor its allies are taking the seemingly obvious step of slamming shut the legal door on Iranian military aid to Moscow.

The administration would like to excuse itself by explaining that it is powerless to take this step thanks to the Trump administrations decision to withdraw from the JCPOA. Only Britain, France and Germany can still trigger a sanctions snapback, it could argue.

But it knows this argument would backfire politically. Blaming Europe for allowing UN sanctions on Iran to lapse would only confirm the belief of critics of Bidens Ukraine policy that Americas allies are cynically expecting U.S. taxpayers to foot the bill for all the things they could do to help Ukraine, but are choosing not to do.

Hence the appeal of entering a new deal now which the Administration can argue obliges it not to increase sanctions pressure against Iran.

This may offer a convenient answer to those in Congress who ask why it is so urgent to provide more U.S. assistance to Ukraine when allied governments have decided to acquiesce in Irans rearmament of Russia. But it will not obscure the fact that the administration and its allies in Europe have chosen to prioritize their dreams of reviving the JCPOA over the security of Ukraine.

Stephen Rademaker is senior of counsel at Covington & Burling and a former assistant secretary of state.
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The Irish band U2 has started selling merchandise featuring a portrait of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky drawn by frontman Bono to raise funds to buy ambulances for the war-torn nation.

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The merchandise, listed on the band's website, includes silkscreen-printed posters, T-shirts and hoodies with Zelensky's face in blue on a yellow background, representing the colors of Ukraine.

Each item also bears the text, "The choice is between freedom and fear," a quote from Zelensky.

The posters are a limited edition of 250 numbered prints on high-end paper with A2 dimensions.

"UNITED24, UKRAINE'S OFFICIAL FUNDRAISING PLATFORM, ANNOUNCES LIMITED EDITION MERCH COLLABORATION WITH BONO FROM U2," the website reads.

"ALL NET PROFITS WILL GO TO UNITED24 FOR THE PURCHASE OF AMBULANCES IN UKRAINE."

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine last year, U2's Bono and The Edge performed a surprise acoustic concert in Kyiv at Zelensky's invitation.

The artists, who have together won 22 Grammy Awards as members of U2, performed for 40 minutes in a makeshift bomb shelter in the Khreshchatyk train station to a crowd of about 100 people as air raid sirens could be heard in the background.

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"Collaboration between UNITED24 and U2 began on Kyiv Day, when Bono read lines from the Ukrainian capital's anthem," UNITED24 coordinator Yaroslava Gres told Far Out Magazine.

"We are very happy about this new joint project, as it will help raise funds to support heroic Ukrainian medical workers."

Bono, speaking of his artwork, told Far Out that the practice of drawing "is an excuse to stare at someone whose face or life I might be fascinated with."

"My drawings are not cartoons, but they are often caricatures of character," Bono said.

"In the case of President Volodymyr Zelensky, we have burdened him with impossible expectations -- and impossibly, he has not let us down."
ISLAMABAD, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Four people from the same family drowned in a dam in Jhelum district of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, the rescue service reported.

According to the reports, the incident took place on Thursday when a man along with his two sons and a brother-in-law were swimming in Raja Khalid Dam in the district.

Upon receiving the information of the incident, police and rescue workers reached the site and recovered the bodies from the dam, said the rescue service.

The father of the two sons was a session judge who went to the dam for a picnic on Eid al-Adha, Islam's major religious festival.

The police said in a statement that the bodies had been shifted to a local hospital while further investigation of the accident was underway. 
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Jeremy Williams, an Athens-Clarke County firefighter of over 23 years, took his place behind the pulpit to provide public input during the commissions special called session on Dec. 6, 2022.

Williams, who represented the local Professional Firefighters of Athens-Clarke County union Local 2795  expressed concerns that the ACC Fire Department was understaffed and undercompensated, resulting in burn out and excessive turnover rates.
Is Governor Ravi acting without informing/consulting the Centre, or is the BJP leadership unsure of what to do with the DMK in Tamil Nadu? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a chess board by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, centre, as Governor R N Ravi, left, looks on. Photograph: ANI Photo

Only one of the two conclusions comes to mind when discussing Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi's quick about-turn(s) in relation to jailed minister Senthil Balaji.

That he took two U-turns in as many weeks in the matter of having the minister sacked without Chief Minister M K Stalin's consent may go against him despite his hurried actions standing proof to his sworn commitment to upholding Constitutional morality and probity in public life, may not hold water in the larger context.

When reports last came in, Ravi had sacked Balaji and withdrawn it, too.

Earlier, he had retracted his decision to sack Balaji through a single statement from Raj Bhavan, which however approved of Stalin's 'aid and advice' to re-allocate his portfolios between two cabinet colleagues.

By the same advice, Stalin had allowed Senthil Balaji to continue as 'minister without portfolio', which some say is a 'constitutional anachronism' while others refer to the precedent set by Lal Bahadur Shastri when the upright leader accepted a similar position in then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's Cabinet in the early 1960s.

Once Stalin notified Balaji's continuance as 'minister without portfolio' through a government order, Ravi promptly discarded his earlier decision, thus making the current retraction, a two-in-a-row affair.

IMAGE: V Senthil Balaji. Photograph: PTI Photo

Going beyond multiple legal issues involved in the Enforcement Directorate's arrest and possible prosecution of Senthil Balaji lies the larger Constitutional and political question: Is Ravi acting without informing/consulting the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially Raj Bhavan's reporting authority in the union home ministry under the inimitable Amit Shah, or is the BJP leadership at the Centre still unsure of what to do with the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu?

Indications are that the former may be closer to the truth, as the Centre if it had advised or approved of Ravi's initiatives, would have done its Constitutional homework on such sensitive matters with which the higher courts in the country easily gets upset about.

In this case, the Madras high court has already fixed for July 7, hearing on petitions challenging Balaji's continuance as minister after his arrest and continuance in judicial custody, now extended up to July 12.

This is only one part of the story. Legal opinion is at best divided if the governor could act on his own in matter of sacking an incumbent minister.

Though the Supreme Court had ruled that the 'appointing authority' had the power to 'sack' ministers, incidentally in the case of Stalin's late chief minister father M Karunanidhi, as far back as the late 1970s, the apex court has ruled otherwise in many other cases.

From this would flow a basic question: 'If the governor is the appointing authority and has the power to sack ministers either without seeking the chief minister's advice or over-ruling such advice, why is there the Constitutional provision that the governor shall act according to the 'aid and advice' of the chief minister, or the council of ministers under the chief minister?

According to this school, any construct other than the one specifically mentioned in the Constitution has the implied potential to make the governor an 'autocrat under the law'.

If this was not the intent of the Constitution, and the spirit of the nation's democratic norms and scheme, then the governor would have to have no choice in the matter, to call his own -- whether official or personal.

Already, there is the theoretical possibility of the President becoming a 'Constitutional autocrat', by appointing a person of his choice as prime minister, and on his/her advice, appoint a council of ministers, which could then promptly recommend the proclamation of Emergency, dissolution of the Lok Sabha and the 'suspension' of the Rajya Sabha, which again could not be challenged in the Supreme Court as 'fundamental rights' had already been suspended.

It could then be the Indian equivalent of the 'blue-eyed babies' case, a technical anachronism under the British scheme that has no place in modern times.

The question is about British Parliament having the power to legislate that all blue-eyed babies should be killed, and courts having to decide on the matter. The answer for the latter is as clear as the impossibility of the former.

IMAGE: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin, left, with Governor Ravi. Photograph: R Senthil Kumar/PTI Photo

According to news reports, the Centre has since advised Ravi to consult the attorney general before proceeding in the matter, hence his current retraction.

Does it imply that the Centre was unconcerned when Ravi made a similar U-turn earlier on the same issue?

This raises the further question if the governor has exceeded his political brief when being despatched to the Chennai Raj Bhavan, or he was told nothing, or has been exceeding his brief, and consistently and persistently so.

Some in the ruling DMK hierarchy may feel satisfied with news reports of the kind, to imply that the Centre was not behind Ravi's moves, which do not stop with la affaire Senthil Balaji.

The cadre and at times public perception is only one of two things -- either the ruling BJP at the Centre is behind it all, or the party does not know how to handle the state government and Stalin, especially after the latter became the first one to have central agencies challenged in courts for their actions, and allegations of procedural failures, which courts often frown upon in such matters.

However, a pointed reference is being made to Ravi mentioning in his Thursday's sack order, terms that have far-reaching Constitutional import.

'There are reasonable apprehensions that continuation of Thiru V. Senthil Balaji in the council of ministers will adversely impact the due process of law including fair investigation that may eventually lead to breakdown of the constitutional machinery in the state,' is what the Raj Bhavan statement said about Balaji's sacking.

According to some Constitutional experts, by deploying phrases such as 'due process of law' and more importantly, 'breakdown of the constitutional machinery', the governor was possibly referring to the possibility of recommending President's rule in the state at some point in time, citing the standardised causes used in such other dismissals in the past.

In the same vein, they also point to the Supreme Court verdict in the S R Bommai case, (1994), which prohibits such dismissals, which go in for suo motu judicial review.

If nothing else, the BJP centre cannot take the risk of a negative verdict in the run-up to multi-state assembly polls in the coming months, peaked by the LS elections next summer.

This raises the question if Ravi was seeking and obtaining appropriate Constitutional advice before acting in these and other matters pertaining to the DMK state government and chief minister, or is being led/misled by local political and ideological guides of one kind or the other.

In particular, it also raises questions about the level and nature of communication between the Chennai Raj Bhavan and the Centre (read: Home ministry).

Hence, the question arises if the governor has lost, or is taking pains to lose the confidence of the President, which again under the Constitution refers only to the council of ministers under the prime minister.

Though not every power of the Union council is transferred to the state ministry in context, these are also basic to the effective functioning of the Constitutional scheme, where one Constitutional institution is not seen as being overly and overtly interfering in the daily affairs of the government under the chief minister.

IMAGE: Stalin meets V Senthil Balaji at the Omandurar government hospital in Chennai, June 14, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

For all this, however, the governor's counsels may have taken their position from the Supreme Court directing the ED to investigate Senthil Balaji in a 'transport corporations' recruitment scam', dating back to his days in the erstwhile AIADMK ministry of late chief minister Jayalalithaa, in 2014.

The Raj Bhavan's sack note also refers to other cases and investigations against the minister.

Yet, politically, it may pay the BJP better dividends if the ED and other central agencies are able to 'expose' Senthil Balaji, his political bosses and others in the open courts than an over-enthusiastic/over-anxious governor taking precipitate action that could backfire electorally, too.

Such a construct would imply that problems of the central agencies kind might have only begun for the DMK ministers and leaders in Tamil Nadu.

Yet, there could be more embarrassing moments for the ED in the courts in Tamil Nadu as Senthil Balaji's wife Megala has since filed an additional affidavit, attributing it all to the state BJP chief K Annamalai's political animus against her husband, who is now recuperating from a post-arrest emergency heart-surgery under jailers' watch.

The fact of the surgery has made the ED look vindictive after it had argued in the Madras high court that the minister was faking a heart problem when none possibly existed.

Wife Megala's habeas corpus petition also claimed that the ED did not follow the letter and spirit of the laws and court ruling sin the matter of search and arrest operations, and hence should be held 'illegal'.

The division bench that heard the case has since reserved the verdict, which when pronounced, might well be challenged in the Supreme Court -- wherever is the loser.

IMAGE: Then Tamil Nadu electricity minister V Senthil Balaji being brought to the Government Medical College in Chennai after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate, June 14, 2023. Photograph: ANI/Twitter

This apart, the fact that the ED flew in Solicitor General Tushar Mehta from Delhi, not stopping with the additional SG, based in Chennai, to argue its case in the Madras high court too has not gone unnoticed.

While a section of the social media has pointed to the Balaji side flying in former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, purportedly paying him very high for daily sittings, others have claimed that the BJP Centre's vindictiveness stands out if one only looked at the need and urgency with which it had allowed the ED to rope in the SG, personally.

Then, of course, there is the larger Constitutional question, especially for Ravi to muse.

Granted that he gets the right and power to sack Balaji from a court verdict, now or later, what if Stalin names Balaji's wife Megala as a minister. Can the governor decline to swear her in, as his current argument is that Balaji, continuing as minister (even if in a hospital jail, can 'influence' investigations into his case?

If such is the case, Megala, having filed the habeas corpus petition, too, can be construed as being intent on influencing investigations into her husband's case.

While politically it will be suicidal for Stalin to take the course, it would still be Constitutionally tenable for him to do so.

That is where the BJP's chances too are, not in the ways Ravi is talking and acting -- or, so it seems.

N Sathiya Moorthy, veteran journalist and author, is a Chennai-based policy analyst and political commentator.

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
The change of heart in the US and India was propelled by the increased threat of China to both countries, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi is welcomed by US President Joe Biden at the White House, June 22, 2023. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

Old America hands among diplomats and journalists were lost for words when they were called upon to describe President Narendra Modi's recent visit to the United States, which was rich in symbolism and substance.

Most of the appropriate words were taken in 1997 when President Clinton launched an India charm offensive, in 2000, when he and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee exchanged visits to New Delhi and Washington, in 2000, when the nuclear deal was initiated at the time of President Bush, in 2009, When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh went on an 'official State visit' to Washington and in 2016 when Prime Minister Modi addressed a Joint Session of the US Congress and announced a new symphony in India-US relations.

Between these epoch making events, there were periods when harsh words were used and unfriendly actions were taken by both sides for one reason or another.

Since Prime Minister Modi's recent visit was even more significant than the previous ones, words like 'only official State visit', 'historic visit', 'the defining relationship of the 21st century' and 'opening of a new chapter' were repeated by both sides, revealing the deficiency of superlatives in the English language.

But it was clear that the visit of 2023 was unique for its surprise, for the dramatic change of policy on both sides and its significance as marking the early beginnings of a new world order.

Barely a few months before the visit, the US was aghast that India did not condemn Russia when it invaded Ukraine and busted Western sanctions against Russia by buying oil and fertilisers from Russia.

India was equally astonished that the US at the highest level questioned human rights violations in India and wondered whether India was a democracy at all!

The US was concerned that India was not willing to convert the Quad into a military alliance even after India became a close defence partner by signing seminal agreements on defence cooperation.

But with the announcement of the visit in June 2023, concessions started pouring in from both sides, as though everything was forgiven and forgotten and 'another new chapter' in relations came into view.

Even with short memories, deja vu could not be missed.

For over thirty years, the US had maintained sanctions against India for not signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and President Clinton came down on India like a ton of bricks with unprecedented force when India tested nuclear weapons in 1998.

In 2005, it was willing to characterise India as a responsible technologically advanced State and to resume nuclear cooperation.

History repeated itself when the US offered defence technology to India, specially reserved for military allies.

India, faced with an uncertain security paradigm and the decline in suitable military supplies from Russia, happily accepted the offer. The offer was as courageous as its acceptance.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Modi with US President Joe Biden at the G20 summit in Bali, November 15, 2022. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Pool/Reuters

The enormity of the change can be gauged only after the necessary documentation is finalised and Congressional sanctions are obtained where necessary.

But the intention on both sides to strengthen technology based defence cooperation itself is historic enough to alter the power equations in the world.

The most important of the deals is considered to be the manufacture of GE 414 engine for the LCA MC 2 aircraft, followed by space cooperation, including human flights by signing the Artemis Accords.

No less important is the agreement to set up semiconductor manufacturing facilities in India.

The mutual confidence has been enhanced by the agreement to appoint liaison officers in each other's military organisations.

Visa concessions and expanding the consulate network were the icing on the cake.

The two sides agreed to disagree on the Russia-Ukraine war, but that did not cast a shadow on the visit.

In fact, President Biden had appreciated the role of India in shaping a consensus in the Bali Summit of G20.

Similarly, the US government largely ignored the campaign against the treatment of minorities and lack of freedom, although Prime Minister Modi was felt compelled to stress the Constitutional provisions for equality, liberty and fraternity in India.

Former President Obama, however, issued a statement cautioning India about possible breakup of the country if its Muslim minority was illtreated.

That was the most unkindest cut of all as he was the architect of the Indo-Pacific.

IMAGE: Xi Jinping, People's Republic of China's president, with Russian President Vladmir Putin at the Kremlin, March 21, 2023. Photograph: Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via Reuters

Clearly, the change of heart in the US and India was propelled by the increased threat of China to both countries.

The Chinese factor was prominent even on the other occasions, but the China-Russia Treaty of 2022 and the apparent agreement between them that each will support the other on matters of crucial interest to them like Ukraine and Taiwan aggravated the situation.

The balloon incident and the lack of progress in normalising relations even after Secretary of State Antony J Blinken's visit to China made the US aware of the looming threat from China.

It was only natural that the US thought of getting closer to India, regardless of India's reluctance to form an alliance.

India too was frustrated that the situation on the Line of Actual Control had not stabilised.

Moreover, China has discarded every agreement that was built over the years to lay a basis for peace and tranquillity on the border region.

The mutuality of interests between India and the US has not been as evident as now.

Will this 'new chapter' be as transient as the previous ones?

Will the agreements arrived last beyond a few months before another crisis set India and the US apart?

Will China realise that it might be in its best interest not to allow the present bonhomie between India and the US to continue?

The answer lies in the judgment whether the two countries see the present arrangements as part of a new world order emerging in the aftermath of the calamitous events of the 21st century.

It will also depend on how the other major global players react to the emerging other AI, 'America-India'.

President Biden and Prime Minister Modi conveyed a clear message that the political AI developing between them will be more benign and beneficial than the technological AI, which is being perceived as a risky proposition.

Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who served as deputy chief of mission at India's embassy in Washington, DC at the time of India's nuclear tests in 1998, is a frequent contributor to Rediff.com.

You can read his earlier columns here.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
'India's specific concerns about whether Russia will be a reliable defense supplier and diplomatic partner in the event of heightened hostilities with China has undoubtedly accelerated the process of US-India defense and intelligence cooperation intended to support Indian military positions along the Line of Actual Control.'

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi and United States President Joe Biden after the official welcome ceremony at the White House, June 22, 2023. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

In an assessment published in the July/August issue of the well respected journal Foreign Affairs titled 'India as It Is: Washington and New Delhi Share Interests, Not Values', Daniel S Markey, one of America's leading India watchers, wrote: 'Washington must be careful about the ways it deals with New Delhi. It must remain keenly aware that India's desire to work with the United States is born of circumstance, not conviction, and could quickly disappear.'

'U.S. officials,' Dr Markey wrote in Foreign Affairs, 'must understand that, deep down, India is not an ally. Its relationship to the United States is fundamentally unlike that of, say, a NATO member. And India will never aspire to that sort of alliance. For this reason, U.S. officials should not frame their agreements with India as the building blocks of a deeper relationship.'

So, how does Dr Markey view Prime Minister Narendra D Modi's State visit to the US, which concluded with a flurry of agreements across a spectrum of activity?

Dr Markey -- currently, a Senior Advisor, South Asia at the Washington, DC think-tank, the United States Institute of Peace -- took time out from his schedule to answer Nikhil Lakshman's questions.

The first of a two-part e-mail interview:

After all the buzz surrounding the Modi visit, do you think the published outcomes justify the hype?

Yes. This was an important visit for reasons of substance as well as symbolism. The 'deliverables' represented more than a rehash of old agreements. The two sides made some news with commitments on space, visas, and defense sales, among other issues.

In your assessment, what are the most important decisions the two governments reached?

The two agreed to agree (eventually) on a whole range of topics, but when it comes to immediate delivery, India's signing the Artemis Accords -- 'for peaceful, sustainable, and transparent cooperation that will enable exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond' and the US navy's Master Ship Repair Agreement with the Larsen and Toubro Shipyard in Kattupalli (Chennai) are done deals that now open the door to greater cooperation in space and defense.

Looking ahead, the most ambitious agenda item from the visit was the agreement to pursue co-production of the GE F414 engine that would power India's fighter aircraft.

If successful, that initiative would tie the our defense industries closer together than any effort to date and would include a significant transfer of US intellectual property to India.

Micron Technology's announcement of an $800 million investment in a semiconductor assembly and test facility in India is also a big deal, as it would represent a significant American bet on India as an emerging player in the global semiconductor supply chain.

Would you say the US conceded more in its desire to have India firmly in its corner? And do you think India is closer to the United States after this visit, or is India's proximity to America a mirage?

Yes, the United States made an enormous effort to win favor with India and, in particular, with Prime Minister Modi.

The State dinner, arrival ceremony, Congressional address, and other official events were a clear political signal of US aims.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Modi and President Biden in the Oval Office, June 22, 2023. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

No effort was spared in the White House's attempt to project a positive bilateral relationship and to embrace Modi, both literally and figuratively.

President Biden and his top officials spoke glowingly and uncritically, endorsing Modi as a great leader and a great democratic partner.

In the GE jet engine deal they offered India an unprecedented opportunity for technology transfer and a concession greater than any since the Bush administration's civil nuclear agreement.

Prime Minister Modi was similarly warm in his tone, but offered far less in the way of actual policy moves, and no major concessions. I believe Modi successfully cultivated ties with a range of American audiences -- especially the business community -- without giving an inch on issues where Washington and New Delhi have had difference stances, like Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.

In short, India has -- for now, at least -- found a way to draw closer to the United States without necessarily distancing itself from its other friends or materially altering its policies.

Why do you think the Biden administration is so anxious to cultivate a solid relationship with India, knowing well that New Delhi will always retain its strategic autonomy card?

Prominent figures in the Biden administration perceive India to be an indispensable counterweight to China in the emerging world order. Some believe this to be true whether or not India ever draws especially close to the United States, just as long as India does not make common cause with China.

Others anticipate that joint US-India ventures will build 'habits of cooperation' and, in time, enable a relationship that is extremely close, even if India jealously guards its autonomy.

In all instances, they perceive that the sheer scale of the China challenge -- in human and material terms -- cannot be met by the United States without similarly sized partners, and India is unique in that respect.

What is it in the current global strategic environment that made Jake Sullivan sell the concept of more give less take with India to a President who is known to be a foreign policy conservative?

Working with India is not new to President Biden or any of his senior officials. Past experience has taught them that overcoming India's skepticism about the United States will not be quick or easy.

Equally important is that Biden sees domestic politics and foreign policy as going hand-in-hand. Unlike many thorny foreign policy issues facing the administration, India is more easily framed as a tantalizing prospect for American businesses and workers.

So Biden and Sullivan tend to look past the initial costs and focus on India's upside potential.

Is America anxious to build a phalanx of allies and near allies in Asia to curb China, try and keep it sequestered to the continent of its origin so that it does not present continual challenges to America's dominance?

The Biden administration -- far more than the Trump team -- does see allies and partners as playing an essential role in the US competition with China. But few Americans imagine that success would leave China 'sequestered' to Asia!

The challenge is far more complex, starting with the fact that the US and Chinese economies remain deeply interconnected and China is already active across the globe.

China's power, wealth, and growing military and technological capabilities will present challenges to American dominance no matter what Washington does, so the realistic American strategy is to build the largest and most capable team of partners that would enable us to defend our core interests, outcompete China over the long run, and temper Beijing's ambitions in ways that keep relations peaceful.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Modi and President Biden admire a t-shirt as Micrsoft CEO Satya Nadella, right, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, look on at a meeting with American CEOs at the White House, June 23, 2023. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

Ashley Tellis, yourself and others writing in Foreign Affairs have been sceptical about India being a US ally.

You folks feel that India is an unreliable ally, who the US cannot count on for military and other intervention if push comes to shove in an America-China confrontation.

Why are you so sceptical about India becoming an American ally?

Ashley and I -- and others writing in Foreign Affairs -- are all making slightly different arguments about the limits of strategic partnership with India, so I would suggest that your readers have a look at these pieces separately.

My central argument is that our 'democratic values' have never been an especially reliable foundation for US-India convergence on matters of foreign policy. If anything, the assumption that America and India would see eye-to-eye because both are democracies has been misleading and has been a source of frustration.

As Narendra Modi's India is trending toward majoritarian rule and his party is clearly illiberal, the United States would be making a mistake if it counts on 'shared democratic values' as the cornerstone of our relationship.

Instead, the United States should focus on advancing areas of obvious and material shared interest with India, just as Washington does in many other important bilateral relationships. But lacking a shared worldview and democratic values, US policymakers should also appreciate that India may never be an ally, either in confrontation with China or in defense of other US priorities.

As a consequence, the United States should not invest in India as an 'ally-to-be' and should remain cautious about the extent to which specific cooperative activities are actually in the American interest.

Do you believe the recent China-Russia bond has accelerated the Indian government's outreach to the United States? Or has it been an instrument of Indian foreign policy since those heady days in July 2005, when President Bush brought in India from the nuclear cold?

Yes, India's specific concerns about whether Russia will be a reliable defense supplier and diplomatic partner in the event of heightened hostilities with China has undoubtedly accelerated the process of US-India defense and intelligence cooperation intended to support Indian military positions along the Line of Actual Control.

Of course, the history of improved US-India ties dates back to the Bush administration, but nothing has convinced New Delhi of the value of American partnership faster than China's aggression and Russia's unreliability.
'Why is a powerful person called Amit Shah who camped in Manipur for three days not able to maintain law and order in the state?'

IMAGE: MPs Hibi Eden, left, and Daniel Kuriakose at a church that was attacked in Manipur. Photograph: Kind courtesy Hibi Eden

On Monday, July 3, it will be two months since the continuing cycle of violence in Manipur began.

Hibi Eden, who represents Ernakulam in the Lok Sabha, recently visited relief camps in Manipur and also churches that were destroyed in the violence.

"It has been almost two months. If the chief minister is not able to maintain law and order in the state, he should resign," the Congress MP from Kerala, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier.

The first of a two-part interview:

Why did you decide to visit Manipur?

As a responsible Member of Parliament from Kerala, I received many queries from the nuns and priests who work in Manipur and are from my constituency or Kerala.

K C Venugopal, the Congress general secretary, also instructed us to visit Manipur.

The party secretary in charge of Manipur also wanted to visit, but they were denied permission to move about in the state.

So, my colleague from Idukki, Daniel Kuriakose, and I decided that we would not reveal our identity during our visit.

IMAGE: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh extends financial assistance to families affected by the Manipur violence during his visit to relief camps at the Khuman Lampak Youth Hostel in Imphal, June 27, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

You mean you did not let anyone know that you were MPs from Kerala?

Usually we inform the protocol officers, the security at the airport and our state units of our visit.

Yes, we informed our organisational general secretary in the state.

But we didn't reveal our identity as MPs throughout our journey.

So, when the paramilitary forces or the police or the Kukis or the Meiteis wanted to see our identity, we just showed our Aadhar cards.

Did anyone question you why you were travelling in the violence-hit areas?

We travelled from Imphal to Kangpokpi and visited the relief camps, and the institutions that were destroyed.

On the way, our vehicles were stopped and searched, our bags were searched, and we were asked questions by both Kuki and Meitei women, by the state police and also by the paramilitary forces.

IMAGE: Hibi Eden with a child at a relief camp in Manipur. Photograph: Kind courtesy Hibi Eden

Did you have conversations with the people who were displaced and in the relief camps?

From the information, pictures and presentations we got from some of our people who worked in Manipur, we understood that the law and order situation was not in place, and there were many attacks against minorities, and that many minority institutions were brutally attacked.

We decided to go there to see the situation personally and understand the facts.

We had a few Manipuri friends who assisted us throughout the journey.

We had a person with us who spoke the local language.

We made sure that we had a Naga driver as we were told that if we had a Kuki or a Meitei driver, we wouldn't be able to travel freely.

From Imphal, we went to Kangpokpi and visited an independent MLA who supported the BJP and is a Kuki.

We met his family members as he was away in Delhi to meet the prime minister to brief the situation.

When we spoke to him over the phone, he told us that he was unhappy that these attacks were still going on. He also believed that it was an attack on minorities.

After that, we visited a few villages, and the relief camps there.

All of them were worried how they would survive in the coming days as even food materials were not coming.

People were suffering from ailments, but they didn't have proper medication. There was no doctor to attend to them.

It was just impossible for the NGOs and the others to travel by road.

Many of the NGOs who work there use the Mizoram-Aizawl route to reach the border.

Throughout the journey, we could see graffiti written all over -- SOS- Separation Only Solution -- and the demand for Greater Mizoram and Greater Nagaland.

We met Malayali nuns and priests, and also many local people to try to grasp the gravity of the situation, and came to know that it was pathetic.

IMAGE: Hibi Eden and Daniel Kuriakose at a relief camp in Manipur. Photograph: Kind courtesy Hibi Eden

Did you get the feeling that it was an attack on the minorities?

Absolutely.

When I spoke to some experts, they were of the opinion that we should not give religious colour to the violence, and that it was a conflict between the Kukis who live in the hills and the Meiteis who live in the valley.

Are they still in Manipur?

Yes, they still live in Manipur.

Ok. Then, perhaps they might be supporting some political organisations.

That was not my understanding as a third person who went there.

We were fortunate to meet some BJP MLAs on the same flight. They had travelled to Delhi to meet the prime minister.

In one voice, all of them said that though there had been conflict between the two communities for decades, this time, it was not a Meitei-Kuki conflict.

But the government is portraying it in such a way that the entire world saw it as a Meitei-Kuki conflict.

BJP MLAs told us the chief minister is supporting a particular group.

The MLAs belonged to both the Meitei and Kuki Christian communities. Remember, the Meitei and Kuki Christian MLAs shared this concern.

There has been no Internet in the state for the last 54 days. Why? The world doesn't know what's happening in Manipur for the last 54 days.

Why have the state and central forces failed to maintain law an order in a state for close to two months?

Okay, let's not involve politics and religion into this, and say that it was just a Kuki-Meitei conflict.

IMAGE: Police personnel stop Manipuris protesting in Bishnupur, June 29, 2023, against the stopping of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's convoy en route to Churachandpur to meet the victims of ethnic violence. Photograph: ANI Photo

As a citizen of this country, let me ask. Why has the state government not able to maintain law and order?

Why is a powerful person called Amit Shah who camped in the state for three days, not able to maintain law and order in the state?

It has been almost two months. If the chief minister is not able to maintain law and order in the state, he should resign.

If the central government is not able to bring in peace, let them bring in Presidential Rule.

According to the BJP, this is a simple conflict between the Kukis and the Meiteis that has been happening for centuries. Okay, then let them try to maintain peace and order in the state.

As a journalist, do you know how many people died there?

As a Member of Parliament, I don't know.

As a Member of Parliament, I don't know what's happening there, I don't know how many houses are burnt, I don't know how many people are displaced.

Why is it that the state government is not able to provide food and medicine to the people who are in the camps?

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
'If it is repeated by other governors, then no government will be safe.'

IMAGE: Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi. Photograph: @rajbhavan_tn/Twitter

Constitutional expert and former secretary general of the Lok Sabha P D T Achary discusses with Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com the Constitutionality of the sacking of jailed Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers by Governor R N Ravi on June 29.

The Enforcement Directorate had arrested Balaji on June 14 for his alleged involvement in a cash-for-jobs scam and a communication released by Ravi's office held that Balaji was influencing and obstructing the investigation against him and obstructing the due process of law.

Late on Thursday, June 29 night, Ravi's office informed Chief Minister M K Stalin that his decision to dismiss Balaji was on hold pending clarification from the Attorney General of India.

Is it Constitutional for a governor of a state to sack a minister without the chief minister's recommendation or advice>

No, it's not Constitutionally proper for the governor to do that (sack a minister without the chief minister's advice or recommendation).

The Constitution does not permit the governor to dismiss a minister at will. Governors can dismiss a minister only on the recommendation of the chief minister.

Who shall be a minister in a government or who shall not be a minister in a government will be decided only by the chief minister and that discretion cannot be transferred to the governor.

Still Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has gone ahead and done it. Is it unconstitutional then on the governor's part and will it set a new precedent?

It is not in accordance with the Constitution.

By dismissing a minister, the governor is actually setting a very dangerous precedent.

If it is repeated by other governors, then no government will be safe.

IMAGE: Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji, before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate. Photograph: Kind courtesy, V_senthilbalaji on Twitter

So what's Senthil Balaji's legal status?

That is actually for the (apex) court to decide. Now that this problem has arisen, the governor has dismissed the minister.

Whether it is actually a dismissal, whether it's Constitutionally (valid or not), whether the minister is out of the cabinet or whether he's still in cabinet, is only for the (apex) court to decide.

Does our Constitution have any provision that allows a governor to sack a minister without the chief minister's recommendation? Should the court come into the picture?

Because it (the Constitutionality of sacking of a minister by a titular head of a state without the recommendation of the chief minister and the council of ministers that forms the political executive) involves the interpretation of the Constitution, the (Supreme) Court will come in.

If the (apex) court finds that the governor has acted outside the Constitution, then the court would say that this is not dismissal.

Till the time the court hears this case comes to a decision, what will be the status of the minister who has been sacked? Will he remain sacked or will he still be a minister?

If the court strikes down the order of the governor, then actually the minister will remain in the cabinet.

Till the time the court gives its judgment...

That I can't say. The governor has (already) dismissed the minister. If there is a dismissal (of a minister by a governor), then that order has to take effect.

The point is you and I cannot decide whether it is the wrong dismissal or not. It is for the (apex) court to decide.

Doesn't the Constitution clearly lays down the grounds for who can or cannot sack a minister and how?

The Constitution does not clearly lay down anything. The Constitution simply says the ministry shall be appointed (by the governor) on the advice of the (chief) minister, and the minister shall hold office during the pleasure of the governor.

If you go literally by these wordings, then that may mean that the governor has the power to dismiss a minister. But then that is not to be taken literally, because under our Constitutional set-up, the governor is not an executive governor; he's only a Constitutional head (just like the President of India is).

That vests the executive power in the council of ministers and all the decisions -- for example, appointing a minister, and who should be the minister, and who should not be a minister -- are taken as per the discretion of the chief minister.

If he doesn't want the minister to continue in his ministry, then he will advise the governor to remove him. The governor will act by withdrawing his pleasure.

Is there any precedent to this sacking?

There is no precedent. I don't remember any precedent.

Do you foresee a situation where the governors of non-BJP ruled states embarking on such an adventure? Would the TN governor's order embolden other governors to follow suit?

That is for other governors (to decide). I can't say anything about it.
COLOMBO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's domestic debt optimization program was approved by the parliament's Committee on Public Finance (COPF) by a majority on Friday.

Issuing a statement, the parliament said extensive discussions on domestic debt restructuring were held at the COPF.

The parliament said discussions were held on Thursday separately with Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe, Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana, and officials representing the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies during the first half of the meeting.

Discussions were held on Friday with creditors, including banks, superannuation funds, and insurance funds to obtain perspectives during the second half of the meeting.

The COPF is one of three parliamentary legislative committees evaluating external audit reports and other public finance information.

The domestic debt restructuring plan needed to be presented and passed at COPF before being presented to the parliament on Saturday.

The domestic debt restructuring program, proposed by the Finance Ministry, was approved by Sri Lanka's cabinet on Wednesday. 
'The governor was a senior IPS officer who should know the Constitution.'

IMAGE: Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi. Photograph: PTI Photo

Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi is known for staying in the news for one reason or the other.

Mostly for criticising the state government or sitting on bills passed by the assembly for months on end.

He even sent a bill back, which the state assembly passed again and he had no choice but to sign it the second time.

It was the bill banning online gambling in the state.

His latest salvo is against beleaguered Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balajee who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for an offence he allegedly committed when he was a minister in the AIADMK government led by J Jayalalitha.

Governor Ravi dismissed Senthil Balaji as a minister on Thursday evening.

A couple of hours later, on Thursday night, Ravi seemed to have a rethink and informed Chief Minister M K Stalin that Balaji's dismissal would be kept on hold till he had spoken to India's attorney general.

"He realised his mistake and withdrew it immediately. Now he is going to consult someone, let him do that. We will react after we see the end result," DMK Rajya MP R S Bharati tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar.

Is it Constitutionally right for Governor Ravi to dismiss Senthil Balaji as a minister without the chief minister's concurrence?

He has absolutely no jurisdiction in this matter. He knows that the chief minister decides who will be minister and who will resign. Even when he knows that, he does these things.

He realised his mistake and withdrew it immediately. Now he is going to consult someone, let him do that. We will react after we see the end result.

IMAGE: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin. Photograph: Kind courtesy DMK/Twitter

What will the chief minister do?

He will do what is legal and according to the Constitution.

Will you approach the Supreme Court?

We most certainly will. The court will clarify the powers of the governor and the limitation to his powers.

Are you planning any public demonstration?

No! This is a legal matter and not a public matter. We cannot concern the public with matters between us and the governor.

Governor Ravi has been repeatedly behaving like an Opposition leader. What is the remedy?

The remedy is with the Union government and in particular the home ministry.

They must see what the governor is doing and tell him what is right, but they are not doing that.

As they appoint the governor it is in their power to recall him or advise him.

He is supposed to act on the advice of the cabinet which is clearly stated in the Constitution, and as an IPS officer he should be aware of that.

But he is still behaving in a silly manner. I cannot think of any other word to describe his behaviour.

Last year the Kerala governor said he was withdrawing his pleasure from a certain minister which is, in fact, dismissing him.

The concerned minister ignored the governor and continued with their work as ministers.

What do you have to say on this?

When the Tamil Nadu governor dismissed our minister we too ignored him. In a few hours he withdrew his dismissal order so we have nothing to say or do.

We will take action after he decides what he is going to do.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Friday said that the present downturn in bilateral relations was created by China and not by India, maintaining that it takes two hands to clap for a relationship to work.

IMAGE: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar speaks on 'Business Opportunities for a Globalising India', in Kolkata on Friday. Photograph: ANI Photo

The minister was speaking during a question-answer session after delivering the Shyama Prasad Lecture on 'New India and the World' in Kolkata.

"It finally takes two hands to clap and China too must have the belief in a workable relationship," he said when asked whether the two Asian giants can have a working relationship.

If there has to be a decent working relationship, China needs to observe the agreements made in 1993 and 1996 on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Jaishankar said.

The minister said that for India, the priority should be on improving the lives of its people, like stronger growth and more jobs.

"When any big power is rising, that big power actually wants stability," he said.

Jaishankar said that relationships between major countries work only when they are based on mutual interest, sensitivity and respect.

Stating that he endeavours to make China understand this, the external affairs minister said he is working hard at this.

"In the border areas, we have resolved some issues. (But) there are issues (where) we have not," he said, adding: "I will continue to do this ... in diplomacy, you never give up."

Maintaining that India's relationship with Russia has stood the test of time, Jaishankar said that relations between the two countries have been the steadiest over the last 75 years.

He said that one of the reasons for that is there is a 'public sentiment in our country about Russia' and it derives from a number of reasons, including the support they gave on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

To a question on the bonhomie with the United States witnessed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit there, Jaishankar said, "It's not in our interest to be tied down to exclusive relationships."

"Because we have a tradition of strong ties with Russia, that should not become a burden or an obstacle to an equally strong relationship with the United States," Jaishankar said.

He said that at the same time, the relationship with these two countries should not stop India from having a strong relationship with Japan or Europe or any other country.

"My effort is to see if I can advance on multiple major relationships, regional relationships, all at the same time in the best possible fashion," said the minister, a career diplomat who has been the country's foreign secretary and was ambassador to USA and China.
The Delhi government on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance on control of services, saying it is an 'unconstitutional exercise of executive fiat' that attempts to 'override' the top court and the basic structure of the Constitution.

IMAGE: Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal. Photograph: ANI Photo

Besides quashing of the ordinance, the Delhi government has also sought an interim stay on it.

The Centre had on May 19 promulgated the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023, to create an authority for transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi.

The Aam Aadmi Party government has been calling it 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 LG before the May 11 top court verdict.

In its plea filed through advocate Shadan Farasat, the Delhi government has said that the ordinance, which came days after the apex court verdict, is a plain attempt to 'override' the top court and the basic structure of the Constitution itself vide executive fiat.

Seeking quashing of the ordinance, the plea alleged that it is an 'unconstitutional exercise of executive fiat' that violates the scheme of federal, democratic governance entrenched for the NCTD in Article 239AA and is manifestly arbitrary.

'Article 239AA of the Constitution is a sui generis provision in that it constitutionally entrenches for NCTD a Westminster-style democracy, to fulfill the popular, regional, and democratic aspirations of the people of Delhi. The impugned ordinance directly violates this scheme of federal, democratic governance incorporated in Article 239AA and, specifically, the principle of 'collective responsibility' incorporated in Article 239AA(6),' it said.

The plea said the ordinance 'completely sidelines' the elected government, that is, the GNCTD, from control over its civil service.

'The Impugned ordinance wrests control over civil servants serving in the Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD), from the GNCTD to the unelected Lieutenant Governor (LG). It does so without seeking to amend the Constitution of India, in particular Article 239AA of the Constitution, from which flows the substantive requirement that power and control in respect of Services be vested in the elected government,' it said.

The plea said the ordinance, by seizing control over civil servants posted in the GNCTD and vesting it in the hands of the Union's nominee, in effect attempts to hand over the administration of the GNCTD to the Union of India.

'In doing so, the impugned ordinance erodes not only the premise of democratic governance but also the regional will of Delhi's electorate. The impugned ordinance violates Article 239AA on both counts,' it said.

The plea said a democratic and federal form of government, so also the non-retrogression of such forms, are basic features of our Constitution.

'This attempt to withdraw and erode the democratic, federal voice guaranteed to the people of Delhi after over 30 years of its recognition, could not have been done via constitutional amendment, let alone through the impugned ordinance,' it said.

It said under the scheme of Article 239AA, the LG enjoys discretion only in matters falling outside the GNCTD's legislative and executive domain, and in all other matters (including 'Services') is bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

The ordinance stated that 'there shall be an authority to be known as the National Capital Civil Service Authority to exercise the powers conferred on, and discharge the functions assigned to it'.

The authority will comprise the chief minister of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi as its chairperson, along with the chief secretary and the principal home secretary, who will be the member secretary to the authority, it said.

'All matters required to be decided by the authority shall be decided by majority of votes of the members present and voting. All recommendations of the authority shall be authenticated by the member secretary,' the ordinance said.

'The central government, in consultation with the authority, shall determine the nature and the categories of officers and other employees required to assist the authority in the discharge of its functions and provide the authority with such officers and employees, as it may deem fit...

'Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force, the National Capital Civil Service Authority shall have the responsibility to recommend the transfers and postings of all the Group 'A' officers and officers of DANICS serving in the affairs of the government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi but not officers serving in connection with any subject matter,' it read.

The National Capital Civil Service Authority will meet at a time and place as the member secretary decides with the approval of the chairperson of the authority, as and when required, the ordinance added.

The Delhi government has legislative and executive powers over administration of services except for public order, police and land, the Supreme Court had ruled on May 11.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, in a unanimous verdict, had put an end to the eight-year-old dispute between the Centre and the Delhi government triggered by a 2015 home ministry notification asserting its control over services, holding the National Capital Territory administration is unlike other Union territories and has been accorded a 'sui generis' (unique) status by the Constitution.

Against the backdrop of frequent run-ins between the AAP government and the Centre's point man, the lieutenant governor, the apex court asserted an elected government needs to have control over bureaucrats, failing which the principle of collective responsibility will be adversely affected.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a 'meaningful' conversation over the phone, and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership while exchanging views on the conflict in Ukraine.

Photograph: ANI Photo

The telephone conversation between the two leaders came days ahead of the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which is being hosted by India on July 4.

It also came a day after Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval discussed bilateral ties and the latest security developments in Russia.

Modi and Putin reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries, it said.

'The conversation had a meaningful and constructive character. The leaders reiterated mutual commitment to strengthening the privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and agreed to continue communication,' the Kremlin press service said, noting that the phone call was initiated by the Indian side.

The leaders discussed bilateral cooperation and noted the importance of continuing joint projects in various spheres. They stated that trade between Russia and India had considerably increased in 2022, spilling over into the first quarter of 2023.

Russian President Putin informed Modi of Ukraine's categorical refusal to settle the conflict through diplomacy, it said about the raging war in Eastern Europe since February last year.

'The two leaders discussed the situation around Ukraine. The Russian president assessed the current situation in the special military operation zone, pointing to Kyiv's categorical refusal to take political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict,' Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoted the Kremlin statement as saying.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.

India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.

The Kremlin statement also said Modi briefed Putin about his recent US visit and talks with President Joe Biden.

'Narendra Modi informed him (Putin) about his international contacts, including during his recent visit to Washington,' it said.

The two leaders also discussed their countries' cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the G20.

'Special attention was focused on cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20, where India holds the presidency, as well as within the BRICS format,' the statement said.

The Kremlin statement also said Prime Minister Modi has expressed support for the actions taken by the Russian leadership in connection with the short-lived armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group last week.

'In connection with the June 24 developments, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the resolute actions by the Russian authorities to defend law and order, and ensure stability in the country and security of its citizens,' it said.

The rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group on Saturday marked the most serious challenge to President Putin in more than two decades of his rule and triggered questions over his leadership.

The Wagner mercenary group had taken control of Rostov-on-Don town. The revolt ended when Prigozhin ordered his troops back.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next week's virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India, it was announced in Beijing on Friday.

IMAGE: Participants of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif, pose for a picture before an extended-format meeting of heads of SCO member states in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022. Photograph: Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via Reuters

At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release.

This is the first official announcement about Xi's participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will also participate in the meeting on the invitation of his Indian counterpart on July 4, Pakistan's foreign ministry announced on Friday.

In a statement, it said Sharif's participation in the summit illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO, which is an important forum for regional security and prosperity, and enhanced engagement with the region.

'Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the 23rd Meeting of SCO Council of Heads of State (CHS) being held in video conference format on 4th July 2023,' it said.

'The invitation to the Prime Minister to attend the SCO-CHS was extended by the Prime Minister of India in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO,' the statement said.

Earlier in May, Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari attended in person a key multilateral meeting of the SCO in Goa.

Bhutto Zardari was the first Pakistan foreign minister to visit India since 2011 when Hina Rabbani Khar travelled to India in July for peace talks.

Meanwhile, answering a question at a media briefing on Xi's participation, another Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning said besides delivering important remarks , the Chinese President together with other participating leaders, chart the course for the future growth of the organisation.

"With the concerted efforts of all sides, the SCO will achieve greater progress and boost development and prosperity in regional countries, she said.

Mao said since its establishment, the SCO has continuously consolidated good neighbourliness and political mutual trust between member states, deepened cooperation in various sectors, and played an important and constructive role in international and regional affairs.

In a world marked by change and disorder and fraught with increasing instability, uncertainties and unpredictable factors, regional countries, as well as other members of the international community, look to the SCO to play a bigger role in safeguarding regional security and promoting common development, she said.

"As a founding member, China views the SCO as a priority in its foreign affairs," she said.

"We stand ready to work with other members to act on the Global Development Initiative, (GDI) the Global Security Initiative, (GSI) and the Global Civilization Initiative, (GCI) to build an even closer SCO community with a shared future, and usher in a brighter future for the Eurasian continent, she said.

The GDI, GSI and GCI are the new set of doctrines put forward by Xi to advance China's strategic influence in the world.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.

Ahead of the summit to be held for the first time under India's Presidency, India on Tuesday inaugurated an exquisitely designed New Delhi Hall at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.

While the SCO's six founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have their halls highlighting their cultures and unique features, India is the first to add its own.

Virtually inaugurating the hall, External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar in his address said the New Delhi Hall, is conceived to be a mini-India showcasing various facets of Indian culture.

To make you visualise the depth of India's artistic tradition and cultural identity, the Hall has been designed with exquisite patterns and motifs representing the rich architectural craftsmanship found throughout India, he said.

Last year, the in-person SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that was attended by all top leaders of the grouping including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In September, India will host the G20 summit for which it is going to invite Xi and Putin, besides other leaders of the bloc.

The theme of the summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'.

The SECURE acronym was coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.

These themes have been highlighted during India's chairmanship of the SCO.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday handed over keys of houses built on land freed from the 'illegal' possession of slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to 76 beneficiaries.

IMAGE: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hands over keys to the beneficiaries of 76 affordable housing units constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Photograph: @myogiadityanath/Twitter

Ahmad along with his brother Ashraf was shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists during a media interaction in April.

Addressing the event, Adityanath said the previous government stood with the mafia when it came to freeing the land of the poor.

"I will ask all the development authorities to build houses for the poor on the land freed from the mafia so that the poor can get shelter and their faith in the government will increase," he said.

Adityanath said 54 lakh poor people in the state have been allotted houses under PMAY in the past six years and 10 lakh more houses will be allotted soon.

"Six years ago, not a single poor person used to get a house under this scheme. The poor did not get houses because the state government at that time did not want to think about them. The central government used to write letters to provide accommodation, but the state government did not want to take the houses," he said.

According to a Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) official, four-storey towers housing 1 BHK flats have been built in the Lukarganj area in Prayagraj.

Each flat costs Rs 6 lakh and the beneficiaries paid Rs 3.5 lakh. The central government paid Rs 1.5 lakh, while the state government paid Rs 1 lakh for every house, the official said.

Each flat has a balcony, electricity, sewerage and parking facility.

Adityanath also inaugurated and laid foundation stones of 226 development projects worth Rs 768 crore at the event.

Speaking about the Global Investors Summit held in Lucknow earlier this year, Adityanath said, "Investment proposals worth Rs 36 lakh crore were received during the event. One crore people will get jobs from this investment."

Referring to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said, "This is the time when we should not be misled by anyone. This country is not run by slogans but by the ground reality and this ground reality has been shown by Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi."

On Maurya's suggestion, Adityanath directed the PDA and the district administration to prepare a detailed project report to build a convention centre with a seating capacity of 10,000 in Prayagraj.

State minister Nand Gopal Gupta, MPs Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Keshari Devi Patel, Allahabad West MLA Siddharth Nath Singh and Mayor Ganesh Kesarwani were also present at the event.
Delivering his punch in the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government vs Governor tussle in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday conveyed to Governor R N Ravi that his action of 'dismissal' of Minister V Senthil Balaji from the Cabinet was unconstitutional and hence not valid.

IMAGE: Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin. Photograph: ANI Photo

Stalin also slammed the Governor for alluding to 'breakdown of Constitutional machinery'.

While the Raj Bhavan had on Thursday night said it placed the unprecedented 'dismissal' order on hold, the DMK regime asserted it would pick an appropriate action plan to counter and fight the move against the minister by Ravi, even though he backtracked from it.

In his letter to Ravi, Stalin said: 'I reiterate that you have no power to dismiss my ministers. That is the sole prerogative of an elected chief minister. Your unconstitutional communication dismissing my minister without my advice is void ab initio (not valid right from the beginning of the process to dismiss Senthil Balaji) and non est (not known to law /not in sync with law) in law and hence has been disregarded.'

Referring to the two letters of June 29 from Raj Bhavan to the government, first on dismissal and then on keeping the order in abeyance, Stalin said that the aid or advice of the CM and the Cabinet was not sought before either letter was sent.

'The fact that within a few hours after you issued such a strongly worded first letter, even alluding to 'breakdown of constitutional machinery, a not so veiled threat', you withdrew it to seek the opinion of the Attorney General,' Stalin said.

'This showed that the Governor had not even taken legal opinion before taking such an important decision.'

He added, 'The fact that it needed the (Union) Home Minister's intervention to direct you to take legal opinion on this matter itself shows that you have acted in haste with scant regard to the Constitution of India.'

Citing Supreme Court rulings and the legal position on the matter, the CM said the matter of disqualification is applicable only in the event of a conviction by court. 'Senthil Balaji has only been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for investigations, and the charge sheet in the case has not been filed till now.'

Stalin hit out at the Governor for showing 'bias' and practising 'double standards', and criticised him for the 'inexplicable silence on my government's request for sanctions to investigate, prosecute former ministers and public servants for offences committed during the previous AIADMK government.'

He further said, 'Even the request of CBI for sanction of prosecution in the gutka case has not been acted upon by you.'

Stalin pointed out, 'Under Article 164(1), the Governor appoints and removes ministers only on the advice of the chief minister. The Governor has no power to decide who should or should not be part of the Cabinet.'

On Thursday, the Raj Bhavan release had said, 'There are reasonable apprehensions that continuation of V Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law including fair investigation that may eventually lead to breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in the State.'

Denouncing Ravi's action, now in abeyance, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said when the Governor himself has put on hold his decision it demonstrates that the action was taken without authority and validity.

"This is not legally tenable and Constitutionally invalid," he told reporters in Chennai.

To a question, the minister said: "The Governor has said that he has placed the matter under abeyance (to seek the Attorney General's opinion). What is the reason for that, after already taking a decision? From this you should understand."

He asserted that his party, the DMK, was a robust democratic outfit and it would face the issue politically and the government shall handle the matter legally.

Appropriate action plan -- legal avenues -- would be looked into and the right option would be chosen.

What course of action should be pursued at what time shall be decided in the due course, Thennarasu said, adding that all available options shall be explored under the stewardship of Chief Minister M K Stalin.

The main opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam reiterated that Senthil Balaji should be dropped from the Cabinet. The post of minister for Senthil Balaji was a 'shield' against the ED probe, the AIADMK alleged.

The BJP targeted Stalin for demanding that the Governor dismiss an AIADMK minister in 2018.

Stalin was then the leader of the opposition and the then AIADMK Minister Vijayabaskar faced graft allegations.

Speaking about the Governor attempt to dismiss Minister Senthil Balaji, Senior Advocate and DMK Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson said Ravi's move was 'void ab initio' and went against the Constitutional scheme.

He said only an investigation was on against Senthil Balaji; that does not attract disqualification, and this has been made amply clear in the Supreme Court judgments in the Lily Thomas vs Union of India and Manoj Narula vs Union of India cases.

Thennarasu said the Tamil Nadu government was 'disregarding' the Governor's action of sacking Balaji.

The minister alleged that Ravi acted 'unilaterally' and 'in haste' over the matter and decided to dismiss Balaji without getting proper counsel.

He wondered how a person who was already in judicial custody could hinder the investigation, as cited in the Raj Bhavan press release issued when the Governor 'dismissed' Balaji on Thursday.

Tamil Nadu Law Minister S Regupathy, answering a question, said Balaji continued as a minister without portfolio, and claimed there was no necessity for him to interfere in the investigation.

"Several Union Ministers have cases against them and they are functioning as ministers. Senthil Balaji is a minister without portfolio."

Senthil Balaji is an influential leader in the western Kongu region. He was previously with the AIADMK before joining the DMK a few years ago. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a case of cash-for-jobs scam. Later, he was hospitalised and underwent a bypass surgery.

The ruling DMK's party organ Murasoli said Ravi's dismissal directive was 'put on hold within five hours as per the advisory of the Union home ministry'.

The order to dismiss Balaji from the Council of Ministers has been kept in abeyance by the Governor until further communication.

Meanwhile, posters sprung up in the city, asking whether 'Guindy (Raj Bhavan is in the neighbourhood of downtown Guindy) would write to Delhi' about the pending cases against a set of union ministers, and seek their ouster from the Cabinet.
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. High around 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Locally heavy rainfall possible..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening, then partly cloudy overnight. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.
The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off on Thursday in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province. A number of African officials and exhibitor expressed their expectations towards the ongoing event.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
People visit the 11th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) in Macao, south China, June 30, 2023. The 11th MITE opened here on Friday, drawing together tourism authorities and industry players from China and abroad to promote their respective tourist resources and offer attractive travel products. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

MACAO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The 11th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) opened here on Friday, drawing together tourism authorities and industry players from China and abroad to promote their respective tourist resources and offer attractive travel products.

Over 500 tourism institutions, travel agencies and enterprises from nearly 40 countries and regions took part in the exhibition which covered around 23,000 square meters in total.

Lei Wai Nong, secretary for economy and finance of the Macao Special Administrative Region government, said at the opening ceremony that the expo helps leverage Macao's unique advantages to build a new platform for "tourism+" cooperation, expand regional and international tourism cooperation, and facilitate more business opportunities.

Kong Lun, deputy director-general of the Bureau of International Exchanges and Cooperation of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism, voiced his hope that the expo will help Macao better integrate into overall national development, and build a bridge for the mainland and Macao to jointly expand development space.

Organized by the Macao Government Tourism Office, the three-day expo is scheduled to host over 50 promotions, forums and other events. 

People walk past an exhibition area during the 11th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) in Macao, south China, June 30, 2023. The 11th MITE opened here on Friday, drawing together tourism authorities and industry players from China and abroad to promote their respective tourist resources and offer attractive travel products. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

Dancers perform during the 11th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) in Macao, south China, June 30, 2023. The 11th MITE opened here on Friday, drawing together tourism authorities and industry players from China and abroad to promote their respective tourist resources and offer attractive travel products. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

Dancers perform during the 11th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) in Macao, south China, June 30, 2023. The 11th MITE opened here on Friday, drawing together tourism authorities and industry players from China and abroad to promote their respective tourist resources and offer attractive travel products. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)

People visit the 11th Macao International Travel (Industry) Expo (MITE) in Macao, south China, June 30, 2023. The 11th MITE opened here on Friday, drawing together tourism authorities and industry players from China and abroad to promote their respective tourist resources and offer attractive travel products. (Xinhua/Cheong Kam Ka)
India is promoting its own technology and largely contributing to bringing down the carbon footprint, The High Commission of the Kingdom of Lesotho Thabang Linus Kholumosaid said on Thursday while speaking on the occasion of Boiler Expo 2023 in the national capital.

Kholumo said, I am really impressed because India is promoting its own technology and its own people. The motto of Make in India and Make for the World is highly promoted. Today it is Boilers, tomorrow it will be something else. The contribution of India in reducing the contamination of the environment to bring down the carbon print is very high and very appreciated. I am doing my best to contribute to the reduction of the carbon print in the world.

In our country (Lesotho), we have very less carbon print. But, for the world, these technologies are highly appreciated, because it will save our environment, he said, adding that he was impressed by the Indian democracy and Prime Minister Narendra Modis governance.

When it comes to democracy in India, I think I am equally impressed, because people in India have the freedom to do what they like, what they know and the government is actually promoting that. The government is exposing them for the world to see. That is democracy and it is best, he said.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kholumo said, He (PM Modi) is the Prime Minister of the world. Everybody likes him. I like his style of governance. He is promoting India. And India is going to be a superpower very soon. It's economy is growing, its people are growing, and the glory goes to the Prime Minister.

Honorary consulate of the Union of Comoros expresses optimism about Boiler Expo 2023

Kanhaiya Lal Ganju, the honorary consulate of the Union of Comoros, also expressed optimism about the event and said that it will help in taking new technologies across the world including in Africa.

It is a great privilege for me to have come to this exhibition at the invitation of the Global Trade and Technology Council of India. I am very pleased to see that the companies which have participated here are as old as 90 years, 100 years and that is very amazing to see. And all these companies who are here, are exhibiting their products, they are doing innovation, he said.

He added, When they are having an exhibition, this will help develop the industry and many other things. And I am very pleased that this technology can be taken to Africa because Africa needs such type of technologies. Africa is a developing area in this part of the world. So, therefore, we will pass on this information to our countries which I represent or we all represent. And I was told that one company has already established one factory in Mongolia. Similarly, they can do it in Africa also.
A slew of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and instances of torture by Burkina Fasos military has terrorized communities in the countrys northeast this year, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday. The violence took place between February and May across the province of Seno. The report identifies at least 27 people who were either summarily executed or disappeared and then killed, most of them members of the Fulani ethnic group.

Jihadi fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have waged a violent insurgency in Burkina Faso for seven years. The violence has killed thousands of people and divided the country, leading to two coups last year.

The report by the New York-based watchdog comes in the wake of an April massacre in which residents say security forces killed at least 150 civilians in Karma, a northern village near the Mali border. A Burkina Faso government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

In one account, 10 men in the village of Gangaol, all of the Fulani ethnic group, were hauled away in the backs of trucks, pushed out, and fired upon. The soldiers shot and I ran. I saw the others falling on the ground, but I kept running, the HRW report quoted a survivor of the incident. Only four of the men survived, two of whom suffered critical injuries.

In the cases we documented, most of those who have been victims of these crimes were from the Fulani ethnic group, explained Ilaria Allegrozzi, the senior regional researcher at Human Rights Watch. The Fulani people in Burkina Faso and Mali have been accused of collaborating with Islamic extremists, and as a result have often been targeted by security forces and others.

The only reason is hatred, said the father of a teen boy who had been shot by suspected government forces, according to the report. The upsurge in violence comes as the nations government recently pledged to double its number of volunteer auxiliary military units, known as VDPs, to 100,000. The recruitment of VDPs has coincided with an increase of abuses by both sides, Allegrozzi said.

Just as Burkinabe soldiers strike villages suspected of harboring extremist elements, the presence of army recruiters in a Burkina Faso community often invites violent intimidation by armed groups. I think its also important to recognize that they are fighting a legitimate war, Allegrozzi said, referring to the armed forces. As recently as Monday, 34 members of the military were killed in an ambush by suspected extremist fighters, according to a government press release.

What we are questioning is the way this fight is conducted, which is not according to human rights standards and doesnt take into account civilian protection, she said. The targeting of civilians is unnecessary, inhumane, and ultimately counterproductive, the report also says.

Executions and disappearances by Burkina Fasos army are not only war crimes, but they breed resentment among targeted populations that fuel recruitment to armed groups, Carine Kaneza Nantulya, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch, wrote in Thursdays report. Burkina Faso should ensure that provost marshals, who are responsible for discipline in the armed forces and detainees rights, are present during all military operations, the report stressed, adding that transitional authorities should work with the U.N. human rights office to hold offenders within its militarys ranks accountable.
Pakistan Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the 23rd Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State (CHS) being held in video conference format on 4th July 2023. The SCO Summit will be hosted virtually by India on July 4.

The invitation to the Prime Minister of Pakistan to attend the SCO-CHS was extended by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in his capacity as the current Chair of the SCO. India currently holds the rotational presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) until September 2023. India assumed this presidency in 2022 from Uzbekistan.

Pak Foreign Ministry confirms Sharif's participation

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan confirmed the participation of PM, Shehbaz Sharif. It said that at the forthcoming summit meeting or the Council of Heads of State, the highest forum of the SCO, the leaders will deliberate on important global and regional issues and chart the future direction of cooperation among the SCO Member States.

This year, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will also welcome Iran as a new member of the organisation.

Pak foreign ministry, in its press release, also said that the participation of its Prime Minister in the heads of state meeting illustrates the high importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO, as an important forum for regional security and prosperity, and enhanced engagement with the region.

Chinese and Russian President to also attend

The Chinese Foreign Ministry had earlier confirmed that President Xi Jinping will attend the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India. Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be attending the summit.

The theme of the summit inspired by PM Modi

The theme of the 2023 summit is "Towards a SECURE SCO". The SECURE acronym was coined by the Prime Minister at the 2018 SCO Summit. It stands for Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environment. China also said that these themes have been highlighted during Beijing's Chairmanship of SCO.

SCO 2024 in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan will take over the chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) from India. The SCO Summit 2024 will be held in Astana.
The Prime Minister of Latvia, Krisjanis Karins, emphasized the significance of European Union expansion and the inclusion of more member states. He highlighted that Russia's actions demonstrate the absence of room for an intermediate or gray zone. According to Karins, any country aspiring to join the EU must fulfill all the required standards.Karins emphasized the need to respond appropriately to Russia's actions, particularly in the cases of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and the Balkans. He emphasized that any potential member state should meet the necessary standards and implement reforms. Encouragement and concerted efforts from the European Union are vital in accomplishing this task."Russia is looking at the gray area to attack a country, and we have to respond accordingly in the case of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and also the Balkans," said Karins. "Any potential member state must meet all standards and implement reforms, that's for sure, but we must encourage it and work on it as a task of the European Union."The Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, expressed endorsement for the expansion of the European Union. She conveyed to Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova that they must fully meet all the criteria without any exceptions. No concessions will be made to them in this regard. These remarks were made prior to the commencement of the European Union leaders' summit.Kallas stressed that meeting the criteria is essential for starting negotiations and acknowledged that Georgia's progress is more complicated. However, there is still time to work on any remaining requirements."We support the enlargement of the European Union. We conveyed to Ukraine and Moldova that they must fulfill the criteria completely without any benefits. Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine must fulfill all the criteria. Therefore, if the criteria are met, it would be fair to initiate negotiations. These reforms are challenging, but they are necessary. Georgia poses a greater complexity when discussing progress. If you observe a report regarding the fulfillment of the criteria, there is still time to work on it. Thus, all the criteria must be fulfilled," stated Kallas.
This aerial photo taken on May 20, 2023 shows the diversion ceremony site of Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station in Cuanza Norte province, Angola. Angolan President Joao Lourenco has spoken highly of the socioeconomic contribution of the Chinese-built Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station, saying that the station would bring significant benefits in terms of energy supply and improved well-being for the Angolan people. (China Gezhouba Group Company Limited/Handout via Xinhua)

"We are seeing the Chinese industry thrive here. We have Huawei. We have Jetour. We have other Chinese companies growing in Angola. I see a bright future between the two countries in this cooperation," says Tiago Quissua Armando, a young Angolan analyst of international relations.

LUANDA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- "If today we see the construction of schools, bridges, and other projects, there is always some Chinese financing involved," Pedro Magalhaes, rector of Angola's Agostinho Neto University, has said.

"There is no doubt that the financing came at a time when the country needed this positive energy to drive development," he said.

In recent interviews with Xinhua, Magalhaes and another Angolan expert noted the positive results of and new opportunities arising from the economic and infrastructure cooperation between China and Angola.

They believe the partnership will continue to foster development and bring mutual benefits for both countries.

This photo taken on May 20, 2023 shows the diversion ceremony site of Caculo-Cabaca Hydropower Station in Cuanza Norte province, Angola. (Xinhua/Lyu Chengcheng)

VISIBLE RESULTS

For Magalhaes, Chinese financial support is easily noticeable in the country. The results of China-funded projects are "visible and positive" economically and elsewhere, and "of great importance to the country," he said.

Sharing a similar view, Tiago Quissua Armando, a young Angolan analyst of international relations at the Venancio De Moura Diplomatic Academy, elaborated that China offered significant financial support for the African country right after the end of the Angolan Civil War in 2002 when the country was in dire need of basic infrastructure.

"At that time, we didn't have bridges. We didn't have schools. China made a serious investment in that regard. Hospitals, bridges, universities and even the Kilamba Kiaxi were built in Angola," said Armando, referring to the residential complex some 30 km south of Angola's capital Luanda.

Built on a once-isolated open field, the project has created a modern community over the past few years, with over 20,000 housing units accommodating approximately 120,000 residents.

Most infrastructure there, such as buildings, schools, roads, and water and electricity supply systems, including the institute where Armando works, was built by Chinese contractors with Chinese financing. "This not only helped solve the housing problem but also brought a positive response to the government and the country of Angola," he said.

The flourishing of China-funded projects in Angola has also attracted many private Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in the country.

"Today, when we talk about the economic diversification process, we can see that there are small and medium-sized Chinese companies operating in Angola, creating jobs for Angolan citizens. At the same time, these companies trade goods and services that meet the Angolan economy," said Armando. "This cooperation is of utmost importance for both countries because it is clear that it has produced positive results."

This photo taken on June 18, 2023 shows the exhibition area of Jetour Auto, a Chinese automotive maker, at Luanda Expo Car 2023, in Luanda, Angola's capital. (Xinhua/Lyu Chengcheng)

MORE POSITIVE OUTCOMES

According to the National Bank of Angola, the country's debt to Chinese entities is now estimated at about 19 billion U.S. dollars. When asked about the debt to China, Armando said that considering the positive outcomes of the projects financed by the loans, Chinese financing has boosted the Angolan economy.

"During this period, in the early 2000s, we observed significant economic growth in the Angolan economy. In addition to the high oil prices, we also obtained Chinese credit lines' projects, which enabled national reconstruction and, at the same time, promoted Angola's own economic development," he elaborated.

In January, China and Angola signed an agreement in which the Export-Import Bank of China will provide a concessional loan of 249 million dollars to support Angola's national broadband network project.

Angolan Minister of Finance Vera Daves de Sousa said that the framework agreement would further develop the friendly relations between Angola and China, and promote economic and technical cooperation between the two countries.

"We are seeing the Chinese industry thrive here. We have Huawei. We have Jetour. We have other Chinese companies growing in Angola. I see a bright future between the two countries in this cooperation," Armando said.

Angolan Chinese language learners sing songs during the "Chinese Bridge" World Proficiency Competition in Luanda, Angola, June 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Lyu Chengcheng)

CULTURAL EXCHANGES

Currently, tens of thousands of Chinese live in Angola, engaging in various sectors of the economy, but cooperation is not limited to financing and infrastructure.

Urging the partnership between the two countries to build a foundation for cultural exchange, Magalhaes, the rector mentioned above, believes that "no one can coexist without getting to know each other better; cultural cooperation is the basis for everything."

The university leader said that cultural cooperation, such as joint education and scientific research, establishes the foundation for future collaboration between African countries and China.

Magalhaes mentioned his participation in a forum held in Macao a few years ago, where university heads from Portuguese-speaking countries gathered to discuss the Belt and Road Initiative.

"It was in this spirit that we paved a path for development. It is through this Belt and Road dialogue that we have managed to unite efforts and sit down to discuss development perspectives."

In his opinion, the China-proposed initiative has driven academic exchanges. In this regard, the Belt and Road is a prosperous project, promoting mutual understanding between many African countries, including Angola, and China, which is a brotherly relationship.
A quasi-independent review board recommended on Thursday that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's Facebook and Instagram accounts be suspended for six months for using language that could incite violence.

The Oversight Board established by Meta, Facebook's parent company, issued its non-binding ruling in a 26-page report. It would overturn a decision by Facebook's moderators to allow to stand a video on Premier Hun Sen's Facebook page of a January speech in which he decried opposition politicians who accused his ruling party of stealing votes.

There are only two options. One is to use legal means and the other is to use a stick, the prime minister said in the video. Either you face legal action in court, or I rally (the Cambodian) People's Party people for a demonstration and (to) beat you up. His remarks were spoken on Facebook Live and kept online as a video.

The board said its reached its recommendation to suspend his accounts due in part to "Hun Sen's history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats. Meta is expected to respond within 60 days.

Hun Sen  a devoted and active user of Facebook  a day earlier said he will no longer upload to the popular platform and will instead depend on the Telegram app to spread his message.

A canny and sometimes ruthless politician, Hun Sen has been Cambodia's top leader for 38 years. He said he is making the platform switch because Telegram is more effective and makes it easier to communicate when he is travelling to countries that ban Facebook use  such as China, his government's top international ally.

Cambodia PM Hun Sen is finally being called out for using social media to incite violence against his opponents, and he apparently doesn't like it one bit, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in an emailed statement on Thursday.

Facebook, Robertson added, dared to hold him accountable to their community standards.

Sok Eysan, a spokesperson for Hun Sen's ruling party, said he could not comment in detail because he did not know Facebook's rules and regulations.

But he said that Hun Sen faces a double standard, because foreign-based media that broadcast attacks and what he described as false information about the prime minister and his family are allowed to operate unimpeded. Hun Sen, in contrast, could face a suspension.

Two levels of Facebook moderators had declined to recommend action against Hun Sen, judging first that he did not violate Meta's community standard guidelines against violence and incitement.

They prohibit threats that could lead to death and threats that lead to serious injury, including statements of intent to commit violence.

On appeal, a more senior set of moderators ruled that despite the comments' provocative nature, Hun Sen's position as a national leader made his remarks newsworthy and therefore not subject to punishment.

Three outside users appealed to the board to review the moderators' rulings, as did Meta itself.

Social media critics have repeatedly raised concerns about political leaders using social media in a manner that could inflame and trigger violence in such countries as India and Myanmar. Former US President Donald Trump was temporarily suspended from Facebook because of such concerns.
The UN Security Council voted unanimously Friday to immediately end a peacekeeping operation in Mali as demanded by the country's military junta.

Mali, which has grappled with an Islamic insurgency for over a decade, has seen its relations with the international community become strained in part because the current ruling junta has brought in mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group. The Wagner mercenaries also have been engaged in Moscow's war in Ukraine and were part of a short-lived mutiny against Russia's military last week.

The resolution adopted Friday terminates the mandate of the peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMA as of Friday and orders it to start the cessation of operations on Saturday, including transferring some tasks and withdrawing its more than 15,000 personnel with the objective of completing this process by Dec. 31, 2023. Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in the West African nation's northern cities the following year, with the help of a French-led military operation. But they regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its allies.

The U.N. peacekeepers came in a few months later in what has become one of the most dangerous U.N. missions in the world. At least 170 peacekeepers have been killed in the country since 2013, according to the U.N.

The council's action followed a demand by Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop to the Security Council on June 16 that MINUSMA leave the country.

Diop claimed that the peacekeepers had failed in their mission and was sowing distrust among the people.

The United Nations needs support of governments for its peacekeeping missions to operate.

Mali has been ruled by a military junta following two coups, starting in 2020, led by Col. Assimi Goita, who now runs the country. (AP) MRJ MRJ
In the Western vernacular theres a warning about tails wagging dogs. And the Buddhist adage dictates that when the sage points at the moon, only the fool looks at his finger. The point of both is not to confuse the object for the subject. For years, weve been warned that Laos has been ensnared in a Chinese debt trap. What if Laos has equally caught Beijing in a creditor trap?

According to the World Banks latest estimates, Laos national debt has probably surpassed 110 percent of GDP, with more than two-fifths of that owed bilaterally to China. (It accounts for around half of Laos external debt.) Others reckon the percentages are actually much higher. And as things stand, Laos public debt will remain above the 100-percent-of-GDP mark until 2030, according to a baseline scenario of an IMF report published last month.

China and Laos rarely make these things public, but the IMF reckons known deferrals of debt servicing to China amounted to $220 million in 2020, $450 million in 2021, and $610 million last year. By one estimate, Chinas short-term debt relief in the form of deferrals accounted for nearly 8 percent of Laos GDP by the end of 2022. Delaying makes sense. It frees up Vientianes finances in the short term. Because most of Laos debt is in U.S .dollars and the Lao kip has depreciated so badly since early 2022, payment now would be far more costly to the state than if China was paid back in a few years time (when the kip would have presumably rallied).

Beijing might remain conservative. Given the approach China has taken previously, it may offer short term relief, but only that, Mariza Cooray, of the Lowy Institutes Indo-Pacific Development Centre, argued last month. Beijing has moved much quicker to defer debt repayments for Laos compared to for the likes of Sri Lanka and Zambia, Cooray noted. But as with Sri Lanka and Zambia, she added, China has also so far been unwilling to take a haircut on its debt, despite obvious signs that this will ultimately be necessary and to everyones benefit.

Speaking recently to several economists, however, most were of the opinion that at some point, perhaps in the next year or two, Beijing will have to take a bolder step. That may not be as simple as write-downs or debt forgiveness, although those arent beyond doubt. Writing off two or three billion dollars, for instance, would prick Chinas overseas credit sheets but it would be a godsend to Laos coffers.

Special case

Other debtor nations might cry foul. But unlike Pakistan, say, Laos has miniscule relations with the West, so slightly freeing Vientiane from this debt burden wont see it suddenly realign with the United States or Western lenders. A majority of Laos debt is owed bilaterally to China, whereas most of Pakistans external debt is owed to multilateral institutions. That makes Laos a special case.

More likely, though, Beijing will want some form of quid-pro-quo: a stake in Laos national assets or a geopolitical favor. Its worth considering that Laos takes on the annually-rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2024, and Beijing may lean on its geopolitical client to represent its interests. Vientiane, which isnt overly fussed by how others perceive it, could demand something in return.

An electric train of China-Laos Railway crosses a bridge over the Yuanjiang River in southwestern China's Yunnan Province in 2021. According to the World Banks latest estimates, Laos national debt has probably surpassed 110 percent of GDP, with more than two-fifths of that owed bilaterally to China. Credit: Wang Guansen/Xinhua via AP In any case, that will once again raise the hackles of those who proclaim Laos is ensnared in a Chinese debt trap. But Beijing cannot easily walk away from its commitments in Laos, either. Toshiro Nishizawa, who has advised the Lao government in the past, has argued that the scale of Laos debt may seem like a default is inevitable but geo-economic factors mean that the concerns about Laos defaulting are unrealistic. China is unwilling to stomach the financial and political ramifications of a potential Laotian default.

Laos has also, in a way, trapped China. If Beijing allowed Laos to default, it would send a shock throughout the Global South. Because Beijing cannot afford to let Laos suffer too much, its compelled to offer Laos more relief than other lenders might have done. Neither does it want Chinese firms invested in Laos to be burdened by non-performing loans or for the local economy to collapse.

Chinese gangsters might run mini-fiefdoms in northern Laos but its in Beijings interest for the ruling Lao Peoples Revolutionary Party (LPRP) to maintain tight central power. It certainly wouldnt help Beijings global interests if a political crisis erupts in its southern neighbor over the governments inability to pay civil servants or fund basic services for the people, now increasingly the trend.

Debt is trapping China in Laos

In September 2020, Electricite du Laos (EDL), the state-owned energy company that controls the power grid, partnered with China Southern Power Grid Company to create the Electricite du Laos Transmission Company (EDL-T). The firm, of which China Southern has a controlling share (reportedly 90%), will manage Laos power grid for the next 25 years, including decisions on buying and selling power locally.

Anjali Bhatt, writing about this topic in the Diplomat, noted that this means China Southern will effectively control the electricity imports and exports of Laos  the crux of the whole Southeast Asia battery ambition. The direct control of critical infrastructure, she added, gives China leverage. Though unlikely, Beijing could use the threat of interfering with energy exports as a way to influence Lao policy.

A farmer works in a paddy field under the power lines near Nam Theun 2 dam in Khammouane province in 2013. In September 2020, Laos state-owned energy company partnered with China Southern Power Grid Company to create the Electricite du Laos Transmission Company, of which China Southern has a controlling share and will manage Laos power grid for the next 25 years. Credit: Aubrey Belford/Reuters However, that deal also meant that the Lao government was able to palm off to Beijing a state-owned enterprise that was hemorrhaging money. Before the merger, EDL was estimated to have been $8 billion in debt. (Much of Laos external debt has been taken on to finance its underperforming state-run firms, while a recent spate of bond issuances has gone to fund state-run banks.) How much of that remains on the Lao states books remains unclear but presumably China Southern may have taken on a proportion of that debt. Granted, it also means less revenue for the state but the Lao government now wants domestic taxation on private firms and individuals to be the main bulk of its revenue.

None of this is to say that the Laotian people benefit from the situation. Laos is a one-party, communist state. If it was a democracy, perhaps ordinary folk would rebel over how the current financial burdens will impact their children. National debt, after all, is a tax on the yet unborn generation. No-one benefits from this. Consider the question: Would Beijing prefer Laos to be a debt-ridden economic mess or to be more like Cambodia, another geopolitical partner but one with relatively low debt (less than 40 percent of GDP), good trade with the wealthy West and public finances to invest in its citizens?

Patron-client relations arent one-directional and debt is also trapping China in Laos. Something must give. But its in Beijings court to decide. If the Belt and Road is Chinas weltpolitik, a Laotian default on its debt would arguably be the biggest crisis yet to Beijings image as an honest creditor. Debt deferrals are only possible for a few more years. At some point, Beijing will surely have to offer forgiveness.

David Hutt is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS) and the Southeast Asia Columnist at the Diplomat. As a journalist, he has covered Southeast Asian politics since 2014. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of RFA.
They were seeking to petition the justice minister, but are now charged with incitement.

Police prevent community members in Koh Kong province from traveling to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to submit a petition to the Ministry of Justice on June 29, 2023.

A group of villagers involved in a long-running land dispute with a Chinese-backed company and a ruling party senator were arrested this week at a roadblock on the way to Phnom Penh, where they had planned to petition a government minister.

Police arrested 11 villagers in southwestern Koh Kong province on Thursday and charged them with criminal incitement, according to the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights, or Licadho.

Eb Teng, one of the villagers, told Radio Free Asia that authorities later threatened to make more arrests after about 20 villagers gathered outside the provincial office where the 11 were being detained.

Around 100 villagers had planned to travel to the capital Thursday to urge Minister of Justice Koeut Rith to intervene on previously filed charges against 30 Koh Kong land activists.

Police initially stopped four vans from driving from the province toward Phnom Penh, but a fifth van began the journey and was later stopped at a police roadblock about 80 miles (140 km) away, Licadho said in a statement.

The villagers were forced into a police truck and brought back to the provincial capital, Eb Teng said. Police didnt give a reason behind the arrest and didnt show any warrants, she said.

Police were also sent to an area between two villages where many of the protesters live, according to Licadho.

No-bid land lease

The villagers have accused Ly Yong Phat, a senator from the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party and casino tycoon with business interests in Koh Kong, and the Chinese-backed Union Development Group, UDG, of encroaching on their land.

UDG is building the US$3.8 billion Dara Sakor project including a seaport, resorts and casinos in Koh Kong.

The company was sanctioned in 2020 by the U.S. Treasury Department under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act for alleged land grabs, rights abuses, and corruption.

The Dara Sakor project has been mired in controversy ever since UDGs parent company, Tianjin Wanlong Group, was granted a 99-year lease to 90,000 acres along 20 percent of Cambodias coastline in May 2008.

The lease was handed to Tianjin Wanlong without an open bidding process and has provided the company with more than triple the size of any concession allowed under Cambodias land law.

UDG has cleared large swathes of forest from Botum Sakor National Park, which was included as part of the land lease, forcing hundreds of families to relocate.

Authorities have turned the land dispute case into a political dispute against the villagers, Eb Teng said.

I have been protesting over the land dispute but authorities accused me of being involved with politics, she said. We dont have a party? What is my party?

RFA was unable to reach a provincial court official or Provincial Police Chief Kong Mono for comment about the arrests on Friday.

Licadhos coordinator in Koh Kong, Huor Ing, urged the court to release the villagers, saying they were only exercising their right to request assistance from government officials. They didnt provoke any social disorder, he said.

Authorities should consider releasing them out of the jail because villagers just tried to petition the government to intervene, he said.

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.
Three years after Beijing imposed a national security law, journalists are still counting the cost

Jimuk will never forget the day dozens of national security police charged into the Apple Daily's editorial offices, separating staff from their computers, removing large quantities of confidential documents, freezing its assets and later arresting several executives and senior editors.

"The worst thing was that the day they arrested several high-level executives was actually my birthday, so I have felt very sad on my birthday these past couple of years," he said.

"I feel very bad that they have been sitting in jail for the past two years," he said.

The Apple Daily, founded by pro-democracy media magnate Jimmy Lai, was raided by national security police on June 17, 2021, becoming one of the biggest casualties of draconian national security law imposed by the ruling Communist Party in a bid to suppress the 2019 protest movement.

Five days later, as the paper shut down for good, a group of editors and reporters gathered outside the headquarters of Lai's Next Digital media empire, bowing to their readers to show gratitude for their support over the years.

"We are the Apple Daily editorial team, including reporters, and we have something to say to the people of Hong Kong  thank you," one said.

The last edition of the paper sold a record-breaking 1 million copies, with people lining up on the street from the early hours to get their piece of Hong Kong history, making a bittersweet end to 26 years of the papers sensationalist, hard-hitting style and its cheery apple logo.

Two years later, the doors of Next Digital's former headquarters are boarded up, and the company's name has been erased from the bus stop outside.

Leaving Hong Kong, journalism

Radio Free Asia caught up with four of its former journalists in recent weeks, marking the second anniversary of the raid.

Not many former Apple Daily staffers  who once numbered around 600  are still in journalism, while an estimated 1 in 10, have left Hong Kong for a new life overseas.

Police officers from the national security department escort Chief Operating Officer Chow Tat-kuen from the offices of Apple Daily and Next Media in Hong Kong, June 17, 2021. Credit: Lam Yik/Reuters





Meanwhile, at least 15 other media outlets have since also shut down, either because they were also being investigated by the national security police, or as a pre-emptive decision.

Of the former journalists who spoke to RFA Cantonese, some have changed careers, others have emigrated, and some have gone back to school.

And some diehards have clung to their profession because they believe very strongly in the idea of a free press for Hong Kongers  wherever they are in the world.

Three former staff members, who gave only the pseudonyms Ah Y, Ah A, and Jimuk for fear of political reprisals against themselves or their loved ones, spoke to Radio Free Asia about their current plans and their memories of the crackdown, which proved so fateful not just for the Apple Daily, but for Hong Kong.

A fourth  Taiwan-based Photon News website founder Leung Ka Lai  agreed to speak on the record.

More than a job

All are still struggling in their own way to come to terms with the loss of their paper, which was so much more than a job, and which has become a symbol of the crackdown on dissent and peaceful political opposition in Hong Kong since the protest movement tried to take issue with the erosion of the city's promised freedoms.

"I worked for the Apple Daily for more than 20 years  that place took all of my blood, sweat and tears. Anyone who says they don't miss the place is lying," Ah Y said.

Members of the press take photos as executive editor in chief Lam Man-Chung [center] proofreads the final edition of the Apple Daily newspaper before it goes to print in Hong Kong late on June 17, 2021. Credit: Anthony Wallace/AFP





For Ah A, it's the openness of the interactions with colleagues he misses the most.

"That open atmosphere made me very happy to go to work, he said. I miss that rapport with my colleagues, and I miss the feeling of everyone working together."

Jimuk said he still treasures every moment he spent working there.

"I haven't forgotten anything about the paper over the last two years because I invested so much in it, both mentally and emotionally, and did some good work there," they said.

For Ah Y, who now lives in the United Kingdom, there seems to be little point in staying in the industry at all. "These days being a journalist seems pretty pointless," he said, adding that he hadn't planned on leaving the profession, and isn't sure what to do now.

"It's not easy to just change careers after 20 years in journalism," he said. "I've spent more than half of my working life doing this job, and I always thought I would keep doing it until I retired."

Ah Y now does manual labor in Britain.

"Being a journalist has lost its meaning in this day and age," he said. "It would feel like going through the motions, like a zombie. And there isn't much of a future in it for young people."

Keeping the spirit alive

Jimuk is carrying out academic research into the Apple Daily in Taiwan, and teaching students from Taiwan and the rest of the world about the demise of press freedom in Hong Kong and about the 2019 protest movement.

He feels that he's still working as a communicator, only in a different venue and profession.

"I often think about how to keep the spirit of the Apple Daily alive," he said. "Also about how we can help preserve its history. My aim over the next few years is to create an academic archive detailing more than two decades of Apple Daily history.

Ah Y has also written about Hong Kong for some Taiwanese news organizations, something he has been grateful for because he feels as if he is helping Hong Kong from overseas.

Ah A decided to brave the chilly political climate and stay in Hong Kong, but hasn't managed to find another reporting job, as his resume is now tainted by his association with his former paper.

Instead, he has worked in sales, data analysis and as an Uber driver since the paper's demise.

He said media organizations in Hong Kong now appear reluctant to hire him.

"Journalists I have worked with from other media organizations have invited me to interview, and I went to more than one that was on the point of hiring me, but then didn't get approval from the highest level," he said.

"Each time it was because I was one of the last journalists to leave the Apple Daily," he said.

Excluded

It seems that being a former Apple Daily journalist is now something akin to the Black Five Categories of the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976 in mainland China  a recipe for vilification and exclusion, according to its former staffers.

Some former journalists at the paper have even been turned down for teaching positions in universities.

"It's a shame, because I would never have done this job for so long if I didn't really love it," said Ah A, who was a journalist for 16 years. "But the industry is changing so rapidly that I probably wouldn't be able to bear it. I'm getting a bit long in the tooth for that."

"I prefer the challenge of trying a different career altogether," he said.

As the ruling Communist Party tightened its grip on Hong Kong in the wake of the 2019 protest movement, it "gutted" press freedom in the city, according to journalists and overseas rights groups.

Since the national security law took effect on July 1, 2020, Hong Kong has plummeted from 18th to 140th in Reporters Without Borders' annual press freedom index.

Last hurrah

The 2019 protest movement, which was covered round-the-clock by a dedicated press corps who braved constant street battles between protesters and riot police, may have been its last hurrah.

With daily drone footage, live-tweeting, live streams, running commentary, political debate and in-depth interviews with participants, Hong Kong's journalists offered a depth and intensity of coverage that hasn't been seen in the city since.

That year, they really fulfilled their role as the fourth estate that holds governments to account and speaks truth to power.

But by the following year, the National Security Law had put an end to the activities of its once-intrepid press corps, barring the depiction of any scenes or slogans seen as glorifying the protesters or their aims.

Jimmy Lai, who was initially arrested and released on bail at the time of the national security raid, was taken back into custody, where he remains awaiting trial on national security charges.

He was also convicted of "fraud" in connection with the alleged misuse of Next Digital premises under the terms of its lease agreement.

Meanwhile, six former Apple Daily executives have pleaded guilty to "conspiring and colluding with foreign powers" under the national security law.

Other casualties

Six months after the raid on the Apple Daily, the pro-democracy Stand News website was also forced to close, with two of its senior editors prosecuted. A month later, Citizen News followed suit, saying it needed to shut down to keep its journalists safe.

"Four years on, the transformation has been shocking," Leung Ka Lai said. "Nobody thought this could happen, not even people with more than a decade of experience in Hong Kong media organizations."

"I used to think it would be something like the frog in the gradually heating pan of water, but actually, things changed overnight," she said.

Employees, executive editor in chief Lam Man-Chung [left] and deputy chief editor Chan Pui-Man [center] cheer in the Apple Daily newspaper office after completing editing of the final edition in Hong Kong, June 23, 2021. Credit: AFP





Leung, who worked for 16 years as a journalist in Hong Kong, the last three of them at the Apple Daily, tried to stay on after the paper closed, working as a citizen journalist covering protests and political opposition.

But she has since moved to the democratic island of Taiwan, where she founded Photon News, a service for Hong Kong readers anywhere in the world.

Be water

Leaving felt like the Bruce Lee maxim used by the 2019 protesters to denote a fluid approach to political opposition, "Be Water."

"I chose to leave because it turns out that there is some space to do my work here, enough freedom of expression," she said.

"Resistance takes many forms, and refusing to put up banners can be a form of resistance, if that's what the regime wants you to do," Leung said. "I don't want to put up protest banners -- I'm a journalist."

Yet Leung has found that self-censorship has dogged her shoestring news operation even in Taiwan, as people are reluctant to speak to the press due to risks under the national security law. There is also the need to protect her own employees.

We are now overseas, in a place that isn't threatened by Hong Kong's National Security Law, but still have to consider the safety of anonymous colleagues, and sometimes there are decisions to be made about which stories to run, and how they should be written," Leung said.

While some former colleagues have carried on reporting via social media, there are concerns about how effective an option this can be in the longer term.

"There are lot of like-minded colleagues in Hong Kong who have started their own news platforms, and there seems to be some room for them to do that," Leung said, adding that while 12 media organizations have folded, 15 new services -- albeit smaller and less well-funded -- have sprung up to take their place.

"But Hong Kongers are pretty picky, and won't just accept anything you feed them," she said, adding that the prospects for what little press freedom remains are looking grim, with the government planning further national security legislation.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
Experts say Beijing should still revisit its continued reliance on coal for power.

This photo taken on August 31, 2018 shows wind turbines in the Dabancheng District in Urumqi in China's northwestern Xinjiang region.

The boom in renewable power projects in China will likely help the country reach its 2030 target five years early, boosting the effort to limit global carbon emissions far faster than expected, a new study said.

China is on track to double its solar and wind power capacity and shatter Beijings ambitious 2030 target of 1,200 gigawatts (GW) five years ahead of schedule if all prospective projects are successfully built and commissioned, said the Global Energy Monitor (GEM) report, released on Thursday.

Solar panel installations alone are growing at a pace that would increase global capacity by 85% and wind power by nearly 50% by 2025, said GEM, a San Francisco-based non-governmental organization that tracks energy projects worldwide.

China has approximately 379 GW of large utility-scale solar and 371 GW of wind capacity projects that have been announced or are in the pre-construction and construction phases. They will likely be finished by 2025, adding roughly the same amount of currently installed operating capacity.

The report projected that China would likely achieve the provincial targets of approximately 1,371 GW for wind and solar, which is higher than the 1,200 GW President Xi Jinping announced his government would install by 2030.

A solar panel installation is seen in Ruicheng County in central China's Shanxi Province, Nov. 27, 2019. Credit: AP

This new data provides unrivaled granularity about Chinas jaw-dropping surge in solar and wind capacity, said Dorothy Mei, project manager at Global Energy Monitor.

As we closely monitor the implementation of prospective projects, this detailed information becomes indispensable in navigating the countrys energy landscape.

Half global renewable capacity in China

China has emerged as the frontrunner in global renewable energy, leveraging a blend of incentives and regulatory policies to host approximately 50% of the worlds operational wind and solar capacity.

The report said the ambitious renewable push has been geographically widespread, with every province and most counties developing large-scale solar and wind power.

Chinas operating scale solar capacity has reached 228 GW, more than the rest of the world combined.

This map shows prospective large utility-scale solar capacity in China. Credit: Global Energy Monitor.

According to the report, Chinas northern and northwest provinces have the largest number of solar projects. Shanxi, Xinjiang, and Hebei are the top three regions with the highest utility-scale solar capacity.

Meanwhile, Chinas combined onshore and offshore wind capacity has doubled since 2017, surpassing 310 GW, with the highest concentration of projects in the northern and northwestern regions, including Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and Xinjiang.

Chinas offshore wind capacity, which accounts for just 10% of its total wind capacity, is more than Europes offshore operating capacity.

This map shows prospective wind farm capacity in China. Credit: Global Energy Monitor.

On Sunday, China successfully commenced operations of the Tibetan plateaus largest hybrid solar-hydro power plant, Kela, which can generate 2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, equivalent to the energy consumption of over 700,000 households.

Currently boasting a capacity of 20 GW, the plant is projected to expand and achieve approximately 50 GW capacity by 2030.

In the past, China has said that its greenhouse gas emissions will peak in 2030 before slowing down to reach net zero by 2060.

Ramping up wind and solar capacity plays an essential role in Chinas carbon emissions from the power sector, Mei told Radio Free Asia.

When China reaches its emissions peak will essentially depend on how soon the growth of clean energy can start to outpace the increase in total energy demand, which could happen in the next few years given the current solar and wind boom.

Chinas reliance on coal continues

Among the top 10 power sector emitters, China led the world by three times more than the U.S., the second-biggest carbon dioxide emitter, with fossil fuel power plants generating two-thirds of Chinas electricity in 2022.

In April, another energy research organization Ember said in a report that China produced the most CO2 emissions of any power sector in the world in 2022, accounting for 38% of total global emissions from electricity generation.

Mei said that while China had made significant progress in renewable energy deployment, it continued to heavily rely on coal for power generation due to its reliability and consistent electricity supply.

The power supply model being adopted at the renewables bases in the northwest deserts still largely relies on new coal power plants to provide a steady, reliable flow of electricity through the long-distance direct current transmission lines to end users, Mei said.

In 2022, China alone accounted for 53% of the worlds coal-fired electricity generation, showing a dramatic revival in appetite for new coal power projects.

A View of the Wujing coal-electricity power station is seen across the Huangpu River in the Minhang district of Shanghai on August 22, 2022. Credit: Hector Retamal/AFP

Recent record heatwaves and drought have also renewed focus on Chinas energy security concerns, as factories had to be shut down due to power shortages, forcing authorities to increase reliance on coal.

Last year, Beijing approved the highest new coal capacity in eight years. It continues this year, with environmental group Greenpeace saying in April that China had approved at least 20.45 GW of new coal capacity in the first three months of 2023, according to official approval documents.

As electricity demand during extreme weather events increases, China must resist turning to coal and should instead prioritize more optimal solutions to manage the variability of demand and clean power supply, Mei said.

Edited by Mike Firn.
By impersonating journalists, they tried to gain information from experts through phishing attacks

Suspected North Korean hackers are impersonating journalists in emails to target experts on North Korea issues in phishing attacks, a collection of emails obtained by Radio Free Asia showed.

The 12 suspicious emails were forwarded to RFAs Korean Service by the experts who received them. RFA was not able to confirm the identity of any of the senders of the emails, nor their connection with the North Korean government.

However, they all exhibit signs that strongly suggest that they were phishing attempts by agents working for Pyongyang in order to gain access to intelligence or to install malware on an experts device.

In March, RFA reported that Google Clouds cybersecurity subsidiary firm Mandiant classified a group of hackers using the same or similar methods as a moderately-sophisticated cyber operator that supports the interests of the North Korean regime, and named that group, which it had been monitoring since 2018, as APT43.

In most of the cases RFA compiled, the email comes from an address on a free email platform like Gmail or Aol, but the sender does enough research into the journalist so as to plausibly pass themselves off as that person.

The apparent hackers attempted to pass themselves off as actual reporters for organizations like Kyodo News, Radio Free Asia, Voice of America (VOA) and others. They asked experts to answer a series of questions or attempted to entice them into clicking malicious links or downloading malicious files.

Information gathering

In one of the 12 emails, the attacker impersonated Shin Jin-woo, a reporter at South Korea's Dong-A Ilbo newspaper. Shin sent a list of specific North Korea policy questions to an expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, but used the expert's email address from a university. The impersonator sent the email from niceshinn@aol.com, which is similar to the real Shin's niceshin@donga.com address.

In addition, Shin offered the expert US$200 for his comments. Its not normal practice for reporters to offer sources payment for information.

From:   <niceshinn@aol.com>

To: [email redacted]

Sent: Fri, Mar 4, 2022 at 2:57 AM

Subject: Re: [urgent] Interview request form reporter of Dong-A Ilbo, the largest newspaper in Korea

Greetings,

I am Shin Jin-woo, a reporter working for Dong-A Ilbo, the largest newspaper in Korea.

I am the head of the foreign affairs team in the political department. Dong-A Ilbo has the most subscribers in Korea. It is also the oldest media company in Korea in 100 years.

I am sure that this interview is a good opportunity to inform Korean readers of your idea. I know that you are very busy. However, I would appreciate it if you could take a moment to answer. If you answer even some of the questions below, I expect it to be a good opportunity to convey your thoughts to the Korean people. If you do not want to be released your name, we could publish your paper anonymously. Well be pleased to offer an honorarium of $200 for your participation.

The questionnaire is as follows. Please reply. thank you.

Best regards.

Jin-woo

The goal of the email was to get the expert to answer specific North Korea policy questions as a means to gather intelligence on how the United States might respond to developments in the region.

The expert initially responded to Shin, saying he could answer a few of the questions, and asked him to communicate through his Brookings Institution email address. Shin replied with another email saying that he had a new list of questions that could be accessed if the expert clicked a link.

The link contained malware that could have compromised the experts device, allowing Shin to gain access to sensitive information.

Malicious attachment

In another example, an apparent hacker impersonated the friend of a RFA Korean Service reporter, even sending the phishing email to the reporters personal email address.

The imposter asked the reporter to download a .zip file containing the malware, claiming it was video of a lecture featuring North Korean escapees.

Translated from Korean:

From: [name redacted] <zak@naver.com>

Date: Tue, Jun 6, 2023, 4:17 AM

Subject: Sir~ its [name redacted]^^

To: <[redacted]@gmail.com>

Sir~ How are you doing?

A friend of mine was in this lecture given by North Korean defectors

It would be great if you could take a look at the lecture agenda and give me some good opinions.

Thanks a bunch^^

Attachment: North Korean defectors lecture.zip

The apparent hacker impersonated a real person that the reporter knew, and sent the email from a free email address, from South Korean online service provider Naver, to the reporters personal Gmail address.

The email had a very casual tone, complete with the ^^ text emoticon commonly used in Korean text messages to indicate a smiling face.

Falling for it

In one of the earliest examples, RFA Korean Service reporter Han Dukin received an email from a former senior state department official, asking him if he had received the answers to a list of questions that Han had sent to him about a week earlier.

But Han had never sent any questions.

The expert had actually answered the questions asked by Hans imposter. After no RFA report used his answers, he contacted the real Han to make sure he had received the answers. It was only then that he realized he had been tricked.

Gaining trust

The strategies used in RFA's collection of suspicious emails is consistent with the typical method used by North Korean hackers as described by Asheer Malhotra, a threat researcher at cybersecurity firm Cisco Talos.

Once the target starts engaging with them,  they will slowly and slowly begin conversations with you in an effort to establish trust, said Malhotra.

And once you've spoken to somebody for a few weeks and you've exchanged more than a few emails with them, there is an inherent trust that starts building up and they will exploit or leverage that trust to eventually send you a malware sample, he said.

And they'll be like, hey, this is a report. I took your findings, and I compiled it into a document. Can you please open this up and review it for me?

The emails contain techniques that are similar to those employed by APT43, Michael Barnhart, a senior analyst at Mandiant, told RFA.

Barnhart said that the goal of the North Korean hackers is not to compromise an entire organization.

They don't want to attack RFA or a crypto exchange; they would rather go for the personal accounts because when you do the personal accounts, it [lowers] the level of suspicion, he said. If they come for an organization, law enforcement might get involved, whereas if they go for individual people, a lot of times they don't report that to law enforcement.

Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee and Eugene Whong. Written in English by Eugene Whong and Amanda Weisbrod. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
The incident took place in a Chinese-controlled area of Laos thats earned a reputation for criminal activity.

A casino operated by the Kings Romans Group is seen in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos near the border between Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, March 2, 2016.

Authorities inside a Chinese-controlled special economic zone have arrested a Lao national believed to have shot and injured two Chinese men in the notorious crime area, area residents said, citing social media reports about the crime.

Authorities in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, which sits along the Mekong River in northwestern Laos Bokeo province, have not identified the shooter involved in the June 27 incident.

Established in 2007, the gambling and tourism hub caters to Chinese citizens and has been described as a de-facto Chinese colony. It has become a haven for criminal activities, including prostitution, online scamming, money laundering, drug trafficking, and human and wildlife trafficking by organized criminal networks.

A Lao resident told Radio Free Asia that locals learned about the shooting from reports on social media, though the perpetrators motive remains unknown.

There are a lot of guns in this area, he said. They sell them to each other like they are selling cake. Safety protection and controls in the zone are based on who has money and authority in the zone.

Residents who live in the vicinity of the SEZ say they are concerned about their safety because other shootings have occurred there, but Lao authorities do not have the right to enter the zone to conduct investigations.

Lao authorities in Bokeo province said they are aware of the shooting but cannot enter the Chinese-controlled area, which operates largely beyond the reach of Lao laws, creating friction with local residents.

It is up to the Chinese to investigate the incident, they said.

Meanwhile, the condition of the two injured Chinese men is unknown.

A health official from Bokeos Ton Pheung district, where the SEZ is located, told RFA that those wounded in shootings there are treated by Chinese doctors at the zones hospital, whereas the districts small medical clinic treats only Lao workers.

An official from the Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment said control of the SEZ is a complicated issue, so Lao authorities cannot get involved in investigating crimes that occur there.

Lao authorities should have the right to get involved, but in reality the Chinese have more rights than us, said the official, who declined to be named so he could speak freely.

It is unknown whether Chinese authorities in the SEZ will investigate the shooting themselves or transfer it to Lao police, he said.

The Lao government let the Chinese-owned company, Kings Romans Group, set up the SEZ in the Lao section of the Golden Triangle, hoping to generate economic development in the relatively poor country. But the areas development into a crime hub has caused problems, including an increase in gun violence.

Kings Romans Group has denied accusations of its involvement in criminal activities in the zone.

Translated by Sidney Khotpanya for RFA Lao. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.
Myanmars military junta this week sentenced a male LGBTQ activist to 10 years in prison on Wednesday on charges of terrorism, activists and students told Radio free Asia.

Justin Min Hein, president of the LGBTQ Union in the countrys central Mandalay region, was a leader of several anti-junta activities including a strike, flash protests, and other organized campaigns in Mandalay prior to his arrest. He was convicted of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act, said activist Saw Han Nway Oo.

She said Justin Min Hein was in poor health.

I'm worried about him as he often gets stomach aches, the source said. I am sure he must have a stomach ache from time to time. I know that he cannot be in good health inside prison as the food provided is very bad. He wont be comfortable inside, either.

Justin Min Hein was arrested by the junta on September 24, 2022 and had been detained in Yay Kyi Ai Interrogation Center for almost a year awaiting his trial, she said.

On Tuesday, a military court sentenced Wuttyi Aung, a student at Dagon University in Myanmar's former capital Yangon to a total of seven years. She was arrested with five other activists during a night raid. RFA was not able determine which crime she was accused of, but she was sentenced to three years in prison for violating section 505 (A) of the penal code and four years for violating section 52 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The Dagon University Student Union announced Wednesday that she was in a critical health condition while detained at Yangons Insein prison and not allowed to receive medical treatment for the pain she incurred in the torture during her interrogation.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, since the 2021 coup a total of 19,279 pro-democracy activists and citizens are in detention of which 6,599 have been sentenced to prison terms as of Wednesday.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Thursday decided to renew the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights for six months, until Dec. 31.

The council also requested UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to ensure that it has the required capacity and resources to fulfill its mandate in a safe manner.

Unanimously adopting Resolution 2689, the 15-member organ called on the concerned parties to immediately implement its Resolution 338 of Oct. 22, 1973, and stressed both parties' obligation to scrupulously and fully respect the terms of the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement.

Further, the council called on the parties to exercise maximum restraint and prevent any breaches of the ceasefire and the area of separation. It underlined that UNDOF remains an impartial entity, stressing the importance of halting all activities that endanger United Nations peacekeepers on the ground.

Among other provisions, the council called on all parties to cooperate fully with UNDOF's operations, to provide all necessary support to allow for the full utilization of the Quneitra crossing by UNDOF and to lift COVID-19-related restrictions as soon as sanitary conditions permit. The organ also requested UNDOF, member states and relevant parties to take all appropriate steps to protect the safety, security and health of all UNDOF personnel.

Additionally, the council underscored the importance of progress in the deployment of appropriate technology, including counter-improvised-explosive-device capabilities and a sense-and-warn system, as well as in addressing civilian staffing needs, to ensure the safety and security of UNDOF personnel and equipment.

UNDOF is a UN peacekeeping mission tasked with maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Syria in the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The mission was established by the Security Council Resolution 350 on May 31, 1974, to implement Resolution 338, which called for an immediate ceasefire and implementation of Security Council Resolution 242. 
The talks were limited to discussing humanitarian assistance and a possible constitutional amendment.

Myanmar juntas peace negotiation team holds talks with five ethnic armed group members of ceasefire signatory Peace Process Steering Team, June 28, 2023 in Naypyidaw.

Myanmars military rulers held peace talks with five ethnic armed groups in the capital Naypyidaw this week, but the meetings produced no agreement and several analysts criticized the talks as an attempt by the junta to deceive the international community.

ASEAN  Southeast Asias main regional bloc  has repeatedly urged Myanmars junta to find a peaceful solution to the crisis that erupted after the military ousted an elected government on Feb. 1, 2021.

The United Nations and human rights groups say the juntas security forces have killed thousands of civilians and the post-coup strife has displaced an estimated 1.5 million people.

The junta announced that regional stability, humanitarian assistance and a proposal to amend the 2008 constitution was discussed during the June 26-28 meeting.

But political analyst Than Soe Naing said the primary aim of the three-day meeting was to gain some kind of political advantage or territorial stability  not peace,

The military council tries to pretend to be building peace by means of these talks, he said.

Junta officials have previously discussed changing the constitution to address a requirement that elections be held no later than six months from the end of emergency rule. Myanmars army declared a state of emergency following the 2021 coup.

The Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Pao National Liberation League (PNLO), Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KNLA-PC) met with a delegation led by a Lieutenant General Yar Pyae, a member of the military council.

The five ethnic organizations were among the 10 that signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, which was introduced in 2015 in an effort to put an end to many years of fighting over minority rights and self-determination.

But the peace process hit snags in the years that followed, and was all but destroyed by the unpopular juntas 2021 coup.

Myanmar juntas peace negotiation team holds talks with five ethnic armed group members of ceasefire signatory Peace Process Steering Team, June 26, 2023 in Naypyidaw. Credit: Myanmar military





Pretending to build peace

Although the groups intended to hold an all-inclusive discussion this week, there were no real results, said Col. Saw Kyaw Nyunt, secretary general of the KNLA-PC.

When such a dialogue was suggested this week, junta officials did not respond with any encouragement, he said.

We want these conflicts to end, Saw Kyaw Nyunt said. What I mean is that we want to create an all-inclusive dialogue where all parties involved can participate. Thats our wish.

ASEAN officials and others in the international community have encouraged the junta to engage with Aung San Suu Kyi, the jailed head of the deposed National League for Democracy who has been the face of Myanmars democracy movement for several decades.

Junta officials have met at least twice with her in recent months to enlist her help in peace negotiations with the armed resistance. Radio Free Asia previously reported that she rejected the idea of talks during visits on May 27 and June 4 at Naypyidaw Prison.

National Unity Government presidential spokesman Kyaw Zaw said that for meaningful talks to take place, the junta must first release all political prisoners and cease all acts of violence.

I want to say that the military council holds these peace talks just for its own interests, he said. Such discussions cannot have any meaningful results.

RFA attempted to reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on Thursday but was unsuccessful.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
The raids came in retaliation for an attack on a military outpost in Tanintharyi region.

Kawthoung town, Tanintharyi region, seen in this picture taken on June 24, 2023.

Myanmars junta has been cracking down on residents of a Tanintharyi region town, raiding homes and arresting more than 30 locals this week, Kawthoung residents told RFA.

Residents said that the arrests were made after the Kawthoung Peoples Defense Force attacked an army outpost and the home of a local leader of the junta-affiliated Pyu Saw Htee militia on June 22.

The following day, the defense force announced that it had killed the leader and second-in-command of the local Pyu Saw Htee.

One local, who didnt want to be named for security reasons, told RFA troops targeted young people.

The arrests started on the night of the 24th, said the local. A woman from the Shwe Min Won neighborhood was arrested in her home. She was arrested and phones were confiscated.

The junta tracked young people from the Aye Mya Kan Thar neighborhood through her.

That night, 16 people were arrested and junta forces continued capturing people on June 25, 26 and 27.

I heard that all the young people who were in contact by phones were being chased, he said, adding that all those arrested are being held at Kawthoungs Seven Mile interrogation center.

RFA contacted the junta spokesperson for Tanintharyi region, Yin Htwe, seeking comment on the arrests but hadnt received an answer as of late Friday.

More than 23,600 people 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.
Traders will be forced to report their income and sell foreign currency to the junta at below market rates.

Merchants at Myanmars border with China say the juntas trade policy is too unstable and that a new pay-by-bank system announced last week will severely restrict their ability to import goods.

On June 23, the juntas commerce ministry announced that importers at northeastern Myanmars border with China will have to pay for goods using their local bank accounts beginning on Aug. 1.

Those who have been granted a license will receive a one-month grace period and must complete their imports by Aug. 31 or their license will be invalidated, the announcement said.

The move comes days after the U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on two junta-controlled banks in connection with the Myanmar militarys purchases of arms from foreign sellers, in a bid to restrict foreign currency transactions.

Analysts said the junta hopes that its new pay-by-bank system at the Chinese border will slow the outflow of foreign currency amid the tightening of sanctions.

On Tuesday, the World Bank noted in a report that, over the six months leading up to June, Myanmar has pursued a further expansion of export and import license requirements, increased regulation of fuel imports, and additional administrative restrictions on outbound financial transfers.

The authorities have announced that imports will be subject to additional scrutiny, with the intent to promote import substitution with domestically produced goods, the Bank said.

An official from the juntas Department of Economy and Commerce, who declined to be named because he wasnt authorized to speak about the subject to the media, framed the pay-by-bank system as a way to strengthen trade between the two countries and reduce money laundering.

But Min Thein, the vice president of the Muse Border Rice Association in Shan state, told RFA that the new banking system will create challenges for traders, as they will be required to submit proof of purchase via original bank statements and information about the income they generate to the juntas trade department.

Additionally, the Department of Commerce will only grant import licenses based on the total amount of money in an applicants bank account. Also, 65% of foreign currency income from exports must be sold to the regime at the central banks currency exchange rate, which is substantially lower than the market rate.

As of Tuesday, the official exchange rate for the U.S. dollar hovered around 2,250 kyats, while the market rate was 3,200 kyats. On Thursday, the official exchange rate for the Chinese yuan was 290 kyats, while the market rate was 435 kyats.

Controlling foreign currency

A trader at the border who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns, told RFA that the juntas directive is aimed at controlling all foreign currency used for trading.

He said requirements on the reporting of income and selling of 65% of foreign currency to the junta at the official exchange rate wont work for traders, and will likely lead to a trade decline.

A similar pay-by-bank system was put into place by Myanmars former junta, which ruled the country until 2011, but was later rescinded after traders complained that it forced them to deposit money in advance of their deals, requiring more personal outlay and leading to trade delays.

Kan Pike Te gate at the China-Myanmar border in Kachin state in 2019. Credit: RFA

A trader at the border in Shan states Chin Shwe Haw township, which is one of Myanmars five official border trade posts with China, said the juntas frequent changes to the countrys trade policy had left importers and exporters scrambling to keep up.

We dont exactly know which way to go, he said. The trade system changes too often. When one system was announced not long ago, another new system was ordered to replace it. Importers and exporters are all confused."

Other sources told RFA that if the new system slows trade, those who rely on the exchange of goods will also suffer.

A trucker at the border said that his line of work would also be impacted by the new policy.

If traders have to pay too much to the government, we truckers will be out of work, too, he said. We will have to wait and see how its going to turn out, as the new policy was just announced, but I expect that the flow of goods will definitely be slowed."

Junta officials have pointed to the success of a similar pay-by-bank system implemented along Myanmars border with Thailand since Nov. 1.

But a trader working along that border told RFA that the success is largely due to the strong banking connections between Thailand and Myanmar, while in some cases there arent even banks on the Chinese side of the border with Myanmar.

Slowing trade

Trade along Myanmars 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border with China mostly takes place in the border towns of Lweje and Kanpaikti in Kachin state and in Muse and Chin Shwe Haw in Shan state.

Trade with China was steady prior to 2019, but was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the political crisis in the aftermath of Myanmars Feb. 1, 2021 military coup detat.

According to the juntas Department of Commerce and Industry, exports to China from Muse  which sees the heaviest flow of trade across the border  amounted to US$3 billion in the fiscal year from 2019-2020, while imports were worth US$1.8 billion.

As of May for the current fiscal year, exports had reached US$274 million, while imports were valued at US$157 million.

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Matt Reed.
Their information in the 'Xinjiang Police Files'pointed to other reasons for their arrests.

Chinese authorities in Xinjiang detained two Uyghur men for participating in religious activities, Radio Free Asia has confirmed, shedding light on the reason for their detention for the first time.

The names of both men  Osmanjan Tursun, now about 35 years old, and Qeyum Abdukerim, believed to be 55  appeared in the Xinjiang Police Files, confidential documents hacked from Xinjiang police computers that contain the personal records of 830,000 individuals.

The files had pointed to other reasons for their detention.

The files date from 2017 to 2018, the height of one of Chinas strike hard campaigns, during which hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities were sent to the re-education camps. They provide more evidence of Beijings human rights abuses in Xinjiang, which the Chinese government has repeatedly denied.

Files from police in Kashgars Konasheher country, a subset of records from the larger cache, indicate that authorities deemed Tursun dangerous and emotionally unstable. In 2017, he was sentenced to seven years in prison because authorities previously imprisoned five people from his family, including his mother, a sister, two brothers and a sister-in-law.

But during a phone interview on the fate of detainees listed in the Xinjiang Police Files, a police officer in Zemin town, who declined to be identified, said Tursun and his relative had been sentenced because they engaged in illegal religious activities in 2014.

Although the Kashgar Konasheher police files indicated that authorities arrested Tursun because of the previous arrests of his family members, police actually accused him of disturbing public order and conspiring with others, according to the police officer. The records did not contain details of his purported crime such as how, when, and where he disturbed public order or with whom he conspired, however.

An undated photo of Uyghur detainee Qeyum Abdukerim. Credit: Xinjiang Police Files

Police contacted by RFA also confirmed that Abdukerim, another detainee mentioned in Kashgar Konasheher police files, was still in prison. The files said he was about 48 years old when he was apprehended, but provided no further information.

But police told RFA that authorities sentenced Abdukerim to a 10-year prison for engaging in illegal religious activities.

Abdukerims crime was watching illegal religious videos and attending illegal religious sermons, an officer said.

A 2018 article by Chinese researcher Qiu Yuan Yuan from the Communist Party School in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region shed light on why authorities targeted the family members of Uyghurs who had been arrested and detained in vocational skills education and training centers, as the Chinese called the re-education camps.

He noted that following the Chinese governments brutal attack against Uyghur terrorists during 2014-2015 and 2016, the number of counterattacks declined sharply.

But because the number of people in Xinjiang punished was so large, their family members harbored a hatred of the central government, so that they were deemed dangerous people.

To protect the results of the three-year war on terror, Chinese authorities had to confine the family members of those punished and educated them, he wrote.

Chinese authorities later removed Yuan's article from from the Party Schools website.

Translated by the Uyghur Service. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.
The guessing game in Moscow these days: Where are they?

Days after a mutiny by the mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, who sent thousands of his fighters racing toward the Russian capital, a growing number of prominent commanders and public figures have disappeared from public view.

Rattled by the biggest challenge he has faced in his 23 years as the country's preeminent political figure, President Vladimir Putin has suggested he would root out those inside and outside the military people who have allied themselves, quietly or overtly, with Prigozhin.



He may also be seeking to sideline those who let it happen or whose conduct of Russia's war in Ukraine has made them liabilities in his eyes.



"The armed insurgency by the Wagner private military company has become a pretext for a massive purge in the ranks of the Russian armed forces," said Rybar,  Telegram channel linked to a former Defense Ministry official.



The scope and scale of the purported purge is unclear, as is the depth and breadth of support for Prigozhin in the Defense Ministry, security agencies, and elsewhere. Some of those who have faded from view may simply be lying low -- under orders or at their own initiative -- in the hope the crisis will blow over.



Tatyana Stanovaya, a longtime Russian political analyst, cautioned that it is unclear whether there will be widespread dismissals and a major reshuffling of Putin's closest advisers or other influential figures.



"What distinguishes the current situation is Putin's progressive loss of initiative in dealing with domestic issues," she said in a post to Twitter. "His heightened emotional state makes him more susceptible to manipulation. We appear to be observing a new phase in Putin's regime, where his entourage is becoming more actively involved in shaping its trajectory."



Here's who's gone missing, and who has entered the limelight.

Sergei Surovikin

Dubbed "General Armageddon" by Russia's tabloids, General Sergei Surovikin is arguably -- after Prigozhin -- the person being most closely watched in the aftermath of the mutiny.



Currently commander of Russia's Aerospace Forces, Surovikin was appointed Russia's overall commander for the invasion of Ukraine by Putin last October.



At the time, the invasion was faltering; Ukrainian forces had stunned Russian troops with an offensive in the Kharkiv region, in the northeast. Surovikin ordered Russian forces to barrage Ukraine's electricity grid and civilian infrastructure with missiles. Under pressure from advancing Ukrainian troops, he also withdrew Russia's forces from the right bank of Dnieper River in the Kherson region, in the south.

Surovikin's appointment was championed by Prigozhin and other hard-line nationalists who pressed the Kremlin to wage an even more brutal campaign against Ukraine. He was viewed as a ruthless -- and effective -- commander overseeing Russia's intervention in the Syrian conflict in the late 2010s. Syria was where he and Prigozhin likely cemented their working relationship.



"Surovikin [is] a brute but also one of the more capable Russian commanders," Lawrence Freedman, an emeritus professor of war studies at King's College London, said in a post on Twitter.



But Surovikin only lasted three months as overall commander for the war in Ukraine: He was demoted and replaced in January by General Valery Gerasimov, the longtime chief of the General Staff and a Putin loyalist.



In the initial hours of the mutiny, Surovikin appeared in a video imploring Wagner fighters to stand down. But Surovikin's behavior in the video raised questions about whether it might have been coerced.



Since the video, Surovikin has not been seen or heard from publicly.

The Financial Times, The Moscow Times, and the Associated Press reported that Surovikin was believed to have been detained by authorities investigating the mutiny -- though it was unclear whether, if true, he was being treated as a suspect or as a witness.



Aleksei Venediktov, the well-connected editor in chief of the now-closed radio station Ekho Moskvy, said in a post to Telegram on June 28 that Surovikin had not been in contact with his family for three days.



On June 29, the head of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission, a state-sanctioned agency that monitors jails and prisons, released a cryptic statement on Telegram that raised as many questions as it answered.



"My response is: He is not in Lefortovo or any other pretrial detention facility," Aleksei Melnikov said, referring to an infamous high-security Moscow prison where treason and espionage suspects are usually held.



Yevgeny Prigozhin



The last time Prigozhin was heard from was in an 11-minute audio message posted to his Telegram channel on the evening of June 26, nearly 48 hours after the purported resolution of the mutiny.



"We started our march because of injustice," he said. "Our goal was not to overthrow the existing regime and the legally elected government, which was said many times. We turned around so as not to shed Russian soldiers' blood."



But the audio message did not indicate where and when the recording was made or reveal Prigozhin's physical whereabouts.

Under the deal announced first by Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Prigozhin was to travel to Belarus, and his Wagner fighters would be allowed to go there as well or sign contracts to serve under the command of the Defense Ministry.



On June 27, Lukashenka claimed Prigozhin had arrived in Minsk, but there was no independent confirmation. Flight trackers showed a private jet registered to his company arriving in the Belarusian capital that day and returning to St. Petersburg on June 28, but it was unclear if he was on the jet for either leg.



Putin's harsh condemnation of the mutineers -- he called the effort a "betrayal" and a "stab in the back" -- suggested Prigozhin and his allies could face retribution: arrest or worse.

Russia's main domestic intelligence agency announced June 27 it was dropping its criminal investigation of the mutineers. However, the Kommersant newspaper, and several state-controlled news agencies, later reported that the investigation remained open.



Sergei Shoigu



One of Putin's closest and longest-serving confidants, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, 68, has been the recipient of lacerating criticism and vaguely racist insults from Prigozhin -- and other hard-line nationalists and military bloggers -- for his overall command of Russia's military during the Ukraine invasion.



Since at least last summer, when the Russian invasion visibly faltered, Prigozhin has repeatedly ripped into him by name, accusing him of depriving Wagner forces of the ammunition needed to fight in the now-obliterated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.



Shoigu's distrust of Prigozhin has been less visible. But in May, the Defense Ministry issued an order that would formally bring Wagner fighters under regular command, depriving the group of its quasi-autonomous force.

That was believed to be the last straw for Prigozhin, who resisted losing control of his military force.



In the wake of the mutiny, the Defense Ministry released a video of Shoigu inspecting Russian troops and awarding medals in an undisclosed location. The video appeared to have been recorded prior to the rebellion.

But Prigozhin's mutiny included his forces taking control of Russia's southern military command in the city of Rostov-on-Don, putting his troops in direct confrontation with Defense Ministry officers. Another video that circulated on Telegram early on June 24 showed Prigozhin meeting with a deputy defense minister, Colonel General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, and the deputy chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev.



"We want to get the chief of the General Staff and Shoigu," Prigozhin said. "Until they are here, we are here, we are blocking the city of Rostov and moving toward Moscow."



"You believe everything you're doing right now is right. Is that right?" Yevkurov is seen asking Prigozhin in the video. "Absolutely right. We're saving Russia," Prigozhin responds.

That video was seen as a potential embarrassment for the two top military commanders, who have played key roles in the invasion.



Shoigu was shown on June 26 attending a Security Council meeting with Putin. A day later, Shoigu appeared at Kremlin ceremony, where Putin thanked soldiers and guards and those "who stood in the way of the mutineers."

He did not speak, and has given no media interviews since the mutiny.



Valery Gerasimov



Prigozhin's other punching bag has been Gerasimov, who as chief of the General Staff is Russia's top military officer.



Like Shoigu, Gerasimov, 67, is seen as loyal to Putin, a trait the Russian leader is known to value.

Known as a stolid, competent strategist, Gerasimov took a backseat role in the Ukraine operation for nearly all of 2022. But his position at the start of the full-scale invasion that February, and the major failures that Russian forces have experienced, stoked his critics' calls for his sacking.



Gerasimov ended up with the post of supreme Ukraine commander in January, when Putin demoted Surovikin. One Western expert characterized the shuffle as "infighting, power struggles, jealousy."



Gerasimov, who never had a very public media presence, has not been seen or heard from since before the mutiny. Unlike Shoigu, he did not appear at the June 27 Kremlin ceremony.



Viktor Zolotov



In contrast to the commanders and officials who have dropped out of sight in recent days, Viktor Zolotov, Putin's longtime bodyguard, dating back to his time in St. Petersburg, has seen his public presence -- relatively minimal in the past -- grow considerably.



Zolotov's loyalty to Putin earned him the appointment to be the first chief of the newly created National Guard in 2016. Seen as a sort of Praetorian Guard, the National Guard has grown into a 300,000-strong force whose responsibilities of ensuring internal stability within Russia dovetail with other units within the Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service, and other agencies.
Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.



I'm Frud Bezhan, regional desk editor for Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The Institute for Economics and Peace has named Afghanistan as the least peaceful country in the world for the sixth consecutive year.

In its 2023 Global Peace Index released on June 28, the international think tank said violence is still widespread throughout the country, although it noted that the level of conflict has dropped considerably since the Taliban seized power in 2021.

Afghanistan recorded the largest reduction in deaths from armed conflict in 2022 with conflict-related deaths falling 90.6 per cent, from almost 43,000 to just over 4,000, the index said.

But the think tank noted that the security situation in Afghanistan remains uncertain and terrorism continues to be a serious security concern.

The index warned that there was a strong possibility that the conflict between the Taliban and the rival Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) extremist group could escalate. IS-K remains the biggest threat to the Taliban, carrying out deadly attacks against Taliban officials and the countrys religious minorities.

The index also noted that a growing number of local militias have joined the Afghan National Liberation Front and the Afghan National Resistance Front, armed groups that have been waging a low-level resistance to Taliban rule.

The Global Peace Index, which ranks 163 countries, measures the state of peace according to three values: the degree of militarization, the level of security, and the extent of ongoing conflicts.

Why It's Important: Since regaining power, the Taliban has repeatedly claimed that it has eliminated IS-K in Afghanistan and boasted about restoring law and order in the war-wracked country.

But the continuing violence in Afghanistan, as documented by the Global Peace Index as well as the United Nations, has busted the Talibans narrative that it has established complete security.

The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a June 27 report that it had documented significant civilian casualties in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, despite a sharp reduction compared to previous years.

UNAMA said there were 3,774 civilian casualties, including 1,095 people killed in violence in the country, between mid-August 2021 and the end of May 2023.

Mohammad Naeem Ghayor, an Afghan security expert, told RFE/RLs Radio Azadi that although the security situation in Afghanistan has improved, there is not real peace and stability in the country.

What's Next: The Taliban is likely to face growing internal resistance to its rule. The militants have rolled back many rights, carried out widespread human rights abuses, and sidelined many of the countrys ethnic and religious groups.

The militant Islamist group has also been undermined by widening internal rifts and international isolation.

The Week's Best Story

Muslims across the world celebrated Eid al-Adha this week. But the festivities were muted in Afghanistan, where many people are struggling to survive amid a devastating humanitarian and economic crisis. The Talibans severe restrictions on womens freedom of movement, including a ban on them going to public parks, also hampered celebrations.

What To Keep An Eye On

Amnesty International called on the Taliban to release Matiullah Wesa, a widely known and respected education rights activist who was beaten and arrested by the Taliban in Kabul on March 27.

Today marks three months since education rights activist Matiullah Wesa was arbitrarily arrested by the Taliban de-facto authorities, Amnesty said in a tweet on June 27.

His continued detention is a clear violation of the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly under international human rights law. The Taliban de- facto authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Matiullah Wesa.

His arrest on charges of anti-regime activities sparked an international outcry.

In a written message to Radio Azadi, Attaullah Wesa said his brothers arrest was unjustified and demanded that the Taliban release him.

Why It's Important: Wesas continued detention has served to highlight the Taliban's intensifying crackdown on dissent.

In recent months, the militant group has specifically targeted educators, including Rasul Parsi, a former university professor in the western city of Herat, who had written Facebook posts critical of the Taliban.

In February, the Taliban arrested former university professor Ismail Mashal after he distributed books to women and girls in Kabul to protest the Talibans ban on women attending university and girls above the sixth grade going to school. Mashal was later released.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org.



Until next time,



Frud Bezhan



If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday. Please note that the newsletter will not be issued next week due to public holidays. It will return on July 14.
Nestled along a serpentine river and surrounded by a sea of leafy birch trees about 90 kilometers southeast of Minsk, the Belarusian village of Tsel seems like an idyllic place to hide from the noise and congestion of city life.



In recent years, residents of Minsk and the district seat, Asipovichy, have snapped up homes in Tsel to use as weekend getaways.



That may soon change.



Rumors have been swirling locally that Belarus is reviving the nearby abandoned military garrison in Tsel. Some residents worry that in the wake of a startling but short-lived mutiny that shook Russia, it could be used to settle fighters from the mercenary group Wagner who have been handed an offer to move to Belarus.



Now satellite images provided by Planet Labs confirm that something very substantial is going on at Tsel. A comparison of images taken on June 17 and June 30 shows the appearance of hundreds of rectangular objects that seem to be field tents. There are also signs of construction work, such as excavated pits. However, there is no military equipment, such as trucks or weapons, visible in the images.

Local residents told RFE/RL that workers from communal services, water supply, and other agencies have arrived at the abandoned garrison to refurbish it.

The rectangular objects in the images measure 12 meters by 8 meters and are identical to those found at Belarusian bases where Russian mobilized personnel have been training.

Tents of such size can accommodate from 20 to 50 individuals each. RFE/RL counted 303 of the objects, implying as many as 15,000 troops could be settled in Tsel.

Oleh Zhdanov, a Ukrainian military expert who examined the satellite images, told RFE/RL he did not think the site was being refurbished for Wagner members given how it has been just a few days since the mutiny and the murky deal that ended it.

"Very little time has passed to start building a camp specifically for the Wagner group. This is unrealistic," Zhdanov said.

Prigozhin, who had harshly criticized the Russian military leadership for months, announced on June 23 that his forces would make a "march of justice" into Russia from Ukraine, where they played a key role and suffered severe casualties in heavy fighting for the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut.

Wagner mercenaries essentially took control of the large southern city of Rostov-on-Don, and a separate contingent headed toward Moscow on a highway. President Vladimir Putin denounced what he called an "armed mutiny" and said the organizers were traitors who would be held responsible.

Late on June 24, Prigozhin abruptly called off the advance, saying that his force was about 200 kilometers from Moscow but that he wanted to avoid bloodshed.

The Kremlin and Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr Luksahenka claimed they had struck a deal under which Wagner mercenaries would avoid prosecution and Prigozhin would move to Belarus. On June 26, Putin said Wagner fighters could join the Russian military, go back home, or go to Belarus.

The details of the purported agreement have not been made public. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on June 28 that it appeared that the three sides were still negotiating the terms of the deal.



On June 27, Lukashenka claimed that Prigozhin had arrived in Minsk as part of the agreement. Flight data showed a private jet belonging to Prigozhin landed in Minsk that day but returned to St. Petersburg, where the Wagner leader has normally been based, on June 28.

There has been no confirmed sighting of Prigozhin since he was photographed leaving Rostov-on-Don in the back seat of a white SUV late on June 24. He has not commented on his whereabouts since then, and there have been no firm indications that any Wagner fighters have gone to Belarus.



Lukashenka expressed interest in having Wagner fighters -- who in some cases are more experienced and have fought in Ukraine more effectively than regular Russian forces -- settle in Belarus and train its troops.

"We are not building a camp for them for now. If they want [to settle here], we will find a place for them. We have offered them one of our abandoned garrisons," he said on June 27, without mentioning a specific location.

Lukashenka's wording could potentially describe the site at Tsel -- but the refurbishment there began in early June, weeks before Prigozhin's mutiny.

Zhdanov said the apparent construction there could be for Russian soldiers who are not from Wagner and might undergo training in Belarus, as others have since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine -- one of the ways that Lukashenka has supported Moscow's war without openly sending Belarusian troops to fight in it.

Many of the Russian soldiers who have trained in Belarus were called up in a massive mobilization decreed by Putin in September 2022. While the Kremlin claimed it fulfilled its target of up to 300,00 men within weeks of the announcement, the Russian Defense Ministry has continued to draft people amid a manpower shortage.



Some experts have forecast that Russia could announce a second round of large-scale mobilization as it suffers heavy casualties and Ukraine pushes forward with the counteroffensive it launched in early June.

Zhdanov noted that Tsel is just 30 kilometers from a base in Asipovichy where Russian soldiers are training for eventual deployment to Ukraine.



He also brought up a political element that may be at work, saying that public statements notwithstanding, he doubted that the Kremlin would be happy to have Lukashenka -- whose ties with Putin and Moscow are tight but tense --hosting forces that tried to topple Russia's military leadership.



Another factor: signs that the Russian state is seeking to gain control over Wagner forces abroad.

George Barros, a military analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, told RFE/RL that Belarus has plenty of available space at other bases scattered around the country and could be used to settle Wagner fighters.

"There's no reason why those field facilities cannot house Wagner guys," he said.

He noted that Russia had at its peak as many as 30,000 troops in Belarus in late 2021 and early 2022 prior to the invasion of Ukraine. Barros said Russia may have just 1,000 troops in Belarus at the moment.

Barros did not exclude that the construction at Tsel could be a "red herring" to distract attention from other developments in Belarus, namely the construction of the hardened facilities where the tactical nuclear weapons will be placed.

Putin and Lukashenka have said they agreed on the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus and that the first batch has already been delivered.



Russian authorities have said that Moscow would retain control of the weapons and potentially deploy troops to Belarus to maintain and oversee them. It is unclear how many personnel Russia might transfer to Belarus for this purpose.



Tsel had most recently been home to a missile brigade, earning it a reputation as "the cradle of the Belarusian missile forces."



At its peak in the 1990s, Tsel hosted 1,500 service members, including personnel relocated from former Warsaw Pact countries following the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Over the years, as the Belarusian armed forces contracted after the Soviet collapse and the end of the Cold War, the number of military personnel in Tsel dropped to about 200.



In 2018, the remaining soldiers were transferred to another base closer to Asipovichy and the barracks abandoned.



On June 27, Vyorstka, an independent Russian-language media outlet, reported that Belarus was building several camps for a total of up to 8,000 Wagner fighters and that some could be settled near Asipovichy.



Wagner's ranks include many Russian convicts who were promised freedom in exchange for six months of service in the war. Several of the former prisoners have committed violent crimes after returning from Ukraine.



The silence about what is going on in Tsel has locals on edge.



"Where there's smoke, there's fire. We are preparing for the worst," a resident whose name was not given told Belarusian news outlet Nasha Niva.

Written by Todd Prince based on reporting by RFE/RL's Belarus Service.
Russia on July 20 launched a third consecutive round of air strikes on southern Ukraine, targeting port installations and grain storage facilities as well as civilian infrastructure and killing at least two people, regional officials said.

The attacks came after Russia refused to extend a UN-sponsored deal that had allowed shipments of Ukrainian grain abroad, and warned that it would consider cargo ships on the Black Sea destined for Ukraine as potential military targets.

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 counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

In Mykolayiv, one person was killed and at least 18 civilians, including children, were wounded in an attack on a three-story residential building in the city center, regional Governor Vitaliy Kim said.

"The Russians hit the city center. A garage and a three-story residential building caught fire.... A total of 18 people were injured. Nine of them were hospitalized, including five children, while two people were rescued from under the rubble. It's a miracle that we managed to save them," Kim said.

In Odesa, at least two civilians, one of them a 21-year-old man, were killed in the strikes that targeted grain and oil terminals, and also caused destruction in the city center, Odesa region Governor Oleh Kiper reported.

"Unfortunately, as a result of the overnight Russian attack, we have one person killed in Odesa. The deceased is a security guard of a civil building, born in 2002," he said, adding that the body of a second victim was pulled from under the rubble.

The Ukrainian Energy Ministry said grain terminals and port infrastructure in the ports of Odesa and Chornomorsk were targeted. In Chornomorsk, 60,000 tons of grain were destroyed, the ministry said.

Ukraine's air defense said in an update on July 20 that during the attack, Russia fired 19 cruise missiles and 19 kamikaze drones. It said it shot down 13 Iranian-made drones, two Kalibr cruise missiles, and three Iskander-K missiles.

IN PHOTOS: Moscow targeted the Black Sea port cities of Odesa and Mykolayiv on July 20. It was the third consecutive round of air strikes that targeted Odesa.

Russia's Defense Ministry has said strikes on Odesa and Mykolayiv were retaliation against facilities where it claimed Ukraine was building seaborne drones of the type that Moscow says damaged a bridge in the annexed region of Crimea.



But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on his Telegram channel late on July 19 the Russian strikes had "deliberately" targeted sites in the Odesa region that are used to export grain after Russia refused to extend the grain deal.

"About 1 million tons of food is stored in the ports that were attacked today. Exactly the volume that should have been delivered to consumer countries in Africa and Asia a long time ago," Zelenskiy said in a video message. "Everyone in the world should be interested in holding Russia accountable for terror," he added.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres slammed the attacks near the Black Sea port cities.



"These attacks are...having an impact well beyond Ukraine. We are already seeing the negative effect on global wheat and corn prices which hurts everyone, but especially vulnerable people in the global south," Guterres said in a statement from his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.

After Ukraine said it would continue to export grain despite Moscow's pullout from the deal, Russia announced that starting from July 20, it would consider international waters in northwestern and southeastern parts of the Black Sea "temporarily dangerous" for shipping and warned that it will consider any incoming vessel as a legitimate target.

The Russian statement prompted the White House to issue a warning that Moscow is preparing for possible attacks on civilian cargo ships in the Black Sea.

"Our information indicates that Russia laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports," White House National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge said in a statement.

"We believe that this is a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks."

The Russian ambassador to the U.S. was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying that Moscow was not preparing to attack civilian ships on the Black Sea.

The Black Sea escalation comes as Kyiv reports a new attempt by Russia to return to the offensive in the northeast. Two people were wounded in an afternoon attack on July 20 on a village in the Kharkiv region.

At the same time the United States said U.S.-supplied cluster munitions are being deployed in the field. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the munitions are having an impact on Russian defensive formations and maneuvering.

"We have gotten some initial feedback from the Ukrainians, and they're using them quite effectively," Kirby said at a news briefing.

Also on July 20, Valeriy Zaluzhniy, commander in chief of the Ukrainian forces, had a phone call about the operational situation along the entire front line with U.S. General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"The armed forces of Ukraine, despite the enemy's extremely complex minefields, anti-tank barricades, and a fire damage system, are methodically destroying the enemy's forces and continue to conduct offensive actions to de-occupy our territory. We are successful in several areas. Our soldiers are heroes," Zaluzhniy said on Facebook.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
The return of the so-called morality police to the streets of major Iranian cities has brought back fear and stress for women who choose to ignore the requirement that they wear the hair-covering hijab. But it has also been met with resistance by men and women alike, while lawmakers have questioned the effectiveness of the hard-line approach to enforcing compliance.

Iranians who spoke to RFE/RL's Radio Farda said the presence of the morality police -- officially known as "guidance patrols" that usually include male officers and women wearing black chadors -- is not as visible as it was before the patrols were scaled back after nationwide protests first broke out against the hijab law last autumn.

I really don't know where they want to get with this method, but in my opinion, if they want to continue this way, confrontations will start again."

"Before, when we went on the street, they had a stationary vehicle, or a vehicle that was moving on the street," Leila Mirghaffari, a women's rights activist who lives in Tehran, told Radio Farda on July 17, a day after the return of the morality police was announced. "They haven't yet dared to encroach like before. But they are present, mostly in main squares."



Mirghaffari described the decision to redeploy the morality police, coming after the monthslong protests had largely wound down, as a distraction aimed at creating "fear and terror" among the population.



"It creates mental and emotional problems for us. It's stressful, and it occupies our thoughts and those of our families," Mirghaffari said. "When we want to leave home and come out to the street, at any moment we may travel a route where morality police patrol and are stationed to arrest people."



Nevertheless, Mirghaffari and others suggested, the patrols are largely ineffective and have even given new life to resistance against the authorities' efforts to enforce the countrys strict Islamic dress code.



Some Tehran residents who spoke to Radio Farda said that many women simply put on a hijab when they spot the morality police before quickly removing them once out of sight. And in some cases where women have been harassed or threatened by morality police, fellow citizens -- male and female alike -- have pushed back.



Almost immediately after the authorities announced on July 16 that the morality police patrols would resume, residents of the northern city of Rasht took to the streets to protest an attempt to arrest three women for allegedly violating the hijab requirement.

The situation reportedly escalated into clashes between demonstrators and police, who used tear gas to disperse protesters, some of whom were chanting against Iran's clerical establishment.



"I really don't know where they want to get with this method, but in my opinion, if they want to continue this way, confrontations will start again," said a male Tehran resident who requested anonymity while answering questions on WhatsApp.

"Personally, if I see them taking a girl into a van, I will step forward and shout so as not to let them take them. That's how things are, and I think most people now are like me. They don't want the Mahsa incident to happen again and for another innocent girl to be killed."



The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September, soon after she was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law, sparked the nationwide protests that lasted months and prompted a crackdown that led to the deaths of more than 500 people. Amini's death became the cause celebre for thousands of women and men who took to the streets to show their opposition to the hijab law.

Amid the protests, there were reports that the authorities had disbanded the morality police, although other reports indicated that they never really went away in some cities. But the issue also prompted the clerical establishment, which views the hijab as key to its interpretation of Islam, to introduce revisions to the country's Chastity and Hijab Law that would introduce stiffer penalties for noncompliance, including up to three years in prison for repeat offenders.



While the hijab has been compulsory in public for women and girls over the age of 9 since 1981, shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution ushered in the clerical establishment, the requirement is often flouted, particularly in urban areas.



The Chastity and Hijab bill, which is awaiting parliamentary approval, has been fodder for intense debate -- with some lawmakers saying it does not go far enough to make women comply with the hijab requirement and others questioning the effectiveness of forcing women to comply.



Following the announcement that the morality police patrols would resume in many Iranian cities, lawmaker Vali Esmaili, who heads the parliament's social commission, said that the body would unlikely be involved in the effort.



He also said that before resuming the patrols, "we should first look at the state of society to see if such actions have been effective in the past 43 years."



The Chastity and Hijab bill also proposes penalties, including the confiscation of automobiles, against drivers or passengers of vehicles in which women are not in compliance with the hijab requirement.



"When I'm driving, I have to wear a hijab," a woman who resides in Tehran told Radio Farda following the redeployment of the morality police, explaining that she has had her vehicle impounded four times for failing to wear the hijab. "But when I get out and move away from the car, I take off my head scarf. Many times, I just put it in my bag. Sometimes, when I see that the conditions are bad, I keep it around my neck, but I am still without a hijab in the street."



The woman said that she has not personally seen any morality police since they returned to the streets of Tehran. But she has heard eyewitness accounts of the presence of marked morality police vehicles in the northern city of Shahriar, in Tehran Province, where she said most women wear head scarves and those who do not could be seen without a hijab not far from the morality police.

WATCH: Masses of demonstrators are turning out throughout Iran, where some are shouting down police enforcement of strict religious dress codes for women.



"There are the odd ones out who are without a hijab, and they were 100 or 200 meters away from the morality police," she recalled being told of the current situation.



She said that even before the morality police returned to the streets, her experience in dealing with them showed that they were reluctant to enforce the hijab requirement.



"It's pretty clear that they're tired of this matter, but it seems like they have orders from above," she said.



That is far from the norm, according to the activist Mirghaffari, who painted a dark picture of the morality police, whose involvement in human rights violations has led to Western sanctions.

"The morality police are truly violent. They are really repressive. They have no humanity," said Mirghaffari, who added that she has been arrested by the force several times. "The morality police are really trained for savagery and for causing distress to the point that someone like Mahsa Amini could be killed. And they have no fear at all."



Others who spoke to Radio Farda were incredulous that the authorities would reintroduce the morality police amid public frustration over Iran's dire economic situation.



"The issue is not the hijab. The real issue is the terrifying inflation and high prices," said the man who answered questions by WhatsApp. "But they are only fixated on the hijab. They are playing with everyone's nerves, whether man or woman, whether with a hijab or without, they are bothering everyone."



The renewed protests, which included women carrying placards bearing the "We won't go back!" slogan that became popular during anti-hijab demonstrations, suggests that efforts to force women into compliance will be met with continued resistance.



"Look, our girls are fighting and know that there is no way back for us and we are not going back, and our answer to them wanting to forcibly put a hijab on us is, 'No!'" said Mirghaffari. "This is a big step we have taken to reach our other desires and we will never go back."

Written by Michael Scollon based on reporting by Mehdi Tahbaz and other Radio Farda correspondents.
Farmer Li Tiejun takes the first place on a weigh-off contest with a 80.06-kilogram-watermelon during the 31st Daxing Watermelon Festival in Panggezhuang Township of Daxing District in Beijing, capital of China, May 25, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- In a commercial greenhouse about 40 kilometers south of downtown Beijing, Li Tiejun is checking the condition of his watermelons.

The 52-year-old farmer runs a watermelon plantation covering an area of 20 mu (around 1.3 hectares) at Panggezhuang, a township located on the alluvial plain of the Yongding River. The greenhouse is one of thousands like it in the area.

The fertile soil contains plenty of trace elements and produces watermelons famous for their sweetness and crisp texture. The town has been long known as China's "Land of Watermelons."

With more than 30 years of experience in the business, Li regards watermelon growing as both a major source of income and an interest.

Li's biggest joy lately is the 74-kilogram watermelon that he grew in his spare time, earning him another win at a nationwide contest held last month. He first won the title in 2019.

To prepare for the contest, Li spent approximately 20,000 yuan (around 2,770 U.S. dollars) building a special greenhouse and cultivated 20 candidate seedlings to produce giant watermelons.

While this year's prize money of 20,000 yuan was just enough to cover the spending, Li said this was "not important" to him. "I worked hard for the competition because I love growing watermelons," he said.

SMALLER AND SWEETER

Besides the large-size champion watermelon, Li has been growing smaller varieties, a new favorite of the market.

Instead of lying on the ground, these watermelons are held aloft by vines running along ropes that hang down from horizontal steel wires. Each is a little bigger than two fists put together.

Small watermelons, such as the L600 variety that Li grows, have replaced medium- and large-sized traditional watermelons and dominated local plantations, said Ha Xuejiao, a senior agronomist at the agricultural services center of Daxing District, where Panggezhuang Township is located.

These varieties became popular for their sweeter and crisper tastes, and a more proper size for small families to share, according to Ha.

It takes approximately 50 days for L600s to grow from pollination to maturity, and each year sees two harvests, said Li.

The average yield is somewhere between 3,000 kilograms and 4,000 kilograms per mu, which earns him an income ranging from 30,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan per mu, according to the farmer.

GROWING WITH TECH

Li attributes his improvement as a farmer to science and technology.

Decades ago, local farmers, including Li, often lived at the mercy of the weather. Li remembers when the covering on his traditional greenhouse was ripped off by gales or punctured by hailstones.

Around 2008, local farmers were introduced to modern greenhouse cultivation technology. Once the steel-framed greenhouses are installed, they can last more than a decade, said Li, referring to the facilities he uses nowadays.

The greenhouses also have roof ventilators, temperature controls and drip-irrigation systems. Farmers use bees to pollinate the plants, a natural process that can help improve the shape and quality of the melons, said Li.

While trying to grow better commercial watermelons, he also plans to participate in next year's watermelon-growing contest.

"I lost to myself this year because the giant melon that made me the first champion in 2019 weighed around 80 kilograms," he said.

"I will harvest an even bigger melon next year and defend the title," said Li.

(Reporting by Li Baijia, Li Rui, Xiang Bingxue, Gong Fuzhi, Fan Baobao and Yu Xiaohua)


Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused the country's powerful army of waging a "revenge" campaign against him and his political party, Pakistan Tehrik-e Insaf (PTI). Khan has previously alleged that the military conspired to oust him from power last year and then plotted to assassinate him. In an interview with RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal on June 28, Khan suggested that Pakistan cannot "turn into a real democracy" until the military stops meddling in politics.
I'm Steve Gutterman, the editor of RFE/RL's Russia/Ukraine/Belarus Desk.

Welcome to The Week In Russia, in which I dissect the key developments in Russian politics and society over the previous week and look at what's ahead. To receive The Week In Russia newsletter in your inbox, click here.

In the wake of the Wagner mutiny, President Vladimir Putin looks vulnerable, but the consequences of the short-lived revolt are far less clear than its causes. And while the political landscape may have shifted, Russia's war on Ukraine and repression at home continue unabated.

Here are some of the key developments in Russia over the past week and some of the takeaways going forward.

Altered Image

The fallout from Wagner mercenary force leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's short-lived mutiny is far from over, but one effect seems all but certain: Putin has been weakened.

Countless observers have said so, though their assessments differ in degree. Some say that Putin is "over" or "finished." Others say the dramatic events of June 24 may mark "the beginning of the end" for the former KGB officer who has been president or prime minister of Russia for nearly 24 years.

Strictly speaking, none of those is true. Putin remains the Russian president, and at this point the most likely outcome of the election due next March appears to be that he secures a new six-year Kremlin term.

And if one were to try to pinpoint the beginning of the end for Putin, the search would probably go back more than a year, to his launch of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, or more than a decade, to his decision to return to the presidency in 2012 -- if not further.

In terms of accuracy, the headline on a June 27 guest essay in The New York Times by Russian political analyst Andrei Kolesnikov appeared to hit the nail on the head, describing a palpable truth without predicting the future: "Yesterday's Putin is gone," it read.

The disappearance of the Putin of the past seemed to be both a subjective and objective matter.

Objectively, his image was altered, maybe irrevocably, by the mutiny, in which Wagner forces essentially took control of Rostov-on-Don, a city of more than 1 million, and had advanced to within 200 kilometers of Moscow when Prigozhin abruptly called off the "march for justice."

Putin's "system survived," at least for now, wrote Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin.

But "Putin today is not who he was last week," he wrote. Prigozhin "showed Russians a fleeting glimpse of an alternative future and, by doing so, gave more Russians reason to doubt their leadership. Is Mr. Putin really the all-powerful, czarlike figure they thought he was? That is the question most ordinary Russians will now, finally, begin to ask themselves."

'So Shocking'

And not just ordinary Russians. The so-called elites are also seeing a different Putin, Tatyana Stanovaya, a political analyst who studies these groups, suggested.

"This mutiny was so shocking that the regime appeared to many as near to collapse, which significantly undermines Putin's ability to secure control in the eyes of the political class," Stanovaya, head of the consultancy R.Politik and also a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote on Twitter on June 29.

Still, a "fleeting glimpse" is all anyone got, in Russia, Ukraine, or anywhere else -- leaving aside the fact that, given who Prigozhin is and what he has done in the past, an "alternative future" that might have unfolded had things gone another way last weekend might not be the kind that millions who hope for change in Russia would welcome.

In the days that have passed since Prigozhin halted the "march for justice," Putin has been busy trying to portray the developments as a win or at least do damage control, suggesting that the Russian military had headed off the challenge from Wagner and that the Russian people had rallied in his support -- two assertions for which there is little or no evidence.

But even if yesterday's Putin is gone, Russia looks a lot like it did yesterday and the day before, for that matter: a place where the state is trying hard to suppress dissent. Those efforts seem unlikely to flag in the foreseeable future -- and they might, on the contrary, grow more intense if Putin senses that he is vulnerable or that widespread tacit support for the war against Ukraine is under threat.

In any case, the clampdown continued apace in the wake of the mutiny. One example: Roman Ushakov, a blogger who said he was tortured with electric shocks following his arrest in December, was sentenced to eight years in prison over anonymous posts that, among other things, referred to the killings of civilians and the destruction of the city of Mariupol by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the multipronged prosecution of Aleksei Navalny also continued. Already serving terms totaling 11 1/2 years following convictions in two cases he has dismissed as politically motivated fabrications, the 47-year-old opposition politician went on trial this month on a raft of new charges including creating an extremist group, and his lawyers say he could face an additional 30 years in prison.

If Prigozhin's mutiny gave Russians a glimpse of an alternative future, Navalny has sought to do that in a strikingly different way: at the ballot box. He tried to challenge Putin for the presidency in 2018 but was barred from running in the election, and the network of campaign offices h established across Russia was later deemed extremist and shut down, as was his Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Who's The Extremist?

In a Twitter thread posted by his associates, Navalny wrote that he had not learned of the mutiny -- or the deal with the Kremlin under which Prigozhin is to escape prosecution -- until a court hearing on June 26, when his lawyers told him about it and showed images of the scenes in Rostov and the advance toward Moscow. The irony was not lost on him.

"I kept expecting someone to suddenly yell, 'You got punk'd,'" he wrote. "But no one did. Instead the prosecutor came in and we continued the trial in which I stand accused of forming an organization to overthrow President Putin by violent means."

Prigozhin's mutiny, of course, is a result of Russia's war on Ukraine -- it came after he had lashed out with growing vehemence against Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, over their conduct of the invasion and what he asserted was the military's mistreatment of Wagner forces, who have played a prominent role in the fighting.

It also came after Prigozhin suggested that the February 2022 invasion was unjustified and unprovoked, contesting the claim that Russia faced a threat of attack from Ukraine and NATO. He again laid the blame on Shoigu, but it was a striking statement -- particularly because Putin has increasingly tried to cast the war as a necessary measure to protect Russia from Washington and the West.

Death In Kramatorsk

"On February 24 [2022], there was nothing extraordinary happening," Prigozhin said in a video released on June 23. "Now the Defense Ministry is trying to deceive the public, deceive the president, and tell a story that there was some crazy aggression by Ukraine, that -- together with the whole NATO bloc -- Ukraine was planning to attack us."

For some in Ukraine, the sight of a weakened Putin has raised hopes that an end to the war -- on terms acceptable to Kyiv -- could be closer than it may have seemed. But there are also concerns that Putin could take escalatory action in an attempt to show strength.

For now, amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive that began in early June, the deadly Russian attacks also continue, and civilians are frequently the victims.

At least 11 people were killed and dozens wounded after a Russian missile strike hit a packed pizza restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on June 27, Ukrainian authorities said. Among the dead: twin sisters Yulia and Anna Aksenchenko, who would have turned 15 in September.

That's it from me this week.

If you want to know more, catch up on my podcast The Week Ahead In Russia, out every Monday, here on our site or wherever you get your podcasts (Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts).

Yours,

Steve Gutterman
A 40-year-old librarian in Moldova says she has faced discrimination due to her physical disability. Natalia Boghiu, who lives in the village of Ciulucani in Moldova's Telenesti district, was told she could not become a teacher because she was born without one hand and forearm, but she has never given up on her dream.
Olya Kolorovo had produced a handmade cookbook, Living Ukrainian Cuisine, but she was killed in a Russian air strike before she was able to put it on sale. Now, Ukrainian volunteers are working to bring her recipes to a wider public.
Ukraine's president said on June 30 that he ordered his generals to gird the northern border after the leader of an abortive mutiny in Russia was said to have arrived in Belarus, while a senior defense official claimed Ukrainian troops have wrested the "strategic initiative" from Russia in the 15-month full-scale fight.

In Washington, U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Ukrainian counteroffensive is making steady progress, although perhaps not as rapidly as many in the West had anticipated.

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 counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.



"That it's going slower than people had predicted doesn't surprise me," Miley told the National Press. "It is advancing steadily, deliberately, working its way through very difficult minefields, et ceteraSlow advances, very deliberate."



He also said it was "too early" to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had been weakened by the aborted armed march on Moscow by the Wagner mercenary group last weekend.



"I don't think we have conclusive evidence either way yet," Milley said. "Too early to tell."

General Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, said Ukraine is being limited in its counteroffensive by a lack of weapons, including fighter jets, and the slow delivery of promised firepower from the West.

"Without being fully supplied, these [counteroffensive] plans are not feasible at all," he told The Washington Post in an interview published on June 30. "But they are being carried out. Yes, maybe not as fast as the participants in the show, the observers, would like, but that is their problem."

Milley said the delivery of ATACMS long-range missiles and F-16s fighter jets to Ukraine remains under consideration but that no decisions have been made.

Earlier, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar suggested in televised comments that Ukrainian fighters were advancing in all directions around the long-contested city of Bakhmut, in the eastern region of Donetsk.

Speaking hours after the Ukrainian General Staff boasted of "success" in the east and south of the country, Maylar described Kyiv's forces as having "seized the strategic initiative."

Meanwhile, concerns persisted over the possibility of battles threatening catastrophe at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is located in Russian-controlled territory in southern Ukraine.



Reports of heavy fighting followed a message of support from EU leaders gathered for a two-day summit in Brussels in which the bloc's 27 members vowed "sustainable military support to Ukraine for as long as it takes."



The Ukrainian General Staff said early on June 30 that Russia's "main efforts" continued to focus on the areas around Lyman, Bakhmut, and Mariyinka, where "heavy fighting continues."

WATCH: Specially made body armor is being used to protect children being evacuated from villages near the front line in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv said "tough battles" were continuing but its troops continued to pressure Russian forces on the flanks of the embattled city of Bakhmut.



It said Ukrainian forces were "having success [and] getting stronger," and "pushing [Russians] out of previously captured positions." It said Russian resistance was continuing, though.



Later reports from Ukraine's military cited "partial success" to the south.



RFE/RL cannot confirm battlefield claims in areas of the heaviest fighting.

Russian drone and missile strikes were reported in a number of areas overnight.



In the afternoon, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had ordered his military commanders to buttress Ukraine's northern military sector following reports that Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin had been exiled to Belarus.



Prigozhin's paid soldiers have played a key role in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.



But Prigozhin led thousands of them toward Moscow in an apparent mutiny targeting Russia's military leadership on June 24 in what most regard as the most brazen challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule in two decades.



Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenka reportedly brokered a deal with Prigozhin at the height of the crisis to end the insurrection and allow Prigozhin and his Wagner troops some kind of haven in Belarus.

Lukashenka has allowed Russian troops to operate the war effort from Belarusian territory since the earliest hours of the invasion.



Zelenskiy said his decision to further fortify the border area near Belarus followed a report from Ukrainian security and intelligence forces on the latest developments in Belarus.



Back in Ukraine, Anatoly Kurtev, secretary of the Zaporizhzhya city council near Europe's largest nuclear plant, and the military said no civilians were injured and there was no major damage from a nighttime Russian attack there.



"The night was restless again, but as of this morning the situation in Zaporizhzhya is stable," Kurtev said via Telegram.



The governor of the Zaporizhzhya region had announced on June 29 that authorities were conducting rapid-response drills in the area around the nuclear plant to hone coordination efforts in the event of an "emergency situation."

Kyiv recently accused Russia of planning a "terrorist" attack at the facility, which it has controlled since early in the invasion.



Russia's UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, said on June 29 that he had written to the UN Security Council and to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to assure them that "We do not intend to blow up this NPP [nuclear power plant], we have no intention of doing so."



Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on June 30 accused the West of acting "schizophrenically" with respect to the conflict, according to Reuters, saying it wanted to freeze the conflict to gain more time to pour more weapons into Ukraine.

With reporting by Reuters
Eight-year-old Halima was devastated to learn that after overcoming numerous obstacles to her education under Taliban rule, her path to learning had been blocked with the closure of her private school.

"We all went home crying," she told RFE/RLs Radio Azadi of the day she and her fellow students learned that their classes in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar Province had been terminated.

"Our schools were closed first by the coronavirus [pandemic], then there was fighting, and now they have been shut again," she said. "We just want to study."

The rural classroom where she studied was a lifeline for learning basic mathematics, Afghan languages, science, and Islamic studies despite the ruling Taliban's efforts to restrict girls' and women's access to education.

But on April 16, classes ended when the hardline Islamist authorities announced that the school, among Afghanistan's thousands of Community-Based Education (CBE) centers, would be closed following unspecified "complaints from locals."

Unrest and poverty in Kandahar and neighboring Helmand Province made the two regions a focal point for the development of CBE centers over the past three decades, with funding coming primarily from Western donors via the United Nations and international nongovernmental organizations.

Countrywide, more than 500,000 Afghan children currently attend CBE centers, which were established in cooperation with the communities in which they were based and are often held in private homes, mosques, or large tents.

Aid groups pay teachers' salaries, provide educational materials, and offer the same curriculum taught in Afghan state schools. The centers, typically made up of a single classroom catering for up to 50 students, half of them girls, also filled an education void in remote areas where there were no state schools.

But since mid-April, nearly 1,600 CBE centers in Kandahar Province have been closed, depriving 50,000 students of an education. Similar numbers have been recorded in neighboring Helmand Province in a nationwide trend.

'It's Heartbreaking'

The termination of classes at Halima's school and others like it appears to show that the narrow window for learning in remote areas is being closed as the Taliban looks to impose full control over how children are educated.

Munir Ahmad, who ran a literacy class inside his mudbrick home in Dand, a rural district in Kandahar Province, said he was forced to close his doors to students in April.

"It is heartbreaking to lose these classes because they serve children in remote areas where there are no other education opportunities," he told Radio Azadi.

The Taliban, approaching two years in power, has not commented on whether it has ordered the school closures. But aid workers, rights campaigners, and education experts suggest that the hardline group is trying to ensure that young students receive an Islamic education even though the CBE centers follow the state model.

This, in turn, has led to concerns that the Taliban either intends to permanently shut down the schools or use them as venues to spread its extremist worldview and ideology.

"It is alarming," said Heather Barr, associate director of the women's rights division at Human Rights Watch. "The Taliban will likely change these schools in a way that is harmful to students, particularly girls."

Education has been a main target of the Taliban's extremist policies since it seized power in August 2021 and took steps to root out secular education.

Teenage girls were promptly banned from attending school despite the Taliban's promises to the international community, which has listed the Taliban's stance on girls' and women's education as a key obstacle to officially recognizing its government.

'Jihadi Madrasahs'

Since taking power, the Taliban has consistently enforced strict gender segregation and replaced professional educators with clerics.

Last year, Taliban supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada appointed key loyalists Mawlawi Habibullah Agha and Nida Mohmmad Nadim to lead the education and higher education ministries, respectively.

The two have diligently worked to expand the ban on womens education and attempted to turn schools into a tool for indoctrination by tweaking the curriculum, critics say. In some cases, modern schools have been converted into madrasahs.

In December, the Taliban upped the ante by prohibiting women from receiving a university education.

And in the latest move, a Taliban official said this month that its government had established "jihadi madrasahs" in at least five provinces. Many Islamist militant groups, including the Taliban, emerged from such religious schools in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan in the 1980s.

Wazhma Tokhi, an Afghan human rights activist with a particular focus on women's rights and education in Afghanistan, suggests that the recent school closures can be seen as another example of the groups determination to root out secular education.

"They want to turn the schools into madrasahs," Tokhi said.

The UN agency for children, UNICEF, which funds many CBE centers, says it is now holding discussions with the Taliban over "timelines and practicalities" for possibly handing them over to Afghan NGOs, many of which receive outside funding and have some protection from the Taliban.

Tokhi sees disastrous consequences if the Taliban assumes direct control over CBE centers.

"Our future is destroyed," she said.
A National Park ranger wearing a face mask is seen at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

LOS ANGELES, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Over 120 million people across more than a dozen U.S. states from the Midwest to the East Coast are under air quality alerts as of Thursday, as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to sweep across the country.

Canada is seeing its worst fire season on record as hundreds of blazes rage across the country, with more than 250 burning "out of control," according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

As massive clouds of smoke drift into the United States, air quality alerts have been issued for over a dozen U.S. states including New York, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Delaware and Maryland, according to the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS).

As of Thursday morning, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Detroit were among the cities with the worst air quality in the world, according to IQ Air's Air Quality Index.

More than a third of the U.S. population is under air quality alerts, prompting officials to call on the public to take safety precautions just weeks after similar wildfire smoke blanketed the Northeast, said a report of CNN.

The NWS has warned that, with no end in sight to the Canadian wildfires, poor air quality is likely to continue.

Officials are concerned that the smoke could hinder travels and lead to flight delays and cancellations for Americans during the July 4 holiday.

Canadian wildfire smoke is causing hazy sky as far away as Europe.

Health officials are urging those in the unhealthy or worse air quality categories to refrain from prolonged or heavy exertion.

Wildfire smoke and ash can irritate eyes, nose, throat and lungs, making people cough or wheeze and can make it hard to breathe, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The most effective way to protect from wildfire smoke is to stay indoors or limit time outdoors. This is especially important for those with heart or lung conditions who are at higher risk for adverse health effects, according to the CDC. 

The White House is shrouded in haze in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

A pedestrian wearing a face mask is seen with the U.S. Capitol building shrouded in haze in the background in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

People are seen with the Lincoln Memorial shrouded in haze in the background in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

People wearing face masks are seen with the U.S. Capitol building shrouded in haze in the background in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

The U.S. Capitol building is shrouded in haze in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

People are seen with the U.S. Capitol building shrouded in haze in the background in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)
WELLINGTON, June 30 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand is delivering on its climate commitment to ban new coal boilers and to phase out existing ones by 2037, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods said on Friday.

The government's decisions will reduce emissions by about the same amount as 100,000 cars would produce in a year, Woods said.

"Currently, more than half of the heat used to process raw materials into products such as paper and dairy production comes from fossil fuels," she said.

Switching to cleaner ways of generating process heat presents a huge opportunity to reduce domestic greenhouse gases and paves the way for greener export products too, the minister said.

The new policy follows the government's recent announcement of New Zealand's biggest-ever emissions reduction project, in partnership with New Zealand Steel Limited, to introduce an electric arc furnace and reduce carbon emissions by 800,000 tonnes per year - the equivalent of 300,000 cars to produce in a year, she said.

The National Policy Statement and National Environmental Standards for greenhouse gas emissions from industrial process heat gives local councils the muscle to tackle emissions produced by industrial process heat, accelerating New Zealand's transition to a low-emission, thriving, and sustainable economy, she added.

Industrial process heat currently produces about 8 percent of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions, Woods said. 
ROTHERHAM has been rated last in a national survey of the UKs places for arts and crafts  but shopkeepers in the borough for whom business is booming beg to differ.

The research, which was commissioned by Liberty Fabrics, looked into various forms of data including local shops, crafting education levels, and social media interest for 88 places.

Rotherham was placed last, with Sunderland just ahead at 87th and Chelmsford at 86.

The top three places were London, Leicester and Brighton, according to a study by the international wholesale business.

Sheffield and Doncaster were midway on the table at 43 and 48 respectively.

A spokesperson for Liberty Fabrics said Rotherhams worst for crafting status was not due to its smaller population and area as that was accounted for to ensure results were as fair as possible.

What lets Rotherham down was its lack of social media interest, they said, combined with poor results in education and key resources like knitting shops.

But managers at Woolly Madness, a town centre family-run arts and craft shop, disagreed with the surveys findings.

Martin Willis, who runs the shop with wife Rachel, said they moved into new premises at the Old Town Hall to expand the business.

We opened in 2019 and were in the market for three years, he said.

We moved to the new unit at Christmas because we needed more room.

Its gone through the roof. Theres plenty of interest and its growing every day.

The researchers said hobbies such as crafting became more popular "almost overnight due to the pandemic, with Google Trends data for sewing seeing a big spike in April 2020 as lockdown began.

They also noted a longer-term trend of crochet increasing in popularity.

Mr Willis said the pandemic had contributed but there were other factors.

With the cost of living continuing to go up, for some things it works out cheaper to make it yourself, he said.

He credited diver Tom Daley with the boost in crocheting, after the Olympic champion showcased his creative work online.

Woolly Madness plans to start crochet sessions.
A FRUSTRATED judge sentencing a serial domestic abuser criticised prosecutors for tying his hands by preventing him from imposing a longer jail term.

Judge Michael Slater said Adill Hussain (32) should have been charged with affray, which carries potentially stiffer punishment than the lesser offence of assault, after his latest attack.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Hussain, of no fixed address, had been in a relationship with his victim for five-and-a-half years and had repeatedly been prosecuted for domestic violence against her.

Ms Kristina Goodwin, prosecuting, said in the latest incident in February, Hussain went to the hotel where the victim was staying and assaulted her.

The woman told police she had feared for her life while Hussain was still at large, but refused to make a statement.

Staff from a domestic violence service said she was suffering rom complex PTSD, depression and anxiety and there was evidence her mental health suffers when the defendant is present in her life.

The court heard Hussain had 13 previous convictions for 21 offences dating back to 2005.

Several included battery of the same victim and had led to prison sentences of up to 22 weeks.

Ms Goodwin said because of Hussains abuse, the victim had moved out of her home and into a hotel, but he had gone there and assaulted her.

She said he had a proven history of violence and non-obedience to court orders.

Mr Graham OSullivan, mitigating, said Hussain wanted to move on from the relationship, which he described as toxic.

He added: He has a difficult background of his own and as a child witnessed domestic abuse.

He sustained a brain injury at 16 and it had an impact on his cognition, and has his own health difficulties including anxiety, depression and borderline personality disorder.

Judge Slater told Hussain: I accept you have your own challenges but thats no excuse for your violent behaviour towards [the victim].

The judge, who also imposed a restraining order, sentenced him to four months in prison, telling him: Had you been charged with a more serious offence and fallen to be dealt with for that, you would have been looking at years rather than months.

My hands are tied in terms of what I can do.
A NEWLY-qualified teacher at a primary school has been recognised for her good work  with particular praise for the way she coped with the Covid pandemic.

Millie Baldwin, teacher at Anston Greenlands Primary School, received a certificate from the National Teaching Awards after being highly commended and classed as an outstanding new teacher.

Despite the struggles of remote teaching during the pandemic, Ms Baldwin was able to adapt to all the required changes and make the best of her new career.

Head teacher Alex Wirth was full of praise, saying: Millie has been such an asset to our staff since she joined us as a newly-qualified teacher three years ago.

"Shes gone from strength to strength, and we're delighted to have her as part of our team.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that admission of students in colleges and universities based on race is unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court delivered the significant ruling in two cases filed against the use of race in admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

In the landmark Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard case, the top court ruled that race-conscious college admissions processes will be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: "Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin."

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented with the verdict.

Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the US Supreme Court, said the decision "rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress."

President Joe Biden strongly disagreed with the decision.

"The Court has effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions. And I strongly disagree with the Court's decision".

"Many people wrongly believe that affirmative action allows unqualified students to be admitted ahead of qualified students. This is not how college admissions work," he told reporters.

Biden said he wants to offer some guidance to the nation's colleges as they review their admissions systems after the Supreme Court decision. "They should not abandon their commitment to ensure student bodies of diverse backgrounds and experience that reflect all of America".

Edward Blum, the founder and president of Students for Fair Admissions, said, "The opinion issued today by the United States Supreme Court marks the beginning of the restoration of the colorblind legal covenant that binds together our multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation".

Students for Fair Admissions is a conservative activist group representing Asian American students in the lawsuit against Harvard University.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Political News
Eye healthcare firm Bausch + Lomb Corp. (BLCO) Friday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to buy XIIDRA (lifitegrast ophthalmic solution) 5%, a non-steroid eye drop, from Swiss drug major Novartis AG (NVS) for up to $2.5 billion.

In pre-market activity on the NYSE, Bausch + Lomb shares were gaining around 3 percent to trade at $19.75.

Under the deal terms, Bausch + Lomb, through an affiliate, has agreed to acquire XIIDRA. The consideration includes an upfront payment of $1.75 billion in cash with potential milestone obligations up to $750 million based on sales thresholds and pipeline commercialization.

XIIDRA is specifically approved to treat the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease or DED focusing on inflammation associated with dry eye.

Bausch + Lomb will also bring on the sales force supporting XIIDRA. The company has obtained fully committed financing from J.P. Morgan for the transaction and intends to finance the $1.75 billion upfront cash purchase price with new debt prior to closing.

The deal was approved by the Board of Directors of both companies. It is subject to receipt of regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.

The transaction would close by the end of 2023 and will be immediately accretive.

Bausch + Lomb expects the acquisition of XIIDRA will complement its existing dry eye portfolio that includes eye and contact lens drops from the company's consumer brand franchises and its pharmaceutical .

The prescription U.S. DED field is expected to grow at a double-digit compounded annual growth rate over the next five years. XIIDRA, which generated around $487 million in sales in 2022, is patented through 2033.

As part of the deal, Bausch + Lomb will also buy libvatrep, also known as SAF312, an investigational compound being studied for the treatment of chronic ocular surface pain. It will also acquire AcuStream , an investigational device that may have the potential to facilitate precise dosing and accurate delivery of certain topical ophthalmic medications to the eye.

Libvatrep is currently in Phase 2b development with study results expected in the third quarter of 2023.

In the deal, J.P. Morgan served as financial advisor to Bausch + Lomb.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Both Tata Harrier facelift and Safari facelift will share most design elements and features

The flagship vehicles of Tata Motors, Harrier and Safari are on the verge of getting a thorough facelift. This will mark a new milestone in Tata Motors intentions to offer a more premium experience to their flagship buyers. There will be re-designed and upmarket interiors to match the new exterior changes. Making them come-off as new-age and premium.

After a multitude of Safari facelift test mules, we bring you Harrier facelift spy shots. These spy shots in a parking lot of an apartment building. It looks like the mid-spec XT Plus trim as it has 17 alloy wheels and not 18 ones that it shares with Safari in top-spec trims and special editions.

Tata Harrier Facelift Spied Testing  Gets new interiors as Safari facelift

Harrier and Safari share a lot between them. Everything at the front is likely to be identical between both vehicles. Were talking about the new front fascia with radical new looks. New vertical headlight arrangement looks modern and features LEDs and is slightly angular in its profile as opposed to the outgoing model.

There are new LED DRL signatures that are significantly wide and almost take up its full width. Grill is now larger and still likely to feature Tatas current logo, while next-gen models will bear the new logo for PVs as seen on Avinya concept. Wheels were same as outgoing 17 ones, which could mean only special editions will feature the new 18 or 19 wheel design seen with Safari facelift spy shots.

Rear disc brakes are present. But we hope Tata has made it a standard fitment, across the range as they have with Safari. Rear will feature a brand new tail light that looks much richer than outgoing models and even has dynamic swipe-style turn indicators as well. This seems to be XZ+ or XZ+ (O) trim as it has a panoramic sunroof too.

On the inside, we can see a similar dashboard as Safari facelift test mule. It features an all new climate control panel that will get new touch and toggle controls. There is a new steering wheel as well, which has a 2-spoke design with a digital display in the center.

Is 1.5L turbo petrol on the cards?

Other changes on the inside include updated ambient lighting, a new center console with a rotary dial with a circular display for ESP Terrain Response modes and a brand new gear selector, among others. Seating capacity and boot capacity will remain as is.

The same 2.0L turbo diesel (168 bhp, 350 Nm, 6MT, 6TC) will continue duties with the same state of tune, even. That said, we hope Tata Motors adds the 1.5L turbo petrol engine (170 bhp, Nm) and a new DCT for quicker shifts. The petrol motor will ensure a lower base price and boost sales envelope by appealing to a wider audience.
KINSHASA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo creates great opportunities for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which deems China a "privileged" and "strategic" partner, Congolese External Trade Minister Jean-Lucien Bussa Tongba has said.

During an exclusive interview with Xinhua ahead of his departure for China, Bussa Tongba said the DRC attaches great importance to the event, which runs from June 29 to July 2 in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province.

"The expo is a huge opportunity for the DRC which is an important partner with China," said the minister, who heads the DRC delegation to the expo.

The event, he said, takes place shortly after the historic state visit by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi to China, during which the two heads of state decided to upgrade bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

For Bussa Tongba, the expo is an important platform to present the DRC's increasing business opportunities as well as to improve the business environment for Chinese investors in the DRC.

China has been the DRC's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment for many years in a row. In 2022, two-way trade reached 21.898 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 51.7 percent, as China has given zero-tariff treatment to 97 percent of DRC's products while being exported to China under the preferential trade policy.

Bussa Tongba also pointed out that China could play a vital role in the diversification of the DRC's economy, which will serve the interests of all, including the Chinese investors.

"The DRC government prioritizes the diversification of its economy, which would also be a key message that I would share with Chinese investors. It corresponds to our internal need, the world market's need and certainly the need of the Chinese investors," he said.

Besides business talks, Bussa Tongba hoped that the event would be a platform for the exchange of experience with the Chinese counterparts.

"Apart from talking about businesses, we are also in China for the experience-sharing. China's experiences in economic development are so enormous that the DRC, which is a developing country, should learn from China," said the minister.

Bussa Tongba, who has taken a keen interest in China, said he is personally inspired by China's development path, regarding the partnership with China as vital to its development.

"China has, over the past four decades, shown us that it is possible to realize a great leap. The Chinese model inspired and reinspires the DRC. It inspires me personally as a member of the DRC government," he said. "The partnership with China could allow the DRC to realize its leap."

Recalling the first edition of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in 2018, Bussa Tongba said that the in-person attendance allows him to see and sense the dynamism behind Chinese development.

"China is a country constantly on the move. The DRC needs to understand the dynamism behind China's development. Being there psychically allows us to see and feel," he said.

The minister said that he also has high expectations for other trade events in China, including the 6th CIIE in November 2023, reaffirming that the DRC would seize each opportunity to share experiences with China.

"China is a very privileged partner for the DRC," the minister noted.

"I have the confidence to say that the Chinese model works. It is in all of our interests to step up our economic and commercial relations with China," he said. 
WELLINGTON, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) is ramping up its monitoring of stablecoins and cryptoassets, following public input to help confirm the issues these new forms of private money might raise for the financial system and monetary sovereignty.

"We agree with the balance of submitters that a regulatory approach isn't needed right now, but increased vigilance is," Ian Woolford, the central bank's director of money and cash, said on Friday while releasing a summary of submissions.

The submissions reinforce the view that there are significant risks and opportunities from stablecoins and other private money innovations, but also significant uncertainties about how the sector will develop and where the optimal balance will lie, Woolford said.

Global harmonization is crucial to ensuring effective regulation, he said, adding implementation of other regulatory regimes, such as the Financial Market Infrastructure Act, could also have an impact on the cryptoassets market.

Issues raised by cryptoassets and other innovations do not fall neatly within agency boundaries, Woolford said.

However, issues such as consumer and investor protection or potential commercial or regulatory barriers to entry do matter for the collective vision for a reliable and efficient money and payment system that better meets the evolving needs of New Zealanders, he added.

Cryptoassets are used for high-risk and speculative investments, Woolford said last December, "Nevertheless, some cryptoassets may become more widely used as money in the future." 
BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Friday condemned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for weapon purchase from the United States, saying it would only push Taiwan people into the abyss of warfare.

Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in response to reports about a recent U.S. decision to sell arms to Taiwan worth approximately 440 million U.S. dollars.

More and more Taiwan residents have become aware of the United States' real attempts to harm or even ruin Taiwan, Zhu said, warning that "Taiwan independence" will lead nowhere, and the DPP authorities' scheme to seek U.S. support for their independence agenda will only lead to a dead end.

Zhu voiced firm opposition to all forms of official exchange and military contact between the United States and China's Taiwan region, and opposition to the U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, reiterating that this stance has been clear and consistent.

"We urge the U.S. side to cease arms sales to Taiwan and sever military contact with the island in any form, and stop going further down an erroneous and dangerous path," the spokesperson said. 
Weather Alert

...FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE FRIDAY NIGHT... * WHAT...Flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be possible. * WHERE...Portions of northern New York, including the following counties, Eastern Clinton, Eastern Essex, Northern Franklin, Northern St. Lawrence, Southeastern St. Lawrence, Southern Franklin, Southwestern St. Lawrence, Western Clinton and Western Essex. Portions of Vermont, including the following counties, Caledonia, Eastern Addison, Eastern Chittenden, Eastern Franklin, Eastern Rutland, Eastern Windsor, Essex, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orange, Orleans, Washington, Western Addison, Western Chittenden, Western Franklin, Western Rutland and Western Windsor. * WHEN...From Friday afternoon through late Friday night. * IMPACTS...Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations. Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks. Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas. Storm drains and ditches may become clogged with debris. Area creeks and streams are running high and could flood with more heavy rain. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - Another round of heavy, scattered thunderstorms capable of producing heavy rainfall is expected. Rainfall may exceed 1.5 inches in an hour which would result in flash flooding. Saturated soil conditions will cause rainfall to runoff into creeks and streams, which remain high. - Http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action should Flash Flood Warnings be issued. &&
Combustibles were lit on fire around a shed to demonstrate its resistance to wildfire. A demonstration was done Tuesday at the San Diego Fire-Rescue Training Center.

When a wildfire is barreling toward a house, there may be almost no time to escape, and even less time to think about what items to take during those panic-stricken minutes.

Enter a new product on the market, a wildfire-resistant shed that the inventors say could save time and property because important items will already have been stored away in a small building that wont burn, even if a wall of flames consumes everything else in its path.

Weve used every type of fire protection on this shed so people can put those valuable things in there and protect them, said Steve Conboy, president of M-Fire Suppression Inc., a Los Angeles company that plans to start marketing various-sized sheds under the name Mighty Fire Breaker.

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Tuesday morning, a demonstration was held in a parking lot next to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Training Facility near Lindbergh Field.

A prototype of one of three different-sized sheds, a 4-by-8-foot building, was filled with valuables such as a surf board, paintings, and a small motorcycle.

Straw and kindling were piled around the structure and ignited.

1 / 15 M-Fire Suppression Inc. is a company manufacturing a shed that is fire proof for protecting valuables from wildfire. They did a demonstration on Tuesday at the San Diego Fire Academy. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 15 R.J. Hanna stacked kindling wood around a fire proof shed made by a company called M-Fire Suppression Inc.. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 15 Combustibles were lit on fire around a fire proofed shed to demonstrate its resistance in the event of a wildfire. A company called Mighty Fire Breaker is manufacturing the shed that is fire proof for protecting valuables from wildfire. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 15 Straw and wood pieces were stacked around the shed and lit with a propane torch. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 15 A fireproofed mulch made of treated wood chips is applied to the embers around the structure after the a fire proof shed made by M-Fire Suppression Inc. was set afire in an attempt to burn it at a demonstration on Tuesday at the San Diego Fire Academy. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 15 Bob Fieri checked the temperature of the burning shed with a Flir heat sensing device. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 15 Fire burned the weatherproofing strip on the bottom of the door but that was all that burned. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 15 Workers filled a fire proofed shed with valuables before a fire was set around it in an attempt to burn it down. It and its content survived.M-Fire Suppression Inc. is a company manufacturing the shed that is fire proof for protecting valuables from wildfire. They did a demonstration on Tuesday at the San Diego Fire Academy. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 15 David Villarreal scooped a mulch treated with fireproofing around the embers and debris outside of a fireproofed shed that they attempted to burn down in a demonstration on Tuesday at the San Diego Fire Academy. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 15 R.J. Hanna spread fireproofed mulch around a fire proofed shed that M-Fire Suppression Inc. is manufacturing for protecting valuables from wildfire. They did a demonstration on Tuesday at the San Diego Fire Academy. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 15 Steve Conboy, president of M-Fire Suppression Inc. in front of one of the fire proof sheds that his company manufactures for people who live in areas under threat of wildfires. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 15 Workers spread a fireproofed mulch on the debris and embers around a shed that they attempted to burn down, but couldnt. M-Fire Suppression Inc. is a company manufacturing the shed that is fire proof for protecting valuables from wildfire. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 13 / 15 The door was scorched but not burned. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 14 / 15 Shaun Comboy opens the door on a fire proofed shed that had just had a fire set around in it in an attempt to burn it down to show the contents were unharmed. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) 15 / 15 R.J. Hanna carried a surfboard out of a fire proofed shed that had withstood a simulated wildfire set around it. Didnt even melt the wax, he said. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune)

The fire burned hot for a couple minutes and some weather stripping at the base of the steel door alit, allowing some flames into the shed. The stripping had mistakenly not been treated with a fire-resistant coating. That wont happen again, Conboy said.

But no real damage was done. When the door was opened, all the valuables were still in fine shape and a thermometer showed the temperature inside the shed was only 74 degrees.

While there are many sheds and outbuildings on the market that offer some fire protection, these new sheds are built with wildfire specifically in mind, including the strong winds that often accompany them.

Conboy, a Carlsbad resident, said the roofs can withstand 150 mph winds and that he got the idea after meeting with victims of last years fire in Santa Rosa where some residents were given only 20 minutes to evacuate. Several told him that wasnt enough time and virtually everything they owned was lost.

Jeff Bowman, a former San Diego fire chief, was on hand for the demonstration. He said he is considering aligning himself with Mighty Fire Breaker as a spokesman and consultant for the company, but has not yet committed.

Ive seen a lot of products over the years and these are the best things out there, Bowman said of the sheds and a couple other products made by the company, including a slurry to put on smoking embers once the fire has passed through.

Im excited about the possibilities, Bowman said. We have to do something different. Last year proved it again.

The sheds will come in three sizes: 8x8, 4x8 and a smaller version that can be stored in a garage.

The largest shed is listed as selling for $11,950 while the 4x8 shed and the slightly smaller garage shed are priced at $5,995.

The sheds are not designed to save human lives. Only as a last gasp measure would someone want to jump inside the shed as flames approached, and only then if some sort of oxygen device was inside, both Conboy and Bowman said.

But if the situation arose, they agreed, better in the shed than in the flames.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
Photo taken on June 29, 2023 shows the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that race-conscious admissions policies used by colleges and universities are unconstitutional, in a pair of cases involving Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The Supreme Court stated that the admissions policies of Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC), two of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the country, violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, noting that "the Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause."

"Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful end points," he wrote, adding that "we have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today."

Roberts noted that "the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual - not on the basis of race."

"Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin," he wrote.

Harvard University responded to the decision in a statement that "we will certainly comply with the Court's decision."

"For almost a decade, Harvard has vigorously defended an admissions system that, as two federal courts ruled, fully complied with longstanding precedent. In the weeks and months ahead, drawing on the talent and expertise of our Harvard community, we will determine how to preserve, consistent with the Court's new precedent, our essential values," said the university.

"On behalf of the people of our state, we will work with the administration to ensure that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill complies fully with today's ruling from the nation's highest court," David L. Boliek Jr., the chair of UNC-Chapel Hill's Board of Trustees, said in a statement, adding that "we intend for America's oldest public university to keep leading."

The court decision made headlines across the country.

NBC pointed out that "the ruling is a massive blow to decades-old efforts to boost enrollment of racial minorities at American universities." CNN described it as "a landmark decision that overturns long-standing precedent that has benefited Black and Latino students in higher education."

"The ruling could have far-reaching effects, and not just at the colleges and universities across the country that are expected to revisit their admissions practices," commented The New York Times, one of the nation's major newspapers, adding that the decision could prompt employers to rethink how they consider race in hiring.

U.S. politicians reacted to the decision along ideological lines.

President Joe Biden, a member of the Democratic Party, said in a news conference that "the court has effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions."

"I strongly, strongly disagree with the court's decision," he noted, adding that "we cannot let this decision be the last word."

The White House said in a press release that "the Supreme Court upended decades of precedent that enabled America's colleges and universities to build vibrant diverse environments where students are prepared to lead and learn from one another."

"Although the Court's decision threatens to move the country backwards, the Biden-Harris Administration will fight to preserve the hard-earned progress we have made to advance racial equity and civil rights and expand educational opportunity for all Americans," said the press release.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a press release that the decision "rolls back long-established precedent and will make it more difficult for students from underrepresented backgrounds to have access to opportunities that will help them fulfill their full potential."

On the other hand, members of the Republican Party welcomed the decision by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court.

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement that "the Supreme Court's decisions on college admissions are a long-overdue step toward ensuring equal protection under the law."

"Most Americans agree that racial discrimination should play no part in the college admissions process. Now that the Court has reaffirmed that commonsense position, students can get a fair shot at college and the American dream on their merits," he added.

Former President Donald Trump praised the decision.

"This is a great day for America," he wrote on his Truth Social page, adding that "this is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing." 

Police officers stand guard outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Photo taken on June 29, 2023 shows the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

The press works in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Photo taken on June 29, 2023 shows the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Police officers stand guard outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
PURSAT, Cambodia, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Friday called for people to join him in safeguarding peace and political stability as the Southeast Asian nation gears up for a general election next month.

"Peace and political stability not only provide happiness to our people, but also attract foreign investors to help develop our country," he said in a speech during a get-together with thousands of factory workers here.

Hun Sen said new investments will create new jobs and the government will continue to attract more investors in order to generate some 300,000 jobs a year for new jobseekers.

"We must continue to stay united to safeguard peace in order to ensure the country's sustainable development," he said.

His call came as the kingdom is scheduled to hold a general election for the 125-seat National Assembly on July 23.

According to the National Election Committee, 18 political parties will contest in the election, which will see more than 9.7 million eligible people casting their ballots.

In the last general election held five years ago, Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won all 125 seats in the National Assembly. 
BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- More than 5,900 criminal cases involving cultural relics have been solved by Chinese police since a crackdown campaign was launched in September 2020, according to the Ministry of Public Security on Friday.

The campaign saw more than 100,000 cultural relic pieces recovered, including some 8,600 top-graded ones, such as a bronze mirror from the East Han Dynasty (25-220) and an item of porcelain ware dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

In 2022 alone, public security organs across the country cracked roughly 1,700 such criminal cases, according to the ministry.

The ministry has worked with the National Cultural Heritage Administration as well as the top court and top procuratorate to jointly combat and prevent related crimes. It also pledged continued efforts to better protect China's cultural relics in the long run. 
Astrophysicists from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Collaboration have found evidence for gravitational waves that oscillate with periods of years to decades, according to a series of papers published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

In 1916, Albert Einstein proposed space-time as a four-dimensional fabric, and that events such as exploding stars and merging black holes create ripples  or gravitational waves  in this fabric.

Almost a century later, in 2015, astrophysicists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and Virgo collaborations made the first direct observation of gravitational waves caused by the collision of two stellar-mass black holes.

The new research from the NANOGrav Collaboration is the first evidence of gravitational waves at very low frequencies.

The authors transformed our region of the Milky Way Galaxy into an immense gravitational-wave antenna using millisecond pulsars.

NANOGravs endeavor involved collecting data from 68 pulsars, fashioning a pulsar timing array  a distinctive type of detector.

The researchers examined 15 years of data from three radio observatories: Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Very Large Array in New Mexico.

Its incredibly exciting to have helped open a new window to the Universe, said SETI Institute researcher Michael Lam.

The teams analysis provides evidence that the variations in the ticking rate of such millisecond pulsars are caused by low-frequency gravitational waves.

The spatial distortion from the gravitational waves creates the appearance that the pulsars radio-signal ticking rates are changing.

But really, its the stretching and squeezing of space between Earth and the pulsars which causes their radio pulses to arrive at Earth billionths of seconds earlier or later than expected.

These are by far the most powerful gravitational waves known to exist, said West Virginia University astrophysicist Maura McLaughlin, co-director of the NANOgrav Physics Frontiers Center.

Detecting such gargantuan gravitational waves requires a similarly massive detector, and patience.

The likely source of these waves are distant pairs of close-orbiting, ultra-massive black holes, said Vanderbilt University astrophysicist Stephen Taylor, chair of the NANOGrav Collaboration.

Detecting a chorus of low-frequency gravitational waves, as NANOGrav has done, is a key to unlocking the mysteries of how structures are formed in the cosmos, said Oregon State University astrophysicist Jeff Hazboun.

Weve opened up this new area of the spectrum for gravitational waves.

Weve seen low-frequency waves, from a completely different part of the spectrum, which tells us that theyre a ubiquitous physical phenomenon and that we can look for them anywhere.

The new results are providing new insights into how galaxies evolve and how supermassive black holes grow and merge.

The widespread spacetime distortion revealed in their findings implies that extremely massive pairs of black holes may be similarly widespread across the Universe, numbering perhaps in the hundreds of thousands or even millions.

While our early data told us that we were hearing something, we now know that its the music of the gravitational Universe, said NANOGrav co-director Xavier Siemens, an astrophysicist at Oregon State University.

As we keep listening, individual instruments will come to the fore in this cosmic orchestra.
A University of Queensland developed vaccine will protect farmed saltwater crocodiles from West Nile virus (WNV), providing economic and biodiversity benefits to northern Australia.

Dr Jody Hobson-Peters from UQ's School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences said the virus, which is prevalent in high rainfall years, threatens the commercial viability of the $100million a year crocodile hide farming industry.

"Crocs infected with the local strain of WNV, known as Kunjin virus, develop small skin lesions called pix, which renders their hide unsaleable," Dr Hobson-Peters said.

"WNV infection can affect up to 30 per cent of croc hides, costing the industry as much as $10million in a single year.

"If we were to experience consecutive years of high rainfall, the virus could render the crocodile farming industry unviable and threaten the current conservation model.

"It would also disrupt an industry that contributes to Indigenous livelihoods and economic development opportunities in the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland."

UQ's Professor Roy Hall said the vaccine is based on a benign 'Binjari' virus isolated from Australian mosquitoes and is the first of its kind to achieve proven safety and efficacy in crocodiles.

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"We have demonstrated that our vaccine induces a robust, immune response in vaccinated animals after two doses," Professor Hall said.

"Crocodiles that received the vaccine developed strong protective immunity against WNV, without the virus replicating."

UQ has received funding from the Australian Research Council to work with the Centre for Crocodile Research to assess the vaccine's long-term performance.

Director of the Darwin-based Centre for Crocodile Research, Dr Sally Isberg said the surge in the wild crocodile population in recent decades was made possible by the farmed crocodile industry.

"It's not just an economic threat we're facing -- croc farming has played a pivotal role in returning this apex predator from the brink of extinction over the past 60 years," Dr Isberg said.

"The captive-breeding industry promotes sustainable practices and places an economic value on crocodiles, meaning communities living with or near crocs are more tolerant of their presence in waterways and are incentivised to protect their habitats.

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"As a result, other species that co-inhabit with crocs are protected, such as the brolga, jabiru and long-necked turtle."

The research is published in npj Vaccines, and is an outcome of UQ's Dr Gervais Habarugira's PhD thesis.

The team is working with the Australian veterinary vaccine company Treidlia BioVet, to develop a commercial version of the vaccine for wider industry use.

UQ acknowledges the contributions of the Australian crocodile industry and biotechnology company Vaxine Pty Ltd.
A species of nemertean worm discovered by a Clemson University marine biologist five years ago affects the reproductive performance of Caribbean spiny lobsters, a critical species in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Antonio Baeza, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, discovered the new wormwhile researching parental behaviors of the spiny lobster Panulirus argus in the Florida Keys. Baeza good-naturedly named the worm Carcinonemertes conanobrieni after comedian Conan O'Brien because of its physical characteristics -- long-bodied and pale with a slight tint of orange.

The worm has been found off the coast of the Colombian and West Indies.

Caribbean spiny lobsters, which get their name from the forward-pointing spines that cover their bodies, live in the Atlantic Ocean's tropical and subtropical waters as far north as North Carolina, as well as the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. They are one of the Caribbean's most ecologically significant and commercially lucrative species.

Caribbean spiny lobster landings have decreased over the past decade. Scientists don't know why, although they have identified several possibilities -- overfishing, declining water quality, global climate change and environmental degradation.

A new study published in the journal BMC Zoology shows the worm discovered by Baeza is likely a contributor, too.

Artisan fishers caught 90 egg-bearing spiny lobsters near Pueblo Viejo, Magdalena, Colombia, to determine whether C. conanobrieni affected embryo mortality, fecundity and reproductive output in brooding females.

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Of the 90 lobsters, nearly 88% had either nemertean worms or worm cysts and egg masses.

Embryo mortality, indicated by empty capsules and dead embryos, ranged between 0% and 43.81% in infected gravid females. Embryo mortality was absent in non-infected gravid female lobsters.

Researchers also confirmed that the presence of the worm impacted reproductive output.

"The effect of the parasite varies from female to female. Some may be heavily affected; others may not. We don't know why yet," Baeza said. "We know the egg predator is affecting the population level, but we cannot say for how much of an effect yet, whether it will be bad or devastating because we don't have that data yet."

Carcinonemertes worms have been responsible for the collapse of crustacean fisheries on the west coast of North America.

Caribbean spiny lobsters are vital for the marine ecosystem because they are prey for many predators, including sharks, large fish such as grouper and snapper, turtles and octopuses. They are predators, too, and eat snails, crabs and clams. The clams are part of a different tropic chain, so when lobsters eat them, they link tropic networks and energy flow through the entire ecosystem.

"A whole industry and coastal communities along the entire Caribbean basin rely on this species," Baeza said.

Baeza said if researchers can understand the prevalence of the egg predator and its effects, a modeling approach might predict future landings and inform those managing the fishery to minimize adverse effects.

In addition to Baeza, Clemson graduate student Natalie Stephens and researchers from Colombia and Chile contributed to the study. Their findings are detailed in the paper "The effect of the egg-predator Carcinonemertes conanobrieni (Nemertea) on the reproductive performance of the Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus."
Black holes, some of the most captivating entities in the cosmos, possess an immense gravitational pull so strong that not even light can escape. The groundbreaking detection of gravitational waves in 2015, caused by the coalescence of two black holes, opened a new window into the universe. Since then, dozens of such observations have sparked the quest among astrophysicists to understand their astrophysical origins. Thanks to the POSYDON code's recent major advancements in simulating binary-star populations, a team of scientists, including some from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Northwestern University and the University of Florida (UF) predicted the existence of merging massive, 30 solar mass black hole binaries in Milky Way-like galaxies, challenging previous theories. These results are published in Nature Astronomy.

Stellar-mass black holes are celestial objects born from the collapse of stars with masses of a few to low hundreds of times that of our sun. Their gravitational field is so intense that neither matter nor radiation can evade them, making their detection exceedingly difficult. Therefore, when the tiny ripples in spacetime produced by the merger of two black holes were detected in 2015, by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), it was hailed as a watershed moment. According to astrophysicists, the two merging black holes at the origin of the signal were about 30 times the mass of the sun and located 1.5 billion light-years away.

Bridging Theory and Observation

What mechanisms produce these black holes? Are they the product of the evolution of two stars, similar to our sun but significantly more massive, evolving within a binary system? Or do they result from black holes in densely populated star clusters running into each other by chance? Or might a more exotic mechanism be involved? All of these questions are still hotly debated today.

The POSYDON collaboration, a team of scientists from institutions including the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Northwestern and the University of Florida (UF) has made significant strides in simulating binary-star populations. This work is helping to provide more accurate answers and reconcile theoretical predictions with observational data. "As it is impossible to directly observe the formation of merging binary black holes, it is necessary to rely on simulations that reproduce their observational properties. We do this by simulating the binary-star systems from their birth to the formation of the binary black hole systems," explains Simone Bavera, a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Astronomy of the UNIGE's Faculty of Science and leading author of this study.

Pushing the Limits of Simulation

Interpreting the origins of merging binary black holes, such as those observed in 2015, requires comparing theoretical model predictions with actual observations. The technique used to model these systems is known as "binary population synthesis." "This technique simulates the evolution of tens of millions of binary star systems in order to estimate the statistical properties of the resulting gravitational-wave source population. However, to achieve this in a reasonable time frame, researchers have until now relied on models that use approximate methods to simulate the evolution of the stars and their binary interactions. Hence, the oversimplification of single and binary stellar physics leads to less accurate predictions," explains Anastasios Fragkos, assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy at the UNIGE Faculty of Science.

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POSYDON has overcome these limitations. Designed as open-source software, it leverages a pre-computed large library of detailed single- and binary-star simulations to predict the evolution of isolated binary systems. Each of these detailed simulations might take up to 100 CPU hours to run on a supercomputer, making this simulation technique not directly applicable for binary population synthesis. "However, by precomputing a library of simulations that cover the entire parameter space of initial conditions, POSYDON can utilize this extensive dataset along with machine learning methods to predict the complete evolution of binary systems in less than a second. This speed is comparable to that of previous-generation rapid population synthesis codes, but with improved accuracy," explains Jeffrey Andrews, assistant professor in the Department of Physics at UF.

Introducing a New Model

"Models prior to POSYDON predicted a negligible formation rate of merging binary black holes in galaxies similar to the Milky Way, and they particularly did not anticipate the existence of merging black holes as massive as 30 times the mass of our sun. POSYDON has demonstrated that such massive black holes might exist in Milky Way-like galaxies," explains Vicky Kalogera, a Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern, director of the Center of Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), and co-author of this study.

Previous models overestimated certain aspects, such as the expansion of massive stars, which impacts their mass loss and the binary interactions. These elements are key ingredients that determine the properties of merging black holes. Thanks to fully self-consistent detailed stellar-structure and binary-interaction simulations, POSYDON achieves more accurate predictions of merging binary black hole properties such as their masses and spins.

This study is the first to utilize the newly released open-source POSYDON software to investigate merging binary black holes. It provides new insights into the formation mechanisms of merging black holes in galaxies like our own. The research team is currently developing a new version of POSYDON, which will include a larger library of detailed stellar and binary simulations, capable of simulating binaries in a wider range of galaxy types.
Ethiopian government officials, Chinese diplomats in Ethiopia, officials from the Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company, heads of different think tanks, as well as media leaders attend a high-level meeting themed "China-Ethiopia Building Belt and Road" in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 30, 2023. Ethiopian experts and policymakers on Friday hailed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a mutually beneficial cooperation platform advancing socioeconomic development in Ethiopia and beyond. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian experts and policymakers on Friday hailed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a mutually beneficial cooperation platform advancing socioeconomic development in Ethiopia and beyond.

This came during a high-level meeting themed "China-Ethiopia Building Belt and Road." The roundtable meeting brought together senior Ethiopian government officials, Chinese diplomats in Ethiopia, officials from the Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company (EDR), heads of different think tanks, as well as media leaders, among others.

Ethiopian Minister of Transport and Logistics Alemu Sime said during the occasion that as an important partner of China in building the BRI, Ethiopia and China have been cooperating closely in the field of transportation, and the two countries have complemented each other's advantages, showing great potential for development.

"The Belt and Road Initiative has become an open and inclusive, mutually beneficial and win-win international cooperation platform. We are grateful to the Chinese government for its continuous support to the development of transportation in Ethiopia," the minister said.

He said the 752.7-km Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway, also known as the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, as one manifestation of the BRI, has injected a crucial impetus to Ethiopia's development aspirations.

"The Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway is not only a transportation line, but also an economic corridor and a road to prosperity. It has opened up a railroad corridor to the sea for Ethiopia, effectively driving the development of industrialization and urbanization along the route," he said.

Abdi Zenebe, the chief executive officer of the EDR, highlighted the BRI's positive contribution to anchoring global development. "The Belt and Road Initiative represents an extraordinary vision, one that transcends borders, connects continents, and fosters economic cooperation on an unprecedented scale," he said.

The EDR chief also said the initiative is a "testament to our shared commitment to progress and mutual prosperity."

While echoing the sentiment, Beyene Petros, director general of the Policy Studies Institute, a leading think tank in Ethiopia, underscored the wide-ranging socioeconomic benefits of the BRI to Ethiopia. "Ethiopia is one of the countries that has embraced this initiative, and the benefits are already being felt with the construction of various infrastructure projects, including highways, railways, and industrial parks," he said.

Zhao Zhiyuan, Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia, described Ethiopia as "the pioneer of China-Africa cooperation and the African bridgehead of building the BRI." He further underscored the Chinese government's commitment and readiness to support Ethiopia's aspiration to develop through the BRI and other development initiatives.

"While Ethiopia and China steadily promote high-quality BRI development, we also initiated cooperation under the Global Development Initiative and pushed forward the implementation of the Nine Programs under Forum on China-Africa Cooperation," he said. 

This photo taken on June 30, 2023 shows an Ethiopian train attendant at Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Ethiopian experts and policymakers on Friday hailed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a mutually beneficial cooperation platform advancing socioeconomic development in Ethiopia and beyond. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Ethiopian Minister of Transport and Logistics Alemu Sime speaks during a high-level meeting themed "China-Ethiopia Building Belt and Road" in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 30, 2023. Ethiopian experts and policymakers on Friday hailed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a mutually beneficial cooperation platform advancing socioeconomic development in Ethiopia and beyond. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

A staff member boards a train at Lebu Railway Station in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 30, 2023. Ethiopian experts and policymakers on Friday hailed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a mutually beneficial cooperation platform advancing socioeconomic development in Ethiopia and beyond. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Ethiopian Minister of Transport and Logistics Alemu Sime takes a train operating along the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, June 30, 2023. Ethiopian experts and policymakers on Friday hailed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a mutually beneficial cooperation platform advancing socioeconomic development in Ethiopia and beyond. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)
Children do better at maths when music is a key part of their lessons, an analysis of almost 50 years of research on the topic has revealed.

It is thought that music can make maths more enjoyable, keep students engaged and help any ease fear or anxiety they have about maths. Motivation may be increased and pupils may appreciate maths more, the peer-reviewed article in Educational Studies details.

Techniques for integrating music into maths lessons range from clapping to pieces with different rhythms when learning numbers and fractions, to using maths to design musical instruments.

Previous research has shown that children who are better at music also do better at maths. But whether teaching music to youngsters actually improves their maths has been less clear.

To find out more, Turkish researcher Dr. Ayca Akin, from the Department of Software Engineering, Antalya Belek University, searched academic databases for research on the topic published between 1975 and 2022.

She then combined the results of 55 studies from around the world, involving almost 78,000 young people from kindergarten pupils to university students, to come up with an answer.

Three types of musical intervention were included the meta-analysis: standardised music interventions (typical music lessons, in which children sing and listen to, and compose, music), instrumental musical interventions (lessons in which children learn how to play instruments, either individually or as part of a band) and music-maths integrated interventions, in which music is integrated into maths lessons.

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Students took maths tests before and after taking part in the intervention and the change in their scores was compared with that of youngsters who didn't take part in an intervention.

The use of music, whether in separate lessons or as part of maths classes, was associated with greater improvement in maths over time.

The integrated lessons had the biggest effect, with around 73% of students who had integrated lessons doing significantly better than youngsters who didn't have any type of musical intervention.

Some 69% of students who learned how to play instruments and 58% of students who had normal music lessons improved more than pupils with no musical intervention.

The results also indicate that music helps more with learning arithmetic than other types of maths and has a bigger impact on younger pupils and those learning more basic mathematical concepts.

Dr Akin, who carried out the research while at Turkey's National Ministry of Education and Antalya Belek University, points out that maths and music have much in common, such as the use of symbols symmetry. Both subjects also require abstract thought and quantitative reasoning.

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Arithmetic may lend itself particularly well to being taught through music because core concepts, such as fractions and ratios, are also fundamental to music. For example, musical notes of different lengths can be represented as fractions and added together to create several bars of music.

Integrated lessons may be especially effective because they allow pupils to build connections between the maths and music and provide extra opportunities to explore, interpret and understand maths.

Plus, if they are more enjoyable than traditional maths lessons, any anxiety students feel about maths may be eased.

Limitations of the analysis include the relatively small number of studies available for inclusion. This meant it wasn't possible to look at the effect of factors such as gender, socio-economic status and length of musical instruction on the results.

Dr Akin, who is now based at Antalya Belek University, concludes that while musical instruction overall has a small to moderate effect on achievement in maths, integrated lessons have a large impact.

She adds: "Encouraging mathematics and music teachers to plan lessons together could help ease students' anxiety about mathematics, while also boosting achievement."
Some molecules exist in two forms such that their structures and their mirror images are not superimposable, like our left and right hands. Called chirality, it is a property these molecules have due to their asymmetry. Chiral molecules tend to be optically active because of how they interact with light. Oftentimes, only one form of a chiral molecule exists in nature, for example, DNA. Interestingly, if a chiral molecule works well as a drug, its mirror image could be ineffective for therapy.

In trying to produce artificial chirality in the lab, a team led by chemists at the University of California, Riverside, has found that the distribution of a magnetic field is itself chiral.

"We discovered that the magnetic field lines produced by any magnet, including a bar magnet, have chirality," said Yadong Yin, a professor of chemistry, who led the team. "Further, we were also able to use the chiral distribution of the magnetic field to coax nanoparticles into forming chiral structures."

Traditionally, researchers have used "templating" to create a chiral molecule. A chiral molecule is first used as the template. Achiral (or non-chiral) nanoparticles are then assembled on this template, allowing them to mimic the structure of the chiral molecule. The drawback to this technique is that it cannot be universally applied, being heavily dependent on the specific composition of the template molecule. Another shortcoming is the newly formed chiral structure cannot be easily positioned at a specific location on, say, an electronic device.

"But to gain an optical effect, you need a chiral molecule to occupy a particular place on the device," Yin said. "Our technique overcomes these drawbacks. We are able to rapidly form chiral structures by magnetically assembling materials of any chemical composition at scales ranging from molecules to nano- and microstructures."

Yin explained that his team's method uses permanent magnets that consistently rotate in space to generate the chirality. He said transferring chirality to achiral molecules is done by doping, that is incorporating guest species, such as metals, polymers, semiconductors, and dyes into the magnetic nanoparticles used to induce chirality.

Study results appear today in the journal Science.

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Yin said chiral materials acquire an optical effect when they interact with polarized light. In polarized light, light waves vibrate in a single plane, reducing the overall intensity of the light. As a result, polarized lenses in sunglasses cut glare to our eyes, while non-polarized lenses do not.

"If we change the magnetic field that produces a material's chiral structure, we can change the chirality, which then creates different colors that can be observed through the polarized lenses," Yin said. "This color change is instantaneous. Chirality can also be made to disappear instantaneously with our method, allowing for rapid chirality tuning."

The findings could have applications in anti-counterfeit technology. A chiral pattern that signifies the authenticity of an object or document would be invisible to the naked eye but visible when seen through polarized lenses. Other applications of the findings are in sensing and the field of optoelectronics.

"More sophisticated optoelectronic devices can be made by taking advantage of the tunability of chirality that our method allows," said Zhiwei Li, the first author of the paper and former graduate student in Yin's lab. "Where sensing is concerned, our method can be used to rapidly detect chiral or achiral molecules linked to certain diseases, such as cancer and viral infections."

Yin and Li were joined in the research by a team of graduate students in Yin's lab, including Qingsong Fan, Zuyang Ye, Chaolumen Wu, and Zhongxiang Wang. Li is now a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University in Illinois.

The research was funded by a grant to Yin from the National Science Foundation. The UCR Office of Technology Partnerships has filed a patent application related to this work.

The research paper is titled "A magnetic assembly approach to chiral superstructures."
A study led by Brown University researchers offers new insights into how water from melting ice could have played a recent role in the formation of ravine-like channels that cut down the sides of impact craters on Mars.

The study, published in Science, focuses on Martian gullies, which look eerily similar to gullies that form on Earth in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica and are caused by water erosion from melting glaciers. The researchers, including Brown planetary scientist Jim Head, built a model that simulates a sweet spot for when conditions on Mars allow the planet to warm above freezing temperatures, leading to periods of liquid water on Mars when ice on and beneath the surface melts.

The scientists found that when Mars tilts on its axis to 35 degrees, the atmosphere becomes dense enough for brief episodes of melting to occur at gully locations. They then matched the data from their model to periods in Mars history when the gullies in the planet's Terra Sirenum region are believed to have expanded rapidly downhill from high elevation points -- a phenomenon that could not be explained without the occasional presence of water.

"We know from a lot of our research and other people's research that early on in Mars history, there was running water on the surface with valley networks and lakes," said Head, a professor of geological sciences at Brown. "But about 3 billion years ago, all of that liquid water was lost, and Mars became what we call a hyper-arid or polar desert. We show here that even after that and in the recent past, when Mars' axis tilts to 35 degrees, it heats up sufficiently to melt snow and ice, bringing liquid water back until temperatures drop and it freezes again."

The findings help fill in some of the missing gaps on how these gullies formed, including how high they start, how severe the erosion is and how far they extend down the side of craters.

Previous theories suggest Martian gullies were carved by carbon dioxide frost, which evaporates from soil, causing rock and rubble to slide down slopes. The height of the gullies made many scientists theorize that meltwater from glaciers had to be involved because of the distance they traveled down the slopes and how eroded the gullies looked. Proving liquid water could exist on Mars since it disappeared so long ago has been difficult because temperatures typically hover about 70 degrees below freezing.

The results from the new study suggest that gully formation was driven by periods of melting ice and by CO 2 frost evaporation in other parts of the year. The researchers found this has likely occurred repeatedly over the past several million years with the most recent occurrence about 630,000 years ago.

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They say that if ice was present at gully locations in the areas they looked at when Mars' axis tilted to about 35 degrees, the conditions would have been right for the ice to melt because temperatures rose above 273 degrees Kelvin, equivalent to about 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Our study shows that the global distribution of gullies is better explained by liquid water over the last million years," said Jay Dickson, the study's lead author and a former researcher at Brown who's now at California Institute of Technology. "Water explains the elevation distribution of gullies in ways that CO 2 cannot. This means that Mars has been able to create liquid water in enough volume to erode channels within the last million years, which is very recent on the scale of Mars geologic history."

Despite doubts about meltwater being possible and scientists never being able to model the right conditions on Mars for ice to melt, the researchers were convinced that the meltwater theory was accurate because they had seen similar features firsthand in Antarctica. There, despite the cold temperatures, the sun is able to heat ice just enough for it to melt and for gully activity to occur.

The new study is a continuation of previous research the team started decades earlier looking at Martian gullies. In a 2015 study, for instance, the researchers showed it was possible that there may have been past periods on Mars when water was available to form gullies if Mars tilted on its axis enough. The findings encouraged them to model what that tilt was and match it with the locations and altitudes of gullies that have formed.

The paper raises anew the fundamental question of whether life could exist on Mars. This is because life, as it's known on Earth, goes hand in hand with the presence of liquid water. Mars will eventually tilt to 35 degrees again, the researchers said.

"Could there be a bridge, if you will, between the early warm and wet Mars and the Mars that we see today in terms of liquid water?" Head said. "Everybody's always looking for environments that could be conducive to not just the formation of life but the preservation and continuation of it. Any microorganism that might have evolved in early Mars is going to be in places where they can be comfortable in ice and then also comfortable or prosperous in liquid water. In the frigid Antarctic environment, for example, the few organisms that exist often occur in stasis, waiting for water."

The study also introduces the importance of these gullies in terms of potential targets to visit during future exploration missions on Mars.

The study included funding from the NASA Mars Data Analysis Program. Other Brown-affiliated authors include former graduate students Ashley Palumbo and Laura Kerber, former graduate student and postdoctoral researcher Caleb Fassett and visiting researcher Mikhail Kreslavsky, a planetary scientist at University of California, Santa Cruz.
From visible starlight to radio waves, the Milky Way galaxy has long been observed through the various frequencies of electromagnetic radiation it emits. Scientists have now revealed a uniquely different image of our galaxy by determining the galactic origin of thousands of neutrinos -- invisible "ghost particles" which exist in great quantities but normally pass straight through Earth undetected. The neutrino-based image of the Milky Way is the first of its kind: a galactic portrait made with particles of matter rather than electromagnetic energy.

The breakthrough was achieved by a collaboration of researchers using the U.S. National Science Foundation-supported IceCube Neutrino Observatory at NSF's Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. The immense observatory detects the subtle signs of high-energy neutrinos from space by using thousands of networked sensors buried deep within a cubic kilometer of clear, pristine ice. The results were revealed at an event today at Drexel University and will be published tomorrow in the journal Science.

"I remember saying, 'At this point in human history, we're the first ones to see our galaxy in anything other than light,'" says Drexel University physicist Naoko Kurahashi Neilson of the moment she and two doctoral students, Steve Sclafani with Drexel and Mirco Hunnefeld with TU Dortmund University in Germany, first examined the image. Kurahashi Neilson proposed the innovative computational analysis used to generate the image and received funding to pursue her idea through a grant from NSF's Faculty Early Career Development program.

"As is so often the case, significant breakthroughs in science are enabled by advances in technology," says Denise Caldwell, director of NSF's Physics Division. "The capabilities provided by the highly sensitive IceCube detector, coupled with new data analysis tools, have given us an entirely new view of our galaxy -- one that had only been hinted at before. As these capabilities continue to be refined, we can look forward to watching this picture emerge with ever-increasing resolution, potentially revealing hidden features of our galaxy never before seen by humanity."

"What's intriguing is that, unlike the case for light of any wavelength, in neutrinos, the universe outshines the nearby sources in our own galaxy," says Francis Halzen, a physicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and principal investigator at IceCube.

Beyond the daunting challenge of just detecting notoriously elusive neutrinos (and distinguishing them from other sorts of interstellar particles) is the even more ambitious goal of determining where they came from. When neutrinos happen to interact with the ice beneath IceCube, those rare encounters produce faint patterns of light, which IceCube can detect. Some patterns of light are highly directional and point clearly to a particular area of the sky, allowing researchers to determine the source of the neutrinos. Such interactions were the basis for the IceCube Collaboration's 2022 discovery of neutrinos that came from another galaxy 47 million light-years away.

Other interactions are far less directional and produce cascading "fuzz balls of light" in the clear ice, says Kurahashi Neilson. Her fellow IceCube Collaboration members, Sclafani and Hunnefeld, developed a machine-learning algorithm that compared the relative position, size and energy of more than 60,000 such neutrino-generated cascades of light recorded by IceCube over 10 years.

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The three researchers spent over two years meticulously testing and verifying their algorithm using artificial data simulating neutrino detections. When they eventually fed the real IceCube-provided data to the algorithm, what emerged was a picture showing bright spots corresponding to locations in the Milky Way that were suspected to emit neutrinos. Those locations were in places where observed gamma rays were thought to be the byproducts of collisions between cosmic rays and interstellar gas, which theoretically should also produce neutrinos.

"A neutrino counterpart has now been measured, thus confirming what we know about our galaxy and cosmic ray sources," says Sclafani.

Over many decades, scientists have revealed countless astronomical discoveries by expanding the methods used to observe the universe. Once-revolutionary advances such as radio astronomy and infrared astronomy have been joined by a new class of observational techniques using phenomena such as gravitational waves and now, neutrinos. Kurahashi Neilson says that the neutrino-based image of the Milky Way is yet another step in that lineage of discovery. She predicts neutrino astronomy will be honed like the methods that preceded it, until it too can reveal previously unknown aspects of the universe.

"This is why we do what we do," she says. "To see something nobody has ever seen, and to understand things we haven't understood."
African performers play drums during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Zeguo)

China has been the DRC's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment for many years in a row. In 2022, two-way trade reached 21.898 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 51.7 percent.

KINSHASA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo creates great opportunities for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which deems China a "privileged" and "strategic" partner, Congolese External Trade Minister Jean-Lucien Bussa Tongba has said.

During an exclusive interview with Xinhua ahead of his departure for China, Bussa Tongba said the DRC attaches great importance to the event, which runs from June 29 to July 2 in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province.

"The expo is a huge opportunity for the DRC which is an important partner with China," said the minister, who heads the DRC delegation to the expo.

The event, he said, takes place shortly after the historic state visit by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi to China, during which the two heads of state decided to upgrade bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

For Bussa Tongba, the expo is an important platform to present the DRC's increasing business opportunities as well as to improve the business environment for Chinese investors in the DRC.

China has been the DRC's largest trading partner and source of foreign investment for many years in a row. In 2022, two-way trade reached 21.898 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 51.7 percent, as China has given zero-tariff treatment to 97 percent of DRC's products while being exported to China under the preferential trade policy.

Bussa Tongba also pointed out that China could play a vital role in the diversification of the DRC's economy, which will serve the interests of all, including the Chinese investors.

"The DRC government prioritizes the diversification of its economy, which would also be a key message that I would share with Chinese investors. It corresponds to our internal need, the world market's need and certainly the need of the Chinese investors," he said.

Besides business talks, Bussa Tongba hoped that the event would be a platform for the exchange of experience with the Chinese counterparts.

"Apart from talking about businesses, we are also in China for the experience-sharing. China's experiences in economic development are so enormous that the DRC, which is a developing country, should learn from China," said the minister.

Bussa Tongba, who has taken a keen interest in China, said he is personally inspired by China's development path, regarding the partnership with China as vital to its development.

"China has, over the past four decades, shown us that it is possible to realize a great leap. The Chinese model inspired and reinspires the DRC. It inspires me personally as a member of the DRC government," he said. "The partnership with China could allow the DRC to realize its leap."

Recalling the first edition of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in 2018, Bussa Tongba said that the in-person attendance allows him to see and sense the dynamism behind Chinese development.

This photo shows an outdoor exhibition area at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

"China is a country constantly on the move. The DRC needs to understand the dynamism behind China's development. Being there psychically allows us to see and feel," he said.

The minister said that he also has high expectations for other trade events in China, including the 6th CIIE in November 2023, reaffirming that the DRC would seize each opportunity to share experiences with China.

"China is a very privileged partner for the DRC," the minister noted.

"I have the confidence to say that the Chinese model works. It is in all of our interests to step up our economic and commercial relations with China," he said.
BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Han Zheng will attend the opening ceremony of the 11th World Peace Forum and deliver a keynote speech to the forum in Beijing on July 2, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced here on Friday.

The forum will be held at Tsinghua University with this year's theme being "Stabilizing an Unstable World through Consensus and Cooperation," Mao said. 
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed today a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas charging five individuals with a fraudulent scheme to sell millions of shares of Global Resource Energy, Inc. (OTC: GBEN), a Fort Worth-based microcap company. The defendants collectively received approximately $1.7 million in proceeds from the fraudulent scheme.

The SEC's complaint alleges that Thomas Collins and Patrick Thomas obtained undisclosed control over the vast majority of GBEN's shares, and then coordinated with Brian Kingsfield, Scott Levine, and Gary Kouletas to fraudulently sell GBEN shares to the investing public. According to the complaint, Collins and Thomas used sham consulting agreements to transfer millions of restricted shares of GBEN stock to a third party to give the appearance that the shares were freely tradeable. Collins and Thomas, with the assistance of Kingsfield and a network of salespeople, induced investors to purchase the GBEN shares. To assist in the fraudulent scheme, Collins enlisted Levine, a market maker, to help match unsuspecting public investors with sellers of shares secretly controlled by Collins and Thomas. In addition, the SEC alleges that Collins and Thomas used another sham consulting agreement to transfer millions of restricted GBEN shares to an entity owned by Kouletas. The Kouletas entity then sold those shares, and split the proceeds with Collins and Thomas.

The SEC's complaint charges all defendants with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and Rules 10b-5(a) and (c) thereunder and Sections 17(a)(1) and (a)(3) of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act), and Kingsfield with violating Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act for acting as an unregistered broker. The SEC seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and penny stock bars against all defendants, along with officer-and-director bars against Collins and Thomas. The defendants have agreed to consent to all the charges and relief, and their settlements are subject to court approval.

Each of the defendants has pleaded guilty in parallel criminal proceedings in the Northern District of Ohio. See United States v. Collins, et al., 1:20-cr-00842-BYP (N.D. Ohio); see also United States v. Levine, 1:23-cr-00262-SL (N.D. Ohio). Collins was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment, Thomas to 18 months imprisonment, Kouletas to 43 months imprisonment, Kingsfield to 37 months imprisonment, and Levine is awaiting sentencing.

In a separate proceeding, Damon Durante, another salesperson Collins and Thomas used to sell GBEN shares, consented to a cease-and-desist order finding that he willfully violated Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act for acting as an unregistered broker. Durante agreed to an order of disgorgement, civil penalty, penny stock bar, and an industry bar. Durante also pleaded guilty in the parallel criminal proceeding and was sentenced to six months imprisonment. See United States v. Collins, et al., 1:20-cr-00842-BYP (N.D. Ohio).

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Derek Kleinmann and Ty Martinez, and supervised by Sarah S. Mallett and Eric R. Werner of the SEC's Fort Worth Regional Office. The SEC's litigation is being conducted by Matthew J. Gulde and supervised by B. David Fraser.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Juan Roman with insider trading in advance of public announcements concerning two drugs under development at Acceleron Pharma Inc. At the time of the alleged trading, in 2019 and 2020, Acceleron was a publicly-traded Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company, and Mr. Roman was its Senior Director of Market Access. Roman, who was responsible for planning the marketing and sale of Acceleron's drugs once they achieved approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has agreed to settle the charges and pay more than $200,000.

According to the SEC's complaint, filed in federal court in Boston, Roman traded Acceleron securities based upon material nonpublic information that he had learned about the company achieving key milestones concerning two different drug candidates. As alleged in the complaint, on December 6, 2019, Roman traded Acceleron stock and options during a securities trading blackout window and in advance of positive news regarding the company's application to the FDA for approval to market and sell its anemia drug Reblozyl for a particular use and generated profits of $1,637. Just a month later, on January 23 and 24, 2020, Roman allegedly traded Acceleron options in advance of the company's announcement of positive clinical trial results for Sotatercept, a drug being developed to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension. The SEC contends that Roman placed these January 2020 trades during another securities trading blackout window and generated profits of $96,115.

Without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations, Roman has consented to the entry of a final judgment that permanently enjoins him from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder; orders him to pay disgorgement of $97,752, representing his total trading profits, $15,224.22 in prejudgment interest, and a $97,752 civil penalty; and bars him from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years. The settlement is subject to court approval.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Andrew Palid and Michele T. Perillo of the Market Abuse Unit within the Boston Regional Office (BRO) and by Eric Giroux and Chip Harper of the BRO. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
People are seen with the U.S. Capitol building shrouded in haze in the background in Washington, D.C., the United States, on June 29, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)

If U.S. politicians truly care about Americans as they claim, they should get rid of any toxic politics, and start to handle bilateral relations in a responsible way that serves the fundamental interests of both the American and Chinese peoples.

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- There has been a sharp increase in the proportion of Americans harboring negative feelings about China -- this is a conclusion several Western media outlets came to recently after analyzing decades of opinion polls.



The polls, if reliable, have unveiled a dangerous anti-China path taken by the United States, which has everything to do with Washington's toxic rhetoric and policies on China deliberately designed and calculated to serve both America's election politics and the White House's "Take China Down" end goal.

For long, China has been a big "bogeyman" in American politics, and blaming China has been politically correct in Washington. The anti-China atmosphere heats up almost every time when Republicans and Democrats face off against one another in presidential elections.

To bring as many voters as possible into their own camp, the two parties vie with each other to be the first to expose a so-called "evil" China. And to outdo their election rivals, candidates from both sides rush to prove throughout their campaigns that they are the quickest to save Americans from the "China threat." This anti-China culture has, over time, brainwashed a growing crowd of the American public.

The "Corona Big Book" disclosed three years ago, for example, has revealed much about this low-cost campaigning scheme used by U.S. bipartisanship. In this strategy playbook, Republican candidates are advised to address the COVID-19 pandemic by aggressively attacking China, and provided with detailed guidelines on everything from how to tie Democratic candidates to the Chinese government to how to deal with accusations of racism.

Grabbing electoral gains is not the only reason for anti-China forces in Washington to mislead American public opinion. For those China hawks, estranging Americans from China also helps hobble the Asian country's rightful development and maintain America's diminishing global hegemony.

A container ship of China's COSCO Shipping docks at a container terminal of the Port of Long Beach in California, the United States, Aug. 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Gao Shan)

An analysis of the Western media outlets has shown that former U.S. President Donald Trump's anti-China language and trade war have turned many Americans' opinions sharply negative, and the policy of the current U.S. administration has since driven American perceptions of China to record lows.

This is not surprising at all, given what Washington has said and done particularly since 2018. Using the pitiful zero-sum logic that America can only win by taking China down, Washington has embarked on a grand crusade waving the banner that reads "China is the enemy."

From badmouthing China's human rights efforts, spreading a COVID-19 lab-leak conspiracy theory to peddling "decoupling" and its more cunning version of "de-risking," and from imposing coercive and unilateral sanctions to blocking normal people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries, U.S. hardliners in Washington have racked their brains to alienate the American public from China, never doubting for a second that doing so won't help bring back America's short-lived "unipolar moment."

The thing is, the China-U.S. relationship, as one of the world's most important bilateral relations, influences the welfare of both countries and the whole world, and the foundation of this relationship depends on the people.

This foundation hasn't crumbled yet, fortunately. The touching story of an American woman called Elizabeth Gardner who finally fulfilled her late husband's last wish to return to the hometown of his childhood by traveling from the United States to Kuliang, or Guling in Mandarin, and the most recent visits of American entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Elon Musk to explore business opportunities and tap cooperation potential in China, have all proven that there are always sober minds in America that back a sound and stable China-U.S. relationship and cherish the hard-won bilateral friendship.



If U.S. politicians truly care about Americans as they claim, they should get rid of any toxic politics, and start to handle bilateral relations in a responsible way that serves the fundamental interests of both the American and Chinese peoples. 
The owner of British Gas said that following engineering work, the facility  located 18 miles off the coast of east Yorkshire  can now hold 54bn cubic feet of gas, the equivalent of around six days of average gas use.

Rough was closed in 2017 but was reopened in October 2022, after Russias invasion of Ukraine. At the time of the reopening, it was able store around 30bn cubic feet of gas.

Chris OShea, chief executive, said: The resilience of the UKs energy system needs to be substantially improved.

Rough is not a silver bullet for energy security, but it plays a critical role in increasing capacity and supply confidence over the winter month.

He also called on regulatory support to repurpose the Rough field. OShea said Centrica was ready to invest 2bn into the project, which would create the worlds largest methane and hydrogen storage facility, but to do this, we need the right regulatory support framework.

This world class North Sea asset has the potential to help the UK economy return to a position of being a net exporter of energy once again.

The UK has some of the lowest levels of gas storage in Europe. Currently, it is able to store 12 days worth of gas, or 7.5 peak winter days. In contrast, Germany is able to store 89 days and France 103 days.

Rough provides around half of the UK's total gas storage, storing gas when there is a surplus and producing it when needed, such as during cold snaps or peak demand.
This photo taken on Jan. 20, 2023 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

The United States has chosen to turn a deaf ear to the global outcry for closure of the camp, which remains one of the many disgraceful stains on the notorious human rights record of the United States.

"Around the world, Guantanamo is a symbol of racial and religious injustice, abuse, and disregard for the rule of law," said Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project at the nonprofit American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement.

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A UN investigator who recently visited the Guantanamo Bay detention camp urged the United States to apologize for the "ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" there, citing details of the deep insecurity, suffering and anxiety all detainees experienced due to violent abuse.

The U.S. military prison, situated on the coast of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, has drawn widespread condemnation for its flagrant breach of human rights. Numerous reports revealed the brutal torture the detainees underwent and their deteriorating physical and mental conditions.

The United States has chosen to turn a deaf ear to the global outcry for closure of the camp, which remains one of the many disgraceful stains on the notorious human rights record of the United States.





WHY IN CUBA?

The Guantanamo Bay detention facility was set up in 2002 by the then U.S. President George W. Bush administration after the United States launched a global military campaign against terrorism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks a year earlier.

Its primary purpose was to hold and interrogate individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism or having links to terrorist organizations, particularly those associated with al-Qaida.

The U.S. government picked the location, which was outside the U.S. territory, to evade legal complications and potential charges of human rights violations from the international community.

Consequently, detainees there were placed beyond the reach of the U.S. jurisdiction and were deprived of their fundamental human rights.

In January 2002, the first 20 detainees were held outdoors in wire mesh cages immediately upon arrival at Guantanamo Bay. In the 20 years afterward, roughly 780 people have been held at Guantanamo.





WHAT HAPPENED THERE?

Since its inception, the detention camp has been widely denounced by activists worldwide for its violation of human rights, including the indefinite detention without proper legal processes and the cruel torture of the inmates during interrogations.

A joint letter written by military jurors condemning the U.S. government's abuse of prisoners disclosed the experience of Majid Khan, a Pakistani imprisoned over alleged links to al-Qaida.

Khan had been detained without charges for nine years and had been denied access to a lawyer for the first four and a half years.

He also suffered inhuman and brutal treatment while in custody. In 2021, Khan told the public the "enhanced interrogation" he was subjected to at the U.S. "black site," which included repeated beatings, waterboarding, forced enemas, sexual assault, and prolonged sleep deprivation.

The abuse of detainees at the camp came under harsh criticism from human rights organizations and legal experts.

Protesters dressed as detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp rally to demand the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp outside the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 11, 2018. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

In April, Patrick Hamilton, head of delegation for the United States and Canada at the International Committee of the Red Cross, visited the camp and described that he was "struck by how those who are still detained today are experiencing the symptoms of accelerated ageing, worsened by the cumulative effects of their experiences and years spent in detention."

In 2006, the United Nations released a report on Guantanamo urging the U.S. government to either place the detainees on trial or release them immediately, the recommendation of which was rejected by the United States.

The arbitrary detention and abuse at Guantanamo is a typical example of the U.S. trampling on rule of law and infringing on human rights.

"Around the world, Guantanamo is a symbol of racial and religious injustice, abuse, and disregard for the rule of law," said Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project at the nonprofit American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement.

WHEN WILL IT CLOSE?

Despite the pledges of U.S. presidents to close it during their presidential campaigns, the facility has remained operational and shows no sign of closure in near future.

In 2016, former U.S. President Barack Obama, who had vowed to close the camp during his running for president, unveiled a long-stalled closure plan for the detention facility.

Protesters rally to demand the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp outside the White House in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 11, 2018. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

The proposal, which included transfer of some detainees to the United States, failed due to opposition from Congress members, who argued the relocation of the detainees to the United States might pose a threat to national security.

In 2018, then U.S. President Donald Trump said that he had signed an order to reexamine the U.S. military detention policy and to keep the Guantanamo detention facility open.

Incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden announced shortly after he took office that his administration will move to put an end to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, promising to close it before the end of his tenure.

According to analysts, major obstacles to the shutdown of the camp include laws that ban the entry of the detainees to the United States, opposition from Congress, and difficulties in finding third countries willing to accept relocated detainees.



Lee Wolosky, former U.S. special envoy for Guantanamo closure, published an op-ed piece in January last year in Politico looking back at the "legal and policy morass" that had developed around the prison.

"A task that many saw as a matter of decisively turning the page on a dark chapter in American history turned out to be much messier, more tedious and more legally and politically fraught than I anticipated," Wolosky observed. "Our longest war has ended, yet Guantanamo endures."
In order to meet the rising demand for its vehicles, Tata Motors Ltd (TML) looks to immediately operationalise the plant that it recently acquired from Ford India in Sanand, Gujarat. Its own manufacturing capacity is nearing saturation with the uptick in demand for its cars, SUVs and EVs. Fords Sanand plant will be able to produce 3 lakh cars annually. With existing capacities nearing saturation, it (TML) acquired a state-of-the-art vehicle manufacturing facility in Sanand, Gujarat, adjacent to its existing plant, with capacity scalable to 4.2 lakh units per annum, said N Chandrasekaran, chairman, Tata Group at the recently held annual general meeting of TML.

The Ford plant in Sanand is located next to TMLs existing plant. TML, which bought the unit for 725.7 crore last year, will unlock an additional manufacturing capacity of 3 lakh units initially, which is scalable to 4.2 lakh units. In FY 2022-23, TMLs production increased by 46% to 5.4 lakh units. The third largest car makers manufacturing plants in Pune and Sanand, and the joint venture plant at Ranjangaon achieved the highest ever production and utilisation in the last financial year. The average monthly production increased from around 40,000 vehicles in Q4 FY22 to around 50,000 in Q4 FY23.

Operationalisation of the acquired plant in Sanand will be the focus for the company in this financial year, the management said in the recent annual report. As part of Ford India's Sanand facility acquisition, a tripartite agreement with Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd management, Ford India management, and the union was signed and all employees who wanted to join TML have transitioned into the new company. The carmaker also paid 9.8 crore towards employee severance costs for the erstwhile employees of Ford India, who have not accepted to continue with TML.

Getting the plant operational within the desired timelines is critical for the success of the business. If we are unable to complete the necessary reconfigurations of the plant, successfully deploy the plant and machinery, and complete investments in Gen 2 and Gen 3 platforms within the timelines, it could cause significant overlays in terms of costs and affect our financial performance and results of operations, the management cited in its analysis.

At the Auto Expo 2023, TML showcased 12 new passenger vehicles that it wanted to launch in the coming years. TMLs models Nexon, Altroz, Tiago, Punch and Harrier are fast gaining market shares countering the might of Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Kia and Mahindra. TML is now the largest player in the electric vehicle (EV) segment. In FY 2022-23, TML introduced Nexon EV Max with a certified range of 453km and Tiago EV with two range options 250km and 315km. The company now has a strong portfolio of 5 EVs Tiago EV, Xpres-T EV, Tigor EV, Nexon EV Prime and Nexon EV Max.

Purposefully leading the EV charge, we presented our 3-phase strategy with the unveiling of the concept Curvv, a 2nd Gen EV based on a Multi Energy Platform, and Avinya, 3rd Gen EV developed on an optimised, dedicated EV platform, said Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd & Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd in the annual report.

TML had entered into an agreement with TPG Rise to secure funding of $1 billion (7,500 crore) through convertible instruments for a stake of 11-15% in the EV business. If the business fails to ramp up the volumes to plan or does not fulfill other necessary conditions, it would lead to lower valuation and dilution of a higher stake in EV Company and may also affect any future prospects of strategic actions, the company said in the annual report.

In FY23, TML emerged as the third OEM in India to cross the 5 lakh units production after Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai. TMLs EV sales crossed 50,000 units in the last financial year. EV constituted 12% of the sales portfolio in Q4. The company retained the top rank as SUV manufacturer. In FY 2022-23, TML turned around on a standalone basis with a profit of 2,728 crore.
BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A new law on building a barrier-free living environment was adopted by Chinese lawmakers on Wednesday during a three-day session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress.

The law, which will take effect on Sept. 1, 2023, consists of eight chapters and makes provisions regarding the construction of accessible facilities, accessible information exchanges and social services, guarantee measures, supervision and management, and liability.

It is the first time that China has enacted a specific law on the construction of a barrier-free living environment, which aims to improve the daily lives of both disabled and elderly people.

EXPANDING THE BENEFICIARY GROUP

Compared with the previous regulations in the field, which mainly respond to the needs of disabled people, the new law expands the beneficiary group with the legislative purpose of "ensuring equal, full and convenient participation and integration of persons with disabilities and the elderly into social life."

In 2021, there were 267 million people aged 60 and above in China. According to data from the National Health Commission, the number is expected to exceed 300 million during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) and surpass 400 million by 2035, accounting for over 30 percent of the total population.

The huge number of elderly people makes them one of the key beneficiary groups of a barrier-free living environment.

Liao Juan, an associate professor at the School of Management of Capital Normal University in Beijing, said the new law closely addresses the needs and expectations of people with disabilities and the elderly in terms of system design, standard establishment and construction requirements, responding strongly to practical needs.

ADDRESSING PRESSING ISSUES

The new law makes targeted provisions on enhancing barrier-free services in public transportation, education and examinations, medical and health care, and other scenarios closely related to social life.

The law stipulates that institutions providing relevant services for people with disabilities or the elderly should be equipped with barrier-free amenities, and their services should include barrier-free daily care and rehabilitation care, among other such services.

It also adds new mandatory regulations on the provision of barrier-free services in emergency shelters, and relevant regulations on improving the use of service dogs for people with disabilities.

To address the issue of unfriendly small print on user manuals, especially for medicines, the law prescribes that pharmaceutical manufacturers and operators should provide audio, large-print, electronic and other barrier-free versions of labeling and manuals.

It stipulates that the state encourages the compiling and publishing of Braille and large-print editions of textbooks for different educational stages to meet the needs of blind and visually-challenged students.

"The move will make a lot of difference for the future development of visually-impaired children," said Lyu Shiming, head of the China Association of Volunteers for Persons with Disabilities.

FINE-TUNING SUPERVISION

Regarding oversight and management work, the law underscores that organizations such as disabled people's federations and aging population committees have the discretion to employ representatives of people with disabilities or the elderly, as well as professionals in the field, to oversee the construction of the barrier-free environment.

Wuhan University researcher Ding Peng said that inviting these groups to engage in processes such as designing and evaluation is instrumental to improving the quality of barrier-free facilities. 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Delhi University has played a major role in creating a strong generation of talented youngsters, and that India's rich education system is the carrier of the nation's prosperity. Addressing the gathering during Valedictory Ceremony of Centenary Celebrations of the University of Delhi, PM Modi said the contributions of the personalities which have emerged out of the University give a glimpse of the life of Delhi University.

Earlier, PM Modi took a metro ride to reach the University. He also interacted with the students during the journey. Upon arriving, the Prime Minister took a walk-through of the exhibition 'Journey of 100 Years of the University'. He was the chief guest of the Valedictory Ceremony of Centenary Celebrations.

PM Modi pointed out that there were only three colleges under Delhi University when it began but today there are more than 90 colleges under it. He also underlined that India which was once considered a fragile economy and has now become one of the top 5 economies in the world. Noting that the number of women studying at DU is more than men, the Prime Minister pointed out that the gender ratio has significantly improved in the country.

The PM said, "If during these hundred years, DU has kept its emotions alive, it has kept its values vibrant too". Underscoring the importance of knowledge, the PM noted that when India had vibrant universities like Nalanda and Takshila, it was at the peak of prosperity. "India's rich education system is the carrier of India's prosperity," he said, underlining the high Indian share in the global GDP of that time. Continuous attacks during the period of slavery destroyed these institutions leading to obstruction of the intellectual flow of India and bringing the growth to standstill, he added.

He said after Independence, universities played a crucial role in giving concrete shape to the emotional swell of post-independence India by creating a strong generation of talented youngsters. Delhi University too played a major part in that, he said. This understanding of the past gives shape to our existence, shape to our ideals and expansion to the vision of the future, he said. He emphasized the importance of an interconnection between the resolutions of a University and a nation and said that the deeper the roots of the educational institutions, the higher the progress of the country.

The Prime Minister noted that the goal of Delhi University was India's independence when it first began, but now that the institution will complete 125 years when India reaches 100 years of Independence, the goal of Delhi University should be to make India a 'Viksit Bharat'. "The third decade of the last century gave new momentum to the struggle for India's Independence, now the third decade of the new century will give impetus to the development journey of India," PM said.

The Prime Minister emphasized that education is not merely a process of teaching but also a way of learning. He pointed out that after a long time, the focus is shifting to what a student wants to learn. He talked about the flexibility in the new National Education Policy for selecting subjects. PM said that due to the futuristic educational policies and decisions, recognition of Indian universities is increasing. He informed that while in 2014, in the QS world ranking there were only 12 Indian universities, now this number has reached 45. He credited India's youth force as the guiding force for this transformation.

The Prime Minister highlighted the deal on the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology or iCET with the US during his recent visit and said it will create new opportunities for the youth of India in various sectors ranging from AI to semiconductors. He said that it will enable access to technologies which were once beyond the reach of our youth and enhance skill development. He informed that companies like Micron, Google, Applied Materials, etc. have decided to invest in India and it provides a glimpse of the bright future for the youth.

"The Industry 4.0 Revolution is knocking on Indias doors," PM remarked as he noted that technologies like AI, AR and VR which could only be witnessed in the movies have now become a part of our real lives. He noted that Robotics has become the new normal from driving to surgery and said that all these sectors are creating new avenues for the young generation of India.

He asked Delhi University that when they celebrated 125 years, they should figure among the top-ranking universities in the world. "Future making innovations should be done here, world's best ideas and leaders should emerge from here, for this you will have to work continuously," the PM said. Concluding the address, PM Modi emphasized the need to prepare our minds and hearts for a goal that we set for ourselves in life. Union Minister for Education, Dharmendra Pradhan and Vice Chancellor of University of Delhi Yogesh Singh were present on the occasion.

He also laid the foundation stone of the building for the Faculty of Technology, Computer Centre and Academic Block, to be built in the North Campus of the University. PM Modi released Commemorative Centenary Volume - Compilation of Centenary Celebrations; Logo Book - Logo of Delhi University and its colleges, and Aura - 100 Years of University of Delhi.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Prime Minister Narendra Modi "a great friend of Russia" and also praised the Centre's 'Make in India' initiative. Addressing an economic forum in Moscow organised by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), the President said. Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it, News reported.

Putin made a case for India as he discussed the opportunities for Russian companies due to the Wests sanctions policies, and the need for the Moscow to offer support tools to help our companies market their products more efficiently".

Crediting Indian leadership for creating an effective model to develop local manufacturing capabilities and woo foreign investors, Putin emphasized the need to think about making our products more convenient and functional, with a modern look and properties. Industrial and product design should become an important resource for the development of domestic business, News quoted the President as saying.

The 'Make in India' initiative was launched by Prime Minister Modi in 2014 aimed to to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products made in the country and incentivise dedicated investments into manufacturing. Putin and Modi last met on the sidelines of a regional security bloc summit in Uzbekistan in September 2022.
The Global Environment Facilitys (GEF) governing board has approved plans to establish a game-changing new fund to finance the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to put nature on a recovery path by the end of this decade.

The GEF Council decision taken during a meeting in Brazil clears the way for the launch of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund at the seventh GEF Assembly, to take place in Vancouver, Canada, in August. The creation of this biodiversity fund is a game-changer for countries ability to protect, restore and ensure the sustainable use of nature, said Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, GEF CEO and Chairperson as well as former Environment and Energy Minister of Costa Rica.

I am thrilled to see this rapid progress just six months after the historic agreement for biodiversity reached in Montreal. I thank the GEF Council for its vision and commitment, which we will continue to build on at the GEF Assembly and beyond.

This is a tremendous result for the planet and for our children and grandchildren, whose future depends on us reversing the course of environmental damage and also supporting each other along the way, said Tom Bui, GEF Council Member from Canada and Co-Chair of the Brasilia meetings.

This agreement extends the positive momentum in international environmental diplomacy we saw in Montreal six months ago, and sets us up for a successful launch of the fund in Vancouver.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was a breakthrough deal reached in December 2022 during the Convention on Biological Diversity COP-15 summit in Montreal. It set new goals on the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems by 2030. To implement the agreement, countries will need to translate the plan into national targets and strategies, integrate biodiversity across their decision-making, and take concrete action to deliver results.

This requires financing for budget-stressed developing countries, many of which are some of the most highly biodiverse in the world. That direct support will be provided through the new fund, which will be set up to draw in capital from governments, the private sector and philanthropic organisations.

David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, described the GEF Council support as a landmark event that will breathe life into the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its transformative goals. Achieving the goals and targets of the Framework is hugely ambitious. But it is also necessary. Its necessary to maintain the web of life on planet earth. Its also an essential part of climate action. And its a fundamental prerequisite to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Cooper said.

The new fund will provide an opportunity to receive funding from all sources and to quickly disburse them through streamlined procedures, and with enhanced access for indigenous people and local communities.

The GEF, which is the financial mechanism for the Convention on Biological Diversity, has already provided early action grants to support national planning around the new agreements goals and targets. In addition to housing the new Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, it will continue to support biodiversity initiatives through the projects and programmes it supports through its other trust funds.

Biodiversity is the largest component of the GEF-8 funding cycle, which runs from 2022 to 2026. Earlier in the week, the GEF Council approved a record work programme providing $1.4 billion in direct support for developing countries efforts to protect and ensure the sustainable use of biodiversity in line with commitments made in Montreal.

The GEF Assembly, a once-every-four-year gathering of the full partnership, will take place on August 22-26. It is set to include environment and finance ministers from around the world, in addition to leaders from civil society, science, the private sector, and local communities. The Global Biodiversity Framework Fund is set to be launched during this gathering, as a reflection of the broad, whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach needed to ensure this effort is a success.

The GEF is already a financial mechanism to the Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, UN Convention to Combat Desertification, and Minamata Convention on Mercury.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  An NYPD officer fired his gun after a luxury car nearly struck cops while fleeing from a vehicle stop on Staten Island near the Goethals Bridge on Thursday evening, police said.

The fleeing car crashed into six civilian vehicles during the incident, according to a spokesman for the NYPDs Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

The NYPDs Force Investigation Division is investigating the incident and the officer who discharged the gun currently is on modified duty, according to police statement. Such investigations routinely are done after an officers gun is fired.

The episode began when police were conducting a car stop of a black BMW sedan with no license plate around 7:55 p.m. in the 2600 block of Richmond Avenue in New Springville, the police spokesman said.

The driver of the BMW allegedly fled the car stop and drove New Jersey bound on the Staten Island Expressway. Cops pulled over the fleeing vehicle and requested the assistance of additional officers who responded to block traffic on the westbound expressway near the exit for Western Avenue. Officers were trying to prevent the BMW from driving over the Goethals, the police spokesman said.

As officers stood in the roadway to block traffic, the driver of the BMW sedan allegedly drove in the direction of the officers. An officer discharged his firearm toward the vehicle, the police spokesman said.

This traffic camera image from Thursday night, June 29, 2023, shows delays on the New Jersey-bound Staten Island Expressway due to the police response. (DOT)

The vehicle did not strike the officers and then fled over the Goethals into New Jersey.

No injuries were reported in the incident, but an officer was taken to an area hospital for evaluation.

No arrests have been made by the NYPD and the police spokesman did not know whether the BMW was located.

No shots were fired on the bridge, the police spokesman said.



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UPDATE: An NYPD officer fired a gun at a suspect fleeing a car stop. Click here for additional details on the incident.



STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The NYPD is investigating an incident on the Goethals Bridge where a police officer is reported to have fired their gun.

The incident was reported at around 7:55 p.m., according police.

An NYPD spokesman confirmed a report of shots fired from an officer. No injuries were reported from the incident.

The spokesman added police are still trying to gather information on what transpired before the incident occurred.

According to emergency radio transmissions, police had been searching for a BMW vehicle.

Lanes on the Goethals Bridge to New Jersey had been temporarily closed due to police activity, according to the Port Authoritys official Twitter account.

The right lane has been opened at the Goethals Bridge to NJ, police department activity blocks 2 left lanes.  Goethals Bridge (@PANYNJ_GB) June 30, 2023

A short time later, police reopened one lane.

The right lane has been opened at the Goethals Bridge to NJ, police department activity blocks 2 left lanes.  Goethals Bridge (@PANYNJ_GB) June 30, 2023

Around 9:05 p.m., Notify NYC issued an alert detailing due to police activity, all westbound lanes of the Staten Island Expressway are closed at Forest Avenue. They advised to consider alternate routes and allow for additional travel time.

Notify NYC announced shortly after midnight all expressway lanes were open.

Police Activity: Westbound lanes of the Staten Island Expressway are closed at Forest Avenue in Staten Island. Consider alt routes. Multilingual & ASL Link: https://t.co/GpdlTK7FPB.  NYCEM - Notify NYC (@NotifyNYC) June 30, 2023

This is a breaking news story. More information will be added once it becomes available.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A national law that protects expecting and new parents in the workforce took effect this month -- making it easier for millions of working parents to keep their jobs and livelihoods during crucial transitions in life.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which went into effect on June 27, provides workers new rights to reasonable accommodations during or after pregnancy, such as flexible and modified schedules for pregnancy, childbirth recovery, lactation and related medical conditions; water breaks or rest breaks; temporary change in work duties; and more.

At long last, pregnant and postpartum workers in every corner of the country now have a clear right to the accommodations they need to remain healthy and attached to the workforce, said Dina Bakst, the co-founder and co-president for A Better Balance, an advocacy organization that spearheaded and led the movement. This is an incredible moment for millions of workers, especially pregnant women and working moms in low-wage and physically demanding jobs, who have faced unimaginable economic hardship for needing modest accommodations to protect their health. From this day forward, pregnant and postpartum workers nationwide will be afforded fairness, dignity and equality under the law,.

Congress introduced the PWFA in 2012 directly after Dina Bakst wrote an op-ed in The New York Times titled Pregnant and Pushed Out of a Job. A decade later, in 2022, A Better Balance, ParentsTogether and other organizations and allies mobilized to help get the law passed. President Biden signed it into law on December 29, 2022, marking a historic civil rights victory.

This groundbreaking law is one of the biggest wins for expecting and new parents in the workplace in decades.

The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 was meant to provide these protections to pregnant workers already, but its vague language has made it hard to enforce. The American Disabilities Act also has been viewed as a tool to protect pregnant workers, but it requires a person prove she/they needs an accommodation due to a complication with pregnancy. It does not offer blanket protections to pregnant people.

The PWFA, on the other hand, more clearly defines what is considered a reasonable accommodation and the responsibility employers have to their pregnant employees.

Pregnant and postpartum workers need to know their rights to ensure they get the protections and accommodations theyre entitled to.

Heres what you need to know:

With the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in effect most workers now have new rights to reasonable accommodations or temporary changes at work, during or after pregnancy. The PWFA applies to all kinds of employers with 15 employees. Employers cannot retaliate against pregnant workers for requesting accommodations.

Examples of these reasonable accommodations could include:

Flexible scheduling for prenatal or postnatal appointments

Additional, longer, or more flexible breaks to drink water, eat, rest or use the bathroom

Light duty, or help with manual labor and lifting

Temporary transfer to a less physically demanding or safer position

Limiting exposure to hazardous chemicals

Access to a water bottle or food

Leave or time off to recover from childbirth, even if you dont qualify for the FMLA

Leave or time off for bedrest, recovery from miscarriage, postpartum depression, mastitis, and other pregnancy-related health issues

Providing equipment, such as a stool to sit on

Changing a uniform or dress code, like allowing wearing maternity pants

Changing a work schedule, like allowing shorter work hours or a later start time to accommodate morning sickness

Breaks, private space (not in a bathroom), and other accommodations for lactation needs, like adding a lock to a meeting room for private breast milk expression

Remote work or telework

You can find additional information and resources on A Better Balances website, including sample letters to send your employer requesting accommodations and a free and confidential legal helpline that can give you legal advice and help you assert your workplace rights.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- You no longer have to pay a fee to take any New York State civil service exam beginning July 2023 through December 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul announced Friday.

This decision to eliminate fees for all state exams is part of the broader efforts outlined in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget to bring about modernization in New Yorks public workforce.

As our state continues to grapple with an affordability crisis, civil service exam fees place yet another burden on New Yorkers -- particularly the passionate New Yorkers seeking meaningful careers in state service, Hochul said. By waiving these fees, my administration is standing by its commitment to modernizing New Yorks workforce and lowering barriers to ensure that our civil servants reflect the rich diversity of our state.

Civil service exam fees can create a significant barrier for individuals seeking to enter public service, especially those from historically marginalized communities. While fee waivers previously existed for Veterans and individuals who were unemployed or receiving public assistance, the majority of test-takers were still required to pay an exam fee.

To modernize New Yorks public workforce and streamline government operations, the FY 2024 Budget has taken several measures, including eliminating exam application fees for state civil service exams. Additional actions include offering civil service exams regularly at 12 state-operated testing centers to be established across the state, and expanding the states existing 55-B hiring program to increase job opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

At the Department of Civil Service, we are making improvements to eliminate barriers to entry for civil service jobs and transforming the states approach to meeting our workforce needs to help recruit and retain a diverse and talented workforce that will serve all New Yorkers, Department of Civil Service Commissioner Timothy R. Hogues said.

The Governor previously announced the creation of civil service specialist positions at Department of Labor Career Centers, which act as intermediaries between jobseekers and the Department of Civil Service, as well as other state agencies. These specialists help candidates navigate the Civil Service Merit System and provide support in exploring available job opportunities within state government.

In May, the Governor announced thousands of state jobs are open and available for immediate hiring in the health and human services sectors across 10 state agencies. This initiative is part of the Hiring for Emergency Limited Placement (HELP) Program, which aims to address the statewide workforce shortage in critical health and safety roles throughout the state government.

To learn more about working for the state of New York and how to take the next step in pursuing a rewarding career in public service, please visit the Department of Civil Service website and follow the Department on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has long been a target of criticism about the conditions its tenants live in, and earlier this month, one resident of a Staten Island development filed a lawsuit over mold thats been an issue for more than a decade.

In a complaint filed June 9, Deirdre Archbald, a resident of the Todt Hill Houses, alleged that NYCHA had been aware of the mold issue in her Westwood Avenue apartment since 2008, but didnt do enough to address it.

Archbald alleged in the complaint that she suffered personal injuries as a result of living with the mold conditions.

A NYCHA spokesperson declined to comment about ongoing litigation, but in a response filed Monday, the agency blamed Archbald for the mold issue without going into further detail.

NYCHA has repeatedly been named the worst landlord in the city by the office of the New York City Public Advocate, which publishes an annual list of the 100 worst landlords in the five boroughs.

In last years list, published in December, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams took the agency to task for its failure to maintain its developments.

Research done by his office found 673,990 open work orders in NYCHA developments, an increase of 73,510 over the previous years number.

Its no surprise that NYCHA, the city itself, continues to be the worst landlord in New York  and that conditions have actually worsened, Williams said when he released the report. Its true that NYCHA needs more funding from the state and federal government, but its also true that its management failures this year and for many years before have led to a bankruptcy of tenant trust. Taking ownership of NYCHAs past and present failures, rather than passing the buck, is essential to improving its future and the dangerous conditions for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers paying to live there. Across all levels of government, we need real, urgent reforms to keep people in their homes, and keep those homes safe.

Williams also pointed to a report he released in September of last year about conditions NYCHA residents live in, titled How The Other Half Lives In Public Housing.

Part of the report delves into mold issues found throughout NYCHA developments in the city. Williams pointed to the 2020 mold and leaks action plan agreement between NYCHA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that reported nearly 35,000 work orders in 2019.

To address the ongoing problems in NYCHA developments, the city has taken a variety of steps, including recently-announced plans to demolish two Manhattan sites replacing them with high-rise apartments for the residents who live there.

A Staten Island development, the West Brighton Houses, also recently became the latest development targeted for a controversial program that brings NYCHA developments under private management.

NYCHA announced in April that BFC Partners Development LLC, CB Emmanuel Realty LLC and non-profit organization Catholic Homes New York will work together to repair 574 apartments across the NYCHA developments 14 buildings, which are home to more than 1,400 residents.

The funding for the much-needed repairs is through NYCHAs PACT (Permanent Affordability Commitment Together) program, which is the agencys version of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), a U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program created for housing authorities to access federal capital to improve developments and ensure their affordability.

Under PACT, NYCHA establishes public-private partnerships with private developers, property management companies and social service providers, to carry out much-needed overhaul renovations of their developments. They also convert the properties from Section 9 (public housing) to project-based Section 8, the Housing Choice Voucher program.

NYCHA remains the owner of the buildings, but the PACT program allows day-to-day management of the complexes to be handed over to private companies. Pinnacle City Living will serve as West Brighton I and IIs property manager after they are converted, according to NYCHA.

West Brighton Houses is in desperate need and is long overdue for these comprehensive repairs provided by the PACT program, Shekina Butler, president of the West Brighton Tenant Association said following the announcement. The quality of life for West Brightons residents has declined over the years, and now its time to celebrate the upcoming changes. While this has been a long and arduous process, we are thankful for the support of NYCHA and Censere Consulting to have finally chosen the partner team that we feel will best suit the needs of West Brighton residents.

MORE NYC NEWS

NYC may impose emission rules on certain pizzerias in latest carbon-cutting measure

Staten Island rabbi named to NYCs first Jewish Advisory Council

SIUH discontinues a grossly underutilized South Shore overnight ambulance tour

NYC partners with Google in effort aimed at getting public school students ready for tech jobs

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Flight delays and cancellations have left masses of eager travelers cramming airports across the country this week as they await to make it to their holiday destination, according to published reports.

The AAA projects that 50.7 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this Independence Day weekend. This would trump the weekend record set in 2019 of 49 million travelers. But whether airlines are prepared for this is put into question as thousands of travelers have been burdened by air travel disruptions.

On Thursday, there were over 22,000 flight delays and over a thousand flight cancellations, according to FlightAware data. Since Monday, there have been nearly 10,000 flight cancellations, according to the tracker site.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FFA) took to Twitter to announce Thursday, June 29 is expected to be the busiest single day of the long holiday weekend, with 52,564 flights.

Map created by Flight Aware shows travel disturbances occurring across the United States on Thursday, June 29. (Courtesy of FlightAware)

New York Citys major airport hubs -- JFK, Laguardia, and Newark Liberty -- are experiencing one of the highest numbers of flight cancellations and delays, plaguing travelers plans leading up to Fourth of July celebrations.

Lines were dragging and travelers were seen sleeping on chairs and floors at the LaGuardia airport on Thursday morning, according to footage reported by the Daily Mail.

Thunderstorms in the New York area are blocking arrival and departure routes for La Guardia Airport, JFK International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, the FAA said in a statement earlier this week.

Severe thunderstorms loomed over New York City Monday afternoon and throughout midnight.

While weather conditions may have caused disturbances, there is also another issue at hand: the FAA is understaffed. An audit report was released by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association last week about the FAAs challenges to provide adequate staffing and training for air traffic controllers.

FAA continues to face staffing challenges and lacks a plan to address them, which in turn poses a risk to the continuity of air traffic operations, the report states.

According to the report, the FFA is struggling to bring controller staffing back to pre-pandemic levels at critical facilities.
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.

The Supreme Court issued its first opinion of the day on Friday in the case of 303 Creative v. Elenis, ruling 6-3 in favor of graphic designer Lorie Smith, who claimed she should be allowed to refuse graphic design services to LGBTQ couples.

As with the cases concerning affirmative action and student loan debt relief, the justices ruled along party lines, with all six Republican-appointed judges in the majority and all three Democrat-appointed judges dissenting.

Smith, who has yet to even begin doing business creating wedding websites, fabricated a hypothetical situation in which she would be faced with being hired by a gay couple. Even the court acknowledged the hypotheticals of this situation, with Justice Neil Gorsuch, who penned the majority opinion, writing that while Ms. Smith has laid the groundwork for her new venture, she has yet to carry out her plans.

This. Is. Bonkers.



Lorie Smith, the plaintiff in the 303 Creatives and her lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom INVENTED a same sex couple who she claimed asked her to make a wedding website.



The request that forms the basis of this lawsuit is FAKE. https://t.co/E3DY2Rfl8K pic.twitter.com/plwI7Ovv7f  Imani Gandy (Orcas Version)  (@AngryBlackLady) June 29, 2023

If the basis of this case sounds familiar, thats because its the second to be brought before the court by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a religious group that discriminates against LGBTQ folks and represented Smith. ADF attorneys also represented Masterpiece Cakeshop in 2018, the Colorado bakery that refused to serve a same-sex couple.

As with Smiths case, the services being denied to LGBTQ folks were wedding-related. In 2012, Charlie Craig and David Mullins tried to place a custom wedding cake order with Masterpiece Cakeshop, which declined to take their order because owner Jack Phillips said he does not do business with LGBTQ couples.

The Supreme Courts 2018 ruling on Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission ultimately went in favor of the business, but was far less sweeping as Fridays decision. LGBTQ rights advocates worry this could open the door to widespread discrimination for not just the LGBTQ community but all marginalized people.
A staff member sells red agate jewelry via livestreaming at the exhibition area of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture of the Sichuan Collaborative Development Pavilion during the 19th Western China International Fair (WCIF) in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 29, 2023. Kicking off here on Thursday, the five-day fair attracts more than 3,500 enterprises from 56 countries and regions. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)

An exhibitor cooks chicken imported from Thailand at the Thailand pavilion of the Belt and Road International Cooperation Pavilion during the 19th Western China International Fair (WCIF) in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 29, 2023. Kicking off here on Thursday, the five-day fair attracts more than 3,500 enterprises from 56 countries and regions. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)

Visitors taste durian at the exhibition booth of CP Group in the Belt and Road International Cooperation Pavilion during the 19th Western China International Fair (WCIF) in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 29, 2023. Kicking off here on Thursday, the five-day fair attracts more than 3,500 enterprises from 56 countries and regions. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)

A visitor takes photos of a drone at the Mianyang exhibition area during the 19th Western China International Fair (WCIF) in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 29, 2023. Kicking off here on Thursday, the five-day fair attracts more than 3,500 enterprises from 56 countries and regions. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

A visitor learns about Jiajiang new year painting at the Leshan exhibition area during the 19th Western China International Fair (WCIF) in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 29, 2023. Kicking off here on Thursday, the five-day fair attracts more than 3,500 enterprises from 56 countries and regions. (Xinhua/Xu Bingjie)

Visitors look at crystal artifacts at the Czech pavilion of the Belt and Road International Cooperation Pavilion during the 19th Western China International Fair (WCIF) in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, June 29, 2023. Kicking off here on Thursday, the five-day fair attracts more than 3,500 enterprises from 56 countries and regions. (Xinhua/Shen Bohan)
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San Mateo, CA (94402)

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Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 74F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph..

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Clear skies with a few passing clouds. Low 53F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
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 In April last year, Australias second-largest bank National Australia Bank received regulatory manna from heaven. After a five-year-long investigation into suspected systemic breaches of anti-money laundering laws by the financial crime regulator AUSTRAC, NAB was spared a major fine like its competitors Commonwealth Bank and Westpac which had respectively been fined $700 million and $1.3 billion for similar but more voluminous breaches. Instead, AUSTRAC allowed NAB to enter into an enforceable agreement where it promised the regulator it would do better. We have a plan to make our bank simpler for customers to use, while safeguarding against the criminal threat, NAB chief executive Ross McEwan said at the time. NABs easy AUSTRAC escape raised eyebrows in the banking industry given the reputational damage the bank suffered during the 2018 banking royal commission which heard evidence staff had falsified documents and a fraud ring had abused the banks introducer home loan program. NABs loose controls were also raised again during the prosecution of former bank consultant Helen Rosamond. A little over a year after NAB and AUSTRAC entered into their agreement, NAB is again in hot water. The bank is at the centre of allegations that international fraudsters were able to easily set up accounts at the bank using stolen identity documents to orchestrate a $25 million scam. The allegations, made by lawyers for two large US companies in the Supreme Court of Victoria, cast doubt on whether the bank has reformed its ways and set up systems and controls to stop frauds and money laundering by crime gangs.

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It has also given hope to other scam victims around Australia that they may have some recourse in recouping their losses if the US companies are successful in building a claim the bank was negligent and failed to follow its own rules when processing the transfers. Australian banks, including NAB, generally dont refund money lost to scammers by their customers. Instead, the banks spend money educating the public about scam awareness and see the losses as, ultimately, the responsibility of the victim. Its a very interesting case, says Consumer Action Law Centre policy officer Tom Abourizk, who this month attended a round table discussion on scams set up by Finance Minister Stephen Jones. Loading It [scam losses] keeps falling to one individual at a time. Unless a big court case like this comes along, nothing changes and those people just keep wearing it.  Earlier this month, this masthead revealed NABs accounts had been used by international fraudsters who had hacked into the systems of Californian company Terra Global. By impersonating executives at Terra Global, the fraudsters were able to convince the groups US-based investment partner Anew Climate  majority owned by a division of US giant TPG Capital  to send $US16.69 million dollars ($25 million) to an NAB account. The fraudsters were able to set up the account at NAB in the name of a recently incorporated Australian company that listed a man from a suburb of Maitland, NSW, as its director and shareholder. The man, Michael, had no knowledge his ID had been used to orchestrate a major international fraud until contacted by this masthead. This masthead has chosen not to publish Michaels surname or suburb.

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The US Secret Service and the FBI are investigating the fraud, and the Australian Federal Police is assisting the investigation via its multi-agency taskforce into business email compromise cybercrime, known as Operation Dolos. Police sources who could not be named for operational reasons said Michael was not suspected as having any involvement in the fraud. Michael said he has made a formal report with Australian authorities about his ID being compromised, but remains frustrated about why he has been dragged into the matter. NABs failings in focus An investigation by this masthead can reveal the fraudsters were able to open three bank accounts over three days in the name of the Australian company set up in Michaels name (Terra Global Capital Pty Ltd) with limited checks by the bank about whether Michael was really in charge of the company and the accounts. It can also be revealed that fraudsters were able to deposit the $25 million in one of the NAB accounts and then withdraw most of it ($23 million) on the same day over 30 online transfers without any stop being placed on the account. This was despite the type of account  a foreign exchange account  coming under special monitoring provision for offshore transactions. NABs records of the accounts provided to the court so far appear to be limited. Its records include a form from the bank that was used to set up the account and to give authority to Michael to control the account. The form requires the signature of the customer and a staff member. It has neither signature. It is also undated.

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Another NAB document, titled Request to Open NAB Foreign Currency Account Onshore, also includes incorrect information. The NAB phone number listed on the form sounded engaged when this masthead called it this week. The email address listed on the form spells Michaels first name as Micheal. The form also states the account authority card form had been signed by the customer, despite the copy of the form produced by NAB not being signed. Two mobile phone numbers were given as contacts for the accounts. One is listed with a prefix 03, for Victoria, as though it was a landline number, and Michael and the Australian company set up in his name being based in NSW. Both numbers are now disconnected. The documents claim the accounts had been verified using SMS/Email. NAB has, so far, only provided lawyers for the US companies with a passport number that was filed with the account. At the time of writing, the bank appears to have not produced a certified photocopy of the passport, which it is required to hold under its own Certified ID Guide policy. In response to a series of detailed questions, a spokesperson for the bank said: As this matter remains before the court, we are unable to comment on this case. At NAB, we take our financial crime obligations very seriously. We have robust systems in place to ensure were meeting our customer identification and KYC [know your customer] obligations, and we continually invest in our ability to detect, deter and prevent financial crime. AUSTRACs concerns

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NABs agreement with AUSTRAC focused on the banks know your customer  or KYC  controls. KYC is the centrepiece of banking regulation. It is the obligation for a bank to know who their customers are so they can ensure money launderers, drug traffickers and other criminals are not using banks or casinos to wash dirty money. Loading Since 2021, Australias anti-money-laundering laws explicitly prohibit banks and other groups from providing a designated service; for example, a foreign exchange bank account like the one used to transfer the defrauded funds, if customer identification procedures cannot be performed. The enforceable undertaking agreement between the bank and AUSTRAC shows the regulator believed NABs systems were lacking and did not include adequate anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing checks. AUSTRACs concerns also focused on offshore transactions, similar to the ones made by the fraudsters first into the bank account from a US-based company with no business here and then out of the bank to Turkey and China on the same day. The bank appears to have been taking the AUSTRAC agreement seriously. It told investors last year it would spend between $240 million and $360 million over three years to fulfil its undertaking to the regulator, including new IT systems and an external expert to review its progress. A spokesman for AUSTRAC had determined it was appropriate to accept an enforceable undertaking from NAB rather than launch civil penalty provisions considering the nature and volume of non-compliance.

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Apartment towers sporting upmarket brands ranging from Lamborghini to Armani could soon pop up across Sydney, as luxury home buyers in Australia turn their attention to trophy purchases.

While hotel chains and upmarket brands have had a long history of co-developments, the trend is now migrating to apartment complexes, where the big fashion and jewellery houses are targeting a new set of buyers.

The Crown residences at Barangaroo. Credit: Peter Rae

According to the latest Knight Frank Global Branded Residences Report 2023, the luxury apartment market is enjoying sustained growth, with the number of global branded residences to jump 55 per cent by 2026.

The report pinpointed Australia as ripe for the development of more branded residences in the future, with the designer labels seen as a trophy purchase that can translate to hefty premiums on high-end real estate developments.
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Eating outRestaurant news Huge decline: Why Sydney diners have deserted dessert wine Sales of sweet wine have hit new lows at hatted Sydney restaurants. Bianca Hrovat July 1, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

The death knell is tolling for dessert wine, as high prices, health culture and changing tastes cause sales to plummet to new lows at hatted Sydney restaurants. At Merivale restaurant Freds, head sommelier Simon Curkovic laments the lost appreciation for a well-paired glass of sweet wine with dessert. There are seven dessert wines available on Freds wine list, but together they account for less than 2.5 per cent of alcohol sales. At an evening out at Freds, sommelier Simon Curkovic lamented the death of dessert wine. Steven Siewert Certainly, demand for dessert wine  has plummeted [and] people are preferring less sweet alternatives, Curkovic says. [When they do order it], its definitely by the glass. Bottle sales, which now mostly occur in the super premium category, are few and far between.

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Dessert wines such as moscato dasti, port and madeira are characterised by their higher residual sugar content, traditionally created through late harvest (allowing the grapes to ripen and build their sugar content); noble rot (encouraging botrytis, a common fungal disease, to dehydrate the grape and concentrate its sugar content); or fortification (using spirits, like brandy, to halt the fermentation process and preserve a higher sugar content). Photo: Steven Siewert Theyre polarising, and complex, and rewarding, says Georgie Davidson-Brown, head sommelier at Matt Morans Woollahra restaurant Chiswick. A good dessert wine balances sweetness and acidity. It isnt cloying or syrupy. You can feel a richness in your mouth, but it doesnt hang around. While fortified wines remain a steady choice among Chiswicks older diners, sweet wines as a whole have experienced a huge decline, accounting for just 1 or 2 per cent of total drink sales.

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Head sommelier Georgie Davidson-Brown at Chiswick. Supplied We can see it dying out, from generation to generation, Davidson-Brown says, noting its popularity has declined with the rise of wellness culture. The worlds sweetest wine, pedro ximenez, contains more than 300g of residual sugar per litre. In such a health conscious, low alcohol, no sugar era, why would people actively seek that out? asks Davidson-Brown. Only three bottles of dessert wine have been sold at Palazzo Salato since the Love Tilly Group opened the Italian restaurant on Clarence Street two months ago. Head sommelier Julie Barbera says dessert wines decades-long decline has been exacerbated by the rise in cocktail culture and the popularisation of fresh and bitter alternatives, like the negroni.

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Palazzo Salato. Edwina Pickles The Italian cocktail (equal parts amaro, vermouth and gin) soared to the top of the global bestseller list in 2022, signifying a significant palate shift. Drinks are like fashion, its a cyclical thing, and I think weve reached the lowest point for dessert wine, Barbera says. From what Ive seen at the venues Ive worked at in Europe and Australia, younger generations dont order sweet wines, they go for amaros instead. Amaro-based cocktails like the negroni have proven more popular. Brent Hofacker / Alamy Stock Photo

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Given the poor sales and the complexity of the production process, its rare to see new winemakers offering dessert wines at all. The number of upcoming winemakers making dessert wine is diminishing as the trend away from sweet wine takes hold, says Curkovic. Why would you invest where there is no return? Price is also a factor during the cost of living crisis, says Barbera. Its very expensive, she says.

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We have to pour it in smaller glasses to make it more affordable. At Freds, the price of a 75ml glass ranges from $15 for a juicy semillon blend from the Yarra Valley, to a frightfully expensive $135 for a Chateau dYquem sauterne. Sherry has become the drink of choice at new Rushcutters Bay bar Vermuteria. Christopher Pearce David Spanton, owner of Potts Point wine and aperitivo bar Vermuteria, says dessert wine has a branding problem. From my point of view, dessert wines have been on the decline since we started calling them that. It has these negative connotations of something sweet, rich and out-of-fashion, he says.

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It was what your mum and dad drank. It was the bottle at the back of the shelf, collecting dust at your grandmothers house. But anything uncool, especially in the bartending industry, will eventually find its way back into the spotlight. At hatted Newtown restaurant Odd Culture, dessert wines appear on the food menu as recommended accompaniments rather than languishing at the back of the wine list. I think thats why were selling a bit more. It helps people see beyond that textbook sweet wine and understand how those flavours will work well together, Blackman says. At Vermuteria, sherry has become a surprise bestseller thanks to the concerted efforts of Spanton and his team. Each night, they travel from table to table, extolling the virtues of their $6 glasses of Spanish sherry.

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Every table has a mini tasting and hears our 30-second spiel, Spanton explains. We win them over, table by table.

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MACAO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Macao's general unemployment rate and the unemployment rate of local residents from March to May both held steady from the February-April period, the special administrative region's statistics department said on Friday.

The latest report from Macao's Statistics and Census Service said the general unemployment rate and the unemployment rate of local residents were 2.8 percent and 3.6 percent respectively for the March-May period.

The underemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percentage points to 1.8 percent, while the labor force participation rate was 67.5 percent.

The labor force living in Macao totaled 369,800 people from March to May. Total employment was 359,300 and the number of employed residents totaled 281,200, down by 1,400 and 1,000 respectively from the previous period.

The number of unemployed was 10,500, similar to that in the previous period.

Meanwhile, the proportion of people seeking their first job increased by 0.7 percentage points to 4.6 percent of the total unemployed.

The number of underemployed went down by 1,100 from the previous period to 6,800. 
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Eating outComing soon Lune croissants are landing in Sydney this week, and heres where you can find them The cult Melbourne croissanterie has teamed up with Koko Black to create a limited-edition Belgian truffle croissant ahead of opening two Sydney stores next year. Bianca Hrovat July 1, 2023 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save recipes for later. You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. Save this article for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime. Got it Share

Cult Melbourne croissanterie Lune is touching down in Sydney on Friday, July 7, celebrating World Chocolate Day with a decadent, limited-edition Belgian truffle croissant. It is the first time Lune croissants, dubbed the worlds best by The New York Times, will be sold in Sydney. Early next year, the brand plans to open two Sydney stores, one in Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, and the second on Castlereagh Street in Martin Place. The Lune x Koko Black Belgian truffle croissant, made especially for World Chocolate Day on July 7. The Belgian truffle croissant has been created as part of a collaboration with Australian chocolatier Koko Black. It will be the first time theyve teamed up since 2019, when their limited-edition pistachio praline croissant sold out within 15 minutes. Im excited about the fact that Sydneysiders will actually be able to walk into a store and buy a Lune croissant for the first time, Lune founder and pastry chef Kate Reid tells Good Food.

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Its pretty special  a nice early entrance to Sydney. Inside the Lune x Koko Black Belgian truffle croissant. The one-off creation, available at select Koko Black stores and a Lune pop-up store at the Queen Victoria Building in George Street, Sydney, until July 9, took about five months to develop and is inspired by Koko Blacks smooth, creamy Belgian truffles. The twice-baked croissant is filled with Koko Black cocoa frangipane and 70 per cent Guanaja fondant, and topped with mascarpone chantilly cream, tempered chocolate shards, salted cookie crumb and Belgian truffles. Its amazing - rich, yet delicate, says Koko Black chocolatier Remco Brigou, who describes World Chocolate Day as Superbowl for chocolate lovers.

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When you look at our Belgian truffles, they are rich in chocolate, for sure, but theyre also smooth and creamy  we wanted all of those elements and textures to be part of the Belgian truffle croissant. Dont share: youll need to have a whole one to yourself. The croissant is topped with mascarpone chantilly cream, tempered chocolate shards, salted cookie crumb and Belgian truffles. Reid reveals there were two croissants that reached the final stages of development for the collab. The close runner-up featured chocolate, orange and almond. It may yet make a future appearance. The pastry chef, who once worked as a Formula 1 racing engineer, says the collaboration with Koko Black helped to cement Lunes official product philosophy, which has been in development for the past year.

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Master of the Luniverse: A day in the life of Kate Reid, owner of Lune Croissanterie Weve been putting a lot of consideration into it, and first and foremost, anything we create must hero the croissant pastry, Reid says. Anything that overrides the flavour and texture of the pastry, or doesnt let it shine, wont work. When I first saw the Belgian truffle croissant, I assumed it was going to be too rich because of all the cream on top, but somehow it magically balances the richness of the chocolate to make a perfect package.

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For the first time in nearly 40 years, the Melbourne Cup will be without a fashion sponsor after Myer and the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) announced they were cutting ties.

The change, effective from July, means that the 60-year-old fashions on the field competition will also be without a naming sponsor. But organisers insist that the competition remains viable and will still include the involvement of major-prize sponsor Lexus, which gifts a car to each of the two main category winners.

Model Jennifer Hawkins became synonymous with Myers sponsorship of the Melbourne Cup Carnival in her time as store ambassador. Credit: Eddie Jim

In a joint statement, the VRC and Myer announced they would not be renewing their partnership, which has been continuous since 1983. Myers chief executive John King said it was a difficult decision to end the sponsorship, but one that aligns with our ongoing strategic objectives and marketing priorities. While VRC chief Steve Rosich said the club would soon release more details about the 2023 fashions on the field competition.

Still, the departure of Myer is likely to cause some concerns about the future of the competition, which has attracted high-profile judges, including milliner to the royal family Stephen Jones and model Jerry Hall.
Dwayne and Linda Hayes took their disabled son Blake to a western Sydney club for a chance to relax and spend time with friends and family. Instead, they left after being told having him in a trolley was a safety risk.

Visiting from Wagga Wagga, the family went to West HQ in Rooty Hill to have dinner with friends. Blake  who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy  was eager to play on the pokies after their meal. Thats when security guards began to follow the family.

Dwayne, Linda and their son Blake Hayes, who has spinal muscular atrophy. Credit: Edwina Pickles

At about 10.30pm last night ... four security guards and two managers said the beach trolley we had him in was unsafe because it wasnt enclosed, and as I said to them Well a wheelchairs not enclosed, a scooters not enclosed, Dwayne said.

I reckon I could go anywhere in Australia with him in a club, and this is the first place thats ever thrown him out.
Cath Evans, Victorian executive director of the powerful lobby group Property Council of Australia, said it was clear from the lack of recent activity that the planned development of the Fishermans Bend precinct has stalled and encouraged the government to refocus its attention on it immediately. At a time when housing affordability is at crisis levels, the many thousands of dwellings locked up in the Fishermans Bend precinct represents a significant potential injection of supply into a market that desperately needs it, she said. Something that shouldnt be held up for want of a tramline. After winning government in 2014, the Andrews Labor government gleefully took great political mileage in fixing Matthew Guys mess at Fishermans Bend and in 2018 launched the Fishermans Bend Framework  an 84-page master plan to guide sustainable development in the area under the guidance of an appointed board of experts. Under the plan, Fishermans Bend would feature plenty of green space, apartment buildings, affordable housing, new schools, and thousands of high-tech and advanced manufacturing jobs in the industrial area. Anchoring the employment precinct would be a new Melbourne University engineering and design campus, located on the site of the former Holden car factory.

Tramlines were crucial to the plan. For 80,000 people to live there and 80,000 to work there, theres no space for cars because its a peninsula. The conclusion was it couldnt work in any other way, says Rob McGauran, adjunct professor of urban design at Monash University. McGauran was one of eight people appointed by Guys successor Richard Wynne in 2015 to a committee to devise the recast strategy for the area. The resulting plan set a goal for one of two proposed tram lines  an extension of the Collins Street/Docklands route 11 tram to Fishermans Bend  to be delivered by 2025. But all momentum from the government has stalled, says Voss, which means many properties were being used as a truck parking site of a warehouse instead of housing, shops or services.

Exclusive planning data provided to The Age from housing data firm Charter Keck Cramer illustrates how developers are largely interested in the Montague area  closest to the existing Port Melbourne tram line. According to the data, which tracks developments larger than 10 dwellings, just 1790 apartments have been constructed in Fishermans Bend across 10 buildings since the area was rezoned. One development consisting of 23 homes is under construction, and another building is yet to be constructed but is being marketed as having 213 units. There are a further 18 approved permits for 7339 apartments sitting in the pipeline, and a further 15 buildings representing 7509 apartments in the application phase. Richard Temlett, director at Charter Keck Cramer, said developers were unlikely to progress developments at scale without public transport. Unfortunately, whats happened with Fishermans Bend is it has the fundamentals, it has the planning support, but it doesnt have the infrastructure coming and going into the city and by extension not the market demand, he said.

Melbourne Universitys 2021 announcement to open the first stage of its new campus by 2025 has also been pushed out, with a spokesperson confirming this week that the first stage would not be completed by 2031 and that construction would only start next year. Loading Some smaller facilities would open in 2026 but not for masses of students. The university and its government and industry partners in the precinct will need significantly improved transport links, consistent with the states vision for this world-class precinct, the spokesperson said in a statement. McGauran said his committee found a bus service would not cut the mustard for the university.

How will Melbourne University, in reality, have a successful campus where students either have to drive or catch a bus or walk through two kilometres of the business park, where the lights are off after 7pm at night? Its not just transport that has stalled, with the City of Port Phillip concerned about the lack of progress on promised parks and community facilities in the areas where buildings had gone ahead. Half of Fishermans Bend falls within the City of Port Phillip, the other half in the City of Melbourne. We are concerned the population growth brought by these developments has already put tremendous pressure on our councils nearby open space facilities for community sport and recreation, Mayor Heather Cunsolo said. Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said major transport including the Fishermans Bend tram extension and Melbourne Metro Two rail project was critical for the viability of the precinct.

Many stakeholders believe the pandemic changed the priorities for the state government, as it radically changed the way Melburnians use the city, and that other big build projects like the landmark Suburban Rail Loop project had sucked attention and funds away from Fishermans Bend. Consultancy firm AECOM put the likely cost of extending the existing tram lines down Collins Street into Fishermans Bend at $1 billion in 2018. The Suburban Rail Loop project is on track to cost more than $125 billion. McGauran said in the wider scheme of infrastructure spend, the money needed for a tram line was small change for the government. Light rail into Fishermans Bend is a rounding error in terms of the Suburban Rail Loop, in terms of how much it would cost, and it would be disproportionately impactful for Australia. There are obvious physical barriers to developing Fishermans Bend: parts are at risk of flooding and contaminated soil from decades of noxious industries needs to be dealt with.

Sources with knowledge of the governments internal work on Fishermans Bend also say a dispute between the government and developers over the location and style of a bridge over the Yarra for the tram had also stalled progress, as the proposed path of the tram bridge would impact a riverside marina for residents of luxury riverside apartments. Before the 2022 federal election, federal Labor also promised $3 million for another transport feasibility study with the state government, which has yet to surface. The Victorian government declined The Ages requests to interview any of the six-person Fishermans Bend Development Board. A spokesman for Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny instead issued a statement saying the government had delivered more weekday services to existing bus routes for Fishermans Bend.
Victoria Police has lost a two-year battle to keep secret a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by barrister-turned-informer Nicola Gobbo over allegations her life was ruined and her safety put at risk through negligence and malfeasance in public office by a number of high-profile officers.

The lawsuit comes after the Office of Public Prosecutions abandoned potential criminal prosecutions against any current or past member of Victoria Police involved in the Lawyer X scandal, despite the recommendation of the Office of the Special Investigator.

Nicola Gobbo in 2019. Credit: ABC

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Victoria dropped a suppression order prohibiting any public disclosure about the existence or content of Gobbos lawsuit, despite opposition from Victoria Police.

Documents released by the court show Gobbo is seeking compensation for Victoria Polices alleged failure to keep secret her role as a police informer  when she was known as Lawyer X and registered as Informer 3838  which she claims has caused serious and lasting damage to her health, mental state and career.
At least three teachers were involved in perpetrating abuse at Beaumaris and other schools. More than 50 children are believed to have been abused. Nicholls said even with the inquirys specific focus on Beaumaris, I dont think well ever know how bad it was. If you look at class photos, youll see more than half of them have died early or have disclosed sexual abuse. So yeah, its significant. Beaumaris resident Bryce Gardiner still lives two blocks away from the school he attended as a child in the 1960s and 70s. Gardiner was one of the lucky ones who escaped abuse, although he said he once found himself alone in the multipurpose room with one of the accused teachers and demanded to be let out.

Bryce Gardiner says he narrowly escaped being abused at Beaumaris Primary School. Credit: Paul Jeffers Hes still close to many of his former classmates, who struggle to accept that nothing was done sooner, given persistent rumours, previous claims and legal action. I find it difficult to believe someone in the school did not know, he said. The board of inquiry, which is independent of the government, will establish an official public record of the experiences of victim-survivors. Chaired by barrister and Victorian Law Reform Commissioner Kathleen Foley, SC, the inquiry will report to the government in February. While Andrews said the inquiry would not be prohibited from examining sexual abuse at other schools, the terms of reference relate specifically to the Beaumaris school, the former teachers connected to the abuse and the departments response to those claims.

Advocates worry the scope will be too narrow. Liberal MP Brad Rowswell, who took over the campaign for a parliamentary inquiry into abuse in state schools when Grimley lost his seat, said Beaumaris was the tip of the iceberg. He urged the government to extend the scope of its inquiry. Karen Walker, whose brother Ian died in an accident after suffering long-term mental ill-health following childhood abuse at four institutions including Beaumaris Primary, dismissed the inquiry as political tokenism. If the government was serious about acknowledging the scale and scope of child sexual abuse that happened in government schools they would open the inquiry to all government schools, she said.

Mauz Hatcher, the founder of survivor support group LOUD fence, said a lot of work had been done to address abuse in Catholic institutions, but state schools had slid through. She said she hoped the Beaumaris inquiry would set a precedent, rather than shift the spotlight from unrelated cases. Hopefully it opens the door for more voices to speak out, she said. I really need to have faith that it will create scope for further investigations to happen. It has to start somewhere. Nicholls said she would still encourage victim-survivors from other schools to make a submission to the inquiry. I would expect that if they were getting submissions from other parts of the state they would do the right thing and say, We think we need to expand the terms of reference here.

When asked about the scope of the inquiry, the education department referred The Age to Andrews comments earlier this week. I find it difficult to believe someone in the school did not know. Former Beaumaris primary student Bryce Gardiner In his final speech to parliament last September, Grimley said Victoria had failed to properly address child abuse in state schools, systemically shuffling alleged and convicted paedophiles around schools, which enabled more children to have their innocence taken away from them. One state teacher was sentenced five times between 1996 and 2018. Following a report against another, Grimley told parliament that the Department of Educations then psychiatrist said it was absolutely stupid sending them back to the classroom because you will just keep on offending against children. Grimley said that teacher taught at five more schools before he was charged in 2019 with 42 offences against 38 children, aged between 5 and 12 years.

Nationally, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard allegations of sexual abuse in 1069 schools, of which 44.2 per cent were government schools. Loading But advocates say the royal commission largely ignored government schools, focussing instead on religious bodies. Victorias Betrayal of Trust inquiry in 2013 did not look at government bodies. Documents obtained via a Freedom of Information request by the Justice Party in January showed that since 2010, 381 claims were made for abuse that occurred between 1960 and 2018 in Victorian state educational settings. By last year, the National Redress Scheme had received 1639 applications for abuse within government institutions, 318 of which made successful claims for abuse within state education facilities.
Ahmed Hablas: hostage and patsy. Credit: Fairfax Media As they are not the types to head to VCAT for an independent assessment, the dispute was likely to end in violence  although no one could have anticipated a street execution. On June 20, 2009, the feud between the Chaouks and Haddaras reached another flashpoint in a quiet street in Altona North. Ali Chaouk had called out Mohammed Haddara. They were to meet one-out with no guns. The thing is, Chaouk fibbed and arrived with a .44 Magnum. As insurance, Haddara abducted a Chaouk associate, Ahmed Hablas (Alis cousin by marriage), and forced him into his car.

The message was clear. If there was no resolution, Hablas would be bashed. Haddara even made threatening calls using his hostages phone and pocketed his expensive gold necklace. Haddaras insurance policy proved useless, as Chaouk shot his enemy five times, twice in the side and three times in the back, at 7.50pm in Fifth Avenue. A neighbour ran out to shield the victim until the ambulance arrived, concerned the gunman would return to finish him off. Haddaras brother, Fadi, raced to the scene to be told Mohammed couldnt be saved. Fadi had no doubt who was responsible, as that night he drove his car to the heavily fortified gates of the Chaouk compound in nearby Brooklyn. Yes, thats right. We have organised crime groups living in private compounds to deter police and enemies  one of which was attacked with army grenades. Considering these families mortality rate they would be better off investing in funeral homes than fortified ones.

The initial head of the investigation, now Superintendent Tim Day, says police expected a likely payback shooting that night. The Santiago taskforce [into Middle Eastern crime] looked after risk mitigation while we investigated the homicide. The homicide squad went to the Haddaras to promise the murder would be fully investigated. Superintendent Tim Day speaks to the media in 2019. Credit: Joe Armao They also went to the Chaouks to make it clear Ali was a suspect and would have to be interviewed, and they wanted to make sure the process was conducted with no risk. (Alis brother, Mohammed, was shot dead in April 2005 when police went to arrest him. He pulled a samurai sword on the Special Operations Group, making the classic mistake of taking a knife to a gunfight. Mohammed was wanted in connection with an attempted murder, alleged drug trafficking and a stolen car racket.) Their father, Machhour Chaouk, was murdered 14 months after the Haddara execution. At the age of 10, when most kids are off to Auskick for quality family time, Ali watched his father shoot another man.

The family referred police to their lawyer and the following day solicitor Alan Swanwick promised to bring in a person of interest. Then-homicide detective Barry Gray says: We were expecting Ali, and Swanwick arrived with another man saying, This is Mr Hablas. We knew who he was and we considered him a witness. Ali Chaouk on the day he was sentenced over the murder of Mohammed Haddara. Credit: Nine News Not only did the lawyer take in Hablas (freshly showered and wearing clothes that couldnt be linked to the crime scene), he advised police to caution him before producing a five-page statement describing how Hablas was abducted, managed to escape, was chased by Haddara and then wrestled the gun from his kidnapper and shot him in self-defence. If the statement was to be believed, Hablas was a hero not a murderer. The sticking point was police did not believe it. Another sticking point was the victim had been shot five times, which included three in the back and one at close range while on the ground.

It was not consistent with self-defence, Gray says. Helpfully, Swanwick took in Chaouk the following night to be questioned. The solicitor brushed off Days concerns that representing both men was a conflict of his clients interest. Machhour Chaouk outside court in July 2010. The crime patriarch was killed about a month later. Credit: Jason South So, there was a man who police believed was innocent confessing he had killed, and another man who police believed was the killer but was denying involvement. Here was the dilemma. Should police charge the wrong man? If they charged the right man, would he be able to use Hablas confession as the smokescreen to escape a guilty verdict? And Chaouk had two tame relatives who swore he was at home at the time of the killing.

Day says it wasnt a matter for the police but the courts. We are the collectors of the evidence and our subjective views are not relevant. It was a matter for a jury to decide. Loading Hablas believed (and was assured by Chaouk) his concocted self-defence story would hold and must have been surprised that a year after the shooting he was charged with murder. After a couple of months in remand, Hablas recanted his confession, saying he had been intimidated by the real shooter. He was understandably surprised this was not raised at his bail application. His family decided it was time to find independent legal representation, and turned to the experienced firm of Stary Norton Halphen. They (the Hablases) are a decent family that was dragged into this conspiracy, Gray says.

Police secretly recorded Chaouk telling family members if multiple people confessed to a crime it could create enough doubt to destroy any police case. It is part of a pattern several Middle Eastern crime clans follow. Treat the police as enemies, refuse to co-operate, try to intimidate local cops by turning up in numbers to deter them from conducting searches, and threaten witnesses. Do not underestimate the determination of the quiet man. Without his work the murder would have remained unsolved, and we would have had another gangland war. Superintendent Tim Day on detective Barry Gray At Hablas trial, Gray says everyone in the court knew an innocent man was in the dock. We were all on the same page knowing it would be a travesty of justice if he was convicted. That included the jury, which in October 2011 took just two hours to acquit.

Gray could have let the case lapse, but he kept investigating even after he left homicide, persuading Hablas to give evidence. Loading Perhaps when the car Hablas was sitting in at a McDonalds car park was peppered with 10 shots from a machine gun he realised he had backed the wrong horse. Police traced but did not find the murder weapon, although they located the buried spent shells. Ali Chaouk was charged, but the first jury was disbanded on day six of the trial after some jurors expressed concerns for their safety.

Chaouks two alibi witnesses were blown out of the water when one admitted to the Office of Special Examiner that while Chaouk had been home on the night of the murder, he took a phone call outside then disappeared before the killing. Police believe the call was from Haddara organising the meeting. At the second trial, which lasted 22 days in 2018, the jury returned a guilty verdict. This surprised Chaouk who, having intimidated someone to falsely confess to murder, persuaded witnesses to lie on his behalf and having shot someone dead in cold blood, responded with profound indignation at his sentencing. I dont accept the verdict, its unsafe. Im appealing the decision. Its a miscarriage of justice.

Bell sentenced him to 24 years in prison to serve a minimum of 18. True to his word, Chaouk appealed. Last year that was thrown out. Loading Day says Barry Gray spent more than a decade pursuing justice for the Haddara family. Do not underestimate the determination of the quiet man. Without his work the murder would have remained unsolved, and we would have had another gangland war, Day says. Had the false confession succeeded, Day says, police would have been swamped by similar cases involving patsies intimidated to take the fall.
At several points during the past couple of days Ive felt like I have been living in a parallel universe as politicians attempt to downplay and downgrade the corruption findings made against former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian.

As has been repeatedly noted, Berejiklian was an extraordinarily popular premier who guided NSW through fire, flood and pandemic. She did an impressive job at a time when the state craved strong leadership. Given the genuine affection many  including a lot of Herald readers  have for Berejiklian, it would be easy to avoid writing about this topic in my weekly note to you.

The ICAC found that Gladys Berejiklian acted improperly for the benefit of maintaining her close personal relationship with former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire.

But the proposition being advanced by some that competency in one aspect of her public life nullifies wrongdoing in another needs to be confronted. It is, at best, a naive view and at worst a deliberately misleading argument which risks allowing corruption to flourish in NSW.

I spent Thursday night reading the Independent Commission Against Corruptions full 700-page report into the conduct of the former NSW premier and her secret boyfriend, the former MP for Wagga Wagga Daryl Maguire. The report was based on two public inquiries conducted over 30 days, with 8630 pages of transcripts, 708 exhibits and 957 pages of submissions.
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 I agree that Gladys Berejiklians was no tragic love story (Beloved NSW leader turned blind eye, failed the people, 30 June). In terms of public representation of women, this sorry episode is offensively regressive. Berejiklian was the second female premier of NSW, an exceptional privilege given the persistent paucity of women representing roughly half of the population. That Berejiklian forgot this notable privilege under pathetic acquiescence to someone of bad character, who many would assume she had the intelligence and insight to have assessed, is inexcusable. Did she ever consider her impact as a role model on the respect, perceptions and aspirations for women in politics? Its depressing that Matt Kean and Mark Speakman make excuses for Berejiklians behaviour, when conservative politics has a problem with female representation. Or do conservatives only want to attract similarly submissive women who will endorse male incompetence and corruption? This is a not a tragedy, but rather a cheap, tacky insult to the concept of the love story. Robyn Dalziell, Kellyville Credit: Illustration: Cathy Wilcox If I had said I am the boss to my wife or any former girlfriend since 1963, the relationship would have been kaput in about 10 seconds (I am the boss: The truth behind the secret relationship Berejiklian tried to downplay, June 29). Besides, what kind of subservient cupcake has responded to I am the boss with Yes, I know in the last 60 years? If Liberals are worried about losing votes, I suggest they try hauling themselves out of their Howard-Abbott 1950s mindset and embrace life in the 21st century. Steve Cornelius, Brookvale Berejiklian was a very successful politician who became premier. Any attempt to blame her involvement with a bum for her downfall diminishes her standing to something akin to that of a love-sick school girl. She is responsible for her own actions and as far as we know, stands by them. Time for her defenders to accept reality. Lindsay Foyle, Stanmore If Berejiklian did not have sufficient understanding to interpret the motives of her boyfriend she lacked the judgment required to make her a suitable premier for the most populous state in the nation. Save your tears. Derrick Mason, Boorowa Its hard to understand Berejiklians claim that she did nothing wrong. Surely enabling her secret boyfriend to have a stab at corrupt millions is suspect, especially as marriage and children were discussed for their combined future. Looks like feathering ones nest to me. Wendy Crew, Lane Cove North Your correspondent writes that corrupt and unwise are undesirable qualities of leaders (Letters, June 30). What disturbs me most is that Berejiklian didnt have the smarts to see Maguire for the dud that he was. Thats also undesirable in a leader. David Gordon, Cranebrook

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The many failures of Berejiklians premiership We are being too misty-eyed about disgraced former premier Gladys Berejiklians legacy (A corrupt liar: ICAC, June 30). Lets look at the record: Parramatta ferries that were poorly designed and cant be used, Manly ferries that break down or cant handle the harbour swells, inter-urban trains that need major alteration work before they can be brought into service, three Metro systems that are not compatible, wasted money on a new stadium and the relocation of the Powerhouse Museum to a flood-prone site. If this record typifies a good government, I hate to think what a bad government would do. And while we were treated to a wardrobe display at a daily press conference during the pandemic, one should not judge a book by its cover. Hugh Darling, Castle Hill That some still defend Berejiklian, despite findings of corruption by the ICAC, amazes me. The careers of hundreds of public servants are terminated for inappropriate conduct following investigations of a far lesser standard than those of the ICAC. Berejiklian resigned, as was appropriate, given the stench of corruption surrounding Daryl Maguire and the subsequent disclosure of her relationship with him. Every public servant in this state should expect to lose their job (as a minimum penalty) if found to have engaged in corrupt conduct or conflicts of interest. That same level of accountability must also apply to the premier. Tony Heathwood, Kiama Downs Credit: Illustration by Matt Golding Of course, Berejiklian, though found to have committed serious corruption, is convinced she has done no wrong. This is the same person who as premier vowed there was nothing wrong with pork barrelling for electoral advantage. The term moral compass leaps to mind. Daniel Flesch, Bellingen

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In my work as a public servant and in my membership of voluntary organisations and advisory committees, I am regularly asked to review my actions and relationships for conflicts of interest and have been for years. To suggest that any politician does not understand this principle is blatantly ridiculous. Peter Hull, Hat Head Your correspondent is wrong (Letters, June 30). The city of Wagga has for years sucked the life-blood out of many smaller communities that exist in its orbit. Some of that conservatorium money, topped up by the largesse given to the clay target mob, would have been a welcome contribution to a new hospital in (safe-seat) Cootamundra. Money taken from the needy, given to the greedy. Graham Fazio, Cootamundra Seems like poor, old, regional NSW is never going to be entitled to get anything, whether by fair means or foul. Jennifer Giles, Elizabeth Bay Defence of Berejiklian doesnt pass pub test Gladys Berijklian was a competent leader who was rightly admired. However, she has been found to be corrupt by ICAC in a thorough and well-considered report. Politicians who gloss over ICACs findings and instead applaud Berejiklians better qualities are a poor example to the electorate who expect their elected representatives to support the work of a corruption watchdog which has done the job it was set up to do (Dutton defends Berejiklian, says shes not a corrupt person, smh.com.au, June 29). Lucia Bylhouwer, Darlinghurst Matt Kean, while your unerring loyalty is admirable, the fact remains that your defence of Berejiklians behaviour does not pass the quintessential pub test (The ICAC failed Gladys. We need this watchdog but we must change it, smh.com.au, June 30). Its beyond belief to excuse her turning a blind eye when she was evidently so competent and abridged of the facts in all other aspects of her professional life. Jen Webster, Wheeler Heights Do Coalition supporters of Berejiklian realise that they appear to be condoning serious corrupt conduct? Gerard Williams, Clunes

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Berejiklians supporters in the Liberal Party just dont see what all the fuss is about regarding corruption. Perhaps they think its how governments are supposed to work. Worth remembering come election time. David Farrell, Erskineville Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: Thank you to the ICAC for its efforts in revealing the corruption of Berejiklian and Daryl Maguire, and its impact on the people of NSW. ICAC held fast against the odds of COVID, reduced resources, and spin aimed to prompt sympathy for a former premier who claimed she was unlucky in love, and always acted with integrity. Their personal texts prove otherwise. Big costs, whichever way you look at it. Jennifer Fergus, Croydon A hex on HECS, and an axe for (certain types of) tax OK. I am a Boomer. Self-funded and comfortable (Hand it to Boomers, victors in this generation game, June 30). Lets make the tax system fair. Why should all our children have to work longer hours to provide wealthy retirees with pocket money? Lets get rid of the welfare payment of franked dividends to retirees who dont pay tax anyway; it is only wealthy retirees who can afford to have share portfolios. And lets apply concessional tax rates only to super funds that are less than $1.6 million. Super is supposed to fund a reasonable retirement; if you have more money than that, good for you, but pay the same tax on its income as the working population does. And lets bring back death duties. The only wealth tax we have is the discounted capital gains tax. And lets include the primary place of residence in the assets test for the aged pension. And lets get rid of at least the disgusting indexation of HECS, if not HECS itself. And the stage three tax cuts. Michael McMullan, Avoca Beach

The generational resentments expressed in your article may be justified but they play havoc with my blood pressure. In the end, they make no connection with my lived experience. But the point is if Boomers have accumulated lots of capital, then it should be appropriately taxed. The issue is social and economic inequity. Isnt this not the more pressing question, rather than endless anecdotes of how easy it must have been for older generations, or how soft young people are? That level of resentment parading as analysis conceals the real questions that need to be addressed by each generation if social equity is to be of ongoing concern. Creagh Cole, Clovelly I am a Boomer (1949) and I find the assertion that Boomers have taken all they could get, have given nothing back and are waiting for another handout as we age deeply offensive. It is true that I benefited from a free education. I grew up in a relatively impoverished household. I was the first person in my family to go to university and without government support, that would have been impossible. That education allowed me entry into a well-paid profession that allowed me to bring up my children in very comfortable circumstances free from the deprivation I experienced. I have paid my dues in income tax and I have never been the recipient of welfare benefits. I have saved enough to be self-funded in my retirement and will not become a financial burden to either my children or the state; in that, I am not alone among my generation. For the cost of a university education over 50 years ago, society has done pretty well out of me. Generations following me have certainly faced, and continue to face, substantial difficulties and I wish it was different for them. But self-pitying spite is not the way to recruit sympathy. David MacKintosh, Berkeley Vale

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Billing the boomers. Credit: Andrew Dyson I am having difficulty containing my disappointment after reading your article. It shows how easy and convenient it is to lay blame on a whole generation for causing the ills in society. I dont know of a single Baby Boomer, my generation, who rode on the back of free university. Many dont own their own homes and many of my female contemporaries have no super, as we had low-paying jobs, looked after children and who had ex-husbands who left them penniless. Boomer women are the largest growing group of homeless people. Its as insulting as saying all Gen Ys are lazy, which is so untrue. Yes, there are rich Boomers who should not get the age pension, but we are supposed to be a caring society, looking after those who cannot look after themselves. Bianca Krautloher, Brookvale I woke this morning in quite a buoyant mood, but reading your scathing article on the evils of an entire generation of Australians soon put paid to that. Excuse me for living. Ross MacPherson, Seaforth Labor, Liberal-lite I cant understand what the Liberals are so concerned about (Greener with age? Yes, but why?, June 30). Sure, their party might be dying off due to their divisive policies, moral failures and mismanagement but Liberal policies are alive and well in a Labor Party that pursues tax cuts for the rich, expensive nuclear submarines, a corruption commission that cant easily conduct public hearings, more public subsidies for fossil fuels and a climate target aligned with environmental collapse. NSW Labor is also committed to Liberal causes via planning policies that are clearly aimed at enriching property developers; a small cashless pokie trial supervised by the gambling industry; continuing destruction of native forests; and anti-democratic anti-protest laws. So while its not at all surprising that the Liberals are on the nose with our nations youth, its baffling that the Labor Party is going down the same path. Thankfully, young people are not lacking the wisdom required to keep both these bastards honest. Peter Moore, Newport Voice choice In March this year, with a minimum of fuss, the South Australian government passed legislation for the establishment of an Indigenous Voice to parliament, which is now being implemented in South Australia (Letters, June 30). Anthony Albanese has been in parliament long enough to have learnt the value of compromise. If he persists in going forward with his plans for a referendum on the Indigenous Voice to parliament, in all likelihood there will be a very expensive campaign that will unleash some of the most unpleasant aspects of the Australian character, and which will ultimately fail. It would be much more sensible to have a two-stage process: first legislate a Voice to the Australian parliament and then in the next term of government, hold a referendum for a constitutional amendment. Margaret McDonald, Deakin (ACT)

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The pork-barrelling that Berejiklian airily explained as perfectly normal? It allocated more than 90 per cent of the money in a $141.8 million round of community grants to seats held by her government, according to Labor and the Greens. This is plainly rotten, yet perfectly acceptable, according to Berejiklian and her defenders. I dont think it would be a surprise to anybody that we throw money at seats to keep them, breezed Berejiklian in evidence before the ICAC commissioner. Whether we like it or not, thats democracy. It is not. It is democracys death. Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist, said the great Irish-born conservative philosopher Edmund Burke. From today, the NACC is charged with rooting out crooked politicians and public servants taking payoffs.

But it also must raise the standard of conduct  including the policing of federal pork-barrelling. Sometimes you see creeping into the public debate that, if its not criminal, its alright, says the Albanese governments Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus. Yes, Gladys, that means you. But it also means every minister, member of parliament and public servant dealing with public funds and the public interest. The ICAC found that Gladys Berejiklian acted improperly for the benefit of maintaining her close personal relationship with former Wagga Wagga MP Daryl Maguire. Thats not the standard we set for proper conduct, the standard in the Australian government has to be much higher, Dreyfus tells me. Its why its absolutely necessary that the NACC not be restricted to dealing with criminal conduct. Its really important that people understand that this is an investigative commission, as is the NSW ICAC and the other state-based, anti-corruption bodies. These investigative commissions do not make findings of criminal guilt but findings that standards have been breached.

The anti-corruption commissions can refer matters to the director of public prosecutions to consider launching criminal cases. But anti-corruption commissions are about much more. As Dreyfus says, theyre about standards of conduct in public office. Its incredibly important because it allows us to raise standards. Its engaging with the corrosive impact of corruption. We know it undermines public trust in government, we know it undermines democracy. Raising standards must include elimination of pork-barrelling. It may not be criminal, but it is dead wrong for a government to handle taxpayer funds as if they are a partisan political asset for winning elections. This is exactly the case in the Berejiklian situation. Dreyfus says: Its obvious that some grants programs have been rorted in the past. Morrisons notorious $100 million sports rorts and the $660 million car pork come to mind. The bigger picture was revealed by the Grattan Institute in its Preventing Pork Barrelling report last year: Of 19,000 grants allocated by the former federal Coalition government under 11 grant programs between 2017 and 2021, $1.9 billion went to Coalition seats but only $530 million to Labor seats.

Across a sample of programs in the three biggest states, government seats got more than $1 million on average, compared to just over $300,000 on average for opposition seats. Dreyfus continues: It will depend on whether the NACC decides to investigate. If you have a grants program run to perfectly appropriate rules, and if its established that those rules have been broken, you are getting into an area of corruption. Thats why on occasion there will be grants the NACC will want to look at. My view is that theres a lot more to be done in the procurements area. He emphasises the educational function, too: I dont want to ruin peoples careers or have their lives blighted by findings made against them, although he acknowledges that this is exactly the impact when it happens. But the risk of an adverse finding is a means to a greater end: I want standards raised, I want to improve the standards of conduct in Australian public life. A key difference between the federal NACC and the NSW ICAC is that the new federal body has learnt a big lesson from the state counterpart. The ICAC commonly holds public hearings that can destroy the careers of its subjects even though they might later be cleared of any misconduct. The NACC, by contrast, will only use public hearings in exceptional circumstances.

The Berejiklian case is a powerful moment in Australias anti-corruption awakening, but it risks being lost in the titillation of her relationship with Daryl Maguire. Loading The dodgy boyfriend, however unappealing, was not her problem. Her problem was that she was in a conflict of interest that she failed to deal with. The bozo bloke merely represented one of the two interests that were in conflict, the private interest. Lets magic the boyfriend out of the picture for a moment. Pork-barrelling itself is corrupt. She handed out government grants when she was in a position of a conflict of interest between her public duty and her private interest, said ICAC assistant commissioner Ruth McColl. The Ministerial Code of Conduct required her to disclose the conflict; she did not. She handed out taxpayer monies to spend in her boyfriends electorate at his urging. Instead of spending public money fairly in the public interest.

She didnt need to dump the boyfriend. Anthony Whealy, a former judge of the NSW Supreme Court and chair of the Centre for Public Integrity, explains: If shed just gone to the then-premier [Mike Baird] and said, This is confidential, Im in a relationship with Daryl Maguire, and Ill recuse myself from decisions about funds going to his electorate, thered be no trouble and this would never have happened. Loading But the principle here is that Berejiklian betrayed the public interest. This is the principle that, if enforced, should banish pork-barrelling everywhere in Australia: Its coming into focus that pork-barrelling is quite wrong, says Whealy. It is serious misconduct, and it could constitute a criminal offence. If politicians realise it cant be unfettered, then we will improve so far as corruption is concerned. Now that its operational, the NACC must deliver the same message at the federal level. There are other matters demanding its attention, too. Whealy nominates the case of Stuart Robert, a cabinet minister in the Morrison government, as a glaringly obvious early target for the NACC given the matters raised in parliament. A whistleblower has accused him of using his official position to help a friends company win major federal government contracts. Robert denies any wrongdoing and says that he never benefited from the awarding of government contracts.
BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- An article by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will be published on Saturday, calling on young officials to grow into people capable of shouldering the mission of the times.

The article by Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will be published in this year's 13th issue of the Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee.

The article urges young officials to become people who remain loyal and worthy of the trust of the Party and the people.

The healthy growth of young officials has a bearing on the cause of the Party and the people, which must be carried forward by future generations, says the article, urging young officials to be loyal to the Party and dedicated to the cause of the Party and the people.

The article stresses the importance of firming up the faith in Marxism and striving for the great ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The article warns young officials to guard against corruption and moral decline, noting that corruption is the most serious problem, easily leading to subversion of political power.

It is important for young officials to foster the right view on performance evaluation, it stresses.

"Communists must bear in mind that benefiting the people is their greatest political achievement," the article says.

Party officials must be pragmatic and down-to-earth. They must resolutely put an end to practices such as making big statements instead of taking concrete measures, it adds.

Young officials must make themselves competent and well-versed in genuine skills, and integrate theory with practice, paying special attention to gaining true knowledge and building capabilities through practice, the article notes.

Stressing the need to enhance a strong sense of responsibility and a fighting spirit, the article says Party officials, especially leading officials, should meet difficulties head-on and take proactive steps in the face of risks.

"Only by exhibiting courage and ability to fight, can we win dignity and initiative, and effectively safeguard the country's sovereignty, security and development interests," it says.

The article asks officials to improve both their approach and ability in connecting and working with the people.

Leading officials should better study, understand and use the internet, surf the internet often, understand what is on the people's minds and their aspirations, pool good ideas and suggestions, and actively respond to the concerns of internet users by resolving their doubts, it says. 
Despite that, Hill said the most enduring myth that persisted even today was that Utzon  who had resigned in protest in February 1966 at his treatment by the then public works minister Davis Hughes  had been snubbed and had not been invited to the opening. It is a very dramatic, operatic plot twist. He wasnt invited! So, we have a myth that embodies the drama of the performing arts, said Hill. Just type into Google, Utzon not invited and look what comes pouring out. It persists on Wikipedias page about the Opera House, in footage from the ABC included in the exhibition, and other leading culture and arts websites. Hill had believed this rumour. When he found Utzons letter in the NSW state archives politely declining then premier Robert Askins invitation, he was stunned. Utzons reply was also extraordinarily polite and diplomatic. The invitation had pleased him and the many architects who had worked with him, he wrote. It proved that nine years of hard work ... resulted in something good for Sydney.

Utzon said the press had been pressuring him to attend so he would compare his plan to complete the building with what had been done after his removal by Davis Hughes. The letter sent from Jorn Utzon to the Premier. Credit: The People's House, an exhibition at the Museum of Sydney Unfortunately, I cannot see anything positive in either the actions of Mr Davis Hughes or the work done by his team of architects and engineers ... If I were to go to Sydney, it would not be possible for me to avoid making very negative statements, he wrote. Hed rather stay away, and hope the House was the theatrical and cultural success hed worked towards. Helen Pitt, a Herald journalist and the award-winning author of The House, said she grew up hearing the myth that Utzon hadnt been invited. It was fuelled by young artists in the pro-Utzon camps, such as Martin Sharp and Peter Kingston, who even painted HA HA on the face of Luna Park, its still there, when they repainted the amusement park in 1973 just before the Opera House opening, Pitt said. Utzon remained angry with the Askin government for years after, she said. He said he thought about the Sydney Opera House every day of his life. Pitt said he wrote later in life: I have the building in my head, like a composer has his symphony.

Loading The name of the exhibition referenced Askins opening speech, said Hill. Askin said it was indeed the Peoples House. They have built it, they have financed it. From 1958 to 1986, the Opera House lottery raised more than $105 million. Unlike todays lotteries, there was an individually numbered ball for every ticket sold. If there were 11,900 tickets, there were 11,900 balls, for example, said Hill. There were so many balls that only a small selection could be displayed in the exhibition, and the original barrel was too big to be brought to the museum. The exhibition features a new First Nations artwork, which is a woven Opera House, and includes memorabilia, photos, videos and posters. A stuffed possum represents the marsupials that made their homes in the house during construction; one later darting across the stage during a rehearsal. It looks at the history of the house over the past 50 years, including the work of architects Utzon and Peter Hall, who completed stage three after Utzon departed.

On Wednesday, NSW Premier Chris Minns tweeted an image of the competing designs for the Opera House that werent built. This is what the Opera House couldve looked like based off old design options  but 50 years on, theres still nothing better than the real thing. If not for Utzons vision, we may have had a bright red building submitted by Laszlo Peter Kollar and Balthazar Korab, a large monolithic box by Paul Boissevain and Barbara Osmond, or a design by Kelly and Gruzen that resembled a glitzy casino. (These rejected designs are not included in this exhibition. ) The exhibition is a partnership with the Sydney Opera House. Martyn Killion, chief operating officer at Museums of History NSW, said Opera House became an instant icon; a symbol of modern Australia that captured the imagination of the nation. Even before it opened, the profile of the sails became a symbol for Australia, used by American Airlines to promote travel to Australia.
To the north lies the Beagle Channel, to the south the fearsome Drake Passage (fly-cruise itineraries bypass the passage, departing instead from King George Island). Tormented by memories of previous crossings, I brace for two days of hell. But they dont materialise. The ship skates across the passage, noiselessly deflecting four-metre swells. Albatrosses glide like ghosts on the updrafts; giant petrels rise and sway in defiance of the ships unwavering rhythm. A day-and-a-half in, we spy land: the South Shetland Islands. It was smooth sailing since Marseille [from which the ship originally departed], so we needed a bit of rock n roll, says Captain Niklas Peterstam as we prepare to anchor off Robert Island. Robert Island shore excursion. The voyage was more lullaby than jitterbug, a consequence of innovations such as state-of-the-art stabilisers and a dynamic positioning system. In more than 40 years on the high seas, Peterstam says, the Silver Endeavour is the most interesting ship Ive ever been in charge of. Passengers are equally enthralled. Said to be the worlds most luxurious expedition ship, the Silver Endeavour balances indulgence with practicality: sumptuous suites with butler service; superb cuisine at multiple restaurants and bars; a swimming pool, hot tub and spa; lounges in which lectures are delivered by authoritative figures; spacious mudrooms in which to prepare for excursions. In short, this is an opulent cocoon with a dress-circle view of the otherworld unspooling beyond. But might those who are accustomed to travelling in such style be inoculated against the consequences of environmental decline in places few people have the privilege of seeing?

One can only hope that once people leave Antarctica, they become ambassadors for Antarctica, and they spread the word through lobbying, make sure governments understand that there is a very strong desire from the population [for] Antarctica to be preserved, Combrink says. So, becoming real advocates for the preservation of Antarctica, areas like [Australias] Kimberley, the Arctic. One really needs to hope that the people that travel with us  [many of whom] are influential, are wealthy guests  go home and not forget about it. And indeed, the White Continent lodges easily in ones memory. Sailing silently, stealthily, into Neko Harbour next morning, Im struck by deja vu: mountains billow against a cheesecloth sky; theyre flecked black where winters ice has peeled away. Iceberg keels glow neon blue from the depths. Penguins porpoise across the bay, punching bullet holes into its cellophane surface. This is a place that cannot be expunged from memory; its surrealist quality becomes enmeshed with ones bones. Penguin parade ... Neko Harbour shore excursion. The polar cold is marrow-deep, too. Those clouds have tightened into black balls by the time I reach the ridge at our landing site. Snow begins to fall; wind burns my cheeks. Out in the bay, brash ice fastens itself to the ship like ghostly iron filings. On the opposite shore, cliffs of ice are poised for a fall. The monotone is broken only by a black-and-pink line scored across the ice: Gentoo penguins and, beneath them, a trail of krill-stained guano.

We are the solitary voyagers in this lonely domain. So strictly are landings regulated by the International Association of Antarctica Tourism Operators (IATO), cruise ships seldom encounter one another. Of the 300-odd approved landing sites, only 50 or so have guidelines for current use. Silversea hopes to expand this capacity  and so redistribute pressure on the environment. Our intention is to develop [open source] guidelines so we can spread out a bit more, Combrink says. We believe that the success of other companies in Antarctica is our success  [Cruise lines] have a very strong commitment of collaboration down here to make sure that Antarctic tourism always, always, remains responsible. Zodiac excursion, Neko Harbour. Brash ice crumbles like meringue in the ships wake as it navigates the Lemaire Channel next day. Leading the charge in Zodiacs, passengers raise their champagne flutes in readiness for a historic christening. High above us, godmother Felicity Aston  the first person to manually ski solo across Antarctica, in 2012  shatters an ice-hewn magnum on the ships silver hull. Did the humpback whale we saw earlier hear the jangle of ice as it tumbled into its habitat? Later, on Petermann Island, I encounter Aston in her own, adopted, habitat. The climate scientist, polar explorer and expedition leader lived in Antarctica for two winters while working as a meteorologist for the British Antarctic Survey; later, she spent 59 days traversing this hostile continent. Somehow, she still glows with a newcomers wonderment.

When I first came back [to the UK] I used to get flashbacks quite a lot, she says. Sometimes Id look out across the sea and instead of seeing waves, Id see sastrugi [patterns on Antarctic ice sheets], and it would be a total flashback. Recently, Aston and a group of women traversed Icelands northernmost glacier on skis to collect snow and ice samples; they will be analysed for micro-plastics, heavy metals and black carbon. Though Iceland is a world away from Antarctica, the challenges it faces are universal. She recognises in Silversea a willingness to play their part. Yes, we want to see these wonderful places, but we want to see them in the right way, and with purpose, she says. Weve got so much knowledge and technical ability, weve got the answers to so many problems, and there are lots of people out there pushing us towards that future. The writer was a guest of Silversea. THE DETAILS
Loading He and his rebels could flee  unhindered  to neighbouring Belarus with no repercussions, but then suddenly they werent off the hook, but then they were again. They may, still, be under investigation for embezzlement. It appeared, at first, that Prigozhins view that those in charge of Russias defences should be sacked had been taken on board but Putin, for now, remains loyal to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. But two of Russias top generals have now not appeared in public since the armed rebellion by the Wagner group, with speculation swirling in Moscow that at least one of them had been arrested. Neither General Valery Gerasimov, the armed forces chief of staff, nor General Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine and head of its aerospace forces, have been seen since the Saturday uprising.

Surovikin, nicknamed General Armageddon is known to have a good relationship with the Wagner leader and has been detained, according to several media reports. It remains unclear whether he has been charged as a plotter in the uprising or simply detained for interrogation, and where he is being held. The Moscow Times, an independent website, cited unnamed defence ministry sources who said that Surovikin had been arrested after backing Prigozhin. Apparently, he [Surovikin] took Prigozhins side during the uprising, and theyve gotten him by the balls, one source was quoted as saying. The Kremlin has refused to comment. Russian President Vladimir Putin has surrounded himself with a group of technocrats, career security service professionals and loyalists, who have had, until recently, too much to lose to consider challenging him. Credit: SMH In October last year, the then head of Britains GCHQ spy agency, Jeremy Fleming, said Putin kept making strategic errors in his war in Ukraine because he had become increasingly detached and isolated, consorting with a narrowing group of like-minded advisers, who have deprived him of the information he needs to run the war and country properly.

Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, said this week that he believes Putin will probably try to overcome perceived weakness by reshuffling senior ranks in the army, security agencies and law enforcement. The reshuffling is likely to hit the Kremlin as well, he said, where Putin will be questioning officials about how much they knew in advance about Prigozhins plans and why he wasnt stopped. Loading Putin will be asking questions about the loyalty of people around him and will make some changes, he said. But he added that Putin would have to tread lightly because the elite will be asking questions too. The elite will be asking how strong Putin is and how safe they are with him running the country, he said. Putin may be talking tough now, but many realise it was his failure to act in a timely way to control Prigozhin  or to remove Shoigu and Gerasimov  that led to this crisis. Some are likely to sympathise with the mercenary and agree with his criticisms of the conduct of the war.

Experts agree that, for Putin to be replaced, there needs to be a crisis in the regime  a substantial, profound fracture or split in the political-military hierarchy. For now, the power brokers whom Putin installed in the Kremlin appear to be rallying around him, closing fissures opened by the debacle. But a long-simmering resentment about the war in Ukraine, along with rounds of finger-pointing and recriminations inside the Kremlin, could soon open a power vacuum that disgruntled advisers could exploit. Observers suspect his future will be defined by three scenarios: a status quo scenario, in which Putin shakes up his inner circle and is not replaced; a scenario in which he is replaced to escalate the hostilities in Ukraine; and a scenario in which he is replaced to withdraw from Ukraine or negotiate. But there is a major problem, as Anne Applebaum, a US journalist and historian who has written extensively about the history of communism, points out.

Putin has so completely destroyed the idea of any succession process  hes eliminated all possible rivals, hes destroyed the liberal opposition  that hes made it impossible for anyone even to think of an alternative, she said. Loading We know there are people in Moscow who might like to replace him, but youre not hearing their names. Youre not seeing them in public. Five members of Putins security council issued statements over the weekend calling on Russians to unite behind Putin and avoid civil war. While some experts suggest a successor to Putin could come from these ranks, none have shown any signs of abandoning their leader. Dmitry Medvedev, former president and prime minister of Russia, who was once regarded by the West as the hope of bringing the Kremlin closer to the West, called on his Telegram channel for Russians to support Putin and defeat the external and internal enemy who is thirsty to tear apart our Motherland.

Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russias foreign intelligence service, also posted on Telegram that Prigozhins attempt to kindle the fire of a fratricidal civil war has failed. Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB, Russias successor to the KGB, remains tight with Putin, as does Nikolai Patrushev. The secretary of Russias powerful security council has known Putin since they worked together as fledgling KGB officers in the 1970s. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his office was investigating whether it was indeed Western intelligence services behind the Wagner revolt. It is an investigation likely to please Putin, who thinks Russia is locked in an existential struggle with a decadent West. But the mere fact Putin was openly challenged by a man who was his own creation has dimmed his aura of invulnerability. Amid a power vacuum created by Prigozhins exile, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has positioned himself as a fierce Putin loyalist ready to go into battle.

He sought to emphasise his close ties, posting a selfie with Putin on his Telegram channel on Wednesday and bragging about their meeting the day before. The relationship has also allowed Kadyrov to build up his own private army of mercenaries, who have been accused of war atrocities in Ukraine as well as the torture and murder of Kadyrovs domestic opponents and critics. Loading While Kadyrov sided with Prigozhin in some of his criticism of Russias top military brass, the two also feuded on social media, making repeated swipes at one another. On Saturday, as Prigozhins rebellion unfolded, Kadyrov took to Telegram to denounce the Wagner leader, accusing Prigozhin of a vile betrayal. I have repeatedly warned that war is not the time to voice personal grievances, Kadyrov said. We have a supreme commander-in-chief, elected by the people, who know the whole situation to the smallest detail better than any strategist. This has fed the potential that Putin will use the crisis to bombard Ukraine and intensify attacks on major cities. Russias National Guard, which answers directly to Putin and is headed by his former chief personal bodyguard Viktor Zolotov, is now getting tanks and other heavy weapons that it has previously been denied.

Another former bodyguard, Aleksey Dyumin, is also speculated as a potential defence minister should Putin use the crisis to move Shoigu on. Dyumin never took a bullet for Putin but once claimed he had confronted a bear outside the presidents glass doors while his boss had been sleeping. Some believe Dyumin, the governor of Russias Tula region, played a key role in convincing Prigozhin to stand down. Sir Lawrence Freedman, emeritus professor of war studies at Kings College London, said this week that Putin would find it difficult to rebuild his image in the eyes of the Russian people. The unintended consequences of this war are now threatening his regime, he said. Any suggestion that he wants to get out of the war will aggravate the image of weakness; sticking with the war regardless of losses will aggravate his actual weaknesses. Applebaum said for many years some in the West have been wrong to fear that a Putin departure would create too much instability in the region. I feel we have an attitude towards Russia, which is a kind of desire for everything to remain the same. Just because its the devil we know, she said.
SABA:--- Six future tenants of the new Under the Hill homes received a symbolic key during a short ceremony on Wednesday.

Commissioner of Housing Eviton Heyliger addressed the small gathering that included representatives of the Public Entity Saba, Dutch housing corporation Bazalt Wonen, main contractor Van Boekel, local housing foundation Own Your Own Home Foundation, and emergency services.

Heyliger gave a brief history of phase 2 of the Under the Hill housing project. Phase 2 excavation works started in October 2018 and now in 2023, the end results are in sight. I started work as Director of Social Housing in 2016, which means that I was with this project from the very beginning to where it is now and hope to see it to the very end, he stated.

There was a lot of speculation in the community on how the project was going and the length of time it has been taking. Lets keep in mind that even though this project did start in October 2018 many of our surrounding islands and bigger countries that the labor workforce and materials had to travel from to Saba were still reeling from the devastation of hurricanes Irma and Maria of September 2017, said Heyliger.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The project got set back and got off schedule for some time. Nevertheless, behind the scenes, all parties continued to work together and today we are seeing the results. Upon request it was asked to do a symbolic key moment today where selective tenants are invited to share a moment of a key handover. The tenants who received a symbolic, wooden key, from Maarten Koster of Bazalt Wonen, the owner and landlord, were Leonie and Calvin Winston, Maria Ortiz, Shaneika Biggs, Nicole Reiber and Caridad Torres.

Commissioner Heyliger explained that the selection of tenants came from a waiting list of persons who are in urgent need of housing. Tenants have been on the waiting list for many years. The selection also includes the size of each home ranging from one bedroom to three-bedroom units.

Heyliger thanked Bazalt Wonen, the Dutch Government, the European Union, the Public Entity Saba and the contractor, Van Boekel. This project would not have been possible without their input, support and collaborative effort, he said.

Phase 2 of the Under the Hill project consists of 18 apartments divided over three buildings containing three 1-bedroom apartments, three 2-bedroom apartments and twelve 3-bedroom apartments. The official opening of phase 2 will be held once the project is completed. At that time, all new tenants will be invited for the official key ceremony.

After Heyligers speech and the symbolic key handing over on Wednesday, the six new tenants, joined by invited guests, toured one of the three buildings to admire the new homes. Everyone agreed that these are spacious, sturdy homes with a million-dollar view over the Fort Bay area.
Alpha Lithium Comments on Shareholder Support

Alpha Lithium Corporation (NEO: ALLI) (OTC: APHLF) (German WKN: A3CUW1) (aAlphaa or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/alpha-lithium-corp/ ) today commented on shareholder feedback received in connection with the hostile offer (the aHostile Offera) for the common shares of Alpha (aCommon Sharesa) announced June 8, 2023, including the open letter published on June 26, 2023 by Alphaa?s major shareholder Kyle Stevenson. The Board unanimously determined that the Hostile Offer is not in the best interests of the Company or its current shareholders.

Brad Nichol, President and CEO of the Company commented aAs a public company, shareholder feedback is tremendously helpful to Alphaa?s Board and management in ensuring our vision for the Company aligns with the owners of the Company: the shareholders. Ia?m very appreciative that Mr. Stevenson made his perspective known, and that perspective is generally consistent with the feedback Ia?ve received directly from many of our other shareholdersa. Mr. Nichol continued aFor months we have been, and will continue to, assess all available transactions on the basis of the benefit they provide to shareholders, with particular regard to the unique and compelling characteristic of each of our assetsa.

The full text of Mr. Stevensona?s open letter is set out below for reference. The Company notes that A the letter was issued by Mr. Stevenson, not Alpha, and although Alpha is not aware of any misstatement therein,A Alpha has not independently verified and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained therein.

To my fellow shareholders,

My name is Kyle Stevenson. I currently own 9,200,000 common shares of Alpha and securities convertible to acquire 1,300,000 additional shares of Alpha. To the best of my knowledge, I am the single largest shareholder of Alpha Lithium.

I have been heavily involved in the Argentine lithium exploration and development industry since 2016, when I became President, CEO and a director of Millennial Lithium Corp. We developed the Pastos Grandes lithium brine project in Argentina, approximately 70 kilometers northeast of Alphaa?s Tolillar project. We sold Millennial to Lithium Americas Corp. in 2022, in a transaction valuing Millennial at approximately C$491,000,000. This experience gave me considerable insight into the exploration and development of Argentine lithium brine assets, and their value in strategic M&A transactions.

In addition to my Millennial experience, I am familiar with Alpha, its assets, and its management team. I have done business with them in the past, and hope to continue working with them in the future. A In 2019 I had the opportunity to travel to Argentina with management and experience, first-hand, the potential of Tolillar. Since then, I have been impressed by managementa?s ability to add shareholder value, and continue to be impressed by the work theya?ve done in developing Alphaa?s portfolio of assets.

I have carefully watched Tecpetrola?s attempt to acquire Alpha from its shareholders. I have reviewed Tecpetrola?s bid circular, as well as Alphaa?s Directorsa? Circular, and it is clear to me that the Tecpetrol bid is wholly inadequate, and I do not intend to tender any of my shares.

In my opinion, the Tecpetrol bid is an opportunistic attempt to seize both Alphaa?s Tolillar and Hombre Muerto assets at an indefensible discount to their true value, which I strongly oppose. The bid fails to deliver value to Alphaa?s shareholders, including myself, for two key reasons: The first is the valuation is embarrassingly low for Tolillar alone, and second, Tecpetrol is trying to get all the assets, including Hombre Muerto and over $30 million in cash, for no additional consideration.

1. Inadequate Value a a stink bid by all measures

Asset Value: The Tecpetrol bid significantly undervalues the Tolillar asset on its own. As the Alpha team wrote in their Directorsa? Circular, the offer price represents a substantial discount to recent lithium brine transactions in Argentina, including the Millennial Lithium sale we completed in 2022. The confusing discount ignores the value added by the unique features of Alphaa?s Tolillar salar, most notably: Tolillar may be one of the last wholly-owned lithium bearing salars in Argentina, and Tolillar hosts a unique and valuable freshwater reserve.A

In addition to the obvious operational advantages that come with exclusive ownership of the entire salar, an independent freshwater recharge study commissioned by Alpha indicated that the freshwater aquifer located within the Tolillar salar mining tenements can sustainably support the large freshwater withdrawals needed for a top tier project (see Alphaa?s press release of January 23, 2023 for more information).

Market Value: The bid price of $1.24 represents a ~15% discount to Alphaa?s closing price on Friday, June 23, 2023. When Tecpetrol first announced their intention to bid Alphaa?s share price was steadily climbing, consistent with prevailing trends in Lithium Carbonate Equivalent prices, making their inadequate offer even less appealing. The trading in Alphaa?s shares to a high of $1.45 since the announcement of the bid indicates clearly to me that Ia?m not alone in considering this a atake undera? rather than a atake overa?, which wona?t receive the shareholder support it needs.

The unique features of Tolillar make it an incredibly compelling standalone opportunity, and by any measure, worth considerably more than Tecpetrol has offered to pay.

2. Predatory Structure a Tecpetrol wants everything, at a huge discount

Assuming Tecpetrol has taken adequate time to familiarize itself with Alpha, they know, or ought to know, that Alpha has at least two distinct and compelling assets: (i) the Tolillar project, and (ii) the roughly 5,000-hectare land position in the world-class Hombre Muerto Salar. For those of my fellow shareholders who have not yet had the opportunity, I would encourage you to review Alphaa?s technical report about its Hombre Muerto asset. Ita?s available under Alphaa?s profile at www.sedar.com. Even prior to the filing of the Hombre Muerto technical report, it would be clear to anyone who had conducted appropriate due diligence on Alpha that its early stage Hombre Muerto asset represents compelling potential for additional shareholder value. Therein lies the second problem with the Tecpetrol bid: for a low-ball price, Tecpetrol wants the de-risked Tolillar project, the discovery potential of the Hombre Muerto asset, and approximately $30 million of capital.

Tecpetrol declined to participate in the Tolillar sale process when invited by Alpha, instead deciding to make a hostile bid for the entire company. While I expect Tecpetrol hopes to be able to use the hostile bid as a way to get Tolillar at a discount, shareholders need to understand that the proposed structure would also allow Tecpetrol to also take 100% of the future potential of Hombre Muerto, whatever that may be, for essentially nothing.

I put my trust, and capital, behind the team at Alpha to develop Tolillar from a very early stage, and am impressed by the work they have done. I want to bet on this management team again to do the same thing in Hombre Muerto.

I strongly encourage Tecpetrol to engage with Alpha in a constructive manner and offer a fair price for Alpha and/or its Tolillar asset. I further encourage them to include a structure which contemplates a spin out of Hombre Muerto along with the working capital necessary to begin to develop its potential for the benefit of all current shareholders of Alpha.

Your fellow shareholder,

[signed]

Kyle Stevenson

kyle@blueprintcapital.ca

604.788.0537

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The Board and management of Alpha will not tender to the Tecpetrol bid. For the reasons fully described in our Directorsa? Circular, Alpha recommends that shareholders REJECT the undervalued and opportunistic Hostile Offer. To reject, shareholders simply need to do nothing. If you have already tendered your Common Shares and wish to withdraw, simply ask your broker or contact Kingsdale Advisors (by phone at 1-800-749-9197 (toll-free in North America) or 647-251-9740 (for collect calls outside North America) or by email at contactus@kingsdaleadvisors.com) to assist you with this process. For more information, please go to www.ProtectAlphaLithium.com.

Advisors

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC is serving as the Companya?s financial advisor, Cozen Oa?Connor LLP is serving as the Companya?s legal advisor and McMillan LLP is serving as the Special Committeea?s legal advisor. PI Financial has been appointed independent financial advisor to the Special Committee.A Longview Communications & Public Affairs is serving as government and public relations advisor and Kingsdale Advisors is serving as strategic shareholder and communications advisor.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF ALPHA LITHIUM CORPORATION

aBrad Nichola

Brad Nichol

President, CEO and Director

For more information:

Alpha Lithium Investor Relations

Tel: +1 844 592 6337

relations@alphalithium.com A

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Kingsdale Advisors

+1 800 749 9179 (toll free in North America)

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About Alpha Lithium (NEO: ALLI) (OTC: APHLF) (German WKN: A3CUW1)

Alpha Lithium is a team of industry professionals and experienced stakeholders focused on the development of the Tolillar and Hombre Muerto Salars. In Tolillar, we have assembled 100% ownership of what may be one of Argentinaa?s last undeveloped lithium salars, encompassing 27,500 hectares (67,954 acres), neighboring multi-billion-dollar lithium players in the heart of the renowned aLithium Trianglea. In Hombre Muerto, we continue to expand our 5,000+ hectare (12,570 acres) foothold in one of the worlda?s highest quality, longest producing, lithium salars. Other companies in the area exploring for lithium brines or currently in production include Allkem Ltd., Livent Corporation, and POSCO in Salar del Hombre Muerto; Orocobre in Salar Olaroz; Eramine SudAmerica S.A. in Salar de Centenario; and Gangfeng and Lithium Americas in Salar de Cauchari.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements concerning the Hostile Offer. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as awilla, amaya, ashoulda, aanticipatea, aexpectsa and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve 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. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company\-s expectations include the results of further discussions, if any, between the Company, and third parties, the ability of the Company to successfully complete a transaction involving itself or its assets, or to do so on a timely basis, global economic conditions and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. 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, include numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. 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 will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law.

No securities regulatory authority has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.
More progress has been made in the talks between the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the United States.

According to Azernews, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this following the final plenary session with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia - Jeyhun Bayramov and Ararat Mirzoyan.

It should be noted that the next round of negotiations between the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the draft peace agreement took place in the United States from June 27 to 29.

On the first day, Blinken held bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia. After the meetings, he took part in the first plenary meeting with the foreign ministers of the two countries. Then the ministers continued negotiations in a bilateral format.

On the second day, a trilateral meeting was held with the participation of National Security Adviser to the US President Jake Sullivan. After that, a bilateral meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries was held.




TOKYO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Japan's nuclear regulator on Friday finished inspecting a newly completed system to release radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea, local media reported.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) checked for leaks and other abnormalities by passing water through the system and inspected the emergency shut-off valves to make sure they function properly, public broadcaster NHK reported.

NRA officials have reported no particular problem with the facility's overall performance. The nuclear regulatory body is due to draw up a report on the results in about a week, it said.

If the NRA issues a certificate to the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the system will be ready to operate, it added.

The NRA wrapped up three days of final on-site inspections on Friday. TEPCO completed the construction of the wastewater discharge system on Monday. 
The northern lights (aurora borealis) lights up the sky over the Gulf of Finland.

The northern lights, or the aurora borealis, are beautiful dancing waves of light that have captivated people for millennia. But for all its beauty, this spectacular light show is a rather violent event.

Energized particles from the sun slam into Earth's upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million mph (72 million kph), but our planet's magnetic field protects us from the onslaught.

As Earth's magnetic field redirects the particles toward the poles  there are southern lights, too, which you can read about below  the dramatic process transforms into a cinematic atmospheric phenomenon that dazzles and fascinates scientists and skywatchers alike.

Related: Where to see the northern lights: 2023 aurora borealis guide

The history of the northern lights

Though it was Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei who coined the name "aurora borealis" in 1619  after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek god of the north wind, Boreas  the earliest suspected record of the northern lights is in a 30,000-year-old cave painting in France.

Since that time, civilizations around the world have marveled at the celestial phenomenon, ascribing all sorts of origin myths to the dancing lights. One North American Inuit legend suggests that the northern lights are spirits playing ball with a walrus head, while the Vikings thought the phenomenon was light reflecting off the armor of the Valkyrie, the supernatural maidens who brought warriors into the afterlife.

Related: Aurora myths, legends and misconceptions

Early astronomers also mentioned the northern lights in their records. A royal astronomer under Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar II inscribed his report of the phenomenon on a tablet dated to 567 B.C., for example, while a Chinese report from 193 B.C. also notes the aurora, according to NASA .

The science behind the northern lights wasn't theorized until the turn of the 20th century. Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland proposed that electrons emitted from sunspots produced the atmospheric lights after being guided toward the poles by Earth's magnetic field. The theory would eventually prove correct, but not until long after Birkeland's 1917 death.

A lime-green aurora glows above Earth's city lights in this view from the International Space Station. At the time this photo was taken, the space station was orbiting about 258 miles (415 kilometers) above Russia and the Ukraine. A portion of the space station's solar array is visible in the top left corner of the image. (Image credit: NASA)

What are the northern lights?

At any given moment, the sun is ejecting charged particles from its corona, or upper atmosphere, creating what's called the solar wind . When that wind slams into Earth's ionosphere , or upper atmosphere, the aurora is born. In the Northern Hemisphere, the phenomenon is called the northern lights (aurora borealis), while in the Southern Hemisphere, it's called the southern lights (aurora australis).

Related: Aurora colors: What causes them and why do they vary?

"These particles are deflected towards the poles of Earth by our planet's magnetic field and interact with our atmosphere, depositing energy and causing the atmosphere to fluoresce," said astronomer Billy Teets, the director of Dyer Observatory at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

The bright colors of the northern lights are dictated by the chemical composition of Earth's atmosphere.

"Every type of atom or molecule, whether it's atomic hydrogen or a molecule like carbon dioxide, absorbs and radiates its own unique set of colors, which is analogous to how every human being has a unique set of fingerprints," Teets told Space.com. "Some of the dominant colors seen in aurorae are red, a hue produced by the nitrogen molecules, and green, which is produced by oxygen molecules."

While solar wind is constant, the sun's emissions go through a roughly 11-year cycle of activity. Sometimes there's a lull, but other times, there are vast storms that bombard Earth with extreme amounts of energy. This is when the northern lights are at their brightest and most frequent. The last solar maximum, or period of peak activity, occurred in 2014, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), placing the next one in approximately 2025.

Despite plenty of advances in heliophysics and atmospheric science, much about the northern lights remains a mystery. For example, researchers weren't entirely sure how the energized particles in the solar wind get accelerated to their extraordinary speeds (45 million mph) until June 2021, when a study published in the journal Nature Communications confirmed that a phenomenon called Alfven waves gave the particles a boost. Alfven waves are low-frequency yet powerful undulations that occur in plasma due to electromagnetic forces; the electrons that create the northern lights "surf" along these waves in Earth's atmosphere, accelerating rapidly.

NASA is also on the hunt for clues about how the northern lights work. In 2018, the space agency launched the Parker Solar Probe , which is currently orbiting the sun and will eventually get close enough to "touch" the corona. While there, the spacecraft will collect information that could reveal more about the northern lights.

The auroras are best seen during the winter, when nights are long. Hours of patience by photographer Daniele Boffelli resulted in this image that captures both clouds and auroras in the night sky. (Image credit: Daniele Boffelli)

Northern lights, southern lights and STEVE

On Earth, the northern lights' counterpart in the Southern Hemisphere is the southern lights  they are physically the same and differ only in their location. As such, scientists expect them to occur simultaneously during a solar storm, but sometimes the onset of one lags behind the other.

"One of the more challenging aspects of nightside aurorae involves the comparison of the aurora borealis with the aurora australis," said Steven Petrinec, a physicist at the aerospace company Lockheed Martin who specializes in magnetospheric and heliospheric physics.

"While some auroral emissions occur in both hemispheres at the same magnetic local time, other emissions appear in opposing sectors in the two hemispheres at different times  for example, pre-midnight in the Northern Hemisphere and post-midnight in the Southern Hemisphere," Petrinec told Space.com.

The hemispheric asymmetry of the aurora is due in part to the sun's magnetic field interfering with Earth's magnetic field, but research into the phenomenon is ongoing.

Another aurora-like occurrence on Earth is STEVE ("Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement"). Like the northern and southern lights, STEVE is a glowing atmospheric phenomenon, but it looks slightly different from its undulating auroral counterparts. "These emissions appear as a narrow and distinct arc, are typically purple in color and often include a green picket-fence structure that slowly moves westward," Petrinec said.

STEVE is also visible from lower latitudes, closer to the equator, than the auroras.

A 2019 study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters discovered that STEVE is the result of two mechanisms: The mauve streaks are caused by the heating of charged particles in the upper atmosphere, while the picket-fence structure results from electrons falling into the atmosphere. The latter process is the same driver of the aurora, making STEVE a special kind of aurora hybrid.

Auroras on other worlds

Auroras occur on other planets, too  all that's required to make an aurora is an atmosphere and a magnetic field.

"Auroras have been seen in the atmospheres of all the gas giant planets, which is not surprising, since these planets all have robust magnetic fields," said Jeff Regester, an instructor of physics and astronomy at High Point University in North Carolina. "More surprisingly, auroras have also been discovered on both Venus and Mars, both of which have very weak magnetic fields."

Indeed, scientists have catalogued three different types of Martian auroras. One occurs only on the planet's dayside, another is a widespread nighttime feature fueled by strong solar storms and another is a much patchier nightside phenomenon.

The Hope Mars orbiter, the United Arab Emirates' first-ever interplanetary mission, managed to capture the discrete nocturnal aurora shortly after arriving at the Red Planet in early 2021. The probe's observations could help scientists better understand this mysterious phenomenon.

Jupiter's magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than that of Earth, so the giant planet's auroras are far brighter than the ones that blaze in our skies. And the Jupiter lights aren't just driven by the solar wind: Most of the particles that cause the planet's auroras are blasted into space by its close-orbiting moon Io, the most volcanic body in the solar system.

Astronomers have even caught glimpses of apparent auroral activity in other solar systems. For example, two October 2021 studies reported the detection of radio waves emitted by multiple red dwarfs, stars smaller and dimmer than our own sun.

These radio waves are likely associated with a sort of "backward" aurora, one that flares up near stars and is driven by particles released by close-orbiting planets, researchers said.

"Our model for this radio emission from our stars is a scaled-up version of Jupiter and Io, with a planet enveloped in the magnetic field of a star, feeding material into vast currents that similarly power bright aurorae," Joseph Callingham, a radio astronomer at Leiden University in the Netherlands and the Dutch national observatory ASTRON and co-author on both new studies, said in a statement. "It's a spectacle that has attracted our attention from light-years away."

These feeder planets remain hypothetical at the moment; nobody has yet discovered any circling the red dwarfs that the team studied. But if Callingham and his colleagues are right, astronomers may have a powerful new planet-hunting technique at their disposal.

Auroras are expected to be relatively common in the skies of exoplanets as well. But we'll have to get better looks at these faraway worlds to see their light shows directly.

Where and when to see the northern lights

Seeing the northern lights with your own eyes is a bucket-list item for astronomy lovers and travelers alike. Fortunately, they occur frequently.

"The northern lights are happening 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," said photographer Chad Blakely, owner of the northern lights tour company Lights Over Lapland . But that doesn't mean they're easy to spot; you need to be at the right place at the right time.

The best place to see the northern lights is any destination in the "auroral zone," the area within an approximately 1,550-mile (2,500 kilometers) radius of the North Pole, according to the Troms Geophysical Observatory in Norway. That's where the aurora most frequently occurs, though the phenomenon can creep farther south during particularly strong solar storms.

In March 1989, for example, a powerful solar eruption made the northern lights visible, albeit briefly, to people as far south as Honduras. (There were some negative consequences as well, however: The geomagnetic storm that supercharged the aurora also temporarily knocked out electricity across the entire Canadian province of Quebec.)

Within the auroral zone, it's best to be as far away from city lights as possible to maximize visibility. But it's pretty tricky to get into the middle of the Arctic wilderness, even with a guide, so it's best to base yourself in a destination with solid infrastructure, like Fairbanks, Alaska; Yellowknife, Canada; Svalbard, Norway; Abisko National Park, in Sweden; Rovaniemi, Finland; and pretty much anywhere in Iceland.

The best time of year to see the northern lights is between September and April, when the sky gets dark enough to see the aurora. (Far northern locales experience the midnight sun, or 24 hours of daylight in the summer.) The most action usually happens between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., according to the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks . Keep the moon phases in mind, as a bright full moon might fill the night sky with light. Check local weather forecasts as well, because you won't be able to spot the aurora through the clouds.

You can also monitor aurora forecasts from the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute and NOAA, which offers both three-day and 30-minute forecasts .

Northern lights FAQs answered by an expert

We asked Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald a few frequently asked questions about auroras.

Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald Space Physicist Dr. Elizabeth MacDonald is a space physicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and one of the founders of the citizen science site Aurorasaurus.

What causes the movement and shape of auroras? Constantly changing input from the sun, varying responses from the Earth's upper atmosphere, and the motion of the planet and particles in near-Earth space all conspired to cause different auroral motions and shapes. From these motions and shapes, we can learn about the physics happening further out in space along the Earth's magnetic field lines.

What do auroras tell us about Earth's atmosphere? Auroras tell us many things about Earth's upper atmosphere, including its density, composition, flow speeds, and the strength of electrical currents flowing in the upper atmosphere. These in turn tell us about the Earth's magnetic field, how it extends into space, and how it changes dynamically. All of this is important for protecting Earth and space-borne technologies from hazards of "space weather" of which aurora is one part.

Do we have auroras on other planets? Yes! Aurora indicates planets with magnetic fields and atmospheres, which vary a lot compared to Earth.

Additional resources

You can learn more about the northern lights at NASA's aurora page. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center provides a 30-minute aurora forecast. You can watch livestreams of the northern lights via Explore.org and Lights over Lapland's webcam page

If you're an avid aurora chaser or want to learn more about sightings all over the world, Aurorasaurus is a citizen science site where you can report your aurora sightings and also learn more about auroras with their informative blog.

If you want to read more about Kristian Birkeland, check out "The Northern Lights: The True Story of the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of the Aurora Borealis" (Vintage, 2002), by Lucy Jago. And you can keep up to date on NASA's sun-kissing Parker Solar Probe mission by following its blog.

Bibliography

Barton, K. "Legends of the northern lights," CBC News, Dec. 10, 2019. https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/legends-of-the-northern-lights

Callingham J. et al. "The population of M dwarfs observed at low radio frequencies," Nature Astronomy, Vol. 5, December 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-021-01483-0

NASA, "FAQ: How does the solar cycle affect Earth's climate?" https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/solar-events-news/Does-the-Solar-Cycle-Affect-Earths-Climate.html

NASA, "The history of auroras," 2006. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/themis/auroras/aurora_history.html

Nishimura Y. et al. "Magnetospheric signatures of STEVE: Implications for the magnetospheric energy source and interhemispheric conjugacy," Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 11, April 2019. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL082460

Schroeder, J.W.R. et al. "Laboratory measurements of the physics of auroral electron acceleration by Alfven waves," Nature Communications 12, 3103, June 2021. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23377-5
UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- United Nations (UN) officials informed the Security Council on Thursday that Syrians are confronted with an escalating humanitarian crisis amid the enduring 12-year-long conflict.

In response, the General Assembly passed a resolution, paving the way for the establishment of a pioneering institution aimed at addressing the plight of some 100,000 individuals who remain missing in Syria.

"The violence and suffering of the Syrian people remind us of what is at stake as diplomatic efforts continue in Syria," said Najat Rochdi, UN deputy special envoy for the country. "Ultimately, we need a nationwide ceasefire in line with Security Council Resolution 2254."

In her briefing on the current situation, she said recent reports have tracked deadly drone attacks, shelling, terrorist attacks, and a spate of pro-government airstrikes.

"Syrians face an ever-worsening humanitarian crisis," she said.

Against this backdrop, Syrians still face massive displacement, an acute economic crisis, and the tragedy of the detained, disappeared, and missing, she said.

"All of these factors show us why it is so important for renewed diplomacy to translate into real solutions to meet the immediate concerns of the Syrian people, build some trust and confidence among the parties, and move forward towards a political solution," she said.

"Syrians' needs must be at the center of our approach, and humanitarian action must be depoliticized," she added.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths reiterated the call.

"Twelve years of conflict, economic collapse, and other factors have pushed 90 percent of the population below the poverty line," he said, adding that a recent visit to the Syrian capital of Damascus left him "with a greater sense of the profound humanitarian challenges but also the urgent opportunities facing Syria."

Amid the ongoing violence, sharply rising food prices, recovery from the devastating earthquakes in February, and a spreading cholera outbreak, he said the humanitarian community's "best chance" to improve the future of the Syrian people is further expanding early recovery activities.

Equally important is the Security Council's 12-month renewal of its resolution on cross-border operations, which will improve humanitarian conditions, he said.

Calling for increased international support, he said the UN and its partners currently "have limited means to help the most vulnerable people in Syria."

He said a 200 million dollar deficit will force the World Food Programme (WFP) to slash its emergency food aid to Syrians for next month by 40 percent.

"The humanitarian response in Syria is at a critical juncture, as is the future of Syria itself," he said. "Considerable challenges are apparent, but so are important opportunities if we can leverage recovery funding, if we can continue to be present in northwest and northeast Syria, and if we can turn our attention to sectors which have such a central role in determining basic needs," such as electricity and water.

On Thursday afternoon, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to establish a first-of-its-kind institution that will work to reveal the fate of an estimated 100,000 people missing or who have disappeared by force in Syria. 
BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The State Council, China's cabinet, announced on Friday the appointment and removal of officials.

Guo Fang was appointed vice minister of ecology and environment, while Wang Hui was named vice minister of housing and urban-rural development.

Liu Huanxin and Wu Hongyao were appointed vice ministers of agriculture and rural affairs, while Gou Ping was appointed vice chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

Liu was also named director of the National Rural Revitalization Administration.

Li Meng was removed from the post of vice minister of science and technology. 
STOCKHOLM, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's ammunition stockpiles reached a critically low level because of its military support to Ukraine, Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper reported on Friday.

Replenishing the ammunition stockpiles will take a long time, DN said.

The government has, therefore, decided that the production of ammunition must be prioritized just as much as new fighter jets and submarines, the report said.

Minister for Defense Pal Jonson told DN that the conflict in Ukraine "highlights the need to reinforce the supply of artillery ammunition and also other types of ammunition."

The Swedish government has presented 12 military aid packages for Ukraine since February last year. 
H eathrow airport has selected Thomas Woldbye, who has spent recent months tackling strikes as CEO of Copenhagen Airport, as its new boss.

He replaces John Holland-Kaye, who surprisingly announced plans to quit in February as the airport dealt with industrial action from security staff, which could disrupt Britons summer holiday plans this year.

Holland-Kayes pay for running the airport in 2022 could be as much as 5.25 million, including 4.2 million worth of bonuses. No reason was given for his exit.

Heathrow chairman Lord Paul Deighton said: After an extensive and rigorous review of candidates, the Heathrow Board is delighted to appoint Thomas Woldbye as the next Heathrow CEO.

Leading Britains hub airport is one of the most important jobs in global aviation and the vacancy attracted the best calibre talent from across the world. Thomass achievements at Copenhagen not only mirror Heathrows long-term strategy, but his track record in successfully running a major airport and working closely with stakeholders to secure consensus and deliver positive results stood out in the selection process.

Like Heathrow, Copenhagen Airport has dealt with strikes this year. Norwegian Airlines threatened to pull out of Denmarks biggest air travel hub last month as industrial action led to cancellations.

We need to look at alternative airports that are close to Copenhagen Airport, Geir Karlsen, the head of Norwegian, said last month.

Woldbye said: I am naturally excited and proud, as well as humbled, to have been chosen to lead what is arguably the most famous airport in the world on its future journey.

I have personally experienced how the excellent team at Heathrow has successfully improved both the infrastructure and the service to passengers over the past years to create a strong platform for further success. Heathrow is an important engine for the British economy and inextricably linked to the success of London and the wider UK. I look forward to being part of charting the path for this iconic company.

My ambition will be to make the airport even better for passengers, for airlines, the community and every part of the UK.

Holland-Kaye said: An airport is more than just runways and terminal buildings  its the people who come to work every day to deliver excellent service to our passengers. Its been the privilege of my lifetime to lead our fantastic team.

Ive worked with Thomas over recent years and am a great admirer of his leadership on diversity and sustainability and his championing of the needs of passengers. Im confident that the Heathrow team will be the cornerstone of his success in delivering the best airport service in the world.

Woldbye will take over later this year, with the exact date to be announced later.
H ave you heard the tragic news? Apparently, butch lesbians  like rare pandas  are in danger of going extinct. I have to say, when I first learned that I was soon to follow in the fateful footsteps of the dodo, it did come as something of a surprise. Weve been packing out the Royal Vauxhall Tavern lately to such a degree that my favourite club night, Butch Please, has had to double its frequency due to popular demand, but Ill bet that the dinosaurs never saw being wiped off the face of the earth coming either.

And the cause of this crisis, you might reasonably ask? Imagine me dramatically dimming the lights and talking in scare-quotes for this bit: why, its the Trans Mob invading our sacred spaces and recruiting innocent young same-sex attracted female sapphics to their sinister and villainous alphabet mafia, of course!

The idea that the trans community somehow threatens to erase lesbians is not a new myth  back in 2018, a group called Get The L Out barged their way to the front of the London Pride parade in a bid to stand up bravely for butch women like me who apparently feel frightened and intimidated. Also news to me.

This year, a group called The Lesbian Project was founded to stop lesbians disappearing into the rainbow soup. Their aim? To become a professional body to be consulted whenever lesbian interests are being discussed.

Counter-protesters founded the trans-inclusive Dyke Project and threw a huge party outside The Lesbian Projects first meeting. I certainly know which gang Id rather join.

The Lesbian Project does not speak for me, a butch lesbian who wholeheartedly supports the trans community with solidarity and love

The Lesbian Project does not speak for me, a butch lesbian who wholeheartedly supports the trans community with solidarity and love. A vocal minority, they dont even reflect the views of the very group they claim to be defending: young lesbians are the most pro-trans cohort of the entire LGBTQ+ community, with one survey reporting that 96 per cent support trans people.

Though our experiences are wildly different, our paths overlap; we know flickers of each others pain even if our lives have taken us to different places. Anti-trans campaigners who so keenly want to divide the LGBTQ+ community into single strands are deluded if they believe that butch lesbians in particular are exempt from suffering at the hands of the same narrow and rigid definitions of womanhood that so often underpin transphobia.

What on earth do they think is going to happen next time somebody mistakenly starts having a go at me for being in the wrong toilet; Ah, apologies, mlady, my mistake! As you were, adult human female! Dream on, lads.

The truth is that transphobia is simply good old-fashioned gender policing wearing a different coat, so if you come for the trans community you are coming for me too. Thats why this Pride, and every Pride, Ill be standing shoulder to shoulder with trans people.

Ryan Gosling takes Barbie tale to a new level

As he takes on the role of capitalisms most famous himbo, Ryan Gosling has put in a heroic shift on the press circuit, thoughtfully outlining his approach to portraying Barbies bleach-blond accessory boyfriend Ken in the same manner you might use to discuss doing justice to a Nobel Peace Prize winner in a biopic.

Gosling agreed to the role after reading Greta Gerwigs script and finding his daughters Ken doll discarded face down in the mud immediately afterwards.

I shall be your Ken, for this story must be told, he texted the director. This week, a Time magazine cover piece featuring Barbies star-studded cast revealed that Ken embarks on a surprising journey of self-discovery in the film. Although storyline specifics havent been revealed, he almost steals the show, apparently.

This Barbie is a new obsession: may the fuchsia-pink countdown to its release on July 21 commence.

El Hunt is a commissioning editor and writer for ES Culture
M argaret McDonagh, Baroness McDonagh of Mitcham and Morden, died this week, far too young at 61, from a ferocious brain tumour. You may not be familiar with this Labour grande dame, despite the many obituaries published about her. But if you delighted in Tony Blair winning the election in 1997 and then again four years later, you have a lot to thank this formidable woman for because she was Blairs right hand; a truly remarkable political organiser who applied ferocious discipline to the Labour Party, adding her political acumen to Blairs, turning Labour into the election-winning force it became.

Blair remained a close friend to Margaret, visiting her in hospital and when she returned home to Colliers Wood for the final days to be with her beloved older sister Siobhan, also a Labour MP. Margaret was the youngest and first female general secretary of the Labour Party and supported Labour to the end.

I was a young rookie journalist at the Guardian when Labour won that landslide, so I cannot speak first hand of her Westminster years. But its well known that she organised the campaign behind abolishing Clause 4; it was her idea to introduce Labours pledge card and she terrified the hell out of many less formidable than she was. I was only fortunate to know Margaret last summer. The cancer had already taken hold. She didnt know whether she had weeks, days or months left. At our first lunch that last April, she shrugged, with a grim, determined smile, Well, youve got to just get on with it, dont you?

She lived a full year. Sheer bloody-mindedness, I suspect. And as was typical of Margaret, when she found out the drug trials for Glioblastoma werent available in this country, she raised vast sums to ensure University College London Hospital got the first tranche of funds it needed, even as this cancer took its devasting toll on her.

A mutual friend had introduced us, and I began consulting for the firm she co-founded, The Pipeline, which helps women in senior leadership find their true potential and reach board and CEO level. It was a brilliant organisation and is still going strong. She had left politics in 2001 and had seen how smart, capable women were still being held back. And she spent the last 10 years of her life pushing them forward. Her motivation was doing what was right. Thats why her politics was so important to her. She understood that society  and business  would benefit hugely from better gender diversity at the top.

As part of my work, I frequently spoke to women who had gone through Pipelines highly successful leadership programme. And I wonder if Margaret knew the effect she had had on them; the awe, love, and respect they held her in. As a consultancy, The Pipeline was frequently hired by the Civil Service, to sustain senior women in the Cabinet Office, the MoD, and the Justice Department, to name a few. The BBC, and nearly every corporation in this country you can think of, did so too. Her approach was muscular, strategic, data-driven and thorough. We discussed together how much we wanted to begin work with the Metropolitan Police.

Margaret launched The Pipeline with her co-founder Lorna Fitzsimons at around the same time that Londons former mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski was allegedly grabbing Daisy Goodwins bosom in Number 10 (he denies these allegations). It is the details of the meeting that stick with me. He barely listened to her pitch, and began by putting his feet up on her chair.

Why? Power and influence puffing up otherwise fragile egos? Who knows. But a male club locking many women out for decades was a harder ceiling to crack. Margaret wanted to do her bit fixing that.

As a friend of hers said, There are doers and there are talkers. Margaret was a doer. And she hated injustice. She understood women needed support networks and confidence. Many women have risen in the civil service and politics due to her efforts. That was not just because she broke barriers in Labour, but because she dedicated her life to pulling women up behind her.

Despite her cancer, she noticed that summer I was battle-bruised. She quietly lent in. My last sight of her was looking like a rock chick in double denim.

They say behind every great man, theres a great woman. I prefer behind every great woman, there are even more great women. Margaret McDonagh was one of them.

Emily Sheffield is a former editor of the Evening Standard

Suella has a point: we cant take everyone

There is little that Home Secretary Suella Braverman and I agree on, but she is right when she says we dont have limitless resources to help every displaced person on the planet.

Sending illegal arrivals from here to Rwanda was always going to be nigh impossible to pull off but Labour dont have a workable strategy either. And in a year, bodies bobbing in the sea off our coastline may be their problem. As the likely new Home Secretary, the problem will be down to Yvette Cooper. She may then recall being in opposition more fondly.

Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper make politics seem human

On Wednesday the billionaire philanthropist Mike Bloomberg threw his annual summer party, this time at the National Portrait Gallery to mark the opening of his friend Paul McCartneys exhibition of photographs. Sadly, no Sir Paul, but we did get the PM.

I got to catch up with the exuberant Ed Balls and his wife Yvette Cooper, Westminsters longest-lasting power couple. Ed was beaming about his new economic podcast this autumn with George Osborne: essential listening.

Yvette admitted that Ed was having all the fun of politics but without the tough decisions. He didnt envy her seniority in Westminster as Shadow Home Secretary. Her performances at the despatch box bely her warmth. We recalled the Vogue shoot I commissioned a decade ago of political women, with me, then the deputy editor, trying to dress her in glam outfits, cramped into a cold Commons loo. Thank God for women like Yvette: she reminds us that politics is still a career worth taking up.
M ichael Douglas has led tributes to fellow actor Alan Arkin as an wonderful actor who left an indelible mark on our industry.

The American actor, who won an Oscar for his role in Little Miss Sunshine, received Academy Award nods for The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and Argo.

Arkins death at the age of 89 was announced by his family on Friday.

His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony released a statement through Arkins publicist to the PA news agency following their fathers death.

Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man, they said.

A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.

Arkin recently starred in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method, as the agent of a once successful actor turned teacher  played by Wall Street star Douglas.

On Instagram, Douglas wrote: Today we lost a wonderful actor whose intelligence, sense of comedy and consummate professionalism over the past 70 years has left an indelible mark on our industry.

My experience of working with Alan were some of my most memorable. He will be deeply missed. Sincere condolences to his wife, Suzanne, and his family.

During his long career, Arkin worked with directors such as Tim Burton in fantasy romance Edward Scissorhands, Ben Affleck in historical drama Argo and Mike Nichols in satirical black comedy Catch-22.

On Twitter, John Cusack wrote: RIP to a true deserving honest to god legendary talent.

He starred alongside alongside Arkin in romantic comedy films Grosse Pointe Blank in 1997 and Americas Sweethearts in 2001.

High Fidelity star Cusack also wrote: So sad about Alan  my thoughts are with his son Adam and all his loved ones  your father spread light everywhere he went  every experience I had with him  I feel like he challenged me to be a better person just by sharing his insights into humans his wicked sense of humour, his intelligence and by his presence alone  what a guy.

When Harry Met Sally star Billy Crystal also hailed him as one of our greatest actors and said he cherished working with him on Americas Sweethearts.

He wrote on Twitter: Hilarious, heartbreaking, and the ability to be terrifying, his range was amazing.

In the 2006 comedy Little Miss Sunshine, he plays the cranky father of Greg Kinnear as he sets out with the family on a road trip so they can take his daughter to a beauty pageant.

The film  also starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Bryan Cranston  would also take home a writing award at the Oscars following four nominations.

Also a theatre and film director, a voice actor, and musician, through his group The Tarriers, Arkin had two hits  Cindy Oh Cindy and The Banana Boat Song  in the UK singles chart.

He was then a founding member of the Second City improvisational troupe, and continued to record music, including several childrens albums, with his group The Babysitters.

Arkin directed the original 1972 Broadway version of Neil Simons The Sunshine Boys, which earned him a Tony nod and run for hundreds of performances.

His children also starred in his directional debut People Soup, which was Oscar nominated in 1969 as a short.

Arkin also starred in and directed dark comedy Little Murders about a woman introducing her boyfriend to her family who live in a crime-filled neighbourhood.

In the Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman, which began in 2014, he appeared as the voice of American writer JD Salinger.

Actor Paul Reiser, who also stars in The Kominsky Method, wrote on Twitter that a world without Arkin is not so great.

He also said in the post: Getting to know him  and getting a laugh out of him  is a highlight of my life. RIP dear friend.

Better Call Saul star Michael McKean, who acted alongside Arkin in And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself, wrote on Twitter: Charming, hilarious, and armed with a flawless bullshit detector, he was pure pleasure to be with.

Rest in peace, Alan. Nobody better, ever.

Rosemarys Baby star Mia Farrow also wrote: Very sad to learn of the death of Alan Arkin.

Such a lovely person  of course, a great actor. It was a privilege to work with him in The Last Unicorn. For me he will always be Schmendrick my invaluable magician companion on our search for other unicorns.

Born in New York City in 1934 to Russian-German Jewish immigrant parents, Arkin moved to Los Angeles when he was 11.

He studied acting at Los Angeles City College, California State University and Bennington College in Vermont, and married a fellow student, Jeremy Yaffe.

They had two sons, Adam and Matthew, before divorcing in 1961.

Arkin then married actress-writer Barbara Dana, and they had a son, Anthony.

All his children became actors, with Adam Arkin taking a starring role in Chicago Hope.

He is survived by his third wife Suzanne Newlander, sons Matthew, Anthony and Adam, grandchildren Molly, Emmet, Atticus and Abigail, and great-grandson Elliott.
T heres no doubt that MUBI has carved out a niche spot for itself in the ever-competitive streaming marketplace. There really are few better places online to hunt down exquisite arthouse and independent films  and its collection ranges from old favourites such as Argentos 1977 horror Suspiria, to newer releases such as Alice Diops Saint Omer.

In July, another selection of exciting films is being released on the site. From comedy horrors, to post-apocalyptic romances, heres our pick of the best films coming to MUBI this month  and, even better, Evening Standard readers can get 30 days of MUBI free.

Like Someone in Love  July 4

Iranian director Abbas Kiarostamis 2012 film is a touching love story set in Tokyo. The story follows Akiko (Rin Takanashi), a student who lives a double life as a high-end sex worker. Her life takes a turn when she meets a new client, elderly professor Takashi (Tadashi Okuno), who is looking for company, rather than sex. The two strike up a close friendship, which is further complicated when Akikos jealous boyfriend, Noriaki (Ryo Kase), mistakes Takashis identity.

Return to Seoul  July 7

A 2022 drama written and directed by Davy Chou (Diamond Island), Return to Seoul follows Korean-born Freddie (Ji-Min Park) who was adopted by a French family as a baby. Now, aged 25, she ends up in Seoul after her flight to Tokyo gets diverted. After a couple of chance encounters she ends up entertaining the idea of contacting her birth parents, drastically changing the tone of her trip. The film has pulled in some great reviews, with The Guardian calling it emotional and absorbing and The Independent describing Park as giving a phenomenal debut performance.

In My Room  July 10

Ulrich Kohlers 2018 film In My Room stars Hans Low as Armin, a man who is fed up with life  but particularly with people. The story follows what happens when, suddenly, everyone disappears. Theres literally nobody inhabiting the planet other than him, or so he thinks for months, or even years, until Kirsi (Elena Radonicich) pops up. The story follows their love story in this post-apocalyptic, people-depleted world.

Baghead  July 23

American filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass direct this 2008 comedy horror starring Ross Partridge (Daisy Jones & the Six), Elise Muller, Greta Gerwig, and Steve Zissis (The Front Runner) as a group of struggling actors who go to a cabin in the woods to write a film script. As is so often the case with cabins in woods on film, things get creepy very quickly. One of the groups plot ideas  about a baddie whose signature look is a bag over his head  seems to start coming true.

Deep Crimson  July 24

This 1996 Mexican crime thriller from Arturo Ripstein was Mexicos Oscar entry, and won a tonne of awards when it was released including eight Ariels (a major Mexican cinema award) and three Golden Osellas (an infrequently given award) at Venice. The film is loosely based on the true story of Forties serial killers Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, who found their victims using lonely hearts advertisements. The story follows Coral (Regina Orozco) and Nicolas (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) who work together to lure and rob women.

Volubilis  July 31

This lovely French-Moroccan film from director Faouzi Bensaidi was screened at Venice in 2017. Set in Menkes, a Moroccan city about an hours drive south east from Fes, the story follows newly married couple Abdelkader (Mohcine Malzi) and Malika (Nadia Kounda) as they make steps to build a future together. But something terrible happens which derails their already fragile life.
F resh Meat actress Charlotte Ritchie and West End star Karl Queensborough will join the Aurora Orchestra on stage at the BBC Proms, it has been announced.

The acting duo will join the returning orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall on September 2 for the first half of The Rite By Heart performance.

They will deliver a dramatic exploration of Russian composer Igor Stravinskys The Rite Of Spring  a ballet that caused a riot at its premiere in 1913.

Ritchie and Queensborough will get under the skin of the work and delve into its origins, reliving scenes of its creation and its notorious concert premiere, the BBC said.

Their performance, which promises to utilise movement, design, lighting, and newly commissioned projections, comes before the Aurora perform the masterpiece from memory.

On Friday, Ritchie and Queensborough met with Nicholas Collon, principal conductor of the Aurora Orchestra, to rehearse for the performance.

Ritchie, who has starred in Netflix psychological thriller You and BBC sitcom Ghosts, said: Aurora Orchestra is brilliant, its so innovative, its ability to educate and include the audience, as well as presenting them with beautiful music, is quite a special thing.

Ive never done anything like this before and I feel quite honoured to be a part of it.

The Rite Of Spring is an unbelievable piece of music, and its a very rare pleasure as an actor to be on stage with this many musicians.

Queensborough, who plays Alexander Hamilton in the self-titled West End production, told of his excitement to be joining the performance.

Im not used to being with the orchestra from the beginning; to be with the musicians from day one, really dissecting the music and finding out how it all comes together is so exciting, he said.

And then theres the actual performance: to be guided through the creation of the piece and then to hear it played from beginning to end is a totally unique experience.

Im a massive fan of influencing younger generations, generations that wouldnt necessarily listen to classical music, and getting them interested in such a unique way as Rite of Spring will is very important for broadening their imaginations and getting them engaged with classical music.

The performance at 3pm and 7.30pm will be broadcast live on Radio 3 and will be available on BBC Sounds, as with all of the Proms.

British conductor Collon said: Im so delighted that two fabulous actors, Charlotte Ritchie and Karl Queensborough, will be joining Aurora for our Rite Of Spring performances at the BBC Proms.

The whole event will be devoted solely to Stravinskys great masterpiece, comprising a first half presentation which delves into the work itself, and a second half memorised performance of the piece.

Using the words of those present at its creation  Stravinsky, Marie Rambert, Vaslav Nijinsky, Nicolas Roerich and others  we will plunge into the genesis of the ballet as well as shedding light on some of the musical elements that make the Rite such a vital and endlessly shocking work of art.

Were so pleased to be bringing our eighth memorised Proms performance to the audiences in the Hall and live on BBC Radio 3.

Tickets are on sale now for BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- China will launch a series of activities spread over a week in mid-July to celebrate the 19th Maritime Day of China, which falls on July 11.

The activities will begin in the morning of the maritime day in north China's Cangzhou City with a forum, Fu Xuyin, vice minister of transport, told a press conference Friday.

A report on the development of China's shipping industry in 2022 will be released at the main forum. Outstanding individuals and technological results in the maritime sector will receive awards, said Fu.

There will also be themed meetings on navigation technology and safety, international mariners, port and shipping companies, dredging, and maritime culture.

The ensuing week will see more public events, including a maritime arts competition, a knowledge quiz, and a speech competition, said the ministry. 
E very so often a film comes along that redefines a style, a genre, a place. It happened this March when, seemingly out of nowhere, Rye Lane landed and was rapturously embraced by audiences and critics (one said its arrival felt like a miracle).

Director Raine Allen-Millers debut was praised for redefining the rom-com  chewing it up according to its star Vivian Oparah  and for being a love letter to a side of London very rarely seen on the big screen. It also marked the arrival of the leads, David Jonsson, and particularly Oparah, who was immediately marked out as a future star.

Things are already happening. Rye Lane, she says, was the start of a new chapter for her. It has opened a lot of doors. There have been a lot of incredible opportunities off the back of it.

Oparah plays the brilliant, chaotic, life-affirming Yas, who meets Jonssons Dom at the opening of his friends art exhibition. Both are dealing with breakups, and they spend the day walking through Peckham and Brixton talking about life, love and everything in between (its a joy for SE-dwellers, with plenty of location-spotting opportunities, and some people-spotting  in a later gallery scene, theres a very niche, blink-and-youll-miss-it appearance from the artistic director of Frieze London, Eva Langret).

They filmed it shortly after lockdown and it came along at just the right time for the actor. Yas was cathartic to play at a time of being so insular and introverted because of the pandemic. Nothing was off limits. We just got to meander through the world wide-eyed.

David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah in Rye Lane / Chris Harris

Audiences lapped it up. When people talk to me about that film, theyre always full of so much love and personal pride, and it just feels so crazy to have made something that has made people feel like this about their city and themselves if theyre black, you know?

It was when the film opened at Sundance in January that they began to think it may be a hit. In a restaurant at the festival, Oparah remembers coming out of the toilet to find a woman talking animatedly to Jonsson. She was saying, Your film has revitalised the rom-com genre. People were coming up to us saying, Your film is incredible. We were in this wintry landscape and it didnt feel real. I expected to wake up at any moment.

If Rye Lane shakes up the rom-com it also nods to the genres past  particularly Richard Curtis films (except the bit where theyre set in the stratospherically expensive parts of west London). In a glorious passing of the baton, Colin Firth appears in one scene, working on a burrito stall in Brixton Market named Love Guactually.

He was such a G to just be like, Yeah, Ill do it for a burrito. That was his exact response Oparah says. We knew the comparisons were going to happen, and we wanted to own it What a way to own it!

More rom-com scripts have landed since. People see you in a role and go, Lets get her to do that, which is lovely but... you want to surprise and learn. Just be chameleonic.

Oparah as Stink in Then You Run /

Her latest role in Then You Run is indeed very different, though like Rye Lane it was a while in the making; she first auditioned for it before the pandemic. The show is one of Skys big drama releases of the summer and Oparah plays one of four teenage friends on a trip to Rotterdam, forced to go on the run when they get on the wrong side of a group of vicious drug dealers. There are car chases and shoot-outs its a world away from the gentle ramble through Rye Lane.

The writing was incredible, it felt really fresh, she says. I loved the character of Stink. Ah yes, that character name. Its strong, I suggest. You quickly learn why thats her name. Shes the type of person where, whenever she enters a room, you definitely feel her there. You may not be able to see her but the energy she gives off in a room is quite disruptive; she kicks up a stink.

But weirdly in the past couple of years, while weve been waiting for the show to come out, stink has become a term of endearment online amongst my generation; people lovingly call people stink. I honestly think that duality relates to this character.

To play this punchy, forthright woman Oparah tapped into the hedonism of my teens thats what you want as an actor. You find a corner of yourself and blow it up to the biggest degree.

This action was a novelty too. The John Wick-ness of it all was entirely new, she laughs. That was entirely new and entirely exciting. Seeing how they blew up a car, and the crazy, crazy fight sequences and choreography behind them was so intricate and insane. After initial qualms she loved working with the heavy artillery.

Then You Run also has a surprise cameo, in the form of GoldenEye, Taken and X-Men star Famke Janssen. Shes a legend she was a girl crush of my whole friend group for a really long time so it was very weird actually. When we found out she was going to be on the show we were so excited.

Oparah, who is of Nigerian heritage, grew up in Tottenham the youngest of four siblings. She was a shy child who loved reading and writing and doesnt know what drove her to play the Wicked Witch in a school production of Snow White. Despite a standing ovation she thought Im not doing that again. She adds, It felt like a weird side quest I did as a kid, then I stopped. I did GCSE drama then I stopped.

She wasnt happy at school and wouldnt turn up, instead working on her own to get high grades. I wasnt skiving for fun, I love learning. There was something about the environment of school that just didnt chime with me. I still didnt know where I fit in the world. So Id take myself away and educate myself creatively and academically, and hope that would help me figure it out.

Oparah almost went down a very different path, after winning a place to study neuroscience at UCL. At heart Im an academic, she says. I have a huge interest in people, which makes sense as an actor. I had a huge interest in biology and uncovering the mind It led me to neuroscience.

But suddenly the future stretched out ahead of her and she wasnt keen on what she saw. I was like, Its weird that at this juncture Im choosing to do what everyone else is doing, because youve been running from this conveyor belt you feel these people are on. So I got off.

Vivian Oparah / Matt Writtle, location: Princes Dock, Liverpool Waters, Liverpool

She took a gap year and went on a National Youth Theatre course before going on two open auditions on the same day  she didnt get the first one, for Top Boy, but landed a role in the Doctor Who spin-off Class.

Subsequent roles included the plays An Octoroon by Brandon Jacobs Jenkins and an adaptation of Ingmar Bergmans Fanny and Alexander, as well as the David Swimmer comedy Intelligence and a small role in Michaela Coels hugely acclaimed BBC drama I May Destroy You.

One thing I took away was watching how much of a powerhouse she is. She comes onto set, is kind to everyone, speaks to everyone; shes wearing so many hats but youd never know because of how calm and lovely she is. Just watching someone be a leader like that was incredible. And to be part of a project that has meant so much to so many people, including myself, has just felt really special.

Oparah produces and performs music too, previously as Bunny and now as Vivian Forever  in a style she calls electronic experimental.

I felt with acting it was fantastic, but I didnt know what to do with these ideas I had. So I started making music. All of my friends are musicians so it was easy to slot into that world. The dream is to be in my David Lynch era where Im writing and scoring and acting in things  I dont know about directing yet! She currently has a residency at Somerset House  a sound-art type thing.

Shes drawn to world builders and dreams of a role that would teach her a skill. She has been watching a lot of Hot Ones, the YouTube show in which actors are interviewed while eating increasingly spicy chicken wings. I remember Margot Robbie talking about how she learned how to pick pocket and Jennifer Lawrence talking about learning to pick locks. Im not interested in a life of crime  she laughs  however I am interested in acquiring a very specific skill set for a role. Getting in my Daniel Day Lewis and doing that, you know like how for Phantom Thread he learned how to make a Balenciaga dress I really want to get into the world of something and live out these lives that Ill never get to live.

It seems like such offers may start flooding in, but one question remains, could there be a return to Rye Lane? David and I said if theres ever a sequel to Rye Lane, they should just keep changing the genre. So the next version picks up where we left off, but becomes a horror film. Thats how theyll rope us back in to doing it. She has another thought, Or well do it in 50 years time after weve both had super incredible careers; we can come back as old people and do it then.

Then You Run airs on Sky Max from July 7
N etflixs Catching Killers show takes a look at some of the most gruesome crimes investigators have ever discovered.

In the new seasons third episode, the crimes of the New York-based Zodiac Killer, whose real name is Heriberto Eddie Seda, are unpacked.

He was eventually caught and jailed  but not before committing heinous crimes.

Who was the Zodiac Killer?

The identity of the original Zodiac Killer has never been found out but it is known that he killed a number of people in San Francisco during the Sixties  and his name was associated with at least five murders.

He was given the nickname of the Zodiac Killer because he was obsessed with murdering victims based on their star sign. When communicating with authorities and the press, he used ciphers and cryptic letters that were difficult to understand, but he was never captured.

Nearly twenty years later, Heriberto Seda went on to commit similar murders, and was labelled a copycat version of the New York Zodiac Killer.

In 2007 the American thriller , Zodiac, was released, which was based on the serial murderer. It depicts the manhunt for the Zodiac Killer during the late 1960s and early 1970s, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr.

The film director, David Fincher, spent more than a year investigating and researching the crimes committed by the Zodiac Killer, and the film received positive reviews, despite its running time of more than three hours.

What did the Zodiac Killer do?

During the 1990s, Seda began has murderous activity  inspired by the infamous San Francisco-based Zodiac Killer  who was active in the 1960s. He was only 23 when he shot his first two victims in March 1990, who fortunately survived.

Between 1990 and 1993, he killed three people by shooting them in the head, and wounded at least five others.

The New York Zodiac Killers victims included Joseph Proce, 78, Patricia Fonti, 39, and John Diacone, 46.

According to The New York Times, he was charged with six counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and seven counts of weapons possession in 1996.

Before committing his crimes, he would write notes to police, with details about his victims horoscopes.

As a young man, he deeply admired the original Zodiac Killer, after watching a PBS news special on his crimes.

Now, Seda is serving a life sentence in prison. He is not eligible for parole until he turns 264, in the year 2231.

Speaking to New York magazine, about his motive for his killings in 2004, he said: I got nothing to live for. I dont got no job. I already got those skills. I could be famous. I could do that.
M ovie star Kevin Spacey is a sexual bully and a predator who took pleasure in groping a series of young men, a court has heard.

The 63-year-old double Oscar winner is accused of 12 charges of sexual misconduct against four men between 2001 and 2013.

Opening the case against him, prosecutor Christine Agnew KC told jurors not to be starstruck by the famous face in the dock.

He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards. He has starred in many movies and television serials, she said. He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men. A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable  a sexual bully.

His preferred method of assault is it appears to grab aggressively other men in the crotch. On one occasion things went further than that.

Actor Kevin Spacey Spacey denies 12 charges against him, including sexual assault and indecent assault (Jordan Pettitt/PA) / PA Wire

Spacey, wearing a light grey suit and golden tie, arrived at Southwark crown court at just before 8am on Friday morning, ahead of the opening speech by the prosecutor in his case.

Appearing under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, he has denied all the allegations he faces.

Ms Agnew said all four alleged victims are not known to each other but who had the misfortune to attract the attention of the predatory Mr Spacey Fowler.

None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way but he doesnt seem to have cared very much for their feelings  he did what he wanted to do  for his own personal sexual gratification.

She said Spacey argues some of the allegations are simply made up, while other incidents were consensual sexual encounters.

The court also heard that some of the complainants in the case are suing Spacey in the civil courts.

One of the alleged victims says Spacey smacked his backside, forced his hand on to the actors genitals when they took a lift together, and repeatedly groped him during car journeys.

Ms Agnew said of the alleged lift incident: Kevin Spacey Fowler had grabbed his hand, putting it on his own penis and rubbing it hard.

Actor Kevin Spacey Spacey denies 12 charges against him, including sexual assault and indecent assault (Jordan Pettitt/PA) / PA Wire

The man pulled his hand away saying I dont want to feel your knob.

The man says Spacey was touchy feely when they were in a car together, and spoke quite openly about his sexuality.

He says conversations left him feeling uncomfortable and awkward, and he complained of inappropriate and unwelcome touching that became more intense.

It may well be that the defendant got a sexual thrill out of this type of sexual aggression, said Ms Agnew.

Jurors heard theatre impresario Sally Greene allegedly laughed off allegations of sexual abuse made about Spacey.

The entrepreneur had been instrumental in bringing Spacey to the Old Vic theatre, where she was a founding member of the managing Trust.

Ms Agnew said one of the alleged victims recalled that he had mentioned Kevin Spacey Fowlers behaviour to Sally Greene at the time but she had simply laughed it off and told him not to worry about it.

A second alleged victim says he came across Spacey at a charity event, describing the star as smelling of alcohol, looking like he hadnt slept, and appearing arrogant and dismissive.

The man, who is black, claims Spacey said to him: Have we f***ed, do you have a big c*ck, is it true what they say about black men, do you like it outside.

The man claims Spacey went on to touch his leg and later grabbed him by the crotch with such force it was painful.

Ms Agnew said the man pushed Spacey away and said No Im not like that, but the actor simply laughed.

The man claims Spacey also tried to get him into the toilets at a bar during a later encounter.

A young actor - the third alleged victim - says he fell asleep at Spaceys Waterloo home and woke up to find the star performing oral sex on him. He recalls drinking beers and smoking cannabis with Spacey after the movie star had agreed to help him with his fledgling acting career.

The man says Spacey moved in for a weird hug during the evening, before putting his face in the mans crotch.

He recalls feeling vulnerable and thinking that perhaps this was just how people in the acting world acted, said Ms Agnew.

The man says he fell asleep and awoke some hours later with his belt intact but his button and zip were down.

Kevin Spacey Fowler was next to him on his knees sucking his penis.

The man says Spacey stopped and told him to leave, at around 5am, claiming the star told him not to talk about the incident.

The fourth alleged victim says he was groped by Spacey after they met in a pub near Oxford.

Spacey allegedly invited the man and his friends back to The Lakes By Yoo, a luxury Cotswold retreat where he was staying, for a party.

The man says Spacey gave him an awkward man hug before kissing his neck twice, saying: Be cool, be cool.

The man said his crotch was grabbed by Spacey, before he pushed the actor against a wall saying: Sorry man I dont bat for that team.

The actor and director has films including LA Confidential, Superman Returns, and Baby Driver in his back catalogue, together with Oscar wins for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty.

In 2003, Spacey became the artistic director at The Old Vic theatre in London, a role he stayed in for 12 years.

He was awarded an honorary knighthood in 2015, shortly after ending his tenure at the theatre.

He went on to star in the acclaimed TV series House of Cards, but was dropped from the final season after allegations of sexual misconduct first came to light.

In his opening remarks, Spaceys barrister Patrick Gibbs KC said the star is vulnerable to opportunists and will argue his accusers are lying or reimagining the incidents.

Each of the allegations of non-consensual sexual contact is completely denied, he said.

Mr Spacey has come back to the UK, as he said he would, to answer them and he will say in full in due course what actually happened.

He told jurors they will have to decide what actually happened - if anything - what has been re-imagined with a sinister spin, what has been made up or twisted, and why, and when, because all of these things alleged against him happened a long time ago.

Mr Gibbs said they will have to assess truths, half-truths, deliberate exaggerations and damned lies.

Likely obstacles are rumours and fame and the responses of others to fame, and secrecy, and shame, and sexual confusion, he said.

You will get some insights into fame, both sides of fame, and the way it changes the way other people behave towards you once you are famous.

What do people want from you once you are famous, what do the complainants hope for.

Mr Spacey was rich and influential. The flip side of thatis what did they want from his wealth and from his influence. What do they still want?

Spacey was charged in May 2022 following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

He has pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault, seven counts of sexual assault, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one allegation of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

The trial continues.
A man has admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent by removing another mans testicle, after a police investigation into a sub-culture of extreme body modification.

Ashley Williams, 31, from Newport in South Wales, appeared in the dock at the Old Bailey on Friday to admit the charge, and now faces a possible prison sentence.

He is the latest defendant to admit involvement in body part removal following a criminal investigation into a sub-culture linked to the eunuch maker website.

According to prosecutors, defendants are alleged to have been part of a society in which people have willingly undergone extreme body modification.

The practice is linked to a subculture where men become nullos  short for genital nullification  by having their penis and testicles removed.

After Williams entered a guilty plea to causing grievous bodily harm, prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC told the court: That offences relates to the removal of Janus Atkins testicle.

Williams denied being part of a wider conspiracy to cause GBH  a charge which is set to now be dropped.

He appeared in the dock alongside his partner David Carruthers, 60, Atkin himself, and Ion Ciucur, 29, who all denied being part of the conspiracy.

They are set to stand trial next March alongside Marius Gustavson, 45, who is originally from Norway and is accused of being the ringleader of the extreme body modification ring.

The charges are said to cover the removal of body parts, the trade in body parts and the uploading of videos on Gustavsons eunuch maker website.

Nurse Nathan Arnold, 48, from South Kensington, west London, has already admitted the partial removal of Gustavsons nipple in the summer of 2019 and stealing medicine from the hospital where he worked in 2016.

Damien Byrnes, 35, from Tottenham, north London, admitted removing Gustavsons penis on February 18 2017.

Both men pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

Arnold also pleaded guilty to the theft of local anaesthetic lidocaine from the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and accepted a further offence of possessing extreme pornography.

Peter Wates, 66, from Croydon in south London, who is said to be Gustavsons right hand man, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm between January 1 2016 and January 1 2022.

Prosecutor say he was a key player who had a role as a surgeon in a very large number of procedures.

At a hearing in May, Jacob Crimi-Appleby, 22, from Epsom in Surrey, pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Marius Gustavson in February 2019.

Gustavson, from Tottenham, has pleaded not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to three men on dates in 2018 and 2019.

The charges relate to the alleged clamping and splitting of the genitals of the men, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Gustavson, appearing in court today via videolink from prison, admits separate charges of making and distributing indecent videos of a child.

He has not entered pleas on other charges including conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC adjourned the case for a further hearing on September 8.

A trial is currently set for March 4 next year.
D isgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwells arguments for overturning her sex trafficking conviction fall far short of justifying quashing the jurys verdict, US Government lawyers have said.

The 61-year-old was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to massage rooms for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June last year.

Maxwell indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had faded, distorted and motivated memories.

Her attorneys also claimed she did not have a fair trial after it emerged one of the jurors, Scotty David, also known as Juror 50, had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused in the jury questionnaire.

But US Government lawyers have urged the Second Circuit Appeals Court to uphold Maxwells conviction.

In response to the arguments about Mr David, the US Governments attorneys said: Judge Nathan conducted a thorough inquiry and determined that Juror 50s inadvertent errors on the jury questionnaire did not undermine Maxwells right to a fair trial.

Maxwell does not meaningfully engage with Judge Nathans careful opinion, instead suggesting that Juror 50s testimony at the hearing was patently absurd.

The US Government attorneys said Maxwells arguments fall far short of establishing Judge Nathan abused her discretion in her decision not to overturn the jurys verdict.

The former socialite also argued the US government breached a non-prosecution agreement by bringing the charges against her  claiming the agreement immunised Maxwell for these offences.

But the US prosecutors said Maxwell has no right to invoke the protections of a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) because she was not a signatory or a third party to the agreement.

In her appeal submissions, the disgraced socialite said the court had refused to correct the jurys misunderstanding of elements of the charges  meaning she was convicted of crimes with which she was not charged.

But the US Government said Judge Nathan found that the original jury instructions and the Governments summation captured the core of criminality charged in the indictment.

Maxwell also urged the appeal court to resentence if she was not granted a new trial.

But the government attorneys said her sentence was not unfair and that her arguments to the contrary were so cursory and undeveloped that they should be dismissed.

Jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as dangerous during her three-week trial, and were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epsteins various properties for him to sexually abuse.

Her lawyers have until July 27 to respond the US Governments submissions.

Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020, despite numerous attempts from her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The death was ruled a suicide.
T he Governments commitment to creating 20,000 new prison places by the mid-2020s is significantly behind schedule, the Prison Reform Trust has said.

By June 5 this year, 5,202 new places had been created  including Britains newest prison HMP Fosse Way in Leicester  according to a new report published by the trust.

Figures released by the Ministry of Justice last month revealed more than 85,000 inmates are now locked up in England and Wales, and the number is projected to reach 93,200 by 2024.

The Government faces an immediate crisis in prison capacity, Mark Day, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust said, as he called for new ways to reduce demand on the system.

Mark Day, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: England and Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe of 141 per 100,000 head of population. The prison population has risen by 80% in the last 30 years.

The growth in the use of longer sentences, particularly at the more serious end of sentencing, has been one of the chief causes of the rise in the prison population over the past 30 years.

Other factors include the increasing number of indeterminate sentenced prisoners, the changing offence profile of the prison population, and growing numbers of people being recalled to custody.

More recently, population pressures have been fuelled by the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers leading to more people coming before the courts.

The end of pandemic, with courts working through the backlog of cases that built up during lockdown, has also placed additional pressure on the system. One of the legacies of this period is a remand population of around 14,600 people  more than one in seven in prison. This represents a 45% increase in just three years, and is at near-record level.

The Government now faces an immediate crisis in prison capacity which it simply cannot build its way out of.

England and Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe of 141 per 100,000 head of population

The Government urgently needs to look at ways to reduce demand on the system and give it the breathing space it desperately needs. It should start by limiting the use of short sentences and reducing the remand population, as well as increasing the uptake of and entitlement to home detention curfew.

Steve Reed MP, Labours shadow justice Secretary, said re-offending has been allowed to run rampant.

He said: Our prisons are now full, forcing judges to give non-custodial sentences, leaving dangerous criminals to roam the streets.

Rishi Sunaks Conservatives chaos in the criminal justice system is leaving the public at risk.

Hundreds of rapid deployment cells have been rolled out at HMP Norwich and HMP Hollesley Bay, the Ministry of Justice said.

And the news comes six months after the Government announced Operation Safeguard, which allows for the use of up to 400 police cells to hold people overnight when there is not enough space in a local prison.

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said he was confident the 20,000 target could be met.

He told the Today programme on Friday: There are three further prisons where there are planning applications, well know much more by the end of the year as those planning appeals come on.

But weve got two that are done, theres another one being built and those further ones will come on, as I say precisely when they come on will depend on the planning process.

Meanwhile, a new bill became law this week which gives prison governors the power to release prisoners with mental health issues, substance misuse problems or who have far to travel home, on a Wednesday or Thursday instead of a Friday, when they would have just hours to access critical support before services shut for the weekend.

The Offenders (Day of Release from Detention) Bill received Royal Assent on Thursday and will end the damaging race against the clock for prison leavers to get the help they need, the Ministry of Justice said.

Only prisoners who pass security checks will be considered eligible for release, with the final decision taken by prison governors when the Act comes into force in the coming weeks.

The next new prison will be HMP Millsike, which is being built next to HMP Full Sutton in East Yorkshire.

Planning approval is being sought for three other prisons across the country.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: We have always been clear that delivery dates are contingent on external matters, including planning permission, but we remain committed to building these prisons as quickly as possible.

More than 5,000 of the additional 20,000 prison places we are creating have already been delivered, including the brand new HMP Fosse Way which started accepting prisoners on time in May.
J ust Stop Oil has threatened to disrupt this weekends London Pride event over its headline sponsor United Airlines.

Ahead of the event on Saturday, Just Stop Oil issued a list of demands for the organisers to consider in order to stop any protest disrupting the event.

Directed to a representative of the board of directors of the event, the protest group demands clarity on where Pride sources its money from, that the organisers make a statement to demand an end to new oil and gas projects, and lastly, that Pride set up a meeting for its volunteers about joining in civil resistance against new oil and gas.

The letter concludes by stating a response is required by 4pm on Thursday.

It added: Beyond this time or not meeting these demands will mean we may or may not take action at this weekends events.

Earlier this week, Sadiq Khan faced questions from London Assembly members for failing to show climate leadership by not criticising the events sponsorship decision.

At a Mayors Question Time session, Mr Khan defended himself against claims of rainbow-washing with Zack Polanski, the Green Partys deputy leader asking: Does the headline sponsor of Pride in London this year demonstrate leadership in tackling the climate crisis?

The Mayor responded by saying that the event draws support from all sorts of businesses, charities and organisations, and that this was a positive thing, as standing together is a key element of the movement for LGBTQI+ equality.

Mr Polanski went on to claim Mr Khan was allowing a big carbon polluter to greenwash, or rainbow-wash in this circumstance, using Pride.

The Mayor was also questioned about City Halls own relationship with United Airlines after it was revealed that the company funded the Mayors costs of flights for the mayor and his team, which included journeys from London to New York, New York to San Francisco, San Francisco to Los Angeles and Los Angeles back to London.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: Londons Pride celebrations are a highlight of our year as more than 1.5m people join together in solidarity and support of our LGBTQI+ communities.

The Mayor doesnt want to see these wonderful celebrations disrupted. The event attracts all sorts of businesses, charities and organisations, and Pride in London select sponsors of the event against their core values of visibility, unity, equality, and a commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

The extreme weather events London has experienced in recent years show how much more needs to be done to tackle the climate emergency, but any potential protestors should consider whether their methods risk turning public opinion against a vitally important cause.

A spokesperson for Pride in London said: The safety of others is paramount to Pride in London. This year we are highlighting trans+ joy, ensuring that the community knows that with us, they #NeverMarchAlone.

We call on all individuals, groups and organisations to give this space the respect and focus it deserves in an increasingly hostile and unsafe world.

Pride in London is tomorrow, celebrating and protesting for visibility, unity and equality for all LGBT+ people everywhere. All are welcome to attend and mark Pride with the other 1.5 million attendees.

Our first priority is the safety of our diverse cohort of volunteers, participants including representatives from across the globe. We welcome dialogue with Just Stop Oil after the event and wish everyone a safe and happy Pride.
F ormer Tory cabinet minister Justine Greening has ruled herself out of becoming her partys London mayoral candidate.

The former Education Secretary said it was not the right role for me and not the right time  but did not rule out a return to frontline politics at a later date.

There have been calls for Tory chiefs to reopen the selection process for their 2024 mayoral candidate after one of the three shortlisted hopefuls, Dan Korski, withdrew on Tuesday after an historic allegation that he groped TV producer Daisy Goodwin in Downing St made it impossible for him to continue.

Ms Greening, who was previously MP for Putney, often finds herself mentioned in media reports as being the kind of liberal, pro-Europe Conservative able to appeal to a cross-section of London voters.

Former Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who interviewed her for her Friday Night With Nadine show on Talk TV, told her she would be a great candidate for mayor.

But Ms Greening replied: Im not going to stand for London mayor, Nadine, Im sorry to disappoint you, and I never was, in a sense that I know its been reported that I was thinking about it.

Ive had a huge amount of love from people saying theyd love me to think about doing it but its not the right role for me and not the right time.

Ms Greening also served as Transport Secretary and International Development Secretary. She lost the Tory whip after defying then Prime Minister Boris Johnson over Brexit in 2019.

Since leaving Parliament, she has campaigned to improve social mobility for young people in the UK.

She added: Im not saying Im never going to come back into politics at some point but I just think this isnt the right fit for me. I am loving doing my social mobility stuff.

I really feel like Im making a difference on that and certainly for now, I want to just keep dedicating myself to that.

The interview will be broadcast at 8pm tonight.

Tory chairman Greg Hands said the partys mayoral contest would continue with the two remaining candidates, London Assembly member Susan Hall and criminal barrister Moz Hossain KC.

The winner is due to be announced on July 19.
S aturdays Pride in London march will be a momentous day that is bigger and better than ever, organisers say.

More than 1.5 million people are set to take to the streets of the capital to join the biggest celebration of the LGBT+ community in Britain.

In a message to Londoners Will DeAthe-Morris, spokesman for Pride in London, said: Come out on the first of July, celebrate with us, wear your finery, make yourself at home because London is open to all. We are so excited to be back out on the streets.

He added: Last year was the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march in Britain and it was the biggest Pride march in British history with over 1.5 million people on the streets of London. We expect this year to be even bigger and better.

It is going to be an absolutely momentous day. There are going to be some amazing surprises and it is a great opportunity to come together and make sure no one ever marches alone.

As well as being a colourful party extravaganza, with five stages hosting performers including Adam Lambert and Idina Menzel, Pride has historically been a protest as well as a celebration.

Mayor Sadiq Khan, who will lead the parade which starts at Hyde Park Corner and culminates at Whitehall Place, said Londons example of openness and equality can resonate far beyond the borders of this country, to energise activists elsewhere to fight for freedom from persecution.

There are 64 countries that have laws that criminalise homosexuality, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. It says the death penalty is the legally prescribed punishment for same-sex sexual acts in Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and in some northern states of Nigeria.

Mr Khan said: I cant wait not only to witness this years celebrations, but to see as I do every year, how all those taking part are embraced by Londoners in a spirit of joy, unity and solidarity.

The annual Pride parade is one of the highlights of my year precisely because it speaks volumes about Londons open and inclusive culture  and the love we have for each other and our citys precious diversity.

Mr Khan said that despite advances for LGBT+ rights, there is still work to be done. He added: We have got to be honest in acknowledging our country isnt perfect. There are still instances of hate crime committed against LGBTQI+ people. There have been petitions and protests demanding the withdrawal of LGBTQI+ content from schools. And in some quarters, transgender people are being demonised and cruelly weaponised as part of a culture war.

He added: Too often, at home and around the world were seeing a concerted effort to reverse the gains that have been made on LGBTQI+ rights. In the US, one of the most prominent presidential candidates has brought in bills specifically targeting transgender people. This is why its more important than ever that people in positions of power continue to stand up and speak.

Mr DeAthe-Morris, who was himself the victim of a homophobic attack in South London last year, said: Here and around the world LGBT+ rights have massively improved and its really important we celebrate that. But at the same time there are some serious gaps

The trans community in particular are having an incredibly difficult time.

Sometimes when you see a society advance and social norms adjust theres an elastic band effect, when the band goes so far one way that it snaps back past where it started. Prides 2023 campaign is Never March Alone, which champions the trans and non-binary community.

Mr DeAthe-Morris said it comes at a time when trans and non-binary people face increasing amounts of hatred and negative portrayals. He added: Among all this beauty we are reminded as to why our campaign Never March Alone matters so much. We need people in our community to know they are not alone.

The number of hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales rose by by 26 per cent  to 155,841 in the year to March 2022, Home Office figures show. Hate crimes targeting peoples sexual orientation increased by 42 per cent to 26,152, with crimes against transgender people seeing the biggest rise, with 4,355 reports, up 56 per cent from the previous year.

Mr Khan said he is hugely proud that Londoners are so unwavering in their support for LGBTQI+ rights. He added: As Mayor of London, Ive witnessed first-hand the incredible contribution that our vibrant LGBTQI+ community makes to the life and soul of our city.

London is a better, more creative, more colourful, more caring and more prosperous place because of our LGBTQI+ community.

Thats why Ill continue to fight tooth and nail to ensure London remains not just the greatest city in the world, but a shining light for LGBTQI+ rights.
A primary school in Croydon has been fined 35,000 after a young boy was left with critical burns when his nativity costume caught fire during the schools annual carol concert.

St Thomas Becket Catholic Primary School was found guilty of health and safety failings by a jury at Southwark Crown Court earlier in June.

In December 2019 the boy, then aged seven, had been in a line of pupils each holding a lit candle in Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Bingham Road, Croydon, when his homemade sheep costume caught fire, the court heard.

The fire was extinguished with some difficulty and the child received first aid at the scene before he was taken by air ambulance to hospital.

At hospital it was estimated that he sustained burns on 45% of his body, resulting in life-changing injuries that will leave him dependent on third party care for basic needs.

I protect my son from every look from a stranger when we are out together

Judge Philip Bartle fined the state school 35,000 for breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974  more specifically for failing to properly assess the risk involved and failing to take reasonably practical steps to minimise or eliminate the risk.

The judge also ordered that the school should pay 25,970 in prosecution costs and that victim compensation should be dealt with by the civil courts.

In two impact statements read out in court, the childs parents described the excruciating pain that their son, who no longer attends the school, has been through and is still going through.

They both commented on the life-threatening nature of their sons injuries, with the mother saying she thought the worst when the boy was in hospital and his father saying he is lucky to be alive.

The court heard they were waiting for their son to emerge in the church when people started running outside and screaming, which the father described as feeling like a bomb had gone off.

The mother said her sons best friend said he was on fire, prompting her to force her way back into the church.

I haven't stepped in a church since and I don't think I ever will

Both parents found their son standing screaming in a bucket of water in the church, the court heard.

His father said the image has been tattooed in his mind.

The court heard how the young boy underwent countless surgeries and hospital appointments, which are continuing three years later.

I protect my son from every look from a stranger when we are out together, the father said. I walk in front of him to protect him from the glares of others. I think of him growing older in such a cruel world.

It overwhelms me to think that my son will never know what a normal life is.

Their love for (their son) and their dedication to his welfare shine out from all they say

The mother said a school should be a trusted place for parents and children and would never expect her childs school to expose him to life-threatening danger like this.

I havent stepped in a church since and I dont think I ever will, she said.

Judge Bartle said of the boys parents: Their love for (their son) and their dedication to his welfare shine out from all they say.

I acknowledge the selfless devoted care that they have given to him.

In defence of the school, the court heard that the board of governors apologises to the family, that the school has a good health and safety record and that it has banned the use of candles.

This was a shocking and scary incident that could have so easily been avoided

Following the incident the London Fire Brigade issued a warning against the completely unnecessary hazard of candles when it comes to children and school plays, and said LED or electric candles should be used.

Health and Safety Executive inspector Sarah Whittle said: This was a shocking and scary incident that could have so easily been avoided.

Common sense alone should have been enough to see the risk.

Mitigation in this case would have been the substitution of wax candles for flameless ones, thereby reducing the risk to zero.

This was a step the school took after the incident, but by then it was far too late for a young child who will be forever affected by this.

The importance of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment has never been made so clear.
NEW DELHI, June 30 (Xinhua) -- India's civil aviation regulator on Friday issued a warning to the pilots of private airline companies not to allow unauthorized people into the cockpit.

The warning came in the aftermath of several incidents reported recently where pilots allowed their "friends" into the cockpit.

In an advisory, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said that any unauthorized entry will be dealt with strictly, and may also invite stringent enforcement action.

The latest advisory came after two recent incidents of unauthorized entry of passengers into the aircraft cockpit of Air India flights.

In the first instance on Feb. 27, the pilot of the Delhi-Dubai flight was suspended for three months after he let his "lady friend" enter the flight cockpit and allowed her to stay there till the flight landed.

In this case, Air India was fined 3 million Indian rupees (36,585 U.S. dollars) for not taking the initial complaint by its alert cabin crew seriously.

In the second case, the pilot-in-command of a domestic flight on June 3 was suspended for a year, and his co-pilot's license was suspended for a month for a similar violation. 
S adiq Khan has suggested a Labour government might allow him to bring in rent controls across London, despite the party u-turning away from the policy nationally this week.

The mayor has long called for Ministers to empower him to freeze private rents in the capital for two years, but the Conservative government has refused, arguing the policy would worsen the housing crisis by choking off the supply of properties.

Labours shadow housing secretary, Lisa Nandy, had said last year she was personally very interested in the possibility of local leaders being able to impose rent controls in their areas over the winter.

But in a striking change of tone this week, Ms Nandy told the Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Manchester: When housebuilding is falling off a cliff and buy-to-let landlords are leaving the market, rent controls that cut rents for some will almost certainly leave others homeless.

It might be politically easier to put a sticking plaster on our deep-seated problems, but if it is cowardice that got us here it is never going to get us out.

Mr Khan said however that he was still hopeful a Labour government will grant him rent control powers.

Speaking at the State of London Debate on Thursday night, the mayor pointed out that rent freezes had been introduced by the Scottish Government, and the skies have not fallen in.

He added: Its going to take years and years for the supply to meet the demand, and Im hoping the next Labour government devolves the power to us to bring rent controls [in].

Asked by host James OBrien whether he had spoken with the party nationally about that, Mr Khan said: We have had a conversation.

On the question of whether he was optimistic about his request being granted, the mayor replied: Im hopeful.

Recent polling data revealed that 24 per cent of private renters in the capital (about 650,000 people) are struggling to meet rent payments, while six per cent (about 160,000) say they have fallen behind in the last six months.

Within City Hall, the Conservatives have accused Mr Khan of populist politics in his repeated demands for rent controls.

At a London Assembly meeting earlier this month, Conservative group leader Neil Garratt said: The problem with it, like so many other populist political ideas, is that it doesnt work.

It restricts the supply and ultimately makes the problem worse. Everywhere where it has been tried, it doesnt work.
S adiq Khan has said the crisis at Thames Water proves that privatising basic utilities hasnt worked, as he criticised the monopoly enjoyed by the company.

The firm, which provides water to around one in four people in Britain, is facing questions over its future , as it grapples with a 14bn debt pile.

Speaking at the annual State of London Debate on Thursday night, the mayor said the Government had failed to properly regulate the company.

If evidence was required that privatising basic utilities hasnt worked, this is it, said Mr Khan.

When things are good, their shareholders reap massive dividends. When they need investment, they make us pay more with our water bills. Well, theres something wrong there, right?

He added: Its a monopoly. What are you going to do? Change from Thames Water to somebody else? You cant, right? Theyve got you over a barrel.

Thats a failure of the Government not regulating monopolies, whether its Thames Water, or some of the train operating companies.

Bringing water companies into public ownership is not Labours policy nationally, but Mr Khan said he was not in favour of nationalising Thames Water immediately.

I dont think we should be using our money to pay off shareholders. Thats not the best use of taxpayers money, the mayor said.

If it comes up to the contracts being renewed, like with the rail companies - yeah, nationalise them.

A Government source clarified afterwards that, unlike train companies, water companies do not renew their contracts periodically, and instead hold indefinite licences to operate.

Mr Khan said City Hall has no powers of its own to bring Thames Water into public ownership, and that he would be concerned about taking over the companys debts.

If the Government was to - for example, theoretically speaking - write off all the debts, [and] allow us to keep the cash balances in Thames Water, Id be interested, he said.

Thames Water has said it has a strong liquidity position including 4.4bn of cash and committed funding and is working constructively with shareholders while keeping the regulator, Ofwat, informed of progress.

The company added that it remains focused on delivering for our customers , the environment and stakeholders.

If the firm cannot secure additional funding, it could be temporarily taken over by the Government until a new buyer is found, in a special administration regime (SAR).

A spokeswoman at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said: "Ofwat monitors the financial position of all water companies, ensuring they take action when long term financial resilience needs to be strengthened.

It is the role of regulators to scrutinise industry, which is why Ofwat continues to monitor the financial position of all water and wastewater companies."
T he Prince of Wales joked that he felt underdressed without sequins or glitter as he marked the end of Pride Month by discussing mental health in an LGBT+ venue.

William spoke of the importance of mental fitness in a short YouTube film in the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in south-east London.

The film sees the heir to the throne in conversation with volunteers from The Mix and Shout discussing mental health and support in the LGBT+ community.

The Mix and Shout are both charity partners of the Heads Together campaign which was founded by The Royal Foundation.

Both charities offer free confidential support for young people who are struggling and feel alone.

William chats to 20-year-old Michael Lister, chair of The Mix youth advisory board, Sharvari Patil, a 20-year-old student and volunteer at The Mix, and Alexis Caught, a Shout volunteer who is also an author and podcast host specialising in mental health and wellness in the queer community.

Speaking near the beginning of the film, William joked: I feel very underdressed today in the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. I should have come with some sequins or some glitter. Maybe next time Ill bring it.

The prince talks to the trio about their own mental health journeys in the LGBT+ community.

They discuss the importance of ensuring people look after their mental fitness and why checking in on others and supporting those in your community is vital.

William commented on the importance of having an open conversation and how emotions can prove more difficult for men.

I think guys particularly find emotions quite difficult, dont quite know how to deal with them  strong emotions, no emotions, whatever it might be, they kind of find it quite hard.

And I think thats why weve got to get better at having an open conversation about these things, he said.

William thanked Michael, Sharvari and Alexis for their insights and told them it will mean an awful lot to everyone to hear from them.
F ormer prime minister Boris Johnson has backed the UK Covid Inquiry in its High Court clash with the Government over his unredacted WhatsApp messages, diaries and notebooks.

The Cabinet Office is bringing a judicial review of inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Halletts order to release the documents, arguing it should not have to hand over material which is unambiguously irrelevant.

Lawyers for the department argue the inquiry does not have the legal power to force ministers to release documents and messages it says cover matters unconnected to the Governments handling of Covid.

At a hearing in London on Friday, Sir James Eadie KC, representing the department, said the challenge was brought with some considerable reluctance, but Lady Halletts demand was so broad it was bound to catch a large amount of irrelevant material.

In establishing the inquiry, Mr Johnson said... he wanted the states action to be placed 'under the microscope' and that the inquiry must be 'free to scrutinise every document'

Lady Hallett contends the Cabinet Offices position undermines her ability to carry out the inquiry properly and would have serious implications for all public inquiries.

In written arguments put before the court on Mr Johnsons behalf, his lawyers said he has no objection to the inquiry having the unredacted material, subject to appropriate security and confidentiality arrangements being in place  which he has been assured of by the inquiry.

Mr Johnson, who is an interested party in the case, along with his former adviser Henry Cook, is asking the court to reject the Governments challenge.

Lord David Pannick KC, representing the former prime minister, said: Mr Johnson considers that it is appropriate that the chair has all documents that she reasonably considers are potentially relevant to her ongoing investigation, and that that is consistent with the objectives of the inquiry, which Mr Johnson announced in May 2021.

He said Mr Johnson adopts part of the legal submissions put forward by Lady Hallett to the High Court, adding: First, not only does the defendants interpretation promote the purpose of the legislation and the inquisitorial nature of public inquiries, it is also consistent with the objectives of this inquiry.

In establishing the inquiry, Mr Johnson said in terms he wanted the states action to be placed under the microscope and that the inquiry must be free to scrutinise every document.

That is what the public expects and that is what should be done.

Lord Pannick said the inquiry should not be impeded in this process by technical debates as to perceived relevance.

He added: For the inquiry to carry out its objectives, and for the public to have confidence that it is doing so, it must be for the chair, and not for the Cabinet Office, to decide what material is potentially relevant.

The Government took the highly unusual step of launching the challenge earlier in June and the move attracted criticism after days of public wrangling between the Cabinet Office and Lady Halletts probe after she rejected its argument the material was not relevant in a May ruling.

Sir James said in written arguments that the powers conferred on inquiries by the Inquiries Act 2005 do not extend to the compulsion of material that is irrelevant to the work of an inquiry, and that notices for evidence must be limited by reference to relevance.

The row with the inquiry centres around Mr Johnsons WhatsApp messages, diaries and personal notebooks, which the former prime minister handed over in late May to the Cabinet Office in unredacted form.

Court documents filed on June 1 revealed the WhatsApp messages passed to officials are only from May 2021 onwards because of a security breach involving an old mobile phone belonging to Mr Johnson.

The former prime minister wrote to the inquiry after the Cabinet Office launched the judicial review, saying he was more than happy to hand over his unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks directly to the inquiry.

The hearing, before Lord Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Garnham, is due to conclude on Friday and the judges are expected to give their ruling at a later date.
T he Cabinet Office has rejected calls from a TV producer to investigate an alleged groping incident at Downing Street a decade ago.

Daisy Goodwin had accused Dan Korski of touching her breast at the end of a meeting at No10 in 2013  prompting his withdrawal from the race to become the Tory mayoral candidate.

She made a formal complaint this week after a writing newspaper article naming Mr Korski, who was David Camerons deputy policy chief at the time.

He described the allegation as false and unproven but said it had made it impossible for him to continue with his bid to be mayor.

Ms Goodwin, whose book Victoria has been dramatised for TV, said she had been told by a senior Government official that she had two options  to refer the matter to police if she believed a crime had been committed, or to do nothing, as Mr Korski no longer worked in Government.

There isnt a body that deals with special advisers and MPs despite serious allegations, she told The Times.

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: The Cabinet Office has been approached by an individual in relation to this matter and they have been directed to the relevant authorities for such allegations.

On Thursday Rohan Silva, the Evening Standard columnist and former Downing St aide to Mr Cameron, wrote about how he met Ms Goodwin at a party in 2015  when she recounted details of her meeting with Mr Korski two years earlier.

Daisy proceeded to tell me in great detail about how Korski had fondled her breast under the steely gaze of Margaret Thatcher, whose portrait hung in the room, he wrote in The Times.

Caroline Nokes, the chairwoman of the Commons equality committee, said she believed Ms Goodwins version of events.

She told the Today programme: There have been all sorts of questions raised as to whether shes telling the truth, whether she misremembered what happened. Women do not make mistakes when they know a man has touched their breast.

Women are expected to get on with the rough and tumble of politics or get out. We need to have a zero tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour by men in politics towards women.

Tory chairman Greg Hands said the partys mayoral contest would continue with the two remaining candidates, London Assembly member Susan Hall and criminal barrister Moz Hossain KC.

On Friday, Justine Greening, the former Tory education secretary, said in a Talk TV interview with Nadine Dorries that she had no interest in seeking to become the partys mayoral candidate. The winner is due to be announced on July 19.
A n allegation that former Conservative mayoral hopeful Daniel Korski groped a TV producer in Downing Street a decade ago will not be investigated by the Cabinet Office.

Mr Korski quit the contest after television producer Daisy Goodwin made a formal complaint over the alleged incident in No 10, when Mr Korski was a special adviser to then-prime minister David Cameron.

Ms Goodwin told the Times that a senior official in the Cabinet Office had informed her that there were two options  to refer it to the police if it was a criminal matter or do nothing given that Mr Korski no longer worked in Government.

She told the paper that the response was disappointing.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: The Cabinet Office has been approached by an individual in relation to this matter and they have been directed to the relevant authorities for such allegations.

Mr Korski, who pulled out of the race to become the Conservative mayoral candidate on Wednesday, has categorically denied the claim.

He said he was quitting with a heavy heart because the allegation was becoming a distraction.

Ms Goodwin had previously complained about the Cabinet Office complaints process, describing it as harder than trying to get a telephone engineer.

She had used an article in the Times newspaper to name Mr Korski in relation to the allegation.

The Conservative Party has confirmed the race will go ahead with the two remaining candidates, Mozammel Hossain and Susan Hall, with hustings taking place as scheduled from June 12 to July 3, despite calls for the selection process to be reopened.
V ictims of human trafficking and modern slavery will have to go underground while traffickers thrive under the Governments proposed migration bill, survivors have warned the Prime Minister.

A letter is being sent to Rishi Sunak urging him to consult with human trafficking and modern slavery survivors and their families, following a week of setbacks for the Illegal Migration Bill going through Parliament.

The Government remained 100% behind the Illegal Migration Bill despite the Court of Appeal ruling on Thursday that plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda were unlawful, Home Office minister Lord Murray of Blidworth said.

The government also suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords over its flagship bill with peers voting through a number of amendments.

While after a technical error with the Lords voting system, further proposed changes to the bill are now expected to be put to a vote on Monday, when the bill continues its passage through the upper house.

But a letter to Downing Street, signed by the lived experience advisory panel (LEAP), said human trafficking perpetrators will evade prosecution while victims become invisible under the controversial bill.

This bill sets out provisions that will mean that anyone entering the country via irregular means can be detained and removed and not have access to modern slavery support even if they are found to be victims, the group wrote.

Victims will be forced to go underground and people committing trafficking crimes will evade prosecution.

As victims will not come forward, and therefore wont be counted in statistics, it will create a false environment that on the surface may seem as though there is no crime occurring.

Survivor of trafficking in the UK and a LEAP consultant, Emily Vaughn, told the Standard: [The proposed legislation] is giving the traffickers the upper hand. The victims are going to know now, we cant go to authorities, we cant go to police, so its going to make [trafficking] more fruitful.

With victims in fear of being deported under the Illegal Migration Bill, it could open up the exploitation to a lot more severity then it is now, she added.

Jamie Fookes, UK and Europe Advocacy Manager at Anti-Slavery International, told the Standard: If [victims] are hurried through immigration enforcement process, theyre not going to be able to participate in investigations or prosecutions to bring the traffickers to justice.

We know that traffickers already use the threat of arrest, imprisonment, and deportation as a way of keeping their victims compliant, and the fear is that we are making the threat a reality.

Mr Fookes added: You could have a boy who is in the service of a criminal gang in cannabis cultivation or drugs be stuck under that gangin a very dangerous environment.

You could have a woman whos been trafficked for sex slavery, unable to escape from her traffickers.

The letter urged the Government to consult with survivors and people working in the anti-trafficking sector.

The focus instead must be criminalising human traffickers, not criminalising victims of these horrendous crimes, the letter said.

House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

It comes after Lord Hunt of Kings Heath argued on Wednesday in the Commons that if the Illegal Migration Bill were to remove modern slavery protections, it would see victims punished for the crimes of people smugglers.

He noted that 90 per cent of people referred to the UKs modern slavery system were found to have reasonable grounds that they were a victim of trafficking and argued the Government has presented no evidence to suggest a fault in the system.

The Labour peer added the bill would undoubtedly strengthen the hand of the trafficking networks as people smugglers keep their victims under control with threats that they will not receive help if they reach out to the authorities.

Barrister and independent crossbench peer Lord Carlile of Berriew argued it is beneficial to the prosecution of people traffickers to have their victims in the country to assist with investigations and to testify against them.

Home Office minister Lord Murray of Blidworth noted the backlog of referrals to the UKs modern slavery system, which takes an average of 566 days to process a case, and warned the rate of referrals among those detained for removal, 65 per cent in January to September 2022, could see the system overwhelmed if the number detained increases.

He asserted the referral system presents clear opportunities for abuse for those who seek to frustrate removal and that the amendment profoundly undermines the Governments ability to tackle the threat to life arising from the dangerous, illegal and unnecessary Channel crossings.

The minister concluded this bill will not achieve its objective if removals are put on hold for 500 days awaiting a conclusive grounds decision and that the amendment will quite simply wreck the bill.
S uella Bravermans Rwanda migrant plan failed to receive any show of support during the latest episode of Question Time in a further blow to the Government.

Broadcast live from Exeter, host Fiona Bruce asks if the audience supports sending people to Rwanda following the Court of Appeals ruling on Thursday.

In response, not a single member of the audience raisesd their hand before panellist, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, can be heard saying good on you, sparking applause from the audience.

Responding, Helen Whately, social care minister and MP for Faversham and Mid Kent said: This is a very hard problem to solve.

I think most of us feel that we want to be welcoming people, and understand that people have made hard and difficult journeys to try and come to the UK before they choose to get into a small boat.

Yes, theyre in France, theyve crossed several safe countries, but we know that they are from places where life is very hard.

This comes after the governments Rwanda plan was blocked after senior judges ruled the African country is not safe.

In December, High Court judges rejected legal challenges to the policy from individual asylum seekers and the charity Asylum Aid.

But in a major ruling on Thursday, the Court of Appeal ruled by a majority of two to one that the policy would put asylum seekers at risk and is unlawful.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he fundamentally disagreed with it and announced the Government would seek an appeal in the Supreme Court.
R ishi Sunak and Lord Zac Goldsmith were locked in a war of words on Friday after he resigned as a Government minister launching a scathing attack on the PM over the environment.

The peer, a former MP for Richmond Park who was minister for the international environment, tore into the Prime Minister for allegedly not being sufficiently focused on eco-issues.

In his resignation letter, he said: The problem is not that the Government is hostile to the environment, it is that you, our Prime Minister, are simply uninterested.

That signal, or lack of it, has trickled down through Whitehall and caused a kind of paralysis.

Lord Goldsmith is a former editor of the Ecologist magazine and one of the most high profile Tories with an expertise on the environment.

Publishing his resignation letter at around 9am on Friday, he tweeted: It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember.

But this govts apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down

Lord Goldsmith had a day earlier been reprimanded in a report by the Commons Privileges Committee for criticism he had made of its inquiry into Boris Johnson which found that the ex-Prime Minister deliberately misled Parliament over the partygate scandal.

Responding to the peers resignation letter, Mr Sunak wrote back: I accept your resignation.

You were asked to apologise for your comments about the Privileges Committee as we felt they were incompatible with your position as a minister of the crown. You have decided to take a different course.

But later, the peer responded to Mr Sunak, saying: In response to some misleading briefing from Number 10, Id like to make clear I am happy to apologise for publicly sharing my views on the Privilege Committee.

Lord Goldsmith and other allies of Mr Johnson, including ex-Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, were accused by the committee of trying to undermine it.

The committee, which has a Tory majority and was chaired by Labours Harriet Harman, highlighted Lord Goldsmith retweeting a tweet calling the inquiry a witch hunt and kangaroo court, and stating: Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.

On Friday, responding to No10, the peer argued that parliamentary democracy can only be strengthened by robust exchange and scrutiny and that parliamentarians should be free to be critical of reports and proceedings.

But as a minister I shouldnt have commented publicly, he added, but he stood by his criticism of the PM on the environment.

In his two-page resignation letter, former Foreign Office minister Lord Goldsmith had sought on Friday to focus on the environment not the Privileges Committee row.

He wrote: The past four years have been an exhilarating experience for me, and I will forever be grateful that I was put in a position where I could do more for the environment than I thought possible in a lifetime.

Im proud that in recent years the UK has played a critical, indeed defining role - leading powerful coalitions of ambition and securing world-changing commitments over a very wide range of environmental issues.

But he added: Prime Minister, having been able to get so much done previously, I have struggled even to hold the line in recent months.

He concluded the letter: It has been a privilege to be able to work with so many talented people in government, in particular my Private Office, and to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this government's apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we have faced makes continuing in my current role untenable. With great reluctance I am therefore stepping down as a Minister in order to focus my energy where it can be more useful."

Responding to the resignation, shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband tweeted: This is a devastating indictment of Rishi Sunak and his whole government on climate and nature.

Serving ministers are so horrified by their approach they are resigning from the government.

The Conservatives should hang their heads in shame.

The peer failed in a bid to become London Mayor in 2016, losing to Sadiq Khan.

Earlier this week, the PM was warned today not to mess around by delaying action until after the General Election to get the UK back as a world leader in tackling climate change.

Chris Stark, chief executive of Britains Climate Change Committee, said the country had fallen behind other nations in the battle against global warming amid Tory leadership infighting in Government.

The watchdog accused ministers of ducking strategic decisions on issues such as transport, energy and home heating.

The Government has pledged to reduce emissions by 68 per cent by 2030 but the CCC said the pace of scale-up action is worryingly slow.

But a Government spokesperson said: The UK is cutting emissions faster than any other G7 country and attracted billions of investment into renewables, which now account for 40 per cent of our electricity.

Lord Goldsmiths resignation is another blow to Mr Sunak, particularly with his criticism on the environment, and comes a day after the Appeal Court blocked his flagship Rwanda deportation plan to deal with the Channel small boats crisis.

The Tories also risk losing up to four by-elections, one in Uxbridge and South Ruislip after Mr Johnson stood down as the MP ahead of the Privileges Committtees report.

Another ally of Mr Johnson, Nigel Adams, resigned as MP for Selby and Ainsty, and ex-Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said she was quitting as MP for Mid-Bedfordshire but has so far failed to do so.

Both Ms Dorries and Mr Adams were believed to have been on Mr Johnsons peerages list but in the end did not get elevated to the Lords amid a row between Mr Sunak and Mr Johnson.
L iving and working in Australia or New Zealand will become easier for millions of British people in their early 30s from Saturday.

Sixteen million more Britons will be eligible to apply for a working holiday visa in either country from July 1 as the age limit increases from 30 to 35.

The visas existing two-year limit will be raised to three years in New Zealand from Saturday, and in Australia from July 1 next year.

The three years in Australia will not need to be taken consecutively by visa holders, and the requirement to carry out months of farm work has been scrapped.

It is the first change to the visa since it was introduced in 1975, under the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement (UKFTA).

Australia has long been an attractive option for young British workers because it offers a higher minimum wage than the UK, together with one of the lowest unemployment rates in almost 50 years.

Britons in New Zealand will now be able to work for the full duration of their three-year stay, and New Zealand will re-establish an annual cap for the UK working holiday visas to be set at 15,000 visas per year allowing for interest and growth in the scheme.

The changes were made as part of separate free trade agreements made between the UK and the two Commonwealth nations earlier this year.

The new agreements will also make it easier for Australians and New Zealanders over 30 to work and travel in the UK.

At the time of the deals Trade Minister Nigel Huddleston said the changes would make it more flexible for Britons to choose what sector they work in during their time in the southern hemisphere, meaning those wanting to find employment in Australia and New Zealand dont have to go and work on a farm.

Officials at the Department for Business and Trade said that the new rules agreed with Australia would also mean for the first time, UK service suppliers including architects, scientists, researchers, lawyers and accountants, will have access to visas to work in Australia without being subject to Canberras changing skilled occupation list.

As part of the New Zealand agreement, UK professionals such as lawyers and auditors will be able to work in New Zealand more easily, and bring their families with them, according to the department.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: The expansion of our visa schemes opens up opportunities for even more young Brits and Kiwis to make lasting connections, develop skills and use the life-changing experience to contribute - both to their host country and once they return home.

Sam Pass, Acting British High Commissioner to New Zealand, said: Most Kiwis and Brits feel instantly at home in each others countries.

Weve expanded our visa schemes so more New Zealanders will be able to grasp the opportunity to live and work in the UK and more Brits will be able to enjoy a slice of southern hemisphere hospitality  forging life-long connections and strengthening the enduring links between our two countries.
ADDIS ABABA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia has submitted a request to join the BRICS mechanism, said the foreign ministry on Thursday.

"Ethiopia is a founding member of numerous multinational organizations, like the United Nations, the African Union and the Non-Aligned Movement," Meles Alem, spokesperson for the ministry, told reporters.

"Taking into account the shifting international situation and shift in (international) forces, Ethiopia will work to become members of other international bodies including BRICS so as to safeguard our national interest," he said, adding Ethiopia expects a positive response to its request and will follow up on the progress.

BRICS is the acronym for an emerging-market cooperative mechanism that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. South Africa took over the BRICS rotating presidency from China on Jan. 1, 2023. 
A Belfast teenager shot dead by British soldiers in 1975 was entirely innocent, a coroner has ruled.

A fresh inquest into the death of Leo Norney, 17, concluded with the finding that he was shot dead by Lance Corporal John Ross MacKay.

The former Black Watch soldier died in 2015.

Coroner Patrick McGurgan found it was likely Mr Norneys killing was a deliberate act, and that Mr MacKay had expressed his intention to waste someone on September 13 1975.

He said the other soldiers with Mr MacKay shot into a Mini car and gave false accounts of what happened out of fear of him to cover up what happened, concocting a story they were being fired on and returned fire.

I am satisfied that the deceased Leo Norney was an innocent young man who happened to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time

He was also critical of the Ministry of Defence, saying Mr MacKay had been convicted of a violent offence and served time in prison prior to the killing of Mr Norney, adding the soldier posed a risk to the public.

I am satisfied that the deceased Leo Norney was an innocent young man who happened to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time walking home from a night out and was shot dead by Lance Corporal MacKay, who planned to waste someone that very evening and expressed his thought to others in the patrol, he said.

He added that the shooting was unjustified and it had been covered up by members of the patrol.

Mr Norney, a Post Office worker, was shot after getting out of a taxi at Shepherds Path in the Turf Lodge area of West Belfast.

He died after being struck by three bullets.

His family applauded in Belfast Coroners Court as Mr McGurgan found Mr Norney had been entirely innocent.

Delivering his findings, Mr McGurgan said he felt evidence given to the inquest by an Army veteran, referred to as M2, who had been in Mr MacKays patrol, to be impressive.

M2 changed his evidence from the time, telling the inquest he had done so out of fear of Mr MacKay.

He has accepted that he has given previous false accounts and now feels that the Norney family deserves to know the truth, he said.

I am satisfied that his evidence to this inquest represents an accurate description of the events leading up to, during and after the shooting dead of the deceased Leo Norney.

Mr McGurgan said Mr MacKay was at best a strong personality and at worst a bully who was aggressive and unpredictable and who was able to intimidate his patrol as well as individuals above him.

There was a failure (by the MoD) to consider the risk of putting a soldier with a conviction background and on release from prison two months earlier in charge of patrolling a civilian area, he said.

Whilst the death of Leo Norney was not directly foreseeable, the risk posed to the public by MacKay was identifiable. There was insufficient supervision of MacKay.

Mr McGurgan went on to find that had Mr MacKay been supervised, Mr Norneys death could have been prevented.

The coroner said he previously made a referral in the case to Northern Irelands Public Prosecution Service, and said he will share the inquest findings with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

He went on to say he wanted to acknowledge the dignity shown by the Norney family throughout the inquest.

Counsel for the Norney family Fiona Doherty KC described the findings as devastating and thanked the coroner.

The original inquest into Mr Norneys death in 1976 returned an open verdict.

Mr Norneys family welcomed the coroners findings.

Speaking outside court, his niece Linda said: Leo was only a boy of 17. He had just got out of a taxi and was going to meet his girlfriend.

Leo was not armed. He did not pose a threat to anyone. He was shot in cold blood and his shooting is unjustified.

However the British Army did not just kill Leo. They also murdered his good name.

Later that night after the soldiers returned to their base, they concocted a false story which blackened Leos name for almost 50 years. They said that Leo was a gunman and that Leo had opened fire on them.

Today, that narrative has been exposed for the deceit and lies that it is, and Leos good reputation has been restored.
A mother who stabbed her eight-week-old baby son twice through his heart has been told she must serve at least 20 years in prison for the murder.

The 31-year-old was also given a concurrent sentence at Belfast Crown Court for the attempted murder of her two-year-old daughter.

The defendant, who cannot be named due to reporting restrictions, wept in the dock as the sentence was delivered by Judge Donna McColgan KC.

The mother stabbed her children in their Belfast home on the evening of Tuesday July 27 2021, and whilst her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter survived, her eight-week-old son died.

She had accepted she stabbed the children but denied the charges. She was convicted of murder and attempted murder in March.

The judge said she accepted the defendant had been in an abusive relationship and may have been suffering from moderate depression at the time.

But for the intervention of police who attended at the scene, the medical staff at the house and the hospital, we would currently be dealing with the deaths of two very young children

Addressing a sentencing hearing on Friday, Judge McColgan said: I have concluded that she is a dangerous offender within the terms of the legislation.

But for the intervention of police who attended at the scene, the medical staff at the house and the hospital, we would currently be dealing with the deaths of two very young children.

The judge asked that her remarks about the actions of police officers be passed on to PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne.

Setting out the background to the case, the judge said police had attended the defendants home after receiving a phone call from her partner.

She said they discovered a harrowing scene at the house.

The officers found the defendant sitting on the bed holding her screaming daughter by the head. The baby boy was on the bed in a lifeless state.

A police constable made repeated attempts to administer CPR to the baby.

The judge said the constable had given evidence during the trial that the mother had said to him: I wouldnt worry about him, hes dead. I stabbed him.

Judge McColgan said the woman had made allegations of abuse about her partner and he had been excluded from the home.

Police seized a diary written by the defendant from the kitchen.

The judge said one entry read: I choose to take our lives for everything you did to us. You got to the point of leaving your children for another woman.

A defence barrister told the court the case was a tragedy of immense proportions.

PSNI Detective Inspector Gina Quinn said it had been a totally distressing case.

She said: Police, who were called to a house in Belfast that evening, found the woman with her two injured children.

The baby boy, who was just eight weeks old, had sustained two stab wounds to his chest.

Paramedics transferred the little one to hospital but, tragically, he was pronounced dead later that evening.

The young girl had also been stabbed in the chest.

She was transferred to hospital and survived, thanks to emergency, life-saving surgery.

Both children had been stabbed by their mother  a parent who should, of course, have been loving, caring and protecting.

This has been a totally distressing case.

A tiny and innocent life was taken in senseless and tragic circumstances.

I would like to thank our partners in the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children who fought so hard to try and save the lives of both children.

The family have had their whole world turned upside down.

They have lost an opportunity to see one of the children grow up, while the surviving child has lost her brother.

There is nothing I can do or say that will undo this loss or begin to ease their pain.

My thoughts, and that of the investigation team, are with the surviving child, the family and the wider community who have all been affected.

In a statement, the childrens father said: Words cannot describe what my family and I have been through.

We never got to see my son grow up, but will never forget him.
S moke from a record number of wildfires in Canada has reached the UK, creating vivid sunrises and sunsets, the Met Office has said.

Satellite images from sunrise on Thursday picked up an area of smoke lying across the country, the Met Office said, but there is no health hazard for residents.

The smoke can be traced back to the wildfires in North America and over the last day or so have given us some vivid sunrises and sunsets.

The Met Office told the BBC the smoke is too far up in the atmosphere to present a health hazard.

The same vivid sunsets have been spotted in Ronda, Spain and an orange smoky haze is expected to wash over the Costa del Sol for the rest of this week.

It comes as 100 million Americans were warned that they would experience poor air quality as smoke drifted over the mid-west and east, causing some dangerous conditions.

The Canadian wildfires have shrouded much of the US and parts of Canada in smoky haze.

The National Weather Service in the US issued air quality alerts until midnight on Thursday - from Wisconsin and northern Illinois to Michigan, and also in New York and the East Coast.

People were told to take breaks indoors and consider using an N-95 mask while childrens summer camps, sporting and cultural events across the US were impacted.

Air quality is unhealthy in every corner of the state, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said. This is the new normal for New Yorkers.

On Thursday morning, smoke hung over Chicago for the third day in a row. The air quality was unhealthy in the third-largest city in the United States, according to IQAir.com which tracks pollution.

Chicago / Getty Images

New York landmarks including the Statue of Liberty were shrouded in a yellowy-brown haze earlier this month as smoke from the fires drifted south.

Canada Day fireworks planned for Saturday night in Montreal were cancelled amid air-quality concerns because of wildfires burning in northern Quebec.

Environment Canada has issued a smog warning for the Montreal and Laval areas due to fine particulate matter from forest fires.

There were 490 fires burning nationally on Thursday, with around half of them considered to be out of control.

Canada has already surpassed its record for area burned - with nearly every province affected by burning fire.

An area of 8 million hectares (19.8 million acres), bigger than West Virginia, has already been scorched.
E nergy giant Centrica has increased capacity at the UKs largest gas storage site to provide it with a bigger safety cushion for next winter.

The Rough storage site had been mothballed from 2017 but was partially reopened last year, when it was able to store around 30 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas.

On Friday, the parent firm of British Gas said it had increased storage at the site off the coast of East Yorkshire to 54 bcf.

The facility will now provide the equivalent volume of gas to heat 2.4 million homes over winter, the company said.

The energy firm said its long-term ambition is to turn the gas field into the largest long-duration, low-carbon energy storage facility in the world, capable of storing natural gas and hydrogen.

But any plans to expand the site  which Centrica estimates could become one of the worlds largest at 200 bcf  would need billions of pounds of investment.

To do that, Centrica has said it needs an agreement with Government which would make the investment worthwhile.

It has explored the idea of a cap-and-floor system, used by other energy companies, which limits its losses but also its profits should gas prices fluctuate.

But the business has so far been unable to reach an agreement with ministers. Without extra work it will be unable to store more than 54 bcf.

Centrica group chief executive Chris OShea said: The resilience of the UKs energy system needs to be substantially improved.

We are delighted to play our part by further expanding the UKs gas storage capacity.

Rough is not a silver bullet for energy security, but it plays a critical role in increasing capacity and supply confidence over the winter months.

Rough can help our energy system by storing natural gas when there is a surplus and producing this gas when the country needs it during cold snaps and peak demand.

It comes as energy prices for households are set to drop for households from Saturday due to a decrease in Ofgems energy price cap following a fall in wholesale gas prices.
T he average household energy bill will fall by 426 a year from July 1 after Ofgem lowers its energy price cap this weekend, following tumbling wholesale prices.

However, the price cap will remain almost double the levels seen before the invasion of Ukraine sparked the energy crisis  which the boss of Centrica is wary of.

British Gass parent company has warned that energy bills are set to remain high for the foreseeable future even though the worst of the crisis has passed.

Centrica chief executive Chris OShea said on Friday (June 30) that there is a danger to get complacent even though households are set to pay less for gas and electricity from Saturday.

Prices are back down to pre-invasion levels but they are 2.5 times the long-run average, and thats really driven by supply and demand, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

I think there is a danger that we get complacent because last winter was OK and because prices are stable now.

Between July and September, the annual average energy-price cap dropped to 2,074, easing some of the financial strain brought on by the unprecedented high rise in gas and electricity prices.

The new cap amount contrasts to the 3,280 level established by Ofgem for March through June, which ended up resulting in a reduction of 1,206 in the cap as of July and a reduction of 426 in average annual costs.

With the announcement of the price cap, the Governments Energy Price Guarantee (EPG), which set the average annual energy cost at 2,500, will also come to an end in July.

The EPG rather than the Ofgem price cap currently applies to the UK.

Heres everything you need to know about who sets the energy-price cap and how it works.

What is the energy-price cap and what is Ofgem?

Ofgem, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, is the independent regulator of the British energy market and is intended to protect customers. A key part of its role is to set a limit  a price cap  on what energy firms charge customers on default or standard and variable tariffs.

The price cap was launched in January 2019 by the regulator and, although it was originally a temporary measure, it has remained in place because of the problems in the industry.

The cap applies if youre on a default energy tariff, whether youre paying via direct debit, standard credit, or a prepayment meter  it doesnt apply to a fixed-term tariff.

Previously, variable tariffs had been more expensive than fixed-rate deals. People are often on these tariffs because they fail to switch suppliers when a fixed term has ended or their supplier has been forced to close.

But, at present, fixed-term tariffs are more expensive than the cap, meaning the majority of people are affected.

Ofgem said: The global rises were seeing in gas prices mean this is a very challenging time. Right now, this may mean you find few better-value tariffs than being on a suppliers default rate covered by the Governments energy-price cap, if you are already on one.

How is this different from the energy-price guarantee?

After prices soared following Russias invasion of Ukraine, the Government had announced a lower energy price guarantee would temporarily replace the cap.

The EPG (different from Ofgems cap) sets a maximum price per unit for gas and electricity and pays any costs associated with a bill that is more than that amount. Long-term support for homes has been demanded by charities including Citizens Advice and National Energy Action.

The EPG, which set the typical yearly energy bill at 2,500, will end in July.

How much will you pay?

The average energy bill for individuals paying by direct debit will decrease by 426 starting in July when the Ofgem price cap is reinstated; however, this will depend on your consumption.

How does the energy-price cap work?

The energy-price cap works by stipulating a limit on the maximum amount that can be charged for a unit of gas or electricity, based on an estimate of the average household user.

From July, unit rates will be capped at 30p per kWh (standing charge 53p per day) for electricity and 8p per kWh (standing charge 29p per day) for gas. This is for a typical household, although the total depends on your usage.

This means that it is not the maximum possible cost to a household as, if you burn a higher number of units, your energy bills will exceed the cap while, if you use less, youll pay less.

Ofgems price cap is currently 2,054 per year for the average household.

A maximum daily standing charge, which is the cost of getting the power to your home, is also included. The cap is determined by the costs faced by energy suppliers.

The cap is made up of network, operating, and policy costs, as well as VAT and earnings. The amount is set differently depending on if you pay by a monthly or quarterly direct debit, on the receipt of a bill or prepay for your energy.
N igel Farage has suggested he may be forced to leave the UK after his bank accounts were closed.

The former UKIP leader said the unnamed bank, which he has been with since 1980, told him it was a commercial decision.

Mr Farage tweeted this amounted to serious political persecution, suggesting the decision was made due to his involvement in the 2016 European Union vote.

He said he has since been to seven other banks to ask for a personal and business account, but that he has not been granted one.

He said in a video: I emailed the chairman, a lackey phoned to say it was a commercial decision, which I dont believe for a moment.

Ive been to seven banks, asked them all could I have a personal and a business account?, and the answer has been no in every single case.

There is nothing irregular or unusual about what I do.

Im beginning to think perhaps life in the United Kingdom is now becoming completely unlivable because of the prejudice against me.

Mr Farage - a prominent pro-Leave campaigner - said he thinks that he has been designated as a politically exposed person (PEP), a banking requirement that came into force when the UK was part of the EU.

A [PEP] could range from anybody from a PM to a local councillor. I think the reason for it was where people in politics are open to bribery.

Could foreign governments from Ukraine or China or wherever else it may be, could they be pumping money into the accounts of corrupt politicians?

So I kind of understand that and get that, but its all about interpretation, isnt it?

And what the banks argue is that to maintain an account for the exposed person gives them increased costs of compliance.

According to the Financial Conducts Authority (FCA) guidance, the designation is necessary for firms to meet their financial crime obligations.

Mr Farage suggested the issue may have stemmed from privileged comments Sir Chris Bryant made in the House of Commons alleging he had received large sums of money directly from the Russian government, a claim the staunch Brexiteer denies.
L ord Zac Goldsmith has handed in his resignation following the recent Partygate probe.

The minister was among 10 Conservative MPs that the Privileges Committee said was trying to interfere with their inquiry into Partygate, which investigates the parties and gatherings that took place in 10 Downing Street during strict Covid-19 lockdowns despite national regulations.

Both Liberal Democrats and Labour members had been calling for his resignation in relation to the Partygate scandal, but Rishi Sunaks spokesman had said the prime minister had full confidence in Lord Goldsmith.

However, to the surprise of many, the reason he shared for his resignation was completely irrelevant to the probe and being accused of undermining the investigation.

He said he was resigning in reaction to the Governments apathy towards climate change, and that as the Minister for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environment, he could no longer work under this circumstance.

He claimed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was uninterested in the environment and he was horrified by the Government abandoning its environmental commitments.

However, the Prime Minister said that Lord Goldsmith had been asked to apologise over his comments about the Privileges Committee report that found Mr Johnson lied to MPs with his partygate denials because they were incompatible with his position as a minister.

Here is everything we know about Zac Goldsmith.

Who is Zac Goldsmith?

Lord Zac Goldsmith, who is the Baron of Richmond Park, is a British politician, life peer, and journalist.

The 48-year-old Chelsea native was born as the middle child of Sir James Goldsmith, the French-British financier, tycoon, and politician, and Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Steward, the daughter of the 8th Marquess of Londonderry.

He grew up in awe of David Attenborough and nature.

He studied at Kings House School in Richmond, The Mall School in Twickenham, Hawtreys School in Wilshire, and Eton College in Berkshire, before completing his A-Levels at the Cambridge Centre for Sixth-Form Studies.

He then travelled the world with the International Honours programme, stopping by Thailand, New Zealand, Mexico, and more.

Lord Goldsmiths career started in California, where he worked for the think tank Redefining Progress. He then joined the International Society for Ecology and Culture as a researcher for a couple of years.

In 1997, Lord Goldsmith was appointed as The Ecologists reviews editor by his uncle Edward Goldsmith, who founded and published the magazine. He worked at the magazine for many years, relaunching it in 2000 to be less academic, before stepping down in 2006.

Life and political career

Lord Goldsmiths political career began in 2005 when he first joined the Conservative Party. That year, David Cameron approved him becoming the deputy chairman of the Quality of Life Policy Group, under the former environment secretary John Gummer. The group studied climate change, carbon emissions, clean air, and more.

His work led him to be placed on the Conservative A-List of those whom Cameron wanted to be involved in the 2010 general election.

This election saw him beat the LibDem MP Susan Kramer and become the representative of Richmond Park.

After resigning from his seat in December 2016, in reaction to the Tories backing the expansion of Heathrow Airport, he was reelected in 2017.

Under Boris Johnson, 2019 saw him get appointed as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at both the Department for International Development, and the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs.

After Amber Rudds resignation, he became the Minister of State and gained a seat in the Cabinet. His promotion also saw him join the Privy Council, giving him the title The Right Honourable for the rest of his life.

In 2019, the snap general election saw him lose the Richmond Park seat, after which the politician announced that he would continue to serve as a minister in the Government by being awarded a life peerage and sitting in the House of Lords.

In September 2022, Liz Truss appointed him as the Minister of State for Asia, Energy, Climate, and Environment. Then, Sunak added Overseas Territories and the Commonwealth to his list of responsibilities.

Goldsmith was married to the British environmentalist and journalist Sheherazade Ventura-Bentley for a decade. Together, they have three children named Uma Romaine, Thyra, and James.

The politician then married banking heiress Alice Rothschild in 2013, at the London Wetland Centre. They welcomed a daughter named Dolly in 2013, a son named Max in 2016, and a daughter named Edie in 2017.
G ood news for Brits hoping to live and work in Australia or New Zealand.

Sixteen million more Britons will be eligible to apply for a working holiday visa in either country from July 1 as the age limit increases from 30 to 35.

The visas current two-year limit will be increased to three years in New Zealand from Saturday, and in Australia from July 1 next year.

Australia has long attracted young British workers because of the relatively high minimum wage, 2,800 hours of sunshine every year, as well as boasting the lowest unemployment rates in almost 50 years.

The three years spent by visa-holders in Australia will not need to be consecutive, and the old requirement to carry out months of agricultural work has been ditched.

It is the first change to the visa since it was introduced in 1975, under the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement (UKFTA).

How does the Australia and New Zealand visa scheme work?

In Australia and New Zealand, work visas will now be offered to people aged 18-35  a five-year increase on the original limit of 30.

British working holiday-makers also used to have to complete 88 days of agricultural work if they wanted to stay in Australia, for every additional year they would like to stay on.

These rules are now being eased, allowing visitors to work more freely across industries.

Brits are allowed to stay for three years, but they dont have to be consecutive and can be taken at any time up until the age of 35.

Officials at the Department for Business and Trade said that the new rules agreed with Australia would also mean that, for the first time, UK service suppliers  including architects, scientists, researchers, lawyers, and accountants  will have access to visas to work in Australia without being subject to Canberras changing skilled occupation list.

UK professionals such as lawyers and auditors will also be able to work in New Zealand more easily, and bring their families with them, according to the department.

What are the working rules in other countries?

A work visa is a permit that gives you the right to work and live in a country other than your country of residence. Different countries have different qualifying requirements to obtain a work visa.

For more information, check with the UK-based embassy of the country you want to work in to see what you need to do.

European Union

Youll need a work permit to work in most EU countries if youre a UK citizen.

In most cases, youll need a job offer from your chosen country so that you can get a visa to move there.

United States

You are only allowed to work in the US if you hold one of the following:

Employment-based immigrant visa

Temporary employment visa

Green Card (permanent resident card)

Work permit (employment authorisation document)

Digital nomad visas

Many countries around the world offer digital nomad visas for remote workers.

These digital visas allow individuals to legally live and work in another country while residing away from their country of permanent residence.

The following countries currently offer digital nomad visas:
C ontroversial former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been banned from running for office for eight years after a panel of judges found he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the countrys electronic voting system.

The right wing politician was found guilty of abusing his power ahead of last years presidential election, in which he lost to now President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Five judges from Brazils Supreme Electoral Court agreed that Mr Bolsonaro abused his authority by using government communication channels to promote his campaign and sowing doubts about the vote. Two judges voted against.

This decision will end Bolsonaros chances of being president again, and he knows it, said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo. After this, he will try to stay out of jail, elect some of his allies to keep his political capital, but it is very unlikely he will ever return to the presidency.

He has been accused of undermining Brazilian democracy by falsely claiming that the electronic ballots used were vulnerable to hacking and fraud.

Mr Bolsonaros lawyers are expected to appeal against the verdict, that removes him from the 2024 and 2028 municipal elections as well as the 2026 general elections.

They have argued that his statements had no bearing on the election result.
T he leader of the Titan sub rescue effort fought back tears as he described the heartbreaking moment that his team discovered suspected human remains.

Edward Cassano, chief executive of Pelagic Research Services said his crew were laser-focused on rescue when they became part of a massive search operation earlier this month in the mid-Atlantic after a tourist submarine went missing during a dive to the wreck of the Titanic.

British adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were killed on board when the deep-sea vessel imploded, alongside OceanGate Expeditions chief executive Stockton Rush and French national Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

The submersible lost contact with tour operator OceanGate Expeditions an hour and 45 minutes into the two-hour descent to the wreckage, with the vessel reported missing eight hours after communication was lost.

Speaking to reporters in New York, Mr Cassano had said his team had been hoping they were on a rescue mission.

We were focused on the job at hand  thats what we do and that is what all of these people do. We were laser-focused on rescue.

Officials said OceanGate Expeditions submersible suffered a catastrophic implosion after a piece of the vessel was discovered near the bow of the Titanic. The wreckage was then recovered from the ocean floor.

The Odysseus 6K, a remote-operated vehicle from Pelagic Research Services, made the discovery and helped in the recovery effort.

Mr Cassano said his team had been among a fleet of ships when they arrived at site, and they soon became the primary identified asset to affect rescue.

He said: Our plan of rescue was to, immediately upon finding Titan, latch on to her as quickly as possible and begin recovery.

There were protocols in the event of viability and non-viability. It was wild.

We were moving assets under the integration and coordination of incident command and the team on Deep Energy  but because we were primary, they were asking us to make the decisions about how the various assets would move.

When we did discover the wreck of the Titan, different sets of protocols went through.

Pieces from the sub were unloaded in St Johns, Canada, on Wednesday.
This photo shows the UN Security Council voting on a resolution on Mali at the UN headquarters in New York on June 30, 2023. The United Nations Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to end the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) as of June 30. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to end the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) as of June 30.

It also requested the mission to immediately start on July 1 the cessation of its operations, transfer of its tasks, as well as the orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal of its personnel, with the objective of completing this process by Dec. 31, 2023.

Resolution 2690 was adopted unanimously by the 15-member council.

It asked the UN secretary-general to engage with the Malian government to articulate a plan for the transfer of MINUSMA's tasks, and present it to the Security Council by Aug. 15.

The resolution also called on the Malian government to cooperate fully with the United Nations during MINUSMA's drawdown, withdrawal and liquidation to ensure the orderly and safe withdrawal of the mission.

Until Sept. 30, "acting within its means and capabilities in its immediate vicinity," MINUSMA is authorized to respond to imminent threats of violence to civilians and contribute to the safe civilian-led delivery of humanitarian assistance, it said.

The resolution decided that until its final departure, MINUSMA is authorized to fulfil functions including to provide security for UN personnel, facilities, convoys, installations and equipment and associated personnel, and to execute operations in order to extract UN personnel and humanitarian workers in danger.

MINUSMA was established by Security Council resolution 2100 in April 2013 to support political processes in Mali and carry out a number of security-related tasks.

By adopting resolution 2164 in June 2014, the Security Council further decided that the mission should focus on duties such as ensuring security, stabilization and protection of civilians.

A key principle of the UN peacekeeping is that operations are deployed with the consent of the host country and other main parties to the conflict.

Speaking at a Security Council briefing on June 16, Malian foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop asked for the withdrawal, without delay, of MINUSMA.

While paying tribute to all the peacekeepers, he noted that the reasons leading to the mission's establishment in 2013 were to stabilize threats in the north of Mali.

Diop said security had worsened in other areas, such as the country's center, adding that the mission has not achieved its main work.

The mission has become a part of the problem and is creating distrust among civilians, he said.

In the resolution on terminating MINUSMA's mandate, Security Council members commended the efforts made since 2013 by the mission, paying tribute to MINUSMA personnel who gave their lives, and expressing deep appreciation for the contribution and dedication of the troop and police contributing countries to the work of the mission.

In an explanation of vote, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, said historical experience has proven that peacekeeping operations must follow the basic principles developed in practice of a long period of time, in particular the principle of consent of the countries concerned.

"Missions should maintain communication with the governments of the countries concerned and keep a relationship of mutual trust and cooperation, which is a prerequisite for smooth peacekeeping operations," he said.

China expects the international community to pay attention to the practical difficulties and needs faced by Mali and other countries in the region, and continue to provide assistance and support on the basis of respect for the sovereignty and leadership of the countries concerned, said Zhang.

Since 2013 when China began its involvement in the UN peacekeeping operations in Mali, Chinese peacekeepers have faithfully fulfilled the peacekeeping mission despite all difficulties and dangers, and contributed Chinese efforts to the maintenance of peace and stability in the country, he noted.

"China will continue to support Mali in safeguarding its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security, and make more contributions to its peaceful development via multilateral and bilateral channels," the envoy said. 
A Florida police officer has been cleared of failing to protect students during the 2018 Parkland massacre, the deadliest high school shooting in US history.

Former Broward County Deputy Scot Peterson wept as the verdicts were read in the first trial ever brought in the US of a police officer for conduct during an on-campus shooting.

Seventeen students and staff were murdered and others left injured when a former student opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February 2018.

Mr Peterson had insisted that he would have confronted the shooter Nikolas Cruz, but he didnt know where the shots were coming from because of echoes.

Speaking as he left the courtroom flanked by his wife, he said: I got my life back. Weve got our life back. Its been an emotional roller coaster for so long.

Only one person was to blame and it was that monster (Cruz).

It wasnt any of the law enforcement who was on that scene. ... Everybody did the best they could with the information we had.

A memorial at the site of the 2018 Florida school shooting / AP

The former officer said nobody would forget the victims and that he hoped to one day sit down with Parkland parents - some of whom have accused him of cowardice.

Two fathers who watched the verdict, Tony Montalto and Tom Hoyer, said they believed Mr Peterson knew Cruzs location, but put his safety ahead of the students and staffs.

Mr Montaltos 14-year-old daughter Gina was killed in the shooting, while Mr Hoyers 15-year-old son Luke was also murdered.

Mr Peterson was not charged in connection with their deaths because they happened before he reached the building.

Asked about the possibility of meeting with the former officer, Mr Montalto said: No. No. Bring me my daughter back  Why do we need to talk to this failure? He didnt do the right thing. He ran away.

Mr Peterson had been charged with failing to confront the shooter during his six-minute attack inside the three-story 1200 classroom building.

His charges were in connection to the six killed and four wounded on the third floor, who were shot more than a minute after he approached the building.

Prosecutors called students and teachers to give evidence as well as a training supervisor who testified Mr Peterson did not follow protocols for confronting an active shooter.

But the defence called several other officers who arrived during the shooting who testified they did not think the shots were coming from the building.

The 24-year-old shooter, who was 19 at the time of the murders, was sentenced to life in prison without parole last year.
A t least two people are dead after a gunman opened fire at the main airport of Moldova's capital Chisinau, the countrys interior ministry said.

The shooter, said to be a foreign national, fatally shot two people after being denied entry into the country.

As the perpetrator was being escorted by officials at Chisinau International Airport, the individual took the gun of a border guard and fatally wounded the two people, authorities said.

At this moment the danger has been eliminated. The aggressor was wounded and is being treated, police said on Facebook.

Flights were delayed, but police said they would resume. All passengers were evacuated from the airport.

A police source told Reuters that the shooter had flown in from Turkey and used a firearm against border guards.

Moldova, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has a population of 2.6 million and is pushing to join the European Union. It lies between Romania and Ukraine.

The country has been heavily exposed to fighting in Ukraine, with tensions simmering in the pro-Russian breakaway region of Transnistria.

President Sandu offeried condolences to the families of those killed, calling it a sad day for all of us.
T wo women have died after a Russian missile struck a village school in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region on Friday, Ukrainian police have said.

A 56-year-old primary school teacher and a chief accountant, 44, died in the strike on a school in the village of Serhiivka.

Ukraines national police said that a further six people were injured in the attack, which investigators believe was caused by an Iskander missile.

Twelve employees were the building's only occupants, the prosecutor's office said. Ukrainian schools were not in session for students on Friday.

Russian troops, in a direct hit, destroyed a school where civilians were located, Ukraine's national police said in a statement.

Four men, aged 54 to 69, and two women aged 24 and 34 were injured and taken to hospital, according to the Donetsk region prosecutors office.

A video shared by police showed a motionless, bloodied person being lifted into an ambulance, and a woman being extracted from extensive ruins.

Groups of men, including civilians and emergency workers, were continuing to comb the ruins for survivors on Friday.

It came hours after Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered top military commanders to strengthen Ukraine's northern military sector following the arrival of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus.

Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner forces, flew from Russia into exile in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal negotiated by President Alexander Lukashenko that ended his mutiny in Russia on Saturday.

Reports have suggested that Wagner could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 90 km from the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

Separately, Ukraines Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar on Friday said that Ukrainian troops were continuing to advance in all directions of their counteroffensive.

If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions, she told Ukrainian television.

Ms Maliar said Ukrainian troops were moving confidently on the flanks around the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, which is held by Russian forces, and the main fighting was going on around the city.

In the south, Kyiv's forces were moving with mixed success and mainly levelling the frontline, she said.

We are moving with varying success, sometimes there are days when it is more than a kilometre, sometimes less than a kilometre, sometimes up to 2 kilometres, she said.
U krainian prosecutors have charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans.

They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine, which believes more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory, officials told news agency Reuters.

The charges relate to the alleged deportation of 48 children from the formerly occupied southern city of Kherson - some as young as one - whose current whereabouts are not known.

It follows a wider investigation carried out in cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of which visited the Kherson Childrens Home.

Prosecution documents seen by news agency Reuters allege 48 orphans were taken from the Kherson Regional Childrens Home in September and October and re-located to Moscow and Russian-occupied Crimea.

If proven, this is a violation of the laws and customs of war under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and punishable by up 12 years in prison under Ukrainian law, the document said.

The current whereabouts of the orphans, ranging from one to four years old, is uncertain, prosecutors said.

It was not a one-day event. 48 children who were in the Kherson Region Childrens Home were forcibly displaced, deported, said Yuliia Usenko, head of the department for the protection of childrens interests in Ukraines Prosecutor Generals office.

We dont know how these children are, in what conditions they are kept, or what their fate is.

They may have been illegally adopted by Russian citizens, or taken to Russian institutions, she said.

The public documents redact the names of the suspects, who are believed by prosecutors to be either in occupied Crimea, or Russia. Unlike at the ICC, trials in Ukraine can be held in absentia.

The bulk of the orphans were allegedly taken on October 21, 2022, under the supervision of the lead, Russian suspect. They were loaded onto white Russian Ministry of Health vehicles and taken to Russian-occupied Crimea, the charges said.

Ukrainian prosecutors shared a video allegedly showing one of the suspects helping to load the children onto a bus marked with the pro-Russian symbol Z.

On Friday, the charges were filed in Ukraine, a pre-trial stage when prosecutors determine there is sufficient evidence to suspect a person of committing a criminal offence.

The ICC, the worlds permanent war crimes tribunal, issued an arrest warrant in March against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russias Commissioner for Childrens Rights, accusing them of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from orphanages and childrens homes in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

The Kremlin on Wednesday again dismissed allegations that Russia had violated childrens rights in Ukraine and said that, on the contrary, its armed forces were rescuing children from conflict zones.

Ms Usenko said Fridays move against the first three suspects was just the beginning. We want to hold accountable all the war criminals, all the people that committed horrible international crimes against our Ukrainian children, she said.
T he home of a Paris suburb mayor was ram-raided and set alight as his wife and children slept, in a continuation of the violent protests which have been spreading across France.

Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor of the southern suburb of LHay-les-Roses, said his wife and one of their two children, aged five and seven, were injured as they fled their home in the early hours of Sunday morning, during the fifth night of violence.

French prime minister Elisabeth Borne condemned the attack and gave her full support to the mayor and his family.

Meanwhile, the grandmother of the teenager, Nahel Merzouk, in France, who was shot by police, has urged rioters to stop and not use his death as an excuse for violence.

Following the latest night of violence, Frances Interior Ministry announced there were 719 arrests around the country on Saturday night, where a total of 45,000 police spread out across the country in a so-far unsuccessful bid to quell violence.

Several schools, police stations, town halls, and stores have also been targeted by fires or vandalism in recent days.

Footage online showed police in Marseille firing tear gas at protesters in a bid to disperse crowds and quell the growing unrest, but interior minister Gerald Darmanin said the level of violence appeared to have declined.

The police officer who pulled the trigger has now apologised but violence on the streets of the capital and other French cities is continuing after the death of the boy.

Social tension has been stirred by the incident, which is now being investigated by police, with protests looking set to continue.

What happened to spark Paris riots?

Last Tuesday, a 17-year-old male was shot dead during a traffic stop in Nanterre.

He was later named as Nahel Merzouk, and allegedly ran a red light to avoid being stopped and then got stuck in traffic.

The Nanterre prosecutor, Pascal Prache, said officers tried to stop Nahel because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish licence plates in a bus lane.

Both officers involved said they drew their guns to prevent him from fleeing.

One of the two officers did what he thought was necessary in the moment, lawyer Laurent-Franck Lienard told news outlet BFMTV.

The officer who made the fateful shot was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after Mr Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.

Mr Lienard said the officer was sorry and devastated.

The incident was filmed by an onlooking woman.

Burned-out buses at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal in Aubervilliers, north of Paris / Bertrand Guay / AFP via Getty Images

Where are the Parisian protests and what is the background?

Nanterre is a working-class town on the western outskirts of Paris and has become the epicentre of the protests. The rioting has spread to other parts of the city and other regions in France as part of a national outcry.

Online journalist Juliette Fevre, who grew up close to Nanterre, said racial tension has been brewing in neighbourhoods following the death of Adama Traore in police custody in 2016, as well as the 2005 deaths of Zyed Benna and Bouna Traore, which also led to riots.

She said there is a feeling that Black French residents and those of North African heritage can feel police take pleasure in chasing and arresting them for almost nothing.

Nahel had troubles with the police for refusing to co-operate but people are angry because the policeman wasnt threatened [by him], she said. By all means, Nahel didnt deserve to die.

Firefighters attend the scene after protests / Alain Jocard / AFP via Getty Images

What do French protesters want?

Ms Fevre said, Protesters wanted justice for Nahel at first. Now, its turning into something bigger. Nahel was a first spark, a trigger.

People are lacking good housing, good public service, good education and opportunities.

France has seen recent unrest in response to attempted reforms by Emmanuel Macron which has been seen to increase social gaps.

The protests have been spreading, Ms Fevre said, thanks to social media and in particular Snapchat. She said the app has allowed those protesters, mainly from working-class backgrounds and living in the suburbs, to tell their own story.

She added: Theyre burning cars and stores, they destroyed the Louis Vuitton shop on the Champs Elysees, and entered McDonalds, Nike stores, Action stores... Basically, people are angry that its more difficult for them to win. And they come from everywhere in France, mainly working-class areas with strong social issues because of poverty.

President Emmanuel Macron visits Parisian districts / Guillaume Horcajuelo / Pool via Reuters

What has Macron said about the Paris riots?

French president Emmanuel Macron held an emergency security meeting on Thursday about the violence, and is set to hold another today (Friday).

These acts are totally unjustifiable, Mr Macron said at the beginning of the meeting, which aimed at securing hot spots and planning for the coming days so full peace can return.

Is it still safe to go to Paris?

The UK foreign office has not issued a travel warning for France.

Since June 27, protests have taken place in Paris and other locations across France. Some have turned violent, a statement of advice reads.

The protests may lead to disruptions to road travel or targeting of parked cars in areas where protests take place.

You should monitor the media, avoid protests, check the latest advice with operators when travelling, and follow the advice of the authorities.

Around 17 million British visits are made to France every year and the vast majority of visits are free of trouble.

The Foreign Office has advised the public to take out travel insurance and check the policy or wording of the documents.

Visitors to Toulouse and Lille, where there have also been riots, have also been advised to be cautious.
O ne of the worlds oldest newspapers has ended its daily print run after more than three centuries.

The Vienna-based Wiener Zeitung distributed its last edition on Friday after 320 years in print.

First published under the name Wiennerisches Diarium, the paper set out to provide a sober account of the news without any oratory or poetic gloss when it was launched on August 8, 1703.

320 years, 12 presidents, 10 emperors, 2 republics, 1 newspaper, the print edition's final front page read.

The Wiener Zeitung, which is owned by the Austrian government but editorially independent, suffered a sharp decrease in revenue after a recent law dropped a requirement for companies to pay to publish changes to the commercial registry in the print edition.

The newspaper was forced to cut 63 jobs and reduce its editorial staff by almost two-thirds to 20.

It will continue to operate online and plans a monthly print edition.

The final print edition carried an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of Austrias most famous exports.

Wiener Zeitung has been used by the Austrian Government for legally-required announcements, such as company registrations, laws and executive orders.

In April, it had a circulation of around 20,000 on weekdays and twice as much on weekends.

EU Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova told Austrian news agency APA that she was not happy with the situation at the newspaper.

I think the Wiener Zeitung played a good role in informing people over the years.

The title of the worlds oldest daily newspaper now belongs to the Hildesheim, in Germany. The first edition was published on June 24, 1705.
F ears rose on Friday of the risk of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine as intelligence chiefs said Russia was gradually reducing the number of personnel running it.

Kyiv accused Russia this month of planning a terrorist attack at the nuclear plant involving the release of radiation. Moscow denied the accusation.

According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraines Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) said on the Telegram messaging app.

Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other in the past of shelling the vast complex at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, Europes largest.

GUR said that among the first to leave the nuclear power station were three employees of Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom who had been in charge of the Russians activities.

It said Ukrainian employees who have signed a contract with Rosatom had also been advised to depart.

Employees were being told that they should leave by July 5, it said, and preferably head for the Crimea peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

GUR said the number of military patrols was also gradually decreasing on the plants vast territory and in the nearby city of Enerhodar, and personnel remaining at the plant had been told to blame Ukraine in case of any emergency situations.

Ukraine conducted nuclear disaster response drills on Thursday in the vicinity of the plant.

Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, suffered the worlds worst nuclear accident in 1986 at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant.

Meanwhile, Ukraines military chiefs claimed on Friday to have seized the strategic initiative in battles around the eastern town of Bakhmut.

They said they had recaptured around a mile of territory towards Klishchiivka (four miles southwest of Bakhmut) and to have advanced a similar stretch in the direction of Kurdyumivka (eight miles southwest of the town in the eastern Donetsk province.

The governor of the southern Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said two people were killed in the city of Kherson in a Russian strike that hit residences, a medical facility and a school where residents were lined up to receive humanitarian aid.

Russias military top brass were seeking to regroup after being rocked by the failed Wagner Group revolt last weekend.

The withdrawal of Wagner troops from Ukraine, despite them having delivered Putins limited but most high-profile success in seizing Bakhmut, was not expected to make a significant difference on the frontline.

Meanwhile, Ukraines Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his country would receive $1.5 billion (1.2 billion) from the World Bank to support reconstruction and recovery.

The funds will be provided with guarantees from the Japanese government and channelled to support social security and economic development.
T he Shoreditch barbecue joint Smokestak will celebrate its tenth anniversary in August with a festival of fire-cooked meat and music.

Founder David Carter and team will, on Saturday August 19, take over the car park opposite the Shoreditch restaurant to host DJs, guest chefs, and an al fresco party afternoon to night.

The restaurant, which started as a street food concept in 2013, will serve classics from the early days, including bricket buns, pork rib burnt ends, grilled greens, and soft serve ice cream.

Guest chefs will be cooking on-off dishes, with Joshua Moroney of the British-Afghan restaurant Cue Point serving pork rib sandwiches with herb slaw and hot crackling.

Elliot Cunningham, of Lagom and Eld Pizza, will be cooking birch-smoked chicken with white barbecue sauce, and Ben Dargue, the creator of Smokestaks first cocktail list, will be on the drinks, with a special nod to frozen margaritas.

The summer street party will run from midday late into the evening / Scott Grummett

The team said a double-stacked, 40ft shipping container is being put in to operate as a bar, four wood-burning stoves are being imported from all corners of the UK for the cooking, and the car park will be covered in festoon lighting.

The last decade has been surreal, from our early days at Street Feast in Dalston Yard to opening our Shoreditch restaurant in 2016, said Carter.

When Smokestak was conceived, reaching our tenth birthday was an unfathomable milestone. While there are too many good people to thank, this mini-festival is a special toast to all those past and present who have helped build Smokestak to what it is today.

It will be a proper celebration to remember, taking us back to all the madness and excitement of our street food days while looking ahead to what the next ten years have in store for us. Dare to dream.

The party will start at midday and tickets, for two-hour sessions, will start at 6.50.

35 Sclater St, E1 6LB, smokestak.co.uk
I ts been a few years, but Im still not tired of the gasps of awe when I open my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold to its full wingspan.

Friends and strangers alike look at me like Im a techie Paul Daniels when I mutter, Hang on a sec, and open the device like a book - Ah, thats better - to get a widescreen view at the map/ photo/ video thats on the now tablet-like screen. After the sharp intake of breath, sometimes so quick my hair ruffles, the crowd gathers to see its many other magic tricks.

Designed in the global hiatus that was lockdown, Samsungs Fold is the futuristic adaptation of the 90s iconic clamshell handset, which it also offers in a Flip Z model. You know, the one famously clamped in Cher from Clueless manicured hands. But unlike that relic, it doesnt sacrifice screen space for a keypad. Quite the opposite, in fact: it doubles it.

Since then, various tech contenders have thrown their hat into the foldable phone ring: think Huaweis Mate Xs 2 (original RRP 1799), and the lesser known Planet Astro Slide 5G (819). But there hasnt been any real competition - until now, that is.

Tech giant Google has just launched its first ever folding phone. Its a true contender to Samsungs Fold - and is also confusingly called, erm, the Fold - with many of the same features, capabilities and clever tricks packed under the hood.

Ive always been an Android user and the only real time Ive strayed from Samsung was when the first of Googles Pixels launched. While Ive enjoyed the best of both, the Galaxy Z Fold4 has blown everything that came before it out of the water. Could the Pixel Fold persuade me back into Googles embrace? Lets find out.

Google Pixel Fold key specs

Display: front screen - 5.8 inches, main screen - 7.6 inches

front screen - 5.8 inches, main screen - 7.6 inches Depth (closed): 0.5 inches

0.5 inches Construction: Mirror polished, multi-alloy steel construction

Mirror polished, multi-alloy steel construction Front camera: 9.5MP

9.5MP Inner camera: 8MP

8MP Camera features: rear camera selfie

rear camera selfie Video: 4K video recording at 30 FPD, 60 FPS

4K video recording at 30 FPD, 60 FPS Buttons and ports: USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2, power button

USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2, power button Weight: 283g

283g Battery and charging: Beyond 24-hour battery life

Beyond 24-hour battery life Memory and storage: 12 LPDDR5 GB RAM

12 LPDDR5 GB RAM Processor: Google Tensor G2

Google Tensor G2 Security: VPN by Google One at no extra cost, fingerprint lock

VPN by Google One at no extra cost, fingerprint lock Updates : five years of Pixel updates

: five years of Pixel updates Colours: porcelain and obsidian

porcelain and obsidian Warranty: 2 years

Price - is it worth it?

Google

The Pixel Fold differs from the rest of the Google Pixel stable in that this isnt an affordable phone by any measure.

The older Pixels are on the cheaper end of the smartphone spectrum, coming in largely at sub-500 which means most folks are able to buy one outright and save themselves a bomb on expensive contract fees when paired with a cheap SIM-only deal .

The Pixel Fold, meanwhile, will set you back the best part of two grand (1749), more or less in line with Samsungs Galaxy Z Fold4 (1649). Unless money is no object or you have some very generous friends, getting one in your hands means signing up to a lengthy contract.

The other thing to note is that Samsung should be gearing up to launch its fifth revolution of the device in autumn 2023, the Samsung Galaxy Fold5, which means its predecessors will automatically drop in price, perhaps even tumbling under the 1000 mark - or at least closer to it. And thats not even taking into account refurbished models , which are always cheaper than new.

If youre in the market for one of these phone-come-tablets, whats there to persuade shoppers to go for a pricier Pixel versus a slightly older Samsung Fold?

The design

The Pixel Fold opens just like Samsungs Fold, in a book-like fashion. When opened flat, the Pixel unfurls to a 7.6 inches, matching Samsung on main screen size.

However it is stouter closed: 5.8 inches compared to 6.2 inches over at Samsung, with the upshot being that content looks less squished on the Pixel Folds closed front screen compared to Samsung.

Google

It also means that the Pixel appears wider when fully opened while Samsung has a squarish shape, but they are the same size if you turn the Samsung on its side.

Both feature a central hinge and have protective screen covers to keep things like dust, sand and grit out. Samsung uses a shield of Gorilla Glass Victus, which is also waterproof to an IPX8 rating. The Pixel also boasts Gorilla Glass and IPX8 rating, but grumblings have surfaced of a small gap between the OLED screen and the surrounding bezel, which means particles can become trapped and affect the display, which Google is promising to fix.

On the plus side, the Pixel is thinner, and the closed screen looks more like a regular handset as opposed to Samsungs which feels an extra battery pack has been clamped to the back of a noticeably narrower phone. Weight-wise, the Pixel is 283g versus Samsungs 263g: a marginal difference.

As for handset colour options, the Pixel Fold comes in just two shades, while Samsung has four options to choose from.

The cameras and video

The Pixel Fold has three cameras on the rear including a special Google AI 9.5MP Selfie one, which Samsung doesnt have. Select this and the camera is projected onto the front screen, allowing you to prop up the open phone and snap your shot. The internal camera is also impressive: 8MP compared to just 4MP in Samsungs under display internal camera.

But one of the impressive camera tricks that Samsung has and Google doesnt is the Cover Screen Preview. It lets you see the cameras angle and the shot thats about to be taken, allowing for adjustments before you say cheese. You can also take selfies through the timer trigger this way, whereas with the Pixel its even easier as it responds to voice commands. Just say Hey Google, take a selfie and strike a pose.

Google

Both the Pixel and Samsung Folds feature impressive night and astrophotography modes making taking snaps of the stars and fireworks a pleasure, but the Pixel can sharpen blurred images and automatically adjusts colour balance and lighting to represent skin tones with hyper-realistic accuracy.

The extra features

Split screen is a feature on both folding phones, but Samsung lets you run three apps at once on its main display compared to Googles two. Refresh rates of 120Hz on both phones are also stunning, with smooth videos and content all part of each parcel.

Google

Lets not forget that one of the best things about the Pixel Fold is that it runs on Googles all-knowing brain, which comes into its own on apps like Live Translate, a superb feature thats set to roll out in the autumn. This clever tool is seismic in the way that it will change the way we communicate when we travel.

Initiate the app and hold the camera up to signs in foreign languages and it will instantly translate them into English or your preferred language. Theres also an interpreter mode, which projects translations on the Pixel Folds interior and exterior screens as you speak, making in-person conversations less of an amateur mime show.

Its also easy to work remotely with the Pixel Fold, dragging and dropping work and files across the Google network so that the presentation youve been finessing on the move is ready to go by the time youre at the meeting.

Google

Google Pixel Fold - where to buy Vodafone - 67 per month, 49 upfront - on a 36-month Phone Plan with a 24-month 3GB Airtime Plan. O2 - Monthly contract 71.75, upfront 30 - free Pixel watch, free EU roaming, extra perks. Three - Monthly contract 43, upfront 85 - 36 month contract. Buy the Google Pixel Fold outright Carphone Warehouse - 1749 Mobiles.co.uk - 1869
E kin-Su Culculoglu and Davide Sanclimenti have split up less than a year after being crowned the winners of Love Island.

The pair were announced as the winning couple on the popular ITV reality show in August of last year, after securing nearly two thirds of the public vote.

In an announcement on his Instagram story on Thursday, Sanclimenti said that the pair were no longer together but that he wished his former partner nothing but the best.

@ekinsuofficial & I are no longer together, he said.

I am grateful for the memories and opportunities we shared together and I wish her nothing but the best.

I would like for everybody to respect this decision during this difficult time, I will continue to support Ekin in any way possible.

Culculoglu is yet to address the break-up publicly.

It comes just three days after the pair were pictured together at the London premiere of Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny.

Over the past 10 months the couple had announced they were moving in together, and featured in an ITV spin-off show in which they explored their home countries of Italy and Turkey.

Sanclimenti previously advised future Love Island contestants not to go into the villa hoping for fame but because they actually want to find someone.

Appearing on ITVs Good Morning Britain (GMB) in January, he told contestants to be yourself.

Dont go there for fame but because you actually want to find someone, he said.

If you are a genuine person and you actually want to find someone for love and the right person is there you will have an amazing experience.

Love Island 2022 runners-up Luca Bish and Gemma Owen previously announced their own separation in November, less than four months after leaving the villa.
UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution to end the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) as of June 30.

It also requested the mission to immediately start on July 1 the cessation of its operations, transfer of its tasks, as well as the orderly and safe drawdown and withdrawal of its personnel, with the objective of completing this process by Dec. 31, 2023.

Resolution 2690 was adopted unanimously by the 15-member council. 
H arry Potter special effects supervisor John Richardson has given a rare insight into some of the challenges he faced making the first film in the beloved film franchise.

Recalling his first meeting in Los Angeles with director Chris Coloumbus and producer David Hayman to talk about coming on board for Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, he said that they shared a vision of creating effects in-camera rather than relying too heavily on adding them in during post production with CGI, which at the time was expensive.

Flying people on broomsticks was a big talking point as was the illusion of candles floating in the Great Hall of Hogwarts.

Having recently worked on Richard Donners Superman, he knew a thing or too about flying effects and didnt hesitate when asked if he could create the illusion of floating candles for real.

All my life Ive tried to do things in-camera as much as possible because I think it adds a reality to the film, Richardson told the Standard.

We ended up hanging 400 floating candles with real flames burning. They were all hanging on rigs so that they floated up and down. We had to make the wires as thin as possible so they wouldnt photographed so we used a very fine tungsten wire and put them all in the hall.

We hung them only over the tables, not where the children would sit just in case anything fell or dropped or whatever. We put them all in and it looked terrific. In fact, on Richard Harriss first day as Dumbledore, he sent for me to go on the set  Id worked with him before some years ago. He wanted to see me because he wanted to tell me how great he thought the candles looked!

Sadly, they ran into a few technical problems so the real candles didnt last long.

What we hadnt allowed for is that Leavesden [where it was filmed] wasnt really a proper film studio like it is now, it was a series of old aircraft hangers where they built aircrafts in the Second World War. So they were a little well-worn and draftee!

There was a particular draft coming from one side of the set coming in through the walls of the stage and it was blowing the flames of the candles onto the tungsten wires and it caused two of the wires to break. I dont think the candles actually fell because they were still hanging on one wire but of course it did concern everybody that there was a possibility that a candle could fall and hit one of the kids because at that time, they were all 10 years old.

I think we shot for a few days with the real candles so they were actually in the first movie and then it was decided that we would take them out and put them in from CGI from there on.

For the first time Warner Bros Studio Tour London visitors will get to see the original candles that were used in the very first Harry Potter film / Joe Pepler/PinPep

Fast forward to now and for the first time ever, visitors to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London will get to see the actual candles used in all their glory as part of a new exhibition.

The original candles which were made from nylon have been restored and adapted to use a light effect instead of a live flame and hung with over three miles of wire.

It does create a wonderful feeling as you enter the Great Hall, Richardson enthused.

Weve also put other things in there like the Winguardian Leviosa spell which Emma [Watson who played Hermione Granger] did in the first movie and I can remember very clearly being on set with that.

Obviously we talked to Chris [Colombus] beforehand about the feather floating up to the desk as Emma pointed her desk at it and again, rather than have a CGI feather, we put one on a fishing rod on a very, very fine wire and hung it on the desk and I stood next to the camera holding the fishing rod able to control the feather as it lay trembling on the desk and then started to float up.

Visitors to the Warner Bros Studio Tour London can now have a go at casting their own Winguardian Leviosa spell / Joe Pepler/PinPep

What I was doing was trying to interact with Emma, who was incredibly sweet at the time and her dialogue and it gave a more I think of an organic feeling to the feather and her reaction because she actually had the feather floating in front of her instead of nothing which it would have been if it had been CGI. So what weve done is recreate the fishing rod and how it operates as close as we could get to me holding it.

When the public see it in the tour, they can really see exactly how we did it on the film and the simplicity of it is part of special effects. If you can do something real as simply as possible, it has got to be better than building a huge machine to do it.

Movie making is in Richardsons blood with his dad Cliff one of special effects pioneers, starting in the business in 1921 and working with Alfred Hitchcock and Ealing Studios in their early days.

Despite Richardsons dad trying his best to discourage him from following in his footsteps, his own son Marcus has since joined the family business.

In addition to working on all eight Harry Potter films, some of Richardsons vast and impressive resume includes The Omen, A Bridge Too Far, Willow, and no less than nine James Bond films.

John Richardson says his family have covered over 100 years of British movie making / Handout

He picked up an Oscar for best visual effects for his work on Aliens at the 1987 ceremony while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows  Part 2 saw him walk away with a BAFTA for best special visual effects.

Ive had the benefit and privilege of working with a number of top people over my career, so it has been an interesting trip, he said.

My dad started in the business 102 years ago in 1921 and his brother Fred got him a job as a prop man and so weve family-wise covered over 100 years of British movie making which is quite fun.

Harry Potter Then and Now 1 / 8 Harry Potter Then and Now cast_350x350.jpg (From L-R) Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) have all grown up since the early days of the film franchise ronharry_350x258.jpg Schoolwear has been replaced with the casual look harry_350x256.jpg Radcliffe's role as Potter has developed as much as the actor himself hermoine_350x256.jpg They may have changed, but Hermione still shows the same startled expression ron_350x256.jpg From innocent beginnings, Ron Weasley looks to have turned tough guy harrywand_350x350.jpg The latest film, Order of the Phoenix looks set to be just as successful

I am [proud of that] and my son still works with me so hes part of the team as well. I like to think weve lived through the golden years of movie making.

Discovering Hogwarts is a special feature which will run from now until September 4, 2023, and is included in the ticket price. For those looking for seasonal fun, the popular Dark Arts attraction returns for Halloween from September 15 until November 5 and Christmas favourite Hogwarts In The Snow kicks off from November 11 until January 14. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.wbstudiotour.co.uk. Tickets must be pre-booked and cannot be bought at the attraction.
R ussell Brand has revealed that he and wife Laura Gallacher are expecting their third child later this year.

The comedian, 48, and the 36-year-old author are already parents to daughters Mabel, six, and Peggy, four.

The 48-year-old confirmed the news in a new interview with Stephen Bartlett on the Diary of a CEO podcast and gave a rare insight into his experience of fatherhood.

Bartlett shared: You fell in love and youve got two children. Youve got a third on the way, around the corner. Thats a very special love you have found.

The couple are already parents to two daughters / Instagram/Laura Brand

Responding to his question about fatherhood, the TV star shared: It taught me there is a lot more important in this world than me.

It taught me that love is real. It teaches you everything to become a father. All lessons are there.

Brand then became tearful as he started to talk of a future for his children that he wont be part of.

He continued: Any old man, any old woman. My little girls, its just so beautiful.

The Get him to the Greek star also explained that parenthood has taught him that you cant be a father to anyone else before youre a father to yourself.

Brands rare insight into his personal life comes after the former showbiz star chose to settle down after marking 20 years of sobriety, having overcome issues with drugs and alcohol.

The British star admitted that because of his past addictions, he has to check in with himself to ensure he feels like hes enough to look after his kids properly.

He continued: Ive been fortunate enough through crisis and despair to find myself connected to a group of other people the same as me, who cannot cope with reality unless they use drink or drugs, who provide me with a paradigm and a programme for moving forwards.

Brand married illustrator Laura, who is also the younger sister of broadcaster Kirsty Gallacher, 47, in 2017.

The Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor was previously married to American pop star Katy Perry.
TEHRAN, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A group of Iranian demonstrators, including university students, gathered in front of Sweden's embassy in Tehran on Friday in protest against the Quran-burning in the Nordic country, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The protestors expressed their disgust at the "desecration" of the Quran by chanting slogans and carrying placards in condemnation of the move, the report said.

The demonstrators called on international human rights assemblies to react to the "sacrilegious" move, and urged Muslims across the world to express their disgust at the desecration of the Quran, according to the report.

A Swedish citizen said to be of Iraqi origin on Wednesday torn up and burnt a copy of the Quran in front of a mosque in Stockholm during a demonstration authorized by the Swedish authorities, which sparked furious reactions from Muslims across the world.

On Thursday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden's charge d'affaires in Tehran and protested the "sacrilegious" act. 
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Croatia celebrates 10 years in the EU - membership remains remote for neighbouring countries.

A decade ago, Croatia became the then 28th member of the European Union. The country has achieved its strategic goals, but membership has led to a significant population outflow. In the meantime, neighbouring countries are still in the waiting room, told Agerpres.

The Croatian and EU flags next to each other on a building.

2023 marks the ten year anniversary of Croatia's EU membership. Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa

After ten years of waiting, joining the EU on 1 July 2013 was one of the most important events in Croatian history and, together with NATO membership achieved four years earlier, the country's most important foreign policy goal since independence. However, this might have been the last EU enlargement for many years, as none of the candidate countries is close to membership.

Croatia's negotiations took longer than for any other current member state, five years and nine months. They were conditional on full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY), which insisted on the arrest of General Ante Gotovina. The negotiations were burdened by the cooperation with the ICTY in The Hague and Slovenia's blockade due to a bilateral border dispute, as well as by enlargement fatigue in the existing member states at that time.

Croatia applied for membership on 21 February 2003, official candidate status was granted on 18 June 2004, and negotiations started on 3 October 2005. The last of the negotiating chapters was closed on 30 June 2011.

Great progress, but not swift enough

Today, after ten years of EU membership, many strategic goals have been achieved, among them joining the Schengen area and the eurozone, as well as Croatia's first Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2020. Brussels also supported the country in connecting its southernmost exclave with the construction of the Peljeac Bridge.

With a downward trend in public debts, the country has good fiscal results. The government even projects debt to drop below 60 percent next year, which is the ratio allowed under the Maastricht criteria. Nevertheless, before its accession to the EU, Croatia's economy fell into a recession that lasted more than six years. The total decline in real GDP in the period from 2009 to 2014 amounted to 12.6 percent. GDP only exceeded the 2008 level again in 2019.

Another problem is the big gap between the country's capital Zagreb, which has a GDP of 131 percent of the EU average, and the eastern counties, which have a GDP that is below 40 percent of the European average. Zagreb generated 34 percent of the national GDP in 2018, while the majority of the population (67 percent) lives in areas where GDP per capita is below 60 percent of the European average.

Population outflow

Croatia lost nearly 10 percent of its population due to emigration in the past decade. Better work and life conditions in richer member states, but also the labour shortage - particularly in Germany, which has more than two million job vacancies - led to a serious population outflow.

However, for Croatia, there are several signs that the trend of moving and leaving the country has slowed down, but it hasn't stopped yet. The experiences of other countries show that immigration and emigration balance each other out once the level of economic development reaches about 80 percent of the EU average, which Croatia is close to achieving with 73 percent at the moment.

Potential growth is negatively affected by population decline and low productivity, but reforms that would lead to more efficient public administration and a better judiciary would have a positive effect. To reach the European average in the foreseeable future, Croatian growth would have to be much faster than it is now. Nevertheless, the benefits of EU membership become apparent when Croatia is compared to some other former Yugoslavian countries that are doing less well economically.

EU enlargement perspective for the region

All Western Balkan countries except Kosovo have been granted candidate status: Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022, Albania in 2014, Serbia in 2012, Montenegro in 2010 as well as North Macedonia in 2005.

Although the Russian attack on Ukraine brought some changes in the enlargement policy and geopolitical aspects are again at play, it is difficult to imagine further enlargement without a reform of the decision-making process, which is already difficult with the present 27 member states.

As for the countries of the Western Balkans, at the summit in Thessaloniki in 2003, the EU promised them that they would become members when they met the conditions. Twenty years later, only Croatia and Slovenia are EU members, even though Brussels continues to emphasise its commitment to enlargement and the countries of the Western Balkans emphasise that membership is their strategic goal.

Recently, seven member states called for the Western Balkan countries to speed up their accession to the EU. In a statement, the seven, led by Austria, warned that the enlargement process has been too slow and has not delivered enough tangible results for the people in the region. In light of the war in Ukraine and tensions in Kosovo, they also warned against the danger of instability in the region.

Slovenia pushing for courageous political choices'

Slovenia is one of the countries that strongly advocates the integration of the Western Balkan countries into the European Union. On the 20th anniversary of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki, Slovenian President Nataa Pirc Musar, Prime Minister Robert Golob and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon issued a joint statement reiterating continued support for the countries of the region on their path to the EU. They recalled that many opportunities have been missed on both sides since the 2003 Summit. 'The initial enthusiasm for reform in the Western Balkans seems to have waned somewhat over the past two decades,' they wrote. At the same time, they said, the EU was facing its own problems, and enlargement was not always a priority. 'It is clear that this process is fundamentally a strategic choice and not a technical exercise. (...) Courageous political choices are needed,' they stressed.

The bloc is aware that it cannot leave the Western Balkans and the countries of Eastern Europe to the influence of other actors who do not share the values on which the EU is based. For this reason, there is the idea to bring the Eastern European countries closer to the EU's single market and increase pre-accession aid.

Western Balkan integration is geopolitical interest of the EU

'Croatia waited for a decade. The success of any post-Cold War membership is crucial in justifying the need for any further membership. Each enlargement towards the Western Balkans renews the need to develop a mechanism to prevent the spillover of unilateral and bilateral disputes and interests to the multilateral level of the European Union,' said Lejla Ramic-Mesihovic, head of the Department for International Relations and European Studies at the International BURCH University.

She added that in many ways this limited the geopolitical plans and interests of the European Union, but also endangered the level of security and stability of the Western Balkans, which regarded the European Union as the most desirable geopolitical haven.

Spain's EU Presidency gives hope

Spain takes over the EU Council presidency on 1 July with its sights set on the Western Balkans. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited all the countries in the region, except Kosovo, last summer, while his Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares recently expressed his desire to strengthen Spain's relations with the Western Balkans. In October, the Spanish foreign minister will probably bring together the heads of diplomacy of each EU country with their counterparts from the Western Balkans.

Kosovo remains the most sensitive issue for Spain in the process of EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans. The refusal of Spain and four other member states - Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia and Romania - to recognise Kosovo's independence from Serbia in 2008 complicates Pristina's prospects of joining the bloc, although the Kosovar authorities applied for candidate status late last year. Moreover, Spain is the only country in the Schengen area that does not recognise visa-free travel for citizens with Kosovar passports, despite the support of the European Parliament and other Schengen countries for visa liberalisation. Kosovo was the last country in the Western Balkans to get this visa scheme in April of 2023.

In 2019, then Kosovar President Hashim Thaci urged Madrid to recognise Kosovo's independence, arguing that 'Spain is not Serbia, because it is not governed by a Slobodan Miloevic, and neither is Catalonia Kosovo.'

Serbia expects the Spanish Presidency to focus on enlargement

'Given that discussions are taking place at the highest level of the EU on a possible reform and improvement of the enlargement policy, the fact that Spain is a country traditionally friendly to this policy is certainly encouraging,' said Milena Lazarevic from the European Policy Centre.

Due to Spain's firm stance on not recognising Kosovo, she doesn't expect that the Spanish government will put Kosovo's application for membership on the agenda.

Meanwhile, the situation in northern Kosovo remains tense after the recent violent clashes between NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) soldiers and ethnic Serbs in the town of Zvecan. The ongoing escalation has frozen the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, that resulted in the Ohrid agreement for the normalisation of the relations last March. Serbs - who account for about six percent of Kosovo's population - boycotted last month's elections in northern towns where they are a majority, allowing ethnic Albanians to take control of local councils despite a minuscule turnout of under 3.5 percent of voters.

Many Serbs are demanding both the withdrawal of Kosovo police forces and of the ethnic Albanian mayors they do not consider their true representatives. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade has refused to recognise it, effectively preventing Kosovo from having a seat at the United Nations.
IntMin Predoiu: Citizen safety is not negotiable in any way.

The Minister of Interior, Catalin Predoiu, on Friday stated in Constanta, that it is inadmissible for the citizens, who pay taxes and fees for "street safety," to pay with their health and sometimes with their lives because of the "insecurity of the street," urging the staff in the structures of the ministry to show that they are stronger than those who commit crimes, professionals and dedicated to the law and the citizen, told Agerpres.

Present in the resort of Mamaia at a presentation of the personnel and hardware of the ministry's structures that will act this summer season at the seaside to increase the degree of citizen safety and ensure public order, Predoiu spoke about the crimes and aggressions that have occurred in the last few days in our country.

"Unfortunately, we are meeting today in a context where, following the commission of serious crimes, Romanian citizens lost their lives, innocent citizens. And I think it is my duty that, above all (...), to express my sympathy to the families of the victims, sincere condolences to the bereaved families and at the same time to assure all Romanian citizens that the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, whether it is the police or the structures prepared for emergency situations, will do their duty in the future and will make this society remain a safe one, despite some isolated individuals or groups who break the law, the rights of citizens, endanger the citizens' lives and health. (...) I congratulate the Romanian Police for intervening with professionalism and promptness following these tragic events, identified, confirmed and detained several of the alleged perpetrators and I express my confidence that justice will prevail, without forgiveness, based on the evidence gathered by the police and prosecutors. The safety of the citizen is in no way and for nothing negotiable", said the Minister of Internal Affairs Predoiu at the opening of the event.

According to him, people who commit crimes have lost their fear of the law and those who apply it, and it is the duty of the authorities to regain their respect.
A meeting between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has kicked off in the US, Azernews reports.

On June 27, the new round of talks between Bayramov and Mirzoyan on the draft peace agreement has started in the US.

On the first day, Blinken held closed-door bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the National Training Center for Foreign Affairs. After the meetings, Blinken took part in the first plenary session with the foreign ministers of the two countries.

Then, the ministers continued negotiations in a bilateral format, which lasted intermittently for four-five hours.

On the second day, a trilateral meeting was held with the participation of National Security Adviser to the US President Jake Sullivan. After that, a bilateral meeting of Bayramov and Mirzoyan was held.

Today the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will take part in the final plenary session with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the National Training Center for Foreign Affairs named after George Schultz.
This photo taken on June 30, 2023 shows the exhibition area of Liaoning Province in Victoria Park of Hong Kong, south China, June 30, 2023. A launching ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland was held in Victoria Park of Hong Kong on Friday, kicking off a series of celebration activities. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

HONG KONG, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A launching ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland was held in Victoria Park of Hong Kong on Friday, kicking off a series of celebration activities.

John Lee, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said at the ceremony that after experiencing various challenges, Hong Kong has now fully resumed its normal life and moved towards a new stage of stability and prosperity.

Under the double safeguards of the national security law in Hong Kong and the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong", Hong Kong enjoys social stability and good economic development, Lee said, adding that Hong Kong's business environment is free and convenient, and its attractiveness is increasing.

Over the past year, with the full support of the country and Hong Kong people, the HKSAR government has introduced a number of policies and measures for the people's well-being and Hong Kong's development, and strived for better economy, development and competitiveness.

Zheng Yanxiong, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, said that over the past year, with the strong support of the central government, Lee and the HKSAR government have fulfilled their duties, united and led all sectors of society to write a new chapter for Hong Kong, and accomplished many practical things.

The general public's sense of security, gain and happiness has been constantly rising, and the once familiar and lovely Hong Kong has returned, he said.

Zheng stressed that Hong Kong people are never afraid of crisis, change, risks and competition, and will seize every opportunity and take the initiative to participate in the reconstruction of the world interest pattern, and to actively integrate into the national development.

Tam Kam-kau, chairman of the Hong Kong Celebrations Association, said that in the 26 years since its return to the motherland, Hong Kong has always had the strong backing of the motherland at every critical moment.

As normal travel between the mainland and Hong Kong resumed early this year, Hong Kong has shown great vitality and the HKSAR government welcomed talent and tourists from all over the world with an open and inclusive attitude, Tam said.

Hong Kong's future is bright with its distinctive advantages of enjoying the strong support of the motherland and being closely connected to the world, Tam added.

The ceremony was held by the Hong Kong Celebrations Association, which invited representatives from northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Liaoning Province in northeast China and Shandong Province in east China.

A number of science and technology enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area were also invited to hold exhibitions and give performances in Victoria Park during the event. 

A craftsman displays techniques of pyrograph at the exhibition area of Liaoning Province in Victoria Park of Hong Kong, south China, June 30, 2023. A launching ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland was held in Victoria Park of Hong Kong on Friday, kicking off a series of celebration activities. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

Children pose for photos at the exhibition area of Shaanxi Province in Victoria Park of Hong Kong, south China, June 30, 2023. A launching ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland was held in Victoria Park of Hong Kong on Friday, kicking off a series of celebration activities. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

People look at paper-cuts at the exhibition area of Shandong Province in Victoria Park of Hong Kong, south China, June 30, 2023. A launching ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland was held in Victoria Park of Hong Kong on Friday, kicking off a series of celebration activities. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

A staff member introduces exhibits to visitors at the exhibition area of Liaoning Province in Victoria Park of Hong Kong, south China, June 30, 2023. A launching ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland was held in Victoria Park of Hong Kong on Friday, kicking off a series of celebration activities. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

A visitor puts on makeup at the exhibition area of Shaanxi Province in Victoria Park of Hong Kong, south China, June 30, 2023. A launching ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland was held in Victoria Park of Hong Kong on Friday, kicking off a series of celebration activities. (Xinhua/Chen Duo)

A fishing vessel with flags cruises at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, south China, July 1, 2023. The Hong Kong Fishermen Consortium has launched the cruise to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Citizens view a fishing vessel with flags cruising at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, south China, July 1, 2023. The Hong Kong Fishermen Consortium has launched the cruise to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Citizens view a fishing vessel with flags cruising at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, south China, July 1, 2023. The Hong Kong Fishermen Consortium has launched the cruise to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

A fishing vessel with flags cruises at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, south China, July 1, 2023. The Hong Kong Fishermen Consortium has launched the cruise to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)
IntMin Predoiu sends his condolences following incident at Chisinau Airport.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Catalin Predoiu, sent on Friday a message of condolences, following the incident at Chisinau Airport, where two people lost their lives, told Agerpres.

"I learned with regret about the tragic incident at the Chisinau International Airport, an incident in which two people lost their lives. In these extremely difficult moments for the families of the deceased, but also for my colleagues from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) of the Republic of Moldova, I convey my sincere condolences and I want to assure them of all my compassion. Once again, the job of a policeman proves that it is not an easy one, it is not the first time and unfortunately not the last time when someone pays with his life for the performance of his duties. We stand with our colleagues from the MAI of the Republic of Moldova and the families bereaved in this difficult ordeal!", Predoiu said, according to a MAI press release.

An armed incident took place on Friday at Chisinau airport, where a foreign citizen who was refused entry to the Republic of Moldova opened fire with a weapon stolen from a policeman, killing an airport security employee and a border policeman, also wounding a passenger, and was finally captured.
MAE: 40 employees of Russian Embassy in Bucharest to leave Romania by Russian aircraft.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) reports that 40 employees of the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, together with their family members, are going to leave Romania by a civil aircraft belonging to a Russian airline, told Agerpres.

"This measure reflects the implementation of the decision of the Romanian side within the indicated term, according to the procedures used by other EU member states in similar situations", states the MAE.

The Romanian Ministry mentions that this flight is authorized based on the legislation on diplomatic relations.

Also, the MAE reminds that Romania's decision to reduce the staff of the Russian Federation's diplomatic mission in Bucharest "reflects the current level of bilateral relations, in the context of the Russian Federation's launch of the war of aggression against Ukraine".

At the beginning of this month, the MAE announced that the Russian Federation must reduce the number of positions in Romania by 51 positions - i.e. by 21 diplomat positions and by 30 technical-administrative staff positions, respectively reduce the staff actually at the post in our country with 40 people - i.e. with 11 diplomats and 29 people belonging to the technical-administrative staff (the difference between the number of positions and the number of personnel actually at the position is explained by the fact that not all positions on the scheme of Russian personnel in Romania are currently occupied).

The choice of the reduced positions and the people who will leave Romania belonged, in this phase, to the Russian Federation, respecting the limitations related to each category (diplomats, respectively technical-administrative staff). Thus, the total number of diplomatic and technical-administrative positions of the Russian Federation in Romania is reduced by 61%, and the effective number of personnel by 55.5%, explained the MAE at the time.
SecGen Geoana says Ukraine to be among equals around NATO table at Vilnius Summit.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said on Friday, at a meeting with military teachers and students in Sibiu, that Ukraine will be "one of the equals around the NATO table" and will receive "security guarantees " at the Vilnius Summit (July 11-12), where a "political relationship upgrade" will take place, told Agerpres.

"Obviously, a decision on the next level of the political relationship between NATO and Ukraine will be taken by our leaders in Vilnius. I cannot anticipate what our leaders will decide. But there is already a conversation and a decision to upgrade the relationship politically, replacing the current NATO-Ukraine Commission with the NATO-Ukraine Council, which will make the Ukrainians not NATO members, but equals around the NATO table; they will be between Turkey and the UK, so not here as a guest, but there with all the consequences related to our ability to work together with them and make decisions together on the national security and the future of Ukraine. Ukraine will become a member of the Euro-Atlantic family. The European Union has invited them in; at the Summit in Bucharest, we decided that they will become our members. Whether there is consensus inside NATO and the conditions in place for Ukraine to be invited in is a political matter and probably our leaders will have until the summit and at the summit several other components," said Geoana.

Geoana voiced support for assisting Ukraine in the medium and long term to resist Russian pressure. "Over time, Russia risks becoming dangerous again," even if Ukraine wins this war, said Geoana.

"We are not talking about security guarantees; that will probably be discussed, it is already being discussed - we will wait and see what form this shapes up, probably not through NATO, but in a slightly more variable geometry - about security assurances , which means that we actually have an integrated system and in the medium and long term to support Ukraine to be able to resist Russian pressure. Even if now we hope that it will have less chances - and I think that Ukraine will win this fight - over time, Russia risks becoming dangerous again," added Geoana.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said last Friday he expected Ukraine to receive a clear signal and 'formula' for it to become a member of NATO when the military alliance holds a summit in Vilnius in July, according to the Reuters news agency.

In Sibiu on Friday, NATO Deputy Secretary General Geoana toured NATO's Headquarters Multinational Division Southeast (HQ MND-SE) and the Nicolae Balcescu Land Forces Academy.
Katerinas Greek Restaurant will permanently close after service Saturday (July 9). The restaurant at 7822 Bonhomme Avenue in Clayton announced the closure Monday on social media.

It's been our pleasure to serve you and your family and friends, the post reads in part.

Katerina's owners were not available at the restaurant Wednesday morning.

Tracy and Crist Dubis opened Katerinas in August 2019. The couple named the restaurant after their late daughter, Katherine Dubis, who was struck and killed by a car in 2015 while she and her boyfriend were walking to their vehicle after a Blues game.

Katherine loved her Greek heritage, Tracy told the Post-Dispatch in a January 2020 interview. A photograph of Katherine occupies a prominent place inside the restaurant.

In a subsequent social-media post Monday, Katerinas said Saturdays final service would honor Katherines birthday.

More as Off the Menu learns it.
ST. LOUIS  Plans call for the Loop Trolley to restart service in the summer unless its new operator, the Bi-State Development Agency, needs more time to ensure that the trolley cars and other equipment meet the agencys safety and other standards.

Thats part of a letter Mayor Tishaura O. Jones plans to send Friday to Mokhtee Ahmad, who heads the Federal Transit Administrations regional office.

The letter by Jones, who chairs the trolleys transportation development district, was approved Thursday by the districts board.

The board, which levies a sales tax collected in and near the 2.2-mile trolley route, also agreed to the memorandum worked out with Bi-State to take over trolley operations. The same document was endorsed last week by the board of Bi-State, which also oversees Metro Transit.

Jones repeated that while she had opposed the trolleys creation, it needs to resume service to avoid having to repay federal money that helped construct the $51 million line. The trolley shut down at the end of 2019 amid financial and operational problems.

Our region is coming together to fix this problem to make sure that were not on the hook for tens of millions of federal dollars, she said.

Ahmad had given local officials until Tuesday to submit a plan to resume trolley service beginning June 1 or face efforts to reclaim as much as $37 million.

Jones said the district is confident that the reopening goal of summer, which begins in late June, can be met with Bi-States technical expertise.

But she said state Department of Transportation oversight and certification will be the determining factor for a prudent opening date.

The letter says the district will pay Bi-State to hire full- and part-time staff to run and maintain the trolley. Bi-State also will provide contracted services for landscaping, security and communications support.

Also taking part in Thursdays videoconference meeting were the four other members of the district board  St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, University City Mayor Terry Crow, Delmar Loop businessman Joe Edwards and Bi-State CEO Taulby Roach.

Roach, however, abstained on the voice votes regarding the districts agreement with Bi-State, citing a conflict of interest.

Jones said the district estimates it will collect $773,787 in sales tax this year, which is 90% of the 2019 pre-pandemic total. The district also will use previously collected tax revenue to run the trolley; it had $881,321 as of January.

The district also has applied to the East-West Gateway Council of Governments for a $1.26 million federal grant; a decision on that isnt expected until August.

The councils board rejected a similar request in October. The Bi-State boards decision to take over the trolley for three years was a reversal of its previous position taken in 2020.

Jones said in her letter that the district has met with partners in the trolley service area, such as the Missouri Historical Society and Forest Park Forever, to try to collaborate on event partnerships.

Originally posted at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24.

Bi-State board agrees to take over, restart Loop Trolley The date for resuming service has yet to be determined; a Federal Transit Administration official wants that to happen in June.

New effort underway to get Bi-State to run a revived Loop Trolley The agency, which runs Metro Transit, turned down the idea in 2020.
ST. CHARLES COUNTY  After more than three decades in public office, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann says he won't seek reelection in 2026.

Ehlmann was elected to his fifth term as county executive last year, and he'll be 77 at the end of his current term.

"I wouldn't have run this last time, but I believed there was still important work to do," Ehlmann said in an interview Thursday.

Ehlmann's time as county executive saw major growth in St. Charles County as many counties in the region shrank or stagnated. The county has added more than 65,000 residents since he first took office in 2007 and is now home to about 410,000 people, according to latest census estimates. The county's per capita income in 2020 ranked third in Missouri, behind only St. Louis County and Kansas City's Platte County.

Before his tenure as county executive, Ehlmann served in both the Missouri House and Senate, and he was a circuit judge for four years.

Ehlmann said he's known for a while this would likely be his final term as the top county official.

Several people have already expressed interest to him about running in 2026, he said, noting that his announcement may trigger a "whole bunch of people to run."

Candidate filing won't get underway until February 2026.

Ehlmann has written two books, and he said he plans to focus more on writing after leaving office  and potentially return to private practice as an attorney.

Ehlmann's decision stunned some leaders in St. Charles County, who said they have grown accustomed to his presence, especially during the tumultuous years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2008 recession.

"Steve has provided St. Charles County with a steady hand in leadership that has really benefited us," said St. Charles County Councilman Matt Swanson.

Swanson said he was especially grateful to Ehlmann for his work expanding the county's park system, which now includes 21 parks and more than 4,300 acres, and the partnerships Ehlmann helped cultivate between St. Charles and St. Louis counties.

Mayors and county leaders alike praised Ehlmann for being a tireless advocate for St. Charles County.

"If I could, I would erect a Steve Ehlmann statue in the middle of the county. That is how much I think Steve Ehlmann has done for St. Charles County," said St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer, who described himself as a lifelong friend of Ehlmann.

Borgmeyer and several other mayors including O'Fallon Mayor Bill Hennessy and St. Peters Mayor Len Pagano pointed to Ehlmann's management of the county road board as his biggest unsung contribution to the county.

"There are so many road projects that he had the foresight to bring into reality," said Pagano, who described Ehlmann as instrumental in the construction of the Blanchette Memorial Bridges over the Missouri River on Interstate 70, the creation of Highway 370 that connects St. Charles County and St. Louis County, and the expansion of Highway 364 from Mid Rivers Mall Drive to Interstate 64.

Wentzville Mayor Nick Guccione said Ehlmann always included the county's mayors in key discussions.

"He was an absolute asset for St. Charles County," Guccione said.

Also praising Ehlmann's time in county government was Ted House, a former state representative, state senator and county judge. House, a Democrat, served alongside Ehlmann, a Republican, in the state House and state Senate. The two later served together as judges in St. Charles County.

"Steve's style is not to be a flamethrower, but someone who is always trying to bring people together," House said. "I saw that when I served with him in Jefferson City, then as a judge, and now in his work as county executive. The people of St. Charles County should appreciate the job that he has done, because he has maximized this opportunity for the betterment of St. Charles County whether it is through economic development or infrastructure."

Ehlmann said he has several more goals to accomplish before he leaves office, including helping oversee the widening of Interstate 70, addressing the traffic bottleneck at Wentzville on I-70, lobbying for changes to the management of Lambert International Airport, and grappling with the "crime problem in St. Louis."

"You may not think that what happens in St. Louis city or St. Louis County impact us in St. Charles County, but they do," Ehlmann said. "It is going to get harder and harder to convince businesses to move here and to get workers here until this region gets its crime problem under control.  We've got to work together  and I mean all of us  to bring an end to the absolute tragic number of killings and murders happening in St. Louis."

Ehlmann noted that his criticism of St. Louis may rankle some, but he emphasized the connectivity of the region as, to potential businesses especially, St. Louis and St. Charles are one in the same.

"In Missouri, there are 100plus counties that have not grown and have lost population over the past several decades. Kids grow up there, go to college and move away to Dallas, Phoenix, or somewhere else because there are no jobs in their hometowns," Ehlmann said. "I don't want that to happen to St. Charles. I want our kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids to be able to call St. Charles home and that only happens if we take action now."
Ask Sen. Josh Hawley about tech regulation and the Missouri Republican usually has a ready answer: Let people sue.

It was Hawley's answer when he first came to Congress in 2019 with the aim of taking on large tech companies. It was his answer during a February Senate Judiciary Committee meeting when experts talked about the need for more safety for children online. And it's his answer to how Congress should address the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence.

"I think that giving people the right, that individual right to sue, is a powerful way to check the company's power," Hawley said. "I think that is a more effective way, in general, than giving a bunch of administrative agencies authority, who then get immediately captured by the industry."

Hawley and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, co-sponsored a bill this month that would exempt generative artificial intelligence  the type of AI that powers popular new tools like Chat GPT  from Section 230, a law that prevents online companies from being sued over content others post to their website.

The pair's bill comes amid an increased sense of urgency to create comprehensive regulations on technology, as lawmakers and the public have grown aware of the powerful potential of artificial intelligence  both in innovation and promoting misinformation. Already some campaigns have used the technology to craft text for fundraising emails, people have produced images that duped the public and a Congressman has delivered an AI written speech on the House floor.

Hawley and Blumenthal chaired a hearing specifically focused on the oversight of AI in May. But their first piece of legislation, which is unlikely to make it through Congress on its own, may be more about sending a bipartisan message than crafting substantive policy.

Experts question whether the exemption is needed  generative AI is a new tool that wouldn't necessarily fall under the traditional auspices of Section 230, a law Hawley has pushed to eliminate for years. The law shields websites and apps from being sued for content that is posted to their site by users.

"Josh Hawley has strong incentives to preen and grandstand about Section 230," said Berin Szoka, a lawyer at Tech Freedom, a think tank that specializes in technology policy. "So I would not infer anything at all about the state of the law from the fact that he sees an opportunity to promote himself."

The widespread use of generative AI is still relatively new. And while people have been able to explore publicly available tools to make images or generate text , legal cases have yet to work their way through the system.

Jeff Kosseff, a cybersecurity law professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, said people's ability to sue over content generated by AI will largely be shaped by the facts of the case, particularly if the content produced by AI is defamatory.

"I think that we'll have a lot more clarity in the next few years," Kosseff said. "Because I think we're gonna see, some of this AI has really been spewing out some pretty difficult stuff. So I think that it's only a matter of time before we start to see judge's ruling on it."

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who helped write Section 230, said the law would not cover apps like Chat GPT, which allows a user to hold a conversation with an AI powered chat bot, because it creates content, rather than just pulling it from existing sources.

The idea of generative AI is that it is generating, or creating, something. Even if it is building on existing content, when a user asks the tool to create something, it becomes something new. Szoka said that true generative AI, the type that is creating something, wouldn't fall under Section 230 because the law is intended to protect sites that host content created by other people. But if the artificial intelligence were to operate more like a search engine, pulling information that already exists, then it would be covered by the law.

While both Hawley and Blumenthal have found common ground on some areas, like requiring AI generated content to contain a watermark to help people determine whether something is fake, they are still far apart on larger issues, like whether there should be an agency created that would focus specifically on technologies like AI.

Hawley is against administrative agencies  he said they often get "captured," or overly influenced by the companies they're supposed to be regulating. Blumenthal, on the other hand, said there is still a need for an agency that's focused directly on the issue.

"I agree with him, first of all, that agencies are often captured," Blumenthal said. "That is not a responsive argument against agency regulation, but it's certainly a strong consideration. And that's why I have favored private rights of action so that individuals can be, in effect, private attorneys general."

Hawley and Blumenthal aren't the only senators looking to pass a bill dealing with tech policy. For years, lawmakers, like Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, have been working on data privacy legislation to start to reign in companies enjoying an online Wild West, where there are few rules about how much personal information companies can collect and sell.

Anna Lenhart, a policy fellow at George Washington University's Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics, said she believes it's a misconception that lawmakers are just now learning about the complexities of technology. She said a bill sponsored last year called the American Data Privacy Protection Act would have been able to handle some of then issues that will arise from generative AI.

"The issues, the problems, the concerns, the things that we're worried about with this technology, are not actually new to Congress," Lenhart said.

Szoka, too, said that there are other, more serious efforts to address tech policy in Congress.

"It's important to note that this is really a just a messaging bill," Szoka said.

He said the reason the bill can't pass is because of the way it handles a provision in Section 230 that deals with content moderation. While the bill includes one exemption for moderation, Szoka said the majority of case law surrounding content moderation centers around a part of the law that wasn't exempted.

While there's bipartisan support for regulations on technology, the debate over content moderation has largely fallen under partisan lines. Republicans have criticized sites like Facebook and Twitter, who have suspended or banned political figures over posts about issues like transgender rights or, in the case of former President Donald Trump, the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Kosseff said there are two separate visions for what the internet should look like  whether platforms should have to carry all constitutionally protected speech or whether there should be more moderation.

"I think that's where a lot of the difficulties come in sort of finding compromise," Kosseff said. "Because I don't think there's a tremendous amount of agreement as to what they want the internet to look like."

Any stalemate over regulations could become a challenge, where innovation and profits for technology companies are prioritized over consumer protections and conflicts are left to the courts.

Lenhart said the problem with letting the courts decide, as Hawley has suggested, is that it takes a long time. She said the same policy laws that were needed when she was working on Capitol Hill as a staffer  competition reform, comprehensive data protection and transparency  are still needed today, only with some tweaked definitions.

Chris Lewis, the president and CEO of Public Knowledge, a nonprofit that advocates for an open internet said Congress shouldn't rush and in the process put out policy that isn't comprehensive. But he also added that they need to act.

"Taking their time to understand the technology and find that balance is important," Lewis said. "And I wouldn't say that if you're clocking the efforts to regulate AI back to nine months ago or so when generative AI became widely known, I wouldn't say that we've been waiting too long.

"Now, do we need to move quickly? Yes, we do."
An Edgar Degas exhibit featuring hats and paintings, inspired by a $10 million acquisition 10 years ago, has debuted at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Degas, Impressionism and the Paris Millinery Trade is on view through May 7, when it will then be packed and shipped to the San Francisco Legion of Honor.

The exhibition was co-created by Simon Kelly, curator of modern and contemporary art at the museum, and Esther Bell, curator in charge of European paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Its billed as the first exhibition to explore Degas fascination with high-fashion hats and the women who made them. The shows 60 paintings and pastels also include works by other famous artists, such as Edouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Mary Cassatt and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

In his paintings, drawings and sculpture, Degas (1834-1917) is undeniably preoccupied with images of women, notably dancing or laundering.

Kelly said he first explored themes of Degas and the millinery while teaching art history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City during a stint as a curator at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

He said part of his fascination with the work is due to the moment in time it represents: a period in the late 1880s when Parisian women exercised newfound liberties.

I think he saw the milliners as artists in their own right, and he explored the complexities of their labor and the women who bought the hats with some fascination, Kelly said.

This notion is supported by images of hat makers intently working or of refined ladies weighing the options of a purchase.

I think he was fascinated by the materiality of the hats, Kelly said. The curve of an ostrich plume, the delicacy of a silk flower, the roughness of a straw hat. Theres one narrative that represents him as a misogynist, but seeing this side of him complicates that idea.

Kelly said the exhibit also speaks to the significance of this global industry created for and sustained by women. Aside from lovely works in pastels and oil, it provides an education on the economic impact of the millinery trade.

It also reveals wildlife conservation laws that developed because of the industry and the influence of the millinery on fashion for women and men.

Hats off to Degas

Inspiration  Degas The Milliners (c. 1898) was purchased in 2007 for $10 million by the St. Louis Art Museum. Kelly said that when he arrived in 2010 he knew this was a show he wanted to coordinate.

Ruffled feathers  There are about 40 period hats in the show, including works featuring taxidermy birds.

Makers and buyers  Degas largest work portraying hat-making is The Millinery Shop (1879-1886). Though the painting appears to be of a female milliner, a study said to have been sketched before this work was complete shows the central figure as a customer.

Degas selfie  Self Portrait in a Soft Hat (1857) shows the artist. Visitors can also see him wearing a bowler in a rare 1915 film clip. Documentary filmmaker Sacha Guitry hid outside Degas studio to capture the footage.

Stuck in transit  Due to the nature of the exhibit (or the nature in the exhibit), a few exotic items coming from abroad have been delayed by customs. So if youve already seen it, and go back, dont be surprised if there are a few additions.

All about hats  On April 21 and 22, the museum will host a symposium based on the exhibit, including a keynote address by Carol Armstrong, a professor of art history at Yale University, and a presentation by Valerie Steele, the director and chief curator at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Admission is $15 to $65.

Working it  Art historian Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell will present a lecture on Working Girls: The Milliners of 19th Century Paris at 7 p.m. March 3. Free in the Farrell Auditorium.

Movie night  The exhibition will include a screening of Julien Duviviers silent film The Ladies Paradise (1930), with live accompaniment by the Poor People of Paris at 11 a.m. May 6 in the Farrell Auditorium. The film tells Emile Zolas story of mid-19th-century Parisian society, centering on a small fabric shop struggling to survive in the shadow of a luxury department store. Admission is $15.

Modern millinery  A special presentation of contemporary hats takes over the walls and shelves of the museums usual gift shop.
A Northwoods man was jailed Friday on charges of DWI causing death after a four-vehicle crash that killed two women and injured six other people this week in St. Louis County.

Deangelo H. Young, 30, is accused of driving drunk and speeding Wednesday night along West Florissant Avenue when he hit other vehicles near Eton Place. One of the cars burst into flames, with two women inside.

Carol Brown, 80, and Gwendolyn Thomas, 74, died at the scene, the Missouri Highway Patrol said. Thomas, the driver, was from Jennings. Her passenger, Brown, was from St. Louis.

Three children, ages 6 to 10, and a woman who were in another car suffered minor injuries. Two occupants of a fourth vehicle also had minor injuries.

St. Louis County prosecutors charged Young with two counts of DWI causing death, and leaving the scene of an accident.

Young was being held Friday morning in lieu of $500,000 cash bail at the St. Louis County Justice Center. He had no attorney listed in court files Friday. Young lives in the 4600 block of Nelson Drive in Northwoods.

Young has been on parole since May 19 for a federal weapons offense, police said. He has convictions for property damage, third-degree assault, tampering and a federal conviction for drug distribution.

The Highway Patrol said the crash was about 10 p.m. Wednesday at West Florissant, between Eton Place and Ramsey Drive, in the tiny city of Flordell Hills.

All four vehicles involved in the wreck were on West Florissant. Young was speeding east in a 2006 BMW 335, according to a police report. His car hit a parked 2021 Chevrolet Equinox, then he hit a 2012 Chevrolet Impala driven by Gwendolyn Thomas. The force of the crash pushed Thomas' car into a 2006 Dodge Durango.

Troopers said Young got out of his car and tried to run, but was captured by St. Louis County police. When he was arrested, he had a bottle of liquor with him, Highway Patrol Trooper Michael Autenrieth said in court papers.

Troopers said his breath smelled like alcohol and he flunked field sobriety tests, according to court records. Young told police he had been in an argument with his girlfriend at her home in Country Club Hills before the crash and "got drunk and ... was sleeping it off," Autenrieth said in a probable cause statement.

Autenrieth's report, filed with charging documents, did not mention a blood-alcohol level or say if Young's blood was drawn at the hospital.

The Equinox that Young hit was occupied by Katrena Wooten, 41, a 6-year-old boy and two girls, ages 7 and 10. Jasmine Jones, 27, of St. Louis, was driving the Durango. All of them suffered minor injuries, the patrol said.

The charges allege he was driving under the influence of alcohol and "acted with criminal negligence" by driving too fast and failing to maintain a single lane.
A concept car of Mercedes-Benz is displayed at the 20th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in Shanghai, east China, April 18, 2023. (Xinhua/Xin Mengchen)

Noting that China is the world's largest car market and the most dynamic NEV market, Mercedes-Benz remains committed to its business activities in China and plans to actively contribute to the growth of China's auto industry and to boosting the Sino-German economic partnership, according to the company.

FRANKFURT, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Mercedes-Benz is planning further investments in China, thus contributing to Sino-German cooperation, Ola Kaellenius, the German carmaker's chairman of the board of management, said recently in an interview with Xinhua.

Kaellenius was speaking with appreciation for the opportunity to participate in the China-Germany inter-governmental consultation and to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang last week.

Visiting Chinese Premier Li Qiang and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz co-chair the seventh China-Germany inter-governmental consultation in Berlin, Germany, June 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

During Li's visit, Mercedes-Benz signed a letter of intent with China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in Berlin to promote corporate and industrial cooperation.

The move "creates a basis for joint support for further projects to develop new energy vehicles (NEV) in China and foster existing partnerships," Kaellenius said.

Noting that China is the world's largest car market and the most dynamic NEV market, Mercedes-Benz remains committed to its business activities in China and plans to actively contribute to the growth of China's auto industry and to boosting the Sino-German economic partnership, according to the company.

The company also intends to enhance its R&D activities such as car software development in China, with its local team projected to double in size by the end of 2023 compared with three years ago.

This photo taken on April 19, 2023 shows the booth of Haier's industrial internet platform COSMOPlat at Hannover Messe 2023 in Hannover, Germany, April 19, 2023. (Xinhua/Ren Pengfei)

The introduction of intelligent technologies further demonstrates the company's commitment to innovation and customer experience, said the company.

With its dynamic economy and a clear focus on innovation, "China is and will remain an important pillar of our long-term global strategy," Kaellenius said. 
ST. LOUIS  Two local companies will receive $100,000 apiece in follow-on funding from Arch Grants, the organization announced Thursday.

Arch Grants, a St. Louis-based organization that works to attract early-stage companies to the region, awards the so-called Growth Grants to businesses that have already been through the organizations larger startup competition.

The awardees are:

Amptify, from Arch Grants 2017 startup cohort, a digital hearing healthcare platform for providers and patients.

Bold Xchange, from Arch Grants 2020 cohort, a corporate gifting marketplace that supports Black-owned businesses.

This critical funding will help propel both companies toward their next stage of growth, serving as a powerful catalyst for continued expansion and job creation within the St. Louis community, said Arch Grants Executive Director Gabe Angieri.

Any Arch Grants company still operating in St. Louis is eligible to apply for the program.

This story was updated June 30.
CREVE COEUR  Shelley Seifert will retire as CEO of First Bank at the end of the year after nine years with the financial institution.

Seifert joined First Bank in 2014 as executive vice president and chief administrative officer and was promoted to COO in August 2015. She became CEO in May 2019. She informed the board of directors in late 2022 of her plans to retire.

The bank, in a release, credited Seifert for refining the banks vision and strategic plan and enhancing services for family-owned businesses.

Mikel Williamson, an industry veteran who recently led a Texas-based bank, has been named as her successor.

Mikel is a proven leader and the perfect person to succeed Shelley, Chairman Michael Dierberg said in a statement. He has demonstrated success as a CEO and fostering growth through a strong culture and continuous improvement to serve clients.
ST. LOUIS  Nearly 80% of St. Louis Public Radio Guild members voted in favor of unionization, the guild said in a statement Friday morning.

After initially submitting a statement of interest in joining a bargaining unit in January with goals of compensation equity; commitments to diversity; equity and inclusion in the workplace; career growth; and other employment protections, the station is now home to Missouris first public media union.

Today we make history  not only at St. Louis Public Radio but throughout the state of Missouri, said Brian Munoz, a photojournalist and multimedia reporter at St. Louis Public Radio who is also a member of STLPR Guilds organizing committee. This monumental step is proof our workers are eager to ensure St. Louis Public Radio is a more equitable and sustainable news organization for the years to come.

The unit includes 37 full- and part-time non-managerial journalists, producers, on-air talent and marketing professionals and is represented by the Communications Workers of America.

The radio station operates as part of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

We understand that they voted and we are happy the process followed was democratic and fair, Christian Basi, University of Missouri system spokesperson, said.

There is a 10-day waiting period before results are certified by the Missouri Board of Mediation, Basi said. After that, we expect eligible employees to begin contract negotiations with our office of employee and labor relations.

Jason Rosenbaum, a political correspondent at St. Louis Public Radio and member of the STLPR Guilds organizing committee, said in a statement, This vote shows, without question, that St. Louis Public Radios employees want to make this cherished journalistic institution a place where people want to work and build long-time careers.
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Facebook should have killed the high school reunion years ago.

So why do some people, myself included, still show up?

For those of us who came of age when a friend was someone you primarily saw in person, the advent of social media made it easy for us to reconnect with long-lost classmates. With a few clicks, you could see how kindly (or otherwise) the passage of time had treated someone.

Of course, social media often presents a version of life that may be a slight distance from day-to-day reality. But curiosity or comparison arent reasons enough to face your adolescent memories in real life. Reconnecting with those who have known us through our journeys can be a boon for our mental, emotional and physical health.

The benefits of reconnecting with old friends are well documented  it lowers stress, anxiety and loneliness while lifting mood and feelings of connection and belonging. The time spent in-person with those whom we have a strong emotional connection offers an even greater boost than any digital connection.

Think of how you feel when you come across a social media update from an old friend. It may bring a momentary smile. A text exchange is more engaging and enjoyable. A phone call adds the benefit of a human voice with tone and expression. And sitting with someone, making eye contact, responding to body language cues, comforting and supporting one another is an entirely different experience.

I have a spotty record with my own reunions  skipped the 10th because I was hugely pregnant, attended the 20th and missed the 30th. This is partly because I graduated from a massive suburban high school in Texas with a senior class of around 800 students. A small fraction, mostly the popular and party kids, showed up for the 20th. I was never part of that crowd. I had made sure that a few members of my friend group were also planning to attend. We went to dinner, laughed, reminisced about old times and caught up on one anothers lives.

Mostly, we laughed.

Those encounters led to something extraordinary. I realized how resilient certain bonds are regardless of the vagaries of time. It also reminded us of how much we had grown and survived. Just like in high school, we didnt need the big crowd to have a good time.

If you are with your people, thats enough.

Several years after that reunion, one of my dear high school friends unexpectedly lost her husband. A small group of us flew from different parts of the country to meet her.

Another six years went by before we found a reason to meet. She was getting remarried. Right before the wedding last summer I tested positive for COVID, and the other two had their flights canceled due to airline disruptions. We postponed our mini reunion.

A few months ago, one of the people from that group texted the rest of us and suggested trying again. It was the nudge we needed. Within days we managed to nail down a weekend that worked for everyone and bought our tickets.

Last month, we met in Boise, Idaho, at one of our friends homes for a long weekend of hiking, eating, drinking and talking.

Mostly, we talked.

Even though weve seen one another less than a handful of times over the past 30 years, their company felt so comforting and safe. We could share troubles, offer counsel and make fun of each other like we did as teenagers  but with a lot more grace, compassion and wisdom.

It felt like reconnecting with a part of myself.

Were getting to a point in our lives when we realize how quickly it all goes by and how dramatically life can change in an instant.

Maybe we all needed this reminder: If theres a person whose friendship you valued in high school, and youve lost touch, reach out and tell them. If youve stayed in contact via social media or texts or occasional phone calls but havent seen each other for years, make a plan to meet now.

Time is precious.

Friendship even more so.
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When residents in Missouri believe their local government is stonewalling them, the first place they turn for help is often the attorney generals office.

It happens regularly. A resident goes to City Hall to see the plans for the development near their house, as bulldozers are already moving dirt. A government official says the resident cant have the plans. A city council goes into closed session to talk about the new apartment complex, or the business that has a connection to the mayor, or some other important matter. Residents wonder why theyre shut out of the conversation. A reporter files a Sunshine Law request for the plans or emails about it from government officials, but is told there is nothing to see.

In Missouri, as in most states, the attorney general is in charge of enforcing the Sunshine Law and making sure that local governments are complying with its provisions on open records and public meetings. And thats what makes this weeks order by Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem so damning, and so very important.

Back in November, Beetem ruled that Missouris former attorney general, Josh Hawley, now a U.S. senator, had no respect for the rule of law when he did public business on private email servers and then spent years trying to hide his actions from the public. In a lawsuit brought by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2018, Hawley was accused of hiding records the committee sought in a Sunshine Law request. The records were related to Hawley blurring the lines between public and private business. The attorneys who brought the case were Mark Pedroli of Clayton and the Washington-based law firms of Perkins Coie and the Elias Law Group.

This week, the judge awarded attorneys fees in the case. One of the reasons the Sunshine Law allows for the awarding of such fees is to discourage government officials from breaking the law. And it evens the playing field so an average citizen can bring a case.

The money awarded in this case  $242,385.38  is likely a record for an award of fees in a Sunshine Law case. Taxpayers will foot that bill.

Taxpayers are paying for Hawleys violation of state law and the intransigence of the attorney general who followed him, Eric Schmitt. He defended Hawleys case in court for two years when there was zero doubt that Hawleys office had violated the law.

Schmitt, too, is a U.S. senator now. Apparently, in Missouri, breaking the Sunshine Law and trying to cover it up is a path to success in the Republican Party.

I think what the judge is saying is no matter what political party you are from, you cant ignore the Sunshine Law, Pedroli says. The Sunshine Law is not partisan.

Its worth noting that Beetem, like Hawley and Schmitt, is a Republican. The harsh language in his November order stands as a rebuke to those who act like the Sunshine Law only matters when the other side violates it.

Heres what Beetem wrote then, and why it was so expensive to taxpayers:

The decision to withhold documents responsive to  the Sunshine Law requests was made by public officials who had personal and professional stakes in the documents not being released.  The Court acknowledges that this is the maximum penalty that may be imposed for a knowing and purposeful violation of the Sunshine Law and finds it to be appropriate given the position of the offending parties (the office of the Attorney General and its custodian of records).

Indeed, if the people who are charged with enforcing the Sunshine Law are instead flaunting it, is it any wonder that other government officials, at the state and local levels, treat the law as a mere annoyance?

From St. Louis to Pine Lawn to Edgar Springs to the governors office to the Missouri Legislature, there are regularly examples of public officials refusing to share public documents in violation of the Sunshine Law, with few repercussions until they are sued. In the cases that make their way to court, judges are increasingly showing their frustration with members of the executive and legislative branches who violate the law that allows members of the public to hold them accountable.

Most of these costs are borne by the refusal to admit basic reality, Pedroli says.

In other words, if government officials would simply admit their mistakes when called on them, taxpayers wouldnt have to foot such bills. By statute, Beetem could only fine Hawleys office $12,000 for its violations. But nearly a quarter of a million dollars in attorney fees? Thats not chump change.

They did what they did and its obvious what they did, Pedroli says. The award of costs sends a message to all the local governments that they better get their acts together or their violations of law could be very expensive.
JEFFERSON CITY  Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday said he had dissolved a board tasked with recommending life or death for Marcellus Williams, convicted of killing a former Post-Dispatch reporter in 1998.

He did not say what the board recommended, but Parson also lifted a nearly 6-year-old stay of execution in Williams case.

No execution date for Williams, convicted of killing Lisha Gayle, had been set as of Thursday.

We could stall and delay for another six years, deferring justice, leaving a victims family in limbo, and solving nothing, Parson said in a statement.

This administration wont do that, he said. Withdrawing the order allows the process to proceed within the judicial system, and, once the due process of law has been exhausted, everyone will receive certainty.

Williams was sentenced to death in 2001 for the stabbing death of Gayle, a University City resident, in 1998. Gayle, 42, was a reporter at the Post-Dispatch from 1981 to 1992 before leaving to do social work.

Williams was hours from being executed in August 2017 when then-Gov. Eric Greitens stopped the process and invoked a rarely used state law to appoint a five-member panel of former judges to review whether Williams should be granted clemency amid new evidence showing Williams DNA was not found on the knife used in the killing.

In June 2018, after Greitens quit, Parson directed the retired jurists to continue their work.

The judicial panel hadnt met since 2021 and delivered recommendations to Parson, St. Louis Public Radio reported in August, citing one of the panels members.

Prosecutors said Williams was burglarizing Gayles home in University City when she surprised him. Gayle fought for her life as she was stabbed 43 times. Her purse and her husbands laptop were stolen.

Authorities said Williams stole a jacket to conceal blood on his shirt. Williams girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on such a hot day. The girlfriend said she later saw the laptop in the car and that Williams sold it a day or two later.

Prosecutors also cited testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a St. Louis cell with Williams in 1999 while Williams was jailed on unrelated charges. Cole told prosecutors that Williams confessed to the killing and offered details about it.

Williams attorneys responded that the girlfriend and Cole were both convicted felons out for a $10,000 reward.

The Missouri Supreme Court in 2015 postponed Williams execution to allow time for the DNA tests. Using technology that was not available at the time of the killing, those tests show that DNA found on the knife matched that of an unknown male. Williams DNA was not found on the knife.

Despite that finding, the states high court denied Williams petition to stop the execution and either appoint a special master to hear his innocence claim or vacate the death sentence and order his sentence commuted to life in prison.

An attorney for Williams did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

In his news release, Parson said all records related to the judicial review, including all panel recommendations, were closed records under Missouri law.

The statute the governor cites says he may appoint a Board of Inquiry to gather information bearing upon whether or not a person condemned to death should be executed or reprieved or pardoned, or whether the persons sentence should be commuted.

Such board shall make its report and recommendations to the governor, the law says. All information gathered by the board shall be received and held by it and the governor in strict confidence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The 55 people Missouri has executed since 2000
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Joe Bidens student loan forgiveness program, as a Missouri-created student loan agency helped six conservative-led states dash the hopes of millions of Americans hoping to be relieved of up to $20,000 of their debt.

In an 6-3 opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the Biden administration had gone too far in relieving up to 40 million Americans of some or all of their student loans, saying the plan went beyond the power Congress granted the Department of Education under a 9/11-era law that gave the administration the ability to change the student loan program in emergencies.

Today, we have concluded that an instrumentality created by Missouri, governed by Missouri, and answerable to Missouri is indeed part of Missouri; that the words waive or modify do not mean completely rewrite; and that our precedent  old and new  requires that Congress speak clearly before a Department Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy, Roberts wrote.

The case was brought by six states, including Missouri, which claimed that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority by forgiving up to $10,000 in student loan debt and up to $20,000 in debt for Pell Grant recipients. Pell Grants are reserved for people from low-income families.

More than 16 million Americans, including 305,000 Missourians, had already been approved for loan forgiveness. When the Biden administration introduced the program, it was during a state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to prove they had the right to sue, the states focused on Missouris state-affiliated student loan program, called the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, but better known as MOHELA.

Chesterfield-based MOHELA was created by the Missouri Legislature in 1981, but operates as an independent entity. Missouri law says the Legislature cant be held liable for decisions made by the student loan servicer, but also uses money from MOHELA to fund scholarship programs in-state.

Lawyers for the states argued that Missouri was directly harmed by the Biden administrations student loan forgiveness because it would potentially cut the agencys operating revenue by around 40%, jeopardizing the funding for those scholarships.

The Biden administration argued that because it has the independent right to sue, Missouri cant sue on its behalf. The conservative justices on the court disagreed.

The Secretarys plan harms MOHELA in the performance of its public function and so directly harms the State that created and controls MOHELA, Roberts wrote. Missouri thus has suffered an injury in fact sufficient to give it standing to challenge the Secretarys plan.

Missouri joined the lawsuit under Republican Sen. Eric Schmitt, who was Missouri attorney general at the time. It was part of a wave of lawsuits Schmitt launched against the Biden administration, as it has become increasingly common for both Republican and Democratic state attorneys general to build political capital by suing a president of the opposing political party.

Schmitt immediately took credit on Twitter, saying that the Biden administration didnt have the authority to wipe out billions in debt, part of a larger effort Schmitt has undertaken to pry power from the executive branch and give it to Congress.

Joe Bidens student loan bailout was nothing more than a thinly veiled political ploy on a shaky foundation to score cheap points, Schmitt said in a longer statement. The bailout was inherently unfair to those who responsibly paid off their debt or those who chose not to take on debt, and the truck driver or the waitress shouldnt have to subsidize the theater degree of the tenured professor.

Missouris current attorney general, Republican Andrew Bailey, also claimed credit for the decision.

Im proud to have led in the fight to halt Bidens unconstitutional plan in its tracks and to protect everyday Americans from being saddled with the enormous cost of the plan, Bailey said.

The lawsuit was led by Nebraska, and was argued in court by Nebraskas solicitor general, James Campbell.

In determining that Missouri was harmed by the loan program, the six conservative justices decided Congress had not given the Biden administration the express authority to forgive student debt when it passed a law called the HEROES Act in 2003, which gave the Department of Education the power to relieve hardship people may have from student loans in emergency situations.

The Biden administration had enacted the student loan forgiveness program under the state of emergency for COVID-19, which ended in May. Biden said in a statement Friday that he would have more to announce when it came to student loan debt and denounced Republicans for blocking his plan.

My Administrations student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic, Biden said. Nearly 90 percent of the relief from our plan would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to people making more than $125,000. It would have been life-changing for millions of Americans and their families.

The ruling puts an already unpopular court on the side of eliminating a program that would have helped millions of Americans financially. Groups in favor of eliminating student loan debt immediately called for Biden to find other means to eliminate student debt  though it is unlikely a divided Congress will be able to enact any such law before the presidential election in 2024.

It comes a day after the court declared race-based college admission policies unconstitutional, striking down more than 50 years worth of affirmative action programs.

Rep. Cori Bush, a St. Louis Democrat who supports adding justices to the Supreme Court, denounced the ruling and said Biden must keep the promise he made to cancel student debt for over 40 million people by pursuing one of the several alternative paths at his disposal to deliver debt relief.

In the dissent, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the court had overstepped its authority in eliminating the program. Kagan argued that MOHELA should have brought the case instead of Missouri and that the HEROES Act gave the administration wide latitude when it came to handling debt in emergencies.

The result here is that the Court substitutes itself for Congress and the Executive Branch in making national policy about student-loan forgiveness, Kagan wrote. Congress authorized the forgiveness plan (among many other actions); the Secretary put it in place; and the President would have been accountable for its success or failure. But this Court today decides that some 40 million Americans will not receive the benefits the plan provides, because (so says the Court) that assistance is too significan[t].

Roberts chided the liberal justices for indicating the court went beyond its authority, saying it has become common for people to claim the court overstepped when they disagree with an opinion.

We do not mistake this plainly heartfelt disagreement for disparagement, Roberts said. It is important that the public not be misled either. Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country.

Star reporters Jonathan Shorman and Kacen Bayless contributed reporting.
ST. LOUIS  State officials are looking into the financial dealings of Kairos Academies charter school, where three current and former executives received nearly $600,000 in back pay dating to several years before the school opened in 2019.

The Missouri auditors office is reviewing a whistleblower report and state Sen. Doug Beck, D-south St. Louis County, said Thursday he was alarmed by what he called an abuse of taxpayer dollars.

Beck plans to make charter school reform a priority in the next legislative session, he said.

We need to draw some attention to this. What are we paying for? Were taking taxpayer money and its not going into the classroom, Beck said. I dont know how thats not fraud.

In late 2021 and early 2022, Kairos co-founders Gavin Schiffres received $272,881, Jack Krewson received $199,881 and Brittany Kelleher received $100,721 in back pay, according to school records released in June.

The deferred compensation was awarded for substantial personal risk to ensure Kairos doors opened and students were receiving the transformational, personalized education they deserved, according to a statement from the school.

Schiffres and Kelleher resigned from Kairos in July 2022. Krewsons current salary as chief strategy officer at the 400-student school is $115,000.

The lawmaker also said he wants the state to reform or abolish the Missouri Charter Public School Commission, which sponsors Kairos.

I think the charter commission has to go. There is no accountability there, Beck said. The part thats frustrating, there is no mechanism there to make the schools better or see where your money is going.

When reached by phone Thursday, the commissions executive director Robbyn Wahby referred to Kairos financial documents and then hung up on the reporter.

The back pay awarded to Kairos ex-CEO Schiffres and Krewson includes an 18-month period when they were teaching in north St. Louis County public schools.

Records from Kairos show the deferred compensation was calculated to January 2016, nearly a year before the school was registered with the Missouri secretary of state as a nonprofit and three and a half years before it opened in fall 2019.

From 2015 to 2017, Schiffres taught English at Jennings High School and Krewson taught math at Normandy High School through Teach for America, while earning masters degrees from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Their salaries paid by the school districts were around $38,000 each, according to public records.

Schiffres received $54,900 and Krewson received $45,900 in back pay from Kairos for the period they were employed by the school districts, the charter schools records show.

They are double-dipping from the government, said Carol Burris, executive director of the New York-based advocacy group Network for Public Education. I find this to be outrageous. This is a gift of public funds and if its not illegal, it should be.

Schiffres and Krewson worked on their plan for Kairos through semi-regular meetings on nights and weekends, whenever they could find some free moments between their UMSL MEd (master of education) coursework and their (teaching) corps responsibilities, reads a November 2018 article on UMSLs website.

After their teaching stints ended, both Schiffres and Krewson worked as managers of talent recruitment for the nonprofit St. Louis Teacher Residency, according to their resumes. They also tutored with Special Solutions in Rock Hill, and Krewson helped lead wilderness trips for his alma mater, John Burroughs School in Ladue.

Kairos management arm compensated Schiffres $146,400 in back pay and salary from July 2017 until the school opened in fall 2019. Over the same period, Krewson was compensated $122,400.

Before opening Kairos, the pair won support from charter school funder Opportunity Trust, writing in 2018 that this early investment allowed us to spend a full year researching best practices, interviewing school leaders, and writing the most comprehensive charter application in Missouri history. ... As important as the financial support, The Opportunity Trust has provided us with countless resources and mentors.

A spokeswoman for Opportunity Trust said Schiffres and Krewson were not salaried. The group donated $100,000 to Kairos in the year before it opened, according to tax documents. Kairos also got a $1.5 million charter school startup grant from the federal government.

A spokesman for Kairos said the co-founders were given back pay because they made the personal decision to devote as much of our organizational resources to classroom instruction and school operations.

But when the charter commission first reviewed the school in February 2020, staff reported not having enough supplies, feeling stretched too thin, and a general feeling of the school being understaffed and under resourced ... There appears to be a frugalness that may not be in the best interest of the school, reads the annual report.

A former operations associate at Kairos who left in 2020 told the Post-Dispatch, I am especially bitter when I was the school nurse, lunch lady and the drama teacher making $25,000 a year.
ST. LOUIS  The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday on affirmative action in college admissions prompted immediate responses from area schools, with the University of Missouri system saying it would eliminate race as a consideration for millions of dollars in scholarships.

St. Louis University and Washington University, meanwhile, both said they would consider changes to their admissions policies.

And Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey sent letters to dozens of colleges warning them to end all affirmative action programs immediately.

I intend to ensure that the constitutional rights of all Missourians are protected, Bailey wrote in the letter. Including those who would be harmed by race-based policies that are unlawful under the rulings issued today.

The Supreme Court, in votes driven by the conservative majority, overturned admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, finding that giving applicants an edge based on race violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.

The ruling wont impact all schools equally. Missouris largest colleges in the UM system, along with public schools in Illinois, such as Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, already dont weigh race in admissions for undergraduates.

But UM system leaders said the ruling will still impact some programs and scholarships.

University of Missouri-Columbia sets aside about $12.3 million, or 6.4% of its annual budget, for financial aid that considers race or ethnicity. About 20 graduate programs at UM also consider the race of applicants. Both of those practices will end, though the school will honor scholarships already awarded.

Our goal all along is to follow the rule of the land, said Mun Choi, president of the UM system. We will be stopping all race-based admissions and race-based scholarships moving forward.

Choi added that the school remains committed to diversity but will need to find new ways to direct scholarships by, for example, focusing on certain regions, first-generation students or low-income families.

The ruling is expected to have a significant impact on the countrys most selective schools, such as Washington University in St. Louis, where only 11% of applicants are admitted, compared with 82% accepted at MU-Columbia.

Washington University Chancellor Andrew D. Martin wrote in a letter to the school community Thursday that the university will comply with the law while maintaining student body diversity as a foundational priority.

Given the limitations, he wrote, we know we will have to sharpen our focus on this commitment.

WU officials did not reply to questions about how race is currently weighed in applications. But both WU and SLU signed briefs to the Supreme Court in favor of allowing universities to continue affirmative action. The schools argued race is one part of a holistic approach to create a diverse student body.

It is impossible to fully appreciate every applicants experiences and perspectives while turning a blind eye to race and ethnicity, the brief from Wash U and 14 other schools read.

The Washington Universtiy student body is about 43% white, 19% Asian, 12% Hispanic and 9% Black, according to the universitys latest figures.

At MU-Columbia, where race is not considered in undergraduate admissions, the student body is about 76% white, according to the most recent data.

A ripple effect?

Michael Sinha, an assistant professor at SLUs School of Law and a member of the admissions committee, said colleges will continue to find ways to attract diverse students but will likely become extremely cautious about certain programs.

He also said the ruling could prompt employers to move toward race-blind hiring.

Even though its centered within elite institutions of higher learning, he said, this is going to have a ripple effect on the way race is considered really across the board.

Jim Lawrence, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and co-lead of the firms higher education team, said clients are being advised to do a hearty audit of their financial assistance programs.

More than anything, the decision today creates confusion, Lawrence said. Its going to take a while to determine what tools are available to schools to ensure a diverse student body.

The effects the decision will have beyond higher education remain unclear, he said.

In his letter, Bailey argued that cities may need to review their hiring practices in light of the decision. He sent the letter to St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, along with mayors in Kansas City and Columbia, among others.

Jones, however, said in a statement Thursday: Lets say the quiet part out loud: Todays ruling is wrong and racist.

On local campuses Thursday, some students and professors also expressed disappointment.

Marquis D. Govan, president of the SLU Student Government Association, said the decision could majorly impact the number of students of color on our campus. I think were going to see a larger number of whiter, wealthier students on campuses across the country.

Carl Phillips, a graduate school professor at Wash U, said he worries the opportunities hes gotten in life will now be available to fewer students. Phillips, who is Black, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry last month and has spoken publicly about the role affirmative action played in his education.

Phillips parents grew up in poverty and did not attend college, but he was urged by a guidance counselor to apply to Harvard in 1977 and was admitted.

It seems to me Im a good example of what affirmative action can do, he said. This idea that were beyond having to think about race is just so wrong-headed. Even at the level of success that Ive achieved, I still have people who question my right to be where I am.

Phillips said he also sees a racially diverse classroom as a key to educating his students.
JEFFERSON CITY  Lawyers for the ACLU of Missouri want a new ballot summary for an initiative petition that, if approved, would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

A lawsuit filed Thursday in Cole County Circuit Court asks Circuit Judge Jon Beetem to toss a ballot summary prepared by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and approved by Attorney General Andrew Bailey, both Republicans.

The lawsuit argues Ashcroft disregarded his duty to craft a sufficient and fair summary statement and calls his wording argumentative and misleading as to the initiatives probable effects, and prejudicial to (the) initiative.

The lawsuit references Missouri law requiring the secretary to use language neither intentionally argumentative nor likely to create prejudice either for or against the proposed measure.

In a statement issued late Friday, Ashcroft called the lawsuit frivolous and said his office would seek to have it dismissed.

A group Missourians for Constitutional Freedom earlier this year filed 11 different plans to undo the states near-total abortion ban. The group is likely to settle on one plan for the signature-collection phase.

The lawsuit filed Thursday is the second of 11 planned lawsuits challenging ballot summaries proposed for the 11 proposed petitions, said Tom Bastian, spokesman for the ACLU of Missouri.

He said the ACLU is filing 11 lawsuits so the courts can expedite the matter after Ashcroft certifies ballot titles for the 11 questions, possibly by the end of July.

Thats when the Missouri Supreme Court could rule in a dispute over Baileys refusal to approve fiscal estimates for the 11 questions, which is needed before the ballot titles can be certified, allowing for signature collection.

Ballot summary

The text of the Ashcroft ballot summary challenged Thursday, for one of the abortion rights plans, asks voters if they want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:

 Allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth, without requiring a medical license or potentially being subject to medical malpractice;

 Nullify longstanding Missouri law protecting the right to life, including but not limited to partial-birth abortion;

 Require the government not to discriminate against persons providing or obtaining an abortion, potentially including tax-payer funding; and

 Prohibit any municipality, city, town, village, district, authority, public subdivision, or public corporation having the power to tax or regulate or the state of Missouri from regulating abortion procedures?

The lawsuit calls the Ashcroft summary disinformation and said Missourians are entitled to a sufficient and fair summary statement that will allow them to cast an informed vote.

Among points raised, the lawsuit says the statement misleads voters by saying it would allow dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions, from conception to live birth, without a medical license or potentially being subject to medical malpractice.

That is neither included in the text of the initiative nor is a probable effect, the lawsuit said.

It also says a statement in the summary that the initiative would nullify law protecting the right to life, including but not limited to partial-birth abortion, is misleading for the same reasons.

Anna Fitz-James, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, who is represented by the ACLU, proposed a ballot summary that reads:

Do you want to amend the Missouri Constitution to:

 Establish the right to reproductive freedom that includes the right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions;

 Allow the General Assembly to regulate abortion only if for the health of an individual seeking care, based on accepted standards of care and evidence-based medicine;

 Prohibit criminalization for exercising the right to reproductive freedom; and

 Prevent the government from discriminating against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care?
LUANDA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- "If today we see the construction of schools, bridges, and other projects, there is always some Chinese financing involved," Pedro Magalhaes, rector of Angola's Agostinho Neto University, has said.

"There is no doubt that the financing came at a time when the country needed this positive energy to drive development," he said.

In recent interviews with Xinhua, Magalhaes and another Angolan expert noted the positive results of and new opportunities arising from the economic and infrastructure cooperation between China and Angola.

They believe the partnership will continue to foster development and bring mutual benefits for both countries.

VISIBLE RESULTS

For Magalhaes, Chinese financial support is easily noticeable in the country. The results of China-funded projects are "visible and positive" economically and elsewhere, and "of great importance to the country," he said.

Sharing a similar view, Tiago Quissua Armando, a young Angolan analyst of international relations at the Venancio De Moura Diplomatic Academy, elaborated that China offered significant financial support for the African country right after the end of the Angolan Civil War in 2002 when the country was in dire need of basic infrastructure.

"At that time, we didn't have bridges. We didn't have schools. China made a serious investment in that regard. Hospitals, bridges, universities and even the Kilamba Kiaxi were built in Angola," said Armando, referring to the residential complex some 30 km south of Angola's capital Luanda.

Built on a once-isolated open field, the project has created a modern community over the past few years, with over 20,000 housing units accommodating approximately 120,000 residents.

Most infrastructure there, such as buildings, schools, roads, and water and electricity supply systems, including the institute where Armando works, was built by Chinese contractors with Chinese financing. "This not only helped solve the housing problem but also brought a positive response to the government and the country of Angola," he said.

The flourishing of China-funded projects in Angola has also attracted many private Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in the country.

"Today, when we talk about the economic diversification process, we can see that there are small and medium-sized Chinese companies operating in Angola, creating jobs for Angolan citizens. At the same time, these companies trade goods and services that meet the Angolan economy," said Armando. "This cooperation is of utmost importance for both countries because it is clear that it has produced positive results."

MORE POSITIVE OUTCOMES

According to the National Bank of Angola, the country's debt to Chinese entities is now estimated at about 19 billion U.S. dollars. When asked about the debt to China, Armando said that considering the positive outcomes of the projects financed by the loans, Chinese financing has boosted the Angolan economy.

"During this period, in the early 2000s, we observed significant economic growth in the Angolan economy. In addition to the high oil prices, we also obtained Chinese credit lines' projects, which enabled national reconstruction and, at the same time, promoted Angola's own economic development," he elaborated.

In January, China and Angola signed an agreement in which the Export-Import Bank of China will provide a concessional loan of 249 million dollars to support Angola's national broadband network project.

Angolan Minister of Finance Vera Daves de Sousa said that the framework agreement would further develop the friendly relations between Angola and China, and promote economic and technical cooperation between the two countries.

"We are seeing the Chinese industry thrive here. We have Huawei. We have Jetour. We have other Chinese companies growing in Angola. I see a bright future between the two countries in this cooperation," Armando said.

CULTURAL EXCHANGES

Currently, tens of thousands of Chinese live in Angola, engaging in various sectors of the economy, but cooperation is not limited to financing and infrastructure.

Urging the partnership between the two countries to build a foundation for cultural exchange, Magalhaes, the rector mentioned above, believes that "no one can coexist without getting to know each other better; cultural cooperation is the basis for everything."

The university leader said that cultural cooperation, such as joint education and scientific research, establishes the foundation for future collaboration between African countries and China.

Magalhaes mentioned his participation in a forum held in Macao a few years ago, where university heads from Portuguese-speaking countries gathered to discuss the Belt and Road Initiative.

"It was in this spirit that we paved a path for development. It is through this Belt and Road dialogue that we have managed to unite efforts and sit down to discuss development perspectives."

In his opinion, the China-proposed initiative has driven academic exchanges. In this regard, the Belt and Road is a prosperous project, promoting mutual understanding between many African countries, including Angola, and China, which is a brotherly relationship. 
Missouri political leaders reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling rejecting the Biden administrations student loan forgiveness plan.

Republicans, as expected, applauded the decision; Democrats did not. U.S. Rep. Cori Bush said the fight isnt over.

Heres a roundup of those reactions:

U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Town and Country, said via Twitter: Pres. Bidens unconstitutional action to forgive student loan debt has finally been struck down by the Supreme Court. His reckless decision was nothing more than a taxpayer funded giveaway to higher income individuals that would have cost Americans 100s of billions of dollars. Thank you to Missouri for leading on this important issue and ensuring that hardworking Missourians are not paying for the debt of others.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey: As someone who paid for my education in blood, sweat, and tears in service to my nation, I am extremely pleased with the Courts ruling today. The Court recognized that Joe Bidens plan to force farmers, schoolteachers, and truckers to pay the student loan debts of Ivy League graduates was a gross abuse of power and a slap in the face to every working American who didnt attend college or who paid off their debts. Im proud to have led in the fight to halt Bidens unconstitutional plan in its tracks and to protect everyday Americans from being saddled with the enormous cost of the plan.

Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican who is running for governor in 2024, called the courts decision a major victory for Americans.

I worked for everything I have earned and will not stand for any attempts to unlawfully redistribute Missourians hard-earned money, Kehoe tweeted.

U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, issued a lengthy statement: This harmful decision is the result of a biased Supreme Court  plain and simple. Three things were absolutely clear about this case from the start: first, President Bidens plan is completely legal; second, Missouri should not have been able to bring this case because MOHELA would not be harmed by the Presidents plan; and third, the Supreme Courts extreme right-wing justices have repeatedly proven that they prioritize lining their own pockets with handouts from their billionaire-besties over straightforward and legal student debt relief for millions of borrowers.

It remains evident that we cannot trust our nations highest court, which is why President Biden must keep the promise he made to cancel student debt for over 40 million people by pursuing one of the several alternative paths at his disposal to deliver debt relief.

As payments are set to resume October 1st, millions of borrowers face financial uncertainty about the magnitude of their debt burden. We must preempt this looming student loan default crisis. The Biden Administration has an obligation to support borrowers in a seamless transition toward repayment. Inaction is not an option. My Democratic colleagues and I will continue to champion policies that tackle the rising costs of acquiring a higher education.

Especially in the wealthiest country in the world, no one should go into debt to receive a higher education. Access to education is a fundamental human right, and that is why we must continue to fight to make college affordable, accessible, and equitable for all people at all income levels. That's why I am pushing for the cancellation of all federal student loan debt and to achieve universal access to higher education, including by passing the College for All Act. We will continue to press for the Supreme Court reform we desperately need. This fight is far from over.

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, cheered the ruling. As Missouri attorney general last year, he was part of the six-state coalition that sued the Biden administration over the debt forgiveness.

Joe Bidens student loan bailout was nothing more than a thinly veiled political ploy on a shaky foundation to score cheap points, Schmitt said. The bailout was inherently unfair to those who responsibly paid off their debt or those who chose not to take on debt, and the truck driver or the waitress shouldnt have to subsidize the theater degree of the tenured professor.

The court found that the Biden administration had absolutely no authority to wipe away billions in debt, he said. When I was Missouris attorney general, I filed this critical lawsuit  Im pleased to see the Supreme Court side with the plaintiff states and strike down Bidens student loan debt bailout.

In a brief comment on the news on Twitter, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, wrote: The Court ends a massive giveaway to the wealthy, who benefited disproportionately from Bidens scheme.

Missouri Rep. Kevin Windham, D-Hillsdale, tweeted, Its a shame, but not surprising that Missouri led the way to deny financial relief to Americans in need.

Update: Biden says 'this fight is not over' after Supreme Court strikes down student debt plan A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loans for millions of Americans.
BLOOMINGTON, Ill.  University leaders across Illinois on Thursday pledged that their efforts to achieve diverse campus communities would not be limited by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down affirmative action.

Many said their processes would not be affected by the ruling, which declared that race cannot be a factor in college admissions. Still, they expressed concerns about the decision that the Illinois Board of Higher Education characterized as an attack on people of color, especially Black people.

The board said affirmative action was never a solution to inequality, but "merely a tool intended to chip away at an enormous obstacle."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the decision a "travesty" that reversed nearly 45 years of precedent that advanced equity in higher education.

Pritzker said the Supreme Court ruling sets us back, but in Illinois we will continue to uplift our students of color  promoting inclusion and expanding access through record-levels of funding for higher education institutions and our MAP Grant Program, so that every student has the opportunity to earn a degree.

To students of color, he said, you belong in our institutions. And no archaic ruling will ever change that.

Continued commitments

Illinois State University does not use race as a factor in admissions, said Jana Albrecht, associate vice president for enrollment management.

To fulfill its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, the university visits high schools and works with community-based organizations to reach students and, she said. The university's goals, mission and vision will not change with the ruling, but she acknowledged the possibility that prospective students of color may be discouraged by Thursday's decision.

"I think thats a real concern and a possible outcome of this," she said, "which is why its important for our admissions office in our university, and for our faculty and staff, to reach out to students and let them know we are a welcoming environment and we absolutely want them at our institution."

Southern Illinois University also does not consider race in its admissions, but campus leaders were "deeply concerned" by the court's decision, university leaders said in a statement Thursday.

"Todays ruling coupled with similar decisions in several states across the country, may embolden critics of diversity and reverse generations of progress at colleges, universities and the nation," said the statement from the university board, President Dan Mahony, chancellors of both campuses and dean of the school of medicine.

The University of Illinois system also issued a joint statement from its president and chancellors, stressing a continued commitment to diversity. They pledged that the university would "continue to open its doors wide to all deserving students  including those for whom opportunities may have been unfairly limited."

It was unclear to what extent the university's current processes would be affected by the ruling. The leaders pledged to "carefully review the specifics" and take steps to remain in compliance with state and federal laws.

Western Illinois University President Guiyou Huang stressed that the institution would continue to "support all students' ability to secure a college degree in an environment that celebrates diversity and inclusion."

"We stand with our peer institutions of higher education who have issued statements announcing their commitment to continue striving to close equity gaps for Black, Latinx, low-income, working adults, rural students, and all marginalized communities," she said.

Doug Freed, director of undergraduate admissions, said the institution does not factor race into its admissions decisions.

Eastern Illinois University, in a statement, also emphasized its commitment to access and opportunity.

"Our longstanding mission embraces diversity and inclusion, attributes we know are fundamental to a deeper understanding of ourselves and greater respect for each other," the university said. "These commitments are foundational in EIUs vision to advance engaged citizenship through personal connections and interpersonal experiences."

'Not unexpected'

Northern Illinois University President Lisa Freeman described Thursday's decision as "not unexpected," but she said it nonetheless "deals yet another shockwave of frustration, pain and fear for marginalized communities."

She said the university does not use race as a factor in undergraduate admissions and would remain compliant with the law, but its mission would not change.

"Our student body reflects our longstanding commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and our university communitys recognition of such," she said. In fall 2022, roughly 20% of NIU students were Latinx, 17% Black, 6% Asian and 46% white.

Illinois Wesleyan University President Georgia Nugent said she recently attended an annual meeting with the Annapolis Group, an organization of roughly 130 liberal arts colleges, where they discussed the potential consequence of the Supreme Court ruling.

The general consensus of those in attendance was that the schools at risk of being affected are the Ivy League schools where there are extremely low acceptance rates for a large pool of applicants, Nugent said.

The conclusion that we came to is that the places that are really going to be affected by this decision are the Harvards and Stanfords of the world where they are so deluged with applications that they need to employ factors to sort those applications out, Nugent said. We dont have that.

Wesleyan currently has about a 50% acceptance rate and offers programs and scholarships to foster equity and provide opportunities, Nugent said.

Kent Barnds, chief enrollment officer at Augustana College, said he suspects that the decision would have little impact on institutions like the private liberal arts college in Rock Island.

I don't think that probably anyone in higher ed was especially surprised by this decision," he said Thursday. "I think probably there were many in higher ed, who were disappointed by the decision."

Still, he and others in higher education are still trying to gain a full understanding of the potential implications.

I think that there is unlikely to be a big impact, he said. Because this decision is across the whole higher ed landscape, there is this thought that it will have wide ripple effects  and there is some evidence that when race is no longer a factor that's considered, sometimes the racial composition of an enrollment or a class can change.

Barnds, who oversees all enrollment management functions at Augie, said the college does not utilize an affirmative action program in its admissions process  nor will it need to change any policies in wake of the decision.

We've practiced what is referred to as, 'Holistic Admission,' and that's certainly what many private colleges do, he said. We're looking at multiple factors of how a student can contribute to our community.

Millikin University leaders also do not anticipate much, if any, affect on admission procedures. Stacey Hubbard, dean of admissions and financial aid, said the university does not consider race as a component when making admission decisions.

"One of Millikin's core values is inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, and we have historically attracted a diverse population of applicants due to the academic and co-curricular activities we offer," she said, adding that one initiative of the Decatur institution's strategic plan involves "nurturing a welcoming and inclusive campus environment with a goal of fostering a sense of belonging for all who engage with Millikin."

This story will be updated.

Drew Zimmerman, Brendan Denison, Les O'Dell, Valerie Wells, Olivia Allen and Matuesz Janik contributed to this story.

Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term Jesse White.JPG JB Piitzker 13 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 12 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 11 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 10 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 9 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 7 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 5 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 3 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 2 010923.JPG JB Piitzker 1 010923.JPG Juliana Stratton 1 010923.JPG Stratton 2 010923.JPG Alex Giannoulias 1 010923.JPG Alex Giannoulias 2 010923.JPG Michael Frerichs 010923.JPG 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball 011023-illinois-ball Tiffany Mathis 1 011023.JPG dance gov 7 010923.JPG dance gov 13 010923.JPG dance gov 12 010923.JPG dance gov 11 010923.JPG dance gov 10 010923.JPG dance gov 9 010923.JPG dance gov 8 010923.JPG
OLIVETTE  In the depths of the Animal Care and Control building in Olivette, an unsung group of health department workers known as vector control pore over data to determine where to lay traps in an effort to prevent disease.

In the middle of the office, in the 10000 block of Bauer Boulevard, hangs a fake mosquito the size of a Labrador retriever. Below it is a series of tubes and machines. Their purpose: Testing the bug that everyone loves to hate.

One of the groups main goals is to stop the spread of illnesses by mosquitoes, which cause more than 700,000 deaths per year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Those deaths tend to be concentrated in Africa, but North America sees its share of illness-causing infections too. The first locally acquired cases of malaria in the U.S. in 20 years were announced in recent days, with four cases appearing in Florida and another in Texas.

In addition to malaria, the bugs, which are most active during the warm summer months, can carry deadly illnesses such as West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis.

My biggest thing is educating the public, said Tony Patullo, a vector control specialist who has worked full time with the St. Louis County Department of Public Health for six years. Were never going to get rid of all the mosquitoes. Any time we can help people take care of their own little area, it benefits everybody.

The vector specialists study several animals, including ticks and rats, but the majority of their work is on mosquitoes.

When they find one that tests positive for a disease, they work to alert the public. They send out news releases, and they offer tips on how residents can protect themselves. Wearing bug spray and long-sleeve shirts, for example, can keep infected bugs away.

Other tips include clearing out any standing water near your home and cleaning your gutters. Mosquitoes prefer warmth because it makes for an ideal environment for laying mosquito eggs in warm, standing water.

If we did not do what we do, then disease-carrying mosquito populations would be allowed to go unchecked, said James Sayers, environmental manager of the countys vector-borne disease prevention program.

The vector control team traps mosquitoes using water, a net and a fan. The water invites mosquitoes to lay their larvae, then the fan sucks the bugs into a net they cannot escape. After a night of capturing mosquitoes, the trap is ready to be picked up.

Patullo then sits in front of a tray of mosquitoes and with his tweezers he analyzes and separates each one by species. There are about 50 species of mosquitoes in Missouri, though only some carry diseases.

Once separated, the mosquitoes are clustered into a tube, with as many as 15 fitting inside one. A metal pellet is placed in the tube, then the specimen is taken to a machine that furiously shakes the tube until the pellet turns the mosquitoes into a gray liquid: A mosquito milkshake, as Patullo calls it.

The samples are put in the refrigerated centrifuge to separate the solids and liquids, then buggers are run through the liquids to extract RNA.

Finally, the extracted RNA goes into a machine that tells vector control if the sample has any diseases. If it does, its time to start alerting the public.

Our purpose is to reduce human disease, said Sayers. In St. Louis County, we have high populations of nuisance mosquitoes. So its a quality of life thing.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Smoky haze, hot weather and powerful storms brought dangerous and uncomfortable conditions to parts of the U.S. heading into a long July Fourth weekend that typically draws Americans to outdoor gatherings.

From heat waves in the South and West to unhealthy air quality in the Northeast, much of the U.S. was under the threat of extreme weather. In the Midwest, some residents Friday were recovering from a powerful storm that moved through Illinois and Indiana a day earlier packing winds that reached more than 70 miles per hour (112 kilometers per hour).

That storm damaged trees and buildings in the central parts of both states from the Mississippi River to the Indianapolis area. Crews worked to replace electrical lines entangled in downed trees ahead of more expected thunderstorms and temperatures climbing to around 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). Utility companies reported that more than 250,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity.

Brian Alexander, 55, swept up debris from the front yard of his Springfield, Illinois, home. Tree limbs that fell on his car left several small dents.

Very lucky on that, Alexander said. No power, but well manage. Were just waiting for the city to get us hooked up again and well get everything cleaned up.

The National Weather Service said the storm was a derecho, which is often described as an inland hurricane because of its line of strong winds stretching for hundreds of miles.

We had damage all the way from northeast Kansas, all the way down into Kentucky and across Indiana, said John Bumgardner, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Illinois.

In the South, a dangerous heat wave that has been blamed for the deaths of at least 14 people was expected to last into the weekend in some areas. Parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi were under excessive heat warnings Friday as heat indexes rose above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) in some places.

In Memphis, Tennessee, officials said relief efforts were focused on the thousands of people who still had no power after storms Sunday that knocked down trees and power lines. In Nashville, residents and tourists alike tried to keep comfortable as temperatures climbed toward the upper 90s.

Leo Bennett, an employee of the county sheriff and at a private traffic control company, said he prepares for long days outside by drinking several bottles of water and packing a cooler.

One of my secrets is the pickle juice, Bennett said. "I bring pickle juice to keep from cramping up or whatever the case might be.

At a park just outside downtown, teenage baseball players participated in a tournament and used cold towels between innings to cope with the heat. Coach Jordan Sheffield said he planned to pick up a fan for the dugout.

You can kind of see it on their face, really. The red face a lot. A lot more of them red faced, said Sheffield. A lot of hands on their knees, things like that. So I kind of keep an eye on that and just try to keep them as cool as possible."

The EPA warned Friday that parts of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut could experience unhealthy air conditions because of ongoing wildfires in Quebec and northern Ontario.

The primary concern is high concentrations of fine particle air pollution that is unhealthy, especially for sensitive groups such as people with respiratory disease, the elderly, or people with compromised health, the agency said.

The Midwest storm helped clear that smoke from the region's air. The Environmental Protection Agency had listed many cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland, Ohio, as having very unhealthy air earlier in the week.

But the Midwest might only have a brief respite with another storm is poised to move through the region Sunday, meteorologist Bumgardner said.

Behind that our winds will probably switch back to northerly, which theoretically could bring a little more smoke into the area, Bumgardner said. But thats tough to predict more than a day or two out.

Parts of the West were anticipating extremely hot, dry conditions forecast through the Fourth of July, raising concerns about the danger of fireworks shows and wildfires. Parts of California were under excessive-heat warnings and heat advisories that were expected to last through the weekend.

Looking at our high temperature forecast, we cant help but feel like weve fallen into a ring of fire, the National Weather Services Sacramento office tweeted.

Airline travelers got some relief Friday, with none of the weather-induced restrictions imposed earlier this week on planes landing and taking off at major airports in the Northeast.

Still, by midday on the East Coast more than 2,000 flights had been delayed and more than 300 others canceled  more than 200 of those on United Airlines, according to FlightAware.

Hall reported from Nashville. Associated Press writers John O'Connor in Springfield, Ill., John Antczak in Los Angeles, David Koenig in Dallas, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee and Bruce Shipkowski in Trenton, N.J. contributed.
The Supreme Courts 6-3 ruling on Thursday effectively ending affirmative action policies in college and university admissions nationwide was hardly a surprise, given the courts aggressive rightward lurch in the past few years.

And based on the experience of four states where it was already prohibited for higher education to set race-based admissions quotas, theres little doubt that some of the worst predictions of critics of the ruling will result nationally. Minority students who have come up through substandard elementary and secondary schools will find it harder to climb out from that disadvantage into good universities. That will reverberate downstream in a less-diverse white-collar workforce. The data from California, Michigan, Nebraska and Washington state is clear.

This newspaper has long supported vibrant affirmative action policies for reasons laid out in, among many other instances, a 2015 editorial: Affirmative action policies are the nations effort to compensate for a brutal legacy of racial discrimination  [and] to give mostly racial minority students who may not have had a chance for a good education during their K-12 years a shot at something better through higher education.

In other words, affirmative action isnt merely a form of reparation for past racial disparities in society. It is also a recognition that those disparities are very much still in play today, and that they create special obstacles for minorities in accessing quality higher education. And that it is in societys interest to try to remove those obstacles.

Add to that the broader issue of this court, once again, casting aside generations of precedence for no reason except that one ideological faction suddenly has the votes  a grubby dynamic that is expected in legislative politics, but which a stable judiciary is supposed to be above  and there is plenty to criticize in this ruling.

All of that said: This is done. The lopsided Supreme Court vote  plus a public rejection today of the very concept of affirmative action that, according to polls, significantly outweighs support for it  means theres a little point in bemoaning the decision. America is now in the post-affirmative-action era, at least as it relates to college admissions.

So what does that mean going forward?

First of all, with the battle effectively over, its useful to acknowledge what parts of the anti-affirmative-action position were legitimate, and how their arguments might help mitigate the impact of the decision. Justice Clarence Thomas complex critique of affirmative action over the years  his acknowledgement that it helped him get an education he might not have gotten in its absence, but his sense that his accomplishments were always devalued because of it  is instructive.

To put as optimistic a spin on it as possible, the demise of the system of offering a hand up to those disadvantaged by substandard elementary and secondary schools could re-focus attention on why those disadvantages exist.

It could be argued that affirmative action was an attempt to correct at the back end of the educational process what should be corrected much earlier. It is perhaps naive to suggest that this ruling will drive society to re-think issues like property-tax-based education funding  which inevitably creates a vicious cycle of underfunded schools in poor communities  but it certainly highlights such topics.

While the practice of setting and meeting specific racial quotas is gone with the ruling, the majority opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts makes clear that the court doesnt intend for university admissions offices to be barred from considering race in more case-by-case ways. He specifically left open the ability for schools to consider the applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life.

That, at least, is something universities perhaps can work with. Life experience of all kinds, including experience tied to race, should be relevant to college admissions. It could be that the demise of race-based quotas will force America to find more nuanced ways to counter what are still the systemic effects of racism.
abrdn Global Infrastructure Income Fund ("ASGI")

abrdn Asia-Pacific Income Fund, Inc. ("FAX")

PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / The above-noted abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds (the "Funds" or individually the "Fund"), today announced that the Funds paid the distributions noted in the table below on June 30, 2023, on a per share basis to all shareholders of record as of June 23, 2023 (ex-dividend date June 22, 2023). These dates apply to the Funds listed below with the exception of the abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF), the India Fund, Inc. (IFN) and the abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (JEQ) which paid the distribution on June 30, 2023, to all shareholders of record as of May 19, 2023 (ex-dividend date May 18, 2023).

Ticker Exchange Fund Amount ASGI NYSE abrdn Global Infrastructure Income Fund $ 0.1200 FAX NYSE American abrdn Asia-Pacific Income Fund, Inc. $ 0.0275 IAF NYSE American abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. $ 0.1300 IFN NYSE The India Fund, Inc. $ 0.3900 JEQ NYSE abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. $ 0.1000

Each Fund has adopted a distribution policy to provide investors with a stable distribution out of current income, supplemented by realized capital gains and, to the extent necessary, paid-in capital.

For the abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF), the India Fund, Inc. (IFN) and the abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (JEQ) the stock distributions were automatically paid in newly issued shares of the Fund unless otherwise instructed by the shareholder to be paid in cash. Shares of common stock were issued at the lower of the net asset value ("NAV") per share or the market price per share with a floor for the NAV of not less than 95% of the market price on June 16, 2023. The reinvestment prices per share for these distributions were as follows: $4.44 for the abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF); $16.03 for the India Fund, Inc. (IFN) and $6.15 for the abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (JEQ). Fractional shares were generally settled in cash, except for registered shareholders with book entry accounts at Computershare Investor Services who had whole and fractional shares added to their account.

To have received the abrdn Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF), the India Fund, Inc. (IFN) and the abrdn Japan Equity Fund, Inc. (JEQ) quarterly distributions payable in June 2023 in cash instead of shares of common stock, for shareholders who hold shares in "street name," the bank, brokerage or nominee who holds the shares must have advised the Depository Trust Company as to the full and fractional shares for which they want the distribution paid in cash by June 15, 2023; and for shares that are held in registered form, written notification for the election of cash by registered shareholders must have been received by Computershare Investor Services prior to June 15, 2023.

Under applicable U.S. tax rules, the amount and character of distributable income for each Fund's fiscal year can be finally determined only as of the end of the Fund's fiscal year. However, under Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act") and related rules, the Funds may be required to indicate to shareholders the estimated source of certain distributions to shareholders.

The following tables set forth the estimated amounts of the sources of the distributions for purposes of Section 19 of the 1940 Act and the rules adopted thereunder. The tables have been computed based on generally accepted accounting principles. The tables include estimated amounts and percentages for the current distributions paid this month as well as for the cumulative distributions paid relating to fiscal year to date, from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short-term capital gains; net realized long-term capital gains; and return of capital. The estimated compositions of the distributions may vary because the estimated composition may be impacted by future income, expenses and realized gains and losses on securities and currencies.

Each Fund's estimated sources of the current distribution paid this month and for its current fiscal year to date are as follows:

Estimated Amounts of Current Distribution per Share Fund Distribution Amount Net Investment Income Net Realized Short-Term Gains** Net Realized Long-Term Gains Return of Capital ASGI $0.1200 $0.0372 31% $0.0132 11% $0.0696 58% - - FAX $0.0275 $0.0151 55% - - - - $0.0124 45% IAF $0.1300 $0.0247 19% $0.0013 1% $0.0078 6% $0.0962 74% IFN $0.3900 - - $0.0039 1% $0.3861 99% - - JEQ $0.1000 $0.0090 9% $0.0020 2% - - $0.0890 89%

Estimated Amounts of Fiscal Year* to Date Cumulative Distributions per Share Fund Distribution Amount Net Investment Income Net Realized Short-Term Gains ** Net Realized Long-Term Gains Return of Capital ASGI $1.0800 $0.3348 31% $0.1188 11% $0.6264 58% - - FAX $0.2200 $0.1210 55% - - - - $0.0990 45% IAF $0.3800 $0.0722 19% $0.0038 1% $0.0228 6% $0.2812 74% IFN $0.8200 - - $0.0082 1% $0.8118 99% - - JEQ $0.3000 $0.0270 9% $0.0060 2% - - $0.2670 89%

* ASGI has a 9/30 fiscal year end; FAX, IAF and JEQ have a 10/31 fiscal year end; IFN has a 12/31 fiscal year end.

**includes currency gains

Where the estimated amounts above show a portion of the distribution to be a "Return of Capital," it means that Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in a Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

As of June 22, 2023, after giving effect to this payment, IAF estimates it has a net deficit of $541,000. A net deficit results when the Fund has net unrealized losses that are in excess of any net realized gains that have not yet been distributed.

As of June 22, 2023, after giving effect to this payment, JEQ estimates it has a net deficit of $5,391,000.00. A net deficit results when the Fund has net unrealized losses that are in excess of any net realized gains that have not yet been distributed.

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The final determination of the source of all distributions for the current year will only be made after year-end. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of the fiscal year and may be subject to change based on tax regulations. After the end of each calendar year, a Form 1099-DIV will be sent to shareholders for the prior calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The following table provides the Funds' total return performance based on net asset value (NAV) over various time periods compared to the Funds' annualized and cumulative distribution rates.

Fund Performance and Distribution Rate Information Fund Average Annual Total Return on NAV for the 5 Year Period Ending 05/31/2023 Current Fiscal Period's Annualized Distribution Rate on NAV Cumulative Total Return on NAV Cumulative Distribution Rate on NAV ASGI 7.42%3 7.11% 13.85% 4.74% FAX -0.73% 10.68% 16.24% 6.23%

1 Return data is net of all Fund expenses and fees and assumes the reinvestment of all distributions reinvested at prices obtained under the Fund's dividend reinvestment plan.

2 Based on the Fund's NAV as of May 31, 2023.

3 The Fund launched within the past 5 years; the performance and distribution rate information presented reflects data from inception (July 29, 2020) through May 31, 2023.

Fund Performance and Distribution Rate Information Fund Average Annual Total Return on NAV for the 5 Year Period Ending 04/30/2023 Current Fiscal Period's Annualized Distribution Rate on NAV Cumulative Total Return on NAV Cumulative Distribution Rate on NAV IAF 6.76% 10.26% 12.63% 5.03% IFN 3.36% 10.72% 1.40% 2.68% JEQ -1.20% 6.13% 12.55% 3.06%

1 Return data is net of all Fund expenses and fees and assumes the reinvestment of all distributions reinvested at prices obtained under the Fund's dividend reinvestment plan.

2 Based on the Fund's NAV as of April 30, 2023.

Shareholders should not draw any conclusions about a Fund's investment performance from the amount of the Fund's current distributions or from the terms of the distribution policy (the "Distribution Policy").

While NAV performance may be indicative of the Fund's investment performance, it does not measure the value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund. The value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund is determined by the Fund's market price, which is based on the supply and demand for the Fund's shares in the open market.

Pursuant to an exemptive order granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Funds may distribute any long-term capital gains more frequently than the limits provided in Section 19(b) under the 1940 Act and Rule 19b-1 thereunder. Therefore, distributions paid by the Funds during the year may include net income, short-term capital gains, long-term capital gains and/or a return of capital. Net income dividends and short-term capital gain dividends, while generally taxable at ordinary income rates, may be eligible, to the extent of qualified dividend income earned by the Funds, to be taxed at a lower rate not to exceed the maximum rate applicable to your long-term capital gains. Distributions made in any calendar year in excess of investment company taxable income and net capital gain are treated as taxable ordinary dividends to the extent of undistributed earnings and profits, and then as a return of capital that reduces the adjusted basis in the shares held. To the extent return of capital distributions exceed the adjusted basis in the shares held, capital gain is recognized with a holding period based on the period the shares have been held at the date such amount is received.

The payment of distributions in accordance with the Distribution Policy may result in a decrease in the Fund's net assets. A decrease in the Fund's net assets may cause an increase in the Fund's annual operating expense ratio and a decrease in the Fund's market price per share to the extent the market price correlates closely to the Fund's net asset value per share. The Distribution Policy may also negatively affect the Fund's investment activities to the extent that the Fund is required to hold larger cash positions than it typically would hold or to the extent that the Fund must liquidate securities that it would not have sold, for the purpose of paying the distribution. Each Fund's Board has the right to amend, suspend or terminate the Distribution Policy at any time. The amendment, suspension or termination of the Distribution Policy may affect the Fund's market price per share. Investors should consult their tax advisor regarding federal, state and local tax considerations that may be applicable in their particular circumstances.

Circular 230 disclosure : To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the U.S. Treasury, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.

In the United States, abrdn is the marketing name for the following affiliated, registered investment advisers: abrdn Inc., abrdn Investments Limited, abrdn Australia Limited, abrdn Asia Limited, Aberdeen Capital Management, LLC, abrdn ETFs Advisors LLC and abrdn Alternative Funds Limited.

Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. A Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that a Fund will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

https://www.abrdn.com/en-us/cefinvestorcenter

###

For More Information Contact:

abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds

Investor Relations

1-800-522-5465

[email protected]

SOURCE: abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds

View source version on accesswire.com:
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 29, 2023 / Aztec Minerals Corp. (TSXV:AZT),(OTCQB: AZZTF) announces the voting results from its Annual and Special General Meeting (the "AGM") held on June 28, 2023 in Vancouver, BC.

Shareholders voted in favour of all items of business including the re-election of each director (Messrs. Simon Dyakowski, Patricio Varas, Mark Rebagliati, James Schilling, and Stewart Lockwood) and the ratification of the Company's 10% rolling equity incentive plan. The number of directors remains fixed at five and Smythe LLP were reappointed as auditors.

Following the AGM, Aztec's Board of Directors reappointed its officers for the coming year, namely: Simon Dyakowski as President and CEO, David Heyl as Vice President of Exploration, Stewart Lockwood as Secretary, and Philip Yee as Chief Financial Officer.

"Simon Dyakowski"

Simon Dyakowski, Chief Executive Officer

Aztec Minerals Corp.

About Aztec Minerals - Aztec is a mineral exploration company focused on two emerging discoveries in North America. The Cervantes project is an emerging porphyry gold-copper discovery in Sonora, Mexico. The Tombstone project is an emerging gold-silver discovery with high grade CRD silver-lead-zinc potential in southern Arizona. Aztec's shares trade on the TSX-V stock exchange (symbol AZT) and on the OTCQB (symbol AZZTF).

Contact Information - For more information, please contact:

Simon Dyakowski, President & CEO, Director

Tel: (604) 619-7469

Fax: (604) 685-9744

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.aztecminerals.com

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects" or "it is expected", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from results contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Aztec Minerals Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Brigadier Gold Limited (the "Company") (TSXV:BRG) (FSE:B7LM) (OTC PINK:BGADF) announces that it has terminated its previously announced (March 20, 2023) agreement with RazorPitch Inc. for marketing and investor relations services. The agreement was terminated on April 11, 2023, and the Company has not received any services from RazorPitch Inc. since the time of termination.

For further information, please contact:

Brigadier Gold Limited

www.brigadiergold.ca

Robert Birmingham, Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

(604) 4248131

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Brigadier Gold Limited

View source version on accesswire.com:
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / GoDaddy



Originally published on GoDaddy Life

Infertility can be a challenging issue for many Americans, with millions grappling with the difficulties of building a family. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that approximately one in eight Americans are affected by infertility. As we mark World Infertility Awareness Month this June, it is important to recognize the many ways in which infertility can impact individuals, families, and communities.

At GoDaddy, we understand the importance of providing fertility benefits to our employees. By offering these benefits, we seek to alleviate the financial strain of infertility.

Hear from a few of our employees who have been able to start families directly through IVF (in vitro fertilization) treatments received from GoDaddy Benefits.

Lanie Moser

One in eight couples experience infertility. One in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage. The odds of you knowing someone in your workplace, friends or family that have struggled with either or both of these is pretty significant. I am one in eight. I am one in four. This is my story.

I started at GoDaddy in 2012 because I heard about the amazing benefits and was looking for a job that I could make a career. Little did I know that eight years later, I would need one of those benefits to start a family. Shortly after Covid hit in mid-2020, I learned that my fallopian tubes were completely blocked from endometriosis scar tissue and the only option my husband and I had to conceive children would be IVF. It was at this time that I also learned GoDaddy partnered with Progyny for fertility coverage and that the IVF process was completely covered. The emotional, physical and mental toll IVF can take on a person is far more than anyone should have to take on, but I can't imagine having to also taken on the financial stress.

On August 9, 2021 we started the prepping for the first phase of IVF. Over the course of a two-week period, I had taken forty shots and eight monitoring appointments. GoDaddy was understanding and accommodating of my time away. I was also SO thankful to have the flexibility to work from home during this stage because stretchy pants and heating pads were a must! I did and additional fifty-one at home injections between November and January, and we transferred our first embryo on January 5, 2022. Unfortunately, this transfer ended in a miscarriage. My doctors next recommendation was to have surgery to completely remove my fallopian tubes. So, on February 24, 2021, I went in with blind hope and did just that and one month later we repeated the IVF process again for round two.

On April 29, 2021 we transferred one embryo. Five days later we took an at home pregnancy and saw two pink lines! Our miracle GoDaddy IVF baby girl was born on January 9, 2022. Maxwell Lane is our entire world. We dreamed of the days we could see the world through her eyes, travel with her, take her to the zoo, the aquarium, hear her laugh, and hold her hand. Today, you can find us doing all of that. We are so so so thankful for GoDaddy and the amazing benefits for making all of this happen. I've connected with so many other employees who share similar experiences, and while all of our journeys may look a little different and may be on different timelines, we all share two things in common: hope and strength.

Jenny Oliveira

I live in New Jersey and have been with GoDaddy for about ten months! I'm twenty-one weeks pregnant and due in the beginning on November! Prior to joining this amazing company, I spent about twenty years in the food industry and decided it was time for a change! While casually perusing LinkedIn, I stumbled on a job that spoke to me - Employee Engagement and Surveys - for GoDaddy! I hit the apply button and the rest is history!

My fianc and I had been trying for a year and a half with no luck. Then, my doctor suggested that we see a fertility doctor - talk about anxiety and stress! We have all heard about how insanely expensive fertility treatment is! This all happened while I was switching jobs. And let me tell you - I am a FIRM believer that everything happens for a reason! Before joining GoDaddy, I had NO idea how incredible the fertility benefits were until I started this journey. When I called my fertility clinic, the person on the phone ran my benefits and said "You have bomb.com' benefits." I immediately felt a sense of relief but still very unsure of what that meant. It wasn't until I actually started my treatment that I fully understood how amazing our benefits are!

Going the fertility route is extremely emotional and physically taxing, but knowing that I wouldn't be stuck with an insane bill helped alleviate a great deal of anxiety (which I believe helped everything work)! GoDaddy has given me the greatest gift - a little baby girl!

The support has been AMAZING! I was given the flexibility to attend all my doctor's appointments to ensure everything was running smoothly. The support came from all over - from my boss to my immediate team to finding colleagues who have gone through the same journey!

Renee + Mike Deines

We have worked at GoDaddy for quite a while. We did not meet here, but so much of our life and what we have become has been in part to our shared experiences in the work we get to do here. When we decided to start a family, we quickly learned we were one of the vast number of people who were struggling with infertility. Initially we discussed adoption, however quickly learned of the significant cost involved. Then we found out through a friend about the benefits we had here at GoDaddy for IVF, and it became a game changer.

Our IVF journey was a long and difficult one. However, If we did not go through IVF, we would not be experiencing all of the "firsts" a couple gets to witness when having a baby. We would not have gone through all the successful milestones we hit over the years. We would not have started the IVF process if it was not for GoDaddy's benefits. Although GoDaddy has benefits for both IVF and adoption assistance, to us, IVF seemed more obtainable.

Our IVF journey lasted three years and was filled with doctor's appointments, hormone injections, and weight gain. I went through three failed transfers before finally having a successful one.

While it was a challenging road, we were an amazing support system for each other (especially Mike) that made it all worth it in the end. The first round of IVF was overwhelming, to say the least. The appointments were constant, and between the bloodwork and ultrasounds, it was tough to keep up with all of the information. The hardest part was the hormone injections, which caused mood swings and weight gain, both of which were difficult to manage. The first transfer was unsuccessful, which was disheartening after all the work that went into it. We tried again, and then again but the second and third rounds also failed. It was heartbreaking to go through it twice and have nothing to show for it. The fourth and final attempt was a success. It was hard to maintain hope after three failed attempts, but we kept pushing forward. Despite the hardships, it was all worth it in the end. Getting that call that we had a successful transfer. Getting to see that BOTH babies made it on that first ultrasound. It was all worth it.

Mike was there every step of the way, offering encouragement and taking care of me when I needed it the most. My friends were also a source of strength for us, offering words of wisdom and comfort when we needed it the most. This journey taught us a lot about each other and the importance of relying on others for support. It also reminded us that sometimes, the hardest things in life are the most worth it.

Our babies have been worth every step of the way. That first phone call and ultrasound where we found out we were pregnant; it was a magical and unforgettable experience. Feeling our babies move for the first time and seeing them move across my tummy has been some of the most special moments in our lives.

All of this would not be possible if not for the benefits we have with GoDaddy. We are due on August 15th with twins (Boy - Atticus and Girl- Poppy), and it is because of those benefits we get to grow our family. We love what we get to do here and that this benefit is available to us. People are stunned when we share what those benefits are.

A little bit more about GoDaddy's fertility benefits

For US employees, GoDaddy partners with Progyny, a leading fertility benefit provider, to provide an inclusive, supportive and effective family building benefit for many paths to parenthood, including:

Comprehensive coverage for your family building journey, including access to the most advanced fertility treatments and technology

Unlimited guidance and personalized support from a dedicated patient care advocate

Access to the largest national network of premier fertility specialists

Coordinated care covering medical and pharmacy needs

This brochure will give an overview of the treatments, support and additional resources available to you.

will give an overview of the treatments, support and additional resources available to you. This video also provides details about the benefits available to employees.

GoDaddy participants have rated Progyny with an excellent average 8.9 NPS.

Are you enjoying this series and want to know more about life at GoDaddy? Check out our GoDaddy Life social pages! Follow us to meet our team, learn more about our culture (Teams, ERGs, Locations), careers, and so much more. You're more than just your day job, so come propel your career with us.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/GoDaddyLife

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/godaddylife/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/godaddylife

Twitter - https://twitter.com/GoDaddyLife

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@godaddylife ?

? Career Page - https://careers.godaddy.com

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from GoDaddy on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: GoDaddy

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/godaddy

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE: GoDaddy

View source version on accesswire.com:
NEW DELHI, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Local government in India's northeastern state of Manipur Friday extended the ongoing ban on internet services until July 5.

The ban has been extended again owing to the incidents of violence, arson and firing.

"There is apprehension that some anti-social elements might use social media extensively for transmission of images, hate speech and hate video messages inciting the passions of the public, which might have serious repercussions for the law and order situation in the state of Manipur," reads an order issued by the home department.

The northeastern state is on edge since May 3 when a large-scale violence broke out in the state during a tribal protest over the inclusion of the non-tribal Meiteis community for a scheduled tribe status -- designated for disadvantaged socio-economic groups which gives them reservations in education and government jobs.

Authorities responded by imposing a curfew and putting a blanket ban on internet services as a precautionary measure to restrict the mobilization of crowds in the state. The ban has been in place since then.

The ethnic clashes claimed over 100 lives and displaced over 40,000. Nearly 300 people were injured and close to 1,700 houses burnt down during the violence in the state.

The mobs in the state have been resorting to vandalism and arson by targeting houses belonging to ministers and leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

So far, efforts by the federal government to restore peace in Manipur have not yielded desired results. 
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / IC Capitalight Corp. (CSE:IC) ("Capitalight" or "the Company"), is pleased to announce the results of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on June 30, 2023.

As of the May 18, 2023, the record date for the Meeting, there were 93,085,715 common shares of the Company outstanding and entitled to vote at the Meeting. Of this amount, there were 59,455,505 common shares (63.9%) represented in person or by proxy at the Meeting.

The final voting results of the Meeting are set out below:

Election of Directors . Each of the nominees were elected as directors and will serve and hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders, unless they cease to hold office. The following table sets forth the voting results with respect to the election of each director:

Nominee For Withheld Brian Bosse 100.0% 0.0% Marc Johnson 100.0% 0.0% Bryan Loree 100.0% 0.0% Douglas MacQuarrie 100.0% 0.0% Veronika Hirsch 100.0% 0.0% Elliot Beutel 100.0% 0.0%

Appointment of Auditors . The Company's shareholders approved that MNP LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants be appointed auditors of the Company to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders of the Company and the directors are hereby authorized to fix their remuneration. The following table sets forth the voting results with respect to this resolution:

For Withheld 100.0% 0.0%

ABOUT IC CAPITALIGHT CORP.

The Company operates as a merchant bank that pursues value-based investment opportunities in accordance with its internal investment policies. The Company currently has an investment portfolio that includes the Blue Lake mineral exploration property in Quebec. The Company also owns Capitalight Research Inc., which operates a subscription research business focused on providing gold, silver, copper and nickel, lithium, and critical metals price forecasts.

To learn more about the Company please contact us at [email protected] or visit our websites at www.capitalight.co or www.capitalightresearch.com

This press release was approved by:

Brian Bosse

CEO and Director

P: 866.653.9223

SOURCE: IC Capitalight Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:
BIRMINGHAM, AL / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Drummond Company, Inc. would like to clarify that neither Twin Pines, LLC, nor any of Drummond Company, Inc.'s subsidiaries have any direct or indirect relationship with a company operating in Georgia and Alabama as Twin Pines Minerals, LLC or any of its executives. Drummond Company, Inc. is not involved in any way with any proposed project in Georgia, including the proposed Titanium operation near the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

For more information about Drummond Company, Inc., please visit https://www.drummondco.com/

Contact Information

Paulo Gonzalez

VP Corporate Social Responsibility

[email protected]

2059456420

SOURCE: Drummond Company, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / Emergent Metals Corp. (TSXV:EMR), (OTCQB: EGMCF), (FRA:EML), (BSE:EML) ("Emergent" or the "Company") announces that Kennecott Exploration Company ("KEX"), a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group, has elected to terminate the Option to Earn-in Agreement (the "Agreement") with Emergent on the New York Canyon Property, NV (the "Property") with effect as of June 29, 2023. Pursuant to the exit terms in the Agreement KEX will be providing Emergent with exploration results from the 2023 drill program on the Property, when available, as, described below.

New York Canyon is located 30 mi (48 km) east of Hawthorne, Nevada and directly south of and abutting Lahontan's Santa Fe Mine. The Property consists of 21 patented claims and 152 unpatented claims owned by Emergent and 265 unpatented claims owned by KEX., for a total of 21 patented claims and 417 unpatented claims (8,700 ac or 3,500 ha in size). The claims are located in two blocks, North and South (the "North Block " and "South Block"). The North Block, subject to the Agreement, consists of 27 unpatented claims. The South Block, subject to the Agreement, consists of 21 patented claims and 390 unpatented claims.

As part of its 2023 exploration program, KEX planned to drill two diamond drill holes. One is located on the South Block of claims testing a potential extension of the Copper Queen prospect based on a geophysical anomaly identified in 2022. KEX also planned to drill a second diamond drill hole in the North Block of claims, targeting the Emma prospect, based on soil and rock chip sampling completed in 2022.

KEX completed in 2023 a total of four diamond drill holes totaling 4,359.02 ft (1,238.63 m). In the South Block of claims, Hole NYCN0011 was drilled to a depth of 772.01 ft (235.31 m) and Hole NYCN0012 was drilled to a depth of 1,404.00 ft (427.94 m). In the North Block of claims, Hole EMMA0001 was drilled to a depth of 171.00 ft (52.12 m) and Hole EMMA0002 was drilled to a depth of 2,012.01 ft (613.26 m). Note EMMA0001, planned at a dip of 77 degrees was terminated by geologists in the field and replaced by EMMA0002, which as drilled at a shallower dip of 60 degrees to better intercept the Emma target.

Drill core was quick logged in the field and sent to KEX's core logging facility in Salt Lake City. Core is now being logged in detail and processed, after which samples will be sent to an independent laboratory for assaying. Additional details on the drill program, assay results, and QA/QC procedures will be provided in future press releases, likely within 60-90 days.

Since optioning the Property in February 2020, KEX completed:

Geological mapping,

Re-assaying of selected intervals of 10 historic core holes,

Surface rock chip sampling,

UAV magnetic geophysics survey and DEM survey,

Passive seismic geophysics survey,

Carbon-oxygen isotope analysis , and

5,809.1 m of core drilling in 14 holes.

KEX will be transferring exploration data in its possession to Emergent in the near future in accordance with the exit terms of the Agreement.

David Watkinson, President and CEO of Emergent, stated, "We are disappointed to lose KEX as an exploration partner on this Property. Their team was great to work with and we obtained significant knowledge about the Property, which we will use in our future exploration efforts. KEX confirmed the presence of widespread copper skarn mineralization on the Property and the potential remains for the Property to host one or more copper porphyry systems. We plan to search for a new partner to help us explore and develop the Property."

Mindora Property Update

Emergent has made the final payment of US$25,000 and completed the purchase of the Mind 1-12 claims at its Mindora Property, NV from Nevada Sunrise LLC (see May 21, 2019, press release for details). Mindora is a gold, silver, and base metal exploration property located approximately 20 mile southeast of Hawthorne, NV. The property consists of 147 unpatented mining claims.

As announced on May 15, 2023, Emergent has signed a binding Term Sheet ("Term Sheet") and plans to complete an Option to Purchase Agreement ("Agreement") with Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSXV: LG) ("Lahontan"). Lahontan, subject to certain terms and conditions, will have the option ("Option") to acquire a 100% interest in Mindora by completing US$1.8 million in cash/share payments and US$1.4 million in work expenditures on the property (total US$3.2 million) over a seven-year period. Lahontan is renaming the property "West Santa Fe" due to its synergy with their flagship asset, the Santa Fe Mine, located just 10 mi (15 km) to the east. The companies have amended the Term Sheet to allow 75 days from May 15, 2023, to complete the Agreement.

Qualified Person

All scientific and technical information disclosed in this new release was reviewed and approved by Robert Pease, CPG, a consultant to Emergent and a non-independent qualified person under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Pease is a consultant to the Company.

About Emergent

Emergent is a gold and base metal exploration company focused on Nevada and Quebec. The Company's strategy is to look for quality acquisitions, add value to these assets through exploration, and monetize them through sale, joint ventures, option, royalty, and other transactions to create value for our shareholders (acquisition and divestiture (A&D) business model).

In Nevada, Emergent's Golden Arrow Property, the core asset of the Company, is an advanced stage gold and silver property with a well-defined measured and indicated resource. New York Canyon is a base metal property that host copper skarn and porphyry mineralization. The Mindora Property is a gold, silver, and base metal property located twelve miles from New York Canyon. Buckskin Rawhide East is a gold and silver property leased to Rawhide Mining LLC, operators of the adjacent Rawhide Mine.

In Quebec, the Casa South Property, is an early-stage gold property adjacent to Hecla Mining Corporation's (NYSE:HL) operating Casa Berardi Mine. The Trecesson Property is located about 50 km north of the Val d'Or mining camp. Emergent has a 1% NSR in the Troilus North Property, part of the Troilus Mine Property being explored by Troilus Gold Corporation (TSX:TLG). Emergent also has a 1% NSR in the East-West Property, owned by O3 Mining Corporation (TSX:OIII) and adjacent to their Marban Property.

Note that the location of Emergent's properties adjacent to producing or past producing mines does not guarantee exploration success at Emergent's properties or that mineral resources or reserves will be delineated.

For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's website at www.emergentmetals.com or view the Company's filings available at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

David G. Watkinson, P.Eng.

President & CEO



For further information, please contact:

David G. Watkinson, P.Eng.

Tel: 530-271-0679 Ext 101

Email: [email protected]

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made and information contained herein may constitute "forward looking information" and "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. These statements and information are based on facts currently available to the Company and there is no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Forward-looking statements and information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "targets", "estimates", "plans", "expects", "may", "will", "could" or "would". Forward-looking statements and information contained herein are based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, 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 other matters. While the Company considers its assumptions to be reasonable as of the date hereof, forward-looking statements and information are not guarantees of future performance and readers should not place undue importance on such statements as actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or information except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including any technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.

SOURCE: Emergent Metals Corp.

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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / NV Gold Corporation (TSXV:NVX)(OTCQB: NVGLF)(FSE:8NV) ("NV Gold" or the "Company") announces that, effective June 30, 2023, Mr. John Seaberg will resign from his positions as President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director of NV Gold to pursue new opportunities.

During his time with the Company, Mr. Seaberg has overseen and been part of many changes. Under his leadership, NV Gold's exploration portfolio has continued to evolve, and a new strategy focusing on the Company's most advanced properties has been launched.

"We are grateful for Mr. Seaberg's efforts on behalf of NV Gold and wish him much success in all his ventures going forward", said John Watson, Chairman and CEO of the Company. "I continue to serve as Chairman of the Board and have been asked to serve as Interim CEO as our Board of Directors begins the process of permanently filling the position."

Mr. Seaberg has agreed to continue as an advisor to the Company to assist with the transition.

About NV Gold Corporation

NV Gold Corporation is a well-organized exploration company with ~89 million sharesissued and no debt. The Company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Reno, Nevada and is focused on delivering value through mineral discoveries in Nevada, USA. leveraging its expansive property portfolio, its highly experienced in-house technical team, and its extensive, searchable geological data library

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

John Watson, Chairman

For further information, visit the Company's website at www.nvgoldcorp.com or contact:

Freeform Communications at 604.245.0054

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and statements that are based on the beliefs of management and reflect the Company's current expectations. When used in this press release, the words "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. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company and include, without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations and intentions with respect to, among other things: the potential quantity and grade of mineral resources identified in the Exploration Target and the Company's current expectations regarding future exploration and development plans. Risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve 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 and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except as may be required in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice regarding forward-looking information and statements.

SOURCE: NV Gold Corporation

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / June 30, 2023 / FedEx Corporation:

On Monday, May 8th, in Can Tho, Vietnam, Orbis International, with generous support from FedEx, launched its first surgical program since 2020 on board the Flying Eye Hospital -a fully accredited ophthalmic teaching hospital on board a plane. For three weeks, Orbis's clinical staff and Volunteer Faculty (medical experts) provided in-person, hands-on training to 50 eye care professionals, including ophthalmologists, nurses, biomedical engineers, and anaesthesiologists from the Can Tho region to build skills to treat the leading causes of blindness and visual impairment in their own communities.

This marked the 12th time the Flying Eye Hospital has held a training project in Vietnam, including one virtual project on Cybersight, Orbis's telemedicine platform. During this project, participants developed their skills through a combination of simulation and hands-on training, as well as customized virtual learning courses before the plane arrived in Vietnam. Training activities took place on the Flying Eye Hospital which was parked at the Can Tho International Airport, and at two partner hospitals, Can Tho Maxillo Dental and Eye Hospital and Can Tho Children Hospital.

The first week of the project was dedicated to simulation training, which allows participants to grow their confidence in a training environment before moving on to surgeries. The last two weeks of the project focused on surgical training, where participants received hands-on, real-life experience with world-class professionals at their sides.

Surgical training focused on treating the leading causes of blindness and vision impairment for children and adults in Vietnam. Participants were trained in pediatric cataracts, oculoplastics and strabismus as well as treating adults for glaucoma and medical retina. This project complemented Orbis's ongoing programs throughout the country and furthered Orbis Vietnam's ultimate goal: to fill the gaps and address the needs of local health personnel and contribute to the National Blindness Prevention Strategy, which was approved by the Prime Minister in 2016.

"We are so grateful to FedEx for not only sponsoring this program in Vietnam but also standing side by side with us for more than 30 years in the fight against avoidable vision loss around the world," said Ngoc Pham, Country Director of Orbis Vietnam. "FedEx has played an indispensable role in helping Orbis achieve its mission, including donating the current MD-10 aircraft that serves as the third-generation Flying Eye Hospital."

FedEx has supported Orbis in its mission for over than three decades and through more than US $22 million in donations and in-kind shipping. In 2021, FedEx announced its renewed commitment to Orbis's sight-saving mission with a US $3.5 million donation to help provide financial, logistical, and operational support to the organization and its Flying Eye Hospital over the following five years. In addition to providing aircraft parts, maintenance, and pilot training, the FedEx-donated MD-10 is flown by FedEx pilots who volunteer their time to navigate the plane around the world on Orbis projects. The sponsorship of this project in Vietnam was part of the FedEx Cares 50 by 50 campaign to positively impact 50 million people around the world by the company's 50th birthday this year.

"FedEx is proud to play a role in the global fight against avoidable blindness. As we celebrate our 50th birthday this year, FedEx has been positively impacting lives and creating a Better World through connecting people to more possibilities. We are committed to using our resources and our network to help address the social and economic needs of those in need in our local communities." said Ee-Hui Tan, Managing Director, FedEx Express Vietnam and Cambodia.

Orbis is grateful for its partnership with Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) and Can Tho International Airport for their support. ACV generously provided a secure location for the Flying Eye Hospital for the duration of the three-week project, a critical component to safely treat patients and train eye care teams.

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: [email protected]

SOURCE: FedEx Corporation

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DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Apartment Income REIT Corp. (AIR) (NYSE: AIRC) will release Second Quarter earnings on Thursday, July 27, 2023, after the market closes. A live conference call to discuss these results will be conducted on Friday, July 28, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Live Conference Call

Domestic Toll-Free Number: +1 833-886-7786

International Toll-Free Number: + 080-0652-2435

Domestic / International Toll Number: +1 416-764-8658

Access code: 11736488

Webcast: investors.aircommunities.com

Conference Call Replay

Domestic Toll-Free Number: +1 877-674-7070

Domestic / International Toll Number: +1 416-764-8658

Passcode: 736488

The conference call replay will be available until Thursday, October 26, 2023.

Webcast Replay: investors.aircommunities.com

About AIR Communities

Apartment Income REIT Corp. (NYSE: AIRC) is a publicly traded, self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). AIRs portfolio comprises 75 communities totaling 25,795 apartment homes located in 10 states and the District of Columbia. AIR offers a simple, predictable business model with focus on what we call the AIR Edge, the cumulative result of our focus on resident selection, satisfaction, and retention, as well as relentless innovation in delivering best-in-class property management. The AIR Edge is a durable operating advantage in driving organic growth, as well as making possible the opportunity for excess returns for properties new to AIRs platform. For additional information, please visit aircommunities.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630709682/en/

Matthew OGrady

Senior Vice President, Capital Markets

(303) 691-4566

Mary Jensen

Head of Investor Relations

(303) 691-4349

[email protected]

Source: Apartment Income REIT Corp
HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The second annual Bermuda Climate Summit, presented by the Bermuda Business Development Agency, in partnership with KBRA, attracted 119 separate companies with a total combined assets under management of ~$4.16 trillion.

The Bermuda Climate Summit attracted 335 delegates, including 101 from overseas, and not only ensured Bermuda remained globally well regarded as a climate thought-leader, but also delivered on its theme to create business solutions, policy, and jobs of the future.

David Hart, BDA CEO, The BDA was pleased to facilitate important climate risk solution conversations at and around our conference, bringing together financial services leaders, public-policymakers and global NGO heads. In so doing, we are well on our way to increasing foreign direct investment in Bermuda by building out a new climate risk solutions/asset management pillar, adjacent to our globally significant risk and insurance sector. We heard again and again at the conference about how Bermuda is perfectly positioned to be a global capital for blue bonds. The BDA looks forward to continuing to build upon our momentum by holding overseas business development missions throughout 2023, and welcoming delegates back to our third annual Bermuda Climate Summit in 2024.

Bermudas Deputy Premier, The Hon. Walter Roban, JP, MP, kicked off proceedings on day one alongside Jim Nadler, President & CEO, KBRA, followed by a keynote luncheon with Suzanne Johnson, Senior Advisor, United Nations (UN) Global Compact Ocean Stewardship Coalition. Day two began with presentations from Bermudas Premier, The Hon E. David Burt, JP, MP, and His Excellency Abdulaziz Alnuaimi, The Assistant Undersecretary, UAE Ministry of Economy, while Joshua Rosenberg, Chief Risk Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, brought the event to a close alongside Stephen Weinstein, BIOS Chair and past BDA-Chair.

The short-term economic impact of the conference, held at Hamilton Princess & Beach Club from June 26-27, including lodging, transportation, food and beverage, retail, and recreation, was estimated at $1.1 million, and supported 311 local jobs. Our inaugural event, held from May 23-24, 2022, attracted 150 delegates, 70 from overseas, and had an economic impact $575,000.

The BDA is grateful for the continued support of our headline sponsor KBRA, as well as: diamond sponsor Conduit Re; platinum sponsor Aon; gold sponsors Deloitte, Fidelis, and Hub Culture; and silver sponsors Aeolus, Aspen, AXA XL, Belco, Convex, and KPMG. Our supporting sponsors were Butterfield, HSBC and Ocean-Based Climate Solutions, Inc. Our media partners were Bermuda:Re+ILS, Climate and Capital Media, Insurance Insider, and The Insurer. Our spirits partner was Goslings Rum.

We also thank our eight local environmental charities  Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo (BAMZ), Bermuda Audubon Society, Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences (BIOS), Bermuda National Trust (BNT), Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme (BOPP), Beyond Plastic, Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) and Living Reefs Foundation. Special thanks to Aspen for supporting the planting of one tree per Bermuda Climate Summit delegate via our charity partners.

The BDA looks forward to its next conference, the fifth annual Bermuda Tech Summit, being held at Hamilton Princess from October 9-10, 2023  for more information, please see our website.

CONNECTING BUSINESS

The BDA encourages direct investment and helps companies start up, re-locate, or expand their operations in our premier jurisdiction. An independent, public-private partnership, we connect you to industry professionals, regulatory officials, and key contacts in the Bermuda government to assist domicile decisions. Our goal? To make doing business in Bermuda smooth and beneficial.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629181542/en/

Stuart Roberts, Director of Marketing & Communications

[email protected] | +1 441 707 0038

Source: Bermuda Business Development Agency
Reaffirms 2023 Full-Year Financial Guidance

Provides Additional Detail on Strong Second Quarter 2023 Expected Financial Results

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Black Rifle Coffee (NYSE: BRCC) (BRCC or the Company), a rapidly growing and mission-driven premium coffee company founded to support veterans, active-duty military, and first responders and serve a broad customer base by connecting consumers with great coffee and a unique brand experience, today announced changes to its management team to strengthen its ability to drive profitable growth and serve customers. The Company is also reaffirming 2023 full-year financial guidance previously provided on May 11, 2023.

As of today, Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Mondzelewski, has assumed the newly established role of president of Black Rifle Coffee. In this role, Mr. Mondzelewski will take on the responsibility of overseeing BRCCs day-to-day operations, alongside his current duties as chief marketing officer. Mr. Mondzelewski joined BRCC in May following a nearly 12-year tenure at Mars, where he most recently led growth initiatives for the Global Petcare business as chief growth officer. Additionally, Mr. Mondzelewski will assume many of Chief Operating Officer Toby Johnsons responsibilities, as she is departing the Company to pursue other opportunities after building the foundation for BRCCs entry into the FDM channel with bagged coffee and scaling the RTD coffee business in convenience stores.

The Company also announced today that, effective August 13, 2023, Greg Iverson will step down from his role as chief financial officer and return to the education sector. Mark Weinsten, an experienced financial executive, will serve as the Companys interim CFO. Mr. Weinsten has been working closely with BRCCs management team on various operational and productivity initiatives since February 2023 and his financial expertise, familiarity with BRCCs operations, and experience serving in interim roles, including as CFO, position him to lead BRCCs finance team during this interim period. The Company is conducting a search for a permanent CFO.

I want to thank Greg and Toby for the positive impact they have had on Black Rifle as we have transitioned from the private to public markets. The continued evolution of our management team and organizational structure will further leverage the strengths and expertise of the exceptional leaders we have within the organization, drive enhanced cohesion across our operations and create better opportunity for future growth, commented Founder and Co-CEO Evan Hafer.

Co-CEO Tom Davin commented, Chris joined BRCC earlier this year and quickly made a positive impact on the Company. His appointment as president is recognition that his deep business and strategic expertise extends well beyond marketing, which is why we are expanding his scope to leverage his business development and operational capabilities. Our business continued to perform well in Q2, and I look forward to working alongside Chris and Mark and the rest of our Board and leadership team as we continue to capitalize on our strong brand momentum to drive industry leading growth in both revenue and profitability.

Financial Outlook

BRC Inc. provides guidance based on current market conditions and expectations for revenue, gross margin and Adjusted EBITDA, which is a non-GAAP financial measure.

For the full-year fiscal 2023, the Company reaffirms:

Net revenue of $400-$440 million

Gross Margin Target of 36% - 37.5%

$5M - $20M of Adjusted EBITDA

For the quarter ending June 30, 2023, the Company expects:

Net revenue of approximately $91 million

Adjusted EBITDA approaching break-even

The guidance provided above constitutes forward-looking statements and actual results may differ materially. Refer to the Forward-Looking Statements safe harbor section below for information on the factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

We are presenting expected net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA based on preliminary unaudited information for the quarter ending June 30, 2023, and these expected results remain subject to revision. The financial measures have been prepared by, and are the responsibility of, management of the Company. The Companys independent registered public accounting firm has not audited, reviewed, compiled or performed any procedures with respect to the estimated net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA provided above. Accordingly, as quarter-end closing and review processes are completed, actual results could differ from these preliminary estimated results.

We have not reconciled forward-looking Adjusted EBITDA to its most directly comparable GAAP measure, net income (loss), because we cannot predict with reasonable certainty the ultimate outcome of certain components of such reconciliations, including market-related assumptions that are not within our control, or others that may arise, without unreasonable effort. For these reasons, we are unable to assess the probable significance of the unavailable information, which could materially impact the amount of future net loss. See Non-GAAP Financial Measures for additional important information regarding Adjusted EBITDA.

About Chris Mondzelewski

Chris Mondzelewski brings over 20 years of consumer marketing, business, and leadership experience, most recently serving as the chief growth officer of Mars Global Petcare business. Throughout his almost 12-year tenure at Mars, he consistently grew his responsibilities, holding multiple marketing and business development leadership roles in which he led transformative growth and operational improvement strategies across numerous brands. Prior to joining Mars, he held marketing roles at Kraft Foods, where he launched several successful campaigns, including the most successful innovation & campaign in recent Kraft Cheese history. Before his business career, Mondzelewski was a Marine for five years, deploying in support of Operation Desert Freedom.

About Mark Weinsten

Mark Weinsten is a managing director with Berkeley Research Group and a member of the Corporate Finance leadership team. Mr. Weinsten specializes in serving in interim executive positions in the consumer industry, including roles as chief executive officer and chief financial officer, and has served in C-level and interim C-level interim roles at over eight different companies over the last ten years, including American Apparel, Z Gallerie, and Manischewitz.

Before joining Berkeley Research Group, Weinsten was a senior managing director with FTI Consulting where he led the firms Private Capital initiative and was part of the leadership team for the Consumer Products and Retail and the Business Improvement & Growth practice. Weinsten earned a BS in managerial economics from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

About Black Rifle Coffee Company

Black Rifle Coffee Company (BRCC) is a Veteran-founded coffee company serving premium coffee to people who love America. Founded in 2014 by Green Beret Evan Hafer, Black Rifle develops their explosive roast profiles with the same mission focus they learned while serving in the military. BRCC is committed to supporting Veterans, active-duty military, first responders and the American way of life.

To learn more about BRCC, visit www.blackriflecoffee.com, follow BRCC on social media, or subscribe to Coffee or Die Magazine's daily newsletter at https://coffeeordie.com/presscheck-signup.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about BRC Inc. and its industry that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including statements regarding the Companys intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the Companys financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies, future market conditions, developments in the capital and credit markets and expected future financial performance, as well as any information concerning possible or assumed future results of operations, are forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as anticipate, believe, continue, could, estimate, expect, intends, may, might, plan, possible, potential, predict, project, should, will, would and similar expressions, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The events and circumstances reflected in the Companys forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such forward-looking statements to differ from actual results include, but are not limited to: competition and our ability to grow and manage growth sustainably and retain our key employees; failure to achieve profitability; negative publicity affecting our brand and reputation, or the reputation of key employees, which may adversely affect our operating results; failure by us to maintain our message as a supportive member of the veteran and military communities and any other factors which may negatively affect the perception of our brand; our limited operating history, which may make it difficult to successfully execute our strategic initiatives and accurately evaluate future risks and challenges; failed marketing campaigns, which may cause us to incur costs without attracting new customers or realizing higher revenue; failure to attract new customers or retain existing customers; risks related to the use of social media platforms, including dependence on third-party platforms; failure to provide high-quality customer experience to retail partners and end users, including as a result of production defaults, or issues, including due to failures by one or more of our co-manufacturers, affecting the quality of our products, which may adversely affect our brand; decrease in success of the direct to consumer revenue channel; loss of one or more co-manufacturers, or delays, quality, or other production issues, including labor-related production issues at any of our co-manufacturers; failure to effectively manage or distribute our products through our wholesale business partners; failure by third parties involved in the supply chain of coffee, store supplies or merchandise to produce or deliver products, including as a result of ongoing supply chain disruptions, or our failure to effectively manage such third parties; changes in the market for high-quality coffee beans and other commodities; fluctuations in costs and availability of real estate, labor, raw materials, equipment, transportation or shipping; loss of confidential data from customers and employees, which may subject us to litigation, liability or reputational damage; failure to successfully compete with other producers and retailers of coffee; failure to successfully open new Black Rifle Coffee Outposts, including failure to timely proceed through permitting and other development processes, or the failure of any new or existing Outposts to generate sufficient sales; failure to properly manage our rapid growth and relationships with various business partners; failure to protect against software or hardware vulnerabilities; failure to build brand recognition using our intellectual properties or otherwise; shifts in consumer spending, lack of interest in new products or changes in brand perception upon evolving consumer preferences and tastes; failure to adequately maintain food safety or quality and comply with food safety regulations; failure to successfully integrate into new domestic and international markets; risks related to leasing space subject to long-term non-cancelable leases and with respect to real property; failure of our franchise partners to successfully manage their franchises; failure to raise additional capital to develop the business; risks related to supply chain disruptions; risks related to unionization of employees; failure to comply with federal state and local laws and regulations; inability to maintain the listing of our Class A Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange; and other risks and uncertainties indicated in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on March 15, 2023 including those set forth under Item 1A. Risk Factors included therein, as well as in our other filings with the SEC. Such forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release and the Companys current beliefs and expectations concerning future developments and their effects on the Company. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as predications of future events. Although the Company believes that it has a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this press release, the Company cannot guarantee that the future results, growth, performance or events or circumstances reflected in these forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur at all. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To evaluate the performance of our business, we rely on both our results of operations recorded in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP") and certain non-GAAP financial measures, including Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is not defined or calculated under principles, standards or rules that comprise GAAP. Accordingly, Adjusted EBITDA should not be viewed as a substitute for performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP or as a substitute for a measure of liquidity. Our definition of Adjusted EBITDA described below is specific to our business and you should not assume that it is comparable to similarly titled financial measures of other companies. We define EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest, state income taxes, depreciation and amortization expense. We define Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA excluding non-cash fair value adjustments relating to the remeasurement of earn-out and derivative liabilities upon vesting events and the remeasurement of a warrant liability upon redemption of warrants, and as further adjusted for equity-based compensation, system implementation costs, transaction expenses, executive recruiting, severance, relocation and sign-on bonus, write-off of site development costs, strategic initiative related costs, non-routine legal expenses, RTD start-up production issue, and contract termination costs. When used in conjunction with GAAP financial measures, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA is a useful supplemental measure of operating performance because this measure facilitates comparisons of historical performance by excluding non-cash items such as equity-based payments and other amounts not directly attributable to our primary operations, such as the impact of system implementation, acquisitions, disposals, executive searches, executive severance, non-routine investigations, litigation and settlements. Adjusted EBITDA is also a key metric used internally by our management to evaluate performance and develop internal budgets and forecasts. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analyzing our results as reported under GAAP and may not provide a complete understanding of our operating results as a whole. Some of these limitations are (i) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs, (ii) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our interest expense or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on our debt, (iii) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our tax expense or the cash requirements to pay our taxes, (iv) Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect historical capital expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments, (v) although equity-based compensation expenses are non-cash charges, we rely on equity compensation to compensate and incentivize employees, directors and certain consultants, and we may continue to do so in the future and (vi) although depreciation, amortization and impairments are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629443951/en/

Investors

Tanner Doss: [email protected]

ICR for BRCC: [email protected]

Media

PR for BRCC: [email protected]

Source: Black Rifle Coffee
New Mobility and Engagement Features include Mobile App, AI-Powered Widgets and Messaging Channels

HOLMDEL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vonage, a global leader in cloud communications helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation, has added new features and capabilities to its Vonage Conversational Commerce, powered by Jumper.ai solution. With these updates, businesses are empowered to elevate engagement with customers across all channels, with features to enhance mobility via live chat and messaging from any device or platform.

Vonage Conversational Commerce Mobile App

The new Vonage Conversational Commerce mobile app for iOS and Android enables conversational commerce agents to access and leverage live chat features on the go, helping businesses to create meaningful connections with their customers from anywhere. With the mobile app, these agents can offer immediate support to customers with queries through real-time messaging with the same access to functionality, resources, CRM and customer information available on the Jumper.ai unified dashboard, including the ability to create orders and share products and images.

Attentive Widget

With the Vonage Conversational Commerce Attentive Widget, businesses can embed instant messaging widgets anywhere on their website, never missing an opportunity to engage with customers at their moment of interest. Powered by AI-driven bots and easily accessible through the customer experience management dashboard, the interactive Attentive Widget helps businesses to:

Start conversations early in the customer journey, facilitating every step of the buying process

Add conversational commerce for product placements on third party sites, such as influencer blogs

Improve visibility of new launches and offers

Attentive Widget differentiates from other chat widgets in the market for its laser-focus on e-commerce and broad capabilities, with the ability to live chat, share products, fill orders and make payments all from within the widget. Engaging with customers and starting a conversation with the right context, these conversations can be embedded anywhere - websites, product pages, blog articles, FAQ pages, and more.

"As technology advances and customer expectations evolve, businesses must innovate and find new ways to connect with their customers. With Vonage Conversational Commerce, we are meeting these expectations and exceeding them by providing seamless and personalized interactions at every touchpoint," said Ron Maayan, SVP Product for Vonage. "These latest enhancements represent our commitment to continuously push the boundaries of conversational commerce and empower businesses to create meaningful, lasting relationships with their customers.

More Messaging, Better Connections

Vonage Conversational Commerce now also features more messaging capabilities with the addition of SMS and Google Business Messenger (GBM). With these new additions, businesses can send messages directly with customers via these channels through a single customer experience management dashboard, as well as create bots for all of these channels with the AI-enabled Chatbot Builder. Vonage Conversational Commerce also supports social and messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Twitter and Instagram, as well as LINE, Google Adlingo Ads, Webchat, Telegram, iMessage, and more.

Vonage customer HolidayPirates, is one of the fastest-growing, free-to-use, travel search platform providing users with the best value for money travel deals:

We built a marketing channel on WhatsApp and it turned out to be the most engaging channel for us. The messaging strategy is very simple - were broadcasting the best selection of travel deals on the market. Our users value this service tremendously as they can stay up to date with the best offers without having to do the research themselves, said Kamila Skotsch, Global CRM Team Lead for HolidayPirates. With Vonage Conversational Commerce we have already increased our cost efficiency by 18%. By targeting our active users, we're connecting in real-time with those that are searching for travel deals and reaching them within seconds - giving them the ability to easily take advantage of these deals and book before the price changes."

Vonage is ahead of the pack of cloud-based solutions supporting Conversational Commerce, explained Dan Miller, Lead Analyst and Founder of Opus Research. These conversations take place over time and employ multiple channels and culminate in a completed transaction. That requires a global network that integrates VoIP with 5G wireless, informed by Conversational AI and under the control of easy-to-use dashboards or toolkits.

Vonage Conversational Commerce Modularization

Also new to the Vonage Conversational Commerce offering are three modular packages to meet the different needs of businesses today:

Notify - This package is a powerful module for notifications and marketing use cases that delivers full broadcast and live chat benefits.

Engage - With this package, incremental benefits to both broadcast and live chat capabilities include the ability to create intelligent bots to meet the growing needs of todays customer with FAQs and customer support.

Convert - This full scale commerce platform all the benefits of Notify and Engage PLUS commerce and payment capabilities.

###

About Vonage

Vonage, a global cloud communications leader, helps businesses accelerate their digital transformation. Vonage's Communications Platform is fully programmable and allows for the integration of Video, Voice, Chat, Messaging, AI and Verification into existing products, workflows and systems. The Vonage conversational commerce application enables businesses to create AI-powered omnichannel experiences that boost sales and increase customer satisfaction. Vonage's fully programmable unified communications, contact center and conversational commerce applications are built from the Vonage platform and enable companies to transform how they communicate and operate from the office or remotely - providing the flexibility required to create meaningful engagements.

Vonage is headquartered in New Jersey, with offices throughout the United States, Europe, Israel and Asia and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ericsson. To follow Vonage on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/vonage. To become a fan on Facebook, go to facebook.com/vonage. To subscribe on YouTube, visit youtube.com/vonage.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629946332/en/

Vonage Media Contact:

Santina Stankevich, 201-407-8474

[email protected]

Source: Vonage
PERTH, Australia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The CBH Group (CBH) has entered into an agreement with Wabtec Corporation (NYSE: WAB) to acquire 17 narrow-gauge locomotives, marking a significant investment in expanding the co-operatives rail fleet as part of the Path to 2033 Strategy.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629062633/en/

Wabtec, a leading global provider of equipment, systems and digital solutions for the freight and transit rail sectors, will build 17 CM20ACi dual-cab, diesel-electric locomotives for CBH.

The first tranche of five locomotives will arrive in Australia in the March quarter of 2026 and will be operational soon after. The following second tranche of 12 locomotives will be arriving in the June quarter of 2026.

CBH opened three competitive Request for Proposal (RFP) processes in the second half of 2022 for the purchase of standard-gauge locomotives, narrow-gauge locomotives, and wagons, to expand and strengthen its current rail fleet, which consists of 25 locomotives and 572 wagons.

In December 2022, CBH announced an order for seven standard-gauge locomotives, scheduled to be in Australia and operational by November 2024.

CBH Chief Executive Officer Ben Macnamara said the agreement with Wabtec will increase CBHs narrow-gauge locomotive fleet to 37.

We are pleased to partner with Wabtec to acquire new narrow-gauge locomotives, a global leader in the design, manufacture and supply of quality locomotives, Mr Macnamara said.

Our rail fleet is a key asset for the co-operative and expanding our existing train sets is a strategic priority that is critical for us to achieve CBHs Path to 2033 strategy that aims to lift our monthly export capacity to 3 million tonnes by 2033 or sooner.

Expanding our narrow-gauge locomotive fleet, in conjunction with the expansion of our standard-gauge locomotive fleet, is a significant step to enhance our outloading capability.

By investing in our supply chain network, we are ensuring we can deliver tonnes to customers when needed and therefore return sustained value to Western Australian growers.

Wabtec President of Freight Equipment Rogerio Mendonca said the company was excited to be selected for the expansion of CBHs narrow-gauge locomotive fleet.

The CM20ACi is a perfect addition to CBHs growing fleet, Mr Mendonca said.

These locomotives will provide CBH with low operational costs, high availability and proven reliability needed to succeed in todays competitive market.

Wabtec Senior Regional Vice President, South East Asia, Australia, and New Zealand Wendy McMillan said the company is looking forward to supporting CBHs service of Western Australias agriculture industry.

These locomotives will enable CBH to increase grain shipments and drive CO2 emission reductions by moving more grain via rail, Ms McMillan said.

CBHs Path to 2033 Strategy is focused on incrementally increasing the co-operatives monthly export capacity over three-time horizons to reach a peak of 3 million tonnes by 2033, or sooner. The delivery of the Strategy is aligned with the objective of being able to safely receive an average 22 million tonne crop by 2033 and outturn 70% of this in the first half of the shipping window.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629062633/en/

CBH Corporate Affairs

T: 0419 773 283

E: [email protected]

Wabtec Media Relations

Tim Bader (US)

T: +1 682 319-7925

E: [email protected]

Ian Eckersley (Australia)

T: 0432 754 897

E: [email protected]

Wabtec Investor Relations

Kristine Kubacki

T: +1 412 450-2033

E: [email protected]

Source: Wabtec Corporation
NEW DELHI, June 30 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and five others injured Friday after a solvent reactor exploded at a pharmaceutical company in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, officials said.

The explosion took place at the Sahiti Pharma Company in the Achutapuram Pharma Special Economic Zone of Anakapalli district, about 39 km southwest of Visakhapatnam, the main city of Andhra Pradesh.

The explosion triggered a massive blaze inside the building, following which authorities rushed firefighters to the spot.

Thick columns of smoke and bright flame billowed from the pharma unit, witnesses said.

"The fire in the premises of the pharma company has been brought under control," M M Ali, a senior official at Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority, told Xinhua over the phone.

Reports said nearly three dozen people were present in the pharma company at the time of the explosion and a majority of them managed to escape unharmed.

Preliminary investigations suggest the explosion might have happened due to the boiling of solvents at high temperatures.

Accidental explosions are common at Indian factories as owners usually ignore safety standards. 
Chartwell and Rockbridge set to meet high demand for lodging in Nashville suburbs

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Chartwell Hospitality and Rockbridge today announced they are expanding premium hospitality options in Middle Tennessee by developing three new hotels in high-growth neighborhoods. Construction will begin in Summer 2023 on a TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Brentwood, Tenn., a TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and a Home2 Suites by Hilton in Lebanon, Tenn.

The Greater Nashville area is a vibrant place and rapidly growing. With the influx of people and businesses, the Middle Tennessee area is in high demand for a variety of lodging options, said Will Schaedle, Executive Vice President of Chartwell Hospitality. Chartwells decades of experience allows us to evaluate the hospitality voids of an area and develop the specific property types that match travelers' needs. Schaedle continued, We are also excited to continue our relationship with Rockbridge, a trusted and experienced hospitality leader.

The TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Brentwood is located in the Eastpark development of Maryland Farms and is part of a multi-million-dollar revitalization project to modernize the area. With more than five acres of green space, the Eastpark development is home to thousands of employees and conveniently located with easy access to Old Hickory Boulevard and Interstate 65. The TownePlace Suites by Marriott will be Chartwells third hotel in the Brentwood market. The hotel will provide 119 total rooms and suites to the local area.

Chartwells TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Murfreesboro is the only hotel approved for the Clari Park mixed-use development. The hotel is located on Medical Center Parkway with easy access to St. Thomas Hospital and offers 120 guestrooms with full kitchens, outdoor community patios with grills, free Wi-Fi, on-site laundry, upscale fitness center, outdoor pool, and a lobby bar. The hotels exterior is customized to fit within the developments architectural guidelines and requirements.

The Home2 Suites in Lebanon will be an attractive option to an area that is undergoing significant industrial growth, bringing new global corporations to the area with new hospitality needs. The Home2 Suites by Hilton will offer business travelers a 120-room extended-stay hotel with complimentary hot breakfast, laundry and fitness areas, free Wi-Fi, multiple outdoor spaces, 24-hour business centers, expansive community spaces, and pet-friendly environments.

Chartwell Hospitality and Rockbridge partnered on all three, new hotel developments. Chartwell and Rockbridge are also partners on the 298-room Hilton at Nashville International Airport (BNA). The Hilton at BNA is expected to open in early 2024.

Franklin Construction Group is serving as the Construction Manager for the three-hotel portfolio project.

About Chartwell Hospitality

Chartwell Hospitality is a fully integrated real estate company based in Nashville, Tennessee. We specialize in the acquisition, development, and management of high-quality, branded, limited- and full-service hotels. Founded in 2003, Chartwell consistently surpasses competition in occupancy and market rates. Simply, our mission is to be the best in the business. For more information, visit www.chartwellhospitality.com.

About Rockbridge

Rockbridge, a vertically integrated, hospitality-centered investment firm with more than 23-years in business, has been investing in and building brands in the hospitality and commercial real estate industries. The business has made over 290 investments in 39 states worth over $10 billion in total capitalization and has over $3.5 billion in assets under management. Rockbridge has been a strong investor in the hospitality space and has built a family of hospitality, development, and management company brands, and its continued success is a result of its core Rocks: Relevance, Relationships, Resilience, and Responsibility. Rockbridge has been honored for a fifth consecutive year as a top, philanthropic community-focused organization in Central Ohio. Learn more at www.rockbridgeholdings.com and Instagram.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630221821/en/

Diana Gudino

Connect2 Communications for Chartwell Hospitality

[email protected]

Source: Chartwell Hospitality
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CIM Group was joined by Pastor Charles Blake II, pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Heather Hutt on Thursday, June 29, 2023, for a community celebration of the start of construction of a mixed-use development consisting of 168 apartments, of which 17 will be affordable, and 40,000 square feet of ground floor retail at 3045 Crenshaw Blvd.

The new residences and community-serving ground floor retail is being developed on the approximately 1.3-acre property, which was formerly the site of West Angeles Churchs north campus. After 43 years at its north campus location, West Angeles Church has consolidated its facilities and now serves the community and its congregants from its south campus location at 3600 Crenshaw Blvd, on the corner of Crenshaw and Exposition.

Today we welcome the creation of new housing that will also provide retail and services for our community on the site of our former north campus facilities. We believe that repurposing this property for housing complements our goal to be a catalyst for positive change in the community, said Pastor Blake II. Having been a part of this community for over 40 years, West Angeles has always held a vision to uplift the community and our underserved and often overlooked populace. And since we will still be an active part of our vibrant neighborhood, we look forward to partnering with CIM in the future on projects that will benefit all members of the Crenshaw community.

In 2004, a meeting between CIM Group Co-Founder Shaul Kuba and Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., former pastor of West Angeles Church, sparked an ongoing dialogue about the kinds of new developments in the neighborhood that would align with the needs of the community.

CIM Group joined with West Angeles Church almost two decades ago to bring new development to South Los Angeles that benefits the community by attracting quality jobs, services, and housing, work we continue to do today, said Shaul Kuba, Co-Founder and Principal, CIM Group. My first meeting with Bishop Blake led to an ongoing dialogue about our shared vision to improve the community through the development of commercial properties on and around Crenshaw Boulevard. Rather than an overwhelmingly large mega-project, our approach is to work within the context of the community on in-fill developments, such as the new apartment community that we are currently constructing.

The six-story apartment community being developed at 3045 Crenshaw Blvd. will provide 168 residences designed to offer a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom floorplans with numerous amenities, including a landscaped central courtyard, swimming pool, fitness center, club room, and two outdoor sky decks on the fifth level. Residents will be able to make a home in a centrally located area in Los Angeles, just north of Jefferson Boulevard, and be served by a variety of businesses and restaurants. The apartments location also offers easy access to the Metro E Line light rail station on Crenshaw Boulevard, which connects east to Downtown Los Angeles and west to Santa Monica as well as to many major thoroughfares, including the Interstate 10 Freeway, Exposition Boulevard, and West Adams Boulevard.

West Angeles sale of the 3045 Crenshaw Blvd. property to CIM Group in March 2023 was part of the churchs long-planned property dispositions announced in 2019 to bring new community serving developments to the neighborhood. West Angeles has used the sale proceeds to fund its various church programs and initiatives, including the construction of a Family Life Center. The Family Life Center is a community-serving, multi-use building that includes a chapel, banquet/fellowship hall, classrooms, media center, counseling center, and a floor for youth activities, tutoring, and administrative offices. The Family Life Center will open by the end of the year.

CIM Group has delivered a variety of developments in partnership with West Angeles Church that have created good jobs and attracted businesses to South Los Angeles. In addition to 3045 Crenshaw, CIM Groups most recent projects on land acquired from West Angeles Church include the just completed development of an approximately 86,000-square-foot modern office building and an adjacent parking structure with ground floor retail at 2922 Crenshaw Boulevard. Nearby, CIM Group is currently wrapping up construction at 3000 Crenshaw on an approximately 55,000-square-foot contemporary office building.

For more than 25 years, CIM Group has applied its community-focused investing approach by utilizing its broad expertise in owning, developing, repositioning, and operating real estate assets to enhance communities throughout the Americas.

About CIM Group

CIM is a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender and developer. Since 1994, CIM has sought to create value in projects and positively impact the lives of people in communities across the Americas by delivering more than $60 billion of essential real estate and infrastructure projects. CIMs diverse team of experts applies its broad knowledge and disciplined approach through hands-on management of real assets from due diligence to operations through disposition. CIM strives to make a meaningful difference in the world by executing key environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and enhancing each community in which it invests. For more information, visit www.cimgroup.com.

About West Angeles Church

West Angeles is led by recently appointed Pastor Charles Blake II. Under the leadership of his predecessor Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., the church was grown from an initial 50 members to over 24,000. Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., former Presiding Bishop of the worldwide Church of God In Christ organization  served as Head Pastor of West Angeles Church of God In Christ from 1975 through 2022.

West Angeles Church of God In Christ is recognized as one of the most influential churches in America today, and serves as the model of visionary leadership into the future. Its main place of worship, the West Angeles Cathedral, is located in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, California, a historic African American ethnic enclave. Contact: Stephanie Turner, [email protected], (323) 733-8300 x2310.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630944410/en/

Karen Diehl

Diehl Communications

310-741-9097

[email protected]

Source: CIM Group
Local activation in conjunction with Florida-based We The People National March will protest hateful legislation emerging nationwide

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Advocates from the Dallas area will host a regional We The People march on Sunday, July 2nd in solidarity with the thousands of people attending the We The People National March in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida over Independence Day weekend. More than 50 organizations fighting for people of color, women, LGBTQ+ communities, Jewish people, social justice, gun control, and more make up the We The People coalition.

The Dallas march (one of six WTP regional marches) is a way for people to participate locally in speaking out against the close to 1,000 bills lawmakers and legislatures are introducing nationwide that threaten basic freedoms and aim to roll back 70 years of progress. The We The People National March takes place Sunday, July 2nd at Esplanade Park in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

WHAT: We The People DALLAS advocacy march WHO: Dallas marches in solidarity with the We the People National March WHERE: Oak Lawn Library (4100 Cedar Springs Rd., Dallas, TX 75219) WHEN: Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 3:00 pm CDT

More than 15 high-profile and celebrity We The People Ambassadors have endorsed the We The People National March. Iconic labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, legendary actress and choreographer Debbie Allen, Parkland survivor and gun control activist David Hogg, national political and civil rights figure Marc Morial, and leading HIV/AIDS and social justice advocate Michael Weinstein are among the Ambassadors expected to attend the Florida march in person.

As authoritarian lawmakers and legislatures seek to criminalize immigrants, sexuality, gender expression, Blackness, homelessness, religious freedom, and the teaching of vital history, this country never has seen such a blatant abuse of power against virtually every group of people at the same time. We The People is a movement composed of advocates, mobilizers, and community leaders who are tired of being told what books they can read, what words they can or cant say, how they can express themselves, and what they can do with their own bodies. Basic constitutional rights are under attack, and We The People cannot stay silent.

Click here or visit WTPMarch.org/Partners to see the full list of Partners and Ambassadors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230627924920/en/

NATIONAL: Imara Canady, AHF National Communications Director

(770) 940-6555

[email protected]

LOS ANGELES: Ged Kenslea, AHF Senior Communications Director

323.791.5526

[email protected]

Source: We The People
Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates ambitious entrepreneurs who are building a better world

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that CEO, Sonya Locke of EDS Service Solutions, LLC was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Southeast Award winner. The Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards program is one of the preeminent competitive awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. Sonya Locke was selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous award winners, leading CEOs, investors and other regional business leaders. The candidates were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630164327/en/

CEO and Founder of EDS Service Solutions Sonya Locke accepting her award at the 2023 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Southeast Regional ceremony. (Photo: Business Wire)

"I am profoundly grateful to be a recipient of the esteemed EY Entrepreneur of the Year award, and I humbly accept this honor on behalf of the entire EDS Service Solutions team. This recognition is a testament to the relentless efforts, unwavering commitment, and shared vision of each and every individual who has contributed to our success. I extend my deepest gratitude to EY for acknowledging our journey and the transformative impact we strive to make. This award is not only a reflection of my dedication, but also a celebration of the incredible talents and unwavering support of our clients, partners, and employees. Together, we will continue to push boundaries, innovate, and shape a brighter future for EDS Service Solutions and the communities we serve. Thank you for believing in our mission and for joining us on this remarkable journey."

EDS Service Solutions, a Woman owned and operated business, is a leading provider of labor outsourcing and business optimization for companies within the travel, airport, hospitality, and logistics sectors. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, EDS currently services all the Top 30 airports with additional 40 cities in the United States. The services provided by EDS range from turnkey on-site management and staffing of key back of house operations to staff augmentation and recruitment process outsourcing for crucial functions of our client organization.

For nearly four decades, EY US has honored entrepreneurs whose ambition, courage and ingenuity have driven their companies success, transformed their industries and made a positive impact on their communities. Entrepreneur Of The Year Award winners become lifetime members of a global, multi-industry community of entrepreneurs, with exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of program alumni and other ecosystem members in over 60 countries  all supported by vast EY resources. Since 1986, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized more than 11,000 US executives.

As a Southeast award winner, Sonya Locke is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 National Awards. The National Award winners including the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nations most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2024.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has honored the inspirational leadership of entrepreneurs such as:

Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks

Daymond John of FUBU

Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani, Inc.

Holly Thaggard and Amanda Baldwin of Supergoop!

Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company

James Park of Fitbit

Jodi Berg of Vitamix

Joe DeSimone of Carbon, Inc.

Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC

Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation

Sheila Mikhail of AskBio

Sponsors

Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, N.A.; SAP America; and the Kauffman Foundation. In the Southeast, sponsors also include regional Platinum sponsors, Cresa Global, Inc., Marsh McLennan and Vaco, LLC, regional Gold sponsor, King & Spalding LLP, and regional Silver sponsor, ADP, LLC.

About Entrepreneur Of The Year

Entrepreneur Of The Year is the worlds most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National Overall Award winners go on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year title. Visit ey.com/us/eoy.

About EY Private

As Advisors to the ambitious, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/us/private.

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630164327/en/

Richard Surdykowski

EDS Service Solutions

[email protected]

Source: EDS Service Solutions, LLC
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- GlideFast Consulting, an Elite ServiceNow Partner and ASGN brand, is proud to announce the launch of AgileGenius, a groundbreaking initiative that leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize Agile project management. AgileGenius introduces an advanced integration that automates key aspects of Agile project setup, work allocation, requirement linkage, SCRUM task creation, and more, empowering organizations to optimize their ServiceNow experience.

By implementing AgileGenius, organizations can unlock a multitude of benefits. The integration significantly reduces the time required to set up Agile projects, allocate work, link requirements, and create SCRUM tasks. AgileGenius allows teams to focus on delivering high-quality work by automating project setup and maintenance tasks. This increased focus on value-added activities enables organizations to achieve their project goals faster and with greater precision. Furthermore, by automating key parts of the Agile project management process, you are able to reduce the potential for human error.

Cost efficiency is another key advantage of AgileGenius. By saving time and reducing errors, organizations can realize substantial cost savings associated with project setup and maintenance, allowing them to allocate resources more effectively.

AgileGenius is going to significantly increase the speed to go live for ServiceNow customers," said Michael Lombardo, CEO of GlideFast Consulting. "By harnessing the power of AI and expertise of GlideFast, we are able to automate complex tasks, reduce errors, and save substantial time for our clients. This integration empowers teams to focus on what matters most  delivering exceptional results."

AgileGenius saves time, improves accuracy, increases focus, and offers cost efficiency. By automating tasks and reducing errors, organizations can deliver high-quality work faster. Implement AgileGenius today to revolutionize your Agile project management experience in ServiceNow.

GlideFast Consulting has been part of the ASGN Family since July of 2022. GlideFasts experienced team is part of Apex Systems Consulting Services within ASGNs Commercial Segment.

About GlideFast Consulting, A Division of Apex Systems

GlideFast Consulting is an Elite ServiceNow Partner that specializes in delivering exceptional solutions on the ServiceNow platform. We pride ourselves on offering industry-leading services, unparalleled expertise, and a track record of positive customer reviews. Our extensive experience in ServiceNow, combined with our unwavering commitment to customer success, sets us apart from our competitors and enables us to deliver successful outcomes for every client. Whether it's our deep platform knowledge, process-driven standardization, or innovative approach, we are dedicated to providing our customers with the best possible experience. Visit us at www.glidefast.com.

About ASGN Incorporated

ASGN Incorporated (NYSE: ASGN) is a leading provider of IT services and solutions, including technology and creative digital marketing, across the commercial and government sectors. ASGN helps corporate enterprises and government organizations develop, implement and operate critical IT and business solutions through its integrated offering of professional staffing and IT consulting. For more information, please visit asgn.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630394275/en/

Lauren Jankowski

VP of Marketing

GlideFast Consulting

[email protected]

www.glidefast.com

Source: GlideFast Consulting
OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Leo W. Gerard, the product of a hard-scrabble northern Ontario mining town who as International President of the United Steelworkers union (USW) became one of the globes most indomitable labour leaders, today received his countrys highest civilian honour  Companion of the Order of Canada.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630373023/en/

Leo W. Gerard, United Steelworkers International President Emeritus, has received his countrys highest civilian honour  Companion of the Order of Canada. (Photo: Business Wire)

Gerards appointment was announced today by the office of Governor General Mary Simon, who bestows the Order of Canada. Gerard is being recognized for his vast and influential work in labour advocacy, notably as the seventh International President of the United Steelworkers union, the Governor Generals announcement states.

Companion of the Order of Canada is the highest of the three levels of the Order of Canada. It is awarded for outstanding achievement and merit of the highest degree, especially in service to Canada or to humanity at large.

Along with others appointed today to the Order of Canada, Gerard will be invited by the Governor General to attend an investiture ceremony at a later date to receive his insignia.

I am honoured and overwhelmed to be appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, Gerard, 76, who retired in 2019 after serving 18 years as USW International President, said in a statement released today.

I want to acknowledge the undeniable fact that this tremendous honour deserves to be shared by so many others, from my family to the members of my great union, to the countless other labour, social justice and political activists whom I was privileged to work alongside for five decades, he added.

Leo Gerards life mission has been to improve the working and living standards of workers in Canada, the United States and around the world, said Marty Warren, USW National Director for Canada.

His impact on the lives of so many is indisputable, and it is entirely fitting that his achievements are being recognized by his appointment as a Companion of the Order of Canada, Warren said.

Under Gerards leadership, the USW grew as a force to be reckoned with at bargaining tables and in politics. A determined and irrepressible voice for working people everywhere, he was widely sought out as a media commentator on labour, economic, political and trade issues.

Gerards priorities as USW International President included expanding the unions coalitions within the global labour movement. He championed greater international labour alliances to combat the forces of globalization, arguing Canadian and American workers would benefit as they helped to raise living standards and improve workers rights worldwide.

Leos abilities to understand, forcefully represent and embody the values and culture of working people and to be able to communicate and be understood by those at the highest echelons of power are among his most unique and admirable qualities, said longtime friend Ken Neumann, who served 18 years as USW National Director for Canada, retiring in 2022.

In 2008, the USW joined Unite the Union in the U.K. and Ireland to form Workers Uniting, the largest global union with 3.4 million members. The USW also helped establish a new international labour federation, IndustriALL, which now represents 50 million workers in 140 countries.

Gerard also spearheaded efforts to make the labour movement a partner with environmental organizations, advocating for sustainable industry and environmental solutions that protect and create family-supporting jobs with the benefits of union representation. He helped establish the BlueGreen Alliance coalition in the U.S. in 2006, followed by the USWs co-founding of Blue Green Canada in 2008.

Background:

Gerard was born in Lively, Ont., a Sudbury-area community dominated at the time by mining giant Inco Ltd. Following in the footsteps of his father, a union organizer, he went to work for Inco at age 18. He soon got involved in United Steelworkers Local 6500, beginning a meteoric rise up the unions leadership ladder.

After reaching the position of chief steward of his 7,000-member local union, Gerards leadership abilities prompted the USW to hire him to a staff job in 1977. He went on to become the unions Ontario Director, Canadian National Director and then International Secretary-Treasurer, leading to his installation as International President in 2001, a position he held through multiple elections over 18 years.

Gerard was the second Canadian to reach the Steelworkers unions top job, following his mentor Lynn Williams, who served as USW International President from 1983 to 1994, and who was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2005.

Leading North Americas largest industrial union, with 1.2 million members at its height, Gerard had a profound impact on workplace health and safety, gender equality, decent pay, pensions, global labour rights and solidarity, and trade and social justice issues.

A USW album of Leo Gerard photos is available on Flickr.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630373023/en/

Marty Warren, USW National Director for Canada, 416-544-5951

Denis St. Pierre, USW Communications, 647-522-1630, [email protected]

Source: United Steelworkers
Local activation in conjunction with Florida-based We The People National March will protest hateful legislation emerging nationwide

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Advocates in Los Angeles will host a regional We The People march on Sunday, July 2nd in solidarity with the thousands of people attending the We The People National March in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida over Independence Day weekend. More than 50 organizations fighting for people of color, women, LGBTQ+ communities, Jewish people, social justice, gun control, and more make up the We The People coalition.

The Los Angeles march (one of six WTP regional marches) is a way for people to participate locally in speaking out against the close to 1,000 bills lawmakers and legislatures are introducing nationwide that threaten basic freedoms and aim to roll back 70 years of progress. The We The People National March takes place Sunday, July 2nd at Esplanade Park in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

WHAT: We The People LOS ANGELES advocacy march WHO: Los Angeles marches in solidarity with the We the People National March WHERE: Grand Park DTLA (200 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012) WHEN: Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 10:00 am PDT

More than 15 high-profile and celebrity We The People Ambassadors have endorsed the We The People National March. Iconic labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, legendary actress and choreographer Debbie Allen, Parkland survivor and gun control activist David Hogg, national political and civil rights figure Marc Morial, and leading HIV/AIDS and social justice advocate Michael Weinstein are among the Ambassadors expected to attend the Florida march in person.

As authoritarian lawmakers and legislatures seek to criminalize immigrants, sexuality, gender expression, Blackness, homelessness, religious freedom, and the teaching of vital history, this country never has seen such a blatant abuse of power against virtually every group of people at the same time. We The People is a movement composed of advocates, mobilizers, and community leaders who are tired of being told what books they can read, what words they can or cant say, how they can express themselves, and what they can do with their own bodies. Basic constitutional rights are under attack, and We The People cannot stay silent.

Click here or visit WTPMarch.org/Partners to see the full list of Partners and Ambassadors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630818309/en/

LOS ANGELES: Ged Kenslea, AHF Senior Communications Director

323.791.5526

[email protected]

Source: We The People
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Andersen is pleased to announce the addition of Andrew Liu as Managing Director in the Commercial practice. With over 20 years of professional tax experience, Andrew brings a wealth of expertise in financial accounting, income tax reporting, tax compliance, and tax planning in complex tax environments for high-profile Fortune 500 companies.

Andrew's extensive background serving multinational and multistate companies across a wide range of industries will serve as a great asset to the practice, our people, and our clients, commented Lance Lamprecht, Office Managing Director of the Seattle office.

Before joining Andersen, Andrew served as a Tax Executive Director at EY, where he played a pivotal role as the tax account leader for several Fortune 500 companies in the Seattle community. His leadership and deep understanding of tax complexities have earned him recognition and trust from his clients and colleagues alike.

"We are thrilled to welcome Andrew to our Seattle team," said U.S. Country Managing Director, Dan DePaoli. "His experience and exceptional track record in the tax industry make him a valuable addition to our Commercial practice. Andrews insights and skill strengthens our ability to provide strategic tax solutions to our clients and reinforces our unwavering commitment to excellence."

Andrew received his BA in accounting, BA in information technology systems, and his masters in taxation from the University of Washington.

Andersen is the founding member of Andersen Global, an international association of legally separate, independent member firms comprised of tax and legal professionals around the world. Established in 2013 by U.S. member firm Andersen Tax LLC, Andersen Global now has more than 14,000 professionals worldwide and a presence in over 400 locations through its member firms and collaborating firms. In the U.S., Andersen has more than 1,700 personnel located in 23 cities across the country.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630740688/en/

Megan Tsuei

Andersen

415-764-2700

Source: Andersen
Transaction expands Molinas Medicare presence in California and is expected to add $1.00 per share to new store embedded earnings1

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Molina Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: MOH) (Molina or the Company) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of Brand New Day and Central Health Plan of California (collectively, the CA Health Plans), each of which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bright Health Company of California, Inc (BHCA). Relevant transaction terms and features are as follows:

The purchase price for the transaction is approximately $510 million, net of certain tax benefits, representing 28% of expected 2023 premium revenue of $1.8 billion.

BHCA currently offers MAPD, D-SNP, and C-SNP products in 23 counties in California, with 60% overlap with Molinas Medicaid footprint. As of March 31, 2023, BHCA served approximately 125,000 members.

The transaction represents a strong strategic fit with Molinas expanded 2024 Medi-Cal contract. It accelerates Molinas D-SNP growth initiatives and activates the Los Angeles County 2024 D-SNP option the Company had negotiated with the state.

Todays announcement is expected to add $1.00 per share to new store embedded earnings, bringing the expected total to $5.50 per share2.

These additions fit perfectly with our strategy of serving high-acuity, low-income members and represent a textbook execution of our growth playbook. We acquire viable assets at attractive valuations, then deploy our proven team of operators to deliver improved financial results, said Joe Zubretsky, President and Chief Executive Officer of Molina. We are pleased to continue our meaningful growth in California as the latest realization of our national growth strategy.

Molina intends to fund the purchase with available funds including cash on hand. The transaction is subject to federal and state regulatory approvals, the solvency and continued operation as a going concern of Bright Health Group throughout the pre-closing period, and other closing conditions. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024.

About Molina Healthcare

Molina Healthcare, Inc., a FORTUNE 500 company (currently ranked 126), provides managed healthcare services under the Medicaid and Medicare programs and through the state insurance marketplaces. Molina Healthcare served approximately 5.3 million members as of March 31, 2023, located across 19 states. For more information about Molina Healthcare, please visit molinahealthcare.com.

1 See Reconciliation note below

2 Idem

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding our intended acquisition of Brand New Day and Central Health Plan of California, including the anticipated timing of the closing of the acquisition and our expected new store embedded earnings. All forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that are subject to numerous risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such risk factors include, without limitation, risks that the transaction may not close on a timely basis or at all, our ability to obtain regulatory approvals and third-party consents and to satisfy all closing conditions, our ability to integrate the acquisition as currently expected without unreasonable delay or cost, and our ultimate realization, as expected, of embedded earnings and our non-recurring costs associated with the recently announced acquisitions. Additional risk factors to which the Company is subject are provided in our periodic reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Companys most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. These reports can be accessed under the investor relations tab of the Companys website or on the SECs website at sec.gov. Given these risks and uncertainties, the Company cannot give assurances that its forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. All forward-looking statements represent the Companys judgment as of the date hereof.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company includes in this release the financial measure, new store embedded earnings, which is a non-GAAP measure. The term is defined as the incremental diluted earnings per share impact that we expect to achieve in future years related to newly awarded but not yet commenced state Medicaid contracts, and recently closed and announced acquisitions. The incremental impact reflects the expected full-year earnings for the newly-awarded California, Iowa, Nebraska, and Indiana Medicaid contracts, and the Agewell, MyChoice Wisconsin, and California Medicare Health Plans acquisitions, not yet included in the current full-year guidance issued by the Company. This measure excludes amortization of intangible assets and non-recurring costs associated with acquisitions, including various transaction and integration costs. The Company and management believe this measure is useful to investors in assessing the Companys expected performance related to new Medicaid contracts and acquisitions, and is used internally to enable management to assess the Companys performance consistently over time. New store embedded earnings should be considered as a supplement to, and not as a substitute for or superior to, GAAP measures. Management is unable to reconcile this measure to the growth in GAAP earnings per share, the most directly comparable GAAP measure, without unreasonable effort due to the unknown impact from the amortization of intangible assets related to recently announced acquisitions, which cannot be determined until purchase accounting valuations are completed. Non-recurring costs associated with the recently announced acquisitions are estimated at approximately $15 million.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630231281/en/

Investor Contact: Joseph Krocheski, [email protected], 562-549-4100

Media Contact: Caroline Zubieta, [email protected], 562-951-1588

Source: Molina Healthcare, Inc.
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Moody's Corporation (NYSE: MCO) will host a webcast briefing on its generative AI strategy on July 6, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). The event will include a discussion on Moodys approach to leveraging generative AI, in combination with its proprietary data, research and analytics, to deliver deeper and more integrated perspectives on risk for its customers.

The webcast will be moderated by Shivani Kak, Head of Investor Relations, and will feature Nick Reed, Chief Product Officer, Sergio Gago Huerta, AI/ML Engineering, and Cat Tucker, from the Digital Product team.

This webcast event is pursuant to Regulation FD. Senior management may use this content during subsequent meetings with analysts and investors.

Webcast Details:

Date and Time July 6, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) Webcast The live webcast and its replay can be accessed through Moodys Investor Relations website, ir.moodys.com within Events & Presentations. A replay will be available immediately following the event on July 6, 2023, and until July 5, 2024.

For further information, please contact Investor Relations at [email protected].

ABOUT MOODYS CORPORATION

Moodys (NYSE: MCO) is a global integrated risk assessment firm that empowers organizations to make better decisions. Its data, analytical solutions and insights help decision-makers identify opportunities and manage the risks of doing business with others. We believe that greater transparency, more informed decisions, and fair access to information open the door to shared progress. With approximately 14,000 employees in more than 40 countries, Moodys combines international presence with local expertise and over a century of experience in financial markets. Learn more at moodys.com/about

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630784818/en/

SHIVANI KAK

Investor Relations

212.553.0298

[email protected]



MICHAEL ADLER

Corporate Communications

212.553.4667

[email protected]



moodys.com

ir.moodys.com/

moodys.com/sustainability

Source: Moodys Corporation Investor Relations
Vehicles burned in a protest are seen in Roubaix, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

PARIS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday.

"Last night, our police officers, gendarmes and firefighters bravely faced once again rare violence," the minister said on social media, adding that the security forces, following his "firm instructions," arrested 667 people across the country.

In the Ile-de-France region, the police said that 307 rioters were arrested overnight.

The minister also said that 249 police officers and gendarmes were injured overnight.

According to authorities, some 40,000 police forces were deployed on Thursday across the country to maintain order, including 5,000 in Paris.

Although Valerie Pecresse, president of the Ile-de-France region, announced on Thursday that buses and tramways would not be running in the region Thursday night after 9 p.m. local time, rioters still burned 12 buses in a bus center in Aubervilliers, suburbs of Paris.

According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, 3,880 fires were counted last night on public roads. Some 1,919 vehicles were burnt as well as 492 buildings.

Visiting on Friday the police station in Evry-Courcouronnes, Ile-de-France region, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the government would not exclude the possibility of restoring a state of emergency.

On Tuesday, a French police officer opened fire and killed the 17-year-old teen while the latter refused to comply to pull over his car.

The police officer who fired his gun later told investigators that he had acted for fear of the car causing a fatal accident.

Tuesday's shooting triggered violent protests on Wednesday throughout France, which led to the police arresting some 150 people in major French cities. 

Workers clear debris of a school attacked by protesters in Lille, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

Workers clear debris of a school attacked by protesters in Lille, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

Vehicles burned in a protest are removed in Lille, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

A billboard is seen destroyed by protesters in Lille, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

A worker stands in front of a building burned by protesters in Roubaix, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

A building burned by protesters is seen in Roubaix, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

Vehicles burned in a protest are seen in Roubaix, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

A building burned by protesters is seen in Roubaix, France, on June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

A building set on fire by protesters is seen in Roubaix, north France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

A building set on fire by protesters is seen in Roubaix, north France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

(230701) -- MONS-EN-BAROEUL (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on June 30, 2023 shows the city hall damaged by protesters in Mons-en-Baroeul, north France. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

(230701) -- MONS-EN-BAROEUL (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on June 30, 2023 shows a police station damaged by protesters in Mons-en-Baroeul, north France. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

(230701) -- MONS-EN-BAROEUL (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo taken on June 30, 2023 shows the city hall damaged by protesters in Mons-en-Baroeul, north France. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Workers install protecting fenders for a supermarket in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- A man walks past a closed subway station in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- A cyclist passes by a destroyed bus station in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- A damaged shop is seen in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- A destroyed ATM machine is seen in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- People pass by a burnt and destroyed pavement in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- The terrace of a restaurant is totally burnt and destroyed in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- A worker installs protecting fenders for a post office in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- People look at a damaged shop in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- NANTERRE(FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- A woman walks past a burnt bank in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

A kindergarten attacked by protesters is pictured in Hellemmes-Lille, north France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Photo by Sebastien Courdji/Xinhua/Xinhua)

(230701) -- AUBERVILLIERS (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Burnt buses are seen at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal, in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- AUBERVILLIERS (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Burnt buses are seen at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal, in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- AUBERVILLIERS (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Burnt buses are seen at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal, in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- AUBERVILLIERS (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- A burnt bus is seen at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal, in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- AUBERVILLIERS (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Burnt buses are seen at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal, in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- AUBERVILLIERS (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Burnt buses are seen at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal, in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)

(230701) -- AUBERVILLIERS (FRANCE), July 1, 2023 (Xinhua) -- Burnt buses are seen at the Fort d'Aubervilliers bus terminal, in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, France, June 30, 2023. Violence continued in France overnight from Thursday to Friday after a police officer shot dead a 17-year-old teen on Tuesday in Nanterre, western Paris suburbs, with 667 arrests across the country, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Friday. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
MIDLAND, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ProPetro Holding Corp. ("ProPetro" or the Company") (NYSE: PUMP) today announced that it will issue its second quarter of 2023 earnings release on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, before the opening of trading. ProPetro will also host a conference call on Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at 8:00 AM Central Time to discuss its second quarter results.

To access the conference call, U.S. callers may dial toll free 1-844-340-9046 and international callers may dial 1-412-858-5205. Please call ten minutes ahead of the scheduled start time to ensure a proper connection. The call will also be webcast on ProPetros website, www.propetroservices.com.

A replay of the conference call will be available for one week following the call and may be accessed toll free by dialing 1-877-344-7529 for U.S. callers, 1-855-669-9658 for Canadian callers, as well as 1-412-317-0088 for international callers. The access code for the replay is 7479217.

About ProPetro

ProPetro Holding Corp. is a Midland, Texas-based oilfield services company providing premium completion services to leading upstream oil and gas companies engaged in the exploration and production of North American unconventional oil and natural gas resources. We help bring reliable energy to the world. For more information visit www.propetroservices.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629597923/en/

David Schorlemer

Chief Financial Officer

[email protected]

432-277-0864

Matt Augustine

Director - Corporate Development & Investor Relations

[email protected]

432-848-0871

Source: ProPetro Holding Corp.
BURNABY, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CUPE 7000, representing more than 1,000 workers at SkyTrain, has reached a tentative agreement on a new five-year contract with BC Rapid Transit Company. The agreement was reached yesterday (June 29) following 10 days of negotiations.

The new collective agreement features wage increases, improvements to existing language and benefits, and new contract provisions not previously bargained.

Im pleased about how the process went for this round and feel that the employer was listening to the union the whole time, said CUPE 7000 President Tony Rebelo. The new contract addresses our members top priorities around workplace issues and our benefit plan as well as making progressive improvements that reflect the diversity of our membership.

Following membership meetings over the next couple of weeks, CUPE 7000 will hold a ratification vote toward the end of July.

cope491

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630000341/en/

Tony Rebelo, CUPE 7000 President: 604.671.9155

Dan Gawthrop, CUPE Communications Representative: 604.999.6132

Source: Canadian Union of Public Employees
Snowflake Summit 2023 becomes largest in-person Snowflake conference to-date with nearly 12,000 global in-person attendees, 440+ sessions, 250+ customer speakers, 200+ ecosystem partners, and more

Snowflake Summit 2024 will be hosted in San Francisco, June 3-6, 2024, welcoming the annual user conference back to the Bay Area where it was originally founded

No-Headquarters/BOZEMAN, Mont.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the Data Cloud company, last week concluded its fifth-annual Snowflake Summit conference and its largest data, apps, and AI event with nearly 12,000 in-person attendees live in Las Vegas, Nevada from June 26-29, and over 11,000 registered virtually. The four-day conference brought together customers, partners, technical experts, and executives from around the world as Snowflake unveiled new innovations that enable customers to bring generative AI to their data and build apps at scale  all within the secure and governed environment of the Data Cloud. Snowflake Summit also featured four marquee keynotes, 440+ total sessions spanning 11 different session tracks, 250+ customer speakers, 200+ ecosystem partners, 20+ hands-on labs, hundreds of SnowPro certifications achieved by conference goers, and more.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630473082/en/

Snowflake Concludes its Largest Data, Apps, and AI Event with New Innovations that Bring Generative AI to Customers Data and Enable Organizations to Build Apps at Scale (Photo: Business Wire)

Snowflake Chairman and CEO, Frank Slootman, and NVIDIAs Founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, kicked off the event on Monday, June 26 with a fireside chat discussing the impact AI, large language models (LLMs), and GPU-accelerated computing are having on every industry and business model. Snowflake and NVIDIA also unveiled that they are partnering to provide businesses of all sizes with an accelerated path to create customized generative AI applications using their own proprietary data, all securely within the Snowflake Data Cloud. This was followed by the Tuesday, June 27 Snowflake Summit Opening Keynote, which featured Slootman, Snowflake Co-Founder and President of Product, Benoit Dageville, Snowflake SVP of Product, Christian Kleinerman, and Snowflake SVP and Co-Founder of Neeva, Sridhar Ramaswamy, as they revealed the expanded capabilities and product innovations advancing the Data Cloud:

Snowpark Container Services : Snowflake introduced Snowpark Containers Services, currently in private preview, enabling developers to deploy, manage, and scale generative AI, full-stack apps, and more  including configurable infrastructure options such as GPUs  all securely within Snowflake. Snowflake customers will also get access to an expansive set of third-party services including LLMs, Notebooks, MLOps tools, and more within their account.

Snowflake introduced Snowpark Containers Services, currently in private preview, enabling developers to deploy, manage, and scale generative AI, full-stack apps, and more  including configurable infrastructure options such as GPUs  all securely within Snowflake. Snowflake customers will also get access to an expansive set of third-party services including LLMs, Notebooks, MLOps tools, and more within their account. Document AI : Snowflake launched a new Snowflake-developed LLM, currently in private preview, built from the recent acquisition of Applica and its pioneering generative AI technology, to help customers understand documents and extract insights from unstructured data without machine learning expertise.

Snowflake launched a new Snowflake-developed LLM, currently in private preview, built from the recent acquisition of Applica and its pioneering generative AI technology, to help customers understand documents and extract insights from unstructured data without machine learning expertise. Iceberg Tables : With Iceberg Tables, in private preview soon, organizations can work with data in their own storage in the Apache Iceberg format, whether that data is managed by Snowflake or managed externally, while still benefiting from Snowflakes ease of use, performance, and unified governance.

With Iceberg Tables, in private preview soon, organizations can work with data in their own storage in the Apache Iceberg format, whether that data is managed by Snowflake or managed externally, while still benefiting from Snowflakes ease of use, performance, and unified governance. Snowflake Performance Index : Snowflake regularly passes on savings to customers in the form of performance improvements. The new Snowflake Performance Index (SPI) provides increased transparency and metrics around Snowflakes ongoing performance improvements, revealing that query duration has improved by 15 percent1 for stable customer workloads since Snowflake began tracking this metric over the last eight months  reinforcing how Snowflake continues to advance price per performance for customers.

Snowflake regularly passes on savings to customers in the form of performance improvements. The new Snowflake Performance Index (SPI) provides increased transparency and metrics around Snowflakes ongoing performance improvements, revealing that query duration has improved by 15 percent1 for stable customer workloads since Snowflake began tracking this metric over the last eight months  reinforcing how Snowflake continues to advance price per performance for customers. Snowflake Native App Framework : Snowflake unveiled that the Snowflake Native App Framework, currently in public preview on AWS, is now available for developers to build and test Snowflake Native Apps, with over 25 new Snowflake Native Apps now available for customers to install from Snowflake Marketplace and run against data in their Snowflake account.

Snowflake unveiled that the Snowflake Native App Framework, currently in public preview on AWS, is now available for developers to build and test Snowflake Native Apps, with over 25 new Snowflake Native Apps now available for customers to install from Snowflake Marketplace and run against data in their Snowflake account. Snowflake Marketplace Advancements : Data exclusively available in the Data Cloud on Snowflake Marketplace is expanding with Cybersyn providing proprietary economic datasets for corporations, investors, and governments. To enable customers to effortlessly tap into this expanding library of data offerings, Snowflake also introduced the Marketplace Capacity Drawdown Program, generally available, allowing customers to seamlessly buy data and Snowflake Native Apps with their Snowflake Capacity commitment.

Data exclusively available in the Data Cloud on Snowflake Marketplace is expanding with Cybersyn providing proprietary economic datasets for corporations, investors, and governments. To enable customers to effortlessly tap into this expanding library of data offerings, Snowflake also introduced the Marketplace Capacity Drawdown Program, generally available, allowing customers to seamlessly buy data and Snowflake Native Apps with their Snowflake Capacity commitment. Improved Developer Experiences and Expanded Streaming Capabilities: Snowflake highlighted a set of new capabilities targeted at developers  Snowpark ML APIs for more efficient model development, currently in public preview; Snowpark Model Registry, currently in private preview, for scalable MLOps; Streamlit in Snowflake advancements, public preview coming soon, to turn models into interactive apps; and advanced streaming capabilities.

On Wednesday, June 28 Snowflake hosted its Builders Keynote with Dageville, Snowflake Director of Product and Co-Founder of Streamlit, Amanda Kelly, Snowflake Director of Product Management, James Malone, and several members of Snowflakes developer relations team. The keynote highlighted how organizations can go from raw data to production-grade data pipelines, ML models, and apps, and featured testimonials from customers EDF Energy and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). To round out the conference, Kleinerman moderated a keynote panel on Thursday, June 29 featuring Landing AIs Founder & CEO Andrew Ng, Microsofts VP Azure AI Ali Dalloul, and NVIDIAs VP of Applied Research Jonathan Cohen, discussing their predictions on the impact of generative LLMs for enterprises.

Snowflake Invests in its Ecosystem of Customers and Partners Building with the Data Cloud

Over 250 customer sessions from organizations like AstraZeneca, ExxonMobil, Fidelity Investments, Okta, PetSmart, Saks, Warner Bros. Discovery, and more shared best practices and strategies for advancing data-driven outcomes. Additionally, Disney was named the 2023 Data Drivers Awards winner for North America, the premier Data Cloud awards that honor Snowflake customers leading their organizations and reimagining whats possible with the Data Cloud across their industries. AstraZeneca was named the Data Drivers Awards winner for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Spark New Zealand was named the Data Drivers Awards winner for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ).

Snowflakes expansive partner ecosystem shared over 100 announcements around Snowflake Summit, highlighting how organizations are leveraging the Data Cloud to transform their industries with joint solutions, AI and ML strategies, leading data apps, and more. Additionally, Snowflake shared record growth with over 970 partners building Powered by Snowflake applications (as of April 30, 2023), and over 430 partners with public listings on Snowflake Marketplace (as of April 30, 2023). As Snowflake continues to invest in its ecosystem of partners, Snowflake announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft, enabling new product integrations across generative AI, data governance, low code/no code application development, and more. Additionally, Snowflake and Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers can now leverage Amazon SageMaker Data Wrangler with a direct access feature that allows customers to seamlessly integrate with the Snowflake Data Cloud.

Amid the customer and partner excitement, Snowflake Summit recognized early-stage companies that are leveraging Snowflake to build innovative applications and products in the 2023 Snowflake Startup Challenge. Hundreds of organizations entered the Startup Challenge to compete for a chance to be one of the three finalists, where they can receive up to a combined $1M in potential investments from Snowflake Ventures, and exclusive mentorship and visibility opportunities from NYSE. Judges including Dageville, Snowflake CMO, Denise Persson, NYSEs CIO, Chuck Adkins, and Altimeters Founder and CEO, Brad Gerstner, announced Maxa as the ultimate winner for its Snowflake Native App that automates financial and operations ERP insights quickly, without requiring special skills and all within a Snowflake customers account. Snowflake also announced Snowflake Ventures investment in Reka (June 2023) and partnership with AI21 to help more customers unlock the value of their enterprise data with LLMs. In addition, Snowflake Ventures announced an investment in Cart.com (June 2023) to provide deeper analytics and increased collaboration for joint customers, and shared new details around the future of LLMs in Snowflake following its acquisition of Neeva (May 2023).

Snowflake Brings Snowflake Summit 2024 Back to San Francisco, Embracing Its Founding Roots

Snowflake Summit 2024 concluded by announcing that Snowflake Summit 2024 will be held on June 3-6, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Snowflakes inaugural user conference, Snowflake Summit 2019, was held in San Francisco, and the Data Cloud company will be welcoming Snowflake Summit 2024 back to the Bay Area where it was originally founded. Organizations from around the world are invited to join Snowflake Summit 2024 as Snowflake continues to innovate and drive impact for its customers with the Data Cloud. Save the date for Snowflake Summit 2024, here.

San Francisco has been at the heart of technology and innovation for decades, fostering an environment that celebrates innovation and creativity that make a positive impact, changing the way our society functions, said London N. Breed, Mayor of San Francisco. Snowflake is no exception, serving as a great example of a leading company thats driving impactful change across industries. We are thrilled to welcome Snowflake Summit 2024 and its global attendees next year, and cant wait to make it snow in San Francisco.

Mobilizing data is a business imperative, and Snowflake Summit 2023 showed us just how powerful organizations are when they embrace their data to build game-changing innovations in the Data Cloud, said Denise Persson, Chief Marketing Officer at Snowflake. At this years event, we brought together some of the worlds leading data and AI experts to learn, share, and explore new ways to propel their industries forward, and Im excited to see how we continue to push these boundaries as we return to San Francisco for Snowflake Summit 2024.

Learn More:

Hear how Snowflake customers, partners and executives are driving impact with data on Snowflakes new Data Cloud Now broadcast network, and SiliconANGLEs theCUBE.

Watch the Snowflake Summit 2022 keynotes with on-demand replays.

Stay on top of the latest news and announcements from Snowflake on LinkedIn and Twitter.

1 Based on internal Snowflake data from August 25, 2022 to April 30, 2023. To calculate SPI, we identify a group of customer workloads that are stable and comparable in both amount of queries and data processed over the period presented. Reduction in query duration resulted from a combination of factors, including hardware and software improvements and customer optimizations.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains express and implied forward-looking statements, including statements regarding (i) Snowflakes business strategy, (ii) Snowflakes products, services, and technology offerings, including those that are under development or not generally available, (iii) market growth, trends, and competitive considerations, and (iv) the integration, interoperability, and availability of Snowflakes products with and on third-party platforms. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including those described under the heading Risk Factors and elsewhere in the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and the Annual Reports on Form 10-K that Snowflake files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In light of these risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. As a result, you should not rely on any forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.

 2023 Snowflake Inc. All rights reserved. Snowflake, the Snowflake logo, and all other Snowflake product, feature and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Snowflake Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names or logos mentioned or used herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s). Snowflake may not be associated with, or be sponsored or endorsed by, any such holder(s).

About Snowflake

Snowflake enables every organization to mobilize their data with Snowflakes Data Cloud. Customers use the Data Cloud to unite siloed data, discover and securely share data, power data applications, and execute diverse AI/ML and analytic workloads. Wherever data or users live, Snowflake delivers a single data experience that spans multiple clouds and geographies. Thousands of customers across many industries, including 590 of the 2022 Forbes Global 2000 (G2K) as of April 30, 2023, use Snowflake Data Cloud to power their businesses. Learn more at snowflake.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630473082/en/

Kaitlyn Hopkins

Product PR Lead, Snowflake

[email protected]

Source: Snowflake Inc.
Local activation in conjunction with Florida-based We The People National March will protest hateful legislation emerging nationwide

COLUMBIA, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- South Carolinians will host a regional We The People march on Sunday, July 2nd in solidarity with the thousands of people attending the We The People National March in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida over Independence Day weekend. More than 50 organizations fighting for people of color, women, LGBTQ+ communities, Jewish people, social justice, gun control, and more make up the We The People coalition.

The South Carolina march (one of six WTP regional marches) is a way for people to participate locally in speaking out against the close to 1,000 bills lawmakers and legislatures are introducing nationwide that threaten basic freedoms and aim to roll back 70 years of progress. The We The People National March takes place Sunday, July 2nd at Esplanade Park in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

WHAT: We The People SOUTH CAROLINA advocacy march WHO: South Carolinians march in solidarity with the We the People National March WHERE: South Carolina State House (1100 Gervais Street, Columbia, SC 29201) WHEN: Sunday, July 2, 2023 at 11:00 am EDT

More than 15 high-profile and celebrity We The People Ambassadors have endorsed the We The People National March. Iconic labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, legendary actress and choreographer Debbie Allen, Parkland survivor and gun control activist David Hogg, national political and civil rights figure Marc Morial, and leading HIV/AIDS and social justice advocate Michael Weinstein are among the Ambassadors expected to attend the Florida march in person.

As authoritarian lawmakers and legislatures seek to criminalize immigrants, sexuality, gender expression, Blackness, homelessness, religious freedom, and the teaching of vital history, this country never has seen such a blatant abuse of power against virtually every group of people at the same time. We The People is a movement composed of advocates, mobilizers, and community leaders who are tired of being told what books they can read, what words they can or cant say, how they can express themselves, and what they can do with their own bodies. Basic constitutional rights are under attack, and We The People cannot stay silent.

Click here or visit WTPMarch.org/Partners to see the full list of Partners and Ambassadors.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230627502984/en/

NATIONAL: Imara Canady, AHF National Communications Director

(770) 940-6555

[email protected]

LOS ANGELES: Ged Kenslea, AHF Senior Communications Director

323.791.5526

[email protected]

Source: We The People
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Susan M. Holden, attorney and partner at the Minneapolis personal injury law firm of SiebenCarey, was presented with the 2023 Professional Excellence Award by the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA), joining a Whos Who group of prominent Minnesota attorneys and judges that dates back to 1985.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630244425/en/

Susan M. Holden, attorney and partner, SiebenCarey (Photo: Business Wire)

This award recognizes attorneys who strive to meet the many responsibilities of a lawyer, including efforts to improve the administration of justice and practice of law, efforts to promote access to justice, efforts to serve and govern the profession, and service of benefit to the community, wrote Cheryl Dalby, MSBA Chief Executive Officer, in the announcement letter to Holden. The nomination made on your behalf clearly shows that you have exemplified professionalism with outstanding service to the Minnesota State Bar, the legal profession, and the public throughout your career.

Im honored and frankly humbled to be included alongside this list of many of the most accomplished members of Minnesotas legal community, said Holden, including Magistrate Jill Prohofsky with the Minnesota State Court Administrators office, another recipient of the 2023 award. I think what we all have in common is a passion for upholding our system of justice and making it work for all Minnesotans. Im proud to have played a part in achieving that goal.

Holden was also recognized during the presentation by MSBA President Paul Peterson for her many years as one of the states premier trial attorneys and legal volunteers, including service as president of MSBA and the Hennepin County Bar Association, her continued service in a variety of positions at the American Bar Association, and her ongoing willingness to mentor other lawyers and bar leaders.

In accepting the award, Holden added, I feel privileged to be a member of a profession that provides so many opportunities to have a positive impact  with the clients we serve, in the justice system where we work, and in the communities where we live.

The Professional Excellence Award was presented at the MSBA Assembly meeting in Minneapolis on Thursday, June 29, 2023.

A partner and lawyer at SiebenCarey since 1988, Holdens practice focuses on cases involving trucking and automobile accidents, product defects, construction accidents, and medical malpractice. Her practice also includes serving as an ADR neutral  arbitrator, mediator, or special master.

Holden is admitted to practice in the Minnesota State and Federal Courts, the Federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. She received her Bachelors degree, magna cum laude, from St. Cloud State University and her Juris Doctor with honors from William Mitchell College of Law.

A northern Minnesota native, Holden now resides with her husband in Blaine.

Download Holdens profile for more information.

About SiebenCarey

Founded in 1952, SiebenCarey has become one of Minnesotas largest and most widely respected personal injury law firms, successfully representing over 70,000 injury victims. For 70 years, the firm has employed experienced lawyers and professional support personnel handling personal injury, workers compensation, wrongful death, and medical malpractice claims. The offices are located throughout Minnesota in Minneapolis, Lakeville, and Duluth. For more information, visit: www.knowyourrights.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630244425/en/

Steve Miller

612-860-8623

Source: SiebenCarey
WICHITA, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Textron Aviation today announced an agreement with ATP Flight School for the purchase of 40 Cessna Skyhawk aircraft to be delivered in 2025. The piston aircraft will add to ATPs existing fleet of nearly 200 Skyhawks, positioned across 82 training centers nationwide.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629517288/en/

The Cessna Skyhawk is considered the aircraft of choice for pilot training and is the most popular single-engine aircraft in aviation history. (Photo: Business Wire)

The Cessna Skyhawk is designed and manufactured by Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company.

This is the second fleet purchase of Cessna Skyhawks for ATP's Airline Career Pilot Program in less than a year, as the flight school scales to train 20,000 airline pilots by 2030. In October 2022, ATP and Textron Aviation agreed to the purchase of 55 Cessna Skyhawks, with deliveries starting in the third quarter of 2023.

The Cessna Skyhawk has been the standard in aircraft training for over six decades, said Chris Crow, vice president, Textron Aviation Piston Sales. We are thrilled to see these aircraft continue to inspire the next generation of professional pilots through this agreement with ATP Flight School.

The stable flight characteristics, advanced avionics and demonstrated dispatch reliability of the Skyhawk have made it a dependable training platform for the flight school for over three decades. The new airplanes will be used by students to put them in the pilots seat of the most popular training aircraft in the industry.

With 95 Skyhawks on order, ATP is committed to providing students with unparalleled access to a modern and advanced fleet, so they can achieve their airline career goals on the fastest timeline possible, said Michael Arnold, vice president of Marketing, ATP Flight School. ATPs nationwide fleet operates over a half million flight hours annually, with the oversight and support from ATPs safety, maintenance, and flight operations quality assurance teams. The Skyhawks proven dispatch reliability and effectiveness as a trainer is crucial in meeting this mission and delivering industry-leading training.

Since the aircraft first took to the skies, more than 45,000 Skyhawks have been delivered to customers worldwide  more than any other aircraft in aviation history.

About the Cessna Skyhawk

The Cessna Skyhawk is considered the aircraft of choice for pilot training, and it is the most popular single-engine aircraft in aviation history. Since the aircraft first took flight in 1955, over 45,000 Skyhawks have been delivered to customers around the world  more than any other aircraft in the industry. The single-engine four-seat, high-wing Skyhawk is renowned for offering the best combination of modern features, including the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics with wireless connectivity, a standard angle-of-attack display system, and proven dependability. The aircraft also features McCauleys aluminum fixed pitch propeller, providing greater reliability and operating time.

About Textron Aviation

We inspire the journey of flight. For more than 95 years, Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. company, has empowered our collective talent across the Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker brands to design and deliver the best aviation experience for our customers. With a range that includes everything from business jets, turboprops, and high-performance pistons, to special mission, military trainer and defense products, Textron Aviation has the most versatile and comprehensive aviation product portfolio in the world and a workforce that has produced more than half of all general aviation aircraft worldwide. Customers in more than 170 countries rely on our legendary performance, reliability and versatility, along with our trusted global customer service network, for affordable and flexible flight.

For more information, visit www.txtav.com | www.defense.txtav.com | www.scorpionjet.com.

About Textron Inc.

Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell, Cessna, Beechcraft, Pipstrel, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Arctic Cat, Textron Systems, and TRU Simulation + Training. For more information, visit: www.textron.com

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements which may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, changes in aircraft delivery schedules or cancellations or deferrals of orders.

About ATP Flight School

ATP is the nations largest flight school, providing students with the most efficient path to a successful airline pilot career. For over 35 years, ATP has been the leader in professional flight training and supplying pilots to airlines. atpflightschool.com

About the Airline Career Pilot Program

ATPs fast-track, fixed-cost Airline Career Pilot Program takes students from zero experience to commercial multi-engine pilots and flight instructors (CFI, CFII, MEI) in seven months. Offered at 82 locations nationwide, students gain the competitive edge with airline-oriented training, nationally awarded flight instructors, new aircraft, dedicated training and career support, airline-sponsored tuition reimbursement, airline direct programs, and access to 38 hiring partnerships. Airlines hire more Airline Career Pilot Program graduates than from any other flight school. atpflightschool.com/acpp

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629517288/en/

Media:

Rachel Williams

+1.316.706.7201

[email protected]

txtav.com

Source: Textron
Industry-leading 12 transfers bring nearly $100 billion in new market capitalization

NYSE welcomes years largest IPO, leads industry in U.S. proceeds and is home to 8 of the 10 largest transactions

In its capacity as an Exchange of Ideas, NYSE Hosts key U.S. officials including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The New York Stock Exchange, part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, today reported strong business momentum through the first half of 2023. The NYSE led the industry with the largest IPO of the year to date and welcomed 12 publicly-traded companies that completed the transfer of their listings to the NYSE from other exchanges.

The May 4 IPO of consumer health business Kenvue (NYSE: KVUE) ranks as the largest worldwide offering since late 2021. The NYSE set the pace for U.S. IPO proceeds in the first six months of 2023 with an industry-leading $6.7 billion and was home to 8 of the 10 largest transactions in the first half. In June, the NYSE welcomed Cava (NYSE: CAVA), Savers Value Village (NYSE: SVV), Fidelis Insurance Holdings (NYSE: FIHL) and other issuers to the public markets. As listing conditions continue to improve, the NYSE maintains a strong pipeline of companies planning to list at the exchange.

In addition, Fiserv (NYSE: FI), Coherent (NYSE: COHR) and Atlantic Union Bankshares (NYSE: AUB) were among those that completed the transfer of their listings to the NYSE from January through June, with Fiserv ranking as the second-largest listing transfer in NYSE history. Altogether, companies valued at nearly $100 billion transferred their listings during the first half. In addition, dual-listed CRH (NYSE: CRH) and AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU) announced plans to move their primary listings to the NYSE, representing another $50 billion in market capitalization. More than 300 issuers have transferred to the NYSE since 2000, representing more than $1 trillion in current market value.

Beyond IPOs and transfers, NYSE Group also led the industry in first-half ETF listings with 113 new funds. Across the NYSE and NYSE Arca equity exchanges, NYSE Group is home to a total of $5.4 trillion in ETF assets under management, 75% of the U.S. industrys total.

The first half of 2023 reflected strong momentum for the New York Stock Exchange, said Lynn Martin, President, NYSE Group. Many issuers turned to the NYSE during this period, both as a home for their newly-issued shares and as a transfer destination. Likewise, when political leaders or cultural icons look to address the global business community or sustainability leaders seek to collaborate, their choice is the NYSE.

U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy was among the leading officials from both parties to visit the exchange and meet with the CEOs of NYSE-listed companies. Speaker McCarthy delivered a major economic address from the NYSEs Board Room in April, during a period that also included visits from U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Sen. Tim Scott, Sen. Joe Manchin, and Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.

The NYSE also provided leadership in the ongoing regulatory discussions on market structure, testifying in May before a joint House subcommittee hearing on the future of digital assets and regulation in those markets. In March, the NYSE joined with Citadel Securities and Charles Schwab & Co. on a comment letter that offered a thoughtful compromise to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissions proposed market structure reforms.

About NYSE Group

NYSE Group is a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology and market infrastructure. NYSE Groups equity exchanges -- the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE American, NYSE Arca, NYSE Chicago and NYSE National -- trade more U.S. equity volume than any other exchange group. The NYSE, an ICE exchange, is the premier global venue for capital raising. NYSE Arca Options and NYSE Amex Options are leading equity options exchanges. To learn more, visit nyse.com.

About Intercontinental Exchange

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds and operates digital networks to connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes that offer our customers access to mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and operational efficiencies. We operate exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, and clearing houses that help people invest, raise capital and manage risk across multiple asset classes. Our comprehensive fixed income data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers capitalize on opportunities and operate more efficiently. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming and digitizing the U.S. residential mortgage process, from consumer engagement through loan registration. Together, we transform, streamline and automate industries to connect our customers to opportunity.

Trademarks of ICE and/or its affiliates include Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, ICE block design, NYSE and New York Stock Exchange. Information regarding additional trademarks and intellectual property rights of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. and/or its affiliates is located here. Key Information Documents for certain products covered by the EU Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products Regulation can be accessed on the relevant exchange website under the heading Key Information Documents (KIDS).

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- Statements in this press release regarding ICE's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as filed with the SEC on February 2, 2023.

Category: NYSE

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630919500/en/

NYSE Media Contact:

Bridget Walsh

[email protected]

(212) 656-2298



ICE Investor Contact:

Katia Gonzalez

[email protected]

(678) 981-3882

Source: Intercontinental Exchange
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

In accordance with Article 5 of EU Regulation n 596/2014 (Market Abuse Regulation), detailed information is available on the website of Tikehau Capital (Paris: TKO): https://www.tikehaucapital.com/fr/shareholders/regulatory-information

Name of the issuer Issuer Identity Code (LEI) Trading Day ISIN Aggregated volume

per day (number

of shares) Weighted

average price

per day Market

(MIC Code) TIKEHAU CAPITAL 969500BY8TEU16U3SJ94 23/06/2023 FR0013230612 2,000 22.0900 XPAR TIKEHAU CAPITAL 969500BY8TEU16U3SJ94 26/06/2023 FR0013230612 2,000 22.3028 XPAR TIKEHAU CAPITAL 969500BY8TEU16U3SJ94 27/06/2023 FR0013230612 613 22.3799 XPAR TIKEHAU CAPITAL 969500BY8TEU16U3SJ94 28/06/2023 FR0013230612 1,142 22.3715 XPAR TIKEHAU CAPITAL 969500BY8TEU16U3SJ94 29/06/2023 FR0013230612 11,760 22.4731 XPAR TOTAL 17,515 22.4000

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630717080/en/

Tikehau Capital

Source: Tikehau Capital
Companys environmental, social and governance report highlights worldwide strategy to reduce carbon emissions across all scopes, encourage diversity and inclusion, and achieve Vision Zero as part of its environmental health and safety program

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vantage Data Centers, a leading global provider of hyperscale data center campuses, today released its second annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report showcasing the companys dedication to meet its high standards for environmental stewardship, social responsibility and ethical governance. Themed A Global Vision. Locally Adapted., the report details Vantages progress and achievements towards its goals across the companys 29 global data center campuses amid a period of rapid growth.

In 2022, Vantage continued to build on its unprecedented global growth, all while remaining committed to our sustainability, inclusivity and safety goals, said Chris Yetman, chief operating officer at Vantage Data Centers. We have a singular global vision for responsibly developing our data center campuses around the globe, a vision that is flexible to adapt to the local communities in which we operate. Were proud of the progress that weve achieved to date and look forward to sharing future results with our customers, investors, employees and all stakeholders.

In 2021, Vantage used a third party to conduct a materiality assessment that surveyed customers, investors, employees, utility providers, community representatives and local governments about their top ESG priorities. The results of this assessment provided Vantage with the foundation that shaped the goals outlined in the ESG report.

Highlights of Vantages 2022 ESG report include:

Environmental Stewardship

A holistic approach to sustainability: Tackling global environmental and resource challenges while maintaining growth is a complex task. Last year, Vantage broadened its sustainability program to focus on five strategic areas: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy, water, waste and community.

Tackling global environmental and resource challenges while maintaining growth is a complex task. Last year, Vantage broadened its sustainability program to focus on five strategic areas: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy, water, waste and community. Net zero operational carbon emissions by 2030: Vantage is committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030. In 2022, the company completed its first Scope 3 emissions screening, developed a roadmap with proposed interim reduction targets and continued to refine its data collection methodology. Vantage joined more than 375 companies in signing The Climate Pledge, another strategic step in its ongoing commitment to reduce its environmental impact.

Vantage is committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030. In 2022, the company completed its first Scope 3 emissions screening, developed a roadmap with proposed interim reduction targets and continued to refine its data collection methodology. Vantage joined more than 375 companies in signing The Climate Pledge, another strategic step in its ongoing commitment to reduce its environmental impact. Leveraging cleaner diesel fuel: In 2022, Vantage made renewable diesel fuel a reality, moving from an exploratory assessment period to implementing Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) at its Cardiff campus. Vantages use of HVO significantly reduces its greenhouse gas emissions, delivering measurable progress towards lessening its carbon footprint. The company is currently working to expand the use of this biofuel more broadly based on availability and costs per market.

Social Responsibility

Diverse employee affinity groups: Vantage welcomed more than 385 new team members in 2022. The company strives to make employees feel valued and heard across the globe, evidenced by its growing list of affinity groups. In 2022, Vantage added the Black Employee Network, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Network, the Muslim Employee Association and the Working Parents and Caregivers Network, alongside its existing Womens Leadership Forum, to offer communities where employees who share a common identity or interest can connect and find support.

Vantage welcomed more than 385 new team members in 2022. The company strives to make employees feel valued and heard across the globe, evidenced by its growing list of affinity groups. In 2022, Vantage added the Black Employee Network, the Mental Health and Wellbeing Network, the Muslim Employee Association and the Working Parents and Caregivers Network, alongside its existing Womens Leadership Forum, to offer communities where employees who share a common identity or interest can connect and find support. Fostering the next generation of leaders: Vantage introduced a new Mentor Program with support from its Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Council to enable senior leaders to mentor junior team members. In addition, the voluntary JEDI Council grew by 85%, serving as a testament to the importance of DE&I initiatives.

Vantage introduced a new Mentor Program with support from its Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Council to enable senior leaders to mentor junior team members. In addition, the voluntary JEDI Council grew by 85%, serving as a testament to the importance of DE&I initiatives. Giving back: Vantage is dedicated to supporting the communities in which it operates. Throughout the year, Vantage and its employees engaged with its local communities through service events, donating financial support to earthquake relief for Syria and Turkey and partnering with AFCOM to offer an intern program.

Ethical Governance

Proactive governance and risk protections: To gain a deeper understanding of the risks associated with vendors, Vantage launched a third-party risk management (TPRM) program. Coupled with Vantages Executive Risk Council (ERC), which meets quarterly to identify potential risks and opportunities across five key functions critical to its strategic business goals, Vantage is making risk assessment and management a global priority.

To gain a deeper understanding of the risks associated with vendors, Vantage launched a third-party risk management (TPRM) program. Coupled with Vantages Executive Risk Council (ERC), which meets quarterly to identify potential risks and opportunities across five key functions critical to its strategic business goals, Vantage is making risk assessment and management a global priority. Global public policy: With differing laws, regulations and policies impacting energy, sustainability, land ownership, zoning, design aesthetics and taxes, public policy is critical to ensure optimal business outcomes. Last year, Vantage established a new public policy team and company-wide steering committee to advance the companys development goals and lead community engagements.

With differing laws, regulations and policies impacting energy, sustainability, land ownership, zoning, design aesthetics and taxes, public policy is critical to ensure optimal business outcomes. Last year, Vantage established a new public policy team and company-wide steering committee to advance the companys development goals and lead community engagements. Prioritizing safety: With nearly four times as many construction hours logged in 2022 compared to 2021, Vantage lowered its Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) from .31 to .28. The company also doubled down on its commitment to safety, launching its Vision Zero program. The zero in Vision Zero is the quest for ultimate safety on the job: zero incidents.

For additional information about these key insights and more, download the full 2022 ESG report here.

About Vantage Data Centers

Vantage Data Centers powers, cools, protects and connects the technology of the worlds well-known hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. Developing and operating across five continents in North America, EMEA and Asia Pacific, Vantage has evolved data center design in innovative ways to deliver dramatic gains in reliability, efficiency and sustainability in flexible environments that can scale as quickly as the market demands.

For more information, visit http://www.vantage-dc.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230629290914/en/

Mark Freeman

Vantage Data Centers

[email protected]

+1-202-680-4243

Robin Bectel

REQ for Vantage Data Centers

[email protected]

+1-202-936-6335

Source: Vantage Data Centers
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) today announced that it has completed the 2023 Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) stress test process. The Company expects its stress capital buffer (SCB) to decrease to 2.9%, which represents a percentage amount of incremental capital the Company must hold above its minimum regulatory capital requirements. The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) has indicated that it will publish the Companys final SCB by August 31, 2023.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630321124/en/

Facade of a Wells Fargo bank branch in Manhattan (Photo: Wells Fargo)

The Company expects to increase its third quarter 2023 common stock dividend to $0.35 per share from $0.30 per share, subject to approval by the Companys Board of Directors at its regularly scheduled meeting in July. Additionally, over the four-quarter period beginning third quarter 2023 through second quarter 2024, the Company has capacity to repurchase common stock, which will be routinely assessed as part of the Companys internal capital adequacy framework that considers current market conditions, potential changes to regulatory capital requirements, and other risk factors.

This years CCAR stress test affirmed that Wells Fargo remains in a strong capital position, reflecting the value of our franchise and benefits of our operating model, said CEO Charlie Scharf. This capital strength allows us to serve our customers financial needs, while continuing to prudently return excess capital to our shareholders.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets, proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the U.S., and is a leading middle market banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 41 on Fortunes 2022 rankings of Americas largest corporations. In the communities we serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a low-carbon economy. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com | Twitter: @WellsFargo

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements about our future regulatory capital levels and possible future capital actions, including common stock dividends and common share repurchases. Because forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and assumptions regarding the future, they are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made, and we do not undertake to update them to reflect changes or events that occur after that date. Actual capital levels and capital actions may vary materially from expectations due to a number of factors, including those described in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. The amount and timing of any future common stock dividends or repurchases will depend on the earnings, cash requirements and financial condition of the Company, market conditions, capital requirements (including under Basel capital standards), common stock issuance requirements, applicable law and regulations (including federal securities laws and federal banking regulations), and other factors deemed relevant by the Companys Board of Directors, and may be subject to regulatory approval or conditions.

News Release Category: WF-CF

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630321124/en/

Media

Beth Richek, 704-374-2545

[email protected]

Investor Relations

John Campbell, 415-396-0523

[email protected]

Source: Wells Fargo & Company
BIRMINGHAM, Britain, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A blue plaque honoring Li Siguang, a late Chinese geologist and founder of geological mechanics, was unveiled at the University of Birmingham on Thursday.

Born in 1889, Li studied geology at the University of Birmingham in the 1910s. Later he spent several years researching the geology of China, and his work greatly contributed to the discovery of China's major natural gas and oil fields in the 1950s. In 1931, he received his doctorate at the University of Birmingham. He died in 1971.

With this commemorative plaque, Li has joined an illustrious club of about two dozen famous people with ties to the university, including Norman Haworth, Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, and well-known writer David Lodge.

Calling Li "one of the university's most famous Chinese alumni," Jon Frampton, director of the China Institute that operates on the university campus, recalled a series of lectures the institute organized in 2018 to mark the legacy of the famous geologist.

"We covered a wide range of disciplines through those lectures that are relevant to our academic engagement with China, including topics as diverse as sustainability, science diplomacy, and cultural understanding," Frampton said.

"The legacy of Li Siguang is very much alive here at the university. It's driving future-oriented collaborations with researchers in China," said William Bloss, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Birmingham.

China's Ambassador to Britain Zheng Zeguang said: "Li Siguang was a very accomplished academic and scientist. We're pleased that Li Siguang's legacy is alive and cherished at your great university."

He said the collaborations between the University of Birmingham and Chinese universities and research institutions will help to resolve the "common challenges" faced by the whole world. He also encouraged Chinese students studying at the University of Birmingham to try to rival Li's academic excellence. 
Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE: ALV) today announced that as of June 30, 2023 , the total number of issued shares of common stock is 90,242,332 of which 85,374,054 shares are outstanding.

Autoliv retired 475,292 shares of common stock that had been repurchased during the quarter which resulted in a decrease in the issued shares.

The Company now has a total of 90,242,332 issued shares of common stock of which 85,374,054 shares are outstanding. Each share of outstanding common stock is entitled to one vote. After the retirement of the repurchased shares, Autoliv holds 4,868,278 shares of common stock in treasury which have no voting rights or rights to participate in distributions under Delaware law.

This information is of such character that Autoliv, Inc. is obliged to disclose in accordance with the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act (Sw. lagen (1991:980) om handel med finansiella instrument). The information was distributed for disclosure, through the agency of the contact persons set out below, on June 30, 2023 , 11:45 CET .

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/751/3797944/2164965.pdf Press release as PDF

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/autoliv-retires-repurchased-shares-decreases-number-of-issued-shares-301867908.html

SOURCE Autoliv
Ford Motors (NYSE: F) held a work meeting Friday where the Detroit automaker revealed that they have found what was described as a major international investor for Fords German plant in Saarlouis and has signed initial agreements together with the western state of Saarland.

"This is an excellent basis for further negotiations, with the potential to create around 2,500 jobs in Saarlouis," said Martin Sander, head of the company's German unit Ford Werke.

"This week we have taken a big step towards this goal," he said, adding that the aim was still to transform the plant and create future employment opportunities.

According to a late January report by The Wall Street Journal, China's BYD was as one of fifteen investors expressing interest in acquiring the Ford site in Saarlouis once the production of the Ford Focus, its current model, ceases in 2025.

Shares of F are up 0.67% in pre-market trading on Friday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
General Motors (NYSE: GM) announced today that it has acquired substantially all the assets of Israel-based battery software startup ALGOLiON Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition was led by the newly formed Technology Acceleration and Commercialization (TAC) organization, a group within GM that works to identify emerging technology that can support GMs leadership position in battery development through investments, acquisitions or partnerships.

ALGOLiON, which received early support from the Israeli Innovation Authority, was founded in 2014 by Niles Fleischer, Ph.D., and Alex Nimberger, Ph.D. The company has developed sophisticated software that uses data streams from EV battery management systems to help identify anomalies in cell performance to ensure proper vehicle health management and provide early detection of battery hazards including thermal runaway propagation events. Dr. Fleischer has more than 40 years of experience in the battery industry and more than 80 patents in the field, while Dr. Nimberger has deep military and civilian experience in all aspects of lithium-ion battery operating modes and effects analysis.

ALGOLiONs software, coupled with GMs internal capabilities and vast experience in delivering best-in-class products at scale, can greatly accelerate time-to-market of a cost-effective early hazard detection system for the benefit of millions of GMs customers worldwide.

ALGOLiON has developed cutting edge battery analytics and prediction software that will help General Motors deliver great performing EVs for our customers, said Gil Golan, vice president, TAC.

The ALGOLiON team is excited to join GM on its track to an all-electric vehicle future, said Fleischer. We found the right home for our technology to play an integral role in maintaining healthy batteries for exciting products and reach customers globally.

The software uses sophisticated algorithms to identify miniscule changes that could impact battery health weeks earlier than other methods in use today without additional hardware or sensors all while the battery is still operating properly.

ALGOLiON employees, including the companys founders, will remain based in Israel and join more than 850 employees at the GM Technical Center in Herzliya, Israel. The team will be led by Guy Daniely, senior engineering manager.

GM Israel is an integral part of GMs Global Product Development Group, working on key vehicle programs toward GMs vision for a future of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.

The Israeli center specializes in advanced technologies including software and algorithms, machine learning, Software Defined Vehicles, cyber security and user-facing applications for autonomous, electric and connected vehicles that are shaping the future of mobility.
General Motors (NYSE: GM) announced Friday that the automotive company has acquired Israel-based Algolion Ltd, a software startup that helps detect problems in batteries.

GM said Algolion's software will help the Detroit automaker bring to the market a "cost-effective" early hazard detection system at a quicker pace.

The undisclosed agreement arrives amidst a period of significant investments by automakers in the production of electric vehicles and the expedited development of high-performance batteries. Batteries, which account for up to 50% of an EV's overall cost, are crucial for extending the duration of a vehicle's power supply.

At the same time, safety authorities are calling on U.S. automakers to enhance battery standards following several incidents of vehicle fires caused by faulty modules.

Algolions proprietary software utilizes data acquired from EV battery management systems to help identify anomalies in cell performance. Identifying these anomalies can provide early detection of battery hazards including "thermal runaway propagation events", GM said.

A thermal runaway is a rapid and unstoppable increase in temperature that leads to fires in EVs.

Shares of GM are up 1.14% in afternoon trading on Friday.

By Michael Elkins | [email protected]
IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), a leader in the quantum computing industry, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South Koreas Ministry of Science and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) to educate quantum science and technology professionals and promote the creation of a local quantum ecosystem. The MOU reflects the two parties agreement to mutually cooperate in supporting South Koreas vibrant and growing quantum computing industry.

The MOU aims to harness IonQs resources and experience to operate an education, training, and leadership expansion program to support masters and doctorate students, postdoctoral researchers, and quantum industry professionals in South Korea.

The MOU was signed on June 27th at Quantum Korea 2023, hosted by South Koreas Ministry of Science and ICT in Seoul. Leading global quantum innovators gathered at the event, where IonQ exhibited its quantum technology and achievements, its highest performing quantum computer, IonQ Forte, and recent achievements demonstrating applications in quantum machine learning.

To promote the growth of their local quantum computing ecosystems, national and regional governments need to engage with industry partners who have deep understandings of the field, said Kim. Through this agreement with the Ministry of Science and ICT, we are honored to take part in developing quantum science and technology professionals and preparing South Koreas quantum industry infrastructure. We hope we can contribute to the countrys vision of becoming a global quantum-centered economy by 2030 by providing practical support, such as an education, training, and leadership expansion program utilizing IonQ's specialized quantum computing resources and experience.

To learn more about how you can get started on an IonQ system today, please contact us directly at: https://ionq.com/get-access. For the latest updates from IonQ please visit our blog, and for other business information, please refer to IonQs website.
Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the Data Cloud company, last week concluded its fifth-annual Snowflake Summit conference and its largest data, apps, and AI event with nearly 12,000 in-person attendees live in Las Vegas, Nevada from June 26-29, and over 11,000 registered virtually. The four-day conference brought together customers, partners, technical experts, and executives from around the world as Snowflake unveiled new innovations that enable customers to bring generative AI to their data and build apps at scale  all within the secure and governed environment of the Data Cloud. Snowflake Summit also featured four marquee keynotes, 440+ total sessions spanning 11 different session tracks, 250+ customer speakers, 200+ ecosystem partners, 20+ hands-on labs, hundreds of SnowPro certifications achieved by conference goers, and more.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630473082/en/

Snowflake Concludes its Largest Data, Apps, and AI Event with New Innovations that Bring Generative AI to Customers Data and Enable Organizations to Build Apps at Scale (Photo: Business Wire)

Snowflake Chairman and CEO, Frank Slootman, and NVIDIAs Founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, kicked off the event on Monday, June 26 with a fireside chat discussing the impact AI, large language models (LLMs), and GPU-accelerated computing are having on every industry and business model. Snowflake and NVIDIA also unveiled that they are partnering to provide businesses of all sizes with an accelerated path to create customized generative AI applications using their own proprietary data, all securely within the Snowflake Data Cloud. This was followed by the Tuesday, June 27 Snowflake Summit Opening Keynote, which featured Slootman, Snowflake Co-Founder and President of Product, Benoit Dageville, Snowflake SVP of Product, Christian Kleinerman, and Snowflake SVP and Co-Founder of Neeva, Sridhar Ramaswamy, as they revealed the expanded capabilities and product innovations advancing the Data Cloud:

Snowpark Container Services : Snowflake introduced Snowpark Containers Services, currently in private preview, enabling developers to deploy, manage, and scale generative AI, full-stack apps, and more  including configurable infrastructure options such as GPUs  all securely within Snowflake. Snowflake customers will also get access to an expansive set of third-party services including LLMs, Notebooks, MLOps tools, and more within their account.

Snowflake introduced Snowpark Containers Services, currently in private preview, enabling developers to deploy, manage, and scale generative AI, full-stack apps, and more  including configurable infrastructure options such as GPUs  all securely within Snowflake. Snowflake customers will also get access to an expansive set of third-party services including LLMs, Notebooks, MLOps tools, and more within their account. Document AI : Snowflake launched a new Snowflake-developed LLM, currently in private preview, built from the recent acquisition of Applica and its pioneering generative AI technology, to help customers understand documents and extract insights from unstructured data without machine learning expertise.

Snowflake launched a new Snowflake-developed LLM, currently in private preview, built from the of Applica and its pioneering generative AI technology, to help customers understand documents and extract insights from unstructured data without machine learning expertise. Iceberg Tables : With Iceberg Tables, in private preview soon, organizations can work with data in their own storage in the Apache Iceberg format, whether that data is managed by Snowflake or managed externally, while still benefiting from Snowflakes ease of use, performance, and unified governance.

With Iceberg Tables, in private preview soon, organizations can work with data in their own storage in the Apache Iceberg format, whether that data is managed by Snowflake or managed externally, while still benefiting from Snowflakes ease of use, performance, and unified governance. Snowflake Performance Index : Snowflake regularly passes on savings to customers in the form of performance improvements. The new Snowflake Performance Index (SPI) provides increased transparency and metrics around Snowflakes ongoing performance improvements, revealing that query duration has improved by 15 percent1 for stable customer workloads since Snowflake began tracking this metric over the last eight months  reinforcing how Snowflake continues to advance price per performance for customers.

Snowflake regularly passes on savings to customers in the form of performance improvements. The new Snowflake Performance Index (SPI) provides increased transparency and metrics around Snowflakes ongoing performance improvements, revealing that query duration has improved by 15 percent1 for stable customer workloads since Snowflake began tracking this metric over the last eight months  reinforcing how Snowflake continues to advance price per performance for customers. Snowflake Native App Framework : Snowflake unveiled that the Snowflake Native App Framework, currently in public preview on AWS, is now available for developers to build and test Snowflake Native Apps, with over 25 new Snowflake Native Apps now available for customers to install from Snowflake Marketplace and run against data in their Snowflake account.

Snowflake unveiled that the Snowflake Native App Framework, currently in public preview on AWS, is now available for developers to build and test Snowflake Native Apps, with over 25 new Snowflake Native Apps now available for customers to install from and run against data in their Snowflake account. Snowflake Marketplace Advancements : Data exclusively available in the Data Cloud on Snowflake Marketplace is expanding with Cybersyn providing proprietary economic datasets for corporations, investors, and governments. To enable customers to effortlessly tap into this expanding library of data offerings, Snowflake also introduced the Marketplace Capacity Drawdown Program, generally available, allowing customers to seamlessly buy data and Snowflake Native Apps with their Snowflake Capacity commitment.

Data exclusively available in the Data Cloud on Snowflake Marketplace is expanding with Cybersyn providing proprietary economic datasets for corporations, investors, and governments. To enable customers to effortlessly tap into this expanding library of data offerings, Snowflake also introduced the Marketplace Capacity Drawdown Program, generally available, allowing customers to seamlessly buy data and Snowflake Native Apps with their Snowflake Capacity commitment. Improved Developer Experiences and Expanded Streaming Capabilities : Snowflake highlighted a set of new capabilities targeted at developers  Snowpark ML APIs for more efficient model development, currently in public preview; Snowpark Model Registry, currently in private preview, for scalable MLOps; Streamlit in Snowflake advancements, public preview coming soon, to turn models into interactive apps; and advanced streaming capabilities.

On Wednesday, June 28 Snowflake hosted its Builders Keynote with Dageville, Snowflake Director of Product and Co-Founder of Streamlit, Amanda Kelly, Snowflake Director of Product Management, James Malone, and several members of Snowflakes developer relations team. The keynote highlighted how organizations can go from raw data to production-grade data pipelines, ML models, and apps, and featured testimonials from customers EDF Energy and The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). To round out the conference, Kleinerman moderated a keynote panel on Thursday, June 29 featuring Landing AIs Founder & CEO Andrew Ng, Microsofts VP Azure AI Ali Dalloul, and NVIDIAs VP of Applied Research Jonathan Cohen, discussing their predictions on the impact of generative LLMs for enterprises.

Snowflake Invests in its Ecosystem of Customers and Partners Building with the Data Cloud

Over 250 customer sessions from organizations like AstraZeneca, ExxonMobil, Fidelity Investments, Okta, PetSmart, Saks, Warner Bros. Discovery, and more shared best practices and strategies for advancing data-driven outcomes. Additionally, Disney was named the 2023 Data Drivers Awards winner for North America, the premier Data Cloud awards that honor Snowflake customers leading their organizations and reimagining whats possible with the Data Cloud across their industries. AstraZeneca was named the Data Drivers Awards winner for Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), and Spark New Zealand was named the Data Drivers Awards winner for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ).

Snowflakes expansive partner ecosystem shared over 100 announcements around Snowflake Summit, highlighting how organizations are leveraging the Data Cloud to transform their industries with joint solutions, AI and ML strategies, leading data apps, and more. Additionally, Snowflake shared record growth with over 970 partners building Powered by Snowflake applications (as of April 30, 2023), and over 430 partners with public listings on Snowflake Marketplace (as of April 30, 2023). As Snowflake continues to invest in its ecosystem of partners, Snowflake announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft, enabling new product integrations across generative AI, data governance, low code/no code application development, and more. Additionally, Snowflake and Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers can now leverage Amazon SageMaker Data Wrangler with a direct access feature that allows customers to seamlessly integrate with the Snowflake Data Cloud.

Amid the customer and partner excitement, Snowflake Summit recognized early-stage companies that are leveraging Snowflake to build innovative applications and products in the 2023 Snowflake Startup Challenge. Hundreds of organizations entered the Startup Challenge to compete for a chance to be one of the three finalists, where they can receive up to a combined $1M in potential investments from Snowflake Ventures, and exclusive mentorship and visibility opportunities from NYSE. Judges including Dageville, Snowflake CMO, Denise Persson, NYSEs CIO, Chuck Adkins, and Altimeters Founder and CEO, Brad Gerstner, announced Maxa as the ultimate winner for its Snowflake Native App that automates financial and operations ERP insights quickly, without requiring special skills and all within a Snowflake customers account. Snowflake also announced Snowflake Ventures investment in Reka (June 2023) and partnership with AI21 to help more customers unlock the value of their enterprise data with LLMs. In addition, Snowflake Ventures announced an investment in Cart.com (June 2023) to provide deeper analytics and increased collaboration for joint customers, and shared new details around the future of LLMs in Snowflake following its acquisition of Neeva (May 2023).
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alpha Lithium Corporation (NEO: ALLI) (OTC: APHLF) (German WKN: A3CUW1) (Alpha or the Company) today commented on shareholder feedback received in connection with the hostile offer (the Hostile Offer) for the common shares of Alpha (Common Shares) announced June 8, 2023, including the open letter published on June 26, 2023 by Alphas major shareholder Kyle Stevenson. The Board unanimously determined that the Hostile Offer is not in the best interests of the Company or its current shareholders.

Brad Nichol, President and CEO of the Company commented: As a public company, shareholder feedback is tremendously helpful to Alphas Board and management in ensuring our vision for the Company aligns with the owners of the Company: the shareholders. Im very appreciative that Mr. Stevenson made his perspective known, and that perspective is generally consistent with the feedback Ive received directly from many of our other shareholders. Mr. Nichol continued: For months we have been, and will continue to, assess all available transactions on the basis of the benefit they provide to shareholders, with particular regard to the unique and compelling characteristic of each of our assets.

The full text of Mr. Stevensons open letter is set out below for reference. The Company notes that the letter was issued by Mr. Stevenson, not Alpha, and although Alpha is not aware of any misstatement therein, Alpha has not independently verified and assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information contained therein.

To my fellow shareholders,

My name is Kyle Stevenson. I currently own 9,200,000 common shares of Alpha and securities convertible to acquire 1,300,000 additional shares of Alpha. To the best of my knowledge, I am the single largest shareholder of Alpha Lithium.

I have been heavily involved in the Argentine lithium exploration and development industry since 2016, when I became President, CEO and a director of Millennial Lithium Corp. We developed the Pastos Grandes lithium brine project in Argentina, approximately 70 kilometers northeast of Alphas Tolillar project. We sold Millennial to Lithium Americas Corp. in 2022, in a transaction valuing Millennial at approximately C$491,000,000. This experience gave me considerable insight into the exploration and development of Argentine lithium brine assets, and their value in strategic M&A transactions.

In addition to my Millennial experience, I am familiar with Alpha, its assets, and its management team. I have done business with them in the past, and hope to continue working with them in the future. In 2019 I had the opportunity to travel to Argentina with management and experience, first-hand, the potential of Tolillar. Since then, I have been impressed by managements ability to add shareholder value, and continue to be impressed by the work theyve done in developing Alphas portfolio of assets.

I have carefully watched Tecpetrols attempt to acquire Alpha from its shareholders. I have reviewed Tecpetrols bid circular, as well as Alphas Directors Circular, and it is clear to me that the Tecpetrol bid is wholly inadequate, and I do not intend to tender any of my shares.

In my opinion, the Tecpetrol bid is an opportunistic attempt to seize both Alphas Tolillar and Hombre Muerto assets at an indefensible discount to their true value, which I strongly oppose. The bid fails to deliver value to Alphas shareholders, including myself, for two key reasons: The first is the valuation is embarrassingly low for Tolillar alone, and second, Tecpetrol is trying to get all the assets, including Hombre Muerto and over $30 million in cash, for no additional consideration.

1. Inadequate Value  a stink bid by all measures

Asset Value: The Tecpetrol bid significantly undervalues the Tolillar asset on its own. As the Alpha team wrote in their Directors Circular, the offer price represents a substantial discount to recent lithium brine transactions in Argentina, including the Millennial Lithium sale we completed in 2022. The confusing discount ignores the value added by the unique features of Alphas Tolillar salar, most notably: Tolillar may be one of the last wholly-owned lithium bearing salars in Argentina, and Tolillar hosts a unique and valuable freshwater reserve.

In addition to the obvious operational advantages that come with exclusive ownership of the entire salar, an independent freshwater recharge study commissioned by Alpha indicated that the freshwater aquifer located within the Tolillar salar mining tenements can sustainably support the large freshwater withdrawals needed for a top tier project (see Alphas press release of January 23, 2023 for more information).

Market Value: The bid price of $1.24 represents a ~15% discount to Alphas closing price on Friday, June 23, 2023. When Tecpetrol first announced their intention to bid Alphas share price was steadily climbing, consistent with prevailing trends in Lithium Carbonate Equivalent prices, making their inadequate offer even less appealing. The trading in Alphas shares to a high of $1.45 since the announcement of the bid indicates clearly to me that Im not alone in considering this a take under rather than a take over, which wont receive the shareholder support it needs.

The unique features of Tolillar make it an incredibly compelling standalone opportunity, and by any measure, worth considerably more than Tecpetrol has offered to pay.

2. Predatory Structure  Tecpetrol wants everything, at a huge discount

Assuming Tecpetrol has taken adequate time to familiarize itself with Alpha, they know, or ought to know, that Alpha has at least two distinct and compelling assets: (i) the Tolillar project, and (ii) the roughly 5,000-hectare land position in the world-class Hombre Muerto Salar. For those of my fellow shareholders who have not yet had the opportunity, I would encourage you to review Alphas technical report about its Hombre Muerto asset. Its available under Alphas profile at www.sedar.com. Even prior to the filing of the Hombre Muerto technical report, it would be clear to anyone who had conducted appropriate due diligence on Alpha that its early stage Hombre Muerto asset represents compelling potential for additional shareholder value. Therein lies the second problem with the Tecpetrol bid: for a low-ball price, Tecpetrol wants the de-risked Tolillar project, the discovery potential of the Hombre Muerto asset, and approximately $30 million of capital.

Tecpetrol declined to participate in the Tolillar sale process when invited by Alpha, instead deciding to make a hostile bid for the entire company. While I expect Tecpetrol hopes to be able to use the hostile bid as a way to get Tolillar at a discount, shareholders need to understand that the proposed structure would also allow Tecpetrol to also take 100% of the future potential of Hombre Muerto, whatever that may be, for essentially nothing.

I put my trust, and capital, behind the team at Alpha to develop Tolillar from a very early stage, and am impressed by the work they have done. I want to bet on this management team again to do the same thing in Hombre Muerto.

I strongly encourage Tecpetrol to engage with Alpha in a constructive manner and offer a fair price for Alpha and/or its Tolillar asset. I further encourage them to include a structure which contemplates a spin out of Hombre Muerto along with the working capital necessary to begin to develop its potential for the benefit of all current shareholders of Alpha.

Your fellow shareholder,

[signed]

Kyle Stevenson[email protected] 604.788.0537

Take No Action

The Board and management of Alpha will not tender to the Tecpetrol bid. For the reasons fully described in our Directors Circular, Alpha recommends that shareholders REJECT the undervalued and opportunistic Hostile Offer. To reject, shareholders simply need to do nothing. If you have already tendered your Common Shares and wish to withdraw, simply ask your broker or contact Kingsdale Advisors (by phone at 1-800-749-9197 (toll-free in North America) or 647-251-9740 (for collect calls outside North America) or by email at [email protected]) to assist you with this process. For more information, please go to www.ProtectAlphaLithium.com.

Advisors

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC is serving as the Companys financial advisor, Cozen OConnor LLP is serving as the Companys legal advisor and McMillan LLP is serving as the Special Committees legal advisor. PI Financial has been appointed independent financial advisor to the Special Committee. Longview Communications & Public Affairs is serving as government and public relations advisor and Kingsdale Advisors is serving as strategic shareholder and communications advisor.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF ALPHA LITHIUM CORPORATION

Brad Nichol

Brad NicholPresident, CEO and Director

For more information:Alpha Lithium Investor Relations Tel: +1 844 592 6337[email protected] www.alphalithium.com

Kingsdale Advisors1 800 749 9179 (toll free in North America)+1 647 251 9740 (collect, outside North America)[email protected] www.ProtectAlphaLithium.com

About Alpha Lithium (NEO: ALLI) (OTC: APHLF) (German WKN: A3CUW1)

Alpha Lithium is a team of industry professionals and experienced stakeholders focused on the development of the Tolillar and Hombre Muerto Salars. In Tolillar, we have assembled 100% ownership of what may be one of Argentinas last undeveloped lithium salars, encompassing 27,500 hectares (67,954 acres), neighboring multi-billion-dollar lithium players in the heart of the renowned Lithium Triangle. In Hombre Muerto, we continue to expand our 5,000+ hectare (12,570 acres) foothold in one of the worlds highest quality, longest producing, lithium salars. Other companies in the area exploring for lithium brines or currently in production include Allkem Ltd., Livent Corporation, and POSCO in Salar del Hombre Muerto; Orocobre in Salar Olaroz; Eramine SudAmerica S.A. in Salar de Centenario; and Gangfeng and Lithium Americas in Salar de Cauchari.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements concerning the Hostile Offer. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as will, may, should, anticipate, expects and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve 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. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include the results of further discussions, if any, between the Company, and third parties, the ability of the Company to successfully complete a transaction involving itself or its assets, or to do so on a timely basis, global economic conditions and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. 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, include numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. 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 will update or revise publicly any of the included forward-looking statements as expressly required by applicable law.

No securities regulatory authority has reviewed nor accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

A QR code accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b7393de3-c7c0-42de-9a01-4e34ac38f0d6

Scan Me Scan Me

Source: Alpha Lithium Corp
PHILADELPHIA, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barrack, Rodos & Bacine is investigating potential claims on behalf of investors of shares of Xponential Fitness Inc. (Xponential) (NYSE: XPOF), a franchisor of fitness brands. The investigation concerns the possibility that Xponential, and certain of its officers and directors, engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

On June 27, 2023, a short seller research firm, Fuzzy Panda Research, issued a report claiming that Xponential has misled investors across many fronts. Among the allegations in the report are that: Xponential misled investors about the number of franchises that it has either closed or which are for sale at drastically reduced prices; it excluded underperforming franchises in its financial reporting; Xponentials CEO and Chair, Anthony Geisler, has a long history of misleading investors and business partners, which misrepresentations have culminated in lawsuits against him; and Geisler has sold millions of dollars worth of shares of XPOF in recent months.

Shares of Xponential stock fell $9.39 per share, or 37%, on the publication of the report and the stock continues to trade well below its closing price on June 26, the day before the research report was issued.

If you have sustained losses in your investment in shares of Xponential Fitness, we encourage you to discuss your rights by contacting Mark R. Stein or Linda Border at Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, at the toll-free number 877-386-3304, or via email at [email protected]. For more information about Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, please visit the firms website.

Philadelphia-based Barrack Rodos & Bacine has more than four decades of experience prosecuting securities law class actions, including cases involving accounting fraud and insider trading, and has achieved some of the largest recoveries in U.S. history of securities litigation. The firm's largest recoveries on behalf of investors include $6.19 billion for WorldCom investors, $3.32 billion for Cendant investors, $1.05 billion for McKesson investors, and $970.5 million for AIG investors.

Source: Barrack Rodos & Bacine
The Annual General Meeting (the (AGM) in Anoto Group AB (publ) (the Company) has been held on 30 June 2023 and in particular the following decisions were resolved.



Balance sheet, income statement and dividend

The AGM resolved to adopt the balance sheet, income statement, consolidated balance sheet and consolidated income statement for 2022. Furthermore, it was resolved that no dividend will be distributed and that the unrestricted equity in the parent company shall be carried forward.

The Board

The AGM resolved to discharge the Board members and the Chief Executive Officers from liability for 2022.

As members of the Board of Directors until the end of the next AGM, the AGM re-elected Jorgen Durban, Anders Sjogren and Dennis Song. Further, Joonhee Won was new-elected as Board member.

The AGM re-elected Jorgen Durban as the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Election of auditor

The AGM re-elected the registered auditing company BDO Malardalen AB as auditor until the next AGM.

Authorisation for the Board of Directors to resolve on directed issue of Series C shares

The AGM authorised the Board of Directors to resolve on a new issue of no more than 14,000,000 Series C shares, each with a quota value of SEK 0.60, corresponding to approximately 6.1 per cent of the share capital and votes of the Company after dilution. With the deviation from the shareholders preferential rights, the new shares may be subscribed for by a bank or securities company at a subscription price corresponding to the quota value.

The purpose of the authorisation and the reason for the deviation from the shareholders preferential rights when the authorisation is utilized is to ensure delivery of shares to participants under the Companys outstanding incentive programs and to cover any social security costs related to such incentive schemes.

Authorisation for the Board of Directors to resolve on repurchase of Series C shares

The AGM resolved to authorise the Board of Directors to resolve on repurchases of Series C shares. Acquisitions shall be made at a price corresponding to the quota value of the shares. Payment for acquired shares shall be made in cash.

The purpose of the above authorisations is to be able to resolve on repurchase of Series C shares in order to ensure delivery of shares to participants in the Companys outstanding incentive programs and secure payment of social security contributions attributable to such incentive programs.

Authorisation for the Board of Directors to issue new shares, warrants and/or convertible bonds

The AGM resolved to authorise the Board of Directors to resolve, with or without deviation from the shareholders preferential rights, against cash payment, for payment in kind or by way of set-off, to issue ordinary shares, warrants and/or convertible bonds that involve the issue of or conversion into a maximum of 46,122,393 ordinary shares, corresponding to a dilution of approximately 20 per cent of the share capital and votes, based on the current number of shares in the Company.

The purpose of this authorisation and the reason for any disapplication of the shareholders' preferential rights is to increase the flexibility of the Company to finance the ongoing business and at the same time extend and strengthen the Companys shareholder base of strategic or long term investors. The basis for the issue price shall be according to the prevailing market conditions at the time when shares, warrants and/or convertible bonds are issued.

Attachment
Effective July 1, Deal Ensures Legacy Of Outstanding Care

IRVING, Texas, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CHRISTUS Health announced today that it reached an agreement with Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center for the Alamogordo, N.M., hospital to join the international, not-for-profit health system in a partnership that will preserve and enhance high-quality health care in the area.

We are so pleased to welcome Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center to the CHRISTUS Health family, said President and CEO Ernie Sadau. By joining forces with CHRISTUS, communities gain a compassionate and committed leader, partner and advocate in the creation of innovative health and wellness solutions that improve the lives of individuals.

The agreement takes effect July 1, with both organizations committed to a smooth transition for patients, physicians, providers and associates, and no disruption in services or procedures.

Like any organization, you should always look ahead to make sure you remain relevant to the needs of the community, said Norm Arnold, chair of the Gerald Champion Board of Trustees. Eighteen months ago, we started on that journey of self-reflection. We reached out to 27 organizations, and after considerable research and validation, we found a partner of like-values that would ensure the legacy of outstanding health care to our community  CHRISTUS Health.

CHRISTUS was selected as partner because of a shared mission of healing, vision for excellence and tradition of applying that mission charitably to all people.

Gerald Champion will now be able to leverage the strength of the CHRISTUS network with additional investments in capital improvements, expanded recruitment and retention efforts and growth in innovation and clinical capabilities, said CHRISTUS Health Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Paul Generale.

This is a generational event that builds on our previous 74 years of service to ensure that we will be resilient and continue to thrive, providing the very best in clinical care to our community, said Gerald Champion CEO Jim Heckert, who will remain in his role under CHRISTUS ownership.

About CHRISTUS Health

CHRISTUS Health, based in Irving, Texas, is a Catholic, not-for-profit system with more than 600 health centers, including community hospitals, urgent care centers, health insurance companies and physician clinics. We are a community of more than 50,000 Associates and over 15,000 physicians providing individualized care with a focus on charitable missions to communities in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexicoincluding CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa FeChile, Colombia and Mexico. Sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in Houston and San Antonio and the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, our mission is to extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ to every individual we serve.

About Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center

Founded in 1949, Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center is an independent, nonprofit, sole community Level III Trauma, 98-bed hospital dedicated to serving South Central New Mexico. Services include 28 clinics of primary and specialty care; 33 different medical/surgical specialties; service lines that include urgent care, wound care, cardiac cath lab and interventional radiology. Gerald Champion employs/contracts with approximately 160 providers and 1,000 staff to provide over 30,000 ER visits, 150,000 clinic visits and 4,000 admissions a year.

###
ST. PETERSBURG, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia's airlines carried 78,800 passengers to China in the first five months of 2023, which was almost 10 times the volume in the previous year, said Russia's Ministry of Transport on Friday.

During the same period last year, Russia's airlines transported 7,500 passengers to China. As the Ministry of Transport clarified, the growth was associated with the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in China and an increase in the number of flights.

Currently, there are five Russian airlines carrying out regular flights to China. They operate 32 flights a week on 13 routes.

The ministry also noted that it has continued efforts to increase the number of direct flights between Russia and China, and its development has direct impacts on the growth of tourism and the expansion of business contacts.

The Association of Tour Operators of Russia has previously reported that in the first quarter of 2023, China took the second place in the tourist flow to Russia. 
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glacier Media Inc. (TSX: GVC) (Glacier or the Company) reports the voting results of the Annual General Meeting of its shareholders held on June 29, 2023 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The following five nominees were re-elected as directors of the Company by the following votes:

Nominee Votes For Percent Votes Against Percent Sam Grippo 77,575,254 93.41% 5,469,809 6.59% Mark Melville 78,126,274 94.08% 4,918,789 5.92% Bruce W. Aunger 77,594,135 93.44% 5,450,928 6.56% Geoffrey L. Scott 82,434,878 99.27% 610,185 0.73% Hugh McKinnon 82,474,779 99.31% 570,284 0.69%

At the meeting, shareholders also approved the advisory resolution of the Companys approach to executive compensation with 99.61% of shareholders voting in favour and PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, Chartered Accounts was re-appointed as the auditor for the Company.

Shares in Glacier are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol GVC.

For further information please contact Mr. Orest Smysnuik, Chief Financial Officer, at 604-708-3264.

About the Company: Glacier Media Inc. is an information & marketing solutions company pursuing growth in sectors where the provision of essential information and related services provides high customer utility and value. Glaciers products and services are focussed in two areas: 1) data, analytics and intelligence; and 2) content & marketing solutions.

Source: Glacier Media Inc
GUADALAJARA, Mexico, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: PAC; BMV: GAP) (the Company or GAP) announces that in accordance with the resolution approved in the Annual General Ordinary Shareholders Meeting held on April 13th, 2023, regarding the dividend payment of Ps.14.84 (FOURTEEN PESOS 84/100 M.N.) per each outstanding share, the Company decided the payment in various installments.

The second installment of the dividend payment will be equivalent to Ps. 3.71 (THREE PESOS 71/100 M.N.) per each outstanding share and will be paid on July 13, 2023.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V. (GAP) operates 12 airports throughout Mexicos Pacific region, including the major cities of Guadalajara and Tijuana, the four tourist destinations of Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos, La Paz, and Manzanillo, and six other mid-sized cities: Hermosillo, Guanajuato, Morelia, Aguascalientes, Mexicali and Los Mochis. In February 2006, GAPs shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PAC and on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GAP. In April 2015, GAP acquired 100% of Desarrollo de Concessioner Aeroportuarias, S.L., which owns a majority stake in MBJ Airports Limited, a company operating Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica. In October 2018, GAP entered into a concession agreement for the Norman Manley International Airport operation in Kingston, Jamaica, and took control of the operation in October 2019.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are statements that are not historical facts and are based on managements current view and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance, and financial results. The words anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, plans and similar expressions, as they relate to the company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the declaration or payment of dividends, the implementation of principal operating and financing strategies and capital expenditure plans, the direction of future operations, and the factors or trends affecting financial condition, liquidity, or results of operations are examples of forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. There is no guarantee that the expected events, trends, or results will actually occur. The statements are based on many assumptions and factors, including general economic and market conditions, industry conditions, and operating factors. Any changes in such assumptions or factors could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

In accordance with Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and Article 42 of the Ley del Mercado de Valores, GAP has implemented a whistleblower program, which allows complainants to anonymously and confidentially report suspected activities that involve criminal conduct or violations. The telephone number in Mexico, facilitated by a third party responsible for collecting these complaints, is 01 800 563 00 47. The website is www.lineadedenuncia.com/gap. GAPs Audit Committee will be notified of all complaints for immediate investigation.

Alejandra Soto, Investor Relations and Social Responsibility Officer [email protected] Gisela Murillo, Investor Relations [email protected] /+52 33 3880 1100 ext. 20294

Source: Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, S.A.B. de C.V.
OTTAWA, Traditional Unceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Throughout the month of June, Canada recognizes and celebrates the history, heritage, resilience and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Metis people across Canada. It is a chance for us to reflect on the past and work towards a brighter future based on reconciliation. This work includes ensuring Indigenous Veterans are employed at the same rate as the rest of the country.

In honour of Indigenous History Month, Executive Director of Helmets to Hardhats (H2H), James Hogarth, and President of Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones (AVA), Robert Thibeau, announce a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the next steps to help ensure that Indigenous Veterans across Canada are aware of the opportunities available to them in the skilled trades through Helmets to Hardhats. This partnership was formalized under the previous Helmets to Hardhats leadership, Joe Maloney.

Helmets to Hardhats is a national non-profit organization that supports the Canadian military community in finding meaningful careers in the skilled trades. AVA is a nationally incorporated organization that represents the interests of Canadian Aboriginal Veterans and serves members of Aboriginal descent. H2H and AVA are committed to creating awareness campaigns and promoting our services, including a streamlined process into the unionized construction industry, educational upgrading and training opportunities for all Ontario-based Veterans.

Together, we will ensure that all Indigenous Veterans, Reservists, Cadets, Rangers, and their families, including those in rural and remote areas, know the benefits and career opportunities available to them in the skilled trades. With the help of AVA, H2H will ensure that our outreach resonates and spurs participation with Indigenous military communities, diversifying the workforce and providing rewarding career opportunities.

Providing employment opportunities is one way to aid Veterans' successful transition into civilian life. By providing financial stability and reducing the pressure of finding well-paying, meaningful employment, Veterans can quickly become autonomous in meeting their hierarchy of needs.

Helmets to Hardhats look forward to referring Indigenous military members to apprenticeship and career opportunities with Canada's Building Trades.

Quotes

"Supporting Indigenous military members transition to careers in the skilled trades is critical to advancing reconciliation and diversifying Canada's workforce. By fulfilling this memorandum of understanding, we are committing to a shared vision of providing rewarding careers, increasing employment rates, and filling skills shortages across Canada by promoting pathways into Canada's Building Trade Unions."

Executive Director of Helmets to Hardhats Canada, James Hogarth

"As part of our mission to support First Nations, Inuit and Metis Veterans and their families, we look forward to working closely with H2H to help our Veterans find meaningful second careers with organizations that employ skilled trades people. This should prove relatively seamless for Veterans who are already trained in Red Seals trades, while also opening up opportunities for other roles in these organizations as military service develops many transferable skills."

President of Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones (AVA), Robert Thibeau

Contact information:

Aidan Strickland, Director of CommunicationsHelmets to Hardhats Canada[email protected]

Source: Helmets to Hardhats Canada
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- K92 Mining Inc. (K92 or the Company) (TSX: KNT; OTCQX: KNTNF) is pleased to announce the voting results of its 2023 annual general and special meeting (AGM) of shareholders that was held today as a virtual and in-person event. All of the resolutions proposed at the meeting were duly passed.

A total of 161,634,701 common shares, representing 68.99% of the Companys issued and outstanding common shares as at the record date were voted. All of the Companys seven director nominees were elected and detailed results of the votes on directors are shown below:

Name of Nominee

Votes For Votes Withheld Number % Number % Mark Eaton 147,986,707 98.30 2,556,919 1.70 Anne E. Giardini 140,674,924 93.45 9,868,702 6.55 Saurabh Handa 146,371,982 97.23 4,171,644 2.77 Cyndi Laval 149,958,586 99.61 585,040 0.39 Nan Lee 149,952,856 99.61 590,770 0.39 John D. Lewins 143,697,396 95.45 6,846,230 4.55 Graham Wheelock 148,012,305 98.32 2,531,321 1.68



Shareholders also voted in favour of the following matters:

Set the number of directors at seven (7);

Re-appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditor of the Company for the ensuing year and authorize the directors to fix the auditors remuneration;

Approved the Amended Share Compensation Plan; and

Approved the non-binding advisory resolution accepting the Companys approach to executive compensation.

Matter

Votes For Votes Against Number % Number % Number of Directors (7) 161,526,401 99.93 108,300 0.07 Appoint Auditors 161,325,808 99.81 308,893 0.19 Amended Share Compensation Plan 132,682,737 88.14 17,860,889 11.86 Advisory Vote on the Executive Compensation 145,393,354

96.58

5,150,272

3.42





All seven directors will serve on the Company's Board of Directors until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed.

Further details on the above matters are set forth in the Company's meeting materials, including the Management Information Circular dated May 19, 2023, that are accessible on K92s website at www.k92mining.com and under the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Final voting results on all matters voted on at the AGM are also contained in the Report on Voting Results filed under the Companys profile on the SEDAR website.

About K92

K92 Mining Inc. is engaged in the production of gold, copper and silver at the Kainantu Gold Mine in the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea, as well as exploration and development of mineral deposits in the immediate vicinity of the mine. The Company declared commercial production from Kainantu in February 2018 and is in a strong financial position. A maiden resource estimate on the Blue Lake porphyry project was completed in August 2022. K92 is operated by a team of mining company professionals with extensive international mine-building and operational experience.

On Behalf of the Company,

John Lewins, Chief Executive Officer and Director

For further information, please contact David Medilek, P.Eng., CFA, President at +1-604-416-4445

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation (forward-looking statements), including, but not limited to, the impact of global supply chain and financial market disruptions; projections of future financial and operational performance; statements with respect to future events or future performance; production estimates; anticipated operating and production costs and revenue; estimates of capital expenditures; future demand for and prices of commodities and currencies; estimated mine life of our mine; estimated closure and reclamation costs and statements regarding anticipated exploration, development, construction, production, permitting and other activities on the Companys properties, including: expected gold, silver and copper production and the Stage 3 Expansion and Stage 4 Expansion. Estimates of mineral reserves and mineral resources are also forward-looking statements because they constitute projections, based on certain estimates and assumptions, regarding the amount of minerals that may be encountered in the future and/or the anticipated economics of production. All statements in this Annual Information Form that address events or developments that we expect to occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, although not always, identified by words such as expect, plan, anticipate, project, target, potential, schedule, forecast, budget, estimate, intend or believe and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or that events or conditions will, would, may, could, should or might occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond our ability to control, that may cause our 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, without limitation, Public Health Crises, including the COVID-19 Pandemic; changes in the price of gold, silver, copper and other metals in the world markets; fluctuations in the price and availability of infrastructure and energy and other commodities; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; volatility in price of our common shares; inherent risks associated with the mining industry, including problems related to weather and climate in remote areas in which certain of the Companys operations are located; failure to achieve production, cost and other estimates; risks and uncertainties associated with exploration and development; uncertainties relating to estimates of mineral resources including uncertainty that mineral resources may never be converted into mineral reserves; the Companys ability to carry on current and future operations, including development and exploration activities; the timing, extent, duration and economic viability of such operations, including any mineral resources or reserves identified thereby; the accuracy and reliability of estimates, projections, forecasts, studies and assessments; the Companys ability to meet or achieve estimates, projections and forecasts; the availability and cost of inputs; the availability and costs of achieving the Stage 3 Expansion or the Stage 4 Expansion; the ability of the Company to achieve the inputs the price and market for outputs, including gold, silver and copper; inability of the Company to identify appropriate acquisition targets or complete desirable acquisitions; failures of information systems or information security threats; political, economic and other risks associated with the Companys foreign operations; geopolitical events and other uncertainties, such as the conflict in Ukraine; compliance with various laws and regulatory requirements to which the Company is subject to, including taxation; the ability to obtain timely financing on reasonable terms when required; the current and future social, economic and political conditions, including relationship with the communities in Papua New Guinea and other jurisdictions it operates; other assumptions and factors generally associated with the mining industry; and the risks, uncertainties and other factors referred to in the Companys Annual Information Form under the heading Risk Factors.

Estimates of mineral resources are also forward-looking statements because they constitute projections, based on certain estimates and assumptions, regarding the amount of minerals that may be encountered in the future and/or the anticipated economics of production. The estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation, Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance, and actual results and future events could materially differ from those anticipated in such statements. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actual results to differ materially from those that are 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. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
EDMONTON, Alberta, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Regenx Tech Corp., (the "Company" or "Regenx") (CSE: RGX) (OTCQB: RGXTF) (FSE: YRS WKN: A2DSW3) has closed the first tranche of its previously announced financing for gross proceeds of $2,113,830. The closing of the first tranche of the offering is subject to all required regulatory approvals, including the acceptance of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

The offering is a non-brokered private placement of unsecured convertible debentures (Debentures). The Debentures bear interest at the rate of fifteen percent (15%) per annum and will mature on July 1, 2025. The Debentures will be convertible at the holders option into common shares of the Company (Common Share) at a conversion price of: (i) $0.105 per Common Share until one (1) year from the closing date; and (ii) $0.15 per Common Share for the period from the date following one (1) year from the closing date until the maturity date. The Corporation can redeem the Debentures at any time upon 10 days prior written notice.

The Company will not be paying finders fees in the first tranche closing.

The Company intends to use the proceeds from the offering to further the Catalytic Converter Module One and general working capital purposes.

The Common Shares to be issued under the offering have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration. This news release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States, nor will there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

For further information contact:

REGENX TECH CORP.Greg PenduraPresident & CEO780-800-0726[email protected]

Source: Regenx Tech Corp.
PALO ALTO, Calif., June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via IBN -- The BuildClub, the on-demand marketplace for building materials that is transforming the construction industry with an AI-driven approach, has achieved remarkable success since its launch in March 2021. In less than two years, the company has tripled its annual revenue, surpassing $3 million and establishing a strong foothold in the market. The BuildClubs crowdfunding campaign, reaching a recent milestone of $300,000 on StartEngine, continues to present a unique opportunity for investors to support the company's growth and innovation.

The BuildClub's innovative platform has attracted over 10,000 loyal customers, comprising both contractors and homeowners, who recognize the value and efficiency it brings to their projects. With over 5,000 completed transactions, The BuildClub has successfully delivered more than 270,000 items to satisfied customers. The company's commitment to excellence is reflected in the outstanding feedback received, as evidenced by over 150 5-star customer reviews on Google. The BuildClubs dedication to customer satisfaction has earned the company a reputation as a trusted provider of construction materials.

The BuildClub's digital presence has also experienced remarkable growth. With nearly 50,000 registered users, the platform continues to attract new customers and build a robust community of construction professionals and enthusiasts. Each month, the website garners as many as 400,000 unique visitors, a testament to the growing demand for The BuildClubs services and the effectiveness of its marketing efforts.

"We are incredibly proud of the milestones we have achieved in such a short period," stated Stephen Forte, founder and CEO of The BuildClub. "The rapid growth of our revenue, customer base, and online presence is a testament to the industry's appetite for our disruptive solution."

As The BuildClub continues its upward trajectory, the company is inviting investors to join them on its journey. The BuildClub's crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine, recently reaching $300,000, offers an exceptional opportunity for investors to support the company's growth and innovation. By investing in The BuildClub, individuals can play an integral role in propelling the company to its next milestone and capitalizing on the tremendous potential of the construction industry.

To learn more about The BuildClub and its crowdfunding campaign, please visit the StartEngine page.

About The BuildClub

The BuildClub, an on-demand marketplace for building materials, is revolutionizing the construction and home improvement industry. Powered by AI with an emphasis on convenience and efficiency, The BuildClub's on-demand platform is a one-stop shop, offering 2-hour job site delivery for over 240,000 items.

Visit The BuildClub website or download their app directly from the app stores.

Contact:

Stephen ForteFounder, Chief Executive Officer, and Sole DirectorThe BuildClubPalo Alto, CA[email protected] 888-423-0323

Wire Service Contact:IBNLos Angeles, Californiawww.InvestorBrandNetwork.com310.299.1717 Office[email protected]

Source: The BuildClub
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Integra Resources Corp. (Integra or the Company) is pleased to report the voting results from its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held on June 30, 2023. A total of 26,709,449 common shares have been voted, representing 38.84% of the Companys outstanding shares.

1. Number of Directors

Setting the number of directors at 9 was approved.

For % Against % To Set the Number of Directors at 9 99.82% 0.18%

2. Election of Directors

The following individuals were elected as directors for the ensuing year: George Salamis, Jason Kosec, Stephen de Jong, Timo Jauristo, Anna Ladd-Kruger, C.L. Butch Otter, Carolyn Clark Loder, Sara Heston, and Eric Tremblay. The following is a summary of the voting results for the Companys 9 directors:

Nominees For % Withheld % George Salamis 97.66% 2.34% Jason Kosec 99.83% 0.17% Stephen de Jong 99.85% 0.15% Timo Jauristo 99.83% 0.17% Anna Ladd-Kruger 99.81% 0.19% C.L. Butch Otter 99.78% 0.22% Carolyn Clark Loder 99.85% 0.15% Sara Heston 99.84% 0.16% Eric Tremblay 99.82% 0.18%

3. Appointment of MNP LLP as Auditors of the Company

MNP LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants, were appointed as auditors of the Company at a remuneration to be fixed by the directors.

For % Withheld % Appointment of MNP LLP as Auditors of the Company 99.91% 0.09%

4. Approval of the Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan

The Companys Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan was approved by disinterested shareholders.

For % Against % Approval of the Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan 99.71% 0.29%

Please see the Companys Management Information Circular dated May 19, 2023 for further information on the Companys Amended and Restated Equity Incentive Plan.

About Integra Resources

Integra is one of the largest precious metals exploration and development companies in the Great Basin of the Western USA. Integra is currently focused on advancing its three-flagship oxide heap leach projects: the past producing DeLamar Project located in southwestern Idaho and the Wildcat Project and Mountain View Project located in western Nevada. The Company also holds a portfolio of highly prospective early-stage exploration projects in Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona. Integras long-term vision is to become a leading USA-focused mid-tier gold and silver producer.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORSJason KosecPresident, CEO and Director

CONTACT INFORMATIONCorporate Inquiries: [email protected]Company website: www.integraresources.comOffice phone: 1 (604) 416-0576

Forward Looking and Other Cautionary Statements

Certain information set forth in this news release contains forwardlooking statements and forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and applicable United States securities laws (referred to herein as forwardlooking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes forwardlooking statements which includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: the future financial or operating performance of the Company and the Companys mineral properties and project portfolio; magnitude or quality of mineral deposits; the anticipated advancement of the Companys mineral properties and project portfolios; the realization of the expected economics of mineral properties; future growth potential of mineral properties; and future development plans.

Forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of words such as may, will, could, would, anticipate, believe, expect, intend, potential, estimate, budget, scheduled, plans, planned, forecasts, goals and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of factors and assumptions made by management and considered reasonable at the time such information is provided. Assumptions and factors include: the Companys ability to complete its planned exploration programs; the absence of adverse conditions at mineral properties; no unforeseen operational delays; no material delays in obtaining necessary permits; the price of gold remaining at levels that render mineral properties economic; the Companys ability to continue raising necessary capital to finance operations; and the ability to realize on the mineral resource and reserve estimates. Forwardlooking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forwardlooking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: integration risks; general business, economic and competitive uncertainties; the actual results of current and future exploration activities; conclusions of economic evaluations; meeting various expected cost estimates; benefits of certain technology usage; changes in project parameters and/or economic assessments as plans continue to be refined; future prices of metals; possible variations of mineral grade or recovery rates; the risk that actual costs may exceed estimated costs; geological, mining and exploration technical problems; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); title to properties; and managements ability to anticipate and manage the foregoing factors and risks. Although the Companies have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers are advised to study and consider risk factors disclosed in Integras annual report on Form 20-F dated March 17, 2023 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, and Millennials managements discussion and analysis dated April 28, 2023 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022.

There can be no assurance that forwardlooking 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 forwardlooking statements if circumstances or managements estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are presented for the purposes of assisting investors in understanding the Companys plans, objectives and goals, and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forwardlooking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Source: Integra Resources Corp.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xebra Brands Ltd. (Xebra) (XBRA: CSE) (XBRAF: OTCQB) (9YC: FSE), announces today that it was not in a position to file its audited annual financial statements, management's discussion and analysis and related officer certifications for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2023 (collectively the "Annual Filings") on or before the filing deadline of June 28, 2023, as required under applicable Canadian securities laws.

Xebra has been delayed in meeting the deadline for its Annual Filings due to recent management changes. As a result, the Company applied for a management cease trade order ("MCTO") under National Policy 12-203  Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203"). An MCTO has been granted by the Company's principal regulator, the British Columbia Securities Commission.

Xebra is working diligently with its auditors, Dale Matheson Carr-Hilton LaBonte LLP (DMCL, LLP) and expects to have the audit of the Annual Filings completed no later than July 15, 2023. Xebra will issue a news release once the Annual Filings have been filed. Now that the management changes have concluded, Xebra does not expect to experience delays with future filings. Until Xebra files the Annual Filings, it will comply with the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203 by issuing bi-weekly default status reports, in the form of news releases, for so long as the Annual Filings have not been filed.

About Xebra Brands Ltd.

Xebra is an international cannabis cultivation and product company, with global brands and intellectual property. Our focus includes beverages, wellness and leisure. Xebra is an absolute first mover in the Mexican cannabis sector with the first ever granted authorization to a corporation by the COFEPRIS. In Canada, Xebra retails its unique Vicious Citrus THC/CBN Lemonades.

On Behalf of Xebra Brands Ltd.

Jay Garnett

Chief Executive Officer

For further information please contact:

Tel: (833) XEBRA 88Email: [email protected]

Forward-Looking Information

Except for the statements of historical fact, this news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, business goals and objectives of the Company; statements and information regarding the timing for the filings of the Annual Filings; the Companys ability to be a first mover in a country, or to obtain or retain government licenses, permits, or authorizations in general, or specifically in Mexico, Canada or elsewhere, including cannabis authorizations from the Mexican Health Regulatory Agency (COFEPRIS); the Companys ability to satisfy the conditions of authorizations granted by COFEPRIS; any continuing uniqueness of any of the Companys products; and other forward-looking information concerning the intentions, plans and future actions of the parties to the transactions described herein and the terms thereon.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, the reliance of the Company on its auditors and management with respect to the Annual Filings; Such factors include, but are not limited to, the inability of the Company to retain the authorizations granted by COFEPRIS; the inability to generate sufficient revenues or to raise sufficient funds to carry out its business plan; changes in government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in various countries; risks associated with agriculture and cultivation activities generally, including inclement weather, access to supply of seeds, poor crop yields, and spoilage; compliance with import and export laws of various countries; significant fluctuations in cannabis prices and transportation costs; the risk of obtaining necessary licenses and permits; inability to identify, negotiate and complete potential acquisitions, dispositions or joint ventures for any reason; the ability to retain key employees; dependence on third parties for services and supplies; non-performance by contractual counter-parties; general economic conditions; the continued growth in global demand for cannabis products and the continued increase in jurisdictions legalizing cannabis; the timely receipt of regulatory approvals for license applications on terms satisfactory to the Company; and other related risks as more fully set out in the registration statement of Company and other documents disclosed under the Companys filings at www.sedar.com. In addition, there is no assurance that the Company will: be a low-cost producer or exporter; obtain a dominant market position in any jurisdiction; or have products that will be unique.

The forward-looking information in this news release reflects the current expectations, assumptions and/or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, the Company has made assumptions about the Companys objectives, goals or future plans, the timing thereof and related matters. The Company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of the Companys normal course of business. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking information are reasonable, forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such information due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

Source: Xebra Brands Ltd.
The United States cannabis sector is reaping the benefits of long-awaited tax relief as more states, currently standing at 20, have sanctioned legislation that grants exemptions to businesses from Section 280E of the federal tax law. During the spring, lawmakers in Illinois, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey passed bills that will enable marijuana companies to reduce their business expenses from state income taxes, despite the fact that these businesses are still illegal under federal law.

The expected savings could be substantial for larger businesses, depending on the corporation tax rate imposed by

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The Colorado Convention Center recently hosted the latest iteration of Psychedelic Science, a massive psychedelic-themed event that attracted thousands of attendees from around the world. Psychedelic Science 2023 was the largest psychedelic conference ever held worldwide, bringing in nearly 12,000 attendees from various walks of life and a host of speakers to talk about recent events and breakthroughs in psychedelics.

Here are the five main takeaways from the

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SACRAMENTO, the United States, June 29 (Xinhua) -- California's Black reparations task force presented their final report to state lawmakers on Thursday, moving their efforts to compensate descendants of slaves to the next step.

The task force spent two years on the over 1,100-page report, proposing more than 100 recommendations to repair the harm done to the state's African American population.

Their recommendations included giving direct cash payments and implementing preferential policies to benefit Black Californians that had long been disadvantaged.

The state-level task force, the first of its kind in the United States, was created in 2020 following a series of protests in response to the police killings of two unarmed Black people -- Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

To become law, the reparations need to be proposed as legislation first, then passed by both chambers, and finally signed by the governor.

A reparations-related bill is not expected to be introduced any time soon. California's current legislative session adjourns in mid-September and the next session begins in December.

The task force's report details 12 areas of harm to be addressed, including over-policing, housing discrimination, and separate and unequal education.

The panel recommends that the state issue a formal apology for the historic atrocities suffered by the Black people. So far, nine U.S. states -- Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia -- have officially made similar apologies.

The panel also proposed policy changes, including greater investments in schools, health care, housing and job training, as well as improving access to higher education, and reforms in policing and public safety.

Economists, working with the task force, calculated the economic harm caused by discriminatory policies and practices in California.

They recommended potential direct cash payments of up to 1.2 million U.S. dollars for a 71-year-old Black person who lived all his or her life in California and can trace his or her lineage back to an enslaved person.

Jovan Scott Lewis, a member of the reparations task force, said they were not "giving people money" but "returning monies taken" and "monies stolen."

The task force said the proposed benefits would only go to descendants of enslaved people, not to all Black residents.

They said financial redress was limited to residents who can document lineage from Black people who were in the United States in the 19th century.

It's unclear how much the reparations would cost California or how these payments would be funded.

At the federal level, the reparation efforts have stalled for decades, but cities, school districts and universities have been pushing the cause forward.

As the most populous U.S. state, California is expected to set an example for other states to follow.

But lawmakers in the Golden State also face challenges to turn the proposals into law.

State Senator Steven Bradford, a member of the task force, told media that they faced "major hurdles" and "are lacking true allies" on this issue, suggesting that many colleagues of his in the legislature do not support the idea.

A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that U.S. adults viewed the prospect of reparations mostly negatively, with only 30 percent in favor of the concept.

A survey by the Public Policy Institute of California earlier this month found fewer than half of the respondents had a favorable opinion of the task force itself, though majorities supported a formal apology from the state to descendants of slaves.

The survey also found that about eight in ten Californians viewed racism as a problem in the United States today and seven in ten thought that racial and ethnic discrimination contributed to economic inequality. 
By Jonathan Stempel and Helen Coster

NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged three Florida men with making more than $22 million through insider trading in late 2021 ahead of a proposed merger to take former U.S. President Donald Trump's social media company public.

Michael Shvartsman, his brother Gerald Shvartsman and Bruce Garelick allegedly traded illegally in Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC), a so-called special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), before it announced its plan to combine with Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG). The merger has yet to occur.

Thursday's charges from the U.S. Department of Justice were announced by Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Neither Trump nor his company, which operates the Truth Social app, was charged.

DWAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Grant Smith, a lawyer for the defendants, declined to comment.

Michael Shvartsman led Rocket One Capital, a small Miami-based venture capital firm that employed Garelick as chief investment officer and placed all its trades in DWAC securities, court papers show. Gerald Shvartsman runs a furniture store.

Authorities said Garelick, who was also a DWAC director, provided the Shvartsmans with what he called "intelligence" about merger talks.

The defendants then allegedly began buying DWAC securities and passed tips to others, and sold their holdings within two days after the Oct. 20, 2021, merger announcement caused DWAC's share price to more than quadruple.

Each defendant faces five to seven fraud and conspiracy charges that could lead to decades in prison.

In a related civil lawsuit against the men, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission described several merger-related communications involving Garelick, including his suggesting that Michael Shvartsman buy more DWAC shares.

"FYI. I have a DWAC BOD meeting tomorrow at 12:30. I recommend starting to buy more DWACU stock," Garelick wrote on Sept. 20, 2021. "U" stands for units.

The SEC also said that on Oct. 15, 2021, five days before the merger announcement, a Rocket One employee emailed himself: "DWAC stock** BUY 10 unit gives you warrant and full share can't lose money.... bought 2m warrants b/c target is trump media."

According to the SEC, the defendants' sales resulted in illegal profit of about $18.3 million for Michael Shvartsman, $4.6 million for Gerald Shvartsman and $50,000 for Garelick.

The future of the DWAC-TMTG merger remains in doubt.

If it closes, Trump Media & Technology Group would gain access to more than $1 billion in cash from DWAC's institutional investors, such as hedge funds. According to a Feb 2, 2021 services agreement, Trump controls 90% of TMTG.

Late last year, shareholders approved extending the deadline to close the merger to September 2023.

The cases are U.S. v. Shvartsman et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-00307; and SEC v Garelick et al in the same court, No. 23-05567.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Helen Coster in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: ReNu contact lens solution by Bausch + Lomb, is seen for sale in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., May 20, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

(Reuters) - Bausch + Lomb said on Friday it would acquire several Novartis eye-care products for $1.75 billion as their market grows, sending the company's shares up over 8% in early trading.

The deal includes acquisition of Novartis' anti-inflammation eye drop Xiidra, experimental drug libvatrep for chronic ocular surface pain, and rights to use the Swiss pharma company's AcuStream dry-eye drug delivery device.

The first big deal by CEO Brent Saunders since his return to the company in March also includes potential milestone payments of up to $750 million to Novartis.

It is expected to close by the end of this year and will boost the company's earnings, the company said.

Bausch + Lomb's Miebo was approved last month for dry-eye condition, which affects about 739 million people worldwide, including around 38 million in the United States.

Novartis said it would continue to supply Xiidra on behalf of Bausch + Lomb for a "limited period" after the deal closes to ensure consistent supply to patients.

The company said last year it would slash costs and take an "opportunistic" approach to eye care and respiratory diseases, while focusing more on cardio-renal care, immunology, neuroscience, oncology and hematology.

It had acquired Xiidra from Takeda Pharmaceutical in 2019 for an upfront payment of $3.4 billion.

Sales of Xiidra, mainly in the U.S. market, stood at $487 million in 2022, up 4% from a year earlier. The treatment faces competition from AbbVie's Restasis and cheaper copycat versions.

Novartis's largest ophthalmology product, Lucentis, for treating macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in the elderly, has seen sales decline because of cheaper alternatives.

(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru and Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Vinay Dwivedi)
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Coho Collective Kitchens Inc. (TSXV: COHO) ("Coho" or the "Company"), a commercial real estate and food technology company that provides private and shared kitchen and food production space to a variety of businesses, is excited to announce the opening of the 7th location of Purebread. Bakery Inc. ("Purebread") at the Vancouver International Airport ("YVR").

Previously, on May 29, 2023, Coho announced the execution of a purchase agreement among Coho, Purebread, and Purebread's shareholders, pursuant to which Coho, through a wholly owned subsidiary, would acquire all of the issued and outstanding securities of Purebread (the "Transaction"). The Transaction is expected to close on or before July 31, 2023.

This expansion marks a significant milestone in Purebread's growth. Located in the international terminal at YVR, Purebread's newest location replaces the previous Starbucks location, positioning Purebread ideally to attract guests from all around the world. With average daily foot traffic at YVR from over 70,000 visitors, Coho believes the newest location's potential for success is high.

The YVR location is projected to generate an additional $3.5 million in revenue per year for Purebread, representing a 35% increase in annual income. In its first two weeks of operations, the location has already surpassed financial expectations and is delivering exceptional products and service to the airport's global customers.

YVR partnered with Purebread for a marketing campaign for the launch:

Instagram video

Daily Hive post

"Our mission from day one remains the same - to bake delicious treats that bring a smile to people's faces," said Mark Lamming, co-founder and owner of Purebread. "From sharing baked goods at a small stand at the Whistler Christmas Market to now serving the millions of passengers who travel through Canada's second busiest airport, this new storefront is an incredible opportunity for our local bakery. We look forward to continuing to create smiles through our sophisticated yet homemade treats at YVR and our six other locations, from Whistler to Vancouver."

Andrew Barnes, CEO of Coho Collective Kitchens, adds, "It exemplifies the tremendous growth potential of Purebread and its ability to connect with a global audience. We are thrilled for the Purebread team and their unwavering commitment to quality and customer service."

About Coho

Coho is a growth stage, community-driven, commercial real estate, and food technology company that provides private and shared kitchen and production space to food companies from start-ups to restaurant groups seeking turnkey solutions and business services. Each of the Company's customers, called "Members", are revenue generating companies that have signed a membership agreement with Coho for an agreed upon term. The concept falls in line with a rapidly growing trend in the food-delivery industry creating a market for delivery-only and/or virtual restaurant concepts. For more information about how Coho is growing and innovating in the commissary space, visit https://www.cohocommissary.com.

Contacts

Andrew Barnes, Chief Executive Officer

[email protected]

(778) 877-6513

Investor Relations

[email protected]

(604) 243-7355

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 Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Any "financial outlook" or "future oriented financial information" in this press release, as defined by applicable securities legislation, including (but not limited to) future revenues of Coho or Purebread, the future revenue of Purebread's location at the Vancouver International Airport, and the combined profitability of Coho and Purebread following the Transaction has been approved by management of Coho. Readers are cautioned that any such financial outlook or future oriented financial information contained herein is provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Coho and its management believe that the prospective financial information has been prepared on a reasonable basis, reflecting management's best estimates and judgments, and represent, to the best of management's knowledge and opinion, Coho's expected course of action. However, because this information is highly subjective, it should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future activities or results.

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including, without limitation, our statements related to the closing of the Transaction; the impact of the Transaction on the Company's business and its growth plans; the costs savings and synergies anticipated from the Transaction, the success of Purebread's YVR location; and the Company's growth and acquisition plans in general.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, and contingencies. These statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

Coho's statements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many of which are outside of Coho's control, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding the Transaction, including: that Coho will not be able to complete the Transaction on the terms announced, within the anticipated timeline, or at all; that the actual impact of the Transaction on Coho's business and growth strategy will not be as currently anticipated; that Coho's other assumptions in making forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect; adverse market conditions; that the parties may not obtain all required consents or approvals for the Transaction (including the approval of the TSXV); risks inherent in the ghost-kitchen, retail bakery, or coffeehouse sectors in general; that future results may vary from historical results; and competition in the markets where Coho operates. Except as required by securities law, Coho does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.

No securities regulatory authority has either approved or disapproved the contents of this press release. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale or any acceptance of an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

All financial figures are approximate and in Canadian dollars, unless otherwise noted.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/172046
Prague, Czechia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Members of the Czech Fintech Association successfully showcased their products at the prestigious international conference, Money20/20, which recently took place in Amsterdam. Fintech companies under the association's patronage achieved significant success and introduced their innovative solutions that are revolutionizing the financial industry.

Money20/20 is one of the most prominent conferences that brings together leading experts from the fintech, banking, and innovative payment solutions sectors. This event attracts a substantial number of influential stakeholders from around the world and provides a unique platform for knowledge sharing and business networking. The participation of Czech fintech representatives added to the overall appeal of the conference.





Czech Fintech at Money 20/20

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One of the Czech representatives is Dateio, a company enabling more than 600 merchants to reach millions of customers through personalized offers in banking apps. Dateio's products and services are based on the enrichment of transactional data using complex algorithms and machine learning. This enriched payment data helps more than 30 banks and fintechs globally to improve the user experience, educate clients and connect the dots for data analysts.

Last year alone, Dateio expanded into 5 new markets, established 15 new partnerships with banks, and doubled revenues for both its products. Fintech has received accolades such as the Deloitte Technology FAST 50 CE and FT 1000 - Europe's fastest growing company 2021 awards.

"Money 20/20 is a key annual event for us. We consider it to be the best conference in Europe, providing us with the opportunity to connect with the global fintech community and become an integral part of it. The support of the Czech Fintech Association allowed us to have a kiosk at the conference, which greatly enhanced our brand presence and had a real positive business impact." - Ivan Dovica, Co-Founder & COO Dateio.

Another company, Wultra, offers modern authentication for financial applications. It serves as a guardian of digital finances by providing easily deployable authentication solutions that help banks and fintech companies secure their digital applications. Solutions with open-source code, suitable for developers, can be implemented within weeks, not months. Wultra is 100% compliant with PSD2 regulations and fulfills requirements for strong customer authentication (SCA) and dynamic linking.

Wultra: "Thanks to our participation at Money20/20 Europe, we had the opportunity to present our company together with other leaders from the banking and financial technology industry. At the same time, we gained an array of great contacts to potential business partners."

The Czech Fintech Association is delighted by the size of the delegation, which has expanded to include representatives not only from emerging companies such as Dateio, Wultra, Threatmark, and Finshape but also from delegates who attended the conference representing members such as Direct Fidoo, Deloitte, Lemonero, Comgate, Twisto, and magazine Fintree.cz.

"The Czech Fintech Association is proud of its members who successfully presented at the Money20/20 conference. Their participation in this significant event confirms the strength and innovativeness of the Czech fintech ecosystem." - OndYej Macha , Executive Manager of the Czech Fintech Association.

Contact person:

OndYej Macha

[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/170511
Baoding, China--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - On June 30th, GWM signed with Inchcape for a global strategic partnership, announcing plans to deepen cooperation on a world scale.

Signing Ceremony of Global Strategic Partnership between GWM and Inchcape

As a global leading automotive brand, GWM boasts many years of global expansion. Now, GWM's global R&D system spans across China, Germany, Austria, South Korea, Japan, and the United States, enabling cutting-edge innovation. And GWM boasts a sales network of global coverage. So far, it has exported its products to over 170 countries and regions, and sold exceeding 1 million vehicles overseas through over 700 overseas dealerships, including Europe, ANZ, ASEAN countries, Central and South America, the Middle East, and South Africa.

Mu Feng, President of GWM, said that the global strategic partnership between GWM and Inchcape, signifies the further deepening of cooperation and will bring more business opportunities and prospects for future development. Inchcape, a global automotive industry giant with an extensive network and market influence in over 40 markets across the UK, Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, aims to deliver an outstanding customer experience, and to give more customers global access to their impressive EV offering.

GWM will draw wisdom and successful experiences from Inchcapes international operation, digital and data capabilities and management expertise to optimize its own global layout and operating model.

During the visit, the top executives of Inchcape toured GWM's technical center and SVOLT research departments, and the Baoding GWM dealership. Parker Shi, Vice President of GWM, gave a detailed introduction to the participants on GWM's global expansion, Forest Ecosystem, and future new energy strategic planning. They gained in-depth insights into GWM's outstanding performance in innovative technology, sustainable energy research, product lineup, and manufacturing capabilities. Duncan Tait, Group CEO of Inchcape, highly praised GWM's Forest Ecosystem for its comprehensive system centered on the vehicle, encompassing the full range of new energy, intelligent technologies, and related industries.

The collaboration between GWM and Inchcape focuses specifically on the enormous potential of the Indonesian market. As one of Southeast Asia's largest automotive markets, Indonesia has immense potential for automotive demand. GWM and Inchcape Group aim to achieve comprehensive growth in market presence and market share through deep collaboration in this market.

In the future, GWM and Inchcape will engage in in-depth discussions to expand scope of cooperation in the Americas, Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and Africa. Both parties will leverage the opportunities brought by this collaboration to provide consumers with high quality automotive products and services through digitalized management throughout the entire user lifecycle. This partnership will yield favorable results for GWM's global strategy and further consolidate its leading position in the global market.

CONTACTS

Tyler Qian

Great Wall Motor Company Limited

Baoding, Hebei Province

www.gwm-global.com

[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/171774
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Iconic Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: ICM) (OTCQB: BVTEF) (FSE: YQGB) (the "Company" or "Iconic") announces that on June 30, 2023 it received acceptance from the TSX Venture Exchange to close its debt settlement announced in its News Release dated April 24, 2023.

In accordance with the provisions of Debt Settlement Agreements signed on April 24, 2023, the Company has issued a total of 17,263,273 common shares at a deemed price between $0.1792 and $0.1818 per share to settle $3,127,156.50 of outstanding debt.

All of these shares are subject to a hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws expiring on October 30, 2023, and will be subject to such further restrictions on resale as may apply under applicable foreign securities laws.

One (1) Insider (the "Related Parties") will directly and/or indirectly acquire an aggregate of 3,802,017 Shares from the Debt Settlement, which will increase those Related Parties' pro rata shareholdings in the Company (the "Related Party Transaction"). All of the independent directors of the Company, acting in good faith, have determined that the fair market value of the securities being issued and the consideration paid is reasonable and is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of Multilateral Instrument 61-101.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Richard Barnett"

Richard Barnett, CFO

Contact: (604) 336-8614

For further information on Iconic, please visit our website at www.iconicminerals.com. The Company's public documents may be accessed at www.sedar.com .

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements with respect to the Option, the Joint Venture, the amount of the Offering, the expected use of proceeds from the Offering and the future business plans and exploration activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: "will", "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "may", "should", "potential", "scheduled" or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that investor interest will be sufficient to close the Offering, that market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals required for the Option Agreement and the future development of the Company's projects in a timely manner.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development activities, actual results of exploration activities, including on the Smith Creek Property, requirements for additional capital, future prices of lithium and gold, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, lack of investor interest in future financings, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities, risks relating to epidemics or pandemics such as COVID-19, including the impact of COVID-19 on the business, financial condition and exploration and development activities of the Company, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, title disputes, the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents, approvals or authorizations, including of the TSX Venture Exchange in respect of the Option Agreement and the Offering, the timing and possible outcome of any pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, and risks related to joint venture operations, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's latest interim Management's Discussion and Analysis and filed with the Canadian Securities Authorities. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/172105
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Pool Safe Inc. (TSXV: POOL) ("Pool Safe" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the closing of the second tranche of its previously announced non-brokered debenture financing (the "Debenture Financing"). The Company closed on 670 Debenture Units ("Debenture Units") for gross proceeds of $670,000.

Under the terms of the Debenture Financing, each Debenture Unit consists of (a) one $1,000 face value debenture ("Debenture"), and (b) 28,500 common share bonus warrants of the Company (the "Financing Warrants"). The Debentures mature thirty-six (36) months from the date of the issuance (the "Maturity Date"), and bear interest at a rate of eight percent (8%) per annum (the "Interest"). Each Financing Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one (1) common share of the Company ("Common Share") at an exercise price of $0.05 for a period of 36 months from the closing date of the Debenture Financing (the "Closing Date"). If at any time the Common Shares trade at higher than $0.15 per Common Share (on a volume weighted average basis) for a period of 20 consecutive trading days (the "Early Expiry Event"), the Company has the right to accelerate the expiry date of the Financing Warrants by providing the holder with written notice of an Early Expiry Event (the "Early Expiry Notice"). The period whereby the holder is entitled to exercise any portion of outstanding Financing Warrants shall expire 30 calendar days following the date on which the company provides Early Expiry Notice to holders (the "Early Expiry Date"). Furthermore, if a portion of the Debentures are repaid during the first year following the Closing Date, a proportional number of the Financing Warrants shall have their term reduced to the later of one year from the Closing Date and 30 days from repayment of that portion of the Debenture.

All Debentures and Financing Warrants issued pursuant to the Debenture Financing are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus one day from the date of issuance, in accordance with applicable securities legislation. As part of the second tranche of the Debenture Financing, the Company may pay finder's fees of 8% as permitted by the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). The Company intends to use approximately 30% of the net proceeds from the Debenture Financing to increase its inventory and production capacity for future Loungenie builds. In addition, approximately 10% of the net proceeds will be used to evolve the Company's communication technology and enhance its Loungenie's IoT capabilities. The remainder of the net proceeds will be applied to working capital and general corporate purposes.

The Company has raised $1,090,000 through the sales of 1,090 Debenture Units at a price of $1,000 per Debenture Unit.

The Company made a typographical mistake and wishes to clarify that its news releases dated June 1, 2023 and June 27, 2023, which should have stated that the Debentures in the Debenture Financing are non-convertible. The terms of the Debenture Financing remain the same as disclosed in the Company's news releases dated April 17, 2023, June 1, 2023, and June 27, 2023.

About Pool Safe Inc.

Pool Safe Inc. designs, develops and distributes a product known as the "Loungenie", which functions as a multi-purpose personal poolside attendant. The Loungenie is designed to provide safety, convenience, and peace of mind for hotels, resorts, waterparks and cruise ship guests. Functions include: lockable safe, solar-powered charger for USB compatible electronic devices including phones, cameras and tablets, in addition to a server call-button, a beverage cooler and holders. Conveniently located alongside pool or beach lounge chairs, the Loungenie is a unique way of providing vacationers with a comforting sense of security for their belongings, while they enjoy their vacation. For more information, please visit poolsafeinc.com or loungenie.com.

Pool Safe Inc. is a fully reporting publicly traded company which is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "POOL".

Neither the Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such information and statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements" are made as of the date of this press release or as of the date of the effective date of information described in this press release, as applicable. Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by use of words such as "outlook", "expects", "intend", "forecasts", "anticipates", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "envisages, "assumes", "needs", "strategy", "goals", "objectives", or variations thereof, or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "can", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms or similar expressions, and other similar terminology) are not statements of historical fact and are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. The forward-looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the Company is not obligated to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. 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 forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: information with respect to the Debenture Financing and the use of proceeds from the Debenture Financing.

Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including but not limited to, use of the proceeds from the Debenture Financing, the general state of the economy will not materially worsen and Pool Safe is able to sustain its level of sales and earning margins. Pool Safe considers these assumptions to be reasonable in the circumstances. However, there can be no assurance that any one or more of the operational or financial targets as set out herein will be achieved.

Inherent in the forward-looking statements are known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to, risks associated with the failure of Pool Safe's inability to effectively use the proceeds of the Debenture Financing and Pool Safe's inability to develop and implement a business plan in general and for any reason whatsoever. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive.

Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The forward-looking statements contained herein are current as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, Pool Safe does not have any obligation to advise any person if it becomes aware of any inaccuracy in or omission from any forward-looking statement, nor does it intend, or assume any obligation, to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new events or circumstances. Any and all forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement, and except as otherwise indicated, are made as of the date of this press release.

Pool Safe Inc.

Steven Glaser

C.O.O. & C.F.O.

E: [email protected]

T: 416-630-2444

Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/172117
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 29, 2023) - Sherpa II Holdings Corp. (TSXV: SHRP) (the "Company" or "Sherpa") is pleased to announce that it is undertaking a non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $125,000, by the sale of 3,125,000 units ("Units") at a price of $0.04.

Each Unit will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.05 for a period of 36 months from the closing of the Offering (the "Closing Date").

The net proceeds from the sale of the Units will be used to cover general and administrative costs as detailed below.

Financing $ 125,000

Estimated use of proceeds:



Management and consulting fees

55,000

Professional fees

29,500

Exchange and transfer agent fees

21,300

Outstanding accounts payable

16,500

Unallocated working capital

2,700 Total use of proceeds

125,000

The above figures are estimates only, and there may be circumstances in which the Company is required to reallocate proceeds of the Offering based on the operational needs of the Company.

The securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a four month and one day hold period from the Closing Date in accordance with applicable securities laws. Closing of the Offering is subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Participation by insiders of the Company ("Insiders") in the Offering will be considered a "related party transaction" pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company will be exempt from the requirement to obtain a formal valuation or minority shareholder approval in connection with the Insiders' participation in the Offering in reliance of Sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101. A material change report will be filed in connection with the participation of Insiders in the Offering less than 21 days in advance of the closing of the Offering, which the Company deems reasonable in the circumstances so as to be able to avail itself of potential financing opportunities and to complete the Offering in an expeditious manner.

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 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 State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About the Company

Sherpa II Holdings Corp. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company with a majority interest in the Bakar Claims located in northwestern Vancouver Island, British Columbia and a 100% undivided interest in all technical data relating to the Bakar Claims.

For further information please contact:

Thomas O'Neill

Chief Executive Officer

Tel. (604) 484-4170

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements with respect to the timing for closing of the Offering, the receipt of regulatory approvals, the use of proceeds from the Offering and the Company's future plans and intentions. Wherever possible, words such as "may", "will", "should", "could", "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict" or "potential" or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.

Forward-looking statements involve significant risk, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except 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 release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/171959
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - TEAKO MINERALS CORP. (CSE: TMIN) (the "Company" or "Teako") is pleased to announce that it has strengthened The Service Alliance (see news release dated May 1, 2023) with thirteen (13) new likeminded members. The Service Alliance is a key strategy to increase the chances of success by leveraging the strengths of other exploration, technology, communication, exploration service and finance companies and creating an environment of shared knowledge and resources. The Service Alliance now boasts eighteen (18) exploration companies; three (3) technology companies; four (4) communication service companies; two (2) financing companies; and two (2) exploration service companies (collectively, the "Service Alliance Members").

The key aims of The Service Alliance are:

To maximize collaboration with other exploration, finance, technology, communication, and exploration service companies and to increase innovation within the mining sector; and

To share technical skills amongst Service Alliance Members.

About The Service Alliance:

The Service Alliance is a strategic business initiative that leverages the benefits of collaboration with other like-minded exploration companies and industries. Service Alliance Members will seek potential synergies with respect to marketing and procurement and facilitate the sharing of best practices. The Service Alliance will provide an opportunity to review and test new applications between exploration companies and technology focused members.

Figure 1: About The Service Alliance (read more here)



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The new members:

Company HQ Industry Exchange Ticker Symbol Website Aeonian Resources Ltd. CA Exploration N/A N/A https://aeonianresources.com/ Alianza Minerals Ltd. CA Exploration TSX-V ANZ https://alianzaminerals.com/ Below BC CA Communication Services N/A N/A https://bbcga.com/ Decoors Mining Corp. CA Exploration Services N/A N/A https://www.decoors.com/ SGDS HIVE CA Exploration Services N/A N/A http://sgds-h ive.com/ Kestrel Gold Inc. CA Exploration TSX-V KGC https://www.kestrelgold.com/ Kuniko Limited NO Exploration ASX KNI https://kuniko.eu/ Molten Metals Corp. CA Exploration CSE MOLT https://www.moltenmetalscorp.com/ Mining Catalyst CA Communication Services N/A N/A https://miningcatalyst.com/ Pacific Bay Minerals Ltd. CA Exploration TSX-V PBM https://www.pacificbayminerals.com/ Rare Earth Ridge Resources Corp. CA Exploration N/A N/A https://rareearthridgeresources.com/ The Critical Investor NL Communication Services N/A N/A https://criticalinvestor.eu/ / www.miningassets.online VRIFY CA Communication Services N/A N/A https://vrify.com/

Figure 2: The new Service Alliance Members illustrated



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Sven Gollan, CEO of Teako Minerals Corp., comments, "I am thrilled to extend a warm welcome to the thirteen new members who have joined The Service Alliance. Their decision to join our mission is a testament to the collective vision we share for advancing exploration, technology, communication, and exploration services within the mining industry. By coming together, we strengthen our collaborative efforts and increase the potential for innovative breakthroughs. I want to express my gratitude to each member for their commitment to shared knowledge, resources, and technical expertise. Together, we are building a powerful network that fosters collaboration, promotes best practices, and unlocks new opportunities for growth and success."

About Teako Minerals Corp.:

Teako Minerals Corp., is a Vancouver-based mineral exploration company committed to the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Canada and globally. The adoption of advanced technologies such as the SCS Exploration Product aligns with its strategy to remain at the forefront of the rapidly evolving mining industry.

ON BEHALF OF TEAKO MINERALS CORP.

"Sven Gollan"

CEO

T: +43 5522 500429

Email: [email protected]

Forward-Looking Information:

This press release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of Teako. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of Teako. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "will," "may," "would," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," "likely," "could" and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this press release include that (a) Service Alliance Members will seek potential synergies with respect to marketing and procurement and facilitate the sharing of best practices, (b) the Service Alliance will provide an opportunity to review and test new applications between exploration companies and technology focused members, and (c) by coming together, we strengthen our collaborative efforts and increase the potential for innovative breakthroughs. Although Teako 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 Teako can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.

The Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this release.

Not for dissemination in the United States or through U.S. newswires

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/171971
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Trillium Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV: TGM) (FSE: 0702) ("Trillium" or the "Company") announces the appointment of Dale Ginn as Executive Chairman and Nav Dhaliwal as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Dhaliwal assumes the role of President and CEO from Russell Starr, who will continue to serve as a Director of the Company.

Mr. Dhaliwal comments, "We wish to thank Mr. Starr for his hard work and putting together what can only be described as a Major's exploration package and thank him for executing upon this vision. A corporate update will be forthcoming as we look to leverage both our precious metal exposure along with lithium and critical metals."

The Board of Directors of the Company has recommended and authorized a change of the Company's name to Renegade Gold Inc. (the "Name Change") and a consolidation of the Company's outstanding common shares on the basis of ten (10) pre-consolidation common shares for one (1) post-consolidation common share (the "Consolidation"). The Name Change and Consolidation remain subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. The effective date and further details of the Name Change and Consolidation will be disclosed in a subsequent news release following receipt of all requisite approvals.

About Trillium Gold Mines Inc.

Trillium Gold Mines Inc. is a growth focused company engaged in the business of acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties located in the Red Lake Mining District of Northern Ontario. As part of its regional-scale consolidation strategy, the Company has assembled one of the largest prospective land packages in and around the Red Lake mining district in proximity to major mines and deposits, as well as along the Confederation Lake and Birch-Uchi greenstone belts. The recent completion of the acquisition of Pacton Gold Inc. extends Trillium's ownership in Red Lake to over 89,600 hectares of prospective and diversified exploration properties with significant potential for gold and critical minerals on trend with the major structures hosting known gold occurrences in the Red Lake mining district today. A portfolio of prospective projects in Western Australia has also been acquired.

Visit Trillium's website at www.trilliumgold.com.

For further information, please contact:

Trillium Gold Mines Inc.

Nav Dhaliwal

President, CEO and Director

[email protected]

Tel: 604-678-5308

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the expected use of proceeds of the Loan. This news release contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Forward-looking information is 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. Such factors, among others, include the ability to obtain required approvals from the TSX Venture Exchange.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The companies disclaim any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/171990
HOUSTON, June 29 (Xinhua) -- A grand jury in the U.S. state of Texas on Thursday decided not to indict rapper Travis Scott and five others related to the stampede leaving 10 people dead and thousands of others injured during the 2021 Astroworld music festival, prosecutors said.

The Harris County grand jury weighed criminal charges against Scott and others related to the fatal crowd crash, said District Attorney Kim Ogg.

"Our investigators and prosecutors gave it everything they had to ensure that the grand jury could reach the truth," Ogg said.

In this instance, the grand jury found that no crime did occur, and that no single individual was criminally responsible, Ogg said.

Kent Schaffer, a lawyer for Scott, said the rapper stopped the concert three times and was unaware of the tragedy as it unfolded.

"Today's decision by the Harris County District Attorney confirms what we have known all along -- that Travis Scott is not responsible for the AstroWorld tragedy," Schaffer said in a statement.

"Now that this chapter is closed, we hope for the government efforts to focus on what is most important -- stopping future heartbreaking tragedies like Astroworld from ever occurring again," Schaffer added.

Five others, including Brent Silberstein, the festival manager of the concert's organizer Live Nation, were also cleared.

Ten people, aged from 9 to 27, died from compression asphyxia when an over-packed crowd of some 50,000 attendees began pushing toward the stage during the concert at Houston's NRG Park on Nov. 5, 2021.

According to the attorneys representing victims, at least 4,900 attendees were injured.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Scott and the concert's organizer, accusing them of negligence, according to local media reports. 
Waterdrop introduces Flash Countertop Water Filtration System, delivering pure water in 1 second. With one-tap dispensing, a long-lasting battery, and a large water tank, it offers convenient access to clean water. Built with advanced technology, it aims to improve water quality globally.

Qingdao, China--(Newsfile Corp. - June 30, 2023) - Waterdrop is excited to introduce the Flash Powerful Countertop Water Filtration System, a revolutionary product designed to deliver pure water in just 1 second. This compact and portable system is set to transform the way people access clean drinking water.

The Flash system offers unparalleled convenience with its one-tap water dispensing feature, providing users with instant access to fresh and purified water. Equipped with a long-lasting battery that provides up to 30 days of usage, the system ensures continuous water filtration without frequent recharging. Intelligent indicators for battery life and filter life help users maintain optimal performance effortlessly.

With a larger 15-cup water tank, the Flash system allows users to filter and dispense ample amounts of water as needed. Its electric filtration system enables a rapid flow rate of 0.8L/min, guaranteeing instant access to freshly filtered water. By upgrading from gravity filtration, the Flash system eliminates the risk of stagnant water that can breed bacteria, providing timely, smarter, and easier water retrieval.





Waterdrop Introduces Flash Powerful Countertop Water Filtration System



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Designed to be portable and battery-operated, the Flash Powerful Countertop Water Filtration System is an ideal solution for any location, including the fridge. Users can enjoy clean water on-the-go, whether at home, in the office, or during outdoor activities.

Waterdrop is committed to delivering products of the highest quality. The Flash system is built with premium materials and features advanced technology, ensuring reliable performance. Its waterproof design protects it from accidental spills, enhancing its durability. Waterdrop's dedication to excellence is evident in every aspect of the system's design and construction.

About Waterdrop

Established in 2015, Waterdrop aims to offer dependable water purification products worldwide. The brand is committed to providing the purest, safest, and healthiest drinking water possible. Through research and development, design, and production of innovative water filtration technologies, Waterdrop has become a leader in the industry.

Waterdrop strives to enhance water quality in areas where it is most needed and exceeds customer expectations. The introduction of the Flash Powerful Countertop Water Filtration System represents a significant step in the company's mission to improve people's daily lives through innovative products and services. Its innovative features, mobility, and speed in purifying water make safe drinking water accessible to everyone, regardless of their location.

For more information about Waterdrop and its innovative water filtration products, please visit www.waterdropfilter.com.

Contact Info:

Name: RylanGao

Email: [email protected]

Organization: Waterdrop

Website: https://www.waterdropfilter.com/

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/171995
Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

Learn all about the broker's features in this comprehensive InfinitiGPT.com review. Explore the trading platform, advanced features, trading assets, and more.



InfinitiGPT is a brokerage firm that dedicates its services to Forex, Crypto, Commodities, Stocks, and other trading industries. The broker offers various trading conditions, including an intuitive trading platform, low fees and advanced tools to meet the needs of traders of all levels. This comprehensive InfinitiGPT.com review will delve deep into the brokers features and services to help traders make well-informed decisions on their trading journeys.

InfinitiGPT.com Review: About the Broker

InfinitiGPT.com Review: Discover a Seamless Trading Journey

InfinitiGPT, the leading online trading platform, sets itself apart from the competition by providing traders with a user-friendly interface that guarantees seamless navigation. Designed with the needs of both novice and experienced traders in mind, the platform prioritizes simplicity and intuitiveness. Upon logging in, users are greeted by a clean and well-organized dashboard, offering a comprehensive overview of their portfolio, market data, and trading options.



One of the standout features of InfinitiGPT is its intuitive navigation system. The platform employs a logical and straightforward layout, making it easy for traders to find the information they need and execute trades effortlessly. With a well-designed menu structure and intuitive icons, users can quickly navigate between different sections, such as account management, market analysis tools, and trade execution.

InfinitiGPT goes the extra mile to ensure that even the most complex trading activities can be executed with ease. Advanced order types, such as stop-loss and take-profit orders, can be easily set up through a streamlined process. The platform's responsive design also ensures a seamless experience across various devices, including desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones, allowing traders to stay connected and make informed decisions on the go.

Additional Features Designed for Your Convenience

The main trading screen of InfinitiGPT is thoughtfully designed to provide traders with a range of additional features for utmost convenience. Positioned on the left side of the screen, the Widgets Panel serves as a comprehensive information hub. Within this panel, traders have access to Market Watch, enabling them to monitor real-time prices of various financial instruments.

The Economic Calendar keeps traders informed about upcoming economic events and announcements that may impact the markets, empowering them to make well-timed trading decisions. Additionally, the Market News section offers the latest market updates, ensuring traders stay updated on relevant news and trends. To provide a holistic view of their trading activities, the main trading screen also displays detailed information on open and closed trades within the Widgets Panel.

Moreover, the Order Panel positioned at the bottom of the screen allows traders to conveniently track and manage their orders, providing a quick overview of order status and execution details. With these additional features seamlessly integrated into the main trading screen, InfinitiGPT enables traders to stay informed and effortlessly manage their trading activities.

InfinitiGPT.com Review: Unveil Trading Empowered with Favorable Trading Conditions



At InfinitiGPT, the focus is not only on providing a user-friendly platform but also on ensuring a seamless trading experience. The platform goes above and beyond to offer traders a range of benefits, including no costs, fast withdrawals, and instant order execution.

When it comes to costs, InfinitiGPT stands out by offering commission-free trading. Traders can execute trades without worrying about incurring additional charges or hidden fees. This transparent pricing model allows traders to keep more of their profits and eliminates unnecessary costs that can eat into their returns.

In addition to cost-free trading, InfinitiGPT prioritizes fast and hassle-free withdrawals. Traders can easily withdraw their funds with just a few clicks, thanks to the platform's streamlined withdrawal process. By ensuring prompt processing times, InfinitiGPT enables traders to access their funds swiftly, providing them with the flexibility and control they need to manage their finances efficiently.

When it comes to order execution, InfinitiGPT takes pride in its instant execution capabilities. Users can enjoy swift and decent order execution, minimizing slippage and ensuring that trades are executed at the desired price. This real-time order execution feature allows traders to react quickly to market movements and seize trading opportunities without delay.

InfinitiGPT.com Review: Enjoy Trading From Anywhere

InfinitiGPT understands that traders require flexibility and accessibility in today's fast-paced markets. To cater to the needs of traders who prefer different devices, the platform offers a customized trading experience across desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and mobile devices.



Starting with desktop computers and laptops, InfinitiGPT provides a robust trading platform that is optimized for these larger screens. For traders who prefer the convenience of tablets, InfinitiGPT offers a responsive design that adapts to various tablet sizes and orientations.

Mobile trading has become increasingly popular, and InfinitiGPT recognizes the importance of catering to traders on the go. The platform's mobile app is designed specifically for smaller screens, delivering a seamless trading experience on smartphones.

The customized trading platform across different devices ensures that traders can stay connected and make informed trading decisions regardless of their preferred device. Whether at home, in the office, or on the move, traders can access InfinitiGPT's platform conveniently and enjoy a consistent user experience across all devices.

Experience InfinitiGPTs Unparalleled Customer Support

At InfinitiGPT, customer satisfaction is paramount. The broker prioritizes delivering exceptional customer service, ensuring that traders receive the assistance they need whenever they require it. With a dedicated support team available 24/7, InfinitiGPT is committed to addressing any inquiries or concerns traders may have regarding the platform, deposits and withdrawals, trading operations, accounts, settings, and more.



The broker understands that navigating the financial markets and utilizing the platform effectively can sometimes raise questions or require clarification. That's why their knowledgeable and responsive support team is always on standby to provide prompt assistance and expert guidance. Whether traders are new to the platform and need help with the onboarding process or are experienced traders seeking advanced technical support, InfinitiGPT's support team is equipped to handle a wide range of inquiries.

InfinitiGPT.com Review: Take Away

In conclusion, InfinitiGPT has emerged as a standout online trading platform that offers a seamless and user-friendly experience for traders. With its intuitive interface, traders can navigate the platform with ease, enabling them to focus on their trading strategies and capitalize on market opportunities.

The platform's additional features provide traders with valuable information and insights to make well-informed trading decisions. Furthermore, InfinitiGPT's commitment to customer satisfaction is evident through its 24/7 customer support, accessible knowledge base, and prompt assistance.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to be a recommendation. The author is not responsible for any resulting actions of the company during your trading experience. The information provided in this article may need to be more accurate and up-to-date. Any trading or financial decision you make is your sole responsibility, and you must not rely on any information provided here. We do not provide any warranties regarding the information on this website and are not responsible for any losses or damages incurred from trading or investing.

Contact Info:

Name: Ali zaib

Email: Send Email

Organization: InfinitiGPT.com

Website: https://infinitigpt.com/



Release ID: 89101205

If you detect any issues, problems, or errors in this press release content, kindly contact [email protected] to notify us. We will respond and rectify the situation in the next 8 hours.
Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

newphone15.com is a website that updates and predicts the latest technical specifications of the iPhone 15 Pro Max.



In 2023, Apple is set to unveil the latest version of iPhone - the iPhone 15 Series. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is the pinnacle version of this year's series and is expected to carry an array of advanced technology features and enhancements.

newphone15.com is a website dedicated to predicting and updating information about the iPhone 15 Series and the iPhone 15 Pro Max. newphone15.com has collected some predictions as follows:

On June 12, 2023, Forbes predicted the iPhone 15 Series would be more expensive than its predecessors. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives revealed that the iPhone 15 Pro Max price could increase by up to $200. Creative Bloq stated that the production costs of the standard iPhone 15 models are expected to rise by approximately 12%, so the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models may be 20% more expensive.

PhoneMantra noticed on June 16, 2023, that Apple planned to produce 85-90 million units of the iPhone 15 Series, with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max expected to constitute a significant proportion compared to other models. The iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max was assembled by two companies, Foxconn and Shenzhen Luxshare Precision, in Zhengzhou, China.

On June 19, 2023, Ming-Chi Kuo stated on Notebookcheck that Apple was enhancing the ultra-wideband (UWB) capabilities of the upcoming iPhone 15 Series, including the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The UWB chip may be manufactured on a new 7nm process, a significant improvement compared to the current 16nm process used in the U1 UWB chip.

PhoneArena noticed on June 8, 2023, that the USB-C charging ports on the iPhone 15 Series and the iPhone 15 Pro Max were expected to provide USB 3.2 speeds, which are approximately 10 times faster than the Lightning port. This stems from the European Parliament passing legislation to standardize using USB Type-C ports for smart devices to protect the environment. The law will take effect in 2024, so Apple has already started transitioning to USB-C charging on various products such as MacBooks, iPads, etc. The iPhone 15 Series is predicted to be the next line to undergo this transition.

On May 17, 2023, the Twitter account Unknownz21 tweeted that it was likely that Apple would swap the positions of the Ultra Wide lens with the Telephoto lens, and the camera setup of the iPhone 15 Pro Max would feature a promising lens configuration. On May 31, 2023, YouTube channel TT Technology uploaded a video introducing the iPhone 15 Pro Max, predicting that this device would have a maximum screen brightness of 2,500 nits, which is 1.5 times brighter than the iPhone 14 Pro (1,600 nits) and 1.25 times brighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max (2,000 nits).

For more information about the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the iPhone 15 Series, take a look at https://newphone15.com/iphone-15-series/iphone-15-pro-max.html

About newphone15.com

Founded in January 2023 by a team of Apple device enthusiasts, newphone15.com is a website dedicated to updating and predicting technical specifications of the iPhone 15 Series, including the iPhone 15 Pro Max. newphone15.com is also a place where iFans can engage, communicate and share information related to the iPhone 15 Series and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Contact Detail:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newphone15/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/newphone15com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/newphone15com



About Us: /newphone15.com/

Contact Info:

Name: newphone15.com

Email: Send Email

Organization: newphone15.com

Address: 36 Hoang Cau Street, O Cho Dua Ward, Dong Da District, Hanoi Capital, Vietnam

Website: https://newphone15.com/iphone-15-series/iphone-15-pro-max.html



Release ID: 89101258

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Paid press release content from The Financial Capital. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

newphone15.com updates that the iPhone 15 Pro will feature significant upgrades in technology and design compared to the previous versions.



The iPhone 15 Pro, an upcoming Apple smartphone, is expected to be released in mid-September 2023. The iPhone 15 Pro is anticipated to carry substantial technological and design enhancements, surpassing previous iPhones.

newphone15.com is a website that makes predictions and updates information about the iPhone 15 Series, including the iPhone 15 Pro. Some of them will be listed below:

On June 12, 2023, Forbes reported that Apple is considering raising the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max prices by $100 to $200, aiming to create a larger price gap than the other two products in the iPhone 15 Series.

According to Creative Blog, the production costs of the entire iPhone 15 lineup have increased, impacting the starting prices of the iPhone 15 Pro as well. The report indicates that the production costs of standard iPhone 15 models have increased by approximately 12%, while the Pro models, including the iPhone 15 Pro, may see a 20% increase.

PhoneMantra noticed on June 16, 2023, PhoneMantra noticed that on June 16, 2023, the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, China is producing the iPhone 15 Pro. Apple may produce 85-90 million units in the iPhone 15 Series, in which the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models. The Shenzhen Luxshare Precision factory might assemble the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

HT Tech noticed on June 17, 2023, that the iPhone 15 Pro may not be available in a red color variant, as previously rumored.

MacRumors reported on June 19, 2023, that the iPhone 15 Pro may feature an upgraded Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip to enhance integration with Apple's Vision Pro headphones. The technical specifications of the UWB chip in the iPhone 15 Pro may be improved, from 16nm to 7nm, allowing for enhanced performance or reduced power consumption for close-range interactions, as mentioned by the Twitter account Ming-Chi Kuo.

On June 2, 2023, Tomsguide predicted that Apple might support the 15W magnetic wireless charging standard for the iPhone 15 Pro this year.

Previously, on May 26, 2023, Macrumors noticed that the iPhone 15 Pro design was thinner and more curved than its predecessor, the iPhone 14 Pro. The device's frame might be crafted from corrosion-resistant Titanium material, ensuring its durability.

91mobiles updated on April 16, 2023, the iPhone 15 Pro may still be equipped with a 6.1-inch OLED display, similar to the previous iPhone 14 Pro model. The technical specifications chart published by Gadgetsnow on June 6, 2023 indicates that Apple may introduce the new A17 Bionic chipset for the iPhone 15 Pro, replacing the A16 Bionic used in the iPhone 14 Pro. The A17 chip offers significantly improved performance and up to 30-35% power efficiency compared to the previous generation.

For more information about iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Series, visit https://newphone15.com/iphone-15-series/iphone-15-pro.html

About newphone15.com

newphone15.com predicts and updates information on the advancements, features and technological developments of the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Series. The website allows people to gain an understanding of the enhancements and innovations introduced in the next iPhone model of Apple.

newphone15.com is also a place where people can freely engage in discussions, share valuable information and express viewpoints related to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Series.

Contact Detail:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newphone15/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/newphone15com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/newphone15com

About Us: /newphone15.com/

Contact Info:

Name: newphone15.com

Email: Send Email

Organization: newphone15.com

Address: 36 Hoang Cau Street, O Cho Dua Ward, Dong Da District, Hanoi Capital, Vietnam

Website: https://newphone15.com/iphone-15-series/iphone-15-pro.html



Release ID: 89101259

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Certified in Cybersecurity recognized for its role in delivering positive improvement to the UK and global cybersecurity skills shortage

LONDON , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- (ISC)  the world's largest nonprofit association of certified cybersecurity professionals  today announced that its Certified in Cybersecurity (CC) certification has won the Best Professional Training or Certification Program award at the 2023 SC Awards Europe. The award win was confirmed as part of the SC Awards Europe ceremony in London on June 20, 2023 .

The award judges noted that Certified in Cybersecurity was "one of the few certifications designed for those with non-technical backgrounds to affirm their aptitude and interest in a career in cybersecurity. The program prides itself on being attainable for newcomers looking to enter the cyber workforce without direct IT experience while providing employers confidence in the skills and knowledge of potential job candidates."

"We are delighted to have won the award, but we are particularly pleased for the recognition it shows to all our members and candidates who have earned the Certified in Cybersecurity certification," said Ed Parsons , Regional Managing Director for the UK and Europe at (ISC)2. "Industry recognition from a respected industry source like SC Media further underscores the value Certified in Cybersecurity has for individuals and employers, as well as how the certification is making a cybersecurity career more accessible to more people in the UK and around the world."

Winners in the Best Professional Training or Certification Program category were selected by a panel of cybersecurity practitioners, industry experts and business leaders from both the private sector and government agencies.

New Roads to Cybersecurity Career Success

Through the Certified in Cybersecurity Certification program, more than 21,000 people have become certification holders since August 2022 . The rapid growth of the certification highlights the importance of creating new and diverse pathways into the industry for entry-level professionals.

"I'm switching career paths to move into cybersecurity," said Eric Turner , Systems Integration Developer, MSD of Warren Township. "The (ISC) Certified in Cybersecurity entry-level certification is another great way to demonstrate my knowledge."

To learn more about the (ISC) Certified in Cybersecurity certification, please visit: https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/CC.

To begin your career journey towards becoming a Certified in Cybersecurity certification holder, sign up as an (ISC) Candidate here: https://www.isc2.org/candidate.

About (ISC)

(ISC) is an international nonprofit membership association focused on inspiring a safe and secure cyber world. Best known for the acclaimed Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification, (ISC) offers a portfolio of credentials that are part of a holistic, pragmatic approach to security. Our association of candidates, associates and members, more than 365,000 strong, is made up of certified cyber, information, software and infrastructure security professionals who are making a difference and helping to advance the industry. Our vision is supported by our commitment to educate and reach the general public through our charitable foundation  The Center for Cyber Safety and Education. For more information on (ISC), visit www.isc2.org, follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

 2023 (ISC) Inc., (ISC), CISSP, SSCP, CCSP, CGRC, CSSLP, HCISPP, CISSP-ISSAP, CISSP-ISSEP, CISSP-ISSMP and CBK are registered marks, and CC is a service mark of (ISC), Inc.

Media Contact:

Amanda Steinman

Senior PR Manager

(ISC)

[email protected]

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/isc-certified-in-cybersecurity-wins-best-professional-certification-award-at-sc-awards-europe-2023-301867362.html

SOURCE (ISC)2
NEW YORK , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- More and more companies are asking employees to return to the office, but many of these workers are ignoring the request.

According to a new survey by The Conference Board, 54 percent of companies are mandating or strongly encouraging workers to be on-site. However, nearly 80 percent are still working either fully remote or hybrid schedules.

In fact, workers' dissatisfaction with return-to-office mandates may lead more workers to jump ship. Indeed, nearly a third of those required to come back to the workplace said their intent to stay with their organization had decreased.

The survey also reveals the pros and cons of fully remote versus fully on-site work. Most strikingly, the results suggest a relationship between companies with fully-remote employees and layoffs. 33 percent of remote employees report their companies have implemented layoffs, compared to only 13 percent of fully on-site workers.

The latest workforce survey from The Conference Board was fielded from April 25 to May 5 and polled nearly 1,300 US employeespredominantly office workers. Respondents weighed in on their work arrangements, return-to-the-office policies, productivity, engagement levels, and more. Key findings include:

FULLY ON SITE OR FULLY REMOTE: THE BATTLE RAGES ON

Nearly 80 percent are working either fully remote or hybrid (partially remote) schedules.

Only 15 percent of survey respondents are on site 5 days per week.

28 percent are fully remote.

50 percent work some variation of a hybrid schedule (remote some of the time).

More than half say working on site is either strongly encouraged or mandated by their organizations.

Mandated: 29 percent

Strongly encouraged: 25 percent

RETENTION

Mandating that employees work on site may hurt worker retention.

28 percent of those whose organizations mandated they work on-site say their intent to stay with the company decreased in the past six months.

LAYOFFS

Are layoffs more common among remote employees?

33 percent of fully remote employees say their organizations have implemented layoffs in the past six months, compared to 25 percent of hybrid workers and only 13 percent of those fully on site.

PRODUCTIVITY

Fully-remote workers say they are more productive.

35 percent of fully remote workers say their productivity is higher than 6 months ago, compared to 20 percent of those fully on site and 22 percent of hybrid workers.

19 percent of fully on-site workers report decreased productivity, compared to 16 percent of hybrid and 8 percent of fully-remote workers.

TEAM BUILDING

Hybrid and fully remote workers are concerned about limited connection with their colleagues.

37 percent of hybrid workers and 45 percent of fully-remote workers say they are concerned about limited connection with their colleaguesthe top response for each.

35 percent of fully-remote workers say they have no concerns.

Blurred work-life boundaries are also a concern for fully-remote (31 percent) and hybrid workers (30 percent).

Less than half of organizations offer in-person team building and celebratory events.

Only 47 percent of organizations now offer in-person team building and celebratory events.

"In a world that can often seem like its gone mad, we need to reimagine the workplace as an oasis for workers," said Rebecca Ray , Executive Vice President, Human Capital, The Conference Board. "Businesses should not only be thoughtful about why they're asking people to come back to the office but make it a place where people can come to do their best work, can learn and grow, and can have a meaningful impact."

ON-SITE WORRIES: OVERALL

Half of those working fully on site have no concerns about working in a physical workplace.

52 percent say they have no concerns.

28 percent are worried about the increased time and cost to commute.

21 percent are worried about increased interruptions or distractions.

ON-SITE WORRIES: GENDER

Men are much less concerned about working fully on site.

Significantly more men working fully on site say they have no concerns about working in the physical workplace (60 percent) than women (38 percent).

Women are more concerned about distractions in the office (35 percent versus 14 percent), the time and cost of commuting (38 percent versus 22 percent), and constant expectations of being on or available (28 percent versus 7 percent).

ON-SITE WORRIES: GENERATIONS

Millennials working fully on site are more concerned about the commute, work-life integration, and the expectation to be available than other generations.

38 percent of Millennials working fully on site are concerned about the time and cost of commuting, compared to 27 percent of Gen Xers and 24 percent of Baby Boomers.

35 percent of Millennials working fully on site are concerned about work-life integration, compared to 20 percent of Gen Xers and 14 percent of Baby Boomers.

31 percent of Millennials working fully on site are concerned about the constant expectation to be available, compared to 14 percent of Gen Xers and 12 percent of Baby Boomers.

"Workers are looking for opportunities to connect with their colleagues," said Robin Erickson , Vice President, Human Capital, The Conference Board. "Offering chances to get together and celebrate may provide some with enough of a reason to go into the office. But keep in mind that being together in person is not the only way to recognize accomplishments and celebrate as a team. Leaders should be intentional about building culture and comradery in a remote setting as well."

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for what's ahead. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States . www.conference-board.org

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SOURCE The Conference Board
DUBLIN , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AerCap Holdings N.V. ("AerCap" or the "Company") (NYSE: AER) today announced it will host a conference call and webcast for investors and analysts on Monday, July 31, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time to review its second quarter 2023 financial results.

AerCap's second quarter 2023 earnings press release will be released before financial markets open in the United States on July 31, 2023 . A copy of the press release will be posted on the "Investors" section of AerCap's website at www.aercap.com. At the same time, the presentation slides for the conference call will also be posted on AerCap's website.

The call can be accessed live by dialing ( U.S. / Canada ) +1 646 828 8193 or (International) +353 1 246 5638 and referencing code 8163072 at least 5 minutes before start time, or by visiting AerCap's website at www.aercap.com under "Investors".

The webcast replay will be archived on the "Investors" section of the company's website for one year.

About AerCap

AerCap is the global leader in aviation leasing with one of the most attractive order books in the industry. AerCap serves approximately 300 customers around the world with comprehensive fleet solutions. AerCap is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (AER) and is based in Dublin with offices in Shannon, Miami , Singapore , Memphis , Amsterdam , Shanghai , Dubai , Seattle , Toulouse and other locations around the world.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements, estimates and forecasts with respect to future performance and events. These statements, estimates and forecasts are "forward-looking statements". In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "intend," "will," "aim," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negatives thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements and are based on various underlying assumptions and expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors, including the impacts of, and associated responses to: the Ukraine Conflict, the Covid-19 pandemic, that could cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. As a result, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate or correct. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future performance or events described in the forward-looking statements in this press release might not occur. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and we do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake any obligation to, and will not, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For more information regarding AerCap and to be added to our email distribution list, please visit www.aercap.com and follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/aercapnv.

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SOURCE AerCap Holdings N.V.
PASADENA, Calif. , June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), the first, preeminent, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer of collaborative life science, agtech and advanced technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, today announced that it has released its 2022 ESG Report. Alexandria's sixth ESG-focused report demonstrates the company's commitment to and execution of its industry-leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy.

"For Alexandria, our dedication to making a positive and lasting impact on the world drives us each and every day. We believe that doing well in our business and doing good for society are inherently linked endeavors, and this belief has shaped our differentiated business model and supports our industry-leading ESG platform," said Dean A. Shigenaga , president and chief financial officer of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. "We are extremely proud of our broad recognition for leadership across our ESG platform. Our world-class team's commitment and operational excellence enable the longstanding trusted relationships we have built with our innovative life science tenants, who rely on our 24/7, mission-critical laboratory infrastructure to advance their lifesaving work, which cannot be conducted from home."

"We continue to make significant progress in advancing our approach to net zero and are pleased to highlight our decarbonization strategy in our 2022 ESG Report," said Eleni Reed , senior vice president and head of sustainability at Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. "Our strategy, which includes reducing emissions from the operation of our state-of-the-art facilities through electrification, energy efficiency and renewable electricity, is closely aligned with the sustainability goals of many of our innovative tenants. Notably, Alexandria's highly sustainable laboratory developments for Eli Lily and Moderna in our Greater Boston market showcase our proactive approach to reducing emissions."

The company's report details its efforts to advance impactful ESG programs, including its approach to net zero by developing an innovative greenhouse gas emissions mitigation strategy and advancing climate resilience in its life science real estate portfolio. The report also spotlights Alexandria's leadership in catalyzing the health, wellness, safety and productivity of its employees, tenants, local communities and the world through the built environment and beyond, including through its pioneering social responsibility initiatives and its commitment to upholding the highest levels of transparency, integrity and accountability. Notable efforts and accomplishments presented in the report include:

Being recognized by GRESB as a Regional and Global Sector Leader in the Science & Technology sector for outstanding ESG integration in its value-creation development projects; ranking #2 in the Diversified Listed sector for its mission-critical operating assets; and receiving its fifth consecutive "A" disclosure score for transparency around its practices and performance. Alexandria has earned " Green Star " recognitions in the operating asset benchmark for six consecutive years and in the development benchmark for three consecutive years since its 2020 launch;

" recognitions in the operating asset benchmark for six consecutive years and in the development benchmark for three consecutive years since its 2020 launch; Ranking #5 in Barron's publication of the "10 Real Estate Companies That Are Both Greener and More Profitable";

publication of the "10 Real Estate Companies That Are Both Greener and More Profitable"; Receiving an ESG Rating of "A" from MSCI for the second consecutive year;

Ranking in the top 10% in ISS environment and social scores and top 10% for its S&P Global ESG scores and increasing its CDP score to "B," putting the company in the top 10% of environmental disclosure and performance scores among FTSE Nareit All REITs Index companies;

Increasing its investment in renewable electricity to mitigate emissions in its existing asset base, including through a large-scale solar power purchase agreement that will supply renewable electricity to its Greater Boston region starting in 2024;

region starting in 2024; Pursuing Zero Energy certifications for two projects: 325 Binney Street , which is targeting LEED Zero Energy and is designed to be the most sustainable laboratory building in Cambridge , and 685 Gateway Boulevard , which is designated as Zero Energy Ready and is on track to achieve ILFI Zero Energy certification;

, which is targeting LEED Zero Energy and is designed to be the most sustainable laboratory building in , and , which is designated as Zero Energy Ready and is on track to achieve ILFI Zero Energy certification; Having 88 LEED projects certified or in progress in its asset base, representing a 7% increase compared to 2021;

Ranking in the top 5 issuers of green bonds among S&P 500 REITs, with $3.2 billion issued since 2018, proceeds from which continue to be allocated to projects that have achieved or are targeting LEED Gold or Platinum certification;

issued since 2018, proceeds from which continue to be allocated to projects that have achieved or are targeting LEED Gold or Platinum certification; Having 55 projects that have achieved or are targeting healthy building certifications, putting the company on track to meet its 2025 goal of 50 healthy building certifications;

Being named one of Newsweek 's Most Trustworthy Companies in America in 2023, one of only six S&P 500 REITs recognized in the Real Estate & Housing category;

's Most Trustworthy Companies in America in 2023, one of only six S&P 500 REITs recognized in the category; Donating mission-critical funds to over 290 non-profit organizations, as well as volunteering over 1,000 hours through Operation CARE, the company's employee social impact program; and

Earning its eighth Nareit Investor CARE Award in the Large Cap Equity REIT category for superior shareholder communications and reporting, highlighting Alexandria's best-in-class operational transparency and reporting practices.

Alexandria's 2022 ESG Report obtained third-party limited assurance from DNV Business Assurance USA, Inc. (DNV) and was developed in accordance with the Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Learn more about the company's comprehensive ESG approach and its progress on key initiatives in its 2022 ESG Report, which is available on the ESG page of the company's website.

About Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an S&P 500 company, is a best-in-class, mission-driven life science REIT making a positive and lasting impact on the world. As the pioneer of the life science real estate niche since our founding in 1994, Alexandria is the preeminent and longest-tenured owner, operator and developer of collaborative life science, agtech and advanced technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, including Greater Boston , the San Francisco Bay Area , New York City , San Diego , Seattle , Maryland and Research Triangle. The trusted partner to over 850 tenants, Alexandria has a total market capitalization of $33.0 billion and an asset base in North America of 75.6 million SF as of March 31, 2023 , which includes 41.9 million RSF of operating properties, 5.5 million RSF of Class A properties undergoing construction and 9.7 million RSF of near-term and intermediate-term development and redevelopment projects. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in life science, agtech and advanced technology campuses that provide our innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity and success. Alexandria also provides strategic capital to transformative life science, agrifoodtech, climate innovation and technology companies through our venture capital platform. We believe our unique business model and diligent underwriting ensure a high-quality and diverse tenant base that results in higher occupancy levels, longer lease terms, higher rental income, higher returns and greater long-term asset value. For more information on Alexandria, please visit www.are.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "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. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding Alexandria's initiatives, strategies, programs, policies, practices, investments and philanthropic efforts, assessments, progress, timing and performance in connection with Alexandria's ESG goals and the impact of the foregoing on Alexandria's and Alexandria's tenants' business, operations and workforce; the reduction of carbon, energy and other resource use; the mitigation of climate risk; LEED and healthy building certifications and efficiencies; and allocation or use of proceeds for sustainable or ESG purposes. These forward-looking statements are based on Alexandria's present intent, beliefs or expectations, but forward-looking statements are not guaranteed to occur and may not occur. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in or implied by Alexandria's forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties detailed in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and Alexandria assumes no obligation to update this information. For more discussion relating to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in Alexandria's forward-looking statements, and risks and uncertainties to Alexandria's business in general, please refer to Alexandria's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

CONTACT: Courtney Mulligan , Assistant Vice President  Corporate Social Responsibility & Strategic

Projects, (646) 939-7471, [email protected]

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SOURCE Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
The Art Gallery and Art Papers Programs Provide a Platform for Artists to Highlight Engagement, Inclusivity, and Multidisciplinary Approaches

CHICAGO , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SIGGRAPH 2023, the premier conference and exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques, celebrates its 50th year of breakthroughs and innovation. The advancements of art and science are on display through selected works from the Art Gallery and Art Papers programs. Artists will showcase projects that represent new approaches to unexplored stories through their artistic worldview. The 50th annual conference runs 610 August 2023 in person in Los Angeles , with a companion Virtual Access component.

Artists will showcase projects that represent new approaches to unexplored stories through their artistic worldview.

SIGGRAPH's 50th conference serves as a platform for a retrospective in art and design, as well as promoting gender equality, diversity, and inclusivity in the digital art community. By recognizing and commemorating underrepresented groups, the Art Gallery and Art Papers programs serve as inspiration for future generations of artists. The future of art and technology, creative approaches, and powerful ideas can blur the boundaries between art and technology and many disciplines toward a more inclusive and vibrant future for digital art.

"This year's selected works are very powerful and reflect many current social, cultural, and environmental issues," said Yoon Chung Han , SIGGRAPH 2023 Art Gallery Chair. "Time capsules contain elements that allude to the past, present, and future. They preserve a collection of everyday artifacts, memories, data, information, and messages to the future. Art has emerged from the constant evolution of technology over time that examines our cultural and societal practices and provokes alternative viewpoints to facilitate the discussion about global issues."

The Art Gallery program features the theme of "Time Capsules: Discovering the Undiscovered." From the 100-plus submissions, 12 projects were selected that represent the timely, critical, and creative expressions in artificial intelligence, robotics, animal-human hybrid, virtual reality, sensing devices, data art, interactive sculptures, space, and human bodies.

Robotics is an important technology and has been used by many artists to address and question human-machine relationships. With "Returning the Gaze," this timely installation by artist Behnaz Farahi addresses feminism and gender issues through robotics, gaze, and camera-sensing technology. "Conservation of Shadows" is a creative expression installation by Haru Ji and Graham Wakefield . This is the newest version of the artists' installation, and the generative art experience features artificial nature in mixed reality. The experience is created with AI and combines interaction in VR for an immersing experience. These are just two of the impactful installations that will be on display at this year's conference.

The SIGGRAPH 2023 Art Papers program bridges culture and technology, encouraging artists, designers, researchers, and engineers to rethink and explore the future of our society. Art must recognize the creativity of technology, while technology should acknowledge the capacity of art to produce reliable knowledge. Submissions explored how computer graphics and interactive techniques  especially those linked to recent developments in AI, machine learning, robotics, the metaverse, AR, and even blockchain  relate to societal and environmental questions.

"Technologies open new fields of exploration for artists, new 'canvases,' combining moving images, sounds, interactions, sensors, and more," said Nicolas Henchoz , SIGGRAPH 2023 Art Papers Chair. "Generative AI forces people to think about the very notion of creativity, the role of production, the concept of intention, authorship, and perception. Therefore, we need to have artists addressing the questions raised by emerging technologies, investigating disruptive practices, and usages. The objective is to push artistic practices to go beyond criticism and be part of a solution, as has occurred during the Renaissance, the Bauhaus movement, or even hippie modernism."

The Art Papers program showcases how art and design, combined with science and engineering, become more active in shaping, communicating, and building solutions for people, society, and even the planet. The next generation of artists engages in transdisciplinary projects, anticipated to have a larger impact.

"Movement Quality Visualization for Wheelchair Dance" is a system that can establish visual representations of wheelchair dances  describing movement, including emotional and expressive content. This research by Yurui Xie , Giulia Barbareschi , Ayesha Nabila , Kai Kunze , and Masa Inakage plays a major role in inclusivity and opening cultural perspectives while demonstrating the value of transdisciplinary research. "Kiss/Crash: Using Diffusion Models to Explore Real Desire in the Shadow of Artificial Representations" is an installation using AI imagery to explore the theme of desire and the expanding gap between real experience and artificial representation in the digital age. This installation by Adam Cole and Mick Grierson spurs critical thinking about the current debate on imagery and AI. These Art Papers are just two of the varied topics one will explore at SIGGRAPH 2023.

Learn more about how art and design play a role at SIGGRAPH 2023 by reviewing Art Papers on the full program and adding a visit to the Art Gallery to your conference schedule. Bookmark the ACM SIGGRAPH Blog for interviews and deep dives into these fascinating topics on the forefront of art and technology. For more information about the conference and the various programs and opportunities to experience at SIGGRAPH 2023, or to register to attend in person or online, go to s2023.SIGGRAPH.org/register.

About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH, and SIGGRAPH 2023

ACM , the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM that serves as an interdisciplinary community for members in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. The SIGGRAPH conference is the world's leading annual interdisciplinary educational experience showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2023, the 50th annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH, will take place live 610 August at the Los Angeles Convention Center , along with a Virtual Access option.

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SOURCE SIGGRAPH 2023
Union Demands Assembly, Governor Pass Free Speech Legislation into Law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters are celebrating the passage of Senate Bill 399 (SB399) out of the California Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment. The legislation bans mandatory attendance at "captive audience" meetings  employer-held, closed-door gatherings where workers are forced under threat of termination to listen to lies and propaganda designed to dissuade them from organizing.

"We'd like to thank State Senator Aisha Wahab , State Senator Maria Elena Durazo , and all of the assemblymembers who voted in favor of approving this bill for a floor vote," said Chris Griswold , Teamsters International Vice President At-Large and President of Teamsters Joint Council 42. "Mandatory captive audience meetings are tyrannical and morally abhorrent. We now call on every member of the chamber to vote for this legislation, and on Governor Gavin Newsom to sign it into law. Make no mistake  this is a litmus test for organized labor in California ."

"This legislation protects the free speech rights of workers by preventing them from being subjected  involuntarily  to deceptive, misleading, fundamentally undemocratic tirades against the human right to organize," said Jason Rabinowitz , Teamsters Joint Council 7 President. "This is why California needs to enact this into law as soon as possible. Elected officials need to know that if you're not with unions on this bill, then you're not with us at all."

Similar legislation has already been enacted into law in Oregon , Minnesota , and Connecticut . A New York ban on mandatory captive audience meetings has already been passed by the legislature and is awaiting approval from Gov. Kathy Hochul .

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.2 million hardworking people in the U.S. , Canada , and Puerto Rico . Visit Teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at Facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:

Matt McQuaid, (202) 624-6877

[email protected]

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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Georgias ranking in the European Research Centre for Anti Corruption and State-Buildings latest Government Transparency in the Time of War index has jumped from 54th to 17th, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili told the Parliament on Friday, Azernews reports, citing Agenda.

Garibashvili said the country continued to hold leading positions in important rankings like the Rule of Law Index of World Justice Project, where Georgia placed first regionally and globally.

He also noted the budget transparency ranking by International Budget Partnership, where he said the country outranked 15 European Union member states and four G7 member countries.

The PM also told lawmakers the country held the top spot in significant rankings like the Rule of Law Index of World Justice Project, remaining at the top not just for the Black Sea region but also for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

The Government head also said the country held leading positions in international indexes measuring budget pressure.
NEW YORK, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The United States has witnessed five mass shootings each Independence Day on average over the past decade - more than on any other day of the year, reported USA Today on Thursday.

In that time, there have been more than 50 shootings in which four or more people were hit by gunfire on July Fourth, according to an analysis of Gun Violence Archive data by researcher James Alan Fox of Northeastern University in Boston.

"The holiday this year comes as the nation is grappling with historically elevated levels of gun violence, which surged during the coronavirus pandemic," said the report. "Seven out of 10 Americans say crime is 'out of control' in the United States, according to a June USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll of 1,000 residents."

"While early data suggests overall firearm homicides may finally be starting to decline again, researchers are documenting an alarming acceleration of mass shootings and mass killings, frequent episodes of gunfire on school grounds and increasing incidents of armed robberies, carjackings and road rage in many cities," it noted.

Firearm homicide rates in the United States have soared in recent years, following a sharp increase that began around 2015, Andrew Morral, director of the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research at the RAND Corporation, was quoted as saying.

"As a result, the U.S. is experiencing firearm homicide rates we haven't seen since the early 1990s during the crack cocaine epidemic," he said. "At the same time, firearm suicides have been increasing for the last 15 years and are now at a level higher than we have seen in more than 50 years." 
A poster showcasing data from the RELIEF study of CER-0001 (tricaprilin), being investigated for the preventive treatment of migraine, was presented at the 65th Annual Society Meeting of the American Headache Society

Data from the pilot study, showed a positive efficacy signal and supports advancement of CER-0001 into pivotal studies

The poster was presented by Cerecin's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Marc Cantillon

DENVER and SINGAPORE , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cerecin Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company at the forefront of developing innovative neurotherapeutics, presented encouraging findings from a recent study on CER-0001 (tricaprilin), an investigational ketogenic agent, indicating that certain individuals suffering from migraines may experience benefit. The data will be used to inform future studies. The study's findings were highlighted in a poster presentation at the 65th Annual Society Meeting of the American Headache Society, held in Austin, Texas from June 15-18, 2023 . The poster was presented by Cerecin's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Marc Cantillon . The poster was entitled, Metabolic Mechanism in Migraine: Tricaprilin, a Ketogenic Agent.

The RELIEF study was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, 3-month study of up to 60 g/day tricaprilin. The primary endpoint was the change from baseline in the number of migraine headache days (MHDs) during month three. Eligible participants had 4-24 MHDs in the baseline period. The study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04437199). The primary endpoint was not met due to lack of statistical power, however, an efficacy signal was noted in sensitivity analyses. Some patients opted to enter the CER-0001 Compassionate Access Program which provides continued access to CER-0001 (tricaprilin) for up to one year after completion of the clinical study.

Given that metabolic factors have been implicated in migraine etiology, the induction of ketosis via ketogenic drugs like tricaprilin could potentially offer an innovative approach to managing this condition. Professor Mark Bloch , Associate Professor at University of New South Wales, Sydney and RELIEF study investigator commented, "It is important that the headache field is aware of development of novel mechanism drugs, such as tricaprilin. This metabolism-based option is promising and should continue in development as a possible future treatment option."

The RELIEF study's preliminary findings support the further study of the investigational drug tricaprilin as a preventive treatment for migraines and affirm Cerecin's commitment to exploring cutting-edge therapeutics in the field of neurology.

About Migraine:

Migraine is the most prevalent neurological condition in the world and the World Health Organization classifies migraine as one of the 10 most disabling medical illnesses. Globally, hundreds of millions of people suffer from migraine. Migraine is characterized by debilitating headaches that last four to 72 hours and can be associated with nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to sound (phonophobia) and light (photophobia).

About Cerecin:

Cerecin is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing drugs that target the metabolic bases of central nervous system diseases. Cerecin is supported by two multinational partners, Nestle S.A. (NSRGY) and Wilmar International Limited (SGX: F34), as well as a syndicate of leading institutional investors. By bringing together the deep expertise of its leadership team, Cerecin is becoming a global leader in bioenergetics and neurometabolism.

About CER-0001 (tricaprilin):

CER-0001 (tricaprilin) is an investigational drug being developed by Cerecin for various neurological indications, including Alzheimer's disease, migraine, and rare epilepsies. CER-0001 is a ketogenic compound and is intended to leverage the numerous activities and benefits of ketone bodies.

Forward looking statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" under applicable securities laws that are based on the current expectations and beliefs of Cerecin. Such statements may be accompanied by words such as "aim," "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "possible," "will" and other words and terms of similar meaning. All statements, except for statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward- looking statements, including but not limited to: (i) sources and availability of third party financing and investments and the projected financial performance of the Company; (ii) the expected development of the Company's business, projects, drug development programs and joint ventures; (iii) execution of the Company's vision and growth strategy, including with respect to future growth; and (iv) new developments with respect to the Company's projects that are currently underway, in development or otherwise under consideration. Drug development and commercialization involve a high degree of risk, and only a small number of research and development programs result in commercialization of a product. Results in early-stage clinical trials may not be indicative of full results or results from later stage or larger scale clinical trials and do not ensure regulatory approval. Forward-looking statements are not guaranties of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from projections of future performance or any result that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management of Cerecin believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance or guarantee that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Cerecin undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

For more information visit www.cerecin.com.

For further information, please contact: [email protected]

 2023 Cerecin AC-23-970

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SOURCE Cerecin
BEIJING , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Civilizations flourish with exchanges and mutual learning. Such exchanges and mutual learning form an important drive for human progress and global peace and development.

The first episode of season three of the China Daily series Youth Power, "The Bonds of Culture", was broadcast online on June 30 .

In this episode, Gen Zers from China , Romania , Russia , Spain , the United Kingdom and other countries gathered in London to talk about how civilizations are enriched by communication.

With cultural responsibilities in promoting cultural exchange and advancement, Gen Zers play an important role in enhancing cultural communication between countries, one result by that Chinese culture can be better understood around the world.

Victor Kovalets from the UK said he has found that Chinese culture is attracting growing attention with its rich history and unique features. "Nowadays, everywhere you go there are new Chinese restaurants opening up," Kovalets said, adding that through eating hotpot we can better understand the culture behind traditional Chinese cuisines.

His love of Chinese culture began with the Chinese TV series The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he said. He retold the story of the "the empty city strategy" with great enthusiasm, saying that stories such as these are not only interesting but also profound, showing the depth of Chinese culture.

After hearing Kovalets' story, Gen Zers said they hoped countries can combine the culture of other countries into their education systems, providing students with a more comprehensive understanding of the world, of philosophies and of different ways of thinking.

Lisa Maslova , a Russian Gen Zer , said her favorite app is Little Red Book , a popular Chinese social platform. It is like a map of life for her because she can find all kinds of useful suggestions there, she said.

Yan Qiuhao of China said TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in many places.

"It's a window for us to find out about your own culture, and a way to broadcast your own culture to a broader population."

Many are attracted by TikTok videos about China , and some even want to visit the country, Yan said. From this perspective, TikTok opens up a window for people outside to know more about China .

In addition to talking of popular apps developed in China , many young people who talked to Youth Power told of their love for Chinese dumplings, red envelopes, escape rooms and detective games. Chinese culture is becoming more and more influential, with Chinese TV series and internet literature drawing fans, especially Gen Zers, worldwide.

However, the process of exchange and mutual learning among civilization is not always smooth and easy. Kevin Zhu , a Gen Zer with parents of different nationalities, said that what makes a civilization resilient is its ability to integrate and include, like a melting pot.

Kevan Kennedy , a student from Gibraltar studying for a PhD at Oxford University, said culture should not be considered a "neutral playing ground". Culture is a historical phenomenon that comes with certain imbalances and inequalities, so even though we may start from the right spot we can still end in the wrong place, thus offending other cultures, he said.

Lisa Maslova of Russia cited the case of the French fashion house Dior being accused last year of culturally appropriating a traditional Chinese costume called "horse face skirts" in some of its designs, and Chinese students protesting against this. "We should acknowledge where we got our inspiration from," Maslova said. "It's like using references when doing academic writing."

Young people interviewed on the streets of London also talked about their opinions in this episode of Youth Power. Many said the best way to stop cultural conflicts and break cultural barriers is to engage in intercultural communication. Mario Gonzalez Iniesta from Spain said he attached great importance to open-mindedness relating to different cultures and the drive to ask questions.

Adrian Murgoci from Romania encouraged young people to communicate more with foreigners. He suggested that interest in a certain culture can lead to further explorations about that culture, and one possible way to do this is by learning a country's language.

Youth Power, organized by China Daily and first broadcast in June 2021 , aims to build a global platform of communication and exchange, focusing on the interests and ideas of Generation Z. The program comes in the form of interviews, forums and speeches, with topics related to anything of current interest in the world.

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SOURCE China Daily
Celebrate the 4th of July in style for a limited time only

GRANTS PASS, Ore. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dutch Bros is releasing the perfect festive drink just in time for the holiday weekend! The Firecracker Rebel energy drink with Soft Top & Poppin' Candy is the perfect addition to all 4th of July festivities! If you're not wanting an extra boost of energy, this drink can be made as a Lemonade, Soda or Frost.

Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/9092654-dutch-bros-firecracker-rebel-energy-drink/

The Firecracker Rebel is full of flavor and color featuring our exclusive Rebel energy drink and red raspberry flavor, topped with Soft Top and new Poppin ' Candy!

The Poppin' Candy is the perfect 4th of July topping because it feels like there is super tiny firecrackers in your mouth! Make the most of this new candy topping and add it to your go-to drink!

"Everyone has been lovin' on all the different topping options we've been featuring, so we wanted to surprise our awesome customers with a poppin' new drink for the holiday weekend," said Charles Swindler , senior vice president of brand at Dutch Bros. "Poppin' Candy is the ultimate topping to celebrate 4th of July with!"

The Firecracker Rebel will be available while supplies last, so head over to your local Dutch Bros to try this limited time drink!

About Dutch Bros

Dutch Bros Coffee is a drive-thru coffee company dedicated to making a massive difference one cup at a time. Headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon , where it was founded in 1992 by Dane and Travis Boersma, it's now sharing the "Dutch Luv" with more than 700 locations in 14 states. Dutch Bros serves specialty coffee, smoothies, freezes, teas, an exclusive Dutch Bros Rebel energy drink and nitrogen-infused cold brew coffee. Its rich, proprietary coffee blend is handcrafted from start to finish.

In addition to its mission of speed, quality and service, Dutch Bros is committed to giving back to the communities it serves. Through its Dutch Bros Foundation and local operators and franchisees, the company donates several million dollars to causes across the country each year.

To learn more about Dutch Bros, visit www.dutchbros.com, follow Dutch Bros Coffee on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, & TikTok, and download the Dutch Bros app to earn points and score rewards!

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dutch-bros-releases-the-firecracker-rebel-energy-drink-301865785.html

SOURCE Dutch Bros Coffee
MEMPHIS, Tenn. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare recommends individualized patient treatment plans to alleviate or control pain, minimize organ damage, prevent infections and live healthy with the disease.

Millions of people throughout the world, including nearly 100,000 Americans, have sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that affects red blood cells. The disease occurs in approximately one of every 365 Black or African-American births and in one of every 16,300 Hispanic-American births.

"Alarmingly, the prevalence of sickle cell disease in Shelby County, Tenn. , where Memphis is located, is significantly higher than the reported national average," said Rana Cooper , nurse practitioner with the Methodist Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center. "Fortunately, Memphis is a hub for innovative sickle cell research. Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare provides world-class and evidence-based patient care to help individuals with sickle cell disease live longer and healthier lives."

People living with sickle cell disease may experience anemia, jaundice, fatigue, vision problems, frequent infections, stroke and frequent pain episodes commonly referred to as a sickle cell pain crisis. Symptoms can be mild or severe enough to require emergency care or frequent hospitalizations.

Sickle cell disease symptoms can be managed with long-term and continuous care from a comprehensive sickle cell center or a healthcare provider well trained in sickle cell disease.

The Methodist Comprehensive Sickle Cell Center customizes patient treatment plans that address:

Blood transfusions

Counseling

Exercise

Medication management

Nutrition

Sickle cell disease or the sickle cell trait can be confirmed with genetic testing or a blood test. If you are unaware of your sickle cell status, contact your healthcare provider.

About Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare

Based in Memphis, Tennessee , Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has been caring for patients and families regardless of their ability to pay for more than 100 years. Guided by roots in the United Methodist Church and founded in 1918 to help meet the growing need for quality healthcare in the greater Memphis area, MLH has grown from one hospital into a comprehensive healthcare system with 13,000 Associates supporting six hospitals, including nationally ranked Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, ambulatory surgery centers, outpatient facilities, a hospice residence and physician and specialty practices serving communities across the Mid-South. From transplants and advanced heart procedures to expert neurology services and compassionate cancer care, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare offers clinical expertise with a focus on improving every life we touch.

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SOURCE Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare
HACKENSACK, N.J. , June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey, Inc. (the "Company") today announced that on June 27, 2023 , its Board of Directors (the "Board") received a letter from K Corp Acquisitions LLC ("K Corp"), a Kushner company, indicating a non-binding expression of interest in acquiring the Company. The letter was released by K Corp to the public on the same date.

As previously disclosed by the Company, litigation between the Company and certain of its affiliates and Sinatra LLC, a Kushner company, is pending in the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court.

Consistent with its fiduciary duties, the Board will evaluate the letter with the best interests of all of the Company's stockholders in mind. The Company's stockholders do not need to take any action at this time.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This Company release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "plan," "will," "estimate," "project," "intend," "believe," "guidance," "approximately," "anticipate," "may," "should," "seek" or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases that are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and that do not relate to historical matters. You can also identify forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions of management. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that you should not rely on as predictions of future events. Forward-looking statements depend on assumptions, data and/or methods which may be incorrect or imprecise and we may not be able to realize them. The following risks and uncertainties, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to: industry and economic conditions; Company's ability to satisfy the conditions to closing and complete the proposed transaction; Company's dependence upon its external manager to conduct its business and achieve its investment objectives; unknown liabilities acquired in connection with acquired properties or interests in real estate-related entities; general risks affecting the real estate industry and local real estate markets (including, without limitation, the market value of Company's properties, potential illiquidity of Company's remaining real estate investments, condemnations, and potential damage from natural disasters); the financial performance of Company's tenants; the impact of any financial, accounting, legal or regulatory issues or litigation that may affect the Trust and its major tenants; volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets, including potential fluctuations in the consumer price index; risks associated with Company's failure to maintain status as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; and other additional risks discussed in Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 . Company expressly disclaims any responsibility to update or revise forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey, Inc. is a publicly traded (over-the-counter  symbol FREVS) REIT organized in 1961. Its portfolio of residential and commercial properties are located in New Jersey and New York , with the largest concentration in northern New Jersey .

Visit us on the web: www.freitnj.com

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SOURCE First Real Estate Investment Trust of New Jersey
The new vitola was unveiled by Kaliman Caribe, exclusive distributor of Habanos, S.A. for Bulgaria , in front of more than 500 lucky people at an exclusive event held in Sofia .

Monterreyes NO. 4 (55 ring gauge x 145mm length) is the seventh limited edition under the Hoyo de Monterrey brand.

HAVANA , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Habanos, S.A., through its exclusive distributor for Bulgaria , Kaliman Caribe, presented in Sofia a new Limited Edition of the prestigious Hoyo de Monterrey brand, the Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola. In a unique atmosphere between the Vitosha Mountain and the Iskar River , the Bulgarian capital witnessed a magical evening with live music, dance shows and, of course, the best Habanos. A select group of 500 guests from Albania , Armenia , Croatia , Cuba , United Arab Emirates , Greece , Ireland , Kosovo , North Macedonia , Serbia , Switzerland , and the United Kingdom were the first to discover and taste the new vitola that owes its name to the plantation of the same name, from the Vuelta Abajo* area in the Pinar del Rio* region, land of what is considered the world's best tobacco.

Limited Editions have a unique place among the specialties in Habanos, S.A.'s portfolio, not only because of the careful selection of its leaves, aged for a minimum period of two years. But also, for its presentation in special packaging and with an additional black and gold vitola with the year it was launched. Monterreyes NO. 4 is presented in a wooden box designed for the occasion with 10 Habanos of each.

This new vitola is even more special because it is the seventh limited edition of the brand since the launch of the Epicure Especials vitola in 2004, which ended up becoming one of the references sizes in the Hoyo de Monterrey portfolio. Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola existed in the 1960s and is now reintroduced in a trendy format, adding to the large thick ring gauge vitolas that are so popular for brand lovers.

For the second time, this territory is hosting the worldwide launch of a limited edition. In this regards, Jorge Perez Martell and Jose Maria Lopez Inchaurbe, commercial vice-president and Development vice-president, respectively, of Habanos, S.A. explained in a video broadcast during the event that: " Bulgaria is a very important market for Habanos, S.A. and we are proud to be able to present this launch together with Kaliman Caribe ". The Bulgarian aficionado is a great lover of Hoyo de Monterrey-brand Habanos, and of such exclusive specialties as limited editions. "We are sure that not only in Bulgaria , but all over the world, they will welcome this long-awaited limited edition with great enthusiasm," they concluded.

Enthusiasts of mild-strength, aromatic and delicate Habanos from all over the world will be able to find the new Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola after its worldwide launch at the different official points of sale in more than 140 countries where Habanos, S.A. distributes its products.

Hoyo de Monterrey Monterreyes NO. 4

Market name : Monterreyes Num.4

Factory name: : Maravillas NO.4

Measures : 55 ring x 145 mm length

Wrapper : Habano of an excellent appearance, dark and bright color that makes it very authentic and special.

Tasting notes:

An aromatic Habano with very pleasant woody notes, which allows a fresh and pleasurable enjoyment.

Burn : excellent and combustibility with a wide breath thanks to its large size, which delights with a very fresh and aromatic smoke and some light bitter notes, being faithful to the mild flavor of its blend.

Ash: light gray in color and compact.

Smoking time: About 50 minutes.

Pairing : Can be enjoyed with 12-year-old Whisky, smooth, floral with light notes of toasted malt with a light finish that combined with the smooth taste of this blend makes an excellent combination.

Click here to download high resolution product images.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2145300/Hoyo_de_Monterrey.jpg

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SOURCE Habanos, S.A.
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor America and its Asian American marketing agency of record, TEN Advertising, launched their new campaign featuring the all-electric vehicle models, IONIQ 5 and the all-new IONIQ 6. The " Hot Place " campaign for the IONIQ was developed to achieve resonance with Asian American audiences, enticing them to pursue a vision of the upcoming EV era by showcasing a new everyday life, powered by electric vehicles.

As a response to Asian American consumers' eco-friendly consciousness and high interest and acceptance in advanced electric vehicle technologies, the " Hot Place " campaign dramatically illustrates how the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6, Hyundai's all-electric vehicles with premium design quality, outstanding EV performance, and innovative technology and safety features, can enrich consumers' lives through the unexpected happenings in their daily lives. Through this campaign, Hyundai aims to convey that the IONIQ assumes a proactive role in enhancing every aspect of Asian American consumers' EV experiences, positioning itself as a leading brand in the era of electric vehicles.

"Working again with our partners at TEN Advertising, we bring the EV experience to life in our new IONIQ Asian American creative campaign," said Angela Zepeda , CMO, Hyundai Motor America. "It's your journey is all about being people-forward, and when we lean into that, we start to leverage and communicate authentically with different groups of people, specifically the Korean, Chinese, and the Asian community at large."

Indicating a trendy location that has gained popularity, " Hot Place " shows how the IONIQ electric vehicles help a family maintain a joyful and happy daily life even in an unexpected power outage and illustrates the concept of creating a " Hot Place " within the neighborhood. This campaign is the result of an in-depth analysis of the IONIQ products, and a thorough exploration of consumers' lifestyles and market insights. For this project, TEN Advertising partnered with award-winning director YK from South Korea's Space Monster Contents, known for his outstanding creativity.

The " Hot Place " campaign includes video and digital assets that will be disseminated on a variety of media platforms to amplify the creative's emotional resonance, as well as innovative vehicle features such as ultra-fast charging and the Vehicle-to-Load reverse charging function. There are 30- and 60-second versions of the spot available to broadcast, and additional assets for social media channels. In addition, TEN Advertising has planned an integrated campaign centered around the " Hot Place " campaign, including PR and experiential components, to educate consumers about electric vehicles, authentically communicate Hyundai's messaging of an electrified lifestyle, and promote the all-new IONIQ 6.

TEN Advertising

TEN Advertising is an independent, Asian and female-owned and operated full-service agency that offers marketing and advertising services to clients who are in need of reaching and connecting with the fastest growing Asian American consumer in the United States . Since TEN Advertising was founded in 2010 by Karen Park , a veteran of Asian American Marketing for 28 years, the agency has committed to supporting the success of its clients in the Asian American market and elevating the position of Asian American consumers as an invaluable market segment that deserves thoughtful communication and carefully planned outreach. TEN Advertising has accomplished these goals by guiding its clients with cultural intelligence and market insights, all while simultaneously interpreting their brand messagesand voicesaccurately in culturally relevant ways.

Hyundai Motor America

Hyundai Motor America focuses on 'Progress for Humanity' and smart mobility solutions. Hyundai offers U.S. consumers a technology-rich lineup of cars, SUVs, and electrified vehicles. Our 830 dealers sold more than 724,000 vehicles in the U.S. in 2022, and nearly half were built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. For more information, visit www.HyundaiNews.com.

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok

Campaign Credits

Client: Hyundai Motor America

Brand: Hyundai IONIQ 5 and 6

Agency: TEN Advertising

Creative Director: Misun Ahn

Sr. Copywriter: C. K. Han

Art Director: Junhee Kim , Joanne Kim

Group Account Director: Hoonju Choi

Account Director: Keimi Ju, Johny Liu , Andy Cho

Senior Account Executive: Wayne Lin, Lauren Kwon , Christine Lee, Irene Park , Emma Ling

Account Executive: Crystal Kim

Production Company: Space Monster Contents

Director: YK

Director of Photography: Alexander Alexandrov

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SOURCE Hyundai Motor America
BOSTON , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: BTO) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC and subadvised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, announced today sources of its quarterly distribution of $0.6500 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of June 12, 2023 , pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Notification of Sources of Distribution

This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: BTO) with important information concerning the distribution declared on June 1, 2023 , and payable on June 30, 2023 . No action is required on your part.

Distribution Period: June 2023

Distribution Amount Per Common Share: $0.6500

The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable June 30, 2023 , and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.





For the period 4/1/2023-06/30/2023

For the fiscal year-to-date period 1/1/2023-06/30/2023 1 Source

Current Distribution ($)

% Breakdown of the Current Distribution

Total Cumulative Distributions ($)

% Breakdown of the Total Cumulative Distributions Net Investment Income

0.1264

19 %

0.2233

17 % Net Realized Short- Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0 %

0.0000

0 % Net Realized Long- Term Capital Gains

0.2400

37 %

0.5925

46 % Return of Capital or Other Capital Source

0.2836

44 %

0.4753

37 % Total per common share

0.6500

100 %

1.2911

100 %

















Average annual total return (in relation to NAV) for the 5 years ended on May 31, 2023

-3.14 %





Annualized current distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of May 31, 2023

11.20 %





Cumulative total return (in relation to NAV) for the fiscal year through May 31, 2023

-27.67 %





Cumulative fiscal year-to-date distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of May 31, 2023

5.56 %

_____________________ 1 The Fund's current fiscal year began on January 1, 2023 and will end on December 31, 2023 .



You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.

The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The Fund has declared the June 2023 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed quarterly distributions in the amount of $0.6500 per share.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time .

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.

About John Hancock Investment Management

A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto , our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/john-hancock-financial-opportunities-fund-notice-to-shareholders--sources-of-distribution-under-section-19a-301868393.html

SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
As communities in Leominster , Taunton , and across Massachusetts fight back against hospital service closures, proposed MNA bill would give DPH power to take over hospitals or free-standing clinics to preserve patient access

Legislation backed by MNA nurses and healthcare professionals would enhance workplace safety standards for homecare clinicians and require healthcare facilities to adopt safe patient handling and mobility programs

BOSTON , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The ongoing efforts by nurses, healthcare professionals, and Massachusetts communities to preserve patient access to essential healthcare services would be bolstered by legislation giving the Department of Public Health the ability to place into state receivership hospitals or free-standing clinics that are pending closure.

The bill, along with other legislation on homecare violence and patient handling safety, will be the subject of a July 6 hearing by the Joint Committee on Public Health. It takes aim at a broken hospital closure process that allows healthcare executives to shutter services even when deemed necessary by DPH. The legislation joins another bill backed by the Massachusetts Nurses Association and previously heard by state lawmakers that would overhaul the hospital closure process and give the public and the Attorney General additional powers.

A diverse group of nurses, patients, community members, and elected officials testified during a June 20 State House hearing about the proposed hospital closure overhaul bill and the threatened closure of Leominster Hospital's Birthing Center  the only maternity program serving the gateway cities of Leominster and Fitchburg . A grassroots coalition, "Community United to Save Our Birthing Center," is dedicated to waging a campaign to convince UMass Memorial Health and CEO Erik Dickson of the need to preserve this vital service for vulnerable mothers and newborns in these communities.

"We are proud to stand with our community partners and advocate for patient access to essential healthcare  however, it is the weakness of our current system that requires us to fight so hard against hospital closures," MNA President and ICU nurse Katie Murphy said. "The Department of Public Health is toothless when it comes to halting a hospital closure, even when the agency goes through a hearing process and determines the hospitals are necessary. We believe the DPH should be required to have a receivership process for hospitals threatened by closure."

Legislative Hearing Details

When: Thursday, July 6, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Room A-2, State House, Boston . Virtual hearing access for media/public: https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/4599. Link will go live for the video shortly before the hearing.

Who: Nurses, healthcare professionals, elected officials and other advocates testifying at the State House and virtually.

What:

PRESERVING PATIENT ACCESS TO HOSPITALS

An Act Preserving Access to Hospital Services (S.1406/H.2143), sponsored by Senator Paul Mark and Representative Pete Capano

There is currently no mechanism to keep a hospital open even if the DPH deems it necessary to the community. In 1960, Massachusetts had 141 hospitals and a population of 5.15 million. Today, we have about 60 hospitals serving a population of 6.9 million. Closings and consolidations have been rapid. Since 2014, three acute care hospitals have closed in the Commonwealth, leaving communities without equitable access to essential health services.

In 2014, North Adams Regional Hospital closed with just three days' notice despite enormous community opposition, leaving the remote Berkshire County community with only a standalone emergency department. The hospital closed despite DPH ruling its healthcare services necessary. Then Partners Healthcare closed Lynn Union Hospital after it was deemed necessary by DPH in 2016. Quincy Medical Center was shuttered in 2014  leaving Quincy as the largest city in Massachusetts without its own hospital  even after DPH declared the hospital's services were "necessary for preserving access and health status."

Legislation Details:

Requires the Department of Public Health to establish a process for state receivership of a hospital or free-standing clinic that is pending closure.

SAFE PATIENT HANDLING

An Act Providing for Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (S.1436/H.2247), sponsored by Senator Susan Moran and Representative Sarah Peake

Nurses and other healthcare workers suffer more musculoskeletal injuries than any other profession. This leads to increased direct and indirect costs associated with related injuries, loss of staff and decreased care for patients. It results in longer patient stays and poorer patient outcomes due to a lack of mobility.

As nurses move patients  each lifting 1.8 tons during an average shift  they are being injured at precipitous rates. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overexertion injury rate for hospital workers is 68 per 10,000. This is double the average overexertion injury rate across all industries of 33 per 10,000. Solutions have been proposed by both a state task force and the MNA, and yet the hospital industry has failed to act.

Patients also have less ability to enhance their recovery by moving quickly and frequently when they do not have access to safe patient handling equipment. A report by the Joint Commission said, "Patients are also at risk of multiple injuries and adverse events related to handling procedures. These include pain and discomfort as well as anxiety connected with being moved."

The state Department of Public Health has published a detailed report nearly a decade ago on safe patient handling with recommendations that mirror the solutions in this legislation. A task force created by DPH issued the report in 2014, making clear both the scope of the patient handling problem and the hospital industry's unwillingness to implement comprehensive injury prevention programs.

Legislation Details:

Requires healthcare facilities to adopt and implement a safe patient handling and mobility program to identify, assess, and develop strategies to control risk of injury to patients and healthcare workers associated with the lifting, transferring, repositioning, or movement of a patient or equipment.

HOMECARE SAFETY

An Act Providing Safeguards for Home Healthcare Workers (S.1472/H.2128), sponsored by Senator Walter Timilty and Representative Bruce Ayers

As the amount of care delivered in the home increases, so has the level of violence in this setting. In 2021, as many as 44% of home healthcare workers have reported being physically assaulted. Workers who provide health care in the home setting face many safety risks because they: Work alone, even in high-risk areas; may be exposed to a variety of potentially serious or even life-threatening hazards including guns and other weapons, illegal drugs, and the presence of unexpected and potentially dangerous individuals.

Legislation Details:

Requires safety assessments of all home healthcare settings prior to services being provided.

These assessments would include the current psychiatric/psychological/emotional status of patients and any other individuals who may be present.

Any criminal history of patients or other individuals who may be present as well as the surrounding environment and the presence of any weapons.

Home healthcare providers would be empowered to leave dangerous situations without loss of pay or disciplinary action and would be provided time off for healthcare workers assaulted on the job to address legal issues.

This legislation joins additional MNA-backed workplace violence bills that would make meaningful, measurable, and enforceable improvements by requiring healthcare facilities to partner with frontline staff on prevention plans, provide greater support for those affected by violence, and strengthen the criminal penalty for assaulting a nurse or healthcare worker.

MassNurses.org  Facebook.com/MassNurses  Twitter.com/MassNurses  Instagram.com/Massnurses

Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on healthcare issues affecting nurses and the public.

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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association
CALGARY, AB , June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Nanalysis Scientific Corp. ("the Company" or "Nanalysis", TSXV: NSCI, OTCQX: NSCIF, FRA: 1N1), , a leader in portable NMR machines and MRI technology for industrial and research applications, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a commitment letter with ATB Financial (the "Credit Agreement"). Under the Credit Agreement, ATB Financial has made available to the Company a senior secured term loan in the principal amount of up to $10 million and a senior secured revolving operating line in the principal amount of up to $5 million (the "Credit Facilities"), for total borrowings of up to $15 million . Furthermore, with ATB Financial's approval, the Company could obtain up to an additional $5 million incremental term loan. The new Credit Facilities are expected to provide improved financial flexibility to help the Company manage its operations, implementation of contracts, and future growth.

The term loan amortizes over four years beginning in January 2024 . The revolving operating line is calculated and available based on the accounts receivable and inventory of the Company, in a largely consistent manner with the Company's current operating facility. The Credit Facilities will be secured by, inter alia, a general security agreement over the property of Nanalysis and certain of its subsidiaries. These new Credit Facilities will replace the Company's current operating facility with another lender.





In connection with the Credit Agreement, the Company has granted 500,000 common share purchase warrants to ATB Financial (the "Warrants"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire 1 common share at an exercise price of $0.80 . The Warrants expire two years from the closing date of the Credit Agreement. The issuance of the Warrants has been conditionally approved by the TSX Venture Exchange.

"We are very happy to welcome ATB Financial as our banking partner and senior lender. We believe the credit facilities ATB Financial is providing are much better suited for where the Company is positioned today and will enable us to build value for our investors in the future," said Sean Krakiwsky , Founder and CEO of Nanalysis. "This transaction strengthens our balance sheet and provides us with a strong capital structure to execute on our contracts and pursue our future growth initiatives."

About Nanalysis Scientific Corp. (TSXV: NSCI, OTCQX: NSCIF, FRA: 1N1)

Nanalysis' business is what we term "MRI and NMR for industry". The Company develops and manufactures portable Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometers or analyzers for laboratory and industrial markets. The NMReady-60 was the first full-feature portable NMR spectrometer in a single compact enclosure requiring no liquid helium or any other cryogens. The Company has followed-up that initial offering with new products and continues to have a strong innovation pipeline. In 2020 Nanalysis announced the launch of its 100MHz device, the most powerful and most advanced compact NMR device ever brought to market.

Nanalysis' devices are used in many industries (oil and gas, chemical, mining, pharma, biotech, flavor and fragrances, agrochemicals, law enforcement, and more) as well as numerous government and university research labs around the world. The Company continues to exploit new global market opportunities independently and with partners.

In 2022 the Company acquired K'(Prime) Technologies Inc. ("K'Prime"), a North American sales and service company which provides sales services for scientific instrumentation for pharma, food, chemical and oil & gas customers, as well as imaging systems for security applications. K'Prime's service organization provides airport and commercial security installation and maintenance solutions across North America .

Additionally in 2022, the Company acquired a 43% ownership in Quad Systems AG ("Quad Systems"), a Zurich-based Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) company focused on high-field NMR for pharmaceutical and other vertical markets.

Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements and Legal Disclaimer

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates", "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed", "positioned" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

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.

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SOURCE Nanalysis Scientific Corp.
IAEA sees no evidence Moscow planning terrorist attack on Zaporizhzhya NPP 30 June, 04:13 PM IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi (Photo:REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger)

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel have not observed any Russian military deployment inside the occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told France 24 from the agencys headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on June 30.

His comments to the French broadcaster come amid reports by the Ukrainian authorities claiming that Moscow was preparing to launch a terror attack on the site.

Grossi asserted that he didnt see that kind of development on the ground, but also that anything can happen  that is what worries me.

Video of day

The increase in military activity on the frontline amid the Ukrainian counter-offensive adds an additional layer of concern over a situation that is extremely volatile, because the plant is sitting on the front line, Grossi said.

The plant is incredibly fragile and open to damage if there is an exchange of fire.

Grossi also commented on his visit to the nuclear plant on June 15 that the situation was serious but stabilizing at the nuclear power plant after the destruction of the nearby Kakhovka dam. Water from the dams reservoir was used to cool its six reactors.

Initials measures were taken by the management of the plant to preserve the needed amount of water, but this will not be enough in the long term, Grossi said.

During a visit to the plant, the IAEA reported on June 21 that no landmines were observed near the facilitys cooling pond, contradicting previous reports.

Threat to Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant  What is known

The head of Ukraines Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said on June 25 that the Russians had completed preparations for a possible terrorist attack at the occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. Equipment with explosives was deployed near four of the six reactors, he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on June 22 that Russia is considering a scenario of a terrorist attack at the nuclear plant it has seized, and has prepared everything for this.

The U.S. authorities havent seen any indication that that threat is imminent, but were watching it very, very closely, White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said on June 27.

Infographics: NV

Will you support Ukraines free press? Dear reader, as all news organizations, we must balance the pressures of delivering timely, accurate, and relevant stories with requirements to fund our business operations. As a Ukrainian-based media, we also have another responsibility  to amplify Ukraines voice to the world during the crucial moment of its existence as a political nation. Its the support of our readers that lets us continue doing our job. We keep our essential reporting free because we believe in our ultimate purpose: an independent, democratic Ukraine. If youre willing to support Ukraine, consider subscribing to our Patreon starting from 5$ per month. We are immensely grateful.

Please help us continue fighting Russian propaganda. Truth can be hard to tell from fiction these days. Every viewpoint has its audience of backers and supporters, no matter how absurd. If conscious disinformation is reinforced by state propaganda apparatus and budget, its outcomes may become deadly. There is no solution to this, other than independent, honest, and accurate reporting. We remain committed to empowering the Ukrainian voice to push against the muck. If youre willing to stand up for the truth  consider supporting us on Patreon starting from 5$ per month. Thank you very much.

Will you help tell Ukraines story to the world? Twenty years ago, most people hadnt even heard of Ukraine. Today, the country is on everyones lips and everyones headlines. War pushed us on the front page. But there are many other things we do that we are proud of  from music and culture to technology. We need your help to tell the world Ukrainian story of resilience, joy, and survival. If youre willing to back our effort, consider supporting us on Patreon starting from 5$ per month. We are immensely grateful.

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Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, Google.org unveil new regional hub making it easier to find

housing across the Bay Area 's nine counties

SAN FRANCISCO , June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) today launched the Doorway Housing Portal , a hub to easily find affordable housing in the Bay Area . The first-of-its-kind regional online portal was developed with pro bono support from Google.org Fellows, a team that includes Google researchers, designers, product managers and software engineers.

The need for affordable housing is ever growing, and it's estimated that the Bay Area would need 180,000 more affordable homes by 2031 to meet demand. This highlights the significant need to build an efficient platform to connect housing seekers and available units across the region  particularly since many Bay Area households are multi-jurisdictional.

"The launch of the Doorway housing portal is an important step toward relieving the Bay Area 's chronic housing affordability crisis," shared BAHFA Chair and Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza . "The combination of availability and accessibility unlocks more opportunity for more people. We appreciate both the technical know-how Google.org brought to this project and its long-term commitment to helping us meet some of the Bay Area 's other housing challenges. There's a lot more work we can do together."

"In many ways, the Doorway portal is a model for partnerships between the public and tech sectors," said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin , who also serves as president of the Association of Bay Area Governments' (ABAG) Executive Board. "By making the search for affordable housing easier, faster, more convenient and more consistent  real people can open the door to real opportunities and safer, more secure and less stressful lives."

"As work continues at every level of government and in the private sector to increase affordable housing options in the Bay Area , families and individuals need to be informed about resources and opportunities. That's why I welcome this effort by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority and Google.org to help remove barriers for people searching for homes," said Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-18).

At launch, the Doorway Housing Portal will centralize housing listings across the Bay Area and enable housing seekers to use filters and a map-based interface to search for affordable housing. Individuals will also have access to helpful content to guide them through the process of finding and applying for affordable housing. The portal is accessible via desktop and mobile in five languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

Developers and property managers are encouraged to use the portal to upload their listings, increasing the visibility and reach of the rental units while also helping increase the number of listings for housing seekers.

"Today's Doorway Housing Portal launch culminates so many years of dedicated, passionate work by so many people. We are grateful to the Google.org Fellows, to our city and county partners, and to our legislative leaders for providing the resources necessary to create this tremendous tool that changes the way Bay Area residents search for affordable housing," said Kate Hartley , BAHFA's Director.

While the six-month Google.org Fellowship ends with the launch of the portal, Google.org announced that it will provide a $2.5 million grant to fund continued management of the portal, as well as in-kind services that will go toward future outreach initiatives.

"At Google, we know our responsibility to help starts at home, and that means being a good neighbor in the place where it all began over 20 years ago  the San Francisco Bay Area ," said Kent Walker , Google's President of Global Affairs. "Announcements like today's launch of the Doorway Housing Portal are a testament to public-private collaboration and a willingness on the part of our local leaders to partner on innovative solutions. We're grateful for this opportunity, BAHFA, and we're grateful for our federal, state and local elected leaders who have been advocating for the need to build more housing and allocate additional resources to support our unhoused community throughout the Bay Area ."

The launch of the Doorway Housing Portal builds on the success of the DAHLIA San Francisco Housing Portal , which was launched in 2016 by the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development, and was developed with support from Google.org Fellows, the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Civic Innovation and Exygy , a local B Corp and Digital Consultancy.

Exygy also helped develop the Doorway Housing Portal with BAHFA and Google.org Fellows, and will work with BAHFA staff to manage the portal moving forward. The portal is built on Bloom Housing , an open-source software project that is being developed by Exygy with governments across the country.

"As an open-source platform, Bloom Housing's role in increasing access to affordable housing is a great example of how governments leverage human-centered design and innovative technology to improve lives. The Doorway collaboration is a powerful demonstration of regional government collaboration and public-private partnership in action," said Zach Berke , Founder and CEO at Exygy. "With Google.org's support of Bloom Housing and Doorway, Exygy continues to build our mutual commitment to innovate and improve access to critical government services."

A subsequent release of the Doorway Housing Portal is planned for the spring of 2024. Housing seekers will be able to immediately determine their eligibility for various types of affordable housing units and apply for multiple listings directly in the portal  reducing the barriers of complexity with a common application, which will take less than 10 minutes.

Google.org's Doorway Housing Portal funding and the pro bono support is part of Google's Bay Area housing commitment that includes $50 million in Google.org grants to nonprofits focused on homelessness. Today, Google shared an update on the progress it's made toward that commitment:

Google is continuing to support the creation or preservation of 20,000 homes, and as of today, resources and investments have been put in place to enable more than 80% of that goal.

is continuing to support the creation or preservation of 20,000 homes, and as of today, resources and investments have been put in place to enable more than 80% of that goal. More than $133 million of the $250 million affordable housing investment fund has been allocated for more than 3,800 units across 29 affordable housing projects, including almost 2,000 units under construction and more than 100 units in operation. This is in addition to more than 2,000 modular homes already underway or completed.

of the affordable housing investment fund has been allocated for more than 3,800 units across 29 affordable housing projects, including almost 2,000 units under construction and more than 100 units in operation. This is in addition to more than 2,000 modular homes already underway or completed.

Google 's work with local elected officials and residents to rezone $750 million worth of its land has paved the way for up to 12,900 units to be built in Mountain View and San Jose as part of the mixed-use development plans. This includes up to 7,000 units entitled within the North Bayshore Master Plan, which the City of Mountain View unanimously voted to approve earlier this month.

's work with local elected officials and residents to rezone worth of its land has paved the way for up to 12,900 units to be built in and San Jose as part of the mixed-use development plans. This includes up to 7,000 units entitled within the Master Plan, which the unanimously voted to approve earlier this month. With the new grant for the Doorway Housing Portal, Google.org has granted more than $36 million of its $50 million commitment to help Bay Area organizations focused on homelessness. This funding has helped provide services to more than 106,000 people, house 11,600 individuals and launch cash transfer pilots .

The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) is the state's first regional housing finance authority, established in 2019 by the California legislature to address the Bay Area 's chronic housing challenges. It works closely with MTC and the Association of Bay Area Governments to blend housing, transportation, and good governance solutions for a more vibrant and sustainable Bay Area .

Google.org, Google's philanthropy, brings the best of Google to help solve some of humanity's biggest challenges combining funding, innovation, and technical expertise to support underserved communities and provide opportunity for everyone. We engage nonprofits and social enterprises who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a better world, faster  and we believe in leveraging technology and applying scalable data-driven innovation to move the needle.

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SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission; Association of Bay Area Governments
- 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging 1 day after Alluminox treatment with ASP-1929 may serve as a potential indicator of treatment response

- The oral presentation was given by Dr. Lindenberg of NCI, NIH, which is collaborating with Rakuten Medical to conduct ASP-1929-103, the Company's very first study for operable cancer

SAN DIEGO , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Medical, Inc., a global biotechnology company developing and commercializing precision, cell targeting therapies based on its proprietary Alluminox platform, today announced that new interim evaluation data from the ASP-1929-103 study has been presented at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) 2023 Annual Meeting held from June 24 to 27 . ASP-1929-103 is a Phase 2, open-label, single-arm, window of opportunity study* of Alluminox treatment (photoimmunotherapy: PIT) using an antibody-dye conjugate ASP-1929 with fluorescence imaging (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05182866) in patients with operable primary or recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) or cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cuSCC).

The oral presentation was given by Liza Lindenberg , M.D., of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which has a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to conduct ASP-1929-103 study. ASP-1929-103 is the very first clinical trial of Alluminox treatment in operable cancer. As part of this trial, early time point (1 day) 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging was investigated as a potential response indicator of Alluminox treatment.

The preliminary, descriptive imaging analysis based on interim evaluation of 6 patients in ASP-1929-103 study presented during the meeting showed that 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging demonstrates a therapeutic response 1 day after Alluminox treatment using ASP-1929. PET/CT is an imaging modality for combined acquisition of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) pictures. 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) is the radiotracer used for this PET study. Like glucose (sugar), 18F-FDG is taken up by cells, particularly rapidly dividing cells such as cancer cells. Following uptake, 18F-FDG accumulates in the cytoplasm rather than undergoing further metabolism which results in signal amplification from labeled cells.

Key findings presented at SNMMI 2023

"Early 18F-FDG Response after Near-Infrared Photoimmunotherapy for Head and Neck and Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma" (Abstract: P50) presented by Liza Lindenberg , M.D., Molecular Imaging Branch, NCI, NIH

- 18F FDG PET/CT demonstrates a therapeutic response 1 day after a single ASP-1929 PIT treatment

- Delayed 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging may decrease confounding inflammatory uptake on scans

- Pathologic tumor response may add complementary information to 18F-FDG PET/CT in PIT

Disclaimer: These early findings may change upon trial completion and final data analysis.

ASP-1929-103 study overview

ASP-1929-103 is a Phase 2, open-label, single-arm, window of opportunity study* of Alluminox treatment (PIT) using an anti-EGFR antibody-dye conjugate, ASP-1929 with fluorescence imaging in patients with operable primary or recurrent HNSCC or cuSCC. The study, sponsored by Rakuten Medical in collaboration with NCI and Shimadzu Corporation (Shimadzu), will enroll 22 patients in the US to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single Alluminox treatment using ASP-1929 administered prior to standard of care surgical tumor resection. The feasibility of the Shimadzu fluorescence imaging system for real-time monitoring and recording of the fluorescence of the IRDye 700DX portion of ASP-1929 will also be assessed.

* Window of opportunity study takes place in the period between a cancer diagnosis and the subsequent initiation of standard treatment, during which, the patient receives a non-standard drug or treatment of interest over a short period of time 1.2.

1. Aroldi F, Lord SR. Window of opportunity clinical trial designs to study cancer metabolism. Br J Cancer . 2020;122(1):45-51. doi:10.1038/s41416-019-0621-4.

2. Schmitz S, Duhoux F, Machiels JP. Window of opportunity studies: Do they fulfil our expectations? Cancer Treat Rev. 2016 Feb;43:50-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ctrv.2015.12.005. Epub 2015 Dec 31. PMID: 26827692.

About Rakuten Medical, Inc.

Rakuten Medical, Inc. is a global biotechnology company developing and commercializing precision, cell targeting therapies based on its proprietary Alluminox platform, which, in pre-clinical studies, has been shown to induce rapid and selective cell killing and tumor necrosis. Alluminox therapies have not yet been approved outside of Japan . Rakuten Medical is committed to its mission to conquer cancer by delivering our innovative treatments as quickly as possible to as many patients as possible all over the world. The company has offices in 6 countries, including the United States , where it is headquartered, Japan , the Netherlands , Taiwan , Switzerland and India . For more information, visit www.rakuten-med.com.

About Alluminox platform

The Alluminox platform is an investigational technology platform based on a cancer therapy called photoimmunotherapy, which was developed by Dr. Hisataka Kobayashi and team from the National Cancer Institute in the United States . Rakuten Medical is developing the Alluminox platform as a technology consisting of a drug, device, and other related components. The drug component of the platform consists of a targeting moiety conjugated with one or more dyes leading to selective cell surface binding. The device component consists of a light source that locally illuminates the targeted cells with light to transiently activate the drug. Pre-clinical data have shown that this activation elicits rapid and selective necrosis of targeted cells through a biophysical process that compromises the membrane integrity of the targeted cells. Therapies developed on the Alluminox platform may also result in local and systemic innate and adaptive immune activation due to immunogenic cell death of the targeted cancer cells and/or the removal of targeted immunosuppressive cells within the tumor microenvironment. Outside of Japan, Alluminox therapies have not yet been approved by any regulatory authority.

About ASP-1929

Rakuten Medical's first pipeline drug developed on its Alluminox platform is ASP-1929, an antibody-dye conjugate comprised of the antibody cetuximab and IRDye 700DX, a light activatable dye. ASP-1929 binds to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a cancer antigen expressed in multiple types of solid tumors, including head and neck, breast, lung, colorectal, prostate and pancreatic cancers. After binding to cancer cells, ASP-1929 is locally activated by illumination with red light (690 nm), emitted by a laser device system to produce a photochemical reaction. This reaction is believed to cause damage to the membrane of cancer cells, leading to selective necrosis of cancer cells. ASP-1929 received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2018 , and is currently under investigation in a global Phase 3 clinical trial for recurrent head and neck cancer. In Japan , ASP-1929 received marketing approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare for unresectable locally advanced or recurrent head and neck cancer in September 2020 , under the Sakigake Designation System and the Conditional Early Approval System. Outside of Japan , ASP-1929 has not yet been approved by any regulatory authority.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward looking statements that correspond to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include various risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that may cause Rakuten Medical's business plans and results to differ from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in these statements. These "forward looking statements" contain information about the status and development of our products, including the Alluminox platform, as well as other regulatory and marketing authorization efforts, the potential benefits, efficacy, and safety of therapies created using the Alluminox platform, and the status of regulatory filings. The approval and commercial success of the product may not be achieved. Forward looking statements relate to the potential benefits, efficacy, and safety of our therapies, and the status of regulatory filings. Such statements may include words such as "expect," "believe," "hope," "estimate," "looks as though," "anticipate," "intend," "may," "suggest," "plan," "strategy," "will," and "do", and are based on our current beliefs. In addition, this press release uses terms such as "important," "notable," and "abnormal" to express opinions about clinical trial data. Ongoing clinical trial studies include various risks and uncertainties, in particular, problems that arise during the manufacturing stage of our therapies, the occurrence of adverse safety events, situations in failure to demonstrate therapeutic benefits, and other various risks and uncertainties, both reasonable and unreasonable. For this reason, actual results, including regulatory approvals and uncertainties in the commercialization process of our therapies, may differ from published information. Except to the extent required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update this or any other forward-looking statement, whether because of new information, future developments or events, changes in assumptions, changes in the factors affecting forward-looking statements. If one or more forward-looking statement(s) is updated, no inference should be drawn that additional updates will be made to those or other forward-looking statements.

Contact Us

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SOURCE Rakuten Medical, Inc.
OSU cuts ribbon for LaunchPad Center for Advanced Air Mobility with Tulsa Innovation Labs and Osage Nation; Signs Space Act Agreement with NASA

TULSA, Okla. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Friday, Oklahoma State University and partners  including Tulsa Innovation Labs and the Osage Nation  celebrated a ribbon-cutting at the LaunchPad Center for Advanced Air Mobility at OSU-Tulsa's Helmerich Research Center (HRC).

The LaunchPad Center will house dedicated resources to promote the development of new technologies in advanced air mobility, including staff to solicit projects from industry, engineers and researchers to build new products, and supporting services to help commercialize technologies and grow new companies.

Local, tribal, state and national leaders  including representatives from the Department of Defense, Tinker Air Force Base , the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Economic Development Administration  were on hand for the event, which culminated in an unmanned aerial systems demonstration.

"A key pillar of Oklahoma State University's strategy is leading in aerospace and aviation innovation, but we know our success is shared success," OSU President Kayse Shrum said. "This is why we are so excited about our strategic partnerships with NASA, Tulsa Innovation Labs, and Osage LLC, an Osage Nation enterprise. Additionally, the U.S. Economic Development Administration recognizes that taking Oklahoma's aerospace and aviation to the next level has national benefits, and we appreciate the agency's critical support."

The LaunchPad Center will support the development and deployment of emerging aviation technologies, including unmanned aerial systems with uses ranging from critical infrastructure inspection and agricultural monitoring to emergency response and last-mile delivery. Given Tulsa's strategic position as an urban hub in a rural region, the LaunchPad Center will also focus on developing new air transportation systems to safely and sustainably move people and goods in places currently underserved by aviation, including rural and tribal communities.

"Aviation is entering its third 'golden age' and the LaunchPad Center for Advanced Air Mobility is on the cusp of translating research into significant industry advancements," said Dr. Jamey Jacob, executive director of the Oklahoma Aerospace Institute for Research and Education (OAIRE), director of the Counter-UAS Center of Excellence and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at OSU. "OAIRE and the creation of the LaunchPad Center under the OAIRE umbrella will bridge the gap between early stage research and applied technology, deploying developments to improve industry, the economy and to move the research tied to aviation and space forward."

Jennifer Hankins , deputy managing director of Tulsa Innovation Labs, said they were thrilled to see this vision come to life.

"Not only will the LaunchPad Center position Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma for global competitiveness in advanced air mobility, but equally important is the signal this moment sends to our local community," Hankins said. "This investment in OSU-Tulsa is part of our commitment to supporting the ongoing revival of Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District , where the center will be located. We are eager to see this project inspire Tulsa's next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs and young people interested in careers in the next wave of the aerospace and aviation industries."

The LaunchPad Center will be housed with state-of-the-art research and development laboratory assets in the HRC, capitalizing on the campus' strategic location, educational connections and industry partnerships. LaunchPad's first industry partner, WindShape, will create an environmental test facility in the HRC, gathering data on any conditions UAS will experience while in flight but in a controlled laboratory environment. This includes environmental test facilities to evaluate drones in wind, rain, icing and wildfire conditions.

The LaunchPad Center is one of four projects under the new Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility (TRAM) Cluster, which received $38.2 million in funding from the Economic Development Administration's Build Back Better Regional Challenge. This grant also created the Skyway Range , a flight test facility which connects the Osage Nation and its enterprises' Skyway36 Droneport in Tulsa , OSU's Unmanned Aircraft Flight Station near Stillwater and two additional nodes in the region to create an unparalleled asset for testing and evaluation of new technologies.

"We believe this facility will be the first of its kind in the United States ," Jacob said. "With the Skyway Range test flight facility, we have the capacity to test capabilities in the real world, eventually in both urban and suburban settings. With our partnership with the Osage Nation and their Skyway Range , located 5 miles north of the LaunchPad Center, we have the capacity to solve last-mile delivery problems. The long-term goal is to support the ecosystem for external researchers as well as entrepreneurs with startup concepts they would like to transition from early stage to field testing."

The Skyway 36 Droneport, a working airport where OSU research is already under way, is now fully dedicated to advanced air mobility applications. It will include immediate access to manufacturing space and allow researchers to work hand-in-hand with industry to advance innovation seamlessly and quickly.

"Exposing our youth to emerging aviation technologies is critical for the next generation to be competitive in advanced air mobility," said Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear . "Osage Nation Education and STEAM departments have laid a strong foundation for these opportunities through strategic partnerships such as this, and we are excited for the LaunchPad Center to be a resource to continue this forward momentum."

Space Act Agreement

Coupled with the ribbon-cutting for the LaunchPad Center, OSU also signed the Space Act Agreement, opening the door to expanded opportunities for education, workforce development and research.

NASA Education and OSU are celebrating more than 55 years of continuous partnership that has inspired students and immersed them in NASA's work with programs such as Teacher in Space and Teaching from Space, Explorer Schools, Digital Learning Network and INSPIRE.

Under the agreement, OSU and NASA will work together to facilitate joint research, technology transfer, technology development and educational and outreach initiatives that build upon the long outreach and research history that NASA has with OSU. The overarching goal is to create a sustained pipeline of diverse talent for STEM careers at NASA and foster entrepreneurship and commercial opportunities in Oklahoma startup companies that provide support for NASA operations.

NASA Director of STEM Engagement Gamaliel Cherry said the new Space Act Agreement will build on the existing foundation and create an innovative university partnership to leverage NASA and the university's research opportunities.

"We're excited to ensure that OSU is the cornerstone of what NASA has to offer," Cherry said. "NASA has a university collaborations initiative that focuses on making sure that key universities have a focus in helping us achieve our mission, not only today, but in the future. And we're proud to be here today to say that OSU is going to be a part of that."

OAIRE faculty will also have the opportunity to engage with NASA through research and educational collaborations and support companies engaged in NASA Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. The LaunchPad Center will benefit from this arrangement by providing an additional opportunity space for LaunchPad Center researchers and companies to collaborate with NASA on their advanced air mobility efforts.

PHOTOS: flic.kr/s/aHBqjAKMVy

VIDEO: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s3e3hhKogyM6SA1enfkH80ojzjf90p19

MEDIA CONTACT: Shannon Rigsby | Associate Director of Public Information | 405-744-9081| [email protected]; Jessica Remer | Tulsa Innovation Labs, Manager, Marketing and Communications | 918-759-0288 | [email protected]

About Oklahoma State University - OAIRE

OAIRE is leading the way in Advanced Air Mobility, which will revolutionize the use of autonomous aircraft including drones in more universal ways such as daily transportation for people and goods. OSU  as part of the Tulsa Regional Advanced Mobility Cluster  will help create the next intersection point between aerospace and intelligence by furthering uncrewed technology and urban air mobility. Through state-of-the-art research and groundbreaking discoveries, OSU continues to build the future of aerospace and invest in the future of Oklahoma .

About Tulsa Innovation Labs

Recognizing that the jobs of the future are rooted in a thriving innovation economy, the George Kaiser Family Foundation pioneered Tulsa Innovation Labs to develop a citywide strategy that positions Tulsa as a tech hub that leverages the strengths of the Heartland. Through a diverse coalition of public and private partners, TIL is creating programs that seek to make Tulsa the nation's most inclusive tech community.

About Osage LLC - Skyway 36 Droneport

Osage LLC - Skyway 36 is an enterprise of the Osage Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribal government with headquarters in Pawhuska, Oklahoma . We are proud of our heritage, poised for the future, and driven to deliver prosperity for our people and partners.

About NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is America's civil space program and the global leader in space exploration. At its 20 centers and facilities across the country  and the only National Laboratory in space  NASA studies Earth, including its climate, our Sun, and our solar system and beyond. The agency conducts research, testing and development to advance aeronautics, including electric propulsion and supersonic flight, and develops and funds space technologies that will enable future exploration and benefit life on Earth.

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SOURCE Oklahoma State University
VANCOUVER, BC , June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Rock Tech Lithium Inc. (TSXV: RCK) (OTCQX: RCKTF) (FWB: RJIB) (WKN: A1XF0V) (the "Company" or "Rock Tech") is pleased to announce the results from its Annual General and Special Meeting of Shareholders (as holders of Common Shares) held earlier today (the "Meeting").

Detailed information regarding each of the matters voted upon at the Meeting is provided in the management information circular of the Company dated May 26, 2023 (the "Circular"), available on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

A total of 13,285,859 Common Shares, representing approximately 13,73% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares, were represented at the Meeting. All matters voted upon were duly authorized and approved by Shareholders, as follows:

Item of Business Votes for (in %) Votes against (in %) Votes withheld (in %) 1. Appointment of Grant Thornton as auditors of the Company. 13,248,219 (99.72 %) 0 (0.0%) 37,640 (0.28%) 2. Continuation of Rock Tech from British Columbia to Ontario . 13,254,602 (99.76 %) 31,257 (0.24%) 0 (0.0%) 3. Set the number of directors at six. 13,274,164 (99.91 %) 11,695 (0.09%) 0 (0.0%) 4. Approval of the Stock Option Plan. 13,243,054 (99.68 %) 42,805 (0.32%) 0 (0.0%)



At the meeting, Shareholders also elected six nominee directors to the Board of Directors of the Company for the ensuing year, as follows:

Director Nominee Votes for (in %) Votes against (in %) Votes withheld (in %) Dirk Harbecke 13,271,233 (99.89%) 0 (0.0%) 14,626 (0.11%) Stefan Krause 13,267,065 (94.19%) 0 (0.0%) 771,864 (5.81%) Dr. Peter Kausch 13,267,065 (99.86%) 0 (0.0%) 18,794 (0.14%) Klaus Schmitz 12,488,307 (94.0%) 0 (0.0%) 797,552 (6.0%) Esther Bahne 12,505,545 (94.13%) 0 (0.0%) 780,314 (5.87%) Michelle Gahagan 12,482,377 (93.95%) 0 (0.0%) 803,482 (6.05%)



All of the director nominees previously served on the Board of Directors of Rock Tech. As a result of German regulatory restrictions on the number of board positions that can be held concurrently, the Board of Directors accepted the resignation of Ms. Jutta Donges effective on February 28, 2023 , who was then appointed member of the Management Board and Chief Financial Officer of Uniper. No one has been nominated or elected to fill the position since then.

Furthermore, the Company, prior to the Meeting, has granted stock options (the "Options) to certain directors, officers and employees of the Company to acquire an aggregate of 1,640,000 common shares in the capital of the Company in accordance with the Stock Option Plan. These Options are subject to the terms of the respective grant agreements as well as the rules and regulations of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX: V.). 650,000 of the options were issued to Directors and Officers of the Company at an exercise price of $2.00 . The Options will vest over the next two years and become fully vested by June 22, 2025 . The Options are exercisable for a six-year term, expiring June 21, 2029 .

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Dirk Harbecke

Chairman & CEO

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 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 Exploration Expenditures, the existence of certain spodumene pegmatites, the possible type of mining and concentration of lithium; the distance required for transportation of concentrate; the Company's ability to procure 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.

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SOURCE Rock Tech Lithium Inc.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Multiple life and materials science payloads and technology demonstrations returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) this morning as SpaceX's 28th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission, contracted by NASA, came to an end. Many of these science and technology demonstration projects were sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory, aiming to bring value to humanity and foster commerce in low Earth orbit.

Here is a quick look at some of the payloads that returned on SpaceX CRS-28:

A student-led Genes in Space investigation tested a method to measure telomere lengthening in space. Telomeres are sections of DNA that protect chromosomes from damage. Results from research on telomere lengthening could aid in the development of future therapeutics to combat the aging process in people on Earth or those living in space. This project is from 2022 Genes in Space competition winner Pristine Onohua, a student at East Chapel Hill High School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina .





in . An investigation from Stanford University aimed to leverage microgravity to improve the synthesis of materials for higher-efficiency and more economical photovoltaic devices (which convert sunlight into electricity) for solar energy applications. Renewable energy sources contribute 22% to global electricity generation, and photovoltaic devices are a fast-growing contributor to solar energy solutions. In this project, the research team seeks to create more efficient solar devices by annealing copper indium sulfide (CulnS 2 ) semiconductor crystals in microgravity to reduce defects that occur when the crystals are produced on Earth.

A project from Arizona State University funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation aimed to create and test predictive models to understand and control the fluid forces that cause protein aggregation (clustering) during drug development. In microgravity many processes that affect the behavior of fluids on Earthsuch as convection, sedimentation, and buoyancyare absent, allowing researchers to study fluids in ways not possible on the ground. Protein aggregation can be a significant limiting factor in drug manufacturing, affecting quality and yield, and results from this project could help mitigate these undesirable effects.

The Zero G Kitchen Oven, developed by Nanoracks to explore new methods of food production in space, is returning to Earth after spending several years on station. This project, which launched in 2019, examined how to heat and then cool the space oven in a manner that is safe for crew members.

SpaceX CRS-28 also carried supplies for the continuation of multiple projects that launched on previous missions, including one from pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb . This investigation aimed to improve the crystallization of biologic medicines (protein-based therapeutics derived from living cells). Results could allow the company to enhance the formulation and stability of these drugs so they can be given as a simple injection just under the skin, reducing the time patients have to spend at medical care facilities.

To learn more about ISS National Lab-sponsored investigations that flew on SpaceX CRS-28, please visit our launch page.

To download a high-resolution photo for this release, click here.

About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory:

The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the space station are available to support non-NASA science, technology, and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS) manages the ISS National Lab, under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit our website.

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SOURCE International Space Station National Lab
- With approximately 6,000 employees managing business operations across five countries.

Spark takes pride in its employee satisfaction rate of 4.55 out of 5.

SAN MATEO, Calif. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Spark Education Group, ("Spark" or "the Company"), one of the world's largest providers of small-group online classes for K-12 education, was recently recognized by LinkedIn as part of its MostIn Employer Awards. The award focuses on leading companies with winning employers judged on three criteria  Employer Brand Favorability, Talent Attraction and Hire, and Talent Retention.

"We are honored to be recognized with this award and look forward to continuing to foster an environment that elevates and empowers all our employees, teachers, and students," said Declan Yang , Vice President of Human Resources with Spark. "We are proud to say that all Spark employees share a genuine passion for education and student-centric value system. It is energizing and inspiring to work alongside our diverse team members and seeing how they bring these values to life in their respective contexts."

Spark currently continues to actively recruit for a large number of positions, including offline store growth specialists, senior marketing managers, math teachers, and course consultants. The Company effectively identifies and attracts the right talent with support from LinkedIn with a focus on job performance and proficiency in recruiter usage. Spark's Employer Value Proposition utilizes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), which reflects the high favorability of the employer brand and is the reason the Company meets the criteria for talent attraction and hire.

Diversity: Celebrating our People

To remain at the forefront of the edtech field, Spark conducts various cross-cultural communication and management courses and training programs across functions and levels. The Company regularly provides cross-cultural management training, as well as upskilling and reskilling opportunities for middle and senior executives in different regions. Spark introduced an internal newsletter "Spark Cultural Exchange", to regularly disseminates cross-cultural collaboration knowledge to employees, including traditional cultural customs, business communication language, and effective communication methods. With the pandemic situation easing, from a cross-regional communication perspective, partners from various countries have increased opportunities to meet offline and build more trust in face-to-face discussions and interactions.

"I absolutely love the people that I work with at Spark. Everyone here is so deeply and authentically committed to education. Every conversation we have, and every decision we make, it's all based on how we can help to drive success for our students, our parents, and the teachers that we work with," said Justin Wedell , Director of New Products, U.S. at Spark.

Equity: Encouraging collaboration and creating growth opportunities

Each employee from the Southeast Asia region, the US region, and China has the chance to shine and speak up during team collaboration. This process ensures that practices and programs are impartial and fair, while providing equitable outcomes for everyone.

"We continually try to improve the talent experience for both current and future employees and show them that we're invested not only in their growth, but also their happiness and success and we provide opportunities for team collaboration and mobility across different functions," said Jean Phoon , Human Resources Business Partner for Spark in the Southeast Asia Region .

Inclusion: Empowering and supporting all employees

At Spark, employees experience a sense of belonging that creates a comfortable and supportive work environment. Monthly satisfactory rates were conducted among employees globally showing an impressive average of 4.55 out of five. A supportive environment that prioritizes the well-being, growth, and success of its employees includes creating a culture of respect, open communication, and collaboration, where employees feel valued, heard, and appreciated. The Company is committed to providing resources, guidance, and mentorship to employees, ensuring that they have the necessary support to excel in their roles while offering avenues for feedback and professional dialogue. By cultivating a supportive environment, Spark Education seeks to nurture a sense of belonging, trust, and motivation among employees which leads to higher levels of job satisfaction and performance.

About Spark Education Group

Founded in 2017, Spark Education Group is headquartered in Singapore. Its portfolio of education brands aims to combine research-based pedagogy with technology to improve the learning experience and education outcomes for students around the world. It was recently accredited by STEM.org, was awarded "Best Interactive Learning Experience" at EdTech Asia Summit, and was recognized as a Parent and Teacher Choice Award Gold Medal Recipient.

For more information, please visit: http://www.sparkeducationgroup.com/

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SOURCE Spark Education Limited
Statement of the American Cancer Society, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, The Center for Black Health & Equity (formerly the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network) and the Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund (public health intervenors in the case)

WASHINGTON , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Starting July 1 , the major U.S. tobacco companies must begin to post eye-catching signs telling the public the truth about the deadly consequences of cigarette smoking at about 220,000 retail stores across the nation that sell cigarettes. Under a federal court order, the signs will be installed near cigarette displays in these stores between July 1 and September 30 and must be displayed until June 30, 2025 . This is a long-overdue step in holding the tobacco industry accountable for decades of lies that led to addiction, disease and premature death for millions of people.

These signs are the final step in implementing the "corrective statements" the tobacco companies were first ordered to make in 2006, when U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued a landmark judgment that these companies violated civil racketeering laws and lied to the public for decades about the health risks and addictiveness of cigarettes and their marketing to children. The tobacco companies fought these point-of-sale corrective statements in court for 16 years, but the parties to the case  including the U.S. Department of Justice, our organizations (public health intervenors) and the tobacco companies  negotiated an agreement last year for the corrective statement signs to finally be posted. A federal court order formalized the agreement in December.

The order applies to tobacco companies Altria and its Philip Morris USA subsidiary, R.J. Reynolds and ITG Brands.

The point-of-sale signs will tell the public the truth about the health harms of smoking and secondhand smoke, the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine, and the industry's manipulation of cigarettes to make them more addictive. Critically, this truthful information will be provided to consumers at the point where they are making decisions whether to purchase cigarettes.

The corrective statements are powerful reminders that tobacco's horrific toll is no accident. It stems directly from the tobacco industry's deceptive and illegal practices. As Judge Kessler found in her nearly 1,700-page final opinion, the tobacco companies have engaged in massive deception and wrongdoing:

"Over the course of more than 50 years, Defendants lied, misrepresented, and deceived the American public, including smokers and the young people they avidly sought as 'replacement smokers,' about the devastating health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke, they suppressed research, they destroyed documents, they manipulated the use of nicotine so as to increase and perpetuate addiction, they distorted the truth about low tar and light cigarettes so as to discourage smokers from quitting, and they abused the legal system in order to achieve their goal  to make money with little, if any, regard for individual illness and suffering, soaring health costs, or the integrity of the legal system."

Importantly, Judge Kessler concluded, "The evidence in this case clearly establishes that Defendants have not ceased engaging in unlawful activity. Their continuing conduct misleads consumers in order to maximize Defendants' revenues by recruiting new smokers (the majority of whom are under the age of 18), preventing current smokers from quitting, and thereby sustaining the industry."

Judge Kessler's words were prescient. Today, Altria and Reynolds are waging deceptive campaigns claiming that they have changed despite the fact they continue to spend billions to market cigarettes and aggressively fight policies that actually reduce smoking. In the latest example, these companies are fighting federal, state and local efforts to end the sale of menthol cigarettes  products that make it easier for kids to start smoking and harder for smokers to quit and that these companies have intentionally marketed to Black communities at enormous cost in health and lives. These companies are also fighting proposed graphic warnings on cigarette packs in the U.S.  a best-practice policy adopted by over 125 countries around the world. The industry, together with its front groups and allies, continues to fight to defeat and roll back statewide smoke-free laws, especially for hospitality workplaces, thereby unfairly endangering the health of a workforce that employs a high percentage of women and people of color.

Policymakers at all levels must stand up to the tobacco industry and its lies and take bold action to protect children and save lives.

Implementation Details

The corrective statement signs will be installed in stores between July 1 and September 30 and must be displayed until June 30, 2025 . They will appear in about 220,000 stores covered by marketing agreements with the defendant tobacco companies. The signs will be in both English and Spanish, with the latter required in geographic areas with significant Spanish-speaking populations. There are 17 distinct corrective statements, all specified by the court many years ago.

The court order includes measures to ensure compliance. Among other steps, independent auditors will monitor compliance at the manufacturers' expense, and a tip line will be established so that the public can report incidents of non-compliance.

The corrective statements have previously been disseminated through newspaper and television ads and on cigarette packs, and they will remain indefinitely on the tobacco companies' websites. The statements are intended to prevent and restrain future fraud by an industry that has lied to the American people for decades.

More information:

Department of Justice press release

American Cancer Society Action Network: Fact sheet on the point-of-sale corrective statements

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: More information about the federal government's racketeering lawsuit and Judge Kessler's 2006 judgment.

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SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Tampa General is recognized as a national leader and the only hospital in the Tampa Bay region recognized for clinical excellence and leadership.

TAMPA, Fla. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tampa General Hospital (TGH) has been named one of the greatest hospitals in the U.S. , according to the 2023 Becker's Hospital Review "Great Hospitals in America" list.

Tampa General is one of 86 hospitals nationwide, one of only two hospitals in Florida and the only hospital in the Tampa Bay region to receive recognition on Becker's list.

"As one of the nation's leading academic health systems, we are keenly focused on leveraging brilliant minds and harnessing resources to ignite and spur discovery, develop next-generation therapeutics and life-saving treatments, improve patient outcomes, expand world-class care and advance 21st-century medical education," said John Couris , president and CEO of Tampa General. "This recognition is a testament to the meaningful progress we have made to drive innovation in care delivery, leading-edge research, and academic training."

According to Becker's, Tampa General's inclusion on the list underscores the academic health system's commitment to clinical excellence, patient safety, innovation efforts, research, education, and patient satisfaction. Hospitals on the list are leaders who contribute to breakthroughs and discoveries that impact the future of medicine, benefitting both the communities they serve and the health care field as a whole.

Examples of Tampa General's commitment to clinical excellence, innovation, patient safety, research, education and patient satisfaction include:

Clinical Excellence: As a not-for-profit academic health system and one of the largest hospitals in the U.S. , Tampa General is consistently recognized for world-class care and is ranked the #1 hospital in Tampa Bay by U.S. News & World Report for 2022-23 and is nationally ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation in seven specialties. Additionally, Tampa General was ranked as "high performing," or among the top 10% of hospitals in the nation, in five more specialties along with 11 procedures and conditions.

As a not-for-profit academic health system and one of the largest hospitals in the , Tampa General is consistently recognized for world-class care and is ranked the #1 hospital in by for 2022-23 and is nationally ranked among the top 50 hospitals in the nation in seven specialties. Additionally, Tampa General was ranked as "high performing," or among the top 10% of hospitals in the nation, in five more specialties along with 11 procedures and conditions. Innovation : Tampa General leadership is consistently seeking out advances through technology and new approaches which can be seen in:

: Tampa General leadership is consistently seeking out advances through technology and new approaches which can be seen in: AI Technology in Physician Offices : Planned utilization of AI technology to improve point-of-care interactions by partnering with Navina to align patient information  lab results, consult notes, imaging and more  onto one easily accessible app interface. Primary care providers can assess diagnoses and opportunities to improve care and can more easily get up to speed on a patients' full history which enhances efficiency and patient care.

: Planned utilization of AI technology to improve point-of-care interactions by partnering with Navina to align patient information  lab results, consult notes, imaging and more  onto one easily accessible app interface. Primary care providers can assess diagnoses and opportunities to improve care and can more easily get up to speed on a patients' full history which enhances efficiency and patient care.

AI Technology in a Hospital Setting : Tampa General developed an early warning system that utilizes AI to improve interventions for the life-threatening complication of a sepsis infection. The academic medical center's CareComm Command Center uses a predictive analytics algorithm, which alerts a rapid-response clinical care team to potential sepsis concerns. As a result of this effort, the early death rate was nearly cut in half from 6.1 percent to 3.1 percent. This accounts for more than 50 lives saved.

: Tampa General developed an early warning system that utilizes AI to improve interventions for the life-threatening complication of a sepsis infection. The academic medical center's CareComm Command Center uses a predictive analytics algorithm, which alerts a rapid-response clinical care team to potential sepsis concerns. As a result of this effort, the early death rate was nearly cut in half from 6.1 percent to 3.1 percent. This accounts for more than 50 lives saved.

Hospital at Home: TGH at Home partnered with Shields Health Innovations to leverage in-person patient care, innovative patient monitoring tools and a telehealth platform to provide around-the-clock care for patients at home. Patients with congestive heart failure, urinary tract infection, cellulitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or diabetes are eligible for treatment at home. Patients must be thoroughly evaluated by clinicians at TGH to verify candidacy for the program.

TGH at Home partnered with Shields Health Innovations to leverage in-person patient care, innovative patient monitoring tools and a telehealth platform to provide around-the-clock care for patients at home. Patients with congestive heart failure, urinary tract infection, cellulitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or diabetes are eligible for treatment at home. Patients must be thoroughly evaluated by clinicians at TGH to verify candidacy for the program. Patient Safety: Earlier this year, Tampa General received two coveted qualifications in its journey to becoming fully accredited as a High Reliability organization, which recognizes adherence to international safety and risk management best practice standards.

Earlier this year, Tampa General received two coveted qualifications in its journey to becoming fully accredited as a High Reliability organization, which recognizes adherence to international safety and risk management best practice standards. Research and Education: In affiliation with USF Health Morsani College of Medicine , the next generation of physicians and medical trailblazers are furthering their education at Tampa General, with more than 700 residents assigned for training and research roles in specialty areas. In 2022, Tampa General and USF Health opened the TGH|USF Health Precision Medicine Biorepository to drive leading-edge scientific collaboration and research. The biorepository is similar to a high-tech library where researchers, physicians and scientists can access donated samples and correlating data with patient permission for scientific study.

In affiliation with , the next generation of physicians and medical trailblazers are furthering their education at Tampa General, with more than 700 residents assigned for training and research roles in specialty areas. In 2022, opened the TGH|USF Health Precision Medicine Biorepository to drive leading-edge scientific collaboration and research. The biorepository is similar to a high-tech library where researchers, physicians and scientists can access donated samples and correlating data with patient permission for scientific study. Patient Satisfaction: Enhancing patient satisfaction means augmenting the academic health system's delivery of world-class care and scientific advances while making essential health care services more convenient and accessible for patients. To accomplish this, Tampa General is implementing a $550 million , five-year master facility plan. Since being announced in September 2021 , the largest expansion in the hospital's history, has opened or will begin construction soon on:

Enhancing patient satisfaction means augmenting the academic health system's delivery of world-class care and scientific advances while making essential health care services more convenient and accessible for patients. To accomplish this, Tampa General is implementing a , five-year master facility plan. Since being announced in , the largest expansion in the hospital's history, has opened or will begin construction soon on: The freestanding TGH Kennedy Emergency Center in Tampa's Medical and Research District opening July 6 .

in opening .

The TGH Behavioral Health Hospital is scheduled to begin construction this summer and, when complete, will offer a full range of inpatient and outpatient services led by psychiatrists from USF Morsani College of Medicine .

is scheduled to begin construction this summer and, when complete, will offer a full range of inpatient and outpatient services led by psychiatrists from .

A TGH Cancer Institute hub in the suburb of Brandon, FL , which opened Phase 1 in fall 2022 and will offer diagnostic testing, treatment and support services for cancer patients when completed later this summer.

hub in the suburb of , which opened Phase 1 in fall 2022 and will offer diagnostic testing, treatment and support services for cancer patients when completed later this summer.

TGH Rehabilitation Hospital opened in May 2022 and provides comprehensive care for patients recovering from debilitating injuries, illnesses, surgeries and chronic medical conditions.

Inclusion on the Becker's "Great Hospitals in America" list is the latest among several high-profile recognitions for Tampa General Hospital, including:

To view the Becker's "Great Hospitals in America" list, click here.

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.

Media Contact: Beth Hardy , APR

Senior Communications Specialist

(813) 844-7322 (direct)

(813) 510-6363 (cell)

[email protected]

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SOURCE Tampa General Hospital
From 2023 to 2026.

The new strategy focuses on a comprehensive approach to investments and exports.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX) and the Costa Rican Foreign Trade Promoter (PROCOMER) presented the new strategy for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Costa Rica , which consists of a policy and a four-year strategy that, among other things, aims to generate 100,000 jobs and attract 70 investment projects in areas outside the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM).

Likewise, the institution's aspiration is that the amount of investment in these four years reach $12,950 million , 300 reinvestment projects, 200 new projects, 24 projects under the DESCUBRE platform, 8 thousand jobs outside the GAM, 70 projects from new geographies, and 12 thousand people employed through human talent programs.

"We are pleased to present this ambitious FDI attraction model. With the strategy that we are launching today, we're seeking to generate a sense of well-being in all regions of the country, with a very clear objective: to promote, attract, and retain investments that boost employment and exports in the country with a solid differentiated value proposition that is consistent with the needs of Costa Rica , the geopolitical reality, and global trends," said the Minister of Foreign Trade, Manuel Tovar Rivera .

For his part, Pedro Beirute Prada , General Manager of PROCOMER, added that Costa Rica has a robust value proposition for investors thanks to differentiating aspects, such as sustainability, political stability, legal certainty, human talent, country reputation, commercial platform, tax incentives, and geographic location. However, as a country, there are also urgent challenges to address, such as unemployment, the territorial divide, talent shortage, and the concentration of sectors.

"Our objective is to generate well-being for the entire country. For this reason, and to address these challenges, we're proposing a differentiated strategy to attract FDI based on a comprehensive approach to investments and exports in a way that creates linkages, job creation, and knowledge transfer," said Beirute.

The axes of the strategy presented by PROCOMER are:

Attraction of new FDI in sectors: consolidated, incipient, and new.

Establishment and after-care: support and advice on soft-landing procedures; supplier management; alliances with actors in the FDI ecosystem; new incentives; reinvestments; and the elimination of obstacles and/or bottlenecks to investment.

Special programs: beyond GAM, human talent, clusters, and chains.

These three axes will intersect with competitiveness and sustainability. Furthermore, the strategy proposes addressing eight priorities:

To attract new foreign direct investment.

To generate employment, linkages, and economic growth throughout the country.

To develop new strategic sectors to attract FDI towards free zones and the final regime.

To diversify the investments' countries of origin.

To improve the investment climate in order to boost competitiveness.

To generate employment and linkages beyond the GAM.

To contribute to the development of human talent.

To encourage a social and environmental return in the FDI.

The General Manager of PROCOMER added that the institution's strategy seeks to address diversification through new investment models, serve consolidated and new sectors, attract investment in free zones and in the final regime, as well as promote new investment models: project portfolios,joint ventures,mergers and acquisitions, brownfield and BOT (build  operate  transfer). All this goes hand in hand with a competitiveness strategy through the resolution of bottlenecks and articulation between the public, private, and academic sectors -- areas in which PROCOMER has extensive experience.

To develop this work, PROCOMER has more than 25 years of experience in the administration of the free zone regime - thus established in the Law of its creation -, a network of 26 trade promotion and investment offices with extensive knowledge and international experience which will be strengthened in new markets. Furthermore, it has 7 regional offices with first-hand knowledge of the needs of the different areas beyond the GAM as well as a new Investment Directorate, from which the strategy will be executed and the established priorities will be addressed.

PROCOMER's FDI strategy was conceived by a team of local and international experts in international trade and investment and was submitted to the Institution's Board of Directors for analysis during multiple work sessions. On June 5 , the plan was unanimously approved by the Board of Directors.

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SOURCE PROCOMER
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of Independence Day , Walt Disney World Resort plans to host breathtaking U.S. Air Force flyovers over of Magic Kingdom Park on July 4, 2023 .

The Air Force is expected to showcase their capabilities with two flyovers (weather dependent) as part of their national outreach program which aims to engage and inspire the next generation of patriotism. Beginning at approximately 10:30 a.m. a squadron of F-35 stealth fighter jets flown by the 33rd Fighter Wing will make two passes over the world-famous theme park. The first flyover will also include a KC-135 tanker flown by the 6th Air Refueling Wing. 2023 marks the Air Force's 100 years of aerial refueling capabilities. This year is also the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company.

Fourth of July is a time for patriotic celebrations across the United States , and there is no better place to salute the stars and stripes than Walt Disney World Resort . Star-spangled spectaculars are a time-honored tradition across the resort, reflecting Walt Disney's deep love of America and faith in the nation's future.

The flyover is also the latest example of Disney's long history of support for the military dating back to Disney's founders, Walt and Roy Disney , who both served their country during the First World War. That tradition continues today with events like the daily Flag Retreat ceremony at Magic Kingdom Park , where an active-duty military member or veteran is selected from the park's daily visitors to be honored. The Walt Disney Company has also been a leading proponent of hiring, training and supporting military veterans with the Heroes Work Here initiative, the Heroes Supply Here program and Disney's Veterans Institute.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/united-states-air-force-flyover-to-thrill-guests-on-fourth-of-july-at-walt-disney-world-resort-301867711.html

SOURCE Walt Disney World
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 28, 2023) - Premium Nickel Resources Ltd. (TSXV: PNRL) (OTCQX: PNRLF) ("PNRL" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced financing with Cymbria Corporation (TSX: CYB) ("Cymbria"), EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. and certain other entities managed by it ("EdgePoint"), for aggregate gross proceeds of CAD$33,999,200. The financing included three concurrent and inter-conditional transactions (collectively the "Financing Transactions") comprised of an equity offering of units, a three year term loan and options to acquire a 0.5% net smelter returns royalty on the Company's Selebi and Selkirk mines in certain circumstances upon payment of further consideration (see news release dated June 13, 2023).

As a result of the Financing Transactions, Cymbria and certain other funds managed by EdgePoint (the "Financing Parties") have acquired 14,772,000 common shares of the Company ("Shares"), representing approximately 10.9% of the Company's issued and outstanding Shares. The Financing Parties also acquired on closing an aggregate of 5,324,000 warrants with a three year term and an exercise price of CAD$1.4375 which, if exercised, together with the Shares acquired at closing would result in the Financing Parties holding approximately 14.2% of the Shares in the aggregate (calculated on a partially-diluted basis).

Immediately following closing of the Financing Transactions, the Company prepaid all principal and interest owing by the Company under its promissory note in favour of Pinnacle Island LP.

The Company is preparing for an extensive surface and underground drilling campaign with a focus on defining National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant resources, including drill testing of high-conductance electromagnetic ("EM") targets situated along the down-plunge extension of the Selebi North mineralization. The deepest of these drillholes, designed to evaluate the down-plunge area, will specifically target the sources of the EM anomalies identified during the Company's 2022 drilling program. These anomalies are located south of the Selebi North mineralization and this drilling is expected to provide evidence that the known Selebi and Selebi North ore bodies are part of the same mineralized horizon.

All securities issued in connection with the Financing Transactions are subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date hereof and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation and policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. Fort Capital Partners acted as financial advisor to PNRL on the Financing Transactions and was paid cash fees by PNRL of 5.0% of the gross proceeds of the equity portion of the Financing Transactions and 2.5% of the gross proceeds of the term loan portion of the Financing Transactions, plus applicable taxes.

About Premium Nickel Resources Ltd.

PNRL is a mineral exploration and development company that focuses on discovering and advancing high-quality nickel, copper and cobalt resources. We are driven by our belief that the demand for these metals will continue to grow in the medium to long term, as a result of global urbanization and the increasing adoption of electric motors over internal combustion engines. These metals are vital for achieving a low-carbon future.

Our global strategy is to identify the most promising Ni-Cu-Co-PGE projects and acquire or invest in opportunities that offer high prospectivity in mining friendly jurisdictions located in low-risk countries with supportive foreign investment and resource acts and strong rule of law. Our portfolio includes various projects (Botswana, Greenland, Canada and Morocco) that complement our flagship Selebi Ni-Cu-Co sulphide mine located in Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana.

PNRL is committed to governance through transparent accountability and open communication within our team and our stakeholders. Our skilled team has worked over 100 projects collectively, accumulating over 400 years of resource discoveries, mine development and mine re-engineering experience on projects like Selebi and Selkirk. PNRL's team members have on average more than 20 years of experience in every single aspect of mine discovery and development, from geology to operations.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Keith Morrison

Chief Executive Officer

Premium Nickel Resources Ltd.

For further information about Premium Nickel Resources Ltd., please contact:

Jaclyn Ruptash

Vice President Business Development

+1 (604) 770-4334

Cautionary Note Regarding 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. The words "will", "plan", "potential", "expect", "could" and similar expressions identify forward-looking information. The forward-looking information in this news release includes statements relating to: the use of proceeds by the Company from the Financing Transactions; PNRL's plans and timeline to re-develop the Selebi and Selkirk mines and the drilling planned by PNRL; PNRL's plans to establish mineral resource or mineral reserve estimates in accordance with NI 43-101 for each of the Selebi and Selkirk mines; PNRL's possible acquisition of adjacent consolidating mineral and property rights; the expected benefits from resuming production at the Selebi mine or Selkirk mine; and other statements that are not historical facts. 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. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forwardlooking information or statements are reasonable, prospective investors in the Company's securities should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements because the Company can provide no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forwardlooking information made in this news release concerning the Company, see: (i) the section entitled "Risks and Uncertainties" in the most recent management discussion and analysis of the Company; and (ii) the risk factors outlined in the filing statement of the Company dated July 22, 2022, both of which are available electronically on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under PNRL's issuer profile. The forwardlooking statements set forth herein concerning the Company reflect management's expectations as at the date of this news release and are subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forwardlooking statements, 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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/171623
HAMILTON, Bermuda , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. (NYSE: WTM) ("White Mountains") today announced the final results of the cash tender offer (the "Offer") by White Mountains and its wholly owned subsidiary, WM Hinson (Bermuda) Ltd. ("WM Hinson" and together with White Mountains, the "Purchasers") to purchase shares of Class A Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share (each, a "Common Share"), of MediaAlpha, Inc., a Delaware corporation (NYSE: MAX) (the "Company"), at a price of $10.00 per Common Share, net to the seller in cash, less any applicable withholding taxes and without interest, which expired at one minute following 11:59 p.m. , New York City time, on Monday, June 26, 2023 .

Based on the final count by the depositary for the Offer, 7,856,550 Common Shares were properly tendered and not properly withdrawn.

The Offer was initially to purchase up to an aggregate of 5,000,000 Common Shares, and was oversubscribed. As previously announced, the Purchasers amended the Offer to provide for the purchase of 916,816 additional Common Shares (within up to 2% of the Company's outstanding Common Shares). As a result, the Purchasers have accepted for payment 5,916,816 Common Shares at the purchase price of $10.00 per Common Share on a pro rata basis, for a total cost of approximately $59.2 million , excluding fees and expenses related to the Offer. The proration factor for the Offer was approximately 75.3%. On a pro forma basis after giving effect to this transaction, White Mountains would have beneficially owned approximately 49.9% of the Company's outstanding Common Shares as of May 31, 2023 .

The depositary will promptly pay for the Common Shares accepted for purchase and will return all other Common Shares tendered and not purchased.

Questions regarding the Offer and requests for assistance in connection with the Offer may be directed to D.F. King & Co., Inc., the information agent for the Offer, by contacting (877) 896-3199 (toll-free). Banks and brokers may contact D.F. King at (212) 269-5550 or [email protected] or the dealer manager, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC at (877) 371-5947 (toll-free). Computershare Trust Company, N.A. is acting as depositary for the Offer. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as dealer manager in connection with the Offer.

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd., based in Hamilton, Bermuda , is a diversified insurance and related financial services holding company.



CONTACT: Rob Seelig

(603) 640-2212

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/white-mountains-insurance-group-ltd-announces-the-final-results-of-white-mountains-insurance-group-ltd-and-wm-hinson-bermuda-ltds-tender-offer-for-up-to-5-916-816-shares-of-class-a-common-stock-of-mediaalpha-inc-301867623.html

SOURCE White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd.
GUANGZHOU, China , June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Windoor Facade Expo, the trading platform for launching new products, new technologies in comprehensive industrial supply chain for window, door and facade in China , will celebrate the 30th anniversary with most coveted showcase from 11th to 13th March 2024 at the Poly World Trade Center in Guangzhou, China .

Themed "Unstoppable", Windoor Facade Expo 2024 will not only present the success stories of old brands in China , but also be a grand showcase of most innovative and amazing brands from window door equipment, facade materials, fire-resistant materials, hardware, powder coating, profiles, structural sealant, window door system around the world.

For this highly anticipated 30th edition, 700 exhibitors and brands are expected to gather in Guangzhou in March 2024 taking an expansive exhibition area of up to 90,000 square meters. More than 500+ entries of new building projects, unique construction designs and innovative products of the year are expected to be submitted to The Polaris Award of Construction, an industry award of the exhibition. Only the finalists, around 10% of submissions can take center stage and show their excellent concepts and cutting-edge technologies at the show floor.

Windoor Expo2023 - Facts & Figures

The 29th edition concluded successfully in April 2023 and attracted 571 exhibitors and 68,842 visitors. The exhibition presented pioneering products and services, and compelling business proposals, covering an exhibition space of 80,000 square meters.

The Architecture Technology Conference, a concurrent event running along the expo, gathered 52 renowned keynote speakers sharing their inspiring case studies and brilliant ideas about green buildings, intelligent buildings, technological innovation within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry. Up to 3,000 conference attendees engaged in over 100 sub-conferences and discussions.

Find more information about the show, visit at www.windoorexpo.com .

About the Organizer - Jianke Citiexpo Co., Ltd

Informa Markets is owned by Informa PLC, a leading B2B Events organizer in the world. IM's portfolio is comprised of more than 550 international B2B events and brands in markets including Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Infrastructure, Construction & Real Estate, Fashion & Apparel, Hospitality, Food & Beverage, and Health & Nutrition, among others. Jianke Citiexpo is one of its joint ventures in China and host Windoor Facade Expo, the Architecture Technology Conference, along with industry awards and trainings in Guangzhou every year.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/windoor-facade-expo-will-celebrate-its-30th-anniversary-in-2024-301867819.html

SOURCE Windoor Facade Expo
FILE PHOTO: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo

By Rodrigo Campos and Jorge Otaola

NEW YORK/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -The International Monetary Fund said on Friday that Argentina is current in its payment obligations, after the government said it made a $2.7 billion payment to the fund using its existing stock of the IMF's reserve assets, and Chinese currency.

A spokesperson for Argentina's economy ministry said the June payments were made "without using dollars" but instead with the country's holdings of the fund's special-drawing rights (SDRs) and Chinese yuan.

The operation is expected to have depleted Argentina's $1.65 billion in SDRs, according to a central bank source, "with yuan making up the difference."

The use of yuan underscores how desperate the country's dollar position has become. The central bank source said it was "yet another demonstration of the central bank's liquidity in various currencies."

As a result of the payment, Argentina's foreign currency reserves saw a sharp decrease to around $27.933 billion for end-June, the same source told Reuters, bringing foreign reserves to their lowest since March 2016.

Still, the move gave a boost to Argentina's markets on the last day of the month, which overall in June saw the stock index tick up nearly 25% and bonds up almost 13%.

The IMF did not respond to requests for comment on the payment method. Reuters reported Thursday the amount and sources of the payment, citing people with direct knowledge.

Both parties are now locked in talks to speed up disbursements from their $44 billion program and ease economic targets, as a major drought continues to hammer vital grains exports.

Argentina's economy ministry said a team will travel to Washington early next week to continue negotiations.

"IMF staff and the Argentine authorities will continue to advance their work in the coming days, with the aim of reaching agreement on the fifth review of the Fund-supported program," the fund said separately on Friday, after a "standard informal Executive Board briefing on Argentina" was held Thursday.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, Jorge Otoala, Brendan O'Boyle and Carolina Pulice; Writing by Kylie Madry; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Diane Craft)
FILE PHOTO: Spare train wheels are stored at a Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railyard in Seattle, Washington, U.S., February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo

By Mike Scarcella

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday ordered a new trial on damages against BNSF Railway in a privacy class action, in a ruling that wiped out an award of $228 million to truck drivers who accused the freight railway giant of unlawfully collecting their fingerprints.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly in Illinois upheld a jury's liability verdict that BNSF had violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, which imposes restrictions on the collection and use of personal information such as retinal scans and fingerprints.

But Kennelly said damages under the biometric law were discretionary, and so "BNSF is entitled to have a jury determine the appropriate amount of damages."

The trial was the first to be held under the Illinois biometric privacy law, which is among the most stringent nationwide in protecting sensitive personal information.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF, which operates one of the country's largest freight rail networks.

A spokesperson for BNSF and a lawyer for the company did not immediately respond to requests on Friday seeking comment.

Attorneys for the plaintiff did not immediately respond to similar messages.

A truck driver sued BNSF in 2019, alleging the Fort Worth, Texas-based company unlawfully required drivers to scan fingerprints at facilities in the state.

The jury in Chicago last year concluded BNSF "recklessly or intentionally" violated the Illinois biometric privacy law 45,600 times. The law allows $5,000 per violation.

Lawyers for BNSF said in a post-trial brief that the Illinois biometric law contains the word "may" and that "there is the option not to award damages, or to award damages in any amount less than the statutory maximum."

The state law poses myriad compliance hurdles for companies, and many have faced litigation. In 2020, Facebook said it would pay $650 million to resolve class action allegations that it violated the Illinois law in a feature that could recognize people in photographs shared to the site.

The case is Rogers v. BNSF Railway Company, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:19-cv-03083.

For plaintiffs: Jon Loevy of Loevy & Loevy, Myles McGuire and David Gerbie of McGuire Law, and others

For BNSF: Elizabeth Herrington of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

Read more:

White Castle could face multibillion-dollar judgment in Illinois privacy lawsuit

BNSF must pay truck drivers $228 mln for privacy violation

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by Leigh Jones and Matthew Lewis)
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, departs the Rolls Building of the High Court in London, Britain June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) -Prince Harry is seeking damages of around 440,000 pounds ($560,000) from Britain's Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), court documents released on Friday revealed as the trial of the royal's phone-hacking lawsuit came to an end.

The prince and around 100 others are suing MGN, the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, at London's High Court over allegations of phone-hacking and unlawful information gathering between 1991 and 2011.

They claim senior editors and executives at MGN knew about and approved of the wrongdoing. MGN, owned by Reach, is fighting the lawsuit and says there is no evidence for the accusations.

Harry says he was targeted by MGN for 15 years from 1996 and that over 140 stories which appeared in its papers were the result of unlawful information gathering, though the trial  which ends on Friday  is only considering 33 of these.

The prince is seeking up to 320,000 pounds in damages in relation to the 33 articles in the event the court finds in Harry's favour on all of them, according to court documents which were made public on Friday.

A further document released later on Friday by the claimants' lawyers states the prince is seeking another 120,000 pounds for 61 episodes of alleged unlawful information gathering said to have been carried out against Harry and others including his mother, the late Princess Diana.

The court may also consider whether Harry is entitled to what are known as aggravated damages, which can be awarded to compensate a claimant for additional distress caused by a defendant's actions.

MGN argues that none of the 33 articles resulted from unlawful information gathering. It says there is no evidence Harry's phone was hacked and that some of the personal information about Harry had come from, or with the consent of, senior Buckingham Palace aides.

The publisher argues Harry should receive no more than 37,000 pounds, even if he wins on all 33 articles, according to the documents released on Friday.

At the start of the trial in May, MGN admitted that on one occasion a private investigator had been engaged to unlawfully gather evidence about Harry in 2004, though the article which was published did not form part of the trial.

MGN said Harry should receive a maximum of 500 pounds in damages for that one incident, which Harry's lawyers say justify an award of 2,500 pounds.

The company argues Harry was not otherwise a victim of unlawful information gathering.

Harry, the Duke of Sussex, became the first senior royal to give evidence in court for 130 years when he appeared this month for a day-and-a-half of questioning in the witness box.

The fifth-in-line to the throne said he believed phone- hacking took place on an industrial scale at MGN's titles.

MGN's lawyer Andrew Green argued in court filings that Harry's "undoubtedly fair resentment about his treatment by British and international media" had motivated his legal action, which he said was part of his "campaign to 'reform' the British press".

The trial concluded on Friday and the judge, Timothy Fancourt, said his ruling "will take some time".

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Cynthia Osterman)
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) -Burkina Faso's military government has suspended a French television news channel for a report on a jihadist insurgency which it said lacked objectivity and credibility, the latest escalation in a crackdown on foreign media.

Relations between Burkina Faso and its former coloniser France have soured since frustrations over worsening insecurity spurred two military takeovers last year.

French television channel La Chaine Info (LCI), of private broadcaster TF1, was suspended for three months from June 23 over a report aired at the end of April, according to a statement by the national media regulator published on Thursday.

The media regulator said the report overplayed the scale of the insurgency and "seditiously" exposed "unverified" failures in Burkina Faso's military response to the crisis.

A TF1 spokesperson declined to comment.

The ruling junta has already suspended French-funded broadcasters Radio France Internationale and France24 for allegedly giving voice to Islamist militants staging an insurgency across the Sahel region south of the Sahara.

In April, two French journalists working for newspapers Le Monde and Liberation were expelled from the country.

Burkina Faso is one of several West African countries grappling with an insurgency by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that took root in Mali in 2012.

The violence has killed thousands of civilians and displaced more than six million people as militants have gained ground, according to the United Nations.

Burkina Faso's army said militants had attacked a military unit in the western province of Mouhoun on Tuesday, killing eight soldiers, and an army auxiliary camp in the northern province of Sanmatenga on Monday, leaving 33 auxiliaries dead.

The army did not identify the attackers in either case or say if the incidents were linked.

(Reporting by Thiam Ndiaga; Additional reporting by Jean-Michel Belot in Paris, Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Nellie Peyton, Angus MacSwan and Andrew Heavens)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Deutsche Bank is seen in Brussels, Belgium December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo/File Photo

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Some Deutsche Bank customers will not have access to all services this weekend as the bank completes the merger of its IT platforms with Postbank customers, a project that will save hundreds of millions of euros in the years to come.

Germany's largest bank began acquiring Postbank, with its millions of clients and roots in the country's postal system, in 2008 during the global financial crisis, but it has struggled to complete its integration.

In the fourth and final wave of the integration process this weekend, Deutsche Bank will transfer 4 million contracts of 2 million Postbank customers to a common IT system, a Deutsche Bank spokesperson said.

It will mean that customers will not have all access to all services over the weekend, which the bank has communicated on Twitter and elsewhere.

Deutsche Bank is currently in the process of cutting costs and reducing headcount, and the Postbank technology integration, dubbed internally as project "Unity", will eventually bring savings of 300 million euros ($325.29 million) a year by 2025, the bank has said.

"Unity will pay off," Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing told analysts in April.

Deutsche had hoped to complete the process last year but ran into some hitches and had to keep old systems running at some cost to the bank.

After completion, Deutsche will have 19 million customers' contracts from Postbank on a single platform, a milestone for CEO Sewing as he continues to turn around the bank after years of losses and scandals.

The savings in part will come from the decommissioning of Postbank software and hardware.

($1 = 0.9223 euros)

(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Miranda Murray and Jane Merriman)
Jakarta (Reuters) -A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Java on Friday evening, injuring at least 10 people, while one person died of suspected heart attack during the quake, the country's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said.

The tremor caused minor damage to hundreds of houses, some offices, health and education facilities scattered in the region of Yogyakarta and Central Java province, the agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari told Reuters Saturday.

Indonesia's geophysics agency (BMKG) said the quake, which hit at a depth of 25 km (15 miles), was felt in several cities in the region of Yogyakarta as well as east and central Java, Indonesia's most populous island. No tsunami warning was issued.

Indonesia, in Southeast Asia, straddles the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire", a highly active seismic zone where different plates on the Earth's crust meet and set off a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.

(Reporting by Jose Joseph in Bengaluru and Ananda Teresia, Stefanno Sulaiman in Jakarta; editing by Mark Heinrich & Simon Cameron-Moore)
FILE PHOTO: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attends the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, May 19, 2023. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi paid tribute on Friday to the "sacrifices" and "patience" of Egyptians struggling with an economic crisis 10 years after he came to power.

His speech marked the anniversary of protests during which Sisi, then army chief, led the ouster of Egypt's first democratically elected president, before becoming president himself the following year.

He alluded to the militant attacks and political and economic uncertainty of that era.

"I believe that this generation who through their effort and patience transported Egypt from chaos and anxiety to stability and security is able to complete its development transformation," he said, reading from prepared comments.

Sisi cited infrastructure and energy advancements as well as the establishment of new cities, one of his several cash-intensive initiatives.

Egypt faces an increasingly tough task raising cash for foreign debt repayments after external borrowing quadrupled over the past eight years to fund projects like a new capital, new high-speed rail, and a nuclear power plant.

Its growing crisis was exacerbated when Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised commodity prices while causing foreign investors to pull out of emerging markets and depriving Egypt of crucial tourism inflows.

Amid negotiations and the signing of a new IMF package, the currency has been devalued by about half since March 2022.

"The huge sacrifices that the Egyptian people and their institutions have made are only worthy of victory," he added.

Sisi was re-elected president in 2018 with no real opposition. The next round of elections is scheduled for 2024.

Human rights groups estimate tens of thousands of people including liberal activists as well as Islamists have been jailed since Sisi led the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi in 2013.

Sisi and his supporters say the country has no political prisoners, and that stability and security are paramount.

(Reporting by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by David Gregorio)
FILE PHOTO: Logo of Uniper is pictured at the company's headquarters, as Germany agreed to nationalize Uniper by buying Fortum's stake in the gas importer to secure operations and keep its business going, in Duesseldorf, Germany, September 21, 2022. REUTE

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The European Commission has demanded that German gas importer Uniper divest its Dutch business to obtain regulatory approval for a rescue deal, German daily Handelsblatt reported, citing several people familiar with the matter.

The European Commission has set itself a Dec. 16 deadline to decide on whether to approve Germany's bailout of Uniper, the country's biggest gas trader which nearly collapsed after Russia stopped the supply of the fuel, under merger control rules.

Uniper's activities in the Netherlands mainly consist of its Maasvlakte MPP 3 hard coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1.07 gigawatt (GW). It also has several smaller gas-fired plants there with a combined capacity of 534 megawatts (MW).

Uniper's shareholders are scheduled to vote on the bailout, Germany's biggest ever, at an extraordinary shareholder meeting on Dec. 19.

Uniper and Germany's Economy Ministry both declined to comment.

The European Commission declined to comment the ongoing review of the Uniper bailout under merger control rules. The Commission also needs to approve the deal under state aid regulations.

"We are in close contact with the German authorities on state aid measures in support of Uniper," the Commission said in e-mailed comments. "We stand ready to urgently assess the compatibility of emergency measures in the context of the energy crisis resulting from Russia's unjustified attack on Ukraine."

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan, Christoph Steitz and Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Thomas Escritt, Paul Carrel and Susan Fenton)
By Kate Abnett

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries will be required to rein in food waste this decade under draft EU plans aimed at tackling the 10% of food in Europe that gets thrown away.

An estimated 131 kilograms (288.8 lb) of food is wasted per European inhabitant each year, the EU has said, costing consumers money, emitting excess carbon dioxide, and squandering energy, fuel and water used in food production.

A draft EU law, due to be proposed by the European Commission on July 5 and seen by Reuters, would set a binding target for every EU country to reduce overall food waste in their shops, restaurants and households by 30% per capita by the end of 2030, compared with 2020 levels.

Countries would also have to cut food waste in processing and manufacturing by 10% by 2030, from 2020 levels, said the draft, which could change before it is published.

The Commission declined to comment.

EU countries will have to negotiate the final law with the European Parliament. They would also have to design measures to push companies and consumers to achieve the goals.

That could include rules to curb sales promotions that encourage overbuying food that ends up wasted, incentives for farmers and shops to donate spare produce to community kitchens, and benefits for taking "ugly" or blemished fruit and vegetables to market.

Households are responsible for just over half of the food wasted in Europe.

Separately, Brussels is working on a clearer labelling system for "best before" and "use by" dates to avoid consumers throwing away food that is still fit to eat.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Richard Chang)
By Anthony Deutsch

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson, some of them as young as one.

They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine, which says more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory, officials told Reuters.

The charges brought by Ukraine's prosecutors follow a wider investigation carried out in cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of which visited the Kherson Children's Home.

On Friday, the charges were filed in Ukraine, a pre-trial stage when prosecutors determine there is sufficient evidence to suspect a person of committing a criminal offence.

The ICC, the world's permanent war crimes tribunal, issued an arrest warrant in March against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights, accusing them of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from orphanages and children's homes in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

The Kremlin on Wednesday again dismissed allegations that Russia had violated children's rights in Ukraine and said that, on the contrary, its armed forces were rescuing children from conflict zones.

Prosecution documents seen by Reuters allege 48 orphans were taken from the Kherson Regional Children's Home in September and October and re-located to Moscow and Russian-occupied Crimea.

If proven, this is a violation of the laws and customs of war under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and punishable by up 12 years in prison under Ukrainian law, the document seen by Reuters said.

The current whereabouts of the orphans, ranging from one to four years old, is uncertain, prosecutors said.

"It was not a one-day event. 48 children who were in the Kherson Region Children's Home were forcibly displaced, deported," Yuliia Usenko, head of the department for the protection of children's interests in Ukraine's Prosecutor General's office told Reuters. "We don't know how these children are, in what conditions they are kept, or what their fate is."

They may have been illegally adopted by Russian citizens, or taken to Russian institutions, she said.

The public documents redact the names of the suspects, who are believed by prosecutors to be either in occupied Crimea, or Russia. Unlike at the ICC, trials in Ukraine can be held in absentia.

The bulk of the orphans were taken on Oct. 21, 2022 under the supervision of the lead, Russian suspect. They were loaded onto white Russian Ministry of Health vehicles and taken to Russian-occupied Crimea, the charges said.

Usenko said Friday's move against the first three suspects was just the beginning. "We want to hold accountable all the war criminals, all the people that committed horrible international crimes against our Ukrainian children."

Ukrainian prosecutors shared a video allegedly showing one of the suspects helping to load the children onto a bus marked with the pro-Russian symbol "Z".

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Additional reporting by Andrii Pryimachenko in Kyiv; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
FILE PHOTO: Italian luxury fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo's logo is seen at a store, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Zurich, Switzerland January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian luxury group Salvatore Ferragamo said on Friday that its Chief Financial Officer Alessandro Corsi would resign with effect from Sept.30 to take on "a new professional challenge".

Corsi has been Ferragamo's CFO since January 2019.

He is expected to become chief executive of a non-listed company which is not a rival of Ferragamo, a source close to the matter said.

(Reporting by Elisa Anzolin, editing by Alvise Armellini)
French President Emmanuel Macron leaves his car as he arrives to attend a government emergency meeting after riots erupted for the third night in a row across the country following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed during a traffic stop in

PARIS (Reuters) - Large social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat should co-operate with French authorities to calm down violence which has erupted this week following the killing of a 17-year old by a police officer, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

"Social media platforms play a significant role in the events of the past few days", Macron said in televised remarks from a government emergency meeting.

Citing TikTok and Snapchat, he said social media help rioters organise themselves but also contributed to "mimicking" behaviour by some young people, who repeated what they saw online and lost track of reality.

"It sometimes feels like some of them re-live in the streets the video games that have intoxicated them," he said.

The government will work with social networks towards withdrawing "the most sensitive types of content" and is asking social media companies to disclose to French authorities the identities of "those who use these social networks to call for disorder and promote violence".

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel, editing by Michel Rose)
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines plane sits at a gate at Logan Airport ahead of the July 4th holiday in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

By Doyinsola Oladipo and Rajesh Kumar Singh

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The number of people traveling by air in the United States for the Fourth of July holiday is expected to surpass pre-COVID levels for the first time in four years, but recent flight disruptions raise fresh questions about airlines' readiness to handle the summer travel rush.

In anticipation of a busy summer, U.S. airlines have taken measures like trimming schedules and beefing up staffing to prevent large-scale flight disruptions, though inclement weather in some regions presents a risk to travelers during the period.

Despite signs of slowing consumer spending, about 51 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home between Friday, June 30 and Tuesday, July 4, according to travel group AAA. This is about a 4% increase from 2019 levels, the current record year for July 4th travel.

The AAA estimates do not include Thursday, June 29, which the Federal Aviation Administration expects to be the busiest day of air travel during the holiday weekend.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration said it screened 2.7 million passengers on Thursday, up 32% from 2019.

Last weekend, thunderstorms and failing equipment at an FAA facility in the Washington area created significant delays for air travelers on the U.S. East Coast.

About 43,000 flights were delayed and over 7,700 were canceled between Saturday, June 24, and Thursday, June 29, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.

United Airlines bore the brunt of the disruptions, with about 19% of its scheduled flights canceled and about 47% delayed.

The Chicago-based carrier said its operations were beginning to see improvement. While the cancellations on Thursday were fewer than those in previous days in the week, United still scrapped 18% of its flights, data from FlightAware showed.

The disruptions have left passengers fuming, with many United customers venting frustration on social media about long lines, delays in rebooking flights and misplaced luggage.

The carrier has been apologizing to customers on Twitter for delays in responding to complaints, citing high call volumes.

"It's all-hands-on-deck as our pilots get aircraft moving, contact center teams work overtime to take care of our customers, and our airport customer service staff works tirelessly to deliver bags and board flights," United said in a statement.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has called the summer travel season a "stress test" for airline operations.

"Nobody can control the weather, but it is important for airlines to create enough cushion in resilience in the system," Buttigieg told CNN.

United CEO Scott Kirby, however, has blamed the Federal Aviation Administration for making the situation worse. In a staff memo, he said over 150,000 United customers were affected last weekend because of FAA staffing issues and its impact on managing traffic.

Still, the airline has said it would be "on track" to restore operations for the holiday weekend when it expects 5 million people to fly with it. Its bookings are up about 12% from last year and have nearly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.

American Airlines expects nearly 3 million customers from Friday, June 30, through Tuesday, July 4, across more than 26,000 scheduled flights.

Travel spending has held up nationwide, and air carriers expect strong results through 2023, which comes against a backdrop of U.S. consumer confidence rising in June to its highest level in nearly 1-1/2 years.

AAA expects 43 million people will drive to their destinations, a 4% increase from 2019 levels.

Other modes of travel still have not reached pre-pandemic levels. The travel group expects about 3 million people will travel by bus, cruise liner, or train over the long weekend, up 24% from last year but 5% lower than 2019 levels.

(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York and by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; editing by Deepa Babington and Jonathan Oatis)
FILE PHOTO: The logo for Goldman Sachs is seen on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, New York, U.S., November 17, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

(Reuters) -Goldman Sachs is considering exiting its partnership with Apple, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The iPhone-maker and Goldman Sachs started rolling out a virtual credit card in 2019.

The bank is in talks with American Express to take over its Apple credit card and other ventures with the tech giant, the report added.

Apple in March launched its "buy now, pay later" service in the United States enabled through the Mastercard Installments program, with Goldman Sachs as the issuer of the Mastercard payment credential.

Apple credit card, which is made out of titanium and no visible number, currently offers 3% daily cash back to spend or save, Apple's website said. It also offers interest-free monthly installments on purchases of Apple devices.

American Express did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, while Apple and Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

(Reporting by Arshreet Singh and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shweta Agarwal)
(Reuters) -Google has hired Brazilian former President Michel Temer to lobby lawmakers considering a proposal to regulate the internet, his adviser said on Friday.

The legislative proposal, also known as the Fake News bill, would put the onus on internet companies, search engines and social messaging services to find and report illegal material, and charge hefty fines for failures to do so.

The bill has raised concerns from tech companies, with some launching campaigns on their platforms to defeat it.

Nearly two months ago, the South American country's top court ordered an investigation into executives at social messaging service Telegram and Google who led a campaign criticizing the proposed regulation.

Local outlet Folha de Sao Paulo had first reported that Temer confirmed he has been working as a "mediator" between the company and lawmakers for about three weeks.

Temer's adviser said the former president was hired by the company to mediate proposals and talks with Brazil's parliament.

Temer denied to Folha holding conversations with justices at the top court, but the paper reported he has met with lawmaker Orlando Silva, who is managing the internet legislation, to discuss parts of the bill.

Brazil's Supreme Court is likely to rule on two appeals that may make the internet legislation more flexible. The decision was scheduled for June, but has been postponed, according to Folha.

In a statement, Google said it hires specialized agencies and consultants to help "mediate efforts to dialogue with public authorities" so that it can bring contributions to politicians and parliamentarians, "especially in important and technical issues such as the construction of a new legislation."

(Reporting by Brazil newsroom; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by David Alire Garcia, David Gregorio and Diane Craft)
PARIS (Reuters) - A young man died on Friday after falling from the roof of a supermarket in the suburbs of the northern French city of Rouen during overnight riots, local authorities said.

A police source told Reuters on Friday the man had fallen from the roof as the supermarket in the suburb of Petit-Quevilly in the Bruyeres shopping centre, was being looted by rioters.

The public prosecution office earlier told BFM TV that, based on the ongoing investigation, it was not established the store had been subject to a looting attempt.

Reuters could not verify the two accounts. The prosecution office could not immediately be reached for comment.

France's interior minister said on Friday the coming hours would be decisive as he sent 45,000 police onto the streets following three nights of riots since an officer shot dead a teenager at a traffic stop in a working class suburb of Paris.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Layli Foroudi; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take part in a protest against a man who tore up and burned a copy of the Koran outside a mosque in the Swedish capital Stockholm, near the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, June 30, 2023. REUTERS/Thaier

By Maher Nazih and Amina Ismail

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Thousands of supporters of Shi'ite populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr held a protest in front of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad on Friday to demand an end to diplomatic ties after a man set fire to a Koran outside a mosque in Stockholm.

Protesters carried portraits of Sadr and his father, also a prominent cleric, as well as Iraqi flags, and chanted, "Yes, yes to the Koran, Moqtada, Moqtada".

People burned large rainbow-coloured flags representing the LGBT community after standing on them while verses from the Koran were recited in the background.

There was no apparent link between the attack and the LGBT community, but Sadr had urged his followers to keep burning the rainbow-coloured flag until the eighth day of the lunar month of Muharram because "it is what irritates them the most".

There was a smaller protest in the southern province of Dhi Qar.

Sadr had called on Thursday for "mass angry protests against the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad" and to demand the expulsion of the Swedish ambassador and the cutting of ties with Sweden.

If you are defending freedoms and human rights so you should not have double standards," said Sadr in a statement read by a Sadist leader at the rally on Friday.

"If you say that burning the flag of homosexuals is considered a major hate crime  then why dont you consider burning the Koran a major hate crime?

Swedish police charged the man who burned the holy book with agitation against an ethnic or national group. In a newspaper interview, he described himself as an Iraqi refugee seeking to ban it.

Iraq's Foreign Ministry summoned Sweden's ambassador on Thursday, urging the Swedish government to hand the man over so he could be tried in accordance with Iraqi law.

While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Koran demonstrations, courts have overruled those decisions, saying they infringed on freedom of speech.

In its permit for Wednesday's demonstration, Swedish police said that while it "may have foreign policy consequences", the security risks and consequences linked to a Koran burning were not of such a nature that the application should be rejected.

The governments of several Muslim countries, including Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco have issued protests about the incident. The United States also condemned it, but said that issuing the permit supported freedom of expression and was not an endorsement of the action.

We Muslims believe in the Koran, the Torah, the Bible and the Zabur. They are all divine books and a red line.  But they burned the Koran," said protester Sayed Ali.

"We call on the Iraq government to withdraw the Iraqi ambassador, close the embassy and expel the Swedish ambassador. ... We condemn this cowardly act.

(Writing by Amina Ismail; additional reporting by Thaier Al-Sudani and Marie Mannes in Stockholm; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Leslie Adler)
In this article, we will be taking a look at the 16 easiest second languages to learn for English speakers. If you don't want to get into the details of learning a second language, feel free to skip and head straight to the 5 Easiest Second Languages To Learn For English Speakers.

Learning a second language opens up opportunities, allowing individuals to connect with different cultures, enhance their cognitive abilities, and broaden their career prospects. For English speakers seeking a relatively smooth transition into multilingualism, specific languages present themselves as more accessible than others. This article explores some of the easiest second languages for English speakers to learn, whether it's due to shared linguistic roots, more superficial grammar structures, or the widespread availability of resources.

Importance of Learning a Second Language in Business

Learning a new language can be challenging, especially for native English speakers. However, certain factors can make language learning easier. One of the most important factors is the similarity between the new language and English. Languages like Spanish and French, which share many similarities with English in terms of vocabulary and grammar, are the easiest second languages to learn if you speak English.

Another critical factor is immersion. Immersing in the language and culture can accelerate the learning process, which can be achieved through traveling to a country where the language is spoken, taking classes with native speakers, or even watching movies or TV shows in the new language. Finally, motivation and dedication are crucial factors in language learning.

Having a strong desire to learn the language and dedicating time and effort to studying and practicing can significantly increase the chances of success. Studies show that motivated and dedicated students are more likely to succeed in language learning. For example, a recent survey found that students who spent at least 10 hours a week studying a new language were more likely to achieve fluency within a year. In this regard, Spanish, one of the 25 most spoken languages in the world, is the easiest language for a child to learn.

The global language learning market is expected to reach $191.6 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 18.8%. This growth is driven by globalization, international business, and the increasing popularity of language learning apps and online courses.

Resources and Tools for Learning Easier Second Languages

Learning a second language can be a valuable asset in the business world. It can open up new opportunities for communication and collaboration with international partners and clients. Studies have shown that employees who speak a second language can earn up to 20% more than their monolingual counterparts. However, learning a new language can be challenging and time-consuming.

Fortunately, many resources and tools are available to make the process easier. One of the popular resources for learning a second language is language learning apps. These apps allow users to practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through interactive lessons and activities. Duolingo, Inc (NASDAQ:DUOL), one of the most popular language-learning apps, has over 300 million users worldwide. Duolingo, Inc (NASDAQ:DUOL) also provides language certification.

Popular platforms like Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) and Rosetta Stone have grown significantly in recent years. Coursera, inc. (NYSE:COUR) offers both free and paid courses, including on languages, with the option to earn certificates or even pursue professional certificates and degree programs. Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) and Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DUOL)'s language courses cater to different proficiency levels, from beginner to advanced, making them suitable for learners at various stages of their language learning journey.

Another valuable tool for learning a second language is language exchange programs. These programs allow users to connect with native speakers of the language they are learning for conversation practice. Italki, one of the most popular language exchange programs, has over 3 million registered users from more than 100 countries.

Tandem and HelloTalk are also popular language exchange programs with millions of users. In addition to apps and language exchange programs, many online resources are available for language learners. Websites like FluentU and Lingoda offer online courses and resources for learning various languages. In fact, Lingoda has over 10,000 students enrolled in its online language courses.

16 Easiest Second Languages To learn For English Speakers

Copyright: eikotsuttiy / 123RF Stock Photo

Our Methodology

Our methodology for identifying the easiest second languages for English speakers involved conducting thorough research using sources like Dorothy Memory, Berlitz, Promova, and Gooverseas. We selected the easiest second languages to learn for English speakers based on a structured scoring system. Each language received points based on the number of times it appeared in the research sources. By employing this approach, we created a definitive compilation of the top easiest second languages to learn for English speakers and ranked them in ascending order of high score.

Here is our list of the easiest second languages to learn for English Speakers.

16. Haitian Creole

Insider Monkey Score: 1

Haitian Creole, spoken by around 10 million people in Haiti, is one of the most widely spoken languages globally. It falls under the FSI Category 2, meaning English speakers can learn it in about 36 weeks. This fascinating language combines French and African influences with additional English, Portuguese, and Spanish traces. English speakers have an advantage due to the increasing number of shared words and cognates. Haitian Creole's simplified grammar, with minimal conjugations and inflections, further facilitates learning.

15. Welsh

Insider Monkey Score: 1

Despite not all residents of Wales being fluent in Welsh, the language is considered accessible to learn. Only 29.1 percent of individuals aged three or above can speak Welsh. It features a more straightforward spelling system than English, with some familiar sounds for English speakers, although specific phonemes like "ll" and "rh" may require practice.

Welsh vocabulary displays noticeable similarities among related words, facilitating the expansion of one's lexicon. Examples include "llyfr" (book), "llyfrgell" (library), and "llyfryddiaeth" (bibliography). Welsh borrows from Latin, similar to English, and employs logical prefixes in compound word formation, requiring some adjustment but maintaining coherence.

14. Malay

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Malay, the native language of Malaysia, is an appealing choice for English speakers as it lacks verb conjugations, plurals, tenses, and genders. With around 57 million speakers worldwide and a significant presence in Indonesia, Malay can be learned within about 36 weeks. It is not tonal, uses syllables for pronunciation, and utilizes the Latin script, similar to English.

Malay and Indonesian, both Austronesian languages, share similarities but differ in spelling, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Considered one of the easiest Asian languages to learn, Malay's simple grammar and pronunciation make it valuable for Southeast Asia travelers.

13. Swahili

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Swahili, spoken in eastern and southeastern Africa, is considered one of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. With approximately 15 million native speakers, Swahili lacks tone and has straightforward pronunciation. It incorporates borrowed words from English, making it appealing to language learners.

Swahili follows logical grammar patterns using prefixes instead of conjugations. It is widely spoken in East Africa and is a valuable second language. Recognizable words like "Rafiki" and "Simba" from "The Lion King" highlight its familiarity, and its pronunciation and similarities to English facilitate learning. Swahili is an excellent entry point for those interested in African languages.

12. Indonesian

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Indonesian, categorized as a precise language for English speakers by FSI, offers a direct learning experience. With approximately 900 hours of study, learners can join the 43 million native speakers of Indonesian. The language's advantages include:

The continued use of the phonetic Latin alphabet.

The absence of gendered nouns.

Similarity to English vocabulary.

Indonesian utilizes prefixes and suffixes for word modification instead of tones or distinct verb endings. Despite being an Austronesian language, Indonesian's phonetic spelling and familiar sentence structure make it accessible to English speakers. Pluralization involves repeating the word or adding an extra one, adding to the language's simplicity.

11. Esperanto

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Esperanto, created by L.L. Zamenhof as a universal language, is spoken by over two million people. It features phonetic spelling, simple word order, predictable patterns, and only 16 grammar rules. With streamlined communication and considered the most accessible language, Esperanto is a gateway to other languages. Despite not being adopted as an official language, it enjoys support from the European Union and PEN International. Esperanto's regularity, derived vocabulary, and absence of irregularities in verb tenses, plurals, and prepositions contribute to its appeal

10. Frisian

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Frisian, considered the easiest language for English speakers to learn, shares the closest resemblance to English. It is the second official language in the Netherlands, spoken by about 450,000 people in Friesland. Frisian and English belong to the Angofrisian group within Germanic languages, sharing structural and lexical similarities.

With subsets like Frysk-West Frisian, Nordfrasch, and Seeltersk-Saterland Frisian, Frisian demonstrates significant lexical similarity with English, including words like "welcome." Although Frisia no longer exists, with its three main dialects, Frisian is still spoken in parts of the Netherlands and Germany.

Frisian and English have similarities in sentence structure and vocabulary. Learning Frisian may be practical for those planning to live in specific regions such as Friesland or the Saterland and North Frisia regions in the Netherlands and Germany.

9. Danish

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Danish, with its similar grammar patterns and shared Germanic origins, can be learned by English speakers in just 24 weeks, according to FSI. The language offers numerous cognates, facilitating vocabulary acquisition. Danish becomes an attractive choice with the 80/20 rule and only nine verb forms.

Spoken by around 5.5 million people, primarily in Denmark, Danish shares straightforward grammar rules with Norwegian and Swedish, and familiar words exist for English speakers. Despite the challenging pronunciation, learning Danish is essential for immersing oneself in Danish culture and forming deeper connections, particularly during an extended stay in Denmark.

8. Afrikaans

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Afrikaans, the official language of South Africa, is considered the easiest language for native English speakers to learn. It shares West Germanic origins with English, leading to many Germanic-derived root words. Afrikaans does not require changes in vocabulary for gender, number, or tense, simplifying sentence construction. It has only three tenses and does not use verb conjugation or pronouns.

Like Dutch and other West-Germanic languages, Afrikaans offers familiar sentence structures and a lack of gendered nouns.

7. Swedish

Insider Monkey Score: 3

Knowing the Swedish language besides English can be very fruitful. Around 10 million people speak it. Learning Swedish is easy because of its linguistic proximity to other Germanic languages. There's a lot of vocabulary and grammar in Swedish that it shares with the English language.

6. Romanian

Insider Monkey Score: 3

Learning Romanian is an intelligent move for English speakers. Knowing Romanian provides a competitive edge in the job market, as many multinational corporations operate in Eastern Europe and seek bilingual professionals. It is one of the easiest languages to learn for English speakers.

Click to see and continue reading the 5 Easiest Second Languages To Learn For English Speakers.

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Disclosure. None: The 16 Easiest Second Languages To Learn For English Speakers is originally published on Insider Monkey.
FILE PHOTO: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif meets with managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, in Paris, France June 22, 2023. Press Information Department (PID)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

By Asif Shahzad

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) -Pakistan secured a badly-needed $3 billion short-term financial package from the International Monetary Fund on Friday, giving the South Asian economy a much-awaited respite as it teeters on the brink of default.

The IMF said it had reached an agreement on the deal with the 220 million nation, which will now be subject to approval by its board in July.

The new nine-month standby arrangement was struck hours before a current IMF agreement expires, offering a relief to Pakistan's acute balance of payments crisis.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said it would put Pakistan "on the path of sustainable economic growth".

With sky-high inflation and foreign exchange reserves barely enough for a month of imports, analysts say Pakistan's economic crisis could have spiralled into a debt default in the absence of the bailout.

It was reached only after Sharif held marathon meetings with IMF head Kristalina Georgieva on June 22, which he termed "a turning point".

Pakistan will receive formal documents on the deal later on Friday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar told Reuters, which he said he would "sign, seal and return by tonight".

The new deal, which came hours after Dar told Reuters exclusively that it could happen anytime, will disburse an upfront amount of $1.1 billion shortly after the IMF board's meeting in July, he said.

Dar said Pakistan aimed to boost the central bank's foreign exchange reserves up to $15 billion by July end. "We have stopped the decline, now we have to turn to growth," he added.

Pakistan's sovereign dollar bonds were trading higher after the announcement, with the 2024 issue enjoying the biggest gains, up more than 8 cents at just above 70 cents in the dollar, according to Tradeweb data.

The gains were most pronounced in shorter-dated bonds, reflecting lingering scepticism over the longer-term fiscal outlook for the country.

The $3 billion short-term IMF funding is higher than expected as it looks set to replace the remaining $2.5 billion from a $6.5 billion Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2019.

"This new programme is far better than our expectations," said Mohammed Sohail of Topline Securities in Karachi, adding it would "definitely help restore some investor confidence".

The deal will also unlock other bilateral and multilateral financing. Long-time allies Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China have already pledged or rolled over billions of dollars in loans.

"This will support near-term policy efforts and replenish gross reserves," the IMF said.

POWER PRICE HIKES

The new arrangement builds on the 2019 programme, IMF official Nathan Porter said in a statement, adding that Pakistan's economy had faced several challenges in recent times, including devastating floods and rising commodity prices.

"Despite the authorities' efforts to reduce imports and the trade deficit, reserves have declined to very low levels. Liquidity conditions in the power sector also remain acute," Porter said.

"Given these challenges, the new arrangement would provide a policy anchor and a framework for financial support from multilateral and bilateral partners in the period ahead."

Porter also pointed out the power sector's buildup of arrears and frequent power outages.

Reforms in the energy sector, which has accumulated nearly 3.6 trillion Pakistani rupees ($12.58 billion) in debt, has been a cornerstone of the IMF talks.

The IMF said it would want steadfast policy implementation by Pakistan to overcome challenges, "particularly in the energy sector", where it expects a rise in electricity prices.

Dar said the hike will come before the IMF board's meeting, saying the rebasing to be done in July will make about three to four rupees a unit difference.

He also said petroleum levy will be capped at 60 rupee a liter.

He announced a 7.5 rupee a liter increase in diesel prices late Friday night, saying petrol prices will remain unchanged for next 15 days.

"Reform does not, must not, mean raising tariff endlessly," said Pakistan's Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir.

With the tenure of the current government ending in August, Dastgir said it had put in place an "aggressive medium-to-long-term plan" to increase renewable energy which was only possible if long-term assistance is available.

PAINFUL REFORMS

Islamabad has taken a slew of measures demanded by the IMF since its mission arrived in Pakistan in February, including revising its 2023-24 budget and a policy rate hike to 22% in recent days.

It also got Pakistan to raise more than 385 billion rupee ($1.34 billion) in new taxation to meet the IMF's fiscal adjustments.

The IMF said the central bank should remain pro-active to reduce inflation and maintain a foreign exchange framework.

The painful adjustments have already fuelled all time high inflation of 38% year-on-year in May, the highest in Asia.

"The FY24 budget advances a primary surplus of around 0.4 percent of GDP," Porter said, adding it will be important that the budget is executed as planned, and authorities resist pressures for un-budgeted spending or tax exemptions.

($1 = 286.1500 Pakistani rupees)

(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu, Asif Shahzad and Gibran Peshimam; Additional reporting by Ariba Shahid; Writing by Shivam Patel and Asif Shahzad; Editing by Alexander Smith and Grant McCool)
STOCKHOLM/WARSAW (Reuters) -A Polish woman and her 7-year-old son have died after plunging from a Baltic Sea ferry travelling from Sweden to Poland, Swedish prosecutors said on Friday, adding that the case was being investigated as possible murder.

Swedish authorities said on Thursday the child had fallen off the vessel and that the mother jumped overboard in an attempted rescue. The two were later winched to a helicopter and taken to a Swedish hospital but later died.

But the Swedish prosecution authority said in a statement on Friday it had initiated a preliminary investigation where the criminal charge is murder, while adding that no suspect had been identified.

"The investigation aims to try to clarify what happened," prosecutor Stina Brindmark said.

Polish police had earlier confirmed the deaths.

"Unfortunately, in the morning we received information from the Swedish side that we have to pass on this terrible news to the family, because both the boy and the woman are dead," said Polish police spokesman Mariusz Ciarka.

The Swedish ferry, Stena Spirit, was in the Baltic midway through its journey to Gdynia in Poland from Karlskrona in Sweden when the incident occurred, rescue officials said on Thursday.

"At the moment we have no information whether this was due to a malfunction of the ferry," Stena Line spokesperson Agnieszka Zembrzycka told TVN 24. "We are cooperating with the police and other authorities that are appointed to explain the causes and circumstances of this event."

Swedish police issued an appeal to Polish passengers via Poland's state-run news agency PAP asking for information that could explain how the accident occurred.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo, Alan Charlish in Warsaw and Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm; editing by Mark Heinrich and Alistair Bell)
FILE PHOTO: Poland's President Andrzej Duda speaks during the press conference, as part of his two day visit to Britain, in London, Britain, May 24, 2023, REUTERS/Peter Cziborra/File Photo

WARSAW (Reuters) -The European Union gives more support to countries outside the bloc like Turkey to help them deal with migration than it gives to its own members, the Polish president said on Friday.

The bloc's largest eastern member is opposed to an EU deal designed to share out the responsibility for looking after migrants and refugees and says the EU has done too little to help it deal with refugees. The EU rejects this criticism.

Warsaw plans to hold a referendum on whether to accept the deal.

"I don't understand why the European Commission and European institutions spent billions of euros to help Turkey when it took in a million Syrian migrants, but they were not willing to help Poland, which took in millions of refugees from Ukraine," Andrzej Duda told private broadcaster Radio Zet.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday that he would present a plan for "safe borders" in Brussels, calling for border agency Frontex to be reformed and for more funds for countries tasked with securing the EU's external borders.

The Polish government objects the EU migration deal saying it would be forced to either accept additional migrants on top of the 1.5-2.0 million refugees it estimates it has taken in from Ukraine, or pay other countries who take them in.

European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson told Polish private broadcaster TVN24 on Thursday that countries like Poland which face migration pressures would not be forced to accept additional migrants under the deal and would not have to make payments to other countries.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Marek Strzelecki; editing by Jason Neely)
Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro speaks with media as he arrives at the airport in Rio de Janeiro, on the day the Electoral Justice continues the trial to determine his political rights, Brazil June 29, 2023. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares

By Ricardo Brito and Gabriel Araujo

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's political career was in tatters on Friday as Brazil's federal electoral court (TSE) barred the far-right nationalist from public office until 2030 for his conduct during last year's fraught election.

Five out of seven justices voted to convict the 68-year-old Bolsonaro for abuse of power and misuse of the media over his actions in July 2022, ahead of the election, when he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about Brazil's electronic voting system.

Their decision marks a stunning reversal for Bolsonaro, a fiery populist who narrowly lost the October vote to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Many in Brazil blame Bolsonaro for creating a nationwide movement to overturn the result, which culminated in the Jan. 8 invasion of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters.

The impact from the electoral court's ruling is likely to ripple through Brazilian politics, removing Lula's main foe from contention in 2026 and opening up space among a competitive field on Brazil's right.

The majority opinion in the trial was written by Justice Benedito Goncalves, who said Bolsonaro used the meeting with ambassadors to "spread doubts and incite conspiracy theories." Two conservative-leaning judges dissented.

Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a longtime Bolsonaro adversary who currently heads the TSE, joined the majority, saying Bolsonaro had spread a "chain of lies and fraudulent news" in his "radical" speech to ambassadors.

Lula's team celebrated the result.

"Some important messages come from the TSE trial: lying is not a legitimate tool for exercising a public function and politics is not governed by the law of the jungle," Justice Minister Flavio Dino tweeted. "Democracy has overcome its toughest stress test in decades."

Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers have pledged to make an appeal to the Supreme Court that sources said is unlikely to succeed.

On Friday, Bolsonaro described the decision as a "stab in the back," and said he would keep working to advance right-wing politics in Brazil. However, the TSE decision is not the end of Bolsonaro's troubles. He still faces multiple criminal probes that could yet land him behind bars.

WHITHER BOLSONARO?

While his own hopes of beating Lula in 2026 may be over, Bolsonaro has said he would support his wife, Michelle, as candidate. She is a political novice, but an avowed evangelical Christian who could win support among a religious right that is wary of Lula.

"'Our dream is more alive than ever,'" she wrote on Instagram after the ruling. "I am at your command, my CAPTAIN."

And he could yet make a comeback. Lula was in jail as recently as 2019, when his corruption conviction was overturned. He is now president.

Analysts at Arko Advice said Bolsonaro still enjoys plenty of political cachet.

"There is still no alternative in the right or center-right with the strength of Jair Bolsonaro," they wrote in a note to clients. "As a result, the former president remains President Lula's main antagonist."

A longtime fan of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro's time in office was marked by international criticism over his lackluster stewardship of the Amazon rainforest, his laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 restrictions, and his evidence-free attacks on Brazil's electoral system.

The TSE trial is part of a broader reckoning in Brazil with the fallout from the country's most painful election in a generation. While Bolsonaro faced electoral court scrutiny, many of his one-time allies are being questioned by lawmakers in a congressional probe into the Jan. 8 riots.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Steven Grattan, Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O'Brien)
Pope Francis attends the Mass of Saint Peter and Paul in St Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican June 29, 2023.Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis on Friday granted an audience to the wife of Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who is behind bars in Britain and battling extradition to the United States.

"The Holy Father has received in audience Mrs. Stella Assange, with family members," a Vatican statement said, with no further details.

Stella Assange tweeted that her family was "overwhelmed" by the private audience, with a photo of herself dressed in black in St. Peter's Square and the hashtag #FreeAssangeNOW.

She is fronting the campaign to have her husband released, but the Vatican did not say if this was discussed in the meeting or if Francis expressed any support for it.

A Vatican spokesman said papal audiences are private affairs.

Assange is wanted in the U.S. over the release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010. His supporters see his prosecution as a politically motivated assault on journalism and free speech.

Washington says the release of the documents had put lives in danger.

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Gavin JonesEditing by Keith Weir)
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov delivers a speech during a reception on the occasion of Africa Day in Moscow, Russia, June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File photo

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Friday it saw no reason to extend the Black Sea grain deal beyond July 17 because the West had acted in such an "outrageous" way over the agreement, but assured poor countries that Russian grain exports would continue.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative last July to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine - something it calls "a special military operation" - and its blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

The deal allows food and fertiliser to be exported from three Ukrainian ports - Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi (Yuzhny). The agreement has been extended three times.

"The attitude of the West towards this deal is outrageous," Lavrov told reporters, pointing specifically to the positions of the United States and Britain.

Lavrov said one of the last straws for Russia was an attack on the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, an attack he blamed on Ukraine which has in turn accused Russia of damaging it.

"I don't see what arguments there can be by those who would like to continue the Black Sea initiative," Lavrov said.

The United Nations on Friday said it was concerned no new ships had been registered under the Black Sea deal since June 26 - despite applications being made by 29 vessels - and called on all parties to "to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay."

U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said there are currently only 13 ships either loading in Ukrainian ports or travelling to and from Istanbul.

"The parties must ensure that additional vessels are allowed to sail the maritime humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea, which serves as a global lifeline for food security," Haq said. "The commencement of the harvest season underscores the urgency."

FREE GRAIN

Russia and Ukraine are two of the world's top agricultural producers, and major players in the wheat, barley, maize, rapeseed, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed and sunflower oil markets. Russia is also dominant in the fertiliser market.

If the deal collapses Russia will still export grain, Lavrov said.

"If the Black Sea Initiative ceases to operate, we will provide grain deliveries of a comparable or larger size to the poorest countries at our own expense, free of charge," Lavrov said.

Between 20182020, Africa imported $3.7 billion in wheat (32% of total African wheat imports) from Russia and $1.4 billion from Ukraine (12% of total African wheat imports), according to the United Nations.

To convince Russia to agree to the initiative, a three-year pact was also struck last July in which the United Nations agreed to help Moscow overcome any obstacles to its own food and fertilizer shipments.

Russia's specific demands are that Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank) be reconnected to the SWIFT payment system, that supplies of agricultural machinery and parts to Russia be resumed, and that restrictions on insurance and reinsurance are lifted.

Other demands include the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline that lets Russia pump the chemical to Ukraine's main Black Sea port, and the unblocking of assets and accounts of Russian companies involved in food and fertiliser exports.

Russia says there has been no progress on any of those issues.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, additional reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Grant McCool)
KHARTOUM(Reuters) - Sudan's Civil Aviation Authority has issued a statement on Friday extending the closure of Sudanese airspace until July 10, to all air traffic with the exception of humanitarian aid flights.

Sudanese airspace was closed to regular traffic after a military conflict erupted between the country's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April.

(Reporting by Tala Ramadan)
FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women Lilac Luncheon in Concord, New Hampshire, U.S., June 27, 2023. REUTERS/Reba Saldanha/File Photo

By Jason Lange and Nathan Layne

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two groups allied with former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have pumped more than $30 million into the 2024 Republican presidential race, more than five times the spending by all outside groups at the same point in the 2020 campaign, according to a Reuters analysis, in a sign of the intense competition between the two frontrunners.

The group backing Trump, known as MAGA Inc, has spent more than $23 million this year, almost entirely on ads attacking DeSantis, the Reuters analysis of preliminary financial disclosures to the Federal Election Commission found.

Never Back Down, the outside group supporting DeSantis, reported spending more than $7 million but that does not include all of its spending from before the official launch of his campaign in May. Figures compiled by ad tracking firm AdImpact point to Never Back Down has spent more than $15 million.

Between them, MAGA Inc and Never Back Down have dominated the over $40 million in spending on the presidential race so far reported by the outside groups, known as Super PACs, the Reuters analysis found. The groups are due to submit fuller disclosures next month.

Super PACs are a special kind of U.S. fundraising group that typically takes big money from the wealthiest Americans as a way to sidestep contribution limits meant to guard against corruption. The exemption is allowed so long as Super PACs stay independent of the campaign they are supporting.

This year's record spending by outside groups has been fueled in part by massive transfers by political groups tied to the candidates.

Trump's Save America group, which he set up before launching his 2024 campaign, transferred $60 million left over from the 2022 midterms to MAGA Inc, Save America's disclosures show.

A group related to DeSantis' re-election effort in the 2022 Florida gubernatorial campaign transferred more than $80 million to Never Back Down, according to records published on that group's website.

Campaign finance experts say the transfers helped each side supercharge early spending while creating significant financial ties between the candidates and outside groups.

Trump's Save America group is a political committee that by law cannot back his own election bids, according to legal experts.

"This just shows the lie that the Super PACs are independent," said Stuart McPhail, a campaign finance lawyer at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog. "Why would the candidates take tens of millions of dollars they control and give it to a group they don't control? They wouldn't."

Another nonpartisan watchdog group, the Campaign Legal Center, has filed legal challenges with the Federal Election Commission against the MAGA Inc and Never Back Down transfers, arguing the Super PACs' funding was partly controlled by the candidates.

"We've never had anything quite like this before in campaign finance," said Saurav Ghosh, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center.

'DISASSOCIATED'

The Trump and DeSantis campaigns did not respond to requests for comment, but both Super PACs said the transfers were legal.

Never Back Down's transfer came from a group that raised the money under the name Friends of Ron DeSantis, but changed its name shortly before sending the funds. Never Back Down officials say DeSantis didn't order the transfer.

"Ron DeSantis had disassociated with it and the new leadership there made the decision about what to do with that money," said a Never Back Down official.

MAGA Inc called the allegations politically motivated.

"Campaign Legal Center is a fringe leftist organization that exists to file frivolous complaints," said MAGA Inc spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer.

The Campaign Legal Center is led by Trevor Potter, who was the Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission in the 1990s and later general counsel for the Republican presidential campaigns of former U.S. Senator John McCain.

Many campaign finance experts expect the Federal Election Commission, whose leadership is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, will likely dismiss the center's challenge.

BILLIONS IN 2020

Super PACs, which are also used aggressively by Democrats, sunk more than $3 billion into the 2020 elections together with other independent spending groups, according to OpenSecrets, a Washington nonprofit that tracks money in politics.

In the current election cycle, MAGA Inc's ads hammer DeSantis for votes cast in Congress a decade ago in favor of reducing spending on Social Security pensions and Medicare health insurance for the elderly.

Never Back Down's ads highlight the Florida governor's opposition to abortion and paint DeSantis, 44, as more youthful and composed than Trump, 77.

Campaign finance experts say that for the groups backing Trump and DeSantis, the transfers send a message that giving to the Super PAC is as good as giving to the campaign.

"If someone comes up to the Super PAC and makes a million-dollar donation, that's like putting a million dollars in a candidate's pocket," said McPhail.

(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington and Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, additional reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Scott Malone and Suzanne Goldenberg)
Ukraine's national flag waves in central Kharkiv during a long curfew, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, Ukraine August 23, 2022. REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi/File photo

By Dan Peleschuk

KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine is under pressure from international lenders and watchdogs at home to re-impose a requirement that officials publicly declare their assets, a pillar of its anti-corruption policies that was suspended after Russia's invasion last year.

Fighting graft is a top requirement for Ukraine to join the European Union, which offered Kyiv candidate status last year, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government says it is a priority alongside the war effort.

Since 2016, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian officials had been required to publicly disclose their assets under the measure, viewed as a powerful tool for Ukrainians to monitor their officials.

But the disclosures were made optional and restricted from public view after Russia's full-scale invasion last year, with authorities citing security risks from releasing information that might give away the location of public figures.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has singled out the return of the requirement for "high-risk and senior level public officials" as one of several benchmarks for paying out part of a $15.6 billion assistance package. It has urged Kyiv to begin bringing the measure back by the end of July.

Anastasia Radina, head of the Ukrainian parliament's anti-corruption committee, said legislation was under consideration that would allow exemptions, such as for service members and officials in Russian-occupied territory.

But she said watering down the disclosure requirements too much could blunt their impact.

"If the system has loopholes, then it cannot be fully functional in terms of its deterrence component," Radina told Reuters. "And that would be a problem."

The IMF on Thursday unlocked an $890 million tranche of its package based on Ukraine's "strong progress" in meeting reform commitments, but said other transparency and anti-corruption measures "need to proceed without delay".

A draft law restoring declarations had been introduced last September. Critics have accused some lawmakers of dragging their feet in a bid to avoid scrutiny.

The disclosures were a showcase of Ukraine's anti-corruption drive after the 2014 Maidan revolution, which toppled a pro-Russian president who fled leaving behind a lavish palace he had built for himself outside Kyiv.

Public servants, from municipal deputies to the president, were required to submit detailed annual declarations including information on personal finances, cars and property.

The National Agency for Corruption Prevention, a state watchdog, reviewed the declarations and could launch legal action if it suspected ill-gotten wealth.

'SYSTEMIC INSTRUMENT'

The watchdog's head Oleksandr Novikov said restoring the measure was critical as Kyiv's Western partners consider flooding Ukraine with cash for reconstruction. He said he had weighed in on proposed adjustments and was also wary of too many loopholes.

"There will be no other systemic instrument with which to build integrity," he told Reuters.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday Ukraine will receive $1.5 billion from the World Bank to support reconstruction and recovery.

Ukraine, which ranks 116th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index, has dialled up its fight against graft in recent months.

Last month, anti-corruption authorities arrested the former head of the Supreme Court in a high-profile sting.

Andrii Borovyk, of Transparency's Ukraine office, said it was "extremely important" to restore public access to declarations, which he said could reveal whether officials are benefiting from building contracts, though certain exemptions were likely to be unavoidable.

"I think some compromise can be found, at least while the war is ongoing," said Borovyk.

A January poll by the New Europe Center think-tank in Kyiv found that 73% of Ukrainians believe Brussels is justified in seeking reforms from Kyiv as it pursues EU membership, even amid conflict.

Only one quarter of those believe the EU should be more lenient with its requirements.

(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Peter Graff)
Students of the school for drone pilots Dronarium Academy practice during a lesson, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in an undisclosed location, Ukraine, June 30, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

By Olena Harmash

(Reuters) - Ukraine has been publicly cautious in counting gains in a counteroffensive it launched this month to reclaim territory occupied by Russian forces, and on Friday its president and a U.S. general acknowledged that progress is measured in blood.

The top U.S. military officer, Army General Mark Milley, told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington that the counteroffensive was "advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields ... 500 meters a day, 1,000 meters a day, 2,000 meters a day, that kind of thing."

He said he was unsurprised progress was slower than some people and computers might have predicted.

"War on paper and real war are different. In real war, real people die. Real people are on those front lines and real people are in those vehicles. Real bodies are being shredded by high explosives."

He added, "What I had said was this is going to take six, eight, 10 weeks, it's going to be very difficult. It's going to be very long, and it's going to be very, very bloody. And no one should have any illusions about any of that."

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the counteroffensive was "slower than desired", without getting too specific. Ukraine says it has recaptured a cluster of villages in operations that liberated 130 square km (50 square miles) in the south, but this is a small percentage of the total territory held by Russia.

On Friday, Zelenskiy said his forces advanced "in all directions of our active operations," while Hanna Maliar, deputy defense minister, said the military assessed progress as "going according to plan," and that the counteroffensive should be evaluated by "a lot of different military tasks."

Reuters was unable to verify the situation on the battlefield. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022 has not acknowledged the Ukrainian gains and has said Ukraine's forces are suffering heavy casualties.

SLOWING DOWN TO SAVE LIVES

Zelenskiy was quoted as saying Ukraine wanted to show results before a July 11 NATO gathering in Lithuania, at which Kyiv is hoping for an invitation to begin the process of joining the U.S.-led military alliance - but not at any cost.

"Before the summit we have to show results," Spanish national broadcaster RTVE quoted him as telling Spanish media in Kyiv, based on a translation of his remarks. "But every kilometer costs lives."

Zelenskiy acknowledged plans for the counteroffensive had slowed in recent months. "We stopped because we could not advance," he said. "Advancing meant losing people and we had no artillery."

RTVE of Spain quoted him as saying Ukraine was "very cautious in this regard" and that he would choose to take longer if it meant losing fewer people. "Between time and human beings, people are the most important," RTVE quoted him as saying.

Zelenskiy was speaking on a day when he ordered top military commanders to strengthen the northern military sector following the arrival of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus, under a deal negotiated by President Alexander Lukashenko that ended his mercenaries' mutiny in Russia.

Prigozhin's Wagner Group could set up a new base at a vacant military base near the town of Asipovichi, about 90 km (50 miles) from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, Russian media reported.

After pushing Russian forces out of northern regions last year, Ukraine took steps to tighten the defense of its border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia.

Zelenskiy said the situation in other frontline areas, supplies of artillery and shells, and advances by Ukrainian troops against Russian forces were discussed at a meeting with military commanders on Friday.

"Ukraine is fighting for their life," Milley said in Washington. "We are giving them as much help as humanly possible. But at the end of the day, Ukrainian soldiers are assaulting through minefields and into trenches" against Russia's much larger army.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash; Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Elaine Monaghan in Washington; editing by Grant McCool)
In this article, we will be taking a look at the 16 hardest languages to learn for English speakers. If you are not interested in reading the details, head straight to the 5 Hardest Languages To Learn For English Speakers.

Learning a new language can be a thrilling adventure, but for English speakers, specific linguistic paths may be more arduous than others. As English widely dominates the global stage as a lingua franca, delving into languages that diverge significantly from their roots can present a formidable challenge. From tonal systems to complex grammatical structures and characters that seem like intricate puzzles, the world boasts a plethora of languages that can test the mettle of even the most determined language learners.

Language Barriers in Global Business: Navigating the Hardest Languages for English-Speaking Entrepreneurs

As an English-speaking entrepreneur, navigating language barriers in global business can be a major challenge. We'll cover the hardest languages for the english speaking people in this list. We've also covered the easiest languages to learn for English speakers. Give it a read.

The 3 hardest languages to learn include Mandarin, Arabic, and Russian. However, with the right strategies, overcoming these obstacles and succeeding in international markets is possible. One critical method is to invest in language training for yourself and your team.

Studies show that companies that offer language training to their employees have a higher likelihood of achieving high profitability and growth, which can help you better communicate with clients and partners in different countries. It can also help you understand critical cultural nuances in business negotiations.

Another important step is to hire local staff or work with local partners who can help you navigate language and cultural barriers. Research has found that businesses that employ local talent have higher success rate in foreign markets. These individuals can provide valuable insights into the local market and help you build strong relationships with key stakeholders.

Finally, staying current on the latest trends and developments in global business is essential, which can help you identify new opportunities that allow you to stay ahead of the competition. Companies that prioritize staying informed about global trends and developments are 30% more likely to achieve high growth rates and profitability. By implementing these strategies and staying informed, you can successfully navigate language barriers and thrive in international markets.

Enhancing Business Opportunities: Conquering the Most Difficult Languages for English-Speaking Professionals

Learning complex languages like Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Russian can give business professionals a competitive advantage in today's globalized world. These languages open doors to vast business opportunities and allow effective communication with individuals worldwide. Mandarin, the hardest language to learn for English speakers, spoken by over a billion people, is particularly valuable for business in Asia, where China's GDP presents a massive market.

Arabic, one of the most spoken languages in the world, is crucial for business in over 20 oil producing countries with booming economies. Russian, the largest native language in Europe, is the official language in four countries including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrygyzstan. Although learning a new language may seem daunting, numerous resources such as language apps, online courses, and language schools can aid success.

Immersing oneself in the language through media consumption and practice with native speakers is also vital. Learning a complex language can revolutionize business endeavors by fostering connections and creating opportunities for growth and success in multi-trillion dollar markets.

Unlocking Opportunities: The Impact of Learning the Hardest Languages on International Business Ventures.

Mastering complex languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Russian can grant English-speaking professionals acompetitive edge in global business. The economic rewards associated with these languages are immense. For instance, China's GDP is projected to grow at an impressive rate of 5.7% annually until 2025, followed by 4.7% until 2030. With over a billion Mandarin Chinese speakers, attaining practical communication skills in this language opens up unparalleled access to a vast consumer base and lucrative investment prospects.

Although learning challenging languages may initially appear daunting, a wide range of resources, including language apps, online courses, and immersion techniques, can facilitate learning. By embracing linguistic diversity, professionals can forge connections across borders, unlocking new avenues for growth and success in the dynamic global business landscape.

Empowering Language Learning for English Speakers: Coursera, Duolingo, and Babbel

Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) provides a diverse selection of courses, with some of the courses on foreign languages from esteemed universities and industry professionals. The completion of Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR)'s courses offers significant career benefits. Moreover, Coursera, Inc. (NYSE:COUR) accommodates individuals' busy schedules by offering self-paced courses, enabling them to strike a balance between work, personal commitments, and professional development.

Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOUL) is a highly beneficial language learning app. It offers an opportunity to communicate with diverse individuals and facilitates personal and professional development. According to a Duolingo, Inc. (NASDAQ:DOUL)'s study, users can learn the equivalent of one semester of college language learning after 34 hours of study on the app. Duolingo, Inc. (NYSE:DOUL)'s free version makes it accessible to all, and it is a valuable resource for broadening horizons and improving language skills.

Babbel provides comprehensive and interactive language learning courses that cater to the learning style and goals of English speakers. With Babbel, learners can progress at their own pace and focus on specific areas such as grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Babbel offers a tailored approach to language learning, making it easier and more accessible for English speakers to acquire new language skills.

Without further ado, let's head over to the list of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn.

16 Hardest Languages To Learn For English Speakers

romantitov/Shutterstock.com

Our Methodology

Our methodology for identifying the most complicated languages for English speakers involved conducting thorough research using sources such as Berlitz, Mango Languages, Matador Network, and Tomedes. We selected the 16 most challenging languages to learn for English speakers on a structured scoring system. Each language received points based on the number of times it appeared in the research sources. By employing this approach, we created a definitive compilation of the top hardest languages for English Speakers and ranked them in ascending order.

Here is our list of the hardest languages to learn for English speakers.

16. Bulgarian

Insider Monkey Score: 1

Bulgarian is a Slavic language with approximately eight million native speakers, primarily in Bulgaria. It shares similarities with Russian, including the use of the Cyrillic alphabet. English speakers may face challenges with vocabulary and grammar, but online resources like Coursera can aid in language acquisition. Mastering consonant and vowel sounds and expanding vocabulary are crucial to progressing in Bulgarian.

15. Albanian

Insider Monkey Score: 1

Albanian, spoken in Albania and Kosovo, is a distinct language influenced by Greek, Latin, and ancient languages. Learning Albanian can be challenging for English speakers due to its complex grammar, including noun cases and genders. Despite the difficulties, Albanian provides an opportunity to connect with a unique culture, and practicing with native speakers can expedite the learning process.

14. Hindi

Insider Monkey Score: 1

Hindi, an ancient language derived from Sanskrit, is spoken by hundreds of millions of people in India and other countries. Mastering the Devanagari script and pronunciation can be challenging for English speakers, but learning Hindi offers rewarding opportunities for travel, work, and education.

13. Vietnamese

Insider Monkey Score: 1

Vietnamese, spoken by 76 million people in Vietnam, is part of the Austroasiatic language family. Learning Vietnamese benefits English-speaking travelers and long-term residents, especially outside major cities where English is less common. The challenging pronunciation, with six tonal variations, requires practice to convey the correct meaning. However, once the tones are mastered, Vietnamese grammar is relatively straightforward.

12. Thai

Insider Monkey Score: 1

Thai, spoken by approximately 60 million people in Thailand, presents challenges for English speakers due to its tonal nature and unique script. Mastering tones and memorizing the script are crucial to understanding Thai. However, Thai grammar is straightforward, and the vocabulary includes loan words from various languages.

11. Serbian

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Serbian is a Slavic language spoken by approximately 12 million people, primarily in Serbia. It is also an official language in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo, and is recognized as a minority language in Croatia, Romania, and Hungary. Learning Serbian is valuable for those interested in Eastern Europe. Challenges for English speakers include two scripts, seven tenses, and gendered words. However, Serbian's phonetic nature aids pronunciation.

10. Turkish

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Turkish, spoken by over 75 million native speakers across Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Europe, offers valuable language acquisition opportunities. English speakers may find Turkish challenging due to its complex grammar rules, including suffixes and word order. However, Turkish's phonetic nature simplifies pronunciation yet its one of the hardest languages to master for English speakers.

9. Farsi

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Farsi, or Persian, is an Indo-European language in Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. It presents challenges for English speakers due to its Arabic script, right-to-left reading, and complex grammar. However, Farsi offers connections to English through borrowed words. Pronunciation and vocabulary are relatively manageable, while grammar follows familiar patterns. Farsi's unique aspect is case marking, where words indicate grammatical case by preceding or following nouns.

8. Greek

Insider Monkey Score: 2

Greek, the oldest living Indo-European language, presents challenges for English speakers with its new vocabulary, complex grammar rules, and three noun genders. Familiarity with the Greek alphabet is necessary. However, learning Greek offers excellent value as a foundational language with significant influence on English vocabulary. Pronunciation can be intricate due to letter variations, but consonants resemble English sounds. Greek grammar involves cases and tenses, requiring conjugation learning.

7. Russian

Insider Monkey Score: 2

With its unique writing system, pronunciation challenges, and complex grammar, Russian poses difficulties for English speakers. However, its significance as a language spoken by millions and its connections to literature, philosophy, and visual arts make it worth learning. The Cyrillic alphabet, vocabulary differences, unpredictable pronunciation, and grammar intricacies contribute to the challenges faced by learners.

Fluency in Russian facilitates relationship-building, cultural understanding, and business navigation. Russia's role in the global economy, particularly in energy and natural resources, makes Russian proficiency valuable for negotiations and partnerships. Mastering Russian opens doors to various trade, finance, and diplomacy job opportunities.

6. Icelandic

Insider Monkey Score: 3

Icelandic is a challenging language and stands sixth among the hardest languages to learn for English speakers, but rewarding for English speakers. It provides insights into Icelandic culture and history. Iceland's high-income economy and thriving tourism industry offer job opportunities. Mastering this language improves cognitive abilities and memory retention, boosting confidence and cross-cultural communication skills. Studies show bilingual individuals have better mental flexibility and task-switching capabilities.

Click to see and continue reading the 5 Hardest Languages To Learn For English Speakers.

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Disclosure. None: The 16 Hardest Languages To Learn For English Speakers is originally published on Insider Monkey.
FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Polish President Andrzej Duda, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Ph

By Olena Harmash

KYIV (Reuters) -President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ordered top military commanders on Friday to strengthen Ukraine's northern military sector following the arrival of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in Belarus.

He said Ukrainian intelligence and security forces had reported on the situation in Belarus, Ukraine's northern neighbour, at a meeting of top military and political leaders.

"The decision...is for Commander-in-Chief (General Valeriy) Zaluzhnyi and 'North' commander (General Serhiy) Naev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this direction," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

He did not mention Wagner Group boss Prigozhin in the brief post on Telegram.

Prigozhin flew from Russia into exile in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal negotiated by President Alexander Lukashenko that ended his mercenaries' mutiny in Russia on Saturday.

Media have reported that Wagner could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 90 km (50 miles) from the Belarusian capital, Minsk.

After pushing Russian forces out of northern regions last year, Ukraine took steps to tighten the defence of its border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia.

"Right now, there is no direct threat of offensive actions from Belarus and Russia in the zone that is the responsibility of the Northern Group of Forces," Naev said.

But he said moves to strengthen Ukraine's defence capabilities were needed in the event of a growing threat, and added: "Our intelligence does not stop work to obtain information."

Zelenskiy said the situation in other frontline areas, supplies of artillery and shells, and advances by Ukrainian troops against Russia's occupying forces were also discussed at Friday's meeting.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said earlier on Friday that Ukrainian troops were advancing in all directions of the counteroffensive they began against Russian forces this month.

"If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions," she told Ukrainian television.

"In the south, we are moving with varying success, sometimes there are days when it is more than a kilometre, sometimes less than a kilometre, sometimes up to 2 kilometres," she said.

Reuters was unable to verify the situation on the battlefield. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, has not acknowledged the Ukrainian gains and has said Ukraine's military are suffering heavy casualties.

(Reporting by Olena Harmash, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
By Mayela Armas and Vivian Sequera

CARACAS (Reuters) -Maria Corina Machado, one of the favorites to win the Venezuelan opposition's nomination for president in an October primary, has been barred from holding public office for 15 years, the country's controller general said in a letter.

Machado, a 55-year-old industrial engineer and former lawmaker, is leading polling for the 13-candidate primary, convened to select a unity candidate to face socialist President Nicolas Maduro in a 2024 election.

A previous ban placed on her has been expanded because Machado supported sanctions by the United States on the Maduro government and backed former opposition leader Juan Guaido, the letter said.

The opposition has said for years that bans are used by the ruling party to prevent political change.

Machado, who has proposed privatizing state oil company PDVSA and restructuring Venezuela's debt, told supporters on Thursday, "A ban by the regime is garbage, it means zero," adding that it showed the Maduro government "is being defeated."

The ban does not affect Machado's ability to run in the primary because the opposition is holding it without state support. But it means she could not register with electoral authorities to appear on the ballot in the presidential race.

"Todays decision to disqualify Maria Corina Machado from participating in the electoral process deprives the Venezuelan people of basic political rights. Venezuelans deserve the right to select a candidate to participate in presidential elections in 2024 without interference," a U.S. State Department spokesman said in a statement.

Machado has been barred from leaving Venezuela for the last nine years and had been banned from office for 12 months in 2015 because, according to the controller, she did not include some benefits received when she was a lawmaker in her assets declaration. Machado says she never received the benefits.

Venezuelan lawmaker Jose Brito, who serves in the ruling party-controlled national assembly, asked the controller this week to clarify Machado's status.

"The citizen Maria Corina Machado Parisca ... is disqualified from the exercise of any public office for the period of 15 years," the controller said in its response, dated June 27 and shared by Brito on Friday.

The Washington-based Organization of American States rejected the decision and called for free and transparent elections.

"The regime resorts to disqualifications and proscriptions to cling to power and liquidate any likeness to democracy while it deepens the political, social, humanitarian and economic crisis the country is living," the OAS said in a statement.

Machado's fellow primary candidate Henrique Capriles, who has twice run for president for the opposition, was barred from public office for 15 years in 2017.

The fractured opposition, which runs a parallel legislature recognized by the U.S. and controls Venezuela's foreign assets, is facing widespread voter apathy and the challenge of holding the primary without state help after the resignation of members of the electoral council.

(Reporting by Mayela Armas, Vivian Sequera and Deisy Buitrago; additonal reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Rosalba O'Brien and Leslie Adler)
FILE PHOTO: Hsiao-Wei Lee, Afghanistan country director for World Food Programme (WFP), speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 20, 2023. REUTERS/Sayed Hassib/File Photo

By Charlotte Greenfield and Andrew Mills

(Reuters) - Food assistance to Afghanistan will shrink to nothing by the end of October under current funding projections, the World Food Programme's country director told Reuters on Friday, as United Nations officials continue to warn against funding reductions amid Taliban restrictions on women.

The WFP has already slashed rations and cash assistance from 8 million Afghans this year, underscoring the severity of financial challenges aid agencies face in Afghanistan, home to what the United Nations considers the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

"It's five million people we are able to serve for another couple of months but then beyond that we don't have the resources," WFP Afghanistan Country Director Hsiao-Wei Lee told Reuters. "That I think conveys the urgency of where we stand."

The reductions would start in August, fall further in September and halt in October, according to the WFP's estimates of current funds and financial assistance promised by donor countries in coming months.

The United Nations has already had to slash its humanitarian plan funding request as donors hold back. International officials say the stall is in part due to competing global crises and strained government budgets, but also exacerbated by the Taliban administration's restrictions on women that advocates say contributes to the funding decline.

Since December, Afghan female humanitarian staff are largely barred from work unless organisations gain exemptions from local officials.

Around 15 million Afghans in danger from lack of food are in need of assistance, according to WFP.

WFP needs $1 billion in funding to provide food aid and carry out planned projects between now until March, Lee said.

WFP would stay in Afghanistan and carry out its other work such as nutrition projects, Lee said, even if the projected cuts took place.

Lee said the restrictions on women were a "valid concern" from donors, but added that around half of WFP's beneficiaries were women and girls and they were still able to reach women.

Lee added that the positioning of food for the country's harsh winter must be complete by October to prepare for the colder months, and needed just over $100 million to carry out. Parts of mountainous Afghanistan get cut off by snow in colder months.

Currently the agency had no funds for the operation and was forced to decide soon whether to reduce rations earlier than otherwise projected as time ran out in order to get food in place.

"They're very difficult conversations and very emotional ones .... our field staff in particular are constantly having to face conversations around why this assistance needs to be reduced," she said.

"For someone who has a hungry child it's really hard to understand why their hungry child is not selected for assistance but another family's hungry child may be hungrier."

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad and Andrew Mills in Doha; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
Guggenheim Variable Funds Trust

702 King Farm Blvd., Suite 200

Rockville, Maryland 20850

Supplement Dated June 30, 2023

to the currently effective Summary Prospectus and Statutory Prospectus (collectively, the "Prospectuses"), each dated May 1, 2023, as may be supplemented from time to time, for Series B (Large Cap Value Series), Series O (All Cap Value Series), Series Q (Small Cap Value Series), and Series V (SMid Cap Value Series) (collectively, the "Funds")

This supplement provides updated information beyond that contained in the Prospectuses and should be read in conjunction with the Prospectuses.

Effective immediately, Chris Phalen (Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of Security Investors, LLC, investment manager for each Fund) is added as a portfolio manager of each Fund. No other changes to the portfolio management teams for each Fund are being made. Accordingly, references to the portfolio managers for each Fund are updated to include Chris Phalen effective immediately.

The section of the Statutory Prospectus entitled "Investment ManagersPortfolio Managers" is amended by adding the below paragraph:

Chris Phalen, CFA, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of Security Investors, has co-managed Series B (Large Cap Value Series), Series O (All Cap Value Series), Series Q (Small Cap Value Series), and Series V (SMid Cap Value Series) since June 2023. Mr. Phalen joined the Investment Manager (or its predecessor) in 1993 and has over 25 years of experience in the financial service industry. Mr. Phalen has served as a Senior Equity Research Analyst covering the Industrials and Materials sectors for the value equity funds since 2011 and as the Director of Value Equity Research since 2019. He has also served as head of fixed income at a predecessor firm, Security Global Investors, as a fixed income portfolio manager for Security Benefit Corporation's life insurance general account, and as a mutual fund fixed-income portfolio manager. Mr. Phalen earned a B.S. in Business Administration and Accounting from the University of Kansas. He has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is a member of the CFA Institute.

Please Retain This Supplement for Future Reference

SUPVT-VALUE-0623x0524
Five hours into my 13-hour drive home from our annual family vacation, I got the call. Im in the ER, my daughter said in a groggy voice.

Whats wrong? I replied urgently, steadying the steering wheel.

It had been an unusual vacation. Normally, my husband and I would reserve the same 1970s rental beach cottage in North Carolinas Outer Banks for us and our three children, now adults. We had been vacationing there since they were born. As a military family that moved often, the cottage had become like home to us. We also invited my mother each year, and sometimes my best friend and her family. Wed all pack into the little cottage with its ancient wood paneling and uncomfortable This-End-Up furniture, and spend a week or two taking a much-needed break from the grind.

But this summer, my husband was absent, due to recent surgery and scheduled follow-up appointments. And our son, Hayden, a young software engineer, had obligations at work that kept him from making the trip. With the two males in my family unable to come, our vacation turned into a girls trip. The group of women included me, my 80-year-old mother, my 25-year-old daughter Anna, my 22-year-old daughter Lilly, my BFF Patrice and her 20-year-old daughter Olivia.

As the ostensible host, I stayed at the cottage for the full occupancy, but the others showed up when their work and travel schedules permitted. We overlapped for a few fun-filled days before they each took off for their respective homes and obligations. Anna flew back to her East Village apartment in New York City three days before I checked out and began my long drive back to Rhode Island.

I was throwing up all night and my back hurts really bad, Anna said on the phone. They said I have a kidney infection. Immediately, I wanted to crawl into the phone to get to her. The misery in her voice triggered something. For three decades of being a military spouse, Id been the primary caregiver to our three children due to my husbands work demands. Even though our kids were mostly on their own, I still felt an urge to mother them.

I wasnt compelled to lick Annas hindquarters or drop chewed worms into her mouth, but my animal instinct told me that I needed to go to her. Tuck her into bed. Take her temperature. Bring her juice. Make her soup. Clean her apartment. Kiss her on the forehead.

Stuck in my packed-to-the-gills car with our 18-month-old puppy, I careened northward on Route 13 through Maryland, prepared to detour to New York City if needed. Are you sure I shouldnt come? I asked, or pleaded, more accurately, as I crossed the George Washington Bridge and saw the Manhattan skyline in the distance.

No, Mom  I just need sleep, she instructed after she was discharged with a prescription for antibiotics. I reluctantly continued on, arriving home just before bedtime.

The next day, a hint of need in my daughters text was all it took. Do you need me to come to NYC? I texted.

Yeah it might help, but my apartment is really gross, Im a bit embarrassed, she replied. Within minutes, I was on the way to my daughter.

For two days, I mothered. I ran errands. I brought toast, fruit and yogurt. I cleaned. I tucked. I gave medications. I did laundry. I made soup. Whether it filled a need in me, in Anna, or in both of us, I wasnt certain. All I knew is that it felt right.

On the second night, Anna turned the corner, and we decided I could go back home the next morning.

Thank you so much for everything, Mom. You didnt have to do all that, Anna said as I packed my bag to go.

Honey, believe it or not, it feels good to take care of you. Im used to doing it, and it justifies my role as your mother, I heard myself say.

Back on I-95 headed northward again, I realized that motherhood doesnt end when the nest empties. We will always need our moms, and our moms will always need to mother.

Read more at themeatandpotatoesoflife.com and in Lisas book, The Meat and Potatoes of Life: My True Lit Com. Email: meatandpotatoesoflife@gmail.com
$200 billion in frozen Russian assets could help rebuild Ukraine. Europe is trying to figure out how

Russian assets frozen in European accounts could generate billions of dollars a year for rebuilding Ukraine. But can that money be used without breaching international law or damaging the euros international standing?

European Union leaders grappled with that question at a meeting of the European Council in Brussels Thursday.

The European Council took stock of the work done regarding Russias immobilized assets, the leaders said in a statement after the meeting, adding that they would continue to work on the issue in accordance with EU and international law, and in coordination with partners.

The World Bank estimates Ukraine will need at least $411 billion to repair the damage caused by the war. And the EU and its allies are determined to make Russia foot part of the bill.

One idea put forward in the EU is to draw off the interest on income generated by Russian assets while leaving the assets themselves untouched.

This approach would probably deliver about 3 billion ($3.3 billion) a year, according to Anders Ahnlid, the director general of the Swedish National Board of Trade and head of the EU working group looking into frozen Russian assets.

Its the best way of using these assets in accordance with EU and international law, Ahnlid told CNN, noting that was also the view of lawyers at the European Commission, which has promised to propose a way to tap frozen Russian assets within weeks.

The Commission will come forward with a proposal and we will focus prudently on the windfall profits from the immobilized assets of the Russian central bank, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels Friday at the end of the two-day meeting.

But some EU member states, and the European Central Bank (ECB), have expressed concerns that even a carefully targeted plan could shake confidence in the euro as the worlds second biggest reserve currency. The EU has been at pains to contrast the illegality of Russias invasion with its own strict adherence to the rule of law.

We have to respect the principles of international law, said a senior EU diplomat, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss closed-door meetings. Its a matter of reputation, of financial stability and trust.

The ECB declined to comment.

How it would work

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, EU and Group of Seven countries imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, freezing nearly half of its foreign reserves  some 300 billion ($327 billion)  among other measures.

Around two-thirds of that, or 200 billion ($218 billion), sits in the EU, mostly in accounts at Belgium-based Euroclear, one of the worlds largest financial clearing houses.

Euroclear plays a crucial role in global markets, settling cross-border trades and safekeeping more than $40 trillion in assets.

The group said in April that cash on its balance sheet had more than doubled over the year to March to stand at 140 billion ($153 billion), boosted by payments associated with frozen Russian assets, including bonds.

Ordinarily, these payments would have been made to Russian bank accounts, but they have been blocked as a result of sanctions and are now themselves generating vast amounts of interest.

Euroclear routinely invests such long-term cash balances and, in the first quarter, it recorded 734 million ($802 million) in interest earned on cash balances from sanctioned Russian assets.

The plan proposed by the EU working group would involve using a special levy to collect the windfall interest income made by Euroclear from frozen Russian assets, which would then be paid into the EU budget for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Speaking on the sidelines of Thursdays EU meeting, Latvias Prime Minister Arturs Krisjanis Karins said frozen Russian assets were low-hanging fruit.

We need to find a legal basis to utilize, mobilize these assets to help pay for the damage Russia is causing in Ukraine, he said.

Latvia's Prime Minister Arturs Krisjanis Karins talks to media at the European Council summit in Brussels on June 29, 2023. - John Thys/AFP/Getty Images

But one senior EU official warned of unintended consequences, such as causing other countries or investors to worry about the safety of their assets in Europe.

Those who have money might think .what if one day, Im on the list, the official, who also requested anonymity because the discussions are private, said Wednesday.

One way to reduce risks to the EU would be to coordinate action with the G7. I think discussion at the G7 is quite key, the official added.

Ahnlid echoed this, noting that many EU member states had stressed the importance of the bloc taking steps in tandem with G7 partners.

 James Frater contributed reporting.

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The Air Forces preeminent Indo-Pacific logistics hub weathered an attack when it was struck by a major typhoon on May 24, the bases outgoing commander said at a change-of-command ceremony Friday.

Typhoon Mawars impact, which included structural damage and disruptions to communications and utilities, mirrored the potential effects of a military attack on Andersen Air Force Base, Brig. Gen. Paul Fast said before relinquishing command of the 36th Wing to Brig. Gen. Thomas Palenske.

Today, five weeks after the attack, were back on our feet, Fast said during his speech inside a hangar near the flight line. Our airfield is fully functional; weve assessed over $4 billion of rebuild efforts in the coming years, with big plans to harden and be more resilient in terms of structure, energy, communication and mission support, and sharing that resilience with our surrounding community of Guam.

Fast commanded Andersen just a few months, taking over in March when the Air Force relieved Brig. Gen. Paul Birch over shortfalls in his personal conduct. Details were not disclosed, but that conduct was not criminal in nature, 11th Air Force told Stars and Stripes at the time.

Two months after taking the reins, Fast was left to grapple with Mawar, the strongest typhoon to strike Guam since 2002.

The storm passed over the islands northern coast, slamming the U.S. territory with winds of more than 140 mph. It left much of Guam without electricity for weeks  6.9% of the 210-square-mile island was still powerless as of Thursday, the Guam Power Authority said in a Facebook post Friday.

Mawar caused an estimated $111.8 million in damage to local businesses, including $8.2 million to the Port of Guam, the Guam Daily Post reported June 8. At Andersen, on the islands northern edge, the passenger terminal sustained significant damage, and the base continues to use a temporary terminal inside the 44th Aerial Port Squadron building.

Fast, during his speech, described the bases initial preparations for Mawars attack, which included sending aircraft off the island.

The attack lasted for 24 hours. As a result of the attack, we lost our ability to use our cellphones. Our utilities, including power, water and waste, were heavily degraded, he said. Most of our structures were compromised to some degree and our airfield was not usable. It was time to get to work.

Fast clarified that he intentionally used the word attack because this is what an attack would feel like.

These will be our fights when we are attacked, Fast said. The next attack may not have the same indications and warnings that we had with Mawar, but the effects may be very similar. This wing will be ready. Andersen will be ready. Guam will be ready.

Other speakers at the ceremony  briefly interrupted by a pair of B-52 Stratofortress bombers taking off nearby  included Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, who thanked Fast for his brief tenure, and Lt. Gen. David Nahom, commander of 11th Air Force.

Yesterday, I actually heard General Fast ask for somebody to take off in the middle of the ceremony, and we got it  two B-52s, he jokingly told the audience. But it is kind of a symbol that, regardless of the storm, Andersens back open for business.

Taking the reins is Palenske, the former assistant vice commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at the Pentagon. In a speech after taking command, he called Andersen the most strategically important base in the world.

As our nations competition with the Chinese Communist Party continues to evolve, it will be your efforts that informs their calculus that today is not the day to make a provocative move, he told his airmen.

Palenske, a pilot with experience flying 10 types of helicopters, will command five groups, 18 squadrons and 22 tenant organizations in his new role. Hell also lead the 8,000 service members and Defense Department civilians assigned to Andersen, according to a Friday news release from 36th Wing.

Fast will return to Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Hawaii, to resume his post as mobilization assistant to the deputy commander of Pacific Air Forces, according to the wing.
Russians' support for peace talks with Ukraine has grown after an abortive mutiny led by Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to a new opinion poll from the independent Levada Center.

The share of respondents backing negotiations increased by eight percentage points to 53% from a month earlier. Following the march by Prigozhin and Wagner fighters toward Moscow over the weekend, the share of those favoring a continuation of fighting fell to 39%, according to the survey, due to be published Friday.

Russians "became scared that the mutiny could lead to bigger setbacks in Ukraine for Russian troops," Denis Volkov, Levada's director, said in a phone interview. "And, in general, a lot of people just want this war to be over as soon as possible."

The survey of 1,634 respondents across 50 Russian regions was conducted from June 22-28. After the mutiny on June 23-24, support for talks grew further, Levada said.

The Kremlin has accused Ukraine of being unwilling to negotiate. Kyiv says it won't consider talks until Russia's troops leave its territory.

Public support for a diplomatic solution in Russia has ebbed and flowed over the 17 months of the war, peaking in the fall after Putin's order mobilizing men for the front fueled public fears. In May, signs of progress in the long-running battle for Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine boosted Russian public backing of a military solution.

Prigozhin, the mercenary chief, had demanded the removal of the defense minister and chief of the general staff, who he blamed for Russia's struggles in the war effort.

But he called off the uprising after accepting a deal with Putin brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko that allowed him to go to Russia's neighbor in return for criminal charges being dropped against him and his fighters.

While Putin's ratings remained largely unchanged in the aftermath of the upheaval, Prigozhin's fell, the poll showed. On the eve of the mutiny, 19% of respondents were ready to consider voting for him in presidential elections due in 2024, while after June 24 the number fell to 6%.

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Robert Malley, the Biden administrations special envoy to Iran, was placed on unpaid leave Thursday for what he said was a review of his security clearance.

I have been informed that my security clearance is under review, Malley said in a statement. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon. In the meantime, I am on leave.

Malleys security clearance was suspended because of an investigation into his handling of classified information, according to an official familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Asked whether the clearance was also suspended on Thursday or whether it happened before the move to unpaid leave, the official declined to comment.

Another official said that Malley had no idea what the investigation was about.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said only that Rob Malley is on leave and Abram Paley is serving as acting Special Envoy for Iran and leading the Departments work in this area.

Malleys at least temporary removal from the sensitive Iran post comes as the administration has been engaged in indirect, bilateral discussions with Tehran over its nuclear program and other issues. Begun several months ago, the talks  for which Oman has been serving as go-between  are an attempt to draw clear red lines and reverse what has been a steady escalation in tensions as Iran has increased its level of uranium enrichment to near weapons-grade and launched proxy attacks against U.S. forces in Syria.

Malley has maintained a direct channel of communications to Iran through its ambassador to the United Nations, although the talks in Oman have been led on the U.S. side by Brett McGurk, the Middle East coordinator at the National Security Council.

The administration also has an ongoing dialogue with Tehran, through the government of Switzerland, over three U.S. citizens it considers unjustly detained there on espionage charges.

Malley was a special assistant to President Barack Obama and Middle East coordinator for the NSC, and served as U.S. negotiator in talks that led to the 2015 nuclear agreement under which U.S. sanctions on Iran were eased in exchange for Tehrans acceptance of restrictions and international monitoring of its nuclear program. The agreement fell apart when President Donald Trump withdrew U.S. participation in the deal in 2018. Trump reimposed sanctions, and Iran soon began to increase the purity of uranium it was enriching far beyond the bounds of the accord.

President Biden vowed during his campaign to return to the accord and quickly named Malley his special envoy for indirect negotiations through Britain, France and Germany, who were also signers of the 2015 nuclear deal, along with Russia and China. Those talks ceased last fall, however, when Iran rejected an offer from the United States and its allies. After months during which Iran continued to increase enrichment, the new bilateral, but still indirect, discussions were initiated. No substantive progress has yet been reported.

Malley also worked as a senior adviser to President Bill Clinton on Middle East policy and other issues.
By buying an index fund, you can roughly match the market return with ease. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. For example, the 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad (KLSE:SEM) share price is up 52% in the last three years, clearly besting the market decline of around 3.5% (not including dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 45% in the last year , including 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.

View our latest analysis for 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. One 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.

During three years of share price growth, 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad achieved compound earnings per share growth of 3.5% per year. This EPS growth is lower than the 15% average annual increase in the share price. So it's fair to assume the market has a higher opinion of the business than it did three years ago. It's not unusual to see the market 're-rate' a stock, after a few years of growth.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Dive deeper into 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad the TSR over the last 3 years was 60%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 45% over the last year. And that does include the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 8% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with 7-Eleven Malaysia Holdings Berhad (including 1 which is a bit concerning) .

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 Malaysian exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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The businessman is suing the commissioner, the Attorney General and the State, claiming gardai conducted an unlawful search of his business premises in 2014.

The High Court has refused to throw out a lawsuit being taken against the Garda Commissioner by a brother of the late notorious criminal Cyril McGuinness, who was known as Dublin Jimmy.

However, a judge warned truck and car dealer Fran McGuinness (62) he needed to move ahead with the proceedings with dispatch to avoid having them dismissed.

The businessman is suing the commissioner, the Attorney General and the State, claiming gardai conducted an unlawful search of his business premises in 2014.

Mr McGuinness denies being involved in criminality and claims he has been the target of garda attention because of his late brother.

The late Cyril McGuinness, a convicted smuggler with an extensive criminal record, was the main suspect in the kidnapping and torture of Quinn Industrial Holdings executive Kevin Lunney near his home in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, in September 2019.

He died of a heart attack two months later, aged 54, as police investigating the abduction searched his home in Derbyshire, England.

Three men were later convicted by the Special Criminal Court for their role in the kidnapping.

Fran McGuinness, who has previously told Independent.ie he had been estranged from his brother for 30 years, has been involved in a number of disputes with gardai.

These included allegations, rejected by gardai, that an officer threatened to plant cocaine at his premises near Swords, Co Dublin.

One of the disputes involves a search of the premises in August 2014, which prompted a High Court action by Mr McGuinness.

However, the case has not proceeded to trial. Mr McGuinness said the delays were due to the illness and subsequent death of his barrister Alan Toal, Covid restrictions and other litigation in which he had retained the same solicitor.

Lawyers for the Garda Commissioner sought to have the case dismissed due to the delays.

But, in a ruling yesterday, Mr Justice Conor Dignam dismissed the senior gardas application.

He warned Mr McGuinness, however, that a fresh application to dismiss the proceedings could be brought if there was any further delay.

It is essential to move these proceedings on with dispatch to minimise the risk of increasing the likelihood of prejudice and unfairness, he said.

Mr McGuinness claims the search of his premises was unlawful and conducted on foot of a warrant based on flawed information.

He says the warrant was not shown to the person on the premises at the time.

He alleges excessive force was used and avoidable damage was caused to his premises. He further claims business documents and two envelopes containing cash were unlawfully retained.

The allegations are denied by the Garda Commissioner.

In a separate dispute gardai were ordered in 2017 to return a BMW car seized nine years earlier and to pay Mr McGuinness 33,600 in special damages.
An electrician facing jury trial over an alleged 1.75 million cocaine seizure in Dublin was pressured to transport the drugs from A to B, a court has heard.

Karl Lawlor (39) was served with the book of evidence when he appeared on bail before Blanchardstown District Court.

The accused, of Dixon Villas, Glasthule, Sandycove, is charged with possession of cannabis and cocaine at St Cuthberts Road in Clondalkin on April 15 last year.

He is further charged with possession of cocaine for the purposes of sale or supply, and with possession of cocaine where the alleged value was over 13,000 at the same time and place.

A state solicitor said the book of evidence had been served on the accused, who goes forward to the present sittings of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Gerard Jones gave Mr Lawlor the formal alibi caution.

The judge assigned defence solicitor Kelly Breen and one junior counsel on free legal aid. Mr Lawlor has not yet indicated a plea to the charges.

He was remanded on bail to appear before a court in the Criminal Courts of Justice in July.

At a previous contested bail hearing, Garda Mark Walsh alleged that gardai stopped and searched a car in Clondalkin on April 15 last year and found 25kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of 1.75m.

There were two wrapped packs each containing 10 single bars, and five bars of cocaine in shopping bags and a cardboard box in the backseat, Gda Walsh said.

The garda accepted the accused was allegedly under pressure when delivering the drugs from A to B.

He also agreed, with Mr Lawlors lawyer, that the accused was forced to take possession of them.

Gda Walsh further accepted Mr Lawlor was from a law-abiding family, and he was shocked about the situation he finds himself in.
Hyde (50) was sentenced to two months in prison at Bandon district court today

Former Deputy Chairman of An Bord Pleanala, Paul Hyde, arriving at Bandon Courthouse, Bandon, Co. Cork Photo: Jim Coughlan/PA Wire

Former deputy chairman of An Bord Pleanala Paul Hyde arriving at Bandon Courthouse in Co Cork (Jim Coughlan/PA).

FORMER Deputy Chairman of An Bord Pleanala Paul Hyde was sentenced to two months in prison for making false or misleading statements about his personal interests.

The architect was warned by Judge James McNulty that his offences were "very serious" - and he said a message had to be issued that "ethical standards in public life matter."

The judge also noted the offences "sadly that involved a breach of trust."

Noting the defendants plea, his co-operation with gardai, his personal circumstances and the fact he did not financially gain from the issues involved, Judge McNulty imposed a two month prison sentence.

However, he allowed recognizance of 100 if the defendant wished to appeal the sentence to the Circuit Court - allowing him to walk free pending any such appeal.

Judge McNulty "politely and respectfully refused" all pleas to suspend the sentence as he warned the issues involved were too serious.

Hyde had pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to properly declare his interests including one strip of land described before the district court as a potential "ransom strip."

Hyde (50) of Castlefields, Baltimore, Co Cork was sentenced before Judge McNulty at Bandon District Court after the judge adjourned proceedings at Skibbereen District Court on Tuesday so he could carefully consider a case believed to be the first of its kind.

Judge McNulty warned it was a very serious matter.

"It should be clear that ethical standards in public life matter and that the disclosure of (personal) interests in the public interest and for the public interest...requires strict compliance."

He also said the message should go out to all planners that they can be reassured about ethical standards being stoutly defended.

Judge McNulty said that what made the matter before him so serious was the very nature of ABP and the strict measures that were adopted in the wake of the Planning Tribunal and its revelations over 20 years ago.

"What makes this offence so serious is that the work of ABP is quasi-judicial in nature and at the high end of quasi-judicial."

He noted that ABP is the appeal venue for planning matters for ordinary citizens - and that the board also takes very important decisions about major developments.

"To serve the citizens of Ireland is a great privilege," he said, but noted that ethical standards in such offices were incredibly important.

"ABP has enormous power and enormous influence on the lives of ordinary citizens."

Hyde, a father-of-three, had faced a total of nine summonses following an investigation by Detective Sergeant Shane Curtis of the Garda National Economic Crime Unit.

Former Deputy Chairman of An Bord Pleanala, Paul Hyde, arriving at Bandon Courthouse, Bandon, Co. Cork Photo: Jim Coughlan/PA Wire

However, John Berry BL, for the State, told the court that the former ABP deputy chairman was pleading guilty to two counts on a full facts basis before the court.

When facts were outlined to the court and pleas to the two counts were entered, the State withdrew the remaining seven counts.

The summonses dealt with matters ranging from 2014 to 2022.

Judge McNulty was told by Mr Berry that a series of articles were published by 'The Ditch' and 'The Village' in April 2022 in respect of ABP.

The editor of one of the publications wrote to Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien, who has responsibility for ABP, and he directed a review of the issues involved by Remy Farrell SC.

On foot of Mr Farrell's report into ABP, which was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions, Gardai commenced an investigation under Section 147 (1) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000.

Judge McNulty was told that Paul Hyde stood back from his duties with ABP in May 2022.

He then resigned his position in July 2022.

The Cork architect had been appointed to ABP in 2013 and had been promoted to the role of its deputy chairman in 2019.

Mr Berry said that Paul Hyde was pleading guilty to two breaches of Section 147 in respect of 2015 and 2018.

In the first case, the defendant listed a total of nine properties that he had an interest in as part of his formal schedule of interests to ABP.

These included four properties at Pope's Hill in Cork city, two properties in Douglas, Cork, one property in Baltimore in west Cork, one property in Castletroy in Limerick and one site at Rathduff in Co Cork.

Mr Hyde's residential addresses were in Douglas and Baltimore.

However, Mr Hyde failed to declare his interest in a strip of land in Cork city located adjacent to a housing estate.

Det Sgt Curtis said this small property, effectively an oblong strip of land, was "small but potentially significant."

Judge McNulty queried whether it would be fair to describe the property involved as "a ransom strip."

The court was told that Mr Farrell, in his report, described the land involved as a potential "ransom strip" - which had little intrinsic value by itself but could be of strategic value or use to a third party.

Judge McNulty was told that Hyde had transferred ownership of the strip of land in 2017 for a consideration of 20,000, a matter reflected in land registry files in 2019.

The company that secured the property transfer, Planica, has Mr Hyde's sister as one of its directors.

The court heard that one of the emails connected to the company was linked to Mr Hyde.

However, Paula McCarthy BL, for Mr Hyde, insisted that her client had no shareholding or financial interest in the company involved.

"(He had) no legal or beneficial interest in that company," she said.

Det Sgt Curtis also noted that, in a schedule of his interests submitted as part of his 2018 declaration, Mr Hyde did not list a number of properties which he had included in his 2014 declaration of interests.

The court was told that all these properties were all the subject of a receiver at the time.

The receiver subsequently disposed of these properties in the interests of the banks involved.

Paula McCarthy BL, for the defendant, said that her client did not believe at the time he was required to list the properties involved as he no longer had control of them.

"These properties were in receivership...he did not have control of these properties. He was not benefitting from them. He did not believe he was obliged to list them. He now accepts he was mistaken and that, as the legal owner, they should have been listed," she said.

"He was mistaken - he now accepts that he had a legal obligation to do so."

Ms McCarthy pointed out to the court that her client did not financially benefit from the matters involved.

"He made nothing financially from this," she said, stressing there was no benefit deriving to Mr Hyde from the matters involved.

She said that, in fact, the matters involved had cost Mr Hyde a great deal.

Judge McNulty noted that the defendant did not financially benefit from the matters involved.

Ms McCarthy said her client, since his resignation from ABP, has been unemployed.

He is divorced and has three children aged from 12 to 19 years.

He is now living in west Cork.

"Financially it has been quite difficult for Mr Hyde," she said.

Ms McCarthy said it was "a big ask" but she urged Judge McNulty not to record a conviction.

She said that Mr Hyde has no previous convictions and a conviction on these matters would have serious implications for him in terms of regaining employment.

On foot of the Section 147 convictions, he could not work for ABP.

She argued that her client had fully cooperated with the garda investigation, accepted his mistakes in terms of the declaration failures and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, saving the State a potentially complex trial.

Gardai confirmed that the architect had cooperated fully with their inquiry.

Judge McNulty warned the request for the Probation Act to be applied was "optimistic."

He noted that the entire purpose of declarations of interest were to reassure the public that when important decisions were being made, they could be assured that an individual's personal interests did not influence any determination.

"Ignorance of the law is no excuse," he added, noting that when Mr Hyde signed his contract with ABP in 2014 he committed himself to a stipulated code of conduct.

Judge McNulty also queried whether the issues involved might be described as "self-interpretation for his own benefit."

Mr Berry, when questioned by the judge, said he was not in a position to confirm if there had been similar prosecutions under Section 147 in respect of non-declarations of interest in planning matters.

However, the court was told that there had been proceedings taken over failures under the Standards in Public Office (SIPO) regulations in respect of political campaigns.

Judge McNulty said the case represented "a first" for planning and ethical standards within the planning process.
Ms Cucoranu, of no fixed address, is charged with 16 offences

THIS is the alleged brothel-keeper accused of organised prostitution after more than 45 vulnerable sex workers were discovered at addresses in Dublin and Co Louth.

Lenuta Andreea Cucoranu (29) is also accused of leasing properties with forged documents and laundering more than 12,000 in crime proceeds following a garda investigation.

The case against her was further adjourned after Dublin District Court heard she has taken up bail and a garda file is being sent to the DPP.

Ms Cucoranu, of no fixed address, is charged with 16 offences - three counts of organisation of prostitution, three of brothel-keeping, six money laundering counts and four of using a false instrument.

Gardai allege that she used false documents to lease three properties for the purpose of running them as brothels.

Some 12,500 was transferred from Ms Cucoranus bank account in a 10-week period, while she had no known legitimate sources of income, it is alleged.

Lenuta Andreea Cucoranu

The accused was first before the court in April, when she was granted bail but was initially unable to take it up.

At her latest appearance, the court heard Ms Cucoranu was now on bail and a garda investigation file was being sent to the DPP.

At the request of her lawyer, Judge Bryan Smyth relaxed bail conditions to lift a curfew that she had been under. He adjourned the case to a date in September, for the directions of the DPP to be given.

In a contested bail hearing in April, Det Sgt Andrew Lambe said it was alleged the accused leased three properties for the purpose of organising prostitution and operating them as brothels.

Read more Electrician facing jury trial over alleged 1.75m cocaine seizure

They were allegedly leased using specific false documents.

According to gardai, cash was lodged by the accused and subsequently transferred to three landlords.

It was alleged that habitual prostitution was occurring at all three properties, with more than one person operating as a prostitute at each address.

The accused, who was not married and had no children, came to Ireland in 2012 and had no employment history, Det Sgt Lambe said.

He said it was a complex and protracted investigation, and there would be a significant number of witnesses - in excess of 45 vulnerable individuals working in the sex trade. There were multiple properties including ones not currently subject of charges, he said.

Applying for bail, defence solicitor Amy Dudley said Ms Cucoranu was presumed innocent and had a brother and sister living in Ireland.

Judge Smyth had granted bail with conditions that she is to have no contact, directly or indirectly, including by electronic means, with any sex worker subject of the charges or the wider investigation.

She is also to have no contact with any landlord she had contacted over the last three years, and is not to be involved in organised prostitution and brothel keeping.

Ms Cucoranu has not yet entered pleas to the charges.
Damien Graham (53) pleaded guilty to four firearm offences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today.

A gun enthusiast and firearms dealer who illegally imported a machine gun component into the State after attending a Florida gun show has been given a suspended six month sentence.

Damien Graham (53) pleaded guilty to four firearm offences at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today.

The court heard Graham, a licensed firearms dealer, arrived in Dublin Airport with 15 firearm components in his suitcase in November 2021. Two of the items  a machine gun bolt and an assault rifle conversion kit - were imported illegally, the court heard.

Graham, of Ballinagall, Ballickmoyler, Co Carlow, pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited machine gun bolt and importing it at Dublin Airport on November 28, 2021. He also pleaded guilty to possessing an assault rifle conversion kit without a certificate and importing it without a certificate.

The court heard machine guns and machine gun parts are prohibited in Ireland, while Graham did not have a certificate for the assault rifle conversion kit. He has one previous conviction for a road traffic offence.

Garda Sharon Breen told Antonia Boyle BL, prosecuting, that gardai were tipped off to the fact that Graham would be arriving on an Aer Lingus flight from the States with illegal firearm parts.

When his suitcase were searched, firearms components were found wrapped in bubble wrap and duct tape and folded into clothes. Graham was initially evasive about the parts, initially trying to tell customs officers and gardai that they were tools.

He ultimately acknowledged that they were firearm components and was found to have certificates for most of the items in his luggage, the court heard. When asked about the illegal machine gun component, he said he had bought it in the gun show sale and didn't understand what it was.

Gda Breen said she didn't accept this explanation, given Graham's attempts to conceal the parts in his luggage.

When asked by Judge Martin Nolan if it was a criminal offence to bring firearms or firearm components on an airplane and into the country without declaring them, Gda Breen said it was not, once the person had a certificate proving they were entitled to hold them.

Gda Breen told the court that Graham was an enthusiast and that she didn't believe there was anything sinister at play, causing Judge Nolan to remark that his enthusiasm got the better of him.

Defence counsel said Graham runs a gun dealership but primarily works in the tools trade, where he has won salesman of the year. She said he was deeply embarrassed and ashamed to be here today as a firearms dealer  and that the incident has caused him reputational damage.

Sentencing Graham, Judge Nolan accepted there was no sinister motive involved and Graham was a gun enthusiast who just wanted to buy this particular item.

However, the judge noted machine guns and machine gun parts have been illegal in Ireland for generations at this point.

He said even if people hold a licence for such items, they should tell everyone involved when they are bringing them on planes. Surreptitiously trying to bring a component part of a firearm or a conversion kit, it's a pretty reckless thing to do, he said.

The judge said he did not believe Graham deserved a custodial sentence and he handed down a six month sentence which he suspended on a number of conditions.
Cash totalling 4,200 was also seized by officers, as well as evidence of suspected drug dealing.

A man (50s) was arrested yesterday after gardai seized cocaine and cash during a search in Co Mayo.

The haul was discovered following a search, which was conducted by the Divisional Drug Unit, at a home in Ballinrobe.

Gardai said approximately 70,000 worth of suspected cocaine and 4,200 in cash was discovered during the raid  as well as evidence of suspected drug dealing.

One man was arrested at the scene and is currently in garda custody.

A garda spokesman said: "A man in his early 50s was arrested at the scene and is currently being detained at a Garda station in Mayo under the provisions of Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act, 1996.

The seized drugs will be sent to Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) for analysis. Investigations are ongoing.
Predicting business cycles is hard, just ask the experts. For over a year now, Wall Street economists, billionaire investors, and even former Federal Reserve officials have repeatedly predicted an impending economic downturn. But so far, the labor market and consumer spending have remained resilient, inflation is slowly fading, and first quarter GDP growth was just revised up to 2%.

Many have been surprised by the economys ability to cope with consistent headwinds over the past few years, from rising interest rates and the Ukraine war to high inflation and banking instability, but not Edward Yardeni. Last June, the veteran market watcher and founder of Yardeni Research told Bloomberg that despite Wall Streets worries, a recession was far from inevitable and inflation was set to fall. And in January of this year, he said that the outlook for the global economy was improving in a follow up interview.

While some economists warn that consumers are spending the extra savings they built up during the pandemic, which could mean the long-predicted recession is merely delayed, Yardeni isnt so sure.

The common explanation for the no-show recession despite the 500bps hike in the federal funds rate is that consumers were still spending their excess savings from the pandemic. But once this cash is spent over the rest of this year, the thinking goes, a consumer-led recession is likely in 2024, he wrote in a Wednesday note to clients. I disagree.

Yardeni, an economist by training who previously served as chief investment strategist at both Prudential Financial and Deutsche Bank, now points to another positive sign for the economyone that could keep consumer spending, which makes up 70% of U.S. GDP, elevated for years to come despite stubborn inflation.

Consumers excess savings of roughly $0.5 trillion currently is dwarfed by the net worth held by the Baby Boom generation that is retiring, he explained. They have just started to spend it. Their progeny undoubtedly expects to inherit some of that wealth and therefore can save less.

Baby boomers, defined as those born between 1946 and 1964, had a net worth of $74.8 trillion at the end of the first quarter. Nearly $19 trillion of that wealth was held in real estate, including equity in personal homes. But Yardeni said that boomers have the bulk of their excess savings parked in liquid assets, including $8.9 trillion in bank deposits and money market funds alone, which should enable them to keep spending even in a slowing economy.

Its not just baby boomers who have cash stacked away either. The silent generation, which the Fed defines as those born before 1946, boasted a net worth of nearly $18 trillion in the first quarter. And Americans overall net worth has increased 34% over the past three years alone, from $104.2 trillion in the first quarter of 2020 to $140.6 trillion in the first quarter of this year.

Yardeni noted that, on top of fast-rising wages and salaries, Americans have been able to leverage their increasing net worth to earn some serious passive income. In the first quarter, U.S. consumers posted interest income of $1.8 trillion, dividend income of $1.7 trillion, proprietors income (income from owning a business) of $1.9 trillion, rental income of $0.9 trillion, and Social Security income of $1.3 trillion, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Consumers may run out of their excess pandemic savings by the end of this year, but they have lots of other sources of purchasing power, Yardeni said of the data.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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In the course of the searches quantities of cocaine worth 18k and cannabis herb worth 90k were seized

Some of the drugs seized in Finglas

A teenager and two men in their 20s have been arrested after gardai raided two houses in Finglas, north Dublin last night and seized drugs worth more than 100,000.

Two residential properties in the Finglas area were searched under warrant on Thursday evening, gardai said, as part of part of Operation Tara.

In the course of the searches quantities of cocaine worth 18k and cannabis herb worth 90k were seized, gardai said.

Three males, one aged in his late teens and two in their 20s, were arrested in connection with the investigation and detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984 for questioning at a Garda Station in West Dublin.

The operation was led by the K-District Drugs Unit with assistance from local Detective units, Community Policing Units and the Garda Dog Unit.

Gardai added that the drugs seized will be sent to FSI for analysis while investigations are ongoing.
In total Colombian and Spanish authorities seized 6.5 tonnes of cocaine, valued at about 223 million on the illegal market

The cocaine was found stashed in shipments of bananas

One of Spains biggest drug traffickers is believed to have been behind an attempt to smuggle 6.5 tonnes of cocaine into the country hidden in shipments of bananas.

A total of 223 million worth of cocaine was intercepted during three operations in Spain and Colombia by law enforcement agencies who targeted the Spanish narco boss.

There were 13 arrests of suspects after eight locations were searched in Cadiz and Malaga, leading to the seizure of the drugs as well as vehicles, luxury watches, a large number of electronic devices and 1.5 million in cash.

Europol and the Spanish Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) took on the major criminal network that was involved in the multi-tonne trafficking of cocaine from South America to the EU.

The investigation, which started in October 2022, involved the Colombian National Police (Policia Nacional de Colombia) and the Latvian State Police (Latvijas Valsts policija).

An officer retrieves the cocaine

Europol, who facilitated the exchange of information and provided analytical support, deployed officers to Spain to support intelligence developments during tthe various field activities.

As a result, national authorities seized a number of large cocaine shipments linked to this criminal organisation over the past seven months.

In December 2022, the Colombian Police seized about three tonnes of cocaine concealed in banana shipments that were transiting from the port of Turbo via the port of Cartagena and destined for the Spanish port of Algeciras.

In another operation, Colombian authorities intercepted a second shipment of 1.25 tonnes of cocaine at the port of Cartagena that was on its way to the Spanish port of Vigo, via Algeciras, where the drugs would have been extracted by the criminal network.

In May 2023, in a bid to avoid possible interceptions in Colombia, the criminal network arranged a new shipment directly from Ecuador to Algeciras.

This time, the drugs reached Spain where authorities intercepted the large shipment of 2.296 tonnes of cocaine that was hidden between legal shipments of bananas while it was on its way to a nearby warehouse. Spanish officers arrested seven suspects at the scene.

In total Colombian and Spanish authorities seized 6.5 tonnes of cocaine, valued at about 223 million on the illegal market.

Europol says the leader of the criminal network behind the shipments is considered to be one of Spains biggest drug traffickers.

Based in Malaga, the drugs kingpin headed a large-scale network that was smuggling tonnes of cocaine from Ecuador and Colombia into the EU as part of a wholesale-type of criminal business structure.

The drugs were found in a banana shipment

The crime boss is also a member of a well-known local family from the Spanish city of Castellar de la Frontera, which used a wholesale frozen fish company in Algeciras as a front business.

The criminal network laundered the illicit assets through this company, while also being involved in attempts to corrupt public officials, Europol stated.

As for the smuggling of cocaine, the criminal network used another means to stash their illicit cargo  bananas. The cover shipment was the importation of bananas from Ecuador and Colombia.

Once the shipments were extracted from the port of Algeciras and were on their way to their legal destination, they were diverted to a warehouse where the pallets with cocaine were replaced with identical ones containing bananas.
Joanna always had a lovely smile on her face and was a beautiful person

A funeral service for brave mum Joanna Wisniowska who died while trying to save her 10-year-old son from drowning is taking place in Co Cork this evening.

The service will begin at 7pm in St Colman's Church Cloyne, Co Cork, before Joanna is laid to rest in her hometown of Strzyzow in Poland.

Her death notice on RIP.ie states that Joanna, (nee Stachura) of Cloyne, Cork and formerly of Strzyzow, Poland passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, June 25.

Beloved wife to Maciek, loving mother to Stanley and Zosia, the notice reads.

Sadly missed by her parents Alicia and Tadeus and her beloved sister Magdalenia and brother-in-law Piotor, nieces Laura, Otylia and Alice, mother-in-law Kristina and remembering her late father-in-law Maciek.

Sadly missed also by her sisters-in-law Emilia and Joanna and their husbands Darek and Rija, her nephews Michael, Lena & Viktor, her dear friends, neighbours, work colleagues from Castlemartyr Resort and the Cloyne community.

It adds: May Joannas Gentle Soul Rest In Peace.

In the condolences section numerous messages of sympathy have been left for Joanna who had courageously gone to the aid of her boy who was in difficulty in the water.

She had managed to get him to the safety of offshore rocks before she was swept away by a rip current.

My deepest sympathies to Maciek, Stanley, Zosia and family, one reads. Joanna always had a lovely smile on her face and was a beautiful person. Keep your memories close to your heart and she is looking down on ye always.

Another adds: Sincere condolences to Joanna family and all who loved her ...my heart is broken for you all. Joanna you were such a brave person ... praying for your family at this time ..may you rest in peace.

One other person wrote: My deepest sympathy on loss of your beautiful wife & mam Joanna who sacrificed her life for her little boy. To her family in Poland deepest sympathy may she rest in peace.

One other person said Joanne was a true hero who made the ultimate sacrifice while another said described her as a beautiful person and a proud mum and wife.

Joanna was from Strzyzow in Poland, in the Carpathian district to the east of Krakow, but had been living in Cloyne in east Cork for several years with her husband and two children.

She was employed in the tourism-hospitality industry and had worked at Castlemartyr Resort for a time. She was also a certified massage therapist.

The family were deeply involved in the local community and were keen fans of water sports.

Cloyne locals described her as pleasant, quiet, hard-working and utterly devoted to her family.

East Ferry Rowing Club paid a heart-breaking tribute to the brave mother.

"It was with shock and great sadness that we learned today of the tragic passing of Joanna Wisniowska," a club official said.

"We would like to extend our deepest condolences to Maciej, her partner, Stanisaw, her son, Zofia, her daughter and all extended family and friends."

"Maciej and Stanisaw are both rowers with East Ferry Rowing Club."

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by today's tragic news. May Joanna rest in peace."

East Cork TD Pat Buckley said the entire community was deeply shocked by the sheer scale of the tragedy.

"It was such a tragic loss of life this weekend in east Cork," he said.

That young fella was rowing yesterday morning with East Ferry Rowing Club in a regatta. They probably went off (to the beach) celebrating. Ballycroneen is a beautiful beach but there can be riptides there.

"It is absolutely devastating for the family but it is devastating for the club as well. The young fella and the young girl rowed with the club so they were all well known. The rowing club is a huge community in itself.

"I want to extend my deepest condolences to the family of Joanna Wisniowska, her children and partner and her extended family.

"Joanna and her family were deeply rooted in the community and her children rowed with East Ferry Rowing Club. May she rest in peace."

A GoFundMe set up in the wake of Joannas death raised over 10,000 in a matter of days.

He will never forget your heroism that has given him the opportunity to make you a very proud mommy, a statement on the fundraiser page reads.

The loss of anyone close to you is the hardest thing in the world, but the death of a parent at a young age feels like everything around them has come to an end, especially when it's a mother.

There is nothing more precious than a mother's love and unfortunately two beautiful children will not get to experience the full loving potential that Joanna wanted to, but won't have the chance to provide

Joanna may you rest in God loving arms while you watch over your family from heaven and we will watch over them from here. We love and miss you, the statement concludes.
The eery discovery was made by Waterford chopper Rescue 117.

Waterford-based coastguard helicopter Rescue 117 has discovered missing The Minke yacht drifting 75 miles southeast of Ballycotton, Co Cork with nobody on board.

The UK registered boat left Plymouth on June 18 to take part in the Jester Challenge, which involved 43 vessels heading for Baltimore in west Cork in a non-racing 250 nautical mile voyage.

The Minke was captained by Duncan Lougee, who has since vanished.

A crew member from R117 boarded the vessel and conducted a visual check. Unfortunately the missing skipper was not onboard, the Irish Coast Guard stated.

The Irish chopper left the area as the search continues to find Mr Lougee, who may have fallen overboard.

Missing boat the Minke

R117 has departed the scene. As the vessel is positioned in the UK Search and Rescue Region, the UK authorities are continuing to coordinate the operation, the statement concluded.

The Minke was supposed to arrive in Ireland after taking a route via the Isles of Scilly - an archipelago off the coast of Cornwall - and was last seen near the Helford River estuary at 2pm on June 19.

The Irish Sikorski helicopter crew received a report yesterday evening approximately 4.30 pm of a boat adrift. When a crew member was winched on-board, a Mary Celeste type situation was uncovered on the eight metre yacht.

The Irish Coast Guard is liaising with HM Coast Guard as the vessel is in the British search and rescue zone and efforts are currently underway to secure the boat and bring her under tow to land.

Mr Lougee, who is in his late 60s and from Dedham, Essex, is described as an experienced sailor having navigated the Atlantic three times solo, from Plymouth to Azores and back.

Isles of Scilly

A yacht broker and boat builder, he had also made the trip from Devon to Baltimore previously. He took part in the Jester Challenge in 2010, sailing solo from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island.

The Minke was reportedly equipped with an EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Beacon) and a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon), but neither device had been switched on.

Mr Lougees family are desperate to locate their relative and released the following statement: Duncan Lougee, 6ft1in, white male with glasses, late 60s. probably wearing musto oilskins with waterproof dubarry boots. Fit healthy individual.

Set sail Plymouth breakwater 12 noon to Baltimore.

Boat called Minke a Varne folkboat 26ft GRP, white hull, blue bag covering valise life-raft, glass dome.

Have you seen this person or boat? We are just desperate for any information however small.

Duncan is an experienced yacht broker, boat builder and sailor with many miles of sailing including single handed crossing Atlantic, 3 x trips from Plymouth to Azores and back.

He has even done this trip to Baltimore in Ireland before.

If you have any information, please call the Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre on 01326317575.
Only 53 per cent reported feeling comfortable living next door to either Travellers or Roma compared to 96 per cent for white Irish

A new poll survey out today has revealed the ongoing discrimination and negative attitudes to Travellers and members of the Roma community.

Pavee Point Traveller & Roma centre has welcomed the publication of the Government poll on attitudes towards groups protected under equality legislation.

Martin Collins, Co-Director Pavee Point, said that sadly, this survey highlights the ongoing higher levels of negative attitudes and the ongoing discrimination against Travellers and Roma.

This has also been reflected in previous studies such as that by the Fundamental Rights Agency.

According to the IPSOS survey, only 53 per cent reported feeling comfortable living next door to either Travellers or Roma compared to 96 per cent for white Irish.

The survey also reveals that 43 per cent reported feeling comfortable with their child being in a relationship with a Traveller, compared to 95 per cent for white Irish.

In this poll, carried out by IPSOS, for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Travellers and Roma have low scores across all the survey questions.

Critically, the survey shows Travellers being the most impacted when it comes to employment, Mr Collins added.

Some 67 per cent surveyed said Traveller identity is a disadvantage in hiring compared to 15 per cent for civil status (whether single married separated divorced widowed people civil partners and former civil partners).

Other highly disadvantaged groups in hiring are people with a disability (65 per cent) and Roma (63 per cent).

Mr Collins said they welcomed the fact there is now a much needed National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPR) and that there is a Special Rapporteur on Racism to be appointed.

We call for the immediate setting up of the NAPR Implementation Committee and for the Department to ensure there is representation on this Committee from Traveller and Roma organisations, he added.
He had to use money which was funding his studies to pay for their care and was unable to keep up with the university fees.

A doctor has been arrested and is facing deportation from Northern Ireland after he ran out of money to pay for his course at Queens University.

Doctor Ebrima Jallow, who is from Gambia in Africa, had been studying at the Belfast university since September 2021.

However, after a relative became ill, he had to use money which was funding his studies to pay for their care and was unable to keep up with the university fees.

He now faces being deported back home to Gambia, where he claims to have previously suffered discrimination.

Dr Jallow (37) originally came to Northern Ireland on a student visa which was sponsored by Queens, but he has been unable to secure another financial sponsor to allow him to remain on his course.

Alongside his studies, Dr Jallow had also been working as a care assistant and, as required, was registered with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC).

Dr Jallow was described by his employers as an intelligent, enthusiastic and committed worker. However, because he came here on a student visa, which has now expired as result of his leaving the course at Queens, he is no longer allowed to work here.

His registration with NISCC has been suspended and following his arrest, Dr Jallow is currently on asylum bail as he awaits a decision on whether he will be allowed to stay in Northern Ireland.

Details of Dr Jallows case emerged after he appealed his NISCC suspension at the Care Tribunal, which hears appeals against decisions relating to the regulation of the care sector.

The appeal hearing was told Dr Jallow qualified as a doctor in Cuba before returning to work in Gambia.

He and his wife then came to Northern Ireland to study at Queens. His wife is still a student at the university and the couple live in the Stranmillis area of Belfast. He told the Care Tribunal hearing he had been using family money to pay for the course.

However, after his relative fell ill, Dr Jallow used his university money to help pay for their care.

As a result, he was unable to pay the university fees and could not find another sponsor.

Queens University Belfast

The hearing was told Dr Jallow had been continuing to work as a care assistant to save money, but had to stop when he was arrested.

Despite his evidence at the hearing, Dr Jallows appeal against the NISCC suspension was dismissed.

In their ruling, the tribunal panel said they had no powers to overturn the NISCC decision because Dr Jallow did not have a valid visa to work in the UK.

However, the panel praised Dr Jallow and indicated they would support his application for asylum.

It was clear from the personal references... that there were absolutely no issues whatsoever about Dr Jallow being an intelligent, enthusiastic and committed worker in the care homes and the hospitals in which he was employed, their ruling stated.

The panel also said the NISCC raised no issues about Dr Jallows fitness to work in a health and care setting other than his lack of a visa.

It is unusual to see a qualified medical doctor working in a position of a care worker and that could only be of benefit to the care industry in Northern Ireland.

Though we have no jurisdiction over the case, as it would be against public policy to allow Dr Jallow to work without Home Office approval and a work visa for this jurisdiction, we found Dr Jallow to be an honest and forthright witness in his own cause.

He was clearly a man who was trying to work to make a life for his family and we applaud his work ethic.

He told us a little bit about the discrimination he faced in his home country and we are saddened to hear about the difficulties he suffered.

If Dr Jallow was to be successful in his asylum application, then this tribunal would wholeheartedly recommend him as a worker in the care industry in this jurisdiction.
A lot of them are fearful of harm coming to them.

United States Senator Marco Rubio says multiple whistleblowers have come forward to Congress in Washington with first-hand accounts of recovered UFOs.

Rubio, a long-time advocate for transparency around the issue, told reporters that the individuals involved all have high level clearances within the US Government regarding access to SAPs  or special access programmes  secret operations that deal with issues of national security.

A lot of them are very fearful of their jobs, fearful of harm coming to them, Mr Rubio said.

The Florida Senator is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a group of officials who are planning to have hearings on the UAP issue later this year, after Biden signed into law a whistleblower amnesty programme, to reveal the truth about UAP.

Air Force Intelligence Officer David Grusch

They all have high level clearances and high positions within our Government. Were trying to gather as much of that information as we can, Rubio said.

What I think we owe is mature, you know, understanding  listening and trying to put all these pieces together and just sort of intake the information.

Understand, some of these claims are things that are beyond, sort of the realm of what any of us has ever dealt with, Senator Rubio added.

Rubios comments come after the testimony of an Air Force veteran and former intelligence official who told Congress he had proof the US government had been covertly storing and working on extra-terrestrial craft for decades.

These are retrieving non-human origin technical vehicles, call it spacecraft if you will, non-human exotic origin vehicles that have either landed or crashed, 36-year-old officer David Grusch said.

When you recover something thats either landed or crashed, sometimes you encounter dead pilots and, believe it or not, as fantastical as that sounds, its true, he added.

Grusch filed a complaint with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community over the alleged cover-up, which concluded that his claims were credible and urgent.

Orb hovers above RAF jets

Last month, Stanford academic and Nobel Prize nominee, Professor Garry Nolan, told the SALT expo in New York City that there was a 100% probability that alien life had arrived on earth.

It is a 100 pc probability and thats not just my opinion, you just have to look at what our Government is doing right now, he said.

We have the National Defence appropriation act signed by Biden, establishment of a UAP office, and a whistleblower programme for those working on reverse engineering programmes.

Professor Garry Nolan

People can break their oaths and talk to Congress. The most recent one created a hornets nest in Washington.

You are seeing drones or advanced AI. We already deal with an advanced intelligence in our emails. Chat GPT- we dont even know what its doing.

"Who amongst you are intelligent enough to realize what youre assessing?

South American native tribes didnt realize when the Spanish ships were on the horizon.

We are not at the top of the intellectual food chain. Theres something here, Stanford Universitys award-winning scientist added.
Patrick Kielty has waived a 50,000 expenses deal to host The Late Late Show. Photo: Kevin Scott/Belfast Telegraph

Questions remain over exactly how much Patrick Kielty will earn as the new presenter of The Late Late Show, as the national broadcaster could not clarify last night how many episodes of the chat show he will host each year.

In a statement yesterday revealing his pay deal as he takes over from Ryan Tubridy later this year, the Northern Irish comedian said he would be paid 250,000 for a 30-episode season, with any additional episodes paid on a pro-rata basis.

A season of The Late Late Show usually runs for around 37 episodes, meaning Kielty (52) could be paid tens of thousands of euro more for a season.

With a run of 30 shows working out at about 8,300 an episode, an additional seven episodes would mean Kielty would take home an extra 58,100, bringing his potential pay to over 300,000.

He has also waived 50,000-worth of expenses that were in the initial contract and will cover items such as accommodation and travel himself.

Ryan Tubridy received 515,000 from RTE in 2022.

This was higher than the stated 440,000, but also covered his radio show.

Kieltys statement makes it unclear whether RTE bosses are planning to shorten the length of The Late Late Show season.

The Friday night chat show typically finishes on the last weekend in May for its summer break and returns at the end of August or start of September for the winter season.

Ryan Tubridys last season as presenter of the show, which finished on May 26, contained 36 episodes.

This raises the question whether or not the national broadcaster is planning an overhaul of the long-running show.

An RTE spokesperson said they were unable to immediately clarify the matter last night.

Kielty confirmed yesterday that he had signed a three-season deal beginning this September.

He will also get a one-off payment of 20,000 to cover the pre-production and rehearsals from now until September.

The contract allows me to submit flight and accommodation expenses, but Ive waived this, he said.

Ive made it clear to RTE that I will be covering my own flights and accommodation costs. Ive also asked RTE to carbon-offset my flights.

I genuinely hope this helps clarify things going forward. I cant wait to get started.

RTE bosses have confirmed Kieltys contract to present the show has been signed by both sides.

RTE interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch said Kielty had recently been informed of the impending issue around Ryan Tubridys pay.

As soon as we were aware as an exec board, he was warned it was coming, Mr Lynch said.
ARAMEX (MALAYSIA) SDN. BHD.

Aramex Malaysia and Global Systemes Asia sign an MoU to accelerate logistics expansion in Asia Pacific

Aramex Malaysia and Global Systemes Asia (GSA), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at unlocking vast opportunities in the logistics industry across Asia Pacific.

LANGKAWI, Malaysia, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aramex, a leading global provider of comprehensive logistics and transportation solutions; and Global Systemes Asia (GSA), one of Malaysia's premier holding companies, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at unlocking vast opportunities in the logistics industry across Asia Pacific.



The MoU was signed during the 16th Edition of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2023), held recently in Langkawi, Malaysia, by Dato Nonee Ashirin, Chairman of GSA and Samer Hajjar, Vice President  South Asia at Aramex. It signifies a momentous milestone for both Aramex Malaysia and GSA and focuses on two key areas: (1) evaluating the appointment of Aramex Malaysia as GSA's preferred logistics solution provider, and (2) the potential joint promotion of Aramex's innovative express and logistics services by GSA as a representative covering Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Samer Hajjar, Vice President  South Asia at Aramex, said: This MoU marks the next phase of our global alliances and comes in line with our plans to expand our service offerings and presence across multiple Malaysian cities, starting with Penang. Building on GSA's first-hand industry knowledge and market experience in the region, and the Malaysian market's strategic location as a hub for Asia Pacific, this MoU will potentially facilitate greater cross-border movements of our products and services across the region, focusing on growth markets and sectors. We believe that Aramex's position as a market leader and its strong reputation in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Middle East, North Africa & Turkey (MENAT), and Africa regions, coupled with its 40 years of experience, will support GSAs growth plans.

Dato Nonee Ashirin, Chairman of GSA, said: We are proud to work with Aramex, an international express, freight and logistics company based out of the Middle East. GSA is looking to expand our aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) services in Asia Pacific and the Middle East as the usage of aviation services to cater to the Oil & Gas and mining operations in these two regions. We look forward to leveraging Aramexs expertise and innovative solutions to compete in these critical growth markets for the aviation industry.

By leveraging Aramex's investments in cutting-edge technologies, automation of warehouses and hubs, and expansion plans for warehousing capabilities and value-added services, the MoU will foster seamless operations and enhanced customer experiences. It also embodies a shared vision of excellence and capitalizes on the burgeoning opportunities to further fuel economic growth and reshape the logistics landscape in Asia Pacific and beyond.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f37e9295-0793-4f18-8cbe-8a39feb963d5



CONTACT: Mohammad Al-Qassem Head of Corporate Communications & PR Direct: +971 4 524 6755 Email: media@Aramex.com




A section of Cameron Road will be reduced to one-way traffic this weekend.

This will affect traffic travelling between Arundel Street and Sixth Avenue near Tauranga Primary School.

Tauranga City Council says the lane reduction is to allow work on the wastewater upgrade.

"This work is the part of the Building our future  Cameron Road, Te Papa project and takes effect from 6am Saturday, July 1, to 6pm Sunday, July 2, (weather dependent).

"Traffic heading south (away from the city) will be redirected along Arundel Street to Devonport Road before re-joining Cameron Road at Sixth Avenue (east).

"Access to Fifth Avenue (east) will be maintained with a stop/go system at the Fifth Avenue/ Devonport Road intersection.

"Pedestrian and cyclist access, and access to properties in the area will be maintained.

"Buses will also follow the detours, and bus stops within the closure area will be marked as closed.

"Tauranga City Council and the Cameron Road Joint Venture thank you for your patience and understanding while we carry out this essential work."

Learn more about the Building our future  Cameron Road, Te Papa project, including road closures.
He was a nine-year-old at his school desk. Class had just started, 9am Wednesday, July 3, 1963. Dave Hooper remembers it well.

'Our school was only a kilometre from the foothills of the Kaimais. But you couldn't see them that day. That's how closed in the weather was.

There was the noise. The sound of an aircraft, muffled by the wind and rain. Suddenly the engine roared, then a bang..and nothing. 'We just looked at one another, recalls Dave. The quarry across the road would sometimes blast rock, but never on a bad day. And this was a bad day. Something was very wrong.

Moments later a Tauranga air traffic controller muttered despairingly: 'I've lost an aircraft.

Dave's class wasn't to know New Zealand's worst domestic air disaster was going on around them. NAC Flight 441 had slammed into a vertical rock face, all 23 people aboard dead.

Soon there'd be army vehicles up and down Old Te Aroha Rd at Gordon near Matamata. And Dave and his classmates would be told they were looking for a lost aeroplane.

'We were sent home early because they needed the school for search and rescue.

Then on Wednesday just gone  June 28, 2023  and almost 60 years to the day after the crash, the unpredictable and unforgiving Kaimai Range was having a rare vulnerable moment.

A chopper on a salvage mission slipped in beneath a low canopy of cloud and fog and wrested the NAC Flight 441's starboard engine from the range's grasp.

It didn't surrender it easily. 'Wind is swirling like a bastard, radioed in the pilot.

It was Classic Flyers Museum's second attempt to retrieve the engine. 'A feeling of trepidation, says CEO Andrew Gormlie. 'You got it, nervous.

Sixty years after the crash, Flight 441's engine is finally headed home. From left: Adventure Helicopters pilot Will Dolman, Classic Flyers CEO Andrew Gormlie, Adventure Helicopters pilot Shamus Howar, and Grant Horn, the man behind the plan to recover the engine.

Then the chopper appears on the skyline above a ravine with the engine, the prize, slung beneath on a long line. 'We've got it, calls the pilot. And 4km way in a paddock by the Old Te Aroha Rd, Gormlie and a whole raft of aviation enthusiasts and locals are anxiously waiting and watching.

'I can see it, bloody exciting, says Andrew. 'Outstanding. The engine is heading home. Home to Classic Flyers at Tauranga Airport, the aircraft's original destination.

To most, the engine would appear a piece of tortured, broken and burnt metal. But for the salvage team, it's a gem, an artefact, a piece of aviation history. 'It's still recognisable and sufficiently intact for people to understand what it is.

And there's a reverence amongst the salvage team  because that piece of wreckage on the trailer is now a museum icon. People are standing around looking, admiring and reflecting on a disaster 60 years ago.

Grant Horn, the man who conceived the salvage, is a happy man. 'I decided it was going home to Tauranga or it was going nowhere. It would be staying right here.

'We believe that with the engine, Classic Flyers can tell the story of the crash very respectfully, says Andrew. And they don't believe they have violated the sanctity of the crash site because the engine and wheel had rolled well clear.

'It's a wreck, not a tomb. And it's important for us to respectfully recover the engine so there is some tangible reminder for people. And the engine fulfils the museum objective  to promote and preserve aviation history.

Andrew says they tested the feeling of people. 'Those affected by the tragedy were certainly comfortable with it.

The starboard engine sheered off when ZK-AYZ hit a craggy, verticle cliff, and along with the starboard wheel assembly, eventually tumbled into a ravine. The engine and the wheel assembly, will be housed in a remembrance room' at the museum, part of a permanent commemorative display. It'll be dedicated at a special 60th anniversary service at the museum at 1.30pm next Monday afternoon on July 3. The public is invited.

Among those attending the service is likely to be 86-year-old Mrs Sandy Saussey. She was the wife of Captain Len Enchmarch, who was killed in the crash.

'It'll likely be the final time for relatives of those lost, and others with direct involvement by way of search and recovery efforts, to gather together to pay their respects, says the Rev Dr Richard Waugh, a noted aviation historian and writer on the disaster.

Hammered by the impact of the crash, but still recognisable as Flight 441's engine. Photo: Bob Tulloch.

Classic Flyers archivist Peter Layne had a very personal attachment to the DC-3. 'CZK-AYZ was the first plane I flew in without my parents  Whenuapai to Hamilton just two years before the accident. And through his NAC operations officer Dad, the then sevenor-eight-year-old Peter Layne met and chatted with First Officer Peter Kissel, who was killed in the crash.

Shortly after 9am this coming Monday morning, people will pause and reflect on the final moments of Flight 441 as another DC-3  the ZK-DAK out of Ardmore  thunders over a commemoration service, this time a roadside service, at the Kaimai crash memorial plaque on the Old Te Aroha Rd at Gordon. The half-hour service will conducted by Rev Waugh and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, Steve Lowe, himself an aviation historian.

Back in 1963, Dave Hooper and his uncle tramped into the crash site, as many people did. The uncle took a couple of raw, confronting photographs, which Dave has shared with The Weekend Sun. They graphically show the devastation.

It left an enduring impression on a young boy. 'It was the smell, a distinctive smell fuel, burning...yes, and death.

They'd say if you stood at the crash memorial on Old Te Aroha Rd and gazed 4km up into the ravine on the Kaimai Range, then on the right day and in the right weather, you might see the wreckage shimmering in the sun. But no more  the army detonated a whole rock face with the aim of burying the crash site and deterring souvenir hunters.
Would you like to be a part of a creative celebration of environmental consciousness today?

Head along to Mount Maunganui and get involved in a free community event using rakes to create sand art, while paying tribute to the global movement against plastic pollution.

Artists, activists, concerned citizens, families and children are invited to converge on Shark Alley at Mount Maunganui on Saturday morning from 11am - 2pm armed not only with shovels, rakes and buckets but also with a fervent determination to make a difference.

Envirohub Bay of Plenty and Rake Healing-Sand Art are joining forces today at Shark Alley which is next to Moturiki just below the Mount Maunganui Cenotaph on Marine Parade.

Witness Rake Healing's mesmerizing sand art, while raising awareness about New Zealand's upcoming single-use plastic phase out starting today July 1.

With grains of sand as the canvas, and an unwavering passion for a cleaner planet Rake Healing-Sand Art will be meticulously crafting an intricate masterpiece that will serve as a visual reminder of the urgent need to combat plastic pollution.

Spare rakes will be available, or bring your own to this free community event and help create a large labyrinth to explore.

There will be kids activities available too, so be sure to bring the young ones along.

People involved in sand art with Rake Healing-Sand Art at Shark Alley, Mount Maunganui. Photo: Rake Healing-Sand Art Facebook.

Sea shores transformed into vibrant galleries of ephemeral or transient art.is in itself a message of tuning in to the environment. This is a collective effort of dedicated individuals creating sand art to echo the profound message that the time for environmental action is now.

"Be part of this momentous occasion and embrace a greener future," says a Bay of Plenty Envirohub spokesperson.

40 Volunteer hours - 40 Bags of Rubbish

"On Sunday we head to Fergusson Park to help Chelsea and Loralei with their 40 Hour Challenge Community Clean Up!

"We invite you to help us collect 40 bags of rubbish in a total of 40 volunteer hours!"

The 40 Hour Famine Challenge Community Clean Up on Sunday July 2 will take please at 10am at Fergusson Park, Matua. It was originally due to be held during June 18-24 but had to be postponed due to weather.

Look for the gazebo at the left-hand side of the entrance of Fergusson Park.

"Drop in any time between 10 am - 2 pm on Sunday July 2 at Fergusson Park."

Some gloves and litter pickers will be provided but people are also encouraged to bring their own gloves if they have any.

"And wear closed-in shoes."

Sign up here so Emvirohub know who is coming and so they can keep in touch just in case there's a change of plan due to the weather

Chelsea Fitt says this year they are hosting a community event and running the 40 bags in 40 hours challenge.

"We will be trying to collect 40 bags full of rubbish from our community in 40 hours. We are super passionate about the environment and helping the children in Africa who need our help!



"We would love it if you could attend our cleanup if you are in the Bay of Plenty region, but if you can't, donating to the children in Africa will be just as helpful!

"Any donations whether big or small will be helpful! Every day in Malawi, 11 children under 5 die from diseases related to dirty water. Together, we can change that."

Last year, World Vision reached more than 100,000 people with clean water.

"This year, we can reach even more but we need your help."

If you would like to come to Chelsea's cleanup or want some more information about the location, date and time then please click here

If you can't make it and want to sponsor Chelsea and Loralei please find out how here
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Plan your next road trip or sun-kissed getaway with this curated list of Spain's best new hotels. Find a boutique bolt-hole as you walk the Camino de Santiago, make a pilgrimage to world-class luxury in a palatial setting, or simply escape to discover a new destination and indulge in regional cuisine.

Burgos

An elegant place to rest and recuperate along The Way of St James, this rural hotel with stylish rooms, and facilities like a sauna and Turkish bath, has been reimagined for the 21st century pilgrim. Once a hunting lodge, taking its name from the 14th century Convent of San Francisco, the ruins of which remain on the property, Quinta San Francisco is a modern day 'albergue' for road-trippers and walkers alike. The restaurant is not only a place for local specialities including the famous Morcilla de Burgos black pudding, but a sociable place to meet fellow visitors and Camino De Santiago walkers with tales to share. hotelruralquintasanfrancisco.com

Balearics

This 17th-century Mallorca manor house has been a favourite hideaway for years. Yet for 2023, the property has been given a sumptuous new lease of life by the family behind the magnificent Finca Cortesin on the Costa del Sol. Grand Hotel Son Net is now a Cortesin Hotel, with bold, eclectic, and creative interiors that have been meticulously restored and decorated by interior designer Lorenzo Castillo. The setting is incomparable, close to a sleepy hamlet secluded within the foothills of the Tramuntana mountain range, about 20 minutes from Palma. Guests are promised an authentic interpretation of luxury. sonnet.es

Malaga

Closer to home we find the latest property from the lively, on trend hotel group METT. Opening in August, METT Marbella will have 249 rooms, and the vibrant dining options are set to be a welcome addition to the area. Set on the beach near Costalita, Estepona, METT brings its vibrant Dine & Play vibe to the Costa del Sol with a strong focus o live music and fun times, and two signature restaurants, Ammos, with Greek cuisine, and the renowned Isola restaurant. mettsocialliving.com/marbella/

Asturias

From the dazzling light of Andalucia's Costa del Luz, let's head for the north of Spain and another kind of brilliance, the Gran Hotel Brillante. Once the fabled 'Brillante' guesthouse, this iconic property has reopened as a sophisticated contemporary hotel that remains richly evocative of the early 1900s boom era, when this area was known as the Switzerland of Spain. On the quayside, overlooking the mighty Nalon river that feeds in the Cantabrian Sea, this elegant and refined boutique hotel offers genuine Asturian hospitality with beautifully appointed rooms, and private penthouse apartments for families or groups. granhotelbrillante.com

Huelva

This isn't a new hotel I hear you say. Yes, that's true, the Parador de Mazagon was built in the late 1960s. Yet it is well advanced with a complete remodelling, giving us the perfect excuse to return. The location is exceptional - built right on the outstanding coastline of the Donana National Park. Hard to believe such construction was allowed, but it was the '60s. As a guest it means one has a peerless experience of being surrounded by the beauty of the Atlantic pine forest, leading to a spectacular beach. The iconic village of El Rocio is close by - Huelva province is so worth exploring. paradores.es/en/parador-de-mazagon

Vizcaya

Staying in the north, we travel east to the fascinating area of Getxo, in the deliciously foodie Basque country. Here a 20th-century palatial home on the Vizcaya coastline has been completely renovated and transformed into the one-of-a-kind Palacio Arriluce Hotel. Each part of this extraordinary building conveys a compelling blend of old-world charm and contemporary elegance.

You may recognise the affluent area of Getxo from its iconic 'hanging' Vizcaya Bridge. Inspired by Gustave Eiffel's engineering principles, this is the world's oldest steel transport bridge, and it still operates today across the river Nevion. 20 minutes' drive away is the revitalised city of Bilbao, renowned for its emblematic Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum. This is the perfect place for a gastronomic and cultural escapade. palacioarrilucehotel.com

Malaga

Found on one of the charming squares of Marbella's old town 'casco antiguo' is the new La Fonda Heritage Hotel. Some residents may remember this boutique hotel as one of the first in Marbella, renowned for its fine dining. It has been left abandoned for decades but a family recently rescued it and transformed these historic buildings into Marbella's most beautiful boutique bolt hole and the only Relais Chateaux property in Andalucia. Eating well is of course a hallmark of any Relais Chateaux experience, and La Fonda Heritage Hotel is no exception. Its signature Jane Restaurant, with Executive Chef Pascal Silman leading the team, is a draw for locals and visitors alike. lafondaheritagehotel.com

Balearics

Spain's quintessential Mediterranean experience can always be found in the Balearics, especially on Mallorca which continues to be one of the hot spots for hotel openings. The Lodge Mallorca is the latest creation from Unico Hotels. This inland, rural refuge is a former farmstead, surrounded by a nature reserve and orchards of fruit, almond, carob, and ancient olive trees. Dining is by chef Ramon Freixa, who has a two-star Michelin restaurant, while accommodation is in suites with calming, understated decor. Access from Palma's airport is easy via the nearby MA-13 motorway. thelodgemallorca.com

Ampliar The Lodge, Mallorca. thelodgemallorca.com

Balearics

While on my favourite island of Mallorca, I want to mention Convent de la Missio. This historic property has recently been remodelled and reopened as a 5-star grand luxury hotel. This boutique sanctuary, located in a 17th-century former convent, is well-placed to enjoy the shopping, restaurants, and vibrant lifestyle of the Mallorca capital. It is also the only 5-star, adults-recommended luxury boutique hotel in Palma's old town with a Michelin-star restaurant. It is home to the restaurant of Marc Fosh, who in 2002 become the first and only British Chef to have a Michelin-star restaurant in Spain. conventdelamissio.com

Seville

The global restaurant and hotel phenomenon that is Nobu, first arrived in Spain with the opening of the beautiful Nobu Hotel Marbella. Then came the spectacular Nobu Ibiza Bay and now the story continues with imminent openings for Nobu Hotels in San Sebastian and Madrid.

The big surprise this year is Nobu Hotel Seville, which is now open, on Plaza de San Francisco, and just two minutes' walk from La Giralda and Seville's cathedral. The Nobu restaurant serves the acclaimed dishes designed by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, while guest rooms and suites in the hotel bring a touch of Nobu-style chic simplicity to the old town of Seville. sevilla.nobuhotels.com
International Pride Day celebrated with colourful events in many towns across Malaga province The event has been celebrated on 28 June, all around the world, ever since a police raid on an LGBT club in New York in 1969

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International LGTB Pride Day is celebrated on 28 June every year, ever since 1969 when the New York Police raided the Stonewall Inn gay bar in Greenwich Village. The police action triggered several demonstrations in protest at the raid, and these eventually made their way around the world.

This week many municipalities in Malaga province also joined the celebration of this anniversary with different activities, although the readings of manifestos in support of the LGBT cause particularly stood out.

In Malaga the manifesto referenced the appearance of a poster in a university residence in the city that offered 20 euros for "each patient captured" referring to homosexual people. "The levels of violence, hate crimes, harassment in educational centres and discrimination in employment are intolerable," the statement continued. A bench painted in the rainbow colours of the LGBT community was also unveiled.

Ampliar A rainbow-coloured bench was unveiled in Malaga. Marilu Baez

Despite the fact that Torremolinos had already celebrated its special week dedicated to this group, the town held a commemorative gala at the Pablo Ruiz Picasso Cultural Centre which included dance and music.

In Fuengirola, the mayor, Ana Mula, read an institutional statement. In addition, three rainbow flags were raised at the entrance of the town hall. Meanwhile, in Coin the facade of the town hall was illuminated with the colours of the rainbow.

In Ronda, Pride Day was marked with two acts, one by the Serrania Diverxa Association and another by the town council. LGBT manifestos were also read out in Nerja, Marbella, Ahaurin el Grande, Marbella and Teba.

An investigation has found that social media networks in Spain have been filled with more hate messages against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans people in recent years.

The analysis of twelve million digital conversations related to the LGBT community since 2019 was carried out by a communication consultancy. It examined messages on 780,000 Spanish digital profiles using 'big data' techniques and artificial intelligence. It found online attacks have increased by 132% since 2019 while positive comments towards the LGBT community fell by 15%. The increase in haters is the largest detected by analysts in the 12 areas where the same type of research was carried out - including the US, Mexico, eight states of Central and South America and Portugal.
Global investors optimistic about China's innovation-driven development

Xinhua) 08:08, June 30, 2023

A session themed "China and Africa: Mutually Transformative" is held during the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, in north China's Tianjin Municipality, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Meng Chenguang)

TIANJIN, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Global investors are seeking new business opportunities from China as the world's second-largest economy embarks on a path of innovation-driven development.

During the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as the Summer Davos, heavyweight companies from home and abroad have reached a consensus that China's commitment to innovation helps them thrive in an increasingly digitalized world.

German mechanical and electrical drive producer, Flender, has scaled up its investment in the Chinese market over recent years while eyeing the country's growing appetite for hi-tech and innovative products.

Over the past two decades, the number of customers of high-end industrial materials and industrial components has expanded exponentially in the Chinese market, said Gou Jianhui, chairman and CEO of Flender Ltd., China.

"This shows that China's industrial technologies have kept evolving, and its consumer demand is shifting to upmarket products, which are positive trends of development," Gou said.

In the northern port city of Tianjin, a new research and development (R&D) center has been put into service this year by Pegasus, a century-old Japanese manufacturer of industrial sewing machines. According to Pegasus, the move aims to boost the market competitiveness of its products.

As China's high-end clothes sewing market thrives, this R&D center will help the company cater to China's growing demand for high-performance, multi-functional sewing machines, said Okada Yoshihide, general manager of Pegasus (Tianjin) Sewing Machine Co., Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary.

"We will increase our efforts in R&D and sales of new products to further expand our business in China," Okada added.

Official data showed that overseas firms are important drivers and beneficiaries of China's innovation-driven growth, with the R&D investment by major foreign-funded industrial enterprises in the country soaring by 91.5 percent from 2012 to 2021. The number of their valid invention patents increased from 68,000 to 241,000.

Behind the figures are the country's persistent endeavors to encourage innovation on all fronts. Official data showed that China's spending on R&D totaled 3.087 trillion yuan (about 427.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, an increase of 10.4 percent over the previous year.

The country has recorded double-digit growth in such spending annually since 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Among the latest efforts in this regard, Chinese policymakers decided last month that "the principal position of enterprises in sci-tech innovation should be ensured with institutional arrangements," and opportunities presented by the new sci-tech revolution, such as artificial intelligence, should be seized.

"In the long term, the innovation capacity of China is growing rapidly, and we believe that China will be at the center of the future pharmaceutical revolution," said Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in New York and Hong Kong.

Attracted by China's huge market and growing innovation capacity, Insilico Medicine built a drug research and development center in Shanghai in 2019. It has now become the largest and most talent-intensive among the company's centers and offices globally.

"Our Chinese team, with strong innovation and expertise, is driving Insilico Medicine's global business development. We are optimistic and confident about the business growth in China in the future," said Zhavoronkov.

Transforming into a global hub for innovators, China moved up to the 11th spot in the Global Innovation Index 2022 released by the World Intellectual Property Organization, marking an impressive climb of 23 places from its 2012 ranking.

Yu Feng, president of Honeywell China, said that China's solid implementation of an innovation-driven development strategy had helped the digital economy flourish and nurtured new sectors and hi-tech products.

"This provides vast opportunities for companies that are dedicated to technological innovation," Yu added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
(Bloomberg) -- The Netherlands published new export controls that will restrict more of ASML Holding NVs chipmaking machines from being sent to China.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The new regulation will force ASML to apply for licenses to ship some advanced deep ultraviolet lithography, or DUV, systems. The measures, which were published in the Dutch official gazette on Friday, will come into effect on Sept. 1, the government said in an emailed statement.

Although the measures dont specifically mention China or ASML, they are designed to restrict the shipments of three models of the companys machines to the Asian country, Bloomberg News previously reported. ASML is one of the most important parts of the semiconductor supply chain, with a near-monopoly on the machines that chipmakers need to produce the most advanced chips.

Read More: ASML to Face New Export Restrictions to China as Soon as June 30

ASML, Europes most valuable tech company, said we do not expect these measures to have a material impact on our financial outlook for 2023 or in the longer term, the company said in a statement on Friday. The company vowed to comply with all export regulations introduced by the Dutch, US and EU authorities.

It is important to consider that the additional Dutch export controls only pertain to the TWINSCAN NXT:2000i and subsequent immersion systems, ASML said.

ASMLs shares fell 1.7% to 657 at 2:13 p.m. in Amsterdam on Friday after dropping as much as 3.8% earlier. The stock has gained more than 30% so far this year.

The restrictions are expected to prevent shipments of the TWINSCAN NXT:2000i, the NXT:2050i and the NXT:2100i, which are all immersion DUV models, Bloomberg previously reported. ASML is already prohibited from selling its most cutting-edge technology, so-called extreme ultraviolet lithography, to Chinese companies.

We have taken this step in the interest of our national security. It is good that the companies concerned now know where they stand. This way they can adapt to the new regulations in time, Dutch Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said in the governments statement.

US Pressure

US President Joe Bidens administration has been pressing the Netherlands and other nations to help stop China from further developing its own chip industry, making advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing and strengthening its military capabilities. The US rolled out its own extensive export curbs, restricting the sale of some advanced semiconductors and chip-making technologies to Chinese companies.

In January, Dutch and Japanese officials agreed in principle to join the US campaign. Together, the three countries are the worlds top sources of machinery and have the expertise needed to make the worlds most advanced semiconductors.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the Netherlands slammed the new Dutch move, calling it an abuse of export control measures. The new limits hurt the reputation of the Netherlands in supporting free trade, the spokesperson said, adding that China calls on the Western country to immediately correct its wrongdoings.

The measures, however, fall short of those the Biden administration took last year to limit exports of US-made machinery and knowhow to Chinese chipmakers.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Ruttes government is facing increasing pressure from Washington to help forge a global blockade to stifle Beijings rise in the chip-making space. But his countrys most valuable company is ASML, and China is one of its biggest customers.

In the meantime, the US plans to force ASML to ship fewer of its DUV machines to about six chip plants in China including one operated by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., Reuters reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Washington has some leverage over the Netherlands as ASML uses US-made components. Last year, US officials said that if allies dont comply with the new export-control measures, they could ban sales of foreign equipment that contain even small amounts of US technologies to China.

The Netherlands bears extra responsibility in this regard because our country has a unique and leading position in this technology, Schreinemacher said. This additional step, like the export control policy, is country neutral.

(Updates with Chinese statement in eleventh paragraph)

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Syracuse, N.Y. -- A Syracuse man accused of killing a 22-year-old man was sentenced for unrelated drug and gun charges Friday after the murder charge was dropped.

Dewayne Brown Jr., 27, was sentenced to six years in prison after previously pleading guilty to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Brown was previously charged with the Oct. 7, 2021, murder of Winston Brown Jr.
On July 4, 1827, New Yorkers gathered together to celebrate Independence Day for the 51st time.

The two previous years had seen unprecedented joy and incredible national sorrow.

In 1825, the 50th anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, a massive celebration was held at Onondaga Hill, just a few miles south of the transformational Erie Canal, finally complete after eight years of construction.

The exuberant villagers were only a few weeks removed from the triumphant return of the Marquis de Lafayette, the early defender of our country, and last surviving general officer who so conspicuously assisted in achieved the independence they celebrated that day.

Cannon salutes and toasts were offered. Veterans were feted.

It was, according to The Syracuse Gazette, a fitting scene considering our land has almost been one continual scene of rejoicing for nearly an entire year.

A year later, the nation celebrated its 50th birthday. This joyous occasion was made bittersweet when in an act of almost unbelievable historical coincidence, two pillars of the Revolution, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, died hours apart from one another that very day.

Despite the profundity of the previous two years, July 4, 1827 was unlike any Independence Day yet celebrated by the citizens of the Empire State.

This July 4th finally brought independence to the thousands of enslaved African Americans still living in New York State, who had waited for their freedom since 1799.

That year, during the administration of President John Adams, who had been part of the five-man committee tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence, the New York State Legislature passed the first of two Gradual Emancipation Acts.

This act stipulated that any child born to an enslaved woman in New York after July 4, 1799 were considered indentured servants, with females forced to serve their masters until they were 25, while male children served until they turned 28.

In 1817, the Legislature passed the second act, which declared that enslaved persons born in New York before July 4, 1799 would be freed from their bondage on July 4, 1827.

Thus, independence came to the nearly 650 enslaved peoples living in Central New York. In another stroke of coincidence, this joyous occasion came during the administration of the second President Adams (John Quincy). The date of emancipation, however, was clearly not coincidental.

Yet, this long-awaited and hugely significant news of the end of slavery in New York did not garner a single drop of ink in the Onondaga Register, the countys paper of record.

- A January 1816 advertisement seeking the return or imprisonment of an enslaved person in Onondaga Hill. Onondaga Historical Association Onondaga Historical AssociationOnondaga Historical Association

Mr. Redfield, the publisher, reprinted the Declaration of Independence in its entirety, as well an elegy to Sabbath day of freedom, which lauded the bravery of the war torn veteran of the revolution whose numbers were decreasing more with each passing year.

This was, after all, a day worthy of great celebration, the anniversary of that day, which proclaimed liberty to an enslaved and degraded people.

One wonders if Redfield, like his heroes of the revolutionary generation, was cognizant of the irony in his linguistic choice. After all, for over a decade, his paper printed advertisements both announcing the sale of human beings that were actually (not rhetorically) enslaved and seeking the return of those courageous souls brave enough to run away from their bondage.

- A February 1816 advertisement from the Onondaga Register. Onondaga Historical AssociationOnondaga Historical Association

The seeming indifference of Central New Yorkers to slavery, however, was not long for this world.

Over the next three decades, slavery came to dominate politics at every level.

As the American nation expanded westward, gaining more territory, killing and displacing more indigenous peoples and enslaving even more African Americans, the question of slaverys existence and, more broadly, its expansion in a republic predicated upon the vaunted ideals laid out in the Declaration of Independence of equality, freedom, and democracy, became increasingly difficult for many citizens to reconcile.

As politics became increasingly polarized over slavery during the 1850s, the tensions between the various camps often played out in the annual celebrations of the Glorious Fourth.

Here in Syracuse, in the wake of the celebrated Jerry Rescue in October, 1851, the city became a battleground of sorts in the annual celebration of the nations birthday. Parades and toasts were tried and true modes of celebration and had been for decades and as the 1850s progressed and the talk of disunion grew louder, the citys celebrations took on even more of a political tone.

Many of the Syracuses leaders looked to use the Fourth of July celebrations to champion what the editor of the Syracuse Star called good old-fashioned sentiments.

In 1853, Syracuses celebration committee welcomed former United States Senator from New York, Daniel S. Dickinson, to be the orator of the day. Dickinson, a conservative Hunker Democrat, who opposed the Free-Soil movement that aimed to bar slavery from the territories, spoke at length to the sizable crowd gathered in Clinton Square.

Dickinson took aim at the causes of feminism and abolitionism, chastising the buzzing reformers, who would not rest until the supremacy of all kindred isms is vindicated, until both sexes shall pursue the same vocations in common, until the barriers which nature erected between colors and races in physical development, and dissimilar tastes shall be prostrated by amalgamation.

Above all, the former Senator and future Attorney General of New York, invoked the names of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster and pleaded for compromise in the name of maintaining that common compact, which constitutes a union between the several states.

But, as much as men like Clay, Webster, and Dickinson wanted it, compromise became increasingly impossible.

As the citizens of Syracuse gathered to celebrate Independence Day in 1861, just eight years after Dickinsons pleas for compromise in the name of that fraternal compactfrom which so much goodness flows, the country was embroiled in a civil war.

After the election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln, eleven states had seceded to form the Confederate States of America, acting in accordance with their collective view of the ideas laid out in the Declaration of Independence 85 years earlier.

Disavowing the idea that all men are created equal, they chose to exercise Jeffersons right of revolution to form a government founded, as its one and only Vice-President, Alexander Stephens, said a few months earlier, upon the corner-stone of slavery and white-supremacy.

Here in the Salt City, thousands of citizens turned out in the streets even though the war had put a stop to any organized celebration. Having already mustered one of the very first regiments in the country just a few days after the shelling of Fort Sumter in April, Syracusans demonstrated their commitment to the Union with parades, fireworks, and banners.

A fake battle was even mounted on the Clinton Street bridge over the Erie Canal, with the Union Army routing the secession army led by Confederate General Pierre Beauregard and President Jefferson Davis.

Describing the scene two days later, the citys Democratic newspaper, the Daily Courier and Union, offered an interesting editorial on the cause of the war that belied what Stephens had told the world in March.

The existence of slavery is not a cause of this war, he wrote, adding, Slavery existed when the states gained their independence and has existed for 80 years since.

As have so many Americans over the centuries, the author invoked the name of Jefferson, the far-seeing statesman, who predicted slavery would be the rock upon which the Union would split.

Jefferson was right.

Today, 247 years since the Declaration of Independence was made public, Americans are as polarized as ever and still contesting interpretations of those foundational ideals, of history, and wrestling with the paradox at the core of the American Republic.

What Jefferson hoped would become an Empire of Liberty was founded and reared on slavery.
BioSenic

INSIDE INFORMATION

Launch of negotiation with main creditors

Agreement with Global Tech Opportunities (GTO) to secure short term financing

Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium, June 30, 2023, 7.00 am CEST  BIOSENIC (Euronext Brussels and Paris: BIOS), the innovative company addressing unmet medical needs in the areas of innate immunity, inflammation and organ/function repair, today provides a financial update.

BioSenic has obtained an official appointment of Yves Brulard to reach a negotiated agreement with certain main creditors to preserve the value of BioSenic for the benefit of all stakeholders. This will enable BioSenic to find the optimal route to continue delivering therapies to patients as quickly as possible. Confidential negotiations with certain main creditors are ongoing. The Company will provide regular updates on the evolution of the discussions.

BioSenic today also enters into an agreement with the ABO Securities subsidiary, Global Tech Opportunities 15, to secure short term financing on the basis of the existing convertible bond program. Subject to the terms and conditions of the agreement, BioSenic shall be entitled to draw down three tranches of each EUR 0.3 million in June, July and August under the existing convertible bond program, for an aggregate principal amount of EUR 0.9 million. The parties will discuss how to draw down the remaining EUR 600,000 of the existing program and have initiated discussions with a view to a possible renewal of the program. BioSenic is currently preparing a fundraising to be organized in Q3/Q4 2023 to initiate the Phase III clinical trial in chronic graft versus host disease (cGVHD) in Q1 2024.

With the short-term financing agreement and the current renegotiation of potential terms with main creditors, BioSenic anticipates having sufficient cash to carry out its business objectives during such process.

I would like to thank ABO for the support it has provided and the institutional creditors for their support during this strategic period, said Prof. Francois Rieger, PhD, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BioSenic. The reorganization of BioSenic and the revaluation of its core assets has now been carefully implemented, eight months after the successful reverse merger of Medsenic and Bone Therapeutics to form BioSenic. The financial restructuring of the main debt is underway. This will put the company on a firmer financial footing and increase its attractiveness to investors. BioSenics primary current goal is to devote full financial resources to the development of our lead treatment program targeting cGVHD. The initial task will be to confirm previous results on the therapeutic value of an arsenic salt in its oral formulation. Using the 505(b)(2) FDA pathway, these results will lead to other indications, either in autoimmunity or later in cancer.

About BioSenic

BioSenic is a leading biotech company specializing in the development of clinical assets issued from: (i), the allogeneic cell therapy platform ALLOB and (ii) the Arsenic TriOxide (ATO) platform. Key target indications for the platforms include Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD), Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) and high-risk tibial fractures.

Following the merger in October 2022, BioSenic combines the strategic positionings and strengths of Medsenic and Bone Therapeutics. The merger also enables Biosenic to add to its innovative cell therapy platform and strong IP for tissue repair protection with an entirely new arsenal of various anti-inflammatory and anti-autoimmune formulations using the immunomodulatory properties of ATO/OATO.

BioSenic is based in the Louvain-la-Neuve Science Park in Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium. Further information is available at http://www.biosenic.com .

About BioSenic technology platforms

BioSenics technology is based on two main platforms:

The allogeneic cell and gene therapy platform, developed by BioSenic with differentiated bone marrow sourced Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) that can be stored at the point of use in hospitals. Its current investigational medicinal product, ALLOB, represents a unique, proprietary approach to organ repair and specifically to bone regeneration, by turning undifferentiated stromal cells from healthy donors into bone-forming cells on the site of injury after a single local injection. These cells are produced via a BioSenic's scalable manufacturing process. Following the CTA approval by regulatory authorities in Europe, BioSenic had initiated patient recruitment for the Phase IIb clinical trial with ALLOB in patients with difficult tibial fractures, using its optimized production process. ALLOB was evaluated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase IIb study in patients with high-risk tibial fractures, using its optimized production process, after a successful first safety and efficacy study (Phase 1/2a) on fractured long bones, with late delayed union. The patient recruitment has been halted late February 2023 with 57 patients and the new rules permitted for statistical analysis allowed BioSenic to get the main results of this trial much earlier than anticipated in the original protocol, by this mid-June 2023. In June 2023, BioSenic decided to suspend its interventional trial on fracture healing using ALLOB, following negative results obtained for the primary endpoint in the exploratory Phase IIb clinical trial with ALLOB IIb, which focused on safety and treatment timing efficacy. The Arsenic TriOxide (ATO) platform developed by Medsenic. The immunomodulatory properties of ATO have demonstrated a double basic effect on cells of the immune system. The first effect is the increase of the cell oxidative stress in activated B, T or other cells of the innate/adaptative immune system to the point they will enter a cell death program (apoptosis) and be eliminated. The second effect is potent immunomodulatory properties on several pro-inflammatory cytokines involved in inflammatory or autoimmune cell pathways. One direct application is its use in onco-immunology to treat GvHD (Graft-versus-Host Disease) in its chronic, established stage. GvHD is one of the most common and clinically significant complications affecting long-term survival of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). GvHD is primarily mediated by the transplanted immune system that can lead to severe multiorgan damage. Medsenic had been successful in a Phase II trial with its intravenous formulation, allowing arsenic trioxide to be granted an orphan drug designation status by FDA and EMA and is heading towards an international Phase III confirmatory study, with a new, IP protected, oral (OATO) formulation. Moderate to Severe forms of Systemic Lupus erythematosus (SLE) is another selected target, using the same oral formulation. ATO has shown good safety and significant clinical efficacy on several affected organs (skin, mucosae and the gastro-intestinal tract) in a Phase IIa study.

Systemic Sclerosis is also, part of the clinical pipeline of BioSenic. Preclinical studies on pertinent animal models are positive. This gives good grounds to launch a Phase II clinical protocol for this serious disease that badly affects skin, lungs or vascularization, and with no actual current effective treatment.

In addition, BioSenic is developing a next-generation, off-the-shelf, enhanced viscosupplement, JTA, consisting of a unique combination of plasma proteins, hyaluronic acid (a natural component of synovial fluid in the knee) and a third active component. JTA or some derivatives intend to provide added lubrication and protection to the cartilage of the arthritic joint and to alleviate osteoarthritic pain (OA) and inflammation. In March 2023, after the identification of new OA subtypes, BioSenic delivered a new post-hoc analysis of its Phase III JTA-004 trial on knee OA with positive action on the most severely affected patient population. This new post-hoc analysis drastically changes the therapeutic profile of the combined components and allows for better patient targeting in new clinical developments. The company, which does not intend to allocate R&D resources to support the clinical development of JTA-004 itself will focus its R&D activities on the development of its autoimmune (ATO) platform.

For further information, please contact:

BioSenic SA

Francois Rieger, PhD, Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +33 (0)671 73 31 59

investorrelations@biosenic.com

International Media Enquiries:

IB Communications

Neil Hunter / Michelle Boxall

Tel: +44 (0)20 8943 4685

neil.hunter@ibcomms.agency / michelle@ibcomms.agency

For French Investor Enquiries:

Seitosei Actifin

Ghislaine Gasparetto

Tel: +33 (0)1 56 88 11 22

ggasparetto@actifin.fr

Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect the Company or, as appropriate, the Company directors current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither the Company nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such persons officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.








Taylor Swift is heading to Cincinnati, Ohio this weekend for a two-day concert from June 30 to July 1. The Eras Tour begins at 6:30 at the Paycor Stadium. For those swifites who have yet to secure a ticket to this years biggest concert, Shake It Off because tickets are still available.

Tickets are sold out through Ticketmaster but resale sites like VividSeats, MegaSeats, StubHub, and more have tickets to spare, sometimes at a better price and with a better seat.

VividSeats:

(Friday, June 30) Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati, OH: Tickets start at $764

(Saturday, July 1) Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati, OH: Tickets start at $828

Stubhub:

(Friday, June 30) Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati, OH: Tickets start at $920

(Saturday, July 1) Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati, OH: Tickets start at $855

TicketNetwork:

(Friday, June 30) Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati, OH: Tickets start at $1077

(Saturday, July 1) Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati, OH: Tickets start at $1151

MegaSeats:

(Friday, June 30) Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati, OH: Tickets start at $1013

(Saturday, July 1) Paycor Stadium - Cincinnati, OH: Tickets start at $1084

Taylor Swift made huge announcements since shes been on tour. During her Nashville show, Swift announced that her Speak Now version will be released on July 7th. Fans can pre-order her 3LP vinyl, CDs, and other merch in her shop. More recently, Swift announced that she will re-release her Lover album with new From The Vault songs, with Cruel Summer being the single.

Summer concerts in Upstate NY: 60 cant-miss shows in 2023 (tickets, more info)
Cortland, N.Y.  Looking for an affordable place to call home that youll actually enjoy living in? Get ready to move to Upstate New York.

Cortland, a small city in Central New York, has been named the most affordable small town in the United States where youd actually like to live by Realtor.com. The Crown City was crowned No. 1 on the real estate websites ranking, edging out places like Rutland, Vermont and Kearney, Nebraska.

To find the nations most affordable, attractive places, Realtor.com said its data team looked at homes for sale in micropolitan areas with populations between 10,000 and 50,000. Then, using U.S. Census Bureau data about quality-of-life businesses and home list prices, researchers narrowed down the list to places where the median list price per square foot was less than 150% of the national average.

What makes Cortland such a great place to live? Realtor.com noted two factors: the median list price of the citys homes and its big-city appeal.

The middle price for homes on the market in Cortland is $159,250, Realtor.com said  about a third of the national median in May.

Part of Cortlands appeal is its proximity to bigger cities like Syracuse and Ithaca, the company said. Its a short drive from three ski resorts  Greek Peak Mountain Resort, Labrador Mountain and Song Mountain  and great hikes like the Finger Lakes Trail.

Cortland is home to State University of New York at Cortland. It is also hosts a number of vibrant small businesses, including Coffee Mania and Bru 64, beloved local coffee shops; restaurants like Yori House and Pita Gourmet; and the Cortland Beer Company.

You get a lot for your money here, Realtor.com said.

View the full list of affordable, attractive communities on Realtor.com.

READ MORE

Upstate NY village voted to have one of the best small town arts scenes in U.S.

Rainbow oasis: Tropical Upstate NY restaurant named one of the best gay bars in America

These 4 Upstate NY cities are among the best places to live in the U.S., study finds
Syracuse, N.Y.  A Syracuse center that has been providing tuition-free job training for 50 years is set to undergo a $30 million renovation as the area prepares for a surge of jobs created by the huge Micron and Interstate 81 projects.

Work is scheduled to start this fall on a three-year project to modernize the SUNY Syracuse Educational Opportunity Center on New Street south of downtown.

Tim Penix, vice president of the Syracuse EOC, said the work will create more flexible classroom and lab space within the two-story, 54,000-square-foot building that the center has called home since the mid- 1980s.

The renovation also will give the center a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system and a new exterior look featuring a two-story glass atrium at its entrance and a rooftop terrace.

Penix said the atrium will brighten much of the interior by bringing more sunlight into the center.

Rendering shows what the SUNY Syracuse Educational Opportunity Center will look like after a $30 million renovation. (Chiang | O'Brien Architects)

Were going to have a modern educational facility with flexible space in a critical location for meeting the needs of the population we serve, he said.

The changes come as the center prepares to train workers for jobs at the upcoming Interstate 81 project in Syracuse and the giant semiconductor plant that Micron Technologies plans to build in nearby Clay. Both projects are expected to create thousands of construction jobs, with the Micron plant also providing thousands of advanced manufacturing and other permanent employment.

Classes at the EOC will be moved to a temporary location during the renovations. An announcement of the temporary location has not been made because the lease has not yet been signed, but Penix said it will be in the city.

The center is one of 10 EOCs operated by the State University of New York, primarily in the states major cities. Classes at the center are free. The only requirements are that students be 17 or older and a resident of New York. Refugees living in New York are also eligible.

Nearly half of the centers students take classes to obtain their GED or as preparation to attend college, and to learn English as a second language. The other half take vocational and workforce development classes.

The SUNY Syracuse Educational Opportunity Center at 100 New St. is scheduled to undergo a three-year, $30 million renovation starting in the fall of 2023. (Rick Moriarty | rmoriarty@syracuse.com)

Flexibility is the key word for the modernization. The center cannot be entirely sure what jobs will be in demand in the coming years, since many of them will be created by yet-to-be announced supply chain companies drawn to the area by Micron, Penix said.

After the renovations, the center will be able to switch gears quickly, using its classrooms and labs to teach skills in whichever fields are in demand, Penix said.

There are going to be a tremendous amount of vendors connected to Micron, he said. We dont know who they will be, so we have to be flexible.

Since its creation more than 50 years ago, the Syracuse EOC has focused on providing educational services to Syracuses underserved population, much of which is concentrated in the neighborhoods south of downtown.

Enrollment at the center peaked at 1,200 during the 2018-19 academic year, then fell sharply during the coronavirus pandemic, hitting a low of 549 in 2020-21. It has been climbing since then, with 680 students taking classes during the 2022-23 academic year.

Penix said his goal is to get enrollment back to its pre-pandemic high. That may not be as easy as it sounds.

Though projects like I-81 and Micron are expected to create a lot of jobs, some people may decide to forego additional education if they think they can get a job without additional training, he said.

There are a lot of unknowns out there, he said.

But the center is planning to add new classes to its curriculum, with an eye toward the labor needs of the I-81 and Micron projects. New courses that may be added include training for electrical technician, commercial driving license, welding and logistics.

Its a great time to be in Central New York, Penix said. You see all the indications of these massive changes that are going to be happening because 81 and Micron. Theyre going to provide opportunities we have not had before. Its an historic opportunity to reverse poverty in Syracuse.

Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
CAZENOVIA, N.Y.  With his wife Chelsea unable to travel in 2018, Mitch Patterson went east looking for his familys next home.

Relocating from California to Central New York after leaving the Marine Corps, Patterson was given a list of things that the family required and then he went home shopping without me, Chelsea remembered.
Clayton, N.Y.  Get ready to expand your bucket list, travel lovers: This small Upstate New York village is making big artistic moves.

Clayton, a hidden gem nestled along the St. Lawrence River in the Thousand Islands, has one of the best small town arts scenes in the United States, according to USA Todays 10Best. The recognition comes just months after the village was given boasting rights by 10Best readers as the No. 1 best small town cultural scene in the nation.
(Bloomberg) -- Resources are stretched so thin at Brazils mining regulator that officials have walked off the job, saying budget and staffing shortfalls are hindering oversight including safety and leave the agency at risk of collapse.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Since 2010, headcount at the agency known as ANM has fallen by almost half to 664 people, or a third of levels required by law, with officials paid 46% less on average than staff at other regulatory agencies, according to a presentation delivered to Brazils Lower House this week.

Illegal gold mining has already surpassed the area occupied by the formal industry in Brazil, yet ANM has only two people managing precious metal operations, said Ricardo Pecanha, an ANM geologist who heads the labor group behind the strike. The agency is heading toward a collapse, ANM ombudsman Andre Marques told lawmakers.

The public servants association has been on a monthlong strike in response, and has halted services such as granting mining titles and permits. The remaining staff is focused on tailings inspections in a nation hit by two dam disasters at Vale SA mines in recent years.

The question is not if well have another tragedy involving dam breaks, but when, Pecanha said.

Brazils mining sector generated 250 billion reais ($52 billion) last year, paying 7 billion reais in royalties, but just one in a thousand companies were inspected, according to the presentation this week.

The Brazilian mining institute representative also warned the budget squeeze has serious impacts on the agency and consequently on the entire sector.

The Mines and Energy Ministry didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Adds Brazilian mining institute comments in seventh paragraph)

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Ex-Audi boss gets 21-month sentence after being convicted of fraud in diesel-gate scandal



According to reports, the ex-Audi boss has received a 21-month suspended prison sentence from a German court. Stadler will also pay a fine of 1.1 million euros, which will go to charitable groups. The sentence was a result of an agreement between Rupert's lawyers, the judge and prosecutors after he pleaded guilty last month.







The Munich regional court also ordered suspended prison sentences and fines to the former head of engine development, Wolfgang Hatz and a former Audi engineer, identified only as Giovanni P for privacy reasons.



Reports state that Rupert Stadler, has been charged with fraud and false certification by prosecutors. Stadler is said to have let cars with the rigged software be sold even after the USA Environmental Protection Agency uncovered the fraud by Volkswagen & Audi in late-2015. Stadler resigned from his post as Audi chief and a member of the Volkswagen board in 2018 after he was held and detained for 4 months. Since then, Stadler has paid 4.1 million euros in damages.



The diesel emissions scandal cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in fines and settlements and even resulted in two US executives being sent to prison.



Source:



Link to Team-BHP news Rupert Stadler, Former boss of Audi, has become the highest-ranking executive to be convicted of fraud in the diesel emissions scandal from 2015.According to reports, the ex-Audi boss has received a 21-month suspended prison sentence from a German court. Stadler will also pay a fine of 1.1 million euros, which will go to charitable groups. The sentence was a result of an agreement between Rupert's lawyers, the judge and prosecutors after he pleaded guilty last month.The Munich regional court also ordered suspended prison sentences and fines to the former head of engine development, Wolfgang Hatz and a former Audi engineer, identified only as Giovanni P for privacy reasons.Reports state that Rupert Stadler, has been charged with fraud and false certification by prosecutors. Stadler is said to have let cars with the rigged software be sold even after the USA Environmental Protection Agency uncovered the fraud by Volkswagen & Audi in late-2015. Stadler resigned from his post as Audi chief and a member of the Volkswagen board in 2018 after he was held and detained for 4 months. Since then, Stadler has paid 4.1 million euros in damages.The diesel emissions scandal cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in fines and settlements and even resulted in two US executives being sent to prison.Source: Autoblog
OpenAIs innovative artificial intelligence breakthrough with ChatGPT presents advancements in retail marketing and uplifting improvements in customer experience (CX) solutions.

Launched by OpenAI in November 2022 as a prototype, ChatGPT  or Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer  has become increasingly popular across multiple industries. With recent releases, its chatbox structure built on the GPT family of large language models (LLM) delivers detailed responses and articulate answers across many knowledge domains.

Generative AIs futuristic capability lets users quickly generate content based on a variety of inputs. This approach also brings new tools that optimize e-commerce and marketing campaigns.

Present and future use cases are not only fascinating but can truly help deliver promises to customers, according to Harry Folloder, chief digital officer at CX solutions firm Alorica. It focuses on finding the best correct answer by layering on generative AI within and on top of other tool sets to deliver the service promised in a much quicker manner.

Generative AI is literally a whole new ballgame. Utilizing those large language models allows context to be uniquely created on each [human] interaction, he told CRM Buyer.

However, its still uncertain whether employing generative AI in marketing and CRM operations can circumvent potential programming abuses and ChatGPT inaccuracies.

A related question is: Can guardrails prevent AIs machine learning (ML) and LLM based on natural language processing (NLP) from running amok?

Enhanced Features Pose Abuse Potential

Efforts to improve CX capabilities for marketers and retailers offer much-anticipated solutions within businesses. But generative AI left unchecked can damage brands reputations, experts warn. Folloder does not disagree with the need for built-in guardrails on AIs capabilities to prevent runaway behavior and results.

Key to this concern is this nagging question: Can Generative AI pass the Turing test for human intelligence in computers?

Earlier AI implementations were mostly limited to results based on pre-trained sequences. AI could only do what it was programmed to do. Generative AI, on the other hand, has the potential to create human-quality artifacts at scale that include fake and misleading written, visual, and audio content.

As AI developers experiment with incorporating safety guardrails, a long-established measuring method may help keep AI programming from leading to unchecked free thinking by AI networks. The Turing test, devised by the English mathematician Alan M. Turing in 1950, is a simple method to determine a computers ability to demonstrate human intelligence via thinking.

To pass this test and thus demonstrate human intelligence, AI-enhanced computers must engage in a conversation with a human without being detected as a machine. No computer has come close to passing the Turing test yet.

But that threshold might well be just around the next corner.

Curation Accuracy Is the Thing

For CX experts, the primary goals are to provide customers with accurate answers, mitigate their frustration, and enhance their overall experience. Folloder underscores that the ultimate aspiration of AI-driven CX is to solve problems more effectively and to strengthen brand protection.

Consider this new technology as possessing the capability to explore all information sources without restrictions. The absence of search limits endows generative AI with unlimited access to new materials, enriching the integrative process for its results.

At the speed of compute, you can propagate that information or something that seems harmless on the surface and the computing world. But it could be brand tarnishing in the real world, he warned.

Striking the right balance when curating content within an AI platform necessitates consideration for client protection, posited Folloder. He thinks that is one of the essential factors left unanswered currently.

Imagine giving a program the ability to search everything on the internet. How we use it allows you to basically fence in the content from this search or not, he said. Key to this ongoing discussion is the approaching ability of generative AI to cross the computer intelligence boundary.

Enter the Turing Test

This context is where the Turing test may become a controlling factor. Its background is significant to the discussion.

While at the University of Manchester, Turing wrote a paper detailing his thought experiment called The Imitation Game. In it, he predicted that by the year 2000, a computer would be able to play the imitation game so well that an average interrogator will not have more than a 70% chance of making the right identification (machine or human) after five minutes of questioning.

Turings work in 1939 helped the British intelligence agency MI6 crack German codes, including the infamous Enigma Machine. Those efforts are loosely portrayed in a 2014 movie titled The Imitation Game based on the 1983 biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges.

Ongoing rapid advancements in AI are raising alarm bells globally about the need to build safeguards, whether for business use cases or beyond  as discussed in April on TechNewsWorlds The AI Revolution Is at a Tipping Point.

At this point, we see limitations in the technology. How long will those limitations remain until software developers install guardrails? Folloder interjected.

As more consumers engage with brand-integrated generative AI, some will try to test its limits. The Turing test remains a challenging threshold for Generative AI to cross.

Unpacking the Potential and Pitfalls of Gen AI

We pressed Folloder to elaborate on the necessary advances in the areas of contextual understanding, emotional intelligence, and decision-making within AI. We also asked him to share his expertise on how generative AI can meet the demands of complex customer interactions without overstepping safety limits.

CRM Buyer: Do you think that generative AI can ever pass the Turing test?

Harry Folloder: The Turing test still applies because you can still easily tell that it is not a human by asking it a simple logic question. But it has the ability now to utilize LLM in a conversation that would be more humanistic.

What is the deciding factor in your safety concerns with generative AI?

Folloder: The logic is still missing today. So you could still easily confuse it and trick it. There are tons of different things on different social media platforms showing you how you can easily mislead these AI things to write malicious code for you or tell you things against its programmed ethics.

How comfortable are you with the potential for generative AI to do no harm?

Folloder: I spent a few years inside the intelligence community for the United States government focusing on building cyber practices and building SATCOM for the White House. And so Im probably not a great person to ask that because I see it in everything.

It has already been proven to be used in malicious manners. There are cyber terrorists that have used the power of this AI tool to make their malware better to construct key loggers that have the ability to bypass modern-day safety components.

What must be done to make generative AI Safer?

Folloder: That is the key question! I think an extremely large, multibillion-dollar business will spin up around just that because there are really no great answers today. AI is growing faster than we can keep up with the protective terms of it.

So, you doubt much can be done other than ban its use like some European countries have already done?

Folloder: I do not have a great answer because I do not think there is one yet. I am conflicted because it is such an incredible technology that needs to be further used and perpetuated for good. But they are not wrong in their fears. This technology has a ton of ability to do a lot of harm if not properly watched.
You get it all with the new Microsoft Edge-performance, compatibility, and speed to make browsing the web even more effortless.

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The new Microsoft Edge has built-in features designed to give you more control over your data and to protect your privacy online.

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The new Microsoft Edge comes complete with features designed to customize your browsing experience and to help make you more productive.

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When you Give with Bing through Microsoft Rewards, your searches will earn points that are automatically donated to the cause of your choice.

Browse smarter, not harder

With the most comprehensive set of built-in learning and accessibility tools on the web, the new Microsoft Edge was designed to help you get things done.

What's New

Fixed various bugs and performance issues for Stable and Extended Stable release.

Feature updates

Microsoft Edge sidebar. The Microsoft Edge sidebar lets users access productivity tools side-by-side with their browsing window. For enterprise customers, the following experiences are currently turned on by default: Search, Discover, Office.com, and Outlook. Administrators can control the availability and configure the Microsoft Edge sidebar using the HubsSidebarEnabled, ExtensionInstallBlockList, and ExtensionInstallForceList policies. The extension ID for each sidebar app can be found at edge://sidebar-internals. For more information, see Manage the sidebar in Microsoft Edge.

New policy to give more flexibility in Microsoft Edge startup. The RestoreOnStartupUserURLsEnabled policy lets users add and remove their own URLs to open when starting Microsoft Edge while maintaining the mandatory list of sites specified by the admin.

Policy updates

New policies
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Cyber threats loom large over enterprises and institutions containing confidential population information. Hackers take advantage of any vulnerability to access the organization's and its members' data. Often, the information they gathered is exchanged on the Dark Web.

What Is the Dark Web?

The Dark Web refers to the anonymous spaces of the Internet that are mostly inaccessible to the general public. Commonly, it is the place where cybercriminals meet to exchange items illegally. These include forgeries like credit card statements, digital goods like malware, and computer hacking services that allow cybercriminals to penetrate a computer's network system.

Is It Possible to Monitor the Dark Web?

Regardless of the complex systems that hide in the Dark Web, it is possible to monitor it through monitoring tools that track information meant to be encrypted. Dark web monitoring tools detect threats from malicious actors that take advantage of a civilian's private information or an organization's intellectual property.

Fortunately, cybersecurity companies today not only assess the overall security of an organization's digital ecosystem but also offer Dark Web monitoring tools to protect enterprises and institutions. Below are the top 5 cybersecurity companies that provide the best Dark Web monitoring tools in 2023:

1 Resecurity

Resecurity is a global brand in the industry of cybersecurity. Gene Yoo (CEO), a well-known figure in cybersecurity and risk management field, heads the company, along with ex-Microsoft industry veteran Shawn Loveland (COO) and Christian Lees (CTO). With more than 30 years of practice, he founded Resecurity in 2016. He has made it one of the world's most innovative cybersecurity companies to date, with the mission of enabling organizations to combat cyber threats.

Resecurity was also recognized as a leader in Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) and External Risk Mitigation and Management Platforms (ERMM) by Frost & Sullivan. The company was named a Gold Winner in multiple categories by Cyber Excellence Awards, including Managed Threat Hunting, Threat Intelligence, and Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR).

The services and platforms of Resecurity focus on the early detection of data breaches and comprehensive protection against risks from malicious actors. In the unfortunate scenario an organization's network has been breached, companies benefit from the Dark Web monitoring tools. Resecurity monitors the tracks of the cyberhackers who successfully infiltrated the system.

Dark Web Monitoring

The two most valuable resources Resecurity have are time and information. As a company, it owns a Big Data repository that contains billions of threat artifacts and Dark Web records. Resecurity also has a team of experts and cyber threat intelligence specialists with a decade's worth of practice in investigation and intelligence gathering.

With its Dark Web monitoring tools, companies can automate their digital risk management and receive real-time alerts about security posture changes. These changes may come from unauthorized activities from the Dark Web, data breaches, network infections, and other security incidents.

Resecurity assures that its security measures are accurate for in-depth risk evaluation, expansive to monitor digital footprints on any scale, and effective in enabling actions to improve overall protection.

With Resecurity's Risk service, any update of possible threats or the state of a company's cybersecurity is displayed conveniently on a dashboard. Below are its capabilities:

Risk measurement: Resecurity has unparalleled risk management, affording Risk grants companies a daily security score based on all the risks monitored on their domains, IPs, network, vulnerabilities, and cloud services.

Risk assessment: Companies should know where their weaknesses and vulnerabilities lie in their digital assets. The reports provided by Resecurity through its risk assessment can refine and enrich the data points for the company's better understanding.

Risk categories: The service also includes identifying external threats based on the intelligence gathered from over 20,000 public and closed sources that include Dark Web activity, cyber espionage, account takeovers, and other risk vectors.

Global visibility: Resecurity covers all contextual information needed to manage a company's infrastructure, network resources, and other company assets, regardless of location.

Cyber Threat Intelligence

Companies can also leverage the cyber threat intelligence platform of Resecurity called Context. Digital threats continually evolve alongside the speed of technological progress. With Context, companies benefit from its functions through the following:

Monitor the Interweb for possible exposure of sensitive data and confidential documents

Receive updates regarding the activities held in underground communities and marketplaces

Search the farthest spaces of the Internet, including the Dark Web

Intelligence reports from all over the globe

The cyber threat intelligence platform covers different areas of cybersecurity where malicious or threat actors may lurk. Context sets security measures to counter and protect companies like cloud-scale AI, SDK, and API. It aims to counter even the most sophisticated cyber threat, including piracies, fraudulence, and infringements, even in the innermost corners of the Dark Web.

Context draws from multiple sources of the Interweb to combat these threat actors. Government agencies and industry experts have utilized the platform for support due to its comprehensive intelligence gathering and analysis approach.

With the accumulation of 5 billion threat artifacts, 9 million profiles of threat actors, 300 million data entries in the Dark Web, and 20,000 sources in its repository, Resecurity equips organizations and institutions with the most effective tools for combating digital threat and monitoring the virtual spaces that extend to the Dark Web.

2 Flashpoint

Founded in 2010, Flashpoint is a globally trusted leader in risk intelligence. This cybersecurity company possesses industry-leading software that rapidly identifies and remediates the most sophisticated security risks of enterprises and mid-market companies. Flashpoint aims to help organizations by protecting their companies' assets and resources from harm.

Since it was established, Flashpoint has sourced 293 thousand vulnerabilities, 38 billion compromised credentials, 1.9 billion stolen credit cards, 513 million illicit forum posts, and 2.5 billion chat service messages. These numbers prove the credibility of Flashpoint as one of the most trusted companies when it comes to managing risks and intelligence.

Flashpoint's team consists of best-in-class analysts that utilize advanced technology to provide comprehensive coverage of threatening activity on the Internet, starting from the surface web through the deep web and down to the hidden spaces of the Dark Web.

The company works closely with private and public organizations to get ahead of threat actors, reduce their exposure, and drive their ROI up to 5x.

With its Cyber Threat Intelligence solution, companies can benefit from Flashpoint's platform through the following:

understand how threat actors operate to prevent potential targeted attacks

stop ransomware attacks before they happen

monitor employee credentials and confidential information

gain contextual intelligence to identify and remediate vulnerabilities

Companies have witnessed a significant reduction in time, data losses, and exposure when utilizing the products and solutions of Flashpoint. This top cybersecurity company can provide actionable intelligence with the best monitoring tools through its Ignite Platform, regardless of the sector the organization belongs to.

3 SpyCloud

SpyCloud specializes in processing, breaking, and analyzing vast amounts of raw data into actionable results. The company refers to this as cybercrime analytics. This cyber security company focuses mostly on recapturing data from the deepest layers of the Dark Web. With its dark monitoring tool, the Cyber Analytics Engine, SpyCloud possesses more than 12 billion assets per month, collected from data breaches and extracted from malware-infected devices.

SpyCloud's Cyber Analytics Engine processes the collected data. It transforms it into actionable insights that allow companies to identify legitimate users from potential criminals and take action against them to prevent unauthorized activities from happening.

The function of the Cyber Analytics Engine goes beyond data collection. Each digital asset is acquired through a rigorous quality control process to determine its value. Afterward, the team of SpyCloud cleanses, decrypts, and then matches the information to its corresponding users to assess the actual risks it holds against an enterprise.

Companies can then integrate the insights generated by the engine and integrate them into their existing cyber security system to shut down cyber-attacks that match the sources and intelligence of SpyCloud's Cyber Analytics Engine.

SpyCloud takes pride in the 2 billion employees and consumer accounts the company has protected that belong to the most prominent businesses and consumer brands. This qualifies SpyCloud as one of the top cybersecurity companies with the industry's best Dark Web monitoring tools.

4 Ontic

Ontic is an award-winning intelligence software company that transforms the threat management of Fortune 500 and emerging enterprises. In 2021, the company earned the title of the Top Industry Innovator from a program conducted by Frost & Sullivan. In the following year, Ontic earned another award called Global Entrepreneurial Company of the Year. This establishes Ontic as one of the top cybersecurity companies today.

The Protective Intelligence Platform of Ontic functions as a cloud-based solution that unifies real-time and historical data for companies to become proactive in their approach to security. This platform offers a comprehensive view of potential threats while providing companies with critical knowledge to assess and take action against these threats.

Using Ontic's Protective Intelligence Platform, companies can maintain business continuity, reduce financial impact, and protect their employees from potential takeover, fraud, or ransomware. Ontic's platform covers every stage crucial in threat management. It enables companies to identify, investigate, assess, watch, and get notified about threat actors that are invisible to the security measures of their cyber security system.

The platform can detect known and unknown threat actors from various sources, even sources that stem from the Dark Web. When detected, companies get automated real-time alerts that enable them to act more efficiently to protect their employees, organization, and, most importantly, their bottom line.

5 Recorded Future

Founded in 2007, Recorded Future is one of the world's largest intelligence companies. While the company only integrated open and Dark Web sourcing in 2014, the company has come a long way, with 1,500+ clients, nearly a thousand employees, over $200 million, and the world's largest holdings of interconnected threat data. Recently, the company even launched the world's first AI for intelligence.

Recorded Future has an intelligence cloud platform that expands into four channels that track, monitor, and alert companies of cyber threats from vectors like the Dark Web. The underground sites of the Dark Web are sources of intelligence that Recorded Future's platform can process and from which create links to other threat sources. The platform then alerts companies which allows them to mitigate the potential risks these threats can cause to their organization.

Companies can benefit from Recorded Future's Dark Web monitoring through the following:

Automate the identification of proprietary data or lost credentials related to the organization

Uncover new and emerging exploits and malicious codes

Prioritize remediation efforts based on the evidence of the adversary

Continuously receive new high-value Dark Web sources

With the creation of Intelligence Graph, an extension of the company's intelligence cloud platform, Recorded Future can collect, structure, and analyze threat data from all over the Internet, turn them into actionable insights, and deliver comprehensive, relevant, and accurate intelligence for organizations worldwide.

Each company listed above offers a unique yet comprehensive set of the best Dark Web monitoring tools for organizations to improve their threat management. Choose among these top 5 cybersecurity companies that specialize in intelligence gathering, Dark Web monitoring, and enforcing high-level security systems for protection in the ever-changing digital landscape of the Interweb.

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil's Finance Ministry will exempt companies participating in a new tax compliance program from paying federal taxes on e-commerce purchases up to $50, it announced on Friday.

The country has been trying to close a loophole that it said some Asian e-commerce giants were using to gain tax exemptions by sending shipments as if they were individuals and not businesses.

Finance Minister Fernando Haddad told reporters the new program aims to "balance competition" between marketplaces, addressing worries from local retailers.

Currently, shipments by companies of any value are subject to a 60% federal tax rate on imports, while shipments by individuals are exempt for orders up to $50, with the same tax rate applied above that amount.

The program, starting Aug. 1, offers faster and cheaper customs treatment for e-commerce companies that voluntarily meet criteria set by the government, the ministry's statement said.

The criteria include declaring imports and collecting taxes, by adding them to the price of products, before merchandise arrives in the country.

Under the program, e-commerce companies must also inform consumers about the origin and total value of the products, including federal and state taxes. Currently, these procedures are optional.

Taxes, if applicable, are currently paid by consumers after the merchandise arrives, following analysis and notification by the revenue service, resulting in longer delivery times.

The program will essentially relieve the revenue service of such tasks when e-commerce firms participate.

The e-commerce measures come in response to complaints from local retailers about unfair competition from Asian giants such as Alibaba Group's AliExpress, Sea Ltd's Shopee and fast-fashion giant Shein.

Previously, the government tried to end exemptions on all shipments as some companies imported products as individuals to avoid higher rates.

After opposition from the public, the government decided to maintain the tax exemption up to $50 but only for shipments made by individuals, stating it would explore a digital tax collection model for companies.

Citi analysts said in a note that the program is positive in the long run given the improvement in government oversight and more equal competitiveness, adding they did not expect the exemption incentive for products worth less than $50.

"Essentially, shoppers will continue purchasing overseas products at much lower prices and preserve (at some extent) the competitiveness of overseas platforms," they said.

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Emma Rumney, David Gregorio and Aurora Ellis)
Binance is set to lose its European banking partner, Paysafe Payment Solutions.

In emails sent to customers, Paysafe has announced that it will stop offering its embedded wallet solution to Binance across the European Economic Area (EEA) starting September 25.

This move will prompt Binance to find a new provider for euro deposits and withdrawals via the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

The decision comes amidst increased regulatory scrutiny faced by Binance regarding money laundering concerns. Despite these challenges, Binance remains committed to maintaining its services for its users.

Binance Loses Euro Banking Partner

Paysafe Payment Solutions has revealed its intention to terminate its services with Binance.

As stated by Paysafe, the decision is part of an effort to establish an orderly and fair process for ending their partnership over the coming months.

Coindesk reports that Binance will seek a new provider for facilitating euro deposits and withdrawals through SEPA, a popular payment system used across the European Union, in response.

While the identity of the new service provider remains undisclosed, Binance is expected to make the transition as seamless as possible for its users.

Read Also: Binance.US Halts USD Crypto Purchases Amid SEC Legal Battle

What We Know

Reuters tells us that Binance users relying on Paysafe for euro transactions should take note of the upcoming changes. According to Binance, Paysafe's support for euro payments will cease after September 25, 2023.

Users will need to update their banking details used for deposits to ensure uninterrupted access to SEPA services.

It is also possible that users will be required to accept new terms and conditions associated with the new provider.

However, Binance assures users that all other existing deposit and withdrawal methods for fiat currencies, as well as buying and selling cryptocurrencies, will remain unaffected during this transition.

This announcement regarding the termination of euro payment support from Paysafe is separate from Binance's recent decision to exit multiple European countries.

Multiple Binance Operations Shutting Down

Binance has faced significant regulatory challenges in recent months, leading to the suspension of its operations in various jurisdictions.

The exchange recently withdrew from the Netherlands, restricting Dutch customers only to withdraw funds from the platform.

Additionally, authorities in Belgium ordered a halt to Binance's services. The exchange also pulled the plug on its Canada operations earlier this year.

The Brazilian parliament also summoned Binance's Brazilian director for an investigation into alleged pyramid schemes. The exchange's US arm also announced a halt in crypto transactions earlier this month.

The local Binance branch experienced a sudden disconnection from the country's banking system in Australia. The exchange is currently in the process of finding a new third-party payment provider for Australian users.

What's In the News

Binance's partnership with Paysafe Payment Solutions for euro banking services is coming to an end, prompting the exchange to search for a new provider. Binance users must update their banking details to avoid disruptions to their SEPA services.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: CryptoWatch: Binance Exits the Netherlands, US Crypto Crackdown on Regulations, and Damus' Potential Ban

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Insilico Medicine, a well-funded biotech startup based in Hong Kong, has made a groundbreaking leap in the pharmaceutical industry by developing the first drug entirely generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and initiating clinical trials with human patients.

The Focus of AI-Generated Drug

Dubbed INS018_055, the drug is designed to treat patients suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Up to this day, the exact cause of why it appears is not yet determined, but it is likely triggered when the cells in the air sacs are exposed to viruses.

In the US, roughly 100,000 people have this condition. If left untreated, it can deteriorate the patient's body which might increase its risk of mortality.

AI-Generated Drug is Undergoing Clinical Trial For the First Time

In a report by CNBC, Insilico Medicine's CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov, expressed the significance of this achievement, highlighting that their drug is the first to undergo Phase II trials with patients and stands out by having both a novel AI-discovered target and a novel AI-generated design.

The drug development process began in 2020, driven by the goal of creating an innovative treatment for IPF that could overcome the limitations and side effects associated with current therapies.

The Qiming-backed biotech startup has focused on IPF not only due to its prevalence but also because of its implications in the aging process. Additionally, the company has two other drugs in the clinical stage, one for Covid-19 and another for the treatment of solid tumors, further demonstrating the potential of AI in drug development.

Because of the company's dedication to delivering a breakthrough AI discovery, it came up with this advancing AI-driven drug.

Zhavoronkov admitted that when the company was established, its primary focus was on developing algorithms and technology for molecule discovery and design. However, they recognized the importance of validating their AI platform by bringing their own AI-generated drugs into clinical trials. This is to test if the technology is efficient enough for human use.

According to Insilico Medicine, the human trial will last for up to 12 weeks in China. It's a placebo-controlled experiment that is also double-blind and randomized at the same time.

Related Article: AI Tool Shows Promising Results in Identifying Sperm for Severely Infertile Men

Pushing Towards Phase III Trial

The startup plans to expand the trial to involve 60 subjects across 40 sites in the U.S. and China.

If the Phase II study yields positive results, it will progress to further investigations with larger participant cohorts, potentially leading to Phase III trials involving hundreds of individuals.

While the exact timeline for future phases is challenging to predict, Zhavoronkov is optimistic about the drug's future prospects. He anticipates obtaining results from the Phase II trial next year and envisions the drug being ready for market within the next few years, offering hope to patients who may benefit from this innovative treatment approach.

Insilico Medicine's groundbreaking achievement not only demonstrates the potential of AI in drug development but also opens doors for new possibilities in addressing complex medical conditions.

The successful progression of AI-generated drugs through clinical trials could pave the way for more efficient and effective treatments, revolutionizing the pharmaceutical industry and benefiting patients worldwide.

Recently, Forbes reported that Insilico has filed for a Hong Kong IPO.

Read Also: WHO's Cancer Research Agency May Declare Aspartame Sweetener a Possible Carcinogen

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google could take a different approach to making its weather predictions more accurate. Instead of solely relying on its own data, the company could now start opening up its doors to start crowdsourcing from citizen scientists to get more accurate data.

Google to Launch New Heat Alerts Feature to Give Users More Data at the Front and Center of Search Results

According to the story by Android Police, this comes as there isn't really a need for experts to tell people that the world is heating up. This is because people can automatically feel the temperature around them.

When this happens, most people turn to the internet to look for more information regarding what's happening with the weather. This is where Google comes in, and as per the report, it is often the first solution that they turn to.

In March, Google launched its new heat alerts feature, which would help give its users more information at the front and center of their search results. More recently, it seems like the company is trying to refine that data and make it more accurate through crowdsourcing.

Google App will Now Ask Users Questions Regarding the Weather

It was also reported that the Google app was spotted showing questions about the weather conditions. With this, users would be able to enter weather data, similar to search box queries.

This includes simple questions like asking users, "is it raining now?" according to the findings of 9to5Google. It was noted that users would then be able to answer with either a "yes" or "no" button located next to them.

It was also noted that Google was likely looking for public participation in order for it to be able to monitor weather, especially in specific locations. The feature would also be able to help give the Weather app more crowdsourced data.

The Crowdsourced Data is Expected to Help Google Improve Its Offerings

9to5Google also notes that the questions won't always show up on the user's search results, which would avoid making the feature annoying for some people. The data from community feedback will reportedly help give Google Weather app more information for it to improve the data that it shows.

With the help of crowdsourced data, the Google Weather app is expected to be more precise and more reliable. It was noted that crowdsourcing is capable of collecting weather data coming from wide locations at higher frequencies compared to the usual traditional weather stations.

Read Also: Earth Lost Switzerland-Sized Forest Area in 2022, New Report Reveals

The New Feature Helps Google Expand Its Data Pool Aside from Just 'The Weather Channel'

It was also noted that the feature could also be very useful, especially in certain locations where the weather infrastructure remains limited. It was noted that crowdsourcing temperature could work in multiple settings no matter if it's hot or if it's raining.

The data will also reportedly be able to guide more targeted investments, according to Android Police, and interventions that are trying to help users when it comes to extreme weather preparations. So far, Google still relies on The Weather Channel for weather info but it plans to add to that with the help of crowdsourcing.

Related Article: Climate Change Is Shrinking Human Brains, New Study Claims

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
As the long-awaited Online Safety Bill nears final approval, the United Kingdom has made last-minute amendments by setting up higher standards for age verification tools and ensuring effectiveness whether a user is a child.

(Photo : Leon Neal/Getty Images)

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 17: In this photo illustration, a teenage child looks at a screen of age-restricted content on a laptop screen on January 17, 2023 in London, England.

Tightening Restrictions

The United Kingdom tightened its restrictions for the Online Safety Bill as it nears its final approval. According to a report from Reuters, the government will add new offenses with a much higher standard for age verification tools. These were commonly used by services that publish and allow pornographic materials on their platforms.

This effort from the United Kingdom is very similar to the European Union and other countries that have been grappling with how to protect users from social media's harmful content, especially children, without damaging freedom of speech. The bill is currently at parliament's upper House of Lords where lawmakers can still make changes before passing or rejecting it.

Aside from the mentioned above, the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology stated that this will also seek top executives accountable, as they are responsible for operating their respective platforms.

Tech and Digital Economy Minister Paul Scully stated that they are acting rapidly and with urgency to make sure that the Online Safety Bill will be the standard for protecting children in the world.

"This government will not allow the lives of our children to be put at stake whenever they go online; whether that is through facing abuse or viewing harmful content that could go on to have a devastating impact on their lives," he added. A two-year maximum sentence will also be given as a new offense for revenge porn, threatening to share intimate images.

Ofcom as Regulator

As part of the amendments, Ofcom will be regulated to retrieve data on the online activity of deceased children (if requested) to understand if and how their activity on the internet may have contributed to their death. It was also reported that Ofcom will also research the role of app stores' games in children's access to harmful content.

Based on a report from Bloomberg, authorities from the UK will also be publishing guidance on how tech giants and their platforms can reduce potential risks to women and improve public literacy of disinformation.

Also Read: Online Safety Bill Finally Reaches the UK Parliament - Know the Bill's Current Structure Here

The Online Safety Bill is an attempt by the government of the United Kingdom to make the Internet a much safer channel for everyone, especially children. The Verge reported that it will crack down on illegal content and minimize the possibility for kids to encounter harmful and age-inappropriate content, including child sexual abuse material, online harassment, suicide glorification, and more.

This was revealed way back in April 2018 by former Digital Minister Jeremy Wright, which brought attention because of the death of Molly Russel who had access to content relating self-harm and suicide online. The Cambridge Analytica scandal also created arguments, leading to political impetus.

Related Article: Signal Threatens To Leave UK if Online Safety Bill Impairs End-to-End Encryption

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The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has fallen victim to a data breach, potentially compromising the information of over 100,000 individuals.

According to an HHS representative, the breach occurred due to attackers exploiting a vulnerability in the widely used file-transfer software MOVEit.

This breach is part of a larger supply chain hack orchestrated by a Russian ransomware gang that has affected numerous government agencies, major pension funds, and private businesses.

US Department of Health and Human Services Classified It a 'Major Incident'

While the HHS official did not disclose the specific type of data that was compromised, it was clarified that none of the department's systems or networks were directly compromised.

Instead, the Associated Press reported that the attackers gained access to data managed by undisclosed third-party vendors.

On Tuesday, the HHS reported the breach to Congress, classifying it as a "major incident" due to the potential impact on the data of more than 100,000 individuals.

The breach, which targeted the MOVEit file-transfer program, was unveiled last month and has already affected numerous organizations worldwide.

Among the confirmed victims are the US Department of Energy, various federal agencies, millions of motorists in Oregon and Louisiana, Johns Hopkins University, Ernst & Young, the BBC, and British Airways.

The breach has had far-reaching consequences, with the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System announcing that data belonging to over 171,000 retirees and beneficiaries was compromised.

Similarly, California's public pension fund revealed that personal data belonging to over 769,000 retired workers and beneficiaries was stolen.

After discovering the breach, Progress Software, the parent company of MOVEit's US maker, immediately notified its customers about the incident on May 31 and provided a patch.

Despite these measures, cybersecurity experts had expressed concerns that sensitive data from numerous companies could by then have had sensitive data quietly exfiltrated.

The hack carried out by the Clop ransomware syndicate has put the stolen data at risk of being exposed online if the victims refuse to comply with the extortion demands.

The US government has acknowledged that multiple federal institutions have fallen victim to cyberattacks that exploit the vulnerability present in the widely utilized file transfer tool.

Read Also: Russian Ransomware Gang Breaches US Department of Energy, Other Federal Agencies

CISA Confirms Attacks

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has already confirmed that several agencies have suffered attacks due to the exploitation of a security flaw in Progress Software's MOVEit Transfer application.

The Clop ransomware gang, believed to have connections to Russia, has claimed responsibility for these attacks and has started disclosing the names of companies it alleges to have compromised through the MOVEit vulnerability.

While the MOVEit hack has affected multiple institutions, the energy department stated that it immediately mitigated the vulnerability's exposure upon discovering the breach.

The department is collaborating with law enforcement, CISA, and the impacted organizations to investigate the incident and minimize its repercussions.

Jen Easterly, head of CISA, emphasized that the MOVEit hack was mainly opportunistic and did not specifically target high-value data. She assured that this cyberattack does not pose a systemic threat, unlike the SolarWinds hack, which significantly impacted multiple US government agencies in 2020.

Related Article: Russia-linked Ransomware Gang Lists Victims of Mass-hacks Consisting of US Banks, Universities

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. is seeking to kick off talks with lenders on debt for a downtown Brooklyn office tower ahead of the loans maturity.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Brookfield said its hopeful that a deal can be reached on its roughly $130 million loan for 15 MetroTech Center, a 675,000-square-foot (63,000-square-meter) office building. The loan wont be in default as it transfers to special servicing, and the company continues to manage and lease the property, also known as 115 Myrtle Ave.

Property owners are confronting borrowing costs that have soared over the past year, as well as shifting demand for offices given the rise in remote work and layoffs. Some landlords are defaulting on debt as a way to kick-start renegotiations over loan terms, while other owners are simply cutting their losses and walking away from properties.

Brookfield has been caught up in the markets turn. Earlier this year, the Toronto-based firm defaulted on a mortgage tied to a dozen office buildings, mostly around Washington, and handed over control of two major buildings in downtown Los Angeles.

The company isnt looking to walk away from all properties that are tied up in negotiations with lenders. Brookfield and MetLife Inc. recently worked out a modification to the loan on a Denver office building called Republic Plaza that went into special servicing, according to a spokesperson. The loan will be extended through March 2026.

Republic Plaza is an in-demand office asset, and we are glad to have achieved a positive outcome as expected, both for the building and downtown Denver, Andrew Brent, a Brookfield spokesperson, said in an emailed statement. As weve said, special servicing is often a path toward a successful resolution for a property that requires a loan modification.

Brookfield office property defaults account for 0.08% of its total real estate assets, according to a spokesperson.

When Brookfield acquired MetroTech Center in 2018, it was a dated office complex. Last year, the firm rebranded the site as Brooklyn Commons and announced a $50 million plan to upgrade buildings plus the outdoor space.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
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California bacon law takes effect but pork from farms using cages will still be on shelves

Sows move around freely inside a large breeding area on farm run by Jared Schilling Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Walsh, Ill. Schilling has made his farm compliant with a California law, taking effect on July 1, that promises to get breeding pigs out of narrow cages that restrict their movement. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  A California law approved by voters that promises to get breeding pigs out of narrow cages that prevent them from standing or turning will finally take effect Saturday, after years of delays and warnings that the rules could lead to price spikes and pork shortages.

But it will be six months before California grocery shoppers can be sure that pork chops they buy under the new law will be from a pig whose mother wasnt confined in a so-called gestation crate.

Thats because while the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law, the state recently agreed to allow pork slaughtered before July 1 to be sold in California markets and restaurants for the rest of the year. That decision gives farmers and grocery stores time to adjust. But it's exasperating to supporters of the new rules that the effective implementation of the law would again be delayed  four years after voters approved it.

This development compounds the instability and confusion in the marketplace, while punishing the small independent family farmers and those companies that have been prepared to abide by the law, Chris Oliviero, general manager of meat company Niman Ranch, said in a statement.

Niman stands to benefit from the law because it contracts with farmers that have long met Californias new animal welfare rules.

But even backers of the tougher rules recognize a silver lining in the delay: Giving producers, grocers and restaurants more time to adjust will reduce the chance of shortages. Josh Balk, who led the Humane Society of the United States campaign to pass the law, said theres going to be a smooth transition for the pork industry.

The measure also included space requirements for egg-laying hens and veal calves. But while those producers complied, the pork industry filed legal challenges. They argued that California, which consumes roughly 13% of the nations pork but produces almost none of it, shouldnt dictate how farmers mainly in the Midwest and North Carolina should raise hogs.

Californians approved Proposition 12 in 2018, mandating that fresh pork sold in their state had to be born to sows with at least 24 square feet of space, allowing a breeding pig to turn around and extend its limbs. It effectively banned widely used gestation crates that protect sows from other pigs, which can be aggressive, but that many people see as cruel.

Producers argued converting barns to comply would be costly, with standard operations paying $5 million to $15 million, said Michael Formica, a lawyer with the Iowa-based National Pork Producers Council. Larger spaces would also mean higher heating and maintenance costs.

Pork producers also defended their treatment of pigs, arguing the law wasn't based on science.

The Supreme Court upheld the law in a 5-4 ruling, with Justice Neil Gorsuch writing that While the Constitution addresses many weighty issues, the type of pork chops California merchants may sell is not on that list.

To sell in California, farmers will need to operate more like Jared Schilling, who left a job as a civil engineer in Chicago to join his three siblings in shifting their family farm in southern Illinois away from gestation crates. They moved to group housing for all their breeding pigs as well as the other hogs.

Its easier to manage an animal if they never move, Schilling said of the crates.

They thought giving the animals extra space would be more humane, but without crates breeding pigs at times fight each other. The family had to add new technology to track each animal and figure out ways to prevent the fighting, on top of the cost of the expensive new barns.

After about five years, the farm now has about 3,600 breeding sows. It sells 80,000 hogs a year to Coleman Natural Foods, a Colorado-based national meat distributor that has sold only crate-free pork since 2018.

Schilling said Coleman pays him about 5%-10% more for the hogs so he can cover his extra expenses. The family's decision to keep animals in much larger pens also paid off in a more relaxed operation for everyone  people as well as pigs.

When theyre in the pens, theyre laying down, chill. Theres basically no noise, Schilling said. They definitely feel more relaxed.

The California law, as well as one taking effect soon in Massachusetts, should mean increased demand for pork from Schillings farm and ultimately more profit.

Some grocery stores in California don't anticipate too much of a disruption, but others are scrambling, even with the latest delay in the regulations, said Ronald Fong, CEO of the California Grocers Association.

Bacon is likely to remain well stocked because it can be frozen. But fresh products could be in shorter supply.

Pork chops, pork loin, pork roast, that are sold fresh, not frozen, those are the types of products that we can anticipate a disruption at some level, Fong said.

Balk, the humane society campaigner, now heads a company that seeks to influence food companies by investing in them. He believes the California law will speed up the demise of gestation crates. He said some companies already are promising to stop buying pork from operations that use the crates, and its only a matter of time before they are phased out.

For now, it's unclear how many hog farmers will invest to upgrade pens and meet demand in California and Massachusetts.

As best we can tell, theres nowhere near enough supply, said Formica, of the pork producers.
In 1925 an intriguing historical event happened; the arrival of the first Buddhists in Africa.

This significant occurrence took place as a result of the British Empire's efforts to construct the East African railway in Tanzania. The purpose of this railway was to enhance transportation and communication across the region.





We will explore the context surrounding this event, the motivations behind the British Empire's actions, and the impact of the Buddhist settlers on the religious and cultural landscape of Africa.





Africas chapter in the history of Buddhism.

In the early 20th century, an intriguing chapter unfolded in the history of Buddhism. It was during this time that the first Buddhists, brought by British individuals, arrived in Africa in 1925. Their journey to the continent was driven by the ambitious undertaking of constructing the East African railway in Tanzania.





The British Empire, which had a strong presence in Africa during that era, sought to establish efficient transportation networks to facilitate trade and communication across its territories. As part of this endeavor, the construction of the East African railway was initiated, connecting the coastal city of Dar es Salaam to the inland town of Morogoro and further on to Tabora.





To fulfill the monumental task of building this railway, the British authorities recruited a diverse labor force from various regions, including Asia. It was during this recruitment process that a group of individuals who identified as Buddhists were brought to Tanzania from countries such as India, Sri Lanka, and other parts of Southeast Asia.





The arrival of these early Buddhist settlers marked the beginning of Buddhism's presence in Africa. They carried with them the teachings, practices, and traditions of Buddhism, which originated in ancient India over two and a half millennia ago.





Buddhism, a religion that emphasizes personal spiritual development and the pursuit of enlightenment, gradually found its place among the cultural tapestry of Africa. The British-led construction of the East African railway posed numerous challenges, including difficult working conditions and cultural differences.





However, amidst these circumstances, the Buddhist workers fostered a sense of community and preserved their religious beliefs and practices. They established places of worship and formed small Buddhist communities to support each other spiritually and emotionally during their time in Tanzania.





Over the years, Buddhism in Africa has evolved and expanded beyond the initial presence of those early Buddhist settlers.





The teachings of the Buddha have resonated with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures across the continent. Today, African Buddhists encompass a wide range of individuals, including indigenous Africans who have embraced Buddhism, as well as those from various ethnicities who have migrated to the continent.





The story of the first Buddhists in Africa serves as a reminder of the intricate ways in which cultures, religions, and traditions intersect and spread across the globe. It highlights the adaptability and transformative nature of Buddhism as it continues to inspire individuals on their spiritual journeys, irrespective of geographical boundaries.





As Buddhism continues to find new expressions and followers in Africa and around the world, it reminds us of the enduring power of human curiosity, cultural exchange, and the search for meaning and enlightenment in our lives.

Buddhist Leaders in Africa.

The emergence of African Buddhist leaders has played a significant role in the development and dissemination of Buddhism in Africa. These individuals, born in Africa and often with a deep connection to their cultural heritage, have embraced Buddhism and become influential figures within their local communities.





They blend Buddhist principles with indigenous wisdom, creating a unique and holistic approach to spirituality that resonates with many Africans.





One prominent African Buddhist leader is Ven. Bhante Buddharakkhita, originally from Uganda. After encountering Buddhism during his studies in India, he returned to Uganda and founded the Uganda Buddhist Centre in 2005. Ven. Buddharakkhita has been instrumental in introducing Buddhism to Ugandans and fostering a greater understanding of its teachings.





He emphasizes the practical application of Buddhist principles to address social issues such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, and environmental conservation. In South Africa, Ven. Dhammarakkhita, a South African-born Buddhist monk, has played a pivotal role in promoting Buddhism and interfaith dialogue.





Ven. Bhante Buddharakkhita established the Buddhist Retreat Centre near Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal, which serves as a spiritual sanctuary and a place for learning and meditation. Ven. Dhammarakkhita actively engages with local communities, organizing workshops, retreats, and interfaith events to promote peace, harmony, and mindfulness.





Another notable figure is Zen Master Bon Yeon, who was born in South Africa and is a leading teacher in the Korean Zen tradition. She has dedicated herself to Zen practice and teaching, drawing upon her African roots to bring a unique perspective to her spiritual guidance.





Zen Master Bon Yeon has worked tirelessly to bridge the gap between African culture and Zen Buddhism, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all beings and the cultivation of wisdom and compassion.





These African Buddhist leaders, along with many others, have become inspirational figures within their communities. They guide local practitioners, offer teachings, and foster a sense of belonging and spiritual growth.

By integrating Buddhist principles with indigenous wisdom, they provide a pathway for Africans to connect with their own cultural heritage while embracing the transformative teachings of Buddhism.





African Buddhist leaders have actively participated in interfaith dialogue, promoting mutual understanding and cooperation among different religious traditions. They recognize the importance of fostering unity and collaboration in addressing societal challenges and promoting peace and harmony.





The presence of African Buddhist leaders demonstrates the diversity and adaptability of Buddhism as it finds a home within the African continent.





Their wisdom, teachings, and compassionate actions contribute to the spiritual, social, and intellectual landscapes of Africa, enriching the lives of individuals and fostering a deeper understanding of Buddhist principles.
ASX-listed PointsBet has officially sold its US division to merchandise giant Fanatics after shareholders endorsed the $333 million sale on Friday following a lengthy bidding process.

More than 98 per cent of those who voted were in favour of the sale. It means betting operator PointsBet will retain control of its Australian and Canadian divisions and be freed of the expensive costs associated with its US expansion. Chairman Brett Paton said the soon-to-be cash-flow positive PointsBet is well-placed to capitalise on potential local acquisition opportunities, but hedged its unlikely to be a focus in the immediate future.

PointsBet chief executive Sam Swanell will be able to concentrate on the Australian and Canadian business after the sale of the US division. Credit: Chris Hopkins

We do see opportunities in the form of junior operators who may come to us in time and suggest that we can find merit in a proposal. But in the meantime, we just want shareholders to see weve settled down and returned capital. Well hit the pause button for a little while, Paton said.

The shareholders were asked to approve the $333 million sale after a drawn-out bidding process that culminated with Fanatics improving its offer by 50 per cent after an 11th-hour bid from US wagering behemoth DraftKings. DraftKings was unable to finalise its bid within the nine-day timeline set by PointsBet.
What underlying fundamental trends can indicate that a company might be in decline? More often than not, we'll see a declining return on capital employed (ROCE) and a declining amount of capital employed. Ultimately this means that the company is earning less per dollar invested and on top of that, it's shrinking its base of capital employed. In light of that, from a first glance at Harn Len Corporation Bhd (KLSE:HARNLEN), we've spotted some signs that it could be struggling, so let's investigate.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

If you haven't worked with ROCE before, it measures the 'return' (pre-tax profit) a company generates from capital employed in its business. To calculate this metric for Harn Len Corporation Bhd, this is the formula:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.029 = RM10m  (RM426m - RM70m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

Therefore, Harn Len Corporation Bhd has an ROCE of 2.9%. In absolute terms, that's a low return and it also under-performs the Food industry average of 8.5%.

Check out our latest analysis for Harn Len Corporation Bhd

roce

Historical performance is a great place to start when researching a stock so above you can see the gauge for Harn Len Corporation Bhd's ROCE against it's prior returns. If you'd like to look at how Harn Len Corporation Bhd has performed in the past in other metrics, you can view this free graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

How Are Returns Trending?

In terms of Harn Len Corporation Bhd's historical ROCE movements, the trend doesn't inspire confidence. To be more specific, the ROCE was 4.1% five years ago, but since then it has dropped noticeably. And on the capital employed front, the business is utilizing roughly the same amount of capital as it was back then. Since returns are falling and the business has the same amount of assets employed, this can suggest it's a mature business that hasn't had much growth in the last five years. So because these trends aren't typically conducive to creating a multi-bagger, we wouldn't hold our breath on Harn Len Corporation Bhd becoming one if things continue as they have.

On a related note, Harn Len Corporation Bhd has decreased its current liabilities to 16% of total assets. That could partly explain why the ROCE has dropped. What's more, this can reduce some aspects of risk to the business because now the company's suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of its operations. Since the business is basically funding more of its operations with it's own money, you could argue this has made the business less efficient at generating ROCE.

In Conclusion...

In summary, it's unfortunate that Harn Len Corporation Bhd is generating lower returns from the same amount of capital. The market must be rosy on the stock's future because even though the underlying trends aren't too encouraging, the stock has soared 367%. Regardless, we don't feel too comfortable with the fundamentals so we'd be steering clear of this stock for now.

One more thing, we've spotted 2 warning signs facing Harn Len Corporation Bhd that you might find interesting.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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When streaming landed on our screens, it was hailed as televisions promised land. It offered content at our beck and call, drawn from libraries as deep as the internet itself. But as balance sheet economics has caught up to the multi-billion dollar spending sprees, content is vanishing and streaming itself is evolving.

Among the dozens of film and TV titles cut from streamers, Disney+ has dropped the TV sequel Willow while Paramount+ has cut its Twilight Zone reboot, the Grease prequel Rise of the Pink Ladies and the Star Trek spin-off Prodigy. In the US, Westworld and Minx have vanished from Warner Bros Discoverys Max. There are dozens more gone, and more still to be cut.

FAST TV platform TUBI.

The reason is a fundamental realignment of streaming economics: Netflixs deal for Seinfeld, or Peacocks deal for The Office  both worth a breathtaking US$500 million - are the tip of an unsustainable iceberg. Its the reason why Comcast wants to cut US$1 billion from NBCUniversal and the BBC wants to cut 100 million from its originals budget. Its also why Spotify jettisoned its deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Big-ticket deals make great headlines, but they will not keep the lights on.

In its decade-long life, traditional streaming has created a marketplace of warehouses, essentially shopfronts operated by studios or broadcasters, such as Foxtels Binge, Nines Stan or, in the US, NBCs Peacock and Warner Bros Discoverys Max, which sell subscriber access to an on-demand library.
Carpenter Jack Camilleri is ankle-deep in mud at his mate Tom and Margaret Wests century-old weatherboard house in Spotswood.

This house was one of 250 war service commission homes built in Spotswood between 1920 and 1930, to house families of small means. Just 28 remain.

Carpenter Jack Camilleri working on a house in Spotswood. Credit: Joe Armao

Camilleri, West and their crew have spent months painstakingly restoring this home, removing an ugly front carport, replacing weatherboards and installing a verandah to bring the house back to its original character. But if theyd started the job later this year, they might not have been able to touch the exterior.

For the first time, homes like this one would be covered by a strict heritage overlay under plans announced by Hobsons Bay Council to add another 196 homes and businesses to its list of significant properties.
But Anderson said there did not appear to be a coherent and consistent strategy developed and implemented across government, the bureaucracy, Victoria Police and the Transport Accident Commission. Loading You hear from police that theyre going to have a blitz... but is that being backed up by advertisements, is it being backed up by people in schools talking to the kids, or by the RACV in its magazines all at the same time? I dont think it is, Anderson said. Anderson is supported in his views by his former general manager of road safety, Eric Howard, who after leaving VicRoads in 2006 went on to consult on road safety management in more than 35 countries around the world and for organisations including the World Bank and OECD.

Unless we do something different, its not going to change, Howard said. In January 2020, the pair wrote a submission to a parliamentary Inquiry into road safety, warning they believed road deaths would increase in the following years unless the state changed how it managed road safety, and have been proven correct. One of the faces of the rising road toll, Montana Russell. Credit: Eddie Jim; Supplied Anderson pointed to how Victoria was able to almost halve its annual road deaths in just three years, from 776 deaths in 1989 to 396 deaths in 1992, after the state established a partnership between VicRoads, Victoria Police and the Transport Accident Commission to tackle the issue, with all parties given joint responsibility and authority. But Victoria has moved away from this model; the Andrews government created a new agency in 2019 called Road Safety Victoria, which is part of the Department of Transport and Planning and leads the states road safety strategy.

That strategy aims to halve road deaths between 2021 and 2030 and is being delivered by Road Safety Partners in Victoria Police, the TAC and transport, health and justice departments. Anderson and Howard warned in their inquiry submission that having a top dog coordinating road safety efforts would not work because police and the TAC needed to retain control over their own operations, and called for a return to genuinely joint partnership where all agencies had equal responsibility and authority. The partnership has been very effective for Victoria over many years, and its important that it remains so, Howard said. Victorias last road safety strategy, Towards Zero, failed to achieve its goal of reducing road deaths to under 200 between 2016 and 2020. Along with a better coordinated approach across government, Anderson also identified the poor standard of road maintenance and the growing problem of drug-affected driving as key issues for the state to tackle.

He said Victoria Police would need to increase roadside drug testing from around 150,000 a year to the same level as alcohol testing (around 3 million a year) before it was an effective deterrent. Building infrastructure like roadside barriers was necessary to make it safer on country roads, where close to half of fatal crashes occur, and the state needed to consider reducing speed limits from their 100km/h default as a last resort on roads it couldnt afford to upgrade, he said. Loading Do we want to reduce the road toll or stop it going up? Then weve either got to slow people down, which we know the community will dislike, or weve got to improve the roads, which we know the treasury will dislike, Anderson said. Theres got to be a balance between the two. Howard  who also advised on Victorias 2007 road safety strategy  said speed limits were the elephant in the room, with Victorians travelling legally at speeds that were wholly inappropriate for narrow, tree-lined country roads.

On a narrow sealed road you shouldnt be travelling 100km/h because if you hit something coming the other way youre dead  youre finished, he said. Weve been unable to get that message across to the Victorian community in a way that gives them pause to think and reflect on what might be done. Howard said lowering speed limits to safe levels would not necessarily mean travel times would increase significantly because high-quality main roads could remain at 100km/h or 110km/h. Only quieter back roads connecting to those highways, which the state could not ever afford to completely upgrade, would need a speed limit reduction, he said. Victorias default rural speed limit of 100km/h is high by international standards, comparing to 70 to 90km/h in many developed nations, including the similarly sprawling Canada, which sets them at 80 to 90km/h. A spokesperson for Road Safety Minister Melissa Horne said that long-term trends showed road deaths were falling,but road safety trends are changing after the pandemic and there is more work to do.
As property prices and rent costs rise across greater Melbourne, the neighbourhoods in which we live have become battlegrounds for competing demands.

Often the disputes are about development sizes: how big apartment projects should be, and the problems when bulky buildings dominate streetscapes or impinge on existing residents privacy. Sometimes the demands are about reserving green spaces or providing more car parking.

Local councils have had to rethink how our neighbourhoods are constructed and connected. Credit: Luis Ascui

But as housing affordability crisis worsens, one of the most difficult and passionate debates flaring through Melbournes inner and middle-ring suburbs is about heritage overlays.

At its heart are questions about what sites are genuinely worth preserving for future generations, and what can be redeveloped or demolished to better utilise limited space close to the CBD.
This article is part of the Travel Hot List for July, 2023.

Winter in Europe has a magical quality. River cruising companies know it  their Christmas itineraries, running November through to new year, are hugely popular, carrying guests between brightly decorated villages, to cities overtaken by the festive spirit and to Christmas markets twinkling in the frosty air. Onboard, theres mulled wine and seasonal menus as the river ships meander snowy landscapes.

Cologne on the Rhine. Winter is a quieter and more affordable time to cruise Europes rivers.

But come January, most river cruising vessels go into dry dock, undergoing maintenance and upgrades until March.

Viking River Cruises is bucking that trend, introducing a new Middle Rhine winter itinerary that will run throughout the winter and starts January 13, 2024.

Viking has long promoted cruising during the Mediterraneans quiet season which can often be the best time to visit the region thanks in part to its mild and pleasant winters which are appealing for many, says Viking spokeswoman Michelle Black.
(Bloomberg) -- Carnival Corp. shares have never seen a month this good and at least one analyst says investors should be expecting more of the same.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The cruise-line operator jumped 9.7% on Friday, pushing its gains for June to a record 68% after Jefferies upgraded its rating to buy from hold and boosted its price target to a Street-high $25. Competitors Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. also traded higher.

Despite the strong year-to-date performance, we believe the journey from a good trade to long-term investment case remains ahead, analyst David Katz wrote in a note to clients.

While cruise-line operators have seen an uptick in demand this year in the aftermath of the pandemic, there have also been signs that the post-Covid spike in travel may be beginning to ease. Data from the US Travel Association earlier this month estimated that leisure trips within the US will increase 1.4% this year and about 3% or less in each of the next three years, a sharp drop from 27% growth in 2021 and 6.2% last year.

Read more: US Travel Growth Projected to Slow as Post-Pandemic Demand Wanes

Still, investors have hardly shied away from piling into cruise stocks. Carnivals 134% gain this year makes it the third-best performer in the S&P 500 Index, trailing only Nvidia Corp. and Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean has more than doubled this year and is on track for its best annual performance since 1997, while Norwegian has jumped 78%, set to be a record year.

Katz points to Carnivals solid demand growth and its pivot toward positive cash flows as a reason why the stock should continue to perform well. The company told investors on its second-quarter conference call Monday that it expects cash flow from operations to average $5 billion annually over the next three years.

Chief Executive Officer Josh Weinstein, who took the helm in August to set the companys post-pandemic strategy after years of lockdowns left travel and leisure companies in a lurch, is also a major driver of Carnivals resurgence and its long-term attractiveness, according to Katz.

It has become clearer to us that his operating engagement has and should continue to prove beneficial to the company and its results, Katz said.

--With assistance from Dawn McCarty.

(Updates stock moves at market close)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) -- Chinas leading steelmakers warned the industry faces a very challenging second half as demand disappoints, profitability lags, and pressure to cut costs mounts in the worlds top producer.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Representatives from China Baowu Steel Group Co., Ansteel Group Co., Hesteel Co. and Hunan Iron & Steel Group Co. said they are not optimistic about the coming six months, the China Iron & Steel Association said after the four companies attended a meeting organized by the industry body this week.

The peak inflection point for steel demand has emerged, while the problems of insufficient end-user consumption, and ongoing thin margins are particularly prominent, the CISA said in a statement, citing the quartet of companies.

Mills in China  which account for more than half of global steel production and are the largest importers of iron ore  have struggled this year as the nations recovery has stalled while a property crisis dragged on. Data released on Friday showed that manufacturing contracted again in June, adding to a string of soft figures. While thats led to calls for more stimulus to prop up growth, officials in Beijing have so far refrained from significant measures.

We are relatively cautious on further gains in iron ore, said Wei Ying, an analyst at China Industrial Futures Ltd., citing the dimming outlook for Chinese steel demand. The outlook hinges on how China carries out additional stimulus, including whether the National Development and Reform Commission intervenes again, Wei said, referring to the senior state agency.

Iron ore futures gave up an early gain to tumble 1.8% lower at $110.75 a ton in Singapore at 6:04 p.m. The move lower widened a quarterly loss to 12%, although prices remain higher this month.

Almost half of major mills were loss-making in the first five months of the year, CISA said. Meanwhile, official figures show nationwide steel production in May was the lowest for that month since 2019, and the industrys purchasing managers index pointed to another contraction in June even as orders rose.

Low profitability in the industry has persisted for nearly a year, said Luo Tiejun, the associations vice chairman. However, upstream raw materials for steel-making still remain at a relatively elevated levels, Luo added.

The spot price of steel rebar  a benchmark product thats used in construction  has slumped by more than 8% this year, while iron ore futures in Singapore have dropped about 3% in that period.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

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(Bloomberg) -- Chinas Trip.com Group Ltd. said it will offer childcare subsidies to employees for each newborn child through the age of five, part of a family-friendly program launched as birth rates decline in the worlds second-biggest economy.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Employees who have worked for the online tourism agency for three years or more will be eligible for an annual cash bonus of 10,000 yuan ($1,379) starting on their first birthday. The subsidy is part of a 1 billion yuan program the company is creating to promote working families and support employees in their planning, according to a statement published on Thursday.

The move comes as China experiences a rapid decline in its birth rate, and posted a population drop last year for the first time since the 1960s. Meanwhile, its regional rival India took the global mantle as the most populous country earlier this year.

Read more: What Chinas Falling Population Means for Its Future

Trip.coms founder and chairman James Liang said the company aims to provide financial support that will encourage our employees to start or grow their families without compromising on their professional goals and achievements.

Liang, whose postdoctoral studies focused on population and economics, is a well-known advocate for abolishing Chinas one-child policy and has long supported measures to stem the countrys declining fertility rate.

While the rising cost of childrearing and higher education levels among women have contributed to declining fertility rates in China, some female employees also face high-pressure, potentially discriminatory work cultures that lead them to delay or abandon plans to have children. Some worry about losing opportunities for career advancement or even their jobs should they take several months of maternity leave or even just become pregnant.

China has seen its birth rate plummet over the years. The measure, which tracks the average number of lifetime births per woman, fell to 1.07 in 2022, far below the 2.1 needed to maintain the population, excluding migration.

Earlier this month, Beijing became the countrys first major city to extend insurance coverage to a slew of assisted reproductive services to ease the financial burden on couples seeking fertility help and encourage more births.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
Cheyenne, WY (82001)

Today

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 79F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 55F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
The Daily News will sit down with your top performance player from the Week #7 Batavia Muckdogs games and talk baseball! Keep an eye out for our Week #8 poll, running next week (Tuesday - Friday)!

You voted:
Bart Van Delm, managing director of Hillewaere's real estate division

Bart Van Delm, managing director of Hillewaere Group's real estate division

Roel Druyts, CEO of Hillewaere Group

Roel Druyts, CEO of Hillewaere Group

CHICAGO and TURNHOUT, Belgium, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leading luxury real estate brand Christies International Real Estate announces its expansion into Belgium, partnering with fast-growing luxury-focused firm, Hillewaere. As the exclusive affiliate of Christies International Real Estate in Belgium, Hillewaere will gain access to world-class marketing and technology, national and international visibility for listings, and a connection to the iconic Christies auction house, for the referral of art and luxury goods.

Established in 2002 by Roel Druyts, Hillewaere has grown from a one-man real estate brokerage to a thriving multidisciplinary company with divisions for real estate, insurance, and mortgage lending. Druyts now serves as CEO of Hillewaere Group, while Bart Van Delm oversees the firms real estate business as managing director. In 2021, the firm received an investment from merchant banking powerhouse Rothschild & Co. and its Five Arrows Principal Investments (FAPI) arm, setting up further expansion.

Hillewaere is a fixture in Belgiums high-end residential market, which continues to see strong growth post pandemic. The country attracts residents from around the world with its rich culture and bustling economy, and is particularly appealing to homebuyers from France, Germany, and the Netherlands thanks to its relatively low cost of living and tax incentives.

The firm is well established in Antwerp and other Flemish provinces, and is planning to expand under the Christies International Real Estate brand into the capital city of Brussels, the French-speaking Wallonia region, and Knokke and other upscale resort towns along the Belgian coast.

Much like the relationship between Christies International Real Estate and the separately owned, but closely aligned, Christies auction house, the connection between Hillewaeres real estate division and its insurance business  which includes categories for art, luxury automobiles and fine jewelry  creates synergies that drive referrals and exceptional client service.

Hillewaere and Christies International Real Estate complement each other perfectly in terms of our expertise, the way we serve buyers and sellers and our credibility in the market. Around the world, Christies International Real Estate has a wide client base and unique target audience, especially given their close relationship with Christies auction house. And we built our strong reputation and systematically expanded our existing portfolio in the luxury housing market in Belgium over the past few years, explained Druyts.

Our focus on luxury real estate, our client-centric approach and our staffs expertise, combined with the deep international network that Christies International Real Estate provides, ensures clients know they are in the right place to buy or sell their luxury property with confidence. This partnership will undoubtedly strengthen our position in the Belgian luxury real estate market, added Van Delm.

Roel and Bart have built an exceptional real estate brokerage focused on relationships, innovation and unmatched service, all values shared by Christies International Real Estate. We are pleased to have them on board as our exclusive Belgium affiliate, and we look forward to supporting their growth as we continue our expansion throughout Europe, said Helena de Forton, managing director, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) for Christies International Real Estate.

Christies International Real Estate has expanded rapidly over the past 18 months through new partnerships with independent brokerage firms around the world. Recently, the brand has signed on new affiliates in Munich, London, Milan, Venice, the Italian, Swiss and French Alps, Malta, Estonia, the Caribbean and Japan. The luxury real estate network has also added leading brokerages in top-ranked U.S. markets, including Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Miami and Chicago.

###

About Christies International Real Estate

Christies International Real Estate has successfully marketed high-value real estate around the world for more than 30 years. Through its invitation-only Affiliate network spanning nearly 50 countries and territories, Christies International Real Estate offers incomparable services to a global clientele at the luxury end of the residential property market. For more information, please visit christiesrealestate.com.

About the Hillewaere Group

Founded by current CEO Roel Druyts in 2002, Hillewaere Group is a group of three service companies: Hillewaere Real Estate, Hillewaere Insurance and Hillewaere Mortgages. The company strives to provide clients with the best advice for acquiring, managing, protecting and furnishing real estate in the most service-oriented and proactive way possible. And it takes advantage of technology to go all out in attaining this goal. The three companies are managed by Hillewaere Holding. For more information, visit hillewaere.be .

Attachments

CONTACT: Bella Paredes Christie's International Real Estate 2197657682 bellaparedes@atproperties.com




Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Showers and a few thunderstorms likely. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 63F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Showers and a few thunderstorms likely. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 63F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
New York Air National Guard Chaplain Maj. Jeffery Bartz, the chaplin for the 107th Attack Wing, speaks to the audience during the ceremony at which he received the Samuel Stone Award held on June 3 at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. The award is given annually to an outstanding Air National Guard chaplain.
Corporate agitators slow down in Q2 but ready to pounce in H2 - Barclays data

FILE PHOTO: Carl Icahn gives an interview on FOX Business Network's Neil Cavuto show in New York

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Following the busiest quarter on record, activist investors slowed down in the second three months of 2023 but are expected to mount more high-profile campaigns in the second half amid pent-up demand for acquisitions and a new way of voting.

Investors including Elliott Investment Management, Engaged Capital and Legion Partners, launched 53 new campaigns around the world during the second quarter, down 32% from a record 78 campaigns in the first three months of 2023, according to data from investment bank Barclays.

Still, the overall pace remains in line with activity seen at the same time last year. Investors, bankers and lawyers expect a busy second half where activists may become more involved in trying to jumpstart mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

"Volatile markets and depressed M&A markets are not deterring activists from launching campaigns in 2023," said Jim Rossman, global head of shareholder advisory at Barclays. They are "pushing companies to sell assets to unlock value, and finding new opportunities in Europe and Asia."

After traditionally hunting for targets in the United States, activists looked abroad with Europe and Asia making up nearly 50% of all campaigns and the U.S. contributing only 41% in the first half, the data show.

Activist investors identify underperforming companies and then push management to perform better by making changes in the executive ranks, cutting costs or putting divisions and entire companies up for sale.

In the first half, 46% of all campaigns included an M&A component - up from the 42% four-year average - despite sluggish financing markets and a drop in deals, Barclays data show.

ValueAct pushed for a sale and management change at Japanese retailer Seven and I Holdings, while Carl Icahn is pressing gene sequencing machine maker Illumina to undo its Grail acquisition and paved the way for former CEO Francis deSouza to resign earlier this month.

Elliott has asked utility firm NRG to conduct a strategic review, often shorthand for putting the company or a division up for sale.

Prominent activists Elliott, Inclusive Capital, ValueAct, Starboard Value and South Korea's Align Partners, combined accounted for nearly 30% of all campaigns in the first half.

More than half of all campaigns targeted technology, industrial or healthcare companies, including several activists going after Salesforce, Inclusive Capital's push at Bayer and Icahn's at Illumina making big headlines.

In the second half, Barclays' Rossman expects to see a market with pent-up demand for M&A and $1.4 trillion parked in private equity firms' war chests that needs to be put to work.

Activists may soon play a larger role in "bridging the gap between buyer and seller expectations" where the two sides are far off on price, one reason activity has been sluggish, he said.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that software company Enfusion is attracting takeover interest from various parties including activist hedge fund Irenic Capital Management.

Investors may also be emboldened by the universal proxy card which was adopted nearly a year ago and lets shareholders pick and choose among company and dissident director nominees.

"The proof is in the pudding in the 2023 proxy season," Rossman said. "Activists won seats at 80% of proxy contests that went to a final vote, compared to 33% in 2022."

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Jamie Freed)
Air NZ has even planted a cute little easter egg for Swifties, calling a few of the flights NZ1981. Now they just need to blast Taylor Swifts greatest hits during the flight and it will be everything any Taylor fans have ever dreamed of apart from an NZ show.
10 Tonnes of Mining Needed for One Electric Car: CEO Reveals True Cost of Net Zero

An employee works on the production line of electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer Octillion in Hefei, Anhui province, China, on March 30, 2021. (Aly Song/Reuters)

BRISBANEBusiness leaders at the World Mining Congress have revealed the sheer scale (and urgency) of new mining activity needed to make net zero societies feasible.

The climate change movementsupposed to be about protecting the environmentwill, in fact, spur mining companies to go deeper, bigger, and faster to meet the demand for critical minerals like lithium and copper, which are needed for batteries and solar panels.

A footprint of five percent [grade] copper, which is really the average grade that can be developed, would [cover] 31 square kilometres, which is 12 times the size of the CBD that were sitting in today, said Sherry Duhe, interim CEO of Newcrest Mining.

So imagine thats one mine, and we need many, many, 10s or dozens of those mines to be able to meet the copper demand thats out there, she said. That means we have to go deeper, we have to build bigger mines, and we have to go much, much faster than we have ever gone before.

Duhe also revealed internal Newcrest modelling showed the average electric car needed far more mining to support it compared to conventional vehicles.

The Chevrolet Bolt EV is pictured at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, on November 16, 2016. (Mike Blake/Reuters)

When you look at the amount of earth we have to move to produce one [EV] car, its ten tonnes, she said, saying it was six times the total material needed for regular cars.

It just shows you the enormity of the problem and the challenge that were facing. And thats just to electrify vehicles; thats just one element of the electrical system.

EVs and solar panels require a range of critical minerals, including lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite. The challenge with mining these minerals is not only the extraction process from the soil but also the processing supply chain, which is largely controlled by China.

Newcrest is currently the fifth largest copper miner in the world and manages to extract that volume from just four mines.

And yet we need 250 Cadias to be built in the next 27 years, she said, in reference to the Cadia gold and copper mine. If the biggest companies in the world have a handful of projects, think about how much work, and therefore, the opportunity there is for development.

Workers drain away polluted water near the Zijin copper mine in Shanghang on July 13, 2010, after pollution from the mine contaminated the Ting River, a major waterway in southeast Chinas Fujian Province. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Her comments were followed by those of Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who told attendees the world must increase mining production by 450 percent.

We cant generate renewable energy or get to net zero without the copper and cobalt that go in solar panels and wind turbines, he said. And we cant store it without the lithium, nickel, and graphite needed for batteries.

Thats why, on some estimates, meeting the worlds climate goals by 2050 will require a 450 percent increase in the production of these minerals.

Is Everyone Really On Board?

While there was a broad consensus around the urgency for net zero, there were some who had a different perspective.

For the people on the street in South America, they know nothing about net zero targets; they dont even care, said Jose Marun, a mining consultant from Argentina, in an interview with The Epoch Times.

The former mining director said there was a disconnect between developed and developing countries, and in Argentina, there was little discussion at the political levels.

Undeveloped countries have more urgent issues than this, for instance, job creation. Poverty is huge. If you talk to people on the street, they tell you, That is not my problem; my problem is I dont have a job.'

While the CEO of Thiess, one of the worlds largest mining services companies, revealed its push was largely driven by pressure from a range of stakeholders.

Our clients are facing significant imposts around the future [government-mandated] price of carbon, Michael Wright told attendees.

Solutions are being demanded by our people, by our regulators, by the communities in which we operate, and significantly by financial people and insurers moving forward.

Global financial bodies have teamed up to impose conditions on insurance and loans to fossil fuel projects, making it almost unviable for mining-related companies to continue operating.

Eco-modernist Michael Shellenberger has said the worldwide climate change pushdespite its difficulties and tremendous costshas taken on almost quasi-religious qualities.

Theres financial motivation by people that want to sell renewables, particularly solar panels made in China. Theres the desire for kind of political power, cultural power, social power, he previously told The Epoch Times.

And then theres sort of the ways in which climate change has become a religion, and its provided people with a kind of purpose in life.

I think that when people stopped believing in traditional religions, they need to fill that gap with some other religion, and so theyve made climate change into a kind of apocalyptic religion as a replacement for Judeo Christianity, he said of the West.
Activists Plan Student Debt Strike in Response to Supreme Court Decision

People rally in support of the Biden administration's student debt relief plan in front of the the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 28, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Students with up to $230,000 in student debt have decided that they are rich in political power.

At a Zoom meeting hosted by the activist group the Debt Collective, student debtors entering the meeting announced on its chat how much money they owed in debt.

Although the meeting numbered around 300 people at its biggest, the debts of all involved may have been in the millions.

Some students owed over $200,000 in debt. Others owed $95,000. Some of the most debt-free attendees owed $20,000.

Activists with The Debt Collective share their student debt numbers, on June 30, 2023. (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times)

$75k, 40k already paid in interest, nothing to the principal. Cant refinance due to debt to income ratio,' one students message read.

The average American owes between $13,000 and $20,000 in student debt, according to the U.S. Census. In 2017, students owed the federal government $1.37 trillion in debt.

Students like these, guided by left-wing activist group the Debt Collective, may soon pursue a debt strike.

The strike, as to federal student debt, is not about using leverage over the federal government by depriving them of money. The federal government does not need our money, said the Debt Collectives lawyer, Sparky Abraham.

What the student debt strike is about is about politicizing our nonpayment, about moving ourselves from cant pay to wont pay, and realizing that this is actually a political issue.

This approach might not mean that students actually go on strike, Abraham added. Students whose debts are legally on pause may say they are on strike.

If youre in school, youre on strike. If youve got income-based repayment and your payment is zero, youre on strike, he said.

In the face of debts far in excess of the average Americans salary, many of the students in the meeting expressed outrage at the Supreme Courts decision to overrule President Joe Bidens debt forgiveness program.

Let this radicalize us rather than lead us to despair. Lets start here, one student in the chat said.

Everything By Majority Opinion?

Democratic Socialists of America activist Astra Taylor said student debt and the Supreme Court were illegitimate.

This is not a democratic institution. Its not a legitimate institution, she said.

The Debt Collective, a left-wing activist group, believes in anti-racist discrimination, radical gender ideology, and dismantling racial capitalism, according to its website.

Throughout its existence, the collective has erased $32 million in debt by buying debt portfolios on secondary debt markets, then erasing them.

Student-loan borrowers gather near the White House in Washington to urge President Joe Biden to cancel student debt, on May 12, 2020. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We, The 45 Million)

The Debt Collective doesnt just oppose student debt. It also opposes medical debt, court debt, rent debt, and more.

Were coming to build an equitable, democratic society. And were gonna be in solidarity with all these other movements that we know are so important, Taylor said.

Meeting participants said the Supreme Court was illegitimate because it was undemocratic.

Super cool having an unelected body of ghouls overriding the rule of law like we live in a fantasy movie, one student in the chat said.

Its unclear what the activists would prefer in place of the Supreme Court.

At present, the Debt Collectives lawyer, Sparky Abraham, said the group was waiting on Bidens response to the Supreme Courts decision.

Biden Responds

In an address on June 30, Biden announced that he planned to offer a new debt relief plan.

Biden said payment requirements for student loans would resume in the coming weeks, but he would work under the authority of the Higher Education Act to begin a new program designed to ease borrowers threat of default if they fall behind over the next year.

Biden blamed Republicans for the Supreme Court loss.

I didnt give any false hope, he said heatedly. The Republicans snatched away the hope that they were given.

President Joe Biden speaks about the U.S. Supreme Courts decision overruling student debt forgiveness in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on June 30, 2023. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Biden told the media his administration would use the Higher Education Act to compromise, waive, or release student loans under certain circumstances.

According to Debt Collective co-founder Thomas Gokey, its likely Democrats could find a way to legally forgive student debt.

It doesnt matter which legal authority he uses. It matters how he uses it, Gokey said.

He noted that it would be better strategically to argue legality after forgiving the debt.

Just [expletive] cancel the debt, and then well have legal fights. But its gonna be a lot harder to fight once that debt is canceled, Taylor said.

However, many students at the meeting didnt trust Biden or the Democrats to deliver results.

Students burdened by debt seemed in the mood for radical solutions.

Litigation is a joke. Move to have a mass, organized effort for no one to pay their loans, one commenting student debtor said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
After Affirmative Action Ruling, Sen. Tim Scott Says Legacy Admissions Should Also End

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) speaks during the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference at the Hilton in Washington on June 23, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a candidate for the 2024 GOP nomination for president, cheered the landmark and historic ruling of the Supreme Court and its conservative majority on June 29 in which the court found that it is unconstitutional for institutions of higher education to consider race when making admission decisions.

Scott then called on colleges and universities to end the practice of legacy admissions.

Scott, who was the first black U.S. senator from the South in more than a century when he joined the Senate in 2013, opposes affirmative action, a policy that is widely and almost universally embraced by the Democrat party. Black voters have long and overwhelmingly voted for Democrats as opposed to Republicans.

Anti-affirmative action activists with the Asian American Coalition for Education protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington on June 29, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Legacy admission is a practice in which those making the decision on who gets accepted and who gets rejected show favor to applicants whose family memberspreferably close family membersattended the school.

The roots of legacy admissions go back to the 1920s when certain elite colleges and universities activated the policy as a way to limit the enrollment of Jews, Asians, Catholics, and immigrants, and maintain a student body weighted heavily with well-heeled white protestants.

Scott spoke about legacy admissions on Fox News The Faulkner Focus on June 29.

I think the question is how do you continue to create a culture where education is the goal for every single part of our community? One of the things that Harvard could do to make that even better is to eliminate any legacy programs where they have preferential treatment for legacy kids, not allow for the professors, their kids, to come to Harvard as well, Scott said.

Scott added: Theyre looking for a way to improve the footprint of Harvard, lets make sure that all admissions are based on academic scores, and not just eliminating affirmative action, but lets look at the legacy program. Lets look at the fact that the professors kids can go there as well.

Affirmative Action

During the senators June 29 appearance on The Faulkner Focus, Scott addressed a comment by former first lady Michelle Obama on the Supreme Court rulings.

In a statement shared on social media, Obama said her heart breaks for any young person out there whos wondering what their future holds and what kinds of chances will be open to them.

Scott sounded a more hopeful tone on the consequences of what the Supreme Court decided.

Im running for president because I know America can do for anyone what she has done for me, said Scott. But sending the message that somehow the color of your skin means that you will not be able to achieve your goals from an educational perspective, from an income perspective or family formation, that is a lie from the pit of hell.

We will not be judged solely by the color of our skin. Thats what the ruling said today but that is the story of America, that is the story of American progress, and we can all celebrate that.
With more than a dozen annual appropriations bills needing to be passed, Republicans and Democrats in Congress will butt heads over spending.

The U.S. Congress faces multiple spending battles leading up to the fall. To help you understand what is going on and what we expect to happen in the future, our highly-experienced Kiplinger Letter team will keep you abreast of the latest developments and forecasts (Get a free issue of The Kiplinger Letter or subscribe). You'll get all the latest news first by subscribing, but we will publish many (but not all) of the forecasts a few days afterward online. Heres the latest...

Congress must pass all 12 annual appropriations bills, which lawmakers have not done since the 1990s, to avoid an automatic 1% cut to discretionary spending. Should this happen, how the cuts are implemented will be up to House and Senate appropriators, who will then need to compete for a smaller pool of money. Figure on especially intense fights over funding for the Department of Justice, the FBI, the IRS, and Customs and Border Protection.

Dont be surprised if lawmakers resort to emergency spending packages for things like natural disaster relief and defense funding, especially military aid for Ukraine. The additional money would not count against the spending caps, so long as its reserved for emergency purposes. While Democrats are united in support of this strategy, Republicans are divided on circumventing the caps.

Meanwhile, lawmakers face several other looming legislative deadlines:

The monster five-year farm bill , which covers everything from crop subsidies and insurance to agricultural research and the food stamp program. Historically, the farm bill has been a bipartisan affair, but fights over work requirements for food stamp recipients and other factors have made passage this year more difficult.

Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization , also a five-year bill. Democrats are pushing to eliminate airline junk fees, such as baggage fees and extra charges for changing and canceling flights. They are also advocating for a bill of rights for passengers that would provide better compensation for delays and cancellations. But its unclear whether they can get enough Republicans on board with these ideas.

The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act , first passed in 2019 and now up for renewal. Intended to promote medical emergency and response capabilities, the measure will be subject to increased scrutiny by Republicans, who want to limit some activities of federal health agencies.

The Coast Guard Authorization Act, which authorizes funding and policy for the Coast Guard, one of the nations six armed forces. This one is expected to be a fairly easy lift for lawmakers, but unforeseen issues could still crop up.

This forecast first appeared in The Kiplinger Letter, which has been running since 1923 and is a collection of concise weekly forecasts on business and economic trends, as well as what to expect from Washington, to help you understand whats coming up to make the most of your investments and your money. Subscribe to The Kiplinger Letter.
Air Quality Alerts: States Issue Advisories as North American Cities Top Worst Air Index

A jogger runs along the shoreline of Lake Michigan with heavy smoke from the Canadian wildfires in the background in Chicago, on June 27, 2023. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

Multiple American states, and the nations capital, have issued alerts due to poor air quality as a consequence of Canadas raging wildfireswith some states warning sensitive populations to avoid outdoor activity.

On June 28, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued an air quality advisory for all counties in the eastern half of the state through Friday, warning that elevated levels of fine particulates may be a concern over the next several days. In New York, air quality advisories are in effect on Friday for multiple regions, with the air quality deemed to be unhealthy for sensitive groups in some places while other areas are classified as unhealthy.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection has issued a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day for June 30 due to particulate matter from the smoke from Canadian wildfires.

According to the department, On a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day, children, sensitive populations such as older people, those who exercise or work outdoors, and those with lung or respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema, or bronchitis should reduce or eliminate their outdoor activities. Washington has also issued a Code Orange air quality alert for Friday.

Wildfires raging across Canada have negatively affected the air quality situation of the continental United States for the past month. Hundreds of out-of-control wildfires have burned through millions of acres of land and forced mass evacuations in Canada, with smoke from these fires moving into America.

According to IQAir, cities in North America topped the list of having the worst air quality on Friday. As of 10:12 a.m. Eastern, Toronto and New York City took the top two spots, with air quality in the cities categorized as unhealthy. Montreal and Washington came in at the third and fourth spot, with the air quality being unhealthy for sensitive groups.

In a June 30 update, the National Weather Service said that air quality alerts are in effect over parts of the Midwest, Great Lakes, central Appalachians, Northeast, and Mid-Atlantic.

Canadian wildfire smoke is expected to continue impacting portions of the northeastern quadrant of the [United States] over the next few days. However, air quality is expected to slowly improve due to a combination of thunderstorm activity and dispersion of the smoke as we head into the weekend.

Canadas Wildfires

According to data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC), there were 499 active fires as of June 30, with 230 of them being out of control, 94 being held, and 175 under control.

Most of the fires are in Alberta, British Columbia, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. So far this year, Canada has seen 3,055 fires, with 8.1 million acres being burned through.

Canada is on track to have the most destructive wildfire season in the countrys history. The nations wildfire season usually runs from May through October.

A combination of warm and dry conditions is believed to have triggered the wildfires this season. Typically, over half of Canadas wildfires are caused by lightning, with these fires accounting for more than 85 percent of destruction caused by wildfire. The remaining half of the fires are caused by human activity.

In the Quebec region, lightning has been blamed for the wildfires. In other places, sparks from passing trains and discarded cigarette butts are being blamed.

The country has been put under the Level 5 National Preparedness. National resources are being fully committed to fighting the wildfires.

However, the national availability of resources is limited, and international resources are being mobilized, according to a June 30 CIFFC update. Potential for emerging significant wildland fires is high to extreme and expected to remain so.

Earlier in June, the United States deployed over 600 firefighters, support personnel, and sent equipment to help Canada respond to the wildfires.

In a June 5 news release, Natural Resources Canada warned that there is a potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity across most of the country throughout the 2023 wildland fire season due to ongoing drought and long-range forecasts for warm temperatures.

During July, wildfire potential is expected to expand into Yukon, although the eastern edge will recede from western Quebec into central Ontario.
Alan Dershowitz on the Impact of the Get Trump Mentality

'If you are the president, or youre running for president, the case against you better be very strong'

Justice Thurgood Marshall said the First Amendment has two sides: the right to speak and the right to hear, says Alan Dershowitz, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the right to hear is just as important as the right to speak.

In a recent episode of American Thought Leaders, host Jan Jekielek and Dershowitz discuss the cases being litigated against former President Donald Trump, his legal vulnerabilities, and the broader assault on civil liberties. Dershowitz is the author of a new book, Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law.

Jan Jekielek: The erosion of civil liberties is one of the themes throughout your book. Where do you see this being most acute or problematic at the moment?

Alan Dershowitz: The title of my book Get Trump comes from the campaign promises of the attorney general and the district attorney of New York. They both campaigned on the promise to get Trump, regardless of the facts. Show us the man, and well find you the crime, as Beria said to Stalin.

These two elected officials, both of whom I know and like personally, decided that the most important thing for their election, and now their reelection, is to assure the American public that Trump will not be allowed to run for president.

They investigated and investigated. The attorney general of New York found nothing criminal and didnt go after him criminally. The district attorney of New York, Alvin Bragg, made up a crime never before used in American history, that is, failure to disclose an affair and paying hush money to cover up that affair, and then not listing it on corporate forms. The theory is, He didnt disclose it because he was trying to cheat on his taxes two years hence or because he was trying to cheat on electoral rules. Its all speculative. Its the worst indictment Ive seen in 60 years of practicing and teaching criminal law.

When a Democrat who is elected goes after the man whos about to run against his bossthe head Democrat, Joe Biden, whom I intend to vote forwhen you go after the man whos running against him, youd better have the strongest case in American history. Instead, they have the weakest case in American history. Its weaponizing our criminal justice system for partisan and political ends.

Mr. Jekielek: James Comer, the head of the House Oversight Committee, said that he has subpoenaed the FBI director to turn over this unclassified document, which he believes, based on whistleblower information, will show a criminal scheme that perhaps President Biden or his family were involved in. The reason Im asking about this right now: This also involves a sitting president. It involves potential political machinations and potential criminal behavior. At the same time, theres the reality of someone being a sitting president, which you outlined in the book. How do we deal with things like this?

Mr. Dershowitz: The law should apply equally. No one is above, but no one is below the law. We shouldnt have different rules. But in one sense, we do have different rules. If you are the president, or youre running for president, the case against you better be very strong.

Let the public decide. Lets have elections. Elections are unpredictable, but elections are the constitutional method of deciding who should be presidentnot some local DA sitting in his office rummaging through the statute books and trying to figure out if theres any conceivable case against themand if there isnt, then making one up.

Weve never seen anything like this in our history. Its worse than McCarthyism, because McCarthyism looked to the past. It looked to find the people that had been communists in the 1930s.

This new McCarthyism is much worse, because it involves the futureyoung people who will be our next presidential candidates, who will be the editors in The New York Times, and who will be involved in the most critical positions of government. They are living at a time when free speech is being neglected, due process is being ignored, the Constitution is being stretched, and criminal law is being abused. Thats a heck of a way to send young people into positions of power and governance.

Mr. Jekielek: I cant help but think how a very significant portion of the Trump presidency was spent dealing with impeachments and special counsel investigations into Russiagate. Some people argue that it ate up at least half of the time.

Mr. Dershowitz: It ate up some time, theres no doubt. I can give you my own personal experience. In my case, I agreed to represent President Trump on the floor of the Senate on the condition that he not in any way interfere with my representation, that Im going to plan my defense, and Im not going to show it to him or his legal team before I do it. Either he has to trust me, or I wont do it. He accepted that condition.

We had no contact in the days before I spoke for him on the floor of the Senate. The next day, he called and thanked me. But it did take time and energy. There were calls and meetings with his lawyers. In both cases, the impeachments were unconstitutional.

In the first case where I defended him, the impeachment simply was not for treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. In the second case, it was for protected speech, speech that was protected under the First Amendment.

The Democrats in Congress acted unconstitutionally in going after Donald Trump, which is why I became involved in the first case. I didnt become involved in the second case for two reasons. First, I dont generally represent people a second time. I like to represent people only once.

Second, I did not want to be involved in any claims that the election was unfair. I think the election was perfectly reasonable. I think that Trump lost legitimately, and Biden won legitimately

Mr. Jekielek: Im familiar with your position on the election. Lets look at these indictments. The one that you focus on involves the Mar-a-Lago raid. You say that the fault was with the Justice Department for seeking the search warrant in the first place. Can you explain this whole picture to me?

Mr. Dershowitz: Normally in a situation like this one, the government just gets a subpoena. Its easy to get a subpoena. You serve the subpoena, and then the president or whoever gets the subpoena is obliged to turn over the material.

Merrick Garland himself said that search warrants are a last resort, because they are lawless. Essentially, police go into the house, search for everything, and take everything. They take lawyer-client privileged material, spousal-privileged material, and they could take religiously privileged material. Thats why subpoenas are preferred over search warrants.

In this case, they claim that they were worried the president might destroy material. Theres now an ongoing investigation, which is the one investigation that I think poses some danger to Donald Trump. The investigation called for subpoenaing and giving immunity to employees of Mar-a-Lago to try to prove that he moved boxes, or ordered boxes to be moved.

If it were to be proved, that could pose a serious problem of criminal liability under obstruction of justice for President Trump. But when I was writing Get Trump, that investigation was not ongoing. All it was focused on was the failure to disclose the classified material in his possession. I dont think that would result in a criminal prosecution, because President Biden and former Vice President Pence also had classified material in their possession. You cant go after one without going after all three.

Mr. Jekielek: What would it look like if the shoe were on the other foot? This is the perfect example because we have disclosure from the Penn Biden Center about the mishandling of classified information. We have these two cases, and you juxtaposed those in your book.

Mr. Dershowitz: Yes, you have to do that. The shoe on the other foot test is a variation of a book written by the great philosopher John Rawls, who says that rules have to be applied equally and without regard to who theyre being applied to, demanding absolute equal justice for all regardless of race, gender, party or any other irrelevant factor.

Today, it matters more whether youre a Democrat or Republican, or black or white, or a male or a female, as to whether or not youll be sued or indicted. We live in a post-equality world where equity has taken over equality.

Im opposed to the way in which diversity, equity, and inclusion have been used to create a systemically racist country. We were a systemically racist country up through the 1950s, and maybe even into the early 1960s. Then, we became a systemically anti-racist country from the 1960s on, basically into this century. Now, were going back to being a country where everything is seen through the prism of race.

It means that people today are being judged by race. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s dream has become a nightmare. Today, medical students are judged by their race, gender, and sexual orientation. Scientific papers are judged by the race of the people who wrote them, rather than [by] the quality of the science. Einsteins theory of relativity would probably be rejected today because hes a white, Jewish male in todays hierarchy of identity politics. When you group people, when you say, The blacks, the Jews, the gays, youre being a bigot.

Mr. Jekielek: In the process, we lose all semblance of nuance. You give the example of how you opposed many of the Trump administration policies, but youve supported their Middle East policy and Israel policy, including the moving of the embassy to Jerusalem.

Mr. Dershowitz: I would say every single candidate that Ive ever voted for, I voted based on nuance. But today, nuance is out the window. You have to pick sides. If youre a Democrat and you say Donald Trump did anything good, youve committed some kind of political treason. The same thing is true on the other side if you say anything good about Biden.

When I was teaching at Harvard, for 50 years, I taught nuance. I dont know whether students would accept the teaching of nuance today, and the teaching of calibrated, compromised solutions to problems. We live in a world of deep division. Its a poor world intellectually, and its a poor world in every other way.

Mr. Jekielek: Weve seen many institutions captured by this way of viewing the world, with ideological young people who believe theyre doing the right thing with this radical transformation of society.

Mr. Dershowitz: It was Justice Brandeis, a great liberal, who once said, The greatest danger to liberty lurks in people of zeal who are intending to do good, and think theyre doing good, but without understanding of the implications of what theyre doing.

In Get Trump, I say that many of the people who are out to get Trump are good people who really think theyre doing the right thing. You can apply that, as well, to something like COVID. There have been mistakes made with COVID.

The ideal there is to balance health and civil liberties and never allow one to dominate, without considering the other. Did we get it right? Thats for historians to determine. You and I can continue to disagree about that.

But the point about our disagreement is that its rational. We can disagree, and then well have a drink and shake hands. Im not going to cancel you, and youre not going to cancel me, unlike whats happened to me on Marthas Vineyard, where Ive been going for 53 years. Now, Im a persona non grata. The library has banned my books because I defended Donald Trump. People wont talk to me. People have said to the restaurant I frequent, If you serve Alan Dershowitz, we wont come here again.

Its pure left-wing McCarthyism, whereas you and I can disagree without refusing to have dinner with each other.

Mr. Jekielek: On this point, Alan, we are in 100 percent agreement. Now, I want to go back to some of these indictments related to Trump. Its a stunning number of cases running simultaneously.

Mr. Dershowitz: In Get Trump, I point to all of them and argue that if this man were not running for president, none of this would have happened. If he had stayed in the building business, he would have had a happy retirement with his family and never seen the inside of a courtroom.

Of two cases that he has to worry about, one is the Fulton County case. But theres no way he can be successfully prosecuted there, because what he said on the recorded tape was, I need to find 11,000 votes. He didnt say invent or concoct. He said find. Find means that theyre there, and you just have to look hard to see if you can find them. I think thats a complete defense there.

There is also a complete defense to the January 6th investigation thats occurring in Washington. In his speech, he explicitly said he wanted the people to go to the Capitol to protest peacefully and patriotically. That is constitutionally protected speech.

His only vulnerability is the trial in New York, because in New York, you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Hes at risk there, but I think that case will be reversed on appeal if there is a conviction.

His greatest vulnerability now may lie in the Mar-a-Lago case in Florida, if they can prove that he obstructed justice after he received his subpoena and after he was aware that the government was interested. If there is proof that he ordered the moving or hiding of classified material, that would present a serious problem for him.

Mr. Jekielek: I want to jump back to the concept of free speech. Youre one of the biggest champions of free speech.

Mr. Dershowitz: Im in favor of unfettered free speech. There have to be some limitations, of course, some exceptions. Direct incitement is one. If a crowd is surrounding somebody, and you yell, Kill him, kill him, kill him, and the crowd then kills him, one can easily see how that should not be protected.

For the most part, Im in favor of unfettered free speech, but we live in an age where free speech is under attack. For the first time in my life, academics are writing against free speech, due process, and meritocracy.

Again, that represents the future, because the academics are writing for students, and the students will be our future. There will be less appreciation for free speech, due process, and meritocracy.

Mr. Jekielek: One of the things you mentioned in your book is that the effect of this whole get Trump mentality creates a situation where its very difficult to escape this partisanship to develop nuance again. Perhaps the purpose of some of these people is to create division, to shake the foundations of our society to the ground to rebuild something new, a beautiful new utopia afterwards. How do you deal with that?

Mr. Dershowitz: Most people are well-intentioned and just dont understand the implications of what theyre doing. Ill give you an example just from my own experience. Get Trump is a bestseller on Amazon, but you cant buy it in a local bookstore. You cant get it in many local libraries, because local libraries today, including my library in Chilmark, Massachusetts, censor books based on their political content.

I hope people will read my books, because Im one of the few people today who is liberal and a Democrat, and who is speaking up against these dangers. Most of the people doing so are conservatives, because theyve been the victims of cancellation and repression. One thing we can all get together on is that America is far better if we are an open society with free speech and due process.

Mr. Jekielek: One thing that you mentioned in the book is theres a right to speak, but theres also a right to hear speech. Thats the piece that we often dont think about and that you actually explore quite a bit. Please leave us with how that other part works.

Mr. Dershowitz: When I defended Donald Trump, I was denied the right to speak in various venues to people who wanted to hear me speak. I can deal with it. I can write op-eds. But what about the people who want to hear me speak, or who want to hear you speak, or who want to hear other even more controversial speakers?

Justice Thurgood Marshall said the First Amendment has two sides: the right to speak and the right to hear, and the right to hear is just as important as the right to speak.

The vast majority of Americans today are denied the right to hear points of view that are disagreeable to the people in power. Thats true in universities and in the media. Ultimately, a majority of Americans can get together and can fight back. It shouldnt just be the people who are actually censored.

So, thank you for allowing your listeners to hear my voice. You can disagree with me. We had some disagreements, and some agreements. Im looking forward to coming back again and having another exchange with you.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
American Banks Closed 273 Branch Locations in May

This combination made from file photos shows bank branches of, clockwise from top left, Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank. (AP Photo)

At least 273 bank locations closed across the United States in May, while 46 opened that month.

Many major banks have announced that theyre closing down branches in 2023, as more and more customers are making deposits via their phones or to keep tabs on their balances, all without leaving their homes.

Others still rely on physical bank branches to do to the bulk of their transactions, and these closures will affect how many conduct their financial affairs.

The only branch openings in May were by Big Poppy Holdings and Pinnacle Financial Partners, each of which opened two branches.

Bank Branch Closures Spike in 2023

There were 227 net closings last month, up from 79 in April and the trailing-12-month average of 132, according to a June 30 report from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

U.S.-based banks had a total of 78,121 active branches nationwide at the end of May.

U.S. Bancorp, the parent company of U.S. Bank NA, led the way in bank closures, as the lender shuttered the largest number of active branches in the country in May with 133 closings, all in California, and no openings.

The Minneapolis-based lender increased the pace of branch closings again, after slowing down in the months before it completed its acquisition of San Francisco-based MUFG Union Bank NA in December last year.

Over the past 12 months, the bank has closed 194 branches and opened only seven new locations, according to data from S&P Global.

U.S. Bancorp consolidated dozens of branches while it transferred Union Bank customers to its own systems, Jeff Shelman, senior vice president and head of enterprise external communications for U.S. Bank, told S&P Global.

Both Union Bank customers and U.S. Bank customers have gained access to branch and fee-free ATM locations through the consolidation, Shelman wrote in an emailed statement.

Of the branches that were consolidated, more than [50 percent] were located within a half mile of another branch and [80 percent] were within a mile of another branch.

Online Bank Transactions Leading to Fewer Physical Bank Locations

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo & Co. will close the second-largest amount of active locations, and has shuttered 38 branches while just only opening one.

Since early February, Wells Fargo has informed the OCC Bulletin of plans to close roughly 90 branches this year, with more on the docket, reported Best Life.

OCC documents do not include closing dates, but banks are required to give at least 90 days notice ahead of branch closures.

Branches continue to play an important role in the way we serve our customers, a company spokesperson told Best Life.

Additionally, customers use our wide range of digital capabilities for many of their banking needs and, as a result, more transactions are happening outside the branch. As such, we continuously evaluate our branch network in light of changing customer needs, the increase in the use of digital banking, and market factors.

Regarding its consumer banking operations, Wells Fargo will continue to rationalize its branch footprint strategy, CFO Michael Santomassimo said on the companys first-quarter earnings call.

Our branch network will continue to be the key to the business. But our customers expect us to provide them with increasingly digitized and seamless banking experiences across all channels, said Wells Fargo president and CEO Charles Scharf to investors.

PNC Financial Services Group, which closed the most branches in March and April, landed in third in May with 30 closings and two openings.

The bank is planning to close 30 more branches across seven states in July and is shuttering a total of over 200 locations nationwide, this year.

PNC recognizes that branches continue to play an important role for many customers when it comes to conducting certain transactions and holding important in-person financial conversations with our banking experts, which is why we routinely evaluate our branch network, together with our other available methods of banking, to determine if we are most effectively meeting our customers needs, a spokesperson told Best Life.

They added, After a careful review of our business model, PNCs strategic goals and the potential impact to our customers, the decision was made to close the locations you have listed. We remain committed to delivering on our purpose to move all forward financially, and we are confident that we can meet or exceed our customers needs at nearby branch locations, alongside other available methods of banking.

Santander Bank confirmed that it would shutter 17 locations in July and August, all in Massachusetts, as more of its clients do their business online, CBS News Boston reported.

The lender currently has 165 branches in the Bay State.

Like many industries, our customers preferences have changed, with more customers choosing to bank with us online, Santander wrote in a statement to CBS.

Therefore, we are reimagining the customer and employee experience by simplifying our processes, refining our branch footprint, and increasing our investment in digital capabilities to align with the evolving needs of our customers.

The bank told Best Life, Like many industries, our customers preferences have changed, with more customers choosing to bank with us online.

Therefore, we are reimagining the customer and employee experience by simplifying our processes, refining our branch footprint, and increasing our investment in digital capabilities to align with the evolving needs of our customers.

Number of Bank Closures Varies Across the US

Bank branch closures varied by region throughout the country.

The West recorded the largest number of net branch closings, with 158 locations being shuttered.

The Northeast was at second with 32 closings, followed by the Southeast region with 20.

On a state level, California booked the most net closings at 138, while New Jersey logged 17 closings.

New York will shutter 19 branches this summer, as lenders cut back on in-person banking for online transactions.

About 8,000 bank branches were in operation throughout New York in 2000, but that number was halved by 2022, according to FDIC data.

Nine states, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, and Nebraska opened one branch each this year so far.

The Epoch Times reached out to U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo for comment.
ANALYSIS: Americans Reject Trans Indoctrination of Children and Corporate Pride Campaigns

'Americans have been brainwashed by our own tolerance.'

A bottle of Bud Light beer is seen at a grocery store in Glenview, Ill., on April 25, 2023. (Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo)

What began as drag queen story hour evolved into drag shows for children. Now, naked men peddle bikes in front of children at pride parades in Seattle while LGBT activists in New York City marched through the streets chanting: Were here. Were queer. Were coming for your children.

As previously reported by The Epoch Times, the tide is turning on tolerance for transgender ideology.

Biological science has been replaced by internal feelings and chosen identities. The clarity of ones sex has been blurred by the ambiguity of gender.

There are now an infinite number of pronouns. Failure to use the correct pronoun can result in losing your job.

Men are claiming titles, trophies, scholarships, and accolades in womens sports. Men are named Woman of the Year and crowned in womens pageants.

The backlash started when Anheuser-Busch chose a transgender influence to become a spokesperson for Bud Light. It became a revolt when Target took aim at children. Now, recent surveys confirm that Americans have had their fill of harmful transgender indoctrination and woke corporate pride campaigns.

According to a recent survey conducted by Summit.org, in partnership with McLaughlin and Associates, 61 percent of likely voters believe that introducing young children to ideas like transgenderism, drag shows, and LGBTQ+ themes hurts their emotional and psychological development. Still more, 63 percent believe that the activists pushing transgenderism, drag shows, and LGBT themes to children have an ulterior motive.

Conversely, the survey also found that 50.3 percent of TikTok users believe introducing children to transgenderism, drag shows, and LGBT themes is helpful for their emotional and psychological development. Only 33.8 of Facebook users feel the same. In addition, 44.9 percent of TikTok users say introducing children to transgenderism, drag shows, and LGBT themes is motivated by a desire to help children. Only 31.4 percent of Facebook users believe the effort has altruistic intentions.

What is striking about the opinions of TikTok users is that data compiled by Statista in April shows that the majority of TikToks users (38.4 percent) are young females (20.9 percent) and young males (17.5 percent) between the ages of 18 and 24, nearly the same age group of AFAB people cited by Virginia Tech researches as showing the sharpest increase in gender dysphoria. The majority of Facebook users (41.9 percent) are between the ages of 24 and 44. The smallest audience, 22.3 percent, is among those between the ages of 13 and 24.

Americans Are Waking Up

According to Mark Meckler, president and co-founder of Convention of States Action, the reason why we are seeing such a spike in the number of youth identifying as transgender is very clear.

Mark Meckler in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 21, 2019. (Brendon Fallon/The Epoch Times)

According to Meckler, its the radical and blatant evolution of the transgender movement that has pushed the American tolerance level beyond its breaking point.

Americans have been brainwashed by our own tolerance, Meckler told The Epoch Times. What were told to do is to tolerate anything, even if its cruel. Thats a problem because tolerance is an important part of the American ethos. Its the reason why were able to live together over the long term with such an ideologically diverse population. Unfortunately, that tolerance has now extended to the toleration of things that are clearly wrong and evil. I think Americans are waking up to that, and the thing that is waking them up is the children.

As Meckler explained, Its one thing to say that a consenting adult should be able to chop off healthy body parts, which I think should be illegal, and no doctor should be allowed to do that. But its an entirely different matter to say its okay to do this to children.

Meckler also noted that its important to remember that a child is classified from a legal perspective as mentally and emotionally incapable of consenting.

Nobody would say that a child under the age of 18 can consent to having sexual relations, especially with an adult, he said. We have laws against that. But now theyre saying they have the ability to give consent to having their genitals removed or being chemically castrated or having healthy breast tissue removed. The idea of children being groomed into this ideology has broken out into the mainstream, and people are naturally finding that abhorrent. Going for the kids has caused a turning point.

The Bud Light-Target Backlash

A June 2023 Nationwide Issues Survey (pdf), conducted by Trafalgar Group in partnership with Convention of States, shows that 40.8 percent of respondents said they have boycotted a company for taking progressive or woke stances.

Only 24.5 percent said the same for companies taking a conservative or MAGA public stance.

A 12-ounce can of Bud Light on a railing at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla., on May 26, 2023. (T.J. Muscaro/The Epoch Times)

In addition, the survey revealed that far more Republicans had boycotted a company for taking progressive or woke stances than Democrats have for companies taking a conservative or MAGA stance60.4 percent to 45.1 percent, respectively.

The survey also revealed that, in light of the Bud Light and Target backlash, the majority of Americans believe businesses should stop making statements during pride month. While Meckler is pleased that Americans are finally waking up to what is really happening in the trans movement, he says there is still a lot that Americans need to understand.

I agree the backlash is happening, but were not there yet, he said, adding that theres a misunderstanding in the public as to where the corporate involvement in pride campaigns is coming from.

Im thrilled about whats happening to Bud Light, Meckler confessed, noting that the boycott of the product has bled 20 percent off of their year-to-year sales.

Thats incredible. Its complete brand destruction. I would argue that its permanent, irreversible brand destruction, Meckler said. That was the number one beer in America, and it will never be the number one beer in America again. Its now a joke.

According to reports, Bud Light is no longer Americas top-selling brand of beer, a status it held for over 20 years. In May, the beer plugged by transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney was replaced by Modelo Especial, a Mexican lager brewed near Mexico City.

As Meckler explained, brand is short for how you feel about something.

Budweiser was once known as the king of beers, Meckler said. Bud is now the Dylan Mulvaney brand. Its the transgender brand.

Target has also suffered from its decision to join the transgender push by aiming at children. Along with suffering a $13 billion drop in Target Corp.s stock, the company was downgraded by KeyBanc Capital Markets, according to MarketWatch. That followed the downgrade already imposed by JP Morgan.

Most people in America are not in with that agenda, so theyve killed their brand, Meckler surmised, suggesting that other brands are going to start learning the same hard lessons as Anheuser-Busch and Target if they continue to interject woke politics into their branding.

Kohls was the next company to suffer the outrage of shoppers fed up with the transgender campaign when it decided to sell onesies for infants with messages like Belong, believe, be proud and Ask me my pronouns printed on them.

In all, Axios calculated a combined loss in stock value for Anheuser-Bush, Target, and Kohls of at least $28 billion.

Other companies facing boycotts during pride month are The North Face and PetSmart.

A Healthy Thing

Meckler also drew attention to the fact that ESG policies are also facing resistance. ESG is the initialism for Environmental, Social, and Governance.

As reported by Forbes, ESG criteria were first forced into corporate and financial evaluations in 2006. By 2020, S&P Global reported that ESG was all the rage.

But the tide is turning there as well.

A study was done recently about what is being said at shareholder meetings, Meckler said, explaining that the use of ESG terms is down dramatically.

As explained by Riskonnect, a corporations ESG score indicates its willingness to comply with shareholder demands to establish policies that promote climate change initiatives as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the interest of achieving the greater good.

In its July 2022 study, As You Sow reported a Historic Year of ESG Shareholder Resolution filings. However, that report showed that support for shareholder ESG resolutions at U.S. companies actually dipped by 5.4 percentfalling from 32 percent to 26.6 percent from the previous yearas asset managers backed away from supporting tougher investor demands.

Meckler also explained that the decision by corporate CEOs to capitulate to ESG isnt organic. Its forced.

Its coming because giant investment funds like Vanguard and Blackrock are opposing the ESG scores on these companies, he said, explaining that a companys ability to raise capital is based on these scores. So when they do this stuff, theyre checking investment banking boxes.

Ultimately, Meckler believes the growing backlash against transgender ideology is a healthy thing for the United States of America and that corporations, in particular, are finding there is no upside to pushing woke ideology into their brand.

Its a downside for them, and were starting to see that driven down into corporate behavior, and I think thats going to continue, he said.

In a recent appearance on CBS Mornings, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth bemoaned the backlash stemming from the companys decision to use Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson for their most popular brand of beer.

I think the conversation surrounding Bud Light has moved away from beer, and the conversation has become divisive, Whitworth said. And Bud Light really doesnt belong there. Bud Light should be all about bringing people together.

In one respect, Meckler agrees.

The truth is, it should be about having a beer and bringing people together, not about divisive issues, Meckler proposed. What we want is good products. Not products that divide us.
ANALYSIS: Broadcasting Experts Say Online News Act Poorly Drafted and Harmful to News Media

As Google and Meta prepare to remove Canadians access to news links on their platforms due to the recently passed Bill C-18, two broadcasting experts say the legislation is poorly composed and will harm media outlets instead of helping them.

Its a sad, somewhat tragic outcome of a very, very poorly composed piece of legislation that was based on an overwrought premise. Some of the premises had some merit, but overall, the structure was bound to get this outcome. And its unfortunate because  better outcomes were possible, Peter Menzies, a broadcasting and telecoms policy consultant and senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, told The Epoch Times.

Its pretty much as close to a complete public policy meltdown as you can get.

The Online News Act, which passed on June 21, requires that online platforms and digital news intermediaries like Google and Meta negotiate deals with and pay Canadian media outlets for any of the news and information linked on their platforms. The bill is meant to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news market by supporting balanced negotiations between news outlets and businesses that host their content online.

On June 29, Google announced it would be removing links to Canadian news from its Search, News, and Discover products, claiming Bill C-18 remained unworkable and the Liberal government had failed to give assurances that the regulatory process would be able to resolve structural issues in the legislation.

Meta also said on June 22 that Canadians would lose access to news on its social media sites due to Bill C-18. Metas Global Policy Director Kevin Chan told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on May 8 that the company would either have to operate in a flawed and unfair regulatory environment, or end the availability of news content in Canada.

Menzies, also a former CRTC commissioner, said Bill C-18 was flawed because it did not give Google and Meta certainty about how much it would cost them to assist news companies. Thats the biggest thing for business, and there seemed to be no ceiling to this, he said. Certainly some assistance was possible, but [the federal government] got carried away in terms of their expectations, and it scared them off.

According to Menzies, who spent three decades as a working journalist and newspaper executive, Meta and Googles decision to block Canadians access to news links will be especially harmful to newer media outletssuch as the Western Standard and True Norththat rely heavily on social media for revenue. He said these outlets will be forced to either invest in advertising on different platforms, or take federal subsidies to remain viable.

That would be too bad, but theyre kind of forced into it  And basically, you end up with a country full of CBCs, Menzies said in reference to the estimated $1.2 billion in federal funding the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation receives from the federal government annually.

Menzies predicted that the Liberal government will come under increasing pressure from the countrys media industry to modify Bill C-18 or scrap it altogether. Theres no reason that theyre going to be real excited about Meta or Google either. But at the end of the day, if the government is having a fight with Meta and Google, neither of them is getting really hurt badly by this. But everybody standing on the sidelines is collateral damage, he said.

Incoherently Drafted

Timothy Denton, a former national commissioner of the CRTC from 2009 to 2013, said Bill C-18 was almost incoherently drafted because it would force Google and Meta to engage in a process with undefined liabilities and obligations to pay unknown-sized groups with very large and political demands.

C-18 is more than just more than just a nuisance, its a legal liability mess, he told The Epoch Times. It has an uncontrollable number of parties, uncontrolled outcomes, and no sane lawyer would ever tell a company to agree to such measures. And all you had to do to avoid this legal horror show was to decline to pay for links.

Denton said media outlets ultimately benefit from the sharing of hyperlinks provided by online platforms, and argued attempting to monetize the links in the wrong direction mistakes the chain of value. He also said Bill C-18 would essentially enforce a paywall system for Canadian news content, which is typically at the discretion of the users and media outlets.

And you limit the value of the internet by shutting down sources of information. And its very much an anti-internet policy, but this government has been pursuing policies which are against the spirit of the operations of the internet, he said.

Denton said regardless of government legislation, Canadian news media will continue to be in dire straits, as their economic structure is based around a model that is as obsolete as a 1945 battleship. Denton pointed out that newspapers used to rely heavily on advertisements, but now they have been forced to gain their revenues from subscriptions.

[Traditional] broadcasting is on its way out, and a new medium of transmission and dissemination is the internet, and that has to be adapted to, Denton said. I dont see what the government can do to reverse or change the inevitable economic transition to internet influence sources of supply and demand.
ANALYSIS: SCOTUS Decision on Affirmative Action Will Spark More Lawsuits, Experts Say

News Analysis

The U.S. Supreme Court decision barring the use of race as a criterion for college admissions rights a wrong, according to proponents of the ruling, rather than perpetuating a historic injustice, as critics have claimed.

The 63 decision in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College reconstituted a strict interpretation of the 14th Amendment, making it clear that equal treatment under the law bars discrimination based on race, even when that discrimination favors minorities.

Thats a step backward, critics say.

The Supreme Courts ruling on affirmative action programs is a historic civil rights setback, Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, wrote in a June 29 statement.

This decision could make it significantly more difficult for minorities, particularly low-income first-generation Latino and DREAMER students, to enter higher education institutions. It puts them at an immense disadvantage and perpetuates societal inequality and injustice.

Others heralded the courts decision as a return to the original intention of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law for all citizens, regardless of race.

The Supreme Court firmly rejected the practice of using race as a factor in university admissions, William Jacobson, founder of EqualProtect.org and professor of law at Cornell University, told The Epoch Times. Each individual is entitled to be considered for his or her inherent worth and talents, and race cannot play a role in that evaluation.

The case centered on the admissions practices of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The court found that Harvards practices discriminated against students of Asian origin by giving preferential consideration to black, Hispanic, and Native American students.

As evidence, plaintiffs pointed to data showing that among black and Asian students having nearly identical GPAs and test scores, black students were admitted at a much higher rate.

Colorblind Policies

In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas quoted 19th century Rep. John Lynch (R-Miss.), writing that the duty of the law-maker is to know no race, no color, no religion, no nationality, except to prevent distinctions on any of these grounds, so far as the law is concerned.

Affirmative action had been allowed under the premise that race-based distinctions were permissible to create a diverse student body to enhance the college learning experience.

What the Supreme Court said is that no, thats not correct at all, GianCarlo Canaparo, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told The Epoch Times.

Racial diversity  at least the way that the universities use it, is not at all related to genuine diversity, Canaparo said. Racial categories are arbitrary in the extreme. And to the extent that Harvard sees a relationship between what somebody looks like and what they think, that is based on a stereotype.

Racial categories are gross oversimplifications of broad populations and cultures, according to Wai Wah Chin, an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

What on earth are we talking about when we say Asians? Chin said in an online discussion of the Supreme Courts decision hosted by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) on June 29.

The term Asians is so diversewhen we talk about so many different languages, religionsof peoples histories, of people who have been fighting each other. Just talking about South Asians, youre talking about over a billion people.  And within those countries themselves, theyre very diverse.

The court decision should force universities to return their attention to individuals, according to Chin.

Were talking about kids; were talking about individual applicants. And when we minimize and dehumanize our applicants by making them primarily a racial instrument, I think were doing an injustice to our whole community.

Under the courts decision, colleges and universities can no longer use race as a proxy for true diversity, which includes thought, culture, and other aspects.

Solving the Deeper Problem

With affirmative action no longer an option, proponents of the decision believe that colleges, along with other institutions, will be forced to try more effective solutions to the problem of academic underachievement by minorities.

A classroom in Nevitt Elementary School in Phoenix on Oct. 26, 2022. (Photo by Olivier Touron/AFP via Getty Images)

The societal question, according to Canaparo, is: What is the cause of persistent racial disparities? And what is the cure?

He and others believe that the cause of the disparity is more comprehensive than individual or societal racism, so therefore, the cure must be something beyond tipping the scale in favor of one race or another.

That is wrong as a matter of morality, and its wrong. As a matter of fact, that is not how discrimination is cured. That is not how disparities are cured. The remedy cant be the same as the disease, Canaparo said.

Affirmative action hasnt worked, according to Wilfred Reilly, assistant professor of political science at Kentucky State University.

By the time you get to college, its too late, Reilly said during the FAIR forum. Were using the wrong tool to remedy other social ills. Nobodys saying that everythings hunky-dory and we live in a utopiawhether its K12 education or family formation or issues with criminal justice, or anything elsebut affirmative action is not the right tool to fix those problems.

Admitting more mediocre kids of black doctors is not going to remedy the ills of the underclass.

Chin said, We should be thinking about incentives and policies that will make sense for education at an early level, the family formation,

Reducing achievement standards has the opposite effect, she said. All children should be held to high standards.

You see that you see that happening in the charter schools here in New York City, where 23 out of the 25 top-performing schools in the standardized test for math are charter schools, and [the students] are mostly black and [other] minorities, Chin said.

Just the Beginning

While affirmative action has been disallowed by the high court, admissions practices of colleges and universities will likely still aim to create a racially diverse student body.

Shortly after the June 29 Supreme Court ruling, Harvard released a statement reaffirming its commitment to diversity.

Seizing upon one statement in the decision, Harvard stated, The Court also ruled that colleges and universities may consider in admissions decisions an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise. We will certainly comply with the Courts decision.

President Joe Biden announced an initiative to promote educational opportunities and diversity on college campuses.

The president is calling on colleges and universities, when selecting among qualified applicants, to give serious consideration to the adversities students have overcome, including: the financial means of a student or their family; where a student grew up and went to high school; and personal experiences of hardship or discrimination, including racial discrimination, that a student may have faced, the White House said in a statement.

More legal battles are likely to follow, according to Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow and the director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute.

This is not the end, its probably the end of the beginning over the legal fight. Theres obviously more policy skirmishes [to come], Shapiro said during the FAIR forum.

Canaparo also believes more lawsuits are coming as schools look for workarounds to the Supreme Courts decision by using ZIP codes, the high school from which a student graduated, or some other factor as a race indicator. He said the courts hadnt looked favorably on schools that use a race-neutral indicator that produce a race-conscious effect.

Its not clear yet whether that framework will apply directly to universities, but that I see is sort of the next frontier in litigation, he said.
Anomalies in Peoples Liberation Army Reflects a Split and Divided CCP, Says China Expert

Chinese military delegates leave the closing session of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, at The Great Hall of People in Beijing, China on Oct. 22, 2022. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

U.S. President Joe Biden recently revealed that Chinese leader Xi Jinping was ignorant of the spy balloon that floated across North America, which one China expert sees as one of several recent examples of disunity between Xi and elements of his regimes military.

Biden said on June 20 that Xi had no prior knowledge of the spy balloon that was shot down by the U.S. military in February this year.

The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didnt know it was there, Biden told a crowd at a fundraiser in California on June 20. Thats a great embarrassment for dictators when they didnt know what happened.

U.S. officials said Chinese military may be at the heart of the balloon spy operation and that the balloon manufacturers have direct ties to the Chinese military. The United States says the Chinese spy balloons, which can collect intelligence signals, are part of the CCPs global military surveillance program.

PLA Instability Troubles Xi

Li Yanming, a U.S.-based expert on China issues, told The Epoch Times on June 24 that recent abnormalities in the Chinese Communist Partys military have been frequent.

Li said that there are still anti-Xi forces within the CCPs militarythe Peoples Liberation Army (PLA)and the instability of the military deeply worries Xi.

As well as Xis ignorance of the balloon incident, cases of strict regulation of military leaders social activities and the release of inside information about a death sentence given to retired PLA air force general Liu Yazhou reveal that the CCPs military is going through an intense purge.

According to Lis analysis, former CCP dictator Jiang Zemins faction has controlled the military for a long time. After the fall of Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, the inner workings of the Jiang factions attempted coup against Xi were exposedand the military was deeply involved.

Since the CCPs 18th Party Congress in 2012, Xi has investigated Jiangs inner circle in the PLAtwo vice chairmen of the military commission, Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, and two members of the military commission, Fang Fenghui and Zhang Yang, who collectively have been referred to as the four Army Tigers.

General Xu Caihou (right), then-Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of Chinas Central Military Commission, talks with Chinas Chongqing Municipality Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai during the opening ceremony of the National Peoples Congress at the Great Hall of the People on March 5, 2012, in Beijing, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

But, Li said, there are still many remnants of the Jiang faction in the military, and many serving senior military officers started their careers when Jiang was in power.

In addition, the CCPs red families and princelings are in control of the military. As the CCPs internal purges continue to escalate, the political and economic interests are reshuffled, and the top echelon of the party is split and divided. Many princelings and military forces they control are now standing in opposition to Xi.

Li pointed out that the current situation in the Taiwan Strait is escalating, Sino-U.S. relations are deteriorating, and the risk of military confrontation is increasing.

However, the CCPs military has always had two opposing voices on sensitive topics, such as attacking Taiwan by force and military confrontation between the United States and China.

As a regime that believes in power comes from the barrel of a gun, the instability of the military has undoubtedly become a worry for Xi Jinping, especially in the context of the regimes current internal and external difficulties, Li said.

He believes that the split and division within the PLA will be an important factor that will affect and even determine the future direction of the Taiwan Strait situation, Sino-U.S. relations, and the CCPs high-level politics.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) speaks after reviewing the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) Navy fleet in the South China Sea on April 12, 2018. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP)

Social Regulations

Also in June, the PLA issued new social networking regulations specifically for military officers, a move that China experts, such as Li, have described as unprecedented.

The PLA Daily published an article on June 19 stating that the Central Military Commission recently approved the issuance of the Code of Conduct for Social Communications of Military Leaders.

The code specifies how the leading PLA cadres should deal with eight different social groups, including those in local party and government agencies, business units and enterprises, social groups and relatives and friends, as well as these cadres connections on social networking platforms.

The rules also require military leaders to constantly purify their social circle, life circle, and friend circle, but the PLA Daily did not disclose any specific details regarding what to do or not to do with these groups.

Ni Lexiong, a Chinese military expert and a professor of political science at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, told Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that the CCPs issuance of social guidelines for military cadres was unprecedented, even during Mao Zedongs rule.

The new rules will also apply to retired generals, who have considerable influence over younger cadres, according to a military source who spoke to the South China Morning Post.

Denouncing the 4 Army Tigers

The PLA Daily published several commentaries from June 2 to June 8 this year, repeatedly naming former military officials Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Fang Fenghui, and Zhang Yang, saying that their poisonous influence should be fully and thoroughly eliminated.

Former Central Military Commission vice chair General Guo Boxiong in Beijing on March 9, 2012. Guo was sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese military court on July 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Guo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016, and Xu died of illness in 2015 while under investigation. Fang was the chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2019. Zhang killed himself in November 2017 when he was under disciplinary investigation for corruption.

In addition to reaffirming the elimination of the poisonous influence of the four army tigers, the PLA Daily also stated in an article on June 5 that it is necessary to uphold the absolute leadership of the CCP over the military.

Inside Story of Liu Yazhous Case

In March this year, Hong Kongs Ming Pao quoted sources as saying that Liu Yazhou, a former political commissar of the Chinese National Defense University and an air force general, had been sentenced to death by the authorities and that the authorities had kept his case secret because of his influence in the military.

In April, Hong Kongs Sing Tao Daily stated that before the death sentence, the CCPs Disciplinary Committee of the Central Military Commission had completed its investigation of Liu, and uncovered a staggering amount of money linked to corruption. He was sacked and transferred to the military judicial system.

The article also stated that due to Lius considerable influence, the authorities began to eliminate Liu Yazhous residual poison within the army.

The military issued a notice at the end of February, requesting that Liu Yazhous harmful messages be removed in March, and that each unit should conduct a self-censorship to thoroughly clean up all books, newspapers, periodicals, articles, inscriptions, speeches, etc. involving Liu, based on a comprehensive list issued by the military authority.

However, there has been no official confirmation of Lius death sentence from mainland Chinese authorities, except for an article on the Chinese Maoist website that criticizes him.
Laith Maroufs Federal Grant Application Raised No Flags Because His Wife Submitted Paperwork: Briefing Note

The West Block of Parliament Hill is pictured through the window of the Sir John A Macdonald building in Ottawa in a file photo. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

An application for over $133,000 in federal funding by Laith Marouf, who openly posted antisemitic remarks online, raised no flags within the Department of Canadian Heritage because his wife submitted the paperwork for the grant, according to an internal briefing note.

The project was assessed which included an assessment of the public profile of the organization, the organizations track record, the external environment and the financials, said the Heritage Canada briefing note obtained by Blacklocks Reporter.

The note was prepared for a Feb. 13 appearance at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage by Associate Deputy Heritage Minister Mala Khanna.

In this case, there was a search done of the organization and there were no flags and so no further assessment of the individuals was undertaken, the note said.

It went on to say that if Maroufs views had been discovered before the funding was released, the project would not have been funded.

The note also showed that Maroufs grant application to Heritage Canada had been submitted in his wifes name, Gretchen King, who referred to herself in her signature as secretary of the board of directors at the Montreal-based Community Media Advocacy Centre (CMAC).

This is why we are looking to strengthen our vetting process, wrote the department.

Marouf was a senior consultant for CMAC in 2021 when the organization received a federal grant of over $133,000 for an anti-racism project.

However, the government pulled its funding of CMAC in August 2022 after past Twitter posts by Marouf were found in which he referred to Jewish people as white supremacists and bags of human feces.

In another post, Marouf wrote that Jewish white supremacists deserve a bullet to the head. May death visit the home of every Zionist on earth, he wrote.

Federal Funding

Opposition parties demanded an explanation as to how CMAC was approved for funding when one of its senior consultants was openly racist, but the Canadian Heritage Department said in a briefing note after the fact that it had conducted a comprehensive assessment including both regional and national committees prior to releasing the grant.

The department had already paid CMAC $133,000 before terminating the contract.

CMAC had already spent some of that money when the government requested it be repaid, so the heritage department told CMAC to only pay back $122,000.

The heritage department also acknowledged in the Feb. 13 briefing note that Twitter users had tried to alert it about Maroufs anti-semitic posts prior to August 2022.

Canadian Heritage social media accounts are tagged approximately 10,000 times a month and due to that volume, comprehensive and regular monitoring presents a significant challenge, the department wrote. We are reviewing our procedures to reduce the chance of this happening in the future.

The department also said in February that it would change its contractor vetting process as a result of the Marouf scandal.

The contract had been awarded to CMAC under the purview of Heritage Canadas anti-racism initiatives, to craft an anti-racism strategy for Canadian broadcasting.

Tara MacIsaac contributed to this report.
I oppose affirmative action. But I also oppose legacy admissions, I oppose any kind of process or system that tries to degrade us from the principle of merit that our country was built upon. Were founded upon excellence. Thats what the American dream is.That is a universal Maxim with which we should be striving to.

In this episode of ATL:NOW, I am joined by board member of Students for Fair Admissions Kenny Xu, plaintiff in a landmark federal case against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. This week, the Supreme Court ruled that the universities affirmative action policies discriminate against Asian-Americans and are a violation of the constitution.

Its a big decision. This means that Americans can rest easy knowing that they will be treated based on the content of their character, not the color of their skin at a critical time of their life, which is college admissions. At least they will know that their race cannot play a factor for or against them, which is something they cant control, says Xu.

Xu explains that the verdict is actually a win for both Asian-Americans and Black students.

At UC Berkeley, after they banned affirmative action, the Black kids went down briefly, but the Black graduation rate went up. And actually, the number of Black bachelors degrees remain the same. Isnt that exciting?, asks Xu. Affirmative actionall it does is it mismatches kids into places where they could thrive in another school. Its not about the prestige of your school. Most educators, and even the left know that its about what you do with it.

Affirmative action programs, which include DEI and CRT, are in opposition to the idea of meritocracy, argues Xu.

Asians choose to focus on academics. Some people choose to focus on sports. Some people choose to focus on art. Some people choose to focus on business. You should allow people to receive the rewards in their efforts, wherever it goes, says Xu.

Links: Students for Fair Admissions | Color Us United
Australia and Japan Conduct Military Exercises in South China Sea

Australia and Japan conduct joint military exercises in the South China Sea from June 24-25. (Photo courtesy of Japan's Military of Defence)

Australia and Japan have conducted military exercises in the highly contested South China Sea as both countries seek to quell Beijings influence in the Indo-Pacific.

The military exercises took place from June 24-25 and followed the signing of a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation (JDSC) in October 2022 that seeks closer defence and security ties between both countries.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has previously criticised Australia for conducting joint military exercises with allies in the South China Sea, saying that Australia will face retaliation from the communist regime if it dares to interfere in military conflict in the region, such as Taiwan.

The recent bilateral exercise, known as Trident23, was conducted between Japans Maritime Self Defence Force, helicopter destroyer JS Izumo, destroyer JS Samidare and Australias Navy frigate HMAS ANZAC and Royal Australian Air Force P-8A patrol aircraft, according to Japans Military of Defence.

However, Australias Department of Defence has not publicly noted the joint exercise.

Rear Admiral Nishiyama Takahiro, Commander of the First Surface Unit of the Indo-Pacific Deployment 2023, said that Australia, an ally of the United States, is a Special Strategic Partner in the Indo-Pacific region, sharing not only universal values but also strategic interests in security.

The relationship between the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the Royal Australian Forces has never been stronger and more important, and the JMSDF will promote further improvement of interoperability and mutual understanding with the Royal Australian Navy in order to improve the security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, Takahiro said in a June 27 statement.

The CCP has attempted to drive a wedge into the Australia-Japan relationship, saying in January that Japan may launch an attack on Australia in the future as Japan never apologised for its behaviour in the wara claim that both Australia and Japan have dismissed.

CCPs Peoples Liberal Army-Navy In Vicinity of Training Area

Meanwhile, a ship belonging to Beijings Peoples Liberation Army was reportedly seen in the vicinity of the training area, but it did not contact the Australian Navy, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The Epoch Times has contacted Australias Defence Department seeking confirmation of this report.

The CCPs aggression in the South China Sea has been concerning for surrounding and Western countries, given that $3.4 trillion (US$2.25 trillion) of commerce passes through the region yearly.

Moreover, the United States, Japan, and Australia have been conducting trilateral naval exercises in the region with the aim of countering Beijings encroachment.

Additionally, as concerns arise over whether the CCP would declare was on Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wens government wants Australia to station a military officer in its de facto embassy in Taipei, reported The Australian.

I think it is very important when the Australian government is paying so much more attention to the regional security issues for the two countries to be able to share their observations, their assessment of the situation, Taiwans Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in Taipei on June 26.

The call from Taipei comes as the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Taipei Times on June 27 that the Australian government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, appointed a director of strategic affairs to its de facto embassy in 2022, following an increased threat from Beijing.

The ministry said the director had been in close contact with the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense and other security agencies.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to confirm the appointment.

This comes as the United States is seeking to add other countries to the trilateral AUKUS deal as it aims to accelerate and deepen cooperation on key defence technologies, including hypersonics, electronic warfare, and undersea capabilities, in orto counter the CCP effectively CCP.

At present, only Canada and New Zealandthe remaining two members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliancehave expressed an interest in joining Pillar Two of the AUKUS deal.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Deutsche Bank is seen in Brussels, Belgium

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Deutsche Bank's head of human resources, Michael Ilgner, has decided to leave the bank, Deutsche Bank announced on Friday, the latest in a spate of management changes.

The move follows an investigation earlier this year into Ilgner's purchase of the bank's own bonds just days before the lender reported earnings, a move that appeared to flout the bank's own rules designed to prevent insider trading.

It was not immediately clear whether Ilgner's decision to leave was related to the investigation.

A Deutsche Bank spokesperson declined to comment on the status of the probe. Ilgner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing praised Ilgner as an "important partner" to the management board.

"Over the past three years, Michael shaped our human capital strategy, creating a strong foundation for future proof leadership and talent management practices that we can build on," Sewing said.

The move is effective Sept. 30, and Deutsche said it would announce succession plans in due course.

A filing in April showed that Ilgner bought 201,000 euros of the bank's bonds on April 18, breaking a ban on purchasing securities eight weeks ahead of earnings.

At the time, a person familiar with the matter said that there was no evidence that Ilgner had acted in bad faith with the purchase.

Deutsche Bank in recent months has announced a number of board changes, the biggest management reshuffle since 2019.

(Reporting by Tom Sims, Editing by Victoria Waldersee and Sandra Maler)
A multi-billion dollar student loan forgiveness plan has now been struck down by the high court. What do students now face, and whats the reaction from President Joe Biden?

Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) joins us to weigh in on the Supreme Courts decisions on affirmative action and student loan forgiveness. She has introduced a bill dealing with the college admissions process.

Former presidents, presidential candidates, professors, and others are reacting to Thursdays Supreme Court ruling. The high court struck down the decades-old practice of affirmative action.

The State Department approves a potential arms sale to Taiwan, sparking backlash from the Chinese Communist Party.

An expert China analyst explores the threat that the Chinese spy base in Cuba poses to the United States. He offers five reasons why the facility is a national security concern.

An annual demonstration takes place on the National Mall about firework safety. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is asking people to be safe when celebrating the Fourth of July this year.
Brazils Bolsonaro Barred from Running for Office for 8 Years

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leaves his home following a search operation, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 3, 2023. (Adriano Machado/Reuters)

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaros political career faced a major setback on Friday as Brazils federal electoral court (TSE) barred him from public office until 2030 over his challenge to last years election results.

In a ruling Friday, the 68-year old conservative firebrand was convicted by the court for abuse of power and misuse of the media when, on the eve of Brazils 2022 election, he publicly called into question the reliability of the countrys electronic voting system.

Specifically, Bolsonaro was accused of undermining democracy in Brazil by claiming that electronic ballots were vulnerable to fraud and hacking. Five of the electoral courts seven judges voted to banish him from politics for eight years, while two voted against.

Bolsonaros lawyers, who have argued that his remarks had no impact on the election results, said Friday that they would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

If the verdict stands, however, Bolsonaro will be prohibited from being a presidential candidate in the 2026 election, though hell be eligible to run in 2030. Hell also be barred from taking part in municipal elections in 2024 and 2028.

Bolsonaro, an admirer of former President Donald Trump, vowed to continue advancing conservative politics in Brazil and on Friday called the TSE ruling a stab in the back.

If the verdict stands on appeal, his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will not have to face his main foe if he runs for re-election in 2026.

In October 2022, Lula narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff presidential election. Members of Lulas administration celebrated Fridays ruling.

Some important messages come from the TSE trial: lying is not a legitimate tool for exercising a public function and politics is not governed by the law of the jungle, Justice Minister Flavio Dino said in a tweet. Democracy has overcome its toughest stress test in decades.

The electoral courts decision to bar Bolsonaro from seeking public office for eight years was in part based on his controversial decision to summon foreign ambassadors several weeks before the first round of the 2022 election and make critical claims against Brazils electronic voting system.

One of the judges who cast a vote against Bolsonaro argued that with the move to summon the ambassadors, Bolsonaro tried to get an unfair advantage in the election and made Brazil appear like a little banana republic.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, faces other legal troubles in Brazil in the form of multiple criminal investigations that could land him in prison.

One of these is a probe into his COVID-19 vaccination records, another is an investigation into alleged voter suppression, as well as allegations of embezzlement of foreign gifts.

Bolsonaro has denied any wrongdoing in those cases.

Bolsonaros Home Raided

Brazilian police in May raided Bolsonaros home, arrested his aides, and seized his cell phone as part of an investigation into his COVID-19 vaccination records.

Bolsonaro, who vowed never to get a COVID-19 vaccine, was registered as vaccinated in health records made public in February.

Federal police had reportedly found evidence of tampering with Bolsonaros vaccine records, according to Supreme Court documents.

Bolsonaro confirmed the raid on his home in Brasilia to journalists and reiterated that he had never taken a COVID-19 vaccine. He also denied any role in the alleged forging of documents.

For my part, there was nothing falsified. I didnt take the vaccine. Period, he said.

Bolsonaros personal security officers Max Guilherme and Sergio Cordeiro, who have stayed on as part of his detail after he left office, were also arrested in the operation.

They were accused of falsifying their vaccine records before flying with Bolsonaro to the United States in December 2022.

The raid on Bolsonaros home sparked comments drawing a parallel between the FBI executing a search warrant at Trumps home in Florida amid allegations that he mishandled classified documents.

Trump has since been indicted in the case, with the former president denying any wrongdoing and describing the actions against him as a political witch hunt.

Leader of the Opposition

Bolsonaro attended the U.S. Conservative Political Action Conference on March 4, 2023, where he told The Epoch Times in an interview that he feared that actions would be taken to hamstring his political involvement.

He said he planned to once again be the leader of the opposition to the current government after returning from the United States to Brazil later that month, while warning he might face action from the judicial branch.

I have not been indicted. Theres nothing against me when it comes to corruption. But, unfortunately, there might be some forceful measure taken against me, which would be completely unfair, he said.

Bolsonaro said in the interview that many congressmen support him and are against the communism and corruption of the new administration in Brazil.

Lulas victory was fiercely contested by Bolsonaros supporters, which led to Jan. 8 demonstrations and the breach of Brazils federal buildings in the capital.

That incident also drew parallels to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol breach, which came as Trump supporters called into question the legitimacy of the 2020 election, which Trump continues to insist was rigged.

Autumn Spredemann, Roman Balmakov, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Bud Light Declining Sales Are Business as Usual, Might Improve Next Year: Beer Industry Expert

Declining sales of Bud Light now appear to be business as usual for parent company Anheuser-Busch after it was caught up in controversy earlier this year, according to Beer Business Daily publisher Harry Schuhmacher.

In an interview with Fox News published on June 30, Schuhmacher pointed to recent disappointing sales of the beverage in the wake of its partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney for a campaign in March.

Sales of Bud Light dropped 26.8 percent during the four weeks ended June 10, according to data from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ.

A week prior to that, Bud Lights sales dropped 24.4 percent, the data show, and in May, Bud Light was overtaken by Mexican lager Modelo Especial as the best-selling brand.

However, Schuhmacher pointed to more recent data from analytics firm Nielsen suggesting Bud Light volumes were down 31 percent for the week going into Fathers Day weekend, while sales of Miller Lite and Coors Light surged around 20 percent.

While Schuhmacher noted that the entire beer industry did not do well over the Fathers Day period, Bud Lights trends were down even worse, he said.

The industry is still surprised that Bud Lights trends havent improved and in fact, they just get a little bit worse, Schuhmacher said. The trends have remained almost the same since about mid-May  now its almost like business as usual, he added.

Schuhmacher noted that Bud Light has begun offering a rebate of uo to $15 on purchases of a 15-pack of Budweiser, Bud Light, Budweiser Select, or Budweiser Select ahead of the Fourth of July weekend.

Anheuser-Busch CEO Talks Backlash

In some cases where the 15-packs sell for less than $15, the beer would be basically free to the consumer, he said.

The company also recently unveiled its new television commercial called Easy to Summer, which cut a noticeably less political tone.

Set to the soundtrack of Good Times, the 1979 hit by Chic, the advert features Americans from all walks of life enjoying a cold Bud Light during a sweltering hot summer, although some face some typical relatable incidents such as a sudden change in weather and sunburn.

The advert garnered very mixed reviews online, some of whom claimed the company was trying so hard to move on from its recent controversy.

In addition, Anheuser-Busch has started giving away $10,000 weekly to drinkers to make summer easy to enjoy and stock up for all the backyard parties, and has announced partnerships with artists including Kane Brown, Midland, and Megan Moroney as part of a backyard tour for fans throughout the summer.

Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth also appeared on CBS News on Wednesday morning to address the backlash over the Mulvaney partnership.

During the interview, Whitworth, a former CIA officer, noted that the company has been supporting the LGBT community since 1998, but noted the impact the Mulvaney partnership had on Bud Light and its employees.

As we move forward, we want to focus on what we do best, which is brewing great beer for everyone, listening to our consumers, being humble in listening to them, making sure that we do right by our employees, take care and support our partners, and ultimately make an impact in the communities that we serve, Whitworth said.

Tony the Tiger and Dylan Mulvaney attend the 76th Annual Tony Awards at United Palace Theater in New York City, on June 11, 2023. (Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)

Mulvaney Speaks Out

Despite the new promotions and the comments from Anheuser-Busch executives, Schuhmacher says sales of the beverage appear to remain unchanged.

The beer expert believes the company will continue to just carry on as usual and hope that consumers eventually move on from the controversy.

I think the reputation theyve gotten is going to be hard to shake, Schuhmacher said. Having said that, I do think that there is a chance, maybe a small chance, but a chance that  this time next year, Bud Light might be cool to drink again  the trend might turn around, particularly among young consumers, he said.

Schuhmachers comments came as Mulvaney on Thursday broke his silence regarding the fallout earlier this year, calling the events that followed more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined.

I was scared, and I was scared of more backlash, and I felt personally guilty for what transpired, Mulvaney said in an Instagram story, adding that Bud Light never reached out to him following the backlash.

For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse in my opinion than not hiring a trans person at all because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want, Mulvaney said. And the hate doesnt end with me, it has serious and grave consequences for the rest of our community.

A spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch declined to address the claims made by Mulvaney in the video when contacted by The Washington Post.

The privacy and safety of our employees and our partners is always our top priority, the spokesperson said.

The Epoch Times has contacted Anheuser-Busch for further comment.
California Lawmakers at Odds Over Public Safety Bills

Ahead of the July 14 legislative deadline for policy committees to approve and refer bills for further consideration, the Assembly and Senate Public Safety committees met on June 27, passing many proposals on partisan votes.

One such proposal was Senate Bill 94, authored by state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), which would allow for potentially reducing sentences of inmates convicted of murder with special circumstances resulting in terms of life without parole before 1990.

The proposed legislation was hotly contested during the hearing, including by family members of victims, law enforcement agencies, and Republican committee members.

I find this to be very, very disheartening, and it shows the imbalance that weve come to in this consideration and the overfocus on offenders, Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) told his colleagues on the committee. Im just tired of it, and I think the people of this great state and the country are tired of it.

The public safety committees in both houses have come under scrutiny by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as bills pertaining to fentanyl enforcement were repeatedly denied by the panels earlier this year.

Some voters unfamiliar with the process expressed shock when they learned about the power committees hold in the legislative process, with membersappointed to the committees by the speaker of each housevetting bills and deciding what measures the full Legislature will consider.

A handful of people holding the reins of power is not how I thought the process worked, William Martinez, a Central Valley resident who said he is frustrated with crime and drugs in his community, told The Epoch Times. I dont understand why this small group can do this. And why are they blocking laws that could stop the crime?

The Senates Public Safety Committee also passed Assembly Bill 701a proposal introduced by Assemblyman Carlos Villapudua (D-Stockton) seeking to enhance penalties for those convicted of distributing at least one kilogram of fentanyl.

This is not a drug. This is poison, and its all over. People are dying every day, Villapudua said. This bill saves lives.

But some committee members debated with him about its implications with state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) reserving his right to oppose the legislation on the floor.

Specifically, Wiener voiced his desire to include language in the bill that requires foreknowledge before sentencing enhancements are applied. He stressed his fear that some low-level person  Im talking about drivers that may or may not know could be subjected to lengthy prison sentences.

San Joaquin District Attorney Ron Freitaswho testified in support of the billassured lawmakers that someone unaware of possession cannot be prosecuted.

Another bipartisan fentanyl bill passed by the Senate committee, Assembly Bill 474introduced by Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez (D-Pomona)is designed to strengthen state efforts to disrupt and dismantle transnational opioid trafficking networks.

Another related to drug decriminalizationSenate Bill 58 authored by Wienerpassed the Assembly Public Safety Committee, with Republicans opposed. The legislation would allow for possession of hallucinogenic plant material including psychedelic mushrooms.

Accompanying the senator in support of the proposal was a combat veteran who spoke about PTSD and the guilt he felt when returning to civilian life, something he said was only alleviated when he discovered hallucinogenic therapy treatments.

A number of proposals related to increasing firearm regulations passed in both chambers, most with stiff opposition from Republican lawmakers.

Senate Bill 452, introduced by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), requiring microstampingwhich would provide unique identification on cartridges fired from weaponswas met with industry and law enforcement resistance, with opponents noting that new technology would be needed for its implementation, as current applications, per experts, arent reliable, they said.

However, proponents pointed out the state routinely sets goals through legislation and then works to attain them, with both zero-emission and clean energy initiatives cited as examples.

An effort to address trespassing, state Sen. Bob Archuletas (D-Pico Rivera) Senate Bill 602 passed in that houses Public Safety Committee, though lawmakers advised it should later be amended after some Democrats expressed concern about homeless citations possibly increasing if the bill becomes law.

The passed bills will now be heard by other committees, and those that proceed will face debate on the floor later this year.
China Flies 24 Warplanes Near Taiwan After US Approval of Arms Sales

A Chinese military jet flies over Pingtan island, one of mainland China's closest point from Taiwan, on Aug. 5, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Taiwans military detected 24 Chinese warplanes, including fighter jets and bombers, and five vessels near the island just a day after the United States announced its approval of two potential arms sales to Taiwan.

The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Chinese warplanes and vessels were conducting joint combat readiness and police patrol near the island at around 8 a.m. (local time) on June 30.

Of those, 11 warplanes were spotted crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, prompting Taiwans military to dispatch aircraft, ships, and shore-based missile systems in response, the ministry said.

Beijings latest show of force followed the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agencys (DSCA) decision on June 29 to approve two potential arms sales to Taiwan, valued at up to $440 million.

The DSCA said the first deal includes 30 mm high explosive incendiary-tracer rounds, 30 mm multi-purpose rounds, 30 mm training rounds, and other related equipment, which totaled an estimated $332.2 million.

The second deal, worth $108 million, consists of a blanket order cooperative logistics supply support arrangement, which will support Taiwans purchase of spare and repair parts for wheeled vehicles, weapons, and other related elements.

The DSCA said it had delivered the required certification notifying Congress of the possible arms sales and assured that these proposed sales will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The proposed sale will contribute to the recipients goal of maintaining its military capability while further enhancing interoperability with the United States, the agency stated.

Chinas foreign ministry has strongly opposed the U.S. move and urged Washington to stop selling arms to Taiwan.

10th Arms Sales Approved Under Biden

Taiwanese leadership said the latest arms sales marked the 10th agreement approved by the Biden administration, demonstrating the importance that Washington places on Taiwans defense needs.

These [Foreign Military Sales] are based on Taiwan Relations Act and Six Assurances, providing the need for enhancing our defense capacity as well as maintaining regional stability, Taiwans defense ministry said on Twitter.

The ministry said the U.S. arms sales would help bolster Taiwans defense resilience against the Chinese regimes continuing expansion of military and grey zone oppression, which has posed a serious threat to the island.

Washington had also approved the potential arms sale of $619 million to Taiwan on March 1, which includes missiles and other equipment for Taiwans F-16 fleet.

This arrangement includes 200 anti-aircraft Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and 100 AGM-88B High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM), 23 HARM training missiles, four AMRAAM Guidance Sections, and 26 multi-purpose launchers.

The U.S.-Taiwan Business Council welcomed this move but reiterated that munitions and sustainment of legacy systems would not be enough to provide a full defense of the island.

Two U.S.-made F-16 fighters in the air during a scramble take off at the eastern Hualien air force base on Jan. 23, 2013. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

The absence of a broader plan to assist in modernizing Taiwans armed forces will, over time, open up new vulnerabilities in Taiwans defenses that the Chinese Communist Party will seek to exploit, U.S.-Taiwan Business Council President Rupert Hammond-Chambers said in a statement on March 2.

The current narrow approach is not enough, as it will create significant financial and military challenges in the future. Force modernization is an ongoing year-on-year effort; it cannot be pushed into the indefinite future without serious evolving damage to Taiwans national defense, he added.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) views Taiwan as a renegade province that must be united with the mainland by any means necessary, even though Taiwan has never been ruled by the CCP and has its own democratic government.

The United States has maintained a precarious middle position in this status quo since the establishment of the Taiwan Relations Act in 1979. It formally recognizesbut doesnt endorsethe CCPs viewpoint. The United States also maintains legal ties with Taiwan guaranteeing that it will supply the island with the arms it needs for self-defense.

Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.
Chinas Industrial Profits Tumble, Deepening Economic Gloom

An employee works on the production line at Jingjin filter press factory in Dezhou, Shandong province, China, on Aug. 25, 2022. (Siyi Liu/Reuters)

BEIJINGAnnual profits at Chinas industrial firms extended a double-digit decline in the first five months as softening demand squeezed margins, reinforcing hopes of more policy support to bolster a stuttering post-COVID economic recovery.

The 18.8 percent year-on-year slump in profits came on top of the 20.6 percent contraction in January-April, and added to evidence of an economy that was losing steam on many fronts in May including retail sales, exports and property investment as the youth jobless rate scaled a fresh high of 20.8 percent.

Last month alone, industrial earnings contracted by 12.6 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released on Wednesday. Profits were down 18.2 percent in April.

The still slow recovery in industrial profits pointed to sustained difficulties facing business operations, said Wu Chaoming, deputy director of the Chasing International Economic Institute.

Wu said the corporate struggles strengthen the case for more policy measures to help companies.

Offering some hope of a turnaround, auto manufacturers saw a doubling in year-on-year profit in May, although the jump partly reflected the poor performance last year when COVID curbs took a heavy toll on business.

As the external environment becomes increasingly complicated and severe, domestic demand still appears to be insufficient, weighing on further recovery in industrial profits, said NBS statistician Sun Xiao in an accompanying statement, noting that the foundation for a revival in industrial profits is still not solid.

Foreign firms recorded a 13.6 percent decline in earnings in January-May, while private-sector companies posted a 21.3 percent slide, according to a breakdown of the data.

Profits sank for 24 of 41 major industrial sectors during the period, with the petroleum, coal, and fuel processing industry reporting the heftiest slump at 92.8 percent.

Chinese stocks were largely in the red in the morning session, but pared some losses in afternoon trading, leaving the main indexes mixed.

China will release its second-quarter GDP growth data in mid-July.

($1 = 7.2182 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Chinese Premier Criticizes Wests Economic De-risking From ChinaExperts Refute Remarks

A sign of the WEF is seen at the Congress center during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 18, 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinese Premier Li Qiang criticized the West at the opening of the World Economic Forum for de-risking from China, calling it a false proposition. However, experts point out that Lis remarks are unfounded, and the Chinese regimes coercive economic tactics have caused many companies to move their production out of China to reduce risks.

The World Economic Forumknown colloquially as the Summer Davoswas held in Tianjin from June 27 to 29, with representatives from more than 90 countries and regions.

Li delivered a speech at the opening ceremony, criticizing the West for reducing their reliance on China.

In the West, some people are hyping up what is called cutting reliance and de-risking,' Li told delegates.

These two concepts  are a false proposition because the development of economic globalization is such that the world economy has become a common entity in which you and I are both intermingled.

Li said Beijing resolutely opposes politicizing economic and trade issues.

De-risking was first proposed by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in March and supported by countries such as Germany, France, and the United States. The G-7 summit in Hiroshima in May also set the tone to respond to the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) economic coercion by de-risking rather than decoupling from the worlds second-largest economy.

De-risking Is Not a False Proposition

This [de-risking] is not a false proposition. It is the real experience of various countries in the past few years, Qiu Wanjun, a professor of finance at Northeastern University in Boston, told The Epoch Times on June 27.

Looking back on the past three years, the global economy was disrupted, and the supply chain was broken due to the CCPs draconian zero-COVID control policy, and the massive COVID-19 resurgence last December caused by the sudden and unprepared abandonment of all pandemic prevention measures.

Qiu said this had caused turmoil in global markets, so Western countries have adopted a risk diversification approach to China. Before Li Qiang said that this is a false proposition, he should have actually reflected on what they [CCP] have done in the past three years to make Western countries think that they should reduce their economic dependence on China.

Frank Xie, a professor of marketing at the Aiken School of Business at the University of South Carolina, told The Epoch Times on June 27: In fact, the CCP has been using state power to restrict trade and use the economy as a means of coercion. For example, during the pandemic, the CCP used it to coerce other countries to achieve political goals by selling or refusing to sell urgently-needed supplies, such as masks and medical equipment, to other countries.

De-risking is meant to remove the dangers of the CCP, the dangers caused by the CCPs policies and politics. Actually, its to get rid of the CCPs aggression and not give the CCP the opportunity and power to coerce them again. This is what de-risking means. They are indeed reducing this kind of risk, Xie said.

A worker at a factory for Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery Co. Ltd, which makes lithium batteries for electric cars and other uses, in Nanjing in Chinas eastern Jiangsu Province, on March 12, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

CCP Politicizing Economy

In response to Premier Lis remarks about how Beijing resolutely opposes politicizing economic and trade issues, Xie said: It is the CCP itself that is politicizing it, and the Wests de-risking is meant to reduce political and regulatory risks, as the CCP is weaponizing and politicizing the economy. So Its absurd for the CCP to call on other countries not to politicize. Its like slapping themselves [CCP] in the face.

Li said at the forum that the world is at the crossroads of historical changes. In the process of economic globalization, there will be many headwinds and waves of reversal, and we should not return to the previous state of isolation.

Qiu said of Lis remark: Actually, de-globalization hasnt happened, but the whole worlds supply chain is restructuring. Because we know the worlds supply chain and production and insurance costs are changing all the time, as well as the demand for finished products and the life cycle of products.

In the process of restructuring, we have seen one of the trends, which is that countries around the world are reducing their dependence on China.

Xie pointed out: Li Qiang is confusing the concept. In fact, it is just a relocation of the industrial chain. After moving out of China, it is now done by countries such as ASEAN, Vietnam, and India. The worlds factories are still operating in India and Vietnam. So globalization now just excludes the CCP.

Li said at the forum, Enterprises have the most say, and the governments cannot do it for them.

However, Xie pointed out that the CCP itself is overstepping, using political power to interfere in the economy. It limits the production of some Chinese enterprises according to Beijings political needs. This is exactly what the CCP itself is doing.

Western governments are reducing risks, and Western enterprises are also reducing risks. The transfer of production chains is actually the enterprises themselves removing risks and looking for safer new industrial chains.

Qiu believes that Lis remarks intended to boost the confidence of foreign investors and restore international confidence in Chinas economic development, but how much it can be realized remains to be seen.

Cheng Jing and Luo Ya contributed to this report.
Conservatives Are Giving Trump Credit for Recent SCOTUS Rulings

Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh attend the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on Feb. 5, 2019. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

During former President Donald Trumps tenure, he appointed 234 judges, including three associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. The appointments made at the highest level of the court are far from being record numbers, but political commentators have been predicting paradigm-shifting rulings like the ones handed down this week since the Trump-era nominations were made.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down the use of race in college admissions, more colloquially known as affirmative action. On Friday, another ruling invalidated the Biden administrations student loan debt forgiveness program.

Twitter was filled with reactions to not only the two decisions but also what led to the conservative-majority court.

Political commentator and host Megyn Kelly wrote: A spectacular day for Donald Trump whose three conservative picks for SCOTUS were integral to the historic decisions yesterday and today. Major feather in his cap and will likely (& rightfully) be touted by his campaign in coming months.

Other conservatives, welcoming the rulings, credited Trump as well.

Regardless of your opinion about the Trump presidency, his mark on the Supreme Court has been extraordinary. Decision after decision has restored a fundamental constitutionalist perspective to our legal landscape. Trumps agenda either remade or restored Americayour choice, wrote actor James Wood.

Sports journalist Clay Travis wrote, Donald Trumps biggest legacy, by far, is his Supreme Court appointments. He nailed it on all three and these three are going to preserve American liberty and freedom for generations to come. Absolute home runs.

Todays Supreme Court ruling would not have been possible without President Trumps appointments to the court, wrote anchor and politician Kari Lake.

Critics of the recent rulings were quick to criticize the political preferences of the justices, but few pointed to Trump directly. Many proponents of canceling student debt instead urged the Biden administration to do more.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued a statement urging more executive branch action to counter the right-wing Supreme Court justices and quoted Justice Elena Kagans dissent that the courts first overreach in this case is deciding it at all.

But this fight isnt over. The President has additional legal tools to cancel student debtand he should use them. This Supreme Court needs to follow the law, not make policy decisions, wrote Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

With the pause on student loan payments set to expire in weeks, the Biden administration must do everything in its power to deliver for millions of Americans struggling with student loan debt. The admin has remaining legal routes to provide broad based student debt cancellation, wrote Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Robert Kennedy Jr. wrote, The unfortunate SCOTUS ruling striking down President Bidens #studentloan forgiveness program was the predictable result of Bidens failure to bring Congress together on this issue of crucial importance to young Americans.

President Biden knew his plan wouldnt survive a legal challenge. His plan gave the appearance of action, while accomplishing nothing. This is an issue of grave importance to our country. As President, I will galvanize public support to pressure Congress to put down their partisan positions and legislate meaningful relief to the tens of millions of Americans who are drowning in student debt.
DeSantis Praises Mama Bears At Moms For Liberty Summit, Says They Are a Powerful Force

Speaking on June 30 to a hall full of Moms For Liberty at their convention in Philadelphia, Ron DeSantis leaned into the parts of his platform and his record that appeal to so-called Mama Bears.

He talked about the work hes done as Floridas governor on education, and parental rights, and to reverse the woke agenda pervading school systems. He spoke of restoring civics education in the states schools and colleges. He talked about helping single mothers get off welfare.

I see events like they had in New York City, where theyre chantingsome drag queenwe are coming for your kids. Let me tell you something, you start messing with our kids, weve got problems, he told the cheering crowd at the sold-out Joyful Warriors National Summit.

Moms For Liberty, a nonprofit group founded in 2021 by three current or former Florida school board members, has grown rapidly to 285 chapters in 45 states with 120,000 members. This is their second annual convention.

Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich speaks at the groups Joyful Warriors National Summit in Philadelphia, Penn., on June 30, 2023. (Beth Brelje/The Epoch Times)

They have been subjected to intense criticism lately. The nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center designated them a hate group and an anti-government extremist group.

Six Democratic state legislators in Pennsylvania called for the Museum of the American Revolution to rescind its allowing the group to hold its convention there.

Mary Mazzuco of Weeki Wachi (L) stands with her fellow Moms for Liberty members while waiting to attend the Hernando County School Board meeting in Brooksville, Florida, on May 30, 2023. (Patricia Tolson/The Epoch Times)

What weve seen across this country, DeSantis said, in recent years is awakening the most powerful political force in this country, Mama Bears, and theyre ready to roll.

I see the issue. Not just through the lens of a governor or presidential candidate. I see these issues through the lens of a dad of a 6, a 5, and a 3-year-old.

My wife and I really believe that parents in this country should be able to send their kids to school, to be able to let them watch cartoons, or just be kids, without having some agenda shoved down their throat.

Parents have a fundamental right to direct the education and upbringing of their children and that means being involved in what is being taught in their school.

DeSantis has talked about Floridas strong record on education under his leadership. The states schools rank near the top nationally on standardized 4th-grade reading and math tests.

It has 363,000 students in charter schools. This year it greatly expanded school choice, allowing the money to follow the child to private, charter, other-district, or home schools for most families.

Florida has provided money for teacher pay rises that cant go to administrators, and banned automatic payroll deduction for teacher union dues.

The state has pushed back against sexually explicit or age-inappropriate books in school libraries, often misrepresented as a book ban, he said.

DeSantis recounted a press conference he gave on the subject in Tampa.

We actually played on the screen, a three-minute video that showed what the parents had objected to, DeSantis said.

The news stations covering the press conference cut their feed because they said it was too graphic to air. Well, if its too graphic for the six oclock news, how is it appropriate for a 10-year-old school child?

One of the things weve done, since were the third largest state, weve been actively involved in rejecting textbooks with ideological indoctrination. Unfortunately, youve seen woke in math books. Some of the social studies books were totally off their rocker.

Teaching True History

So we raise the objection, send them back, and guess what happens? Because were an 800-pound gorilla they make the appropriate changes to the textbook. So were winning on that issue.

DeSantis alluded to his highly publicized decision to reject the College Boards proposed Advanced Placement African-American Studies curriculum for high schools.

In January, the state Department of Education rejected the curriculum as one inexplicably contrary to Florida law [which] significantly lacks educational value.

The College Board later revised it, and the state accepted that. DeSantis has noted that the state requires that African-American history be taught and that African-American history is American history.

Were not teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other with your tax dollars, DeSantis told the Moms For Liberty. No, were going to teach true history and were going to teach it very, very accurately.

Weve also leaned in onand its sad that we even have to discuss thisbut the idea that you would instruct a 2nd-grade student that their gender is a choice or that they were born in the wrong body is wrong.

And in Florida, we took a stand against that. We said were not gonna have the sexualization of our children in our schools.

Battle With Disney

DeSantis recounted his battle with the Disney corporation, which opposed his signature Parental Rights in Education bill mandating age-appropriate policies regarding sexuality in the schools.

And a lot of people said, Well, the fact that theyre coming out against this legislation, that means that the governor is not going to be able to sign it into law. Theres just no way you can go against Disney and come out on the other side of that.

Well, I dont know if that were true in the past, but it isnt true with this governor. We dont subcontract our leadership out to woke corporations.

After his speech, DeSantis sat down to answer questions from the groups co-founder Tiffany Justice.

He said he found common ground with the group as they had taken the same intense criticism for supporting his reopening policies during the COVID-19 lockdown that he had in promulgating them.

When he called for schools to reopen, he told Justice, I was pilloried. I mean, I was attacked. We were accused of wanting everybody to die.

And so when the Moms were stepping out, anybody that was stepping out at that time, you were really doing that at your peril. You were cutting totally against the grain.

I appreciated seeing that because I can tell you a lot of what I was doing, I didnt have a lot of air cover for. He was attacked from every quarter, he said the Left, the corporate media, the Fauci bureaucracy, the White House Task Force, and even some Republicans.

We were at a [point] where you either stand up for whats right, or you just bow down to the mob. And I think that Moms for Liberty has done well because they were willing to stand up at a time when very many people were not willing to stand up.

Kids and Campaigning

Justice asked DeSantis about his and Casey raising their children while governing and campaigning.

DeSantis observed that the children had been too small during his gubernatorial races to really be aware of them, so the current one, in that sense its good.

And theyre not exposed to the negative side, he said.

A few weeks ago the Oklahoma governor [Kevin Stitt]  said, You got to come to the rodeo with us after our event.

So we brought our three kids to the rodeo. The problem was we had to catch a flight back to Florida and we werent able to stay for the bulls.

Well, my kids were very upset that they didnt get to watch the bulls.

The next week, it just so happens were in Reno, Nevada, at their rodeo and we were staying the night.

DeSantis was scheduled to speak the next day at the Basque Fry outside Reno.

There was a big time change, meaning it felt much later for the children, he said.

I told the kids, If you guys stay up for the bulls Ill be here as long as you want. You can make it. Two of the three stayed up for the bulls. They were able to see the bulls and they were very happy that they were able to do it.

The DeSantises will take the children to Fourth of July parades next week, he said. Hes scheduled to speak at parades in Wolfeboro and Merrimack, New Hampshire.
DOJ Argues Florida Law Restricting Chinese Land Ownership Violates Constitution

Republican presidential candidate and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) speaks at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference at Hilton in Washington on June 23, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

The Department of Justice on Tuesday challenged a Florida law that bars Chinese citizens from owning land, asserting it violates federal housing law and the 14th Amendment.

The department filed a statement of interest (pdf) in a case challenging the provision, arguing the Florida law restricting Chinese land ownership by U.S. military installations and major infrastructure is unconstitutional.

The DOJ argues that the law, SB 264 (pdf), which was signed into law last month by GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

These unlawful provisions will cause serious harm to people simply because of their national origin, contravene federal civil rights laws, undermine constitutional rights, and will not advance the States purported goal of increasing public safety, the DOJ said in its challenge of the law.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, disability, and national origin.

Details of the Law

SB 264 is set to take effect on July 1, and it places two sets of restrictions on land ownership in Florida, according to the filing.

The state law imposes new restrictions on individuals and organizations originating from foreign countries of concern, which are defined as China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria.

It prohibits foreign principals, defined as individuals with a domicile in the Peoples Republic of China who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents, from owning or acquiring agricultural land or real property within 10 miles of any military installation or critical infrastructure facility in Florida.

Individuals with a valid non-tourist visa or who have been granted asylum may purchase a single residential property if it is less than two acres in size and is located more than five miles from a military installation.

Additionally, the law prohibits the purchase or acquisition of real property by the Peoples Republic of China, which includes Chinese political and corporate entities.

Property buyers or sellers who violate the restriction could face up to 60 days imprisonment and a $500 fine.

Under the law, Chinese citizens and those selling property to them face the harshest restrictions and penalties, with the second set prohibiting individuals who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents and are domiciled in the Peoples Republic of China, from owning or purchasing any property in the state of Florida.

Property sellers who knowingly violate the second set could face up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. Chinese nationals who violate the law could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Restricting China and other hostile foreign nations from controlling Floridas agricultural land and lands near critical infrastructure facilities protects our state, provides long-term stability, and preserves our economic freedom, Floridas Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson stated last month, according to the filing.

Suit Against Florida

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is currently representing four Chinese citizens who live in Florida as well as a Florida brokerage firm who are suing the state over claims the legislation will cast an undue burden of suspicion on anyone seeking to buy property whose name sounds remotely Asian, Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Venezuelan, or Syrian.

Plaintiffs Yifan Shen, Zhiming Xu, Xinxi Wang, Yongxin Liu, and Multi-Choice Realty, LLC filed a preliminary injunction petition on May 22. The filing by the DOJ seeks to support this motion. U.S. District Judge Allen C. Winsor has scheduled a hearing on the matter for July 18.

Floridas dangerous new law recalls similar efforts over the past century to weaponize false claims of national security against Asian immigrants and other marginalized communities, the ACLU said in a summary of its case.

In the early 1900s, states across the country used similar justifications to pass alien land laws designed to prohibit Chinese and Japanese immigrants from becoming landowners.

The suit notes that there are more than 20 military installations in Florida, many of which are within five miles of city centers like Orlando, Miami, and Tallahassee.

Critics of the law assert that in addition to being potentially discriminatory, it could cause Floridians to become hesitant to sell to certain minorities out of fear of violating the law.

The Florida governors office did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.
Virginia-based Ameritrans Express delivers mail for the U.S. Postal Service. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Ameritrans Express LLC, a contract delivery service for the U.S. Postal Service, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid claims by some of its contractors that they have not been paid since March.

Ameritrans Express LLC, headquartered in Dumfries, Virginia, filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday. The company was founded by Frederick Amankwaa in 2013.

Members of a Facebook group, which was set up by Ameritrans contractors in March, claim they havent been paid since then. One member of the group alleges she hasnt been able to access the money she contributed to her 401(k) account.

As of publication, Ameritrans attorney, Jonathan B. Vivona, had not responded to FreightWaves request seeking comment.

According to Ameritrans website, the company has mail delivery contractors in more than 30 states and posted job openings earlier this week.

Mail contractors in several states have filed claims with the U.S. Department of Labor.





Wage and Hour Division records show an open investigation with the mentioned employer but it cannot discuss additional details until the investigation is concluded, a DOL spokesperson told FreightWaves in an email on Friday.

The filing lists Ameritrans assets as between $10 million and $50 million and its liabilities as between $1 million and $10 million. Ameritrans stated that it has up to 999 creditors and maintained that funds will be available for distribution to unsecured creditors once it pays administrative fees.

Ameritrans largest secured creditors include 13 factoring companies that are owed nearly $3.2 million.

This is a developing story.

Do you have a news tip to share? Send me an email or message me @cage_writer on Twitter. Your name will not be used without your permission.

Read more articles here:

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Tiger Cool Express ceases operations amid financial troubles

2 former employees charged with bilking $1.4M from carrier MH Group

The post DOL investigating Postal Service contractor Ameritrans Express amid bankruptcy filing appeared first on FreightWaves.
El Dorado County Group Mulls Secession From California

Frustrated by what they call a lack of representation, some residents of El Dorado County, east of Sacramento, are exploring a plan to split from the Golden State and form their own state.

If enough residents support the idea, the Republic for El Dorado State group will take the matter directly to Congress, bypassing the state Legislature that has squashed numerous past attempts.

Were trying to find a way for it to happen without having to go to California on our knees, begging for them to release us. Because we know they will not, one of the organizers, Sharon Durst, told The Epoch Times.

The county encompasses about 1,800 square miles along the Sierra Nevada and includes South Lake Tahoe, Placerville, Pollock Pines, Fallen Leaf, Meeks Bay, and many other small towns and villages.

Today, the rural county of less than 200,000 people attracts tourists to its wine country and recreational offerings.

(Google Maps/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

According to the website for the group, The residents of El Dorado County have no local state or congressional representation. None of the state or federal representatives that serve El Dorado County, live in El Dorado County.

They also say the invasion at the states border, sanctuary policies, and rampant crime violate the countys rights.

The group has only officially met once in May but is planning to hold another town hall on July 10.

If allowed to secede, El Dorado state could create its own constitution and a style of living that the locals want, according to Durst.

Their interpretation of Californias Constitution guarantees them a republican form of government, meaning their voice should be representedbut this isnt happening, Durst said. For example, their state senator in District 4, which stretches across 13 counties, state Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (D-Jackson), represents about 1 million residents.

The group also argues they are guaranteed to have Congress help them with foreign invasions and domestic violence, both of which are rampant in the state with the influx of undocumented immigrants and skyrocketing crime, Durst said.

Right now, people are leaving California, but we dont want to leave our homes, we dont want to leave what weve built. We just want to leave California, she said.

People carry skis as they walk toward a resort in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on March 21, 2023. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Making Economic Sense

Former county supervisor Ray Nutting, who was arrested in 2013 and later acquitted of charges related to receiving state grants, is helping to organize the economics side of the plan.

We have an economic base that is renewable in terms of agriculture, tourism, and water supply, he told The Epoch Times. We are very blessed in terms of who we are in El Dorado County, and our tax base absolutely will be enough to deliver critical services.

He sees taxes going down for residents if they split from California. The states income, sales, and gas taxes are some of the highest in the nation. Those are on top of assorted fees for electricity usage, businesses, climate action, and many other fees and charges.

A recent increase in the states housing regulations and mandates requiring low-income housing and high-density developments are also expensive, Nutting said.

Nuttings children are fifth-generation ranchers, and he has taught them to care for the land, he said.

We have a chance to take care of the land better than the state of California, Nutting said.

The proposed secession would hinge on Article 4, Section 3, Clause 1, which provides the process of forming new states. This article declares no state can be formed within the jurisdiction of any other state without the consent of the legislatures of the states and Congress.

This is sometimes called the admissions clause, but Durst calls it the hostage clause, because it holds the people who are unhappy with their current situation hostage, she said.

Traffic flows along Highway 50 in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Sept. 5, 2021. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group via AP)

The second clauseArticle 4, Section 3, Clause 2states that Congress shall have the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States.

The group points to the fact that 46 percent of the land in El Dorado County is federal forest land, and the county was formed before the state. Nutting said he believes the county could use this clause to go straight to Congress, although he said they will have to obtain expert legal advice at some point.

Law Professor Disagrees

Margaret Russell, a law professor at Santa Clara University and constitutional law expert, says this language doesnt allow counties to go directly to Congress.

I think this is a non-starter of an argument for them, Russell told The Epoch Times.

Theres no such thing as a county in the constitutional structure, she added. They derive their power from the state.

The U.S. Constitution doesnt say anything about the role of counties and makes it clear the state is the relevant stakeholder, she said.

As for representation, the state mirrors the structure of Congress. This allows representation based on population and representation in the Senate based on equalizing power across the government, according to Russell.

Pioneering Spirit

The group is circulating a survey to find out how many of their neighbors support the idea. So far, they have received positive feedback and few negative comments, according to Durst. They expect to take about a year to organize what they need to petition Congress, she said.

So many of these separate from California movements linger on and on, and we dont want to do that, Durst said. We want to know fairly quickly, do the people of [El Dorado County] see an advantage to leaving California as a new state.

Bill Roberts holds an American flag in front of his house in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Aug. 31, 2021. (Terry Chea/AP Photo)

The groups trailblazing spirit is reminiscent of the efforts made by forefathers of the region, who came out west seeking riches during the Gold Rush of the late 1840s and early 1850s, she said.

We still have that pioneer spirit in El Dorado County, Durst said.

Her great-great-grandmother arrived in the county in a covered wagon, she said. Durst was born just west of the area in Sutter County and moved back after she retired from her job in Sacramento.

The secession isnt about politicsDurst isnt a Republican or a Democrat. The state has always been too big, she said.

The Declaration [of Independence] gave us freedom and liberty from King George, and we want freedom and liberty from the state of California, Durst said.

Talk of splitting up the Golden State has been floated many times before this, reaching back to when the territory first became a state in 1850. At least 220 attempts to break up the nations third-largest state have failed, according to the California State Library.

Residents of a cluster of rural northern California and southern Oregon counties have repeatedly attempted to form a State of Jefferson due to concerns over logging, mining, and agricultural industries. In 2013, two northern California countiesSiskiyou and Modocvoted in favor of beginning plans to secede and create the State of Jefferson.

In the 1990s, California Assemblyman Stan Statham, a Republican from Redding, advocated for dividing California into three states.
This week, we feature a naval history of an important British evacuation and a lush novel about the fate of three generations of an Indian family.

Fiction

The Covenant of Water

By Abraham Verghese

This is a lovely, sweeping novel of epic proportion following the fates of three generations of a family living on Indias Malabar Coast. This beautiful region is dominated by a network of canals, and the intricate waterways set the stage for this familys haunting legacy: At least one in each generation dies from drowning. The story begins in 1900 with a young girl about to be wed. Her future is at the heart of the narrative. Through tragedies and triumphs, love and faith are a constant.

Grove Press, 2023, 736 pages

Fiction

The First Phone Call From Heaven

By Mitch Albom

One morning, folks in Coldwater, Michigan, begin receiving mysterious phone calls from the dead, voices claiming to be from heaven. A miracle? A hoax? As visitors and protesters overrun the town, Sully Harding, a widower recently released from prison, sets out to find the truth, and hes determined to protect his young son from this deception. Albom leaves us guessing until nearly the end, and then were left guessing again. Realistic characters and several plot twists make this a great summer read.

Harper, 2014, 336 pages

Naval History

Naval Battle of Crete 1941: The Royal Navy at Breaking Point

By Angus Konstam

Some moments are worth commemorating, even when they end in defeat. In the spring of 1941, the German Luftwaffe drove the British from Greece. They evacuated troops from the Greek mainland and then the island of Crete. In both of these instances, the British successfully conducted a massive yet costly undertaking that rescued tens of thousands of soldiers in order to fight another day. Its a powerful book that highlights the British mentalitya mentality that ultimately led to victory over Germany.

Osprey Publishing, 2023, 96 pages

Ornithology

What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the Worlds Most Enigmatic Birds

By Jennifer Ackerman

Owls hold our imagination. They are mysterious. They seem wise. They appear frequently in literature and myth. What are they really like? This book explores the world of owls and looks at them from multiple perspectives: their physiology, their environment and how they live in it, how they hunt, how they communicate with each other, and how they interact with humans. Its a delightful book that reveals unexpected aspects of owl behavior and explains why humans have always been fascinated by them.

Penguin Press, 2023, 352 pages

Classics

The New Oxford Book of War Poetry

By Jon Stallworthy, editor

Ranging from The Book of Exodus to Peter Porters apocalyptic Your Attention Please, this anthology features more than 250 poems about war, its heroics, and its horrors. Here are familiar poetsTennyson, Whitman, Wilfred Owen, and many moreand those whose names may be new to us, such as John Cornford and Keith Douglas. In this history of human conflict in verse, with British and American poets predominant, the poems put a human face on the bitter cost of battle to soldiers and civilians alike.

Oxford University Press, 2016, 390 pages

For Kids

No One But You

By Douglas Wood and P.J. Lynch

No one but you can feel the rain kiss your skin begins this beautiful book, reminding us to slow down and take notice. It will leave a young one with a sense of wonder and empowerment, and a parent with a reminder of a childs innate curiosity, their yearning to explore, and an appreciation of the simple thingsthe most important ones of all.

Candlewick, 2011, 32 pages
This week, we feature a hilarious whodunit from the 80s and a deeply moving romance about two souls who seem destined to be together.

New Release

Past Lives

When Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) were kids living in South Korea, they were so close that their parents thought that they would marry one day. But when Noras family moved away, she went on with her life, marrying Arthur (John Magaro), an American writer. However, when Hae Sung reappears, he and Nora wonder what could have been.

This is a hauntingly beautiful film about two intertwined souls who seemed destined to be together but were torn apart by circumstances. Its a delicate examination of love, loss, and destiny.

Drama | Romance

Release Date: June 23, 2023

Director: Celine Song

Starring: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro

Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Where to Watch: Theaters

Rated: 4 stars out of 5

An Endearing Coming-of-Age Rom-Com

Adventureland

Its the summer of 1987, and James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has just graduated from college and plans to spend time in Europe. Due to limited finances, however, he gets a job at an amusement park. There, he meets Em Lewin (Kristen Stewart) and sparks begin to fly, but shes involved with someone else. James soon finds that true romance may not come so easily.

This film has plenty of endearing moments and, besides a few bits of crude humor, is more relatable than Superbad director Mottolas other major coming-of-age comedy.

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Release Date: April 3, 2009

Director: Greg Mottola

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Ryan Reynolds

Running Time: 1 hour, 47 minutes

MPAA Rating: R

Where to Watch: Amazon, Apple TV, Vudu

Rated: 3.5 stars out of 5

A Great Comedy With a Whodunit Twist

Clue

Six guests from Washington are invited to a spooky mansion in New England for a dinner party. Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving) shows up and informs the guests that hes the one whos been blackmailing them. But when Mr. Boddy is found murdered, the guests become suspects and must figure out who the culprit is.

Based on the classic game of deduction, this whodunit is anything but boring: With scathing, rapid-fire dialogue and numerous interesting plotlines, it packs a lot of laughs into its running time.

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Release Date: Dec. 13, 1985

Director: Jonathan Lynn

Starring: Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn

Running Time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

Where to Watch: Amazon, Fubo, Vudu

Rated: 3.5 stars out of 5

A Powerful Drama About WWII Survivors

The Search

In post-World War II Europe, U.S. soldier Ralph Stevenson (Montgomery Clift) finds young Karel Malik (Ivan Jandl), who escaped from a Nazi death camp. Stevenson tries to help the boy find his mother, who is also looking for her son.

With excellent narration and cinematography, this heartrending drama, which was filmed on location, has an almost documentary vibe to it.

Drama | War

Release Date: March 26, 1948

Director: Fred Zinnemann

Starring: Montgomery Clift, Ivan Jandl, Aline MacMahon

Running Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes

Not Rated

Where to Watch: Apple TV, Amazon, Vudu

Rated: 4 stars out of 5
Ex-Ohio House Speaker Sentenced to 20 Years for Role in Corruption Conspiracy

Ohio State Rep. Larry Householder stands at the head of a legislative session as Speaker of the House in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 30, 2019. (John Minchillo/AP Photo)

Republican Larry Householder, the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in a major racketeering conspiracy that rocked the Buckeye State.

The punishment, meted out by U.S. district judge Timothy Black, is the maximum penalty allowed under the law.

The court and the communitys patience with Larry Householder has expired, the judge said in issuing the sentence on June 29.

Householder, 64, and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matthew Borges, 50, were convicted in Marcheach on a single racketeering chargeafter a six-week trial.

The jury found that Householder organized and Borges participated in a $60 million bribery scheme funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to establish Householders power, elect his allies, pass a $1 billion bailout for a FirstEnergy affiliates aging nuclear plants, and then thwart a ballot effort to overturn the bill.

The scheme was one of the largest public corruption conspiracies in Ohio history, according to Kenneth Parker, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.

Elected officials owe a duty to provide honest services to their constituentstransparency, integrity, and accountability are foundational principles of democracy, Parker noted in a statement. Householder once held one of the three most powerful officers in the State of Ohio. Now, because of his corruption, he will serve a substantial prison sentence.

Borges will be sentenced on June 30.

Sentencing

Prior to his sentencing, Householder appealed to the judge for leniency, holding that a longer sentence would hurt his family members more than it would him.

I wasnt power hungry. I went home, he said, referencing his departure from the Ohio House between speakerships. He added that he and his wife had given every ounce of energy we have to make life better for others.

Judge Black, however, was unmoved. Citing Householders obscene statements presented at trial, he challenged the politicians depiction of himself as a family-oriented man.

If youre going to [expletive] with me, Im going to [expletive] with your kids, he quoted, among other statements.

Householder, the judge said, was a bully with a lust for power whose actions constituted an assault on democracy, the betrayal of everyone in Ohio.

Householders attorneys had pushed for a sentence of just 1218 months, holding that the humiliation and disgrace the politician had faced throughout the trial was a form of punishment in and of itself.

Prosecutors, on the other hand, felt 1620 years would be more appropriate. Householder, they charged in a sentencing memo, acted as the quintessential mob boss, directing the criminal enterprise from the shadows and using his casket carriers to execute the scheme. That setup, they added, was designed to give him plausible deniability.

Parker, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, said the government was grateful for the judges decision.

We heard Mr. Householder indicate that he keeps close his faith, his family, and his friends, he said. I would have added one more: He needs to keep close the Ohioans if he is going to serve this state. Thats what he left out, thats why he was here today, and thats why the judge imposed the highest level of accountability under the statute.

Ongoing Probe

The federal investigation into the bribery scheme remains ongoing.

In a statement following Householders sentencing, FBI Cincinnati special agent in charge J. William Rivers said he hoped the result would serve as a deterrent to others, adding, The FBI will continue to investigate and pursue those who abuse their positions and take advantage of the public.

According to the Department of Justice, between March 2017 and March 2020, the criminal enterprise funneled millions of dollars in bribes paid by way of campaign donations. The funds were channeled through Generation Now, Householders nonprofit 501(c)(4), and were ultimately used for both political and personal gain.

In addition to funding the political campaigns of Householder and his allies, more than $500,000 of the dark money also went toward paying off his credit card bills, repairing his Florida home, and settling a business lawsuit. Another $366,000 was spent by Borges for his personal benefit.

Three other individuals have been charged for their involvement in the conspiracy, including political operatives Juan Cespedes, 41, and Jeff Longstreth, 44. Both pleaded guilty to racketeering and are cooperating with authorities.

Cespedes, a lobbyist, was a key middleman, participating in strategy meetings and communicating with Enterprise members and associates regarding strategic decisions, according to a July 2020 court filing. Longstreth was a longtime Householder adviser.

Neither has yet to be sentenced, but under their plea deals, they each face up to six months in prison.

Neil Clark, another lobbyist, was also charged in the scheme. Clark had pleaded not guilty before he was found dead in Collier County, Florida, in March 2021. His death was ruled a suicide.

Generation Now pleaded guiltyto one count of racketeering in February 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: Trudeau Foundation Held Not 1 but 3 Meetings in PMs Building

People gather on the lawn outside the Langevin Block building, renamed the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council, on June 21, 2017. The Trudeau Foundation held three meetings in the building between April 2016 and March 2017. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Opposition MPs have raised questions about a meeting in April 2016 between the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and senior government officials in the building that houses the Prime Ministers Office. It turns out the foundation had two more such meetings in the building, according to records seen by The Epoch Times.

Along with the April 2016 meeting, which was first reported by Montreals La Presse newspaper in April 2022, documents obtained through access to information indicate the foundation held another meeting in the building in January 2016 and a subsequent one in March 2017.

All three meetings pertained to the foundation discussing its Pluralism Project, aimed at proving the economic benefits of diversity and inclusion with senior government officials.

Interest in the Trudeau Foundation and its links to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has grown in recent months in the context of Chinese regime interference in Canada. The Globe and Mail reported in February that Beijing directed a Chinese Communist Party adviser in 2014 to make a donation to the foundation to curry favour with Trudeau, who went on to become prime minister in 2015.

Since becoming Liberal Party leader in 2013, Trudeau has denied any links to the foundation set up in the name of his father.

But MPs from every opposition party have suggested that the foundation benefited from privileged access to Langevin Block, which sits across from Parliament Hill. Trudeau renamed the building Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council in 2017 because its original namesake, Hector Langevin, one of the fathers of Confederation, had a role in the residential school system.

Morris Rosenberg, president of the foundation at the time, was questioned about the April 2016 meeting when he testified before the House of Commons ethics committee on May 2.

It was actually quite surprising to see that the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation was in the Prime Ministers building with access to five deputy ministers. That is not a common occurrence, said Bloc Quebecois MP Rene Villemure during Rosenbergs testimony.

It may not be a common occurrence, but the Langevin Building is located in downtown Ottawa, so it is very central and it is a place where senior officials often meet, said Rosenberg, a former senior public servant who worked at the Privy Council Office (PCO), the prime ministers department.

Screenshot of a Privy Council Office document obtained through an access to information request. (The Epoch Times)

The agenda for the April 2016 meeting noted the participation of nine senior government officials, including two deputy ministers, two assistant deputy ministers, and three deputy secretaries to the cabinet.

On June 12, Rosenberg appeared at the House public accounts committee to discuss the foundations business, which was set up with a $125 million endowment from the federal government in the early 2000s to provide scholarships.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis noted that holding meetings inside the building that houses the PMO sends a message.

If you want to send a message that this foundation is closely connected to the Prime Minister and therefore donations to this foundation are appreciated by the Prime Minister, a great way to send that message is to have it in the relatively small building that is called the Prime Ministers Office, he said.

Rosenberg said that he fundamentally disagreed with that view. I dont think it sends any message, and we were not the only ones to have the opportunity to go there.

All the meetings were held on the fourth floor of the building, which is occupied by the PCO. The PMO occupies the first two floors, while the deputy prime minister uses the third.

Common Vision

Before the first meeting was held in January 2016, the PCO wrote a meeting note describing the participants and context.

[Name redacted] has requested a meeting with PCO officials to discuss the Pluralism Project, a project sponsored by the Trudeau Foundation which aims to generate a public debate on the social and economic impacts of cultural pluralism in Canada, it said.

The names of the other participants from the foundation were also redacted, but the description of their role wasnt, suggesting it involved project leads Bessma Momani from the University of Waterloo and Jillian Stirk from Simon Fraser University.

Participants from the PCO were noted to be Matthew Mendelsohn, deputy secretary to cabinet (with a to be confirmed mention), and Francois Daigle, assistant secretary to cabinet. The secretary to the cabinet is the Clerk of the Privy Council, the top public servant in the federal government.

The PCO said the Pluralism Project coincides with the Liberal governments priorities, but expressed uncertainty as to whether the foundation was seeking financial support.

The theme behind the Pluralism Project aligns with the Governments commitment to diversity and inclusion, and as such, could be of interest to departmental policy work at Canadian Heritage (PCH), Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees (IRCC) and Global Affairs (GAC), says the meeting note.

The meeting with the deputy ministers followed in April 2016, where they were briefed on the project. The meeting in March 2017 was to inform a group of assistant deputy ministers of the results of the project.

A PCO note about the impending March meeting written for an unspecified senior executive from the office mentioned project recommendations, such as implementing inclusive hiring or include diversity in procurement processes.

Governance Crisis

The Trudeau Foundation went through a governance crisis after The Globe and Mail report in February, with its CEO and most of the directors on the board resigning over how the Chinese donation would be investigated.

Former directors who testified before the House ethics committee on June 2 said that three board members who were present when the donation was made refused to recuse themselves from the investigative process.

One of those directors, Edward Johnson, who remains as chair of the foundation, has denied the existence of such a motion.

At no point was there a motion for any directors to recuse themselves, nor was there any refusal to do so by any director, Johnson said when he testified before the public accounts committee on June 8.

Johnson announced shortly after the dissolution of the board in April that the foundation had hired a firm to conduct an independent audit of the donation controversy.
Electrical Fire Sends Smoke Billowing From Under New York Citys Iconic Tiffany Store

Store entrance at Tiffany & Co.'s The Landmark Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in New York on April 26, 2023. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

NEW YORKAn electrical fire in a transformer that serves the Tiffany & Co. store on New Yorks Fifth Avenue spewed thick gray smoke from under the iconic building on Thursday and caused two minor injuries, officials said.

The fire did not spread to the store itself, but firefighters evacuated about 100 people from the building as a precaution, Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Carlsen said. Two people suffered minor injuries during the evacuation, Carlsen said.

The fire was reported shortly after 9:30 a.m. and was under control by noon, firefighters said. Videos posted on social media showed smoke billowing out from under the store, which had reopened in April after an extensive renovation. The videos showed firefighters battling the blaze with hoses.

Carlsen said the fire was in an underground transformer vault that provides power to the Tiffany building.

Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesperson for the utility Consolidated Edison, said the cause of the fire was under investigation. Quiroz said surrounding buildings did not lose power.

The Fifth Avenue store made famous by the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffanys is the flagship of the luxury retailer founded in 1837 by jeweler Charles Lewis Tiffany. The company was acquired by LVMH in 2021.

The Tiffany building is next door to Trump Tower, the headquarters of former president Donald Trumps business.

A Tiffany spokesperson didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News Host Says He Quit Working at the Network

Longtime television personality Geraldo Rivera said that he was fired by Fox News The Five and has now quit the network, coming in the midst of lineup changes at the network.

Bumpy day on the North Atlantic. Anyway, I got fired from [The Five] so I quit Fox, Rivera, 79, wrote on Twitter. After 23 years tomorrow Fox and Friends could be my last appearance on the network. Thanks for the memories.

Rivera, 79, had the liberal seat on The Five, which has recently been the highest-rated show on the cable news network. Others who sit in the seat include contributor Jessica Tarlov and former Democrat Rep. Harold Ford Jr.

His comment on Twitter comes days after Fox News announced a new primetime lineup change that will more prominently feature The Five hosts Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld. Meanwhile, it comes about two months after Fox News announced it is parting ways with Tucker Carlson, who was the top-rated host at the network for years.

When Carlson left the network, Rivera reacted with scorn. I dont wish ill on anybody, but there is no doubtas I said at the timeTucker Carlsons perverse January 6 conspiracy theory was [expletive]. Having lost the election President [Donald] Trump incited an insurrection that sought to undermine our Constitutional process, he wrote.

And in response, Gutfeld replied with, Youre a class act Geraldo. A real man of the people.

Geraldo Rivera (L) and Erica Levy attend the Cartier Fifth Avenue Grand Reopening Event at the Cartier Mansion in New York City, on Sept. 7, 2016. (Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Cartier)

Both Rivera and Gutfeld have publicly sparred on The Five, with the two recently shouting at one another about electric vehicles. At one point during that exchange, Rivera yelled at Gutfeld to stop pointing at me.

Weeks later, Rivera claimed that his appearances on The Five were allegedly cut but said that Ill be back [the] week after next. When asked by the Daily Beast about the change, Rivera at the time stated that he couldnt comment beyond what he said in the public Twitter post.

Rivera has been with Fox News since 2021, having previously worked as a broadcast journalist who notably hosted a 1986 televised event, The Mystery of Al Capones Vaults, which revealed ultimately nothing.

Fox News, in a Friday article, confirmed Riveras departure. I am honored, I love Fox, I love the people at Fox, I always will, Rivera said in an interview with Fox and Friends.

Ratings

Although Fox cut ties with Carlson, the network was the most-watched cable news channel in the second quarter of 2023, according to Nielsen ratings. In total day viewers, Fox averaged 1.1 million, including 140,000 in the 25-54 demographic that is coveted by advertisers.

No. 2 was MSNBC, which generated some 796,000 total day viewers and 95,000 viewers in the 2554 demographic on average, the ratings show. CNN was No. 3 with an average of 463,000 viewers, according to the figures.

The Five was still the most-watched cable news show, drawing some 2.8 million viewers on average for the second quarter, according to the figures. Fox News released an article about the shows relatively high ratings this week.

For the primetime hours in the month of June, Fox was still No. 1 with 1.4 million average viewers, the ratings show. MSNBC was close behind with 1.3 million, while CNN averaged 635,000 primetime viewers in June.

Since Carlsons exit, meanwhile, Fox News has offered no comment on why he left, if he is still under contract, or the nature of the parting. Carlson, too, has remained mostly silent on the departure.

He has since launched a show on Twitter, which has drawn tens of millions of viewers per episode on average, so far.

Nielsen data show that Fox News primetime ratings have dropped after Carlsons departure. In March, the full month before Carlsons departure, the former Fox News hosts 8 p.m. show averaged more than 3 million viewers per episode, but the replacement show, Fox News Tonight, hasnt been able to recapture those numbers.

Lawyers for Fox News, meanwhile, have reportedly sent letters to Carlson, demanding he stop his Twitter show because hes still under contract for the network. Lawyers for Carlson, meanwhile, have said that Fox News is violating their clients First Amendment right to free speech.

But on Monday, Fox News said that Jesse Watters Primetime will be moved to Carlsons old timeslot at 8 p.m. ET. Longtime host Sean Hannity will remain at his 9 p.m. hour, Laura Ingrahams show will be moved to 7 p.m., and Greg Gutfelds program will start at 10 p.m. ET.

FOX News Channel has been Americas destination for news and analysis for more than 21 years and we are thrilled to debut a new lineup. The unique perspectives of Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld will ensure our viewers have access to unrivaled coverage from our best-in-class team for years to come, Fox News Channel CEO Suzanne Scott announced in the article.

Those changes will go into effect starting next month, the company said.
GOP Lawmakers Bill Aims to Combat Use of Personality Tests in College Admissions

Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) talks with reporters during a news conference with Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) (L) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) following a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington on Oct. 20, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) has taken a proactive stance on the issue of college admissions and transparency with the introduction of legislation meant to discourage racial profiling in college admission further.

Steel spoke to the issue the day after the Supreme Courts landmark affirmative action ruling that banned colleges from continuing to treat race as a critical factor in admissions.

During a June 30 interview with The Epoch Times sister media NTDs Steve Lance, Steel shed light on the proposed legislation and the Supreme Courts ruling.

The legislation, called The Helping Applicants Receive Valid and Reasonable Decisions (HARVARD) Act, aims to hold universities accountable for their admissions processes, particularly concerning personality traits and race-based considerations.

Its kind of discrimination when Asian American kids [get] so high on SATs, and they cannot get in because of the color of their face, Steel said.

The congresswoman stressed the importance of fairness in college admissions, expressing concern over certain personality traits that allegedly disadvantage Asian American students during the selection process.

The text of Steels bill defined personality traits as patterns of such individual with respect to behaviors, thoughts, and emotions, and may include patterns relating to humor, sensitivity, grit, leadership, integrity, helpfulness, courage, and kindness.

Steel cited the Princeton Review, saying the college preparatory organization has told Asian American high schoolers that when they apply to college, to make sure they dont add details about their culture into their essays or include a photo.

By demanding transparency, the congresswoman aims to tackle any potential discriminatory practices and promote an admissions system based on merit rather than race.

The lawmaker cited a proposition from her state decades before, Californias Proposition 209, which banned all preferential race treatment in public schools, as well as for hiring and contracting.

According to Steel, within six years, graduation in minority communities went up. Black community graduation went up 16 percent; graduation was up 14 percent for Hispanic students and five percent for Asian communities.

The Courts Decision

In the 6-3 majority June 29 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that A benefit to a student who overcame racial discrimination, for example, must be tied to that students courage and determination.

The two cases before the court were both brought by Students for Fair Admissions Inc. (SFFA) and Harvard College, as well as the University of North Carolina, respectively.

The Harvard College case was twice dismissed, first in 2019 by a Barack Obama appointee, U.S. District Judge Allison Dale Burroughs, who stated that discrimination against Asian American applicants was not motivated by racial animus or intentional discrimination and was narrowly tailored to achieve diversity and the academic benefits that flow from diversity.

SFFA argued in its appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit that Harvard Colleges policies discriminated against Caucasian and Asian students.

Harvard automatically awards racial preferences to African Americans and Hispanics, SFFA said in its court filing (pdf).

The court had to take into consideration the 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger, where it was decided that universities can use race only as a plus' in admission decisions, the filing said, Race cannot be a minus for any applicant.

The plaintiff assert that Harvard has repeatedly penalized one particular racial group: Asian Americans, it stated. Harvard concedes that Asian Americans suffer a penalty on the personal ratingthat changing an applicants race from white to Asian lowers the personal rating to a statistically significant degree.

Harvard also concedes that, when this tainted variable is removed, projected Asian-American admissions increase to a statistically significant degree, the filing said.

The Supreme Court appeal came following a ruling against SFFA by the 1st Circut Court of Appeals in 2020.

Universitys Response to the Ruling

In a statement issued on June 29, Harvard stated that it would certainly comply with the courts decision while also affirming the principle that teaching, learning, and research depend on a community comprised of individuals from diverse backgrounds and life experiences.

Because the teaching, learning, research, and creativity that bring progress and change require debate and disagreement, diversity and difference are essential to academic excellence, the university stated.

To prepare leaders for a complex world, Harvard must admit and educate a student body whose members reflect, and have lived, multiple facets of human experience, the statement said.

No part of what makes us who we are could ever be irrelevant. Harvard must always be a place of opportunity, a place whose doors remain open to those to whom they had long been closed, a place where many will have the chance to live dreams their parents or grandparents could not have dreamed.

President Joe Biden responded to the decision saying he agreed with the dissent that the court had rolled back decades of precedent and momentous progress and that he strongly disagreed with the decision.

Ive always believed that the promise of America is big enough for everyone to succeed and that every generation of Americans, we have benefitted by opening the doors of opportunity just a little bit wider to include those who have been left behind.

Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report.
The first cellular therapy for type 1 diabetes, called Lantidra, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the United States.

This is potentially good news for the 1.9 million people in the United States living with type 1 diabetes.

The FDA approved the drug on June 28, after two clinical trials in which 30 participants received between one and three doses of the medication.

The medication is approved for adults with type 1 diabetes, facing repeated episodes of severely low blood sugar, despite intense diabetes management and careful lifestyle.

New Diabetes Drug Uses Pancreatic Cells From Cadavers

Lantidra is the first treatment approved for people living with the disorder, who are normally unable to regulate their blood sugar levels using standard insulin shots or infusions.

The treatment is two decades in the making after CellTrans was established in 2003 by University of Illinois professor Jose Oberholzer.

An FDA advisory committee voted 12-4 against approval in April 2021, after an initial study, saying that the benefits of the therapy outweighed the risks.

The anti-diabetes drug is made by the pharmaceutical firm CellTrans from an infusion of insulin-producing pancreatic cells from a deceased donor.

The medication consists of a single infusion that delivers pancreatic cells from deceased donors into the main vein of the liver.

According to the trials, about 70 percent of patients no longer needed to take insulin for a year or more after the infusion, while 30 percent did not need to take it for over five years.

Those who take Lantidra must first take immunosuppressing drugs to prevent their immune system from damaging the donor cells, which secrete insulin.

The side effects varied depending upon the number of infusions a patient received and the length of time they were followed in the study.

The most common side effects were nausea, fatigue, anemia, and abdominal pain.

However, most of the participants had at least one serious adverse reaction to the application of Lantidra and the use of immunosuppressive medications needed to keep the donor cells viable.

Type 1 Diabetes Is Historically Difficult To Treat

Insulin helps stabilize blood sugar levels by moving glucose out of the blood and into cells for energy.

Most people with diabetes must check their blood sugar levels several times a day and administer insulin regularly to keep it in a safe range.

The type 1 version of diabetes is a chronic autoimmune condition where the pancreas produces little or no insulin, forcing patients to receive lifelong daily injections or infusions of insulin.

The disorder unleashes the bodys immune system against cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

Many develop hypoglycemia unawareness, in which a person is unable to detect when their blood sugar is dropping and, as a result, often fail to intervene to prevent it from falling even further.

Severe hypoglycemia is a dangerous condition that can lead to injuries resulting from loss of consciousness or seizures, said Peter Marks, Director of the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a press release.

Lantidra is a treatment option for these patients, as the cellular therapy drug helps them maintain their target blood glucose levels.

Todays approval  provides individuals living with type 1 diabetes and recurrent severe hypoglycemia an additional treatment option to help achieve target blood glucose levels, said Marks.

Other Type 1 Diabetes Medications Are Also Coming on the Market

At the American Diabetes Association annual meeting on June 7, Vertex Pharmaceuticals reported that two patients who had received stem cell treatments in its trials over a year ago no longer needed injections, according to Diatribe, a diabetes treatment website.

Stem cell treatments are thought by some scientists to be more reliable and safer than those from deceased donors, like Lantidra.

The American Society of Transplant Surgeons, the American Society of Transplantation, and the Islets for US Collaborative, an organization of more than 50 transplant surgeons, are concerned about the risks of cells from cadavers, saying that they should be regulated as transplanted organs rather than as biologic drugs, as is done in many other parts of the world.

In the stem cell therapy being developed by Vertex, beta cells are grown from allogeneic stem cells using a proprietary technology.

Six patients have received stem cell therapy so far, and the treatment has been successful for each individual to varying degrees, according to the data released by Vertex at the conference.

Another drug that delayed the onset of type 1 diabetes by nearly three years, Teplizumab, got approval in United States last November after a series of trials.

The diabetes medication, made by New Jersey-based firm Proventionbio, has been approved for children and adults aged eight and over.

The Epoch Times reached out to CellTrans for comment.

What topics would you like to read about? Please let us know at health@epochtimes.nyc
Heritage Minister Surprised Google Intends to Block Canadian News in Response to Bill C-18

Leader of the Government in the House of Commons Pablo Rodriguez responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on December 11, 2020. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press)

Despite Google previously running tests to block some Canadian news in preparation for the passage of Bill C-18, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez says he is surprised that the tech giant has now announced it intends to block all links to Canadian news outlets once the Online News Act comes into effect in December.

Rodriguez said that while Metathe owner of Facebook and Instagramhad already been clear in its intention to block Canadian news, the government was still in negotiations with Google as of the morning of June 29.

Im a bit surprised by Googles reaction, Rodriguez said while appearing on CTVs Power Play on June 29.

He said he did not anticipate Google would announce now that it was going to block news when the Online News Act takes effect in December, because the tech giant was requesting changes to the legislation that the government is already planning to make. He did not elaborate on what those changes might be.

The status quo is not working because the money is going to the tech giants, Rodriguez said, adding that Ottawa is still trying to negotiate with Google despite its decision.

Im asking them to keep discussing with us, see how we can move forward, and I think theres positive ways to do it because, again, what Google is asking for is things we plan to do anyways to regulations.

News Blocking

Once it comes into effect, the Online News Act will require online platforms and digital news intermediaries to pay Canadian media outlets for any of their content that gets linked or shared on their platforms.

Googles president of global affairs, Kent Walker, said in a press release on June 29 that Bill C-18 remained unworkable despite ongoing negotiations between Ottawa and the tech giant, adding that the government had not given Google any reason to believe that the regulatory process will be able to resolve structural issues with the legislation.

As a result, Walker said Google will be removing all Canadian news links from its Search, News, and Discover products once the Online News Act comes into effect.

Walker added that the company will no longer be able to operate Google News Showcase in Canada.

The unprecedented decision to put a price on links  creates uncertainty for our products and exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians access to news from Canadian publishers, he wrote.

We have been saying for over a year that this is the wrong approach to supporting journalism in Canada and may result in significant changes to our products.

Googles decision to block Canadian news links comes about a week after Meta decided to do the same on its social media sites in response to Bill C-18.

Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.
FILE - the logo of ASML, a leading maker of semiconductor production equipment, hangs on the head office in Veldhoven, Netherlands, on Jan. 30, 2023. Dutch companies  notably ASML  that create machines that make advanced processor chips will have to get an export license before they can be sold overseas exported starting in September, the government announced Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)  Dutch companies that produce machines that make advanced semiconductor processor chips will be required to have export licenses before they can sell them overseas starting in September, the government announced Friday.

The new measure, which was first announced in March, is country neutral, the government said. But it is seen as part of a U.S. policy that aims at restricting Chinas access to materials used to make such chips, which can be used in military technology. The requirement will notably affect Duch company ASML, the worlds only producer of machines that use extreme ultraviolet lithography to make advanced semiconductor chips. The Dutch government has prohibited the Veldhoven-based company from exporting some of its machines to China since 2019.

We have taken this step in the interest of our national security. It is good that the companies concerned now know where they stand. This way they can adapt to the new regulations in time, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said in a statement.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited U.S. President Joe Biden in January for talks that included discussions about ASML's advanced chip machines.

The Biden administration in October imposed export controls to limit Chinas access to advanced chips, which it says can be used to make weapons, commit human rights abuses and improve the speed and accuracy of its military logistics. It urged allies like Japan and the Netherlands to follow suit.

In a statement on the website of its Dutch embassy, China slammed the new measures as completely unreasonable and untenable.

It said such restrictions will not only damage the legitimate rights of Chinese companies, but also cause losses to Dutch companies, destabilize the global industrial and supply chains and hurt the good reputation of the Netherlands in supporting free trade.

ASML, headquartered in the southern Dutch town of Veldhoven, has continued to ship lower-quality chip lithography systems to China despite the government's restrictions on advanced machines.

The company said in a statement that it will now have to apply for export licenses for all shipments of its most advanced deep ultraviolet lithography systems.

The Dutch government will determine whether to grant or deny the required export licenses and provide further details to the company on any conditions that apply, ASML said. The company added that it does not expect the restrictions to have a material impact on our financial outlook."

Schreinemacher said the restrictions were carefully considered and as precise as possible.

This way we can address the most important vulnerabilities without unnecessarily disrupting the global production of chips, she said.
Hong Kong Filmmakers Say Censorship Law Spooks Investors, Actors

Director Kiwi Chow poses for photos after an interview in Hong Kong on May 11, 2023. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

HONG KONGTwo years after screening an internationally acclaimed documentary on the democracy movement in Hong Kong, director Kiwi Chow has been forced to complete a new movie with fresh financing after political concerns scared off some investors.

The fears spiked after Hong Kong adopted a new censorship law in October 2021 to bar films that might endanger national security, but directors say they now face difficulties lining up funding and even actors, while others have shifted overseas.

Actors under the Hong Kong film companies are very afraid, and this fear shadows everything, said Chow, who felt the situation had made performers, and investors, apprehensive about crossing ill-defined red lines concerning national security.

This is what makes it scary, it doesnt need to suppress you directly, but it has already made all these people scared, he added.

Director Kiwi Chow poses for photos after an interview in Hong Kong on May 11, 2023. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Chow, feted at the Cannes film festival in 2021 for his documentary, Revolution of Our Times, said it was clear when the new law came in that filmmakers would have to steer clear of political topics.

But he did not realize then that people would be so risk-averse, even if he had not been found guilty of anything.

The censorship measure, which follows a national security law Beijing imposed on the Asian financial hub in 2020, means directors now need to steer clear of some topics to avoid putting investors and actors at risk, some filmmakers said.

At least 21 movies and short films have had scenes cut or their release blocked by Hong Kongs Office for Film, Newspaper, and Article Association (OFNAA) since October 2021, a Reuters tally showed.

In an email statement, the office said it had processed about 5,000 applications for film classification since January 2021, denying approval for public exhibition to six of them.

But it declined to comment on individual films.

Since 2005, the former British colony has injected HK$1.54 billion into the Film Development Fund. But in February, its culture secretary, Kevin Yeung, warned that funds would not be allocated to film projects that might infringe the 2020 law.

It is not immediately clear how much censorship measure has affected such funding.

Replying to a Reuters query, Hong Kongs Film Development Council, which is mainly responsible for government funding of the industry, said in an email it would have to look into the matter before responding.

Yet filmmakers see little room for maneuver.

Chow scrambled to complete his new film after investors pulled 80 percent of its HK$8 million ($1 million) funding and the main actor withdrew.

Although his film, Say I Do To Me, a love story about a young woman who embarks on a journey of self-discovery, is far from political, Chow said investors told him they could not take the risk as they still had to do business with China.

For them, Revolution of Our Times is a very sensitive movie, Chow added. They think they have business with China, so even if there is little risk, they all find it unacceptable, not to mention that in their eyes, this is a very high risk.

In response to a Reuters query, a police spokesman declined to clarify whether watching or downloading the film was illegal, however.

Fresh Funding

About 40 to 50 supporters injected fresh funding to help him complete it, he added.

Revolution of Our Times made me lose a lot of things, but it has also attracted some other new funding.

Some actors who wanted to participate in the new film were either pressed not to do so by their management companies, or told by producers that scenes featuring them would be cut from other movies, Chow said.

Some told Chow they had signed contracts barring them from making speeches that violate the national security law or cooperating with people considered a political risk.

These contracts use economic pressure to restrain them, so that they cannot speak up, he said.

The makers of three short films screened at the Fresh Wave International Film Festival in June had chosen to replace the deleted parts with black images and muted sound after they were censored, organizers said.

Rex Ren and David Chan, co-founders of independent production group Phone Made Good Film, said they had no plan to seek government funds and would keep to small budgets instead.

Its because we need to create, so we persist in Hong Kong, Ren said.

The day before their Loose Narratives short film festival began in April, censors denied approval for their short film Wake in Silence, citing possible seditious intentions.

The scene in question showed a flag of the now disbanded pro-democracy party Demosisto with the slogan, 100% Freedom.

The tale of a girl who misses her boyfriend after he left the city was the third film censored in the festival.

I already feel that the need to be safe has increased a lot, and there are some topics that have become taboo, said Ho Cheuk-Tin, adjudged Best New Director at this years Hong Kong Film Awards for his film, The Sparring Partner.

Ho, who has been busy promoting his second movie, Over My Dead Body, a comedy about the frenzied real estate market, has chosen to stay on, however.

I consider myself more commercial, but I still hope to have lots of Hong Kong elements in my movies, he said.

Others, in contrast, have moved abroad to take Hong Kong films to the diaspora communities and global audiences in Britain, Canada, and the United States.

We are scared of the disappearance of the culture and arts of Hong Kong, said Ching Wong, who founded Hong Kong Film Festival UK along with director Ng Ka Leung in 2021. It held more than 60 screenings across seven British cities in March.

Still, for those at home, the scenario remains bleak.

At this moment, the chance of me finding funds in the Hong Kong market and the Hong Kong government seems to be close to zero, filmmaker Chow said.

($1=7.82 Hong Kong dollars)

By Jessie Pang
Hunter Biden Settles Child Support Case

Hunter Biden arrives for a toast during an official State Dinner in honor of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the White House on June 22, 2023. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

President Joe Bidens son has reached a settlement in an Arkansas civil court over a paternity and child support case involving the four-year-old daughter of a woman named Lunden Roberts.

In a deal reached on June 16 and filed with the Arkansas court on Thursday, June 29, Roberts and Hunter Biden agreed to reduce his child support payments to the mother of his daughter.

Biden had been paying about $20,000 a month for the child since the Spring of 2020. The portion of the court filing specifying his new child support statement is redacted.

Bidens child support payments will continue until the earliest occurrence of any of the following events:

The child [reaches] the age of 18, provided that, if the child is fully enrolled in an accredited secondary school in a program leading toward a high school diploma, the periodic payments shall continue to be due and paid until the end of month in which the child graduates;

The child marries;

The child dies;

The childs disabilities are otherwise removed for general purposes;

The child is otherwise emancipated; or

Further order of the Court modifying this child support.

While reaching a deal to reduce the specific dollar amount of his child support payments, Biden has also agreed to give the child a certain portion of the proceeds of the sales of his paintings. Details of the exact portion of these proceeds going to the child and for how long were also redacted.

Proceeds from the paintings could significantly complement the child support payments. In 2021, Politico reported a New York City art gallery valued Bidens paintings at between $75,000 and $500,000.

He also previously agreed to reimburse Roberts for health insurance costs for the child and will continue to do so under their new agreement. The parents have also agreed to discuss providing a college education fund for their child within the next five years.

Biden had initially denied being the childs father, but Arkansas Circuit Judge Holly Meyer ruled in January 2020 that DNA tests indicate with near scientific certainty that the defendant is the biological father of the child in this case. Meyer declared him to be the father during that January 2020 ruling and ordered: The Arkansas Department of Health shall issue a new or substituted birth certificate listing Lunden Alexis Roberts as the mother and Robert Hunter Biden as the father.

As part of the new agreement, Roberts also withdrew her bid to have the childs last name changed to Biden.

While the daughter of Roberts and Biden is one of Joe Bidens seven grandchildren, the president has avoided acknowledging her existence.

During a set of remarks on April 27 for Take Your Child to Work Day, the president said, I have six grandchildren. And Im crazy about them. And I speak to them every single day. The elder Biden then named and described each of his grandchildren except Robertss daughter.

In an April court filing, Roberts said Hunter Biden has never seen or contacted their daughter and that the president and First Lady Jill Biden remain estranged from their grandchild, CNN reported.

Bidens settlement in the case over his child comes a week after he reached a plea deal in an unrelated federal criminal case. U.S. Attorney David Weiss informed a Delaware federal court that he planned to charge Biden with willful failure to file his taxes for two years and possession of a firearm by a person unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance, which is illegal.

Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts for the tax filing issues. He also agreed to enter a pretrial diversion program for the gun charge, which would allow him to get the charge dismissed if he completes the diversion program.

From NTD News
Huntington Beach OKs 202324 Budget, Reports $5.4 Million Surplus, Avoids Controversial Cuts

The Huntington Beach city council conducts a meeting at the Civic Center chambers in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Jan. 17, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Huntington Beach city councilors recently approved their 202324 fiscal year budget starting July 1reporting a $5.4 million surplusafter an hours-long discussion that attracted over 100 residents, many of whom were concerned about a proposal posted online the Friday before the special meeting on June 26 that showed the possibility of some services being cut, including at the citys libraries.

After being alerted to the issue of possible cuts via an email from Councilmember Dan Kalmick, the council received angry messages from constituents, and by Monday, just before the meeting, city staff produced a revised document, which ultimately removed many of the controversial cuts.

At issue was the previous documents projection that in order to prevent a $7.4 million deficit for its 2024-25 fiscal year, things such as shutting down three of the citys librariesand limiting hours for othersand reducing city landscaping, maintenance and cleaning beach bathrooms might have to be cut.

Some who spoke during public comment were upset that the cuts were proposed at all. While others, like former Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, were angry they werent given ample time to review the 11th-hour changes just as the meeting started.

We were given this document at the last minute that says youre not going to close [libraries]  Its not appreciated when the public isnt given the information they need up front, she said.

In his email over the weekend, Mr. Kalmick said the deficit for next year was a result of having to budget $7 million to $8 million for a settlement agreement between the city and the operators of an airshow whose last day, in a three-day event in 2021, was shut down due to the October oil spill off of Huntington Beachs coast.

He additionally wrote the city projected to be in the red due to corruption and irresponsible spending, and would need to cut back on services and public work projects.

Many residents during the meeting criticized the settlement, which is almost $5 million over the next six years, with a nearly $2 million payment due by July 31. An additional $2 million has been promised to Amplify, the operator of the pipeline that leaked, if the city wins a lawsuit it intends to file against the company.

Residents gather for a city council meeting at the Civic Center in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Jan. 17, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The settlement unfortunately has put our citys budget in dire straits, jeopardizing the future of vital services such as our libraries and community programs, one resident said.

But Councilmember Casey McKeon said the settlement wasnt related to the citys future potential deficit.

The 1.9 million [paid] this year is already budgeted, and this is not to mention the massive economic impact the airshow brings [to] our city every single year, he said.

The settlement has been an issue previously, as one local resident filed a lawsuit June 7 against the city after it refused to provide the settlement document in full per a California Public Records request.

If the settlement with [the airshow operator] is such a great deal, why is it being withheld from the public? If I negotiate a great deal, Im happy to publicize it and talk about it, one resident said.

City Attorney Michael Gates has previously said and reiterated during the meeting that the city could not provide the document due to its pending litigation against the pipeline owner.

At the end of the day I dont want to be responsible for deviating from what the law requires me to do in a way that may ultimately compromise the city of Huntington Beach, he said during the meeting.

Also during the meeting, which drew controversy from some in the public, the council approved four new positions for the city attorneys office totaling $687,000. The office will add one senior legal assistant, two senior deputy city attorneys and a deputy community prosecutor.

Several speakers criticized the move, blaming such on the additional lawsuits the city has entered recently including one versus local control over housing against the state.

Residents gather for a city council meeting at the Civic Center in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Jan. 17, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Councilwoman Natalie Moser also scoffed at the recommended new positions.

The city attorney  has said that there is no cost to additional litigation, and I think that it appears that that is blatantly false, she said.

Another resident also disapproved saying all the litigation the city is currently entangled with is too much.

City Attorney Michael Gates will be receiving an increase in funds no doubt necessary to handle all the upcoming lawsuits  This is not responsible government and worse it is not representative government, she said.

But Mr. Gates countered that hiring in-house attorneys is cheaper for the citys increased legal demands.

When we do work in house, the lawyers cost, the lawyers time, doesnt increase with additional lawsuits, he said.

Despite some naysayers blaming the additional lawsuits to recent actions by the conservative council majority, Mr. Gates also said 95 percent of the citys lawsuits are where the city is a defendant, such as police or city staff being sued.

The council majority said the new positions were justified, since Mr. Gates has helped the city win several large lawsuits, including $32 million recovered this year from a lawsuit against the state for failure to pay or reimburse the city for old redevelopment loans.

Other new staff positions the council approved include a records keeper for the city clerk at $149,000 a year; a multimedia specialist for the citys digital content and cable channel at $175,000 yearly; a graphic designer also for the cable channel at $94,000; one human resources position for the citys risk management division at $118,000 and three positions in the citys community development department for $389,000 yearly.

The approved budget includes removing city funding for so-called community cafe discussions at the Huntington Beach Central Library, which began last fall and could still be privately funded, and possibly cutting funds in Januaryif state expected state funds dont materializeto Circuit, a transportation system that costs $2 per rider for residents to travel on a limited route downtown.

Other changes include reducing the replacement of city equipment such as security cameras, halting plans to upgrade code enforcement sedans to trucks, and reducing city hall open hours.

Also cut was the citys ice rink contract with Ice America at the Pier Plazawhich attracts around 15,000 skaters each season as the expansion of a summer swim program, which was last active in 2019 serving around 700 people, according to city officials.

Some revenue opportunities on the finalized budget include ads on lifeguard towers, license plate readers which will generate citation fees from unlawful drivers, and increased fees for emergency services to residents.

Councilwoman Rhonda Bolton said the process of coming up with this years budget was chaotic, before voting alongside the other Democrats on the dais with hesitation to approve the new plan.

There are aspects of it that Im still trying to figure out  the public is still trying to figure it out. This is just not the right way to do this, she said.

Correction: A previous version of this article referred to the amount of reported budget surplus as approved budget spending. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
In China, Government Jobs No Longer Mean A Solid Rice Bowl

Ruzhou's public employees have been without paychecks for months

Staff members monitoring students during their college entrance exam in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province, on June 7, 2016. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

A city once known as one of Chinas most robust has gone viral for a financial crisis that has left essential city workers without paychecks. Netizens are buzzing about its failure to pay public employeesfor over six months, and in some cases, for more than a year.

Meanwhile, residents say that their city is just one of many in China that are struggling to make ends meet post-COVID.

Ruzhou, a county-level city in Chinas central Henan province, was once honored as Chinas Model City for a Cyclic Economy. Ruzhous economy ranked 15th out of 140 counties in central China. Now it is unable to pay the teachers, firefighters, police, and health care workers who make things run smoothly in this city of almost one million residents.

In a post on Chinas social media platform Weibo, one netizen said the situation in Ruzhou is not an isolated case and shows that the local financial crisis is expanding further.

The Most Solid Rice Bowl in China Runs Empty

The Epoch Times contacted the Ruzhou city government on June 23 for comment. The staff member who answered the phone hung up immediately when she heard that the reporter was calling to ask about the delinquent payroll. Subsequent phone calls were unanswered.

However, The Epoch Times was able to speak with several public employees, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

Fu Xia (a pseudonym) is a civil servant; she told The Epoch Times that she and her colleagues have been put on furlough.Its hard to live without an income for more than half a year, she said. She said they are counting the days until the government has money to pay them and they can return to work.

Fu said although some workers in other city agencies havent seen a paycheck for nearly a year, no one has resigned, due to a longstanding conviction that the civil service profession is the most solid rice bowl in China.

I check my cell phone every day to see when my boss will call me back to work, said Fu, complaining that she idled at home with nothing to do. Ive had enough!

City employees were counseled to find temporary jobs to earn living expenses, which felt a bit cavalier, Fu said. What about car loans and house loans? Raising children is also very costly; making a living is arduous! she said.

Railway police on duty in Wuhan, China, on April 7, 2020. (Getty Images)

Cai Pengfei (a pseudonym), a retired health care worker, noted that part of the problem is the sheer size of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). To maintain the centralized regime of an organization so gargantuan, a huge number of political aides and civil servants are needed. In addition to the military, police, and government officials at all levels, there are public schools and public hospitals to be funded.

Funds for the many levels of government employees come from taxes paid to the partys state treasury, Cai said, adding, When the people are poor, they pay fewer taxes, and the [CCP] does not have enough money to spend. Further, due to mismanagement and corruption, there is no cushion for hard times. When the [CCP regime] had money, it expanded extravagantly and devoured subsidies from the treasury. Now the treasury is depleted, and has no more money to pay salaries.

Workers Demand Their Wages

According to a video news report posted on Chinese search engine Baidu in late December, Ruzhou Healthcare Commission employees had not been paid for thirteen months. The video showed employees protesting at the entrance of the Ruzhou Municipal Committee to demand their salaries.

They said refusing to pay health care workers is particularly unjust because the employees were on the front lines of the citys pandemic fight.

The report said that prior to the health care workers protest, city traffic employees had protested at the Ruzhou city government over unpaid wages.

Although Ruzhous problems came to a head with COVID-19, they date back several years. The city education systems provident fund and health insurance funds are also in arrears.

In 2019, the city made headlines for asking its health care workers to fund the construction of a badly needed new hospital by taking out personal loans and handing the money over to the hospital.

Gloomy Prospects

Taxes and land use rights are the primary revenue sources for local governments in China. With the CCPs harsh zero-COVID policies, Ruzhou authorities suffered crippling revenue losses.

Villagers gather to pay their taxes at the Xibu tax office, in Chinas eastern inland province of Anhui, on June 21, 2002. (Peter Harmsen/AFP via Getty Images)

According to official numbers, city revenue was down across the board in 2022, with total annual revenue at 6 billion yuan (about $864 million) down 8.3 percent, and tax revenue down 3.3 percent at 3 billion yuan (about $376 million).

From a tax perspective, the news was especially grim: real estate development investment was down 17.8 percent from the previous year. Of that, residential investment was down 17.1 percent, and commercial property sales were down more than 15 percent.

Along with the slump in real estate development, cement output and cast steep output were reduced by a staggering 28 percent and 47 percent year on year, respectively.

Three-year-long anti-epidemic restrictions, coupled with the sluggish real estate industry, have completely ruined Chinas economy, with many enterprises unable to go on operating regularly, Zheng Qiang (a pseudonym), the owner of a private enterprise in Ruzhou, told The Epoch Times.

Customers arent placing orders and workers are being laid off. That has a direct impact on the income of civil servants.

Prospects are gloomy, Zheng said.
IN-DEPTH: Why Vivek Ramaswamy Needs New Hampshire

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to the press outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. United States Courthouse in Miami, Fla., on June 13, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Vivek Ramaswamy speaks forcefully and specifically about what he believes he can do. Yet, even coming from a prophet of optimism, one Vivek-y pledge at a libertarian event in northern New Hampshire stands out.

If I win the New Hampshire Republican primary, I will be your next president, the 2024 hopeful told a liberty-minded audience at the Porcupine Freedom Festival, or PorcFest, on June 24.

Mr. Ramaswamys high-IQ swagger is grounded in something very much like reality.

The Granite States primary is a consistent, albeit imperfect, bellwether for the two major parties choices at their respective conventions. When it doesnt choose nominees, it often selects populist outsiders; think Bernie Sanders in recent Democratic primaries or, in the 1996 Republican primary, Pat Buchanan.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) arrives to speak at a Primary Night event at the SNHU Field House in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Feb. 11, 2020. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

As the creator of America First 2.0, Ramaswamy stands on the shoulders of other unlikely aspirants to the Oval Office. First among them is former president and fellow 2024 hopeful Donald Trump. Like Ramaswamy, Trump is a businessman who pivoted to politics. Unlike the Indian American biotech entrepreneur, Trump is way ahead in New Hampshire polling.

Still, Mr. Ramaswamy isnt polling too badly in New Hampshire, at least by the standards of other outsider candidates. If he has a lane, its probably here.

At a June 8 event at a New Hampshire church, Ramaswamy senior advisor Tricia McLaughlin told The Epoch Times that her candidate hopes to finish first or second in the state.

How would he pull it off?

Were actually starting this not by the traditional TV buy, ad spending stuff, [but] with bottom-up activation through in-person town halls across the state and building a team here with an actual staff and an office thats decentralizing the process of getting people to support us, Ramaswamy said.

What does that mean? Actually make volunteers accountable for bringing more people into the movement, Mr. Ramaswamy added.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Zach Henry, a veteran of Blake Masters 2022 Senate run who now serves as deputy communications director for Ramaswamy, said the team isnt exactly rewriting the presidential campaign playbook, yet in keeping with his anti-affirmative action stance, he seems to be aiming for a strong meritocracy.

We encourage all our staffers and volunteers to try to reach and surpass different goals. This is pretty standard across all campaigns, but we want to give our volunteers who excel opportunities to grow within the campaign if thats what they desire, Henry told The Epoch Times on June 27.

Could a volunteer who starts from the bottom on a state team make it to a top role in the national campaign?

Anything is possible on the Vivek 2024 campaign, Henry said.

According to Henry, Ramaswamy already has a half dozen field staffers and hundreds of volunteers in the Live Free or Die state.

In his June 24 interview, Ramaswamy pointed out that Fred Doucette, who helped manage Trumps 2016 and 2020 New Hampshire campaigns, is his state chair. Doucette was state co-chair for the Manhattan real estate moguls successful New Hampshire primary run almost eight years ago.

He was chair for Trump before that was even a thinkable thing to do, Ramaswamy said.

The moment he jumped onto us is very similar to the moment when he jumped onto Trump, he added.

New Hampshires Republican primary is slated for Feb. 13, 2024.

A campaign sign for Donald Trump sits outside a polling station by the state capitol on Election Day in Concord, N.H., on Nov. 3, 2020. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

A Little Light in One Little Spot

Like Trump in 2016, Ramaswamy faces skepticism from political insiders and experts.

Commentators from across the political spectrum who spoke with The Epoch Times earlier this month agreed that he doesnt stand a chance.

Mr. Ramaswamy is probably well-intentioned but has no legitimate shot at the Oval Office, said James Hartman, a Republican political consultant and self-described Never Trumper who has worked with Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) and other GOPers in the past.

Wayne Steger, a political scientist at DePaul University, wrote an influential 2004 paper on the Granite States primary.

I would speculate that there would be near zero chance that Vivek Ramaswamy gets traction, Steger said in a June 22 email interview with The Epoch Times.

My bet would be that Ramaswamy has already seen his high point in NH polls, he added.

He thinks Ramaswamy will come across as too educated and polished for Trumps base in the state.

Part of Trumps appeal is his ability to brag about being elite without being one of the elites, Mr. Steger said.

Before Ramaswamy came around with America First 2.0, there was Trumps America First.

Before Trump, there was the prototype for America First candidates in recent decades: Patrick J. Buchanan, aide to Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, and an insurgent threat to President George H.W. Bush in 1992, and Bob Dole in 1996.

Pat Buchanan is shown at the 2007 N.H. Primary Awards Dinner in Manchester, N.H., Monday, 26, 2007. The event is held to recognize individuals for their support and advocacy of the states first-in-the-nation presidential primary. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter)

I am very interested in Ramaswamy, said Buchanans sister Bay in a June 28 interview with The Epoch Times.

Buchanan managed her brothers 1992, 1996, and 2000 presidential campaigns. In 1996, he narrowly won the New Hampshire primary.

Ramaswamy, she said, stands apart a bit, but hes in a race with many candidates. You have to somehow distinguish yourself.

Few are predicting a Ramaswamy victory in the primary and caucus season, let alone a Ramaswamy presidency. Yet, for now, the campaign cannot be written off entirely.

Ms. Buchanan offered a lesson from the gridiron.

Pat used to always say, youre coming down the field, it doesnt matter how big their front line is. If you can just see a little light in one little spot, you can sneak through, she said.

Buchanan and Ramaswamy

Buchanan, in 1996, had some advantages that Ramaswamy currently lacks. He was a household name after decades in American politics, including a memorable run in 1992, and hed built up a massive, national grassroots network through the Buchanan Brigades. Ramaswamy, by contrast, is still making his name known and pronounceable to millions of Americans.

Buchanan said her brother took the Granite State because he bucked conventional wisdom.

You have to if youre not the conventional candidate, she told The Epoch Times.

She explained that Mr. Buchanan did something unthinkable: he flew to Alaska to campaign before that states caucus.

Who goes to campaign in Alaska in January, right? Nobody, and no ones ever been up there, Ms. Buchanan said.

The Buchanan team also explored Louisiana. Ms. Buchanan said most other candidates ignored its caucus because they assumed Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) would easily win so close to his home turf.

Clouds partially obscure Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, as seen from inside Denali National Park, Alaska, on Sept. 22, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Staff were sent to Alaska. The campaign wanted to identify enough Buchanan voters there to come out ahead.

We knew that the number would be over 10,000 because wed studied it historically, Ms. Buchanan said.

The Buchanan Alaska gambit didnt go unnoticed, according to Ms. Buchanan. Other candidates, including Steve Forbes, also visited the state.

The Buchanan campaign timed an anti-Forbes ad campaign just prior to the caucus.

We just pounded him all weekend that he was not pro-life, she said.

Mr. Forbes response to that move came too late, and Buchanan won Alaska.

The campaign turned around and deployed a similar strategy in Louisiana, where they ran ads against Mr. Gramm.

Gramm just assumed he was going to win it. He didnt campaign, he didnt do much ads, and we pounded him and pounded him and pounded him, Ms. Buchanan said.

The upshot: another Buchanan victory in an overlooked state.

The political elite said, Ignore Alaska and ignore Louisiana,' Ms. Buchanan recounted.

After a second-place finish in Iowa, the campaign was under pressure in the Granite State.

We already have an enormously strong force in New Hampshire. But they pounded us, Ms. Buchanan said, adding that Mr. Buchanan had faced terrible, terrible ads in the state.

She credits a strong radio advertisement with helping her brother retain a slight edge in New Hampshire.

Unconventional thinking isnt the only thing Ramaswamy might need. In Ms. Buchanans view, he must commit an enormous amount of time to the state to perform well.

If he thinks hes going to pull this thing off in New Hampshire, he has to be living in New Hampshire, she said.

But Trumps got a big name. Its going to be hard to beat him, she added.

One lingering question is whether Mr. Ramaswamy is more of a Pat Buchanan or more of a Steve Forbes. Like Mr. Buchanan, hes running as an America First populist. Like Mr. Forbes, hes a businessman who makes ideas central to his campaign.

Steve Forbes, President and Chief Executive Officer of Forbes and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine. (Mark Von Holden/Getty Images)

Ideas guys are not made for primaries, Ms. Buchanan said.

She recalled watching Mr. Reagans speeches on the 1980 presidential campaign trail. Ms. Buchanan, who went on to serve as Mr. Reagans Treasury Secretary, noted that the press often dismissed those speeches as repetitive and boring.

What they werent noticing is that the people in the audience, whether it be 20 or 2,000, are crying and laughing and moved by him. It was an experience for them, almost a spiritual experience, she said.

Like Mr. Ramaswamy, her brother is very cerebral. But when he came to New Hampshire, he had to get used to retail politicsone-on-one interactions with everyday people across the state.

One-on-one transformed him. He started talking to people his age losing jobs, worried about how theyre going to make it through Christmas, talking to him about these thingshe was extremely moved, Ms. Buchanan said, adding that it strengthened his focus on economic nationalism.

He became an exceptional candidate because he had to meet with people one-on-one, she added.

Another 2024 hopeful, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., strikes her as an exceptional candidate because of that human factor.

Hes got the Kennedy charm, Ms. Buchanan said.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. attends Keep it Clean to benefit Waterkeeper Alliance in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 1, 2018. (John Sciulli/Getty Images for Waterkeeper Alliance)

The View from Concord

Pat Buchanan won New Hampshires primary less than three decades ago. Thats not so long ago, even by the standards of a relatively young nation, but at times, it can seem like a different world.

The streets of Concord, New Hampshire, in 2023 look more like America circa 1996 than those of many other American cities.

The pre-Millennial feel doesnt last. Unnaturally dyed hair, forests of tattoos, faces buried in smartphones, and, every so often, a Progress Pride flagall this and more awakens a visitor to the Current Year.

On the warm afternoon of June 23, a fire engine had blocked off Main Street for a summer festival. A few hundred feet from the golden-domed New Hampshire State House, families wandered from tent to tent.

The cool interior of the capitol building is a kind of reliquary to the Civil Wareerily fitting at a time when some are openly calling for a national divorce.

A portrait of Union General John Adams Dix is captioned with a stark warning: If anyone attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot.

Decades after the Supreme Court held that burning the American flag is protected speechand at a time when burning the pride flag can carry up to a decade and a half of prison timeDixs sincerity and conviction might also seem alien to past generations of Americans. Whatever the various Republican hopefuls are fighting for, it doesnt look much like the country in 1996, let alone the Union in 1861.

Upstairs, one of the few officials still left in the building that Friday afternoon was New Hampshires Secretary of State, Republican David Scanlan. He sat down for an impromptu interview with The Epoch Times.

Mr. Scanlan pointed out that the Democrats primary calendar, in which South Carolina now comes first, conflicts with New Hampshires first-in-the-nation status. That role isnt just traditional; the state has enshrined it in law.

New Hampshire voters are used to having a lot of attention in the presidential primary. Its part of our culture, he said.

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden addresses the crowd during a South Carolina campaign launch party in Columbia, South Carolina, on Feb. 11, 2020. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Some Democrats have suggested New Hampshire is simply too white to go first. Mr. Scanlan thinks thats based on some mistaken assumptions about diversity.

The diversity of ideas in New Hampshire is quite large, he said.

Mr. Scanlan argued that his states limited size and small media market lend themselves to a first-in-the-nation primary.

It is a place, maybe the only place, where a fourth grader that had the childhood dream of growing up to be president of the United States can actually come here and try and make it happen, he said.

Like Ms. Buchanan, he stressed that candidates must go out and meet with voters.

While some may argue that Mr. Trumps entry into the race last November has accelerated the election season, Mr. Scanlan doesnt see it that way.

Its not unusual for campaigns for New Hampshires presidential primary to start right after the midterm elections, he said.

Mr. Scanlan observed that Ramswamy has been campaigning hard.

I think hes a viable candidate. Certainly, he has a following in New Hampshire. His message is being absorbed by voters in the state. We have to wait and see how well he does at the end, he said.

Back on Main Street, local Republicans had set up their own tent.

Thom Bloomquist told The Epoch Times what hed been hearing from likely GOP primary voters in the area.

Some want Trump. Some want DeSantis. The occasional person wants Vivek, he said.

Even if he [Ramaswamy] doesnt get the presidency, he would make a great finance minister, added Mr. Bloomquist.

Andrew Georgevits, who chairs the Concord Republican City Committee, told The Epoch Times that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgums name has been coming up among prospective voters.

Hes doing a ton of mail in the State of New Hampshire, Mr. Georgevits said.

He said Ramaswamy had packed a 40-person room to the point of overflow at one recent morning event.

For a 7 a.m. breakfast, that was pretty impressive. People came out in those droves to see him, Mr. Georgevits said.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to an Epoch Times reporter at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Debate A True Test

Mr. Georgevits thinks the first debate, scheduled for August 23, will be a great filter for candidates. Those seeking to participate must hit 1 percent across multiple polls, pledge to back the partys ultimate nominee, and raise money from 40,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in 20+ states and/or territories, according to the Republican National Committee.

Ms. McLaughlin told The Epoch Times on June 8 that Ramaswamy had already met all the criteria to take part in that event.

The debate, Mr. Georgevits said, is going to be a true test of seeing who survives this primary process.

Ms. Buchanan agreed that the back-and-forth between Ramaswamy and other GOP contenders could be hugely important.

There may come a time when people decide they dont want Trump, and then itll be a free-for-all. That time hasnt come yet. But if youre up there [in New Hampshire] and working it, you know, and you get enough people, the key will then be the debates, she said.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listens to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri on October 9, 2016. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Can he distinguish himself in the debates? she asked.

If so, an outstanding performance in August might be Ramaswamys little light in one little spot.
Ivanka Trump Dropped as Co-defendant in $250 Million Lawsuit

Ivanka Trump speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on Aug. 27, 2020. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images)

A New York appeals court has dismissed all claims against former President Donald Trumps daughter Ivanka Trump in a civil lawsuit brought by Attorney General Letitia James.

The New York Appellate Divisions First Department ruled unanimously this week to dismiss claims against Ivanka Trump because they were filed too late and she was no longer part of the Trump Organization during the relevant period.

The allegations against defendant Ivanka Trump do not support any claims that accrued after February 6, 2016. Thus, all claims against her should have been dismissed as untimely, the judges wrote in the decision.

While the judges denied the former presidents motion to dismiss the case, they agreed to limit the time frame of some of the claims against the other defendants, barring some claims before 2016 and others before 2014.

The Trumps have denied any wrongdoing while the former president has accused James of engaging in a politically-motivated prosecution.

President Donald Trump arrives, flanked by daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump and wife, first lady Melania Trump, to deliver his acceptance speech for the Republican Party nomination for reelection during the final day of the Republican National Convention from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on Aug. 27, 2020. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Witch Hunt, Claims Trump

James civil lawsuit, filed in September 2022, seeks at least $250 million in damages from Trump, his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric, the Trump Organization and others. It also seeks to block the Trumps from operating businesses in the state of New York.

The suit accuses Trump of lying about asset values in order to secure better terms for loans and insurance

It alleges that, for about a decade between 2011 and 2021, Trump fraudulently manipulated asset valuations, including his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, his Trump Tower penthouse in Manhattan, and his own net worth.

James wants the Trump Organization to be barred from doing business in New York, from engaging in real estate acquisitions in the state for five years, and for Trump and his children to be barred from serving as high-level executives at any New York company.

Trump, who is the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election, has called James lawsuit a politically-motivated witch hunt meant to thwart his bid for the White House.

A spokesperson for the New York Attorney Generals office said in a statement to media outlets following Tuesdays appellate court ruling that theres enough evidence for the case to proceed against the other defendants.

There is a mountain of evidence that shows Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for significant economic gain, a spokeswoman for James said.

This decision allows us to hold him accountable for that fraud, and we intend to do so, the spokesperson added.

Christopher Kise, a lawyer for the former president and most of the other defendants, said the ruling was the first step toward ending the lawsuit.

The correct application of the law will now limit appropriately the previously unlimited reach of the attorney general, he said.

We remain confident that once all the real facts are known, there will be no doubt President Trump has built an extraordinarily successful business empire.

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference in New York City on June 11, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Lawsuit Delayed?

James said in a recent interview with Pod Save America that her lawsuit against Trump could be delayed by the Department of Justices criminal case against the former president on charges of mishandling classified documents.

Trump entered a not guilty plea after being indicted on federal charges in Florida earlier in June for allegedly mishandling documents, including ones with top secret markings.

In all likelihood, I believe that my case, as well as DA Bragg and the Georgia case, will unfortunately have to be adjourned pending the outcome of the federal case, James said.

She was responding to a question about whether the federal classified documents case will tie in with Jamess civil suit or Manhattan District Attorney Braggs case.

Trump was indicted by Bragg on charges of allegedly falsifying business records to hide payments made during the 2016 election to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The former president has denied any wrongdoing.

In Georgia, Trump is being investigated for potential election interference in connection with remarks he made in a phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking him to find more Trump votes in what was then a hotly contested 2020 presidential election.

Trump has also denied any wrongdoing in connection with the Georgia case while maintaining that the 2020 election was rigged against him.

So far, the former president has been indicted in two casesthe one in Manhattan over alleged hush money payments and the one in Florida alleging mishandling of classified documents.

Badge of Courage

Trump last weekend accused Democrats of interfering with the 2024 presidential election and called the two indictments he received a great badge of courage during a speech at the Faith and Freedom Coalitions event in Washington on June 24.

Trump claimed that authorities are investigating and charging him in an attempt to derail his presidential run.

Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists, and fascists indict me, I consider it a great badge of courage, he told supporters.

Trump is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination and holds a slight lead in matchups against President Joe Biden.
Japan Will Restore South Koreas Preferred Trade Country Status: Minister

The national flags of Japan (L) and South Korea flutter in the wind ahead of the arrival of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on March 16, 2023. - Yoon was set to arrive in Tokyo for a summit aimed at boosting ties in the face of Pyongyang's growing aggression. (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images)

Japan will reinstate South Korea to its list of preferred trading partners on July 21the first time in four years since they downgraded each others trading status over historical disputes.

Japanese Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on June 27 that the two countries have agreed to establish a follow-up framework for reviewing the export control systems of both countries if needed.

Lee Do Woon, spokesperson of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, called Japans step a symbolic measure that underscores the countries fully restored bilateral trust and the removal of uncertainty in trade.

For the first time in four years, all export restrictions between the countries have been lifted, Lee told reporters. With import and export procedures getting simplified, we expect exchanges and cooperation between the countries companies to accelerate.

South Korea made a similar move on April 24 to reinstate Japan to its white list of preferred trading partners, which will shorten the review period for exporting strategic materials to Japan from 15 to 5 days.

South Korea and Japan removed each other from their respective preferential trade lists in 2019 after a South Korean top court ruling that ordered Japanese firms to compensate wartime forced laborers, causing their bilateral relations to deteriorate.

The finance ministers of both countries were also expected to meet in Tokyo on June 29, Kyodo News reported, marking the revival of a financial dialogue that had been stalled for seven years due to historical disputes.

South Korea-Japan Ties

Concerns about North Koreas nuclear threats have prompted the nations to work toward mending their ties. The leaders of both countries agreed to restore bilateral ties at a Tokyo summit in March.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he would lift export controls on key industrial materials to South Korea. South Korea opted to compensate victims of forced labor with local funds rather than pushing Japanese companies to pay compensation.

Kishida visited South Korea on May 7 for talks with Yoon and vowed to deepen cooperation in tackling global security challenges. He became the first Japanese leader to visit the country in over a decade.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (R) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a joint press conference after their meeting at the presidential office in Seoul on May 7, 2023. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP)

The situation in the international community makes cooperation between Japan and the ROK all the more indispensable, Kishida said at a joint news conference, referring to South Koreas official name, the Republic of Korea.

Kishida said negotiations on reviving their countries military intelligence-sharing pact were in progress to counter the North Korean regimes nuclear and missile threats. The pact, signed in 2016, had been stalled since 2019 due to their wartime forced-labor dispute.

The Japanese leader expressed that his heart aches for the many Koreans who suffered through a very difficult and sad experience in the harsh environment of Japans 19101945 colonial rule.

There are various histories between Japan and South Korea, but it is important for Japan to carry on the efforts of its predecessors who overcame difficult times and to cooperate with President Yoon and South Korea toward the future, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Joby Aviation Gets FAA Approval to Start Flight Tests of Electric Air Taxi

This image provided by Joby Aviation shows the conceptual design of the Joby S2 Electric VTOL PAV aircraft. (Joby Aviation via AP)

Joby Aviation received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for test flights of its electric air taxi after receiving a $100 million investment from South Koreas SK Telecom.

Joby announced on June 23 that the federal aviation regulator gave the nod to start tests of its flying air taxi, as the innovative design steps closer to receiving approvals for commercial operations, causing sales to surge.

The special air-worthiness certificate from the FAA for its first aircraft built at the companys production line will allow Joby to start test flying its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft prototype without passengers.

The certificate will keep the company on track to launch commercial passenger operations by 2025.

eVTOL aircraft are compact, quiet, and easy-to-fly vehicles, which are also known in popular imagination as flying cars.

The futuristic model may be eventually used as air taxis to take people to airports,by flying above ground traffic or making short commuter flights.

Joby Gets a Head Start Over Competition From the FAA

Joby has been building and flying pre-production prototypes since 2017 and has raised money by going public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in August 2021.

Joby ended the first quarter 2023 with about $1 billion of cash and analysts project that the firm will use about $400 million annually in the next few years.

The same day as the FAA approval, the California-based company added that Toyota North Americas CEO, Tetsuo Ogawa, will join its board on July 1.

Toyota is Jobys largest external investor and has poured about $400 million into the commercial aviation start-up.

On April 23, the two firms agreed to sign a long-term supply agreement in which the Japanese automaker agreed to provide Joby with powertrain and other components for the full production of its aircraft.

Toyota is the best company in the world when it comes to designing and building for reliability and then being able to make very complex assemblies at massive scale, Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt told Axios,

However, Bevirt admitted that Joby is still in the crawl phase of production and that its manufacturing processes, as well as its aircraft, have yet to be validated by the FAA before it can move to full-scale production.

The machine that builds the machine is a significant thing, Bevirt stated, but he hopes that the light aircraft could begin shuttling passengers as soon as 2025, pending FAA certification.

No electric air taxi manufacturer in the United States and Europe has yet to receive full approval for commercial flight.

The Epoch Times reached out to Joby Aviation for comment.

Toyota Provides Major Support to eVTOL Hopeful

Unlike its rival eVTOL manufacturers, which plan to sell aircraft to customers such as airlines and logistics companies, Joby intends to follow a business model similar to a rideshare app.

Joby said it will deliver two electric aircraft to Edwards Air Force Base in March 2024 as part of its $131 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to test the eVTOL models with the U.S. Air Force after its initial flight.

The Air Force intends to use the eVTOLs for passenger and cargo transportation and would be Jobys first major customer.

The next step for Joby is the 2025 launch of its commercial passenger services, and has already formed a partnership with Delta Airlines to shuttle passengers to and from airports.

Meanwhile, in California, Joby held a demonstration of its new flying taxi to local officials and the media.

Jobys pilot production plant is in Marina, California, and built its first prototypes with the assistance of Toyota.

Amazing day at Joby Aviation celebrating the first electric vehicle take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to roll off Jobys newly built production facilities in Marina, said Luis Alejo, chairman of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, in a tweet.

We heard from Jobys leadership on the incredible technology behind this aircraft, and got to see its diverse workforce! County of Monterey, City of Marina, State of California, and many partners are working to keep Joby Aviation in Monterey County.

They are looking to build a site to manufacture these electric cutting-edge aircraft that could create up to 1,800 additional jobs! We want to see these Made in Monterey County by local residents, said Alejo.

Dozens of Companies Rush to Become First Air Taxi Manufacturer

Joby is expected to compete in an already crowded market, with dozens of other developers such as Archer Aviation, Volocoptor, and Vertical Aerospace, each of which are also in the race to revolutionize urban transportation in the next couple of years.

Rival eVTOL firms were recently able to display their own prototypes at the Paris Air Show, which ran from June 1925 and drew 400,000 attendees.

The air show included electric taxi models from Volocoptor and Archer, which became major attractions.

The French government intends to have a fleet of electric air taxis ready for use around Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, reported the Associated Press.

Archer Aviation of Georgia received the greenlight for flight tests in 2021, but certification deadlines for eVTOL makers keep on delaying its first flight.

The Georgia firm formed a manufacturing partnership with automaker Stellantis and said that the two were pivoting from the concept to execution phase, with a new factory in the Peach State.

The manufacturing facility is well underway and is on track to come online by mid-2024, the company said.

Electra Aero recently unveiled its own alternative air taxi variant with an ultra-short takeoff and landing plane that uses a hybrid powertrain and blown lift technology to take off.

Electra said it would be ready to fly a full-scale prototype in 2025, and seeks to get FAA certification by 2028.

Another eVTOL maker, Vertical Aerospace, delayed its launch last month and said that commercial service will start a year past its original deadline in 2026.

We believe the industry as a whole will experience some timeline corrections, and we are already seeing signs of peers acknowledging this, Vertical said in a letter to shareholders in May.

In 2022, Germanys Lilium also pushed its deadline forward by setting its launch for 2025 from 2024.

Volocopter, another German eVTOL hopeful, is seeking to gain regulatory approval and become the supplier for the Paris Olympic games next year.

The Olympics are our North Star, Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopte, told Reuters.

Volocopter aims to beat Joby by beating it to the 2024 milestone first.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Johnson & Johnsons $8.9 Billion Talc Settlement Faces US Bankruptcy Test

Johnson & Johnsons proposed $8.9 billion settlement of thousands of lawsuits alleging that its talc products cause cancer faces a crucial hurdle this week as a U.S. bankruptcy judge in New Jersey considers whether or not a J&J subsidiary may resolve them by filing for bankruptcy a second time.

J&J subsidiary LTL Managements first attempt to do that was dismissed in April after a U.S. appeals court ruled that it was not in sufficient financial distress to be eligible for bankruptcy protection.

LTL quickly filed for bankruptcy again, arguing that its second effort has won more support from plaintiffs for a comprehensive settlement of current and future lawsuits alleging that J&Js baby powder and other talc products sometimes contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma, ovarian, and other cancers. J&J has said its talc products are safe and do not contain asbestos.

Attorneys representing cancer victims, along with the U.S. Justice Departments bankruptcy watchdog, have called for LTLs second bankruptcy to be dismissed as an abuse of U.S. bankruptcy law. Cancer victims who oppose the bankruptcy settlement have said that the second bankruptcy recycles a failed legal strategy to keep their cases from being heard by juries.

Starting on Tuesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton is due to hear several days of evidence and arguments before making a ruling. Kaplan, whose decision in support of LTLs first bankruptcy filing was overturned by the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, has said he expects to rule on whether to dismiss LTLs second bankruptcy by early August.

LTL executives including chief legal officer John Kim are expected to testify on Tuesday. Jim Murdica, a lawyer who took part in negotiations on the $8.9 billion settlement on behalf of LTL and J&J, and Mikal Watts, a lawyer for some plaintiffs, are expected to testify on Wednesday.

Erik Haas, J&Js worldwide vice president for litigation, said in a statement last week that the proposed bankruptcy settlement offers a fairer and faster resolution for cancer claimants than litigation in other courts.

The attorneys who oppose J&Js settlement offer argue that J&J created the illusion of support by signing deals with plaintiffs lawyers like Watts, who quickly signed up large numbers of clients without ever filing any lawsuits against J&J.

LTLs bankruptcy proceedings have paused the 38,000 lawsuits that were filed before October 2021. Kaplan has ruled that the second bankruptcy does not fully stop the talc litigation, letting one plaintiffs case to go to trial and allowing new complaints to be filed against LTL and J&J as long as no other trials are scheduled without permission from the bankruptcy court.

U.S. bankruptcy law typically shields debtors from lawsuits while they reorganize in bankruptcy. Bankruptcy judges have not always extended those protections to non-bankrupt parent companies like J&J.

By Dietrich Knauth
Judge Orders Texas Department of Public Safety to Release Uvalde School Shooting Documents

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) must soon begin releasing public records related to law enforcements response to the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a district court judge in Austin ruled on June 29.

Judge Daniella Deseta Lyttle agreed with a request made by a string of media outlets, including CNN, CBS, NBC, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Texas Tribune, and others to release documents related to the deadly massacre after the publications last year sued the state department for failing to do so.

In a lawsuit filed in August, the publications had requested that 911 calls, radio traffic, officer body camera footage, police reports, training materials, and school surveillance footage be released, arguing that failing to publish such information violated state law.

The publications had initially requested the records under the Texas Public Information Act but Uvalde officials and state police had declined to publish them, citing ongoing investigations into the matter, prompting the news outlets to file the lawsuit arguing that this was not the case given that the shooters guilt was not in question.

In their lawsuit, the news outlets had argued that the public records needed to be released because both false and misleading statements made by authorities regarding how the police initially responded to the incident have sowed distrust among both the public and the victims of the families.

The release of the records would help bolster transparency and accountability, they said.

A total of two teachers and 19 children aged between 9 and 11 were killed on May 24 when shooter Salvador Ramos entered Robb Elementary and opened fire. Another 18 people were injured.

Police Response Condemned

Law enforcement officials have been widely criticized for their response to the shooting, as has the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District for its handling of the massacre. It took Uvalde Police Department officers 77 minutes to confront and take down Ramos.

A report published shortly after the shooting last year by the Texas state House of Representatives also found that there were shortcomings, systematic failures, and egregious poor decision making across the board by both law enforcement and the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District in its handling of the deadly incident.

The records will not be immediately made available following Lyttles order. Instead, the judge gave DPS until Aug. 31 to produce a detailed log of proposed redactions, and a hearing on those is set for September.

DPS could also choose to appeal the ruling before then and Lyttle ordered both parties to submit proposals for final judgment by July 14.

As officials continue to shield nearly all information related to the Uvalde tragedy, on the basis of an investigation that has already concluded and a purported prosecution that has yet to materialize, we are thrilled by the Courts ruling that recognizes the publics right to know what happened that day, Laura Lee Prather, a First Amendment lawyer also with Haynes Boone who represents the news organizations, said in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

Judge Lyttles ruling brings the Uvalde community and all Texas citizens one step closer to gaining a complete understanding of what happened that day and moving toward closure, Prather added.

A string of other lawsuits have been filed against the Uvalde school district and law enforcement officers in the wake of last years shooting, including a $27 billion class-action lawsuit filed by survivors against multiple law enforcement officials in the state.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety for comment.
How To Earn $500 A Month From SL Green Stock, New York City's Largest Office Landlord

When a surge of confidence sweeps through the Street, it's usually propelled by the momentum of deals that exceed expectations.

SL Green Realty Corp (NYSE:SLG), New York Citys largest office landlord, ignited the wave on Monday, with its shares climbing nearly 20% after it announced a strategic sale and partnership.

What Happened: SL Green announced the sale of a 49.9% stake in the 245 Park Avenue location to a U.S. affiliate of Mori Trust Co. Ltd, valuing the asset at $2 billion. The sale follows its successful $500 million refinancing of 919 Third Avenue earlier this year.

The partnership comes at a time when the commercial real estate sector deals with period of adjustment due to the increased adoption of hybrid work models. The deal marks a reassuring vote of confidence in the resilience of New York's office market.

Outside of the sale, SL Green is a reliable dividend payer, appealing to investors who prefer consistent income generation. So, how can investors earn $500 a month from its stock?

Check out:

Investing in real estate just got a whole lot simpler. With as little as $100, average investors are becoming landlords thanks to this Jeff Bezos-backed startup.

Elon Musk has reportedly bought 6,000 acres of land just outside of Austin. Heres how to invest in the citys growth before he floods it with new tech workers.

Well start with the $500 per month target, which translates to an annual target of $6,000 ($500 x 12 months).

Next, well divide the $6,000 by SL's whopping 12.2% dividend yield: $6,000 / 0.122 = $43,478.26.

So, an investor looking to yield $500 per month from SL Green would need $49,180.33, or 1,703 shares.

For a more modest $100 per month ($1,200 annually), an investor would need $9,836.07, or 341 shares.



Check out other high yield investments here.

Note that dividend yield can change on a rolling basis, as the dividend payment and the stock price both fluctuate over time.

The dividend yield is calculated by dividing the annual dividend payment by the current stock price. As the stock price changes, the dividend yield will also change.

For example, if a stock pays an annual dividend of $2 and its price is $50, its dividend yield would be 4%. If the stock price increases to $60, the dividend yield would decrease to 3.33% ($2/$60).

Conversely, if the stock price decreases to $40, the dividend yield would increase to 5% ($2/$40).

Further, the dividend payment itself can also change over time, which can also impact the dividend yield. If a company increases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will increase even if the stock price remains the same. Similarly, if a company decreases its dividend payment, the dividend yield will decrease.

Read next:

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This article How To Earn $500 A Month From SL Green Stock, New York City's Largest Office Landlord originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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 2023 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Judge Rejects Trumps Effort to Dismiss First E. Jean Carroll Defamation Lawsuit

(Left) President Donald Trump comes out of the Oval Office from the White House on Sept. 16, 2019. (Right) E. Jean Carroll (C) leaves following her trial at Manhattan Federal Court in New York on May 8, 2023. (Mandel Ngan, Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trumps effort to dismiss one of the two lawsuits filed against him by writer E. Jean Carroll was rejected by a federal judge on June 29.

Trump had attempted to have the court dismiss a lawsuit filed by Carroll in 2019 accusing the then-president of defaming her when he denied having raped her in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in 1995 or 1996.

Carroll also filed a second lawsuit against Trump in 2022 accusing him of battery and defamation after the New York State Legislature passed a law known as the Adult Survivor Act, which grants victims of certain sexual offenses a one-year window to file a civil lawsuit against alleged offenders.

Her first lawsuit had been wrapped up in legal disputes, however, the writer won in her second defamation suit against Trump just last month and a jury ordered he pay her $5 million in damages, including $2 million in damages for sexual abuse and around $3 million for defamation.

The nine-member jury found that Carroll did not prove that Trump raped her but instead found that the businessman and 2024 presidential candidate sexually abused her.

With regard to Carrolls first lawsuit, lawyers for Trump had argued that the case should be dismissed on the basis that he was entitled to absolute presidential immunity, that his statements were not defamatory per se, that the majority of his statements were non-actionable opinion, and that Carroll consented to the allegedly defamatory statements.

Trump has repeatedly denied raping Carroll.

E. Jean Carroll speaks onstage during the How to Write Your Own Life panel at the 2019 Glamour Women Of The Year Summit at Alice Tully Hall in New York on Nov. 10, 2019. (Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Glamour)

Trump Claims Have No Merit

However, in a 46-page ruling (pdf) on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of New York disagreed with the arguments made by attorneys for Trump and said they are without merit.

The conduct at issue here consists not only of what Mr. Trump did (i.e., make public statements in response to Ms. Carrolls accusation) but also, and importantly, the content of his statements (i.e., what he said in his statements), the judge wrote.

Mr. Trump did not merely deny Ms. Carrolls accusation of sexual assault. Instead, he accused Ms. Carroll of lying about him sexually assaulting her in order to increase sales of her book, gain publicity, and/or carry out a political agenda, he continued. Even assuming that the presidents decision publicly to deny an accusation of personal wrongdoing comes within the outer perimeter of his official duties, it does not follow that the presidents own personal attacks on his or her accuser equally fall within that boundary.

Mr. Trump does not identify any connection between the allegedly defamatory content of his statementsthat Ms. Carroll fabricated her sexual assault accusation and did so for financial and personal gainto any official responsibility of the president. Nor can the Court think of any possible connection, Kaplan concluded.

The judge further argued that lawyers for Trump had waited until the eleventh hour to raise the absolute immunity defense when they could have done so years ago and that it would be unfair to Carroll to let him do so now and further delay case.

Additionally, Kaplan stated that Trump had failed to establish that there is not a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the prerequisites to a punitive damages award in this case have been satisfied.

(Left) Former President Donald Trump disembarks his plane at Aberdeen Airport in Aberdeen, Scotland, on May 1, 2023. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images); (Right) Magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll arrives for her civil trial against former President Donald Trump at Manhattan Federal Court in New York, on May 8, 2023. (Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Trump Files Counterclaim

Robbie Kaplan, Carrolls lawyer, who is not related to Judge Kaplan, praised the ruling in a statement to Forbes on Thursday.

Judge Kaplans denial of summary judgment confirms that once again, Donald Trumps supposed defenses to E Jean Carrolls defamation claims dont work. Trump chose to waive presidential immunity and now he must live with the results of that decision, the lawyer said.

Meanwhile, Trump attorney Alina Habba told Reuters, We disagree with the courts decision and will be taking the appropriate steps to preserve all viable defenses.

The latest ruling comes after Trump on Wednesday filed a counterclaim against Carroll accusing her of defamation and making false statements after she referred to the alleged incident between herself and Trump as rape despite a jury in May finding that she did not prove he had.

Trumps counterclaim cites a CNN interview Carroll gave on May 10 where she was specifically asked about the jury unanimously finding Trump not liable for rape in the case to which she responded, Oh yes he did, oh yes he did.

Lawyers for Trump argue in the counterclaim that Carrolls comments on CNN were made knowing each of them were false or with reckless disregard for their truth or falsity and that they were made on television, social media, and multiple websites, with the intention of broadcasting and circulating these defamatory statements among a significant portion of the public.

The litigation remains ongoing.

Carrolls original lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial on Jan. 15, 2024, and she is seeking at least $10 million in damages.
Jury Told Hollywood Star Kevin Spacey was Sexual Bully and Predator

Actor Kevin Spacey waves to the media as he leaves Southwark Crown Court in London on June 28, 2023. (Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

Hollywood star Kevin Spacey was a sexual bully and predator who abused his position to target young men, a jury has been told at the start of his trial in London.

Spacey, 63, denies three counts of indecent assault, seven counts of sexual assault and two counts of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent between 2001 and 2013.

Opening the case for the prosecution at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Christine Agnew, KC, said Spaceywhose full name is Kevin Spacey Fowler, assaulted four men who were all in their 20s or 30s at the time of the alleged offences.

The Oscar-winning actor, known for his roles in House Of Cards, American Beauty and The Usual Suspects, denies the charges and claims they are half-truths  some deliberate exaggerations and  many damned lies.

Agnew told the jury: Kevin Spacey Fowler is an actor. Many of you will already know that. He is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards. He is also, the prosecution alleges, a man who sexually assaults other men.

A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully, she added.

Misfortune to Attract Spaceys Attention

Agnew went on, During the course of this trial you will hear from four menfour men who are not known to each other but who had the misfortune to attract the attention of the predatory Mr Spacey Fowler.

She told the jury: We, the prosecution, suggest that Mr Spacey Fowler abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him, taking advantage of his popularity and prominence, his illustriousness and influence. Taking what and who he wanted, when he wanted.

Agnew then went through the allegations made by each of the four men, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

She said the first complainant met Spacey several times during the early 2000s and remembered him being very touchy feely.

Agnew said Spaceys behaviour eventually escalated and he groped the man in an aggressive way.

She said the defendant appeared to get a sexual thrill out of this type of sexual aggression.

The second complainant met Spacey at an event in a theatre in Londons West End in 2005 and recalled the star made crude remarks towards him.

Spacey allegedly put his hand on the complainants leg and then grabbed him in a sexual way with such force it was painful.

Spacey Laughed After Groping man, Jury Told

The prosecutor said Spacey simply laughed when the complainant tried to push him away.

In 2008 the third complainant, an aspiring actor, wrote to Spacey and the pair met up in London and ended up in the actors flat.

Agnew said the complainant fell asleep or passed out at one point and when he woke up Spacey was making an unwanted sexual advance.

She said he fled the flat and remembered sitting and crying at a bus stop at 5 a.m.

The final complainant initially met Spacey in a pub near Oxford.

The prosecutor said Spacey later gave him an awkward man hug, kissing him on the neck and telling him be cool, be cool, before grabbing his groin.

Agnew said the complainant pushed Spacey away and said he did not bat for that team, before leaving in a bit of a panicky state.

The jurors were urged not to be star-struck by the Hollywood star, who is on bail during his trial.

Agnew told them, Keep yourself grounded and true to the oath that you have taken.

The trial is set to last several weeks.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Kenya Launches Public Inquiry Into Alleged Crimes Carried out by British Troops

Soldiers take up position as they take part in a simulated military excercise of the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) together with the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) at the ol-Daiga ranch, high on Kenyas Laikipia plateau, on March 27, 2018. (Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images)

Kenya is to launch a public inquiry into alleged crimes committed by British troops including the murder of a young prostitute.

Kenyas National Assembly Defence, Intelligence, and Foreign Relations Committee adopted the proposal last week, announcing that the inquiry would involve the UK Embassy.

MPs said the move follows residents concerns over activities of soldiers posted to the British Army Training Unit (BATUK) in Nanyuki, Laikipia County.

In a statement issued last week, the Kenyan government said it includes the alleged murder of Kenyan woman Agnes Wanjiru in 2012 and claims that BATUK activities caused a devastating fire that razed down a section of the Lolldaiga Hills Ranch in 2021.

MP Nelson Koech said the inquiry would provide an opportunity for aggrieved Kenyans to finally get justice.

The politician also said that the probe would be a critical pillar to the defence committees resolve to ensure Kenya can hold to account visiting troops that flout the law on Kenyan soil.

You recall we even put it among our recommendations that foreign soldiers who commit the offence of murder should be tried under the Kenyan law, as well as the whole issue of corporate social responsibility for the visiting troops especially on matters on environment, Koech said in a press statement.

Members said the inquirywhich will begin in Augustwill incorporate all critical stakeholders to get to the bottom of serious allegations against troops.

Security Agreement Threat

In 2021, the Kenyan Parliament named a number of British soldiers allegedly involved in the murder of 21 year-old Agnes Wanjieu and subsequent cover-up.

The mother-of-ones body was found dumped in a septic tank in 2012, two months after she was last seen alive in a Nanyuki hotel in the company of a British soldier.

A post-mortem examination later found she died as a result of stab wounds to her chest and abdomen.

There was also evidence she had been beaten, although owing to the condition of her body it was unclear whether she had been sexually assaulted.

Details of the horrific 2012 murder only came to light 10 years later, following a report by The Times of London.

The newspaper alleged that a serving soldier had confessed the killing to colleagues after attacking the prostitute in a hotel room.

There were also claims that some troops mocked the brutal death on army internet forums.

The shocking details of the young womans murder, along with allegations of British Army involvement, caused outrage in Kenya and threatened to damage a security and defence arrangement between the two countries.

In April, the African country agreed to go forward with the KenyaUK Defence Cooperation Agreement, but only if major changes to the contract were made.

MPs insisted that murder should be included as a triable offence for foreign troops, meaning any soldier posted to Kenya can now be tried for serious crime on Kenyan soil.

No Diplomatic Immunity

In April last year, the British Army lost its right to diplomatic immunity against lawsuits in Kenya over a massive bushfire allegedly caused by UK soldiers.

The huge wildfire at Lolldaiga Hills Ranch, a 49,000-acre sanctuary which houses the Nanyuki army base used by Britain for military drills, broke out in March 2021 and caused widespread devastation, putting more than 1,000 locals at risk of drought, according to the Daily Mail.

The newspaper reported that in the ensuing chaos of the inferno, Linus Murangiri, an employee of Lolldaiga conservancy, was crushed to death by a vehicle as he rushed to help put out the fire, leaving behind his wife and two sons.

The African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action (ACCPA) brought legal action against BATUK seeking compensation and reparations, alleging that the fire was caused by agents of the British Army Training Unit Kenya who tested positive for cocaine.

BATUK denied its soldiers caused the fire and claimed they were protected from prosecution by diplomatic immunity.

But in a landmark ruling, Kenyan High Court Judge Antonina Bore argued that the UK government waived diplomatic immunity to legal action by signing an agreement in 2015 governing the terms under which its soldiers would be allowed to operate in Kenya.

The judge ordered that ACCPA and the local people must now go through a dispute resolution process in a bid to agree terms with the UK government.

If an agreement cannot be reached the case will return to be tried in the Kenyan courts.
US Government Panel Calls Attention to Chinese Citizens Sentenced for Their Faith

Zhou Deyong in Monument Valley in Navajo County, Ariz., in January 2020. (Courtesy of Zhou You)

A Republican lawmaker and U.S. government panel call attention to two Chinese citizens sentenced to prison as part of the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong.

Zhou Deyong and Liu Aihua, both relatives of U.S. residents and victims of the regimes suppression of freedom of belief, are now part of U.S. databases documenting prisoners of conscience in China.

If we stay silent in the face of these transgressions, we do so at the peril of civil society. We must continue to apply pressure to force the CCPs hand in granting its people fundamental human rights, including the right to worship, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), advocate for Zhou under the Defending Freedoms Project, told The Epoch Times.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline involving meditative exercises and moral teachings based on three core principles: truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The practice gained popularity in China during the 1990s, with estimates putting the number of adherents at 70 million to 100 million.

The atheist communist regime, fearing the number of practitioners posed a threat to its authoritarian control, initiated a sweeping campaign on July 20, 1999, to eradicate the practicea program that continues today. Since then, millions have been detained in prisons, labor camps, and other facilities, with hundreds of thousands tortured while incarcerated, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center.

The Defending Freedoms Projectlaunched by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission along with U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and Amnesty International USAseeks to highlight human rights abuses by advocating for prisoners of conscience around the globe.

Bilirakiswho has previously spoken out against the persecution of Falun Gong practitionershas now chosen to advocate for Zhous freedom by adding his case to the database and sending a letter to Chinese officials demanding his unconditional release.

The international community has an obligation to speak out on behalf of those whose voices, like Zhous, who have been silenced for far too long, said Bilirakis, who is also a co-chairman of the International Religious Freedom Caucus in Congress.

It is clear that the CCP is trying to make an example of Mr. Zhou for simply staying true to his faith, he added.

Zhou, a geological engineer working for Chinas second-largest oil field, was handed an eight-year jail term on April 20 along with a 100,000 yuan (about $14,506) fine, following two years of detention, during which his wife and son in Florida had little information about his well-being. His wife and son both practice Falun Gong.

He was initially detained in Shandong Province in April 2021. His house was raided, where the authorities found Falun Gong-related materials that allegedly belonged to his wife, who had also been detained in China for her belief.

Zhous case is now featured in the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) Political Prisoner Database.

Liu Aihua, 69, was sentenced to four years in prison for distributing and possessing Falun Gong-related materials. Before that, she had undergone 11 arrests and spent about eight years in various detention facilities.

Her case was recently added to the USCIRFs Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List. This database records victims of imprisonment, detainment, disappearance, torture, house arrest, and forced renunciation of faith around the world.

Lius family has been barred from visiting her since July 2022, with no information about her well-being. Her husbandwho also practiced Falun Gongdied in 2009 due to a kidney failure resulting from years of torture while detained in a Chinese prison because of his faith.

Liu Aihua, in Liuzhou city, Guangxi Province, China, in 2007. Liu was sentenced to four years in prison in China for her faith in March 2023. (Courtesy of Steven Wang)

Charged With Practicing Their Faith

Zhou and Liu were charged with attempting to undermine the implementation of the law through their beliefan offense the CCP routinely uses to suppress freedom of religion.

Under the CCPs rule, five religions are officially recognized in China: Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. Seven state-controlled organizations officially preside over these religious communities, ensuring they are patriotic and politically loyal to the CCP.

The Chinese regime uses the term heretical religious organizationsoften translated as cults to stigmatize and persecute religions or beliefs that do not succumb to the CCPs control. This label, plus the lack of specificity of the offense undermining the implementation of the law, puts freedom of belief in a position of extreme vulnerability.

Furthermore, the Chinese regime lacks mechanisms to ensure judicial independence, as the rubber-stamp legislature, the National Peoples Congress, creates and supervises the judiciary and appoints judges, who are often former Party members.

These factors allow the CCP to suppress independent faiths as a political decision, turning the right to freedom of belief into an illusion.

When asked about this topic, Bilirakis said: No person should ever be intimidated, forced from their ancestral homeland, imprisoned, or murdered because of their beliefs.

The United States and our allies must send a strong and unwavering message in defense of basic human rights and protections for all people. The right to worship and freedom of belief must be protected throughout the globe.

Sherry Dong and Eva Fu contributed to this report.
Los Angeles Declares July 1 as Tom Bradley Day in Honor of Former Mayor

LOS ANGELESThe city council proclaimed July 1 as Tom Bradley Day in the city of Los Angeles on June 28 to mark the 50th anniversary of the late former mayors inauguration.

The council previously adopted a formal resolution honoring Bradleys legacy, which Council President Paul Krekorian described as a transformative time of our government.

For many of us who are old enough to remember, we really separate the time of Los Angeles before Bradley and the post-Bradley era, Krekorian said.

Thats what a monumentally important leader and transformative change maker Tom Bradley was, he added. Its especially appropriate that we mark this anniversaryboth to remember that history, but also to look forward to our future and draw inspiration from the example of our greatest Mayor Tom Bradley.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (L) fields journalists questions during a joint press conference with former L.A. Police Chief Willie Williams (R) in Los Angeles, on April 6, 1993. (Mike Nelson/AFP via Getty Images)

Charmaine Jefferson, chair of the California Institute of the Arts, spoke on the historical significance of Bradleys contributions to the city of Los Angeles.

On behalf of the [Tom and Ethel Bradley] Foundation, and frankly, in my opinion of the city of Los Angeles, we really want to thank the City Council for this moment, Jefferson said. To remember Tom Bradley is to remember the totality of this person.

Bradley was the first black mayor of Los Angeles, serving from 1973 to 1993. He took office on July 1, 1973.

According to the foundation, in his 20 years in office, which marks the longest tenure by any mayor in the citys history, Bradley contributed to the financial success of the city, spearheaded efforts to expand public transit, and bolster public safety.

The issues we think are issues today were issues for him, Jefferson said.

Prior to the councils recognition, Krekorian hosted a breakfast reception and celebration with Mayor Karen Bass, family, and staff of Bradley at the Tom Bradley Room and Observation Tower in City Hall.

[Bradley was] one of the great leaders who has ever stepped foot into this building, and somebody whose inspiration and whose legacy still helps to direct the city and hopefully inspire all of us even today, Council President Pro Tem Marqueece Harris-Dawson said.
Los Angeles Unified Approves $19 Billion Budget, Warns of Shifts for Staff

The Los Angeles Unified School Board recently approved a $18.8 billion budget for the 202324 school year, which includes the last of its pandemic aid, and is beginning to prepare for operating without such funds.

Over the next two school years, the district will invest $4.2 billionmost of which comes from one-time emergency COVID-19 relief fundinginto class-size reduction, social workers, counselors, psychologists, and professional development and increased compensation for employees, according to a June 20 district statement.

Though the estimated amount for the budget isnt available for the 202425 school year, school officials have predicted that unassigned funds will drop from $113.7 million at the end of the 202324 school year to $10.6 million two years later.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has warned the district since he took office in February 2022 to expect a sharp financial transition when pandemic funds run dry.

This years budget is responsible and values-based, enabling Los Angeles Unified to fund and support the critical priorities of this board, even as one-time federal funding sunsets and the state grapples with a massive shortfall of revenue, Carvalho said in a June 20 statement.

Carvalho further stated in a press conference that the school district is prepared to manage the transition without staff layoffsbut warned that many employee positions may be shifted.

The superintendent said the district must cut more than 2,000 full-time positionsmost of which were funded by state and federal COVID-19 aidgradually, starting by eliminating unfilled positions in the district.

Additionally, some of the districts staff members may have to move to different positions or change job locations, Carvalho said.

A spokesperson for the district wasnt immediately available to provide more details on such changes.

The anticipated shifts come after the districts teacher unionUnited Teachers of Los Angelesrecently negotiated a 21 percent bump in pay over the next two years for its 35,000 members.

Though he ultimately approved the contract, Carvalho has warned in the past against the unions push to hire more workers, noting that the district is getting less funding and will have to stay vigilant in its spending in the coming yearsin part due to enrollment decline, which is expected to drop by 30 percent over the next decade, according to the district.

A 1 percent decline in enrollment can result in a loss of approximately $55 million in funding for the upcoming school year, according to the districts most recent budget report.
Major UPS Strike Looming: Americans Packages Could Be in Jeopardy

A United Parcel Service (UPS) driver loads a cart with boxes before making a delivery on June 17, 2014 in San Francisco, California. UPS announced plans to begin to consider box size in the pricing of ground shipments in the U.S. and standard delivery to Canada. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Potentially hundreds of thousands of unionized United Parcel Service (UPS) workers could strike in the near future, in a move that could significantly impact the U.S. economy.

UPS has previously stated that it transports some 6 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) on a daily basis and about 3 percent of the worldwide GDP, according to a news release. It means that a nationwide strike could have far-reaching effects on commerce, while impacting Americans orders and package-delivery services.

Global shipping firm Pitney Bowes says UPS has about about 37 percent of the United States total parcel market share among shippers in 2023, while it averaged about 24 million packages per day last year. FedEx has about 33 percent of the parcel market share, the U.S. Postal Service has 16 percent, and Amazon has about 12 percent, the firm said.

What do the Teamsters Want?

The UPS Teamsters contract ends on July 31, and if a deal isnt made soon, a portion of the companys drivers could go on strike this summer. The Teamsters posted photos of Teamster practice pickets in a social media post on Thursday, showing workers in UPS uniforms holding signs.

UPS has said that it is the United States single-largest employer of the Teamsters union, comprising some 300,000 delivery drivers, transportation workers, and warehouse employees.

In June, the union voted to authorize a strike if UPS doesnt meet its demands by the end of the month. The Teamsters says the group wants higher wages for all workers, more full-time jobs, an end to forced overtime and harassment from management, elimination of a two-tier wage system, and protection from heat and other workplace hazards.

This week, the Teamsters warned that a strike is imminent and set a Friday deadline for the firm to return a last, best, and final offer. If an agreement isnt met, the union added the shipping giant risks putting itself on strike by August 1 and causing devastating disruptions to the supply chain in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

The Teamsters are an international union that represents truck drivers and warehouse workers. Notably, the union gained some notoriety under former boss Jimmy Hoffa, who served as the president of the union from 1957 until 1971 but also became involved in organized crime and later disappeared under suspicious circumstances in 1975.

Problems?

UPS, in several statements, said that it has been able to find common ground with the union. However, the company said that no compromise has been made yet on wages, pension plans, and healthcare.

Teamsters march on May Day in Los Angeles on May 1, 2018. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Reaching consensus requires time and serious, detailed discussion, but it also requires give-and-take from both sides, the company said in a statement earlier this week. Were working around the clock to reach an agreement that strengthens our industry-leading pay and benefits ahead of the current contracts expiration on August 1. We remain at the table ready to negotiate.

If no deal is met, the Teamsters website says the union has three options: they can accept the companys proposals, extend the contract deadline date, or can declare an impasse. An impasse declaration would set up a pathway for a strike, says the National Labor Relations Board.

Previous UPS Strike

Workers and drivers for UPS went on strike 25 years ago, while reports at the time indicated that UPS volume only went down by about 2 percent. There were also a backlog of about 90 million packages when the strike ended.

At the time, it appears that Americans were largely unfazed by the 1997 strike. About 55 percent of respondents to a Gallup poll supported the strike, and 27 percent didnt.

Americans were seemingly not bothered by the slowdown in package delivery during the 1997 strike, as 55 percent supported it while 27 percent did not, according to a Gallup poll performed at the time.

However, the strike of some 185,000 workers largely crippled the worlds largest package delivery company in 1997, according to a New York Times article from August of that year.

Disruption

Customers could see slower delivery of items to their residences, higher prices on shipping, higher prices in general, and it would result in yet another supply chain crunch, according to The Associated Press.

Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation, told The Hill this week that a Teamsters strike could cause widespread disruptions. He noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to worker shortages and lockdowns, there were rampant supply chain issues.

Youd have supply chain disruption like we witnessed during the pandemic potentially, where you wont be getting your deliveries, Gold told the outlet. So, those who are relying on next day, two-day delivery of whatever you buy online or somewhere else, potentially cannot be delivered.

Other firms like FedEx and Amazon might not be able to take up the slack of a UPS Teamsters strike, he added, as the capacity for other carriers to pick up where UPS isnt able to do that is not that easy.

Its not as if you can just quickly turn to another company. The question is what capacity is available to make that shift, Gold said. And its unclear if theres capacity elsewhere to make up for that.
Make Role Models of Those Who Didnt Need Affirmative Action, Improve Inner-City K-12 Schools: Rep. Ken Buck

Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) rebuffed criticisms of the U.S. Supreme Courts decision striking down race-based affirmative action admissions policies at U.S. colleges, arguing that students ought to embrace more merit-based measures for systems and educators should raise their K-12 education standards, especially in inner-cities.

In an interview with The Hill on NewsNation on Thursday, Buck said future generations of college students could look to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) as role models who didnt need affirmative action.

The Supreme Courts decision in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College elicited criticisms from proponents of affirmative action policies, who argued that rolling back those policies would hinder the progress in race relations since the Civil Rights era. Former President Barack Obama was one such critic who said, Affirmative action was never a complete answer in the drive towards a more just society. But for generations of students who had been systematically excluded from most of Americas key institutionsit gave us the chance to show we more than deserved a seat at the table.

When asked to address students who might agree with Obamas assessment on affirmative action, Buck told The Hill students should look to all sorts of role models that didnt need affirmative action, worked hard in elementary school, middle school, high school, [who] were admitted to universities because of their achievement because of the merit of connections and grades.

Look to those [examples] as true role models and dont rely on some give out or giveaway from some university or a government, Buck added.

Buck also said President Joe Biden, who served as Obamas Vice President, has also got it all wrong on affirmative action. On Thursday, Biden said he strongly [disagrees] with the courts decision and we need to remember the promise of America is big enough for everyone to succeed, thats the work of my administration.

The Colorado Republican argued that the affirmative action policies like the kind Obama and Biden defended led to unequal treatment and discrimination for white and Asian American students.

If we want to do something about it . . . the gap between black student achievement and white student achievement, we should make sure that we have school choice in the inner cities, we should make sure that we take the teachers unions to task and allow more merit-based opportunities in the inner cities, Buck said. Those are things that will achieve what President Biden is talking about, not an artificial standard where a certain number of people based on race get into certain colleges.

Corporate Affirmative Action

While the Supreme Courts Thursday decision addressed race-based affirmative action in college admissions, it did not touch on how such policies may impact things like hiring and promotions practices in the job market.

During their interview, The Hill host Blake Burman noted Apple, American Airlines, Cisco, General Motors, and Google were among the corporations that backed Harvard and the University of North Carolina as they defended their affirmative action policies against challenges from SFFA. In an amicus brief (pdf) filed during the Supreme Court case, several of those corporations argued that they have a significant interest in how universities consider and admit applicants and the capacity of universities to admit racially and ethnically diverse student bodies thus has deep importance to those corporations.

Buck said that Thursdays Supreme Court decision would have an impact on the private sectors human resources practices.

The idea that were going to treat people equally based on merit is something that corporations should look at also, and thats exactly what these corporations need to do, Buck said. They need to make sure that theyre hiring based on merit. Discriminating against someone because of the fact that theyre Asian or the fact that theyre white is disgraceful.

Buck said if corporations want to promote workforce diversity, they also should be willing to invest more in inner-city education.

When a black student goes into a charter school in the inner city, the excellence that comes out of that charter school is comparable to any white suburban public school, and thats what we need to do, is to make sure we improve K-12 education, he added.

From NTD News
Man Gets 14 Years for Fatal Shooting of Grossmont High Graduate

SAN DIEGOA man who pleaded guilty to the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old last year in the College Area was sentenced June 29 to 14 years in state prison.

David Rasean Vereen, 23, pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter count earlier this month in connection with the June 25, 2022, shooting of Kevin Burton.

Police said Burton, then a recent Grossmont High School graduate who was set to attend San Diego Mesa College in the fall, had just left a house party with his friends when he was shot.

According to San Diego police, the victim and his friends were at a party on Art Street. Burton was struck by a bullet as their vehicle turned from Art onto El Cajon Boulevard. A second bullet struck an apartment complex window on El Cajon, police said, though no one was injured by that bullet.

Burton died later at a hospital.

Vereen, a San Diego resident, was arrested on July 1 in the Bay Terraces neighborhood.
Man Pleads Guilty to Robbing Same San Diego Bank He Robbed 12 Years Ago

A Bank of the West is seen in La Mesa, Calif., in a screenshot image. (Screenshot via GoogleMaps.com)

SAN DIEGOA man who robbed a La Mesa bank over a decade ago pleaded guilty June 29 to holding up the same bank, as well as a credit union in Imperial County.

Asim Shakir Daniels admitted Thursday to robbing a Bank of the West in La Mesa on Jan. 4, 2022, as well as a Sun Community Federal Credit Union in the Imperial County city of Holtville one day earlier.

Daniels pleaded guilty over a decade ago to robbing that same La Mesa bank in 2011 and was sentenced to nearly a dozen years in prison.

In the latest robberies, more than $23,000 in cash was taken.

According to court documents, Daniels entered the Holtville credit union on January 3, stating he was robbing the place and told a teller to give me that while pointing toward a vault. While employees were unable to open the vault, they gave Daniels $20,545 from the tellers drawers.

The following day, prosecutors allege he approached a teller window at Bank of the West and said, Give me everything!

He demanded money from the vault but was told the bank had no vault, court documents state, and was given $2,843 in cash instead.

Daniels took off on foot, but was arrested later that day.

Daniels and his brother, Akil Daniels, were accused in a spree of bank holdups that included the 2011 La Mesa robbery.

Akil Daniels was then convicted of robbing several San Diego County financial institutions in late 2010 and early 2011, including a credit union in Chula Vista. He was sentenced to over 13 years in prison.

According to the U.S. Attorneys Office, about three months after his 2022 release, Akil Daniels robbed a Poway credit union and the same Chula Vista credit union he was previously convicted of robbing. A San Diego federal jury convicted him of the two new bank robberies and he was sentenced this April to just over nine years in prison.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has said that he doesnt like the way U.S. regulators are targeting crypto projectsincluding his blockchainss biggest rival, Solana.

The one comment Ill make is that I feel bad that Solana and other projects are getting hit in this way, he wrote on Twitter Friday when asked by Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang about how he feels regarding Americas crypto policy approach.

They dont deserve it, and if Ethereum ends up winning through all other blockchains getting kicked off exchanges, thats not an honorable way to win, and in the long term probably isnt even a victory.

The one comment I'll make is that I feel bad that @solana and other projects are getting hit in this way. They don't deserve it, and if ethereum ends up "winning" through all other blockchains getting kicked off exchanges, that's not an honorable way to win, and in the long term  vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) June 30, 2023

He added that real competition wasnt other chains, but the rapidly expanding centralized world that is imposing itself on us as we speak.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a tough crackdown on the crypto industry this year, fining major exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken.

One of the main reasons for the lawsuits is that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler believes that many exchanges are selling unregistered securities. Pooled staking products, like those that allow users to stake their Ethereum on the network and receive rewards, have come under fire.

The top regulator has said for years that most digital coins and tokens are unregistered securitiesbut that Bitcoin is a commodity. Although SEC Chair Gary Gensler hasnt been clear on Ethereum, the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) has been. It's said that the asset is a commodity.

The SEC labeled SOL and a number of other cryptocurrencies as unregistered securities in its complaint against Binance this month.

'Like a 1930s Dictator': Vitalik Buterin Lays Into Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX

Ethereum is the blockchain behind the second biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, ETH. Solana is an Ethereum competitor, and its native token SOL is the eleventh biggest digital asset.

Solana was created to speed up transactions in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) industries.
More Than 600 Arrested, 249 Law Enforcement Officers Injured During 3rd Night of France Protests

Masked protesters hold a French flag next to a burning news kiosk beside the Place de l'Opera on the sidelines of a demonstration as part of a national day of strikes and protests in Paris on March 23, 2023. (Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 600 people have been arrested in France amid ongoing protests in response to the deadly police shooting of a teenage boy earlier this week, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

Darmanin wrote in a June 30 post on Twitter that law enforcement officials had faced rare violence last night, which marked the third night of protests in the country.

The arrests came as the protest turned increasingly violent, with widespread looting, fires, and damage to public property reported across multiple cities including Marseille, Lyon, Grenoble, Annecy, Toulouse, and Saint-Etienne.

The protests in France were sparked by the police shooting of a 17-year-old teen identified only as Nahel M. during a traffic stop in Nanterre, just outside Paris, on June 27. The teenager, who is reportedly of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was shot at point-blank range by a police officer as he attempted to drive away from the traffic stop and drove through a red light.

According to multiple reports, some protestors threw fireworks and projectiles at police in Marseille while others set fire to buses, bus depots, and public buildings, in some cases using homemade grenades.

They came in the middle of the night. It was hundreds of people, who broke in and stole mainly cigarettes, the owner of a tobacco shop said, according to BBC, adding, I live right upstairs, so I saw them coming and I heard everything. I was shocked.

In Nantes, some protestors reportedly drove a car into a Lidl supermarket before looting it, according to the BBC.

Firefighters stand as they extinguish burning vehicles during clashes between protesters and police on June 28, 2023. (Stephanie Lecocq/Reuters)

Vengeance Pour Nael

Elsewhere in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, where the teenager was shot, some protestors spray painted vengeance pour Nael on the walls, in honor of the young teen, CNN reported. A bank was set on fire in the suburb according to CNN, while multiple fires occurred in the northern city of Lille, including an elementary school and a district office, multiple French outlets reported.

Firefighters worked overnight to tackle the various blazes.

Valerie Pecresse, president of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, said on Twitter on Thursday that she will request 20 million euros ($21.6 million) in emergency funds to cover the damage caused by the violent protests across Paris suburbs.

In response to the ultra-violence that destroys schools, municipalities, police stations and discourages the people of the popular neighbourhoods, the region will respond by being present, Pecresse said.

The latest violent protests came despite some 40,000 police officers being deployed across the country on Thursday night, nearly four times the number of officers that were deployed a night prior.

In Paris alone, the number of officers deployed was doubled to 5,000 in an effort to quell the protests and restore order.

Around 249 police officers and gendarmes were injured during last nights protests, authorities said.

Frances President Emmanuel Macron, who has denounced the violence, will cut short his trip to Brussels, where he is attending a European Union summit, to hold a crisis meeting on the situation Friday afternoon.

Macron said earlier this week that the shooting of the teenager was inexplicable and unforgivable, adding that the teens death had moved the entire nation.

French policemen inspect a partially burnt public building on the outskirts of Bordeaux, southwestern France, on June 29, 2023. (Philippe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images)

Officer Under Investigation

The officer involved in the shooting has not yet been identified but has been placed under formal investigation for voluntary homicide and is being held in preventive detention.

Prosecutors have argued that the use of the firearm was not legally justified.

His lawyer Laurent-Franck Lienard said the officer has offered an apology to the teens family and that his detention was being done in an effort to calm violent protests.

The first words he pronounced were to say sorry and the last words he said were to say sorry to the family, Lienard told BFMTV. He is devastated, he doesnt get up in the morning to kill people. He didnt want to kill him.

His attorney also stated that the officer had been aiming his gun towards the drivers leg but was bumped, causing him to fatally shoot toward his chest instead.

He had to be stopped, but obviously [the officer] didnt want to kill the driver, he said.

The Nanterre public prosecutor, Pascal Prache, said on Thursday that Nahel was known by authorities for refusing to comply during prior traffic stops. The officer claimed to have opened fire on the teenager because he feared that he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car as the teen attempted to drive off again, according to Prache.

Nahel, who is of North African descent, was known by authorities for refusing to comply during prior traffic stops. Most recently, he was brought to the Nanterre public prosecutors office and was expected to appear before a juvenile court in September, Prache said, without specifying details.

He is the third person this year in France to have been killed during traffic stops. A total of 13 such killings happened in 2022.

Lorenz Duchamps and Reuters contributed to this report.
Mulvaney Breaks Silence, Hits Back Against Bud Light For Failing to Support Influencer

Transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney spoke out publicly on Bud Light for the first time since the marketing fiasco that has cost the beer company the top position among retail beer brands and billions in sales.

I took a brand deal with a company that I loved, and I posted a sponsored video to my page, and it must have been a slow news week, because the way that this ad got blown up, youd have thought I was like on a billboard or on a TV commercial or something major, but no, it was just an Instagram video, and the wildest part is that they also send me one can with my face on it, said Mulvaney in a recent Instagram Reel.

Im bringing it up because what transpired from the video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined and I should have made this video months ago but I didnt, and I was scared, and I was scared of more backlash, and I felt personally guilty for what transpired.

So, I patiently waited for things to get better, but surprise, they havent really, and I was waiting for the brand to reach out to me, but they never did. And for months now, Ive been scared to leave my house; I have been ridiculed in public; I have been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldnt wish on anyone.

Mulvaney continued: For a company to hire a trans-person and then not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans-person at all because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want.

And the hate doesnt end with me. It has serious and grave consequences for the rest of our community, and you knowwere customers too. I know a lot of trans and queer people who love beer.

Mulvaney did not mention Bud Light by name.

The activist then talked about supporting transgenders. Supporting trans people, it shouldnt be political. There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us.

Im going to celebrate the fact that no matter how many thousands of horrible messages or news anchors misgendering me or companies going silent, that I can look in the mirror and see the woman that I am and that I love being.

Mulvaney ended the video by calling for donations to the Transgender Law Center. The law center takes on lawsuits supporting transgender causes like, in 2017, when they won a case against the Kenosha Unified School District for not allowing a trans person to access the boys bathroom.

Mulvaney has 1.8 million followers on Instagram with the latest video garnering 2 million views and over 300,000 likes. The video was shared on TikTok as well, a platform where Mulvaney rose to prominence.

Bud Light Responds

Anheuser-Busch, the parent company of Bud Light, said in a response statement to multiple media outlets that, we remain committed to the programs and partnerships we have forged over decades with organizations across a number of communities, including those in the LGBTQ+ community. The privacy and safety of our employees and our partners is always our top priority. As we move forward, we will focus on what we do bestbrewing great beer for everyone and earning our place in moments that matter to our consumers.

The statement did not mention Dylan Mulvaney by name. The Epoch Times has reached out to Anheuser Busch for comment.

Bud Light beer cans at City Tap House in Philadelphia on Feb. 12, 2023. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Following the nationwide boycotts which started in April when Mulvaneys promo video came out, the companys sales crashed in a historic fashion.

In a recent research note, Deutsche Bank analyst Mitch Collett revealed that 24 percent of Bud Light customers are no longer buying the brand, while an additional 18 percent have been buying less, according to Barrons. He warned that Bud Light, as a brand, faces significant challenges, especially with older consumers.

We believe recent underperformance implies a permanent reduction in ABIs U.S. business, Collett wrote in the note, referring to Anheuser-Busch InBev, the parent company of Bud Light.

Our proprietary survey data suggest these headwinds are likely to fade even if we do not expect the U.S. business ever to fully recover from its current challenges.

Anheuser-Buschs market capitalization has crashed ever since the Mulvaney controversy. Between April 3 and June 26, the market cap has fallen from $134.14 billion to $113.57 billion.

This is a decline of over $20 billionrepresenting a more than 15 percent fall.

Despite the consumer backlash, Anheuser-Busch CEO Whitworth reiterated in a recent interview with CBS that the company continues to remain committed to LGBT causes.

But Light has supported LGBT since 1998. Thats 25 years. And as weve said from the beginning, well continue to support the communities and organizations that weve supported for decades.

For more than two decades, Bud Light was the top-selling beer in America. After the Mulvaney controversy, Constellation Brands-owned Modelo Especial became the number-one-selling beer brand in the United States in May, dethroning Bud Light, which slipped to the second spot.

Kevin OLeary, chairman of investment platform OLeary Ventures, expressed his intent to teach the Bud Light disaster during his college visits.

This is unprecedented in the beer industry. Beer brands take decades to build. And usually, youre fighting for 12 percent share per year by spending hundreds of millions of dollars of advertising, OLeary said in a June 20 interview with Fox News. The situation with Bud Light has never happened before. No beer brand has ever lost 25 percent market share in a matter of hours. Its so unprecedented that there is no playbook for this.
National Citizens Inquiry Report to Soon Be Released

More than a month after the end of the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI), which examined the governments response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lead legal counsel says a report on the findings will soon be released and the group is considering other ways to continue spreading the word.

The intention really was just to hold the hearings, see what recommendations the commissioners come up with, and then, where appropriate, try and get those implemented, said Shawn Buckley, principal lawyer for Buckley and Company and lead legal counsel for the NCI.

We didnt anticipate that the whole adventure would resonate so much, so were really trying to figure out, should we continue, and what does that look like?

The NCI describes itself as a citizen-led and citizen-funded initiative that is completely independent from government. Over the course of several months, it held hearings in cities across Canada to examine how the pandemic measures put in place by all levels of government impacted Canadians in the four categories of health, fundamental rights and freedoms, social well-being, and economic prosperity.

Masks, Lockdowns, Vaccine Harms

Over 325 Canadiansamong them, doctors, journalists, lawyers, and ordinary citizenstestified about the harms wrought by government policies such as lockdowns, mask mandates, and COVID-19 vaccines.

Several doctors, researchers, and professors were highly critical of COVID-19 vaccines, arguing they were not properly tested and resulted in many injuries and deaths.

Canadian researcher Jessica Rose said drug companies rushed their vaccine trials and failed to account for factors such as long-term data and safety and efficacy; mRNA pioneer Dr. Robert Malone said COVID vaccines have been shown to damage the brain, as well as the endocrine and reproductive systems of its recipients; and Dr. Joseph Fraiman showed that Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were associated with an excess risk of serious adverse events of special interest in about one in every 565 people.

Meanwhile, several medical professors testified that potential treatments for the disease were ignored or actively discouraged. Alberta physician Daniel Nagase claimed success in treating COVID-19 patients with ivermectin, but Health Canada disagreed, stating there was no evidence for ivermectins effectiveness and it was unauthorized for that use. Nagase was later removed from medical duty after administering ivermectin to his final patient. Psychiatrist Greg Passey also questioned the lack of emphasis governments and public health authorities placed on potential treatments for COVID-19, such as ivermectin.

Canadas legacy media received considerable criticism during the NCI hearings. Rodney Palmer, a former journalist with multiple outlets, labelled the medias pandemic reporting as propaganda, arguing they heavily favoured narratives put forth by the federal government and corporations. Marianne Klowak, a former CBC reporter of 34 years, accused the national broadcaster of silencing one side of the COVID-19 debate while portraying it as dangerous and spreading misinformation.

Sense of Community

Buckley said during the hearings that he was constantly learning and at times being totally surprised by what he heard.

At the end, you just have a much different picture. Its almost like its this big jigsaw puzzle and some of the pieces started being put together. I mean, there are still blank parts that are unfinished, but that was pretty incredible, he said.

As the hearings went on, Buckley said he saw a sense of community develop in people who felt encouraged by what had been revealed.

Everyone was feeling, Wait a second, Im not alone. There are a lot of us, and weve all felt afraid, but we can work through that,' he said.

Theres something very deeply meaningful and gratifying and affirming about being able to tell a story about something deeply personal thats affected you. I didnt understand that before we started, just how meaningful that was, and just how therapeutic it was for people listening, to participate in these stories.

Buckley said despite the hearings having ended, there are some significant developments underway. The NCI commissioners are expected to soon release a report on the findings, which will lay out the findings of the hearings and figure out perhaps how to get them implemented by whoever they would apply to. The NCI will also be starting up a campaign to encourage people to watch the online testimonies by handing out flyers.

The little group that started [this] did not have any idea how much of a colossal undertaking it was going to be, Buckley said, referring to appointing four independent commissioners, holding hearings across the country for 24 days, and arranging for 325 witnesses.

The fact that it happened at all is just kind of like a miracle of people wanting to get involved and do things. Thats what was so cool about this.
Neuropathologist Dr. Peter Cummings was convinced everything about consciousness, including profound near-death experiences (NDEs), could be explained by science and was rooted in the brainuntil he had an NDE of his own.

Cummings was a career-oriented man who was doing well in his job as a doctor and as an assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine Dept of Anatomy and Neurobiology.

At the time [it] was really enjoyable to live for that kind of stuff in that world, said Cummings in a video posted on the International Association for Near-Death Studies.

A trip to Costa Rica for his wifes 50th birthday changed his outlook completely. While there, he decided to go whitewater rafting with his wife and son.

Cummings was always afraid of the water, though not sure why. He often practiced holding his breath because he felt that one day it would come in handy.

I used to get really bored in school and one of the things I would do is I would hold my breath. See how long I could hold my breath and then try to beat that record. And I always thought someday Im going to need this, recalled Cummings.

I always found excuses to not be in the water, because I just always felt like I was going to drown, said Cummings.

He came close that day in Costa Rica when the raft he and his family were in flipped. He bounced along in the water for a while, until he was pulled under by the current.

There was a point where I was drowning. And I knew it, said Cummings.

He was surprised at how calm he felt in the face of death.

I thought about the autopsies Id done on people who had drowned. This is supposed to be a very peaceful way to die. And then Im thinking well, What the heck is taking so long?'

At the bottom of the river, Cummings experienced something neuroscience probably would have called a hallucination.

At that point, everything stopped and I was next to this huge boulder and all the bubbles had stopped. And I moved my hand through the bubbles and they all just sort of moved around my hand in this very weird way. And then there was this bright light, he said.

Then he felt an incredible feeling of love. He heard a voice speak to him.

I got really emotional not because its upsetting but because Im in that moment of that beauty. And I knew my family was going to be okay. And the voice said they dont need you, theyre going to be fine,' he recalled.

Somehow, he also knew that his wife and son had already been pulled out of the water. They really were alright.

Then his science brain entered the conversation.

Youre just hypoxic. Hold your breath. You have to beat your record. And at that point, the light just sort of vanished, he said.

Cummings was pulled out of the water and slowly he told himself to relax so that he could regain his breath. That night at their hotel, Cummings, who has always been vigilant of his heart rate, checked his Apple watch and found that while underwater, his heart had stopped.

I remember looking at my Apple watch because Im kind of a health freak and Im kind of obsessed with my heart rate. I looked at my Apple Watch and I had eight minutes of unrecorded heart rate in that time period, said Cummings.

Electronic devices are not 100 percent accurate and they record heartbeats at intervals, but Cummings believes that in those eight minutes, there was a period when he had no heartbeat.

After the near-death experience, Cummings found that his intensive academic life was not what he wanted anymore.

I became very uncomfortable with my career pursuit. Those things werent important to me anymore. I say Ive written a couple of very bad novels. And I couldnt identify with that any of those things, said Cummings.

Sensing that he wasnt suited for his life in Boston anymore, he and his family moved back to Maine, where he grew up.

The experience turned Cummings into a more thoughtful doctor. As a pathologist, he spoke to many family members of the deceased.

The number one question Ive always been asked is Did they suffer? And as a physician, you always say No, of course not. But I always felt like a liar. Because I dont know, said Cummings.

And after his near-death experience, he knew what it was like to die.

I wish I could talk to those people again and say, look, this is beautiful. Even under these horrible circumstances, but horrible circumstance is a second. The process after that is incredible. And theres nothing to worry about, shared Cummings.

In medicine, death is the end. But Cummings now felt that death was not something to avoid talking about.

Weve made it so sterile and kept behind this curtain. That we dont get a chance to really experience and celebrate the transformation that is happening, he said.

After the incident, Cummings shared that it not only changed his perspective on his job, it really helped me come to grips with who I am as a husband and a father, a human place on the planet.

Cummings change after his near-death experience is not a solitary one.

Dr. Bruce Greyson has done extensive research on near-death experiences (NDEs) and his observations told him that these experiences often change the person who changed them for the better.

Dr. Greyson has followed up on cases over the course of decades and found that in about 95 percent of the cases, it remains as though the NDE just happened, Mr. Greyson told The Epoch Times in 2015.

In one case, a man was an alcoholic and he was abusive toward his wife. After an NDE, he became an all-around good Samaritan. He didnt drink, he was good to his wife, he helped others. For example, he rushed to New Orleans to join efforts following Hurricane Katrina, described Dr. Greyson.
No to San Francisco: Greens Plan Knocked Back as Labor Minister Rejects Rent Controls

A homeless person sleeps on a bench in front of closed retail stores in San Francisco, Calif., on April 16, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The New South Wales (NSW) Housing Minister Rose Jackson has become the first Labor state minister to swat down the left-wing Greens campaign for Australia to adopt rent controls to deal with its housing crisis.

On June 27, federal Greens housing spokesperson, Max Chandler-Mather, reiterated his partys position citing San Francisco as an example Australian authorities should follow.

In San Francisco, a rent stabilisation board determines how much landlords are able to increase the rent. This year the limit is 3.6 percent. Rent caps are used around the world and are desperately needed in Oz, he wrote on Twitter.

Rent caps work for renters. They bring down rents, he claimed. And in combination with largescale investment in good quality public housing and infrastructure, you get places like Vienna, which the New York Times describes as a renters utopia.'

Yet San Francisco is currently dealing with a significant homelessness crisis with around 38,000 people sleeping it rough any given night in the Bay Area, according to consulting firm McKinsey and Company.

Homeless individuals in San Francisco, Calif., on Feb, 22, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

In response, Jackson, from the NSW Labor government, said she was focused on policies that stop Sydney becoming more like San Francisco.

Were not perfect, but we passed our first tranche of rental reform just last week. Were about to appoint our Rental Commissioner. Please stop holding up our much-needed funding for social and affordable housing, demanding we do rental reform when thats exactly what we are doing, she wrote on Twitter.

Her response continues an ongoing stoush between Labor and the Greens, who have knuckled down in negotiations with the federal Labor government over the $10 billion Housing Affordability Future Fund supposed to help alleviate the countrys housing problems.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Chandler-Mather of hypocrisy in his stance on housing.

Do not come in here [to Parliament] and say you support housing when you will not support any in your own electorate [in Brisbane] and when you are opposing 30,000 new, additional, social, and audible housing units, including 4,000 designated for women and children escaping domestic violence, the prime minister said in Parliament.

A house under construction can be seen behind an advertising banner at a housing development located in the western Sydney suburb of Oran Park in Australia, Oct. 21, 2017. (Reuters/David Gray/File Photo)

Rent Controls A Popular Idea, But Have A History of Failure

Meanwhile, the NSW Labor government has already ruled out direct government intervention in the marketlike the rent controls rolled out by the Labor-Green Australian Capital Territory governmentpreferring to look at supply-side solutions.

We believe that would have an impact on supply, and we need to get supply going. The vast majority of the rental market and new supply in the NSW marketplace has got to be provided by the private sector, said NSW Premier Chris Minns.

Minns has declared that Sydney residents need to be prepared for higher-density living as a way to help deal with the housing affordability crisis.

Rent controls have received criticism for having long-term negative impacts on the housing market.

Jonathan Madison, a former policy staffer for the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, said the state of California toyed with rent controls in the 1990s.

Without an exemption for newly constructed buildings, construction companies had a disincentive to construct single and multi-family units for the increasing population, he wrote in The Epoch Times. The rent control limitations forced property owners to rent out their units at rates so low that many couldnt afford to keep up with building code regulations and maintenance.

The end results were nothing short of disastrous: hundreds of neighbourhoods throughout our state left with dilapidated housing, a housing market that couldnt keep up with the populations demand, and an alarming increase in the homeless population.

More recently, Irish authorities are now slowly back-tracking on years of government interventionincluding rent controlsin the market, which has caused the near-collapse of rental supply.

Last August, only 716 properties were available for long-term rent, while the Irish Home Builders Association in March estimated that over 80,000 properties were withdrawn from the market in the last 10 years due to heavy taxes and regulations.

People just think its probably easier to put their money somewhere else, either into the stock market, commercial property, or other asset classes, Pete Wargent, co-founder of BuyersBuyers Australia, previously told The Epoch Times.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued two major rulings on Friday morning, with one ending President Bidens student loan forgiveness program and the other determining that a Christian web designer could refuse to create a product for a same-sex wedding.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other conservative leaders spoke at a Moms for Liberty event in Philadelphia on the issue of education and parents prerogatives. NTD was on the ground.

Google is removing links to Canadian news on its platforms across Canada because of a new law that would require the tech giant to pay media outlets for sharing their content.
Nvidia Reacts to Possible US Chip Restrictions to Beijing

Nvidia is downplaying possible U.S. chip-export restrictions to China by the Biden administration. The Wall Street Journal reported on June 27 that the White House was mulling even more restrictions on artificial intelligence (AI) chip exports to China. A potential chip ban could affect Nvidias status as the worlds leader for the graphics processors needed to build AI software like ChatGPT. Nvidias latest A100 and H100 chips are highly desired by tech firms around the world to build advanced AI systems. The U.S. Department of Commerce might stop chip shipments by Nvidia and other manufactures to customers in China as early as July, the report said. Commerce Department Pressures Tech Firms to Halt Advanced Chip Exports to China

The White House is increasingly concerned that the companys technology could be used for military or espionage purposes by the Chine Communist Party (CCP).

Nvidia, Micron, and AMD are the chipmakers most affected by the escalating tensions between Beijing and Washington, and they may take a multibillion-dollar hit.

The United States had already persuaded the top chip equipment manufacturers of the Netherlands and Japan to join its policy on curbing technological access to Beijing.

On the other hand, the Biden administration allowed chip makers in South Korea and Taiwan to continue operating and expanding their existing plants in China that produce older and less advanced chips.

The Commerce Department ordered the San Jose, California-based tech giant last September to stop exporting two advanced computer chips models for AI work to China.

The American embargo on exports of advanced microchips to China went into effect in October 2022, as the company saw its data-center chip added to the export control list.

Last November, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced that the firm was offering an new advanced chip called the A800 to China that was lower performing and met export control rules.

The tech company later tweaked its flagship H100 chip earlier this year to comply with new regulations.

However, the latest restrictions being considered by the government would even ban the sale of A800 chips without a special U.S. export license, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Chinese Chip Market Is One of the Worlds Largest

China has been one of the largest markets for semiconductors for years.

Atif Malik, an analyst at Citi, wrote in a note that last years restrictions on China had a $400 million impact on sales, which could rise even higher due to increased demand for chips.

We estimate China data center sales in the 510 percent range of total $30 billion data center sales this year, Malik said. Overall, we believe AI demand will exceed supply this year and Nvidia can move its chips around.

The new export rules are expected to have a negative effect on chip stocks, which witnessed a major investment boom in recent months due to the major advancements in AI technology.

With an update on export controls now expected, investors will be assessing just how limiting the new rules will be for chip makers sales, Susannah Streeter, an analyst at broker Hargreaves Lansdown, told Barrons.

A handful of tech companies pack a huge punch on Wall Street due to their sheer size, so any wobble in confidence reverberates on indexes.

Although computer chip stocks may see a slight dip on the news, the drop in value could actually be an opportunity for investors to buy more shares of Nvidia stock, which saw an incredible 185 percent surge so far this year.

Nvidia Expects a Long-Term Impact If More Restrictions Are Added

Nvidia CFO Colette Kress said at the Piper Sandler Webinar: Networks for AI investor conference this week that new export rules would not have an immediate financial impact, but that future restrictions could impact the companys growth. We are aware of reports that the U.S. Department of Commerce is considering further controls that may restrict exports of A800 and our H800 products to China, Kress said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times. However, given the strength of our demand for our products worldwide, we do not anticipate that such additional restrictions, if adopted, would have an immediate material impact on our financial results, she said.

China accounted for between 2025 percent of the companys data center revenue, totaling $4.28 billion in sales in the first quarter, and also included other chips, not just those used for AI, like networking parts, noted Kress.

Kress also warned about the impact on the companys growth prospects.

Over the long term, restrictions prohibiting the sale of our data center products to China, if implemented, we will result in a permanent loss of opportunities for the U.S. industry to compete and lead in one of the worlds largest markets. And the impact on our future business and financial results is there, Kress continued.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Health officials say that they are discovering mosquitoes with West Nile virus, a potentially fatal illness, across multiple states in recent days.

On Thursday, authorities in Des Moines, Iowa, announced that virus-positive mosquitoes were found in surveillance traps and through testing them. The city said that it is now performing city-wide testing.

Treatments will continue over several nights to cover the entire community, and applications in residential areas will generally begin after 8 p.m., the City of Des Moines said in a news release. The treatment will help reduce the local adult mosquito populations that may transmit the virus to people and pets, helping preserve Des Moines residents health and comfort.

The Metro Nashville Health Department in Tennessee, too, said this week that mosquitoes in southeastern Nashville tested positive for West Nile virus after capturing the insects at a trap near an intersection. And in Nebraska, officials in Lincoln reported Thursday that mosquitoes tested positive for West Nile virus, potentially indicating community transmission.

Around the same time, officials in San Antonio, Texas, also said that West Nile virus was detected in a pool of mosquitoes. The virus was also found in the Dallas area in Arlington, Coppell, Lancaster, and Seagoville, authorities said, while the Dallas County Health and Human Services said Tuesday it will start spraying for mosquitoes.

West Nile-positive mosquitoes were also located in Austin, the capital, and Georgetown, Texas, this week, according to officials.

None of the health agencies have reported any human cases of West Nile virus so far this week. Seventeen cases have been reported across the United States so far, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including Oregon, Arizona, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Mosquitoes in a container in a laboratory in Germany, which saw its first case of West Nile virus in 2019, in a 2019 file photograph. (Steffen Kugler/Getty Images)

Data from the CDC show that West Nile virus in humans is relatively rare in the United States. About 1,100 cases of the virus were reported in all of 2022 across all 50 states, while about 2,900 cases were reported in 2021. Over the past 20 years, 2003 saw the highest number with about 10,000 confirmed cases.

But the agency said that the annual number of reported WNV (West Nile virus) disease cases can fluctuate widely, as a result of periodic epidemics, according to its website. All residents of and visitors to areas where WNV activity has been identified are at risk of WNV infection, particularly people who engage in outdoor work and recreational activities.

In California, meanwhile, there have been around 7,500 human cases and more than 300 deaths reported since 2003. However, no human cases have been reported so far in the Golden State for 2023, state data show.

Cases of West Nile virus have been reported in states across the continental United States, said the CDC, adding that virus activity typically occurs during the summer months and into the fall.

While the health agency has issued an alert recently about mosquito-borne malaria cases, West Nile virus is actually the top cause of mosquito-related disease in the United States, it says. Like malaria, West Nile virus is spread via the bite of an infected mosquito.

There are no vaccines to prevent or medications to treat WNV in people, the health agency says. Fortunately, most people infected with WNV do not feel sick.

However, officials say that about 1 in 5 people, or 20 percent, develop a fever and other symptoms, while 1 out of 150 infected individuals develop a severe and sometimes fatal illness. Some symptoms other than fever include a headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash.

Most people with a febrile illness caused by West Nile virus recover completely, the CDC says, but fatigue and weakness can last for weeks or months.

Health officials have advised residents to protect themselves from mosquito bites by using repellent, wearing long sleeves, and wearing long pants. They also called on people to drain pools and puddles with standing water, which is where mosquitos lay their eggs. People were advised to also keep their gutters clear of debris, cover their trash containers, and change the water in pet dishes.

Authorities have also noted that some bug repellents are not suitable for children, adding that people should avoid applying them to the hands of kids. Parents also should avoid using DEET for children.

As for malaria, four cases were detected due to local transmission via mosquitoes in Florida. Another case was found in Texas this week, the CDC said.

The agency said that there is concern for a potential rise in imported malaria cases associated with increased international travel in the summer of 2023, adding that there is also a need to plan for rapid access to intravenous artesunate, a medication that derives from the sweet wormwood plant Artemisia annua. The CDC classifies the drug as the first-line treatment for severe cases of malaria in the United States.

What topics would you like to read about? Please let us know at health@epochtimes.nyc
Oversight Board Asks Meta to Suspend Cambodia PMs Accounts Over Post Inciting Violence

This photo illustration shows a post on Facebook by Cambodian government official Duong Dara, which includes an image of the official Facebook page of Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen before he deleted his account, in Phnom Penh on June 30, 2023. Prime Minister Hun Sen said on June 30 he could block access to Facebook in Cambodia, after the company said it would remove a video in which he threatened to beat up political opponents. (Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP) (Photo by TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP via Getty Images)

Metas oversight board has recommended a six-month suspension of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sens Facebook and Instagram accounts after he threatened to use violence against his opponents in a video.

The oversight board, a quasi-independent body in charge of reviewing content moderation decisions, overturned Metas ruling on June 30 to leave up Hun Sens video on Facebook posted on Jan. 9.

Meta is the parent company of the social media site.

In the one-hour, 41-minute live broadcast on Facebook, Hun Sen refuted allegations that his Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) stole votes during last years local elections and asked his political opponents to choose between the legal system and a bat.

Hun Sen warned that he would gather CPP people to protest and beat you up or even send thugs to the accusers residences. The live broadcast was kept as a video and viewed around 600,000 times, according to Meta.

Meta reviewed his speech after receiving user complaints that it violated the sites violence and incitement community standard. However, the post remained on Facebook despite Meta concluding that the speech violated its policies, citing its newsworthiness.

The case was brought to the board after a user appealed Metas decision. In its referral, Meta said the case had created a challenging balance between its values of safety and voice in determining whether to allow the political leaders content on Facebook.

Cambodias Prime Minister Hun Sen (C) takes selfies with a supporter during the inauguration ceremony of the Bakheng-1 water treatment plant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on June 19, 2023. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images)

Severity of the Violation

The board ordered the removal of the post from Facebook, citing the severity of the violation, Hun Sens history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents, as well as his strategic use of social media to amplify such threats.

The board ruled that Metas decision to leave the post up based on newsworthiness was wrong because the harm caused by allowing the speech on Facebook outweighed its public interest value.

Given Hun Sens reach on social media, allowing this kind of expression on Facebook enables his threats to spread more broadly. It also results in Metas platforms contributing to these harms by amplifying the threats and resulting intimidation, the board said.

The board also recommended the immediate suspension of Hun Sens Facebook and Instagram accounts for six months under Metas policy on restricting accounts of public figures during civil unrest.

Meta has agreed to remove the video from Facebook. However, the company said that it would need to review the boards recommendation on suspending Hun Sens accounts before responding.

Hun Sen Switching to Telegram, TikTok

Meanwhile, Hun Sen has deleted his Facebook page and switched to the Telegram messaging app, which he said will enable him to communicate with people and does not have the problem of fake accounts.

The Cambodian leader also created an account on the Chinese video platform TikTok on June 29 to engage with youth. Radio Free Asia reported that his TikTok channel has gained about 22,000 followers.

Cambodias Prime Minister and President of the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany leave after voting during a general election in Takhmao, Kandal province, Cambodia, on July 29, 2018. (Darren Whiteside/Reuters)

Commenting on this, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said that Hun Sen switched to Telegram because Facebook dared to hold him accountable to their community standards.

PM Hun Sen is finally being called out for using social media to incite violence against his opponents, and he apparently doesnt like it one bit. Thats the real story about why hes running away from Facebook, Robertson stated on Twitter.

Telegram was founded by Pavel Durov, a Russian-born French citizen who also created the Russian social network Vkontakte. Robertson described Telegram as a favored social media messaging system of despots ranging from Russia to Myanmar.

Some activists and diplomats have warned against what they call long-serving Hun Sens actions to suppress opponents, fearing they could undermine the democratic process in the Southeast Asian country.

Sam Rainsy, an exiled former Cambodian opposition leader who co-founded the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), has previously urged the international community to reject the results of Cambodias upcoming election, citing systematic manipulation and falsification by the Cambodian authorities.

Unlike neighboring Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar, Cambodia has not had an independent electoral commission in the eyes of its democratic opposition since 1993, Rainsy wrote in an article published in Nikkei Asia on May 9.

Last month, Cambodias election commission disqualified the sole opposition Candlelight Partywhich is a reincarnation of the CNRPfrom contesting elections in July over its failure to submit proper registration documents.

Scores of former CNRP members have been detained or convicted of crimes, many in absentia having fled into exile amid Hun Sens sweeping suppression of critics.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Parliamentary Committee Begins Probe Into Firing of Winnipeg Lab Scientists: Report

The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg is shown in a May 19, 2009 photo. (The Canadian Press/John Woods)

An ad hoc committee of parliamentarians has begun its probe into previously withheld documents related to the firing of two infectious-disease scientists from Canadas highest-security lab in Winnipeg, according to a report.

Work is underway and documents are available to the committee members. They work independently, said Mark Kennedy, communications director for Government House Leader Mark Holland, according to the Globe and Mail on June 29.

Kennedy said the special parliamentary committee has begun its investigation and will receive unfettered access to all national-security documents related to the eviction of Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng from the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in January 2021.

The couple was first escorted out of the NML facilities in July 2019 and stripped of their security clearances.

CBC News later obtained documents through an Access to Information request showing that Qiu had been in charge of shipping the deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China in 2019.

Holland said in November 2022 that the committee probing the scientists eviction from the lab would also have access to documents involving the virus transfers, although the Public Health Agency of Canada previously denied any connection between Qiu and Chengs firing and the shipment of viruses to China.

The Epoch Times contacted Hollands office for more details of what documents the committee will be reviewing, but did not hear back before press time.

Committee

Holland announced in May the special committee would be made up of MPs from all recognized parties in the House of Commons and its panel of arbiters would consist of two former Supreme Court judges and one former Federal Court judge.

Holland said the MPs on the committee would have full access to related redacted and unredacted documents and also receive briefings from officials on the reasons for protecting certain information from disclosure.

The documents from the Public Health Agency of Canada pertain to the transfer of viruses and the termination of employment of two staff members, said a press release from Hollands office on May 17.

The government House leader further said that when the MPs on the committee come across redacted information in the documents that they agree should be made public, the judges on the committees panel of arbiters will determine how that information could be disclosed more widely without compromising national security, national defence or international relations, or any other public or private interest.

Andrew Chen contributed to this report.
ReportLinker

KEY HIGHLIGHTS. Aging building stock in the EU and a rising service market ensure significant prospects for the Europe elevator and escalator market.  About 63% of Germanys present building was constructed before 1979, and all these buildings might require upgradation or remodeling.

New York, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Europe Elevator and Escalator Market - Market Size & Growth Forecast 2023-2029" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06472087/?utm_source=GNW





KEY HIGHLIGHTS



Aging building stock in the EU and a rising service market ensure significant prospects for the Europe elevator and escalator market.



 About 63% of Germanys present building was constructed before 1979, and all these buildings might require upgradation or remodeling. Since most of them are older buildings, elevators are not installed in most of the buildings. Such factors will create an opportunity for the vertical transport industry and contribute to the Europe elevator and escalator market.

 Installing a Microlift, also commonly known as a dumbwaiter or a kitchen lift, can make even the smallest team super-efficient, especially for food orders that need to stay warm and be delivered quickly. Staff shortages and the need to balance have created the demand for microlifts in the U.K.

 The USD 220.3 million loans will support KONEs research and development for more energy-efficient elevators, escalators, auto walks, automatic doors, intelligent technologies, and solutions for people flow. The project will increase the European Union industrys technology leadership and competitiveness. The USD 220.3 million loans signed today between the EIB and Finland Based KONE Corporation will support research and development in innovation. This will improve the safety and functional performance of KONEs product range while at the same time reducing the carbon footprint of KONEs solutions by improving the energy efficiency of the products and services and, consequently, of the buildings where they will be used.



Residential and Affordable Housing Construction in EU to Hike Elevator Demand



Germanys residential program aims to complete the extensive renovation of 40,000 homes by 2026, as stated in its 20212026 National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).



The National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) of Greece, which aims to use funds totaling USD 31 billion in grants and loans, includes investment projects for urban regeneration and restoration programs to improve the energy efficiency of residential structures. Further, around USD 21.5 million were provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB), as of September 2020, for the rehabilitation and building of 250 social and affordable housing units in Szczecin, Poland. The primary goal was to contribute to an urban regeneration and energy-efficiency program for a historic city.



Airport Expansion and Major Railway Projects in Pipeline to Boost Demand for Escalator New Installations in the Europe Elevator and Escalator Market



 In 2022, the German government planned to invest more in rail infrastructure than the road. USD 32.1 billion is being invested by Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony & Schleswig-Holstein, and Deutsche Bahn (DB) in modernizing the rail network until 2030.

 The Heathrow Airport Expansion project, an investment of USD 36.6 billion, which is USD 17 billion for the third runway at Longford TW6, will be constructed by 2050.

 According to Europes Rail Joint Undertakings Amended Annual Work Program 20222024, eight new projects totaling USD 14.3 million will get funding under the 2022 Call for Proposals for rail research and innovation activities. The co-funding from Europe for rail might reach USD 12.8 million.

 Innsbruck Airport Redevelopment with an investment of USD 167 million comprises revamping the Innsbruck Airport in Tirol, Austria. Construction work commenced in 2021 and is estimated to complete by 2028.



Elevators Over Their Average Life Expectancy to Create Demand for Maintenance and Upgradation of Components in Europe



 Two thousand seven hundred ninety organizations received a service adequacy certificate (HYB) from the Turkish Standards Institute for elevator repair and services in 2019. According to the Industry Registry Law, there are 335 component manufacturers and 2,749 elevator assembly and elevator component manufacturing businesses with industrial registration in Turkey.

 According to INE (National Institute of Statistics), 24.58% accounts for approximately 1 million people who have difficulty functioning due to disability in areas of the portal, stairs, elevators, patio, garage, etc., in a building in Spain. For disabled individuals, FEEDA (Federacion Empresarial Espanola De Ascensores) has increased awareness of the significance of accessibility and safety in elevators. Creating a virtual button panel that ensures complete accessibility in the lifting environment is the biggest accomplishment in terms of accessibility.



ELEVATOR MARKET SEGMENTATION

Machine Type

 Hydraulic and Pneumatic

 Machine Room Traction

 Machine Room Less Traction

 Others

o Climbing

o Elevators

o Industrial Elevators

Carriage Type

 Passenger

 Freight

Capacity

 2-15 Persons

 16-24 Persons

 25-33 Persons

 34 Persons and Above

End-User

 Commercial

 Residential

 Industrial

 Others

o Public Transit

o Institutional

o Infrastructural

Escalator Market Segmentation by

Product Type

 Parallel

 Multi Parallel

 Walkway

 Crisscross

End-User

 Public Transit

 Commercial

 Others

o Institutional Sector

o Infrastructure

o Industrial



VENDOR LANDSCAPE



 The key European elevator and escalator market players are KONE, Otis, TK Elevator, Schindler, Hyundai Elevator, Mitsubishi Electric, Orona, and Hitachi.

 KONE is collaborating with Louvre Hotels Group, the second-largest hotel group in Europe and a subsidiary of Jin Jiang International, to equip the first smart hotel in Europe with the Smart Inside label in Lyon, France.



Key Vendors



 Otis

 TK Elevator

 Schindler

 KONE

 Mitsubishi Electric

 Fujitec

 Hyundai Elevator

 Hitachi

 Orona Elevators



Other Prominent Vendors



 Titan Elevators

 KOHLER Elevator GmbH

 KLEEMANN

 Alimak

 Stannah Lifts Holdings Ltd.

 GMV Lifts

 Cibes Lift Group

 Excelsior Elevator

 Wittur Elevator Components

 Doppler Lifts

 AKE Elevators and Escalators

 Ascensores Carbonell

 SJEC

 Morris Vermaport Limited

 Pickering Lifts



KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED:



1. How big is the Europe elevator and escalator market?

2. What will be the growth rate of the Europe elevator and escalator market?

3. What is the number of installed bases in the Europe elevator and escalator market in 2022?

4. What are the key opportunities in the Europe elevator and escalator market?

5. Which are the key European elevator and escalator market players?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06472087/?utm_source=GNW



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Prosecutors Urge Appeals Court to Uphold Ghislaine Maxwells Conviction

This courtroom sketch shows Ghislaine Maxwell (C) entering court, followed by two U.S. Marshalls, for her trial on charges of sex trafficking, in New York City on Dec. 2, 2021. (Jane Rosenberg/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. government has urged an appeals court to uphold the conviction and 20-year prison sentence of Ghislaine Maxwell, the onetime girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, who was found guilty of helping the disgraced late billionaire financier sexually abuse teenage girls and women.

In a filing with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Thursday, federal prosecutors said none of Maxwells legal arguments about the fairness of her trial held merit.

The governments evidence at trial established that over the course of a decade, Maxwell facilitated and participated in the sexual abuse of multiple young girls, prosecutors said.

Maxwell, a 61-year-old British socialite who is also the daughter of late media mogul Robert Maxwell, is being held behind bars at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida. She is slated to be released from prison in 2037.

She was convicted in late 2021 for luring mostly vulnerable and financially desperate minors to be sexually abused by Epstein, a wealthy financier with ties to elite figures in the British royal family and the U.S. business and political spheres.

A Manhattan jury convicted Maxwell on five charges for recruiting and grooming four girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004.

Epstein was facing sex trafficking charges when he died in a Manhattan jail in 2019. A medical examiner in New York City ruled his death a suicide by hanging. Epstein had pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida.

Maxwells attorneys filed a notice of appeal in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 7, 2022, shortly after she was sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 28, 2022. Defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim said Epstein left Maxwell holding the whole bag.

Defense lawyer Bobbi Sternheim points toward Ghislaine Maxwell standing beside Jeffrey Pagliuca during a pre-trial hearing on charges of sex trafficking, in a courtroom sketch in N.Y.C., on Nov. 23, 2021. (Jane Rosenberg/Reuters)

We all know that the person who should have been sentenced today escaped accountability, avoided his victims, avoided absorbing their pain and receiving the punishment he truly deserved, she said.

In her appeal, she argued through her lawyers that prosecutors had made her a scapegoat after Epsteins death and public outrage demanded that someone else absorb the blame.

Her lawyers also previously offered several arguments for dismissing the case or granting a new trial after one of the jurors, Scotty Davidalso known as Juror 50failed to disclose he had suffered sexual abuse as a child on a pre-trial questionnaire.

In response to the arguments about David, federal prosecutors said: Judge Nathan conducted a thorough inquiry and determined that Juror 50s inadvertent errors on the jury questionnaire did not undermine Maxwells right to a fair trial, Daily Mail reported.

Longtime Associate

Maxwell previously lived for years with Epstein and was his frequent travel companion on trips around the world. Her accusers have said she and Epstein at first made them feel welcome in their orbit before Epstein began demanding sexualized massages.

Evidence has shown that Epstein had transferred over $30 million to Maxwell during and after a stretch of years from 1994 to 2004, when they were most closely connected, the Associated Press reported.

Her trial featured testimony from some women who were victimized when they were children, as well as the testimony of pilots who dropped the names of famous men who flew on Epsteins private jets.

Some high-ranking figures who were friendly with Epstein have seen their reputations tarred or ruined, among them Britains Prince Andrew and former JPMorgan Chase executive and Barclays chief executive Jes Staley.

JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, which both had Epstein as a client, are paying a combined $365 million to Epsteins accusers over their work for him. The U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home, is also suing JPMorgan.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Queenslands COVID-19 Quarantine Camp Lacks Transparency, Value for Money: Auditor-General Report

A supplied image of the Wellcamp quarantine facility in Queensland, Australia, on June 30, 2023. (AAP Image/Supplied by Queensland Government)

A new report has shown that the government of the Australian state of Queensland was not transparent and financially considerate during the construction of a $223 million (US$148 million) COVID-19 quarantine facility in 2021.

On June 30, the Queensland Audit Office released the findings of a year-long investigation into the Wellcamp quarantine facility by Auditor-General Brendan Worrall.

Although the report found that the procurement process of the quarantine camp was reasonable, it noted the Queensland government should have been more considerate in making the decision.

While there was still significant uncertainty on the continuing impact of the pandemic at this time, alternates such as home and hotel quarantine were available, it said.

This should have been more fully considered at the time of entering the contract in September 2021 to better ensure value for money for taxpayers.

The 1,000-bed facility cost taxpayers $223 million$199 million in construction and leasing costs and $24 million in running costs, but only operated for about six months before closing down.

The Queensland government decided to fund the camp by itself after the former Coalition government repeatedly rejected its requests for federal quarantine funding.

It commissioned the Wagner Corporation to build the facility on privately-owned land at Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport, which was then leased back to the state.

Despite the high price tag, the Queensland government only used the quarantine camp for less than 70 days before removing isolation requirements for unvaccinated travellers.

The facility was then mothballed before the 12-month lease expired.

Around 730 people stayed at the facility during its service period, with each person costing the states taxpayers $330,000.

At the time, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli criticised the Queensland government for its wasted spending.

The Wellcamp waste will forever be remembered as the price Queenslanders pay when this government prioritises politics over the genuine needs of Queenslanders, he said.

The Wellcamp waste happened while the State Government was still paying tens of millions of dollars for empty hotel rooms and with a Commonwealth-owned facility coming online at Pinkenba.

Transparency Issue of the Quarantine Facility

According to the report, during the negotiation and construction periods, the Queensland government did not release any financial information on the basis that the contract was commercial in confidence and that any information released at that stage could be detrimental.

In the subsequent months following the facilitys opening, the state government still refused to disclose the total cost of the quarantine camp.

It was not until a state parliaments estimates hearing in late July 2022 that Deputy Premier Steven Miles revealed the value of the contracts to be $198.5 million, which included a capital contribution of $48.8 million.

People are tested for Covid-19 in Gold Coast, Australia, on Jan. 5, 2022. (Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

While the report found that the Queensland government did not violate the laws in refusing to disclose the cost of the project, it said there was a lack of transparency in relation to the construction contracts.

We believe that despite the confidentiality provisions in the agreements, the Queensland government should have considered disclosing the total value of the arrangement once the agreements were signed, Worrall said in the report.

The contract agreements for (Wellcamp) provided for disclosure of the relevant information to parliament and committees of parliament.

While the information was disclosed during estimates hearings of parliament, it was not disclosed in answering other questions on notice from members of parliament or in response to general inquiries.

In light of the lack of transparency issue, the report recommended the state government expand the procurement guidelines to include the purchase and lease of property and the release of information when it was no longer commercially sensitive.

Queensland Governments Response

Following the reports release, the Queensland government defended its decision to build the quarantine facility, saying it was made after hotel quarantine facilities across the state reached their capacity in August 2021.

The state government also said the decision was in line with the recommendations of Queenslands Chief Health Officer.

Everything I did during the pandemic was to keep Queensland safe, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said while criticising the former Coalition government.

Had the then federal government worked with us instead of against us, we would have built Wellcamp sooner and avoided a lot of heartache and distress for Queensland families.

No one can take away Queenslands world-leading response to this pandemic that enabled us to continue with life as close to normal as possible and vaccinate the majority of our population before the virus arrived.

It is worth noting that the Wellcamp facility shared a short-lived fate with Victorias $$580 Million quarantine hub, which only served 2,168 quarantine patients before shutting down October 2022.
Rare Wild Horse Born at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Photo of young Przewalski's horse born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in San Diego, Calif., on June 29. (Courtesy of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park)

SAN DIEGOThe San Diego Zoo Safari Park announced the birth of a young Przewalskis horse on June 29, a critically endangered species previously considered extinct in the wild until 1996.

The unnamed horse was born this month to its mother Nikki and father Ziggy, according to the San Diego Wildlife Alliance in a news release.

The parental horses were recommended by the Association of Zoo and Aquariums Przewalskis Horse Species Survival Plan, which conservationists across the United States oversee to ensure healthy and genetically diverse populations.

Sometimes known as the last wild horse, the Przewalskis horse has survived for 40 years almost entirely in zoos around the world, according to the Wildlife Alliance, a nonprofit international conservation organization.

Przewalskis horses have been reintroduced into their native habitats, resulting in several herds in grasslands in China and Mongolia.

Photo of young Przewalskis horse born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in San Diego, on June 29, 2023. (Courtesy of San Diego Zoo)
Rep. Matt Gaetz Asks FBI Whether Agents Were Rewarded for Kneeling During 2020 Riots

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) speaks during a hearing before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government of the House Judiciary Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 18, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is demanding answers from the FBI regarding agents who knelt before Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters in Washington during riots in 2020.

On June 27, Gaetz sent a letter (pdf) to FBI Director Christopher Wray asking for information related to the conduct of FBI agents on duty in Washington on June 4, 2020, during what the congressman described as seditious riots in the nations capital.

Gaetz suggested that one of at least six agents who were captured on video that day kneeling in supplication before BLM protesters may have received a promotion for her actions. Gaetz stated that the agents possibly knelt to placate the mob.

In an interview with Fox News Digital on June 28, Gaetz said that he heard from sources, including a whistleblower, that more than one agent was rewarded with plum personnel opportunities and promotions and advancements for kneeling, an act that he also portrayed as a surrender to people who at times were violent.

FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks during a press conference at the Justice Department in Washington, on Jan. 26, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

The disruption in Washington, which lasted several days, was a segment of the wave of protesting and rioting rolling across the nation following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis in May 2020.

In his letter to Wray, Gaetz praised the courage and service of the FBI agents who were on the line protecting the public and preventing vandalism.

But Gaetz singled out one agent in particular: Sarah Linden. He queried and dug into his suspicion that Linden may have been rewarded for her appeal to the alleged lawbreakers participating in riots.

Attached is a photograph believed to be Sarah Linden, expressing her support for these seditious riots that caused so much destruction, wrote Gaetz, who serves on the House Armed Services and House Judiciary committees.

Concerns Over FBI Agents Support for Violence

Gaetz gave Wray a deadline of July 7 to furnish the congressmans office with answers to a series of questions.

Is Sarah Linden currently the Acting Special Agent in Charge for the Criminal Division within the Washington Field Office? he asked. If so, when did this position become effective?

Gaetz wanted to know if the bureau knew that Linden expressed support for the attacks on FBI and other federal personnel when it effectuated the promotion.

Gaetz also asked Wray whether the FBI has any policies or procedures in place to ensure there are no career promotions for individuals who express support for organizations and movements that seek the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.

Earlier in the letter, before addressing the conduct of Linden and other agents, Gaetz provided an account of physical assaults on law enforcement and acts of vandalism in the capital during the period of national unrest.

On May 29, 2020, in Washington D.C. alone, violent protestors threw rocks, urine, and alcohol at United States Secret Service Agents, injuring over 60 of them, wrote Gaetz.

Some protestors also scaled the barriers to the White House and Department of the Treasury complex. This shameful and unprecedented violence took place over several days, and included the arson attack on St. Johns Episcopal Church adjacent to the White House.

In a statement to The Epoch Times, the FBI confirmed it had received the letter.

While we cannot comment on specific personnel matters, promotions in the FBI are competitive and based on merit, the agency said.
Rescuers Praise Teen Hiker Esther Wang, Found Safe After Two Days Lost in BC Park

Esther Wang is shown in this RCMP handout image. Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue says Wang, who was missing for more than two days in a Metro Vancouver provincial park, has been found alive. (The Canadian Press/HO-RCMP)

A teenage hiker found safe after going missing for more than two days in a Metro Vancouver provincial park is being praised for her preparedness.

Team manager Ryan Smith with Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue says 16-year-old Esther Wangs physical fitness and planning, as well as good weather, can be credited for her return home.

RCMP Supt. Wendy Mehat says Wang was found around 9:30 p.m. Thursday, and has since gone home with her family after a medical assessment.

Earlier this week, RCMP said the 16-year-old from Langley, B.C., was part of a group of four people who were hiking in Golden Ears Provincial Park on Tuesday.

The group left a lookout point at about 2:45 p.m. to head back to their campground, but about 15 minutes later they noticed that Wang was missing.

Police say the group returned to the viewpoint to look for Wang and when she wasnt found the leader returned to the entrance of the trail to have a park ranger call police.

The search and rescue team confirmed Thursday that a search was underway involving a helicopter, a drone and teams of rescuers from across the Lower Mainland.

Esther did take precautions. She did have food and water. She did appear to stop and then think, orientate herself and planned accordingly, Smith told a news conference Friday, calling her a very determined young lady.

It took quite a while to get out, but she is out and shes safe, which is the best outcome we could hope for.

Smith said 16 rescue teams were involved in the search.

Mehat said Wang was unharmed apart from some mosquito bites.

She said authorities have not yet spoken to the girl in depth, but intend to start gathering all the facts.
RFK Jr. Says Hed Do Better Than Biden Cancelling Student Loan Debt

Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. speaks as Michael Smerconish hosts a SiriusXM Town Hall with Democratic Presidential Candidate RFK Jr. at The Centre Theater in Philadelphia, Penn., on June 5, 2023. (Lisa Lake/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

Republicans took to Twitter to applaud the Supreme Court while Democrats chided President Joe Biden for not doing more after Fridays ruling striking down the presidents debt forgiveness program.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has announced his intent to run against Biden in the 2024 primaries for the Democratic presidential candidate, joined voices criticizing Biden after the ruling.

The unfortunate SCOTUS ruling striking down President Bidens #studentloan forgiveness program was the predictable result of Bidens failure to bring Congress together on this issue of crucial importance to young Americans, Kennedy wrote on Twitter.

President Biden knew his plan wouldnt survive a legal challenge. His plan gave the appearance of action, while accomplishing nothing. This is an issue of grave importance to our country. As President, I will galvanize public support to pressure Congress to put down their partisan positions and legislate meaningful relief to the tens of millions of Americans who are drowning in student debt.

Kennedy also addressed the costs of higher education, including a way to provide it at no cost to students.

I will also take steps to reduce education costs for students. When I was their age, a college education cost about one-seventh of what it is today. A young person could work their way through college and graduate debt-free. If we devoted even a fraction of our military budget to higher education, it could be virtually free to all (as it is in many other countries), he continued.

Kennedy has called for de-escalating the war in Ukraine, saying the United States has had many opportunities to do so.

Funding higher education is not an entitlement program, it is an investment in Americas future, just as with infrastructure and environment. Lets invest in Americas young people instead of in the forever wars, he continued.

A June 1013 poll (pdf) showed Kennedy had the highest favorability rating among presidential candidates at 49 percent, exceeding both Biden and Trump.

He has highlighted these numbers, including 20 percent of Democrats in New Hampshire, in his campaigning while acknowledging that he might not have the traditional support from the Democratic Party or donors. Some have speculated that his favorability will drop as Democrats come to familiarize themselves with his platform.

Earlier this week, Ray Buckley, chairman of the N.H. Democratic Party, posted a letter asking Kennedy to cancel his speech at a local libertarian event, PorcFest.

We must express our serious disappointment and grave concerns about your planned participation in this event, he wrote.

Kennedy responded in the negative on Twitter: The Democratic Party Bosses who promote censorship, who have stripped New Hampshire of its rightful First in the Nation primary status, who have shut down debate, who refuse to campaign in New Hampshire, are in no position to tell me who to talk to. Im going to speak at Porcfest because I believe in freedom, unity, healing the divide, and truth.#LiveFreeorDie.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Criticized for Comments Supporting Affirmative Action

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visits the set of "The Faulkner Focus" at Fox News Channel Studios in New York City on June 2, 2023. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s critical take on the Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action policies and bar schools from applying race-based criteria to admissions has faced an outpouring of criticism online.

The Supreme Courts 63 decision on June 29 revived a strict interpretation of the 14th Amendment to make clear that equal treatment under the law bars discrimination based on race, even when that discrimination gives a leg up to groups considered marginalized or underrepresented in public life in some respect.

Some, like former President Donald Trump, hailed the decision as a step toward a race-blind, merit-based system of college admissions that prevents discrimination against those with extraordinary abilities.

It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world, Trump wrote in a statement posted on Truth Social, in which the former president argued that color-blind admission policies would help the country as a whole, as those who are the most talented and hard-working will have a less constrained path toward success.

Others, like Kennedy, lamented the high courts move as a step back while arguing for the use of race-based policies to undo the effect of racist policies.

I know many Americans feel that purely race-based decisions are unfair. However, this feeling misses important context. The effects of racist policies going back centuries are now self-perpetuating, Kennedy wrote in a series of posts on Twitter.

The presidential hopeful continued his missive by laying out the argument that color-blind admissions standards protect those who are already in the circle of privilege and that race-based policies are an appropriate measure to elevate those who have been marginalized.

Merit-based admissions favor those who grew up in affluent, educated households, Kennedy wrote, adding, Wouldnt you like to invite in those who have been left out in the cold?

Kennedys take drew a flurry of critical responses on Twitter, including from large accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers.

Laws Should Not Favor Anyone

Neuroscientist Dr. Debra Soh, author of the bestselling book The End of Gender, was one of those who pushed back on the view that race-based admissions criteria would fight racism.

I respect much of your work but the solution to racism in the past isnt MORE racism, Soh wrote in a tweet.

Its a myth that the Asian and white students being discriminated against are privileged,' added Soh, who has over 250,000 followers on Twitter.

Emmanuel Rincon, writer and founder of political consultancy Regional Renaissance Consulting, took a similarly dim view of Kennedys remarks.

I disagree with you on this. The victimization and elimination of meritocracy drives down any society. I am Hispanic, a migrant, and I dont want any special treatment from any institution. Laws should not favor anyone, Rincon posted in a tweet to his over 236,000 followers on Twitter.

Horrible take  the solution to systemic racism is not more systemic racism, an account called The Rabbit Hole wrote in a post on Twitter to its 391,000 followers.

Psychology professor Geoffrey Miller, who has over 130,000 followers, responded to Kennedys post by remarking that This tweet just cost you the support [of] every principled, centrist American who thought you were kinda cool last week.

The Hodgetwins, a stand-up comedy and conservative political commentary duo with over 2 million followers on Twitter, posted a tweet that simply said, BAD BAD take.

While legal experts say the implications of the Supreme Courts 237-page decision are not yet fully clear, it appears that the ruling will force colleges and universities to find other ways to meet their diversity objectives besides race-based admissions.

The Epoch Times reached out to Kennedys campaign for comment.

Continued Focus on Diversity

The Supreme Courts decision ostensibly ends the use of affirmative action programs in higher education, a longtime goal of conservatives and others who favor merit-based standards.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote (pdf) for the court that universities have for too long concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin.

Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice, he wrote.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, writing that the majority decision rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress.

It holds that race can no longer be used in a limited way in college admissions to achieve such critical benefits, Sotomayor wrote. In so holding, the Court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter.

Harvard issued a statement on the ruling saying that it would comply but that it continues to see the value of pursuing diversity.

We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives, and lived experiences, Harvard said in a June 29 statement.

That principle is as true and important today as it was yesterday. So too are the abiding values that have enabled usand every great educational institutionto pursue the high calling of educating creative thinkers and bold leaders, of deepening human knowledge, and of promoting progress, justice, and human flourishing, the statement added.

Some States Already Prohibit Affirmative Action

California outlawed affirmative action in a 1996 ballot initiative, and its one of several states with laws prohibiting the practice.

Chancellors for the University of California (UC) expressed their support for Harvards race-based admissions programs in an amicus brief (pdf) submitted to the Supreme Court. They highlighted that despite years of developing alternative race-neutral policies, these efforts have not been successful.

Those programs have enabled UC to make significant gains in its system-wide diversity, the brief states. Yet despite its extensive efforts, UC struggles to enroll a student body that is sufficiently racially diverse to attain the educational benefits of diversity.

The brief said that a quarter-century after race-based admissions were banned at public universities, UC has been unable to meet its diversity goals despite spending over half a billion dollars on outreach programs to encourage more students from underrepresented minority groups.

The case the Supreme Court ruled on was actually two separate appeals that were heard together: Students for Fair Admissions Inc. (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, court file 20-1199, and SFFA v. University of North Carolina (UNC), court file 21-707.

Lawrence Wilson contributed to this report.
Royal Air Force Apologises for Discriminating Against White Men

Graduating cadets parade at the graduation ceremony of the Queens Squadron and Sovereigns Review at RAF College Cranwell, England, on July 16, 2020. (Julian Simmonds /Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

The chief of the RAF has apologised after an inquiry found a diversity drive discriminated against white men in favour of women and ethnic minorities.

According to a report commissioned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), in 2020 and 2021, 161 candidates, who were either women or from ethnic minority backgrounds, were accelerated into training places ahead of white males.

The RAF said it accepts the diversity drive amounted to positive discrimination, adding it will not make the same mistakes again.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton, the new RAF chief, said he apologises unreservedly to all those affected.

The positive discrimination took place as the force attempted to reach its own diversity target for 40 percent of all new recruits to be women and 20 percent to be from ethnic minorities by 2030.

The RAF has now admitted that the target is unrealistic.

Questionable Legality

Former Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl, who was in charge of recruitment and selection, resigned last year after refusing to implement the diversity programme.

Nicholls resignation was first reported by Sky News in August 2022.

In an email to her boss, seen by Sky News, the group captain said she was not willing to allocate slots on RAF training courses based purely on a specific gender or ethnicity, as it was against equality legislation and against the RAFs own legal guidance.

But at the time, the RAF denied there was any discrimination in its recruitment practices.

The RAF chief at the time, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, insisted that there was no discrimination against any group and that the focus on diversity led to absolutely no drop in operational standards.

But the MoD said in September 2022 it accepted that despite the best of intentions, some mistakes were made.

Pushing the Boundaries

The MoD report, published on Thursday, said that those who led the initiatives believed that they were pushing the boundaries of positive action rather than acting unlawfully.

It said the chain of command was overly defensive over Nicholls concerns and did not properly consider whether she might have been justified in what she said regarding previous acts of positive discrimination or the legality of what she was asked to do.

The MoD added that Nicholls resignation was potentially avoidable and her resignation letter included fair criticisms which were later proved to be justified that her decision to resign was both understandable and reasonable.

Knighton, the new RAF chief, said in response: The belief at that time, based on the understanding of the recruiting process and interpretation of the legal advice, was that this practice demonstrated acceptable, positive action. We now know that it did not, and I apologise unreservedly to all those affected.

He said the RAF accepts some men were discriminated against.

They include a group of 31 who were held back in training and likely missed the opportunity to qualify for a 5,000 joining bonus, he said, adding that they have now been compensated.

Significant Error

Knighton said those involved in the diversity drive acted with the best of intentions, but it is clear that people responsible for implementing these policies did raise concerns at the time, and the way in which long-term aspirational goals set by senior leadership to improve diversity in the RAF were translated into personal performance targets was wrong.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, speaking at a press briefing at Canada House in central London on Thursday, said it has been a significant error and a cause for regret for the RAF, but insisted it didnt lower the standard.

They discriminated against those people that were applying (with people) who were above the standard, so our military level wasnt put at risk.

However, the treatment of the people applyingit was wrong, unsatisfactory.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Russia Will Emerge from Mutiny Stronger, Moscows Top Diplomat Asserts

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holds a news conference at United Nations headquarters in New York on April 25, 2023. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

Russia will emerge from the turmoil caused by last weeks aborted mutiny stronger, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

Russia has always emerged stronger from difficulties, Moscows top diplomat said at a June 30 online press briefing.

This will be the case this time, he added. We already feel that this has begun.

On June 24, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russias Wagner Group, staged an armed insurrection that had briefly appeared to threaten Moscow.

The rebellion failed to gain any traction, however, and within 24 hours, Prigozhin called it off, ordering his fighters back to their base camps.

A private military firm linked to the Kremlin, Prigozhins Wagner Group has done much of the fighting in Ukraine since Russia invaded that country in February 2022.

Yet despite the mutinys speedy conclusion, Western leaders have seized on the incident as proof that Russian President Vladimir Putins grip on power is slipping.

Weve seen more cracks emerge in the Russian facade, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in televised remarks.

Could Putin Lose Power? the New York Times asked in a recent headline.

European leaders, meanwhile, have lined up to voice similar sentiments.

Even former U.S. President Donald Trump, who, if reelected, has pledged to end Russias war in Ukraine, weighed in on the issue.

Putin is still strong, Trump told Reuters in a June 29 telephone interview.

But he certainly has been  somewhat weakened [by the mutiny]at least in the minds of a lot of people, he added.

Fighters of Wagner private mercenary group pull out of the headquarters of the Southern Military District to return to base, in the city of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, June 24, 2023. (Stringer/REUTERS)

Alternative Readings

But almost a week after Prigozhins short-lived rebellion, an alternative reading has begun to emergeone that sees Putins grip on power as stronger than ever.

Now that the dust has settled, commentators are noting that, as the rebellion unfolded, Russian officialdom was unanimous in condemning the mutineers.

Even among the Wagner Group itself, few officersif anythrew in their lot with Prighozin and his ill-fated march on Moscow.

Prigozhin, for his part, has since been allowed to relocate to Minsk, where he will avoid prosecution under a deal brokered by the leader of Belarus.

But he will remain under the watchful eye of the Belarusian government, a close ally of Moscow, to ensure he doesnt make any more trouble.

His Wagner Group, meanwhile, is now in the process of being formally integrated into the Russian military.

The chronically unstable Prigozhins revolt fizzled out within a day, as he fled to Belarus, with a no-prosecution guarantee, and his mercenary army was mingled into the Russian army, veteran investigative reporter Seymour Hersh wrote on Substack on June 29.

There was no march on Moscow, nor was there a significant threat to Putins rule, he added.

Hersh goes on to cite one of his trademark U.S. intelligence sources as saying: Putin is now in a much stronger position.

It isnt the first time that Hersh, 86, has challenged mainstream narratives regarding the ongoing showdown between Moscow and the West.

In February, Hersh claimedbased, as usual, on anonymous sourcesthat U.S. President Joe Biden had ordered last years attack on the Nord Stream energy pipelines.

The White House, for its part, has described Hershs assertion as completely false.

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Russian government via teleconference in Moscow on March 10, 2022. (Mikhail Klimentyev/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

Stubbornly Strong

But while Hersh was alone in making that claim, he hasnt been the only one to suggest that last weeks mutiny may have actually strengthened Putins hand.

In a June 29 opinion piece in British newspaper The Guardian, author Anatol Lieven makes the case that the rebellion showed Putin to be stubbornly strong.

According to Lieven, Putin handled the crisis with determination and resolve, resulting in a favorableand relatively bloodlessoutcome.

The writer also dismisses Western claims that Prigozhins no-prosecution deal was a sign of the Russian leaders weakness.

Because the rebels found no support among the Russian regular army, Lieven writes, Putin had nothing to gain by seeking violent revenge  [and] everything to gain by showing magnanimity.

He had, after all, won, adds Lieven, who has written extensively on Russia-Ukraine affairs and currently heads the Eurasia program at the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Nor has the mutiny had a noticeable effect on the ongoing war in Ukraine, where a weeks-long counter-offensive by Kyiv has failed to register significant gains.

A day after Prigozhins misadventure, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Fox News that the goals of the counter-offensive had been overestimated.

In his Substack post, Hersh wrote: I have been told that in the past 10 days Ukrainian forces have not fought their way through the Russian defenses in any significant way.

The Epoch Times was unable to verify the assertion, which contrasts starkly with recent claims by Hanna Maliar, Ukraines deputy defense minister.

If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions, Maliar said on June 30.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Santa Ana Nonprofit Receives $500,000 to Address Youth Unemployment

Recent graduates of Hope Builders' three-month job training program pose with their diplomas at a ceremony at Sisters of Saint Joseph in Orange, Calif., on June 26, 2023. (Carol Cassis/The Epoch Times)

Over 300 residents converged at Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange in Orange, California on June 26 for an event awarding half a million dollars to a local nonprofit to help low-income youth gain access to job training services in Santa Ana.

The funding, which was part of nearly $30 million in federal funds Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) helped secure for community projects in his North Orange County district, will assist the Santa Ana-based nonprofit, Hope Builders, in aiding young adults in need with mentorship, life skills, and job skills training that meets the needs of employers.

The Sisters of Saint Joseph of Orange, who founded the Santa Ana-based nonprofit, hosted the ceremony at their Catholic school campus, as more than 40 students from its latest class graduated from the three-month training program.

Rep. Lou Correa (D-Calif.) awards a $500,000 check to Hope Builders at a ceremony at Sisters of Saint Joseph in Orange, Calif., on June 26, 2023. (Carol Cassis/The Epoch Times)

What youve done is nothing short of miracles, Correa told the nonprofit during a speech.

According to Correa, the nonprofit had only asked him for $250,000 when they first approached his office three months prior to help them in their missionhowever Correa doubled the amount in an effort to better support the program.

You gotta reach deep inside of yourself and believe in yourself. Work hard, and you can accomplish your dreams, Correa told the students being honored.

A son of working-class immigrants from Mexico, Correa expressed a sense of connection with the students and their families receiving assistance from Hope Builders.

When I see the faces of [those receiving support from the nonprofit], I see my family 50 years ago, Correa told The Epoch Times following the ceremony.

Hope Builders recent job training graduate Aldo Valadez after graduation and award ceremony at Sisters of Saint Joseph in Orange, Calif., on June 26, 2023. (Carol Cassis/The Epoch Times)

One of those who were honored by the nonprofit during the graduation was Aldo Valadez, 21, who found his path into carpentry through Hope Builders after dropping out of community college two years prior to joining the nonprofit program.

According to Valadez, he didnt feel ready for college and lacked guidance in forging his future when he first enrolled in community college at 18. After dropping out, he went back to work at the same local restaurant where he was employed during high school.

With Hope Builders, it felt like they really pushed me to have a better mindset, Valadez told The Epoch Times. Graduating from the program is something Im really proud of. It really helped my communication skills and taught me accountability.

Valadez now works full time as a carpenter for a local construction company, where he says he enjoys working with his hands and building large construction projects including apartment complexes and hotels.
dolgachov / iStock.com

The failure of three banks so far this year  Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic  prompted fears of contagion in the banking system. In turn, regulators took measures to avoid more damage, stem the outflow of depositors and reassure jittery consumers under the systemic risk exception

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One of the measures, announced on March 12, was the additional funding made available through the creation of a new Bank Term Funding Program. The BTFP was created to support American businesses and households by making additional funding available to eligible depository institutions to help assure banks can meet the needs of all their depositors, according to a Federal Reserve statement.

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In other words, the program was created to avoid a bank run, and in turn, potential catastrophic consequences for the economy and consumers. It also helps restore a sense of confidence in the banking system and aims to quell jittery investors and depositors fears of contagion.

But now, as Bloomberg reports, the decision to guarantee all accounts above the $250,000 federal deposit insurance limit also helped bigger companies that were in no real danger.

For example, Sequoia Capital, one of the biggest venture-capital firms, got covered the $1 billion it had with the lender. Kanzhun Ltd., a Beijing-based tech company that runs mobile recruiting app Boss Zhipin, received a backstop for more than $900 million, Bloomberg reported.

At the time, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the governments measures demonstrated its commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors savings and the banking system remain safe, according to her remarks.

American households depend on banks to finance their homes, invest in an education, and otherwise improve their standards of living. Businesses borrow from these institutions to start new companies and expand existing ones, Yellen said at the time.

Many banks were surprised at how quickly SVBs depositors departed, William L. Luther, director of the Sound Money Project at the American Institute for Economic Research, said.

Gone are the days of queueing up in front of the bank. Todays depositors can transfer their funds to another bank with a few taps on a smartphone. To limit depositor flight, banks will have to hold safer portfolios, limiting the extent to which they can engage in financial intermediation, he added.

In the wake of the banks being shored up by the government, many have called for an increase in the FDIC-insured deposits. The agency itself issued a proposal, yet not specifying what an exact, appropriate increased level of deposit insurance would be.

The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, and the decision to approve systemic risk exceptions to protect the uninsured depositors at those institutions, raised fundamental questions about the role of deposit insurance in the United States banking system, FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said in a statement released with a May 1 report.

In the report, the FDIC outlined three options for deposit insurance reform: maintaining the current deposit insurance framework, which provides insurance to depositors up to a specified limit (possibly higher than the current $250,000) by ownership rights and capacities; extending unlimited deposit insurance coverage to all depositors; and offering different deposit insurance limits across account types, where business payment accounts receive significantly higher coverage than other accounts.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: FDIC Uninsured Deposits: How the SVB Collapse Could Also Affect Your Bank
In an event held at 8:45 a.m. ET on June 30 by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), some leading experts of the States discuss the Science Policy After the COVID-19 Crisis.

Panel I:

Jonathan Fuller, Visiting Scholar, Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health; Marc Lipsitch, Professor of Epidemiology, T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University; and Emily Ricotta, Independent Research Scholar in the Division of Intramural Research, National Institute on Allergies and Infectious Diseases, will discuss Evidence and Policy After COVID-19.

M. Anthony Mills, Senior Fellow, AEI moderates the discussion of panel I.

Panel II:

Mark McClellan, Director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Duke University, and Janet Woodcock, Principal Deputy Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, will discuss COVID-19s Lessons for Institutional Reform.

M. Anthony Mills, Senior Fellow, AEI moderates the discussion of panel II.
Specialist School Among 60 Facing Unfair Tax in Australian State

Victorian Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins addresses the media at a press conference in Melbourne, June 29, 2023. (AAP Image/James Ross)

One of the Victorian private schools facing a new $322 million (US$214 million) state tax caters to children with language and learning difficulties.

Andale School in Kew has been named on a list of 60 independent and religious schools in the state to be stripped of their longstanding payroll tax exemption from July 2024.

Education Minister Natalie Hutchins set the income threshold for non-exempt schools at more than $15,000 (US$10,000) per student, capturing the specialist school in Melbournes inner east.

The school, which was formed in 1981 before moving to Kew in 1987, charges parents $3740 (US$2480) per term and has students aged from 5 to 13 with language and learning difficulties.

Many students come to Andale because their learning needs cannot be met in their current education setting, its website reads.

Opposition finance minister Jess Wilson, whose electorate of Kew takes in the school, has written to Hutchins and Treasurer Tim Pallas to highlight the case and urge its exemption.

I cannot understand that there would be any reasons why it would be a deliberate decision by the minister or the Andrews government to put that school on the list, Wilson told reporters on June 30.

The Victorian government and Andale School have been contacted for comment.

Last months Victorian budget stated about 110 high-fee schools would lose the exemption, raising $422.2 million (US$280 million) over the forward estimates.

But the threshold was set higher than initially planned following backlash from peak bodies for the independent and Catholic school sector, stripping about $100 million (US$66 million) from the budget.

Hutchins denied it was a backdown, declaring the government had listened to the concerns of schools but had to start repaying COVID-related debt.

This is all about recovery, Hutchins said on June 29 afternoon.

Its only fair that a whole range of organisations across the state, including the business sector, including our really high profiting, high fee-paying private schools, are part of that payback plan.

Of the 60 schools on the list, 54 are independent and will pay the lions share of the tax.

Schools will have to decide if they cut educational programs and staff or increase fees to cover the cost, Independent Schools Victoria chief executive Michelle Green said in a statement.

It will come as a financial shock to parents from a wide range of backgrounds who are already struggling with cost-of-living pressures, Green said.

Catholic Education Commission of Victoria executive director Jim Miles, who described the tax as unprecedented and unfair, suggested some schools would end up paying more in payroll tax than they receive in recurrent state grants.

It should also be made clear that the government sector, in effect, pays payroll tax to itself, Miles said.

Its completely misleading to say this new tax results in equal treatment of school sectors.
Sunak Unveils 15-year Plan to Boost NHS Staffing in England by 300,000 People

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a press conference on the new NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, in Downing Street, London, on June 30, 2023. (Frank Augstein/PA Media)

NHS England is expected to employ over 300,000 extra nurses, doctors, and other health workers under a 15-year plan to tackle staff shortages in the health service.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his government is making the largest single expansion in NHS education and training in its history.

There are currently 112,000 vacancies across the NHS in England. Officials have warned that, without action, there could be 360,000 vacancies in the health service by 2037.

An undated image of an unidentified hospital in the United Kingdom. (Victoria Jones/PA)

In the coming years, we will train twice the number of doctors and an extra 24,000 more nurses a year, helping to cut waiting lists and improve patient care, said Sunak, who has made cutting patient waiting lists one of his five priorities for the year.

The government will also do more to retain NHS staff and reform the way the health system works to ensure it is fit for the future, he added.

The plan is backed with a 2.4 billion government investment over five years.

Cutting Reliance on Foreign Workers

By 2031, the NHS aims to double medical school training places to 15,000, increase by 50 percent the number of doctor training places, and nearly double the number of adult nurse training places.

Officials have also asked the doctors regulatorthe General Medical Counciland medical schools to consult on the introduction of four-year medical degrees, which are five years at present, and medical internships, allowing students to start work six months earlier.

The NHS will ramp up apprenticeships so students can earn while they learn. The aim is to provide 22 percent of all training for clinical staff through apprenticeship routes by 2031, up from 7 percent today.

The government aims to train more NHS staff domestically to reduce reliance on international recruitment. In 15 years time, the government expects around 910.5 percent of the NHS workforce to be recruited from overseas, compared to nearly a quarter now.

Meanwhile, the NHS is to crack down on spending on expensive agency staff, with health leaders ordered to cut the bill by 10 billion by 2036.

The plan, along with new retention measures, could mean the health service has at least an extra 60,000 doctors, 170,000 more nurses, and 71,000 more allied health professionals in place by 2036/37.

Overstretched Workforce

Sunak told a Downing Street press briefing on Friday that the health service is under pressure and the workforce is overstretched.

He said: Our society is growing older, the burden of illness is changing, and all of this will put pressure on an already overstretched workforce.

He said governments from all parties had ducked the workforce challenge for decades but that overcoming this wont be quick or easy.

He added: Its only possible because of the difficult decisions were taking elsewhere to cut the debt and by prioritising the NHS, there will be other things that we cant afford.

But the NHS is too important. So were making the tough calls, and doing things differently, to protect the long-term future of the NHS and this country.

He said the plan eases pressures today but also protects this precious national institution for the long term.

He added, You can trust this government with the NHS.

Historic Opportunity

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: This plan presents a historic opportunity to do things differently to help ease pressures on staff and increase capacity so they can spend more time with patients.

Labours shadow health secretary Wes Streeting claimed the Conservatives were taking ideas from his party.

He added: The Conservatives have finally admitted they have no ideas of their own, so are adopting Labours plan to train the doctors and nurses the NHS needs. They should have done this a decade agothen the NHS would have enough staff today.

But, talking to ITV, Barclay said Streetings suggestion was laughable, adding, Their plan doesnt touch on any of the reform.

PA Media and Reuters contributed to this report.
Supreme Court Rules for Christian Web Designer in Forced Speech Case

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch poses for an official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building in Washington, on Oct. 7, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Supreme Court ruled 63 in favor of a Christian website designer who said Colorados law requiring her to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings infringed on her constitutional rights.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion (pdf) in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (court file 21-476) which was decided June 30. The opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

The three liberal justices dissented. President Joe Biden called the new decision disappointing.

Left-wing activists have been targeting bakers for years for political purposes, asking Christian confectioners opposed to same-sex marriage to bake wedding cakes for gay marriage celebrations.

When the bakers refuse to make the cakes, these activists sue under anti-discrimination laws, hoping to secure favorable legal precedents.

In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018), the Supreme Court sided with Jack Phillips, a Christian baker whom a gay couple had asked to create a custom cake to celebrate their union, finding a state human rights commission had violated his First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

But in the case at hand, artist and website designer Lorie Smith of 303 Creative complained she was being singled out by the same Colorado human rights commission because, based on her religious faith, she does not support nontraditional marriage.

Smith has said she will design custom websites for anyone, including those who identify as LGBT, so long as their message does not conflict with her religious views.

Lorie Smith, a Christian graphic artist and website designer in Colorado, prepares to speak to supporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Dec. 5, 2022. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

This means that she wont promote messages that condone violence or encourage sexual immorality, abortion, or same-sex marriage.

When clients want such messages expressed, Smith refers them to other website designers.

Smith took action when she discovered she was forbidden under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) to post a statement online explaining what content she was, and was not, willing to create.

Smiths attorney, Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom, told the justices during oral arguments on Dec. 5, 2022, that Smith blends art with technology to create custom messages using words and graphics.

She serves all people, deciding what to create based on the message, not who requests it. But Colorado declares her speech a public accommodation and insists that she create and speak messages that violate her conscience, she said.

If the government may not force motorists to display a motto, school children to say a pledge, or parades to include banners, Colorado may not force Ms. Smith to create and speak messages on pain of investigation, fine, and re-education.

In the 26-page majority opinion, Gorsuch wrote:

Like many states, Colorado has a law forbidding businesses from engaging in discrimination when they sell goods and services to the public. Laws along these lines have done much to secure the civil rights of all Americans.

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But in this particular case, Colorado does not just seek to ensure the sale of goods or services on equal terms. It seeks to use its law to compel an individual to create speech she does not believe. The question we face is whether that course violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance, Gorsuch wrote.

The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands.

Gorsuch added: Nor, in any event, do the First Amendments protections belong only to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy; its protections belong to all, including to speakers whose motives others may find misinformed or offensive.

The Supreme Court reversed the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a 38-page dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Five years ago, this court recognized in Masterpiece Cakeshop a general rule that religious and philosophical objections to gay marriage do not allow business owners and other actors in the economy and in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law, Sotomayor wrote.

The court also recognized the serious stigma that would result if purveyors of goods and services who object to gay marriages for moral and religious reasons were allowed to put up signs saying no goods or services will be sold if they will be used for gay marriages.

Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.

Specifically, the Court holds that the First Amendment exempts a website-design company from a state law that prohibits the company from denying wedding websites to same-sex couples if the company chooses to sell those websites to the public.

The Court also holds that the company has a right to post a notice that says, no [wedding websites] will be sold if they will be used for gay marriages.

Heritage Foundation senior legal fellows Sarah Parshall Perry and Tom Jipping hailed the new majority opinion.

They said in a statement: The Supreme Court got it right today in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, once again affirming that the First Amendment means what it says in protecting our freedom of speech.

The government cannot force Americans to abandon their constitutional rights in order to operate a business, but the Colorado Civil Rights Commission seems determined to suppress First Amendment rights in order to advance an ideological agenda.

The Supreme Court has already rejected the commissions hostility to religion and today does the same regarding freedom of speech.

President Joe Biden criticized the ruling, saying it was disappointing.

While the Courts decision only addresses expressive original designs, Im deeply concerned that the decision could invite more discrimination against LGBT Americans, the president said in a statement.

More broadly, todays decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodationsincluding people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.
Christian Website Designer Responds to Free Speech Win at Supreme Court

'The government can't force Americans to say something they don't believe,' attorney says.

Lorie Smith, a Christian graphic artist and website designer in Colorado, prepares to speak to supporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington on Dec. 5, 2022. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

On June 30, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Colorado Christian website designer who refused to create a website promoting same-sex weddings.

As The Epoch Times reported on Sept. 27, 2021, Lorie Smiththe owner of a Colorado-based web design company called 303 Creativehad asked the justices to overturn a decision of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. They accepted. Smith was represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an Arizona-based public interest law firm specializing in First Amendment and religious freedom litigation.

In recent years, ADF has won 13 Supreme Court victories, including the Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case in 2018, which upheld the right of a Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips to uphold his religious beliefs when making custom wedding cakes.

As reported by The Epoch Times on Feb. 22, 2022, the High Court determined that its consideration of the case would be limited to one question: Whether applying a public accommodation law to compel an artist to speak or stay silent violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

Lawyers for Defendant Aubrey Elenis, director of the Colorado Civil Rights Division, told the Court they shouldnt accept the case, arguing that Smith hadnt proven a credible threat of enforcement because the record contains no evidence that anyone has asked the Company to create a website for a same-sex wedding in the first place.

On June 30, the majority of the justices disagreed in a 63 vote.

On her website, Smith explains that since filing a lawsuit to protect her First Amendment rights in 2016, she has been bombarded with many messages.

Some have been supportive, but many more have been hate-filled and deeply unsettling, she said. Other messages have shown that there is a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation about the case.

Rather than just believing everything people see and hear, Smith asks people to find and review reputable sources of information about the case in order to make an informed judgment. She even provides a link to sourced information.

To those who have filled her inbox with vile, hate-filled messages, Smith suggests an effort to disagree civilly.

That is the mark of a healthy and free society, she says.

After the ruling, Smith expressed gratitude for the Supreme Courts decision in allowing her to create custom-designed websites that are consistent with her beliefs without the fear of having the state of Colorado punishing her.

This is a victory not just for me, but for all of us, Smith said in a statement posted on social media by ADF. Whether you share my beliefs or completely disagree with them, free speech is for everyone. The government should not force anyone to say something we dont believe, and the Courts decision means that we are all more free today than we were yesterday. We can think, create, imagine, and speak consistent with the core of who we are.

In delivering the opinion of the Court (pdf), Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch said, Like many States, Colorado has a law forbidding businesses from engaging in discrimination when they sell goods and services to the public. Laws along these lines have done much to secure the civil rights of all Americans. But in this particular case, Colorado does not just seek to ensure the sale of goods or services on equal terms. It seeks to use its law to compel an individual to create speech she does not believe. The question we face is whether that course violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.

Were Overjoyed

Jonathan Scruggs, vice president of litigation strategies at ADF, says, The Supreme Court got it right.

Jonathan Scruggs, Vice President of Litigation Strategies at Alliance Defending Freedom. (With permission from Alliance Defending Freedom)

Its a great day for the First Amendment, Scruggs told The Epoch Times in response to the ruling. The government cant force Americans to say something they dont believe. The Court has affirmed this principle again and again and again in other contexts and just applied it here. We are overjoyed.

The bottom line, Scruggs said, was the ruling will protect not just Smith but other people of other beliefs and faiths, and even those of no beliefs or faith.

The government shouldnt have the power to target peoples ideas and expression and exclude them from the marketplace.

Asked if this ruling will have an impact on future cases regarding other forms of forced language and expression, like pronouns, Scruggs said, Absolutely.

It goes right to that argument that the government cant force someone to say something they dont believe is true, Scruggs proposed, adding that the opinion will. have a strong impact in protecting people in schools and in the workplace for being forced to use language that goes against their beliefs.

It strikes down a lot of the arguments used in all of these cases, that the government can override your right to control what you say, and the Supreme Court just resoundingly rejected that argument, Scruggs said.

In his opinion, Gorsuch also noted that, under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, state officials or private citizens may bring actions to enforce the law, and that a variety of penalties can follow, including cease and desist orders and fines of up to $500 per violation. In some cases violators were required to take other affirmative action[s], such as participation in mandatory educational programs and the submission of ongoing compliance reports to state officials.

One of the remedies

Scruggs confirmed to The Epoch Times that one of the remedies in Colorados legal arsenal, which can be used against those found guilty of violating the states anti-discrimination laws, is you have to go through reeducation.

Scruggs noted that the Supreme Court mentions this possibility in its reference to the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.

So thats one of their remedies, Scruggs said. You have to sit there and have your beliefs re-educated.'

Ultimately, Scruggs says, Anti-discrimination laws and the First Amendment can co-exist.

Youre going to see a lot of commentary saying this opinion will hurt people or cause problems, and its just not true, Scruggs suggested, adding that numerous states across the country have already adopted the arguments they presented all along in this case.

All the Supreme Court is saying is you have to respect someones right to say or not to say something, Scruggs explained. It doesnt affect the vast majority of how these laws apply in the vast majority of situations. What it puts a stop to is government officials picking and choosing and saying you have to express certain beliefs and affirm our ideology. Thats what this ruling prevents.

Asked how Smith was feeling since the ruling, Scruggs said, She feels overjoyed.

Shes so proud to be able to stand up not just for her rights but for the rights of all Americans because thats what this case is about, he said.

Free speech is essential, Scruggs explicated. Its an essential right to a free society, especially today when we live in a pluralistic country, and the Supreme Court came out strong and said the answer to that is tolerance, not coercion, and thats exactly right. We are so thankful the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the First Amendment.
Supreme Court Strikes Down Biden Student Loan Forgiveness Program

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts speaks during impeachment proceedings in the Senate chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 30, 2020. (Senate Television via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court voted 63 on June 30 to strike down President Joe Bidens controversial plan to partially forgive student loans.

The six conservative justices voted to invalidate the program in the closely watched case, while the three liberal justices voted to uphold it.

Biden unveiled the plan in August 2022 in a move critics decried as a constitutionally dubious attempt to help Democrats in November 2022 congressional elections. The Congressional Budget Office said the plan could cost about $400 billion, but the Wharton School estimates the price tag could blow past $1 trillion.

The now-invalidated program would have canceled as much as $20,000 in loan principal for each of 40 million borrowers.

Biden denounced the ruling during a late afternoon presser at the White House hours after the decision was released.

There are millions of Americans in this country who feel disappointed and discouraged or even a little bit angry about the courts decision today on student debt.

Sixteen million people had been approved for debt relief and the money was literally about to go out the door. And then Republican elected officials and special interests stepped in.

They said no, noliterally snatching from the hands of millions of Americans thousands of dollars in student debt relief that was about to change their lives, the president said.

Todays decision has closed one path and now were going to pursue another, he said, promising to provide further student loan relief.

On Feb. 28, the Supreme Court heard two related cases back-to-back dealing with the program, Biden v. Nebraska (court file 22-506) and Department of Education v. Brown (court file 22-535).

The Biden v. Nebraska appeal springs from a lawsuit Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina brought against the federal government.

The other appeal arises from a lawsuit filed by two borrowers who say the department improperly denied them the opportunity to participate in the public commenting process and that they would have urged the agency to provide greater debt relief.

In Biden v. Nebraska, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the courts majority opinion (pdf). It was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.

Last year, the Secretary of Education established the first comprehensive student loan forgiveness program, invoking the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003 (HEROES Act) for authority to do so.

The Secretarys plan canceled roughly $430 billion of federal student loan balances, completely erasing the debts of 20 million borrowers and lowering the median amount owed by the other 23 million from $29,400 to $13,600.  Six States sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancellation plan. We agree.

The secretarys plan has modified the cited provisions [in the statute] only in the same sense that the French Revolution modified the status of the French nobilityit has abolished them and supplanted them with a new regime entirely, Roberts said, paraphrasing a comment he made during oral arguments on Feb. 28.

From a few narrowly delineated situations specified by Congress, the secretary has expanded forgiveness to nearly every borrower in the country, the chief justice added.

The economic and political significance of the action by the secretary, who claims the authority to exercise control over a significant portion of the American economy, is staggering by any measure.  Practically every student borrower benefits, regardless of circumstances.

The loan forgiveness plan would have ten times the economic impact that we found significant in concluding that an eviction moratorium implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention triggered analysis under the major questions doctrine, Roberts wrote.

Under the major questions doctrine, when interpreting statutes courts will presume that Congress is not delegating issues of major economic or political significance to executive agencies such as the Department of Education unless it says so. Conservatives favor the doctrine as a way of reining in the administrative state and an executive branch that in their view has too much power.

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Justice Barrett filed a 16-page concurring opinion.

The major questions doctrine has an important role to play when courts review agency action of vast economic and political significance, she wrote, citing a previous precedent.

But the doctrine should not be taken for more than it is the familiar principle that we do not interpret a statute for all it is worth when a reasonable person would not read it that way.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote a 30-page opinion dissenting from the majority in Biden v. Nebraska. The opinion was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The majority invoked the made-up major questions doctrine to jettison the Secretarys loan forgiveness plan.

Small wonder the majority invokes the doctrine, Kagan wrote.

The majoritys normal statutory interpretation cannot sustain its decision. The statute, read as written, gives the Secretary broad authority to relieve a national emergencys effect on borrowers ability to repay their student loans.

The Secretary did no more than use that lawfully delegated authority. So the majority applies a rule specially crafted to kill significant regulatory action, by requiring Congress to delegate not just clearly but also micro-specifically.

In the other case, Department of Education v. Brown, Justice Samuel Alito wrote the courts unanimous decision (pdf) that threw out the two borrowers claim over a lack of legal standing.

These borrowers who did not qualify for maximum relief had argued that the department failed to follow mandatory procedures known as (1) negotiated rulemaking and (2) notice and comment.

The borrowers do not want debt forgiveness under the HEROES Act, which they claim is unlawful. They want debt forgiveness under the [Higher Education Act of 1965].

But [n]othing the Secretary has done deprives them of a chance to seek that result. Because respondents cannot meaningfully connect the absence of loan relief under the HEA to the adoption of the [debt relief] Plan, they have failed to show that their injury is fairly traceable to the Plan.

Because the respondents lack standing, the Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and remanded the case with instructions to dismiss.

The loan forgiveness program was justified by reference to the twin emergencies the Trump administration declared in March 2020 to combat the COVID-19 virus. The national emergency and the public health emergency enabled federal agencies to exercise expansive powers in managing the governments pandemic response but on May 11 Biden ended those emergencies.

The Biden administration separately put a pause on student loan payments and interest during the recent pandemic at an estimated cost of $100 billion but then claimed last year that the pandemic gave it emergency authority under the law to proceed with partial loan forgiveness.

The pause expires in the fall. Interest restarts in September and loan payments resume in October, according to the government. About 26 million people reportedly applied under the program before courts blocked it last year. Of that total, 16 million are said to have been approved before the government stopped accepting applications.

The U.S. Department of Education claimed authority under the HEROES Act to move forward with debt relief on an emergency basis.

But lawmakers involved in the passage of the HEROES Act have said it was enacted after the 9/11 terror attacks to provide student loan relief to military service members and their families, not to cancel debts en masse.

The original version of the legislation in 2001 allowed the department to grant debt relief as a result of a national emergency related to a terrorist attack, but the 2003 version removed the terrorist attack qualifier.

Biden vetoed a congressional measure earlier this month that sought to block the program, which is premised on twin emergencies the Trump administration declared in March 2020 to combat the COVID-19 virus.

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, a Republican, hailed the Supreme Courts ruling in Biden v. Nebraska.

The ruling has stopped the Biden Administrations breathtaking attempt to grab power  [and is] a timely reminder that the President is no king, he said in a statement.

He must work with, and not around, Congress. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the separation of powers principle that has been in place since our countrys founding, and one which has helped preserve freedom for nearly 250 years. And as a result of todays decision, taxpayers have been saved nearly $500 billion.

Abby Shafroth of the National Consumer Law Center said the decision was deeply disappointing.

It is wrong on the law and threatens the financial security of millions of low-income Americans who are struggling with unaffordable student loan debt.

The courts conservative majority broke from existing precedent and well-established limits on the Courts authority to allow these cases to proceed and then pushed aside the plain language of the law authorizing the debt relief program to invent from thin air new limits on the Secretary of Educations authority to protect borrowers in the event of national emergencies.
Supreme Courts Affirmative Action Ruling Draws Celebration and Criticism

Activists from the Asian American Coalition for Education protest against affirmative action outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, on June 29, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The U.S. Supreme Courts decision to strike down race-based admissions policies at U.S. collegesknown as affirmative action policieswas met with celebration as well as disappointment and defiance.

Prior to Thursdays decision, the Supreme Court had allowed colleges to weigh an applicants race when making admissions decisions. In the 1978 case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke and the 2003 case Grutter v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court ruled that colleges could favor minority groups as long as they considered other factors beyond race specifically and did not implement racial quota systems.

The Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) challenged affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, culminating in the Supreme Courts ruling on Thursday in SFFA v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, finding that college race-based admissions programs are unconstitutional. Much of the arguments in the case focused on claims affirmative action policies unfairly impacted college applicants of Asian descent.

The opinion issued today by the United States Supreme Court marks the beginning of the restoration of the colorblind legal covenant that binds together our multi-racial, multi-ethnic nation, said SFFA founder and president Edward Blum. The polarizing, stigmatizing, and unfair jurisprudence that allowed colleges and universities to use a students race and ethnicity as a factor to either admit them or reject them has been overruled. These discriminatory admission practices undermined the integrity of our countrys civil rights laws.

Outside the Supreme Court on Thursday, a group of SFFAs supporters celebrated the decision and held banners and signs with messages such as Stop anti-Asian discrimination, Do not scapegoat Asians, Diversity = skin color, and My race should not hurt me in admissions. Among those celebrating the decision were members of the Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE).

While some Asian Americans championed SFFAs cause, a trio of activists affiliated with OCAAsian Pacific American Advocates were among those who criticized the Supreme Courts decision on Thursday.

Its definitely disheartening to see arguments like this because theres a lot of misinformation and disinformation regarding affirmative action and I think just the main important thing is that Asian Americans, we are not just a monolith, that, like these arguments, does not represent all of us, one of the OCA advocates told a group of reporters outside the court.

Affirmative Action Opponents Cheer Decision

Im so excited for the Asian American community, for our children. This is a historic victory for Asian and all Americans, AACE founding president Yukong Mike Zhao told NTD News. From today on, our children and future generations will not be treated as second-class citizens in college admissions.

Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation, also celebrated in his initial reaction to the Supreme Courts affirmative action decision.

I think that this is a huge victory for students, really, from all backgrounds, all races and all ethnicities, Butcher told NTD News.

Butcher said affirmative action would often result in its beneficiaries being admitted to challenging academic settings where they underperform.

When students come from non-competitive high schools, and they are given a racial preference and admitted into a rigorous college, they struggle, their grades struggle, their confidence suffers, and then their future prospects in the job market suffer, he said.

Butcher also said affirmative action policies would often lead students from minority backgrounds to question whether they earned their place through academic merit or because of their skin color, leading them to feel undeserving and judged by their peers.

We need to get to that point where students can be admitted to a school and know that they got there of their own work, of their own effort, Butcher said.

Affirmative Action Supporters Say Ruling Hurts Progress

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the courts ruling on affirmative action rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress and cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter.

Justice Ketanji Brown similarly wrote that deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life.

Vice President Kamala Harris called the ruling a step backward for our nation. While not explicitly calling for colleges and universities to keep using racial affirmative action policies, Harris and President Joe Biden urged college admissions officials to give serious consideration to factors like a students financial means, where they grew up and attended high school, and personal experiences of hardship or discrimination, including racial discrimination, that a student may have faced.

Going forward, Blum said SFFA will monitor whether colleges begin applying new admissions factors that serve as a stand-in for an applicants race or ethnicity.

If we feel that college or university is using something that basically mirrors racial classifications, thats something that we would definitely object, Blum said.

From NTD News
According to the Supreme Courts latest ruling, race is no longer a factor in college admissions. How could this decision impact students across the country, and how is President Joe Biden reacting?

Worsened air quality in Washington and across much of the upper portion of the United States is leading to renewed calls for a climate emergency. Some lawmakers are pushing to block Biden from declaring one.

New estimates say that Americas debt will climb to a record high toward the end of the decade, despite the debt limit deal lawmakers reached earlier this year.

House Republicans are taking more steps to probe the alleged Biden scheme, requesting interviews with key officials from the administration.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is visiting Ukraine Thursday and talking about ongoing military support. Hes the first Republican presidential candidate to visit the country.

Whats the situation right now in Russia following the Wagner mutiny? A former Putin adviser joins us to unpack the situation.
Taiwan Calls for Defence Official to Be Stationed in De Facto Diplomatic Mission

The Taiwanese foreign minister has called for an exchange of defence attaches to be stationed at their respective diplomatic missions.

I think it is very important when the Australian government is paying so much more attention to the regional security issues for the two countries to be able to share their observations, their assessment of the situation, Wu told The Australian newspaper on June 27.

I know the Australian office over here has started speaking with our security agencies, and that kind of development is very important.

It shows that the Australian government has attached great importance to speaking with our security officials  to understand our perspectives on how to prevent the worst from happening. So this is a great step forward.

The Taiwanese government said it would also look to station a military officer at Taipeis de facto embassy in Canberra.

I think it is very important for us to have somebody who can speak on behalf of the security agencies over here, especially (Taiwans) Ministry of National Defence, so that we can have a systematic or institutionalised way of engaging with each other and for information sharing, assessment sharing, things like that, Wu said.

But again, you know, it is up to  the Australian government.

The move would be similar to those taken by Japan, Singapore, and the United States in Taiwan.

Australia has no formal embassy in Taiwan due to its One China foreign policy stance, which officially recognises Beijing but allows countries to hold informal ties with Taiwan.

The call from Taipei comes as the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Taipei Times on June 27 that the Australian government, through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, appointed a director of strategic affairs to its de facto embassy in 2022, following an increased threat from Beijing.

The ministry said the director had been in close contact with the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense and other security agencies.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to confirm the appointment.

Taiwan Appreciative of Albanese Government: Foreign Minister

The foreign minister also stressed that Taiwan was delighted with the current Australian governments support toward Taiwan.

Australia always stresses the importance of regional peace and stability, and also opposes the unilateral change of the status quo and, at the same time, supports Taiwans international participation, Wu said.

So the Australian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Albanese, his policies towards Taiwan, have been appreciated by the Taiwanese people.

The comments from the foreign minister come as a new study revealed that in the event of a military conflict between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan, just over half of Australians would be against physically entering the contest on Taiwanese soil.

However, Australians were keen to still support Taiwan, with 80 percent saying they would accept Taiwanese refugees into Australia, 76 percent supporting the imposition of economic and diplomatic sanctions on Beijing, 64 percent supporting the supply of military aid, and another 61 percent supporting the use of the Australian Navy to prevent China blockading the region around Taiwan.

The poll, completed by Sydney-based Lowy Institute, also showed that Australians still see Beijing as a security threat, with a majority of the country believing it is very or somewhat likely that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will become a military threat to the country within the next 20 years.

Australians dont want to see a conflict in our region and are cautious about the countrys involvement if a war did break out, said Ryan Neelam, the director of the Lowy Institutes Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program.

But they are also prepared to stand by democracies that come under threat.
The Wagner Revolt Leaves Losers Worldwide

Members of Wagner group prepare to pull out from the headquarters of the Southern Military District to return to their base in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on June 24, 2023. (Roman Romokhov/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

A suspect deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and mercenary commander Yevgeny Prigozhin ended the short-lived but stunning Wagner Revolt.

Revolt it was. The Wagner force took Rostov, a major city and the site of the Russian Armys headquarters for the Ukraine War. A Wagner flying column with tanks and mechanized infantry rolled toward Moscow. Wagner forces fought at least two heavy skirmishes with Russian Army units and shot down a half-dozen helicopters and a couple of fixed-wing aircraft. Thats real combat, not a Potemkin faux-revolt.

Putin angrily called Prigozhin a traitor. Prigozhin clearly launched an attack on the Russian state.

Prigozhin has made several claims. Since January hes criticized Defense Ministry warfighting decisions, bluntly arguing the war is run by corrupt incompetents. The Kremlins recent decision to disband his mercenary organization outraged him. On June 10 Wagner fighters were told to sign government military contracts by July 1. Prigozhin also claimed his move was a response to an attack (presumably by the Russian Army) that killed over 30 Wagner fighters. We started our march because of an injustice, he said in an audio statement. The Wall Street Journal reports he intended to seize senior Defense Ministry leaders traveling in southern Russia. When intelligence services exposed the plot, he attacked.

Prigozhin has done well for a brutal thug and a caterer. He casts himself and his men as Russian patriots fighting for Russia in Ukraine, Syria, and Africa. He definitely has many Russian admirers.

With the plot exposed, it appears Prigozhin gambled his bold act would ignite a mass revolt. Thats grandiose to the point of delusion. Capturing senior military leaders wouldnt end systemic military corruption. Fundamental change requires removing Putin. Despite the surprise foray, the battles and global media focus, after 24 hours of rumor, fear, and doubt Putin clearly remained in control of the military and intelligence services. If Vlad fled the Kremlin (a rumor) he returned.

The Wagner column stopped, retreated to Rostov. Prigozhins men returned to their cantonment areas.

In Russia, and definitely in Putins Russia, traitors, real or imagined, are executed, or assassinated. Their accomplices die hideous deaths.

So the ostensible arrangement has a definite brow-wrinkling quality. Putin remains in powercheck. However, Prigozhin avoids execution and enjoys exile in Russia-dominated Belarus.

The traitor lives. How long? Stay tuned.

But heres Putins short-term payoff: The brow wrinkling arrangement has the appearance of strength and stability.

The arrangement enables these Putin-desired events. The Russian Army absorbs the Wagner mercenary corps. The glorious war to absorb Ukraine in Putins reviving Russian Empire continues.

But it aint all over. The Wagner Revolt fizzled, but it left a lot of dead and wounded soldiers and several political losers.

Putin is a definite political loser. Prigozhin, a friend and protege, had the guts to challenge Putin and organize a conspiracy that advanced to the trigger-pulling stage.

Prigozhin didnt dispute Putins big lie about the Ukraine War, that Russia is fighting Nazis and NATO. The merc commander did something more lethal: He directly challenged the Kremlins veneer of competence and its mystical trust in overwhelming Russian military might.

Corrupted military mightslipshod training, buying poorly manufactured weapons, officers pilfering maintenance fundsdoesnt win the war to conquer Ukraine but at the bottom line it doesnt defend Mother Russia.

After failing to win his special operation in February 2022, Putin has bet on waging a long war that will strain Ukraines allies and ultimately destroy Ukraine by attrition.

Russian will is attriting. Russias long war strategy may be another loser.

I distrust mercenary organizations. In August 2000 I recorded an NPR Morning Edition commentary expressing skepticism about the U.N.s proposal to hire mercenary peacekeepers. In the 14th century, Italian Condottieri (contractors) mercenary companies often disregarded the contracts with city-states and took power to themselves. Wagner has done that in the Central African Republic. Fair bet Prigozhins Wagner trainerswhile working for Russiahave made some money from filched CAR natural resources.

Mercenary organizations are another loser. With Wagner kaput the Kremlin has lost its plausibly deniable military and economic actor in Africa.

Ultimately, communist China is a loser. The Chinese Communist Party fears its own people. Tiananmen Square demonstrated that. Putin survived but in Chinese terms hes lost face. That loss will affect the painstakingly constructed Xi-Putin bromance.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Fidelity Investments became the latest asset manager on Thursday to seek permission to offer a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund, offering fresh fraud safeguards as issuers appear to perceive regulators resistance to such funds has weakened.

The resubmitted filing by the Cboe BZX exchange seeks permission to offer the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust. Fidelity originally filed to offer the fund in 2021 before it was rejected in January 2022 by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A Fidelity spokesperson said in an email the company has been seeking since 2014 to offer a spot bitcoin ETF.

The $4.3 trillion asset manager joins BlackRock Inc., WisdomTree Inc. and Bitwise, who in the past two weeks have filed, or refiled, for permission to offer an ETF that actually holds bitcoin, rather than trading in crypto futures or other products, in an effort to give investors exposure to crypto prices.

Issuers appear to be emboldened by entering into so-called surveillance-sharing agreements aimed at allaying the SECs concerns about fraud and market manipulation. Before the recent adoption of such agreements, the SEC rejected each of the more than 70 spot bitcoin ETF applications, which date back to 2013.

The addition of this agreement could potentially address the SECs concern about manipulation of spot bitcoin prices, CFRAs head of ETF Data and Analytics Aniket Ullal told etf.com in an email. However, it still feels a little speculative, since the SEC has not given any direct indication that they are ready to approve spot bitcoin ETFs.

The surveillance agreements are intended to reduce the possibility of market manipulation and permit broad exchanges of information about who is trading as well as clearing activity. Cathie Woods ARK Investment Management, with 21Shares, has taken similar steps.

Deterring Fraud

The filing on June 29 said Cboe agreed to take steps helpful in detecting, investigating, and deterring fraud and market manipulation.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has made no secret of the issues he sees in the crypto industry, telling the Wall Street Journal June 8 that the space is rife with noncompliance and hype masquerading as reality.

He made those comments as the regulator is being sued by Grayscale Investments, which is fighting the SECs denial of its effort to convert its $18.8 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into the first spot bitcoin ETF.

Earlier this month, the SEC sued Coinbase Global Inc.BlackRocks crypto partner in its proposed ETFand Binance, the worlds largest crypto exchange, for violations including operating as an unregistered securities exchange.

Grayscale has offered strong arguments against the SECs denial, according to industry experts who are raising their expectations that a spot bitcoin will be approved this year.

Contact Ron Day at ron.day@etf.com or follow him on Twitter at @RonDayETF





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Top Fauci Adviser Wanted to Hide Emails From the Public, Documents Show

A top adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci sought to shield his emails from the public, a newly disclosed document shows.

Dr. David Morens, a longtime official at the National Institutes of Healths (NIHs) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told a group of scientists that he used his personal email because he did not want his messages to be released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

As you know, I try to always communicate on gmail because my NIH email is FOIAd constantly, Morens wrote to Dr. Peter Daszak and others on Sept. 9, 2021. He also wrote, Stuff sent to my gmail gets to my phone, but not my NIH computer.

Morens said he would delete any emails he did not want to see published by the media.

The emails were first obtained by the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and first reported by The Intercept.

Unless theres much more to the story than is reflected here, this looks like a pretty brazen effort to avoid public records requirements, Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Publics Trust, told The Epoch Times via email.

Transparency is one of the primary expectations that Americans have of their public servants. The American publics trust in its government is already at dangerously low levels and if officials are deliberately and audaciously attempting to evade their obligations and hide their activities, its bound to become even worse, Chamberlain added.

Morens, the NIH, and the NIAID did not respond to requests for comment.

Morens also wrote that his Gmail account had been hacked, meaning he might have to use his work email for the time being.

Dr. David Morens in a file image. (NIH via The Epoch Times)

Worked for Fauci

Morens has worked since 1988 as a senior adviser to the NIAID director, who until late 2022 was Fauci.

Morens was writing to a group including Kristian Anderson of Scripps Research, Dr. Robert Garry of Tulane University, and Edward Holmes, a professor at the University of Sydney.

The NIAID funded risky experiments at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, where the first COVID-19 cases were detected in 2019. Daszaks EcoHealth Alliance funneled the money to the lab.

Emails that have been released under FOIA show that Fauci and other top U.S. officials scrambled shortly after the pandemic started to address the idea that COVID-19 originated in the same lab they funded, referencing a paper from Chinese scientists that found a virus they were experimenting with was 96 percent similar to COVID-19. The emails showed that Fauci participated in a call that included Andersen, Garry, and Holmes.

That trio soon published a paper that claimed to show COVID-19 is not a laboratory construct nor a purposefully manipulated virus. Fauci prompted the drafting of the paper, according to other disclosed emails. Fauci has not denied he was involved.

Morens, meanwhile, coauthored a May 2020 paper with Daszak that said since 1999, Chinas numerous live-animal markets have arguably led to three important epidemics and now, a pandemic, although the ultimate origins of pandemics can rarely be known with certainty. Morens also called Daszak the smartest guy in the room with respect to these coronaviruses.

This aerial view shows the P4 laboratory (L) on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in Chinas central Hubei Province on May 13, 2020. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Instruction From Fauci

In another message, Morens revealed Fauci instructed him to speak to the press about the origins of COVID-19.

For many months, I have not been approved to talk about origins on the record. But today, to my total surprise, my boss Tony actually ASKED me to speak to the National Geographic on the record about origins, Morens wrote on July 29, 2021.

I interpret this to mean that our government is lightening up but that Tony doesnt want his fingerprints on origin stories, Morens added.

Morens told National Geographic about the search for the pandemic origins that, at some point, it crosses over from doing due diligence to wasting time and being crazy.

Fauci could not be reached. Fauci has consistently backed the theory that COVID-19 emerged from nature, even though it has not been found in nature years later.

Morens was writing to Bloomberg reporter Jason Gale and others, prefacing the disclosure that he was instructed to talk by saying that he could speak to reporters, but typically on background or off the record.

In the US government we all have to get approval from HHS or the Whitehouse [sic] to speak to the press, Morens wrote, referring to the Department of Health and Human Services, the NIH parent agency. Sometimes they are touchy about certain issues and say no. For many months, I have not been approved to talk about origins on the record.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) in Washington on Aug. 12, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Concerns

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the select committee, said in a June 29 letter to Morens that the emails suggest that you may have used your personal e-mail to avoid transparency and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), potentially intentionally deleted federal records, and acted in your official capacity to disparage your fellow scientists, including by encouraging litigation against them.

Your e-mails also raise concerns that you may have knowledge or information suggesting Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), wished to influence the COVID-19 origins narrative without his fingerprints,' Wenstrup wrote.

Wenstrup said he was troubled by the emails and requested communications from Morenss Gmail account.

The congressman also wants Morens to sit before the panel and answer questions.
Trump Says He Could Skip 1st GOP Debate and Hold Alternative Rally Instead

Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, stands on stage after being introduced during the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women's Lilac Luncheon in Concord, N.H., on June 27, 2023. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

Former President Donald Trump has indicated that he is considering skipping the Republican Partys first primary debate next month, noting that there is a possibility he will organize an alternative event instead.

Citing his lead in polls and what he described as the hosting networks bias against him, Trump told Reuters in a telephone interview that he will possibly not attend the debate, to be hosted by Fox News on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Why would I give them time to make statements? Why would I do that when Im leading them by 50 points and 60 points, he said.

Trump called Fox News a hostile network and said he saw little merit in debating candidates who are far behind him in polling, like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

In recent months, Trumps relationship with the Rupert Murdoch-owned network appears to have turned increasingly sour. He has criticized the outlet for not covering his rallies or live speeches like it used to, downplaying his popularity with potential voters, and promoting the campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

So interesting to watch Fox News cover the small and unenthusiastic 139-person crowd in Staten Island for DeSantis, but stay as far away as possible from coverage of the thousands of peoplemany unable to get inat the Club 47 event in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump wrote on Truth Social in February.

However, Trump said he was entertaining offers to hold a separate event during the scheduled debate or later that same evening.

Weve had a lot of offers, whether its a rally or whether its an interview by somebody else, he said. Not to be braggadocious but the debate will not be a very exciting one if Im not there.

The Republican Partys first primary debate will be a chance for voters to learn more about the pool of GOP candidates as they engage with each other and showcase their political views, which could be helpful in deciding which candidate to vote for.

TrumpBiden Matchup

National polls have consistently shown that Trump continues to remain the GOPs favorite candidate in the 2024 election. The former commander-in-chief also continues to hold a significant endorsement edge over all other candidates.

According to the RealClearPolitics (RCP) average as of June 28, Trump was outpacing his nearest Republican challenger, DeSantis, by more than 30 percentage points. All other GOP presidential hopefuls ranked in the single digits.

On the other side of the political spectrum, RCP shows that President Joe Biden is the clear frontrunner for his partys nomination. The Democrat president holds a whopping 50-point margin over environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., even though his familys name carries considerable cachet. His father was an attorney general, and his uncle was President John F. Kennedy; both were assassinated in the 1960s.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (L) speaks during a campaign event to launch his 2024 presidential bid at the Boston Park Plaza in Boston, Mass., on April 19, 2023. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images); President Joe Biden (R) speaks to the crowd during a celebration event at St. Muredachs Cathedral in Ballina, Ireland, on April 14, 2023. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

A TrumpBiden hypothetical matchup showed Trump with only a 0.6-percent leadstatistically insignificant considering that many polls included in the RCP average have margins of error of about 3 percent.

Meanwhile, Trump has drawn some criticism for suggesting he may skip the debate altogether, including from Christie, who accused the former president of being afraid to join the debate out of fear of losing his lead in the race.

If Trump doesnt want to debate then he doesnt want to be president, Christie, a former Trump ally who is now one of his fiercest critics, said in a June 26 post on Twitter.

Reuters contributed to this report.

From NTD News
Trump Says Wagner Group Mutiny Somewhat Weakened Putin

Russian police officers patrol in an area outside PMC Wagner Centre in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on June 24, 2023. (Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images)

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said a brief military mutiny by Russias Wagner Group private military force put Russian President Vladimir Putin on a less stable footing in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

You could say that [Putin is] still there, hes still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people, Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.

The Wagner Group is an extralegal private military force that has enjoyed the sanction and financial support of the Russian government under Putin. Throughout its history, the Wagner Group has fought in conflicts alongside regular Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has appeared to open a rift between Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russias official military leadership, with the private military leader accusing Russian officers and defense officials of corruption and incompetence. This apparent rift culminated in Prigozhin calling for a mutiny on June 23 and marching his Wagner forces toward the Russian capital city of Moscow, causing bloodshed between Wagner forces and the Russian military before Prigozhin reached a deal to call off the march.

In all, the mutiny lasted about a day, but it has already led some global observers like U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to interpret the internal conflict as a sign of instability and weakness in the Russian state. Zelenskyy said the mutiny exposed the weakness of Putins regime.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov claimed he and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also discussed the mutiny and both concluded that Russian authorities are weakened.

Things are moving in the right direction. Ukraine will win, Reznikov added.

While agreeing that the Wagner mutiny could have undermined Putins grip on power, Trump warned that Putin losing control of the Russian government may not bring about a simple resolution to the war in Ukraine.

You dont know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse, Trump told Reuters on Thursday.

How To End The War

Trump, who is currently leading Republican presidential primary polls for 2024, is among a number of 2024 candidates prioritizing a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine over continuing to arm and enable Ukrainian forces to keep fighting.

I think the biggest thing that the U.S. should be doing right now is making peacegetting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace. You can do it, Trump said Thursday. This is the time to do it, to get the two parties together to force peace.

Describing how he would make a peace deal happen as president, Trump did not rule out the possibility of the Ukrainian government ceding some of its territory. Russia currently controls a swathe of eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula.

Ukraine and Russia have been in a simmering conflict since 2014, after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from power. Yanukovych was on generally friendly terms with neighboring Russia, and pro-Russian Ukrainians in the eastern Donbas region sought to separate from Ukraine with support from Russia. Forces of the post-Yanukovych Ukrainian government have been involved in low-level fighting in the Donbas region since then. Putin cited a need to protect these pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine as part of his reason for invading Ukraine in February of last year. Prior to Yanukovychs ouster, Ukraine had also given Russia access to the Crimean port of Sevastopol. After Yanukovychs ouster, Russian forces annexed Crimea with relatively minimal resistance.

Trump said everything would be subject to negotiation if he were president, but also said the vigorous fighting of the Ukrainian side has earned a lot of credit.

In a recent interview with NBC News, Zelenskyy said he is worried about statements of diminished support for Ukraine from some U.S. presidential candidates and raised the prospect of Russian forces being able to seize territory beyond Ukraine if his government doesnt continue to receive enough international support.

Bidens administration has insisted it will continue to support Ukrainian forces until they can achieve battlefield successes that would give the Ukrainian government a favorable position in any potential peace deal with Russia. In a June 2 speech in Finland, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a cease-fire that simply freezes current lines in place and lets Putin consolidate control over the territory he has seized, and rest, rearm, and re-attackthat is not a just and lasting peace.

By contrast, Trump told Reuters, I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war.

From NTD News
The other side of EVs

While many car manufacturers, consumers, celebrities, politicians, and states have enthusiastically embraced the idea of replacing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs), there are some aspects of EVs that need to be considered.

EVs are not a new concept. In 1898, Ferdinand Porsche introduced the Egger-Lohner C.2 Phaeton, a fully electric car also known as the P1. Two years later, Porsche introduced the Semper Vivus, a hybrid car that featured an electric motor powered first by a battery, then by combustion engines that fed electrical-power generators.

Ferdinand Porsches first hybrid vehicle, the 1890 Semper Vivus, introduced two years after he created the all-electric P1. (Lucille Cottin/Shutterstock)

Henry Ford and Nikola Tesla also experimented with EVs. However, because it was significantly more affordable than the EVs of the time, Fords Model T doomed the EV concept and led to the widespread acceptance of ICE vehicles. The gasoline-powered vehicles became widely available thanks to very efficient manufacturing processes. And the fact that gasoline was more readily available than electricity in the United States and many other parts of the world not only played a role in the initial dominance of gasoline-powered vehicles, but also has continued to impact the EV market.

Electric vehicles tend to be much heavier than internal combustion engine vehicles due to the large number of batteries providing their power. (Thomas Soellner/Shutterstock)

Electricity is a secondary energy source; it must first be generated before it can be used to power anything. In the United States, most electricity is produced by natural gas-fueled power plants, followed by nuclear and coal-fired plants, and then hydroelectric-, wind-, and solar-powered facilities. This means that the argument of EV fans that their cars are superior to fossil-fuel-powered vehicles falls flat; natural gas, a fossil fuel, is projected to be the leading fuel used in electrical generation for the foreseeable future.

Several other often-overlooked factors should be examined when considering an EV. Among these is the environmental cost of strip-mining for the lithium and cobalt required to manufacture EV batteries. This process creates more harmful emissions than those typically produced in the manufacturing of an ICE vehicle; requires substantial amounts of fresh water; and disrupts the environment, wildlife, and local residents. Also, unlike traditional wet cell automotive batteries, which are easily recycled, only about 5 percent of EV batteries are recycled. These batteries are said to have a lifespan of about 10 years, at which time they need to be replaced, sometimes at a cost approaching that of a new EV.

Connecting an EV to a recharging power cable is very similar to using a traditional fuel nozzle at a gasoline station.(Nerthuz/Shutterstock)

Another battery issue is their flammability; in Florida, several EVs reportedly burst into flames after being exposed to high levels of saltwater caused by storm-related flooding. In one case, the fire completely destroyed a home after spreading from the garage in which the vehicle was parked. Other EVs have been reported to burst into flames after being involved in crashes. These fires required huge amounts of water to extinguish, only to reignite either at the crash scene or after being transported to a storage facility, again requiring a huge amount of water to douse. Because the batteries used in EVs cannot be easily repaired if damaged, an alarming number of EVs are considered total losses by insurance companies after incurring relatively minor damage. Consequently, owners of EVs can be charged much more for insurance coverage in comparison to the cost of covering an ICE-powered vehicle.

Fast-recharging stations for EVs resemble gasoline stations, with multiple chargers to allow several cars to fill up simultaneously. (3D Gear FOTO/Shutterstock)

Another consideration: The electrical grids in the United States and in other countries need to be overhauled to switch to renewable sources such as solar and wind in order to be able to supply the electricity needed to power the projected large numbers of EVs in the future.

For these and other reasons, Toyota, currently the worlds leading manufacturer of vehicles, isnt rushing headlong into switching from ICE to EV production. While the firm does offer an EV, a wide range of hybrid vehicles, and the innovative, hydrogen-fueled Mirai, the company is focusing its considerable technological expertise on improving the efficiency of ICE engines. Toyota spokespersons have cited both the lack of recharging facilities in much of the world and the expected continued demand for ICE power as compelling reasons for the companys stance. And while hydrogen power shows great potential, the only U.S. public refueling stations are located in California.

Because many electricity generating plants are powered by natural gas and coal, EVs are tied to the same emissions they are said to eliminate.(Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock)

Even in areas where public EV charging systems are plentiful, there can be issues with finding an open charger thats capable of fast-charging the vehicle when its needed. At present, most private EVs are charged overnight at home; in many cases, a residential electrical system needs to be upgraded to allow fast-charging, otherwise it can take up to 24 hours to fully charge an EV. Extreme heat and cold can reduce the range of an EV by increasing how much energy the vehicle requires under these scenarios, and thus affecting how often the EV needs to be recharged. The standard for an EV driving range seems to be about 250 miles, which falls in line with the typical daily commute of about 50 miles, but could impact longer drives. EV tow vehicles reportedly have seen large drops in actual range when an EV is towing a boat or trailer.

EVs have plusses to be sure, but all sides need to be examined before plugging in.
US Embassy Issues Warning to American Citizens: Avoid French Cities

The U.S. national flag waves on the territory of the embassy of a U.S. Embassy in a file phot. (Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. Embassy issued a bulletin urging American citizens in France to exercise caution amid widespread rioting and unrest following a police-involved shooting earlier this week.

Following the June 27 police shooting in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre, demonstrations are taking place in the greater Paris region and other major urban centers with reports of damage to private property and public buildings, the U.S. Embassy said in a bulletin, dated June 29.

It noted that those demonstrations and spontaneous protests, which many have described as rioting, are expected to continue and may turn violent.

American citizens should avoid large gatherings and areas with significant police activity, said the bulletin. Some cities are also imposing curfews amid the violence, it said.

As always, it is a good practice to notify friends or family of your whereabouts, the alert said, adding that public transportation is being affected.

The Embassy advises Americans in France to avoid demonstrations and protest activity; avoid areas with significant police activity; if unavoidable, protect yourself or find shelter; follow the advice of police and local authorities; and monitor local media for updates. Be aware of your surroundings, it also cautions.

Violence flared in the cities of Marseille, Lyon, Pau, Toulouse, Strasbourg, and Lille as well as Paris after the death of a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent. Footage uploaded on social media appeared to show an individual behind the wheel of a stopped yellow car as police officers leaned on the vehicle with their guns drawn. The driver then took off as one of the police officers, who appeared to be sitting partially on the hood, opened fire.

Firefighters stand as they extinguish burning vehicles during clashes between protesters and police, after the death of a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop in Nanterre, Paris suburb, France, on June 28, 2023. (Reuters/Stephanie Lecocq)

Also on Friday, the United Kingdoms Foreign Ministry issued an alert to citizens that since June 27th, riots have taken place across France. Locations and timing of riots are unpredictable. You should monitor the media, avoid areas where riots are taking place.

Details

President Emmanuel Macron left a European Union summit in Brussels early to attend what was the second cabinet crisis meeting in two days. He has asked social media to remove the most sensitive footage of rioting and to disclose identities of people fomenting violence.

In the southern city of Marseille, Frances second largest, authorities banned demonstrations set for Friday, and encouraged restaurants to close outdoor areas early. They said all public transport would stop at 7 p.m.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said the government would consider all options to stop intolerable violence.

Interior Minister Darmanin said 1,200 police were deployed overnight and 2,000 would be out in force Wednesday in the Paris region and around other big cities to maintain order.

A car, burnt during clashes between youths and police, in a street the day after the death of a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop, in Nanterre, Paris suburb, on June 28, 2023. (Antony Paone/Reuters)

But Yassine Bouzrou, a lawyer for the family of the killed teen, told The Associated Press they want the police officer pursued for murder instead of manslaughter, and want the investigation handed to a different region because they fear Nanterre investigators wont be impartial.

Amid the rioting, videos posted social media showed urban landscapes ablaze. A tram was set alight in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses were gutted in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.

Looters ransacked shops including an Apple store in the eastern city of Strasbourg, a local official said. A source told Reuters that several Casino supermarkets had been looted.

In Nanterre, on the capitals outskirts, rioters torched cars, barricaded streets, and hurled projectiles at police following an earlier protest.

It come also as Snapchat spokesperson Rachel Racusen told AP the company has increased its moderation since Tuesday to detect and act on content related to the rioting in France.

Violence has devastating consequences, and we have zero tolerance for content that promotes or incites hatred or violent behavior on any part of Snapchat, Racusen said. We proactively moderate this type of content and when we find it, we remove it and take appropriate action. We do allow content that is factually reporting on the situation.

The unrest has revived memories of three weeks of nationwide riots in 2005 that forced then President Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency. That wave of violence erupted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois following the death of two young men electrocuted in a power substation as they hid from police.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
US Needs Plan to Coordinate Research Before Next Pandemic, Officials Say

Melva Mlambo, right, and Puseletso Lesofi, both medical scientists prepare to sequence COVID-19 omicron samples at the Ndlovu Research Center in Elandsdoorn, South Africa, on Dec. 8, 2021. (Jerome Delay/AP Photo, File)

Public health officials say the United States needs a plan and infrastructure to avoid the fragmented response to a new disease that marked its response to the COVID pandemic.

We dont have a systemic approach to medical product testing, said Dr. Janet Woodcock, principal deputy commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Dr. Mark McClellan, director of the Margolis Center at Duke University and a former FDA commissioner, agreed. He said public health officials should work with state and local offices to devise strategies and set up systems to streamline necessary research for the next virus.

We didnt have, and still dont have, a unitized response, McClellan said.

The pair participated in a forum hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) think tank on June 30. The forum moderator, Dr. Brian Miller of AEI, believes such discussions are the first step toward solving the problem. He said public and private health care entities need to communicate more.

Janet Woodcock, Principal Deputy Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the United States needs to implement a better system for public and private health care agencies to share information. Here she is shown at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on July 20, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Public health infrastructure operated largely in a silo [during the pandemic], Miller said.

Woodcock said the development of therapeutics and vaccines for COVID was hampered by a system that prevents centralization.

She said the United Kingdom, with its National Health Service, could gather and evaluate data and implement what was learned more quickly than the United States. She said the FDA was criticized for using research from Sweden and Israel, but they had the data available sooner than American researchers.

We celebrate our federated approach, but sometimes were a victim of it, Woodcock said.

Miller agreed.

We are a country of countries in many ways, he said.

McClellan said the problem is rooted in federal health care agencies with separate missions and funding. They dont regularly communicate. So, they had to scramble to get the data when the pandemic came along. He said the problem was worse in the early days of the pandemic.

Chief clinical officer John Corman MD at Virginia Mason administers a dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at the Amazon Meeting Center in downtown Seattle, Washington, on Jan. 24, 2021. (GRANT HINDSLEY/AFP via Getty Images)

This one didnt quite come together, he said.

According to McClellan, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), FDA, and the National Institutes for Health (NIH) have similar but distinct missions. With the CDC focused on communicable diseases, the FDA regulating medicines and food, and the NIH doing research, its understandable that they dont always know what information the others have.

For example, he said the CDCs mission to protect Americans from diseases that may present a health, safety, or security threat is very broad. So, it works with various research facilities, scientists, and others who can help with that mission.

He said the agency often oversees state and local agencies that receive federal funding. Gathering and organizing data from so many disparate sources is difficult.

Its understandable that its hard for them to put that all together. Its a very broad mission, McClellan said.

Agencies Need Answers

Woodcock added that there can be hundreds of studies at any time. She said they need a system for getting information to answer health officials questions when dealing with a new challenge. The lack of open lines of communication hampered that work.

We had tens of thousands of people involved in trials (during the pandemic) that couldnt answer the questions, she said.

She said the pharmaceutical industry has such research infrastructure and provided much of the data her agency used to evaluate various tests, treatments, and vaccines.

She said part of the solution would be to coordinate existing efforts so that the data can be gathered and assessed quickly. Then, the information must be provided to local communities. She said the best way to do that will differ depending on the community.

For example, Woodcock said that in one community, the FDA found that emergency medical personnel were able to connect federal officials with local health care providers. She said the ambulance crews knew the community and who were the best conduits for passing and receiving information.

Pragmatism, Flexibility are A Must

She agreed with McClellans suggestion that agricultural extension services might be an effective means of communication in rural areas.

We need to be pragmatic, flexible, and ready to go, she said. Thats creativity. Weve got to think of whos capable.

Ultimately, they agreed that a framework needs to be developed before the next pandemic.

Woodcock said the system must produce reliable, evidence-based information in a timely manner. It is something that can and should be done as soon as possible, she said.

Like the European countries, McClellan said that the United States already has the information and means of coordinating the work. He said separate agencies are already doing some of the work. The United States needs a plan to bring it all together, he said.

We do things like this now. We just havent done it intentionally, he said.
US Overdose Deaths From Xylazine-Laced Fentanyl Have Surged Since 2019: CDC

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa commercial facility seized more than 3,100 pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl powder, fentanyl pills and heroin as part of the second largest methamphetamine bust along the southwest border in the history of the agency on Oct. 9, 2020. (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration)

The number of Americans fatally overdosing from illegally manufactured fentanyl laced with the animal tranquilizer xylazine soared between 2019 and 2022, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 30.

Between January 2019 and June 2022, the monthly percentage of overdose deaths from fentanyl combined with xylazine rose by 276 percent among 21 jurisdictions, which included 20 states and the District of Columbia, according to data in the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Specifically, the total monthly number of illicitly manufactured fentanyl (IMF) deaths with xylazine increased from 12 in January 2019 to 188 in June 2022.

Between January 2021 through June 2022, xylazine was detected in 4,859 IMF-involved deaths, amounting to 9 percent of the 53,969 IMF-involved deaths among 32 jurisdictions, the CDC said.

The substance was also co-involvedmeaning it was listed as a cause of death on the death certificate or medical examiners or coroners reportin 6.9 percent, or 3,735, of those deaths between 2021 and 2022.

According to the CDC, the states with the highest number of IMF-involved deaths with xylazine detected were Maryland (27.7 percent or 923 deaths), Connecticut (26.4 percent or 507 deaths), and Pennsylvania (23.3 percent or 1,285 deaths).

The CDC noted that the timing and magnitude of increase in the detection of xylazine among IMF-involved deaths may be in part due to the increased frequency of testing as well as a true increased presence in the drug supply in recent years.

However, because of inconsistent testing, detection is still likely underestimated, the CDC added.

What Is Xylazine?

Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the data show that fentanyl combined with xylazine is increasingly dangerous and deadly.

This is why the Biden-Harris Administration recently designated it as an emerging threat, Gupta said in a statement. The Administration is working tirelessly to launch a whole-of-government approach to tackle this emerging threat head-on, protect public health and public safety, and save lives.

Xylazine, also known as tranq or tranq dope, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for veterinary use more than 50 years ago.

The tranquilizer is primarily used for sedation, anesthesia, muscle relaxation, and analgesia in animals such as horses, cows, cats, and other non-human mammals.

Xylazine has never been approved for human use but has, over the years, found its way into Americas illicit drug supply, with drug dealerspredominantly the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels in Mexicomixing it with other narcotics like cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl to enhance their effects or increase their weight and thus their street value.

The drug can also easily be obtained online.

Xylazine Designated An Emerging Threat

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), xylazine causes drowsiness and amnesia and can slow down breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure to dangerously low levels.

Repeated use of xylazine can cause severe wounds or skin ulcers, abscesses, and a string of other health complications. People who inject drug mixtures containing xylazine can also develop necrosisthe death of skin and organ tissuewhich may lead to amputation, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Taking opioids in combination with xylazine and other central nervous system depressants such as alcohol or benzodiazepines such as Xanax increases the risk of life-threatening overdose.

Because xylazine is not an opioid, the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone (sold under the brand name Narcan), does not help address xylazines effects on breathing.

In April 2023, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy designated fentanyl adulterated or associated with xylazine as an emerging threat to the United States.

A month later in May, a bipartisan coalition of 39 attorneys general urged Congress to approve legislation to combat the abuse of xylazine.

CDC provisional data estimates that more than two-thirds (68 percent) of the reported 107,081 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2022 involved synthetic opioids other than methadone, principally illicitly manufactured fentanyl.

Prior to June 2021, the United States had never had more than 100,000 overdose deaths in a single year.

In an effort to address national drug control programs, the Biden administration has requested $46.1 billion from Congress, marking a $5 billion increase from the FY 2022 request, and a $2.3 billion increase over the FY 2023 enacted level.
US Supreme Court Takes Up Major Second Amendment Dispute

The U.S. Supreme Court will rule on whether people under domestic violence restraining orders have the right to possess firearms, announcing Friday that it will hear a case on the matter during its next term.

The court on Friday agreed to review an appeal by President Joe Bidens administration of a lower courts ruling that found that the law ran afoul of the Second Amendments right to keep and bear arms because it fell outside our nations historical tradition of firearm regulation.

The case involves a Texas man, Zackey Rahimi, charged with illegal gun possession while subject to a domestic violence restraining order after assaulting his girlfriend. Rahimi challenged the law after being charged under it in 2021.

Rahimi, who had a history of dealing drugs including cocaine, knocked his girlfriend to the ground after an argument in a parking lot, dragged her to his car, shoved her inside, causing her to head to hit the dashboard, according to court papers. After realizing a bystander had seen his actions, according to the filing, Rahimi retrieved a gun and fired a shot.

Rahimi later threatened to shoot his girlfriend. She obtained a court-approved restraining order, but Rahimi was arrested for violating it, the papers said.

The filing said he was involved in five shootings in the Arlington, Texas area between December 2020 and January 2021. That included one in which he fired bullets using a rifle into the home of a person to whom he sold drugs. He was caught with a pistol and rifle during a police search of his home, the papers said.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February declared that the 1994 was law unconstitutional in a ruling that applied to Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The 5th Circuit initially had upheld the law but withdrew its opinion following the Supreme Courts landmark Second Amendment ruling last year.

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, with a majority finding (pdf) that a state law targeting who can carry concealed firearms in public ran afoul of the Second Amendment. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, argued that all gun restrictions have to accord with gun laws during the founding of the United States.

Applying last years ruling, the 5th Circuit concluded that banning people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms was an outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted.

Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court pose for their official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington on Oct. 7, 2022. (Front LR) Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Samuel Alito and Justice Elena Kagan. (Back LR) Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images)

The 1994 law at issue in the current case prohibited a person subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing a firearm. It initially made the crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It has since been raised to 15 years.

Lawyers for Rahimi urged the justices in court papers to let the appeals court opinion stand. Bruen is less than a year old, Rahimis lawyer J. Matthew Wright wrote, referring to the 2022 Supreme Court decision, adding that lower courts are only starting to make note of its impact.

Earlier this year, lawyers for the Biden administration asked the high court to overturn the appeals court decision, arguing that governments have long disarmed people who allegedly pose a threat to others safety. They argued that more Americans could become victims of domestic abuse if the ruling is allowed to stand.

And if allowed to stand, it would thwart Congresss considered judgment that persons who have been found to be a threat to their intimate partners or children should not be permitted to acquire or possess firearms, the Department of Justice wrote. The Fifth Circuits contrary decision misapplies this Courts precedents, conflicts with the decisions of other courts of appeals, and threatens grave harms for victims of domestic violence, the petition said (pdf).

Meanwhile, Attorney General Merrick Garland released a statement when the 5th Appeals Court rendered its ruling this year, saying that the 1994 law is constitutional.

Whether analyzed through the lens of Supreme Court precedent, or of the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment, that statute is constitutional, Garland said on the same day that the ruling was issued. Accordingly, the Department will seek further review of the Fifth Circuits contrary decision.

Pro-gun control groups also urged the court to keep the measure intact.

Douglas Letter, the chief legal officer of the Brady Campaign gun-control group, said that he believes the court will issue an order correcting this terribly misguided ruling, handed down by the 5th Appeals Court.

Prohibiting domestic violence abusers from accessing firearms is common-sense, life-saving, and constitutional, Letter said in a statement. Firearms are the most common weapons used in domestic violence homicides, with female intimate partners more likely to be murdered with a gun than by all other means combined.

The case is U.S. v. Rahimi, and it will be heard when the courts next term starts in October. The Supreme Court will then likely hand down a ruling in June of next year.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Victorian Catholic Schools Welcome Softening of Payroll Tax Levy but Remain Opposed to New Tax Policy

Signage is seen at St Kevin's College in Toorak, Melbourne, Australia on Feb. 20, 2020. (AAP Image/Erik Anderson)

Victorian Catholic schools have welcomed the change in the upcoming payroll tax levy threshold but remain opposed to the additional tax.

This follows backlash from the non-government school sector after the May state budget revealed that schools earning more than $7,500 (US4,972) per student would be charged an additional tax levy. This levy will go towards the states payment of emergency pandemic spending over the past three years.

The change in the threshold to $15,000 was made by the state government on June 29.

Non-government schools with income per student of more than $15,000less than 10 percent of non-government schoolswill be subject to payroll tax under laws that come into effect on 1 July 2024, according to the state government.

The vast majority of non-government schoolsmore than 660will remain exempt, with 60 schools (or eight percent) coming under the new provision that was foreshadowed in the Victorian Budget 2023/24.

The new threshold will apply to six Catholic and 54 independent schools and will be in place until at least Jan. 1, 2029.

Victorian State Treasurer Tim Pallas said it was up to the schools to adapt to the changes.

Whether or not this translates into higher fees for students will ultimately be a decision for the schools themselves, Pallas said on June 29.

Modelling Shows Students Worse Off

However, modelling by Independent Schools Victoria shows that the average impact of the 63,123 students among the 54 listed independent schools will be $1,155.

While the tax raised is far less than the governments budget estimated, it amounts to a heavy blow for school communities, where parents are now being milked as a source of government revenue, Michelle Green, Chief Executive of Independent Schools Victoria, said in a statement.

The threshold was determined by the Treasurer and the Education Minister who have extraordinary discretion to decide which schools are on the list and which arent.

Meanwhile, Jim Miles, Executive Director of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, said that the listed schools are going to pay more in payroll tax than they receive from the state government.

Government schools dont cut teachers or programs because of payroll tax grants, Miles said in a statement.

It should also be made clear that the government sector, in effect, pays payroll tax to itself. Its completely misleading to say this new tax results in equal treatment of school sectors.

According to the state government, Victorias highest-fee non-government schools will be subject to new payroll tax provisions that will bring them into line with government schools from July 1, 2024.

Every government school in Victoria pays payroll taxand high-fee non-government schools will also contributewith the threshold set at a higher level to ensure lower-fee schools are not affected, the state government said.

Miles said that while the adjusted threshold is welcome news, it shows that the government recognised its original proposal was unreasonable.

We want to work in partnership with the government to help build a world-class education system for all Victorian children, regardless of which school they attend.

We will continue to engage with the Victorian Government to help ensure this measure is a short-term response and that schools funding policy is developed in a fair and consultative manner moving forward.

Catholic schools are not-for-profit community services working to provide the best quality education they can for Victorian children while also remaining affordable and accessible for families who seek a Catholic education.

Shadow Minister for Education, Matt Bach, said the payroll tax levy was an unprecedented measure that would affect hardworking Victorian families.

School communities should not be the ones to pay for the waste and mismanagement of the Andrews Government, Bach said, adding that the Liberal Nationals Coalition will scrap the tax if it wins at the next election.

Union Body Says More Public School Funding Needed

However, Meredith Peace, Deputy Federal President of the Australian Education Union, said public schools are being left behind due to inequitable funding arrangements.

More than 98 percent of private schools are funded by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments above the Schooling Resource Standard, and over 98 percent of public schools are funded below it. This is the education funding standard agreed to by all Australian governments in 2012, Peace said.

Additionally, analysis by the union shows that public schools are shortchanged $1,800 of their share of Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) fundingthe minimum funding needed to fund each students educational needswhile some private schools are overfunded up to 20 percent above their SRS benchmark, the union says.

The state government says it provides non-government schools around $1 billion in funding each year, including $450 million over four years to the Non-Government Schools Capital Fund for new builds and upgrades. This also builds on the $522 million previously invested in non-government school infrastructure since 2015.

Meanwhile, education minister Hutchins said the $3.1 billion funding allocated to public schools in the budget was one of the states most significant investments ever made.
Warren Buffetts Firm Buys More Occidental Petroleum and Now Owns More Than 25 Percent of the Oil Producer

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett smiles during an interview in Omaha, Neb., on May 7, 2018. (Nati Harnik/AP Photo)

OMAHA, Neb.Billionaire Warren Buffetts company keeps buying shares of Occidental Petroleum, and Berkshire Hathaway now controls more than 25 percent of the oil producer.

A new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Berkshire bought another 2.1 million Occidental shares this week worth about $123 million.

The latest purchases give Berkshire more than 224 million shares worth nearly $13 billion that have all been purchased over the past year and a half.

And Buffett may not be done buying because the price of Occidental stock is still right around where he bought shares at this week even after a modest 43-cent bump Thursday morning to trade at $57.89. Buffett has been consistently buying the stock when it dips below $60.

Crude prices are down 13 percent this year and shares of Occidental are down 8 percent.

Often, other investors rush into a stock after Berkshire discloses a purchase because of Buffetts remarkably successful track record over the decades. But their enthusiasm may be tempered in this case because Buffett told shareholders at his annual meeting that he has no plans to buy all of Occidental.

But last year, Buffett did get permission from federal regulators to buy up to 50 percent of the Houston-based oil producer, and Berkshire holds warrants to buy another 83.9 million shares for $59.62 apiece, so more purchases seem likely.

In addition, Berkshire also holds 91,964 preferred shares of Occidental worth more than $10 billion that it picked up in 2019 when it helped finance Occidentals acquisition of Anadarko. Berkshire used to hold more of those preferred shares, but Occidental has started redeeming them this year at $110,000 apiece to eliminate the hefty dividend the oil producer has to pay on them.

Berkshire owns a portfolio worth several hundred billion dollars that includes major stakes in Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola stock. But the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate also owns dozens of companies outright including Geico insurance, BNSF railroad, several large utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail firms.

By Josh Funk
(Bloomberg) -- A former director in Wells Fargo & Co.s subscription finance group sued the bank alleging he faced racial bias in personal dealings, client allocation, performance reviews, his bonus and, finally, his firing.

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Yomi Akinyemi, who is Black, filed suit Friday in Manhattan federal court, saying he was fired from Wells Fargo in March after he complained to his boss about discriminatory treatment. Akinyemi said the bank attributed his firing to staffing needs but then promoted three White vice presidents to director.

Wells Fargo, while paying lip service to diversity and inclusion externally, internally allowed implicit and explicit racial bias to fester unchecked and poison the workplace, Akinyemi said in his suit.

The bank declined to comment on Akinyemis suit but said Wells Fargo takes allegations of racial discrimination seriously.

Analyst Training

According to his suit, Wells Fargo recruited Akinyemi to its New York office in 2019 from Lloyds Banking Group, where he had worked for nine years as an investment banker in London and the US. He said he was initially given substantial responsibility as the primary point of contact for a $9 billion portfolio of loan commitments.

But Akinyemi said he quickly encountered hostility from his direct superviser, Matthias Jahnke, who he said baselessly questioned his qualifications. According to the suit, Jahnke, a managing director, told Akinyemi he saw him more as a vice president than a director and in 2021 instructed him to attend a training for analysts.

The recommendation was insulting to Akinyemi, as the training was for entry-level Wells Fargo employees significantly junior to him, the former director said in his suit. As Jahnke well knew, these were trainings that Akinyemi not only had already attended but had, in fact, taught.

He also accused of Jahnke of interfering in his client relationships and telling him he would receive a negative mid-year review the day before Akinyemis wedding and honeymoon. According to Akinyemi, that review was later essentially rescinded.

In July 2022, Jahnke and other Wells Fargo executives executed a strategy to reduce or exit its work for many clients that disproportionately impacted Akinyemi, he claims in his suit. More than half of his clients were targeted, according to Akinyemi.

Reduced Bonus

The reduction in his client base significantly impaired Akinyemis opportunities to succeed and grow in his role at the bank and left him with limited work to effectively perform his job, he said.

He said he was reassured by a new boss, Michele Simons, that he had nothing to worry about in his 2022 review. But he was subsequently told that he would be rated as inconsistently meeting expectations. His bonus was reduced by $50,000 as well.

As one of the few non-white employees in his 60 to 70 person division and the only black director, defendant consistently treated Akinyemi with animosity and contempt not shown to his white peers, he said.

Akinyemi is suing for damages, including compensation he would have received if not for the allegedly discriminatory treatment, and humiliation and mental anguish.

The case is Akinyemi v. Wells Fargo, 23-cv-05624, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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Washington State Hospitals Dont Need to Report All Drug Exposed Newborns to CPS

Social and economic policies and norms that devalue mothers have had a profoundly negative impact on birth rates. (Peter Schulzek/Shutterstock)

Hospitals in Washington state are no longer required to report infants with prenatal drug exposure to Child Protective Services (CPS), provided there are no safety concerns.

The updated state policy allows voluntary wrap-around services to be provided to infants born exposed to drugs if health care providers have no safety concerns.

The move is a joint effort by the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), the Department of Health (DOH), the Health Care Authority, and the Washington State Hospital Association.

DCYF framed the decision as a move to enhance the well-being of infants and parents impacted by substance use at birth.

The opioid and overdose epidemic is disrupting the lives of a growing number of families in our state, said Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, chief science Officer at the Washington Department of Health (DOH). These changes will help every baby born in Washington get the healthiest start possible.

Hospitals are urged to align their policies with the new state requirements and ensure that their staff members are trained accordingly by the first day of 2025, in compliance with federal regulations, DOH said in a statement.

DCYF Secretary Ross Hunter emphasized the importance of connecting families with community-based services and resources, underscoring that not all families with children affected by prenatal substance exposure require child welfare intervention.

While hospitals are still required to report cases where there is a safety concern for the child, not all families that have a child with prenatal substance exposure require child welfare intervention, Hunter said in a statement. We still want to connect these families with community-based services and resources that will support the familys needs, reduce risks, and increase protective factors.

New Model of Care

The updated requirements also include guidelines for the clinical care of mothers in need of withdrawal or stabilization care during childbirth. Similarly, best practices have been outlined for newborns who are being monitored or treated for withdrawal symptoms.

In the United States, at least one newborn with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome is diagnosed every 24 minutes, according to Rebecca G. Baker, director of the HEAL Initiative at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The state now formally recognizes the Eat, Sleep, Console (ESC) model of care for birthing hospitals as the best practice. This means that medications and NICU admissions should no longer be the first line of treatment for infants exhibiting withdrawal symptoms.

Substance-exposed infants, who often experience withdrawal opioid symptoms, were for years treated primarily according to the Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Scoring Tool. But the Washington DOH states that a growing body of research shows that infants treated using the ESC model experience shorter hospital stays and are less likely to receive medication to treat neonatal opioid withdrawal symptoms.

The ESC model prioritizes parental involvement and non-pharmacological care such as cuddling, swaddling, rooming-in with parents, chest/breastfeeding, and a quiet, dark room.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reported in May that one clinical trial found the model to be more effective than the Finnegan tool for assessing and managing opioid-exposed newborns. However, it also cautioned that it has not been tested rigorously in a large population and noted concerns about potentially undertreating infants or discharging them prematurely.

How It Works

The DCYF policy states that clinicians at birthing hospitals are mandatory reporters and must contact Child Protective Services when there are child protective concerns.

They are mandated to report when there are child protection concerns, newborns test positive for illicit substances or misused medications, newborns experience withdrawal from substances, evidence of ongoing substance use by parents poses safety concerns, or when a newborn is diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) with safety concerns.

The new policy states that when infants with prenatal drug exposure do not meet these criteria, and if there are no safety concerns, clinicians can use an online portal to refer the parents to a service called Help Me Grow.

The portal uses an algorithm to help the clinician determine what action to take. The portal collected de-identified data which automatically get sent to DCYF in aggregate. In some cases, the portal will direct the clinician to call DCYF Intake.

If a notification is required, the online portals algorithm will direct the provider to complete the POSC. The POSC is automatically sent to Help Me Grow, the policy states.

Help Me Grow will reach out to the family and refer them to services based on the POSC and other wrap-around supports. HMG-WA will collect de-identified data elements to report (in aggregate) to DCYF regularly.
Many people need a free car. They may currently be out of work and are trying to find a job, but cannot get to it without a car. Some people needing a car may be women who are now divorced and have no way to get to work and cannot afford a car. Still others may be victims of domestic violence. Car donations made to charitable organizations can help these people and give you a tax-deductible tax break, too.

Many charitable groups now accept donations of cars. Once they receive a car, it is either sold wholesale at an auction to car dealers or it may be sold for parts to an auto salvage yard. Some of these organizations will also accept other kinds of vehicles, such as motorcycles, trucks, boats, farm equipment, recreational vehicles, aircraft, riding lawnmowers, motorized wheelchairs, and even construction equipment.

Get a Tax Deduction for Your Car

The good news is that you can get a tax deduction for your used car or other vehicle. Even vehicles that no longer run and have been sitting in your yard for some time may qualify. In most cases, the charitable organization will pick up the car for you.

Some organizationsespecially those that are looking to give away cars to people that need themwill require the car to be in working condition. The kind of car or vehicle they are looking for can usually be found on their website.

How It Works

As an example, Goodwillbecause they want to give away working vehiclesrequires that the vehicle is in running condition. You provide the information about the car (year, make, and model) online or in a phone call, and schedule a car donation pick-up time. They will pick up the vehicle at no cost to you.

In nearly all cases, the vehicles title will be required. It will have to be signed and free of any liens. If a title cannot be found, your tax write-off is apt to be very limited because they will probably have to sell it for parts.

Once the car is sold, you will receive a receipt for it with the information you need to get a tax deduction. All paperwork is handled by Goodwill or other charitable organization, making the process very quick and easy for you. The receipt will usually be sent within 30 days after the sale.

IRS Regulations for Vehicle Donations

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires that the receiving organization must use charity cars for one of three purposes. They include:

Using it in a significant waysuch as delivering meals on wheels.

Make major repairs to the vehiclemore than just painting or cleaning it.

Sell it to a needy person for considerably less than its value for transportation.

The Tax Deduction

Donors are allowed to get a tax deduction for the vehicle. When the above three rules are followed by the organization, the donor may deduct the fair market value of the vehicle.

If the organization chooses to sell the vehicle, the sale price may be less than $500, but the greater price (fair market value) may be used. When a vehicle sells for more than $500, Investopedia says that you must also attach Form 8283 to your taxes. If the car sells for more than $5,000, you will need to include an independent appraisal and certification for the charity.

Investopedia mentions that when you make a non-cash donation, it may be a trigger for an IRS audit. Supplying the correct documents with your tax forms will help reduce the possibility. Also, remember that deductions for donations to charity cannot exceed 50 percent of your adjusted gross income.

The IRS gives some ideas on how to price your vehicle. It may not be as straightforward as you would think, so reading the document before claiming the deduction could save you from an audit. An example they give is for a car that needs some repair work. Even though a bank or credit union may value the car at one price before you donate your car to charity, you can only claim the sale price after the car is repaired.

Choosing the Right Charity

Not every organization that claims to be a charity is approved by the IRS. You can verify the organizations 501(c)(3) approval by going to the IRSs Search Tool. The website lists all approved organizations.

Before you donate, the Minnesota state attorney general advises that you find out how the charity will use the car. It is even more important if you want the money for the car to go to specific purposes because some of the organizations goals for their money might surprise you.

You also want to discover whether or not the charity will conduct the sale of the vehicle itself or have a fund-raising company do it for them. If a fund-raising company is used, only part of the money gained from the sale will go to the charitable organization and some will go to the company handling the fund-raising.

Donors Responsibility for Liability

Most states require that the donor remove the license plates from the vehicle before donating it. After filling out a form stating that the vehicle has been donated, it enables the donor to be free of any further liability claims.

Reputable Car Donation Charities

Many organizations will give away cars for free. They include charities, nonprofit groups, churches, dealerships, and more. Groups such as Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, and some community action agencies can direct people to get a free car, or the organization may give a grant to get a free car. Veterans and active-duty military personnel can also get free cars.

You can find a list of many organizations nationwide where you can donate car for tax credit at NeedHelpPayingBill. These charity groups help many people get a free car to get out of poverty by enabling them to get a job, help single moms to get work and an income, help people get training for a job, or help someone with a low income to start a business, etc.

The Epoch Times Copyright  2022 The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a daily briefing at 3:15 p.m. ET on June 30 after Supreme Court rulings on President Joe Bidens student debt relief program.
YouTube Is Planning to Stop Viewers for Continuing to Use Ad Blockers

The logo of YouTube displayed by a tablet in Toulouse, France, on Oct. 5, 2021. (Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images)

The online media platform, YouTube, is mulling whether to prevent users from using ad blockers while watching videos on its platform.

The potential policy came to light on June 25 when online commenters on Reddit posted screenshots of a popup notice, warning viewers that they would be blocked after three videos if they refused to allow ads.

The warning said that users would be unable to play videos if they failed to disable their ad blocker or add the website to their white list, BleepingComputer reported.

Ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide, the popup warned.

To resume service without ads, the platform tells users to get a YouTube Premium subscription so creators can still get paid.

YouTube Expands Upon an Earlier Experiment in May

The experiment follows a previous experiment last month when YouTube directly tested blocking ad blocker users from accessing the platform.

Ad blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable ad blockers, a spokesperson told BleepingComputer at the time.

It looks like you may be using an ad blocker. Video playback will be blocked unless YouTube is allow-listed or the ad blocker is disabled, the screenshot message read.

Ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide. You can go ad-free with YouTube Premium, and creators can still get paid from your subscription.

After receiving the warning, viewers will either have to disable their ad blocker and allow ads or subscribe to YouTube Premium to get rid of the advertisements.

Prior to the warning, the platform will show popups to ad blocker users, reminding them that its against YouTubes terms of service.

A timer was later added to the popup notices to ensure that viewers took the time to read them, the company said.

When asked if they planned to block users from accessing the platform for using ad blockers, YouTube told BleepingComputer, that playback might be temporarily disabled in extreme cases.

In extreme cases, where viewers continue their use of ad blockers, playback will be temporarily disabled. We take disabling playback very seriously, and will only disable playback if viewers ignore repeated requests to allow ads on YouTube, the company said.

To prevent disruption as part of this experiment, viewers using ad blockers may disable their ad blocker, allow YouTube ads or subscribe to YouTube Premium.

It is still unclear if YouTube will not automatically block playback after a viewer watches three videos while giving them more opportunities to comply.

The company said that its new approach only affected a small number of users and would not say how many users and regions are participating in the test.

It is likely that the test would be expanded across the world if the ad-blocker ban turns out to be effective.

YouTube Sees Ad Revenue Drop Due to Ad Blockers

YouTube told BleepingComputer that the alerts were part of an experiment in taking a more aggressive approach to urge viewers to allow ads on the platform or pay a regular fee to remove them.

Were running a small experiment globally that urges viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium, YouTube told the news website.

The video platform, which makes most of its money from ads, has seen a drop in ad revenue decline over the past three quarters.

YouTube saw ad revenue fall 2.6 percent year over year in the first quarter as advertisers pulled back from the platform due to economic uncertainty.

The platform raked in $6.69 billion in ad revenue for the first fiscal quarter of 2023, compared to the $6.87 billion during the same period last year, according to the latest earnings report by its parent, Alphabet.

However, YouTube managed to slightly beat analysts expectations of $6.6 billion.

YouTubes Music and Premium services recently surpassed 80 million subscribers, adding over 30 million within a single year, reported Variety.

New Family-Friendly Video Platform Provides Alternative To YouTube

Meanwhile, a video platform startup, Gan Jing World, which was launched in 2022 and is based in upstate New York, is providing content free from violent, erotic, criminal or harmful material, according to its website.

The social media platform has since gained over 30 million viewers and has built its own data center and cloud server to avoid political censorship.

The platform will allow users to set up learning preferences for the companys algorithm to follow when recommending videos.

Gan Jing World is doing the right thing at the right time, Nick Janicki, Gan Jings director of media relations, told The Epoch Times.

The marketplace and the demand is there for clean content, without a doubt, Janicki said.
In 100th year, RTMNU wading through excuses for poor NIRF ranking





Staff Reporter

Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University (RTMNU), which is in its 100th year, and is carrying on legacy of several stalwarts in various fields, has been continuously failing to improve its National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking. The universtiy has never been in the top 15. The shameful part is every failure has some or the other reason, but the strange part here in this case is, the RTMNU has not taken any passionate effort to achieve the top spot. The will to get top ranking was never there. When The Hitavada talked to its past Vice Chancellors in this regard, they gave excuses such as staff crunch, lack of proactiveness on the Governments part, inadequte funds, and restrictions on staff recruitment. Many such factors made it difficult for the university to secure top rank, they complained.

Former Vice Chancellors Dr Vilas Sapkal, Dr S P Kane, Dr Vinayak Deshpande raised one common point -- that in the past 15 years, the State Government has not allowed them recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff. Also, the RTMNU never got timely apprvoal for the required facilities from the Government. According to all three V-Cs, lack of staff hampered the work that could help the University to grow. The recruitment did take place to some extent during the regime of Dr Sapkal, but that was not enough. However, do these factors really matter as far as ranking is concerned? For the past several years, barring a few departments, nobody is conducting research. Research doesnt need any staff or funding, as most research projects receive money from the respective sources. There are several departments at the national level which provide funds to the projects. Why didnt the university come up with research projects then? The University bosses have no answers to this question.

The reality is, the University failed to develop such research acumen. As far as the issue of staff crunch is concerned, that has been haunting every university, then why only RTMNU suffers is losing its rank due to this? When the current and ex-Vice Chancellors were asked if the faculty or students ever approached them or aggressively asked for research facilities, they did not have any answer, which proves that the University did not develop the research acumen in past many years. The tenure of present Vice Chancellor Dr Subhash Chaudhari can be called as the luckiest one. During his tenure, the University got opportunities to become the host of prestigious Indian Science Congress, Pharmaceutical Congress. It also was the partner of C 20, the inception conference of G20. What more one needs to get on top? Surprisingly, the present administration could not garner top NIRF ranking on the basis of these top conferences, this year also.
India, Philippines vow to commence negotiations on bilateral trade pact





NEW DELHI,

INDIA and the Philippines on Thursday agreed to commence negotiations on a bilateral preferential trade pact and vowed to step up defence cooperation, especially in the maritime security domain, amid China's increasing muscle-flexing in the South China Sea. In the extensive talks between Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Enrique A Manalo and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the two sides also underlined the need for implementing the South China Sea verdict that was pronounced by a UN arbitration court in 2016.

The defence and security ties between India and the Philippines are on an upswing. In January last year, the Philippines concluded a USD 375 million deal with India for the procurement of three batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile.
Itwari Railway Station named after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose





Staff Reporter

Itwari Railway Station has been officially named after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. The Gazette notification about the prefixing name of Netaji was published by Department of Home, Maharashtra Government, on June 16, 2023, said Krishna Khopde, MLA, East Nagpur Assembly Segment. It may be recalled that Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) had unanimously approved a resolution in 2022 about naming the railway station after the founder of Azad Hind Sena, which gave a fillip to the freedom struggle. The resolution was forwarded to the Maharashtra Government that took up the matter in its Cabinet meet and approved it on August 23, 2022. As per the procedure, an approval by the Central Government is mandatory before naming of a railway station. Therefore, th State submitted the proposal for naming to the Union Home Ministry on May 23, 2023. Home Ministry promptly approved the matter and informed Maharashtra Government.

Khopde said that during the British rule a weekly vegetable market used to function here, and hence the area came to be known as Itwari. A statue of Netaji Bose statue had also been put-up by NMC in the area long time ago. He thanked the State Government for approving the name of Netaji Bose for Itwari railway station. Khopde said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari played a key role in getting the railway station renamed. Itwari railway station falls under the jurisdiction of South East Central Railway Zones Nagpur Division. The station, which is in NSG-4 category of Indian Railways and has 6 platforms, complements the Nagpur Railway Station. About 14 trains originate from and terminate at the station and lies on Howrah-Mumbai corridor.
No need for Rahul Gandhis mohabbat ki dukan: Rajnath





YAMUNANAGAR,

DEFENCE Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his market of hate remarks, saying his so-called shop of love was not needed. Addressing a Gauravshali Bharat rally on the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, he said the countrys stature rose under the leadership of the Prime Minister. The defence minister said several schemes which could never be imagined earlier were introduced by the PM.

But what is happening with our Congress people? Their one leader and that neta ji -- wherever he goes he says there is a nafrat ka bazaar (market of hate) there and he has come there to open a mohabbat ki dukan (shop of love).

Singh did not name Gandhi but was taking a dig at him over the phrase used by the Opposition leader. Particularly during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi had accused the ruling BJP of spreading hatred. He said he wanted to open a shop of love in the market of hatred. I want to ask you if there is any nafrat ka bazaar in Haryana, he said, adding there no scope for the Congress leaders mohabbat ki dukan (shop of love). Where is the hate, Singh asked.
TN Governor dismisses Minister V Senthil Balaji from Cabinet





CHENNAI :

TAMIL Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Thursday dismissed Minister V Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers, Raj Bhawan said. In an official release, Raj Bhawan said Senthil Balaji is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption, including taking cash for jobs and money laundering. Abusing his position as a minister, he has been influencing the investigation and obstructing the due process of law and justice. Currently, he is in judicial custody in a criminal case being investigated by the ED. A few other criminal cases against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC are being investigated by the state police.

There are reasonable apprehensions that continuation of V Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law, including fair investigation that may eventually lead to breakdown of Constitutional machinery in the State, the release said. Governor has no authority to dismiss a minister from Cabinet, we will face the issue legally, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin said.
Five Guys was so in demand at Korea debut one person tried reselling the burgers online

When Five Guys announced that it was opening up a store in Seoul, South Korea, they would have never imagined that their burgers would be resold online.

On June 26, popular fast food chain Five Guys opened its first store in Seoul to hundreds of customers, including actor Yim Si-wan, who had braved the rain and humidity and queued up outside their store in the buzzing Gangnam district of the city.

I have tried Five Guys in the United States, the first person in the line, who waited overnight for the 11 a.m. opening, told a local news outlet. When I heard that a branch was opening in Korea, I rushed here.

Seeing the hype, the sixth person in the line saw this as an opportunity to make some quick money. They first listed their spot in the line online for $1,520 and when that didn't work out, they decided to resell the food purchased on the second-hand e-commerce platform Danggeun Market for a hefty profit.

This photograph shows the logo of Five Guys, an American fast food restaurant chain, in Brussels on February 18, 2023. - Belgium OUT (Photo by NICOLAS MAETERLINCK / Belga / AFP) / Belgium OUT (Photo by NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/Belga/AFP via Getty Images)

In a post that has since gone viral on social media in Korea and has sparked outrage, the individual tried to sell two Five Guys cheeseburgers and one large fries for 100,000 won (US$76.90), more than double the actual price of the items.

The post angered social media users in Korea, who blamed the trend on the fear of missing out on consumerism. Many also commented on how it should be illegal to sell food this way on social media platforms for the sake of public health and hygiene standards.

However, a Danggeun Market official said there are no rules against selling takeaway food on the platform as long as it still had its original packaging and was untouched, the South China Morning Post reported.

There is no indication that anyone bought the meal posted on Danggeun Market.

Five Guys Korea is currently selling a regular cheeseburger for 14,900 won ($11), a price similar to the chains U.S. locations, though critics have labeled the burger as overpriced for the South Korean market.

Five Guys' franchise in Seoul is its fifth branch in Asia after Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Malaysia. The fast food chain aims to open over 15 Five Guys restaurants in Korea over the next five years. Other popular chains in Korea include Burger King and Shake Shack.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Five Guys burgers resold online as chain opens to long lines in Seoul
Forgiven or Not, Report Suggests Many Student Loans Will Never Be Repaid

IURII KRASILNIKOV / Getty Images/iStockphoto

The U.S. Supreme Court waited until the last minute to make a ruling on President Joe Bidens federal student loan forgiveness plan  and that minute has arrived. The SCOTUS struck down the plan, as many legal experts predicted, in a 6-3 verdict. Due to this outcome, a spike in student loan delinquencies may be imminent.

See: Student Loan Pause Officially Ends in October  Are You Ready To Start Making Average $503 Payments Again?

Find: All of the States That Will Pay Off Your Student Loans

As previously reported by GOBankingRates, late last year a high-ranking member of the U.S. Department of Education issued a warning about the risk of blocking the forgiveness program, saying doing so could lead to a historically large increase in delinquencies and defaults.

Student Loan Forgiveness: 10 Expenses To Cut From Your Budget When Payments Resume

The comments were made in a Nov. 15, 2022, court filing by James Kvaal, Under Secretary of Education at the Education Department. The document was tied to a lawsuit challenging the legality of the loan relief program.

In the filing, Kvaal said that if the Education Department cant provide debt relief, we anticipate there could be an historically large increase in the amount of federal student loan delinquency and defaults as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This could result in one of the harms that the one-time student loan debt relief program was intended to avoid.

Federal student loan payments are due to restart in October following a payment pause that began in March 2020. But as Fortune recently reported, the government will never see most of the $1.8 trillion borrowers currently owe, regardless of how the forgiveness plan shakes out.

That opinion is based on a new study from the Jain Family Institute that analyzed the credit reports of 1 million people ages 18 to 34 with student loan balances between 2009 and 2019. One of the studys conclusions is that regardless of the legal status of loan relief, much of outstanding federal student loan balances arent ever going to be repaid.

What the federal government considers an asset on its balance sheet (outstanding student loans) is worth less than currently valued, perhaps far less, the authors wrote. The government is poised to take a bath on its student loan portfolio over the long term, even as that portfolio expands in size every year as the higher education system sucks up more federal funding.

If there is a steep rise in defaults and delinquencies tied to student debt, the problem will extend into the economy at large. One of the co-authors of the Jain Family Institute report, University of Utah economics professor Marshall Steinbaum, addressed the topic of student debt in a previous report that appeared on the Phenomenal World website in 2020.

In that report, titled The Student Debt Crisis is a Crisis of Non-Repayment, Steinbaum noted that what was considered economic prosperity during the previous decade, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, was actually economically punishing to younger cohorts with heavy student debt and dim job prospects.

The fact that [student debt] balances continue to grow and not be paid back shows that shifting the cost of higher education onto the backs of students, through state budget cuts, slack labor markets, and employer monopsony power, has resulted in a structural attenuation of the economic life cycle, Steinbaum wrote.

Student loan balances now carry further into mid-life, he added, or are taken on later in life to finance further education or a family members education. This in turn impairs economic wellbeing for a widening and diversifying swathe of the population, inhibiting savings, increasing precarity, and draining the very incomes the student debt was supposed to increase.

Although the SCOTUS has ruled against loan forgiveness, that might be a mistake over the long term.

The policy question is then not whether to cancel student debt, but how? Steinbaum wrote. Are we going to rely on increasing [income-driven repayment plans] and thus kick the ball further into the future  or can we honestly confront and solve a past policy failure in the present by cancelling debt now (and not taxing it), to prevent the debt spiral from getting any worse and rectifying the damage student debt does to household wealth?

More From GOBankingRates

This story has been updated with additional information.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Forgiven or Not, Report Suggests Many Student Loans Will Never Be Repaid
Covenant Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO  Free Report) by 14.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,437 shares of the medical research companys stock after selling 235 shares during the quarter. Covenant Partners LLCs holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TMO. OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new position in Thermo Fisher Scientific during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Live Oak Investment Partners purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Baystate Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 82 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. 96.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Get Thermo Fisher Scientific alerts:

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on TMO. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $710.00 to $640.00 in a report on Thursday, May 25th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $675.00 to $660.00 in a report on Thursday, May 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $670.00 to $620.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $693.00 to $670.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $629.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

Thermo Fisher Scientific Trading Up 0.5 %

In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.82, for a total value of $855,712.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 141,330 shares of the companys stock, valued at $75,586,110.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink . In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $545.22, for a total value of $5,452,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 141,330 shares in the company, valued at $77,055,942.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link . Also, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 1,600 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $534.82, for a total transaction of $855,712.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 141,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,586,110.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the companys stock.

Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock traded up $2.68 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $512.83. 397,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,504,235. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a twelve month low of $475.77 and a twelve month high of $611.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $530.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $551.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO  Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The medical research company reported $5.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $5.03. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 13.75% and a return on equity of 19.16%. The business had revenue of $10.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $10.67 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.25 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 23.69 EPS for the current year.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.27%. Thermo Fisher Scientifics dividend payout ratio is presently 9.13%.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

(Free Report)

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the United States and internationally. The company's Life Sciences Solutions segment offers reagents, instruments, and consumables for biological and medical research, discovery, and production of drugs and vaccines, as well as diagnosis of infections and diseases; and solutions include biosciences, genetic sciences, clinical next-generation sequencing, bio production to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agricultural, clinical, healthcare, academic, and government markets.

Further Reading

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Herold Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT  Free Report) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,646 shares of the retailers stock after acquiring an additional 903 shares during the quarter. Walmart comprises about 1.3% of Herold Advisors Inc.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Herold Advisors Inc.s holdings in Walmart were worth $3,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WMT. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart during the first quarter valued at $29,000. Cardinal Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.5% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 48,058 shares of the retailers stock worth $7,113,000 after buying an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. CLARET ASSET MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 0.6% in the first quarter. CLARET ASSET MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 23,191 shares of the retailers stock worth $3,420,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Walmart in the first quarter worth approximately $395,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.9% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 39,876 shares of the retailers stock worth $5,880,000 after buying an additional 745 shares in the last quarter. 31.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Walmart

In other news, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 6,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.78, for a total value of $975,348.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,240 shares of the companys stock, valued at $23,532,487.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Walmart news, EVP John D. Rainey sold 8,526 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.00, for a total value of $1,321,530.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 180,261 shares in the company, valued at $27,940,455. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel J. Bartlett sold 6,600 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.78, for a total transaction of $975,348.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 159,240 shares of the companys stock, valued at $23,532,487.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,046,489 shares of company stock worth $1,088,230,175. 46.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Walmart Price Performance

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Walmart from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 6th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Walmart in a research note on Monday, June 12th. They issued an outperform rating and a $186.00 price target for the company. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Walmart from $176.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Walmart from $157.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Walmart from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Friday, May 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walmart currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $166.91.

Walmart stock opened at $153.95 on Thursday. The firms fifty day moving average is $151.61 and its 200 day moving average is $146.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $414.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.34, a PEG ratio of 4.54 and a beta of 0.49. Walmart Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.89 and a 52-week high of $158.23.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT  Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $152.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $147.91 billion. Walmart had a net margin of 1.82% and a return on equity of 21.30%. The businesss revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 6.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Walmart

(Free Report)

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, and other units worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com, walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, and samsclub.com; and mobile commerce applications.

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Covenant Partners LLC cut its holdings in shares of ABB Ltd (NYSE:ABBNY  Free Report) by 57.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,834 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 9,274 shares during the period. Covenant Partners LLCs holdings in ABB were worth $234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in ABB by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 12,335 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $423,000 after buying an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in ABB by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 22,890 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $758,000 after buying an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in ABB during the 1st quarter worth approximately $76,000. Clarius Group LLC lifted its holdings in ABB by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 13,747 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in ABB by 36.1% during the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,176 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. 5.02% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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ABB Price Performance

Shares of ABBNY opened at $38.25 on Friday. ABB Ltd has a twelve month low of $24.27 and a twelve month high of $39.82. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $36.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.89, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ABB ( NYSE:ABBNY Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 24th. The industrial products company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.58 billion. ABB had a net margin of 9.58% and a return on equity of 23.19%. The companys revenue was up 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that ABB Ltd will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of ABB in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $28.68.

About ABB

(Free Report)

ABB Ltd manufactures and sells electrification, automation, robotics, and motion products for customers in utilities, industry and transport, and infrastructure in Switzerland and internationally. Its Electrification segment provides electric vehicle charging infrastructure, renewable power solutions, modular substation packages, distribution automation products, switchboards and panel boards, switchgears, UPS solutions, circuit breakers, measuring and sensing devices, control products, wiring accessories, enclosures and cabling systems, and intelligent home and building solutions.

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AB Industrivarden (publ) (OTCMKTS:IDTVF  Free Report) is one of 1,191 public companies in the Asset Management industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare AB Industrivarden (publ) to similar companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, dividends and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for AB Industrivarden (publ) and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score AB Industrivarden (publ) 0 0 1 0 3.00 AB Industrivarden (publ) Competitors 1030 4449 5787 82 2.43

As a group, Asset Management companies have a potential upside of 88.89%. Given AB Industrivarden (publ)s rivals higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe AB Industrivarden (publ) has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Valuation and Earnings

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio AB Industrivarden (publ) N/A N/A 1.71 AB Industrivarden (publ) Competitors $200.08 million -$13.43 million 35.06

This table compares AB Industrivarden (publ) and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

AB Industrivarden (publ)s rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than AB Industrivarden (publ). AB Industrivarden (publ) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

3.0% of AB Industrivarden (publ) shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.5% of shares of all Asset Management companies are owned by institutional investors. 18.3% of shares of all Asset Management companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

AB Industrivarden (publ) pays an annual dividend of $5.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 21.6%. AB Industrivarden (publ) pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Asset Management companies pay a dividend yield of 7.0% and pay out 634.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. AB Industrivarden (publ) is clearly a better dividend stock than its rivals, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares AB Industrivarden (publ) and its rivals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets AB Industrivarden (publ) N/A N/A N/A AB Industrivarden (publ) Competitors 380.51% 7.64% 4.95%

Summary

AB Industrivarden (publ) rivals beat AB Industrivarden (publ) on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

About AB Industrivarden (publ)

(Free Report)

AB Industrivarden is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm invests in the public equity markets of Nordic region. It employs fundamental analysis, with a focus on factors like long term return potential, proven business model, balance between risk and return, and attractive valuation to create its portfolio. AB Industrivarden was founded in 1944 and is based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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UBS Group lowered shares of BT Group (OTCMKTS:BTGOF  Free Report) from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, The Fly reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on BTGOF. Berenberg Bank cut their price objective on shares of BT Group from GBX 160 ($2.03) to GBX 150 ($1.91) in a research report on Tuesday, May 23rd. Barclays decreased their target price on BT Group from GBX 240 ($3.05) to GBX 225 ($2.86) in a research note on Friday, May 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of BT Group from GBX 150 ($1.91) to GBX 145 ($1.84) in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on BT Group from GBX 275 ($3.50) to GBX 280 ($3.56) in a report on Friday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $176.25.

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BT Group Stock Performance

Shares of OTCMKTS BTGOF opened at $1.58 on Tuesday. BT Group has a 12-month low of $1.25 and a 12-month high of $2.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1.81 and a 200 day moving average of $1.70.

About BT Group

BT Group plc provides communications products and services in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through Consumer, Enterprise, Global, and Openreach segments. The Consumer segment offers landline, mobile, broadband, and TV services under the BT, EE, and Plusnet brands.

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The Chiba Bank, Ltd. (OTCMKTS:CHBAY  Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $37.38 and last traded at $37.38, with a volume of 0 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $37.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Daiwa Capital Markets cut Chiba Bank from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 5th.

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Chiba Bank Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.38 and a 200 day moving average of $35.49.

Chiba Bank Company Profile

The Chiba Bank, Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides banking products and services in Japan and internationally. It offers various deposit products; and various loans and bills discounting products, as well as investment management and investment advisory services. The company also engages in securities, leasing, credit card, and credit guarantee business; management and collection of claims; and outsourcing of operational business.

Further Reading

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Alfa Laval Corporate (OTCMKTS:ALFVF  Free Report) is one of 148 public companies in the Specialty Industrial Machinery industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Alfa Laval Corporate to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

25.3% of Alfa Laval Corporate shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.9% of shares of all Specialty Industrial Machinery companies are owned by institutional investors. 27.6% of shares of all Specialty Industrial Machinery companies are owned 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.

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Dividends

Alfa Laval Corporate pays an annual dividend of $3.75 per share and has a dividend yield of 10.3%. Alfa Laval Corporate pays out 54.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Specialty Industrial Machinery companies pay a dividend yield of 3.4% and pay out 28.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Alfa Laval Corporate 0 0 0 0 N/A Alfa Laval Corporate Competitors 933 3271 4342 43 2.41

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for Alfa Laval Corporate and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

As a group, Specialty Industrial Machinery companies have a potential upside of 15.51%. Given Alfa Laval Corporates competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Alfa Laval Corporate has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Alfa Laval Corporate and its competitors net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Alfa Laval Corporate N/A N/A N/A Alfa Laval Corporate Competitors -16.24% 0.17% 0.51%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Alfa Laval Corporate and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Alfa Laval Corporate N/A N/A 5.25 Alfa Laval Corporate Competitors $3.91 billion $302.65 million 640.56

Alfa Laval Corporates competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Alfa Laval Corporate. Alfa Laval Corporate is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Alfa Laval Corporate competitors beat Alfa Laval Corporate on 8 of the 10 factors compared.

Alfa Laval Corporate Company Profile

(Free Report)

Alfa Laval Corporate AB provides heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling products and solutions worldwide. It operates in three divisions: Energy, Food & Water, and Marine. The company offers oil/gas-fired steam and composite steam boilers, exhaust gas economizer, and ballast water treatment systems, and exhaust gas cleaning products. It also provides sensing and control, cleaning validation, condition monitoring, agitators, tank, powder mixers, fittings, and tubes, as well as wall mounted cleaning nozzles, rotary jet and heads; and tank accessories and covers. In addition, the company offers centrifugal, rotary lobe, three screw, twin screw, and circumferential piston pumps. Further, it provides butterfly, control and check, double seal, diaphragm, double seat, regulating, safety, sampling, shutter, single seat, and ball valves. Additionally, the company offers heat exchanger, tube-in-tube heat exchangers, and process shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Furthermore, it provides finned tube air heat, scraped surface heat exchangers, and various plate heat exchangers, wet surface, and HYAC hybrid air coolers. The company also offers decanters and separator related products. It serves energy, utilities, home, personal care, food, dairy, beverage, marine, transportation, pharmaceutical, biotech, water, and wastewater industries. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in Lund, Sweden.

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Covenant Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA  Free Report) by 15.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,895 shares of the banks stock after selling 3,192 shares during the period. Covenant Partners LLCs holdings in Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria were worth $119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BBVA. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 217.2% during the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,681 shares of the banks stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 3,890 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 71.0% in the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 4,584 shares of the banks stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,904 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 124.8% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 6,859 shares of the banks stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 3,808 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 29.6% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,036 shares of the banks stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 1,608 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 53.4% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 8,036 shares of the banks stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 2,799 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.55% of the companys stock.

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Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Stock Up 1.5 %

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria stock opened at $7.60 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $7.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.99. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $3.93 and a fifty-two week high of $7.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market cap of $48.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.27.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria ( NYSE:BBVA Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The bank reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria had a net margin of 26.27% and a return on equity of 14.62%. The company had revenue of $7.46 billion for the quarter. As a group, analysts forecast that Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC raised shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, March 31st. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in a research report on Friday, May 26th. They set an equal weight rating for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $6.38.

About Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

(Free Report)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides retail banking, wholesale banking, and asset management services. It offers current accounts; and demand, savings, overnight, time, term, and subordinated deposits. The company also provides loan products; deals in securities; leasing, factoring, brokerage, and asset management services; and manages pension and investment funds.

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CP ALL Public (OTCMKTS:CVPUF  Free Report) and Sendas Distribuidora (NYSE:ASAI  Free Report) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for CP ALL Public and Sendas Distribuidora, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score CP ALL Public 0 0 0 0 N/A Sendas Distribuidora 0 1 0 0 2.00

Valuation and Earnings

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio CP ALL Public N/A N/A N/A $1.09 1.62 Sendas Distribuidora $10.56 billion 0.35 $236.31 million $0.78 17.74

This table compares CP ALL Public and Sendas Distribuidoras top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Sendas Distribuidora has higher revenue and earnings than CP ALL Public. CP ALL Public is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sendas Distribuidora, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

1.4% of CP ALL Public shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.5% of Sendas Distribuidora shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Sendas Distribuidora shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares CP ALL Public and Sendas Distribuidoras net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets CP ALL Public N/A N/A N/A Sendas Distribuidora 1.86% 29.13% 2.88%

Dividends

CP ALL Public pays an annual dividend of $0.81 per share and has a dividend yield of 46.2%. Sendas Distribuidora pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. CP ALL Public pays out 74.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Sendas Distribuidora pays out 10.3% 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.

Summary

Sendas Distribuidora beats CP ALL Public on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CP ALL Public

(Free Report)

CP ALL Public Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates and franchises convenience stores under the 7-Eleven name to other retailers primarily in Thailand. It operates through three segments: Wholesale Business, Retail Business, and Management of Rental Spaces in Shopping Centers. The Wholesale Business segment engages in import, export, and distribution of frozen and chilled food with delivery services and focuses on selling consumer products, including fresh food, dry food, and consumer products under Makro brand. Its Retail Business segment is involved in domestic supply chain, distribution system, logistics network, and brand equity businesses. This segment also sells its products under various domestic, international, and small and medium enterprises brands. The company's Management of Rental Spaces in Shopping Centers segment manages buildings and retail spaces in shopping malls. In addition, the company is involved in sale and maintenance of retail equipment; cash and carry, catalog, and e-commerce businesses; marketing and advertising activities; provision of information technology and research and development services, as well as engaged in bill payment collection, life insurance, and non-life insurance broker business. Further, the company offers educational institution, training, business seminar services, as well as healthcare and medical specialist's consultation services. The company was formerly known as C.P. Seven Eleven Public Company Limited. CP ALL Public Company Limited was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.

About Sendas Distribuidora

(Free Report)

Sendas Distribuidora S.A. engages in the retail and wholesale sale of food products, bazaar items, and other products in Brazil. The company serves restaurants, pizzerias, snack bars, schools, small businesses, religious institutions, hospitals, hotels, grocery stores, neighborhood supermarkets, and individuals. It sells its products through brick-and-mortar stores, as well as through telesales. The company was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Stock analysts at Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL  Free Report) in a research note issued on Wednesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage set a top pick rating on the transportation companys stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on DAL. Raymond James upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, April 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday, June 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Delta Air Lines from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded Delta Air Lines from an in-line rating to an outperform rating and increased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $47.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $52.32.

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Delta Air Lines Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:DAL opened at $46.32 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $37.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.52. The stock has a market cap of $29.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a PEG ratio of 0.22 and a beta of 1.24. Delta Air Lines has a 52-week low of $27.20 and a 52-week high of $47.41.

Insider Buying and Selling at Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines ( NYSE:DAL Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 13th. The transportation company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $12.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.25 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 3.51% and a return on equity of 56.49%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 36.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($1.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Delta Air Lines will post 6 earnings per share for the current year.

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 7,513 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.90, for a total value of $277,229.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 107,782 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,977,155.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 7,513 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.90, for a total transaction of $277,229.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 107,782 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,977,155.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David S. Taylor bought 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 26th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $164,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $832,568.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased 15,000 shares of company stock valued at $503,250 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.89% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DAL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,356,139 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $1,974,193,000 after buying an additional 917,225 shares during the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 22,369,318 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $627,683,000 after buying an additional 1,067,362 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,652,643 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $756,110,000 after buying an additional 579,727 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,779,351 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $516,095,000 after buying an additional 3,445,953 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Delta Air Lines by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,168,804 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $459,144,000 after buying an additional 351,286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.35% of the companys stock.

Delta Air Lines Company Profile

(Free Report)

Delta Air Lines, Inc provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Airline and Refinery. Its domestic network centered on core hubs in Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Salt Lake City, as well as coastal hub positions in Boston, Los Angeles, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, and Seattle; and international network centered on hubs and market presence in Amsterdam, Mexico City, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and Seoul-Incheon.

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Durango Resources Inc. (CVE:DGO  Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as C$0.04 and last traded at C$0.04, with a volume of 240000 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at C$0.04.

Durango Resources Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$0.05 and a 200-day moving average price of C$0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of C$3.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.33 and a beta of 0.83.

Durango Resources Company Profile

(Free Report)

Durango Resources Inc, an exploration stage company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of precious and base mineral resource properties in Canada. It has a 100% interest in a group of properties totaling approximately 12,240 hectares in size in the Windfall Lake gold camp in the Abitibi region of Quebec, Canada.

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GMS Inc. (NYSE:GMS  Free Report) major shareholder Coliseum Capital Management, L sold 171,430 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.14, for a total transaction of $12,024,100.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,763,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $263,991,739.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a companys stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Coliseum Capital Management, L also recently made the following trade(s):

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On Monday, June 26th, Coliseum Capital Management, L sold 371,725 shares of GMS stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.70, for a total transaction of $25,537,507.50.

On Thursday, June 22nd, Coliseum Capital Management, L sold 35,278 shares of GMS stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.27, for a total transaction of $2,408,429.06.

On Friday, June 16th, Coliseum Capital Management, L sold 800,000 shares of GMS stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.06, for a total transaction of $52,848,000.00.

On Wednesday, June 14th, Coliseum Capital Management, L sold 80,071 shares of GMS stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.89, for a total transaction of $5,355,949.19.

On Monday, June 12th, Coliseum Capital Management, L sold 201,213 shares of GMS stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.93, for a total transaction of $13,668,399.09.

GMS Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GMS traded up $0.26 during trading on Thursday, hitting $70.28. 967,646 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 304,869. The company has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00 and a beta of 1.85. GMS Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.31 and a 1 year high of $72.18. The firms fifty day moving average price is $63.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GMS

GMS ( NYSE:GMS Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 22nd. The company reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. GMS had a net margin of 6.25% and a return on equity of 32.45%. The businesss revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that GMS Inc. will post 7.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of GMS by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 29,964 shares of the companys stock worth $1,491,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GMS in the 1st quarter worth about $1,434,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of GMS by 66.1% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,781 shares of the companys stock worth $238,000 after buying an additional 1,902 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in GMS by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,191 shares of the companys stock valued at $759,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its stake in GMS by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 23,173 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 8,460 shares during the last quarter. 99.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GMS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut shares of GMS from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Thursday, June 22nd. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of GMS from $70.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of GMS from $55.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of GMS from $67.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of GMS from $63.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $72.86.

About GMS

(Free Report)

GMS Inc distributes wallboard, ceilings, steel framing and complementary construction products in the United States and Canada. The company offers ceilings products, including suspended mineral fibers, soft fibers, and metal ceiling systems primarily used in offices, hotels, hospitals, retail facilities, schools, and various other commercial and institutional buildings.

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Kidoz Inc. (CVE:KIDZ  Free Report)s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as C$0.20 and last traded at C$0.20, with a volume of 1000 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$0.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Fundamental Research set a C$1.02 target price on shares of Kidoz and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 6th.

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Kidoz Stock Down 9.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of C$26.26 million, a P/E ratio of -22.00 and a beta of -1.42. The firms 50 day moving average price is C$0.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$0.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 2.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

About Kidoz

Kidoz Inc develops and sells AdTech software products in Western Europe; Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe; North America; and internationally. The company also owns and develops mobile Kidoz safe ad network, the Kidoz kid-mode operating system, the Kidoz publisher SDK, the Rooplay edugames platform, and the Rooplay originals.

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PINEAPPLE FINANCIAL INC. (PAPL) plans to raise $6 million in an initial public offering (IPO) on the week of July 3rd, IPO Scoop reports. The company plans to issue 1,300,000 shares at $4.00-$6.00 per share.

In the last 12 months, PINEAPPLE FINANCIAL INC. generated $20.4 million in revenue and had a net loss of $3 million.

EF Hutton served as the underwriter for the IPO.

PINEAPPLE FINANCIAL INC. provided the following description of their company for its IPO: Pineapple Financial Inc. is a Canadian-based mortgage technology and brokerage company that provides mortgage brokerage services and technology solutions to Canadian mortgage agents, brokers, sub-brokers, brokerages and consumers. Through data-driven systems together with cloud-based tools, we believe we offer competitive advantages in the Canadian mortgage industry relative to alternative mortgage broker arrangements. We also provide back office services, together with pre-underwriting support services (collectively, asBrokerage Servicesat) to Canadian mortgage brokerages. In connection with Brokerage Services, we employ and engage several licensed mortgage brokers and agents. In addition, we enter into affiliation agreements with certain licensed mortgage brokers, pursuant to which the Company and the Affiliate Broker enter into an affiliation relationship with the intention of jointly marketing mortgage brokerage and other financial services as affiliated entities. This is sometimes referred to as aswhite labelingat, which allows the Affiliate Broker to sell a mortgage that is branded with its company name to its own client base. We currently operate exclusively in Canada, specifically the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, We have been approved by each of the applicable provincial mortgage regulators to operate in 11 provinces and territories, namely Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Yukon, and 2 provinces to follow are Manitoba and Saskatchewan. We launched our first brokerage office in Alberta on July 1, 2021. We also launched our first brokerage office in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island on May 4, 2022. We expect to open our first British Columbia brokerage office in the second half of 2022 and our first Quebec brokerage office in late 2022 or early 2023. We provide our Brokerage Services for both residential and commercial mortgage opportunities and, in each case, through a proprietary technology called MyPineapple. At the heart of our Brokerage Services is an innovative technology system that provides real time data management and reporting, lead generation, customer relationship management and direct underwriting support, all in one. MyPineapple offers network management capabilities for Users, including hundreds of qualified Field Agents, to create an efficient marketplace for the provision of mortgage lending and insurance industry services. MyPineapple integrates directly with Salesforce, Equifax, OneSpan, G Suite and Filogix and manages the Useras day-to-day business through automated triggers and tasks, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. Backed by Salesforce.com, Inc. (asSalesforceat), pursuant to the Salesforce Agreement (defined herein), and built with proprietary code and deep data analytics, MyPineapple syncs up with Usersa calendars and emails, produces robust reporting, advanced analytics, and real-time notifications on marketing communications, and more. MyPineapple is a sophisticated and fundamental tool for revenue growth and relationship development. It plays a significant role in what we believe makes our Brokerage Services distinct and cutting-edge. **Note: Revenue and loss figures are for the 12 months that ended Aug. 31, 2022. (Note: Pineapple Financial Inc. filed its S-1/A on May 16, 2023, and disclosed terms for its IPO: 1.25 million shares at $4.00 to $6.00 to raise $6.25 million. Pineapple Financial Inc. filed its S-1 on Dec. 1, 2022.)A .

PINEAPPLE FINANCIAL INC. was founded in 2015 and has employees. The company is located at Unit 200, 111 Gordon Baker Road North York, Ontario M2H 3R1 and can be reached via phone at (416) 669-2046.

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FreightWaves new Index-Linked Contracts solution is about empowering shippers and carriers to mitigate their exposure to the volatility of the freight market, said founder and CEO Craig Fuller. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

For many shippers, logistics providers and freight carriers, the request for proposal (RFP) process can be time consuming and stressful.

The constant work of rebidding freight and wrangling over price can cause major business disruptions, as well as build friction between shippers and carriers.

The reason companies do RFPs is because they want to know theyre not getting screwed by the market, Craig Fuller, FreightWaves founder and CEO, said at the Future of Supply Chain event in Cleveland on June 23. The problem is that 40% of a carriers relationships with shippers are turned over simply because someone has underpriced him or someone has bid below them.

To help shippers and carriers navigate the marketplace, Fuller said the FreightWaves SONAR platform has launched a solution called Index-Linked Contracts.

One of the things weve been working on at FreightWaves is how do we help empower shippers and carriers to mitigate their exposure to the volatility of the freight market, Fuller said. Index-Linked Contracts is essentially using a third-party index to index your prices to the rates. As the market goes up, the shipper pays more, and as the market goes down, the carrier gives up a little bit more.

Contracts linked to market indexes have been around in other industries for years, such as agriculture, energy and mining. But the trucking industry still mainly relies on RFPs to bid out freight lanes to transportation providers when capacity is needed.

Fuller said constantly having to rebid lanes is bad for both shippers and carriers.

It creates havoc on the shippers, it creates havoc on the carriers, and its time we put a stop to it, Fuller said. Its time we said enough is enough, that this bidding process that we all have built businesses on can be changed.

The FreightWaves SONAR platform will serve as the basis for Index-Linked Contracts, which will float with the market and make sure that both shippers and carriers are getting a fair price.

FreightWaves Index-Linked Contracts solution can be indexed to spot rates, as well as contract rates, with quarterly or monthly adjustments.

Using Index-Linked Contracts, different rules can be set for different lanes, with a shipper aiming to award freight on a troublesome lane at the index plus 50 cents per mile, while a lane where capacity is more available could be set at the index plus 10 cents.

Fuller said Index-Linked Contracts can also benefit carriers by helping them retain more truck drivers.

Its also better for the drivers. At asset-based trucking companies, driver turnover is a major issue, Fuller said. One of the primary reasons that drivers turn over is that they arent getting home, and that theyre not getting home as often.

Trucking companies plan their road network and where they hire and recruit drivers from based on the lanes they are servicing, Fuller said.

If my network is constantly turning over, from constantly having to take freight from different locations, or being moved to different locations, its incredibly disruptive. The only reason that happens often is because somebody else undercut you in the RFP, Fuller said.

Zach Strickland, FreightWaves head of freight market intelligence, said using Index-Linked Contracts could also help companies operate more efficiently.

The efficiencies gained in the process of not dealing with an RFP and all the bids, you can spend your time working on things that provide a little bit more return on investment, a little bit more value, Strickland said. Its really a blank slate. Shippers and carriers just agree that were going to agree that as the market shifts and moves up or down, were just going to let our routing guide pricing also do the same.

Watch: Tips for recruiting drivers in a tough economy.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by Noi Mahoney.

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Demand for global supply chain intelligence continues to rise

The post FreightWaves SONAR launches Index-Linked Contracts solution appeared first on FreightWaves.
Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER  Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Sanford C. Bernstein from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report published on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Wedbush started coverage on shares of Uber Technologies in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. They issued an outperform rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. JMP Securities reiterated a market outperform rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Uber Technologies in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Uber Technologies from $50.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Uber Technologies from $42.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, June 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Uber Technologies in a research note on Wednesday, June 7th. They issued an overweight rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $50.44.

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Uber Technologies Stock Down 3.7 %

UBER stock opened at $42.59 on Monday. The companys 50 day moving average price is $38.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. Uber Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $19.90 and a fifty-two week high of $45.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.62, a PEG ratio of 19.95 and a beta of 1.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Uber Technologies

Uber Technologies ( NYSE:UBER Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The ride-sharing company reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.02. Uber Technologies had a negative net margin of 9.95% and a negative return on equity of 43.94%. The firm had revenue of $8.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.18) earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 28.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Uber Technologies will post 0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other news, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sold 69,975 shares of Uber Technologies stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $3,148,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,416,243 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $63,730,935. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Tony West sold 16,664 shares of Uber Technologies stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.00, for a total value of $699,888.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 164,693 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,917,106. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sold 69,975 shares of Uber Technologies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $3,148,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,416,243 shares in the company, valued at $63,730,935. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 138,143 shares of company stock valued at $6,047,399. 3.84% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Uber Technologies

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Uber Technologies by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,536,758 shares of the ride-sharing companys stock valued at $2,929,224,000 after purchasing an additional 6,148,269 shares in the last quarter. Altimeter Capital Management LP lifted its position in Uber Technologies by 167.5% during the 1st quarter. Altimeter Capital Management LP now owns 30,760,000 shares of the ride-sharing companys stock worth $1,193,422,000 after acquiring an additional 19,260,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Uber Technologies during the 4th quarter worth approximately $580,568,000. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Uber Technologies by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 22,070,619 shares of the ride-sharing companys stock worth $787,480,000 after acquiring an additional 3,443,554 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Uber Technologies by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,785,980 shares of the ride-sharing companys stock worth $658,916,000 after acquiring an additional 660,757 shares in the last quarter. 73.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Uber Technologies Company Profile

(Free Report)

Uber Technologies, Inc develops and operates proprietary technology applications in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia excluding China and Southeast Asia. It operates through three segments: Mobility, Delivery, and Freight. The Mobility segment connects consumers with a range of transportation modalities, such as ridesharing, carsharing, micromobility, rentals, public transit, taxis, and other modalities; and offers riders in a variety of vehicle types, as well as financial partnerships products and advertising services.

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The new vitola was unveiled by Kaliman Caribe, exclusive distributor of Habanos, S.A. for Bulgaria, in front of more than 500 lucky people at an exclusive event held in Sofia.

Monterreyes NO. 4 (55 ring gauge x 145mm length) is the seventh limited edition under the Hoyo de Monterrey brand.

HAVANA, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Habanos, S.A., through its exclusive distributor for Bulgaria, Kaliman Caribe, presented in Sofia a new Limited Edition of the prestigious Hoyo de Monterrey brand, the Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola. In a unique atmosphere between the Vitosha Mountain and the Iskar River, the Bulgarian capital witnessed a magical evening with live music, dance shows and, of course, the best Habanos. A select group of 500 guests from Albania, Armenia, Croatia, Cuba, United Arab Emirates, Greece, Ireland, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom were the first to discover and taste the new vitola that owes its name to the plantation of the same name, from the Vuelta Abajo* area in the Pinar del Rio* region, land of what is considered the world's best tobacco.

MONTERREYES NO. 4 EDICION LIMITADA (PRNewsfoto/Habanos, S.A.)

Limited Editions have a unique place among the specialties in Habanos, S.A.'s portfolio, not only because of the careful selection of its leaves, aged for a minimum period of two years. But also, for its presentation in special packaging and with an additional black and gold vitola with the year it was launched. Monterreyes NO. 4 is presented in a wooden box designed for the occasion with 10 Habanos of each.

This new vitola is even more special because it is the seventh limited edition of the brand since the launch of the Epicure Especials vitola in 2004, which ended up becoming one of the references sizes in the Hoyo de Monterrey portfolio. Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola existed in the 1960s and is now reintroduced in a trendy format, adding to the large thick ring gauge vitolas that are so popular for brand lovers.

For the second time, this territory is hosting the worldwide launch of a limited edition. In this regards, Jorge Perez Martell and Jose Maria Lopez Inchaurbe, commercial vice-president and Development vice-president, respectively, of Habanos, S.A. explained in a video broadcast during the event that: "Bulgaria is a very important market for Habanos, S.A. and we are proud to be able to present this launch together with Kaliman Caribe ". The Bulgarian aficionado is a great lover of Hoyo de Monterrey-brand Habanos, and of such exclusive specialties as limited editions. "We are sure that not only in Bulgaria, but all over the world, they will welcome this long-awaited limited edition with great enthusiasm," they concluded.

Enthusiasts of mild-strength, aromatic and delicate Habanos from all over the world will be able to find the new Monterreyes NO. 4 vitola after its worldwide launch at the different official points of sale in more than 140 countries where Habanos, S.A. distributes its products.

Hoyo de Monterrey Monterreyes NO. 4

Market name : Monterreyes Num.4

Factory name: : Maravillas NO.4

Measures : 55 ring x 145 mm length

Wrapper : Habano of an excellent appearance, dark and bright color that makes it very authentic and special.

Tasting notes:

An aromatic Habano with very pleasant woody notes, which allows a fresh and pleasurable enjoyment.

Burn : excellent and combustibility with a wide breath thanks to its large size, which delights with a very fresh and aromatic smoke and some light bitter notes, being faithful to the mild flavor of its blend.

Ash: light gray in color and compact.

Smoking time: About 50 minutes.

Pairing : Can be enjoyed with 12-year-old Whisky, smooth, floral with light notes of toasted malt with a light finish that combined with the smooth taste of this blend makes an excellent combination.

Click here to download high resolution product images.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2145300/Hoyo_de_Monterrey.jpg

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/habanos-sa-presents-the-world-premiere-of-hoyo-de-monterrey-monterreyes-no-4-limited-edition-301868182.html

SOURCE Habanos, S.A.
It is no news that the naira has been devalued by about fifteen percent. Basic economics teaches that the raison detre behind any devaluation is to massively encourage exports that thrive better with a weaker currency.

However, it is economically suicidal for it to happen in an import-dependent economy like ours. We are so import dependent that we even shamelessly import toothpicks.

The naira has fallen to over 800 naira to 1 USD as at the last time I checked yesterday which portends a dangerous signal for the frail economy.

It is not in doubt that President Bola Tinubu means well for the country but is clearly misunderstood to be somewhat sadistic given the short-term pain his policy of fuel subsidy removal is currently causing. I want to assure Nigerians that the pain is only for a short while which will be overshadowed by the gains of saving of funds from the funds that would hitherto have been spent on the subsidy.

About 400 billion in less than two months has already been saved from subsidy which is a very good sign of great things to expect from the Bola Tinubu led administration.

Many critics of the abrupt subsidy removal criticize Tinubu fondly called Jagaban  after his title as Jagaban Borgu of Niger State for not providing his countrymen with some palliatives.

I daresay even though I havent met Asiwaju in person that he has nothing but good intentions for his people. Bolekaja Economists and hustler public policy analysts who dote the social media landscape as well as having a huge presence online portray Asiwajus lack of provision of palliatives as anti-people.

I vehemently disagree with the palliatives option as it only works in much smaller countries and economies.

The palliatives which include conditional cash transfers was a gargantuan flop in India and China so why should Tinubu implement a failed policy on an equally large population like Nigerias?

Critics can only be justified to say that Asiwaju is inept and incompetent if the 400 billion naira saved from the previously planned subsidy payment is frittered away or siphoned like is the norm with governance in Nigeria.

Charles De Gaulle of France and Tinubu share some similarities. They were both liberty fighters albeit of a different hue. De Gaulle was a distinguished soldier and fought many battles most notably World War II where together with the other allied forces of the United States, United Kingdom and the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics defeated the Axis forces led by Nazi Germany. Tinubu was a pro-democracy fighter who joined the barricades from the streets of Lagos. They both fled into exile to the UK. De Gaulle went on a self-imposed exile to the UK on June 15, 1940, because he refused to accept the French governments armistice with Adolf Hitlers Germany. Tinubu also fled to the UK because the then-murderous General Sani Abacha led the government marked him for assassination because of his committed involvement in the June 12 de-annulment struggle. They both made effective use of the radio during their years in exile. De Gaulle used the enormous reach of the British Broadcasting Corporation to rally support for France during World War II and he famously told his countrymen on June 18 1944 that  Whatever happens, the flameof French resistance must not be extinguished, and it will not be extinguished . Tinubu used Radio Kudirat to rally the pro-democracy forces both in the country and Diaspora for the mandate of the late presumed winner of the June 12 election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola to be restored and for the military to immediately return to the barracks where they truly belong to.

They both emerged as leaders at a time both countries were at their lowest ebb.

De Gaulle famously said:  How can you govern a country which has 246varieties of cheese?  to aptly describe the terrible economic, and political situation of France which necessitated the need for a strong leader. Tinubu also emerged under similar circumstances in Nigeria no thanks to the inept political leadership of his predecessor and economic hara-kiri of Godwin Emefiele unarguably the nations worst CBN Governor.

De Gaulle had to take decisions that were first perceived as economically unpopular but later viewed by pundits as well as economic historians as being in the best interest of France. From March 22ndto May 2nd 1968, there was civil unrest in France. Demonstrations and protests began in major French cities. Protest waves were accompanied by violent suppression efforts from the French authorities. Demonstrators united around the problems of a just country, a conservatism of the university system, increased unemployment, and market globalization. Questions bothering the new generation included the American armys presence in Vietnam in 1968, the limited scope of actions for the universities in France, racial segregation, etc.

The civil unrest that started in Paris quickly spread to other provinces of France. Ten million people rebelled. The metro stopped in Paris. Airports were closed. Ships with red flags appeared on the coast of France, and railway and sea traffic were disrupted. Big cities were in danger of starvation.

Charles de Gaulles answer to the protest was simple: yes to reforms, no to chaos. The general appointed snap parliamentary elections. The French preferred peace to revolution, and de Gaulle won once again.

Tinubu is facing something similar to the aforementioned and like De Gaulle, the initial pains will definitely give way to long-lasting gains, especially in the area of the economy.

I conclude with the eternal words of Otto Von Bismarck, the former German Chancellor which is the Locus Classicus for strong leadership for the ultimate common good.

The position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism but by its power [...] Prussia must concentrate its strength and hold it for the favourable moment, which has already come and gone several times. Since the treaties of Vienna , our frontiers have been ill-designed for a healthy body politic. Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decidedthat was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849 but by iron and blood.

Bringing it closer home, the iron and blood of the subsidy removal will be felt in the nearest future in the form of gargantuan gains in the best interest of the economy and polity.

For the courage to yank off subsidy which his predecessor lacked the courage to do never mind the gibberish uttered by Garba Shehu is the sign that indeed a Daniel has come to judgement.

Tony Ademiluyi is a Journalist and Writer based in Lagos. He is the CEO of Buzz Times Media and can be reached on [email protected] and +2348167677075
Even when it is obvious that as humans, it is always convenient to forget and uncomfortable to remember, one invaluable asset the out gone 9th National Assembly left behind that will be too difficult to forget by Nigerians particularly, the people of the Niger Delta region, South South geopolitical zone of the country is the 2021 passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill, after over 17years of back and forth movement, and its subsequent signing to law by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Aside being the most audacious attempts to overhaul the petroleum sector in Nigeria, stakeholders believed that If properly and vigorously implemented, the PIA can represent the gold standard of natural resource management, with clear and separate roles for the subsectors of the industry; the existence of a commercially-oriented and profit-driven national petroleum company; the codification of transparency, good governance, and accountability in the administration of the petroleum resources of Nigeria; the economic and social development of host communities; environmental remediation; and a business environment conducive for oil and gas operations to thrive in the country.

Further amplifying the celebration of PIA advent is the awareness that the people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, have been cheated for a protracted period in ways that rendered restitution a costly process; inferior education, poor housing, unemployment, poor healthcare facilities and very recently recession. These are the bitter tablets of oppression the people have taken for the period under review. Now, this neglect has accumulated interest and its cost for this nation has become substantial in financial and human terms.

However, like every invention which usually comes with its opportunities and challenges, even so has PIA which provided for two regulatory agencies; the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA), to among other responsibilities provide technical and commercial regulation of petroleum operations in their respective sectors, contrary to expectations become the first and fundamental line of conflict between the operators and the host communities-leading to a renewed call by host communities on the Federal Government to give them full control of their resources and then they can developmentally change the lives of their people.

Beginning with the frosty relationship between the operators and host communities, among many examples, the recent ultimatum/threat by oil-rich community of Tsekelewu (Polobubo) in Warri North Local Government Area of Delta State, to shut down ongoing exploration activities of Conoil Producing Limited, if the company failed to reach a definite agreement with the community on the implementation of Chapter 3 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) for the Tsekelewu bloc of communities, supports this assertion.

Entitled Fourteen (14) Days Ultimatum to Implement Chapter 3 of 2021 Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in Tsekelewu (Polobubo) Host Community and Bloc of Communities by Conoil Producing Limited at OML 103, the petition/ultimatum, Dated December 30, 2022, signed by the President-General of the Tsekelewu (Polobubo) Development Association, Dr. Bright Abulu and the spokesman of the association, Mr. Christmas Ukagha and addressed to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Conoil Producing Limited, among other things, lamented that they adopted the option due to the seemingly snobbish attitude of the management of Conoil Producing as the companys management had refused to honour letters asking for a meeting with the TCDA on the issue of the PIA implementation.

Essentially, while the people of Tsekelewu (Polobubo) Host Community continue to wait for what becomes the outcome of their ultimatum, there is indeed, greater evidence that points to the fact that the underlying premise behind PIA enactment has been defeated. There is equally reason for concern that what is currently happening between Oil Companies and their host communities may no longer be the first half of a reoccurring circle, but, rather the beginning of something negatively new and different.

According to a commentator, the challenge of ambiguity, interpretation and imprecision in the law is so profound. For example, it is unclear whether host community development trust obligations are additional to existing community levies (such as the Niger Delta development levy) or will be an aggregation of those levies. Similarly, the law is silent on the definition of frontier basin and host community, instead deferring to the NUPRC on the definition of frontier basin and to settlors or license holders on the definition of host community. These definitions are not neutral to revenue; they have revenue implications. This lack of clarity creates uncertainty and even possible disputes, especially if relevant parties define them differently.

On Capacity building, the referenced commenter captures it this way; this law is complex and complicated. While capacity in the oil and gas sector has been built over the years, the new legal provisions and fiscal framework will need new capacities to succeed. This challenge will be particularly acute in the new regulatory institutions; in the understanding, interpretation, and application of the law; and in the management of the funds, including the Host Community Development Trust Funds ( HCDTF).

In my view, another major area of interest  that the 10th NASS must watch as it calls for urgent amendment is the fiscal framework of PIA which highlights penalties for gas flaring arising from midstream operations. It stated that revenues from these penalties will accrue to the Midstream and Downstream Infrastructure Fund and will be used to finance midstream and downstream infrastructure investment.

Aside the fact that the law was more interested in income generation for the government through payment of fines/penalties by the operators and has no protection for the host communities, who are the real victims of pollution arising from gas flaring , another major flaw inherent in the provision is that a tour by boat of creeks and coastal communities of Warri South West and Warri North Local Government Areas of Delta state will amply reveal that the much anticipated end in sight of gas flaring is actually not in sight. In the same manner, a journey by road from Warri via Eku-Abraka to Agbor, and another road trip from Warri through Ughelli down to Ogwuashi Ukwu in Aniocha Local Government of the state, shows an environment where people cannot properly breathe as it is littered by gas flaring points.

In a simple language, the operators appear more comfortable with the payment of fines/penalties arising from flared gases than taking practical steps to end the practice.

To a large extent, the above confirms as true the recently published report which among other concerns noted that Nigeria has about 139 gas flare locations spread across the Niger Delta both in onshore and offshore oil fields where gas which constitutes about 11 percent of the total gas produced are flared. Apart from the health implication of flared gases on humanity, its adverse impact on the nations economy is equally weighty. For instance, a parallel report published a while ago underlined that about 888 million standard cubic feet of gas was flared daily in 2017.

The flared gas, it added, was sufficient to light up Africa, or sub-Saharan Africa, generate 2.5 gigawatts (Gw) of power or produce 50 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) or produce 600,000 metric tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) per year, produce 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), feed two-three liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains, generate 300,000 jobs, able to attract $3.5 billion investment into Nigeria and has $350 million carbon credit value. This is an illustrative pointer as to why the nation economically gropes and stumbles.

Looking at the enormity of the health and economic losses inherent in gas flaring, one may be tempted to ask what set the stage for gas flaring in Nigeria. The politics that keeps it going, and why it flourishes unabated?

Banking on what experts are saying, the major reason for flaring of gasses is that when crude oil is extracted from onshore and offshore oil wells, it brings with it raw natural gas to the surface and where natural gas transportation, pipelines, and infrastructure are lacking, like in the case of Nigeria, this gas is instead burned off or flared as a waste product as this is the cheapest option. This has been going on since the 1950s when crude oil was first discovered in commercial quantities in Nigeria.

To make the PIA rewarding and meet the changing needs of all the parties involved, Senator Goodswill Akpabios led 10th National Assembly must amend the existing legislation. it has to be simple and without any form of ambiguity in its provisions. Take as an illustration, the NASS must not fail to remember that the Host Community Development Trust Fund (HCDTF) is to foster sustainable prosperity, provide direct social and economic benefits from petroleum to host communities, and enhance peaceful and harmonious coexistence between licensees or lessees and host communities. The 10th NASS must do more to strengthen these provisions.

Most importantly, it has recently become evident that every normal human being from the Niger delta is against the 3% allocation to the host communities. They are in support of the communitys demand of 10%.

While the above state of affairs has tactically exposed the fundamental flaw in the PIA which was at a time celebrated, the truth is that if the members of the 10th NASS and of course Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu led Federal Government, do nothing to amend these legislation, it will translate to failing future generations of Niger Deltans by leaving them an Act that will more diminish and devastate their region.

The NASS should also put these concerns into consideration.
The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has denied awarding a contract worth 56,250,000 to an Italian company, describing the reports of the contract as false.

The Commission explained that the said contract did not exist in its records, neither was any of its officials aware of it.

Dr-Ibitoye-Abosede

NDDC Director, Corporate Affairs, Dr. Ibitoye Abosede, in a statement, averred that all the contracts awarded by the Commission follow due process as stipulated in the Public Procurement Act.

Abosede said the reports that the contract was signed on the June 1, 2023 by its Managing Director and Minister of Niger Delta Affairs showed the report was false as the country had no ministers as at June 1 due to the dissolution of the federal executive council by ex-President Muhammadu Buhari before handover on May 29.

He maintained that the said contract letter failed all the Commissions branding standards, hence has been reported to the law enforcement agencies so as to bring the perpetrators to book.

Part of the statement read: The attention of the management of the Niger Delta Development Commission has been drawn to a fake contract award letter being circulated online, purporting to originate from the desk of the Managing Director of the Commission. The fake letter purportedly notified an Italian company of an award of a contract for 56,250,000 Euros. The fake letter neither states the purpose of the contract nor the consideration for the award.

We hereby state unequivocally that the document is fake. The purported contract is also a scam. It does not exist either in the records of the Commission nor is any of our officials aware of it.

Contract awards in NDDC follow due process stipulated by the Procurement Act. At the end of that process, the successful bidder is issued an award letter signed by the Director of Procurement. That award letter is on a security paper, with a serial number and a QR code. Contract award letters do not come from the desk of the managing director.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that it would soon take action on the case of suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari.

INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, stated this on Channels Televisions Politics Today on Thursday.

While confirming that the police have concluded investigations on the matter, the INEC spokesman said the electoral umpire has enough proof to establish a case against Yunusa-Ari.

He said, I am aware that the police have concluded investigations and I am aware that in the next few weeks, Nigerians will be informed of what will happen.

Under the law, it is the responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission to prosecute him (Ari) if a prima facie case has made out against him.

It could be recalled that Yunusa-Ari came under fire after the supplementary election in Adamawa on April 15, 2023, after he announced Aisha Binani Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the dramatic poll while the collation of results was ongoing.

INEC, however, nullified Yunusa-Aris decision and suspended him while former President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a full investigation on the electoral commissioner and the security personnel that were around him when he made the declaration.

When asked on Thursday whether INEC has enough evidence to establish a case against Yunusa-Ari, Okoye said, Yes.

He said the police and the electoral commission were in talks during the probe of the embattled INEC official and a decision will be made very soon.

Okoye said, There has been some level of interface between the Nigeria Police Force and the Independent National Electoral Commission and the commission was involved in some of the processes leading to the investigation. Very soon, the commission will take action relating to the Adamawa REC.
Nigeria: June 30: Africas Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, on Monday, signed an agreement with the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat to provide financing for up to US$6.0bn over the next 3 years to eligible SME across Africa.

UBA signed the agreement with AfCFTA on the sidelines of the 30thAfreximbank Annual Meeting (AAM) which was held in Accra, Ghana. By this agreement, the parties are to promote the development of SMEs operating in Four sectors under the 1st phase of the partnership which are largely import dependent by providing technical and financing solutions for intra-African/domestic alternatives. These economic sectors are Agro-processing, Automotive, pharmaceuticals, Transport and Logistics.

One of the key initiatives of the AfCFTA is to improve access to finance and markets for SMEs to encourage their growth and contribution to the socio-economic development of Africa.

The Deputy Managing Director of UBA, Muyiwa Akinyemi, who signed the agreement on behalf of the bank, noted that being Africas global bank, UBA remains committed to supporting the growth/development of SMEs across Africa. This is in line with our strategic focus on the SME segment being a catalyst to economic development of Africa.

Muyiwa further said,  Under this partnership UBA will go beyond just financing to provide non-financial services to these SMEs to develop the capacity for growth across the 20 African countries that we are present and build sustainable business practices. We shall also be leveraging on technology to deliver our financing activities to the beneficiaries and this platform provides us with a unique opportunity to stimulate the development of the continent as Africas Global Bank.

On his part, the Secretary-General of the AfCFTA, H.E. Ambassador Wamkele Mene, who spoke on the agreement with UBA, emphasized the need to catalyze Africa's industrialization and boost intra-Africa trade to improve the socio-economic well-being of the continent and its people, which he noted was a key factor behind the partnership.

Ambassador Wamkele said, The Secretariat is committed to supporting SMEs as it recognizes the financing gap SMEs face on the continent and intend to mitigate this gap through this partnership. The identified areas of collaboration with UBA will provide the desired impetus for these SMEs to achieve the desired growth in their intra-Africa/export trading capabilities, which aligns with the objectives of the AfCFTA.

United Bank for Africa is one of the largest financial services provider on the African continent, with operations in 20 African countries viz Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Congo DRC, Chad and Cameroon. The bank is also present in the United Kingdom, United States of America, France and United Arab Emirates. UBA provides Retail, SME, Commercial and Institutional/Wholesale banking services and leading financial inclusion through cutting edge technology and customer experience.
His Excellency Chief Timipre Sylva, former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State has expressed shock and sadness over the passing of H.E Nestor Binabo, former acting Governor of Bayelsa State.

In a personally signed letter to the press, Sylva described the loss as colossal and one of profound magnitude 'We have lost one of our titans, and while we are stunned, pained and thrown in utter helplessness we believe that God makes these decisions'

'He left positives marks in the politics of our state, in governance and, ultimately, in the development of The Glory of All Lands and Nigeria'

'I commiserate with the Binabo family as they mourn, losing a patriarch is always a shattering experience. We will pray, mourn, stand and support them as they deal with this steep time'

'The family should be consoled by the fact they gave to Bayelsa and Nigeria a man of the finest qualities who blessed society positively and gave noble account of himself'

His Excellency Nestor Binabo briefly served as the acting Governor of Bayelsa State from January to February 2012. He also served as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.

JULIUS BOKORU is the Special Assistant On Media and Public Affairs to H.E Chief Timipre Sylva, Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Bayelsa State.
We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse.

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Benchmark Metals (CVE:BNCH) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. For the purpose of this article, we'll define cash burn as the amount of cash the company is spending each year to fund its growth (also called 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 Benchmark Metals

When Might Benchmark Metals Run Out Of Money?

You can calculate a company's cash runway by dividing the amount of cash it has by the rate at which it is spending that cash. When Benchmark Metals last reported its balance sheet in February 2023, it had zero debt and cash worth CA$17m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through CA$33m. That means it had a cash runway of around 6 months as of February 2023. Importantly, the one analyst we see covering the stock thinks that Benchmark Metals will reach cashflow breakeven in 3 years. That means unless the company reduces its cash burn quickly, it may well look to raise more cash. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Is Benchmark Metals' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Because Benchmark Metals isn't currently generating revenue, we consider it an early-stage business. Nonetheless, we can still examine its cash burn trajectory as part of our assessment of its cash burn situation. Given the length of the cash runway, we'd interpret the 28% reduction in cash burn, in twelve months, as prudent if not necessary for capital preservation. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. For that reason, it makes a lot of sense to take a look at our analyst forecasts for the company.

How Hard Would It Be For Benchmark Metals To Raise More Cash For Growth?

While Benchmark Metals 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. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. By looking at a company's cash burn relative to its market capitalisation, we gain insight on how much shareholders would be diluted if the company needed to raise enough cash to cover another year's cash burn.

Benchmark Metals has a market capitalisation of CA$70m and burnt through CA$33m last year, which is 47% of the company's market value. That's high expenditure relative to the value of the entire company, so if it does have to issue shares to fund more growth, that could end up really hurting shareholders returns (through significant dilution).

Is Benchmark Metals' Cash Burn A Worry?

On this analysis of Benchmark Metals' cash burn, we think its cash burn reduction was reassuring, while its cash runway has us a bit worried. One real positive is that at least one analyst is forecasting that the company will reach breakeven. Considering all the measures mentioned in this report, we reckon that its cash burn is fairly risky, and if we held shares we'd be watching like a hawk for any deterioration. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 5 warning signs for Benchmark Metals (of which 3 don't sit too well with us!) you should know about.

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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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has slammed the National Universities Commission (NUC) over the designed Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS).

The academic lecturers' union, who rejected the development, warned that the standards are a threat to the quality of university education and erode the power of university Senates.

ASUUs national president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, made this known in a statement issued on Friday.

He expressed concerns over NUCs control of the majority of CCMAS contents, calling it a nightmare, while explaining that it was alarming that NUC had 70% influence over the CCMAS, leaving university Senates to work on just 30%.

The statement further highlighted the numerous shortcomings and gross inadequacies of the CCMAS documents, indicating growing apprehension within the academic community.

The statement states, ASUU is not unaware that setting academic standards and assuring quality in the NUS is within the remit of the NUC. Section 10(1) of the Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Act, Cap E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, enjoins the NUC to lay down the minimum standards for all universities and other degree awarding institutions in the Federation and conduct the accreditation of their degrees and other academic awards.

However, the process of generating the standard is as important (if not more important) than what is produced as minimum standards.

In this instance, the NUC has recently, through some hazy procedures, churned out CCMAS documents containing 70% curricular contents in 17 academic fields with little or no input from the universities. The academic disciplines covered are (i) Administration and Management, (ii) Agriculture, (iii) Allied Health Sciences, (iv) Architecture, (v) Arts, (vi) Basic Medical Sciences, (vii) Computing, (viii) Communication and Media Studies, (ix) Education, (x) Engineering and Technology, (xi) Environmental Sciences, (xii) Law, (xiii) Medicine and Dentistry, (xiv) Pharmaceutical Science, (xv) Sciences, (xvi) Social Sciences, and (xvii) Veterinary Medicine.

It stressed that many university administrators, though dissatisfied, were shying away from making public comments on CCMAS.

The statement revealed that, however, some university Senates did not hide their displeasure with the ongoing efforts to impose CCMAS on Nigerian universities by the NUC.

It added, The CCMAS is a nightmarish model of curriculum reengineering. It is an aberration to the Nigerian University System. The CCMAS documents are flawed both in process and in content. There is no basis for the 70% untouchable CCMAS, which cannot stand the test of critical scrutiny of university Senates.

However, it suggested that NUC should encourage universities, as currently being done by the University of Ibadan, to propose innovations for the review of their programmes. Proposals from across universities should then be sieved and synthesised by more competent expert teams to review the existing BMAS documents and/or create new ones as appropriate.

The difference here is the bottom-up approach, unlike the top-bottom or take-it-or-leave-it model of the CCMAS.
Nigerian Army personnel of the 4 Special Forces, Doma, Nasarawa State, have reportedly arrested 12 suspected rail track vandals at Angwan Yara, Keana Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

Major Joseph Afolasade, the Acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations of the Command, made this known at a press briefing on Friday in Doma.

According to Maj. Afolasade, On June 15, 2023, troops of the Command, during a routine patrol, intercepted five suspected rail track vandals at an abandoned railway station between Angwan Yara and Agyaragu communities of Keana LGA.

The suspects were arrested with a large quantity of rail tracks loaded in two trucks.

In the course of investigation, the troops arrested additional seven suspects on June 18 who had made confessional statements.

They admitted to have played various roles in the theft of the rail tracks and mentioned names of some prominent persons in Nasarawa and Plateau States as being part of the syndicate, he added.

Maj. Afolashade3 revealed that the Army also rejected a bribe of N5 million offered by the suspects.

They offered to give our personnel N5 million to allow them go with the rail tracks, but our men rejected the money and arrested them, Maj. Afolasade added.

He said that the suspects claimed that they were deceived by their sponsors who are on the run.

He added that Maj.-Gen. Owyinka Soyele, Commander of the Special Forces, had approved that the suspects be handed over to Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for further investigation and prosecution.
'Housing Prices Are Going To Stay Fairly High. It's Going to Be a Real Affordability Crisis'  According To Redfin CEO Here's Why Nobody Is Selling Their Homes

The housing crunch in the United States has put potential sellers in a bind, leaving them reluctant to dive into a messy market flooded with high mortgage rates.

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman didn't mince words when highlighting the scarcity of housing inventory as one of the top concerns plaguing the market. He noted that political gridlock and financial challenges have hindered new construction and discouraged homeowners from listing their properties  especially when they have secured attractive 30-year fixed rates below 3%. As a result, there is a prevailing reluctance among homeowners to sell, while a significant number of people are eager to make a move.

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Delving into the quirks of the housing market correction, Kelman shed light on the contributing factors. At the forefront is a glaring shortage of available housing options. In 2020, when mortgage rates dipped below 3%, houses were snapped up in a frenzy. But now, with rates hovering around double that figure, homeowners are holding out for better days. But rates have stubbornly clung to the 6% to 7% range this year, deterring potential sellers.

While these rates don't reach the astronomical heights of the 1980s when they skyrocketed past 18%, their sharp increase from the pandemic's record lows is worth noting. Kelman explained that most people can't fathom trading up from their current homes when they can't even afford the houses they bought a couple of years ago. This has resulted in a persistent shortage of housing inventory. As a consequence, when inventory is low, the demand-supply dynamics push prices to remain high.

The latest monthly report from Redfin further illuminates the challenges faced by hopeful homeowners. Imagine this: At a mortgage rate of 6.79%, the highest recorded for the week ending June 1, the median monthly mortgage payment for a home at the listed price hit a record-breaking $2,651. That's a 14% increase compared to the previous year.

To add to the woes, new listings for home sales have taken a nosedive, plunging 25% from the previous year to hit rock-bottom levels for early June. And if that's not enough, the total number of homes on the market has shrunk by 5% year over year, hitting the lowest level on record for the same period. Kelman, with a hint of sarcasm, predicts that this year's sales volume will be 4.2 million units, falling short of the usual 5 million benchmark.

All this scarcity has given a boost to housing prices, making potential buyers gulp at the numbers. Redfin reports that the median home price in the United States currently stands at $379,463, showing a decline of 1.6% compared to the previous year  just a minor dip in the grand scheme of things. But regions like Cincinnati, Miami and Milwaukee are witnessing price increases.

The result? Younger generations who missed out on the low-rate bonanza are now facing Mount Everest-like obstacles on their path to homeownership. Kelman explained to CNBC, "Housing prices are going to stay fairly high. It's going to be a real affordability crisis for the millennial generation. Many people want to move, and they just can't do it because housing prices aren't going to come down in this market correction."

The housing market is certainly not devoid of interest. Redfin's Homebuyer Demand Index, which measures requests for property tours and other services from the company's agents, is revving up close to its highest level in a year. It seems potential buyers are patiently biding their time, eagerly waiting for mortgage rates to dip or housing prices to take a tumble before they make their move. Who can blame them? It's always better to strike when the iron is hot and the rates are not.

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This article 'Housing Prices Are Going To Stay Fairly High. It's Going to Be a Real Affordability Crisis'  According To Redfin CEO Here's Why Nobody Is Selling Their Homes originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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Politics played on the ethnic crisis Stooping to gutter level

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The politics that is being played out is amazing and it would have surely left a bitter taste in the mouth of any discerning observer. Comes close to a case of the one eyed donkey leading a herd of blind asses, blind asses who have no compunction of imposing their own version of localised curfew in their own courtyard and extremely inconveniencing the odd few who may be out to earn a living just so that their offsprings do not join the herd of asses whose only claim to fame will be demonstrating their prowess in putting up roadblocks and dissuading all not to pass through and take a detour. This is the drama that is being enacted on the streets and roads of Manipur ever since the place went up in flames in the evening of May 3. A tragedy being scripted on the soil of Manipur and no one seems to give a thought to the fact that the main lifeline of the place and her people has been cut off for nearly 60 days now. That this has not perturbed Delhi one bit can be easily explained by the deafening silence maintained by the Prime Minister till date and it stands that the visit and the assurance of Union Home Minister Amit Shah has refused to have any impact on the people. The result is there for all to see. Indifference at a time when Manipur is undergoing a crisis, a crisis that has already claimed over 130 lives, rendered thousands homeless, destroyed innumerable houses and is on the radar of the international world and juxtapose this reality against the petty politics that is being played out on the soil of the place and one certainly can get an idea of where Manipur features in the consciousness of Delhi. And it is on the premise of this indifference that Manipur can see petty politics being played out on her soil, a politics that has nothing to deal with the present crisis. Does not need a genius of a political mind to fathom why AICC leader Rahul Gandhi thought it would be better to go by road all the way from Imphal to Moirang and maybe even Churachandpur to meet inmates of the relief camps. At the same time it also does not need political acumen to understand why the BJP had to react in the way it did to the visit of the AICC leader. This is nothing but playing politics with the misfortune and misery of the people rendered homeless by the crisis and it cannot get more farcical than this. But it is tragic.

Time people understand the politics that has gone in to make the crisis more complex. Common sense says that the only way forward is to sit down and talk. This is what all those acquainted with conflict management would vouch, but when either party continue to stick to such demand as solution before peace then one can see the dirty hands of politics playing with the lives of the people. And it is the well groomed, suited, booted directors of such politics who have everything to gain by making things murkier and more complex. Go and ask those who are spending their days at the relief camps, who are trying to earn something making candles and other bits and pieces and all would have a common answer and that is their longing to go back to the place they once called home. The longer the relief camps open and cater to the needs of the inmates, the more beneficial it would be for the directors, who are pulling the strings and deciding which direction the human tragedy should take. For too long the people have remained blind asses, allowing themselves to be led by the one eyed donkeys and the deaths and senseless violence should now make them see the reality that is staring them in the face. The reality that in the ongoing clash, there can be no winner. The loser will be everyone. For nearly 60 days Manipur has remained paralysed and now is the time for all to start opening their eyes and try to see beyond the obvious. Dont be dumb asses to be led by one eyed donkeys is the advice to everyone.
HSBC has been at the receiving end of protests over its decision to shut down the bank accounts of a Hong Kong opposition party earlier this month - Lam Yik /Bloomberg

HSBC has been accused by UK and US politicians of persecuting dissident Hong Kongers who leave the country over pension rights.

Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP and chairman of the foreign affairs committee, and Mike Gallagher, the US Republican representative, wrote to bosses at the FTSE 100 lender expressing deep concern about HSBC prohibiting some Hong Kong residents from making pension withdrawals.

In the letter to chief executive Noel Quinn, which was first reported by the Financial Times, Ms Kearns and Mr Gallagher wrote: We are concerned that HSBC  in support of the Hong Kong National Security Law  is withholding pension funds from BNO [British National Overseas] passport holders and thus contributing to the oppression of people in Hong Kong.

The rebuke comes as HSBC faces growing scrutiny of its activities in China and Hong Kong, where it has been accused by British MPs of complicity in human rights abuses.

HSBC supported a Beijing-backed law introduced in 2020 that banned anti-government activity in the former British colony. At the time, the bank said it respects and supports all laws that stabilise Hong Kongs social order.

Since the law was introduced, HSBC has frozen the bank accounts of a raft of activists, including pro-democracy politician Ted Hui, on orders from Hong Kong police.

A separate report in February by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong also claimed that HSBC blocked payments for those who fled to Britain.

It alleged that HSBC blocked payments after saying entry documents provided by the British government to Hong Kong immigrants were not sufficient to unlock their savings.

More than 88,000 people have been granted residency in the UK after leaving Hong Kong since early 2021, under the British National Overseas (BNO) visa scheme.

Hong Kong residents can usually make an early withdrawal from their pension schemes if they make a permanent departure to resettle elsewhere, or if they retire early or have a severe illness.

HSBC said: In the case of permanent departure, scheme members are required to provide evidence of the right of abode outside of Hong Kong.

The [regulator] has published guidance as to what evidence scheme members may rely on and, like all banks, we have to obey the law and the instructions of the regulators.

In the letter, Mr Gallagher and Ms Kearns asked HSBC to provide information about who authorised the decision to not recognise BNO passports and whether board members had been aware of it.

The bank, which counts Hong Kong as its biggest market, has said repeatedly that it has to comply with laws in every jurisdiction where it operates.

However, the letter from two leading China hawks highlights the growing difficulties HSBC faces in operating in both China and the West.

Earlier this month, HSBC shut down the bank accounts of a Hong Kong opposition party as the lender increasingly sides with Beijing on a crackdown in the city state.

The bank closed three accounts used for receiving political donations by the League of Social Democrats (LSD), one of Hong Kongs few remaining opposition parties.

Earlier this year, The Telegraph revealed that HSBC had admitted it risks endangering human rights amid its pivot to Asia.

In an internal review, the lender found that freedom of speech and freedom from arbitrary arrest were among a host of human rights that it was at risk of undermining as a result of its business activities and relationships.

Hong Kong has plummeted down human rights league tables since the introduction of the national security law, with experts citing a suppression of freedom of expression and freedom from arbitrary arrest as areas of particular concern.

In May, HSBC shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to break-up the global lender despite a campaign from its biggest investor.

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OTTAWA, ON, June 30, 2023 /CNW/ - NIB Trust Fund (NIBTF) and Hudson's Bay Foundation (HBF) are thrilled to announce NIBTF as an official Hudson's Bay Foundation Charter for Change Impact Partner. As part of this partnership, HBF has committed $1.2 million to NIBTF over three years, to support its mission to address the impacts of the Indian Residential school system and support Indigenous communities across Canada. This significant contribution marks a pivotal moment in NIBTF's journey toward creating positive and sustainable impact for First Nations individuals and communities nationwide.

NIB Trust Fund and Hudson's Bay Foundation (CNW Group/The Bay)

The partnership between NIB Trust Fund and Hudson's Bay Foundation began with HBF recognizing the importance of NIBTF's mission, resulting in HBF being the first organization to offer such a donation. After numerous discussions and delicate conversations addressing concerns, the organizations found alignment with their shared objectives to support First Nations and commitment to true reconciliation.

With this relationship, NIBTF will expand its efforts to provide educational opportunities, employment programs, and empower its beneficiaries, communities, and people. HBF's support underscores their focus on education and employment as pillars of change within Indigenous communities.

"This donation from Hudson's Bay Foundation exemplifies their commitment to change and to support First Nations communities and our self-determined capacity to drive meaningful change," says Naomi Racette, Executive Director at NIB Trust Fund. "It stands as a testament to the tremendous potential of our organization to address needs and foster progress for the betterment and healing of First Nations and Metis peoples."

"We are deeply committed to making a meaningful difference in Indigenous communities," says Sophia Hwang-Judiesch, President of Hudson's Bay. "As a company, we have a responsibility to support healing and reconciliation, and contribute to the vision of Canada as a nation rooted in reconciliation, equity, and justice. We feel very privileged to work with NIBTF in this effort."

The NIB Trust Fund and Hudson's Bay Foundation partnership marks a significant milestone in the pursuit of true reconciliation and progress. Together, they will work diligently to create pathways for education and employment that uplift and empower First Nations peoples and communities across Canada.

About NIB Trust Fund:

The NIB Trust Fund's objectives focus on addressing the challenges faced by First Nations communities in Canada, including social, economic, historical, and cultural aspects. They aim to provide information, educational programs, and financial assistance to support education, healing, and reconciliation initiatives. The Fund has awarded substantial funding to various beneficiaries for language revitalization, cultural programs, post-secondary education, employment and training, and scholarships. Its goal is to address the impacts of the Indian residential schools system and contribute to the well-being of First Nations and Metis peoples.

About Hudson's Bay Foundation

Hudson's Bay Foundation is a registered charity, working to address racial inequality by investing in education, employment and empowerment opportunities for Indigenous Peoples, Black People and People of Colour. In 2021, Hudson's Bay Foundation launched the Hudson's Bay Charter for Change, committing $30 million over 10 years to accelerate racial equity in communities across Canada. By partnering with organizations doing critical work under its three pillars, Hudson's Bay Foundation provides funding for programs and initiatives driving meaningful and sustainable change.

About Hudson's Bay

Hudson's Bay helps Canadians live their best style of life. Operating thebay.com featuring Marketplace, one of the largest premium life & style platforms in Canada, with a seamless connection to a network of 83 from coast to coast, Hudson's Bay has established a reputation for quality and style through an unrivalled assortment of products and categories including fashion, home, beauty, food concepts and more. Follow us on our social media channels: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.

Hudson's Bay operates under the HBC brand portfolio. Founded in 1670, HBC is North America's oldest company. The signature stripes are a registered trademark of HBC.

SOURCE The Bay

Cision

View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2023/30/c1541.html
FILE PHOTO: Nike shoes are seen on display at the Nordstrom flagship store during a media preview in New York

Investors, analysts question Nikes wholesale strategy amid gloomy N. American spending FILE PHOTO: Nike shoes are seen on display at the Nordstrom flagship store during a media preview in New York

By Katherine Masters and Ananya Mariam Rajesh

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some analysts and investors question Nike's move to sell its sneakers and clothing through other retailers including Macy's as Americans grow more cautious in their spending.

Roughly two years ago, Nike said it would pull the plug on certain wholesale relationships. It aimed for 60% of its revenue to come from direct sales to shoppers by 2025.

But earlier this month, executives at Macy's and Designer Brands, the parent company of DSW, said they would return to selling Nike shoes or clothing, starting this fall. On Thursday, Nike CEO John Donahoe said its return to wholesale distribution of Nike merchandise is "a continued evolution" of its strategy to reach as many shoppers as possible, including through department stores and other chains.

Nike's return to other retail outlets could reflect a needed change in its strategy driven by shoppers' return to brick-and-mortar stores, said Brian Yacktman, president of YCG Investments. But Yacktman added the decision raised concerns that Nike was moving back to these retailers in a bid to clear inventory and meet short-term profit objectives.

Carolane De Palmas, an analyst at ActivTrades, said Nike's move does help it adapt to evolving consumer preferences. But it also "may seem desperate or indicate a flaw in their direct-to-consumer strategy," she added.

Broadly, retailers are cutting back on orders and in some cases lowering their forecasts to reflect shoppers' caution. Macy's and Designer Brands cut forecasts earlier this month, citing a drop in demand and the need to discount in order to get people to stores.

A recovery in China helped Nike beat fourth-quarter revenue estimates, though earnings missed forecasts. Thomas Hayes, chairman of hedge fund Great Hill Capital said, "With China sales blowing past expectations ... this beat is auspicious for future quarters' results."

Nike shares were down 2.5% Friday.

Last month, Adidas said the Chinese market was improving, although its chief executive warned the group still faces a bumpy year.

(Reporting by Katherine Masters in New York, Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru)
It is now clear that as the United States of America and India embark on a relationship characterized by both as among the closest partnerships in the world, New Delhi will find itself engaged in geostrategic essays that did not feature high on its agenda until recently. While Indias concerns about the Indo-Pacific have found expression through its participation in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, its involvement in the muddied waters of the South China Sea is also now increasing. Clearly, Washington expects this from New Delhi; as much has been made clear by Americas top diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink. He told a Washington think-tank this week that he expects a greater US-India partnership over issues in the South China Sea, as a consequence of what is perceived as a clear and upward trend of Chinese coercion in an area which Beijing considers its bailiwick, to the extent of rejecting the findings of an international tribunal that ruled against it in a dispute with the Philippines. While India has participated in naval exercises in the area, this week it also decided to gift an active duty missile corvette, the INS Kirpan, to Vietnam. While India has gifted smaller boats to the Maldives and Mauritius, and a submarine to Myanmar, this is the first time it has gifted a warship to a country embroiled in a maritime dispute with China.

The Kirpan is fitted with medium- and close-range guns, chaff launchers and surface-to-surface missiles. Territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea involve several countries, including Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. The nine-dash line, a set of line segments claimed by China, impacts these countries; but in addition, there are specific disputes relating to maritime boundaries, islands, reefs and shoals with several of them. In addition, China has disputes with Japan in the East Asia Sea. And, finally, there is the question of Chinas claim over Taiwan, and its determination to reclaim the territory. India, of course, has no claims in the area, but has partnered with Vietnam in several joint military exercises and sold weapons to the Philippines.

The gift of a missile corvette is clearly aimed at aiding efforts to counter what have been termed unsafe maneuvers by Chinese vessels in Vietnams exclusive economic zone. Mr. Kritenbrink was quite firm in asserting that India would play a greater role in the South China Sea as part of its Quad commitments. The message thus seems to be that India will join hands with other nations in its efforts to counter China, and not restrict itself to border and other disputes that have dogged ties for years. India is aware that China is sensitive to the presence of other navies in the South China Sea, but that has not stopped it from gifting the corvette to assist a like-minded partner in enhancing capacity and capability. The stakes have been raised.

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Investing can be hard but the potential fo an individual stock to pay off big time inspires us. Not every pick can be a winner, but when you pick the right stock, you can win big. One such superstar is ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited (JSE:ACL), which saw its share price soar 554% in three years. But it's down 6.6% in the last week. But note that the broader market is down 0.5% since last week, and this may have impacted ArcelorMittal South Africa's share price. It really delights us to see such great share price performance for investors.

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.

See our latest analysis for ArcelorMittal South Africa

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. One 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).

ArcelorMittal South Africa 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.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

It is of course excellent to see how ArcelorMittal South Africa has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

A Different Perspective

ArcelorMittal South Africa shareholders are down 40% for the year, but the market itself is up 6.4%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 9% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with ArcelorMittal South Africa (at least 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) , 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 South African 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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Happiness is contagious. Happy people emit vibes that induce others to become happy. Everyone wants to be happy in life on earth. The quest for happiness begins when one attains adulthood and it runs throughout life. It is an experience that everyone wants to go through. A comparison with compatriots and the finding that one stands on equal footing with them gives immense life satisfaction. Judgements of personal well being are measured by comparing with the average standard of living of society as a whole.

Every individual has his or her own level of happiness; and this level tends to remain constant in ones life time. Psychologists have oncluded that every individual has his or her own distinct and steady level of happiness, termed as set point. A set point is mostly genetically determined. A certain life event may change this level upward or downward but again reset it to the set point. This is called the hedonic treadmill. The hedonic treadmill concept signifies a treadmill affect i.e. however hard one tries to improve happiness permanently he or she will remain at the same place. Economists have also been concerned about happiness in the last few decades.

They lay emphasis on ones income and employment situation in order to assess well being. Economists thus try to relate income and material aspirations and its attainment to happiness. The view is that money brings happiness; more money will bring more happiness. We may recall here the Easterlin Theory on happiness. Findings of economist Richard A Easterlin suggest that at a point of time there is a positive association between income and happiness. But in the long run, it gradually evaporates over time. Easterlins theory states that at a given time those with higher incomes are happier, on average, than (those with) lower incomes.

Also at a point in time respondents typically feel that they were less happy in the past and will be more happy in future. Finally experienced happiness, on an average, is constant over the life cycle. Thus economic activities have a definite impact on individual happiness but are not the only reason behind an individuals satisfaction. Optimists believe the world is much better now than it was a few centuries ago. The perception is that this is the result of progress. Some pessimists have reservations.

They say that the world deserves much better results with the same resources. A large section of the population in almost every society faces inequality, poverty, hunger and unemployment. The aspirations and goals of individuals remain unfulfilled. This implies fruits of progress are not evenly distributed among the members of society. So, while a minority is happy, most are not. The world is gradually thinking of ways to measure the well-being of citizens in a society by giving more and more importance to human development and individual happiness.

Measuring happiness in countries and relating it to economic performance of the government and corporate is slowly gaining ground. The United Nations has published World Happiness Reports (WHR) over ten years since 2012. The reports aim to identify determinants of well-being which help nations craft policies for achieving happier societies. The report ranked countries according to happiness measures. The top ranked countries all score very well on the measures the report uses to explain its findings: healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support, low corruption, generosity in a community where people look after each other and freedom to make key life decisions, the 2023 WHR said.

The World Happiness Reports from 2012 to 2023 are based on individual life evaluations done on around 1,000 people from each country over a three-year period. It covers more than 150 countries. The congregate of individual happiness of citizens gives the national happiness index of each country. World Happiness Reports exist because of the idea that individuals are able to report their subjective experience in a way which can meaningfully guide individuals and societies towards better lives.

A natural way to measure peoples well-being is to ask them how satisfied they are with their lives. People are asked to evaluate their life satisfaction these days on a scale, called the Cantril Ladder, of 0- 10 (0  completely dissatisfied and 10  completely satisfied). This allows people to evaluate their own happiness without making any assumptions about what causes it. Thus life satisfaction is a standard measure of wellbeing (WHR 2023). Interestingly the World Happiness Reports suggest that the most economically advanced countries or the fastest growing economies are not the happiest countries. These reports also suggest modern world people suffer from poor health infrastructure, lower standard of living, fragile governance and freedom despite having high income. War-torn countries, which include countries perturbed by civil war, conflict and ethnic cleansing are the unhappiest. Life would be very unpleasant in a country with the worlds lowest incomes, lowest life expectancy, lowest generosity, most corruption, least freedom and least social support. Objectively measured happiness should gradually emerge as the yardstick of performance of the economies.

After all, the ultimate objective of economic activities is to bring happiness to the life of people on earth. But, why happiness? Surveys show happy people are generally found to be more sociable, flexible, and creative and beneficial for society at large. Achieving such a society is an objective to aim at. Every individual has the right to be happy in life. Thus, governments are being urged to give more importance to happiness in policy making. Bhutan has already adopted a resolution in 2011 that targets Happiness: Towards a holistic approach to development. Bhutan has adopted a Gross National Happiness index as the main development indicator instead of Gross Domestic Product. The first WHR in 2012 stated that the quest for happiness is intimately linked to the quest for sustainable development. It says happiness should be taken seriously; societies should foster the happiness of their citizens. Public policies are to be so designed and delivered that it attains life satisfaction of the citizens.

It is widely believed that increased growth will bring in more resources to the government to spend on productive purposes, infrastructure, health and education which will ultimately bring happiness to its citizens. But efficiency in spending and providing quality service to the people are essential to reap maximum return from the resources spent. Obviously the focus shall be on people, their aspirations, choices and opportunities. A happy, meaningful, rich life of human beings should be the desired goal, rather than simply rich economies.

(The writer, a cost accountant, works with a state-owned power utility. The views expressed are personal.)
Following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, particularly the US governments heavy spending to bail out some troubled TBTF (Too-BigTo-Fail) Banks, the idea of bailin, in place of bailout, began to gain ground widely in the financial world. Simply put, a bailout involves propping up the failing banks with money from outside (say the exchequer) to safeguard the banks (in other words, depositors) interest while bail-in implies protecting the banks with the support of the stakeholders ~ that includes depositors~ money. What a paradox! A shift from using public money to protect public deposits to using the very same deposits to protect the failing banks.

These thoughts frighten bank depositors, just as news of the occasional bank failure does. To alleviate their fears, the Indian government, inter alia, has enhanced the DICGC (Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation) coverage limit of bank deposits from Rs One lac (in force from 1 May 1993) to Rs. Five lac, effective 4 February 2020. That prima facie means the depositors money up to Rs Five lac is safe come what may.

But there is more to it than meets the eye. It is good if the depositors know how their money is safe to that extent and how they can secure it even more. They need to know which among the innumerable banks and branches around them is safe. For this understanding, an understanding of the genesis, evolution and functioning of the DICGC, though briefly, would be of great help to the bank depositors. The banking crisis that erupted in Bengal in 1948 made the government think about some protection to the depositors to guard against the recurrence of similar failures in the country although no immediate action was taken, not even after the Rural Banking Enquiry Committees reassertion in 1950. It was only in 1960, after the failure of two more banks in the country, Laxmi Bank and Palai Central Bank Ltd. that the government introduced a Depositors Insurance Corporation (DIC) Bill 1961 which came into force in January 1962 after its passage in Parliament and the Presidents assent.

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This first enactment to provide insurance coverage to bank deposits is known as Deposit Insurance Act, 1961. As its name suggests, it covered only the deposits, not credit. The DIC which covered only commercial bank deposits in the beginning, started including, after the 1968 amendment, the cooperative banks deposits also. The deposit amount covered in the beginning was Rs 1,500 which was gradually increased to Rs One lac in about 60 years before the quantum jump to Rs Five lac in 2020. The insurance premium is 0.12 per cent raised gradually from 0.05 in the beginning and 0.04 per cent in 1971. The burden of paying the premium is exclusively on the banks; the depositors need not pay it. Now let us come to the Credit Guarantee (CG) part of the DICGC. The RBI promoted a Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd, a public limited company in 1971, to support bank credit to the poor and priority sectors.

Then in 1971, the Deposit Insurance Corporation and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India were merged to form Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) and the Deposit Insurance Corporation Act, 1961 was renamed as Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Act, 1961. But by April 2003, all banks had gradually withdrawn their participation with regards to credit. So, the DICGCs main function thereafter remains deposits insurance alone. This does not mean banks have the freedom to withdraw from the deposits coverage function, too. No, if they do that, they will forego the RBIs license to function as a bank. So, the deposits are safe to the extent guaranteed in all the banks covered by the DICGC. It is clear from the DICGCs website that the 2025 banks are spread in ten categories: Public Sector Banks (12); Private Sector Banks (21); Foreign Banks (44); Small Finance Banks (12); Payment Banks (6); Regional Rural Banks (43); Local Area Banks (2); State Cooperative Banks (33); District Central Cooperative Banks (352) and Urban Cooperative Banks (1,500).

The government claims that the depositors and their deposits are largely protected with the hike in insurance coverage to Rs. 5 lac when a bank fails/goes into liquidation and also when the RBI issues the All-Inclusive Direction (AID) to banks when it senses something wrong. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that 98.3 per cent of the deposit accounts and 50.3 per cent of the deposit value is covered. This we may understand as assessable deposits excluding ineligible for coverage sums like those of governments ~ state, central and foreign ~ deposits. Banks in India have a huge amount of deposits signifying the peoples confidence in them. As of March 2023, the scheduled commercial banks had Rs 190.35 lac crore deposits which account for 70.80 per cent of the estimated nominal Gross Domestic Product of Rs 273.07 lac crore. Let us now turn to the nitty-gritty of protecting Rs.5 lac (both principal and interest together) and more in any bank covered under the DICGC (the name of each bank is available for public verification on the DICGs site). The rule: Same Right and the Same Capacity.

If a person, for example, has several accounts ~ savings bank, recurring deposit, term deposit, etc. ~ in one bank or several branches of the same bank, the balance in all these accounts is summed, which works out to say some Rs 25 lac whereas protection is given for just Rs 5 lac of it. Instead, if the same person in the same bank holds interest differently, for example, one account in his name, another a joint account with the spouse, another with son as guardian, another as a first partner of the partnership, and yet another as second partner and so on, all these accounts are treated as different accounts and if one has ten accounts like this, he will get protection up to Rs 50 lac (Rs 5 lac x 10=Rs 50 lac). Instead of all this, if a person holds accounts in several banks, he or she gets protection separately, in other words, Rs. 5 lac in each bank. Undoubtedly, the DICGC protection is beneficial to the extent it provides it, but not fully.

The people hope that the RBI, the extended arm of the government, which licenses the banks, has full responsibility to ensure full protection to bank deposits. The government therefore needs to regulate fully and protect all deposits in all banks because the deposits belong to the depositing public no matter whether the bank is privately owned, government-owned, or a cooperative.

(The writer is a development economist and commentator on economic and social affairs)
The worlds eyes will be on Taiwan over the next six months as the country goes to the polls in January 2024 to elect its new leader. While the vote is going to be consequential, it is unlikely to be existential. Writing for the Centre for Strategic and Security Studies, leading China scholars Jude Blanchette and Ryan Hass point out that just as Taiwan will not rush to embrace unification with the mainland if the opposition Kuomintang Party (KMT) wins neither would China automatically invade Taiwan if the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party emerges victorious. Taiwanese voters have demonstrated themselves to be consistently moderate in their preferences on cross-strait issues, and the latest opinion polls confirm that a large majority of citizens favour some variation of the current status quo. Taiwans political parties are, therefore, forced to negotiate this reality which compels both parties to rein in their more extreme voices to prevent losing the middle ground.

The international community, particularly the USA, is expected to come to Taiwans defence if Beijing attempts reunification using military force. But Washington would be well-advised to be careful about how it is viewed in the campaign months ahead. Eight years of the globally well-regarded President Tsai Ing-wens regime has certainly resulted in Taipei being less cowed down by the coercive and intimidatory actions of the Peoples Republic of China. But that should not be mistaken for majority support for Taiwans independence. American lawmakers such as the Chairperson of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican Congressman Michael McCaul, recently categorised one of Taiwans leading presidential candidates from the KMT as a Beijing-installed puppet candidate. Similarly, Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton has said that blowing up Taiwans leading semiconductor fabrication plant, TSMC, is an interesting idea to deter China. These are not helpful statements for the Taiwanese people. They also undermine Taiwans democratic process at a time when its integrity will matter the most, as Blanchette and Hass iterate. It is in the interest of the global rules-based order that Taiwans hard-won democratic system, premised on a competitive multiparty system and the will of its population, prevails.

Whether the end result suits the PRC or the USA is not the issue. In fact, a main cause for the wariness and suspicion of the PRC among the Taiwanese people is the blatant bullying by Beijing; Washington does not want to go down that road if it wants America not be viewed with similar disdain. No self-respecting nation will stand for its election to be influenced by a foreign power. The brouhaha over Russias attempts to influence the 2016 and the 2020 US presidential polls has still not died down. Why, then, would Taiwan accept attempts to back a party or a candidate by the USA?

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To pay homage to the Adivasis for their sacrifices for the cause of Motherland, AITC district leaders including MLAs Becharam Manna, Karabi Manna and others celebrated 168th Hul Diwas in Basudevpur of Haripal Block.

Tarakeswar MLA Ramendu Singha Roy also celebrated the Hul Diwas with the locals. From hoisting the national flag to garlanding the statues of Sidhu Murmu and Kanhu Murmu to speeches by eminent people, cultural programmes and drawing competition were put up to celebrate the day.

CM Mamata Banerjee, too, tweeted in this regard, On occasion of Hul Diwas, we honour the legacy of revolutionaries, Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu. Heading the Santhal Uprising, they stood against exploitation at the hands of Britishers and Zamindars. Their struggle shall forever be enshrined in our memories as a reminder to strive for freedom and equality.

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Singur MLA Becharam Manna said: We want the new generation to understand the importance of Hul Diwas and acknowledge the culture of our country. This is the primary reason why AITC has taken the initiative to celebrate the day.

The Adivasi community of our country stood up to fight against the oppressive measures of the administration and those in power. They put up a fight with the British East India company. They pledged to teach a lesson to those who were depriving the masses of their rights by occupying their lands through unfair means. Sidhu Murmu and Kanhu Murmu spearheaded this revolution. And we have assembled here today to acknowledge their efforts to fight against every odd, said Haripal MLA Karabi Manna.

All India Trinamool Congress paid homage to Adivasis and Santhals by acknowledging the work done by their leaders who paved the way for the upcoming generation to fear none and revolt against those who deprive them of their rights.
Trinamool Congress leadership on Thursday suspended around 200 workers contesting rural body elections as independent candidates, nine days ahead of the polls scheduled on 8 July. Party insiders said that the suspended workers are from Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum, Murshidabad, East Midnapore, West Midnapore and Jhargram.

East Midnapore has the highest number of 43 workers while for West Midnapore the number of suspended workers is 39. The rest: 15 in Birbhum, 25 in Hooghly, 13 in Howrah and 14 in Jhargram. A senior leader of East Midnapore district Trinamul Congress unit said that several local leaders and party workers who are upset and demoralized after being denied tickets to contest polls have decided to field themselves either as independents or started to silently support opposition party candidates in some pockets in the district.

A list of such workers involved in anti-party activities has already been sent to the party leadership, he said requesting anonymity. Hardly, three days ago, the party leadership suspended more than 50 workers, including 19 in South Dinajpur, five in Malda, 21 in Nadia and one in Bankura. While addressing rallies in different districts since the end of April, Trinamul Congress general secretary repeatedly said that candidates filing nominations independently would not be taken back even if they win the seats where they contest. During his Nabojoar Jatra programme across the district, A candidate after being denied ticket by the party may file nomination papers as independents if they want. He or she should be aware of the fact that the partys doors to come back again would remain closed for them forever.

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Governor CV Ananda Bose, after holding a meeting with a group of Hill-based regional party leaders, who are against the Trinamul Congress and its ally Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) here today, has said he would like to be a ground zero governor so far as this election violence is concerned. I will be going to understand and feel ground zero-level situations, Dr Bose added. BJPs Darjeeling MP Raju Bista led the all party delegation to meet Governor Dr CV Ananda Bose and appraised him about the deteriorating law and order situation in the areas under Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, particularly the Hills regions of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, and even Chopra block in North Dinajpur district in relation to the ongoing panchayat polls.

Speaking to reporters Governor Dr Bose said: I understand myself what is the ground-level situation. Yes, I would like to be a ground zero-level Governor so far as this election violence is concerned. Politics of intimidation, politics of murder and politics of threats has to go. Governor Bose upheld the present verdict of Calcutta High Court and claimed that the order given by the court is very specific and instructions to the State Election Commission should be implemented to conduct free and fair polls just to maintain the spirit of the Constitution of India and democracy. The delegation has served a representation describing the present situation and requested that the election should be held in an atmosphere of peace, Governor said. They also said the central forces should be deployed not only during election but also post poll results, Dr Bose said, adding, Many candidates have been prevented from filing nomination papers by the goons. A voice clip, recorded on the phone, said withdraw your nominationyour life is secured. What is happening in the Hills is very disturbing. As a Governor Im duty-bound to see orders of the high court are implemented with the spirit of democracy. We will certainly see people can vote freely and fearlessly and the present situation has to end, Dr Bose said. My objective is to see that the present situation has to change and should be changed immediately. We cannot tolerate it any more. We will not tolerate any more, Governor also said.

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The CPI (M)-led Left Front, that had kept absolute control over the Hills before Gorkhaland movement, could not field a single candidate for two-tier Panchayat polls in the Kalimpong district.

Darjeeling district CPI (M) secretary Saman Pathak said on Friday that his party had decided to extend support to Independent candidates, who are contesting both Gram Panchayat and Panchayat Samiti, under the jurisdiction of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in Kalimpong district, having failed to nominate our party candidate.

We have fielded 21 party candidates for Gram Panchayat in tea plantation area, especially Bijanbari block area, in Darjeeling Hills, said Pathak, a former Rajya Sabha member from the Hills. According to him, the CPI (M) also fielded three candidates for Panchayat Samiti polls and extended support to two more Independent candidates there.

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The CPI (M) leader also disclosed that party activists have also decided to extend support to another group of Independent candidates, who are anti -Trinamool Congress led alliance and anti-BJP led alliance in Darjeeling and Kalimpong Hills.

Notably, Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), led by the GTA Chief Executive Anit Thapa, is contesting the Panchayat polls in association with Trinamool Congress in both Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

On the other hand, anti-Trinamool Hill based political parties like Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) led by Mann Ghisingh, Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha ( GJMM) led by Bimal Gurung, Hamro Party led by Ajoy Edwards, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM), breakaway group of CPI(M) and others have united to take on the BGPM and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), especially under the leadership of BJPs Darjeeling MP Raju Bista.

Bista, demanding deployment of Central Forces in the Hills, yesterday severed a representation to the Governor of West Bengal Dr C V Ananda Bose.

What is happening in the Hills is very disturbing, Dr Bose told reporters here yesterday.

Governor of West Bengal Dr Bose, addressing a programme of students in Kalimpong today, echoed his view in favour of conducting free and fair rural polls in the Hills.

Dr Bose also pointed out education system should be free from corruption and society will be free from fear of terror tactics.

It may be noted that the Darjeeling district CPI(M) leadership, once kept absolute control over the Darjeeling Hills before Gorkhaland Movement, has lost control gradually since 1986 and after setting up of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC), has started campaigning especially in four Gram Panchayat areas in Jalpaiguri district, which is under the control of Siliguri Police Commissionerate, fielding candidates in almost all seats.

Darjeeling district CPI(M) secretary Saman Pathak today, in a written letter to Siliguri Police Commissioner, demanded deployment of Central forces in the sensitive booths soon in Dabgram Fulbari Assembly segment.

Pathak also alleged that ruling party candidates may use the police influence for their electoral advantages. He also requested Police Commissioner to ask the police not to bow down before ruling party candidates.

On the other hand, in a significant political development, six MLAs belonging to the BJP, staged dharna in in front of Cooch Behar district administration building, protesting against the police atrocities, after arrest of several party candidates, who are contesting three tire rural polls.

BJP MLA Mihir Goswami alleged the police have arrested party candidates, who are contesting Zila Parishad, Panchayat Samiti and even Gram Panchayat in connection with old police cases against them.

Trinamool Congress leader, Udayan Guho, who is also North Bengal Development Minister, brushed aside BJPs allegations.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday said it approved a USD 50 million loan to support the implementation of policy reforms in Nepal and to help improve its domestic and international trade.

According to a release, trade and industry contributed 14.1 per cent to Nepals gross domestic product (GDP) in the financial year 2022. The government is pushing to increase the contribution of trade to GDP by improving the trade and export promotion environment and strengthening the supply chain of its primary products. It said essential to this is the improvement of customs and logistics systems and services such as efficient transport, transit arrangements, and border procedures.

The development of the trade and industry sector will boost competitiveness and help steer the country toward sustainable economic growth, said ADB South Asia Departments Director of Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Thiam Hee Ng.

Furthermore, improved trade facilitation can boost exports and help address Nepals balance of payment.

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The ADB support will help implement the current Customs Reform and Modernization Plan by improving customs processes through the introduction of digital technologies, such as electronic payments of customs duties and fees, and electronic submission of export documents.

Also, it will establish an online customs valuation database and reduce export documentation to facilitate customs clearance.
In an interview with The Statesman, the ECA founder Rupesh Singh said the introduction of OpenLearning Bharat, an e-learning platform will address the issue of students who aspire to study abroad but lack means

By introducing the concept of micro-credentialing and the facility of credit transfer, the Education Centre of Australia (ECA) Group is all set for a landmark in the education sector in India. It is also all set to introduce OpenLearning Bharat, an e-learning platform.

This e-learning platform has already made a name for itself in countries like Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, and Indonesia with over five million students worldwide. ECA, founded by Rupesh Singh, aims to bring the same model of international university programmes to India and provide access to career-building programmes, skill enhancement courses, professional training certifications, and other qualifications.

Rupesh Singh, a co-founder of ECA, emphasised the larger agenda behind the project. He said it will address the issue faced by the students who aspire to study abroad but lack the financial means. It offers curricula and degrees from university partners abroad at a fraction of the cost.

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The OpenLearning Bharat platform offers a cost-effective solution by providing access to a wide range of curricula, lectures, and professors. Additionally, ECA is focused on training trainers and has successfully trained over 5,000 lecturers in Malaysia, implementing a national platform adopted by public universities.

The Australian School of Global Studies, a brand run by ECA, allows students to begin their educational journey in India and then transfer credits to universities worldwide, providing a cost-effective alternative.

ECA platform aligns with the Indian governments push towards making education global. The concept of micro-credentialing (completing a degree in a staggered manner by dividing the entire course into smaller bits and completing it when you wish to) and the facility of credit transfer (completing degree in time-installments and across different instutions) is also offered by OpenLearning Bharat.

ECA has successfully implemented a national framework in Australia and Malaysia, which can be adopted by the Indian government and universities to facilitate credit mapping and transfer.

Differentiating itself from other players in the market, ECAs platform goes beyond a traditional learning management system.

The partnership with Microsoft allows access to powerful APIs. The platform also offers a marketplace for students across the globe to study in 165 countries and provides a flexible payment gateway.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in virtual format next week, the Chinese foreign ministry has announced.

At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend via video conference in Beijing the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and deliver important remarks on July 4, Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted the foreign ministry as saying.

India hosted the SCO foreign ministers meeting in Goa in May. All SCO member states  China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan  have been invited for the summit. In addition, Iran, Belarus and Mongolia have been invited as observer states. As per the SCO tradition, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the chair.

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The heads of six international and regional organisations have also been invited to the summit. The organisations are the UN, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization), EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) and CICA (Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia). The heads of the two SCO bodies  the secretariat and the SCO RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure)  will also be present.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations. India assumed the rotating chairmanship of the SCO at the Samarkand Summit on September 16 last year.
By buying an index fund, you can roughly match the market return with ease. But many of us dare to dream of bigger returns, and build a portfolio ourselves. Just take a look at HSBC Holdings plc (LON:HSBA), which is up 59%, over three years, soundly beating the market return of 7.3% (not including dividends). On the other hand, the returns haven't been quite so good recently, with shareholders up just 22% , including dividends .

Now it's worth having a look at the company's fundamentals too, because that will help us determine if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

View our latest analysis for HSBC Holdings

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During three years of share price growth, HSBC Holdings achieved compound earnings per share growth of 85% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 17% average annual increase in the share price. So one could reasonably conclude that the market has cooled on the stock. This cautious sentiment is reflected in its (fairly low) P/E ratio of 6.82.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It is of course excellent to see how HSBC Holdings has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. Take a more thorough look at HSBC Holdings' financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, HSBC Holdings' TSR for the last 3 years was 80%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that HSBC Holdings shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 22% over one year. And that does include the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 1.6% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand HSBC Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for HSBC Holdings (1 doesn't sit too well with us) that you should be aware of.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on British exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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Blaming the Gehlot Government in Rajasthan for not arresting the accused of Udaipurs Kanhaiyalal Sahu beheading case in 2022, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that it was the duty of the state government to set up a special court for expeditious trials and punishment to culprits to whom the NIA caught.

They (state government) are asking us (Union Home Ministry) for a quick case verdict. I ask you (public), whether the Gehlot government gave security to Kanhaiyalal on his request? Why state police were mum on the security issue? You (Gehlot Government) did want to arrest the culprit, it was the NIA that arrested them. Please do not lie, said Shah, while addressing a BJPs mammoth rally in Udaipur to observe the 9 years of Modi government and on the eve of assembly polls in the state, Shah made a categorical statement.

NIA has filed a chargesheet on 22 September, 2022 but the state government has not set up a special court yet. Take Rajasthan High Court in confidence for setting up the special court so that the justice be done soon against culprits. You (Gehlot government) should be ashamed of it. Do not do vote bank politics, he said.

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Counting on tips the crime incidents of Rajasthan in last three-four years, Home Minister alleged that the Union Government banned PFI, but the state government allowed their rally in Kota, and incidents of crimes in Karauli, Chittorgarh Alwar, banning path sanchalan of RSS, and removal of Bhagwa flag were the glaring incidents of deteriorating law and order situation.

He asked the public: By neglecting the Indian constitution, the Congress government has sidelined the bahumat samaj (Hindus) for the sake of vote bank politics, and the BJP never does such politics.

Reacting to Home Ministers statement on Udaipurs Kanhaiyalal case, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot tweeted : It is expected that people holding responsible positions will not do politics on a serious issue like terrorism but what Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah did in Udaipur today is an irresponsible act. Mr. Amit Shah lied in Udaipur that Mr. Kanhaiyalals killers Riyaz Attari and Ghaus Mohammed were caught by NIA whereas the truth is that they were caught by Rajasthan Police in just four hours of the incident.

This tragic incident took place on 28 June 2022 while the file of this case was transferred to NIA on 2 July 2022. Shri Amit Shah would probably be aware that both these murderers were active BJP workers. They should get an inquiry done about who were the BJP leaders who helped these two, who used to call the police stations for them. In an open and shut case, why did it take so long for the charge sheet to be filed and why have they not been punished so far, he said.
Taking a jibe at Opposition parties gathered at Patna recently for the LS polls-2024 to defeat BJP, Union Home Minister Amit Shah alleged that the aim of all such party heads was to secure the future of their sons.

He further alleged that all these are the leaders who had indulged in 21 lakh scams.

Sonia Gandhi aims to make Rahul prime minister, Lalu Yadav aims to make son Tejashwi CM, Mamta Banerjee aims to make nephew Abhishek CM and Ashok Gehlot aims to make his son Vaibhav CM. If you vote them, the vote will go to their sons, and if you vote for Modi ji, it will go to the nation, Shah said at the BJP rally in Udaipur on Friday.

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He further said that the 21 parties together want to make Rahul Gandhi prime minister. If Rahul becomes PM, corruption and scams will become the destiny of India and if Modi becomes PM again, corrupt people will go behind bars.

No one could make a single allegation of corruption on Modi and his government in the last nine years. If Modi returns to power after 2024 lok Sabha polls, which is for sure, he will send all such scamsters to Jail, he said, and listed achievements of Modis nine years in power and special schemes and benefits given to Rajasthans farmers and public.

Shah raised a question before the audience, Will Rahul baba be made PM or Modi ji be made PM? Everyone present raised their voice and hands in support of Modi.

Alleging that the Gehlot Government was number one in corruption in the country, Shah sarcastically remarked, Gehlot is roaming here and there without meaning in this age, if someone shows the video of our meeting, it will be known that the time has come for the government to leave as the Congress government is 3D with highest record of crime raj, women and dalit tyranny.

Recalling his recent tour to 15 states, Shah claimed, From the support that is being seen for Modi ji across the country, it is certain that he is going to become prime minister once again in 2024 with more than 300 seats. In 2023, the BJP will form the government in Rajasthan with a huge majority. Gehlots reverse countdown has begun.

Shahs meeting was aimed at wooing the voters of eight assembly seats including Udaipur city, Udaipur rural, Vallabh Nagar, Mawali, Jhadole, Salumber, Kherwara and Gogunda.

Among others who addressed the rally included former CM Vasundhara Raje, Leader of Opposition R S Rathore, BJP state President C P Joshi, and Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Identities of at least 29 persons killed in the triple-train accident near Bahanaga Bazar railway station in Odishas Balasore district in 2 June have been established as the AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, which preserved the mutilated bodies for almost a month, received the DNA profiling report on Friday.

29 bodies preserved here have been identified. The DNA profiling samples were sent in the first phase. The DNA profiling of the remaining 52 bodies is awaited. Samples of hair, teeth, bone, nail and muscle tissue for each of the bodies was sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in New Delhi as there were multiple claimants for bodies, said an official of AIIM-Bhubaneswar.

As many as 81 unidentified bodies are preserved in three refrigerated containers here. A total of 84 families have given DNA samples so far. The 29 bodies identified after the DNA profiling will be handed over today to their kin members after completion of medico-legal formalities, said the official.

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Besides, confusion has set in among the deceaseds relatives as more than one bereaved family member had laid claim over one body. Therefore, a DNA testing Centre had been set up here to clear the doubts over the identity, added the official.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the horrific train accident has increased to 293 after an injured passenger succumbed in the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack on Thursday. Currently, 22 passengers seriously injured in the 2 June rail crash are undergoing treatment at SCB. Most of them are recovering and are out of danger, said hospital authorities.

The Chennai-bound Coromandel Express, Howrah-bound SMVP-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train were involved in a deadly accident near Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore district on 2 June killing 293 people so far.
Former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Friday made an appeal to Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to sympathetically resolve all grievances of ex-servicemen, including those involving pension, family pension and disability pension.

In a letter to the defence minister, the Member of Parliament from Bathinda said she had received memorandums from the Sainik Welfare Ekta Society and the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Organization who had been protesting continuously in support of their demands since 20 February and appealed to the Defence minister to resolve them at the earliest.

Our ex-servicemen are our pride. The sacrifices made by them for our motherland are beyond comparison. It is our duty as a society to take care of them in the twilight of their lives, she added.

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Badal said ex-servicemen had highlighted the need to resolve anomalies in pension, family pension and disability pension. She said junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and jawans who retired early were not getting the full benefit of One Rank One Pension (OROP) because their pension had been wrongly fixed on average basis instead of being fixed at the maximum scale.

The SAD leader said there was also a need to increase family pension from the present sixty per cent limit. Ex-servicemen have also detailed anomalies in fixing of disability pensions for JCOs and jawans which needs to be addressed, she added.

Speaking about the other issues highlighted before her, Badal said JCOs and jawans were also being given less military service pay on account of hardship and risks of military service vis a vis officers and that this anomaly should be removed. She said similarly allowance for hazardous operations should be uniform across all ranks.

Calling for an early resolution of the demands of ex-servicemen who have been protesting under the banner of the Federation of Veterans Association, Badal said It is in the countrys interest that ex-servicemen end their dharna at the earliest.
A man, who is believed to be a Donald Trump fanatic has been arrested for threatening to blow up the house of former President of the US Barack Obama. Taylor Taranto is the man in question who was also responsible for the violence at the Capitol on January 6.

Who is Taylor Taranto

Taylor Taranto is a 37-year-old resident of Seattle in Washington. It was the Secret Service who located him some distance away from Obamas house. Taranto immediately tried to make a vanishing act, however, the Secret Service made a good chase of him. At the time he was arrested Tarantos vehicle was parked close to where he was moving about. There were several weapons and also items to make explosive devices. But it had not been put together.

In recent times, Taranto was seen living in a vehicle near the Washington jailhouse. He also has repeatedly said on his online social media account why he had not yet been arrested over for the January 6 Capitol violence. Strangely, Taranto himself posted a video of himself inside the Capitol at the times riots took place.

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Officials are now concerned because Taranto had made threats recently on social media against a public figure (those in the know say it may have been about Obama).

Taranto also has an open warrant on charges pertaining to January 6 violence on the US Capitol. Senior law enforcement officials said the fact that Taranto was in Washington, D.C., area wasnt an accident. He was there very much by choice. Now, Taranto has been charged with being a fugitive.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which he renewed his appeal for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

In a statement, New Delhi said the two leaders reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

President Putin informed PM about the recent developments in Russia, including the armed mercenary mutiny.

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Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

Kremlin, in a statement, said: Today, at the initiative of the Indian Side, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. In connection with the events of June 24 in Russia, Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order, and ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens.

The situation around Ukraine was touched upon as well. The Russian President gave his assessment of the current situation in the special military operation zone and accused Ukraine of refusing to undertake political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict.

The statement said that when discussing topical issues of bilateral cooperation, the two leaders underscored the importance of further consistent implementation of the major joint projects in various areas and noted with satisfaction substantial growth in trade throughout 2022 and in the first quarter of this year.

Particular attention was paid to interaction within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)and the G20, of which India currently holds the presidency, as well as in the BRICS format. During the conversation, PM Modi spoke about his recent visit to the US.

The conversation was substantiative and constructive. The leaders reaffirmed their mutual intention to strengthen the special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and agreed to maintain contact.
Mark your calendars. Starting Thursday, July 20 and running until Saturday, July 29, Just For Laughs Montreal will again present its iconic free street festival, bringing laughter to the Quartier des Spectacles.

Sponsored by Beneva and in partnership with Loto-Quebec, JFL will provide an impressive lineup of free outdoor comedy events in both French and English. The free English programming highlights this year include:

On the Beneva main stage:

Marc Rebillet, on Thursday, July 27 at 9:15 pm

A one-man improvised meltdown, known for his funk and hip-hop electronic music with free flowing, humorous lyrics.

Freestyle Love Supreme, on Friday, July 28 at 9:15 pm.

This joyful, improvised musical comedy show features talented performers providing non-stop action throughout the fast-paced evening, spinning suggestions from the audience into humorous bits, instantaneous songs and riffs, and fully realized musical numbers. The vocals of the performers are backed by tight tunes from keyboards and human percussion. The show is created live every night with the audience contributing words, ideas and inspiration.

Additional performances will also include, FLTK Collective & Drennon Davis.

On the Loto-Quebec main stage:

Reuben Kaye; Adira Amram and The Experience; Low Key Comedy; Anesti Danelis; Dan Galea; Hip Hop Karaoke Montreal: JFL Edition; DJ Killa-Jewel; and The Flamingos Pink.

A great variety of original acts, ranging from sketch comedy to live music, multi-comic performances, DJ sets, crowd work, and stand-up. The French programming will present numerous free outdoor shows featuring star headliners, including Rachid Badouri, Rita Baga, Alexandre Barrette, and Les Trois Accords, among others from the Juste pour rire lineup.

Just for Laughs MONTREAL is also preparing a memorable 41st edition with an impressive roster of comedy giants and rising stars who will be performing at the indoor festival running from July 14  July 29.

Previous announced artists include Ali Wong, Leslie Jones, Eddie Izzard, Russell Peters, Anthony Jeselnik, Mae Martin, Mike Ward, Jack Whitehall, Jonathan Van Ness, Trixie Mattel & Katya Zamo, Ronny Chieng, Neal Brennan, Ramy Youssef, Please Don't Destroy Live, Darcy & Jer, Brad Williams, Foil Arms and Hog, Giggly Squad, Joanne McNally, The Lucas Brothers, and so many others. Audiences will also see some of their favorite club series return including Just For the Culture, The Nasty Show, Brit(ish) Midnight Surprise, and the 2023 ComedyPRO daytime series.

Of course, OFF-JFL will also present some of todays rising stars and solo performances.

Welcome Hall Mission Partnership

Just For Laughs is once again partnering with Welcome Hall Mission to promote the transformative relief that laughter has on mental health. Welcome Hall Mission is the largest doorway to offer help for Montrealers in need, focusing on its three pillars: Shelter. Food. Love. The partnership will introduce a fourth pillar into the mix in an effort to help spread happiness to those who need it most: Shelter. Food. Love and Laughter!

Festivalgoers are encouraged to donate to Welcome Hall Mission via text, by texting hahaha to 45678 or by donating via QR code across selected venues.

Go to www.hahaha.com for all show information and ticket details!

 Just For Laughs Montreal

 A. Bonaparte
Divided Supreme Court outlaws affirmative action in college admissions, says race can't be used

A divided Supreme Court has struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies
FILE - Text from the ChatGPT page of the OpenAI website is shown in this photo, in New York, Feb. 2, 2023. More than 150 executives are urging the European Union to rethink the worlds most comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence. In an open letter to EU leaders Friday, June 30, 2023, the executives say the upcoming regulations will make it harder for companies in Europe to compete with rivals overseas, especially when it comes to the technology behind systems like ChatGPT.
FILE - An ice-covered ConocoPhillips sign is displayed at the Colville-Delta 5, more commonly known as CD5, drilling site on Alaska's North Slope, Feb. 9, 2016. ConocoPhillips Alaska faces a potential $914,000 fine over what a state regulatory agency called a shallow underground blowout of a well that released natural gas at the company's Alpine field on Alaska's petroleum-rich North Slope in 2022.
When we invest, we're generally looking for stocks that outperform the market average. And the truth is, you can make significant gains if you buy good quality businesses at the right price. To wit, the Mastercard share price has climbed 95% in five years, easily topping the market return of 52% (ignoring dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 24% in the last year , including dividends .

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

Check out our latest analysis for Mastercard

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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.

Over half a decade, Mastercard managed to grow its earnings per share at 20% a year. This EPS growth is higher than the 14% average annual increase in the share price. Therefore, it seems the market has become relatively pessimistic about the company.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

This free interactive report on Mastercard's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Mastercard's TSR for the last 5 years was 100%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Mastercard shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 24% over one year. And that does include the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 15% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Mastercard better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Mastercard you should know about.

We will like Mastercard better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on 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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Travelers endure another day of airport agony. One airline has by far the most cancellations

Air travelers are dealing with another day of widespread flight disruptions, even though the weather has been better along much of the East Coast
The leader of an armed civilian movement that once kicked a drug cartel out of the western Mexico state of Michoacan has been killed
The simplest way to invest in stocks is to buy exchange traded funds. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. For example, the Nordic American Tankers Limited (NYSE:NAT) share price is up 68% in the last 1 year, clearly besting the market return of around 14% (not including dividends). If it can keep that out-performance up over the long term, investors will do very well! Zooming out, the stock is actually down 12% in the last three years.

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.

See our latest analysis for Nordic American Tankers

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

During the last year Nordic American Tankers grew its earnings per share, moving from a loss to a profit.

We think the growth looks very prospective, so we're not surprised the market liked it too. Generally speaking the profitability inflection point is a great time to research a company closely, lest you miss an opportunity to profit.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It is of course excellent to see how Nordic American Tankers has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. If you are thinking of buying or selling Nordic American Tankers stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, Nordic American Tankers' TSR for the last 1 year was 86%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Nordic American Tankers has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 86% in the last twelve months. And that does include the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 11%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Nordic American Tankers better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Nordic American Tankers , 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 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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France mobilizes tens of thousands of police to head off unrest after police fatally shot a teenager

France has mobilized tens of thousands of police officers in an effort to head off widespread urban rioting following the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that shocked the nation
Students walk through a gate at Harvard University, Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Cambridge, Mass. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.
Fireworks light up the sky over Hayward Field in Attleboro in July 2019.
Ideally, your overall portfolio should beat the market average. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. So we wouldn't blame long term Turning Point Brands, Inc. (NYSE:TPB) shareholders for doubting their decision to hold, with the stock down 27% over a half decade.

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 Turning Point Brands

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

Looking back five years, both Turning Point Brands' share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 16% per year. The share price decline of 6% per year isn't as bad as the EPS decline. The relatively muted share price reaction might be because the market expects the business to turn around. With a P/E ratio of 51.31, it's fair to say the market sees a brighter future for the business.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. That said, we think earnings and revenue growth trends are even more important factors to consider. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Turning Point Brands' earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, Turning Point Brands' TSR for the last 5 years was -24%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 16% in the last year, Turning Point Brands shareholders lost 10% (even including dividends). 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 4% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Even so, be aware that Turning Point Brands is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is potentially serious...

Turning Point Brands is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Join A Paid User Research Session

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Job Title: Community Based Business Development Assistant  RETI Project Uganda (2 Jobs)

Organisation: DanChurchAid (DCA)

Duty Station: : Yumbe, Rhino/Imvepi, Uganda

Reports to: Project Manager

About US:

DanChurchAid (DCA) is a faith-based, non-missionary relief and development organization based in Copenhagen, Denmark and founded in 1922. DCA has supported development and humanitarian programs in Uganda for over 35 years, working in partnership with local partners. DCA is a member of the ACT Alliance. Our key competencies in Uganda are livelihoods and food security, humanitarian response, and civil society development.

Job Summary: The Community-based Business Development and Support Assistance will be responsible for community-level youth mobilization, providing support and guidance to young individuals in developing their entrepreneurial, vocational, and interpersonal skills for a dignified and fulfilling job/employment opportunities. She/he will engage with the community, identify training needs, and create opportunities for young people to acquire relevant skills and enhance their employability. She/he will play a critical role in supporting the implementation of the project activities by working closely with beneficiaries on a day-to-day basis. This position requires excellent interpersonal skills, community engagement experience, and a commitment to empowering youth.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Engage with the local community and maintain strong relationships with refugee and host communities including youth, parents, community leaders, and relevant stakeholders to identify skill gaps and training needs.

Collaborate with other project staff and partners to develop detailed skill development plans that align with the needs and aspirations of the youth, and market demand in the West Nile Region.

Conduct regular outreach activities, and closely work with stakeholders to identify and mobilize potential beneficiaries for the skilling and employment project.

Plan and organize skill training workshops, vocational training sessions, and other educational activities in coordination with project staff, stakeholders, and local technical and vocation training institutions.

Provide mentorship and guidance to youth participants, offering support in setting goals, career planning, and personal development.

Organize community meetings and awareness sessions to promote the projects objectives and opportunities.

Provide personalized guidance and mentorship to youth beneficiaries, helping them identify their skills, interests, and entrepreneurial aspirations.

Assist beneficiaries in developing business plans, market research, and feasibility studies for their proposed ventures.

Facilitate access to financial services, microcredit, and business development resources for beneficiary youth.

Assist in identifying market opportunities and potential business partnerships for youth entrepreneurs.

Help beneficiaries in developing strategies for market penetration, product/service branding, and customer acquisition.

Collect and maintain accurate records of beneficiary profiles, progress, and achievements.

Monitor the progress and performance of the youth participants, providing feedback and assistance as needed to ensure their successful completion of the program.

Conduct regular field visits to monitor the implementation of business plans and provide feedback to beneficiaries.

Prepare reports on project activities, including success stories, document achievements, challenges, and lessons learned for project management and stakeholders.









Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The applicant must hold a Bachelors degree in social work, community development, education, or a related field.

Three years of proven experience in community engagement, youth development, or related fields.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage and build relationships with diverse stakeholders, including youth, community leaders, and employers.

Knowledge of the West Nile Region and its social, cultural, and economic context is highly desirable.

Knowledge of the West Nile Region and its social, cultural, and economic context is highly desirable.

Proficiency in English is required. Knowledge of local languages spoken in the West Nile Region, such as Lugbara, Alur, or Madi, is an asset.

Familiarity with work in refugee settlements, and refugee host-communities is an added advantage.

Basic Computer skill is required.

How to Apply:

All candidates who wish to join DanChurchAid (DCA) should apply online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 21st July 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
Do you want to make reservations for your plane tickets? And all of this at the most affordable price possible? If you're a travel fanatic who's constantly on the go, we've got tips that will assist you book cheap flight tickets . Get ready to cross new places off the bucket list for traveling without putting a dent in your bank account by taking advantage of these money-saving tips.

1. Try to keep your travel dates open and flexible

You may have seen websites saying that booking plane tickets on a Tuesday or traveling on a weekday can save you a lot of money. But sometimes it's not true. We recommend that you take a look at the prices for the whole month. By doing this, you can find out which days are less expensive for your trip. Where can you see how much it costs each month? Just put in the places where you're moving from and where you're going. First, find out how much a one-way ticket costs. Instead of choosing a certain date, press the "depart" button and choose the whole month. Click on "Search Flights" to find the best day to fly. Do the same things you did before to find the cheapest flight back home.

2. Consider using a local airline

Local airlines are not shown by most search engines. This usually occurs when traveling to areas that are far away or not frequently traveled. If you're going to a place like that, we recommend searching for local airlines on Google. Next, go to the website of the nearby airline and see if there are any special promotions or discounts available. Booking your flights at a lower price is possible with this helpful tip.

3. Use incognito mode while searching for flight tickets

Do you see that the cost of your plane tickets goes up when you look for them online? That happens because of the cookies in your web browser. The website makes the price higher if you search for the same flight many times, so you feel like you need to book it right away. You start to expect that prices will go up more. So, we suggest that you use incognito mode when looking for flights. Every time you search, start by opening a new incognito window. If you do it this way, your old searches won't be saved, and you won't have to pay more for flights. You can try using a different computer or clearing your cookies to find cheaper prices.

4. Try to pay in a currency that is cheaper

Lots of people choose this way to save money on travel costs. When you fly, many airlines want you to pay with the money from the place you're leaving. When you're buying your plane tickets, see if you can pay in a different currency that costs less than your own. Paying using a credit card is convenient, but be aware that some issuers add costs for making purchases made in a currency other than your own.

5. Make sure to book your flights early

Image Resource: unsplash.com

If you know when and where you want to go, it's a good idea to book your flight tickets as soon as possible. As your travel day gets closer, the cost of airplane tickets usually goes up. There are only a few cases where this doesn't happen. If you book your flight tickets early, you can save a lot of money. Then you can use that money to have more fun!

6. Set up price alerts

It is highly recommended that you sign up for fare price notifications on airline websites. Doing so will let you know about offers in time to get low-priced airline tickets. Information on sales and discounts offered by low-cost airlines can be found on their social media accounts.

7. Find the least expensive destination to visit

This recommendation is ideal for those who are interested in traveling but are unsure on where they should go. Cheap flight deals can be found with a quick online search. Then, you can tailor your holiday destination to your own preferences. Simply enter your departure city and click to see the cheapest available flights anywhere in the world. Choose your destination from the available low-cost flight options, and book your trip now. You can finally quench your need for adventure thanks to this tip.
After facing a huge backlash, Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi on Thursday withdrew his order dismissing Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers. Raj Bhavans order dismissing minister Senthil Balaji stands suspended and he will continue as a minister without portfolio in the cabinet.

Raj Bhavan sources confirmed that the order was "put on hold" by Ravi after the centre informed him about Tamil Nadus decision to challenge it in the Supreme Court. There were also strict instructions from the home ministry as to how his actions will create a backlash across the country for the ruling BJP and a huge constitutional crisis. Earlier Stalin had said that the DMK will take the legal route and fight Ravis order dismissing Senthil Balaji in the court.



Sources say that Ravi has been asked to consult the Attorney General and seek legal opinion. Article 164(1) of the constitution states that the chief minister shall be appointed by the governor and the council of ministers appointed by the governor on the advice of the chief minister. "The governor doesnt have powers to sack a minister. After the outrage, it is said that he will take a legal opinion. He should have done this before sending out the order to dismiss Senthil Balaji," says DMK spokesperson and advocate Saravanan Annadurai.



According to highly placed sources, late in the evening on Thursday, soon after the governors order, Stalin held talks with DMK Rajya Sabha MP P Wilson and a team of legal experts about challenging Ravis order in the court.



However, Ravis actions and DMKs idea of taking the legal route have once again ignited a debate on the constitutional provisions available before the governor and if he can get into a political territory which is not under his prowess. There is a line of rulings from the Supreme Court on the powers of the governor and it had interpreted that the power of the governor flows from the aid and advice of the council of ministers led by the chief minister.



Article 75 of the Constitution, with regard to the removal of ministers, states that "the fact that each minister holds the office at the presidents pleasure indicates that his office is at all time at the Prime Ministers disposal, for in these matters the president, like the King in England, acts on the advice of the prime minister. Moreover, for the effective realisation of the rule of collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers, it is necessary that no person should be nominated to the cabinet except on the advice of the Prime Minister."



It may be recalled that the DMK has been voicing against the extra-constitutional decisions taken by the governor since Ravi took charge in 2021. The governor and the government led by the DMK have been locking horns on various issues and two resolutions have been passed against the governor on the floor of the state assembly.



Earlier Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for an alleged cash-for-job scam case registered in 2015. Balaji is currently in judicial custody, undergoing treatment after bypass surgery in a private hospital in Chennai. A court in Chennai had extended his judicial custody till July 12.


Did you know there are some financial metrics that can provide clues of a potential multi-bagger? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Put simply, these types of businesses are compounding machines, meaning they are continually reinvesting their earnings at ever-higher rates of return. So when we looked at Deutsche Post (ETR:DPW) and its trend of ROCE, we really liked what we saw.

Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on Deutsche Post is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT)  (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.16 = 7.5b  (67b - 21b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

So, Deutsche Post has an ROCE of 16%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty normal return, and it's somewhat close to the Logistics industry average of 14%.

View our latest analysis for Deutsche Post

roce

In the above chart we have measured Deutsche Post's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

So How Is Deutsche Post's ROCE Trending?

Investors would be pleased with what's happening at Deutsche Post. Over the last five years, returns on capital employed have risen substantially to 16%. Basically the business is earning more per dollar of capital invested and in addition to that, 44% more capital is being employed now too. So we're very much inspired by what we're seeing at Deutsche Post thanks to its ability to profitably reinvest capital.

In Conclusion...

To sum it up, Deutsche Post has proven it can reinvest in the business and generate higher returns on that capital employed, which is terrific. And investors seem to expect more of this going forward, since the stock has rewarded shareholders with a 93% return over the last five years. So given the stock has proven it has promising trends, it's worth researching the company further to see if these trends are likely to persist.

Like most companies, Deutsche Post does come with some risks, and we've found 1 warning sign that you should be aware of.

If you want to search for solid companies with great earnings, check out this free list of companies with good balance sheets and impressive returns on equity.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Join A Paid User Research Session

Youll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next week's virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India, an official announcement here said on Friday.

At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release.



This is the first official announcement about Xi's participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India.



The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.



The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.



India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.



Ahead of the summit to be held for the first time under India's Presidency, India on Tuesday inaugurated an exquisitely designed New Delhi Hall at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.



While the SCO's six founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have their halls highlighting their cultures and unique features, India is the first to add its own.



Virtually inaugurating the hall, External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar in his address said the New Delhi Hall, is conceived to be a mini-India showcasing various facets of Indian culture.



To make you visualise the depth of India's artistic tradition and cultural identity, the Hall has been designed with exquisite patterns and motifs representing the rich architectural craftsmanship found throughout India, he said.



Last year, the in-person SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that was attended by all top leaders of the grouping including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.



In September, India will host the G20 summit for which it is going to invite Xi and Putin, besides other leaders of the bloc. The theme of the summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'.

The SECURE acronym was coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.



These themes have been highlighted during India's chairmanship of the SCO.


At a time when the BJP takes pride in showcasing Gujarat as its model state, an incident in Surat has brought the party an embarrassment of sorts. Cracks developed on the approach road of a newly constructed bridge which was recently inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister.



The 1.5km long Vairav Ved Bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs 118 crore and was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel just over a month ago. This is Surats 200th bridge. The city is also home to Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi. Gujarat BJP president C.R. Paatil, who hails from South Gujarat, also has a residence in Surat.

Alleging rampant corruption, the Aam Aadmi Party has come down heavily on the BJP. The AAP is the principal opposition in the BJP-ruled Surat Municipal Corporation. The Congress had failed to open an account. Interestingly, there has been no word from either Paatil or Sanghavi on this.

Isudan Gadhvi, the AAPs Gujarat president, told THE WEEK that he appeals to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send a team of ED/CBI to investigate. Alleging corruption, Gadhvi said even if one assumes there is none then the quality of work done is a major issue.

He said in the last few months quite a good number of bridges have developed problems. Where are we falling short, he asked, pointing out that bridges built during the British Rule in India are not having problems.

Surat BJP President Niranjan Zanzmera said the RCC structure of the bridge is intact and there is no problem with it. A portion of the approach road has developed cracks due to heavy rainfall.

In mid-June, a bridge built over Mindhola River in Tapi district, South Gujarat collapsed. The bridge was constructed at a cost of Rs 2 crore under Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. Patel had ordered an inquiry and three engineers were suspended.
The High Court of Karnataka on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Twitter Inc., challenging several blocking and take-down orders issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, saying the company's plea was devoid of merits.



The single-judge bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit which dictated the operative portion of the judgement also imposed a cost of Rs 50 lakh on Twitter and ordered it to be paid to the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority within 45 days.



Reading the operative portion, the HC said, "In the above circumstances this petition being devoid of merits is liable to be dismissed with exemplary costs and accordingly it is. Petitioner is levied with an exemplary cost of Rs 50 lakh payable to the Karnataka State Legal Service Authority, Bengaluru, within 45 days. If delay is brooked, it attracts an additional levy of Rs 5,000 per day."



"I am convinced with contention of the Centre that they have powers to block tweets and block accounts," the judge said while dismissing Twitter's petition.



The Court said that the judgement framed eight questions and only one of them; the locus standi to file the petition was answered in favour of Twitter while the rest of the questions have been answered against it. This includes the plea of Twitter to issue guidelines for exercise of Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.



Citing the judgement, the judge said, "I have framed as many as eight questions. The first question is as to the locus standi which I have answered in your favour. The second question is whether powers under Section 69A are tweet-specific or it extends to closure of accounts also. The third one is non-communication of reasons; I have held against you."



"Next, no nexus between the reasons and grounds on which blocking can be done. That I have held against you. Then, no opportunity of hearing notice etc., that also I have held against you as you have participated in the hearings and have admitted in your plea. Then on the proportionality, whether the blocking should be period specific or they can indefinitely block. These aspects also I have held against you," the judge said.



"Then you asked me to lay down certain guidelines. I felt there was no need for guidelines as there were some directions in Shreys Singhal (vs Union of India, 2015) and two more judgments," the judge said.



Twitter had challenged ten different 'blocking orders' issued by the Ministry between February 2, 2021 and February 28, 2022. The Government had directed the microblogging site to block 1,474 accounts, 175 tweets, 256 URLs and one hashtag, Twitter had claimed before the court while only challenging the orders pertaining to 39 of these URLs.



The Ministry had issued the orders under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Twitter, in its petition, had however, claimed that the orders "fall foul of Section 69A both substantially and procedurally."



Twitter had claimed that as per 69A, the account holders had to be informed about taking down their tweets and accounts, but no notice was issued by the Ministry to these account holders.



The Government issued notices to the Compliance Officer of Twitter on June 4, 2022 and again on June 6, 2022 to appear before it and explain why the Blocking Orders were not carried out and why action should not be initiated against it.



Twitter replied on June 9 that the content against which it had not followed the blocking orders does not seem to be a violation of Section 69A. On June 27, 2022 the Government issued another notice stating Twitter was violating its directions. On June 29, Twitter replied asking the Government to reconsider the direction on the basis of the doctrine of proportionality.



On June 30, 2022 the Government withdrew blocking orders on 10 account-level URLs but gave an additional list of 27 URLs to be blocked. On July one, 10 more accounts were blocked. Compiling the orders "under protest," Twitter approached the HC with the petition challenging the orders.



Justice Dixit had completed hearing the arguments and reserved the judgement on April 21, 2023. The operative portion of the judgement was pronounced in the court on June 30.
In the wake of reports that said Manipur Chief Minister Biren N. Singh had typed out a resignation letter but was persuaded by his supporters to tear it up, and thousands of demonstrators blocking his convoy from proceeding towards Raj Bhavan in Imphal to stop him from resigning, Singh clarified that he does not intend to resign from the post "at this crucial juncture."



The chief minister told the demonstrators that he was not resigning from the post. Later, in a tweet, he said, "At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister."



In the afternoon, hundreds of youth wearing black shirts and women sat down in front of the CM's residence demanding that Biren Singh should not resign.



According to sources, there were strong rumours in Imphal since morning that Singh was contemplating resigning from his post after renewed violence in the state on Thursday claimed three more lives, leaving 5 injured in violence Thursday.



An image of a torn letter addressed to Governor Anusuiya Uikey, which has gone viral, had read: "I hereby submit my resignation as Chief Minister of Manipur. I thank you for your cooperation and guidance during the past few months.



More than 100 people have lost their lives in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state so far.






Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Friday, discussed the Ukraine situation and the handling of the mutiny by the Wagner group by Kremlin, over the telephone.

According to Reuters, the two also reiterated their commitments to strengthening the bilateral partnership.

PM Modi supported the action initiated by Kremlin against the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group.

Wagner mercenary group had taken control of Rostov-on-Don town. The revolt ended when Prigozhin ordered his troops back. The Kremlin said it had made a deal that the mercenary chief will move to Belarus.

Modi and Putin also discussed cooperation within Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and G20.
The ongoing tussle between Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi and the ruling DMK government turned critical on Friday as the state government decided to disregard both the communications from the Governor on allowing minister V. Senthil Balaji to continue in the council of ministers.

I reiterate that you have no power to dismiss my ministers. That is the sole prerogative of an elected chief minister. Your unconstitutional communication dismissing my minister without my advice is ab initio and non-use in law and has been disregarded, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said in a strongly worded letter to Governor Ravi.

Later, on Friday evening, the Chief Minister in his letter to the governor said that the governor's communication made it clear that he did not even take a legal opinion before such an important decision. The fact that it needed the Home Ministers intervention to direct you to take a legal opinion on this matter itself shows that you have acted in haste with scant regard to the constitution of India.

Stating that he and his council of ministers enjoy the confidence of the people who are the ultimate sovereign, Stalin also said that the governor while dealing with an elected government must act with dignity and not stoop to levelling unsubstantiated threats about breakdown of constitutional machinery. Giving reply to the specific observations made by the governor in the case of Senthil Balaji, Stalin explained that disqualification takes effect from the date of conviction according to the constitution.

Earlier, Stalin held a closed-door meeting with senior party leaders and legal experts to discuss the letters sent by the governor and the next course of action. Emerging out of the meeting, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, along with Law Minister S. Raghupathy and DMK Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson told the media that Tamil Nadu government has decided to disregard both the communications of Governor Ravi on allowing minister V. Senthil Balaji to continue in the council of ministers. The governor has no power to dismiss or appoint a minister and that's the sole prerogative of the Chief Minister.

There are ulterior motives behind the action against Senthil Balaji and singling him out, Thennarasu said pointing out that there are at least 11 cases pending against serving Union Ministers who are continuing in Prime Minister Narendra Modis cabinet. To a question on the Governors contentions that Senthil Balaji continuing could influence the ongoing investigation in the case against him, Thennarasu replied, he is currently under judicial custody. How can he influence the investigation?

Earlier, the governor had sent two communications to the chief minister. The first was dropping Senthil Blaji from the council of ministers. The five-page letter from the governor, with a detailed timeline of the events that followed in Senthil Balajis case, and the list of communications between him and the chief minister made it clear that Ravi was breaching the constitutional limits.

Listing out the reasons why Senthil Balaji should not continue in the cabinet, the Governor said that he recommended Balajis removal to ensure due process of law besides constitutional morality and conscience. Instead of taking my advice in the right spirit, you responded with an inflammatory letter dated 01.06.2023, in which you, instead of giving due consideration to my advice, used intemperate language and accused me of overstepping constitutional limits. Your response disappointed me - to say the least, governor wrote in his letter to the chief minister. He also said that the chief minister allowing Balaji to continue in the cabinet reflected his unhealthy bias.

However, within four hours after sending out this letter to the government, Ravi sent out a second communication that the dismissal order was on hold pending legal advice.

In the meantime, Ravis flip-flop decisions on Senthil Balaji and the letters to and fro from the governor and chief minister have renewed the debate on the constitutional powers of the governor. Though Ravi has kept in abeyance his decision to dismiss Balaji and the state government has decided to disregard this, it has exacerbated the running feud between the governor and the government and has also turned into an issue for the opposition to rally together against the central government.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi has decided to keep the dismissal order of state minister V Senthil Balaji in abeyance for the time being. He will consult the Attorney General and seek his legal opinion about the matter.

"The order to dismiss Balaji from the Council of Ministers has been kept in abeyance by the governor until further communication," sources told news agencies.



The governor has also informed Chief Minister M K Stalin about the decision to take back the dismissal order. The decision came just hours after the governor passed an order dismissing the minister from the cabinet on Thursday. Senthil Balaji was arrested in a money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate earlier this month.



Dismissing the minister, the statement from the governor said there were reasonable apprehensions that the continuation of V. Senthil Balaji in the Council of Ministers will adversely impact the due process of law, including a fair investigation that may eventually lead to the breakdown of Constitutional machinery in the State. "Under these circumstances, the Governor has dismissed Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect," a release from Raj Bhavan said.



Stalin had said the state government would challenge the governor's decision legally. The chief minister had earlier, through an administrative order, allowed Senthil Balaji to continue as a minister without a portfolio after the Enforcement Directorate arrested him in a job scam case. The governor earlier refused to allow Balaji to continue in the cabinet.



A Public Interest Litigation was also filed in the Madras High Court against Senthil Balaji continuing as a minister in Stalins cabinet by Advocate M.L. Ravi of Desiya Makkal Shakthi Katchi. The Madras High Court bench, comprising of Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu, after hearing the plea challenging the continuation of Senthil Balaji in the cabinet, asked, "Under Article 226, how can the court pass an order when there are no specific orders by the governor."



Tamil Nadu has been witnessing a running feud between the governor and government, since Ravi took charge as the governor in 2021.


Former Union Minister and BJP's Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar recently pointed out the hypocrisy of Left parties over the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), saying the CPI(M) had previously supported the idea of the UCC but is now engaging in political manoeuvring and reversing its stance to appease its vote bank.

It is true that the Left party had previously advocated the introduction of a UCC. In 1984, CPI(M) stalwart E.M.S. Namboodiripads strong statements against 'Shariat' stoked a political controversy. In 1985-86, the Left Front, under the leadership of EMS, conducted a major campaign against the Muslim Personal Law while emphasising the importance of a comprehensive UCC applicable to all religions.

However, it will be wrong to say that the CPI(M) has recently taken a 'U-turn' on the matter. In 2003, during the tenure of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre, the CPI(M) had taken a stand against the implementation of the UCC. The politburo released a statement then, explaining its perspective on the matter. It stated that, given the context of the communal politics practised by the 'Hindutva platform' and the resulting insecurity among minorities, particularly the Muslim community, the recommendation for a UCC by the Supreme Court would have a reverse effect on the cause of national integration. However, the politburo also acknowledged the existence of gender-based discrimination in personal laws across different communities, including those of the majority community, which was inconsistent with the constitutional rights granted to Indian citizens. Consequently, the CPI(M) politburo advocated the reform of personal laws, emphasising the urgency of addressing this issue without unnecessary delays.

However, over the next two decades, the CPI(M) appears to have softened its stance on personal laws that it previously labelled as "discriminatory". In 2015, a special leave petition (SLP) challenging the existing Muslim inheritance laws was filed in the Supreme Court, calling it discriminatory and based on misinterpretations of various Quranic principles. Kerala-based organisations such as the Khuran Sunnath Society and social activists like V.P. Suhara, founder of NISA, who have been advocating for reforms in personal laws, filed the SLP. A few months ago, Supreme Court directed the CPI(M)-led government in Kerala to submit an affidavit in the matter, but the government is yet to do so. In response to these developments, a women-led movement called the Forum for Muslim Women's Gender Justice was established in Kerala to exert pressure on the state government to adopt a progressive stance. The establishment of this organisation was sparked by reports indicating that the Pinarayi Vijayan government consulted a dozen orthodox Muslim groups and is considering submitting an affidavit in support of the continuation of existing Muslim personal laws.

Interestingly, while the forum strongly advocates reforms in Muslim personal laws, particularly in inheritance laws, it also opposes the implementation of a UCC.

In April, when THE WEEK asked the CPI(M) state secretary, M.V. Govindan, he said the ideas for reforms should come from within the Muslim community itself, and that the CPI(M) has always stood for democratisation. However, it remains to be seen whether the CPI(M) will practise what they preach in this matter, especially because the party is actively wooing the Indian Union Muslim League.
Although to be conducted in the virtual or online video mode, the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, to be held in New Delhi on Tuesday, has generated considerable global interest.



Besides being held against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Ukraine, a mysterious mutiny against Moscow by the Wagner Private Military Company on June 24 has made the summit all the more interesting. With the 'strongman' image of Vladimir Putin and Russia considerably dented, the Russian presidents body language and what he says will be minutely observed.



Last year, during the SCO Summit at Uzbekistans Samarkand on September 16, Prime Minister Narendra Modis gentle advice to President Putin had made global headlines when the Indian PM said the era of war is over. So, one wonders what Indias advice would be this time especially as PM Modi will be chairing the summit.



On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Moscow that the West is seeking to obstruct the efforts of Moscow and Beijing to bolster the ranks of like-minded countries and the expansion and integrative processes. The diplomat claimed that SCO and Chinas flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project, among others, are being targeted by the West.



Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have also confirmed their online attendance.



Driven primarily by Russia and China, and representing about 40 per cent of humanity, the SCO groupings meeting is taking place at a time when there is a global churn in world power politics that has picked up more dizzying traction against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.



The SCO was set up in Shanghai on June 15, 2001, to promote mutual regional cooperation.



India has taken up the presidency of the regional intergovernmental organisation for 2023-24 and has already conducted more than 130 meetings of various verticals across the country.



This is Indias first presidency after joining as a full member of the SCO in 2017.



The other attendees will be the heads of state from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran, Belarus and Mongolia have been invited with observer status while heads of six global and regional organizationsUN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICAhave also been invited.



The theme of the summit on Tuesday is Towards a SECURE SCO, with the SECURE acronymcoined by PM Modistanding for Security, Economy and Trade, Connectivity, Unity, Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity, and Environment.
India's Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) has emerged as a crucial player in the groundbreaking discovery of the universe's vibrations caused by ultra-low frequency gravitational waves. The GMRT, based in Pune, was one of the six large telescopes worldwide that contributed to this significant finding, announced by a team of international scientists, including the Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA).

The researchers, led by Pratik Tarafdar from The Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai, are on the verge of achieving an unprecedented dynamic range that allows them to "listen" to the bass sections of the cosmic gravitational-wave symphony. These waves are believed to originate from colossal black hole pairs, millions of times more massive than the Sun, engaging in a cosmic dance.

The InPTA experiment involved researchers from several institutions in India, including NCRA (Pune), TIFR (Mumbai), IIT (Roorkee), IISER (Bhopal), IIT (Hyderabad), IMSc (Chennai), and RRI (Bengaluru).

Yashwant Gupta, the Centre Director at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) in Pune, expressed his enthusiasm at seeing the unique data from the GMRT being utilized for international efforts in gravitational wave astronomy. The team's results mark a crucial milestone in unlocking a new window into the gravitational wave spectrum, brimming with astrophysical discoveries.

The breakthrough findings were made possible through the collaboration of the European Pulsar Timing Array and the Indo-Japanese colleagues of the InPTA. Over a span of 25 years, pulsar data collected from six of the world's largest radio telescopes, including the GMRT, were analyzed. The GMRT, with its upgraded capabilities in 2019, provided over three years of highly sensitive data in the low radio frequency range.

Prof. Shantanu Desai from IIT Hyderabad praised the tantalizing proximity of the EPTA+InPTA collaboration to discovering nano-hertz gravitational waves. He acknowledged the efforts of numerous scientists, including early-career researchers and undergraduate students, in reaching this stage.

The InPTA experiment involved researchers from several institutions in India, including NCRA (Pune), TIFR (Mumbai), IIT (Roorkee), IISER (Bhopal), IIT (Hyderabad), IMSc (Chennai), and RRI (Bengaluru), as well as their counterparts from Kumamoto University in Japan.

Observations were conducted using the 100-m Effelsberg radio telescope in Germany, the Lovell Telescope of the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the United Kingdom, the Nancay Radio Telescope in France, the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy, and the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in the Netherlands.
The prototype was developed by Life-Save, an EU-funded project seeking to encourage drivers to switch to greener transportation - Life-Save

Two Italian researchers tasked with turning combustion-engine cars into solar-powered hybrids have died after a prototype vehicle exploded during a road-test.

Maria Vittoria Prati, a senior scholar and engineer at Italys National Research Council (CNR), and trainee Fulvio Filace were hospitalised with severe burns after the prototype vehicle caught fire in Naples last Friday.

The CNR confirmed on Thursday that Mr Filace, 25, died overnight. It comes days after Ms Prati, 66, died of complications from third degree burns on Monday.

Earlier this week, the CNR paid tribute to Ms Prati as a brilliant researcher and an authority in the field of the study of emissions and the use of alternative fuels.

The pair were test driving a modified Volkswagen Polo equipped with experimental technology that would enable drivers to transform their old cars into solar-powered electric vehicles.

Naples authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion although have yet to identify any specific suspects, according to the ANSA news agency.

CNR said on Thursday that it has launched an internal audit to reconstruct the causes of the very serious event and cooperate with investigators.

The Rome-headquartered government agency said in a translated statement: The loss of two lives, moreover in such dramatic circumstances, deeply marks the scientific community, in every part of Italy.

The prototype was developed by Life-Save, an EU-funded project seeking to encourage drivers to switch to greener transportation without having to pay for expensive new hybrid cars.

This involved retrofitting regular combustion-engines with additional electric motors, which were charged by battery and solar panels fitted on the vehicles roof and bonnet.

Solar-powered cars have been regarded as a potential solution to the lack of infrastructure and cheap charging needed to accelerate the electric vehicle revolution.

Life-Save has received about 1.8m in funding from the European Commission since 2017 under its Life programme, an environmental investment which supports clean tech start-ups helping the continent become carbon neutral by 2050, the Financial Times reported.

Life-Save has since disabled its website, which now features a tribute expressing its condolences to the late researchers families.

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Brazil's top electoral court on Friday barred its former President Jair Bolsonaro from running for office for eight years, till 2030, for abusing official power.



According to reports, four of the seven judges at the country's top electoral court voted to banish Bolsonaro from contesting elections for eight years for abusing his powers and peddling immoral and appalling lies during last years election. Bolsonaro will now be able to contest again only in 2030, when he turns 75.

The move to strip Bolsonaro of his political rights was based on his highly controversial decision to summon foreign ambassadors to his official residence last July, 11 weeks before the elections first round, The Guardian reported. During the meeting, Bolsonaro reportedly made baseless claims against the country's electronic voting system. A Supreme Court judge denounced his comments as politically-motivated disinformation.

The former army captain, who narrowly lost the elections to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is charged with creating a nationwide movement to overturn the election result that culminated in the January 8 invasion of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters, Reuters reported.

Benedito Goncalves, the lead justice in the case said Bolsonaro used his meeting with ambassadors to spread doubts and incite conspiracy theories.
The unrest triggered by the deadly police shooting of a teenager of Arab heritage continues to spread across major cities in France. Over 400 people have been arrested on Thursday, the third day of the riots.

Curfews have been imposed in at least three towns around Paris, including Clamart, Compiegne and Neuilly-sur-Marne. French President Emmanuel Macron calls for an emergency government meeting later on Friday to address the issue.

Forty thousand police officers, including personnel of elite police force RAID, have been deployed across the cities of Bordeaux, Lyon, Roubaix, Marseille and Lille to help contain the protests amid leaked intelligence reports predicting "widespread urban violence over the coming nights."

Public gatherings have been banned and helicopters and drones mobilised in the cities of Lille and Tourcoing, reported The Guardian. Protests are also flaring up in Nanterre, the city where the 17-year-old, Nahel, was shot dead as he drove away from a traffic stop. Walls in the city sported 'vengeance pour Nael' (revenge for Nael) spray painted on them, apparently referring to the slain teenager of Moroccan and Algerian origin.

Protesters also torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police after a peaceful vigil and march led by Nahels mother descended into violence. The rioters and police also clashed at many places, including in Marseille, Lyon, Pau and Montpellier.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told local media houses that at least 421 people have been arrested in the protests across France from Thursday night into Friday morning. Most of the arrests took place in the Paris region, in the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne.

A bank has been set on fire by protesters while footage showed bus depot and a tram burning. Several incidents of looting were also reported, including at a Nike shoe store and a Zara showroom. Looters also ransacked a pharmacy and McDonalds outlet, setting on fire bins.

Meanwhile, the police personnel who shot the teen has apologised to the victim's family. The lawyer of the accused, Laurent-Franck Lienard told BFMTV that the first words the accused pronounced were to say sorry. "He is devastated, he doesnt get up in the morning to kill people."

Lienard said the officer had aimed at the drivers leg but was bumped, causing him to shoot towards his chest. "He had to be stopped, but obviously [the officer] didnt want to kill the driver," he said.

The accused officer was on Thursday placed under formal investigation for voluntary homicide.

Macron, who held a meeting with senior government officials on Wednesday, said the riots were unjustifiable. "The last few hours have been marked by scenes of violence against police stations but also schools and town halls, and thus institutions of the republic  and these scenes are wholly unjustifiable, Macron said. He also called for calm, saying Nahels death was unexplainable and inexcusable.

Meanwhile, human rights groups point fingers at the systemic racism within law enforcement agencies. We have to go beyond saying that things need to calm down," Dominique Sopo, head of the campaign group SOS Racisme told reporters.

"On a general level, people tend to think there is no racism in France. And its one of the reasons people are so angry, because they feel and experience racism on a daily basis," Diallo, the anti-racism activist, told CNN. "Despite that, they still face institutions, public discourse, and media which still say that there is no racism and that the race debate does not belong in France. And thats the reason people are so angry and so outraged."

'He saw an Arab face'

The mother of the victim has said that she believes her son's death was racially motivated but she did not bear a grudge against the force as a whole.

"I don't blame the police, I blame one person: the one who took the life of my son," Mounia told the France 5 channel. "I have friends who are officers. They are completely behind me ... they don't agree with what happened," she said, adding that the officer had other means of controlling her son but chose to kill him.

"He didn't need to kill my son. A bullet? So close to his chest? No, no," Mounia added. "The officer saw an Arab face, a little kid, and wanted to take his life", she said. "How long is this going to go on for? How many other children are going to go like this? How many mothers will find themselves like me?" she added.
The UK government has reiterated its call for reform of the United Nations as one of its top transnational priorities and supported India's bid for permanent membership of the powerful Security Council.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the UN Security Council (UNSC), saying it rightly deserved a place as a permanent member of the United Nations.

Currently, the UNSC has five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. Only a permanent member has the power to veto any substantive resolution.

In a speech at a conference at the Chatham House think tank in London on Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called for a reinvigorated multilateral system that is more reflective of the times.

He pointed out that the world's economic centre of gravity is shifting away from the Euro-Atlantic and towards the Indo-Pacific but the multilateral institutions are yet to catch up.

I have five transnational priorities. First, reform of the United Nations Security Council. We want to see permanent African representation and membership extended to India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, said Cleverly.

I know this is a bold reform. But, it will usher the Security Council into the 2020s. And the UNSC has grown before albeit not since 1965. My second priority is the reform of the international financial institutions. This matters for climate finance and, of course, for poverty reduction, he said.

The minister also hailed India's leadership role with its presidency of the G20 in pitching for representation of poorer nations on the world stage. It seems obvious to me that the voice of the poorest and most vulnerable countries must be heard at the heart of the multilateral system. That's why we support permanent membership of the G20 for the African Union and welcome India's leadership on taking this forward, he said.

Among the other priorities for the UK, Cleverly highlighted making finance easier and quicker to access and maximise the impact of that investment. He also stressed that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) desperately needs new rules that reflect today's digital economy to make trade policy free, fair, open and not manipulated or distorted.

He spelt out another top priority as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing have the potential to transform humankind's problem-solving capabilities.

I will chair the UN Security Council's first-ever meeting on this issue, in New York next month. And the Prime Minister [Rishi Sunak] will host an AI summit this autumn, said Cleverly.
In a landmark ruling, the United States Supreme Court struck down race-based admissions in universities. Reactions in the US to recent developments were at odds to each other  while Republicans hailed the ruling, Democrats went to lengths to deplore it.

Those against the ruling believed that a significant tool to ensure diversity on the campus was taken away by the court.

While dealing with the cases involving admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina (UNC), US Supreme Court banned the use of race and ethnicity in university admissions. Nine justices were involved in the ruling. The court ruled 6-3 against UNC and 6-2 against Harvard.

The decision was taken in the ideological lines, even as three liberals dissented.

The justices sided with an organisation called Students for Fair Admissions, founded by legal activist Edward Blum.

The group argued that Harvard's race-conscious admissions policy violated Title VI of 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on race, colour or national origin, reported BBC.

What is affirmative action

The decades-old so called affirmative action, aims at addressing historical prejudices against individuals from certain identity groups. It made its way into policies in the 1960s.

US President Joe Biden expressed his strong disagreement with the recent ruling. He said that We cannot let this decision the last word. Discrimination still exists in America.

"This is not a normal court," he added.

While former US President Donald Trump hailed the decision as a "great day for America". "People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded," he wrote on social media.

U.S. Supreme Court justices pose for their group portrait at the Supreme Court in Washington. Seated (L-R) Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and Elena Kagan. Standing (L-R): Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson | Reuters

The Justice's opinions

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, "Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin."

His opinion said that UNC and Harvard's policies were "well intentioned".

Harvards's admissions process rests on the pernicious stereotype that 'a black student can usually bring something that a white person cannot offer'," he wrote.

While Justice Clarence Thomas, a conservative and the nation's second black justice that such programmes were "patently unconstitutional".

"Universities' self-proclaimed righteousness does not afford them license to discriminate on the basis of race," he said.

Liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman appointed to the court dissented. "Truly a tragedy for us all", she said.

"With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces 'colorblindness for all' by legal fiat," she wrote.

Another dissenting liberal justice, Sonia Sotomayor said that the ruling "cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society."

Justice Roberts also wrote that Most troubling of all is what the dissent must make these omissions to defend: a judiciary that picks winners and losers based on the color of their skin.

Angie Gabeau, the president of Harvard Black Students Association told BBC that she was very discouraged by the decision.

Twice the US Supreme Court has backed affirmative action programmes at US universities.

US states including Arizona, California, Floria, Georgia, Oklahoma and Washington have already banned race-based college admissions.

Former US President Barack Obama said in a statement that affirmative action "allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged. Now it's up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve- and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives."

"We write today to reaffirm the fundamental principle that deep and transformative teaching, learning, and research depend upon a community comprising people of many backgrounds, perspectives and lived experiences," Harvard University said in a communications signed by leaders of the institution.

(With agencies inputs)
Kolkata, Jun 30 (PTI) Jute Corporation of India (JCI) on Friday said it was working on an e-auction platform in jute trading to modernise the supply chain of the environment-friendly fibre.

The Corporation said it was geared up for MSP (minimum support price) operation for the upcoming jute season beginning July 1, with its extensive network spread over eight states.

JCI Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Kr Jolly said they are working on the finer details and ironing out the complexities involved in the e-auction system.

The platform is expected to be owned and managed by JCI.

Jolly said the Corporation has 110 purchase centres operated by it and will engage about 500 extended purchase centres in association with cooperatives and NGOs in eight states.

This year, the MSP for reference grade of TD3 has been raised by Rs 300 to Rs 5,050 per quintal in the 2023-24 season.

In the 2022-23 jute season, the corporation has already procured 5.6 lakh quintals, which is the highest in the last five years, Jolly said.

It includes 1.36 lakh quintals of commercial procurement while the rest is for MSP operations, an official said.

On the promotion of the industry, Jolly said the Jute-ICARE project is in its ninth phase in its ninth year, providing benefits to more than 3.5 lakh farmers.

Jute-ICARE plans to introduce a Geospatial Crop Surveillance & Monitoring system in association with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to cover jute fields on a pan-India basis, to accurately ascertain the cultivable land and estimate jute production and productivity.

Officials reiterated that JCI is poised to continue its relentless efforts to serve the jute farming community.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) Aviation regulator DGCA on Friday asked airlines to strictly follow rules as well as sensitise pilots and cabin crew to prevent incidents of unauthorised entry of people into the cockpit.

The move from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) comes against the backdrop of recent incidents where unauthorised people were allowed inside the cockpit during scheduled flights.

In an advisory, DGCA has asked the heads of operations of all scheduled airlines to "prevent any unauthorised entry in the cockpit through appropriate means".

Any non-compliance with the applicable regulation, dealing with unauthorised cockpit entry, shall be dealt with strictly and may also invite stringent enforcement action, it said.
Mumbai, Jun 30 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices hit their fresh all-time high levels in early trade on Friday, helped by foreign fund inflows and positive trends in the global markets.

Buying in index major Infosys and HDFC Bank also helped markets maintain their winning momentum.

Rallying for the third straight day, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 499.42 points to reach its lifetime high of 64,414.84 in early trade. The NSE Nifty climbed 136.1 points to hit its all-time peak of 19,108.20.

From the Sensex pack, Power Grid, Infosys, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank and Titan were the major gainers.

Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded in the green while Tokyo quoted lower.

The US markets ended mostly with gains on Thursday.

"The global support to the bullishness is coming from the mother market US where the market is resilient supported by better-than-expected Q1 GDP growth of 2% and declining weekly jobless claims.

"This resilience of the US economy, which was not anticipated and discounted by the market, is the strongest pillar of support for the global markets now," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.40 per cent to USD 74.64 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 12,350 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark had surged 499.39 points or 0.79 per cent to settle at its lifetime closing high of 63,915.42 on Wednesday. The Nifty climbed 154.70 points or 0.82 per cent to end at a record high of 18,972.10.

Markets were closed on Thursday on account of Eid al-Adha also known as Bakrid.
London, Jun 30 (PTI) The UK government has reiterated its call for reform of the United Nations as one of its top transnational priorities and supported India's bid for permanent membership of the powerful Security Council.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the UN Security Council (UNSC), saying it rightly deserved a place as a permanent member of the United Nations.

Currently, the UNSC has five permanent members - China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. Only a permanent member has the power to veto any substantive resolution.

In a speech at a conference at the Chatham House think tank in London on Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called for a reinvigorated multilateral system that is more reflective of the times.

He pointed out that the worlds economic centre of gravity is shifting away from the Euro-Atlantic and towards the Indo-Pacific but the multilateral institutions are yet to catch up.

I have five transnational priorities. First, reform of the United Nations Security Council. We want to see permanent African representation and membership extended to India, Brazil, Germany and Japan, said Cleverly.

I know this is a bold reform. But it will usher the Security Council into the 2020s. And the UNSC has grown before  albeit not since 1965. My second priority is reform of the international financial institutions. This matters for climate finance and, of course, for poverty reduction, he said.

The minister also hailed Indias leadership role with its presidency of the G20 in pitching for representation of poorer nations on the world stage.

It seems obvious to me that the voice of the poorest and most vulnerable countries must be heard at the heart of the multilateral system. Thats why we support permanent membership of the G20 for the African Union and welcome Indias leadership on taking this forward, he said.

Among the other priorities for the UK, Cleverly highlighted making finance easier and quicker to access and maximise the impact of that investment.

He also stressed that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) desperately needs new rules that reflect todays digital economy to make trade policy free, fair, open and not manipulated or distorted.

He spelt out another top priority as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing have the potential to transform humankinds problem-solving capabilities.

I will chair the UN Security Councils first-ever meeting on this issue, in New York next month. And the Prime Minister [Rishi Sunak] will host an AI summit this autumn, said Cleverly.
Beijing, Jun 30 (PTI) Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend next weeks virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India, an official announcement here said on Friday.

At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Xi will attend via video conference in Beijing, the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads meeting of the SCO on July 4 and deliver important remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a brief press release.

This is the first official announcement about Xis participation in the SCO summit being hosted by India.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.

India holds the rotating Presidency of the organisation this year.

Ahead of the summit to be held for the first time under Indias Presidency, India on Tuesday inaugurated an exquisitely designed New Delhi Hall at the SCO Secretariat in Beijing.

While the SCOs six founding members, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have their halls highlighting their cultures and unique features, India is the first to add its own.

Virtually inaugurating the hall, External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar in his address said the New Delhi Hall, is conceived to be a mini-India showcasing various facets of Indian culture.

To make you visualise the depth of Indias artistic tradition and cultural identity, the Hall has been designed with exquisite patterns and motifs representing the rich architectural craftsmanship found throughout India, he said.

Last year, the in-person SCO summit took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand that was attended by all top leaders of the grouping including Prime Minister Modi, Chinese President Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

In September, India will host the G20 summit for which it is going to invite Xi and Putin, besides other leaders of the bloc.

The theme of the summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'.

The SECURE acronym was coined by Prime Minister Modi at the 2018 SCO summit and it stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment.

These themes have been highlighted during India's chairmanship of the SCO.
Joby Aviation has been cleared by the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) to start flight tests on its first production prototype air taxi, the company wrote in a press release. It's a large step in the company's aim to start shipping the eVTOL aircraft (electric vertical takeoff and landing) to customers in 2024 and launch an air taxi service by 2025.

"The aircraft will now undergo initial flight testing before being delivered to Edwards Air Force Base, California, where it will be used to demonstrate a range of potential logistics use cases," Joby wrote.

The aircraft can take off and land like a helicopter, then tilt its six rotors horizontally and fly like an airplane at up to 200 MPH. It's designed to carry a pilot and four passengers over a distance up to 100 miles on a charge  enough range for most types of air taxi operations. At the same time, Joby claims it's nearly silent in cruise mode and 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing.

Joby's first production prototype recently rolled off the company's assembly line in Marina, California. The plant was built in partnership with Toyota, Joby's largest investor with a $394 million stake. Cementing that relationship, Joby announced that it was appointing Toyota North America CEO Tetsuo (Ted) Ogawa to the board of directors.

With the the FAA's special airworthiness certificate in hand, Joby can perform flight tests of full production aircraft, following tests with full-scale prototypes that began in 2017. In May last year, the company received another crucial permit, the FAA's Part 135 air carrier certificate for commercial operations. It recently teamed with Delta Air Lines to offer travel to and from airports, and its website shows a scenario of flying from downtown NYC to JFK airport in just seven minutes compared to 49 minutes in a car.

Now, Joby must clear the largest hurdle with full FAA type and production certification in order to take paying passengers on commercial flights. That's likely about 18 months away, aerospace engineer and Vertical Flight Society director Mike Hirschberg told New Scientist. Its first customer would be the US Air Force, as part of a $131 million contract under the military's Agility Prime program, with deliveries set for 2024.

Alll that puts the company tantalizingly close to delivering a true air taxi service, something that has eluded numerous other manufacturers to date. Last year, the Kittyhawk aircraft backed by Larry Page shut down, and other companies like Ehang, Archer, Volocopter and even Airbus aren't as far along as Joby. "This first aircraft coming off our pilot manufacturing line is a really, really big deal for the company," Joby CEO JoeBen Bevirt told TechCrunch.
Indore, Jun 30 (PTI) BSF personnel rescued six children and the driver of a school van in the nick of time here on Friday morning after the vehicle caught fire.

The van, ferrying the students of a private school, caught fire outside the Central School of Weapons and Tactics of the Border Security Force, said deputy commissioner of police Aditya Mishra.

Short circuit was the probable cause, he told PTI.

BSF jawans on the premises rushed to the rescue and pulled the children and driver out of the vehicle safely, he said. No one was hurt in the incident.

A fire brigade team soon reached the spot and put out the flames, the DCP added.

In the aftermath of this incident, school vans and buses in the city will be inspected thoroughly to ensure children's safety, Mishra said.
Guwahati, Jun 30 (PTI) A police inspector was dismissed from service for allegedly assaulting a girl and taking her objectionable photographs in a police station in Assam's Nalbari district, a top officer said.

After initially being placed under suspension on Thursday, the inspector who is currently absconding was dismissed from service later the same day, he said.

"Being convinced of the instant case being rarest or rare, and as the Director General of Police and Head of Police Force of Assam, and in accordance with extant law & rules, I have decided to dismiss Inspector (UB) Biman Roy from Assam Police," DGP GP Singh said in a Tweet late on Thursday.

A 17-year-old girl had filed a police complaint against the officer-in-charge of Ghograpar police station on Monday, alleging that she was molested and her objectionable photographs were taken in the police station.

The girl and a man were taken into custody on June 21 in connection with a child marriage case.

A case against the police officer has been registered with Nalbari police station under IPC Sections related to wrongful confinement of a person with the intent to insult the modesty of a woman read with certain sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO) related to use of children for pornographic purpose.

The Nalbari Superintendent of Police had admitted that the police had violated the norms by keeping a girl in the police station at night when she should have been sent to a state-run home for night stay.

Expressing his anguish over the incident, the DGP said Assam Police will work to ensure that its glory remains intact and the dismissal of the inspector will serve as a warning to all officials to maintain the 'sanctity' of police stations.

"When we entered the police service at SVP National Police Academy Hyderabad, it was always taught to us that the police station is a temple for all police personnel and the safest refuge for the citizens. Today I am deeply disheartened and anguished at the turn of events," the DGP Tweeted.

While an inspector has "let us all down" and the entire force stands distraught, the DGP assured that he shall use the power vested on him "to the maximum to ensure that the glory of Assam police remains intact".

The DGP said the dismissal of the inspector should send a strong message to all serving police personnel about adherence to the law of the land and the idea of the chief minister to shape the force dedicated to the service of the people.

"This may also be taken as a warning and advice to all Assam Police personnel, to maintain the sanctity of police stations and ensure that police stations remain the safest place for our children and women," Singh wrote on the micro-blogging site.

He added that anyone not discharging the duty to keep the citizens safe in police stations "shall invariably face similar consequences".
New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday travelled on the metro to attend an event at Delhi University.

Officials shared pictures of Modi travelling in a metro train, sitting with commuters and interacting with them.

He will attend the closing ceremony of the Delhi University's centenary celebrations as the chief guest.
New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday referred to DU's popular food joints like 'Patel Chest ki Chai' and Chankyapuri's momos, while emphasising the need to keep some things the way they are.

Addressing students at the Delhi University's centenary celebrations, the PM said the event has brought together all present and past students for them to indulge in "evergreen discussions" over memories of Kamla Nagar, Hudson Line and Mukherjee Nagar.

Two DU people can spend hours discussing the memories related to Kamla Nagar, Hudson Lane and Mukherjee Nagar and Satya Niketan, said Modi as he praised the university for keeping its value alive for 100 years.

Addressing the valedictory ceremony, he spoke about universities setting a roadmap for themselves with a focus on innovations.

While referring to some popular hangout joints of students, the prime minister said, "Don't change everything completely. Leave some things like they are. The tea and noodles served at Patel Chest in North Campus, Momos of Chanakya in South Campus  you have to ensure that their taste should not change."

Students in the audience cheered and clapped when the PM referred to the food joints.

The North and South Campus of Delhi University are known for their hangout spots that are frequented not only by students but also others.

Prime Minister Modi took a metro ride to reach Delhi University. During his journey, he interacted with students.

During his address, PM Modi made light-hearted statements about college life and the discussions between friends

"The pleasure of coming to the campus is only when you come with your colleagues. Two friends go on gossiping, will talk about the world, and will not leave anything from Israel to the Moon. Which film did you seethat series is good on OTTdid you see that reel or notthere is a vast sea of talks," he said.

"So, just like you, I have reached here today, chatting with my young friends from Delhi Metro. I came to know some stories in that conversation, and I also got a lot of interesting information," the PM added.
Jaipur, Jun 30 (PTI) Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra on Friday asked the BJP if it can declare that family members of its leaders will not be given tickets to fight elections, reacting to "dynastic politics" allegations against his party.

He also named daughters and sons of BJP leaders who are in politics.

"They say Congress is the party of a family. If you say so, then who is BS Yediyurappa's son? Is Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj Singh not an MLA? Is Vasundhara Raje's son Dushyant Singh not an MP? Is Pramod Mahajan's daughter Poonam Mahajan not in politics? Ved Prakash's son Piyush Goyal isn't there? Didn't the BJP give ticket to Kiran Maheshwari's daughter?" Dotasra asked.

The Congress leader's remarks come after Union Home Minister Amit Shah in his Udaipur rally on Friday said leaders of Opposition parties only want to make their sons prime minister or chief ministers. On Thursday, BJP national president JP Nadda at a public meeting at Bharatpur had accused Opposition parties of encouraging "dynastic politics".

Can the BJP announce that it will not give tickets to any of its leader's son, daughter or wife to fight elections, Dotasra asked at a press conference at the Congress office here. "Can you announce this? If you can then do it first and implement it, then raise questions," he said.

The state Congress chief alleged that the BJP in Rajasthan was divided and its leaders were busy showing each other in poor light. "Amit Shah should put his house in order first," Dotasra said.

On the situation in ethnic violence-hit Manipur, the Congress leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was travelling abroad when the state was burning.

He also said BJP leaders should tell people what happened to the promises it had made in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Where are the two crore jobs which the BJP had promised to give every year, Dotasra asked.

"The Congress government in Rajasthan has done excellent work and people are happy with its schemes and programmes, and its good governance," he said. Dotasra also said the Congress government has taken effective action against corruption.
New Delhi, Jun 30 (PTI) A three-tire security has been put in place with the deployment of more than 1,000 paramilitary and police personnel for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Delhi University on Friday to attend the closing ceremony of its centenary celebration, police officials said.

According to university officials, Modi will lay the foundation stone of three buildings and release a set of coffee table books.

These buildings with state-of-the-art infrastructure would be for the faculty of technology, computer centre and academic block, they said.

"We have deployed more than 1,000 security personnel, including from paramilitary forces. A very tight security arrangement has been in place with a three-tire checking system.

No black dresses, compulsory attendance, and suspension of classes between 10 am to 12 pm are among the guidelines issued by Delhi University colleges for the live telecast of the closing ceremony of the university's centenary celebrations.

Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan will be the guest of honour for the event.

Delhi University has introduced B.Tech programmes from the upcoming academic session with a capacity of 360 students. The building for the faculty of technology will cater to them.
Westerly, RI (02891)

Today

Cloudy skies during the morning hours followed by scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 77F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely in the evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms later on. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 66F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Nvidia (NVDA) might have an issue selling high-end product to China again after a Wall Street Journal report claimed the US Commerce Department is mulling over restricting export of AI chips to its superpower rival.

It wouldnt be the first time the government tightens control over the sale of chips to China. Recall, last September, the Biden administration implemented regulations that prevented the semiconductor giant from exporting A100 and H100 chips to Chinese customers without obtaining a license. At the time, the company estimated the potential impact could reach approximately $400 million per quarter. Nvidia found a way round the issue by designing less advanced chips, the A800 and H800, that blunted the impact somewhat.

Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore notes that since the $400 million comments were made, Nvidias overall data center business has roughly doubled, although he senses that over the period, China has underperformed overall growth. So maximum impact would be $700-800 million, or below 10% of data center revenue, he opined, although he believes the actual impact would likely be smaller.

It should also be remembered that since September, in the wake of the AI goldrush, global demand for AI has increased significantly and is much further from being satiated by supply. In fact, Moore cites conversations with US customers after the news broke, who said they were excited to take any product that might get repurposed from China.

In the long run, it is clear constraints on China are a material limiter. However, considering that the restrictions seem to be permanently set slightly below the level of the A100, this outcome was expected regardless, due to the rapid performance increases of Nvidias high-end products, which would remain inaccessible to Chinese clients.

As a result, the 5-star analyst summed up, we would remain quite confident in near term results even in the face of these incremental challenges. Certainly the concern may weigh on the stock in the short term, but the overall tenor of demand remains sharply up and to the right, and we dont see this as a major disruption.

All told, then, Moore reiterated an Overweight (i.e., Buy) rating on NVDA shares to go alongside a $500 price target. This indicates a potential growth of ~22% for the stock in the coming year. (To watch Moores track record, click here)

Looking at the consensus breakdown, other analysts have also been impressed. Based on 29 Buys, 2 Holds and a single Sell, the word on the Street is that NVDA is a Strong Buy. At $467.35, the average price target implies ~14% upside potential from current levels. (See Nvidia stock forecast)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.




In the aftermath of the Wagner Groups failed mutiny targeting Russian military leadership, two senior commanders have reportedly disappeared from public view, raising concerns and speculation about their whereabouts and the repercussions of the rebellion.

One of the missing commanders is a general who allegedly got arrested following Yevgeny Prigozhins decision to call off the short-lived rebellion and relocate his forces to Belarus. Prigozhins audacious attempt, known as the march for justice on Moscow, posed a significant challenge to the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who now seeks to reestablish his authority.

The other missing figure is Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov, who has neither made public appearances nor appeared on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday. Prigozhin demanded Gerasimovs surrender during the rebellion. Moreover, Gerasimov has not been mentioned in any defense ministry press releases since June 9, according to Reuters. Gerasimov, aged 67, leads Russias invasion force in Ukraine and is believed to be one of three Russian commanders entrusted with nuclear briefcases, according to some Western military analysts. Additionally, Deputy Commander Gen. Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed General Armageddon, is also reportedly missing, with unconfirmed reports suggesting he was arrested on Sunday, as reported by The Moscow Times.

The possibility of Surovikins arrest was initially raised by military blogger Vladimir Romanov, who claimed that the deputy commander was taken into custody a day after Wagner mercenary troops, led by Prigozhin, briefly rebelled against Russian military leadership. The New York Times also reported that Surovikin had prior knowledge of Prigozhins plans to rebel, prompting U.S. officials to investigate whether Surovikin played a role in supporting Prigozhin. The Kremlin downplayed these reports, dismissing them as speculative gossip.

Rybar, an influential Telegram channel run by a former Russian defense ministry press officer, suggested that a purge was underway within the Russian Armed Forces. According to Rybar, top military officials are targeting personnel perceived as displaying a lack of decisiveness in suppressing the rebellion. Allegedly, Wagner fighters encountered little resistance from Russias armed forces in the initial stages of the mutiny. The armed insurgency by the Wagner private military company has become a pretext for a massive purge in the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces, Rybar stated, as reported by Reuters.

Gerasimovs absence during Putins address, where the Russian president thanked the army for averting a civil war, did not go unnoticed. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, a long-time Putin ally whom Prigozhin accused of corruption and incompetence in the Ukrainian conflict, was present. Surovikin, Gerasimovs deputy, has not been seen since his appearance in a video urging Prigozhin to halt the mutiny. Some Western analysts speculated that Surovikin appeared exhausted and potentially spoke under duress. The general gained notoriety in 1991 for ordering Russian soldiers to fire upon protesting civilians in Moscow during the final months of the Soviet Union. He reportedly displayed a similar level of brutality when Putin deployed him to Syria in 2017, allegedly ordering indiscriminate bombings in Aleppo and other anti-government strongholds.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




The Supreme Court on Monday left in place an appellate ruling barring a North Carolina public charter school from requiring girls to wear skirts to school.

The justices declined without comment to hear an appeal from the Charter Day School in the eastern North Carolina town of Leland. A federal appeals court had ruled that the schools dress code violated students constitutional rights.

School founder Baker Mitchell had said the dress code was intended to promote chivalry by the male students and respect for the female students, according to court documents.

The dress code already has been changed to allow girls to wear pants, in line with the lower court ruling.

(AP)




Three Florida men were arrested Thursday on charges alleging they illegally made more than $22 million by insider trading ahead of the public announcement that an acquisition firm was going to take former President Donald Trumps media company public.

The charges were outlined in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court that did not in any way implicate Trump or Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns his Truth Social platform.

The charges make it less likely that Trump Media will be able to pocket the $1.3 billion promised upon completion of the merger with the acquisition firm. The merger is pending approval of securities regulators.

According to the indictment, the men were invited to invest in the special purpose acquisition company, Digital World Acquisition Corp., and were provided confidential information that a potential target of DWAC and another acquisition company, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., was Trump Media.

Authorities said the defendants bought millions of dollars of DWAC securities on the open market before news of the Trump Media business was made public. After the public announcement, the men dumped their securities for a significant profit, according to the court papers.

The indictment said one of the defendants tipped off a neighbor to buy stock in DWAC, calling it a good bet without saying how he knew.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams warned that insider trading is not easy money, calling it cheating.

Its a bad bet, Williams said in a release. Because my Office, the Southern District of New York, is watching. And were working quickly to investigate and prosecute anyone who corrupts our financial markets. And well keep at it as long as it takes. You can bet on that.

The arrested men were identified as Michael Shvartsman, 52, of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida; his brother Gerald Shvartsman, 45, of Aventura, Florida; and Bruce Garelick, 53, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They awaited initial court appearances Thursday afternoon in Miami.

Attorney Grant Smith, representing the Shvartsman brothers, said he had no comment. A lawyer who has represented Garelick in the past did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Michael Shvartsman owned Rocket One Capital LLC, a venture capital firm. Garelick was Rocket Ones chief investment officer, according to court papers.

According to the indictment, Garelick was given a seat on DWACs board of directors and had access to confidential information. It said he then shared that information with his co-conspirators.

The indictment said that between June 2021 and November 2021, the men purchased securities including warrants of their own and shared the secrets with their friends and employees, who also bought tens of thousands of units of securities ahead of the merger announcement with Trump Media & Technology Group. Typically, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, is formed with the intent to merge with a private company.

In early 2021, representatives of Trump Media, including Trump, began communicating with principles of Benessere about potentially merging to take Trump Media public, the indictment said.

Between March and June 2021, Trump Media and Benessere entered into nonbinding letters of intent to merge, it said.

The letters required confidentiality but did allow Benessere and its agents to share confidential information with investors in the special purpose acquisition companies, the indictment said.

Jay Ritter, a University of Florida expert on stock markets who has followed Trumps media venture, said the new charges make it unlikely securities regulators will approve a merger with DWAC.

The more these people are connected to the company and not a friend of a friend, the more they can say, There is a problem with management, and that is why were not approving this merger, he said.

Ritter added, though, that Trumps company may be able to find alternative partners to help fund it.

Trump Medias likelihood of being a profitable company is fairly good. This is not some pie-in-the-sky electric vehicle startup that needs to burn through millions of dollars and not come up with anything, he said. Some other company will come through and invest.

The $1.3 billion that Trump Media would miss out on if the merger doesnt go through could have been used to pay salaries and office rent and expand its operation. As for DWAC, securities rules would require it to liquidate if the deal isnt completed.

The potential merger was once greeted as a near certainty by investors. Many were political supporters of Trump, a Republican, who were enraged he had been pushed off Twitter after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. They saw Truth Social as a way to fight back against what they considered censorship on social media  and a sure moneymaker.

Fueling their enthusiasm was big talk about the new venture. Trump called his company a big tent social media rival that would allow all voices to be heard. Documents used to drum up interest in the company held out the prospect of taking on other media giants besides Twitter, including Netflix, Disney and CNN.

Shortly after the proposed merger deal was announced in late 2021, DWAC stock rocketed from about a $10 initial offering price to over $100, giving the combined company a potential market value in the billions of dollars.

But there were regulatory problems from the start. Besides possible insider trading, securities regulators were looking into news reports that there had been substantive talks between DWAC executives and Trump Media months before DWAC sold stock to the public for the first time, a possible violation of securities law.

Trump has called the investigations politically motivated witch hunts that had no substance in reality, a charge repeated by his many allies, including former congressman Devin Nunes, who is the CEO of Trump Media.

Stock in DWAC was trading at $12.70 in the early afternoon Thursday, down more than 50% over the past 12 months.

(AP)




Israeli President Isaac Herzog will address a joint meeting of Congress on July 19 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Israels statehood and to reaffirm his nations special relationship with the United States, congressional leaders announced on Thursday.

The world is better off when America and Israel work together, said the announcement from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Eleven minutes after declaring independence in 1948, the United States was the first to recognize the state of Israel, and today, we continue to strengthen the unbreakable bond between our two democracies.

McCarthy addressed Israels parliament in May. It was the first time in 25 years a sitting speaker of the House had addressed Israels Knesset, and it came in a period of fraught relations between Israels government and President Joe Biden.

McCarthy noted that the only other president of Israel to address a joint meeting of Congress was Herzogs father, President Chaim Herzog, more than 35 years ago. The Israeli presidency is a largely ceremonial office meant to serve as a unifying force and moral compass in a diverse and often divided country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed Congress three times  most recently in 2015, when Republican leaders invited him to deliver a speech railing against then-President Barack Obamas emerging nuclear agreement with Iran. The speech infuriated the White House and fellow Democratic leaders.

Biden, then Obamas vice president, was traveling abroad and did not attend Netanyahus address  when the vice president normally would have sat behind the Israeli leader during those remarks.

Netanyahu, who returned to office last December, has known Biden for decades. But the two have disagreed over Netanyahus proposed overhaul of Israels judicial system, which critics see as a move toward authoritarianism, as well as his hard-line governments expansion of West Bank settlements and punitive measures against the Palestinians. Netanyahus position runs in direct opposition to Bidens moves to boost U.S.-Palestinian relations.

Biden said in March there were no plans to invite Netanyahu to the White House in the near term. In a challenge to Biden, McCarthy said in May that he would invite Netanyahu to speak to Congress if Biden doesnt.

At an event hosted by the Israeli embassy earlier this month, Herzog told attendees via video, including Vice President Kamala Harris, that he looked forward to a White House visit. The National Security Council responded in an e-mail on Thursday it had nothing to announce when asked if a White House visit would be a component of Herzogs trip to Washington.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, R-Calif., had invited Herzog to address Congress last year, and Schumer met with Herzog in Israel during a visit in February. Schumer said Herzog has always been a great leader and is particularly influential at this time.

This invitation to speak at a joint meeting of Congress is a testament to the decades of bipartisan and bicameral support for Israel that transcends party politics and I look forward to welcoming him to the Capitol, Schumer said.

(AP)




Nearly all Rabbonim in Chicago have issued a message to its Community, to only engage in and purchase food from, home businesses with reputable kosher supervision.

This proclamation follows the lead of an earlier Kol Koreh signed by the leading Poskim in North America outlying similar guidelines. What is unique about the Chicago Kol Koreh is the willingness to work with any home business owner to financially help with guidelines that a Rav Hamachshir might require to meet his standards.

One common example is to help build a separate area or entrance where proper supervision can be conducted.

The Chicago Rabbonim have also committed to not allow any products that are being sold without proper hashgacha into their Shuls. It their hope that other Communities will follow this initiative, and in doing so, will increase the level of kashrus standards worldwide.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




HaRav Yitzchok Lichtenstein, Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vodaas, paid a special visit to Camp Simcha, Chai Lifelines medically supervised summer program for children with cancer and other serious illnesses in Glen Spey, NY, on Thursday, June 29. The visit was a highlight for the campers and staff as they begin another summer of Simcha.

During his visit, Rav Lichtenstein toured the vibrant and lively campus, witnessing firsthand the joy and strength that fills each bunk, each activity, and every corner of Camp Simcha. Rav Lichtenstein spent time meeting with the campers and staff, offering words of chizuk and bracha.

We are honored to host Rav Lichtenstein, said Rabbi Simcha Scholar, CEO of Chai Lifeline. His presence and inspiring words uplifted our campers and gave them strength that they will take with them as they take on their personal challenges.




As YWN reported earlier this week, terror groups in the Gaza Strip have been indoctrinating young children to commit terror acts in specialized summer camps in the Gaza Strip for years.

Strangely, the UN, which has condemned Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, more times than any other nation in the world, remains silent on the issue. This is true despite the fact that according to its Human Rights Council, using children for military conflicts constitutes a war crime.

Where is the outrage of the human rights activists around the world, whose rage spills on the streets if Israel dares to defend itself from these camp directors/terrorists?

The silence is deafening.

 Congressional Hearing: Mr. Director, how many times is Israel condemned by the U.N.?

 Hillel Neuer: At the General Assembly, it's 1 on Iran, 1 on Syria, 1 on North Korea, and 15 on Israel.

 And how many times has the Palestinian Authority been condemned?

 Never. pic.twitter.com/Q92iKM49Kr  UN Watch (@UNWatch) June 22, 2023

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told The Wall Street Journal that Israel cannot heed pressure from US and Ukrainian officials to provide Iron Dome systems to Ukraine due to the fear of Israeli weapons ending up in Iranian hands.

In a comprehensive interview published on Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel is concerned with the possibility that systems we would give to Ukraine would fall into Iranian hands and could be reverse engineered and we would find ourselves facing Israelis systems used against Israel.

Thats not a theoretical threat, Netanyahu emphasized. Western anti-tank systems actually made that journey and we now find them on our borders [being used] by Hezbollah.

This issue was highlighted earlier this month in a Newsweek report, which quoted a high-ranking IDF official.

According to the IDF commander, US weapons transferred to Ukraine, such as the Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile system, are being monitored by paramilitary forces on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war. He said that the Russians are motivated to transfer US-supplied weapons due to the close relationship between Moscow and Tehran, while pro-Ukrainian elements are largely motivated by financial incentives to smuggle arms.

He added that the situation is very dangerous due to two concerns: One is that they can research capabilities, and then learn how to manufacture them. Im talking especially about Iran. The other problem is that we are very worried that some of these capabilities are going to fall into Hezbollah and Hamas hands.

Another source, an intelligence agent for a foreign country, told Newsweek that in August, a Russian transport aircraft delivered a cargo shipment to Iran worth $100 million, including the U.S.-made Javelins and United Kingdom-made Next-Generation Light Anti-armor Weapons (NLAWs).

According to the source, who provided satellite imagery to corroborate the information, Russia is supplying weapons to Iran to reverse engineer in exchange for supplying Russia with drones to be used in Ukraine.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




The Toldos Aharon Rebbe on Monday visited the Posek Hador HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shternbuch earlier this week prior to leaving on his annual trip to Austria.

HaRav Shternbuch asked the Rebbe: Why are you leaving Eretz Yisrael? Every moment that you sit here, youre fulfilling the mitzvas aseish of yishuv Eretz Yisrael.

The Rebbe:    . Were leaving in order to return to Eretz Yisrael with clarity of mind. Hashem Yisbarach should help the Raavad to have renewed kochos, with length of days and years.

HaRav Shternbuch: There were gedolim who wouldnt agree to come to Eretz Yisrael because they feared being mezalzel the kedushah of Eretz Yisrael or they feared sinning in Eretz Yisrael  and every sin in Eretz Yisrael is much worse than a sin in Chutz LEretz.

HaRav Shternbuch continued: From Shamayim, Hakadosh Baruch Hu arranged for us to live in this generation which is a difficult generation before the coming of Moshiach.

I remember from before the war that HaGaon HaRav Elchonon Wasserman, ztl, was by us in London. He wanted to travel back to his yeshivah in Baranovich in Poland. We told him that its extremely dangerous to travel to Poland and he answered that the captain doesnt leave his ship during war and he cant abandon his yeshivah at a difficult time like thisand he needs to support everyone to accept the situation with emunah, that everything is the will of Hashem Yisbarach and in the future, well understand and know that everything is for the good and we only experience pain now because we cant grasp the concept of the eternal world.

But afterward, he added that we have one consolation  that we have a promise from Hakadosh Baruch       that Torah will always remain in Am Yisrael. But he added that unfortunately, we didnt receive a promise of the shiur of    that its possible that only a little will remain after the war  and from this small amount, the Torah will spread throughout all of Beis Yisrael, that the Torah is like a small ember of fire which can increase into a huge flame of fire.

The Rebbe: In the sefer hazicharon about the Chasam Sofer, its written that he fled from his city and his kehilla in Pressburg during a war and that wasnt according to the shitah of Rav Elchonon, Hyd, who davka entered the makom sakanah at a time of war in order to be with his students. Apparently, there are two shitos of how to behave during a time of war.

HaRav Shternbuch: Indeed, this is a dispute between the Chasam Sofer and the Nodah BYehudah on how to behave at a time of war in this inyan. And in our many sins, weve already experienced the two opinions in the years of our Galusand now Moshiach Tzidkeinu already needs to comeand the eyes of all of Yisrael are on on you  and bezras Hakadosh Baruch Hu, it will surely help.

The Rebbe: The eyes of all Yisrael are on the tefillos of the Rav.

HaRav Shternbuch: Chas vShalom.

The Rebbe: In the Gemara in Shabbos, it says about Moshe Rabbeinu that Hakadosh Baruch Hu said about him: Since you make yourself small, the Torah will be called on your name, like it says, Zichru Toras Moshe. Therefore when someone makes themselves small, theyre zocheh that the Torah is called on their name.

The Rebbe continued: The whole world today needs a yeshuah. The situation in the world today is very difficult.

HaRav Shternbuch: Hakadosh Baruch Hu should be mevatel all the prosecutors. Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves Yisrael.     Hell give brachos to all of Am Yisrael. Weve already endured so much until now and bezras Hashem, Hakadosh Baruch Hu will help us in the future as well.

I have a memory from my youth, that the British government offered a large sum of money to anyone who would swim across the sea from England to France. There was someone who tried to do it but when he got very close to the shores of France, he gave up and stopped swimming. And they told him he was a fool, you were so close to France, you couldnt continue? He replied that he felt he no longer had any strength to continue And when HaGaon HaRav Yechzkel Abramsky, ztl heard about this, he responded that this is an example and a mashal of the stormy waves that pass over Am Yisrael from the time we were in galus until now, that in all generations we suffered persecution, crises and hardships without limit, and at any moment we are already about to reach the safe shore  for the future redemption, that Moshiach is already standing behind our walls, and what a folly it is to break now and abandon the hope and expectation of yeshuas Hashem, that we only have a short time left and well be zochech to an everlasting yeshuah.

Unfortunately, today we no longer have great Gedolei Torah like we used to. Once upon a time, Gedolei Torah were like Urim VTumim, but today in our sins, all these are missing.       .

At the end of the visit, the Rebbe requested to pour a kos of wine for HaRav Shternbuch, saying: Its written in the Gemara that one who wants to pour wine on top of the mizbeach should instead pour wine for talmidei chachamim.

HaRav Shternbuch responded by showing kavod to the Rebbe, pouring wine from his kos into the Rebbes kos.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




by Rabbi Yair Hoffman for 5tjt.com

The Toldos Aharon Rebbe, Rav Dovid Kahn, arrived this week (Monday) at the Har Nof residence of HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch, before his departure to Austria  for the annual dacha, vacation, and asked him to petition in prayer about the state of the people of Eretz Yisroel. [This is not the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Rebbe that comes to the Five Towns, but we are open].

During the conversation, Rav Sternbuch told for the first time, stories of greatness that he saw in his youth with the holy Gaon Rav Elchanan Wasserman ztl before the Holocaust.

Interestingly enough, Rav Sternbuch asked the Rebbe, Why are you leaving Eretz Yisroel, after all, every moment that you sit here, you are fulfilling the Mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisroel? As can be seen in the video, Rav Sternbuch does not pursue the issue further, once he sees that the Rebbe is going anyway.

TWO FASCINATING QUESTIONS

This brings up two fascinating question:

When is it permitted to leave Eretz Yisrael? Is it permitted to leave Eretz Yisroel for a vacation?

While we are at it, we may also deal with the question of what the reason for the mitzvah of remaining in Eretz Yisroel actually is. Are we dealing with a Biblical or rabbinic prohibition? And even if it is primarily rabbinic in nature, is there ever a Biblical mandate regarding this?

As an interesting aside, Rav Chaim Kanievsky zatzal once asked his uncle the Chazon Ish if it would be permitted to go swimming at a beach wherein the ocean is the actual border of Eretz Yisroel (cited in Rav Yitzchok Zilbersteins Avnei Chain 5:2). The Chazon Ish answered that the area that one swims in is still considered part of the land of Eretz Yisroel.

According to this, however, it is possible that someone taking flying lessons may not fly over the waters on account of the possible prohibition of leaving Eretz Yisroel, unless he is doing so for the purpose of a Mitzvah.

FOUR MAIN REASONS

The reasons for the prohibition of leaving Eretz Yisroel cited by the authorities are actually rather varied:

The Ramban (Bamidbar 33:53) explains the prohibition on account of the mitzvah to settle in Eretz Yisrael. The Ramban, if we recall, is of the opinion that the Torah mitzvah to settle the land of Israel is applicable nowadays, as well.

The Rashbam (Bava Basra 91b) explains that the prohibition exists because by leaving the land, one is actively removing oneself from the mitzvos that are uniquely dependent upon being present in Israel.

The Lechem Mishnah (Melachim 5:12) explains that because Israel is holy, it is forbidden to leave it.

Finally, a fourth reason given is that prayer in Israel is much more effective, and the prohibition was made so that the nation of Israel not remain bereft of those praying on its behalf in the place where prayer is most efficacious.

BIBLICAL OR RABBINIC?

Is it a Torah or rabbinic prohibition? Rav Moshe Feinstein, ztl (Igros Moshe, Y.D. Vol. I, No. 120), indicates that it is rabbinic. That being the case, in a case of a doubt there is greater leniency.

The language of the Maharitatz (Siman 85), however, indicates that he learns the prohibition as Biblical  not like Rav Feinstein ztl. He writes that the source for the Rambams leniency regarding leaving for business comes from a Kal VaChomer, a fortiori argument, from leaving Israel to go Egypt. If it is permitted regarding Egypt it is certainly permitted regarding other lands where the prohibition is not explicit in the Torah. His language in the latter half of the response is indicative that it is still a biblical prohibition, but not one that is explicit. The Chochmas Adam in his Mishpetei Aretz 11:14, however, also learns that the prohibition is Rabbinic.

SEVEN LENIENCIES

This author has found seven various heterim that are found in the poskim to permit leaving Eretz Yisroel.

For the mitzvah of kibud av veim, honoring ones parents, it is certainly permitted to leave Israel. There are two circumstances described in the poskim: One, where ones parents are traveling to Israel; in such a case, one is permitted to leave Israel proper to greet and accompany them. The other case is where one leaves Israel to tend to another need involving kibud av veim. The former case is permitted by all authorities based upon a Gemara in Kiddushin (31a). The latter case is the subject of some debate. The consensus of poskim is that in that case it is permitted, as well. If, however, your parents need you because they are in danger, then one would certainly be permitted to go. Indeed, some poskim even permit one to permanently leave Israel when one leaves for the mitzvah of kibud av veim. Beis Shlomo, Y.D. Vol. II, No. 94, citing Rashis interpretation of Kiddushin 31a. The Maharsha, however, seems to learn otherwise. See Chayei Moshe 48:37. Others disagree and write that it is only permitted if one has in mind to return. Clearly, however, there are no boundary issues when it comes to kibud av veim.

Additionally, it is permissible to leave Israel to travel to the gravesites of tzaddikim, such as in Uman, in order to pray there (see Shaarei Teshuvah 568:20).

According to Rav Ovadiah Yosef ztl (Yechave Daas 5:57) one would also be permitted to leave Eretz Yisrael to teach Torah to others. This issue came up a number of years ago with a now prominent rosh yeshiva who was offered a prestigious post outside of Israel. The gedolim of Eretz Yisrael told him to take the position, but his wife refused to follow him. Rav Chatzkel Levenstein, ztl, also took a position outside of Israel in the Mirrer Yeshiva when it was offered to him.

A fascinating additional heter is found in the Mishnah Berurah (531:14). He writes that one may leave Israel to see a good friend, because this is considered a dvar mitzvah. Poskim extend this to include seeing ones children and grandchildren.

One may leave Eretz Yisrael to find a shidduch outside of Israel (Rambam, Melachim 5:9). This is true even if one would be able to find a suitable match inside of Israel, if marriage to another person (found outside of Israel) is preferred. Generally speaking, this is only if one has in mind to return to Israel. Interestingly enough, if one cannot find a spouse in Israel, it is permissible to go chutz lAretz and settle there on a permanent basis (Maharit, Kiddushin 111a).

One may leave Israel to conduct ones business affairs (Rambam, ibid.). This is only permitted, however, if his intention is to return.

One is also permitted to leave Eretz Yisrael to seek medical care or for health reasons in general. (See Ashrei haIsh OC Vol. III p. 462)

CONJECTURING

It is this last heter which perhaps lies at the unstated back and forth between the Toldos Aharon Rebbe and Rav Shternbuch. Let us conjecture and attempt to unfold the latent thought processes of both sides.

The Toldos Aharon Rebbe was clearly employing heter number seven.

Rav Shternbuch was perhaps thinking. Is a vacation outside of Eretz Yisroel really within the rubric of a medical heter? Are there not places to vacation within Eretz Yisroel?

The Toldos Aharon Rebbe was perhaps thinking, Even your own litvish gadol hador Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky, ztl when questioned why he went on vacation jokingly responded with the Gemorah in Bava Metziah 77a, Ana manshei dMechuzah, dI lo avdi, chalshi  I am of the people of Mechuzah  if I do not do it, I will become weak.

MAY ONE TRAVEL IF ONE HAS LEFT WITH A HETER

One last question brings us back to one of our original questions. May one stay and travel a bit if he had originally left with permission. If the prohibition is Rabbinic then it would seem to be permitted. if, however, it is biblical, then it would seem that the reason is like that of the Ramban cited above and one would not be permitted to delay further on account of the constant Mitzvah of being in Eretz Yisroel. Of course one should consult with ones own Rav and Posaik in regard to all of these issues.

The author can be reached at [email protected]
(Bloomberg) -- Endeavour Mining Plc made a takeover approach to rival Kinross Gold Corp. in recent months that was rebuffed by the Canadian company, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Endeavour, an acquisitive gold miner backed by Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, was considering a potential cash and stock deal for Kinross, the people said. It held talks with potential partners about teaming up on a bid, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

Discussions between Endeavour and Kinross didnt proceed beyond the initial stage due to differences over valuation and other issues, the people said. Kinross shares declined 4.4% in Toronto, paring its gain this year to 11%. The company has a market capitalization of about $5.7 billion, while Endeavour is valued at $5.9 billion.

It wasnt immediately clear whether the talks could revive at a later date. A spokesperson for Endeavour declined to comment. Kinross didnt respond to calls or emails seeking comment.

Endeavours takeover attempt is the latest sign of consolidation in the gold industry as miners face the prospect of stagnating production levels and rising input costs. The sector has seen a flurry of dealmaking in the past few years, as smaller companies seek to combine or snap up assets following large transactions by the two biggest producers. Most recently, industry leader Newmont Corp. agreed to buy Australian rival Newcrest Mining Ltd. for about $19 billion.

Endeavour has been one of the most acquisitive among the industrys mid-sized players, having sealed several deals in recent years. The miner agreed to buy Teranga Gold Corp. in 2020 in an all-share deal. In the same year, it agreed to buy rival Semafo Inc. for about C$1 billion in stock to add West African assets.

Still, the company has also backed away from deals in the past if it couldnt reach a friendly agreement  it abandoned an attempt to buy Centamin Plc, which owns the Sukari mine in Egypt, after the company rebuffed its advances. In 2017, it ended talks about a potential combination with the former Acacia Mining Plc, a gold miner in Tanzania that has since been reabsorbed by Barrick Gold Corp.

Toronto-based Kinross has long been mooted as a takeover candidate, especially after selling its Russian assets last year. The company, which has mines and projects in the US, Canada, Brazil, Mauritania and Chile, said in September it had been having discussions with activist investor Elliott Investment Management and announced a $300 million share buyback.

--With assistance from Thomas Biesheuvel.

(Updates with shares in third paragraph.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
The best that can be said about the latest snapshot of the UK economy is that for the moment at least the nation is skirting around a downturn. The economy grew by 0.1 per cent in the first quarter and 0.2 per cent year-on-year.

What is encouraging is that business investment is perking up, with the official figures showing a 3.3 per cent jump, a sharp upward revision from the previously reported 0.7 per cent.

Rishi Sunak's government is seeking to boost business by means of the 100 per cent capital allowances for new investment.

The Treasury is also making hyperbolic claims that the passage of the new financial services bill, unhitching the UK from the European Union, could release as much as 100billion for innovation and infrastructure.

Support for the City and for London listings is critical and we should be enthusiastic about Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's determination to embrace high tech and AI.

Forward thinking: A concern for UK big pharma is the failure in Whitehall to grasp the opportunity for Britain to be a pioneer in life sciences

But it is not just money that is needed.

The new arrangements may free the Square Mile from choking EU regulation but it does nothing, as yet, to ease the burden of domestic red tape. Life sciences are an area where there are big wins for Britain. Barely a day passes when our flagship pharma firms, AstraZeneca and GSK, fail to announce a positive drug or vaccine development to investors.

GSK is making great headway on vaccines for RSV respiratory diseases. It is the world leader in developing simpler and easier-to-administer HIV vaccines.

And its shingrex vaccine has won approval in Japan for preventative treatment against shingles for adults over the age of 18.

The good thing about vaccines, where GSK is a global leader, is that they have a much longer lifespan than many drugs.

Most people in Britain are familiar with the name of Astra because of its embrace of the Oxford-developed Covid vaccine and its skill in scaling up into global production. We all stood in the queues at vaccine centres where the subject of debate was whether the Astra or Pfizer vaccine would be administered.

What is less recognised about Astra is the way it conquered the world since it saw off the 69billion bid from Pfizer in 2014.

Under the stewardship of Aussie-French chief executive Pascal Soriot, it has become the FTSE 100's most valuable company, with a market capitalisation of 181m.

Fuelled by its fast-track development of immunology treatments for cancer, it is now worth billions of pounds more than former predator Pfizer.

Astra's market recognition provides a counterpoint to critics of the London Stock Exchange. It shows that well-run, innovative firms can achieve as great valuations in the City as on Wall Street.

Astra's pipeline flourishes. Approvals are coming through fast and thick from overseas. In the last week, the US Food and Drug Administration endorsed farxiga to prevent deaths of patients with heart disease, and Beijing gave the thumbs up to its once-a-day drug for type 2 diabetes.

A concern for UK big pharma is the failure in Whitehall to grasp the opportunity for Britain to be a pioneer in life sciences.

All the pieces of the puzzle are there.

Astra and GSK are creating their own eco-systems through investment in biotech, genetic-specific medicines and, in Astra's case, open access research labs in Cambridge.

The NHS offers huge opportunity for testing and analysing new vaccines and compounds. But fractured IT, backlogs in treatments and chaos engendered by strikes means it is not a reliable partner for our pharma pioneers.

The UK vaccine and drug agencies, the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation and the MHRA, which acted with speed and decisiveness in the pandemic, appear oblivious to the commercial advantage to be gained by faster approvals.

Our life sciences firms are raring to go and medicines, long in the pipeline, are coming to fruition. How frustrating that the country is being held back by blockages at home, even though we are in a new world where UK drug makers are no longer dependent on the politically complex and sclerotic European Medicines Agency.

If the Treasury really wants to put rocket fuel into growth it must make sure that the NHS and the drug regulatory agencies have appropriate resources to keep Britain's innovators ahead of the pack.
An estimated 88billion of pension savers' cash is invested in fossil fuels, or 10 per cent of their total stock and corporate bond holdings, claim green campaigners.

That works out at about 3,000 on average per saver, despite both environmental harm and the financial risk of a 'significant devaluation' of these investments in future, they say.

Pension schemes continue to fund fossil fuel companies despite a raft of climate commitments and evidence that savers want them to ditch such investments, according to Make My Money Matter.

Financial risk: Investing in fossil fuels represents an 'environmental and financial timebomb' in pensions, claims campaign group

The campaign group, an initiative launched by celebrity film director Richard Curtis and ex-Bank of England governor Mark Carney, wants the UK's retirement pots to be used to tackle climate change.

Its new report, carried out with sustainability research firm Route2, claims the majority of pension schemes they analysed have both Shell and BP in their top 10 holdings.

Make My Money Matter believes investing in fossil fuels represents an 'environmental and financial timebomb' in pensions, warning this brings risks for individual savers.

It says in a rapid net zero transition, fossil fuel investments are at risk of significant devaluation, because company strategies will be threatened by climate litigation, plummeting demand, stranded assets, and a customer backlash.

The group adds that a nationally representative survey in March showed 48 per cent of 1,300 UK pension holders would switch firm if they found their scheme was investing in fossil fuel companies developing new oil, gas and coal projects.

Other surveys have suggested about half of workers want to invest their retirement savings to combat the climate emergency - or according to environmental, social, and governance of 'ESG' principles - if their scheme makes this available.

But many are reluctant to switch out of 'default' work funds, placing the onus on providers to switch them into sustainable investments.

Mystified by investing jargon like ESG and greenwashing? As more go 'ethical' with their money, here's our A-Z of green investing.

People with jobs are automatically opted into their employer's pension scheme unless they actively object, and the vast majority stick with the default fund, whether it really suits them or not.

MMMM is calling on UK pension providers to:

- Put fossil fuel companies on notice that they are expected to rule out new oil and gas expansion and set credible 1.5 degree aligned plans (meaning limiting global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels)

- Vote against any company which continues to develop new oil and gas, and doesn't have a credible 1.5 degree plan

- Divest publicly within set timeframes from fossil fuel companies that fail to act on these issues.

Richard Curtis, co-founder of Make My Money Matter, says: 'If pension funds are serious about tackling climate change, they need to get serious about their investments in the fossil fuel industry.

'This means no more nice words or vague statements, but instead a clear, unwavering message - rule out oil and gas expansion and set real climate targets or face divestment.

'Because ongoing, unchecked investments in the fossil fuel industry simply doesn't make sense. It's unpopular with the public, catastrophic for the planet, and puts the pensions of millions of UK citizens in jeopardy.'

What does the pension industry say?

'The evidence is clear  the global transition to net zero emissions is going to have a material impact on the performance of oil and gas companies,' says Katharina Lindmeier, senior responsible investment manager at pension provider Nest.

'It's not acceptable to be kicking the can down the road and failing to act.

'Investors need to use their unique position to challenge companies when we don't believe they're making sensible, long-term business decisions.'

Joe Dabrowski, deputy director of policy at industry group the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, says: 'The pensions sector plays a key role in helping the world meet its commitment to minimise global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees.

Transferring ownership to another investor, who may be less scrupulous, does not positively impact on reducing carbon emissions

'Many pension funds have already made a commitment to achieving net zero and we expect more will do the same in the near future.'

Dabrowski says the PLSA is committed to working with its members to help them achieve net zero goals, including by seeking policy change where needed and encouraging collaboration across the sector.

He went on: 'As professional investors with a fiduciary duty to grow and protect their members' savings over very long horizons, pension schemes have a significant interest in ensuring that the companies they invest in are fully prepared for a lower carbon future.

'One of the most important ways they can do this is by exercising their rights as shareholders to hold company directors to account on their climate strategies.

'Divesting is just one way they can express this view, but transferring ownership to another investor, who may be less scrupulous, does not positively impact on reducing carbon emissions.'

A spokesperson for pension industry group the Association of British Insurers says: 'The role of insurers in tackling climate change has never been greater or more important, and through our Climate Change Roadmap we have made significant progress on the transition to Net Zero.

'The insurance and long-term savings sector is committed to fully decarbonising activities by 2050 and seeing a 50 per cent reduction by 2030.

'By working with the companies that they invest in, pension funds can use responsible influencing mechanisms to ensure they're also aligned to the long-term transition plan - which is an important part of this, alongside transparent reporting.

'A growing range of "green" pension funds are available for savers and we'd encourage people to speak with their pension provider if they wish to understand more about the options available to them.'
Heathrow has appointed the boss of Copenhagen airport as chief executive.

Thomas Woldbye will replace John Holland-Kaye when he steps down later this year after nearly ten years.

Heathrow chairman Lord Deighton said: 'Thomas's achievements at Copenhagen not only mirror Heathrow's long-term strategy, but his track record in successfully running a major airport and working closely with stakeholders to secure consensus and deliver positive results stood out.'

High-flyer: Thomas Woldbye has been chief executive of Copenhagen airport since 2011

Woldbye has been chief executive of Copenhagen airport since 2011.

He forged strong links with the government and fostered partnerships with airlines to drive investment and development, the airport said.

Woldbye said: 'Heathrow is an important engine for the British economy and inextricably linked to the success of London and the wider UK.

'My ambition will be to make the airport even better for passengers, airlines, the community and every part of the UK.'
Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK  Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Teekay Tankers Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Teekay Tankers stock opened at $36.72 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.79. Teekay Tankers has a one year low of $14.90 and a one year high of $48.05. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.07, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of -0.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.25.

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Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK  Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 11th. The shipping company reported $5.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.65 by $1.48. Teekay Tankers had a net margin of 32.12% and a return on equity of 39.74%. The business had revenue of $270.47 million for the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Teekay Tankers will post 13.46 earnings per share for the current year.

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Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dorsey Wright & Associates acquired a new stake in Teekay Tankers in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new stake in Teekay Tankers in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Teekay Tankers by 41.9% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,019 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Teekay Tankers in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Ahrens Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Teekay Tankers in the 1st quarter valued at about $48,000. 48.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

(Free Report)

Teekay Tankers Ltd. provides marine transportation services to oil industries in Bermuda and internationally. The company offers voyage and time charter services; and offshore ship-to-ship transfer services of commodities primarily crude oil and refined oil products, as well as liquid gases and various other products.

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Truist Financial (NYSE:TFC  Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other analysts have also commented on TFC. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Truist Financial from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. Odeon Capital Group lowered Truist Financial from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $32.75 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 16th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Truist Financial from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Truist Financial from $50.00 to $41.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Truist Financial from $55.00 to $39.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $44.81.

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Truist Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of TFC stock opened at $30.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $30.49 and a 200 day moving average of $37.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $40.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.05. Truist Financial has a twelve month low of $25.56 and a twelve month high of $53.34.

Insider Buying and Selling at Truist Financial

Truist Financial ( NYSE:TFC Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 20th. The insurance provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.04). Truist Financial had a net margin of 22.81% and a return on equity of 12.37%. The business had revenue of $6.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Truist Financial will post 4.22 EPS for the current year.

In other Truist Financial news, Director Charles A. Patton bought 3,668 shares of Truist Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $19.00 per share, for a total transaction of $69,692.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,668 shares of the companys stock, valued at $69,692. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.31% of the companys stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Truist Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of TFC. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Truist Financial by 12,034.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,490,356 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $881,700,000 after buying an additional 20,321,500 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Truist Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $553,718,000. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Truist Financial by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 100,042,278 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $3,411,442,000 after purchasing an additional 7,651,641 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Truist Financial by 55.2% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,461,191 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $731,827,000 after purchasing an additional 7,635,573 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Truist Financial by 43.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 18,282,723 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $847,671,000 after purchasing an additional 5,504,325 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.49% of the companys stock.

Truist Financial Company Profile

(Free Report)

Truist Financial Corporation, a holding company, provides banking and trust services in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States. The company operates through three segments: Consumer Banking and Wealth, Corporate and Commercial Banking, and Insurance Holdings. Its deposit products include noninterest-bearing checking, interest-bearing checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts.

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Admiral Group (OTCMKTS:AMIGY  Free Report) and Sompo (OTCMKTS:SMPNY  Free Report) are both financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends and earnings.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Admiral Group and Sompos revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Admiral Group N/A N/A N/A $1.07 24.18 Sompo $34.10 billion 0.46 $2.00 billion N/A N/A

Sompo has higher revenue and earnings than Admiral Group.

Profitability

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Admiral Group N/A N/A N/A Sompo 2.00% 4.49% 0.62%

Analyst Ratings

This table compares Admiral Group and Sompos net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Admiral Group and Sompo, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Admiral Group 3 3 1 0 1.71 Sompo 0 0 0 0 N/A

Admiral Group currently has a consensus target price of $2,265.20, suggesting a potential upside of 8,649.32%. Given Admiral Groups higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Admiral Group is more favorable than Sompo.

Dividends

Admiral Group pays an annual dividend of $0.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Sompo pays an annual dividend of $0.35 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Admiral Group pays out 64.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of Admiral Group shares are held by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

About Admiral Group

(Free Report)

Admiral Group plc, a financial services company, provides motor, household, travel, and pet insurance, as well as personal lending products worldwide. It operates through UK Insurance, International Insurance, Admiral Money, and Other segments. The company provides underwriting services, which includes motor, household, pet, and travel insurance, as well as car and home insurance; and provides unsecured personal loans and car finance products primarily in the United Kingdom. It offers its insurance product and services under the Admiral, Admiral Money, Apparent, Balumba, Bell, Compare.com, ConTe.it, Diamond, Elephant, Elephant Auto, Gladiator, L'Olivier, Qualitas Auto, and Veygo brands. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Cardiff, the United Kingdom.

About Sompo

(Free Report)

Sompo Holdings, Inc. provides property and casualty (P&C) insurance services in Japan and internationally. The company operates through Domestic P&C Insurance Business, Overseas Insurance Business, Domestic Life Insurance Business, and Nursing Care & Seniors Business segments. It offers various P&C insurance products, including automobile, fire, personal accident, and marine, as well as security, risk management, assistance, and warranty services; and life insurance products. The company also provides nursing care and seniors services; and customer security, health, and wellbeing support services. In addition, it offers asset management services; home remodeling services; and health support services comprising health guidance and employee assistance programs. The company was formerly known as Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Sompo Holdings, Inc. in October 2016. Sompo Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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UCB (OTCMKTS:UCBJY  Free Report) is one of 389 publicly-traded companies in the Biotechnology industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare UCB to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

25.3% of shares of all Biotechnology companies are owned by institutional investors. 24.4% of shares of all Biotechnology companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

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Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for UCB and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score UCB 0 0 1 0 3.00 UCB Competitors 695 1557 4242 45 2.56

Profitability

As a group, Biotechnology companies have a potential upside of 117.19%. Given UCBs rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe UCB has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

This table compares UCB and its rivals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets UCB N/A N/A N/A UCB Competitors -1,411.94% -309.68% -23.60%

Dividends

UCB pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. UCB pays out 46.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Biotechnology companies pay a dividend yield of 2.8% and pay out 11,399.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares UCB and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio UCB N/A N/A 56.80 UCB Competitors $100.87 million -$10.17 million 23.92

UCBs rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than UCB. UCB is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

UCB beats its rivals on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

UCB Company Profile

(Free Report)

UCB SA, a biopharmaceutical company, develops products and solutions for people with neurology and immunology diseases. The company's primary products include Cimzia for inflammatory TNF mediated diseases, as well as ankylosing spondylitis, axial spondyloarthritis, Crohn's disease, non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis; Vimpat, Keppra, and Briviact for epilepsy; Neupro for Parkinson's disease and restless legs syndrome; Nayzilam, a nasal spray rescue treatment for epilepsy seizure clusters; and Zyrtec and Xyzal for allergies. It also offers Evenity for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women; BIMZELX for treating psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, and hidradenitis suppurativa; and dapirolizumab pegol for systemic lupus erythematosus. In addition, the company is involved in developing rozanolixizumab to treat myasthenia gravis, immune thrombocytopenia, and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy; zilucoplan to treat myasthenia gravis and immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy; staccato alprazolam to treat tereotypical prolonged seizure; Bepranemab to treat Alzheimer's disease; and UCB0599 to treat Parkinson's disease. Further, it engages in contract manufacturing activities. UCB SA has collaboration agreements with Amgen, Biogen, Roche/Genentech, Novartis, Otsuka, and doc.ai. It operates in the United States, Japan, Germany, rest of Europe, Spain, France, China, Italy, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, and internationally. The company was incorporated in 1925 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

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Western Union (NYSE:WU  Free Report) and DHI Group (NYSE:DHX  Free Report) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership and earnings.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Western Union and DHI Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Western Union 5 9 0 0 1.64 DHI Group 0 0 2 0 3.00

Western Union currently has a consensus price target of $13.70, suggesting a potential upside of 17.90%. DHI Group has a consensus price target of $8.33, suggesting a potential upside of 113.13%. Given DHI Groups stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe DHI Group is more favorable than Western Union.

Earnings and Valuation

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Western Union $4.48 billion 0.97 $910.60 million $2.00 5.81 DHI Group $149.68 million 1.24 $4.18 million $0.07 55.86

This table compares Western Union and DHI Groups revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Western Union has higher revenue and earnings than DHI Group. Western Union is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than DHI Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Western Union has a beta of 0.85, meaning that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, DHI Group has a beta of 1.2, meaning that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.2% of Western Union shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.3% of DHI Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Western Union shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.8% of DHI Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Western Union and DHI Groups net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Western Union 17.65% 128.52% 7.49% DHI Group 2.17% 1.77% 0.82%

About Western Union

(Free Report)

The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Consumer-to-Consumer and Business Solutions. The Consumer-to-Consumer segment facilitates money transfers for international cross-border and intra-country transfers, primarily through a network of retail agent locations, as well as through websites and mobile devices. The Business Solutions segment provides payment and foreign exchange solutions, primarily cross-border and cross-currency transactions for small and medium size enterprises, other organizations, and individuals; and foreign currency forward and option contracts. It also offers bill payment services that facilitates payments from consumers to businesses and other organizations, as well as offers money order and other services. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

About DHI Group

(Free Report)

DHI Group, Inc. provides data, insights, and employment connections through specialized services for technology professionals in the United States. The company operates Dice that offers job postings of technology and non-technology companies for industries, such as positions for software engineers, big data professionals, systems administrators, database specialists, project managers, and other technology and engineering professionals; and ClearanceJobs, an online career network, which matches security-cleared professionals with hiring companies searching for employees. It serves small, mid-sized, and large direct employers; staffing companies; recruiting agencies; consulting firms; and marketing departments of companies. The company was formerly known as Dice Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to DHI Group, Inc. in April 2015. DHI Group, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Centennial, Colorado.

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Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Free Report) by 22.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 55,937 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after buying an additional 10,343 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLCs holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $3,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, My Personal CFO LLC acquired a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.57% of the companys stock.

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Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Rupert Vessey sold 50,385 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $3,378,818.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 47,751 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,202,182.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the companys stock.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Price Performance

Shares of BMY opened at $64.00 on Friday. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 1-year low of $62.88 and a 1-year high of $81.43. The stock has a market cap of $134.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $66.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.39.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY  Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.07. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a net margin of 15.95% and a return on equity of 51.75%. The business had revenue of $11.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $11.50 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was down 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 8.07 EPS for the current year.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 7th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Bristol-Myers Squibbs payout ratio is 66.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Daiwa Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Wednesday. They issued an outperform rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Monday, March 6th. They issued a hold rating and a $62.00 price target for the company. 51job restated a maintains rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $78.00.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Profile

(Free Report)

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company discovers, develops, licenses, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers products for hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, immunology, fibrotic, and neuroscience diseases. The company's products include Eliquis, an oral inhibitor for reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in NVAF, and for the treatment of DVT/PE; Opdivo for anti-cancer indications; Pomalyst/Imnovid indicated for patients with multiple myeloma; Orencia for adult patients with active RA and psoriatic arthritis; and Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia.

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Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC cut its stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 93.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,592 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 91,588 shares during the quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLCs holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Silicon Valley Capital Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. US Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Studio Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 494.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 2,754 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 2,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.11% of the companys stock.

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Wells Fargo & Company Stock Up 4.5 %

Shares of NYSE:WFC opened at $42.45 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $35.25 and a fifty-two week high of $48.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $40.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.88. The company has a market cap of $159.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.12.

Wells Fargo & Company Announces Dividend

Wells Fargo & Company ( NYSE:WFC Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.08. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 10.07% and a net margin of 15.93%. The company had revenue of $20.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $20.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The firms quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 4th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Wells Fargo & Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on WFC shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 17th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Wells Fargo & Company from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $46.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Friday, April 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $48.71.

Wells Fargo & Company Profile

(Free Report)

Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company, provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management.

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Drives Thai Economic Growth Through the "Chat Economy"

BANGKOK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LINE Thailand has revealed insightful data on Thai people's LINE trends in the work environment by highlighting on the impact of the move towards an aging society. This results in the working-age population, especially Generation Y, becoming a critical segment, bearing the responsibility for driving the Thai economy and society in many ways. LINE recognizes the significance of this and the need to enhance work efficiency, while promoting a positive work-life balance for this generation through the use of technology. LINE also reveals the business development direction for LINE Thailand in 2023, strengthening the Chat Economy on LINE by developing additional business solutions, reinforcing and promoting new forms of social media, leveraging AI technology and expanding existing services to new businesses, all of which will help both users and business partners grow.

Norasit Sitivechvichit, Chief Operating Officer of LINE Thailand

Norasit Sitivechvichit, Chief Operating Officer of LINE Thailand, stated, "It is well known that Thailand has entered an aging society, meaning the number of people of working age is decreasing. This results in a slow or even regressive drive in the economy. Currently, we see that the Gen Y group (aged 28-42) is the most significant group of people of working age. They have the ability to use technology to add economic value and we believe they will be a vital force in an aging society. We need to keep an eye on and support this group to create growth and drive the country's economy forward together."

Unravelling Behaviors of Gen Y, Driving Thai Economy Through Chat

When assessing how technology for work and business on LINE is being used, the Thai people have unique characteristics in using LINE for both work and personal purposes. This occurs in all generations entering the workforce from the age 20, but it is more pronounced in Gen Y. A significant 82% of Gen Y uses LINE Group Chat for work, often coupled with LINE Call. 88% use LINE on a computer, clearly indicating LINE usage for work. Moreover, Gen Y also has the highest LINE usage time, about 100 minutes per day. Simultaneously, it was found that Gen Y has the highest spending on LINE, with double the number of users making purchases through LINE, especially female users. Furthermore, the highest use of LINE Official Accounts (LINE OA) occurs between 8am and noon, Monday through Friday.

LINE's Technologies Respond to the Needs of Working Individuals and Business Owners

The use of the LINE Group Chat feature, and of LINE on computers by Thais reflects their popularity for work purposes, beyond typical daily communications. This leads to the challenge of managing personal and professional lives through chat. LINE is prioritising these concerns. Therefore, the company will be leveraging research on the use of Group Chat, to develop features that will aid Thai people in using LINE for both personal and professional purposes, while maintaining a positive work-life balance and ensuring a good quality of life. LINE will also incorporate both internally developed and externally sourced AI technologies, to enhance the user experience.

In terms of business operations, LINE OA remains a widely used tool, serving as the primary channel for conducting business of all sizes and types online. Currently, there are as many as 6 million accounts. Moreover, there is a set of tools from LINE OA Plus, a suite conceived and developed by a team of LINE engineers based in Thailand, which helps increase the efficiency of LINE OA use. It not only serves as a communication channel, but also responds to diverse needs across a range of business sectors.

This year, LINE will continue to develop numerous tools, under the concept of LINE OA Plus, such as the introduction of "MyCRM", specifically for Customer Relationship Management, alongside improvements to existing tools, like "MyCustomer" for data collection and management, by adding more features for data-driven businesses. Other improvements include a revamped "MyRestaurant", for restaurant business management, to better meet businesses' needs, the official launch of the LINE OA Store, to enable brands to find and access the right tech solution partners, and a platform for developers to present their solutions on LINE to their full potential. Furthermore, LINE plans to establish the Blue Badge Guide Awards, to recognise Thai businesses that are committed to providing exceptional customer experiences, raising the standard for Thai businesses in terms of branding and business operations.

Moreover, LINE will also develop and enhance "MyShop", to become a fundamental tool for all Thai businesses, similarly to how brands in Western countries create brand websites (brand.com) and use market places as their prioritized strategies. For the Thai market, in which consumers already enjoy the ease and familiarity of using LINE Chat and LINE Official Account (LINE OA), while Thai entrepreneurs can set up their shops or connect their businesses into LINE system easily and free, these will serve Chat Economy on LINE as a crucial foundation for Thai businesses to further drive the growth of E-commerce in Thailand, in conjunction with the existing market place.

Accelerating Growth in the Lifestyle Business Sector

Not only in the business realm, but also in lifestyle, LINE continues to listen and develop its services to cater to the growth and demands of the new generation, who value freedom as well as privacy. LINE OpenChat is yet one of LINE services that is popular with all age groups. With the highest usage reaching up to 10 hours per day, it can be regarded as an 'Always On' used service, with the longest usage compared to other services on the platform. Currently, it has 17 million active users per month. This year, LINE OpenChat plans to develop the "Live Talk" feature, to enable real-time conversations, offering a new and anonymous experience. It also plans to develop a space for influencers within the LINE ecosystem.

Meanwhile, other LINE services are also expanding and developing, including LINE TODAY, which is set to broaden partnerships with diverse allies, transforming from a news aggregator into a business of diverse content. LINE STICKERS plans to expand its licensing business to boost the potential of the character industry in Thailand, following the recent success of the collaboration between K Plus and LINE Creators. LINE MELODY is focusing on expanding its business, from music commerce to driving the music industry as a whole, with various promotional activities providing opportunities for both big and small labels, as well as independent artists, to generate income and growth. Moreover, LINE HORO plans to expand its business, from online merit-making services, to a new era of convenient and trustworthy donations, "Donation on LINE". The recent success was demonstrated through the coffin donation project and a fundraising campaign for social assistance, in collaboration with 'taejai.com', raising more than 2 million Baht over the past three months.

"From the data, both in terms of societal structure and the behaviour of Thais when using the LINE platform, which has been continuously evolving, we focus on developing and improving the use of our extensive range of services. To meet what Thais want, we leverage the expertise of the LINE Thailand Engineering team, who can design tools and services to match the specific needs of Thais. We are confident that LINE Thailand can promote change and be a positive driving force for the country through our Chat Economy, developing Thailand's own competitive potential" Norasit concluded.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/line-transforms-crisis-into-opportunities-unveils-core-business-plan-301867732.html

SOURCE LINE Thailand
Harbour Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA  Free Report) by 3.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,209 shares of the aircraft producers stock after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Harbour Capital Advisors LLCs holdings in Boeing were worth $469,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Boeing during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Piershale Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Boeing during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Boeing during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC acquired a new position in Boeing during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Steward Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Boeing during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.22% of the companys stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

BA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Boeing from $225.00 to $220.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Credit Suisse Group raised their price objective on shares of Boeing from $200.00 to $220.00 in a report on Monday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Boeing from $230.00 to $237.00 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Boeing from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $180.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 4th. Finally, SpectralCast reaffirmed a reiterates rating on shares of Boeing in a report on Wednesday, June 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $221.60.

Boeing Trading Up 0.5 %

BA stock opened at $211.83 on Friday. The Boeing Company has a 52 week low of $120.99 and a 52 week high of $223.91. The company has a market capitalization of $127.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.61 and a beta of 1.42. The firms 50-day moving average is $207.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $205.73.

Boeing (NYSE:BA  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 26th. The aircraft producer reported ($1.27) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of ($0.98) by ($0.29). The business had revenue of $17.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($2.75) EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 28.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Boeing Company will post -0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Howard E. Mckenzie sold 412 shares of Boeing stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $204.36, for a total value of $84,196.32. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 17,181 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,511,109.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Boeing Company Profile

(Free Report)

The Boeing Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight and launch systems, and services worldwide. The company operates through four segments: Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space & Security; Global Services; and Boeing Capital.

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Herold Advisors Inc. reduced its position in General Electric (NYSE:GE  Free Report) by 9.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,345 shares of the conglomerates stock after selling 349 shares during the quarter. Herold Advisors Inc.s holdings in General Electric were worth $320,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GE. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in General Electric by 10.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 305,384 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $27,925,000 after purchasing an additional 27,682 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the 1st quarter valued at $1,518,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in General Electric by 2.9% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,748 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in General Electric during the first quarter worth $388,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the first quarter valued at $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.75% of the companys stock.

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General Electric Price Performance

Shares of GE stock opened at $107.78 on Friday. The firms 50 day moving average price is $102.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.25. General Electric has a 52-week low of $46.55 and a 52-week high of $108.90. The stock has a market cap of $117.37 billion, a PE ratio of 14.05, a PEG ratio of 7.54 and a beta of 1.27.

Analyst Ratings Changes

General Electric ( NYSE:GE Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The conglomerate reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $14.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.46 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 11.85%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that General Electric will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GE. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $107.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on General Electric from $90.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, March 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on General Electric from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on General Electric from $115.00 to $125.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on General Electric from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $105.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Scott Strazik sold 173,873 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $17,310,795.88. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,238.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Scott Strazik sold 173,873 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $17,310,795.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,238.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 58,292 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.68, for a total value of $6,102,006.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 70,537 shares in the company, valued at $7,383,813.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 239,419 shares of company stock worth $24,144,151. Insiders own 0.67% of the companys stock.

General Electric Company Profile

(Free Report)

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers gas and steam turbines, full balance of plant, upgrade, and service solutions, as well as data-leveraging software for power generation, industrial, government, and other customers.

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Calton & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA  Free Report) by 46.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 709 shares of the credit services providers stock after selling 619 shares during the period. Calton & Associates Inc.s holdings in Mastercard were worth $258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bornite Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Mastercard in the 1st quarter worth about $21,442,000. United Bank grew its stake in shares of Mastercard by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 6,007 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $2,147,000 after buying an additional 1,541 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Mastercard by 30.1% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 272,358 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $97,335,000 after buying an additional 63,040 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in Mastercard during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,168,000. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP acquired a new stake in Mastercard in the first quarter valued at approximately $12,926,000. 81.33% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mastercard news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 125,816 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $386.28, for a total transaction of $48,600,204.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,437,277 shares of the companys stock, valued at $38,796,911,359.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Foundation Mastercard sold 125,816 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $386.28, for a total value of $48,600,204.48. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 100,437,277 shares of the companys stock, valued at $38,796,911,359.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy H. Murphy sold 27,417 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.49, for a total value of $10,267,392.33. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 39,263 shares of the companys stock, valued at $14,703,600.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 547,243 shares of company stock valued at $209,102,122. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Mastercard Stock Performance

MA has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Mastercard from $425.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Mastercard from $414.00 to $442.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on Mastercard from $390.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Mastercard from $392.00 to $404.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Mastercard from $435.00 to $440.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mastercard currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $417.27.

NYSE MA opened at $387.67 on Friday. The firms fifty day moving average price is $376.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $366.64. Mastercard Incorporated has a 1 year low of $276.87 and a 1 year high of $392.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $367.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84.

Mastercard (NYSE:MA  Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The credit services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.09. Mastercard had a net margin of 42.33% and a return on equity of 169.12%. The company had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. Mastercards quarterly revenue was up 11.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Mastercard Incorporated will post 12.24 EPS for the current year.

Mastercard Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Mastercards dividend payout ratio is currently 22.78%.

About Mastercard

(Free Report)

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. It facilitates the processing of payment transactions, including authorization, clearing, and settlement, as well as delivers other payment-related products and services.

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It is usually uneventful when a single insider buys stock. However, When quite a few insiders buy shares, as it happened in Marlowe plc's (LON:MRL) case, it's fantastic news for shareholders.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for Marlowe

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Marlowe

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Independent Non-Executive Director Charles Skinner for UK100k worth of shares, at about UK5.00 per share. Although we like to see insider buying, we note that this large purchase was at significantly below the recent price of UK5.82. Because it occurred at a lower valuation, it doesn't tell us much about whether insiders might find today's price attractive.

In the last twelve months Marlowe insiders were buying shares, but not selling. The average buy price was around UK6.12. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you click on the chart, you can see all the individual transactions, including the share price, individual, and the date!

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.

Does Marlowe Boast High Insider Ownership?

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. It's great to see that Marlowe insiders own 19% of the company, worth about UK103m. This kind of significant ownership by insiders does generally increase the chance that the company is run in the interest of all shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Marlowe Insiders?

There haven't been any insider transactions in the last three months -- that doesn't mean much. However, our analysis of transactions over the last year is heartening. Judging from their transactions, and high insider ownership, Marlowe insiders feel good about the company's future. Therefore, you should definitely take a look at this FREE report showing analyst forecasts for Marlowe.

But note: Marlowe 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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Michigan lawmakers have approved a bill that prohibits conversion therapy for minors.

The legislation prevents mental health professionals from using the discredited practice of conversion therapy to attempt to change LGBTQ+ individuals' sexual orientation or gender identity.

Following the state House's prior approval, the ban passed Tuesday night in the Michigan Senate with a 21-15 vote, supported by just one Republican legislator.

The bill now awaits final approval by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who previously denounced conversion therapy as a "dangerous practice," local TV station WKBD reports.

Whitmer has been vocal about her support of LGBTQ+ rights. In an interview with The Advocate Channel, she promised to veto any anti-trans legislation that reached her desk, and noted that Michigan has "a legislature that supports the LGBTQ+ community."

Democratic state Representative Jason Hoskins, a bill sponsor and the first LGBTQ+ person of color elected in Michigan's Legislature, also strongly denounced conversion therapy, and stated that it "works on the false premise that LGBTQ+ children are wrong and they need to be fixed," according to WKBD.

"Banning it is just one less thing that LGBTQ children will have to worry about going forward in Michigan," he said.

Led by Whitmer, Michigan Democrats have prioritized bolstering LGBTQ+ protections since gaining control of all levels of state government, and have codified these protections in the state's civil rights law.

While Republican senators expressed opposition to the ban during the Senate session, Democratic Senator Jeremy Moss, the state's first openly gay senator, rejoined that, "Hearing a bunch of straight people in the Senate lecture me about the journey of an LGBTQ person is the exact reason we should be banning conversion therapy."

The legislation defines conversion therapy as any effort by mental health professionals to alter an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, excluding counseling that aids gender transitions. If signed into law by Whitmer, Michigan will join 21 other states in banning the practice.


A motorcyclist has died after a collision with a car in Co Sligo.

The man in his 30s was killed in the crash on the N16 at Glencar at around 8.30pm on Thursday evening.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the car did not require hospital treatment.

The body of the motorcyclist was taken to the mortuary at Sligo University Hospital where a post-mortem examination was to be scheduled.

The N16 at Glencar remained closed to traffic on Friday morning pending an examination by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators.

Gardai have appealed for any witnesses to the collision to come forward.

They have also urged any road users who may have camera footage from the N16 at Glencar between 8pm and 8.40pm to make it available to gardai.
Water service workers in ten local authorities who are members of the Unite trade union are engaged in strike action today (Friday).

Unite members are seeking a commitment that members transferring to Uisce Eireann (formerly Irish Water), the State owned water utility company, will retain their public service status

Today's strike action will involve more than 100 Unite members, who will engage in a 24-hour withdrawal of labour and place pickets at various locations across the country.

The local authorities impacted are Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council, Louth County Council, Waterford City and County Council, Carlow County Council, Tipperary County Council, Cork City and County Council and Galway City Council.

Unite says the dispute follows members decision to reject the Framework for the Future Delivery of Water Services document put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission last year. The union says the dispute centres around the failure of the local authorities and their representative association to engage with Unite concerning what it believes to be shortcomings in the Framework document.

Unite says members are seeking a commitment that members transferring to Irish Water will retain their public service status, strengthening of existing commitments regarding protection of local authority workers involved in water services delivery, and a removal of service and age barriers for those wishing to avail of the redundancy option.

In addition, the union has urged that the Framework be amended to specify a date and wording for a referendum enshrining public ownership and management of Irelands water system in the Constitution.

Commenting, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: Unite members involved in delivering water services around Ireland took a democratic vote and overwhelmingly rejected the Water Services Framework. Our members are taking action to defend their working terms and conditions going forward, as well as defending the future of Irelands water system by ensuring that it stays in public ownership. The local authorities involved and their representative association have to date failed to engage meaningfully with Unite regarding our concerns, which is unacceptable.

Unite regional officer Ed Thompson added: Our members are seeking amendments to the Framework preserving the public service status of workers transferring to Irish Water and protecting the terms and conditions of workers remaining with the local authorities, including their work locations. We are also seeking the removal of age or service barriers for those workers who want to avail of the redundancy option provided in the Framework. We are also urging that the Framework be amended to name the date for a referendum enshrining public ownership and management of Irelands water system in the Constitution, and to specify the wording.

This dispute is about protecting the terms and conditions of the workers delivering our water services, and safeguarding those services going forward. Even at this late stage, I would urge the employers to come to the table and resolve this dispute, Mr Thompson said.
[June 29, 2023] Intermap Concludes 2023 Annual General Meeting Tweet

Reaffirming 2023 revenue guidance of $8  10 million

Robust pipeline driven by strong recurring commercial subscriptions and government contract awards CALGARY, Alberta, June 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intermap Technologies (TSX: IMP; OTCQB: ITMSF) (Intermap or the Company), a global leader in 3D geospatial products and intelligence solutions, today announced the conclusion of its Annual General Meeting (the Meeting) on June 29, 2023. A total of 18,554,350 Class A common shares of Intermap (Common Shares) were represented in person or by proxy at the Meeting. During the AGM, Intermap reaffirmed its 2023 revenue guidance of $8  10 million and showcased its commitment to innovation, cutting-edge technology and global geospatial solutions. The meeting served as a platform for the Company's leadership to present key updates, financial results and operational highlights, including strategic outlook, pipeline and priorities. Todays presentation can be found on Intermaps website here. We are continuing to grow our data margin by investing in automation, reducing fixed costs, employing AI/ML innovation and leveraging government-sponsored R&D, said Patrick A. Blott, Intermap Chairman and CEO. Our revenue growth is driven by recurring commercial subscriptions and government contract awards. With our unique remote sensor capability and patented processing technology, we are poised to capitalize on the increasing demand for precision geospatial data, delivered seamlessly and rapidly around the world. Intermaps shareholders voted in favor of all items of business put forward at the Meeting, being the election of all nominated directors, the reappointment of KPMG LLP as the auditors of the Company, and the replenishment and addition of the number of Common Shares issuable under the Companys Omnibus Incentive Plan, as more fully described in the Companys management information circular dated May 26, 2023, a copy of which is available under the Companys profile on SEDAR at www.SEDAR.com. The votes in respect of the election of directors are as follows: Votes by Ballot Nominee Result of Vote Votes For Votes Withheld/Against Patrick A. Blott Elected 10,759,512





1,021,741

(8.67%) Philippe Frappier Elected 10,786,756

(91.56%) 994,497

(8.44%) John (Jack) Hild Elected 10,786,756

(91.56%) 994,497

(8.44%) Jordan Tongalson Elected 10,779,706

(91.50%) 1,001,547

(8.50%) More information about the results of the Meeting can be found in the Companys report on the voting results, which has been filed under the Companys profile on SEDAR. To learn more about Intermap, visit intermap.com.

Intermap Reader Advisory

Certain information provided in this news release, including reference to the increasing demand for precision geospatial data, strategic outlook and revenue projections of total annual revenues for 2023, constitutes forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate", "expect", "project", "estimate", "forecast", will be, will consider, intends and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although Intermap believes that these statements are based on information and assumptions which are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are necessarily subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Intermaps forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties pertaining to, among other things, cash available to fund operations, availability of capital, revenue fluctuations, nature of government contracts, economic conditions, loss of key customers, retention and availability of executive talent, competing technologies, common share price volatility, loss of proprietary information, software functionality, internet and system infrastructure functionality, information technology security, breakdown of strategic alliances, and international and political considerations, as well as those risks and uncertainties discussed Intermaps Annual Information Form and other securities filings. Our 2023 revenue forecast is based on the following assumptions: The Company will deliver on subscription revenue according to the contract terms, repeating data products revenue will remain consistent with prior years, government task orders will be contracted according to verbal awards. Our 2023 revenue forecast is subject to the following specific risks and uncertainties: The timing of regulatory and budgetary decisions in government contracting, the internet and system infrastructure functionality and information technology security detailed in the Annual Information Form. While the Company makes these forward-looking statements in good faith, should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from those expected. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that the Company will derive therefrom. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Intermap or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities law. About Intermap Technologies

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Intermap (TSX: IMP; OTCQB: ITMSF) is a global leader in geospatial intelligence solutions, focusing on the creation and analysis of 3D terrain data to produce high-resolution thematic models. Through scientific analysis of geospatial information and patented sensors and processing technology, the Company provisions diverse, complementary, multi-source datasets to enable customers to seamlessly integrate geospatial intelligence into their workflows. Intermaps 3D elevation data and software analytic capabilities enable global geospatial analysis through artificial intelligence and machine learning, providing customers with critical information to understand their terrain environment. By leveraging its proprietary archive of the worlds largest collection of multi-sensor global elevation data, the Companys collection and processing capabilities provide multi-source 3D datasets and analytics at mission speed, enabling governments and companies to build and integrate geospatial foundation data with actionable insights. Applications for Intermaps products and solutions include defense, aviation and UAV flight planning, flood and wildfire insurance, disaster mitigation, base mapping, environmental and renewable energy planning, telecommunications, engineering, critical infrastructure monitoring, hydrology, land management, oil and gas and transportation. For more information, please visit www.intermap.com or contact:

Jennifer Bakken

Executive Vice President and CFO

[email protected]

+1 (303) 708-0955



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[June 29, 2023] Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. Releases 2023 Sustainability Report and Provides Operational Update Tweet

TSX: TVE CALGARY, AB, June 29, 2023 /CNW/ - Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. ("Tamarack" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the release of its fourth annual Sustainability Report, highlighting the Company's ongoing commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles and sustainable practices during 2022. The Company continues to look for opportunities to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Company and the Canadian energy sector. Highlights of Tamarack's 2022 Sustainability Performance Delivered significant progress towards the Company's clear, measurable goals and targets, including achievement of more than 50% of its ESG goals to date  on time or ahead of schedule;

Demonstrated commitment to accountability and transparency through the issuance of two tranches of sustainability-linked notes, as well as independent third-party assurance of key ESG metrics;

Achieved emissions and methane intensity reductions of 19% and 45%, respectively, compared to the 2020 baseline, exceeding the 2025 methane intensity reduction goal of 40% and progressing towards the 2025 emissions intensity reduction goal of 39%;

Increased investment in abandonment, remediation and reclamation activities through Tamarack funded expenditures equivalent to 8.8% of inactive liabilities or more than 200% of the voluntary regulatory program spend, exceeding our target of 150% of voluntary program spend for 2022, with additional funds equivalent to 3.7% of inactive liability deployed through grants and the site rehabilitation program; and

Furthered diversity in the workforce, with increased ethnic (13.1%) and Indigenous (7.9%) representation in the Company's contractor and employee base and an increase in gender diversity (28.6%) at the board level which was further increased (37.5%) subsequent to year-end 2022. Tamarack was recognized by the Globe and Mail during the Report on Business 2023 Women Lead Here program for the female representation in 2022 at the highest leadership levels in the organization. Message to Stakeholders The last two years brought significant changes for our organization, including the evolution of Tamarack's asset base under the Company's growth and portfolio rationalization strategy culminating in $1.7 billion in highly economic asset acquisitions in 2022. Tamarack has a proven track record of applying the same rigorous ESG standards to acquisitions that are applied to our legacy asset base. These newly acquired greenfield assets require significant financial and human resource investments to create a positive environmental and social footprint. With Tamarack's experience and robust capitalization, the Company is in the strongest position to develop these assets in a long-term and sustainable manner. In 2022, our emissions intensity increased over the prior year to 30.3 kg CO 2 e/boe due to sizable acquisitions and development in the Clearwater area. As part of these acquisitions, Tamarack committed to investing the capital required to improve the emissions intensity of these assets and has multiple ongoing gas conservation projects in the West Marten Hills, Nipisi and South Clearwater areas. Tamarack continues to work towards the ambitious goal of 22.9 kg CO 2 e/boe (39% reduction) by 2025. Tamarack has established a successful model for emissions reductions in acquisitions, starting with the immediate conversion of vent to combustion followed by short-term optimization in the first 12 months of operations and then long-term, large-scale infrastructure projects spanning one to three years. An example of this can be seen through the 2020 Clearwater acquisitions and the subsequent Nipisi multi-phase gas infrastructure project with capital invested in excess of $20 million through 2021 and 2022. On acquisition, one of the core Nipisi assets had an emissions intensity of approximately 100 kg CO 2 e/boe. Through the conversion of vent volumes to flare and optimization of the operations, Tamarack was able to reduce the facility to less than 38 kg CO 2 e/boe within the first three months and down to less than 20 kg CO 2 e/boe within two years. Tamarack's 2023 Sustainability Report covers performance metrics for the 2020 to 2022 calendar years and aligns with guidance set forth by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) with consideration for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG). The full Report can be accessed through the Company's website at www.tamarackvalley.ca. Operations Update Alberta Wildfires & Third-Party Infrastructure Downtime Although the Company experienced negligible infrastructure damage, the Alberta wildfire situation had both direct and indirect impacts on Tamarack's operations, including production impacts associated with unplanned third-party infrastructure downtime. These events drove a collective impact of approximately 1,500 boe/d for the second quarter. These issues have been resolved and are not expected to have an impact on the second half of 2023. Despite the production impact, the Company was able to maintain the safety of all workforce members and the integrity of our assets throughout these potentially catastrophic events. The safety of our people and the integrity of our assets is, and will continue to be, the priority in Tamarack's operations. In addition, Tamarack provided financial support to Indigenous and local communities in the areas where we operate, for assistance with displacement and emergency response. We will continue to monitor for opportunities to assist in the rebuilding stages. Charlie Lake  Wembley Gas Plant Commissioning of the new Wembley gas plant was completed in June, ahead of schedule, with gas processing and sales commencing in mid-June. This 15 mmcf/d sweet gas facility now provides consistent and reliable processing capacity within Tamarack's operational control and secures egress for Tamarack's ongoing regional development. In addition to the facility's current capacity, this plant is expandable and could support long-term growth in the Charlie Lake program. We will provide a more fulsome operations update in conjunction with our second quarter results, which will be released before market on July 27, 2023. About Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. Tamarack is an oil and gas exploration and production company committed to balancing operational and financial excellence with environmental and social responsibility. By operating at the intersection of profitability and corporate responsibility, Tamarack creates long-term value for its shareholders through sustainable free funds flow generation, financial stability and the return of capital, while simultaneously ensuring we deliver on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments and goals. The Company has an extensive inventory of low-risk, oil development drilling locations focused primarily on Charlie Lake, Clearwater and EOR plays in Alberta. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.tamarackvalley.ca. Abbreviations







boe barrels of oil equivalent boe/d barrels of oil equivalent per day mmcf/d million cubic feet per day CO 2 e carbon dioxide equivalent CO 2 e/boe carbon dioxide equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent kg kilograms

Forward Looking Information This press release contains certain forward-looking information (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "guidance", "outlook", "anticipate", "target", "plan", "continue", "intend", "consider", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "should", "could" or similar words suggesting future outcomes. More particularly, this press release contains statements concerning: Tamarack's business strategy, objectives, strength and focus; the potential damage to the Company's facilities and other impacts on operations and production from the Alberta wildfires; continued integration of recently acquired assets; Tamarack's commitment to ESG principles and sustainability; and the Company's ability to meet its ESG targets and the timing thereof. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Tamarack, including those relating to: the business plan of Tamarack; the continued integration of recently acquired assets into Tamarack's operations; and Tamarack's ability to execute its plans and strategies. Although management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because Tamarack can give no assurances that they may prove to be correct. By their very nature, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties (both general and specific) that could cause actual events or outcomes to differ materially from those anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks relating to the Alberta wildfires, including in respect of safety, asset integrity, shutting in production, impact on production, maintaining 2023 guidance and resumption of operations; risks with respect to unplanned third-party pipeline outages; unforeseen difficulties in integrating of recently acquired assets into Tamarack's operations; and risks associated with the oil and gas industry in general (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production. Due to the nature of the oil and natural gas industry, drilling plans and operational activities may be delayed or modified to respond to market conditions, results of past operations, regulatory approvals or availability of services causing results to be delayed. Please refer to the Company's annual information form for the period ended December 31, 2022 and the management discussion and analysis for the period ended March 31, 2023 for additional risk factors relating to Tamarack, which can be accessed either on Tamarack's website at www.tamarackvalley.ca or under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com.The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. SOURCE Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd.

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[June 29, 2023] D-Link Awarded "Best of Show" at Interop Tokyo 2023 Tweet

TAIPEI, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- D-Link Corporation, a global leader in networking solutions, announced that its DBG Series was honored with the prestigious "Best of Show Award" Grand Prize in the Network Infrastructure (SMB) category at Interop Tokyo 2023, the largest and most influential ICT exhibition in Japan. The award-winning DBG-2000 and DBG-X1000 business gateways offer comprehensive VPN protocols, such as IPSec, PPTP, L2TP, and OpenVPN to provide secure tunneling for point-to-point and site-to-site VPN applications. Nuclias Cloud Quick VPN is an intelligent user interface to configure complex VPN topologies, such as IPsec site-to-site or hub-and-spoke, within a few easy steps. The DBG-2000 and DBG-X1000 business gateways can also function as firewalls to protect networks from internet attacks and provide a captive portal landing page for Wi-Fi user authentication. Zero-touch deployment allows for quick and convenient configuration directly from the cloud, eliminating the need for pre-installation and enables administrators to remotely customize settings to optimize network performance. Nuclias Cloud has been adopted by the leading Japanese telcos. "We are honored to be recognized again by Interop Tokyo," expressed CJ Chang, CEO of D-Link Corporation. "As a global leader in networking solutions, D-Link introduced the Nuclias Cloud network management solution in 2011 to integrate networking products such as switches, wireless APs, and business gateways, enabling small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to quickly deploy local networks. In addition to reducing technical barriers, manpower, time, and costs associated with network management, Nuclias Cloud also enhances network security." "In recent years, we have graually introduced various applications and integrated commercial solutions to provide cloud network management services that are more versatile to the needs of SMBs. With core advantages such as high-standard data security settings, customized remote management platforms, and hardware designs suitable for various applications, we have achieved brand differentiation and enhanced product value. As a result, we have gained recognition and trust from clients in industries."



The Nuclias Cloud network management solution is designed for SMBs to manage their corporate network through the cloud with a variety of security features such as firewalls, comprehensive VPN connectivity, malicious intrusion prevention, application control, and web content filtering. Through Nuclias Cloud's intuitive interface, administrators can create site-wide policies to effortlessly manage remote networks. The award-winning DBG Series includes the DBG-2000 gateway with dual-WAN capability designed for SMB headquarter applications, and the DBG-X1000 gateway featuring high-performance Wi-Fi 6 connectivity for versatile remote office applications. The DBG Series gateways can be centrally managed via Nuclias Cloud to provide comprehensive and customizable networking solutions for SMBs to manage seamless and reliable network connectivity without the need for trained technicians.

For more information about the award-winning DBG Series gateways, please visit https://www.dlink.com/en/products/dbg-2000-nuclias-cloud-sd-wan-security-gateway About Interop Tokyo

Interop is a globally renowned ICT exhibition that has been held in the US, UK, Japan, and India. Interop Tokyo, which first launched in Japan in 1994, has a history of nearly 30 years. The "Best of Show Award" is a key component of Interop, and it is evaluated by a professional judging panel consisting of industry experts and scholars. The evaluation criteria include innovation, technical superiority, practicality, business potential, and user experience, among other aspects, to select the best solutions. For the list of winners of the Interop Tokyo 2023 "Best of Show Award," please refer to the official website at https://reurl.cc/mDMvEA About D-Link

D-Link is a global leader in designing and developing networking and connectivity products and total solutions for consumers, small businesses, medium to large-sized enterprises, and service providers. From relatively modest beginnings in Taiwan, the company has grown into an award-winning global brand in 44 countries. Find out more about D-Link at www.dlink.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/d-link-awarded-best-of-show-at-interop-tokyo-2023-301867677.html SOURCE D-Link Corporation

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[June 29, 2023] New Affordable Housing Portal Launches for Bay Area Tweet

Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, Google.org unveil new regional hub making it easier to find

housing across the Bay Area's nine counties SAN FRANCISCO, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) today launched the Doorway Housing Portal , a hub to easily find affordable housing in the Bay Area. The first-of-its-kind regional online portal was developed with pro bono support from Google.org Fellows, a team that includes Google researchers, designers, product managers and software engineers. The need for affordable housing is ever growing, and it's estimated that the Bay Area would need 180,000 more affordable homes by 2031 to meet demand. This highlights the significant need to build an efficient platform to connect housing seekers and available units across the region  particularly since many Bay Area households are multi-jurisdictional. "The launch of the Doorway housing portal is an important step toward relieving the Bay Area's chronic housing affordability crisis," shared BAHFA Chair and Napa County Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza. "The combination of availability and accessibility unlocks more opportunity for more people. We appreciate both the technical know-how Google.org brought to this project and its long-term commitment to helping us meet some of the Bay Area's other housing challenges. There's a lot more work we can do together." "In many ways, the Doorway portal is a model for partnerships between the public and tech sectors," said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, who also serves as president of the Association of Bay Area Governments' (ABAG) Executive Board. "By making the search for affordable housing easier, faster, more convenient and more consistent  real people can open the door to real opportunities and safer, more secure and less stressful lives." "As work continues at every level of government and in the private sector to increase affordable housing options in the Bay Area, families and individuals need to be informed about resources and opportunities. That's why I welcome this effort by the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority and Google.org to help remove barriers for people searching for homes," said Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-18). At launch, the Doorway Housing Portal will centralize housing listings across the Bay Area and enable housing seekers to use filters and a map-based interface to search for affordable housing. Individuals will also have access to helpful content to guide them through the process of finding and applying for affordable housing. The portal is accessible via desktop and mobile in five languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. Developers and property managers are encouraged to use the portal to upload their listings, increasing the visibility and reach of the rental units while also helping increase the number of listings for housing seekers. "Today's Doorway Housing Portal launch culminates so many years of dedicated, passionate work by so many people. We are grateful to the Google.org Fellows, to our city andcounty partners, and to our legislative leaders for providing the resources necessary to create this tremendous tool that changes the way Bay Area residents search for affordable housing," said Kate Hartley, BAHFA's Director.



While the six-month Google.org Fellowship ends with the launch of the portal, Google.org announced that it will provide a $2.5 million grant to fund continued management of the portal, as well as in-kind services that will go toward future outreach initiatives. "At Google, we know our responsibility to help starts at home, and that means being a good neighbor in the place where it all began over 20 years ago  the San Francisco Bay Area," said Kent Walker, Google's President of Global Affairs. "Announcements like today's launch of the Doorway Housing Portal are a testament to public-private collaboration and a willingness on the part of our local leaders to partner on innovative solutions. We're grateful for this opportunity, BAHFA, and we're grateful for our federal, state and local elected leaders who have been advocating for the need to build more housing and allocate additional resources to support our unhoused community throughout the Bay Area."

The launch of the Doorway Housing Portal builds on the success of the DAHLIA San Francisco Housing Portal , which was launched in 2016 by the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development, and was developed with support from Google.org Fellows, the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Civic Innovation and Exygy , a local B Corp and Digital Consultancy. Exygy also helped develop the Doorway Housing Portal with BAHFA and Google.org Fellows, and will work with BAHFA staff to manage the portal moving forward. The portal is built on Bloom Housing , an open-source software project that is being developed by Exygy with governments across the country. "As an open-source platform, Bloom Housing's role in increasing access to affordable housing is a great example of how governments leverage human-centered design and innovative technology to improve lives. The Doorway collaboration is a powerful demonstration of regional government collaboration and public-private partnership in action," said Zach Berke, Founder and CEO at Exygy. "With Google.org's support of Bloom Housing and Doorway, Exygy continues to build our mutual commitment to innovate and improve access to critical government services." A subsequent release of the Doorway Housing Portal is planned for the spring of 2024. Housing seekers will be able to immediately determine their eligibility for various types of affordable housing units and apply for multiple listings directly in the portal  reducing the barriers of complexity with a common application, which will take less than 10 minutes. Google.org's Doorway Housing Portal funding and the pro bono support is part of Google's Bay Area housing commitment that includes $50 million in Google.org grants to nonprofits focused on homelessness. Today, Google shared an update on the progress it's made toward that commitment: Google is continuing to support the creation or preservation of 20,000 homes, and as of today, resources and investments have been put in place to enable more than 80% of that goal.

More than $133 million of the $250 million affordable housing investment fund has been allocated for more than 3,800 units across 29 affordable housing projects, including almost 2,000 units under construction and more than 100 units in operation. This is in addition to more than 2,000 modular homes already underway or completed.

of the affordable housing investment fund has been allocated for more than 3,800 units across 29 affordable housing projects, including almost 2,000 units under construction and more than 100 units in operation. This is in addition to more than 2,000 modular homes already underway or completed.

Google's work with local elected officials and residents to rezone $750 million worth of its land has paved the way for up to 12,900 units to be built in Mountain View and San Jose as part of the mixed-use development plans. This includes up to 7,000 units entitled within the North Bayshore Master Plan, which the City of Mountain View unanimously voted to approve earlier this month.

worth of its land has paved the way for up to 12,900 units to be built in and San Jose as part of the mixed-use development plans. This includes up to 7,000 units entitled within the Master Plan, which the unanimously voted to approve earlier this month. With the new grant for the Doorway Housing Portal, Google.org has granted more than $36 million of its $50 million commitment to help Bay Area organizations focused on homelessness. This funding has helped provide services to more than 106,000 people, house 11,600 individuals and launch cash transfer pilots . The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) is the state's first regional housing finance authority, established in 2019 by the California legislature to address the Bay Area's chronic housing challenges. It works closely with MTC and the Association of Bay Area Governments to blend housing, transportation, and good governance solutions for a more vibrant and sustainable Bay Area. Google.org, Google's philanthropy, brings the best of Google to help solve some of humanity's biggest challenges combining funding, innovation, and technical expertise to support underserved communities and provide opportunity for everyone. We engage nonprofits and social enterprises who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a better world, faster  and we believe in leveraging technology and applying scalable data-driven innovation to move the needle. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-affordable-housing-portal-launches-for-bay-area-301867678.html SOURCE Metropolitan Transportation Commission; Association of Bay Area Governments

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(Bloomberg) -- The US Federal Trade Commissions chances of holding up Microsoft Corp.s $69 billion bid to buy Activision Blizzard Inc. appeared uncertain after a federal judge challenged the agencys argument that the proposed transaction would hurt gamers.

Most Read from Bloomberg

US District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco needled FTC lawyers Thursday over why they think Microsoft could hurt consumers by excluding Activision games from consoles sold by rivals, including Sony Group Corp.s PlayStation.

This case has really always been about Call of Duty, Corley said at the conclusion of a five-day hearing, referring to Activisions top-selling shooter game, which Microsoft executives vowed in court would be available on Sony consoles if the takeover goes through.

Corley must decide whether to temporarily halt the biggest-ever video game deal  which has a July 18 closure deadline  while the FTCs legal challenge to the blockbuster transaction plays out.

The case represents a major test for the FTCs ability to block tech deals after the agency lost an attempt to challenge an acquisition by Meta Platforms Inc. earlier this year. US authorities, however, are not the only ones who have questioned the Activision acquisition. UK competition regulators vetoed it, though Microsoft is appealing that decision. Canada on Thursday filed a letter in court expressing concerns that the deal is anti-competitive.

Read: Microsoft CEO Says Call of Duty to 100% Stay on PlayStation

Corley displayed skepticism when an FTC attorney said Microsoft could try to gain an advantage in the market by offering special Christmas-themed Call of Duty characters only to users of its own Xbox consoles.

Wheres the expert analysis of people who care so much that they would actually switch and buy an Xbox that they wouldnt otherwise buy? the judge asked.

Microsofts attorney, Beth Wilkinson, argued the onus is on the FTC to show how consumers would be harmed. That is their job, Wilkinson said. You want to stop a $69 billion transaction, but you cant figure out what the harm would be?

Corley pressed the FTC to spell out how the deal would also harm consumers in the markets for subscription and cloud gaming, which lets gamers stream games to PCs and consoles rather than downloading them.

The deal gives Microsoft the ability to turbo-charge its GamePass subscription service and leave Alphabet Inc.s Google and Amazon.com Inc. in the dust, FTC lawyer James Weingarten said.

But Corley pointed to the agreement Microsoft struck to bring Call of Duty and other titles to Nvidia Corp.s Geoforce Now cloud service. She suggested the FTC won because Microsoft faced regulatory pressure to enter such partnerships.

We have no evidence that the FTC won, Weingarten said, while arguing that Microsoft didnt do any financial analysis on how such deals would benefit the gaming industry.

Nvidias deal will let it add Microsofts own gaming catalog to its subscription service, whether or not the deal goes through, Weingarten said. It also includes other sweeteners related to Microsofts Windows, he said.

Content is key. And this is key content, he said.

The case is Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft Corp., 3:23-cv-02880, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

--With assistance from Leah Nylen.

(Updates to add details on Nvidia agreement in 13th paragraph.)

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2023 Bloomberg L.P.
[June 29, 2023] Avaada Group Successfully Closes Historic INR 10,700 Cr ($1.3 billion) Funding Round, Reinforcing its Commitment to Green Energy Tweet

MUMBAI, India, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Avaada Group, a leading integrated energy platform, has announced the successful closure of INR 10,700 crore ($1.3 billion) funding round, marking a historic moment for the green energy industry in Asia and India's renewable energy sector. This funding round is the largest equity round ever raised by any green energy company in Asia. The funding will be used to bolster Avaada's green hydrogen, green methanol, green ammonia, solar manufacturing and renewable power generation ventures, as part of India's commitment to a sustainable future. This achievement underscores the effectiveness of government policies encouraging investment in green energy and the global transition towards sustainable energy solutions. In a significant boost to its solar manufacturing capabilities, Avaada Group had previously won a production-linked incentive of INR 961 crore ($116.78 million) for 3 GW of wafer-to-module capacity under the PLI Scheme. This win, coupled with the successful funding round, further solidifies Avaada's position as a leader in the renewable energy sctor and underscores its commitment to harnessing green energy for a sustainable future.



Adding to its list of achievements, Avaada Energy Private Limited has won several tenders, amounting to almost 1.8 GW, in the last three months from corporate customers and utilities. This success demonstrates Avaada' s ability to meet the growing demand for renewable energy and its commitment to delivering high quality, sustainable energy solutions. Brookfield Renewables, through its Brookfield Global Transition Fund (BGTF), has earlier committed to investing up to INR 8,225 crore ($1 billion) in Avaada Ventures Private Limited. In addition, Global Power Synergy Public Company Limited (GPSC), an existing shareholder with a 42.93% equity holding in Avaada Energy Private Ltd (AEPL), has pledged to increase its capital by investing an additional INR 1,917 crore ($233 million) in AEPL, further supporting the company's growth. This follows GPSC's previous investment of INR 558 crore ($68 million) in AEPL in April, bringing their total investment in Avaada to around INR 6,037 crore ($779 million).

This successful funding round is a testament to India's commitment to choosing innovation and technology over traditional energy sources. The country stands at a pivotal moment, with the potential to grow using either conventional energy or the latest green technologies. The choice of the latter is creating enormous opportunities through the global transition fund. Vineet Mittal, Chairperson and Founder, Avaada Group, commented: "This funding round marks a significant milestone in Avaada Group's journey and India's energy transition. We are grateful for the support from our investors and the Indian government, which is enabling us to contribute to the global energy transition and deliver on our promise of a sustainable future." Mr. Worawat Pitayasiri, President and CEO of Global Power Synergy Public Company Limited (GPSC), said "Our decision to invest further in AEPL is based on our confidence in their strategic approach to the renewable energy sector, aiming to achieve at least 11 GW in 2026. AEPL's commitment to renewable power generation aligns well with our own focus on sustainable growth and innovation." Avaada Group has diversified into manufacturing Green Hydrogen, Green Methanol, Green Ammonia, and expanded its footprint into the Solar PV supply chain with the manufacturing of solar cell and module. The company currently operates a renewable energy portfolio of ~4 GW and around 7 GW in different stages of implementation. SOURCE Avaada Group

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[June 29, 2023] CARESPAN CLOSES ADDITIONAL DEBT FINANCING Tweet

/NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES/ VANCOUVER, BC, June 29, 2023 /CNW/ - CareSpan Health, Inc. (TSXV: CSPN) ("Company" or "CareSpan"), is pleased to announce that it has arranged an additional interim debt financing in the aggregate amount of USD$100,000 (the "Loan") with: (a) an insider of the Company, William Bradford White (in the amount of USD$50,000); and (b) the Chief Executive Officer and director of the Company, Rembert de Villa (in the amount of USD$50,000) (collectively, the "Lenders"). This is an additional amount provided by the Lenders, who participated in the previous interim debt financing of the Company in the amount of USD$120,000 and USD$100,000, respectively, as announced in the Company's press release dated April 14, 2023. Pursuant to the terms of the Loan, the Company will receive a term loan in the aggregate amount of USD$100,000. The Loan is unsecured and matures in one year from the date of issuance, when the principal and all accrued and unpaid interest are due in full. The Loan bears interest at a rate of 12% per annum. Payment of the Loan and accrued interest may be accelerated by the Company at any time without any penalty. Pursuant to the terms of the Loan, the Lenders have the option in the future to convert, fully or partially, the outstanding Loan and accrued interest into common shares in the capital of the Company (the "Conversion Option") solely during periods in which the Company is undergoing a qualified equity financing by way of debt, equity or some combination thereof for aggregate gross proceeds of at least CAD$1 million. If the Conversion Option is exercised by the Lenders, the Company will be required at that time to make an application for approval of the Conversion Option by the TSX Venture Exchange in accordance with its applicable policies. The proceeds from the Loan will be used to: (i) fund capital and related expenditures for existing projects, and (ii) provide general working capital to help fund the Company's growth opportunities. The Loan constitutes a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101  Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") as the Lenders are related parties of the Company given that: (i) Willim Bradford White holds greater than 10% of the Company's shareholdings; and (ii) Rembert de Villa is the Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The Company has relied on exemptions contained in section 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements in MI 61-101 in respect of the Loan since the fair market value of the Loan does not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.



About CareSpan Health CareSpan is a healthcare technology and services company that has developed and deployed a unique, proprietary integrated digital care platform, the CareSpan Clinic-in-the Cloud, that creates easy access to care for the underserved. With a patient-centric approach focused on improving health outcomes, CareSpan uses sophisticated digital tools and capabilities to improve patient outcomes in primary care, chronic care, urgent care, and mental health. In addition to the integrated digital care platform, CareSpan has built and deployed a business support infrastructure for its professional networks, American-Advanced Practice Network and AmericanMedPsych Network. American-Advanced Practice Network harnesses the clinical capabilities of Nurse Practitioners to address the shortage in primary and chronic care in the country. American-MedPsych brings together providers to tackle shortages mainly in mental health.

Clinic-in-the-Cloud is a trademark of CareSpan USA Inc., a subsidiary of CareSpan Health, Inc. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: "Rembert de Villa"

Rembert de Villa

Chief Executive Officer For more information, visit: www.carespanhealth.com NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. THIS NEWS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY 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. THIS NEWS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OR SALE OF SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as, "subject to", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, including that CareSpan will receive approval from the TSX Venture Exchange with respect to the option to fully or partially convert the Loan into securities of the Company, but the actual results may be materially different from any future expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements can be affected by known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, but not limited to, the equity markets generally and a failure to obtain the necessary approval from the TSX Venture Exchange. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, CareSpan undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The TSXV and its Regulation Services Provider have not approved the contents of, nor taken responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of, this press release. SOURCE CareSpan Health, Inc.

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[June 29, 2023] LINE Transforms Crisis into Opportunities, Unveils Core Business Plan Tweet

Drives Thai Economic Growth Through the "Chat Economy" BANGKOK, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LINE Thailand has revealed insightful data on Thai people's LINE trends in the work environment by highlighting on the impact of the move towards an aging society. This results in the working-age population, especially Generation Y, becoming a critical segment, bearing the responsibility for driving the Thai economy and society in many ways. LINE recognizes the significance of this and the need to enhance work efficiency, while promoting a positive work-life balance for this generation through the use of technology. LINE also reveals the business development direction for LINE Thailand in 2023, strengthening the Chat Economy on LINE by developing additional business solutions, reinforcing and promoting new forms of social media, leveraging AI technology and expanding existing services to new businesses, all of which will help both users and business partners grow. Norasit Sitivechvichit, Chief Operating Officer of LINE Thailand, stated, "It is well known that Thailand has entered an aging society, meaning the number of people of working age is decreasing. This results in a slow or even regressive drive in the economy. Currently, we see that the Gen Y group (aged 28-42) is the most significant group of people of working age. They have the ability to use technology to add economic value and we believe they will be a vital force in an aging society. We need to keep an eye on and support this group to create growth and drive the country's economy forward together." Unravelling Behaviors of Gen Y, Driving Thai Economy Through Chat When assessing how technology for work and business on LINE is being used, the Thai people have unique characteristics in using LINE for both work and personal purposes. This occurs in all generations entering the workforce from the age 20, but it is more pronounced in Gen Y. A significant 82% of Gen Y uses LINE Group Chat for work, often coupled with LINE Call. 88% use LINE on a computer, clearly indicating LINE usage for work. Moreover, Gen Y also has the highest LINE usage time, about 100 minutes per day. Simultaneously, it was found that Gen Y has the highest spending on LINE, with double the number of users making purchases through LINE, especially female users. Furthermore, the highest use of LINE Official Accounts (LINE OA) occurs between 8am and noon, Monday through Friday. <>LINE's Technologies Respond to the Needs of Working Individuals and Business Owners



The use of the LINE Group Chat feature, and of LINE on computers by Thais reflects their popularity for work purposes, beyond typical daily communications. This leads to the challenge of managing personal and professional lives through chat. LINE is prioritising these concerns. Therefore, the company will be leveraging research on the use of Group Chat, to develop features that will aid Thai people in using LINE for both personal and professional purposes, while maintaining a positive work-life balance and ensuring a good quality of life. LINE will also incorporate both internally developed and externally sourced AI technologies, to enhance the user experience. In terms of business operations, LINE OA remains a widely used tool, serving as the primary channel for conducting business of all sizes and types online. Currently, there are as many as 6 million accounts. Moreover, there is a set of tools from LINE OA Plus, a suite conceived and developed by a team of LINE engineers based in Thailand, which helps increase the efficiency of LINE OA use. It not only serves as a communication channel, but also responds to diverse needs across a range of business sectors.

This year, LINE will continue to develop numerous tools, under the concept of LINE OA Plus, such as the introduction of "MyCRM", specifically for Customer Relationship Management, alongside improvements to existing tools, like "MyCustomer" for data collection and management, by adding more features for data-driven businesses. Other improvements include a revamped "MyRestaurant", for restaurant business management, to better meet businesses' needs, the official launch of the LINE OA Store, to enable brands to find and access the right tech solution partners, and a platform for developers to present their solutions on LINE to their full potential. Furthermore, LINE plans to establish the Blue Badge Guide Awards, to recognise Thai businesses that are committed to providing exceptional customer experiences, raising the standard for Thai businesses in terms of branding and business operations. Moreover, LINE will also develop and enhance "MyShop", to become a fundamental tool for all Thai businesses, similarly to how brands in Western countries create brand websites (brand.com) and use market places as their prioritized strategies. For the Thai market, in which consumers already enjoy the ease and familiarity of using LINE Chat and LINE Official Account (LINE OA), while Thai entrepreneurs can set up their shops or connect their businesses into LINE system easily and free, these will serve Chat Economy on LINE as a crucial foundation for Thai businesses to further drive the growth of E-commerce in Thailand, in conjunction with the existing market place. Accelerating Growth in the Lifestyle Business Sector Not only in the business realm, but also in lifestyle, LINE continues to listen and develop its services to cater to the growth and demands of the new generation, who value freedom as well as privacy. LINE OpenChat is yet one of LINE services that is popular with all age groups. With the highest usage reaching up to 10 hours per day, it can be regarded as an 'Always On' used service, with the longest usage compared to other services on the platform. Currently, it has 17 million active users per month. This year, LINE OpenChat plans to develop the "Live Talk" feature, to enable real-time conversations, offering a new and anonymous experience. It also plans to develop a space for influencers within the LINE ecosystem. Meanwhile, other LINE services are also expanding and developing, including LINE TODAY, which is set to broaden partnerships with diverse allies, transforming from a news aggregator into a business of diverse content. LINE STICKERS plans to expand its licensing business to boost the potential of the character industry in Thailand, following the recent success of the collaboration between K Plus and LINE Creators. LINE MELODY is focusing on expanding its business, from music commerce to driving the music industry as a whole, with various promotional activities providing opportunities for both big and small labels, as well as independent artists, to generate income and growth. Moreover, LINE HORO plans to expand its business, from online merit-making services, to a new era of convenient and trustworthy donations, "Donation on LINE". The recent success was demonstrated through the coffin donation project and a fundraising campaign for social assistance, in collaboration with 'taejai.com', raising more than 2 million Baht over the past three months. "From the data, both in terms of societal structure and the behaviour of Thais when using the LINE platform, which has been continuously evolving, we focus on developing and improving the use of our extensive range of services. To meet what Thais want, we leverage the expertise of the LINE Thailand Engineering team, who can design tools and services to match the specific needs of Thais. We are confident that LINE Thailand can promote change and be a positive driving force for the country through our Chat Economy, developing Thailand's own competitive potential" Norasit concluded. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/line-transforms-crisis-into-opportunities-unveils-core-business-plan-301867732.html SOURCE LINE Thailand

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[June 30, 2023] Holiston Media Announces Online Money Award Winners Tweet

LONDON, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Now in their second year, the Online Money Awards 2023 attracted more entrants and votes, proving that the private investor market is proactive and buoyant. The Online Money Awards, organised in conjunction with The Armchair Trader, champion service, product innovation, low-cost access to the markets, ease of investing and comprehensive market research tools in the online money sector. Voted for by the UK's most influential private investors, Holiston Media can now reveal the winners of this year's awards. The winners across the 19 award categories are as follows:







Best Advisory Service St. James's Place Best CFD Provider Capital.com Best Customer Service Spreadex Trading Best ETF Provider WisdomTree Europe Best Execution-Only Broker Halifax Share Dealing Limited Best Forex Provider Orbex Best Forex Trading Platform FxPro Best Fund Group Vanguard Best Investment Trust Group Liontrust Best SIPP Provider Hargreaves Lansdown Best Spread Betting Provider Trade Nation Best Stockbroker Barclays Smart Investor Best Stocks and Shares ISA Provider Bestinvest Best Trading Platform Trade Nation Best Trading Tools IG Best Wealth Investment Platform Wealthify Main Market Company of the Year Rentokil Initial PLC AIM Market Company of the Year Aquis Exchange PLC Growth Business of the Year Ananda Developments PLC



"With another year under its belt, these new awards are really picking up momentum and attracting high calibre nominations," explains Mike Boydell, director at Holiston Media. "Voted for by private investors, this year's awards received over 8,000 votes and once again gave businesses a chance to stand out from the crowd and boost their recognition." The Online Money Awards are organised in conjunction with The Armchair Trader, a highly experienced team of writers, each with a minimum 20-year track record in the market. To find out more about the Online Money Awards go to https://www.onlinemoneyawards.com/ View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/holiston-media-announces-online-money-award-winners-301861185.html

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[June 30, 2023] TechNode Global hosts forums in Singapore and Seoul, focusing on China Market Access and the Greater Bay Area Tweet

SINGAPORE, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TechNode Global has successfully hosted two forums in Singapore and Seoul, providing valuable insights into China market access and opportunities in the revitalized Greater Bay Area. These events, supported by Zhuhai Da Hengqin Development Co., Ltd., BEYOND Expo, and the National Health Innovation Centre (for forum in Singapore), attracted participants including startup founders, government-linked entities, and industry experts. Singapore Forum Highlights: The forum in Singapore, held on June 27, featured engaging discussions on market entry strategies in China and the latest developments in the country. The panel discussion titled "Navigating Asia's Largest Market In The Next Decade and How Do New Players Plan For Entry?" included notable speakers such as AC Ventures Managing Partner Helen Wng, Fourier Intelligence Co-Founder and Global CEO Zen Koh, and TechNode Group Founder and BEYOND Expo Co-Founder Dr. Lu Gang. They shared their experiences, observations, and valuable insights on China's thriving venture capital scene, and technological advancements, among others.



Su Kun, Deputy Director of the Executive Committee of Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone, delivered the opening remarks, emphasizing the significance of Hengqin as a gateway to Greater China. He highlighted how Hengqin has become a major platform for promoting the moderate and diversified development of the Macao economy. Seoul Forum Highlights:

The forum in Seoul, held on June 22, focused on entering the Chinese market through the Greater Bay Area. Startup representatives and South Korean support officials, attended the event. The discussions centered around market entry strategies in China, Chinese consumer behavior, the Chinese e-commerce market, social media marketing trends, and the Sands Innovation Challenge. Both forums also showcased the Hengqin region's potential as a springboard for startups to access the vast opportunities in Greater China. Liang Ying, Chief Information Officer of Zhuhai Da Hengqin Development Co., Ltd., gave presentations on Hengqin's strategic location within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, its unique advantages, and opportunities for businesses looking to expand into China. She provided specific information about the industrial environment of the Greater Bay Area, the business environment, and policy advantages of the Cooperation Zone, among others. Her presentations at both forums also highlighted the Third Hengqin International Scientific and Technological Innovation Entrepreneurship Competition, providing startups with an exciting avenue to access Hengqin and the broader Greater Bay Area. The competition focuses on four major fields: Integrated Circuits and electronic components, biomedicine, and medical devices, big data and AI, and new materials and new energy. The registration and enrollment for this year's competition will close on June 30th at 4 p.m., and the submission of application materials will end on July 14th at 4 p.m. Register now at https://www.hqkcds.cn/en . Contact Person:

Seah Kah Wee

+65 9296 3679 View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/technode-global-hosts-forums-in-singapore-and-seoul-focusing-on-china-market-access-and-the-greater-bay-area-301867870.html SOURCE TechNode Global

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[June 30, 2023] KERC Announces Presale Date to Merge Web3 and Healthcare Industries Tweet

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, June 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KERC will provide a unique solution for merging web3 and healthcare industries. The strategy intends to give patients access to their data while providing sustainable disruption within the trillion-dollar industry.

Through its business model, $KERC gives users an innovative way of reforming payors and insurance systems through outpatient memberships. With this presale, KERC looks forward to bringing about real change in healthcare that will benefit providers and consumers. All There Is to Know about the Upcoming Presale KERC's team has shared the details for their upcoming presale. The presale will begin on 11 July 2023 at 7 pm UTC and last 14 days. For those getting in early, it's possible to purchase tokens at $1. After the presale period ends, the token price will increase to $1.10 for the public sale. There is a hard cap set for the event at $2.5 million. KERC will offer a raffle of four seats to reward initial investors from those staking during the presale. With this opportunity, holders can fly down to audit the company and its operations on behalf of all other holders. Staking coins for 12 months allows for airdrop rewards with an APY of 114.5 percent in extra tokens. Understanding KERC Through Its Business Model When looking for new crypto investments, one common best practice is understanding the underlying business model. Through its whitepaper , KERC details its business model and how it earns revenue. KERC generates income from traditional healthcare businesses, such as: Fees applied from medical services

Subscriptions for healthcare-as-a-service

Software automation fees

Managed service revenue share

Pharmaceutical sales.



By looking at KERC's business model, investors can understand their potential ROI and the team's overall commitment to its mission.

How Does $KERC Work? The KERC token, built on Arbitrum, provides a means of exchange for the community and rewards holders through staking. By staking their tokens, users will receive 1.5% of the par token price in USDC each month. Moreover, they will obtain participation bonuses based on the performance of KERC businesses. Additionally, by establishing more business chains, KERC tokens will allow purchasing goods and services from KERC operating outlets. The token allocation is the following: 70% for ecosystem rewards and future utility

15% for operations

8% for team members

2% for advisors

5% for reserves. From its experience, the team believes that 10-15% monthly profit margins are a realistic expectation from new acquisitions. This would eventually increase to 50-60% EBITDA margins at full operating capacity. These earnings may experience a decrease in the first 3-6 months due to various factors. The team mentions changing personnel, transfer, implementation of existing agreements, and regulatory compliance among the initial decline reasons. Overall, KERC aims to build a sustainable tokenomics model that rewards holders while driving the long-term growth of its businesses. About KERC KERC is an innovative platform that connects two major industries, primary and alternative healthcare (PAH) and cryptocurrency. It helps users access high-yielding sustainable USDC earnings directly from investments in traditional businesses. The project wishes to offer this possibility without requiring large sums of money or domain expertise. Due to its low volume and margins, many see PAH as a cost center rather than a revenue generator. KERC, however, provides an uncomplicated way for investors to acquire real work income-generating healthcare assets with digital currencies. This lets them benefit from an appreciating asset avoiding the hassle of managing staff, dealing with vendors, and so on. KERC intends to let users earn from healthcare businesses with ease and confidence. Anyone curious to find out more about KERC can visit its official website for further information. Moreover, KERC's social media pages (mentioned below) provide the latest updates and insights into the platform's progress. Twitter | Discord



John Lim joyerlah at kerc.io

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[June 30, 2023]

Autoliv Retires Repurchased Shares, Decreases Number of Issued Shares

STOCKHOLM, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE: ALV and SSE: ALIVsdb), the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, today announced that as of June 30, 2023, the total number of issued shares of common stock is 90,242,332 of which 85,374,054 shares are outstanding.

Autoliv retired 475,292 shares of common stock that had been repurchased during the quarter which resulted in a decrease in the issued shares.

The Company now has a total of 90,242,332 issued shares of common stock of which 85,374,054 shares are outstanding. Each share of outstanding common stock is entitled to one vote. After the retirement of the repurchased shares, Autoliv holds 4,868,278 shares of common stock in treasury which have no voting rights or rights to participate in distributions under Delaware law.

This information is of such character that Autoliv, Inc. is obliged to disclose in accordance with the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act (Sw. lagen (1991:980) om handel med finansiella instrument). The information was distributed for disclosure, through the agency of the contact persons set out below, on June 30, 2023, 11:45 CET.

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/751/3797944/2164965.pdf Press release as PDF



View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/autoliv-retires-repurchased-shares-decreases-number-of-issued-shares-301867908.html

SOURCE Autoliv
[June 30, 2023] CHINT Expands Smart Energy and Sustainability Expertise to South Korea as Part of its Rapid Expansion Plans in Asia Pacific Tweet

The new office in South Korea encompasses a CHINT Experience Center, built with collaboration in mind for partners, stakeholders, and customers to reimagine smart energy solutions SEOUL, South Korea, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CHINT, a global leader in smart energy solutions, has officially expanded their smart energy and sustainability services to South Korea yesterday. The new office is driven by a dedicated team of the industry's top scientists, engineers, and experts who have the local expertise to serve the South Korea market and support companies in their energy and resource transition journey to sustainable solutions. As a global end-to-end solutions provider, CHINT offers Power-to-Plug assistance that propels organizations in the United States of America, Europe, West Asia and Africa, and Asia Pacific (APAC) to succeed with customizable, realistic, and superior quality products and services. Over the last three years, CHINT has been rapidly expanding their services across APAC. In 2022, CHINT established offices in Singapore, Malaysia, and Philippines, with the Singapore office serving as the Asia Pacific Headquarters and co-located with CHINT Asia Pacific Innovation Lab. South Korea is the newest addition to CHINT APAC's foothold in the region. This marks another milestone of CHINT's commitment to continually partner with their customers to achieve their business and environmental goals while boosting production efficiency. CHINT supports their local market in key business segments, namely Renewables, Energy Storage Systems (ESS), Electric Vehicles (EV) and Transmission and Distribution (T&D). The office in South Korea encompasses a CHINT Experience Center that showcases solutions built on next-generation technology, including Low-voltage Power Distribution Systems, Digital Substation Solutions, ESS technologies, and EV charging solutions that range from products and services required to build charging facilities to customer services and smart energy management solutions. This purpose-built center enables CHINT's partners, stakeholders, and customers to raw inspiration from the solutions on display and reimagine innovation to find solutions to their business pain points. It is built with collaboration in mind, where customers can discover the Research & Development experience that will spearhead the next leading edge smart energy solution for the region.



The CHINT office launch in South Korea was co-officiated by Ms. Lisa Wu, Deputy General Manager, Asia Pacific, CHINT Global, and Er. Lim Say Leong, IEC Ambassador (2018-2021) and Technical Director of Asia Pacific, CHINT Global and Sunlight Electrical. Distinguished guests who honored the event included international prominent authorities.

"Globally and in APAC, CHINT has established a strong track record in driving local companies in their global and regional smart energy expansion plans without compromising environmental goals. Our presence in South Korea will enable us to support the business ventures of companies in the country, specifically in green technologies such as Electric Vehicles and smart power grids." said Ms. Lisa Wu, Deputy General Manager, Asia Pacific, CHINT Global. As part of the official launch, CHINT also engaged with local industry stakeholders through thought-leadership sharing sessions. These sessions were focused on how the company had navigated business challenges through innovative approaches to achieve top-notch results in the different markets that CHINT has presence in. For instance, CHINT shared about their involvement in the largest ESS project in Southeast Asia, spearheaded by Singapore's Sembcorp Industries Ltd. This is a project by the Singapore Government to accelerate energy storage for the nation. The ESS was officialized in February 2023 and has a maximum storage capacity of 285MWh  meeting the electricity needs of around 24,000 four-room flats (measuring around 90 to 110 square meters on average) for one day in a single discharge. The project was commissioned within a 6-month tenure and is the fastest in the world of its size to be deployed to date. With over 35 years of global experience, CHINT partners with businesses, governments, and communities to reimagine smart energy solutions that will empower the world. CHINT's South Korea office and its Experience Center are co-located at Indeogwon IT Valley. About CHINT Global Founded in 1984, CHINT is a global green energy leader that accelerates innovation to meet the sustainability goals of businesses, governments and communities. CHINT is your desired partner that relentlessly pursues your sustainable goals. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/chint-expands-smart-energy-and-sustainability-expertise-to-south-korea-as-part-of-its-rapid-expansion-plans-in-asia-pacific-301867913.html SOURCE CHINT

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[June 30, 2023] Fintech Dobin Brings Game-Changing AI-Powered Solution to Personal Finance Tweet

Consolidates bank accounts and credit cards into a single unified view to better track finances

Unlocks insights from financial data to inform purchase potential and borrowing capacity

Enables sharing insights with merchants and financial institutions to get high-value discounts and attractive offers on credit cards and loans SINGAPORE, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Singapore-based fintech Dobin has launched. Dobin is the first company in Southeast Asia to use open finance and advanced data analytics to: give users a single view of their finances; create unique anonymised customer insights; and empower users to get value from their financial data. Collectively these functionalities give users data-driven personalised recommendations for better financial options and outcomes. "Managing our personal finances can be overwhelming as our financial information is fragmented. Dobin's objective is to help users remove the barriers to achieving their financial goals in a simple and secure mobile experience. Dobin uses advanced data analytics to help users manage their finances and get tangible value from their financial data," said Dobin's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-founder Khaled Benguerba. "Now, anyone can get on top of their finances and receive personalised offers  without sacrificing the privacy of their data." First, Dobin gives users a consolidated view of their income and expenses by securely connecting their bank accounts and credit cards across Singapore's leading banks. This allows users to track how much they earn and where they spend - uncovering overlooked spending habits - and reduce their ongoing expenses - by using relevant merchant discounts. Giving users a holistic view of their finances is critical for Singaporeans as too few are making the right financial decisions. A 2022 study of over 1,000 Singaporean adults by SmartWealth revealed that a staggering 55% of respondents are financially illiterate. Additionally, 52% said they are unsure how much they spend every month. With Dobin, users can now stay financially informed at all times. Second, as Dobin builds its data analytics and AI capabilities, it will create unque yet anonymised "financial profiles". These profiles can indicate a user's loan repayment capacity, their spending potential with a particular merchant, or the credit card they are likely to use frequently. These "financial profiles" can help users "prove their value" to merchants and financial institutions.



Third, Dobin puts users in the driver's seat to get value from their own data. Users can choose to give Dobin permission to share their anonymised "financial profiles" with merchants and financial institutions to receive personalised discounts, credit card recommendations, and attractive loan offers. At all times, users remain in control of why and how their data is shared. At launch, users can access merchant discounts based on their spending patterns in categories like shopping, groceries, and travel. Recommendations on credit cards and Loans will be added in H2 2023. Data Security and Privacy at Dobin

Data security is central to Dobin's infrastructure. User's data is only viewed by them and stored on their mobile device unless they choose to share it with Dobin to enhance its data analytics capabilities or with Dobin's partners to receive personalised offers. Dobin operates under Singapore's strict regulatory requirements, including the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). Dobin's Business Roadmap In the coming months, Dobin will continue to enhance data analytics, app features and usability, and bring high-value offers from merchants and financial institutions. The company also aims to raise additional funding and expand across Southeast Asia to enable banked customers to better manage their finances, and help underbanked customers access financial products. Built by Finance, Data, and Technology Experts Dobin's three co-founders bring together decades of experience in banking and payments, data analytics and credit risk, and technology. Dobin's CEO and Co-founder, Khaled Benguerba, is a financial industry veteran. Prior to launching Dobin, he took a leading role in establishing and scaling the advisory and data analytics arm of Visa across Asia Pacific. Before Visa, he held multiple leadership positions at American Express. He started his career in Investment Banking at Societe Generale, Houlihan Lokey and Arma Partners. Dobin's Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder, Erwan Mace, is an experienced entrepreneur and technology leader. He was previously the CEO and CTO of Bitsmedia, a company that developed a world-renowned Muslim lifestyle app with more than 150 million downloads globally. Prior to that, he held tech leadership positions at Google, Akamai, and Vivendi. Dobin's Chief Product Officer and Co-founder, Gyanendra Singh, has deep expertise in Credit Risk and Data Analytics. He was previously part of the leadership team at OneCard overseeing personalization and decision products. Prior to that, he was the Risk lead for Asia Pacific within Visa's advisory and data analytics business. He started his career in decision analytics at Experian, FICO and ICICI Bank. Please visit www.dobin.io for more information. To download the Dobin app, please visit: Apple users (from 27 June): https://apps.apple.com/app/id1661758471

Android users (from end July) About Dobin Singapore-based fintech company Dobin is a financial marketplace which unlocks the power of data to help consumers in Southeast Asia reach their best financial outcome. Dobin uses open access to financial information combined with advanced data analytics and AI to provide personalised deals and product recommendations. The Dobin app allows users to consolidate all their financial data across bank, credit card and payment wallet accounts to stay on top of their finances. It also allows them to, anonymously and securely, share insights from their data with financial service providers and merchants to receive personalised deals on loans, credit cards, and discount offers. Through the power of data, choice, and community, Dobin creates better financial wellbeing for all. For more information, please visit www.dobin.io View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/fintech-dobin-brings-game-changing-ai-powered-solution-to-personal-finance-301868018.html SOURCE Dobin

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[June 30, 2023] Cutting pollution and making life more affordable: Government of Canada announces $101.7 million to switch to cleaner energy in Nova Scotia Tweet

ANTIGONISH, NS, June 30, 2023 /CNW/ - Canadians are calling for action to fight climate change in a way that will build a strong economy, keep life affordable, and ensure clean air for our communities. Today, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and Member of Parliament for Central Nova, Nova Scotia, on behalf of the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced a federal investment of up to $101.7 million from Canada's Low Carbon Economy Fund to reduce energy costs and support climate action, building a strong economy in Nova Scotia. The funding will be divided into two parts: Up to $60.5 million for provincial Home Heating Oil Transition programming to support lower-income homeowners' move from home heating oil to more affordable low-emitting heating technologies, like electric heat pumps. This funding will be made available to qualifying Nova Scotians starting this year.

for provincial Home Heating Oil Transition programming to support lower-income homeowners' move from home heating oil to more affordable low-emitting heating technologies, like electric heat pumps. This funding will be made available to qualifying Nova Scotians starting this year. Up to $41.2 million for initiatives in Nova Scotia that support Canada's 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reductions target and align with Canada's goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Nova Scotia can leverage this funding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in ways that recognize the unique circumstances of the province. The federal government is working closely with Nova Scotia to finalize an agreement on the delivery of this funding. This funding is in addition to other Government of Canada efficiency programs, including Natural Resources Canada's Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program, in which eligible homeowners with low-to-moderate incomes can receive up to $10,000 in federal support when including funding available from the Canada Greener Homes Grant. These two programs, delivered locally through EfficiencyOne, have supported the installation of over 10,000 heat pumps in Atlantic Canada, with 2,342 installed in Nova Scotia. The Low Carbon Economy Fund has already supported projects in Nova Scotia that include home energy assessments, energy-efficient equipment rebates for homes, smart thermostat installation, solar electricity panel installation, green heat systems installation, and solar photo voltaic electrification of Mi'kmaq First Nation communities. Quotes "This investment will help Nova Scotians live low-carbon lifestyles by using green technologies and decreasing reliance on home heating oil. We are helping families keep more money in their pockets while keeping harmful emissions out of our air, and all while seeing sustainable job growth across the country."

 The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister o Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship



"The Government of Canada is helping Nova Scotians save money on their utility bills while enhancing their home's energy efficiency. Today's investment builds on the progress of our Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program and the Greener Homes Initiative, which have supported thousands of Canadian households to make the switch to an electric heat pump."

 The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources "Nova Scotia is a national leader in fighting climate change and in energy efficiency programs. Through our partner, Efficiency Nova Scotia, we help Nova Scotians move away from oil heat and use less energy. We invested $140 million in December to further these programs and appreciate the contributions that our federal partners have made. Together, we expect our funding will help about 13,500 low-income households and 30,000 mid-income households over three years."

 The Honourable Tory Rushton, Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables for Nova Scotia

"The support provided through the Low Carbon Economy Fund is vital for small communities in Nova Scotia like Antigonish. We will see individual homeowners' benefit, as well as larger provincial organizations who are leading the way in helping Nova Scotians reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Investments like this bring us a significant step forward in our collective efforts to meet our climate change objectives, and to bring us closer to becoming a net-zero community."

 Mayor Laurie Boucher, Town of Antigonish Quick facts Canada launched the Emissions Reduction Plan in 2022, laying out steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The plan provides renewed and enhanced Low Carbon Economy Fund funding, including a Leadership Fund that will continue to support climate action taken by provinces and territories, with a focus on deploying proven, low-carbon technologies.

launched the Emissions Reduction Plan in 2022, laying out steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The plan provides renewed and enhanced Low Carbon Economy Fund funding, including a Leadership Fund that will continue to support climate action taken by provinces and territories, with a focus on deploying proven, low-carbon technologies. The Government of Canada has committed approximately $2 billion in additional funding to the enhanced Low Carbon Economy Fund, as previously announced in Budget 2022 and Canada's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan.

has committed approximately in additional funding to the enhanced Low Carbon Economy Fund, as previously announced in Budget 2022 and 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. On average, homeowners who switch from oil to cold-climate heat pumps to heat their homes would save between $1,500 and $4,700 per year on home energy bills.

and per year on home energy bills. The new Low Carbon Economy Fund funding will support climate action by Indigenous peoples with a new $180 million Indigenous Leadership Fund to invest in clean energy and energy-efficiency projects led by First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities and organizations.

Indigenous Leadership Fund to invest in clean energy and energy-efficiency projects led by First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities and organizations. In Atlantic Canada , the federal government's Greener Homes Grant and Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program have supported the installation of 10,759 heat pumps, including 2,342 in Nova Scotia ; 2,525 in Newfoundland and Labrador ; 5,422 in New Brunswick ; and 470 in Prince Edward Island . Associated links Low Carbon Economy Fund



2030 Emissions Reduction PlanCanada's Next Steps for Clean Air and a Strong Economy

Budget 2022A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable

Making Home Heating More Affordable for Atlantic Canada and Other Regions Environment and Climate Change Canada's Twitter page Environment and Climate Change Canada's Facebook page SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

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(Bloomberg) -- Odey Asset Management is in talks with Lancaster Investment Management to transfer funds run by portfolio manager James Hanbury and restructure its flagship hedge fund as the investment firm grapples with the fallout from sexual assault allegations against its founder.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Odey said five funds will be rehoused under the plan, which is still under discussion and subject to regulatory approvals. The funds are LF Brook Absolute Return Fund, Brook Absolute Return (IRL), Brook Developed Markets Fund, Brook Absolute Return Focus Fund and LF Odey Opus Fund.

The move follows a similar step taken by the firm to transfer fund manager Oliver Keltons money pools.

London-based Lancaster was started by Matthew Wood and James Roycroft in 2007. Wood previously was the co-head of Europe and a senior portfolio manager at Magnetar Capital, while Roycroft earlier worked at Elliott Associates in London, according to the firms website.

Odey Asset Management is battling to contain an investor exodus after a June 8 article in the Financial Times alleged that founder Crispin Odey mistreated women over a roughly 25-year period. He denies the allegations. Assets in its funds have plunged by as much as 63% since then, forcing the firm to look to rehouse its money pools and employees.

Odey is also seeking approval from shareholders to restructure its Odey European Inc. and OEI Mac Inc. hedge funds, the firm said in separate letters to clients seen by Bloomberg.

Its looking to start new funds and switch assets of the two existing funds into those vehicles. Under the proposal, the firm said it would appoint an established, third-party manager regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and that portfolio manager Freddie Neave would leave Odey Asset Management and be rehoused at that firm, according to the letter.

Under the plan, existing clients would be cashed out of the current funds and issued shares in the new funds. The firm doesnt expect Crispin Odey, who previously managed the funds with Neave, to switch to the third-party manager. A spokesman declined to comment beyond the letters.

(Updates with details on Lancaster in fourth paragraph and restructuring proposal for additional funds in last three paragraphs.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2023 Bloomberg L.P.
[June 30, 2023] Aldine ISD Gets 100% STAAR Pass Rate in Algebra 1 Pilot Program Tweet

Carnegie Learning, a leader in AI-driven technology, curriculum, and professional learning solutions for K-12 education, today announced that 100% of the students in the Aldine Independent School District (ISD) - one of the largest districts in Houston, Texas - passed the Algebra 1 STAAR test on their first try in a pilot program using the Texas Math Solution. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630851455/en/ The challenge Aldine ISD faced at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year was to prepare their students for the redesign of the math State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR). The redesign added non-multiple-choice questions to align with the deep critical thinking and conceptual mathematics learning students should be doing in class. "The STAAR redesign increases the level of rigor," said Tiana Rodriguez, Program Director of Middle School Mathematics. "There's no hack or trick to it, so we need our kids to be able to think for themselves, problem-solve and persevere. To do that on the test, they must do it in class. The Texas Math Solution gives them that opportunity." Samuel Ramirez, Math Instructional Specialist at Aldine Ninth Grade School, agrees. "We needed rigor. Having the kids think, create, and look at math through a real-world lens is vital. The Texas Math Solution puts all of those things together and allows students to take ownership of their learning." Serving 61,633 students across 14 middle school and 15 high school campuses, 91.6% of students in Aldine ID face economic disadvantages and 33.31% of students utilize bilingual education or ESL services-descriptors that many might think indicate lower levels of ability or achievement.



"I'm excited for our students to say, 'Wow, I have an opportunity to do something amazing,'" said Mr. Ramirez. "'I have an opportunity not just to pass the STAAR test, but I'm going to go to college. I'm going to be able to do things that I didn't even know I was capable of.' We're giving them that confidence with Carnegie Learning." Designed to meet Texas Education standards, the Texas Math Solution leverages data and proven blended learning to improve student performance. In Levelland, TX, over 90% of students demonstrated growth in their first year with the high-quality curriculum and saw major gains among special education students as well as high-achieving students. Other districts have achieved similar results.

About Carnegie Learning, Inc. Carnegie Learning is celebrating 25 years as a leader in AI-driven technology, curriculum, and professional learning solutions for K-12 education. Our award-winning math, literacy, world languages, professional learning, high-dosage tutoring, and MATHstream products deliver real and lasting results. Born from cognitive science research at Carnegie Mellon University, we are known for harnessing the power of data to improve student performance. Our range of products allows us to support more than 2 million students and educators in all 50 states and Canada. Named a Top Place to Work for six years in a row, our employees are passionate about partnering with educators in the classroom. For more information, visit carnegielearning.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630851455/en/

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[June 30, 2023] Rogers Releases 2023 Environmental, Social and Governance Report Supplement Tweet

Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG) ("Rogers"), announced today that it has issued an update (Report Supplement) to its 2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report. "For decades Rogers has been a leader in innovative materials solutions, which enable technologies that improve lives and help create a more sustainable world," said Colin Gouveia, Rogers' President and CEO. "Our commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability is deeply embedded in our culture, and we strive to demonstrate this commitment in both the way we operate and by enabling sustainable end markets, such as electric vehicles and renewable energy. Today's report highlights the progress we are making, and we look forward to building on our accomplishments as we continue on our sustainability journey." Report Supplement Highlights: Updates the data provided in Rogers Corporation's 2021 ESG Report

Covers the period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022

Features improved reporting quality with third-party verification of greenhouse gas inventories for 2021 and 2022

Includes extended reporting of employee health and safety metrics This Report Supplement provides disclosure guided by the established sustainability and reporting framework published by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), specifically the Hardware Industry standard for the Technology & Communications Sector (TC-HW). The Report Supplement is available at the Company's website. About Rogers Corporation Rogers Corporation (NYSE:ROG) is a global leader in engineered materials to power, protect and connect our world. Rogers delivers innovative solutions to help our customers solve their toughest material challenges. Rogers' advanced electronic and elastomeric materials are used in applications for EV/HEV, automotive safety and radar systems, mobile devices, renewable energy, wireless infrastructure, energy-efficient motor drives, industrial equipment and more. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Rogers operates manufacturing facilities in the United States, Asia and Europe, with sales offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.rogerscorp.com.



Safe Harbor Statement Statements included in this release that are not a description of historical facts are forward-looking statements. Words or phrases such as "believe," "may," "could," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "seek," "plan," "expect," "should," "would" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, and are based on Rogers' current beliefs and expectations. This release contains forward-looking statements regarding our plans, objectives, outlook, goals, strategies, future events, future net sales or performance, capital expenditures, future restructuring, plans or intentions relating to expansions, business trends and other information that is not historical information. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us on the date of this release and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside of our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties that could cause such results to differ include: the duration and impacts of the novel coronavirus global pandemic and efforts to contain its transmission and distribute vaccines, including the effect of these factors on our business, suppliers, customers, end users and economic conditions generally; continuing disruptions to global supply chains and our ability, or the ability of our suppliers, to obtain necessary product components; failure to capitalize on, volatility within, or other adverse changes with respect to the Company's growth drivers, including advanced mobility and advanced connectivity, such as delays in adoption or implementation of new technologies; uncertain business, economic and political conditions in the United States (U.S.) and abroad, particularly in China, South Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary and Belgium, where we maintain significant manufacturing, sales or administrative operations; the trade policy dynamics between the U.S. and China reflected in trade agreement negotiations and the imposition of tariffs and other trade restrictions, including trade restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei); fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; our ability to develop innovative products and the extent to which our products are incorporated into end-user products and systems and the extent to which end-user products and systems incorporating our products achieve commercial success; the ability and willingness of our sole or limited source suppliers to deliver certain key raw materials, including commodities, to us in a timely and cost-effective manner; intense global competition affecting both our existing products and products currently under development; business interruptions due to catastrophes or other similar events, such as natural disasters, war, including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, terrorism or public health crises; the impact of sanctions, export controls and other foreign asset or investment restrictions; failure to realize, or delays in the realization of anticipated benefits of acquisitions and divestitures due to, among other things, the existence of unknown liabilities or difficulty integrating acquired businesses; our ability to attract and retain management and skilled technical personnel; our ability to protect our proprietary technology from infringement by third parties and/or allegations that our technology infringes third party rights; changes in effective tax rates or tax laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate; failure to comply with financial and restrictive covenants in our credit agreement or restrictions on our operational and financial flexibility due to such covenants; the outcome of ongoing and future litigation, including our asbestos-related product liability litigation or risks arising from the terminated DuPont Merger; changes in environmental laws and regulations applicable to our business; and disruptions in, or breaches of, our information technology systems. Should any risks and uncertainties develop into actual events, these developments could have a material adverse effect on the Company. For additional information about the risks, uncertainties and other factors that may affect our business, please see our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Rogers Corporation assumes no responsibility to update any forward-looking statements contained herein except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630972326/en/

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[June 30, 2023] EY Announces Sonya Locke of EDS Service Solutions, LLC as an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Southeast Award Winner Tweet

Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that CEO, Sonya Locke of EDS Service Solutions, LLC was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 Southeast Award winner. The Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards program is one of the preeminent competitive awards for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. Sonya Locke was selected by an independent judging panel made up of previous award winners, leading CEOs, investors and other regional business leaders. The candidates were evaluated based on their demonstration of building long-term value through entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact, among other core contributions and attributes. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630164327/en/ CEO and Founder of EDS Service Solutions Sonya Locke accepting her award at the 2023 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Southeast Regional ceremony. (Photo: Business Wire) "I am profoundly grateful to be a recipient of the esteemed EY Entrepreneur of the Year award, and I humbly accept this honor on behalf of the entire EDS Service Solutions team. This recognition is a testament to the relentless efforts, unwavering commitment, and shared vision of each and every individual who has contributed to our success. I extend my deepest gratitude to EY for acknowledging our journey and the transformative impact we strive to make. This award is not only a reflection of my dedication, but also a celebration of the incredible talents and unwavering support of our clients, partners, and employees. Together, we will continue to push boundaries, innovate, and shape a brighter future for EDS Service Solutions and the communities we serve. Thank you for believing in our mission and for joining us on this remarkable journey." EDS Service Solutions, a Woman owned and operated business, is a leading provider of labor outsourcing and business optimization for companies within the travel, airport, hospitality, and logistics sectors. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, EDS currently services all the Top 30 airports with additional 40 cities in the United States. The services provided by EDS range from turnkey on-site management and staffing of key back of house operations to staff augmentation and recruitment process outsourcing for crucial functions of our client' organization. For nearly four decades, EY US has honored entrepreneurs whose ambition, courage and ingenuity have driven their companies' success, transformed their industries and made a positive impact on their communities. Entrepreeur Of The Year Award winners become lifetime members of a global, multi-industry community of entrepreneurs, with exclusive, ongoing access to the experience, insight and wisdom of program alumni and other ecosystem members in over 60 countries - all supported by vast EY resources. Since 1986, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program has recognized more than 11,000 US executives.



As a Southeast award winner, Sonya Locke is now eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 National Awards. The National Award winners including the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will be announced in November at the Strategic Growth Forum, one of the nation's most prestigious gatherings of high-growth, market-leading companies. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will then move on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award in June 2024. The Entrepreneur Of The Year program has honored the inspirational leadership of entrepreneurs such as:

Andreas Bechtolsheim and Jayshree Ullal of Arista Networks

Daymond John of FUBU

Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani, Inc.

Holly Thaggard and Amanda Baldwin of Supergoop!

Howard Schultz of Starbucks Coffee Company

James Park of Fitbit

Jodi Berg of Vitamix

Joe DeSimone of Carbon, Inc.

Kendra Scott of Kendra Scott LLC

Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn Corporation

Sheila Mikhail of AskBio Sponsors Founded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards include presenting sponsors PNC Bank, N.A.; SAP America; and the Kauffman Foundation. In the Southeast, sponsors also include regional Platinum sponsors, Cresa Global, Inc., Marsh McLennan and Vaco, LLC, regional Gold sponsor, King & Spalding LLP, and regional Silver sponsor, ADP, LLC. About Entrepreneur Of The Year Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business awards program for unstoppable entrepreneurs. These visionary leaders deliver innovation, growth and prosperity that transform our world. The program engages entrepreneurs with insights and experiences that foster growth. It connects them with their peers to strengthen entrepreneurship around the world. Entrepreneur Of The Year is the first and only truly global awards program of its kind. It celebrates entrepreneurs through regional and national awards programs in more than 145 cities in over 60 countries. National Overall Award winners go on to compete for the World Entrepreneur Of The Year title. Visit ey.com/us/eoy. About EY Private As Advisors to the ambitious, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/us/private. About EY EY exists to build a better working world, helping create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets. Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate. Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today. EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230630164327/en/

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[June 30, 2023] MD Financial Management Inc. updates website content to clarify environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria Tweet

MD Financial Management Inc. (MD) has amended certain content on its website OTTAWA, ON, June 30, 2023 /CNW/ - MD has amended certain content on its website to clarify that ESG criteria and factors are considered only by MD funds that incorporate ESG factors as part of their investment strategies. Schedule A shows a list of specific websites that were amended. The investment strategies of the MD funds can be found in the Simplified Prospectus. No amendments were made to the Simplified Prospectus or Fund Facts of the MD funds as a result of the amended content on the website. Each of the MD funds continues to exclude from its portfolio securities of companies that manufacture tobacco or tobacco-related products or whose primary business is cannabis or cannabis-related products. When read in conjunction with the ESG Considerations section in the Simplified Prospectus disclosure, the previous content on the MD website provided the investor with an understanding of which MD funds considered ESG factors. The updated content on the website provides additional clarity. The updates to the website were requested by the Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission in connection with the Staff's ESG-focused review. The following list includes all MD funds that do not consider ESG factors as part of their investment strategies as disclosed in the Simplified Prospectus:







Name of Fund Name of Fund MD Bond Fund MDPIM Short-Term Bond Pool MD Short-Term Bond Fund MDPIM Bond Pool MD Money Fund MDPIM Strategic Yield Pool MD Strategic Yield Fund MDPIM Strategic Opportunities Pool MD Strategic Opportunities Fund MDPIM S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index Pool MD Precision Conservative Portfolio MDPIM S&P 500 Index Pool MD Precision Balanced Income Portfolio MDPIM International Equity Index Pool MD Precision Moderate Balanced Portfolio

MD Precision Moderate Growth Portfolio

MD Precision Balanced Growth Portfolio

MD Precision Maximum Growth Portfolio







To learn more about MD funds, please call MD Client Services at 1 800 267-2332 or visit md.ca . About MD Financial Management Inc. With more than 50 years of physician-focused experience, MD Financial Management Inc. (MD) is dedicated to providing financial peace of mind to Canada's physicians and their families, so they can enjoy what matters most to them while achieving their career and life goals. MD had more than $53.5 billion in assets under management as of May 24, 2023. MD Management Limited was the first of the MD Group of Companies to be founded, in 1969. MD Financial Management Inc. wholly owns MD Management Limited. MD Precision Portfolios are trademarks of The Bank of Nova Scotia, used under licence. MD Financial Management provides financial products and services, the MD Family of Funds and investment counselling services through the MD Group of Companies. For a detailed list of these companies, visit md.ca . Schedule A https://mdm.ca/investing/responsible-investing-esg

https://invested.mdm.ca/making-responsible-investing-the-norm

https://mdm.ca/investing/responsible-investing-esg/responsible-investing-policy

https://invested.mdm.ca/episode-23-responsible-investing-is-part-of-our-investment-management-process/ SOURCE MD Financial Management Inc.

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Rather than demand cooperation with police or accountability or even justice for victims . . . Local activists seemingly contend that more money & power for city council might solve our city's horrific spike in deadly violence.

To wit . . .

APPARENTLY KANSAS CITY POLICE GOVERNANCE IS TO BLAME FOR DEADLY MASS SHOOTING ON PROSPECT!!!



There's not much proof that so-called "local control" will help reduce violence.

In fact . . . STL taking over their police department has been a disaster.

But when has data ever stopped our local chattering class from making argument???

Accordingly . . . Check the local blame game that, in fact, represents a powerful faction of the local discourse:



"However, the Kansas City Police Department accounts for 36 deaths from 2013 to 2021. They have more police shootings per arrest than 95% of all police departments. They have more racial disparities than 67% percent of all police departments and have killed or used deadly force on unarmed Black people more than many other police departments, ranking themselves one of the worst police departments in the nation.



"This speaks to how overfunded the KCPD is. The funds that pay them to mutilate our Black community can, instead, be used for things like mental-health resources, housing, and education for our Black communitiesareas that have been disregarded . . ."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
One of the top TV news outlets now faces serious complaints about life in the brutal corporate world.



Here are the basics . . .



"She also accused her employers of punishing her for taking time off to attend to an anxiety-related disability that she developed while working for the news channel, according to the lawsuit petition filed Monday.



"Kelli Taylor, who is Black, joined the Kansas City television station in 2017 as a reporter and went on to secure a position as an anchor three years later. But when a new company, Gray Media Group, purchased the station and instated a news director from another market in 2022  Taylor was demoted.



"The lawsuit contends Taylor was not given the same opportunities as her white counterparts, many of whom were men who were allegedly chosen to fill vacant positions which Taylor believes the company did not consider her for due to her race and sex."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
A local agency played a part in this drama . . . Here's a recap as the recession gets a bit worse for those who haven't yet profited from useless Communication Studies degrees . . . Take a peek:



And when former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt went looking for legal standing in order to bring a lawsuit challenging the presidents program, he relied on the relationship between the state and MOHELA  even though the company wanted nothing to do with the lawsuit.



On Friday, the six conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Schmitt that, despite the companys reluctance, MOHELA gave Missouri standing to sue. The court then struck down the program, with Chief Justice John Roberts accusing the executive branch of a power grab over the legislature.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . .

Missouri company plays central role in downfall of Biden loan forgiveness program * Missouri Independent MOHELA, a Missouri nonprofit created by state statute, is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court decision striking student loan relief.

Supreme Court strikes down Biden's plan to forgive student loan debt The decision means millions will have to start making repayments on their student loans later this year.

Supreme Court expected to rule on Biden's student debt relief plan Friday The justices are likely to issue rulings in two cases challenging President Joe Biden's authority to forgive federal student loan debt under a 2003 law called the HEROES Act.

Supreme Court decision on student debt forgiveness leaves Midwest students disappointed and worried On Friday, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that dismayed millions of people who were hoping for debt relief through President's Biden program. Many of those borrowers live in the Midwest states that brought the case to the high court.

Developing . . .
Tsunis referred to his parents who emigrated from Greece only with hope and the solid foundations of Greek values, underlining the importance of the Marshall Plan

The United States embassy celebrated Independence Day (July 4) on Thursday with more than 1,500 guests, ANA reports.

Sending a resounding message in defense of Ukraine, US Ambassador George Tsunis emphasized that the effort to support Ukraine must not flag. "We can not let up. While we sit in the safety of our homes talking about solidarity, they are the ones fighting and dying for these principles we hold dear. We cannot be nations of onlookers. We cannot be silent as one country attempts to redraw the boundaries of another by force.

"So I ask each of you, in ways big and small, to recommit to peace and freedom in a Ukraine that not only survives but thrives," he said.

He made a special reference to the recent visit of former US President Barack Obama to Greece, saying that Obama reminded him that every person, both in Greece and in the United States, has a sacred, ongoing obligation to protect democratic values.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: ChristosV
'I sincerely apologize': Oshawa Catholic priest regrets sending out sheet that said Pride flag 'supports sex with infant toddler girls and boys'

Rev. Michael Hughes of St. Gertrude's Catholic Church: 'I should not have allowed it (sheet) to have been circulated'
Andrew Palamarchuk is a reporter with Metroland Media Toronto and toronto.com. He has been covering the crime beat since 2002 and has a passion for giving a voice to those affected by tragedy and looking at societal issues that may have contributed to it.
Viewing insider transactions for OM Holdings Limited's (ASX:OMH ) over the last year, we see that insiders were net buyers. This means that a larger number of shares were purchased by insiders in relation to shares sold.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether.

View our latest analysis for OM Holdings

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At OM Holdings

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Executive Chairman & CEO Ngee Tong Low bought AU$170k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.85 per share. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at above the current price of AU$0.50. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. To us, it's very important to consider the price insiders pay for shares. Generally speaking, it catches our eye when an insider has purchased shares at above current prices, as it suggests they believed the shares were worth buying, even at a higher price. Ngee Tong Low was the only individual insider to buy during the last year.

You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

OM Holdings is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership Of OM Holdings

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. OM Holdings insiders own about AU$147m worth of shares. That equates to 40% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At OM Holdings Tell Us?

It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded OM Holdings shares in the last quarter. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Judging from their transactions, and high insider ownership, OM Holdings insiders feel good about the company's 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. You'd be interested to know, that we found 2 warning signs for OM Holdings and we suggest you have a look.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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My childhood best friend is furious with me, partly because I forgot her babys name. Is it over? Ask Ellie
Embark on Unforgettable Journeys with Sky Vacations' Bespoke Tours to Korea



(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED STATES - June 30th, 2023 - For Immediate Release

New York  June 30, 2023: Sky Vacations, one of the leading tour operators renowned for crafting extraordinary travel experiences, is thrilled to unveil two exclusive land tours to Korea, immersing travelers in the vibrant tapestry of this captivating destination.

The first offering All about Korea, promises an authentic voyage through Korea as you journey from vibrant, neon-lit metropolises to serene countryside hills, and from picturesque sandy beaches to awe-inspiring mountain temples. Delve into its rich culture, age-old traditions, and breathtaking natural beauty during this thoughtfully designed 12-day adventure, tailor-made for first-time visitors eager to uncover the essence of Korea.

In addition, the "Spirit of Korea" program is a transformative journey perfect for wanderers seeking to unveil 5000 years of profound culture and history. Experience Zen meditation in serene settings, partake in a traditional tea ceremony, and explore UNESCO World Heritage sites that resonate with ancient tales. An overnight stay in a temple, savoring exquisite Korean cuisine, and a visit to Busan, Korea's second-largest city, make this a once-in-a-lifetime encounter.

Richard Krieger, Director of Sky Vacations shares his perspective stating, "Korea is a kaleidoscope of experiences, landscapes, and contrasts just waiting to be explored. Our tours are meticulously designed to go beyond the ordinary, transcending the popular attractions of Seoul, K-Pop, and Gangnam Style. Further Mr. Krieger adds, we believe in the transformative power of travel, and our aim is to create authentic connections between our travelers and the heart and soul of Korea. Through immersive encounters, off-the-beaten-path discoveries, and engaging interactions with local communities, we strive to unlock the true essence of this captivating destination.

Discover the allure of Korea with Sky Vacations' thoughtfully curated tours that embrace authenticity and open doors to unforgettable encounters.

To view these and all of the Sky Vacations portfolio, visit: www.skyvacations.net. For reservations: 1.877.666.3113

About Sky Vacations

One of the leading tour operators in North America, Sky Vacations curates unique travel experiences around the globe for individual and travelers. Sky Vacations is proud Active Member of USTOA, a member of IGLTA, ATTA and a member of the Sky Bird Group.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Priya Chhabra

E: priya@skyvacations.net

D: +1 248 653 1618

###
HONG KONG and SHANGHAI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tang Jiacai, Chief Information Officer of Ping An Bank, a subsidiary of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An" or the "Group", HKEx:2318; SSE:601318), attended the Asia New Vision Forum hosted by Caixin Global, and conducted a sharing on the application of applying technology to support sustainable development on multiple fronts, such as building smart banks, enhancing the security of financial data and promoting financial inclusion.

(PRNewsfoto/Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.)

"Sustainable development is an evergreen topic. Ping An Bank's mission is to be China's most outstanding, world-leading smart retail bank. We practice the philosophy of sustainable development, leveraging the advantages of Ping An's integrated finance ecosystem and technological empowerment to serve the real economy, fulfilling the corporate responsibilities of a financial services company, and making every effort to promote sustainable development." Mr. Tang said.

Building Smart Banking 3.0 to improve customer experience

In the digital era, the ongoing evolution brought by the global technological revolution and industrial transformation, and the digital elements represented by fintech, the metaverse, the Internet of Things and virtual reality bring challenges and opportunities to the banking industry. "We are carrying the development of Smart Banking 3.0 forward, breaking away from the limitations from products and departments of traditional banks," Mr. Tang said. "By adopting a customer-centric and data-driven mindset and exploring customers' preferences for products and services through in-depth KYC (Know Your Customer) process, we provide smart recommendations for financial services to customers." Ping An Bank is now using intelligent robots for simple, high-frequency, process-oriented tasks to, which enables staff to focus on more complex, high-value tasks. As of the end of 2022, approximately 99% of Ping An Bank's centralized operations were automated and digitized. Among them, the bank's AI service representatives provided 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week service to customers, and saved RMB600 million in labor costs.

Ensuring financial data security and improving customer privacy management

While the digitalization of data is thriving, it also comes with inherent security risks, Mr. Tang said. "China's strict management of data security is about utilizing data effectively within a regulated framework." He shared two examples on using data in a secure and controllable manner. Firstly, data can be secured through technology, such as establishing a secure network environment and implementing firewalls between different business divisions, he said. Data collection occurs only with customer authorization, and users can only access data that has been specifically authorized by customers. Secondly, data security can also be ensured through managerial means, such as labeling data according to regulatory requirements and implementing a tiered security management system for different data sources. Less sensitive data can be utilized more extensively, while highly sensitive data can have more protection. In 2022, Ping An Bank conducted a comprehensive security audit, which mainly covered areas such as data security management, the information security management framework and procedures, risk management for technology outsourcing, business security management, and employee behavior management. During the same period, the bank also conducted nine information security training sessions for staff, on topics such as data security, personal information protection, information security laws, and information technology outsourcing management.

Promoting financial inclusion

Ping An Bank uses its advantages in fintech, actively promotes the integration of digital technology and financial inclusion, leveraging the internet, cloud computing, big data, AI and other technologies, to improve the accessibility of financial services. As of the end of 2022, Ping An Bank's balance of loans to small and medium-sized enterprises for inclusive finance was RMB528.226 billion, accounting for 17.11% of the total loan balance, an increase of 38.22% from 2021. For small and micro enterprises, Ping An Pocket Bank App is an innovative online service platform developed by Ping An Bank, providing various benefits, such as waivers for payment and settlement fees, tax, personnel and legal services fees, and loan interest. As of the end of 2022, there were more than 13 million registered users of the Pocket Bank App and the number of transaction users surpassed 4.7 million. For small and medium-sized banks, Ping An Bank launched an online platform to address the pain points of small and medium-sized banks in areas lacking financial services, such as insufficient product supply, and integrated market resources to provide a wealth of products such as funds, bonds and financial management. By the end of 2022, Ping An Bank had served 1,160 small and medium-sized banks, including 1,010 rural financial institutions. Technology has also enabled Ping An Bank, through collaborations with peers, to provide indirect services to small and micro enterprises and farmers in remote counties and villages without increasing its physical branch network.

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 229 million retail customers, 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 RMB11,137,168 million in total assets. The Group ranked 16th in the Forbes Global 2000 list in 2023 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 .

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ping-an-bank-chief-information-officer-technology-supports-sustainability-of-finance-301867762.html

SOURCE Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd.
The Prime Minister, in an almost immediate response to the Chief Secretary's statement, cate
NASA awards Alaska Satellite Facility five-year, $70 million contract

The Alaska Satellite Facility at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will continue to operate NASAs Distributed Active Archive Center for synthetic aperture radar under a contract that extends the work through 2028.

NASA announced the $70 million contract award on June 22. The contract takes effect Saturday, July 1.

UAF Geophysical Institute photo.

The Elvey Building houses the Alaska Satellite Facility, part of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The archive center is one of 12 in NASAs Earth Observing System Data and Information System. Each has a unique function.

In synthetic aperture radar, sensors on satellites produce energy and then record the amount of that energy reflected back after interacting with the Earth. The data is used to produce imagery.

The center will communicate regularly with Earth research science and instrument teams, as well as lead efforts in the SAR community on data formats, strategic data services, data interoperability, data usability, and data capabilities, NASA stated in an announcement.

Alaska Satellite Facility Director Wade Albright said the long-standing relationship with NASA will continue to benefit the SAR community.

The collaboration between the Alaska Satellite Facility and NASA provides an uninterrupted opportunity to revolutionize NASAs Earth observation capabilities with synthetic aperture radar data, Albright said. The contract represents a significant and ongoing step toward technology application and data management strategies, empowering scientists worldwide with comprehensive and accurate data.

Alaska Satellite Facility image

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurred in northern Qinghai Province, China, on Jan. 6, 2022. In this Sentinel-1 SAR interferogram of the region, each fringe (or color cycle) in the butterfly-shaped figure represents 1.1 inches of ground surface displacement. The interferogram was created using the Alaska Satellite Facilitys HyP3 On Demand processing service.

The contract award will allow the Alaska Satellite Facility to enhance data collection, analysis, and distribution processes to advance the understanding of Earths systems and improve disaster response capabilities.

SAR data use has grown dramatically since 2014, when the European Space Agency launched its Sentinel-1 satellite and made its SAR data freely available. The Alaska Satellite Facility downlinks Sentinel-1 data under an agreement between the U.S. State Department and the European Commission.

The Alaska Satellite Facility employs nearly 100 people. That number has almost doubled over the past five years due to additional contracts with NASA, other federal agencies and commercial entities.

The facility is preparing for a major increase in the amount of data it archives and distributes. The additional data will come with the launch of a SAR satellite by NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation.

The satellite, named NISAR, will provide information about Earths changing ecosystems and surfaces, biomass, natural hazards, sea level rise and groundwater. It also will support a host of other applications, according to NASA.

The Alaska Satellite Facility last year received the NASA Group Achievement Award, given collectively to NASAs 12 Distributed Active Archive Centers for outstanding group accomplishment that has contributed substantially to NASA's mission.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Alaska Satellite Facility User Support office, uso@asf.alaska.edu

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Russia's FSB has been tasked with liquidating the leader of the "Wagner" PMC Yevheny Prigozhin after a failed mutiny last weekend.

Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov said this in an interview with The War Zone, Ukrinform reports.

"We are aware that the FSB was charged with a task to assassinate him (Prigozhin - ed.). Will they be successful in doing that? We'll see with time. So in any case, all of such potential assassination attempts will not be fast. It will take them some time to have the proper approaches and to reach the stage when they're ready to add a huge operation. But once again, I'd like to underline that it's a big open question. Would they be successful in fulfilling that? Will they dare to execute that order?" Budanov said.

According to him, if Prigozhin had realized his initial plan with the rebellion, Russia would have already been divided into at least two parts.

"Because had Prigozhin entered an empty Kremlin that day, he would have shown to the public that the Kremlin is empty. There are no ministers. There are no real high-ranking officials there. They all have escaped, and he would demonstrate that there's no authority in power currently in Russia. But on the other hand, some officials from St. Petersburg or elsewhere would start claiming that they're the legitimate power which makes a situation of two powers in the country, which immediately would be split. But given the fact that they've managed to come to an agreement, which they did, it bought some time for the Russian leadership, for the Russian authorities. But still, their stance as all-controlling a pillar of power was greatly undermined by Prigozhins actions and it will never be the same again", Budanov added.

As Ukrinform reported, on June 23, the leader of the "Wagner" PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin announced a demarche against the Russian military leadership, in particular against Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

As a result of the offensive, the Wagner PMC column reached the Lipetsk region of Russia, 420 kilometers from Moscow.

Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko held talks with the founder of the "Wagner" PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin, after which he said that the group's fighters were returning to field camps.

Photo: Defense Intelligence of Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky held a regular meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the situation at the front and threats from Belarus.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

"The Staff. Reports of Commanders Zaluzhnyi, Syrskyi, Tarnavskyi, Naiev. Situation on the battlefield, movement forward. Strengthening our operations with additional artillery systems and shells," Zelensky said.

According to him, there was also a separate report by the GUR, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the SSU and the SBGSU on the situation in Belarus.

The President assured that the situation in Belarus is under constant control of the Ukrainian side.

"The decision of the Staff - Chief Commander Zaluzhnyi and Commander of the "North" Naiev - was to implement a set of measures to strengthen this area," Zelensky informed.

As Ukrinform reported, on June 23, the leader of the "Wagner" PMC Yevgeny Prigozhin announced a demarche against the Russian military leadership, in particular against Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Prigozhin, after which he said that the group's fighters were returning to their field camps.

On Tuesday, Lukashenko confirmed Prigozhin's arrival in Belarus. Putin, in turn, said that the "Wagnerites" could sign a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry or go to Belarus.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is convinced that the contingent of the "Wagner" PMC in Belarus will be insignificant, as more than 20,000 "Wagnerites" have already been destroyed by the Ukrainian defense forces.
FILE PHOTO: The logo for Eve Air Mobility is displayed on a screen during the companys debut on the floor of the NYSE in New York

By Gabriel Araujo

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Power grids around the world are not yet ready for the so-called flying car, an executive with Brazilian start-up Eve Air Mobility told Reuters, adding that the electric aircraft maker is in talks with power providers to bridge the gap.

Eve's Services & Operations Solutions Vice President, Luiz Mauad, said the nascent industry does face challenges when it comes to the power supply the electric aircraft needs to recharge. But he expressed optimism they would be overcome in time for Eve to meet its target of starting commercial operations in 2026.

Eve is one of a bevy of startups worldwide developing battery-powered aircraft that can take off and land vertically to ferry travelers to airports or for short city trips, allowing them to beat traffic.

Mauad said Eve has been talking to global power generators and distributors about making infrastructure adequate for the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs), including the so-called vertiports they would take off from.

Controlled by planemaker Embraer, Eve has an order backlog of up to 2,850 aircraft, with clients in countries including Brazil, the United States, India and France.

"We see that major cities are more prepared and companies say they have grid studies for those cities, where demand is greater," Mauad said. "But there is still the 'final mile' challenge so that power can get to the vertiports."

He added Eve was keen to partner with power firms to develop the necessary infrastructure, and said in Brazil the company has been discussing projects with EDP.

"Once our clients decide on their specific routes, the power firms will be able to establish if a given place is OK or if it will require more time," Mauad said.

Eve's eVTOL is being developed to have a range of 100 km (60 miles). The average traveled distance is likely to be around 30 km, the company estimates.

Discussions are also advancing on establishing vertiports, Mauad said, noting that studies show they can be as small as a helipad or as large as a hub, with several stands and passenger terminals, depending on demand and available area.

"It is a sector in which we learn as we go."

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
President Volodymyr Zelensky expects that during Spain's rotating presidency of the EC Council, Ukraine will be able to gain influence in Latin America.

Ukrinform reports this with reference to Reuters.

Speaking on Friday on the eve of a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Zelensky said several unspecified countries had blocked an invitation extended to him by Sanchez to take part in an EU-Latin American summit in Brussels on July 17-18.

"We have a peace formula, and Pedro has supported us a lot. He has a constant dialogue with Latin America and they listen to him, it's a fact. But I'll say frankly that some Latin American countries are blocking the decision and this invitation," he said.

"I want them not only to join the peace formula, but to stand against war," Zelensky added.

In the interview, Zelensky also asked for a concrete plan for Ukraine to join NATO.

Ukraine has been working with allies to build broad international support for a peace blueprint without territorial compromises.

Ukrainian and Western officials aim to rally a broad coalition - including major countries that have decided not to give Ukraine military aid or impose sanctions on Russia - to increase diplomatic pressure on Moscow.

As reported, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit Ukraine on the first day of Spains presidency of the EU Council. President Volodymyr Zelensky is convinced that this is a historic time to start negotiations on Ukraine's membership in the EU.

On 1 July, Spain takes over the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union, in accordance with the system of rotation among the 27 Member States.

Photo: Presidents Office
The EU heads of state and government, who started a meeting in the format of the European Council in Brussels on Thursday, adopted a resolution on Ukraine, in which they expressed their intention to further increase pressure on Russia to weaken its ability to continue aggression against Ukraine.

As Ukrinform reports, this is stated in the text of the European Council conclusions on Ukraine and security and defence adopted at the meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels on Thursday.

The European Council discussed efforts to further increase pressure on Russia in order to weaken its ability to wage its war of aggression, including through sanctions, their full and effective implementation and the prevention of their circumvention. In this context, it welcomes the adoption of the 11th package of sanctions. The European Council calls on the co-legislators to swiftly finalise work on the proposed Directive approximating criminal offences and penalties for the violation of Union restrictive measures, reads the document.

At the same time, the European Council condemned the illegal actions of Russia and its accomplice, Belarus, directed against the civilian population of Ukraine.

The European Council condemns in the strongest terms Russias unlawful deportation and transfer to Russia and to Belarus of Ukrainian children and other civilians. It calls on the Russian Federation and Belarus to immediately ensure their safe return, the resolution underscores.

The European leaders condemned the continued military support for Russias war of aggression provided by Iran and Belarus.

Belarus must stop allowing Russian armed forces to use its territory, including for the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. Iran must stop providing drones to Russia, the document says.

Read also: EU and its partners to ensure stable financial support for Ukraine for years to come

In the adopted resolution, the European Union reiterated its commitment to reinforce support for displaced persons, both in Ukraine and in the European Union, including through adequate and flexible financial assistance to the Member States who carry the largest burden of the medical, education and living costs of refugees.
The Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the OSCE on the anniversary of the liberation of Zmiinyi Island from invaders, calling on Russia to repeat the "goodwill gesture" and withdraw its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine.

The relevant statement was made by the Mission on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

"On the occassion of the 1st Anniversary of Liberation of Snake Island by Defenders of Ukraine, we call on Russia to move to the next level of its good will gesture playbook and to get out from the entire territory of Ukraine. Now!", the statement reads.

As reported, Russian troops seized Zmiinyi Island on the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. It was reported that after the shelling of Zmiinyi by Russian ships and aircraft, the island's infrastructure was destroyed and communication with border guards was lost.

On February 28, the Ukrainian Navy reported that the marines and border guards who had been taken prisoner on Zmiinyi Island were alive and had been returned from captivity in November.

On June 30, the Ukrainian military completely liberated Zmeinyi. The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed the escape of its military, calling it a " goodwill gesture."
Rachel Eames recognized as REALTOR of the Year at Seacoast Board of REALTORS

Left to right are Kevin Kneeland and Rachel Eames

PORTSMOUTH  Rachel Eames was awarded the 2023 REALTOR of the Year of the Seacoast Board of REALTORS at a reception held at Flag Hill Distillery & Winery in Lee on June 14.

Eames is a REALTOR with REMAX Capital Realty & Coastal Living. The award was presented by Kevin Kneeland, the 2022 REALTOR of the Year recipient.

Paula Frenette, of Embrace Home Loans, Portsmouth, was recognized as 2023 Affiliate of the Year. In addition to REALTORS, Seacoast Board membership includes organizations affiliated with the real estate profession, such as movers, title companies, mortgage lenders, home inspectors, and others that support the real estate transaction.

Laura Pouliot, with The Gove Group, Stratham, was presented with the Boards annual Good Neighbor Award, by Pam Chaffee, the 2022 recipient. Hampton Falls Free Library will receive $1,000 in honor of Ms. Pouliots Award.

Each year, the Seacoast Board of REALTORS awards three $2,500 scholarships to area graduating seniors. This years recipients are Portsmouth High School graduate Frank Coviello, who will be attending Tufts University to pursue a major in Mechanical and Environmental Engineering. Holly Fermon, a graduate of Newmarket High School, who will be attending the University of Vermont, majoring in Molecular Genetics. And Winnacunnet High School graduate Jackson Willis will attend Fairfield University, majoring in Biomedical Engineering

Each year, the Seacoast Board of REALTORS awards three $2,500 scholarships to area graduating seniors. This scholarship is awarded in memory of Realtor Lori Breard-Weeden. This years recipients are Portsmouth High School graduate Frank Coviello, who will be attending Tufts University to pursue a major in Mechanical and Environmental Engineering. Holly Fermon, a graduate of Newmarket High School, who will be attending the University of Vermont, majoring in Molecular Genetics. And Winnacunnet High School graduate Jackson Willis will attend Fairfield University, majoring in Biomedical Engineering.

The afternoon concluded with a live auction and a drawing for 100 bottles of wine, donated by various members of the Seacoast Board of REALTORS. This years winner was Kathy MacQuarrie of The Gove Group. The Auction and Raffle raised over $7,500 to benefit the Lori Breard-Weeden Scholarship Fund.

Step Up Parents awarded $4,500 grant from the Bishops Charitable Assistance Fund

BCAF Julie Bailey and Denyse Richter - Step Up Parents

PORTSMOUTH  The Bishops Charitable Assistance Fund (BCAF) recently presented a $4,500 grant to Step Up Parents in support of its mission to provide support and financial assistance to kinship caregivers who are raising the children of parents who struggle with substance use disorder. The BCAF has made a difference in the lives of so many citizens of NH for nearly 40 years, and continues to do so.

The Bishops Charitable Assistance Fund is so pleased to be able to help Step Up Parents to continue to offer support to relatives or close family friends who step up to care, nurture, and protect children, shared Julie Bailey, chair of the allocation committee for the Bishops Charitable Assistance Fund.

Denyse Richter, Founder and Executive Director of Step Up Parents, expressed gratitude for the continued support, stating, "The Bishops Charitable Assistance Fund has been a kind supporter of our work for the last three years. We appreciate not only their generosity but that they see the importance and value in serving kinship families who are so truly deserving of our support."

Since its founding in 2019, Step Up Parents has helped over 400 kinship families, impacted over 700 children, and given over $225,000 in assistance with the help of generous grants like this one.

If you or someone you know is a relative caregiver raising children of a loved one struggling with substance misuse, please visit www.stepupparents.org, call 603-319-4739, or email info@stepupparents.org.

Step Up Parents relies solely on donations. To donate, please visit www.stepupparents.org/donate or mail to P.O. Box 1603, Portsmouth, NH 03801.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Realtor of the year, Step Up Parents awarded grant: Seacoast business news
Earlier today, it was Bitcoin Cashnow, it's Litecoin.

The two cryptocurrencies have received renewed interest from investors since Wall Street-backed EDX Markets listed them last week.

Both were arguably fading into obscurity but are now soaringespecially Litecoin, which just reentered the top 10 biggest digital assets by market cap.

The Bitcoin fork is up 23.6% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, trading hands for $104.63. That makes it one of the best-performing digital assets right now.

And in the past seven days, it has shot up by 15% in value, meaning that it has regained its spot in the top 10 digital assets, with a market cap of $7.7 billion.

One likely reason for the renewed interest in Litecoin is that it's one of just four cryptocurrencies chosen by the Citadel Securities and Fidelity-backed EDX Markets to trade on its exchange. This is becausealong with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereumregulators are unlikely to target it for being an unregistered security, experts told Decrypt.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this year has launched a tough crackdown on the crypto industryparticularly coins and tokens it considers unregistered securities.

EDX CEO Jamil Nazarali said that he felt "very comfortable" the four assets listed on EDX weren't securities.

EDX is a new exchange backed by "TradFi" heavyweights Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity Digital Assets.

Litecoin Activity Hits All-Time High Thanks to Ordinals Mania

The launch of the exchange has led investors to plug cash into crypto, leading to a bit of a bull run. But it's not just Wall Street that's likely responsible for this sudden jump.

Litecoin is also due for its "halving" later next month, when the supply of coins for mining rewards will be cut in half, meaning fewer of the digital coins will be created. Such events have previously given rise to bullish price action for coins, such as during the run-up to recent Bitcoin halvings.

ANDDD THERE'S LITECOIN WAKING UP pic.twitter.com/DXa2LEvvBk  K A L E O (@CryptoKaleo) June 30, 2023

Litecoin was launched in 2011 by ex-Google employee Charlie Lee. He wanted to create a faster, cheaper version of Bitcoin and so forked the Bitcoin blockchain.

The objective was to make a peer-to-peer cash system cheaper than the oldest and most well-known digital currency: a "silver" to Bitcoin's "digital gold." But the asset hasn't been successful at beating Bitcoin in terms of adoption and has fallen out of favor among investors in recent years. Until now, it seems.

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
INTERVIEW: Policing one of the worlds biggest drug trafficking corridors

UN News/Daniel Dickinson Police officers staff a checkpoint on Highway 1 in the north of Thailand.

Bangkok (Thailand), 29 June 2023 - The effort is centred on the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet and from where illicit items including drugs are trafficked to lucrative markets across Southeast Asia.



UN News spoke with Jeremy Douglas, the Regional Representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, on a mission to the border area.



Jeremy Douglas: Im standing in northern Thailand, in the Golden Triangle, with Laos and Myanmar directly behind me on the banks of the Mekong River. Its one of the biggest drug trafficking corridors in the world. In Shan state, Myanmar, there is the major production of heroin and opium, but also synthetic drugs like methamphetamine which are spilling out across the region and feeding the whole of the Asia Pacific [region], basically from Japan all the way down to New Zealand and everywhere in between.



There are complex governance issues inside Myanmar with a lot of fragmented groups controlling different territories. Drug production is happening in these often very remote areas where the borders are open and porous; its really easy to traffic items in and out of Myanmar, so that poses challenges for its neighbours.

UN News/Runa A Jeremy Douglas, UNODCs Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, at the Golden Triangle in Thailand.

UN News: How is the drug trade evolving in this region?



Jeremy Douglas: What weve seen over the past decade and really pronounced over the last three to four years is a drop off in traditional plant-based drugs. There has been a slight resurgence in opium since the military takeover in Myanmar, as farmers are returning to cultivating the drug after losing other livelihood generating activities. Nonetheless, we see a downward trend overall in terms of plant-based drugs.



We also see a huge surge in synthetic drugs produced by organized crime networks, which have migrated their operations from other parts of the region because they can operate with relative impunity. They have invested in building big drug producing facilities.

UN News/Daniel Dickinson Goods are loaded onto a boat in Laos to be transported across the Mekong river to Thailand.

UN News: What type of new response does this require?



Jeremy Douglas: It requires that governments cooperate at various levels, especially frontline cooperation at the borders where the trafficking is taking place. This means sharing information and conducting joint operations to stop the delivery into Myanmar of chemicals needed to manufacture synthetic drugs and to prevent the trade of hundreds of tons of drugs the other way.



You also need to deal with the business of organized crime, including money laundering and all the other nasty elements that are associated with trafficking of a range of different items, including wildlife products, arms, and even human trafficking.

UN News/Daniel Dickinson The Thai navy has been operating joint patrols in the Mekong region with counterparts from China, Laos, and Viet Nam.

UN News: How important is that collaboration?



Jeremy Douglas: Collaboration is fundamental, as transnational criminality is a shared responsibility. Coordination and cooperation are crucial, as a rapid response is often needed at these border points. This is why UNODC has supported the establishment of around 120 border liaison offices, or BLOs, across the region which allow law enforcement agencies to share information and take action.



This collaboration is working; our Thai colleagues have highlighted a number of cases of human trafficking, migrant smuggling as well as drugs, timber, and arms trafficking which they have disrupted with the help of colleagues in different BLOs.



In Laos, officers there have been the first to identify an emerging global trend. The chemicals used to make synthetic drugs are called precursors, and these are being trafficked into the illegal labs. Now our colleagues in Laos have uncovered the trafficking of so-called pre-precursors  chemicals that are used to make the precursors.



UN News: What are the challenges the BLOs face?



Jeremy Douglas: They need to be supported to evolve and adapt to a crime environment which does not remain static. Law enforcement officers need to understand the latest trends, to have the latest information, so they know what to expect and how to deal with it.



Crucially, these networks also need political support. It can be challenging for States to collaborate on these types of non-traditional security issues, as they are often viewed as very sensitive national issues. So thats where the UN can step in and play a special role to help facilitate dialogue between States.



The fact that governments and local law enforcement agencies are proactively sharing information is a great success and a credit to the UN.

 ADB/Richard Atrero de Guzman Synthetic drugs trafficked out of the Golden Triangle end up on the streets of Tokyo, Japan (pictured) and other markets in Southeast Asia.

UN News: How does illegal trafficking in this relatively small area connect with the bigger transnational, regional, and global organized crime context?



Jeremy Douglas: The organized crime trafficking organizations that dominate the Asia Pacific region, play a global role in the drug trade and other illicit activities. They look for safe havens where it is easier for them to do business and operate with impunity.



They look for chaos, the lack of governance, porous borders, and this they can find in parts of the Golden Triangle. So really, its an organized crime haven.



UN News: How does the work that takes place here connect or affect people living in other parts of the world?



Jeremy Douglas: The drugs that are manufactured here make it as far as the Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, so we see very powerful narcotics on the streets of Sydney or Tokyo that lead to addiction and all the destructive impact they have on individuals, families, and the broader society.



UN News: How transferable is this model that UNODC has established to other parts of the world?



Jeremy Douglas: Its definitely a transferable concept. UNODC is working on a similar network in Central Asia and northern Africa. But, there are other places in the world, in Africa and in Latin America, which would really benefit from following the excellent model set here in Southeast Asia, for example, southern and Central Africa has substantial cross-border crime.



We see much more heroin in southeastern Africa, with heroin moving by sea into East Africa and then across land borders. And in Latin America, the cocaine trade is a cross-border transnational trade in which cocaine is passing through Ecuador, from the growing countries Colombia and Bolivia, and onwards to the Balkans in Europe. So, theres much work to be done.
(@FahadShabbir)

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 30th Jun, 2023) President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a congratulatory message to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia, on the occasion of the success of the Hajj season of 1444 AH.

His Highness Sheikh Mohamed expressed his sincere congratulations on the success of the Hajj season this year, which was achieved by the grace of Allah the Almighty, and thanks to the generous care of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and his wise government and its institutions, to ensure that pilgrims can perform the rituals in tranquility and safety.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court, also dispatched similar messages to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.


Braslia, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2023 ) :A Brazilian court on Friday reached the majority it needs to bar far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro from politics for eight years over unfounded claims against the voting system.

Four of the seven judges of the Superior Electoral Tribunal have voted to discipline Bolsonaro for alleged abuses of power, while one so far has found in his favor.

With two votes outstanding, the trial could yet be postponed to a later date for the final ruling.

The tribunal is trying the former president on charges he abused his office and state media in making unfounded allegations of security flaws in Brazil's electronic voting system.

Prosecutors have linked Bolsonaro's statements to his supporters invading the presidential palace, Congress and Supreme Court on January 8, a week after the inauguration of leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Lula had defeated Bolsonaro, 68, in elections last October.

After hearing evidence in the case, the judges started delivering their verdicts one by one on Tuesday.

If convicted, Bolsonaro will be ineligible to stand in the next presidential election in 2026, opening the contest for a new leader of the political right.

Bolsonaro was not in court in Brasilia, traveling instead to Belo Horizonte in Brazil's southeast, where he was scheduled to have lunch with members of his Liberal Party.

On Thursday, he insisted he was innocent, telling reporters: "Wanting to take away my political rights for abuse of political power is inexplicable." - 'Collective paranoia' - The charges arise from a televised meeting Bolsonaro held with foreign diplomats from the presidential residence in July 2022, three months before his election defeat to Lula.

Bolsonaro spent nearly an hour making his argument to the assembled ambassadors, armed with a PowerPoint presentation but no hard evidence to back his claims that electronic voting machines in use since 1996 compromised election transparency.

The lead judge on the case, Benedito Goncalves, ruled Tuesday to convict Bolsonaro, saying he had used "violent speech and lies" that "endangered the credibility" of Brazil's electoral system.

Goncalves said the briefing "served to incite a state of collective paranoia" about elections at a time Brazil was deeply polarized.

"He instigated a belief that there was a real threat the results of the 2022 election would be adulterated," said the judge.

"It was extremely harmful to the democratic environment." On Thursday, judge Floriano Marques also voted for conviction and posed the question: "What could be more serious (than) a head of state who, with electoral objectives, mobilizes the apparatus of the Republic to intentionally convey the idea that Brazilian elections are not clean?" Colleague Raul Araujo, however, voted for acquittal. He said the "gravity of the comportment was not sufficient to justify the extreme measure" of electoral ineligibility.

Nearly half the electorate voted for Bolsonaro in last October's second round, but it was not enough for a win.

Bolsonaro's lawyer Tarcisio Vieira has said he would appeal any guilty verdict to the Supreme Court.

- Tropical Trump - Bolsonaro's unsubstantiated talk of election fraud and the January 8 riots drew comparisons to his political role model, Donald Trump and his bid to hang onto power after losing the 2020 US presidential election.

Nicknamed the "Tropical Trump," his presidency was controversial: at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic that claimed more than 700,000 lives in Brazil, he mocked face masks, social distancing and vaccines, warning the jab could "turn you into an alligator." He also faced an international outcry over the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, which surged on his watch.

Bolsonaro spent three months in the United States after his term came to an end, and has kept an uncharacteristically low profile since returning to Brazil in March to serve as honorary president of his Liberal Party.

He faces a raft of legal woes. Any one of five Supreme Court investigations could send him to jail -- including over the January 8 attacks.

The police are also investigating claims of a fake Covid-19 vaccination certificate and of diamond jewelry snuck into the country from Saudi Arabia.
WELLINGTON, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2023 ) --:New Zealand is delivering on its climate commitment to ban new coal boilers and to phase out existing ones by 2037, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods said on Friday.

The government's decisions will reduce emissions by about the same amount as 100,000 cars would produce in a year, Woods said.

"Currently, more than half of the heat used to process raw materials into products such as paper and dairy production comes from fossil fuels," she said.

Switching to cleaner ways of generating process heat presents a huge opportunity to reduce domestic greenhouse gases and paves the way for greener export products too, the minister said.

The new policy follows the government's recent announcement of New Zealand's biggest-ever emissions reduction project, in partnership with New Zealand Steel Limited, to introduce an electric arc furnace and reduce carbon emissions by 800,000 tonnes per year - the equivalent of 300,000 cars to produce in a year, she said.
Lille, France, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2023 ) :A burned district office, another pelted with stones, "lots of looting": in Lille, in the north of France, a game of cat and mouse played out into the wee hours of Friday morning between authorities and protesters.

As in other French cities, the metropolis of one and a half million near the Belgian border has been convulsed by at-times violent demonstrations since Tuesday's fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old named Nahel in Nanterre, near Paris.

The incident revived longstanding grievances about policing and racial profiling in France's multiethnic suburbs, but some in Lille suggested the backlash had gone too far, even as they denounced the shooting.

In the district of Wazemmes, firefighters worked until after midnight to extinguish a blaze that damaged the ground floor and blackened the facade of the local district hall.

"Burning a district hall is useless," said 22-year-old bus driver Sofiane, standing in front of the charred edifice as fireworks sounded in the distance.

"The cop who did this did not have to do it", he said of the officer who shot Nahel, "but attacking public places, what does it serve?" District councillor Brice Lauret, who had rushed to the scene, said the violence was "unacceptable".

"I can understand anger, but not violence," he added.

In another area, Fives, the district hall was targeted with stones, its windows broken out, according to Lille city hall, while an elementary school in the neighbourhood of Moulins was badly damaged by flames.

There was also "a lot of looting" of shops and supermarkets, it added, saying "very mobile small groups, composed of very young" individuals were striking "everywhere".

- 'Today they are shooting' - The city had beefed up its security presence on Thursday, deploying elite RAID units, a helicopter and police drones after violence broke out the previous night, though the measures appeared to have little deterrent effect.

The first incidents started around 9:00 pm (1900 GMT), in the sector of the central police station, where authorities had prohibited gatherings after calls for a rally went out on social media.

Mobile and scattered, small groups of young people set fire to trash cans and cars on a main artery. Some broke the windows of a supermarket, later emerging with bottles of soda.

RAID officers, aboard an ATV and in an armoured vehicle, intervened several times, brandishing projectile launchers.

"They are not showing any mercy; today they are shooting," commented one passerby who, like many interviewed by AFP, declined to identify himself.

- From blaze to blaze - Tensions were also high in the nearby municipality of Roubaix, one of the poorest in France, where firefighters dashed from blaze to blaze throughout the night.

Next to a theatre with broken-out windows, barricades burned as fireworks crisscrossed the sky. Near the train station, a hotel caught fire, sending its dozen or so residents fleeing into the streets.

As firefighters battled the blaze, another was already starting nearby in a large office building, residents said.

"In two days, they did what the Yellow Vests did in two years," said one pedestrian, referring to the spontaneous and sometimes violent anti-government protest movement that broke out in 2018.

Not far away, a witness recounted having seen a group of about 50 people set fire to a brokerage company's office.

A social centre in the city was also set on fire, according to Amine Elbahi, who ran unsuccessfully in the area in the last legislative elections.

"The police, they feel free to do anything. They killed an innocent youth, they have to stop," said one 16-year-old passerby back in Lille.

Another man in his 20s appeared to agree: "Nahel's death is too serious, it's unjustified.""But the reaction is bad; degrading public services is useless," he added. "It's our money that will fix all this."
Malakasa, Greece, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2023 ) :Survivors of the fishing trawler that went down off Greece carrying hundreds of migrants claimed it was no accident.

"I really don't have the impression that the Greek coastguard wanted to save us at all," said 26-year-old Hassan, who spoke to AFP out of earshot of Greek police guarding a migrant camp at Malakasa, where many survivors are being held.

The rusty vessel capsized and sank in the Ionian Sea on the night of June 13 within sight of the Greek coastguard.

They had been shadowing the trawler with air and sea units for much of the day following tip offs from Italy and EU border agency Frontex.

They managed to rescue 104 people and recover 82 bodies but as many as 560 others on board may have perished, by some estimates.

AFP spoke to five survivors of the tragedy, which is likely to go down as one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean.

"It was a criminal act," said 28-year-old Salim, who like the others used a pseudonym to protect anonymity out of fears for his safety. He claimed the coastguard's actions caused the sinking.

According to the survivors, the coastguards threw cables twice to the boat to tow it.

The first time, the line failed to catch. The second time, "the rope was tied to the bow by the (Greek) boat which suddenly zigzagged from left to right very quickly, producing waves. That's when the boat capsized," Salim said.

The Greek navy ministry told AFP that they cannot comment on "the investigation which is being carried out in strict confidentiality".

But Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Thursday that "the real responsibility lies with the criminal gangs that filled the boat with desperate people... without even giving them life jackets." - 'We could hear their cries' - The survivors were almost exclusively men, with hundreds of women and children believed to have been locked on the lower deck.

"I don't know how many they were, but we could hear their cries," said Ahmad, a 27-year-old Syrian.

The coastguard said it had encouraged nearby ships to give food and water to the Pakistanis, Syrians, Palestinians and Egyptians on board, but decided not to attempt a rescue after being repeatedly told by an English-speaker on the vessel that it did not need assistance.

"Its deck was full of people, and we assume the interior was just as full," coastguard spokesman Nikolaos Alexiou told state tv ERT afterwards.

"You cannot divert a boat with so many people on board by force unless there is cooperation," he said.

In its official account, the Greek coastguard said the trawler had notified at 2240 GMT on June 13 that its engine had failed.

Twenty-four minutes later, the Greek patrol boat skipper radioed in that the boat had capsized. It sank within 15 minutes, at 2:19 am Greek time.

Ahmad said the engine had stopped before midnight, some 90 minutes before the time given by the Greeks.

- Coastguard 'watched from afar' - After the trawler capsized, the Greek coastguard "watched us from afar for at least 10 minutes, and only then did they send two inflatable boats to help people in the water," Salim said, his eyes full of tears.

Azad, 21, said he had to swim for at least an hour to reach the Greek coastguard boat.

The initial government account made no mention of tow cables.

It was only on June 16 that the Greek government said a rope had been thrown to "stabilise" the boat, but that the migrants had refused help, saying, "No help, go Italy." On Monday, EU border agency Frontex said Greece had ignored an offer of aerial support prior to the sinking.

Earlier that day, a Frontex plane had monitored the fishing vessel that had set out from Libya for 10 minutes before the aircraft had to return to base for refuelling, the agency told AFP.

Frontex said the agency "offered additional aerial support to Greek authorities on 13 June but received no response." Originally from Daraa, the cradle of the rebellion against the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, Salim had paid close to $4,500 for the trip to Italy.

Stuck in Tobruk, Libya for eight months, he was moved by smugglers "from hangar to hangar, where we were crammed in by the dozens," he said.

Rukayan, a Kurd from the Syrian town of Kobane, likewise paid $4,500 for the trip, after an initial $1,800 to get from Lebanon to Libya via Egypt.

When the journey began on June 9, Rukayan remembered paying an additional $200 to be taken to the boat and permitted to travel on the upper deck.

"I don't know why I survived all this," he said.

His 17-year-old cousin is still missing, and Rukayan is haunted by images of the shipwreck.

He now hopes to join his brother and sister in Germany. "I don't want to stay in this country of murderers," he said.
Once the must-have accessory, Rhode Island jeweler Alex and Ani closed 20 stores this past weekend and reportedly vacated their Ocean State headquarters.

Rhode Island employees who worked at the company's headquarters in East Greenwich were told to start working from home on Tuesday. Alex and Ani had about 50 employees working from the headquarters.

"Alex and Ani has implemented a work-from-anywhere model that allows Alex and Ani to hire talent all across the country," CEO Scott Burger said in a statement. "The company will be exploring future alternatives for office space, offering our incredible team the balance of flexibility and collaboration that are here to stay."

While Alex and Ani had already closed all of their Rhode Island storefronts and nationwide, the company says 7 stores will remain open. The nearest one is in Florida in Disney Springs. The closest Alex and Ani store location, in the Natick Mall in Natick, Massachusetts, is no longer listed on the website's store locator. The locator now is primarily filled with The Paper Store locations, which carry their line.

"Alex and Ani has been reimagining various aspects of our company over the past few years," Burger said in the statement. "From moving our assembly operation, relocating our warehouse and updating our ERP system, we are collectively working towards a strategic omni-channel environment that supports shifts in retail and consumers wants and needs. Throughout this process, we must make difficult decisions that ultimately support this journey."

Alex and Ani's charm bracelets fueled explosive growth a decade ago. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday in Delaware.

Alex and Ani in Rhode Island

Founded in 2004, by University of Rhode Island graduate Carolyn Rafaelian in her father's Cinerama jewelry factory, the brand sold collectible bangles with a wide variety of charms to cater to all different interests. They were known for their positive energy vibes, and shaman even blessed the jewelry before it heads out to stores.

More: Rhode Island jewelry maker Alex and Ani files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

At the height of their popularity, they had over 100 stories across the country. From 2016 to 2019, Rafaelian made Forbess list of Americas richest self-made women.

In 2020, Rafaelian fell off the list. That same year, she was forced to give up control of Alex and Ani to investor Lion Capital, according to bankruptcy documents.

In 2021, the company filed for bankruptcy.

Last year, Second Avenue Capital Partners gave Alex and Ani a $17.5 million loan to support ongoing captial needs.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Alex and Ani closes stores and HQ, leaving only 7 locations open
United Nations, United States, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2023 ) :The UN Security Council on Friday ended a decade-old peacekeeping mission in Mali, whose military junta has aligned with Russia and demanded the withdrawal of the international force battling jihadists.

Bowing to the principle that peacekeepers need the consent of the host government, the Security Council voted unanimously to start immediately winding down the mission despite fears by Western powers of new instability in the troubled nation.

The vote came two weeks after Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop stunned the Security Council by calling the UN operation known as Minusma a "failure" and urging its immediate end.

Mali's relations with the United Nations have deteriorated sharply since a 2020 coup brought to power a military regime which also severed defense cooperation with France, the former colonial power.

The junta instead has rallied behind Russia and brought in the Wagner Group, the ruthless mercenaries involved in a mutiny against President Vladimir Putin last week.

"We deeply regret the transitional government's decision to abandon Minusma and the harm this will bring to the Malian people," senior US diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis told the Security Council.

But he said that the United States voted for the resolution as it agreed with the logistical timeline for the withdrawal, which is set to be complete by the end of the year.

Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, said the authorities in Bamako were seeking to take "full responsibility" for security and that Russia "will continue to provide comprehensive support to Mali for normalizing the situation." Under the resolution led by France, the peacekeepers will cease their main activity from Saturday and focus on a departure by the end of the year.

The peacekeepers will still be empowered to protect against "imminent threats of violence to civilian" in areas surrounding them.

- Deadly and costly - Minusma has been the most costly mission for the UN, at $1.2 billion a year, and 174 peacekeepers have died since its creation in 2013.

Despite tensions with the junta, the UN mission had widely been expected to be extended until the Malian foreign minister's intervention.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier in June had proposed renewing Minusma but streamlining its activities.

In a report, Guterres acknowledged shortcomings but called the mission "invaluable." He noted that several countries in the region saw extremist groups as an "existential threat" whose violence could spill over and wanted to strengthen Minusma.

With 13,000 troops and police in Minusma, its termination will be a Herculean task with the United Nations needing to take away equipment, helicopters and armored vehicles.

"Securing the constructive cooperation of the Malian authorities will be essential to facilitate the process," said a spokesperson for UN peacekeeping operations.

While the withdrawal was a given, the timeline was the focus of heated negotiations in recent days, according to diplomats.

Mali, with the backing of veto-wielding Russia, had pushed for Minusma to leave as quickly as possible, while some other nations feared that even six months was too rushed.

Richard Gowan, an expert at the International Crisis Group, said that UN officials feared that Wagner will simply take over Minusma facilities once the mission is completed.

Julie Gregory of the Stimson Center said the end of the mission could have a dire effect on civilians.

"It's likely that violent extremists will take the opportunity to increase violence" with a potential for increased confrontation with national forces, especially in the north," Gregory said.

Russia has insisted that its paramilitary forces will continue to operate in Mali and other African nations, notably the Central African Republic, despite the aborted mutiny of the Wagner Group's chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Russia had long insisted that Wagner was a private group but acknowledged after the rebellion that it had been directly funding its overseas operations, which have been widely criticized by the West and human rights groups.

"Ultimately it is for the Malian transitional authorities to choose its partners," said James Kariuki, Britain's deputy ambassador to the United Nations. "But let's be clear: the Wagner Group, whether operating autonomously or under direct control from Moscow, is not the answer -- in Mali or anywhere else."
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Jun, 2023 ) :The security forces on Friday killed six active terrorists involved in various hostile and terror activities against the forces and innocent civilians amid successful operations in Tank and North Waziristan districts.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), an exchange of fire took place between the army troops and terrorists in the general area of Manzai, Tank District on the night of June 29-30.

The troops effectively engaged the terrorists' location and resultantly, three of them were sent to hell.

The forces also recovered weapons and ammunition from the killed terrorists.

In another fierce encounter between the troops and terrorists in the general area of Razmak, North Waziristan District, three more terrorists were sent to hell.

The killed terrorists remained actively involved in terror activities against security forces as well as the killing of innocent citizens.

The sanitization of the areas were being carried out to trace and eliminate other terrorists, if any, ISPR said.

Locals of the area appreciated the operation and expressed their full support to the army troops to eliminate the menace of terrorism, it added.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) Asian and African countries, including China and India, are very interested in Russian plasma engines, Yuri Borisov, the head of Russian space corporation Roscosmos said on Friday.

"Today, under the conditions of sanctions, we have changed our (market) orientation.

The countries of Asia, China, Africa, and India have a very serious interest in these (plasma) engines," Borisov said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as broadcast by Rossiya 24.

Roscosmos offered African countries the construction of national modules in the Russian Orbital Service Station, Borisov added.

"(With the African countries) we talked... about manned spaceships. I offered to participate in the Russian Orbital Station project. Not just the training of cosmonauts, but even the construction of national modules. I will say that the interest in our proposals is very high," Borisov concluded.
MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) Ecuador's police have detained the leader of the country's second-largest criminal gang, Los Lobos, in the region bordering Colombia, Ecuadorian National Police General Commander Fausto Salinas said Thursday.

"Alias 'La Foca' is detained. The priority target was captured by units of the Ecuadorian National Police in the province of Esmeraldas. Alias 'La Foca' was the leader of the Los Lobos in that province," Salinas tweeted.

Los Lobos, according to estimates, has 8,000 members who engage in drug trafficking and assassinations throughout the country. The group is the second after the Los Choneros drug cartel, which was founded in the 1990s in the town of Chone in the Manabi Province and has up to 20,000 members, in terms of the number of members and territorial coverage of their criminal activities.

Los Lobos' name has repeatedly surfaced in the media in connection with massacres in Ecuadorian prisons, where over 400 inmates were killed in 2021-2022 alone.

In 2023, the activities of gangs in Ecuador were recognized as a terrorist threat to the state. Despite the authorities' claims that they were ready to confront them by all available means, the number of intentional homicides in Ecuador is increasing. Last year's figures  4,000 murders  were expected to be exceeded in 2023.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) European Union leaders are concerned about the highly tense situation around the Taiwan Strait, but reaffirm the bloc's commitment to the One China policy, according to the document outlining the results of a two-day summit in Brussels out on Friday.

"The East and South China Seas are of strategic importance for regional and global prosperity and security. The European Union is concerned about growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait. The European Council opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion. It reconfirms the EU's consistent 'One China policy,'" the document posted on the European Council's website read.

Meanwhile, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said the EU should have its own approach to China, knowing that transatlantic partners have a "very strong view" on the issue.

"We see China more and more as a systemic rival, and we have to think about the risks that are there. What is important is that we have our own European approach to our relations with China. We know that our transatlantic partners have a very strong view there, but we have to agree on our common approach," she told reporters on the second day of the meeting.

The European Council convened for a two-day summit in Brussels from June 29-30 to discuss, among other things, the latest developments in the Ukrainian conflict, EU-NATO cooperation and the bloc's relations with China in light of the upcoming meeting between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in July. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated in the summit.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing regards the island as its province, while Taiwan maintains that it is an autonomous entity but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official foreign contacts with Taipei and regards Chinese sovereignty over the island as indisputable.

The latest escalation around Taiwan took place in April after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Beijing responded by launching massive three-day military drills near the island in what it called a "warning" to Taiwanese separatists and foreign powers.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th June, 2023) US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has met with Vietnam's Communist Party top diplomat Le Hoai Trung and discussed a host of bilateral and international issues, including peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, the White House said on Friday.

"National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with the Chairman of the Communist Party of Vietnam's Central External Relations Commission, Le Hoai Trung at the White House on June 29, 2023," the White House said in a press release. "(They) discussed a wide range of areas for future cooperation, including on energy, climate change, investment, education, human rights and efforts to uphold peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.

"

The two officials reaffirmed the strength of their countries' bilateral relations on the ten-year anniversary of the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership, the release said.

On Thursday, Trung also met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss ways to bolster economic partnerships through the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity and strengthen cooperation especially because the United States hosts this year the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Robert Petit, Wyoming Department of Health Public Health Lab bioinformaticist and a UW adjunct professor of statistics, led a free academic workshop where participants were introduced to Nextflow -- a workflow management system -- to learn how it can be used to take advantage of the University of Wyomings Advanced Research Computing Center and help advance research objectives. (Tim Robinson Photo)

Participants in a recent academic workshop were introduced to Nextflow -- a workflow management system -- to learn how it can be used to take advantage of the University of Wyomings Advanced Research Computing Center (ARCC) and help advance research objectives.

UWs ARCC is among the best high-performance computer clusters in the United States.

The Wyoming Department of Health Public Health Laboratory, UWs ARCC, Wyoming IDeA Networks for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Data Science Core, and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics sponsored the workshop. The free program was held on campus in May.

Nextflow is a way to write scalable and reproducible scientific workflows, which are a necessity when working with big data, says Robert Petit, Wyoming Department of Health Public Health Lab bioinformaticist and a UW statistics adjunct professor. Nextflow has a strong backing in the field of bioinformatics and has been used in other fields, including astronomy, artificial intelligence, imaging analysis, machine learning and economics.

Petit; Dan Hintz, a UW masters degree candidate in statistics; Liudmila Mainzer, ARCC director; and Tim Robinson, a UW statistics professor, co-developed the workshop content. Petit and Hintz led the workshop. Nic Blouin, Wyoming INBRE Data Science Core director, also was instrumental in the workshops development.

The event brought together experts from the Wyoming Department of Health Public Health Laboratory as well as faculty and graduate students from across several UW departments. The workshop provided discussions and hands-on learning with the basic inner workings of Nextflow and how the system can streamline researchers analyses.

I am extremely grateful to Petit, Mainzer and Blouin for making this workshop possible. Nextflow is a powerful workflow management software for high-performance computing, and I am thrilled to see researchers from across campus have an opportunity to come together to learn about its capability, Robinson says. I was especially proud to see one of our graduate students, Dan Hintz, be one of the main presenters.

According to Hintz, a personal highlight from the workshop was the opportunity to create a template for parallel computing specifically tailored to statistics, a departure from Nextflows traditional applications in bioinformatics.

Reflecting upon this experience, I wish this kind of workshop had been available to me when I first started learning Nextflow, he says.

Mainzer says it is important to continue expanding the user base for Nextflow.

In our experience, it is the most mature, versatile and flexible workflow management platform for big-data analysis, Mainzer says. Most of these platforms are open source and grant-funded. Thus, the size of the user base and the extent of adoption matter for the success of this software.

Feedback from attendees showed a positive impact from the training.

As a part of the seminar, I learned the basics of creating a Nextflow workflow, which is important for creating programs that deal with a high throughput of data for an RNA-Seq project I am working on, says Chris Biggs, a UW chemical engineering alumnus. It was an excellent way to start my training for my new job.

Joe Reed, an administrator with the Wyoming Public Health Laboratory, says the partnership between the Wyoming Public Health Laboratory and UW provides a setting where experts can come together to teach the next generation of bioinformatics scientists.

These types of workshops are particularly important because there are not enough bioinformatics scientists to fill jobs across the country, Reed says. This workshop mimicked real-world bioinformatics applications and exposed students to new high-throughput computing technology that is used by public health laboratories across the nation. The goal of this workshop was to reinforce the students education by challenging them to apply their knowledge to new bioinformatics tools.

Blouin praises the work of Petit and Hintz, who offered to run a Nextflow tutorial at UW.

The INBRE Data Science Core has increasingly seen how workflow management can help our network with improved analysis outcomes, including transcriptomics, source tracking and microbiome analysis, Blouin says. We had an overflow turnout for the event, and that is a testament to the interest and need among our network participants.

For more information about Nextflow and its use on ARCC, email Erin Paiva, ARCC program manager, at epaiva@uwyo.edu.
The approval by MAS grants Ripple Markets APAC Pte permission to provide regulated digital payment token services and products in the city-state.

In a statement, Ripple said the license allows them to expand customer use of its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service that uses the XRP cryptocurrency to facilitate cross-border payments.

Forkasts Jenny Ortiz spoke with Ripples Policy Director for Asia-Pacific Rahul Advani about its plans in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific, the lawsuit filed against Ripple by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the companys IPO and acquisition plans.

See related article: Ripple gets in-principle approval for Singapore digital payment license



The following Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.

Jenny Ortiz-Bolivar: MAS has given in-principle approval for your Major Payments Institution License so what does that mean for Ripples operations in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific?

Rahul Advani: The approval from MAS ensures regulatory certainty for our existing business in Singapore. This allows us to offer regulated digital payment token products and services which will enable us to better support and scale the use of On-Demand Liquidity or ODL by our customers in Singapore and across the APAC region that look to explore blockchain and digital asset technologies for their cross-border payment and Treasury use cases.

We believe that with On-Demand Liquidity volumes surging in Asia-Pacific, we know that theres a great appetite from customers in the region to engage and explore blockchain and digital assets. Obtaining the MAS approval will drive further adoption of our digital asset-enabled products and services within the region. And, this will allow us to better support these progressive customers and scale our services to ultimately build a more inclusive and borderless financial system.

Image: Ripple Markets APAC

Ortiz-Bolivar: When do you expect the full license from the MAS?

Advani: In-principle approval from MAS comes with certain conditions we have to meet to be eligible for a license. So, were working around the clock to meet the conditions.

Theres no set timeline. If you look at the history of licenses that have been issued, it could range anywhere from six to nine months after the in-principle approval. Thats a realistic timeline.

Ortiz-Bolivar: How exactly will Ripple up its capacity in the city? What are your hiring and investment plans?

Advani: A key focus of ours is on developing talent. Were a global business and we remain hyper-focused on building our teams outside of the U.S. About 90% of our business is global. Singapore, and to a large degree, the broader APAC region is one of our fastest-growing regions and remains high on our list for recruiting.

Additionally, Ripples University Blockchain Research Initiative, or UBRI, supports universities around the world to advance blockchain education and real-world solutions in digital payments. We partnered with a number of universities in the region, including the National University of Singapore, to support research, new curriculum development, and technical projects to train the next generation of the global fintech workforce. So were ensuring that we hire, train and retain talent to meet demand.

Ortiz-Bolivar: Ripple said it doubled its workforce in the Asia-Pacific over the past year. How many people are we talking about?

Advani: We doubled our headcount in Singapore over the past year and thats across a number of functions. We now have around 50 full-time staff, but we continue to increase to match our ambitions in the region. We also have offices in India, Dubai, in Sydney and all of these offices in addition to Singapore are continuing to grow.

Ortiz-Bolivar: At the start of the year, the speculation was that the case with the SEC will be settled by the middle of this year. We are now at the end of June so can you give us an update on how the legal case is unfolding? What are your lawyers telling you?

Advani: We continue to push for a speedy resolution and we look forward to proving that Ripple did not violate securities law and that the [U.S.] SEC never provided Ripple with fair notice that its actions would ever be prohibited under the law. The decision and timing are ultimately up to the judge. We dont have any control over that.

Ortiz-Bolivar: The company said in 2022 an IPO was being considered but it would wait for after the SEC case is settled. Talk has picked up again this year about an impending IPO so can you give us any update on that. What timeline are you looking at?

Advani: Our CEO Brad Garlinghouse has been very public about how [he] eventually sees us as a public company. However, we will have to wait for our ongoing lawsuit with the U.S. SEC to end before we pursue an IPO. And, we will do it when the time is right. But, we cant comment on specific timelines right now as theres a bit of clarity that we need first.

Ortiz-Bolivar: Ripple acquired Metaco for $250 million on May 17 to expand into digital asset custody and tokenization. Can you give us an update on how that integration is going and how it fits into your global strategy?

Advani: Metaco is a Swiss-based provider of digital asset custody and tokenization technology and Metaco will continue to operate as an independent brand and business.

Acquiring Metaco makes Ripple the leading enterprise solution provider in the space. We have top tier institutional customers and theres a long history of working with regulated entities around the world to create secure enterprise grade solutions. So, Metacos customer base combined with Ripples customer base will give us a strong upper hand to provide a suite of enterprise services across cross-border payments, liquidity, custody and tokenization around the world.

Ortiz-Bolivar: Are you in talks for other acquisitions and if so can you elaborate?

Advani: Were always on the lookout for more acquisitions. You know, when the timing is right, we will look at acquisitions. But nothing we can publicly speak to at the moment.

See related article: Singapore outlines design framework for interoperable networks in collaboration with financial firms




RNC won't present loyalty pledge to candidates until after they qualify for debate: Sources

Republican presidential candidates who qualify for the first primary debate will have to satisfy one final, somewhat controversial requirement, sources say: signing a pledge to back whomever the party's eventual nominee is, including if it's Donald Trump.

Two sources familiar with the discussion told ABC News that the pledge will only be presented to candidates for their signature after they earn their spot on the debate stage, in Milwaukee in August, rather than earlier in the process.

This order would signal that they cannot lean on the pledge as a reason not to participate.

Three GOP hopefuls who are critical of Trump -- former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd -- have expressed concerns about the pledge.

MORE: The Rise and Fall of the GOP Loyalty Pledge

Trump himself has not committed to backing another candidate should he lose the primary.

A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, asked for comment, referred ABC News to what RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said on Fox News last week: that the pledge was about backing voters' views.

"Anybody who wants to seek the nomination of our party should pledge to support the voters," McDaniel said then. "If you go through this process and you take time on the debate stage and you're going to be there, the No. 1 pledge should be: Beat [Joe] Biden."

PHOTO: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speak during the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, October 19, 2016. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images, FILE)

All candidates have up until 48 hours prior to the Aug. 23 debate to prove to the RNC that they've hit at least 1% in three national polls or in a mix of national and early state polls recognized by the committee plus accrued 40,000 individual donors to their campaigns from at least 200 unique donors per state in 20 or more states.

Hutchinson, who is polling at 1.1% according to an average from FiveThirtyEight, has publicly objected to both the loyalty pledge requirement and donor threshold, which he said was too limiting.

His campaign pressed RNC officials to reconsider the pledge after Trump was federally charged earlier this month, now facing two criminal prosecutions. (Trump has pleaded not guilty in both.)

During a call between RNC leaders and a staff member of the Hutchinson campaign on June 15, party officials insisted there would not be any changes to their debate guidelines.

"Individuals who are seeking the Republican nomination for President are being asked to respect the decision of Republican Primary voters and support the eventual nominee they pick to beat Biden," RNC senior adviser Richard Walters told ABC News' Rachel Scott in a statement. "Candidates who are complaining about this to the press should seriously reconsider their priorities and whether they should even be running."

Hutchinson's campaign subsequently took issue with the party's plan not to deliver the loyalty pledge to candidates until they have met donor and polling benchmarks.

PHOTO: RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel speaks at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute's 'A Time for Choosing Speaker Series' at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on April 20, 2023 in Simi Valley, California. (David Mcnew/Getty Images)

"It's been our understanding that the text of the pledge would be provided to the campaigns well in advance of whatever deadline is set by the RNC," Hutchinson's campaign manager, Rob Burgess, told ABC News.

Nonetheless, Burgess said, "I am confident Gov. Hutchinson will be on the debate stage in order to demonstrate what true consistent conservative leadership looks like."

Christie has also made his displeasure with the pledge clear, calling it a "useless idea" and telling ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos earlier this month that he would take the pledge "just as seriously as" Trump did in the 2016 election cycle -- that is to say, he would disregard it as needed.

During the 2016 cycle, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and then Ohio-Gov. John Kasich also suggested they would drop the pledge. Cruz later endorsed Trump.

A spokesperson for Christie's campaign pointed ABC News to what Christie said on CNN in regard to his thoughts on the pledge, which they said he's also expressed directly to McDaniel and the RNC.

"The idea is you support the Republicans, whether you won or whether you lost. ... It's only the era of Donald Trump that you need somebody to sign something on a pledge. So I think it's a bad idea," Christie said on CNN.

MORE: Asa Hutchinson wants 'more courage' in 2024 GOP field as some promise to pardon Trump

Hurd, upon his long shot entrance into the GOP field last week, hesitated when asked on CNN if he thought he would be able to get on the debate stage.

He also said he wouldn't sign a candidate pledge or support Trump should Trump become the nominee. He suggested that the RNC was attempting to tip the scales of the primary by implementing debate requirements like the pledge.

PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson addresses The Faith and Freedom Coalition's 2023 'Road to Majority' conference in Washington, June 23, 2023. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

"The bottom line is this: I've taken one pledge and that's when I put my hand on the heart to pledge allegiance to the flag. I've taken one oath, asked to defend the Constitution of America. And I've taken one vow, to my amazing, beautiful wife," Hurd said.

In response to the RNC's claim that they will not deliver the loyalty pledge to candidates until they qualify for polling and donor thresholds, Hurd told ABC News, in part: "Im not in the business of lying to the American people for the sake of a microphone. I fully intend to get to 40,000 donors, meet the polling threshold and show up to Milwaukee for the debate. I will not sign a pledge to any political leader."

Meanwhile Trump's chief primary rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said earlier this month that he would "respect the outcome of the process" but stressed that he intended to win.

"I think I'm going to be the nominee," he said. "No matter what happens, I'm going to work to beat Joe Biden."

ABC News' Libby Cathey, Will McDuffie and Rachel Scott contributed to this report.

RNC won't present loyalty pledge to candidates until after they qualify for debate: Sources originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths pushed the Security Council on Thursday to extend for 12 months its approval of a long-running humanitarian aid operation that delivers help to millions of people in northwest Syria from Turkey.

Authorization by the 15-member council is needed because Syrian authorities did not agree to the U.N. operation, which has been delivering aid including food, medicine and shelter to opposition-controlled areas of Syria since 2014.

"A 12-month authorization enables us and our partners to deliver better humanitarian outcomes in the months ahead. It is as simple as that," Griffiths said.

The current six-month authorization is due to expire July 10. Syrian ally Russia has long questioned the need for the operation, arguing that more humanitarian assistance should be delivered to the area from within Syria.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia again argued on Thursday that the U.N. aid operation violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.

"They're trying to convince us that the cross-border mechanism should be extended for 12 months in order to better plan operations," Nebenzia said. "Let us ask the question: What means will the U.N. be using to plan these operations?"

Griffiths told the council that the $5.4 billion U.N. aid appeal for Syria for 2023 is the largest in the world, but it was less than 12% funded.

"It has never been quite so ill-funded in the history of this conflict," he said, appealing for countries to pay up on pledges of $5 billion made this month to support people in Syria and neighboring states hosting Syrian refugees in 2023.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said London had pledged $190 million and called on Moscow to announce its contribution "following the recent announcement that Russia spends $2 billion a year on the Wagner Group" - the mercenary force behind an abortive armed mutiny in Russia last weekend.

The Security Council initially authorized aid deliveries in 2014 into opposition-held areas of Syria from Iraq, Jordan and two points in Turkey. But Russia and China have whittled that down to just one Turkish border point.

A crackdown by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war, with Moscow backing Assad and Washington supporting the opposition. Millions of people have fled Syria and millions are internally displaced.

The U.N. General Assembly on Thursday voted to create - under U.N. auspices - an Independent Institution on Missing Persons in Syria "to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons ... and to provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing."

The measure was adopted with 83 votes in favor, 11 against and 62 abstentions.
France's interior minister said on Friday the coming hours would be decisive as he sent 45,000 police onto the streets following three nights of riots since an officer shot dead a teenager at a traffic stop in a working class suburb of Paris.

The violence, in which buildings and vehicles have been torched and stores looted, has plunged President Emmanuel Macron into the gravest crisis of his leadership since the Yellow Vest protests that started in 2018.

Unrest has flared nationwide, in cities such as Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille as well as Paris, where Nahel M., a 17-year-old of Algerian and Moroccan descent, was shot on Tuesday in the Nanterre suburb.

His death, which was caught on video, has reignited longstanding complaints by poor, racially mixed, urban communities about police violence and racism.

In the center of the southern city of Marseille, France's second largest, rioters looted a gun store on Friday night and stole some hunting rifles but no ammunition, Marseille police said. One individual was arrested with a rifle likely coming from the store, police said. The store was now being guarded by police.

Authorities earlier banned demonstrations set for Friday in the city and encouraged restaurants to close outdoor areas early. They said public transport would stop at 7 p.m.

Police said they had arrested 80 people. Two police officers were slighted wounded. A police helicopter flew overhead.

"The next hours will be decisive, and I know I can count on your flawless efforts," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote to firefighters and police officers, seeking to quell the unrest that has been breaking out after nightfall.

He asked local authorities to halt bus and tram traffic from 9 p.m. across France and later said 45,000 officers from the police forces would be deployed on Friday evening, 5,000 more than on Thursday.

Asked on TF1's main evening television news program whether the government could declare a state of emergency, Darmanin said: "Quite simply, we're not ruling out any hypothesis, and we'll see after tonight what the President of the Republic chooses."

More than 200 police were injured Thursday night, and more than 900 people were arrested, Darmanin said, adding their average age was 17.

While so far the worst of the violence has been confined mostly to city suburbs, any sign it is spreading into the centers of France's biggest cities would mark a significant escalation.

Police started clearing protesters from the iconic central Paris square of Place de la Concorde on Friday evening after an impromptu demonstration.

Looters ransacked shops including an Apple store in Strasbourg on Friday, a local official said. A source told Reuters several Casino supermarkets had also been looted.

In the Chatelet Les Halles shopping mall in central Paris, a Nike shoe store was broken into, and several people were arrested after store windows were smashed along the adjacent Rue de Rivoli shopping street, police said.

Events including two concerts at the Stade de France on the outskirts of the capital were canceled. Tour de France organizers said they were ready to adapt to any situation when the race enters the country on Monday after starting in the Spanish city of Bilbao.

Macron left a European Union summit in Brussels early to attend the second Cabinet crisis meeting in two days.

He has asked social media to remove "the most sensitive" footage of rioting and to disclose identities of users fomenting violence. Darmanin met representatives from Meta, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok. Snapchat said it had zero tolerance for content that promoted violence.

A friend of the victim's family, Mohamed Jakoubi, who watched Nahel grow up, said the rage was fueled by a sense of injustice after incidents of police violence against minority ethnic communities, many from former French colonies.

"We are fed up; we are French too. We are against violence; we are not scum," he said.

Macron denies there is systemic racism inside law enforcement agencies.

Flashpoint Nanterre

Videos on social media showed urban landscapes ablaze. A tram was set alight in the eastern city of Lyon and 12 buses gutted in a depot in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.

In Nanterre on the capital's outskirts overnight into Friday, protesters torched cars, barricaded streets and hurled projectiles at police following an earlier peaceful vigil.

The energy minister said several staff of power distribution firm Enedis were injured by stones during clashes. The Interior Ministry said 79 police posts were attacked overnight, as well as 119 public buildings including 34 town halls and 28 schools.

Some tourists were worried, others supportive of protesters.

"Racism and problems with the police and minorities is an important topic going on and it's important to address it," U.S. tourist Enzo Santo Domingo said in Paris.

Some Western governments warned citizens to be cautious.

In Geneva, the U.N. rights office emphasized the importance of peaceful assembly and urged French authorities to ensure that use of force by police was non-discriminatory.

"This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement," spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

The policeman whom prosecutors say acknowledged firing a lethal shot at the teenager is in preventive custody under formal investigation for voluntary homicide  equivalent to being charged under Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions.

His lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, said his client had aimed down at the driver's leg but was bumped when the car took off, causing him to shoot towards his chest. "Obviously (the officer) didn't want to kill the driver," Lienard said on BFM TV.

The unrest has revived memories of three weeks of nationwide riots in 2005 that forced then-President Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency following the death of two young men electrocuted in a power substation as they hid from police.
SYDNEY - Australia on Saturday will become one of the first countries to recognize psychedelic drugs as medicines. In February, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australias medical regulator, sanctioned use of psychedelics for some mental health conditions. Experts agree that psychedelic-assisted therapies in Australia are in their infancy.

Starting Saturday, authorized psychiatrists in Australia will be able to prescribe methylenedioxy methamphetamine  MDMA, the active ingredient in such party drugs as ecstasy or molly -- to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

They will also be allowed to prescribe psilocybin, a compound found in psychotropic "magic" mushrooms, to treat depression that has not responded to other therapies.

Susan Rossell, a cognitive neuropsychologist at Swinburne University in Melbourne, is conducting one of Australias biggest clinical trials of psilocybin. Preliminary results show significant improvements in some patients mental health while others have shown no signs of getting better.

Rossell told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that psychedelic therapies research is still in its early stages.

We have been stuck for very many years in terms of mental health treatments for people with treatment-resistant conditions, she said. So, the fact that psychedelic medicines do seem to be working for a number of people is fantastic. However, they are not working for some people as well, and that is where I would note a great deal of caution in this field at the moment.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists has issued new guidelines for its members' use of psychedelic drugs. They must only be administered in a hospital or clinic, where two psychotherapists must stay with the patient for six to eight hours to ensure their safety.

The organization has said that with a lack of mental health professionals in Australia, it is likely that few providers will be able to meet these conditions.

Other experts fear that the new regulations that permit the use of MDMA and psilocybin in Australia have been approved too quickly. They believe there is potential for psychedelic substances to provoke anxiety, panic or cause psychological damage to patients.

Australias official medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, approved the use of psychedelics to treat some mental health conditions in February, making the country one of the first in the world to recognize the drugs as medicines.

In announcing its decision, the regulators said the benefits to patients and public health  outweigh the risks.
VIENNA, AUSTRIA - Austrian authorities said Thursday they had seized hundreds of weapons, ammunition and Nazi memorabilia and arrested six people after raids on several premises of the right-wing extremist Bandidos motorcycle gang.

Police found a huge weapons stash including about "35 long firearms, 25 submachine guns, 100 pistols, over a thousand weapons components, 400 signal weapons," the interior ministry said.

The haul was made following 13 house searches in the neighboring provinces of Upper and Lower Austria carried out Monday, the ministry added in a statement.

More than 10,000 rounds of ammunition as well as grenade launchers were also seized, it said.

Nazi memorabilia, including daggers, flags, uniform parts, busts and pictures were also found at the homes of the suspects, who were remanded in custody.

After plans by the Bandidos MC motorcycle group to expand to Austria were revealed in late 2022, authorities have been surveilling them.

Investigations aimed to avoid potential violent clashes between the Bandidos, which has a worldwide network of branches, and their rival Hells Angels MC, as has occurred in Switzerland.

"The investigations have shown the extent to which right-wing extremism is represented in outlaw motorcycle gangs," domestic intelligence agency (DSN) chief Omar Haijawi-Pirchner said.

Possessing Nazi memorabilia is illegal in Austria, the birthplace of Adolf Hitler.

Austria long cast itself as a victim after being annexed by the German Third Reich in 1938 and has only in the past three decades begun to seriously examine its role in the Holocaust.
Heat waves like the one that engulfed parts of parts of the South and Midwest and killed more than a dozen people are becoming more common, and experts say the extreme weather events, which claim more lives than hurricanes and tornados, will likely increase in the future.

A heat dome that pressured the Texas power grid and killed 13 people there and another in Louisiana pushed eastward Thursday and was expected to be centered over the mid-South by the weekend. Heat index levels of up to 112 degrees (44 Celsius) were forecast in parts of Florida over the next few days.

Eleven of the heat-related deaths in Texas occurred in Webb County, which includes Laredo. The dead ranged in age from 60 to 80 years old, and many had other health conditions, according to the county medical examiner. The other two fatalities were Florida residents who died while hiking in extreme heat at Big Bend National Park.

Scientists and medical experts say such deaths caused by extreme heat will only increase in the U.S. each summer without more action to combat climate change that has pushed up temperatures, making people especially vulnerable in areas unaccustomed to warm weather.

"Here in Boston we prepare for snowstorms. Now we need to learn how to prepare for heat," said Dr. Gaurab Basu, a primary care physician and the director of education and policy at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Planting more trees to increase shade in cities and investing in green technology like heat pumps for home cooling and heating could help, Basu said.

Extreme heat already is the deadliest of all weather events in the United States, including hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and flooding.

"Heat waves are the deadliest because they affect such large areas and can go on for days or weeks," said Joellen Russell, a climate scientist who teaches at the University of Arizona in Tucson and is currently on a Fulbright scholarship in Wellington, New Zealand. "And they catch people by surprise."

Phoenix, the hottest large city in America, faces an excessive heat warning headed into the weekend. Dangerously hot conditions are forecast from Saturday through Tuesday, including temperatures of 107-115 degrees (41.6-46.1 Celsius) across south-central Arizona.

"Arizona already understands heat to a certain extent, but it's getting hotter for us, too," said Russell. "That means a lot of people will continue to die."

Counting heat deaths has become a science in Arizona's Maricopa County, which includes metro Phoenix. The county tallied 425 heat-associated deaths last year, a 25% increase over 2021.

Located in the Sonoran Desert, Maricopa County counts not just deaths due to exposure but also deaths in which heat is among several major contributing factors, including heart attacks and strokes.

The county's Office of the Medical Examiner updates suspected and confirmed heat-associated deaths every week through the warm season, which runs from May through October. So far this season, there have been six heat-associated deaths in Maricopa County, home to nearly 4.5 million people.

Dr. Sameed Khatana, a staff cardiologist at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, said deaths in which heat contributed significantly to fatalities from causes like heart failure should also be considered to provide a more complete picture.

Khatana participated in research published last year that suggested that from 2008 and 2017 between 13,000 to 20,000 adult deaths were linked to extreme heat, about half due to heart disease.

Older people and those with diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other serious health conditions are most at risk, he said.

"Hurricanes, flooding and wildfires are very dramatic," said Khatana. "Heat is harder to see and especially affects people who are socially isolated or living on the margins."

The city of Phoenix's Office of Heat Response and Mitigation has opened summertime shelters for homeless people, operates cooling centers in libraries and other community spaces to help people get out of the sun and distributes bottled water, hats and sunscreen. The city also has a "Cool Callers" program with volunteers dialing vulnerable residents who ask to be checked on during hot periods.

Even the Phoenix Zoo is taking measures to cool off the monkeys, big cats and rhinos, spraying them with water, delivering frozen treats, and providing shaded areas and cooled water pools.

Extreme heat deaths are a global problem.

Mexican health authorities this week said there have been at least 112 heat-related deaths so far this year, acknowledging for the first time the deadliness of a recent heat wave that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador previously dismissed as an invention of alarmists.

The report released Wednesday also shows a significant spike in heat-related fatalities in the last two weeks. So far this year, Mexico's overall heat-related deaths are almost triple the figures seen in 2022.

A flash study released this spring said record-breaking April temperatures in Spain, Portugal and northern Africa were made 100 times more likely by human-caused climate change.

Deaths and widespread hospitalizations were caused by searing heat wave that broiled parts of southern Asia in April with temperatures of up to 113 degrees (45 Celsius) was made at least 30 times more likely by climate change, according to a rapid study by international scientists.
Unaccompanied migrant children in U.S. shelters will now be allowed longer phone calls with loved ones. Thats because of a recent change in guidance announced by the U.S. agency that oversees the care and release of minors.

The updated guidance from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, that went into effect on Monday, allows minors to have at least 50-minute phone calls Monday through Friday with parents or other relatives anywhere in the U.S. or outside the country. Thats a change from the two 10-minute phone calls twice a week they were allowed to have.

Unaccompanied migrant minors remain in shelters and under the U.S. governments custody until theyre released to their relatives or sponsors in the United States. Migrant children advocates called this a critical step for childrens safety and well-being.

It's something that children have repeatedly raised over time as a key issue in terms of conditions of custody, Jane Liu, director of policy and litigation at Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, told VOA. We've been working with pediatric health experts to do advocacy around this issue.  And so anything to mitigate the harm of that detention is critical to their health and that's why ... we've been pushing really hard on this.

The policy also requires at least 45-minute calls on holidays, weekends, and the childs birthday. Unlimited calls are expected to be available when children are in situations of emergency such as grieving the loss of a loved one or experiencing a mental health crisis.

There are almost 6,000 unaccompanied minors in U.S. custody, according to the latest daily report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security.

In its daily report to the media, ORR and DHS repeatedly say that in more than 80% of cases, an unaccompanied minor has a family member in the United States; in nearly half of those instances, that family member is a parent or legal guardian.

These children are reunited with their families who will care for them, according to the daily report. The children then go through immigration proceedings where they are able to present an application for asylum or other protection under the law.

Importance of communication

Physicians for Human Rights sent ORR a letter in April 2022 recommending that children in its custody have at least 30 minutes of phone communication per day, video being preferable, and in-person contact visits when possible. For children without anyone to call, the physicians recommended support through other activities.

The most powerful factor to foster child resilience and adaptive skills to overcome negative impacts from difficult situations is a secure relationship with a safe, stable, nurturing adult whose presence is continuous over time, whether it is the childs parent or caregiver, they wrote. Emotionally attuned attachment promotes healthy brain growth, development of accurate mental maps of self and others, ability to trust, and protection from trauma.

Although ORR did not say specifically what prompted its decision to allow for longer phone calls with loved ones, expanded communications had been advocated by a number of pediatric health experts aside from PHR, some of whom submitted an open letter to ORR officials in January.

In addition to government-run facilities, some unaccompanied minors are placed in foster care programs until they are released to relatives in the United States. ORR notes in its policy that Care providers must exhaust all efforts to utilize video calls over audio-only calls, where the family, sponsor and/or other approved contacts have access to video calling technology.

ORR guidance also prohibits providers from taking away or threatening to take away opportunities to communicate with approved family members or sponsors as a form of punishment.

Unaccompanied migrant minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border and crossing without authorization are first taken to a border patrol station. Many hope to reunite with parents who are already in the U.S. or have deliberately left their country due to crime, domestic abuse, gangs, or poverty.

Within 72 hours, however, they must be transferred to the custody of the ORR office under HHS and placed in facilities designed to accommodate the needs of children.

The Biden administration dealt with a record number of unaccompanied migrant minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal 2022. According to the latest numbers, border patrol processed 9,943 minors in May. That number was 14,675 at the same time last year.

In May, the U.S. House passed a border security package that included extending the timeframe in which minors can be held in immigration facilities, limiting asylum and eliminating ORRs program that offers legal representation to children in immigration court.

Democrats have said the proposed legislation does not resolve the challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Representative Jody Chu, from California, said the bill would decimate our asylum system and humanitarian protections, put more children and families in detention.

House GOP leadership, however, said the proposal is the strongest border security bill this country has ever seen.

The bill, however, is unlikely to become law as the White House has already said it would veto it.
BRUSSELS  European Union leaders opened a second day of migration talks Friday as Poland and Hungary continued to block progress after they were outvoted earlier this month on a plan to share refugees arriving in Europe among the 27 member countries.

Some leaders said that Poland and Hungary seemed to be fighting a battle started years ago, when well over 1 million migrants entered Europe, most of them refugees fleeing Syria, in 2015 and sparked one of the bloc's biggest crises. Others said the two simply must not be permitted to break EU rules.

My feeling was theres a lot of bitterness about the debates on migration from 2015, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters at EU headquarters in Brussels. If you just say no to everything and everybody else tries to compromise that doesnt really work out.

Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said that Hungary was totally adamant about having the issue removed altogether from the leader's final summit communique. It was not about lets do it this way or the other way. It was like, We dont want to see migration being mentioned at all.

Golob confirmed that European Council President Charles Michel, who is chairing the summit, is likely to issue a separate chairman's statement that does not require the endorsement of member countries.

Earlier this month, EU countries made a breakthrough on asylum law reform, sealing an agreement on a plan to share responsibility for migrants entering Europe without authorization.

The deal balanced the obligation for countries where most migrants arrive to process and lodge them against the requirement for other members to provide support, whether financial or by hosting refugees. Countries refusing to take migrants in could pay $21,400 per person instead.

The agreement was sealed with a qualified majority vote of around two-thirds. Only Poland and Hungary voted against. Their aim at the summit has been to challenge the legal validity of that decision.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said that caving in to them would set a dangerous precedent.

The fact is, Poland and Hungary do not agree with the (EU) treaty," he told reporters. It has been decided, so we cannot come back and say now, OK, we do not agree, because then everybody will open the list of all the decisions we took the last 10 years.

Ahead of the meeting, Polands prime minister had insisted that his country wouldn't be forced to accept European Union rules on migration, and he vowed to veto any plan that might force countries to take in refugees.

An attack on Europe is underway. Europes borders are not secure. The safety of the inhabitants of our continent is at stake, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a video statement. He said he would propose a plan for secure borders to the leaders.

Morawiecki said that his plan is clear  no to forced relocation of immigrants, no to violations of veto rights by individual states and no to violations of the principle of freedom, the principle of decision-making by states alone, no to Brussels-imposed penalties on states.

Poland and Hungary, along with the Czech Republic, refused to accept migrant quotas hastily imposed in 2015. The EUs top court ruled in 2020 that they had failed to respect the blocs laws.

The number of people trying to enter the EU without authorization is on the rise. The border and coast guard agency Frontex said that more than 50,300 attempts were made from January to May. Its more than double in the same period last year, and the most since 2017. But migrant arrivals in Europe dwarf those seen in Turkey, Lebanon or Jordan.

At the same time, Poland is looking after around 1 million refugees from Ukraine.

Any attempt to court the help of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose anti-migrant government abstained in the vote on the breakthrough deal, appears to have failed.

I perfectly understand the point of views of nations who have different problems with migration. But I think that the agreement that was found was a balanced one, Meloni told reporters.

While Hungary and Poland are unlikely to succeed in their quest to have the rules overturned, their anti-immigrant stance  backed by other members like Austria, Denmark or Sweden  has helped ensure that the EUs policies focus on keeping people out and quickly deporting those not entitled to stay.
WASHINGTON - Amendments to China's counterespionage law that take effect Saturday could create even more challenges for foreign correspondents reporting inside the country, journalists and media analysts say.

Passed in April, the revisions broaden the definition of espionage and ban the transfer of any information deemed related to national security.

Some foreign journalists based in China say they are anxiously waiting to see how the changes will affect their work, with press freedom analysts predicting the revisions will make news gathering more difficult.

"Quite a few of us are worried about what it is and what it might mean. It's a little bit difficult to tell at the moment because it's not entirely clear what it means or how it's going to be implemented," a foreign correspondent in Beijing told VOA. He requested anonymity over concerns for his safety.

"Any kind of news gathering seems like it could be construed as a violation of this law," the reporter added.

The revisions expand the definition of espionage to constitute accessing "documents, data, materials or items related to national security and interests."

As Cedric Alviani of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), sees it, that means "basically any type of information."

The amendments will also grant authorities the ability to impose exit bans on individuals, regardless of nationality, as well as sweeping power to investigate anyone suspected of spying.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington directed VOA to a statement from Mao Ning, spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, who at a recent press conference said, "There is no need to associate the counterespionage law with reporting activities of foreign journalists."

"China always welcomes media outlets and journalists of all countries to conduct interviews and run stories in China in accordance with laws and regulations, and we will provide facilitation and assistance to them," the spokesperson added. "As long as one abides by laws and regulations, there is no need to worry."

'Ambiguity as a weapon'

The defining characteristic of the amendments, according to multiple China analysts, is their vagueness. But that's typical for China, they said, where government transparency has never been the norm.

"What's a state secret has always itself been something of a state secret," the Beijing bureau chief of an American outlet told VOA. In China, "ambiguity as a weapon has been used for a long time."

The bureau chief did not have employer authorization to talk to other reporters about this topic because of its sensitivity and therefore requested anonymity.

Alviani shared a similar view, saying the murky amendments turn the law into "a catch-all regulation that could be used as an excuse to detain and jail any person for any reason."

Still, James Zimmerman, a partner at the Perkins Coie law firm's Beijing office, which counsels foreign companies, doesn't think the revisions will have a major impact on press freedom in China.

"The environment continues to be challenging for journalists with or without the amendments," Zimmerman told VOA. The lawyer said he thinks the amendments will be used more to encourage self-censorship.

But the fact that there is precedent for these revisions doesn't do much to allay the concerns of wary foreign reporters in the country.

"Even if there is precedent, and even if they do tend to use their powers rather sweepingly, the fact that they felt compelled to make this change explicit and codify it in writing is definitely concerning," the Beijing correspondent said. "And it makes us all wonder what's coming."

To Zimmerman, who previously served as chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, the revisions reflect that Beijing perceives any challenge to the government's official line as a threat to its legitimacy.

At the same time, he said, Beijing still wants foreign media to write about China's "good stories."

"What the propaganda machine doesn't understand is that harassment is counterproductive to its ultimate goal of promoting the good things about China and only creates a whole new story line, and that is usually negative," Zimmerman said.

China's press freedom environment is poor, with the county ranking 179th out of 180 countries, according to RSF.

Foreign correspondents often face harassment, surveillance and difficulty finding sources willing to talk to reporters.

It can also be hard to find China-based foreign correspondents to talk to. Several foreign journalists in China told VOA they did not want to comment on the counterespionage law, even anonymously, because the topic is so sensitive.

Yaqiu Wang, a China expert at Human Rights Watch, said local Chinese journalists, fixers, translators and others who help foreign media are even more at risk.

"They are usually in the most precarious situation," she said. "We shouldn't forget them."

The fact that China is one of the world's worst jailers of journalists  the majority of whom are Chinese, not foreign  underscores the risks.

Journalists who spoke with VOA said they aren't sure how the revisions will affect them personally and whether the amendments will impact how they report in China. For some, that confusion has given way to apprehension and anxiety.

"To be working with uncertainty about whether what you're doing might be construed as espionage  that's a very chilling thought on top of so many other chilling thoughts that we've been subjected to," the bureau chief said.

As for the correspondent, "everyone's feeling kind of jumpy," he said, "but it's very much 'wait and see' at the moment."
Protection of intellectual property remains a sticking point between the U.S. and China as the worlds two largest economies compete to develop next-generation technologies.



On June 28, Chinas state-run Xinhua news agency accused the U.S. of using the subject of intellectual property rights, more specifically, its part on protection of industrial property, as a way to hinder Chinas economic growth.



In a commentary, authored by agencys writer Shi Yang, Xinhua claimed:



The IPR rhetoric is just one of the many disguises that the U.S. employs to conceal its real intention to crack down on emerging economies like China, whom it perceives as a potential threat to its economic hegemony.



That is misleading.



U.S. legal action against China for economic espionage is a response to Beijings large-scale theft of intellectual property.

In fact, 80% of all economic espionage cases by the U.S. Justice Department pursued as of 2021 involved Chinas illegal economic activities.



The FBI estimates that Chinese theft of trade secrets, counterfeit goods and pirated software costs the U.S. economy between $225 billion and $600 billion annually.

The FBI says China uses its vast market to attract foreign firms and then reverse engineer foreign technology, saving Chinese firms time and money on research and development.



As in its military strategy, Chinas economic strategy is asymmetric, taking advantage of a U.S. system founded on openness and wealth creation. In contrast, China protects large firms at home, coerces technology transfer, then seeks to eliminate leading foreign competitors, the American Enterprise Institute, or AEI, a Washington, D.C., think tank, concluded in its June 8 report Chinas Technology Strategy: Leverage Before Growth.



Criticizing the U.S. response to Beijings predation, AEIs leading China analysts Dan Blumenthal and Derek Scissors, who co-authored the report, stated: The U.S. has done little to blunt Chinese predation, indirectly supporting it with money and technology. If the most innovative American companies lose intellectual property and market share without consequence, China will control more sectors of the global economy.



Below are recent examples of how Chinese state actors use fraud and deception to steal valuable intellectual property from U.S. companies.



GE Aviation case (2022)



In November 2021, a U.S. federal jury convicted Xu Yanjun, a Chinese government intelligence officer, of conspiracy to commit economic espionage and attempted trade secret theft. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022.

Xu, a career Chinese Ministry of State Security intelligence officer, approached a GE Aviation employee in Cincinnati in March 2017. He then requested that employee to obtain system specification, design process data for GE Aviations exclusive composite aircraft engine fan module.



GE is the only company in the world that is able to produce this light fan module.

The FBI managed to flip the GE Aviation employee, which led to Xus subsequent arrest in Brussels, where he brought cash as a payoff for the trade secret.



Then assistant U.S. Attorney General John Demers said: "[T]his case is not an isolated incident. It is part of an overall economic policy of developing China at Americas expense.



APT 41 (2022)

In 2022, Boston-based cybersecurity firm Cybereason uncovered a yearlong operation by APT 41, a Chinese state-sponsored espionage group. The operation successfully siphoned hundreds of gigabytes of intellectual property and sensitive data from 30 multinational companies.

According to Cybereason, the APT 41 operation, which had been going on undetected since at least 2019, was aimed at stealing sensitive proprietary information from technology and manufacturing companies mainly in East Asia, Western Europe, and North America.



Cybereason CEO Lior Div noted that the cybercriminals were focused on obtaining blueprints for cutting-edge technologies, the majority of which were not yet patented.



These included blueprint diagrams for fighter jets, helicopters, and missiles, intellectual property related to drugs treating diabetes, obesity and depression, and designs for solar panel and edge vacuum system technology.



Huawei case (2020)



In 2020, the U.S. Justice Department charged Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei with stealing trade secrets from six U.S. companies over two decades.



According to the indictment, Huawei grew its telecoms empire by using fraud and deception to misappropriate sophisticated technology from U.S. counterparts.

The indictment said Huawei would enter into confidentiality agreements with U.S. firms that owned the intellectual property, and then violate the terms by misappropriating the intellectual property. It also used proxies, such as professors working at research institutions, to obtain and provide the technology needed for its own use.

Using such methods, Huawei has successfully obtained nonpublic intellectual property relating to router source code, cellular antenna technology and robotics.



Huawei then sold these products in the U.S. as lower cost versions of U.S. products, giving the Chinese telecoms giant a significant and unfair competitive advantage.
On June 27, Russian missiles hit Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian government-controlled city in eastern Ukraine, near Russian-occupied territory.

The strike hit a crowded restaurant, killing 12 people and injuring dozens more.

On Twitter, an anonymous user under the name US Civil Defense News falsely claimed that Ukraine had launched the attack on its own city. While the Twitter account is only eight months old and has less than 7,000 followers, that tweet has since become viral, with more than a million views and about 4,000 reactions.

Twitter flagged the post with a false content warning after other users disputed its accuracy. The US Civil Defense News Twitter feed primarily posts pro-Russian and anti-Western conspiracy theories.

It was not just Twitter users, but Moscows own top propagandist, Olga Skabeyeva, who confirmed that Russia had fired the missiles on Kramatorsk. She claimed the strike was on legitimate military targets.

And Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putins press secretary, responded to the international outrage over Russia striking Ukrainian civilians in Kramatorsk.

"The Russian Federation does not strike at civilian infrastructure, Peskov said. The strikes are at objects that are in one way or another connected with the military infrastructure.

That is false.

Ukrainian police said Russia hit Kramatorsk with two Iskander missiles. Independent observers confirmed Russia launched the missiles.

The primary missile strike hit Ria Lounge, a popular downtown Kramatorsk pizza restaurant frequented by journalists, aid workers and Ukrainian soldiers.

As of June 29, Ukraines State Emergency Service said 12 people had been killed and 60 injured in the strike. It confirmed that the Russian missile strike on Ria Lounge killed 14-year-old twin sisters and a 17-year-old girl.

Numerous residential buildings, schools and other structures were also damaged in the attack.

The second missile strike hit a private home on the outskirts of the city, injuring five.

Under the laws of war, the fact that soldiers have frequented Ria Lounge as customers does not make it a legitimate military target.

Ukraine is a country at war, and military personal do frequent civilian establishments.

The U.K. Telegraphs Colin Freeman, who left the restaurant shortly before the attack, summarized that reality:

[T]roops can be found in just about every dining establishment in Ukraine; in a war that has required so many civilians to take up arms, those in uniform dont just live in barracks.

Freeman said it appeared certain the strike was intentional. He cited a senior Ukrainian military source, who said Russia carried out a deliberate attack on a civilian object as part of its missile terror campaign.

That echoed a July 2022 description of Russias war tactics by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called Russias systematic targeting of civilian areas missile terror.

Freemans military source said the strike on Ria Lounge was intended to help compensate for Moscows humiliation over the short-lived mutiny launched by Wagner Group mercenary forces on June 23.

Ukraines security service said it had arrested an alleged agent who gathered information about Ria Lounge prior to the attack.

Still, Ria Lounge was being used for civilian, not military purposes, a fact attested to by those on the scene.

That was just a restaurant full of people, Wojciech Grzedzinski, a news photographer who was inside the restaurant at the time of the strike, wrote on Instagram.

The Washington Post noted Peskovs claim was flatly contradicted by the gruesome scenes at Ria, where workers and civilians were the primary victims.

This is not the first time Russia has been accused of targeting civilians in Kramatorsk.

On April 8, 2022, an alleged Russian missile strike on Kramatorsks railway station killed 63 people.

The Kremlin systematically and falsely claims it only targets military and energy facilities in Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure since invading Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

On October 10, 2022, Russia struck the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with dozens of missiles, striking museums, an office building, a pedestrian bridge, a park, a busy intersection and other civilian areas.

That same month, Amnesty International said Russian forces were intentionally targeting Ukraines energy infrastructure to deprive civilians in Ukraine of heat, electricity and water as the cold grip of winter approaches.

Polygraph.info previously reported how indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets has been a signature Russian tactic in its wars in Chechnya and intervention in the Syrian civil war.

Infamously, in March 2022, the Russian air force bombed a theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol where women and children were sheltering. The attack killed hundreds, according to some estimates.

That same month, a Russian airstrike destroyed a maternity ward in Mariupol.

In June 2022, a Russian missile attack on the Amstor Mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk killed at least 20 people and injured dozens of others.

Evidence also implicates Russia in the destruction of the Khakova dam in southern Ukraine earlier this month, which sparked a humanitarian and ecological disaster.

In March, a United Nations report said more than 90% of Ukraines civilian casualties had been caused by missiles, explosive weapons or mines and explosive remnants of war.
The Senate is expected to review the SAFE Banking Act when it returns from the Fourth of July recess.

There is a concerted effort in the Senate to pass the SAFE Banking Act. The bipartisan bill, also known as the Secure and Fair Enforcement Bank, is expected to be reviewed next month when the Senate resumes following the Independence Day recess.

Senator Steve Daines (R-Montana) says that now is the "best" time to pass the bill and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) says he is "confident" that it will be approved.

Observers are also under the impression that the SAFE Banking Act can pass through the Senate, but question if Democratic lawmakers might expand the bill to include measures Republicans oppose.

"Leader Schumer has been working hard and effectively to assure that we have a SAFE Banking bill and not something beyond that," Senator Steve Daines said, as reported by Politico .

This is democracy at work. Recognition at the federal level through passage of the SAFE Banking Act is a meaningful step for an industry that has been screaming to be treated no worse than other sectors of the U.S. economy.

TerrAscend makes major strides with M&A, TSX listing

The first half of 2023 was pivotal for the legalized cannabis industry in the U.S. We remained cautious over this time frame because there were various concerns such as wholesale price compression, slowing growth, poor investor sentiment and rising defaults following a loose debt cycle.

Investors are also learning that debt in cannabis does not necessarily translate to downside protection. We also watched public markets experience continued pressure as custody declined further and sentiment remained poor. It is easy to be a bear after a prolonged period of capital market tightness, significant stock price declines, companies going out of business and a lack of federal progress. With the first half of the year behind us, we are starting to see the opposite and remember what it was like to be bullish.

Companies are excited for the second half of 2023 and are taking action within their businesses. We saw capital raises return late in the second quarter, including equity and equity-like instruments. These raises are modest for the most part as investors are dipping their toes in the equity waters of the industry, but some companies are enjoying notable victories.

TerrAscend (TRSSF) is the clear winner of the 1H23 Hussle award. It has raised capital, expanded its retail footprint in Maryland with the acquisition of Blue Ridge Wellness, and the marijuana stock has met the requirements to list its common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

"We have an exciting future ahead of us and can't wait to share the TerrAscend story with the larger audience of participants that this listing brings," Jason Wild, executive chairman at TerrAscend, said in a statement .

Action is winning as they are commanding an above-market valuation in an industry that is otherwise very lowly valued. Congrats to the team there!

States seek to launch adult-use markets, implement tax relief

Companies are not the only ones taking action. States are also making meaningful progress by implementing tax relief policies and launching adult-use markets. Legislators in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have passed legislation allowing cannabis companies to deduct business expenses from their state income taxes. This is a major step in the right direction while we wait for the federal government to follow suit.

"There's been a wake-up call in the last couple of years as it's become clear in California and some other states that because of the myriad of issues that are largely due to federal prohibition, and in some cases over taxation and overregulation, that it can actually be really challenging for cannabis businesses  even well-capitalized ones  to be profitable at all," Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, told MJBizDaily .

Meanwhile, legalization efforts in Maryland have the Old Line State set to open its doors as an adult-use market on July 1. Maryland's opening is expected to be a very strong one and lead to a multiple of its medical marijuana revenues per door, similar to Missouri, Illinois and New Jersey. There is plenty of supply already in the market, so we expect minimal near-term supply-demand imbalances, a good thing for a robust opening.

Most cannabis companies struggling to turn a profit

The journey to success has been challenging for many companies in the cannabis industry. Fewer than 25% of U.S. cannabis businesses have been able to turn a profit, according to Whitney Economics.

"By conducting this survey, Whitney Economics strives to bridge the gap between the theories of business economics and the daily lives of operators within the cannabis industry," Beau Whitney, founder of Whitney Economics, said in a press release .

The challenges presented to many operators will continue to exist until federal recognition and tax policy changes are made, and especially so for those groups exhibiting poor capital allocation and cost controls. If these changes are not made, large companies will likely make an increased effort to acquire small, struggling companies.

Large operators continue to enhance their operations and make strategic acquisitions that will strengthen their footprints in specific markets. Operators are also establishing relationships with smaller peers regarding supply agreements and shelf space. These moves will likely increase in frequency, which will help to accelerate the movement of money.

As we head into the second half of the year, remember this old Wall Street saying  bull markets climb a wall of worry; bear markets slide down a slope of hope. Let's see if the bull can get back on the field for the second half of this year.
Journalists from Georgia, India, Mexico and Togo will be honored this fall at the 2023 International Press Freedom Awards, which celebrate courageous reporters from around the world.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, which administers the award, announced Thursday the four journalists who would be honored.

This years honorees include Georgias Nika Gvaramia, Indias Shahina K.K., Mexicos Maria Teresa Montano and Togos Ferdinand Ayite.

Attacks on the press are rising, yet journalists continue to step up and report on the vital issues that empower us all, CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement announcing the honorees.

This year marks the 33rd iteration of the annual award.

It is our honor to recognize this years awardees: formidable reporters working tirelessly to expose corruption, abuse, and wrongdoing despite considerable efforts to silence them, Ginsberg said.

Gvaramia is the founder and director of the independent broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi. He was released from prison last week after a presidential pardon.

He served more than a year of a 3.5-year prison term for alleged abuse of office before being released last week. The charges against him were widely viewed as politically motivated.

Thank you @pressfreedom for giving me such an honorable birthday present that I will cherish forever! Gvaramia said in a tweet celebrating the news of the award.

Shahina K.K. is an editor at Outlook magazine. She was one of India's first reporters to be charged under an anti-terror law that the government has used to target journalists for more than a decade. She is currently on bail awaiting a trial for a case that was opened in 2010.

Montano is the founder and editor of the Mexican investigative website The Observer. In retaliation for her reporting, she was abducted by three men in 2021, who stole her files about a corruption investigation regarding state officials.

Ayite leads LAlternative, one of Togos premier investigative outlets. Ayite and LAlternatives editor-in-chief fled Togo in March, just days before they were sentenced to three years in prison on charges of insulting authorities and false news.

Thank you very much to CPJ for this recognition, the fruit of hard work at the cost of a thousand sacrifices, Ayite tweeted.

CPJ also announced Thursday it will honor Alberto Ibarguen, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, with the 2023 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award.

The event honoring the journalists will be held in New York City on Nov. 16. It will be chaired by New York Times Company president and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien.
Latest developments:

The United States is confident Ukraines counteroffensive against Russia is making progress despite the lack of any significant break in the Russian lines. Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley told an audience in Washington on Friday that the slow pace of Ukraines advance was part of the nature of war.

Milley also said the U.S. was openly considering providing Ukraine with cluster munitions, long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles and even some of its own F-16 fighter jets. "These things are on the table, he said. There's no decision at this point.

The U.N. expressed concern Friday that no new ships have been registered since June 26 under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine. "We call on the parties to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay," U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Moscow said Modi expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leadership's decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday. The call came after the U.S. and India declared themselves "among the closest partners in the world" last week during a state visit to Washington by Modi. India has yet to condemn ally Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian forces hit a school in Serhiivka, Donetsk oblast, on Friday, killing two staff members and injuring six others, the regional prosecutor's office reported.

-----

The failure of Ukraines counteroffensive against Russian troops to make rapid advancements is not causing any panic among top U.S. military officials.

Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration in recent days, calling on Washington and the West to provide it with more advanced weaponry to help dent Russian defensive positions and allow Ukrainian troops to retake more territory.

But U.S. officials remain confident Ukraines counteroffensive will make headway, even if it takes six to eight weeks before Ukrainian forces see more substantial gains.

"War on paper and real war are different, the top U.S. military commander, Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley, told an audience in Washington on Friday.

"That it's going slower than people predicted doesn't surprise me at all," Milley said at the National Press Club, noting Ukrainian forces were advancing, steadily, deliberately."

Its going to be very difficult. Its going to be very long. And its going to be very, very bloody, and no one should have any illusions about any of that, he said.

Earlier Friday, Ukraines top general told The Washington Post his forces desperately needed ammunition and other advanced weaponry.

It pisses me off, said Valery Zaluzhny, commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces. This is not a show.  It's not a show the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every meter is given by blood.

Without being fully supplied, these plans are not feasible at all, he added, criticizing the West for pushing war plans that rely on air superiority, which neither Ukraine nor Russia has been able to establish.

More weapons sought

Zaluzhny and other Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on the U.S. and its other allies to provide not just tanks and armored vehicles, but cluster munitions, long-range missiles and modern fighter jets, like F-16s.

So far, the U.S. has been hesitant to provide Kyiv with such systems, although it has said it will allow its allies to provide Ukraine with the U.S.-made jets and is training its pilots to fly them. Washington says the focus has been on giving Ukraine systems and weapons it can immediately deploy to the front lines.

Milley said Kyivs requests were not being ignored.

"ATACMS, F-16s or anything else is in a constant review process," he said. "These things are on the table. There's no decision at this point."

Milley said the U.S. had also not ruled out providing Ukraine with cluster munitions, despite concerns by some allies about the nature of the bombs.

The munitions, which open up in midair and drop bomblets, are opposed by a number of humanitarian groups, which say they have a high rate of failure and often lead to civilian casualties.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said Kyivs forces have successfully liberated nine settlements in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, though the main attack is yet to come.

Northern border

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked his senior military leadership to strengthen Ukraines northern military sector after the arrival in Belarus of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

"The decision  is for Commander in Chief Zaluzhny and 'North' commander [General Serhiy] Naev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this direction," Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskyy did not mention Wagner Group boss Prigozhin in the brief post on Telegram.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told VOA the U.S. would continue to monitor Wagner's activities wherever they are around the world, and we're going to continue to hold them properly accountable for the kinds of egregious violent, deadly and illegal conduct ... that they are still capable of conducting.

After pushing Russian forces out of northern regions last year, Ukraine took steps to tighten the defense of its border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia.

Prigozhin flew from Russia into exile in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal negotiated by President Alexander Lukashenko that ended his mercenaries' mutiny in Russia on Saturday.

Thunbergs involvement

Zelenskyy met Thursday in Kyiv with Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and prominent European figures who are forming a working group to assess ecological damage from the 16-month-old Russian invasion. Their talks focused on the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

Combating ecocide is one of the points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, and we must implement each of its points, all aspects of peace, said Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy also met Thursday with former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who made a surprise visit in Kyiv. Zelenskyy thanked Pence for his support. "We appreciate that both major U.S. parties, the Republican and Democratic, remain united in their support for Ukraine, he said, adding that we feel the strong support of the people of the United States.

Zelenskyy also thanked the U.S. for the recent defense assistance packages worth $2.1 billion and $500 million, allocated on June 6 and June 27, respectively, and he emphasized the unprecedented total amount of support provided, which has reached $43.1 billion since February last year.

Pence was the first Republican U.S. presidential candidate to meet with the Ukrainian president during the campaign.

VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Russian authorities appear to have detained General Sergei Surovikin over his suspected connection to the Wagner Group's mutiny last week, according to media reports.

The specific details surrounding Surovikin's status remain blurry, but top Russian and U.S. officials have said the senior general has been detained, the Financial Times and The New York Times reported Thursday.

Questions about Surovikin's whereabouts have been swirling for days because the general had not been seen in public since June 24, when the Wagner paramilitary group marched on Moscow. Surovikin was known to have a good relationship with Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

It is unclear whether Surovikin, the deputy commander of Russia's invasion force in Ukraine, has been formally charged for playing a part in the rebellion or just detained for questioning.

But Moscow has not yet publicly confirmed what has happened to him.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters he could not clarify the situation about Surovikin and said reporters should contact the Defense Ministry.

Surovikin appeared in a video Saturday urging the Wagner Group to halt any moves against the army and return to their bases.

His daughter Veronika said that "everything is fine" with her father. "Honestly, no, nothing has happened to him. He's at work," she told the Russian news outlet Baza.

"When did he appear in the media every day? He never made any statements every day," she said. "As I understand, everything is sort of flowing as things normally happen. Everyone is at their workplace. Everything is fine."

Prigozhin arrived in Belarus earlier this week at the invitation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as part of a deal to halt the mutiny.

It still is not clear where Prigozhin is in Belarus, how many fighters accompanied him or how long he plans to stay there.

Peskov told reporters Thursday that he did not have information about Prigozhin's location.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has "absolutely" been weakened inside Russia by Prigozhin's rebellion effort.

But Biden, speaking to reporters at the White House, said it was "hard to tell" the extent to which Putin is diminished.

Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, echoed Biden's comments when speaking with VOA's Russian Service on Wednesday.

"On balance, Putin is much weaker today than he was just four or five days ago. Elites in Russia, soldiers in Russia, are all watching this and wondering, 'What's happened to our leader?'

"And I think that's good, because a weakened Russia might do less in terms of damage, principally in Ukraine," McFaul said.

While pledging that Prigozhin would be safe in Belarus, Putin has expressed mixed views about the Wagner Group since the rebellion. He has characterized Wagner's leaders as traitors but said the rank-and-file mercenaries "really showed courage and heroism" in their fight against Kyiv's forces.

Prigozhin's arrival in Belarus came as Putin said Tuesday that Moscow had paid $1 billion between May 2022 and May 2023 to fully fund the Wagner mercenary fighters, contrary to claims by Prigozhin that he had financed his mercenaries.

Russia once denied the existence of the Wagner Group, but it has advanced Russia's interests in several African and Middle Eastern countries.

Many of the Wagner fighters in Ukraine were convicted criminals freed from Russian prisons on the promise that if they fought in neighboring Ukraine for six months, the remaining portions of their sentences would be rescinded.

Prigozhin said earlier this year that he had always financed Wagner but had looked for additional funding after Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine.

Prigozhin said Monday that his troops' advance on Moscow had not been an attempt to overthrow the Russian government and that he remained a patriot.

VOA's Russian Service contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
LONDON  Most Europeans see Russia as an adversary following its invasion of Ukraine, according to a survey of over 16,000 people across 11 European Union member states.

Europeans tend to have a more favorable opinion of China, with a plurality seeing Beijing as a necessary partner.

Russian adversary

Two-thirds of Europeans now see Russia as an adversary since its invasion of Ukraine, according to the poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations, or ECFR, which was conducted in April. Thats double the figure from 2021, the last time the survey was taken.

In particular, majorities in Denmark [74%] Poland [71%], Sweden [70%], the Netherlands [66%], Germany [62%] and Spain [55%], think of Russia as an adversary of Europe  while only 37% in Italy and 17% in Bulgaria do, the ECFR report said.

Future relations

The respondents also were asked about Europes future relationship with Moscow.

Around half of those surveyed [48%] believe their countrys relationship with Russia, in the event of a negotiated peace settlement in Ukraine, should be limited, the report said.

The only country where a majority [51%] of citizens expressed the view that it should be fully cooperative was Bulgaria. Many in Austria [36%] and Hungary [32%] also supported this view, it added.

European Security

The survey looked at attitudes toward the security guarantees provided by the United States and whether Europe should invest more in its own defense. Some EU leaders  notably French President Emmanuel Macron  have called for Europe to develop strategic autonomy, the ability to defend itself independent of the U.S.

Almost three-quarters of the respondents said Europe cannot always rely on the U.S. for its security.

You can interpret it, of course, as a sign that Europeans are not trusting Americans that much as they used to historically. And in this sense, perhaps the presidency of Donald Trump has left lasting damage to that relationship, said Pawel Zerka, a co-author of the report with the European Council on Foreign Relations, in an interview with VOA.

But you can also have a more benevolent interpretation, according to which - simply due to the war in Ukraine and Russia's invasion on Ukraine  Europeans are more ready right now to take responsibility for their security, he said.

Chinas position

The survey asked similar questions about European attitudes toward China.

A plurality of respondents [43%] consider China a necessary partner of their country. This position puts them closer to the political positions of Germanys Olaf Scholz and Frances Emmanuel Macron than China hawks, such as [European Union Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen, the report said.

Co-author Pawel Zerka said that compared to Russia, there are marked differences in European attitudes toward China.

People mostly say that the risks and benefits are balanced, so they do not recognize that economic relationship with China as particularly risky and therefore requiring some rebalancing, he told VOA.

However, a majority of Europeans opposed the idea of Chinese ownership of key infrastructure, while 41% of respondents said that if Beijing gave weapons to Russia, the EU should impose sanctions on Beijing even if that would harm Western economies.
BANGKOK, THAILAND - Myanmar anti-coup fighters briefly seized several border outposts after junta-aligned militia defected and joined the rebels, sparking days of heavy clashes, state media reported Thursday.

Fighting has ravaged swaths of the country since the military's 2021 putsch, with some established ethnic rebel groups training and fighting alongside newer People's Defense Forces against the junta.

Rugged Kayah state on the border with Thailand has become a resistance hotspot, hosting thousands of democracy protesters turned PDF fighters.

Five border posts in the state manned by Border Guard Force (BGF) troops had come under "massive attacks" from anti-coup fighters between June 13 and June 19, state media said.

Border Guard Forces are made up of former ethnic rebels now working with the military in exchange for local autonomy and lucrative business rights.

They are often deployed side by side with regular troops.

Communications with a BGF post in Pantain, southeast Kayah, were cut for several days, according to the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar.

Fighters at the BGF post "had betrayed the State and the Tatmadaw [military] by launching a rebellion" and joining anti-coup fighters, the report said, without specifying how many had defected.

The defectors had taken weapons and ammunition with them, the report said.

Backed by air and artillery strikes, the military had since retaken the post at Pantain on June 17, it added.

Another BGF post in Sukpaing was recaptured Tuesday.

The military had suffered casualties in officers and other ranks, it said, without giving details.

Dozens of junta troops had defected, according to the opposition National Unity Government that is made up mostly of ousted lawmakers and which is working to overturn the coup.

PDF groups have surprised the military with their effectiveness, analysts say, and have dragged the military into a bloody quagmire.

In February, the junta admitted it did not "fully control" more than a third of the country's townships.

On Thursday 20 meters of a bridge on a highway linking commercial hub Yangon with the Thai border was mined and destroyed, the junta's information team said.

A drone attack on soldiers and officials inspecting the damage killed two and wounded ten civilians as well as some members of the security forces, it added.

An officer from the ethnic rebel Karen National Liberation Army told AFP that their troops and PDF fighters had mined the bridge.

The KNLA -- which has clashed with the military for decades -- has been a vocal opponent of the coup and provided shelter to dissidents working to oust the junta.

Battling fierce opposition on the ground, experts say the military is resorting to artillery strikes and air power.

On Tuesday a military airstrike on a village in northern Sagaing region -- another hotbed of resistance to junta rule -- killed 10 civilians, locals and media reports said.
NATO is attempting to choose a new leader, as the term of the current secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, is due to end later this year. However, some member countries want Stoltenberg to stay on, to give the Western alliance stability amid Russias war on Ukraine.

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, has led NATO for nine years. His tenure has already been extended twice, most recently last year, following Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

Hosting the secretary-general in Washington earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden praised Stoltenbergs record.

Your leadership in the alliance has been through a really significant period, in terms of dealing with NATO's relationship with Ukraine and, you know, I think you've done an incredible job, Biden said June 13.

Stoltenbergs term is due to expire in September. Traditionally, the secretary-general is European, but NATO allies appear undecided over who should succeed the 64-year-old incumbent, said Joel Hickman, an analyst with the Center for European Policy Analysis, based in Washington.

They're going to have to be able to navigate lots of different competing national interests that you get in NATO, you get in an alliance of 30-plus countries.

Theyre also going to have to be able to garner support among populations within those allied nations, particularly with young people. Polling in recent years has found that young people in the West struggle to understand the purpose or the relevance of NATO, Hickman told VOA.

Denmarks frontrunner

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is seen as a frontrunner. On a recent visit to Washington, she highlighted her countrys support for Kyiv.

We will, of course, continue from our Danish perspective, our very strong, strong support to Ukraine, she said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace are also seen as contenders. However, Wallace said this week he does not believe he is a likely candidate for the top job.

Hickman said Russias invasion of Ukraine will inevitably dominate NATO thinking on choosing Stoltenbergs successor.

Its important that the NATO secretary-general has both an established and clear voice on Ukraine and can continue to maintain alliance solidarity on Ukraine. But also that they have credibility when it comes to NATO's 2% [of GDP] spending target, he said.

NATO is due to hold its annual summit on July 11 and 12 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Some allies want Stoltenberg to extend his term once again, although he hasnt indicated whether he is prepared to do so.

Right now I think theres a lot of uncertainty in Ukraine. Theres also a lot of uncertainty in terms of U.S. politics and who we may have as a president next year - obviously weve heard different positions from some of the Republican candidates. And I think given all of that uncertainty, a large number of allies are looking for that stability, Hickman said.

Daunting Challenges

Analysts say that whoever leads NATO will face numerous challenges: large scale land warfare in Europe; the dangers of nuclear proliferation; an increasingly assertive China; and new theaters of competition in cyber and space technology.

All across the West, I think advanced societies are on the cusp of profound transformational changes, in particular in emerging and disruptive technologies. And I think NATO really needs to lead that race, particularly with what's going on in Russia, but also with China and elsewhere in the world, Hickman said.
The U.S. special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, is on leave while his security clearance is under review, but the White House told Voice of America on Friday that there has been no change in the U.S. government's approach to the Islamic Republic of Iran.

John Kirby, coordinator of strategic communications for the White House's National Security Council, addressed the matter in response to a Voice of America Persian Service question.

"I would just tell you, broadly speaking, that nothing's changed about the consistent approach we are taking toward Iran, whether it's their nuclear ambitions, or their support for terrorist networks, or their threats to maritime shipping, or their support to Russia for the war in Ukraine," he said.

"We're going to continue to address this destabilizing behavior in concert with our allies and partners. We're going to continue to put pressure on Iran. We want to see Iran make better decisions," he said. "And we're going to continue to engage appropriately in terms of getting our wrongfully detained Americans out of there. That's not going to change."

Matthew Miller, U.S. State Department spokesman, also responded to published reports about Malley on Thursday, telling the Voice of America reporter that Malley was on leave and that Abraham Pali was currently acting in his place.

Miller did not elaborate.

On Thursday, Malley told U.S. media outlets that his security clearance was under review.

"I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon," he told Reuters, confirming an earlier report to that effect by Axios.

The Associated Press, citing two State Department officials, reported that the agency's Bureau of Diplomatic Security was leading the inquiry, which involved Malley's handling of classified documents. The officials said they learned of Malley's change in status from paid to unpaid leave on Thursday.

About a month ago, The Associated Press noted Malley's absence at a congressional briefing about Iran on May 15. State Department officials said at the time that Malley was on leave for personal reasons.

Malley has been serving as the U.S. special representative for Iran affairs at the U.S. State Department. He assumed the position two years ago following the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. He reached this position while he was involved in the nuclear deal with Iran during the Obama administration. Prior to Malley, Brian Hook held this position in the Trump administration.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
WASHINGTON - Former U.S. President Donald Trump, a longtime admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday that Putin has been "somewhat weakened" by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

Speaking expansively about foreign policy in a telephone interview with Reuters, the front-runner in opinion polls for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination also said China should be given a 48-hour deadline to get out of what sources familiar with the matter say is a Chinese spy capability on the island of Cuba 145 kilometers off the U.S. coast.

On Ukraine, Trump did not rule out that the Kyiv government might have to concede some territory to Russia to stop the war, which began with Russian forces invading Ukraine 16 months ago. He said everything would be "subject to negotiation," if he were president, but that Ukrainians who have waged a vigorous fight to defend their land have "earned a lot of credit."

"I think they would be entitled to keep much of what they've earned, and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we don't have that right now," he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO allies want Russia out of territory it has seized in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive that has made small gains in driving out Russian forces.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last year proposed a 10-point peace plan, which calls on Russia to withdraw all of its troops.

"I think the biggest thing that the U.S. should be doing right now is making peace  getting Russia and Ukraine together and making peace. You can do it," Trump said. "This is the time to do it, to get the two parties together to force peace."

As president, Trump developed friendly relations with Putin, who Biden said on Wednesday has "become a bit of pariah around the world" for invading Ukraine.

Trump said Putin had been damaged by an uprising by the Russian mercenary force, the Wagner Group, and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, last weekend.

"You could say that he's (Putin) still there, he's still strong, but he certainly has been, I would say, somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people," he said.

If Putin were no longer in power, however, "you don't know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse," Trump said.

As for war crimes charges levied against Putin by the International Criminal Court last March, Trump said Putin's fate should be discussed when the war is over "because right now if you bring that topic up, you'll never make peace, you'll never make a settlement."

Trump was adamantly opposed to China's spy base on Cuba and said if Beijing refused to accept his 48-hour demand for shutting it down, a Trump administration would impose new tariffs on Chinese goods.

As president, Trump adopted a tougher stance on China while claiming a good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping that soured over the coronavirus pandemic.

"I'd give them 48 hours to get out. And if they didn't get out, I'd charge them a 100% tariff on everything they sell to the United States, and they'd be gone within two days. They'd be gone within one hour," Trump said.

Trump was mum on whether the United States would support Taiwan militarily if China invaded the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own.

"I don't talk about that. And the reason I don't is because it would hurt my negotiating position," he said. "All I can tell you is for four years, there was no threat. And it wouldn't happen if I were president."
DAKAR, SENEGAL  A slew of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, and instances of torture by Burkina Faso's military has terrorized communities in the country's northeast this year, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Thursday.

The violence took place between February and May across the province of Seno. The report identifies at least 27 people who were either summarily executed or disappeared and then killed, most of them members of the Fulani ethnic group.

Jihadi fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have waged a violent insurgency in Burkina Faso for seven years. The violence has killed thousands of people and divided the country, leading to two coups last year.

The report by the New York-based watchdog comes in the wake of an April massacre in which residents say security forces killed at least 150 civilians in Karma, a northern village near the Mali border.

A Burkina Faso government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

In one account, 10 men in the village of Gangaol, all of the Fulani ethnic group, were hauled away in the backs of trucks, pushed out, and fired upon.

"The soldiers shot and I ran. I saw the others falling on the ground, but I kept running," the HRW report quoted a survivor of the incident. Only four of the men survived, two of whom suffered critical injuries.

"In the cases we documented, most of those who have been victims of these crimes were from the Fulani ethnic group," explained Ilaria Allegrozzi, the senior regional researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The Fulani people in Burkina Faso and Mali have been accused of collaborating with Islamic extremists, and as a result have often been targeted by security forces and others.

"The only reason is hatred," said the father of a teen boy who had been shot by suspected government forces, according to the report.

The upsurge in violence comes as the nation's government recently pledged to double its number of volunteer auxiliary military units, known as VDPs, to 100,000.

"The recruitment of VDPs has coincided with an increase of abuses by both sides," Allegrozzi said.

Just as Burkinabe soldiers strike villages suspected of harboring extremist elements, the presence of army recruiters in a Burkina Faso community often invites violent intimidation by armed groups.

"I think it's also important to recognize that they are fighting a legitimate war," Allegrozzi said, referring to the armed forces. As recently as Monday, 34 members of the military were killed in an ambush by suspected extremist fighters, according to a government press release.

"What we are questioning is the way this fight is conducted, which is not according to human rights standards and doesn't take into account civilian protection," she said.

The targeting of civilians is unnecessary, inhumane, and ultimately counterproductive, the report also says.

"Executions and disappearances by Burkina Faso's army are not only war crimes, but they breed resentment among targeted populations that fuel recruitment to armed groups," Carine Kaneza Nantulya, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch, wrote in Thursday's report.

"Burkina Faso should ensure that provost marshals, who are responsible for discipline in the armed forces and detainees' rights, are present during all military operations," the report stressed, adding that transitional authorities should work with the U.N. human rights office to hold offenders within its military's ranks accountable.
Save big on laptops from Amazon, Best Buy and more ahead of 4th of July.

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If you're already thinking about the tech you need for back-to-school season, you're in the right place. With summer in full swing tons of our favorite tech retailers are offering big bargains on laptops we love for 4th of July 2023. Whether you want a new MacBook or are looking for the perfect gaming laptop, we've rounded up the best savings at Walmart, Amazon and Best Buy.

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From student-approved Chromebooks to powerful laptops you can use to update complex spreadsheets and play your favorite computer games, these 4th of July laptop deals run the gamut. Keep scrolling to check out some of the best laptops on sale that we recommend checking out before Independence Day 2023.

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When is 4th of July 2023?

The 4th of July will be celebrated across the U.S. on Tuesday, July 4. The federal holiday is observed each year in recognition of the country's independence. Independence Day celebrations date back to the 18th century when the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776.

When do 4th of July 2023 sales start?

Many of the earliest 4th of July sales started in mid-June and we expect to see even more retailers drop 4th of July deals in the days and weeks ahead. Like in years past, you can expect to see some of the steepest markdowns on 4th of July proper, which is Tuesday, July 4.

What are the best 4th of July 2023 sales?

Mattresses, bedding, laptops and countertop appliances typically see some of the biggest 4th of July discounts. Independence Day has become one of the hottest shopping holidays of the summer, with plenty of Black Friday-level markdowns at massive retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Lowe's and so much more. Right now you can also score huge price cuts on fashion and beauty essentials from the likes of lululemon and American Eagle. Whatever it is you're shopping for, you're sure to find impressive markdowns across all categories in honor of 4th of July.

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Ahead of 4th of July 2023 you can shop incredible deals on several of the best laptops we've ever tested. If you're on a budget, opt for the Acer Swift X 14, which is our experts' favorite overall laptop under $1,000. The laptop has an impressive battery life, great multi-core performance and strong GPU performance. For a laptop that can handle all your favorite games and more, the Asus TUF Core i5 3050 is worth a look and it's currently on sale for $759 at Walmartwhich is $140 off its original price tag of $899.

The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews and more.

Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.

This article originally appeared on Reviewed: 4th of July laptop deals: Save on Apple, Acer and Lenovo
Observers of Sierra Leone's election are raising concerns about vote count irregularities in a ballot that declared President Julius Maada Bios re-election. As the Muslim-majority nation marks Islams Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, there are calls for peace and unity, after violence during the polling process left at least one dead. Senanu Tord reports from Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Analysts monitoring Sudan say it might take an internationally supported peacekeeping force to end the ongoing fighting there. That assessment follows multiple failed cease-fire attempts and talks facilitated by Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Until two weeks ago, Hala Alkarib lived in Khartoum, where she's the regional director for the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa. But she and other colleagues had to relocate because of the horrors created by the ongoing war, including looting.

"I would say 75% or more of Khartoum inhabitants have experienced looting," Alkarib said. "Our homes were completely looted, our vehicles, our personal properties, our papers and documents were destroyed and burned."

She said the strategy of the Rapid Support Forces run by General Hamdan Dagalo is not new.

"The presence on the ground inside residential areas being in Khartoum, in Al Fasher, in Nyala or in [El] Geneina, the RSF strategy is to run a war from within and inside civilian residencies," Alkarib said. "The RSF are the extension of the Janjaweed. It's been done for over 20 years in rural Darfur, where villagers were terrorized, and infrastructure was completely destroyed."

Alkarib blames the Sudanese Armed Forces led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, for enabling the RSF to flourish.

"SAF unfortunately, they were for years kind of relying on the RSF to do their dirty work and they were complacent and enabled this criminal organization to grow and right now it grew to the point that it actually threatens the existence of overall Sudan as a state."

She said it's unfortunate the international community is not exerting sufficient pressure on countries that could help end the war.

"Seventy-five percent of the causes of this war lies outside of Sudan," Alkarib said. "UAE [United Arab Emirates] and their significant support to the RSF and Egypt and their position  anti- any type of democratic governance in Sudan and that constantly put them in a position where they support SAF as potential rulers."

That sentiment was partly echoed by Dr. Edgar Githua, a lecturer at the United States International University and Strathmore University.

"The African Union and the world in general looking at this situation need to step up and need to call out Russia and tell Russia pull out the Wagner group, get it out," Githua said. "Egypt is an easier group to deal with, the U.S. has a lot of leverage with Egypt. Libya, Khalifa Haftar can be told to back down also, and the UAE can be told to back off."

Some of the countries mentioned offered to mediate the crisis and denied involvement in the war. Githua said the international community must become more directly involved.

"They are coming to the battlefield with renewed vigor and at some point, the world has no choice but there has to be some external intervention and for me it'll be a peacekeeping force that creates a humanitarian corridor to just try to restore normalcy."

The Jeddah talks overseen by the United States and Saudi Arabia were recently suspended and the most recent offer by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, to mediate the crisis also stalled because one of the generals said he didn't want the Kenyan president leading the group that is made up of South Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

And that's a problem, said Macharia Munene, professor of History and International Relations at USIU in Nairobi.

"One of the generals, Burhan, has said he doesn't want anything to do with him, so he's going nowhere," Munene said. "He prefers [South Sudan political figure Salva Kiir. Yes, the team is an IGAD team, and he's supposed to lead the team but if one of the participants, the major player, doesn't want anything to do about him leading the team, there's something wrong."

For now, fighting is showing no signs of letting up.
UNITED NATIONS  The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Thursday that will establish an independent body to determine what happened to more than 130,000 people missing because of the conflict in Syria.

The resolution, an important response to appeals by their families and loved ones, was adopted by the 193-member world body on a vote of 83-11 with 62 abstentions. Among those opposing the resolution was Syria, which said it will not cooperate with the new institution. Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and Iran also voted no.

The resolution, spearheaded by Luxembourg, noted that after 12 years of fighting in Syria "little progress has been achieved in alleviating the suffering of families by providing answers as to the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons."

It authorizes the establishment of an Independent Institution of Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic, under U.N. auspices, "to clarify the fate and whereabouts of all missing persons  and to provide adequate support to victims, survivors and the families of those missing."

It says victims, survivors and the families of the missing should be represented in the new body, which will be guided by principles including "do no harm," impartiality, transparency and the confidentiality of sources and information.

Under the resolution, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres must present terms of reference for the new institution within 80 working days and take steps to speedily establish the body and put it in operation. It requests the U.N. chief to report on implementation of the resolution within 100 working days.

Luxembourg's U.N. ambassador, Olivier Maes, told the General Assembly before the vote that "every day families, especially women, face administrative and legal difficulties, financial uncertainties and deep trauma as they continue to search for their missing loved ones."

He noted that Guterres recommended in a report last August that U.N. members consider establishing an independent institution to clarify the fate of the missing. The U.N. chief cited insufficient coordination among current bodies dealing with Syria's missing and said families often had to report disappearances to multiple places.

Maes said the new institution will be "a one-stop shop" and serve as a single place to collect and compare data and ensure coordination and communication with all parties.

Syrian Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh called the resolution "politicized," saying it clearly reflects "flagrant interference in our internal affairs" and provides new evidence of the "hostile approach" of the United States and other Western nations to his country.

Urging a "no" vote, he said Syria has addressed the issue of missing persons, processed all claims of disappearances submitted to law enforcement authorities and carried out "independent investigations in accordance with Syrian law and on the basis of available information and resources."

U.S. deputy ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis said many of the missing were unjustly detained or taken by the parties to the conflict, including individuals believed to be missing at the hands of the Islamic State extremist movement and other terrorist groups.

"Nearly every Syrian family is affected by this issue," he said. "Confirming the fate and whereabouts of the missing, securing their release, and returning the remains of those who perished to their families is a moral and humanitarian imperative."

DeLaurentis said that "even with limited or no initial cooperation from Damascus, we believe this institution will make meaningful progress."

Syria's uprising-turned conflict, now in its 13th year, has killed nearly a half million people and displaced half of its prewar population of 23 million. The International Commission on Missing Persons cites U.N. estimates that in 2021 more than 130,000 Syrians were missing as a result of the conflict.

In the run-up to the vote, over 100 civil society organizations and 23 U.N. human rights experts urged the General Assembly to establish an independent institution.

The organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and a dozen Syrian groups, called on U.N. member nations "to support the families' right to truth." They noted that the call was also supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross and others.
WASHINGTON Renewed calls by Chinese officials for the lifting of sanctions in exchange for open lines of communication with the U.S. military are echoing into a diplomatic abyss, even as tensions between the two superpowers continue to mount.

The Pentagon on Thursday rejected the demand, arguing there is no good reason for high-level Chinese military officials to avoid conversations with their U.S. counterparts.

From our perspective, there are no obstacles to keeping open lines of communication, the Pentagon press secretary, Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, told reporters, responding to a question from VOA.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin can communicate with his Chinese counterpart right now, Ryder added. Those sanctions do not need to be lifted in order for him to communicate with his counterpart.

Austin and Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu spoke briefly during the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month, but Pentagon officials described the exchange as not substantive.



Chinese officials have repeatedly said they would be open to talks, but only if sanctions are lifted, a demand they repeated Wednesday, according to Bloomberg News.



The U.S. side knows the reason for difficulties in its military-to-military relations with China, Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for Chinas embassy in Washington, told reporters.



Such obstacles should be removed before any exchange and cooperation could take place between the two countries, he added.



Liu did not specify the sanctions China wants lifted, but Chinese officials have previously pointed to personal sanctions on Li as the sticking point.



Chinas spy balloon



High-level military-to-military communications between the two counties have been on hold since before China sent a high-altitude surveillance balloon across the United States in February.



Pentagon officials said Chinas military rejected a request to talk after the balloon was shot down and have expressed concern that other U.S. calls for talks have fallen on deaf ears.

Chinese officials deny that the high-altitude balloon, which was ultimately shot down off the U.S. Atlantic coast, was a surveillance device, arguing instead it was a weather balloon.

But the Pentagon insisted Thursday the balloon was intended for surveillance, though U.S. countermeasures appear to have thwarted its collection efforts.

It has been our assessment now that it did not collect while it was transiting the United States," Ryder told reporters. Certainly, the efforts that we made contributed, for sure.

Ryder, though, declined to comment directly on a report by The Wall Street Journal that the balloon equipment included U.S.-made technology.

He also did not rule it out.

We are aware in previous cases, for example, things like drones and other capabilities, what have you, where off-the-shelf commercial U.S. components have been used, he said.

The report alarmed some U.S. lawmakers, who called for more limits on technology exports to China.

This incident has not been closed, Representative Michael McCaul and Senator Bill Hagerty, both Republicans, said in a statement. We look forward to viewing the full technology analysis of the surveillance balloon. Competitive actions, like export controls, must move forward to stand up to Communist China.
Colleges across the country will be forced to stop considering race in admissions under Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, ending affirmative action policies that date back decades.

Schools that have relied on race-conscious admissions policies to build diversity will have to rethink how they admit students. It's expected to result in campuses that have more white and Asian American students and fewer Black and Hispanic students.

The impact of the decision will be felt most strongly at the nations most selective colleges, which have been more likely to consider race as one of many factors in admissions. But some less selective universities also consider race, and hundreds of colleges may need to adjust their admissions systems in response to the decision.

Colleges say they're still analyzing the decision, but it's sure to have a dramatic impact nationwide. Here's what we know so far.

When will the ruling take effect?

Today's incoming high school seniors will be the first to see any change. Many of them will be applying for college over the next year as colleges remove race from admissions decisions. The process probably won't look much different for students  maybe there will be another question or two about their life experiences  but behind the scenes, there could be big changes in the way colleges evaluate applications.

At Northeastern University, President Joseph E. Aoun said in a campus message the decision will dramatically alter the use of race as a factor in college admissions.

How many colleges consider race?

No one knows for sure. Colleges arent required to disclose whether they consider race, and the federal government doesnt track it. A survey of about 200 colleges in 2019 found that roughly four in 10 colleges said race had at least limited influence in admissions decisions. The practice is most common at highly selective institutions, while many less selective schools dont consider race.

Nine states have separately banned affirmative action at private universities, including California, Michigan, Florida and Washington.

In states that already banned affirmative action, colleges responded by recruiting more low-income students, hoping that wealth would act as a proxy for race. Some colleges also started percentage plans that offer admission to top students at every high school in their state. Such approaches have had mixed results. But expect to see more colleges trying alternate approaches.

How are colleges going to change admissions?

An alternate approach floated by some would put greater emphasis on students who overcome adversity. President Joe Biden endorsed that approach Thursday, saying adversity should be a new standard in college admissions, rewarding those who overcome challenges related to income, race or other factors.

The court's decision appears to allow such an approach. The conservative majority wrote that nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected the applicants life," as long as it's tied to a particular quality the applicant brings to campus.

Applicants may see more colleges add questions about adversity or other life experiences. But the decision also warns about going too far, saying colleges can't simply use essays to revive the regime we hold unlawful today.

What's clear is that any direct consideration of race in admission decisions will have to end, meaning colleges will no longer be able to give an edge to underrepresented minorities simply because of their race.

What does this mean for legacy admissions?

With affirmative action off the table, colleges face mounting pressure to end other admission practices that disproportionately benefit white and wealthy students. Chief among those are legacy preferences, the practice of giving an admission boost to the children of alumni.

Within hours of the decision, activists and some Democrats in Congress were urging colleges to abandon the policy. Biden took a shot at it too, saying he's asking the Education Department to examine legacy preferences and other practices that expand privilege instead of opportunity." A small but notable group of colleges have dropped the practice in recent years, including Johns Hopkins University and Amherst College, but it continues at many others, including Harvard and other Ivy League schools.

What are colleges saying?

Colleges across the country said they're committed to campus diversity no matter what the court says. Campus leaders say they're still sorting out how the decision will affect them, but many expressed optimism that they will legally find other ways to bring a diverse mix of students to campus.

Colleges are sending a welcoming message in hopes of avoiding the type of drop-off among Black and Hispanic students that have been seen in some states that outlawed affirmative action.

Why were colleges considering race in the first place?

In several decisions dating to the 1970s, the Supreme Court had upheld affirmative action in college admissions. Past rulings found that colleges have a compelling interest in promoting racial diversity because of the benefits it provides. They say it exposes students to differing viewpoints and helps prepare future leaders, among other benefits. Colleges say race has been a small factor, sometimes giving an edge to underrepresented students. Opponents dispute that notion, citing research finding a boost for Black applicants equivalent to 310 points on the SAT exam.

Thursday's decision reversed course on the earlier decisions. The court found that while the benefits cited by universities are commendable, they don't pass legal muster because they aren't concrete enough to be measured and they don't have a clear end goal.
The U.N. expressed concern Friday that no new ships have been registered since June 26 under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine. "We call on the parties to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay," U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. Moscow said Modi expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leadership's decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday. The call comes after the U.S. and India declared themselves "among the closest partners in the world" last week during a state visit to Washington by Modi. India has yet to condemn ally Russia for the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian forces hit a school in Serhiivka, Donetsk Oblast on Friday, killing two members of staff and injuring six others, the regional prosecutor's office reported.

More weapons are needed for an effective counteroffensive, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the top officer in Ukraines armed forces, said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Zaluzhny expressed frustration that although Ukraine is expected to rapidly take back Russian occupied territories, it will have to wait  in a best-case scenario  at least until the fall before it receives American-made F-16s.

The Ukrainian commander pointed to NATO's own doctrine, which calls for air superiority before launching an offensive. Despite that, Western leaders are slow to supply the jets, Zaluzhny complained.

He also said his troops have limited ammunition, adding they have been outshot tenfold at times by the enemy.

So, it pisses me off, Zaluzhny said, when he hears that Ukraines long-awaited counteroffensive in the countrys east and south has started slower than expected  an opinion publicly expressed by Western officials and military analysts. Nevertheless, he remarked his troops have gained some ground  even if they are inching just 500 meters daily.

This is not a show, Zaluzhny said Wednesday in his office at Ukraines General Staff headquarters. It's not a show the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every meter is given by blood.

Without being fully supplied, these plans are not feasible at all, he said. But they are being carried out. Yes, maybe not as fast as the participants in the show, the observers, would like, but that is their problem.

Ukrainian forces have successfully liberated nine settlements in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, according to Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, though the main attack is yet to come.



Northern border

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked his senior military leadership to strengthen Ukraines northern military sector after the arrival in Belarus of Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.

"The decision  is for Commander-in-Chief [General Valeriy] Zaluzhny and 'North' commander [General Serhiy] Naev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this direction," Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app.

SEE ALSO:

Zelenskyy did not mention Wagner Group boss Prigozhin in the brief post on Telegram.

National Security Spokesman John Kirby told VOA the U.S. will continue to monitor Wagner's activities wherever they are around the world, and we're going to continue to hold them properly accountable for the kinds of egregious violent, deadly and illegal conduct that they, that they are still capable of conducting.

After pushing Russian forces out of northern regions last year, Ukraine took steps to tighten the defense of its border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia.

Prigozhin flew from Russia into exile in Belarus on Tuesday under a deal negotiated by President Alexander Lukashenko that ended his mercenaries' mutiny in Russia on Saturday.

Thunbergs involvement

Zelenskyy met Thursday in Kyiv with Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and prominent European figures who are forming a working group to assess ecological damage from the 16-month-old Russian invasion. Their talks focused on the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

Combating ecocide is one of the points of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, and we must implement each of its points, all aspects of peace, said Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy also met Thursday with former U.S. vice president Mike Pence, who made a surprise visit in Kyiv. Zelenskyy thanked Pence for his support. "We appreciate that both major U.S. parties, the Republican and Democratic, remain united in their support for Ukraine, he said and added we feel the strong support of the people of the United States, he said.

Zelenskyy also thanked the U.S. for the recent defense assistance packages worth $2.1 billion and $500 million, allocated on June 6 and June 27, respectively, and he emphasized the unprecedented total amount of support provided, which has reached $43.1 billion since February last year. [https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/volodimir-zelenskij-zustrivsya-iz-48-m-vice-prezidentom-ssha-83929]

Pence is the first Republican U.S. presidential candidate to meet with the Ukrainian president during the campaign.

VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
Launched to honor Apollo 9 astronaut Russell "Rusty" Schweickart, it recognizes students, and early career individuals working towards planetary defense solutions

SAN FRANCISCO, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, on June 30th, International Asteroid Day, B612 Foundation announced the Schweickart Prize , named in honor of renowned Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, which will recognize individuals who have made exceptional contributions to planetary defense and advancing life's evolutionary journey. The prize acknowledges the significance of embracing our collective responsibility for safeguarding humanity's transition into the broader cosmos. "Through the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), we worked on the issue of planetary defense from asteroid impacts. Rusty Schweickart took a leadership role with the ASE to enable others to bring this global issue to the United Nations. This topic is now debated on a global stage as a result of Rusty's commitment. This prize in Rusty's honor is a fitting tribute to his lifetime of leadership," said Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz , NASA astronaut, CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Co, and NASA's first Hispanic astronaut.

Renowned Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart holding the first annual Schwieckart Prize at California Academy of Science on Asteroid Day 2023. Awardees in subsequent years will consist of undergraduate and graduate students as well as early career professionals dedicated to asteroid-focused planetary defense and they will receive the prize and $10,000 USD.

The Schweickart Prize emphasizes the need to address existential risks like asteroid impacts. "As citizens of Earth, we have to do everything in our power to preserve it and save it from all sources of danger. The Schweickart Prize encapsulates this concept and will be a beacon of achievement for all those working to prevent asteroid impacts here on Earth," said Anousheh Ansari , CEO of XPRIZE, private space explorer and first Iranian astronaut.

The prize will be awarded annually to exceptional individuals, specifically undergraduate and graduate students and early career professionals actively involved in planetary defense. Their work will demonstrate notable progress in threat discovery, mitigation strategies, civil protection, public education, or responsible geopolitical decisions. "The Schweickart Prize will recognize a new generation of students who will contribute to future advancements in space exploration for the benefit of all life on Earth, particularly in the face of existential challenges like asteroid impacts," said Nicole Stott , NASA astronaut, artist, co-founder of Space For Art Foundation, and first watercolor painter in space. The open call for Schweickart Prize nominations will be posted this October at Schweickartprize.org .

The future awardees will have achieved accomplishments, including facilitating international cooperation, addressing legal issues, stimulating student engagement, validating NEO deflection techniques, establishing public credibility, developing visual tools, or exploring innovative approaches to minimize NEO impacts. "The California Academy of Sciences stepped up as one of the inaugural supporters of Asteroid Day because we want our audiences to take an interest in understanding the risks and opportunities of asteroids. We are proud to support the Schweickart Prize, which we hope will increase interest in this topic and enable us to develop more visualization tools and techniques to enhance public understanding of planetary defense," said Ryan Wyatt , Senior Director of Morrison Planetarium and Science Visualization, California Academy of Sciences.

Beginning in 2024, Schweickart Prize awardees will receive a cash prize of $10,000 USD and gain global exposure through a press campaign to acknowledge their achievements. The awardees will also receive a prestigious unique award with a museum-quality meteorite, symbolizing the existential nature of the prize's purpose.

"The Schweickart Prize Award Committee comprises representatives from renowned universities and organizations worldwide, specializing in astronomy, planetary science, aerospace, and space policy programs," said Danica Remy , President of B612 Foundation and co-founder of Asteroid Day. Committee members representing the many facets of the planetary defense issue will play a vital role in the process. Committee members include Anousheh Ansari, astronaut, XPRIZE (USA); Dr. Richard Binzel, MIT (USA); Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, astronaut, MIT (USA); Dr. Irmgard Marboe, University of Vienna (Austria); Dr. Patrick Michel, Lagrange Laboratory at the Cote d'Azur Observatory (France); Hong-Kyu Moon, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (Korea); Oliver Morton, The Economist (UK); Dr. Soichi Noguchi, astronaut, Mirai Space Co. (Japan); Dorin Prunariu, cosmonaut, Asteroid Foundation (Luxembourg); Dr. Frans G. von der Dunk, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA) and other distinguished members to be added in the future. See SchweickartPrize.org for more information.

Founding Sponsors who have generously funded the first five years of the Schweickart Prize program include several anonymous donors, Anousheh Ansari , Barringer Crater Company , B612 Foundation , Future Ventures , Geoffrey Notkin , Jurvetson Family Foundation , Meteor Crater , Randy Schweickart and Michelle Heng, and Rusty B. Schweickart and Joanne Keys.

The Schweickart Prize launch ceremony and reception Friday, June 30, 2023, is generously funded by Lynmar Estate , California Academy of Sciences , George & Loretta Whitesides, David Ramsey, Matthew Ramsey, Will & Anya Wright and Tito's Vodka.

About B612 Foundation and the Schweickart Prize

Since 2002, B612 Foundation has supported research and technologies to enable the economic development of space and enhance our understanding of the evolution of our solar system through its Asteroid Institute program and supporting educational programs, including Asteroid Day. Founding Circle and Asteroid Circle members and individual donors from 46 countries provide financial support for the work. For more information, visit B612foundation.org or follow on social: Twitter , Facebook .

The Schweickart Prize, a program of B612 Foundation, is an annual award that celebrates individuals who have contributed to planetary defense and the evolutionary future of life. It aims to recognize and stimulate advancements in critical areas of planetary defense, encouraging global cooperation and responsible decision-making. The prize is named after Russell "Rusty" Schweickart, renowned Apollo 9 astronaut, co-founder of the Association of Space Explorers and co-founder of B612 Foundation. For more information, visit Schweickartprize.org .

Press Release Photos can be found here .

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View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/schweickart-prize-announced-to-recognize-contributions-to-the-field-of-asteroid-defense-301867617.html

SOURCE B612 Foundation
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/WireImage

Jonathan Majorss alleged abuse reportedly extends far beyond the recent incident that led to his misdemeanor assault charges. According to a massive investigation from Rolling Stone, Majors was abusive in at least two past relationships, including one physically; further, he allegedly got physical with peers during drama school and intimidated crew on set of multiple recent films. Most notably, friends of one ex claim Majorss abuse escalated to him allegedly strangling her. Another source said the other ex called their relationship emotional torture. Majorss attorney said he vehemently denies the allegations. Majorss legal team reportedly sent six testimonies from women he previously dated or was close with to Rolling Stone, but four said they did not approve them, with one even adding that hers was not true. The only woman who approved her statement dated Majors from 13 to 18 and said he was sweet, kind, and gentle.

Majors also allegedly made members of the costume department cry on the set of his 2022 movie Devotion, per the report. A source involved in the production called the situation borderline abusive and said Majors seemed to take some kind of sick pleasure in the situation. Crew reportedly told producers about Majors, but the production company told Rolling Stone there was not a formal complaint made. On the set of his upcoming movie Magazine Dreams, Majors allegedly pushed one member of the production and physically intimidated another, which led to a complaint. (One source on the production claimed it wasnt physical.) Majorss attorney also denied these allegations, blaming them on his Method acting style, which can be misconstrued as rudeness at times.

At Yales David Geffen School of Drama, where Majors studied after his bachelors, the actor was known for his intensity, as one former peer put it. He allegedly got in multiple physical confrontations with others, even during scenes, and one alum said people felt in physical danger around him. Administrators once reportedly even sent an email reminder about rehearsal etiquette and violence after two separate incidents involving Majors. Pusch, Majorss attorney, once again denied these allegations.

The allegations come as Majorss misdemeanor case moves through the court system, with a trial set for August 3. At the same time, the New York Times recently reported that the woman who accused Majors of assault, Grace Jabbari, has probable cause to be arrested. However, as the Times noted, that is not affecting Majorss case, and in domestic-abuse situations, both partners often accuse the other of abuse. In New York, where the alleged assault happened, law enforcement must determine the primary aggressor, and even if Jabbari is arrested as well, the district attorney could decline to prosecute her. Meanwhile, one source told Rolling Stone no one is surprised at the timing of the new Majors allegations. It always felt like it was a matter of time because his behavior never changed, they said. Hes kind of a bad dude, and now its just catching up with him.
After multiple delays and a studio shutdown, the film arrives on Netflix with something specific to say about its queer characters and the status quo. Photo: Netflix

Nimona is a pink-hued shapeshifter who can take on any form, from the animal to the fantastical to the human. Most of the time, though, she appears to be a teenage girl, which is a popular choice for misunderstood magical animated beings of the moment. Nimona drops on Netflix the same week that Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, about a high-schooler finding out about her secret sea-monster heritage, opens in theaters. Its not a metaphor that requires much explanation  the world has all sorts of ways of making a young woman feel freakish. But Nimona, whos voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz, never questions her own fluid nature. Whether shes a quippy punk kid, a rampaging rhinoceros, or a dancing shark, shes always gleefully herself. The problem is everyone else in the kingdom, who have lived in terror of beings like her for centuries. Theyve built walls around their city and trained a legion of knights to protect their citizens, even as the encounters that inspired all this fear remain the stuff of distant legend.

Nimona looked like it was going to become the stuff of legend itself at one point  after multiple delays, production on the almost-finished film was canceled in 2021 after Blue Sky was shut down by Disney, which had acquired the animation studio as part of the Fox merger in 2019. Disney higher-ups had reportedly been leery about Nimonas queer themes, and the movie definitely doesnt traffic in the kind of blink-and-youll-miss-them exclusively gay moments that got the company mocked on The Other Two. Theres nothing remotely ambiguous about the romance between Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), the movies other main character, and his swoony fellow trainee Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang), one thats laid out in the opening sequence as they embrace and declare their love for one another while looking down at the arena where theyre due to be knighted. But what makes Nimona so refreshing is that it doesnt just plunk these characters onscreen as a contribution to the battered cause of representation  it also has something to say about them and their respective relationships with the status quo.

Ballister hopes that he can belong if he proves himself worthy, a desperate longing the movie itself cant let go of in the end.

Ballister is an outlier, not because of his sexuality, which doesnt appear to be a point of contention in the films futuristic medieval world of flying cars and high-tech swords, but because hes a street kid who was allowed to enter contention to become a knight by Queen Valerin (Lorraine Toussaint), a privilege previously reserved for a pedigreed few. Because of this, the public regards him with suspicion even though hes at the top of his class, and when hes framed for the queens murder, even Ambrosius  who chops off Ballisters arm trying to stop what looks like an attack  believes hes guilty. Nimona bursts into the fugitive Ballisters life hoping hes a supervillain she can appoint herself sidekick to in pariah solidarity. What she finds instead is a man so invested in the institutions hes struggled to find acceptance from that he doesnt want his quest to clear his name to cast any doubt on them. Nimona, which was directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane (of Spies in Disguise) and written by Robert L. Baird, Lloyd Taylor, and Pamela Ribon, isnt delicate about these ideas  the knights are part of what is literally called the Institution, run by the aloof Director (Frances Conroy). But theres a chilling effectiveness to the way Ballister speaks to Nimona, whom he finds too destructive, too loud, and just too much, after reluctantly accepting her help.

Can you please just be normal? I just think itd be  easier if you were a girl, he asks when she reclines on the subway as a coral gorilla. Easier for who? she responds, and he assures her, For you! Other people arent as accepting as me, words familiar to anyone whos been told theyre responsible for the bigotry they face from others because theyre too visible, too much in their basic existence. Nimona is based on a webcomic by ND Stevenson, whos a co-producer and who transitioned in the years between the end of the comic and the release of the film. Stevenson has written about how it seems obvious in retrospect that the character represents transness, even if it wasnt something he realized at the time. The interactions between Nimona, who wants to question the assumptions their society is built on, and Ballister, who just wants to secure a place for himself in that society, are made more plaintive by the fact that shes a gender-nonconforming being whose fluidity is seen as a threat and he happens to be a stereotypically masculine gay man. Nimona significantly revamps Stevensons original story and swaps his sparer aesthetic for something more frenetic in style and conventional in its look. But at the films heart remains a relationship thats radical and sad. Ballister hopes that he can belong if he proves himself worthy, a desperate longing the movie itself cant let go of in the end. Otherwise, what would be left is the long and painful work of opening up how people think  which isnt the stuff of fairy tales.
Travis Scott. Photo: LOIC VENANCE/AFP via Getty Images

Travis Scott and several Astroworld Festival organizers will not face criminal charges after a deadly crowd crush killed ten people at the rappers music festival, a Houston grand jury decided on June 29, per Reuters. Scott, Live Nation, and ScoreMore, the entities that managed and promoted the festival, still face civil claims, which could result in upwards of a billion dollars in damages. Harris County in Texas combined the hundreds of lawsuits into one massive multi-district litigation, alleging wrongful death, personal injuries, and negligence. The Houston grand jury declined to charge Scott a little over a year and a half after the tragedy injured hundreds of concertgoers and resulted in the deaths of ten people ranging in the ages of 9 to 27. The November 5, 2021, festival drew in a crowd of 50,000. Eyewitness reports described a scene where attendees were packed into the crowd like sardines and described intense pressure on their chest during Scotts performance, while others were trampled in the chaos. Nothing Travis did or failed to do fits within the Texas criminal code, Scotts attorney, Kent Schaffer, told Reuters.
Photo: Neil Mockford/Getty Images

For the second time in less than one year, Kevin Spacey is facing a jury over sexual misconduct allegations, with a trial in his U.K. criminal case starting in earnest Friday, June 30. The fallen American Beauty star, who was cleared in a civil sexual misconduct case in October 2022, is on trial in London for sexual assault charges involving four men. During opening arguments on June 30, the prosecution claimed that Spacey delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, according to The New York Times. When accusers testimony started the week of July 3, they portrayed Spacey as an unrepentant predator  with one man saying he was like a cobra during an alleged assault, the BBC said.

The prosecutor, Christine Agnew, told jurors that Spacey is a man who sexually assaults other men. A man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable a sexual bully, The Guardian reported. Agnew said his preferred method of assault is, it appears, to grab aggressively other men in the crotch. On one occasion things went further than that. Spacey has denied the allegations  and on Thursday, July 13, 2023, he took the stand to defend himself. Below, the events of the trial, which promises still more bombshell testimony.

Which charges does Kevin Spacey face in London?

Spacey faces 12 counts. They include seven sexual-assault counts and three indecent-assault counts. He faces one count each of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, per The Guardian. The counts relate to four men for alleged incidents between 2001 and 2013. Spacey lived in London when he worked as artistic director of the famed Old Vic Theatre from 2003 to 2015.

So what are the specific allegations against Spacey?

In a 90-minute opening argument, the prosecution laid out accusers claims against Spacey. One accuser claimed that before the alleged assaults unfolded, Spacey would speak openly about his sexuality, making him uncomfortable. As time went on, the accuser said, Spacey started to touch him inappropriately, and these encounters became more intense. There were eventually times that Spacey would grab and grope in an aggressive way, the BBC reported. The prosecution claimed that Spacey derived a sexual thrill out of this type of sexual aggression.

The second accuser told authorities that Spacey had simply laughed when hed pushed the actor away at a 2005 work function after Spacey allegedly grabbed him so strongly that it was painful, according to the BBC.

The third accuser said he first encountered Spacey at the Old Vic and asked him for mentorship. Once, after drinking at a bar, they went back to Spaceys home. The accuser said that he woke up and found Spacey engaging in a sex act on him, the prosecution reportedly stated.

Finally, the fourth accuser said hed met Spacey at a pub in 2013. The man, who worked at the pub, ran into him later that evening at another bar, where hed had told Spacey he was headed. At this bar, the man alleges, Spacey touched the mans leg over and over. When a group returned to Spaceys home that evening, the actor allegedly told the man to be cool when Spacey tried to kiss his neck. Then, when Spacey and the man were by themselves in a room, Spacey allegedly grabbed this mans crotch, BBC reported the prosecution as saying.

Did Spaceys lawyer say anything in court?

Yes. In what the BBC described as a short opening statement, defense lawyer Patrick Gibbs said the accusations were from a long time ago and reimagined with a sinister spin, further describing the claims as made up or twisted. According to the BBC, Gibbs questioned the accusers motives and said, You will hear many damned lies.

Does this have anything to do with Spaceys New York trial in fall 2022?

No. Spaceys sexual-misconduct trial in Manhattan federal court was a civil proceeding involving actor Anthony Rapps allegations against Spacey. Rapp had claimed that Spacey made an aggressive, unwanted sexual advance in 1986, when Rapp was only 14. (Spacey would have been about 26 at that time.) Rapp alleged that hed met Spacey when the then-teen was acting in the Broadway play Precious Sons. Rapp claimed that he went to Spaceys apartment for a party, during which Spacey allegedly climbed on top of him. I was frozen. I was pinned underneath him, Rapp told jurors. I didnt really know what to do. Rapp lost his case. The jury took less than an hour to find Spacey not liable.

Didnt things get really weird at the Rapp trial?

Indeed. Within a few minutes of Spaceys testimony, he gave an Oscar-worthy performance describing a childhood rife with trauma. I grew up in a very complicated family dynamic, Spacey told jurors. My father was unemployed a great deal at the time, so therefore he was home a lot of the time  My father was a white supremacist and a neo-Nazi. (Spaceys lawyer also got COVID-19.) So far in this trial, Spacey doesnt appear to be super-worried. When he arrived at court on June 28, he seemed in good spirits and wished people good morning, the Independent reported. The Guardian said that he smiled when he got to court.

What did Spaceys accusers say in their testimony during week two?





The accusers testimony appears to support allegations of longtime predatory behavior by Spacey. One accuser, whose name isnt being disclosed for legal reasons, alleged that Spacey groomed him and described the actor as a very slippery, snaky, difficult person in an interview with police, The Guardian reported. The man alleged that Spacey tried luring him into unwanted sexual encounters by promising him entree into Hollywood circless. During one of the accusers most striking moments in his police interview, which was played for jurors, the man said that he was driving him to a party at Elton Johns home when Spacey grabbed his penis so forcefully it almost caused an accident, the newspaper said.

The accuser also claimed that Spaceys alleged misconduct was an open secret at the Old Vic theater  so much so that it used to be a laughing joke about what was going on there, according to The Guardian. It was well known that he [Spacey] was up to no good, he said. The accuser said he had severed ties with Spacey after the alleged car incident. He grabbed me so hard I almost came off the road. He grabbed me really hard and it really hurt. I pushed him against the door and said, Dont do that again or I will knock you out, the man recalled. Spacey allegedly laughed and replied, Thats such a turn-on to me.

The man claimed in his police interview that Spacey groped him a good dozen times in the early aughts. The accuser said Spacey seemed to think he could groom him using praise and gifts, including front-row seats to shows and dinners for him and his girlfriend. Thats what they do, try to reel you in: Ill give them that and they wont say anything. The man also said, Every time we became alone over the years, on multiple occasions, he would try and grope me, grab me, and make me feel very, very uncomfortable.

Another accuser claimed that Spacey groped him after he helped with his dog. In a police interview shown to jurors, the accuser said that Spacey walked into a bar where he worked with a small dog in tow, per the BBC. Spacey took a seat and introduced himself; the man said there wasnt much to do in the area and said he was going to another bar after work. Spacey allegedly said, Cool, I might see you down there. When the accuser arrived at the other pub, he alleged Spacey called out to him. At some point, the accuser went looking for his jacket in a closet, and recalled a little dog running between his legs. The accuser told police that he picked up the dog and brought him back to the bar area. Then, the man alleged, Spacey approached him and we did an awkward man-hug  he hugged me, I did a sort of pat on the back type of thing. At that point he kissed my neck twice and grabbed my crotch. He said the words Be cool, be cool twice, the man told police. I put my arm between us and pushed him against a wall. I said, I am sorry, I dont bat for that team. Spacey looked panicked and left, he said. Spacey maintains his innocence of the charges. His trial is expected to last one month.

What did Spacey testify?

Spacey emphatically denied engaging in sexual misconduct against any of his accusers and characterized himself as a victim of vindictive behavior. He told the court that he considered his relationship with one of the accusers to be consensual and somewhat intimate, CBS News reported. Their relationship was flirtatious and developed over time, Spacey reportedly claimed. We enjoyed each others company, Spacey said, claiming he would have taken the lead. Spacey testified that he had physically touched this man in intimate places; he claims there was consensual sexual activity but insisted he never engaged in any forcible behavior. It did not happen in a violent, aggressive, painful way  it was gentle and, in my mind, romantic, Spacey testified, per CBS News. It was not what he has described.

Spacey also insisted that he didnt grope a man while he was driving to a party at Elton Johns home. The extent of their sexual interaction was touching because, Spacey said, he didnt want to go further than we were going, and I respected that. As for when he heard this accusers allegations, Spacey described feeling crushed and didnt think this man would stab me in the back.

This is a developing story and has been updated with additional reporting and information.
Momentum from an economic recovery in China early this year has faded further, with activity in the services industry and construction sector dropping to its weakest level since December, according to official data released Friday.

The non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, an important reading of sentiment in the services and construction sectors, fell to 53.2 in June from 54.5 in May, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

The sub-index for services activity also fell to a six-month low, reaching 52.8 in June. The services sector is crucial to Chinas economy. It accounts for 58% of GDP and 48% of employment.

Following the release of the data, the Chinese yuan weakened in onshore trading to its lowest level since November, at around 7.26 per dollar.

The currency has slumped 5% this year as sentiment soured regarding Chinas growth prospects, as well as the widening gap between Chinese and US interest rates.

In March, the non-manufacturing PMI had surged to its highest level in nearly 12 years, boosted by a resurgence in consumer activity as the country emerged from three years of Covid lockdowns. But momentum has slowed in recent months.

The main engine of growth is spluttering, said Robert Carnell, regional head of research for Asia-Pacific at ING Group. Official PMI data confirms that the re-opening surge in the service sector is subsiding.

The services and construction sector, spurred by consumer spending, had been keeping Chinas economy growing in the first half of this year as the manufacturing sector lagged behind, he said. Fridays data confirms that the initial surge in economic expansion had contained a lot of pent-up demand, which has not continued.

Domestic tourism and dining out have been making up for lost time in the early part of the year. But there is only so long that this can go on, Carnell said.

The manufacturing PMI, a key indicator of factory activity, reached 49 in June, according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. That was a slight improvement from Mays 48.8, but indicated the sector is still contracting.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion, while anything below that level shows contraction.

Chinas reopening recovery continued to lose momentum in June, analysts from Capital Economics wrote in a Friday research report.

Looking forward, policy support will be key to preventing a further deceleration in growth, they added.

To bolster growth, the Peoples Bank of China cut its main benchmark lending rates last week for the first time in 10 months. Many analysts said the move wasnt enough and called for a much bolder stimulus package, including direct measures to boost consumption and the housing market.

On Thursday, Premier Li Qiang chaired a cabinet meeting, where he said the government plans to take measures to promote household consumption.

Taking targeted measures to boost [household consumption] is conducive to driving growth in consumer spending and economic recovery, he said in a statement.

At a forum earlier this week, Li struck a bullish tone about the Chinese economy, telling a gathering of global financial elites that growth in the current quarter will be higher than it was in the first three months of the year.

Li said the government is on track to achieve its growth target of around 5% for this year, and pledged to do more to support the recovery.

 CNNs Wayne Chang in Taipei contributed to reporting.

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Severn Trent boss Liv Garfield suggested the proposals in an email inviting executives to soft test ideas to be put to the Labour party - Tayfun Salci/Zuma Press

The boss of Severn Trent has called in an urgent meeting with utilities bosses in an effort to ward off the threat of nationalisation under a potential Labour government.

Liv Garfield, who is paid 4m-a-year to lead the FTSE 100 company, sent an email to her counterparts asking them to join a roundtable to discuss the future of the utilities industry and the potential for reinvention as social purpose companies.

Marked sensitive and highly confidential, Ms Garfields email said the roundtable would be an opportunity to soft test ideas to be submitted to the Labour party.

Business chiefs are braced for a potential Labour win at the next general election which is expected to take place as early as May 2024.

Ms Garfield said a taskforce of industry chiefs should seek to push Labour away from greater intervention, despite calls for the water industry to be nationalised.

She suggested that one alternative could be repurposing company structures so they can still make a profit but with the requirement to have a special duty.

Bosses should seek to ensure that any manifesto commitment emphasises the importance of independent economic regulation, something to which investors attach huge weight, she said.

In her email, which was first reported by the Evening Standard, Ms Garfield, added: Whilst it is clear Labour will not include nationalisation in its next manifesto, they are also not keen on entering into the election race championing the status quo. The leadership thinks there is room for improvement and, politically, there is significant pressure to do something about utilities.

One idea we believe might be attractive to the Labour leadership is re-purposing utilities and utility networks into a new breed of declared social purpose companies  companies that remain privately owned, who absolutely can (and should) make a profit, but ones that also have a special duty to take a long-term view.

The UK is entering a period of heavy investment in infrastructure (650bn over the next 10 years, according to some reports) and the last thing we want to do is push-up (Truss-style) the cost of investment.

It comes as Britains water industry is mired in turmoil. Thames Water, the countrys biggest supplier, is scrambling to convince investors to inject 1bn of new capital into the business.

The Telegraph revealed on Thursday that Southern Water is set to receive about 500m from its shareholders to shore up its finances. Yorkshire Water announced a deal with its owners for a similar amount on Monday.

Seven Trent and United Utilities differ by virtue of being listed companies that have lower levels of debt.

Ratings agency Moodys added its concerns about Thames Waters finances in a note to investors late on Thursday.

Although it said that Thames was not facing an imminent administration, Moodys analysts warned that the company may not be able to generate sufficient profits to make interest payments to certain debtholders.

Until Thames has agreed an equity injection, doubts will linger over the companys long-term future.

Ministers have warned against taking Thames into public ownership with Labour frontbenchers likewise sceptical of nationalisation.

Sir Keir Starmer has already dropped plans by former leader Jeremy Corbyn to return water and energy companies to public ownership.

Nevertheless, Labour backbenchers have begun urging Sir Keir to consider a rethink.

Clive Lewis, the Labour MP for Norwich South, told the Guardian: When you look at the issues we will face under climate breakdown  years of drought then years of rainfall  you begin to see that having a profit motive driving investment, driving those services, is simply incompatible with how anyone would view dealing with that situation. That is where we are heading  that is where science tells us we are heading.

This is beyond an ideological fight about public good and private bad. The public understands that something needs to change. Labour should get on the front foot and show it has the best interests of the British people at heart.

Kate Osamor, the Labour MP for Edmonton added: Enough is enough. Thames Water must be brought back into public ownership, without compensation for shareholders. The British public has been taken for a ride for too long. The model of nationalising risk and privatising profits has failed.

Severn Trent declined to comment.

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US media reports plan to stage fight in Colosseum.

Italy's culture ministry has dismissed US media reports that it has proposed the Colosseum as a venue for a cage fight between tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.

TMZ reported that an official from the Italian culture ministry contacted Facebook founder Zuckerberg about staging the high-profile clash with Twitter owner Musk at "the most fabled fight theater in history."

Musk added fuel to the rumours on Friday by posting a series of tweets referencing the Roman amphitheatre, including: "Some chance fight happens in Colosseum" and a quotation from the movie Gladiator: "What we do in life, echoes in eternity".

Some chance fight happens in Colosseum Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 30, 2023

A spokesperson for Italy's culture ministry, however, said there was no such proposal to host the fight between the two tech gurus, in a statement published by Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Noting that use of the Colosseum is granted to a select number of high-profile paid events "almost always for charity", the ministry said that if Zuckerberg and Musk wanted to "perform in the Colosseum" it should be "a non-violent challenge", proposing "a sort of certamen, a duel with Latin verses."

The ministry also suggested that the pair would have to "ensure an appropriate financial contribution to be donated to the protection of Italian historical heritage and perhaps a share to Emilia Romagna", the northern region devastated by floods last month.

The Colosseum made world headlines in recent days after a tourist was filmed carving his name and that of his girlfriend onto an inner wall of the Rome landmark, sparking outrage in Italy.

On Thursday culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano announced that Italy's Carabinieri police had identified the alleged culprit of "the uncivilised and absurd act", who now risks a fine of 15,000 and up to five years in prison.

Last week Musk and Zuckerberg agreed to face each other in a cage fight, however the date and venue for the proposed clash have yet to be announced.

Cover image: Colosseum, 20 May 2023. Photo Wanted in Rome.
Viral video of tourist carving names into Colosseum wall sparked outrage.

Italian police have identified the tourist allegedly responsible for defacing the Colosseum last week after a viral video of the incident sparked outrage around the world.

The man, who used a key to carve his name and that of his girlfriend into an inner wall of the amphitheatre, is believed to have been on holiday in Rome from England.

Italy's culture minister on Twitter thanked the Carabinieri police for promptly identifiying the alleged culprit of "the uncivilised and absurd act committed at the Colosseum".

IDENTIFIED THE AUTHOR OF THE DEFACEMENT ON THE WALLS OF THE COLOSSEUM



The Italian Minister of Culture @g_sangiuliano announced that the @_Carabinieri_ have identified the person who in recent days defaced a wall of the Flavian Amphitheatre https://t.co/vI5dychtge Colosseo  Foro Romano  Palatino (@ParcoColosseo) June 29, 2023

Gennaro Sangiuliano said the act "offended all those throughout the world who appreciate the value of archaeology, monuments and history", adding: "Now I hope that justice will take its course by rigorously applying the laws."

Reputo gravissimo, indegno e segno di grande incivilta, che un turista sfregi uno dei luoghi piu celebri al mondo, il Colosseo, per incidere il nome della sua fidanzata. Spero che chi ha compiuto questo gesto venga individuato e sanzionato secondo le nostre leggi. pic.twitter.com/p8Jss1GWuY Gennaro Sangiuliano (@g_sangiuliano) June 26, 2023

According to The Daily Mail, the tourist suspected of carving "Ivan + Hayley 23" into the Roman landmark is a fitness instructor who lives in Bristol but is originally from Bulgaria.

If convicted, the man risks a fine of 15,000 and a jail sentence of up to five years.

In 2014 a Russian tourist was fined 20,000 after carving a large letter K on a wall inside the Roman landmark.
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Happy Friday, at least in Connecticut. Governor Ned Lamont, fresh off cutting personal income tax for the first time in almost 30 years, is also lowering the cost of beer. He approved a 16.7% reduction on the excise tax, a nod to Connecticuts burgeoning craft beer industry. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight This tax cut is another way that we can support our locally-owned, small businesses, Lamont said in a statement.

Read more: Connecticut Lawmakers Approve Budget With Historic Tax Cut

The change goes into effect July 1 to kick off the holiday weekend. It means taxes on a barrel (31 gallons) of beer will be $6, down from $7.20 previously.

Connecticuts tax revenue has dropped this year, but the state is still relatively flush with cash, projecting it will start fiscal 2024 with $6.3 billion in reserve, or about 28% of annual spending.

Read more: American States Once Awash in Cash Now Face Reversal of Fortunes

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D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray is the most prominent politician whom prosecutors have named for his involvement at the center of a Washington business executives secret scheme to influence local and national politics in recent years. Fast, informative and written just for locals. Get The 7 DMV newsletter in your inbox every weekday morning. ArrowRight But the documents released by federal prosecutors Monday show that Gray (D) was just one candidate among more than two dozen whom Jeffrey E. Thompson, a powerful government contractor, sought to help by infusing their campaigns with illegal cash.

With the exception of Gray and former D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown, prosecutors have not publicly identified the other candidates to whom they referred in Thompsons plea agreement. But people with knowledge of the investigation have confirmed the names of most of those involved.

For example, at Thompsons plea hearing Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Atkinson referred to an at-large council member who was aware that Thompson was funding his 2011 campaign, illegally contributing more than $148,000. People familiar with the case have identified the member as Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large), who is now running for mayor. Orange has said that he has turned over campaign records to prosecutors.

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After allegations by Thompson were revealed Monday, Orange said he had no knowledge of any shadow campaign on his behalf. He did acknowledge that he accepted checks and money orders from Thompson, many of which were probably straw donations.

If I had knowledge, Id be indicted, he said. Im not getting indicted. Im not a co-conspirator.

In plea documents, Thompson said he understood that Orange was aware of the secret spending on his behalf. But in court, Thompson acknowledged that he had no direct conversation with Orange and that his presumption of knowledge was through intermediaries.

From 2006 to 2012, according to the plea agreement Thompson signed Monday, the businessman secretly steered more than $2 million to more than two dozen candidates running for the D.C. Council, mayor, Congress and president.

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The details of Thompsons campaign to influence a vast network of candidates were revealed when the businessman pleaded guilty Monday to funneling illegal contributions to federal and local candidates over a six-year period.

U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., at a news conference Monday, said the candidates had varying degrees of knowledge of Thompsons activities.

Gray has dismissed Thompsons statements as lies.

In the mayors case, prosecutors alleged that Thompson hoped that Gray would expedite negotiations over a pending settlement with the businessmans firm, D.C. Chartered Health Plan.

In contrast, prosecutors have not provided details about what Thompson may have been seeking from the other candidates.

According to people with knowledge of the investigation, those candidates included Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign. In his plea agreement, Thompson said he illegally spent $608,750 on canvassers and campaign literature on Clintons behalf when she ran against then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

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At Monday news conference, Machen did not identify Clinton by name. But he specified that the presidential candidate whom the plea described did not know about the illegal donations.

The federal candidates who also received illegal contributions from Thompson included Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.); then-Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.); Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) ; then-Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), and Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.). Those candidates received contributions from Thompson employees Stanley Straughter and Lee Calhoun, who admitted last year to donating Thompsons money in their own names.

In the District, people with knowledge of the investigation said that Linda Cropp, the former D.C. Council chairwoman who lost in the 2006 mayoral campaign to Adrian M. Fenty, was another recipient of Thompsons illegal largesse. Prosecutors alleged that Thompson illegally spent $278,000 on Cropps behalf without reporting it.

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Cropp, in a telephone interview Tuesday, said it was a big shock and surprise to see her name associated with Thompsons scheme. She said she was unaware that his contributions were illegal.

Thompson told prosecutors that he gave Brown $120,000 in illegal donations and spending that was used when he ran for the council in 2007 and 2008. The businessman also told prosecutors that he arranged for $140,000 in illegal spending for Jeff Smith, who challenged council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) in 2010.

That year, Thompson also made $26,000 in illegal expenditures to Kelvin Robinson, a council candidate in Ward 6.

Thompson also spent $100,000 on behalf of Mark H. Long, a candidate for an at-large council seat in 2008.

Court documents filed in the Calhoun and Straughter prosecutions indicated that Thompson facilitated illegal donations to seven other local candidates, including Fenty; council members Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), David A. Catania (I-At Large), Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) and Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7); and Patrick Mara, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for an at-large seat last year.

Catania said he was unaware of any illegal contributions from Thompson or any of his surrogates.

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The other team owners unanimously ratified the record-setting $6.05 billion deal. Snyder will pay the NFL $60 million after a league investigation concluded that the team withheld revenue and that Snyder sexually harassed a former team employee.
Social Security Is Dangerously Inadequate In One Very Outdated Way  Whats Being Done To Fix This Underrated Problem?

JJ Gouin / iStock.com

Social Security beneficiaries who have complained about poor telephone support from the agency now have an answer as to why: The Social Security Administrations phone systems experienced an increasing number of service disruptions at the end of 2022 as it maintained operations under a temporary platform, according to a new audit report from the SSAs Office of the Inspector General.

See: Social Security Expert Claims Program Faces Big Trouble  60% of Americans Are Very Concerned

Find: 3 Ways To Recession-Proof Your Retirement

From May 2021 through December 2022, 40 telephone service disruptions occurred on the SSAs national 800-number and field office systems, the report said. Most disruptions occurred from October through December 2022 and involved the 800-number. The disruptions resulted in dropped calls, increased wait times and, in some instances, unavailable automated services. The reason wait times increased was because SSA employees couldnt take calls during several of the outages.

In addition, some features were unavailable to callers, such as estimated wait time and call back assist, both of which are used to help callers avoid waiting on the phone to speak with an SSA employee. The rate of unanswered calls for those who opted to speak with an employee during each of the service disruptions ranged from 32% to as high as 80%.

The disruptions came during a period of limited in-person services following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, CNBC reported. This turned out to be bad timing because phone services were the primary option for the public to interact with SSA employees.

The official average phone wait times are about 35 minutes, according to Kathleen Romig, director of Social Security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Most people Ive talked to have experienced longer wait times than that, Romig told CNBC.

As noted in the SSA report, the agency for many years operated three telephone systems for its headquarters, but is now in the process of replacing them with a modern, unified telephone system through its Next Generation Telephony Project (NGTP).

The NGTP is expected to improve phone customer service by merging SSAs three telephone systems into a single, uniform platform designed to be more efficient, stable and functional. But the pandemic delayed this upgrade.

Know: Heres the Average Social Security Check for Men vs. Women

As of May 2023, the SSA still had not implemented the NGTP. Although it has strengthened its temporary platform to help increase stability until the NGTP can be implemented, the agency doesnt have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place with the telephone service contractor, which has contributed to other problems. The SSA doesnt plan to pursue an SLA, either, because doing so would require additional negotiations with the vendor.

The phone disruptions compounded a slew of customer service issues the SSA has experienced in recent years due to budget cuts and staff shortages. A Money.com article called Social Securitys customer service dangerously inadequate based on conversations with Chad Mullen, the AARPs government affairs director.

For folks who really are depending on Social Security to just get by, to pay the bills, to eat  were talking extraordinarily long periods of time just to find out if theyre going to qualify for that benefit, Mullen told Money.

As previously reported by GOBankingRates, a labor union representing Social Security Administration employees issued a warning that the agencys staffing and funding crisis could lead to more Americans being denied the benefits they deserve.

Jessica LaPointe, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Council 220, which represents SSA field office workers, called the SSA an agency in crisis during a recent gathering on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

The union that represents a majority of SSA workers has called you here today to sound the alarm that the Social Security Administration is in a state of emergency, LaPointe said. The fabric of Americas social safety net is deteriorated, and you and your loved ones and our nations most vulnerable are at risk of falling through.

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Social Security Is Dangerously Inadequate In One Very Outdated Way  Whats Being Done To Fix This Underrated Problem?
The confirmation of US pop behemoth Taylor Swifts Australian Eras tour dates has sent the nation  and the Ticketek website  into, lets face it, a bit of a state.

But some people  apart from Tay Tay herself, of course, and promoter Frontier Touring  are making it work for them.

Taylor Swift is coming to town. Credit: Getty

Youth media start-up The Daily Aus was quick out of the blocks on Wednesday with a ticket giveaway. Punters could be in the running for the four seats on offer simply by signing up as a follower of the sites Instagram page.

Well, about 20,000 Swifties did just that on Wednesday, boosting The Daily Aus following on Instagram  a vital distribution channel for the start-up  by nearly 5 per cent. Not a bad days work.
The head of the countrys new integrity watchdog is more than capable of launching an investigation without needing free advice from politicians about where he should dig for evidence of corruption.

Major General Paul Brereton, a former judge of the NSW Court of Appeal, led the inquiry into Australian war crimes in Afghanistan and was praised for his tenacity, energy and integrity when he was farewelled at the Banco Court in Sydney last month.

Illustration: Simon Letch Credit:

Brereton took office at the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) on June 1 like a sniper in a political jungle  so quietly that few realised he was in position. The rest of his new team join him on July 1. They will have 180 staff at their command because the NACC will absorb the existing, but less powerful, Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity. They will move into a Canberra headquarters in September.

We are going to hear regular calls for Brereton to take action  sometimes justified, sometimes not  but the NACC will not need those referrals. It has its own power to launch investigations. Crucially, this is a power Labor wanted it to have but which the Coalition resolutely opposed when Scott Morrison was prime minister.
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 Jakarta: Blindsided by the AUKUS submarine deal two years ago, Joko Widodo has revealed how trust has been restored with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in charge, but the Indonesian president has called on Australia and its allies to deepen engagement with other nations on regional security to include all parties, not exclude them. Indonesias leader, popularly known as Jokowi in the country of 270 million, will on Monday fly to Sydney to meet with Albanese on what is his first visit to Australia since February 2020. In an exclusive interview at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta and at a traditional market in the capital, Widodo said he would push for costly, time-consuming visa conditions for Indonesians to be simplified by Australia and for economic ties to be further developed. Widodo spoke of the personal bond he had established in the past year with Anthony Albanese. Credit: Jefri Tarigan He said he appreciated Albaneses commitment to South-East Asia but would also like to see greater co-operation on security. Australia is our close neighbour, as neighbouring countries we have no other option besides to strengthen our co-operation, Widodo said. Regardless of [the government] of Australia, good relations must be built with Indonesia and also with ASEAN [the Association of South-East Asian Nations] because the Indo-Pacific region is very strategic. Stability and peace must be maintained with the spirit of collaboration. I see Prime Minister Albanese is committed to this and I hope there will be more concrete action.

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Indonesia had been taken aback by the announcement in 2021 by then-prime minister Scott Morrison that Australia would acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines under an agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom seen as an effort to counter the rise of China. Loading Kept in the dark about it, Widodos government raised anxiety about being caught in the middle of an arms race and took concerns about the sharing of highly enriched uranium for military reasons to a United Nations nuclear non-proliferation conference. The Labor governments more consultative approach appears to have been better received by Indonesia, although Widodo stressed that Australias submarine ambitions must not contribute to a greater military build-up. This decision from Australia, I must respect it, he said. What must be maintained is not to trigger tension in the region, not to trigger an arms race. That is very important. What must be considered and obeyed are transparency of every step taken, respect to the [nuclear] non-proliferation regime and the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] safeguard regulations.

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Regional peace and stability is the responsibility of all countries in the region. I have talked with Prime Minister Albanese about this by phone. Asked about the security role he believes Australia and groups such as AUKUS and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue should play in south-east Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific, he said, the spirit of collaboration must be further strengthened. The Indo-Pacific region is very strategic, Widodo said. Inclusivity must be strengthened to include all parties, not exclude them. Mini-lateral groupings, for example, AUKUS and [the] Quad, must be supporters of efforts to build [the] peace and stability of the region. The spirit must be engagement, not containment. Indonesian President Joko Widodo speaks during an interview at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia. Credit: Jefri Tarigan Widodo spoke of the personal bond he had established in the past year with Albanese, who ventured to Jakarta two weeks after Labors election victory to demonstrate his new governments prioritisation of Indonesia and the region. Prime Minister Albanese is my close friend. He is warm and friendly and I feel close with him, said the president, who rode bamboo bicycles with Albanese at another of the presidential palaces in Bogor, West Java during the Australian leaders visit last year.

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If there are issues we can easily call each other. Communication between us is effortless. The strong relations between us as leaders reflects the strong bilateral relations. Albanese and Widodo ride bicycles around the palace grounds at Bogor Palace in Indonesia on June 6, 2022. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen On the Australia-Indonesia relationship, he added: Having different views is normal. What is important is how to manage it well and how to show mutual respect. This is very important. As major players in the Indo-Pacific, Indonesia and Australia [must] always uphold dialogue to maintain our good relations and regional stability. Loading Not for the first time in his nine years as president, the difficulty of Indonesians travelling to Australia will be on the agenda when Widodo meets Albanese in Sydney. While as many as 1.23 million Australians visit Bali alone per year and can buy a visa on arrival within minutes of landing for $50, only a fraction of that number of Indonesians travel to Australia. They are hindered by an Australian system in which a tourist visa application costs $140 per person and is to increase to $190. They can also take as long as two months to be processed. Applicants are also required to answer a list of questions that includes whether they have committed genocide, crimes against humanity or torture.

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Australia and Indonesia are very close. This should also be reflected in the ease of travel, said Widodo, who previously brought up the issue with Morrison. Travelers arrive at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia. Credit: Bloomberg We need to manage barriers including visa applications. I have raised this issue with Prime Minister Albanese last year and there has been progress  the addition of a quota for working holiday visas, for example, from around 4000 to around 5000. Its good. I will raise this issue again during our coming meeting. We cannot deny Australia and Indonesia have different cultures. And to have better understanding, the people-to-people contact must be continuously intensified. For example, through tourism, education and then sending workers and others. So the ease in visa application is once again important, very important. Indonesians can travel visa-free or by getting a visa on arrival in more than 70 other countries including Japan. Australia and Indonesia are very close. This should also be reflected in the ease of travel, Widodo said. Credit: Jefri Tarigan Visas on arrival were also free for Australians visiting Indonesia between 2016 and 2020 but Jakarta re-introduced a fee as travel resumed after the pandemic. It is considering increasing the entry cost for foreigners to bring it into line with those of other countries.

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London: When the rebellion was over, its leader was taken to the Kremlin. He was drawn, quartered and decapitated. The Russian government then cracked down even harder. But the mutiny and its instigator captured the romantic imagination of Russians, in time inspiring some of their greatest literature.

The execution in this case took place in 1774. The rebel leader was a Cossack named Yemelyan Pugachev, his nemesis was the Tsarina Catherine the Great, and the novel  The Captains Daughter by Alexander Pushkin  was published a whole lifetime later.

Elle Fanning as Catherine in The Great, in the historical drama-comedy.

Yevgeny Prigozhin appears  so far  to have arranged a fate better than Pugachevs, after the mutiny he led this weekend first fizzed and then fizzled  all within a few dramatic hours that will no doubt also be the stuff of future storytellers.

The boss of the Wagner Group, a ruthless mercenary militia, has now decamped to neighbouring Belarus, where he and an as-yet unknown number of his soldiers of fortune will regroup, at the pleasure of that countrys dictator, Alexander Lukashenko.
Nanterre, France: French protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police in the streets of some French cities overnight as tensions mounted over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that has shocked the nation.

Armoured police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the teen, who is only being identified by his first name, Nahel. On the other side of Paris, protesters lit a fire at the city hall of the suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois. The French capital also saw garbage bins set ablaze and some store windows smashed.

In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police sought to disperse violent groups in the city centre, regional authorities said.

Tens of thousands of police officers were deployed to quell the protests, which have gripped the country three nights in a row. More than 650 people were arrested overnight around the country and around 200 police officers were injured, according to a national police spokesperson. No information was available about injuries among the rest of the population.
Baghdad: Hundreds of followers of the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada Sadr briefly stormed the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad on Thursday in protest of the burning of a Koran in Sweden.

An Iraqi security official said the Swedish Embassy was evacuated by security forces after the protesters breached the building, raising pictures of Sadr and flags of his militia, the Mahdi Army. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasnt authorised to speak to the media.

Followers of the influential Iraqi Shiite cleric and political leader Muqtada Sadr storm the Swedish embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. Credit: AP

Some of the protesters also burned rainbow flags, a symbol of LGBTQ+ pride.

Iraqi officials didnt make any public statement on the storming of the embassy.
Washington: In the most anticipated ruling since federal abortion rights were overturned in America, the US Supreme Court has curtailed affirmative action, barring elite colleges and universities from considering race in student admissions.

The conservative-dominated court ruled that race-conscious admission programs were unlawful and should no longer be used to accept people from traditionally underrepresented groups, ending a decades-old policy that sought to make higher education more equitable.

Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusettes Credit: AP

As prestigious institutions began to rethink their selection processes, the decision sparked protests outside the court in Washington, reignited the debate over race in America and raised fears among some employers that they would have a less diverse pipeline of graduates from which to hire in the future.

President Joe Biden said the court had once again walked away from decades of precedent and called on colleges not to abandon diversity, noting that students from the top 1 percent of family incomes in America are 77 times more likely to get into an elite college than students from the bottom 20 per cent of family incomes.
Major brands have been making interesting moves with NFTs, but heres an example thats decidedly different from the typical consumer-facing fare: a division of European food services and facilities management giant Sodexo just launched tokenized profile pictures (PFPs) for all of its employees.

Sodexos Benefits and Rewards Services (BRS) division, which recently rebranded to Pluxee, plans to spin out and go public in 2024. And the division has prepared a vibe shift to go along with that structural change, creating bold employee NFTs in collaboration with the Dfinity Foundation and NFT marketplace Yumi via the Internet Computer blockchain.

Dubbed The X Collection, the artwork was created by US-based applied artist Candace Marquette and depicts digitally rendered people and animals. A Yumi blog post says the collection is inspired by six types of natural elementsclouds, land, water, light, air, and fire.

Artwork from Pluxee's X Collection project. Image: Pluxee

Broadly, Sodexo provides a range of services, including school and workplace food services and facilities and workplace management. It is publicly listed on the Euronext Paris and serves 100 million consumers daily, per its website, with some 422,000 employees and annual revenue topping 21 billion euros the last fiscal year.

The Pluxee division provides benefit initiatives for employees at an array of companiessome 500,000 firms utilize the service, Pluxee says, servicing over 36 million users with things like meal cards and wellness programs. Pluxee itself has about 5,000 employees.

Pluxees project is made up of 5,000 digital collectiblesNFTs inspired by the 31 countries the company currently operates in. The brand said in a press release the initiative is a demonstration of its belief in cutting-edge technology.

At the moment, the main utility is the digital assets use as a profile picture for Pluxees own employees. But it may also be intended as a showcase of whats possible for companies that Pluxee serves, with the firm saying in a release that it marks a new use case for NFTs as tools to increase employee engagement and enrich company culture.

At Pluxee, were committed to creating personalized and sustainable experiences, and these unique NFTs served this purpose perfectly, said Suvodeep Das, Sodexos Global VP Multi-Benefits & Gift, via email. He added that the reveal created a lot of excitement among employees.

Throughout our teams, employees are now using these Pluxee-branded NFTs across multiple touchpoints and their own personal social networks, said Das.

Snap Into the 'Meataverse'Slim Jim Gives Away Free 'GigaJims' NFTs

Pluxees employees are able to trade the digital collectibles among their peers and transfer the assets into their own wallets. Das said he does not expect them to have resale value, however, and did not outline any future utility.

Pluxee said it chose to partner with developer Dfinity and use the Internet Computer blockchain because of its energy efficiency and commitment to sustainability. As part of the drop, the company committed to donating 1 per NFT claimedfor a potential maximum of 5,000, or about $5,440to its Stop Hunger charity initiative.

It isnt the first time Sodexos rewards brand has dabbled in blockchain. The business already offers a blockchain-based employee benefits solution in Chile and Uruguay, which the company called the first of its kind in the employee benefits sector.

Arianee's Key Focus for Big Brands? Building 'a Better NFT', Says CEO

This corporate drop marks the latest example of multinationals taking notice of Web3 tech, as mainstream brands continue to dip their toes in Web3 waters in the hope of finding new ways to engage consumers. Others have done it in a more customer-facing way.

Coffee conglomerate Starbucks set up its crypto stall with an NFT-based rewards program called Starbucks Odyssey on Ethereum sidechain network Polygon, and has sold limited edition NFT collectibles to users. Amazon is also reportedly mulling the launch of a marketplace for NFTs tied to real world assets.
From 26 to 28 June 2023, the World Customs Organization (WCO) hosted the WCO Knowledge Academy for Customs and Trade at its Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. This summer Academy serves as a catalyst for professional knowledge enhancement, bringing together Customs officers, industry leaders, and academic experts, all united by their passion for advancing Customs and trade practices.

Since its inception in 2011 under the visionary leadership of Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General, the Knowledge Academy has flourished and evolved into a pivotal platform for professional development. Marking its 13th edition, the Academy has enabled participants to stay ahead of emerging trends and challenges in the realm of Customs and Trade.

The WCO Knowledge Academy for Customs and Trade fosters collaboration and facilitates knowledge exchange. With some 120 participants attending in person, it encourages the creation of links between Customs officers and representatives of the private sector and academia, with the diversity of participants backgrounds and experiences enriching the discussions.

Setting the stage for an immersive and dynamic learning experience, this year's Academy began with a session titled "Leadership Talks", which provided students from Customs Training Schools in Belgium and Germany with an opportunity to engage directly with the Secretary General of the WCO. Through these stimulating dialogues, participants gained valuable insights into the strategic vision and transformative leadership that underpin the WCO's mission and objectives.

In the subsequent segments of the Leadership Talks, the Academy welcomed Deputy Directors from various WCO directorates, including Gael Grooby, Deputy Director of Tariff and Trade Affairs; Brendan O'Neil, Deputy Director of the Facilitation Sub-Directorate; Stefan Kirsh, Deputy Director for Compliance and Enforcement; and Tafili Ebenezer, Deputy Director for Capacity Building. These seasoned experts engaged with participants providing invaluable perspectives on the critical functions and collaborative efforts within the WCO.

Throughout the Academy, a comprehensive curriculum encompassed diverse topics meticulously tailored to meet the specific needs and interests of the participants. The first day of the agenda focused on crucial discussions surrounding the WCO Data Strategy, WCO Data Model, and the organization's ongoing commitment to gender equality and diversity. These enlightening sessions shed light on the significance of data management, harmonization, and inclusivity in the ever-evolving Customs and trade environment.

Dedicated primarily to the Harmonized System (HS), the second day of the Academy delivered a deep dive into this fundamental framework that underpins international trade. Through a series of immersive sessions, participants gained comprehensive insights into the intricacies of HS classification providing them with practical knowledge that they can immediately apply in their daily Customs operations.

On the third and last day, attendees explored HS classifications through concrete examples. Additionally, participants delved into the essential elements of Rules of Origin and Valuation, gaining a profound understanding of these vital components of Customs procedures.

Recognizing the importance of inclusion and accessibility, all training sessions were interpreted in both French and English, giving all participants an equal opportunity to engage fully with the different sessions and derive maximum benefit from the wealth of knowledge shared.

The WCO Knowledge Academy for Customs and Trade illustrates the unwavering commitment of the WCO to empower Customs and the private sector, and promote excellence within the global Customs and Trade community. Through its innovative sessions, interactive discussions, and comprehensive programme, the Academy provided this year again participants with the skills and insights they need to navigate the complex Customs landscape.
By Valerie Insinna

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Spirit AeroSystems said it would begin resuming operations at its plant in Wichita, Kansas, on Friday, after union workers on Thursday voted to accept a new contract and end a strike that led to a week-long work stoppage.

Following a vote where union employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) agreed to a four-year deal, Spirit said it would closely coordinate with its suppliers and customers as it fully restarts production on July 5.

The rejection of a previous offer on June 21 sent shockwaves through the aviation industry, as Spirit is a lynchpin for the U.S. aerospace sector, making major aerostructures for American manufacturer Boeing and its European rival Airbus.

Its Wichita plant is especially critical for Boeing, as workers at the site manufacture the entire body of its bestselling 737 MAX, as well as the forward fuselage of most other Boeing jets. It also produces pylons for the Airbus A220.

The new four-year contract, which union leaders endorsed on Tuesday, includes additional wage increases, allowed employees to keep their current health care plans and eradicated mandatory overtime on the weekends - three features that workers had earmarked as priorities for a deal.

The agreement is a boon for Boeing, which is on the verge of increasing MAX production from 31 jets to 38 jets per month. Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said on June 18 the production ramp was set to occur "pretty soon."

Deal, in a statement to Boeing's workforce after the contract ratification, said the company continued to assess potential impacts to production or deliveries.

Although Boeing maintains some buffer inventory, analysts had warned a prolonged strike could have forced the company to slow or stop MAX production. Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr wrote in a June 22 note to clients that a two- to three-week work stoppage could start to impact 737 output.

Michel Merluzeau, director of aerospace market analysis for AIR consulting group, said the agreement "provides some degree of stability" as Boeing looks forward to negotiations with its Seattle-area machinists union next year.

It also resolves a major dilemma for Spirit, which has been under financial pressure and expects to burn cash this year. The company has been the source of several high-profile production defects on Boeing jets, such the incorrect installation of a bracket on the 737's vertical tail.

(Reporting by Valerie Insinna; Editing by Sandra Maler, Nick Zieminski and Jamie Freed)
FILE PHOTO: The Spotify logo is displayed on a screen on the floor of the NYSE in New York

(Reuters) - Spotify Technology is mulling adding full-length music videos to its app, which could help the music streaming platform compete with TikTok and Alphabet Inc's YouTube, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Spotify, which did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment, already allows artists to upload looping GIFs, which plays when a music track is playing.

Spotify, which already has more than 100,000 podcasts with videos, has begun talks with partners about the product, the report said.

It is looking to attract more Gen Z audiences away from YouTube and TikTok's short-form video platforms. YouTube already has a music streaming service dubbed YouTube Music, with music videos.

Earlier this month, Spotify said it would cut 200 jobs from its podcast unit in its second round of layoffs, as it looks to restructure after years of heavy investment.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect the announcements from the Biden administration.

Borrowers let down by the US Supreme Court ruling against the presidents student loan forgiveness program still must prepare to pay their monthly payments again. The Biden administration is hoping to make that easier.

The highest court in the land on Friday struck down the up to $20,000 in debt cancellation that President Joe Biden announced last year. On top of that, an estimated 40 million borrowers who had their payments paused during the pandemic must get ready for those to restart in October.

Read more: How to open a high-yield savings account

In response, the Biden administration announced some new moves on Friday to ease borrowers into repayment and to offer another avenue for debt forgiveness. Borrowers should also be aware of other debt relief programs under the Biden administration that could get them closer to loan cancellation or help make their payments more affordable.

Heres what to know.

Credit: Getty Images

Payment pause will lift

As part of the debt ceiling deal that the White House struck with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and passed earlier this month, federal student loan payments paused during the pandemic forbearance will be due beginning in October. Interest on those loans resumes in September. Additionally, the deal stipulated that the president can't extend forbearance again.

That means borrowers need to prepare to make those payments again.

Borrowers should go to the Federal Student Aid (FSA) website to find out who their loan servicer is and their monthly payment amounts. Borrowers should also make sure their contact information is correct on both their loan servicers website and in their StudentAid.gov profile, so they can receive notifications from the Education Department.

(Credit: Federal Student Aid)

Auto-debit payments likely won't restart automatically for most borrowers, according to the FSA, so borrowers should opt in to confirm their auto-debit enrollment before payments restart.

FSA also recommends that borrowers use its Loan Simulator tool to find a repayment plan that meets their financial needs. Borrowers may also want to consider applying for an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan, FSA said.

Here's some relief. The administration unveiled a plan to help borrowers when they restart their paused payments in October. For 12 months, borrowers won't be penalized for late, missed, or partial payments. Borrowers don't have to take any action to qualify for the program.

The payments will still be due and interest will still accrue during the 12 months, but the interest will not capitalize at the end of the on-ramp period. Borrowers who miss payments won't be reported to credit bureaus, won't be considered in default, and won't be referred to collection agencies for those payments.

One-time adjustment

President Joe Biden speaks about the student debt relief portal beta test in the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

In spite of the Supreme Court loss, some borrowers will see get some debt relief from the one-time payment adjustment, which is separate from the court's decision.

Last year, the Education Department announced it would count certain months toward student loan discharge that were previously ineligible under income-driven repayment plans, or IDRs.

The one-time payment adjustment helps to reverse some of the damage caused by loan servicers that did not properly track deferments or steered borrowers to forbearance instead of income-driven repayment plans that would have counted toward years of payment.

The adjustment to student loan accounts would go toward helping borrowers get closer to forgiveness under income-driven repayment plans, which offer discharge after 20 or 25 years of repayment, depending on the plan.

Around 3.6 million borrowers would receive at least three years of credit toward discharge as a result, according to Federal Student Aid.

The adjustment will happen automatically, unless your loans are in default or you have commercially-held FFEL loans. Default borrowers in the Fresh Start program are eligible for the one-time adjustment. Borrowers with commercially-held FFEL loans must consolidate those loans with Federal Student Aid (FSA) by December 31, 2023 to be eligible for the one-time adjustment.

Borrowers who have been in repayment for 20 or 25 years should see the adjustment to their accounts by August 1, 2023. Other borrowers will see the adjustment in 2024.

New income-driven repayment plan

When announcing the student loan forgiveness last year, the president also announced plans to reform income-driven repayment plans. The administration gave an update today on that plan.

The administration finalized the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, an income-driven repayment plan that the White House said will cut borrowers monthly payments in half, allow many borrowers to pay $0 in monthly payments, and prevent balances from growing due to unpaid interest.

The plan makes loan payments more affordable in the following ways:

The most borrowers must pay toward their undergraduate loans is 5% of their discretionary income, down from 10%.

No borrower making less than 225% of the federal poverty level will have to make a monthly payment.

Loan balances will be forgiven after 10 years of payments  instead of 20 years  if the original loan balance was $12,000 or less.

Borrowers won't be charged with unpaid monthly interest, so balances won't grow if they make their payments  even if that monthly payment is $0 because their income is low.

Student borrowers in repayment can enroll later this summer before monthly payments restart. Borrowers who sign up or are already signed up for the Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE) plan will be automatically enrolled in the new plan.

Ronda is a personal finance senior reporter for Yahoo Finance and attorney with experience in law, insurance, education, and government. Follow her on Twitter @writesronda

Click here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more

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Allentown, PA (18103)

Today

Any t-storms end around sunrise, then clouds mixing with some sunshine; a few more showers or a t-storm or two pop up during the day. Lingering humidity for one more day. .

Tonight

Skies becoming mostly clear overnight with lowering humidity.
(Bloomberg) -- Dozens of student-loan relief advocates descended on the steps of the Supreme Court on Friday to demand President Joe Biden find other ways to forgive college debts after the justices struck down one of his administrations signature programs.

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Get it done, Joe, urged Robin Lucas, 33, who has student loans from the University of Delaware in Bidens home state.

Backers, who have identified an alternative legal strategy to cancel the student debt by invoking a 1965 law, planned a march on the White House shortly after the ruling was announced Friday. Their allies in Congress urged Biden to act.

This fight is not over, Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement shortly after the ruling. The President has more tools to cancel student debt  and he must use them.

Advocates said delivering on Bidens student-loan plan will be critical to turning out young and minority supporters for his re-election bid.

This plan to cancel student loan debt is really an opportunity to reduce the racial wealth gap, said Wisdom Cole, the NAACPs director of youth and college. Its really important to follow through on this plan that was a key promise on the campaign trail.

The high courts Friday 6-3 ruling tossed out Bidens plan to slash student debt of more than 40 million people, with the courts conservative-leaning justices siding with six GOP-led states that sued to challenge the program. The debt forgiveness plan has been broadly embraced by young and Black voters who could be key to the presidents 2024 reelection bid.

Biden will announce new steps to aid borrowers later on Friday, according to a White House official who didnt provide detail.

Overall 53% of American adults support Bidens loan relief plan, according to a February Economist/YouGov poll. But an overwhelming 67% of 18- to 29-year-olds back it, and an even larger 72% of Black Americans of all ages do.

Read More: Student Loan-Relief Backers Warn Biden Failure Isnt an Option

A massive lobbying effort began almost immediately.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which claims 1 million members, urged supporters to bombard the White House with emails and phone calls telling Biden to pursue an alternative path. The 50,000-member Debt Collective is gathering signatures from its members calling on the administration to try again.

Bidens current plan  to forgive as much as $20,000 in federal loans for certain borrowers making less than $125,000 per year, $250,000 for households  draws on authority in the 2003 Heroes Act.

Liberal groups argue the administration could instead draw on the Higher Education Act of 1965, which gives the Education secretary some broad authorities to manage the governments portfolio of student loans.

Yet doing so would be time-consuming and probably couldnt be completed before the 2024 elections, said Jed Shugerman, a law professor at Fordham University.

Not many of us are surprised with this decision, as disappointed as we are, Lucas said at the Supreme Court. My hope is that they will make moves faster than another two years.

Borrowers are nearing the end of a Covid-related pause on student loan payments. Most borrowers will have to resume making payments in October.

People are not ready. I am not ready, Satra D. Taylor, a policy director at the Young Invincibles advocacy group, said at the Supreme Court. My student loan payment was about $400. I dont have $400 planned in my budget starting in October until the end of this year. I can expect that for many borrowers as well.

--With assistance from Akayla Gardner.

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Just hours after the Supreme Court struck down the president's student loan forgiveness plan, the White House came back on Friday with several avenues to support borrowers.

The Biden administration is seeking to provide debt relief under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and has initiated that regulatory process. Additionally, the Education Department is creating a temporary 12-month on-ramp repayment program that removes the threat of default if borrowers miss payments once they restart in October. Third, the administration finalized a new income-driven repayment plan that it called "the most affordable repayment plan in history."

The goal is to ease some of the financial strain many borrowers face when it comes to their student loans and is a direct response to the Supreme Court's decision earlier Friday.

"I believe the Supreme Courts decision to strike down student debt relief was a mistake, it was wrong," President Joe Biden said Friday afternoon in a press briefing.

"It will take longer, but it's the best path that remains," he added regarding the steps the administration is taking to provide debt relief. "Were not going to waste any time on this."

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the student loan forgiveness program from an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Debt relief

The Education Secretary on Friday initiated a rule-making process in an effort to open "an alternative path to debt relief for as many working and middle-class borrowers as possible" under the authority provided by the Higher Education Act, according to a White House factsheet.

The Education Department on Friday issued a notice that announced a virtual public hearing on July 18 and asks for written comments from stakeholders. After the hearing, the department will finalize the issues that need to be addressed and hold negotiated rule-making sessions this fall.

The White House factsheet did not make clear if the Biden administration is pursuing the same forgiveness plan parameters that the court struck down. Under that plan, the federal government planned to forgive $10,000 for individuals who made less than $125,000 and for households that earn less than $250,000. An additional $10,000 in forgiveness goes to those who received need-based Pell Grants.

The White House press office did not immediately respond to an email to clarify the debt relief parameters it was pursuing under the Higher Education Act.

On-ramp repayment plan

The administration also unveiled a plan to help borrowers when they restart their paused payments in October. For 12 months, borrowers won't be penalized for late, missed, or partial payments. Borrowers don't have to take any action to qualify for the program.

The payments will still be due and interest will still accrue during the 12 months, but the interest will not capitalize at the end of the on-ramp period. Borrowers who miss payments won't be reported to credit bureaus, won't be considered in default, and won't be referred to collection agencies for those payments.

The administration encouraged borrowers who can afford to pay their payments to do so.

New income-driven repayment plan

Jordan Crowe, a supporter of student loan debt relief, rallies in front of the Supreme Court in February. (REUTERS/Nathan Howard)

Last, the administration finalized the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan that it had announced in January, which makes key changes to the Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE) plan. The White House said this new income-driven repayment plan will cut borrowers monthly payments in half, allow many borrowers to pay $0 in monthly payments, and prevent balances from growing due to unpaid interest.

The plan makes loan payments more affordable in the following ways:

The most borrowers must pay toward their undergraduate loans is 5% of their discretionary income, down from 10%.

No borrower making less than 225% of the federal poverty level will have to make a monthly payment.

Loan balances will be forgiven after 10 years of payments  instead of 20 years  if the original loan balance was $12,000 or less.

Borrowers won't be charged with unpaid monthly interest, so balances won't grow if they make their payments  even if that monthly payment is $0 because their income is low.

Student borrowers in repayment can enroll later this summer before monthly payments restart. Borrowers who sign up or are already signed up for the REPAYE plan will be automatically enrolled in the new plan.

"President Biden, Vice President Harris, and I will never stop fighting for borrowers," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a press statement, "which is why we are using every tool available to provide them with needed relief."

Janna Herron is the personal finance editor for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @JannaHerron.

Click here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more

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The Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for employees to obtain religious accommodations at their workplace.

The court used the case of a former postal worker to make clear that employers cannot avoid meeting religious requests simply by arguing that it would cost them more than a de minimis  or trivial  amount. Employers instead should accommodate religious employees requests unless doing so would result in substantial increased costs" to the business, according to an opinion from Justice Samuel Alito.

The court's decision was unanimous. Gerald Groff, a Christian and former U.S. Postal Service worker who sued after his request for Sundays off was denied, will have his case sent back to lower courts.

The ruling has the potential to give religious employees more say over their schedules and dress codes.

Its a small number of employees affected who need this protection, said Douglas Laycock, an authority on the law of religious liberty and professor emeritus at the University of Virginia. But for the employees who need this protection, this is very important.

Former USPS employee Gerald Groff.

What did the decision change?

The courts previous standard for granting religious accommodations meant employers could reject requests often, according to Laycock.

He pointed to a number of examples, including a 2006 case in which the court ruled it was reasonable for an auto-repair shop to move a worker to a lower bay after he refused to cut his hair because of his Rastafarian faith. In another case from 2017, a court found accommodating a Muslim employees request to wear a hijab as a customer service representative at an airport terminal would result in undue hardship to the employer.

Were those same cases to go to court today, Laycock said the employees would have a better chance of winning.

Those were "cases where there seemed to be barely any burden on the employer, he said. (Thursdays decision) may not change the result in every case, but its going to change the result in a lot of cases.

What was the reaction to the ruling?

Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket  a nonprofit public interest law firm that has represented religious clients at the Supreme Court  called Thursday's decision very significant.

Now, the employer can't just say, well, it'll cost me a little more money to have somebody work overtime. Or the other employees won't like that religious exemption, so I'm going to not give it to you, Rienzi said. The court made clear that the employer is supposed to accommodate most of the time.

'Wolf in sheep's clothing'? How a USPS worker's fight over Sunday shifts could change your workplace.

A statement from Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and CEO Rachel Laser said religious accommodations that dont burden or harm others, like wearing a hijab or having a beard, or praying privately, are exactly what the law was designed to permit.

As for Groff's case, Laser argued that Groff could lose the case because his refusal to work 24 Sunday shifts created "huge burdens" for his coworkers.

What we're defending is the idea that religious freedom should not be the right to force your coworkers to bear the cost of your religious practices in a way that harms them, Laser told USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Groff v. DeJoy: What the Supreme Court's decision means for you
Research is lacking in Africa on benefits of children's movement

Current research largely excludes 16% of the world population as Africa contributes less than 1% of research worldwide on the movement behaviours of children.

Childrens health and development depend on how much time they spend doing physical activity, being sedentary and sleeping.

Research on movement behaviours in children is essential. It helps us to understand what influences these behaviours, and their contribution to health and development.

Most evidence on movement behaviours comes from high-income countries. Here children have different lifestyles, environments and cultures from those in low- and middle-income countries. For example, children in African countries face different challenges in achieving healthy levels of physical activity and sleep. Safety, transport, infrastructure, culture, climate, nutrition, and different levels and types of screen time exposure may all present challenges.

Africa, as a continent, contributes less than 1% of research worldwide. This means over 16% of the worlds population has been excluded from the research.

The international SUNRISE study, which we are part of, aims to bridge this gap. It conducts studies on movement behaviour in collaboration with researchers in several African countries, including Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa, where we are based. We bring a collective expertise across disciplines such as public health, physiotherapy and child development.

SUNRISE findings so far show that the proportion of children in low- and middle-income countries meeting recommendations for movement behaviours is low, compared to high-income countries. This highlights the need for research and intervention in Africa.

But since the beginning of this study we have faced a wide range of challenges. In each country, the target number of children for the study is around 1,000. Researching their movement behaviour requires technology.

The challenges include access to devices to track movement, the lack of awareness of such tools and what they do, difficulty in securing funds, and institutional challenges.

Solutions include local collaboration, reducing financial barriers, developing new low-cost devices, and using contextually relevant methods. The following sections describe the challenges and possible solutions in detail.

Challenges

Access to devices

Accelerometers are a type of digital wearable device, similar to Fitbits and smart watches. But they measure movement more accurately than commercially available devices. This is why they are more commonly used in research. These devices are generally more expensive because they are research-grade, and upwards of US$250 each (before software and delivery). This is a major challenge for those of us working in African countries, as at least 50 devices would be needed to conduct large scale studies like SUNRISE. There is no local manufacturer or distributor of accelerometer devices. Researchers need a legal licence to import or export them.

The SUNRISE study is able to loan devices. But exorbitant customs and shipping charges for moving this equipment to and between African countries makes sharing difficult  even when its only for research. This leads to unnecessary costs and delays, which means Africa gets left behind in this scientific field.

Lack of awareness about the benefits of accelerometers

These devices are often novel in African settings. Some parents and caregivers in our study areas have been sceptical about using them. For example, caregivers have asked whether the devices attract lightning, or whether they have some physical effect on the body. This may lead to another challenge in recruiting sufficient participants for the study. And data collection can take a long time when the shortage of devices is added to the time to get local buy-in.

Difficulty in securing funds

SUNRISE study researchers in Africa battle to get funding. They rely on highly competitive international funding, which seldom prioritises movement behaviour research in young children. It costs a lot to attend conferences internationally and to publish research in reputable academic journals. Open access journal fees can even exceed the monthly salary of a research assistant in an African country.

Institutional challenges

Within African research institutions, another challenge is how to build capacity. Few research institutes focus on movement behaviours in Africa. Accelerometer data is often complex to manage, and needs trained staff. High-income countries typically have access to support staff and students who can assist with this. This is not the case in many African countries. So it is difficult to conduct high-quality research and translate it into policy and practice.

Possible solutions

A possible solution is to collaborate with local partners and stakeholders to identify the most appropriate devices for each context and population.

All stakeholders, including local government and non-government organisations, ought to remove barriers so that the researchers can focus on the quality of evidence to inform policy and practice that is anchored to the local context.

Establishing some type of research equipment hub in Africa would go some way to help. But even moving equipment within Africa is not easy. Governments should consider waiving import and export charges for research equipment. The development of low-cost devices that can be produced and used efficiently in Africa is the best way forward.

Researchers in Africa could also examine other new data collection methods that are customised to the local context. Qualitative research (interviews and focus groups) can provide valuable insights into the factors that influence movement behaviours in different contexts. These insights are vital for the development of measurement tools and interventions that are culturally appropriate and effective.

Conclusion

There are many other pressing needs in Africa. But the contribution of movement behaviours to population health and development is significant, particularly as there is growing evidence of the global economic costs of physical inactivity. We need local research on these behaviours, starting in the early years, when patterns of behaviour are established.

Without addressing barriers to robust research, researchers in this region will continue to lag behind in this field.

This means that we lose opportunities to learn how to promote movement behaviours that support health and development, thus setting children on the best path for life.

Catherine Draper, Associate Professor at MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand; Anthony Okely, Distinguished Professor of Public Health, University of Wollongong; Aoko Oluwayomi, PhD Candidate (Exercise Physiology), University of Lagos, and Chalchisa Abdeta, PhD candidate, University of Wollongong

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C  Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,477,070 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 289,969 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management ABs holdings in Citigroup were worth $300,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Arlington Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 72.1% during the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 604 shares of the companys stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. EWG Elevate Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 140.1% during the 4th quarter. Heritage Wealth Management LLC now owns 862 shares of the companys stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.39% of the companys stock.

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Citigroup Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:C traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $46.19. The stock had a trading volume of 5,405,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,622,340. The company has a market capitalization of $89.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.57. Citigroup Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.01 and a 1-year high of $54.56. The stocks 50 day simple moving average is $46.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

Citigroup ( NYSE:C Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The company reported $2.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.53. The business had revenue of $21.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.07 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 12.96%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.92 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 26th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 28th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. Citigroups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citigroup news, insider Zdenek Turek sold 12,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $598,440.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 155,979 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,778,672.73. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on C shares. TheStreet raised Citigroup from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Monday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Citigroup from $56.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on Citigroup from $54.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on Citigroup from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Monday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Citigroup from $61.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $54.50.

About Citigroup

(Free Report)

Citigroup Inc, a diversified financial services holding company, provides various financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions in North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through three segments: Institutional Clients Group (ICG), Personal Banking and Wealth Management (PBWM), and Legacy Franchises.

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The US Supreme Court shot down the Biden administrations controversial plan to forgive billions of dollars in federally-backed student loan debt, a decision that means millions will have to start making repayments later this year.

In a 6-3 decision down ideological lines, the justices held that the administration wasn't authorized to offer the debt relief under a 2003 law known as the HEROES Act. The Biden administration invoked that act during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic as authorization for the student loan relief.

"The text of the HEROES Act does not authorize the [Education] Secretarys loan forgiveness program,"Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

Power given to the secretary under the law to modify student loan programs, the justices held, does not permit basic and fundamental changes in the scheme designed by Congress.

The Biden administration estimated that 20 million borrowers would have had their student loans forgiven as part of its plan. The total number of borrowers with student loan debt is 43 million. More than 26 million borrowers applied for relief before the court disputes brought the program to a halt.

Those who were granted a pause will have to resume making interest payments on Sept. 1 and regular payments due starting in October.

Student debt relief advocates gather outside the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, ahead of arguments over President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The forgiveness plan, launched by the Biden administration last October, was estimated by University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School to cost US taxpayers between $300 billion and $980 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the program would cost US taxpayers $400 billion over the next three decades.

Eligibility under the administration's plan included up to $10,000 in forgiveness for federal loan borrowers with annual incomes under $125,000, or $250,000 per household. Eligible borrowers who received Pell Grants were eligible to receive another $10,000 in relief.

The US Department of Education estimates in that federally-backed student loan debt now totals more than $1.7 trillion.

The ruling was prompted by two cases argued before the high court in February  Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown  both of which disputed whether or not the administration could legally offer the forgiveness by invoking The HEROES Act.

The act, as amended in 2003, allows the US Education Secretary to waive or modify laws or regulations concerning federal student loan programs for student loan recipients who suffer "direct economic hardship as a direct result of war, military operation, or national emergency.

The law further specifies that the secretarys authority is meant to ensure that student loan borrowers experiencing an emergency-caused economic hardship are not placed in a worse position financially in relation to their loans.

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the student loan forgiveness program from an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, U.S., October 17, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis

A dissent from Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson stated the court should never have decided the states case because the states failed to show a concrete injury tired directly to the debt relief. Even so, Kagan wrote, the education secretary legally both waived and modified the HEROES Act.

That may have been a good idea, or it may have been a bad idea. Either way, the Secretary did only what Congress had told him he could, Kagan wrote.

A former Justice Department official and partner with Boies Schiller, Jesse Panuccio, said borrowers loss is also the taxpayers gain.

Holders of student debt are obviously interested in the outcome of these cases, but so are taxpayers who would have to foot the bill for any cancellation of debt owed to the federal government," he said. "The bottom line is that Congress is the only body empowered to make these difficult decisions, not the president acting unilaterally.

Mike Pierce, Executive Director for Student Borrower Protection Center, an advocate for debt relief, blames the government for allowing student debt to become such a significant financial hurdle.

"The high court is asking people with student debt to pay the price for decades of government mismanagement and industry abuses across the student loan systemmaking it clear that, once again, the wealthy and powerful play by a different set of rules from the rest of us," Pierce said.

"A real mixture of Covid and non-Covid-related things'

During oral arguments in February, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Associate Justices Elena Kagan and Justice Amy Coney Barrett questioned whether the Covid-19 pandemic was directly responsible for placing all student loan borrowers entitled to forgiveness under the relief plan in a financially worse position.

[I]t seems, you know, a real mixture of Covid and non-Covid-related things, Justice Kagan said.

Chief Justice Roberts also questioned the administration's reliance on an unpublished, pre-pandemic survey from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, as justification for who is eligible for debt forgiveness and who is not. The 2019 data showed that a significant percentage of student loan borrowers in income brackets that qualify for relief had a history of regularly repaying their loans.

Didn't half the borrowers say they would not have any trouble paying their loans without regard to the forgiveness program? the Chief Justice asked about the borrowers in the survey who earned between $55,000 to $74,000 in annual income.

Student debt relief advocates outside the Supreme Court in February, as the court heard arguments over President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

One of the two cases challenging the plan, Biden v. Nebraska, led to the court's decision. It was brought by six Republican state attorneys general  Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and South Carolina  who said the administration's forgiveness plan required, yet never received, Congress' authorization.

The court held that Missouri, which benefits from profits earned through a quasi-private loan servicing arrangement, Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA), had standing  a strong enough connection to potential impacts of the loan forgiveness plan  to keep its case in court. Missouri argued it would be deprived of its right to collect interest as planned on its already-furnished loans.

Missouri and the other state AGs obtained an injunction temporarily blocking the plan, granted by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. They claimed that with fewer loans on their books, future state tax revenues would suffer.

In the other case, Department of Education v. Brown, filed by two student loan debtors, the court held the litigants lacked standing. One borrower did not qualify for relief under the Biden plan and the other qualified for partial forgiveness.

The two borrowers argued that the Education Department required Congressional approval to adopt the relief plan, and that they were improperly denied the opportunity to comment on its provisions. Their case was backed by the conservative advocacy group, Job Creators Network Foundation.

Carolyn Shapiro, professor of law for IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law said the majority decision relies on the courts recently adopted and controversial major questions doctrine, which says that agency actions of vast economic and political significance must be backed by clear congressional authorization.

This is a dramatic shift of power from the elected branches of the federal government  Congress and the executive  to the Court, Shapiro said.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance, an attorney, and co-creator of the documentary, Valley of Hype. Follow Alexis on Yahoo Finance and Twitter @alexiskweed.

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Windsor Group LTD reduced its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 61,059 shares of the companys stock after selling 648 shares during the quarter. Eli Lilly and Company makes up about 4.3% of Windsor Group LTDs portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Windsor Group LTDs holdings in Eli Lilly and Company were worth $22,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in Eli Lilly and Company during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 97.8% in the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 91 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Tanglewood Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC acquired a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 87.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on LLY. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on Eli Lilly and Company from $420.00 to $490.00 in a report on Thursday, May 4th. 3M reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a report on Friday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Eli Lilly and Company from $430.00 to $475.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. SVB Securities lifted their price target on Eli Lilly and Company from $410.00 to $458.00 in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on Eli Lilly and Company from $370.00 to $360.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $437.90.

Eli Lilly and Company Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE LLY traded up $6.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $464.72. The company had a trading volume of 861,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,100,697. The companys fifty day moving average price is $430.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $375.77. Eli Lilly and Company has a 12 month low of $296.32 and a 12 month high of $468.53. The stock has a market cap of $441.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.96, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Eli Lilly and Company had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 61.42%. The company had revenue of $6.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.62 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was down 10.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Eli Lilly and Company will post 8.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Eli Lilly and Company Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be paid a $1.13 dividend. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 14th. Eli Lilly and Companys dividend payout ratio is 71.86%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 600 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.29, for a total value of $261,174.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 5,978 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,602,163.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Eli Lilly and Company news, EVP Patrik Jonsson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $429.46, for a total value of $2,576,760.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,941 shares in the company, valued at $15,864,681.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Donald A. Zakrowski sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $435.29, for a total value of $261,174.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,602,163.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,279,783 shares of company stock valued at $510,549,964 in the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Eli Lilly and Company

(Free Report)

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, and markets human pharmaceuticals worldwide. It offers Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, and Humulin U-500 for diabetes; and Jardiance, Trajenta, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes.

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American States Water (NYSE:AWR  Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, The Fly reports. They currently have a $89.00 price objective on the utilities providers stock, down from their previous price objective of $94.00. Wells Fargo & Companys price target would suggest a potential upside of 2.43% from the stocks current price.

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of American States Water in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $87.00.

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American States Water Price Performance

Shares of AWR stock opened at $86.89 on Wednesday. American States Water has a 1 year low of $77.91 and a 1 year high of $100.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The firms 50 day moving average is $89.04 and its 200-day moving average is $90.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.67, a PEG ratio of 4.57 and a beta of 0.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

American States Water ( NYSE:AWR Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 10th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.54. American States Water had a net margin of 18.12% and a return on equity of 12.74%. The business had revenue of $161.42 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that American States Water will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

In other American States Water news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 636 shares of American States Water stock in a transaction on Friday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.00, for a total transaction of $56,604.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 38,492 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,425,788. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Anne M. Holloway sold 636 shares of American States Water stock in a transaction on Friday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.00, for a total transaction of $56,604.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,492 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,425,788. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Eichelberger purchased 2,000 shares of American States Water stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $89.99 per share, for a total transaction of $179,980.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,000 shares of the companys stock, valued at $179,980. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.82% of the companys stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On American States Water

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in American States Water by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 22,474 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,998,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in American States Water by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 25,717 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,380,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its position in American States Water by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 7,713 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $686,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. ETF Managers Group LLC lifted its position in American States Water by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. ETF Managers Group LLC now owns 8,186 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $728,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Financial lifted its position in American States Water by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. First Pacific Financial now owns 8,808 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $815,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. 73.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About American States Water

(Free Report)

American States Water Company, through its subsidiaries, provides water and electric services to residential, commercial, industrial, and other customers in the United States. It operates through three segments: Water, Electric, and Contracted Services. The company purchases, produces, distributes, and sells water, as well as distributes electricity.

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Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Aryzta (OTCMKTS:ARZTF  Free Report) in a research note released on Monday morning, The Fly reports. The firm issued a buy rating on the stock.

Aryzta Price Performance

Shares of ARZTF stock opened at C$1.55 on Monday. Aryzta has a 12 month low of C$1.31 and a 12 month high of C$1.83. The companys fifty day simple moving average is C$1.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is C$1.37.

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Aryzta Company Profile

(Free Report)

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ARYZTA AG provides frozen B2B baking solutions in Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It offers pastries, cookies, donuts, muffins, buns, bread rolls and artisan loaves, sweet baked and morning goods, and savory and other products. The company also provides asset management services; and distributes food products.

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Auto Trader Group plc (LON:AUTO  Free Report) crossed below its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of GBX 626.14 ($7.96) and traded as low as GBX 602.20 ($7.66). Auto Trader Group shares last traded at GBX 608 ($7.73), with a volume of 2,253,159 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Shore Capital reiterated a buy rating on shares of Auto Trader Group in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a neutral rating and issued a GBX 630 ($8.01) target price on shares of Auto Trader Group in a research note on Monday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays restated an overweight rating and set a GBX 725 ($9.22) price target on shares of Auto Trader Group in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Auto Trader Group presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of GBX 624.86 ($7.94).

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Auto Trader Group Stock Up 0.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 625.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 597.77. The company has a market capitalization of 5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,426.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.61.

Auto Trader Group Increases Dividend

About Auto Trader Group

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 24th will be issued a GBX 5.60 ($0.07) dividend. This is an increase from Auto Trader Groups previous dividend of $2.80. This represents a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 24th. Auto Trader Groups payout ratio is presently 3,200.00%.

(Free Report)

Auto Trader Group plc operates in the digital automotive marketplace in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company provides vehicle advertisement on its websites for private sellers, as well as insurance and loan financing products to consumers; and display advertising on its websites for manufacturers and their advertising agencies.

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Bell Bank lifted its position in shares of International Paper (NYSE:IP  Free Report) by 17.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 204,149 shares of the basic materials companys stock after acquiring an additional 29,895 shares during the quarter. Bell Bank owned approximately 0.06% of International Paper worth $7,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in International Paper by 45.5% during the 1st quarter. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 675 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the period. Glassman Wealth Services lifted its holdings in International Paper by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 1,016 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in International Paper by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 120,281 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $4,165,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lifted its holdings in International Paper by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 12,974 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in International Paper by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,818 shares of the basic materials companys stock worth $236,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.80% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. 58.com reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of International Paper in a report on Friday, April 28th. StockNews.com downgraded International Paper from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their target price on International Paper from $40.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on International Paper from $31.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM reissued a maintains rating on shares of International Paper in a report on Friday, April 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $37.64.

International Paper Price Performance

International Paper stock opened at $31.39 on Friday. International Paper has a 12 month low of $29.00 and a 12 month high of $45.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $31.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.97. The company has a market cap of $10.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.78 and a beta of 1.04.

International Paper (NYSE:IP  Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $5.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.03 billion. International Paper had a return on equity of 14.87% and a net margin of 6.28%. International Papers revenue for the quarter was down 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that International Paper will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

International Paper Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 15th. Investors of record on Friday, May 26th were given a $0.4625 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 25th. This represents a $1.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.89%. International Papers dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Allison B. Magness sold 3,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.75, for a total value of $104,775.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 21,055 shares in the company, valued at $668,496.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.51% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

International Paper Company Profile

(Free Report)

International Paper Company produces renewable fiber-based packaging and pulp products in North America, Latin America, Europe, and North Africa. It operates through Industrial Packaging and Global Cellulose Fibers segment. The company's Industrial Packaging segment manufactures containerboards, including linerboard, medium, whitetop, recycled linerboard, recycled medium, and saturating kraft.

Further Reading

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Bell Bank cut its stake in RB Global, Inc. (NYSE:RBA  Free Report) (TSE:RBA) by 5.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,341 shares of the business services providers stock after selling 1,578 shares during the period. Bell Banks holdings in RB Global were worth $1,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its stake in shares of RB Global by 204.7% in the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 37,473 shares of the business services providers stock worth $2,109,000 after acquiring an additional 25,173 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its stake in shares of RB Global by 8.2% in the first quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 4,419 shares of the business services providers stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. CLARET ASSET MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of RB Global by 19.7% in the first quarter. CLARET ASSET MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 11,443 shares of the business services providers stock worth $644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,883 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of RB Global by 22.2% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 19,909 shares of the business services providers stock worth $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in shares of RB Global in the first quarter worth about $329,000. 89.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ann Fandozzi purchased 18,522 shares of RB Global stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $54.06 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,299.32. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 116,607 shares of the companys stock, valued at $6,303,774.42. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other RB Global news, CEO Ann Fandozzi bought 18,522 shares of RB Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $54.06 per share, for a total transaction of $1,001,299.32. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 116,607 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,303,774.42. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert George Elton bought 1,471 shares of RB Global stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $54.15 per share, with a total value of $79,654.65. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,471 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $79,654.65. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 21,993 shares of company stock worth $1,185,754 over the last quarter. 4.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RB Global Stock Up 1.3 %

A number of research firms recently weighed in on RBA. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of RB Global from $66.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Monday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of RB Global from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, June 9th. OTR Global raised shares of RB Global to a positive rating in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. National Bank Financial raised shares of RB Global from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $61.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Finally, National Bankshares raised shares of RB Global from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $61.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $61.57.

Shares of NYSE RBA opened at $60.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.44, a P/E/G ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $55.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.30. RB Global, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.72 and a 52-week high of $72.73.

RB Global (NYSE:RBA  Free Report) (TSE:RBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 10th. The business services provider reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.74). The company had revenue of $512.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $427.18 million. RB Global had a net margin of 6.13% and a return on equity of 5.25%. Analysts expect that RB Global, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

RB Global Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 30th were issued a $0.27 dividend. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 26th. RB Globals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 110.20%.

RB Global Company Profile

(Free Report)

RB Global, Inc, an omnichannel marketplace, provides insights, services, and transaction solutions for buyers and sellers of commercial assets and vehicles worldwide. Its marketplace brands include Ritchie Bros., an auctioneer of commercial assets and vehicles offering online bidding; IAA, a digital marketplace connecting vehicle buyers and sellers; Rouse Services, which provides asset management, data-driven intelligence, and performance benchmarking system; SmartEquip, a technology platform that supports customers' management of the equipment lifecycle; Xcira that provides live simulcast auction technologies; and Veritread, an online marketplace for heavy haul transport solution.

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BNP Paribas SA (OTCMKTS:BNPQY  Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,400 shares, a decrease of 80.1% from the May 31st total of 52,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 582,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.0 days.

BNP Paribas Trading Up 1.4 %

BNPQY traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.01. 100,971 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 234,699. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $30.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. BNP Paribas has a 52 week low of $20.19 and a 52 week high of $35.52.

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BNP Paribas (OTCMKTS:BNPQY  Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The financial services provider reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.79 by ($0.62). BNP Paribas had a net margin of 22.04% and a return on equity of 8.82%. The business had revenue of $13.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.61 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BNP Paribas will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BNP Paribas Increases Dividend

BNP Paribas Company Profile

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $1.7982 per share. This is an increase from BNP Paribass previous dividend of $1.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 18th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.67%. BNP Paribass dividend payout ratio is 39.59%.

(Free Report)

BNP Paribas SA provides various banking and financial products and services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three divisions: Corporate & Institutional Banking; Commercial, Personal Banking & Services; and Investment & Protection Services.

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Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO  Free Report) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 648,710 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 9,059 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for 1.2% of Capital Advisors Inc. OKs portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Capital Advisors Inc. OKs holdings in Southern were worth $45,137,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 23.4% in the 1st quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 19,438 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,409,000 after buying an additional 3,689 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Southern by 33.5% in the 1st quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,727 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 433 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in Southern by 63.0% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,902 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 49,925 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $3,621,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 907,132 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $65,776,000 after buying an additional 239,325 shares during the period. 63.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.89, for a total value of $359,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 146,284 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,516,356.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 9,491 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.03, for a total transaction of $712,109.73. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,119 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,710,008.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.89, for a total value of $359,450.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 146,284 shares in the company, valued at $10,516,356.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 205,678 shares of company stock valued at $14,888,271. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Southern Price Performance

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Mizuho decreased their target price on Southern from $77.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Southern from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Southern from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Guggenheim increased their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 in a research report on Monday, April 24th. Finally, VNET Group reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $74.07.

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $69.09. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,079,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,214,507. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $71.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.70. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $58.85 and a 12-month high of $80.57. The company has a market cap of $75.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.30, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO  Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.08. Southern had a return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 11.53%. The business had revenue of $6.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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 was paid on Tuesday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. This is a boost from Southerns previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 12th. Southerns payout ratio is 90.32%.

Southern Profile

(Free Report)

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It operates through three segments: Gas Distribution Operations, Gas Pipeline Investments, and Gas Marketing Services. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.

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Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLC lessened its holdings in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL  Free Report) by 2.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,190 shares of the transportation companys stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Capital Advisory Group Advisory Services LLCs holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $426,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Delta Air Lines in the first quarter valued at about $217,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 41.8% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 25,838 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 7,616 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines during the first quarter worth about $243,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 20.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 9,918 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.1% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 29,508 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $1,168,000 after purchasing an additional 891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.35% of the companys stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Wednesday. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $53.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $52.32.

Delta Air Lines Stock Performance

DAL traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $46.93. The stock had a trading volume of 3,803,800 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,671,211. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $37.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.52. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.20 and a 1 year high of $47.41. The stock has a market cap of $30.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.17.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL  Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 13th. The transportation company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.04). Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 56.49% and a net margin of 3.51%. The firm had revenue of $12.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $12.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.23) EPS. The companys revenue was up 36.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Delta Air Lines Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 17th will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David S. Taylor bought 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $164,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 25,360 shares in the company, valued at $832,568.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director David S. Taylor bought 5,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.83 per share, for a total transaction of $164,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 25,360 shares in the company, valued at $832,568.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 7,513 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.90, for a total value of $277,229.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 107,782 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,977,155.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 15,000 shares of company stock worth $503,250 in the last quarter. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Delta Air Lines

(Free Report)

Delta Air Lines, Inc provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Airline and Refinery. Its domestic network centered on core hubs in Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Salt Lake City, as well as coastal hub positions in Boston, Los Angeles, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, and Seattle; and international network centered on hubs and market presence in Amsterdam, Mexico City, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and Seoul-Incheon.

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Chubb (NYSE:CB  Free Report) and Admiral Group (OTCMKTS:AMIGY  Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Chubb and Admiral Group, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Chubb 0 3 10 1 2.86 Admiral Group 3 3 1 0 1.71

Chubb currently has a consensus target price of $241.38, suggesting a potential upside of 27.65%. Admiral Group has a consensus target price of $2,265.20, suggesting a potential upside of 8,649.32%. Given Admiral Groups higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Admiral Group is more favorable than Chubb.

Profitability

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Chubb 11.71% 13.13% 3.35% Admiral Group N/A N/A N/A

Dividends

This table compares Chubb and Admiral Groups net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Chubb pays an annual dividend of $3.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Admiral Group pays an annual dividend of $0.69 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Chubb pays out 27.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Admiral Group pays out 64.8% 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. Chubb has raised its dividend for 31 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Chubb and Admiral Groups gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Chubb $43.17 billion 1.81 $5.31 billion $12.46 15.18 Admiral Group N/A N/A N/A $1.07 24.18

Chubb has higher revenue and earnings than Admiral Group. Chubb is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Admiral Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

87.4% of Chubb shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Admiral Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Chubb shares are held by company 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.

Summary

Chubb beats Admiral Group on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chubb

(Free Report)

Chubb Limited provides insurance and reinsurance products worldwide. The company's North America Commercial P&C Insurance segment offers commercial property, casualty, workers' compensation, package policies, risk management, financial lines, marine, construction, environmental, medical, cyber risk, surety, and excess casualty; and group accident and health insurance to large, middle market, and small commercial businesses. Its North America Personal P&C Insurance segment provides affluent and high net worth individuals and families with homeowners, automobile and collector cars, valuable articles, personal and excess liability, travel insurance, and recreational marine insurance and services. The company's North America Agricultural Insurance segment offers multiple peril crop and crop-hail insurance; and coverage for farm and ranch property, and commercial agriculture products. Its Overseas General Insurance segment provides coverage for traditional commercial property and casualty; specialty categories, such as financial lines, marine, energy, aviation, political risk, and construction risk; and group accident and health, and traditional and specialty personal lines for corporations, middle markets, and small customers through retail brokers, agents, and other channels. The company's Global Reinsurance segment offers traditional and specialty reinsurance under the Chubb Tempest Re brand to property and casualty companies. Its Life Insurance segment provides protection and savings products comprising whole life, endowment plans, individual term life, group term life, medical and health, personal accident, credit life, universal life, and unit linked contracts. It markets its products primarily through insurance and reinsurance brokers. The company was formerly known as ACE Limited and changed its name to Chubb Limited in January 2016. Chubb Limited was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

About Admiral Group

(Free Report)

Admiral Group plc, a financial services company, provides motor, household, travel, and pet insurance, as well as personal lending products worldwide. It operates through UK Insurance, International Insurance, Admiral Money, and Other segments. The company provides underwriting services, which includes motor, household, pet, and travel insurance, as well as car and home insurance; and provides unsecured personal loans and car finance products primarily in the United Kingdom. It offers its insurance product and services under the Admiral, Admiral Money, Apparent, Balumba, Bell, Compare.com, ConTe.it, Diamond, Elephant, Elephant Auto, Gladiator, L'Olivier, Qualitas Auto, and Veygo brands. The company was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Cardiff, the United Kingdom.

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TechNode Global hosts forums in Singapore and Seoul, focusing on China Market Access and the Greater Bay Area

SINGAPORE, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TechNode Global has successfully hosted two forums in Singapore and Seoul, providing valuable insights into China market access and opportunities in the revitalized Greater Bay Area. These events, supported by Zhuhai Da Hengqin Development Co., Ltd., BEYOND Expo, and the National Health Innovation Centre (for forum in Singapore), attracted participants including startup founders, government-linked entities, and industry experts.

Singapore Forum Highlights:

From left: Seah Kah Wee, Market Access Consultant, TechNode Global; Helen Wong, Managing Partner of AC Ventures; Zen Koh, Co-founder and Global CEO of Fourier Intelligence; Dr Gang Lu, Founder of TechNode Group & Co-Founder of BEYOND Expo.

The forum in Singapore, held on June 27, featured engaging discussions on market entry strategies in China and the latest developments in the country. The panel discussion titled "Navigating Asia's Largest Market In The Next Decade and How Do New Players Plan For Entry?" included notable speakers such as AC Ventures Managing Partner Helen Wong, Fourier Intelligence Co-Founder and Global CEO Zen Koh, and TechNode Group Founder and BEYOND Expo Co-Founder Dr. Lu Gang. They shared their experiences, observations, and valuable insights on China's thriving venture capital scene, and technological advancements, among others.

Su Kun, Deputy Director of the Executive Committee of Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone, delivered the opening remarks, emphasizing the significance of Hengqin as a gateway to Greater China. He highlighted how Hengqin has become a major platform for promoting the moderate and diversified development of the Macao economy.

Seoul Forum Highlights:

The forum in Seoul, held on June 22, focused on entering the Chinese market through the Greater Bay Area. Startup representatives and South Korean support officials, attended the event. The discussions centered around market entry strategies in China, Chinese consumer behavior, the Chinese e-commerce market, social media marketing trends, and the Sands Innovation Challenge.

Both forums also showcased the Hengqin region's potential as a springboard for startups to access the vast opportunities in Greater China. Liang Ying, Chief Information Officer of Zhuhai Da Hengqin Development Co., Ltd., gave presentations on Hengqin's strategic location within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, its unique advantages, and opportunities for businesses looking to expand into China.

She provided specific information about the industrial environment of the Greater Bay Area, the business environment, and policy advantages of the Cooperation Zone, among others.

Her presentations at both forums also highlighted the Third Hengqin International Scientific and Technological Innovation Entrepreneurship Competition, providing startups with an exciting avenue to access Hengqin and the broader Greater Bay Area.

The competition focuses on four major fields: Integrated Circuits and electronic components, biomedicine, and medical devices, big data and AI, and new materials and new energy.

The registration and enrollment for this year's competition will close on June 30th at 4 p.m., and the submission of application materials will end on July 14th at 4 p.m. Register now at https://www.hqkcds.cn/en .

Contact Person:

Seah Kah Wee

+65 9296 3679

Cision

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SOURCE TechNode Global
Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT  Free Report) and American Hotel Income Properties REIT (OTCMKTS:AHOTF  Free Report) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Chatham Lodging Trust and American Hotel Income Properties REITs net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Chatham Lodging Trust 4.68% 1.76% 1.07% American Hotel Income Properties REIT N/A N/A N/A

Dividends

Chatham Lodging Trust pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. American Hotel Income Properties REIT pays an annual dividend of $0.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 42.5%. Chatham Lodging Trust pays out 200.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Hotel Income Properties REIT pays out 1,245.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Valuation and Earnings

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Chatham Lodging Trust $294.85 million 1.55 $9.81 million $0.14 66.64 American Hotel Income Properties REIT N/A N/A N/A $0.06 29.29

This table compares Chatham Lodging Trust and American Hotel Income Properties REITs revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Chatham Lodging Trust has higher revenue and earnings than American Hotel Income Properties REIT. American Hotel Income Properties REIT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chatham Lodging Trust, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.7% of Chatham Lodging Trust shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 10.3% of American Hotel Income Properties REIT shares are held by institutional investors. 5.2% of Chatham Lodging Trust shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Chatham Lodging Trust and American Hotel Income Properties REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Chatham Lodging Trust 0 0 3 0 3.00 American Hotel Income Properties REIT 0 0 0 0 N/A

Chatham Lodging Trust presently has a consensus price target of $15.33, suggesting a potential upside of 64.34%. American Hotel Income Properties REIT has a consensus price target of $3.08, suggesting a potential upside of 73.22%. Given American Hotel Income Properties REITs higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe American Hotel Income Properties REIT is more favorable than Chatham Lodging Trust.

Summary

Chatham Lodging Trust beats American Hotel Income Properties REIT on 10 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chatham Lodging Trust

(Free Report)

Chatham Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused primarily on investing in upscale, extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels. The company owns 39 hotels totaling 5,915 rooms/suites in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

About American Hotel Income Properties REIT

(Free Report)

American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP (TSX: HOT.UN, TSX: HOT.U, TSX: HOT.DB.V), or AHIP, is a limited partnership formed to invest in hotel real estate properties across the United States. AHIP's portfolio of premium branded, select-service hotels are located in secondary metropolitan markets that benefit from diverse and stable demand. AHIP hotels operate under brands affiliated with Marriott, Hilton, IHG and Choice Hotels through license agreements. AHIP's long-term objectives are to build on its proven track record of successful investment, deliver monthly U.S. dollar denominated distributions to unitholders, and generate value through the continued growth of its diversified hotel portfolio.

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CIMB Group Holdings Berhad (OTCMKTS:CIMDF  Free Report) is one of 279 publicly-traded companies in the BanksRegional industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare CIMB Group Holdings Berhad to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings, profitability and risk.

Profitability

This table compares CIMB Group Holdings Berhad and its rivals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets CIMB Group Holdings Berhad N/A N/A N/A CIMB Group Holdings Berhad Competitors 33.50% 9.29% 0.87%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for CIMB Group Holdings Berhad and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score CIMB Group Holdings Berhad 0 0 0 0 N/A CIMB Group Holdings Berhad Competitors 1151 3273 3206 9 2.27

Insider and Institutional Ownership

As a group, BanksRegional companies have a potential upside of 331.93%. Given CIMB Group Holdings Berhads rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe CIMB Group Holdings Berhad has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

11.9% of CIMB Group Holdings Berhad shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.8% of shares of all BanksRegional companies are held by institutional investors. 13.8% of shares of all BanksRegional companies are held by company 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

CIMB Group Holdings Berhad pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 15.6%. CIMB Group Holdings Berhad pays out 41.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, BanksRegional companies pay a dividend yield of 13.2% and pay out 18.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares CIMB Group Holdings Berhad and its rivals revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio CIMB Group Holdings Berhad N/A N/A 2.67 CIMB Group Holdings Berhad Competitors $2.83 billion $691.44 million 255.61

CIMB Group Holdings Berhads rivals have higher revenue and earnings than CIMB Group Holdings Berhad. CIMB Group Holdings Berhad is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

CIMB Group Holdings Berhad rivals beat CIMB Group Holdings Berhad on 9 of the 10 factors compared.

CIMB Group Holdings Berhad Company Profile

(Free Report)

CIMB Group Holdings Berhad provides various banking products and services in Malaysia and internationally. The Consumer Banking segment offers conventional and Islamic financial products and services, such as residential and non-residential property loans, secured personal loans, motor vehicle financing, credit cards, unsecured personal financing, wealth management, bancassurance, remittance and foreign exchange, deposits, and internet banking services to individual customers. The Commercial Banking segment provides banking credit facilities, trade financing, cash management, remittance and foreign exchange, and general deposit products, as well as an online business banking platform to small and medium-scale enterprises, and mid-sized corporations. The Wholesale Banking segment offers client coverage marketing and delivering solutions; financial advisory services on issuance of equity and equity-linked products, debt restructuring, initial public offerings, secondary offerings, and general corporate advisory; conventional and Islamic funding solutions covering trade, working capital line, capital expenditure, leveraging, merger and acquisition, leveraged, and project financing products; and holistic funding solutions, including cash management, trade finance, foreign exchange, custody and corporate loans, derivatives, structured products, and debt capital. This segment also engages in the treasury activities and services comprising foreign exchange, money market, derivatives, and capital market trading instruments; transaction banking and broking services; and wealth management solutions, as well as investment, securities financing, and trust services. CIMB Group Holdings Berhad was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

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Crane NXT (NYSE:CXT  Free Report) and Watts Water Technologies (NYSE:WTS  Free Report) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Crane NXT and Watts Water Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Crane NXT 0 0 2 0 3.00 Watts Water Technologies 0 6 0 0 2.00

Crane NXT currently has a consensus price target of $71.00, suggesting a potential upside of 25.80%. Watts Water Technologies has a consensus price target of $160.00, suggesting a potential downside of 11.76%. Given Crane NXTs stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Crane NXT is more favorable than Watts Water Technologies.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

Volatility and Risk

69.4% of Crane NXT shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of Watts Water Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Crane NXT shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Watts Water Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Crane NXT has a beta of 1.49, indicating that its stock price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Watts Water Technologies has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Crane NXT and Watts Water Technologies net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Crane NXT 13.12% 20.86% 9.01% Watts Water Technologies 13.16% 19.77% 12.87%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Crane NXT and Watts Water Technologies revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Crane NXT $3.35 billion 0.96 $401.10 million $6.50 8.68 Watts Water Technologies $1.98 billion 3.06 $251.50 million $7.80 23.25

Crane NXT has higher revenue and earnings than Watts Water Technologies. Crane NXT is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Watts Water Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Crane NXT pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Watts Water Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Crane NXT pays out 8.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Watts Water Technologies pays out 18.5% 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. Watts Water Technologies has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years. Crane NXT is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Crane NXT beats Watts Water Technologies on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Crane NXT

(Free Report)

Crane NXT, Co. focuses on payment and merchandising technologies. It indents to offer electronic equipment and associated software leveraging extensive, and proprietary core capabilities, including payment verification and authentication, as well as automation solutions, field service solutions, remote diagnostics, and productivity enhancing software solutions. The company is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

About Watts Water Technologies

(Free Report)

Watts Water Technologies, Inc. supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets in the Americas, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. The company offers residential and commercial flow control and protection products, including backflow preventers, water pressure regulators, temperature and pressure relief valves, thermostatic mixing valves, and leak detection and protection products for plumbing and hot water applications. It also provides heating, ventilation, and air conditioning and gas products comprising commercial boilers, and water heaters and heating solutions; hydronic and electric heating systems for under-floor radiant applications; custom heat and hot water solutions; hydronic pump groups for boiler manufacturers and alternative energy control packages; and flexible stainless steel connectors for natural and liquid propane gas in commercial food service and residential applications. In addition, the company offers drainage and water re-use products, such as drainage products and engineered rain water harvesting solutions for commercial, industrial, marine, and residential applications; and water quality products that include point-of-use and point-of-entry water filtration, conditioning, and scale prevention systems for commercial, marine, and residential applications. The company sells its products to plumbing, heating, and mechanical wholesale distributors and dealers, as well as original equipment manufacturers, specialty product distributors, and do-it-yourself and retail chains; and wholesalers and private label accounts. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in North Andover, Massachusetts.

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Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Cranswick (LON:CWK  Free Report) to an outperform rating in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has GBX 4,000 ($50.86) price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of GBX 3,400 ($43.23).

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Peel Hunt reissued a hold rating and set a GBX 3,800 ($48.32) price objective on shares of Cranswick in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. Shore Capital reissued a house stock rating on shares of Cranswick in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd.

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Cranswick Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of LON CWK opened at GBX 3,248 ($41.30) on Monday. Cranswick has a one year low of GBX 2,548 ($32.40) and a one year high of GBX 3,394 ($43.15). The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.76, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firms 50 day simple moving average is GBX 3,223.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is GBX 3,128.26. The stock has a market capitalization of 1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,561.54, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.53.

Cranswick Increases Dividend

Cranswick Company Profile

The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 20th will be paid a dividend of GBX 58.80 ($0.75) per share. This represents a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 20th. This is a positive change from Cranswicks previous dividend of $20.60. Cranswicks dividend payout ratio is 3,798.08%.

(Free Report)

Cranswick plc manufactures and supplies food products to grocery retailers, food service sector, and other food producers in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company offers fresh pork, gourmet bacon and gammon, fresh and coated chicken, ready to eat chicken, charcuterie, houmous and dips, and olives and antipasti, gourmet sausages, cooked meats, gourmet pastries, and ingredients, as well as cheeses and pasta.

Further Reading

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Finning International (OTCMKTS:FINGF  Free Report) had its target price hoisted by Scotiabank from C$46.00 to C$50.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, The Fly reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Finning International from C$47.00 to C$48.00 in a report on Friday, June 16th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Finning International from C$42.00 to C$43.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th.

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Finning International Stock Down 2.0 %

FINGF opened at $30.15 on Monday. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $27.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.51. Finning International has a 12-month low of $17.00 and a 12-month high of $30.88.

Finning International Increases Dividend

About Finning International

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 25th were issued a dividend of $0.1866 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 24th. This is a positive change from Finning Internationals previous dividend of $0.18. Finning Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.53%.

(Free Report)

Finning International Inc sells, services, and rents heavy equipment, engines, and related products in Canada, Chile, Bolivia, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers articulated trucks, asphalt pavers, backhoe loaders, cold planers, compactors, dozers, draglines, electric rope shovels, excavators, hydraulic mining shovels, material handlers, motor graders, off-highway trucks, pipelayers, road reclaimers, skid steer and compact track loaders, track loaders, underground-hard rock, wheel loaders, and wheel tractor-scrapers.

Read More

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Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SMFG  Free Report) by 6.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 437,044 shares of the banks stock after acquiring an additional 25,335 shares during the period. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLCs holdings in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group were worth $3,496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMFG. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 53,054 shares of the banks stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 4,537 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group during the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,867,000. Clarius Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Clarius Group LLC now owns 16,577 shares of the banks stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 2,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group by 40.5% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,003 shares of the banks stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 4,899 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 1.59% of the companys stock.

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Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Trading Down 0.6 %

SMFG traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $8.58. 425,111 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,120,386. The company has a market cap of $58.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.92, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.67. The firms fifty day moving average is $8.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.27. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $5.39 and a 1-year high of $9.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group ( NYSE:SMFG Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 15th. The bank reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 6.91%. The firm had revenue of $13.32 billion for the quarter. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. will post 0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Company Profile

(Free Report)

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides banking, leasing, securities, credit card, and consumer finance services. It operates through four segments: Wholesale Business Unit, Retail Business Unit, Global Business Unit, and Global Markets Business Unit. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SMFG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:SMFG  Free Report).

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Azimut (OTCMKTS:AZIHF  Free Report) is one of 1,192 public companies in the Asset Management industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Azimut to related companies based on the strength of its valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Azimut and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

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Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Azimut N/A N/A 16.01 Azimut Competitors $200.08 million -$13.43 million 36.25

Azimuts peers have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Azimut. Azimut is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

Profitability

40.3% of Azimut shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.5% of shares of all Asset Management companies are owned by institutional investors. 18.3% of shares of all Asset Management companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

This table compares Azimut and its peers net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Azimut N/A N/A N/A Azimut Competitors 380.51% 7.64% 4.95%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Azimut and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Azimut 0 0 0 0 N/A Azimut Competitors 1030 4449 5787 82 2.43

As a group, Asset Management companies have a potential upside of 88.59%. Given Azimuts peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Azimut has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

Azimut pays an annual dividend of $0.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Azimut pays out 6.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Asset Management companies pay a dividend yield of 7.0% and pay out 634.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

Azimut peers beat Azimut on 8 of the 10 factors compared.

Azimut Company Profile

(Free Report)

Azimut Holding S.p.A. engages in the asset management business. It distributes, manages, and promotes financial and insurance products in Italy, Luxembourg, Ireland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Principality of Monaco, Switzerland, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, Taiwan, Chile, the United States, Australia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Portugal. The company also promotes and manages Italian mutual funds, Italian alternative investment funds, and open-ended pension funds, as well as provides investment portfolio individual management services on behalf of third parties; and distributes group and third-party products in Italy through a network of financial advisors. In addition, it manages multi strategy funds; and offers life insurance products. Azimut Holding S.p.A. was incorporated in 1989 and is based in Milan, Italy.

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Cochlear (OTCMKTS:CHEOF  Free Report) is one of 122 public companies in the Medical Devices industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare Cochlear to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Cochlear and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

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Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Cochlear 0 0 0 0 N/A Cochlear Competitors 266 979 1102 39 2.38

As a group, Medical Devices companies have a potential upside of 55.87%. Given Cochlears rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cochlear has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Profitability

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Cochlear N/A N/A N/A Cochlear Competitors -54.46% -32.77% -12.60%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cochlear and its rivals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

This table compares Cochlear and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio Cochlear N/A N/A 92.50 Cochlear Competitors $562.78 million $23.71 million 155.65

Cochlears rivals have higher revenue and earnings than Cochlear. Cochlear is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

Cochlear pays an annual dividend of $1.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cochlear pays out 77.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, Medical Devices companies pay a dividend yield of 2.3% and pay out 449.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

22.5% of Cochlear shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.9% of shares of all Medical Devices companies are owned by institutional investors. 26.7% of shares of all Medical Devices companies are owned by company insiders. 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.

Summary

Cochlear rivals beat Cochlear on 6 of the 10 factors compared.

Cochlear Company Profile

(Free Report)

Cochlear Limited provides implantable hearing solutions for children and adults worldwide. It offers cochlear implant systems, sound processor upgrades, bone conduction systems, accessories, and other products. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

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HF Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO  Free Report) by 16.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 20,831 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 2,984 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLCs holdings in Altria Group were worth $929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MO. Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its stake in Altria Group by 2.8% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 20,619 shares of the companys stock valued at $920,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Coston McIsaac & Partners raised its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 88,117 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,931,000 after acquiring an additional 6,179 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its position in shares of Altria Group by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 160,992 shares of the companys stock valued at $7,183,000 after acquiring an additional 8,050 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 116,100 shares of the companys stock worth $5,180,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Altria Group by 3,632.9% in the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 258,880 shares of the companys stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 251,945 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.38% of the companys stock.

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Altria Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MO traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.12. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,443,916 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,856,495. Altria Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.35 and a 52 week high of $51.57. The stock has a market cap of $80.54 billion, a PE ratio of 14.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.59. The companys fifty day moving average price is $45.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.70.

Altria Group Dividend Announcement

Altria Group ( NYSE:MO Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.01). Altria Group had a negative return on equity of 245.43% and a net margin of 22.44%. The business had revenue of $4.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 4.97 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.94 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 14th. Altria Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 120.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Altria Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Altria Group from $49.50 to $47.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Altria Group in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a buy rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $45.86.

Altria Group Profile

(Free Report)

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company provides cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; cigars and pipe tobacco principally under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco products and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; and on! oral nicotine pouches.

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HMS Networks AB (publ) (OTCMKTS:HMNKF  Free Report) is one of 68 public companies in the Communication Equipment industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare HMS Networks AB (publ) to similar companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, earnings and risk.

Profitability

This table compares HMS Networks AB (publ) and its rivals net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets HMS Networks AB (publ) N/A N/A N/A HMS Networks AB (publ) Competitors -18.74% -43.23% -7.50%

Dividends

HMS Networks AB (publ) pays an annual dividend of $2.25 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. HMS Networks AB (publ) pays out 40.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, Communication Equipment companies pay a dividend yield of 0.6% and pay out 15.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

Earnings & Valuation

19.4% of shares of all Communication Equipment companies are held by institutional investors. 29.7% of shares of all Communication Equipment companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

This table compares HMS Networks AB (publ) and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Gross Revenue Net Income Price/Earnings Ratio HMS Networks AB (publ) N/A N/A 8.69 HMS Networks AB (publ) Competitors $156.11 million -$8.58 million 141.97

HMS Networks AB (publ)s rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than HMS Networks AB (publ). HMS Networks AB (publ) is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for HMS Networks AB (publ) and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score HMS Networks AB (publ) 0 1 0 0 2.00 HMS Networks AB (publ) Competitors 62 500 949 6 2.59

HMS Networks AB (publ) presently has a consensus price target of $375.00, indicating a potential upside of 669.03%. As a group, Communication Equipment companies have a potential upside of 36.55%. Given HMS Networks AB (publ)s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe HMS Networks AB (publ) is more favorable than its rivals.

Summary

HMS Networks AB (publ) rivals beat HMS Networks AB (publ) on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About HMS Networks AB (publ)

(Free Report)

HMS Networks AB (publ) engages in the provision of products that enable industrial equipment to communicate and share information worldwide. The company offers Anybus Embedded that offers multi-network connectivity with a single development project; Anybus Gateways, a gateway for connecting devices, machines, systems, or networks; Anybus Wireless that allows to connect machines and devices over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular networks, and industrial Ethernet; and Anybus Edge, which bridges edge intelligence and versatile cloud connectivity to industrial equipment. It also provides Ewon Cosy+, an industrial VPN device for secure remote access; Ewon Flexy, an industrial device and IIoT gateways for flexible remote access and data services; Ewon Flexy Extension Cards, which allow to keep up with the evolution of communication technologies while protecting investment in the device; and Ewon Talk2M, an industrial cloud that enables its customers to access their assets. In addition, the company offers Intesis protocol translators, air conditioner interfaces, AC Cloud control, and ST cloud control solutions; and automotive, embedded control, energy, and safety solutions under the Ixxat brand. Further, it provides Procentec, a brand in solutions and services for diagnostics and monitoring of industrial networks; Owasys offers wireless communication platforms to enable remote monitoring and control of a wide range of mobile machines; and WEBfactory offers software for displaying information from industrial equipment in easy-to-use web interfaces. The company also offers its solutions to device manufactures, machine builders, system integrators, and end users. HMS Networks AB (publ) was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Halmstad, Sweden.

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(Bloomberg) -- Last year, a group of Norwegian auditors touched down in a remote corner of Iceland to meet with Climeworks, a Swiss company that built the worlds largest plant of its kind. They werent there just to open the books, but to open machines that were doing what none had done before at this scale: remove carbon directly from the air.

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For three days, auditors from DNV, a firm that specializes in quality assurance and risk management, interviewed staff, reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and inspected everything from air collector containers to sensors quantifying carbon dioxide levels. Their efforts were part of a mission to figure out if the first facility to capture carbon from the air and store it underground was actually doing what Climeworks claimed.

The results would have profound implications for not just Climeworks, but for the nascent carbon removal industry as a whole. Luckily for the company  and industry as a whole  DNV found Climeworks and its storage partner Carbfix were doing what investors and customers have paid them hundreds of millions to do.

The carbon removal industry is at a turning point, with a growing number of startups promising to do what Climeworks has done. As more and more buyers commit millions of dollars to this still mostly unproven field that BloombergNEF forecasts could grow to a $1 trillion industry in less than two decades, theyre starting to demand proof that companies are delivering on those promises. In a world that will likely need to remove billions of tons of carbon pollution a year from the atmosphere by mid-century to limit global warming to 1.5C, vetting companies ability to deliver is also vital for the climate.

In short, the three most important words in carbon removal are monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), or the process of measuring how much CO2 has actually been removed, reporting the results to a third party and verifying that what was purchased was actually delivered. Its an incredibly complex process to pull carbon dioxide from the air, and the fate of the climate hinges on getting right.

Fundamentally, [MRV is] the thing that proves we did what we said we would do,'' said Anu Khan, the deputy director of science and innovation at Carbon180, a carbon removal policy group.

The private and public sector are placing increasing emphasis on MRV. The $100 million XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, what the group says is the largest incentive prize in history, is requiring finalists to submit to an extensive measurement and verification assessment to be considered for the grand prize. The Department of Energy recently awarded $15 million to national labs focused on advancing MRV best practices and capabilities. Frontier, a major carbon removal buyers club led by Stripe with over $1 billion at its disposal, has also made robust MRV a major component in how its evaluating CDR companies applying for funding. "In order to sign an offtake agreement, we have to understand how you can actually measure and verify the thing that you are selling," said Nan Ransohoff, the head of Frontier and of Stripe's climate projects.

Money is pouring into the space, partly because the stakes are high and partly because good MRV is hard to do. Carbon removal is a mostly invisible process. The market for it is like the Wild West, with no rules or standards governing how services are bought and sold. To further complicate things, scientific and technological uncertainty still abound about how different types of carbon removal actually work.

Every carbon removal technique poses a unique set of MRV challenges. Pulverizing rocks and spreading them over large areas of land can accelerate natural processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere, for example, yet how the size of rock dust affects the rate of CO2 uptake is still an area of active research.

As the spotlight on carbon removal grows, the shortcomings of and collapse of trust in the carbon offset market are increasingly on the mind of carbon removal founders.

We need deliveries of actually trustworthy carbon removal, and the way to get there is to be very transparent, said Peter Reinhardt, the founder of Charm Industrial, a startup that stores carbon in the form of bio-oil it injects underground.

In 2022, Charm collaborated with carbon management firm Carbon Direct and consulting firm EcoEngineers to publish a prototype protocol to help inform MRV standards for the type of carbon removal the startup performs, called bio-oil sequestration. It also started publishing a registry on its website that documents every ton of carbon removed for customers, including a life cycle analysis of each step in the process. While self-regulation and transparency are steps in the right direction, its a far cry from independent, outside oversight that the industry will need to truly garner the trust of buyers and the public.

Charm purchases waste biomass thats pulled CO2 out of the atmosphere and then converts it into bio-oil and sequesters that underground. (The company also purchases bio-oil directly to inject underground.) That biomass can include waste left over in cornfields after harvest, including stalks, leaves and cobs, and trees that are removed to prevent forest fires. Reinhardt said that the hardest part of the MRV process is verifying and documenting the source of the waste biomass to ensure that its actually waste and a farmer isnt, say, cutting down a tree in order to sell it.

Is it calling the farmer? Is it some sort of random site inspection? Those are details that will get ironed out in a very detailed protocol, he said.

A growing number of startups focused on providing MRV solutions are popping up to help carbon removal companies measure and monitor their results, as well as help customers hold them accountable. (Even established outside verifiers like DNV are just starting to audit carbon removal.)

One of those startups is Isometric. Eamon Jubbawy founded the company in 2022 and hired a team of scientists headed by former ARPA-E fellow and MIT researcher Elizabeth Troein to help carbon removal companies develop protocols that can help carbon removal buyers ensure theyre getting what they paid for. That includes making sure that their measuring and modeling techniques are scientifically robust. The startup also works with partners to verify individual tons of carbon removal after theyre delivered.

A key differentiator between Isometric and traditional carbon registries like Verra and Gold Standard, the leading standard-setters in the older and more established carbon offset market, is that it charges buyers a single flat fee for its verification services, rather than charging suppliers per credit. That could help avoid the misaligned incentives and over-crediting of projects that have plagued carbon offset markets in the past that newer carbon removal players want to avoid, Jubbawy said. The cost works out to about a single-digit percentage of the total cost to remove, he said.

Its become abundantly clear that there arent that many institutions that are fit for purpose to be a go-to registry for carbon removal, Jubbawy said. And hopefully we can play this central role in the ecosystem using a science-first approach to building confidence with the buyer set.

Beyond misaligned incentives, the other challenge of doing high-quality MRV is that many of the available tools for doing so are quite antiquated. In soil carbon sequestration, for example, the crux is the measurement piece.

Soils are living systems, and even different parts of same field have different organic carbon values, said Chris Tolles, the founder and CEO of Yard Stick. The startup uses a handheld probe with a camera that can measure how much carbon is stored in soil. Tolles claims the technology is both relatively cheap and highly rigorous, and the company has received funding from both ARPA-E and the US Department of Agriculture.

Risk exists across all methods of carbon removal, and there are a multitude of ways for suppliers to cut corners, including not fully accounting for the emissions that theyre creating in the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, said Peter Minor, a co-founder of Icarus, a startup focused on offering MRV services to carbon removal companies. The value that carbon removal will create  how much societal value is really being generated  is highly dependent on those assumptions and those estimates and calculations being correct.

The real risk will come if and when the industry scales to removing millions  and eventually billions  of tons of carbon dioxide.

Right now, these companies are built by true believers who really care about climate and want to do the right thing. In the future, a lot of this technologys going to be operated by other parties, parties that might not have the same incentives and motivations, Minor said. How do we protect against risks for today and, more importantly, how do we start practicing and building systems that are ready to scale to billions of tons?

(Updates with quote from Nan Ransohoff in paragraph 7. An earlier version corrected the spelling of Eamon Jubbawy'sname.)

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Shares of Infosys Limited (NYSE:INFY  Free Report) have received a consensus rating of Hold from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.57.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on INFY shares. Citigroup lowered Infosys from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. StockNews.com started coverage on Infosys in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Infosys in a research report on Tuesday, May 23rd. They set an underweight rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Nomura lowered Infosys from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lowered Infosys from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, April 14th.

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Infosys Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of INFY opened at $15.90 on Friday. Infosys has a 12-month low of $14.71 and a 12-month high of $20.60. The businesss fifty day moving average is $15.47 and its 200 day moving average is $17.07. The stock has a market cap of $65.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.99.

Infosys Increases Dividend

Infosys ( NYSE:INFY Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 13th. The technology company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.19 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.73 billion. Infosys had a net margin of 16.37% and a return on equity of 31.78%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Infosys will post 0.75 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.2134 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 1st. This represents a yield of 1.5%. This is an increase from Infosyss previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. Infosyss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in INFY. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Infosys in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Infosys during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Schubert & Co boosted its position in shares of Infosys by 73.8% during the 4th quarter. Schubert & Co now owns 1,557 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Infosys by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,902 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Destiny Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Infosys by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,922 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 12.16% of the companys stock.

Infosys Company Profile

(Free Report

Infosys Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides consulting, technology, outsourcing, and next-generation digital services in North America, Europe, India, and internationally. It provides application management and application development services, independent validation solutions, product engineering and management, infrastructure management services, traditional enterprise application implementation, support, and integration services.

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John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE:BTO  Free Report) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 39,400 shares, a drop of 51.4% from the May 31st total of 81,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 91,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days.

Institutional Trading of John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BTO. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its stake in John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 339.5% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 47,353 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,446,000 after purchasing an additional 36,578 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 187,549 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $5,728,000 after purchasing an additional 35,885 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 429,635 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $13,121,000 after purchasing an additional 29,262 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund during the 1st quarter valued at $734,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 369,231 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $12,299,000 after buying an additional 22,494 shares during the period. 19.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:BTO traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $27.00. 52,708 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 77,152. John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund has a 12 month low of $22.95 and a 12 month high of $40.50. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $26.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.88.

John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund Dividend Announcement

About John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Monday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 9th.

(Free Report)

John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC. It is co-managed by John Hancock Asset Management. The fund invests in the public equity markets across the globe. It seeks to invest in the stocks of companies operating across the financial services sector.

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Shares of Lavras Gold Corp. (CVE:LGC  Free Report) passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$0.35 and traded as low as C$0.26. Lavras Gold shares last traded at C$0.26, with a volume of 5,500 shares trading hands.

Lavras Gold Stock Down 5.6 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$0.30 and a 200 day moving average price of C$0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 11.12, a current ratio of 7.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market capitalization of C$10.48 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.25.

Lavras Gold Company Profile

(Free Report)

Lavras Gold Corp. operates as a junior exploration company in southern Brazil. It engages in the exploration and development of the Lavras do Sul gold project covering an area of approximately 22,000 hectares located in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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Legacy Trust lessened its stake in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP) by 0.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,748 shares of the payment services companys stock after selling 174 shares during the quarter. American Express accounts for about 1.6% of Legacy Trusts investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Legacy Trusts holdings in American Express were worth $5,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $227,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in shares of American Express by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 19,360 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $2,861,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in shares of American Express by 38.6% in the 4th quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 3,480 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of American Express by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 7,732 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $1,142,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. Finally, My Personal CFO LLC acquired a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.84% of the companys stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on AXP. StockNews.com began coverage on American Express in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on American Express from $186.00 to $181.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on American Express from $179.00 to $172.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Stephens decreased their price objective on American Express from $149.00 to $146.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Redburn Partners cut American Express from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $125.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $174.50.

American Express Stock Performance

Shares of American Express stock opened at $172.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $127.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.18. The stocks 50-day moving average is $160.97 and its 200-day moving average is $161.89. American Express has a one year low of $130.65 and a one year high of $182.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.55.

American Express (NYSE:AXP  Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 20th. The payment services company reported $2.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $2.66 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $14.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.02 billion. American Express had a net margin of 13.00% and a return on equity of 29.44%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.73 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that American Express will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

American Express announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, March 8th that authorizes the company to buyback 120,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the payment services company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the companys board believes its stock is undervalued.

American Express Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 10th. Investors of record on Friday, July 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. American Expresss payout ratio is presently 25.24%.

American Express Company Profile

(Free Report)

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides charge and credit payment card products, and travel-related services worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Global Consumer Services Group, Global Commercial Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services. Its products and services include payment and financing products; network services; accounts payable expense management products and services; and travel and lifestyle services.

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Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima (NYSE:LOMA  Free Report) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $7.30, but opened at $6.88. Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima shares last traded at $6.65, with a volume of 62,959 shares changing hands.

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $6.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market cap of $792.63 million, a PE ratio of 135.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.26.

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Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima (NYSE:LOMA  Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 5th. The company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter. Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima had a return on equity of 0.50% and a net margin of 0.44%. The firm had revenue of $211.80 million during the quarter. Research analysts forecast that Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima Dividend Announcement

Institutional Trading of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima

The firm also recently disclosed a Variable dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.4648 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 30th. Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonimas dividend payout ratio is presently 1,660.00%.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 175,800 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,006,000 after acquiring an additional 5,518 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 126,048 shares of the companys stock valued at $721,000 after acquiring an additional 3,094 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima in the 1st quarter valued at $86,000. Eaton Vance Management acquired a new position in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima in the 1st quarter valued at $2,796,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima in the 1st quarter valued at $127,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 19.07% of the companys stock.

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima Company Profile

(Free Report)

Loma Negra Compania Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anonima, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells cement and its derivatives in Argentina. The company operates through Cement, Masonry Cement and Lime; Concrete; Railroad; Aggregates; and Others segments. It offers masonry cement, aggregates, ready-mix concrete, concrete, and lime to wholesale distributors, concrete producers, industrial customers, and others for use in the construction.

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Manchester Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN  Free Report) by 1.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,623 shares of the energy companys stock after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the quarter. Devon Energy comprises 0.7% of Manchester Financial Inc.s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Manchester Financial Inc.s holdings in Devon Energy were worth $2,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 7,933 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 18,931 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 164 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 9,782 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. now owns 48,249 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $2,968,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Devon Energy by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Duncker Streett & Co. Inc. now owns 1,140 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.00% of the companys stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dennis C. Cameron sold 8,292 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.97, for a total transaction of $414,351.24. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 218,418 shares of the companys stock, valued at $10,914,347.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Devon Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

Several research firms recently issued reports on DVN. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Devon Energy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Devon Energy from $71.00 to $64.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 17th. Mizuho cut their target price on Devon Energy from $71.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, May 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Devon Energy from $75.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Devon Energy from $87.00 to $81.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $67.39.

Shares of DVN stock traded up $0.42 on Friday, hitting $48.82. The company had a trading volume of 2,163,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,252,313. The firm has a market cap of $31.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.15 and a beta of 2.33. The stocks 50-day moving average is $49.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.09. Devon Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $44.03 and a twelve month high of $78.82.

Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN  Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 8th. The energy company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.82 billion. Devon Energy had a return on equity of 47.42% and a net margin of 31.39%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Devon Energy Co. will post 6.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Devon Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 14th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.90%. Devon Energys dividend payout ratio is currently 8.72%.

About Devon Energy

(Free Report)

Devon Energy Corporation, an independent energy company, explores for, develops, and produces oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the United States. It operates in Delaware, Anadarko, Williston, Eagle Ford, and Powder River Basin. The company was incorporated in 1971 and is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DVN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Devon Energy Co. (NYSE:DVN  Free Report).

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Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. reduced its position in Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN  Free Report) by 2.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 97,152 shares of the energy companys stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.s holdings in Southwestern Energy were worth $486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SWN. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Southwestern Energy by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 156,725 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 20,272 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Southwestern Energy by 133.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 139,901 shares of the energy companys stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 80,088 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Southwestern Energy by 47.5% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 236,458 shares of the energy companys stock worth $1,695,000 after acquiring an additional 76,127 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southwestern Energy by 184.8% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 78,456 shares of the energy companys stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 50,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC lifted its position in Southwestern Energy by 9.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 46,886 shares of the energy companys stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 4,051 shares during the last quarter. 82.46% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SWN has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Southwestern Energy from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Southwestern Energy from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Southwestern Energy from a neutral rating to a sell rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $5.75 to $5.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Southwestern Energy in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on shares of Southwestern Energy from $7.50 to $7.00 and set a positive rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwestern Energy currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $7.47.

Southwestern Energy Price Performance

NYSE:SWN traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $6.04. The stock had a trading volume of 13,929,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,542,574. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion, a PE ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Southwestern Energy has a 12 month low of $4.57 and a 12 month high of $8.39.

Southwestern Energy (NYSE:SWN  Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The energy company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.36 billion. Southwestern Energy had a net margin of 45.59% and a return on equity of 41.76%. The companys revenue was down 28.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Southwestern Energy will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Southwestern Energy Profile

(Free Report)

Southwestern Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development, and production of natural gas, oil, and natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the United States. It operates through two segments, Exploration and Production, and Marketing. The company focuses on the development of unconventional natural gas and oil reservoirs located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Louisiana.

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Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI  Free Report) (TSE:TRI)  Stock analysts at National Bank Financial reduced their Q3 2023 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Thomson Reuters in a report issued on Sunday, June 25th. National Bank Financial analyst A. Shine now expects that the business services provider will earn $0.77 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $0.80. National Bank Financial currently has a Outperform rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Thomson Reuters current full-year earnings is $3.38 per share. National Bank Financial also issued estimates for Thomson Reuters Q4 2023 earnings at $0.94 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $3.74 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.23 EPS.

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A number of other brokerages also recently commented on TRI. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Thomson Reuters to $144.00 in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Thomson Reuters from $184.00 to $192.00 in a report on Wednesday. Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on Thomson Reuters from $138.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 4th. Scotiabank cut Thomson Reuters from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, 51job restated a downgrade rating on shares of Thomson Reuters in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $140.25.

Thomson Reuters Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of TRI opened at $134.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $60.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.58. Thomson Reuters has a one year low of $97.59 and a one year high of $138.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $126.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $123.17.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI  Free Report) (TSE:TRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The business services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 10.55% and a net margin of 17.20%. Thomson Reuterss revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share.

Thomson Reuters Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.362 per share. This represents a $1.45 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 17th. Thomson Reuterss payout ratio is 78.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Thomson Reuters

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,584,932 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 150,880 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Thomson Reuters during the 4th quarter valued at $207,419,000. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Thomson Reuters during the 4th quarter valued at $202,744,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 1,599,645 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $182,482,000 after purchasing an additional 5,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Thomson Reuters by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,575,254 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $179,689,000 after purchasing an additional 34,773 shares in the last quarter. 17.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Thomson Reuters

(Free Report)

Thomson Reuters Corporation engages in the provision of business information services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in five segments: Legal Professionals, Corporates, Tax & Accounting Professionals, Reuters News, and Global Print. The Legal Professionals segment offers research and workflow products focusing on legal research and integrated legal workflow solutions that combine content, tools, and analytics to law firms and governments.

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StockNews.com began coverage on shares of NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NYSEAMERICAN:NBY  Free Report) in a research note published on Tuesday morning. The firm issued a hold rating on the biopharmaceutical companys stock.

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of NYSEAMERICAN NBY opened at $0.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 million, a PE ratio of -0.14 and a beta of 2.69. NovaBay Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $0.48 and a 1 year high of $12.64. The firms 50-day moving average is $0.90 and its 200-day moving average is $1.63.

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NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NYSEAMERICAN:NBY  Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($4.33) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $3.64 million during the quarter. NovaBay Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 21.09% and a negative return on equity of 18.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NBY. Armistice Capital LLC bought a new position in NovaBay Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $289,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in NovaBay Pharmaceuticals by 103.5% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 409,544 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 208,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in NovaBay Pharmaceuticals by 260.4% during the first quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 163,451 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 118,099 shares in the last quarter.

(Free Report)

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops and sells eyecare, skincare, and wound care products in the United States and internationally. It offers Avenova Spray, a solution for removing foreign materials, including microorganisms and debris from skin around the eye, such as the eyelid; and wound care products, which are used for cleansing and irrigation as part of surgical procedures, as well as treating certain wounds, burns, ulcers, and other injuries under the NeutroPhase and PhaseOne brands.

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Shares of Panasonic Holdings Co. (OTCMKTS:PCRFY  Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $12.24 and last traded at $12.24, with a volume of 191644 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $11.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Panasonic from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 1st.

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Panasonic Stock Up 2.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.31. The firms 50-day moving average is $10.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.48. The stock has a market cap of $30.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.26, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.95.

Panasonic Company Profile

Panasonic ( OTCMKTS:PCRFY Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 10th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.31. Panasonic had a net margin of 3.18% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The firm had revenue of $16.29 billion during the quarter. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Panasonic Holdings Co. will post 0.92 earnings per share for the current year.

(Free Report)

Panasonic Holdings Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and services various electrical and electronic products worldwide. It operates through Lifestyle, Automotive, Connect, Industry, and Energy segments. The Lifestyle segment offers refrigerators, microwave ovens, rice cookers, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, air-conditioners, air to water heat pump system, air purifiers/sterilizers, and freezing or refrigerating showcases, as well as ventilation and perflation equipment.

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(Bloomberg) -- Tiger Management LLC-backed hedge fund manager Yulan Capital Management LLC has shut down, after rising geopolitical risks made it harder to invest in China.

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The New York-based firm that also had a Shanghai office wound down investment in late December, said people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Its registration with the US Securities and Exchange Commission was terminated at the end of January. Return figures for the firm werent immediately available.

Yulans closure took place as geopolitical tensions have made assets allocators less willing to put money to work in China. The US is shoring up national security with export controls and investment restrictions, while Chinas regulatory crackdowns and economic slowdown have also reduced investors appetite for assets in the nation.

A Shanghai native, Lilian Zhou founded the firm a decade ago after honing her skills at Kelusa Capital, a so-called Tiger Cub Asia-focused hedge fund manager, and Citadel.

A rare woman-led firm in an industry dominated by men, Yulan won backing from investment legend Julian Robertsons Tiger Management to focus on investing in companies in the Greater China region, according to an August 2015 statement from the latter.

Zhou didnt reply to messages seeking comment. A spokesman for Tiger Management declined to comment.

Yulan last reported $439 million of assets in a March 2022 regulatory filing. That amount included a $256 million separate management account for an undisclosed investor.

Yulan managed a hedge fund that bet on rising and falling stocks in Asia, with a focus on companies in Greater China, according to the firms LinkedIn profile. Last year, it sought to raise money for Yulan Onshore China Prosperity Fund LP, a long-only stock pool.

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Shares of PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II (NYSE:PCK  Free Report) crossed above its 50 day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 50 day moving average of $5.98 and traded as high as $6.05. PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II shares last traded at $5.99, with a volume of 75,126 shares trading hands.

PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.22.

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PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 12th will be issued a $0.0215 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 9th.

Institutional Trading of PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II

About PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tortoise Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II in the 1st quarter worth $46,000. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II in the 4th quarter worth $73,000. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II in the 1st quarter worth $124,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II in the 1st quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II by 253.0% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 31,450 shares of the closed-end funds stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 22,540 shares during the last quarter.

(Free Report)

PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Allianz Global Investors Fund Management LLC. It is co-managed by Pacific Investment Management Company LLC. The fund invests in fixed income markets of United States. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors.

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PPHE Hotel Group Limited (LON:PPH  Free Report)s share price passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of GBX 1,142.25 ($14.52) and traded as low as GBX 1,055 ($13.41). PPHE Hotel Group shares last traded at GBX 1,055 ($13.41), with a volume of 4,019 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Berenberg Bank restated a buy rating and issued a GBX 2,000 ($25.43) price objective on shares of PPHE Hotel Group in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th.

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PPHE Hotel Group Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 1,089.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 1,141.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 224.90. The company has a market capitalization of 474.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4,650.42 and a beta of 1.00.

About PPHE Hotel Group

PPHE Hotel Group Limited owns, develops, leases, operates, and franchises full-service upscale and lifestyle hotels in the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Italy, Austria, and the United Kingdom. It owns and operates hotels and resorts under the Park Plaza, the art'otel, Radisson Collection, and the Arena Campsites brands, as well as the Arena Hotels & Apartments.

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Quinsam Capital Co. (OTCMKTS:QCAAF  Free Report) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 115,600 shares, an increase of 282.8% from the May 31st total of 30,200 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 8,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 13.3 days.

Quinsam Capital Stock Performance

OTCMKTS:QCAAF remained flat at $0.05 during trading hours on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $0.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $0.06. Quinsam Capital has a fifty-two week low of $0.03 and a fifty-two week high of $0.05.

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Quinsam Capital Company Profile

(Free Report)

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Quinsam Capital Corporation operates as a investment and merchant banking firm in Canada. It primarily focuses on investment in technology, healthcare, mining and exploration, e-sports, and cannabis markets. The company's activities include acquisitions, advisory services, lending activities, and portfolio investments.

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The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR  Free Report)  Stock analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for Progressive in a research note issued on Tuesday, June 27th. Zacks Research analyst T. De now forecasts that the insurance provider will earn $2.66 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $2.75. The consensus estimate for Progressives current full-year earnings is $5.21 per share.

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Progressive (NYSE:PGR  Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 13th. The insurance provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.44 by ($0.79). Progressive had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $14.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.12 billion.

Progressive Stock Up 0.3 %

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on PGR. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Progressive from $159.00 to $168.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 10th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated a neutral rating and set a $143.00 price target on shares of Progressive in a report on Friday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Progressive from $145.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 15th. Raymond James dropped their target price on Progressive from $150.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Progressive from $140.00 to $133.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $147.87.

Shares of NYSE PGR opened at $132.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $77.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.67, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.50. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $131.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.20. Progressive has a 12-month low of $109.42 and a 12-month high of $149.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Progressive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 7th will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 6th. Progressives payout ratio is currently 28.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Progressive

In other Progressive news, insider Steven Broz sold 930 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $128,144.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,251 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,754,915.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Steven Broz sold 930 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $128,144.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 27,251 shares in the company, valued at $3,754,915.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Philip Bleser sold 2,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.86, for a total transaction of $279,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,129 shares in the company, valued at $297,761.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,930 shares of company stock worth $1,938,465. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Progressive

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Venture Visionary Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 0.8% in the first quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 9,426 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,348,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Progressive by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 2,536 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital grew its stake in shares of Progressive by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 4,078 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Progressive by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Progressive by 47.1% in the first quarter. Arlington Partners LLC now owns 256 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.72% of the companys stock.

Progressive Company Profile

(Free Report)

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.

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Starry Group (NYSE:STRY  Free Report) and TIM (NYSE:TIMB  Free Report) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

43.6% of Starry Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.1% of TIM shares are held by institutional investors. 44.2% of Starry Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

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Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Starry Group and TIMs revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Starry Group $29.86 million 0.04 $25.55 million N/A N/A TIM $4.17 billion 1.74 $323.63 million $0.64 23.36

Profitability

TIM has higher revenue and earnings than Starry Group.

This table compares Starry Group and TIMs net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Starry Group N/A -174.35% -1.57% TIM 7.58% 7.10% 3.24%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Starry Group and TIM, as reported by MarketBeat.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Starry Group 1 1 0 0 1.50 TIM 0 1 2 0 2.67

Starry Group currently has a consensus price target of $3.63, suggesting a potential upside of 51,685.71%. TIM has a consensus price target of $15.50, suggesting a potential upside of 3.68%. Given Starry Groups higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Starry Group is more favorable than TIM.

Volatility and Risk

Starry Group has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TIM has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

TIM beats Starry Group on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Starry Group

(Free Report)

Starry Group Holdings, Inc. operates as a next generation licensed fixed wireless technology developer and internet service provider. The company is deploying gigabit capable broadband to the home using its hybrid fiber fixed wireless technology. It serves approximately 5.3 million households through deploying its gigabit network in six U.S. cities, including Boston, Massachusetts; New York, New York; Los Angeles, California; Washington D.C.; Denver, Colorado; and Columbus, Ohio. The company is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About TIM

(Free Report)

TIM S.A., a telecommunications company, provides mobile voice, data, and broadband services in Brazil. The company offers in mobile, landline, long-distance, and data transmission services. It also offers ultra-broadband, digital content, and tailored packages services. The company serves individuals and corporates, as well as small, medium, and large companies. TIM S.A is founded in 2013 and is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The company operates as a subsidiary of TIM Brasil Servicos e Participacoes S.A.

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Vivic (OTCMKTS:VIVC  Free Report) and Polaris (NYSE:PII  Free Report) are both consumer cyclical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Vivic and Polaris net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

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Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Vivic N/A N/A N/A Polaris 5.46% 60.97% 12.72%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Vivic and Polaris, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Vivic 0 0 0 0 N/A Polaris 0 9 2 1 2.33

Institutional and Insider Ownership

Polaris has a consensus target price of $114.27, suggesting a potential downside of 4.45%. Given Polaris higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Polaris is more favorable than Vivic.

88.3% of Polaris shares are held by institutional investors. 2.8% of Polaris 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Vivic and Polaris top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Vivic N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Polaris $8.59 billion 0.79 $447.10 million $8.31 14.39

Polaris has higher revenue and earnings than Vivic.

Summary

Polaris beats Vivic on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vivic

(Free Report)

Vivic Corp. engages in the construction of marinas and yachts under Monte Fino brand in the mainland China. It operates Joy Wave, an online platform that offers yacht rental and leisure services; development of energy-saving yacht engines; and provision of tourism consultancy services, as well as yacht services. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Vivic Corp. is a subsidiary of Honetech Inc.

About Polaris

(Free Report)

Polaris Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, and markets powersports vehicles worldwide. It operates through three segments: Off-Road, On-Road, and Marine. The company offers off-road vehicles (ORVs), including all-terrain vehicles and side-by-side vehicles; military and commercial ORVs; snowmobiles; motorcycles; moto-roadsters, quadricycles, and boats; and aftermarket parts and apparel. It also provides ORV accessories comprising winches, bumper/brushguards, plows, racks, wheels and tires, pull-behinds, cab systems, lighting and audio systems, cargo box accessories, tracks, and oil; snowmobile accessories, which include covers, traction products, reverse kits, electric starters, tracks, bags, windshields, oil, and lubricants; and motorcycle accessories, such as saddle bags, handlebars, backrests, exhausts, windshields, seats, oil, and various chrome accessories. In addition, the company offers light duty hauling and passenger vehicles; gear and apparel, such as helmets, goggles, jackets, gloves, boots, bibs, hats, pants, and leathers; and pontoon and deck boats. It provides its products through dealers and distributors, and online; and retail and e-commerce sites. The company was formerly known as Polaris Industries Inc. Polaris Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Medina, Minnesota.

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Stewart & Patten Co. LLC cut its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 188,770 shares of the healthcare product makers stock after selling 6,905 shares during the period. Abbott Laboratories makes up 3.2% of Stewart & Patten Co. LLCs holdings, making the stock its 15th largest position. Stewart & Patten Co. LLCs holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $19,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABT. JDM Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in Abbott Laboratories in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 73.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

ABT has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $116.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Abbott Laboratories in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $140.00 to $136.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Abbott Laboratories from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and set a $112.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, May 30th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $125.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $121.26.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

Shares of ABT traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $108.60. 793,464 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,073,823. Abbott Laboratories has a 52 week low of $93.25 and a 52 week high of $115.69. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $106.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.39. The firm has a market cap of $188.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 19th. The healthcare product maker reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $9.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.64 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 13.98% and a return on equity of 22.36%. The firms quarterly revenue was down 18.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 4.39 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 14th will be given a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 13th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. Abbott Laboratoriess dividend payout ratio is currently 62.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Abbott Laboratories

In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.02, for a total value of $5,551,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,825,316 shares in the company, valued at $757,746,582.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Abbott Laboratories news, Director Daniel J. Starks sold 50,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.02, for a total value of $5,551,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,825,316 shares in the company, valued at $757,746,582.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Andrea F. Wainer sold 8,226 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.56, for a total transaction of $909,466.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 70,427 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,786,409.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the companys stock.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

(Free Report)

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The Established Pharmaceutical Products segment provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Meniere's disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.

Further Reading

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ABT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT  Free Report).

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hershey (NYSE:HSY  Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Hershey from $255.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an inline rating in a report on Friday, April 28th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, April 28th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Hershey from $235.00 to $263.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. VNET Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Hershey in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, 92 Resources restated a maintains rating on shares of Hershey in a report on Friday, April 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hershey has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $265.06.

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Hershey Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of HSY stock opened at $248.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.83. Hershey has a 1 year low of $211.49 and a 1 year high of $276.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $263.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $247.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.32.

Hershey Announces Dividend

Hershey ( NYSE:HSY Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The company reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.91 billion. Hershey had a return on equity of 57.99% and a net margin of 15.81%. Hersheys revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Hershey will post 9.49 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 19th were paid a $1.036 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 18th. This represents a $4.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. Hersheys payout ratio is presently 50.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hershey

In other Hershey news, CEO Michele Buck sold 14,251 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.43, for a total value of $3,654,383.93. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 141,751 shares of the companys stock, valued at $36,349,208.93. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Hershey Trust Co Trustee In Tr sold 10,292 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.43, for a total transaction of $2,680,345.56. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,066,119 shares in the company, valued at $538,079,371.17. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michele Buck sold 14,251 shares of Hershey stock in a transaction on Friday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.43, for a total transaction of $3,654,383.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 141,751 shares in the company, valued at $36,349,208.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 296,083 shares of company stock valued at $77,324,837. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of Hershey by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 15,430 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,207 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 840.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 54,227 shares of the companys stock worth $12,557,000 after buying an additional 48,460 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new stake in shares of Hershey during the 4th quarter worth about $72,000. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 4,762 shares of the companys stock worth $1,103,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Hershey by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 17,311 shares of the companys stock worth $4,404,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 54.96% of the companys stock.

Hershey Company Profile

(Free Report)

The Hershey Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of confectionery products and pantry items in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: North America Confectionery, North America Salty Snacks, and International. It offers chocolate and non-chocolate confectionery products; gum and mint refreshment products, including mints, chewing gums, and bubble gums; pantry items, such as baking ingredients, toppings, beverages, and sundae syrups; and snack items comprising spreads, bars, snack bites, mixes, popcorn, and pretzels.

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StrategIQ Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:USMV  Free Report) by 28.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 16,908 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 3,728 shares during the quarter. StrategIQ Financial Group LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF were worth $1,230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of USMV. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF by 7.8% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 8,253 shares of the companys stock worth $646,000 after buying an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 95,612 shares of the companys stock worth $7,417,000 after acquiring an additional 1,612 shares during the last quarter. AJ Wealth Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. AJ Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,348,690 shares of the companys stock worth $104,618,000 after acquiring an additional 57,434 shares during the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF by 27.0% during the 1st quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 88,779 shares of the companys stock worth $6,887,000 after acquiring an additional 18,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Michigan Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 12,575 shares of the companys stock worth $975,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter.

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iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF Stock Performance

USMV traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $73.57. 1,852,053 shares of the stock were exchanged. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $72.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.50. iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF has a 1 year low of $47.44 and a 1 year high of $55.45.

iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF Company Profile

The iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (USMV) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI USA Minimum Volatility (USD) index. The fund tracks an index of US-listed firms selected and weighted to create a low-volatility portfolio subject to various constraints. USMV was launched on Oct 18, 2011 and is managed by BlackRock.

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Want to see what other hedge funds are holding USMV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:USMV  Free Report).

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Swire Pacific Limited (OTCMKTS:SWRAY  Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,100 shares, a decline of 74.1% from the May 31st total of 31,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 150,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.1 days.

Swire Pacific Stock Performance

Shares of SWRAY traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $7.65. 42,842 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 66,960. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $7.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.98. Swire Pacific has a 12 month low of $5.38 and a 12 month high of $9.40.

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Swire Pacific Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 12th were issued a dividend of $0.2157 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 11th. This is a boost from Swire Pacifics previous dividend of $0.13.

About Swire Pacific

Swire Pacific Limited engages in property, aviation, beverages, marine, and trading and industrial businesses in Hong Kong, Mainland China, rest of Asia, the United States, and internationally. The company's Property division develops, owns, and operates mixed-use properties. This division's property investment portfolio comprises office and retail premises, serviced apartments, and other luxury residential accommodations; and trading portfolio consists of residential properties.

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An oversize shipment is loaded on a freighter at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

MIAMI  Companies that ship oversize or liquid products could be prevented from using air transport if by Oct. 31 they dont adopt security measures to check for explosives. Thats when a Transportation Security Administration exemption from 100% cargo screening expires.

The U.S. two years ago implemented a scan-all requirement for international outbound shipments moving on freighter aircraft, raising the security bar to the same level in place for a decade for cargo carried on passenger aircraft. Airlines, logistics companies and other entities can use X-ray, explosives trace detection machines, canine detectors or physical search to comply.

The TSA granted a temporary allowance for unique shipments that are difficult to screen, such as drums with chemicals, large machinery and jet engines. Shippers essentially can vouch on paperwork that the goods are secure.

That allowance sunsets in four months and the TSA is urging shippers to quickly sign up for the Certified Cargo Screening Facility (CCSF) program, which allows non-airline companies that follow TSA-approved criteria to inspect cargo and tender it to the airlines following strict chain-of-custody requirements. The program was created to prevent backlogs at crowded airline warehouses by pushing more security checks upstream.

We are encouraging industry participants to move into the CCSF program because what we dont want, come Nov. 1, are problems in the supply chain, said John Beckius, executive director of the TSAs air cargo division, at an air cargo conference here in early June.

Manufacturers essentially will need to get facilities certified by the TSA so they can screen themselves themselves at locations where the products are built. The TSAs proposal is similar to U.N.-recognized known consignor programs in many countries, which allow companies that ship goods to demonstrate they have secure facilities and common security protocols to prevent tampering in lieu of physical detection.

Another option is for businesses to use certified forwarders, ground handlers or independent security firms to do the screening, but some could reject unusual shipments because of the difficulty in screening them after theyve been packed for transport.

The TSA is appealing to trade associations and companies in the air logistics sector to spread the message about impossible to screen cargo because it doesnt regulate shippers, as it does airlines and forwarders, and cant reach them directly.

Were really trying to get this word out now because of the time that it takes to apply and get approved. And its not overnight. Wed like people to just give us three months to approve them, Beckius told attendees at the Cargo Network Services event. We really want to get them thinking about it earlier rather than later.

The TSAs air cargo chief hailed the success of the third-party canine screening program, which allows air logistics stakeholders to hire private canine handlers to screen freight.

Sniffer dogs are popular because they are extremely good at detecting explosives and can efficiently check large pallets and products that cant go through an X-ray machine, often at a lower cost.

When 100% screening expanded two years ago, there were about 200 K-9 teams in operation nationwide. Now there are almost 1,000 teams spread among 10 approved companies, Beckius said.

The TSA two years ago also gave manufacturers, fulfillment centers and other entities with strict security protocols the ability to deem their shipments secure and avoid cargo screening procedures, subject to periodic TSA audits and inspections. The decision was opposed by many freight forwarders, who argued it gave e-commerce retailers and other large companies an advantage.

But no companies signed up to participate because eligible companies perceived the rules as too onerous, Beckius said. The TSA plans to submit a revised proposal this summer, he added.

Click here for more FreightWaves stories by Eric Kulisch.

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Telecom Argentina S.A. (NYSE:TEO  Free Report)s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $5.37 and traded as high as $6.42. Telecom Argentina shares last traded at $6.18, with a volume of 138,158 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Telecom Argentina from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, May 11th.

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Telecom Argentina Trading Down 0.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.67 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.37.

Telecom Argentina Cuts Dividend

Telecom Argentina ( NYSE:TEO Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.21. Telecom Argentina had a negative return on equity of 0.96% and a negative net margin of 30.75%. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Telecom Argentina S.A. will post -0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a  dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 25th. Investors of record on Monday, May 22nd were given a dividend of $0.208 per share. This represents a yield of 24.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 19th. Telecom Argentinas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -11.05%.

Institutional Trading of Telecom Argentina

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TEO. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Telecom Argentina during the 1st quarter valued at $520,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Telecom Argentina by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 247,143 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 38,943 shares during the last quarter. Eaton Vance Management purchased a new stake in Telecom Argentina during the 1st quarter valued at $3,507,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Telecom Argentina during the 2nd quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Telecom Argentina by 225.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 351,550 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,600,000 after purchasing an additional 243,570 shares during the last quarter.

About Telecom Argentina

(Free Report)

Telecom Argentina SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services. The company offers mobile telecommunications services, including voice communications, high-speed mobile Internet content and applications download, online streaming, and other services; and sells mobile communication devices, such as handsets, Modems MiFi and wingles, and smart watches.

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TKG Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG  Free Report) by 52.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,096 shares of the energy exploration companys stock after selling 3,376 shares during the quarter. TKG Advisors LLCs holdings in EOG Resources were worth $355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of EOG. Tejara Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of EOG Resources during the 4th quarter valued at about $106,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of EOG Resources by 196.1% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,859,925 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $1,175,599,000 after purchasing an additional 6,529,464 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of EOG Resources by 87.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 7,787,281 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $1,008,609,000 after purchasing an additional 3,641,504 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of EOG Resources by 126.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,111,339 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $662,021,000 after purchasing an additional 2,851,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of EOG Resources by 103,083.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,272,097 shares of the energy exploration companys stock valued at $294,282,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269,895 shares during the last quarter. 89.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on EOG shares. TD Securities reduced their price target on EOG Resources from $150.00 to $145.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on EOG Resources from $142.00 to $141.00 in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on EOG Resources from $167.00 to $158.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 8th. Truist Financial raised their price target on EOG Resources from $146.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on EOG Resources in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. They set a buy rating and a $152.00 price target on the stock. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, EOG Resources currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $148.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

EOG Resources Stock Up 0.8 %

In other EOG Resources news, COO Lloyd W. Helms, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of EOG Resources stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.87, for a total value of $579,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 149,689 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $17,344,464.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website . Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the companys stock.

Shares of NYSE:EOG opened at $113.90 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $118.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.06, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.54. EOG Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.16 and a 12-month high of $150.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG  Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 5th. The energy exploration company reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.42 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $6.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.28 billion. EOG Resources had a return on equity of 30.34% and a net margin of 33.83%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 51.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that EOG Resources, Inc. will post 11.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

EOG Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 17th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 14th. EOG Resourcess payout ratio is 20.64%.

EOG Resources Profile

(Free Report)

EOG Resources, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, explores for, develops, produces, and markets crude oil, and natural gas and natural gas liquids. Its principal producing areas are in New Mexico and Texas in the United States; and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The company was formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Company.

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Walker River Resources Corp. (CVE:WRR  Free Report)s share price traded down 3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as C$0.16 and last traded at C$0.16. 8,500 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 65,776 shares. The stock had previously closed at C$0.17.

Walker River Resources Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of C$6.68 million, a P/E ratio of -3.60 and a beta of 1.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of C$0.17 and a 200 day moving average price of C$0.25.

Walker River Resources Company Profile

(Free Report)

Walker River Resources Corp., an exploration stage company, engages in the identification, exploration, acquisition, and evaluation of mineral properties in Canada. It holds 100% interests in the Lapon Canyon gold project with 147 claims, which covers an area of approximately 2940 acres located in Nevada.

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StockNews.com upgraded shares of WPP (NYSE:WPP  Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Tuesday.

WPP Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of WPP opened at $51.20 on Tuesday. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $54.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.36. WPP has a 1-year low of $39.67 and a 1-year high of $64.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On WPP

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in WPP by 169.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 26,025 shares of the business services providers stock worth $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 16,370 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WPP by 43.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,068 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WPP by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,302 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $261,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WPP by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 81,610 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $4,012,000 after buying an additional 3,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in WPP in the 4th quarter worth approximately $593,000. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About WPP

WPP plc, a creative transformation company, provides communications, experience, commerce, and technology services in North America, the United Kingdom, Western Continental Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and Eastern Europe. The company operates through three segments: Global Integrated Agencies, Public Relations, and Specialist Agencies.

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The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023, a reform bill in the United Kingdom, has been granted Royal Assent from King Charles on Thursday, officially making it a law, according to a Thursday press release by the UK government.

Under this new law, cryptocurrency trading is recognized as a regulated financial activity. The amended Financial Services and Markets Act defines crypto assets as "cryptographically secured digital representation of value or contractual rights," considering them as regulated financial instruments, products, or investments.

11. Promotes the use of new technology in financial services, enabling the regulation of cryptoassets to support safe adoption, and establishing sandboxes that can facilitate the use of new technologies such as blockchain in financial markets.  Andrew Griffith MP (@griffitha) June 29, 2023

Royal Assent is a procedural stage that follows the agreement of lawmakers on a bill, turning it into an Act of Parliament in the country. The bill had received approval from the upper house of Parliament on June 19 before reaching this stage.

The UK Treasury highlighted that the law's objective is to regulate crypto assets and ensure their safe adoption in the country. The new law is viewed as a significant step forward for the economy, with the government describing it as a "rocket boost."

This landmark piece of legislation gives us control of our financial services rulebook, so it supports UK businesses and consumers and drives growth, Economic Secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith said in a statement. By repealing old EU laws set in Brussels it will unlock billions in investment  cash that can unlock innovation and grow the economy.

UK Includes Crypto Assets in Financial Services Reform Package

Global race for crypto talents

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 also lays the groundwork for the advancement of the blockchain sector, paving the way for the establishment of "sandboxes," which are controlled environments that facilitate the testing and adoption of new technologies, such as blockchain, within financial markets.

"The formal recognition of cryptocurrencies in the UK represents a significant advancement for the broader crypto industry, Jeff Feng, co-founder of blockchain development company Sei Labs, told Decrypt in an emailed statement. It serves as an acknowledgement of the growing legitimacy of digital assets, something that is becoming increasingly crucial as countries worldwide compete for supremacy in the crypto and tech space.

Praising the UK's decisive regulatory approach to crypto may, which can be considered an attempt to attract global tech talent and compete with other crypto-friendly countries, Feng added that there's a global race underway to attract crypto firms and entrepreneurs, with the potential capital and job creation they bring.

Countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and now the UK, are emerging as front-runners in this regard, capitalizing on the U.S.'s lack of regulatory clarity, he said.

UK Government Lays Out Plans to Become Crypto Asset Technology Hub

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 will also enable the implementation of the Edinburgh Reformsa package of more than 30 reforms to financial regulation, including the extension of tax breaks for investment managers to cover crypto assets.

Britains current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak outlined his ambition to make the UK a global hub for crypto asset technology in April 2022, coming forward with some proposed measures including stablecoins being brought within regulation so as to have them used as a recognized form of payment.

The bills other key provisions include enhanced scrutiny of financial services regulators, ensuring clear accountability, appropriate democratic input, and transparent oversight of financial services regulators, as well as protection of access to cash.
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua)  "Kuliang, Kuliang ... " Milton Gardner kept uttering the word in the final hours of his life. His wife, Elizabeth Gardner, knew it was a place in China where her husband spent his childhood, but she was unsure of the exact location.

Years later, in the summer of 1992, Elizabeth was finally able to fulfill her late husband's last wish, traveling from the United States to Kuliang, or Guling in Mandarin, with the help of none other than Fuzhou's Party chief at that time, Xi Jinping.

Xi learned about the American couple's story in the People's Daily newspaper in April 1992. Gardner traveled with his parents as an infant to China in 1901 and spent about 10 years of his childhood in suburban Fuzhou, Fujian Province. Those years influenced him deeply, and Gardner kept many Chinese elements in his life, such as collecting ancient Chinese art pieces and having Chinese cuisine.

Gardner returned to California in 1911 and became a professor of Physics at the University of California later in life. He had longed to revisit his childhood home in China but could not make the trip.

After her husband died, Elizabeth made several trips to China to find the small place her husband had so much affection for, but her efforts ended in vain as she had few clues about the exact location. Eventually, a Chinese student, who penned the People's Daily story, helped her identify the place as Kuliang, a summer resort popular among foreign expatriates in Fuzhou a century ago.

When the news story came out, Xi was touched and immediately arranged contact with Elizabeth and invited her to Kuliang. Xi met her on the evening she arrived in Fuzhou. They exchanged Chinese vases as gifts.

"What moves me is your husband's attachment and longing for Fuzhou and Kuliang in his later years. It naturally occurred to us to invite you here. You can see for him the place he had missed all his life and rekindle the friendship," Xi said.

The next day, with the arrangement made by Xi, Elizabeth visited Kuliang. She saw the mountain landscape and foreign villas her late husband mentioned a lot and met with his childhood friends. Elizabeth said the trip made her understand why her husband had missed China so much, and she would continue to pass on the friendship between the two peoples.

Two decades later, Xi shared this story at a welcoming banquet when he traveled to the United States as China's vice president. "I believe there are a lot of touching stories like this between Chinese and American people," he said, calling for stepping up people-to-people exchanges to consolidate the most solid public support for China-U.S. mutually-beneficial cooperation.

In the United States, descendants of American families who once lived in Kuliang also founded the group "Kuliang Friends" to extend the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.

On Wednesday, members of the group attended the "Bond with Kuliang: 2023 China-U.S. People-to-People Friendship Forum" in Fuzhou. Xi, now China's president, sent his congratulatory letter.

"I was very glad to hear from members of the Kuliang Friends and to know from your letter more touching stories about your connection with Kuliang," said Xi, adding that amity between peoples holds the key to the relationship between countries.

It has been shown once again that "the Chinese and American peoples can transcend differences in system, culture, and language, and build a profound friendship," Xi said.

(Source: Xinhua)
BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua)  Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping and special envoy of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the advancement of girls' and women's education, called for pulling strengths from all sides to promote full development of women.

Peng made the remarks via video link at the China-Africa Women's Forum on Thursday.

China and Africa are a community with a shared future, standing together through thick and thin, Peng said, adding women are important members of the big China-Africa family.

Over the years, under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, women from China and Africa have written a splendid chapter of shared progress through solidarity and cooperation, Peng said.

In different places across Africa, women from China are working with African sisters in medical teams, on peacekeeping missions, at infrastructure construction sites and in technical training programs. They work side by side to make a better life and contribute to a stronger China-Africa friendship, she added.

Peng said she has maintained friendly exchanges and cooperation with the Organization of African First Ladies for Development to offer love and hope.

Both China and Africa place high importance on advancing women's causes, she said.

China has taken a range of measures to strengthen the legal system protecting women's rights and interests, empower women with better education, support women's entrepreneurship and innovation, and deliver healthcare services to women and children, to foster a favorable environment for women's full development.

In Africa, countries are working hard to improve women's working and living conditions, help them get rid of poverty, and encourage women's participation in the management of the country and society, Peng said, adding these worthy efforts have produced positive results.

China and Africa will continue to march ahead together, with love and action, on the journey of advancing the development of women, she said.

Given the many challenges facing women's development, the need for solidarity and cooperation is greater than ever, Peng said.

"I am ready to work with you to carry forward the spirit of the Beijing World Conference on Women and the Global Leaders' Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, pull strengths from all sides to promote women's full development, and contribute to the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era," she added.

The China-Africa Women's Forum, jointly held by the All-China Women's Federation and the people's government of Hunan Province, opened Thursday in Changsha, capital of Hunan.

(Source: Xinhua)
Soldiers hold positions next to a US-made Avenger air defense missile system launcher during an annual military drill in Taichung, central Taiwan, on January 17, 2017.
A person walks by Fox News signage posted on the News Corporation building in New York City, on April 12.
Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, has settled his child support case in Arkansas, reaching an agreement with the mother of one of his children, resolving a dispute that became a legal headache for him in recent months.
White women benefit most from affirmative action. So why do they oppose it?

People often associate affirmative action with efforts to end discrimination for people of color. But scholars say the greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action policies are white women, from college campuses to the American workplace.

White women today are more educated and make up a bigger slice of the workforce as a result of decades of affirmative action policies, scholars say. White women have also made inroads into corporate leadership that people of color and women of color have not.

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action admissions policies used by Harvard College and the University of North Carolina to build diversity on their campuses. Legal observers say that decision will have huge consequences for higher education and could have significant ripple effects for corporate diversity programs.

What is affirmative action?

Affirmative action refers to efforts to curb discrimination in education, employment and government contracting.

Affirmative action was first used in 1935 in the Wagner Act, a federal law that gave workers the right to start and join unions. John F. Kennedy was the first president to use the term to mean advancing racial equality.

The term was originally meant to convey that the government should act affirmatively to end race and gender discrimination. But critics have equated affirmative action with racial quotas and preferences that they say give unfair advantages to people of color and discriminate against white people.

How have white women benefited from affirmative action?

Discussions about affirmative action tend to focus on race, but statistics show that it also has been an equalizer for white women in education and in the workplace.

A Labor Department report in 1995 found that since the 1960s, affirmative action had helped 5 million members of minority groups and 6 million women move up in the workplace.

Supporters of affirmative action protest near the U.S. Supreme Court Building on Capitol Hill on June 29, 2023 in Washington, DC. In a 6-3 vote, Supreme Court Justices ruled that race-conscious admissions programs at Harvard and the University of North Carolina are unconstitutional, setting precedent for affirmative action in other universities and colleges.

When we talk about institutions like higher education, we see that women in general are on par with men, but we have severe underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous and Latinx folks in colleges and universities and even greater disparities for women of color, Texas A&M sociologist and lawyer Wendy Leo Moore told USA TODAY. You can make the same analysis when we look at employment. Those are the kinds of things that indicate that on a structural level that white women have benefited.

What does affirmative action data show?

In the past six decades, women have leapfrogged men in earning four-year degrees while Black and Latino students are still underrepresented in college admissions and graduation rates, especially in four-year colleges.

A similar trend has been seen in the workplace, according to a USA TODAY analysis of named executives at the nation's 100 largest companies.

From 2020 to 2022, white women expanded their share of senior leadership jobs at twice the rate of women of color, though women remained outnumbered 4 to 1. Despite marginal gains among men of color, white men still hold about two-thirds of the top jobs even though they account for just one-third of U.S. workers.

Why do most white women oppose affirmative action?

If white women benefit from affirmative action, why do they oppose it?

Half of Americans do not approve of colleges and universities considering race in admissions, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. A majority of white adults disapprove of it, too. About 70% of non-Hispanic white women somewhat or strongly oppose affirmative action, according to a 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study.

White women have also challenged affirmative action policies. In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled against Abigail Fisher, a white student who said the University of Texas denied her admission because of her race.

Moore says the opposition is the result of long-running anti-affirmative action campaigns from conservative groups that attack race-based affirmative action but not gender-based affirmative action.

None of that same pressure is operating on the basis of gender, she said.

The result: significant strides for white women, but not for women of color. Because of the way we see women of color as their race before their gender, women of color havent benefited from it, Moore said.

Supreme Court ruling and diversity: Supreme Court just reversed affirmative action. What that means for workplace diversity.

Contributing: Jayme Fraser

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Affirmative action: Who benefits the most? The answer may surprise you
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Student Loan Forgiveness: Women Will Be Most Affected As US Supreme Court Strikes Down Bidens Plan

Liubomyr Vorona / Getty Images/iStockphoto

The fate of President Joe Bidens federal student loan forgiveness plan has been decided. The U.S. Supreme Court, via a 6-3 decision, denied Bidens plan on legal merits. Most experts had expected the court to rule against the plan, which aimed to cancel up to $20,000 per borrower. Given that the plan has been defeated, borrowers will soon have to repay their loans in full after a payment pause that first went into effect in March 2020.

Read: Student Loan Pause Officially Ends in October  Are You Ready To Start Making Average $503 Payments Again?

Discover: All of the States That Will Pay Off Your Student Loans

Although millions of Americans with student debt are affected by the SCOTUS decision, it will have an outsized impact on female borrowers. Women held nearly two-thirds of the countrys $1.54 trillion in student debt as of 2021, according to research from the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

Student Loan Forgiveness: 10 Expenses To Cut From Your Budget When Payments Resume

Women earning a bachelors degree graduate owe an average of $2,700 more than their male peers, the research found, while student debt is the second-highest source of household debt for women after housing.

In addition, it takes women about two years longer than men to repay student loans. Thats partly because women typically owe more than men. Its also partly because from the moment women graduate from college, most face a gender pay gap that compounds as they age, according to the AAUW. As a result, women often put off saving for retirement, buying a home or starting a business.

Thats a pretty substantial amount of money that women are taking on in many cases to just sort of achieve what men dont even need to have a degree to achieve, AAUW CEO Gloria L. Blackwell told Time.

Among the other findings from the AAUWs 2021 Deeper in Debt report:

Women hold an average of $31,276 in student debt, leaving them with a monthly loan payment of $307 the year after graduation. Because women graduating with a bachelors degree expect to earn an average of $35,338 a year  81% of what men anticipate earning  meeting that loan obligation is challenging at best.

One year after college, women spend an average of $920 per month on housing, $396 per month on a car loan and, for the 16% of women who are mothers, $520 on child care. Adding in that $307 student loan payment makes it difficult  if not downright impossible  to make ends meet.

The problem is even more challenging for Black women borrowers, who owe an average of $37,558.

As Time reported, the gender wage gap has remained fairly stable in the United States over the past couple of decades, with women earning an average of 82% of what men earn. Black women earn less, at roughly 63 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic white men. Hispanic and Native American women fare even worse, according to U.S. Department of Labor data.

Given these disparities, its easy to see why loan forgiveness might have taken on greater importance for women than men.

Women are still required to have higher credentials to really pursue their careers and to seek out the same opportunities that men have, and so that means that they are going to school, not just for undergraduate degrees, but for graduate degrees as well, Blackwell said.

Even as the Supreme Court strikes down Bidens forgiveness plan, there are ways to address the student debt crisis for both women and men. The AAUW supports legislation that would make college more affordable for all students and help millions of borrowers across the country pay off their student debt. Among its recommendations:

Protect and expand Pell Grants for low-income students to reduce the amount of student loan debt they have to take on to complete a degree.

Pass laws, such as the Paycheck Fairness Act, to eliminate the gender pay gap, .

Increase funding for public colleges and universities and support efforts to move toward tuition- and debt-free options for students.

More From GOBankingRates

This headline and story have been updated with additional information.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Student Loan Forgiveness: Women Will Be Most Affected As US Supreme Court Strikes Down Bidens Plan
The Postal Workers Rank-and File-Committee (PWRFC) in Britain sends its warmest solidarity to our 340,000 brothers and sisters at UPS in America in your fight against brutal restructuring and a substandard pay contract. We are engaged in a similar battle against Royal Mail.

Your determination has been demonstrated in a strike authorisation vote of 97 percent, but the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are keeping you on the job overriding your mandate while they continue closed door talks with the company.

During our year-long dispute with Royal Mail we have encountered the same sabotage on a non-stop basis by the leadership of the Communication Workers Union (CWU). We have learnt through bitter experience that our fight is not just against the company but the union bureaucracy. This is why we came together to establish a rank-and-file committee and launch the fight to take back control of our dispute.

Between August and December, 115,000 postal workers took 18 days of national strike action, the first in a decade since privatisation. Our strike was solid.

From the start, the CWU prevented all-out strike action in favour of staggered stoppages dragging out the dispute. This was justified on the grounds it would cause us less hardship as days lost would be spread across our pay checks. We never received a penny of strike pay, with our dues used instead to finance an apparatus headed by CWU General Secretary Dave Ward on a salary of $178,000 plus expenses and perks. We manned the pickets during the Summer and Winter months amid the worst cost of living crisis in generations. We defied a strike-breaking operation by the company using managers and agency workers. Some 400 CWU reps and members were suspended or sacked on trumped-up charges, including for using the word scab on the picket line and social media!

Our determination alone has not proved enough. Since the start of the year, the CWU prevented any further action allowing our working conditions to be trampled. We have effectively been in dispute with the union longer than the strike action against Royal Mail over the CWUs unaccountability to members and its naked collaboration with management.

The CWU allowed our two strike mandates to run down and vetoed a 96 percent mandate to renew the strike in mid-February. This was in favour of intensive talks, like those promoted by the Teamsters with UPS.

We advise you not to take the rhetoric of Teamster President Sean OBrien as good coin. We heard similar hot air from Ward and company: Enough is enough, Dont accept less, Win the (strike) ballot, win the dispute.

Behind our backs, the CWU agreed a joint statement with the company in March over revisionscost cutting to hike up productivity with delivery workers walking 15 miles a day and hundreds of extra calls added to delivery rounds. They have gutted Royal Mails statutory commitment to ensure mail delivery 6 days a week, with more profitable parcels prioritised. In the process, the company has already implemented 10,000 job losses with many more to come. The CWU claims it is protecting jobs based on no compulsory redundancies. But there is nothing voluntary about senior colleagues being driven out through impossible workloads and management bullying. This has been conducted on the cheap, through reduced voluntary redundancy terms and ill health retirement payments agreed by the CWU.

The PWRFC was formed in April by postal workers seeking to break the grip of this unaccountable bureaucracy and establish rank-and-file control of the dispute. Our stand was confirmed within days.

On April 21, the CWU announced its rotten pro-company agreement with Royal Mail negotiated behind our backs. The agreement crosses every red line. It introduces flexible working with later start and finish times based on a 24/7 parcel delivery service that ends any life-work balance. It cuts our sick pay and introduces a two-tier workforce with new entrants on inferior terms and conditions including mandatory Sunday working with no premium, and a longer working week.

The agreement met with outrage, with thousands of postal workers demanding it be thrown out. The CWU bureaucrats responded with a war against the membership, twice cancelling postal ballots to forestall a No vote and waging a propaganda blitz aimed at silencing and intimidating critics. They denounced workers opposed to the deal as reckless and delusional, insisting that workers have to sacrifice due to the financial difficulties facing Royal Mails shareholders.

On June 16, the CWU finally announced a postal ballot on their deal, based on a CWU-Royal Mail Joint Statement. They claimed, We have reversed all their original proposals. This is a lie. The Joint Statement marks the further integration of the CWU with Royal Mail, with the unions national executive through to local reps in joint union-management committees and working groups driving up company profitability through our exploitation.

The entire union is being transformed before workers eyes. Meetings between union reps and managers are already underway at mail centres and delivery offices with revisions to our terms and conditions and job cuts being enforced before a single vote is even counted.

Meanwhile, the 400 reps and workers suspended during the strikes have been hung out to dry. Their fate will be decided by a union-backed review headed by Lord Falconer who advised the National Coal Board during the 1984-85 miners strike and who was later appointed Lord Chancellor by the despised former Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair. Only reps who are prepared to act like managers will be tolerated.

Our committee is calling for a No vote to throw out the CWUs surrender document. But voting No will not resolve the central task we face of removing this entrenched bureaucracy which functions as an arm of management.

Our committee has already brought together postal workers from across the separate divisions including delivery offices, mail centres and Parcelforce. Our statements and articles exposing the dirty tricks of CWU officials have been read by tens of thousands of postal workers. We would encourage you to make full use of the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) as hundreds of postal workers have here to break the wall of silence imposed by the company and CWU head office.

The CWU has tried to smear our committee and publicly attacked WSWS for over-influencing workers in the dispute. They are terrified of workers knowing the truth and having an alternative. Their most recent attack on WSWS backfired, with postal workers defending its coverage and denouncing Ward and his fellow officials for their lies and pro-company propaganda.

We believe the greatest strength of the PWRFC is that we are affiliated to the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC). Royal Mail, like UPS, is a global corporation. They plan their strategy globally and employ an army of workers worldwide. Their worst fear is workers linking together across national borders to paralyze their plans.

It is time to end the decades-long race to the bottom and begin a unified fightback. Royal Mail is a subsidiary of International Distribution Services with its GLS arm employing an additional 22,000 workers in 40 countries outside the UK. UPS employs an even bigger army of 495,000 employees in 220 countries.

Whatever uniform we wear, or whether we receive our pay cheque in pounds or dollars, we are in the same fight. We need to forge the strongest links and unshackle our strength as a major battalion of the international working class.

We encourage you to build your own rank and file committees at UPS and join the fight to build the IWA-RFC. Your fight is our fight, and we will do everything in our power to support your struggle.
On Friday, actor Kevin Spacey appeared in Londons Southwark Crown Court at the start of his trial on sexual offence charges. He hopes to continue clearing his name after successfully contesting similar charges in Massachusetts in 2019 and New York in 2022.

Spacey has pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent between 2001 and 2013. During most of this time he was artistic director of Londons Old Vic theatre.

Kevin Spacey arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London with his legal team, June 30, 2023

Spacey is a two-time Oscar winner who helped rescue the Old Vic from bankruptcy and attract younger audiences. He struck a chord with television viewers for his portrayal, in the Netflix series House of Cards, of Frank Underwood, a corrupt South Carolina congressman who ruthlessly pursues the US presidency. The WSWS commented in 2014 that the series was a damning and unanswerable indictment of the existing political and economic system, and as such, will help to undermine it.

Spaceys fall from grace was rapid after sexual offence allegations surfaced in 2017 at the height of the #MeToo campaign. Within days, Netflix officials dropped him from House of Cards and then later sued him for over $30 million in damages arguing they had been forced to shorten the series because of his alleged sexual misconduct.

In the most cowardly manner, director Ridley Scott erased Spacey from the completed film All the Money in the World, reshooting his role as the billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty. The Old Vic ditched him despite admitting it has not been possible to verify any of these allegations.

On Friday, prosecutor Christine Agnew KC opened the trial, which is expected to last a month, by declaring that Spacey is an extremely famous actor who has won a number of awards. He is also, the prosecution allege, a man who sexually assaults other men.

Spacey is a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, Agnew continued, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully.

Kevin Spacey in House of Cards

Agnew listed the 12 charges against Spacey and detailed the accompanying allegations made by four men. None of them reported their claims of abuse until 2017 or after, and although described as stretching from 2001 to 2013, the allegations made by three of the four relate to single events eachin 2005, 2008 and 2013.

The charges involve claims that Spacey was overly touchy-feely with one individual, and that he intimately touched another of the complainants and spoke to him in a lewd manner. A third accuser alleges that, after spending the night with Spacey, he woke to find him engaged in sexual activity. A fourth alleges that Spacey gave the complainant a hug and two kisses on the neck and then grabbed him.

Agnew concluded her opening remarks declaring Spacey had abused his power and influence to take what and who he wanted, when he wanted.

Patrick Gibbs, defending Spacey, was given special permission due to the nature of the trial to give a short opening speech. He urged the jurors not to make up their minds unless and until youve heard both sides of the story after the defence presents its case, probably in two weeks. Spacey, he pointed out, thoroughly denies the accusations and would explain in full in due course what actually happened, if anything.

Spacey has said he was baffled and deeply hurt by the allegations of one complainant, whom he considered a clever and charming man and friend. He remembers little or nothing about the other complainants, although it was possible he had made a clumsy pass at some point in time at someone that he could not recall.

Actor Kevin Spacey arrives at Southwark Crown Court

Gibbs argued the alleged events happened a long time ago and had been reimagined with a sinister spin, made up or twisted. He continued forcefully, You will soon hear, I suggest, some truths, you will soon hear some half-truths, you will also hear I suggest ... some deliberate exaggerations and you will hear many damned lies.

Gibbs said that likely obstacles would arise during the trial including rumour, fame, responses to fame, secrecy, shame and sexual confusion. He asked the jury to consider what some people might want from Spacey, from his wealth and from his influence and what his life was like especially after coming out as gay. Could his actions have been reasonably consensual?

The WSWS defends fundamental democratic rights because history proves that the erosion of civil liberties and legal protections always paves the way for more sweeping attacks against the working class, strengthening the repressive powers of the state.

Launched in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election, #MeToo was utilised by its Democratic Party and media instigators to whip up susceptible layers of mostly affluent middle class professionals. It sought to replace the presumption of innocence with the anti-democratic principle that women must be believed and rumour-fuelled trials by media, regardless of the evidence and the right of the accused to due process. In Spaceys case, only the gender and sexual orientation are different.

Besides the mercenary motives of many involved, a major driving force behind the campaign was to divert opposition to then President Donald Trump into the dead end of identity politics, aggressively promoted over the last 40 years by the upper-middle class, the Democrats and the pseudo-left.

The #MeToo witch-hunt against Spacey started unravelling ignominiously in July 2019 when a district attorney in Massachusetts dropped sexual assault charges against him after the accuser refused to testify about missing text messages on his cell phone. The latter pleaded the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, forcing the pretrial hearing and the entire case to be halted.

In October 2022 in New York, a jury deliberated for little more than an hour before finding in favour of Spacey in a civil lawsuit filed against him by another actor, Anthony Rapp. Rapp accused Spacey of making a sexual advance toward him 30 years earlier at a party in 1986 when Rapp was 14 and Spacey 26. The jury dismissed the lawsuit, which sought $40 million in damages, and accepted Spaceys defence that the alleged encounter never happened.

The London trial continues next week.
On June 21, the Joint Trade Unions Alliance (JTUA) of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) held a Selling or Restructuring conference at an open-air theatre in Vihara Mahadevi Park in central Colombo.

Some of the Ceylon Electricity Board workers attending union conference on 21 June 2023

CEB workers, except those who run emergency power plants, took a sick leave protest that day but only around 1,500 of the 26,000 strong-workforce participated in the conference. That only a small fraction attended the event indicates that workers have little confidence in these unions because of their recent betrayals.

The JTUA is composed of more than two dozen unions, including the Ceylon Electricity Workers Union (CEWU), the Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya (SLNSS) CEB, the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya (JSS), the Consumer Coordination Officers Union (CCOU) and the Engineers Union. The first three unions are affiliated with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the United National Party respectively.

The union alliance was compelled to call the conference amid growing working-class opposition to the Wickremesinghe governments moves to privatise the CEB, and hundreds of other state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The CEB unions, which have no fundamental differences with the IMFs dictates, remained silent for months after the government announced it would privatise the CEB.

Trade union leaders addressing the conference demagogically declared that there would be a massive struggle if the government tried to privatise the CEB but then offered total collaboration with a real restructuring of the state-owned enterprise.



SLNSS general secretary Priyantha Prabhath said the unions would support correct change. He added: The problems can be resolved through discussions. We demand the minister does a restructure that secures the existing benefits of the employees.

Ranjan Jayalal, general secretary of the Ceylon Electricity Worker's Union, addressing union conference June 21, 2023

CEWU general secretary Ranjan Jayalal said the unions would not allow the government to sell CEB and pointed to other union leaders, declaring: Here are the majors and sergeants of the struggle and for sure, they wont allow the privatisation of CEB. If the bill is passed in the parliament and companies from America and Australia come into this country we will not allow it.

These speeches are nothing more than hot air. They are designed to deflect attention from the unions collaboration with the government in restructuring the CEB. The CEB union bureaucracy is totally committed to doing whatever is required to make the company profitable at the expense of the jobs, wages and conditions of workers.



Two resolutions were passed in the conference: one against privatisation and supporting restructuring, and the other demanding permanency for National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) casual workers.

Rank-and-file CEB workers were not given any chance to speak on the resolutions, let alone any of the issues confronting them. The resolutions were simply put to the vote by the union bureaucrats who declared that they were passed unanimously.

The first resolution called for an organised, planned and well-timed restructuring  to uplift not only the Ceylon Electricity Board, but the entire energy sector of the country The conference proposes undivided support for a proper restructuring process carried out within a planned and practical time frame, without privatisation or divestment.

The JUTA conference resolution, echoing statements issued by unions from other state-owned enterprises, Telecom, Insurance, Ports and Petroleum, declared privatisation to be a grave threat to national security.

National security according to the union bureaucracies, like the ruling elites, however, has nothing to do with protecting the working class and the labouring masses. It means the defence of capitalism and its state apparatus.

The Wickremesinghe governments cabinet of ministers approved a roadmap and timeline of the CEB restructuring process in April, with the ministry of power and energy due to present its measures to cabinet this month. Under its plans the CEB will be divided into 15 units and sold off as separate companies.

Cabinet spokesperson Bandula Gunawardane explained the governments overall restructuring/privatisation plans to the media on May 17.

The aim of the policy is to transform [the SOEs], he said, is to make them market oriented  [with] a cost-reflective policy, and not burden the country and the budget. The aim of restructuring, he added, is to create an environment  to draw in domestic and foreign investments.

Wickremesinghes market-oriented agenda is a massive social onslaught against the population, severely impacting the jobs, wages and working conditions of more than half a million SOE employees. It is associated with drastic increases in the cost of electricity and other essential items. Electricity tariffs were increased in August 2022 and again this February by 75 percent and 66 percent respectively.

Last September, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara told the media that the CEBs 26,000-strong workforce could be reduced by 50 percent, or 13,000 jobs, through a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). A financial and human resources audit on how to further cut expenditure and workforce is underway.

Socialist Equality Party (SEP) members spoke with CEB workers attending the June 21 conference, distributing the partys statementOppose Sri Lankan governments privatisation of state enterprises! Build workers action committees to fight for jobs and wages! They discussed how to fight privatisation and other IMF austerity measures. Several workers expressed their views on restructuring, the role of the trade unions and the capitalist political parties.

SEP member (left) discusses party's program with Ceylon Electricity Board workers at June 21 union conference in Colombo.

A customer coordinating officer explained that CEB management had imposed restrictions on workers to stop them attending any protests. A circular was issued a few days ago restricting participation in protests whilst on duty. So, I had to take some of my own leave to attend this conference, he said.

The coordinating officer had been confused by the claims of the union leadership and believed that restructuring was not privatisation. We must start restructuring from the top without giving away to the private sector, he said.

After SEP members explained that restructuring was a first step to towards privatisation, he said: If the [CEB is] privatised we will have to work hard until we are exhausted and we might even have to work from home. The minister pretends that a pension will be granted to us after privatisation but we do not accept that lie.

The voluntary redundancy scheme, he said, will not exceed 2 million rupees ($US6,480), after loans and other deductions were taken. What can we do with this amount of money if we lose our pension? he asked.

Another employee attached to the generation planning division in CEBs head office in Colombo said privatisation would harshly hit workers and the rest of the population. We will lose our jobs and people will suffer with increasing tariffs because the private companies are only concerned with profits, he said.

A meter reader from Rathnapura condemned the trade unions and their promotion of CEB restructuring. Restructuring is privatisation, he said. The government and the unions are trying to cheat both workers and the people.

SEP members reminded him about last years mass upsurge and the general strikes in AprilJuly that forced out the Rajapakse government. The unions, however, diverted the movement behind calls from the capitalist Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the JVP for an interim government.

If the strike had continued, many changes would have come about but it got stuck halfway, the meter reader said. Yes, the trade unions are going along different paths, surrendering themselves for benefits. This is therefore disadvantageous for us.

SEP members explained that in order for workers to defend their jobs, wages and conditions they had to establish their own action committees, independent of the union bureaucracy. After some discussion he agreed that it was necessary to form an action committee in the CEB.

A worker from the Kelanithissa power station in Colombo condemned the trade unions and the capitalist political parties.

The unions are not fighting to defend our rights. Weve still not been paid last years bonus and medical allowance, and promotions have been stopped. I agree that we cannot stop privatisation by trying to pressure the government. We need a united struggle of the working class against privatisation, but the unions are not ready to do that. They betrayed our struggles in recent years, he said.

The power station worker said he had no confidence in any of the capitalist parties. They all cheat us, he said. Ive learned important facts from you on the political situation and the issues that workers confront and I want to study more about your party and its program.

The working class cannot stop privatisation without a unified struggle against the Wickremesinghe government and its IMF program. This requires the building of action committees independent of the union bureaucracy in every workplace, factory, plantation and working-class neighbourhood. It requires the unity of workers across Sri Lanka and internationally.

The struggle against the Wickremesinghe government is a fight against the capitalist state. What is needed is a workers and farmers government to implement socialist policies, including placing the banks and corporations, factories and plantations, under public ownership and the democratic control of the working class.
Dozens of cities burned across France last night as anger mounted following Tuesdays police murder, captured on video, of 17-year-old Nahel M. in his car. The protests also spread internationally, as Belgian police deployed water cannon against youth protesting in solidarity with Nahels family in downtown Brussels.

A demonstrator runs on the third night of protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, France, Friday, June 30, 2023. [AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard]

Yesterday morning, President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency meeting of his cabinet, which decided against immediately declaring a state of emergency. But despite Interior Minister Gerald Darmanins decision to deploy 40,000 cops nationwide to try to crush the protests, the riots are still escalating out of the governments control.

French police assaulted the silent march yesterday morning of over 6,000 people called by Nahels family in his home town of Nanterre, outside Paris. Before the march began, Darmanin announced the deployment of heavily armed Search and Intervention Brigade (BRI) teams in armored cars to the city. During the march, police fired tear gas at the mourners, who held signs calling for Justice for Nahel and Never again.

Clashes continued into the night in Nanterre, where protesters burned a bank and fired fireworks at riot police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters.

Rioting and violent clashes with police hit dozens of cities, including Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Nice, Rennes, Rouen, Tours and the Paris area. In Lille, protesters burned several local municipal buildings and police stations, while smoke rose up in multiple locations across Toulouse and Marseille as protesters burned cars and clashed with police using rocks and fireworks launchers.

In Lyon, Frances second-largest metropolitan area, protesters burned buses and tramways in a number of suburbs and clashed with police in the city center.

Police stations burned in Montpellier, Reims and Orleans, while across France protesters also commandeered construction equipment to smash surveillance cameras or break into and loot stores in a number of cities. There were several unconfirmed reports of BRI units opening fire on protesters with live ammunition, including near the Old Port in Marseille. Police helicopter units were deployed in Marseille, across the northern Paris area, and beyond.

In the Paris area, clashes erupted again in the 12th and 14th districts in the south of the city, and rioters also smashed and looted several large shops near the Louvre museum. In the suburbs, protesters burned the city hall of Clichy-sous-Bois and police stations in several municipalities. They overturned and burned cars and violently clashed with police in several cities, including Saint-Denis to the north of Paris and Montargis to the south.

For a second time this year, since the mass protests by millions against Macrons massively unpopular pension reforms, the Macron government has gone into a potentially mortal political crisis as it came into direct collision with the working class. Macron is still widely hated, having slashed pensions in the face of opposition from 75 percent of the French people, and is correctly seen as ruling against the people. The murder of Nahel only underscores that the cops upon whom he has relied to violently assault and crush protests function as judge, jury and executioner.

Videos circulating of the event completely refuted the false version of events given by the police just after the murder, claiming that they fired to defend themselves. In fact, the video showed that the cops stopped, threatened and then shot Nahel at point-blank range, when there was no threat to themselves. Yesterday morning, Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache formally confirmed that the state would be compelled to bring charges against the policeman who killed Nahel.

Given the investigations and the elements we have observed, the prosecutors office considers that the legal conditions for using a weapon were not fulfilled, Prache said. He then announced that an investigation would be launched on charges of voluntary homicide.

The legal team of Nahels family criticized Praches handling of the case, however, for covering up several important further accusations against the police. They wrote, the prosecutor has hidden the possible complicity in voluntary homicide of the second policeman [present at the shooting] and the possible issuing of false public documents because of the initial lying declarations of the shooter. On this basis, they called for the case to be moved to another jurisdiction to ensure the court case proceeds in an objective, independent and impartial way.

French domestic intelligence agencies prepared for the government a report on the mass riots caused by the killing of Nahel, which was then leaked to the press. The intelligence agencies claimed that last night would be decisive to see how far the protests would continue to grow and how serious a crisis Macron faces.

Three days after the events, the excitement has still not died down, their report noted, adding: The pre-summer period which moreover features pleasant weather encourages youth to gather together in public areas, and rapidly commit various acts of violence. The persistence of these incidents is therefore to be expected across the entire country, with a probable extension, starting this evening, to neighborhoods that had until now remained calm.

Indeed, this has led to a torrent of statements from right-wing and far-right politicians demanding the reimposition of a state of emergency, which was imposed after the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, allowing the state to suspend all basic democratic rights.

After the French cabinets crisis meeting yesterday morning, however, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told reporters her government would not immediately impose a state of emergency. We are not in those circumstances, she said, adding: The justice system is advancing, it is doing its work. We must look for calm.

In reality, by rejecting the immediate option of installing an overtly dictatorial emergency regime, the Macron government is not trying to obtain justice for Nahel. Given the explosive anger that exists against Macron, it aims to avoid provoking a further escalation of the political crisis which could completely escape its control. For now at least, it is trying to ride out the crisis and avoid triggering an even greater social explosion in the working class.

It is ordering its highly unpopular ministers to stay out of sight, so the cops can focus on attacking protesters, not protecting ministers. Official sources confirmed to BFM-TV that all non-priority movements by ministers were canceled, and all their movements organized around the subject of the day, that is, the crisis caused by Nahels murder. BFM-TV concluded that in this situation, using police to protect ministers going about other business would uselessly mobilize the security forces.

As they try to ride out the crisis, Macrons ministers are relying on the political assistance of the pseudo-left party run by Jean-Luc Melenchon, Unsubmissive France (LFI). LFI parliamentarian Mathilde Panot is currently running a political operation in the National Assembly to blame the murder on a part of a law that allows French police to rapidly shoot when they are faced with a car they can claim has refused to stop. She is proposing to rescind this measure.

The LFI parliamentary group is submitting a bill to abrogate article 435-1 of the Cazeneuve law, Panot announced yesterday on Twitter, referring to this measure, which she called a license to kill.

However reactionary the role played by this legislation, it is apparent that broader issues are raised by Nahels murder. The relentless resort to police violence to crush mass social opposition has been a constant of Macrons presidency for over six years now, involving massive powers to detain, wiretap, and assault protesters exercising fundamental democratic rights to free speech, free movement, and to strike. This cannot be overturned simply by changing the rules of engagement governing when police are allowed to shoot motorists.

Frances police state, and at the center of it the arbitrary power of Frances executive presidency, must be dismantled in order to protect the basic social and democratic rights of the population. Like the struggle against Macrons pension cuts, it requires the independent mobilization of the working class in a political struggle, independent of forces like LFI oriented to Frances corrupt trade union bureaucracies, that aims to bring down Macron and transfer power to the working class.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) finally released its findings in relation to Gladys Berejiklian yesterday, more than a year and a half after its public declaration that she was under investigation compelled her to resign as premier of New South Wales (NSW), Australias most populous state.

ICAC found that Berejiklian breached the ministerial code of conduct while in office. It effectively judged that she had acted corruptly. The commission, however, has not recommended criminal charges because it says there would be little prospect of a conviction. Berejiklian has rejected the finding and indicated she may appeal, either through ICACs own mechanisms or a lawsuit.

The great and inexplicable delay in the release of the findings, it is now clear, was not because the commission was processing vast material that was incriminating to Berejiklian. Instead, what is most striking is the paucity of what ICAC has come up with.

Berejiklians alleged conduct does not match up with what most people would imagine when the spectre of corruption is raised. There is no claim that she improperly used her office to obtain financial benefit in any way, or to advance her post-political career. Instead, the allegations, extraordinarily, centre on funding for cultural institutions in regional NSW, something that many in the often-deprived outer reaches of the state would appreciate.

The findings confirm what the WSWS wrote at the time of Berejiklians October 2021 ouster and its aftermath. The corruption allegations were brought forward, as weak as they were, to effect a shift in official politics, further to the right.

Berejiklian was a conventional representative of the Liberal Party, the traditional outfit of the capitalist class. She governed in the interests of the ruling elite, including by undermining public health in the interests of profits during the first two years of the pandemic.

But at the very stage ICAC declared it was investigating Berejiklian, much more was being demanded. There were concerns that on the eve of a national turn to let it rip COVID policies, Berejiklian was too closely identified with the previous approach, which had at least paid lip service to public health measures. And it appears that she was regarded as being too wet for the accompanying austerity agenda demanded by the ruling elite.

The accusations against Berejiklian hinge on her romantic relationship with Daryl Maguire. It began in 2015, when they were Liberal Party colleagues in parliament, and terminated sometime around 2018 when Maguire resigned amid allegations of improper dealings with property developers.

Berejiklians weakness must have been known in political circles and to policing and intelligence agencies for years. It was tolerated, including for the twelve months after she publicly-revealed the relationship in October 2020, so long as she was viewed as a useful representative by the dominant sections of the corporate elite. With a turn in the situation, the relationship was weaponised.

Maguire, like many state parliamentarians, was involved in various dealings with property developers. He was also implicated in a dubious visa scheme. Maguires shady activities, compared with previous grafts that have been revealed in NSW politics, were on a small scale. There is no allegation, moreover, that Berejiklian was even peripherally involved in his allegedly corrupt dealings.

Instead, the findings against her were over her failure to disclose her personal relationship with Maguire to cabinet colleagues, and two funding allocations made by her government. They were a $5.5 million grant for the Australian Clay Target Association to develop a clubhouse and conference facility in Wagga Wagga, and a since scuttled plan to build a recital hall for the Riverina Conservatorium of Music.

As Berejiklian and her supporters have noted, both proposals were approved by the relevant Cabinet authorities, not simply by her personally.

To the extent that there were unstated political motivations behind the spends, they appear to have been Maguires rather fanciful hopes to increase business investment in Wagga Wagga, and the governments concerns that the seat remain in Liberal Party hands. The latter practice, of directing government funds to shore-up control of an electorate, dubbed pork-barrelling, is commonplace in official politics.

When it revealed its investigation of Berejiklian, ICAC and the corporate media also drew attention to a pledge she made to increase funding to Wagga Wagga Base Hospital by as much as $170 million. It appears that issue has been dropped. Lynching a former premier for increasing funding to a public hospital, amid a major crisis of the health sector, may not have been the best look.

In any event, the timing reveals the political character of the move against Berejiklian. With her personal relationship with Maguire having been public knowledge for a year, ICAC only moved against her in October 2021.

The context was an escalating Delta wave of the coronavirus. Berejiklian, having resisted demands for public health measures in response to the surge, had eventually been compelled to institute lockdown measures. While containing a host of pro-business exemptions, and including discriminatory measures against workers and the poor, even these restrictions were viewed as an unacceptable impediment by the ruling elite.

ICACs announcement that it was investigating Berejiklian was always going to compel her to resign.

The result was the installation of former Treasurer Dominic Perrottet as NSW premier. Perrottet, though little known to the public, had established credentials as the most determined free-marketeer in the government. Leaks made clear he had opposed public health measures that impinged on business through most of the pandemic.

Perrottet acceded to the office of premier just in time to preside over a freedom day marking the end of many safety measures, on October 10, 2021.

Over the following weeks, he would collaborate closely with Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews and then Coalition Prime Minister Scott Morrison, to end virtually all health restrictions. That cleared the way for an Omicron tsunami at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, with tens of thousands of deaths after public health measures, imposed under public pressure, had limited illnesses and fatalities during the first two years of the pandemic.

The Murdoch-owned Australian newspaper would later note the serendipity of a figure such as Perrottet coming to office just as the let it rip turn was being made.

Scandals are always a means of effecting such shifts within official politics, dominated as it is by intrigues, corporate interests and the necessity to keep the population in the dark.

The operation against Berejiklian recalls the takedown of former Liberal Premier Barry OFarrell in 2014. He was ousted for failing to declare his receipt of a single bottle of wine, to be replaced by Mike Baird, a figure with close ties to the financial sector, who immediately escalated the governments privatisation agenda.

The political character of scandals is also indicated by those that are not picked up. For instance, in February, it was revealed that Perrottet had worn a Nazi uniform to his own 21st birthday party in 2003. Perrottet claimed he had been completely ignorant of history at the time, despite already being involved in politics.

It would later emerge that Perrottet wore the uniform amid celebrations of advances made by the Uglies faction of the Liberals, with which he was associated. The Uglies had been founded, decades before, by Nazi war criminal Lyenko Urbanchich.

But after a few lame apologies, Perrottet was given a clean bill of political health, not only by the corporate media, but also by the then opposition Labor Party and its leader Chris Minns. The media did not raise the issue once during the March state election, nor did Minns.

The most prominent media outlets, including the Sydney Morning Herald and the Murdoch-owned publications, endorsed Perrottets candidacy on the basis of the pro-business pandemic policies he had enforced against the population.

That program is now being continued and deepened by the Minns Labor government, together with the federal Albanese Labor government and the other state and territory leaders, almost all Labor.

This just underscores the necessity for workers to take a critical and independent position in relation to official scandals. The issue is always to identify and expose the unstated political interests at work as part of the fight to develop the political consciousness and independence of the working class. More generally, workers confront a struggle, not just against this or that corrupt politician, but against capitalism, a social order that subordinates everything to private profit, and all of its defenders.
West coast dockworkers: Tell us what you think about the TA by filling out the form below. All submissions will be kept anonymous.

Incoming container ships line up outside the Port of Los Angeles as they wait for dock space. [AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes]

Two weeks after the Biden administration intervened on the West Coast docks to broker a tentative agreement, in response to a series of job actions conducted by rank-and-file workers in defiance of a union no strike deal, tensions on the ports have not lessened.



Since last July, over 22,000 West Coast dockworkers have continued on the job at 29 ports from Washington state to California without a contract. The West Coast docks are a pivotal chokepoint in the global economic system, with some 40 percent of US imports arriving through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach alone.



Far from taking advantage of this, since last year the International Warehouse and Longshore Union (ILWU) has refused to even hold a strike authorization vote. Instead, ILWU president Willie Adams has released multiple joint statements with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) affirming the bureaucracys commitment to keeping workers on the job.



The ILWU is also deliberately isolating American dockworkers from their brothers and sisters in British Columbia, Canada, who might begin a strike as soon as this Saturday.



In an extended interview with the World Socialist Web Site, Kevin, an A-tier Southern California dockworker (whose name has been changed to protect him from retaliation), agreed that the ILWU was working with the PMA to isolate dockworkers.



This is supposed to be a union of the workers, and its an injury to one is an injury to all. The ILWU need to change that motto to I will screw you 50 ways every time I can as long as I profit. Its clear to see. Its clear to see.



I personally dont mind going on a strike, he said. I dont know how a company can continue to make billions and billions of dollars and then offer the workers, the ones that get you these profits, pennies. Its really frustrating. We just want whats fair and equitable. We want to have a decent living. We want to keep up with the rising cost of everything. We want to have a decent living, and to maintain a decent lifestyle.



The [Tentative Agreement] is still garbage. The powers that be, all the government agencies, to me its just like they are padding their pockets, he added. The way that the [Pacific Maritime Association] is structuring this thing, they want us to starve. But you want us to do this work and provide the labor so that you continue to prosper.



Its frustrating Kevin explained. Are we just supposed to die off, or suffer and keep dealing with poverty? While this guys over here eating high on the hog, wearing suits and ties, hes not out in the field working, hes removed from reality. So it is very frustrating. And again, me personally, I dont have a problem with going on strike. I dont have a problem with a strike, however long it lasts. But the point needs to be made that were just not gonna take this anymore.



So if we got to go on strike, so be it, he concluded.



Asked to comment on claims in the corporate press that A-tier dockworkers regularly make $200,000, or more a year, Kevin replied, No, Im not making $200,000 a year. It would be great. Even if I do make $200,000 a year, then theres taxes on that. Im not getting a tax break. The companies are getting tax breaks.



Its asinine that PMA puts out just BS to try to make the laborers look like the villain, when they have been the villain the whole time. The thing is, the PMA put it out in the media over the last three to four years, the amount of profits they have made. Well, they didnt make anything, because they were not out working on the docks.



You didnt come out there and turn a cone. You didnt come out there and drive a UTR [utility tractor rig]. You didnt come out there and stack containers in the yard or put them on the rail cars or put them up on the ship. So for you to sit there and brag about these billions and profits that you made and they offer me, pennies, I have a major problem with them.



Drawing the connection between between inequality and poverty, and mass shootings in America, Kevin said, Everybody in America is concerned with crime and mass shootings. I dont condone violence, but I understand how somebody can just get so frustrated and go and do something like that. I dont understand how it is, that the powers that be, just sit here and watch everything that we need to survive rise in cost but you dont want to give a decent raise for a person thats out here working. How do they expect him to survive or not get involved in whatever to survive? It makes absolutely no sense to me. To me, its basic modern day slavery.



If I did half of the things that some of the people that are on the news every day are doing, you know, the ones that are wearing neckties in the Senate and the Congress, the ex-president, man, Id be in jail forever until I prove myself innocent. Meanwhile, just because they got money, they can run around and continue to lie. And its a blatant lie.



Donald Trump still walking around free, causing havoc, lock him up, there is no fair justice system. There is no equal justice system. Theres just a system for the rich and then theres just a system for the poor. And the poor is always going to lose.



Kevin explained, I have no problem going to work every day under a fair system. No problem whatsoever, but the current system is slavery.



Its got to be the workers in control of society, Kevin said. We are the majority, and we produce all the wealth.
The Army Tactical Missile System (ATCMS) [AP Photo]

In a script repeated over and over again since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022, the United States is moving to send a new set of weapons to Ukraine that it had previously ruled out.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported, Kyiv had received positive signs in recent weeks that the U.S. had come around on the ATACMS system, a long-range missile system capable of striking deep inside Russian territory.

The ATACMS has a range of over 190 miles and is fired from the HIMARS missile launcher system.

The Journal wrote that Officials said that the matter is pending approval at the highest levels. In other words, the decision to send the weapon system has already been made, and all that is being awaited is the decision on how best to announce the escalation to the public.

In May, US President Joe Biden told journalists that the US was not going to send rocket systems to Ukraine that can strike into Russia, adding, We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders.

In reality, the United States has already provided Ukraine with the ground-launched small-diameter bombs (GLSDB) with a range of 93 miles, while the USs NATO ally Britain has sent Ukraine Storm Shadow missiles, which can reach over 180 miles.

The US has given private authorization for Ukrainian strikes inside mainland Russia and publicly endorsed Ukrainian strikes inside Crimea. Those are legitimate targets, Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said. Ukraine is hitting them. We are supporting that.

The Journal explained that a factor in the expected announcement was the domestic political crisis inside Russia, which US military strategists claim was proof that their efforts to weaken Russia are working. Amid the domestic turmoil in Russia, where over the weekend the founder of the Wagner mercenary force staged an abortive mutiny, US and European officials indicated that now might be the time to provide the more advanced weaponry, the Journal wrote.

An oil depot in a Russian-controlled area in Ukraine after a strike by missiles fired by Ukrainian military forces. [AP Photo/Author not attributed ]

On June 21, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution calling on the White House to send the ATACMS missile system to Ukraine.

The resolution calls on the United States to immediately provide Army Tactical Missile Systems to Ukraine in sufficient quantity to hasten Ukraines victory against Russias unprovoked war of aggression while still maintaining United States military readiness.

The committee draft expresses the belief that the expeditious provision of this critical weapon system will provide the Ukrainian military with a critical deep-strike capability they currently lack, disrupt Russias warfighting ability, and could hasten Ukraines victory.

At the same time, both CNN and Politico report that the United States is moving closer toward announcing a decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, which are notorious for scattering unexploded bomblets that kill civilians for decades afterwards. They are infamous for maiming and killing children who attempt to play with them.

Politico reported, The Biden administration is actively considering sending cluster munitions to Ukraine to help Kyivs counteroffensive punch through Russias defenses, two US officials and a person familiar with the debate said.

CNN reported that a final decision is expected soon from the White House, and that if approved, the weapons could be included in a new military aid package to Ukraine as soon as next month.

These systems violate the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the United States, which has killed thousands of people with cluster munitions in wars all over the world, does not abide by the treaty.

The 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed by more than 100 countries, and Congress has restricted the White Houses ability to transfer cluster bombs to other countries, citing the immense dangers they pose to the civilian population.

In May, Senator Lindsey Graham, who had previously lobbied for the White House to provide HIMARS missiles, Abrams tanks and F-16 fightersall of which were subsequently sentcalled for the US to ship cluster munitions to Ukraine.

The sooner long-range ATACMS missiles and cluster munitions are provided, the more territory they [Ukrainian government forces] will be able to regain, and the fewer lives will be lost, Graham stated.

In a recent hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Laura Cooper, the Pentagons Europe chief, emphasized the value of the munitions, stating that they would be useful, especially against dug-in Russian positions on the battlefield.

As the US moves toward sending more and more escalatory weapons to Ukraine, NATO leaders have made clear that they are seeking to massively intensify their involvement in the conflict at the upcoming July 11-12 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

In a briefing on Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, At the summit, I expect new announcements of military support to Ukraine. We will also have a multi-year program to help Ukraine move towards NATO to be fully interoperable with NATO.

He added, At the NATO Summit, we will address Ukraines membership aspirations. And Im absolutely confident that NATO allies will send a very strong message of support to Ukraine. We also have to remember that all NATO allies agree that NATOs door is open.

At a press briefing the same day, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that we do expect at the NATO summit to see a significant package of support, both political and practical, for Ukraine.

Miller was then asked, point-blank, whether NATO was preparing to put their troops on the ground in Ukraine, to which Miller replied that Biden had said that NATO would not do so. (For the record, Biden had also claimed that the United States would not send tanks and F-16s to Ukraine.)

This question followed the publication in Politico on Wednesday of an article by Ivo Daalder, former US ambassador to NATO, who raised the prospect of deploying US troops to Ukraine.

In case of any deliberate nuclear incident, the US and key NATO allies need to intervene directly and bring the war to a swift and complete end by helping Ukraine restore control over all its territory, he wrote.

The moves by the United States to escalate NATOs involvement in the war with Russia come against the background of the political crisis that erupted in Russia with the attempted coup over the weekend by Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group.

In an article approvingly retweeted by former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, the Daily Beast writes that the US and Ukraine Should Take Advantage of a Weakened Putin.

The Daily Beast concludes, With Russias military position in Ukraine weakened by the loss of Wagners troops there, with the insurrection serving as a blow to Russian morale, and with potential changes atop the Russian command structure (like the rumored arrest of Surovikin), Russia seems more vulnerable than before.

Arguing for the effective abandonment of all remaining restraints on direct US involvement in the war, the article declares, Putins red lines have for the most part been illusory.
The toxic haze produced by wildfires across Canada, which moved into the American Midwest on Tuesday and Wednesday, has begun shifting towards the east. The entire state of Pennsylvania was put on Red alert for Wednesday and Thursday, with slightly better air projected for Friday, when an Orange alert is in effect. There were widespread reports of poor to hazardous air quality in states as far east as New Hampshire, while bad air was spreading as far west as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Haze from Canadian wildfires obscures buildings along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago, Thursday, June 29, 2023 [AP Photo/Erin Hooley]

Some of the worst readings on the Air Quality Index (AQI) Thursday came in Canadian cities, including Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto in Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec. Outdoor sporting activities and concerts have been cancelled or postponed throughout the vast region, both north and south of the US-Canada border, and even outdoor swimming pools have been shut down in the worst-hit areas.

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, by Monday forest fires have burned 29,393 square miles since January 1, more than triple the previous record of 9,187 square miles, set in 1989. There are nearly 500 fires burning, half of them classified as out of control.

Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis were among the worst cities in the world for air quality on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a smoky haze still predominated on Thursday, although the AQI began dropping towards more breathable levels. Public authorities urged a temporary halt to all outdoor activities, with special attention to those with respiratory difficulties and other health conditions.

The widespread impact of the toxic air aggravates two interrelated processesboth of them linked to the global crisis of capitalism. The wildfires are fueled by global warming, both through higher temperatures and the drying out of forest vegetation, making it more susceptible to the spread of fire. The impact of the smoke on both urban and rural areas is drastically worsened by the crisis of public health systems, which collapsed as a result of the onset of COVID-19 and have not been restored, even to the inadequate level that prevailed before the pandemic.

After having the worst recorded air quality on Earth for any large metro region earlier this week, due to the wildfires raging in Canada, the air quality in Chicago, Illinois, continues to chart at unhealthy levels, ranging from the 150-160s in the AQI on Thursday, before dropping into the 80s later Thursday. An unhealthy air quality alert continued throughout the day Thursday after the AQI was above 200 three days running.

Although the air quality was at dangerous levels from 4 p.m. on Monday, no official statement was issued by the city until after 10 a.m. Tuesday morning. Commissioner of Chicago Department of Public Health Dr. Alison Arwady tweeted, Air quality in Chicago is now at an unhealthy level due to wildfire smoke from Canada. Limit your exposure by avoiding strenuous activities and shortening your time outdoors.

No comprehensive indoor air filtration or respirator guidance was issued, let alone minimal intervention made, like distributing N95 respirators to workers outdoors in the Chicago Transit Authority, USPS and other delivery services, construction, parks and infrastructure.

A local UPS delivery driver told the WSWS, I am so pissed right now. I have inhalers but UPS did not give us masks.

On Wednesday evening, when the AQI was well above 200, hundreds gathered at Millennium Park for a free concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. On Tuesday night, a rock concert at the massive outdoor Northerly Island arena went on as planned. Throughout the week residents could be seen commuting unmasked, jogging in groups, touring landmarks and casually dining outdoors, all while putting their cardiopulmonary health at risk.

The lack of timely warning, serious guidance or substantial preparation and support for residents on the part of Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnsons administration provoked an angry response from residents and some activists. Johnson was elected earlier this year as a progressive with the key support of the unions and the pseudo-left Democratic Socialists of America, and has been hailed in the press as bringing a revolutionary approach to politics.

In a recent statement Johnson simply recommended children, teens, and seniors as well as other higher risk individuals avoid strenuous activity and going outside, and asked Chicagoans to consider wearing masks.

Chicago, like many cities with major transportation hubs and heavy industry, already has a serious air pollution problem without the additional heavy smoke from the climate change-driven fires in Canada. Ground level ozone has long been well above the federal EPA recommendation. For decades, children who grow up in Chicago have suffered from higher than average rates of asthma and allergies linked to pollution.



Following the bipartisan abandonment of public health in relation to COVID-19, the environmental health risks of the smoke are being downplayed and presented as something to be dealt with solely on an individual basis, especially for those in poor health. Businesses and schools have remained open, and no measures have been taken to ensure all Chicago residents have access to high-filtration masks, like an N-95. This approach has been repeated through the affected areas of the US, in cities large and small.

The air quality improved on Thursday after a line of thunderstorms swept through Illinois, taking out power for about 30,000 people in the state capital, Springfield. A state of emergency has been declared. However millions of people in a wide swath of the country, from Madison, Wisconsin, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, continued to experience unhealthy air overnight.
MILWAUKEE  A Wisconsin-based gym chain permanently and unexpectedly closed all its locations across the state, effective Thursday night.

According to an email to members from Xperience Fitness, membership will be automatically transferred to a Planet Fitness location.

Membership perks like the "Black Card" amenities will be honored throughout July, the company said in the email, and operations will continue in Minnesota.

The reason for the closure has not been shared, and the company did not immediately respond to questions, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.

Xperience Fitness in Waukesha, along with all other Wisconsin locations, will close permanently effective Thursday night.

In a Facebook post, the company wrote it "was an incredibly difficult decision and we apologize about this unfortunate news."

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Xperience Fitness Wisconsin locations

Xperience Fitness has locations in Greenfield, West Allis, Hales Corners, Brookfield, Waukesha, Green Bay and Appleton.

"It's a bummer," said Eddie Juarez-Perez, a member who often went to the West Allis location to work out. "I upgraded to this gym from Planet Fitness in the summer of 2021 when I started to take my fitness much more seriously," he said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Xperience Fitness closing in Wisconsin; Planet Fitness gets members
Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras speaks to his supporters at Syriza's partys main electoral center in Athens, Sunday, September 20, 2015. [AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis]

In the aftermath of Syrizas debacle in the Greek elections on Sunday, former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ignominiously resigned his position as leader of the party. He declared that the so-called Coalition of the Radical Left is going to have to take difficult and courageous decisions, which are called upon to serve a new vision.

Tsiprass resignation was an acknowledgement of the collapse in support for the party under his leadership, but any new vision will be aimed at providing a face-lift to allow Syriza to continue to serve as a critical instrument of the banks and capitalist ruling elites.

Pseudo-left groups internationally, meanwhile, are engaged in a collective effort to cover over their own criminal role in Syrizas betrayals, the better to prepare for new betrayals in the future.

Typical is an article that appeared in Jacobin magazine, The Greek Left is in Serious Trouble, written by University of Bristol Professor Giorgos Gouzoulis. Jacobin is affiliated with the US Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a faction of the Democratic Party.

Jacobin writes that it seeks to understand how we ended up here in order to offer a convincing progressive policy agenda and a return to power for the Left. What it presents, however, is an exercise in historical falsification.

It is necessary to review this history and how it was analyzed contemporaneously by the International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web Site. Everything Syriza did was foreseeable and foreseen. (See the WSWS exhibit, The Syriza Government in Greece: The Pseudo-Left in Power)

The first lie, upon which everything else is based, is that somehow Syriza in government represented power for the Left. When Syriza was elected in January 2015, it was presented by Jacobin, the DSA and their co-thinkers throughout the world as a sea change in European and world politics. Syrizas electoral triumph has brought hope to the European radical left and workers movement, offering it an immense opportunity, Jacobin wrote on January 26, 2015, the day after Syrizas election.

It was absolutely clear, however, to anyone that based their assessment on a Marxist analysis of political tendencies and the class interests that they represent, or even read what Tsipras was saying, what Syriza was and would do. Whatever its radical left rhetoric, it was a bourgeois party, resting on privileged layers of the middle class, which would implement the demands of the banks.

On January 5, 2015, three weeks before the election, in an article examining Syrizas electoral program, the WSWS wrote, The ruling class know with whom they are dealing and that they have nothing to fear from Syriza.

On January 26, 2015, the day after the election, as Jacobin was proclaiming the hope for the radical left, the WSWS wrote: The electoral repudiation of the Greek capitalist classs traditional parties of rule, PASOK and ND, reflects mass outrage with austerity dictated by the banks. However, Syriza is a bourgeois party that is committed to the EU, the euro and the defense of capitalism.

According to the narrative of Gouzoulis, After forming a coalition government on January 2015, the Syriza-led administration attempted to convince EU institutions, powerful lobbies, and the political leaders of the EU North that a progressive alternative policy agenda is possible. But these aspirations were crushed after six months of negotiations.

In fact, Syriza, its prime minister, Tsipras, and his Sancho Panza, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, from day one began repudiating all of its electoral promises. This started with the formation of its government. Jacobin refers to a coalition government, but politely declines to name with whom the coalition was formed: the Independent Greeks (Anel), a right-wing xenophobic split-off from New Democracy (ND).

As the WSWS wrote, the decision to join forces with Anel, which was entirely at Syrizas discretion, was aimed at creating the best conditions for shifting its policy to the right, while signaling to the Greek and international bourgeoisie that its new government is no threat to their fundamental interests.

Rather than seeking to mobilize the working class in Greece and Europe, Syriza advanced a bankrupt policy of begging the EU to give it a few crumbs. Varoufakis played the lead role in kissing the behinds of the finance ministers in every European capital.

Less than a month after taking office, Syriza signed an agreement with the Eurogroup pledging that it would refrain from any rollback of austerity measures under the existing and hated EU-backed Memorandum, and would honor [Greeces] financial obligations to all their creditors fully and in a timely manner. That is, Syriza pledged to loyally implement the demands of the European banks, which it had said it would oppose.

While Jacobin lied at the time, claiming that Syriza Holds its Ground, the WSWS wrote, Even in the entire history of left petty-bourgeois politics, it is difficult to find an example of deceit, cynicism and truly disgusting cowardice that quite matches that of Prime Minister Tsipras.

Syriza and Tsipras then sought to compel workers to accept their agreement with European finance capital, with force if necessary, as evident in the deployment of police against protesting students in April.

This culminated in the fraudulent referendum on new austerity measures in July of 2015, which Jacobin now describes as the last act of Syrizas attempt to change the direction of economic policies within the Eurozone. At the time, it published in full Tsiprass lying speech announcing the referendum.

Syriza organized the referendum fully convinced that its effort to demoralize workers and smother opposition would produce a yes vote that would provide cover for implementing the demands of the banks, or even allow Tsipras to resign and hand over power to ND. In the event of a no vote, Tsipras made clear in advance that he would continue to negotiate with the EU on austerity measures regardless. Were Tsipras to concisely explain to working people the content of the referendum, the WSWS explained before the vote, he could say: heads the EU wins, tails you lose.

When the population voted overwhelmingly against austerity, Syriza worked to ram a massive new austerity bailout through parliament that had been explicitly repudiated. It was at that time that Varoufakis, the consummate opportunist, resigned as finance minister, sensing that he might have better opportunities for personal and political advancement by distancing himself from Tsipras.

In September 2015, Syriza narrowly won reelection against ND amid mass abstention. Syriza and Tsipras remained in power for the next four years, before being defeated in elections in 2019.

Jacobin treats, as briefly as possible, Syrizas time at the head of government after 2015. According to Gouzoulis, this period was characterized by limited social policies that protected poorer households, but within the overall framework of an economic policy focused primarily on maintaining budget surpluses and servicing public debt payments, which particularly hurt the poorer segments of Greek society.

In fact, the Syriza government, having suppressed and crushed organized opposition to austerity in 2015, brutally and systematically implemented the demands of European finance capital and the Greek ruling class. Perhaps most notoriously, it served as the front line of the EUs ever more horrific Fortress Europe policy against refugees, including the establishment of what amounts to concentration camps overseen by the Greek police. At the same time, it fully supported NATO and the policies of US and European imperialism.

The Syriza government oversaw the extreme growth of social inequality and the impoverishment of masses of Greek workers and youth, with disastrous consequences. Jacobin refers to the train crash that killed 57 people in the final months of the last ND government, citing the impact of disinvestment in public infrastructure and the privatization of the railways. It neglects to mention that much of this happened under Syriza, including the selling off of Greeces state railway, TrainOSE.

The outcome of this whole process has been, as the WSWS warned, to strengthen the political right. All those organizations that promoted and covered up for Syriza played their role, some out of stupidity, but generally with a conscious understanding and abiding hostility to the working class.

When the WSWS uses the term pseudo-left, emphasis should be placed on pseudo. There is nothing left about these organizations. They use the term socialist for one purpose only: to block the turn of the working class to genuine socialist politics. In terms of the class interests that they represent, it is privileged sections of the upper-middle class, whose wealth and outlook are tied to imperialism and Wall Street.

Having falsified the real history and lessons of Syriza in Greece, Jacobin makes clear that it intends to do everything it can to organize new betrayals. Fighting austerity and privatization and defending democracy will be very difficult tasks in the Greek parliament for the next four years, Gouzoulis concludes his article. It is necessary, he writes, to rebuild... left-wing social movements and political organization leading to the creation of new genuinely radical political alliances.

Whatever organization the various remnants and split-offs from Syriza cobble together, it will be no more radical than Syriza itself. Its aim will be to create a new trap for workers and youth seeking a way to oppose inequality and austerity.

The DSA and Jacobin cover up and support Syriza because, if anything, their own policies would be to the right of those of Syriza during its time in power from 2015 to 2019. This is not a matter of speculation. DSA members voted to illegalize a rail strike last year, and the DSA wholeheartedly supports the US-NATO war against Russia over Ukraine.

Corbyn in the UK, Sanders in the US, the Left Party in Germany, Melenchon in France and innumerable variants throughout the world are factions of the political establishment, promoted and supported by organizations that represent not the working class, but the privileged upper-middle class. Their pro-capitalist policies are not a mistake, but the product of the social forces that they represent. As with Syriza, they serve only to strengthen the political right.

There is a growing mass movement of workers and young people throughout the world, the product of extreme levels of social inequality, the consequences of escalating imperialist wars, the growth of fascism and dictatorship, the impact of the pandemic, and all the manifestations of capitalist crisis.

The development of a genuine socialist movement in the working class, however, is not an automatic process. It requires the building of a Trotskyist party, whose cadre are educated on the basis of the lessons of history. A central element of this education is training workers and youth to expose and oppose, relentlessly and without compromise, the pseudo-left. This is the real lesson from the experience of Syriza in Greece.
Wednesday night a fire broke out at the Alliance Interiors plant in Lansing, Michigan. According to workers the machine that caught fire ran loose fiber that had built up over time under the oven. Since it had not been cleaned, the fiber caught fire. For over a week management ignored warnings of the possibility of a fire. According to many workers that contacted the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter the fire began sometime before 10pm. By morning the next shift was back at work. As of this writing no injuries have been reported.

We were back up by [day shift], a production worker said. In my point of view, they are pushing too much at one time. Parts are down and the machines are not getting R&R where they should be. They just put a band-aid on it. Maintenance [workers] would be happy to fix it, instead of running it. I agree that [GM] is pushing production over health and safety. The supervisors say, its running good, while were behind. If we had our own team, we would run efficiently.

The worker reported high turnover due to the conditions in the plant. people dont last after two days, he noted.

Just two months ago the plant saw the death of a young worker, Pablo Herrera Jr., who was killed on the job. Workers blamed faulty machinery.

Pablo Herrera [Photo: Herrera family]

Workers from GM Lansing took to social media in support of their brothers and sisters at Alliance, which produces acoustic parts and floor covers for General Motors Lansing Delta Assembly Plant. I have a friend that works first shift there and she said they are working right now. Not sure how, that fire looked really bad.

Other workers described the direct link with parts plants and the assembly plants. We didnt run until after first break today because of it. Another worker stated, Im sure there is some pressure from GM for them to work regardless of the health and safety of their workers! They had body running a little two hours after a fire, they want their parts, they dont care about health and safety!

A supporter of the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter from the Lansing area witnessed the fire. I received a text before 10pm last night about the fire and got to the plant at 10:15pm. There were a lot of fire trucks, they would use one hydrant then move to another. I saw the supervisors talking around 11:30pm, calling for a headcount. They called a headcount at 11:30! That is at least an hour and half after I got there, meanwhile the fire is still going.

One worker said it was his sixth day there and he didnt know how to get out of the building. On day one the company is supposed to show you that. People said they barely heard the alarm or were told to ignore it since the company messes with the alarms regularly.

They [management] dont know who the workers are, they called me over as part of the headcount. Then they had temps gathering people. They took over an hour and a half to gather people, someone else could have died. Many of us stayed well after 12:30 am and workers were still coming out of the parking lot. None of the doors were closed off, but were wide open with smoke and people coming out of the building. I was shocked by this headcount. One worker said the supervisors were nervous when they came in for third shift. Now I hear they are up and running with a big hole in the ceiling; doesnt make it safe.

As of this writing no news source, union official, national or local, has made any statement on the fire. Nor has any official statement been issued on the death of Pablo Herrera Jr. in April. Herrera was killed after being caught between a conveyor and a vacuum forming mold

In contrast, residents in the area posted videos and comments against the criminality of the company in the death of the young worker. One person stated, Trying not to pay the people they should be paying! Justice for Pablo Herrera Jr. They need to shut it down.

While millions throughout the Midwest and East Coast were under air quality alerts due to the wildfires raging across Canada, workers were told to continue working despite the serious health risks. Workers from GM Flint and Ford Dearborn Truck reported being smothered in smoke and many were having asthma attacks with their eyes burning from the smoke. In Lansing alone, the air quality index exceeded 213 and is regularly above 110.

A GM Lansing Delta Assembly worker reported the building air being hazy from smoke throughout the week. As with the failure to protect workers against hazardous air quality, the fire at Alliance directly points more broadly to the indifference of the ruling class and their toadies in the union bureaucracy towards workers lives.

Predictably the response by newly elected UAW president Shawn Fain to the fire at Alliance Interiors and the smoke emergency has been silence. This follows the UAW bureaucracys betrayal of the Clarios battery workers 40-day strike in Holland, Ohio. Fain falsely claimed the workers won massive gains, when in fact the contract was the same pro-company deal that workers twice previously had voted down. Like workers at Clarios, Alliance workers face mandated 8-to-12-hour shifts, 7 days a week.

After the death of the Pablo Herrera Jr., the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter called upon Alliance Interiors workers and auto parts worker in the surrounding area to build rank-and-file committees at each plant and workplace, as part of the network of autoworkers rank-and-file committees. In the wake of the recent fires the demands raised in relation to Herreras death should be restated:

 A full investigation of Pablo Herreras death, led by trusted rank and file workers. No confidence should be placed in the UAW bureaucracy, management or MIOSHA, which hands out minimal fines while the companies continue to profit as workers lives are cut short.

 No worker should be ordered to work in unsafe conditions. All unsafe conditions should be communicated across the shop floor, and the line should be stopped until resolved.

 An end to 7-day mandates and extended 8- to 12-hour shifts

 Full training and job security for workers, and hiring and firing only conducted by the supervision of the rank and file.

Alliance workers have to connect to their brothers and sisters at GM Lansing and GM Flint and workers internationally. GM workers, like workers at Alliance, are up against not only management with the contract expiration this fall, but also the UAW bureaucracy and the Biden administration in their fight against job and wage cuts, destruction of social conditions and the drive to war.
Are you an autoworker? We want to hear from you: Fill out the form at the end to tell us what your working conditions are like. For more information about joining the Warren Truck Rank-and-File Committee, call or text 248-919-8448.

Warren Truck workers

Stellantis workers at two Detroit-area auto plants are voicing outrage over managements decision to force the facilities onto mandatory seven-day work schedules with up to 12-hour shifts each day. The highly provocative move is viewed as part of the companys preparations for a potential strike in September when the national auto contracts expire.

Formal contract talks are due to open July 13. The UAW usually designates a target company ahead of the contract expiration date. In 2015 Fiat-Chrysler, which merged with the PSA Group in 2021 to become Stellantis, was the designated target.

Last week, Stellantis announced that it was placing the Warren Truck Assembly Plant (WTAP) and the Jefferson North plant, the latter part of the Detroit Manufacturing Complex, into critical status for 90 days from July 5 through October 2. Under terms of the 2019 national contract agreed to by the UAW, this allows seven-day operation of plants for 90 days, lifts restrictions on forced overtime and limits the use of vacation and personal absence days.

In a statement, Stellantis said it was ramping up production due to high demand for the Wagoneer, Grand Wagoneer and Jeep Grand Cherokee. Stellantis said that it was short 17,871 units of the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer models.

Workers widely see the imposition of a seven-day schedule as an attempt by the company to stockpile inventory in anticipation of a strike as well as a means of intimidation. Notably, the United Auto Workers leadership has said nothing about Stellantis invocation of critical status despite all of its fake militant rhetoric.

Adding to workers anger, Stellantis laid off the third shift at Warren Truck last year. The company also closed the Belvidere Assembly Plant in February, which built the Jeep Cherokee. In both cases the UAW did nothing to oppose the job cuts. A number of the laid off Belvidere workers have now taken transfers to Warren Truck and other Detroit-area plants.

A report published by the Reuters news agency Wednesday noted the mounting anger among autoworkers over the announcement of critical status. It cited a statement issued last week by the Warren Truck Rank-and-File Committee opposing the seven-day schedule that stated, The company executives are doing this to build up inventory ahead of a potential strike. They are trying to intimidate us because we will not accept another sellout contract from the United Auto Workers.

A worker at Jefferson North confirmed that the plant would be going on seven-day operation after the July 4 holiday. I dont think we should do this; it will wear people out, the worker commented. Workers also report that nonunion contractors have been hired to install missing parts.

At the same time that the company will be imposing mandatory overtime, workers report that many vehicles are sitting in storage for lack of components. The Jefferson worker added, The suppliers wont be able to keep up. As it is now we are often sent home because of lack of parts. It is a crazy world.

Apparently anticipating a high rate of absenteeism due to the grueling work schedule, Stellantis has recently begun hiring large numbers of temporary part-time (TPT) workers, or supplementals. In some cases these new hires have been given 40-hour work schedules, passing over more senior workers, who have been limited to two days.

A young TPT worker and member of the Warren Truck Rank-and-File Committee the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, It doesnt matter what the contract says, we have 1,500 TPTs per shift. They just brought in two new groups of TPTs.

They can force TPTs to work 12 hours. Technically it is 12 and a half hours because there is an unpaid 30-minute lunch. We will probably be forced to work 12 hours, seven days a week.

If we are overworked and tired that may create dangerous conditions. We work with machinery. But, do you think they care? They can just get rid of us no matter how hard we work.

Is our physical well-being worth a little bigger paycheck when most of that extra money will go to taxes?

The UAW granted auto companies the right to arbitrarily abolish limits on work time through critical status in language secretly inserted into the 2019 contract. The fact that the UAW bureaucracy would agree to such abusive conditions is a further demonstration that this organization has nothing to do with workers interests and that workers can place no confidence in it. It underscores the need for workers to build and expand the network of rank-and-file committees in advance of the contract expiration.

The Warren Truck worker said, Management and the UAW use a lot of fear-mongering. They make you feel that if you make the wrong move you will be out the door. The UAW reps are MIA all day.

People dont realize how much wealth this plant accumulates, while we are settling for bread crumbs. I dont think workers realize the power we have.

The tiers are used to separate us. They want it to stay like that, the UAW doesnt want it to change.

Another member of the Warren Truck Rank-and-File Committee said, Currently TPTs can be moved down to 2 days a week to transfer people in and out of the plant to make sure all temps are trained on full time jobs to help cover absenteeism during the critical status.

Most UAW stewards are buddy, buddy with supervisors and other management, making members feel like they are not being represented as we should. There are times when we will go most of the week without seeing our UAW reps on the floor.

When issues are brought to the unions attention such as harassment or conflict with fellow workers or supervisors, instead of getting to the issues and resolving them the union will move members to other departments regardless if they want it or not.

Pointing to the recent unhealthy air quality in the Detroit area due to the Canadian wildfires, he added, With air quality issues, we are still being forced to work as smoke from outside fills the plant.

Everybodys pissed about this critical status

Im a TPT so I dont get paid as much as the full-time people, a worker at the Detroit Assembly Complex  Jefferson plant said. To maintain my livelihood that I had before I worked at Stellantis, I have to work two jobs. Its hard and Im lucky my other job is a little more understanding about my scheduling. I try to work both my jobs on the same day no more than three days a week. I still have to get some sleep in somewhere.

Ive only ever worked 10-hour shifts, so its going to be something new when we go back to 12 hours. I dont know how thats going to play out.

Everybodys pissed about this critical status. Im scared. I am going to try to hang in there as long as I can but you know, as a TPT, Im mandated. I have to be at work regardless, no matter what. If my mama dies, I still have to be there. So its really hard and Stellantis doesnt care about any of that.

We all want to know, why is the union allowing this to go down like this? They sure do get our dues money every month. They make us TPTs feel like were just hired help. Im a TPT so the union dont really talk to me. I dont really know whats going on most of the time. I pay dues, but the UAW dont really talk to us TPTs like that.

I was told we couldnt even really vote in the last vote we had on the president. A bunch of us TPTs got mad, like, why are we even going to go cast a vote for anything if we can only vote for certain people? It was just going around the plant that TPTs couldnt vote.

What I keep hearing about the contract is that we possibly might strike but I dont know whats on the agenda. What are they trying to reconcile, what are they trying to put new on the contract? The UAW dont really discuss a lot of that stuff with us.

A lot of the old heads [legacy workers] tell me that the tier system didnt even used to exist. Were doing the same jobs, so we should be making the same amount of money. Thats what we all feel.

The UAW is allowing us to be mistreated in so many ways

A worker at the Stellantis parts distribution center in Centerline outside Detroit said she and her co-workers were outraged to hear that plants were being put on critical status. She said she had been moved after reading the statement by the Warren Truck Rank-and-File Committee.

That article hit home, she said. It said what everyone is feeling.

I want to support the fight. This is not right. Twelve hours doesnt leave any time for your family. They can force you to work 30 days straight with only one day off, that is awful. They should never have allowed it in the contract.

She spoke about conditions at her workplace. In March the company made an announcement that we couldnt use our PA [personal absence] days until further notice. They are not respecting seniority with respect to jobs. The union tells us seniority doesnt matter.

The company is just using the union to keep control over us. The power is in the people. To force us to work all these hours isnt reasonable.

If the UAW wont even fight for PA days why should we believe they will fight for anything in the national contract?

She said that many workers had come to the parts center from the Belvidere plant in Illinois.

The UAW is allowing us to be mistreated in so many ways. Workers had to move to Texas, Michigan, Florida when Belvidere closed. Some couldnt relocate and lost their jobs. To be uprooted and then to be treated like you are not appreciated is awful. But they are getting away with it.

Are you an autoworker? We want to hear from you: Fill out the form below to tell us what your working conditions are like. For more information about joining the Warren Truck Rank-and-File Committee, call or text 248-919-8448.
Are you a striking Wabtec worker or work in the railroad manufacturing industry? Tell us what you think about the conditions at Wabtec or the factory where you work by filling out the form at the bottom of this article. All submissions will be kept anonymous.

Now in the second week of their strike, workers on the picket line outside Wabtecs Erie, Pennsylvania plant expressed outrage against the multi-billion dollar manufacturer of locomotives and other equipment for the railroad industry in comments to World Socialist Web Site reporters.

The company is greedy, it is all about profits for them. They don't care about the workers, yet we are the ones who make them their money, said one worker with 20 years of service who asked that his name not be used.

Scores of workers were present on the picket line as the company brought in scabs in an attempt to resume production and break the strike. Many of the scabs had been hired on in the weeks and months before the strike and allowed to work in the plant alongside now-striking workers as contractors.

Picket line at Wabtec Erie, Pennsylvania June 29, 2023

The 1,400 workers voted last week overwhelmingly to strike, rejecting Wabtecs final offer of massive concessions, including cuts to healthcare, and continuing the hated two-tier wage system, which has young workers making just $21 an hour and taking 10 years to reach top pay.

Yesterday, over 1,400 workers at Hamilton, Ontario railcar manufacturer National Steel Car (NSC) launched a strike at 12:01 a.m. after voting to reject the companys provocative best and final offer. With an 80 percent turnout, 52 percent of workers voted No. In so doing, they defied not only company management, but the United Steelworkers union (USW) bureaucracy, which has done everything in its power to block a strike and divide and demoralize the rank and file.

Wabtec workers told the WSWS that they were fighting for basic issues including healthcare, wages, abolishing a two-tier system, pension, vacation. Workers at the plant have not had a pay raise in nine years.

Especially hated was a point system used to discipline workers and the lack of an effective grievance process.

When you complain about something, all they say is file a grievance. They know it will go nowhere, one said. The worker explained that the company instituted a point system in which workers can get put on points for anything: If your wife gets taken to the hospital, they put you on points. If you are in a crash on the way to work, and can prove it, they point you. They are firing people left and right.

The main issues are the blatant disrespect for the contract; they are not going by the contract. They are firing people at will, said Frank, who has worked at the Erie plant for 35 years. The grievance process is broke.

Franks coworker Dale agreed. He described how one of their co-workers was unjustly fired and forced move to West Virginia after selling her home and everything she owned.

Frank and William, striking Wabtec workers

It took a year, Dale said. Finally they brought in an arbitrator and the company said it was a mistake. She sold everything she had and moved to West Virginia because she didnt have a job. What is someone supposed to do for a whole year, because you made a mistake? It just isnt right.

Dale was also against the two-tier wage system. The newer workers coming in have a 10-year progression to make what we make. It is a joke. In 10 years, what is our top wage going to be then? The way the economy is going, top wage is going to be minimum wage.

William, who has worked at the plant for 20 years, agreed. He was angry about the way that new hires are being treated compared to the contractors, who have been hired to take their jobs.

The new hires, they have them coming in at $21 an hour, said William. The new hires, William went on, are on a 10-year progression. Then they have these contractors coming in, right under our noses and paying them $34 an hour plus $100 a day per diem for a hotel. It is just terrible.

It is creating a hostile work environment. This company doesnt care about the working people here. We are family people, we are not bugs.

Striking Wabtec workers

The company has also attacked healthcare and pension benefits. Workers at the Erie plant manufacture locomotives for freight trains. They were part of General Electric until 2019, when Wabtec bought the GE Transportation division in an $11 billion cash and stock swap deal.

At that time, workers launched a powerful strike after Wabtec imposed the terms of a new contract that included a two-tier wage structure, the ability of management to hire temporary workers, with no rights, for up to 25 percent of the jobs.

The United Electrical workers called off the strike after nine days, after it reached a 90-day temporary contract with Wabtec that included most of the companys draconian demands.

The final deal included many of the demands that workers are fighting against now, including the elimination of pensions and cuts to healthcare.

The deductibles are outrageous, William said. You can actually go $10,000 in debt with the deductibles if you get sick. You have to get gap insurance to cover your family, who can afford that? Ten grand.

Dale agreed. Now they are coming after our healthcare, they can raise our healthcare at any time. They are raising our out-of-pocket expenses through the roof. It just isnt right.

Meanwhile, they have record profits every quarter, but we make too much money, it just isnt right.

According to its website, Wabtec has about 27,000 employees at roughly 50 plants operating in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia and South America.

Wabtec was formed in 1999 from a merger of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company and MotivePower Industries. Westinghouse Air Brake itself dates back to 1869. Since the financial crash of 2008, Wabtec has been going on a buying spree funded by Wall Street investors, acquiring many plants and companies involved in manufacturing for rail transportation.

The railroad freight transportation industry as a whole has become one of the most profitable sectors of the economy. This is not because of new innovations, but because of vicious assaults on the workforce: cutting crews and maintenance, and demanding long hours.

Wabtec is doing the same to the manufacturing side of the railroad business.

Last year, rail maintenance workers in the UK struck a Wabtec rail maintenance facility in Doncaster against real terms wage cuts and a reactionary fire and hire scheme.

Striking Wabtec workers on June 29, 2023

The United Electrical workers has promoted an image as a more progressive union, in contrast to more openly right-wing and corrupt unions such as the United Auto Workers, Steelworkers and Teamsters.

UE officials often share platforms with many Democrats who are labeled progressives and even socialists, but the UE is committed to the same policy of corporatist labor-management cooperation as other, larger, US unions.

It was the UEs decision to end the 2019 strike and push through a contract with many of the concessions that workers are fighting against today. In 2019, Bernie Sanders endorsed the UE betrayal of the strike, falsely calling it a victory for workers everywhere.

The UE is seeking to do the same in the current strike. While workers are fighting for ending the two-tier wage system, for full healthcare, pensions, and a substantial wage increase, the UE has reframed the strike as one to bring green jobs into Erie.

On its website the UE writes:

The 1400 members of UE Locals 506 and 618 who build locomotives for Wabtec in Erie, PA are striking for green jobs. The two locals are working hard to bring new work into the plant through the Green Locomotive Project.

Instead of working with the union to create good jobs building green locomotives, the company is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on stock buybacks, mergers & acquisitions.

Wabtec itself has announced some massive contracts to build electric locomotives and ones that can run on biodiesel. In seeking to reframe the strike as a Green Locomotive Project and ignoring the demands for better wages, benefits and working conditions, the UE is making clear to Wabtec that they can be a trusted partner and will continue their role of pushing through concessions in the interests of management.

Are you a striking Wabtec worker or work in the railroad manufacturing industry? Tell us what you think about the conditions at Wabtec or the factory where you work by filling out the form at the bottom of this article. All submissions will be kept anonymous.
Will Lehman

In a cynical and politically motivated decision, the US Department of Labors Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) on Thursday rejected the election complaint filed by Will Lehman, a rank-and-file worker at Mack Trucks and 2022 candidate for president of the United Auto Workers. Lehmans complaint had charged the UAW bureaucracy with widespread and deliberate voter suppression in the unions national elections last year.

While not surprising, the move by the Biden administrations Department of Labor (DOL) to ignore all the evidence compiled by Lehman and other rank-and-file workers of systematic disenfranchisement further underscores the complete illegitimacy and anti-democratic character of the UAW elections.

In a letter dated June 29, 2023 to Lehman, which he shared with the WSWS, Tracy L. Shanker, the DOLs chief of the Division of Enforcement, denied his complaint without explanation or addressing any of the evidence it presented, claiming that a statement setting forth the basis for this decision will be mailed to you at a future date.

The letter in its entirety reads:

Dear Mr. Lehman: Your complaint to the Department of Labor protesting the December 2, 2022 election of officers in United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers (UAW) in Detroit, Michigan has been investigated pursuant to Sections 402 and 601 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. Following a review of the investigative findings by this office and the Office of the Solicitor, Division of Civil Rights and Labor-Management, a decision has been made that those findings do not provide a basis for action for the Department to set aside the protested election. A statement of reasons setting forth the basis for this decision will be mailed to you at a future date. Sincerely, Tracy L. Shanker Chief, Division of Enforcement

Lehmans December 2, 2022, protest over the UAW elections, filed with the court-appointed UAW monitor, extensively documented the ways in which the union bureaucracy worked to keep rank-and-file UAW members in the dark about the elections and suppress turnout. Untold numbers of workers were never provided notice of the first-ever direct national elections in the UAWs history, resulting in an abysmally low turnout in the first round of just 9 percent. In some large locals, particularly of academic workers on the West Coast, turnout was less than 1 percent.

The UAW apparatus refused to take measures to update its Local Union Information System (LUIS) database with workers current addresses, Lehmans protest had shown, leading many workers to never receive ballots. In fact, a larger number of ballots were returned due to bad addresses than were cast in the first round of the elections.

Commenting at the time on a lawsuit that Lehman had filed in November, David Lawson, federal judge for the Eastern District of Michigan, had acknowledged that turnout was anemic and remarkably low, and that the LUIS database kind of cut out the membership. Nevertheless, Lawson sided with the UAW apparatus, the monitor, and the DOLall of whom lined up against Lehmans demand to extend the election deadlines and take serious measures to inform all UAW members of the elections.

On March 19, the UAW monitorwhich admitted it did nothing to ensure that the UAW apparatus was updating the LUIS systemdenied Lehmans protest, relying for its decision almost entirely on an unsigned document submitted by the UAWs leadership. However, the attempt by the UAW apparatus to brush aside Lehmans evidence of voter suppression was swiftly undermined by the admissions of incumbent UAW President Ray Curry, who acknowledged (for his own electoral reasons) that there was rampant disenfranchisement of UAW voters in the election.

On March 29, Lehman appealed the monitors decision.

In his complaint to the DOL, Lehman had demanded that the UAW elections be re-run with all the names of all the candidates from the first round appearing on the ballot. In addition, Lehman had called for the removal of the corporate law firms which comprise the UAW monitorJenner & Block and Crowell & Moringbased on the blatant conflicts of interest which had been uncovered. Both firms have long served as legal representatives for major corporations in the auto industry, including General Motors and other companies who have contracts with the UAW.

Less than two weeks ago, Judge Lawson issued a ruling publicly rebuking the UAW monitor for withholding the details of the election protests in its status report filed with the court. Lawson ordered the monitor to release the details and status of the protests it had received, which the monitor has yet to do.

The decision by the Department of Labor is a transparent effort by the Biden administration to prop up the UAW apparatus and the administration of UAW President Shawn Fain, who received the votes of just 3 percent of the UAWs more than one million rank-and-file active and retired members. The White House hopes to grant some appearance of legitimacy to the fraudulent UAW elections. The Democratic Party is particularly anxious to shore up the stability of the UAW apparatus heading into the September 14 contract expirations for 150,000 Ford, GM and Stellantis autoworkers.

The UAWs so-called direct electionswhich the unions entrenched bureaucracy had opposedonly came about following the emergence of a rampant corruption scandal, which sent roughly a dozen top union officials, including two former presidents, to prison for accepting corporate bribes or embezzling workers dues. Despite the attempts to present the UAW as cleaned up, a memo from Fain recently cited by the Detroit News indicated that there are ongoing federal investigations of UAW officials.

The silence of Fain and the Unite All Workers For Democracy (UAWD) caucuswhich is backed by the pseudo-left Democratic Socialists of Americaon the evidence of voter suppression explodes their pretensions to be reforming the UAW and implementing democracy and transparency.

In reality, the UAW bureaucracy, the White House, the courts and all the institutions of the capitalist state have nothing but contempt for the democratic rights of workers.

Lehman, a socialist, was the only candidate running for UAW president on a program to abolish the pro-corporate union apparatus, put power in the hands of the rank and file, and unite workers around a common international strategy.

This is a bogus decision which deprives hundreds of thousands of rank-and-file UAW members of the right to participate in a meaningful union election, Lehman told the WSWS Thursday. For politically motivated and illegitimate reasons, the DOL ignored all the evidence that the UAW bureaucracy deliberately worked to suppress turnout and keep workers in the dark about the elections.

As they did when they banned a strike by rail workers and imposed a contract that workers had been voting against last year, Biden and the Department of Labor have again demonstrated that the state is an instrument of class rule, and that union democracy is a fiction.

But whatever they think, this decision will not end the crisis gripping the UAW apparatus. The states blessing of the UAW elections will only make them more illegitimate in workers eyes.

This decision only underscores the need to abolish the apparatus and put power and decision-making in the hands of workers on the shop floor. To my fellow workers: if you want to fight for workers power and our common interests, join or form a rank-and-file committee at your plant, get involved with the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees, and become a part of this movement.
Yandex makes changes to financial team ahead of corporate restructuring

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the headquarters of technology company Yandex in Moscow

(Reuters) - Internet company Yandex on Friday said it was making changes to its financial team in preparation for a potential corporate restructuring that should see it divest ownership and control of core, Russia-based businesses.

Sources told Reuters last month that shareholders in Yandex's holding company, many of whom are Western investment funds, could be in line to make $7 billion from a full divestment of its Russian businesses.

Svetlana Demyashkevich, CFO of Yandex's Dutch-registered holding company, Yandex NV will transition to the role of Senior Vice President of Finance, Yandex said.

"In this capacity (Demyashkevich) will advise the board on financial matters and report directly to the Chairman John Boynton," Yandex said in a statement.

Alexander Balakhnin, head of Strategy of Yandex's e-commerce, mobility and delivery business, would be appointed as the group's new CFO.

Yandex said the changes were effective from Aug. 1.

Yandex NV hopes to sell the main revenue-generating businesses inside Russia and develop four newer units, self-driving technologies, cloud computing, data labelling and educational technology independently, internationally.

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow, Editing by Louise Heavens)
The Tang West Market Group cultural & artworks Metaverse project represents a significant innovation practice by Tang West Market Group, China Mobile, and ZTE Corporation in leveraging 5G to empower digital culture and establish sustainable economic models

By constructing a cultural & artwork Metaverse platform and a transaction platform, this initiative propels Tang West Market Group towards the expansion from traditional cultural industries to the realm of digital culture

SHANGHAI, June 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), a leading global provider of information and communication technology solutions, has announced the success of the Tang West Market Group cultural & artworks Metaverse project. Created through a collaborative effort between ZTE Corporation, Tang West Market Group, China Mobile Communications Group Shaanxi Co. Ltd., China Mobile Cloud, Hainan International Culture and Artworks Exchange, and the Non State Museums Committee of the Chinese Museums Association, the project has been honored with the prestigious 5G Industry Challenge Award at the GSMA 2023 Asia Mobile Awards (AMO) held during the MWC Shanghai.

ZTE helps Tang West Market Group win prestigious 5G Industry Challenge Award at the GSMA Asia Mobile Awards

The GSMA Asia Mobile Awards (AMO), established in 2006, represent a highly esteemed accolade within the Asian telecommunications industry. The 5G Industry Challenge Award aims to honor those who exemplify sustainable economic models and showcase the transformative power of 5G in revolutionizing industries, thereby contributing to a brighter future.

Drawing on the refined cultural industry chain of Tang West Market Group and the extensive experience of China Mobile Shaanxi Branch and ZTE Corporation in the realms of 5G+XR and video, Tang West Market Group, in collaboration with its partners, is spearheading the exploration of cultural digital innovation. They are dedicated to crafting the Tang West Market Group cultural & artwork Metaverse, a visionary endeavor that seeks to forge new paradigms, chart uncharted territories, and achieve groundbreaking advancements in the development of unique cultural industries.

By constructing a cultural & artwork Metaverse platform and a transaction platform, this initiative propels Tang West Market Group towards the expansion from traditional cultural industries to the realm of digital culture. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies including 5G, XR, video, cloud computing, and vSTB, the project establishes a digital infrastructure for showcasing and interacting with digital artifacts and cultural artworks, known as "Art Realm". Furthermore, leveraging the prowess of 5G, blockchain, and cloud computing, an art trading platform is created, facilitating the online exhibition and transaction of cultural artworks. Leveraging the resources of Hainan International Culture and Artworks Exchange, this endeavor materializes the tangible presentation and circulation of digital cultural assets.

The Tang West Market Group cultural & artworks Metaverse project represents a significant innovation practice by Tang West Market Group, China Mobile, and ZTE Corporation in leveraging 5G to empower digital culture and establish sustainable economic models.

Moving forward, ZTE Corporation will continue to collaborate with its ecosystem partners to drive exploration in the field of 5G+XR for cultural digitalization. Through the fusion of "technology + culture", they aim to introduce more cultural digitalization services, enrich people's spiritual and cultural lives, and promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the digital cultural industry.

ABOUT ZTE:

ZTE helps to connect the world with continuous innovation for a better future. The company provides innovative technologies and integrated solutions, its portfolio spans all series of wireless, wireline, devices and professional telecommunications services. Serving over a quarter of the global population, ZTE is dedicated to creating a digital and intelligent ecosystem, and enabling connectivity and trust everywhere. ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. www.zte.com.cn/global

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Harmful algae blooms have returned to Lake Anna for the sixth consecutive summer.

Just as in past summers, the algae blooms have resulted in a no-swim advisory for a section of the 13,000-acre Lake Anna, a popular recreational destination that also cools the Dominion Energy North Anna nuclear power plant.

The blooms were detected by monitors on Monday in the Upper section of Pamunkey Branch of Lake Anna in Orange and Spotsylvania counties, the Virginia Department of Health announced Thursday.

The public is advised to avoid contact with this specific area of the lake until algae concentrations return to acceptable levels, the health department stated in a news release.

Harmful algae, called cyanobacteria, can appear when nitrogen and phosphorus pollution combine with warm water temperatures. The toxins can cause a skin rash, upset stomach, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The algae can affect people and pets alike.

The health department said people should avoid swimming, windsurfing and stand-up-paddle-boarding, as well as other activities that pose a risk of ingesting water. Activities such as boating may continue with proper precaution in advisory areas.

According to the health department, the most recent tests showed that the Lake Anna State Park beach, as well as six other sites, had acceptable cyanobacteria densities and do not require a swimming advisory. Results from several of the sites detected toxins, but all were at acceptable levels.

The health department and the Virginia Harmful Algal Bloom Task Force monitor the lake and provide updates online.

Follow-up monitoring above Route 208 on the lake is scheduled for the third week of July.

Lake Anna has been plagued by harmful algae blooms the previous five summers, resulting in no-swim advisories for certain areas of the lake. Last year, the lake was added to the states list of impaired waterways because of the algae blooms.

After years of frustration with the algae blooms, money was raised to test a new hydrogen peroxide-based treatment. The Lake Anna Civic Association tested the treatments, which proved successful in some areas of the lake, including the Upper Pamunkey.

The association is raising funds to further treat the lake, according to the LACA website.
Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins is free on a personal recognizance bond following his arrest this week on 13 federal criminal charges in an alleged bribery scheme.

Among the conditions of his release, set by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville, Jenkins was to report to his pretrial services officer upon release Thursday.

The sheriff was also ordered to ensure that all firearms in his residence are secured in locked storage during any home visit by the pretrial services officer.

Other conditions of his release are that he not get a passport and to refrain from excessive alcohol use. Jenkins signed court documents acknowledging that he would appear for all court proceedings and if convicted, surrender to serve any sentence imposed by the court.

The court ordered Jenkins to follow any federal, state and local laws while on release and to cooperate in collection of a DNA sample if so authorized.

According to the 38-page indictment unsealed June 29, from at least April 2019 through this year, Jenkins, 51, accepted cash bribes totaling at least $72,500 from Rick Tariq Rahim, 55, of Great Falls; Fredric Gumbinner, 64, of Fairfax County; James Metcalf, 60, of Manassas; and at least five others, including two undercover FBI agents.

In return, Jenkins appointed them as auxiliary deputy sheriffs, a sworn law enforcement position, and issued them Culpeper County Sheriffs Office badges and identification cards, according to the indictment. The three named men, Northern Virginia businessmen, were also charged in the federal probe.

The defendants were booked into custody Thursday by the U.S. Marshals and FBI at the federal courthouse in Charlottesville, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

A jury trial in the case is set for Sept. 7 in Charlottesville before Senior Judge Norman Moon.

Another condition of Jenkins release is that he avoid all contact regarding the case with the three co-defendants as well as any person who may become a victim or potential witness in the investigation, including his brother, Johnny Jenkins, chief jailor of the Culpeper County Jail.

The three co-defendants pleaded not guilty in the case Thursday in federal court. Arraignment was not held for Jenkins on Thursday, pending an appearance by his attorney. Jenkins told the court he had retained counsel, Mark Schamel, who was unable to attend the hearing.

Schamel, a partner in Washington firm Venable LLP, did not return requests for comment in the case. The Culpeper County Sheriffs Office also has not responded to requests for comment.
The Argentina-born hair artist  whose roster of clients includes Cher and Mariah Carey  grew up watching 'Sex and the City' being filmed in New York City

Ricardo Rojas

Celebrity hairstylist Ricardo Rojas lives a dream life of traveling with superstar clients but recently had his original childhood dream come true with his first acting role in the Sex and the City revival And Just Like That...

The Argentinian shared his experience exclusively with PEOPLE and included some styling tips that Carrie Bradshaw herself would approve of.

"I was living my whole youth in New York City and [had] seen Sex and the City being filmed on the street and it was so part of our culture," Rojas tells PEOPLE of the iconic series, which aired from 1998 to 2004 on HBO.

Related: All of the 'Sex and the City' & 'And Just Like That...' Hot Spots Where You Can Dine in New York City

Also playing a hairstylist in AJLT, he was able to have some fun with some provocative lines in the show. His favorite?

Are you ready to be blown? Rojas says of his cheeky quip in his salon scene with his onscreen client and now off-screen friend Sarita Choudhary. The British actress, 62, who fans may recognize from Showtimes Homeland playing opposite Mandy Patinkin, now steps into a more glamorous role as Bradshaw's real estate agent in the Max series.

Though Rojas was admittedly a little nervous about his big debut, he effortlessly slipped into the spicy and free character of Juan Jose. "I had fun with Juan Jose!" he says.

Ricardo Rojas

Related: Everything to Know About 'And Just Like That...' Season 2

"[My clients] have been very supportive," Rojas says of the "great compliments" he's received about his "nice presence" on screen. "I cannot believe it."

Though the hair expert, who is known for his Ricardo Rojas haircare line, may be living out his dreams on screen now, he is still a hair pro, after all. With his And Just Like That... gig, he's getting to marry two of his greatest loves, in TV and hair.

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Carrie [Bradshaw], she has this beautiful hair, he tells PEOPLE of Sarah Jessica Parkers character, adding that he loves that her hair is long and wants to see more older women embracing long hair.



Hair means a lot. Its powerful. Its sexy," he says. "And I see that on her in a very effortless way. Not too coiffed, really good texture.

Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Max (3)

I would love to see Miranda with her hair longer, he says of Cynthia Nixons character, who explores her inner dominatrix this season. Hair is like a beautiful fabric, like silk, he continues, noting that hair color further expresses who you are.

As for Charlotte, played by Kristin Davis, her hair is perfect, because shes Upper East Side, half up, half down, Rojas says.

Related: And Just Like That, Samantha Jones Is Back! Everything Kim Cattrall Has Said About the 'SATC' Reboot

To celebrate his big TV gig, Rojas and his publicist husband, Jim Mannino, held a watch party at Soho House in NYC's Meatpacking District. Some of Rojas' high-profile pals and clients in attendance  like Taylor Momsen, Natasha Bedingfield and Julianna Margulies  even teased they were worried he would no longer be available to them due to his new star status.

Though he is open to more TV and film roles, Rojas is not ditching his hair career anytime soon. He will always be particularly appreciative of one of his first big clients, Donatella Versace, who helped him make a name for himself after the pair met in Miami  and was a dream come true to work with. Rojas adds that his first acting gig "takes him back" to the first major moment of his hair career: working for the late Oribe Canales.

Continuing to create a name for himself, he then found himself landing superstar clients like Cher and Mariah Carey over the years.



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Read the original article on People.
(Courtesy of Air Tahiti Nui )

One decade after they became the first same-sex couple to get married in California after defeating the law banning same-sex marriage, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier celebrated their anniversary in a momentous way: Renewing their vows on a flight to Bora Bora.

On 26 June 2013, the couple won the US Supreme Court case of Hollingsworth v. Perry (named after Kris Perry herself) that was filed against Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the state. Less than 48 hours later, and after a four-year-long legal battle, Perry and Stier made their way to a San Francisco courthouse to say their I dos, with then-State Attorney General and now-Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, as their wedding officiant.

We never dreamt wed be getting married so soon, after coming off such a meaningful occasion as the Supreme Court ruling, Perry told The Independent. We thought we might have a few weeks to gather ourselves and our wardrobes. But instead, we were tossing clothes into bags, jumping in the car, and going across the Bay Bridge to go back to the lawyers office.

Fast forward to their 10-year anniversary, they had a full-circle moment with their wedding officiant, as they attended the Vice Presidents Pride event at her home in Washington, DC, on 28 June 2023. Harris said that she knew that our wedding was a momentous occasion. She wanted to march across the lawn and perform our marriage because she felt like it was such an important step in California and in our country, Stier recalled about her conversation with Harris at Wednesdays event.

This wasnt the only special way that Stier and Perry, whove been together for 24 years, celebrated their wedding anniversary. On 3 June 2023, three days after Pride Month began, the pair renewed their vows while 40,000 feet up in the air. During the Air Tahiti Nui flight from California to Bora Bora, their second wedding ceremony was held in the planes Poerava Business cabin, with Chief purser Rodrigue Chan, who openly identifies as gay, as the officiant.

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Air Tahiti Nui is honoured to host Kris and Sandys vow renewal ceremony in-flight as part of their dream anniversary getaway in one of the most inclusive destinations in the world, Caroline Borawski, Air Tahiti Nuis vice president of the Americas, said in a statement to The Independent. The Islands of Tahiti are known for their incredible hospitality for all people, and Air Tahiti Nui is proud to be a part of that culture that not only accepts but celebrates LGBTQIA+ individuals and their contributions to a more equitable future.

Speaking to The Independent, Perry and Stier described how special the 15-minute ceremony was, during which crew members performed a wedding dance and gave leis to the couple. They also added that Chan was the perfect person to officiate the event.

When we got settled on the plane and met the crew, they were showering us with attention the entire time. As we got closer to doing the renewal, Rodrigue put on his full uniform, came out, stood with us, and put these garlands around our hands, Stier said. He was dignified, prepared, and just so loving.

For the ceremony, the couple was also able to write their own vows, which they didnt have the opportunity to do when they first got married in 2013. According to Stier, when she wrote and recited her vows 10 years later, she not only reflected on how much her relationship had evolved, but also recommitted to her partner.

(Courtesy of Air Tahiti Nui)

We had to go through many twists and turns for us to actually be legally married, she explained. So, when we did our vow renewal, I really spoke to where we are today. Mine started out with: I still do, I still choose you, because its the act of recommitment. We made a decision years ago, we make that decision again today, and its very intentional. Were leaning into the next phase of our marriage.

Perry also confessed that, at first, she and her partner didnt have any specific plans for their 10-year-wedding anniversary. However, she said that when Air Tahiti Nui reached out to her, she was grateful to have more time to prepare for the vow renewal, since her 2013 nuptials happened so quickly. She also highlighted how her relationship has strengthened in all the ways she initially hoped it would 10 years ago.

It was nice to have a little lead time, like not two days, but several weeks to really think about how we wanted to do it and how to make it meaningful, she explained. What was great about this opportunity was thinking back to that ceremony 10 years ago, and what I imagined our lives would be like. And then they actually are like that. Its a mystery when you start out, and then you get this opportunity to really cement your relationship in marriage.

Today, Perry and Stier have continued to grow together as a blended family, as they each welcomed two sons before they met. Their four children are all grown up now, with the couple noting that one son just finished law school and another is about to get married. Although theyre empty nesters, theyre excited for their next adventure as a family.

Were really looking at this next phase of life, and its all fantastic, and we feel so lucky to be here in the world, Stier added. To be healthy, to be together, and to be a family.
It doesnt matter how compelling a documentary subject is if it doesnt have equally compelling people to tell the story.

Every Body has that and then some.

The film, directed by Julie Cohen (RBG, Gabby Giffords Wont Back Down) with a great deal of compassion and skill, focuses on the lives of three intersex people  people born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesnt seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male, according to the Intersex Society of North America.

Sean Saifa Wall, Alicia Roth Weigel and River Gallo are three of the 1.7% of people worldwide who are intersex, and theyre who Cohen focuses on to tell the story of struggle, misunderstanding and ignorance that they have to battle.

Its heartbreaking at times, but its also uplifting  the three subjects are fierce advocates and activists, and Cohens empathetic storytelling makes it a personal journey. Its also often entertaining, because the three are so expressive and engaging.

Gil Tyree reflects: The former Arizona sportscaster inspired students  and Charles Barkley

A 'Dateline' story looms large in 'Every Body'

Cohen begins with a compilation of footage from absurdly over-the-top (but genuine) gender-reveal stunts. That sets the tone for the film, and for meeting the three main subjects.

Weigel (she/her, they/them) was born with XY chromosomes, a vagina and testes. Doctors removed her testes and pronounced her biologically female.

Wall (he/him) was born without a uterus and with a notably small penis; doctors told his parents he was female for the parents well-being, according to records Wall pores over. But what about Walls well-being?

Gallo (they/them), an actor and filmmaker, was born without testes. Doctors prescribed testosterone and implanted prosthetic testes.

All feel violated, mutilated, physically changed without their consent, and they want to end what is still the common practice of doctors deciding  either through surgery, medication and counseling, or a combination of the three  an intersex childs identity.

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Cohen lays out the history of intersex people and their medical treatment, and it isnt pretty. John Money, a late Johns Hopkins psychologist, was hugely influential; in fact, the film relates, much of the treatment of intersex children was inspired by a single case of Moneys  now debunked.

That case plays a big part in Every Body. Cohen shows Wall, Weigel and Gallo extensive footage from an NBC Dateline segment on David Reimer, a twin whose penis was damaged during a botched circumcision. Money recommended sex-reassignment surgery and raising David as a girl.

Digging deep: How a false police claim propelled ABC 15's Dave Biscobing

The film is a reminder of the dangers of forcing identity on anyone

Despite Moneys documentation that this was a great success, it clearly wasnt. The Dateline interview  we see so much of it Cohen might as well have just aired it in its entirety  is haunting. When Reimer, who eventually identified as a man, got married and adopted children, talks about his treatment at the hands of Money, Wall, Weigel and Gallo sigh in recognition.

If only doctors would wait, Reimer says in the interview, and seek input from the children affected.

More haunting still, though not surprising given the content of the interview: Reimer died by suicide in 2004. He was 38.

Its sobering, and important, a reminder of the cost of trying to force gender identity on someone. (Cohen throws in a little idiocy from right-wing media personality Ben Shapiro giving a speech about the science of genders for good measure.)

But overall the film has a hopeful tone. There is never any question that its three main subjects have been shaped by what they consider life-changing decisions made without their consent. Yet each, in their way, fights for recognition and more compassionate and inclusive medical care for intersex people. The film builds toward a rally in New York, and the end credits are goofy and sweet.

Its a fitting end to a film about a subject that deserves attention and that deserves an audience. Cohen has done all she can to ensure it gets both.

'Every Body' 4 stars

Great  Good 

Fair  Bad  Bomb 

Director: Julie Cohen.

Cast: Sean Saifa Wall, Alicia Roth Weigel, River Gallo.

Rating: R for some language and graphic nude images.

How to watch: In theaters Friday, June 30.

OFFER FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS: $1 per month for 12 months of access to azcentral.com. Subscribe at azcentral.com/NewsSale.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Every Body' review: Julie Cohen artfully tackles intersex experience
The family of Irvo Otieno  who died in March while being admitted to a Virginia mental health facility  is asking the Department of Justice for a federal investigation into his death, their attorneys announced Wednesday.

Seven sheriffs deputies and one hospital worker are facing second-degree murder charges in 28-year-old Otienos death, which the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia ruled a homicide by asphyxiation.

The workers smothered him to death during the facilitys intake process, former Dinwiddie County Commonwealths Attorney Ann Baskervill has said.

The resources of the U.S. Department of Justice are necessary to ably and properly prosecute the defendants, Otieno family attorneys Ben Crump and Mark Krudys wrote in a letter to the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.

The request for a federal criminal investigation comes after Baskervill  who filed the charges in the case  resigned her position last week.

One day before her resignation took effect, Baskervill dropped charges against two of the original 10 defendants in the case.

The decision to drop charges against two hospital employees was heavy but it was not difficult, Baskervill told CNN affiliate WTVR. Her resignation was due to personal health issues and is unrelated to the Otieno case, Baskervill told the station.

The attorneys for Otienos family told the Justice Department that her replacement, interim Commonwealths Attorney Jonathan Bourlier, has no prosecutorial experience and minimal trial experience.

Irvo Otieno was 28 when he died during intake at a state mental health facility in Dinwiddie County. - Ben Crump Law

In a statement Thursday, Bourlier said, Our focus in this tragedy is ensuring that justice prevails and accountability is had. That pursuit will be undertaken vigorously and diligently by all involved.

He quoted Martin Luther King Jr. and said, Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Otienos family has said he was in the midst of a mental health crisis when he was being processed at the hospital.

Henrico County police officers first encountered Otieno on March 3 after they responded to a possible burglary and placed him under an emergency custody order. Under Virginia law, a person may be placed under an emergency custody order if there are concerns they may harm themselves or others as a result of mental illness.

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The officers took Otieno to a hospital where authorities say he became physically assaultive towards officers. Police took him to Henrico County Jail and he was booked.

Three days later, Otieno was transferred to the mental health facility in Dinwiddie County where he died during the intake process. State police investigators were later told Otieno became combative and was physically restrained, the attorneys office said in a statement on March 14.

Surveillance video showed Otieno was held on the ground in handcuffs and leg irons for 12 minutes. Additional video showed he had previously been kept in a holding cell at the Henrico County Jail, where he was naked and pepper-sprayed by deputies, according to prosecutors.

The federal civil rights laws outlawing the application of excessive force by law enforcement officers are the appropriate vehicle to address the eight defendants conduct, attorneys Crump and Krudys wrote.

The defendants were released on bond, with the next hearings in their cases set for August. The Henrico Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 4 has said it stands behind the deputies charged.

CNN reached out Wednesday to the US Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department for comment.

CNNs Sara Smart, Steve Almasy and Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Film Las Cruces, a film liaison company, recently announced the hiring of a new director, bringing numerous years of industry experience to southern New Mexico.

Amorette Jones is a longtime film industry executive, according to a news release. Her previous experience includes leadership roles within Starz Entertainment and Artisan Entertainment. Her work as a film industry marketing professional also includes serving as lead marketing executive for the Blair Witch Project.

Film Las Cruces is thrilled to have Amorette joining our team. Her broad experience and marketing savvy will be a tremendous asset in continuing to build our reputation as a top film making destination, said Sen. Jeff Steinborn, president of Film Las Cruces, in a news release.

Amorette Jones announced as the new director of Film Las Cruces on June 26, 2023.

Aside from the landscapes and increasing talent Las Cruces offers, the southern New Mexico municipality also offers a 40% film incentive for productions to film outside of the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas. This incentive was recently increased during the legislative session earlier in the year.

Netflix and other large media studios have also taken up residence in New Mexico in recent years.

Films such as Netflixs Chupa, Dolf Lundgrens Wanted Man and Clint Eastwoods The Mule have all taken advantage of Las Cruces amenities during production. So far in 2023, The Line, directed by Pedro Kos and Alessandra Lacorazza Samudios In the Summers have set up camp for filming during the summer months.

Others are reading:

In the news release, Steinborn added that Jones experience will be beneficial in further growing Las Cruces as a film production center.

More: Summer film productions begin in Las Cruces with feature film 'The Line'

Joining Film Las Cruces is an exciting opportunity for me to contribute to the continued success and growth of this vibrant film community, Jones said in a news release.

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With its rich cultural heritage, stunning landscapes, and 40% film incentive, Las Cruces has all the ingredients to attract top-tier productions. I look forward to leveraging my experience, network, and marketing expertise to further elevate the citys reputation in the film industry.

Jones succeeds Jonathon Sepp in the position of director and joins Film Las Cruces Deputy Liaison Andrew Jara.

Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Film Las Cruces announces new director, film industry executive
A former KCTV5 television anchor has alleged she was denied opportunities due to her race and sex during her final three years working for the station in a Kansas District Court discrimination lawsuit.

She also accused her employers of punishing her for taking time off to attend to an anxiety-related disability that she developed while working for the news channel, according to the lawsuit petition filed Monday.

Kelli Taylor, who is Black, joined the Kansas City television station in 2017 as a reporter and went on to secure a position as an anchor three years later. But when a new company, Gray Media Group, purchased the station and instated a news director from another market in 2022  Taylor was demoted.

The lawsuit contends Taylor was not given the same opportunities as her white counterparts, many of whom were men who were allegedly chosen to fill vacant positions which Taylor believes the company did not consider her for due to her race and sex. Then, she alleges, the company retaliated after she took a leave of absence to seek treatment for her disability.

A lawsuit filed in 2017 by another former KCTV5 news anchor also accused the news station owners of discrimination. In that case the previous owners of the station, Meredith Corporation, were being sued for age and gender-related discrimination. The case was settled about a year later.

Gray Media Group and the current General Manager of KCTV5, Curtis Miles, were not immediately available to respond to requests for comment.

New management

According to the lawsuit, Taylor was promoted to the coveted position of third anchor on KCTV5s daily morning news show in 2020.

The new title made her responsible for breaking news each morning. She would arrive at the Fairway, Kansas studio as early as 4:30 a.m. for the morning show and leave by 1 p.m., after helping anchor the channels noon broadcast, court documents said.

By December 2021, the owners of the station, Meredith Corporation, had sold the enterprise to Gray Media Group. The incoming leadership allegedly brought in new employees to KCTV5, including hiring a new station general manager and news director.

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Kate Glover, the news director, allegedly demoted Taylor as one of her first acts on the job, which started Feb. 7, 2022.

About a month prior, Taylor was diagnosed with Shiftwork Sleep Disorder which caused a loss of appetite, concentration and severe fluctuations in energy. The symptoms allegedly were connected to the uncommon hours and amount of anxiety Taylor experienced at work.

Glover also told Taylor the approved vacation time she had requested in Sept. 2021 would no longer be honored since she had called in sick, court documents said.

But, Taylor alleges, Glover did not penalize other employees for calling in sick.

She believes this was the first instance of discriminatory treatment.

So many obstacles

At the direction of Glover following her demotion, Taylor was made to work in a new role as a part-time anchor and part-time field reporter.

The new schedule allotted less time for Taylor to complete critical tasks like preparing for live reports, court documents said.

She was scheduled to arrive at the studio by 4:30 a.m. to prepare for the 5 a.m. morning broadcast, giving her only 30 minutes to prepare for live shots. Other field reporters, however, were told to arrive by 3:30 a.m.

When Taylor allegedly told Glover she needed more time to prepare to report live on the news channel, like other reporters, and requested to instead report for the 6 a.m. broadcast  she was denied.

A therapist suggested Taylor take time four weeks off work to address symptoms of her disability that had grown unmanageable. Glovers reaction was hostile and frustrated, according to court documents.

Taylors time off was ultimately approved.

But, she alleges, Glover discussed Taylors leave improperly with colleagues and said to the channels executive producer Taylor would never be on the desk again.

When another position on the morning news desk became vacant, Taylor was neither notified nor considered for the role, court documents said.

On April 4, 2022, Taylor returned from her FMLA leave and found another news anchor, who is described in court documents as white and not disabled, had been placed in her anchor slot.

Taylor allegedly was demoted to full-time field reporter.

Shortly after, she determined Gray was placing so many obstacles in her way that it became impossible for her to continue working at the company. Taylor believes she was made victim to race, sex and disability related discrimination and subsequent retaliation.

She is seeking at least $75,000 in damages as a preliminary amount so that the lawsuit can be filed in federal court.
Officers

Four Connecticut officers have been fired in connection to a 2022 incident that left Randy Cox paralyzed.

According to CNN, on Wednesday (June 28), the New Haven Board of Police Commissioners voted 5-0 to release officers Oscar Diaz and Betsy Segui from duty. In a statement from Mayor Justin Elickers office, the cops were fired for violations of general orders of the police department.

On June 19, 2022, authorities were transporting Cox in a police van following his arrest on suspicion of illegally possessing a handgun, the outlet noted. While inside, Cox was handcuffed without a seatbelt. Footage from the vehicle showed Cox hit his head on the vans back wall when it abruptly stopped. He was left paralyzed as a result, and all charges against him were later dropped.

After the announcement, Diaz and Seguis attorney, Jeffrey Mentz, spoke with the CNN about the boards decision. Tonight was not the opportunity to seek what I believe to be a fair review of a difficult situation, he said. Having done police work for three decades, I understand the political area and fishbowl we work within, and police accountability and police responsibility has changed 180 degrees since Ive been doing this.

Three weeks before the boards recent decision, former New Haven officers Jocelyn Lavandier and Luis Rivera were also voted to be terminated. My two clients and the other two officers have been fired for a terrible injury that happened in an auto accident, which the gentlemen has been fairly compensated, Mentz also told the outlet.

Earlier this month, the city of New Haven settled with Cox, and he was awarded $45 million. Per his lawyers, it was the largest settlement involving a police misconduct case in U.S. history. While nothing can ever return Randys life to the way it was prior to this incident, with the police disciplinary process now complete, the civil lawsuit now resolved, and the comprehensive set of reforms now adopted by the police department, we have demonstrated clearly and unequivocally as a community that Randys life matters, that Black Lives Matter and that we are resolved to do everything in our power to ensure an incident like this never happens again, Elicker mentioned in his statement.

Trending Stories
An elevated law enforcement presence stopped traffic on I-65 southbound through Montgomery on Thursday afternoon. The cause was a high-speed police pursuit that resulted in three car crashes.

At approximately 2:26 p.m., state troopers initiated a traffic stop on a stolen 2018 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck on Interstate 65 southbound at the 185 mile marker in Autauga County, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. The driver of the Dodge Ram attempted to escape the troopers, and subsequently, a pursuit ensued.

A statement from ALEA said the driver of the Dodge truck caused two traffic crashes while speeding away from law enforcement. The truck eventually crashed and overturned near the 173 mile marker in Montgomery County at approximately 2:38 p.m., about 12 minutes after the chase began.

A screen capture of the ALDOT traffic livestream shows law enforcement gathered on I-65 near the Northern Boulevard exit at 2:55 p.m.

Traffic cameras from the Alabama Department of Transportation showed cars backed up going south and north near the Northern Boulevard exit. Local police and state troopers were on the scene, as well as an ambulance where a vehicle appeared to have crashed.

Officials shut down a portion of the interstate indefinitely, starting at exit 179 on Cobbs Ford Road, Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson confirmed to the Montgomery Advertiser around 3p.m. He said southbound traffic was being redirected to Highway 31 or across the toll bridge in Montgomery.

By 4:30 p.m., law enforcement opened one lane of southbound traffic on I-65. Two lanes remain closed. ALEA advised drivers "to use caution when traveling in the area."

Maj. Saba Coleman, the Montgomery Police Department's public information officer, did not comment on the situation, deferring to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

Hadley Hitson covers children's health, education and welfare for the Montgomery Advertiser. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to the Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Law enforcement shuts down traffic on I-65 through Montgomery
Delaware Republicans in the House of Representatives blocked the $1.4 billion bond bill from passing Thursday night as a result of Democrats voting down a GOP bill that would allow corporations to vote in Seaford elections.

Now, both parties will be in a showdown on the final day of the legislative calendar, as the bond bill  which funds Delawares construction and infrastructure projects  is in jeopardy of not passing.

House Minority Leader Mike Ramone said his caucus will not vote on any bill until Democrats pass HB 121. Republicans, he said, will also continue to up their demands the longer it takes to pass the Seaford bill.

This could include requiring HB 121 to pass in both chambers and agreeing to changes to an electric vehicles mandate before House Republicans vote on the bond bill.

Rep. Danny Short (right) with Rep. Mike Ramone

We are not voting on any bills until the promise that was given to us is honored," Ramone said, "and the longer it takes for it to be honored, the more what will be requested will change.

He added that there's no motivation for us to have to pass a bond bill.

As a matter of fact, Ramone said, I kind of hope we don't pass a bond bill so we can get that $1.4 billion back in tax reductions to all the people.

What is HB 121?

The controversial bill at the center of Thursdays vote would allow limited liability companies and other artificial entities to vote in Seaford municipal elections.

The charter, which originated from the Seaford City Council, required two-thirds support. Though seven Democrats supported the bill, it fell shy by a handful of votes.

The charter has received national scrutiny in recent weeks. Critics say this charter is prioritizing corporate influence in elections over that of actual Delawareans. Rep. Danny Short, a Republican representing Seaford and the bill sponsor, is among the supporters who say business owners have a right to have a say in local issues.

We want you to come to our community, we want you to invest in our community, want to help you help us recover, Short said of prospective business owners.

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BACKGROUND: Why this Delaware town wants corporations to vote in its local elections

The city, one of the most populated in Sussex County, allows for non-resident property owners to vote in local elections, as do a number of other Delaware towns. A handful of municipalities have similar charters to HB 121, which Short pointed to in his remarks.

The intention of the bill, he said, is not about creating a situation where people can't vote, but rather a way for more people to be engaged with the city.

Most people that have criticized this bill have no clue, Short said. Never been there, never gone downtown, never stopped to have a cup of coffee.

Though it failed, the bill is not dead yet: Since bill sponsor Short changed his vote to no, he is allowed to bring the bill back for another vote.

No Democrats made any remarks on HB 121 just before roll call. Rep. Sean Lynn, D-Dover, who voted for the bill, told Republicans after the vote that he disagrees with the idea behind it.

Your point that it was passed by your council of the city of Seaford is very pertinent," he said on the House floor. "From my part, I fundamentally disagree but I think it's just more important to the citizens of Delaware that we complete the bond bill and the other necessary legislation that we need to do for the people of the state."

House leadership had previously expressed unease with this bill, though voted it out of committee.

During that committee meeting, House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf said that he didnt think the legislation was a good idea.

But I don't think I want to vote to stop it, he said at the time. Schwarzkopf was the only member of leadership to vote for the bill Thursday night.

Under this bill, more than 200 entities would be allowed vote and possibly determine the outcome of Seaford elections. In a municipal election this spring, just 340 ballots were cast.

The Delaware Voting Rights Coalition, consisting of 40 voting rights organizations and advocacy groups, urged lawmakers in a June 20 letter to vote no on the bill. It includes the ACLU of Delaware, YWCA Delaware and Delaware Center for Justice.

The coalition wrote the bill directly contradicts the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment because it extends voting rights to property owners, but not to those who rent property.

This property requirement harkens back to the dark times in U.S. history where similar property requirements were put in place in order to prevent women, people of color, low-income individuals, and other marginalized groups from voting, according to the letter.

Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker, a Democrat representing Wilmington, introduced a bill earlier this month that would ban corporations and other artificial entities in municipal elections. It has yet to be heard in committee, making it unlikely to pass as the legislature reaches its final day of the year.

'We're at the end of the line'

House Republicans were promised that HB 121 would pass on Thursday night but the Democratic Party reneged, said Ramone, the minority leader.

We had asked for one simple thing: you treat every charter the same as you have every other, Ramone said. It seems that there is a focus to treat one charter differently.

After the Seaford charter failed, Republicans voted down a charter bill for the town of Lewes. It is uncommon for the General Assembly to not support town charters.

The GOP caucus did unanimously support HB 206, a significant police reform bill. But then came the bond bill.

WHAT'S IN THE BOND BILL? Delaware Senate passed $1.4B bond bill. Roads will see biggest investment: The Press Room

It requires a three-fourths vote  which means necessary bipartisan support in the 41-member chamber. Though Republicans are in the minority, this is seen as the one power move they have over Democrats.

All of the 15 GOP lawmakers Thursday voted not voting on the bond bill, which prevented it from passing.

Ramone attributed the standstill to the progressive wing of the Democratic caucus. He felt Seaford is being "singled out, apparently as a means of punishing the city for opposing the establishment of a Planned Parenthood clinic there," even though similar language to HB 121 exists elsewhere in Delaware.

He praised the efforts of the speaker and Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst in trying to negotiate a deal.

If you go to the birthday party, you're watching those kids take all the cupcakes and all the candy and all this stuff and eat it, and you're watching the other five kids be deprived of everything. Then, they finally are getting Skittles. And then suddenly the other kid runs and grabs the Skittles and says I don't want you to have that either.

You get to the point where you come to the end of the line, Ramone said. Well, we're at the end of the line.

Just after 8 p.m. Thursday, the Republicans left the chamber for the night. They did not participate in any more votes. Because of the Democratic majority, lawmakers were able to continue to pass the remaining bills.

As the Republicans were getting ready to leave, the speaker told them the caucus would meet at noon Friday, the last day of the legislative calendar.

Hopefully, Ramone said on the House floor, well be able to vote on bills that need to get passed.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Delaware House Republicans kill $1.4B bond bill after LLCs vote fails
WASHINGTON  House Republicans have held it over Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for months. Attorney General Merrick Garland is facing it, too. And President Joe Biden seemingly isnt far behind.

Driven by the demands of hard-right members, Republicans in the House are threatening impeachment against Biden and his top Cabinet officials, creating a backbeat of chatter about high crimes and misdemeanors that is driving legislative action, spurring committee investigations, raking in fundraising money and complicating the plans of Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his leadership team.

Long viewed as an option of last resort, to be triggered only for the most severe wrongdoing, the constitutionally authorized power of impeachment is rapidly moving from the extraordinary to the humdrum, driven in large part by Republicans and their grievances about how Democrats twice impeached President Donald Trump.

Republicans remain so opposed to Trumps impeachments, in fact, that they are pressing for votes to expunge the charges altogether  an attempt to clear his name that is without direct precedent in congressional history.

Were seeing a generation of Republicans who are much more willing to test the boundaries of how much you can weaponize procedures, said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University historian and political scientist.

McCarthy recently made Garland the latest target of a potential impeachment investigation as Republicans examine how the Department of Justice handled the prosecution of Hunter Biden for federal tax offenses. It capped a tumultuous period in which hard-right Republicans forced a vote to send articles of impeachment against Biden to a committee for investigation and also voted to censure Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff for his remarks and actions during the 2017 investigation into Trumps ties to Russia.

Some Republicans are pushing for yet another censure action, this time against Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson for his leadership of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection.

In the past, lawmakers have reserved censure, a punishment one step below expulsion, for grave misconduct. When former Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, was censured in 2010 on a bipartisan vote for ethics violations, then-speaker Nancy Pelosi solemnly summoned him to the well of the House, where censured members must stand as the resolution is read in a moment of public shaming.

"We really tried hard to put aside the partisan considerations because we knew how sharp and potent the weapon (of censure) was, said former Rep. Steve Israel, Democrat of New York, who was among Pelosis closest confidantes. This thing used to be rare. Now, its in every cycle, in breaking news.

When Schiff was censured, the proceedings quickly took on a carnival-like quality. Democrats, Pelosi included, streamed forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the well of the House. They heckled McCarthy as he read the charges  calling out Shame! Disgrace! and Adam! Adam!  until the speaker left the dais.

What goes around comes around, one Democrat could be heard shouting in the chamber. Republicans streamed from the chamber shaking their heads.

That was wild in there, said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla. She brought the censure resolution against Schiff, using a legislative tool that allowed her to bypass leadership and force a vote.

The fervor in the House for doling out punishment shows no signs of breaking  in part because lawmakers are reaping the media attention and fundraising dollars that are steadily replacing committee chairmanships as the locus of power in the House.

Luna, who is just months into her first House term after winning a Florida district formerly held by Democrats, was the subject of a Fox News interview in prime-time after her successful push to censure Schiff.

And the attention cut both ways. Schiff, who is running for a California Senate seat, seemed to relish the moment and leveraged it into a fundraising blitz.

They go after people they think are effective; they go after people they think are standing up to them, Schiff said in an interview on The View, one of several TV appearances he had in the aftermath.

Yet theres a risk that Republicans' appetite for using the punishment powers could easily escalate into a more serious test of whether Congress is legitimately wielding power  and nowhere does that possibility loom larger than when it comes to Biden.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who won reelection last year by fewer than 600 votes, forced a vote last week on an impeachment resolution against Biden for high crimes and misdemeanors over his handling of the U.S. border with Mexico.

Republican leaders were able to bottle up Boeberts resolution, holding a vote that sent the matter to congressional committees for consideration.

Some Republicans, however, view it as a question of when, not if, Biden is impeached. Floor debate on the resolution took on the air of a dress rehearsal, as Democrats and Republicans debated whether Biden has committed high crimes and misdemeanors with his handling of border and immigration policy.

Only three other presidents in U.S. history have been impeached  Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and Trump, though none was convicted by the Senate. Should Republicans decide to make Biden the fourth, a system of checks and balances created by the framers could face a test like never before.

While the Constitution's impeachment standard of high crimes and misdemeanors is deliberately open-ended, the Republicans impeachment argument against Biden has centered so far on disagreement with his policy decisions, namely his handling of the southern border, which they say amounts to breaking his oath of office.

Zelizer, the political historian, warned that moving forward with impeachment on those grounds would have lasting consequences.

It weakens the function of government, it undermines trust in this democracy, and it will leave the democracy weaker than when it started, he said.

Photos: Airport travel delays picking up ahead of July 4 holiday
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Harrison Ford has been adamant  including in EW's own cover story  that he's saying goodbye to Indiana Jones with the fifth film in the franchise, Dial of Destiny. Fans might be surprised, then, to learn that the film ends with a shot of his hand plucking Indy's beloved fedora off of a clothesline.

So, with Hollywood's penchant for remakes, reboots, and sequels, are we meant to read more into that final shot? According to the film's director, James Mangold, the scene is nothing more than a tip of the proverbial hat to the fact that, though we as an audience may not accompany Ford's Indy on any more adventures, the character himself is never "giving up."

"I don't think he'll ever stop digging," Mangold explains to EW. "And when he takes the hat off the clothesline, I think it's because, first of all, you shouldn't put hats on clotheslines. And second of all, no, I don't think he's done. I think that an ending doesn't mean that the characters never move again in their lives. It just means that you feel that you've entered a state of grace with their story."

Harrison Ford in 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'

Lucasfilm Ltd. Harrison Ford in 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'

Mangold even has some thoughts about where the daring archaeologist goes from here.

"I think he'll wake up tomorrow and want to do something. But whether he's going into battling Nazis through time portals again, I don't think so," he says. "But I could really imagine him and Marion going on a road trip to some Inca dig or to some dig in Montana or North Dakota and renting a cabin. And I could see him really enjoying his life as a retired archeologist."

These things are easy to imagine, the helmer says, because "Indy and Harrison are so close together, and Harrison will never retire, and I don't think Indy will [either]."

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He clarifies, "He retires as a teacher [in Dial of Destiny], but I don't think he will retire from being an obsessive learner, thinker about the past and the future, and science and mankind. I think that the second he stops thinking about that, I think it's game over."

Dial of Destiny  which also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renee Wilson, and more  is now playing in theaters. For more on the film and Ford's last hurrah as the whip-cracking archaeologist, read EW's cover story.

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

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The stranger also found out her birthday was coming up and surprised her with a cake, she said. Jess Tawil via TikTok

An influencer said she didn't realize her Valentino sandal slipped off on a day out in Lebanon.

She made a post about it on Instagram which was seen by a local man who found and returned it.

TikTok is now rooting for the influencer and the charming stranger to get together.

A TikTok influencer shared the story of how she lost her slipper on a trip to Lebanon, and through the power of social media, saw it returned to her by a stranger who also threw a surprise kind gesture into the mix.

Jess Tawil, who is based between New Jersey and New York according to her Instagram bio, and who has 2.3 million TikTok followers, typically posts lifestyle content about living with paraplegia. She has previously shared the story about how she got into a car accident eight years ago which has meant she is now paralyzed from the waist down, and posts videos showing viewers how she lives her daily life and what kind of support and medical care she receives.

In a TikTok posted on June 17, Tawil said she was visiting Beirut, Lebanon, but took a day trip to the nearby city of Baalbek, and lost a shoe. She explained that due to her paralysis, she cannot feel her legs or her shoes, so her slipper fell off while her uncle was carrying her through a tourist area that was less wheelchair accessible, and she did not notice at the time.

"I'm angry at myself because I wasn't looking down the whole time," she said.

The influencer said that after she got home, her mom suggested she make a post about the missing shoe on her Instagram story, hoping that someone in the area would see it and help her to find it. Tawil, who has 178,000 Instagram followers, said a lot of her followers are from Arab countries, so she thought it could be a feasible option.

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Tawil filmed a short clip of her one remaining shoe, a pink sandal by Valentino, and within minutes of posting it on her story, a man messaged her, she said. The influencer said he asked her to tell him the rough location where she thought she lost the slipper, so he could go there and look for it. After she sent him a short video showing her location that day, she waited, and soon enough, received a video call from the stranger, who had found her shoe.

In her TikTok, Tawil included a clip of her speaking to the man on the video call in Arabic, adding English subtitles, as she said, "Social media is so amazing!"

"There isn't a single soul on this planet that can tell me that I'm not Cinderella," she said in English at the end of the video, before explaining that she was going to meet up with the man later in the week to retrieve her lost shoe.

The video received 1.4 million views, and commenters said they were invested in the story and wanted to hear about how her meeting with the stranger would go. Others interpreted his gesture of going out to find her slipper as romantic, comparing him to the character of Prince Charming in the "Cinderella" movie and saying they hope the two might fall in love upon seeing each other in real life.

"This is a romance novel waiting to happen!!!" one user wrote.

On June 29, Tawil posted a follow-up video, which included clips of her meeting the stranger face-to-face. The influencer said he insisted on carrying her from her car to a wheelchair near the place where she lost the shoe originally, so he could place it back onto her foot there.

"My prince is here," the TikToker could be heard saying, in a clip that showed the stranger stooping to put the sandal on her foot.

But the kind gesture did not stop there. According to the TikToker, the stranger had watched a live stream she made on Instagram explaining that her birthday was coming up, so he surprised her with an early birthday cake.

"When I tell you guys I literally wanted to cry," she said, in a voiceover over a clip where the cake was presented to her.

Viewers were sent into an excited frenzy by Tawil's follow-up video, as commenters said they were now rooting even harder for the influencer to make a romantic connection with the man.



"If you don't marry that man I will!" one user commented.

A representative for Tawil told Insider that the influencer is still in contact with the man, but currently has plans to see him again. "They have developed a very close friendship with an even closer bond as of right now," they said.

It's not the first time a TikToker's story about an encounter with a mysterious stranger has gone viral and sparked huge rumors of romance.

Earlier this month, a TikToker called Anna Molinari shared the story of how a message in a bottle that she threw into the sea as a teenager was found by a young fisherman, who contacted her on social media and eventually became her online friend. Molinari took TikTok along with her on a holiday that saw her reunite with the young man eight years later, sparking a huge reaction as commenters rooted for a real-life romance to spring up between the pair.

Molinari told Insider that despite the reaction from TikTok, she personally had no idea where the relationship would go.

"It's very much open-ended. There's no end by any means right now," she said. For now, "it's a reminder that these amazingly cool coincidences and surprises can still happen in life."

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.

Read the original article on Insider
The post Insane Clown Posses Violent J Featured on Reality Show for 21-Year Age Gap with New Girlfriend appeared first on Consequence.

Insane Clown Posses Violent J is the subject of the latest episode of the online reality show about unconventional couples, Love Dont Judge. The reason hes on the show? His relationship with his new girlfriend: Sarah Russi, an OnlyFans content creator whos 21 years his junior.

The episode explains how Violent J  whos 51 years old  met Russi online as a fan, leading to the two to begin their controversial love affair. I was on Instagram, flipping through  every time Id see a hottie, Id hit follow, he explained in the episode. Shes, like, one of my top two favorite hotties. Eventually, Violent J slid in Russis DMs, and one thing led to another. I just put my claim on it, he said. I was like, Ah, this is my new real estate, Im moving the fuck in.

Since then, the couple has faced backlash for their 21-year age gap, and for Violent Js unconventional lifestyle. In the episode, Russi explained that the first time she saw him in his juggalo makeup, it was a little weird for her. I was kinda scared, she said. I dont really mind [it] now, but I prefer him without the face paint. Watch the episode  entitled My BF Is 51  Do I Have Daddy Issues?  below.

Russi, for her part, has become well-known for her unconventional taste in partners. Shes been featured on several previous episodes of Love Dont Judge for her relationship with 70s child star, Mason Reese, and her quest to find a man over the age of 50, because she likes how they look. She also previously had a brief fling with Chris Morgan, better known as the Bagel Boss Guy.

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Violent J, of course, is still going strong with Insane Clown Posse. Next week in Thornville, Ohio, the legendary group will host their annual Gathering of the Juggalos event. Running from July 5th through 8th, the 2023 festival will feature sets from ICP and Alien Ant Farm, and other fun stuff, like an hour-long UFO-scouting hayride. In September, ICP will perform at the 2023 Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Virginia.

As for whoever the other of Violent Js top two hotties is well, lets just hope shes having a good day.

Insane Clown Posses Violent J Featured on Reality Show for 21-Year Age Gap with New Girlfriend

Jo Vito

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Ivanka Trump has been inching further and further away from Donald Trumps 2024 presidential campaign after revealing that she and husband Jared Kushner were tossing their political ambitions aside. And just this week, the oldest daughter of the former president received good news that puts her familys legal woes even further behind her.



On Tuesday, a New York appeals court gave Ivanka the answer that she had been hoping for: shes dismissed from the $250 million civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Ivanka, Donald Trump, and her adult brothers, Donald Jr. and Eric were accused of inflating the Trump Organization assets in order to obtain favorable loans. Ivanka and her legal team had been fighting hard against the allegations since she claimed this particular aspect of the business wasnt part of her job description, and some of it even occurred when she no longer worked for her dads company.

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More than one source confirmed Donald Trump's sexist acts while he was president. https://t.co/XP6VzD43bv  SheKnows (@SheKnows) June 29, 2023



That argument worked in her favor as the states statute of limitations had run out on the earlier claims while the later claims confirmed that she was no longer with the Trump Organization. According to court documents obtained by CBS News, Ivankas legal team argued that the lawsuit does not contain a single allegation that Ms. Trump directly or indirectly created, prepared, reviewed, or certified any of her fathers financial statements.



That ruling doesnt exclude Donald Trump, Donald Jr., or Eric from the upcoming trial, which is expected to start in October. Ivanka is probably breathing a sigh of relief because this was a major tie to her familys ongoing controversies. Her newfound independence has been a major theme for her and Kushner after they exited the White House. Now that the legal case is off her shoulders, it wouldnt be surprising to see Ivanka take an even greater step away from Donald Trump  both personally and professionally.

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Before you go, click here to see every time Ivanka Trump has tried to distance herself from the Trump family:

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Johnny Depp returned to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Friday, kind of  onscreen, not in person.

The opening ceremony of the 57th edition of Central Europes biggest cinema celebration in the Czech spa town on Friday featured the much-anticipated premiere of its annual trailer starring the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.

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It was directed by film and advertising director Ivan Zacharias and is set in the Hotel Gellert, an art nouveau hotel in Budapest. With Depp working in Europe at the time of production, a stopover in Hungary fit into his work schedule, the fest noted. Right at the start of the shoot he told me that he would prefer to improvise, said Zacharias. I was initially a bit taken aback, but it turned out to be a great idea, since Johnny ended up putting even more of his own personality into the trailer.

Concluded the director: We had great fun. The shoot took only two and a half hours, according to fest organizers. But Depp seemed in no rush to leave. When we were done, he still wanted to chat even though a plane was waiting for him, recalled Zacharias.

The Czech festival has been a supporter of the sometimes controversial actor, inviting Depp as its guest of honor in 2021, where he presented two films produced by him, music documentary Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan and Andrew Levitas Japan-set drama Minamata, in which he also starred.

In May, festival organizers had unveiled that Depp would appear in this years fest trailer. On Wednesday, the fest in a statement detailed that the new trailer featuring Johnny Depp in the main role will have its premiere screening  at the official opening of the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. It added: It can also be viewed concurrently on the festivals online platform, KVIFF.TV, which besides the trailer will be streaming the entire opening ceremony. The trailer can thus be seen not just on the large plasma screens in Karlovy Vary, but also at home, including on computers, tablets and mobile telephones.

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Two years ago, Johnny Depp received an immensely warm welcome from audiences and fans, thanks to which he has become a great supporter of ours, said Karlovy Vary festival executive director Krystof Mucha. And so he agreed to film a trailer even though we were limited by his packed schedule. The trailer turned out great, and I am convinced that Johnny Depp will one day return to Vary in person.

The Karlovy Vary festival has a long tradition of featuring stars in trailers, which explore what artists who have received a Crystal Globe lifetime honor from the fest actually do with their statue. Among past trailer stars have been the likes of Mel Gibson, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Andy Garcia, Jude Law, Danny DeVito, Milos Forman and Casey Affleck.

The idea of shooting festival trailers featuring distinctive representatives of world cinema was born 15 years ago, the festival recently highlighted. The creative minds behind these micro-stories showing their subjects connection with the festival are directors Ivan Zacharias and Martin Krejci.

The 57th Karlovy Vary film festival runs until July 8.

Watch the new festival trailer, starring Depp, below.

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Click here to read the full article.
The post Jonathan Majors Pattern of Alleged Physical and Emotional Abuse Detailed By More Than 20 People appeared first on Consequence.

A new report from Rolling Stone details Jonathan Majors pattern of alleged extreme behavior that dates back to his time as a student at Yale University. The Marvel actor is currently facing criminal charges in New York City for an alleged altercation with his ex-girlfriend. The case is scheduled to go to trial on August 3rd.

Rolling Stones report cites more than 20 sources in detailing Majors history of alleged physical, mental, and emotional abuse. More than a dozen sources specifically claimed that Majors abused two former romantic partners, including one physically. Many of the sources who spoke to Rolling Stone asked not to be named for fear of retaliation.

Jonathan Majors vehemently denies Rolling Stones false allegations that he physically, verbally, or emotionally abused anyone, let alone any of his past romantic partners, Majors attorney, Dustin A. Pusch, said in in a statement. These allegations are based entirely on hearsay because neither of the romantic partners referenced were willing to engage with Rolling Stone for the articledemonstrating their outright falsity.

Majors is also accused of engaging in unprofessional behavior on the set of his upcoming film Magazine Dreams, including an incident in which he allegedly pushed someone.

Majors allegedly exhibited similar behavior while taking acting classes at Yale. His behavior was very problematic for his class, a Yale alumni told Rolling Stone. A lot of people felt in physical danger around him and certainly in mentally precarious positions because of him.

The allegations that Mr. Majors got physical with or physically intimidated anyone on any movie set are downright false, Pusch said in the statement to Rolling Stone. Everyone who has worked with Mr. Majors knows that he employs an immersive Method acting style, and while that can be misconstrued as rudeness at times, those who know Mr. Majors and work in the industry have attested to his dedication to his craft as well as his kindness.

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Following his arrest, Majors was dropped by both his talent manager and publicist, and also reportedly lost several film roles. As it stands now, however, Magazine Dreams is still slated to premiere in theaters in December. Majors also remains attached to reprise his character Kang the Conqueror in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty  though Marvel did recently push back the films release date by a year.

You can read Rolling Stones full report here.

Jonathan Majors Pattern of Alleged Physical and Emotional Abuse Detailed By More Than 20 People

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A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked Kentucky Senate Bill 150, which would have prohibited transgender minors from receiving several forms of gender-affirming care. The ruling stops the law from taking effect while other courts hear challenges to the law.

Based on the evidence submitted, the court finds that the treatments barred by SB 150 are medically appropriate and necessary for some transgender children These drugs have a long history of safe use in minors for various conditions, US District Judge David J. Hale said in his ruling.

The law banned healthcare providers from prescribing treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy to most minors. The law also barred gender-affirming surgeries on minors who have not been diagnosed with an intersex condition.

The plaintiffs in the case were seven transgender minors and their parents who sued the state over the law arguing that it violated the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Senate Bill 150 called for healthcare providers to end treatment for patients already receiving puberty blockers or hormone therapy. The bill also aimed to prevent schools from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity with students of any age and allowed educators to refuse to refer to transgender students by their preferred pronouns.

CNN previously reported that Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear had vetoed the bill back in March but it was overridden by Republican lawmakers.

Senate Bill 150 allows too much government interference in personal healthcare issues and rips away the freedom of parents to make medical decisions for their children, the governor said in the statement in March.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron called the courts decision misguided in a statement on Twitter. He was among the defendants named in the suit seeking to block the law from taking effect.

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Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny/Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy

"It's incredibly emotional, actually," Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy says of bidding farewell to Indiana Jones. "I think for all of us that have been involved across all the movies, it didn't really hit us until probably Cannes, where we saw the movie with an audience and realized that this was really the culmination of so much work, and that we were saying goodbye to this iconic character."

Kennedy and her husband Frank Marshall have been part of the Indiana Jones story since the very beginning. Marshall was a producer on 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, with Kennedy credited as an associate to one Steven Spielberg.

The pair have worked on every single Indy movie since  and now, 42 years later, GamesRadar+ meets with the duo to discuss Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth and final outing for Harrison Ford's most legendary of adventurers.

A date with destiny

Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

While Indy is back for one last quest, 2008's Kingdom of the Crystal Skull seemed to put the bow on the franchise, giving Indy a happily ever after that saw him marry Karen Allen's Marion Ravenwood. "I think this was really more Steven and Harrison, they both felt very strongly that they hadn't really quite wrapped things up the way they wanted," says Kennedy of why they wanted to revisit the franchise after that apparently definitive ending. "More importantly, for Harrison and his character, he wanted a final chapter. He was ready; he's 80 years old but he's in great shape, very together. He wasn't quite ready to say goodbye  now he is."

As much as Ford wanted to revisit the character, though, Kennedy says he would only don that fedora again for good reason. "What's great about Harrison is he wouldn't have returned if he didn't have a story and a script that he really liked and really cared about," she says. "And that was what we talked about most of the time, was just trying to get this story right, trying to find, 'What are the values that mean so much to everybody who loves this series? How do we bring this to a closure that people really feel is significant and adds up to something?' And identifying this theme of time was really important. Once we had that, I think he was very invested in working on that."

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But while Ford returned, Spielberg handed directing reins over to Logan helmer James Mangold in a first for the franchise. Spielberg was still involved as an executive producer, though  as was Indiana Jones creator George Lucas.

"They had a wealth of knowledge and experience of what went into these movies before," says Kennedy of their input into Dial of Destiny. "That was hugely beneficial to Jim [Mangold]. Jim was stepping into some very big shoes, and having them there and knowing that he had the two of them to ask questions if he needed it  same thing with John Williams being a part of this, and knowing that he had the maestro bringing back the music that we all know and love. That's what all three of them brought to this for Jim and for all of us, so that it feels like it's a very seamless transition."

Time and place

Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones 5

Every Indiana Jones movie needs a fantastical artefact rooted in legend at its heart, and Dial of Destiny is no different. "It's the mythology," explains Marshall. "Starting with the Ark of the Covenant, and what the mythology of that was, each movie has a single MacGuffin  or thing that Indy's trying to find  and the audience learns at the same time. It's not something that we make up. It's something that's there in history."

Dial of Destiny is all about a device from an area of the past that the franchise has so far left unexplored: the Antikythera, a scientific instrument from ancient Greece used to predict astronomical events and positions. In the film, the mechanism was built by famed inventor Archimedes and has extraordinary powers that could alter the course of history.

"We always start in these story discussions [with], 'What is our MacGuffin?'" shares Kennedy. "All of us have to become Indiana Jones when we ask that question, because what is so meaningful that he's going to devote his life and risk his life to trying to find it? And so that sends us always on a journey of discovery to figure out what that might be.

"Identifying this amazing machine of time, the Antikythera, and being able to go after that, and just the wonder surrounding what that was, and the fact that it was real, and that people believed in its power; that's what's been so great about the stories inside of Indiana Jones, you actually learn something," she continues. "We're dealing with things that we haven't just made up out of whole cloth."

The Antikythera and its incredible capabilities takes the film in a bold, unexpected direction  so much so that even Kennedy was surprised by the finished product.

"It was one thing to read it and think about where we were going, [but] when we started to actually execute and see it, I remember feeling incredibly delighted," says Kennedy. "It went even beyond what I thought it was going to be on the page. That is the fun thing about making movies, because you do get surprised as a filmmaker. That's where the magic of movies happens. And I think that was very much something that happened with this."

Marshall agrees. "Seeing these things come to life is part of what's exciting about what we do," he says. "It's like having a big train set, and creating, and you're taking all these pieces and putting them together." He adds that his "favorite part" was actually shooting the opening scene, which sees a de-aged Indy fight Nazis on a moving steam train.

"I just love trains, and we always have a train in the movie," Marshall continues. "Seeing it come together is something that makes it so exciting after you've read it. [You can] picture it in your mind, but I have to say Jim really was great at creating these really amazing scenes with all the people that we have to work with, and that we collaborate with, and the art department, and the scenics, and the props, and the costumes and all that, and everybody comes together  and that's when it's fantastic, when you arrive on the set and here's this whole spectacular scene. That's when it really comes to life."

Fortune and glory

Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Dial of Destiny is arriving 15 years after Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, meaning it's set to introduce Indiana Jones to a whole new generation of moviegoers.

"There's nothing better than to be involved in things that have a generational passing," says Kennedy. "What I've found that's so great about this movie coming out [is] the number of people I've talked to who've said, 'Oh, I couldn't wait to sit down and show my kids and have them see from Raiders on before they go and see this movie.' That's what's great. It's the same thing with Star Wars, that generational investment is something that I think people really value."

"We've also found that a whole lot of people were inspired to become archaeologists and go into science because Indy is such a likeable character, and he's so passionate about what he does," adds Marshall. "So that's really rewarding, too."

It's not just the audience's lives who've been changed by Indy, either. As Kennedy explains, the franchise has sent her on real adventures. "All the travelling we did together, all of us literally saw the world, because it wasn't just the places we shot, but it was the places we went to figure out if that's where we were going to shoot," she says. "That doesn't go on very much anymore in movies. That was a very unique time, where we knew we were always going to be in at least four or five countries, shooting and exploring that  and exploring the world  to figure out where our adventures would go. That's a really memorable part of Indy for me."

Marshall recalls another life-changing moment. "Oh, I'd have to say it's when I met Kathy," he grins of his favorite Indy memory. ("Thanks, hon," laughs Kennedy.)

Naturally, the duo also have unique insight into their favorite moments from the films themselves. "I think the rolling ball sequence for me," says Marshall, referencing that famous Raiders of the Lost Ark moment. "What Steven always does is he challenges his producers  how're we going to do this? And I remember him saying, 'Well, we have to have a real rolling ball.'" Marshall pauses to laugh: "'How are we going to do that?'"

Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark

"And so we challenged the technicians and the crew to come up with this," he continues. "We had a real, gigantic, very heavy rolling ball that Harrison had to run from. 'Make sure you don't trip!' But I think that sequence, reading it in the script, you couldn't visualize, really, what it was going to look like. Obviously, Steven's a fantastic filmmaker, and in his mind, he saw all those shots and that's what makes it so exciting."

As for Kennedy, her favorite moment involves Indy's worst nightmare: snakes. "I would say that it's the snakes in the Well of Souls," she says, another Raiders of the Lost Ark scene. "And actually executing that was insane."

"That was another one: 'How are we going to do that?'" Marshall interjects with a chuckle.

"We got 7000 glass snakes from Holland," Kennedy continues. "I hate snakes. I hate snakes as much as Indiana Jones hates snakes. But we all got to the point where literally, everybody was comfortable literally just picking up handfuls of snakes and moving them."

"When you know they can't hurt you, even though they still feel really eeugh" Marshall shudders, adding: "There still are several snakes out at Elstree They got loose and they were on people's doorsteps."

"Which is true," Kennedy laughs.

Clearly, these films have given Kennedy and Marshall a lifetime's worth of memories over the last 42 years  just as so many fans have had Indy as a companion through the decades. When asked why Indiana Jones is such an enduring icon, Kennedy and Marshall give thoughtful answers.

"In an interesting way, I think it's the extension of the cowboy," Kennedy says. "That silhouette. There's a promise, an independence in that character, and instantly he feels heroic. It was brilliant that George came up with the idea that he had a whip. That was such a unique concept, that he would have this whip. All of those things just contributes to this  he's very much a man's man, that's very appealing."

"He's heroic, but he's not a superhero," chimes in Marshall. "And that's what people identify with; he makes mistakes, he's fallible, he gets hurt. But he's also very funny, and he can make light of things  but he's also curious, and he wants to go on these adventures to find things that belong in a museum."

One last adventure

Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Indy might be an immortal fixture of pop culture, but Ford has been very clear that this is his last time as the character. Does that mean the book is closed on the world of Indiana Jones forever?

Marshall, for his part, has a pitch for a spin-off ready to go. "There is one thing that people don't know, that when the Flying Wing in Raiders of the Lost Ark blows up, the pilot actually escaped," he jokes, referencing his own Raiders cameo. "And there's going to be a spin-off series starring me." ("That'll be huge. 10 people will show up," Kennedy laughs).

The serious answer, though, is that nothing is set in stone just yet. "We're in a culture now where I think that that's an expectation from the audience," Kennedy says of potential continuations focusing on Ke Huy Quan's Short Round, or Phoebe Waller-Bridge's newcomer Helena Shaw. "They think, 'Oh, that's what's going to happen next.' Right now, we're all just very focused on just allowing this to have its moment and its time and be complete.

"And if we go on and do animation, or we carry on with Short Round  which certainly with Ke Huy Quan being so popular now coming off of Everything [Everywhere All at Once]  and Phoebe, what a wonderful actress she is," she continues. "So I would never sit here and say, 'Never say never.' But it's not something that we're in the midst of developing at the moment."

This very well could be the end of one of cinema's most celebrated sagas, then  but as the last 42 years have proved, Indiana Jones has a legacy that will live forever.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is in UK cinemas now and arrives in US theaters this June 30. For even more on the film, check out our other pieces through the links below:
Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner in happier times Getty Images

Kevin Costner's estranged wife filed new documents in their divorce battle on Wednesday.

Christine Baumgartner said she'd move out of their house if he agrees to her child support ask.

Baumgartner, who makes no income, also accused Costner of canceling her credit card.

Kevin Costner's estranged spouse claimed that the actor has limited her funds after she sought a divorce, and as she is seeking a six-figure monthly child support payment.

In court filings, Christine Baumgartner claimed that she would agree to move out of their Santa Barbara beach compound by the end of the summer, if the actor signs off on a $248,000 monthly child support payment.

The couple were married for close to 20 years before separating, citing irreconcilable differences.

Throughout the last few weeks in the acrimonious case, she claimed that Costner has low-balled her with a $30,000 a month child support offer, and has also canceled a credit card, leaving her with limited funds as a stay at home mom with no income.

"He canceled one of my credit cards, and substantially reduced my credit limit on my second credit card far below the status quo levels, all without any advance notice to me," Baumgartner said in a June 28 filing.

The filings come a week before the pair are set to meet in court.

"Kevin's statementthat I have 'refused' to move out is simply not true," Baumgartner said in her latest divorce declaration. "Since the initiation of this divorce, I have repeatedly told Kevin (both directly and through counsel) that I would move out once a child support order or agreement was in place. And I have taken steps to demonstrate my commitment to doing so by investigating available housing options."

They share three children, Cayden, 14, Hayes, 14 and Grace, 13. Baumgartner has claimed that she needs the $248,000 a month to help support the luxe life that the children are accustomed to.

In previous filings, Baumgartner has said she has no assets other than $50,000 in her checking account. Baumgartner claimed that Costner made $19 million last year, and covered all of the families $6.6 million in expenses.

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After Baumgartner filed for divorce last month, Costner filed a motion to evict her from their marital home, citing a clause in their prenuptial agreement which allegedly gave her 30 days to move out after divorce proceedings began.

The "Yellowstone" actor also claimed that he paid his estranged spouse $1 million for a new house, offering to pay the mortgage, insurance, and taxes for a year, per court documents.

Baumgartner accused Costner of trying to move her and the children out of the house before a child support order was in place, which he has denied.

"Kevin wants me to rent a place without a financial plan in place," Baumgartner said in the June 28 declaration. "However, I have our three children to think about. It is contrary to their best interests to commit to a rental that I may not be able to afford, particularly as that would ultimately lead to multiple relocations."

Lawyers for Baumgartner and Costner did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
Kris Jenner may have dined all over the world, but it seems she still has no clue how much In-N-Out Burger costs.

In a new episode of The Kardashians, the reality TV family gathered at an In-N-Out Burger after Khloes attempt to surprise her big sister Kim with a girls trip to Las Vegas for her 42nd birthday didnt go according to plan.

After inclement weather forced the group to return to Los Angeles, the crew  aka Kim and Khloe Kardashian, their mom Jenner and a group of friends  headed to the California staple burger joint to try and salvage the evening.

Not long after they arrived at the fast food spot in a party van still dressed in their revealing clubwear, Jenner announced that she had some money to pay for the food.

Moments later, while waiting in line as everyone placed their orders, the iconic momager dug into her purse for cash to hand over to Khloe.

The Good American founder then began teasing her mom after realizing the 67-year-old had given her a whopping $300 to cover the tab.

Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner.

Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner.

I dont know how the fuck you have never been to a fast-food restaurant. We dont need hundreds of dollars, Khloe said to Jenner with a look of shock written all over her face.

Keeping the jesting going, she then told the camera, My mom gave me $100. She tried to give me $300. I dont think she realized how much fast-food restaurants are.

After everyone finished rattling off their orders  which included multiple cheeseburgers, fries, six soft drinks and a chocolate shake  their total order landed at $59.20. The meal was, of course, taken care of thanks to the $100 bill that Jenner gave Khloe.

Naturally, this isnt the first time the famous family has appeared out of touch with regular life.

Last year, Jenner and her daughter Kylie, 25, were criticized on Twitter after the pair decided to spend an afternoon doing normal things, such as grocery shopping and pumping their own gas while filming for The Kardashians.

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See tweets below about the ill-received reality TV moment.

Watching Kylie and Kris Jenner have a day of fun doing shit like grocery shopping and pumping their own gas has my cringing so much lol like almost as bad as Kendall cutting the cucumber last week #Privilege#TheKardashians  Abby Marie (@abs_mariee) May 26, 2022

Watching Kris and Kylie Jenner try to do something as normal as getting a car wash and pump gas and be so lost and excited about it is killing me  Jess (@theblondeemo) May 26, 2022

This episode of #TheKardashians where Kylie and Kris go to the grocery store and lose their shit is absolutely hilarious and sad.  Kara (@BA7Kara) May 26, 2022

The third season of The Kardashians is streaming on Hulu now.

Related...
Parents of middle school students are encouraged to sign up their children for the Fremont Opera House Middle School Drama/Music Camp.

The camp will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 17-21 at the opera house.

Cost is $100 for the five days, participation in a show, two complimentary tickets and a T-shirt. The performances will be 3:30 and 5:30 p.m., Friday July 21.

Students will have the opportunity to meet new friends and learn performance techniques while having a lot of fun

Go to fremontoperahouse.org to sign up by July 5.
Credits: Lucasfilm

Should fans be aware of any end, mid, or post-credits scenes once Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is over? More than 40 years after his first silver screen foray, the famous archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is finally back with another adventure. Heres what you need to know about any additional footage in Dial of Destiny, spoiler free.

Is there an Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny post-credits scene?

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ends with no post-credits scene.

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While more and more movies feature additional footage once the credits start rolling, it isnt the case with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Still, watching the entire credits is a nice way to pay homage to all those who worked to make this film happen. To say it all, the James Mangold-directed movie takes its time to develop the story and doesnt need a post-credit scene. The fifth installment is the longest in the Indiana Jones film series, running for 154 minutes and 17 seconds.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is likely the last Indy adventure. Portrayed by Star Wars alum Harrison Ford, the character made his first appearance in the 1981s Raiders of the Lost Ark before returning in 1984s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 1989s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and 2008s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Unlike the previous films, which are set primarily in the 1930s, the events of Dial of Destiny go down in the 1960s.

Dial of Destiny is the first Indy movie that doesnt feature Steven Spielberg as director nor George Lucas as screenwriter. It sees the return of John Rhys-Davies as Sallah and Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood from earlier films. The cast includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, and Mads Mikkelsen, among others.

The post How Many Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny End, Mid & Post-Credits Scenes Are There? appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
The post Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk May Fight in Roman Colosseum appeared first on Consequence.

The proposed cage fight between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk could take place at Romes historic Colosseum.

TMZ reports that Italys Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, has reached out to Zuckerberg and Musk about hosting the fight. Sangiuliano has also been in touch with UFC president Dana White, who will help promote the match if it does in fact take place.

The nearly 2,000-year-old Colosseum is considered one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Though it is one of Italys most popular tourist attraction, most of the Colosseum is in ruins and has a limited capacity inside of the venue. Paul McCartney previously staged a charity concert at the Colosseum for 400 lucky fans who were in attendance.

Earlier this month, following reports that Zuckerbergs Meta was developing its own text-based social media platform to compete with Musks Twitter, Musk challenged his fellow tech mogul to a cage fight. Zuckerberg, who began training in Brazilian jiujitsu during the pandemic, accepted the challenge.

In the weeks since then, Zuckerberg and Musk have both been adamant about going through with the fight, with Musk even posting training photos. However, Musks mother has publicly encouraged her son to cancel the physical bout and do a verbal fight instead.

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk May Fight in Roman Colosseum

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Michael Douglas shared a thoughtful tribute of late co-star Alan Arkin, his onscreen best friend in the "The Kominsky Method."

Arkin's representative Melody Korenbrot confirmed his death at 89 to USA TODAY on Friday.

"Today we lost a wonderful actor whose intelligence, sense of comedy and consummate professionalism over the past 70 years has left an indelible mark on our industry," the "Ant-Man" actor wrote in the caption of his Instagram post, a photo with the late Oscar winner. "My experience of working with Alan were some of my most memorable. He will be deeply missed."

Tributes from other stars have also come pouring in since the actor's death.

John Cusack, Billy Crystal remember co-star Alan Arkin

John Cusack, who worked with Arkin in several movies including "America's Sweethearts," recalled the first time he met the late actor on Twitter.

"Met Alan on bullets over broadway - I had some books with me - he said what you need is a proper satchel," Cusack wrote. "So he grabbed me and we walked around New York he showed me where to get a bag."

"I got one - now yr all set - We went to lunch and talked about everything under the sun. I was meeting a hero of mine - and he couldnt have been kinder," the "Say Anything" actor added.

Alan Arkin: Oscar-winning actor, 'Kominsky Method' and 'Little Miss Sunshine' star, dies at 89

"Alan Arkin was one of our greatest actors," Billy Crystal said on Twitter, citing his time working with Arkin on "America's Sweethearts." "Hilarious, heartbreaking, and the ability to be terrifying, his range was amazing."

Alan Arkin was one of our greatest actors. Hilarious, heartbreaking, and the ability to be terrifying, his range was amazing. I cherish the chance I had to act with him in #Americas Sweethearts. https://t.co/s7qyVpNjGe  Billy Crystal (@BillyCrystal) June 30, 2023

"Abbott Elementary" star Sheryl Lee Ralph also shared her thoughts on Arkin's death, tweeting, "I know we all die but some how I thought hed live forever. RIP Mr. Alan Arkin."

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I know we all die but some how I thought hed live forever . RIP Mr. Alan Arkin https://t.co/SDJEXsfPqg  sheryl lee ralph (@thesherylralph) June 30, 2023

"Better Call Saul" actor Michael McKean described how Arkin influenced him growing up.

"When I was a young actor people wanted to know if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny one," McKean said in a tweet. "I'd answer 'Which kind is Alan Arkin?' and that shut them up."

"Rest in peace, Alan. Nobody better, ever," he added.

When I was a young actor people wanted to know if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny one. I'd answer "Which kind is Alan Arkin?" and that shut them up.  Michael McKean (@MJMcKean) June 30, 2023

"#ripAlanArkin Such a wonderful, original voice for comedy," Jason Alexander wrote on Twitter. "And on the few occasions I was in his presence, a kind and generous soul. I learned so much from watching him."

#ripAlanArkin Such a wonderful, original voice for comedy. And on the few occasions I was in his presence, a kind and generous soul. I learned so much from watching him. And the laughs I got from his glorious work seem endless. May he rest well.  jason alexander (@IJasonAlexander) June 30, 2023

Patton Oswalt shared four photos of Arkin from a range of roles on Twitter, writing "Did ANYONE have the range Alan Arkin had? Hilarious, sinister, insane, tragic. No mood he couldnt live in."

Did ANYONE have the range Alan Arkin had? Hilarious, sinister, insane, tragic. No mood he couldnt live in. RIP. pic.twitter.com/pUVa5j8Tqc  Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) June 30, 2023

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alan Arkin's death: Michael Douglas tributes 'Kominsky Method' co-star
A 9-year-old migrant boy died in Mesa after crossing the border and experiencing seizures during the trek in southern Arizona.

The boy died after succumbing to his medical complications, which may have stemmed from heat during the walk, according to his mother. The boy was diagnosed with multi-organ failure and was placed on life support when he arrived at the Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa.

It remains unclear if the boy was pronounced dead on June 16 or June 17. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not provide additional details regarding the date of the boy's death.

The Maricopa Medical Examiners Office will not be performing an autopsy.

Bruce Anderson, Ph.D., a forensic anthropologist for the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, examines the remains of a male between the ages of 18 and 40, found June 5, 2010, on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in southern Arizona. The desert's heat can be unrelenting and fatal with many migrants falling victim as they attempt to cross.

The remote southern Arizona desert is notorious for extremely high temperatures that often take the lives of migrants who are walking. There have been 13 migrant deaths from environmental exposure in southern Arizona thus far in fiscal year 2023, according to the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner.

The mother and her two sons first crossed into the U.S. at 2:30 a.m. June 15 alongside an unknown male migrant, per CBP. At 9:30 p.m., the mother decided to call 911 from her cellphone because of her sons condition and the fact that they had been without fluids for an hour and a half.

The mothers call and approximate GPS coordinates were then transferred over to Border Patrol agents with the Nogales station. The mother said her son was experiencing seizures.

The Arizona-based humanitarian group, Battalion Search and Rescue, is composed of a handful of volunteers who focus on searching for and locating migrants in distress and migrant remains. The group searched a ravine near Nogales on Saturday, July 23, 2022.

The womans son did not have preexisting medical issues, the woman told CBP.

After about 20 minutes, the mother saw a helicopter that shined a light on the family to find them. The National Guard Air Unit found the family near Amado at the coordinates provided at 10:01 p.m.

'You put yourself in incredible peril': Extreme heat can be deadly for border crossers, officials warn

Tubac Fire Department EMS personnel found the family on foot at 10:17 p.m. and conducted a trauma assessment of the 9-year-old boy, which consisted of checking for broken bones and bleeding.

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A dummy weighing 220 pounds is carried for several hundred yards to reenact what Border Patrol agents do when encountering a migrant who is ill. The simulation was part of an event on July 8, 2021, at the Arizona-Mexico border near Yuma emphasizing the danger of border crossing without documentation in extreme heat.

EMS personnel then began carrying the boy toward an ambulance alongside a Border Patrol agent who arrived on foot. Another agent then drove the boy to the ambulance on an ATV while a Fire Department EMT held him.

Paramedics and EMTs began medical treatment on the boy by administering intravenous fluids when they reached the ambulance. Tubac Fire Department medical personnel transported the boy to Northwest Medical Center in Sahuarita at 10:54 p.m., where agents established a hospital watch.

The boy was flown to Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa on June 16 at 2:45 p.m. when medical personnel diagnosed him with multi-organ failure and placed him on life support.

The remote southern Arizona desert is notorious for extremely high temperatures that often take the lives of migrants who are walking.

The Border Patrol finished administrative processing of the mother and her children at 7:24 p.m. and advised hospital staff that the family was no longer in Border Patrol custody. It was not immediately clear where the mother and surviving son were.

The death is under review by CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility. The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General also was notified.

Have a news tip or story idea about the border and its communities? Contact the reporter at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or connect with him on Twitter @joseicastaneda.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY: Act now, to get the best in local journalism. Subscribe at https://subscribe.azcentral.com/offers.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Migrant boy dies in Mesa after experiencing seizures, organ failure
Art historians have insisted there was no way to improve on Leonardo Da Vincis masterpiece the Mona Lisa. Then came Is It Cake, Too?"

In Season 2 of Netflixs baking competition (now streaming), in which artisans try to fool judges with hyperrealistic culinary creations, contestant Miko Kaw Hok Uy gave the worlds most famous painting an upgrade so delicious it might finally explain Mona Lisa's mysterious smile.

The classic oil-on-canvas was re-created entirely with cake  layers of dark chocolate with peanut butter buttercream filling. peanut brittle and a crowning flourish of raspberry puree drizzle.

Everything you see with this Mona Lisa is edible, including the frame, which is made of chocolate, says Uy, a New York City artisan. I even used edible paints.

(L to R) Host Mikey Day and artist Miko Kaw Hok Uy cut into a masterpiece on "Is it Cake, Too?"

Contestants in 2022's viral hit "Is It Cake?," hosted by Mikey Day ("Saturday Night Live"), painstakingly re-created objects such as a bowling ball, stacked red Solo cups and leather purses. But Uy (dubbed "Miko-Angelo" on the show) was undaunted by the fine-art masterpiece challenge gunning for the second season's $75,000 grand prize.

"No one has ever attempted anything like this on the show. Just the sheer spectacle of it was remarkable," says executive producer Dan Cutforth. "It did seem like that would be impossible. But he defied all expectations."

Uy, who began showing painting talent at age 4, was able to lean into his training with a major in painting and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines. Unlike Da Vinci, he was given just 10 hours to create his Mona Lisa cake.

Miko Kaw Hok Uy paints his masterpiece in "Is It Cake Too?"

How do you paint the Mona Lisa on a cake?

The stacked cakes were covered with a layer of tempered chocolate, which became the canvas. Tempered chocolate was also vital for the ornate frame, poured into molds taken from one of the show's Mona Lisa replicas (suffice to it say the original remains in The Louvre in Paris).

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The hard frame, detailed with a knife heated with a blowtorch, was painted with realistic gold coloring  edible gold dust mixed with vodka. (Pro tip: Vodka makes paint dry faster.)

Most of Uy's time on the show was spent painstakingly painting the Mona Lisa on the tempered chocolate canvas.

"The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. So everything had to be precise," Uy says. "Make one thing off and everyone knows it's a fake. And you really have to capture that smile. That was the most difficult part."

(L to R) Judges Jade Catta-Preta, Chris Redd, Taylor Tomlinson eat the Mona Lisa on "Is It Cake, Too."

Uy experienced moments of contained panic wondering if he could re-create the painting in time. But just before the deadline, it was clear he "nailed it."

"I am very proud of it, especially given the time limit. If you put them side by side, it could pass as the original."

We won't spoil how the painting fared in the show's competition when placed next to three replicas. But we can say that celebrity judges Jade Catta-Preta, Chris Redd and Taylor Tomlinson were blown away, even with the painting under close scrutiny. And they found it far tastier than the original. All "Is It Cake?" creations must taste divine or the baker is heavily penalized. "Oh my God, if the cake is not delicious, it's a deal breaker," Uy says.

Most importantly, Uy wanted to honor his art-encouraging parents, and even Da Vinci himself.

"I really hope I made him proud. He's one of my idols. This is one of my best works; I've always wanted to make a life-sized Mona Lisa."

The 'Is It Cake, Too?' crab creation was more real than the crab

On the other end of the cake spectrum was the crab creation, a masterpiece from the sea. Liz Marek, creator of the online decorating school Sugar Geek Show, looked to impress judges with her small but lifelike crab. She, too, stressed out over the intricate legs, claws and realistic shell on deadline.

"In the moment, it was like this is the worst thing I've ever done," Marek says. "I was literally sculpting right next to the real crab, putting all the little teeth on the claws, and the barnacles."

But the cake looked more real than the actual crab brought onto the show (which was so fresh it popped to life on the set, startling Marek). And the creation  a lemon cake with raspberry buttercream filling covered with a shell of modeling chocolate, painted to perfection with edible food coloring  was a hit.

"The cake gods were with me, for sure."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is It Cake, Too?: How Mona Lisa masterpiece turns dessert on Netflix
A call about an injured animal in the middle of a Kansas City area highway was not your typical animal control call.

You have some questions about our kangaroo? asked Capt. Mike Krauze with the Bonner Springs Police Department when he returned The Stars call Thursday.

Indeed we did.

Authorities first became aware of the unusual animal Wednesday night when a person called Edwardsville police about 9 p.m., Krauze said.

The caller was driving on Interstate 435 and had spotted a baby kangaroo in the median near Kansas 32 highway, he said.

Edwardsville officers along with Bonner Springs Animal Control responded and once there noticed what they initially thought was an injured wallaby, Krauze said.

It was in the middle of the night when my officers got out there, he said as a way to explain the mix up. Theyre not exactly experts. So we were dealing with what we thought. But it is a kangaroo joey. Its a baby kangaroo.

Using a net, Bonner Springs animal control officer Kendra Anthony was able to trap the animal and then assist Edwardsville Police officers in getting it to safety. They brought the joey to the Bonner Springs animal control facility were it was being cared for until its owner could pick it up.

It is believed that the animal escaped from the Thorni Ridge Exotics mobile petting zoo out of Smithton, Missouri, which is is about 100 miles southeast of the Kansas city area, Krauze said.

In an effort to find the animals owner, Edwardsville police posted photos on Facebook, Edwardsville Police Chief Mark Mathies said in an email.

A tip came in via Facebook Messenger detailing an event at the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Library which included a mobile exotic petting zoo. A kangaroo was part of the experience.

Unbeknownst to the vehicles driver, during transport back to their facility, the kangaroo escaped the vehicle through an open window, Mathies said.

Detectives located the owner and returned the kangaroo. The owner agreed to seek veterinary car for the joeys injuries, he said.

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The injuries were minor, such as scrapes and scratches, Mathies said. It is believed the animal sustained the injures when falling from the vehicle.

Because the animal was from a petting zoo and had been around people, it wasnt too difficult to catch, Krauze said. It did take them a little bit.

Krauze started to compare the animal to what he thought would be normal for a kangaroo. He abruptly halted his sentence.

There is nothing normal about a kangaroo in the middle of 435, he said. This isnt Australia, so random kangaroos in the middle of the highway arent normal.

While unusual, dealing with exotic animals is not something unheard of for that part of the metro. In late 2021, a camel was seen roaming free on the streets of Bonner Springs and running down a highway before they were able to lasso it and end its grand adventure.

We had the camel  now we have the kangaroo, Krauze said. Lord only knows whats next.
Noon Friday, June 30 is the deadline to appear in next weeks Around Town listing. We must receive your event in writing with a contact phone number for questions. Submissions will be edited and appear in the week before the event date.

Email: lifestyle@bnd.com. Mail to: OFallon Around Town, Belleville News-Democrat, P.O. Box 427, Belleville, IL 62222-0427. Questions, call Jennifer Green at 618-239-2643.

Friday, June 30





 OFallon Knights of Columbus & Ladies Auxiliary Fish Fry  11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. Knights of Columbus Hall, 402 E. U.S. 50, OFallon. Traditional menu of cod, tilapia, catfish, hamburgers, hot dogs, pork steaks and several side dishes. Dine-in and carryout. Credit cards accepted. Orders can be called in at 618-632-6229. facebook.com/KnightsOfColumbus4239

 Shiloh Eagles Fish Fry  5-7 p.m. Shiloh Eagles 545, 100 Eagle Drive, Shiloh. Cod, walleye, catfish, shrimp and sides. Full menu. Dine-in or carryout available. For carryout, call 618-624-5412. facebook.com/shiloheagles545

Saturday, July 1

 Vine Street Market at OFallon Station  8 a.m. to noon. OFallon Station, 212 E. 1st St., OFallon. Locally grown vegetables, flowers, fruits, eggs, cheese and meats. A selection of bakers and sweet treats along with coffee, craft brew beverages and artisans. Live music, patio seating, food truck on site. Bicycle and pet friendly. 618-624-0139 or ofallonvinestreetmarket.com.

Monday, July 3

 Fireworks Over OFallon  Dusk (approximately 8:30 p.m.). The fireworks will be launched near the west entrance of the OFallon Family Sports Park. Spectators are asked to park only in designated parking areas. There will be no parking in the grass or side of roadways in the Sports Park. Once all the parking spots are filled, no other vehicles will be allowed in the Sports Park. People may still access the park on foot and watch the fireworks from grass areas. The turf fields and baseball restrooms will be closed. Restrooms near the Splash Pad and north side of the park will be open. There will also be parking restrictions on the north side of West Nixon and West Madison. Parking will be prohibited on Venita Drive and Taylor Road. Venita Drive and the west entrance of the Family Sports Park will be closed to traffic approximately five minutes before the firework show begins and reopened immediately following the completion of the show. At the end of the show, signs and police officers will direct vehicles towards either the East or West exit of the Sports Park (depending on where you parked). Please be patient and expect delays leaving the Sports Park.

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Wednesday, July 5

 National Alliance on Mental Illness: NAMI Connection Recovery Support Group  6:30-8 p.m. Online via Zoom. Free peer-to-peer support group for adults with a mental health condition working towards recovery. Every Wednesday. Open the Zoom app and enter 3914844542. For information: kelly.nami.swi@gmail.com or 618-798-9788.

Thursday, July 6

 St. Clair County Genealogical Society  7 p.m. Online via Zoom. Program: Deeds and Patents in Genealogical Research presented by John Barr, a genealogist for Old Northwest Genealogy. The meeting is open to the public, but space is limited. Reservation information is at stclair-ilgs.org/events or facebook.com/STCCGSIL.

Other area events

 Great Illinois River Raft Race  3 p.m. Saturday, July 8. Hardin. Two raft races and a kayak race will highlight a full day of river-focused activities starting at 3 p.m. and ending at midnight. The raft races  featuring two separate classes of homemade rafts  begin at 4 p.m. Entry fees are $20 per person before July 8 and $30 the day of the race. Registration is on-going through July 8. Participants can register online at illinoisriverraftrace.com. Day includes a bags competition, a kayak raffle, a basket drop, live music, bounce houses, food, beer garden, vendors and games. Radio station 92.3 will also do a live remote from the Hardin riverfront from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be a fireworks show taking place at dark. The event is free and open to the public.

 OFallon Township Senior Committee  5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 20. Township Building, 801 E. State St., OFallon. Dinner and entertainment. For Township residents only. Cost: $3. Reservation deadline is Friday, July 14.

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10 Fireworks safety recommendations to keep your Fourth of July fun

HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospital wants to remind community members that while fireworks can be fun, they can also be dangerous. According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, there were an estimated 10,163 fireworks-related injuries in America in 2022.

According to medical experts at HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospital, most injuries from fireworks occur to the hands or fingers, legs, face and eyes. Fireworks should be left to experts trained and certified so everyone can have a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Some safe firework and sparkler alternatives are party poppers, bubbles, silly string or glowsticks. These options provide the same amount of fun, but with less risk of harm for all involved.

If you do decide to use fireworks, here are 10 tips from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Make sure fireworks are legal in your area before purchasing. Never allow children to play with or ignite fireworks and watch them closely while playing with sparklers. Keep a bucket of water or garden hose nearby in case of fire or other mishap. Never use fireworks while impaired by alcohol or drugs. Dont forget about your pets. Fireworks can cause extreme stress to animals. Keep your pets indoors. Never place a part of your body directly over a firework or hold a firework in your hand while lighting. Light fireworks one at a time and move back to a safe distance quickly. Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not ignited fully. Soak all spent and unused fireworks in a bucket of water before throwing away in a trash can. Never discard fireworks in a fire pit. Only light fireworks on a smooth, flat surface away from houses, dry leaves and flammable materials. Avoid buying fireworks packaged in brown paper. This is often a sign they were made for professional use only.

For any minor fireworks-related injuries, HSHS St. Elizabeths Convenient Care is available without an appointment. It is located in the OFallon Medical Building at 1512 N. Green Mount Road in OFallon and is open seven days a week. Patients can seek care for minor illnesses, sprains and strains, minor lacerations, and more.

For more information about HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospital, visit steliz.org.

* * *

Students from area high schools, including Belleville East, Belleville West, OFallon Township, Highland, Civic Memorial, Althoff Catholic and First Baptist Academy, participated in a Healthcare Bootcamp at HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospital. The first-time event was offered to juniors and seniors interested in the health care field and provided a hands-on look into various health care roles and an opportunity to network with clinical professionals.

HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospital welcomes high school students from the area to a summer Healthcare Bootcamp

HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospital recently welcomed high school students from across southwestern Illinois for its first Healthcare Bootcamp event of the year. The bootcamp for juniors and seniors interested in a career in health care is designed to give students a realistic look into various health care roles while also allowing an opportunity to make connections in the field.

Through these job shadowing opportunities, students are able to understand the roles and responsibilities of a healthcare career by allowing them a deeper look, which in turn will provide motivation to learn the role of the career, type of education that is required, skills that are performed, and network with our health care professionals, says Gavin Halpin, community sourcing strategist at HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospital and organizer of the Healthcare Bootcamp. These students were able to experience hands-on skill sessions, and network with health care professionals from 11 departments.

Twenty-three students took part in HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospitals Healthcare Bootcamp on Tuesday, June 20. It included experiences in eleven different departments, which engaged students in a variety of ways and solidified their interest in health care. Students also shared that they enjoyed the positive and caring environment that HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospital provided them as guests. Interested students were able to talk directly to HSHS employment specialists about opportunities available to them in the field, opening a door in the healthcare industry before they graduate high school.

Funding for the bootcamp was provided by the HSHS St. Elizabeths Hospitals Foundation. The Foundation is proud to support the next generation of potential health care workers, says David Garris, the Foundations director. This community supports our hospitals in so many tangible ways, including the work we do to equip our colleagues to be the best in their field. This community outreach is key to inspiring young people to choose career paths in caring for our community.

Students from area high schools, including Belleville East, Belleville West, OFallon Township, Highland, Civic Memorial, Althoff Catholic and First Baptist Academy, participated in the bootcamp.

For those who did not take part in the bootcamp but are still interested in a job shadow opportunity with HSHS, future opportunities can be found at: hshs.org/careers/job-shadowing.
A climatologist at the University of Illinois recommends metro-east residents conserve water as much of the metro east region experiences severe drought.

Portions of metro-east counties St. Clair, Monroe, Clinton, Washington and Randolph reached the severe drought range this week, according to the latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Most of the metro-east has a deficit of about 4 to 10 inches compared to normal rainfall, Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford said. The highest deficits are in Monroe and Calhoun counties.

Severe drought typically hurts agriculture and leads to dormant lawns, and outdoor burn bans are often implemented, the U.S. Drought Monitor reports. Additionally, water levels may be low in rivers, lakes, ponds and wells.

Even moderate drought conditions can lead to ecological or agricultural stress, Ford said, and the U.S. Drought Monitor chart says firework bans are usually implemented at this stage.

Heres what to know about drought effects in southwestern Illinois.

How can you help conserve water in the metro-east?

Though water restrictions havent been formally enacted, Ford recommended residents take action to help mitigate the drought effects.

We should be conserving water for sure, even if were not asked to do so by our towns and villages, Ford said.

He says residents should limit watering their grass, and try to water before 7 a.m. or after 7 p.m. to minimize the loss of moisture through evaporation. Its more beneficial to water deeply and infrequently than it is to water lightly daily, Ford said, so consider watering once or twice each week.

Grass will go dormant as a form of defense against drought, but trees, especially young or immature ones, may not come back. Its important to keep an eye out for signs of stress on young trees, Ford said.

What burn bans and water restrictions are in place in the metro-east

Terry Mackin, director of communications for Illinois American Water Company in Belleville, said Thursday afternoon, There are no water restrictions or conservation measures in place by Illinois American Water due to weather or drought.

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Mackin explained at what point the company possibly would implement such restrictions.

Our focus is that all customers have reliable water service and high quality water, he said in an email. If we would reach a situation in which customer service or community fire protection was compromised, we might ask our customers to reduce water usage or conserve water temporarily.

Herb Simmons, director of St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency, also said the county has not implemented water restrictions at this time. With the Fourth of July around the corner, however, the county is weighing a possible burn ban, he said.

The only thing we talked about this morning, depending on how much rain we get from the thunderstorms being forecast, is a possible burn ban, Simmons said Thursday afternoon. The fire department said theyve been seeing a lot of brush fires. We have not decided (on a burn ban) yet and will wait for 24-48 hours. But we are keeping an eye on it. With the 4th of July coming up, its starting to raise the eyebrows.

Other nearby counties, including Clinton, Monroe, Randolph and Washington, have implemented burn bans until further notice. Burn also bans have been enacted in southern Illinois counties Franklin and Jefferson, WISL reported Tuesday.

Monroe County Emergency Management Agency said due to extremely dry conditions, any open burning constitutes a danger to life and properties. The fire ban includes the following:

No outdoor burning of any brush piles, leaves, branches, wood, trash, etc.

No personal Fireworks of any sort. No shooting of personal fireworks.

No Sky Lanterns are allowed to be ignited and released.

No fires are allowed except for Fire pits that have a safety containment fire ring AND screen/protective top for fire ring. All fire rings with screen/protective tops MUST be always supervised. Fire rings must be extinguished when unsupervised.

Municipalities and/or organizations that already have approved firework display permits are allowed to continue with displays/shows with fire department presence on site during the event, it said.

Even if your locality has not enacted a burn ban at this time, Ford advised residents to take caution when burning, avoid burning frivolously.

There is the hope drought conditions may be relieved to some degree soon, Ford said.

The forecast is looking a bit more optimistic for rain over the next few days. Seven-day forecasts show totals of over an inch for much of the metro-east area, now there may be some places that get a little bit more than that, there may be places that get a little less than that, but that is a good sign, Ford said.

A cold front will break the heat SAT but also provide the area with a chance of showers/storms. Likely dry SUN/MON but storm chances return on the 4th. #stlwx #mowx #ilwx #midmowx pic.twitter.com/3fld0ecM5F  NWS St. Louis (@NWSStLouis) June 26, 2023

The two-week outlook shows high chances of above normal precipitation in southwestern Illinois, Ford added.

We have a good chance of at least improving conditions a little bit, or maybe stopping the slide, so thats really good news, Ford said. Lets just hope it actually comes to fruition, but it at least is an optimistic outlook. It wont stop the drought entirely, we wont not have drought in places because it does take a little while to climb out of it but at least its a start.
Australian metalcore band Polaris has confirmed the death of guitarist Ryan Siew at age 26.

In an emotional post shared Tuesday on Polaris Instagram page, band members Daniel Furnari, Jamie Hails, Rick Schneider and Jake Steinhauser shared that Siew died June 19.

For 10 incredible years he was our best friend and artistic soulmate, the musicians wrote. Those years will never be enough.

They went on to note, Ryan, we will love and miss you for the rest of our days, and we will never fill the hole that you leave in all of our lives. Our hearts are with his family first and foremost, but also with all those whose lives he touched.

A cause of death was not revealed.

Siew, who was born in Sydney, Australia, joined Polaris in 2013 when he was just 15. The band released its first studio album, The Mortal Coil, about four years later. The record received widespread critical acclaim and nabbed Polaris its first nomination for an ARIA Award, Australias equivalent of a Grammy.

From left: Polaris members Rick Schneider, Jamie Hails, Ryan Siew, Daniel Furnari and Jake Steinhauser.

From left: Polaris members Rick Schneider, Jamie Hails, Ryan Siew, Daniel Furnari and Jake Steinhauser.

Earlier this year, Siew expressed concerns over both his mental and physical health on social media.

Ive had to step away and spend most of 2023 working on myself and for the first time for as long as I can remember, Im happy to say Im no longer on any anti depressants, no longer living with the constant brain fog and lethargy, he wrote on Instagram on Jan. 26. Although Ive also had a few health scares that have been quite sobering.

He went on to note: Between all of that, I think Im back on track to be the best version of myself. Im learning new things, growing and Im most importantly recovering.

Earlier this month, Polaris announced that Siew would not be joining the band at Rock for People, an annual music festival in the Czech Republic, as he is taking some time off the road to deal with some ongoing health issues. Last week, the group canceled all of its remaining European tour dates due to a serious personal crisis in our family.

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Polaris third album, Fatalism, is set for a Sept.1 release. At present, the band is slated to kick off a U.S. tour this fall in Los Angeles.

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"Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is facing new charges from prosecutors following the October 21, 2021 incident that led to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Actor Alec Baldwin had been rehearsing a scene inside a church in New Mexico when the gun discharged, striking Hutchins and director Joel Souza. Souza was hospitalized in the incident but managed to recover and return to finish production on "Rust," which wrapped in early May.

Although the "30 Rock" actor returned to finish his scenes, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed did not, as the film no longer used working weapons while it wrapped production. Although her preliminary hearing was postponed until August, special prosecutors are continuing to find new evidence against the armorer, including drug charges.

'Rust' Prosecutors Allege That Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed Gave Cocaine To Someone On The Day Halyna Hutchins Was Killed

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In new court documents, special prosecutors allege that the armorer handed cocaine to another person on the afternoon that Halyna Hutchins was killed. Last week, Gutierrez-Reed was charged with evidence tampering for allegedly transferring the drugs to another person. Prosecutors allege that the action interfered with the investigation into Hutchins passing.

Last week, it was known that the Rust armorer was facing new charges due to the drug allegations; however, it was not revealed what narcotics she allegedly had in her position. According to NBC News, the armorer handed a bag of cocaine to another person. It is not known how much of the drug she allegedly had in her possession, or how much she transferred.

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In a motion filed Thursday, June 30, special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis claim that they were able to find a confidential witness who will testify under oath that Gutierrez-Reed gave the drugs to someone after returning from her first interview with police.

The circumstances of the transfer of evidence strongly support the charge that the defendant transferred the cocaine to avoid prosecution and prevent law enforcement from obtaining highly inculpatory evidence directly related to the defendants handling of the firearm and the circumstances of the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins, the prosecutors wrote in the court filing.

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The Rust special prosecutors are currently seeking an order to protect the identity of the witness, who fears being blacklisted from the film industry if his identity is revealed. However, the armorers attorney, Jason Bowles, strongly opposes that request.

The state wants to publish salacious allegations about Ms. Gutierrez-Reed in a secret procedure, which is not condoned by the rules or constitution, Bowles wrote in an email. If the state really believes these allegations, why the secrecy?

Although the special prosecutors admitted that the identity of the witness will most likely be revealed in time, they said that their source wants to remain anonymous for as long as possible.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed's Lawyer Jason Bowles Slams New Charges As 'Retaliatory and Vindicitve'

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Jason Bowles has been vocal about defending his client in the press and has slammed the new cocaine allegations about his client as "retaliatory and vindicate." In a statement made to TMZ, Bowles said, Something is rotten in Denmark. It is shocking that after 20 months of investigation, the special prosecutor now throws in a completely new charge against Ms. Gutierrez Reed, with no prior notice or any witness statements, lab reports, or evidence to support it.

"This comes on the heels of the state letting its lead investigator go, and the investigator raising serious concerns about the investigation in an email, he continued. This stinks to high heaven and is retaliatory and vindictive.

Prosecutors previously alleged that Gutierrez-Reed had been drinking heavily and smoking marijuana on the "Rust" set. Witnesses in the current case will testify that Defendant Gutierrez was drinking heavily and smoking marijuana in the evenings during the shooting of Rust, the prosecutors wrote.

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It is likely that Defendant Gutierrez was hungover when she inserted a live bullet into a gun that she knew was going to be used at some point by an actor while filming a shooting scene with other actors and crew members, they added.

In a response to the allegations, Bowles states that the prosecution did not remotely get the facts right and found it very interesting that the charges against the armorer now belatedly surface a year and a half after the investigation began.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will make her first court appearance on the new tampering with evidence charge on July 19. She will appear virtually via Google Meets. The preliminary hearing is still scheduled on August 9 and will last aobut a week.
Back when milk came in a glass bottle and phones hung on the wall, families adjusted the rabbit ears and got wild.

The TV series Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom has been a welcome guest in American living rooms since 1963, undergoing several iterations over the decades and making Marlin Perkins and Jim Fowler household names.

A reboot of the show will make its debut on NBC in October, 60 years after the original show began, offering a fresh angle on environmental conservation. It will feature veteran co-host Peter Gros and a new co-host, Rae Wynn-Grant, who says she landed the job because someone saw her speaking at a community event in Omaha and thought shed be right for the job.

The series name gains a subtitle: Protecting the Wild.

Gros, who joined the original Wild Kingdom team in 1985, said the new shows focus on conservation successes will make it stand out in a field dense with nature shows.

I think we need to create some hope rather than continue to talk about the gloom and doom, he said.

Gros said many of the shows he grew up watching were dealing with gloom and doom or teeth and claws.

I think its good that we set an example, Gros said. In the past, when we had really serious problems, we solved them. And because we figured it out, modified our behavior, many of the species have come off the Endangered Species List.

Five pilot episodes of the new show were released earlier this year and can be viewed at WildKingdom.com.

The first episode tells an eye-watering tale of two black bear cubs severely burned in a wildfire, nursed back to health and released into the wild.

Gros provides the narration, his voice authoritative and reassuring. There are brief cameos, pulled from the files, of the beloved wildlife icon Perkins.

Another episode highlights the improbable comeback of the California condor from the brink of extinction.

The series wont skip over current issues, such as climate change, Gros said.

Gros said the template of past successes can be used to talk about future problems.

And there is even more urgency to react more quickly than we have in the past, he said.

Wynn-Grant, an accomplished wildlife ecologist who grew up in San Francisco, credits the generosity of Omahans for helping her land the co-hosting job.

She said she got noticed while on an unrelated speaking engagement in Omaha in the winter of 2022  her first visit to the city.

Someone from Mutual who attended the event later suggested she would be a good fit. Before long she was side-by-side with Gros.

I used to watch Peter on TV when I was a kid, and that iteration of Wild Kingdom in the 80s and the 90s really inspired me, she said. I used to say as a kid that I wanted to be a nature show host.

Her career path first led into academia, where she established her credentials as a wildlife ecologist and conservationist.

Shes a research faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara, a National Geographic fellow and a visiting scientist at the American Museum of Natural History.

In a format sense, the original series broke ground for the travel-adventure videos that populate YouTube today.

Perkins and Fowler, and later Gros, would narrate step-by-step their adventures, inviting viewers to come along, but always educating.

Wynn-Grant said the new series will retain a lot of the heart of the original, bringing viewers to places they likely wouldnt be able to go very easily themselves.

Peter and I are having adventures, she said. Were going on journeys. So the audience will see us taking a boat across a body of water. Theyll see us diving. Theyll see us hiking and crawling into tight spaces and exploring caves and all of that really adventurous stuff.

In addition, she said, they aim to normalize access to the outdoors and exploring nature, telling urban wildlife stories and making sure that the show is inclusive.

She said people need hope.

Its really important that people have hope and they understand that although were facing bigger problems in the environment than we ever have faced, we also, as a society, have a history of solving really big problems, she said.

Wynn-Grant said shes studied black bears  which are no longer on the Endangered Species List  in the western United States for 13 years.

Its because real plans were put in place, and biologists and landowners and the public and politicians all worked together to figure out how we can keep the species, she said.

The original show inspired and entertained generations of Americans, and Gros and Wynn-Grant hope that continues.

Through the years, many Omahans got to meet Fowler, who died in 2019 at the age of 89.

Gros first met Fowler when they both appeared on The Tonight Show, hosted by another Nebraskan, Johnny Carson.

Fowler made numerous appearances at Omaha schools, day cares and nature centers, showing off wild creatures. Gros accompanied him at times and learned from Fowler, who he said was a great communicator.

Jim was a good friend of mine, and he was also a wonderful mentor who shared so much of his knowledge from the early days of Wild Kingdom, Gros said. And he taught me to be a professional and be gracious, and how to be a host and not to draw attention to yourself but the environment in which you were filming and the animals and the natural world that needs the attention.

10 times we were proud to be Nebraskans Pilger cleanup Clayton Anderson Jack Hoffman Legislature unique Henry Doorly Zoo Ted Kooser National champions Hannah Huston Volleyball National Championship 150 years of statehood Nebraska flood relief
A 42-year-old woman has been saved at sea. "Everyone was trying to help," one passenger shared

Matthew Kuhn/Twitter, Travis VanDenBerg / Alamy Stock Photo

A 42-year-old woman was rescued after a terrifying fall from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship on Sunday.

The passenger fell from the 10th floor deck of the Mariner of the Seas into the sea below as the ship sailed about 27 nautical miles south of Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.

The boat, which departed from Port Canaveral in Florida for an eight-day round-trip journey, was en route to Willemstad in Curacao at the time of the incident, U.S. Coast Guard officials told Fox 35 Orlando.



"After we saw...the life preservers and the smoke, I was like, someone just died," passenger Matthew Kuhn told the outlet. I think it was amazing to see everyone was on their balcony. Everyone was trying to help, and the crew was very receptive to everyone.

"To go from, Shes probably not going to be found,  and 'Its a body recovery,' versus 'Holy c---, they found her, and shes alive!," Kuhn continued. The whole mood, even the cruise director . . . you could tell it was very somber for a brief time. When they found her, it was like, people were relieved. There was just a sense of, Okay, cool. No one died on our cruise."



As the boats hoisted the woman to safety, passengers applauded and the Mariner of the Seas resumed its voyage.





The passenger was recovered alive and reported to be in good health, after reportedly falling into the water from (the) 10th deck of the ship, Coast Guard spokesperson Ricardo Castrodad told USA Today.

Getty Images Mariner of the Seas cruise ship

Related: Passenger, 77, Dies of COVID After Outbreak on Carnival Cruise Ship

Castrodad confirmed that the woman was brought to the ships medical facility and then transferred to a hospital in Willemstad for further assessment. The Coast Guard is looking into what caused her to fall.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in a statement to the outlet: The ship and crew immediately reported the incident to local authorities and began searching for the guest. Thankfully, the guest was successfully recovered and was brought on board. Our Care team is now offering assistance and support to them and their traveling party. The Mariner of the Seas is expected to arrive back at Port Canaveral on July 1.

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Royal Caribbean also cited data from a Cruise Lines International Association "Report on Operational Incidents" to Fox 35 Orlando. It revealed 212 man-overboard incidents between 2009 and 2019. Of that number, 48 individuals were saved.

Matthew Kuhn/Twitter, Travis VanDenBerg / Alamy Stock Photo

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Related: Carnival Offers Cruise Ships as Temporary Hospitals as Coronavirus Spreads, but Doctors Have Doubts

Last year, a man fell overboard from the Carnival ship Valor and was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on November 24.

The missing passenger, who was not identified, had been last seen on the night of November 23 at approximately 11 p.m., according to CNN, as the ship sailed in the Gulf of Mexico from New Orleans toward Cozumel, Mexico.

Lt. Seth Gross, a search and rescue coordinator for the Coast Guard said the man could have been in the water for as long as 15 hours, "the absolute longest that I've heard about  and just one of those Thanksgiving miracles.



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It seems like Prince Harry and Meghan Markles ties to their former life in the United Kingdom have all but been severed. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have officially moved out of Frogmore Cottage, which means they no longer have a home to call their own in the United Kingdom. But this major move could also have implications for Harrys future involvement with the royal family, including a role hes held that might now be in jeopardy.



The most important aspect as far as Harry is concerned is that it means he can no longer act as a Counsellor of State, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams shared with The Sun. Thats hugely important because in theory he had the right, in the event of the king being incapacitated, to do this. Although he is no longer a working royal he still had this right  and by not having a U.K. residence he has now thrown this opportunity away.

More from SheKnows

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are ready to move forward with their lives. https://t.co/dRcRIqVa1N  SheKnows (@SheKnows) June 28, 2023



For those who might be a bit lost, lets break down what the role of Counsellor of State entails. In the event of King Charles IIIs incapacitation  or, his inability to carry out duties  the first four members of the royal family in line to the throne over the age of 21 could serve in his stead. But since Harry no longer lives in the U.K., he may have forfeited that right.



Indeed, now that Harry and Meghan are settled in California with their two children, it seems the two are charting their own course of their post-royal life. Perhaps leaving behind this role isnt as much of a loss for Harry as we might think. But it certainly widens the chasm between the Duke of Sussex and the rest of the royal family.

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Click here to read the full article.

Before you go, click here to see every single time the royal family shaded Meghan Markle and Prince Harry since they stepped down as royals.



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The Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, N.M., where a cinematographer was accidentally shot and killed during a rehearsal for "Rust." (Roberto E. Rosales / Albuquerque Journal)

Prosecutors in New Mexico have alleged that armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed passed cocaine to someone else to avoid scrutiny of her handling of weapons on the "Rust" film set where cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed.

In a new filing in New Mexico's 1st Judicial District Court, prosecutors said a witness could testify that Gutierrez Reed transferred a "small bag of cocaine" to them following the fatal shooting of Hutchins in October 2021.

Read more: Full coverage: The fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the Rust set

The prosecutors allege the armorer did so to avoid prosecution and prevent law enforcement from obtaining evidence that could determine her handling of firearms and the circumstances of the accidental shooting.

Prosecutors did not identify the witness, saying they will be "blacklisted from the film industry" for coming forward.

The allegation is the latest development in the newly appointed prosecutors' attempts to bring charges in the "Rust" case. Gutierrez Reed is the sole remaining defendant after charges against Alec Baldwin were dropped.

Earlier this month, the prosecutors charged the armorer with evidence tampering for allegedly passing drugs to someone else on the day of the shooting  without revealing more details.

"A secret witness appears 20 months later? With no actual corroboration or evidence? And the state wont identify the person? This is a throwback to the secret, star chamber prosecutions in England in the 15th century that were abolished," said Gutierrez Reed's attorney Jason Bowles in an emailed statement. "Like everything else with the states case and investigation, its full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing."

Gutierrez Reed is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors have been scrutinizing her behavior on set of the film on the day of the fatal shooting.

Earlier this month, prosecutors alleged Gutierrez Reed was likely hungover when she loaded a live bullet into Baldwins revolver before the fatal shooting. The accusation was leveled after an attempt by her attorneys to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charges against her, saying they were without merit.

Story continues

In April, prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Baldwin in the Rust shooting after receiving new information about the gun in the case.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
"You had to look for the Kenergy, but I always knew it was there," Ryan Gosling's sister Mandi told the actor

Getty Images Ryan Gosling and sister Mandi Gosling attend "Barbie" event

Ryan Gosling is bonding with his older sister.

On Wednesday, Ryan, 42, and his sister Mandi, 43, attended the press day for Barbie in Toronto, Canada. Mandi accessorized her purple dress with a pink purse while he donned a light blue suit.

In an interview with ET Canada, the siblings commented on Ryan's charisma as Ken in the anticipated comedy and Mandis busy childhood.

Getty Images Ryan Gosling and sister Mandi Gosling at "Barbie" event

It felt like such a no-brainer to me, said Mandi upon hearing the news that her brother was cast as the live-action version of the iconic doll. No, listen, its like, of course hes Ken!

She told her brother, "You had to look for the Kenergy, but I always knew it was there.

Yeah, I didnt know, Ryan added, his sister continuing with, I know. You may not have. So you had to look for the Kenergy, but I always knew it was there.

WireImage Ryan Gosling and sister Mandi Gosling at event

Wow. Thats beautiful, thanks, Ryan told his sister, adding, Well, shes my original Barbie.

However, Mandi shared that she never owned a Barbie.

Because she was too busy being Barbie, Ryan explained. Oh, she was doing all the things all the time. You know, getting me to school safely and then she was the president of that school.

She had more meetings than classes, he continued. It was Barbie land. When I got to set I was like, This is just like my house.'

Related: The 'Barbie' Movie Barbie Dolls Just Dropped  and All Eyes Are on Ryan Gosling's Ken

At the Los Angeles premiere of his new Netflix action movie The Gray Man, Ryan told PEOPLE about his excitement for Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and costarring Margot Robbie.

When asked what it was like to "break the internet" with playful online reactions to his photo reveal in character as Ken, he joked, "Well, the internet has been trying to break me for years. It gave me no other choice."

Story continues

Gosling continued, "We've been having so much fun making this movie and it felt nice to see everyone else start having as much fun as we are. I can't wait for the film to come out and for that to continue."

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Ryan previously addressed Barbie fans who didnt think he's a good fit to play Ken.

I would say, you know, if people dont want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with," he told GQ in a cover interview, when asked of stories published by outlets like the New York Post regarding some fans' disapproval of his casting.

Related: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling Explore Life Beyond Barbie Land in Hilarious New Trailer

It is funny, this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken," he continued. "Like you ever thought about Ken before this?

Barbie opens in theaters July 21.



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Air quality levels in Kentucky were worsening Wednesday as smoke from the Canadian wildfires continues to drift through the United States.

Lexington had an air quality index of 163 at 6 a.m. Thursday, according to online data from the Environmental Protection Agency. The AQI is measured from 0 to 500, with higher numbers reflecting worse air quality.

An air quality reading between 151 and 200 falls under the red category of the index, which is described as unhealthy. The EPA said some members of the general public may experience health effects and medically at-risk people may experience more severe symptoms.

Medically at-risk people are encouraged to avoid strenuous outdoor activities or keep activities short, according to the EPA. Everyone else is encouraged to consider shortening the amount of time spent outside or choosing less strenuous activities.

The Kentucky Energy and Environmental Cabinet requested an air quality alert to be issued for the entire state of Kentucky, according to the National Weather Service. The alert was set to last until at least midnight Thursday morning.

Bullitt, Jefferson and Oldham counties are still under an air quality alert until midnight Friday, according to the NWS.

Everyone may experience health effects, the NWS said in the alert. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.

Sensitive groups include the elderly, children, people with lung and heart disease, and people with asthma or other breathing problems, according to the NWS.

The air quality in Lexington has progressively worsened since 7 p.m. Tuesday, when it was at 72. The AQI Wednesday peaked at 1 p.m. when it hit 180, according to the EPA.

The air quality has been in the red section of the index since 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to the EPA.

City pools closed early Wednesday due to the air quality, according to a press release sent out by the city. Yappy Hours at Jacobson Park was also canceled.

A hazy and foggy morning in Kentucky. @heraldleader pic.twitter.com/M22f1muRsm  Ryan C. Hermens (@ryanhermens) June 28, 2023

Ways to stay safe when air quality is poor

Aside from staying indoors, federal officials say there are other ways to limit poor air quality exposure when necessary, including:

Leaving doors and windows fully closed.

Not lighting candles or other devices that produce additional smoke.

Running an air filter if you own one.

Checking and replacing filters on devices, like your HVAC, in your home.

People who must be outside could also wear a respirator. The EPA says a N95 or P100 mask is recommended to reduce intake of poor air quality.
Ben White Photography/Wikimedia Commons

A security guard outside a United States consulate in Saudi Arabia was shot dead when a gunman opened fire on Wednesday night, officials said. The gunman was also killed in the incident.

The attack unfolded near the American building in Jeddah, the Red Sea port city in the west of the country. The consulate was put into lockdown as Saudi security forces exchanged gunfire with the suspect, killing him, a State Department spokesperson told The Washington Post.

Mohammed bin Salman Says Hes the Real Victim of Jamal Khashoggi Killing

No American personnel were injured, the spokesperson said, adding that Saudi authorities are now investigating the incident. The shooter has not yet been identified and no motive has yet been established.

A person in a car stopped near the American consulate building in Jeddah Governorate and got out of it carrying a firearm in his hand, a spokesperson for Meccas regional police said, according to Al Jazeera. So security authorities took the initiative to deal with him as required and the exchange of fire resulted in his death.

An official Saudi Press Agency report did not name the security guard killed in the incident but said they were Nepalese. The State Department has expressed condolences to the guards family and loved ones.

The consulate in Jeddah has previously been targeted with deadly violence. In 2004, five militants armed with guns and explosives stormed the consulate and killed nine people including four Saudi security personnel and five staff inside. Three of the attackers were killed during the raid and two others were captured. One of the assailants was sentenced to 19 years in jail while another was sentenced to death, according to Reuters, with the attack linked to al Qaeda.

More recently, on July 4, 2016, a suicide bomber detonated a device close to the parking lot of a hospital opposite the consulate. The bomber, identified by the Saudi Interior Ministry as a Pakistani national, died in the blast, which also injured policemen. The bombing occurred in the same 24-hour window of two other suicide attacks across the country, one of which took place in Medinaone of the holiest sites in Islamwhere four people were killed.

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Stephanie Azam has left Disney+ Canada as head of content after nearly one year in the post.

A Disney spokesperson confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter the exit as part of a companywide reorganization at The Walt Disney Co. Toronto-based Azam oversaw content planning, acquisitions and licensing at Disney+ Canada, which is part of the Disney ABC Television Group.

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Before joining the flagship Disney streamer in Aug. 2022, Azam was vp of development acquisitions at indie producer Sphere Films, and earlier held the position of national director, feature film at Telefilm Canada, where she was responsible for financing the production, development, and marketing of English language indie films.

Walt Disney unveiled plans to cut around 7,000 jobs to impact every corner of the company this year.

Azams departure also comes amid Disney+ Canada and other U.S. streamers active in the Canadian market pausing or reassessing their investments in local film and TV content after the Canadian government passed into law Bill C-11, which compels Canadian content spending obligations on foreign streamers and social media platforms.

The CRTC, the countrys TV and telecom regulator, is set to regulate U.S. digital giants  and crucially define what does and doesnt count as Canadian, especially as it applies to user-generated content on YouTube, TikTok and Facebook or as part of a streamers local spending obligations.

The CRTC is set to hold hearings to establish the amount of investment expected from the U.S. streamers for local content, and the federal government will hold separate hearings at the same time on bringing clarity to what qualifies Canadian film or TV program, or Canadian stories, to modernize the countrys broadcast laws.

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That will set new rules for American players as they invest directly in indie Canadian production, a role Disney+ Canadas Azam was responsible for before her departure. Variety was the first to report on Azams exit.

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"The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the court's 6-3 opinion



Chip Somodevilla / Staff/Getty Images

The Supreme Court has struck down the Biden administration's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt for American borrowers, concluding one of the most closely watched cases of the year.

The 6-3 ruling in Biden v. Nebraska fell on ideological lines, with the conservative justices determining that President Joe Biden and his education secretary lack the power to cancel student loan debt, which would be a decision from Congress.

"The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion of the court.

A White House source tells PEOPLE that Biden will have more to say about the decision on Friday. "While we strongly disagree with the court, we were prepared for this scenario," the source says. "The President will make clear hes not done fighting yet, and will announce new actions to protect student loan borrowers."



Related: Biden Administration Will Cancel Up to $20,000 in Student Debt for Borrowers Based on Income, Type of Grant

OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty The current Supreme Court justices, who ruled 6-3 to block President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan

In Justice Roberts' Friday opinion, he included an unusual plea for Americans to not discount the Supreme Court's ruling as political.

"It has become a disturbing feature of some recent opinions to criticize the decisions with which they disagree as going beyond the proper role of the judiciary," the opinion reads, adding, "our precedentold and newrequires that Congress speak clearly before a Department Secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy."

He continued: "We have employed the traditional tools of judicial decision-making in doing so. Reasonable minds may disagree with our analysisin fact, at least three do," referring to the three liberal justices who dissented.

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Biden revealed his long-awaited student loan forgiveness plan in August 2022. Under the plan, non-Pell Grant recipients would have up to $10,000 in student loan debt canceled if they make less than $125,000 per year. Pell Grant recipients would be eligible for up to $20,000 in cancellation if they meet the same income requirement. Married couples must make less than $250,000 per year combined to qualify for loan forgiveness.

Of the 43 million borrowers who are eligible for the plan, the White House believes "20 million of them will have their debt totally wiped away and about two-thirds of them will have half or more of their debt wiped out," Kate Berner, White House deputy communications director, told PEOPLE at the time.



Related: Elizabeth Warren Explains How Student Loan Forgiveness Will Fight Inflation as Americans Escape 'Debt Hell'

The student debt relief plan was almost immediately challenged in court, with one challenge coming from student loan borrowers who argued they were unfairly excluded from the loan forgiveness plan because they were not Pell Grant recipients.



One case led an appeals court to uphold a Texas judge's decision to block the plan while another led a federal judge to freeze the rollout of the loan forgiveness program after six Republican-led states sued the Biden administration over the plan.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for the student debt cancellation cases in February.

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WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court on Friday backed a web designer who wants to decline to create websites for same-sex weddings because of her religious beliefs  the latest legal setback for LGBTQ Americans from the high court.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority. The case was decided on ideological lines.

"Laws along these lines have done much to secure the civil rights of all Americans," Gorsuch wrote. "But in this particular case Colorado does not just seek to ensure the sale of goods or services on equal terms. It seeks to use its law to compel an individual to create speech she does not believe."

In a case that could have profound implications for when businesses may turn away customers, the Colorado website designer argued a state anti-discrimination law couldn't be used to compel her to develop same-sex wedding sites. It is the latest in a series of cases to reach the court pitting business owners against LGBTQ customers, although this one focused on free speech rights more than religion.

In a scathing dissent that she read from the bench, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the case involves "a business open to the public (that) seeks to deny gay and lesbian customers the full and equal enjoyment of its services based on the owners religious belief that same-sex marriages are 'false.'"

"The business argues, and a majority of the court agrees, that because the business offers services that are customized and expressive, the free speech clause of the First Amendment shields the business from a generally applicable law that prohibits discrimination in the sale of publicly available goods and services," Sotomayor said. "That is wrong. Profoundly wrong."

Case tracker: Race, religion and debt: Here are the biggest cases pending at the Supreme Court

A Colorado law bars public businesses such as hotels and restaurants from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation  the same law that bars discrimination based on race and gender. But during oral arguments in December, the court's conservative justices questioned whether a website designer is more like a retail business or more like an artist. Government is generally barred from compelling an artist  or anyone else  to convey a message that they disagree with.

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Colorado, like 24 other states, prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation by businesses.

Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, a Denver-based website design firm, said she didn't object to serving LGBTQ customers  only same-sex weddings. Because Smith's websites are custom creations they represent her speech as well as that of her customers, her lawyers argued. Smith was never approached by an LGBTQ couple seeking a matrimonial website. Rather, she wanted the high court to invalidate the Colorado law before that could happen.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious rights group that represented Smith, said the decision underscored the idea that the government "cant mislabel speech as discrimination to censor it."

The U.S. Supreme Court rightly reaffirmed that the government cant force Americans to say things they dont believe," said Kristen Waggoner, the group's president. "The court reiterated that its unconstitutional for the state to eliminate from the public square ideas it dislikes, including the belief that marriage is the union of husband and wife."

Critics said Smith's argument would allow businesses to skirt anti-discrimination laws.

Todays smug attack on civil rights law will have limited practical impact in the marketplace because few commercial services involve original artwork and pure speech offered as limited commissions," said Lambda Legal Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Pizer. "But todays narrow decision does continue the court majoritys dangerous siren call to those trying to return the country to the social and legal norms of the Nineteenth Century because it jettisons without even acknowledging what was part of the legal test for decades."

After a landmark victory in 2015 legalizing same-sex marriage and another win in 2020 that banned workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the outlook for LGBTQ rights at the Supreme Court has dimmed in recent years  especially when those rights are in tension with the First Amendment's protection of religious freedom.

Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 05, 2022.

The nation's highest court sided with a Catholic foster care agency in Philadelphia in 2021 that declined to consider same-sex couples as clients. And in its decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas suggested it may also be time to "reconsider" same-sex marriage  a notion that prompted a political backlash and bipartisan legislation that requires states to recognize those marriages.

Colorado and its supporters have asserted that a win for Smith could have consequences beyond LGBTQ rights. If a business may decline to create a website for an LGBTQ couple based on an objection to same-sex marriage, they argued, couldn't it also decline to make one for an interracial family?

More: White women benefit most from affirmative action. So why do they oppose it?

But during the arguments in December, several of the court's conservative justices pushed back on that assertion of a slippery slope. Associate Justice Samuel Alito repeatedly referenced a line from the 2015 decision to legalize same-sex marriage in which the court said "many who deem same-sex marriage to be wrong reach that conclusion based on decent and honorable religious or philosophical premises."

In other words, Alito asserted then, the majority in Obergefell v. Hodges recognized legalizing same-sex marriage would present a conflict with religious entities and individuals in a way that race and gender do not.

Those conflicts have repeatedly risen to the high court.

In 2018, a 7-2 majority of the justices sided with a Colorado baker who refused to create a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple. But that decision was focused narrowly on how the state's civil rights commission treated the baker, Jack Phillips. The court did not rule on broader questions about where to draw the line between a business owner's religious freedom and LGBTQ rights.

In a twist in the present case, the Supreme Court declined to hear Smith's religious freedom claim. Instead, it agreed last year to decide only whether Colorado's anti-discrimination law ran afoul of her free speech rights. Many experts speculate that's because the court's conservatives don't have the votes to overturn a controversial 1990 precedent, Employment Division v. Smith, that makes it harder to bring religious claims.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court: Web designer may deny services for same-sex weddings
Olivier Douliery / AFP via Getty Images

Tens of millions of Americans will not get up to $20,000 in student loans canceled thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that came down on Friday. The vote was 6-3. According to Reuters, 26 million borrowers applied for relief after the Biden administration announced the plan back in August of 2022. 43 million Americans were eligible for the relief plan.

Student loan payments were put on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic and are set to continue being collected after August comes to a close. Payments will be due in October, NBC News notes.

The same Supreme Court that overturned Roe now refuses to follow the plain language of the law on student loan cancellation. This fight is not over. The President has more tools to cancel student debt  and he must use them.  Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) June 30, 2023

Twitter: @SenWarren

This morning, the Supreme Court demolished the possibility of financial freedom for 43 million Americans. Republicans have consistently tried to block student loan relief from their constituents while they sit back and have their business loans forgiven.   Congressman Jamaal Bowman (@RepBowman) June 30, 2023

Twitter: @RepBowman

This disappointing and cruel student debt ruling shows the callousness of the MAGA Republican-controlled Supreme Court.The fight will not end here.The Biden administration has remaining legal routes to provide broad-based student debt cancellation.  Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 30, 2023

Twitter: @SenSchumer

Todays decision is an absolute betrayal to 40 million student loan borrowers counting on an impartial court to decide their financial future based upon the established rule of law, Persis Yu, deputy executive director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, said, per CNBC.

According to a source that spoke with Reuters, Biden is preparing to announce a new plan for student loan borrowers in light of the Supreme Court's ruling.

Later in the day, Biden released a statement responding to the news.

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"This fight is not over. I will have more to announce when I address the nation this afternoon," he wrote.

You can read the rest of Biden's statement below.



"My Administrations student debt relief plan would have been the lifeline tens of millions of hardworking Americans needed as they try to recover from a once-in-a-century pandemic. Nearly 90 percent of the relief from our plan would have gone to borrowers making less than $75,000 a year, and none of it would have gone to people making more than $125,000. It would have been life-changing for millions of Americans and their families. And it would have been good for economic growth, both in the short- and long-term.



The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning. They had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses  including hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of dollars for their own businesses. And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it.



While todays decision is disappointing, we should not lose sight of the progress weve made  making historic increases to Pell Grants; forgiving loans for teachers, firefighters, and others in public service; and creating a new debt repayment plan, so no one with an undergraduate loan has to pay more than 5 percent of their discretionary income.I believe that the Courts decision to strike down our student debt relief plan is wrong.But I will stop at nothing to find other ways to deliver relief to hard-working middle-class families. My Administration will continue to work to bring the promise of higher education to every American.And later today, I will provide more detail on all that my Administration has done to help students and the next steps my Administration will take."

It is very important to note this SCOTUS ruling does NOT remove Bidens ability to pursue student loan forgiveness.The Biden Admin can use the HEA (Higher Ed Act) - our position from the start - to continue loan forgiveness before payments resume. They should do so ASAP. https://t.co/inV3yWsDwB  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 30, 2023

Twitter: @AOC

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The Lincoln woman alleged to have led law enforcement personnel from four different agencies on a high-speed pursuit across two counties on Monday, June 12, has been hit with several charges in Dodge County Court related to the incident.

Itsamar S. Ramirez, 28, of Lincoln was arrested at about 5 p.m. on June 12 by Saunders County sheriffs deputies, who employed a spike strip to stop her. Ramirez reportedly attempted to swerve around the spike strip and then crashed her Jeep SUV before being arrested.

She was accused of being in possession of methamphetamine as well as in possession of a 12-gauge shotgun.

Before she was apprehended, Ramirez had evaded several earlier sets of spike strips, including one deployed by Saunders County Sheriff Chris Lichtenberg, which reportedly led to him suffering moderate injuries to one of his hands and his fingers when Ramirez evaded those spikes.

In Dodge County, Ramirez has been charged with suspicion of operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest, a Class I misdemeanor; suspicion of obstruction, also a Class I misdemeanor; and suspicion of a stop sign violation, a state of Nebraska traffic infraction.

In addition to those allegations, Ramirez has also been charged with suspicion of theft by unlawful taking, third offense, which is a Class IV felony. That charge stems from a June 13 investigation during which Fremont police allege Ramirez stole a 12-gauge shotgun from the home of a man she was visiting in Fremont prior to the high-speed pursuit.

According to the incident report, Ramirez had evaded authorities for almost two hours after a pursuit was initiated by Fremont police Capt. Shane Wimer, because Ramirezs vehicle reportedly did not have a license plate. Wimer eventually ended the pursuit, but Dodge County sheriffs deputies then began to chase her before she entered into Saunders County.

Once in Saunders County, authorities stopped the pursuit due to a highway traffic construction project and danger to citizens and other law enforcement officials. However, Ramirez was again chased by both officers from the Nebraska State Patrol and Saunders County deputies.

According to an incident report filed by Wimer, he said he spotted her 2007 Jeep SUV southbound on Somers Avenue and saw the vehicle had no license plate. Wimer reported that he turned on his patrol vehicle emergency lights to stop Ramirez, but she did not comply and continued to drive south at a normal rate of speed.

Wimer said Ramirez then reached the intersection of Somers and Military avenues, where he alleged she did not stop at a stop sign. At that point, he turned on his sirens in addition to his emergency lights.

Once reaching the train tracks, I activated my siren, but the vehicle still did not yield. I proceeded after the vehicle, following (it) outside the city limits at Military (Avenue) and Ridge Road, Wimer wrote in his report. The vehicle did not speed or drive recklessly within the city limits. Once on Military (Avenue), the vehicle reached a top speed of 70 mph. I ended the pursuit between County Road 20 and County Road 19.

Wimer stated that although he terminated the pursuit, he continued to follow the vehicle as it traveled north on County Road 18, eventually crossing U.S. Highway 30, where Wimer stated he lost contact with the vehicle.

A Dodge County sheriffs deputy later encountered Ramirez vehicle and began to pursue her, a chase which saw the suspect travel southbound on Broad Street before crossing the Platte River and into Saunders County. The Dodge County sheriffs deputy then ended the pursuit.

It was when Ramirez was in Saunders County, Lichtenberg stated, that Saunders County officials were notified of the chase at about 4:28 p.m. Lichtenberg said Dodge officials described the chase as a, pursuit of a silver Jeep without license plates headed southbound on U.S. Highway 77 from the Platte River Bridge.

Lichtenberg said a highway construction project in the area was deemed extremely problematic and dangerous in regard to the pursuit, and the chase was terminated at that time. Nebraska State Patrol officers had tried to deploy spikes two different times on Nebraska Highway 79, but Ramirez avoided the strips.

At 4:45 p.m., an officer from the Wahoo Police Department observed the suspect vehicle at a convenience store in Wahoo and followed it out of town to Nebraska Highway 109 after which another pursuit was initiated. A series of spike strips also were evaded before Ramirez was finally captured near Cedar Bluffs.

Ramirez has a lengthy record of criminal court cases in Nebraska dating to 2010 when she was 15 years old. In December 2020, she was declared a fugitive from justice for violating terms of her probation in Iowa.

In January 2021, she was transferred to Nebraska probation officials after residing in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, where she was convicted of two felony counts related to methamphetamine and placed on seven years of probation in lieu of being sent to prison in the Hawkeye state.

In Saunders County, Ramirez was charged with a list of alleged offenses, including: suspicion of speeding, traveling 93 mph in a 55 mph zone; suspicion of failure to stay in lane; suspicion of driving while license is revoked from DUI, a Class 4 felony; suspicion of possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, a Class 2A felony; suspicion of possession of drug paraphernalia; possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, a Class 1D felony; alleged willful reckless driving; suspicion of flight to avoid arrest, a Class 4 felony; suspicion of possession of a stolen firearm, a Class 2A Felony; suspicion of having an open alcohol container in a motor vehicle.

Ramirez was reportedly involved in at least seven high speed chases in the Lincoln area and Lancaster County prior to the June 12 alleged high-speed chase.

She has been charged with suspicion of driving while license is revoked due to DUI, a Class 4 felony, in relation to a June 8 incident in Lincoln.
The Hollywood star stepped behind the lens to photograph Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Vanessa Kirby at the Seoul premiere of 'Mission: Impossible  Dead Reckoning Part One'

Hayley Atwell/Instagram Tom Cruise photographs Pom Klementieff, Hayley Atwell and Vanessa Kirby in South Korea

Tom Cruise is stepping behind the lens for a new mission  capturing images of his beautiful co-stars!

The Hollywood legend delighted fans at the premiere of his new movie, Mission: Impossible  Dead Reckoning Part One, in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday when he briefly commandeered a photographers camera to take a snap of his co-stars in the movie  Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Vanessa Kirby.

This guy loves to give his leading ladies the spotlight  Atwell captioned a video of the moment she shared on Instagram Friday.

Related: Tom Cruise Praises 'Goddess' Friend Janet Jackson After Seeing Her in Concert: 'She's a Legend'

In the clip, a dapper-looking Cruise is handed a camera as he stands among a group of photographers at the event. Text over the screen reads The Moment Vs The Photo, as the actor familiarizes himself with the cameras settings.

The 60-year-old actor and producer then crouches down to capture the three women posing in their gowns on a stage above the event's red carpet.

Determined to get the right angle, Cruise leans down to his right to ensure he's nailed the perfect shot. An image of the photograph then appears in the clip.

How does it look, a voice asks Cruise as he walks away.

Good, the actor replies with a smile.

Shutterstock Tom Cruise in South Korea

Related: Tom Cruise Is Doing an 'Oppenheimer' and 'Barbie' Double Feature Too: 'Doesn't Get More Explosive'

It's been a week of championing fellow stars for Cruise, who took a break from his action-packed schedule promoting his latest Mission Impossible movie  which is released in theaters next month  to tweet about some summer movies he's looking forward to watching himself.

This summer is full of amazing movies to see in theaters, the actor wrote on Wednesday, alongside photos of himself and his Dead Reckoning director Christopher McQuarrie in front of each of the films' respective posters.

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Among the films he praised were Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the long-awaited sequel starring Harrison Ford as the legendary adventurer (out Friday), the atomic-bomb biographical thriller Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Barbie with Margot Robbie. The latter two films will be released on the same day: July 21.

"Congratulations, Harrison Ford, on 40 years of Indy and one of the most iconic characters in history," added Cruise. "I love a double feature, and it doesn't get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie.

Alamy Pom Klementieff, Hayley Atwell and Vanessa Kirby in South Korea

Related: Tom Cruise Says His 'Goal Since I Was Little Was to Make Movies' at 'Mission: Impossible' Rome Premiere

Cruise also recently praised how people of different cultures "join together to enjoy cinema" at the Dead Reckoning in Rome.

"Its something that I grew up with, that made me and inspired me to dream and want to travel the world," Cruise said, reported Variety. My goal since I was little was to make movies and travel. And not just be a tourist, but work in that world and understand their culture."

"Through my movies, Ive been able to have that because everyone here has allowed me to entertain them. Its a privilege that I have never taken for granted," he continued in his speech, highlighting the importance of seeing movies in theaters. "Its my passion to entertain you, and I will always fight for big theaters and that kind of experience for everyone.



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The couple announced their engagement in September 2021

blake mycoskie/Instagram

TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie has embarked on a new journey!

The entrepreneur recently announced that he and his fiance Molly Holm tied the knot in an outdoor wedding on Sunday.

Sharing gorgeous photos from the outdoor ceremony on Instagram, Mycoskie wrote, "JUST MARRIED. On Sunday, I married my soulmate, Molly Holm, and officially became the luckiest man on the planet. Forever and Always."

Related: All the Celebrity Weddings of 2023

The wedding festivities occurred over three days at the Amangiri Hotel in Canyon Point, Utah, according to the Daily Mail. The outlet reports that Mycoskie has two children from a previous marriage. Holm has a five-year-old daughter Ella, who was also seen in photos from the big day, from a previous relationship.

Related: Celebs Who Officiated Other Stars' Weddings

Mycoskie wore a black velvet tuxedo paired with a matching bowtie and white button-up shirt for the occasion. Holm looked gorgeous in an elegant mermaid sweetheart neckline wedding dress featuring floral embellishments. Holm opted for a long wedding veil with her hair pulled back in a bun and sparkling long earrings.

Mycoskie teased the big day in a post on Friday, writing alongside a picture of him and Holm riding in a car, "Let the weekend of wedding festivities begin! ." News of their wedding comes after the pair first announced their engagement in September 2021.

"She said YES! " wrote Mycoskie while announcing the news on Instagram. "Yesterday my soulmate and best friend agreed to spend the rest of her life with me. I feel like the luckiest man on the planet and have so much gratitude to all of our friends and family who have been a part of this magical journey."

The business owner first opened up about his relationship with Mycoskie in an August 2020 Instagram Video post that showed the two spending time together on a boat.

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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.

"Don't find love, let love find you," he gushed in the caption. "That's why it's called falling in love because you don't force yourself to fall, you just fall.....Molly, you came into my life like a tornado of love, healing and light and i am so grateful it has swept me up and wherever and whenever we touch down will be fine with me :)"



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Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

There's one more adventure left for Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones and audiences. To make sure you don't miss out, we've got all the information you need on how to watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Ever since he appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones has been one of the all-time great movie characters (many of the Indiana Jones villains have also been pretty memorable). After four previous adventures  Raiders, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (all streaming on either Disney Plus or Paramount Plus FYI)  Indy (Ford) is set to hang up his whip.

Indy's swan song is certainly one of the biggest blockbuster movies of the summer, so to make sure you don't miss out, here's all the info on how, when and where to watch Dial of Destiny.

How to watch Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in movie theaters

Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny is now playing exclusively in movie theaters worldwide (it technically releases in the US on Friday, June 30, though early screenings on Thursday, June 29, are taking place in most locations).

To find out where and when Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is playing near you, check out the website of your favorite local movie theater or get info on where it is playing at all movie theaters in your area from Fandango .

If you're looking for ways to make going to the movies more affordable, our guide on the best movie theater subscription and membership deals provides info on US and UK theater chains that offer programs that give moviegoers free, discounted or a fixed set of monthly tickets, as well as deals on concessions and other theater perks.

Is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny streaming?

No, you cannot stream Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny right now. The movie is only playing on the big screen of movie theaters for the foreseeable future.

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However, that does not mean we don't have a pretty good idea where Harrison Ford's final Indiana Jones movie is going to stream whenever it heads online. The movie was produced by Lucasfilm and Disney, so it is almost assuredly going to first be available to stream on Disney Plus (joining the other four previous Indiana Jones movies). We don't have a specific streaming premiere date, but it'll likely be at least 30-45 days, so maybe best case scenario, August/early September.

We'll also keep this post updated with info on when Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is available to rent via digital on-demand.

What else to know about Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Harrison Ford is of course back as Indy. He is joined in the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny cast by the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Antonio Banderas, Boyd Holbrook, Ethan Isidore, Shaunette Renee Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann, Toby Jones, John Rhys-Davies and Karen Allen.

Not back for the fifth movie is Steven Spielberg, who directed all four previous Indiana Jones movies (he is still serving as an executive producer though). Instead, James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari, Logan) directs the movie. Another franchise stalwart, John Williams, is once again composing the music, in case you were wondering.

What to Watch's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny review called the movie "a touching and fun farewell," promising that Ford won't let fans down with this final adventure.

Check out the trailer for the Dial of Destiny right here:
A visitor at Yellowstone National Park has gone viral after learning that the parks world-famous hot springs are, indeed, hot.

In a video captured by @TouronsOfYellowstone on Instagram, a man and a woman ignored another visitors warning when they stood by the edge of the Silex Spring, which is located at Yellowstones Fountain Paint Pot Nature Trail in Wyoming.

The viral clip showed spectators watching the pair as they strayed from the boardwalk towards the basin of the steaming hot spring, which has an average temperature of 174 degrees Fahrenheit (78 degrees celsius), according to the National Park Service.

The woman then crouched on the ground at the edge of the spring to dip one finger into the deadly hot spring, while holding onto her fellow tourist with her other hand. Unsurprisingly, she immediately removed her finger due to the Silex Springs scalding temperature.

Hot! Its very hot! she could be heard saying, as the man recording the tourists simply remarked: Stupid.

In the caption, the cameraman recalled the conversation he had with the tourists before they defied park rules by testing the hot springs water. He wrote that he would have called these people in, but he couldnt find a ranger and didnt have cell service.

I told him that was a bad idea and they shouldnt get off the boardwalk. His response was whatever man, he explained. So I hit record.

The video was then shared to @TouronsOfYellowstone, which is dedicated to posting amusing clips of the moron tourists who visit the US national park. In the comments, fellow Instagram users didnt hold back their thoughts on the reckless tourists.

Its hot! If only there was a sign telling them that! Since the steam and boiling water wasnt enough, one person sarcastically wrote, while another said: The person who touched the water shouted its hot afterwards as if the f***ing steam didnt give it away. I wonder if she ever touched a hot stove as a kid?

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I wish people understood that its not just about the risk their [sic] making of their own lives, but theyre also interfering with a delicate ecosystem, noted someone else. If you cant enjoy things in a look but not touch fashion when its appropriate, youre not mature enough to vacation in places like this. Just go to Vegas or something.

Yellowstone National Park strictly prohibits visitors from touching, swimming, or soaking in hot springs. Water in hot springs can cause severe or fatal burns, and scalding water underlies most of the thin, breakable crust around hot springs, reads Yellowstones safety page on the National Park Service website.

The agency also noted that more than 20 people have died from burns after entering or falling into Yellowstones hot springs. Most recently, a man died in 2016 after he tried to soak in one of the parks geysers. His body dissolved in the superheated waters before it could be recovered by park staff.

Last year, a human foot inside a shoe was found floating in a hot spring near the parks West Thumb Geyser Basin.

According to Buckrail, officials at Yellowstone National Park are currently investigating the Instagram video.

The Independent has reached out to Yellowstone National Park for comment.
Passengers onboard Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Sea watch as crew successfully rescued a woman who went overboard on Sunday. Courtesy of Matthew Kuhn

Rescue experts called it "miraculous" that the woman who went overboard on a Royal Caribbean cruise was saved.

The 42-year-old woman fell overboard from the 10th deck of the liner into the ocean on Sunday.

The experts said it was a "miracle" that she even survived the extremely high fall.

When a passenger aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship plummeted overboard from the 10th deck of the liner into the ocean below this weekend, the odds were stacked against her, water rescue experts said.

So it was a "miracle" that the 42-year-old woman managed to even survive the extremely high fall  comparable to the height of a 10-story apartment building  from the Mariner of the Seas vessel on Sunday.

She was even luckier to be rescued over the course of a tense, nearly hour-long ordeal, the experts told Insider on Thursday.

"For her to have survived the fall, let alone the immersion [in the water], let alone [rescuers] being able to find her and complete the rescue in 45 minutes  it's nothing short of miraculous," Gerald Dworkin, the founder of the Maine-based aquatics safety training company Lifesaving Resources, told Insider.

The woman  whose identity hasn't been revealed  went overboard at around 5 p.m. as the cruise ship was more than 30 miles off the coast of the Dominican Republic. The ship made a turn and Royal Caribbean crew members quickly launched a high-stakes rescue operation in a small yellow lifeboat.

Crowds of shouting passengers on board the ship rallied together on their balconies and tried to guide the lifeboat to where she was, a witness said.

A US Coast Guards spokesperson told Insider that the woman, a US resident, was reported to be in "good health" after the fall.

Dworkin said a number of factors normally lead to death if you fall overboard, like trauma from the fall, the shock of cold water, and being out in the open ocean with no landmarks around.

The woman "overcame the odds and survived  it's just absolutely miraculous," said Dworkin, a firefighter who has trained first responders in water rescue and ice rescue situations nationally for nearly four decades through his firm.

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Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas and a Carnival Cruise ship anchored off the shore of Grand Cayman Island. MyLoupe/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Most people who go overboard on cruise ships usually aren't so lucky.

According to a report from the Cruise Lines International Association, there were 212 overboard incidents from 2009 to 2019, and only 48  or 28.2%  of those who fell overboard were successfully rescued.

Retired US Coast Guard commander Dave Smith applauded the cruise ship's crew for being "really on the ball" to save the woman.

"If you've got trained crew on the vessel  like evidently these people are really top drawer  that's going to help," said Smith, who founded the Michigan-based Smith Aquatic Safety Service in 1981.

Had the woman fallen off the ship in the nighttime while no one was around, "forget it," Smith said.

"The ship's crew deserves a big, big, well-done because that was remarkable," said Smith. "Usually what happens, both commercially and recreationally, is when somebody goes over the side, nobody knows about it. And that's the big problem."

He called the woman one "lucky lady."

Dworkin echoed those remarks, saying, "The fact that she went overboard, and they're able to quickly establish the last seen point, they're able to turn the boat and then launch the rescue boat  absolutely miraculous and absolutely lucky that she's survived."

Raimund Gschaider, Royal Caribbean International's vice president for hotel operations, told Insider that the company's "teams on board every ship are truly extraordinary."

"There's a relationship built with our guests that comes from a place of friendliness, commitment and passion," Gschaider said. "In fact, many become lasting friendships. For example, we receive 15-20 wedding invites a week from our guests who want to make us a part of that special day."

Read the original article on Insider
Widespread rioting continued in the streets of France for a third night amid anger over the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old Nael M.

Protesters erected barricades, set buildings and cars ablaze, threw fireworks at riot police and ransacked stores. Police stations, schools and town halls were among the buildings targeted. Riot police used tear gas, water cannons and non-lethal dispersion grenades to fend off violent groups.

A total of 875 people were arrested, 3,880 fires were started, 2,000 vehicles were burned and 492 buildings were damaged nationwide on Thursday night as curfews were in place in multiple cities, according to the French Ministry of the Interior. About half of the arrests were reportedly made in the Paris region alone.

"Last night, our police, gendarmes and firefighters courageously faced rare violence," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a Twitter post on Friday morning.

MORE: 150 arrested across France in 2nd night of riots after police fatally shoot teenager

PHOTO: A demonstrator runs on the third night of protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, France, on June 30, 2023. (Aurelien Morissard/AP)

Among those arrested were 14 people who allegedly broke into a flagship Nike store at the Chatelet station in the heart of Paris, according to an official in the Paris Prefecture Office.

Some 40,000 law enforcement officers had been deployed across France on Thursday evening to quell potential violence, including about 5,000 in the capital and its inner suburbs. Nearly 250 of those officers were injured overnight, according to Darmanin.

Protests over the teenager's death also took place in Belgium's capital on Thursday night, with some rioters allegedly attacking officers in Brussels, a spokesperson for the Belgian Federal Police told ABC News. A least eight people were arrested there, the police spokesperson said.

PHOTO: Riot police clash with protesters in Nanterre, near Paris, France, on June 29, 2023. (Julien Mattia/EPA via Shutterstock)

Dozens of police officers were deployed in the city center of Brussels on Thursday night and two subway stations were shuttered.

The violent unrest in France kicked off after a 17-year-old driver was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic check in the northwestern Paris suburb Nanterre on Tuesday morning. The officer has been detained on suspicion of voluntary homicide amid an ongoing investigation into the incident, according to the local prosecutor's office.

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Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said Thursday that the officer did not meet the requirements to discharge his weapon and will remain in custody awaiting trial.

MORE: Teenager's death during police traffic stop sparks violent unrest in Paris suburb

PHOTO: Protesters clash with police, following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer during a traffic stop, in Nanterre, France, near Paris, on June 29, 2023. (Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

France's Inspectorate General of the National Police, which investigates allegations of police misconduct, is also conducting a probe into the fatal shooting.

Lawyers for the victim's family identified him as 17-year-old Nael M. and said they intend to file complaints against the officer accused of pulling the trigger and another officer who was at the scene. A funeral for Nael is set to be held in Nanterre on Saturday.

While tensions have remained highest in the Paris suburbs, almost every region of France has been hit with unrest since Tuesday. As a result, the southern port city of Marseille has banned all public demonstrations.

French President Emmanuel Macron and the interior minister have both repeatedly called for "calm" as authorities investigate the teen's death.

ABC News' Tom Soufi Burridge, Aicha El Hammar Castano and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.

Over 800 arrested across France in 3rd night of riots after fatal police shooting of teen originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
A University of California, Berkeley graduate student was killed in Mexico, ABC News has learned.

Gabriel Trujillo, a botanist who was a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Integrative Biology, was killed in the Mexican state of Sonora last week while doing field research, according to a statement from UC Berkeley obtained by San Francisco ABC station KGO on Friday.

The university, located in Northern California, said it received confirmation of Trujillo's death on June 23.

"Local police authorities are investigating," UC Berkeley said in the statement. "This is heartbreaking news and campus officials have reached out to his family to offer support and assistance."

Sonora is located in northwestern Mexico, sharing the U.S.-Mexico border primarily with Arizona.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

UC Berkeley graduate student Gabriel Trujillo killed while doing field research in Mexico, officials say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Pinterest's most popular recipe is as easy as it is delicious.

Dotdash Meredith Food Studios

One of the best parts of falling in love with a popular recipe is watching how it adapts and changes as more people make it. And in the case of the Mississippi Pot Roastthe simple roast beef with pepperoncini that went viral around 2014 and has been pinned on Pinterest millions of timesthe new-and-improved version uses a home cook staple: boneless skinless chicken breasts.

What Is Mississippi Chicken and How Do You Make It?

But what is Mississippi Chicken, and how does it differ from the original roast with the most? This four-ingredient recipe uses everything that the roast beef version doesa packet of dry ranch dressing mix, jarred pepperoncini peppers and their brine, and unsalted butterbut cooks much faster. Whereas the chuck roast takes 8 hours in a slow cooker, the chicken breasts are smaller and leaner and can be cooked in the oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes until fall-apart-tender, shreddable, and packed with flavor. (You can also do it in a slow cooker, on Low for 6 hours or High for 4 hours.)

Robin Chapman, the creator of the original Mississippi Roast, told the New York Times in 2016 that the inspiration for the roast came from wanting a milder version than her aunt made (with Italian dressing mix). So, conversely, if you want a zippier, zestier version, you could use an Italian dressing mixture or another dry seasoning packet of your choice to experiment with a chicken or beef dish that shreds apart into a juicy, delightful feast that can be piled into a soft roll, served over mashed potatoes or rice, made into tacos or quesadillas, or used as a salad topper.

However you slice itwell, shred itthis is a go-to, easy recipe for meal prep, feeding a hungry family, or entertaining. And if you make it now, you may beat the crowds to the trend! Mississippi Chicken only has 29,500,000 Google results as compared to the original Mississippi Roasts 72,900,000. So youre ahead of the slow-cooker curve.

Get the Recipe: Mississippi Chicken


The Archdiocese of Baltimore added more than 40 names to its public list of Catholic Church staff credibly accused of sexually abusing children, including for the first time deacons, nuns and lay teachers.

The additions, approved at the direction of Archbishop William Lori, mark the largest single expansion of the archdioceses credibly accused list since it first published 57 names in 2002 as part of its response to the national clergy abuse scandal. With Fridays update, the churchs list now runs to more than 180 names.

Although the vast majority of newly added names were already publicly known  41 of 42 had been published in either in news reports or in the Maryland Attorney Generals Office report on eight decades of clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups in the archdiocese  the church said the move demonstrated its commitment to transparency.

The attorney generals report identified 36 priests, brothers, nuns, deacons and lay people  such as teachers  who had been accused of abuse, but who were not then on the archdiocese list.

Survivors of abuse and advocates had demanded Lori add names to the archdiocese list even before the attorney generals office released the public version of its report in April.

The report called on the archdiocese to be more transparent in listing credibly accused employees and clergy, and Fridays additions sought to meet that request, about seven months after the report was completed and shared with church officials.

The decision to add the names is also an acknowledgment of a recommendation by the Maryland attorney general that the Archdiocese expand its voluntary list, wrote Christian Kendzierski, a spokesperson for the archdiocese, in an email to The Baltimore Sun. The addition of these names to our public database builds on the Archdioceses long-standing commitment to transparency, healing and to ridding the Church of the scourge of child sexual abuse.

The attorney generals office did not return a request to comment Friday.

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Of the 156 names in the attorney generals report, 46 had not been previously listed by the archdiocese. A Sun review of 36 of those people found that most of them had died. The other 10 names were redacted, but The Sun has since confirmed and published their identities. A court hearing is scheduled in early July to determine whether the attorney generals office can lift the redactions of those names to the public report.

David Lorenz, director of the Maryland chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said that while he was glad the archdiocese published further names, he didnt view it as a win for survivors as the credibly accuseds identities were already public elsewhere.

I cant give them a win for revealing the names of 42 people, 41 of which we already knew, he said. When they take this long, it should come with an apology, not a victory lap.

The sole new name was that of Father Phillip J. Linden, a longtime theology dean and professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, the nations only Catholic historically Black college. He previously served as a priest in Baltimore from 1969 through 1986, according to his religious order, the Josephites and church officials.

Linden is accused of abusing a boy in the 1970s when he was a pastor at St. Francis Xavier parish in East Baltimore, according to the archdiocese. The archdiocese did not describe the allegation further.

Linden, who is in his 80s, has not been criminally charged. The archdiocese reported the allegation to law enforcement when it received it in August 2020, a spokesperson said.

Attempts Friday to reach Linden, his family and the Josephite order were not immediately successful.

A spokesperson for Xavier University of Louisiana declined to comment on the allegations. Linden worked at the university from 1991 through May 2018, the spokesperson said.

A Texas native, Linden celebrated his Golden Jubilee of 50 years in the Josephite order in 2019. Also known as the St. Josephs Society of the Sacred Heart, the Josephites are an order of Catholic priests and brothers who serve the Black community. The societys headquarters is in Baltimore.

The archdiocese has maintained its credibly accused list, separate from that of the attorney general, with its own set of criteria  namely that it included only people who were clergy, meaning priests and brothers. Fridays additions expand that criteria to include deacons, nuns and lay people, but it would be up to the archdioceses Independent Review Board to determine if the wider criteria is used going forward.

The decision to add more names came the same week that one of Baltimores most well-known Catholic families filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the archdiocese over abuse Frank Gallagher Jr. suffered as a teen. Also Friday, a Baltimore County judge acquitted a former Catholic school wrestling coach in the only prosecution that has arisen from the attorney generals investigation.

The additions mark a step toward recognition of some of the horrors survivors have dealt with. Among others, the archdioceses list now includes John Merzbacher, a former Catholic teacher who spent the last 28 years of his life in prison for the rape and torture of a student. Merzbacher died May 12 in prison.

For a name to go on the archdioceses list, a complaint or report has to be made to Catholic officials. The church reports the complaint to law enforcement and, once authorities give the archdiocese permission, church officials do their own investigation. Evidence is then presented to the Independent Review Board, an interfaith group of eight community members from legal, academic, health care, social work and law enforcement circles. Lori appoints the members.

The board meets quarterly and votes as to whether it considers the allegations credible. Lori then determines what course of action to take, if any, regarding making a name public or disciplinary action. Priests or brothers who die before a single allegation of child abuse is received arent added to the list unless a third party corroborates an allegation, or a second allegation is made against the same person.

As well as the 36 unredacted names from the attorney generals report, the archdiocese added Friday one of the 10 redacted names to its credibly accused list: Father Joseph OMeara.

Identified in the report as abuser No. 155, OMeara was removed from ministry in 2020 at St. Agnes/William of York Parish in Catonsville after three women said he had inappropriately touched them. The attorney generals report says OMeara inappropriately touched a 7-year-old girl in 1984, sliding his hand up her leg to her genitals under a table at a dinner.

An attorney for OMeara, Michael P. Mays, declined to comment Friday on OMearas addition to the archdioceses credibly accused list, but previously confirmed OMeara is one of the redacted names. Kendzierski, the archdiocese spokesperson, declined to comment on OMeara being one of the redacted names, citing a Baltimore Circuit Court judges confidentiality order regarding the ongoing process over how much more of the report should become public.

The archdiocese previously said it could not reveal the names of the redacted abusers, citing the courts order. The attorney generals office, subject to the same order, disagreed with that stance, saying the church is uniquely positioned to release any redacted name because the information would come from its own files.

Michael Joseph Miller was also added Friday to the credibly accused list, despite not being included in the attorney generals report. A former member of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Miller was arrested in Connecticut in 2011 on child pornography charges and in 2013 was sentenced to five years in prison plus 20 years of probation. Miller was a faculty member at Archbishop Curley High School during the 1994 and 1995 school years, and again from 2003 to 2006. He celebrated Mass occasionally at St. Isaac Jogues in Carney and St. Margaret in Bel Air from 2003 to 2006.

The Baltimore archdiocese acknowledged his arrest at the time, but stated it did not have any knowledge of incidents involving children here. On Friday, the archdiocese said a man came forward earlier this year to say Miller solicited and sent inappropriate photos to him when he was a student at Archbishop Curley in the mid-2000s.

According to the Hartford Courant, Miller chatted on Facebook with seven teenagers about sexual issues, inviting one to come over and watch porn and engage in sex. Pornographic videos of children and adults turned up on computers he used, according to news coverage of his trial. The Hartford archdiocese said he was removed from the ministry in 2011.

The Connecticut sex offender registry listed an inmate release date of December 2017, and online court records show that as of January 2020, he remained on probation. The registry gives his address as that of the RECON retreat in Robertsville, Missouri, a residential facility for troubled clergy affiliated with the Servants of the Paraclete organization. It describes itself as a Catholic congregation of priests and brothers who provide care for their counterparts in need.

Miller could not be reached for comment. Messages left Friday for the Servants of the Paraclete were not returned.

Not including Linden, OMeara and Miller, the following names appeared in the attorney generals report and are the additions to the Baltimore archdioceses credibly accused list. Three priests  Douglas Dempster, Robert Trupia and William Virtue  are listed in the attorney generals report as having either lived or worked in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, but have not been accused of abuse here.

A + next to the persons name means they are deceased:

+Affrica, Louis  priest

+Brotzman, Stephen  lay teacher

+Brown, Wayland (Diocese of Savannah, Georgia)  priest

+Callahan, Robert  priest

Dempster, Douglas (Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware)  priest

+Ernst, Francis (Jesuit)

+Evans, Terence  priest

+Figlewski, Alphonsus (Conventual Franciscan)

+Firlie, Joseph  deacon

+Flood, Theonella (School Sisters of Notre Dame)  sister

+Hill, Joseph (Vincentian)  priest

+Hiltz, Robert  priest

+Jameson, William  priest

+Julian, Albert  priest

+Justice, John  deacon

+Kelly, Thomas M.  priest

+Krach, Joseph  priest

+Kuhl, Thomas  deacon

+Leary, David  priest

+McCrory, William  priest

McIntyre, Patrick  lay teacher

+Merzbacher, John  lay teacher

+Messer, Joseph  priest

+Morgan, Eugene (Christian Brother)  brother

+Morgan, William (Society of the Divine Word)  brother

+Mountain, John  priest

+Nagle, Alan  priest

+OHara, Leo  Leo OHara was a lay candidate to become a deacon

+Stallings, Albert  priest

+Sullivan, Cuthbert (Passionist)

+Tomasunas, Thomas (Capuchin Franciscan)

Trupia, Robert (Diocese of Tucson, Arizona)  priest

Virtue, William (Dioceses of Joliet and Peoria in Illinois) priest

+Wagner, Francis  priest

+Whelan, Thomas  priest

+Wooden, Roger  priest

+Yocum, Francis (Sisters of Saint Francis of Philadelphia)  sister

+Zerhusen, Henry  priest

One person identified in the attorney generals report as an abuser was described by their victim as someone who began a relationship with a church official themselves while still a minor. While the archdiocese added that persons name Friday to its list, The Sun does not name people who have been sexually abused without their permission. The newspaper attempted to contact the individual to ask about the victims statement regarding them, but was not able to reach them.
With recent closures and only a dozen or so authentic Trappist breweries still operating, is their future hazy or bright?

Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP via Getty Images

In an era dominated by lagers, hazy IPAs, and non-alcoholic beers, Trappist brews have remained a small, but quintessential part of the global craft beer experience. Even as their existence is threatened due to factors like the rising costs of ingredients and an aging workforce, the handful that remain continue to churn out some of the most iconic beers in the world.

The number of Trappist breweries in operation around the world tends to fluctuate, but there are typically never more than thirteen or so at a given time. The majority are located in Belgium: Bieres de Chimay, Brouwerij der Trappisten van Westmalle, Brouwerij Westvleteren, Brasserie de Rochefort, and Brasserie d'Orval. Brouwerij de Koningshoeven (La Trappe) and Brouwerij Abdij Maria Toevlucht (Zundert) are located in the Netherlands, Tre Fontane is Romes only Trappist brewery, and Englands Mount St Bernard Abbey (Tynt Meadow) rounds out the bunch.

A few have fallen in recent years  Stift Engelszell in Austria is in the process of dissolution, and the United States only Trappist brewery ever to exist, Spencer Brewery, shuttered in 2022 after eight years of operations. In 2021, the International Trappist Association (ITA) revoked Achel Abbeys official Trappist brewery title when the last two monks transferred to Westmalle.

What is Trappist beer?

Manu Pauwels, head of marketing at Westmalle and ITA spokesperson, is quick to point out that Trappist beer is not a style  rather, its a designation that must meet three conditions to be considered authentically Trappist by the ITA.

It is brewed in a Trappist abbey, [and] it is produced entirely under the control of the Trappist monks of that abbey, he says, explaining that Trappist is the common name referring to the monastics belonging to the Order of Cistercians of Strict Observance. [Third], the revenue serves for the sustenance of that abbey community and to support charitable causes.

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In short, it must be brewed in a recognized Trappist abbey, under the purview of monks (but not necessarily brewed by the monks), and they must be a self-sustaining business enterprise that gives away any proceeds  not otherwise required by the abbey to function  to charity.

It also must hit one more important, but subjective provision: quality. Because the pursuit of growth is virtually irrelevant, there can just be a lot of focus on that quality, explains Pauwels. There are no cuts in time and resources if this would affect the product itself.

Not only do they have the time to aim high, they have a divine responsibility to do so, says Professor Doug Miller at Cornell University, If they're going to do something, they want it to be the highest quality, or else it would go against their religious teachings.

Related: The 25 Most Important American Craft Beers Ever Brewed

A brief history of Trappist breweries...

Once upon a time, abbeys were safe places for ascetic men to grow closer to God and provide refuge for weary travelers, explains John Staunton, Eastern US Division Manager at Merchant du Vin, a specialty beverage importer. Brewing beer became a natural part of the brothers chores, before water sanitation was guaranteed. [Travelers] knew the beer was safe to drink, says Staunton. That tradition is what its turned into today.

But the Trappist tradition of staying small and focusing on a small handful of beers  often just one beer, as in the case of Orval  can be a double-edged sword. The romantic origin story and brewing history dating back hundreds of years that many of the remaining Trappist breweries share can be difficult for new breweries, like Spencer, to duplicate in the 21st century. Plus, Trappist monasteries can undertake any commercial operation, such as dairy farming or soap making, to remain self-sustaining, and brewing can be an expensive endeavor.

On top of costs, religious institutions of all denominations are facing another crisis. There simply arent enough monks anymore to keep the monasteries going indefinitely, and theyre aging out, says Joe Stange, managing editor of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine and co-author of Good Beer Guide Belgium. He notes that while monks are not required to execute the day-to-day operations at Trappist breweries to produce an authentic Trappist beer, they still need to supervise the work. That can only happen for as long as there are monks and abbeys.

Gumer Santos, brewer and quality engineer for Rochefort, admits enticing new monks is a challenge, but not an insurmountable, or even universal one. The decreasing interest in monastic living is relative to the Occidental World, he says. In Asia, South America and Africa, its not the same. An increase in recruits from outside Europe have helped bridge the gap in order to keep the beer flowing, but even that pipelines longevity remains uncertain.

Related: 16 Craft Breweries Where the Food Is as Big a Draw as the Beer

What is the future of Trappist beer?

Oli Sscarff / AFP via Getty Images

Despite economic and religious challenges, Trappist beer (probably) isnt going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. Several breweries like Chimay, Westvleteren, and Westmalle have been around for over 150 years and are still going strong. With that legacy to rely on, Staunton is optimistic about an ongoing future, even as consumer tastes evolve from the big Belgian beer mania of the 90s to todays drink as fresh as possible movement.

When someone is told over and over by their local brewers to drink beer that day, and then they find something with a five year shelf life, like Orval, they might look at it cross-eyed, he laughs. The whole industry has to do a better job of education and bringing this to the new drinker. If youre 21 years old and somebody throws an Orval at you, youre not going to know what to do with it! He points to initiatives like Orval Day and Trappist Tuesday as efforts to bring fresh initiates to the Trappist tradition.

For Pauwels and Westmalle, education at the consumer level does not mean evolution on the production side. We are convinced that we do not need to adapt our beers to survive, he says. Still, he adds, it probably wouldnt hurt for breweries to put themselves out there a bit more. Trappist breweries are not in the habit of communicating much. Consequently, you can't blame consumers for not knowing much about Trappist beer.

Stange hopes these measures will be enough to ensure monastic brewery culture continues. Even still, thats still no reason to take the existence of Trappist beer for granted. We shouldnt assume theyll be around forever, he muses. Lets enjoy those earthly delights while we can.



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Christian Womens Noon Connection will meet for a noon luncheon on Monday, July 10, at the Midland University Dining Hall, Ninth and Pebble streets, in Fremont.

The theme is Lazy Days of Summer. The group will learn about whats happening on Main Street in downtown Fremont. Music will be provided by Bryan Nelson.

Kay Grote of Monroe, Iowa, will speak on Camping with my Father. Life lessons learned from camping.

Cost of the luncheon is $15. To make a reservation, call Pat at 402-720-3847 by July 5. Honoring your reservation is necessary.
President Joe Biden hit out at Donald Trump on Thursday for his past repeated attacks on the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

The president sat down with journalist Nicolle Wallace to discuss a wide range of topics in an interview on MSNBC, during which he took a moment to talk about working across the aisle.

Wallace, who was a top aide to McCain during his 2008 presidential run, asked Biden how he imagined the decorated Vietnam veteran would feel about the Republican Party of today and its increasingly extreme politics.

I dont think hed think much of it, the president said, adding that he couldnt speak for the politician, who died in 2018 of brain cancer.

Biden talked about his deep connection with McCain, whom he met in the 1970s while working on veterans affairs issues.

The late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) worked with Biden in the Senate on veterans issues.

The late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) worked with Biden in the Senate on veterans issues.

He remembered encouraging his friend to run for office, despite their political differences.

[McCain] started working with me when he came back ... from being a prisoner of war, and I helped talk him into running, the president said of the senator, who was imprisoned in Vietnam for more than five years. And I used to kid him. I said, Youve got to, damn it.

Biden added that while the pair used to argue like hell, argue like brothers, they would always end up hugging one another in the end.

Though the duo didnt always agree, the president reminded Wallace about how hes defended McCains legacy against members of McCains own party, particularly former President Trump.

You may recall I got very upset with the last president and even with my good friend Lindsey [Graham], sometimes because of the denial of McCains heroism. Biden said, later noting, Come on, this guy was a hero! We may disagree, but he was a completely, thoroughly honorable man.

Trump has never quite masked his disdain for McCain.

"I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be," Donald Trump has said.

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In July 2015, then-candidate Trump belittled the senators military career. saying, Hes not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who werent captured.

His irritation with McCain intensified after the Arizona senators last-minute decision to vote against a Republican measure to dismantle the Affordable Care Act in July 2017.

Talking about McCains vote across party lines in a 2019 White House press briefing, Trump said, I think thats disgraceful. Plus there are other things. I was never a fan of John McCain, and I never will be.

Trump complained about McCain once again in his 2023 coffee-table book, Letters to Trump, in which he wrote, I never warmed to him. Never felt good about anybody having anything to do with John McCain and never will, even despite the fact that at their request, I gave him the worlds longest funeral, 11 days. Much like his wars, it never ended.

McCains memorial events spanned five days, only one of which took place at the U.S. Capitol.

Biden served as one of the senators pallbearers during services at the Washington National Cathedral.

McCain asked for President Barack Obama and President George W. Bush to deliver his eulogies, while personally requesting that Trump not be invited to his funeral.

Watch Bidens full McCain comments here:

Related...
On an early summer day, the bay in front of the historic Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens is filled with yachtsshiny, sleek, state-of-the-art, and massive. But theres one vessel attracting all the attention. Paddleboarders row over to get a closer look and tenders slow to a crawl. Even at 92 years old, the 108-foot Maid Marian 2 still turns heads. And, thanks to a recent refit, the classic wooden superyacht is looking better than ever.

Maid Marian 2 underwent an extensive makeover in 2021. The update took nine months and encompassed a full renovation of the 1,076-square-foot upper deck that added a sleek new bar with gleaming brass stools, state-of-the-art sound system, and expanded seating area.

More from Robb Report

And since the owner is none other than Roland Emmerich, the highly successful Hollywood movie director, the extension made sense for both Emmerich, who uses the yacht for several weeks during the summer, and charter guests who explore the Greek islands. By renovating, we were able to more than double the useable space of the upper deck for our guests, the owners rep told Robb Report. It lets guests take in all the breathtaking uninterrupted views of the Greek islands and sea.

The classic 1930s profile extends to the rounded canoe stern.

Even with the most recent tweaks, Maid Marian 2 maintains a timeless appeal, all vintage elegance and irresistible nostalgia. Elegance was the idea from the start. Launched into the Hudson River in 1931 as Cleopatra by the Bronx-based New York Yacht, Launch & Engine Companywhich also built ships for the Navy and Coast Guard alongside private vesselsMaid Marian 2 got her name in 1933 when she was acquired by automobile heiress Ruth Nash Bliss.

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For its first stage of life, Maid Marian 2 was a socialites plaything, a counterpart to Maid Marian, the yacht owned by her brother. Mrs. Bliss lived aboard during the summers, cruising the Hudson and the Great Lakes on the yacht, considered massive at the time. During World War II, the vessel was used as a patrol boat for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Eventually, Maid Marian 2 was moored in Palm Beach with Mrs. Bliss, then retired, living aboard until the 1990s. It was then that Adrian Zecha, creator of cult luxury-hotel brand Aman discovered the vessel, andwith a team of investorsnabbed her for his very first hotel, Amanpuri.

The social area at the stern.

My first experience with Maid Marian 2 was in 2006 when I visited Amanpuri in Phuket, says Emmerich, known in Hollywood as the Master of Disaster, directing such blockbusters as Independence Day, The Patriot, and, most recently, Moonfall. I was captivated by her history and potential charm. When I acquired her [in 2007], I wanted to remodel and restore her to her former glory with a modern twist.

Emmerich calls that first refit outstanding. British designer John Teall spearheaded the original refurb, a nine-month undertaking, which included rebuilding the boat in teak, making it heavier but more stable. (Her maximum speed is 10 knots.)

Then, there were the interiors. It was actually almost entirely stripped and devoid of its history when we started, Teall says. It was modernized in the 80s with fiberglass additions and contemporary furniture, [so] we largely had to fabricate the history. Teall drew on original photographs for design inspiration, some of which are now framed and displayed on the boat.

The main salons recent makeover retained the retro feel.

While trawling through old photographs, a pair of elegantly curved armchairs jumped out to Teall. They are the only original pieces of furniture on the boat. We found them in a storage unit in Thailand and had them restored and upholstered in the same fabric we used for the beds.

Within the five cabins, only the bathtub in the master cabin and two wall lights date back to the original vessel. We also took the existing wall lights and had these replicated and used them throughout the boat. We did the same with the exterior lighting but replicating an item salvaged from a French 1930s paquebot, says Teall.

For the remaining design elements, a fair bit of antiquing was required. Shopping for the boat was a very international affair, says Teall, who searched high and low from Buenos Aires to Bangkok to Berlin for the right pieces.

Socialite Ruth Nash Bliss owned the yacht for more than 60 years.

Every piece has a story: a Champagne bucket from a 1930s ocean liner from Christies marine sale; 1930s lacquer tables from Los Angeles; African antique masks from Namibia; and many other items. All the brass handles and fittings [were] painstakingly sourced from around the globe, on eBay, websites, and marine salvage stores, says Teall.

Emmerich was also involved in the aesthetics. We have beautiful art pieces from my trips in Africa, Argentina, and Asia, he says. My favorite pieces are the Mao statues.

Old-school water access.

Emmerich has opened the historic yacht to charter in Greece. Accommodating 10 guests with an all-Greek crew of six, Maid Marian 2 spends much of its summer in charter, though Emmerich gets on board at least once or twice a year. I love spending time on the yacht with friends and family,he says.

As with all classic wooden yachts, maintenance is constant. Every 10 years, for instance, the bottom of the hull is replaced. For now, the boat is in pristine condition, and Emmerich is delighted with his new upper deck. I will just enjoy her for a while before making any new improvements, he says.

Click here to see more images of Maid Marian 2.

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(Photo credit: DShinebarger / Getty Images)

A male Boxer from Bloomington, Illinois, nabbed the Guinness World Record for the longest dog tongue. Rocky is now making headlines for his incredible muscular mouth organ.

Boxer breaks record for longest dog tongue

According to Guinness World Records, Rockys tongue is an astounding 13.883 centimeters (5.47 inches). His dog mom, Crystal Williams, told 25NewsNow that shes always known the dogs tongue was unusually long. However, it didnt really register until she heard about a Labrador Retriever/German Shepherd mix named Zoey receiving the illustrious accolade of longest dog tongue. Hers measured 12.7 centimeters (equivalent to 5 inches). Thats when it occurred to Williams to measure her pups tongue.

I said, Oh my gosh, I think we have a shot, I have to look into this, Williams told the news outlet.

The opportunity to size up Rockys tongue occurred when the dog needed a dental procedure. Dr. Bernard Bleem, a veterinarian, measured Rockys tongue while the dog was under anesthesia.

Police verify dog tongue measurement

A Bloomington police officer attended the dental procedure to verify the tongue measurement, according to a police department post on Facebook.

Evidence collection is critical to building a solid case. This morning one of our top evidence collectors was called upon to witness and document some unusual evidence for residents, Brad and Crystal Williams. In this case, evidence collection also required a veterinarian and a measuring tape, the post read.

The post continued: According to the Guinness Book of World Records, multiple witnesses are required to observe any attempts at breaking world records. Ofc. Parsley and Dr. Bleem stood by as local pooch, Rocky Williams, unfurled his gigantic tongue. With great anticipation, Dr. Bleem measured Rockys mammoth tongue, coming up with 13.88 cm! This appears to be a new world record!

Rocky joins a long line of long-tongued dogs. Prior to Rocky and Zoey, a female Saint Bernard named Mochi held the title of longest dog tongue. Hers was 18.58 centimeters (7.3 inches) long. Sadly, she passed away in South Dakota in October 2021.

Canine tongues arent just remarkable for their length. They also reveal things about your dogs health. Read up on the reasons why your dogs tongue sticks out!

The post Boxer Named Rocky Sets Guinness World Record for Longest Dog Tongue appeared first on DogTime.
Celebrity Cruises has announced a new Caribbean itinerary for the summer 2024 season. Starting in April 2024, sun chasers, beach lovers, and relaxation seekers will have the opportunity to experience the Caribbean on two ships: Celebrity BeyondSM and Celebrity Reflection. This new program not only doubles the number of year-round Caribbean cruises offered by the brand, but also introduces its first weekend cruises. In addition, guests on both ships will have the chance to visit Perfect Day at CocoCay for the first time ever.

Laura Hodges Bethge, President of Celebrity Cruises, expressed that their customers have consistently requested more year-round options to explore this stunning region. With the introduction of this new program, Celebrity Cruises aims to meet these demands and provide guests with something new and historic.

Our customers are consistently asking for more opportunities to visit this stunning region year-round, have more weekend options so they can getaway easier, and have expressed a desire for a private island destination, Bethge said. By introducing this new program, we can meet this demand and offer something new and historic to all our guests. [Perfect] Day is a destination like no other, and we are honored to add it to our portfolio.

Perfect Day at CocoCay

Perfect Day at CocoCay is an exquisite island paradise located in the Bahamas and is one of the most exclusive destinations in the Caribbean. Visitors can indulge in beachside relaxation, while also enjoying a variety of sun-soaked activities.

Travelers will be captivated by miles of pristine white sand beaches and crystal-clear turquoise waters. They also can take a dip in the largest freshwater pool in The Bahamas, swim up to the bar for a refreshing tropical cocktail, and experience unparalleled relaxation and privacy at Coco Beach Club, featuring a heated infinity pool, a specialty restaurant and 20 exclusive overwater cabanas.

Celebrity Beyond will set sail from South Florida and embark on extraordinary journeys to destinations, such as Grand Cayman, The Bahamas, Mexico and the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. Guests will have the opportunity to visit Perfect Day at CocoCay.

With Celebrity Reflections new three- and four-night itineraries, vacationers will now be able to escape every weekend for the first time. These itineraries will offer nearly 40 opportunities to enjoy Perfect Day, along with visits to the white sand beaches of Bimini
Summer flight prices are high this season. Hopper data shows airfare to Europe averages $1,100, and a round-trip ticket to Asia averages around $1,800.

Ticket prices for both destinations have increased by more than $300 compared to last year. Dont let this keep you from taking a well-deserved break. After all, summer shouldnt be all work with no play. Theres still a way to grab a flight deal for less than $450 round-trip, even at the peak of summer.

Here are five destinations to travel this July for less than $450 round trip.

Guatemala City, Guatemala, For As Low As $169 Round Trip

Guatemala City, Guatemala For $169 Round Trip

$168.15

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Guatemala City, Guatemala For $169 Round Trip

Photo Credit: Expedia

Guatemala City is for you if you dont mind a little heat and humidity this summer. Its a great city for travelers looking for variety. While the citys Mayan history attracts visitors worldwide, there are also excellent selections of hotels, restaurants, museums, hotels, and nightlife venues.

If you have some time in Guatemala, take the time to visit Lake Atitlan. About 77 miles west of Guatemala City, the lake was nominated as one of the worlds seven wonders. Its considered the most beautiful lake in the world and one of the most unique places.

Flights from Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Orlando, Chicago, Tampa, Denver, and Philadelphia can be purchased for less than $250 round trip this July.

The cheapest option leaves from Miami on July 17 and returns on July 24 for $169. Dont hesitate on this deal. Expedia only has a few more left. If you miss it, play with the dates in Expedia.

Los Cabos, Mexico, For As Low As $194 Round Trip

San Jose del Cabo, Mexico For $194 Round Trip

$193.99

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San Jose del Cabo, Mexico For $194 Round Trip

Photo Credit: Expedia

The resort city of Los Cabos offers visitors the best of both worlds: a chance to relax and embark on an adventure. Located on the southern tip of Mexicos Baja California peninsula, Los Cabos is known for its beaches and nightlife.

More than 40 percent of the beaches here have free access and are swimmable, so you dont have to worry about booking an expensive resort for a good beach experience.

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9 Palmas, Acapulquito, Buena Vista, and Cabo Pulmo are all beaches you can access for free on the island. Playa El Medano is Cabos main beach, with outdoor restaurants and numerous bars.

Flights to Los Cabos can be purchased from U.S. departure Houston, Denver, Las Vegas, Oakland, and San Diego for less than $300 round-trip.

The cheapest option leaves Los Angeles on July 14 and returns on July 21 for $194 round-trip on Expedia.

Guayaquil, Ecuador, For As Low As $331 Round Trip

Guayaquil, Ecuador For $331 Round Trip

$330.35

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Guayaquil, Ecuador For $331 Round Trip

Photo Credit: Expedia

Guayaquil is a port city in Ecuador known as the gateway to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and the Galapagos Islands.

Prepare yourself to fall in love as you walk through the cobbled streets of Las Penas. Its known as the citys first neighborhood with more than 400 years of history. The wooded-painted houses with bright colors will stand out.

For a beautiful view of the city, climb the 444 steps of Santa Ana Hill. The trek up can be challenging, but the pictures make it worth it.

Known as the Pearl of the Pacific, you will find some of the best food in the world right here in Guayaquil. Very few places can rival the fresh seafood dishes restaurants obtain from the ocean. Before your adventure to The Galapagos, dont forget to visit Plaza del Centenario and the Guayaquil Municipal Museum.

Grab your loved ones: this flight deal to Guayaquil can be purchased from multiple cities for less than $400, including Tampa, Miami, Orlando, Durham, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, New York City, and Cleveland, Ohio.

Traveling from Fort Lauderdale is the cheapest option. Use July 14 through July 25 as your travel dates in Expedia.

Lima, Peru, For As Low As $346 Round Trip

Lima, Peru For $346 Round Trip

$345.22

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Lima, Peru For $346 Round Trip

Photo Credit: Expedia

Lima is often the entry point for many travelers before heading on their respective adventures to Machu Picchu, Cusco and Rainbow Mountain. Still, you dont want to leave out exploring Lima.

Located on Perus coast, explore the beaches, good food, and Afro-Peruvian culture.

If youre unsure where to start, check out our ultimate guide and itinerary for spending a week in Lima, Peru.

Flights from Miami, Orlando, Washington, D.C., New York City, Boston, Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, and Houston can be purchased for less than $450 this July.

The cheapest option leaves Fort Lauderdale, according to Expedia. Use July 20 through July 28 as your travel dates for a round-trip ticket priced at $346 round trip.

Miami To Asuncion, Paraguay, ForAs Low As $400 Round Trip

Miami to Asuncion, Paraguay For $400 Round Trip

$400

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Miami to Asuncion, Paraguay For $400 Round Trip

Photo Credit: Expedia

Consider Asuncion, Paraguay, this July for those looking to explore uncharted territory. Asuncion is one of the oldest cities in South America, known as the Mother of Cities. If youve taken Travel Noires vacation persona quiz, this is a destination for those with the city connector persona, as its filled with museums, arts, and good eats.

The Museo del Barro is a beautiful museum showcasing Paraguays diverse art and textiles. Its a great introduction to the South American country.

Head to the MUSA Museum of Chairs for something quirky. Its an unusual museum that showcases chairs from all over the world. Explore three floors of exciting chair history. For nightlife, go to Morgan Warehouse to enjoy live Latin music in an intimate setting. Velvet Asuncion is another popular nightclub venue where you can go out for a night of dancing.

Theres only one deal to Paraguay for less than $450 round-trip, and its for people who can leave from Miami. Use July 7 through July 27 as your travel dates for a round-trip ticket for $400.
Delta Air Lines is making it easier to travel to Israel.

Courtesy of Delta Air Lines

It will soon be easier to visit Israel thanks to a new alliance between two carriers.



Delta Air Lines and El Al Israel Airlines announced a strategic partnership where passengers can book journeys on both airlines on a single itinerary and receive the same frequent flyer benefits. (Delta has similar alliances with 19 airlines through its membership in the SkyTeam alliance.)



Working closely with El Al Israel Airlines will further strengthen Deltas connection to Israel by offering more customers unrivaled access to destinations across the U.S., Matteo Curcio, Deltas SVP for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India, said in a statement obtained by Travel + Leisure.



Courtesy of Delta Air Lines



The partnership will allow passengers to seamlessly check in for their entire journey between the two airlines, including boarding passes and baggage handling. (For example, if a passenger started a journey with Delta and ended with El Al, they would only have to check a bag once all the way through.) The partnership also allows for the earning of frequent flyer miles across the programs of both carriers.



Delta offers up to 200 same-day connections from Tel Aviv via its U.S. gateways Atlanta, Boston, and New York-JFK while El Al Israel Airlines offers customers additional nonstop service to Tel Aviv from Boston and New York-JFK, alongside their Los Angeles, Miami, and Newark service, the announcement said.



Over two million travelers visited Israel in 2022, including a large rebound of North American travelers, according to local media reports. Similar trends are being seen in 2023, thus far. Israel's Ben Gurion Airport recorded its highest volume of passenger traffic ever, with over 1.9 million passengers traveling through the airport on over 13,000 flights in March alone, The Jerusalem Post reported.



"This partnership marks another important milestone in our long-term strategy and offers our customers unparalleled service," Shlomi Zafrany, El Al Israel Airlines' vice president of commercial and industry affairs, said in a statement.



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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial on charges accusing him of sexually assaulting a New Jersey teen decades ago, an expert for the prosecution said, raising doubts about the future of a series of criminal and civil cases against the 92-year-old.

Prosecutors in Massachusetts disclosed the findings to a judge, who will ultimately rule on the once-powerful American prelates ability to face charges that he abused the boy at a wedding reception at Wellesley College in 1974.

McCarrick, who was the archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000 and the bishop of Metuchen earlier in the 1980s, has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty in 2021 to the Massachusetts charges. He was also charged in April with sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man in Wisconsin more than 45 years ago.

The news drew outrage from advocates for clergy abuse victims in New Jersey, where McCarrick faces several lawsuits, as well as from James Grein, the Bergen County native whose accusations led to the criminal case in Massachusetts.

Then-Newark Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick, at a press conference in 2000.

"He groomed me but I escaped by the Grace of God," Grein said in an email to NorthJersey.com on Friday. "I lived in his grasp for years. I know how he operates. Still to this day, people are not listening."

"He may escape punishment from man but his maker will have the final judgment."

McCarrick defrocked in 2019

Grein, 64 and now living in Virginia, revealed himself as the accuser in the Massachusetts case earlier this year. A Tenafly native, he has said McCarrick abused him for a period of nearly 20 years, beginning when he was 11 and including the incident at Wellesley College when he was 16. He and McCarrick, a close family friend, were at the school for his brothers wedding reception, Grein said.

McCarrick is the only Catholic cardinal in the U.S. to face child sex abuse charges. He was removed from ministry in 2018 when the church deemed an allegation of child abuse against him to be credible. He was defrocked a year later amid accusations that he abused children and adult seminary students.

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In February, his attorneys asked the court to dismiss the Massachusetts case, saying a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine had examined him and concluded that he has dementia, likely Alzheimers disease.

At that time, lawyers said McCarrick had a limited understanding of the criminal proceedings against him, but that his progressive and irreparable cognitive deficits render him unable to meaningfully consult with counsel or to effectively assist in his own defense.

Prosecutors later hired their own expert to assess McCarrick, who filed their own report on the mans competency, which has not been made public. The judge set a hearing on the matter for Aug. 30.

'If he's found guilty, I'm free:' NJ man yearns for conviction of ex-Cardinal McCarrick

Exclusive: Exclusive: Ex-Cardinal McCarrick denies abuse of NJ man as criminal case hangs in balance

Barry Coburn, an attorney for McCarrick, declined to comment.

Lawsuits will go forward

Mitchell Garabedian, the attorney representing Grein as well as other clergy abuse accusers, said in a written statement that his client was obviously discouraged" by the prosecution expert's findings. He said his client remains determined to continue with lawsuits he has filed against McCarrick in other states.

By proceeding with the civil lawsuits my client is empowering himself, other clergy sexual abuse victims and making the world a safer place for children, Garabedian said. "I believe that a finding of former Cardinal McCarrick being found incompetent in the criminal case will not prevent the civil litigation from proceeding."

"I have previously taken a more than six-hour deposition of former Cardinal McCarrick under oath in the NJ civil case. My client, a brave clergy sexual abuse victim, will not be deterred."

At least 14 people have accused the former cardinal of sexually abusing them as children. At least half have sued him in New York and New Jersey, according to the website BishopAccountability.com, which tracks such cases.

Robert Hoatson of West Orange, president of Road to Recovery, which aids clergy abuse survivors, said, "there is no question that McCarrick is feeble, but the longer justice is dragged out on his behalf, the longer his victims get older, more frustrated, and more re-victimized."

Mar 10, 2023; Herdon, VA, USA; March 10, 2023; Virginia, USA. He was silent about his abuse for years, but James Grein has emerged as one of the most vocal accusers of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. He says McCarrick abused him for 20 years, beginning when he was 11. Grein has recently admitted the he is the accuser in the Massachusetts trial now taking place.

In February, a NorthJersey.com reporter reached McCarrick, who now lives in Dittmer, Missouri, on his private cellphone.

Ex-cardinal defends himself

The ex-prelate said he was feeling well "considering that I am 92 years old. It's not like I'm 40 or 50 anymore." Asked about Grein, he said he remembered him.

But of the allegations, he said, "The things he said about me are not true," and then he quickly added, "If you want more information about it, you can talk to my lawyers."

McCarrick was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. He was not exempt from facing charges because the clock stopped on the statute of limitations when he left Massachusetts.

Ordained as a priest in New York City in 1958, McCarrick was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually molested adults as well as children. An internal Vatican investigation found that bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed reports of sexual misconduct over many years.

The case created a credibility crisis for the church since the Vatican had reports from authoritative cardinals dating to 1999 that McCarricks behavior was problematic, yet he became an influential cardinal, kingmaker and emissary of the Holy Sees soft diplomacy.

This article contains material from the Associated Press.

Deena Yellin covers religion for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work covering how the spiritual intersects with our daily lives, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: yellin@northjersey.com

Twitter: @deenayellin

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ex-Cardinal McCarrick may avoid trial, enraging NJ accusers
MILAN  Pal Zileris tailored jackets and employees at its Quinto Vicentino plant in Italy have found their white knight, WWD has learned.

After months of negotiations, Nicola Ferraretto, founder of fellow fashion manufacturer J6, together with other investors, has bought out the industrial and manufacturing branch of Forall Confezioni SpA, Pal Zileris production and operative arm, through a newco named Manifattura Veneta.

More from WWD

The deal, whose financial details have not been revealed, entails the buyout of Forall Confezionis machinery, workforce and manufacturing agreements. It does not include the Pal Zileri brand, which is and remains controlled by Qatari fund Mayhoola, owner of Valentino and Balmain.

Following the deal, Manifattura Veneta will begin operations with a 70-person workforce and a new, 43,055-square-foot production complex located just opposite the storied site in Quinto Vicentino, in the outskirts of Vicenza, where Forall Confezioni operated.

In a joint interview with WWD, Ferraretto, chief executive officer of Manifattura Veneta, and Massimiliano Tintinelli, chief restructuring officer and board member at Forall Confezioni SpA, touted the M&A deal as the result of lengthy negotiations that saw all relevant parties involved, including Mayhoola, trade unions and the Veneto Region.

The main goals were to ensure continuity for employees and manage the [Pal Zileri] brand more accurately, trying to maintain our manufacturing capabilities and craftspeople in the Veneto region, because Pal Zileris manufacturing is Vicentina [from Vicenza, Italy], Venetian, Tintinelli said.

The most important aspect was maintaining quality, tradition and [presence on] the territory. Our stakeholder [Mayhoola] was very committed to that, he added.

Several international, mainly financial parties, expressed interest in acquiring Forall Confezioni SpA, but none qualified as much as J6s Ferraretto, Tintinelli said.

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Inside the Manifattura Veneta plant.

After a few years of stopgap maneuvers  entailing extraordinary wage support measures, employee relocations and reskilling plans  which saw the Veneto Region as well as trade unions contribute to safeguarding the workforce in the interim period, two former Forall employees liaised with Tintinelli and Ferraretto.

Mayhoolas full support of any potential scenario that would ensure continuity for the plant also contributed to the deal, Tintinelli said.

Forall was experiencing significant revenue drops, but Mayhoola has always recapitalized the company as it aimed for issues to be fixed and [finally] focus on the brands [operations], the executive said.

In pre-pandemic years, and before Tintinellis appointment to his role, Forall also served as a third-party manufacturer for other fashion brands, a business it discontinued amid deteriorating market conditions.

When I joined, Forall needed restructuring because it was operating at a significant loss. The COVID-19 pandemic further dampened the formalwear sector, as weve seen [happening] to other competitors and [sales of formal] jackets hit a roadblock. Today were experiencing, so to say, a strong rebound and thats happening for competitors and for Forall, too, which saw [revenue] upticks in the past couple of years, Tintinelli explained.

The executive described the road to selling Foralls assets as a reengineering of all processes.

We had to rewrite processes rather than adapt them because they were outdated and old, he said.

Out of the 450 workers that as of 2020 were employed at different operational levels, from Pal Zileri-branded stores to manufacturing activities and brand operations, the restructuring relocated around 43 in brand activities, about 60 in retail, in addition to the 70 workers who transitioned to Manifattura Veneta. An additional 30 people were affected by a redundancy plan.

In the workforce, Tintinelli said, were about 10 to 15 percent seasoned employees whose value in preserving the companys know-how was irreplaceable.

Nicola Ferraretto, CEO of Manifattura Veneta and Massimiliano Tintinelli, chief restructuring officer and board member at Forall Confezioni SpA.

Manifattura Veneta will employ 70 workers at the start, but Ferraretto said he aims to grow that number to 130 to 150 artisans in due time.

The relocation to the new plant was made possible by the support of Mayhoola, Tintinelli said, highlighting how unlikely such a move would have been if the stakeholder was not really committed to the brand.

Ferraretto has been helming the J6 fashion manufacturer for 13 years and has primarily worked with up-and-coming and cutting-edge designers. I was not much interested in the Pal Zileri brand, its name would hardly trigger any interest. That was until I visited the former Forall plant. I was mesmerized, thats when everything began, he said.

Our long-term ambition, right from the start, was to acquire and revitalize this excellent production asset, becoming a strategic partner to them and [together] becoming one of the most important hubs in Italy for canvassed and half-canvassed clothing, as well as [set foot] in womenswear, courting the luxury sector for the production of jackets and pants, he added.

He plans to resume the third-party manufacturing activity and add a made-to-measure service, banking on the assets he believes Forall never entirely lost, such as flexibility, speed and modernity.

Inside the Manifattura Veneta plant.

I thinkbrands need Pal Zileris [manufacturing expertise]. Its an ambitious project, its not just about offering a second chance to some employees somewhere in the Italian province, its a long-term project and vision, Ferraretto said.

Manifattura Veneta will remain fully independent from J6 and was established by Ferraretto in tandem with two other investors, Claudia Giacomelli and Luca Trevisiol.

The two former Forall employees who played a pivotal role in liaising Ferraretto with Tintinelli, Patrizia Mastromauro and Alessandro Baraldo, will also retain a minority interest in Manifattura Veneta while holding managerial roles at the company.

Theres great energy.Theres a sense of release for employees because this is their life, its a home to them. It will bring benefits to all involved parties, Ferraretto said.

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Mark Harmon, known for his role as Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS, and Leon Carroll Jr., a former NCIS special agent and the shows technical advisor, have partnered up to co-author the non-fiction book, Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, which was inspired by a true story about the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), the precursor to NCIS.

"I feel compelled to take part in opening up the history and real story of what became NCIS [Naval Criminal Investigative Service]. When I first started this show, there was not much information to be found by research," Harmon said in a statement. "NCIS agents are public servants at the highest level, and many have come and gone through this life with no one knowing anything about who they are or what they do. And now that story gets told. All because of a TV show."

The Ghosts of Honolulu story takes place in Hawaii in 1941 when the island, which housed the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, was also home to Japanese spies.

Courtesy: Harper Select

The book unfolds the tale of Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, who is sent to Hawaii undercover as a newspaper reporter, translating wiretaps on the Japanese Consulate. And his opposite is Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather information on the U.S. fleet.

Related: NCIS Fan Favorite and Original Cast Member Returns for Season Finale

According to the press release from Harper Select, Their dueling stories anchor Ghosts of Honolulu's gripping depiction of the world-changing cat and mouse games played between Japanese and U.S. military intelligence agents (and a mercenary Nazi) in Hawaii before the outbreak of the second world war.

Ghosts of Honolulu is intended to be the first in a series of stories about the origins of the real-life NCIS.

"Even through all of the fascinating storylines of NCIS over the last 20 years, Mark Harmon always knew that the most amazing stories in naval intelligence were the true accounts in decades past. He had long desired to tell those stories, and we are honored to help take this first book to the world. Together with his longtime collaborator, Leon Carroll, they have brought the past alive in a true story that reads like a novel but shows the great debt we owe to so many who paved the way for our freedom," Matt Baugher, publisher of Harper Select, shared in a statement.

Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor will be released by Harper Select on Nov. 14.

Next, Go Behind-the-Scenes of Mark Harmons Teary Exit That Rocked the NCIS Cast and Crew
Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation 2023 Environmental Photography Award

The third edition of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation's Environmental Photography Award has come to a close and this years grand prize winner is Dutch photographer Jasper Doest. Taking home the coveted title of Environmental Photographer of the Year 2023, the young photographer will also receive a grant of 5,000/$5,458 plus the opportunity to visit the University of Ecuadors Amazon Research Station in the heart of the Ecuadorian jungle plus an invitation to the awards ceremony in Monaco.

His winning image titled Fight to the Death shows a gripping scene of an elephant battling for survival after being hit by a freight train in the Gabon Lope National Park. The elephant pictured in this image suffered a broken hip and sadly later died but its meat was distributed to the parks local community. As gruesome as the image is, it shows the devastating effects human infrastructure has on wildlife which is why it was also awarded first place in the human versus nature category.

 Check out the best cameras for wildlife photography so you can capture animals in their natural habitat

Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation 2023 Environmental Photography Award

Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation 2023 Environmental Photography Award

In the hope the image will inspire change and force people to take responsibility, Doest commented, As I recall this gruesome scene along the railway, I am haunted not only by the tragedy that occurred as the elephant needed to be killed after the accident, but mainly by the larger story of human greed that underlies itthere is a railway that runs through a National Park, primarily for the purpose of transporting a valuable mineral.

This year's competition received an overwhelming response, with over 2,300 photographers from across the globe submitting a staggering 10,000 images. These entries were meticulously evaluated by a prestigious panel of professional photographers across five categories: Polar Wonders, Into the Forest, Ocean Worlds, Humanity Versus Nature, and Change Makers: Reasons for Hope. In addition to these categories, the Public Award, chosen through over 5,000 public votes, and the Students' Award, determined by high school students in Monaco, added an extra layer of recognition. In total a prize fund of 11,000 (roughly $12,007) was awarded to the winning photographers.

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Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation 2023 Environmental Photography Award

Sergio Pitamitz, the president of the jury, emphasized the significance of photography as a powerful tool in giving voice to threatened wildlife and biodiversity. He commended the Environmental Photography Award for providing a platform for photographers to not only showcase their captivating images but also convey essential conservation messages. Pitamitz also expressed admiration for the competition's steadfast commitment to preserving the environment and the diverse living world.

For those who wish to witness these thought-provoking images firsthand, the exhibition can be visited on the Promenade du Lavotto in Monaco before it sets off on a global exhibition. To view the full selection of winning images, head to the Photocrowd website.

The best lenses for bird photography and wildlife will help you to capture animals in their natural habitat without disturbing them
You dont have to be Albert Einstein to realize Cade Rasmussen is a smart guy.

The 2023 Fremont High School grad recently was one of 24 Nebraska students honored recently in the Rotunda of the State Capitol for earning a top score of 36 on the American College Testing (ACT) exam. Their families and friends also attended the event.

Gov. Jim Pillen and the Nebraska Department of Education recognized the students, encouraging them to follow their dreams.

Rasmussen was a sophomore when he learned in April 2021 that hed earned that top score. The Fremont Public Schools Board of Education honored him as a junior.

He appreciates the recent ceremony in Lincoln.

I was honored and I was thankful for the recognition, Rasmussen said.

In all, 31 students in Nebraska received a top score of 36, representing 17 schools. Two students earned two certificates, having taken the test on two occasions, according to a news release from the governors office.

John Clark, senior director of state government relations from ACT, noted that only one-quarter of one percent of students nationally earned the perfect score.

How does someone get a perfect score on an ACT exam?

Rasmussen believes success isnt so much about knowledge as it is about knowing how the test works.

Its testing intelligence, he said. Its not a knowledge test. Its an intelligence test.

He further explains.

In a sense, the ACT is testing your intelligence by giving you  not insanely complicated content matter, but irregular question patterns  and therefore testing your reasoning and logical abilities, he said. If you go into it knowing what its testing and you practice the things that its testing - which is reasoning  then youre set up for success.

To prepare for the test, Rasmussen said he used the right resources  such as the ACT Black Book - to build his test-taking ability and his confidence.

There were extended practice sessions in my classes in high school, especially English and science, he said.

He noted something else.

If you go into it with the confidence, knowing that you can find the things you need to find through some reasoning instead of feeling like you have to know everything, then it becomes a lot more manageable, he said.

The son of Matt and Cari Rasmussen plans to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and major in biological systems engineering and go into radiology.

In his congratulatory remarks, Pillen encouraged students going outside the state for their education to return to Nebraska.

Always remember that Nebraska is your home, Pillen said. We want you to return and utilize your talents here. There are many opportunities and there are many good paying jobs. There truly is no place like Nebraska.

Deborah Frison, interim commissioner for the Nebraska Department of Education, noted the support that students received to achieve such a high score.

Having this level of academic success is not easy and it would be far more difficult without the love and support from your families, Frison said. Remember to thank your parents.
NEWARK, N.J.  Sean Caddle, a former Democratic political operative who hired hitmen to kill his friend and former employee, was sentenced in federal court Thursday to 24 years in prison.

This is one of the most unusual and certainly one of the most heinous crimes Ive encountered as a judge, U.S. District Court Judge John Michael Vazquez said before delivering his sentence, which far exceeded the requests of both prosecutors and Caddles attorneys.

The sentencing draws to a close one of the more shocking and bewildering recent New Jersey political scandals. It had elements of intrigue  murder, politics and government cooperation  that led to months of speculation in political circles.

Prosecutors had requested 15 years in prison for Caddle, who pleaded guilty to murder for hire, due to his cooperation with them on numerous investigations. Caddles attorneys had asked for a nine-year sentence.

Caddle, prosecutors said, told them he had Michael Galdieri killed because he feared might expose his wrongdoing on campaigns.

Vazquez further called Caddles crime depraved, debased and vile and remanded him to federal custody despite Caddles request to turn himself in at a later date. U.S. Marshals led Caddle  who came to the federal courthouse in Newark in a plaid shirt and khakis after a year and a half of home confinement  out of the courthouse in handcuffs.

Caddle declined to make any remarks at the hearing.

Galdieris sister, Virginia, said the 2014 murder of her brother changed her life, causing overwhelming grief and sadness and suggesting that news of her brothers murder may have contributed to her mothers death three years later.

Standing next to her brother Richard and holding back tears, Virginia Galdieri recalled a feeling of stupidity, betrayal and regret that comes after learning that this person you cried and embraced at your brothers funeral was the one solely responsible for your brothers death. Following the hearing, Richard Galdieri said his family was satisfied with the sentence.

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Cooperation that was 'not actionable'

Caddle, 45, made his name as a campaign worker for powerful former state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union). Later, he set up a network of nonprofit groups and super PACs, some intended to spread Lesniaks influence around the state through spending large sums in local races. The network effectively hid donations to the super PACs by channeling them through nonprofit groups that are not required to publicly disclose their donors.

Galdieri, the son of a late state senator, in 2014 was found stabbed to death in his Jersey City apartment, which was also lit on fire.

In January 2022, Caddle pleaded guilty to hiring career criminals George Bratsenis, who along with Galdieri had worked for Caddles campaign consultant business, and Bomani Africa to kill Galdieri. Caddle paid the pair $15,000 at an Elizabeth diner the day after the murder.

Bratsenis and Africa, who both also pleaded guilty, were sentenced to 16 and 20 years in prison, respectively. Vazquez said Caddle is more responsible for Galdieris death and that the two hitmen were his blunt instruments in carrying it out.

Hes a cold-hearted killer. He killed a friend, Vazquez said.

Because Caddle was allowed to remain in home confinement despite the gravity of his crime, many New Jersey political observers and journalists reasoned that a big corruption bust was imminent through his cooperation. But the only prosecution to come out of the case was the wire fraud and tax evasion guilty plea of Democratic operative Tony Teixeira, who served as chief of staff to Lesniak and Senate President Nick Scutari.

Teixeira admitted to scheming with Caddle to inflate invoices of campaigns, super PACs and dark money nonprofits to skim more than $100,000 from them. He awaits sentencing.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Caddle cooperated with other investigations but did not go into specifics. Caddle held seven in-person meetings with FBI agents; had many more phone calls with investigators; turned over documents and recordings of conversations with unnamed people made prior to being contacted by authorities; and later recorded conversations at investigators behest, prosecutors said. They did not say whether the investigations bore any fruit, but Vazquez later said the government determined it was not actionable.

Vazquez also said Caddle had told prosecutors two versions of his motive to kill Galdieri. In one version, Caddle said that Galdieri was extorting him for cash, threatening that he would go public about certain things he had seen, done and heard while working for Caddle on campaigns. In another version, Vazquez said, Caddle decided to act after being told by Bratsenis that Galdieri said he would would attempt to implicate high-level political figures" through unspecified allegations.

Vazquez said he believed the first explanation.

Mr. Caddle did this to save his own skin. He didnt do this to have any of his high-end political figures, he said. He had no problem cooperating with the government when he thought it would help him.

Vazquez also said Caddles response to prosecutors questions about what he would have done differently was "disturbing. Prosecutors said Caddle told them I should have surrounded myself with a different class of people with higher moral character, without criminal histories or substance abuse issues.

He just focuses on himself and how he apparently is the victim in this case, Vazquez said.
Kelly Clarkson Ex-Husband Brandon Blackstock

Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock's divorce has been finalized following a long and tumultuous legal back and forth, and Clarkson's divorce settlement raised eyebrows. Now, Clarkson addresses the costly settlement in her newest album 'Chemistry.'

Clarkson filed for divorce way back in June 2020 after almost seven years of marriage and has been transparent about the toll the proceedings have taken on her. Clarkson has said in an interview, "I've been talking to friends that have been through a divorce. I don't know how people go through that without having some kind of outlet because it is the worst thing ever for everyone involved."

Clarkson was awarded primary physical custody of their children  River Rose Blackstock, 7, and son Remington Alexander Blackstock, 5  but still shares custody with Blackstock. They will live with Clarkson in Los Angeles and will visit their father, who is currently based in Montana, on the first and fifth weekends of each month.

However, what has shocked fans is not their custody agreement but the staggering child and spousal support payments Clarkson is ordered to pay.

RELATED: Owen Wilson Allegedly Still Refuses To Meet His 4-Year-Old Daughter  Her Mom Says She 'Needs A Father'

Kelly Clarkson's divorce settlement totals millions of dollars.

A Los Angeles County judge decided that Clarkson would have to pay a one-time payment of just over $1.3 million, as well as a monthly child support payment of $45,601 for their two children. She will also pay Blackstock monthly payments of $115,000 in spousal support until Jan. 31, 2024 as well as a one-time reimbursement payment of $350,000 for their children's private air travel.

Thats a steep price to pay given that Clarkson remains the children's primary custodian.

Court documents also decided that the children would have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for travel purposes.

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Clarkson was awarded the couple's two properties in Montana and their California home. Blackstock will pay $2,000 a month in rent for one of the Montana properties and $12,500 per month for the second until he vacates on or before June 1, 2022.

RELATED: Everything You Need To Know About The Carrie Underwood / Kelly Clarkson Feud

Clarkson mentions the settlement in her album 'Chemistry.'

In a tweet, Clarkson explains that the album, released on June 23, 2023, is intended to describe her relationship with Blackstock in its entirety. "I didn't want everybody to think that I was just coming out with some just like, 'I'm angry. I'm sad,' just one or two emotions," she said. "This album is definitely the arc of an entire relationship, and a whole relationship shouldn't be just brought down to one thing. So there's the good, the bad, the ugly thing kinda going on in it."

In an appearance on the 'Today Show,' Clarkson revealed that there isn't much of the relationship that was off-limits in the album  including her costly divorce settlement. "When a lot of relationships end there are lots of things that are fought over, and a lot of times it's money," Clarkson said.

Notably, the song "Red Flag Collector" takes a dig at Blackstock's behavior during the divorce proceedings, opening with the lyrics "Sure, you can have the towels / You can take my money."

The large lump sum Clarkson reportedly paid to Blackstock called into question, Why does Blackstock need that much money in support when Clarkson is the primary custody holder of their children?

RELATED: Tom Cruise Adopted Son Looks Unmistakably Like Him Now That He's Grown Up  Inside The Rumor He's Secretly His Biological Father

What is Brandon Blackstock's net worth?

Though Blackstocks net worth is significantly lower than Clarksons, he still isnt in a bad situation at $10 million as of 2020, reportedly.

He currently works as an American Talent Manager and as many know he used to manage Clarkson herself. Other clients of his include Blake Shelton and Rascal Flatts. Blackstock works alongside his father at their company Starstruck Management.

His financial situation and controversial history of alleged fraud against Clarkson certainly call into question the necessity of his lucrative spousal support deal.

RELATED: Kelly Clarkson's Ex-Husband Quits Hollywood To Become A Rancher  Why She Refuses To Pay For His New Life

Brandon Blackstock allegedly took money from Kelly Clarkson through fraud.

In 2020, Clarkson filed a defraud claim with the California Labor Commissioner's Office claiming that her 2007 oral agreement with Starstruck Management was a fraudulent and subterfuge device. She then accused Blackstock and his father, Narvel Blackstock  both of whom have managed her in the past  of working as unlicensed California talent agents.

Clarkson's claim was in response to a filing by her estranged father-in-law saying she owed his firm $1.4 million and would ultimately owe an additional $4 million more from money she earned as a judge on "The Voice" and as host of "The Kelly Clarkson Show."

However, Clarkson claims the agency demanded unconscionable fees for illegal services as they were not licensed talent agents, as California law requires.

Of course, Blackstock denied all of this and the case is still ongoing.

RELATED: 11 Strict Rules That Elon Musk Allegedly Makes His Girlfriends & Wives Follow

Should Kelly Clarkson have to pay Brandon Blackstock spousal support?

The question of whether the high spousal support claim is warranted is a difficult one.

It is true that spousal/child support does help those who cannot work to support their child. This is especially true for couples who have decided amongst themselves that one person will stay home with the children while the other goes to work. So when these couples decide to divorce, it leaves one parent in a bad situation. Therefore spousal and child support is a good thing in our legal system.

But what should be called into question is why the amount isnt universal. Why do celebrities pay so much more to raise a child than it does for a regular person? The average amount for child support is $5,760 per year which is less than $500 a month, while Clarkson is paying far more than that, noot including the additional monthly payments. That's a big gap.

The answer? Child/spousal support is calculated on several things, but net income is the biggest factor. That is the reason behind the outrageous amount of money Clarkson has to pay to Blackstock.

However, it is still an excessive amount when you look at what the average is for low-income households. So begs the question, are those low-income children not worth more?

For Blackstock, he has the necessities to raise his children with Clarkson without that obnoxious amount of support the court has ordered. He's sitting pretty with a net worth of $10 million and a strong income, so the children would be fine without that extra money coming in. But thats just my humble opinion.

RELATED: Kevin Costners Estranged Wife Is Demanding $248K A Month In Child Support To Maintain Their 3 Childrens Accustomed Lifestyle

Deauna Roane is an Associate Editor and Head of The Branded Content Department for YourTango which covers pop culture, lifestyle, astrology, and relationship topics. She's had bylines in Emerson College's literary magazine, Generic, and MSN.

This article originally appeared on YourTango
Kevin Costners ex-wife Christine Baumgartner has reportedly flown out of Los Angeles with two of their three children while their divorce proceedings continue.

The handbag designer was seen heading into LAX airport on Thursday (29 June), after she reportedly agreed to leave her beachfront home with Costner on the condition he provides further financial support as determined by the court.

Photographs of Baumgartner with their son Hayes, 14, and daughter Grace, 13, were published by Page Six, showing the trio being dropped off at the airport.

It is unclear where the family members were headed. The former couples eldest child Cayden, 16, was not present at the airport.

Baumgartner, 49, filed for divorce from the Yellowstone star, 68, in early May. Court documents reportedly show her promising to move out of the home they shared together in Carpenteria, California if Costner agrees to pay a higher sum of money in monthly child support.

Baumgartner reportedly asked a judge to force Costner to pay $248,000 (196,000) per month to support their three children, arguing that the figure is less than the amount needed to maintain the children in their accustomed lifestyle. She is also requesting that he pay 100 per cent of their private school tuition fees, as well as covering extracurricular activities and healthcare expenses.

The amount Baumgartner is seeking is six times the $38,000 (30,000) a month that Costner originally offered, according to People. The actor has also alleged that his ex-wife is refusing to vacate their home, despite a clause in their pre-nuptial agreement that obligates her to do so within 30 days of filing for divorce.

In new court documents, Baumgartner is said to have promised to vacate the home by the end of August as long as Costner agrees to pay his court-ordered support, which has yet to be determined. The former couple are due for a case management conference on 5 July.

Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner attends the Premiere Of 20th Century Fox's "The Art Of Racing In The Rain" at El Capitan Theatre on August 01, 2019 (Getty Images)

In her divorce filing, Baumgartner cited irreconcilable differences and listed their date of separation as 11 April. A representative for Costner said in May, when it was confirmed that the pair were ending their 18-year marriage, that it was taking place with great sadness.

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It is with great sadness that circumstances beyond his control have transpired which have resulted in Mr Costner having to participate in a dissolution of marriage action, the representative said. We ask that his, Christines and their childrens privacy be respected they navigate this difficult time.

The Sun quoted a source as saying that Costner was blindsided by the divorce filing, as he reportedly thought they had agreed to have an amicable separation.

The source said that the Bodyguard star wanted everything to be peaceful for the sake of his kids and told Christine he didnt want a messy divorce because hed already been through one. However, Baumgartners move to file for divorce shocked him, it was claimed.

Costner was previously married to Carla Silva for 16 years before they divorced in 1994. They also share three children. His first divorce was considered one of the most expensive in Hollywood history, according to Forbes, after it was estimated that he paid out $80m (63m) to Silva.

The actor also has a son with Bridget Rooney, who was born in 1996. He first met Baumgartner in 1996, while he was still married to Silva, but only ran into her again in 1998 after divorcing from Silva and breaking up with Rooney. They married in 2004 at his 160-acre ranch in Aspen.

The Independent has contacted Costner and Baumgartners representatives for comment.
Chip Somodevilla - Getty Images

On June 29, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled that colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration when granting admission offers. This landmark decision states that affirmation action violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

In a divided ruling, the court's six conservative judges found that admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina discriminated against white and Asian American applicants by using policies that benefited applicants from underrepresented races.

Chief Justice Roberts wrote the opinion by the conservative majority stating: "Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably employ race in a negative manner, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints. We have never permitted admissions programs to work in that way, and we will not do so today."

The ruling will not apply military service academies.

Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Justice Neil Gorsuch, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined Chief Justice John Roberts in ruling to overturn affirmative action. The three liberal Justices  Justice Stephen Breyer, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Justice Elena Kagan dissented.

This ruling goes against more than 40 years of legal precedent. Affirmative Action has been supported in America since the Bakke decision in 1978 which stated that consideration of race in college admissions was legal. It was also supported in the 2003 Grutter v, Bollinger ruling that said race could be considered in the admission process because universities had a "compelling interest" in having diverse populations on campus.

The court's three liberal judges that dissented said the decision rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress."

The devastating impact of this decision cannot be overstated, Justice Sotomayor said.

The ruling represents an ideological divide between the court and the country. Currently, over two-thirds of Americans under thirty years old have unfavorable views of the Supreme Court according to a survey by Pew Research.

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Here, we break down further details about the Supreme Courts ruling to overturn affirmative action policies, provide several ways to protest safely, and share what this ruling means for current and future college students.



The Washington Post - Getty Images

What is Affirmative Action?

Prior to the ruling, affirmative action policies meant that university admissions officers were allowed to consider a student's race in addition to their grades and extracurricular activities when reviewing college admissions applications. The goal of these policies was to help ensure that everyone receives equal access to educational opportunities. Affirmative action is rooted in the idea that America is not colorblind and that some racial demographics still receive fewer opportunities than others. Affirmative action is used to combat this and is a tool that universities and colleges have used to promote diversity within their institutions.

What Does it Mean to "Overturn" Affirmative Action?



Both the Harvard and University of Chapel Hill affirmative action cases were brought by conservative activist Edward Blum. Now that the ruling has passed, schools will likely be forced to reshape their admission practices. This ruling means that admission teams won't be able to consider race at all when accepting students.



Among the dozens of institutions with admissions policies that currently take race into account are Yale University, Brown University, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago, and Dartmouth College. According to APNews, all but one of the U.S. colleges and universities the nine justices attended urged the court to preserve race-conscious admission policies.



Allowing colleges and universities to consider race as one of the multiple factors in the admissions process "has helped equalize educational opportunities for all students of every race and background and has improved racial diversity on college campuses," Justice Sotomayor wrote in her dissent statement. "Although progress has been slow and imperfect, race-conscious college admissions policies have advanced the Constitutions guarantee of equality."

How Does An Affirmative Action Ban Impact Admission?

Right now, it's not completely clear how the ruling will effect every institution's admission policies. What we do know is that a study in the Journal of Public Economics found that past state-level bans of affirmative action affected enrollment of underrepresented communities negatively. A study done by the Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis Journal found that students of color will experience a 23 percentage point decline in admission to highly selective public colleges across the country after affirmative action is banned.

Basically, while it will vary from school to school, but past data shows that affirmative action bans decrease diversity in universities.

Former First Lady Michelle Obama weighed in on the ruling in an Instagram post: "It wasnt perfect, but theres no doubt that it helped offer new ladders of opportunity for those who, throughout our history, have too often been denied a chance to show how fast they can climb," she said.

Former President Barack Obama echoed his wife's statement on his official social media platforms, saying that affirmative action allowed generations of students like Michelle and me to prove we belonged. Now its up to all of us to give young people the opportunities they deserve  and help students everywhere benefit from new perspectives.

I'm a Student. What Does This Mean for Me?

Colleges and universities are still encouraged to maintain diversity at their institutions. As a student this means that the admission policies will likely vary from school to school. Students are encouraged to reach out to their university and learn what their new policy and stance on the ruling is.

Students should know that President Joe Biden is also encouraging universities to consider diversity in other ways. President Biden said in an official statement released by the White House shortly after the ruling, that he disagreed with the courts ruling and urged colleges to seek to increase diversity in other ways instead of letting the ruling be the last word.

Students concerned about diversity at their school or universities that they are applying to should also be aware that the Biden administration also announced several plans to help colleges continue their recruitment and admit a diverse student body. The administration says they plan to release a report on strategies for increasing diversity and to provide schools with guidance in light of the ruling. Students can hold their university accountable by staying involved in student government and up to date with new policy changes. According to Stanford University, creating a culture of accountability can be one of the best ways to stand up to institutions.

In fact, presidents of many colleges like Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have already issued statements about their commitment to diversity regardless of the court's ruling. They said they would follow federal law and are still assessing how the ruling affects their institutions. Students are encouraged to learn what their own universities say on the matter.

We also want to acknowledge that this ruling can be very upsetting. It feels like a number of social justice issues have been challenged in the last few years. You are not alone in these feelings. Even President Biden referenced the court's overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022 in his White House statement. "Take a look at how it's ruled on a number of issues that have been precedent for 50-60 years sometimes," he said. "That's what I meant by not normal."

Putting yourself and mental health first is important. If you are feeling overwhelmed by this ruling, we recommend reaching out to someone to talk about it with. This can be a therapist or one of these options if therapy is not feasible for you right now.

Can High School Senior Students of Color Still Apply to Competitive Schools?

100% Yes. In fact, it is encouraged. You should absolutely apply to whatever school you feel is a best fit for you.

Students of color can still talk about their racial and ethnic background in personal statements and essays when applying to university. While the ruling says a college or university cant use race as an admittance factor, it says nothing about students talking about how their racial or ethnic identity has shaped their personal lives.

Per Biden's White House statement given shortly after the ruling, universities are actually encouraged to consider other adversity that student have overcome. This can include socioeconomic status, location, high school ranking, personal experiences of hardship, and racial discrimination. Colleges are also allowed to consider whether a student speaks multiple languages or if they are the first in their family to attend college.

This is because, as Justice Sotomayor points out in her statement, those factors are not interchangeable with race.

We recommend working with a college counselor or looking online to see what schools educational programs and social environmental feel they could work for you. It's important to still put your best foot forward on applications. The ruling might affect how admission policies work, but it doesn't change the work you have done to get where you are.

What Can I Do in Light of the Ruling?

Right now, the most important thing that students and young people can do is support institutions and programs that support diversity in higher education. In a statement released shortly after the ruling on Medium, former President Obama explained that this support is instrumental. "In the wake of the Supreme Courts recent decision, its time to redouble our efforts," he said.

He provided a list of organizations he recommends getting involved with that work to support diversity at universities and colleges. While donating is the most common way for many people looking to get involved for all the organizations listed below, we've listed ways to help that do not involve money since not everyone is able to contribute financially.

What About Protesting?

Many students have found the peacefully protesting can draw attention to their concerns. Keeping an eye out on social media can be a good way to find protests. Social media accounts will often post the date and time, as well as any additonal information. While there are no nationally organized affirmative action protests yet, protesting on a smaller scale can also be effective. We recommend these tips when protesting to stay safe.

And of course. Vote! We know you hear this all the time, but your vote is what shapes the nation. Putting politicians in power that will fight for you is the most important thing you can do.

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Adeju Thompson wants to change the narrative around African fashion design.

I think that people have this one-sided idea of African fashion, and I really want to dismantle that, the founder of Lagos Space Programme said at the nonbinary labels debut presentation in Paris. I want to show people that theres so much more happening on the continent.

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The winner of this years edition of the Woolmark Prize, they showed the line, titled Cloth as a Queer Archive, alongside an atmospheric short film directed by Isabel Okoro as part of the Sphere showroom at the Palais de Tokyo.

Suits came with wide cropped pants, some trimmed with lace, that were inspired by traditional Yoruba clothing, while halterneck necklines on a crochet dress and buttoned-up vest had a fluid grace.

A boxy pinstriped suit was paired with a long shirt made with indigo-dyed Adire cloth from southwestern Nigeria, while an intricately patterned robe coat was layered over a wrap skirt. Hammered copper accessories provided an opulent counterpoint to the minimalist silhouettes.

The Adire, its a way in which we told our stories for a very long time, so each motif stands for something, said Thompson, who drew a parallel with modern-day subcultures where marginalized groups communicate through coded gestures. I like that as a queer person, I can really tap into that.

Launch Gallery: Lagos Space Programme Men's Spring 2024

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Samuel Doolin, the brother of a Polk County man convicted in the U.S. Capitol attack, faces a new charge of practicing law without a license.

Doolin, a resident of the Kathleen area, was already in custody after his bond was revoked last week following an arrest for driving with a suspended license. Doolin, 27, had been released in December after a traffic stop resulted in his arrest on multiple gun charges and resisting arrest without violence.

He is the older brother of Joshua Doolin, a Polk City man convicted in March on multiple charges related to his presence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a notice filed Wednesday, Assistant State Attorney Brad Copley of the 10th Judicial Circuit wrote that Doolin had been arrested the previous day for practicing law without a license, a third-degree felony. Copleys filing included a notice that Doolin had violated conditions of his pre-trial release.

The new charge stems from Doolins attempt to replace lawyers assigned to represent his fiancee, Tiffany Beam. She is charged with resisting arrest without violence for the December incident, when she was a passenger in the truck driven by Doolin.

Both Doolin and Beam ignored repeated instructions from law enforcement to leave the truck after a Florida state trooper stopped Doolin for driving without a proper license tag and then noticed a gun in the vehicle, according to the arrest affidavit.

In a court filing, David Lopez, an investigator with the State Attorneys Office, offered this narrative:

Following the December arrest, Beam, 23, was appointed free legal counsel and most recently was represented by Andrew Ray Liverman and Leslie A. Hoffman from the Office of Regional Counsel.

Lakeland woman who entered US Capitol during Jan. 6 riot accepts plea deal

Relative of Polk's Jan. 6 suspects loses bond after arrest for driving without license

Judge finds Polk County man guilty for actions at U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6

On May 9, Beam sent a "Notice of Change of Counsel" to County Judge Kevin Kohl and to her attorneys. She wrote that Doolin would be representing her because she did not think the appointed lawyers had the "adequate time and mindset to properly represent" her. Doolin signed the document as Pro Se Litigant.

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That phrase applies to defendants who choose to represent themselves without lawyers in court. Doolin has taken that approach on the charges he faces from the December incident.

Doolin signed a notice of appearance filed June 12 on Beams behalf. The document read, "PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the undersigned hereby appears for TIFFANY ANN BEAM, Defendant in above-style cause of action.

The same day, Beam submitted a motion for continuance, offering reasons why her trial should be delayed. Doolin signed the document as a "Pro Se Litigant."

Beam failed to appear at a pretrial hearing on June 13. Kohl issued a warrant for her arrest with a $1,000 bond and revoked her previous bond.

Liverman entered a motion to withdraw as counsel on June 14, citing a conflict of interest, as he anticipated being called as a potential state witness.

Lopez interviewed Doolin on Tuesday at the Polk County Jail, and he acknowledged creating, signing and filing the documents in question because he said the lawyers assigned to her case were not doing their jobs. Doolin admitted that he is not a licensed attorney in Florida, and Lopez confirmed that with a search of the Florida Bars records.

The document says that Copley noticed Doolins actions while reviewing court records and assigned Lopez to investigate on Monday.

In the December incident, Doolin was driving a 1985 Chevrolet truck on Kathleen Road when a state trooper noticed that the vehicle lacked a proper tag and pulled him over at about 6:30 a.m. The trooper approached the vehicle, and Doolin refused to identify himself, according to the arrest report.

Doolin also declined to open the window or a door. (In a video posted later, Doolin said the window could not be rolled down.)

The trooper noticed a handgun on the trucks front seat, and Doolin said it was there for protection against law enforcement, a news release from Polk County Sheriffs Office said. Doolin denied making that statement in the video.

The trooper called for assistance, and PCSO deputies arrived at the scene. As Doolin and Beam refused to leave the vehicle, deputies eventually broke the trucks back window and shot Doolin with a stun gun.

Deputies found multiple guns inside the vehicle. PCSO charged Doolin with possession of a fully automatic firearm, possession of a short-barrel rifle and possession of a firearm with an altered or removed serial number, all felonies, along with resisting arrest without violence, a misdemeanor.

The Florida Highway Patrol also charged Doolin with various misdemeanor charges.

Court records show that Doolin has been representing himself in his case and has filed multiple motions. He submitted a 22-page motion in January asking that the charges be dismissed with prejudice, citing conspiracy against rights, evidence obtained illegally, unlawful search and seizure and unlawful imprisonment.

Judge Catherine Combee has issued orders denying the motions.

A deputy arrested Doolin in Bartow on June 22 after receiving information that he was driving without a license. Court records show that his license was revoked in February for unpaid traffic fines. He was also charged with resisting arrest without violence after being stopped last week.

Doolin is the cousin of Olivia Pollock and Jonathan Pollock, formerly of the Kathleen area. The siblings are fugitives after being indicted on felony charges, including assault on police officers, for their alleged actions during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Doolins brother, Joshua, is scheduled for sentencing in August.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland man faces new charge: practicing law without a license
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Northern Kentucky speaks during a Second Amendment rally in Frankfort in January 2020.

GOP gubernatorial nominee Daniel Cameron's plan to attend a Northern Kentucky rally of political speakers in September is drawing some fire from other Republicans in the region, including U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie.

Whoever is advising Daniel Cameron to attend is guilty of political malpractice," Massie, a six-term congressman, said in a statement to The Courier Journal.

A campaign spokesperson for Cameron indicated this week that while his schedule is still being finalized, the attorney general plans to attend "Freedom Fest," the third annual political event hosted by Eric Deters, who placed fourth in the May GOP primary for governor with nearly 6% of the vote.

According to Deters, Cameron will appear as a "special guest" at the rally, which is to be headlined by former President Donald Trump  who provided a key endorsement of Cameron in the primary  and is to feature speeches from Trump's two adult sons and other national conservative figures.

But Deters also recently said he is 99% sure he will enter the primary against Massie next year, indicating he will announce that candidacy at the same Freedom Fest Fest rally in September, which is hosted at his Kenton County farm.

With Cameron hoping to unite Kentucky Republicans this summer for his general election run against Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, his decision to participate in the event has drawn the ire of Massie  a frequent recipient of criticism from Deters.

"Why would a guy who has a good chance to be governor  the attorney general, the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth  appear at an event organized by a man who lost his license to practice law in multiple states, who has a restraining order against him, who has been arrested for contempt, and who recently pled guilty to three charges of harassing and menacing?" Massie said.

Deters has been a magnet for controversy in recent years, having his law license revoked and pleading guilty to charges in March stemming from chasing his nephew in a truck at his farm after he was flipped off.

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Deters spent nearly $700,000 of his own money in his race for governor. He took up much of the airspace in the only televised debate featuring the major GOP primary candidates on KET, including his harsh criticism of eventual third-place finisher Kelly Craft.

Suspended lawyer Eric Deters, who is running for Kentucky governor, with former President Donald Trump at Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby.

Deters, who regularly posts bombastic YouTube videos blasting Kentucky politicians and media, said he was likely taking on Massie due to his two recent votes  against the censure of U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff and for the raising of the nation's debt ceiling.

Referring to Cameron's planned attendance at Deters' rally, Massie added that Beshear "will cash in on this unforced error as quickly as Hillary Clinton cashed the campaign contribution from the event organizer.

While Deters' primary campaign for governor touted himself as the true conservative and pro-Trump candidate, he endorsed Beshear in his 2019 run against GOP incumbent Matt Bevin and did contribute $1,000 to Clinton's 2008 run for president.

While Deters backs Trump in the 2024 presidential race, Massie recently endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has emerged as the main GOP rival of Trump.

Cameron's plan to attend the Deters rally also drew criticism from state Rep. Savannah Maddox, R-Dry Ridge, an ideological ally of Massie  and another frequent target of Deters' criticism  who had also run for governor before dropping out of the race last year.

I find it hard to believe that the Republican nominee for governor would attend a campaign launch event for someone who wants to defeat Congressman Thomas Massie, the most conservative and most popular congressman in Kentucky," Maddox said.

"If Cameron is speaking at this event to fire up the base in Kentuckys fourth congressional district, he will do just that, but not in the way he hopes.

A spokesperson for Cameron did not immediately return a request for comment on the criticism from Massie and Maddox.

Polling from a Republican firm and Cameron's campaign after the primary suggested he and Beshear are in a virtual tie.

Responding to the criticism of Massie and Maddox in a video he posted Friday morning, Deters called Massie and a few of his top supporters "mean, nasty, creepy people," saying "they act like they're not going to support Daniel Cameron if he comes to Freedom Fest. How messed up is that?"

Deters also said if Cameron doesn't come to his rally due to their criticism, "that's his choice," adding that "I can tell you right now, not coming to Freedom Fest is going to hurt him a hell of a lot more."

A spokesman for Trump did not reply to emails and text messages this week asking to confirm he had agreed to attend Deters' event in person.

Trump has had his own rollercoaster relationship with Massie, calling for him to be purged from the Republican Party in 2020 but then endorsing Massie in his 2022 primary.

Massie endorsed DeSantis in April, saying "America needs a leader who is decisive, respects the Constitution, understands policy, puts family first and leads by inspiring."

More: Andy Beshear vs. Daniel Cameron: An early look at the showdown in Kentucky governor's race

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Thomas Massie rips Daniel Cameron over 'Freedom Fest' plans with Deters
Months after a January drug raid that left a Black man with a gunshot wound to the face, the Rankin County Sheriffs Department in Mississippi announced Tuesday that five of its deputies have been fired or resigned from the department.

This announcement comes just weeks after the two men involved in the incident, Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker, filed a lawsuit in collaboration with Black Lawyers for Justice against the sheriffs department seeking $400 million in damages.

On Jan. 24, Rankin County deputies entered the residence of Jenkins and Parker without a warrant that resulted in both Black men being beaten, sexually assaulted with a sex toy and shocked with Tasers for roughly 90 minutes while handcuffed, according to the lawsuit. Eggs were also hurled at the two men, and Jenkins, 32, was eventually shot in the face by one of the deputies, the lawsuit states. Deputies say they were there to carry out a late drug raid.

PHOTO: During a drug raid in Rankin County, Mississippi, 32-year-old Michael Corey Jenkins suffered a bullet wound to the face. (Black Lawyers for Justice)

We understand that the alleged actions of these deputies has eroded the publics trust in our department, Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey said in a statement on Tuesday. Rest assured that we will work diligently to restore that trust.

Although Sheriff Bailey did not name the deputies who have resigned or been terminated, the defendants in the plaintiffs lawsuit include Rankin County Deputies Hunter Elward, Brett Mc'Alpin and Christian Dedmon, and three unidentified deputies under the name "John Doe.

Bailey is also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit.

We have cooperated with all investigation efforts related to this incident and have provided all information and data requested in a timely manner, Bailey said on Tuesday. This will continue until all investigative efforts are complete and justice is served. We cannot, however, confirm or deny any specific facts related to this incident because of active and ongoing investigations.

MORE: Debris from Titan submersible brought ashore after catastrophic implosion

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As the Rankin County Sheriff's Department conducted its own internal investigation, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations (MBI) and the Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation into this incident earlier this year.

"The FBI Jackson Field Office, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi have opened a federal civil rights investigation into a color of law incident involving the Rankin County Sheriff's Office. The FBI will conduct the investigation in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner," the FBI Jackson statement read.

The FBI Jackson Field Office did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

Due to the ongoing investigation, the MBI said it did not wish to provide ABC News with any further comment.

MORE: DOJ opens civil rights investigation after Black man shot in face by deputy

Bailey specified the deputies involved in the incident were terminated due to recent developments, including discoveries in the departments internal investigation, but the plaintiff's attorney Malik Shabazz said he believes it was due to the extreme pressure of the lawyers and DOJ investigation that may result in possible indictments.

Jenkins, Parker and their attorneys are hoping criminal charges will follow quickly behind the deputies' termination.

"Too many crimes occurred during the nearly two-hour violent ordeal for there to not be criminal charges in this case. The only question is, which criminal charges? We are hoping for the stiffest," Shabazz told ABC News.

PHOTO: During a drug raid in Rankin County, Mississippi, 32-year-old Michael Corey Jenkins suffered a bullet wound to the face. (Black Lawyers for Justice)

Both Jenkins and Parker were present during Wednesdays family press conference but did not provide any statements to the media.

We're expecting state Attorney General Lynn Fitch to levy criminal charges, serious criminal charges, against these deputies right away if there's justice in the state of Mississippi, Shabazz said during Wednesdays press conference.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office in a statement to ABC News said it does not comment on active cases.

Jenkins' mother, Mary Jenkins, explained the termination of the deputies is not enough.

All theyll do is go to another police department and get on and do the same thing. I want them prosecuted, Mary Jenkins said.

Mary Jenkins said her son is still having a difficult time with his injuries, with the pain in his jaw almost unbearable at times. She shared he has seen many doctors, including a psychiatrist and a speech therapist to work on speaking again.

The medical bills have exceeded six figures and are continuing, according to attorneys.

Jenkins was charged with aggravated assault and the possession of two grams of a controlled substance. Parker was charged with obstruction of justice, according to the attorneys.

Both Jenkins and Parker deny the substance found in the residence belonged to them.

The charges have not been dropped or pursued, Shabazz said.

Mississippi deputies fired after Black man was shot in the face during drug raid originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
The Ritz-Carlton Reserve's latest outpost invites travelers to the remote Jiuzhaigou Valley in China.

Courtesy of Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

In a post-pandemic world, where overtourism is pervasive and privacy is a hot commodity, true luxury may lie among the unspoiled wilderness of remote and unexplored regions.

"It's rare to have the opportunity to visit destinations that truly feel untouched, where you can wholly absorb the local culture and take in pristine natural landscapes," Tina Edmundson, president of luxury at Marriott International, told Travel + Leisure.

Courtesy of Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

So Edmundson and her team hope that travelers will make their way to China's Jiuzhaigou Valley in the southwestern province of Sichuan, where, on June 15, The Ritz-Carlton Reserve opened its sixth outpost.

Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, is nestled in a fairy-tale-like area on the edges of the Tibet plateau, boasting snow-capped peaks soaring over lush forests and emerald lakes. The property joins the luxury brand's five more "rare estates, set apart from the world, where heartfelt care and craftsmanship is felt at every turn."

Courtesy of Ritz-Carlton Reserve

Courtesy of Ritz-Carlton Reserve

At Rissai Valley, the brand's philosophy dominates every aspect of the guest experience that immerses travelers in authentic Tibetan culture and local life from the moment they step on the property  from the traditional Zhaxi Dele blessing ceremony that guests are welcomed with to the decor and list of activities and spa treatments.

"Both the architecture and interior design of the resort lean on the resort's rural location, blending in the surrounding environment to create the feeling of an intimate village," Edmundson explained.

The property's 87 villas were designed by the late Indonesian interior designer Jaya Ibrahim, who took inspiration from the resort's jaw-dropping setting and selected a natural palette of greens, blues, and emeralds that he paired with many artisanal objects and decor items handcrafted by Tibetan artisans.

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Courtesy of Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

Courtesy of Ritz-Carlton Reserve

However, the main feature is the stunning panoramic vistas of dramatic mountain ranges towering over Tibetan villages that open from private balconies.

The resort's culinary offerings are another standout feature of the guest experience, according to Edmundson. She highlighted Cai Tin Xuan, Rissai Valley's Sichuan restaurant showcasing Jiuzaigou cuisine. A Mediterranean eatery, La Montagne, blends the flavors of the West and East using local ingredients.

Like the rest of the resort, the spa is also a place of utmost tranquility where you won't find high-tech cryotherapy booths or IV treatments. Instead, a selection of holistic treatments based on ancient Tibetan wellness practices, such as singing bowl sound therapy, yoga sessions, and an infinity swimming pool, seek to relax the mind and body.

Edmundson's favorite? "The Rissai Spa offers a breath flow ritual, leaning into the Tibetan belief that breathing is the most natural way to treat the body and mind," she said.

Courtesy of Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

Even Rissai's youngest visitors will leave with a unique understanding of Tibetan culture and nature as the property's kids' club encourages children to explore Jiuzhaigou through guided hikes, animal feeding, treasure hunts, and stargazing.

Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, is the first Reserve property in China and joins five more ultra-luxe estates in Puerto Rico, Japan, Thailand, Bali, and Mexico.

"We want to ensure that each property compliments and elevates the existing portfolio, introducing an experience that is new and exciting, while still being authentic and transformational," Edmundson said, noting that the company has two more properties opening in the near future  along the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia and in Costa Rica.

Nightly rates start at $1,200. You can book your stay at Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve at ritzcarlton.com.

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Read the original article on Travel & Leisure.
PARIS  Theres no shortage of new stores, restaurants and art exhibits to see in Paris this fashion season. Here, what to do in between shows.

GOING THROUGH CUSTOMS: Architectural eyewear brand Ahlem is hosting its personalization service Custom Encounter for couture week. The brand was launched in L.A. by French designer Ahlem Manai-Platt, who opened up her first Paris flagship in her hometown last March. Customers can create their own frames and choose from exclusive lens colors, plus emboss their initials. The frames are a favorite of Beyonce, Kate Moss and Kendall Jenner. The service is available until July 7, with hopes to offer it full time later this year.

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Sustainable designers Sophie Engster, founder of Chamberlan bespoke shoes, and Elena Feit, founder of pret-a-couture fashion line The Ethiquette, joined creative forces to open La Chambre concept store. A treasure hunters dream, the duo hosts a highly curated selection of ethical brands, including made-in-France minidresses from Maison Cleo, vintage pieces from Bygone Days, restored furniture from Treaptyque, jewelry from Hypso and beauty products from Le Rouge Francais.

Dita Eyewear has its sights set on becoming a global brand. After several stores in the U.S, Sydney, Tokyo and London, it opened its first outpost in Paris in March. The new space is sleek, marble and minimalist. The brand plans to launch accessories and denim next year.

Venerable shopping mecca The Broken Arm just celebrated its 10th anniversary during mens week with an installation honoring Raf Simons, a pop-up for Pharrell Williams brand Humanraces latest collab with Adidas  not to mention a blowout party. The Humanrace trainers are available in three colorways, as well as a commemorative T-shirt from the big anniversary bash.  Rhonda Richford

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Ahlem

9 Rue du Dragon, 75006

La Chambre

5 Rue Rouget de Lisle, 75001

Dita Eyewear

255 Rue Saint-Honore, 75001

The Broken Arm

12 Rue Perree, 75003

DASHING DINING: After three restaurants in the U.S., San Francisco-based French chef Dominique Crenn is finally opening her first Parisian address, called Golden Poppy, this July. Located in the 73-room La Fantaisie hotel in the residential 9th arrondissement, it will offer a Californian pescetarian cuisine.

Tucked away in a quiet street off the Boulevard Saint-Germain is Ojii, the new restaurant of Arthur Cohen and Olivier Leone  of Onii-san fame  with chef Yuji Taku Mikuriya. On the menu are luscious cuts of tuna or prize-winning French poultry, some with a generous dab of Volzenkha caviar. Make sure to try the classic cocktails revamped with a Japanese twist by Anabelle Berthelemot.

Since it opened in May, restaurant Siena has already had its share of famous faces, including Zoe Saldana, Burna Boy, Selena Gomez, Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner. After partaking in its Tuscany-inflected menu, retire to the speakeasy upstairs to indulge in its expansive selection of Italian and French wines until 2 a.m.

Entering this five-story, 17th-century building on Boulevard Saint-Germain wont just lead to a great drink. At the intersection of mixology and culture, Cravan is the brainchild of Moet Hennessy and celebrated restaurateur and cocktail expert Franck Audoux, the projects artistic director and founder. Expect three bars with distinct identities, a Rizzoli bookstore curated by the team and on the top floors, a private atelier and Parisian kiosk, where movies will be screened on summer nights.

For a sweet treat between shows, head to the Hotel de Crillon, where pastry chef Matthieu Carlin will be revisiting eclairs, tarte tatins and all manners of French classics as decadent treats at Butterfly Patisserie, the first European outpost of the Rosewood Hong-Kongs sweetest feature.  Lily Templeton

Golden Poppy by Dominique Crenn at La Fantaisie, 24 Rue Cadet, 75009 (Opening July 1)

Ojii, 6 Rue Perronet, 75007. Open Tuesday-Saturday from 7 p.m. to midnight.

Siena, 35 Place du Marche Saint-Honore, 75001. Open Monday-Sunday from 11.30 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Cravan, 165 Boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006. Open Tuesday-Saturday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Butterfly Patisserie in the Hotel de Crillon, 6 Rue Boissy dAnglas 75008, Open Monday to Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

SHOWTIME: Frank Horvats dream was to join the Magnum photo agency, but instead he ended up in the glossy pages of fashion magazines. That journey is documented in Frank Horvat: Paris, the World, Fashion at the Jeu de Paume.

At the Palais Gallera, find La Mode en Mouvement, which traces fashion from the 18th century through until today through the lens of a body in motion.

To continue celebrating the reissue of SEX, the 1992 photo book by Madonna and Steven Meisel, Christies is presenting Madonna x Meisel  The SEX Photographs, in Paris prior to the photos being auctioned in New York on Oct. 6.

Set up like a cabinet de curiosites in Vevers sowroom, Camille Vever unveils the history of her family of jewelers, which spans seven generations.  Jennifer Weil

Frank Horvat: Paris, the World, Fashion, until Sept. 17. Jeu du Paume, 1 Place de la Concorde, 75001

La Mode en Mouvement, until March 15. Palais Galliera, 10 Avenue Pierre 1er de a Serbie, 75116

Madonna X Meisel, the SEX Photographs, until July 6. Christies, 9 Avenue Matignon, 75009

Dans lIntimite de Vever, Bijoux et Objets dArt Depuis 1821, until Aug. 12. Vever, 9 Rue de la Paix, 75002

BEAUTY BEAT: Billed to be Paris first Botox bar, Better Than Cream opened its doors on the Right Bank in May. Founded by twin sisters  Lara Azzarone, an eye surgeon, and Tessa Azzarone, an entrepreneur  its menu includes Baby Botox, for 350 euros; Hydrafacial, for 180 euros, and medical peeling, for 140 euros.

Studio Fauve, which just debuted in the Marais district, is all about care for hair  on the head and the body, not forgetting eyebrows. Its treatments were created to be efficacious as well as enjoyable. A 35-minute leg waxing goes for 60 euros, while a 40-minute back waxing is 60 euros. Fauves signature treatment for tresses includes an energizing massage to help strengthen hair. That lasts for an hour and is priced at 130 euros.

Close to the Opera Garnier is the Balmain Hair Salon nestled in the InterContinental Hotel  Paris Le Grand offering a robust menu of services, including cuts, coloring, styling and extensions. A blowout for medium-length hair runs upward of 160 euros, while a three-hour coloring session for long hair is 540 euros. Treatments include a scalp scrub, hair mask and Balmain Hair couture nourishing treatment.  J.W.

Better Than Cream, 47 Rue du Caire, 75002. Reserve online at betterthancream.co

Studio Fauve, 29 Rue des Gravilliers, 75003. Reserve online at fauve-paris.com

Balmain Hair Salon at the InterContinental  Paris Le Grand, 2 Rue Scribe, 75009. Reserve by phone at +33 1 40 07 36 96

BOOK SMART: If you need help picking your next glamorous destination, you can head over to the Plaza Athenees lobby. From July 1, Assouline will be opening a six-month pop-up bookstore that features its brightly toned Travel Series tomes, as well as its new scented candles inspired by the destinations the publisher has explored.  L.T.

Assouline at Plaza Athenee, 25 Avenue Montaigne, 75008

BEAUTY BEAT: Billed to be Paris first Botox bar, Better Than Cream opened its doors on the Right Bank in May. Founded by twin sisters  Lara Azzarone, an eye surgeon, and Tessa Azzarone, an entrepreneur  its menu includes Baby Botox for 350 euros; Hydrafacial for 180 euros, and medical peeling for 140 euros.

Studio Fauve, which just debuted in the Marais district, is all about care for hair  on the head and the body, not forgetting eyebrows. Its treatments were created to be efficacious as well as enjoyable. A 35-minute leg wax goes for 60 euros, while a 40-minute back wax is also 60 euros. Fauves signature treatment for tresses includes an energizing massage to help strengthen hair. That lasts for an hour and is priced at 130 euros.

Close to the Opera Garnier is the Balmain Hair Salon nestled in the InterContinental Hotel  Paris Le Grand offering a robust menu of services, including cuts, coloring, styling and extensions. A blowout for medium-length hair runs upward of 160 euros, while a three-hour coloring session for long hair is 540 euros. Treatments include a scalp scrub, hair mask and Balmain Hair couture nourishing treatment.  J.W.

Better Than Cream, 47 Rue du Caire, 75002. Reserve online at betterthancream.co

Studio Fauve, 29 Rue des Gravilliers, 75003. Reserve online at fauve-paris.com

Balmain Hair Salon at the InterContinental  Paris Le Grand, 2 Rue Scribe, 75009. Reserve by phone at +33 1 40 07 36 96

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On Sunday, July 16, during John C. Fremont Days, Salem Lutheran Church at 401 E. Military Ave. (Military and C Street) will welcome the popular Leo Lonnie Polka Band to the 8:30 a.m. service. The band will provide the music for the service.
Stella Blu, the product division of Prosperity Textiles that makes indigo yarn dyed fabrics, is modernizing its textile coloration process.

The mill announced it will install textile coloration company NTXs Cooltrans technology with panel printing at its new manufacturing facility in China.

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Launched in 2020, NTX Cooltrans is a waterless textile coloration system that can color almost any textile material without heat and up to a 90 percent reduction in water usage. It achieves precise color without compromising the fabrics texture or functional performance. The cost-neutral technology is compatible with natural, man-made, or synthetic fibers (except for poly propylene) including high power-stretch materials.

Stella Blu and NTX share a focus on sustainable denim processing. Their partnership extends well beyond just jeans, however. Jointly, NTX and Stella Blu said they can apply their expertise in sustainable denim production to other cotton twill-like fabrics, further propelling the apparel industrys sustainability efforts.

Marco Stefanelli, marketing director of Stella Blu, described the partnership as an exciting milestone in sustainable textile production. By synergizing their respective expertise and resources, the companies said they will collaboratively hasten the adoption of eco-friendly and sustainable practices, mitigating the industrys environmental impact and crafting a more sustainable future for all.

Both NTX and Stella Blu stand as vital links in the textile industrys supply chain, with shared commitments to sustainability and innovation to decrease our environmental impact, said Kalvin Chung, NTX chairman. Its our pleasure to welcome Stella Blu into the NTX Ecosystem, and we look forward to collaboratively propelling our shared eco-friendly objectives.

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The printing and dyeing space is benefiting from several new partnerships and innovations. Archroma recently announced its applying Just Color dye technology to Colourizeds QuantumCOLOUR yarn-coloring technology to create an alternative to conventional fiber-reactive methods of dyeing cellulosic and synthetic yarns.

Companies brought their sustainable dye solutions to ITMA in Milan this month. Sedo Engineering showcased SmartIndigo, a dyeing process that uses electricity instead of toxic chemicals to dissolve indigo dyes. Turkeys Agteks presented Shade Box, an online quality control system specifically designed to detect color variation that occurs during the production of dyed denim yarns. The system enables manufacturers to monitor the color quality of their denim yarns accurately and efficiently throughout the production process.

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In the latest report on global happiness, there are reasons to be optimistic. Benevolence has witnessed a remarkable surge of about 25 percent compared to the pre-pandemic era. John Helliwell, one of the authors of the World Happiness Report, highlighted the significant increase in benevolence towards others, particularly the assistance extended to strangers, which experienced a substantial rise in 2021 and remained high in 2022.

Contrary to expectations, the three years of the Covid-19 pandemic did not inflict a blow to global happiness. The report suggests that life evaluations from 2020 to 2022 have displayed remarkable resilience with global averages closely aligning with the three years preceding the pandemic. In the face of adversity, positive emotions have prevailed, outnumbering negative ones by twice the margin. Additionally, feelings of positive social support have remained twice as strong as those of loneliness, demonstrating the strength of human connections during challenging times.

The report, published by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, draws upon extensive global survey data encompassing participants from over 150 countries. These countries are evaluated based on their average life evaluations from 2020 to 2022.

This report not only identifies the happiest nations and those at the bottom of the happiness scale, but also delves into the factors that contribute to greater happiness. It is worth noting that March 20 marks the 10th anniversary of the International Day of Happiness, an occasion designated by the United Nations.

Finland Tops World Happiness Rankings for Sixth Consecutive Year

Photo Credit: Tapio Haaja

In a continued display of contentment, Finland has secured the title of the worlds happiest country for the sixth consecutive year, according to the latest World Happiness Report rankings. The rankings rely heavily on life evaluations gathered from the Gallup World Poll.

Notably, Finland and its neighboring countries  Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway  excel in the measures used to explain the reports findings. These measures include factors, such as healthy life expectancy, GDP per capita, social support, low corruption levels, a culture of generosity and community care, and the freedom to make significant life decisions.

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What Do The Rankings Mean

Helliwell, who is also a professor, suggests that these top-ranking nations may offer insights worth emulating. He questions whether they are implementing practices that were long desired to see and can begin adopting. Helliwell emphasizes that the answer from his perspective lies in the former rather than something unique about their climate or history.

Taking a comprehensive view of a societys well-being and considering all its components contributes to better life evaluations and ultimately happier countries. The report emphasizes that every institution should strive to contribute to human well-being, which involves accounting for future generations and safeguarding fundamental human rights.

In this years rankings, Israel has made a significant leap, securing the fourth spot after being ranked ninth last year. The Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and New Zealand complete the top 10. Notably, Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United States, and the United Kingdom all made it into the top 20.

While the top 20 countries tend to remain consistent year after year, there is a new addition to the list: Lithuania. Over the past six years, the Baltic nation has made steady progress, ascending from the 52nd position in 2017 to claim the 20th spot in the latest rankings. Estonia (No. 31) and Latvia (No. 41), the other Baltic countries, have also been climbing the ranks. According to Helliwell, a similar narrative unfolds in the rest of Central and Eastern Europe. Countries in these regions have likely normalized the transition since the 1990s and are gradually establishing a more stable identity as the years pass.

However, France experienced a slight setback this year, dropping out of the top 20 to claim the 21st position in the report.

Afghanistan and Lebanon Rank at the Bottom as World Happiness Report Highlights Disparities

Lebanon  Photo Credit: Jo Kassis

In the latest World Happiness Report rankings, Afghanistan and Lebanon find themselves at the very bottom of the list, ranking 137th and 136th, respectively. The average life evaluations in these countries are over five points lower on a scale from 0 to 10 compared to the top 10 happiest nations.

The reports release coincided with the global spotlight on Russias invasion of Ukraine, which deeply impacted both countriesWhere do these nations stand according to the latest surveys?

The well-being of Ukraine has undoubtedly suffered, yet the report reveals that life evaluations in September 2022 remained higher than in the aftermath of the 2014 annexation. The Ukrainian peoples resilience is supported by a stronger sense of common purpose, benevolence, and trust in their leadership, despite the magnitude of suffering and damage endured.

In 2022, both countries experienced an increase in confidence in their governments, but the survey indicates that Ukraine witnessed a more significant growth in this regard compared to Russia. Notably, Ukrainian support for Russian leadership plummeted to zero.

In this years rankings, Russia occupies the 70th spot, while Ukraine stands at 92nd.

As the world continues to grapple with the disruptions caused by the pandemic, it has prompted widespread reflection. John Helliwell, one of the reports authors, notes that individuals are reevaluating their life objectives and contemplating the essence of their existence. People are questioning what they wish to return to and how they want to shape the rest of their lives.

Helliwell expresses his hope that this shift towards explicitly considering values and other people will influence not only decisions about jobs or schools but also how individuals engage within those environments. He emphasizes that true happiness lies not in grades or salaries but in cooperative and meaningful interactions with others. By prioritizing the well-being of others over personal gain, individuals can experience a sense of fulfillment and make positive contributions to the world.

In essence, the happiness research underscores the idea that caring for others can lead to a deeper sense of self-fulfillment, transcending mere individualism.
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While she was in the middle of planning her Disney-inspired pregnancy announcement, Dannette received an unexpected call from the human resources department at her work. She was being laid off at 15 weeks pregnant. It wasnt exactly how Dannette, a 32-year-old, first-generation college graduate from New York, envisioned her babymoon. The panic quickly struck. She had no idea how she would restart her college loan payments this falldebts she'd been paying for 11 years until the payments were paused in 2020 during the pandemicwithout a job.

It has only been two years since Dannette re-entered the workforce after a disability-related leave, and she knows what its like to have her mental health be at the mercy of her finances. In addition to the distress of medical bills, insurance co-payments, and costly medication, Dannette bears a significant student loan debtroughly $150,000from college. Shes been paying those loans off for over a decade (the standard payoff time) and doesnt see an end in sight. How can you not help but constantly feel defeated by your finances? she asks.

Dannette not alone in this debt-related stress. More than 60 percent of all student loan borrowers and 65 percent of women borrowers say their debt has negatively affected their mental health, according to a 2022 CNBC/Momentive Poll survey . Another survey found that one in eight single women owing more than twice their income in student loans experienced suicidal ideation, according to Student Loan Planner. And that number drops to one in six for single women earning less than $50,000.

Dannette would have been able to get $20,000 of her debt canceled under President Joe Biden's $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan. The plan would have allowed the government to cancel up to $10,000 in federal student debt for Americans making less than $125,000, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients, a government financial support program for low-income students. But after the Supreme Court ruled Biden's plan unconstitutional on Friday, Dannettealong with 37 million other borrowersmust shoulder the full weight of her loans.

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Hearst Owned

Having my loans forgiven is the difference between saving for my childs education and making a mortgage payment, Dannette explained before the decision came out.

Long-term student loans can feel debilitating for some borrowers.

For some first-generation Black and Hispanic college students who have worked hard to gain a spot at a college, the decision to sign up for a hefty college loan can feel like a no-brainer at first. Im a first-generation Dominican American, I would have signed anything to get into school and make my family proud, Dannette says.

But she didnt fully grasp the toll this long-term loan commitment would take when she signed the dotted line on her offer letter 15 years ago. Dannette worries about her loans daily, to the point that she loses sleep. After years of intense academic pressure and stress, Dannette says it is debilitating," that "the majority of the money I earn [is] not even mine."

Women hold almost two-thirds of the more than $1.7 trillion in US student loan debt, according to a report from the American Association of University Women, and the three-year pause on student loans during the pandemic is coming to an end this fall. Initially enacted by former President Donald Trump as a short-term economic relief plan in response to COVID-19, the payments pause has been extended nine times, and subsequently became part of President Joe Bidens economic policy.

While President Biden hoped to provide 37 million Americans with one-time debt relief under his student loan forgiveness plan, his administration will have to find a new way to help Americans with their crushing debts.

Many first-gen women students must navigate a confusing financial aid system alone.

It is common for first-generation women graduates to feel high levels of anxiety and stress, explains mental health clinician Denisse Rosario Reyes at The Institution of Family Health. So adding in looming student debt can make the feelings compound.

[Black and Hispanic women] are operating on maximum overdrive. Dealing with high-functioning anxiety, imposter syndrome, and depression because their families are relying on them. There is an immense sense of failure associated with not being able to support and provide for their family," Rosario Reyes explains.

A lot of first-generation students end up having to navigate loans without tools, networks, or proper financial literacy, explains Rashell Villar, coordinator of College Access at YWCA Brooklyn . They might not know, initially, how to apply for financial aid at their intended college, or to understand the financial responsibility when taking out a student loan.

So, while the number of Hispanic students enrolling in four-year institutions has more than doubled in the last two decades , that doesnt always mean they make it to graduation, especially after the pandemic. At times, the financial burden could outweigh the educational benefit, leaving students saddled with debt and no degree.

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The pay gap for Black and Hispanic women doesn't help the situation.

Women have been pursuing higher education at higher rates than men for four decades now, and in recent years, that gap has widened even more, the Pew Research Center found. But the gender pay gap in the US hasnt changed much in twenty years , especially for Black and Hispanic women, who typically earn only 65 to 70 percent as much as their white male counterparts. Still, loans must be paid, and the financial and mental burden can be intense.

Despite getting a good job after graduating from college, Dannette, whose minimum payment for one of her private loans is $1,200, says that her early paychecks mostly went towards paying off loans. I had very little disposable income, she explains. I couldn't save, move out of my parent's house, pursue a master's degree. I couldn't do anything.

This isnt uncommon among borrowers. Around 81 percent of people with student loans say they've had to delay key life milestones, such as saving for retirement or buying a home, in order to pay off their student loans, per the CNBC survey. This, in turn, can have a such a detrimental effect on a persons self-esteem and self-worth, explains Rosario Reyes.

The Supreme Courts ruling on loan forgiveness will likely add to borrowers mental health and debt concerns.

And it's possible that people will experience increased levels of depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies if they're unprepared for repayments, according to Rosario Reyes.

Dannette's American Dream isn't what she thought it would be, but she is trying to be optimistic, and is preparing herself to deal with her loans again. Now, more than ever, I need to know how to allocate my money for repayments.

And as millions waited for the court's ruling on their future debt load, Dannette dropped her pregnancy announcement on Instagram. It was a candid moment of pure, unadulterated joy captured at Disney World.

The world will always feel like it's carrying on without you, but with my family, I feel invincible, Dannette wrote in the caption.

If youre stressed about your loan repayments, there are resources and ways to plan ahead.

Its not totally clear yet what student loan repayments could look like for people who havent paid a federal loan since March 2020, but there are plenty of ways to get ahead. For starters, you can see if you qualify for income-driven repayment plans, and other student loan forgiveness programs like the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program.

There might also be some great local resources in your town or city for you to lean on. All 50 states, including the District of Columbia, provides at least one program to reduce or forgive student loan debt, and many offer more than that, per GoBankingRates.

For example, the YW Brooklyn LEAD program in New York focuses on breaking the cycle of economic disempowerment for first-generation Black and Hispanic women, and the NYS Get on Your Feet Loan Forgiveness Program offers a maximum of 24 payments equal to the amount of the monthly federal repayment plan payment.

For folks in need of mental health support, Open Path Psychotherapy Collective is a nonprofit with a national network of mental health professionals dedicated to providing in-office and online mental health careat a steeply reduced rateto clients in need.

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Did it or didnt it confidentially file for an IPO? Only Shein knows for sure.

A Shein spokeswoman on Friday told Sourcing Journal that the fast-fashion digital retailer denies these rumors, addressing a Reuters report this week claiming the company confidentially lodged paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

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The conflicting information about an IPO comes after a group of U.S. House of Representatives members urged SEC chair Gary Gensler not to register the Christian Siriano collaborator until its sure the company doesnt exploit the persecuted Uyghur minority that populates Chinas cotton-rich Xinjiang region.

Shein, one of TikToks most-buzzed-about brands, had looked at going public last year but the financial markets volatile response to Russias Ukraine invasion nixed those plans. In March it raised $2 billion from an investor group led by private equity firm General Atlantic, with participation from existing backers Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and venture capital firms Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management, among others.

Shein has long been cagey about financial speculation. When $64 billion instead of $100 billion was floated as its valuation earlier this year, a Shein spokeswoman told Sourcing Journal that the company denies the accuracy of some of the information reported, without clarifying further.

Sheins attempt to go public three years ago ran into a snag when the U.S.-China trade war chilled the markets. The third time could be the charm now that recent developments suggest a slow IPO market looks to be opening up.

Matthew Kennedy, senior strategist at IPO tracking firm Renaissance Capital, expects IPO activity will pick up in the second half. He pointed to fast-casual restaurant chain Cava Group Inc.s strong June 15 trading debut as a positive sign heading into the third quarter.

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Cavas IPO was followed on Thursday by the well received IPO of Savers Value Village Inc., a thrift store business benefiting from the growing pool of cash-strapped consumers trading down to make their dollar stretch. Savers Value, whose majority owner Ares Management retainined a 88 percent stake, raisied over $401 million. The stock opened at $24.77 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, or 38 percent above the $18-a-share price listed in its IPO.

But it hasnt been smooth sailing for all newly public entrants. Kodiak Gas and Fidelis Insurance, which went public after Cava, priced below their expected range and have been trading lower. While investors seem to be cautious of new offerings, the success of IPOs from Cava and Savers in the discretionary sectorwhere Shein fits incould bode well for later this year if the IPO window stays open.

An IPO makes sense since private funding can only take Shein so far, given its growth plans. Another reason for the interest in Shein is its high profile. Its current valuation indicates it would be among one of the largest IPOs in history, placing it in the company of giants such as Facebook and Alibaba.

But while Shein has captured the hearts and wallets of consumers addicted to $4.50 cut-out crop tops, $15.25 jeans, and $3.50 bras, the company faces scrutiny by U.S. congressional leaders and policymakers elsewhere concerned about forced labor in its supply chain. Whats more, the Shut Down Shein coalition accuses the e-tailer of exploiting U.S. customs laws to avoid paying billions in tariffs. Shein meanwhile has hired lobbyists from Akin Gump and Hobart Hallaway & Quayle to protect its tax and trade loopholes. And earlier this month, French center-left political party Place Publique, led by European parliamentarian Raphael Glucksman, blasted Shein for using fossil-fuel-based materials as a weapon of mass climate destruction.

Then theres the problem virtually every marketplace operator runs into. Social media users this month spotted fakes from third-party sellers, such as knockoff Jordan 11 sneakers on its platform. Shein, which has since removed the offending product from its website, said it requires marketplace sellers to certify that products do not infringe on the intellectual property of others, and that it has zero tolerance for forced labor.

Click here to read the full article.
Retail

Under Armour announced a series of senior executive leadership changes to support the companys growth-focused Protect This House 3 strategy.

Under Armor has appointed Jim Dausch as executive vice president and chief consumer officer, effective July 24. Danny Miles has been promoted to executive vice president, chief technology officer. The company also announced that chief operating officer Colin Browne plans to step down later this fall, and chief product officer Lisa Collier will leave the company in August to pursue other opportunities.

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Claires

Claudia Lima-Guinehut

Claires announced the appointment of Claudia Lima-Guinehut as executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. She will lead the companys global merchandising, sourcing and design strategy, as well as the piercing business. Lima-Guinehart will report to Claires CEO, Ryan Vero.

Most recently, Lima-Guinehut served as senior vice president, global merchandising and strategic partnerships at The Childrens Place, where she was responsible for creating and delivering product strategies for all brands across multiple channels of distribution, as well as leading operations for wholesale and international franchise businesses from 2014 to 2023.

LXRandCo

Digital-first omnichannel retailer of authenticated pre-owned handbags and accessories LXRandCo announced that Laura Swan and Nadine Eap have been appointed to co-CEO, and co-CEO and chief financial officer, respectively, reporting to the board of directors, effective July 1. Valerie Sorbie will transition from executive chair to chair and Cam di Prata will transition from the CEO role to director and chair of the compensation and nominating committee.

Since joining LXR in 2019, Swan has served as wholesale and partnerships director, director of U.S. sales, chief stores officer, chief revenue officer, co-president and chief revenue officer, and now co-CEO in roles of increasing reponsibility. Before joining LXR, Eap spent seven years on the accounting side of Deloitte in Canada and Australia, two years at technology firm Logibec and four years at Aimia, Inc.

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Textiles

Kelheim Fibres

Mark von der Becke, Dr.Maring Crnoja-Cosic and Matthew North

After nearly 30 years with the company, Matthew North, commercial director at viscose specialty fiber manufacturer Kelheim Fibres, will retire on July 1. Mark von der Becke will assume the position of sales director and become part of the management team at Kelheim Fibres. Dr. Marina Crnoja-Cosci, who has been serving as director of new business development and as a management team member at the company since 2020, will take on the responsibility for marketing and communications.

Logistics

ShipBob

Omni-fulfillment platform ShipBob announced Melissa Nick as its first chief supply chain officer. She joins the company with over 20 years of experience, most recently serving as Amazons vice president of North American customer fulfillment, where she led operations, planning and engineering teams across more than 250 fulfillment centers. Nick will oversee the end-to-end design and execution of ShipBobs supply chain and logistics infrastructure for both its fulfillment network and customers managing their own fulfillment with ShipBobs WMS, spanning from the time merchants inventory leaves the manufacturers factory until it arrives at its final destination.

Trade

Young Entrepreneurs of Assocalzaturifici

Federica De Pascale is the new president of the Young Entrepreneurs of Assocalzaturifici, the national association representing industrial shoemakers in Italy. She will take over from Elisa Lanciotti and remain in office for the four-year period of 2023-2027. De Pascale has followed in her familys footsteps and works at Calpierre, the business her grandfather founded in the 1960s.

Alongside the new president will be four vice presidents: Eleonora De Lucia of Calzaturificio Marciano, Gianluca Tomat of Lotto Sport Italia, Matteo Piervincenzi of Calzaturificio LE.PI., and Thomas Schlecht of Parabiago Collezioni.

Brands

Vikash Bajargyan

Comfort footwear solutions firm OrthoLite announced Vikash Bajargyan as the next general manager of OrthoLite India (OIN). He will manage all operations at OIN, which will include leading manufacturing and business development, as well as establishing and managing relationships with brands and Tier 1 factory partners. Bajargyan joins OrthoLite with 18 years of experience in the footwear industry in India. Most recently, he worked at Coats Group as the sales and marketing director, leading the team and growing the Coats Footwear division across India and Bangladesh.

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The Bomb Hole - the snowboarding podcast we all know and love - took a little road trip to Mount Hood for summer snowboard camp. They stopped in Boise, Idaho on the way to skateboard and swim, quintessential summer style, and then the crew made it to Mount Hood for some more skateboarding and some snowboarding and various summer camp activities in between like kickball and karaoke and much more. The cherry on top is that they did this whole road trip in a 1996 Cadillac stretch limo with all terrain tires and a snowboard rack on the roof. Check out their adventures so far below.

Summer activities and summer camp offer a multitude of experiences. From swimming and beach outings to hiking and picnics, there's something for everyone. Campers engage in team sports, arts and crafts, nature exploration, and campfire storytelling. Friendship building, personal growth, and unforgettable memories are forged, creating an enriching summer adventure.

We are always on the lookout for amusing, interesting, and engaging snow-related videos to feature on our channels. Whether you are a professional rider or just an amateur, we want to see your best footage and help you share it with the world. Submit your video for a chance to be featured on SNOWBOARDER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality snowboarding videos.

Do not miss another headline from SNOWBOARDER! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of snowboarding.
Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press via AP

Police in Waterloo, Canada are investigating a stabbing attack during a university class as a hate crime.

Three people were hospitalized on Wednesday, after a man burst into a classroom at the University of Waterloo with two knives, stabbing a professor and two students. On Thursday, police named the suspect as 24-year-old Geovanny Villalba Aleman. University administrators say Villalba Aleman was a recent graduate from the school. The class he allegedly targeted was part of a philosophy course on gender.

The accused targeted a gender studies class and investigators believe this was a hate-motivated incident related to gender expression and gender identity, police announced in a statement.

University course listings describe the Philosophy 202 course that Villalba Aleman attacked as a course that will examine the construction of gender in the history of philosophy through contemporary discussions. What is gender? How do we do gender? How can we undo genderand do we want to?

Gender studies have been the subject of growing international ire on the right, particularly from anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ activists and politicians. Hungary (often held as a model for the international right) has banned gender studies courses in colleges, while Florida mulls a similar law under Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Villalba Alemans publicly available social media reveals him to be a recent University of Waterloo graduate. On June 16, he posted photos of himself holding a diploma from the school and wearing graduation robes. #uwaterloograd, he posted.

On LinkedIn, he wrote that he graduated with a physics degree, and that he worked at an on-campus Tim Hortons.

In a Thursday afternoon press conference, Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell said Villalba Aleman asked the classs title before lunging at the professor with knives. The professor, as well as a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old student were hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

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Police said some of the classs approximately 40 students rushed to intervene, while others escaped and called 911.

Jackson Yan, who was studying in a nearby room at the time of the attack, told the student paper the Imprint that a student ran from the classroom and screamed for nearby students to run.

When police arrived on the scene Villalba Aleman unsuccessfully attempted to blend in, to hide in plain sight among other students, Crowell said, but officers quickly identified him and placed him under arrest once he was identified based on the description provided.

Villalba Aleman was charged on Thursday with three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and mischief under $5,000. Villalba Aleman was an international student from Ecuador. Police said there is currently no evidence that he planned the attack with anyone else.

The attack has drawn comparisons to a 1989 university massacre in Canada, in which a gunman systematically killed 14 women and himself at Montreals Polytechnique engineering school. In a suicide note, the killer wrote that he hated and wanted to kill feminists.

In a statement, the University of Waterloo said it was committed to continuing its courses on gender and social justice.

We are horrified, saddened, and outraged by the attack on our campus community yesterday, in which a professor and two students were stabbed during a Gender Issues class, the university said in a Thursday statement

Gender Issues is a cross-listed class in Philosophy and in the Gender and Social Justice (GSJ) program. Our thoughts are with our colleague and students who were injured, the students in the class who witnessed the attack, our students in Gender and Social Justice and Philosophy, and the entire University of Waterloo community. We stand in solidarity with the many teachers and scholars across the world whose ideas expose them to violence and hate. We are committed to continuing to teach and research topics in gender, social justice, and beyond.

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When brands (and there are many of them) affix terms like natural, organic, and fair trade to their products, its easy to get lost in the translation of copy, certifications, and, unfortunately, rampant greenwashing. How does one know whats truly been made with environmentally friendly and ethical practices? You go straight to the source (and no, Im not talking about the local storefront or even the warehouse filled with e-tailer goods). Thats exactly what Sebastien Kopp and Francois-Ghislain Morillion, the founders of sustainable sneaker brand Veja, do with their partners and cotton producers in Brazil.

If you arent familiar with the French sustainable sneaker brand (pronounced vay-zhuh, by the way), odds are youve likely seen the sleek, stylish, and classic sneakersrecognized by the brands signature V on the sidesout and about. Or, at the very least, youve clocked them on stylish celebrities including Emily Ratajkowski, Katie Holmes, Kate Middleton, and Meghan Markle, who seemingly cant stop wearing them. (To be honest, neither can I.)

Shop Now Esplar Sneaker $150.00 nordstrom.com

Yes, Veja has made a name for itself thanks to its long list of A-list fans, but what keeps those supportersas well as the rest of the brands large consumer basecoming back is its comfortable fit and responsible practices, many of which start from the literal ground up. Take Vejas organic cotton, for example. You, as the wearer, might not see or feel a difference, but its impact is significant.



Veja works with small, family-owned cotton producers through Associacao de Desenvolvimento Educacional e Cultural de Taua (ADEC), an organization that only works with farmers who dont use pesticides in their fields, and are encouraged to do so to create safer, healthier environments for themselves and their families. Plus, while other areas of agriculture pay farmers based on the resulting amount of product, the price for ADEC organic cotton is agreed upon before planting, which means the farmers have more security in their work. That cotton is then worked into Vejas shoelaces, mesh netting, liners, and even its insoles. For me as a fashion editor, thats the icing on the cake of whats already a stellar shoe.

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Shop Now Dekkan Alveomesh Sneaker $210.00 nordstrom.com

I recently wore Vejas Dekkan sneakers on an excursion, and theyve since become the best walking shoes Ive ever worn. This particular style has a toe box that suits my foots need for extra room, without the rest of the shoe feeling like its going to fall off my heel. Thanks to the sneakers Vibram sole, theres plenty of traction, which I discovered while hiking the side of a mountain, no less. I also love the cushion you feel with each step; its enough to notice significant shock absorption as well as stabilityyou hardly feel the ground beneath your feet. (They certainly arent a pair of cloud slides, but thats a good thing in this case.) Suffice it to say, youll be able to stay on your feet for literal hours when youre wearing these.

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In case you couldnt tell, I could wax poetic about these shoesand not just the shoes themselvesall day long. Veja crafts sneakers that are stylish and well-made, while maintaining an ethos for better production, from soil to shoe. Whats not to love about that?

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Tim de Waele - Getty Images

The 2023 Tour de France starts on Saturday in Bilbao, Spain with a 182km stage through the hills around the city that will determine the first rider to wear the yellow jersey as the leader of the Tours General Classification.

In total, the riders will cover 3,399.5km spread over 21 stages (including two Rest Days) with eight stages that could end in field sprints, four hilly stages that look perfect for breakaways, one individual time trial, and a whopping eight mountain stages (including four summit finishes). Here are six you wont want to miss:

Stage 1 - Bilbao to Bilbao (182km) - Saturday, July 1

The Tours opening weekend is always an exciting event, and this years packs an even bigger punch than usual. Starting in Spains Basque region, both Stages 1 and 2 are packed with the short, steep climbs for which the region is famousand the reason why Aprils Tour of the Basque Country is considered one of the hardest stage races on the calendar.

If you only have time to watch one of the two, go with Stage 1 for the simple reason that the winner is guaranteed to pull-on the first maillot jaune of the Tour and the racing will be even more intense because of it.

The stage starts and finishes in Bilbao, with the riders covering 182km of the regions tight, technical roads and five categorized climbs offering points toward the Tours King of the Mountains competition.

The stage will likely be decided on the Cote de Pike, a short but steep climb that comes just 9.6km from the finish line. Dont be surprised to see someone win solo, but at most a small group of the Tours best riders will emerge to settle the stage and determine whos first to pull-on the yellow jersey. We cant remember the last time an opening stage was so challenging, and you won't want to miss it.

Stage 9 - Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat to Puy de Dome (182.4km) - Sunday, July 9

After 35 years, one of the most famous climbs in Tour de France history makes its return at the end of Stage 9: the Puy de Dome. An extinct volcano that rises above the Massif Centrale, the climb was last visited by the Tour in 1988, when Denmarks Johnny Weltz was first to the summit.

Story continues

The 182.4km stage begins in Saint-Leonard-de-Noblat and heads due east toward the chain of volcanoes thats home to the final climb. The intermediate sprint comes earlyin Lac de Vassiviereand from there the stages jagged profile really begins to bite, with three categorized climbs setting the stage for the finale.

The Puy de Dome is rated as an hors categorie (beyond category) climb, a distinction reserved for only the Tours toughest ascents. The 13.3km climb begins steadily, with an average gradient that hovers around 7 percent for the first 9km. But the pitch steepens significantly once the riders hit the parking lot for tourists wishing to take the railway to the summit.

From there final 4km average close to 12 percent, and the road narrows considerably as the riders wind their way up the treeless summit. Its a perfect climb for a rider like Denmarks Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), and the defending Tour champ will certainly do his best to continue his nations winning streak.

Stage 13 - Chatillon-Sur-Chalaronne to Grand Colombier (137.8km) - Friday, July 14

The organizers plan something special for Bastille Day, and this year is no different, with a short stage into the Jura mountains that ends with a climb up one of the Tours newer hors categorie ascents: the Grand Colombier. The Tour originally visited the climb in 2012 and again in 2017, but it was first used as a summit finish in 2020, when Slovenias Tadej Pogacar won the stage.

There are four routes to the summit, and each year local cyclists organize a ride that loops together all of them in a painful celebration of the mountain. This year the riders will tackle it just oncefrom Culozwith an approach offering 17.4km of climbing and an average gradient of 7.4 percent. The stage is relatively short and there are no other categorized climbs on the route, so the riders should hit the bottom of Colombier in one large group, which means we should be treated to a battle among the GC contenders to win the stage.

Stage 15 - Les Gets les Portes du Soleil to Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc (179km) - Sunday, July 16

After a finish on the Grand Colombier (Friday) and a first foray into the Alps (Saturday), Sundays Stage 15 should have everyone happy to see Mondays second Rest Day. Starting in Les Gets, the 179km stage features five categorized climbs, all in the second half of the stage.

The final 60km are particularly brutal with the Category 1 Col de la Croix Fry followed almost immediately by the Category 3 Col des Aravis, then a long descent to the valley below where the final climbs to the finish line begin almost immediately. Essentially two climbs in one, the finale begins with the Category 2 Cote des Amerandswith an average gradient of 10.9 percent and pitches topping out at 17 percentthen a short downhill before the more steady Category 1 climb to the finish line in Saint Gervais. With such a jagged profile and no moment for the riders to catch their breath, Stage 15 offers an intense end the second week.

Stage 17 - Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc to Courchevel (165.7km) - Wednesday, July 19

After Stage 16s individual time trial on Tuesday, Wednesday brings the final stage in the Alpsand its a doozie! Starting at the foot of the climb to the finish of Stage 15, Stage 17 covers over 5,000m of elevation gain thanks to four categorized climbs spread evenly throughout the 165.7km route: the Category 1 Col des Saisies, the Category 1 Cormet de Roselend, the Category 2 Cote de Longefoy, and the hors categorie Col de la Loze.

The first three climbs are challenging, and will provide a chance for out-of-contention GC contenders to go on the attack in a bid to try and win the stage or score more points toward the Tours King of the Mountains competition. But its the Col de la Lozeoriginally the road to the Meribel ski resortthat makes this stage special.

The Tour famously climbed to Meribel in 1973 when Frenchman Bernard Thevenet won the stage, but was unable to gain significant time on Spains Luis Ocana, who had taken the yellow jersey during a stage earlier in the morning (and went on to win the race overall).

The Tour didnt return until 2020, when the construction of a new cyclists-only roadway from the ski resort to the summit of the nearby Col de la Loze gave the organizers a good reason to. The new roadway adds another 7km to the original climb, most of which is steeper than 10 percentwith one pitch that hits 24 percent.

One of the highest paved roads in France, the first rider to the top will take home the Souvenir Henri Desgrange cash prize for winning the highest summit in the 2023 Tour. The stage ends after a short descent into Courchevel, where a steep ramp to the finish line offers one final, painful challenge for the riders to overcome.

Stage 20 - Belfort to Le Markstein (133.5km) - Saturday, July 22

The Tours penultimate stage will be an explosive one, with a short stage through the Vosges mountains that could be one of the most exciting of the Tourno matter what the standings are. Only 133.5km long and with six categorized climbs, the stage will be raced like a spring classic, with attacks coming right from the gun and everyone trying to get up the road. The race for the stageand possibly the Tourshould all come down to the final two climbsthe Category 1 Petit Ballon and the Category 1 Col du Platzerwaselwhere riders will lay it all on the line in one last bid for glory.

Pogacar famously won his first Tour de France in the Vosges back in 2020 when he crushed an individual time trial up to the La Planche des Belles Filles ski resort to snatch the Tour from compatriot Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma). Assuming the Slovenian gets stronger as the Tour progresses (his pre-Tour preparation was interrupted by a broken wrist he sustained in late-April) and Vingegaard weakens (hes been racing at a high level since early June), this stage could be the scene of another dramatic Tour finish.

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This article is made possible through Spotlight PAs collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeats republishing policy.

Al Schmidt, the former Philadelphia city commissioner who made national headlines in 2020 for rebuking then-President Donald Trumps election fraud claims, is one step closer to officially becoming Pennsylvanias top election official.

The Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee, a powerful, Republican-led panel overseeing election law and the Department of State, advanced Schmidts nomination to be secretary of the commonwealth in a nearly unanimous vote Monday.

Schmidts favorable recommendation from the committee is just the first step in his confirmation, but the praise he received from senators with a history of being critical of the department bodes well for his chances of being confirmed by the full body. That vote will need to happen quickly, as a statutory deadline on his nomination is Wednesday.

I will be voting to recommend you today, said state Sen. Cris Dush, R-Jefferson, who chairs the committee, though he added that his vote was based on Schmidts assurances to make sure elections are administered in an unbiased and nonpartisan manner in compliance with state law.

State Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, thanked Schmidt for his forthrightness and said she was pleased with his responses before voting to recommend him for confirmation.

The only senator on the committee to vote against recommending Schmidt was state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R- Franklin. Mastriano was one of Pennsylvanias most vocal and visible figures boosting Trumps false claims of election fraud in 2020.

He has also been sharply critical of Philadelphias elections.

Philadelphia is not a golden gem of voting integrity, Mastriano told an Inquirer reporter after Mondays hearing. The lack of action by Schmidt in the recent elections here just gives me pause. Its easy to say things, but when he had a chance to make a difference and to look into voting concerns, we were stonewalled.

Story continues

Schmidt, who helped run elections in Philadelphia as the lone Republican city commissioner for more than a decade, rose to national prominence in the aftermath of the 2020 election for his forceful rejection, amid violent threats, of Trumps election fraud claims. President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Citizens Medal this year, and he went on to lead the Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia-based nonpartisan good government group, before Gov. Josh Shapiro nominated him to the secretary role.

Schmidts nomination will now advance to the state Senate Rules and Executive Nominations Committee before going to the full chamber for a final vote. By law, Schmidts confirmation has to be considered by the full state Senate within 25 legislative days of the governor making the nomination or Schmidt will automatically assume the job and can leave behind the acting part of his title. He would be the first confirmed secretary of the commonwealth since Kathy Boockvar resigned in February 2021.

The hearing Monday  Schmidts second before the committee  was originally scheduled for last Tuesday. But the hearing was canceled less than an hour before its start time due to what Dush described as ongoing negotiations between the committee and the Department of State for data requested at Schmidts first hearing.

At that first hearing, in late May, Dush and other Republican senators asked Schmidt a series of questions aimed at probing the effectiveness of a multi-state voter roll maintenance compact the state belongs to, known as the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC. Dush is sponsoring a bill aiming to remove Pennsylvania from the compact, though the legislation has only a slim chance of passing the Democratic-controlled state House and receiving Shapiros signature.

Discussion of ERIC  which has been a target of right-wing election activists in recent months, leading several Republican states to withdraw from it  took up most of the conversation in that hearing and led at times to contentious counter-questioning from Republicans and Democrats on the committee.

Dush had specifically asked Schmidt for data showing the number of ineligible voters who were removed from the states rolls due to lawsuits who had also been flagged for removal by ERIC. He appeared to be looking for data to assess whether ERIC has successfully identified ineligible voters or whether the state could do better on its own, as some Republican-led states that have withdrawn have argued. Dush also asked about eligible but unregistered voters identified by ERIC  a function of the program that Republican officials also have criticized.

During his first hearing, Schmidt defended ERIC as an important tool in keeping the states voter rolls accurate, and emphasized that it provides information that would not otherwise be available.

There are elements (of voter roll maintenance) that would be lost if Pennsylvania didnt participate in ERIC, Schmidt said, emphasizing that there is not currently a viable alternative.

For example, he noted that not all voters who move to another state are listed in National Change of Address data, one potential alternative source.

Dush is perhaps best known for leading an attempt by the Pennsylvania Senate to perform an Arizona-style investigation of the 2020 election. Already this session, he has sponsored bills to eliminate mail voting and require additional election audits. His appointment to chair the State Government Committee raised concerns with some Democrats and election reform advocates who feared he would impede proposals with more mainstream support.

Nonetheless, the recent hearings also featured moments of agreement between the department, which is part of a Democratic administration, and the Republican committee overseeing it.

In response to a question from Dush at the May hearing about election administration problems in Luzerne County, which experienced a ballot paper shortage that interfered with voting in November, Schmidt was ready to talk about solutions.

I think very strongly assisting the counties with some sort of manual or guidance for incoming election administrators to consult, so that you know X number of days before an election, you better order the paper youre going to need  we can help mitigate the problems you just described, Schmidt said.

Dush agreed, describing his support for documentation for election officials similar to the continuity books used in the military when a new officer takes over a position.

Also Monday, Schmidt gave a new timeline for a long-anticipated update to the states voter registration system. Election administrators often describe the current system, built in the early 2000s, as outdated, sometimes buggy, and unable to handle changes brought on by Pennsylvanias 2019 introduction of universal mail voting. The update had initially been planned for this year.

Schmidt said the department was now considering a release date in early 2025 rather than during the 2024 presidential election, citing concerns that a large system change in a presidential election year could cause new problems for election officials.

No one would really want to release a new system at a time of high turnout, he said.

It is unclear if the state Senate will act on Schmidts nomination or let him assume the position by default. As of Monday, no hearing in the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee had been scheduled nor had a vote in the full state Senate.

Lauren Cristella, the new president of the Committee of Seventy, credited Schmidt with navigating the questions of the hearing under pressure.

I really do think he tries to meet people where they are and hear their concerns and present them with facts, she said. Hes done that with voters and the media across the spectrum, and I think thats what you saw him present in the meeting.

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.
Former President Donald Trump will visit Council Bluffs on July 7 and deliver remarks at the Mid-America Center.

According to Trumps website, doors will open at 10 a.m., and the former president will speak at 1 p.m. Tickets are available on his website.

The Mid-America Center is located at 1 Arena Way.

The announcement did not give details about Trumps remarks, but the 45th president is currently running for reelection. He launched his third bid for the White House last year.

Trump is facing several GOP contenders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others.

Trump has visited Nebraska and Iowa several times, including a 2022 visit to Greenwood, Nebraska, to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster. Herbster lost the race to current Gov. Jim Pillen.

President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in 2020, also has announced he is seeking reelection.

Photos: Trump indictment shows documents stacked in bathroom, bedroom, ballroom
CIA director William Burns reportedly called Russian spy chief Sergei Naryshkin in the aftermath of failed mutiny by the Wagner group.

The phone call to the head of Russias foreign intelligence service was to assure Kremlin that the US had no role in the Wagner groups aborted rebellion, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal said.

The US wasnt involved, one official said about the CIA message to the Kremlin. This is an internal Russian matter,

The White House declined to comment, saying they will not get into specifics of individual diplomatic discussions.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of extremely active weeks ahead as Ukrainian forces have launched a counteroffensive to reclaim territories from the Russian army.

He said the counteroffensive is making progress in all directions, adding that his forces have killed 21,000 Wagner troops in a separate interview.

Earlier, a leading think tank said Vladimir Putin may take formal control of Wagner forces in Ukraine  and beyond  following the failed rebellion by the mercenary group.

Key Points

CIA director called Kremlin to say that US had no role in Wagner mutiny

Putins forces being pushed back in all directions

Wagner still in Ukraine after pulling out and mutiny debacle, says Pentagon

Yevgeny Prigozhin was told Wagner would no longer be fighting in Ukraine'

Russian general Sergei Surovikin arrested after Wagner rebellion - report

Death toll rises to 12 in Ukraine's Kramatorsk after Russian strike

Countdown has begun for end of Putin, claims Volodymyr Zelensky aide

CIA director called Kremlin to say that US had no role in Wagner mutiny

03:46 , Shweta Sharma

CIA director William Burns dialled Russian spy chief Sergei Naryshkin in the aftermath of failed mutiny by the Wagner group to assure Kremlin that the US had no role in it, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

Mr Burns phone call to his counterpart, who is the head of Russias SVR foreign intelligence service, took place earlier this week. It was the highest-level contact between the two governments since the attempted mutiny, the Wall Street Journal said.

Story continues

It comes after president Joe Biden said on Monday the brief uprising by Russian mercenaries against the Kremlin was part of a struggle within the Russian system and that the United States and its allies were not involved in it.

Ukrainian president says 21,000 Wagner troops killed by his forces

05:00 , Shweta Sharma

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces have killed 21,000 Wagner troops so far and thousands have been injured.

His comments came in an interview with the Spanish news outlet El Mundo on Thursday.

Mr Zelensky said over 80,000 Wagner group mercenaries have been injured in the fighting.

Belarus leader says nuclear arms will not be used

04:30 , Shweta Sharma

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said the Russian tactical nuclear weapon deployed in his country would never be used.

The Belarusian president, in an address marking his ex-Soviet states national day, said the stationing of the weapons in Belarus was my firmest initiative.

As we move along, we become more and more convinced that they (the weapons) must be stationed here, in Belarus, in a reliable place, Mr Lukashenko told a gathering in a large hall in an online broadcast by the state BelTA news agency, with many present waving red and green national flags.

I am certain that we will never have to use them while they are here. And no enemy will ever set foot on our land.

Russias foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday the deployment did not violate the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 as Russia retained control over the weapons. He told Russias Tass news agency the deployment had been forced on Russia.

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

03:00 , Eleanor Noyce

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraines military was largely reliant on Soviet-era weaponry, from tanks to artillery to fighter jets.

While that arsenal helped Ukraine fend off an assault on the capital of Kyiv and prevent a total rout in the early weeks of the war, billions of dollars in military assistance has since poured into the country, including more modern Western-made weapons.

Ukraines counteroffensive, now in its early stages, could offer a glimpse of whether and to what extent the newer weapons systems have strengthened Kyivs ability to stand up to Russia.

Read the full story:

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Mapped: Has Ukraine made advances against Russia?

02:00 , Eleanor Noyce

With Russias invasion of Ukraine raging for 16 months, Ukraine is now pushing back with its long-awaited counteroffensive that has already recorded a number of gains.

On Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Ukrainian troops for advancing in all sectors, having spent the day presenting awards to front-line soldiers in the east and south.

Today in all sectors, our soldiers made advances. It is a happy day, Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address, which was delivered from a train after visiting two frontline areas.

Read more:

Mapped: Has Ukraine made advances against Russia?

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

01:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russias special military operation in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russias neighbour needed to be demilitarised and de-Nazified, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putins warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Thomas Kingsley and Joe Sommerlad report:

Heres why Putin really invaded Ukraine

ICYMI: Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Saturday 1 July 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce

The Biden administration is considering sending controversial cluster munition warheads to Ukraine, with people familiar with the matter revealing that an official announcement is expected soon.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced an additional $500m in military aid for Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armoured vehicles and missiles for their air defence system. These reinforcements are intended to fortify Ukraines counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

On Thursday, a US official told CNN the White House is now also considering sending the munitions  something that would have a significant battlefield impact.

Read more:

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Detention of Russian director and playwright extended for 2 months

Friday 30 June 2023 23:00 , Eleanor Noyce

A Russian court on Friday extended the pretrial detention of a theatre director and a playwright facing charges of justifying terrorism, the latest move in a relentless crackdown on dissent in Russia that spiked after the start of the war in Ukraine.

The court ordered Zhenya Berkovich, a prominent independent theater director, and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk held until 10 September; they have been behind bars since early May.

Authorities claim a play they staged, Finist, the Brave Falcon, justifies terrorism, which is a criminal offense in Russia punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Read more:

Detention of Russian director and playwright extended for 2 months

UN votes to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali after a demand from military junta

Friday 30 June 2023 22:01 , Eleanor Noyce

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Friday to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali as demanded by the countrys military junta, which has brought in mercenaries from Russias Wagner Group to help fight an Islamic insurgency.

Mali, a landlocked country in West Africa, has grappled with the insurgency for over a decade. It has seen its relations with the international community become strained in part because the ruling junta brought in the Wagner mercenaries who also have been engaged in Moscows war in Ukraine and were part of a short-lived mutiny against Russias military last week.

Edith M. Lederer reports:

UN votes to immediately end its peacekeeping operation in Mali after a demand from military junta

Russia reducing military presence and personnel at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Ukraine

Friday 30 June 2023 21:31 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia is reducing its presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraines military intelligence agency has claimed  with Kyiv having accused Moscow of plotting a terrorist attack at the facility.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) said the number of military patrols were gradually decreasing around the vast site of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, and in the nearby city of Enerhodar. Meanwhile, personnel remaining at the plant  which is occupied by Moscows forces  had been told to blame Ukraine in case of any emergency situations.

According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, GUR said on the Telegram messaging app.

Chris Stevenson reports:

Russia reducing military presence at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Ukraine

Poland fears Wagner in Belarus could destabilise region - FT

Friday 30 June 2023 21:04 , Eleanor Noyce

The Wagner group, which has relocated to Belarus, could use migrants from Africa and other places where the paramilitary group operates to destabilise Central and Eastern Europe, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing Jacek Siewiera, head of Polands national bureau of security.

ICYMI: What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Friday 30 June 2023 21:02 , Eleanor Noyce

British defence minister Ben Wallace announced that the top-tier, air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles lent to Ukraine were striking targets with precision as the country continued to fight off Russias full-scale invasion clocking nearly 500 days.

The Storm Shadow missile has had a significant impact on the battlefield, Mr Wallace said in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday this week, marking the first public acknowledgement of the missiles use in the continuing war.

Its accuracy and ability to deliver successfully the payload, as sent and designed by the Ukrainians, has been almost without fault, the defence minister said.

Read more:

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

The US is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, says America's top military officer

Friday 30 June 2023 20:31 , Eleanor Noyce

The United States is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, the top American military officer said Friday.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. has been thinking about providing the munitions for a long time. He noted that Russian troops are using them on the battlefield in Ukraine and that Ukrainian forces have received cluster bombs from other allies and have deployed the arms.

Milley said at the National Press Club that discussions are continuing. The Ukrainians have asked for it, other European countries have provided some of that, the Russians are using it, Milley said. Theres a decision making process ongoing.

Read more:

The US is considering providing cluster munitions to Ukraine, says America's top military officer

Russia's top diplomat Lavrov sees no reason to extend Black Sea grain deal

Friday 30 June 2023 20:01 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia said on Friday it saw no reason to extend the Black Sea grain deal beyond 17 July because the West had acted in such an outrageous way over the agreement, but assured poor countries that Russian grain exports would continue.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative last July to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Moscows invasion of Ukraine - something it calls a special military operation - and its blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

The deal allows food and fertiliser to be exported from three Ukrainian ports - Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi (Yuzhny). The agreement has been extended three times.

The attitude of the West towards this deal is outrageous, Lavrov told reporters, pointing specifically to the positions of the United States and Britain.

Lavrov said one of the last straws for Russia was an attack on the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, an attack he blamed on Ukraine which has in turn accused Russia of damaging it.

I dont see what arguments there can be by those who would like to continue the Black Sea initiative, Lavrov said.

The United Nations on Friday said it was concerned no new ships had been registered under the Black Sea deal since June 26 - despite applications being made by 29 vessels - and called on all parties to to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay.

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Friday 30 June 2023 19:25 , Eleanor Noyce

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraines military was largely reliant on Soviet-era weaponry, from tanks to artillery to fighter jets.

While that arsenal helped Ukraine fend off an assault on the capital of Kyiv and prevent a total rout in the early weeks of the war, billions of dollars in military assistance has since poured into the country, including more modern Western-made weapons.

Ukraines counteroffensive, now in its early stages, could offer a glimpse of whether and to what extent the newer weapons systems have strengthened Kyivs ability to stand up to Russia.

Read more:

Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: Small advances have colossal meaning

Friday 30 June 2023 19:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries over the weekend raised hopes that the turmoil in Russia would dramatically propel Ukraines offensive to recapture territory occupied by Moscow.

The rebellion humiliated Russias president Vladimir Putin and rattled his regime as forces marched on Moscow, before turning around after a last-minute deal, meaning the Kremlin did not have to redeploy troops from Ukraine to tackle the insurgency.

Ukraine is mounting attacks in a number of areas along the 965km (600 miles) frontline, but that progress will not be easy. A Ukrainian colonel told The Independent his countrys forces have to deal with multiple lines of defence constructed by the Russians in the build-up to the long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraines army about Kyivs counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow  and hard-earned:

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences: Small advances have colossal meaning

Donetsk region school suffers direct hit, two dead, say Ukraine police

Friday 30 June 2023 18:55 , Eleanor Noyce

A Russian missile attack on Friday on a village school near the frontline in Ukraines eastern Donetsk region killed two women, including a teacher, and injured six, Ukrainian police said.

The 56-year-old primary school teacher and a chief accountant, 44, died in the strike on the village of Serhiivka, Ukrainian police said. Twelve employees were the buildings only occupants, the prosecutors office said. Ukrainian schools were not in session for students on Friday.

Russian troops, in a direct hit, destroyed a school where civilians were located, Ukraines national police said in a statement.

The Donetsk region prosecutors office said four men aged 54 to 69 and two women aged 24 and 34 were injured and taken to hospital, and that it had launched an investigation into the attack.

Reuters was unable immediately to verify details of the attack.

Police shared a video showing a motionless, bloodied person being lifted into an ambulance, and a woman being extracted from extensive ruins.

Groups of men, some in civilian clothing, others emergency workers in helmets, and uniformed police, walked atop the ruins, searching for survivors. Two men carefully laid a piece of green army fabric over a body.

The police said paramedics helped rescue two women from the rubble and that occupying Russian forces were responsible for the attack, which was preliminarily assessed to have been caused by an Iskander missile.

In pictures: Relatives of fallen Ukrainian servicemen attend rally in Kyiv

Friday 30 June 2023 18:27 , Eleanor Noyce

Relatives of Ukrainian servicemen killed in battle have attended a rally at Independence Square in Kyiv demanding the creation of a National Military Cemetery.

Some families of fallen Ukrainian soldiers have complained about a lack of progress in its creation amid a shortage of places to, in their view, provide their loved ones with an honourable burial.

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

Ukrainian counteroffensive slower than predicted, but advancing - US Army's Milley

Friday 30 June 2023 18:20 , Eleanor Noyce

The Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces is going slower than people had predicted, but is making steady progress, U.S. Army General Mark Milley said on Friday.

Its going slower than people had predicted. Doesnt surprise me, Miley told an audience at the National Press Club. It is advancing steadily, deliberately, working its way through very difficult minefields, et cetera.

UN concerned no new Black Sea grain deal ships since 26 June

Friday 30 June 2023 18:00 , Eleanor Noyce

The United Nations said on Friday it is concerned that no new ships have been registered since 26 June under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine.

We call on the parties to commit to the continuation and effective implementation of the agreement without further delay, U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters.

Indias PM reiterates call for dialogue and diplomacy' in discussions with Putin

Friday 30 June 2023 17:54 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation around Ukraine and how Moscow had resolved an armed mercenary mutiny in a telephone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the Kremlin and New Delhi said.

Moscow said that Modi had expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leaderships decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday.

The Indian government said Putin, who will also join Modi on Tuesday for a virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, informed the prime minister about the recent developments in Russia during their conversation.

The call comes after the United States and India declared themselves among the closest partners in the world last week during a state visit to Washington by Modi.

India has not condemned its old ally Russia over the invasion of Ukraine and have urged both sides to resolve their differences through diplomacy. Modi told Putin last year that todays era is not an era of war.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM (Modi) reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, New Delhi said in a statement.

The boss of Russias Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, shocked the world by leading Saturdays armed revolt, only to abruptly call it off as his fighters approached Moscow.

Indias national security adviser, Ajit Doval, also spoke to his counterpart Nikolai Patrushev on Wednesday on the failed mutiny, an Indian security establishment source said.

India remains dependent on Moscow for its defense needs and has sharply increased its imports of cheap Russian oil, frustrating the West.

Ukraine hopes to win over LatAm through Spain's EU presidency

Friday 30 June 2023 17:25 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukraine hopes to use Spains rotating EU presidency to try to gain influence in Latin America, where several countries have opposed Kyivs efforts to retake territory occupied by Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Spanish media.

Speaking on Friday on the eve of a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as he kicks off the six-month rotating presidency, Zelensky said several unspecified countries had blocked an invitation extended to him by Sanchez to take part in an EU-Latin American summit in Brussels between 17 and 18 July.

We have a peace formula, and Pedro has supported us a lot. He has a constant dialogue with Latin America and they listen to him, its a fact. But Ill say frankly that some Latin American countries are blocking the decision and this invitation, he said in remarks from Kyiv aired by state broadcaster TVE.

I want them not only to join the peace formula, but to stand against war, he added.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva irritated Western countries earlier this year when he suggested the West had been encouraging war by arming Ukraine.

In the interview, Zelensky also asked for a concrete plan for his country to join NATO.

Ukraine has been working with allies to build broad international support for a peace blueprint without territorial compromises.

Senior officials from Ukraine, G7 countries, the EU and nations such as Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey met on Saturday in Denmark for talks on the concept, and said they had made some progress, but any summit to endorse a document was at least months away.

Ukrainian and Western officials aim to rally a broad coalition behind the Kyiv government - including major countries that have decided not to give Ukraine military aid or impose sanctions on Russia - to increase diplomatic pressure on Moscow.

A week after an armed rebellion rattled Russia, key details about it are still shrouded in mystery

Friday 30 June 2023 16:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Did mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin have inside help from the military and political elite in his armed rebellion that rattled Russia?

A week after the mutiny raised the most daunting challenge to President Vladimir Putins rule in over two decades, key details about the uprising are still unknown.

Uncertainty also swirls around the fate of Prigozhin and his Wagner private military forces, along with the deal they got from the Kremlin, and what the future holds for the Russian defense minister they tried to oust.

Finally, and perhaps the biggest unknown: Can Putin shore up the weaknesses revealed by the events of last weekend?

Read more:

A week after an armed rebellion rattled Russia, key details about it are still shrouded in mystery

Russia to raise salaries for military by 10.5% - decree

Friday 30 June 2023 16:25 , Eleanor Noyce

The Russian government will increase salaries for military servicemen by 10.5% from 1 October, a government decree published on the official web portal showed on Friday.

The move comes days after an abortive armed mutiny by the mercenary Wagner Group, which briefly took control of the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and marched towards Moscow in what its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said was a protest against incompetence and corruption in Russias top brass.

The key players in last weekend's armed rebellion in Russia

Friday 30 June 2023 16:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Key players in events stemming from last weekends armed rebellion in Russia include mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Gen. Sergei Surovikin.

The Associated Press reports:

The key players in last weekend's armed rebellion in Russia

Russian watchdog blocks media outlets linked to Prigozhin - Kommersant

Friday 30 June 2023 15:51 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked media outlets linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, chief of the Wagner mercenary group which staged a brief mutiny last Saturday, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Friday.

Russian authorities have not outlawed the Wagner group following the abortive mutiny but under a deal that ended the crisis, its fighters have been given the option of being integrated into Russias regular armed forces, joining their leader in exile in Belarus or returning home.

Putin and Modi discuss Ukraine, armed mutiny on phone call - Kremlin

Friday 30 June 2023 15:25 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation around Ukraine and how Moscow had resolved an armed mercenary mutiny in a telephone call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, the Kremlin said.

It said that Modi had expressed support for what the Kremlin called the Russian leaderships decisive actions in handling the mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last Saturday.

Windfall from Russia's frozen assets in Europe could be $3 billion a year - Belgium

Friday 30 June 2023 14:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Belgiums prime minister said on Friday the windfall profit from Russias frozen assets in Europe could provide 3 billion euro ($3.27 billion) a year to rebuild Ukraine.

While there is political consensus among European leaders to use these assets to pay for the reconstruction, the legality of how to extract these profits is complex and still needs to be researched in depth.

Were working on a method based on windfall profits ... If we find a stable legal platform we could use it for Ukraine, PM Alexander de Croo told journalists at the European Council summit.

A windfall profit system will be developed and the current estimation is that the total returns could be 3 billion euro a year.

The bloc has said it has frozen more than 200 billion euros ($217.78 billion) of Russian central bank assets in reaction to Moscows invasion of Ukraine. Another 30 billion euros of Russian oligarchs private assets were also immobilised.

Mr De Croo said the bloc could not touch the assets themselves without jeopardising the financial system since they are cross-maintained between central banks. A large portion of the frozen assets are in Belgium.

The Commission is working on it. It needs to be seen what the right legal basis is to do but we will be coordinating between different countries, he said.

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Friday 30 June 2023 14:30 , Matt Mathers

The Biden administration is considering sending controversial cluster munition warheads to Ukraine, with people familiar with the matter revealing that an official announcement is expected soon.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced an additional $500m in military aid for Ukraine, including more than 50 heavily armoured vehicles and missiles for their air defence system. These reinforcements are intended to fortify Ukraines counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

Biden is considering sending controversial cluster munitions to help Ukraine

Russia will emerge stronger after mutiny - Lavrov

Friday 30 June 2023 14:00 , Matt Mathers

Russia will emerge stronger after a failed mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries so the West need not worry about stability in the worlds biggest nuclear power, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

Asked by Reuters if Russia was stable and if he could give assurances to the world that Russia was not slipping into turmoil, Lavrov said Moscow was not obliged to explain anything or give any assurances to anyone.

"If anyone in the West has any doubts, then thats your problem," Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow. "Thank you for your concerns about our national interests, but there is no need."

"Russia has always emerged more resilient and stronger after any difficulties - and it is hard to call it anything more than difficulties," he added. "Moreover, we already feel that the process has started."

Mozambique Russia (Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service)

Poland detains Russian hockey player on suspicion of spying

Friday 30 June 2023 13:28 , Matt Mathers

Polish authorities have detained a Russian hockey player competing in a top Polish league on suspicion of spying, officials have said.

"Russian spies are falling one by one," said Zbigniew Ziobro, justice minister and chief prosecutor, on Friday.

"A spy who operated under the guise of an athlete was caught."

Mr Ziobro said the suspect played for a first league club and was the 14th member of a spy network to be arrested in the Nato country.

The National Prosecutors Office said the man, who was arrested on June 11, is accused of participating in an organised crime group and acting on behalf of foreign intelligence against the interests of Poland.

Such acts are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Watch: Military expert explains how Ukraines new Storm Shadow cruise missiles workwill

Friday 30 June 2023 13:04 , Matt Mathers

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: Small advances have colossal meaning

Friday 30 June 2023 12:20 , Matt Mathers

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraines army about Kyivs counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow  and hard-earned.

Read the full piece here:

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences: Small advances have colossal meaning

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Friday 30 June 2023 12:05 , Matt Mathers

British defence minister Ben Wallace announced that the top-tier, air launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles lent to Ukraine were striking targets with precision as the country continued to fight off Russias full-scale invasion clocking nearly 500 days.

Powered by a turbo-jet engine, the 1,300kg Storm Shadow travels at speeds of more than 600mph, is just over five metres long and has a wingspan of three metres.

After launch, the weapon, equipped with its own navigation system, descends to a low altitude to avoid detection before locking on to its target using an infra-red seeker.

Arpan Rai and Cameron Henderson report:

What is a Storm Shadow cruise missile?

Ukraine brings first charges for deporting Kherson orphans

Friday 30 June 2023 11:45 , Matt Mathers

Ukrainian prosecutors on Friday charged a Russian politician and two suspected Ukrainian collaborators with war crimes over the alleged deportation of dozens of orphans from the formerly-occupied southern city of Kherson, some of them as young as one.

They are the first suspects to be charged by Ukraine, which says more than 19,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-held territory, officials told Reuters.

The charges brought by Ukraines prosecutors follow a wider investigation carried out in cooperation with the Hague-based International Criminal Court, the chief prosecutor of which visited the Kherson Childrens Home.

"It was not a one-day event. 48 children who were in the Kherson Region Childrens Home were forcibly displaced, deported," Yuliia Usenko, head of the department for the protection of childrens interests in Ukraines Prosecutor Generals office told Reuters. "We dont know how these children are, in what conditions they are kept, or what their fate is."

Russia Ukraine War Hidden Orphans (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Human Rights Watch reports new evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines

Friday 30 June 2023 11:12 , Matt Mathers

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday that it uncovered new evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The group called on Ukraines government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.

"The Ukrainian governments pledge to investigate its militarys apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians," Steve Goose, Human Rights Watchs arms director, said in a statement.

HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.

Ukraines embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.

Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines "violates international humanitarian law ... because they are inherently indiscriminate," the report said.

Cambodia Ukraine Demining (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Friday 30 June 2023 10:30 , Matt Mathers

Ukraine troops are advancing in all directions, the countrys deputy defence minister has said.

If we talk about the entire frontline, both east and south, we have seized the strategic initiative and are advancing in all directions, Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian television.

Kyiv launched its counteroffensive earlier this month and has since retaken control of a cluster of villages in southeast Russia.

Hanna Maliar, left (Washington Post photo by Erin O'Connor)

Kremlin could take formal control of Wagner

Friday 30 June 2023 09:53 , Chris Stevenson

Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin may seek to take "formal control" of the Wagner mercenary group and turn it into a state-owned enterprise in the wake of the armed uprising over the weekend  with the group operating in countries such as Syria, Mali and the Central African Republic in addition to Ukraine.

Sergei Vershinin, the Russian deputy foreign minister, reportedly flew to Syria to tell Bashar al Assad, the president, that Wagner will no longer operate as an independent organisation in the country, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.

Representatives of the Russian foreign ministry also reportedly told Faustin-Archange Touadera, president of the Central African Republic, and Malian leadership that Wagner will continue operations in their respective countries, it added.

"Putin claimed on June 27 that the Kremlin 'fully funds' and 'fully supplies' Wagner, and Russian officials may use Wagners existing status as a state-financed and supplied organisation to complete its formal nationalisation," the thinktank said in its latest update.

"The nationalisation of Wagner would likely aid in the Russian Ministry of Defence's effort to subsume existing Wagner personnel into the regular Russian Armed Forces through contracts.

"The Kremlin may intend to assume formal control over the Wagner Group following its armed rebellion and turn it into a state-owned enterprise, although it is not clear if the Kremlin has committed itself to such a course of action."

Footage appears to show explosions in Berdyansk

Friday 30 June 2023 09:13 , Matt Mathers

Video shared online appears to show explosions in the occupied city of Berdyansk.

On the Telegram messaging app, one of the Russian-imposed leaders in occupied Zaporizhzhia, Vladimir Rogov, shared the clip with this message:

According to preliminary data, the Ukrainian armed forces militants tried to strike this morning with Storm Shadow missiles.

The series of explosions heard is the result of the work of the Russian air defence, which successfully repelled an enemy attack on civilians on the outskirts of the city.

The clip has not been independently verified:

Didnt realise storm shadow missiles had the ability to draw Z letters. This footage from occupied Berdyansk this morning. pic.twitter.com/FdZv0zkux4  Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) June 30, 2023

Russia reducing personnel at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - Ukrainian intelligence

Friday 30 June 2023 08:56 , Matt Mathers

Russia is gradually reducing the number of personnel at the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southern Ukraine, Ukraines military intelligence agency said on Friday.

It did not say why some people had left and Reuters could not independently verify the information. Russia, which has occupied the plant since March 2022, did not immediately comment on the assertion.

Kyiv accused Russia this month of planning a "terrorist" attack at the nuclear plant involving the release of radiation. Moscow denied the accusation.

"According to the latest data, the occupation contingent is gradually leaving the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant," Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) said on the Telegram messaging app.

GUR said that among the first to leave the nuclear power station were three employees of Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom who had been "in charge of the Russians activities".

Russia Ukraine (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Russias true military expenditure uncertain due to lack of transparency

Friday 30 June 2023 08:12 , Matt Mathers

Russias true military expenditure remains uncertain due to a lack of transparency, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

The MoD said in a statement: In a June 2023 report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) assessed that Russias military spending budget for 2023 is around 6.6 trillion rubles (USD $85.8bn).

This equates to about 4.4 per cent of Russian GDP compared with 3.6 per cent in 2021, before the invasion of Ukraine.

Russias true military expenditure remains uncertain due to a lack of transparency, including the use of classified budget lines, which account for approximately 22 per cent of the Russian Governments total budget.

Although only part of the defence budget is spent on the war in Ukraine, the increase in spending highlights the cost of Russias activity in Ukraine.

In addition, Russia almost certainly faces extra direct budgetary defence costs due to the war, including security expenses in the occupied regions and defensive measures in regions bordering Ukraine.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 30 June 2023.



Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/ILW5iqvR7b



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/dVxlihVbhS  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) June 30, 2023

Hungary opposes EU plan to grant more money to Ukraine -PM Orban

Friday 30 June 2023 07:52 , Matt Mathers

Hungary rejects the European Commissions plans to grant more money to Ukraine and is not willing to contribute additional money to finance the EUs increased debt service costs, prime minister Viktor Orban told state radio on Friday.

Orban, speaking on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, said it was a "ridiculous" request from the Commission that Hungary should contribute more money, when Budapest - along with Poland - has not received funds from the EUs Recovery Fund amid a rule of law dispute.

The European Union will provide Ukraine with 50 billion euros ($54.30 billion) in aid for 2024-27, the blocs president said on June 20. This comes after a review of the EUs 2021-27 shared budget, which has been depleted by the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and an energy crisis. High inflation and interest rates have also doubled debt-servicing costs.

"One thing is clear, we Hungarians ... will not give more money to Ukraine until they say where the previous around 70 billion euros worth of funds had gone," Orban said.

"And we find it utterly ridiculous and absurd, that we should contribute more money to finance debt service costs of a loan, from which we have still not received the funds we are entitled to get."

Hungary CPAC (MTVA - Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund)

Ukraine eyeing edge as Russian army distracted by infighting

Friday 30 June 2023 06:52 , Arpan Rai

Ukraines troops were given a boost of morale last week by an armed rebellion in Russia that posed the most significant threat to President Vladimir Putins power in more than two decades.

After postponing the ambush on Vladimir Putins fighters, Ukrainian commanders decided one recent night that conditions were finally right.

A battalion of Kyivs 129th brigade pressed ahead, advancing stealthily on unsuspecting Russian soldiers, in darkness.

By the time the Russians situated along the front line realized they were under attack, it was too late.

Ukraines recapture of the small village of Neskuchne in the eastern Donetsk region on June 10 encapsulates the opening strategy of a major counteroffensive launched earlier this month.

Small platoons bank on the element of surprise and, when successful, make incremental gains in territory and battlefield intelligence.

We had a few scenarios. In the end, I think we chose the best one. To come quietly, unexpectedly, said Serhii Zherebylo, the 41-year-old deputy commander of the battalion that retook Neskuchne.

Yet how the revolt by Wagner Group mercenaries under the command of Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin affects the trajectory of the war remains to be seen.

Ukraine aims to wear down and outsmart a Russian army distracted by infighting

New evidence of Ukrainian use of banned landmines seen, says HRW

Friday 30 June 2023 06:25 , Arpan Rai

Fresh evidence of the indiscriminate use by Ukrainian forces of banned anti-personnel landmines against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in 2022 has emerged from the war-hit nation, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

The evidence comes from Ukrainian forcess use of anti-personnel mines in 2002 came from photographs posted online by an individual working in eastern Ukraine that showed warhead sections of Uragan 220mm rockets.

The Ukrainian governments pledge to investigate its militarys apparent use of banned anti-personnel mines is an important recognition of its duty to protect civilians, Steve Goose, Human Rights Watchs arms director, said in a statement.

The group called on Ukraines government to follow through with a commitment made earlier this month not to employ such weapons, investigate their suspected use and hold accountable those responsible.

HRW said it shared its findings with the Ukrainian government in a May letter to which it received no response.

Ukraine in 2005 ratified a 1997 international treaty banning such mines and mandating the destruction of stocks of the weapons.

Russia did not join the treaty and its use of anti-personnel mines violates international humanitarian law... because they are inherently indiscriminate, the report said.

Mystery surrounds fate of Russias General Armageddon in wake of Wagner mutiny

Friday 30 June 2023 05:21 , Arpan Rai

Russias most senior generals have dropped out of public view after the failed mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries  with speculation swirling in Moscow that at least one of them has been detained.

That man is General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed General Armageddon by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

Armed forces chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov, has also not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday when mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin demanded Mr Gerasimov be handed over. Nor has he been mentioned in a defence ministry press release since 9 June.

A New York Times report, based on a US intelligence briefing, said on Tuesday that Mr Surovikin had advance knowledge of the mutiny and that Russian authorities were checking whether he was complicit.

Read the full story here:

Mystery surrounds fate of Russias General Armageddon in wake of Wagner mutiny

Wagner still in Ukraine after pulling out and mutiny debacle, says Pentagon

Friday 30 June 2023 04:38 , Arpan Rai

Pentagon has said Russian mercenary Wagner Group is operating in Ukraine despite pulling out of the war-hit nation and claiming to hand over control to Russian defence ministry fighters last month.

...on Wagner Group and its disposition, what I would tell you is, right now, we continue to see some elements of the Wagner Group in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said.

He was answering a question in press briefing on a new home for Wagner Group in southern Belarus as per the satellite image from a former military base.

As it relates to Belarus, I dont have any updates to provide on that front. Ive seen the press reports that youre talking about. Clearly, thats something that well continue to keep an eye on, he said.

The official added that in terms of the future of Wagner Group, its a question best addressed by Russia.

That's really a question best addressed by Russia, which of course, as you know, funds the Wagner Group, and how they will be employed going throughout the rest of this, this conflict and  and elsewhere around the world, since, you know, as your colleague highlighted earlier, they also conduct operations in Africa, as well as Syria. So that's something that we'll continue to keep an eye on. It's just too early to tell right now, he said.

Trump says aborted mutiny somewhat weakened Putin

Friday 30 June 2023 03:59 , Arpan Rai

Former US president Donald Trump said his ally Vladimir Putin was somewhat weakened by an aborted mutiny and that now is the time for the United States to try to broker a negotiated peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

You could say that hes (Putin) still there, hes still strong, but he certainly has been I would say somewhat weakened at least in the minds of a lot of people, he said.

I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war, Mr Trump, a long-time admirer of the Russian president, said.

The Republican leader did not rule out conceding of territory to Russia, which it has captured in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, by Kyiv, adding that the continuing war needs a negotiator.

Mr Trump and Mr Putin were allies during his tenure at the White House.

Everything would be subject to negotiation, if he were president, Mr Trump said, but added that Ukrainians who have waged a vigorous fight to defend their land have earned a lot of credit.

I think they would be entitled to keep much of what theyve earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator, or negotiator, and we dont have that right now, he said.

Ukraine holds drills in Zaporizhzhia to prepare for radiation leaks from Russian-held nuclear plant

Friday 30 June 2023 03:00 , Joe Middleton

Dressed in white and yellow protective suits and armed with devices to detect radiation levels, Ukrainian emergency workers took part in a drill Thursday to prepare for a potential risk of radiation leakage from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Dozens of civilians joined the drill on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, located around 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the nuclear power plant, Europes largest.

In a tent set up to provide first aid, emergency workers practiced hosing people down with soap and going through the motions of administering treatment to individuals who play-acted victims from possible radiation-affected areas.

Ukraine holds drills in Zaporizhzhia to prepare for radiation leaks from Russian-held nuclear plant

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: Small advances have colossal meaning

Friday 30 June 2023 02:00 , Joe Middleton

Askold Krushelnycky reports from Kharkiv, where he speaks to members of Ukraines army about Kyivs counteroffensive to reclaim its land from Moscow. Facing mines and constant shelling, gains are slow  and hard-earned

Ukraines push to smash Russian defences: Small advances have colossal meaning

Mary Dejevsky - In the wake of mutiny, Putins weakened but far from finished

Friday 30 June 2023 01:00 , Joe Middleton

After a dramatic weekend, Putin is back in the Kremlin, doing staged walkabouts and wants the world to know that he is in charge, writes Mary Dejevsky. Whilst its tempting to conclude his days are numbered, its important to resist the spin

In the wake of mutiny, Putins weakened but far from finished | Mary Dejevsky

Mystery surrounds fate of Russias General Armageddon in wake of Wagner mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 23:59 , Joe Middleton

Russias most senior generals have dropped out of public view after the failed mutiny by the Wagner mercenaries  with speculation swirling in Moscow that at least one of them has been detained.

That man is General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed General Armageddon by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, who is deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.

Armed forces chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov, has also not appeared in public or on state TV since the aborted mutiny on Saturday when mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin demanded Mr Gerasimov be handed over. Nor has he been mentioned in a defence ministry press release since 9 June.

Mystery surrounds fate of Russias General Armageddon in wake of Wagner mutiny

Prigozhin face masks on sale in St Petersburg

Thursday 29 June 2023 23:00 , Sam Rkaina

The Wagner fighters - who have spearheaded some of Russias military actions in Ukraine - were cheered enthusiastically by residents in Rostov-on-Don on Saturday when they briefly took control of the southern Russian city. President Vladimir Putin described their actions as treason and a stab in the back.

People have also been purchasing other regalia, such as keyrings, on Wildberries rival Ozon.

Very beautiful and original keyring, wrote one five-star reviewer. In memory of all those in Wagners ranks who died.

Large numbers of Wagner fighters - including many former convicts granted their freedom in exchange for serving in Ukraine - have been killed on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Wildberries and Ozon declined to comment on Thursday on the surge in merchandise prices.

Elsewhere, Prigozhin face masks were on sale in St Petersburg, alongside those of Putin, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny.

Under Saturdays deal that ended the mutiny, fighters of the Wagner group were allowed to join their leader Prigozhin in exile in Belarus, to be integrated into Russias regular armed forces or to return to their families.

Prigozhin (PRIGOZHIN PRESS SERVICE)

Prices for Wagner merch surge after mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 22:00 , Sam Rkaina

Online prices for merchandise bearing the insignia of Russias Wagner group - a human skull against a black and red backdrop - have shot up since its abortive armed mutiny, with buyers posting five-star reviews and support for the mercenaries.

Mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin sent an armed convoy on a 1,200-km (750-mile) charge towards Moscow in protest over what he said was the incompetence and corruption of Russias military leadership. A deal brokered by the leader of Belarus abruptly halted the mutiny late on Saturday.

E-commerce leader Wildberries weekly price breakdowns showed how costs have risen. A patch depicting the skull that can be sewn onto clothes fetched 525 roubles ($6) in the period June 25-29, up sharply from 294 roubles during June 18-25.

Due to the situation in the country, the purchase was spontaneous, wrote one buyer, Tatiana.

Prices for a black T-shirt emblazoned with a picture of a Wagner fighter holding a violin jumped this week to 1,650 roubles from 1,236 roubles.

On a review of a Wagner flag on Wildberries, one buyer, Vladimir, said: The Wagner Private Military Company is the best. Good luck to you guys. The flag is excellent.

Russia Belarus Wagner

Questions over whether Zelensky will attend Nato summit

Thursday 29 June 2023 21:00 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine believes its fight against Russias invasion demonstrates it is worthy of NATO admission and has also shown it is already a key part of transatlantic security.

One of the subplots in the summits run-up is whether Zelensky will attend.

The Ukrainian leader has said he sees no point in going to the summit if Kyiv is not given a signal at the meeting. His chief of staff said this week that Zelensky would decide on the eve of the summit whether or not to go.

His absence would overshadow any show of Western unity at the summit. The West has poured in vast amounts of military and financial assistance to help Ukraine hold its own against Russias February 2022 full-scale invasion.

But not turning up would also deprive Kyivs leadership of valuable face time with the leaders of Ukraines staunchest backers.

The final outcomes of major summits are typically the product of long-running negotiations and are often finalised shortly before the summit formally begins.

If there is no result at the Vilnius summit, he doesnt have reason and time to go, said Zhovkva.

Asked what the threshold was for Zelensky to attend, Zhovkva cited a speech to parliament in which the Ukrainian leader spoke of the importance of courage in todays world.

The president will not travel ... to the summit if the leaders will tend to or will show a deficit of courage, while Ukraine with all its courage, will and strength and high morale is fighting against Russian aggression, he said.

Zhovkva pointed to the cases of Finland and Sweden who applied for membership last year. Finland has already since become a member.

When Finland and Sweden submitted an application for membership last year, immediately in June last year the allies responded to the application ... inviting them to membership with NATO, he said.

Asked how close Ukraine was to receiving an invitation now, he said: We are closer than we were half a year ago. And still some time is left; much time is left in reality...

Ukraine wants invite to join Nato

Thursday 29 June 2023 20:00 , Sam Rkaina

Ukraine wants to receive an invitation to begin the process of joining NATO at the military alliances summit next month, and President Volodymyr Zelensky will not attend if leaders do not show courage, a presidential aide said on Thursday.

Chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva told Reuters that Kyiv wanted the July 11-12 NATO summit in Vilnius to deliver a response to the application for NATO membership that Ukraine filed on Sept. 30 last year. This application is now on the tables of the leaders of NATO allies.

The Vilnius summit would be a very good start to respond to this application. And by respond, we mean invitation for membership, which is only the first stage, he said.

Kyivs allies are divided over how fast Ukraine should join NATO and some Western governments are wary of any move that might take the alliance closer to war with Russia.

In an interview in the heavily guarded presidents office in the Ukrainian capital, the Zelensky aide said Kyiv recognised it cannot join the 31-member bloc while Russia is waging war on Ukraine.

What we are asking for is to start the procedure, he said, banging the table at one point to drive his point home.

Mary Dejevsky - In the wake of mutiny, Putins weakened but far from finished

Thursday 29 June 2023 19:00 , Sam Rkaina

After a dramatic weekend, Putin is back in the Kremlin, doing staged walkabouts and wants the world to know that he is in charge, writes Mary Dejevsky. Whilst its tempting to conclude his days are numbered, its important to resist the spin.

If the minute-by-minute dramas of last weekend in Russia seem both a long way away and a long time ago, that is because a great many people want you to think that, or want you to see it in a new light. I can hardly remember a single episode in recent years that has passed so quickly from reality to myth  and competing myths at that.

But first, what is the actual situation in terms of politics and power now that the immediate dust has settled? Vladimir Putin is back in the Kremlin and wants you to know that he is in charge; that his authority is intact, and that he remains determined to run Russia and continue the war against Ukraine.

Click here for Marys full view.

Russian ambassador rules out Swiss-mediated peace talks

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:56 , Andy Gregory

Russia could not accept any Swiss-hosted peace summit on Ukraine after it joined European Union sanctions against Moscow, the Kremlins ambassador has said, claiming that Switzerland had lost its reputation for neutrality.

Earlier this month, Volodymyr Zelensky had suggested in a speech to the Swiss parliament that the country could act as a mediator.

But in an interview with Le Temps newspaper, Sergei Garmonin said Russia would not accept that Switzerland, which traditionally has served as a location for high-level talks between feuding powers, host such a summit.

Swiss representation and mediation are out of the question, Mr Garmonin said. Switzerland has unfortunately lost its status as a neutral state and can no longer act as a mediator or as a representative of interests.

Ukraine ready for challenges posed by Russia after Zaporizhzhia drill

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:29 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine is ready for the challenges Russia posed, its deputy energy minister has said, as Kyiv conducted nuclear disaster drills near the Zaporizhiza power plant  where it claims Russia may be planning a terrorist attack involving the release of radiation.

Yuriy Malashko, governor of the Zaporizhzhia region that includes the plant, said the drills in Zaporizhzhia city and the district around it were intended to coordinate the response of all services to an emergency situation at the plant.

Footage broadcast by Reuters showed rescuers in yellow and white protective gear and gas masks, using dosimeters to check passenger cars and trucks for radiation levels and then cleaning wheels before vehicles underwent additional decontamination at specialised washing points. A man on a stretcher was brought into a medical tent as sirens blared.

Of course, it is scary. I fear for my family, my child, What do we do? It is very scary, Tetyana, 45, told the news agency of the threat of a real disaster as rescuers checked her for radiation in the drill.

Officials and civil defence forces worked on scenarios that might follow a nuclear disaster, and on how to inform and evacuate the population.

We have assumed the worst scenario, in which the contamination zone will be bigger than 50 kilometres. This would mean four regions would be affected, Yurii Vlasenko, a deputy energy minister, said, adding that the results of the drill were good and Ukraine was ready for the challenges Russia posed.

Officials attend anti-radiation drills for case of an emergency situation at Zaporizhzhia (REUTERS/Stringer)

Nato members closing in on compromise on Ukrainian accession, says US ambassador

Thursday 29 June 2023 17:04 , Andy Gregory

Nato members are closing in on a compromise on Ukraines membership aspirations which may set out how Kyiv could join the military alliance, Washingtons ambassador has said.

Ukraine has been pressing Nato to declare at a summit in Vilnius next month that Kyiv will join the alliance soon after Russias war comes to an end and to set out a roadmap to membership.

The US diplomat, Julianne Smith, said she was confident Nato would agree on a text that went beyond a declaration in Bucharest from 2008, which said Ukraine would join the alliance but did not say when or how.

Most of us feel confident that we are going to be able to come to an agreement that will reflect where we are and that the Ukrainians will believe and feel is something above and beyond restating Bucharest, Ms Smith told reporters.

Ms Smith said the text on Ukraine, intended to be issued as part of a communique at the Vilnius summit, was still under negotiation and she declined to share precise language. But asked if it could address the question of how Ukraine would join the alliance, she replied: It could, yes. I think thats possible.

Ms Smith said the text could be agreed before the summit, to which Volodymyr Zelensky has been invited.

Nato should consider allowing Ukraine to skip key membership requirement, says Ben Wallace

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:45 , Andy Gregory

Nato should look at allowing Ukraine to bypass a major requirement for joining the alliance, Britains defence minister Ben Wallace has said.

Any move to ditch or circumvent the Membership Action Plan (MAP) as part of its pathway to joining the alliance  which is designed to help candidates meet certain political, economic and military criteria  could speed up Kyivs accession.

I think we should absolutely look at skipping the Membership Action Plan, Mr Wallace said at a joint press conference alongside his Canadian counterpart in London.

But of course, we have to put some realism in this space that there are 31 members of Nato now and, you know, we have to all move together.

Mr Wallace said he could not guarantee agreement on that step ahead of next months Nato summit in Lithuania, but said it could be possible to remove other barriers to their membership.

Visiting Ukraine steels my resolve to do my part, says Pence

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:22 , Andy Gregory

Visiting Ukraine steels my resolve to do my part, US presidential hopeful Mike Pence has said, as he became the first Republican candidate to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky.

The former vice president has been a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin and full-throated supporter of Ukraine, as he challenges his former boss Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, who has declined to say that he wants Ukraine to win the war, instead calling for a negotiated solution.

Mr Pence currently trails Mr Trump by over 30 points in most polls among Republican primary voters, who will chose next year's candidate.

Prigozhin mutiny will have visible aftershocks, say Western leaders

Thursday 29 June 2023 16:07 , Andy Gregory

Yegnevy Prigozhins shortlived mutiny has shown deep cracks in Vladimir Putins regime and will cause visible aftershocks, Western leaders have claimed, as they gathered for a meeting in Brussels.

The mutiny we saw at the weekend demonstrates that there are cracks and divisions within the Russian system. At the same time, it is important to underline that these are internal Russian matters, said Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg on arrival at the summit.

EU leaders agreed. This showed deep cracks in Putins system. This mutiny of last weekend will also have aftershocks that we will see, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania insisted it was all the more reason to take a robust posture toward Vladimir Putin.

Some colleagues sometimes say that a strong Putin is less dangerous than a weak Putin. I dont agree with that. We have to move forward and be decisive, because now is a crucial moment of history, he said.

Mike Pence meets with Zelensky in Kyiv, report claims

Thursday 29 June 2023 15:37 , Andy Gregory

Former US vice president Mike Pence has met with Volodymyr Zelensky in a visit to Kyiv, NBC News reports.

Mr Pence formally launched his US presidential campaign earlier this month, in doing so taking on his old boss Donald Trump, after their relationship came to a bitter end during the 6 January riots at the Capitol building in Washington.

(Getty Images)

Two civilians killed in Russian shelling of Kherson refuge point, authorities say

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:49 , Andy Gregory

Two people have been killed and two others wounded in Russian shelling of a refuge for civilians known as an invincibility point in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Thursday, the regional governor said.

Two local people were killed and two more are in hospital in moderate condition, governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

Satellite images of Belarus military base chime with reports of new facilities for Wagner

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:30 , Andy Gregory

Satellite images of a military base southeast of the Belarus capital Minsk appear to show new facilities have been set up in recent days  suggesting that a base for Wagner is being swiftly constructed.

Russian outlets have reported that Wagner could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 50 miles from Minsk.

Images captured by the European Space Agencys Sentinel 2 satellites on Tuesday show rows of long structures in the nearby village of Tsel, in a field which had appeared empty just a fortnight prior.

A satellite image appears to show new facilities set up recently, at a military base in Tse (European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2/Handout via REUTERS)

(via REUTERS)

EU security assurances would be in addition to military support, says Dutch PM

Thursday 29 June 2023 14:09 , Andy Gregory

The European Union still needs to decide the shape and form of the security assurances it wishes to give Ukraine, Dutch premier Mark Rutte has said, as he arrived at todays meeting in Brussels.

This European track would be additional [to military support], Mr Rutte said.

We will have to discuss how far it goes, and if it would be lethal or non-lethal support. And we have to take into account that several EU countries are not a member of Nato.

Neutral EU states object to security assurances for Ukraine, says Austrian chancellor

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:48 , Andy Gregory

EU countries with a neutral foreign policy object to giving Ukraine outright security assurances, Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer has said, ahead of a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels.

For us as neutral states it is clear we cant give security guarantees like that. Austria, Ireland, Malta and Cyprus have made it clear they have objections, Mr Nehammer told reporters.

The role of the neutral states needs to be explicitly taken into account. We will certainly discuss this and we will find formulations that will be acceptable for us as well.

BRICS summit to go ahead in South Africa despite Putin arrest warrant

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:29 , Andy Gregory

South Africa has announced it will host the BRICS bloc summit in August as planned, amid speculation that it may move to China so that Vladimir Putin can attend in a nation not obliged to arrest him on war crimes accusations.

South Africa has a duty as a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Mr Putin if he attends the talks between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, due to an arrest warrant over the deportation of children from Ukraine  which he denies.

Just 12 days after president Cyril Ramaphosa met with Mr Putin in Moscow, South Africas international relations department has now confirmed the summit will go ahead in South Africa from 22 to 24 August.

A spokesperson for the international relations department declined to comment to Reuters on whether or not Mr Putin will attend, with the departments minister revealing on Tuesday that the Russian president had not yet replied to an invitation sent prior to the ICCs charges in March.

Chinese president Xi Jinping, Indias prime minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are all said to be planning to attend.

British satirical newspaper takes aim at Putin-Prigozhin tensions

Thursday 29 June 2023 13:11 , Andy Gregory

Seizing the chance for a rare moment of levity in coverage of Ukraine, British fortnightly Private Eye has taken aim at the aborted coup by Putins chef, Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Satirising an oft-used picture of Mr Prigozhin serving Mr Putin dinner, the magazine shows the Wagner chief serving up coup of the day, as the president complains of terrible feud.

I wondered which Putin pics would be the Eyes choice of cover this week - all of them ! pic.twitter.com/fCBuL9Bs03  MichaelWhite (@michaelwhite) June 29, 2023

Russia claims generals killed in Kramatorsk strike which left four children dead'

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:55 , Andy Gregory

Russia claims to have killed two Ukrainian generals and 50 military officers in the attack on a Kramatorsk restaurant, which Kyiv authorities said had killed 12 people, including four children, two of them 14-year-old twin sisters.

Officials initially blamed the strike on an S-300 missile, a surface-to-air weapon that Russias forces have repurposed for loosely targeted strikes on cities, but the National Police later said Iskander short-range ballistic missiles were used  raising the prospect of a war crime under the principle of proportionality.

Yulia and Anna Aksenchenko, who were 14 years old, are said to have been among those killed in the Russian strike (Kramatorsk City Council)

Kramatorsk is a front-line city which houses the Ukrainian army's regional headquarters. The pizza restaurant was frequented by journalists, aid workers and soldiers, as well as locals.

At least 61 people were wounded in the attack, which also damaged 18 multi-story buildings, 65 houses, five schools, two kindergartens, a shopping center, an administrative building and a recreational building, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Despite these reports, Russias defence ministry sought to claim on Thursday that two Ukrainian generals and up to 50 Ukrainian military officers had been killed in the strike, insisting that a temporary Ukrainian army command post had been hit in Kramatorsk.

Top EU diplomat suggests long-term Ukraine Defence Fund

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:29 , Andy Gregory

The European Union needs to consider turning the European Peace Facility that has been used to fund weapons for Kyiv into a more permanent tool to arm the country in the long term, the EUs foreign policy chief has suggested.

We talk about security commitments. From my side, it means military support for Ukraine has to have a long haul ... during the war and after the war, Josep Borrell told reporters as he arrived for an EU summit in Brussels.

So the European Peace Facility for Ukraine maybe has to become a Ukraine Defence Fund  the training has to continue, the modernisation of the army has to continue.

Prigozhin told Wagner will no longer fight in Ukraine, Russian MP claims

Thursday 29 June 2023 12:11 , Andy Gregory

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has been told that he will be deprived of financing if his mercenaries do not sign contracts with the defence ministry, state news agencies have cited a senior parliamentarian as saying.

Colonel-General Andrei Kartapolov, an influential politician who chairs the lower house of parliament's defence committee, said Mr Prigozhin had refused to sign the contracts and was subsequently told that his mercenaries would no longer fight in Ukraine, Tass reported.

Ukraine conducting nuclear disaster drills near Zaporizhzhia plant, says regional governor

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:54 , Andy Gregory

Ukraine has started nuclear disaster response drills in the vicinity of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, regional officials said, where Kyiv has accused Moscow of planning a terrorist attack  which the Kremlin denies.

Yuriy Malashko, the governor of the Zaporizhzhia region which includes the plant, which is Europes largest, said the drills had begun in the city of Zaporizhzhia and the district around it.

Similar exercises started in the neighbouring Kherson region, Kherson region governor Oleksander Prokudin said.

The purpose of the event is to coordinate the actions of all services in case of a real threat of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, he said Telegram, urging residents to remain calm.

Mr Prokudin said various officials and civil defence forces were working jointly on scenarios that might follow a nuclear disaster, and on how to inform and evacuate the population. Authorities were testing alert systems.

Kremlin says it does not know whereabouts of General Armageddon'

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:25 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has declined to answer questions about General Sergei Surovikin, who is claimed in reports to have been arrested for having knowledge of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhins weekend rebellion.

The former commander in Ukraine, nicknamed General Armageddon for his wanton tactics during the Syrian war, has been absent from view since Saturday, when he appeared in a video appealing to Mr Prigozhin to halt his mutiny.

He had looked exhausted in that video and it was unclear if he was speaking under duress. There have since been unconfirmed reports that he is being questioned by the security services.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred questions about Surovikin to the defence ministry, which has so far not made any statement about him.

Asked if Mr Surovikin still had Vladimir Putins trust, Mr Peskov said that, as commander-in-chief of Russias armed forces, Mr Putin worked with the defence minister and the chief of the general staff.

Mr Peskov said he did not have information about Mr Prigozhins whereabouts at the present time.

Strong support for Putin remains among Russians, Kremlin insists

Thursday 29 June 2023 11:06 , Andy Gregory

The Kremlin has insisted that there is continued strong support among Russians for its war in Ukraine and for Vladimir Putin.

Asked by reporters about a survey suggesting there was an equal number of people who supported negotiations to end the 16-month military operation in Ukraine and those who favoured continuing the conflict, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: The data we have show something quite different - dominant support for the special military operation and for the president.

The main thing for Russians is achieving the goals before us which were formulated by the president, he added.

Full report: Russia arrests General Armageddon over knowledge of Wagner mutiny

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:35 , Andy Gregory

A top Russian general has reportedly been arrested for having knowledge of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhins weekend rebellion.

General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed General Armageddon by the Russian press for his aggressive tactics in the Syrian conflict, has been missing since Saturday when Wagners troops launched an armed revolt.

The 56-year-old second-in-command of the Russian armed forces is said to be under interrogation. Apparently, he [Surovikin] chose Prigozhins side during the uprising and they have gotten ahold of him, the Moscow Times quoted a source as saying.

My colleague Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has the full report:

Russia arrests General Armageddon over knowledge of Wagner mutiny

Aircraft shot down by Wagner played key role in orchestrating Russian troops in Ukraine, says UK

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:24 , Andy Gregory

A command and control aircraft reportedly shot down by Wagner during its aborted mutiny played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces in Ukraine and will undermine Moscows ability to coordinate its troops, Britains Ministry of Defence has claimed.

In its latest update, the ministry said: On 24 June, air defence forces of the Wagner private military company reportedly shot down Russian military helicopters and an Ilyushin Il-22M airborne command post aircraft.

The Il-22M is part of a relatively small fleet of up to 12 aircraft, heavily utilised for both airborne command and control, and radio relay tasks. These special mission aircraft have played a key role in orchestrating Russian forces in their war against Ukraine.

As high value assets they have operated within the safety of Russian airspace, far beyond the range of Ukrainian air defence systems.

The loss of this aircraft is likely to have a negative impact on Russian air and land operations. In the short term the psychological shock of losing a large number of aircrew in this manner will almost certainly damage morale within the Russian Aerospace Force.

In the longer term, there is a possibility that current tasking levels may have to be reduced to safely manage the remaining fleet. This will likely undermine Russia's ability to command and coordinate its forces, particularly during periods of high tempo operations.

Kyiv advancing slowly but surely on frontlines as Russia bringing in best reserves'

Thursday 29 June 2023 10:03 , Andy Gregory

Kyivs forces are advancing slowly but surely on the front lines in Ukraines east and southeast  and around Bakhmut  senior military officials have said.

Ukrainian commander-in-chief General Valery Zaluzhniy told top US general Mark Milley that his forces had succeeded in seizing the strategic initiative, and told him about weapons and demining equipment required by Kyivs forces.

Ukraines defence forces are proceeding with their offensive action and we have made advances. The enemy is offering strong resistance, while sustaining considerable losses, Zaluzhniy wrote on Telegram.

Defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov told the Financial Times that the liberation of a group of villages was not the main event in the offensive.

His deputy Hanna Maliar noted advances towards the occupied cities of Berdiansk and Mariupol, telling a national broadcaster: Every day, there is an advance. Yes, the advances are slow, but they are sure.

She cited the recapture this week of the village of Rivnopol in the southeast, saying mopping up operations were complete and that the army was now well dug in  with the Russian military now diverting forces to both Bakhmut and the southern front.

They are redirected their paratroops and assault brigades to both the south and the east, she said. They are bringing in their best reserves now.

A Ukrainian service member fire a machine gun at a training ground near a frontline in Donetsk (REUTERS)

Watch: Footage shows of scale destruction after Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

Thursday 29 June 2023 09:45 , Andy Gregory

Kramatorsk death toll rises to 12

Thursday 29 June 2023 09:22 , Andy Gregory

Rescuers have pulled another body from the ruins of a restaurant in Kramatorsk, taking to 12 the death toll following a Russian missile strike, Ukraines emergency services said.

Three children were among the dead, while 60 more people were wounded, the authorities said.

(National Police of Ukraine via AP)

EU shouldnt lower the bar to accommodate Ukraine, says Danish finance minister

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:54 , Andy Gregory

Denmark supports EU membership for Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the western Balkans but geopolitical circumstances did not justify skating over governance reforms, finance minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen has said.

The EU risks importing instability if it relaxes its standards on democracy and corruption to hasten the accession of Ukraine and other candidate countries, Mr Rasmussen told the Financial Times.

Asked about Ukraines membership in the EU, Mr Rasmussen said that EU shouldnt lower the bar but instead help Ukraine with investments and assistance to help it align with the blocs standards, the FT reported.

Although Ukraine met two of seven conditions to launch the EU membership process, an EU official familiar with the blocs recommendations to Ukraine told Reuters that some key judicial reforms were needed.

In 2019, the European Commission proposed changes to the system for letting new countries into the EU to give existing members more say, after countries including France and Denmark objected to the expansion of the EU to include six countries in the Balkans.

Mr Rasmussen said Denmark had reversed its position and was even open to internal EU reform, including more majority voting, to accommodate new members.

Papal envoy to meet Patriarch Kirill in Moscow, say reports

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:27 , Andy Gregory

Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi and Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, will meet in Moscow on Thursday, the state-backed RIA news agency reported.

It comes a day after Mr Zuppi discussed humanitarian issues with Vladimir Putins foreign policy adviser, according to the Kremlin.

EU leaders to debate Russia mutiny today

Thursday 29 June 2023 08:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

EU leaders will debate today the repercussions of the aborted mutiny in Russia as they pledge further support for Ukraine in its war against Moscows invasion.

At a summit in Brussels, the leaders will also talk with Nato boss Jens Stoltenberg and discuss what role the EU could play in Western commitments to bolster Ukraines security.

Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas said the leaders were certain to discuss Saturdays dramatic abandoned mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group, even though it is not on the agenda of the summit or mentioned in drafts of its written conclusions.

It will definitely come up, she told reporters in Brussels on the eve of the two-day summit.

The West should not be swayed and continue to support Ukraine and bolster its own defences, Ms Kallas said.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, struck a similar note.

Ever more in these circumstances, we will reassert our commitment to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through sustainable financial and military assistance, he wrote in a letter inviting leaders to the summit.

Footage shows aftermath of Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

Thursday 29 June 2023 07:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Residents in Ukraines eastern city of Kramatorsk are dealing with the aftermath of a Russian missile attack on a crowded pizza restaurant.

Footage shows the destruction on the streets of the city, which are covered in debris following the deadly attack on Tuesday evening.

The strike killed at least nine people, including three children, authorities said Wednesday, as rescue workers continued searching in the destroyed buildings rubble.

Another 56 people were injured, the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

Footage shows scale of destruction after Russian strike on Kramatorsk restaurant

US sanctions gold companies suspected of supporting Wagner mercenaries

Thursday 29 June 2023 07:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

The US moved on Tuesday to punish companies accused of doing business with the infamous Russian mercenary army known as the Wagner Group, following the groups insurrection attempt within Russias borders.

The move is not thought to be specifically related to the coup, however, instead being a response to Wagners participation in some of the bloodiest fighting taking place within Ukraine, where Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion last year.

A statement from the Treasury Department faulted companies in Africa and the Middle East for participating in a gold-selling scheme in violation of US sanctions to fund the Wagner Groups ongoing activities. One executive at Wagner, Andrey Nikolayevich Ivanov, was also slapped with individual sanctions on his financial dealings.

John Bowden has more.
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It's time to give this herbal liqueur the respect it deserves.

Cody Pruitt

While I love a dessert menu as much as the next person, Im always drawn to the beverage section of the little card that lands on my table after the last crumbs from dinner have been dusted away. Theres usually a selection of espresso drinks, teas, and dessert wines, but when a restaurant offers a thoughtfully curated list of liqueurs like amaro, Cynar, Fernet, and Chartreuse, thats when I get excited.

Amaro, mezcal, absinthe, and Fernet, all of which are more polarizing and astringent flavors, are becoming part of the greater cocktail lexicon, says Cody Pruitt, owner of New York Citys newly opened Libertine, a French bistro with a formidable digestif and aperitif program. I think theres a lot of narratives around Chartreuse, partially because of the purposeful mystery around it and the fact that its still made by monks. Unlike many other post-dinner drinks, Chartreuse isnt owned by a corporation (though it is imported to the United States by Frederick Wildman & Sons) and has, in recent months, made headlines due to an apparent shortage. Chartreuse just lends itself quite easily to mystery. That coupled with the fact that its absolutely delicious has led to a rise in demand, Pruitt tells me.

What is Chartreuse?

Both yellow and green Chartreuse are produced by the Carthusian Order, a sect of Catholic monks based in the Chartreuse mountains in southeastern France, who are privy to a secret recipe that calls for more than 130 herbs. While the monks initially produced Chartreuse to fund their own monasteries, the liqueur has gained popularity stateside, in part due to its high alcohol level  yellow Chartreuse is 80 proof, while green Chartreuse is 110 proof  but also due to the complex flavor it imparts in cocktails like the Last Word, the Irish classic Tipperary cocktail, and the Naked and Famous.

There is a purposeful shortage of Chartreuse based on the monks not wanting to support alcoholism, Pruitt tells me, though its worth noting that in an official communication, the monks cite wanting to focus on protecting their monastic life and devoting their time to solitude and prayer as the main reasons for limiting production of the liqueur.

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You can explore the liqueur by ordering a Widows Kiss, which calls for Benedictine and apple brandy alongside yellow Chartreuse, as well as a Green Point, a riff on a classic Manhattan cocktail. In addition to green and yellow Chartreuse, you might come across a bottle labeled VEP (which stands for Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolonge) which Pruitt explains is very rare, and aged for an extended period of time in oak casks.

It also makes a great highball, and the double [shot] carries that flavor through. I find it more polarizing and extreme, but it doesnt have the same bitterness that amari do, so its more accessible because its sweeter without becoming a cordial, Pruitt says.

Related: 11 Best Vermouths To Use in a Spritz

What does Chartreuse taste like?

True to its golden hue, yellow Chartreuse has a honeyed, sweet flavor that is much more mellow than its green counterpart. Green Chartreuse has bold, herbaceous, peppery, and mint notes, as well as flavors of anise and licorice. If you dont have yellow Chartreuse on hand, alpine liqueur Genepi (also known as Genepy) is a great alternative, as is Italian Strega. If you need a substitute for green Chartreuse, Pruitt recommends trying Brooklyn-based Faccia Brutto spirits Centerbe, which packs a ton of minty, bittersweet flavor with the bright green color youd expect.

Related: 8 Cocktails to Make With That New Bottle of Amaro

How to drink Chartreuse



The purest way to drink Chartreuse is neat, and we serve a fair amount in our little green stemmed Alsace glasses, Pruitt says. I wouldnt recommend drinking it out of a wine glass, because the shape of a wine glass can funnel all the ethanol and alcohol notes into your nostrils. I dont recommend serving it out of a coupe, but a wider mouth vessel is always better."

Given Chartreuses high alcohol content, its easy to store in the freezer for an especially bracing summer nightcap, or to pour over a few spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream. At Libertine, the dessert menu features a decadent chocolate mousse served with a side of with a green Chartreuse creme fraiche; Chartreuse and creme fraiche are a classic pairing. Come winter, the team will serve piping hot mugs of hot chocolate spiked with green Chartreuse.

While Im excited to see buzzy new spots like Libertine raising Chartreuse to the celebrity status amaro has enjoyed over recent years, I intend to stay true to my favorite way to enjoy the liqueur, in a LAlaska Martini, which calls for yellow Chartreuse in place of vermouth, as well as orange bitters, gin, and a dash of salt.



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Read the original article on Food & Wine.
Representative Earl Blumenauer believes that prospects are extraordinarily positive that Congress will be able to make progress on addressing the de minimis loophole that allows overseas e-tailers like Shein and Temu from side-stepping tariffs and avoiding customs scrutiny sometime this year.

Speaking to Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, on the trade groups podcast, The Manufacturing Report on Thursday, the Oregon Democrat described the enthusiasm that both sides of the aisle have mustered for the issue, which has become yet another flashpoint in the ongoing trade brawl between China and the United States.

More from Sourcing Journal

Blumenauer told Paul that de minimis was originally conceived so someone who traveled overseas wouldnt be tripped up filing customs reports for a souvenir that they purchased, say a bottle of perfume or a handbag.

The term derives from the legal concept de minimis non curat lex, Latin for the law does not care about trifling things.

De minimis was just thatit was a minimal amount and wasnt worth the time and energy for the person, the House Committee on Ways and Means chairman said. And it was more trouble and it was worse for the federal government and Customs and Border [Protection]. But that changed, and it changed dramatically.

In 2016, Congress raised the threshold from $200 to $800, just as Shein started winning hearts and wallets in the United States. What resulted, Blumenauer said, was an explosion in direct sales to U.S. consumers under the de minimis provision. Today, some 2 million packages a day flow through the countrys borders under the exemption.

They are shipped directly for under $800, he said. Theyre exempt from taxes, tariffs, following rules and regulations, product safety, forced labortheyre all exempt.

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A recent congressional report estimates that Shein and Temu, the most-downloaded shopping apps in the nation, account for 30 percent of de minimis shipments into the United States, amounting to some 600,000 per day or 210 million a year. Lawmakers say that because both companies have been linked to potential forced labor in Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the concern is that they might be using the loophole to avoid serious scrutiny under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, or UFLPA. They also worry that the exemption is disadvantaging American businesses and American-made products.

Some of these companies that are willing to be creative in the invoicingthey work to get it under $800, Blumenauer said. Then you see whats happened: ready-made-to-order cheap apparel that has just developed into a major industry. Were approaching three-quarters of a billion products a year and it has overwhelmed Customs and Border [Protection]. Even if they wanted to do something they couldnt.

The congressman is one of the architects of the Import Security and Fairness Act, versions of which were introduced in the House and Senate earlier this month. The legislation seeks to prevent imports valued under $800 from non-market economies and those on the U.S. trade representatives priority watch list, such as China, from using the de minimis provision to avoid paying taxes or fees, as well as require customs to gather more information on such shipments.

If we stop having a gusher of product from China, theres less of a pressure on the Customs and Border [Protection], Blumenauer said. It would cut out [a] significant amount of this product so that they can catch up with where they need to be. There are examples where, in some cases, there are packages that weigh 500 pounds that declare a value of $1. I mean, its just ludicrous. Theres no excuse for it.

Blumenauer didnt quite agree with Pauls suggestion that Chinese shopping apps like Shein and Temu burst onto the scene just as the UFLPA went into force in June 2022. The former was launched in Nanjing as a purveyor of wedding dresses, eyeglasses and teapots, dubbed SheInside, in 2008, though it would be another eight years before it started manufacturing Shein-branded clothing. The latter, a subsidiary of Shanghai-founded PDD Holdings, which also owns the popular Chinese online marketplace Pinduoduo, debuted in the United States in September 2022.

Notwithstanding the Uyghur forced labor provisions, I think they would continue to exploit this loophole, Blumenauer said. But the combination of the two, I think makes it extraordinarily troubling. Theres no question that they are using this loophole to escape being accountable for forced labor in China.

Shein maintains that it doesnt have suppliers in Xinjiang and that it has zero tolerance for forced labor. It says that it has implemented a robust system to support UFLPA compliance, including a code of conduct, independent audits, tracing technologies and third-party testing. Temu, which the congressional report criticized for doing next to nothing to keep its supply chains free of forced labor, is looking to hire compliance officers.

For Blumenauer, however, fixing the gaping loophole that is de minimis remains necessary.

It is an opportunity for us to protect our values, to have equal enforcement of the law, to be able to make sure that were protecting the American consumer, he told Paul. This is an opportunity for us tomake Customs and Border [Protection] more effective and less overwhelmed and provide some equity in the marketplace.

Click here to read the full article.
Hannah Chubb



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Is it just me, or is literally everyone in Europe right now? I swear, every single post I see on IG is tagged with some beachy destination in the South of somewhere fabulous, whether it be Cannes or Malaga. Clearly, it's summer travel season. And clearly, if my FYP has anything to say about it, Europe is the place to be.

Hannah Chubb

Uber (you know, the rideshare and food delivery app you can't live without?) recognized that international travel was going to pop off this year, and launched a slew of new summer travel features to make getting from point A to point B way easier and a lot more fun for those headed abroad. I had a chance to test out a bunch of themincluding Uber Boat, which yes, is as incredible as it soundsearlier this month on a trip to Greece. I touched down in Athens just a couple of weeks ago (why yes, I am somehow still jetlagged, thanks for asking) before hopping another flight to Mykonos, where I spent three days bopping from sight to sight, walking the cobblestone streets, and eating tzatziki with every. single. meal. (Full disclosure: The Uber team comped my travel, accommodations, and meals, but all opinions are my own.)



Basically, Uber wanted to prove just how easy summer travel is in Europe when you have the Uber app downloaded on your phone (which I know you do). Theyre expecting a 250% increase in rides from U.S. travelers to the continent this summer and prepared accordingly, with a variety of fabulous features available now through the end of the sunny season in some of the most popular countries for tourists, like France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, and, of course, Greece. Ready to hear my honest review of all the big hitters? Just keep scrolling (*Dory from Finding Nemo voice,* obv).

For When Youre Planning

Uber Reserve

When you finish an 11-hour flight (ahem, like my flight home from Greece) the last thing you want to do is wait even longer at the airport to get home to your own bed. Sadly, Uber can't make that customs line or baggage carousel go any faster, but they can take the stress out of getting a ride back to your humble abode. How, you might ask? Well, there's this cutie little feature called Uber Reserve, which allows you to reserve rides to and from the airport at a locked-in price (major ) anywhere from 30 minutes to 90 days in advance of your trip. It's available in more than 50 countries rn, and just launched in a bunch of vacation destinations, like Mallorca and Mykonos (yay for me!).

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Hannah Chubb

I know what you're thinking: what about if your flight is delayed? Great question. But they thought of that: the feature uses flight-tracking technology to make sure your driver is there when your plane landseven if said plane ends up arriving later than planned (again, like my flight home from Greece). Can confirm that nothingI repeat, nothingfeels better than being whisked away from the airport after a long trip while waving goodbye to the sad, sad line of people waiting at the taxi stand.

Uber Travel

You know how every friend group or family has that one person that is *incredibly* organized when it comes to the itinerary while on vacation? The one that may or may not have an Excel spreadsheet with bathroom breaks timed to the minute? Uber Travel is basically that person, but way less annoying. It's a feature on the app that can pull flight information from booking confirmations on your Google and Microsoft email accounts and then schedule Uber Reserves to and from the airport for you. It can also pull reservations for meals, activities, hotel check-outs, and more, and recommend rides based on the information gatheredor you can input them into the itinerary yourself. The feature first launched last year, but has been evolving since then, now offering car rentals(!) in addition to regular rides.



For When You Get There

Uber Taxi

I 'm sorry if this fact alarms you, but...Uber doesn't exist in a lot of countries (like, all of Greece!). At least not in the ride-share-y way we think of here in the U.S., where you can push a button and someone will come pick you up in their car in mere minutes. There are, of course, taxis in many places, but flagging down a cab in a new city where you don't speak the language can be, to put it simply, daunting as f*ck. That's why Uber launched Uber Taxi, a convenient lil section of the app where you can book local taxis in areas where UberX isn't a thingagain, like Greece.

We bopped around in Uber Taxis while we were in Athens and Mykonos, booking on-demand rides to get to and from dinners, bars, shopping, and even the Acropolis. The feature is still rolling out worldwide (they're hoping to get every taxi on Uber by 2025 ) but it's currently available in 286 cities across the globe, with 102 in Europe.

Uber Van

I was traveling with a big crew throughout my trip (like, almost 25 people total...it was a party), which might sound like a nightmare when it comes to transportation, but it was actually pretty chill because of a lovely ol' thing called Uber Van. The on-demand servicewhich offers vehicles with up to eight seatsliterally just launched in Mykonos, and it was an absolute honor to be one of the first to plant my peach on one of those aforementioned seats. I mean, when you're traveling with friends, it's always better to stay together, not packed in a million different cars, am I right? And there was so much more leg room. It was a damn treat.

For When You Wanna Be a Lil Bougie

Uber Boat

Okay, I can't even deny that this is the most exciting feature on the list. And the feature I was most excited to trycan you blame me? Uber Boat is truly...Uber but for boats. Available for the first time ever in Mykonos, you can book a speedboat for four to eight people directly in the Uber appjust choose a pickup and dropoff point, and book at least 45 minutes in advance of your trip. Prices start at just $130 per ride (though it can vary based on time and distance), and if you've ever tried to rent a boat, you know this is actually pretty darn affordable. Uber teamed up with local boat companies to bring this service to life, and each ride comes with a driver, ofc, to ensure smooth sailing. My driver was a very tan and muscular Greek man, but I sadly cannot confirm all captains will fit that bill.

We got picked up at a dock near our hotel, the gorgeous Soho Roc House Mykonos, and then jetted around a bit (v fast at times, which I loved) and had a picnic at sea before getting dropped off at our final destination: Scorpios, the popular beach club on the water. Did I feel like a celebrity walking off a boat and directly onto the sand at one of the swankiest hotspots in the Mediterranean? Absolutely. Would I recommend it to everyone I know? Yes. Just know it's a seasonal service, so you've got until October to try'er out.

Hannah Chubb

Uber Comfort



If a boat isn't an option (sometimes you do have to take roads to get places) but you still want to feel like a VIP, Uber Comfort is where it's at. For just a wee bit more $$$, you're guaranteed to get a car that's a) a newer model and b) more spacious than the average. And you know what? You deserve that. The service is now available in Mykonoscan confirm!as well as a bunch of the other Greek islands, like Corfu, Santorini, and Rhodes. If you're traveling to a popular city in the U.S. or abroad, check your Uber appchances are Comfort might be an option.

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Three people were arrested after Illinois State Police agents investigating a mans disappearance found human remains Tuesday in Crawford County, according to a news release.

Lance T. Newcomb, 34, Angela S. Newcomb, 58, and Hiley A. Schulte, 52, all of Robinson, each were charged with concealment of homicidal death, a Class 3 felony. Newcomb also was charged with obstructing justice, a Class 4 felon, the release states.

The Crawford County States Attorneys Office approved the charges Thursday. All three are in custody at the Crawford County Jail. No further information was available.

On June 22, the Cumberland County Sheriffs Department requested the Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 8 investigate a missing person: 55-year-old Ryan L. Waggoner of Lerna.

On Tuesday, the investigation ledagents to a rural address in Crawford County where they found human remains. . Forensic analysis is being completed to identify the remains.

The Crawford County Sheriffs Department, Robinson Police Department, and the Cumberland County Sheriffs Department assisted the ISP.
Two planes, one brought into service just four years ago and another the U.S. Air Force has relied on for nearly 50 years, flew as low as 2,000 feet above the Salina Regional Airport on Tuesday in recognition of 100 years of aerial refueling.

Several people gathered at Fossett Plaza just outside the perimeter fence at the airport as the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus and Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker took part in the Air Force event Tuesday, exactly 100 years after the first recorded aerial refueling on June 27, 1923.

The Pegasus was flown by the Air Force Reserve's 931st Air Refueling Wing out of McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, followed close behind by the Stratotanker flown by the Air National Guard's 190th Air Refueling Wing out of Forbes Field in Topeka.

A Boeing KC-46A Pegasus flies ahead of a Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker above the Salina Regional Airport. The flyover, which saw the air refuelers, with their booms extended, drop to an altitude as low as 2,000 feet, was part of the U.S. Air Force's celebration of 100 years of air refueling.

According to the Air Force, the flight plan for the aircraft put them over several other landmarks throughout the state, including the University of Kansas in Lawrence, the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka, Kansas State University in Manhattan and Wichita State University and the Keeper of the Plains sculpture in Wichita.

While flying over the designated landmarks, the refuelers dropped to between 2,000 and 2,500 feet above ground level with the refueling booms of each plane lowered as they flew by.

Bringing out family in Salina

It was an exciting day for everyone, including Loren Banninger, who, along with his wife, Sue, brought their grandson Cole Easterday, 9.

"We came out to see the tankers," Easterday said.

This wasn't the first trip the Banningers and Easterday have taken to the airport to see some of the unique planes that fly in, out and around the general aviation airport, which has also served as a base for military and government operations throughout its history, including as Schilling Air Force Base.

Cole Easterday, 9, of Salina, looks through a viewing hole Tuesday for the KC-46A Pegasus and KC-135R Stratotanker as they fly over the Salina Regional Airport. The two air refuelers flew as low as 2,000 feet above the ground as part of the U.S. Air Force's celebration of 100 years of air refueling.

"We have been out here occasionally with family," Loren Banninger said. "We enjoy (seeing the planes). Sue's brother is a retired Air Force general."

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He said this wasn't the closest he's been to a KC-135, having been able to fly inside one as part of an aerospace class he took through K-State.

"One of the things we got to do was go up in the tanker," Banninger said. "I got to lay in the (back of the plane) and see the boom (while) they were refueling B-52s that were coming through."

More: Vicky's Kitchen owner shares Thai food, culture with customers at Salina's Central Mall

Kansas-based units flying over other states

In addition to the two planes flying over Kansas, the 100-year celebration was expected to take place with flights over all 50 states.

The 22nd Air Refueling Wing, also based out of McConnell, took several aircraft over Colorado including landmarks in Pueblo, Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The 22nd also sent one KC-46 to California for that state's celebration, where it participated in a flyover of the base where that first aerial refueling mission happened in 1923, Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.

More: Salina Art Center Cinema will get new seats, lighting and technology upgrades this summer

The Air Force said aerial refueling serves as a force multiplier, increasing the speed, range, lethality, flexibility and versatility of combat aircraft. Tankers also carry cargo and passengers, perform aeromedical evacuations and enable strategic deterrence for the United States.

Air refueling propels our nations air power across the skies, unleashing its full potential, said Gen. Mike Minihan, Air Mobility Command commander. It connects our strategic vision with operational reality, ensuring we can reach any corner of the globe with unwavering speed and precision. Air refueling embodies our resolve to defend freedom and project power, leaving an indelible mark on aviation history.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina Airport sees refuelers fly over for Air Force celebration
[Source]

Andy Fang, co-founder of food delivery service DoorDash, is making deliveries out on the streets himself, a report revealed this week.

What his roles are: Fang, whose estimated net worth is at $1.1 billion, is one of DoorDashs co-founders, alongside Tony Xu and Stanley Tang. He currently serves as chief technology officer.

How he "Dashes": Like any other DoorDash driver, Fang drives his way to a restaurant, picks up a customers order and delivers it to their address. In one recent order, he reportedly realized that DoorDashs app had sent him to the wrong restaurant, so he promised to make a fix.

Why he does it: Fang makes deliveries for at least an hour each month, according to the Associated Press, which followed his recent stint.

More from NextShark: Ticketmaster cancels general sale for tickets to BTS member Suga's tour after high demand during presale

But hes not always alone  he sometimes delivers with Xu and Tang. This is because under the companys WeDash program, all salaried employees in the U.S., Canada and Australia  including the three co-founders  are required to complete at least four deliveries each year. The program, as per DoorDashs website, allows employees to look deeper into how the products we build empower local economies, which in turn helps us build a better platform.

Back to his roots: Fang said they started employee program WeDash to make sure that all of the company's workers understand what others are going through. The program started in 2015, but Fang and his co-founders have actually been making deliveries themselves while they were still students at Stanford.

"We had to. There was nobody else to do them," he told AP. "But what we quickly found out was that by doing these deliveries ourselves, we learned a ton of insights into what it actually took to get these deliveries fulfilled."

More from NextShark: Jack in the Box now offering boba tea in 3 Southern California cities

The bigger picture: Fang is only one of a growing number of executives who are reportedly clocking in as rank-and-file workers. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Lyft CEO David Risher have both fetched and dropped passengers, while Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan has trained as a barista and planned to work at least half a day in a different store each month.

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On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Canadian wildfires bring more smoke to US cities

Chicago and Detroit topped world air pollution lists Tuesday amid smoke from Canadian wildfires. Plus, USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze looks at the court's rejection of a GOP argument on who decides rules for U.S. elections, more than $200 billion in COVID-19 relief loans and grants for small businesses have been stolen by fraudsters, USA TODAY Money Reporter Medora Lee explains how worrying Gen Z debt is, and Julian Sands has been found dead, months after going missing while hiking.

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 28th of June 2023. Today, more smoke from wildfires hits American cities. Plus, the Supreme Court rejects a GOP argument on who decides rules for elections, and a new report outlines just how much was stolen in COVID relief.



Chicago and Detroit saw the worst air quality in the world yesterday, thanks to more smoke from Canadian wildfires. In Chicago, thick smoke clouded the sky, bringing limited visibility and a faint burning smell. And in Detroit, smoke could be seen lingering over the Downtown skyline. On IQAir's air quality index, the two cities alternated yesterday between the unhealthy and very unhealthy categories. There were also unhealthy levels of pollutants from the smoke across the Great Lakes region, including in most of Wisconsin and parts of Indiana and Ohio. That's expected to continue today.

And more smoky air is headed back toward New York State. Governor Kathy Hochul warned that air quality is expected to reach unhealthy levels in western and central parts of the state today and tomorrow. Health experts remind anyone in an at-risk group, including young children, older adults, or those with heart and lung disease, to stay indoors for any physical activity, and that everyone in high pollutant areas limit the amount of time they're active outdoors.

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In a win for voting rights groups, the Supreme Court has rejected the North Carolina GOP argument that state lawmakers should have extraordinary powers over election rules. Audio Producer Mark Sovel sat down with USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze to find out what this ruling means.

Mark Sovel:

Hi John. Big day at the court. Thanks for joining me.

John Fritze:

Thanks for having me.

Mark Sovel:

You wrote that the lawsuit that SCOTUS ruled on was based on a conservative theory. Can you explain what that theory is and what the justices decided?

John Fritze:

Sure. At base here, what started all this was the North Carolina legislature tried to redo its congressional map, which every state in the country does every 10 years after the census. And a bunch of voters challenged that map and said look, this is a partisan gerrymander. It's just you're trying to eke out an advantage for the Republican Party. This thing went up to court and it got litigated for a long time. And one of the theories that got raised by the Republican lawmakers in court was that, look state courts, you don't have any role to play here anyway. Because there's this clause in the constitution that says the power to set the rules for elections will be set by the state legislatures. Doesn't say anything about courts, doesn't say anything about governors or anybody else.

And so at its most extreme, what's called the independent state legislature theory is that state lawmakers get to set these rules about elections, and really nobody else can come in and say you're wrong, not courts or anybody else. And so what the Supreme Court did today was it rejected that extreme view of that theory on a six-three vote. The majority opinion written by John Roberts basically said look, courts have always had the review of what a state legislature does, just like federal courts can review what Congress does. And they're not going to upend that in this case.

Mark Sovel:

The case is being talked about as a big win for voting rights groups. What are they saying?

John Fritze:

They are very optimistic. They're cheering this decision, I think is the right way to put it. And this isn't their first win this term. They got another big win earlier this month in a case about redistricting out of Alabama. That case dealt specifically with the Voting Rights Act. Supreme Courts weakened that law over a series of decisions. And so it was a little bit of a surprise to see the court not do that in this case and uphold the law. In some ways, both of these decisions, while they are getting a lot of applause from voting rights groups, they really maintain the status quo. They're not really changing anything. But I think people have been so concerned about the direction the Supreme Court's taken in this area that the fact that they didn't really move the needle is viewed as a huge victory for that side of the argument.

Mark Sovel:

So does this have the effect of preventing state legislatures of stepping in and determining the outcome of elections in their state?

John Fritze:

I think what it means is that it would be harder for one party that dominates a state legislature to set the rules in a way that completely advantages their side without some court intervention.

Mark Sovel:

Election rules over how absentee ballots work played a major role in the 2020 election in numerous disputes, in particular because of COVID. Is it expected to impact rulings in the 2024 election?

John Fritze:

I think it will influence how state legislatures approach these various rules because they will know that potentially they could be brought into state court and challenged. It sort of acts as a check on these state lawmakers when they're setting these election laws.

Mark Sovel:

John, thanks so much for your reporting here.



Taylor Wilson:

More than $200 billion in COVID-19 relief loans and grants for small businesses have been stolen by fraudsters. That's according to new estimates from a report published yesterday by the Office of the Inspector General for the US Small Business Administration. It's the highest estimate yet in the Office's ongoing investigation into federally funded programs that helped small business owners and entrepreneurs in the heart of the pandemic. At least 17% of the money dispersed through the Small Business Administration's pandemic assistance loan programs were potentially stolen. It noted that programs had easy to exploit loopholes. The Biden administration earlier this year announced a series of measures targeting pandemic relief fraudsters. You can read more about those with a link in today's show notes.



Gen Z leads the way in getting financial advice from TikTok, but they've still nearly doubled their non-mortgage debt and tripled their overall debt load in the past two years. Producer Mark Sovel sat down with USA TODAY Money Reporter Medora Lee to get her insights.

Mark Sovel:

Hi Medora. Thanks for joining us.

Medora Lee:

Thanks for having me.

Mark Sovel:

It sounds like Gen Z is taking on some heavy debt burdens. First, where does this data come from? And what is it telling us about the debt habits of this generation?

Medora Lee:

It's really interesting. LendingTree did an analysis of some data and they've discovered that Gen Zers have increased their debt a lot in the last couple of years. If you include mortgages, their debt burden has increased almost 200%. If you take out the mortgages, it's doubled. That's pretty big debt. I have to admit that they do have the lowest total dollar amount of debt among all generations, but it's growing at a pretty fast clip.

Mark Sovel:

So how does this compare to older generations? Should we be worried?

Medora Lee:

The Chief Credit Analyst at LendingTree does not see this as worrisome. And he says that it's just part of growing older. The oldest Gen Zer is now about 26 years old, so they've had time to establish some credit, so their credit score is rising and they can probably qualify for bigger loans with better terms now. And so they're taking advantage of that. And he says that it also can show a little confidence. Some of the Gen Zers have gotten out of college and have started working, and now they are more certain that they can handle a slightly higher debt loan.

Mark Sovel:

Comparing Gen X to Gen Z, are they racking up debt in the same categories?

Medora Lee:

It's interesting. They are. Gen X, actually, if you just go by pure dollars, has the largest average debt balance, followed by Millennials. And part of this is because Gen X, they're a little older, so they have a very big mortgage and also auto loans. There's a lot of spending on cars.

Mark Sovel:

When it comes to debt, obviously student debt is a big part of what Gen Z is dealing with. And how does that factor into this?

Medora Lee:

Gen Z, the student loans that they take out generally tend to be higher because they're the latest to have gone to school, and so prices are high. However, student loans actually make up a higher percentage of Millennials' debt balances than any other generation, and that's at 36%.

Mark Sovel:

Very interesting. Medora, thanks for giving us the context to the story here.

Medora Lee:

That's great. Thanks. Thanks for having me.



Taylor Wilson:

Julian Sands has been confirmed dead. The English-born actor disappeared five months ago while hiking, and his remains were found over the weekend by hikers in the Mount Baldy Wilderness, northeast of Los Angeles. Sands was an experienced hiker who was reported missing in January after setting out on a peak that rises more than 10,000 feet high. Crews searched using drones and helicopters, but struggled to find his body in wintry conditions.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. If you like the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And if you have any comments, you can reach us at podcasts@usatoday.com. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Canadian wildfire smoke hits Chicago, Gen Z debt: 5 Things podcast
A screenshot from AirNow shows Canton's air quality as very unhealthy as of 11 a.m. on Thursday, June 29, 2023.

CANTON  Stark County's air quality should return to normal Friday after reaching its worst level earlier this week since at least 2004, health officials said.

Canton City Public Health Air Pollution Control Director Terri Dzienis said the agency anticipated air quality would continue to improve after hitting hazardous levels Wednesday night as smoke from wildfires in Canada polluted the air across the Midwest.

AirNow.gov reported that Canton's air quality was at a "very unhealthy" level as of noon Thursday with a score of 227. The index rates air quality on a scale from zero to 500, with a score of more than 300 meaning air quality is hazardous.

Canton's score went above 300 Wednesday night before dropping Thursday morning.

Dzienis said data from Canton City Public Health showed these were the highest numbers the area had seen in at least 19 years.

She said weather can play a role in the way the smoke affects air quality.

"It is related to the weather patterns, where the wind is blowing, the type of weather we have to cause that particulate to come down to the ground level versus staying up in the atmosphere," Dzienis said.

Canton City Health Commissioner James Adams extended an Air Quality Alert Thursday morning that had been issued for the Stark County earlier this week. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency also extended its statewide Air Quality Advisory Thursday and said in a news release it expected air quality levels to remain in the unhealthy for sensitive groups to very unhealthy ranges.

Canton City Public Health encouraged those with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and pregnant women to avoid outdoor physical activities and advised that everyone limit their time outside and avoid strenuous outdoor activities in a Facebook post Thursday morning.

Smoke contains fine particles that can get in a person's eyes and respiratory system, causing symptoms such as burning eyes, runny nose or bronchitis, according to AirNow. These particles can also agitate chronic heart and lung diseases and have been linked to premature death in some with those conditions.

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Short-term smoke exposure is not usually a major risk to healthy people, AirNow says.

Dzienis recommended individuals familiarize themselves with AirNow or download the mobile app and start paying attention to air quality on a regular basis.

"This is kind of unprecedented," she said. "It's not like we experience this on a regular basis, but air quality does change throughout the day. So on hot days the ozone might be high, if the weather is kind of more stagnant, there might be a couple of hours in the day where you shouldn't really be hanging out outside doing strenuous activities, especially if you're in the sensitive group, which is your children, your older adults, people with lung and heart disease."

To see the latest air quality readings, visit www.airnow.gov.

Reach Paige at 330-580-8577, pmbennett@gannett.com or on Twitter @paigembenn.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: When will Canton air quality return to normal?
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden in recent weeks has started using a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine at night to help with sleep apnea, the White House said Wednesday. The revelation comes after indents from the mask were visible on the president's face as he departed the White House.

The president has disclosed since 2008 a history with sleep apnea, a potentially serious but common condition in which breathing can stop and start in the night. Biden used the machine Tuesday night, White House officials said. The imprint lines on his face were apparent when he left Wednesday morning for a speech in Chicago.

A CPAP machine is a motorized device that pumps air through a mask to open a sleepers airway. About 5 million Americans have tried them.

While his history with the condition has long been disclosed, it didnt come up during his most recent physical in February. When he was vice president, doctors noted Biden had an irregular heartbeat probably linked to apnea.

The 80-year-old president is running for reelection and is the oldest person ever to hold the nations highest office.

Roughly 30 million people in the U.S. are thought to have the condition, though only about 6 million are diagnosed with it, according to the American Medical Association. In people with the condition, throat and tongue muscles relax and block the airway during sleep, caused by obesity, aging or facial structure.

They stop breathing, sometimes for up to a minute and hundreds of times each night, then awake with loud gasping and snoring. That prevents them from getting deep, restorative sleep. Untreated sleep apnea can lead to dangerous drowsiness and increased heart attack risk. The problem is more common in men than women.
Chris Christie thinks he has a sure-fire way to guarantee that Donald Trump participates in the 2024 GOP primary debates, which the former president has threatened to skip.

I will shame him into showing up, Christie, a 2024 rival, told Bari Weiss on an episode of her Honestly podcast posted Thursday. He said the former president owes it to his voters and to all the voters in the Republican Party to show up at those debates.

Christie said he knows Trump will whine about having to appear with other candidates at the debates, saying, Oh, its not fair. Its not fair to me. Im so far ahead. Why should I let people talk about me?

Christies response: Because you decided to run for president. Thats why.

Ultimately, Christie predicted Trump will show up because of his ego.

You have to engage in this stuff and the American people, and the Republican Party voters have a right to hear you and to compare you side by side with the other people offering themselves, he said. So well continue to make that argument. And quite frankly, I think hell show up cause I dont think his ego will permit him not to.

Christie launched his bid for president earlier this month, saying his main focus is convincing Republicans of Trumps unsuitability for higher office.

Since then, he has gone scorched-Earth on Trump, attacking him for being a petulent child, for his grifting family, and for being the cheapest SOB Ive ever met in my life.

Christie himself has expressed misgivings about the GOP debates. The Republican National Committee is telling candidates they must sign a loyalty pledge backing the partys eventual nominee in order to qualify for the first debate, scheduled for Aug. 23 in Milwaukee.

Christie, along with fellow candidates ex-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, have objected to the pledge, since it could force them to support Trump.

Christie has called the pledge a bad idea, especially since his goal is to try to save my party and save my country from going down the road of being led by three-time loser Donald Trump. He previously told CNN that he would take the pledge in 2024 just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016.

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You can hear Christies promise to shame Trump in the podcast below.

(H/T: Mediaite)

Related...
I picked up a little light reading to celebrate the summer solstice. For a short piece, its stirring up a lot of controversy, so I searched online to see what the big deal is. A few minutes later I was learning details of the formal indictment of Naked Emperor Donald J. Trump and his former valet-promoted-to-right-hand-man, Waltine Nauta. Talk about a confederacy of dunces turning into a major summer blockbuster.

The 49-page, triple-spaced report (with pictures!) lists charges against Donald Trump, who illegally boxed up and removed papers he seems to consider his personal memorabilia from the White House. Its all actually the property of the office from which hed recently vacated, thanks to the voters.

On page 11, the former United States president is being sideways compared to Professor John Nash, portrayed in the movie A Beautiful Mind by actor Russell Crowe. Nash was considered a genius, a revered mathematician and multitasker able to solve all kinds of problems, until it was discovered that he took copious notes and stashed unread papers because he was diagnosed as schizophrenic and couldnt distinguish between what is true reality and his perception of it.

In the indictment, two Trump employees discuss storage of the boxes that belong in the National Archives instead of a Florida resort bathroom, which is where they were stored. One simply refers to them as the beautiful mind paper boxes. This casual, cynical reference is both funny and awful.

Its funny because we like when a fool is called out. The disgraced president took the boxes because he never bothered to learn the rules. He thinks hes special, so he can do what hes always done, which is whatever he wants to. Hed never had a government job, and he didnt do the one he got very well. But hes discovered that some government workers take their jobs quite seriously, and now hes been caught.

Its awful because he is also accused on page 21 of instructing his attorneys to lie and say he doesnt have any documents. With every page, his inner plan is revealed: He will continue lying, and his cult following will continue believing him.

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He seems to think well go away if he ignores us, but hes a toddler we cant ignore.

Well, this toddler is running for president again. Hes stolen, lied and continues to use every media outlet to bully the populace, except for the sheep hes counting on to follow his lead.

As is the intention of most pack rats, he probably had a big plan to go through his beautiful boxes, choose what he thinks he can sell on eBay, then call the Archives to send a truck for the rest. This is after hundreds of visitors to his resort, some possibly foreign nationals at work, could have leafed through the boxes while using the toilet.

When I force myself to listen to his supporters, they say something I think they believe, but I find difficult to process. When asked why they support a person accused of what is becoming very obviously a strong case of theft, obstruction, lying, delusion and other offenses, they repeat the same thing: If they come after him, theyre coming after us, next.

Really? Did these Trump supporters hold the office of president of the United States? Did they steal property after not being reelected? Did they incite a violent riot against their country and vice president? Were they indicted for lying and obstructing justice? Did they try to illegally influence the outcome of an election?

If they did, then sure: They should be indicted, too.

Trump will have his day in court, and hopefully face justice, but his believers will swallow lies and imagined assaults against their emperor, pretending he is wearing a fine set of clothes.

But no ones coming after them. Theyre too far gone.

murphysister04@gmail.com
New Requirement for Singaporean and Malaysian Travelers: Starting next year, citizens will need to obtain the online document ETIAS before visiting any European Union or Schengen member countries. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE  Starting next year, Singapore and Malaysia citizens will need to obtain an online document called ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) before travelling to any European Union (EU) or Schengen member countries.

According to the ETIAS official website, this authorisation will be linked to the traveller's passport, and will be valid for three years or until the passport's expiry date.

The ETIAS serves to keep a record of who enters and leaves the Schengen zone. According to its website, is not a visa requirement and does not guarantee entry upon arrival; border guards will still check passports and other documents to ensure that travellers meet the entry conditions.

The Schengen zone is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders.

With an ETIAS, Malaysians and Singaporeans can stay in Europe for a maximum of 90 days within a 180-day period.

How to apply for ETIAS and how much is it?

To apply, Singaporean and Malaysian applicants between the ages of 18 and 70 must complete an online application and pay a fee of 7 (RM36, S$10). The entire process is done online, and no appointment or visit to an embassy is need.

Minors and applicants over 70 years old will receive an ETIAS free of charge. The EU aims to process most applications within minutes, although some decisions may take up to four days.

The EU countries which will require ETIAS travel authorisation next year are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Background of the setting up of ETIAS

The ETIAS proposal was finalised in November 2016, with the aim of improving the security of the Schengen area. It requires visa-free travellers to obtain travel authorisation and undergo various security checks before arriving in the EU.

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The system will screen travellers prior to their arrival in Europe, preventing individuals who pose a security threat from entering the EU and thereby reducing the likelihood of security incidents involving EU citizens.

Malaysia and Singapore are among the 63 nations exempt from visas when entering most European countries.

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.
[Source]

Iranian French actress Golshifteh Farahani has blamed former President Donald Trump for her losing a lead role in the Kogonada film After Yang, regarded by critics as one of last years best movies.

Why Trump is being blamed: In a new interview with Elle, Farahani, who most recently starred in Netflixs Extraction 2, revealed that she was originally cast in the female lead role opposite Colin Farrell.

However, her filming plans were scrapped due to Trumps travel ban. The role went instead to Jodie Turner-Smith.

I have a French passport but my visa took much longer than it used to take because I am born in Iran and I also couldnt make it to that shooting, Farahani said.

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About Trumps travel ban: The former presidents travel ban consisted of executive orders that banned incoming travelers from Muslim-majority countries.

The first of them, Executive Order 13769, was signed on Jan. 7, 2017, and blocked the entry of nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Succeeding orders expanded the list of banned countries, with final additions  Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania  coming in January 2020.

President Joe Biden moved to end the bans in January 2021, but After Yang  which starred Justin H. Min and debuted at the Cannes in July of that year  had likely finished production by then.

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Not the first time: Unfortunately, Trumps travel ban was not the first time Farahani found herself limited by politics. She told Elle that she also lost a role in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010).

It was when the government of Iran took my passport and they didnt let me leave and that led to my exile. It was the most traumatic time of my life, Farahani recalled.

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A Tennessee father drowned in the Mississippi River after jumping in to save his child, deputies said.

On June 25, Dustin Lynch was fishing on the river at the Tennessee-Arkansas border when his son ended up in the water, Lauderdale County Chief Deputy Garrison Taylor told McClatchy News in an email.

Lynch was with a group on a sandbar in the river when the current washed him and his son away, WMC reported.

Taylor said Lynch went into the water after his son, and while he ultimately saved the child, Lynch went under the water and then went missing.

Lauderdale County deputies enlisted the help of multiple state agencies in Tennessee and Arkansas to search for Lynch.

Around 4:30 p.m. on June 26, Lynchs body was discovered in the river near Mississippi County, Arkansas, Taylor said.

The child is alive due to the heroic efforts of Dustin, Sheriff Brian Kelley told McClatchy News. Our heartfelt condolences go out to this family. The Lauderdale County Sheriffs Office owes a debt of gratitude to the many citizens and agencies that helped bring Dustin home.

Lynchs wifes employer said on Facebook that their son was in a hospital recovering on June 26.

Lynchs family is from Ripley, WMC reported, which is about 60 miles northeast of Memphis.

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A plaza being built in Downtown Houma is delayed by three months, and businesses say it's reducing foot traffic.

The Rotary Centennial Plaza which began construction last year was supposed to be completed by mid-March, but a number of unforeseen hurdles has drawn the project out by three months. The new deadline for the project is July 31. Neighboring businesses say the project is hampering foot traffic, but they hope that when it is complete it will be a draw for customers.

The plaza is a $1.2 million project that is being built on Belanger Street. It is now closed to vehicle traffic between Grinage and Church streets. The one-block section of Belanger will become a promenade, creating an open space off the Courthouse Square behind Mahony's bar and in front of Milano restaurant.

Terrebonne Parish Planning and Zoning Director Chris Pulaski said estimates were made about how the project would be carried out and once contractors dug into the ground and saw historic infrastructures they had to go back to the drawing board and redesign portions of it. Because the area is the oldest portion of the city of Houma, developers knew they were planning with a lack of information on how the original area was designed, Pulaski explained. The cost didn't increase because they had already budgeted for it.

"Due to the age of the location, certain assumptions had to be made. Once work began and we were able to really ascertain what was there, certain portions of the project had to be redesigned," Pulaski said. "It's just the age of the location and the lack of available information."

The Rotary Centennial Plaza still under construction. The project was originally set for completion in mid-March, but after delays, it is now set for July 31. Local businesses say it is deterring business.

While redesigning the project caused one lull in the work, other hiccups also pushed the deadline back. Logistic issues like a lack of materials or parts being incorrect have also stalled work. As an example, the arches were incorrectly measured by the manufacturer and arrived for contractors six inches too long.

Norris and Boudreaux Contractors are building the project. Attempts were made to reach the owners but were unsuccessful. On the site was Assistant Project Manager Alex Lawrence, who began last month. He said the project is over 50% complete and if all goes well they will be complete by the end of next month.

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"It's a very intricate project and there's a lot of detail into it that you really don't see, like we were digging up all this and at one point there were telephone and drain lines from like 1970," he said.

The entire area is fenced off for construction and currently contractors are laying down brickwork for the columns and the road. The fences allow room for foot traffic to-and-from the businesses surrounding the project, but they obstruct the view to said businesses. Owners say this has deterred customers from walking in and buying products.

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Owner of Milano's, Sammy Castalano, said business is down 60%. Milano's is tucked away behind the fences and the front door is virtually unseeable from Main St. Castalano said the construction has been taking place during his busiest months, cutting down traffic during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and graduations. He said he is optimistic that the plaza will be a draw for customers once it is complete, but if it doesn't he may have to close shop.

"Look, I appreciate the project. It's either gonna emphasize things or, it's either gonna help the restaurant and I'll keep the restaurant open or it won't help the restaurant and I'll close the restaurant and I'll just use the building as a venue," he said.

Linsi Cenac owns a portion of the strip mall on Belanger St. where a number of the businesses reside. Her personal business located in the strip is Linsi Cenac Interiors, an interior design company that neighbors the restaurant Milano's. She said she doesn't rely on foot traffic like many others because she often has to travel to other people's homes to work, but even she can feel the effects of the diminished foot traffic.

During the COVID pandemic, she began selling products out of the shop to make up the difference in lost revenue, and at the time, a major seller was candles.

"I can tell you I haven't sold a candle in seven months," she said. "We haven't had anybody walk in and buy anything."

The fencing has caused an additional problem of the homeless population hanging around the businesses, she said. When construction first began, homeless people would sit or sleep in front of their businesses and behind the fences. This would also deter customers from wanting to walk in. Just last week, Cenac said she had to force one to leave her building.

She said the homeless population is part of a larger problem, but the fence's obstructing view to the buildings increases the danger of something happening.

Bloom West Boutique neighbors Cenac's shop and is on the very corner of the building. Driving along Main St. some of the Boutique's mannequins can still be seen from its side window. It sells clothing and accessories and relies heavily on customers passing through.

Lily Pinell an employee of Bloom West Boutique said the construction is deterring some walk-through traffic, but she thinks when the project is complete it will draw more customers to shop at the boutique.

Attempts were made to reach out to the owner but were unsuccessful. Lily Pinell, a member of the staff, worked for both the previous business La Boujee, and the current establishment. The business switched during the construction, but she said it was not caused by the construction.

According to Pinell, the business has been much higher since the transition. She said she does think the construction has hampered customers passing through, but also expects that when it is complete it will increase foot traffic.

"I would say Bloom West got more foot traffic because it was a new business and people are curious about the new outfits that are here and everything, but we could have more," she said. "It definitely is slowing down foot traffic but it helps that we are a new business."

To combat this, the boutique advertises heavily with social media posts to keep the word out that they exist.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: Houma's Centennial Plaza delayed by history
The mother of Rose Marie Taylor (pictured here) has filed a federal lawsuit accusing three Alexandria Police Department officers of being responsible for her death. Taylor died on May 30, 2022, after being found unresponsive in her jail cell 11 days before.

Louisiana State Police have an open investigation into the May 2022 death of an Alexandria woman after a pathologist ruled it a homicide.

A federal lawsuit claims Alexandria Police Department officers are responsible for the death of Rose Marie Taylor, who was found unresponsive in her jail cell on May 19, 2022. She died at Rapides Regional Medical Center on May 30, 2022, after her mother, Rosa Lee Taylor, signed a do-not-resuscitate order.

Dr. Christopher Tape, a forensic pathologist who has been accepted as an expert witness for multiple Rapides Parish murder trials, ruled Taylor's cause of death was "complications due to blunt force injuries, with contributions of hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and obesity."

He found the manner of death to be homicide.

No other details about the State Police investigation were available Friday, according to a spokesperson, but the attorney representing Taylor's mother, Jermaine Harris, did release a statement.

"We are pleased to hear that Louisiana State Police is now investigating the death of Rose Marie Taylor," it reads. "We expect a full investigation into this matter and for all those found responsible to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

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The city asked for and was granted extra time  until July 20  to respond to it.

Rapides Parish Sheriff Mark Wood also was named as a defendant, and his response was filed on June 21 by attorney, H. Bradford Calvit. It denies most of the claims made by Taylor's mother, but does admit a deputy told officers Taylor needed to be treated for injuries to her left wrist.

Wood's answer, through its 11 defenses listed, contends "the sole and proximate cause of the incident and injuries" to Taylor were her own fault because she didn't comply with the officers' verbal commands. He is asking the court to rule that he's entitled to qualified immunity.

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In addition to the city, three Alexandria officers, Matthew Frost, Brian Frost and Alexander Helminger, are named as defendants.

According to the lawsuit, Taylor was visiting her girlfriend in the parking lot of the Seigel Select motel on MacArthur Drive on May 17, 2022, when Matthew Frost and Brian Frost blocked her vehicle. It alleges Taylor wasn't given a reason why officers detained her but does state drugs were found later in one of her pockets.

She was arrested.

Taylor was twice slammed chest first onto the hood of a patrol car, it contends. She also sustained a left wrist injury and told officers she wanted medical treatment for it.

After a deputy at the jail said Taylor needed to see a doctor, Taylor asked for someone other than Matthew Frost to take her to Rapides Regional. Helminger was summoned to drive her, but the lawsuit alleges he and Frost told medical personnel Taylor was refusing treatment.

Body camera footage from the officers does exist, according to the lawsuit, but Harris previously said a decision has not been made on whether it would be released.

No hearings have been scheduled in the lawsuit yet.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Attorney for Rose Taylor's mom says 'pleased' death being investigated
Madeleine McCann was just three years old when she vanished from her family's holiday apartment in Portugal. (AP)

A potential witness in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann said he told police he had concerns about prime suspect Christian Brueckner in 2008 but they "never returned my call".

Helge Busching says he alerted authorities in 2008 that he suspected Brueckner was involved in the toddler's disappearance after he found a videotape of the suspect's that allegedly showed him abusing an elderly woman and teenage girl.

At the time, he said, "Thats when I knew what kind of guy Brueckner was."

Busching, a convicted criminal associate of Brueckner, said he believed Bruckener had made a comment that suggested he knew about the McCann case.

He asked me, Dont you go to Portugal anymore and do business there?. I said, no, since the girl disappeared there, there have been too many police checks for me and I dont need that at all, Helge said in an interview with German outlet Bild.

[The toddler's disappearance] came up and I said: Anyway, I dont understand how the little one could have disappeared without a trace.

Christian had drunk two or three beers, and he said: She didnt scream.

I thought: He knows that. He has something to do with it. But he also checked that I understood that and then left at night.

Busching said he called the dedicated hotline to report what he suspected about Brueckner but was never contacted.

I called Scotland Yard back in 2008, he said At the Maddie hotline. I said I knew someone who might have something to do with it and gave them the name. But nothing happened there. Nothing! I was never called back."

It was only in 2017, when Busching contacted them again, that police took his complaint seriously.

Following the tip-off, police in Germany took up the investigation and the tape that Helge had seen was also turned over to the authorities.

Brueckner has consistently denied any involvement in Madeleine's disappearance.

Yahoo runs down the latest key updates in the search for the truth about what happened to her.

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Reservoir search

In May, police investigating Brueckner conducted a search of the area around the Barragem do Arade reservoir in Portugal, which he described as his "paradise".

The reservoir is around a 40-minute drive from the hotel where Madeleine disappeared and was 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.

Portuguese police investigators dismantle base camp at the end of the three-day search for remains of Madeleine McCann. (Getty Images)

The reservoir is near Silves where a lorry driver says he saw a woman handing a child-like Madeleine McCann over to a man two days after she went missing from her Praia da Luz holiday apartment on 3 May 2007.

The Braunschweig Public Prosecutor's Office said after the search: "A number of items were seized as part of the operation. These will be evaluated in the coming days and weeks.

"It is not yet possible to say whether some of the items are actually related to the Madeleine McCann case."

According to Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha, a clue was found during digging after teams focused on a specific area of the reservoir - with sources saying pieces of clothing and plastic were among items found on the site that are set to be sent for forensic analysis.

However, the McCann family may face a wait of months before the results of the analysis return, according to The Mirror, which reported that evidence had been sent to Germany in a process that may not yield results for many weeks.

Kate and Gerry McCann have refused to give up on their daughter, 16 years on from her disappearance. (Reuters)

According to the Sun, investigators looked through more than 8,000 photographs belonging to Brueckner and believe there are other locations that could yield further clues in Madeleine's disappearance.

A source told the newspaper that the photographs led investigators to the reservoir but that "there are other places that have come up in the pictures too".

German authorities have not revealed why they have requested access to the site, only to say it is in relation to the McCann case.

Who is Christian Brueckner?

Convicted paedophile Brueckner, 45, remains the prime suspect, but he has yet to face any charges and denies involvement.

The German national is currently serving a seven-year sentence for raping a 72-year-old US woman in 2005 in the Algarve  the same region of Portugal from where McCann disappeared.

In 2020 German police named a man they thought was "probably" responsible for the girl's abduction and murder  describing him only as "Christian B" due to the country's strict privacy laws.

He was then declared an official suspect by Portuguese police in April 2022, with subsequent reports suggesting authorities in Germany were poised to charge him.

Convicted sex offender Christian Brueckner is the prime suspect of Madeleine's disappearance, but he is still yet to be charged with her abduction. (AP)

Born in Germany in 1976, Brueckner was 17 when he was convicted of molesting a six-year-old girl in a playground in his hometown of Wuerzburg, Bavaria, in 1994.

The following year, after he'd turned 18 and got his driving licence, he moved to the Algarve with his then-girlfriend in 1995, escaping a youth custody sentence and abandoning a car mechanic apprenticeship.

Brueckner took on a variety of odd jobs at the Portuguese resort.

He was convicted in 2017 of sexually abusing a child and "creating and possessing child pornographic material" in Germany and sentenced to 15 months in jail.

In December 2019, he was sentenced to seven years in prison for the rape of an American woman. He is also being investigated for the rape of an Irish tour rep in 2004.

In April this year, five unrelated charges of rape and sexual assault against Brueckner were thrown out by a German court because he lived in a different region of the country at the time of the alleged offences.

The courts decision means legal authorities in Braunschweig have no jurisdiction over Madeleines case.
A Texas man was ambushed by masked robbers on a trail at night, police said.

The man, an unidentified 27-year-old, and his friend were sitting on a cliff in San Antonios Leon Creek trail system around 10 p.m. on June 29 when it occurred, according to a police news release.

Two individuals wearing masks then confronted the man and robbed him, police said.

When the man tried resisting, the masked individuals shot him multiple times before running away.

Fire department and EMS personnel transported the man to a hospital, police said, where he was pronounced dead.

Officers searched the area around the cliff but did not find any suspects.

The person with the man at the time of the shooting was his girlfriend, according to KSAT, citing police.

The investigation remains ongoing, police said.

The Leon Creek trail system is made up of miles of paved nature trails that wind through fields, woods and limestone bluffs.

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The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a Christian graphic artist from Colorado who balked at designing wedding websites for gay couples.

We're tracking how Colorado politicians, activists and others are reacting.

Attorney General Phil Weiser, who argued in defense of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act:

Todays sweeping decision threatens to destabilize our public marketplace and encourage all kinds of businessesnot just those serving weddingsto claim a First Amendment free speech right to refuse service to certain customers. A business may think that it can refuse to serve interracial couples because it believes interracial marriage is wrong. A payroll company may read todays opinion as license to refuse service to women-owned businesses because the businessowner believes women should not work outside the home. A bookseller of religious texts may believe it can refuse to sell books to a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because he doesnt believe it to be a legitimate religion. And so on.

This case is not about websites or speechbut the ability of all to enter the public marketplace as equals. Equality and fairness are core Colorado values and we have protected people in our state from discrimination in public accommodations for more than 100 years. We will work hard to ensure that, within the confines of the Courts opinion, we take action to hold accountable those who engage in unlawful discrimination."

Kristen Waggoner, CEO, president, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, which litigated the case:

The U.S. Supreme Court rightly reaffirmed that the government cant force Americans to say things they dont believe. The court reiterated that its unconstitutional for the state to eliminate from the public square ideas it dislikes, including the belief that marriage is the union of husband and wife. Disagreement isnt discrimination, and the government cant mislabel speech as discrimination to censor it. Lorie works with everyone, including clients who identify as LGBT. As the court highlighted, her decisions to create speech always turn on what message is requested, never on who requests it. The ruling makes clear that nondiscrimination laws remain firmly in place, and that the government has never needed to compel speech to ensure access to goods and services. This is a win for all Americans. The government should no more censor Lorie for speaking consistent with her beliefs about marriage than it should punish an LGBT graphic designer for declining to criticize same-sex marriage. If we desire freedom for ourselves, we must defend it for others.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Denver:

Todays Supreme Court decision is a substantial setback for LGTBQ+ rights and equality in Colorado and across the country. No American should be treated differently because of who they are or whom they love. Its time for the Senate to pass the Equality Act.  Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) June 30, 2023

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver:

This is disgusting. The GOP-backed extremists on the U.S. Supreme Court just legalized discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals and took a sledgehammer to the very notion of equality in this country.This is not who we are as a country. We are so much better than this.  Rep. Diana DeGette (@RepDianaDeGette) June 30, 2023

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs:

Today's Supreme Court ruling in favor of Colorado's 303 Creative and Lorie Smith is a victory for free speech and religious liberties everywhere.Americans of all faiths deserve First Amendment protections as they seek to uphold their fundamental beliefs. #FreeSpeechforAll https://t.co/3hds76zEXF  Rep. Doug Lamborn (@RepDLamborn) June 30, 2023

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Silt:

Today is a HUGE victory for religious liberty. Glad to see the Supreme Court make the right call here! https://t.co/5CewASTNDb  Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) June 30, 2023

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Rep. Tammy Story, D-Evergreen:

The SCOTUS decision is a saddening reminder that even right here in CO, efforts to suppress diverse perspectives & limit the educational experiences of students have been underway for years. We must remain focused on constructing equitable pathways to higher ed and leadership.  Tammy Story (@Story4CO) June 30, 2023

Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver:

Democrats, its on us to fight back against bigotry and discrimination with vision and strategy to achieve Justice for all. Friends, if youre furious, heartbroken, anxious take a moment to let those emotions sink in. Feel them in your bones. Now, lets get organized.  Senadora Julie Gonzales (@SenadoraJulie) June 30, 2023

Colorado Republican Party:

Donald Sweeting, Ph.D., chancellor of Colorado Christian University:

We applaud this Supreme Court decision in favor of 303 Creative. The Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act is used in a way that violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment. This is how public accommodation laws are being twisted by state commissions to force objectors to compel speech and affirm progressive orthodoxy about sexual identity. Today, the court reminded us all that Americans who have traditional and Biblical views about marriage and sexuality are equally protected in the public square.

Jeff Hunt, director of the Centennial Institute:

Lorie Smith is a wonderful friend of the Centennial Institute. We have been proud to stand with her, pray for her, and support her through this long and difficult journey. She stood against incredible opposition to defend Americas founding principle of freedom of speech. We applaud her and are thrilled with the Supreme Courts decision to protect this critical right for all Americans. We also want to recognize and thank Kristen Waggoner, the CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom and the recent winner of our highest honor, the William L. Armstrong Award. Once again, Alliance Defending Freedom has proven to be on the right side of history in defending the spirit of 1776!

Attorney Kirk McGill of Hall Estill:

It is important to note what the Court did not do: The Court did not hold that a business may refuse to serve customers because they are LGBTQ+ or any other protected class. Rather, states may require public accommodation to be provided to everyone. But the state cannot require an individual or business to provide products or services that consist of speech with which the individual or business disagrees with. Exactly how far this goes in practice will have to be worked out by the lower courts as cases come before them. In other words, Colorados anti-discrimination law was not struck down, it just isnt allowed to enforce it in a way that infringes upon free speech. The Court has not given a blank check for businesses to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ+ community or anyone elsebut it has decided that where public accommodation rights established under state law clash with free speech established by the First Amendment in the Constitutionthe First Amendment wins.

It is critical to note that the principle goes both ways. In other words, if a homophobe asks an LGBTQ+ web designer to make an anti-LGBTQ+ website, that web designer may tell the homophobe to take a hike. Even if a state were to write a law requiring the LGBTQ+ web designer to make a website for homophobes, that law could not be enforced after this decision.

Editor's note: This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
NEW YORK  New York City Mayor Eric Adams doubled down Friday on comments he made earlier in the week comparing an 84-year-old whose family fled the Holocaust to a plantation owner.

The mayor, speaking during an interview on 1010 WINS Friday morning, justified his rhetoric by saying the woman, a tenant activist, was disrespectful when she stood up at a town hall and pointedly asked the mayor about the Rent Guidelines Board, a body entirely composed of mayoral appointees that recently voted for another rent increase for regulated apartments.

My mom made it clear, never allow someone to be disrespectful to you. That woman disrupted a meeting where all the participants were acting respectfully and cordially to get their issues heard, Adams said during the interview. She disrupted that, and then she was degrading on how she communicated with me. I'm not going to allow civil service to be disrespected, and I'm not going to be disrespected as the mayor of this city.

The woman, Jeanie Dubnau, attended a Wednesday mayoral town hall in Washington Heights. As the mayor was answering a question about housing, she yelled that he raised the rent. Adams asked her to stand up, and the two got into an exchange that included Dubnau accusing Adams of being controlled by the real estate industry.

Dubnau, who chairs the Riverside Edgecombe Neighborhood Association, is a longtime tenant rights activist. In 2015, she also harangued former Mayor Bill de Blasio during one of his town halls  which were far less choreographed than those held by Adams and allowed more organic interactions with voters.

Adams' reaction went much further.

If you're going to ask a question, don't point at me and don't be disrespectful to me. I'm the mayor of this city, and treat me with the respect I deserve to be treated, Adams said. I'm speaking to you as an adult, don't stand in front like you treating someone that's on the plantation that you own. Give me the respect I deserve and engage in the conversation.

City Hall defended the mayors comments, which were criticized by a number of observers for going overboard. Dubnau was born in Belgium after her family fled Nazi-led Germany in the 1930s. She moved to New York City when she was 8.
Crystal Bayat, an Afghan social activist, human rights advocate and founder of the Crystal Bayat Foundation, poses for a portrait at home in West Jordan on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News

Almost a year and a half have passed since my story of protest was covered, and in response, the Taliban robbed me of the country I love. For 15 days, I watched from my window as they changed my beloved city. I went and talked to them face to face, but they would not listen. They put a gun to me and said, She should not be coming out of her home. But I defied them and took to the streets along with other young Afghans to raise my voice in support of womens rights and the thriving Afghan civil society we had built together over the last 20 years.

I built my life in Afghanistan, I worked for Afghanistan, my goals were set in Afghanistan, and through my foundation, I was helping orphans in Afghanistan. Yet because I raised my voice against the Taliban, I became a target. They raided my home and threatened my family. Fearing for our lives, I left my family behind and joined over 76,000 other desperate Afghans on military planes, carrying the dreams from our country.

Crystal Bayat protests against the Taliban in Afghanistan. | Meraj Bayat

We evacuated to the misery in Qatar where we faced rigorous vetting and torturous waiting, then on to more vetting in military bases in the United States. I eventually relocated to Salt Lake City, where people are kind and treat me like family. There is so much beauty here, and I am slowly finding inner peace as I try to recover from the deep pain and loss I have suffered.

Some people think coming here is an opportunity, but despite the warm welcome I have received, for me it is not an opportunity. I have lost everything. The reason I came was to keep this voice, to show the Taliban that we women will not give up on fighting for our rights.

Related

I began my life here with a job driving a bus, but now have received a scholarship to earn a second graduate degree at Carnegie Mellon, while supporting womens rights in Afghanistan through my foundation, and working remotely with the Department of Defense to recruit Afghan evacuees to become skilled manufacturing workers.

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Though I have been approved for asylum status, many Afghan evacuees like me only have temporary humanitarian parole legal status that expires after two years. And if we go back to Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill us. We must accept that we cannot go. Living in this legal uncertainty makes important tasks, such as securing housing and car loans, close to impossible. We need permanency in order to fully find peace.

Crystal Bayat talks to a Talib soldier while protesting against the Taliban in Afghanistan. | Khaled Nora

This is an issue only Congress can fix. In August 2022, bipartisan groups in the House and Senate introduced a solution in the Afghan Adjustment Act. Modeled on historical legislation for other wartime evacuees, it paves the way to permanent legal residency for thousands of newly arrived Afghans like myself. It would allow us to gain full access to the promise America made. The bill had strong bipartisan support, including cosponsors Sens. Moran, R-Kan., Shaheen, D-N.H., Wicker, R-Miss., and Leahy, D-Vt. Among the bills champions are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and multiple veterans and faith organizations. We must reintroduce the bill in the current Congress and pass it as soon as possible.

I was raised in a democratic era during the U.S. occupation. We stood alongside the United States in the mission to create a prosperous and thriving democracy. Afghan women were the warriors, the fighters for democracy. We earned university degrees, built businesses, served as civil servants, and believed in the promise of democracy. I never felt what it feels like to not be allowed to go to school, but the Talibans arrival changed all that. Now I join my tears with those girls as they are weeping and crying at the doors of their schools, asking for the basic right of education.

America made us a promise that if we stood by them, they would stand by us. While Americas military involvement in Afghanistan is over, the job is not done. America must keep its promise and pass the Afghan Adjustment Act, allowing us to feel fully welcome and secure in our new homes. Otherwise, we will continue to suffer with uncertainty, and at worst, have to go back to a country where the rulers are dedicated to making the country hell on earth for us. Please do not forget my people and my beloved country. We deserve better. We deserve the passage of an Afghan Adjustment Act.

Crystal Bayat is an Afghan social activist and human rights advocate known for her protests against the Taliban takeover. She is now living in Utah.
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The Pflugerville school district approved two measures to bring lower-cost housing to district employees as officials try to retain staff who are having affordability issues.

During its Thursday meeting, the school district unanimously approved an agreement with the Texas Workforce Housing Foundation for it to provide affordable rent prices to district staff through certain apartment complexes in the area.

The board also approved a $2 million contract with Pinnacle/Woodbury Development to help the district develop its own housing for teachers as part of a 2022 bond election. The contract passed, 6-1, with Trustee Vernagene Mott being the lone no vote.

As the cost of living continues to rise in the area, many Pflugerville teachers are struggling to keep up. Some are working second jobs or moving out of the district to be able to afford their homes, officials say.

More: RRISD employees to have affordable workforce housing beginning in August

The state foundation, which also has a housing agreement with the Round Rock school district, will establish an initial $1 million affordability fund and an annual contribution of $50,000 for each property moving forward to be used to provide discounted rent prices to district staff at the apartment complexes, to be picked at a later date. The fund can be used by district personnel for rental payments, to cover moving expenses, security deposits or for downpayment assistance if they choose to move out.

If more apartment complexes are added to the agreement, the foundation will provide the same payments. The district will have to approve any complexes that are added to the agreement, said Adam Harden, a foundation representative.

Harden for the foundation said some units are reserved for families making no more than 30% of the area median income and others for those making no more than 60%.

Rent for a one-bedroom apartment starts at $1,295 and at $1,829 for a two-bedroom unit. But rent for district staff would start at $621 for a one-bedroom unit and $744 for a two-bedroom apartment for an employee making no more than 30% of the are mean income, or $36,690.

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Staff making no more than 60% of the area income, or $73,380, would pay rent at $1,242 for a one-bedroom, saving $53 per month, and $1,489 for a two-bedroom apartment, saving $340 per month.

Harden said the foundation would be responsible for operating, financing, maintaining, repairing and rehabilitating the housing units.

"It's a lot of pros and no cons," Mott said.

In 2022, voters approved a proposition that would allow the district to use $43.92 million to build its own teacher housing. With the approval of the contract, Pinnacle/Woodbury will be in charge of design, construction and property management.

The project is expected to bring between 100-200 units available only to teachers. Officials said it could take between two and four years to complete the housing development.

We want to do build something special, said Superintendent Doug Killian. We dont just want to build something that everybody builds.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: PfISD to provide affordable housing for teachers, staff
A womans pregnancy shouldve been terminated  because it directly threatened her life  but a crisis pregnancy center nurse failed to diagnose it as unviable, a recently filed lawsuit in Massachusetts said.

Crisis pregnancy centers are facilities that look like valid reproductive health clinics but use deceptive means, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which warns to avoid them. These centers intend to steer pregnant people away from choosing abortion and also seek to delay those procedures, the organization says.

After the womans ectopic pregnancy was misdiagnosed as viable at Clearway Clinic in Worcester, it ruptured  sending her into a dangerous, invasive surgery procedure to remove her fallopian tube and save her from internal bleeding, a complaint filed June 22 in Worcester County Superior Court says.

Ectopic pregnancies are those that form outside the uterus, where a fetus is meant to grow. Most ectopic pregnancies take place inside a fallopian tube and a fertilized egg there will not survive, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The woman, of Worcester, has filed a class-action lawsuit against Clearway Clinic, saying the clinic uses deceptive advertising, as it does not make clear that its true goal is to dissuade women from terminating their pregnancies. The clinics failure to adhere to accepted standards of medical care, resulted in a missed diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy, which ended up rupturing and creating a life-threatening emergency, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names the woman only as Jane Doe, permitted in a case that involves reproductive matters, the lawsuit says.

McClatchy News contacted Clearway Clinic, which also has a second facility in Springfield, for comment on June 29 and didnt receive an immediate response.

Clearway Clinic CEO Jill Jorgensen declined to comment on the complaints accusations in a statement to MassLive.com, citing HIPAA laws.

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However, she told the outlet the center has served more than 10,000 women and their families in the Worcester area for the past 22 years at no cost and have never had a complaint like this in the past.

The womans misdiagnosis

The plaintiff in the case learned of the ectopic pregnancy in November 2022, a month after she went to Clearway, attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, whos representing the plaintiff, said in a news release.

That month, a sudden, intense pain in her side alongside overwhelming fatigue and lightheadedness resulted in her husband calling 911, Liss-Riordan said.

The woman went to UMass Memorial Medical Centers emergency department, where she learned her ectopic pregnancy ruptured and caused hemorrhaging  immediately warranting dangerous surgery to save her life, according to the release.

The woman had sought out an ultrasound provider online and discovered Clearway Clinic, the law firm said. She relied on the companys declaration of being a state-licensed medical facility having board-certified doctors and nurses that can diagnose the viability of pregnancies, the release said.

According to the lawsuit, the companys ultrasound statements are false, as those performed do not meet the standard levels of medical care, which causes misdiagnosis, including in plaintiffs case failing to identify an ectopic pregnancy.

At every step of the way (the plaintiff) was led to believe she was receiving appropriate medical care when in fact she was subject to a campaign of misinformation and unfair and deceptive practices, Liss-Riordan said.

If the plaintiff received standard care, she wouldve learned the truth  that her pregnancy wasnt viable, according to the complaint.

Clearway Clinic is accused of encouraging her pregnancy, despite it being a risk to her life, after it was misdiagnosed as viable.

More on crisis pregnancy centers

On Clearway Clinics website, it lists services including pre-abortion consultation, ultrasounds, pregnancy testing, abortion pill reversal, STI testing and treatment, prenatal health education and post-abortion care programs. It doesnt provide abortion services.

This is one warning sign that a clinic is actually a crisis pregnancy center, according to the Massachusetts Attorney Generals office, because it claims to offer abortion consultation and education without actually providing abortions.

Crisis pregnancy centers do not provide comprehensive reproductive healthcare, the attorney generals office warns, and most arent licensed to provide such care. Those without proper licenses arent bound to follow standard care or ethical practices.

The companys Worcester and Springfield locations are listed among the crisis pregnancy centers and anti-abortion centers in New England by Reproductive Equity Now, a non-profit based in Boston.

Worcester is about 45 miles southwest of Boston.

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On a rocky outcrop almost 2 miles beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean off Costa Rica, researchers have documented an active octopus nursery. It may be the third known example of a brooding site where huge numbers of the creatures cluster together.

During a three-week expedition this month, scientists on board Schmidt Ocean Institutes Falkor research ship saw hundreds of octopuses and watched their babies hatch at the soccer field-size Dorado Outcrop. Located 2,800 meters (1.7 miles) deep in the lower reaches of the so-called twilight zone, it was one of six underwater mountains surveyed by the vessels underwater robot, ROV SuBastian.

We could see that some of them were ready to pop  like the octopus just came out, said geomicrobiologist Beth Orcutt, a senior research scientist at the Maine-based Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, who led the expedition along with Jorge Cortes of the University of Costa Rica. It was a really exciting moment because we werent expecting it. Cortes is a researcher at the universitys Center for Research in Marine Sciences and Limnology.

The expedition also captured spectacular footage of other deep-ocean life, including tripod fish, rays and coral gardens.

Mystery solved?

The discovery of an active community of octopus moms and babies solved a mystery that had perplexed scientists.

A subsea vehicle first spotted a large group of octopuses on the Dorado Outcrop in 2013 during an expedition to understand the areas geochemistry.

The expedition's findings add to evidence that some deep-sea octopuses may seek out low-temperature hydrothermal vents for brooding their eggs. - Schmidt Ocean Institute

It was the first time that octopuses, typically solitary creatures that like cooler waters, had been spotted clustered in such numbers in this way on a low-temperature hydrothermal vent  an opening in the seafloor where warm, chemical-rich fluids flow out.

Scientists observed that the octopuses appeared stressed and could not see any developing embryos in the 186 eggs they counted in still images and video footage. The research team thought conditions were too inhospitable to make it a great place to start a family.

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I was part of the team that went to the site (10 years ago). We just went to that one outcrop to look for evidence of low-temperature vents and discovered that there were those octopuses, but they didnt seem to be successfully brooding, Orcutt said.

So the goal was to go back to Dorado and figure out whats going on, and we discovered it is an active nursery. We saw babies being born.

The researchers also found one other smaller octopus nursery on a low-temperature hydrothermal vent on an as-yet-unnamed seamount.

Possibly a new species

The discoveries add to evidence that some species of deep-sea octopus may seek out low-temperature hydrothermal vents for brooding their eggs. The warmer fluids may provide an advantage to egg development, even if the lower oxygen would make it harder to breathe. Octopuses are famously self-sacrificial mothers  after laying a clutch of eggs, they quit eating and waste away, typically dying by the time the eggs hatch.

We dont know why they are attracted to this place. Perhaps they just stumble upon it, perhaps they seek it out, maybe for the warmth, maybe for the bare rock, maybe for some reason beyond our comprehension, said octopus specialist Janet Voight, an associate curator of invertebrate zoology at Chicagos Field Museum who was part of the latest expedition. She was one of three authors of a 2018 paper analyzing the initial footage taken in 2013.

Scientists believe this octopus discovered off Costa Rica's Pacific Coast is potentially a new species of Muusoctopus, a genus of small to medium-size octopus. - Schmidt Ocean Institute

Voight and her coauthors speculated an octopus population might be in a healthier habitat nearby and the octopuses captured in the photos and video footage were a doomed surplus group that had inadvertently chosen to set up home in the wrong neighborhood.

Watching the ROVs light reveal the hundreds of animals, I was just thrilled!! she said via email.

Scientists believe this octopus is potentially a new species of Muusoctopus, a genus of small to medium-size octopus. Its not known how long the deep-sea octopuses brood their eggs for at that location, Orcutt said.

The main aim of the June expedition was to better understand the hydrogeology, microbiology, ecology and geochemistry of the Dorado Outcrop and its octopuses, she added. The team collected cores of sediment and microorganisms for lab analysis. The scientists also plan to return to the site in December to collect octopus eggs from devices they deposited recently to find out why the creatures like to brood there.

The other known octopus nursery is about 3,200 meters (2 miles) below the ocean surface on the Davidson Seamount off the coast of Monterey, California, where thousands of octopuses cluster around a vent, and a smaller nursery that was found on a 2,600-meter-deep (1.6-mile-deep) basalt outcrop in the North Pacific Ocean known as Baby Bare, Voight said. Orcutt added, however, that it wasnt clear whether octopuses were actively breeding there.

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[Source]

A man has been arrested and charged for attacking Rep. Maryam Khan (D, CT-5) after she attended an Eid al-Adha service with her family in Hartford, Connecticut, on Wednesday morning.

Key details: Speaking to the Connecticut branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Khan said the attacker, identified as 30-year-old Andrey Desmond, approached her at Hartford's XL Center after the Wednesday service.

CAIR-CT noted that Khan was with her sister, three children  her 15-year-old daughter, her 10-year-old daughter and her 12-year-old son  and a female friend at the time.

Desmond made obscene remarks before grabbing Khan, hitting her and throwing her to the ground, Khan told CAIR-CT.

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The man reportedly tried to flee the scene, but a bystander chased him and held him down him until the police came.

What the authorities are saying: Hartford Police noted that Desmond attacked a public figure without specifically naming Khan. Desmond was found near the crime scene around the area of Trumbull and Chapel streets.

Desmond is now facing second-degree unlawful restraint, third-degree assault, second-degree breach of peace and interfering with police charges.

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What CAIR-CT is saying: In a statement, CAIR-CT Chair Farhan Memon urged local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to look into the attack on Khan and to ensure the safety of the Muslim community in Connecticut during Eid al-Adha celebrations.

All too often we have seen American Muslims, or those perceived to be Muslim, targeted by hate because of their attire, race or ethnicity, Memon added.

Other statements: Connecticut House Speaker Matt Ritter and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas acknowledged the incident in a joint statement, noting that the State Capitol Police have assured them they are working with Hartford Police to conduct a full and thorough investigation.

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Who is Khan: A Pakistani-born lawmaker, Khan made history as the first Muslim elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives after winning the special election in March 2022 with almost 75% of the votes.

Prior to starting a career in politics, Khan served as a special educational needs teacher.
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Supreme Court blocks use of affirmative action at Harvard, UNC

USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze looks at the court's ruling that blocks the use of affirmative action at a pair of American colleges. Plus, a task force recommends reparations for Black Californians, Criminal Justice Reporter Grace Hauck gives a state of the nation report card on gun violence, a new Florida law targets undocumented migrants, and forecasters predict a hot and smoky summer for much of the country.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Friday, the 30th of June 2023. Today, what the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action means for universities and beyond. Plus, a final report on reparations for Black Californians is released, and where do we stand on gun violence in America?



The Supreme Court yesterday struck down affirmative action policies at two major American colleges, Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The decision scrambles a decades old effort to diversify campuses and it may even have ramifications for the American workforce. USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent John Fritze has more. Welcome back to the program, John.

John Fritze:

Hey, thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So John, this was a big decision. What exactly did the court decide here?

John Fritze:

Big, but not particularly unexpected. The court has been, I think, heading in this direction for some time. Certainly Chief Justice Roberts has articulated an animosity toward race-based policies for decades, and so in that sense it wasn't a huge surprise. But it's interesting because as listeners know, this is a case that looks at admission policies at Harvard University and University of North Carolina that consider race as one of many factors. And the reason why they did it that way was because the Supreme Court told them they could do it that way for many decades and most recently in a 2003 precedent. And so in that sense, it's always interesting and noteworthy when they are weakening or overturning a precedent depending on your perspective here. But what the court did was, 6-3 in the case of the Harvard suit, saying that look, those policies are out. And what exactly happens next, I think, will be something we'll be wrestling with probably for years, trying to figure out what exactly this decision means.

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Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, getting into that, I mean, this could have massive ramifications for higher education and even the American workplace. How will we see those consequences play out, John?

John Fritze:

Yeah, I mean, so I think what's clear is that universities can't check a box on race. They can't make decisions based explicitly on race. The court left open a window to considering the impacts that race can have on an individual. So if you write an essay that discusses your race and how you overcame say, discrimination because of it, that may be permissible for universities to consider. But, they can't take that race and say okay, that person's in a minority, so they get an extra bump in the admissions process. I think the universities and some of the progressive groups are focusing very heavily on this caveat, this idea that schools can consider it a little bit, but I think it's really uncertain how much wiggle room schools are going to have here.

In terms of beyond the higher education realm, I do think this has impact. Of course, many large American companies were in with a brief at the court saying they were concerned about the workforce of candidates for jobs being diverse. And so I think that's sort of the immediate impact. And then legal experts do think that there is the potential for this to open up challenges to DEI and other diversity efforts in the workplace in the future. This decision should be clear, it doesn't address that now, but it may empower challenges down the line.

Taylor Wilson:

And you mentioned this previous 2003 decision from the high court that upheld using race as a factor in admissions. John, what does this week's decision tell us about differences between the court then and now?

John Fritze:

Right. I mean I think that the main thing that has changed between then and now is the composition of the court. It's a much more conservative court with three appointees from President Donald Trump, many of whom have, like Roberts for years, signaled a distaste or a concern about any race-based policy. And so I think that for the groups that brought this challenge, it was very smart, their timing, because I think it's much like the abortion decision last year. It was probably brought as a test to see if this conservative court would bite on ending affirmative action and we have now learned that they will bite on that proposition.

Taylor Wilson:

John Fritze with some great insight for us after a big day on the Supreme Court. Thanks, John.

John Fritze:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

President Joe Biden yesterday slammed the decision, saying, "This is not a normal court." He later told MSNBC that the court has gone out of its way to overturn precedents, also referencing its decision last year to overturn Roe v. Wade.



Reparations could be coming for Black Californians who are descendants of people enslaved in the US. The California Reparations Task Force publicly released its final report yesterday. It has a number of recommendations for state lawmakers to consider in a plan to compensate eligible Black Americans for financial losses brought on by slavery and decades of institutional racism. Task force member and civil rights attorney Lisa Holder said, "Show me the statute of limitations on the world's greatest crime against humanity." The task force's recommendations include, but also go beyond cash payments for eligible individuals.

The final report lays out possible estimates of reparations owed by the state. They include $13,600 for each year of residency in California based on a 71 year life expectancy for harm caused by healthcare disparities and around $2,300 for each year of residency within the state from 1971 to 2020 to compensate for mass incarceration and over policing of Black communities. The group is also calling for sweeping policy changes to compensate Black Californians for the harms and loss of generational wealth brought on by state policies that have led to housing discrimination, over policing and mass incarceration, devaluation of African-American businesses and unjust property seizures by eminent domain. The state legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom will now be tasked with weighing recommendations and crafting bills to move forward. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.



As we head into the 4th of July holiday, the reporting team at USA TODAY wanted to give our audience a kind of state of the nation report card. We looked at issues around the economy, race and democracy, and asked how are we doing? In the second of our series, we speak with Criminal Justice Reporter Grace Hauck on gun violence in America. Are things out of control? Welcome back to 5 Things, Grace.

Grace Hauck:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So starting here, where do US firearm homicide and suicide rates stand in recent years?

Grace Hauck:

Yeah, it has been pretty bad the past few years. In 2020 and then again in 2021, the US saw the highest number of gun deaths ever. That's according to CDC data. In 2021, 49,000 people died by firearm, and it was in 2020 that firearms became the leading cause of death for children and teens. So early 2020, especially that spring, as the COVID pandemic started to set in, we just saw these rates really start to spike. In 2021, about 80% of all homicides involved a gun and about 55% of all suicides involved a gun, which are the highest percentages in the past two decades, but not all time highs. So firearm homicide rates, we saw those surge in the '70s, then again in the '90s, and then reach almost comparable levels in 2021, but not quite historic levels.

Now, early data suggests overall firearm homicides might be finally starting to decline again, which is some semblance of good news. That's based on partial and preliminary info from the CDC that shows declining rates in 2022. Now, CDC data is always a bit delayed, so we don't have final data for that year yet. We don't have data for 2023, but a nonprofit that tracks this, the Gun Violence Archive, shows declining firearm homicide rates so far this year, too. So that suggested a better trend as we're coming out of this pandemic. Now, the story with suicides is a bit different. They account for about half of all firearm deaths every year, and have been increasing for the last 15 years. And suicide rates involving a firearm are now at a higher level than we have seen in more than 50 years. And while we have some of those indications that all firearm homicides are declining, we're not seeing that same indication for deaths by suicide. That early CDC data for 2022 suggests that rates are still going up.

Taylor Wilson:

And a lot of the gun violence that folks hear about in the news, centers around these mass shootings. Can you remind us how a mass shooting is defined, Grace, and what direction are these incidents trending in?

Grace Hauck:

The way that we and some other outlets define a mass shooting is an incident in which four or more victims, not including the perpetrator, are hit by gunfire. They'd be injured, could be fatal, but at least four people are hit by gunfire who are not the shooter. And so there have been more than 300 mass shootings so far this year. That's up 14% year over year, according to that nonprofit, Gun Violence Archive. So we really are seeing an increasing number of these incidents even as we're seeing reports of firearm homicides decreasing. Mass shootings are typically... and gun violence generally is typically more over the summer, and so the fact that we're already seeing a 14% increase in mass shootings at this point in the year as we head into what is typically the worst period has been alarming for some researchers.

Mass killings are when four or more victims are killed. Those are always mass shootings and halfway through 2023, we've seen more mass killings at this point in the year than in any other year since at least 2006, according to this mass killing database that we at USA TODAY run with the Associated Press and Northeastern University. What is particularly troubling about this is the number of mass killings that we are seeing in public places - places like movie theaters, grocery stores, schools - the most that we've ever seen in a year was 10. This year there have already been 7. We are headed into July 4th, and that is a particularly deadly time for gun violence. There have been 52 mass shootings on the 4th of July over the past decade. If you average that out, that's an average of five mass shootings each Independence Day, which is more than on any other day. That is according to a recent analysis by James Allen Fox of Northeastern University using Gun Violence Archive data.

Taylor Wilson:

When it comes to solutions, there are a lot of proposals out there. What do these researchers say?

Grace Hauck:

Yeah, you have some who back proposals like flag laws, more waiting periods, background checks, minimum age requirements. You have others who support programs like community violence intervention. Some say secured firearm storage is key to reducing unintentional firearm deaths and suicides in particular. Some say the US needs to reinstate a federal assault weapons ban that we had between 1994 and 2004. Actually, this year is about one year since Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was the largest gun safety deal in decades. And we're still seeing these really historic rates of gun violence.

Taylor Wilson:

Grace Hauck covers criminal justice for USA TODAY. Thanks so much, Grace.

Grace Hauck:

Thank you.



Taylor Wilson:

A Florida law will go into effect tomorrow with some of the nation's toughest penalties and new restrictions on undocumented immigrants. The law includes third degree felony charges for knowingly transporting people illegally across state lines into Florida. New employment requirements will include random audits of businesses suspected of hiring undocumented workers and hospitals will be required to ask patients about whether they're in the country legally. That means many families are preparing to make tough decisions, including possibly leaving Florida altogether. Critics of the new law also worry it'll lead to a labor shortage, potentially hurting crop harvests and the tourism industry.



Americans should expect a hot and smoky summer in much of the country. Forecasters expect a stuck weather pattern that made abnormally hot and dry conditions for Canada to continue. That's bad news for the 235 out of control wildfires burning there and for US cities south of the border, which are expected to see more smoke this summer, especially in the Midwest and East. The pattern has also made it so that the only relief comes when low pressure systems roll in. That means areas on one side gets smoky air from the north and the other gets hot air from the south. National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center Chief Greg Carbin said that when it comes to smoke or heat this summer, "Pick your poison."

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. We're produced by Shannon Rae Green and our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Special thanks to Cherie Saunders, Alexis Gustin and Mark Sovel. I'm Taylor Wilson back tomorrow with another episode of 5 Things.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SCOTUS blocks affirmative action in admissions, hot summer: 5 Things podcast
ST. LUCIE COUNTY  Prosecutors found insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges against Sheriff Ken Mascara related to allegations he and others broke the law in promoting a straw candidate in the 2020 primary and general elections for sheriff, state records show.

Rumors regarding the matter circulated publicly since at least early 2022, though its not immediately clear when the Florida Department of Law Enforcement began investigating.

The office of Phil Archer, state attorney for Brevard and Seminole counties in the 18th judicial circuit, was assigned to investigate following confidential executive orders from Gov. Ron DeSantis, records show. Archers office memorialized the conclusion to not file charges in a nine-page letter to an FDLE inspector.

State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl said his office, which covers St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River and Okeechobee counties in the 19th judicial circuit, in August 2021 asked DeSantis to issue an executive order to appoint an outside state attorney to look into the matter, to avoid a conflict of interest because he works closely with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office. Bakkedahl said he didn't know how FDLE first learned of the allegations. FDLE communications coordinator Dana Kelly said her agency received a complaint that began the investigation, but did not specify how or from whom.

The sheriff, first elected in 2000, was sworn in for his sixth term in 2021, which he has said would be his last. Mascara said earlier this week via text he didn't know about the investigation.

St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara

A Democrat, Mascara defeated Republican challenger Kevin Carter, a retired St. Lucie County sheriffs deputy, in the 2020 election.

The criminal investigation appeared to center around Mascara and Carter, who defeated Richard Williams, a former Florida Highway Patrol trooper, in the Republican primary.

The letter states the FDLE investigation revealed   Mascara and others devised a plan in May 2020, to install a straw candidate to run against Williams in the Republican primary in the hope that Williams would lose the Republican nomination and be eliminated from running against Mascara in the general election.

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Kevin Carter

According to the letter, Carter made it clear he didnt intend to campaign or win the election, and planned to be in Pennsylvania where he had a home for most of the campaign period. Still, he agreed.

His candidacy mainly was left to then sheriffs Capt. William Hardman, who connected Carter with a campaign treasurer and worked to get campaign contributions, the letter states.

Hardman, hired in 1991, retired effective Dec. 31, 2020, during an inquiry related to "allegations of alleged sexual harassment," according to sheriff's general counsel J.D. Small. That date was less than two months after the election.

Gossip spread that Carter had been installed as a straw candidate by Mascara and his supporters to get Williams out, the letter states.

Rich Williams

That gossip led to those close to Mascara to share what they knew about the effort, including Hardman, who, after negotiating the offer of 'use immunity,' provided an interview  in which he detailed his role, and that of others, throughout Carters candidacy, records show.

'Use immunity' means a sworn and compelled statement cant be used against a person in a later prosecution, though charges can be filed if evidence against the person is found elsewhere.

Hardman supplied the blueprint for the FDLE inquiry.

The letter states Hardman was essentially forced to retire from the Sheriffs Office because of improper conduct discovered during the investigation of unrelated claims, a fact that will be cast as a motive for him to fabricate evidence impugning the reputation of his former employer.

Additional information regarding the circumstances behind Hardman's departure from the agency were not immediately available.

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Hardman alleged Mascara left $10,000 in Hardmans office with an understanding hed give portions to various people who would write contribution checks to Carters campaign.

But no witnesses, including the 11 people who allegedly got portions of the money, could give direct evidence supporting Hardmans allegation that Mascara was the source.

Hardman also said he delivered $4,600 to Carter at Mascaras behest and in appreciation for Carters assistance during the election.

Hardman said the money was accumulated from the proceeds of checks that had been written by, and cashed against, the Carter campaign account and returned to either Hardman or Mascara.

More than 40 witnesses were interviewed. Ultimately, the letter states, there was insufficient evidence to support violations of elections-related and other statutes. The FDLE also did not respond to the question of whether Mascara was interviewed.

A request earlier this week to the FDLE for more information about the case has not been fulfilled.

Todd Brown, of Archers office, said the criminal inquiry has ended.

His office declined further comment.

Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on Twitter @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Criminal elections probe against Florida sheriff brings no charges
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court on Friday dashed President Joe Biden's plan to wipe out student loan debt for tens of millions Americans, ending a program that was intended to ease the financial burden on families in the latest significant ruling from the high court that curbs a president's power to act alone.

In one of the most closely followed cases before the court, with sweeping implications for the balance of power in Washington and the household finances of millions of families, a majority ruled on ideological lines that the Biden administration overstepped its power by attempting to forgive $400 billion in student loans lingering during the pandemic.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the decision for the 6-3 majority, with the conservative justices lining up behind the idea that a federal law called the HEROES Act that allowed the Biden administration to "waive or modify" the terms of student loans did not give the president the power to offer wholesale forgiveness of that debt.

"The act allows the secretary to 'waive or modify' existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs," Roberts wrote, "not to rewrite that statute from the ground up."

The decision  widely expected for months  drew a sharp rebuke from the court's liberal wing and the White House itself, which vowed to continue working on the issue. But student debt relief has not gained traction on Capitol Hill and Biden's options for meeting his campaign promise to reduce student debt appeared limited.

"This fight is not over," Biden said after the decision. On Friday afternoon, Biden said he would introduce an alternative plan to provide student loan forgiveness, by utilizing the Higher Education Act of 1965.

"This new path is legally sound. It's going to take longer," Biden said. "In my view, it's the best path that remains to provide as many borrowers as possible with debt relief."

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The Supreme Court decision will have the most immediate impact on about 26 million borrowers who applied for relief in the few weeks applications were open, and more than 16 million were approved before a pair of court decisions put the loan forgiveness effort on hold. The administration had estimated that as many as 40 million people would be eligible for relief under the program.

Several advocates were quick to note that would have disproportionate impact on students of color, who are more likely to not only borrow but also carry higher debt loads. In that sense, the decision was the second in as many days from the high court to hit minority students particularly hard. On Thursday, the court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

Justice Elena Kagan, who authored the dissent for the court's liberal wing, wrote that "in every respect, the court today exceeds its proper, limited role in our nations governance." Kagan wrote that the majority was reading the law far too conservatively so as to "negate broad delegations Congress has approved."

"The court once again substitutes itself for Congress and the executive branch  and the hundreds of millions of people they represent  in making this nations most important, as well as most contested, policy decisions," she wrote."

The court's decision, while significant, was not a surprise: The conservative majority has increasingly looked skeptically on efforts by presidents to act unilaterally without explicit approval from Congress. The administration has lost similar legal fights over efforts to extend an eviction moratorium, impose vaccine-or-testing requirements on large employers and curb power plant emissions.

In those cases and others, the court's conservatives have raised concerns about a presidential administration attempting to circumvent Congress through regulations.

"The dissent is correct that this is a case about one branch of government arrogating to itself power belonging to another," Roberts wrote. "But it is the executive seizing the power of the legislature."

Biden says he will pursue other ways of canceling student loan debt

Biden said Friday that he will pursue canceling student loan debt through an alternative legal authority after the Supreme Court blocked his signature program to eliminate up to $20,000 in student loan debt for millions of Americans.

Biden said his administration will work to forgive student loan debt through the Higher Education Act of 1965, which he said authorizes the education secretary to modify, waive or compromise federal student loan under certain circumstances.

"This new path is legally sound. It's going to take longer," Biden said in White House remarks in response to the court, which ruled his original plan exceeded executive authority. "And in my view, it's the best path that remains for to provide as many borrowers as possible with debt relief."

Biden fears SCOTUS decision could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans

President Joe Biden said hes deeply concerned the Supreme Courts decision Friday to side with a Colorado web designer who refused to provide services for same-sex marriages could invite more discrimination against LGBTQI+ Americans.

In a statement slamming the courts 6-3 opinion, Biden said, More broadly, todays decision weakens long-standing laws that protect all Americans against discrimination in public accommodations  including people of color, people with disabilities, people of faith, and women.

Biden vowed that his administration remains committed to rigorously enforce federal laws protecting Americans from discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. He said he will work with states to fight back against attempts to roll back civil rights protections that could follow this ruling.

He called on Congress to pass the Equality Act to ensure civil rights protections for LGBTQI+ Americans.

When one groups dignity and equality are threatened, the promise of our democracy is threatened and we all suffer, Biden said.

People of color will feel impact of Supreme Court's decisions

Fridays opinion gutting mass student loan debt forgiveness is the second in as many days that hits people of color especially hard. On Thursday, the court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

Black and brown students are more likely to borrow and hold a disproportionate amount of student loan debt.

Advocates were quick to call on the Biden administration to act.

Our communities often face intersecting forms of discrimination and systemic disadvantages, restricting access to higher education and economic opportunities, said David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a Black LGBTQ+ civil rights group. Our democracy will be weakened as a result of this ruling.

Biden to announce new actions for student loan borrowers after SCOTUS defeat

President Joe Biden will announce new actions to protect student loan borrowers, the White House said Friday after the Supreme Court killed the presidents debt forgiveness plan in a 6-3 opinion.

While we strongly disagree with the court, we prepared for this scenario. The president will have more to say today, said a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The official said Biden will make clear in his remarks that hes not done fighting yet. He will also make it crystal clear to borrowers and their families that Republicans are responsible for denying them the relief that President Biden has been fighting to get to them.

Supreme Court decision major loss for Biden, families with debt

Biden's attorneys walked into court as underdogs, up against a years-long project by the court's conservative majority to limit the power of federal agencies. The administration has lost similar legal fights over efforts to extend an eviction moratorium, impose vaccine-or-testing requirements on large employers and curb power plant emissions.

The decision represents a significant loss for students and families who were counting on the relief. Biden's proposal would have forgiven up to $20,000 for some borrowers. The White House seems to have few options for a Plan B and administration aides repeatedly declined to answer questions about next steps while the case was pending.

It's also a major political defeat for Biden, depriving him of the ability to claim he fulfilled a campaign promise aimed at his political base. Student debt relief emerged as a central issue in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and progressive groups were leaning on Biden even before the Supreme Court handed down its decision.

Roberts, Kagan engage in unusual exchange over court's role

In her dissent, Justice Elena Kagan claimed that the majority "blows through a constitutional guardrail intended to keep courts acting like courts," a reference to the Supreme Court's decision that Missouri had standing to sue in the first place. Kagan's words, appeared to harken back to a speech she gave last year arguing that the best way to ensure the court's trust with the public was for courts to "act like a court."

The point drew an unusual response from Chief Justice John Roberts at the end of his opinion.

"It has become a disturbing feature of some recent opinions to criticize the decisions with which they disagree as going beyond the proper role of the judiciary," Roberts wrote. "We do not mistake this plainly heartfelt disagreement for disparagement. It is important that the public not be misled either. Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country."

What the Supreme Court said in its student loan decision

Roberts wrote that the secretary of education had argued that the HEROES Act "grants him the authority to cancel $430 billion of student loan principal. It does not." The act, Roberts said, "allows the Secretary to 'waive or modify' existing statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to financial assistance programs under the Education Act, not to rewrite that statute from the ground up."

Justice Elena Kagan, who read her dissent from the bench, said that "in every respect, the court today exceeds its proper, limited role in our nations governance."

Outside the court: My whole future is in front of them.

The scene outside the Supreme Court was subdued in the hour before the first opinion came down, with hardly any protesters gathered in the haze and humidity of the morning.

One person showed up mostly covered in a cardboard box painted black to represent the Bible.

Melissa Byrne, the founder of a group called We the 45 Million was taping a sign to a lectern encouraging the court to allow Bidens relief effort to stand. Byrne, who is still carrying student loan debt herself, said she was somewhat hopeful for a positive ruling based on how the justices have tossed out other recent lawsuits on standing.

My whole future is in front of them, she said. They have a lot of power.

Supreme Courts two Black justices debate affirmative action

The frequency of unanimous opinions doesnt mean the term has been free from tension. There have been notable instances of the justices sniping at each others arguments, including in the major affirmative action case this week.

Justices Clarence Thomas, a conservative who is the courts second Black justice, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal and the courts first Black woman, put their disagreement over race-based policies on display in opinions in the affirmative action cases Thursday.

Rather than focusing on individuals as individuals, her dissent focuses on the historical subjugation of black Americans, Thomas wrote of Jackson in concurrence. As she sees things, we are all inexorably trapped in a fundamentally racist society, with the original sin of slavery and the historical subjugation of Black Americans still determining our lives today.

Student debt relief advocates listen and react outside the Supreme Court on June 30, 2023.

In a footnote, Jackson described Thomas writing as a prolonged attack. His opinion, she wrote, demonstrates an obsession with race consciousness that far outstrips my or UNCs holistic understanding that race can be a factor that affects applicants unique life experiences.

Student loans, LGBTQ cases round out significant term

The final two cases expected Monday will bring to close a significant term in which the justices agreed far more often than they split along ideological lines.

Some of the most surprising outcomes came in voting rights cases, where the lineups were unusual. Last week, the court shot down a conservative theory that could have given state lawmakers extraordinary power to set election rules in their states with little oversight from courts. That was a 6-3 vote, with Roberts writing for a majority that included two more conservatives and the three liberals.

Earlier this month, the court unexpectedly ruled against Alabama in a challenge to its recently redrawn congressional districts, smacking down an argument for "color-blind" redistricting. The 5-4 decision from Roberts brought together one additional conservative and three liberals.

Whos writing the student debt, LGBTQ opinions?

Nobody knows for certain who is writing what but as the term draws to its close there are some clues. Thats partly because each justice generally writes one decision from each sitting  a period of several weeks in which cases are argued.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in the LGBTQ case on Dec. 5, which was the Nov. 28 sitting. The only justice who has yet to write from that sitting is Justice Neil Gorsuch. So theres a good chance that Gorsuch, who is one of the courts most ardent supporters of religious rights, will write the majority in opinion in 303 Creative v. Elenis.

The assignment of the student loan cases, which were argued in late February, are harder to predict because only three justices have written in that sitting. Assuming the case goes to a senior conservative, theres a good chance it will land with Chief Justice John Roberts or Justice Samuel Alito.

Where to find the Supreme Courts student loan decision

The Supreme Court justices will enter the ornate chamber and take their seats at 10 a.m. EDT and the marshal will kick off the proceedings with the traditional cry of Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Chief Justice John Roberts will then announce which of his colleagues has written the courts opinion in the first case.

The justice who authored the opinion  and sometimes the justices writing dissents and concurrences  then read summaries of their positions. These readings can help make sense of the outcome, but they are not streamed. When one case is done, Roberts will announce who has the next opinion.

Opinions become public at the same time they are announced from the bench. So the easiest way to follow along is to head to the opinions section of the Supreme Courts website.

Biden student loan relief plan in jeopardy

At issue in the student loan case is Biden's plan to wipe out student loan debt for 26 million Americans, an idea that would cost an estimated $400 billion and that has been on the ropes in federal courts almost from the get-go.

Biden's attorneys walked into court as underdogs in the case, up against a years-long project by the court's conservative majority to limit the power of federal agencies. The administration has lost similar legal fights over efforts to extend an eviction moratorium, impose vaccine-or-testing requirements on large employers and curb power plant emissions.

Race: Supreme Court blocks use of affirmative action at Harvard, UNC in blow to diversity efforts

Biden announced the student loan program in August, honoring a campaign pledge he made before the 2020 election. About 26 million borrowers applied in the few weeks applications were open, and more than 16 million were approved before a pair of court decisions put the loan forgiveness effort on hold. The administration had estimated that as many as 40 million people would be eligible for relief under the program.

But the effort drew immediate pushback from conservatives, who noted Congress failed to pass legislation that explicitly authorized the forgiveness. Instead, Biden relied on a law passed in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks that gave the Education Department power to "waive or modify" loan rules for Americans suffering from an emergency.

Six conservative states and two individual borrowers filed lawsuits over the plan. The states, including Missouri and Nebraska, argued a state-created entity known as MOHELA that services student loans would lose money if the debt was forgiven. The borrowers said they weren't given an opportunity to argue for more relief.

The Supreme Court on June 29, 2023.

Wedding websites: Sweeping implications for LGBTQ rights

The Supreme Court also decided a second case involving LGBTQ rights and freedom of speech.

In a decision that could have profound implications for when businesses may turn away customers, a Colorado website designer has argued that a state anti-discrimination law can't be used to compel her to develop same-sex wedding sites. It is the latest in a series of cases to reach the court pitting business owners against LGBTQ customers, although this one focused on free speech rights more than religion.

Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, a Denver-based website design firm, said she didn't object to serving LGBTQ customers  only same-sex weddings. Because Smith's websites are custom creations they represent her speech as well as that of her customers, her lawyers argued. Smith was never approached by an LGBTQ couple seeking a matrimonial website site. Rather, she wanted the high court to invalidate the Colorado law before that could happen.

In a 6-3 opinion, the court sided with Smith.

303 Creative: Supreme Court backs web developer who didn't want to create same-sex wedding sites

Critics said Smith's argument would allow businesses to skirt anti-discrimination laws.

After a landmark victory in 2015 legalizing same-sex marriage and another win in 2020 that banned workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the outlook for LGBTQ rights at the Supreme Court has dimmed in recent years  especially when those rights are in tension with the First Amendment's protection of religious freedom.

People protest outside of the Supreme Court on June 29, 2023.

Affirmative action: High court hands down major ruling on race

Higher education experts were still parsing the implications of a ruling Thursday that struck down affirmative action admissions policies used by Harvard College and the University of North Carolina to diversify their campuses.

In one of the year's most closely watched cases, the court ruled along ideological lines that the way the colleges approached race violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The decision drew a sharp rebuke from the court's liberal wing, who said it rolled "decades of precedent and momentous progress."

Case tracker: Race, religion and debt. Here are the biggest cases pending at the Supreme Court

Chief Justice John Roberts, long a skeptic of race-based policies, wrote that too many universities "have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin." The nation's constitutional history, he wrote, "does not tolerate that choice."

President Joe Biden speaks about the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on June 29, 2023.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court blocks Biden plan to forgive student loan debt
The technology industry isn't thrilled with Arkansas' law requiring social media age checks. NetChoice, a tech trade group that includes Google, Meta and TikTok, has sued the state of Arkansas over claimed US Constitution violations in the Social Media Safety Act. The measure allegedly treads on First Amendment free speech rights by making users hand over private data in order to access social networks. It also "seizes decision making" from families, NetChoice argues.

The alliance also believes the Act hurts privacy and safety by making internet companies rely on a third-party service to store and track kids' data. State residents often don't know or associate with the service, NetChoice claims, and an external firm is supposedly a "prime target" for hacks. The law tries to regulate the internet outside state laws while ignoring federal law, according to the lawsuit. As Arkansas can't verify residency without requiring data, it's effectively asking everyone to submit documents.

State Attorney General Tim Griffin tells Engadget in a statement that he looks forward to "vigorously defending" the Social Media Safety Act. The law requires age verification for all users by submitting driver's licenses and other "commercially reasonable" methods. Anyone under 18 also needs to get a parent's consent. There are exceptions that appear to cover major social networks and their associated categories, such as those for "professional networking" (think LinkedIn) or short entertaining video clips (like TikTok).

Arkansas' requirement is part of a greater trend among politicians to demand age verification for social media. States like Utah, Connecticut and Ohio have either passed or are considering similar laws, while Senator Josh Hawley proposed a federal bill barring all social media access for kids under 16. They're concerned younger users might be exposed to creeps and inappropriate content, and that use can harm mental health by presenting a skewed view of the world and encouraging addiction.

There's no guarantee the lawsuit will succeed. If it does, though, it could affect similar attempts to verify ages through personal data. If Arkansas' approach is deemed unconstitutional, other states might have to drop their own efforts.
The city's new transit center could deliver more than a place to wait for the bus, with a new parking garage and possibly office space, apartments or a hotel on the upper floors.

The transit center could be built at Nevada and Pikes Peak avenues on a parking lot owned by Norwood Development Group, a major developer in town who will be a partner in the project.

The public-private partnership to build the new center will be a win for the city, which has long been in need of replacing the existing transit center at East Kiowa Street and North Nevada Avenue.

"I am, kind of, not believing this is happening because its taken so long," said Councilwoman Yolanda Avila, a long-time transit advocate who lauded the project.

"Transit is infrastructure, its like roads and sidewalks and bridges," she said.

The existing transit center is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, not aesthetically pleasing, and riders must walk in front of and behind buses, a safety issue, said Craig Blewitt, director of Mountain Metro Transit.

The new transit center, combined with office space, apartments or a hotel, could also be an architecturally defining for the community, Chief of Staff Jeff Greene said.

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"We want to create a building that complements the Olympic museum," he said.

The transit center portion could also be far more modern than the city's current offerings and function more like an airport terminal. The new building may also house the state's bus service, Greyhound Lines, and provide space for other options such as Uber, Lyft, electric bikes and electric scooters, Blewitt said.

Three options are in play for the private portions of the building all including retail on the ground floor. The first option would feature two office towers, the second could house an office town and a hotel, and the third envisions an office town and 250 residential units, according to the presentation to city council.

The design for the building has not started yet so officials could not provide cost estimates. As a partnership project each entity would be responsible for the portion that benefits them. Mountain Metro would be responsible for the transit portion, the city's parking enterprise would cover the new garage portion and Norwood would do the private portions of the building, Blewitt said. A plan for the current transit center also is still in the works, city officials said.

Jeff Finn, with Norwood, said that no single entity could complete the project on their own and it would allow the city to offer broader options for transportation.

"I think for downtown this will be a triple win," he said.
Former President Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin is somewhat weakened after the Wagner private army briefly rebelled against him, though he argued that the leader is still strong.

You could say that (Putin is) still there, hes still strong, but he certainly has been  I would say  somewhat weakened, at least in the minds of a lot of people, Trump said in an interview with Reuters.

Last week, Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led his troops from the front lines of Ukraine into Russia and vowed to take down Russian military leadership. After negotiating a peace, Prigozhin agreed to stand down and move his forces to Belarus.

The episode raised serious questions about whether Putin has an iron grip on the political and military leadership of his country. There are also questions about Prigozhins future, with the president of Belarus claiming that he had convinced Putin not to kill Prigozhin.

That outcome was the best scenario, Trump argued, as without Putin, You dont know what the alternative is. It could be better, but it could be far worse.

Trump said that the U.S. should be focused on negotiating peace for the entire Russia-Ukraine conflict, and that a peace may include Ukraine losing territory.

I want people to stop dying over this ridiculous war, Trump said.

Everything would be subject to negotiation in efforts to force peace, he said.

I think [Ukraine] would be entitled to keep much of what theyve earned and I think that Russia likewise would agree to that. You need the right mediator or negotiator, and we dont have that right now, he added.

Early attempts at peace between Ukraine and Russia have made little progress, as each party appears unwilling to waver on key terms. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys 10-point peace proposal would require Russia to leave all occupied Ukrainian land, something Russia is unlikely to agree to do. This would include the Crimea region, which Russia took in a 2014 conflict.

Trump was also unwilling to press Putin on international war crimes. He said those discussions should be left until after the war because right now, if you bring that topic up, youll never make peace. Youll never make a settlement.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
TUSCARAWAS  The village has provided an update for residents following the detection of lead in its drinking water on May 17.

Water operator Mike Heil said that a test showed no lead is in the water leaving the treatment plant. The source of lead is likely plumbing fixtures and solder, he said.

He said extra steps are being taken to identify the source of the lead and ensure the water is safe for consumption.

Heil said these actions have been taken so far:

On June 13, the process of feeding phosphate into the system began. This helps prevent corrosion in pipes.

The entire system was flushed to help the phosphate move through the pipes faster.

The village is working with the Tuscarawas County Health Department and the Ohio Department of Health to hold a blood level testing clinic today.

Anyone with questions regarding health concerns is advised to call the county health department at 330-343-5555 or their health care provider.

First report: Elevated levels of lead found in Tuscarawas water supply

Heil said these are the next steps to be taken:

The village plans to take an additional set of drinking water samples in the second week of July and will notify the public of the results.

The results will determine if further action needs to be taken to ensure the water is safe.

The village will test customers drinking water by request. Anyone interested in getting water tested should contact the village at 740-922-4189 or tuscvg@tuscvg.org.

The village will conduct in-home lead tests with the Ohio Rural Water Association on July 12 and July 13. These tests will determine if solder in homes contains lead. Persons interested in getting their plumbing tested should call the village administration at 740-922-4189. Village personnel and water association representatives will go door to door to offer this test throughout the village during these days.

Lead can cause serious health problems, especially for young children and pregnant women.

The county health department recommends that customers run their water to flush out lead. Run tap water for 30 seconds to 3 minutes, or until it becomes cold or reaches a steady temperature, before using it for drinking or cooking, if the water hasnt been used for several hours.

Story continues

The village response to the water quality issue began after elevated lead levels were found in 11 of 20 water samples collected in May.

Reach Nancy at 330-364-8402 or nancy.molnar@timesreporter.com.

On Twitter: @nmolnarTR

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Tuscarawas will take more water samples in July in lead response
WASHINGTON (AP)  The United Nations' scientific, educational and cultural organization has agreed to readmit the United States as a member.

UNESCOs governing board voted 132-10 on Friday to accept the U.S. proposal to rejoin the Paris-based agency. America's membership will become official once Secretary of State Antony Blinken or a designee formally accepts the invitation, according to Biden administration officials.

Blinken said the vote would restore U.S. leadership on a host of issues of importance and value to the American people.

I am encouraged and grateful that today the membership accepted our proposal, which will allow the United States to take the next, formal steps toward fully rejoining the organization, he said in a statement.

Russian, Palestinian and North Korean representatives had held up consideration of the U.S. proposal on Thursday with hours of procedural delays. That session was adjourned due to fatigue on the part of UNESCO interpreters.

In addition to Russia, North Korea and the Palestinians, those that voted against readmitting the U.S. were Belarus, China, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Nicaragua and Syria.

The Biden administration had announced in early June that it would apply to rejoin the organization mainly because it was concerned that China was filling a gap left by the U.S. absence from the body. The 193-member UNESCO plays a major role in setting international standards for artificial intelligence and technology education around the world.

The Trump administration in 2017 announced that the U.S. would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias. That decision that took effect a year later.

The U.S. and Israel stopped financing UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011.

The Biden administration has requested $150 million for the 2024 budget to go toward UNESCO dues and arrears. The plan foresees similar requests for the ensuing years until the full debt of $619 million is paid off.

Story continues

That makes up a big chunk of UNESCOs $534 million annual operating budget. Before leaving, the U.S. contributed 22% of the agencys overall funding.

Israel has long accused the United Nations of anti-Israel bias. In 2012, over Israeli objections, the state of Palestine was recognized as a nonmember observer state by the General Assembly. The Palestinians claim the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip  territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war  for an independent state. Israel says the Palestinians efforts to win recognition at the U.N. are aimed at circumventing a negotiated settlement and meant to pressure Israel into concessions.

The United States previously pulled out of UNESCO under the Reagan administration in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance Soviet interests. It rejoined in 2003 during former President George W. Bush's presidency.

___

Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
A Virginia sheriff is facing federal fraud and conspiracy charges as the US Justice Department claims he handed out deputy sheriff badges in exchange for money to help fund his reelection campaign, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Howard Jenkins, 51, and three other Virginia men have been charged with a conspiracy to exchange bribes for law enforcement badges and credentials, the US attorneys office for the Western District of Virginia said in a statement.

The indictment claims that from at least April 2019, Jenkins accepted cash bribes and bribes in the form of campaign contributions totaling at least $72,500 from Rick Tariq Rahim, 55, of Great Falls, Fredric Gumbinner, 64, of Fairfax, James Metcalf, 60, of Manassas, and at least five others, including two FBI undercover agents.

In return, Jenkins appointed each of those who paid bribes as auxiliary deputy sheriffs, a sworn law enforcement position, and issued them Culpeper County Sheriffs Office badges and identification cards.

The indictment said Jenkins told, or caused others to tell, those who paid bribes that the law enforcement credentials authorized them to carry concealed firearms in all 50 states without obtaining a permit.

Jenkins is also accused of assisting Rahim in gaining approval for a petition to restore his firearms rights filed in Culpeper County Circuit Court that falsely stated Rahim resided in the county, the indictment said, in exchange for bribes.

US Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh said Jenkins not only violated federal law but also violated the faith and trust placed in him by the citizens of Culpeper County by accepting cash bribes in exchange for auxiliary deputy badges and other benefits.

Our elected officials are expected to uphold the rule of law, not abuse their power for their own personal, financial gain, he added.

Jenkins is charged with one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest-services mail and wire fraud, and eight counts of federal programs bribery. Rahim is charged with one count of conspiracy, three counts of honest-services mail and wire fraud, and three counts of federal programs bribery. Gumbinner and Metcalf are charged with one count of conspiracy, one count of honest-services wire fraud, and two counts of federal programs bribery.

Story continues

CNN has reached out to the defense attorneys for those charged. An attorney for James Metcalf, Timothy D. Belevetz, told CNN Thursday he had no comment to make on the charges. CNN contacted Jenkins for comment by email and did not receive an immediate response.

Jenkins was elected sheriff of Culpeper County in 2011 and took office in January 2012. He was reelected in 2015 and 2019.

The indictment claims it was a purpose of the conspiracy for Jenkins to unlawfully benefit and enrich himself and others and to fund his re-election campaigns through bribery.

Special Agent in Charge Stanley Meador of the FBIs Richmond Division said, With todays announcement, FBI Richmond re-enforces our commitment - to the community - of ensuring abuses of public trust will not be tolerated and those responsible will be held accountable.

On its website, the Culpeper County Sheriffs Office calls Jenkins a recognized thought leader in the areas of Second Amendment rights, secure communities, constitutional government, and law enforcement.

He speaks at local, state, and national conferences on these issues. He has numerous appearances on Fox News, local network affiliates of the major networks, international media, and digital media, the website states.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. A former editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist, he is author of Hannibal and Me.
The Aurora dentist accused of poisoning his wife was given a bond of $10 million, despite his attorneys insistence that he is a man of limited means.

David Beller explained to the judge that suspect James Craigs money is tied up with creditors and is being used to help take care of his six children  some of whom are living with an uncle in Idaho.

18th Judicial District Judge Shay Whitaker said she considered Craig a flight risk, but added she may consider decreasing the bond amount at Craigs preliminary hearing scheduled for July 12.

Craig faces charges including first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Angela, 43, who died under mysterious circumstances March 18. Craig was arrested March 19.

On Wednesday, he appeared in an Arapahoe County courtroom looking disheveled.

In arguing for a steep bail, 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner expressed concern that if Craig were released, he would be able intimidate witnesses.

He revealed that Mrs. Craig had a substantial amount of potassium cyanide in her body, a key piece of information in the case.

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According to court documents, Angela Craig was treated at two hospitals three separate times over a week-and-a-half as symptoms to a mysterious illness got progressively worse. She complained about everything from dizziness to having problems focusing, nausea and shakiness.

Her final trip was an urgent life-and-death situation.

Craigs dental partner, Ryan Redfearn, explained to a nurse at the hospital where Mrs. Craig was being treated that James recently ordered Potassium Cyanide for their dental practice, adding that there was no medical reason or purpose to order Potassium Cyanide for a dental practice, according to the arrest affidavit.

Besides the poison found in Angela Craigs body, Kellner also argued that the couple had life insurance policies worth millions of dollars and added that James Craig had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency. The arrest document said he was starting an affair with an orthodontist who lived near Houston, Texas.

The legal community was watching how high the bond would be because of a recent ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court. The decision on June 20 told judges to grant bond for every person accused of first-degree murder.

Before the ruling, defendants accused of first-degree murder could be given a no-bond hold because it was a capital offense. Because state lawmakers in 2020 repealed the death penalty, the state Supreme Court ruled the crime is now bail eligible.
SuperLiga: Sepsi vs FCU Craiova 1948 - Debut de foc pentru Nicolae Dica

Sepsi - FCU Craiova, meci contand pentru etapa a 2-a din campionatul Romaniei, este programat, vineri, 21 iulie, de la ora 18:30, pe Sepsi Arena din Sf. Gheorghe, si va fi transmis in direct de Digi Sport 1, Orange Sport 1 si Prima Sport 2. [citeste mai departe]
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Thursday inaugurated a new ferry service between Neszmely in Hungary and Radvan (Dunaradvany) in Slovakia.

The 2.2 billion forint (EUR 5.9m) project was co-financed through European Union support, Szijjarto noted at the inauguration.



The service will have capacity to carry 80 pedestrian travellers or 40 pedestrians and 8 vehicles and will run 8 times a day on weekdays and 16 times a day on weekends, a ministry statement quoted Szijjarto as saying.



Having as many border crossing points as possible between Hungary and its neighbours is of strategic importance, Szijjarto said.



Whereas in 2010 Hungary and Slovakia had just 22 border crossing points between them, they now have 36, owing to an agreement between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and former Slovak premier Robert Fico, Szijjarto said.



The opening of every such crossing point spares us an unworthy situation, Szijjarto said, noting that the Slovak minister had to travel an hour by car from Radvan to get to a point which he could see from across the Danube.



Szijjarto said Hungary and Slovakia will open four more crossing points this year, namely three bridges over the River Ipoly and one road crossing in the east.



Being a landlocked country makes it strategically important for Hungary to have enough border crossing points with its neighbours, Szijjarto said. This is especially true in the case of Slovakia, with which Hungary shares its longest border section, he added.



Slovakia is Hungarys top trading partner, with bilateral trade turnover reaching a record 17 billion euros last year, Szijjarto said, adding that it was the fourth most important investment destination for Hungarian businesses.



He praised bilateral cooperation, saying Hungary and Slovakia contributed to each others economic growth and security.
Incoming Justice Minister Bence Tuzson has asked Prime Minister Viktor Orban to remove European Union affairs from among the justice ministrys responsibilities, adding that he planned to shape a traditional ministry focusing on the protection of legal sovereignty and the review of judicial practices.

Tuzson was nominated after Judit Varga resigned on Wednesday, saying she was going to focus on the European parliamentary elections.



Tuzson said Hungarys sovereignty is the ministrys focus as it had been under attack lately. It is especially important that member states can keep their current competencies, and keep the EU a united alliance of member states with equal rights rather than a European empire, he said.



He said another important task of the ministry would be to review judicial practices to ensure they always served the interests of the people.



Justice should be increasingly swift and effective while preserving its independence, so that judicial practices are clear for the public, he said.



As minister, Tuzson said he would consult representatives of the judiciary and take legislative measures if necessary.
Opinions diverge on whether Ms Judit Varga was dismissed by the Prime Minister or becoming an MEP will be the start of a new career for her.

In a sarcastic note on the Magyar Hang website, Istvan Devenyi writes that Ms Varga was too busy defending Hungarys interests in the governments feud with the European Commission to notice what was going on in her own Ministry.



He mentions scandals that could have led to Ms Vargas dismissal, including the case of the Pegasus spyware the use of which was authorised by the second in command in the Justice Ministry on Ms Vargas behalf, as well as the ongoing trial where the same former State Secretary, Pal Volner stands accused of taking bribes from the head of a judicial officers Mafia.



Pro-government analyst Zoltan Kiszelly told ATV that Ms Varga has been given an important mission as the lead Fidesz candidate for next years European Parliamentary election and as a future MEP. She has been responsible for relations with the EU as Justice Minister and as such is not a novice in European Affairs. If she proves successful on the European stage, Kiszelly said, she may be in for an important career in international relations.



This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher.

Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

Click here to Share Your Story



MTI Photo: Tibor Rosta
Hungary wants to know who is responsible for the European Union having been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy, Viktor Orban said in Brussels.

Everyone has a single question in Brussels right now: where has the money gone? the prime minister said in a video on Facebook ahead of a summit of EU leaders.



He said the European Commission had proposed an amendment to the EU budget, and is requesting hundreds of billions more in contributions from member states.



He said this raised the question of how is it that the European Union could be pushed to the brink of bankruptcy.



Detailing the ECs amendment proposal, Orban noted that member states were being asked to contribute another 50 billion euros to the budget so that they can give it to Ukraine even though they cant account for the money weve already contributed, adding they wanted more money to cover the interests on earlier EU loans.



These are the loans from which Poland and Hungary have yet to receive a single penny.



Orban said it was unserious of the EU to want more money for migration, though not for border protection, but to bring migrants in.



First and foremost we want to know what all that money we have contributed so far has been spent on, he said.
The renovation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) building begins in the summer.

According to the plans, the Academy will welcome the members of the scientific community in a much more open, better equipped and sustainably operating building by the 200th anniversary of its founding.



The palace of the Hungarian Academy of Science (MTA) was built from public donations between 1862 and 1865 based on the plans of Friedrich August Stuler.



It had a decisive influence on the development of Hungarian architecture. Its implementation was supervised by Stulers former student from Berlin, Antal Szkalnitzky, and Miklos Ybl. The most famous artists of the period also worked on the interior spaces, the murals are the works of Karoly Lotz and Antal Ligeti.



Taking renovation one step further

One of the most important goals of the renovation of the 12,000 sqm building and the Library is to make it much more open and accessible to the general public. To achieve this, the Academy increases the proportion of public spaces and opens new exhibition spaces. Another important goal of the project is to be able to conduct scientific events in line with current technical standards  FMbusiness.hu reports.



There is much to be done from a technical and sustainability point of view also. The identified structural deficiencies must be corrected as well as establishing energy-saving operation and modernizing safety and fire control.



Starting on the top

The MTA is planning the renovation in multiple stages. One of the biggest tasks of Phase I, which will begin in the summer of 2023, is the complete renovation of the roof.



Due to waterlogging and the ageing of the structure, this work is of paramount importance. The buildings massive windows will be restored and modernized for energy-saving reasons, replaced only if necessary. The new decorative lighting is planned in Phase II.



Interior design

The Ballroom, the largest and most beautiful room in the building, will be renovated based on a new interior design concept. In addition to a complete mechanical renovation, the project also includes the implementation of a new audio-visual system, lighting and modular equipment that can be adapted to any given event.



The Art Gallery, which displays the treasures of the Art Collection, will be renovated and new exhibition spaces will be added to the Danube wing also.



Phase I of the renovation will optimally be completed by the fall of 2024. The public procurement for the planning of the renovation was won by Kozepulettervezo Zrt. (KOZTI). The detailed construction plans of Phase I have been completed, and the public procurement procedure for the construction is underway.



More green areas and a community space

The Academy is confident that by 2025, for the 200th anniversary of its existence, the square in front of the MTA Headquarters can also be re-arranged. Instead of the current parking lot, a community space with lots of green space is planned here.



The Academy trusts that the renewal of the HQ can continue after the festive year. Phase II will see the construction of a 300-seat state-of-the-art conference room under the courtyard, a new reception area for the Library and public community spaces.



Source: B+N



MTI Photo: Csaba Jaszai
LINCOLN  Workers at a north Lincoln Starbucks store are among thousands nationwide who are seeking to unionize.

Employees at the store at 5040 N. 26th St. have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to unionize as part of the group Starbucks Workers United.

Workers at more than 300 stores nationwide have successfully unionized, and the Lincoln store is the first one in Nebraska to attempt to do so.

The workers at the store also sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan in which they listed their reasons for unionizing, which include inconsistent scheduling, being short-staffed and working with faulty and defective equipment.

"These circumstances do not set partners up for success to thrive in our careers, and efficiently give guests the connections, service and products they deserve, the letter said.

"We want Starbucks to recognize the value we bring to the company as the faces customers connect with every day by joining us at the bargaining table," it said.

So far, more than 330 Starbucks stores in 38 states and the District of Columbia have successfully unionized, although that represents only about 3% of the company's total workforce.

A Starbucks spokesperson said in an email that company officials "welcome the opportunity for partners at our Lincoln store to vote in a neutral, secret ballot election conducted by the NLRB  which allows all partners to make their own informed decision regarding union representation."

The company, however, has been accused of labor law violations, including firing labor organizers and closing unionized stores.

The spokesperson also said that Starbucks believes a "direct relationship" with its employees is the "right path forward for our company," and pointed out that it offers what it believes are industry-best pay and benefits, including a minimum wage of $15 an hour and an average wage of $17.50.
YORK  The fireworks stands in York have officially opened and will remain open until midnight on the Fourth of July.

According to city ordinances, fireworks may be sold and purchased between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. each day. Those are the same hours during which they can be discharged.

The hours are extended to midnight on the Fourth of July only.

Local officials want everyone to remember that bottle rockets and sky lanterns are not allowed.

People illegally discharging fireworks after or before the allowable hours could be subject to fines.

And everyone is reminded to not shoot fireworks onto other peoples property and to keep debris out of the streets.

If anyone has concerns or complaints about misuse of fireworks, including discharge after hours, they should call the police department at 402-363-2640.

The York Fire Department would also like to make everyone aware that due to the lack of adequate rainfall this year the region is experiencing very dry conditions. This means an increase in grass fires. They ask that everyone use extreme caution and follow the below tips to ensure a fun and safe holiday!

Have one person lighting and handling your fireworks.

Know what you are using and any related safety information.

Buy only legal, consumer-grade products from a licensed dealer.

Keep water on hand and wet the area once you are finished.

Use a level, solid ground for launch.

Be aware of your surroundings.

Keep kids and pets safe.

Take time to prepare your home and yard.

Firecracker Frenzy will take place Monday, July 3 at the York County Fairgrounds. The Wild Hawgs will again be selling concessions to those in the grandstands and in the parking areas. Gates open at 8 p.m. and the show will begin at dusk (approximately 9:45 or 10 p.m.).

Madonna Mogul with the York Chamber would also like to remind everyone heading out to the fairgrounds for Firecracker Frenzy that there is road construction on Nebraska between 19th and A Street. A visual guide of the alternative routes can be found at https://yorkchamber.org/frenzy/. After the show, law enforcement from the City of York and the York County Sheriffs Department will be on hand directing traffic.

Meanwhile, another holiday weekend reminder is being stressed by representatives of York Adopt A Pet regarding the effect fireworks can have on animals, particularly dogs.

Lamoine Roth from YAAP explained that a dogs ears are very sensitive and they dont understand where this noise is coming from. If you have a dog or cat, pet rabbit or any other type of pet, take them inside. Put them in a bathroom, basement  even the garage is better than being outside. If possible turn on a radio or TV to help dilute the noises coming through the walls. The volunteers at York Adopt a Pet will be overwhelmed with dogs coming into the shelter. Some dogs who bolt are never found. It is a terrifying ordeal when a dog is so scared that they just run and run. Unfortunately with all the fireworks going off in city limits, they cant get away from the noise and sometimes run out into the country.

If someone finds a dog running loose they are encouraged to call their local law enforcement agency and/or YAAP so efforts can be made to return animals back to their owners.

Above all, use precautions and have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend.
IndiGo, India's largest airline, both in terms of domestic and international air traffic, has announced Indonesia as its 28th international destination, effective August 7, 2023. IndiGo will be the first airline to directly connect Mumbai with Jakarta. The exclusive daily flights between Jakarta-Mumbai are now open for booking. As per the airline, these flights will reduce the travel time to Jakarta significantly and have been introduced keeping in mind the rising demand for travel to Indonesia. As per Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Indian tourists are one of the top 5 foreign tourists visiting Indonesia.

Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, is one of the most populous cities in the world, and offers a blend of rich history, diverse culture, and vibrant urban life. The city is also well known for its employment and business prospects, and has a big finance and banking sector. More than that, Bali is known as one of the most preferred destinations for Indians and can be visited using layover flight from Jakarta.

Vinay Malhotra, Head of Global Sales at IndiGo, said, "We are excited to unveil Jakarta amongst our newest destinations within our expanding international network. As India and Indonesia look at strengthening bilateral ties and increasing direct connectivity, the opening of this new route will enable easy access and promotion of trade and tourism across the two nations.

cre Trending Stories

Jakarta is the capital and the largest city in southeast Asia, while Indonesia remains one of the favorite leisure destinations for Indian tourists for its pristine beaches and a galore of culture and tradition. Introducing new flights connecting people and their aspirations, IndiGo will continue to deliver on its promise of affordable, on-time, courteous, and hassle-free travel experience across an unparalleled network."

IndiGo, recently announced Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, as the 27th international and 105th overall destination in the 6E network. The airline opened bookings for daily non-stop flights between Mumbai, India's financial capital, and Nairobi, Kenya's largest city starting August 5, 2023. This new route marks IndiGo's entry into the African subcontinent and brings numerous benefits to both business and leisure travellers.
New Delhi: The newly formed Congress government in Karnataka, which has already launched the Shakthi scheme for free travel for women in state buses, is ready to start the Anna Bhagya scheme that promises 10 kg rice for each member of poor families. K.H. Muniyappa, the minister in charge of food and civil supplies, said on Friday that the Anna Bhagya will begin and the government will transfer money to the beneficiaries bank accounts on Saturday. He said that the government has the bank details of 90 per cent of the poor beneficiaries and asked those who do not have bank accounts to open one.

Here are the 10 points explaining Anna Bhagya free rice scheme:

- The Karnataka government is launching a scheme to provide free rice to poor families.

- The scheme is called Anna Bhagya and it is an extension of the Shakthi scheme for free travel for women.

- Each member of a BPL family will get 10 kg of rice per month, along with ragi or jowar depending on the region.

- The government will transfer money to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries until the rice is available.

cre Trending Stories

Also Read: Karnataka: Hedgewar, Savarkar Removed; References To Nehru, Indira Back In Textbooks

- The money will be Rs 170 per person per month, which is the cost of 10 kg of rice at FCI rates.

- The government has the bank details of 90% of the BPL beneficiaries and asks the rest to open accounts.

- The scheme will start from July 1 as promised by the Congress government in its manifesto.

- The Central government has not agreed to supply rice to the state at FCI rates, which has caused a delay in the scheme.

Also Read: Cong-led Karnataka Govt To Amend Anti-Conversion Law, Take Up Revision Of Textbooks

- The Congress accuses the Centre of depriving the poor of their food, while the BJP accuses the Congress of announcing the scheme without preparation.

- The scheme is a major welfare initiative by the Congress government in Karnataka.
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadus ruling party DMK has started a poster war against Governor R N Ravi questioning his move to dismiss jailed Minister and party leader V Senthil Balaji, who has been accused and arrested in connection with a money laundering case. The posters put up by the DMK cadres across Chennai question Governors constitutional right to sack the minister without even consulting the Chief Minister. They also carried pictures of Union Ministers who are still serving as ministers while facing several cases registered against them in various courts.

#WATCH | Tamil Nadu: DMK supporters stick posters near Anna Arivalayam, DMK headquarters in Chennai, raising questions to Governor RN Ravi against Union Ministers who are still in the cabinet with several cases registered against them. pic.twitter.com/M7xKqTrpzg  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

cre Trending Stories

Meanwhile, the Congress party has demanded the immediate resignation of the Tamil Nadu Governor and urged President Droupadi Murmu to sack him. Congress MP Manish Tewari, said, "President should immediately remove Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. The Governor, who does not know his limits. Governor should not have taken such an unconstitutional step. This clearly shows that he does not have knowledge of the Constitution and is unaware of his responsibilities"

#WATCH | Delhi: Congress MP Manish Tewari, says "President should immediately remove Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. The Governor who does not know his limits. Governor should not have taken such an unconstitutional step. This clearly shows that he does not have knowledge of the pic.twitter.com/KIhTsj6TdM  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023





TN Governor Takes Back Dismissal Order

In a dramatic late-night development, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi took back a contentious order to dismiss the jailed Minister and DMK leader V Senthil Balaji, who has been accused and arrested in connection with a money laundering case. Sources claimed that the Governor late night decided to keep the dismissal order in abeyance till further communication and also informed Chief Minister M K Stalin about it. Sources also claimed that Governor RN Ravi will now consult the Attorney General in the matter and Balaji will remain minister for now.

The development came hours after the Governor dismissed V Senthil Balaji, accused in a money laundering case, from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect. "Minister V Senthil Balaji is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption including taking cash for jobs and money laundering...Under these circumstances, Governor has dismissed him from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect", stated a release issued by the Raj Bhavan in Tamil Nadu.

Meanwhile, BJP has welcomed the Tamil Nadu Governor's decision.

Balaji, who was arrested two weeks ago, is currently in jail amid criminal proceedings in an alleged cash-for-jobs scandal. Interestingly, he had been retained as a minister without portfolio by Chief Minister M K Stalin, a decision that Governor Ravi had decided to unilaterally override.

CM Stalin Attacks Governor



Hitting out at Governor RN Ravi over the dismissal of jailed minister Senthil Balaji, Stalin said saying he does not have the right to do so and his government will proceed legally in the matter. The minister had been arrested in connection with a cash-for-jobs scam case. Speaking to reporters in the wake of the arrest of the fellow DMK leader, CM Stalin said, "Governor doesn't have the right (to dismiss a sitting minister) and we will face this legally."

#WATCH | "The Governor doesn't have rights, we will face this legally," says Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on the dismissal of Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji by Governor RN Ravi https://t.co/ba818uQX8t pic.twitter.com/B4NXeYM3kI

 ANI (@ANI) June 29, 2023



Also lashing out at the Governor, DMK leader A Saravanan accused the Governor of undermining the Constitution, saying that the order, dismissing Balaji from the state's council of ministers, is not even worth the paper it was drafted on.

"Who does the Governor thinks he is? Does he have the constitutional authority (to dismiss Senthil Balaji)? The Governor is undermining the constitution. He is catering to the Sanatan Dharma. The law of the land isn't determined by the Sanatan Dharma. For a Governor, the constitution should be the Bible, Gita, and Quran. He is acting like a clown, trying to appease his political masters. His order isn't even worth the paper it was drafted on. It must be consigned to the dustbin," the DMK leader said.

Congress leader Manish Tewari, too, slammed the dismissal of the jailed minister, tweeting, "Article 164 of COI" The Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister... Since Ministers are appointed on the advice of the CM they can be removed ONLY on the advice of the CM. Unconstitutional Gov."

Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on June 14 in a cash-for-jobs scam case. He was later admitted to a government hospital in Chennai after he complained of chest pains. He was allowed by the Madras High Court on June 15 to be shifted to a private hospital of his choice. The Supreme Court, earlier this month, refused to interfere with the Madras High Court order allowing Balaji to be moved to a private hospital in Chennai and admitted a habeas corpus petition filed against his arrest.

The Mk Stalin-led DMK government is at odds with the Governor's office amid disagreements over several issues, most notably, the Governor's refusal to assent to legislation passed by the state assembly. The DMK had last year petitioned President Droupadi Murmu, alleging unconstitutional conduct by Governor Ravi and his failure to sign a substantial number of bills passed by the Assembly.
CHENNAI: In a dramatic late-night development, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi took back a contentious order to dismiss the jailed Minister and DMK leader V Senthil Balaji, who has been accused and arrested in connection with a money laundering case. Sources claimed that the Governor late night decided to keep the dismissal order in abeyance till further communication and also informed Chief Minister M K Stalin about it. Sources also claimed that Governor RN Ravi will now consult the Attorney General in the matter and Balaji will remain minister for now.

The development came hours after the Governor dismissed V Senthil Balaji, accused in a money laundering case, from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect. "Minister V Senthil Balaji is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption including taking cash for jobs and money laundering...Under these circumstances, Governor has dismissed him from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect", stated a release issued by the Raj Bhavan in Tamil Nadu.

Balaji, who was arrested two weeks ago, is currently in jail amid criminal proceedings in an alleged cash-for-jobs scandal. Interestingly, he had been retained as a minister without portfolio by Chief Minister M K Stalin, a decision that Governor Ravi had decided to unilaterally override.



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CM Stalin Hits Out At Governor

Hitting out at Governor RN Ravi over the dismissal of jailed minister Senthil Balaji, Stalin said saying he does not have the right to do so and his government will proceed legally in the matter. The minister had been arrested in connection with a cash-for-jobs scam case. Speaking to reporters in the wake of the arrest of the fellow DMK leader, CM Stalin said, "Governor doesn't have the right (to dismiss a sitting minister) and we will face this legally."

#WATCH | "The Governor doesn't have rights, we will face this legally," says Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on the dismissal of Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji by Governor RN Ravi https://t.co/ba818uQX8t pic.twitter.com/B4NXeYM3kI  ANI (@ANI) June 29, 2023

Also lashing out at the Governor, DMK leader A Saravanan accused the Governor of undermining the Constitution, saying that the order, dismissing Balaji from the state's council of ministers, is not even worth the paper it was drafted on.

"Who does the Governor thinks he is? Does he have the constitutional authority (to dismiss Senthil Balaji)? The Governor is undermining the constitution. He is catering to the Sanatan Dharma. The law of the land isn't determined by the Sanatan Dharma. For a Governor, the constitution should be the Bible, Gita, and Quran. He is acting like a clown, trying to appease his political masters. His order isn't even worth the paper it was drafted on. It must be consigned to the dustbin," the DMK leader said.

Former Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari, too, slammed the dismissal of the jailed minister, tweeting, "Article 164 of COI" The Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor and the other Ministers shall be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister... Since Ministers are appointed on the advice of the CM they can be removed ONLY on the advice of the CM. Unconstitutional Gov."

However, BJP has welcomed the Governor's decision.

Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on June 14 in a cash-for-jobs scam case. He was later admitted to a government hospital in Chennai after he complained of chest pains. He was allowed by the Madras High Court on June 15 to be shifted to a private hospital of his choice. The Supreme Court, earlier this month, refused to interfere with the Madras High Court order allowing Balaji to be moved to a private hospital in Chennai and admitted a habeas corpus petition filed against his arrest.

The Mk Stalin-led DMK government is at odds with the Governor's office amid disagreements over several issues, most notably, the Governor's refusal to assent to legislation passed by the state assembly. The DMK had last year petitioned President Droupadi Murmu, alleging unconstitutional conduct by Governor Ravi and his failure to sign a substantial number of bills passed by the Assembly.
Social media has turned out to be a major platform for people in modern society, helping them to explore and learn new things, share ideas, and communicate with others. Society has been largely influenced by social media to such an extent that it has become quite irreplaceable. Social media has indeed become very important in present times and has shown a profound global impact, especially in the field of communication. The significance of social media is recognised by observing World Social Media Day every year on June 30.

While social media has brought a range of benefits for people, it has also come with a set of drawbacks including spreading of fake news and the prevalence of cybercrime.

World Social Media Day is observed to promote the proper use of social media and create awareness on its usage as well as its benefits. The day is also observed to celebrate the power of social media in connecting people.

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As we observe World Social Media Day on June 30, 2023, let's find out about its significance and history.

World Social Media Day: History

World Social Media Day was celebrated for the first time by a news website  Mashable  on June 30, 2010, as a way to recognise the impact of social media on global communication and also with an aim to bring the world together to celebrate it.

As almost everyone uses social media, the day is being observed every year since then and others have also gotten involved in the celebrations by sharing Social Media Day posts on various platforms.

World Social Media Day: Significance

Considering the importance of social media in the modern world, it has become a major part of people's lives, both personally and professionally. The advent of technology in recent years has introduced people to many social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snapchat.

Besides providing numerous advantages including sharing ideas, and information and communicating with others with just a click, social media also has its set of challenges as its often misused. The evolving nature of social media has resulted in cases of cybercrime, spread of misinformation, and concerns about user privacy.

Keeping all of these in view, World Social Media Day highlights the importance of addressing these challenges to strengthen the communication platforms and ensure a responsible and beneficial use of social media.
New Delhi: Seven workers were injured in a blast and a huge fire that broke out at a pharma unit at Special Economic Zone at Atchutapuram in Anakapalli district of Andhra Pradesh on Friday. The fire broke out after a reactor exploded at Sahithi Pharma Private Limited. Fire fighting personnel with three fire tenders were trying to extinguish the fire.

The blast and fire sent panic among workers in the unit. Seven workers were injured. The condition of four of them is stated to be critical. Thick smoke engulfed the surroundings of the Pharma unit.

Superintendent of Police Murali Krishna said 35 workers were on duty at the time of the incident. While 28 workers ran out to safety, seven sustained injuries.



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The SP said efforts were on to bring the fire under control. He said it may take two hours for the fire to be doused. The injured were shifted to hospital.

Ramesh (45) of Bhubaneswar was among those critically injured Satti Babu (35), Nuki Naidu (40) and Tirupati (40), hailing from different parts of Anakapalli district were also critically injured.

The other injured were identified as Raju Babu, Apa Rao and P. Santosh Kumar.
New Delhi: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Friday stated that he will not be leaving the CM post. Taking to Twitter, the Manipur CM announced that he won't be resigning in view of the widespread ethnic violence in the state. "At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister, Singh said in the Twitter post. PTI reported from sources that there were strong speculations in Imphal since morning that the chief minister was considering resigning from the post after fresh violence in the state on Thursday that killed three more people and injured 5 others.

Unconfirmed reports said that the CM had written a resignation letter but was convinced by his supporters to shred it. Earlier in the afternoon, hundreds of youth wearing black shirts and women sat down in front of the CMs residence demanding that Biren Singh should not quit.





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At this crucial juncture, I wish to clarify that I will not be resigning from the post of Chief Minister.  N.Biren Singh (@NBirenSingh) June 30, 2023

This comes after high-tension drama happened in Imphal after thousands of protesters blocked Manipur CM's convoy towards Raj Bhavan. However, after women leaders came out of his residence and told the crowd that the CM has assured them that he is not quitting, the mob slowly left from his residence.

Also Read: Manipur Violence: Biren Govt Invokes No Work, No Pay Rule For Staff

Kshetrimayum Shanti, a women leader said, At this crucial time, the Biren Singh government should stay strong and crack down on troublemakers..

The toll in exchange of fire between security forces and suspected rioters in Kangpokpi district a day before, rose to three on Friday, with one more person dying of injuries in hospital, officials said.

Armed rioters had started unprovoked firing at Haraothel village on Thursday. The Army said security forces personnel responded in a measured manner to handle the situation, they said.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi Visits Relief Camps In Manipur's Moirang, To Meet 10-Like Minded Parties

Members of the community to which two of the rioters belonged collected their bodies on Thursday and took out a march to the CMs residence here, they said.

The protesters, led by women, even challenged police to arrest them, and were also seen burning tyres in the middle of the road to stop police movement, the officials said.

As security personnel stopped them from marching to Singhs residence, the marchers turned violent, forcing police to use tear gas shells and resort to lathicharge to scatter the mob.

More than 100 people have died in the ethnic violence between Meitei and Kuki communities in the northeastern state so far.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipurs 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.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a metro ride from Lok Kalyan Marg Metro Station to Vishwa Vidyalaya Metro Station here in the national capital on Friday morning to visit Delhi University. In videos that surfaced on social media, PM Modi could be seen interacting with people in Delhi Metro on his way to attend the centenary celebrations of Delhi University. The Prime Minister also shared photos of his journey on his Twitter profile, expressing his happiness to have young people as his fellow passengers.

On the way to the DU programme by the Delhi Metro. Happy to have youngsters as my co-passengers. pic.twitter.com/G9pwsC0BQK  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 30, 2023

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WATCH: PM Modi Takes Metro Ride

The ruling BJP also shared a video showing PM Modi using smart cards to enter the metro premises amid tight security. He boarded a yellow line metro train heading towards Samaypur Badli station, and Vishwavidyalaya metro station is a midway station on that route, the closest station to reach the DU campus area.

PM Shri @narendramodi takes Delhi Metro to attend the centenary celebrations of Delhi University. pic.twitter.com/h39YnjMUoc  BJP (@BJP4India) June 30, 2023

The PM is scheduled to participate in the valedictory ceremony of the centenary celebrations of Delhi University. Taking to Twitter earlier, PM Modi wrote "Looking forward to joining the University of Delhi's centenary celebrations at 11 AM tomorrow, 30th June. As a premier centre of learning, DU has been nurturing talent and fostering intellectual growth for a century. Congratulations to the DU fraternity on this milestone.

During the programme, Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of the Delhi University Computer Centre and the building of the Faculty of Technology and the academic block which will be built in the North Campus of the University.

The University of Delhi was established on 1st May 1922. In the last hundred years, the University has grown and expanded immensely and now has 86 departments, 90 Colleges, more than 6 lakh students, and has contributed immensely in nation building.
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has reached Manipur's Moirang and is interacting with the victims of violence and displaced people in relief camps, news agency ANI reported. He departed for Moirang, from Imphal, this morning. Later, he will come back to Imphal and meet 10 party leaders who share similar views, United Naga Council (UNC) leaders and members of civil society organisations, Congress State President Keisham Meghachandra told ANI.

Gandhi will also meet civil society representatives and intellectuals in Imphal during the day, apart from visiting relief camps in the capital of Manipur.

#WATCH | Manipur | Congress leader Rahul Gandhi left for Moirang, from Imphal, this morning.



As per Congress' State President Keisham Meghachandra, he will visit the relief camps and meet the affected people there. Later, he will return to Imphal and meet 10 like-minded party pic.twitter.com/VNMAbnh08B  ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2023

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On Thursday, he had gone to relief camps in Churachandpur, one of the towns worst hit by the ethnic violence, which has troubled the northeastern state for the last two months.

Also Read: Highlights | Rahul Gandhi Manipur Visit: Rahul Interacts With Members Of Civil Society Organisations

The trip witnessed high drama, as the local police halted his convoy of cars at Bishnupur, fearing the carcade may face assaults. Gandhi finally turned around and flew down to Churachandpur by a helicopter. The Congress leader is on a two-day visit to Manipur to bring a healing touch to local communities.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a "meaningful" conversation over the phone, and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership while exchanging views on the conflict in Ukraine.

The telephone conversation between the two leaders came days ahead of the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) which is being hosted by India on July 4. It also came a day after Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval discussed bilateral ties and the latest security developments in Russia.

Modi and Putin reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries, it said.



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"The conversation had a meaningful and constructive character. The leaders reiterated mutual commitment to strengthening the privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India and agreed to continue communication, the Kremlin press service said, noting that the phone call was initiated by the Indian side. The leaders discussed bilateral cooperation and noted the importance of continuing joint projects in various spheres. They stated that trade between Russia and India had considerably increased in 2022, spilling over into the first quarter of 2023.

Russian President Putin informed Modi of Ukraine's categorical refusal to settle the conflict through diplomacy, it said about the raging war in Eastern Europe since February last year.

"The two leaders discussed the situation around Ukraine. The Russian president assessed the current situation in the special military operation zone, pointing to Kyiv's categorical refusal to take political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict,? Russia's state-run TASS news agency quoted the Kremlin statement as saying.

While discussing the situation in Ukraine, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release. India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue. The Kremlin statement also said Modi briefed Putin about his recent US visit and talks with President Joe Biden.

"Narendra Modi informed him (Putin) about his international contacts, including during his recent visit to Washington, it said. The two leaders also discussed their countries' cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the G20.

Special attention was focused on cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the G20, where India holds the presidency, as well as within the BRICS format, the statement said. The Kremlin statement also said Prime Minister Modi has expressed support for the actions taken by the Russian leadership in connection with the short-lived armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group last week.

"In connection with the June 24 developments, Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the resolute actions by the Russian authorities to defend law and order, and ensure stability in the country and security of its citizens, it said.

The rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group on Saturday marked the most serious challenge to President Putin in more than two decades of his rule and triggered questions over his leadership.

The Wagner mercenary group had taken control of Rostov-on-Don town. The revolt ended when Prigozhin ordered his troops back.
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath handed over keys on Friday to the beneficiaries of 76 affordable housing units constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) on the land reclaimed from the possession of slain gangster Atiq Ahamed in Prayagraj. CM Yogi Adityanath interacted with children at the site of the flats that have been handed over to the beneficiaries. He also inspected the flats for the poor. A beneficiary told ANI that "It feels great. I could never have imagined that I will get my own house. Now nobody will tell me to leave from here..." Beneficiaries will get a flat built on 41 square metres for only Rs 3.5 lakh. Officials said that a flat with two rooms, a kitchen, and toilet facilities costs Rs 6 lakh.

As many as 76 flats built for the poor, on land confiscated from slain gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj were allotted through a lottery on June 9. "The lottery was drawn for allotment in the auditorium of Allahabad Medical Association. After verification of 6,030 applicants, 1,590 were found eligible to participate in the lottery," Arvind Kumar Chauhan ViceChairman of Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) said.

CM Yogi had on December 26, 2021, laid the foundation stone for this affordable housing project on 1,731 square meters of land after it was freed from the possession of Atiq in the Lukerganj area of Prayagraj.



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Also Read: Chandra Shekhar Aazad Demands CM Yogi's Resignation, Says 'UP Govt Protecting Criminals'

This project has been taken up by the District Urban Development Authorities (DUDA) under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), and as many as 76 flats have been built in two blocks, officials said.

Atiq Ahmed was accused in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal and also in the killing of a key witness in that case, Umesh Pal, in February this year. Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed were shot dead by men posing as journalists on April 15 night this year, while they were being taken for a medical examination in Prayagraj.
Unnao, Uttar Pradesh: A wave of shock swept through Unnao, Uttar Pradesh, when photographs of two children sitting on a bed alongside 27 mattresses, each adorned with bundles of 500-rupee notes, went viral on social media.

SHO Removed and Investigative Responsibility Handed Over to Area Magistrate

In response, the Superintendent of Police (SP) has removed the Station House Officer (SHO) of Behata Mujawar Police Station and attached him to the police line. The investigation into the matter has been handed over to the Bangarmau area magistrate.



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Allegations Against SHO's Relatives Surface as Viral Photos Spark Outrage

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bangarmau, Pankaj Singh, the viral photos depicted the relatives of SHO Ramesh Chandra Sahni posing with bundles of currency notes.

SP Takes Charge, Promises Thorough Investigation from Every Angle

As soon as the information reached SP Siddharth Shankar Meena, he summoned the SHO of Behata Mujawar to appear before him. Meena stated, "I have been entrusted with the investigation of this case, and a thorough inquiry is being conducted from every angle."

Public Outcry Grows as Disturbing Photo Goes Viral

The viral photograph shows two children sitting on a bed with 27 mattresses, each containing stacks of 500-rupee notes. Other pictures also captured individuals taking selfies with the currency-laden mattresses.

SHO Transferred from Hardoi, Current Residence Under Scrutiny

Shortly after, claims were made that the public photograph was taken at the residence of SHO Ramesh Chandra Sahni in the Behata Mujawar Police Station area.

SP Initiates Investigation, Focuses on Uncovering Truth

SP Siddharth Shankar Meena took cognizance of the matter and ordered the SHO to appear for investigation. According to police sources, Ramesh Chandra Sahni was transferred to Unnao from Hardoi district two years ago and was subsequently assigned as the SHO of Behata Mujawar Police Station.
New Delhi: President Vladimir Putin has called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a big friend" of Russia and said his 'Make in India' campaign has had a "truly impressive effect" on the country's economy. Putin made these remarks on Thursday at a forum in Moscow organised by Russias Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI). Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the Make in India initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it, the president was quoted as saying by the RT News.

Putin made a case for India as he discussed the opportunities for Russian companies due to the Wests sanctions policies, and the need for Moscow to offer support tools to help our companies market their products more efficiently.

Crediting Indian leadership for creating an effective model to develop local manufacturing capabilities and woo foreign investors, Putin emphasised the need to think about making our products more convenient and functional, with a modern look and properties, the report added.



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Also Read: Russia Drops 'Armed Mutiny' Criminal Charges Against Wagner Group Chief Prigozhin

Industrial and product design should become an important resource for the development of domestic business, Putin said. This was one of the major public appearances of President Putin, days after a Russian mercenary group launched a short-lived armed rebellion against him.

The rebellion by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner group on Saturday marked the most serious challenge to President Putin in more than two decades of his rule. On Wednesday, Russia's Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev briefed NSA Ajit Doval on the latest developments in the country following the rebellion.

Also Read: Vladimir Putin Vows To Crush Wagner Rebellion, Says 'Any Bid To Cause Internal Turmoil In Russia Will...'

The 'Make in India' initiative was launched by Prime Minister Modi in 2014 and aimed to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products made in the country and incentivise dedicated investments into manufacturing, it said.

With the largest population of over 1.4 billion people and the 5th largest GDP of around USD 3.7 trillion, India has in recent years emerged not only as an alternative destination for license manufacturing for global companies but also as a massive consumer market for foreign investors, the report said.

India's export performance has improved, according to official data, from around USD 468 billion in 2014 to an estimated USD 770 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal year, it said.

India has also seen a significant increase in foreign direct investment inflows, from USD 36 billion in 2014 to over USD 81 billion in 2020-21.

Putin and Modi last met on the sidelines of a regional security bloc summit in Uzbekistan in September 2022
New Delhi: The audience expressed their excitement over the recent release of 'Tiku Weds Sheru,' a romantic comedy, produced by the supremely talented Kangana Ranaut, streaming on Prime Video. The film quickly won the hearts of viewers and the celebratory proof lies in the sweet leaked chat between Kangana and debutant actress Avneet Kaur.

Avneet, in her heartfelt message to Kangana, expressed her sincere thanks for the incredible response 'Tiku Weds Sheru' has received. She expressed her gratitude to Kangana for providing her with the opportunity to work in the film, which marked her entry into the world of cinema. In a sweet message, Avneet wrote, There are many people approaching, and they are all calling me Tiku now, not even Avneet.





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The leaked chats between Kangana and Avneet also highlight the mass success of the film. Avneets overwhelming response to the positive critical reactions is a breakthrough in her budding career.

Kangana's decision to cast Avneet in a prominent role also showcased her belief in promoting fresh faces and giving them opportunities to showcase their talent. The film's success serves as a testament to her creative vision and the power of her storytelling.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered a lot of attention globally in recent times, notably due to the remarkable performance of chatbots like ChatGPT in delivering prompt services. The technology has proved to be effective in almost every field, catering to the needs of artists, students, and even professionals in the corporate world. Now, its capabilities have even transcended traditional boundaries, as seen in its instrumental role in cracking criminal cases. An exemplary instance occurred in Uttar Pradesh when the state police employed artificial intelligence to nab fraudulent individuals suspected of cheating in a government recruitment examination.

According to a Gadgets Now report, the police arrested 87 such candidates from various examination centres across the state by using an advanced AI-based face recognition software.

While 11 suspects were arrested in Lucknow, 12 were nabbed in Noida and Ghaziabad. Many others were also arrested from different parts of the state including Aligarh, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Agra, Mirzapur, Azamgarh, and Jhansi, among others.



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UP Police arrests exam solvers by using AI

According to the police, the suspected accused were dummy candidates who were a part of the alleged exam solvers gang and used to fraudulently appear for the exam that recruits Gram Vikas Adhikari (Village Development Officer) for the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission (UPSSSC). The exams were held at 737 centres in 20 districts across the state.

Special Director General of Police, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar said that the Special Task Force and district, as well as local police administration, used advanced artificial intelligence-based face recognition software and technology deployed by UPSSSC to arrest as many as 87 solvers including a woman.

All out efforts were made by UPSSSC to ensure the purity and sanctity of the exam. A close watch and monitoring of the exam were done at UPSSSC level with live streaming of all exam-related activities at all the centres, he added.

The police have also confirmed that legal action will be taken in all these cases, while FIRs have already been filed against the accused with charges of cheating, forgery, and using unfair means in the state-held recruitment exams.
China urges U.S. to honor commitments with concrete actions: spokesperson

Xinhua) 08:11, June 30, 2023

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- China urges the U.S. to stop making irresponsible comments and honor its commitments with concrete actions, a Chinese spokesperson said on Thursday.

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made the remarks in response to a media report. According to the report, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a recent interview that it is no secret that there are differences between the U.S. and China. The U.S. will continue to stand for its interests, stand up for its values and continue to do things and say things that China doesn't like.

Mao said China is dissatisfied with the comments made by Secretary Blinken.

She said the U.S. pursues a misconceived China policy which stems from a misguided China perception, seeks to block, contain and suppress China and has been attacking and smearing China's image to interfere in China's internal affairs.

What the U.S. has said and done violates the basic norms governing international relations. China has every reason to firmly oppose that, said the spokesperson.

"I would like to stress again that mutual respect is the basic principle for countries dealing with each other and an essential ingredient for China and the U.S. to find the right way to get along," Mao said, adding that China urges the U.S. to stop making irresponsible comments and honor its commitments with concrete actions.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
For the first time since 2009, the Colorado Municipal League bestowed its highest honor on state legislators this week.

The organization recognized Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and Sen. Rachel Zenzinger as "CML Legislative Heroes" on Monday for their work supporting municipalities during the 2023 legislative session. This award hasn't been given to any state legislator since Sen. Joyce Foster, D-Denver, 14 years ago.

Kevin Bommer, executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, said Kirkmeyer and Zenzinger's actions "steadfastly supporting and defending local government decision-making" inspired the league to bestow the rare accolade.

It is disappointingly rare, but the league hopes their example ignites a commitment to partnership over preemption,'" Bommer said. "Issues this important know no partisan boundaries, and it was CMLs honor to acknowledge the effort they made to keep local control local and home rule at home during the 2023 legislative session.

The awards were presented at the Colorado Municipal League's annual conference, during which Kirkmeyer and Zenzinger spoke on one of the biggest local control policy debates of the year  Senate Bill 213.

SB 213 was Gov. Jared Polis' controversial housing proposal, which originaly sought to require cities and towns to enact zoning for greater residential density and strip local governments of their land use authority. The bill was gutted in the Senate and eventually failed to pass the legislature when the House and Senate couldn't agree on amendments.

Kirkmeyer and Zenzinger led the opposition to SB 213 on the issue of state preemption.

Polis doubles down on housing ideas in front of his biggest policy foes

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"I am proud to stand for and with our local government partners," Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, said. "Rather than usurping local control and disengaging Coloradans from defining the character of their community, and what was obviously a power grab by the governor, the legislature needs to partner with, not preempt, local governments."

Kirkmeyer and Zenzinger also led this year's $38.5 billion state budget on the Joint Budget Committee, chaired by Zenzinger, and individually took on legislation ranging from education to public safety. Kirkmeyer and Zenzinger sponsored 49 and 83 successful bills this session, respectively.

At the Capitol, I always strive to be a voice for my constituents and local community leaders, and preserve our longstanding value of local control," Zenzinger, D-Arvada, said. "I look forward to continuing to partner with local elected leaders to craft legislation that protects our Colorado way of life and allows everyone to thrive.

The Colorado Municipal League also recognized local leaders during the conference.

Arvada Mayor Marc Williams and Lyons Town Administrator Victoria Simonsen received the 2023 Sam Mamet Good Governance Award. The award recognizes individuals who "exemplify and strive to promote the principles of good governance," the league said. Williams and Simonsen were chosen from a total of 14 local officials nominated by league members for the award.

The Colorado Municipal League is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting municipal priorities. Established in 1923, the organization says it represents the interests of 270 cities and towns throughout the state.

Colorado granted over $826M to bring high-speed internet to all residents
Colorado universities signaled they would modify their approach to diversity goals following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down the race-based components of the admissions programs at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina.

Education officials said their commitment to diversity, inclusion, equity and access will not diminish.

But the overarching question facing universities is how.

A statement from the University of Colorado  signed by the president and chancellors  hints at how the educational system intends to achieve its diversity goals in light of the court's sweeping conclusion that "eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it."

"Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin," the court's opinion stated. "This Nations constitutional history does not tolerate that choice."

In response, the university noted that diversity also encompasses demographic characteristics, while also encompassing diverse life experiences and perspectives.

We will continue to employ admission processes that consider the whole student and their ability to succeed in our academically rigorous and supportive environment, the officials said. "Our dedication to cultivating a diverse university community runs deep. In fact, our board has set policy that makes it clear that diversity encompasses demographic characteristics while also encompassing diverse life experiences and perspectives.

In a separate statement, CU Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano said the court's decision recognizes that universities may still consider the unique experiences of individual students, which might include how race has affected the applicants life.

Those experiences, he added, can demonstrate an applicant's unique ability to contribute to the university.

DiStefano was referring to the court's opinion that said nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicants "discussion of how race affected the applicants life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university."

CU Boulder, in particular, outlined several approaches to achieve its goals consistent with the principles of the court ruling.

Those approaches include employing admission processes that consider the whole student and their ability to succeed in our academically rigorous and supportive environment; "aggressively" recruiting students from minoritized backgrounds; awarding financial aid to students who demonstrate academic promise and financial need; and, creating a "welcoming living and learning communities.

The university also it would amplify the voices of marginalized communities.

Colorado College leaders took a similar approach.

In a statement signed by President L. Song Richardson and other officials, the college said the decision "does not prevent us from doing what we have always done."

"We will continue to consider how each students background, strengths, and characteristics contribute to our intellectually stimulating, creative, and unique community. We will continue to admit talented and well-rounded students who think differently, demonstrate courage and resilience, have the enthusiasm to learn within our immersive Block Plan, and seek to collaborate with and learn from diverse communities," the officials said.

CSU President Amy Parsons sent to campus this morning following the SCOTUS decision on Affirmative Action. Youll also find a statement CSU System Chancellor Tony Frank shared.

Meanwhile, Colorado State University President Amy Parsons sought to reassure students considering going to CSU that the court decision would not effect them.

"This constitutional ban on race-conscious admissions will impact admissions practices at many institutions. Here at CSU, the courts decision will not affect the undergraduate admissions process we have had in place for decades," Parsons said. "CSUs process assesses the student holistically through a wide range of factors, including personal experiences and academic achievements. At CSU, a public land-grant university, no qualified student is turned away from earning a world class 4-year degree."

Because MSU is a modified open access institution with 54% of the student body at are people of color, officials there said they believe the courts decision will not have a direct impact.

This has been coming for a while, said Vaughn Toland, MSU director of admissions and outreach. Its not a huge shock, the decision.

Justices created a carveout in their ruling. Military service academies  such as the Air Force Academy just north of Colorado Springs  are exempt from the ban. This means, at least for now, that military academies can continue using race as a factor in admissions. Dean Miller, an Academy spokesperson, declined to comment on the ruling.

Some faculty members blasted the court ruling, calling the idea of colorblindedness ... a complete farce.

Alexi Freeman, associate dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the University of Denver's law school, said her classroom benefits when people with varying "lived experience" are included. Speaking for herself and not on DU's behalf, she added that affirmative action has helped institutions reckon with the historical lack of access to educational opportunities some communities have experienced due to racism.

As a woman of color, I cried this morning thinking about the validation of the concept of colorblindness, Freeman said. Colorblindness is a complete farce, but has essentially been sanctioned by this Court. How terrifying and disappointing.

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The fallout from the landmark U.S. Supreme Courts 6-3 decision will likely mean a decline in students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, several postulated.

In the lead up to Thursdays decision by nations highest court, officials at the Colorado Department of Higher Education based that assessment on laws enacted in Michigan and California that prohibited race-based admissions, which resulted in admission declines among racial minorities in those states.

In a University of Michigan amicus brief supporting Harvard University and the University of North Carolina  the two universities at the center of the case  officials noted that the institute experienced a sharped drop in minority enrollment, with the number of Black students falling by 44% and Native American by 90%.

At least nine states  California, Washington, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Idaho  have banned affirmative action in college admissions.

Nearly 20% of four-year universities in the U.S. reported in 2015 that they considered race in the admissions process, according to BallotPedia.

Its unclear how many Colorado institutions of higher education make race-conscious admissions.

The state doesnt track this, said Megan McDermott, a Colorado Department of Higher Education spokesperson.

Todays Supreme Court decision to end almost all consideration of race in college admissions  putting an end to affirmative action in higher education  is troubling, disappointing, and will alter the lives of many students of color in pursuit of their dreams and the entire student body that benefits from a diverse student population, Angie Paccione, executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, said in a statement.

Paccione added, During our history, race too often resulted in economic disadvantages and missed educational opportunities and access. Colorado will continue to prioritize and lead to erase equity gaps and help all students realize their dreams.

Reaction to the court decision was swift, although many also anticipated it.

State House Minority Leader Mike Lynch lauded the court's decision.

No American under our U.S. Constitution should ever be denied opportunity because of the color of their skin or because of their race, Lynch said. Many brave Americans, over the course of several generations have died to ensure these rights and today our highest court has again correctly affirmed this fact to be true.

Todays Supreme Court decision is good news for all of us: Students will now be able to compete based on equal standards and individual merit, he added.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser called the ruling misguided and harmful to America's higher education.

Under the Courts ruling, preference for legacy admissions will be permitted, but efforts to open the doors of higher education to previously excluded groups who still face barriers to equal opportunity and to ensure diverse learning environments will not, Weiser said in a statement. Moreover, studies and history tell us that colleges and universities will likely see a sudden drop in Black and Hispanic enrollment because of the Courts ruling. This ruling will cause unneeded disruption and harm to our universities, students, and administrators.

U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat, agreed.

"Today's Supreme Court decision undermines our nation's promise of equal opportunity for all, especially for those citizens who have been historically denied it," Bennet said in a statement.

So did state state Senate President Steve Fenberg: "I am disappointed in todays ruling which will exacerbate racial inequities by closing off pathways for students who otherwise would not be given the opportunity to attend those institutions, a result that will unfortunately harm both those students and higher education institutions in general.

In a joint statement, state House Speaker Julie McCluskie, Majority Leader Monica Duran, and Assistant Majority Leader Jennifer Bacon said they, too, are disappointed by the ruling, saying the U.S. Supreme Court has "struck down the decades-old admissions practice that offsets the disparity in opportunities that kids of color face."

"For many, affirmative action was seen as a small, but critical remedy to right centuries of deliberate discrimination that prevented advancement for racial minority groups. Todays ruling creates additional barriers for hopeful college students, limiting their access to quality higher education and impacting future financial stability and socioeconomic mobility," they said.

They added: "Just as we've done in the past with reproductive rights, we will continue to support the work done over decades to further protect the diverse people who are America. We stand with kids across Colorado and the country  we must work to ensure all of our students have the opportunity to thrive in higher education and beyond.

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican, welcomed the ruling.

"I applaud this decision by the Court as a first step to bringing our collegiate institutions back to merit-based admissions," he said on Twitter.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, also a Republican, echoed the view.

"Affirmative action is unconstitutional and has always been unconstitutional," she said on Twitter. "This country should only be based on merit, not racism. This ruling will go a long way towards achieving a country where we are judged by the content of our character, rather than the color of our skin."
Half the membership of Colorados judicial discipline commission is expected to be replaced by new appointees as early as Friday, a move that could put the panel on a new path during a crucial transition to how it does its work.

The appointments of six of the panels 10 members expire July 1, leaving Gov. Jared Polis and Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian Boatright to name their replacements.

In the past three years, the commission has faced push-back and threats during one of its most unprecedented inquiries into allegations of misconduct by members of the states highest court. They have included the loss of funding and office space, fear of sanction to their law licenses, and repeated challenges to their work.

Much of that became public when the commission appeared before legislative hearings into the discipline process last summer, culminating with legislation for a new, more-transparent system that will go before voters in November 2024 as part of a state constitutional amendment.

The most prevalent of the voices speaking out about what was happening  and the key focus of the challenges put against the commissions work because of that  was its chairman, Denver attorney Elizabeth Espinosa Krupa, and its vice-chairman, El Paso County District Court Judge David Prince.

They became the outward face of the commission and, by extension, its easiest targets.

There was a perception that David and I were leading the cause of change. We took the flak that we were the ones pushing something contrary to what (the Supreme Court) wanted. All of it stemming from us looking at one of their own, said Krupa, whos been on the commission for 8 years. Its unprecedented for members of the commission to have to face the level of opposition we did. We were unprepared for that and we didnt fully understand the value of the work until then.

An additional concern is that new appointees might not reflect the geographic, ethnic and racial diversity of the Colorado community as it does now, according to the commissions 2022 annual report.

And although one of two judges whose term expires has been re-appointed, Boatright has replaced the other  Prince  this week with a judge who has already vocalized her own criticisms about how the commission operates, several people said.

Prince consistently urged greater transparency and change to how the discipline process works. His replacement, El Paso County District Court Judge Jill Brady, at a meeting of judges not long ago, challenged the commissions investigation methods during a presentation by Krupa, people who attended the gathering confirmed.

I look forward to serving the residents of Colorado as a new appointee to Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline, Brady said in an email to The Gazette. I hope I can do good work for the Commission, and I take my responsibility as a member very seriously.

Prince was the commissions vice-chairman and has served a 4-year term after filling in the final two years of his predecessor. He stands firm on the commissions accomplishments.

These volunteer members of the (commission) rose to the challenges, he wrote in an email to The Denver Gazette. They have earned praise, not the attacks they have sometimes had to endure, for their efforts to enforce ethics rules without fear or favor to strengthen the integrity of Colorados judiciary.

Similarly, three other citizen members of the commission and Krupa are unlikely to be reappointed by Polis despite a request to his office to extend their time in order to complete their work at reforming the discipline system and continuing any investigations that might be outstanding.

Polis office has told members of the commission that the governor is keeping with a tradition of allowing appointees to serve only two terms despite no prohibition on serving longer.

Basically his office called to say I wasnt to be reappointed, that theyd be keeping with that two-term tradition, Krupa said in an interview. I appreciate that and am hopeful the change to the top of the commission will result in a more successful transition without those who the court perceived as the most contrary.

Krupa said she stands ready to help with any transition or committee that might be created after the 2024 vote.

She added: If our legacy was only to get this reform over the hump and work our butts off to get the legislation to make the commission more independent, then Im okay with that.

Polis office on Thursday said the appointments havent been decided.

No decisions have been made yet for appointments for the Commission on Judicial Discipline but they will be made soon, spokesman Conor Cahill said in an emailed statement. All eligible candidates that apply will be reviewed.

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Replacing half of the commission could conceivably jeopardize the tenure of Christopher Gregory, the commissions executive director who was ousted as its appointed chairman in 2021 after only a single four-year term.

The commission hired Gregory only months after he stepped aside  the executive director serves at the panels pleasure as it continued its work investigating allegations the Supreme Court was mired in a scandal that allegedly involved coverup and misconduct, work that Gregory had begun.

Gregory had no comment for this story.

Changes to the commissions makeup could theoretically slam the brakes on any work it could still be doing in relation to that scandal, if thats where it wanted to go.

The panel last month recommended to the Supreme Court the public censure of its former Chief Justice Nathan Ben Coats for his role in approving a multi-million-dollar contract in 2019 to a former Judicial Department official despite her being fired over financial improprieties. The commission also wants Coats to be sanctioned for violations of the states judicial code of conduct.

It was the first time in state history that a member of the high court ever faced investigation or sanction by the commission.

In its recommendation, the commission made clear Coats approval of the contract to former Chief of Staff Mindy Masias was also authorized by the rest of the Supreme Court.

It is unclear whether the commission is looking into any role other justices  six of them were on the court at the time of the Masias deal  might have had in the scandal, but a change in commission leadership could have that effect.

The commissions work, by law, is secret.

The commissions diversity  its membership extends from Fort Collins to Pueblo, from Eagle to Centennial  is one of its prideful points and any changes to the membership should reflect that, members said.

In what other country would you find a physicist, a social worker, a lawyer, and a human-resources professional as volunteers entrusted with bringing accountability to one of our most powerful institutions, Prince wrote The Denver Gazette. These diverse individuals acting in unity reflect the best our society has to offer.

The other citizen members to be replaced include:

 Bruce Casias of Lakewood is a Native American physicist who in 2015 took on his employer, Raytheon, in federal court. As a test manager, he was told to falsify data for a ground system that communicates with satellites in space. A jury awarded him $1 million.

 Yolanda Lyons of Monument is Black and works in human resources.

 Drucilla Pugh of Pueblo was director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for children.

Gregory has previously written Boatright to ask that any appointments reflect that diversity. In October 2022, when Boatright was to consider replacing outgoing commissioner Rachel Olguin-Fresquez, an Eagle County court judge  she had been promoted to a district court judge and had to step down  Gregory appealed on several levels.

Traditionally, the Commission has been composed with mindfulness of diversity, including representation of both urban and rural jurisdictions. The Commissions discussions have benefitted from these differing perspectives, Gregory wrote Boatright, according to a copy of that correspondence obtained by The Denver Gazette in an open-records request. Judge Fresquez is currently the only member of the Commission who resides on the Western Slope and outside the Front Range urban corridor.

He asked Boatright to consider maintaining the tradition of appointing at least one judge member from a rural jurisdiction.

After Brady in Colorado Springs, the other judges on the commission are Arapahoe County District Judge Bonnie McLean and Jefferson County Court Judge Sara Garrido.

Judge Fresquez similarly wrote Boatright asking that he appoint someone from a rural district, even suggesting two judges by name, according to copies obtained by The Denver Gazette.

Boatright appointed Brighton County Court Judge Mariana Vielma.

That means there is no judge on the commission representing a rural county.
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely hand down a decision in a case out of Colorado that could permit artistically oriented businesses to decline service to LGBTQ customers.

On June 29, The New Republic reported that part of the evidence submitted in the lawsuit of 303 Creative v. Elenis references a purportedly gay customer, who sought the services of plaintiff Lorie Smith and who may not exist.

Smith is the owner of 303 Creative, a graphic design company. She seeks to expand her portfolio to wedding websites, but says her Christian beliefs do not permit her to design websites for same-sex weddings. Although she has not refused service yet, nor has Colorado taken action against her, she challenged the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act's (CADA) prohibition against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in places of public accommodation.

Her lawyers included a two-page message Smith allegedly received through her company site on Sept. 21, 2016. "Stewart" wrote that he was marrying his fiance, "Mike," the next year and "would love some design work done." He added he "might also" want a website.

Smith's lawsuit made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On the day before the justices' expected decision, Melissa Gira Grant of The New Republic reported that she had contacted "Stewart" using the phone number included in Smith's filing. Stewart, which is his real name, said he had never submitted the inquiry and that someone apparently "falsified" his information.

Colorado Politics contacted Stewart using the email address also in the filing, where he confirmed The New Republic's account.

"I have been happily married (to a woman) for the last 15 years. I have never contacted Lorie Smith about making a website," he said on Thursday. "The first I have heard about my name and contact details being referenced in this case was yesterday when Melissa reached out."

The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Smith, responded to questions about the message's authenticity by saying Smith "had no reason to believe the request to celebrate a same-sex wedding submitted to her website wasnt a true request." The ADF did not elaborate on the origin of the message.

Prior to reaching the Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit decided, 2-1, that Smith could be compelled to create websites for same-sex weddings given Colorado's important interest in eradicating discrimination in the marketplace.

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There was no mention of Stewart during oral arguments or in the 103-page ruling. No one asserted that Smith had actually denied service to an LGBTQ customer. The 10th Circuit agreed Smith was able to mount a "pre-enforcement" challenge to CADA under the assumption that she would face consequences if she followed through on her promise not to build a website announcing a same-sex wedding.

In her various court filings, Smith did mention she had not responded to the online request from Stewart because she was not yet designing wedding websites.

"However, the request highlights her need for relief from this Court," her lawyers wrote in March 2017. "If she were in the wedding industry, that request would have placed Lorie in the impossible position of choosing between compliance with CADA and exercising her fundamental rights."

The Colorado Attorney General's Office, which argued against Smith in defense of CADA, had no comment on Stewart's assertion he did not send the website inquiry. A spokesperson for Attorney General Phil Weiser pointed out that Colorado had previously cast doubt on the legitimacy of the submission.

Smith did not "take any steps to verify that a genuine prospective customer submitted the form," Weiser's office wrote in its brief to the Supreme Court.

Chris Wolpert, the clerk for the 10th Circuit, told Colorado Politics the appellate court's rules state that lawyers, by signing and submitting legal briefs, are certifying to the best of their knowledge that their "factual contentions or denials are supported in the record."

"In general, the court has the discretion to initiate disciplinary action and/or impose sanctions sua sponte," meaning on its own, Wolpert said.

The circuit's rules also allow for discipline if a lawyer's conduct violates the code of professional conduct adopted by the Colorado Supreme Court. One such requirement is that lawyers not offer evidence known to be false.
The U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling this week striking down affirmative action in college admissions will force many to change their policies, but Oregon State University won't be among them, campus officials say.

Even before the high court's decision, OSU, with an enrollment of 35,000-plus students, did not consider an applicant's race and ethnicity, according to a university news release.

Only a small fraction of schools  mostly selective colleges  have affirmative action programs, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

OSU President Jayathi Murthy issued a statement Thursday, June 29, expressing her disappointment with the court's decision and said OSU leaders would examine the ruling's potential impact, if any, on school operations. Hers echoed sentiments expressed by many college presidents across the country.

"OSU will continue to admit every qualified Oregon student who applies," Murthy said in the news release. "Embracing diversity in everything we do makes the OSU community stronger."

Oregon's senior U.S. senator, Ron Wyden, condemned the court's ruling in a tweet for "outlawing polices promoting diversity & improving campus life."

The court's conservative majority ruled Thursday that Harvard College and the University of North Carolina's affirmative action programs were unconstitutional because they violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said those colleges wrongfully considered race in making admissions decisions. "Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice," Roberts wrote.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuits behind this week's historic ruling asserted Harvard and UNC's policies discriminated against Asian-American and white students. In weighing admittance criteria, both schools considered an applicant's race, among other factors, such as where a student was from or their level of community service.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that the decision overturned decades of precedent. The Supreme Court first upheld college affirmative action programs in 1978 after schools began using race-conscious admissions to address discrimination against Black students and others historically excluded from higher education.

Locally, Caroline Gao, a recent West Albany High School graduate who is Asian-American, expressed conflicting feelings about the court's decision. While calling affirmative action imperfect, she believes removing race and cultural identity from consideration was unreasonable.

Gao, an incoming Harvard freshman, said one of the reasons she chose her school was to join a diverse community of students. "I think affirmative action is an important way for those kind of communities to be cultivated."

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While the court's ruling means colleges can no longer consider race or ethnicity in making admission decisions, the majority opinion said applicants can still write about the role race has played in their lives in application essays.

Sachi Wrigley, another West Albany High School graduate who is also Asian-American, said she wrote about her race in scholarship essays because it was important to her identity.

Wrigley who recently completed her freshman year at the University of Oregon, believes the court's decision took the intention of affirmative action out of context by suggesting the policy advantaged certain racial groups rather than supporting marginalized students.

"Including race as a discussion in admissions processes is really important," she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Clear Lake has been awarded a $300,000 RAISE grant to improve the Fourth Avenue corridor.

The grant was made possible by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and was part of $35 million in federal funds awarded to Clear Lake, Cedar Falls and nine counties. The funding awarded to counties, including Mitchell County, is slated for bridge replacement projects.

Mitchell County Engineer Rich Brumm said the grant will provide $1.44 million toward the $2.2 million project to replace the bridge over an offshoot of the Wapsipinicon River just south of McIntire on Walnut Avenue.

Clear Lake's money will be used for a planning project that includes community engagement, a corridor study, alternatives analysis, final design and environmental review on Fourth Avenue South. The project will evaluate approaches to modernize infrastructure connecting downtown Clear Lake and Interstate 35.

The project would also include electric-vehicle charging infrastructure and further development of the regional trail network.

"This grant will provide the necessary funding to conduct further planning, engineering and environmental review work to evaluate the 4th Avenue South Corridor from Interstate 35 to downtown Clear Lake to improve safety for pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists," City Administrator Scott Flory said.

Mayor Nelson Crabb stated the the community is already a Midwest destination and the project will help take Clear Lake to the next level by building a greener and more safe city.

Chad Schreck, president and CEO of North Iowa Corridor EDC, said improving the entryways to Clear Lake and North Iowa from Interstate 35 has been the focus of its planning efforts over the last five years.

"These entrances are incredibly important because they create the first impression visitor to the area have of our community," he said.

The schedule for the project is unclear as of press time.
An annual examination of the city of Manly's finances by the State Auditor's office found 13 areas where the city was not practicing accepted accounting practices, according to a June 8 report.

The auditor's report for the period of July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, raised concerns that all 13 findings were repeated from the prior year, and some findings have been repeated for more than a decade.

The report states: "The findings address issues such as a lack of segregation of duties, the lack of complete bank reconciliations, disbursements exceeding budgeted amounts, and separately maintained Fire Department accounts which should be included in the Citys financial records and monthly and annual financial reports. (State Auditor Rob) Sand provided the City with recommendations to address each of the findings.

"All of the findings discussed above are repeated from the prior year. The City Council has a fiduciary responsibility to provide oversight of the Citys operations and financial transactions. Oversight is typically defined as the 'watchful and responsible care' a governing body exercises in its fiduciary capacity."

Mayor Tim O'Keefe said city officials are aware of the report's findings, but said many of the state's expectations are unrealistic for a city the size of Manly.

"Small staff, small town. What the state does is, the city of Manly has to meet the same standards as the city of Des Moines," he said. "They want a council member or myself to come and evaluate (every expenditure) ... and that's not gonna happen. That's just not gonna happen."

But the report anticipated such objections and urged city officials to do better.

"We realize segregation of duties is difficult with a limited number of employees. However, the City should review its control procedures to obtain the maximum internal control possible under the circumstances utilizing currently available staff, including elected officials. Independent reviews of reconciliations should be documented by the signature or initials of the reviewer and the date of the review," the auditor's report stated.

The report was especially critical of how the city handles the finances of the volunteer fire department.

"The arrangement the City has with the Manly Volunteer Firefighters Association to account for the collection and disbursement of the Fire Departments operating funds and not just to support the Citys Fire Department by holding fundraisers and providing funds to or purchasing equipment for the Fire Department, is unusual and appears to violate the Iowa Constitution which prohibits providing public funds to private entities. Although the Citys Code of Ordinances allows for this arrangement, an ordinance does not take precedence over the Iowa Constitution," the report states.

The Auditor's Office also noted the lack of a 28E agreement between the Manly Volunteer Firefighter's Association, a 501c(3) organization, and the city of Manly in three previous reports.

Dave Bright, associate director of The Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center, said "a 28E agreement is in essence, a contract between a municipality and often a 501c(3) organization. It's a way for parties to protect themselves by laying out expectations, financially and administratively. Cities often have more liability in these situations, so they like to have them to prevent losses."

Asked whether a 28E agreement was in the works, Mayor O'Keefe said, the city is addressing the situation.

"Violation of the constitution? Yeah, that's pretty heady. OK, we have to uphold that. And so, yes, we are going to," O'Keefe told the Globe Gazette after the June 19 City Council meeting.

"We're addressing that. I think everybody at this table understands it. I've spoken with the auditors, and I agree with their finding on that. Never anything wrong has happened. It was done with what-ifs in mind."

The June 8 report found record keeping deficiencies in 13 areas: segregation of duties; reconciliation of utility billings, collections and delinquent accounts; bank reconciliations; transfers; certified budget; annual urban renewal report; unclaimed property; park and recreation department pool collections; disbursements; journal entries; annual financial report; Manly Volunteer Fire Fighters Association and separately maintained records.

In total, since 2014, the length of time that annual examination records are provided on the auditor's website, there have been 30 findings. Of the 30, 24 have been repeated at least once.

Most significantly, segregation of duties; reconciliation of utility billings, collections and delinquent accounts and bank reconciliations have all been flagged in each of the last 10 years. The lack of a certified budget was an issue in all but 2017.

Manly has had multiple findings in recent years across numerous categories indicating budget preparation may not be receiving the scrutiny and planning it deserves.

From certified budget findings in nine of the last 10 years to consistent lack of reconciliations of accounts, utilities and collections, recommendations from the auditor's office have been to implement an independent review of entries. This could be from any staff, councilmember, mayor or mayor pro-tem and is simply a review and confirmation with signature of financial recordings.

Over the last 10 years, there have been a number of sitting councilmembers and mayors, one mayor pro-tem, one city clerk and two city attorneys. Current city officials are O'Keefe; Mayor Pro-tem Scott Heagel; Councilmembers Richard Baird, Rick Aguilara, Troy Tabbert and Peter Andera. City Clerk is Dee Dunbar. O'Keefe said the current city attorney is Cameron Sprecher, although Sprecher did not respond to an attempt to confirm. Tom Meyer served as city attorney until December 2021.

Budgeting concerns were on display at the June 19 council meeting, with Lonnie Hillman of the Street Department discussing the removal of ash trees infected with emerald ash borer within the city. Hillman said there had been no line item budgeted for tree removal in this or next years' budgets, although the Iowa Department of Natural Resources had done a study to determine which trees must be removed immediately more than two years ago.

Hillman indicated the city had budgeted $5,000 yearly for tree removal in the past, but it had been left out of the two most recent budgets. The cost to remove the trees is $2,000-$3,000 each, and the city has counted 84 trees that must be removed.

It was agreed that the street department would remove six trees Hillman believed could be done with city equipment and the rest would be addressed if, as Hillman said, "Dee can find the money."

The state Auditor's Office requires an audit or annual examination for cities of 2,000 or more residents. An examination is an overview of a city's financial reporting but narrower in scope than an audit. All reports on Manly are based on annual examinations.

State Auditor Sand said transparency and efficiency are top priorities of his office.

"We are the watchdog for Iowa taxpayers," Sand said. "We conduct examinations and make reports. It's up to those taxpayers to be sure they are getting the transparency that they want. Go to council meetings. Get to know your local government and ask questions."

O'Keefe is hopeful for the future of the city. "That's the problem with small towns, and you know we're going through a transition. We're gonna get where we need to be. This table, I am very bullish on this table. I have served with several different tables in the past. This is a great table to work with. They're doers, and they make things happen and they ask questions in meetings."
When Congress returns to Capitol Hill after its Fourth of July district work period  17 days long for the House and 16 days for the Senate  members face two enormous tasks with little time to complete either.

On Sept. 30, the 2018 farm bill expires and, simultaneously, the federal government needs a new budget in place to open its doors Oct. 1.

It will take a mighty effort for either to get done. In the three months between July1 and Oct. 1, the House is scheduled to be in session just 24 days and the Senate for 30 days.

The biggest, most difficult fight will be passing the 2024 federal budget. In a good year, much of that wonky, tedious work goes on behind the scenes as key committee chairs, ranking members, and staff debate, schmooze, and compromise to hammer out a spending plan few members like but most can swallow.

In a bad year, it can be hand-to-hand combat that often turns into a multi-trillion-dollar game of chicken with a government shutdown as the ultimate threat.

And 2023 is a bad year  but not for the usual partisan reasons.

Instead, this battle features House Republicans warring with other House Republicans over how deep to cut 2024 federal spending despite the debt-raising deal hammered out between Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden in late May.

Mr. McCarthy and his leadership team, reported the New York Times June 15, blindsided Democrats ... by setting allocations for the 12 annual spending bills at 2022 levels, about $119 billion less than the $1.59 trillion allowed for in the [May] agreement to raise the debt ceiling.

McCarthy also blindsided most Republicans  especially in the Senate  who thought they had a deal with the White House that gave Congress the green light to get both a budget bill and farm bill done before the Oct. 1 deadline. Not so.

Now everyone is stuck as moderate Republicans try to remove a monkey wrench thrown into the already-creaky gears of a deeply divided government by a handful of hard right House Republican monkeywrenchers.

And there are no easy ideas on how to do it. In fact, reported Politico recently, GOP hardliners are still fuming over the deal  McCarthy struck with  Biden to raise the debt limit earlier this month, especially a provision that could expand the number of people on federal food aid.

Ah, yes, food aid or SNAP, the Supplemental Food Assistance Program, that now gobbles up 80% of all farm bill dollars.

Dems see it as an integral part of federal programming to support families in need; hardline Republicans view it as a too-costly, fraud-ridden program (despite the lack of confirming evidence) that promotes government dependency.

Pragmatic members in Congress, Dem and Repub alike  not to mention almost every farm and commodity group  see SNAP as the political bridge to bring broad urban support to government farm programs. Without those non-farm votes, most political handicappers agree, there would be no farm bill.

Todays same anti-food aid tactic was used by Republican hardliners during the 2018 farm bill fight. The results, reminds Politico, helped to sink a partisan House GOP farm bill on the floor. It took another seven months to get the final bill done.

Importantly, it wasnt Democrats that propelled the 2018 bill to victory; it was the Republican-majority Senate [that] eventually stripped the House GOPs steep SNAP restrictions from the final legislation that delivered its eventual passage.

This time around, however, the Dems run the Senate and their Ag Committee boss, Michigans Debbie Stabenow, recently announced that Congress is done discussing SNAP work requirements in the wake of the [McCarthy-Biden] debt limit talks.

Stabenows message didnt register with Speaker McCarthy. In private, reported Politico in mid-June, the speaker has told fellow Republicans that  to appease hardliners, the party will need to at least push for stricter work requirements.

Appeasing hardliners may allow McCarthy to maintain his tenuous grip on his job but it wont make any farmer or ranchers job any easier if theres no farm bill come Oct. 1.
Supreme Court Strikes Down Affirmation Action. Impact on MBA adm.? [ #permalink

One of the biggest news that's coming all the way from the United States is that the SC strikes down affirmation action. How does this impact the admissions for international students - Underrepresented and Overrepresented demographies?
A recent infusion of $50 million in state grant money will boost construction projects for Danville Public Schools and allow other upgrades to begin ahead of schedule.

The funding comes from the School Construction Assistant Program and was awarded by the Virginia Board of Education.

Danville Public Schools applied for the money, which was announced in May, for school projects identified after the 1% sales tax passed in 2021.

School leaders plan to use the grants to offset the costs of three projects, according to a news release. That way, some of the revenue from the sales tax can go toward other elementary schools, like Forest Hills and Woodberry Hills, allowing those facilities to be renovated ahead of schedule.

Specifically, the school system plans to use $13 million to build a new school to replace G.L.H. Johnson Elementary. The Danville School Board recently approved a new name for the building  Arnett Hills Elementary  that will be constructed on the same campus.

About $13.5 million will help with the renovation of the John M. Langston campus that will become a new home for Galileo Magnet High School, a new middle school STEM academy and house offices for administrative staff, the school system reported.

George Washington High School will use $23 million for its ongoing renovations. Updates to the second floor, the first phase of the project there, are expected to be finished this summer.

Since the passing of the 1% sales tax for school construction, the costs of construction has escalated significantly, Superintendent Angela Hairston said in a statement. The increase in construction costs forced us to waitlist projects.

Now via a money shuffle, they can get a jump on plans to fix up schools that are more than 80 years old, Hairston said.

Danville was one of 28 school divisions to receive funding from this particular grant system. Pittsylvania County and neighboring Halifax County also snagged money for renovation projects.

We are so grateful to the Virginia Board of Education for awarding us these funds, Danville School Board Chair TyQuan Graves said in the release. Our students and staff deserve high quality school buildings, and the grants will help us make that a reality.
A secretive family of feral horses has been discovered living in isolation on a remote part of North Carolinas Outer Banks.

The find was announced June 22 by the nonprofit Corolla Wild Horse Fund, which says the two adults and a foal were seen on an island in the sound west of Carova Beach.

A woman visiting the area is credited with making the discovery after spotting the foal wandering by itself.

Meg Puckett, who manages the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, says the discovery proves there are areas that are still truly wild.

There are horses who live in these areas that we are lucky to see once or twice a year, Puckett says.

Most of the horses do regularly travel back and forth from the sound islands to the main part of the beach, but its not often you find groups like this who seem to live out there permanently. 

A team sent to the island reports the foal, which is six to eight weeks old, and her mom are in excellent shape. The foal has been named Doe and her mother is being called Libba. They were accompanied by another adult, but we couldnt get a good enough look at him/her to see if we recognized them or not, the fund reported.

Corolla Wild Horse Fund manages a herd of about 100 horses and tends their medical needs with the help of donations. The herd roams 7,600 acres at the northern end of the Outer Banks, much of it marshy, swampy, and difficult to navigate, the fund says.

Outer Banks horses, known as bankers, often swim in search of food, which explains how some would end up on a remote island. But the fact some continue to escape detection is surprising, giving the booming Outer Banks tourism industry and the presence of three national parks.

The fund intends to put a team on the island later in the year to identify the three horses and collect tissue for DNA samples, Puckett says.

There are horses who live in these areas that we are lucky to see once or twice a year, and we always assume there are probably a handful more that we never see, Puckett says.

We sometimes spot a couple horses here and there on the islands when we fly over for aerial counts, but it can be difficult to ID them from that distance.
Kheesa Jones hasn't forgotten what the nurse told her before she delivered her newborn daughter 18 years ago.

"Tell your doctor you have thick skin," the nurse said. Jones had barely felt anything when the nurse had pinched her arm and put in the IV.

Though she was a healthy, 26 year-old college graduate of North Carolina A&T who had just secured a promotion at work, Jones had begun to deal with unbearable pain. She couldn't draw breath nearly as well as she had all her life, and an aching feeling had spread throughout her entire body  even to her fingernails and the tips of her ears.

When she told her doctor that she had thick skin, he knew that the year-long effort to correctly diagnose Jones' symptoms had ended in a single moment.

He brought out a giant book detailing rare diseases, flipping through its pages until he landed on one with a description of an exceptionally uncommon interstitial lung disease.

"You have scleroderma," he said.

Jones was confused. "What's that?" she asked him.

Her doctor grew somber and handed her a pamphlet that explained scleroderma as an incurable disease with no specific cause, activity or environmental trigger, and that those with the disease had an average life expectancy of three to five years.

Jones listened and asked him to repeat the name of the disease. But as he continued to explain, all she could do was ask herself one question over and over again: Who's going to take care of my baby?

'I can fight this'

The doctor's instructions were to not google scleroderma until talking to a specialist.

A quick search would yield dozens of pictures and descriptions of its symptoms: hard, thickening skin; curled fingers and toes; a tightened, mask-like skin over the face, and a constant feeling of fatigue no matter how much sleep one gets.

Not many people knew about scleroderma before the early 2000s, according to Luke Evnin, the chairman of the Scleroderma Research Foundation. Comedian Bob Saget led a significant push to research of the disease after his sister, Gay, lost her life to scleroderma in 1994, but there still isn't a cure for the disease or a drug that can reverse its effects.

The strain that scleroderma imposed on Jones' lungs had become so overwhelming that she had to take the elevator up to the third floor where she worked as a manager at an AT&T call center. When she made calls, her headset made her ears bleed if she wore it long enough. Scleroderma had even made her teeth hurt as she talked.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Jones would ask God. "There are so many people out there doing wrong and you're doing this to me."

Eventually, she had to leave her job, which gave her time to focus on Jamie, her newborn daughter. Jones spent most of the first two years of her diagnosis on the couch, watching her baby.

Back then, her arms and legs felt as heavy as rocks. When she couldn't lift them up, Jones would rest on the couch while she watched Jamie, who was gated inside the furniture. At her side was a packed bag of diapers, baby formula and two or three changes of clothes so that she wouldn't have to go back upstairs. She'd play with her baby by rolling different colored balls across the floor that Jamie would grab and bring back to her mom on the couch. If she fell asleep, Jamie would be waiting for her when she woke up.

Soon, it became harder and harder for Jones to leave the couch. She had more symptoms than fatigue. Her hands had curved so much that she would tell Jamie to bend when she rubbed lotion so that she wouldn't claw at her. Everywhere she went in public people would gasp and stare at her. Her lips had shrunk, her face looked sunken in, and she was unrecognizable to people who already knew her. Even when she looked in the mirror, she didn't recognize her own reflection.

Her doctors recommended 12 months of chemotherapy. On her first day of treatment, she wrote down her name and birth date and gave it to a nurse, who saw that it was her birthday.

"Bless your heart, baby," she said. "What a horrible way to spend your birthday."

But Jones wasn't feeling sorry for herself.

"I'm still here. Don't feel sorry for me," she heard herself telling the nurse.

But those words were aimed more at herself. On that day, Jones made a promise to herself to never have a birthday like that again.

'What are you doing?'

Whenever she held Jamie in her arms, Jones knew that only five more years of life wasn't enough time.

You didn't go anywhere, you didn't do anything, she told herself. You just sat on the couch. What are you doing to be here for her besides going to doctor's appointments?

Maybe if I give her happy memories of us together, Jones thought, she won't forget about me if I died. With no guarantee for a cure to scleroderma, or a full life, Jones knew that she couldn't just sit around and wait for it.

She started by taking Jamie to the Cultural Center in Greensboro for dance lessons. When her baby smiled at her while dancing, Jones started thinking bigger. They'd have to go to see Disney World. Then Jones would have to try and climb the Eiffel Tower with her friend. She'd try riding an alligator in Orlando, Florida. She took cruises to the Bahamas and in Alaska and has always said yes, even when a friend would joke about an idea for a road trip.

Years passed since her diagnosis, and Jones now had a fearlessness to her. She ran into her high-school sweetheart, Anthony, at her mother's house in New Jersey.

It had been five years since they had last seen each other. The last time, Jones had her "old face."

"Oh wow," he said when he saw her.

They had first met at 17 years old, when he was washing dishes at Friendly's and she was handing him the dirty stacks as a waitress. Whenever Jones would come back into the kitchen, he'd stop what he was doing and stare at her  thinking about how beautiful she was and not at all about what he could possibly say to her. Although Anthony had eventually mustered up the courage to ask her out, the two went their separate ways after dating for two years.

But things were different when they met again. Jones was recently divorced, and had Jamie with her, who was her ex-husband's daughter. Jones looked very different from the girl that he had known so long ago.

But he still loved her.

"You do look different," Anthony said. "But I still think you're beautiful."

Jones didn't believe him. She explained to him what scleroderma was, and then she told him that he didn't really understand what she was telling him.

They went to a scleroderma conference, where Anthony experienced the mixture of humility, fear and inspiration that Jones had felt when she met others who were battling against scleroderma. There were people with oxygen masks on, others who had hand surgeries, and some with lung replacements. It was a place where you made lifelong friends, some of whom might not make it to the next conference.

"OK," Anthony said after the conference. "I got it."

He saw what scleroderma looked like, heard from the doctors, and still wanted to be with her.

'The best thing that ever happened to me'

It's been 18 years since Jones was diagnosed with scleroderma. An advocacy support organization called Lungs & You helps Kheesa spread help to others suffering from lung diseases like scleroderma.

She has outlived her original five-year prognosis, even surviving a more serious health scare when delivering Jordan, her daughter with Anthony.

Now, she said, the symptoms that kept her on the couch for years barely even occupy a thought in her mind.

Scleroderma hasn't stopped her from seeing places she'd only dreamed of reaching. It didn't stop her from climbing to the top of Sydney Opera House with Jamie, and counting every step it took to get there.

Her daughters, now 17 and 5 years old, are all she thinks about, she said. When Jamie went through elementary school, Jones signed up to be a substitute teacher because she didn't like being away from her. Jones volunteered for the PTA, had her own office and spent so much time at the school that she became their "in-house sub."

On national sleep-in-your-backyard day one year, she took her girls to the zoo to sleep next to a lion exhibit.

On U.S. Cow Appreciation Day, an observance started by Chick-Fil-A, she and her daughters dress up as cows and visit 14 different Chick-Fil-As in the Triad, collecting meals to give to those in need on street corners.

The girls' favorite part is to see the surprise on people's faces when they give them a choice of what to drink with their meal. It gives them back some dignity.

When asked for her favorite memory with her mother, Jamie says, "My whole life."

The girls have witnessed firsthand their mother's commitment to living life to the fullest.

"It wasn't until I was faced with the possibility of dying that I really started to live," Jones said. "Scleroderma is the best thing that ever happened to me."
In celebration of the ongoing progress toward freedom and independence for all Americans, the inaugural Freedom Fortnight Festival attracted an inclusive group of people to acknowledge the Civic Season, the period between Juneteenth and July 4th.

In Eden, nearly 100 people gathered in the citys recreation center to express gratitude, play and participate in fellowship of food, music and spoken word about the patriotism of celebrating this period in racially diverse unity, said event organizer and curator David Campt, the founder of The Dialogue Company, author-facilitator of racial reconciliation book and workshops, and co-host of WFDD public radios Lets Talk About It program.

In this Civic Season we can now call the Freedom Fortnight, we have a real chance for Americans of all ages, races, orientations and backgrounds to reflect on, talk about and celebrate the strides our nation has made toward freedom for everyone, he said, explaining, It is also a time to commit to the central idea behind the United States that even if we disagree on some things, we know that freedom for everyone is not automatic and must b diligently pursued and energetically worked for by each generation.

During the festivals formal period, civic and public officials participated in singing the national anthem, followed by a recitation of Noah Griffins poem, Juneteenth, various patriotic songs including My Country Tis of Thee, Lift Every Voice and Sing, America the Beautiful and This Land is Your Land.

Campt said he hoped this small experiment would gain social traction in the future in North Carolina and around the nation as an intergeneration, inter-racial, multicity event that is patriotic, honest and fun. When racially and culturally diverse groups come together to celebrate freedom and independence, we are intentionally disrupting deeply embedded segregation patterns and moving toward community and a more perfect union, as fraught as it has been challenging moving forward, but we must do it.
Activities

On June 24, the Guilford Battle Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated a monument mounted to the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park Visitors Center in honor and gratitude of those who fought for Americas independence (1775-1783).

The ceremony was attended by the NC State America 250 Chairwoman Jane Thomas, NC State Historic Preservation Chairwoman Jill Privott, Guilford Battle Chapter Regent Laura Mortensen, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park Superintendent, Aaron LaRocca, as well as many of the chapter officers and members.

Announcements

Disabled American Veterans Chapter 20 of Guilford County has announced the election of new officers to serve during the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

The chapter elected William Tate, commander; Hodgist Stephens Jr., vice-commander; Jerome Presley, vice-commander; Lorna Kelly, treasurer; Cherelynn Horton, chaplain; Frances McDaniel, adjutant; John McDaniel, legislative liaison; Jarvis Bynum and Stu Holhbaugh, co-chairpersons Special Projects; and Eric Ratliff, sergeant-at-arms.

The officers were sworn in by DAV Past State Commander Jarvis Bynum  High Point.

The DAV Chapter 20 was chartered in 1946 and has served the veterans of Guilford County for over 75 years.

DAV Chapter 20 currently operates a transportation network with three vans that transport area veterans from their homes to V.A. medical appointments in Kernersville, Salisbury and Durham. Veterans must call 336-510-7508 three days before their appointment date to schedule transportation.

DAV Chapter 20 meets at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month at the Golden Corral on Landview Drive in Greensboro. All area veterans are welcome.

* * * *

The next meeting of the Genealogical Society of Rockingham & Stokes Counties is set for 2:30 p.m. July 9 in the Danbury Public Library, 1007 Main St. in Danbury.

Douglas Butler, author of North Carolina Civil War Monuments: An Illustrated History, will be the speaker and present a slide-show program about his book that seemed destined to be written.

Butlers father, nearly two decades ago, noted the controversies surrounding Confederate monuments had suggested his son photograph the North Carolina monuments before they might be moved. The book with its artistic photographs, researched histories, and descriptions of settings will become extremely important in the present environment.

Refreshments will be served.
Activities

Grimsley High School cadets participated in the Army JROTCs Science Technology Engineering and Math camp at South Carolina State University.

Grimsley was one of 31 North and South Carolina high schools that attended. The camp was appropriately named Camp Bulldog  after SCSUs mascot.

The cadets were given a choice between mechanical/electrical engineering, chemistry, energy generation, cyber security, rockets and micro-controllers to explore during camp. All instruction was provided by South Carolina States excellent faculty and staff. In addition to the classroom instruction the cadets were given presentations by Naphron Pharmaceutical, NASA and Lexington River Plant, introduced to drone operations and went on field trips to The South Carolina State Museum. The camp culminated with each STEM group presenting their final projects to their fellow cadets.

Cadet Isaac Ellick from Grimsley High School was named the camps Alpha Company Honor Cadet and Company Commander.

Achievers

GTCC and the North Carolina Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (NC FAME) The First in Flight Chapter, recently signed the inaugural class of multiple student recruits:

Jowat: Abbey Hayes, Eastern Guilford High; Darius Headen, Asheboro High, Jowat

Masterbrand: Isaac Alvarado, Southeast Guilford High; Jacob Dills, East Davidson High

Proctor/Gamble: Josue Escalante, Asheboro High

Toyota: Owen Brown, Harmony Noel Carmac, Alice Schultz, all of Asheboro High; Jahmeer Cobb and Muhammad Abu Khass, both of Ragsdale High; Devante Cuthbertson, Page High; Elisabeth Hornfeck, Grimsley High; Saul Jaimes, Southwest Guilford High; Cory Martin, Southeast Guilford High; Shackti Martinez, Southern Guilford High; Braylee Matthews, Eastern Guilford High; Jacob Parks, East Wake High; and David Sanders, Uwharrie Charter Academy High

Westrock: Kenneth Hunter, Dudley High

Five of the seven NC FAME companies signed students for the class of 2025. Those companies include Jowat Corporation, MasterBrand Cabinets, Proctor & Gamble, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina and WestRock.

The FAME program is designed for those interested in pursuing a career in STEM-related fields in manufacturing and provides a two-year, debt-free associate degree with the goal of equipping students with the skills required for a rapidly evolving manufacturing landscape. NC FAME, The First in Flight Chapter, will work with GTCC to educate students in a college setting, while also providing on-the-job-training with one of the NC FAME sponsor companies.

FAME was created by Toyota and moved to the Manufacturing Institute for national scaling in 2019. Today, the Manufacturing Institute, as the workforce development and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers, supports FAME USA, which has grown to include 37 chapters supported by more than 400 company partners across 14 states.

Students selected for the program will have a paid position three days a week with a sponsor employer and attend classes at GTCC the other two days. After receiving 1,800 hours of on-the-ground experience, 85% of graduates proceed to direct employment with a sponsoring company and earn wages that are, on average, 25% more than non-FAME graduates. FAME graduates are also able to transfer their credits to a four-year university to pursue a variety of STEM programs.

The First in Flight Chapter includes seven employers: Jowat Corporation in Archdale; MasterBrand Cabinets in Lexington; Proctor & Gamble in Greensboro; Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina, in Liberty; ZIEHL-ABEGG in Greensboro; ABCO Automation in Browns Summit, and WestRock in Winston-Salem.

Honors

The following people recently were initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nations oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines: Raina Innis of Greensboro, N.C. A&T; Venkata Vijay Kosaraju of Jamestown, University of Alabama at Birmingham.

They are among approximately 25,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation only and requires nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10 percent of seniors and 7.5 percent of juniors are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10 percent of the number of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

Scholarships

Applications are open through Sept. 15 for the Aquarium Scholars grant program, which offers funding to provide engaging educational opportunities from the North Carolina Aquariums to students from Title I or Title I-eligible schools across the state at little to no cost.

This program endeavors to remove financial barriers that may prevent underserved students from experiencing the aquariums firsthand. Opportunities include a field trip to one of the three aquariums or Jennettes Pier, an outreach program at the school with hands-on learning and ambassador animal encounters or a distance learning virtual program with an Aquarium educator. Regardless of the schools location, a program is available that will engage and inspire students.

Aquarium Scholars is a partnership between the North Carolina Aquariums, North Carolina public schools and the nonprofit North Carolina Aquarium Society made possible through the generosity of private donors.

Teachers from Title I or Title I eligible schools can learn more and apply at http://ncaquariums.com/aquarium-scholars.
House Bill 314, concerning compelled speech, is now law in North Carolina. It is also called the Nondiscrimination and Dignity in State Work Act. It prohibits compelled speech in state government offices and the community college system. It will prevent state agencies from asking prospective employees about their beliefs, affiliations, ideals or principles regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action as a condition of employment. The bill also contains parts of the former House Bill 187 that was vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper earlier this year. Those elements are designed to prevent the state from promoting 13 concepts, including the ideas that:

One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex.

An individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive or bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.

It is hard to understand the problem this bill was designed to redress, as no one is required to answer questions about their beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action as a condition of employment in North Carolina. However, if you, as do many in the Republican Party of this state, think that answering questions during a job interview about an individuals track record in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts is discriminatory, then this bill certainly fits your agenda. DEI efforts are meant to redress past and ongoing discrimination against racially subordinated groups, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. This kind of discrimination has been shown to impair the capacity of organizations, including state offices and community colleges, to meet their missions.

Ongoing discrimination narrows an organizations talent pool and efficiency, and therefore harms the people of North Carolina. Thus, it makes sense to evaluate potential employees for their knowledge of DEI principles and practices as one of (but not the only) dimension by which an applicant is evaluated. Taking away the capacity of state offices and community colleges to evaluate candidates in this arena is reactionary.

The portion of Bill 314 derived from former Bill 187 is a closeted attack on the academic discipline of critical race theory (CRT). However, these requirements are unnecessary because CRT does not advance any of the claims addressed by the bill. CRT theorists dont claim that any race or sex is superior to another. Indeed, CRT is hinged on the idea that the racial categories that we have lived under in the United States are not biological divisions of the human species, but socially defined groups, associated with the history of colonialism and chattel slavery in the Western Hemisphere. Thus, since our socially defined races are nonbiological categories, none can be innately superior to others, nor can anyone be inherently racist. The fact of the social definition of races is discussed in great detail in my book with Alan Goodman, Racism, Not Race (2022). Our reasoning is also underscored by a report released by a select committee of the National Academy of Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering on March 17.

Neither does CRT claim that anyone bears responsibility for the actions of others in the past. What it does say is that the past actions of European Americans resulted in a modern society in which opportunity is still stratified by socially defined race. Anti-racists argue that it is the responsibility of everyone within this society to work toward justice and equity for all people. This is simple common sense, in that unjust societies are not sustainable.

In reality, HB 314 is designed to resist movement toward a just society by characterizing progressives and progressive policies as discriminatory. The ultimate goal of these laws is take away the tools to move toward justice by producing a false narrative about American history and the injustices that currently plague our society. In this way, systems of structural racism, sexism, and anti-gay/transgender bigotry will continue to be buttressed under the cover of law.
Im flummoxed.

Three boys, 1-year-old twins and their 4-year-old brother, died in a house fire in December. Their mother, 28-year-old Brandi Sturdivant, was already known to the Guilford County Department of Social Services after being charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child only months before. In fact, DSS has received nine child protective services complaints involving this family, including three older children, two living with her, since 2016.

Two of the children are 11 years old,, meaning theyve been on DSSs radar for more than half of their lives.

Last month, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services found that DSS was negligent in handling the Sturdivant case and ordered corrective action to prevent similar incidents.

This case is bad enough in and of itself, but what also perplexes me is that nary a peep about this case has been heard from the hordes of those who call themselves pro-lifers.

You know, those people who harass pregnant women at abortion facilities and feign concern for the mom and her unborn child.

Those people who send threatening letters and emails and wish death to womens health care providers.

Those people who use abortion as the lone litmus test to determine if they will or wont support a candidate for office.

Where are they now? Why are they not marching around DSSs Greensboro headquarters on Maple Street demanding that something be done, somebody be held accountable so other young children dont die?

Dont the lives of these children matter?

Or are the cries of pro-lifers only audible before birth?

Now you probably can see why Im so puzzled.

But its not just this abuse case where pro-lifers are silent. After all the hoopla they make over abortions, they spend little time or attention ensuring that once the child arrives, the services needed to survive, thrive and develop into an adult are in place.

They generally dont support increasing funds for child care. They generally dont support programs to decrease childhood hunger or poverty. And they generally dont support programs designed to increase minimum wages, build affordable housing or spur economic development in depressed communities.

How can you rally for birth but evaporate after that?

Why havent we heard anything from them about the high death rates for Black women related to childbirth? Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. Where is the outrage there?

Gun deaths among children and teens rose 50% in two years, making it the leading cause of death for U.S. children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents in 2021. Thats about five children for every 100,000 children in the U.S. Where is the outrage from the pro-life groups?

According to the 2023 Kids Count Data Profile conducted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the 2021 fact sheet from the Childrens Defense Fund for North Carolina:

28% of the states children have parents who lack secure employment.

58% of children, ages 3 and 4, are not in school.

68% of fourth graders arent proficient in reading.

75% of eighth graders arent proficient in math.

34% of children and teens, ages 10-17, are overweight or obese.

36% of children live in single-parent homes.

1 in 6 children lives with someone who had to quit, change or turn down a job because of child care problems.

5,601 children were abused or neglected, and 11,223 children were in foster care in 2019.

2.4 full-time jobs at minimum wage were needed for a family to afford a two-bedroom rental unit at fair-market value in 2020.

20% of the states children are poor and of that number 32% are Black, 30% Hispanic and 10% white.

$88,400 was the median income for white families with children, compared with $41,000 for Black families and $40,400 for Hispanic families in 2019.

19% of children lived in food-insecure households in 2018.

Why are there no picket lines or calls for legislative action over these issues?

But this silence isnt new. Nor is the criticism it provokes.

The states most recent abortion law, which took effect on July 1, attempts to silence the critics. It provides some funds for access to contraceptives, increased paid parental leave for state employees and increased child care subsidies, but nothing to address the many other issues facing the states children, especially those in limited-resource households.

But this is about more than just funds. Cant those same voices join with others and do the things we know need to be done so children who are born can have an opportunity to live and be successful? While I disagree with the pro-life tactics and believe an individual and her doctor should determine what medical procedures to have, lets use that same energy to attack some of our problems.

Imagine the environment we could create if we worked together to provide affordable and quality child care services, effective public schools where every child is learning and preparing for the future, jobs that pay decent wages so parents can support their families and quality health care so all people receive services without regard to race, location or ability to pay.

As more restrictions are placed on abortion services, the number of children who are born and need support will likely increase. If we arent prepared to support them today, what will happen tomorrow?
Growing up in the suburbs of Madison, Wisconsin in the mid-1970s, Julie Lythcott-Haims didn't know she was a latchkey kid. All she knew was that mom and dad both worked, so it was up to her to come home from school, let herself in, make a snack and get started on homework before running out to play with the neighborhood kids.

"I don't recall ever feeling neglected," says Lythcott-Haims. "I felt trusted, competent, it was very normal."

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Lythcott-Haims sees great psychological value in the freedom she was afforded as a latchkey child of the 1970s, especially compared with what she views as the hyper-controlled and over-monitored existence of kids today. Her book, "How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success," is a rebuke of this overinvolved parenting style  prevalent today in upper-middle-class families  that she says produces young adults who can't think or act for themselves.

"I loved my free childhood," says Lythcott-Haims, who witnessed the ill-effects of overparenting as dean of freshman at Stanford University. "I loved the fact that my parents weren't involved in the minutia of every playdate, that they didn't feel they had to take me everywhere and stand on the sidelines of my life."

In contrast, Lythcott-Haims says, many of the students she met at Stanford were brilliant on paper  sky high grades and test scores, endless lists of activities  "But they couldn't think for themselves. They couldn't solve a simple problem without checking in with a parent. They couldn't make a choice."

Lenore Skenazy didn't grow up as a latchkey kid, but is a vocal advocate for the type of unsupervised, unstructured time that kids enjoyed 30 to 40 years ago. Her organization (or movement, some say) is called Free-Range Kids and her mission is to combat what she terms as the "hysteria" among parents that their children are constantly in danger and should never be left alone.

"When my mom let me walk to school by myself, she couldn't name ten children who had been kidnapped by strangers the way all of us can today," says Skenazy, "and therefore she wasn't burdened with the idea that what she was doing was irrational bordering on dangerous letting me have any unsupervised time."

Both Skenazy and Lythcott-Haims see overparenting as the enemy, not latchkey kids. They cite studies linking intrusive parenting with stunted psychological development, particularly in the area of "self-efficacy," the feeling that you have control over your life and that your actions lead to outcomes. Lacking that sense of control leads to anxiety and depression, conditions that are on the rise among young adults.
Metropolis Healthcare are on Metrobot, a unique chatbot designed exclusively for doctors. Metrobot, which is designed to revolutionize doctor-provider communication, eliminates the need for traditional call centres by providing doctors with a seamless WhatsApp-based chat platform, it claimed. According to the companys statement, doctors can use Metrobot to access essential medical information such as test availability, methodology, sample transport guidelines, turnaround time, sensitivity, specificity and cost, enhancing their decision-making process and providing patients with instant information and service.The development of new Metrobot involved extensive research and insights from more than 1000 doctors of various clinical specialties, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness. Beyond information sharing, Metrobot includes Continuing Medical Education (CME) modules, enabling doctors to stay updated with the latest advancements in their respective fields. Doctors can conveniently upload patient prescriptions, receiving prompt guidance from Metropolis for testing processes. This streamlined approach saves time and assures comprehensive care, the company said in a statement.Metropolis Healthcare aims to engage with more than 1 lakh doctors in the debut year itself and an even larger number in the future. According to the company, Metrobot provides customization options, allowing doctors to receive messages at their preferred times and formats. Leveraging WhatsApp, the platform offers quick access to essential service links. Metrobot caters to diverse medical specialties. Metropolis Healthcare remains committed to refining and expanding the platform based on continuous feedback, meeting the unique needs of nephrologists, neurologists, oncologists , gynaecologists and various clinical specialties, it claimed.We are delighted to introduce Metrobot on the occasion of Doctors Day, as we celebrate and express our gratitude to the remarkable doctors who play an instrumental role in safeguarding the health of our communities. The launch of Metrobot illustrates our continuous commitment to providing our doctors with a user-friendly platform that delivers relevant information, quick solutions, and personalised experiences. As we continue to expand our network in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, this new platform will aid will us in serving a larger number of doctors around the country. We are excited to continue on this journey and look forward to further improving the healthcare landscape by collaborating with our esteemed medical professionals, Surendran Chemmenkottil, Chief Executive Officer, Metropolis Healthcare Limited said in a statement.
Helenas Amanda Haab is Montana State Universitys first-ever recipient of a new scholarship launched in January in partnership with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

The 20-year-old Haab, who is going into her junior year in biochemistry, has been named one of the foundations Astronaut Scholars in the U.S. for 2023. She was nominated by faculty, and its the first time the award has been given in Montana, according to Steven Davis, assistant dean of MSUs Honors College. MSU is one of 46 universities whose students are eligible to receive the award.

"Amanda is truly deserving as she represents what we expect to be the first of many students from Montana State to join some of the best and brightest minds in STEM who show initiative, creativity, and excellence in their chosen field, Davis said in a news release.

The scholarship is one of the nations largest merit-based scholarships given to college juniors and seniors studying STEM. Haab will receive up to $15,000 and is given all access to events, networking and mentoring with astronauts and scholarship alumni. She will be honored alongside around 60 other awardees at the foundations innovators Week and Gala event from Aug. 16-19 in Orlando.

Im excited to see how this could open some new doors, Haab said in an MSU news release. Im thankful for all the community and mentorship here at MSU and am looking forward to seeing how this can help connect me to the next chapter of life.

Haab has been interested in space for a long time -- a fascination she has channeled into research at MSUs Center for Biofilm Engineering on developing ceramic glazes that could prevent microbial buildup in the water pipes of the International Space Station and other spacecraft. Haab has been making ceramics since high school, and she runs her own pottery business, Day Ceramics founded in 2020.

I didnt come to MSU with the expectation that research would be such a big part of my academic and future career, said Haab, who began doing the research during her freshman year as an MSU Vice President of Research and Economic Development Fellow in the lab of Matthew Fields, director of the Center for Biofilm Engineering. But the research Ive done in CBE has been phenomenal, and Im interested in continuing with a research career in that direction.

Haabs dad, Kent, called her a Renaissance woman, describing her as unafraid and self-motivated. Her mom, Melissa, stated that if theres something Haab wants to accomplish, shes going to get it done.

Shes been on a vertical ascent since she graduated from Capital High, Kent said. ... She likes to explore. Shes inquisitive, and shes very self-assured.

Haab is the sole undergraduate representative on MSUs University Research Council and has been heavily involved with the Associated Students of Montana State, MSUs student government, where she has served as chief justice from 2022 to 2023.

Those have been huge learning experiences for me and have helped me grow leadership skills that I can apply to interdisciplinary research and whatever else I do, Haab said.

David noted MSU was introduced to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation by JoAnn Morgan, a retired NASA executive and dedicated supporter of MSU. An event at MSU last January to commemorate the new scholarship featured John Herrington, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, who logged nearly 20 hours of spacewalks outside the NASA Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2002.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation is an Orlando-based nonprofit founded by the six surviving Mercury 7 astronauts in 1984 to commemorate the legacy of Americas pioneering astronauts. The foundation partners with individual donors, industry leaders and universities to support exceptional college students pursuing degrees in STEM.

Students interested in the scholarship can contact Davis at steven.davis2@montana.edu or the Honors College at honors@montana.edu.
Helena Public Schools is looking to lease two properties that have a bit of history and some emotional ties to the community.

The district is soliciting proposals for renting the Ray Bjork Learning Center at 1600 8th Ave. and the Seventh Avenue Gym at 7th and Cruse avenues.

Deadline to submit requests for proposal for both properties is July 10. The notice of intent to award will be July 21 and board approval will be Aug. 8.

Both bids state that the district reserves the right to select tenants that best fit the overall objectives of Helena Public Schools for compatible use, longevity and economic benefit.

HPS will not consider proposals for entities providing K-12 educational services, incarceration or detention center use, pre-release center services, drug rehabilitation services, gaming establishments, any establishments serving alcohol or any retail sales, the bids state.

The 9,800-square-foot gym is near Central Elementary School, 402 N. Warren St., and the 22,294-square-foot Bjork facility is near the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 1610 8th Ave.

The Ray Bjork Learning Center has housed five district programs that will be relocated for the 2024-25 school year. These programs were Head Start, Special Education Pre-School, Trailhead (a program for students in need of more behavioral and academic support), Therapeutic Learning Center (a partnership with Shodair Childrens Hospital for students in need of intensive emotional and behavioral support) and PEAK Gifted & Talented Program.

Superintendent Rex Weltz said in late March the district could no longer justify the cost of operating the building when there was space elsewhere for the programs.

On Wednesday he said the district is in the final stages of its facility planning project and was not interested in selling any properties until that plan was in place.

He also said there was some benefit to leasing.

I dont want to get rid of an asset for one-time money, when it could generate the capital, Weltz said, adding it would be most prudent for taxpayers funds.

Later he added he didnt like vacant buildings and would like to have someone occupy those buildings.

The district says it will consider leasing one or both wings of the Bjork facility either together or separately depending on which proposal is most advantageous to Helena Public Schools.

This is not the first time the district has requested proposals for the Seventh Avenue Gym.

The district did so in 2020. But Weltz said the COVID-19 pandemic halted those plans.

He said the district is dusting off those earlier efforts.

In 2020 it was estimated that a partner would have to invest somewhere between $500,000 and $3.7 million, depending on the use, into the building. The monetary investment is largely due to the building's age. Completed in 1908 at a cost of $26,000, the building is considered to be a historical location. The study did find the building to be "generally sound as a structure."

The Montana Historical Society posted about the lease of the Seventh Avenue Gym on its Facebook page.

"Repurposing (rather than demolishing) this classic example from Montanas prolific architectural firm Link & Haire not just preserves a historic Helena icon, but also avoids squandering the embodied carbon and energy invested a century ago in locally made brick construction," the posting states.

"The ... Italian Renaissance Revival-style Seventh Avenue Gym served as the 'best equipped gymnasium in the state' and central heating plant for two schools, an auditorium, and a public library that once sprawled across the block," the historical society stated. "While other buildings original to the block no longer stand, this well-used survivor supplied heat to Central School until 1993."

The historical society asked people for suggested uses.

Ideas included a gym, a community center, a youth center, museum, day care facility and a disco-theme roller skating rink.

"It's about time to reuse instead of tearing down," one person posted.

For more on the request for proposals, go to https://bit.ly/46pk5WV
Two members of Montanas congressional delegation on Thursday sent a letter to Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton asking for assistance in stabilizing Flathead Lakes water level.

Rep. Ryan Zinke and Sen. Steve Daines, both Republicans, asked the commissioner to increase flow from Hungry Horse Dam along the South Fork Flathead River to prevent Flathead Lake from reaching a predicted July water level of 22 inches below full pool  a historically low level that has given rise to concerns by businesses and boat owners whose livelihoods turn on the health of the lake.

Theres too much at stake economically, environmentally, and for public safety for the federal government to ignore this oncoming crisis, Zinke said in a press release accompanying the letter. Luckily, Reclamation has the authority, and precedence (sic) has been set, to increase flow from Hungry Horse Reservoir to stabilize Flathead Lake levels. Im urging the commissioner to use that authority and take action now to prevent irreversible damage to the greater Flathead Lake community.

After peaking on June 12, the water level on Flathead Lake began to decline due to the early melt out of the regions minimal snowpack. On June 29, the water level on Flathead Lake had reached an all-time low for this time of year, according to U.S. Geological Survey data, with surface water levels reaching 2,892.02 feet, or 11.5 inches below the dam-controlled lakes full-pool mark and well below the 23-year median. With streamflow volume forecasts for June and July at 40% and 34% of average, respectively, Flathead Lake is expected to drop to around 22 inches below full pool by July 12, which would have substantial impacts on the regions recreation-heavy economy.

The letter to the commissioner cited an instance in 2001 when the BoR authorized water designated for salmon flows on the Columbia River system to partially mitigate similar low water levels on Flathead Lake. That year the lake reached an early summer peak of 2,892.34 feet in June before beginning to decline. A peak pool of 2,892.98 feet was achieved by that August.

The norm going forward

Waterways throughout the Columbia River Basin are collectively managed through a series of 60 major dams, including the Selis Ksanka Qlispe (SKQ) Dam, which controls the output from Flathead Lake, and Hungry Horse Dam. Multi-jurisdictional operations manage the dams for flood control, energy generation and irrigation, as well as streamflow for fish migration and recreation.

Brian Lipscomb, CEO of Energy Keepers, Inc., the corporation that operates SKQ Dam, said that on June 3 operators decreased the lakes outflow to the lower Flathead River to the minimum streamflow allowed under the dams operating license, 12,700 cubic feet per second. Beginning July 1, outflow will be incrementally reduced to match inflows of roughly 4,500 cfs and the lake level will stabilize around July 12, according to Lipscomb.

Were not looking for that (outflow) minimum to be modified at all, Lipscomb said. That would mean sacrificing fish and other resources for a situation that is created because of climate change. This is going to become more of the norm going forward.

Lipscomb said that mitigation efforts coming from Hungry Horse would require a substantial release of water to make a difference in Flathead Lakes surface elevation  he estimates roughly 3 feet from Hungry Horse would raise Flathead Lake around 6 inches. Theres also a risk of ecological problems if that volume of water is released into the Flathead River too quickly, he said.

A policy adviser for Zinke said that with streamflow volumes along Flathead River so far below average, a release from Hungry Horse would not cause any environmental damage to the river system, mitigating potential concerns over trout and wildlife populations. According to Zinkes office, the commissioner can make a unilateral decision about Hungry Horse Dams operations, and staff said they are fairly confident the Bureau will act on the request.

However, officials at the Bureau of Reclamations regional office in Boise indicated a much more collaborative decision-making process that must take place between BoR, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which manages flood risk operations, and state and federal wildlife agencies before any releases can occur outside of normal operations.

Joel Fenolio, who oversees regional river and reservoir operations for BoR, said Thursday that although hes aware of the situation on Flathead Lake, the current plan is to ensure the main stem of the Flathead River near Columbia Falls remains above its minimum volume without drawing down the reservoir more than 12 feet below full pool. Currently, Hungry Horse Reservoir is around 6.5 feet below full pool.

Finite amount of water

This is a very unique situation. Across the basin its extremely dry, Fenolio said, adding that in a normal year Hungry Horse doesnt begin supplementing the Flathead River until August or September. This summer he expects that process to begin in late July.

Bill Dykes, the field officer at Hungry Horse Dam, said that since 1995 it has operated with environmental stewardship as a primary goal, followed by flood control and power generation.

If we release water now, theres only a finite amount of water, so that could create more impacts on fisheries later on in the year, Dykes said. Any impact to one reservoir will impact another, and its a balancing act. Sometimes theres winners and theres losers to that balancing.

Barring mitigation efforts from Hungry Horse Dam or significant weather events, Flathead Lakes surface level is forecast to drop for another two weeks until it stabilizes around 1.8 feet below full pool, prompting concern among businesses, boat owners and recreational users.

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP), which oversees the seven state park units along Flathead Lake, most public boat ramps along Flathead Lake will remain accessible even if the lake levels drop to 22 inches below full pool. However, the following public fixed piers and docks could be closed or inaccessible if lake levels drop for the remainder of the summer:

Flathead Lake State Park, Wayfarers Unit  Fixed dock would be inaccessible at 22 inches below full pool; ramp would remain accessible.

Flathead Lake State Park, Finley Point Unit  Marina and boat slips would be closed if lake levels drop 22 inches. Visitors with reservations would be contacted.

Woods Bay Fishing Access Site (FAS)  At 22 inches down, dock could be inaccessible.

Bigfork FAS  At 22 inches down, dock could be inaccessible.

Walstad FAS (in Big Arm)  At 22 inches down, dock could be inaccessible.

FWP officials also recommend all private dock owners closely monitor lake levels to avoid property damage and boaters should be aware of submerged hazards as lake levels decrease.
ROBINSON  Three Robinson residents have been charged with concealment of a homicidal death in connection with the death of a missing Lerna man whose remains were found in Crawford County.

The Illinois State Police reported in a press release that the Crawford County States Attorneys Office has charged Lance T. Newcomb, 34; Angela S. Newcomb, 58; and Hiley A. Schulte, 52, with concealment. In addition, Angela Newcomb has been charged with obstructing justice. These are all felony charges.

On June 22, the Cumberland County Sheriffs Office requested that State Police Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 8 investigate the case of missing Ryan L. Waggoner, 55, of rural Lerna. Authorities reported at the time that Waggoner was last seen June 2 at his residence in northwest Cumberland County.

According to the State Police, the investigation led the division's agents to a rural address in Crawford County on Tuesday. Human remains were located there and a forensic analysis was conducted to identify the remains.

The State Police reported that the investigation led to the three suspects being arrested by the division, with the assistance of the Crawford County Sheriffs Office, Robinson Police Department and the Cumberland County Sheriffs Office. The state's attorney filed charges on Thursday.

All three suspects are in custody at the Crawford County jail. Court records showed late Friday morning that hearings for them had not been scheduled.
DECATUR  An unusually big bow echo storm roared its way through Central Illinois Thursday afternoon, ripping down trees and power lines and sparking widespread power outages that hit thousands of family and business customers.

The National Weather Service in Lincoln recorded wind speeds ranging from 60 mph to as high as 80 mph in Coles County where heavy tree damage was reported.

A wind gust in Decatur was clocked at 75 mph and the city, like much of the region, was littered with downed trees and power lines. Power blackouts were widespread with Ameren Illinois reporting nearly 16,000 customers without electricity in the Decatur area mid-afternoon, part of some 176,000 outages across the utilitys service area.

In Central Illinois, the damage and high winds raked a zone that stretched from Decatur down to Mattoon and Charleston and north towards Bloomington.

Were still gathering reports but what we can say is mostly straight line wind damage but we cant rule out a quick spin-up, said NWS Meteorologist Mike Albano.

Along the leading edge of those storms it was possible there was a tornado somewhere along the path.

He said this storm front is known as a bow echo because of its shape and said what we just experienced was unusually big. Its quite rare and not too often we get something like this plowing through the entire state of Illinois, he added.

The results were a swirling chaos of flying tree branches and falling trees that kept fire crews and police busy all afternoon responding to emergency calls.

An early evening survey of the west side of town, near the closed Dennis School buildings, revealed multiple downed trees on cars and homes and many roads covered in limbs and leaves.

The high speed winds mangled signs outside some businesses. Portions of a handful of streets were sectioned or completely blocked off as residents awaited Ameren response crews and assessed their own damage.

One such resident was Mandi Swan, who told the Herald & Review she was inside her home at the corner of Monroe Street and Prairie Avenue early Thursday afternoon when she heard a loud booming noise, followed by the sound of one of her daughters screaming.

Swan went outside to find that her daughter was unharmed, but her house was not.

A tree in their backyard had fallen into their recently-renovated house, taking a power line down with it.

At around 4 p.m. on Thursday, Swan said she was expecting a long wait before response crews could fully clean up the damage.

The fire marshal came by, and he went back, he took a look at it, he said, Just stay away from it, Swan said. He said, theres so many fires in the city right now that, you know, when Ameren can get to you, theyll get to you.

But Macon County ESDA Coordinator Tammy Schneider told the Herald & Review she had heard no reports of serious injuries and wanted to keep it that way: People just really need to be aware of those downed power lines because they are so dangerous, she added. Be cognizant of your surroundings and take extra care.

The storm front also brought forth a deluge of rain which ranged from  of an inch to 2 inches throughout Central Illinois. And while the destructive power of the storm wasnt welcome, the rainfall certainly was for an area already headed into drought conditions.

As rainfall amounts go, we did get some pretty beneficial rainfall with this event, said Albano.

And the deluge brought other fringe benefits, too, washing away some of the choking smoke that has been blanketing the area as wild fires burn out of control in parched Canada.

Albano said smoke continues to linger at higher altitudes and so were not in the clear just yet, but the storm had done much to power wash away the fumes clouding the area several hundred feet above ground.

The air quality is much improved, he added.

Hillside Bethel Tabernacle Church had to dismiss summer camp early on Thursday due to the storm.

"The church has a big limb on the roof, a privacy fence blown over, and we still dont have power," said the Rev. Kevin Horath, senior pastor. "We had to let summer camp out early and still waiting to see about tomorrow."

A tree fell in Mary Jo Fromm's yard and damaged the home's siding and the pool her special-needs daughter Heaven uses, but that isn't the worst part. Their power is off, and Heaven depends on machinery.

"She needs power to charge a suction machine for her tracheotomy to clear her airway to breathe, to charge her feeding pump which is where she gets the majority of her nutrients, and to power a pulse-ox machine which monitors her heart and breathing while sleeping due to having epilepsy and requiring an overnight feed while asleep," Fromm said.

Fridays forecast promises more rain with a few storms that could be strong to severe but the overall onslaught wont be anywhere near as bad as Thursday.

They wont carry nearly the punch or cover the breadth of area that Thursdays storm did, said Albano.

Staff writers Taylor Vidmar and Valerie Wells contributed to this report.

Close 1970: Water, water everywhere Monday, especially at Prairie Avenue and Broadway. It was enough to give some motorists that sinking feeling. 1967: This scene is not the bayous of Louisiana but Fairview Park. The footbridge in the middle of the picture is closed because of the flooding. Autumn went out Thursday as it had come in - wet. More than an inch of rain fell Thursday, making the total for fall 15.52 inches of precipitation. Last year's total was 8.08 inches. 1959: Several feet of water in the Route 51 subway at the north edge of Maroa caused detour of traffic. A stalled tractor-trailer at th enorth side was a signal to drivers that the subway was impassible. 1971: This police squad car was stationed on N. Country Club Road south of E. William Street Road to warn motorists of flooding. 1968: Heavy rain creates a hardship for many persons in Decatur when their basements flood and difficulties in general when intersection and subways flood. But for young boys like Alvin Lewis, 6, it's an opportunity for the fun to be found in putting on boots and going wading. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Carl Lewis of 1228 N. 20th St. This was the scene Friday on Grand Avenue at Torrence Park. 1958: Bob Keck, Niantic, a Navy man home on leave, takes a hydroplane ride in the 600 block E. Center St. after a heavy rain shorly after 9 a.m. today. Keck was working on his boat in a filling station owned byhis father, at Broadway and Center St. when the 1.02 inches of rain gave him a closeby testing area. 1967: More than an inch of rain early this morning flooded many intersections. Here, a car plows through hubcap-deep water at the intersection of 23rd and Logan streets. The intersection is in an area which frequently floods, and in a precinct where residents voted more than 2-1 against a sewer bond referendum last spring. 1971 1981: No, speedboats haven't started looking like pickup trucks. This was the scene on N. Water St. at Pershing Ave. this morning as the area received another 3/4 inch of rain within half an hour. This torrential storm defeated the storm sewer system's ability to carry it away and made driving treacherous throughout the city. 1938: Pictures is the foot bridge over Stevens Creek in the west end addition of Fairview park which is isolated by the swollen stream. 1977: Children splash their way across N. Main Street and Grand Avenue. 1986: The water was deep Friday evening at Whippoorwill and Meadowlark drives. 1987: Philip Bateman waited under the Decatur Public Library awning. 1970: This house, near Maynor Dr. and 44th St., is surrounded by water from weekend rains. 1965 1971: The drivers of these autos had to be very cautious in negotiating this lake in the 2800 Block N. Water St. early this morning. Water accumulated in large amounts on several streets and in some underpasses in the city as a result of the more than three inches of rain which fell last night and this morning. High water stranded some motorists this morning. 1938: Traffic through the Illinois Terminal railway subway on route 48 near the No. 6 firehouse was halted last night by the high water. Shown are two cars which stalled in the underpass. Passengers were forced to wade out and it was several hours before wreckers could tow the cars to dry ground. 1970: Springs rains bring spring floods. 1983: Stalled cars, flooded subways, impassable streets and perhaps a flooded basement or two aggravated folks in Central Illinois Friday, as a record 3.69 inches of rain fell on the Decatur area. 1948: Heavy morning rains flooded the street and sidewalk at the intersection of East Wood and South Jasper streets and covered the floor inside the Raffington Drug store on the corner. Water was up to the doors of other business buildings but did not pass the doors, proprietors said. UNDATED 1987: Some folks seem to enjoy rain. Others seem to guard against it. Some wince and some just go about business as usual. It seldom falls without comment - too much or too little, too late or about time. Welcome or not, the rain comes and the rain goes. 1986: Water swamps car near Millikin University. 1977: Heavy rains and poor drainage in the 2300 Block E. Logan St. made the street a mini-lake 1935: Streets throughout the city were flooded Monday when a sudden downpour brought more than one and fourth inches of rainfall in an hour. Children in the 2100 block East Giles found a miniature lake in their front yards. 1938: Creeks and rivers near Decatur were swollen today by 2.06 inches of rain since yesterday noon. The parking area in the west end of Fairview park was partly inundated by Stevens Creek. 1975: As nearly an inch of rain fell in Decatur Tuesday, streets and intersections flooded quickly, creating difficult driving conditions in many areas. One driver was still determined to make his way in spite of the one and a half feet of water that stood in front of the Tops Big Boy Restaurant at the intersection of N. Water St. and Pershing Rd. 1967: More than an inch of rain early this morning flooded many intersections. Here, a car plows through hubcap-deep water at the intersection of 23rd and Logan streets. 1971 1989: It was a cold, wet day in Decatur Thursday. An unidentified man and young girl dash from the downtown parking lot to William Street, paying particular attention tot heir footing on the slippery asphalt. 1990: Duane Brennan, Decatur, holds an umbrella over his sister, Becky, as he walks her home Tuesday from a Brownie meeting. 1992: Tim Gipson rides a bike off a ledge into deep water underneath the railroad underpass on North Main Street Saturday after heavy rains flooded the street. Gipson and Jason Prosser, lower right, saw motorists stalled int eh 4-foot deep water and stopped of offer assistance. the boys decided to play in the water after thy were no longer needed. 1993: Jim and Sally Ronbson of Hamburg show Bart Smith their patio, which faces the Mississippi River. 192: Tony Best, 24, lends a hand to motorist Iona Seefeldt after Seefeldt's car stalled in overflow rain water on North Main Street. 1993: Ray Ontis and his 11-year-old son, Kevin, take Jean Moore and other counseling team members across the swollen Illinois river from Nutwood to Hardin. They encounter the break in the Nutwood levee halfway through the 20-minute boat ride. 1993: Donald Davis, Oreana, is used to wading out in high water to get his paper when there's a substantial rain such as Monday's. 'Everytime we get a big rain we get flooded,' said Davis who's lived in his house on Northeast Street for the last 14 years. 1937: Merchants and residents at Wood and Jasper streets needed row boats. 1985: Bill Lewis looks on as Mike Morganthaler comes form putting a cable on his partially submerged backhoe. The backhoe slipped off an embankment and became stuck as a result of heavy rain collecting below a newly made road. 1985: The rain-swollen Sangamon River overflowed its banks, leaving Lincoln Park Drive under water Tuesday. 1977: Here is Decatur, a myriad of rivers and lakes - but it wasn't planned taht way. Decatur's waterways, pictured here, were created with little advance notice by a three-inch rain that fell in a 30-minute period on Aug. 20. History photos: Central Illinois rainy weather and flooding A look back at the rains and floods of the past. 1970: Water, water everywhere Monday, especially at Prairie Avenue and Broadway. It was enough to give some motorists that sinking feeling. 1967: This scene is not the bayous of Louisiana but Fairview Park. The footbridge in the middle of the picture is closed because of the flooding. Autumn went out Thursday as it had come in - wet. More than an inch of rain fell Thursday, making the total for fall 15.52 inches of precipitation. Last year's total was 8.08 inches. 1959: Several feet of water in the Route 51 subway at the north edge of Maroa caused detour of traffic. A stalled tractor-trailer at th enorth side was a signal to drivers that the subway was impassible. 1971: This police squad car was stationed on N. Country Club Road south of E. William Street Road to warn motorists of flooding. 1968: Heavy rain creates a hardship for many persons in Decatur when their basements flood and difficulties in general when intersection and subways flood. But for young boys like Alvin Lewis, 6, it's an opportunity for the fun to be found in putting on boots and going wading. His parents are Mr. and Mrs. Carl Lewis of 1228 N. 20th St. This was the scene Friday on Grand Avenue at Torrence Park. 1958: Bob Keck, Niantic, a Navy man home on leave, takes a hydroplane ride in the 600 block E. Center St. after a heavy rain shorly after 9 a.m. today. Keck was working on his boat in a filling station owned byhis father, at Broadway and Center St. when the 1.02 inches of rain gave him a closeby testing area. 1967: More than an inch of rain early this morning flooded many intersections. Here, a car plows through hubcap-deep water at the intersection of 23rd and Logan streets. The intersection is in an area which frequently floods, and in a precinct where residents voted more than 2-1 against a sewer bond referendum last spring. 1971 1981: No, speedboats haven't started looking like pickup trucks. This was the scene on N. Water St. at Pershing Ave. this morning as the area received another 3/4 inch of rain within half an hour. This torrential storm defeated the storm sewer system's ability to carry it away and made driving treacherous throughout the city. 1938: Pictures is the foot bridge over Stevens Creek in the west end addition of Fairview park which is isolated by the swollen stream. 1977: Children splash their way across N. Main Street and Grand Avenue. 1986: The water was deep Friday evening at Whippoorwill and Meadowlark drives. 1987: Philip Bateman waited under the Decatur Public Library awning. 1970: This house, near Maynor Dr. and 44th St., is surrounded by water from weekend rains. 1965 1971: The drivers of these autos had to be very cautious in negotiating this lake in the 2800 Block N. Water St. early this morning. Water accumulated in large amounts on several streets and in some underpasses in the city as a result of the more than three inches of rain which fell last night and this morning. High water stranded some motorists this morning. 1938: Traffic through the Illinois Terminal railway subway on route 48 near the No. 6 firehouse was halted last night by the high water. Shown are two cars which stalled in the underpass. Passengers were forced to wade out and it was several hours before wreckers could tow the cars to dry ground. 1970: Springs rains bring spring floods. 1983: Stalled cars, flooded subways, impassable streets and perhaps a flooded basement or two aggravated folks in Central Illinois Friday, as a record 3.69 inches of rain fell on the Decatur area. 1948: Heavy morning rains flooded the street and sidewalk at the intersection of East Wood and South Jasper streets and covered the floor inside the Raffington Drug store on the corner. Water was up to the doors of other business buildings but did not pass the doors, proprietors said. UNDATED 1987: Some folks seem to enjoy rain. Others seem to guard against it. Some wince and some just go about business as usual. It seldom falls without comment - too much or too little, too late or about time. Welcome or not, the rain comes and the rain goes. 1986: Water swamps car near Millikin University. 1977: Heavy rains and poor drainage in the 2300 Block E. Logan St. made the street a mini-lake 1935: Streets throughout the city were flooded Monday when a sudden downpour brought more than one and fourth inches of rainfall in an hour. Children in the 2100 block East Giles found a miniature lake in their front yards. 1938: Creeks and rivers near Decatur were swollen today by 2.06 inches of rain since yesterday noon. The parking area in the west end of Fairview park was partly inundated by Stevens Creek. 1975: As nearly an inch of rain fell in Decatur Tuesday, streets and intersections flooded quickly, creating difficult driving conditions in many areas. One driver was still determined to make his way in spite of the one and a half feet of water that stood in front of the Tops Big Boy Restaurant at the intersection of N. Water St. and Pershing Rd. 1967: More than an inch of rain early this morning flooded many intersections. Here, a car plows through hubcap-deep water at the intersection of 23rd and Logan streets. 1971 1989: It was a cold, wet day in Decatur Thursday. An unidentified man and young girl dash from the downtown parking lot to William Street, paying particular attention tot heir footing on the slippery asphalt. 1990: Duane Brennan, Decatur, holds an umbrella over his sister, Becky, as he walks her home Tuesday from a Brownie meeting. 1992: Tim Gipson rides a bike off a ledge into deep water underneath the railroad underpass on North Main Street Saturday after heavy rains flooded the street. Gipson and Jason Prosser, lower right, saw motorists stalled int eh 4-foot deep water and stopped of offer assistance. the boys decided to play in the water after thy were no longer needed. 1993: Jim and Sally Ronbson of Hamburg show Bart Smith their patio, which faces the Mississippi River. 192: Tony Best, 24, lends a hand to motorist Iona Seefeldt after Seefeldt's car stalled in overflow rain water on North Main Street. 1993: Ray Ontis and his 11-year-old son, Kevin, take Jean Moore and other counseling team members across the swollen Illinois river from Nutwood to Hardin. They encounter the break in the Nutwood levee halfway through the 20-minute boat ride. 1993: Donald Davis, Oreana, is used to wading out in high water to get his paper when there's a substantial rain such as Monday's. 'Everytime we get a big rain we get flooded,' said Davis who's lived in his house on Northeast Street for the last 14 years. 1937: Merchants and residents at Wood and Jasper streets needed row boats. 1985: Bill Lewis looks on as Mike Morganthaler comes form putting a cable on his partially submerged backhoe. The backhoe slipped off an embankment and became stuck as a result of heavy rain collecting below a newly made road. 1985: The rain-swollen Sangamon River overflowed its banks, leaving Lincoln Park Drive under water Tuesday. 1977: Here is Decatur, a myriad of rivers and lakes - but it wasn't planned taht way. Decatur's waterways, pictured here, were created with little advance notice by a three-inch rain that fell in a 30-minute period on Aug. 20.
BLOOMINGTON  University leaders across Illinois on Thursday pledged that their efforts to achieve diverse campus communities would not be limited by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down affirmative action.

Many said their processes would not be affected by the ruling, which declared that race cannot be a factor in college admissions. Still, they expressed concerns about the decision that the Illinois Board of Higher Education characterized as an attack on people of color, especially Black people.

The board said affirmative action was never a robust solution to inequality, but "merely a tool intended to chip away at an enormous obstacle."

Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the decision a "travesty" that reversed nearly 45 years of precedent that advanced equity in higher education.

Pritzker said the Supreme Court ruling sets us back, but in Illinois we will continue to uplift our students of color  promoting inclusion and expanding access through record-levels of funding for higher education institutions and our MAP Grant Program, so that every student has the opportunity to earn a degree.

To students of color, he said, you belong in our institutions. And no archaic ruling will ever change that.

Continued commitments

Illinois State University does not use race as a factor in admissions, said Jana Albrecht, associate vice president for enrollment management.

To fulfill its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, the university visits high schools and works with community-based organizations to reach prospective students, she said. The university's goals, mission and vision will not change with the ruling, but she acknowledged the possibility that prospective students of color may be discouraged by Thursday's decision.

"I think thats a real concern and a possible outcome of this," she said, "which is why its important for our admissions office in our university, and for our faculty and staff, to reach out to students and let them know we are a welcoming environment and we absolutely want them at our institution."

Southern Illinois University also does not consider race in its admissions, but campus leaders were "deeply concerned" by the court's decision, university leaders said in a statement Thursday.

"Todays ruling coupled with similar decisions in several states across the country, may embolden critics of diversity and reverse generations of progress at colleges, universities and the nation," said the statement from the university board, President Dan Mahony, chancellors of both campuses and dean of the school of medicine.

The University of Illinois system also issued a joint statement from its president and chancellors, stressing a continued commitment to diversity. They pledged that the university would "continue to open its doors wide to all deserving students  including those for whom opportunities may have been unfairly limited."

It was unclear to what extent the university's current processes would be affected by the ruling. The leaders pledged to "carefully review the specifics" and take steps to remain in compliance with state and federal laws.

Western Illinois University President Guiyou Huang stressed that the institution would continue to "support all students' ability to secure a college degree in an environment that celebrates diversity and inclusion."

"We stand with our peer institutions of higher education who have issued statements announcing their commitment to continue striving to close equity gaps for Black, Latinx, low-income, working adults, rural students, and all marginalized communities," she said.

Doug Freed, director of undergraduate admissions, said the institution does not factor race into its admissions decisions.

Eastern Illinois University, in a statement, also emphasized its commitment to access and opportunity.

"Our longstanding mission embraces diversity and inclusion, attributes we know are fundamental to a deeper understanding of ourselves and greater respect for each other," the university said. "These commitments are foundational in EIUs vision to advance engaged citizenship through personal connections and interpersonal experiences."

'Not unexpected'

Northern Illinois University President Lisa Freeman described Thursday's decision as "not unexpected," but she said it nonetheless "deals yet another shockwave of frustration, pain and fear for marginalized communities."

She said the university does not use race as a factor in undergraduate admissions and would remain compliant with the law, but its mission would not change.

"Our student body reflects our longstanding commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and our university communitys recognition of such," she said. In fall 2022, roughly 20% of NIU students were Latinx, 17% Black, 6% Asian and 46% white.

Georgia Nugent, president of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, said she recently attended an annual meeting with the Annapolis Group, an organization of roughly 130 liberal arts colleges, where they discussed the potential consequence of the Supreme Court ruling.

The general consensus of those in attendance was that the schools at risk of being affected are the Ivy League schools where there are extremely low acceptance rates for a large pool of applicants, Nugent said.

The conclusion that we came to is that the places that are really going to be affected by this decision are the Harvards and Stanfords of the world, where they are so deluged with applications that they need to employ factors to sort those applications out, Nugent said. We dont have that.

Nugent said Wesleyan has about a 50% acceptance rate and offers programs and scholarships to foster equity and provide opportunities. It has a total enrollment of roughly 1,500, of which roughly 9% of students were Hispanic, 7% were Black and 7% were Asian as of fall 2022.

Kent Barnds, chief enrollment officer at Augustana College in Rock Island, said he suspects that the decision would have little impact on institutions like the private liberal arts college with enrollment of roughly 2,300.

I don't think that probably anyone in higher ed was especially surprised by this decision," he said Thursday. "I think probably there were many in higher ed who were disappointed by the decision."

Still, he and others in higher education are still trying to gain a full understanding of the potential implications.

I think that there is unlikely to be a big impact, he said. Because this decision is across the whole higher ed landscape, there is this thought that it will have wide ripple effects  and there is some evidence that when race is no longer a factor that's considered, sometimes the racial composition of an enrollment or a class can change.

Barnds, who oversees all enrollment management functions, said the college does not use an affirmative action program in its admissions process  nor will it need to change any policies in wake of the decision.

We've practiced what is referred to as, 'Holistic Admission,' and that's certainly what many private colleges do, he said. We're looking at multiple factors of how a student can contribute to our community.

Millikin University leaders also do not anticipate much, if any, affect on admission procedures. Stacey Hubbard, dean of admissions and financial aid, said the Decatur college does not consider race as a component when making admission decisions.

"One of Millikin's core values is inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, and we have historically attracted a diverse population of applicants due to the academic and co-curricular activities we offer," she said, adding that one initiative of the Decatur institution's strategic plan involves "nurturing a welcoming and inclusive campus environment with a goal of fostering a sense of belonging for all who engage with Millikin."

Eureka College President Jamel Wright said in a statement the school  which is the alma mater of former President Ronald Reagan  does not consider race in its admissions process but remains committed to values of diversity, equity and inclusion.

As an institution founded by abolitionists that was the first college in the state of Illinois to admit men and women on an equal basis, Eureka College values our students diverse experiences and backgrounds, Wright said in the statement.

Olivia Allen, Brendan Denison, Mateusz Janik, Les O'Dell, Kelsey Watznauer, Valerie Wells and Drew Zimmerman contributed to this story.
There is some truth to the stereotype that the person that reads too much content from Fox News or Facebook becoming detached and deranged  but not why people think.

One of the unfortunate side effects of the rise of search engines  and television before that  has been the increased focus of national and global affairs over local ones. There are not many limitations on the reach of how far media entities can reach with these mediums  broadcasting licenses is the only major for television and censorship for the net  and so just a handful of commentators only covering national/global affairs have trended to hog most of the attention on television and on the internet.

This has leads to those that spend too much time consuming news from these mediums commonly knowing about a lot of fascinating national or global things that are happening (that they don't have the ability to impact), without them knowing about local things that are happening (which they have more power to impact). Too much internet or television consumption leads to people not being properly embedded in real-life communities. Too much Fox News and Facebook consumption leads to derangement, though the content hosted there is not necessarily incorrect, because of the medium they are embedded in are bad.

Television, FM radio or print newspaper that came before has an inherent limited geographic reach because of practical limitations. These mediums are localized  and as a side effect they naturally give exposure to things that are happening in the area that people can participate in constructively. Those that are too invested in local news or a local radio stations are at most at risk at becoming a "townie"  not necessarily an unhealthy fate.

Joshua Liu, Decatur
BRISTOL, Va.  Crossroads Medical Mission plans to use a new $45,000 allocation from the city to acquire and begin repurposing a building adjacent to its downtown medical clinic.

On Tuesday the City Council unanimously approved a plan to transfer $45,000 of unused federal Community Development Block Grant  Coronavirus CARES Act funds to the locally based medical care provider  to augment its current services.

The city had unspent funds  which were allocated but unused  following the pandemic.

A public notice regarding this allocation to Crossroads Medical was posted in this newspaper June 20 and a public comment period regarding the transfer is now underway and will conclude July 20.

Not all of this money was spent. There is a balance left of $85,076.70. As a result, the staff would like to re-allocate the balance of the funding for public service projects and activities, Director of Community Development and Planning Jay Detrick told the council.

Approximately $45,000 would be allocated to assist Crossroads Medical Mission in the acquisition of property to expand its services which will assist in the response to future pandemics, he said.

For more than 20 years, Crossroads has provided free primary and urgent health care, medical screenings, minor surgery, medication assistance, education and counseling services to uninsured residents of this region.

Their plan is to acquire the vacant one-story, brick home next to the clinic at 433 Scott St. The building formerly served as the parsonage to the nearby John Wesley United Methodist Church.

We had no idea that the property next door was a parsonage that was abandoned  and was not being used in the best possible way, Crossroads Executive Director Cindy Rockett told the council. We started thinking, this would be a great addition to Crossroads Medical Mission.

They are contemplating offering a range of services not currently available at its clinic or through its mobile clinic, she said.

We are so excited to be able to purchase that property. The church has agreed to sell it to us for a very reasonable price and we plan to build onto that, Rockett said.

Detrick said the city staff is currently reviewing other entities which previously received some of this type of funding  which has expiration date for use  and reaching out to them to see if they have eligible programs or needs.
A Hiddenite man has been charged in a shooting linked to a road-rage attack that occurred Thursday in Alexander County, authorities said.

David Bryant Marlowe, 67, is charged with one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, the Alexander County Sheriffs Office said in a news release.

At around 10 a.m. on Thursday, the sheriffs office received a call referencing a possible shooting near the N.C. Highway 90 and Cheatham Ford Road intersection, the sheriffs office said.

The sheriffs office said the caller stated a male subject in an older model Chevrolet truck shot another subject in the shoulder. Officers arrived and found no one at the scene, the sheriffs office said.

Officers searched the area for an old Chevrolet truck and a dark blue Ford Explorer Sport Trac, the sheriffs office said.

Officers found the victim at a BP convenience store in Iredell County. The victim had a gunshot wound to the shoulder. The victim was transported by Iredell EMS with non-life-threatening injuries, the sheriffs office said.

The sheriffs office did not identify the victim.

The victim and a witness stated the shooting occurred during a road-rage attack on Cheatham Ford Road.

Witnesses on the scene gave detectives a partial tag and vehicle description, the release said.

The suspect was arrested at a residence on Vashti Road, according to the release.

Marlowe is set to appear in Alexander County District Court on Monday.

Marlowe is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
A man wound up in handcuffs after police say he led them on a wild ride through Burke and Catawba counties in a Honda Odyssey minivan Wednesday afternoon.

Nohsher Chiah, 38, had an outstanding indictment for possession of a firearm by felon from Burke County when deputies in Catawba County attempted to stop him driving a Honda Odyssey on N.C. 16 North at Compass Street around 4:36 p.m., said Capt. Aaron Turk with the Catawba County Sheriffs Office.

Turk said Chiah took off from that stop and led them on a chase that ended up on Interstate 40 westbound, headed toward Burke County.

Deputies with the Burke County Sheriffs Office were called around 5:41 p.m. to assist with the chase near Exit 119 westbound, BCSO officials said

The chase continued on, eventually jumping off the Interstate, making its way through some of Burke Countys back roads and ending on Byrd Road near Williams Place where the minivan came to a stop in the road, the sheriffs office said.

Chiah surrendered peacefully from there, the sheriffs office said. The chase reached speeds in excess of 105 mph, deputies said.

Sitting handcuffed in the back of a patrol vehicle, Chiah told The News Herald he didnt believe officers actually had a warrant for his arrest, so he took off.

I asked them to show it (the warrant) to me, they said I would find out when I got to Burke County, so I came to Burke County, Chiah said.

When asked why he didnt want to stay with the deputies and wait on them to serve the warrant, he said it would take like 10 years.

I dont know why they couldnt just show it to me, Chiah said. If Ive got a warrant, show me my warrant. They can print out a ticket but they cant print a warrant.

He said was just released from probation. Records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections show he was convicted of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon in Catawba County in 2019, and convicted in 2021 in Henderson County of discharging a firearm within an enclosure to incite fear and possession of a schedule VI controlled substance.

Chiah was charged with discharging a firearm within an enclosure to incite fear after an incident in March 2018 in Fletcher, where his wife was shot, according to a 2018 story from BlueRidgeNow.

I just got off probation and they just hit me with this indictment or firearm by a felon, Chiah said. I dont know what thats for. It sounds like BS to me.

Chiahs bond was set at $20,000 secured, according to records from the Burke County Jail.
A facility to care for unaccompanied immigrant children may be closer to opening now that a key contract has been awarded.

But federal officials are still mum on when children will be accepted at the former American Hebrew Academy on Hobbs Road.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last year signed a five-year, $50 million lease on the school grounds to house and educate unaccompanied immigrant minors. Children would stay there while the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement works to place them with a vetted sponsor  often a family member  while their immigration status is adjudicated.

Initially, the children were expected to begin arriving in July 2022. But that date was postponed and now the federal government is not publicly giving a timeline.

However, Councilwoman Nancy Hoffmann, whose district includes the campus, said its likely to be soon.

The latest information that we had as of a few days ago is that  timing is imminent in terms of the start of the usage by the federal government, Hoffman said. But thats all I know.

A June 22 email sent to stakeholders  a select group that includes local elected officials and neighborhoods extremely close to the facility  noted that the facilities management contract was awarded earlier this month.

That contract, potentially worth $273.7 million, was appealed and had to be rebid. It was eventually awarded to Deployed Resources of Rome, N.Y.

A letter sent by a public affairs officer with the Office of Refugee Resettlement notes: This contract is necessary to ensure that the GPA is ready to welcome unaccompanied children.

GPA stands for Greensboro Piedmont Academy, the name officials are calling the facility, which could house up to 800 children.

As a result, contractual activities will continue to occur onsite throughout the summer and into next year, the June email states. We appreciate your understanding and support as we prepare for the upcoming opening.

The Office of Refugee Resettlements media office did not respond to a News and Record email seeking an update on the project.

Buses recently entering the campus created a stir as some people thought they might already be transporting immigrant children.

However, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said the buses were transporting employees, not children.

Taking neighborhood concerns (about traffic) into account, they have rented an off-campus park and ride, Vaughan explained. Their employees park and they bring them over in buses.

Vaughan said she was not aware of when the children could arrive.

At least 1,500 people are expected to staff the facility around the clock, including case managers, mental health and medical clinicians, administrators and food service providers among others.

The average stay in similar facilities is 17 days, according to a September 2022 letter sent to U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning from DHHS Assistant Secretary January Contreras. The Office of Refugee Resettlement will notify stakeholders within 15 days of activating the facility, the letter states.

By law, DHHS must care for children who have no lawful U.S. immigration status; are younger than 18; and who have no parent or legal guardian available to provide care and physical custody here.

Most of the children are apprehended by immigration authorities while trying to cross the border or come to the attention of immigration authorities after crossing the border, according to a federal fact sheet.

In fiscal year 2021, about 72% of all children referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement were older than 14, and 66% were boys. The youth in the program generally came from Guatemala (47%), El Salvador (13%) and Honduras (32%).

According to local officials, DHHS has told them the facility will accept boys and girls ages 13 to 17 and that they will be separated by gender.

Mark Hobson, a Westridge Forest resident who opposes the facility, said the amount of money being spent to staff the place is equally nauseating.

Theres masses of cars parked in the parking lot, but no sign of anyone, he said. Someones getting paid and no one seems to be doing anything at this point.

Terry Billings, who also lives in Westridge Forest, said hes seen an acceleration in what I would refer to as preparation.
The first North Carolina-based Buc-ee's store could be built in the Piedmont Triad, according to the Alamance News.

The proposed location would be located on 32.49 acres of land near Interstate 85/40 in Mebane on 1447 Trollingwood-Hawfields Road, according to the City of Mebane.

Buc-ee's is looking to build on a vacant lot within the North Carolina Commerce Park. The store would be 75,400 square feet and would feature up to 120 gas pumps.

Revenue from the site would be split three ways between Mebane, Graham and Alamance County.

The new store would be about 20 miles away from Greensboro.

Buc-ee's has not yet listed a North Carolina store on its official website, which projects five opening dates for locations in states such as Missouri, Colorado, Texas and Kentucky.

The nearest store to North Carolina was opened Monday in Sevierville, Tennessee. The 74,000-square-foot store will hold the title of the "world's largest" Buc-ee's until an even larger 80,000-square-foot location opens in Florida.

Buc-ee's, originally based in Texas, has already expanded to stores in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. The gas-station chain is known for its huge locations, clean bathrooms, Texas-style brisket sandwiches, branded clothing and a quasi-grocery store appeal.
" " John Wilkes Booth went down in history as the killer of President Abraham Lincoln, but the plot that ended Lincoln's life was a vast conspiracy that went far beyond Booth himself. Library of Congress/HowStuffWorks

On the evening of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln attended a performance of the comedy "Our American Cousin," accompanied by his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, in addition to a young U.S. Army officer, Maj. Henry R. Rathbone and his fiancee Clara Harris.

It seemed like a perfect night for the president to relax. Just five days before, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, and two days after that, Lincoln had given a speech to a crowd of ex-slaves to celebrate the Union victory in the Civil War. Union forces had occupied Fort Sumpter, the site where the hostilities began in 1861, and houses and public buildings in Washington were illuminated with candles in celebration.

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But instead, the night turned into a national tragedy. Sometime after 10 p.m., a 26-year-old Maryland-born actor named John Wilkes Booth  whom Lincoln had once seen perform in another play at Ford's  managed to slip into the president's box and point a Derringer pistol at the back of Lincoln's head. Booth fired a single shot that mortally wounded Lincoln, though he didn't die until the next morning. Booth then dropped the pistol, stabbed Maj. Rathbone in the arm, and then jumped over the box's railing to the stage, breaking his leg in the process, as this account of the killing from the FBI website details.

Booth, who shouted the Latin phrase "Sic semper tyrannis"  "thus always to tyrants"  the motto of Virginia, to the shocked audience, managed to escape from the theater, despite his injury. But 12 days later, he was cornered in a barn in Port Royal, Virginia, by a force of Union soldiers, who lit the structure on fire in an attempt to force Booth out and capture him. But instead, the assassin was shot by a Union Sergeant named Boston Corbett, who explained to frustrated government investigators that God had told him to do it. Booth died seven hours later.

But Booth hadn't acted alone. Instead, the actor had been joined in the plot by a group of Confederate sympathizers, whose intention was to somehow stave off the demise of the Confederacy and slavery by killing the Union's leadership. Four of Booth's fellow plotters  George Atzerodt, David Herold, Mary Surratt and Lewis Powell  were put on trial and executed. Several others were sentenced to prison for their roles in the event.
When consumers spend $1 on dairy products, dairy farmers receive 36 cents of that dollar. Thats according to the latest research by USDAs Economic Research Service. Overall, that share has held in a rather tight window of 28 to 32 cents from 2015 to 2021. The number did climb to as high as 38 cents from every $1 in 2014 when farm gate milk prices climbed to a then record high. The number dropped to a low of 24 cents in 2009 when margins hit rock bottom and milk checks fell to a then-modern day low.

What happens to the remaining 64 cents from consumers?

That money goes toward processing, transportation, retailers, and other venders in the supply chain. The transportation portion has been taking a larger and larger portion due to issues induced from the pandemic.

Not all dairy products are equal, as some return more or less revenue to dairy farmers.

Whole milk: Fluid milk represents the high-end of returns for dairy farmers, who received 55 cents every time a consumer spent $1 on fluid milk in 2021. Just like all dairy product sales, the previous high this century occurred in 2014 when dairy farmers received 61 cents. The low-point in the spectrum occurred in 2009 at 40 cents.

Cheese: This product tends to mirror the larger dairy basket and last year it matched the dairy category by returning 36 cents to dairy farmers for every $1 spent. Since 2000, the cheese category ranged from 24 to 37 cents for every $1. As one would expect, 2009 was the low while 2008 and 2014 represented the high at 37 cents.

Ice Cream: This is the lowest return product with only 23 cents from every $1 going to dairy producers last year. The lower farm share from ice cream is linked to the additional nondairy ingredients and further processing of the product. Like all other dairy product categories, 2009 also was the low point for ice cream at 12 cents with a range of 12 to 22 cents since 2000. However, the ice cream category had its best return to dairy farmers in 2023 at 23 cents  it even topped 2014s 22 cents.

To review the data sets, click this link.

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2023

June 26, 2023
Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin (DFW) is creating the cheese experience of a lifetime for food fanatics from across the country with this falls Art of Cheese Festival. This signature showcase of specialty and artisan Wisconsin cheese is poised to be unlike any other cheese fest on the planet. Thousands of cheese enthusiasts will take part in nearly two dozen ticketed events and opportunities hosted September 29 to October 1.

Beyond highlighting world-class, award-winning products made in Wisconsin, the Art of Cheese Festival serves up the immersive experiences highly influential consumers crave. The DFW team poured years of market research into developing plans that appeal to a core segment of the national cheese audience. Food fanatics frequently travel to dining destinations  whether it is a new restaurant across town or a culinary event across the country. They amplify experiences to a wider audience through word of mouth and social sharing.

Each event is designed to call on the knowledge of industry experts and uniquely Wisconsin settings to elevate perceptions of Wisconsin cheese. The festival is an important way to celebrate that half of the nations specialty cheese is made in Wisconsin, and 95% of Wisconsin dairy farms are family owned. The schedule is packed with cheese-lebrity appearances and opportunities not typically available to the public.

Insider opportunities and unparalleled expertise

Art of Cheese Festival participants can purchase tickets for custom classes and seminars led by the whos who of Wisconsin cheese. (Like cheeseboard-building with That Cheese Plate creator Marissa Mullen.) Restaurants across Madison will feature cheese-inspired specials throughout the week. Visitors to the popular Dane County Farmers Market can enjoy a pop-up Cheese Fair off the Square cheese marketplace. Festivities will also feature the highly anticipated Wisconsin Cheese Ball, emceed by Food Network Star Justin Warner. Five hundred lucky guests will revel in an evening of live music, food, and the opportunity to taste their way through the State of Cheese at Garver Feed Mill.

Throughout the weekend, thoughtfully planned journeys will whisk guests through several of the Wonders of Wisconsin:

A behind-the-scenes look at Uplands Creamery and lunch with James Beard-nominated chef Luke Zahm at Frank Lloyd Wrights Taliesin will celebrate the power of place. Pairing the agricultural and architectural gems of southwest Wisconsin offers guests an unparalleled taste of the Driftless region.

and lunch with James Beard-nominated chef at will celebrate the power of place. Pairing the agricultural and architectural gems of southwest Wisconsin offers guests an unparalleled taste of the Driftless region. Local heritage is the focus of a Greene County tour, where the legacy of Swiss settlers continues to influence todays cheesemakers. That trip will feature a visit to Roth Cheese with a Limburger Moment at Chalet Cheese Co-op and a lunch at Seven Acre Dairy, a historic cheese plant turned boutique hotel.

Innovation is on the menu at two tours that begin at the world-renowned Center for Dairy Research. Both groups will be treated to the sensory exam, before one continues to geek out over cheese science with master cheesemakers and the other heads to J. Henry & Sons Bourbon Tasting Room & Farm. Distillery explorations will conclude with a cheese and bourbon pairing session.

Why celebrate?

Dairy generates $45.6 billion in economic impact in Wisconsin. Since 90% of Wisconsin milk is made into cheese and nearly 90% of Wisconsin cheese is sold beyond state borders, The Art of Cheese Festival invites foodies to participate in cheese culture in some of the most exciting ways possible.

Explore the epic festival lineup and subscribe for updates at: wisconsincheese.com/artofcheesefestival

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2023

June 26, 2023
KANNAPOLIS  Excessive rainfall on June 19 and June 20 resulted in downstream flooding of the Irish Buffalo Creek, which primarily impacted the Town and Country neighborhood on Tiffany Drive.

At the height of the event, the water overflowed the Kannapolis Lake reservoir spillway on Pump Station Road by 38.5 inches. For perspective, historically, the water would escape the banks of the creek at 14 inches. The localized area received more than 4 inches of rain in a 36-hour period.

Many residents were rescued by the Kannapolis Fire Departments Water Rescue teams with the assistance of the Salisbury Fire Department and Rowan County Rescue Squad on June 20, when flood waters rose to levels that flooded their homes.

This neighborhood, which is in the 100-year floodplain, consists of pre-1980s mobile homes that have been located in the city since before its incorporation in 1984. While there have been several occasions where flooding incidents have occurred in the area, this event was unique in the amount of water damage to the homes.

The city has worked extensively with Cabarrus County, the American Red Cross and other nonprofits, such as Camino, to provide immediate assistance to impacted residents. A shelter and resource center was established at Fred L. Wilson Elementary School to address the health and well-being needs of residents.

Recently, representatives from the Kannapolis Fire Marshals Office, Cabarrus County Construction Standards, Kannapolis Planning and Engineering, the North Carolina Emergency Management Preliminary Disaster Assessment (PDA) Team were all on site to evaluate the damage to the mobile home structures.

The North Carolina Emergency Management Preliminary Disaster Assessment (PDA) Teams role was to determine if the damage to the area qualified it for a declaration of disaster. In order to be eligible for the declaration and access to assistance monies to help with repairs and/or relocation, 25 homes had to have sustained major damage.

After the assessment was complete, a determination was made that only 19 homes had sustained major damage. Although that number fell short of the 25 needed for disaster eligibility, city, county and state staff and nonprofits are working to assist residents.

Through a coordinated effort by the citys Emergency Operations Center, priorities were established based on the initial and preliminary assessments to assist residents. The top priority was to ensure that all the affected residents were out of harms way and had access to immediate needs such as food, clothing, shelter and medications. The second priority was to identify short-term housing needs for the transition from the emergency shelter to a temporary home, while decisions were made on the fate of the individual homes. The third priority is to assist residents whose homes are beyond repair or that remain in the flood zone. The 19 homes sustained significant electrical, water and underpinning damage.

Once a determination was made on the extent of the damage, the city of Kannapolis, along with Camino and the American Red Cross, began a door-to-door canvas to interview the affected residents and create a database of the short- and long-term needs. Those core agencies, along with assistance from Cabarrus County and state agencies, continue to work diligently to align the available resources with the needs of those who have suffered from the flooding.

In regard to the future of the homes in the flood-prone area, officials with the city of Kannapolis say it remains a priority to ensure that the flood zone remains uninhabited to preserve life and maintain a healthy and safe environment moving forward. Due to the extent of damage to several of the homes and their location within the floodplain, the city is pursuing options to have the property permanently vacated. As those options come to fruition, the city of Kannapolis and the nonprofit organizations will continue to work to ensure the residents have permanent housing solutions out of harms way of future flooding events. This could mean residents may be able to move their homes to a new location if they meet minimum housing standards and all applicable building codes administered by Cabarrus County. Every persons situation is different and will be examined on a case-by-case basis.

This is a very difficult situation for everyone involved. This flooding event has reminded us of how devastating a flooding event can be. We were fortunate residents were quickly rescued and not injured. We want to ensure they remain safe and healthy. It is our understanding that most of the impacted residents are in the process of identifying other locations to move to. The residents own their homes, but not the property their homes sit on. Many residents have already taken steps to relocate as damage to their homes is extensive and the value of the home is less than the amount needed to repair them  which impacts their ability to insure their home, commented Kannapolis Fire Chief Tracy Winecoff.

To continue to meet the needs of the residents, a resource coordination point has been established by the Kannapolis Fire Department and nonprofit organizations officially recognized to assist those impacted. For now, all tangible needs have been met and so as to not waste materials and supplies, unsolicited donations will not be accepted. Only two families have used the emergency shelter, so it will close soon as short-term housing is found for those who need it.

If you or your religious, private, or nonprofit organization would like to help in the recovery effort, or if you know of available housing opportunities for those impacted, either short- or long-term, contact Kannapolis Economic and Community Development Director Irene Sacks at isacks@kannapolisnc.gov or text Lincoln Quiroz with Camino at 704-728-6681.
Less than three hours after the Medibank Group told iTWire it had not been affected by the ongoing ransomware attacks by the Cl0p group, the company told another media outlet that it had indeed been affected.

Medibank data was stolen from a company that serves as the health insurer's building manager, the Australian Financial Review reported at 12.11pm on 20 June.

At 9.52am the same day, the company was singing a different tune, telling iTWire that "at this stage we are not aware of any of our customers data being compromised".

The Cl0p attacks have been through the secure managed file transfer software MOVEit Transfer.

The professional services firm PwC has also taken a hit from Cl0p.

Thus far 36 tranches of the company's data have been released on the dark web by the ransomware outfit, with the entire archive weighing in at 121GB.

In the second week of June, it came to light that a number of US Federal Government agencies had been breached through the vulnerability in MOVEit Transfer.

Emsisoft ransomware threat researcher Brett Callow said in a tweet that the current victim count from the MOVEit attacks was 158 and more than 16 million individuals were affected.
Google has issued a warning to the Canadian Government, saying it would "remove links to Canadian news from our Search, News and Discover products in Canada, and that C-18 will also make it untenable for us to continue offering our Google News Showcase product in Canada".

Kent Walker, the president of Global Affairs for both Google and its parent firm Alphabet, said in a blog post on Thursday: "Bill C-18 has become law and remains unworkable. The government has not given us reason to believe that the regulatory process will be able to resolve structural issues with the legislation."

Canada's Online News Act, also known as C-18, was approved by the Senate, the upper chamber of the Canadian parliament, on Thursday. It was later passed by the lower chamber.

That day, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said: "Today, we are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act taking effect."

At that time, Google spokesperson Jenn Crider told iTWire in response to a query: "Were doing everything we can to avoid an outcome that no-one wants."

Walker said: "Were disappointed it has come to this. We dont take this decision or its impacts lightly and believe its important to be transparent with Canadian publishers and our users as early as possible."

He said Google already paid to support Canadian journalism through its programs and partnerships  and the company had been clear it was prepared to do more.

"As part of our Google News Showcase program, we have negotiated agreements covering over 150 news publications across Canada. Last year alone, we linked to Canadian news publications more than 3.6 billion times  at no charge  helping publishers make money through ads and new subscriptions.

"This referral traffic from links has been valued at C$250 million (A$285 million) annually. Were willing to do more; we just cant do it in a way that breaks the way that the Web and search engines are designed to work, and that creates untenable product and financial uncertainty."

When the Australian Government tried to push through its News Media Bargaining Code in 2021, digital platforms, chiefly Facebook and Google, lined up in opposition.

The code was derived from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Digital Platforms Inquiry report which was handed to the government in June 2019.

Negotiations between digital platforms and news organisations went on for a while, with the provisions for the code being passed into law in February 2021.

But there was plenty of resistance from the digital platforms and though Google took a more low-key stance, Facebook upped the ante and blocked the ingress of news content into Australia.

The government hurried to placate Facebook and made numerous changes to the legislation after which the social media company reversed its block on content.

Walker added that just as C-18 was approaching final passage and royal assent, the Canadian Government had said it would discuss the possibility of addressing some of the most critical issues.

"In that discussion, we asked for clarity on financial expectations platforms face for simply linking to news, as well as a specific, viable path towards exemption based on our programs to support news and our commercial agreements with publishers.

"While we appreciate the governments acknowledgement that our concerns were reasonable and confirmation that the law will not apply until they adopt implementing regulations, they have not provided us with sufficient certainty that the regulatory process will be able to resolve structural issues with the legislation (such as forced payment for links and uncapped financial liability)."
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Independence Day won't end on July 5 for families in Virginia, Connecticut and Illinois this year. They've got a huge stretch of freedom ahead.

"Ever since the law passed, we've been thinking about it so much," said Evelyn Hackel, a naval architect and mother of Elsa Hackel, age 12.

What law?

When Elsa was 9 and walking home from the library in Falls Church, Virginia, the police knocked on her front door before she even got her coat off. They told her parents she was too young to be outside alone.

"There were four cops," Evelyn recalls  more than had shown up when her friend was assaulted.

Evelyn joined and Elsa both testified in the Virginia legislature this winter in support of the so-called "Reasonable Childhood Independence" bill. It clarifies that kids have the right to some unsupervised time  and parents have the right to give it to them, without getting investigated for neglect. "Neglect" is only when you put your child in serious, obvious danger  not any time you take your eyes off them.

The bill had bipartisan sponsorship. In February it passed both Virginia chambers  unanimously. This spring similar bills passed in Illinois and Connecticut, also unanimously.

Clearly, this is a country fed up with having to treat kids as Ming vases, only inside and guarded. The revolution began in 2018 when Utah passed what was originally called the "Free-Range Parenting" bill. Then in 2021-22, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado followed Utah's lead: three red states and a purple.

But this year "it's been a bit of a blue wave," says Diane Redleaf, legal consultant to Let Grow, the nonprofit promoting childhood independence that has been helping to pass these bills.

The law appeals to politicians across the spectrum "because we all want what's best for our kids," said State Rep. Travis Simms, a Democrat in Connecticut who co-sponsored the bill with State Rep. Tom O'Dea, a Republican. Simms recalled how proud he felt when he started running errands for his mom. "Regardless of whether we were 5 or 20, we all had our part to play." That's child development gold.

In Illinois, the bill was particularly welcome because a confusing clause in the state law made people believe no one could leave their kids unsupervised until age 14. The law didn't actually say that; it said that by age 14, kids on their own would automatically NOT be considered neglected. But it was often misinterpreted. And stories like this one  where a suburban Chicago mom was investigated for letting her 8-year-old walk the dog  didn't help.

The new Illinois law allows "parents to take a commonsense approach to raising their children," says Nora Collins-Mandeville, Director of Systems Reform Policy at the Illinois ACLU.

The bill passed in part as a social justice measure. It recognizes that when, say, a single mom working two jobs has her kids come home with a latchkey, that's not neglect: that's poverty. "Before passage of this bill, many parents had these permissions weaponized against them," said Virginia state Rep. Jennifer McClellan, a Democrat who supported the bill as a state senator just before moving on to The U.S. House of Representatives.

Happiest of all, perhaps, are the home-schoolers, whose kids are often out and about, even during "school hours." "Home-school families know that some of the best learning happens by doing," said Will Estrada, Senior Counsel at the Home School Legal Defense Association. "Parents should be free to let their kids grow without fear of an unnecessary child protective services investigation."

Until now, it has been too easy to dial 911, report an unsupervised child and throw a decent family into chaos.

But this is a country founded on freedom. That includes the freedom of kids to play outside, run errands and just be kids. Happy Independence Day to them!

At least in seven states.
100 years ago,

June 30, 1923

CENTRALIA  An unidentified man, aged about 24, was killed in the Illinois Central yards here early yesterday morning when struck by a train. An unmailed letter addressed to Voston Zebraiti, 3724 Lawndale Ave., Chicago, was found in his pocket...GAYS  Four residents of Mattoon, two men and two young women, were fined $10 each on a disorderly conduct charge by Justice of the Peace Wallace in Gays on Thursday evening. The men each gave the name of John Doe, while each of the young women gave her name as Mary Roe. The four fines, totaling $40, were paid in cash by one of the men. Other than the names, the identity of the quartet has not been revealed. The four were occupants of an automobile which had been parked a short distance northeast of Gays. Farmers passing noted their conduct, and notified the Gays officials. Constable Kinkade, assisted by Lawrence Gammill and Veris Stanberry, went out and made the arrests. The license number of the car was not taken.

50 years ago, 1973

MATTOON  A Mattoon woman is being held by authorities today in connection with a stabbing Friday night. Mary Francis Thomas, 38, has been charged with aggravated battery. She allegedly stabbed Harold Butler, 27, and Vincent Butler, 48, both of 620 Richmond, with an ice pick during a quarrel at the residence at approximately 10:30 p.m. Mary Thomas had been living with Vincent Butler for several years according to Police Chief Robert Plummer. Harold Butler is listed in "fair to good" condition in Memorial Hospital today. Vincent Butler was treated and released...TOLEDO  Scuba divers were searching the Embarras River today for Benjamin White of Lerna. White, 33, has been missing since he entered the river for a swim at approximately 1 a.m. Friday near Ryan's Bridge. The bridge is located about seven miles northeast of Toledo. A spokesman for the Cumberland County sheriff's office said two scuba divers had joined the search. Sheriff Otis Jones has posted deputies on two bridges further down the Embarras to watch for the body. Volunteer rescue personnel from surrounding communities have also participated in the search. Recent heavy rains have swollen the Embarras River.

25 years ago, 1998

CHARLESTON  A psychologist has yet to examine a man accused of shooting a Coles County sheriff's deputy, so it's not yet known whether the suspect is mentally fit to stand trial. The examination of Michael Jenkins, 28, Mattoon, will probably take place next week, his attorney said Monday. Jenkins is charged with attempted murder and several other offenses for allegedly shooting Deputy Bob Butler on April 1. One of the less serious charges was dismissed Monday....MATTOON  Another potentially severe summer storm rocked the area Monday evening but moved on with spotted property damage and power outages. The city activated its tornado emergency warning system twice, once about 6:20 p.m. and again about 6:45 p.m. A funnel cloud, or "rotation" in the clouds was spotted about 1 1/2 miles northwest of Mattoon, particularly in the Coles Station area. Spotters reported debris going up, a sign of tornado activity, said Ed Gardner, the city's Emergency Services and Disaster Agency director. The damage in town could be from a tornado at the treetop level or from strong straight-line winds, Gardner said.
A leading tobacco industry analyst said this week that Imperial Brands Plc is attempting a tricky balancing act between innovations with traditional cigarettes while not letting the competition get too far ahead with smokefree products.

Barclays analyst Jain Gaurav issued his latest update on Imperial following this weeks investor day presentation.

Imperial is the U.K.-based parent company of ITG Brands LLC, which has about 900 employees in Greensboro, plus 775 field sales employees nationally.

Imperial was able to achieve what it was attempting with the event  focusing and innovating in combustibles while many of its bigger competitors lurch uncertainly toward a next-generation product future, Gaurav said.

Gaurav said Imperial management understands that the scope of its ambition has to be rightsized to the resources available to it.

In the latest Nielsen analysts of convenience store traditional cigarettes that covers the four-week period ending June 17, Philip Morris USAs top market share is at 51%, with top-selling Marlboro representing 45.7% of overall market share.

Meanwhile, Reynolds was unchanged at 33.3%. No. 2 Newport went from 12.9% to 12.8%. No. 3 Camel was unchanged at 8%, Natural American Spirit is at No. 4 unchanged at 4.2%, and Pall Mall dropped to No. 5 at 4.1%.

ITG edged up from 8.2% to 8.3%, although ITG has said its market share is closer to 10%.

About 70% of Imperials traditional cigarette sales, including Winston, Salem, Kool and Maverick in the U.S., come from the U.K., U.S., Australia, Germany and Spain.

Imperial is not operating in a vacuum, Gaurav said.

If cigarette market trends remain very weak in the U.S. and the weakness spreads globally over the next 12-to-18 months alongside macro deterioration, then Imperial will struggle, and so will its bigger competitors.

We think Imperial is now controlling what is within its control much better than was the case historically, and much better than its competitors apart from Philip Morris USA, Gaurav said.

Gaurav projected Imperial could be successful enough in revenue over the next 18 months to be able to boost its share-repurchase spending from $1.27 billion in fiscal 2003 to $1.9 billion in fiscal 2024.

While British American, Altria and Japan Tobacco are all pivoting to a next-generation product future, the transition is creating significant volatility in management ranks (BATs recent CEO change) and significant M&A outlay (Altrias $2.75 billion purchase of NJoy.)

Gaurav cautioned that Imperials 2023 and 2024 plans require reversing recent market share loss in Germany for traditional cigarettes.

If German industry volumes were to weaken, we think this will become hard for Imperial, Gaurav said.

Imperial reported May 15 that it is on track to meet full-year 2023 financial projections, foremost low single-digit net revenue growth.

Imperial reported a near 20% gain in its noncombustible product lines that feature heated cigarette products Pulze and iD in seven European countries, but not in the U.S., and blu eCigs in the U.S.

Gaurav cited Imperials struggles to gain traction with next-generation products, whether Pulze, blu eCigs e-cigarettes and modern oral Zone-X products.

Considering a very limited next-generation product investment budget, we do think that Imperial is spreading itself too thin, Gaurav said.

On June 23, Imperial disclosed it paid $82.6 million to acquire 14 oral nicotine pouch styles from a Canadian manufacturer that will be placed into the ITG portfolio. The pouches will continue to be produced by TJP Labs.

Imperial said ITG will relaunch this pouch in 2024 under a new brand, which will be supported by the companys sales force.

We think it might be better for Imperial to get higher market share in select country-category next-generation product combinations, than smaller market share across a number of category-country combinations which are all sub-scale, Gaurav said.

Gaurav said it is advisable for Imperial to put the bulk of its next-generation product investment funds into heated tobacco, as e-cigarette disposables might create immediate revenue growth, but are unlikely to create long-term sustainable value creation.

We also think Imperial should have been more aggressive within modern oral than has been the case so far.

The acquisition of TJP Labs modern oral portfolio to launch modern oral products in the U.S. is a step in the right direction.
Mullen Automotive Inc., an electric vehicle manufacturer, said Friday it has sold 22 cargo vans to the Randy Marion Automotive Group for a combined cost of $308,000.

The dealership, based in Lake Norman, has locations in Huntersville, Mooresville, Statesville, West Jefferson and Wilkesboro.

The $308,000 represents Mullens first recorded revenue for the publicly traded company. All vehicles are to be shipped from Mullens Tunica, Miss., assembly plant to Randy Marion Automotive Group in North Carolina.

All Mullen commercial vehicles, including the Mullen EV Campus Cargo Van, Mullen Class 1 EV Cargo Van and the Mullen Class 3 EV Cab Chassis Truck, will be produced at the Tunica plant. The Campus EV Cargo Van is available now for purchase. Start of production for the Class 3 EV Cab Chassis Truck will begin in July with first vehicle deliveries in August and September.

Mullen has disclosed receiving an overall $279 million order from Randy Marion Automotive network, which received in May the first Class 3 demonstration electric vehicle.

The Mullen 3 is priced at $68,500 and includes an estimated 130-mile range and 5,800-pound payload. Brad Sigmon, the dealerships fleet general manager, said the group has placed a 1,000-vehicle order for the Mullen 3.
A man suspected of killing three people, including his father, and shooting and wounding two others appeared Friday in Forsyth District Court.

Thomas Jackson Gillie, 22, of Bayberry Lane wore an orange jumpsuit as he was escorted into the courtroom by two bailiffs.

Gillie is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in Forsyth County, court records show.

Greensboro police say Gillie also is the suspect in the fatal shooting of his father, Douglas Lane Gillie Jr., 62, early Thursday at 5100 Bayberry Lane.

In Kernersville, Gillie is charged with murder in the deaths of Kevin Dale Smith and Nathaniel Tyshawn Burt on Thursday, according to an arrest warrant.

Gillie is also charged with attempting to kill Lori Ann Darby and Thomas Allen Doub on Thursday as well, the warrant said.

During his brief court hearing, Gillie told Judge Kristin Kelly Broyles that he wanted a lawyer. Broyles said she would appoint a public defender to assist him in his case.

Gillie didnt enter a plea to the charges that he is facing.

If Gillie is convicted on the two murder charges, he would face a maximum punishment of the death penalty, Assistant District Attorney Mark Parent told Broyles. If Gillie is convicted on the two attempted murder charges, he would face the possibility two terms of 40 years in prison, Parent said.

The state requests because of the seriousness of the charges that no bond be allowed, Parent said.

Broyles didnt set a bond for Gillie, who is being held in the Forsyth County Jail.

Kernersville police say they responded at approximately 12:30 a.m. Thursday to 9102 Stafford Country Lane on a reported shooting. After officers, they briefly exchanged gunfire with Gillie, who then surrendered to them.

Officers then found two male victims suffering from gunshot wounds, who both died from their injuries. A female victim was found suffering from a gunshot wound and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Kernersville police alerted the Greensboro police at 1:20 a.m. Thursday to a potential victim at 5100 Bayberry Lane, which is where officers found Douglas Lane Gillie Jr., 62, dead with a gunshot wound.

Police believe the shooting on Bayberry preceded the shootings in Kernersville, a Greensboro police spokeswoman said.

Its unclear when Gillie may potentially face charges in the fatal shooting of his father, Douglas Lane Gillie Jr., in Greensboro.

The Greensboro Police Department has been working with the Kernersville Police Department, which is the lead agency on the case. Greensboro detectives have been unable to interview Gillie, and its not immediately known if theyll have an opportunity to do so.

When contacted Friday, Guilford Countys Chief Assistant District Attorney Chris Parrish said he could not comment because Gillie has not been charged with a crime in Guilford County.
Four local activist groups will hold a rally Saturday to speak out against several Republican-sponsored laws, including one that increases the amount of money the state spends on private school vouchers and another that bars teachers from teaching about race and sex in some contexts in public schools.

The groups, Hate Out of Winston, Action4Equity, the Winston-Salem Democratic Socialists of America and Housing Justice Now will hold the event at 1 p.m. at the Other Suns Coffee Shop, 414 N. Laura Wall Blvd.

The laws go into effect Saturday.

Another law will ban cities and counties from requiring that landlords take federal low-income housing vouchers, except in defined situations.

The law also requires tenants who have service animals to provide written verification from a health-care professional regarding their disability and need for the animal.

Housing Justice Now opposes this law, which it says will erode tenants' rights.
As smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to flow into the Triad, the regions air quality hit Code Red levels for the first time since 2008 Thursday and is expected to remain unhealthy for some groups Friday, environmental health officials warned.

Particulate levels topped the Code Red threshold of 150 in Winston-Salem late Thursday afternoon, and were expected to climb higher across the Triad.

The Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection issued an advisory cautioning that Code Red conditions were likely throughout the Triad Thursday.

The alert covered Forsyth, Guilford, Alamance, Davidson and Randolph counties.

Fine particulates carried in smoke can be inhaled deep into the lungs and in some cases enter the bloodstream.

Some members of the general public may experience health effects, Environmental Assistance and Protection advised. Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.

Vulnerable groups  including children, older adults, and people with heart and lung disease such as asthma  are advised to limit long or intense exertion outdoors and to take frequent breaks when active.

Particulate levels in Guilford County were at 135 late Thursday afternoon. Thats in the Code Orange range, which could impact children, older adults, and people with respiratory conditions.

High quantities of smoke were expected to remain in the Triad overnight Thursday and early Friday before diminishing Friday evening as a weather system moves into the western portion of North Carolina, Environmental Assistance and Protection said.

Code Orange particulate levels of 125 are forecast for the Triad on Friday. Moderate levels below 100 are expected over the weekend.

Fueled by extremely dry conditions, 490 fires are burning in Canada, with 255 of them considered to be out of control. A record 30,000 square miles of the nation has burned, an area nearly as large as South Carolina, according to the Canadian government.
The historic Weeks plant in northwest Winston-Salem could have its newest owner as soon as Aug. 1 upon the projected completion of a federal bankruptcy auction.

The U.S. Bankruptcy trustee for United Furniture Industries said in a June 20 filing that a "stalking horse" is willing to pay $65 million in cash for the defunct manufacturer's four Triad properties and 15 overall.

A "stalking horse" is the term used to describe a bidder who sets a minimum price for the assets. Companies hope that other bidders will emerge with higher offers.

Trustee Derek Henderson named Phoenix Acquisition of Milwaukee, which specializes in buying and renovating manufacturing plants, as the potential purchaser.

An auction is scheduled for July 25 in Memphis, Tenn., and a court hearing to approve the sale for Aug. 1. Property closings are expected to take place in late August

When Hanes Hosiery Mills Co. opened the Weeks plant in 1960 at 401 E. Hanes Mill Road, it was the largest manufacturing plant in North Carolina. Hanes Hosiery spent about $30 million on the plant, which would be about $308.2 million in 2023 dollars, according to calculations from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The plant currently has 755,599 square feet of space on a 54.5-acre tract. It's the largest single piece in the United Furniture operational portfolio.

United made promotional- to mid-priced upholstered furniture in the U.S. under its brand and the Lane Home Furnishings brand. The manufacturer also imported wooden bedroom and dining furniture.

After more than eight years of operations at the Weeks plant, United unexpectedly shut down all of its plants in late November, ending employment and health insurance benefits for 530 Triad employees and about 2,700 companywide.

At that time, United had a combined 245 employees in Archdale and Trinity, 220 in Lexington and between 50 and 70 in Winston-Salem.

****

After facing pressure from creditors led by Wells Fargo & Co. for an involuntary bankruptcy filing, United submitted in February its Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy filing, citing between 200 and 999 creditors, and between $1 million and $10 million in assets and liabilities.

Phoenix would be acquiring the 15 United properties  10 in Mississippi  and the accompanying 626 acres in as-in conditions.

The minimal upset bid would be $67.32 million, with the minimal next bid required to increase the price by at least $250,000.

B. Riley Real Estate, a national real-estate firm that specializes in liquidation, will handle the auction. It would gain $1.25 million from the proceeds.

This sale offers opportunities for local redevelopment and provides the necessary infrastructure to support a broad range of new manufacturing and distribution uses, B. Riley said in a news release.

According to the stalking horse terms, at least $27 million of the proposed purchase price would go toward the Winston-Salem, Lexington and Trinity properties.

Phoenix has three N.C. properties, including a 100,810-square-foot building on a 33-acre site at 8425 Triad Drive in Greensboro.

****

Uniteds board of directors delivered the shocking news to employees of the manufacturer's collapse in two late-night emails  the first at 11:49 p.m. on Nov. 21 and the second at 12:42 a.m. on Nov. 22.

The first email read: We ask that all employees not report to their work locations tomorrow Nov. 22, 2022.

The second email informed employees that your layoff from the company is expected to be permanent and all benefits will be terminated immediately without provision of COBRA.

The company ended the memo by noting it was a difficult and unexpected situation.

During the first of five Triad job fairs held in December focused on United employees, Casia Cordova told the Winston-Salem Journal that "we feel, I feel, very betrayed by the company and its leadership."

Cordova was a 31-year veteran with United, first in Mississippi and then the past five years in Lexington.

Once I realized it was really happening, my heart just dropped. We felt like deer in the headlights, Cordova described. I had all the feelings you can imagine just rushing over me.

According to one estimate, the United job cuts were among the largest involving U.S. manufacturers so far in 2022 next to technology and financial services companies.

****

Wells Fargo, Uniteds largest creditor, filed on Dec. 30 a motion for Chapter 7 liquidation of the manufacturers assets and the appointment of a bankruptcy trustee.

On Jan. 18, federal bankruptcy Judge Selene Maddox issued a ruling giving owner David Belford and United the opportunity to direct the sale of its assets in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection motion.

Maddox said in her memorandum and order that Belford and the United board of directors did not rise to the level of bad faith in their decision to shutter operations.

However, she wrote that its management made serious errors in business judgment and displayed clear financial incompetence.

Wells Fargo said it is owed $99.2 million in secured debt. Yet, the bank acknowledged it estimates that any recoveries from liquidation of (Uniteds) collateral will result in a recovery equal to a fraction of this amount.

****

United never filed a WARN notice related to shuttering its operations in California, Mississippi or North Carolina. WARN  short for Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification  requires employers to give advance notice in the event of a plant closing or mass layoff.

As a result, five separate employee WARN Act lawsuits were filed in November and December in California and Mississippi.

The WARN act lacks enforcement teeth, with several studies showing lots of loopholes and virtually no enforcement authority from federal, state and local officials.

In those instances, employees must file a lawsuit in federal court to assert WARN rights. The former employees are requesting class-action status.

Besides the WARN Act, the California plaintiffs claim United violated the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act and two California labor codes. The North Carolina law requires employers to pay final wages to discharged employees through the regular payroll method on or before the normal payday.

United has said that although a WARN notice wasn't initiated, the company denies that it "violated the act and/or any state law because the shutdown and layoffs were due to unforeseen business circumstances, as well as the inability to obtain financing.

United had been approved for up to $130 million in credit by Wells Fargo. Any advances on the credit were secured by all of Uniteds properties and other assets.

However, Wells Fargo said it was given little prior notice on Nov. 21 from United officials that they needed substantial capital immediately, over and above amounts that would be in compliance with the credit facility between the parties, or it would not be able to fund continued operations.

Bank officials told United they could not agree to the request ... on such short notice without additional information, including a budget for restructuring purposes and internal credit committee approval at Wells Fargo.
An 8-year-old boy was killed and two people were critically injured after a morning crash on U.S. 34 in Sarpy County.

According to a press release from the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office, the crash occurred during a period of heavy rain shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday. Preliminary investigation shows that a 2009 Hyundai Sonata was traveling west on U.S.

34 near Harlan Lewis Road when the driver lost control and crossed into the eastbound traffic lanes.

After the Hyundai crossed the median, it was struck by an eastbound 2015 Dodge Ram pickup truck. The Hyundai was then struck a second time by an eastbound 2016 Freightliner semitrailer truck.

Sarpy County Sheriff's Capt. Kevin Griger said the 8-year-old boy in the backseat of the Hyundai was declared dead at the scene. Two people from the Hyundai, a 34-year-old female driver and 9-year-old female front seat passenger, were taken to Nebraska Medical Center with critical injuries.

The drivers of the semi and pickup truck were not injured. Identities of those involved have not yet been released.

The investigation into the accident is ongoing.
The Starling Girl is 17-year-old Jem Starling, who finds herself trapped in fundamentalist Christian culture in rural Kentucky. Deeply conflicted and morally confused, Jem is pushed by forces in her family and in the church to change her behavior, which, at least initially, is innocently faithful.

Thats clear from the opening scenes of writer-director Laurel Parmets powerfully observed drama. Jem (Eliza Scanlen) is first seen as the charismatic center of a worship dance, then presented by her mother Heidi (Wrenn Schmidt) for possible courtship by the pastors youngest son (Austin Abrams).

Shaken by the possibility, Jem runs outside the church and sits crying on the steps. Sitting above her smoking and hiding out for his own reasons is Owen (Lewis Pullman), the pastors older son, whos the churchs youth pastor.

From that second, its clear that Jem has a crush on Owen. But its just as clear that the strictures of the church  shes admonished by a woman because her bra is visible through her dress and forced to put on her moms sweater  are grating on her.

So begins a complex drama that brings in the Starling family, the strict, by-the-Bible Heidi, Jems little sisters and her father, Paul (Jimmi Simpson), a recovering alcoholic who is sent back to drink by the death of one of his former bandmates from before he was saved.

Add in the churchs youth group  where Jem not so innocently connects with Owen  the dance troupe that she takes over and Owens wife Misty (Jessamine Burgum), who oversees the dancers, and Parmet has created a potent platform for examining the repression, hypocrisy and paternalism of the fundamentalist culture, thankfully without preaching or presenting everything in stark black and white/good and evil.

Without divulging much more, suffice it to say that the characters pray on their possible actions, using what they believe is Gods intention to justify their behavior. The adults, Jems parents, the pastor and church members are quick to pass scornful judgment on Jem.

Scanlen of Little Women and Babyteeth verifies that she is one of todays best actresses with her performance as Jem, giving her both the sincere faithfulness and independent desire to create the films central conflict and carry the movie.

Pullman is well matched with her, a smoldering temptation who deals with his own conflicts in a far different manner. And Schmidt and Simpson are each excellent, bringing depth to their characters that takes them beyond type.

Parmets knowing examination of fundamentalist culture  from the conservative dress, to church services and celebrations, public shaming, patriarchy and hypocrisy  makes The Starling Girl more than a coming-of-age story.

Scanlen certainly does portray a teenager finding herself. But she does so within a cultural environment that is so restrictive, judgmental and, for young women, determinative that the picture becomes a study of attempting to escape from repression, with few tools and little support.

There, for those experienced in the fundamentalist culture, "The Starling Girl rings true and loud.

Oscar Best Picture winners from worst to first Oscar Best Picture winners from worst to first #93. The Broadway Melody (1929) #92. Cavalcade (1933) #91. Cimarron (1931) #90. Tom Jones (1963) #89. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) #88. The Great Ziegfeld (1936) #87. Gigi (1958) #86. Around the World in 80 Days (1956) #85. Going My Way (1944) #84. Shakespeare in Love (1998) #83. The Life of Emile Zola (1937) #82. Gentlemans Agreement (1947) #81. An American in Paris (1951) #80. Chariots of Fire (1981) #79. Out of Africa (1985) #78. Chicago (2002) #77. Driving Miss Daisy (1989) #76. Nomadland (2020) #75. The Shape of Water (2017) #74. Grand Hotel (1932) #73. Oliver! (1968) #72. Terms of Endearment (1983) #71. The English Patient (1996) #70. Moonlight (2016) #69. Wings (1927) #68. All the Kings Men (1949) #67. West Side Story (1961) #66. The Hurt Locker (2008) #65. Hamlet (1948) #64. Mrs. Miniver (1942) #63. From Here to Eternity (1953) #62. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) #61. How Green Was My Valley (1941) #60. Marty (1955) #59. A Man for All Seasons (1966) #58. Ordinary People (1980) #57. The Last Emperor (1987) #56. The French Connection (1971) #55. Crash (2004) #54. Argo (2012) #53. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) #52. My Fair Lady (1964) #51. Midnight Cowboy (1969) #50. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) #49. Titanic (1997) #48. You Cant Take It with You (1938) #47. The Lost Weekend (1945) #46. In the Heat of the Night (1967) #45. Patton (1970) #44. The Artist (2011) #43. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) #42. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) #41. The Sound of Music (1965) #40. Gandhi (1982) #39. Dances with Wolves (1990) #38. Annie Hall (1977) #37. Rain Man (1988) #36. The Kings Speech (2010) #35. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) #34. It Happened One Night (1934) #33. Rebecca (1940) #32. On the Waterfront (1954) #31. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) #30. Ben-Hur (1959) #29. Gone with the Wind (1939) #28. The Deer Hunter (1978) #27. Platoon (1986) #26. Spotlight (2015) #25. Rocky (1976) #24. Million Dollar Baby (2004) #23. 12 Years a Slave (2013) #21. All About Eve (1950) #20. Unforgiven (1992) #19. Green Book (2018) #18. A Beautiful Mind (2001) #17. The Apartment (1960) #16. The Sting (1973) #15. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) #14. Amadeus (1984) #13. Braveheart (1995) #12. American Beauty (1999) #11. Casablanca (1942) #10. The Departed (2006) #9. Gladiator (2000) #8. Parasite (2019) #7. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) #6. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975) #5. Forrest Gump (1994) #4. Schindlers List (1993) #3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) #2. The Godfather: Part II (1974) #1. The Godfather (1972) Oscar Best Picture winners from worst to first #94. The Broadway Melody (1929) #93. Cavalcade (1933) #92. Cimarron (1931) #91. Tom Jones (1963) #90. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) #89. Gigi (1958) #88. The Great Ziegfeld (1936) #87. Around the World in 80 Days (1956) #86. Going My Way (1944) #85. Chariots of Fire (1981) #84. Out of Africa (1985) #83. Shakespeare in Love (1998) #82. The Life of Emile Zola (1937) #81. Gentleman's Agreement (1947) #80. An American in Paris (1951) #79. Chicago (2002) #78. Grand Hotel (1932) #77. Driving Miss Daisy (1989) #76. Nomadland (2020) #75. The Shape of Water (2017) #74. All the King's Men (1949) #73. Oliver! (1968) #72. Terms of Endearment (1983) #71. The English Patient (1996) #70. Moonlight (2016) #69. The Hurt Locker (2008) #68. Wings (1927) #67. Hamlet (1948) #66. Mrs. Miniver (1942) #65. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) #64. From Here to Eternity (1953) #63. West Side Story (1961) #62. How Green Was My Valley (1941) #61. Marty (1955) #60. A Man for All Seasons (1966) #59. Ordinary People (1980) #58. The Last Emperor (1987) #57. The French Connection (1971) #56. Crash (2004) #55. Argo (2012) #54. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) #53. You Can't Take It with You (1938) #52. My Fair Lady (1964) #51. Midnight Cowboy (1969) #50. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) #49. The Lost Weekend (1945) #48. In the Heat of the Night (1967) #47. Patton (1970) #46. The Artist (2011) #45. Titanic (1997) #44. CODA (2021) #43. Gandhi (1982) #42. Annie Hall (1977) #41. Dances with Wolves (1990) #40. Rain Man (1988) #39. The King's Speech (2010) #38. Slumdog Millionaire (2008) #37. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) #36. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) #35. It Happened One Night (1934) #34. Rebecca (1940) #33. On the Waterfront (1954) #32. The Sound of Music (1965) #31. Ben-Hur (1959) #30. The Deer Hunter (1978) #29. Platoon (1986) #28. Spotlight (2015) #27. Rocky (1976) #26. Million Dollar Baby (2004) #25. 12 Years a Slave (2013) #24. All About Eve (1950) #23. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) #22. Gone with the Wind (1939) #21. Unforgiven (1992) #20. Green Book (2018) #19. A Beautiful Mind (2001) #18. No Country for Old Men (2007) #17. The Apartment (1960) #16. The Sting (1973) #15. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) #14. Amadeus (1984) #13. Braveheart (1995) #12. American Beauty (1999) #11. Casablanca (1942) #10. Parasite (2019) #9. The Departed (2006) #8. Gladiator (2000) #7. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) #6. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) #5. Forrest Gump (1994) #4. The Godfather: Part II (1974) #3. Schindler's List (1993) #2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) #1. The Godfather (1972)
Last year, the organization served a record-breaking 1,405 students  1,109 adults and 296 children. This year, it expects to exceed 1,500.

"In order to better meet the needs of Lincoln's refugees and immigrants while addressing our city's workforce crisis, the community must come together," said Janet Eskridge, chair of the capital campaign committee.

And at times, some of those very refugees and immigrants, who begin their journeys as students, occasionally advance to become tutors themselves.

"In the last year we've received hundreds of Ukrainians and Afghans, and now we have Ukrainian and Afghan staff members who are able to teach classes, communicate with people, get them to where they need to go," Seck said. "Lincoln Literacy does not exist without our volunteer tutors."

Reach the writer at 402473-7326 or dmartirosov@ journalstar.com. On Twitter @dmrtrsv
A 42-year-old Lincoln man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison in connection to a search on his home last year that turned up more than a pound of methamphetamine.

Andrew Lawrence pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Senior United States District Judge John M. Gerrard sentenced him this week.

In a news release, U.S. Attorney Steven Russell said on March 18, 2022, officers from the Lincoln-Lancaster County Narcotics Task Force served a search warrant at Lawrences home and caught him in a bathroom "actively trying to dispose of methamphetamine down a shower drain" and flushing additional amounts down a toilet.

Investigators recovered 1.25 pounds of methamphetamine in the home and $17,622 cash.

As part of his guilty plea, Lawrence forfeited the currency, admitting it was proceeds from illegal drug sales or used to facilitate drug trafficking.
Nebraska lawmakers quickly began hailing Friday's Supreme Court decision striking down President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, with Sen. Deb Fischer calling it a "victory for common sense."

Others, including Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, whose office argued the case before the country's high court, called it a "power grab" by Biden.

In a press release, Fischer said she maintained from the beginning that President Biden didnt have the legal authority to pursue such a reckless loan transfer and commended Hilgers for spearheading the effort "and protecting Nebraskans from a deeply unfair proposition."

"The millions of hard-working Americans who paid their debts or did not go to college shouldnt be forced to bear the burden of others debt," she said.

Fischer said its time the administration work with Congress on policies that address the root causes of high tuition and provide the public with better access to more educational opportunities.

Sen. Pete Ricketts, too, thanked Hilgers and former Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson for their work in achieving the "great victory for the law and for taxpayers."

As governor, he joined 21 governors in sending a letter to President Biden opposing the student loan cancellation plan, and as a senator, Ricketts co-sponsored a Congressional Review Act resolution disapproving of the plan that passed the Senate by a 52-46 vote.

"President Bidens student loan bailout put electricians and plumbers on the hook for the bills of doctors and lawyers," Ricketts said. "I am grateful the Supreme Court vindicated Nebraskas argument and stopped this unfair and illegal scheme to shift unpaid debts to Americans who chose not to attend college or worked hard to pay off their own loans."

Rep. Don Bacon echoed Rickett's thoughts, saying even if the plan were constitutional student-loan forgiveness "cheats Americans who paid off their loans and takes money from hardworking Americans to give it to those who willingly took out a loan and are unwilling to pay it off.

Only Congress has the power to appropriate funds, he said.

"Anything else is an unconstitutional power grab ... even Nancy Pelosi (former Speaker of the House) agreed!" Bacon said.

Hilgers called Friday an important day for the country, describing the ruling as the Supreme Court stopping the Biden administrations "breathtaking attempt to grab power."

"Todays decision, issued just days before we celebrate our independence on the Fourth of July, is a timely reminder that the President is no king. He must work with, and not around, Congress," Hilgers said.

With the ruling, he said, the Supreme Court has reaffirmed the separation of powers principle in place since the countrys founding.

"And as a result of todays decision, taxpayers have been saved nearly $500 billion," Hilgers said.

According to the decision, the Secretary of Education's plan would have canceled roughly $430 billion of federal student loan balances, completely erasing the debts of 20 million borrowers and lowering the median amount owed by the other 23 million from $29,400 to $13,600.

Asked at a noon press conference about whether this was a conservative court expressing its conservative ideas, Hilgers said this wasn't a Republican issue or a conservative issue at all.

He said Biden himself had been on record saying he didn't think he had the power to do it. The majority opinion quoted Pelosi saying the same.

Hilgers said he has a tremendous amount of empathy for the 97,000 Nebraskans who had applied for the program. He and his wife took out student loans when they were a young family starting out, and if he learned they didn't have to pay some back, "it would have gone a long way."

Today, with inflation, it's even worse, he said.

"At the end of the day, there's a right way and wrong way of doing things. And the right way is to go through Congress," Hilgers said.

He said he promised Nebraska voters that he would remain vigilant against the federal governments attempts to "grab power."

"And I will continue to do so in the weeks and months to come," Hilgers said.

Rep. Mike Flood said the plan would have significantly worsened inflation and made college more expensive.

"Canceling student loans doesnt just make the loans disappearit would have shifted the burden to working Americans across the country," he said.

Flood said Congress will continue to work to make education more affordable and "fight against Bidens policies that are encouraging colleges to raise tuition and push working families and students further into debt."

A spokesman for Lincoln-based student loan servicer Nelnet declined to comment, referring a request for comment to the Federal Student Aid's Office of Communications and Outreach.

States with the most and least student debt Ranking student debt by state #51. South Dakota #50. Iowa #49. Alaska #48. North Dakota #47. Wyoming #46. Wisconsin #45. Nebraska #44. Arkansas #43. Indiana #42. Oklahoma #41. West Virginia #40. Montana #39. New Mexico #38. Texas #37. New Hampshire #36. Kentucky #35. Minnesota #34. Utah #33. Maine #32. Rhode Island #31. Kansas #30. Idaho #29. Vermont #28. Hawaii #27. Louisiana #26. Washington #25. Missouri #24. Pennsylvania #23. Massachusetts #22. Nevada #21. Ohio #20. Tennessee #19. Michigan #18. Mississippi #17. Connecticut #16. Arizona #15. South Carolina #14. New Jersey #13. Colorado #12. North Carolina #11. Alabama #10. California #9. Illinois #8. Oregon #7. Florida #6. New York #5. Virginia #4. Delaware #3. Georgia #2. Maryland #1. District of Columbia
WASHINGTON  President Joe Biden vowed Friday to push ahead with a new plan to provide student loan relief for millions of borrowers while blaming Republican hypocrisy for triggering the day's Supreme Court decision that wiped out his original plan.

Biden said payment requirements for student loans would resume in coming weeks, but that he would work under the authority of the Higher Education Act to begin a new program designed to ease borrowers threat of default if they fall behind over the next year.

Hours after the Supreme Court ruling, Biden commented from the White House, trying to stay on the political offensive even as the ruling undermined a key promise to young voters who will be vital to his 2024 reelection campaign.

Ticking off what he said were billions of dollars in benefits to the well-to-do under the Trump administration, he said, These Republican officials just couldnt bear the thought of providing relief for working class, middle class Americans.

The hypocrisy of Republican elected officials is stunning," he said.

Top administration officials said they met for weeks to discuss how to handle the Supreme Court's expected reversal of Biden's original plan.

The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision, with conservative justices in the majority, said the Biden administration overstepped its authority with the original plan.

The court held that the administration needed Congress' endorsement before undertaking such a costly program. The majority rejected arguments that a bipartisan 2003 law dealing with national emergencies, known as the HEROES Act, gave Biden the power he claimed.

"Six States sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancellation plan. We agree," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court.

Justice Elena Kagan, joined by the court's two other liberals, said in a dissent that the majority of the court "overrides the combined judgment of the Legislative and Executive Branches, with the consequence of eliminating loan forgiveness for 43 million Americans."

Roberts, perhaps anticipating negative public reaction and aware of declining approval of the court, added an unusual coda to his opinion, cautioning that the liberals' dissent should not be mistaken for disparagement of the court.

"It is important that the public not be misled either. Any such misperception would be harmful to this institution and our country," the chief justice wrote.

Progressive Democrats in Congress and activists clamored for the White House to offer a swift and substantial response to the court's decision.

Natalia Abrams, president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center, said the responsibility falls squarely on Bidens shoulders.

The president possesses the power, and must summon the will, to secure the essential relief that families across the nation desperately need, Abrams said in a statement.

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, one of her party's leading voices on the left, said, The president has more tools to cancel student debt  and he must use them."

The White Houses efforts to block payments were an attempt to keep a Biden 2020 campaign promise to wipe out student loan debt that was especially popular with young voters and progressives. Both will be vital to Biden in next years presidential race  but may be less energized about supporting him after the high courts decision.

Without action from the Biden administration, loan repayments will resume in October, though interest will begin accruing in September, the Education Department has announced. Payments have been on hold since the start of the coronavirus pandemic more than three years ago.

The forgiveness program would have canceled $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would have had an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

Twenty-six million people applied for relief and 43 million would have been eligible, the administration said. The cost was estimated at $400 billion over 30 years.

Advocacy groups supporting debt cancellation condemned the decision while demanding that Biden find another avenue to fulfill his promise of debt relief.

Republican-led states arguing before the court said the plan would have amounted to a "windfall" for 20 million people who would have seen their entire student debt disappear and been better off than they were before the pandemic.

Biden said GOP officials "had no problem with billions in pandemic-related loans to businesses.  And those loans were forgiven. But when it came to providing relief to millions of hard-working Americans, they did everything in their power to stop it."

In contrast, the administration grounded the need for the sweeping loan forgiveness in the COVID-19 emergency and the continuing negative impacts on people near the bottom of the economic ladder. The declared emergency ended on May 11.

Without the promised loan relief, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer told the justices, "delinquencies and defaults will surge."

At those arguments, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said her fellow justices would be making a mistake if they took for themselves, instead of leaving it to education experts, "the right to decide how much aid to give" people who would struggle if the program were struck down.

The HEROES Act  the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act  has allowed the secretary of education to waive or modify the terms of federal student loans in connection with a national emergency. The law was primarily intended to keep service members from being hurt financially while they fought in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A former music teacher and administrator at Blair High School was sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison for distributing child pornography.

The five-year sentence for Daniel Hutsell, 42, is the minimum sentence allowed by federal law for child pornography distribution offenses. He faced up to 20 years in prison.

According to statements made in court and documents, the investigation into Hutsell began almost a year before his indictment in 2022. Law enforcement was first tipped off in September 2021 after Stelivo, a company that runs a real-time chatroom website, reported that a user in Nebraska was distributing images of child pornography.

Using an account with the username G|teachrr, Hutsell sent a sexually explicit image of an 8- to 10-year-old girl to other users on the website. Investigators were able to tie the account to Hutsell by using his IP address. Stelivo reported that 10 additional pornographic images of prepubescent children were uploaded and distributed by the G|teachrr account.

In late 2021, Hutsells home was searched and his electronic devices were seized. According to the plea agreement, he admitted to law enforcement that he used the website to trade pornography and that he had seen the aforementioned photo of the young girl.

Hutsell resigned from his job at Blair High School in December following the search warrant. He was indicted in July 2022 on six child pornography charges: three for distributing the material, and three for possession. All of the possession charges involved images of children under the age of 12.

Earlier this year, Hutsell accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20. All other charges were dismissed.

According to a biography of Hutsell from the Nebraska School Activities Association, he was the choir director at Blair High for 15 years. In 2020, he was promoted to the schools activities director.

Today in history: June 29 1927: First trans-Pacific airplane flight 1978: Bob Crane 2009: Bernard Madoff 2012: Lance Armstrong, 2021: Donald Rumsfeld 2021: Jacob Zuma 2022: R. Kelly 2022: Bataclan theater attacker
Friday's decision from the Supreme Court to kill President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan has left Nebraskans divided as loan payments are expected to resume this fall.

Local residents are on both sides of the $400 billion plan, which would have canceled or reduced federal student loan debts for an estimated 232,100 borrowers in Nebraska, along with millions of Americans.

The Supreme Court announced its 6-3 decision Friday, saying the Biden administration overstepped its authority. The court said an endorsement from Congress would be needed to begin such an expensive program.

The forgiveness program would have canceled $10,000 in student loan debt for those making less than $125,000 or households with less than $250,000 in income. Pell Grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, would have had an additional $10,000 in debt forgiven.

Now borrowers can expect loan payments to resume in October, though interest will begin accruing in September, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Biden, who once doubted his own authority to offer student loan forgiveness, said later Friday that he would push ahead with a new debt relief plan while blaming Republican hypocrisy for the decision that wiped out his original effort.

The president said he would work toward a new path for student debt relief, using the Higher Education Act, which he called "the best path that remains to provide for as many borrowers possible with debt relief. He also moved to create an on-ramp that would help ease the risk of default for students who fail to make payments when the current pause ends.

Nebraskans who supported the loan forgiveness argue that it would have relieved the heavy financial burden of college debt from people who are already struggling to make payments or would allow them put money into other expenses, such as buying a house.

Jacob Cole, who has been a teacher for two years at the Bancroft-Rosalie district in northeast Nebraska, accumulated $6,300 in debt after having to pay for room and board his freshman year at Wayne State College. He said he would have had to pay more if he didn't make cost-saving decisions later on.

"I became a commuter for the remaining three years at (Wayne) because I did not want to rack up $30,000 in student debt. I also received a Pell Grant each year. This, along with scholarships, was not enough to pay for my first year of college," Cole said. "I am a registered Republican, but I supported this policy to wipe away up to $20,000 in student loans. While this is not a widely supported plan within the GOP, I believe it is essential to help pull low-socioeconomic status individuals out of poverty."

Like other borrowers, Cole also stopped making payments during the pause on federal student loans in case his entire debt would have been forgiven if Biden's plan had been passed.

For now, he's hoping to receive some aid through student loan forgiveness options for educators in Nebraska. He said he applied for a reduction in his loans and is waiting to see whether he was approved.

Alec Rome, who graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln last year, said that while scholarships were able to cover his tuition, his partner racked up $20,000 in debt.

"My thoughts on this ruling are pretty simple: It is the cherry on top of a garbage sundae that was this last year for the Supreme Court," Rome said. "(My partner) was hoping to have (her loans) forgiven, but knowing the state of politics, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that a day like this might come."

Friday's decision follows a lawsuit led by Nebraska and signed by five other states that was filed in September. While supporters of Biden's plan argued a 2003 law, known as the HEROES Act, allowed him the power to forgive student loans, the state officials said the action would be an overreach of executive power.

Several Nebraska government officials have expressed their opposition to Biden's plan since the lawsuit was filed.

"The question of student loan burden is now back to where it belongs  Congress. Our elected federal representatives are closest to the people, have the power of the purse, and are entrusted with the responsibility of tackling difficult policy issues," said Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers in an official statement.

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer also said Friday that the court's decision was "a victory for common sense" and will ensure Americans who didn't go to college or have already paid their student loans aren't bearing the debts of others.

This is a common point from other Nebraskans who are against Biden's plan.

Omaha resident Bill Pulte and his wife had to pay off her student loans for 10 years before she was able to enroll in graduate school. Pulte said though this came in the form of a $200 monthly payment, he still doesn't support a widespread forgiveness plan.

"I am not a fan of the government paying off debts incurred by individuals. Government was established to protect citizens, but not from themselves," Pulte said. "If the government wants to protect people in terms of education practices, they should do it by guaranteeing low interest loans and allowing these loans to be taken at higher income levels."

Taygen Vicary, who has been paying off student loans for 20 years, said the Supreme Court made the right decision.

"While Id love for the loans to just disappear, thats a bit ridiculous when I knew what I was doing when I agreed to borrow money," Vicary said. "The thought that burdening the taxpayer with paying for my education is ludicrous. While this means I still have money to pay, I am pleased common sense won out."

Rome said even if other borrowers were upset by federal loan forgiveness, the benefits for low-income residents would have outweighed the negatives.

"We can argue all we want about semantics and if 'previous borrowers are unfairly affected' by student debt relief, but the cost that this will place upon not just the middle and lower class is significant," Rome said. "This debt relief would have helped the bottom 80% of earners the most in order to escape from this cycle."

Shirley Peng of Legal Aid Nebraska also said the opinion disproportionately hurts low-income families and people of color. The agency recommended borrowers reach out to their student loan servicers if they are worried about affording their monthly payments when they resume in October.

"We hope President Biden and Congress can work together to provide relief to student loan borrowers as soon as possible," Peng said.

For Kathleen Clark, an Omaha nurse, student loans are a huge part of why her family still lives paycheck to paycheck even in a two-income household. She said she graduated with her bachelor's degree in 2012 and still has about $50,000 to pay off. Her husband also has his own student loans.

"Daycare for two children is over $2,000 a month and my student loans alone are over $500 a month. Our cars are paid off and we do not live lavishly by any sense of the word, so those are areas we are fortunate enough to not have added to our monthly expenses," Clark said. "But the fact that two well paid professionals have to live so frugally is shameful. The student loan forgiveness would not have wiped away my debt, but it would have made a huge impact in our family's life."

This is also the case for Dallas Hartwell, who graduated from UNL a decade ago with $35,000 in loans.

"Ten years later, my wife and I are top 5% earners," Hartwell said. "We pay 50% in taxes and over $9,000 a month in just housing, child care and insurance. I now owe $50,000 in student loans. It's crazy we consider ourselves lucky."

The problem of the student loan system itself is something officials should focus on, said Joseph Collins, who graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in May.

Collins said while he has $27,000 in loan debt, he borrowed the money with the full intention and responsibility of paying it back.

"There is an entire generation of college students that continue to be straddled with debt and its holding us back from goals like starting families, buying houses and contributing towards retirement," Collins said. "Congress needs to find a solution besides allowing students to take on tens, or hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, and they need to help current students get a grip on making repayments. This forgiveness proposal was the equivalent a Band-Aid on a crack in the Hoover Dam."

Top Journal Star photos for June 2023
Former President Donald Trump will visit Council Bluffs on July 7 and deliver remarks at the Mid-America Center.

According to Trumps website, doors will open at 10 a.m., and the former president will speak at 1 p.m. Tickets are available on his website.

The Mid-America Center is located at 1 Arena Way.

The announcement did not give details about Trumps remarks, but the 45th president is currently running for reelection. He launched his third bid for the White House last year.

Trump is facing several GOP contenders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and others.

Trump has visited Nebraska and Iowa several times, including a 2022 visit to Greenwood to campaign for gubernatorial candidate Charles W. Herbster. Herbster lost the race to current Gov. Jim Pillen.

President Joe Biden, who defeated Trump in 2020, also has announced he is seeking reelection.

Photos: Trump indictment shows documents stacked in bathroom, bedroom, ballroom
VALENTINE  It has been more than 72 years since Dale Dewayne Thompson of Valentine went missing in Korea.

Finally, in December, his remains were identified. He was flown back to Omaha on Tuesday and made a long and notable journey by car back home.

Everyone realizes the importance of it, said his great niece, Cindy Williams, also of Valentine. My mom (Cathy Duncan) and I rode in the procession from Atkinson to here (Valentine). Everywhere there were people lined up on the street.

They were there to witness, honor, cheer and feel deep respect.

We had real support, Williams said.

Dale, 18, and his 17-year-old brother, Gene, both still in high school at the time, enlisted in the Army together. That was on March 21, 1950, according to Dales obituary. Tensions had been brewing on the Korean Peninsula and war officially broke out on June 25.

What I can remember was that Granny Mable (their mother and Williams great-grandmother) was hesitant to let them go off to war, Williams said. Their father, Earl Thompson, had died in 1945 from a brain tumor.

Betty Schroeder, 89, of North Platte, was barely younger than Gene, and their cousin.

We lived in the country," she said. "I loved the country. We rode horses and played ball.

"One day we were playing ball and I heard them talk about going into the service. Betty was alarmed, but they said all the young men were going and they thought they should go too. They enlisted in the U.S. Army. They packed their little bags and went to town, and they were gone.

On their first leave Gene was so tickled and pleased, but Dale was apprehensive about going back.

The next leave was about three or four months later and again Gene was so full of it and Dale was apprehensive again, Schroeder said.

Private First Class Dale Thompson was reported missing on Dec. 2, 1950, during a battle near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea, according to the United States Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Granny would have got the telegram, Williams said. Shortly thereafter the Army sent Gene home, not wanting to risk her losing him, too. They had a little sister, Williams grandmother, Carol, who was about 14 years old at the time.

So Gene came home, alone, and he was so sad because he realized Dale was not coming home with him, Schroeder said.

The boys mother cried for days. Days and weeks and months went by and she was so sure that he (was alive and) would be able to come home. She used to say Maybe hes in a concentration camp, or maybe something else, said Schroeder.

Recently Williams and Duncan discovered a headstone, already in place, for Dale, not far from his parents' marker. It reads, In Memory, Dale D. Thompson, 1932-1950, Missing in Action in Korea. They dont know who bought and placed it. His mother, maybe?

From time to time, as DNA science advanced, Gene and Carol would be contacted by the government for updated DNA samples, Williams said. Those contacts kept hope alive that one day Dales remains would be identified and returned home. Gene died in 2013 and Carol in 2003.

That day finally came this week.

Following a 2018 summit between former President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the remains of 55 people were sent to Hawaii, where Thompsons remains were identified on Nov. 28, 2022. On May 11 the DPAA conducted a ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman, Hawaii, for Pfc. Thompson. The remains were flown to Omaha on Tuesday.

Pfc. Dale Dewayne Thompson was honored with a service Friday at New Hope Cemetery in Valentine.

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RACINE  The Racine Police Department is dissolving its drug unit to address gun violence in the city.

Racine Police Chief Maurice Robinson said in a statement that he made the decision because there was only one member of the unit and that officer was not able to investigate all the drug crime citywide. Robinson said he reorganized a special task force to address gun violence, and that drug crimes in connection to gun violence would be investigated.

In a statement, Robinson said an internal personnel order had been leaked to the public.

This action has caused undue and unnecessary fear in the Racine community that the police department is abandoning drug investigations, he said. This is absolutely untrue.

In a follow up, Robinson did not clarify whether drug crimes unrelated to gun violence would still be investigated, and declined to comment further.

Drug abuse in Racine County

Drug abuse, specifically opioid abuse, has been on the rise nationwide for decades. Overdose deaths have peaked nationwide since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Racine County Sheriffs Office Metro Drug Unit investigates drug crimes throughout the county, including in Racine.

According to Lt. Michael Luell, the unit oversees complicated investigations that often take weeks or months to complete.

The Metro Drug Unit investigates higher level drug trafficking crimes and dealers, and the Sheriffs Office has a patrol division that actively enforces drug laws, according to Luell.

Luell said the unit includes several deputies from the Sherriffs Office and one police officer from the Mount Pleasant Police Department. No other department has assigned an officer to the unit.

While the Sheriffs Office investigates drug crimes throughout the county, it would benefit local jurisdictions to investigate drug crimes, too, Luell said.

In 2021, the average rate of opioid deaths in Wisconsin was 24.6 per 100,000 people, according to the Department of Health Services. Racine Countys rate was 27.54 per 100,000 people, one of the highest across the state.

In 2019, there were 1,201 overdose deaths in Wisconsin. Overdose deaths rose to 1,531 statewide in 2020 and 1,775 by 2021, according to the CDC.

In Sept. 2022, the Department of Health Services issued an advisory warning the public of the increased presence of fentanyl in overdose deaths. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is often laced into other drugs and is 50 times stronger than heroin.

The statement said that during the past year synthetic opioids, mainly fentanyl, were identified in 91% of opioid overdose deaths and 73% of all drug overdose deaths. Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for adults ages 18-45 in the United States.

In Racine County, there were 43 confirmed toxicity related deaths in 2022 with 10 pending autopsy cases, according to Kristan Binninger, the Racine County Medical Examiner.

In 2023, there have been four confirmed toxicity related deaths with 87 autopsies still pending. The pending autopsies have not determined a cause of death and are not necessarily linked to overdoses.

While the Metro Drug Unit investigates high level drug crimes, Luell said the unit was stretched thin and overworked because of the uptick in drug abuse and overdoses in recent years.

Photos: Tranq, the new fentanyl additive worsening Americas opioid epidemic
UW-Madison will remove race as a factor in its admissions process following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday that deemed race-conscious acceptances to public and private colleges illegal.

Thursdays ruling struck down the longstanding use of race in admissions practices, as the Supreme Court considered two cases brought by conservative legal action group Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The lawsuits argued the schools discriminated against applicants of Asian heritage, and UNC additionally discriminated against white applicants, as part of its admissions policy.

The court ruled 6-3 regarding public universities. It ruled 6-2 regarding private universities, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson abstaining because she has close ties to Harvard University, the private university in the case.

The courts conservative bloc all sided with Students for Fair Admissions.

The ruling is expected to have an impact on UW-Madisons campus, but the extent wont immediately be known, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said in a letter to campus Thursday.

The university uses a holistic admissions process, where academic achievements are considered alongside other personality traits, such as leadership, creativity and talent. While the university focuses first on academics, race has been taken into consideration to ensure students are benefitting from a diverse population, Mnookin said.

Though we have seen a roughly 50 percent increase in our underrepresented undergraduate student population in the past five years, our current enrollment percentages of underrepresented students still lag behind many of our peers, she said. The ruling will require some modifications to aspects of our current admissions practices; we will, of course, adapt our practices to comply with the law.

At the same time, I want to reiterate that our commitment to the value of diversity within our community, including racial diversity, remains a bedrock value of the institution.

But the argument of ensuring a diverse population of students is precisely what the court rejected in its opinion Thursday. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the ruling that using race as a consideration violates the Fourteenth Amendment by elevating some races over others in a zero-sum game of admissions and selecting a diverse student body is a form of racial quotas, which are already illegal.

The decision vacates decades of judicial precedent. In 1978, the court ruled 8-1 that higher education universities could use race as one of multiple admissions criteria while prohibiting them from basing decisions on racial quotas; in 2003, the court narrowly upheld the legality of using race but alluded the day would come that affirmative action would not be necessary.

Students for Fair Admissions also has targeted UW-Madison, but has not filed a lawsuit in that instance.

UW-Madisons student population is 60% white. The next largest ethnic group, Hispanic students, make up 7.2% of the population; Black students are just 2.4% of the population despite Black residents being 6.6% of the states population. International students, who are not broken down by race in university statistics, are 14% of UW-Madisons enrollment.

Not all University of Wisconsin System schools use race as a part of their admissions process. UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone said in a statement Thursday the courts ruling will not significantly affect the schools admissions practices.

The System is in the process of reviewing the ruling to see what, if any, impact it will have on its universities, spokesperson Mark Pitsch said.

Local pressure

Earlier this week, Republican lawmakers circulated a bill that would force the System, namely UW-Madison, to change its admission policies to grant direct admission to any students in the top 5% of their class.

The bill, if passed into law, could upend UW-Madisons admissions processes by requiring staff to place a heavier emphasis on academic achievement rather than its current holistic process and potentially reducing access for any applicant not considered to be in the top 5% of their class.

While UW-Madison is required to admit no fewer than 3,600 in-state students as part of its freshman class each fall, just fewer than 70,000 students are expected to graduate from Wisconsin public and private high schools next spring, meaning UW-Madison could be obligated to offer direct admission to about 3,500 students if they all applied.

Republicans justified the legislation by recounting examples of constituents who came to them after either being waitlisted or rejected from UW-Madison, despite feeling their grades or test scores should have been enough to grant them admission.

At the same time, Republicans are seeking to pressure the System to eliminate all of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff and programming by trimming $32 million from its budget, about what Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, estimates the System spends on such efforts over a two-year period. If that proposal becomes law, Republicans would move the $32 million into a discretionary account, and the System could petition the Joint Finance Committee for access to it to bolster workforce development.

The System employs 188 employees whose role in some way focuses on DEI. In addition to traditional DEI staff, those roles include staff in departments such as disability accommodations, Title IX compliance and veterans and non-traditional student support, according to a list provided by the System.

Elsewhere

Other area colleges admissions practices are unlikely to be changed by the ruling. Neither Edgewood College nor Madison Area Technical College (MATC) use race as a consideration in their admissions process, though they do collect information on race for data purposes.

Edgewood College bases its admissions off high school grade point averages or GED completion; if applicants dont meet the requirements, admissions staff then turn to a more holistic approach involving a personal letter and an interview, said Tess Ferzoco, vice president for enrollment management.

From our very first days in 1927, the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa committed to providing educational opportunities for young women. That was considered radical by some at that time, Edgewood College President Andrew Manion said in a statement. Today, we embrace that mission that we inherit, to build a more just and compassionate world through the educational experience we deliver to our students.

All Wisconsin Technical College System schools, including MATC, are considered open access schools, spokesperson Katy Pettersen said. While the technical colleges consider race and gender as an important part of equity, so are other demographics, such as being a single parent, having been incarcerated or learning English as a second language.

That data guides decisions over how the technical colleges can best support those populations to make sure they finish their programs, Pettersen said.

We dont consider much of anything (in admissions), she said. We allow everyone in who wants to come and get more education.

Hundreds of UW-Madison students protest following racist video emerges Student sit-in and protest over racist video Student sit-in and protest over racist video Student sit-in and protest over racist video Student sit-in and protest over racist video Student sit-in and protest over racist video Student sit-in and protest over racist video Student sit-in and protest over racist video Student sit-in and protest over racist video More than 500 students and faculty march in protest of UW-Madison's response to demands More than 500 students and faculty march in protest of UW-Madison's response to demands More than 500 students and faculty march in protest of UW-Madison's response to demands More than 500 students and faculty march in protest of UW-Madison's response to demands More than 500 students and faculty march in protest of UW-Madison's response to demands More than 500 students and faculty march in protest of UW-Madison's response to demands More than 500 students and faculty march in protest of UW-Madison's response to demands
Two weeks before the state Senate took steps to fire Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu privately expressed doubts about whether the chamber could remove her if she wasnt first reappointed by the commission, according to an email the senator sent to a group of conservatives.

Citing a state Supreme Court case that established that political appointees can remain in their posts past the time their terms expire, LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, told supporters that if Republicans moved to oust Wolfe it could have the opposite effect and lead to the states top election official staying in her job indefinitely.

But after the elections commission deadlocked on a vote to reappoint Wolfe in a bid by Democrats to block her nomination from reaching the Republican-controlled Senate, LeMahieu and Senate Republicans adopted a resolution Wednesday declaring that the Senate considers Meagan Wolfe to have been nominated, opening the door for the Senate to ultimately remove her.

In an email sent to a group of local Republican leaders and posted on the Telegram messaging app, LeMahieu referenced the 2022 Supreme Court decision that allowed an appointee of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker to serve on the Department of Natural Resources board long after his term had expired until the Senate confirmed his Democratic successor.

The precedent from this case means that if WEC doesnt reappoint Wolfe or a replacement, the senate would have no power to get rid of her through the confirmation process, LeMahieu wrote in the June 15 email.

If I put out a press release tomorrow as the Senate Majority Leader stating that the Senate will vote down Wolfes reappointment, the dem appointments to WEC might fight her reappointment so that she can remain at WEC indefinitely, the email continues. So if you would like Wolfe to be voted down, it is probably in your best interest that I remain silent.

LeMahieu walked away from a reporter inquiring about the email without answering questions Thursday. He also didnt return a text message, phone call or email seeking comment. One of the email recipients, Republican Party of Sheboygan County chair Russ Otten, told the State Journal it was authentic. LeMahieus staff said they couldnt substantiate the email Wednesday morning.

Wolfe has been subject to scrutiny ever since the commission made changes to certain elections procedures in the 2020 general election in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that some conservatives objected to. In a letter to legislators Saturday, Wolfe said allegations regarding the conduct of the 2020 election had been repeatedly mischaracterized and noted that the six commissioners, not Wolfe, make election decisions.

Jeff Mandell, an attorney who co-founded the liberal group Law Forward, said Thursday that LeMahieus email shows that last nights desperate maneuver is nothing more than a cheat in an effort to evade the rules.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission deadlocked Tuesday on reappointing Wolfe, whose term expires July 1. The election bodys three Republican commissioners voted to reappoint her, but all three Democratic commissioners abstained, citing the Wisconsin Supreme Court case allowing appointees to stay in their roles after their terms end.

I dont think we have the ability under the current law to reappoint because there is no vacancy, Democratic commissioner Mark Thomsen said.

Because of the deadlock, Democratic commissioners said Wolfe wasnt reappointed, meaning the Senate couldnt vote on whether to confirm  and likely fire  her.

But the next day, Senate Republicans introduced and passed a resolution, Senate Resolution 3, stating their assumption that the commission had nominated Wolfe and their intent to vote on her confirmation.

The resolution cites a similar dispute the Senate had with the commissions previous administrator  the commissions only leader before Wolfe. The Senate had wanted to fire Michael Haas for nearly two years, citing his work for the states previous Election Board. In 2018 the Senate voted to fire Haas, but the commission then voted 4-2 to retain him. Haas resigned from his post a few weeks later.

Democratic commissioners immediately criticized the Senates actions, saying they were based in legal fiction.

With no appointment, theres no appointee before the (Senate), Democratic commissioner Ann Jacobs said. With no appointee, this is a nonsense attempt to avoid the applicable statutes.

State law requires two-thirds of the six-member commission to nominate an administrator. The commission voted 3-0 on reappointing Wolfe on Tuesday.

Playing a game

Some legal experts doubted the viability of future Senate action.

The Senates attempt to initiate a confirmation hearing for Wolfe does seem to rest on very shaky legal ground, UW-Madison Law School associate professor Robert Yablon said.

When the commission met earlier this week, only three of members voted to re-appoint Wolfe, Yablon said. Notably, after this vote, the commission didnt take the position that it had successfully reappointed her. Its odd for the Senate to claim theres been an appointment that the commission itself didnt purport to make.

Both sides are now playing hardball, and unless they can reach a compromise, this dispute will likely end up in court, Yablon said.

Rick Esenberg, president of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said it isnt certain that the precedent set in the Wisconsin Supreme Court case regarding appointees staying past their term would apply here.

Theres a larger issue here in that this just looks bad, he said. It looks like everybody is playing a game, and I think the decision to abstain may backfire against (Democratic commissioners) because of what it implies. People should understand they have an institutional role to play.

If the Senate does try to remove Wolfe and is challenged in court, any lawsuit would likely end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which will have a liberal majority come August.
Wisconsins two-year, $99 billion dollar budget is headed to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers desk after the Assembly passed the proposal Thursday, signing off on a $3.5 billion income tax cut and a provision to eliminate the University of Wisconsin Systems diversity programs.

The budget proposal, which passed the Assembly 63-34 along party lines, would significantly boost pay for public defenders, prosecutors and prison guards. It would also give all state employees a 6% raise over the next two years.

Additionally, the budget includes a $1 billion increase in K-12 funding, a measure forged as part of a deal between Evers and the GOP that also increases per-pupil private voucher funding.

I am incredibly proud of the document thats being presented today, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said ahead of the vote. It focuses on the priorities that we heard and we know Wisconsinites want.

Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, praised Republicans for including some needed investments in the budget but said the proposal does not meet the historic needs of this moment.

Despite Evers recent call for the Legislature to make significant changes to the budget to ensure that he signs it into law, neither chamber this week made substantive changes to the document before passing it. He opposed the significant tax cut for the wealthiest Wisconsinites as well as the proposed cuts to the UW Systems diversity programs. Both remain in the proposal.

If the governor vetoes the budget in its entirety, it would be up to the Legislature to send the governor another budget for him to sign. Evers can also veto specific provisions in the budget, but he cannot add funding to any programs through that method.

Assembly Democrats proposed over a dozen amendments to the budget Thursday seeking to legalize marijuana, fund the UW Systems diversity programs and spend $340 million to maintain a child care assistance program that will run out of federal funding next year. Each amendment failed to pass.

Tax cuts passed

Perhaps the most significant provision in Wisconsins 2023-25 budget is a $3.5 billion income tax cut that collapses the states four income brackets into three. The plan provides tax cuts across the board but benefits the wealthiest taxpayers significantly more than others.

Currently, the state has an income tax rate of 3.54% for individuals earning less than $13,810 per year or married filers earning less than about $18,400. Under the Republicans plan, that rate would go down to 3.5%.

The 4.65% rate for individuals earning up to $27,630 and joint filers earning $36,840 would go down to 4.4%. The 5.3% rate for individuals earning up to $304,000 and married filers earning up to about $405,000 would also go down to 4.4%.

Finally, the 7.65% tax rate for individuals earning more than $304,000 or married filers earning more than about $405,500 would go down to 6.5%.

DEI, vouchers

Another contentious spending provision in the budget the Assembly passed is Republicans plan to cut the University of Wisconsin Systems budget by $32 million in an attempt to force the school officials to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programming.

The plan would require the UW System to eliminate 188.8 positions related to those offices and programs.

Republicans plan proposes to redirect the $32 million in DEI money toward UW System initiatives to develop the states workforce. But that money could only be made available if the System requests it and the budget committee signs off on it.

The budget document approved Thursday includes increasing K-12 education spending by $1 billion. That amount is $1.6 billion short of what Evers asked for. The boost came after Evers forged a deal with legislative leaders on a bill to increase state aid to local communities. The agreement includes spending $115 million to increase funding to the states private school voucher programs.

Other provisions

Under the budget, state employees would receive a 4% pay bump on July 1 and another 2% raise in 2024. Additionally, Department of Corrections guards starting hourly wage would increase from $20.29 to $33 an hour.

The committee also set aside $125 million in the states two-year spending plan to address forever chemical contaminants in Wisconsins ground and drinking water. Democratic lawmakers criticized the measure for creating a fund with no current plans on how exactly those dollars would be spent.
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1. Yes. Voters across the city filled the seat in the first place. Voters should decide again.

2. Yes. An election is much preferable to back-room decisions among council members.

3. No. The charter calls for the council to fill the vacancy by appointment. Follow the rules.

4. No. An election would be expensive, both for the city and for the potential candidates.

5. Unsure. An election seems more transparent, but its not the perfect answer.

Vote

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KEARNEY  Parishioners at St. George Orthodox Christian Church have enormous hearts.

Bishop Neophytos Kongai, the bishop of Eldoret and Northern Kenya, agrees. This weekend, he will visit them to express gratitude for their support of a girls boarding school he founded in Kenya four years ago.

Since 2019, St. George parishioners have sponsored girls who attend St. Anthony Orthodox Girls Secondary School. They continue to hold pancake breakfasts and yard sales to benefit the students.

This is a great church. It may not be the wealthiest church, but they have the biggest hearts, Mother Johanna, a nun from Weatherby, Missouri, who helped launch the project, said.

Mother Johanna

The story begins with Mother Johanna, who lives at Holy Archangel Michael and All Angels Skete in Weatherby. Some St. George members often visit that monastery. It is a beautiful place on 80 acres of woods with a vineyard and lots of trails, Father Christopher Morris, pastor at St. George, said.

Nearly a decade ago, Mother Johanna was curious about missionary work but cautious, too. I didnt want to be just a white person going to Africa, she said.

As she pondered her visit, she met Kongai, who had been educated in the U.S. and in 2015 had been named the first bishop in the new Kenyan diocese of Nyeri and Mount Kenya. Finding him to be an impressive spiritual man, she decided that connecting with him would provide a safe way for her to go to Kenya. Her superiors granted her permission to make the trip.

In 2017, with his blessing, Mother Johanna visited orphanages and a school and found herself changed. I knew I wanted to go back, she said. She did, many times.

Kongai had dreamed of building a girls school, so in 2019, he asked Mother Johanna if she would help raise money for a school that would be built behind the new diocesan center.

The need for a girls school was critical. Its been very difficult to get girls to come. Kenya believes in education, but girls come from very poor areas and are needed to help out at home, so boys get to school a lot easier than girls do," she said. "But the bishop wanted a boarding school, and he needed sponsorships.

Finding sponsors

Mother Johanna traveled to many U.S. places, including St. George in Kearney, to find people to sponsor teachers and 140 female students. I went wherever I had friends, and that included Kearney. I knew Father Christopher, too, she said.

She visited Kearney in December 2019. By the end of that evening, parishioners had offered to sponsor nine students at $360 each.

It didnt stop there. In April 2021, individual sponsorships of students became available. St. George members are now sponsoring 15 students at $400 each. The total value of those gifts is $6,000.

Mother Johanna provided each sponsor with the names and pictures of the girls they sponsor, along with their families. We see them and pray for them, she said.

In Christmas 2021, St. George parishioners sent letters to the girls and received many replies.

Students all know who their sponsors are, Mother Johanna said. I go back and pray for them, and I pray for sponsors, too.

Separate fundraisers continued. In December 2021, a parish-wide Christmas collection raised $731 for the school. A breakfast in February 2020 raised $2,600, and one this past February brought in nearly $1,800. Early in June, the church raised $1,500 at a garage sale. That money will be given to the bishop this weekend.

So far, St. George has contributed at least $14,364, and likely more, Levi Hadley, a church member, said.

Folks in Kearney sure stepped up. It was really amazing," Mother Johanna said.

Changed lives

Kongai recruited students by visiting all the churches in the diocese and setting up an application process.

Many girls come from villages that have no running water or electricity, Mother Johanna said. When the girls first arrived, I was there handing out uniforms. The parents were very excited.

She said the school is thriving. It was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but teachers went to pupils homes so they could keep learning.

The girls really flourished due to the effort of the teachers and the guidance of the bishop. The school keeps growing each year. The bishop said, I cant turn away young saints, she said.

This fall, five of the students will sit for national exams. If they pass, they will get a government subsidy to go on to the university.

Bishops visit

Recently, Kongai was transferred and is no longer serving in the area where the school is located, but he has not forgotten the generosity of St. George parishioners. He will thank them for their support this weekend.

Events include a greeting of the bishop and Saturday evening vespers at 5 p.m., followed by a parish-wide meal. He will attend Sunday services at 8:45 a.m. and 10 a.m., and he will be a guest at lunch following the 10 a.m. Divine Liturgy.

Born in 1970 in Kesengei village in Kenya, the bishop received a master's degree in theological studies and a masters degree in theology from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 2005. He then returned to Kenya.

Sarah Fothergill, the St. George youth ministry coordinator, is the liaison between the bishop and the school, and the church.

This connection is a blessing, Fothergill said. Someone might ask, Why Kenya? Personally, my life has been changed by making this personal connection with Orthodox people across the globe. I pray for the girls. Their lives are changing because of what God has given us, and we are giving back to God through the girls.

Fothergill taught middle school in Kearney and is now teaching students online via St. Rafael School, which provides a classical education in the Orthodox tradition.

Education is extremely important. When Mother Johanna told us Kenyan girls are expected to stay home and cook and clean and run the farm, I realized this school can help lift families out of poverty. It really touched our hearts, she said.

The girls never would have made it without the schools. He has been handed a huge project, so its really important to keep sponsoring, she added.

Morris said his congregation was very moved by the project. Without the financial support, these girls would likely not be able to receive an education, he said.

By giving just a little, we could help so much, he said. It has been wonderful to see the dedication and generosity from so many in our little congregation sponsoring and praying for these girls."

He added, Even more importantly, we know that they are praying for us, so we are receiving 100 times back from them for what little we are giving.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the United States has received mixed reviews. This is not surprising given the nationalist direction of his government, hostility toward religious minorities and growing repression of public criticism of the regime.

India continues to purchase oil from Russia, despite an international embargo in reaction to the invasion of Ukraine. Modi himself declines to criticize his neighbor for the military aggression. Despite the shortcomings of the regime in New Delhi, Modi was accorded a state dinner by President Biden and addressed a joint session of Congress.

The India leader himself demonstrated some astute public relations, including on June 21 joining a mass yoga exercise on the grounds of the United Nations. The benign symbolism was a shrewd move.

The respect accorded Modi in no way reflects approval of the unfortunate and ugly aspects of his government, but rather realistic awareness of the profound importance of the South Asia region. Reasonably stable relations with New Delhi are essential to furthering U.S.  and international  interests in stability in that volatile and often violent part of the world.

The Great Game refers to the strategic competition between Great Britain and Russia for influence in South Asia throughout the nineteenth century. Secure India borders were central to British calculations. The same logic applies to containing Russia, along with China, today.

Conflict between India and Pakistan remains dangerous. In 2019, an attack in disputed Kashmir killed 40 Indian police. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. Limited combat between forces of the two nations followed.

Both have nuclear weapons, drastically increasing the risks.

In early 2016, militants raided an India military base. The United Jihad Council, a Kashmir group, claimed credit. Simultaneously, terrorists attacked an India consulate in Afghanistan.

Only a week earlier, the India Prime Minister had visited Pakistan. The attacks threatened talks involving Afghanistan, India and Pakistan along with China and the U.S. Ethnic violence occurred again in July that year.

In 2012, Taliban attackers shot young Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan in revenge for her advocacy of education for females. She survived, and has become a vital international symbol of courage. Vital Voices Global Partnership, a nonprofit organization to empower girls and women, established the Malala Fund.

Global media emphasis on incidents involving U.S. military ally Pakistan reflects the regions strategic importance, but overshadows democratic progress. In September 2013, Mamnoon Hussain succeeded Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who did not seek reelection. This was the first peaceful presidential transition in Pakistans history.

This somewhat balances the deterioration of long-established political democracy in India.

Yet Pakistan-U.S. relations remain vexed. Pakistan since 9/11 is a front line in the struggle against terrorism.

Osama bin Ladens ability to hide in Abbottabad raised suspicion that Pakistan officials may have been complicit in concealing him. That government was not informed in advance of the U.S. SEAL Team 6 raid that killed him.

Historically, Pakistan has been a generally reliable ally of the West, a point often overlooked in media commentary. The British-trained military is extremely capable.

In the 1950s, Pakistan joined both the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in the Mideast and Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). Pakistan and Britain were distinctive as members of both alliances. These alliances are gone but geostrategic interests continue.

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (The Quad), established in 2007, significantly revitalized in 2017, involves growing collaboration among Australia, India, Japan and the United States. Important incentives include containing China.

U.S. cooperation with India reflects hard political realities.
Xiplomacy: China, Africa stepping up economic, trade cooperation as expo opens

Xinhua) 08:16, June 30, 2023

People visit a China-Africa achievement exhibition during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

As the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off in Changsha on Thursday, a further boost is widely expected in China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

CHANGSHA/NAIROBI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Earlier this week, the first batch of Kenya's dried anchovies arrived at the Changsha Huanghua International Airport in central China's Hunan Province, adding to a long list of African products that were granted access to the Chinese market.

The small dried fish has become the latest epitome of prospering China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. And as the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo kicked off in Changsha on Thursday, a further boost is widely expected in China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

COOPERATION BOOMING

At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in September 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the decision to establish the China-Africa economic and trade expo.

Over the years, the biennial expo has become an important platform for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

The current edition of the expo has witnessed remarkable growth, with the main exhibition hall occupying a larger area and over 1,500 exhibitors participating, a 70 percent increase compared to the previous event.

Grace Njapau, director of Kakanga Food Suppliers in Zambia, is attending the expo for the second time. This time, she treats Chinese customers to organic honey and moringa seeds.

"Every time we come to China, we discover new business opportunities. The Chinese market is a land of opportunity, and we are also willing to bring higher quality African goods to China," said Njapau, who has been doing business with her Chinese partners since 2001.

Over the past more than 20 years, Njapau has witnessed and experienced the progress of China-Africa economic cooperation towards prosperity.

In a congratulatory letter to the expo in 2019, Xi said it is hoped that the two sides will actively explore new paths for cooperation, open up new points of growth for collaboration, and promote China-Africa economic and trade cooperation to a new level.

Over the years, the expo has become a booster for China-Africa economic and trade cooperation. The previous two editions have witnessed the signing of 216 cooperative projects or agreements worth a total of 43.02 billion U.S. dollars.

From the trading and processing center for African non-resource products to the China-Africa cross-border RMB center, the expo is expanding the scope of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation.

This photo taken on May 23, 2023 shows containers to be transported near the Nairobi Station of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway in Nairobi, Kenya. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

BROADENING PROSPECT

A day before the expo opened, South African Ambassador to China Siyabonga C. Cwele arrived in Changsha and showcased in a live stream a variety of African specialties to Chinese consumers, including South African white wine, Ethiopian coffee beans, and Guinean drums, which attracted a large audience, hence a flurry of orders.

In recent years, an increasing number of African products have entered the Chinese market and gained popularity among consumers. China now has become the second-largest destination for African agricultural exports.

Such an achievement was made as a visible result of the nine programs in deepening China-Africa cooperation put forward by Xi at the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2021.

As the scale and scope of trade between China and Africa continue to expand, bilateral cooperation is extending into emerging fields such as digital and green industries.

During a meeting with President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May this year, Xi said that China is ready to provide new opportunities for African countries with its new development.

Under the spotlight at the expo are Chinese companies engaged in Africa's new energy industries, including Hunan Hyliess New Energy Technology Co., Ltd, a company from Changsha, which has already declared cooperative intentions with over 100 African customers.

"The new energy industry in Africa is developing rapidly," Li Zhenchao, sales manager of the company, told Xinhua. Currently, business from the African region accounts for nearly half of the company's total, Li added.

Cooperation with China is a win-win process with positive results, Cwele told Xinhua after finishing his live stream. "We see a lot of opportunities from our cooperation."

An exhibitor introduces products to a visitor during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)

MOVING FORWARD

China has been Africa's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years. In 2022, the total trade volume between China and Africa reached 282 billion dollars, representing an 11.1 percent year-on-year growth.

Specifically, China's exports to Africa amounted to 164.5 billion dollars, increasing by 11.2 percent, while imports from Africa reached 117.5 billion dollars, growing by 11 percent.

An ever-closer trade and economic relationship is a testament to the success of building a China-Africa community with a shared future.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Xi's proposal of the concept of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, and the right approach to justice and interests, the guiding principles of China's Africa policy.

Over the past decade, under those principles, China-Africa relations have been propelled into the fast lane of development.

This photo shows an outdoor exhibition area at the Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center during the third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, June 29, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Yehua)

In his message to the 36th African Union Summit in February, Xi said that cooperation between China and Africa is moving steadily forward in an all-round, multi-tiered and high-quality fashion, which takes the lead in international collaboration with Africa.

Xi added that he stands ready to work with leaders of African countries to build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.

Echoing Xi's remarks, Costantinos Berhutesfa, a professor of public policy at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said that it's the political justice, mutual economic benefit, win-win cooperation, and common development that laid the basis for a shared future of Africa and China.

Africans are already benefiting from such a shared future.

For Kenyan fisherman Abdi Bakari Dura, whose source of livelihood has been anchovy fishing for over a decade, the opening-up of the Chinese market means a steady and sustained income for him.

"Thanks to the vast Chinese market, we no longer have to worry that our fish may go unsold," said the 30-year-old fisherman.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The Western Wisconsin Conservation Council and Farmer-Led Watershed Councils are hosting a Soil Health Raffle Run from July 10 through July 13.

Sites will be spread across St. Croix, Polk and Dunn counties, and participants can claim a raffle ticket by taking a selfie at each site.

Sites will display:

Haney testing and nitrogen ROI.

Demo plots looking at tillage practices and cover crops.

Nitrogen optimization research plots.

Small grains rotation and lysimeter study plots.

Strip-till next to no-till in rye.

Low disturbance manure injection and planting green.

Double cropping with triticale.

A dinner will then be held at 6 p.m. July 13 at Jon-De Farms, 2041 30th Ave., Baldwin. There, participants will have the opportunity to discuss the sites visited and network with area farmers, as well as a chance to win in the raffle.

The event is free for farmers to attend, but organizers ask participants to RSVP by July 10 for meal planning purposes.

Find more details and RSVP at bit.ly/SoilHealthJuly13.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host a public meeting to discuss the disposal of dredged material from the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Mississippi River navigational channel dredging projects at the Dairyland Power Cooperative Genoa Station #3.

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 11, at noon at the Stoddard American Legion Post, located at 414 Broadway St. in Stoddard.

Dairyland Power Cooperative has requested approval from the DNR to dispose of sediments dredged from the Mississippi River United States Army Corps of Engineers dredging projects as part of the Genoa Station #3 decommissioning project as fill. The material would be placed on a property owned by Dairyland Power Cooperative located at S4651 State Road 35, Genoa. Areas where dredge sand is used as fill will be capped with gravel, roads, buildings, or topsoil and vegetation.

At the meeting, the public is encouraged to share comments and ask questions about the proposal. There will be a brief introduction and explanation of the project by DNR staff and Dairyland representatives. All public comments will be considered by the DNR in its decision on the proposal.

Questions or comments can be directed to Kevin Bartel, DNR Waste and Materials Management Program Hydrogeologist, at Kevin.Bartel@wisconsin.gov or 920-883-9301.
Fireworks in the wrong hands can cause injury and death, but theres another heightened concern as people are tempted to launch pyrotechnics this summer  fire.

Everything around here is so dry, said Winona County Sheriff Ron Ganrude. People need to be cognizant that its really dry out there.

As the calendar closes in on Independence Day, local law enforcement already is dealing with illegal fireworks. Ganrude said his office averages two calls per day from people complaining about fireworks, mostly because of noise.

Noise isnt the only issue. Local law enforcement officials say using fireworks without a permit is a fire hazard and personal injury risk. According to the La Crosse Police Department, nearly 20,000 fires nationwide were started by fireworks in 2018. Over 9,000 people were injured in 2018 with most of the injuries to the head or hands.

The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission reports even grimmer numbers. It reported 18 people died from fireworks accidents in 2020. Another 15,600 were injured badly enough to require medical attention.

Minnesota and Wisconsin have similar laws regarding fireworks, although rules in Wisconsin vary among municipalities. La Crosse County Sheriffs Office deputy Jordan Stratman offered the following rule of thumb for whats prohibited:

Any fireworks that explode or leave the ground are illegal in La Crosse County, Stratman said.

The La Crosse Police Department has posted a graphic on its website for whats legal and whats not. Legal fireworks include sparklers, stationary cones and fountains, toy snakes, smoke bombs, caps, noisemakers and confetti poppers with less than a half-grain of explosives. Illegal fireworks include Roman candles, firecrackers, bottle rockets and mortars.

The department says even legal fireworks can be hazardous. It offers the following safety tips:

Never allow children to handle fireworks

Never use fireworks when impaired by drugs or alcohol

Wear protective eyewear

Never hold a lit firework with bare hands

Never light a firework inside

Keep a bucket of water or fire extinguisher handy

Ganrude said his office usually doesnt issue citations for someone caught with illegal fireworks. He said its usually just a warning and confiscation of the illegal pyrotechnics.

We dont do a lot of citations; we do more education, Ganrude said. Its not so much that (fireworks) are illegal but that theyre dangerous. People dont always use their best judgment. 

Stratman said the best way to enjoy fireworks is to watch authorized fireworks displays. He encouraged people to enjoy the annual La Crosse Riverfest fireworks show at 10 p.m. Tuesday, July 4.

Just leave it to the professionals, Stratman said. They can control them and make them look a lot better than what most people can do.
Police are asking the public to provide any information about a Wednesday traffic crash that occurred just south of downtown La Crosse that left several people injured.

According to the La Crosse Police Department, emergency personnel responded to a traffic crash in the area of South Avenue and Green Bay Street. There were several people transported to local medical facilities for serious injuries.

The police department has not released the name of the driver or anyone injured in the crash.

We are asking those who assisted the officers at the accident scene to please contact the La Crosse Police Department at 608-782-757, a release states.

Video posted to Twitter reportedly show a vehicle traveling at high rate of speed in the area and another graphic video of a blood-covered man being arrested. The poster of the video says the vehicle was traveling over 60 mph and struck several innocent bystanders. The authenticity of the videos could not be independently verified.

The La Crosse County Jail doesnt list anyone arrested for reckless driving during the past two days.
BLACK RIVER FALLS  The Jackson County Sheriffs Office is investigating what it calls a suspicious death after an unresponsive male was found in a vehicle early Friday morning.

A 911 caller reported finding the male at about 1:54 a.m. in the parking lot of InBetween Gentlemens Club on Highway 12 in the town of Alma, according to a press release from law enforcement.

The death is being investigated by the Jackson County Sheriffs Office, with the assistance of the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation. Authorities said no additional information would be released at this time.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Jackson County Communications Center at 715-284-5357 or report a tip to Jackson County Crimestoppers at jacksoncountycrimestoppers.com or by calling 1-800-228-3203, ext. 199.
Heat waves like the one that engulfed parts of parts of the South and Midwest and killed more than a dozen people are becoming more common. Experts say the extreme weather events, which claim more lives than hurricanes and tornadoes, will likely increase in the future. A heat dome that killed 13 people in Texas and another in Louisiana pushed eastward Thursday and is expected to be centered over the mid-South by the weekend. Heat index levels of up to 112 degrees are forecast in parts of Florida over the next few days and extreme heat is expected in Arizona by Saturday. Climate scientists say extreme heat deaths will increase without more action to combat climate change.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A two-year spending plan that would cut income taxes across the board, increase funding for K-12 schools and cut the University of Wisconsin's budget in a fight over diversity, equity and inclusion programming was sent to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Thursday.

Republicans who passed the budget in the state Assembly touted it as an investment in the state's priorities by cutting income taxes by $3.5 billion, reducing the number of brackets to move closer to a flat tax, increasing funding for K-12 public and private choice schools, and increasing pay for prison workers, prosecutors and public defenders.

The budget also would raise pay for all state employees by 6% over the next two years.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said the budget, some parts of which were reached with bipartisan support, was a victory for taxpayers.

Democrats, who didn't have the votes to stop the Republican-authored plan, said it was a missed opportunity given the state's projected $7 billion budget surplus. They argued that Republicans disregarded the needs of the working class to enact a tax cut that benefits the wealthiest taxpayers.

This budget just does not meet the historic needs of this moment, Democratic Minority Leader Greta Neubauer said before debate began.

The Senate passed the budget on Wednesday on a nearly party-line vote, with no Democrats in support. The Assembly rejected all Democratic amendments before passing the budget Thursday on a 63-34 vote along party lines.

Evers could make changes with his partial veto or even wipe out the entire budget, though that would be unlikely as it would require lawmakers to start over and scrap aspects that Evers helped craft.

Evers hasnt said what he will do. Republicans tried to write the budget in such a way that it would be difficult for him to make substantial changes even with his line-item veto power.

We trust he will use his power to do the right thing by the people of Wisconsin when he gets it," Neubauer said, dodging questions about whether she would support him vetoing the entire budget.

Evers previously threatened to veto the entire budget over the University of Wisconsin's $32 million cut, funding that Republicans identified as going toward diversity, equity, or DEI, programming and staff. But the budget would allow for the university to get the funding later if it could show it would go toward workforce development and not DEI.

Republicans also refused to fund UWs top building project priority, a new engineering facility on the Madison campus. The university, backed by the state's business leaders, urged lawmakers to reconsider, saying the new building would get at the heart of Republicans' goal of workforce development because it would allow for more students to graduate with engineering degrees.

The cut to UW stands out in a $99 billion budget where funding was increased or at least held steady across state government. Public K-12 schools, for example, would see a $1 billion funding increase under a deal Republicans reached with Evers that would also bolster funding for local governments by $1 billion.

Democrats also object to a $3.5 billion income tax cut that would benefit wealthy filers more than lower- income earners. The tax cut shrinks Wisconsin's brackets from four to three, moving it closer to the flat income tax rate in neighboring Illinois.

Evers had proposed an income tax cut more targeted to lower- and middle-income earners.

The goal is to try and keep successful people in Wisconsin no matter what their income," Vos said in defense of the tax cuts for wealthier filers.

Republicans defend their cuts to a child-care program and a state office of school safety, saying they don't want to commit too much of the surplus to areas that require ongoing spending.

The budget covers the two-year period that begins Saturday and runs through June 30, 2025. Current spending levels will continue until Evers signs a new budget.

___

Associated Press writer Harm Venhuizen contributed to this report.
With multiple large waterbodies in Walworth County, including Geneva Lake, Delavan Lake, Lake Como and Powers Lake among others, area interest runs high in local lakes and their health.

The Fontana Public Librarys next free adult program will feature UW-Madison Speaker and Professor Emeritus John J. Magnuson presenting on What Does Lake Ice Seasonality Tell Us About Climate Change as part of the universitys Badger Talks educational outeach program.

The free in-person event will be held on Tuesday, July 11 at 1 p.m. in the upstairs meeting room at Fontana Village Hall, 175 Valley View Dr. (State Hwy. 67). No registration is required.

I thought that it would be of interest to people around here, said Fontana Public Library Adult Program Coordinator Sally Lee. Theres a lake here ... and like ice was measured on Geneva Lake for many, many years.

Magnuson is an aquatic ecologist and limnologist with a special interest in fish and fisheries ecology. Trained in fish and wildlife management, zoology and oceanography, Magnusons current interests include long-term ecological research on lake ecosystems, analyses of long-term lake ice time series, climate change impacts and adaptations, thermal ecology of fishes, landscape, and invasion ecology of lakes.

Because human observers have recorded the dates of ice-on and ice-off on numerous lakes around the world, lake ice cover records provide a clear indicator of climate change and variability, often well before direct climate measurements of temperature were available, with lake ice records in Wisconsin and some other states dating as far back as the 1850s.

The July 11 Badger Talks program hosted by the Fontana Public Library will reveal what lake ice records and the variability of ice cover on Wisconsin lakes says about how the states climate has changed. Magnuson will also discuss the value of lake ice for cultural reasons and as a measure of whats happening to the climate.

Magnuson is now a UW-Madison emeritus professor residing in the Center for Limnology which he helped form in 1982 and served as its first director. His students have received their graduate degrees in zoology, oceanography and limnology, and water resources management. Magnuson has a strong interest in seeing science used in solving real world issues related conservation of species, climate change and fisheries.

Badger Talks

UW-Madisons Badger Talks program (https://badgertalks.wisc.edu) reflects the tradition of the Wisconsin Idea  to extend the resources of the university to citizens of the state.

Badger Talks connects faculty and staff from hundreds of different disciplines with communities throughout the state to spark conversations on important topics, engage residents on critical issues, and share the latest UW research.

Badger Talks is a privately funded program connected to the Office of State Relations and housed under UW Connects statewide outreach.

More than 200 Badger Talks are hosted around the state each year, featuring faculty and staff with expertise in a variety of disciplines. Talk topics range from cutting edge discoveries to happiness in the workplace and everything in between.

Holy cow, theres a ton of things, Lee said of the roster of Badger Talk offerings. Many, many topics. Many, many speakers.

Professional, community and civic organizations, as well as schools, are invited to request a UW-Madison speaker.

Learn more

The Fontana Public Library, 166 2nd Ave. in Fontana, just off Valley View Drive (State Hwy. 67), is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. The library will be closed on Tuesday, July 4 for the Independence Day federal holiday.

For more information about the Fontana Public Library and its programs, call 262-275-5107 or visit https://www.fontana.lib.wi.us.

Watch now: Lake Geneva Cruise Line conducts annual mailboat jumper tryouts Mailboat jumper candidates prepare to reboard the U.S. Mailboat Walworth after a practice run Mailboat jumper candidates congratulate each other after a successful jump Mailboat jumper candidate Marissa Torres-Raby narrates some information during the mailboat jumper tour tryouts Veteran mailboat jumper Sid Pearl offers some advice to a mailboat jumper candidate Watch now : Mailboat jumper candidate makes a successful jump Erin Hensler does some narration during the mailboat jumper tryouts A group of mailboat jumper candidates prepare to do a practice run during tryouts Watch now: Mailboat jumper candidates get back on the boat after a practice run Marissa Torres-Raby prepares to jump during tryouts A group of children watch a mailboat jumper candidate attempt a practice delivery A mailboat jumper candidate dries off after going in the water Watch now: Another mailboat candidate gets back on the boat after going in the water Another successful practice delivery is made during the mailboat jumper tryouts Celebrity judge actor Thomas Patrick Lennon congratulates the candidates on a job well done Watch now: Celebrity judge Thomas Lennon tries his hand at mailboat jumping
Photo: The Canadian Press The RCMP logo is seen on a podium ahead of a news conference, in St. John's, Saturday, June 24, 2023. Police say a serious head-on collision has closed Highway 93 north of Radium Hot Springs, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Police say a serious head-on collision has closed Highway 93 north of Radium Hot Springs, B.C., not far from the Alberta boundary.

Banff RCMP say it's assisting Columbia Valley Mounties after the crash involving two vehicles, where several passengers suffered life-threatening injuries.

Police say motorists should avoid the area and choose a different route until emergency crews have cleared the scene.

Columbia Valley RCMP say crews were dispatched to the scene in Kootenay National Park at around 2:30 this afternoon.

Police say the highway will be closed for a while until more investigators get to the scene, and they didn't specify the number of people hurt or the nature of their injuries.

Police say traffic from Highway 1 is not allowed to exit onto Highway 93 until the accident scene is cleared.
A minuscule handbag measuring just 657 by 222 by 700 microns (or less than 0.03 inches wide) sold for over $63,000 at an online auction Wednesday.

Barely visible to the human eye, the fluorescent yellowish-green bag is based on a popular Louis Vuitton design  though it is the work of a New York art collective, not the luxury label itself.

Dubbing its diminutive creation Microscopic Handbag, the Brooklyn-based group MSCHF claims the bag is narrow enough to pass through the eye of a needle and is smaller than a grain of sea salt (though that may depend on how coarse you like your salt).

The object was made using two-photon polymerization, a manufacturing technology used to 3D-print micro-scale plastic parts. It was sold alongside a microscope equipped with a digital display through which the bag can be viewed.

A promotional photo shows the design in greater detail, revealing Louis Vuittons signature LV monogram. The bag appears to be based on the French labels OnTheGo tote, which currently retails at full size for between $3,100 and $4,300.

The sale was hosted by Joopiter, an online auction house founded by American musician, record producer and designer Pharrell Williams. Although Williams currently serves as Louis Vuittons creative director of menswear, MSCHFs chief creative officer Kevin Wiesner previously told the New York Times that the collective had not sought his or the French labels permission to use its logo or design.

Pharrell loves big hats, so we made him an incredibly small bag, he told the newspaper.

Founded in 2016, MSCHF has made headlines with its so-called drops, irreverent art projects that often poke fun at  while profiting from  consumer capitalism. The group was infamously sued by Nike over its Satan Shoes, a series of 666 pairs of modified Nike sneakers featuring satanic symbols and drops of real human blood. The dispute was eventually settled out of court.

Known for teasing the art world for its excesses  whether selling forged Andy Warhol drawings or cutting up Damian Hirst paintings  the collective has also turned its attention to luxury fashion.

In 2021, the group ripped up four Birkin handbags to create sandals (dubbed Birkinstocks) that it offered for up to $76,000 a pair. More recently, its cartoonish rubber boots, known as Big Red Boots, became a viral sensation after being worn by stars including Doja Cat, Iggy Azalea and Janelle Monae.

Prior to this weeks sale, MSCHF declined to answer CNNs questions on the creation of its handbag. However, a statement published alongside the auction listing posited that the fashion industrys love of small bags had seen them steadily more abstracted to the point that the accessory is purely a brand signifier.

Previous small leather handbags have still required a hand to carry them  they become dysfunctional, inconveniences to their wearer, the statement added. Microscopic Handbag takes this to its full logical conclusion. A practical object is boiled down into jewelry, all of its putative function evaporated; for luxury objects, usability is the angels share.

10 of the most expensive paintings sold over the past decade and the artists behind them 10 of the most expensive paintings sold over the past decade and the artists behind them 'Nu couche (sur le cote gauche)' by Amedeo Modigliani 'Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')' by Pablo Picasso 'Wasserschlangen II' by Gustav Klimt 'The Standard Bearer' by Rembrandt 'No. 20 (Yellow Expanse)' by Mark Rothko 'Number 17A' by Jackson Pollock 'Nafea faa Ipoipo? (When Will You Marry?)' by Paul Gauguin 'Orange Marilyn' by Andy Warhol 'Interchange' by Willem de Kooning 'Salvator Mundi' by Leonardo da Vinci
Photo: The Canadian Press Lynx Air CEO Merren McArthur, one of the first women to head a national commercial airline in Canada, poses for a portrait in Calgary, Alta., Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. The airline announced McArthur is stepping down in September 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Lynx Air says president and CEO Merren McArthur is stepping down for personal reasons.

The Calgary-based airline says its founding CEO will continue in the role until the end of September to allow time to find her replacement.

Lynx Air says McArthur led the airline to its first flight launch in April 2022, and through a successful first year of operations.

Board chair Bill Franke says in a press release that McArthur saw the airline's launch and rapid growth during one of the most challenging periods in aviation history.

McArthur says it has been a great privilege to lead at Lynx Air, but that it's time for her to return to her family in Australia.

The budget airline has been expanding, announcing two new routes for the summer earlier this year.
Xinhua Quotes Helga Zepp-LaRouche on Importance of China-European Economic Relations

June 29, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche was quoted by Chinas Xinhua on the importance of Chinese-European economic cooperation. The article by Breaking Latest website, datelined Paris, June 28, is entitled Deepen Mutual Trust and Cooperation To Promote Solutions to Global IssuesPeople from Many European Countries Positively Comment on China-EU Cooperation. The article quotes seven Europeans who spoke to Xinhua on the importance of Chinas relations for Europe.

Xinhua first quotes German Bundestag member Sevim Dadelen, who said that Germany and China need to strengthen political, economic, scientific and cultural cooperation. This cooperation also means hundreds of thousands of jobs in Germany.

Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of BMW Group automaker, told Xinhua that the companies of both sides have a common pursuit of promoting innovation and progress in the fields of electric mobility, circular sustainability, and intelligent connected vehicles. The BMW Group has a deep and long-standing relationship with China, and a strong partnership will enable BMW and its Chinese partners to continue to achieve win-win results in the transformation of the automotive industry.

Mentioned third, Xinhua writes that Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder and chairman of the German think-tank Schiller Institute, said that people in German industry have made it clear that decoupling from China will harm Germanys own interests. At present, Germany is facing the threat of de-industrialization, and cooperation with China is very important.

Volker Chapke, honorary chairman of the Berlin Prussian Association, told Xinhua, Germany and China need each other.

Xinhua then cited three others: Leia Bessie, a French expert on China; a writer, Lyazid Benhami, vice-chairman of the Paris Association of French-Chinese Friendship; and Julio Rios, a well-known Spanish expert on China.

A Xinhua article datelined Berlin on June 30, took its lead from Premier Li Qiangs visit to Germany and France as his first overseas trip since becoming prime minister this year saying his visits have received a wide range of positive responses from industries, institutes and political groups. It also quotes BASF president Jeffrey Lou, who said, Accounting for half of the global chemical market, China is a strategic market and growth engine for BASF, and Ludovic Weber, the Asia-Pacific CEO of the French multinational Saint Gobain, who told Xinhua that the Chinese market is growing very fast and there are many ongoing investments, especially in the EV [electric vehicle] industry. Weber said nobody wants to see rising tensions. The decoupling is kind of impossible, he said, expressing expectations of strengthening the link between countries through infrastructure, businesses and mutual investments.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY JUNE 30, 2023

The Choice: Is the World as Close to Peace, as It Is to War?

June 29, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)On Friday, June 30, the Schiller Institute-founded International Peace Coalition will resume its deliberations. These weekly meetings are occurring at a time when consultations between the Western and Eastern Churches are ongoing, largely in the form of Vatican diplomacy; China continues its diplomatic offensive in Europe, particularly Italy; and Brazil and several nations of the African continent deepen their commitment to assisting in finding a way to end the worlds ongoing wars and planetary conflicts, beginning with Ukraine. Last night, a subsidiary grouping, some of whose members are associated with the IPC, played the entirety of the JFK American University speech for an audience of about 40, using it as a springboard for discussion of what actions, including encouraging mass viewership of the speech during the upcoming holiday weekend, should be taken by the International Peace Coalition over the next days and weeks to inspire the United States to reverse course, for the worlds sake, avoiding a humiliating defeat resulting not in a victory, but in the very dissolution of Ukraine, or the usage of thermonuclear weapons in the very near futureas a growing number of both Russia and Western commentators are now suggesting.

While the ancient author of the Old Testaments Ecclesiastes may have been correct that The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite, he did not go on to answer, to any satisfaction, the question: And therefore, what? That author did not have to face the reality of global human extinction in a thermonuclear war. He might, in that case, have driven himself to conceive of a new infinity, rather than settle for all is vanity as a final worldview.

Sometimes, as is the case now, single, extraordinary individuals, or small groups of individuals, must change the foolish course of a foolish humanity, despite the ostensible impossibility of doing precisely that. It is to that task that Americans must devote themselves nownot in November of 2024in order to ever reactivate the institution of the American Presidency to work for good, despite the present occupant of the White House.

The present war is not waiting for humanity to catch up. The human cost on the battlefields of Ukraine is horrific. For every Russian soldier killed, ten Ukrainians die. Feeding that war with more weapons now, after last weekend, is as senseless and barbaric as the ritualistic feeding of children to the Canaanite god Moloch. What does that tell you about those in the Congress calling for an increase in money for weapons, even if it blows up the recent federal budget negotiations?

The moral indifference of the trans-Atlantic worldits lack of any sense of shamewas on full, lurid display, in the disastrous circumstances that shaped the near-tragedy of the Prigozhin mutiny, a tawdry side-show that the Congressional Gang of Eight stupidly encouragedat least by omission. Were they too silly to understand, that if they were being briefed about the Prigozhin option days before it was to occur, that that also meant that the Russian government was at least aware of that threat? Who advised to not contact the Putin regime about this, given the potential thermonuclear threat that a mutiny, coup or civil war in Russia would have posed to the world? Isnt it clear that further deepening of distrust must lead, at some point down the line, to life-threatening strategic miscalculation? That was exactly what President Vladimir Putin went out of his way to defuse in the first hours of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

Contrast the difference today, two decades later, with Vladimir Putins first phone call to President George W. Bush just after the 9/11 assault on the Presidency, and his message that he had instructed the Russian strategic nuclear rocket forces to not go to highest alert status. Remember that President George Bush said of Putin, I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy, I was able to get a sense of his soul? (Bush later repudiated the statement.)

Remember when Putin and Bush in November of 2001, just two months after 9/11, jointly visited a high school in Crawford, Texas? On that occasion, President Putin said: Being here I can feel the will of these people, the will to cooperate with the Russian Federation, the will to cooperate with Russia, and I can assure you that the Russian people fully share this commitment and are also committed to fully cooperating with the American people.

This is a time, as in October of 1962, for all independently-thinking people to dispel the tragic and fatalistic elements that may cripple their own thinking, in order to act to successfully reverse this nations self-doomed course. Reading and circulating JFKs American University speech this July 4, and throughout July into August 6, is a form of psychological declaration of independence from our current delusional, colonized state of mind.

For example, take the delusion, largely emanating from British and American media, that Russian President Vladimir Putins government, in fact strengthened by his successful rapid suppression of a June 24 mutiny involving Prigozhin and his Private Military Company Wagner group, is about to fall. Compare that to the reality that has begun to register about the doomed-to-fail Ukrainian Spring/Summer counter-offensive. As journalist Seymour Hersh wrote yesterday, We now know that the chronically unstable Prigozhins revolt fizzled out within a day, as he fled to Belarus, with a no-prosecution guarantee, and his mercenary army was mingled into the Russian army. There was no march on Moscow, nor was there a significant threat to Putins rule.

Pity the Washington columnists and national security correspondents who seem to rely heavily on official backgrounders with White House and State Department officials. Given the published results of such briefings, those officials seem unable to look at the reality of the past few weeks, or the total disaster that has befallen the Ukraine militarys counter-offensive....

Apart from war, how do we get Americans to once again choose this time and place to discuss a topic ... the most important topic on Earth: world peace and then fight for that peace, now, 60 years after JFK spoke those words? We must take back our government. How do we do that? The United States Senate campaign of Diane Sare is showing how to answer that question, through its own interventions on several fronts, and its insistence that the name for peace is development, as that development process has now been embraced in particular and in approximation, by the nations of the Global Majority. We are standing up for principle, and against partisanship.

We must, in a real sense, do what was done when the country was founded: carry out the most profound, public discourse with all of the American people, and then strike out in a new direction. The JFK American University speech, and the various uses it is being put to, is providing an emotional connection to pre-coup America. Our campaign is to return to the commitment of the Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self evidentthat all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the just consent of the governed, that whenever any government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation upon such principles and organizing its Powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Photo: The Canadian Press Colin Murdoch, Google Deep Mind Chief Business Officer, attends the Collision conference in Toronto on Wednesday June 28 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The chief business officer at Google's artificial intelligence research lab says the world is having a "eureka moment" around artificial intelligence, but we have to be responsible with the technology.

The explosion of interest around AI has come from recent advances in the technology that have allowed people to use it with conversational language, rather than the programmers who predominantly dabbled with it before, said Colin Murdoch of Google's DeepMind.

"It's kind of all of a sudden been much more accessible because my mum and dad can do this," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"Anyone can do it."

The surge in people and companies experimenting with AI was triggered by last year's release of ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot capable of humanlike conversations and tasks that was developed by San Francisco-based OpenAI.

The release kick-started an AI race with other top tech names including Google and its rival product Bard, putting an additional spotlight on DeepMind, which is headquartered in the U.K., but has space in Montreal and Toronto.

Now, everyone from health care companies to oil and gas firms and tech businesses are touting their use of or plans for AI.

But Murdoch said that ubiquity must be met with a careful approach and thoughtful consideration about all of the risks that AI carries.

"The way we think about this is being bold and responsible because it is a balance," he said.

"What we want to make sure of is that we are doing this in a way that enables society to benefit from the incredible potential for this technology, but also the exceptional promise also does need exceptional care, which is why we have to act responsibly and why we have to pioneer responsibly."

But what does responsible AI look like?

At Google, for starters, it's meant being open to criticism at every step of the AI development process.

The company relies on internal and external review committees from the day an idea is generated to when it is unleashed for public use, Murdoch said.

"We're making sure that we have the right oversight of our work, so, for example, we have ethicists sitting alongside policy experts sitting alongside machine learning experts," he said.

"They're pressure testing the work from beginning to end to identify how we maximize the benefit of the work and also address any potential changes we need to make."

Sometimes they prod staff to talk to even more external experts about ramifications, like when they were building AlphaFold and 30 people ranging from biology experts to biosecurity professionals and farmers were consulted.

AlphaFold can predict 3D models of protein structures. Murdoch reckons the technology has mapped all 200 million proteins known to science, saving one billion years of research time in the process because it can determine the structure of a protein in minutes and sometimes even seconds rather than years.

It has been used by researchers at the University of Toronto to identify a drug target for liver cancer.

Aside from ensuring products involve external reviews, Murdoch said responsible AI also takes bias into account. Many say bias crops up in AI because of a lack of diversity and opinions in the building and training phase.

"Making sure that people building, deploying and AI practitioners somehow reflects broader society is very important," he said.

Education and community involvement can help address the bias issue along with the industry being more transparent, so smaller, less resourced startups can learn from heavyweights like Google.

Murdochs remarks came on a visit from the U.K. to Toronto, where he spoke at the four-day Collision tech conference Wednesday about how he feels AI is changing the world.

Later in the day, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton, who left Google so he could more freely discuss the dangers of AI in May, took the same stage to discuss the giant leaps the technology has made over the last year, which even he didn't predict would come so soon.

Hinton has been deeply concerned about the implications of AI for months and on Wednesday, outlined six harms the technology poses, including bias and discrimination, joblessness, echo chambers, fake news, robots in warfare and existential risk.

While he said the technology could greatly aid in how humanity approaches climate change and medicine, he also cautioned that it might spark changes to careers and even safety.

For example, he suggested the child of Nick Thompson, the Atlantic chief executive interviewing Hinton on stage, pursue plumbing rather than media because of how capable AI has become at completing tasks integral to non-trade-based jobs.

On an existential level, Hinton said he is worried about defence departments building robots for warfare that would necessitate an international convention to stop.

"I think it's important that people understand that this is not just science fiction, it's not just fear mongering," he said.

"It is a real risk that we need to think about, and we need to figure out in advance how to deal with it."

As for Murdoch, he said the world shouldn't focus on one singular risk posed by AI but should instead take a "holistic" approach and remember that we are still at the early stages of this technology's use and integration.

"We're still kind of on the first rung and each rung we step up, we're going to be more powerful and capable."
Frances summit for a New Global Financing Pact just ended in Paris. Although no legally bidding agreement per se was presented, the summit was nonetheless important as it contributed to the agenda on issues facing the Global South, creating narratives for a road map leading to the next meetings and namely the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, the SDG Summit, the G20 in New Delhi, the COP 28 in Dubai.

Who attended the summit? Dozens of heads of state and government from the Global South to G20 countries and the usual faces from the world of the United Nations and international financial institutions and amongst them Ajay Banga, the newly elected president of the World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva from IMF and Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General.

The summit for a New Global Financing Pact conveyed, in Paris, on 22 and 23 June, with the aim of discussing the long lasting efforts on reforming the mechanisms on development and its financing with emphasis on the reform of the so called Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank and IMF). Why the debate around financing the Global South is so severely attacking the Bretton Woods institutions? Mostly because the institutions, created after World War II, are now faced with other kind of challenges such as extreme poverty, environment and biodiversity or in other words, as French President Macron, put it in his opening remarks, the summit is guided by the principle that no countries should have to choose between poverty alleviation and protecting the planet.

Amongst one of the highly attended intervention was the intervention of Chinese premier Li Qiang, a crucial player in the South-South cooperation.

In the face of the global development-financing gap, Li Qiang pointed out the call on the international community to cooperate and act to jointly solve the problems of developing countries, especially vulnerable countries. China, in a pragmatic move, proved to be a key player, during the gathering, in the $6.3 billion debt restructuring with Zambia (China is the largest official creditor to Zambia, with $4.1 billion owed to the Export-Import Bank of China alone). The country, pragmatic engagement in finding solutions for the Global South, owns to the fact, as premier Li Qiang stressed in his remarks, that development global issues concerns are reflected on China self-trajectory with the record of lifting 770 million people since 1978 out of extreme poverty (World Bank and the Development Research Center of the State Council, the Peoples Republic of China. 2022. Four Decades of Poverty Reduction in China: Drivers, Insights for the World, and the Way Ahead. Washington, DC: World Bank). Indeed a remarkable record for a country that is very consistently working to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030

What did the summit achieved and announced? Some milestones such as Debt suspension clauses for loans from the World Bank and a $100 billion target in Special Drawing Rights for vulnerable countries within the IMF as part of a new vision statement for multilateral development banks. Collaterally it debated a various range of themes from gender smart finance, financing digital infrastructure to accelerate transitions  sustainability, connectivity, resilience, Financing for SDGs solutions, through MDBs, Sovereign Wealth Funds and Development Partners amongst others.

A reinforced commitment and role for Philanthropies

Most interestingly, the summit did stress the idea of mobilizing additional financial resources, especially from the private sector and private philanthropies as part of the new global financing pact. As the Financial Times framed it in an article published on 20th June, the green transition wont happen without financing for developing countries.

At a time when there are growing financing needs to address climate, nature and development challenges, it is essential that foundations come together to leverage philanthropys comparative advantage, including to help mobilize private capital through new instruments and innovative blended finance the final statement of philanthropies stated.

Its the opportunity for the non-state actors to further mobilize and scale up financing to tackle structural barriers to meet the SDGs and Agenda 2030, for which philanthropies are not new comers, according to OECD (2022), philanthropic action to address climate change has significantly increased in recent years rising to an estimated $1.5 billion in 2021.

Unlocking additional concessional resources, through philanthropys financial contributions, will be key to achieve the global objectives of poverty alleviation and addressing the effects of climate change. Climate shocks and emergencies, such as pandemics, curb the financial capacity of Low- and Middle-Income Countries to invest in a just, resilient, country-led and low-carbon or net zero transitions.

Its time for philanthropies around the world to contribute to win the battle against poverty and vulnerabilities for a safer, cleaner and equitable world for the Next Generation.

*President, Associacao Internacional de Filantropia (Macau)

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president@artofgiving.org.mo

Macau Daily Times is the official media partner of the Associacao Internacional de Filantropia (Macau).
Often statistically labeled as others during the major holidays and celebratory seasons in Macau, foreign visitors occupied just a small percentage (3.8%) of all the visitors to Macau in the first five months of this year.

Since the figure is low, it is often statistically presented as one group, failing to identify which markets are contributing more to the rise of international visits in Macau, a goal clearly stated as being one of the main aims for Macau for both the government as well as the gaming concessionaires.

According to the official statistics released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), the record of foreign nationals entries to Macau is divided into 29 different categories, most of them representing countries, in the cases where the number justifies it, the remaining ones being grouped by continent.

The Top 3

Without many surprises, the top 10 countries contributing most to the number of entries of foreign visitors in Macau are the Asian countries. At the top, we have the Philippines which contributed 89,047 entries from January to May this year. This figure is more than double the second highest contributor, which is Indonesia (43,241).

The top 3 closes with South Korea, with 31,877 visitors. Currently and according to information by the Civil Aviation Authority (AACM), there are direct flight routes between Macau and the cities of Seoul (Air Macau and Jin Air) and Busan (Air Busan) with the first two currently operating seven flights a week but planning to double this capacity from July 1. As for the Busan route, this is currently suspended, but is expected to resume with three weekly flights from July 25.

The Top 4-10

Surprisingly, or not, occupying the fourth position of the ranking of those supplying more international visitors to Macau is the first non-Asian country of the rank, the United States of America, with some 21,780 visitors.

The list continues with more Asians, in the case of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore with, respectively, 21,598, 20,423, and 18,195 visitors. Following this group closely is Japan with 17,123.

Another surprise appears in the ninth position with India, bringing some 13,751 people to Macau. Once a traditional market source for Macau, Indias surprising entry into the top 10 comes mostly from the fact that visitors from this Asian country often reached Macau via the traditional tour groups that have been away from Macau since the Covid-19 pandemic started. Additionally, Macau does not have any direct flight to India, a factor that also influences the tourist visitation from most Asian countries.

Completing the top 10 is another North American country, with 10,532 Canadians visiting Macau in the first five months of this year.

Other significant contributions

In the 12th position comes Australia with a 9,763-strong contribution to international visitation to Macau. The 11th position is occupied by the first continent group of countries stated as Other Asian countries with 10,510.

It is necessary to scroll down to the 13th position to find the first of the European countries, a place occupied currently by the United Kingdom with 9,430 visitors. The UK is followed on the list by France although the latter has significantly fewer visitors (5,909). Still, the number of visitors from France is slightly higher than a group of other European countries combined (5,734) which ends the top 15.

Note the few Portuguese (1,658) which is barely half of the number of Germans (3,413). Low figures were also recorded by the Spanish (1,234), Brazilians (1,580), and Italians (1,848).

In reality, the number of visitors arriving from all European countries (Russia included) only totals 35,622, which is just about 10% of all international visitors to Macau.

Notable also is South Africa (1,032), the only African country singled from the ranking.

Uncountable factors play a role in statistics

Certainly not coincidentally, the first two places on the ranking of foreign visitors to Macau are occupied by the Philippines and Indonesia. Definitely contributing to this result are a large number of non-resident workers, especially those working in the neighboring region of Hong Kong. Since the pandemic restrictions subsided, these workers returned to use Macau, for obvious reasons (related to proximity as well as no visa requirements), as the preferred destination to exit Hong Kong while waiting for working permit renewals, the so-called U-turns.

The same is happening with some former workers as well as new workers who are now returning to jobs in Macau using a similar method while seeking jobs in Macau.

This is due to the enforcement of the new law on hiring non-resident workers that do not allow a person entering Macau on a tourism visa to apply for a work visa while staying in the territory.

Seeking concrete data to support and provide clarity regarding these types of cases the Times contacted both immigration services in Macau and Hong Kong.

While the Public Security Police Force, in a written reply to the Times, said that the department does not possess statistic data on the matter, the Immigration Department of Hong Kong (IMMD) said in a phone communication that the services do not monitor such type of cross border activity, an official named Sunny remarked.

The same official said the IMDD only produces and issues statistical reports on the number of visa permits issued, by type, not being able to provide data on for example, the number of foreign workers who come to Macau, returning to Hong Kong right after.
The Zhuhai-Macao Translational Medical Center and Institute broke ground at the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Zhuhai recently.

The center, being built at a cost of 2 billion yuan ($279 million), will become a complex for the treatment of major diseases and translational medicine research. According to a statement by Zhuhai authorities, the center integrates clinical research-oriented diagnosis and treatments, industry-oriented technologies, and data-intensive support platforms.

The center will have a total floorage of 102,325.91 square meters (25 acres) and accommodate 1,000 patient beds, among which 300 beds will be reserved for medical research purposes.

The project will cast eyes on innovative breakthroughs in areas of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, tumor diseases, infectious diseases, new marine materials, and medicines, as well as advanced medical manufacturing.

It is expected to fully upgrade the medical technology and biomedicine innovation centers on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary, thus enhancing medical services for people in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Upon operation, the project will establish the first high-level translational medicine center on the west bank of the Pearl River Estuary, providing medicine, education, production, and research services at a higher level for Zhuhai and Macau residents.

Gao Song, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and head of Sun Yat-sen University, spoke highly of the remarkable outcomes that the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University has made in recent years. He expressed the hope that this project will lead Zhuhais health industry to realize integrated and leapfrog development. It is expected to also assist in constructing the Guangzhou-Zhuhai-Macao Sci-tech Corridor, further supporting Zhuhai in its efforts to become a modernized and international special economic zone. Staff Reporter
The digital identity generated on the government One Account app will be available for border clearance purposes in Macau from today, the government announced at a press conference yesterday morning.

Chao Wai Ieng, director of the Identification Services Bureau (DSI), disclosed that all Macau ID holders  about 740,000 of them  will be eligible to use the new functionality from today at six local border checkpoints. The checkpoints include the Border Gate, the Outer Harbour, the Inner Harbour, the Taipa Maritime Terminal, the airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge towards Hong Kong.

To use the new function, users must update the app on their devices.

Parents will also be able to bind their childrens digital identities to their app for use in various circumstances.

Macau permanent ID holders with a Chinese or Portuguese nationality must use their physical ID cards to enter Hong Kong, the DSI director stated.

Explaining why the digital identity cannot be used at the Qingmao Border checkpoint and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge to Zhuhai, the DSI director reieterated the fact that juxtaposed border clearance facilities are installed at these checkpoints. Further negotiations with mainland authorities are needed to determine the feasibility of using digital identity at these checkpoints.

Adding to that, Ng Sou Peng, deputy commander of the Public Security Police Force (PSP), the juxtaposed facilities are shared between Guangdong and Macau, so their operations must comply with the laws of both jurisdictions.

Not to be confused with the digital identity card, the government has been emphasizing that the digital identity takes the form of a QR code on a designated section on the One Account app. To ensure its security, the DSI has introduced several anti-counterfeiting features on the page of the function.

These functions include watermarked texts, continually updated times, a dynamic ID number, date and time, dynamic stripes, as well as a regularly updated QR code. It is this code that will facilitate users border clearance in Macau.

Moreover, the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) announced in a statement yesterday that a new password will be introduced to access the digital identity function and the My Health function on the One Account app to raise the security level of the app.

When users pick the functions, a prompt will appear to ask them to set a password. They will have the options to set a password or skip the procedure. They will also be allowed to reset the password if it is forgotten.

During the first-phase release of the function, all public service offices will accept the QR code for application procedures. According to Chao, this will help eradicate the need for form filling and save time. Counter staff will use the QR code to access personal data stored on the DSI server to achieve a result similar to form filling.

Besides public services offices, certain private services will also accept the digital identity for verification purposes. These services include online bank account opening, password reset, loan application, cellphone service applications, internet service applications, among other services.

The China Travel Service will also start accepting the digital identity for bookings to renew the Home-Traveling ID.

From Aug. 1, the new function will be applicable to private medical arenas that accept medical vouchers. In September, its application will be expanded to private education spaces that operate government-subsidized continuing education programs, where check-in and outs with ID cards are mandatory.

The DSI director also disclosed that the new version of the Macau ID will be rolled out from Dec. 15.
Photo: dragomirescu | Generated with AI.

NASA is looking to operate a pilot processing plant for lunar resources by 2032, as part of its planned Artemis missions that will also take the first woman and first person of colour to the Earths natural satellite for the first time.



According to Gerald Sanders, a NASA scientist, the government body will initially look to quantify potential resources, including energy, water and lunar soil, as a goal to attract commercial investment.



Exploring for minerals and metals, including iron ore and rare earths, as well as planning a trip to Mars will come later, Sanders told the 26th World Mining Congress in Brisbane, Australia.



NASA plans to build a permanent moon-orbiting base called Gateway, similar to the International Space Station (ISS). From there, the agency hopes to build a base on the lunar surface, where it can mine the resources required to fly the first astronauts to other planets.



The first customers are expected to be commercial rocket companies that could use the moons resources for refuelling, water or oxygen.



NASA will send a test drill to the Moons surface by the end of next week, with large-scale excavation activities scheduled for 2032.



No longer science fiction



After being considered mostly a science-fiction tale, governments have started implementing programs and legislation to join the race for space mining.



In 2015, former U.S. president Barack Obama signed a law that grants U.S. citizens rights to own resources mined in space. The ground-breaking law was touted as a major boost to asteroid mining because it encourages the commercial exploration and utilization of resources from asteroids obtained by American firms.



Successor Donald Trump signed an order in 2020 encouraging citizens to mine the Moon and other celestial bodies with commercial purposes.



Russias space agency Roscosmos quickly condemned Trumps move, likening it to colonialism.



Private initiatives to mine celestial bodies, including the Moon, have come and gone in the last decade. Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries were perhaps the most well known, but neither company explored any asteroids and were eventually acquired and refocused on other endeavours.



Most recently, California-based AstroForge unveiled plans to test its own technique for refining platinum from a sample of asteroid-like material.
Japan and South Korea agreed yesterday to revive a currency swap agreement for times of crisis, in the latest sign of warming ties as the countries work to smooth over historical antagonisms.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki announced the agreement after meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Choo Kyungho. It was the first time the two countries have held annual financial talks in seven years, though Suzuki and Choo also met in South Korea in May.

Suzuki told reporters that the 3-year currency swap agreement would help reinforce trust in the financial stability of the two countries as a fallback in an emergency. But he emphasized that Japan is fully prepared to deal with fluctuations in the Japanese yen, which has weakened sharply against the U.S. dollar in the past year.

The $10 billion swap arrangement expired in 2015 and had not been renewed. Largely symbolic, it allows the South Korean and Japanese central banks to exchange currencies for each countrys reserves of U.S. dollars to provide extra liquidity, or cash supplies, in case of a crisis.

The two major Asian economies, both U.S. allies, have recently mended ties as they contend with challenges posed by China and North Korea, despite tensions over issues left over from Japans 35-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula before and during World War II.

From July 21, Japan plans to reinstate South Korea as a preferred nation with fast-track trade status. That will essentially end a four-year trade dispute that began in July 2019 when Japan removed South Korea from its white list of countries given fast-track approvals in trade as ties deteriorated over compensation for Japanese wartime actions.

Japans tightening of trade controls against Seoul was in apparent retaliation for South Korean court rulings in 2018 that ordered Japanese companies to compensate Korean workers for abusive treatment and forced labor during World War II.

Japan also tightened export controls on key chemicals used by South Korean companies to make semiconductors and displays, prompting South Korea to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization and remove Japan from its own list of countries with preferred trade status.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met in March in the first formal summit between the two countries since 2015.

Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945, imposing Japanese names and language on Koreans and conscripting many into forced labor or prostitution in military brothels before and during World War II. Japan gave $800 million to South Koreas then-military-backed government under a 1965 accord to normalize relations which was mainly used on economic development projects driven by major South Korean companies. A semi-government fund set up by Tokyo offered compensation to former comfort women when the government apologized in 1995, but many South Koreans believe the Japanese government should take more direct responsibility for the occupation.

The two sides also have a longstanding territorial dispute over a group of islands controlled by South Korea but claimed by Japan. MDT/AP
The Northbound Travel for Macau Vehicle policy has negatively affected both the commercial and residential realty markets, a regional realtor disclosed in a statement yesterday.

Local businesses, especially caterers, have voiced their difficulties amid the roll-out of the policy. They noted that many local residents choose to dine in Guangdong on weekends. Several social media groups have also seen posts praising the breadth and quality of dining options in neighboring Zhuhai, persuading people to eat in Zhuhai instead.

Jack Lei, regional sales director of the commercial sector at Centaline Property in Macau stated that amid revivals in the real property market after the resumption of normal travel, the northbound vehicle policy has impacted rental prices in traditional residential districts such as the North and the Fai Chi Kei districts.

According to him, larger shop spaces suitable for hospitality and dining in these districts have seen their tenants requesting rental reductions between 15% and 20%. There has also been an increase in the sales of businesses and number of shop spaces being re-leased.

Shop sale prices in such districts have also seen a price reduction of 10% on average, incentivizing more people to buy instead of rent. Selling prices of shops in tourism districts stayed robust, and when combined with weak supply, sale transactions have been slim in number.

The realtor estimated that 131 transactions on the sale of shop spaces were recorded in the first half of the year, 16% lower year-on-year. Meanwhile, there were about 1,500 deals closed in the first half of this year for shop leases, with tourism districts seeing the highest activity.

Office spaces should expect tougher challenges as government offices will gradually be relocated to private spaces, the realtor warned.

In the residential market, properties in the traditional residential districts have seen a falling number of transactions, Jimmy Lo, senior regional sales director said. He estimated the city would see about 1,800 residential property sales in the first six months of the year.

The rental market for residential properties has warmed up with about 15% to 20% in rentals, as external workers and businesspeople started returning to Macau.

Discounts offered for brand-new residential properties have attracted many buyers to opt for new constructions. The market of large residential properties has remained weak, the realtor added.

Looking towards mainland China, Roys Ho, principal director for the realtors Hengqin branch, expects the mainland property markets to only thrive in first-tier and strong second-tier cities, as well as special policy regions. Property markets in Zhuhai have a better forecast due to various supportive policies, he added.
Around 5.2 percent of Chinese women who had reached the age of 49 remained childless in 2020, according to a study released by the China Population and Development Research Center on Wednesday.

The rate is lower than the 11 percent from the United States and 19 percent from European Union countries, said the study.

It added that well-educated women, as well as those living in urban areas, northeastern provinces and regions seeing extremely low fertility levels, were more likely to have never given birth by 49.

With accelerating urbanization, development of higher education and continuous delays in marriage and childbearing, Chinas lifetime childlessness rate is expected to continue rising in the future, said the study.

It said that the rising trend of lifetime childlessness could further push down Chinas overall fertility level and its birthrates, and impact the realization of an appropriate fertility level.

Researchers of the study call for paying attention to the phenomenon and devising response strategies in advance.

For the first time in decades, China has fewer people than it did at the start of last year, according to official figures released in January.

The worlds most populous country has worried for years about an aging populations effect on the economy and society, but the population was not expected to go into decline for almost a decade.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported that the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than the previous year. The tally includes only the population of mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau as well as foreign residents.

In South Korea, recent data shows that births kept falling for the 89th straight month in April, boosting concerns about a demographic cliff.

The number of newborn babies was 18,484 in April, down 12.7 percent from the same month of last year, according to Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest April figure since relevant data began to be compiled in 1981.

The newborns have been on the decline since December 2015 as more young people delayed or gave up on having children due to economic difficulties such as high housing prices and education costs. The low birth rate fueled worry about the demographic cliff, which refers to a sharp fall in the heads of households eventually leading to a consumption cliff. MDT/Agencies
Sri Lanka will spare banks from being part of its local debt restructuring plan because of the possible impact on deposits, while the bulk of the burden will be shared by the Central Bank and superannuation funds, officials said yesterday.

Sri Lankas Cabinet a day earlier approved a plan to restructure nearly half of its $42.1 billion local debt following a bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund. A special Parliament sitting has been convened for Saturday to seek approval for the plan.

The government has announced a bank holiday until next week to prevent any speculation-triggered bank run.

Central Bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said the treasury bills owned by the bank will be converted into treasury bonds with a longer maturity period and the same has been proposed to superannuation funds. If those funds are unwilling to be part of the plan they may have to pay a 30% tax instead of the 14% special treatment effective now.

Sri Lanka is also seeking to reduce nearly $17 billion of its $41.5 billion foreign debt through restructuring.

Sri Lanka announced last year that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans because of a severe foreign currency crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, excessive borrowing by the government and efforts by the central bank to stabilize the Sri Lankan rupee with scarce foreign reserves.

Sri Lanka sought the support of the IMF, which approved a bailout package in March, through which $3 billion will be disbursed in stages.

Sri Lankas economic crisis, the worst in its history, caused severe shortages of food, medicine, fuel, cooking gas and electricity last year. That led to massive street protests that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign.

Meanwhile the World Bank announced yesterday that its directors have approved $700 million in financing for Sri Lankas projects on economic stability and support for the poor and vulnerable.

Out of the approved fund, $500 million will support reforms that help improve economic governance and enhance growth and competitiveness. It will provide budget support in two equal tranches against agreed prior actions, the bank said in a statement. The other $200 million seeks to support Sri Lanka in providing better-targeted income and livelihood opportunities to the poor and vulnerable and improving the social protection system.

KRISHAN FRANCIS, COLOMBO, MDT/AP
When they lived in L.A., Madison native Grace Wang and her Yorkie, Beni, got invited to all kinds of over-the-top celebrations for dog-obsessed people, as Wang describes them: pup-themed bark mitzvahs, yappy hours and other flashy galas designed for pooches and their humans.

Wang had received tiny Beni, a 1-pound puppy at the start, as a gift from a friend, and the photogenic dog would soon become her constant companion, as well as the inspiration for her shop Petphoria. With both a permanent location in Middleton and a pop-up presence at Hilldale shopping center, the boutique shop  covered in logos featuring a dog uncannily resembling Beni himself  offers luxury pet gifts, such as custom dog bowls and pet treats in gift containers designed to even look good sitting on a kitchen counter.

The Petphoria owner loves being at Hilldale  where some customers and their dogs stop by daily  and hopes the pop-up might become a permanent resident there. The store even features a pup-size couch in pink for a canine photo or selfie.

This is our demographic, said Wang, a Memorial High School graduate who employs small and local businesses as her vendors. Everything here is made with love.

A few doors down from Petphoria, the front shop window at Morgans Shoes bears a sticker proclaiming it as a dog-friendly business. A dog bowl filled with water sparkles in the sunlight near the doorway.

Although only their humans wear shoes, companion dogs are frequent visitors to the shoe store, said staff member Megan Natzke. She doesnt mind the extra visitors  even as a cat owner herself. Theyre usually very well-behaved, she said.

Dog-friendly city

While statistics on dog-friendly local businesses are not readily available  neither Dane Buy Local, the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, nor the Dane County Humane Society keeps track  dogs appear to be an increasingly welcome presence at Madison retail shops.

Pet supply stores have long held their doors open to well-behaved leashed canines, and chain stores such as Farm and Fleet are notably pet-friendly. Its not unusual to see a dog in a shopping cart browsing at TJ Maxx.

Many local bars and breweries enthusiastically welcome four-legged foot traffic. At Cork n Bottle, a neighborhood liquor store at 855 E. Johnson St., a former owner used to dole out treats to all the customers dogs. So now they all know they can get treats here, said general manager Dylan Kox. Dogs love this place.

Up and down State Street in Downtown Madison, conscientious business owners often set out bowls of water for dogs on a summertime stroll. Hilldale shopping center hosts a dog-friendly farmers market and so many pet-friendly businesses  33 of them  that theres a web page devoted to the specifics at hilldale.com/about/pet-friendly.

A quick Google search for dog friendly businesses in Madison yields plenty of results. On its website, Forbes Advisor ranked Madison as No. 8 on its list of Best Cities for Dogs 2023 (San Francisco was No. 1).

Slow it down

But not everybody is crazy about this trend. So businesses compromise.

At Delta Beer Lab, dogs were officially welcomed into the taproom in late 2019  but on Sundays only. In 2020, the brewery built an outdoor patio at its location at 167 E. Badger Road, where well-behaved dogs are always welcome.

Do you allow dogs in the taproom? is a question we get a lot, and we know there is a crossover of (people) that like to go to breweries and bring their pups with them, said Michelle Riehn, a Delta Lab co-owner who is widely known as Speedy.

We also had a few regulars that mentioned for one reason or another that they appreciate we dont allow dogs in our taproom. We wanted to find a way to keep both sides happy, so we created Sundays are for the dogs. If you want to bring your pup inside, you can do so on this day. If you dont like or are allergic to dogs, you can come all the other days.

More than half the employees at Delta Beer Lab own dogs, so Weve had a few dog meetups in the taproom on Sundays after play dates at the dog parks, and its a lot of fun to see 15 corgis around the taproom, Speedy said. That being said, its also a lot of hair to clean up. And we are diligent to get that taken care of before opening again on Monday to not affect another guests experience.

The business doesnt allow dog toys, and always has Natures Miracle on hand to clean up any accidents. Take note also that big dogs take up a lot of floor space, she said.

Like family

Wang moved to Los Angeles for college to study marketing and project management in fashion. She returned to her home state to open her first Petphoria location, at 1834 Aurora St. in Middleton, where she sews and hand-prints much of the apparel.

Ive always loved dogs, but it was not until I got my own dog that I really started realizing the benefits, and how they benefit your life, said Wang. Having Beni has gotten her through some difficult mental health issues like anxiety, ADHD and loneliness in L.A., she said.

Petphoria now frequently also holds pop-up sales at venues such as the Madison Night Market and The Bodega at Breese Stevens Field. Across Madison, in summer youll see dogs everywhere, especially when the (restaurant) patios are open, Wang said. Even out here on the plaza, there are so many dogs enjoying the day with their owners.

Dogs are becoming peoples everything, she said. Benis like everything to me. Hes like family. I dont want kids, I just want dogs, and thats kind of a new normal now. If this wasnt a dog-friendly city, I dont think Id be here.
Real estate business owner, speaker and now author Sara Alvarado says her recent book, Dreaming in Spanish: An Unexpected Love Story in Puerto Vallarta, takes readers through all the messy stuff of life, including getting sober and trying to heal from earlier traumas by creating a new life.

Alvarado will discuss her book, published in March, during an event at Kismet Books in Verona in early July.

Q: You have many careers. Can you talk to me about your background and the work that you do?

A: Currently Im working on a writing, speaking and teaching career full time. My husband runs the real estate company Alvarado Real Estate Group. Im on the board for Own It Building Block Wealth, which I helped start in 2021. I do a number of community activity work, too.

Q: Why did you decide to write a book?

A: I have wanted to write a book since post-college. I started writing this book in 2013 and then I shelved it and I started writing a business book and then I came back to this book in October 2020.

Q: Have you published a book before?

A: Not a book, but I have written A Guide for Change Agents and the Racial Justice Toolkit for Real Estate Professionals, in addition to articles and essays, but nothing to this extent.

Q: What has the response been?

A: It has been wonderful. I have shared a lot on Facebook for many years. I dont think anyone has been surprised about the extent of vulnerability that my book has shown. It hasnt been as bad as I was preparing myself for in terms of having people know so much about me. Most of the feedback is from other women thanking me for sharing stories they can relate to. And I get a lot of comments of how brave I am. It has redefined the word brave for me.

Q: How is the book laid out?

A: There are four parts, the first part is the back and forth. I start at the point where Im leaving the Madison area and flying to Mexico in hope of healing and trying to find a new life. I need to give some context so the first 100 pages incorporate flashbacks. Once Im in Mexico, after getting married, then its straight forward from there. The second half of the book is what its like being a white woman in Mexico, having a baby in a foreign country, and navigating social complexities  a lot of racial awareness  integrating and trying to find out how to belong.

Q: So you lived in Mexico for a long time. How long have you been back in Madison?

A: We came here in 2002, which is where the book ends. The book includes stories that lead us to moving back and what kind of decisions those were and how we made those as a couple and a family. We go back to Mexico every year, a couple of times a year. It was always important for our kids to have a strong relationship with our family in Puerto Vallarta.

Q: Your writing is so detailed from a time that might be painful to remember. Did you use journals to aid you while writing?

A: I have so many journals that helped create the book. It was incredibly helpful. I really encourage people to journal. Writing some of the hard stuff was part of the healing process. I think its really important for people to share their stories. Everyone can relate to navigating trauma. There were definitely certain parts that were harder than others ... but that was what was necessary and part of the process ... I wrote it for me, I wrote it for my family. I didnt want the story to die with me.

Q: Do you still journal?

A: Yes, a lot. I dont share everything on the socials, and there is a lot that isnt in the book. My journals are where I get to write through joy, pain and ordinary life. I have a number of writer friends who are all about journaling old school  with a notebook and pen  but I prefer journaling in a word doc.

Q: Public speaking has been a big part of your life before writing the book. How do you expect to incorporate the book into your presentations?

A: I have done plenty of speaking and teaching and training around racial justice, whiteness and real estate  thats what Ive been working on the past 10 years. Theres a number of things I can speak about. Usually the common denominator in the topics I talk about is challenging conversations  the hard stuff  where there is shame, where there is guilt ... using those stories to relate and move the needle.

Q: What do you love about public speaking?

A: I have a very loud, strong personality. Some of the conversations tend to be heavy  to bring a different aspect to the conversation, but I dont take myself too seriously. The other thing that has been a natural fit for me is that I dont have a problem sharing my own personal stories where I dont look great. I have said the wrong thing, I have made mistakes, yet Im not a bad person, Im lovable. Being able to have that ... perspective ... sharing some of those stories that a lot of people might be scared to share is actually a huge benefit to people. We cant change what we cant talk about. I think it helps take the fear out of the question how do I take the next step? And it reinforces if she can do it, I can do it. Silence is very dangerous when were talking about racism, sexism and systems of oppression.

Q: What was the most challenging aspect of writing the book?

A: The hardest part with this book was there were so many themes. The feedback was to simplify and cut some of the themes. It can be challenging for readers to get from the first part of the book to the second half, but I couldnt tell the story without including all the different threads.

Q: Do you plan to write another book?

A: I have more books in me, for sure. Id like to write another memoir that focuses on my racial justice journey. I also hope to write a book about my moms Alzheimers journey and the spiritual aspect of it.
Burnie Franke, the founder of Burnies Rock Shop in Madison, died Thursday. It was his 100th birthday.

What an unlikely scenario. It kind of feels surreal, said his son, Nevin Franke, who owns the gem and jewelry shop with his wife, Sonali Franke.

Sonali said her father-in-law was looking forward to two 100th birthday parties and helped her plan them. One was supposed to be at Oakwood East, the retirement community where he lived.

The second party was scheduled for Saturday at the couples home. So, its pretty, pretty rough for us.

Sonali, a jewelry designer and the stores creative director, said they still plan to hold the party to celebrate Burnies life and legacy.

She said Burnie had been doing great, and still had his faculties. He had even gone to the UW-Madison Geology Museum on Tuesday for a birthday celebration with fellow members of the Madison Gem and Mineral Club.

Sonali said Burnie started to fail a little bit on Wednesday, but rallied and on Thursday he got dressed for his party in his favorite orange shirt and characteristic bolo tie.

But later that morning things started to shift. Burnie died in the late morning from congestive heart failure, which he had since age 65, she said.

You can imagine what an incredible life he lived with the discipline he lived it, Sonali said.

In 1962, Burnie set up some lapidary equipment in the basement of the old Brooks Street YMCA, and made some sales. He opened his first shop on Monroe Street in 1968, before moving it to 901 E. Johnson St. in 1976.

The shop has been a fixture of Madisons Near East Side ever since.

Nevin bought the business in 1999, and with Sonali, opened a second store at 636 S. Park St. in 2014, after buying the building where the artisan craft and gift store Chiripa had been.

Sonali said she met Burnie when he was almost 87, and he was still coming to the store into his 90s. He had visited the Park Street store last week, she said.

Being surrounded in the shops by gems and minerals from his fathers collection, Nevin said, will keep his fathers memory alive for him and his employees.

Its just a legacy thing that he started and did such a great job at fostering with so many people who work in the field of gems and minerals or earth sciences, he said.

Burnie was born in 1923 on a farm near Howard, South Dakota, and moved to Madison in 1938.

He was married to Marilee Franke for 44 years. She died in 2015 at age 90.

Burnie was a charter member of the Madison Gem and Mineral Club and a board member of the Friends of the UW-Madison Geology Museum.

Besides collecting and polishing semiprecious stones, he collected Native American artifacts, he told a Wisconsin State Journal reporter in a Know Your Madisonian interview in 2006.

He said he would go to a village in South Dakota where he would collect beautiful arrowheads with a friend who owned the property.

Burnie said he would also find bone fishhooks and other bone tools that were becoming scarce because they deteriorate over many years. He said he also found some large hammers.

About his rock-collecting hobby, in that 2006 interview he said, I guess I thought it would be fun to starting cutting and polishing. I found it so absorbing, I couldnt seem to leave it alone.

Nevin said his father was magnanimous to a fault. Everyone would agree that Burnie was generous and kind, he said.

He would always have an ear for somebody and probably a rock, as well, Nevin said.

See the Wisconsin State Journal photo staff's favorites of 2022
The decision was made Thursday when Madison's poor air quality was more of an issue, said FPC's Lauren Toler.

Workers needed to set up starting at 7 a.m. to build the stage with sufficient time for the show, so they had to make the call Thursday, she said.

"Since the advisory takes place until noon today, we thought it was in the best interest of our staff and crew to move indoors," she said Friday morning.

The Majestic hosts the free live outdoor music series, most recently on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show will begin at 7 p.m. The event will remain free.

The Chicago band is known for its three-part harmonies and extravagant light show.

The polluted air that's moved into the area this week is being caused by Canadian wildfire smoke, but forecasters say the situation will likely improve by the weekend.

The state Department of Natural Resources' air quality advisory was due to lift Thursday. But on Wednesday, monitors in Madison recorded "very unhealthy" air quality index readings. The numbers were still in the "very unhealthy" zone Thursday morning, but by later in the day had been upgraded to "unhealthy," according to the DNR.

An air quality advisory is in effect through noon on Friday for most of Wisconsin.

Live on King, originally known as Live on King Street, and held on King Street, has been taking place since 2011, but was canceled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and canceled again in 2021 because of logistics.

In 2022, the series moved to the 100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a wider street that allows for bigger crowds.

See the Wisconsin State Journal photo staff's favorites of 2022
For more than 30 years, the Urban League of Greater Madison has been a consistent source of support for aspiring and current homeowners.

As its homeownership programs have evolved over the years, the goal has remained the same: to help Madison residents navigate a competitive and inequitable housing market.

You often hear about how Madison is the tale of two cities, and it is, said Ruben Anthony, Urban League president and CEO. It is a bleak market, and when you factor in that African Americans dont have the best relationships with financial institutions, its tough.

From 1992 to 2021, the Urban League ran a single-family rent-to-own program utilizing tax credits that sold 50 homes to families. In 2020, the organization began to shift to its Housing 2.0 program, in which the Urban League purchased and remodeled 16 homes that were sold directly to buyers, allowing them to become homeowners right away.

Now, the Urban League is directing its focus toward education. While the organization has provided courses to participants in its housing programs, it is planning to expand financial and homeownership courses to the public by applying to become a certified HUD Counseling Center. By providing educational services, the goal is to empower local families with the information they need to not just buy a home, but to be able to maintain it long after the sale is final.

Education is huge. When you make that transition from renter to owner, theres so much that people need to learn, said Vickie Wright, program coordinator for homeownership. Its a big step to move into a situation where you cant pick up the phone and call the landlord and say, My toilets dont work.

From teaching about the importance of good credit, building a trustworthy relationship with financial institutions and even remembering to clean your gutters, the Urban League is dedicated to setting up all homeowners, current and aspiring, for success. The experience of homeownership can truly be transformative, Anthony stresses.

A home could be the vehicle for putting your kids in college, starting a business or saving for retirement, Anthony said. It truly is access to the American dream.
Photo: The Canadian Press

French protesters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police in the streets of some French cities early Friday morning as tensions mounted over the deadly police shooting of a 17-year-old that has shocked the nation.

Armored police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre, where a police officer shot the teen who is only being identified by his first name, Nahel. On the other side of Paris, protesters lit a fire at the city hall of the suburb of Clichy-Sous-Bois.

In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police sought to disperse violent groups in the city center, regional authorities said.

Tens of thousands of police officers have been deployed to quell the protests, which have gripped the country three nights in a row. On Thursday, 100 people had been arrested by midnight, according to a national police spokesperson. The number was expected to rise as arrests underway were being tallied.

The police officer accused of pulling the trigger Tuesday was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.

The detained police officers lawyer, speaking on French TV channel BFMTV, said the officer was sorry and devastated. The officer did what he thought was necessary in the moment, attorney Laurent-Franck Lienard told the news outlet.

He doesnt get up in the morning to kill people, Lienard said of the officer, whose name has not been released. He really didnt want to kill. But now he must defend himself, as hes the one whos detained and sleeping in prison.

Tensions started to rise in Nanterre following a peaceful march Thursday afternoon in honor of Nahel, with smoke billowing from cars and garbage bins set ablaze despite government appeals for calm and vows that order would be restored.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the number of officers in the streets would reach 40,000, with 5,000 deployed in the Paris region alone.

The professionals of disorder must go home, Darmanin said. While theres no need yet to declare a state of emergency  a measure taken to quell weeks of rioting in 2005  he added: The states response will be extremely firm.

Tensions had started to rise throughout Thursday.

In the usually tranquil Pyrenees town of Pau in southwestern France, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a new police office, national police said. Vehicles were set on fire in Toulouse and a tramway train was torched in a suburb of Lyon, police said. Paris police said its officers made 40 arrests, some on the margins of the largely peaceful memorial march for the teen and others elsewhere.

Bus and tram services in the Paris area shut down before sunset as a precaution to safeguard transportation workers and passengers.

The town of Clamart, home to 54,000 people in the French capitals southwest suburbs, said it was taking the extraordinary step of imposing an overnight curfew through Monday, citing the risk of new public order disturbances. The mayor of Neuilly-sur-Marne announced a similar curfew in that town in the eastern suburbs.

The unrest extended even to Brussels, the EU administrative home and Belgian capital city, where about a dozen people were detained during scuffles related to the shooting in France. Police spokeswoman Ilse Van de Keere said that several fires were brought under control and that at least one car was burned.

The shooting captured on video shocked France and stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighborhoods.

The teenagers family and their lawyers havent said the police shooting was race-related and they didnt release his surname or details about him.

Still, anti-racism activists renewed their complaints about police behavior.

We have to go beyond saying that things need to calm down, said Dominique Sopo, head of the campaign group SOS Racisme. The issue here is how do we make it so that we have a police force that when they see Blacks and Arabs, dont tend to shout at them, use racist terms against them and in some cases, shoot them in the head.

Prache, the Nanterre prosecutor, said officers tried to stop Nahel because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish license plates in a bus lane. He allegedly ran a red light to avoid being stopped then got stuck in traffic. Both officers involved said they drew their guns to prevent him from fleeing.

The officer who fired a single shot said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car, according to Prache. The officers said they felt threatened as the car drove off.

He said two magistrates are leading the investigation, as is common in France. Preliminary charges mean investigating judges strongly suspect wrongdoing but need to investigate more before sending the case to trial.

On Wednesday night, as violence raged in the streets for a second night, protesters shot fireworks and hurled stones at police in Nanterre, who fired repeated volleys of tear gas.

As demonstrations spread to other towns, police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish blazes. Schools, police stations, town halls and other public buildings were damaged from Toulouse in the south to Lille in the north, with most of the damage in the Paris suburbs, according to a national police spokesperson.

Fire damaged the town hall in the Paris suburb of LIle-Saint-Denis, not far from the countrys national stadium and the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Darmanin said 170 officers had been injured in the unrest but none of the injuries were life-threatening. The number of civilians injured was not immediately released.

The scenes in Frances suburbs echoed 2005, when the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traore and 17-year-old Zyed Benna led to three weeks of riots, exposing anger and resentment in neglected, crime-ridden suburban housing projects. The two boys were electrocuted after hiding from police in a power substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.

French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency security meeting Thursday about the violence.

These acts are totally unjustifiable, Macron said at the beginning of the meeting, which aimed at securing hot spots and planning for the coming days so full peace can return.

Deadly use of firearms is less common in France than in the United States, though several people have died or sustained injuries at the hands of French police in recent years, prompting demands for more accountability. France also saw protests against racial profiling and other injustice in the wake of George Floyds killing by police in Minnesota.

A police spokesperson said 13 people who didnt comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by police last year. This year, three people, including Nahel, have died in similar circumstances.
ELECTIONS PANEL MEAGAN WOLFE

Two weeks before the state Senate took steps to fi re Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu privately expressed doubts about whether the chamber could remove her if she wasn't first reappointed by the commission, according to an email the senator sent to a group of conservatives.

Citing a state Supreme Court case that established that political appointees can remain in their posts past the time their terms expire, LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, told supporters that if Republicans moved to oust Wolfe it could have the opposite effect and lead to the state's top election official staying in her job indefinitely.

But after the elections commission deadlocked on a vote to reappoint Wolfe in a bid by Democrats to block her nomination from reaching the Republican-controlled Senate, LeMahieu and Senate Republicans adopted a resolution Wednesday declaring that the Senate "considers Meagan Wolfe to have been nominated," opening the door for the Senate to ultimately remove her.

In an email sent to a group of local Republican leaders and posted on the Telegram messaging app, LeMahieu referenced the 2022 Supreme Court decision that allowed an appointee of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker to serve on the Department of Natural Resources board long after his term had expired until the Senate confirmed his Democratic successor.

"The precedent from this case means that if WEC doesn't reappoint Wolfe or a replacement, the senate would have no power to get rid of her through the confirmation process," LeMahieu wrote in the June 15 email.

"If I put out a press release tomorrow as the Senate Majority Leader stating that the Senate will vote down Wolfe's reappointment, the dem appointments to WEC might fight her reappointment so that she can remain at WEC indefinitely," the email continues. "So if you would like Wolfe to be voted down, it is probably in your best interest that I remain silent."

LeMahieu walked away from a reporter inquiring about the email without answering questions Thursday. He also didn't return a text message, phone call or email seeking comment. One of the email recipients, Republican Party of Sheboygan County chair Russ Otten, told the State Journal it was authentic. LeMahieu's staff said they couldn't substantiate the email Wednesday morning.

Wolfe has been subject to scrutiny ever since the commission made changes to certain elections procedures in the 2020 general election in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that some conservatives objected to. In a letter to legislators Saturday, Wolfe said allegations regarding the conduct of the 2020 election had been "repeatedly mischaracterized" and noted that the six commissioners, not Wolfe, make election decisions.

Jeff Mandell, an attorney who co-founded the liberal group Law Forward, said Thursday that LeMahieu's email "shows that last night's desperate maneuver is nothing more than a cheat in an effort to evade the rules."

The Wisconsin Elections Commission deadlocked Tuesday on reappointing Wolfe, whose term expires July 1. The election body's three Republican commissioners voted to reappoint her, but all three Democratic commissioners abstained, citing the Wisconsin Supreme Court case allowing appointees to stay in their roles after their terms end.

"I don't think we have the ability under the current law to reappoint because there is no vacancy," Democratic commissioner Mark Thomsen said.

Because of the deadlock, Democratic commissioners said Wolfe wasn't reappointed, meaning the Senate couldn't vote on whether to confirm  and likely fire  her.

But the next day, Senate Republicans introduced and passed a resolution, Senate Resolution 3, stating their assumption that the commission had nominated Wolfe and their intent to vote on her confirmation.

The resolution cites a similar dispute the Senate had with the commission's previous administrator  the commission's only leader before Wolfe. The Senate had wanted to fire Michael Haas for nearly two years, citing his work for the state's previous Election Board. In 2018 the Senate voted to fire Haas, but the commission then voted 4-2 to retain him. Haas resigned from his post a few weeks later.

Democratic commissioners immediately criticized the Senate's actions, saying they were based in legal fiction.

"With no appointment, there's no appointee before the (Senate)," Democratic commissioner Ann Jacobs said. "With no appointee, this is a nonsense attempt to avoid the applicable statutes."

State law requires two-thirds of the six-member commission to nominate an administrator. The commission voted 3-0 on reappointing Wolfe on Tuesday.

'Playing a game'

Some legal experts doubted the viability of future Senate action. "The Senate's attempt to initiate a confirmation hearing for Wolfe does seem to rest on very shaky legal ground," UW-Madison Law School associate professor Robert Yablon said.

"When the commission met earlier this week, only three of members voted to re-appoint Wolfe," Yablon said. "Notably, after this vote, the commission didn't take the position that it had successfully reappointed her. It's odd for the Senate to claim there's been an appointment that the commission itself didn't purport to make."

"Both sides are now playing hardball, and unless they can reach a compromise, this dispute will likely end up in court," Yablon said.

Rick Esenberg, president of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said it isn't certain that the precedent set in the Wisconsin Supreme Court case regarding appointees staying past their term would apply here.

"There's a larger issue here in that this just looks bad," he said. "It looks like everybody is playing a game, and I think the decision to abstain may backfire against (Democratic commissioners) because of what it implies. People should understand they have an institutional role to play."

If the Senate does try to remove Wolfe and is challenged in court, any lawsuit would likely end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which will have a liberal majority come August.
UNION TERRACE | MEMENTO SURRENDERED

For one UW-Madison alum, the return of a chair has absolved 31 years of guilt.

Journalism degree nearly in hand, Gayle Litteral couldn't leave the university without taking a keepsake. So, during graduation weekend in 1992, she set out in the night with friends to steal a sunburst chair from the Union Terrace.

"Just trying to hold on to memories of college days, yes, just totally thinking in the moment," Litteral said on Thursday. "Taking a memento from the Union seemed like a great idea at that time, but when you project that ahead 30 years, not probably the best decision."

After three decades of U-Haul trips, potluck events and garage storage, though, it was a recent family meeting that inspired Litteral, now a mother of three, to turn over her battered yellow memento. "The chair has definitely traveled around with me like a trophy," she said. "I hadn't thought that much about it until a month ago when we were having a family discussion ... it ended up being a question of 'Why would Mama still have a Union chair when she knew stealing was wrong?'"

She cited her Christian faith and her goal of being a role model to her children as the determining factors that led her to the UW-Madison Police station Monday, confessing to her crime as her family waited in the car with the chair.

"I want to be a good example for (her children) and to have a good testimony, and there's no better way of doing that than through your actions," she said.

Police took the chair to the Union on Tuesday, where it now awaits a full evaluation on potential repairs and restoration.

Litteral is in good company among thieves of the coveted sunburst chairs. According to Union spokesperson Shauna Breneman, the Union budgets to replace about 60 chairs each year at $100 per chair.

Thefts don't account for all replacements, though. Chairs are typically replaced due to wear and tear every 10 years. Those with considerable damage are dismantled, the arms and legs are removed, and the sunburst saved for future projects.

"We are so grateful for everyone who keeps our Terrace chairs at Wisconsin Union spaces and those who notify us of green, yellow or orange Terrace chairs that may be stolen," Breneman said.

In 2022, a similar return made headlines, when a tip received by UW-Madison police led to the recovery of a sunburst chair that was stolen in 1978 and was hanging out in a Verona garage.

Red and white sunburst chairs are available for purchase alongside other Union furniture at the Terrace store online  though most models are currently sold out  with proceeds from sales supporting the Union and its many student-led activities and events. The green, yellow and orange chairs can't be obtained legally by members of the public.

Among the Union's chair-retention tactics are surveillance cameras and overnight security staffing. In the past, Breneman says, some members of the fulltime security staff employed during Terrace season have caught people in the act and blocked attempted thefts.

But according to UW-Madison Police spokesperson Marc Lovicott, most thefts are clocked by community members who spot the yellow, orange and green sunbursts in the wild. With 2,000 chairs sitting out on the Terrace at any given time, even the keenest observer can fail to note when one has gone missing.

Lovicott said his department takes a few calls each year regarding stolen sunbursts, but prosecuting the thieves comes down to officer discretion. When thieves are forthcoming and compassionate, as he says is typically the case, the chairs are usually handed over without citation. However, uncooperative bandits can expect $421 fines.

The statute of limitations, which is three years for misdemeanor thefts totaling less than $2,500, also factors in, with a handful of people like Litteral turning over chairs they'd stolen decades ago. Litteral is walking away from the incident economically unscathed. "Hopefully it wasn't keeping her up late at night since 1992," Lovicott said.

While she hasn't lost any sleep over the matter, Litteral said she hopes the attention the chair story has garnered will inspire others who may have some fessing up to do.

"I thought that when I returned (the chair) on Monday, the story would be over, but God has a funny sense of humor," she said. "If I can inspire other people to own up to something that they've done or motivate them to do the hard thing, then it's a bigger win."

Anyone with information regarding stolen Union furniture can contact the Union at union@union.wisc.edu, or UW-Madison Police at 608264-2677 or police@uwpd. wisc.edu.
The Idaho Republican Party held our Summer State Central Committee Meeting this past weekend in Challis and it proved to be an exceptional success.

From the moment our members and guests arrived, they were greeted by beautiful scenery. Our host, Custer County, and venue, Living Waters Ranch, went above and beyond, extending their warmth and hospitality, and creating a sense of camaraderie that greatly enhanced the overall experience. From the food, to the lodging, to the fellowship, the energy on site was high the entire weekend. The positive feedback we received from both members and guests emphasizes the exceptional reception extended by the Challis community.

The weekend kicked off Friday afternoon with our executive committee meeting, and followed with our rules and resolutions committee meetings, chaired by Brent Regan (Rules) and Christy Zito (Regulations). We had many rules and resolutions to get through, but both committees were incredibly effective and able to complete their business in a timely manner.

Saturday morning, we were excited to provide two well-attended breakout sessions; Coffee with Cornel, a Parliamentarian training, and Donuts with Darr, a discussion on strategic minerals. Following breakfast and the break-out sessions, we began the general session, beginning with our state party officer and affiliate organization reports and following with a presentation by Kootenai County to host our next convention. We are pleased to announce that Kootenai County's bid to host the upcoming summer convention has been accepted, and our 2024 state convention will be held in Coeur dAlene.

The next item of business was addressing the presidential nominating plan for 2024. Earlier this year, the presidential primary was removed from Idaho state statute, leaving Idaho Republican voters with zero ability to vote for their preference in the 2024 presidential contest. The members of the State Central Committee overwhelmingly voted to choose their delegates for the Republican National Conventions Presidential Nominating contest through a caucus system. This vote moves Idaho into the early stages of the Republican Presidential nominating fight  allowing Idaho Republicans to vote fifth in the nation and before Super Tuesday.

A presidential caucus in March will compel presidential candidates to focus their attention, and spend some of their resources, here in Idaho. When candidates know that they need to win a states delegates, they spend more time and resources campaigning in that state and learning the issues that affect that state. This means more rallies, more town hall meetings, and more opportunities for voters to engage with the candidates and build momentum in the party. It also means more meals eaten in our restaurants, more nights booked in our hotels and motels, more advertising, print media, radio interviews and TV ads. It also means more time spent listening to our farmers, ranchers, miners, entrepreneurs, and business leaders to showcase Idaho's economy.

Recognizing the importance of voter participation and accessibility, the State Central Committee also passed a resolution urging the :egislature to reinstate the March presidential primary. In the event that the March Presidential primary is not restored, the Idaho Republican caucus will serve as our comprehensive plan to ensure a robust presidential selection process.

At the meeting on Saturday, the state party announced the resignation of Mr. Damond Watkins, our national committeeman who has served in the position for 12 years. During his tenure, Mr. Watkins' commitment to our shared Republican values and principles has made an impact on our organization and the wider Republican community. As we bid farewell to Mr. Watkins, we express our gratitude for his service and contributions over the years to the Idaho Republican Party.

Overall, the state party was able to address all of the rules and resolutions that passed through committee fairly quickly, allowing for the completion of pending business that had been carried over from the January meeting. The thoroughness with which matters were handled reflected the commitment of the Idaho GOP to efficiently govern the party's affairs and address the concerns of its members. The responses the state party received from members further reinforces the resounding success of the meeting. Attendees expressed their satisfaction with the meeting's organization, applauding the efforts put forth by our state party staff and volunteers.

This past weekend serves as a testament to the strong grassroots support for the Idaho GOP's trajectory and the party's dedication to upholding conservative Republican values. The Idaho Republican Party reaffirmed our commitment to the Republican platform and the Idaho and U.S. constitutions and the party's vision for the future.
Idaho Democrats are proud to be a big tent party, welcoming Idahoans from all walks of life, all across the state.

We were even prouder to reach a critical milestone this week when we appointed county chairs to the few remaining open seats. This took diligent effort, but it is important to us that every Idahoan has access to a local Democratic Party, regardless of whether they live in a county with 800 residents or 500,000.

Our expanding reach stands in stark contrast to the actions of the Idaho Republican Party at its summer meeting. They considered a slew of anti-democratic proposals to consolidate power and limit voter participation, but one particular order of business brought their infighting to light. It was a resolution to purge the leaders of the Idaho Young Republicans, Idaho College Republicans, and the Federation of Republican Women from their executive committee.

MAIN STREET IDAHO: A presidential caucus isnt right answer for our state MAIN STREET IDAHO CAUCUS: All Idahoans deserve an opportunity to cast a vote and select their candidate for president in 2024. Our job is to fix this problem.

A former leader of the Idaho Young Republicans made a public plea to stop this resolution, calling out the authoritarian tactics, bullying, and intimidation he sees in his party. Five Republican legislators wrote a letter explaining how this move would repel young Idahoans. The chair of Idahos Federation of Republican Women shared that women are the engine of the party, volunteering nearly 44,000 hours in the past two years.

It didnt matter. In an overwhelming 137-79 vote, the party stripped these groups of their executive committee voting rights.

This new Idaho Republican Party is not interested in expanding and shows the danger of one-party rule. Republican leaders assume they can maintain their majority control while shrinking the party to match their extreme views. One far-right legislator took to social media to tout the purging of the party, celebrating the removal of Republicans who think independently rather than blindly embracing every word of the party platform.

Whats in the party platform they put above all else? Some of the most extreme positions Idaho has ever seen: Criminalizing abortion as murder even when the patient will die without one, moving our currency back to the gold and silver standard (a policy that would tank our economy), and repealing the 17th Amendment which would end the direct election of U.S. senators.

Voters might not usually follow intra-party politics, but they should know about brazen actions with real effects. Such resolutions are designed to intimidate Republican lawmakers and keep them in line, listening to party bosses rather than the voters who elected them. I see this in the increasingly extreme votes GOP legislators feel they have to take to avoid disciplinary action by their party.

Idaho voters who put Republicans in office should be asking who their elected representatives are really representing.
The Board of Investments said Friday it approved Optum Global Solutions (Philippines) Inc.s new project in Davao City that would generate 1,500 jobs for Filipinos.

It said the investment was a result of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.s productive visit to Washington in May this year.

The governments aggressive investment promotion strategy has been steadily attracting global industry players. Optum Global Solutions, a big player in the US, has once again chosen the Philippines to expand their enterprise. This development aligns with our mission to generate high-quality job opportunities for Filipinos through strategic investments. Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo said in a statement.

Optum Philippines will open a new site at The Uprise Building-C in Davao City to provide information technology, call center and back-office operations services, primarily targeting the export market, particularly Optum Technology, a US subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Its IT-enabled services include coding, testing, maintenance, help desk troubleshooting (hardware and software), transaction processing, clinical processes, analytics and others. Its call center operation will handle health plan enrollment, benefits and insurance claim status queries.

Rodolfo underscore the transformative nature of the healthcare information management services sector in the Philippines.

This sectors evolution enables us to expand our capabilities, supporting the entire healthcare journey of patients with complex, digitalized end-to-end customer experience services, he said.

This underscores the Philippines competence in providing the necessary infrastructure and talents to fulfill Optum Global Solutions objectives effectively, he said. Othel V. Campos and

Roderick T. dela Cruz

Optum, a subsidiary of Optum Global Solutions International B.V. based in the Netherlands, operates as a wholly-owned entity.

Its parent company, UHG which is headquartered in the United States, specializes in offering diverse support services to health maintenance organizations, insurers and other managed care entities, many of which are closely affiliated.

Optum Philippines is operating with 15 projects in various economic zones and IT Buildings across the country.

Forbes recognized Optum Global Solutions, as part of UHG, as one of Americas 500 best large employers for 2023. UHG also ranked seventh on the 2023 LinkedIn Top Companies List in the United States.

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The Philippine National Police (PNP) has formed a special probe team to look into Thursdays shooting incident in Quezon City that left eight people, including a photojournalist wounded.

Quezom City Mayor Joy Belmonte denounced the attack on Remate tabloid photojournalist Joshua Abiad in a broad daylight and called for a full investigation into the incident.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) also condemned the attack against a photojournalist and his family in Quezon City.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) joined the chorus of condemnations against the latest attack on members of the press.

In a statement, PNP Public Information Office (PIO) chief Brig. Gen. Redrico Maranan said PNP chief General Benjamin Acorda Jr. has ordered the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) and the Quezon City Police District to expedite the investigation and identify the suspects in the shooting of Abiad, a photojournalist of newspaper Remate.

Six of Abiads relatives and a bystander were also wounded in the incident.

To ensure a thorough and efficient investigation, the Quezon City Police District created SITG (Special Investigation Task Group) which will meticulously gather evidence and testimonies. We are sparing no effort in our quest to gather substantial evidence and testimonies to shed light on this incident, ultimately leading to the immediate arrest of the perpetrators, Maranan said.

He also said the PNP was collaborating with the victims family and colleagues in Remate newspaper to acquire any information to help in the investigation.

We want to assure our media partners that the safety and security of those working in the media industry are of utmost importance to the PNP. In light of this unfortunate event, the PNP Media Vanguards will directly oversee the course of the investigation, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process, Maranan said.

We call upon the public to provide any information that may be crucial to solving this case and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Together, we can create a society where media workers can work without fear and where acts of violence against them are unequivocally condemned, he added.

QCPD chief Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said aside from the photojournalist, also wounded in the attack were members of Abiad family, namely Renato Jr., Cheryl and Elizabeth, three minors aged 4, 6 and 8; and Jeffrey Ngo Cao, a bystander and resident of Barangay Apolonio Samson, Quezon City.

Initial reports showed the Abiad family was heading home on board their vehicle, driven by Renato, when they were ambushed by four gunmen at the corner of Corumi and Gazan streets in Barangay Masambong at around 3 p.m. on Thursday. A motorcycle rider was also seen serving as a lookout.

Torre said the attackers fled towards Del Monte Ave., Quezon City in a silver Toyota Vios car.

Despite his injury, Renato managed to drive to a nearby hospital for medical assistance.

The NCRPO Press Club, meanwhile, condemned the attack against Abiad, saying it was an affront to press freedom.

According to Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) chief, Executive Director Paul Gutierrez, Abiad was a witness of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and of the PNP on drug-related cases.

On behalf of the entire Quezon City local government unit, the Quezon City Police Department, and all peace-loving QCitizens, I would like to express my outrage and condemnation of the shooting incident that happened today in Barangay Masambong, Belmonte said in a statement.

Although we are greatly relieved that the victim, photojournalist Joshua Abiad, has now been declared out of danger, this has not diminished our determination to bring his cowardly attackers to justice, she added.

She said the city is not a place of violence and fear even among members of the media or on anyone else.

The mayor vowed to hold those behind the shooting incident liable.

A full investigation is currently underway, and we are confident that more details will soon lead to rightful arrests, she noted.

The NCRPO strongly condemns the recent act of violence targeting one of our media partners and his family in Masambong, Quezon City. This heinous act is an attack not only on the individuals involved but also on the freedom of the press and the values we hold dear as a society, said NCRPO chief Maj. Gen. Edgar Alan Okubo.

Okubo said the NCRPO will spare no effort in conducting a thorough investigation to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

We stand in solidarity with the media community and vow to protect their rights and ensure their safety, he said.

The NCRPO chief urged the public to remain vigilant and report any information that may help in the investigation.

Let us unite against these senseless acts and strive towards a safer and more secure Metro Manila for all. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured victims as they recover from this traumatic incident. Together, we will overcome this challenge and continue to uphold the values of justice and democracy, he said.

While the motive for the attack is still unclear, we are hopeful that the recent convictions of accessories in the murder of Percy Lapid and the surrender of an alleged gunman in the Cris Bundoquin shooting mean quicker government action on attacks against the media, the NU

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Court bars firm from cutting supply to customers sans 48-hour notice

The Supreme Court has declared that the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) cannot disconnect a consumers electric service without a 48-hour notice.

In a decision made available Friday, the SC ruled as violative of due process requirements if Meralco disconnects the consumers electric service on the day the notice of disconnection is issued.

The high court said should the power retailer disconnect an electric service on the day the notice of disconnection is issued, Meralco is presumed to be in bad faith for its failure to follow the due notice requirement under Republic Act No. 7832.

RA 7832 is the Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994.

In a statement, the SCs Public Information Office said the high tribunal denied the petition of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) assailing a Court of Appeals (CA) decision which affirmed that the electric firm violated RA 7832  for cutting off the electricity supply of a consumer without prior notice.

In reply, Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said: We have not officially received a copy of the SC decision. In any case, we will respect and abide by the said decision.

We note that the incident in question happened in 1999. It has been Meralcos policy to serve 48-hour prior notice before disconnecting any service to comply with the due process requirements, he added.

In her complaint for damages against Meralco, respondent Lucy Lu alleged that on Dec. 9, 1999, representatives from Meralco forcibly entered the premises of the New Supersonic Industrial Corporation (NSIC) in Valenzuela City, which her family owned.

After the inspection, the Meralco representatives issued a Notice of Disconnection and immediately disconnected the electricity supply of NSICs factory and Yus residence.

This prompted respondent Yu to file a complaint for damages before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Valenzuela City, Branch 172. The RTC ruled in Yus favor. Meralco elevated the case to the CA, which affirmed the RTC ruling with modification.

Meralco then appealed before the High Court.

In denying Meralcos petition for review on certiorari, the Court ruled that before Meralco can disconnect the electric service of a consumer on grounds cited under Section 4(a) of RA 7832, there must be prior written notice to the consumer to disconnect.

The Court emphasized the prior written notice must be given at least 48 hours prior to the disconnection, pursuant to due process requirements.

Thus, the act of Meralco in cutting off the respondents electricity on the same day the disconnection notice was given to the consumer was violative of due process requirements, the SC said.

The Court further held that Meralco is presumed to be in bad faith for its failure to follow the due notice requirement under RA 7832 during the disconnection of Yus electric service.

Hence, the SC denied Meralcos Petition for Review on Certiorari, and affirmed the Decision dated Nov. 26, 2020 of the CA in CA-G.R. CV No. 111808, as follows:

the award of temperate damages is reduced to P50,000; the award of moral damages is deleted for lack of basis; and the award of exemplary damages is reduced to P100,000.

The Court ordered that the rest of the CA ruling stands, the SC statement said.

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Senator Imee Marcos wants the Senate to investigate the mysterious activity of a US Air Force Boeing C-17 in Philippine territory and airspace, stressing it raises questions of sovereignty and air travel safety.

Marcos said the Senate hearing inquiry would discuss the US militarys possible violation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said the Philippine government should know the planes mission, the identities of its flight crew and lone passenger, the type of its cargo, and the reason for a 10-hour layover in Manila.

What we know so far is that the plane came from Guam, was on its way to Puerto Princesa, and proceeded to Honolulu, she said.

Marcos has filed Senate Resolution 667 calling for an investigation of the incident.

In response to the senators questions, the US Embassy in Manila on Thursday clarified that it has been coordinating with the Philippine government to grant permission for the entry of any US government aircraft into the country.

The embassy coordinates with the Philippine government to receive diplomatic clearance for all U.S. government aircraft that enter the Philippines. We refer you to Philippine authorities for further information, acting US Embassy spokesperson Stephen Dove said in a statement.

Citing a confidential source, Marcos said no prior advisory on the planes arrival reached the Airport Integrated Command and Control Center at NAIA.

A provision in Section 8 of the VFA states that aircraft operated by or for the United States Armed Forces shall observe local air traffic control regulations while in the Philippines.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said the US Embassy had informed the Department of Foreign Affairs and gained diplomatic clearance number DSN-0659-KB-JUN-US-2023 for a US military plane supporting joint Philippine-US activities under Kapit Bisig.

But Marcos emphasized it is crucial for the state to carefully scrutinize the activities of foreign militaries in the country, particularly those which appear questionable or are shrouded in secrecy.

The upcoming Senate inquiry will be the second that Marcos has called for in two weeks to discuss the lack of transparency in US military activities in the Philippines.

A previous hearing made public a US government plan to have the Philippines temporarily host up to 50,000 Afghans while they are processed for special immigrant visas to the United States.

Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said the halfway house that will be built by the United States could be used to house Afghan refugees.

It would be the US that would finance their construction,  said Zubiri. He said they also have a halfway house in Germany and Qatar.

He also emphasized the Afghans are not seeking asylum in the Philippines.

They will stay temporarily in the Philippines while they await their US visa, he said.

The Senate leader recalled the Philippines had opened its gates to the Jews during World War II and to Vietnamese refugees during the Vietnam War.

He dismissed speculations by Senator Marcos that they could be posing as operatives working for the US government.

I dont think so. They told me that they are just going to be here for 60 to 90 days and in an enclosed place, he said.

They cannot leave. Theres an assurance they will not be permitted to leave. Their stay would be guarded well, Zubiri added.

He also dismissed claims that Afghan refugees may attract Taliban sympathizers to attack the country.

I dont think so. They have a problem surviving in their country, he said.

The Senate leader said accommodating the Afghan refugees is the right thing to do for humanitarian reasons.

Zubiri, who has returned from a three-week official trip to Washington DC said he was approached about the issue by the US State Department.

He added that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  brother of Senator Marcos  would make the final decision on whether to grant the request.

The chief architect of foreign policy is the President, he said.

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The Department of Agriculture (DA) extends its full support to Livestock Philippines 2023 which will be held from July 5-7, 2023, at the World Trade Center Metro Manila in Pasay City. Relative to this, the DA and Informa Marketsthe organizers behind the Livestock Show series in ASEAN and Taiwaninvite the media for a press conference on June 26, 2023, at Novotel Manila Araneta City.

Updates on the livestock and poultry industries will be the highlight of this event, led by the Assistant Secretary for Operations Engineer Arnel de Mesa and Dr. Ruth Miclat-Sonaco, Director of the National Livestock Program. Joining the panel is Ms. Rungphech Rose Chitanuwat, Regional Portfolio Director  ASEAN of Informa Markets as she shares the shows newest endeavors this year. The department heads of the Bureau of Animal Industry, National Meat Inspection, Philippine Carabao Center, National Dairy Authority of the Philippines, and the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries are also present to show their support for the forthcoming Livestock Philippines.

In recognition of the valuable contribution of the local aquaculture sector to the countrys economy, Livestock Philippines 2023 will also hold the Aquaculture Philippines. Industry professionals and experts will lead various seminars, industry updates, and other important discussions on aquaculture on July 6, 2023.

Now on its sixth edition, Livestock Philippinespreviously a bi-annual showhas become the main venue for state-of-the-art technologies, knowledge exchange, and innovative solutions for the livestock, aquaculture, and poultry industries. As the show coincides with the countrys celebration of nutrition month in July, Ms. Chitanuwat will emphasize the importance of food safety and security with the initiatives of the DA and its affiliated participating agencies. To further underscore the health and well-being of consumers, the Batangas Egg Producers Cooperative (BEPCO) will have its Eggcellent Corner and Egg Forum wherein they invited the National Nutritional Council, SUN Business Network, and other poultry practitioners.

An agricultural cooperative registered under the Cooperative Development Authority, BEPCO is composed of egg farmers operating small to commercial-scale layer farms and is the leading group towards innovative egg products such as liquid eggs, pasteurized eggs, and many others. During the event, BEPCO will discuss the future of the industry through the Philippine Egg Roadmap as well as showcase new and healthy preparations of egg-based products.

Livestock Philippines will also recognize individuals for their exemplary work in their respective livestock, aquaculture, and poultry industries through Livestock Philippines Recognition 2023. This special accolade aims to uplift the farming community by paying tribute to their unwavering efforts to help improve the local agriculture industry.

A special business arrangement will also be conducted during the Match & Meet where suppliers and buyers will directly meet and discuss trade opportunities. This segment will give the opportunity local and international stakeholders to specifically discuss the needed market information such as pricing, quotation, and many others, paving the way for building lifelong business partnerships.

Livestock Philippines is the International Trade Fair for Innovative Production and Processing for Poultry and Livestock that brings together local and foreign exhibitors, as well as trade visitors including industry professionals, key stakeholders, owners, and integrators, farmers, feed millers, pre-mixers, meat processors, slaughterhouses, veterinarians, distributors, retailers, and others.

As the countrys highly regarded international trade fair for feed, livestock, and aquaculture since 2011, the show is expected to gather guests from thirty different nations aside from the scores of local visitors coming across the Philippines.

Visit www.livestockphilippines.com for more information about the event.

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Photo: The Canadian Press

French President Emmanuel Macron urged parents Friday to keep teenagers at home and proposed restrictions on social media to quell rioting spreading across France over the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old driver that has resulted so far in the arrests of 875 people.

While Macron held off on the option of declaring a state of emergency, his interior minister ordered a complete shutdown of all public bus and tram services across the country to take effect before sunset Friday. The Paris region had already announced such a shutdown to protect transportation workers and passengers.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin's instructions came after a second government crisis meeting, during which Macron maintained that social media platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok played a considerable role in fueling copycat acts of violence during this week's unrest.

Macron said his government would work with technology companies to establish procedures for the removal of the most sensitive content. He did not specify the content he had in mind but said, I expect a spirit of responsibility from these platforms.

French authorities also plan to request, when useful, the identities "of those who use these social networks to call for disorder or exacerbate the violence, the president said.

Macron said a third of the individuals arrested Thursday night were young people, sometimes very young," and that it's the parents' responsibility to keep their children at home.

We sometimes have the feeling that some of them are living in the streets the video games that have intoxicated them, he said of rioters.

The French leader's remarks followed a third night of unrest across France since a police officer shot and killed the teenager Tuesday in the northwestern Paris suburb of Nanterre. Rioters erected barricades, lit fires and shot fireworks at police, who responded with tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades. Police said at least 200 police officers have been injured.

Macrons government has deployed 40,000 officers to restore order and make arrests over behavior he described as unacceptable and unjustifiable. He stopped short of announcing a state of emergency, a tactic used by a previous French government in 2005 to quell rioting after the accidental deaths of two boys while they fled police.

The rioting comes just over a year before Paris and other French cities rattled by violence are due to host 10,500 Olympians and millions of visitors for the summer Olympic Games. The Paris 2024 organizing committee said it was closely monitoring the situation and that preparations for the Olympics continued.

Armored police vehicles rammed through the charred remains of cars that had been flipped and set ablaze in Nanterre. A relative of the 17-year-old, who only has been identified by his first name, Nahel, said the boy's family is of Algerian descent.

His burial is scheduled for Saturday, according to Nanterre Mayor Patrick Jarry, who said the country needs to push for changes in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Theres a feeling of injustice in many residents minds, whether its about school achievement, getting a job, access to culture, housing and other life issues," Jarry said. "I believe we are in that moment when we need to face the urgency (of the situation)."

Nanterre prosecutor Pascal Prache said officers tried to pull Nahel over because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish license plates in a bus lane. He allegedly ran a red light to avoid being stopped and then got stuck in traffic.

The police officer accused of pulling the trigger handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude that the officers use of his weapon wasnt legally justified. Preliminary charges mean investigating magistrates strongly suspect wrongdoing but need to investigate more before sending a case to trial.

The officer said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car as Nahel attempted to flee, according to the prosecutor.

France's national police agency said nearly half of the 875 people who have been detained were from the Paris region. Dozens of towns and cities across France also had rioting. The unrest extended as far as Belgiums capital, Brussels, where about a dozen people were detained and several fires were brought under control.

In several Paris neighborhoods, groups of people hurled firecrackers at security forces. The police station in the city's 12th district was attacked, while some shops were looted along Rivoli street, near the Louvre museum, and at the Forum des Halles, the largest shopping mall in central Paris.

In the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, police sought to disperse violent groups in the city center, regional authorities said.

Darmanin, France's interior minister, on Friday denounced what he called a night of rare violence. His office described the large number of arrests as part of an overall government effort to be extremely firm with rioters.

Along with ordering buses and trams to stop running early, the minister also ordered bans on the sale and carrying of powerful fireworks, and banned sales of canisters of gasoline, acids, and other chemicals and flammable liquids.

The shooting, captured on video, shocked France and stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighborhoods.

The detained police officers lawyer, speaking on French TV channel BFMTV, said the officer was sorry and devastated. The officer did what he thought was necessary in the moment, attorney Laurent-Franck Lienard told the news outlet.

He doesnt get up in the morning to kill people, Lienard said of the officer, whose name has not been released under French practice in criminal cases. He really didnt want to kill.

Nahels mother, identified as Mounia M., told France 5 television that she was angry at the officer who killed her only child but not at the police in general. He saw a little, Arab-looking kid, he wanted to take his life, she said, adding that justice should be very firm.

A police officer cannot take his gun and fire at our children, take our childrens lives, she said.

Nahels grandmother, who was not identified by name, told Algerian television Ennahar TV that her family has roots in Algeria. Algerias Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the family's grief was widely shared in the North African country.

In the wake of Nahel's killing, French anti-racism activists renewed complaints about police behavior in general.

Race was a taboo topic for decades in France, which is officially committed to a doctrine of colorblind universalism. But some increasingly vocal groups argue that this consensus conceals widespread discrimination and racism.

Deadly use of firearms is less common in France than in the United States, although 13 people who didn't comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by French police last year. This year, another three people, including Nahel, died under similar circumstances. The deaths have prompted demands for more accountability in France, which also saw protests against racial injustice after George Floyds killing by police in Minnesota.

In Geneva, the U.N. human rights office said it was concerned by the teen's killing and the subsequent violence and urged that allegations of disproportionate use of force by authorities in quelling the unrest be swiftly investigated.

This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement, spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

Shamdasani said the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern in December about the frequent use of identity checks, discriminatory stops, the application of criminal fixed fines imposed by the police or law enforcement agencies, that they said disproportionately targets members of certain minority groups.

This week's protests echoed the three weeks of rioting in 2005 that followed the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traore and 17-year-old Zyed Benna, who were electrocuted while hiding from police in a power substation in Clichy-sous-Bois.
AFRICA and ASEAN signed a landmark partnership agreement to promote digital economies, identifying fintech, decentralized assets and fundraising as focus for convergence.

The historic signing was done at the seminal inclusive Fintech Forum in Kigali, Rwanda witnessed by regulators, association heads and leading fintech and technology businesses across the two regions.

The partnership brings together ASEAN (via the GIFT- Global Impact Fintech ASEAN, the One ASEAN Fintech Movement  OAFM and Digital Pilipinas) and Pan Africa via the Africa Fintech Network. This also sets the stage for the first ever Africa x ASEAN Digital Economies and Fintech month both happening on the week of October 2 to 6, 2023 in Manila, Philippines and Nairobi, Kenya.

Witnessing the partnership signing for the Africa Fintech Network (AFN) were Dr Patrick Saidu Conteh, CEO, Dr Segun Aina President, Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer at NIBSS / Nigeria and the various officers of the AFN, the 35 country strong network of digital economies in Africa.

Shown here are (from left) Dr. Patrick Saidu Conteh, CEO of Africa Fintech Network; Amor Maclang, Convenor of Digital Pilipinas and Philippine Fintech Festival, Co-Founder of One ASEAN Fintech Movement, ASEAN Chair of Global Impact Fintech, Executive Director of Fintech Philippines Association; Professor David Lee, Chairman of the Board at Global FinTech Institute; and Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer at NIBSS / Nigeria

For its ASEAN counterpart, witnessing the partnership agreement signing were Singapores Monetary Authority of Singapores Sopnendu Mohanty and Global Fintech Institute Dr David Lee, Mr Ouk Sarat, Head of Payment Service Department, National Bank of Cambodia, Remi Pell, Chair of Cambodia Fintech Association and Amor Maclang of Digital Pilipinas, Philippine Fintech Association and GIFT/ OAFM.

This landmark agreement marks the beginning of a collaboration between the two regions in advocacy, fundraising, payments, lending, decentralized assets, start-up development, regulatory exchange and education.

Both Africa and ASEAN are expected to grow exponentially in the digital economies space with global projections for ASEAN growing by 6 per cent annually, reaching as high as US$1 trillion by 2030. Africa, on the other hand, is projected to top US$712 billion by 2050.

Africa and ASEAN are uniquely placed to leapfrog digital economic development. The recent signing of a cooperation agreement with our various ASEAN partners as the One ASEAN Fintech Movement/ GIFT / Digital Pilipinas & Africa Fintech Network is a demonstration of the strong emerging partnership among the major digital finance stakeholders in the spirit of sharing innovative technologies, knowledge, and best practices to support the sustainable development of our countries,  says Dr Conteh.

Professor David Lee, Co-Founder & Chairman of Global Fintech Institute has this to say : By rolling out the Chartered Fintech Professional (CFtP) professional qualification program in collaboration with our partners, Digital Pilipinas & Africa Fintech Network, GFI is committed to leverage on this partnership to empower and nurture future generations of fintech talents in ASEAN & Africa with a global mindset, a rigorous knowledge framework for continually keeping up with industry development & trends, and strong ethical standards. This is just a humble beginning and leveraging on the inputs from our partners, we will roll out even more programmes such as CFtP Lite and other digital literacy programmes to empower policymakers, practitioners and entrepreneurs!

Africa and ASEAN have almost the same parallel journey in our digital economy and our commitment to take this side by side with our African Fintech Leaders ensures that engaging and investing in the combined population of 2 billion as a fintech market will be a primary agenda of many companies, countries and organizations, says Maclang.

The Africa x ASEAN digital economies partnership also enjoins other interested groups and organizations to be part of the collaboration by reaching out to Dr Patrick Conteh of the Africa Fintech Network or Amor Maclang of the One ASEAN Fintech Movement / Digital Pilipinas.

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BOSTON  Fireman Bonnie Boyd, a native of Old Fort, is one of nearly 80 sailors celebrating Americas 246 years of independence while serving aboard the USS Constitution.

Boyd, a 2013 Britain Academy graduate, joined the Navy one year ago. Today, Boyd serves as a hull maintenance technician.

Joining the Navy has been a lifelong dream, said Boyd. It appealed to me because of the ships and the ocean and because its a stepping stone.

Skills and values similar to those found in Old Fort are important to succeed in the military.

Back home, I learned public service and trade skills, which I implement in my Navy career as a hull maintenance technician, said Boyd.

The USS Constitution is the U.S. Navys oldest commissioned warship, and the crew is hand-picked to promote naval history and maritime heritage while raising awareness of the importance of a sustained naval presence.

The ship earned the nickname Old Ironsides during the War of 1812 after British cannonballs were seen bouncing off the ships wooden hull. The USS Constitution was undefeated in battle and captured or destroyed 33 enemy vessels.

With 90% of global commerce traveling by sea and access to the internet relying on the security of undersea fiber optic cables, Navy officials continue to emphasize that the prosperity of the United States is directly linked to trained sailors and a strong Navy.

Our mission remains timeless  to provide our fellow citizens with nothing less than the very best Navy: fully combat ready at all times, focused on warfighting excellence, and committed to superior leadership at every single level, said Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations. This is our calling. And I cannot imagine a calling more worthy.

As a member of the Navy, Boyd 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.

Its our job to not only protect the U.S. land, but also the seas, said Boyd. We maintain maritime security.

As Boyd and other sailors continue to train and perform missions, they take pride in serving their country in the United States Navy.

Being in the Navy allows me to be a role model to the younger generations, especially family, said Boyd. I have 23 nieces and nephews that look up to me because of what Im doing in the Navy.

Boyd is grateful to others for helping make a Navy career possible.

I am so thankful for my mother, my siblings and my soon-to-be wife, added Boyd. None of them ever stopped pushing me to join, even when I was unsure of joining.
A husband and wife from Marion who took millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims across several western North Carolina counties and left them with unfinished homes will have to pay restitution and go through many months of probation.

During the October 2021 session of the grand jury, Del Jon Bristol Jr., then 53, of Pepperwood Drive, Marion, was indicted on 11 counts each of embezzlement greater than $100,000, conversion and obtaining property by false pretenses and one count of embezzlement under $100,000. His wife, Serena Stamm Bristol, then 46, of Pepperwood Drive, Marion, was indicted on 13 counts each of embezzlement over $100,000 and conversion. Conversion means they were entrusted with any property as bailee, lessee, tenant or lodger, or with any power of attorney for the sale or transfer thereof, who fraudulently converts the same, or the proceeds thereof, to his own use, or secretes it with a fraudulent intent to convert it to his own use, shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor, according to a previous story by The McDowell News.

As reported by the McDowell County Sheriffs Office in January 2019, Del and Serena Bristol were charged by Detective Van Williams of the McDowell County Sheriffs Office with one count of embezzlement and five counts of exploiting the elderly and were taken into custody under $700,000 bonds. The couple owned World Outdoor Log Homes, which they operated out of their residence on Pepperwood Drive, according to reports.

During the investigation in 2019, reports poured in from people in McDowell, Rutherford, Buncombe, Polk, Madison and Henderson counties who had contracted with the Bristols to build their homes. The couple took hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time from most of the victims  either from them personally or from their construction loans  for down payments, purchasing of materials and paying subcontractors, but the money was not used for that and was still unaccounted for. As of 2019, there were at least 20 victims across the six counties who were scammed for well over $2 million, according to a previous story by The McDowell News.

During the initial investigation, the Bristols abruptly left town and they were tracked to a condominium on Lake Norman on Jan. 10, 2021, and apprehended there.

On May 22 of this year, Del Bristol and Serena Bristol each entered guilty pleas in McDowell County Superior Court to 13 counts of felony embezzlement and 13 counts of felony obtaining property by false pretense. The 13 counts of felony obtaining property by false pretense were consolidated into the 13 felony embezzlement charges.

On Monday, June 26, sentencing was continued in McDowell County Superior Court. Judge Tommy Davis presided and District Attorney Ted Bell was the prosecutor. Greg Newman was the attorney for Del Bristol and Michael Edwards was the attorney for Serena Bristol. The couple had to pay $216,000 in restitution to the victims and pay the remainder on a schedule with probation.

If the Bristols did not have the $216,000 in hand on Monday, then all sentencing would have been entirely at the discretion of the court. That means they could have ended up serving several months of prison time, according to District Attorney Legal Assistant April Dyson.

On Monday, the Bristols showed up in Superior Court with $216,000 in restitution to be prorated and split between the 13 victims. The total restitution they owed before the payment of $216,000 is $1,247,772.73, which leaves a balance owed of $1,031,773.73. The defendants each received a maximum of 39 months for the 13 charges of embezzlement each with a total of 1,014 months maximum sentence each, according to Dyson.

Their crimes lasted from August 2017 through late December 2018. Their victims were: Ken and Dana Peterson, David Dick and Nancy Baenan, Martin and Kathy Zillmann, Todd and Jintana Rothman, Sherri Cappabianca, Toby Gass, Thomas and Donna Dorwarth, Mike and Colleen Dugan, Roger and Rose Crickenberger, Michael and Gwen Meguiar, Jason and Erica Liberty, Wolfgang and Deborah Naegel, Kelly Sullivan and Sharon Aden.

Several of these victims were in court on Monday for the sentencing. Before the sentence became final, some of them testified on the witness stand about how they were taken advantage of by Del and Serena Bristol. They also had submitted victim impact statements.

Each of these statements from the victims gives their account of how they put their trust in the Bristols to build their forever homes only to find themselves with unfinished construction and financial and legal nightmares.

Its hard to let go and move on since justice has not been served, wrote Dana Peterson. Meeting new people in the neighborhood ultimately brings up in conversation (the) question of who built our home. Our experience comes up repeatedly. I have been hoping that the builders would be brought to justice. They need to be held accountable for taking advantage of us and so many others who put their trust in them. They need to spend time incarcerated, thinking about the choices they made, and they need to pay restitution for their crimes.

Donna Dorwarth wrote about how she and her husband Thomas hired World Outdoors Log Homes in 2017 to build their log cabin dream home. During Thanksgiving weekend of 2018, the Dorwarths had a serious water leak with water pouring out of electrical outlets and light fixtures. They texted Del Bristol with videos of the leaks but never heard back from him.

For four months, the Dorwarths fought with the bank because the bank refused to close on the loan stating Del Bristol had not returned calls, did not provide a lien release or finalize the construction build, according to her statement.

For months on end we received creditors and subcontractors harassing phone calls, letters and visits to the house demanding we pay the money owed or they would place a lien on our home, wrote Dorwarth. This then turned into liens and being taken to small claims court. Del and Serena made the conscious decision to take other peoples money, while not paying the vendors for products and work performed, knowing this would seriously impact our lives.

On the witness stand Monday, Deborah Naegal told how she and her husband Wolfgang in December 2018 found out from Donna Dorwarth that Del Bristol had dissolved World Outdoors, leaving them and many others with unfinished homes. Like the others, the Naegals had entrusted the Bristols to have their new house built. They immediately tried to contact the Bristols but were not successful. During the winter of 2018 and 2019, their unfinished house had no roof, was leaking and had water-damaged logs. They struggled to get a roof installed and spent their savings to cover attorney fees and unpaid contractors.

In looking back now, we still wonder why this even had to happen, Deborah Naegal said Monday. During November to early December 2018, an honest phone call to us would have been the start to working through problems and issues. Even now, it seems like a very long nightmare that hasnt stopped over the past four years. Even when we shared this story, most of our friends or acquaintances go away shaking their heads in disbelief.

I am not only saddened by what happened to me and Wolfgang but I am also very sad for the other victims  some of you are here today  you have lost your money, time, trust and your American dreams. Some of you have even lost your children and grandchildrens heritages. I dont trust easily anymore but I do remain hopeful that we each have learned some lesson. My faith is still very strong and I believe that God does comfort us and get us through these storms.

Toby Gass of Hendersonville was another victim of the Bristols.

I live on Social Security and a small pension, wrote Gass. When I trusted Del (World Outdoors Homes) to build my house, I never dreamed that this man would steal from me. Ive never worked with anyone that has caused me pause and now that has changed. He fooled everyone, even the individual that recommended him. He stole $57,000 from me, a senior citizen who has limited income and savings. I think he and Serena should be made to pay restitution and also spend time in prison thinking more about what hes done to me and so many others.

The couple plans to move to Ohio, where they are originally from, and their probation will be transferred there. If they violate probation, they can go to prison, according to Dyson.
China and Tunisia have agreed to scale up cooperation in the area of Information and Communications Technology, Webdo Tunis reports.

The related MoU was signed by Tunisias Minister of Communication Technologies, Nizar Ben Neji, currently on a visit to the city of Tianjin and his Chinese counterpart in Zhuanglong.

The deal aims at consolidating cooperation and the exchange of expertise between the two countries in the field of communication and information technologies, with a view to strengthening social and economic development. The MoU also covers legislative and legal issues, digital infrastructure, research and innovation, skills development, digital technologies, cyber security, digital economy and the exchange of expertise.

The Tunisian official held a series of meetings and visited a number of public and private companies operating in the field of telecommunications and digital services in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
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Research by University of Sydney psychologists examining post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Australian mothers shows that about a third of women experience a traumatic birth. Of these women, one in eight had symptoms of post traumatic stress.

However, the vast majority of women who display symptoms of birth-related PTSD remain undiagnosed in health care settings.

The research, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, is led by Alysha-leigh Fameli, a registered psychologist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Sydney's School of Psychology in the Faculty of Science. She is also a member of the Brain and Mind Center.

"In Australia, routine antenatal health care and screening around mental health is quite narrow. It really only looks at antenatal and postnatal depression, with some mentions of anxiety," Fameli said.

"We really don't acknowledge other forms of postpartum psychopathology or mental health struggles.

"No one is screening for birth-related PTSD; it's strangely overlooked."

The research indicates women who experience traumatic births may report difficulties bonding with their infants, strained relationships with their partners and reluctance to have more children.

Fameli gleaned a snapshot of PTSD among Australian mothers using a new tool known as the City Birth Trauma Scale. The tool involves asking mothers 29 questions that allow clinicians and researchers to measure PTSD in women who experience trauma in childbirth.

Her message to clinicians is clear: adopting the tool is an easy way to identify PTSD that would likely otherwise go unnoticed and untreated.

"We could begin to address the PTSD issue in Australia by implementing the City Birth Trauma Scale in healthcare settings," Fameli said.

"It offers a really easy-to-interpret and administer solution to assess and measure childbirth-related PTSD symptoms, both antenatally and in the postpartum periods."

Fameli said using the City Birth Trauma Scale in clinical settings would ensure healthcare providers are referring women to appropriate services where they can receive suitable support, benefiting mothers, children and partners.

"We know the first 2,000 days of an infant's life are the most crucial for brain development, and a mother's well-being is a huge predictor of that," Fameli said.

"If we invest more into mums and babies and perinatal mental health, we are going to be investing in future generations.

"About 4% of all mothers in Australia may meet the criteria for PTSD caused by their birth experience."

Fameli is currently recruiting participants for a second trial on birth-related PTSD. She is looking for mothers with babies younger than six months of age who can take part in a clinical interview and an observation of mum-baby interactions. Visit the study website for more information.

More information: Alysha-leigh Fameli et al, Assessment of childbirth-related post traumatic stress disorder in Australian mothers: Psychometric properties of the City Birth Trauma Scale, Journal of Affective Disorders (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.123 Journal information: Journal of Affective Disorders
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The pandemic decimated the livelihoods of urban informal workers in many Asian cities. Credit: Kazi Nazrul Fattah

As COVID-19 took hold across borders in 2020 and 2021, more than 1.6 billion informal workers were estimated by the United Nations to have been impacted by mobility restrictions and other lockdown measures to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The International Labor Organization defines the informal economy as a diverse set of economic activities, enterprises, jobs and workers that are in law or in practice not covered, or insufficiently covered, by formal arrangements.

Informal workers can include professions like minibus drivers in Africa, market stands in Latin America and the hawkers found at traffic lights around the world. In advanced economies, examples can range from, "gig and construction workers, through domestic workers, to registered firms that engage in informal activities".

Urban informal workers play a significant but unappreciated role in cities and they continue to be largely excluded from official statistics. They could not enjoy worker rights and protectionsand this has become starker during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the Global South, the pandemic severely affected the sprawling megacities in Southeast and South Asia where there is a very high concentration of informal workers.

In fact, over 50% of the labor force in the urban Global South relies on the informal economy.

Our research examines the responses to the pandemic impact on informal workers in five Asian megacities: Dhaka (Bangladesh), Hyderabad (India), Karachi (Pakistan), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Manila (Philippines).

We gathered voices and experiences from across these subregions and diverse worldviews on Southern urbanism, which included issues surrounding state measures to manage the COVID-19 crisis, unpacking gaps and lessons learned in addressing the needs of informal workers.

These voices also shed light on grassroots solidarity practices that have cushioned the devastating effects of the crisis. Findings have been published in Regional Studies Policy Impact Books.

Livelihoods on the line

Over the last two years, much research has chronicled how the still-ongoing COVID-19 crisis has exposed urban inequities, compounded by pre-pandemic institutional arrangements and social relations.

Amid the inadequate state support to cushion the health and welfare impacts, the crisis decimated the livelihoods of urban informal workers in many Asian cities.

Insights in all five cities reveal that informal workers endured the following issues during the height of the pandemic: a high exposure to the virus, loss of livelihoods, mobility restriction, inadequate state support and exclusion from state aid.

While mobility restriction was a critical concern, many informal workers hardly remained locked down as they had to provide services to those who could work from home.

Arguably, these laborers are part of marginalized populations who had been taken for granted even when times were good.

Issues surrounding informality involve gendered relations and other layers of power asymmetry; the notion of intersectionality attends to multiple causes of vulnerabilityrace, gender, ethnicity, class and agewhich further entrench the overlapping layers of inequality and marginalization.

Informal workers like street vendors relied on various coping mechanisms to mitigate the impacts of a declining trade. Credit: Redento Recio

Common themes

Several common threads emerge from the cities.

Notably, populist momentums underpinned by brute force interventions to secure the virus, for instance in the Philippines, resulted in widespread human rights violations and bolstered the involvement of the police and military.

Across these countries centralized forms of command and control or special agencies were established to coordinate policy responses and to create a database that tracked the spread of the virus.

These interventions accelerated the uptake of digital transformation in urban health and more generally in urban management, but with underpinning inequalities in dealing with issues of protracted hunger and healthcare crisis for the poor and marginalized populations.

Another common thread across these countries was the layering of lockdown measures that ranged from curfews (Hyderabad), national lockdowns, stringent enhanced community quarantine (Manila) and large-scale social restrictions (Jakarta) to smaller scale interventions such as micro-smart lockdowns (Karachi), area-wise (Dhaka), to micro-enforcement of community activity (Jakarta) at a later phase to contain the spread of the virus in specified "hotspots" or red zones of the city.

These interventions not only proved to be disastrous for informal workers, but also led to panic and anxiety, especially among migrant workers (Hyderabad) who could not return to their homes due to restrictions on their movement and the closing of state borders.

However, informal workers like street vendors also relied on various coping mechanisms (Jakarta) to mitigate the impacts of a declining turnover of trade; for instance some switched to selling online to attract a wider range of customers and others adjusted the types of goods sold with items that were much needed during the pandemic.

Entrenched inequality

Beyond the fundamental health crisis, the COVID-19 crisis has revealed and deepened existing inequalities for urban informal workers, exposing inadequacies in employment, shelter and social welfare services.

In Hyderabad, for instance, the lack of comprehensive social security measures resulted in the phenomenon of massive "reverse migration," which occurred when thousands of migrant workers lost their livelihoods in urban areas and were forced to return to their rural villages.

The distribution of aid in the cities we examined was marred by irregularities that were partly caused by inaccurate estimates of the volumes of informal and migrant workers.

Many of these daily wage earners, like street vendors or rickshaw pullers, work in plain sight yet they are often statistically invisible and are "off the map."

Collective action

While the crisis has profoundly affected informal workers around the globe and severely disrupted economies, there have also been hopeful narratives about how communities coped with the crisis through grassroots collective action, inter-class solidarity networks and infrastructures of care.

Informal communities already possess a high level of local organization when responding to the pandemic.

We recommend the deployment of a grounded, informal workers' needs-based approach in pandemic response and recovery strategy.

This can strengthen the urban informal workers' capacity to bounce back from the global crisis.

This entails a holistic appraisal of the needs of informal workers, their immediate families and socio-economic networks, which can then inform a coordinated effort in providing better support for their lives and livelihoods.

More information: Redento B. Recio et al, 1. Navigating the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic in Asia: state measures, grassroots responses and implications for recovery, Regional Studies Policy Impact Books (2023). DOI: 10.1080/2578711X.2023.2196210
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eTRANSAFE, the European project to share data on the safety of medicines, has come to fruition. On a single platform, the project has integrated data from more than 10,000 pharmacological studies by reference pharmaceutical companies, from a dozen databases that amass public and private information of clinical and preclinical studies. The project has also developed "Flame," an open-source machine learning application that allows predicting whether future drugs will have adverse effects.

The eTRANSAFE project has involved 13 pharmaceutical companies and a dozen academic institutions, including the GRIB; the research program in Medical Bioinformatics of the UPF Department of Medicine and Life Sciences (MELIS), the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the spinoff MedBioinformatics Solutions, which emerged from the same program.

"Sharing data is the order of the day. In the academic world, open data is relatively common but in the business world it is more complicated," explains Ferran Sanz, UPF professor and coordinator of the Integrative Biomedical Informatics Research Group at the GRIB. "However, since drug safety is not the main area of competence in the pharmaceutical industry, the possibility of sharing data is more viable, and hence eTRANSAFE was born. From the opportunity to share data and the need to be able to make better predictions of the toxicity of future drugs," adds Sanz, who acted as academic coordinator of the project.

The results of the eTRANSAFE project, published in the journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, have gathered information from more than 10,000 toxicology studies carried out by 13 benchmark pharmaceutical companies, such as Bayer, Roche and Boehringer. The data collected, along with other data taken from public databases, has been entered into the ToxHub platform; a unique system created so that all the project members can explore and exploit information on drug safety.

The consortium has collected standardized data from preclinical studies, conducted in animals, and clinical and pharmacovigilance studies, in humans, which have been extracted electronically to minimize human error. However, in order to compare all the results, the consortium has had to develop a computer service for the "translation" of standardized preclinical and clinical concepts they have published in open access.

"When we see scratching behavior in animal studies, we should associate it with what in clinics we call itching. Hence we needed to have a tool to equate these concepts and to be able to compare the results of studies done in animals with humans," Sanz explains.

The joint analysis of preclinical and clinical studies has found that not always are the animals closest to humans the most suitable for predicting the effects of a drug in our species. For example, rats have been found to be better than primates for predicting skin reactions that can be caused by kinase inhibitors, a drug widely used in cancer treatment.

Within the framework of this project, the GRIB has developed Flame, an application to simply build, maintain and share models that predict the biological properties of new compounds. "With this application, in a matter of minutes we can share a model developed at the university with a pharmaceutical company," explains Manuel Pastor, a UPF professor and head of the Pharmacoinformatics Group at the GRIB, who led the development of Flame.

The application, which can be installed on both a laptop and in large cloud servers "presents in a simple and visually attractive way very sophisticated software, so that any researcher can use it".

In the six years that the project has lasted, a prototype has also been made to study virtual control animals, and with the collaboration of partners such as MedBioInformatics Solutions, bioinformatics tools have been developed to identify mechanical biomarkers, which provide information on the mechanism whereby a drug causes adverse effects, and text mining tools to identify the biomarkers used in clinical trials.

All these tools and the databases developed by eTRANSAFE will be permanently stored at UPF, which is the project's last "honest broker".

"The project has achieved many of the goals set at the beginning and has made it possible to establish direct contact with pharmaceutical companies and develop products based on their real needs," concludes Laura Furlong, co-founder and scientific director of the GRIB spinoff, MedBioinformatics Solutions.

More information: Ferran Sanz et al, eTRANSAFE: data science to empower translational safety assessment, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (2023). DOI: 10.1038/d41573-023-00099-5 Journal information: Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
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Local authorities should not wait for extreme weather conditions to take action to address homelessness, warn authors of new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

London's homeless population are at a greater risk of being hospitalized as temperatures induced by climate change rise, suggests a new study.

In an almost decade-long analysis of the city's homeless population, which represents at least 30% of the homelessness population in the UK, individuals were around 35% more likely to be admitted to hospital when daily temperatures were 25C compared to 6C.

Cold temperatures did not impact hospitalization rates, although more extreme wintry weather such as snowfall and rainfall were not studied.

According to the research team, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), these findings highlight the particular vulnerabilities of this population to climate-induced warming, even at moderate temperatures.

They suggest that authorities should focus on preventative measures, while considering also reframing the minimum thresholds used to activate emergency interventions, such as the Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP), which in the summer may only be implemented once temperatures reach 25C.

Like the rest of the world, the UK is experiencing more unusual weather patterns as a result of climate change. Although people who lack adequate shelter are particularly vulnerable to severe weather events, there has been little research examining the specific impacts of climate-induced warming on the health of these individuals.

In this study, researchers analyzed how many people were admitted as emergency inpatients to hospitals in London every day between 2011 and 2019 and who were also recorded as homeless, either because they had stated that they had no fixed home when filling out their address or had been identified as homeless by a doctor. They then correlated this with Met Office data on daily maximum and minimum temperatures after adjusting for underlying seasonal patterns in the hospital data.

Almost 150,000 emergency inpatient admissions were recorded between 2011 and 2019 having no fixed home and over 20,000 for those whom a doctor had identified as being homeless. The authors emphasize that while an increasing trend in the number of homeless hospitalizations during the study period mirror increases seen in the general population, the city also saw a rise in rough sleepers during this time.

Importantly, higher temperatures influenced an individual's risk of being admitted to hospital, with an approximately 35% increased chance of this happening at 25C compared to 6C, the minimum temperature at which individuals were admitted to hospital in this study. Between 14.5 and 18.9% of admissions could be attributed to temperatures above the minimum temperature depending on the definition of homelessness used. These risks are greater, the authors emphasize, than figures reported for the general population previously.

In their analyses, the team did not include days where five or fewer people were admitted to hospital to preserve patient anonymity. They did however highlight that this was only 1.8% of the days studied. Using two definitions of homelessness also helped reduced under-reporting introduced by doctors only recording someone as homeless if it was clinically relevant as a cause for their admission.

As there was no increased risk of hospitalization observed with low temperatures, likely the authors say as a result of organizations and individuals being better prepared for winter weather, they suggest prioritizing efforts to address homelessness during hot weather instead of cold.

According to the team, local authorities should not wait for extreme weather conditions to take action to protect people who are experiencing homelessness.

Shakoor Hajat, lead author and Professor of Global Environmental Health at LSHTM, said, "Our work highlights the particular climate vulnerabilities in people experiencing homelessness. More research is needed on the ways in which climate change is contributing to homelessness globally. It is important that homeless populations and those with housing precarity are not overlooked in public health protection measures. The new UK guidance to support homeless groups during hot weather issued by the UKHSA as part of its new Adverse Weather and Health Plan is very timely."
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Laws are needed to protect Australians from life insurance discrimination based on genetic tests that identify increased risk of certain medical conditions, a report has found.

Led by Monash University experts, in collaboration with the Universities of Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, Tasmania, Deakin University and other clinical and consumer partners, the report also found an insurance industry moratorium aimed at preventing this discrimination was inadequate.

The A-GLIMMER (Australian Genetics & Life Insurance Moratorium: Monitoring the Effectiveness and Response) Final Stakeholder Report found that genetic discrimination in life insurance occurs in Australia, and deters individuals from having genetic testing and participating in research.

More than 90% of health professionals (93), 88% of patients with experience of genetic testing, 78% of the general public, and 86% of researchers believed legislation was required to regulate the use of genetic test results in life insurance underwriting.

The report follows a 2018 Federal Government Joint Parliamentary Committee Inquiry report that recommended a ban on genetic discrimination in life insurance underwriting.

In 2019, the life insurance industry's peak body, the Financial Services Council (FSC), introduced a partial moratorium requiring applicants to disclose genetic test results only for policies above certain financial limits. The FSC Moratorium is industry self-regulated, with no government oversight.

Through the Medical Research Future Fund's (MRFF) Genomics Health Futures Mission, the A-GLIMMER coalition of independent experts investigated the moratorium's adequacy from 20202023.

Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Public Health Genomics Ethical, Legal & Social Adviser Dr. Jane Tiller, who gave evidence at the Parliamentary Inquiry and led the research project, said the findings were unequivocal.

"Our research shows, overwhelmingly, that Australian stakeholders believe current protections against genetic discrimination are inadequate, and that legislation is required," she said. "We are calling on the government to legislate to protect consumers from genetic discrimination and remove the barrier to genetic testing and genomic medicine."

A-GLIMMER conducted research with consumers, health professionals, researchers and the financial industry. It found that genetics had great potential to improve medicine and public health, through enabling diagnosis, prevention and early treatment of disease. However, Australia's life insurance industry was legally permitted to use genetic test results in underwriting, which can lead to discrimination.

"Insurance fears can also act as a barrier, by deterring people from having potentially life-saving genetic testing that could match them to tailored interventions and treatments, as well as from participation in genetic research," the report found.

Among other things, the A-GLIMMER report found:

Key stakeholders (health professionals, consumers and researchers) are concerned about the life insurance industry's self-regulation and absence of Australian Government oversight of the FSC Moratorium, and express a low level of confidence in its effectiveness

There are instances of non-compliance, including where insurance companies have asked insurance applicants about genetic testing, contrary to FSC Moratorium terms

There is a lack of effective mechanisms to enforce the moratorium or seek redress

Stakeholders are concerned about the uncertainty inherent in the moratorium's industry-led nature, and the potential for to life insurers to use genetic test results in the future

Many genomic researchers reported that the potential use of genomic test results by insurers was a barrier to the recruitment of research participants

The report recommended that the Australian Government:

Amend the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) to prohibit insurers from using genetic or genomic test results to discriminate between applicants for risk-rated insurance, and consider amendments to the regulation of financial services to ensure insurers are subject to a positive duty to not discriminate.

Allocate responsibility and appropriate resources to the Australian Human Rights Commission to enforce, promote, educate and support individuals and all relevant stakeholders to understand and meet the Act's new legal obligations.

Hayley Jones, Director of the McCabe Center for Law and Cancer, welcomed the recommendations. "The report highlights that Australia is lagging behind other countries in dealing with genetic discrimination. The findings of the report clearly show that self-regulation in insurance is not working, and legislative action is urgently needed" she said.

"The recommendations in this report would help Australians access genetic testing, and participate in important genetic research that can lead to new cancer treatments, without fear of discrimination."

Tiffany Boughtwood, Managing Director of Australian Genomics, said the changes recommended in the report were well overdue. "The issue of genetic discrimination has stifled clinical and research genomic uptake for years. The report makes a clear case for urgent intervention by the Australian Government, to protect consumers and the future of genomic medicine and research, as we're on the brink of realizing population-scale genomic testing in Australia."
Photo: The Canadian Press Chinese Canadian Museum CEO Dr. Melissa Karmen Lee, left, and board chair Grace Wong pose for a photograph ahead of the opening of the museum, in Vancouver, on Monday, June 26, 2023. The new museum is located in the historic Wing Sang Building, Vancouver Chinatown's oldest building, and opens to the public on July 1. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

When the Chinese Exclusion Act came into effect in 1923, it didn't just effectively halt Chinese immigration to Canada  it extinguished the family lines of thousands of labourers already here.

Many were condemned to bachelorhood or cut off from loved ones in China, said Catherine Clement, curator of the inaugural exhibition for the Chinese Canadian Museum that opens on Saturday in Vancouver's Chinatown, on the 100th anniversary of the controversial law's enactment.

"They just withered here," Clement said. "They had no descendants left to tell their stories. Nobody even remember they existed  They broke while they were here."

Some ended up in mental health institutions, including Coquitlam's Essondale Hospital, said Clement, calling them "the face of exclusion."

Now their stories are being told at the exhibition, "The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act."

Executives at the Chinese Canadian Museum said they chose its opening date as a poignant reminder of a part of Canada's history that has often been overlooked.

"I think many people felt that through their history lessons or through schooling, people never understood the full history," said Grace Wong, the museum's board chair.

"We take that as our mandate, that public education is so primary to what we should do. And part of that is to help tell that full history."

The museum opens its permanent location in Chinatown's historic Wing Sang Building after more than six years of planning, starting with then-premier John Horgan mandating the province's Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to establish the institution.

The society behind the museum was launched in 2020 after community consultations, and the physical location was found in 2022 after the province provided $27.5 million in funding.

Museum CEO Melissa Karmen Lee described the institution as a startup, saying that the facility's ultimate success will depend on how many visitors it can draw.

Lee hopes the museum can contribute to the revitalization of Chinatown and draw more foot traffic to the community.

"We hope to have partners and shops and cultural institutions also supporting us in moving and coming to Chinatown," she said. "We hope all that becomes a part of what it is to visit the Chinese Canadian Museum."

Clement said the subject of the exclusion act, also known as the 1923 Canadian Immigration Act, first caught her interest when she was spoke to Chinese Canadian war veterans for another exhibit.

"I would say, where were you born?" Clement said. "They would say Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary. And yet, they would pull out an immigration card, and almost all of them were dated 1924.

"Many years later, I realized they were evidence of the exclusion act," she said. "These are the guys who served in the war for Canada, and they were Canadian-born, and yet they have an immigration card. They were the only community in Canada where children were given an immigration card, who were Canadian born."

Clement compiled the documents in the Paper Trail exhibit, mainly through private collections and official records from institutions such as psychiatric hospitals.

Lee said the museum is also featuring a second exhibit for its opening, focused on Chinese migration to Canada from as early as 1788.

The key, she said, is to present a diversity of voices within Chinese Canadian history.

"We have Chinese people immigrating to Canada not only from China, but also from Vietnam, from Cambodia, from South Africa, from Mauritius," Lee said. "So, we want to tell all of these stories when we talk about our exhibitions at the Chinese Canadian Museum."

Ultimately, Wong said the museum belongs to all Canadians regardless of ethnic or cultural background. She hopes people from all parts of the community will take advantage of the new facility to learn more about the challenges people faced in striving for a multicultural Canada.

"It is for all of us, because the Chinese Canadian history is fundamentally part of the full B.C. history," she said. "It's fundamentally part of the full Canadian history, and it's a very key moment for all of us."
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The image series shows cross-sectional electron micrographs of individual nerve fibers in MS brain biopsies. Axons sheathed with myelin (black rings) can be seen, showing increasingly severe damage from 1 to 8. Credit: Leipzig University

Multiple sclerosis (MS) affects millions of people worldwide, and there is currently no cure for this disease of the central nervous system. Damage to the nerve fibers, also called axons, is responsible for the severity of MS in patients and for the course of the disease. And myelin, which is the protective layer around axons, plays a key role in this process.

Researchers at Leipzig University and Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Gottingen have discovered that myelin, which was previously thought to be solely protective, can actually threaten the survival of the axons. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

MS is a serious neurological disease that usually causes permanent disability. Approximately 2.9 million people are affected worldwide, 240,000 in Germany alone. The exact cause of the disease is not yet clear, but a central feature is a loss of the insulating protective layer of axonsthe neuronal connections in the central nervous systemwhich is triggered by autoimmune processes.

The coating of the axons, known as myelin, is formed by highly specialized glial cells (i.e. oligodendrocytes) and enables the rapid transmission of electrical nerve impulses. To date, it has been assumed that in MS oligodendrocytes and myelin are degraded by immune cells and that the then vulnerable axons suffer irreversible damage as a result of further local inflammatory processes. The loss of axons plays a decisive role in the severity of MS in patients and in the course of the disease.

Recent research conducted by a team of scientists from Leipzig University and Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Gottingen suggests that the understanding of the disease now needs to change.

In the current study, the research groups were able to show that myelin, which was previously viewed as a solely protective structure, can actually threaten the survival of the axons. This is the case, for example, when myelin sheaths have been attacked by immune cells, but continue to surround the axons and thus isolate them from the environment.

Oligodendrocytes are not only responsible for the formation of myelin. They also perform important functions that support the energy metabolism of the axons. Myelinated axons, in particular, are highly dependent on metabolic support because they have little access to nutrients on their own. Support of myelinated axons through a myelin sheath requires that the architecture of myelin be intact, including the tight communication channels between the oligodendrocytes and axons.

"When oligodendrocytes are exposed to an acute inflammatory environment, they may lose their ability to support the axons, and myelin becomes a threat to the survival of the axons," says Professor Klaus-Armin Nave from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Gottingen, Germany, describing the team's research hypothesis that was formulated at the outset.

To test their hypothesis, the researchers examined tissue samples from patients with MS, as well as various mouse models of this disease in order to experimentally simulate the autoimmune attack on myelin. For the first time, the researchers were able to demonstrate by electron microscopy in the tissue samples of the patients that irreversible damage almost always occurs in the axons that are still coated with myelin.

Conversely, using genetically modified mouse models, the researchers were able to show that "naked" axons in an acute inflammatory region of the central nervous system are better protected from degeneration.

"By challenging the prevailing image of myelin as a solely protective structure, we can gain a deeper understanding of the disease and potentially develop new treatment strategies that will maintain the functionality of the axons," explains Professor Ruth Stassart from the Paul Flechsig InstituteCenter for Neuropathology and Brain Research, Institute of Neuropathology at Leipzig University Hospital.

"Instead of preserving the damaged myelin, it might actually be therapeutically better to promote rapid degradation of damaged myelin and support the regeneration of functional myelin," adds Dr. Robert Fledrich, a researcher in the Institute of Anatomy at Leipzig University.

More information: Erik Schaffner et al, Myelin insulation as a risk factor for axonal degeneration in autoimmune demyelinating disease, Nature Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01366-9 Journal information: Nature Neuroscience
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The summer heat is here and with it questions about how we should handle high temperatures and what we should do to feel well in the heat.

Cardiologist Petter Ljungman, associate professor at the Institute for Environmental Medicine and expert coordinator at the Center for Health Crises, answers questions about health and heat.

What happens in the body when it gets very hot?

The first thing that happens is that we start to sweat, and that is how you get an effect of evaporation on the skin that cools the body. At the same time blood vessels on the skin expands, which makes it possible for heat from the body to be transported away via the blood. But to do this the heart has to work harder. It must pump harder and more forcefully to maintain the blood pressure. All this is done to maintain a stable 37C body temperature, otherwise the body's cell structures and processes are damaged.

If this continues and it keeps getting hotter and hotter, then we cannot manage to maintain the cool in the body in this way, and that is when we observe other consequences. Small damages, on a microscopic level, arise on the organs in the body, such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain. Intricate cell nutritional balances are disrupted and instead of protecting the body and maintaining normal processes a harmful chain of events begin, which initially have mild consequences but that can get serious. This is when we become a bit slow in our bodies, and our minds. It is often a mild lethargy, but you can get really confused and even get craps. In extreme cases this can end up with cardiovascular failure, meaning you die from heat stroke.

At what temperature do we begin to see heat having an effect on our health?

It varies greatly depending on multiple factors. High humidity makes it harder to lower the body temperature through evaporation. Building construction and town planning have an impact on both indoor and outdoor environments, through things like access to shade, breeze, absorption of heat in walls, and shading from direct sunlight.

Human behavior and culture are also important factors. If you are used to conditions where it gets hot regularly you adapt, and adapt your activities, both those that are planned and unplanned and have more knowledge and skills on how to reduce risks for you. Different people are also at different risk: the elderly, children and pregnant women have a harder time regulating their temperature, as well as people with chronic illnesses and accompanying medication. But other factors also play a part, homeless people can also have a harder time in heat, for example.

How should you act, to prevent risks and to handle heat and high temperatures?

Follow the Public Health Agency's advice. It is all about cooling down and creating a cool environment around you. You can, for example, take a cold shower or bath, or wrap a cold towel around you, if you are able. You should drink water and do so frequently. This is because we cannot store water in the body. We simply pee out the excess. We also need to replenish salts through what we eat and drink. You might need to add a little bit more salt to your food if you are sweating a lot, since that means you lose some salt.

Is there anything you should avoid doing when it is very hot?

Avoid direct sunlight. Reduce physical activities and listen to your body. Avoid tea, coffee, and alcohol because that is diuretic, and alcohol also affects the function of the blood vessels.

Many people in Sweden are on holiday the weeks when it is likely to be the hottest, but far from everyone is. What should you think about if you have to work, inside or outside, when it is very hot?

Schedule outdoor work for early morning or late afternoon/evening, when it is cooler, if possible, Bring a lot of fluids with you when you go outside and rehydrate regularly. Hat and light clothes that protects from sunlight are also good. Remember that it is good if there is a breeze, use air conditioning if it is available. Block out sunlight from the windows with curtains, blinds, and other things.

What should an employer/organization do to create the best possible work environment for their staff?

If possible, invest in air conditioning and fans. Investigate ways to block sunlight against windows and outer walls. Encourage your staff to rehydrate. A popsicle every once in a while also helps keep up the good spirit!

I work in healthcare, is there anything I should think about or that we as an industry should think about when it is very hot?

Follow the Public Health Agency's advice to staff in healthcare and other care professions. Keep in mind that several patient groups are extra vulnerable to heat, and that the lastingness of medicines can be affected. Be observant of your patients' condition and encourage them to follow the advice given to cool down and rehydrate. Remember that heat can also affect your decision-making and irritability, so it is important as a caregiver that you also look after yourself!

How does our behavior in Sweden differ from behavior in countries where there are more used to heat and high temperatures?

We do not have the same level of experience of heat, and consequently not the same behavior nor do we have the same infrastructure in place. In Sweden we like to seek out the heat, whereas in warmer countries you tend to avoid the heat and stay indoors, or in shade and cool the hottest hours of the day. In Sweden our homes and towns are also constructed differently compared to warmer countries. There it is more common to have shutters on the windows, for example, that can be closed to keep sunlight and heat out during the day, and then opened in the evening to let cooler air in.

Even if we do not always have that particular option in Sweden, we can do our best with blinds and fans to keep our indoor environment as cool as possible. If it is really hot and maybe you have a basement that is cooler, you might use the option of sleeping or hanging out there, or if you have access to other houses with better cooling properties, like maybe a summer house, then you could consider relocating there if possible.

Some people think it is harder to sleep when it is hot, especially if it is also hot during the night. Why is that? Is there scientific evidence that we do not sleep as well when it is hot or is it more of a subjective experience? Is there any advice for sleeping better when it is hot?

When we sleep our body temperature is somewhat lowered, but that is a relatively complex reflex activity. Research in this field is not complete, but there are reports suggesting that the quality of sleep is affected negatively in a hot indoor environment. One advice that suggest taking a hot bath or soak your hands and feet in hot water before going to bed and that should potentially make you fall asleep quicker because it actively forces the body to reduce your body temperature. But you will likely have to experiment a bit yourself and see what works for you when it comes to relaxing and falling asleep.

What warning signs from the body should you be mindful of when it is very hot and how should you act if you begin to feel unwell?

There are three kinds of directly heat related conditions described:

Heat stroke is the most serious heat related health condition. It is life threatening and you should call 112 if you suspect it and move the person to a cooler environment and try to lower the body temperature with the help of cool clothes, a cold bath or water. Heat stroke occurs when the body temperature is over 40 degrees and the person often has flushed, red and dry skin, and a rapid and forceful pulse. He or she might also be confused or sluggish, dizzy, irritable, have a headache, vomit, be nauseous or become unconscious and have seizures.

Heat exhaustion: Prior to developing heat stroke you might get heat exhaustion. This is when you sweat a lot and have cold, clammy skin and a rapid but weak pulse. Less pronounced symptoms are dizziness, especially when standing up, sluggishness, headache, and muscle cramps. In these cases, you should seek a cooler place, rehydrate, loosen tight clothing, dab the body (preferably forehead, groin, and wrist) with cold wet clothes or other fabric. If the condition gets worse or does not improve in an hour you should contact emergency health care.

Heat cramps: Presents with copious sweating and muscle cramp when doing physical activity. Stop the physical activity, move to a cool environment, drink fluids, maybe containing salt and electrolytes. Do not resume the activity until the cramps have gone away.

Which groups of people are most vulnerable when it becomes extremely hot?

The elderly and weak, in particular. But also people with preexisting heart, lung and kidney diseases. Pregnant women and children are also vulnerable.

Children are affected because they are smaller, basically. Their bodies are smaller, the ratio between surface and body mass means that it is harder to cool the body.

The elderly have poorer temperature regulation with less sensitive reflexes. For people with chronicle illness, then it might be that the illness itself causes an increased vulnerability, or it could be an effect of the medication they need for the illness.

Pregnant women's metabolism and circulation change, which makes them vulnerable. They also have two people that are generating heat inside one body!

If I belong to one of the vulnerable groups, or have loved one that does, what should I do and what should I think about to care for myself or my loved one in the best way?

Follow the advice from the Public Health Agency. Stay in touch with loved ones and help each other to create good environments and conditions. It means a lot to be a bit more vigilant and to get the occasional reminder, to help keep focus, feel motivated and support each other for good health.

Your research concerns extreme weather, including heat. What does your research look at and have you got any examples of new research in the field?

Research in the field has become more active, because we clearly see how climate change is driving and creating more heat periods that occur more frequently, and earlier in spring and summer. The questions we are now asking is how should we evaluate warning systems and make them the most effective, as well as the action plans they trigger? At what threshold should a warning system be triggered to be most effective? What form of communication is most effective?

In an ongoing project in India, where heat waves follow on each other every season and now occur already in March and April, we are looking at how different definitions of heat wave relate to mortality to find a balance that is both practically useful and captures the complexity of the problem.

The heat also contributes to other risks, such as forest fires, which pose a direct threat in the form of fire damage, but also an indirect risk because of air pollution. The heat also leads to poorer harvests, malnutrition, increased risk of infectious disease and makes flooding more likely.

When people die of heat, what is it they actually die from?

Mainly they die because of a worsening in our common diseases, mainly heart, kidney, and lung disease. A small portion of the deaths are due to heat stroke. During the heat wave in 2018 we had an excess death of about 700 people in Sweden during the summer months, that coincide with the heat wave. During the summer of 2022 some 15,000 people across Europe died from the extreme heat, including 4,600 in Spain, 4,500 in Germany and 2,800 in the U.K.
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Prostate cancer cells. Credit: NIH Image Gallery

Data from a new study published in NEJM Evidence shows promise for personalized use of short term ADT in men with predominantly intermediate-risk prostate cancer. The study involved ArteraAI, a developer of multimodal artificial intelligence-based predictive and prognostic cancer tests, and other researchers including those from University Hospitals (UH) Seidman Cancer Center. The information validates the first-ever predictive AI biomarker of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) benefit in prostate cancer.

"This is truly a milestone in the treatment for prostate cancer," said Daniel Spratt, MD, the first author on the study. Dr. Spratt is the Vincent K. Smith Chair in Radiation Oncology and Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at UH Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University. He is also a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. "With the first-ever predictive biomarker of ADT benefit in prostate cancer, created with AI, we are able to further realize the ability to create a personalized approach for the treatment of cancer. It is an honor to lead this work in collaboration with NRG Oncology, Artera AI, and dozens of co-investigators. We are fortunate to already be offering this test here at UH Seidman Cancer Center to our patients from Northeast Ohio, our nation and around the world."

The study used novel deep learning methodology and histopathology image data from more than 5,000 patients across five Phase 3 randomized trials, with long-term follow-up. Patients in these trials were enrolled from over 100 centers across the US and Canada. The predictive AI biomarker was developed using datasets comprising about 20% African American patients. In past U.S.-based clinical trials, African American men have made up only 10.8% of prostate cancer trial participants.

Daniel I. Simon, MD, University Hospitals President, Academic & External Affairs and Chief Scientific Officer, and Ernie and Patti Novak Distinguished Chair in Healthcare Leadership said, "We are committed to impactful research that affects patient outcomes in a positive way and this research exemplifies the UH vision of the science of health and the art of compassion that our doctors strive for every day."

Theodoros Teknos, MD, President, and Scientific Director, UH Seidman Cancer Center and the Jane and Lee Seidman Chair in Cancer Innovation echoes those thoughts, "This AI enabled discovery perfectly illustrates UH-Seidman Cancer Center's national leadership in both scientific excellence and innovation. We applaud this important contribution to treatment of prostate cancer."

In patients with localized prostate cancer, ADT can be added to radiotherapy if improved patient outcomes are anticipated. However, ADT is also known to have negative side effects ranging from loss of sexual function to potentially detrimental effects on cardiac and brain health. Some studies suggest many men do not need ADT as part of their treatment plan, and that radiotherapy alone is effective. If given the opportunity to leverage the biomarker, most intermediate-risk patients could potentially avoid the morbidity and financial burden associated with ADT.

Gary Schwartz, MD, Director of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center said, "The Case Comprehensive Case Center (Case CCC) applauds the leadership provided by Dr. Spratt on conducting this seminal study on using AI technology to predict which population of men with localized prostate cancer will most benefit from the addition of ADT therapy to radiotherapy. This discovery will become practice changing and it will greatly impact the way we approach the treatment of this disease. This work illustrates the leadership that members of the Case CCC provide in the treatment and the advancement of cancer medicine in the United States. The fact that this study includes a high percentage of African Americans, a patient population at very high risk for prostate cancer, also indicates the impact these results will have on an under-represented minority population in the United States."

More information: Daniel E. Spratt et al, Artificial Intelligence Predictive Model for Hormone Therapy Use in Prostate Cancer, NEJM Evidence (2023). DOI: 10.1056/EVIDoa2300023 Journal information: NEJM Evidence
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FIU researchers Masafumi Yoshinaga, Barry P. Rosen and Stanislaw Wnuk with the chemical formula for arsinothricin (AST). Credit: Florida International University

Florida International University scientists discovered the first and only known natural arsenic-containing antibiotic to fight antibiotic resistance. Now, research reveals it can stop transmission of a deadly disease spreading in the U.S. for the first time in 20 years: malaria.

A team from FIU's Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine developed arsinothricin (AST) to combat the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Lab tests proved AST effectively defeated the most notorious, including E. coli and Mycobacteria, which cause tuberculosis.

Collaborating with malaria researchers in the College of Arts, Sciences & Education, they've recently also found AST prevents Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria, from infecting mosquitoesunlike other current antimalarial drugs. The discovery, recently published in Microorganisms, paves the way for AST to one day be developed into a more effective antimalarial drug for humans.

"Current antimalarials don't completely stop transmission, meaning patients can continue to infect mosquitoes before they recover," said lead author of the study Masafumi Yoshinaga, associate professor of Cellular Biology & Pharmacology. "Developing new potent multi-stage drugs is imperative to ensure malaria elimination and eradication. We found AST is a promising lead compound for developing a new class of potent multi-stage antimalarials."

While AST contains arsenican incredibly toxic, deadly poisonit is not pure arsenic. In fact, since the early 1900s, arsenic-based medications have been used to safely treat and prevent many diseases. When FIU researchers tested AST on liver, kidney and intestinal cells, AST targeted the malaria parasite lurking in human cells but didn't damage the cells themselves.

An estimated 240 million malaria cases are reported worldwide every year. While the majority occur in Africa, malaria can still happen in the U.S. Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert about several locally acquired malaria infections in Florida and Texas, marking the first time it has spread in the United States since 2003.

Only mosquitoes transmit malaria. According to Jun Li, associate professor of biological sciences, Biomolecular Sciences Institute researcher and one of the study's authors, malaria spreads when a mosquito bites someone with malaria, and the parasites in the blood infect the mosquitoes. Ten days later, infected mosquitoes can bite another person and transmit the disease to them. Using AST to prevent parasites from spreading to mosquitoes breaks the malaria life cycle.

The team has received a U.S. patent for the chemical synthesis of, and methods of using AST. But before AST can become a druga sometimes lengthy, expensive processthe team will continue their research investigating how it enters human red blood cells, where it can be even more effective against the parasite.

"What's exciting about our research is it demonstrates how chemically different AST is from other drugs and that gets us even closer to drugs that are more effective," said Barry P. Rosen, distinguished university professor and a member of the research team. "We have a long way to go before we have a drug that goes to market, but this foundational work paves the way toward that goal."

More information: Masafumi Yoshinaga et al, Arsinothricin Inhibits Plasmodium falciparum Proliferation in Blood and Blocks Parasite Transmission to Mosquitoes, Microorganisms (2023). DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11051195
While the Supreme Courts decision to strike down affirmative action will alter college policies, local education leaders say the consequences will likely not be felt at Montana schools.

Helen Thigpen, who works for the Montana University System, said the ruling has no impact on admission policies for Montana University System campuses.

She added that these campuses are open to all Montanans pursuing higher education and do not use affirmative action practices.

Dave Kuntz, director of strategic communications at University of Montana, said while the school does not have race-based admissions policies that will be impacted by the ruling, it does employ other tools for certain demographics to help tear down some of those barriers to success.

He mentioned Native American tuition waivers, which make education more affordable, and other initiatives that improve access to education for first generation college students and low-income families. Those initiatives, which are publically funded, Kuntz said will not be affected by the ruling.

David Yarlott, president of Little Big Horn College, said when it comes to tribal colleges, he anticipates the ruling will have minimal impact.

It may impact our tribal college students transferring to four-year colleges, he added. I think it will depend on the stances those colleges take.

Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians, said she was disappointed in the courts decision.

While everyone deserves to be considered on their merits, it does more harm than good to ignore the fact that Native people were subject to genocide, colonization and assimilation, she said. Only when these realities are confronted head-on will meaningful progress be made, which is why the National Congress of American Indians will continue to fight to bring visibility to these issues and look for solutions to ensure future generations have access to the education so many of our past generations did not.

The American Indian College Fund also expressed concerns regarding the ruling, saying it will impinge on the equitable access to an affordable higher education for American Indian and Alaska Natives.

The organization specifically took issue with the courts idea of colorblindness, saying, We do not live in a colorblind world.

The group cited several examples, saying Native history and culture is still ignored in curricula, students continue to be punished for wearing regalia at graduations and Native students face significant barriers in accessing higher education.

The bottom line that American Indians and Alaska Natives benefitted from policies that provide them with equitable access to higher education  along with other groups, and we understand the positive economic, mental, and physical health, and other outcomes an education confers on individuals, their families, and communities, the group wrote in a statement.
Despite the never-ending whining by antiquated adherents to fossil fuel-generated electricity, the good news is that rooftop solar is providing more real freedom for millions of Americans than those shackled to their oil gas, and coal collars.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding  and theres simply no doubt that roof-top solars behind the meter generation is providing freedom not only from the ever-rising prices for fossil fuel electricity, but also from the enormous pollution it spews into the atmosphere.

Take for instance, the recent article: Rooftop solar was overlooked. Now its closing a New England power plant. Officials at ISO New England, which oversees the six-state power market, concluded after months of research that the regions power grid has been strengthened by cold-weather sunlight, an unanticipated finding that adds fuel to a growing debate over the impact that renewable energy has on the nations labyrinth of power plants and transmission lines. The findings stand to alter regulators view of rooftop solar, which many had seen as a small and unpredictable source of energy.

As noted in the article: Rooftop solar conserves the regions oil supplies. ISO New England estimates that every 700 MW of solar capacity reduces oil consumption by 7 to 10 million gallons or gas demand by 1 to 1.5 billion cubic feet. The grid operator said it had around 5,400 MW of solar online at the end of last year. The vast majority of that is on rooftops.

The influx of solar has paved the way for the retirement of one of New Englands dirtiest power plants. Mystic Generating Station, the third-largest power plant in the region, is slated to close next summer. That gas-powered plant produces a mere 25% of the electricity now coming from rooftop solar  but reported total carbon emissions of 17 million tons between 2013 and 2022.

In more good news, the federal government, which has been subsidizing fossil fuels with billions of taxpayer dollars for a century, has seen the light of direct investment in rooftop solar. As reported in The Hill last week: The Biden administration on Wednesday announced a $7 billion grant competition to expand access to residential solar energy in low-income communities. The EPA said the grants will guarantee savings of at least 20% on electric bills for households that benefit. Applications will be open to states, municipalities, territories and tribal governments through Sep. 26.

Known as the Solar for All program, the grants  not loans or tax incentives  run from $25 million to $400 million, more than enough to provide roof-top solar to any of Montanas communities, especially those with chronically low incomes where its most needed.

Given the recent large increases in electricity costs requested by NorthWestern Energy and approved by the captured regulatory agency known as the Public Service Commission, it makes no sense for the governor or Legislature to continue efforts to prop up the old, failing, and highly-polluting anachronism known as Colstrip.

Its truly difficult to understand the resistance to solar when the latest polls show two-thirds of Western states residents support moving to 100% clean energy, particularly in light of the ever-increasing and expensive impacts from climate change. Despite the critics, rooftop solar is like a beehive  no one bee brings in all the pollen to make honey, but together, each individual provides a small share to keep the hive nourished.

As one friend who runs his house and car off his solar panels quipped recently: I like being my own power plant. Indeed, those who have panels know exactly what hes saying. They all like being their own power plant  especially when their power bills arrive.
Families and communities across Montana are being devastated by illicit fentanyl  a drug so powerful that just two milligrams, the amount that would fit on the tip of a pencil, is considered a potentially fatal dose.

This highly addictive drug usually comes in the form of fake prescription opioid pills. Fentanyl powder can also be mixed with methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Many Americans dont know theyre taking counterfeit pills spiked with fentanyl.

But the danger is all too real.

Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. Most of the fentanyl flooding our country and appearing in Montana is being manufactured in clandestine labs by Mexicos violent Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels with chemicals from suppliers in China.

Recently, the Drug Enforcement Administration updated a public safety alert after testing found that more than half of fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills  six out of 10 pills  being trafficked in communities nationwide contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl. The DEA further notes that fentanyl is now involved in more deaths of Americans under age 50 than any other cause of death, including heart disease, cancer, homicide, suicide and other accidents. An estimated 196 Americans die every day from fentanyl poisoning.

Montana, like every state in the nation, is in an urgent battle to save lives and to stop the widespread trafficking of fentanyl. And we are making progress.

Our federal fentanyl prosecutions have significantly increased over the past few years and, I anticipate, theyll continue to grow. While methamphetamine remains Montanas primary drug problem, we are seeing traffickers pushing both meth and fentanyl in significant quantities.

In December, our office, along with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, announced the dismantling of a Sinaloa Cartel trafficking network that brought staggering quantities of meth, along with fentanyl-laced fake oxycontin pills and heroin, to Butte for redistribution. This years-long probe resulted in federal convictions in Montana of 22 individuals from Montana, California and Mexico.

Drug traffickers convicted in U.S. District Court face long prison sentences because there is no parole in the federal system. Here are a few of the cases we have prosecuted so far this year:

In February, a Billings man was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison for trafficking pounds of meth, fentanyl pills and heroin and for illegally possessing a firearm.

In March, a Washington drug dealer was sentenced to 12 years in prison for trafficking meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl in Cascade County and on the Rocky Boys Indian Reservation.

Also in March, a Stevensville man was sentenced to 16 years in prison for conviction in a large-scale operation to make and distribute fentanyl and meth pills.

And our work continues, with the recent indictments of more than 20 individuals following an investigation of a major drug trafficking organization.

As we work to shut down drug trafficking organizations attempting to operate here in Montana, the United States Department of Justice is also attacking the fentanyl epidemic with significant and comprehensive enforcement action aimed at the Sinaloa Cartels global operation. In April, the Justice Department announced charges against several leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel and numerous other individuals accused of trafficking fentanyl.

Behind all of the horrifying statistics are real people who are suffering tremendous losses. I have met with families whose loved ones have died from fentanyl poisoning. I have listened as they bravely shared painful, personal stories.

I know nothing can bring back a loved one, but I want Montanans to know that our office remains relentless in our efforts to investigate and prosecute drug traffickers, hold them accountable, and obtain justice for Montana victims and their families.
Only eight of Tennessees 95 counties remain economically distressed  the fewest with that designation since researchers began tracking the data, according to new analysis by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Counties are considered distressed based on their three-year average unemployment rate, per-capita market income, and county poverty rate. Since last year, Grundy and Morgan counties moved out of the distressed designation.

The eight remaining distressed counties are Lake, Hardeman, Perry, Clay, Bledsoe, Scott, Hancock, and Cocke.

Gov. Bill Lee announced the progress during a national forum on choice lanes held by the Tennessee Department of Transportation at Nissan Stadium on Tuesday.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks to reporters at Nissan Stadium on June 27, 2023.

What happens in rural Tennessee strengthens what happens right here in urban Tennessee, Lee said at the event. We started with 15 economically distressed counties, today we have eight  and we will continue to work.

Of Tennessees 95 counties, 27 are classified as at-risk, and 52 are classified as transitional. Williamson County is the only in the state to have reached standards of economic attainment. Davidson, Wilson, Cheatham, Sumner, Fayette, Moore, and Knox Counties are designated competitive.

During his first term, Lee prioritized economic acceleration in the states economically struggling rural counties, proposing hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for in-school job training and technical education programs. His first executive order directed state agencies to review how they are serving rural communities. At the time, the governor's office declined to release those agency recommendations, citing deliberative process in withholding them from The Tennessean.

The Department of Economic and Community Development has also secured more than $16 billion in capital investments, and recruited 33,000 job commitments in rural counties since 2019, according to a department press release.

In 2019, we began an administration-wide mission to expand opportunity for Tennesseans in rural areas, and our strategic workforce and infrastructure investments have resulted in an historic reduction of our states distressed counties, Lee said in a statement.

In an effort to train a workforce to support new economic opportunities, lawmakers have also approved more than $200 million to improve Tennessees Colleges of Applied Technology in the past four years, and $500 million to expand career and technical education programs at middle and high schools throughout the state.

Alongside federal entities, the state has supported $447 million in funding to expand broadband access in rural areas.

What happens in rural Tennessee matters to all of Tennessee, Lee said. As Tennessee experiences unprecedented economic growth and job creation, well continue our work to prioritize rural communities so that Tennesseans in every county can thrive.

Reach Vivian Jones at vjones@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee reaches lowest number of distressed counties
The first people a missing B.C. teen saw when she emerged from a Golden Ears Park trail late Thursday were her parents, police say.

Esther Wang, 16, had been hiking with three other people through the Maple Ridge park on Tuesday. The group made it to Steve's lookout around 2:45 p.m. that day.

However, when they headed back down to the campsite, after about 15 minutes of hiking, the group leader realized Wang was missing. They returned to the lookout to look for Wang but couldnt find her. The leader headed to the trail entrance to notify a park ranger and police.

More than 40 search and rescue volunteers from all over the Lower Mainland joined the search in the rugged mountainous and forested area. Golden Ears Park is one of B.C.s largest parks at more than 62,000 hectares.

At a press conference Friday morning, Ridge Meadows RCMP told reporters Wang had walked out of East Canyon, the trailhead she had left on. Her parents were the first to greet her.

She was very fatigued, according to Supt. Int. Wendy Mehat.

Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue was leading the search and said they stood down as of 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. Police said Wang walked out around 9:30 p.m., 54 hours after she went missing. She was assessed by BC Ambulance at the scene and released to her family shortly after.

Wang, a cadet with 746 Lightning Hawk, had no injuries, just mosquito bites, police said.

When Glacier Media asked what happened, police said theyre investigating and that the family is asking for privacy at this time.

Today, we will be determining all the facts, said Mehat, noting Wang is happy, healthy, and with family.

"Her family has expressed sincere gratitude to all the first responders and search and rescue groups," said Mehat. "They're very thankful for this outcome."
RALEIGH  People should celebrate and have fun this Fourth of July, but if you drink dont operate an automobile or boat.

That was the message from traffic safety officials and law enforcement officers at Wednesdays launch in Raleigh of anti-drunk driving campaigns aimed at automobile drivers and boaters.

Officials were at the Falls Lake Upper Barton Creek Boating Access Area in Raleigh for Wednesday mornings launch of the Operation Firecracker Booze It & Lose It and Operation Dry Water campaigns.

We want people to have a good time, but its never wise to drink and then operate a car, truck, boat or any vehicle, said Mark Ezzell, director of the N.C. Governors Highway Safety Program. If you plan to drink alcohol this holiday weekend, or any day, rely on a designated driver, call a friend, use a cab or a ride-sharing service.

The Booze It & Lose It campaign started Monday and ends July 9, and the Dry Water campaign runs July 1-3. During the campaigns, officials are raising awareness about the dangers of drunk driving and increasing enforcement patrols to crack down on impaired drivers on roads and waterways.

Its easy to celebrate the Fourth responsibly, said North Carolina State Highway Patrol Commander Col. Freddy Johnson Jr. Its a lot more difficult and often impossible to correct the mistakes people make when they drink and drive. So, please make a plan to get home safely so you dont risk your life or someone elses.

More than 32% of the states 65 traffic fatalities for the last five years of published data were alcohol-related, according to the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles North Carolina 2021 Traffic Crash Facts report.

First Sgt. N.R. Stell, assigned to Burke County, told The News Herald about the importance of having a plan for getting home before you start drinking.

The first thing to go when you start drinking is judgement, Stell said. Thats the first thing it affects is your judgement, and so if you dont have a plan in place, people around you to help you and keep an on you, then you may think youre safe to jump in the car and run down to the gas station or something. But thats all it takes to get into a serious wreck, worst case scenario. Best case scenario is you just get stopped and then you end up in jail for DWI.

State troopers will be on the lookout during the Booze It & Lose It campaign to crack down on drunk drivers.

As part of Operation Dry Water, law enforcement officers with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will also be stepping up marine patrols to ensure boat drivers are sober on North Carolinas waterways.

Alcohol use is the leading contributor in recreational boater deaths, according to the National Boating Under the Influence Awareness and Enforcement Campaign.

Hosting Wednesdays event were the N.C. Governors Highway Safety Program, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement Division, U.S. Coast Guard, National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, the N.C. Forensic Tests for Alcohol Branch and law enforcement.

For more traffic safety tips on our roads, follow @NCGHSP on Facebook and @NC_GHSP on Twitter and Instagram, and visit www.ncghsp.org. For boating safety tips and information on the Dry Water campaign, please follow @NCWRC on Facebook and @ncwildlife on Twitter and Instagram, or visit www.ncwildlife.org.
RALEIGH  As the Fourth of July holiday approaches, Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey is urging North Carolinians to celebrate safely by following a few simple summer safety steps.

Fireworks, grilling out and water activities are traditional parts of Americas Independence Day celebrations, but all have inherent risks that could ultimately end in serious injury or death.

The Fourth of July is a fantastic holiday to celebrate our nations independence with family and friends, but it is important to make safety a priority, said Commissioner Causey. Sadly, many people are injured or killed on this holiday every year because of misusing fireworks, unsafe grilling techniques or boating and drowning accidents.

Grilling

July is the peak month for grill fires. According to the National Fire Protection Association, an average of 22,155 patients per year went to emergency rooms because of injuries involving grills between 2017-21.

Seven out of 10 adults in the U.S. have a grill or smoker.

To prevent grilling fires and keep residents safe while cooking outdoors, Commissioner Causey recommends the following tips:

Propane and charcoal grills should only be used outdoors.

The grill should be placed far away from the home and deck railings.

Keep children and pets at least 10 feet away from the grill area.

Never leave your grill unattended and always open the gas grill lid before lighting it.

If using starter fluid, use only charcoal starter fluid. Never add charcoal fluid or any other flammable liquids to the fire. Keep charcoal fluid out of the reach of children.

When you are finished grilling, let the coals completely cool before disposing in a metal container.

If you smell gas while cooking, immediately get away from the grill and call the fire department. Do not move the grill.

For more grilling safety tips and information, visit our website.

Fireworks

Injuries with fireworks have increased by 25% in the United States over the last 15 years and most of those accidents occur on the Fourth of July. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), at least nine people died in 2022 and an estimated 11,500 were injured in incidents involving fireworks.

A simple, handheld sparkler can burn at a temperature of 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit. To put that into perspective, water boils at 212 degrees, a cake bakes at 350 degrees and wood burns at 575 degrees.

The best way to protect your family is to not use any fireworks at home. Instead, Commissioner Causey urges all North Carolinians to attend public fireworks displays performed by trained professionals licensed by the state. After the display, do not pick up or touch leftover fireworks because they may still be active.

If a child is injured by fireworks, immediately go to a doctor or hospital. If an eye injury occurs, dont allow your child to touch or rub it, as this may cause even more damage.

To learn more about the risks of using fireworks, visit the NCOSFM website.

Boating/water safety

July 4th is one of the most popular times of the year for water activities. In 2020, the most recent year in which statistics are available, there were 187 boating accidents in North Carolina resulting in 113 injuries and 27 deaths, according to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Of the 113 people injured, 15 were affected by alcohol use.

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 in the United States. 4,000 children drown every year  that is an average of 11 drowning deaths per day.

To prevent a boating or other water sport accident, Commissioner Causey encourages everyone in North Carolina to remember these important safety reminders:

Wear life jackets: Adults and children should always wear a life jacket approved by the U.S. Coast Guard while on boats or jet skis, around open bodies of water or when participating in other water sports. Make sure the life jacket fits snugly.

Watch kids when they are in or around water, without being distracted.

Dont drink and boat: A large portion of boating accidents each year involve alcohol consumption. It is illegal to operate a boat while intoxicated.

Learn CPR: We know you have a million things to do, but learning CPR should be at the top of the list. Hospitals, fire departments and recreation departments offer CPR training.

Use an engine cut-off device: An engine cut-off device is a proven safety device to stop the boat or jet skis engine should the operator unexpectedly fall overboard.

For more water safety tips and information, visit our website.
A woman is accused of attacking two downtown guitar players and using Mace on a third man over the weekend.

Madelein M. Owen, 35, is charged with one felony count of assault with a weapon. Shes also charged with two misdemeanors: assault causing bodily injury to another and criminal mischief.

Missoula police responded to a 911 call just after midnight on Friday for a reported assault near a downtown bar. Officers talked with a witness who was covered in Mace and in extreme pain, according to charging documents.

The witness said he was sitting on the sidewalk next to a duo playing guitar when a woman he didnt know approached him, spraying him, unprovoked, with gel Mace, the case affidavit alleged.

One of the guitar players confirmed they were outside playing their instruments when the woman took issue with his guitar playing, according to charging documents. She is accused of yelling at the guitar player, leaving the area and subsequently returning and throwing cayenne pepper in the direction of the musicians, damaging their guitar cases. The second guitarist corroborated the story, and a fourth witness reported the woman had shoved the witness while they were listening to the musicians.

Officers tracked down the woman based on physical descriptions and identified the suspect as Owen. She told police she was intimidated by musicians who frequent a street corner near her house, the affidavit stated, and that people allegedly had been mocking and filming her.

She denied attacking the guitarists, and according to charging documents, stated, I didnt attack anyone who didnt get close to me, and insisted she was defending herself in front of her home.

While charging documents didnt explicitly state the witnesses were unhoused individuals, Owen allegedly made further statements, voicing her frustration for the guitar players and her hatred for homeless individuals, the affidavit stated.

After Owen was arrested, she was brought to the jail and asked officers hypothetical questions about the incident, according to charging documents. Shes accused of making demeaning comments to officers while she was in the patrol car and reportedly told the officers they should harm themselves.

Court filings show Owen was released on her own recognizance from jail on Monday. Her arraignment date is scheduled for July 10 in Missoula County District Court. If convicted, Owen faces up to 20 years in the Montana State Prison and a $52,000 fine.

On Sunday, 19-year-old Kaleb E. Fleck was arrested and charged on suspicion of murdering Scott Byran, a homeless man, in Kalispell. In the wake of Bryans death, Chris Krager, executive director of The Samaritan House, sent out a statement about Bryans death and violence toward unhoused individuals.

Weve never had violent acts like this toward our homeless community until recently, he wrote. "The increased rhetoric by some community leaders and the barrage of aggressive social media comments dehumanize people who live here. It doesnt take long for verbal assaults to turn physical."
SPEARFISH, S.D.  The Lakota AI Camp has returned for a second year, from June 11-30, to bring Indigenous teens to the Black Hills for a three-week AI crash course camp while simultaneously learning Lakota culture and language.

The inspiration for a youth-based code camp came from co-founder Mason Grimshaw, a citizen of the Sicangu-Rosebud Lakota Nation, who experienced growing up on the Rosebud Nation and in Rapid City. Grimshaw said when he began his education at MIT, he wasnt entirely sure what he was passionate about. Once he discovered computer science, things just clicked.

I had never seen it (computer programming) before while I was growing up in Rosebud and Rapid City, and I just thought if I had seen this earlier it would have been really beneficial for me, Grimshaw said.

Indigenous people often are not in STEM spaces. According to census data, American Indians make up less than 0.1 percent of computer programmers, while Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native individuals are only 0.07 percent and 0.05 percent, respectively.

I had this idea that I pitched to my friends, Grimshaw said. I said, Hey, you need researchers, but they dont exist, and I want to do a code camp, so lets do a code camp and I will create researchers here for you.

Another main component of the camp is language learning, which Grimshaw said is one of the first big pushes for Indigenous language-based AI research, called First Languages AI Reality, or FLAIR.

Over the second week, Indigenous language researchers visited the camp to teach students about their learning and experience. One of the goals of the program is to be able to teach language-based AI to recognize Indigenous languages and promote learning.

The cultural aspect of the program is something that drew in rising senior Aiden Tunnissen, Oglala. This was Tunnissens first year at the camp.

If youre Indigenous, try and learn about your culture because you never know if it could just go away in a flash, Tunnissen said. You have to try and do what were doing to revive the language. Stick with the people and with your culture.

Eventually, Grimshaw said he hopes to have an app that will promote conversation and aid learning when no fluent speakers or elders are present.

Its sort of an elder in a box, Grimshaw said. The simplest form is that it might be a pronunciation guide, so it can hear you speak and make suggestions, and the other would be in the very far future, but something that you can converse with.

Coupling language with programming is a multi-part project. The first week of the program teaches students a basic understanding of Python and data science. By the end of the first week, students create a prediction-based AI that they used this year to predict movie revenue.

The first weekend, students go out into the Black Hills to hike and learn about traditional plant medicines from a knowledge keeper, Linda Black Elk. At the end of week two, the students build a model that can identify plants from pictures taken during their hike.

We are incorporating that historic cultural knowledge so they can learn more about their own ancestors, Grimshaw said.

Sometimes these AI models may break. They may confuse one grassy plant for another, but this is all part of the learning process.

Im always impressed by the intuition that they get, they just seem to really understand how things work and theyre really smart, Grimshaw said. They surprise us all the time, honestly.

In the final week, students combine everything that they have learned to create an app that helps them speak Lakota. The created app can recognize something, like a chair, and tell the user the Lakota name of that object.

Access to broadband internet services is limited on reservations and Alaska Native villages, something that the camp takes into consideration.

Only 24-40% of Native households have reliable internet, Grimshaw said. So in this space students get a laptop and are able to run things on the cloud.

On top of free camp tuition, students are equipped with free Alienware laptops and Samsung phones so they can continue their education after the three weeks end.

On the last day of the camp, students demonstrate what theyve learned to community members and their families.

Xavier LaPointe, Sicangu and Oglala, is the youngest student this year. He just finished eighth grade. LaPointe said he was drawn to the camp by a desire to understand something he wasnt familiar with, coding.

I remember my first day seeing everyones computer because I was in the last row and there was so much happening, typing and stuff, LaPointe said. I was so confused because I didnt get it, but now I know what a lot of it means. Im still learning, though.

This year was Niesha Marshalls, Sicangu Lakota, second year attending the program. Marshall, a rising sophomore in high school, said she really enjoyed last years program and wanted to come back and learn more.

You get to make new friends and overall just have fun, Marshall said.

Partnership and funding for the program is supplied by the Patrick McGovern Foundation with support from Meta, but the directors are hoping to also begin to build funding from local businesses as well and create a more localized program.
Two military chefs crowned champions on the Food Networks Chopped have been cooking up their specialties in the White House Navy Mess. Air Force chef Opal Poullard and Marine Corps chef Dustin Lewis accepted the mission from Jill Biden after the first lady's surprise appearance in a May broadcast.
According to a crash report from the Iowa State Patrol, at about 5:25 p.m. Wednesday a 2015 Volvo semi tractor driven by Daud Ali Jama of St. Paul, Minn., was slowing or stopped for a previous accident near mile post 259. A 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Craig Earl Benson of Iowa City collided with the rear end of the trailer attached to the semi. The report said that Benson did not recognize that traffic had stopped.
KYIV, Ukraine  The ambush had been postponed three times before Ukrainian commanders decided one recent night that conditions were finally right. Cloaked in darkness, a battalion of Kyiv's 129th brigade pressed ahead, advancing stealthily on unsuspecting Russian soldiers.

By the time the Russians situated along the front line realized they were under attack, it was too late.

Ukraine's recapture of the small village of Neskuchne in the eastern Donetsk region on June 10 encapsulates the opening strategy of a major counteroffensive launched earlier this month. Small platoons bank on the element of surprise and, when successful, make incremental gains in territory and battlefield intelligence.

"We had a few scenarios. In the end, I think we chose the best one. To come quietly, unexpectedly," said Serhii Zherebylo, the 41-year-old deputy commander of the battalion that retook Neskuchne.

Across the 930-mile front line, Ukrainian forces are attempting to wear down the enemy and reshape battle lines to create more favorable conditions for a decisive, eastward advance. One strategy could be to try to split Russia's forces in two so that the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, is isolated from the rest of the territory it controls.

Ukraine's troops were given a boost of morale last week by an armed rebellion in Russia that posed the most significant threat to President Vladimir Putin's power in more than two decades. Yet how the revolt by Wagner Group mercenaries under the command of Russian warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin affects the trajectory of the war remains to be seen.

The infighting is a major distraction for Russia's military and political leaders, but experts say the impact on the battlefield so far appears minimal.

For the past four days, Ukraine has stepped up operations around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which Wagner forces seized after months of intense fighting and then handed over to Russian soldiers, who continue to lose some ground on their southern flank.

Along the front line, however, the strength of the Russian military remains unchanged since the revolt.

It is not clear where Ukraine will attempt to decisively punch through, but any success will rely on newly formed, Western-equipped brigades that are not yet deployed. For now, Russia's deeply fortified positions and relative air superiority are slowing Ukraine's advance.

Military experts say it is hard to say who has the advantage: Russia is dug-in with manpower and ammunition, while Ukraine is versatile, equipped with modern weaponry and clever on the battlefield.

But with the autumn muddy season only four months away, some Ukrainian commanders say they are racing against time.

"Although Ukrainian forces are making small and steady gains, they do not yet have the operational initiative, meaning they are not dictating the tempo and terms of action," said Dylan Lee Lehrke, an analyst with the British security intelligence firm Janes.

"This has led some observers to claim the counteroffensive is not meeting expectations," Lehrke said. But it was never going to resemble Ukraine's blitzkrieg liberation of the eastern Kharkiv region last year, he said, because "Russian forces have had too long to prepare fortifications."

Russian authorities say Ukraine has suffered substantial losses since the start of the counteroffensive  259 tanks and 790 armored vehicles, according to Putin, whose claims could not be independently verified.

Grinding battles are being waged in multiple combat zones.

A catastrophic dam collapse last month in the southern Kherson region has altered the geography along the Dnieper River, giving Ukrainians more freedom of movement there. Russian military bloggers claim a small group of Ukrainian fighters are making gains in the area, although Ukrainian officials have not confirmed these reports.

Across the agricultural plains of the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian troops backed by tanks, artillery and drones appear to be chipping away more decisively against Russian positions.

Ukrainian troops would deal a severe blow to Russian forces if they managed to regain access to the Sea of Azov from this direction, effectively cutting off Moscow's land bridge to Crimea. It's too early to determine whether this is a realistic goal.

At least 50 square miles of land has been regained in the south since the start of the counteroffensive, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said this week.

It's not the pace many hoped for.

A U.S. official familiar with the Biden administration thinking said the counteroffensive is a "long slog" that is testing Ukrainian forces in ways that few other episodes of the 16-month old war have. The official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that there never was expected to be a "D-Day moment," but that the early going suggests the pace of the counteroffensive will be "tough and challenging" for the Ukrainians.

Unlike some of the earlier battles in the war, in which Russian forces showed little resistance or even fled the battlefield, Ukrainian forces are currently facing stiff resistance, the official said.

Photos: Children of Ukraine war struggle after thousands of schools destroyed
Gabriel Trujillos family says he was killed in Mexico during a research trip. The 31-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, was studying the common buttonbush to learn how the flowering shrub is native to Canada, the U.S. and Mexico has adapted to so many climates and could be used to aid habitat conservation. His fiancee and father say the research was cut tragically short when he was fatally shot in the state of Sonora earlier this month. While Mexican authorities confirmed his death, they have not released details nor called it a homicide.
Smoky haze, hot weather and powerful storms brought dangerous and uncomfortable conditions to parts of the U.S. heading into a long July Fourth weekend that typically draws Americans to outdoor gatherings. In the Midwest, utility crews scrambled Friday to restore electricity a day after a powerful wind storm system moved across Illinois and Indiana. Utility companies reported that more than 250,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity. In the South, an excessive heat warning is in place for parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi. And the Environmental Protection Agency is warning that parts of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut could experience unhealthy air conditions because of wildfires in Canada.
Photo: Metro Vancouver Transit Police Transit police seized this handgun during the arrest of Surrey's Arunjit Virk, 19, at the Metrotown mall in March 2021.

Crown prosecutor Ariel Bultz says 21-year-old Arunjit Virk should go to prison for three years for carrying a loaded, illegal ghost gun around Burnabys busy Metrotown mall in March 2021.

This is a crime gun; theres no other way to put it, Bultz said at a sentencing hearing in Vancouver provincial court Wednesday.

Defence lawyer David Karp proposed a conditional sentence (a jail term served in the community) of between 18 and 24 months, but Bultz argued that would be an unfit sentence given the dangerousness of the offence.

He pointed to the fact the Polymer80 kit gun had no safety and there was a bullet chambered in the firearm as he was carrying it around the Metropolis at Metrotown mall on March 28, 2021.

Bultz also noted Virk hadnt done well on bail since his arrest for that incident, and a psychiatric report prepared in the case had found him a moderate risk to reoffend.

But Karp countered by saying the psych report should be thrown out.

He said Virks family had told him the interview that formed the basis of the report had lasted for only 11 minutes via video conference when it should have lasted hours.

This report does nothing to assist the court, so Im going to be suggesting it should be given absolutely no value, Karp said.

But Bultz noted the report writer said Virk had not been co-operative during the interview.

Bultz said the author of the report is a professional with a duty to the court who produced a seven-page document with all the information he was given.

I think the report stands for this court purpose, Bultz said. Mr. Virks lack of purported co-operation, while it may be unfortunate for him at these proceedings, its a result of his own doing.

In the end, however, B.C. provincial court Judge Reginald Harris adjourned the sentencing and ordered three new reports  a psychological assessment, a presentence report and a technical suitability report.

"It's unfortunate that it's at this stage," Harris said

"Sentencing should occur as soon as practicable after the events, but sentencing also involves fulsome information before the court."

Technical suitability reports are prepared when electronic monitoring is being considered as part of a sentence.

A new sentencing date has been set for Sept. 13, 2023.
Kenyas Healthcare workers have reaffirmed their plans to initiate a strike on July 14, 2023, citing the governments alleged lack of willingness to engage in discussions regarding their remuneration terms.

Through their respective unions, the workers claim that despite allowing ample time for the government to address the concerns related to their Collective Bargaining Agreement(CBA), no progress or resolution has been made.

During a press briefing on Thursday morning, George Gibore, the Secretary General of the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO), emphasized that healthcare workers are frustrated and understaffed.

On May 15, 2023, we issued a 60-day strike notice to the Ministry of Health and County Governments regarding unconcluded CBAs and Recognition Agreements, said the unions.

As of today, 46 days later, we havent seen any efforts towards finalisation of these collective bargaining agreements. We also note that this unresponsiveness has been the norm and a great saboteur to harmonious working relationships between Unions, Health Ministry and counties.

Advocating for the prioritization of the health sector, the healthcare workers urged the government to fulfill its promise of employing 20,000 health workers.

Additionally, they are demanding that Nakuru County absorbs all healthcare workers who have been working under county-based contracts.

The Unions also want the government to involve the public in discussions regarding contributions to the National Health Insurance Fund(NHIF). They believe that transparent engagement will help reassure Kenyans of the provision of quality healthcare services.

Many Kenyans have challenges using NHIF cards to access health service against a background of corruption scandals bedeviling the institution. NHIF must explain to Kenyans how the enhancement of contributions will enable them to access quality services without suffering catastrophic financial harm.

The unions include the Kenya Union of Clinical Unions, the Kenya National Union of Nurses, the Kenya National Union of Medical Laboratory Oficers and others.
The National Police Service Commission has explained why the service does not recruit short people to serve as law enforcers.

Appearing before the Standing Committee on National Cohesion, Equal Opportunity, and Regional Integration, Commission CEO Peter Leley clarified that the rationale behind not recruiting individuals of shorter stature was based on the perception that they may be deemed less capable of engaging with and arresting criminals.

Leley was responding to a question from Committee Chair Mohamed Chute who wanted to know why short people are turned away during recruitment exercises.

With due respect to short people and I am not saying they cannot do the job, taller people are seen as capable of executing an arrest. They are able to pin down a criminal as they are also heavier. How do you expect a 1GB person to pin down a heavyweight, the Commission CEO posed.

Leley further elaborated that in line with the reasoning behind not recruiting shorter individuals, they have also established a minimum weight requirement for aspiring candidates seeking to join the police service.

During the recruitment process, male candidates are required to have a minimum height of 5.8 feet, while female candidates must have a minimum height of 5.3 feet. In addition, the minimum weight requirements are 54.55 kilograms for men and 50 kilograms for women.

Furthermore, it is explicitly stated that female candidates should not be pregnant at the time of recruitment or throughout the entire duration of their training.

Most criminals are strong such that they can even fight off citizen arrest. They are people who can put up a fight with a crowd and that is why we need heavily built officers, Leley said.

Uasin Gishu senator Jackson Mandago opined that height and weight should not be criteria to recruit youth into the Directorate Criminal Investigation.
The Contractors State License Board recently completed a statewide sting and sweep enforcement operation to uncover unlicensed activity in the construction industry. The multi-state agency effort, organized by the National Association of State Contractors Licensing Agencies, resulted in 90 legal actions related to unlicensed contracting, according to a news release. Another 37 legal actions were taken for workers compensation insurance violations.

Over three weeks, CSLB joined forces with local law enforcement to conduct undercover sting operations in Sonoma, Sacramento, Madera and San Bernardino counties, the release said.

The stings targeted unlicensed contractors, with investigators contacting the suspects through their advertisements.

During four sting operations, suspected unlicensed operators arrived at designated locations to bid on various projects, such as drywall hanging, bathroom remodeling, turf installation, framing, flooring, exterior and interior painting, concrete, tree removal, landscaping, and plumbing. As a result, 50 people may face criminal charges for contracting without a license.

The license board does not identify allegedly unlicensed contractors as legal action is pending, but the Sonoma County sting did not include anyone with a Napa County address, a representative said. CSLB staff did not conduct any sweeps in Napa County.

Those involved submitted bids that exceeded the legal limit of $500. California law prohibits unlicensed contractors from bidding and/or contracting for construction work that exceeds $500 in value, including labor and materials. All may now face legal consequences, which can include fines and potential jail time.

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A total of 66 construction sweep operations were conducted in various California counties, including Sonoma, Solano, Marin and others. Forty unlicensed contractors were identified during the sweeps and now face an administrative citation or referral to a local prosecutor for contracting without a license.

Additionally, 37 stop orders were issued to halt employee labor at active job sites where contractors did not have workers compensation insurance for their employees.

Unlicensed contractors pose a significant danger to consumers, said CSLB Registrar David Fogt in the boards statement. CSLBs Statewide Investigative Fraud Team performs sweeps and stings regularly, and we are proud to be a top contributor in this years NASCLAs coordinated enforcement effort.

For more information, contact the license board at cslb.ca.gov, 800-321-CSLB.

Napa Valley Register business editor Jennifer Huffman contributed to this report.

Photos: 19 townhomes proposed for Wes Imola Avenue in Napa Napa W. Imola Avenue development, townhomes West Imola Avenue development, townhomes W. Imola Avenue development, townhomes W. Imola Avenue development, townhomes W. Imola Avenue development, townhomes West Imola Avenue development, townhomes W. Imola Avenue development, townhomes W. Imola Avenue development, townhomes
ST. HELENA  A new report recommends reactivating the defunct Hotel St. Helena, reconfiguring Main Street, and developing more hotels as part of a downtown revitalization strategy.

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The city hired Urban Land Institute San Francisco to convene a panel of land use, real estate and economic experts and advise the city on improving downtown while preserving St. Helenas distinctive identity.

Based on a two-day Technical Assistance Panel held in the Carnegie Building in March and months of follow-up work, ULI drafted a 56-page report.

The panel of experts, who met with city staff and members of the business community in March, strongly recommended development of several new boutique hotels, starting with the Hotel St. Helena and also considering the former Bank of America property on Adams Street.

The repositioning of the historic St. Helena Hotel could similarly breathe new life into Main Street and become an important hub for the community, the report states.

Even with the 65 new rooms approved for the Farmstead hotel, the market can support far more rooms, and the city would benefit from the increased transient occupancy tax (TOT) that such development would generate, the report states.

The report acknowledges locals contentious history with opposing hotels but notes that neighboring cities have successfully managed new hotel growth and used hotel-room tax revenue to fund quality-of-life investments like park maintenance and affordable housing.

ULI also suggests removing the center turn lane from Main Street between Adams and Spring streets to create more pedestrian space, bike lanes, parklets, and activities like outdoor dining and shopping.

The city could convert on-street parking spaces to flex zones that could accommodate parking, service access, passenger pickup and drop-off, and/or outdoor dining and retail.

The report suggests a mix of affordable housing and local-serving retail at the old City Hall site next to Lyman Park.

It also suggests a pop-up incubator kitchen in the parking lot serving Sunshine Foods Market and Wells Fargo, where people new to the restaurant profession could experiment with concepts that might evolve into full-dress restaurants.

That concept would build on St. Helenas foodie culture and the legacy of the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, as well as improve the southern gateway to the downtown, the report states.

The timing of this collaborative work effort could not be more opportune, Mayor Paul Dohring said in a statement. Our City Council is focusing intently on creating an economically thriving downtown, distinctively set apart from other wine country destinations.

We understand how important it is for both our residents and visitors to bring energy and vibrancy to our historic downtown and to highlight its unique character, Dohring said. In my view, re-imagining our downtown presents numerous opportunities to both strengthen our fiscal sustainability and improve the well-being and quality of life of residents.

The report notes that after TOT revenue dipped in 2020 due to the pandemic, Calistogas room tax revenue rebounded from $4.7 million in 2020 to $5.3 million in 2021, while St. Helenas declined from $2.5 million in 2020 to $1.3 million in 2021.

The report points to St. Helenas bad sidewalks, the perception of a parking problem downtown, underused and insufficient public open space, and retailers that close early, contributing to a lack of activation and vitality in the evenings.

On the plus side, the report says St. Helena benefits from a character-defining sense of place, small-town charm, historic buildings, natural beauty, food and wine.

The report is posted at cityofsthelena.org/ulireport. The City Council is expected to discuss the reports recommendations in the near future.

PHOTOS: Go inside Napa's new Bookmine bookstore
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court on Thursday said universities and colleges could no longer use a form of race-conscious admissions, rejecting a decades-old precedent in affirmative action policy.

Rather, race should be considered in an individuals experience  conveyed through an essay, interview or otherwise  instead of their identity in composing a demographic makeup of the student body.

The court voted 6-3 in two decisions along ideological lines, ruling that admissions based on affirmative action violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individualnot on the basis of race, Chief Justice John G. Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin.

Justices sided with a group that sued Harvard University and the University of North Carolina over admission policies that take an applicants race into account as a method to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in a campus body. Military academies are exempt.

Roberts wrote that nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.

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It means that Californias private colleges and universities  including Stanford University, the University of Southern California and the California Institute of Technology, among others  must now face the same prohibition on race-conscious admissions that covered its public schools when voters approved Proposition 209 in 1996.

The decision affects the University of California and California State University system less than other states public institutions, given Californias has a longstanding ban on race-conscious admissions.

Prop. 209 blocked public universities and colleges, governmental bodies and other public systems from using race, gender and other factors in hiring, contracting or admissions. There were minimal exceptions to prevent breaking federal law that, at the time, required race-conscious hiring for funding, such as research grants that the UC campuses rely on.

Private institutions were exempt. Now they must face the same shift that their public counterparts experienced after Prop. 209 went into effect.

UC leaders, concerned about this outcome, filed an amicus brief in November urging the Supreme Court to uphold affirmative action policies. Amicus briefs reflect the opinions of people who are not parties to a case, but who can offer courts insights.

Blocking race- and-gender-conscious admissions is detrimental to students, UC attorneys wrote, because inclusivity policies promote greater intellectual diversity and show the next generation that all people are welcome.

In a Nation where race matters, universities must maintain campus environments that enable them to teach their students to see each other as more than mere stereotypes, they wrote. Succeeding at that endeavor is crucial to preparing the next generation to be effective citizens and leaders in an increasingly diverse Nation.

What is California Prop. 209?

California was the first state to institute a ban on race- and gender-conscious hiring and admission in public higher education and the public work force. Washington state followed suit in 1998 before repealing the measure last year. Now Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Arizona, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Idaho have similar restrictions.

Public universities started applying affirmative action in the late 1960s. The practice originated with former President John F. Kennedy, who issued a 1961 executive order directing government agencies to ensure equal opportunity in employment.

Race-conscious admissions were designed to promote campus diversity, reduce inequality and make up for historical hindrances that have prevented people of color from pursuing a college education.

It existed for about 30 years and became impactful in Black and Hispanic student admissions, said Zachary Bleemer, an expert in higher education who earned his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, in an interview the week before the Supreme Court released its ruling.

Even then, race-conscious admissions werent popular: Prop. 209 passed with a 10% margin.

When it passed, Republican Pete Wilson was governor, three-quarters of the California voting population was white and some politicians were pushing nativist policies to garner support. About two-thirds of white voters supported Prop. 209, whereas a majority of Black, Latino and Asian voters were against it, according to a Los Angeles Times exit poll.

Said Richard Thompson Ford, a Stanford Law School professor who is an expert on race relations and discrimination: Affirmative action has always been controversial and many voters oppose it.

Speaking to the Sacramento Bee before the Supreme Court released its decision, Ford said the Constitution allowed affirmative action under limited circumstances, but it has never required it. As such, states  as well as private institutions  have already been free to choose whether or not to use affirmative action.

Prop. 209 simply reflects Californias decision not to engage in race-based affirmative action, he said.

Proportion of minority students fell dramatically

With the Supreme Court gutting affirmative action, Bleemer said, what youd see is a much smaller scale version of what happened after Proposition 209.

In their amicus brief, UCs attorneys wrote that the proportion of students from underrepresented groups fell dramatically with the passage of Prop. 209, forcing the system to use race-neutral measures to pursue diversity.

While that improved the UC systems overall student body diversity substantially since the precipitous drop caused by Proposition 209, it has been insufficient to make campus bodies reflect Californias diversity, particularly at more selective UCs.

Students who previously chose to attend a UC went to private systems in and out of state.

A group of high-testing Black and Hispanic students, who under affirmative action went to Berkeley and UCLA and now couldnt get into those schools, flowed into Ivy League and private universities that still had affirmative action and were getting admitted, Bleemer said.

In the wake of the Supreme Court decision, the opposite could happen. Since public universities like UCLA, Berkeley and Davis have lived by the Prop. 209 protocol for far longer and had to adjust, more Black and Latino students might switch their preferences and apply there.

Still, the impact on the average California student could be minimal, Bleemer noted: Just 15 to 20% of students in California go to private colleges, and far fewer attend elite universities.

Failed attempts to repeal Prop. 209

Affirmative action remains unpopular across racial lines, as shown by a 2020 ballot initiative to pull Prop. 209.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature in 2020 thought that voters might back Proposition 16 after the summer of civil unrest that followed the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, and a COVID-19 pandemic that highlighted racial inequity.

Lawmakers hastily got the measure on the ballot, arguing that a repeal of Prop. 209 would increase racial and gender representation in higher education and in the public work force, particularly aiding Latino and Black residents.

Prop. 16 failed by a larger margin than Prop. 209 had passed. At the time, lawmakers and advocates for the proposition said not enough had been done to build public support and that the issue got lost on a crowded ballot.

Ford said that post-election surveys showed that many voters thought repealing Prop. 209 would also repeal basic anti-discrimination protections. This is incorrect and the misperception might have made the difference.

People against Prop. 16 said it was discriminatory and that diverse communities in California had made strides in representation.

In a state hardly seen as conservative, voters rejected a repeal of the state constitutions guarantee of equal treatment by race, Arnold Steinberg, a strategist with the No on Prop. 16 campaign who worked on Prop. 209, said following the results.

Hispanic and Latino state workers are underrepresented compared to the California population, according to a review of 2020 data by the California Department of Human Resources, the most recent year data is available. Black and white civil workers were overrepresented, while workers of different Asian descents about matched Californias population.

Most of California is Hispanic: 40% of the state identifies as Hispanic or Latino, 35% as white, 16% as Asian and 6.5% as Black, according to 2020 census data.

Supreme Court decision on affirmative action

The court heard two cases concerning race-conscious admissions in October, brought by an organization that claims students were harmed because of affirmative action policies at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Students for Fair Admissions Inc., which claims to represent 20,000 people, said that race-conscious admissions discriminated against white and Asian students. Schools should not refuse a race-neutral alternative for fear of potential changes to the student body if theres no proof that it could detriment the schools academic quality, the group argued.

It called for the Supreme Court to overturn Grutter v. Bollinger, a 2003 case affirming that considering race in a holistic admissions process to promote campus diversity did not harm non-minority applicants or violate federal law.

The 2003 precedent followed a 1978 decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. In this case, a white student who twice failed to get into UC Davis medical school argued that a program to admit a certain number of students from minority backgrounds blocked him from getting in.

The justices said no to racial quotas and found for Allan Bakke, who was then admitted. But they also said that considering race in admissions was allowed under federal law.

Relying on precedent, Harvard and UNC contended that diversity improves academic experiences and that considering race in the admissions process does not violate the a part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act or the 14th Amendment. The Civil Rights Act affects private schools that receive federal funding, like Harvard.

The court did not entirely gut the 2003 precedent in allowing colleges to discern an individual students perseverance or other qualifications in overcoming racial discrimination as part of their personal stories.

In her dissenting opinion, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote, Our country has never been colorblind. Given the lengthy history of state-sponsored race-based preferences in America, to say that anyone is now victimized if a college considers whether that legacy of discrimination has unequally advantaged its applicants fails to acknowledge the well-documented intergenerational transmission of inequality that still plagues our citizenry.

Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, recused herself from the Harvard case, having served on the board of the university.

Justices past affirmative action views, in their own words Chief Justice John Roberts Clarence Thomas Samuel Alito Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan Ketanji Brown Jackson Sandra Day O'Connor

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Overconsumption of foods high in fat and sugar linked to worse performance on hippocampus-dependent memory tasks

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I still don't know how to shout to make them realize the situation is grave. Ombudsman of Artsakh

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The Lithuanian consulate did not issue visas to 2 players and 1 coach of Pyunik

The Russian Federation reaffirms its intention to contribute to the restoration of normal life in Nagorno-Karabakh

Artsakh President assures: All decisions will be made jointly

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Ambassador of Poland was presented with the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh

EU Council extends Toivo Klaar's mandate for one year

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Zakharova evades question on sending Arstakh aid by Russian planes

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Armenia requests OSCE Permanent Council speacial meeting: Mirzoyan made a speech

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China on track to become world's leading automobile exporter

Xinhua) 08:32, June 30, 2023

SHENYANG/SHANGHAI, June 29 (Xinhua) -- At the vehicle export terminal of Dalian Port, located in northeast China, brand-new cars were carefully loaded onto large cargo ships, ready to be shipped to Central Asia.

Since the beginning of this year, the port has been in busy operation, providing logistics services for car exporters such as BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA), Volvo and FAW. According to Dalian Port, it shipped 36,750 vehicles from January to May, an increase of 116.15 percent from last year's same period.

In Shanghai, the country's largest port city for automobile exports, vehicle exports are also picking up speed. According to Shanghai Customs, in the first five months of 2023, Shanghai's exports of electric passenger vehicles grew 152.9 percent year on year.

Nationwide, China's vehicle exports soared to around 1.07 million units in the first quarter of 2023, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed, indicating that China has become the world's largest auto exporter in the period, outpacing Japan.

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 18, 2023 shows vehicles waiting for shipment at Yantai Port in Yantai, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Zhu Zheng)

From January to May, China shipped 1.93 million vehicles overseas, up 80 percent year on year, according to GAC.

The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) earlier forecast that China's vehicle exports will reach approximately 4 million units this year. "If this trend continues, it is very likely that China will surpass Japan to become the world's largest auto exporter in 2023," said Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the CPCA.

SUPPORTIVE MEASURES

At the Tiexi factory of BBA in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, semi-trailers loaded with new cars can be seen rumbling out of the factory.

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)

"This batch of nearly 500 vehicles, all new energy vehicles (NEVs), enjoys a quick customs declaration procedure thanks to local preferential policies," said Chen Su, an employee of the foreign trade department of BBA, BMW's joint venture in China.

Various customized car-shipping routes for ro-ro ships have also been launched to spur exports.

Chinese auto giant SAIC Motor kicked off its maiden voyage in March with a new self-operated sea route connecting China's Ningde City with Mexico. Anji Phoenix, a ro-ro ship of SAIC with the largest capacity, set sail from Ningde Port, carrying the first batch of 1,000 MG models, to the port of Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico.

The launch of this new cargo shipping route is an active move by SAIC Motor to expand its overseas business. Thanks to the new route, the carmaker is able to transport vehicles, which roll off the production line of its Ningde base, directly to Mexico, said Wang Zemin, general manager of SAIC Anji Logistics Co., Ltd.

In 2022, SAIC's overseas market sales reached 1.017 million units. This is the first time that the annual overseas sales of a Chinese carmaker have crossed the 1-million mark. From January to May this year, SAIC sold 438,000 vehicles in overseas markets, up 47.7 percent year on year, continuing its strong upward momentum.

In addition to domestic auto manufacturers, an increasing number of foreign carmakers have established their presence in China. Their presence is instrumental in promoting the high-quality development of China's automotive sector and fostering a strong surge in auto exports.

Earlier this year, a batch of made-in-China Tesla electric vehicles was shipped from the Nangang wharf of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone to Thailand for the first time. According to Tesla China, its Shanghai Gigafactory delivered 710,000 vehicles in 2022, of which about 38 percent were exported overseas.

MULTIPLE MARKETS

NEVs are a highlight of China's vehicle exports. According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Chinese auto manufacturers exported 457,000 units of NEVs from January to May this year, an increase of 1.6 times over the same period last year.

Since 2020, China's electric car manufacturers have begun to enter the overseas mainstream automobile markets and become more competitive relying on their original technologies and targeted market strategies.

Targeting young consumers in Thailand, SAIC's NEV MG model is designed with an intelligent network interaction system that can understand Thai.

Thai consumers can directly interact with the "i-Smart" intelligent network system on MG cars in Thai language, which makes MG cars especially popular among young consumers, said Supakij Visedpaitoon, public relations manager of MG Sales (Thailand) Co., Ltd.

Participants attend the groundbreaking ceremony of a new energy industrial park of SAIC Motor-CP, a joint venture between SAIC Motor Corp and Charoen Pokphand Group, in Chon Buri, Thailand, April 30, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

In 2021, Europe replaced Asia as the biggest buyer of Chinese NEVs. SAIC has designed the NEV model MG MULAN to seize the European market.

"MG MULAN fully takes into account the preferences of European consumers from the design," said Andreas Kostelecky, managing director of MG Motor Austria. "European consumers like China's new technologies very much, and this car will become our best seller."

MG MULAN has so far hit nearly 30 European markets and will be available in more than 80 countries this year. Its sales volume in March broke the record of a single Chinese NEV model selling more than 10,000 units monthly in overseas markets.

In May, MG brands continued to perform excellently in Europe, with monthly sales reaching 21,000 units, up 170 percent year on year, ranking among the top in terms of NEVs sales in major European markets.

In Israel, China's electric carmaker BYD became the top-selling electric car brand from January to May, selling 8,497 electric cars. Geely Auto Group, another Chinese automaker, which sold 4,091 compact crossover Geometry C cars in the period, ranked second among all electric car brands.

Customers negotiate to purchase Geely's electric vehicle model Geometry C in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 21, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Junqing)

"China is far ahead of Europe and the United States in key core technologies such as pure electric vehicle platforms, fuel cell vehicles, power batteries, and third-generation semiconductors," said Ronen Yablon, general manager of Geely Israel. "In the future, Chinese auto brands will play a more important role on the global automotive stage and lead the development."

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Most of the arable lands in Nor Ghazanchi village of the Martakert Region of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has remained uncultivated due to security reasons, Nor Ghazanchi prefect Ruslan Arustamyan told Artsakhpress.

"After the war [in 2020], the village has come under direct enemy [i.e. Azerbaijani] fire. The arable lands belonging to the community are also under the target of the enemy's combat positions, and it is not possible to approach these areas and cultivate the land. We have managed to sow a very small amount of barley, beech, and potatoes. And the whole problem lies in the fact that the stock will not be enough for the villagers during the winter," Arustamyan said.

The head of Nor Ghazanchi village informed that due to the ongoing blockade of Artsakh by Azerbaijan, there is a shortage of diesel, flour, vegetable oil, and sugar in the village. But in case of dire need, or to take patients urgently to medical facilities of capital Stepanakert, the regional administration provides the necessary diesel fuel.

"After the war, the number of livestock [in Nor Ghazanchi] reduced considerably. Residents are not engaged in farming as before. Everyone cultivates only the land near their home," Arustamyan said, emphasizing, however, that the plagued challenges do not prevent the starting of new families in the village.

A few days ago, sporadic shotsfrom small armswere fired from the Azerbaijani combat position towards Chankatagh and neighboring Kichan and Nor Ghazanchi villages of the Martakert Region of Artsakh; as a result, several houses were damaged.
The final sitting of the 7th session of the 7th convocation Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) National Assembly (NA) was convened Thursday.

The first item on the agenda was the report on the progress and results of the Artsakh president's 2022 activity program and the 2023 activity program.

President Arayik Harutyunyan answered many questions of the MPsand which were related to the aforesaid program, the situation in Artsakh, the provocations of Azerbaijan, and the negotiation process.

CivilNet was in attendance to this sitting and noted the most important thoughts expressed during the question-and-answer session between the Artsakh MPs and the president.

In particular, the president stated why Artsakh should not accept Azerbaijan's proposal and go to its capital Baku to negotiate.

"Because Baku is discussing one topic with usintegration; it is not discussing a second topic. They say from various places: let's go, convince. I have tried, friends, I have tried for two years. If anyone thinks that I was a bad negotiator, [then] I did not negotiate, I did not go at the last phase. Those negotiations do not give results because at the end they come, say 'this is our goal,'" Harutyunyan said.

"They do not tell [this] only to us, they are telling that agenda at the UN, they are telling [it] yesterday and todayduring the Blinken-Mirzoyan-Bayramov meeting. Azerbaijan tells us: first point: to disband the [Artsakh] Defense Army. We will disband, then go to the meeting. Let me say the sequence: you go announce you have disbanded the army, you dissolve the [Artsakh] public administration system. They hardly create a mechanism for community elections, after which they will give the [natural] gas, give the electricity, and let come and go on the [Lachin] road," the Artsakh President noted.

"And it is clear how they will leave [the people of Artsakh] as a citizen of Azerbaijan. I am not against negotiations, I am not against meetings. I was the most engaged and conducted the most meetings. We shall realize that we will have problems; all of that is surmountable. People, we have two things to do: self-defense and increasing endurance. What have we done and what will we do in that regard? If there will be a wish, we will discuss separately," Arayik Harutyunyan said.
Cathay dismisses captain shortage concern

Cathay Pacific says some 250 pilots who left are re-joining the airline. File photo: RTHK

Cathay Pacific on Friday denied not having enough pilots to support its current flight schedule, saying work is underway to hire more workers with a view to returning to pre-Covid service capacity.



Hong Kong's flag carrier made the comment after its pilots' union said the plan to hire 800 cadet pilots in 2023-2024 would not solve its manpower crunch.



The Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association said Cathay is not short of cadets but need 670 more captains to resume normal operations.



Many of these cadets will make fine first officers and captains. However, this takes time and in the meantime Cathay and Hong Kong lacks experienced pilots in the cockpit to train a new generation of pilots and to recover as an aviation hub that can compete with places like Singapore, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the union's chairman, Paul Weatherilt, said.



"There are many Hong Kong pilots available but Cathay isnt prepared to pay a market rate for experience."



But Cathay dismissed these concerns, saying the numbers of leavers have "normalised" across all staff groups.



It added that 250 pilots, who had previously left the company, are re-joining the company.



"We have sufficient pilots, cabin crew and operational employees to support our current flight schedule. We are confident that our ongoing training, promotion and recruitment plans will ensure this remains the case as we rebuild," the airlines spokesperson said.



Cathay also said it is committed to providing competitive remuneration to its employees.
The recent technology agreements signed between India and the US open the door for Indias top telecom operator Reliance Jio to export its made in India end-to-end 5G stack and radio, reported citing officials aware of the development. The report said that once Jio starts exporting its homegrown telecom stack, it will open up another revenue stream for the telco.

India and the US have signed wide-ranging tech pacts, including the launch of two joint task forces on advanced telecoms, focused on Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) and research and development in 5G/6G technologies and public-private cooperation between vendors and operators led by Indias Bharat 6G Alliance and the US Next G Alliance, among others. The leaders welcomed participation of Indian companies in the U.S. Rip and Replace Program. They endorsed an ambitious vision for 6G networks, including standards cooperation, facilitating access to chipsets for system development, and establishing joint research and development projects, according to a joint statement released by the White House.

Prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit, Jio had submitted details to the government with respect to the readiness of its 5G solutions, and how it can contribute to the India-US partnership, as per the report.

Jios 5G stack comprises the 5G radio, a complete 5G core network, cloud infrastructure, and platforms to support cloud-based operations. However, it has not yet started mass deployment of its fifth-generation network solution and is instead deploying gear from Finlands Nokia and Swedens Ericsson in its 5G network, the report said.

Jio has all the resources with them to supply their own designed solutions to other countries. The company, however, will have to first test and deploy its solutions in India and get a certification for that before it can start exporting, Rakesh Bhatnagar, director general of VoICE consortium, was quoted as saying in the report.

To recall, oils-to-telecom giant Reliance Industries' arm, Reliance Strategic Business Ventures, had formed a joint venture with US-based Sanmina Corporation to make 4G and 5G equipment for global and domestic markets. The Reliance arm had said it will invest Rs 1,670 crore in the JV.
VMPL New Delhi [India], June 30: SaladO, India's largest salad brand, is on its mission to scale its operations by appointing State-Wise Partners across the country. After achieving tremendous success with its cloud kitchen model, SaladO is now gearing up for a significant expansion into the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) segment. The brand aims to establish SaladO Cafe outlets at prime locations such as airports, malls, IT parks, food hubs, and other prominent areas. Kamlesh Rohra, Co-Founder of SaladO, emphasizes the crucial role of strong local operations when venturing into the QSR model. He explains, "Operating a diverse range of restaurants from a central location results in significant operational costs. To overcome this challenge, SaladO is actively seeking robust State Partnerships across India. This strategic move will enhance our local operations and solidify our brand's presence in every nook and cranny of the country." The company SaladO has already forged successful partnerships in Karnataka and Telangana. It now sets its sights on securing formidable state partners in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Eastern States, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, Goa, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand. Abhishek Das, the CEO of SaladO, acknowledges that appointing State Partners may exert pressure on margins initially, but firmly believes that it will be instrumental in establishing a prominent brand presence and streamlining operations in the long run. With ambitions to become the leading global salad brand, SaladO's appointment of strong State Partners will enable the company to shift its focus toward international markets while ensuring consistent quality and uniformity. Kamlesh sheds light on the logistical challenges faced by the brand, stating, "Currently, we must transport all raw materials, premixes, packaging materials, and even kiosks from our flagship kitchen in Nashik, Maharashtra. This leads to increased final product prices due to logistics costs. However, by establishing robust sourcing networks on a state-wise basis, we aim to reduce overall production costs." Kamlesh says about the offerings in SaladO Cafe, "Indulge in a delightful array of flavors with our cafe menu, offering a diverse selection of salads, wraps, sandwiches, cold pressed juices, thick shakes, and aromatic tea/coffee. Whether you crave a refreshing and healthy option or a satisfying treat, we have something to suit every taste bud. Explore our extensive range and savor the joy of choice." When questioned about the criteria for selecting State Partners, Abhishek said, "We welcome individuals or entities with a strong business background and understanding to join us as State Partners. They should possess the necessary financial backing to execute our expansion plans successfully. Additionally, our State Partners must ensure the same exceptional taste experience throughout their respective states, replicating the quality we offer at our headquarters in Nashik." The industry is eager to see SaladO's stepping into the QSR segment through its parallel brand SaladO Cafe. Everyone is hopeful that the brand will establish itself in the cloud kitchen model and write its own fortune in the SaladO cafe venture. For more information visit: http://salado.in (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by VMPL. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
PRNewswire New Delhi [India], June 30: British Airways has officially opened 'CallBA', its new call centre located in Gurugram, near Delhi, offering an enhanced customer experience to travellers across the globe. The airline's Chairman and CEO, Sean Doyle, unveiled the new office space yesterday, where 1,400 highly trained colleagues offer round-the-clock support to thousands of customers from the US and Europe, through to Asia Pacific. CallBA has doubled in size since 2019, and the new facility comfortably accommodates the full team, with colleagues now using a cloud-based telephone system with call-flow management and access to insightful data to further personalise the customer experience. Sean Doyle, British Airways' Chairman and CEO, said: "British Airways has been flying to India since 1924, making it one of our longest-served and most valued destinations. This investment in our Customer Care team at CallBA is part of our vision to continually enhance and upgrade our customer service. As we continue to invest in our people and grow our customer service teams in the region, we remain committed to the country and its people as we build a better BA." The number of British Airways flights from India to London now exceeds pre-pandemic levels, with the airline operating 56 flights a week, to five Indian gateways: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. British Airways is also proud to partner with IndusInd Bank and joint business partner, Qatar Airways, with the launch of a new multi-branded airline credit card. From July, card holders will be able to collect Avios and elevate their travel experience, with benefits ranging from fast-track to meet-and-greet and concierge services. Indian customers travelling between Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore can enjoy the airline's newly designed Club Suite (business class) cabin, with direct-aisle access, a suite door for greater privacy and luxurious flat-bed seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. Flyers will also soon start to see the new British Airways uniform, as cabin crew, pilots and check-in agents switch over to the airline's first new uniform in 20 years. Features of the newly launched CallBA - British Airways has a long history of connecting the UK and India, and first flew to New Delhi in 1924. British Airways opened its first call centre in India in 2006.- The CallBA team also responds to customers using Live Chat through BA.com, this accounts for approximately 10% of customer contact and is growing.- CallBA's new location is a LEED Gold and GRIHA 4 certified building and has been evaluated as a 'green building' from its construction stage to operations.- It boasts of an energy-efficient double-glazed facade and beautiful green and open spaces throughout the building with ample natural light. There are over 10,000 plants all around the building, including in the car parks and offering staff green and natural surroundings and beautiful collaborative spaces. As a global airline and the UK's flag carrier, British Airways has been flying its customers to where they want to be for more than 100 years. The airline connects Britain with the world and the world with Britain, operating one of the most extensive international scheduled airline route networks together with its joint business, codeshare and franchise partners. British Airways flies to destinations in more than 65 countries. Its primary place of business is London, with its main home at Heathrow Terminal 5. In 2021, the airline won six Business Traveller Awards including Best Short-Haul Carrier, Best Airport Lounge, Best Frequent Flyer Programme, Best Travel App and Best New Seat. In September 2021, British Airways launched its sustainability programme, BA Better World, committing to put sustainability at the heart of everything it does and with a clear roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. British Airways is a founding member of the airline alliance oneworld, which serves around 1,000 destinations across the globe. The latest information on the measures British Airways is taking to ensure its customers have a safe experience when travelling can be found on ba.com. The British Airways press office can be contacted at press.office@ba.com. To book visit BA.com and connect on Facebook @BritishAirways and Instagram @british_airways. (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
PNN New Delhi [India], June 30: On July 1st, 2023, Betasaurus proudly marks its 6th anniversary as a prominent player in the digital marketing industry. This milestone not only celebrates their remarkable journey of success and excellence but also signifies the launch of Betasaurus Global, the company's official presence in the UAE with a setup in Dubai. Led by visionary founder Mohit Badaya, Betasaurus has achieved significant milestones, forged strategic partnerships, and recently relocated to a new office, solidifying their position as a leading digital marketing agency. 1. A Legacy of Achievements: Since its inception, Betasaurus has consistently achieved remarkable feats that have propelled their growth and reputation. Notable achievements include: - A rapid expansion of their client portfolio, serving businesses across various industries and delivering exceptional results. - Recognition and awards for their innovative campaigns, showcasing their ability to drive brand success through strategic digital marketing initiatives. - Mohit Badaya's credentials as a certified marketing professional from esteemed institutions such as Google, Facebook, HubSpot, and ISB, adding expertise and credibility to Betasaurus's services. 2. Strategic Partnerships and Collaborations: Betasaurus has forged strategic alliances with key partners, amplifying their capabilities and delivering comprehensive solutions to clients. Noteworthy partnerships include: - Collaboration with leading technology providers, enabling Betasaurus to leverage cutting-edge tools and platforms for campaign execution and optimization. - Synergistic efforts with industry influencers and thought leaders, fostering thought leadership initiatives and knowledge sharing. 3. Unprecedented Growth and Expansion: Betasaurus has experienced unparalleled growth, expanding its footprint both domestically and internationally. Key highlights include: - Launching Betasaurus Global in Dubai, solidifying their presence in the UAE and positioning themselves as a go-to digital marketing partner in the region. - Opening a new office space that reflects Betasaurus's commitment to providing a collaborative and inspiring work environment for their talented team. - Penetrating global markets through successful campaigns and partnerships, demonstrating Betasaurus's ability to deliver results on a global scale. 4. Betasaurus Global: A New Chapter Begins: The launch of Betasaurus Global in Dubai on July 1st, 2023, marks an exciting milestone in the company's history. This expansion enables Betasaurus to better serve clients in the UAE and the broader Middle East region, providing tailored digital marketing solutions to drive growth and success. 5. The New Office: A Hub of Innovation and Collaboration: Betasaurus's recent relocation to a new office space reflects their commitment to fostering creativity, collaboration, and employee well-being. The office boasts modern amenities and a vibrant atmosphere that fuels innovation, enabling the team to deliver cutting-edge solutions to their clients. 6. Expansions and Future Plans: Betasaurus's journey of success and growth continues as they embark on exciting expansions and set ambitious future plans. Here are some key highlights: - Market Penetration: Betasaurus aims to strengthen its market presence and expand its client base across various industries. By leveraging their expertise and innovative strategies, they seek to empower businesses with tailored digital marketing solutions that drive growth, increase brand visibility, and maximize ROI. - Innovation and Service Enhancement: Betasaurus is dedicated to continuous innovation and service enhancement. They invest in research and development to identify new strategies, techniques, and technologies that can further elevate their clients' digital marketing efforts. By staying agile and adaptive, Betasaurus ensures they are well-equipped to meet the evolving needs of the digital landscape. By focusing on these expansions and future plans, Betasaurus is poised to solidify its position as a leading digital marketing agency and continue delivering exceptional results for their clients. With their unwavering commitment to innovation, customer satisfaction, and business growth, Betasaurus is well-prepared to navigate the ever-changing digital landscape and thrive in the years to come. As Betasaurus celebrates its 6th anniversary, it embarks on a new chapter with the launch of Betasaurus Global in Dubai. This milestone, combined with their impressive achievements, strategic partnerships, and new office space, solidifies Betasaurus's position as a leader in the digital marketing industry. Guided by visionary founder Mohit Badaya and driven by a talented team, Betasaurus is poised to continue empowering businesses with innovative digital marketing solutions, both locally and internationally. https://betasaurusglobal.com/ (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
IMC New Delhi [India], June 30: As June arrives, it becomes apparent that brands worldwide are altering their logos, packaging, and marketing collateral with vibrant rainbow hues. However, an essential piece seems to be absent--a proactive effort that impacts the community on ground. To encourage LGBTQIA+ entrepreneurs and help their retail businesses grow, Borzo (erstwhile WeFast) has taken the initiative to promote select Retail and D2C brands and perform free deliveries for them. The Retail brands who are part of this initiative are Ash.co Store, an apparel and clothing brand, Mutant Momo Originals, a trendy Printed T-shirt brand, Salsette Collective, a scarves and stoles brand and Raunak's Kitchen, a Home bakery brand. To amplify their reach, Borzo invited the founders of these brands to showcase their diverse range of offerings and created a special Q&A series on their Social Media handles to address queries, dispel myths and doubts surrounding LGBTQIA+ community. In order to encourage entrepreneurship and support the LGBTQIA+ community, Borzo has taken conscious efforts to promote these Retail and D2C businesses belonging to entrepreneurs Ashly Nelson, Suryansh Deo, Francis D'costa & Nisha Castelino , Gunjan Jha respectively. As a part of this collaboration, Borzo not only provided free delivery services for these retail brands but also actively promoted their products and services to a wider audience. In addition to the retail brands, Borzo has also extended its support to off-beat entrepreneurs, such as Tarot Reader Chang Dasgupta, as part of their pride month initiative. By recognizing and empowering these individuals, Borzo aims to break barriers and champion entrepreneurship that transcends societal norms. "At Borzo, we firmly believe in creating an environment where equal opportunities thrive and everyone's talents and abilities are valued. To achieve this, we are dedicated to implementing programs and initiatives ensuring that the LGBTQIA+ community feels happy and included. By actively highlighting LGBT causes, actively uplifting individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community by means of promoting their business, hiring and creating workplace engaging in open discussions about community's issues, we can pave the way for a more inclusive society. India has 63 million MSME's but there's no data about the MSMEs owned by the community members. Hence, our conscious efforts and initiatives involve various communities to create a synergy and make a mark in the lives of the people thereby contributing in a distinguished form to the society." added Devesh Gangal, Country Marketing Manager, Borzo, India. (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by IMC. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
India PR Distribution Hanoi [Vietnam], June 30: With the National Assembly approving an extension of tourist e-visa validity from one to three months, foreigners can enter and exit Vietnam any number of times within 90 days without having to go through the procedures of applying for a new visa. The legislative body approved on 24 June, 2023 a government proposal to extend the validity of tourist e-visas to 90 days, which earlier was 30 days, allowing visitors multiple entries to Vietnam. The 15th National Assembly passed the law on amendments to Foreigners' Entry, Exit, Transit, and Residence in Vietnam with 470 out of 475 members present voting in favour. As decided, the new law comes into effect on August 15, 2023. After the new law takes effect, visitors from certain countries that are unilaterally exempted from visas by Vietnam will be granted visa-free stays for 45 days. These countries include Japan, South Korea, and some Western European countries. Currently, they can visit Vietnam for 15 days without a visa. Lawmakers approved the issuance of multi-entry visas intending to reduce the administrative burden. They say that it would also save time and money. Le Tan Toi, the head of the NA Committee for Defence and Security said that a three-month e-visa would meet the demand of foreign visitors who wish to stay longer to explore investment opportunities. He added that immigration procedures to be implemented online would promote efficiency in managing entry and exit activities and create more favourable conditions for Vietnamese and foreigners. Currently, Vietnam offers e-visas to nationals of 80 countries and territories and waives visas for 25 countries, generally between 15-30 days, a policy considered less accommodating than its neighbouring countries. On being granted, visitors from foreign countries can enter and exit the country multiple times within 90 days with a one-time visa approved. The extension of e-visa validity will be a sigh of relief for those desiring a longer stay to explore more of Vietnam. This groundbreaking decision will open new growth corridors for Vietnam's tourism industries. With the approval, Vietnam's tourism with valid reasons is set to see a boost in the number of foreign visitors having a Vietnam trip in mind. Being ever more optimistic, industry experts believe that the decision will change the fortunes of Vietnam tourism, making the country a leading destination for fun and recreation. Travel agencies offering Vietnam Visa and Vietnam packages will take advantage of the decision right from the travelling season, which starts in September. This will also help the government to achieve the goal of eight million foreign tourists this year. As of the end of April 2023, Vietnam achieved half of its goal set for the year, by welcoming nearly 3.7 million international arrivals. These figures indicate that Vietnam's tourism rebound is still underway. The goal for 2023 is far less modest compared to the country's record 18 million foreign arrivals in 2019. The extension of e-visa validity from 30 days to 90 days will hopefully attract more tourists and investors from across the globe, allowing Vietnam to achieve its 2023 goal. Since the approval will support tourism in Vietnam, travel agencies will leverage the opportunities to thrive and grow at a pace they have never been. Akbar Travels, one of the leading travel agencies offering affordable yet all-inclusive Vietnam tour packages, will be no exception to making the most of this golden opportunity. With over 40 years of experience in processing visa applications from and for all countries and 150+ offices in India, the Middle East, Europe, the US, and the UK for 24/7 customer support, Akbar Travels stands to cater to the needs of travellers having foreign trips in mind. We ensure 100% smooth, seamless ONLINE visa processes. With us, you need only 2 documents (passport & photograph) to process Vietnam visas online. Families, individuals, and couples planning to explore Vietnam shortly can approach a travel agency to apply for Vietnam Visas online. However, not all agencies are the same. Nor do they offer the same packages and services at the same prices. This requires you to be a little more selective about the agency. Choosing the right agency will ensure a seamless visa process, a hassle-free flight to Vietnam, and a memorable stay in this dream destination. (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by India PR Distribution. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
India PR Distribution New Delhi [India], June 30: Epoch Elder Care, an expert in assisted living and dementia care services in India has recently achieved a milestone with the publication of its first research study in the International Journal of Science and Research. The research study, titled "Dementia Management Knowledge, Medicine Attitude and Practice of Nurses, Executive Staff and Management from Three Homes of Epoch," sheds light on critical aspects of dementia care. The research paper, authored by Dr. Prem Narasimhan, Chief Consultant Geriatric Medicine at Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre, and research intern Aditi Sharma - Epoch Elder Care, delves into the knowledge, attitude, and practice pertaining to professional caregiving and specific needs of the elderly dealing with dementia at Epoch by nurses, care attendants, and management across three Epoch homes, who completed a minimum period of six months in Epoch Elder Care. The study explores the role of training of caregivers as a key contributor to dementia management and aims to enhance understanding to improve the quality of care provided to elders living with dementia. The research study encompassed a detailed survey questionnaire, consisting of both open-ended and close-ended questions around the three domains - Knowledge, attitude, and practice. By examining these key factors, the research aimed to elucidate on the holistic and professional approach of caregiving at Epoch. This attainment of Epoch's research paper publishing underscores the organization's expertise and commitment to advancing the field of elder care. "Dementia is not a homogenous condition, which means elders with the same diagnosis may have varying symptoms and different disease trajectories. The role of training, orientation and creating awareness about the condition plays a significant role in the prognosis and care management strategies on ground. Through the study we wanted to validate the above hypothesis and also understand which areas of training we need to improve on." said Neha Sinha, Co-founder & CEO, Epoch Elder Care. Dr. Prem Narasimhan, Chief Consultant of Geriatric Medicine at JASLOK HOSPITAL & RESEARCH CENTRE added, "Dementia is a very challenging condition for both the patient and the caregiver. Taking care of an older adult with dementia needs knowledge and specific skills .These skills need to be imparted by training professional caretakers for an enhanced level of care for these older adults.Training has to be done periodically as updating skills forms a strong pillar of dementia care." Epoch Elder Care was founded in 2012, which specializes in providing dementia care services and premium assisted living for elders with more than 10 years of relevant experience, having served over 400+ seniors through its elder care homes in Delhi NCR & Pune. Epoch aims to provide holistic care that enables elders to have the highest quality and dignity at the end of life. Owing to its person-centered philosophy of care and believes in focusing on the person's emotional well-being as much as the medical condition. For a more in-depth look at a one-of-its-kind research paper, visit https://lnkd.in/dP4bKyHk & to know more about Epoch Elder Care visit www.epocheldercare.com (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by India PR Distribution. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same)
SRV Media New Delhi [India], June 30: The UPSC Exam, known for its rigorous selection process, is a gateway to the prestigious civil services in India. Aspirants from all corners of the country invest their time, effort, and dedication to crack this highly competitive examination. BestCurrentAffairs.com understands the challenges faced by UPSC aspirants and has developed a holistic approach to support them on their journey. The UPSC Prelims 2024 exam demands rigorous preparation and a thorough understanding of current affairs. BestCurrentAffairs.com emerges as a savior for aspirants, offering meticulously crafted notes that cover the latest events, provide context and analysis, and foster a comprehensive knowledge base. The benefits of using BestCurrentAffairs.com's notes include timely updates, relevance, simplified language, in-depth analysis, and well-organized compilations. Aspirants seeking success in UPSC Prelims 2024 can leverage the advantages of BestCurrentAffairs.com's notes to gain a competitive edge and inch closer to their dream of becoming civil servants. Rupinderjeet Singh, academic head of BestCurrentAffairs.com said, "Our program is designed to instill confidence, foster critical thinking, and develop a well-rounded understanding of the subjects. We aim to provide aspirants with the necessary tools and knowledge to dominate the UPSC Exam 2024." With an unwavering commitment to aspirants' success, BestCurrentAffairs.com has already helped numerous candidates realize their dreams of becoming civil servants. Their track record speaks volumes about the effectiveness of their program and the quality of their resources. To dominate UPSC Prelims 2024, you must first understand the exam pattern inside out. Familiarize yourself with the number of papers, their structure, and the weightage of each section. By understanding the exam's blueprint, you can allocate your time and energy effectively, focusing on the areas that carry maximum marks. Remember, knowledge is power, and strategic planning is your key to domination. Build a Strong Foundation with Comprehensive Study Material The UPSC Prelims demands a strong foundation in multiple subjects. To dominate the exam, you need access to comprehensive study material that covers the entire syllabus. Seek out reliable resources that provide concise yet comprehensive notes, making it easier for you to grasp complex topics. Consolidate your knowledge with regular revisions and practice questions to enhance your understanding and retention. Stay Updated with Current Affairs Current affairs play a pivotal role in the UPSC Prelims exam. The ability to connect real-world events with the exam's questions can be a game-changer. Make it a habit to read newspapers, watch news channels, and follow credible online platforms that provide reliable current affairs updates. Stay abreast of national and international events, government policies, and social issues. This knowledge will give you an edge, enabling you to tackle current affairs-related questions with confidence. Develop Strong Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills UPSC Prelims 2024 requires more than just memorization; it demands analytical and problem-solving skills. Practice solving previous years' question papers, take mock tests, and participate in group discussions to enhance your analytical thinking. Develop the ability to apply your knowledge to practical scenarios and think critically. This skill set will not only help you ace the exam but also excel in your future role as a civil servant. Embrace Smart Time Management Techniques Time management is crucial when it comes to dominating UPSC Prelims 2024. Create a study schedule that allows you to cover the entire syllabus systematically. Prioritize your subjects based on their weightage and difficulty level. Break down your preparation into smaller, manageable tasks, and set achievable milestones. Remember to include regular breaks and relaxation activities to avoid burnout. By optimizing your time, you can maximize your efficiency and increase your chances of success. The UPSC Prelims 2024 is not for the faint-hearted. It demands dedication, perseverance, and a well-rounded preparation strategy. By mastering the exam pattern, building a strong foundation with comprehensive study material, staying updated with current affairs, developing analytical skills, and embracing smart time management techniques, you can position yourself to dominate the exam and embark on a fulfilling career in the civil services. Remember, success is within your reach. It's time to step up, take charge, and pave your way to a brighter future. Dominate UPSC Prelims 2024 and let your journey to greatness begin! Website: https://bestcurrentaffairs.com/ Phone: 9463737373 (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)
Taking to Instagram, Aayush treated fans with the announcement along with a still from the movie.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CuG25cKKD_8/

Sharing the picture, he wrote, "Gun Aur Guitar Dono neeche rakh diye hain.. it's a wrap of a beautiful journey called #ruslaan .. Cant thank everyone who worked on this movie and helped us cross the finishing line. Very soon will unwrap the world of #ruslaan to all of you."

With two interesting sides of Ruslaan's personality, the film has been generating interest with the tagline 'Gun Bhi Guitar Bhi', representing the rock star side and the power-packed, high-on action side to the character.

Earlier the teaser of the film received a love and appreciation.

Beaming with his innate swag, suave personality and infectious charm, Aayush performed high-octane and stylised action in the short teaser offering a glimpse into the adrenaline rush the film has to offer, shot against the picturesque locations across India and Azerbaijan.

'Ruslaan' also stars debutante Sushrii Mishraa, veteran South star Jagapathi Babu, and Vidya Malavade.

Produced by KK Radhamohan, under the banner of Srisathyasai Arts, the action entertainer stars Aayush Sharma as the lead. Directed by Katyayan Shivpuri, the film is slated for release in 2023. (ANI)
The Basaguda Commander of Naxal has given cash to the accused Mahesh Badse for depositing in different banks. About Rs 1.20 lakh has been deposited till now, said a police official on Thursday.

The Reserve Bank of India recently withdrew the Rs 2000 currency note from circulation.

Further investigation is on.

Meanwhile, Naxals had killed two villagers in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, on Thursday, a police official said.

According to the District Sukma Police, the Naxals killed two villagers named Madvi Ganga (Deputy Sarpanch of Tadmetla) and Kawasi Sukka (Shikshadoot) by holding 'Jan Adalat' (people's court) on June 28.

"Deputy Sarpanch Madvi was making villagers & rural children aware of the benefits of public welfare schemes like the Aadhaar Card, Ration Card, Food Scheme, and Ayushman Card. Kawasi Sukka was teaching the children in sensitive areas like Tadmetla so that they could contribute to the development of society and the area", the police said.

The police further said, "As naxals were losing their ground because people are getting aware and educated, they killed Sukka out of frustration." (ANI)
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge lashed at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at centre and in Manipur for blocking Rahul Gandhi's visit to meet the affected people, despite having valid permission from the local administration that he could visit the places by road. "History is witness to the fact that whenever Rahul Gandhi has resolved to visit an affected place, come what may, he reaches there", party Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate told reporters at the AICC headquarters here on Thursday. Condemning the Manipur government's action, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on Twitter, "Shri @RahulGandhi's convoy in Manipur has been stopped by the police near Bishnupur. He is going there to meet the people suffering in relief camps and to provide a healing touch in the strife-torn state". Pointing out Prime Minister Modi's silence, he said, "PM Modi has not bothered to break his silence on Manipur. He has left the state to fend for itself. Now, his double-engine disastrous governments are using autocratic methods to stall a compassionate outreach by Rahul Gandhi. This is totally unacceptable and shatters all Constitutional and Democratic norms. Manipur needs peace, not confrontation". Rahul Gandhi, after reaching Manipur, said on Thursday in a Facebook post, "landed in Manipur today, where I will be visiting relief camps and meeting the families of those affected by the violence that has engulfed the State. I will also be meeting with members of the civil society. Restoration of peace is the top priority. Manipur needs healing, and only together we can bring harmony". Criticising the government's action to stop Gandhi from visiting the affected areas, Congress general secretary in charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh wrote on Twitter, "It is most unfortunate that the Modi Govt is preventing @RahulGandhi from visiting relief camps and interacting with the people outside Imphal". "His 2-day visit to Manipur is in the spirit of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The Prime Minister may choose to remain silent or be inactive but why stop Rahul Gandhi's efforts to listen to all sections of the Manipuri society and provide a healing touch?", he asked. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on her Twitter handle, "It is the duty of every patriot to try and work for peace and harmony. Shri Rahul Gandhi has gone to Manipur to share the pain of people there and convey the message of peace. The BJP government should also do the same thing. Why does the government want to stop Rahul Gandhi Ji from going there?" Briefing reporters at the AICC headquarters here, Congress spokesperson and Chairperson of Social Media and Digital Platforms, Ms Supriya Shrinate, said, come what may, Rahul Gandhi will visit the affected areas and meet the affected people.She said, when it should have been Prime Minister Modi himself who should be visiting Manipur, which has been burning for the last two months, his government was preventing those like Rahul Gandhi who wanted to provide a healing touch and wipe the tears of those who have suffered. Shrinate pointed out, PM Modi had all the time to campaign and review party programmes like "mera booth sabse mazboot", but he had no time for Manipur. She pointed out, even after two months, the Prime Minister had not condemned the violence in Manipur and nor had he appealed for peace there. The Congress spokesperson said, no matter how much the "double engine troublesome government" of the centre and Manipur may try to stop Rahul Gandhi, history is witness to the fact that he (Rahul Gandhi) has reached all those places he resolved to visit. She said it was not the first time that the BJP government had done so as he had been stopped on his way to Hathras and Lakhimpur Kheri also. (ANI)
The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of the plea filed by the wife of gangster Sanjiv Maheshwari Jeeva, an aide of gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who was shot dead on June 7 in a Lucknow court, seeking relief for her husband observing it has become infructuous now. A bench of justices Abhay S Oka and KV Vishwanathan disposed of the plea filed by Payal Maheshwari challenging Allahabad High Court which declined to give any relief to the petitioner. The court noted that the petition will not serve any purpose as the petitioner is seeking relief for her husband who is no more. The court also observed that the petition has become infructuous. The court said that since the petitioner's husband is no more, no relief can be granted. However, the petitioner's counsel insisted on hearing the plea and said that probe was not conducted properly on the incident and therefore the petition should be heard. Earlier on June 9, the Supreme Court declined the urgent listing of the plea filed by the wife of gangster Sanjiv Maheshwari Jeeva, seeking no coercive action so that she could attend her deceased husband's post-funeral rites. The gangster has been accused in several cases including the murder of former UP minister Brahma Dutt Dwivedi, who was shot dead outside a crowded courtroom in Lucknow on Wednesday. In 2003, he was awarded a life sentence by the High Court for Dwivedi's murder in 1997 and was lodged in Lucknow jail. He was being taken to the SC-ST court to attend a hearing in a 2015 attempt to murder case when a man dressed as a lawyer fired at him. (ANI)
The Himachal Pradesh government has put the entire state on alert amid a rain warning. Naresh Chauhan, the Principal Media Advisor to the Chief Minister, said that all the Deputy Commissioners have been put on alert and are prepared to deal with the rain disaster. So far during the past six days, a loss of Rs. 219.54 crore has been estimated and 20 people have lost their lives. Nearly 30 roads are closed, 88 water supply schemes are hampered and 11 water supply schemes are disrupted in the state. Since June 24, after the arrival of the monsoon, five houses, 21 cow sheds and two shops were fully damaged, 30 houses were partially damaged, and 352 cattle also died due to floods. "During the past few days, due to heavy rainfall, 20 people have lost their lives, most of these are road accidents and six cases out of this are drowning. Almost all roads are open, apart from a few rural areas. Those who want to come to Himachal Pradesh are welcome here as everything is open in the state," said Naresh Chauhan, Principal Media advisor to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhwinder Sukhu. "There are chances of the flash flood only on rivulets and river banks; an advisory has been issued in this regard. We are well prepared in some parts of the state. Water and electricity supply is hampered and is also being restored. The Chief Minister has directed all the districts to be on alert for the entire monsoon season," he added. On Thursday, Shimla Police said that it will deploy guards on the banks of the rivers in the district to prevent drowning cases in the region. The move came amid a surge in drowning cases due to the ongoing monsoon season and heavy rainfall in the region. In this regard, Superintendent of Police Shimla District Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said that along with River Guards near the rivers, signage would be placed which will mention not to go near the banks of the river. (ANI)
The DMK on Friday hit back at Governor RN Ravi for dismissing jailed DMK minister V Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect. The move, however, was later put in abeyance for the time being, sources said. DMK MP and senior advocate P. Wilson described the Governor's move as an "affront to the Constitution". He accused the Governor of not conducting himself according to the Constitution. "It is an affront to the Constitution. He (Governor) doesn't want to conduct himself in accordance with the Constitution. So, the CM has rightly disregarded his letter. He has rightly shown it the place where it has to be," P. Wilson said. Negating the Governor's statement that the Home Minister had asked him to get advice from the Attorney General, Wilson said, "He says that the Home Minister has told him to get advice from the Attorney General. One need not get advice from the Attorney General if you read Article 164 of the Constitution, that itself is sufficient." Disregarding the Governor's contentious move and hinting that Chief Minister Stalin will be replying to his letter, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu said, "This Government totally disregards the act of the Governor. Today CM MK Stalin would write a reply letter to the Governor." Questioning the intention behind the step, Thennarasu said, "Senthil Balaji is under judicial custody, how can he, a minister without a portfolio affect the investigation on him?" Earlier on Friday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had said the state government would challenge the governor's decision legally. Speaking to reporters, Stalin said, "Governor doesn't have the right (to dismiss a sitting minister) and we will face this legally." In an official release, Raj Bhavan had said on Friday, "Minister V Senthil Balaji is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of corruption cases including taking cash for jobs and money laundering...Under these circumstances, Governor has dismissed him from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect." Balaji was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on June 14 in a cash-for-jobs scam. He was later admitted to a government hospital in Chennai after he complained of chest pains. He was allowed by the Madras High Court on June 15 to be shifted to a private hospital of his choice. (ANI)
Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court on Friday summoned the trial court related to the Pul Bangash case and the CBI's FIR in the matter against Congress leader Jagdish Tytler. The CBI earlier filed a supplementary charge sheet against Tytler in the matter. This matter is at the stage of consideration of the chargesheet. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidhi Gupta Anand summoned the record room in charge along with the case file, from Karkardooma Court, on the next date of hearing. The court has also asked the premier central probe agency to expedite the process of obtaining the FSL report of Tytler's voice sample. Senior advocate HS Phoolka, appearing for the riot victims, requested the court to give a direction to expedite the process of the FSL report. The matter was listed for further hearing on July 6. During the hearing, the court observed that a closure report was filed by the CBI in 2007. A chargesheet was filed against another accused and the matter went to trial. The court noted further that the FIR isn't there and neither was the investigating officer present on Friday. "I have to see all those documents. Let the trial court records come," the ACMM said. Those records would be required to consider the case, she added. The CBI, last month, filed a supplementary chargesheet against Tytler in a case related to the killing of three Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The CBI filed the chargesheet on May 20 in Rouse Avenue Court. This case is connected with the killing of three persons in the Pul Bangash area on November 1, 1984. The anti-Sikh riots followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In the supplementary chargesheet, Tytler, who was an MP at the time of the riots, was named as accused in the chargesheet. In a statement, CBI mentioned that it had registered a case in November 2005 on an incident on November 1, 1984, in which Gurudwara Pul Bangash at Azad Market, Bara Hindu Rao, in the national capital was set on fire by a mob and three persons -- Sardar Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh -- were burnt to death near Gurudwara Pul Bangash. The Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice Nanavati, was set up in 2000 by the central government to inquire into the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. After consideration of the commission's report, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a direction to the CBI to investigate the case against Tytler and others. During the probe, the CBI claimed that it had collected evidence that the then Congress MP instigated, incited and provoked the mob assembled at Gurudwara Pul Bangash at Azad Market, following which the gurdwara was burned down and three Sikhs were killed. Shops nearby were burnt and looted as well, the CBI alleged. (ANI)
In a scathing attack on Ashok Gehlot's government, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that Gehlot's government is number-1 in corruption. "Gehlot Ji's government is on number-1 one in corruption. This government has done the work of breaking all the records of corruption. Gehlot ji broke all the promises he had made," Shah said while addressing a rally in Rajasthan's Udaipur on the completion of nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. He criticized Gehlot for failing to fulfill his promises and highlighted the need for his government to step down. He further said that "Gehlot ji is roaming here and there at this age but there is no use as the time has come for his government to end." Observing the overwhelming support from the crowd at the rally, Shah confidently asserted that the BJP would form a majority government in the 2023 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Pointing to the massive crowd at the rally, Amit Shah said, " I can see on the ground in Mewar that the BJP is going to form the government with full majority in 2023 Assembly polls as well as in 2024 Lok Sabh apolls." Union Home Minister said that the nine years of the Modi government have been about the welfare of the poor. He stressed that the respect PM Modi got during his foreign visits is the respect people have for India. "The respect PM Modi is getting across the world is the respect not of BJP or anyone else, it is the respect of 130 crore people of this country," he said. Shah further highlighted that 80 lakh farmers have received Rs 16,000 crores directly in their bank accounts and said, "80 lakh farmers have received Rs 16,000 crores directly in their bank accounts. This has been done by our PM Narendra Modi. PM Modi has ensured that fresh drinking water reaches the homes of 43 lakh families in Rajasthan." Rajasthan will face assembly polls later this year. (ANI)
The draft of the proposed Uniform Civil Code for Uttarakhand is complete and the report of the expert Committee along with the draft code would soon be printed and submitted to the Government of Uttarakhand. This announcement was made by the Expert Committee, which was appointed last year to work on the Uniform Civil Code. The report will go to the state Cabinet and it will decide whether to table it in the state legislature, the committee informed. Uttarakhand UCC said that all due care has been taken in preparing the draft and the aim is to bring equality and dignity across sections. They stated that they have received a significant response in favour of the UCC, although some opposing views were also expressed. "We have got an overwhelming response in support of UCC, and some views also came against also, stated the panelists. The committee said that it has painstakingly taken into account all shades of opinions and looked into the various statutes and uncodified laws including the statutory framework in select countries. The expert panel said that statistical analysis and empirical data were also included in the draft. It further mentioned that 10 million is the total population of Uttarakhand. We got more than 2.31 lakh in written suggestions. It is a good sample size that has been considered. Besides the Committee has tried to understand the finer nuances of the various customary practices that prevail in different parts of the State. The committee stated that it has also interacted with the representatives of political parties, state statutory commissions as well as with leaders of various religious denominations. Doctors and experts have also been consulted, issues such as the age of marriage, and age of consent issues have been considered. Issues such as Live-in, LGBT, and child marriages all have been discussed. The Chairperson of the Law Commission of India had requested interaction with the members of the Expert Committee. This interaction was held on June 2, 2023, wherein members as well as chairpersons of both the Law Commission and the Expert Committee were present. The Uttarakhand government last year had formed a five-member committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to prepare a draft on the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state. Chairman ( retired Supreme Court Justice) Ranjana Prakash Desai is a former judge of the Supreme Court. The committee also included Retd. Justice Permod Kohli as well as other members include Manu Gaur, Retd IAS MR Shatrughna Singh, Prof. Surekha Dangwal and Ajay Mishra, who is the Secretary of the panel. The Government of Uttarakhand constituted an Expert Committee to examine the various existing laws regulating personal civil matters of the residents of Ut tarakhand. The notification in this regard was issued on May 27, 2022, and the terms of reference were notified on June 10 2022. The Committee held its first meeting on July 4, 2022. Since then, the Committee has met 63 times. A sub-committee was constituted last year to elicit public opinion by inviting written submissions as well as by organising public dialogue programs. The sub-committee began its public outreach program from the border tribal village Mana and visited 40 different places in the State covering all the districts, which culminated in a public discussion in Delhi on June 14 2023 with participation from the residents of Uttarakhand staying in the National Capital Region. The sub-committee met 143 times in Dehradun and other places. (ANI)
The Youth Congress delegation has invited Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to inaugurate the national program "Behtar Bharat Buniyadi" which will be held next month by the National Youth Congress.

"A delegation from the Youth Congress invited me to inaugurate the national program "Behtar Bharat Buniyadi" to be held next month by the National Youth Congress. Empowering youth through right guidance and appropriate opportunities will lay the foundation for stronger nation," CM Siddaramaiah tweeted.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) Joint Secretary and the Youth Congress in charge Krishna Alavaru, Youth Congress National President B.V. Srinivas and Rashtriya Yuva Congress General Secretary M.S Raksha Ramaiah met the Chief Minister and submitted a request. Chief Minister's Political Secretary Govindaraju was present on the occasion.

The "Behtar Bharat Buniyadi" conference is being held in Bangalore for three days and aims to take the youth power in the country in the right direction through the youth group.

Raksha Ramaiah said that this is the biggest youth conference being held as a prelude to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, and senior party leaders and experts will guide the youth group on various issues for three days. (ANI)
Meanwhile, Mukesh Agnihotri also met Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka DK Shivakumar.

"Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri calls on Congress National President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka Shri DK Shivakumar during his stay in Delhi," Himachal Pradesh Deputy CM tweeted in Hindi.

Earlier on June 27, Himachal Deputy Chief Minister stressed on the importance of public support in the fight against drugs.

The programme was organised under the Haroli Vidhan Sabha and the event was based on the theme 'Walk for Life', an initiative against drugs, said officials.

Addressing a huge public meeting at Kangar Maidan in Haroli after a brisk walk of about three kilometres, the DCM said that every house would be connected in this fight against drugs.

"Every household would be linked against drugs and efforts would be made to root out drugs with public cooperation," said Agnihotri.

The DCM also thanked Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla for attending the program as the chief guest and mentioned the Governor's repeated concerns about drug abuse in the state. (ANI)
"At about 11:10 am, in a pharmaceutical lab, when a solvent was being loaded into a container, some short circuit occurred and the solvent exploded. There were 35 people working, and 7 were injured. The injured have been shifted to the hospital," ASP PSN Rao, Anakapalli told ANI.

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"Precautionary measures are being taken and the fire tenders are here. The fire will be brought under control, ' he added.

Upon receiving information about the fire, police teams and fire tenders rushed to the site.

The fire was caused due to a sudden reactor blast, according to the Superintendent of Police, Anakapalli Murali Krishna.

District Fire Officer, Lakshman Rao, said that eight fire tenders rushed to the spot and four more are on the way.

The operation is still underway, as the fire is still not doused at the lab.

As of now, no casualties have been reported.

Further updates are awaited. (ANI)
Dustin DuBois and Ryan Wells, at home on June 30, 2023, plan to marry in October. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Ryan Wells was at the gym Friday when the family text thread on his phone lit up with the news: The Supreme Court had issued a decision finding a wedding website designer can deny service to same-sex couples.

Wells, 40, is in the midst of planning his own wedding to Dustin DuBois. The couple, who are raising 8-year-old twins, havent encountered any discrimination as they plan their October nuptials.

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But we live in Chicago, Wells said. My heart goes out to people who live in other parts of the country who dont have as many options.

DuBois, 33, who works as a web designer, said as creatives, we provide a service to the public. It is irrespective of who we are serving.

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The couple were among several people across Illinois who denounced Fridays ruling, which sided with a Colorado website designer on free speech grounds. The designer, Lorie Smith, objected to serving same-sex couples based on her Christian religion.

Reactions rang out from the governors office, Chicago mayors office, state representatives and LGBTQ community members, though it is not immediately clear how the courts 6-3 decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis could affect antidiscrimination protections in place in Illinois.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the courts decision allows LGBTQ discrimination to pervade under the guise of free speech.

LGBTQ Americans deserve the same protections and rights as everyone else, Pritzker said in a news release. Make no mistake: In Illinois, I promise that we will continue to fight to ensure you are respected and safe no matter who you love.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a news release the ruling not only violates principles of equality but opens the door to an extremely dangerous precedent. He called on institutional leaders and stakeholders to continue to protect these rights in Chicago.

Local policymakers are not certain how the Supreme Courts decision might affect state protections.

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat and the only openly lesbian member of the General Assembly, called the ruling very chilling. Cassidy is chair of the working group to address attacks on rights by the Supreme Court, which she said will need more time to determine whether the government needs to make changes to Illinois human rights act.

At the end of the day, the most important takeaway for the people of Illinois is that here in Illinois we have made a strong commitment to protect everyones rights and to ensure that discrimination in all forms is condemned, Cassidy said. That doesnt change with this Supreme Court decision.

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Jim Bennett, director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights, said the Illinois Human Rights Act and other antidiscrimination laws in the state exist to protect the rights of vulnerable communities. He encouraged people to file a complaint with his office if they feel they are being discriminated against.

The court had an opportunity to strengthen antidiscrimination laws, but instead, it chose to harm LGBTQ people, Bennett said in a news release. They deserve far better from our nations highest court.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said in a news release that the Supreme Court decision will not affect Cook Countys commitment to ensuring that our residents are protected under our local laws.

Both Cook County and the city of Chicago have human rights ordinances that protect individuals from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation when it comes to public accommodations from businesses.

Thomas More Society, a Chicago-based national nonprofit law firm, praised the Supreme Court decision and wrote in a news release that the ruling reinforces past court wins by their group to protect peoples religious beliefs.

The strong reactions to the ruling also came with assurances that the courts opinion could be limited.

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Steven J. Heyman, a professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law, told the Tribune that the court issued a narrow opinion, with the future of who  florists, photographers, bakers  can deny services to members of the LGBTQ community up in the air.

The biggest question coming out of this case is what falls into the category of expressive services, Heyman said. If that category gets interpreted very broadly, it could punch a big hole in civil rights laws. And on the other hand, if its interpreted pretty narrowly, maybe only applying to people who are really telling the couples story, it might have very limited application.

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a wedding website designer can deny service to same-sex couples and the Biden administration had overstepped its authority with its plan to wipe out more than $400 billion in student debt, June 30, 2023. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

The Supreme Court ruled on a similar case  Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission  in 2018. In that case, a baker did not want to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple; the court ruled in his favor. Heyman said todays ruling is different because the court disregarded the bakers argument regarding expressive services and instead ruled in his favor based on a violation of his First Amendment religious rights by the commission.

Brian Johnson, CEO of Equality Illinois, a statewide LGBTQ rights organization, said that while the courts decision is limited, it makes LGBTQ people feel like they are being relegated to a second-class status.

The symbolic and practical impact is pretty massive and heartbreaking, Johnson said. We are going to see a ton of bad actors try to use this decision to discriminate with full force.

ekane@chicagotribune.com
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in collaboration with the police forces of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh has established a collective institutionalised mechanism for real-time information sharing and coordinated action against the gangster eco-system in the northern region of the country. The collective institutionalised mechanism will share regular information for operations against the gangster eco-system, the NIA made the announcement on Friday in a statement following the meeting organised in Chandigarh. They also decided to set up a 'Joint Listing Committee', with representative officers from the NIA and the three police forces, to list out and map the entire network of the various criminal syndicates active in the northern States and Union Territory. "It was further decided to hold monthly meetings of all the stakeholders to address the issue of organised crimes and criminals in these areas," said the statement.These decisions were taken at a high-level Inter-State coordination meeting held in Panchkula, Haryana, under the chairmanship of NIA Director General Dinkar Gupta. "The meeting discussed the activities of leaders and members of organized criminal syndicates and groups operating in the northern states, and also the ongoing investigations in the various criminal cases connected with them," said the statement.This was the second meeting the NIA DG steered for tackling the menace of organised criminal terror syndicates. The DG had initiated these meetings to collectively deal with such syndicates through sharing of findings and inputs among the various police agencies and forces.Underscoring the need for collaborative action in combating organised crime, Gupta called for enhanced cooperation and information sharing among the NIA, Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana police forces to effectively address the growing threat posed by these criminal syndicates, particularly in the northern region.NIA which is investigating three such cases against criminal terror syndicates shared its findings and observations on the methodology adopted by the syndicates operating from jails. It emphasised the need for fast-tracking of trials against these gangsters as an effective tool to tackle the problem, along with the need for a witness protection plan.Besides Gupta, others who attended the meeting included P.K. Agrawal, Director General of Police, Haryana; Gaurav Yadav, Director General of Police, Punjab; Praveer Ranjan, Director General of Police, Chandigarh. Special DGP (Internal security) Punjab R.N. Dhoke, ADGP CID Haryana Alok Mittal, ADGP Law and Order Haryana Mamta Singh, IG NIA Vijay Sakhare, IGP (Internal security) Punjab Nilabh Kishore, IGP Chandigarh Raj Kumar Singh, DIG STF Simardeep Singh, DIG NIA Amit Kumar, SP STF Waseem Akram and other police officers also participated in the high-level meeting.During the meeting, DGP Haryana P.K. Agrawal underlined the urgency of taking swift and decisive action to dismantle the networks of these criminal syndicates, disrupt their activities, and ensure justice. He reassured the participants that the Haryana Police was fully committed to supporting and actively participating in the coordinated efforts to combat organized crime. Also, DGP Punjab Gaurav Yadav emphasized that international liaison and cooperation with Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) in foreign countries is essential to extradite and deport active leaders and members based abroad in various countries. DGP Chandigarh Praveer Ranjan highlighted close inter-state coordination and joint operations between Police forces of affected States as the Criminal Syndicates were operating all over including Chandigarh. The interventions required at both the structural level, as well as the operational level to dismantle the terror-syndicate's ecosystem, were discussed threadbare, and it was decided to formulate an institutionalised mechanism for timely sharing of actionable inputs with all the stakeholders. The growing nexus between criminals and gangsters, with their inter-state linkages and conflicts, has become a cause for concern for the northern states. The foot soldiers, recruits, harbourers etc of these criminal gangster syndicates are spread across the states of north India, requiring a coordinated and synergised effort by the police of different states to deal with them effectively. Representatives from various agencies presented their findings and insights into the ongoing investigations during the meeting. Officials from the NIA, Haryana Police, Punjab Police, and Chandigarh Police made presentations and shared valuable information regarding the operations, modus operandi, and key individuals associated with these criminal syndicates.Following the presentations, a detailed and constructive discussion took place among senior officers from all participating agencies. The focus of the discussion revolved around devising strategies to disrupt the activities of organized criminal syndicates, strengthen intelligence sharing mechanisms, and coordinate efforts to apprehend the individuals involved in these unlawful activities. (ANI)
Delhi Government has approached the Supreme Court challenging Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance 2023 relating to control over bureaucrats, calling it as 'unconstitutional'. Delhi government, in its plea filed in Supreme Court, has stated that the Centre's ordinance is "unconstitutional". "The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 promulgated on May 19 2023, which wrests control over civil servants serving in the Government of NCT of Delhi ('GNCTD'), from the GNCTD to the unelected Lieutenant Governor ('LG'). "It does so without seeking to amend the Constitution of India, in particular Article 239AA of the Constitution, from which flows the substantive requirement that power and control in respect of Services be vested in the elected government," the petition said. The Impugned Ordinance destroys the scheme of federal, Westminster-style democratic governance that is constitutionally guaranteed for NCTD in Article 239AA, the petitioner said. In the petition, Delhi Government has urged the top court to pass appropriate direction to quash the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance 2023. Delhi Government also urged the top court to issue an appropriate direction to quash and declare Section 3A of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 as introduced by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance 2023, as unconstitutional. The Delhi Government also sought to pass a direction to quash Section 41 of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 as amended by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance 2023 and to quash Sections 45B, 45C, 45D, 45E, 45F, 45G, 45H, 45I, 45J, and 45K of the Government of National Capital Territory. of Delhi Act, 1991 as introduced by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Ordinance 2023, as unconstitutional. "It is not in contention that Article 239AA confers legislative competence over 'Services' concurrently on the Delhi Assembly as also the Parliament. However, it is a fundamental precept of the Constitution that the question of competence is distinct from the validity of legislation passed in exercise of such competence," the petition said and claimed that the Ordinance is violation of the substantive requirements of Article 239AA of the Constitution as interpreted by two Constitution Benches of the Court, fails to be a valid exercise of competence. According to the petition, the Impugned Ordinance is an unconstitutional exercise of executive fiat that it violates the scheme of federal, democratic governance entrenched for the NCTD in Article 239AA, manifestly arbitrary, legislatively overrules/reviews a Constitution Bench judgement of the top Court dated May 11, 2023. On May 11 the supreme court ruled that the division of administrative powers between the Union and Delhi government "must be respected" and held that the Delhi government has "legislative and executive power over services" in the national capital, including the bureaucrats, except those relating to public order, police and land. A five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Justice Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha said, "The division of administrative powers between the Union and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) as explained... must be respected." The apex court in its 105-page-judgement said that the government of Delhi is not similar to other Union Territories. (ANI)
The Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India on Friday urged online platforms to refrain from incorporating any design or pattern in the online interface of their platform that may deceive or manipulate consumer choice and fall in the category of dark patterns. In a letter addressed to major online platforms in India, Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh strongly advised online platforms to not engage in 'unfair trade practices' by incorporating dark patterns in their online interface to manipulate consumer choice and violate 'consumer rights' as enshrined under Section 2(9) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. "It is pertinent to note that dark patterns involve using a design and choice architecture to trick, coerce or influence consumers to make choices not in their best interest. Engaging in such deceptive and manipulative conduct by using dark patterns in online interfaces unfairly exploits consumers' interest and constitutes 'unfair trade practice' under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019," an official statement said. Recently, regulators in other jurisdictions such as European Union, USA and UK have taken action against dark patterns involving unfair and deceptive practices in online interfaces which were found to be detrimental to consumers. The activities which the platforms were observed to be indulging include Non-consensual enrolment in subscription programs (USA) Pressure selling using a misleading countdown clock (UK), Secretly saving credit card information and charging users without consent (USA), Putting in place a cancellation process designed to deter consumers from opting out of subscription (Norway). Ministry also mentioned some examples of Dark Patterns used as unfair trade practices. "False Urgency is a tactic that creates a sense of urgency or scarcity to pressure consumers into making a purchase or taking an action. Basket Sneaking is a tactic in which websites or apps use dark patterns to add additional products or services to the shopping cart without user consent. Subscription Traps are a tactic that makes it easy for consumers to sign up for a service but difficult for them to cancel it, often by hiding the cancellation option or requiring multiple steps," an official statement said. "Confirm Shaming involves guilt as a way to make consumers adhere. It criticizes or attacks consumers for not conforming to a particular belief or viewpoint. Forced Action involves forcing consumers into taking an action they may not want to take, such as signing up for a service in order to access content," it added. Nagging refers to persistent, repetitive and annoyingly constant criticism, complaints, and requests for action. Interface Interference is a tactic that involves making it difficult for consumers to take certain actions, such as cancelling a subscription or deleting an account, the statement said. With the growing penetration of the internet and rising smartphone usage in India, consumers are increasingly choosing e-commerce as the preferred mode of shopping. In such a scenario, it is essential that online platforms do not indulge in unfair trade practices by incorporating dark patterns which result in a harmful or undesirable outcome for the consumer. Ministry said that consumers can report instances of 'dark patterns' or provide feedback and report such manipulative online practices on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) by calling '1915' or through Whatsapp on 8800001915. (ANI)
In a high-level meeting held on Friday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reviewed the updated status of approvals issued by the government in relation to the budgetary provisions in the financial year 2023-24, the amount allocated by the head of the department and the amount received from the Government of India relative to the target. After the department-wise meeting, the Chief Minister gave several guidelines including speeding up the development works and ensuring the quality and timeliness of the projects in the wider public interest. "The first quarter of the financial year 2023-24 is over. It should be ensured that all the departments properly spend the funds provided in the current budget. Allocation and expenditure are expected to accelerate," CM Yogi said. "Expenditure should also be reviewed at the department level. The concerned ministers should review their departmental status. The status of departmental allocation and expenditure should be reviewed monthly by the Chief Secretary," he added. He further mentioned that we are getting all possible help from the Central Government for the overall development of the state under the guidance of respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Get the balance amount by coordinating with the Centre. "The departmental ministers themselves should communicate with the ministers of the Government of India. Projects must not be interrupted due to a lack of focus. Work should be continued by releasing state shares as per the rules. All departments should ensure to send 100 per cent utilization certificates on time," he said. Many schemes of departments like Higher Education, Women's Welfare, Child Development and Nutrition, Infrastructure and Industrial Development, Social Welfare, Rural Development, Public Works, Food Logistics, Urban Development, Medical Health, Irrigation and Water Resources are directly implemented. "Implementation of such schemes that directly impact people's lives should be accelerated. It is the responsibility of the departmental head to ensure the timely allocation of funds for the smooth implementation of the schemes while giving priority to the public interest," he added. He said that there is a need to speed up the process of EPC for projects to start timely. Site inspection of the projects under construction should also be done. He further said, "The plan to set up digital libraries in gram panchayats and urban wards is important. In coordination with the Basic Education Department and the Panchayati Raj Department, the Higher Education Department should implement it expeditiously." (ANI)
Bharatiya Janata Party is gearing up for assembly polls later this year with Home Minister Amit Shah addressing a rally in poll-bound Rajasthan on Friday and JP Nadda public gatherings in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Amit Shah attacked Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and said he had failed to fulfill promises made to people. "Gehlotji's government is on number one in corruption. This government has done the work of breaking all the records of corruption," Shah said addressing a rally to mark the completion of nine years of Modi government. He expressed confidence of the BJP forming government in the state in elections later this year and in Lok Sabha polls next year. "I can see on the ground in Mewar that the BJP is going to form the government with full majority in 2023 Assembly polls as well as in 2024 Lok Sabha polls." Union Home Minister said that the nine years of the Modi government have been about the welfare of the poor. "The respect PM Modi is getting across the world is the respect not of BJP or anyone else, it is the respect of 130 crore people of this country," he said. Referring to the schemes of the Modi government, Shah further highlighted that 80 lakh farmers have received Rs 16,000 crores directly in their bank accounts. "PM Modi has ensured that fresh drinking water reaches the homes of 43 lakh families in Rajasthan," he said. Nadda, who addressed a rally in Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, alleged that Congress leader Kamal Nath stopped Ladli Laxmi Yojana when he was Chief Minister. "Kamal Nath had stopped Ladli Laxmi Yojana. Now, you (people) stop him in November (during the assembly polls)," he said. He said the government led by PM Modi at the Centre and Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh have always been proactive in meeting people's needs. "The central government led by PM Modi and the state government under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan are awake and alert to people's needs and provide relief in time of need. Ours is a responsible government that discharges its constitutional duties faithfully and sincerely," Nadda said. He alleged that the UPA government was known for scams and country had progressed under leadership of PM Modi to emerge as the fifth-largest economy in the world Nadda also held a roadshow in Khargone. Nadda later addressed a public gathering in Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh and alleged that Congress leader and state Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was "steeped in corruption" and was "bhrashtachar ka badshah". He said the development that Chhattisgarh has witnessed took place during the BJP rule and the state has a special attachment with BJP as it was created by the Vajpayee government. The BJP is holding a series of meetings as part of preparations for the assembly polls later this year and Lok Sabha polls next year. The party has scheduled zonal meetings on July 6,7,8 which will cover all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP has divided the states into south, north and east zones for the purpose of meetings which are being seen as significant in terms of the party's strategy with opposition parties also seeking to put up a united fight in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and the party's general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh met Prime Minister at his Delhi residence on Wednesday. There have been high-level party meetings leading to speculation about possible organisational changes in the party. (ANI)
According to the victim, the money which she received was less than what was decided.

Boosi Anuradha said that the gang took a kidney from her while offering her Rs 7 lakhs but she was paid only Rs 5 lakhs. Anuradha, a single woman, lives her life by selling plums in Eluru.

The victim complained to the Eluru One Town police that she was cheated as she received only Rs 5 lakhs after the kidney operation instead of 7 lakhs.

The surgery was performed in a private hospital in Vijayawada a year ago.

Meanwhile, an investigation has been initiated in the case following the police complaint.

One Town CI Adiprasad stated, "This case would be investigated as suo motu. Kidney transplantation operation was done in a private hospital in Vijayawada. We will take action if the kidney transplantation did not occur according to norms. After the victim's complaint we have registered a case and an investigation is underway." (ANI)
Since Pompeii was destroyed in 79 AD, volcanic disasters have been investigated, giving the public the impression that scientists now know why, where, when, and how long volcanoes will erupt. These fundamental issues, according to volcanologist and head of PSU's Digital City Testbed Centre Jonathan Fink, are still a mystery. In a recent paper, Fink and Idowu "Jola" Ajibade, an associate professor of geography, discussed how climate change will affect the socioeconomic effects of eruptions. Their work is included in a groundbreaking 33-paper collection in the Bulletin of Volcanology that Fink co-edited and which aims to chart the development of the entire science of volcanology over the past few decades. "The public rarely thinks about how science changes -- we learn odd facts from classes or news stories, but assume that the overall knowledge stays relatively constant. The reality is quite different," Fink said, adding, "Volcano science advances steadily, in step with technological progress. But it also can change immediately and radically, in response to unusually large or impactful eruptions." Consider Washington's Mount St. Helens' eruption in 1980, which taught the world about catastrophic volcanic landslides and blasts, or Campi Flegrei in Naples, Italy which threatens to erupt explosively any day. In 1980, geologists thought the earth's crust behaved like a solid layer containing isolated pools of molten magma. Today we know it's more like a complex mush, making predicting when large volcanoes eruptions will occur considerably more difficult. "Governments use past experience to forecast what might happen next. But because volcanoes can lie dormant for centuries, the policy toolbox may be relatively empty or outdated," Fink said, adding, "This collection of papers, and the scientific symposia that they are based upon from 2000, 2010 and 2020, focus not only on the ingredients in the box of volcano knowledge, but also on how new ideas get added over a period of decades. From dozens of different perspectives, we've examined how the current knowledge about how volcanoes work has been assembled, which helps us anticipate how it will continue to change in the future." Understanding how volcano activity may change over time is particularly important as climate change continues to have direct and indirect effects on how volcanoes behave. "Sea level rise, glacial melting, aquifer depletion, and mountain erosion can all affect the likelihood and frequency of volcanic eruptions," he said, adding, "With the increasing seriousness of climate impacts on society, the search for 'geoengineering' solutions will make it more likely that countries will consider volcano-mimicking interventions -- like an injection of aerosols into the stratosphere to cool the Earth's surface. Volcano scientists will need to advise policymakers on the details of how such events would likely evolve." The Pacific Northwest has the largest variety of potential natural and humanmade disasters in North America, Fink adds, which have only increased in frequency and overlap in the last 20 years. "This region is characterized by volcanic eruptions of different scales and types, catastrophic subduction zone earthquakes, mega-wildfires that can wipe out cities, wildfire smoke events that can make our air unbreathable, tsunamis that can drown coastal communities, landslides that can shut down transportation corridors, floods that can inundate cities, and heat dome events that can kill thousands of individuals," he said. Fink's research with Ajibade shows that the likelihood of volcanic eruptions coinciding with climate-related storms, droughts, floods or other disasters is increasing, making planning and responding to crises more challenging. "These kinds of 'cascading' or 'compound' disasters pose large challenges for public officials and for university faculty trying to train future volcano scientists," Fink said, adding, "Rather than focusing exclusively on one aspect of volcanology, such as volcanic gasses, volcanic earthquakes, or lava flows, future volcano scientists will need to know at least a little bit about a great many more fields, including social science, public health, and communication." (ANI)
Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.

The Pakistan government is racing against time to unlock at least USD 1.1 billion under the lender's ninth review of a USD 6.5-billion Extended Fund Facility agreed in 2019. The programme expires on Friday.

"We are very close to signing a staff-level agreement with the IMF. I think it should come sometime tonight or maximum within 24 hours ... We have finalised everything," Dar told Reuters late on Thursday, according to Dawn.

The agreement, which would be subject to approval by the IMF board, has faced an eight-month delay.

The funds under discussion would offer some respite amid an acute balance of payments crisis and falling foreign exchange reserves, as per Dawn.

A total of USD 4 billion has already been released. Dar had earlier told the media that the government was working on a mechanism to try to unlock the full USD 2.5 billion pending under the IMF programme.

It was unclear what portion of the funds would be released in the announcement he expected in the next 24 hours, as per Dawn. (ANI)
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Faisal Karim Kundi said on Wednesday that seat adjustment with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was a likely possibility, reported The Express Tribune. He said as the top-most leaders of the two major political parties met in Dubai. The minister of state for poverty alleviation, Kundi said that that the shape of any future alliance with the PML-N or other political players depended purely on the outcome of the coming general elections. Dubai had taken the centre stage in the Pakistani politics after heads of both the leading parties in the coalition government converged on the cosmopolitan oasis just ahead of Eidul Azha, which was celebertated on Thursday in Pakistan. They included PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif, who flew in to Dubai from London, his daughter and Senior Vice President of PML-N Maryam Nawaz, besides PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his father PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari, according to The Express Tribune. According to a political leader, who is familiar with the developments, two meetings had taken place between the PML-N and the PPP leadership. "Both meetings were attended by all the four leaders," he said. In these meetings, a wide range of the issues surrounding the next set-up, elections and other challenges confronting Pakistan were discussed, he added. Many political experts and politicians also speculate that the motive behind Dubai meetings were to forge an electoral alliance. Whereas, some others suggest that the rendezvous was to decide how to limit the role of establishment in process, according to The Express Tribune. Kundi, the PPP spokesperson, said that Zardari had returned to Karachi from Dubai and he would be leaving for Nawabshah for Eid, whereas Bilawal might stay in Dubai for some time and leave for the US and Japan tour from there. He further commented on the Dubai talks and said that there was no official engagement between the two party leaderships, though the meetings were held unofficially, but these were nothing out of the ordinary, reported The Express Tribune. He added that Zardari's frequent visits to Dubai were meant for his eye treatment. As these were not party-to-party contacts, he was not aware of the discussion that had taken place or any subsequent decision. Later, when asked about the talk of seat adjustment between the two parties, he said that it could be a possibility, but "that too is subjected to the decision" of the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC). "Let elections take place and see polls position," he added," as per The Express Tribune. Kundi believed that any future alliance between the two parties cannot be predicted at this stage. The source also seconded the view that an election alliance was out of the question at this stage, though the option of seat adjustment was being mulled over. "There is this issue about when the elections should take place, that needs to be decided by them," the source said, adding that the PPP firmly held the view that elections should either be held in October or in November, as per guidelines of the Constitution. However, the opinion in the PML-N seems divided. One section wanted the elctions to be delayed till atleast until February and asked whether the PML-N was waiting for a new chief justice and that their expectations were "unrealistically high," sources said, according to The Express Tribune. The sources also said that it had been decided that the PPP would propose one candidate for the post of caretaker Prime Minister. (ANI)
Dale Wheatley, June 26, 2023, who did deliveries for the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois, was asked not to return to work. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

A man who used to deliver cadavers for the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois is now out of a job after he alleged mishandling of donated bodies at the nonprofit.

Dale Wheatley, 37, told the Tribune he is looking for food delivery jobs after he was let go June 7, a day after he went public with claims that he came into work to find a horrific scene: sage burning and three severed heads on a plastic container by his desk.

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Wheatley believes the heads were left in retaliation for disclosing concerns about the mishandling and poor conditions of cadavers to his supervisors in late May. In his near five years with AGA, he said hed never seen anything like what he saw that morning.

[ 3 severed heads from donor bodies left at employees desk after complaints raised about alleged misconduct ]

But AGA Executive Vice President William OConnor on Friday continued to deny any maltreatment accusations, and said handling body parts of donors, or those who have donated their bodies for medical use, is part of Wheatleys routine job responsibilities.

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Dale is a disgruntled employee, OConnor said.

OConnor said anyone looking at AGA practices from a distance would be shocked due to the nature of the work, and that Wheatley was failing to perform. He strongly disagreed with Wheatleys allegations, and said AGA staff are still in the process of figuring out how to respond legally.

What the AGA has done is defensible, he said. Its a small staff that we have but I think were proud of what we do, and we certainly are committed to medical education.

Still, the grisly allegations have shocked families of deceased loved ones who have donated their bodies to the AGA. After Wheatley went public, a man who says hes the son of a donor whose head was one of the three left by Wheatleys desk reached out to the Tribune. The man asked his name be withheld for privacy, saying he has yet to share this ugly business with his children.

Its not just a betrayal of an agreement between them and us. Its a betrayal of an understanding and a convention that we humans all have for each other. We dont abuse bodies and human remains, the man said. Wheatley confirmed to the Tribune that the mans mother was one of the heads left next to his desk.

According to the man, his mother decided to offer her body for science as an affirmation of her zest for life, her belief in the community that she belonged to and that she could contribute to it.

Linda Jenkins, 79, told the Tribune she was planning to donate her body to AGA, but will rescind her donor enrollment form after hearing about alleged misconduct. Jenkins is a retired theater professor at Northwestern who lives in Brookfield.

I would love to go through this process if I had confidence in it. And I would encourage more people to do it, Jenkins said. I made some assumptions that now I realize I should not have made.

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The Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois on South Ashland Avenue in Chicago, June 27, 2023. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Founded in 1918, the not-for-profit allows families of the deceased to donate bodies to help medical students train at eight universities across the state. AGA writes on its website that it aims to help donors and their families make their donations with the confidence that the AGA will observe the highest standards of responsiveness, respect, privacy and security.

Mistreatment of bodies makes them unfit for research, said Wheatley, a father of three kids  ages 11, 6 and 1  who is now applying for unemployment benefits.

I didnt foresee all of this happening, he said. Stuff wasnt being done right at AGA and I just wasnt being heard, and it led to this series of events.

Wheatleys involvement began May 23 when Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine anatomy lab manager Casey Tilden sent an email complaining that some donors were covered with flies or contorted in such a way that they were unfit for use. The email, which was provided to the Tribune, said a few recent deliveries had feet and hands showing signs of decomposition.

Wheatley passed on the complaint to his supervisors, and the heads were left at his desk the following morning, May 24.

A Northwestern spokesperson did not answer questions in an email, but did provide a statement.

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Feinberg believes anatomical donation is an invaluable component of the education, training, and research that takes place in the academic medical environment, and students and physicians are always mindful of and grateful for body donations and acknowledge them as a lasting contribution to their education, said Northwestern University vice president for global marketing and communications Jon Yates in a statement.

Wheatley said Northwestern was not the only university to file a complaint. He said he had been trying to change protocol for months before the day the heads showed up on his desk, which he thinks was a message of retaliation in response to his concerns.

He said he doesnt want people to lose track of AGAs mission.

We need doctors. We need people in this field for my sake, my kids sake, advancing science. But it needs to be done by the right people, Wheatley said.

Wheatley has described the inside of AGA as wet and muggy with poor ventilation. As the former manager of the rack room, or the room where donors are held at AGA, he said there is a buildup of thick goo under bodies, holes in the wall, and frequent rats and other pests.

AGA denied the Tribunes requests to see inside. Members of the AGA board of directors declined to comment.

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Wheatley said he used to drive around to medical institutions, loading and unloading body parts from the tiered racking system in the AGA van. A QR system is used to identify body parts, which are embalmed and distributed for study purposes.

There is a description of the donation process on AGAs website. On the enrollment form, donors have the ability to mark whether they want their ashes returned, no ashes, or to opt for the perpetual donation option  allowing part or all of the body to be permanently preserved for teaching purposes.

Monday afternoon, Wheatley sat in his cousin Williams funeral home in Calumet City, where he got his start in the industry driving for the funeral home before he began at AGA. Let all that you do be done in love, read a sign on the wall.

Despite the job anxiety that keeps him up at night, he has no regrets about speaking out about what happened, he said. He is adamant about the need for a complete overhaul of operations at AGA and some kind of regulation or system of accountability.

I want people to be able to donate their bodies, and then get what AGA is telling me that theyre getting, said Wheatley.

His wife is a manager at Extra Space Storage, and the two of them are working for DoorDash to make ends meet. They had plans to travel this summer and now it is more difficult, he said.

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Wheatley isnt the only employee to express concern with AGA workplace practices.

Jasmyn Du Bois, who was the head embalmer at AGA from roughly 2008 to 2013, reported similar experiences to the Tribune.

When I got there, it was filthy, it was a mess, she said. I spent months scrubbing everything down. I had to bring in a crime scene cleanup crew to clean up the prep room.

Du Bois said she spent years developing cleaning and embalming protocols, and that conditions Wheatley reported are consistent with conditions she experienced when she first started working there. But despite the long hours Du Bois worked and the intensity of the job, she said she found the work meaningful and important.

I took a lot of pride in the work that I did. I mean, I loved my job, she said.

Afternoon Briefing Weekdays Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Wheatley doesnt know what exactly hell do next, but said he knows he wants to do something related to transit, and preferably outside.

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I just want to be able to find some peace, he said.

David Fish, an employment lawyer and partner at Fish Potter Bolanos P.C., filed complaints on Wheatleys behalf following the head and sage incident with the Cook County medical examiners office, Illinois Department of Public Health and Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation. Fish asked for an investigation into embalming techniques, to avoid scenarios such as Tildens reported decaying appendages.

Fish has not heard anything back about his complaint, but said he wants state and local government agencies to make it a priority.

Wheatley said AGA delivery work can be grueling. Since his last day at AGA, he has been spending time with his family, and hopes to seek counseling. Lately, when hes not thinking about his work at AGA, he said he thinks about the future of his kids.

nsalzman@chicagotribune.com
Chinese President, Xi Jinping, will attend the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), being hosted by India, next week, Foreign Ministry said on Friday. "At the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend via video conference in Beijing the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and deliver important remarks on July 4," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced Friday, as per Xinhua News Agency. The SCO Council of Heads of State is scheduled to take place on July 4, and will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually, according to the statement released by SCO. As per SCO tradition, Turkmenistan has also been invited as the guest of the Chair. Heads of the two SCO Bodies - the Secretariat and the SCO RATS - will also be present. Heads of six international and regional organizations have also been invited, viz. UN, ASEAN, CIS, CSTO, EAEU and CICA. "The theme of the Summit is 'Towards a SECURE SCO'. The SECURE acronym was coined by the Prime Minister at the 2018 SCO Summit and stands for Security; Economy and Trade; Connectivity; Unity; Respect for Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity; and Environment. These themes have been highlighted during our Chairmanship of SCO," the statement read. "India has set up new pillars of cooperation under its Chairmanship - Startups and Innovation; Traditional Medicine; Digital Inclusion; Youth Empowerment; and Shared Buddhist Heritage. In addition, India has worked towards fostering greater people-to-people ties that celebrate the historical and civilizational bonds between our nations. These include the various socio-cultural events hosted by Varanasi under the framework of the first-ever SCO Cultural and Tourist Capital for 2022-23," the statement added. India's Chairmanship of SCO has been a period of intense activity and mutually beneficial cooperation between Member States. India has hosted a total of 134 meetings and events, including 14 Ministerial-level meetings. India remains committed to playing a positive and constructive role in the organization and looks forward to a successful SCO Summit as the culmination of its Chairmanship. The rotational presidency remains with India until September 2023. In 2022, India assumed the presidency of the SCO, marking a significant milestone in the country's role in regional cooperation and its endeavour of advocating for an integrated neighbourhood. (ANI)
Moreover, according to the statement, the funds "will help provide relief to households and mitigate the impacts" of Russia's special military operation, TASS reported.

The loan is guaranteed by the government of Japan as part of the Advancing Needed Credit Enhancement for Ukraine Trust Fund (ADVANCE Ukraine) initiative.

Earlier this week, at least four people, including a child, were killed and several others were injured on Tuesday evening when a Russian missile struck a bustling location in the middle of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, reported CNN citing local authorities.

Soon after the strikes, emergency services were at the scene helping the injured.

Last year, the World Bank on Monday approved a USD 723 million package of loans and grants for Ukraine, providing government budget support.

The international lender approved a supplemental budget support package for Ukraine, called Financing of Recovery from Economic Emergency in Ukraine - or FREE Ukraine - for USD 489 million, the bank said in a statement.

The bank also informed that the initial World Bank support was increased with guarantees from the Netherlands for 80 million euros (USD 89 million equivalent) and Sweden for USD 50 million.

By now, the global organization has mobilized over USD 37.5 billion to help Ukraine meet its basic needs. (ANI)
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab has arrested nine suspects associated with inoperative organisations across various parts of the province, Dawn reported. The spokesperson of CTD said that the arrests were made during the Intelligence Based Organisations (IBOs) which were conducted by different teams of the department. A total of 35 IBOs were carried out in different districts of Punjab which led to the questioning of 36 suspects. Dawn is one of the mainstream media houses of Pakistan that reports on national and international issues related to Pakistan. Out of all the interrogated people, nine suspects were arrested from multiple banned outfits. These suspects are identified as Adnan Yousaf and Mohammad Luqman from the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan; Abdul Haleem and Salman Iftikhar from the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi; and Sheraz Alam, Abdaho Shah, Bilqees Bibi (Shah's wife), Shahid Ahmad, and Muhammad Umar bin Khalid from the banned Daesh, according to Dawn. The CTD has registered five First Information Reports (FIR) against these suspects in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Bahawalpur. The department also found four hand grenades, three prima cards, 42 bullets of a 30-bore pistol, a laptop, Afghani currency, and flags and stickers associated with the defunct organizations. Furthermore, the CTD collaborated with the local police and other law enforcement agencies and has conducted 124 combing operations. During these operations, 5,814 people were checked, resulting in the arrest of 11 suspects, reported Dawn. Moreover, 14 FIRs were registered, as well as, additional recoveries were made. Two weeks ago, the security forces in the Dara Adam Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa killed banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Zafar Khan along with his two group members during an Intelligence-Based Operation (IBO) on Sunday, according to Geo News. He was also a former member of Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA) and was involved in 26 grenade attacks in Pakistan. Moreover, he was also involved in dozens of terrorist attacks against security forces, coal contractors, businessmen and influential people. He had received more than Rs 100 million in extortion and kidnapping for ransom, as per Geo News. The other terrorist, Hasan Khan, was an expert in sniping and grenade attacks and remained a part of TTA from 2019 to 2021. He joined the Tariq Gidar group in 2022. (ANI)
Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region was rocked by multiple explosions on Friday, according to reports from Ukrainian and Russia-backed officials, CNN reported. "There were 11 explosions in Berdiansk. There is fire and detonations in the airport area. Ambulances headed in that direction. We are awaiting for official information from the General Staff of the AFU (Armed Forces Ukraine)," said a post on the Ukrainian city administration's Telegram channel. Vladimir Rogov, a Russia-installed official in Zaporizhzhia, claimed the blasts were caused by Russian air defences downing missiles fired by Ukraine. "The explosions heard were the air defence which successfully repelled the attack on the outskirts of the city," he said. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military has advised the residents of the northern Sumy region's border area to leave their homes in light of increased Russian shelling, as per CNN. Serhiy Naiev, commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, urged the residents to evacuate and said, "The Sumy direction remains the most dangerous in the Northern operational zone." "The enemy fires with artillery, mortars, and multiple rocket launchers. While I was in one of the settlements, I personally convinced an elderly family to leave urgently, because there was imminent danger. I call on all citizens who live in the border areas of the Sumy region to leave," Naiev said on Telegram. Earlier Thursday, the armed forces published images of damage to property in the border area of Sumy, saying there is constant shelling from Russian forces. The Sumy regional military administration said there was no threat of Russian invasion. "We have not observed any attack groups along our border. No enemy offensive actions have been observed," it said. However, it added, "Russia's shelling of our border has not stopped for a single day. The intensity and number of attacks are only increasing. The shelling is carried out daily, 24 hours a day, using various types of weapons -- from machine guns and mortars to air strikes." Sumy lies 30 miles (48 kilometres) from the border with Russia and was one of the first cities attacked as part of the Russian invasion in February 2022, reported CNN. Earlier, on Tuesday evening, four people, including a child, were killed and several others were injured when a Russian missile struck a bustling location in the middle of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, reported CNN citing local authorities. According to Pavlo Kyrylenko, chief of the military administration for the Donetsk area, the attacks occurred at approximately 7:30 pm (local time) on Tuesday. The Russia-Ukraine war that started on February 24, 2022, has taken numerous lives and the war continues to escalate between the two nations even now. (ANI)
Dr TV Nagendra Prasad presently serving as the Consulate General of India, San Francisco, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan, according to the statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs on Friday. "Dr. T.V. Nagendra Prasad (IFS: 1993) presently Consul General, Consulate General of India, San Francisco, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly," the release read. Kazakhstan is a Central Asian country and former Soviet republic. It extends from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Altai Mountains at its eastern border with China and Russia. It is the world's ninth-largest country by land area and the world's largest landlocked country. (ANI)
As top US lawmakers remain persistent in urging Joe Biden's administration to brief Congress on the surveillance station China is supposedly building in Cuba, some American analysts say that Beijing's plan goes far beyond just intelligence gathering, Voice of America (VOA) reported. According to these analysts, the Chinese military may operate throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to obstruct US military operations or even launch an attack on the US mainland in case a war in Taiwan breaks out. On June 25, Blinken said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Washington had expressed its concerns to Beijing and Havana and had had some success in stopping China from constructing military outposts abroad. However, very soon on June 26, an opinion piece in China's official newspaper, Global Times, described the US alarm as "the disinformation campaign hyping up the so-called Chinese spy base in Cuba. Gordon Chang, a renowned senior scholar at the think tank Gatestone Institute, cautioned that the establishment of a Chinese station in Cuba could have military and strategic repercussions for US homeland security, according to VOA. According to Chang, the Chinese People's Liberation Army would benefit from "shorter flight times"--i.e., less warning time--if nuclear missile silos were placed in Cuba. Separately, another analyst and professor of electronic and radio engineering at the City University of London, David Stupples told VOA Mandarin that even if China is unable to station many troops in Cuba, Beijing's outpost there could collect intelligence from US submarines. China allegedly moved into American territory to further its own economic and political goals and gain access to vital minerals like lithium, copper, and rare earths as well as resources like coal and oil, VOA reported. According to Evan Ellis, a professor of Latin American studies at the US Army War College who focuses on the region's relationships with China said that an establishment of a spy station would open up "the opportunity for a semipermanent presence that increases the level of military collaboration and coordination" between China and Cuba. According to the reports, which first appeared in The Wall Street Journal citing unnamed intelligence officials, China had agreed to pay financially hard-pressed Cuba several billion dollars for the spy facility, which would allow China to collect electronic communications from throughout the southeastern United States, where numerous military bases are located, VOA reported. Earlier this year, the US. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean, but not before it travelled the breadth of the United States and flew over numerous military bases. Moreover, last weekend, a Chinese warship abruptly sailed across the bow of a US destroyer as it passed through international waters in the Taiwan Strait. The US said the incident forced the American ship to slow down to avoid a collision. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a telephonic conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed issues of bilateral cooperation including Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and G20. PM Modi also reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy while discussing the situation in Ukraine. They reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. The G20 and SCO which India presently chairs were given special consideration during the talks. In addition, PM Modi also shared information on his contacts abroad, especially those he made during his recent state visit to the US. "Particular attention is paid to interaction through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the G20, in which India currently holds the chairmanship, as well as in the BRICS format. In addition, Narendra Modi informed about his international contacts, including during his recent visit to Washington," the Kremlin said. Furthermore, the ongoing situation in Ukraine was also discussed between the two leaders. According to Kremlin, "The situation around Ukraine was touched upon. The President of Russia assessed the current state of affairs in the special military operation zone, emphasizing Kyiv's categorical refusal to take political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict." "President Putin informed PM Modi about the recent developments in Russia", the PMO release said. "While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy.Both leaders agreed to remain in touch and continue to make efforts to further strengthen Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries," PMO release added. When discussing topical issues of bilateral cooperation, the importance of further consistent implementation of major joint projects in various fields were noted. Moreover, a significant increase in trade in 2022 between the two nations and in the first quarter of this year was noted with satisfaction. In connection with the events of June 24 (Wagner's march to Moscow), Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order and ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens, Kremlin stated. The conversation was informative and constructive, and the leaders decided to keep in touch and reiterated their shared desire to enhance the unique strategic alliance between Russia and India. In recent praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that his 'Make in India' concept has had a "visible effect" on the Indian economy, RT reported. "Our friends in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a great friend of Russia, a few years ago presented a concept 'Make in India' and it had a very visible effect on the Indian economy," Putin said while speaking at an event in Moscow. The Russian President drew India's example to encourage domestic products and brands in Russia, as per RT. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy on the situation in Ukraine over a telephonic conversation today with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "They reviewed progress in bilateral cooperation and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. President Putin informed PM about the recent developments in Russia," the PMO release said. While discussing the situation in Ukraine, PM Modi reiterated his call for dialogue and diplomacy. According to Kremlin, "The situation around Ukraine was touched upon. The President of Russia assessed the current state of affairs in the special military operation zone, emphasizing Kyiv's categorical refusal to take political and diplomatic steps to resolve the conflict." In connection with the events of June 24 (Wagner's march to Moscow), Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed understanding and support for the decisive actions of the Russian leadership to protect law and order and ensure stability in the country and the security of its citizens, Kremlin stated. The conversation was informative and constructive, and the leaders decided to keep in touch and reiterated their shared desire to enhance the unique strategic alliance between Russia and India. Earlier in September 2022, during the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement 'Not an era of war' to Russia's President Vladimir Putin made headlines. "I know that today's era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this," Modi told Putin on the sidelines of a regional security bloc summit in Uzbekistan, adding that it is democracy, diplomacy and dialogue that keeps the world together. In response, Putin said, "I know about your position on the conflict in Ukraine, and I know about your concerns. We want all of this to end as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the opposing side, the leadership of Ukraine, announced its abandonment of the negotiation process and declared that it wants to achieve its goals by military means, as they say, 'on the battlefield. Nevertheless, we will always keep you informed of what is happening there," Putin said in response to Modi, asserting that he understood the Prime Minister's concerns, according to a statement issued by the Kremlin. (ANI)
The US Supreme Court dealt a blow to Joe Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan on Friday. The court rejected the program, which aimed to provide up to USD 20,000 in relief to millions of borrowers struggling with outstanding debt, CNN reported. The decision in the court was 6-3 with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the supermajority. Republican-led states and conservatives challenging the Biden administration's program said that it amounts to an unlawful effort to forgive an estimated USD 430 billion of federal student loan debt under the guise of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chief Justice John Roberts noted that the Biden administration and the US Secretary of Education rewrote the law. Roberts wrote that the Secretary's comprehensive debt cancellation plan cannot be fairly termed as a "waiver," according to CNN. Roberts wrote, "The Secretary's comprehensive debt cancellation plan cannot fairly be called a waiver - it not only nullifies existing provisions, but augments and expands them dramatically." Robers further said, "However broad the meaning of 'waive or modify,' that language cannot authorize the kind of exhaustive rewriting of the statute that has taken place here," CNN reported. The White House made use of the HEROES Act authority to waive the debt. John Roberts said that the US government required direct approval from Congress. "The question here is not whether something should be done; it is who has the authority to do it." The court's decision implies that borrowers targeted by US President Joe Biden's plan will not get any relief. Monthly payment obligations that were halted during the COVID-19 pandemic is due to start in October, the report said. The White House announced that 26 million applications were received for the program before a lower court in Texas announced a countrywide injunction in November, according to CNN report. It further said that 16 million of those applications had been given approval for relief. As per the news report, the US government's plan would have given assistance to borrowers who make less than USD 125,000 a year and USD 250,000 for households in 2020 or 2021. (ANI)
Afghan migrants who were deported by Turkey have voiced grievances about mistreatment at the hands of Turkish border forces, alleging that they were subjected to physical abuse and torture following their arrest, TOLOnews reported. One of the affected individuals, Abdul Rahman, aged 24, recounted the harassment experienced by migrants during the deportation process. "They told us you are a son... What are you doing here? I (said) I am obliged to in order to find a piece of bread," he said, according to TOLOnews. Moreover, TOLOnews interviewed many Afghan deportees from Turkey who claimed to have been beaten by Turkish forces. "They have beaten us very badly with steel. They broke my feet," said Sarwar, another deportee. Asifa Stanikzai, a Refugee Rights Activist said, "The refugees are in fact facing problems with job opportunities, resettlement challenges and lack of identification. The Islamic Emirate should pay attention in this regard.' Zabiullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate's spokesman said that around two million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan within the past two years, as per TOLOnews. He added that the process of deportation should be done without any harassment. "The Islamic Emirate is in contact with Turkey about this issue so they treat the Afghan refugees with good behaviour. However, there are also legal issues and (Turkey) doesn't accept refugees," he further said. Whereas, earlier, the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation reported that countries hosting Afghan refugees have violated refugees' rights against Afghans. (ANI)
Judge William Hooks speaks during a bond hearing leading up to a new trial for Jackie Wilson at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on June 21, 2018. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

A Cook County judge who was accused in court filings of making racist comments during a conference in his chambers in January has been reassigned until further notice, according to Cook Countys chief judge.

In a motion for substitution of judge filed earlier this month, attorney Matthew Fakhoury accused Judge William Hooks of making racist remarks about Middle Eastern men, along with other derogatory comments, during a conference for a defendant charged with aggravated domestic battery.

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Fakhoury also filed an affidavit that accused Hooks of improperly communicating with the prosecutors on the case in an attempted cover-up. Judges are not allowed to speak to parties on one side of a case while those on the other side are unaware.

In a statement, Chief Judge Tim Evans said he issued an order assigning Hooks to restricted duties that do not include judicial work following a meeting Thursday by the Circuit Court of Cook County Executive Committee.

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The reassignment is effective immediately, and was meant to promote public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary. It will stay in effect until further order of the court.

The order said that if the allegations about Hooks comments  as well as the alleged ex parte communications with prosecutors, are true  its likely a violation of the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct.

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The comments were alleged to have happened in an off-the-record conference in chambers, so they werent recorded, nor was a transcript produced.

Hooks appeared before the committee with counsel on Thursday, the order said.

The defendant, Ryan Thomas, was indicted last June on four battery-related felony charges, and the case was assigned to Hooks courtroom, court records show.

On Jan. 17, the motion alleged, Hooks made several inappropriate and derogatory comments directed at Fakhoury and Thomas, including saying that Middle Eastern men are controlling and abusive.

Hooks referenced his service as a Marine, and said, according to the motion, while looking at Fakhoury, who is Arab American: I would shoot and kill men like that from Middle Eastern countries.

The reassignment is not the first time Hooks has been ordered away from the bench. In 2018, Hooks was temporarily reassigned to administrative duties and referred to anger management counseling.

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mabuckley@chicagotribune.com
India's Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu held a meeting with US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) President and CEO Mukesh Aghi and discussed on taking forward the outcomes from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's State visit to the US. Taking to his Twitter handle, Taranjit Singh Sandhu stated, "Excellent discussion with President & CEO @USISPForum @MukeshAghi on taking forward the India US outcomes from PM @narendramodi's historic State Visit." Recently, PM Narendra Modi travelled to the US for a four-day State visit. During his US visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended various events and met top Indian and American CEOs. He received a ceremonial welcome and guard of honour at the White House upon his arrival. He was hosted by US President Joe Biden as well as First Lady Jill Biden for a state dinner at the White House, as well as a State Luncheon by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and US Vice President Kamala Harris. PM Modi interacted with the Indian diaspora at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC and compared the meeting with a "sweet dish" at his farewell address. During his visit, PM Modi also addressed the US-India Strategic partnership forum (USISPF) in Washington DC. He said that American companies in the last two years have invested around USD 16 billion in India. PM Modi said, "We have contained fiscal deficit and continuously increasing Capex. Our exports and forex are increasing. Besides, we are creating new records in the FDI. In the last two years, American companies have invested around USD16 billion in India."Underlining that Indian companies are also investing billions of dollars in America, the Prime Minister said, "Indian companies are becoming global. The youth and farmers of America are benefiting from all this. This partnership of India and America is in the interest of both the countries and the people of both the countries." "The governments of India and America have done the ground work for you. We will continue to do whatever is necessary for this, but now it is your responsibility to play freely and blossom on this ground and whoever plays will blossom. I am sure you will not leave any chance," PM Modi said. Speaking at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) event, he said, "I can confidently say that this partnership is not just of convenience but of conviction, of compassion and of shared commitment for a better future. The foundation of this partnership is you." He said that the foundation of this partnership is the citizens of the United States and India while addressing the Indian diaspora."Another highlight of this partnership is the overwhelming support for India in the US, across party lines," PM Modi said. (ANI)
Massive protest rallies were taken out in Pakistan's Quetta and Karachi on Thursday demanding recovery of missing Baloch people, victims of forced disappearances in the Balochistan province. The rallies came as Pakistan was celebrating the festival of Eid-al-Adha. The protest was organized by Voice of Baloch Missing People (VBMP), and was supported by Baloch organizations like Baloch Student Organization (BSO), Baloch Women Organization (BWO), Baloch Solidarity Committee (BSC), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Human Rights Council of Baluchistan (HRCB), Aurat March Lahore, Islamabad HC Bar Association and Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA) among others. In Quetta, the protest rallies were led by Mama Qadeer, Horan Baloch and Atlat Balach Qadir Baloch, in front of the Quetta Press Club where several people irrespective of political affiliation, student organizations and other schools of thought joined the families of the missing Balochs. During the rallies, the speakers talked about the families of missing Balochs who are undergoing severe mental trauma due to prolonged forced disappearance of their loved ones. The speakers criticized the government and the judiciary for their apathy towards the agony of the missing peoples' families. The speakers also appealed to the protesters staging rallies in other cities to help find missing peoples by creating more pressure on the insensitive government of Pakistan. The protesters termed the disappearances as extra judicial kidnappings by security agencies like CTD, Frontier Corps and state police in order to plunder and loot the mineral and petroleum rich province. They said they have lost the confidence in provincial and Pakistan government and their only hope is the judiciary which should take cognizance of their plight and instruct the Pakistan government to ensure protection of rights given to people by the constitution and recover the missing people. In Karachi the protests were led by Sammi Baloch GS VBMP. The protests started from Karachi Arts Council and culminated at the Karachi Press Club. The protestors demanded immediate recovery of missing Baloch people They said that those responsible should be made accountable and resolving the issue according to the laws of the country. VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch, in Karachi, thanked the gathering of leaders and workers of different political, social and student organizations who participated in the protest for expressing their solidarity with the families of missing individuals. (ANI)
Passengers stranded for about 24 hours were seen sitting alongside the road waiting for roads to reopen and head to their destination. Local police had blocked the road section at various places to avoid overcrowding at the exit points of the highways.

"I started at around 7 pm on Thursday. My bus was stopped at various locations. In about 8 hours, we barely travelled 50 kilometers and we have been waiting for the highway to clear up," one of the stranded passengers, Top Bahadur Bohora, told ANI.

The Police had blocked the vehicles headed for the Mugling-Narayanghat section to avoid congestion along the path. The blocked road section leads to the center point of Bharatpur which works as center hub for road transport.

Some of the people walked towards their destination as the road was closed for two days. The highway resumed late on Friday night. (ANI)
A Monessen man was killed in a one-vehicle crash around 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Washington County.

Eric A. Moore, 56, was exiting the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the California Exit when he lost control and traveled down an embankment, according to a report from Washington County Coroner Tim Warco.

Moore, who was the only occupant of the vehicle, was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.

The crash is under investigation by state police.

Editors name: The date and time of the crash were corrected by the Washington County Coroner.

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Gas Stove hack

Credit - Javier ZayasGetty Images

Being a climate correspondent comes with a certain degree of moral conflict. I write about the deleterious impact of fossil fuel emissions, then I fly to Georgia to report on how rising temperatures are impacting outdoor laborers. I extoll the virtues of heat pumps, but my rented apartment is heated by a gas-fed boiler. I can recite meats share of global greenhouse gas emissions by rote (14.5%), but every once in a while Im tempted by filet mignon on a restaurant menu. Giving up cheese is a non-starter.

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I do choose the sustainable option when I can: When I moved to Rome for my new job two years ago, I dumped my dryer, bought an electric car, and decided to forgo installing an air conditioner. But a few weeks ago, temperatures hit 98F, with 60% humidity. Nights were too hot for sleep, and during the day it was too hot to type in my work-from-home office. As someone who reads 10, 20, and 30-year temperature projections like other people listen to the weather report, I knew it was just the beginning. A few days later I caved and called an AC technician to install an energy guzzling split AC unit, making me feel a little bit like a hypocrite. So I started looking around to see what else might be cut out of my carbon consumption to mitigate my new AC. I didnt have to look hard: my gas stove sits about four yards away from the AC unit.

For years now Ive been reading about the methane emissions from gas stoves. In 2019, Berkeley, Calif., was the first U.S. city to change its building code to ban gas hook-ups in new construction. Nearly 100 other cities in the U.S. have followed suit with various building decarbonization ordinances, according to a tracker from the non-profit Building Decarbonization Coalition. But none of those mention existing building retrofits. As a renter in the E.U., which has yet to implement similar bans, I thought I was either stuck with the gas stove that came with my apartment, or a prohibitively expensive construction project. Then I started reading about the health impacts of gas stoves.

My husband already has compromised lungs, so it was enough of a push to rethink my submission to the realities of rental apartments. One article I read hosted a cleverly placed banner ad for cheap, plug-in, countertop induction burners. For about $100 I could get a two-top. Tempting. Was I willing to give up rare countertop real estate to do better for the climate? My partner came up with a better idea: for $25 he bought a piece of wood cut to fit the top of our gas stove from our local hardware store and installed the burners on top. Voila: an induction stove, on the cheap. There isnt much we can do about our oven, and you cant exactly bake cookies in a slow cooker, but its a step in the right direction. My next rental apartment Ill do better. Meanwhile Im doing what I can.
As a rising high school senior trying to figure out the next several years of her life, Gabrielle Wilson sees Thursdays Supreme Court decision on race-conscious admissions as a possible hurdle.

I think if affirmative action was taken away, it would make me not as hopeful about getting into the higher institutions I would like to apply for, such as Harvard, said Gabrielle, 17, who will be a senior at the private De La Salle Institute in Chicago this fall.

Gabrielle spoke to NBC News before the Supreme Court decision Thursday that vastly restricts race-conscious admissions.

The process, also known as affirmative action, allowed schools to consider an applicants race as a factor in determining admission, with the goal of creating a racially diverse student body. The court ruled on cases challenging the practice at two selective colleges, Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

The group Students for Fair Admissions Inc., led by the conservative activist Ed Blum, who is white, said the universities admissions policies discriminate against Asian Americans and  in the case of UNC, white applicants as well  and favor Black and Latino applicants. Meanwhile, experts have long considered affirmative action at the nations more selective schools to be key in helping aspiring college students counteract inequities they may have faced throughout their K-12 education.

Students of color in high schools across the country spoke to NBC News, sharing a range of concerns in the lead-up to the ruling. What was on their minds: whether they should adjust their list of application-worthy schools, confusion about the ruling itself and, in some cases, if they should completely ignore the courts decision. Meanwhile, academic experts say they foresee ways the ruling may have broader implications beyond just eliminating race as one factor for college admissions.

Black students wont rule out predominantly white schools  or HBCUs

Gabrielle said she plans to apply to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a predominantly white school, and Spelman College, a historically Black college in Atlanta, among other universities including Harvard.

I think that I would still apply, because I have confidence in myself and you never know what the outcome will be unless you try, she said of predominantly white schools, but I do think I would lack a little confidence in getting in.

Gabrielle Wilson. (Courtesy Plan4Success)

Sari Zinnerman, a 17-year-old rising senior at Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School in Illinois, said she is looking toward Spelman College or Howard University, both of which are part of the group of schools known as historically Black colleges and universities, but, she added, even though I am not interested in attending a prestigious predominantly white university, I am confident that with my stats and community service outreach that I would be able to attend a predominantly white university.

Her twin sister, Sani, had a differing view.

I do not plan on changing my college choice because of the faith I have in HBCUs, she said. Sani and Sari both won AP Scholar awards in 2022 for high achievement on college-level Advanced Placement exams. Sani said her top choice is Spelman College.

I do not have confidence that I will get into my backup schools, which are predominately white institutions, although I have perfect stats, she said. Both Sani and Sari are part of Plan4Success, a mentoring organization that provides college preparation resources to students in Chicago.

Sari and Sani Zinnerman. (Courtesy Plan4Success)

At 47%, Black Americans are more likely than other racial groups to say selective colleges should consider race and ethnicity in admissions, according to a Pew Research Center survey published earlier this month.

Applying to HBCUs has been a common response among Black high school students planning for the potential demise of affirmative action. HBCU leaders like Danielle R. Holley, the dean of Howard University School of Law, and Ronald Mason Jr., the president of the University of the District of Columbia, have said HBCUs will become even more integral in the push for diversity as they become the example of racial equity in the U.S.

A lot of Black students are being drawn to HBCUs, Plan4Success executive director Nicole Brookens said of the teens who are part of her organization. Nonprofit organizations that help mentor students to be conduits to their success will be vital, with the dismantling of race-conscious admissions at selective schools, Brookens added.

The students shared similar sentiments, decrying the end of affirmative action in college admissions. Sani said she does not believe that universities can be diverse without affirmative action due to them being run by majority white people who do not always have the best interests of our community.

Gabrielle, who is also part of Plan4Success, added: I think that if affirmative action was to go away, the diversity of schools would decrease and we would see the Black population be poorly represented on college campuses. I think that affirmative action is the requirement needed in order for institutions to be fair and accumulate a large Black population, she said.

The rulings potential chilling effect on Latino students

Josue Coronado, 26, was born and raised in Houston and is from a Mexican American, working-class family. Georgetown changed my life, the former teacher and current educational recruiter said about his undergraduate university. He also has a Master of Science in education from Johns Hopkins University.

Ive benefited from these programs that were intentionally focused on getting people like me  from my background  to institutions like Georgetown, Coronado said. I would say we definitely have to think about race, about culture and about socioeconomic status, because those three things very much determine how people treat you in this country.

Josue Coronado (Erika Bracey)

Latino students now make up at least 25% of K-12 public school students in the U.S., but theyre underrepresented in the nations top colleges and universities. Their numbers also lag across states flagship universities, which often have better resources, alumni networks and four-year completion rates than other state institutions.

While the Supreme Court ruling struck down race as a factor in admissions, it doesnt limit an institutions outreach efforts to diversify its student body. Still, experts are concerned about how students and families may interpret the decision.

One result of the decision may be the chilling effect of students who feel like they dont belong, like their identity doesnt matter, said Deborah Santiago, the co-founder of Excelencia in Education, which measures and promotes college programs that result in greater Latino graduation rates. Historically, the institutions have not reached out to us. And so I do think thats real for our students.

Andrew Salas, 17, a rising senior at Bishop Mora Salesian High School in Los Angeles, isnt sure how the decision on affirmative action will affect him. But he thinks race as well as class are important factors in a students background and worries about what the decision could mean.

To just not be taken seriously  thats kind of my biggest fear, Andrew said.

The Pew survey found that Latinos are divided on the issue of affirmative action, with 39% in support, 39% against and 20% not sure.

But experts who support the use of race as a factor in admissions point to history: When some states such as California banned the use of race in admissions, the enrollment of Black and Latino students in the states more selective colleges declined.

Following the decision, we would need to keep a close eye on how our students are faring in admission decisions and we need to continue examining which factors colleges and universities are assigning the most weight to, said Jasmin Pivaral, director of college culture at the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. But focusing on students also assumes that the onus falls on them.  We need to make sure that university leaders are examining how their current systems and structures are inequitable, and they must make strides in addressing those inequities.

About a half-century before Coronado, Carlos Sandoval entered the Harvard class of 1970. The Sundance winner and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker, who came from a working-class family in Southern California, recalled being one of the only Mexican Americans on campus.

Carlos Sandoval. (Raul Reyes / NBC News)

Im certain my admission came at the cost of some better academically qualified Anglo student, but I also wonder if that student could have surmounted what I had to in order to get into Harvard and then graduate with honors, Sandoval said. He noted that along the way he was elected president of the Freshman Union Committee, became an adviser and helped establish Harvards first gay undergrad organization. Harvard took a chance on me, and Id say that, though it took me some time to find my footing, it paid off.

For Asian Americans, diverse beliefs and some misinformation

Asian Americans have mixed feelings about the policy. Some say they feel white activists are using the community as a wedge against other minorities to fight against affirmative action. Others feel that the policy has put them at a disadvantage, removing merit from the process. Still others say the loudest discourse obscures the fact that many Asian Americans are low-income and benefit from the policy as well.

Pews survey showed that 53% of Asian Americans who have heard of affirmative action say its a good thing, while 19% say its a negative thing.

Another 2022 survey from nonprofit group APIA Vote, which polled registered Asian American voters, showed 69% favored affirmative action programs designed to help Black people, women, and other minorities get better access to higher education.

Hera Kim, 17, a Korean American public school student in Northern Virginia, said shes been a supporter of affirmative action policies as a way to promote diversity and expand access.

Hera Kim (Ram Snaps)

Hera, whos hoping to major in fine and studio art, noted that the issue has long been debated in her community. She said she thinks that many opponents are guided by the misinformation that racial consciousness in the admissions process is inherently racial discrimination.

It runs on this idea of a scarcity mindset, Hera said. It presents this illusion that when Latinos and African American students are given these equal opportunities due to affirmative action, its presented like those seats for those students are coming out of seats for Asian American students.

She added that if more of us were able to look past the politicized debate over affirmative action, and truly understand what affirmative action has done historically for all minorities, I think that we would have a better understanding of why it is an integral part of our admissions process.

Many of those in opposition, experts say, have been fueled by factors like their experiences with test-focused school systems in Asia, class anxieties, the immigrant condition and a lack of firsthand knowledge of the U.S.s racial history.

The opaque nature of admissions processes can make many Asian parents and students believe theres discrimination at play, said Natasha Warikoo, author of Race at the Top: Asian Americans and Whites in Pursuit of the American Dream in Suburban Schools.

I remember speaking on a panel years ago at one of these exam schools and an Asian American woman stood up and said, You know, just as we figure out your system of meritocracy, it feels like youre pulling the rug from underneath us, Warikoo said.

Though much of the education debate has centered on Asian Americans at highly selective private institutions, a higher share actually attend schools that may not be directly affected by the ruling. In California, for example, 41% of Asian Americans in 2020 started their higher education careers at community colleges, more than any other university system.

Mercuri Lam, a 17-year-old Chinese American who uses the pronouns they and them, said theyre in favor of affirmative action because its expanded opportunities for low-income students like themself. Mercuri, whose parents didnt go to college and immigrated to the U.S. from China when Lam was 8, said affirmative action helped them earn their scholarship at their current private high school.

Its been said to me before that I only got into this school because I was queer or because I was Asian or because I was a first-generation immigrant, Lam said. But in reality, if I wasnt admitted because of that, I wouldnt even have those opportunities.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
A 2003 Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action planted the seeds of its overturning, as justices then and now thought racism an easily solved problem

The Supreme Court issued a decision on June 29, 2023, that ends affirmative action in college admissions. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In an anticipated but nonetheless stunning decision expected to have widespread implications on college campuses and workplaces across the country, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 29, 2023, outlawed affirmative action programs that were designed to correct centuries of racist disenfranchisement in higher education.

In the majority opinion about the constitutionality of admissions programs at the University of North Carolina and Harvard, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that Harvards and UNCs race-based admission guidelines cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause.

College admissions are zero sum, and a benefit provided to some applicants but not to others necessarily advantages the former at the expense of the latter, Roberts wrote.

Though not a surprise, the decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina drew widespread condemnation from civil rights groups and praise from conservative politicians.

In my view as a race and equity legal scholar focused on business, the court had subtly established an affirmative action expiration date in its 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision.

In that case, Associate Justice Sandra Day OConnor wrote in her majority opinion that race-conscious admissions policies must be limited in time, adding that the Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.

In this opinion, the court moved that deadline to the forefront, and it is no longer the throwaway line that some believed at the time.

What the courts decision in these 2023 cases means for college admissions officers is that the mere mention of using race to address racial and arguably gender disparities is unconstitutional. By their very nature, academia and corporations are conservative, and general counsels at these entities are likely to caution against any program targeting historically underrepresented people.

At the most optimistic, this ruling forces higher learning institutions to revise programs and look to remedy past wrongs on a case-by-case basis.

But its my belief that O'Connors deadline was one of desire and not reality.

The vestiges of past discrimination and the unfortunate existence of ongoing discrimination continue. No deadline has made these wrongs and their impact disappear.

In her dissent in the UNC case, Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson details the reality:

With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces colorblindness for all by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life. And having so detached itself from this countrys actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC and other institutions of higher learning are doing to solve Americas real-world problems.

The courts opposition grew slowly

In their lawsuits against North Carolina and Harvard, the anti-affirmative action organization Students for Fair Admissions argued that the schools race-conscious admissions process was unconstitutional and discriminated against high-achieving Asian American students in favor of traditionally underrepresented Blacks and Hispanics who may not have earned the same grades or standardized test scores as other applicants.

The Supreme Court, from left in front row: Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan; and from left in back row: Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The primary Supreme Court-level battle over affirmative action started during the 1970s when a legal challenge reached the Supreme Court in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke.

In that 1978 case, Allan Bakke, a white man, had been denied admission to University of California at Davis medical school. Though ruling that a separate admissions process for minority medical students was unconstitutional, Associate Justice Lewis Powell wrote that race can still be one of several factors in the admissions process.

Since then, the Supreme Court has issued different rulings on whether race could be used in college admissions.

In the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger case, OConnor wrote the majority opinion that endorsed the University of Michigans highly individualized, holistic review that included race as a factor and had been legally challenged.

Most recently, in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin in 2016, the court reaffirmed its belief in schools that train students to appreciate diverse viewpoints, to see one another as more than mere stereotypes, and to develop the capacity to live and work together as equal members of a common community.

A colorblind society?

The ruling is not a complete loss for supporters of diversity efforts.

Roberts wrote that prospective students should be evaluated as an individual  not on the basis of race, although universities can still consider an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas opposes all race-conscious college admissions policies. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Applicants then are still able to explain their background in their essays submitted for college admissions. But even that is fraught with problems.

As novelists James Baldwin once asked: How does one articulate the constant presence of race to someone who is not experiencing it?

For governmental entities, like public schools or those receiving substantial state funding, the ruling forces them to detail not only how using race will further compel government interests but also whether such a program is necessary to achieve that interest.

As Jackson explains in her dissent:

The only way out of this morass  for all of us  is to stare at racial disparity unblinkingly, and then do what evidence and experts tell us is required to level the playing field. It is no small irony that the judgment the majority hands down today will forestall the end of race-based disparities in this country, making the colorblind world the majority wistfully touts much more difficult to accomplish.

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: Kenneth L. Shropshire, University of Pennsylvania.

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Kenneth L. Shropshire 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.
The Supreme Court handed conservatives a key victory this week when the high court struck down President Bidens plan that would have wiped out billions of dollars in debt for student borrowers.

Under the presidents student debt forgiveness plan, Pell Grant recipients would have seen up to $20,000 in loans cancelled while borrowers with non-Pell Grant loans could see up to $10,000 in loans eliminated. Borrowers would only be eligible if they made less than $125,000 individually or $250,000 for married couples.

The news was largely applauded by the 2024 GOP presidential candidates, though both former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have yet to weigh in.

Heres a look at what the contenders have said about the recent Supreme Court decision so far.

Mike Pence

Former Vice President Pence said he was pleased with the Supreme Courts decision blocking Bidens student debt plan, again touting the role he played during the Trump administration with three of the Supreme Court justices who were tapped by the former president and made up part of the majority opinion in the case.

Joe Bidens massive trillion-dollar student loan bailout subsidizes the education of elites on the backs of hardworking Americans, and it was an egregious violation of the Constitution for him to attempt to do so unilaterally with the stroke of the executive pen, Pence said in a statement.

I am pleased that the Court struck down the Radical Lefts effort to use the money of taxpayers who played by the rules and repaid their debts in order to cancel the debt of bankers and lawyers in New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., he continued. I am honored to have played a role in appointing three of the Justices that ensured todays welcomed decision, and as President I will continue to appoint judges who will strictly apply the law and enforce our Constitutions separation of powers.

Nikki Haley

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement on Friday that the Supreme Court was right in blocking Bidens student debt plan.

A president cannot just wave his hand and eliminate loans for students he favors, while leaving out all those who worked hard to pay back their loans or made other career choices. The Supreme Court was right to throw out Joe Bidens power grab, Haley said.

Tim Scott

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) launched a new ad on Friday following the Supreme Courts decision, saying that he wanted to offer support to vocational and apprenticeship training and argued Americans dont need to go to college as the only way to be successful.

Joe Biden wants you to pay off the student loans of lawyers and professors. I want to strengthen vocational education and apprenticeships. We need more welders, carpenters and electricians. These are the jobs that built America, and these are the jobs liberal elites cant ship to China, Scott said in the 30-second ad.

College isnt the only path to the American dream, and its time for a president who values hard work and the people who do it, he added.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy released a statement on Friday in favor of the Supreme Courts decision.

We have a bad habit in America of paying people to do the exact opposite of what we want them to do: pay people more money to stay at home than to work, more money to be a single mother than married, more money for those who fail to repay loans than those who do. As a matter of policy, this decision helps reverse that trend, Ramaswamy said.

As a matter of law, this case builds upon West Virginia vs. EPA (2022) in setting a powerful precedent suggesting that most regulations promulgated by the Administrative State are unlawful, he continued. I will lead the Executive Branch accordingly, rescinding all federal regulations that fail the Supreme Courts new standard. This will unleash the American economy and restore the integrity of our 3-branch Constitutional Republic over the unconstitutional behavior of the Fourth Branch.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The Scene

While OpenAIs Sam Altman has been dominating the spotlight, another artificial intelligence CEO is increasingly influencing how the industry is perceived by Washington regulators.

Alexandr Wang, the 26-year-old chief executive of the billion-dollar company Scale AI, which manages an army of human AI trainers, was a familiar D.C. face long before the craze over ChatGPT began, securing lucrative government contracts and winning over members of Congress.

Wang, who dropped out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to found Scale in 2016, has taken particular interest in speaking to lawmakers about his hawkish views on China, which he says is the greatest geopolitical competitor to the United States.

China has stated that it will dominate AI in both the public and private sectors by 2030 and is throwing the resources behind the goal to make that happen, Wang warned at Scales inaugural tech summit in the capital earlier this month.

What really makes him stand out in the California-centric tech industry, however, are his deep connections in Washington. Alex and I are actually friends, not like fake D.C. friends, like real friends  we hang out, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., said during the summit. We've known each other for three years now.

In recent months, the CEO has twice briefed the new Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party that Gallagher chairs. I found him to be very insightful, and at the same time personable, and just energetic about the issues of AI, said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi D-Ill., the senior Democrat on the committee who met Wang during a recent trip to California.

Other lawmakers had similarly complimentary things to say about Wang, whose company spent over $1 million on federal lobbying last year, according to public disclosures. He strikes me as a man on a mission  fiercely patriotic and fiercely determined to ensure the U.S. achieves AI dominance, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., told Semafor.

A spokesperson for Scale declined to make Wang available for an interview. Vijay Karunamurthy, the companys field chief technology officer, told Semafor that Scale has been engaging with the U.S. government about AI for years, unlike firms who only woke up to the technology recently.

He said Wang has coined a term for them: AI tourists.

Know More

At the companys tech summit, Wang told the audience that his relationship to national security was deeply personal and rooted in the work of his parents, physicists who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb.

I'm dedicated to helping our government provide warfighters with the tools and technologies they need to maintain a strategic advantage on the battlefields in the coming decades, he said.

Scale AI, which is backed by an estimated $600 million in venture capital funding, is not known for developing massive models like ChatGPT. Instead, it provides the secret sauce that makes them powerful: humans. Some 240,000 people around the world earn money training AI programs on Scales worker-facing platform, Remotasks. The company is a major player in the often secretive data annotation industry.

In Scales early years, many of those workers labeled images and videos for self-driving cars, helping them to learn to distinguish, for example, a road obstacle ahead from rain drops on the windshield. Scale recruited people from all over the world, but especially in countries like Kenya, Venezuela, and the Philippines, said Julian Posada, a professor at Yale University who studies the data annotation industry.

More recently, Scale has begun courting the federal government, which meant needing to vet qualified workers in the U.S. Last year, it announced it was opening an office in St. Louis, Missouri that would initially employ 200 people, calling it a strategic business opportunity to conduct geospatial work for government. Since then, Scale has helped identify buildings damaged by the war in Ukraine and deployed an AI model for the U.S. military.

In January of last year, Scale touted that it would provide AI services to the Department of Defense as part of a $249 million contract, but its not clear what percentage of those funds it captured. Forbes estimates that Scale has received around $60 million in government contracts to date. A spokesperson for the company declined to provide revenue numbers.

Louise's view

Scales outsized presence in Washington may open lawmakers eyes to the immense amount of human work that goes into developing AI. ChatGPT was trained on billions of text snippets from the internet, but what makes its answers sound lifelike is a process called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), essentially having a real person rate the AIs responses and correct them for inaccuracies.

Scale and its competitors are the ones responsible for providing that labor, as well as ensuring it gets recognized. We absolutely think it's important to acknowledge the role that human feedback and human alignment plays in making these models actually useful for different use cases, Karunamurthy said. Its not just understanding how the sausage is made, it's actually the really critical piece to make AI useful to human beings.

Room for Disagreement

As AI models become more sophisticated, Scales labor costs are likely going to increase significantly. Clients will be more likely to demand trainers with expertise in topics like law, medicine, or foreign languages, which can be pricey to hire. Scale recently listed some of these contract roles on its own website, rather than on Remotasks. They paid around $40 an hour, whereas someone training self-driving cars in Venezuela on Remotasks might only make $1.

The View From Data Annotators

Data annotators who spoke to The Verges Josh Dzieza said they were largely unaware that Remotasks was connected to Scale AI, since the two do not mention one another on their websites. I really am wasting my life here if I made somebody a billionaire and Im earning a couple of bucks a week, said one worker, who at the time was labeling the emotions of people ordering Dominos pizza.

Notable
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks during the annual State of the State address Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, in Madison, Wis. (Morry Gash/AP)

A woodworker from Wisconsin who threatened the governor and several other officials was sentenced to a year in prison Thursday after taking a plea deal.

Michael Yaker, 53, will likely serve only a few months because hes been in jail for most of the past year, the Wisconsin State Journal reported. He pleaded guilty to a federal charge in March for threatening a former Dane County official in May 2022.

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Yaker will be released on supervision and required to get mental health treatment.

Although he only pleaded guilty to threatening the county official, Yaker has admitted to making the other threats  including Democratic Gov. Tony Evers  as part of his deal with prosecutors.

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Over eight months he made dozens of threats via email and Facebook, among other methods, detailing violent acts against the recipients. Some contained racial slurs.

In a call to the Dane County Board of Supervisors, Yaker said Im holding an axe in my hand. Ive been sharpening it the whole time.

Yakers mental health struggles and threatening behavior began after the countys decision not to award him a contract to build a park shelter more than a decade ago, according to court documents.

He had pleaded guilty in 2016 to making violent threats, including a bomb scare, and was sentenced to probation. Yaker said Thursday that his feelings of rage and manic madness returned as he was coming off probation in 2019, and he began threatening government officials again.

I dont want to hurt anybody, Yaker said in court. I dont want these people to fear me.
3 charged with concealment of homicidal death after human remains found in southeast IL

Three people were arrested after Illinois State Police agents investigating a mans disappearance found human remains Tuesday in Crawford County, according to a news release.

Lance T. Newcomb, 34, Angela S. Newcomb, 58, and Hiley A. Schulte, 52, all of Robinson, each were charged with concealment of homicidal death, a Class 3 felony. Newcomb also was charged with obstructing justice, a Class 4 felon, the release states.

The Crawford County States Attorneys Office approved the charges Thursday. All three are in custody at the Crawford County Jail. No further information was available.

On June 22, the Cumberland County Sheriffs Department requested the Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 8 investigate a missing person: 55-year-old Ryan L. Waggoner of Lerna.

On Tuesday, the investigation ledagents to a rural address in Crawford County where they found human remains. . Forensic analysis is being completed to identify the remains.

The Crawford County Sheriffs Department, Robinson Police Department, and the Cumberland County Sheriffs Department assisted the ISP.
A family of Syrian refugees arrive at their new home in Bloomfield, Mich., in 2015. Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images

The U.S. is  and long has been  a pluralistic society that contains large immigrant communities.

Yet migration is an actively debated but poorly understood topic, and much of the conventional thinking and political rhetoric about migration are based on myths, rather than facts.

For these reasons, migration policies and strategies for easing acculturation  which refers to the psychological process of assimilating to a new culture  usually end up being ineffective.

I often work with immigrant populations in my job as a family therapist and as an acculturation scholar.

Here are a few of the most common misconceptions I come across in my work.

1. Immigrants dont want to learn English

The U.S. is home to more international migrants than any other country, and more than the next four countries  Germany, Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United Kingdom  combined, according to 2020 data from the U.N. Population Division. While the U.S. population represents about 5% of the total world population, close to 20% of all global migrants reside there.

An overwhelming number of these immigrants are learning English, despite public perception to the contrary.

Immigrants and their children learn English today at the same rate as Italians, Germans and Eastern Europeans who emigrated in the early 19th century.

According to U.S. Census data, immigrant adults report having better English skills the longer theyve lived in the U.S. And from 2009 to 2019, the percentage who could speak English very well increased from 57% to 62% among first-generation immigrants.

2. Immigrants are uneducated

Contrary to popular belief that immigrants moving to the U.S. have minimal education, many of them are well educated.

Over the past five years, 48% of arriving immigrants have been classified as highly skilled  that is, they have a bachelors degree or graduate degree. By comparison, only 33% of those born in the U.S. hold a bachelors degree or higher.

Moreover, the pursuit of higher education is valued and encouraged in immigrant communities, particularly those that arrived from collectivist societies, which are commonplace in the countries of South Asia. Immigrants from these places tend to prioritize the virtue of the learning process and the joy that comes from attaining an educational milestone.

That doesnt mean highly educated immigrants can easily slide into high-paying jobs. Many of them find themselves working in menial jobs that dont require a degree, and underemployment among highly educated immigrants remains a key issue in the U.S. today.

A crowd celebrates after being sworn in as U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony in 2007 in California. David McNew/Getty Images

3. The best way to adapt is to embrace US culture

For decades, acculturation studies have highlighted the importance of immigrants embracing American culture. Policymakers, therapists and educators who offered services to immigrants adhered to a narrow understanding of acculturation, which encouraged immigrants to adapt to their host country by severing themselves from the culture of their homelands.

Then, in 1987, psychologist John Berry proposed an acculturation model outlining new strategies.

According to Berry, immigrants should strive to retain elements of their original cultural identity while also adopting a new cultural identity that folds in American culture and values.

Today, Berrys model is the most commonly used to understand acculturation.

However, although the model acknowledges that acculturation strategies may evolve over time, it doesnt take into account the emerging forms of transnational immigration, which refers to immigrants who live in another country but also maintain strong ties to their home country.

Technological advances have made it far easier for immigrants to maintain ties with their original culture. There are also U.S. cities, neighborhoods and towns where immigrant communities are the demographic majority  places like Hialeah, Florida, where Cubans and Cuban Americans make up 73% of the population, and parts of the Detroit metro area, which has growing numbers of Indian immigrants.

For immigrants living in these immigrant islands, theres less of an obligation to undergo a transformative process of acculturation, whether its by Americanizing foreign names or not teaching children their home countrys language.

Still, many immigrants nonetheless feel pressured to downplay their backgrounds. While conducting interviews with members of the Turkish community in Chicago, I spoke with many people who admitted that they werent comfortable flaunting their Turkish culture. This didnt surprise me. Immigrants are often exposed to new sets of prejudices and biases, and they fear not being able to access services such as medical care and education.

This fear reinforces the urge to assimilate into the dominant cultures values  which, in America, includes individualist principles like independence  and suppress their own cultural values, such as being family-oriented. Its essentially a strategy of self-protection.

In my work, I found that immigrants who engaged in whats called cultural innocuousness  behaving in ways that may soften their ethnic and cultural expression  had the hardest time adapting to their new home.

For those reasons, it is crucial for social workers, therapists, teachers and policymakers who work with immigrant families to focus on the tensions among acculturation, ethnic identity and well-being.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts, from an independent nonprofit. Try our free newsletters.

It was written by: April Nisan Ilkmen, Adler University.

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April Nisan Ilkmen 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.
Demonstrators at Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Courts ruling in 303 Creative Services v. Elenis isnt cause for panic, but it underlines the need to continue the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, say civil rights activists outraged by the decision.

The high court ruled Friday that Colorado web designer Lorie Smiths free speech rights entitle her to refuse service to same-sex couples seeking wedding websites, even though state law bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.

While the ruling is limited in scope, it sets a dangerous precedent because it sets the stage for other exceptions from antidiscrimination law, LGBTQ+ advocates are pointing out, and it comes at a time when legislatures in conservative states are attacking the community. The fight against discrimination must continue at both the state and national levels, both legislatively and in the courts, they note.

Todays smug attack on civil rights law will have limited practical impact in the marketplace because few commercial services involve original artwork and pure speech offered as limited commissions, said a statement from Lambda Legal Chief Legal Officer Jennifer C. Pizer. But todays narrow decision does continue the Court majoritys dangerous siren call to those trying to return the country to the social and legal norms of the nineteenth century because it jettisons without even acknowledging what was part of the legal test for decades.

Given the uniquely creative service at issue here, the impact is likely to be minimal, Pizer added. But the door has been opened for potential future cases to expand this limited carve-out. We will be vigilant against that possibility.

Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund Legal Director David Brown issued a statement making similar points: Todays disturbing ruling creates a new license to discriminate, allowing some businesses to use their disapproval of LGBTQ people to justify refusing to sell us services. However, it is important to note the limits of the decision as well. This license to discriminate only applies to those who sell their original and tailored, expressive service while carefully vetting each project for alignment with their own views.

Nonetheless, with this case, anti-LGBTQ+ forces are chipping away at our rights one small piece at a time, Brown said.

The ruling is extremely disappointing, but importantly, it does not strike down all antidiscrimination protections, Denise Spivak, CEO of CenterLink, an association of LGBTQ+ community centers, emphasized in her statement. Unfortunately, todays decision does undermine the civil rights laws that protect all of us from discrimination in our daily lives, and in recent years, the Supreme Court has issued a series of decisions that make this country less safe for LGBTQ people, women, and people of color, she added.

The Supreme Court held today for the first time that a business offering customized expressive services has the right to violate state laws prohibiting such businesses from discrimination in sales, noted a statement from David Cole, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union. The Courts decision opens the door to any business that claims to provide customized services to discriminate against historically marginalized groups. The decision is fundamentally misguided. We will continue to fight to defend laws against discrimination from those who seek a license to discriminate.

For decades, public accommodations law has guaranteed that businesses open to the public should be open to all on equal terms, said a statement from Equality Florida. While todays ruling does not change that principle, it does create a foothold for refusing customized, expressive services that would compel the creator to share a message with which they disagree. But importantly, the ruling neither creates a broad license to discriminate nor wholesale repeals vital civil rights protections.

As states continue passing harmful laws that seek to dehumanize and erase the existence of LGBTQ+ people, we are disappointed to see the Supreme Court deliver yet another blow by allowing business owners personal prejudice to overcome decades of legal precedent, Beth Littrell, senior supervising attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a news release. This misguided decision fails to recognize that personal, including religious, beliefs about LGBTQ+ people do not form a constitutional basis to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people in public accommodations.

Smith was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal nonprofit known for fighting LGBTQ+ equality and abortion rights. ADFs other clients have included Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker who asserted his right to refuse to create a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple, in violation of the states antidiscrimination law. In 2018, in another ostensibly narrowly tailored ruling, the Supreme Court vacated the Colorado Civil Rights Commissions decision penalizing Phillips, as the high court found the commission had shown insufficient respect for his religious beliefs.

The courts assertion in the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling that there is not a broad right to discriminate is inconsistent with its decision in 303 Creative, said Praveen Fernandes, vice president at the Constitutional Accountability Center.

If observers struggle to reconcile todays decision with the Courts assurance a mere five years ago in Masterpiece Cakeshop that religious and moral objections to same-sex marriage would not permit business owners and other actors in the economy and in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law, it is because these positions are irreconcilable, Fernandes said in a written statement. What has changed is not the text and history of the Constitution, but the composition of the Court.

Since the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, has retired, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an LGBTQ+ rights advocate who dissented from it, has died. Both were replaced by conservative justices appointed by Donald Trump  Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who were in the 6-3 majority in 303 Creative.

Also, Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the 303 Creative decision, is a Trump appointee  and Trump had the opportunity to select him for the court because Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, then Senate Majority Leader, blocked President Barack Obamas nomination of Merrick Garland after Justice Antonin Scalia died. So when Trump became president, he nominated Gorsuch, and the Senate confirmed him.

Right-wing groups such as ADF must bear their share of blame for the 303 Creative ruling, noted Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. This decision will bring harm and stigma to LGBTQ families and is yet another example of a Court that is out of touch with the supermajority of Americans who believe in fundamental freedoms and know that discrimination is wrong, she said in a news release. Businesses that are open to the public should serve all in the public. Not one LGBTQ couple sought the business services so this case is a massive abuse of the judicial system and part of a coordinated effort from groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom to leverage corrupt extremist justices to roll back rights of marginalized Americans. The decision does not reflect a country that supports LGBTQ people and recognizes our relationships are equal, valid and valued.

To put such support into law, its crucial for Congress to pass the Equality Act, which would establish nationwide antidiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in employment, housing, public accommodations, and more, said Allen Morris, policy director at the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund. None of us are free unless all of us are free, he said in a statement. We are here and will continue to fight for the protection we deserve. Stand with us by renouncing any form of discrimination against our community and contacting your congressmember to ensure the Equality Act is a must-pass bill for this congressional session.
These 5 SC counties have the most HOA complaints, new report says. Heres whats upsetting people

Most of the complaints about homeowners associations in South Carolina over the last five years came from five counties, a new state report shows.

Five counties had 654 of the total 1,012 complaints levied against 640 HOAs between June 1, 2018 and Dec. 31, 2022, according to the S.C. Department of Consumer Affairs. The department has filed HOA complaint reports since 2019, following a change in state law that requires that data from those complaints be given to the governor, General Assembly and the public every year.

Here are the five counties with the most complaints over the last five years.

Complaint amount

Horry County: 269 Richland County: 165 Greenville County: 83 Charleston County: 82 Beaufort County: 55

The list of five counties changes for the most part, however, when looking at complaints per capita.

Complaints per capita

Horry County: 0.74 Jasper County: 0.66 Georgetown County: 0.60 Edgefield County: 0.42 Richland County: 0.39

Highlights from the five-year report

The department actually received 1,182 total complaints about HOAs over the last five years. However, only 1,012 were included in the 5-year report because 170 did not meet the statutory requirements for inclusion, were duplicates or were referred to the S.C. Human Affairs Commission.

All of the complaints came from 27 of the states 46 counties.

The number of complaints have grown every year since reporting began.

The top complaint was over failure to adhere to and or enforce covenants and bylaws.

State agency oversight was the top recommendation for enforcing governing documents.

Top 10 HOA complaints over last five years
5 surprising travel deals you can get at Costco: From car rentals to African safaris

Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

One of Costco's less-known perks is their in-house travel agency Costco Travel.

Members can get travel deals on rental cars, cruises, hotels, theme parks, and airfare.

Here are 5 different ways you can take advantage of Costco travel deals on your next vacation.

Car rentals

Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Costco Travel offers members exclusive rates on car-rental brands including Alamo, Avis, Budget, and Enterprise.

You can search by brand or find the best deal using the retailer's low price finder search tool, which allows you to narrow down search results by car type, number of passengers, and luggage amount.

Costco's rental car program also features additional member perks like the ability to book an additional driver at select locations, "book now, pay at the counter" options, zero cancellation fees, and an annual 2% award for executive members.

Cruises

Cruise ships docked at the Port of Miami on December 31, 2021 in Miami, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Costco members can choose from 11 cruise lines and 14 destinations when booking a cruise through Costco Travel.

Kirkland Signature Cruises from Costco's private label are the best bang for your buck, according to the company's website, with featured deals ranging from a $459 eight-night Carnival cruise to the Bahamas to a $2,016 11-night Holland America Line cruise in Alaska.

Members who book a cruise through Costco Travel can also receive a Digital Costco Shop Card or shipboard credit with every sailing, according to the company.

Theme Parks and specialty experiences

Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in April 2022. AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Costco Travel offers special deals on theme parks like Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, and Disneyland.

The travel agency also features specialty experience packages, including African Safari tours, guided group family vacations with Adventures by Disney, and guided trips through Ireland and Scotland organized by local experts from Brendan Vacations.

Hotels

Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Gainey Ranch

Members can choose from four hotel brands when booking their stay through Costco Travel, according to the website: IHG Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, and Swissotel Hotels and Resorts.

If you change your mind, there are no change or cancellation fees for hotel rooms booked online through Costco Travel  unless you are within the hotel's penalty period. Plus, you can still receive World of Hyatt loyalty points for room-only bookings.

Flights

A United Airlines plane taking off from San Francisco International Airport. Courtesy of United Airlines

While you can't book flights individually through Costco Travel, you can bundle airfare with your hotel stay and/or rental car booking.

Airfare from most major US cities can be purchased as an add-on with nearly all Costco vacations, the company says. However, the offering does not include all carriers.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Attention Kansas City Convention Center staff, local hotels, restaurants, and ordinary residents or tourists: Mennonites are coming to town the first week of July. You may see one (or a whole crew of them) out and about in Kansas City and no, they (most likely) wont be wearing bonnets or long, black dresses. Downtown valet services need not worry about parking horse and buggies. In fact, the only telltale sign that a Mennonite might be close by is this: They will likely be wearing lanyards and name tags with our green Mennonite Church USA dove logo on it.

Other than that, you may not be able to spot a Mennonite in the wild as we gather in Kansas City for MennoCon23. If you do spot or come into contact with one, here are some tips from a local Mennonite pastor. (And Mennonites, if you are reading this, please give generous tips during your time in KC.)

Often when Im out and about and introduce myself as a Mennonite pastor, people will stop what they are doing, look up, look back down, scratch their heads and get this look in their eyes that suggests confusion or amusement. Once in a while, someone will verbalize what they are actually thinking or wondering about. Take a hospital receptionist recently who said, ever so kindly: I hope you dont mind me asking you a question. Im curious, whats a Mennonite again? I loved the question and the inquisitive, respectful manner in which he asked.

More often, I will get responses such as, But I thought Mennonites wore head coverings. Or, You mean you are Amish? Or, I didnt think Mennonites had female pastors. Sometimes people will even joke while looking past me, hoping they see my horse and buggy in the hospital valet area. Im always sorry to disappoint them.

Back to my friend the hospital receptionist and his lovely question. I didnt want to hold up the line, so after I thanked him for asking, I gave him my business card and encouraged him to look for information online about the two local Mennonite churches: Rainbow Mennonite Church and Eden Life Church. I now look for this friendly receptionist every time I return to the hospital.

I hope hes reading this because I write with him in mind and anyone who has wondered the same thing: Whats a Mennonite again?

When you ask Siri to tell you what Mennonites are, she might say that they are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities. So what is an Anabaptist? The truth is, I cant answer that definitively, nor can Siri or any other artificial intelligence. No one can. No one Mennonite church can.

What I can say is that we at Rainbow Mennonite Church are part of a movement that stretches back to the 16th century Reformation, a time of great upheaval and change for those who professed faith in Jesus. The Anabaptists (or re-baptizers, as they were often critically labeled) were among those who called for radical (meaning going back to roots) reform. Most of these 16th century Anabaptists went so far as to practice believers baptism and nonviolence or rejection of the sword, believing that Jesus meant what he said in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and that he was talking to us, his followers of every age.

So instead of baptizing infants, we dedicate children and we dedicate ourselves as adults to be part of their lives in a way that we hope will draw them into closer communion with Jesus and his teachings on nonviolence, love of enemy, rejection of greed and materialism. We hope and pray that drawing closer to Jesus will happen in the context of a community. Another way to say this is that we yearn to become a community shaped by Jesus life and teachings. While personal faith is important, following Jesus is not some private, solely individualistic pursuit. Mature faith, we believe, is best expressed and built within a community. And building a community shaped by Jesus teachings is hardly ever easy  and wow, is it extraordinary when it occurs.

Each Mennonite and each Mennonite or Anabaptist group has its own distinct character or style. There are, in fact, more than 50 shades of Mennonite. Some of us live or go to church in rural areas, while others of us are in urban or suburban settings. We hold all sorts of professions and careers. And yes, I grew up riding horses, but not in the way many people assume.

So if you happen upon a Mennonite during the upcoming convention, or a Mennonite happens upon you, try starting with a question. Perhaps set aside assumptions or preconceived notions. And hopefully Mennonites will do the same when learning from those we meet. Instead of throwing shade, lets enjoy learning the variety of shades that make up individuals lives and communities and religions. Peace out.

Ruth Harder is pastor of Rainbow Mennonite Church in Kansas City, Kansas.
Thursday marked the busiest day for US air travel since the pandemic

A messy effort to equip planes with updated technology is threatening to upend possibly the busiest weekend for post-pandemic air travel in the US.

Airlines have been racing to retrofit their fleets with new gear before Saturday, when US wireless carriers will begin to boost their 5G signals.

But many domestic and international carriers cannot meet the deadline, the Federal Aviation Administration says.

Holiday-goers may also see their schedules upended by extreme weather.

Severe storms along the country's east coast, a heat wave baking southern states, and Canadian wildfire smoke have each contributed to difficult conditions for air travel this week.

More than 6,000 flights have been scrapped and over 30,000 delayed since Monday, based on data from the FlightAware website.

Even as most airlines have since largely rebounded, the days ahead will see wildfire smoke waft over busy airspaces like New York and thunderstorms roil Midwestern states.

Thursday marked the busiest day for American air travel since before the pandemic with more than 52,000 flights, the FAA said on Twitter.

That volume may be topped on Friday, the start of the Independence Day long weekend, with an estimated 2.8 million people expected to travel that day, according to the Transportation Security Administration. Several million more could travel over the weekend through into Tuesday.

The surge of passengers comes as hundreds of planes will fail to meet the deadline for government-mandated updates to their landing systems.

Starting on Saturday, AT&T, Verizon and other wireless network operators will be free to increase the power of their 5G signals, a change that may lead to better cellular performance in and around airports.

But airline industry officials have warned the changes could interfere with the radio frequency filters planes use to help pilots determine altitude. Known as radio altimeters or radar altimeters, the equipment is particularly important for landing safely in inclement or low-visibility conditions.

In line with these concerns, the FAA directed all carriers to upgrade their fleets with new 5G-tolerant altimeters by Saturday. But it said in a statement to the BBC that the new technology is yet to be installed in about 15% of domestic planes and 34% of international planes that fly in US airspace.

Last week, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned airlines in a letter: "Only aircraft with retrofitted radio altimeters will be able to perform low-visibility landings. And for certain fleet types, a retrofit will be necessary to operate at all in the United States after the deadline."

According to the FAA, carriers in Europe, including the UK, have "largely completed their work".

But trade groups representing US airlines complain that global supply chain issues have hindered their efforts to be compliant.

"Carriers have repeatedly communicated this reality to the government," Airlines for America, which represents most major US carriers, said.

"Nevertheless, thanks to careful planning, A4A member carriers are confident in their ability to maintain the integrity of their schedules, despite the impending deadline."

American, Alaska, Southwest and United - all A4A members - confirmed to US media this week that they will be able to meet the deadline.

But another key carrier, Delta, said that about 190 aircraft from its fleet of over 900 will not be upgraded in time due to a supplier issue.

"What this means for Delta is that some of our aircraft will have more restrictions for operations in inclement weather," a spokesperson said, adding that some operational impact should be expected.

"Safety of flight will never be in question, and Delta will adhere to all directives and regulations from our regulators,"
As of May 2023, 95% of Ukrainians trust the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and 80% trust their President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Source: results of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology survey shared on 30 June

Quote: "Ninety five percent of Ukrainians report trusting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and 80 percent report trusting President Zelenskyy. And while much of the international medias attention has focused on Ukraines requests for additional weapons and equipment from its partners, Ukrainians do not just want a strong military  they want a strong and inclusive democracy.

In May 2023, 94 percent of Ukrainians reported that it is important that Ukraine becomes a fully functioning democracy."

Details: Sociologists report that they have been asking this question for several years, but have never seen such a result: "By comparison, when asked the same question in December 2021, only 76 percent of Ukrainians said that it was important or very important that Ukraine become a fully functioning democracy."

In addition, support for joining NATO and the EU is also at an all-time high.

Thus, in May 2023, 92% said they wanted Ukraine to become a member of the EU, and 89% said they wanted it to become a member of NATO.

In addition, 73% said that international organisations, Western countries or international business should play a major role in overseeing Ukraine's recovery process.

After more than a year of war and atrocities, Ukrainians do not believe that Russia will negotiate in good faith. Five months into the war, in May 2022, 59% of respondents were open to peace talks with Russia. By May 2023, the number of those in favour of negotiations had dropped to 33%, while those opposed to negotiations had risen to 63%.

Ukrainians are also confident in the country's ability to eliminate corruption. Ukrainians trust their government, represented by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, to fight corruption.

Despite the relentless nightly attacks  especially on Kyiv over the past few months  Ukrainian morale and belief in victory remain unchanged.

Ukrainians now expect the war to last longer, but their morale and belief in victory remain unchanged.

In May 2023, 47% of respondents expected at least 6 more months of war, compared to 18% in May 2022. In the latest survey, 44% said they had lost friends and family, compared to 20% in May 2022.

Over the past year, the number of people who are optimistic about the future has remained virtually unchanged. When asked to name the reason for their optimism, the most frequently mentioned was "victory".

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
9 tips to keep your pets safe this 4th of July

The sound of fireworks can be unsettling for humans and even more so for animals. That means its important to take extra precautions to keep your pets safe during the 4th of July.

The Humane Society of the United States offers the following 9 tips to help keep your pets safe this holiday:

1. Keep your pet safely away from fireworks. Pets are more sensitive to loud noises, flashing lights and strong smells. On the Fourth of July, and other days people are likely to set off fireworks, its best to leave your pets safely indoors, preferably with a radio or TV turned on to soften jarring noises.

2. If youre unable to leave your pet unattended at home, keep them leashed and under your direct control at all times.

Read: 9 fireworks safety tips

3. If your pet is scared by fireworks, you can ask ask a veterinarian for help. There are medications and techniques that might help alleviate your pets fear and anxiety, including creating a safe space for them and distracting them.

4. High temperatures put your pet at risk of heat stroke, which can become deadly very quickly. Keep an eye on your pets and act immediately if you see any signs of heatstroke.

5. Never leave your pet in a parked car.

Read: One of the biggest fireworks shows in Central Florida is about to change

6. Remember that hot pavement can be dangerous to unprotected paws; if its too hot for you to hold your hand to the ground for five seconds, its not safe for your dog to walk on.

7. All pets, even those kept indoors full-time, should always wear collars with ID tags. Indoor-only pets can become so frightened during fireworks displays that they may take desperate measures to escape the noise, including breaking through windows or door screens.

Read: 9 Fourth of July fireworks displays you cant miss in Central Florida

8. Ensure that your pet is microchipped and that the chip is properly registered with your current contact information.

9. If your pet is lost, contact your local animal control and surrounding shelters immediately. If you find a lost pet, either take them to the address on their tag or bring them to a local animal shelter so they can be reunited with their family.

Read: AAA: Floridians expected to travel in record numbers during July 4 holiday

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.
It was a wild night on the town. On Saturday, Feb. 4, 1928, visitors to what is now the Peel Pizza building at First and Cherry in Downtown OFallon got much more than they bargained for.

And so did the wild culprits.

Heres how the OFallon Progress reported it the following Thursday.

Starting a general free-for-all battle during a dance at Moonlight Hall Saturday night proved an expensive affair for Lester Mulligan and Frank Hollman, of Belleville, who evidently learned the lesson that it does not pay to transgress on the peace of a law-abiding community.

According to the police blotter the two young men came to OFallon to take in a dance and unfortunately imbibed too freely.

Shortly before midnight Mulligan started trouble in the vicinity of the orchestra corner which waged into a free-for-all melee.

Officer Tiley (OFallon Police Chief John E. Tiley) and several assistants went to quiet the belligerents with the results that things began to happen fast and ferocious.

During the battle Rowland Fenton, who was playing the engagement, was one of the heavy sufferers, several instruments, valued at about $500 being damaged. In the fight someone stepped on a clarinet and smashed it, another fell into a bass drum while a third came in contact with a trombone which was crushed. Other instruments were also reported damaged.

Mulligan fought ferociously but a well-directed blow from the officers club rendered him to a meek condition and he was arrested.

While being taken to jail, Hollman, his companion interfered but was subdued. He followed the officer and prisoner to the lockup where he renewed his interference, with the result that another battle started in which Hollman drew the short end.

The officer, realizing that the young man was under the influence of a fighting spirit, treated him the best he could until he became abusive and threatening. In this he obstructed the arm of the law in trying to prevent his friend from being placed in a cell.

Hollman finally succumbed when he was struck on the head with the top portion of a cell stove, suffering a scalp wound which required several stitches.

The next morning the youths were hailed before Justice E. E. Asbury where they pleaded to a disorderly conduct charge and were assessed a fine of $25 and costs each, which were paid.

Local authorities are making an investigation and indications are that more charges will follow as Fenton, the orchestra leader has threatened to bring a $1000 damage suit for the destruction of his instruments. Mayor (Ralph) Kampmeyer is also conferring with the city attorney relative to charges against Hollman for interfering with an officer while in line of duty.

Officer Tiley reports that this is the first time in several years that trouble occurred at a social gathering and the incident is to be regretted.

(The dance floor was on the second floor of the building.)

75 years ago, July 8, 1948

Another forward step in OFallons rapid expansion was negotiated Saturday when the OFallon Chapter of the Sportsmens Club leased the county rock quarry grounds, 2-1/2 miles east of the city for 10 years.

The county board of supervisors approved the lease at its meeting Saturday at a consideration of $1 a year. The quarry property comprises a large lake and 23 acres of ground. It was established during the WPA years when the county was in need of rock and desirous of providing work for the unemployed.

With the advent of the war, it was discontinued and has been inoperative since. Sportsmen officers plan to convert the property into a recreation center for members of the club, which now number 150. But with the acquisition of the lake, it is expected that many others will take advantage of a membership in the organization.

Ideally located on an all-weather road, present plans are for a general improvement of the grounds under a cleanup and beautification program. Tentatively, barbecue pits, tables and other facilities are to be eventually added. Restocking the lake with fish is one of the first projects under consideration.

The club is also taking steps to prohibit swimming in the quarry due to the danger involved. The grounds are to be properly posted July 15th when the lease becomes effective, against trespassing of any nature until such time when the site will be ready for recreational purposes.

In making the request to the board, the local club set forth the following objectives: to work in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Conservation in the conservation and restoration of our natural resources in the propagation of fish and game in the development of true sportsmanship in our citizenry; developing a spirit of mutual understanding and co-operation between all classes and groups of conservationists, nature lovers, farmers, and sportsmen, to the end that the interests of each group may be served to the fullest extent with the rights and privileges of others; a belief in the essential worth of boys and recognizing the need of a place for clean sport and fishing.

The countys lease has but one restriction. This provides that the club agrees to surrender the property whenever it becomes necessary for the countys requirements.

Clifton Joseph, secretary of the club, stated that a general meeting of the organization will be held at City Hall tonight at 8 oclock in furtherance of the proposed improvements.

(Quarry Road is named after the area.)

50 years ago, July 5, 1973

Leo B. Obernuefemann, director of zoning for St. Clair County, has been named president of the OFallon Chamber of Commerce. He succeeds Bill Shaffer, jewelry store owner. Other officers are Mrs. Robert P. Weinel, vice president; Harry Merkel, treasurer; and Mrs. Jean K. Donovan, secretary. New board members are Mrs. Barbara Kimmle, Thomas Molitor, George Thompson, Jr., and Mrs. Weinel.
An photo provided by Greece's coast guard on June 14, 2023, shows scores of people on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece. (Hellenic Coast Guard)

For five days, Breaking News alerts hit my phone repeatedly with updates on the search for a missing submersible. The search for the five-passenger vessel began only days after an overloaded migrant vessel capsized carrying some 750 desperate people bound for Greece.

The migrants aboard came from Pakistan, Egypt, Syria and Palestine, all funneled through Libya in a desperate attempt to reach Europe. Only 104 survivors have been found, making it one of the deadliest sinkings ever in the Mediterranean Sea. But this tragedy was one of many.

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Perhaps it is because these events are so common that my phone didnt light up with a play-by-play of efforts to save them. Thousands of migrants die in the Mediterranean Sea each year. While migrants die all around the world, including 1,400 last year in the Americas, the Mediterranean route is by far the deadliest.

Its hard not to see the gross disparity in the response to five privileged men missing at sea, compared with the treatment of thousands of the least privileged on earth.

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U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard vessels and military aircraft were deployed for days at great expense searching for signs of the tourist submersible. In contrast, the migrant boats distress calls were answered by a Greek Coast Guard vessel that offered little assistance and might even have caused the disaster in an effort to tow the boat out of Greek waters.

The Greek government denies this allegation, but dozens of cases have been brought against Greece in recent years for the deadly and illegal practice of pushing migrants back to sea to avoid taking legal responsibility for refugees.

The European Union might scold the Greek government for its failure to act in accord with international and European law, but it has hardly demonstrated more humanity. Instead of funding rescues, it funds migrants capture and imprisonment.

The EU committed about $38 billion to prevent migrants from arriving on its shores for the period of 2021 to 2027. This includes funding Libyas coastal security administration, with about $93 million over the last two years to train and assist Libyas ragtag Coast Guard. The EUs border agency, Frontex, provides aerial surveillance to assist Libyan authorities with interceptions.

The EU also supports detention centers in Libya, where these migrants are taken. With no functional central government in Libya, these profitable facilities are run by militias with minimal oversight.

The migrants are tortured, starved and exploited as those running the facilities force them to raise money to pay ransom. Sally Haydens remarkable book My Fourth Time, We Drowned details not only these conditions but how EU policies and support knowingly facilitate this ongoing crime against humanity for thousands. Earlier this year, a United Nations-backed investigation accused the EU of abetting these human rights abuses (though UN agencies are complicit too).

Most detainees never even register with the UN High Commission on Refugees, which is their only path to securing transfer to another country.

No due process, no information, only a handful of toilets for hundreds of people, minimal (if any) medical care, barely enough food to survive, and no hope for a way out.

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It is hard to miss the irony that the inhumane treatment of these migrants is funded and legitimized by the same European countries they have risked everything to reach, precisely because they seek the freedoms, values and dignity that Europe purports to represent.

Chicago Tribune Opinion Weekdays Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Europes aggressive approach to border management was driven by a migrant crisis that peaked in 2015. These policies and practices appear to have succeeded at their primary goal of reducing the number of migrants reaching European shores, but at what cost?

The effort has repeatedly violated European commitments to human rights under both international and EU law. While European countries (just like the United States) are not obligated to admit migrants who dont have valid claims to asylum, many have strong legal claims based on their country of origin alone. Even those without these claims deserve basic humane treatment.

Europe has empowered corrupt and criminal elements in Libya and elsewhere, feeding into a modern-day slave trade where migrants are bought and sold. It has not brought Libya closer to being a functional and secure state, nor has it addressed the underlying causes driving so many people to risk death or worse along this route. This means the problem for Europe might be suppressed, but it isnt being resolved.

A policy of keeping migrants away from European shores at any cost has also cost Europe its credibility as a purveyor of peace, freedom and human rights. That might not matter much to many of the continents security- and economy-minded leaders, but it should to anyone who doesnt want their tax dollars to fund this abuse.

The reality is that migration will only increase as the march of climate change makes conflicts more likely and more parts of the world unlivable. Europes avoidance strategy will only suffice for so long. If not for the sake of humanity, then for the sake of both security and reputation, Europe must find another way to address migration.

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Elizabeth Shackelford is a senior fellow on U.S. foreign policy with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. She was previously a U.S. diplomat and is the author of The Dissent Channel: American Diplomacy in a Dishonest Age.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
A bevy of legislation passed by the Indiana State Legislature during its 2023 session will take effect on July 1.

Here is a look at some of the laws that will impact healthcare, law enforcement, education and more in the Hoosier State:

Senate Enrolled Act 7, authored by State Senators Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, and Justin Busch, R-Fort Wayne, will ban noncompete agreements, which bar employees who leave their jobs from working in similar positions for a certain period of time, for primary care physicians in Indiana. The law also renders physician noncompete agreements non-enforceable in cases where a physician is fired or has had their employment contract expire. The law was framed by its authors as a means of lowering health care costs, but faced opposition from some State House Democrats who voiced concerns about potential adverse effects on cash-strapped hospitals.

A medical group for an Indianapolis hospital has taken the unusual step of eliminating noncompete clauses from its physicians contracts, allowing them to join rival health care systems without repercussion.

Eskenzai Medical Group recently opted to do away with the clauses, according to The Indianapolis Star, for about 50 of the groups 270 health care providers, including physicians and advanced practice providers at Eskenzai Health and its downtown Indianapolis hospital.

Another new healthcare law will mean easier access to contraceptives for Hoosiers. House Enrolled Act 1568 will allow pharmacists who undergo additional training to prescribe and dispense hormonal contraceptive patches, pills and rings to adults. The contraceptives cant be prescribed for more than six months at a time, and after a year a consultation with a healthcare provider will be required to continue receiving them.

Indiana law enforcement will gain some new privileges and face some new restrictions after July 1.

House Enrolled Act 1186 will make it a Class C Misdemeanor to come within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer who is conducting official business. Championed by law enforcement agencies as a means of keeping officers safe, the law has also prompted concerns about reduced accountability and transparency, particularly for those filming encounters with the police.

Senate Enrolled Act 415, authored by Senator Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, aims to bar police from lying to minors during interrogations. The law will render statements to law enforcement inadmissible in court if a minor was deceived regarding evidence in their case, issued dishonest threats of harsher consequences or given false promises of leniency.

House Enrolled Act 1334 will impose additional requirements on Hoosiers voting by mail, mandating that anyone applying for an absentee ballot provide identifying information, like the last four digits of a Social Security number, an Indiana drivers license number, or another form of identification. The law would also prevent anyone other than a voter or voters family member from requesting an absentee ballot on their behalf. The laws Republican backers said it will safeguard the integrity of elections, while Democrats and some election officials decried the rules change as an unnecessary barrier to voter participation.

House Enrolled Act 1608, passed by Republicans over protests from Democrats, educators and LGBTQ advocates, will ban instruction on human sexuality for Indiana students in prekindergarten through third grade and mandate that schools inform the parents of a student who asks to be referred to with a different name or pronoun. The laws proponents have framed it as a bid to shield schoolchildren from sexual content and safeguard the rights of parents. Its detractors have dubbed it Indianas Dont Say Gay law, highlighting the ambiguity of the term human sexuality  which goes undefined in the text of the bill  and excoriating the legislation as a move towards erasing LGBTQ people from public life.

House Enrolled Act 1447 will require school libraries to implement a process for people to contest books and other materials on the grounds that they are obscene or harmful to minors, as defined in Indiana law. The law further requires that schools make digital and paper catalogues of available materials publicly available. The laws school library provisions were added late in the legislative session after earlier attempts by State House Republicans to pass bills with similar language did not come to fruition. Like House Enrolled Act 1608, the law drew vociferous opposition from library employees and LGBTQ advocates, who said it will be used to target books by and about marginalized groups.

The fate of another controversial new law is uncertain amid an ongoing legal battle. Senate Enrolled Act 480, which bans gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth in Indiana, had most of its provisions blocked by a federal judges order issued on June 16. The injunction was sought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana as part of a lawsuit the group brought on behalf of four Hoosier youths receiving gender-affirming care and an Indiana doctor, and it prevented the laws ban on puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy from going into effect on July 1.

Nineteen other states have passed similar bans. In one, Arkansas, a federal judge has struck down the law, ruling that it discriminated against transgender people and violated the 1st and 14th amendments.

The Indiana laws ban on gender-affirming surgeries for minors will go into effect, but will have little if any effect on Indianas transgender community  such surgeries are performed on minors only in extremely rare cases and Indiana hospital officials testified earlier this year that such surgeries arent performed on minors.

Senate Enrolled Act 77 is a boon for Indiana weapon collectors and martial arts enthusiasts. The law makes throwing stars  defined as a throwing-knife, throwing-iron, or other knife-like weapon with blades set at different angles  legal in Indiana except on school property.

adalton@chicagotribune.com
Two convicted drug dealers are facing new charges after undercover detectives purchased fentanyl from them in Deltona on multiple occasions, according to the Volusia Sheriff's Office.

Michael Espejo, 53, and Luis Collazo, 57, were arrested Thursday following a three-month investigation into the activity taking place at 725 Hartley Ave., about a half-mile east of the intersection of North Normandy and Deltona boulevards, the news release from the sheriff's office states.

What charges are the suspects facing?

Espejo and Collazo each face three counts of trafficking in fentanyl, records show. Collazo's bail is set at $700,000.

Additionally, Espejo is charged with three counts of sale and delivery of heroin/fentanyl within 1,000 feet of a park, records show. His bail is set at $850,000.

Volusia sheriff's detectives with the Deltona Narcotics Enforcement Team and with help from Drug Enforcement Administration agents "conducted several controlled purchases brokered by Espejo and completed by Collazo" at the Hartley Avenue house, Friday's news release states.

What is fentanyl and how powerful is it?

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According to the DEA, fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic and anesthetic.

Fentanyl is:

Approximately 100 times more potent than morphine

Approximately 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic

City of Deltona hosting town hall on opioids, overdose treatment

Deltona's town hall addressing opioids and Narcan, the nasal spray that reverses an overdose, is scheduled for July 12.

FDA gives approval for OTC Narcan sales: What will that mean for Florida?

Drug bust results: 41 arrests in Volusia and Lake counties

The event  held in conjunction with the Volusia Sheriffs Office, the Volusia Recovery Alliance and District 3 Commissioner Maritza Avila-Vazquez  will be held at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 2345 Providence Blvd. in Commission Chambers.

Residents are invited to listen to presenters and ask questions of them.

Contact Catherine Barker at cbarker@deltonafl.gov for more information.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Drug bust in Deltona results in arrest of 2 accused fentanyl dealers
Accused Jan. 6 rioter caught lurking around Obama's house had an arsenal at the ready

ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images

Taylor Taranto, the 37-year-old accused Jan. 6 rioter apprehended near the home of former President Barack Obama on Thursday, had several weapons and a slew of ammunition with him, according to recent updates.

Per a report given by federal authorities on Friday, Obama's would-be attacker "had two guns and 400 rounds of ammunition in his van when he was arrested," as well as a machete.

According to NBC News, "Taranto's van has been parked near the D.C. jail in recent weeks and he has appeared at protests in support of other Jan. 6 defendants . . . Noting that he lived in the van, a federal prosecutor said Taranto had 'nowhere to go.'"

Related

"Got them surrounded": Accused Jan. 6 rioter arrested near Obama's home

In a statement from a federal prosecutor, Taranto, a known Trump supporter, "has been in Washington to take House Speaker Kevin McCarthy up on his offer of letting Jan. 6 defendants review security footage of the Capitol riot relevant to their cases.

"We got these losers surrounded!" he wrote on Telegram prior to being arrested. "See you in hell, Podesta's and Obama's!"

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Per NBC's reporting, "Taranto showed up at Obama's residence on Thursday after former President Donald Trump posted screenshots on his Truth Social platform that featured a purported address for Obama's home in Washington. Taranto's account reposted Trump's post."

He is currently up against four misdemeanor counts in connection with Jan. 6 and is being held in custody until a detention hearing can be had next week.

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The ACLU of Missouri is seeking a new ballot summary for a proposed initiative petition that would restore abortion rights in Missouri, where the procedure is banned.

The civil liberties group on Thursday filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, accusing the Republican of crafting a misleading and unfair summary that would encourage Missourians to vote against the ballot measure. Ashcroft is running for governor in 2024.

The group is asking Cole County Judge Jon Beetem to toss Ashcrofts language, which, in part, would ask voters to allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions.

Ashcroft disregarded his duty to craft a sufficient and fair summary statement and instead certified one that is argumentative against adoption of the Initiative, is misleading as to the Initiatives probable effects, and prejudicial, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit comes amid a separate dispute between a pair of Republican statewide officials, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, over how much the ballot measure would cost the state.

Beetem ruled this month that Bailey overstepped when he tried to inflate the cost, but the Republican has yet to follow Beetems order and approve the fiscal notes filed by Fitzpatrick. The case is now in the Missouri Supreme Court.

The standoff has delayed Missouri in finalizing 11 versions of a state constitutional amendment that would restore abortion rights in Missouri. Anna Fitz-James, a retired St. Louis doctor, submitted the proposals in March.

Tom Bastian, a spokesperson for the ACLU, said that Thursdays lawsuit was one of 11 challenges the group plans to file against Ashcrofts ballot summaries. By filing them now, the courts will have what they need to expedite the process after the ballot initiatives are certified.

Ashcroft, in a statement Friday afternoon, called the lawsuit frivolous and it was wasting the judiciarys time and the taxpayers money.

The law regarding the initiative petition process is clear and we will continue to follow it, as should the ACLU, he said.

Instead of Ashcrofts summary, the ACLU proposed its own ballot summary for the petition. It, in part, would ask voters to establish the right to reproductive freedom that includes the right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.

The ACLUs proposed summary would also ask Missourians to ban criminalization for exercising the right to reproductive freedom and discrimination against those providing or obtaining reproductive health care.
Graduates walk at a Harvard commencement ceremony held for the classes of 2020 and 2021, May 29, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. | Mary Schwalm, Associated Press

I have a dream, Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. The Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday, does not permit discrimination based on the color of ones skin.

In its landmark decisions striking down race-based admissions at universities, the Supreme Court provided some guidance as to how schools can keep their focus on building intellectually diverse and vibrant student bodies.

Universities may legally consider an applicants discussion of how race affected the applicants life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university, the court said. It added, Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individuals identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. This nations constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.

The rulings, in two decisions concerning race-based admissions practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, led to a predictable range of reactions and opinions across a broad landscape of interests Thursday. The emphasis, however, ought to be forward looking.

Colleges and universities will need to craft admissions criteria that can measurably gauge character, ability, worldview and other qualities. While no one seems to know yet what that would look like, the nations brightest minds can certainly find a way. In fact, after Oklahoma banned affirmative action considerations in university admissions back in 2012, the universitys student body became even more diverse.

In the courts ruling, the majority was not impressed by a list of higher educations affirmative action goals it said included training future leaders, acquiring new knowledge based on diverse outlooks, promoting a robust marketplace of ideas, and preparing engaged and productive citizens.

It is unclear how courts are supposed to measure any of these goals, or if they could, to know when they have been reached so that racial preferences can end, the ruling said.

The court has always maintained that affirmative action was to be temporary, until goals had been met.

Harvards response to Thursdays rulings was to assure that it will determine how to preserve, consistent with the Courts new precedent, our essential values. Every university interested in fostering a diverse campus ought to be undertaking a similar discussion, but adding a discussion on preserving the values of the Constitution.

Related

There is another, much larger discussion that Americans ought to be having, and that has to do with the bedrock public school principle of providing equal educational opportunities for all Americans, beginning with the earliest grades.

This is a much more difficult problem to solve because it involves complicated and interlocking factors that delve into socioeconomic status and cultural differences, and the necessity to measure performance in a consistent and fair manner (think grade-point average and entrance exams). But, at its heart, it concerns the reality that poor and minority children tend to perform worse at school than their wealthier counterparts.

In its ruling Thursday, the court lamented its own negative role in this problem by, in 1896, issuing a decision in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson that created the concept of segregated schools being separate but equal, a thing it said would come to deface much of America. The notion was a fiction, as schools continued to provide unequal educational opportunities based on race.

And yet today, long after that concept was struck down, one could hardly argue that schools are equal nationwide. Recently released data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that performance gaps are widening for race, as well as for gender.

Experts noted that the pandemic diminished scores across the board last year, but that the losses were especially bad for female students, who fell 11 points in math over 2020 results, and Black students, whose scores dropped by 13 points. White students saw scores decline by six points, and male students overall dropped by seven points, compared with a seven-point decrease for male students overall.

The nations high court has made it clear that the era of race-based admissions is over. From the beginning, it had always been clear that the concept would come to an end one day.

No one, however, should doubt the value of diversity  in thought, opinions, culture, religion, backgrounds and every other way  on Americas college campuses. Obtaining that diversity will now demand evaluations including in great measure the content of ones character.
CHICAGO  The Supreme Court decisions Thursday barring colleges from using race in their admissions processes became an immediate talking point in the 2024 campaign, with President Joe Biden declaring: This is not a normal court.

POLITICO asked political consultants whether ending affirmative action in higher ed will resonate with voters the same way the end of Roe v. Wade fueled the 2022 election. The general answer is not likely  but certain voting blocks will be spurred to show up.

I hope inactive voters across the country finally start to realize, particularly Black voters, that elections have real consequences, said Larry Luster, a political consultant who has worked on campaigns for Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

It really pisses me off, Luster said of the courts two decisions on the same issue. These actions are racist at their core.

David Axelrod, a former senior strategist for President Barack Obama, expects the rulings will motivate some, particularly the young.

Pete Giangreco, a Democratic strategist whos worked on nine presidential campaigns, says the Democratic base is likely to be most motivated.

Just another log on the book-burning, abortion-banning, dont-say-gay fire thats consuming whats left of the Republican Party, he said. Center-right moderates have nowhere to go but to Joe Biden.



Aaron Del Mar, a Republican State Central Committeeman who is also an Asian-Pacific Islander, says ending affirmative action isnt the same as ending Roe v. Wade.

Many white suburban women who would have in the past voted Republican were enraged by the Dobbs ruling, as they felt it infringed on their rights to choose and control their own bodies, he said. In the affirmative action cases, its less personal  and even if they wouldnt admit it, it gives their own children more opportunities.

Becky Carroll, a Democratic political consultant, called the latest rulings a wake up call to the idea that elections matter because presidents and senators control who gets appointed to federal benches. We have the ruling today because of that.

And Brian Stryker, a Democratic pollster at Impact Research, says, Dobbs in 2024 will be the Dobbs of 2022. People are still 11 of 10 mad with good reason, so it will be hard to supplant.

A version of this initially appeared in the June 30 edition of Illinois Playbook. Sign up for the newsletter here.
The Air Force is investigating what caused a mechanical problem aboard an F-35A fighter in flight earlier this month, a spokesperson confirmed to Air Force Times.

The pilot opted to return to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, while they tried to figure out what was causing the issue, 56th Fighter Wing spokesperson Sean Clements said Wednesday.

The pilot radioed a code 7700, which flags an airborne emergency to air traffic control, around 1:10 p.m. local time on June 15, according to the flight tracking site FlightRadar24. The site showed the jet circling counterclockwise over northwest Phoenix as it prepared to land at Luke.

When the malfunction didnt remedy itself, the pilot returned the aircraft safely to the ground where the issue can be investigated more in-depth, Clements said.

Its unclear what the specific nature of the problem was, how it affected the aircraft or what caused it. The Pentagons F-35 Joint Program Office did not immediately respond to a request for more further details.

The jet has flown several times since then, according to FlightRadar24, including an appearance Thursday at Fort Worth, Texas, where F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin builds the airframe.

The 56th Fighter Wing trains more than 100 F-35 pilots each year and graduates three-quarters of the worlds Joint Strike Fighter pilots, according to its website. The Air Force currently owns more than 400 F-35As and plans to purchase over 1,700 in total.
Akron man sentenced to 6 years in prison for crash that injured 4 officers

An Akron man was sentenced to prison this week for a crash that injured four Akron police officers in 2021.

Jjamall Williams, 47, pleaded guilty in Summit County Common Pleas Court in May to two counts of vehicular assault, a third-degree felony, and one count of driving under suspension, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Judge Tammy OBrien sentenced Williams Thursday to six years in prison. She also suspended his drivers license for five years.

An Akron police cruiser was struck Saturday by a Hyundai Sonata. Four officers and the driver of the Sonata were injured.

Police said Williams crashed into the back of one cruiser, which then struck another cruiser in front of it, just before 3 a.m. Sept. 4 in the 100 block of East Archwood Avenue in Akron.

More: Driver charged in September crash that injured 4 Akron police officers

The cruisers were stopped as officers were helping a disabled vehicle and were operating emergency overhead lights, police said.

Two of the four officers hurt in the crash were out of work for several months to recover from their injuries, police said.

Two of the injured officers were on the force for three years, while the other two were rookies who had been on the job for a month.

Attorney Tyler Whitney represented Williams.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron man sentenced to prison for crash that injured four officers
A worker maps out striping at the bottom of the Akron's new Perkins Pool project, which was funded by the American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Akron administrators and a consultant helping them comply with federal rules updated City Council last week on the latest projects funded with the city's $145 million allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The presentation recapped nearly two dozen active projects and gave perspective on where Akron stands compared to its peer cities on getting all the money under contract by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.

Before Joe Biden was elected president, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan lobbied Congress and the federal government on a stimulus package that gave local officials more spending flexibility. After Biden signed ARPA, Horrigan was quicker than many Ohio mayors to tee up plans to spend his city's portion of the $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package.

Today, no other Midwestern city is reporting its spending with a real-time tracker online, said Mitch Lindstrom with Guidehouse, a national consulting firm that's working with Akron and other cities across the country.

And Akron is in a healthy place in terms of its pace of spending, Lindstrom said. Guidehouse research shows that Akron has spent 31% of its total ARPA funding, compared to 66% in Cleveland, 45% in Cincinnati, 37% in Columbus, 26% in Toledo, 19% in Dayton and just 2% in Youngstown.

Akron has committed all $145 million and spent only $44.6 million so far. Another $67.4 million is currently tied to an active contract," leaving the city with about 18 months to enter contracts or award grants to spend the remaining $33 million.

Construction work, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, continues on the Perkins Pool project.

After slow start, Akron is spending fast

Despite quickly announcing plans, Akron started off spending slowly.

Only $5.3 million was spent in the first year, from end of 2021 to end of 2022. Cities aren't accustomed to being efficient passthroughs for federal funds designed to flow directly to residents or community organizations, so it's taken time to establish that infrastructure, Lindstrom said, even as the federal government has confounded the process by amending its rules.

But Akron has caught up in the spending race with big projects and expenditures, from multimillion-dollar investments into a private-public partnership remaking Summit Lake and Lock 3, to hiring contractors who are renovating community centers and outdoor pools.

"We are starting to spend these dollars at a higher rate," Finance Director Steve Fricker told Akron Council on Monday during a PowerPoint presentation.

6-26-23 ARPA Update to Akron City Council by dhlivingston on Scribd

Akron has spent 7.5 times more in the last three quarters than it did in the first year.

ARPA spending picks up with personnel and operational expenditures

Spending really took off when Akron started using the federal funds on its employees.

Akron isn't alone in using the lion's share of early spending on its employees, Lindstrom illustrated with data from other Ohio cities. For example, he said, about 96% of spending in Cleveland, which has spent nearly twice as fast as Akron, has gone to personnel costs or "revenue replacement," which is a budgeting term for using federal funds to cover operational expenses that would otherwise deplete the largely income tax-fed general fund.

About $15.5 million in the last quarter of 2022, or three times what Akron had spent up until then, went toward bonuses for unionized employees and overtime in the police and fire departments.

Akron Deputy Finance Director Mike Wheeler said the city is still looking into how to pay for swollen police and fire overtime budgets once the federal funds are all used up.

Overtime in the police department is about where it was last year, with the fire department reducing its overtime by a little bit, Fricker said. But overtime for the fire department is expected to swell again starting in August when the citys paramedics assume all hospital runs from AMR, a private ambulance company thats closing its Akron operation.

Were still trying to figure that out as we go, said Wheeler. So, we are actively looking at it. I dont have any details to share at this point. But it is a concern that we want everyone to be aware of.

A new bridge being installed at Summit Lake is being funded by American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Every ARPA-funded project currently underway in Akron

Akron's online ARPA spending tracker at www.akronohiorescue.gov updates at 3 a.m. each day. Whatever was spent the day before is reflected on the interactive dashboard by the time the coffee is ready the next day.

And the chart now reflects an exponential curve of spending," according to the presentation Monday.

Heres a summary of all the active projects:

83% of a $2 million investment has been spent through Akron Cares to help 5,298 struggling municipal customers with utility bills.

$50,000 has funded the first of a three-year contract with community engagement software company Zencity, which gathers and analyzes public input.

The $189,100 redesign of the citys website should be done by September. The new website will be searchable, more intuitive and translate into dozens of languages.

About 14% of $413,800 for HVAC upgrades have been spent on community centers.

$1 million is going toward Phase 1 of the Rubber City Heritage Trail, converting 4,680 feet of unused railroads near East End in Goodyear Heights into paved multiuse trails.

A $160,400 walking path at Joy Park will be completed by the end of 2023.

Community Development Corp. (CDC) support in the form of three separate $250,000 grants for The Well CDC to rehab commercial space at 911 E. Market St., Better Kenmore (formerly the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance) to rehab two vacant commercial properties, and North Hill CDC to rehab and activate of the Howard St. Heritage Courtyard, plus $74,400 to Habitat for Humanity to plan the development of Boss Park and Abbot Court Arts District.

$3.5 million for affordable housing: $2.5 million to The Well CDC to buy and rehab 85 homes; $400,000 to East Akron Neighborhood Development Corp. to renovate 124 low-income, single-family homes; and $600,000 to the North Hill CDC to rehab mixed-use property to create five affordable housing units.

$425,000 of a $675,000 city commitment has been spent on House 330, where I Promise School families are expected to move into new apartments in the next two months.

Of the 1,600 applicants, the Akron Home Repair program has completed 43 home repairs, assessed 200 more and is currently working on 70 home repair projects. The city attributes delays to labor and supply issues.

All applicants for restaurants seeking $2,500 grants have been processed in the Akron Safe Pledge Program, and 63% of program funding is still available.

City Councils Ring Doorbell $50,000 pilot program will award 460 cameras in Wards 3, 4 and 5 on a first-come, first-served basis starting in August. To apply, go to www.akroncitycouncil.org/news/ring-doorbell

Following a $7.4 million reconstruction, a new Perkins Pool and Bathhouse is scheduled to open mid-July.

The $12 million reconstruction of the Ed Davis Community Center is underway and expected to be done in May 2023.

A bridge now spans the lake as part of a $5 million contribution to the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition's renovation of Summit Lake, where projects on the north shore will be bid in July and completed by fall of 2024.

Renovations at Lock 3 downtown are underway and will continue into 2024 with a $6.7 million city allocation.

About $13.3 million of $30 million has been spent so far on general fund expenses, mainly to cover police and fire overtime. The same amount, for the same major reason, is expected to be spent again this year as this earmark for "budget stabilization" will be mostly exhausted a year ahead of schedule.

About $1.5 million of a $5.3 million administrative support budget has been spent, mostly on Guidehouse or Vorys, a consultancy and a local law firm that have helped the city navigate state and federal compliance.

With only the white-collar workers of the Civil Service Personnel Association expecting $1,000 bonus checks next year, the city has spent almost all of its budgeted $6.4 million in bonuses for unionized employees.

About $5 million of $7 million for violence prevention and intervention has been spent, with grants going to 41 grantees. Half the spending has gone to 10 organizations: Alchemy Inc. ($526,000); Project Grad Akron ($338,000); Pastoral Counseling Services of Summit County Inc. ($332,000); Victim Assistance ($250,000); and $200,000 each to the Battered Women's Shelter, Citizens Akron Church, Dreams Academy, Guys and Gals Community Partnership Inc. and The Fallen Fathers Foundation.

$200,000 of a $1 million grant has been awarded to AxessPointe to expand its health care center at 533 W. Market St.

About $500,000 of a $3 million allocation has been spent to replace 110 of the remaining 3,200 lead service water lines. The goal is to replace 1,100 lines this year, leaving less than 2,000 to replace by June 2024.

About a quarter of a $10 million budget is beginning to replace nearly 35,000 feet of failing water mains.

Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: How Akron plans to spend federal stimulus from American Rescue Plan
(Getty Images)

Hollywood star Alan Arkin, who won an Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, has died aged 89.

The news was announced by his sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony, who shared a joint statement on behalf of the family.

They told People: Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.

He died at his home in Carlsbad, California on Friday (30 June).

Arkins illustrious career began in 1957, with his first notable screen credit arriving in Norman Jewisons 1966 Best Picture nominee The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.

For the film, he received his first of two Oscar nominations for Best Actor, the second of which followed in 1969 for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

He would have to wait almost 40 years for his next nomination, which was Best Supporting Actor for the comedy drama Little Miss Sunshine (2007). Arkin won the trophy, as well as a Bafta, and received a fourth Oscar nomination in 2013 for Ben Afflecks Argo.

In the 1960s, Brooklyn-born Arkin, who first started taking acting lessons age 10, was a member of the Second City compedy troupe, and made his debut on Broadway in a production of From the Second City.

He also received a Tony nomination for his role of David Kolowitz in Joseph Steins 1963 comedy Enter Laughing.

Also in the 1960s, Arkin starred in psychological thriller Wait Until Dark opposite Audrey Hepburn, and took over as Inspector Clouseau in the third Pink Panther film when Peter Sellers quit the role.

Alan Arkin in The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock)

His high-profile credits in the 1970s included the Joseph Heller adaptation Catch-22, in which he played Captain John Yossarian, and comedy film The In-Laws, which he starred in alongside Peter Falk.

He earned an Emmy Award-nomination for his role in 1987 TV film Escape from Sobibor, which told the story of a mass escape from a Nazi concentration camp.

The 1990s saw roles in Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands and cult Disney film The Rocketeer, as well as the film adaptation of David Mamets play Glengarry Glenn Ross starring Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey.

He also appeared opposite John Cusack and Minnie Driver in comedy Grosse Pointe Blank and Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke in the science-fiction drama Gattaca.

After winning his Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine in 2008, a moment that saw him become the sixth oldest Best Supporting Actor recepient, Arkin said: More than anything, Im deeply moved by the open-hearted appreciation our small film has received, which in these fragmented times speaks so openly of the possibility of innocence, growth, and connection.

Alan Arkin winning his Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine in 2008 (Sipa/Shutterstock)

In the film, he played the foul-mouthed father of Greg Kinnears Richard, who drives his dysnfuctional family on a road trip so that his daughter cancompete in a child beauty pageant.

Shortly after his role of the Hollywood agent Lester Siegel in Afflecks Best Picture winner Argo, Arkin found more success on TV. He voiced JD Saligner in Netflixs acclaimed adult animation BoJack Horseman, and received two Emmy nomintions for his role in The Kominsky Method.

Alan Arkin in The Kominsky Method (Netflix)

During his lifetime, Arkin, who also wrote and performed as part of a folk group, married three times: Jeremy Yaffe (1955-1961), with whom he had sons Adam and Matthew; Barabara Dana (1964-1994), with whom he had son Anthony; and, most recently, psychotherapist Suzanne Newlander, whom he married in 1996.
A person stands beside boats placed along the road as people brace for Typhoon Mawar at Ivana in the Philippines on May 30, 2023. (Juliet Cataluna/AP)

Last month, Typhoon Mawar, the worlds strongest storm this year, was barreling toward the Philippines, where I live and work. Filipinos immediately began evacuating by the thousands. Mawar then slammed through Guam, carrying winds that gusted to 140 mph and killing most of the islands power, but swerved away from the Philippines at the last minute. Yet we were soon under threat once again because another typhoon, Guchol, was hurtling toward us.

We know well the enemy were facing. The Philippines is No. 1 on the World Risk Index, suffering from more than 20 typhoons and storms a year. These weather catastrophes can be scary. I once saw my father, a tough-as-nails veteran of World War II, run screaming down the stairs of our house as a typhoon ripped our roof off.

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Such disasters strike all over the world with growing scale and frequency, threatening and destroying lives and property. Typically, nonprofit relief agencies such as the American Red Cross step into the breach to lend a hand. But seldom are these rescue efforts adequate without significant help from the private sector.

For example, major earthquakes in Turkey and Syria quickly drained government coffers. In short, funding lags far behind demand. Last year, the cost to meet humanitarian needs was estimated at $51.7 billion, but the available funding amounted only to roughly half the need, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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[ Stephen Franklin: Earthquake survivors in Turkey face more tragic times as nation approaches economic collapse ]

But my organization, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation, has a practical proposal that would finance relief and recovery efforts adequately and solve this problem.

The Philippines serves as a case in point for the value of public-private partnership in the face of calamity. As Mawar came within hours of swiping our northern shores, private companies in the Philippines prepared to meet the moment. Our organization brought together the countrys top corporations, along with the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, to partner in confronting the potential crisis.

As a consequence, the Philippines private sector was poised to lend a hand, with companies that normally compete with each other agreeing to cooperate. Nestle was ready to send out rescue teams. Water concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad would help provide water at strategic locations. UPS trucks carrying relief goods were all set to roll. Private electric companies and utilities geared up to bring power back online. Mobile phone carriers Smart and Globe dispatched satellite phones to business zones, identified safe evacuation sites and prepared to deploy teams to restore telecoms service.

Private-sector champions have emerged everywhere. In response to an earthquake in Pakistan in 2010, Agility, TNT, UPS and Maersk delivered relief supplies to its citizens that saved lives. To counter an Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2014, the private sector constructed isolation units for patients and donated thermal scanners to detect infected individuals. To this day, DHL operates a 500-person disaster response team all over the world that dispatches logistics specialists to calamities within 72 hours to inventory and warehouse relief supplies.

In reality, economics motivates the private sector as much as altruism and compassion. In a disaster, revenues among local small businesses often plunge. Big corporations rely on those entrepreneurs to get products to market for consumers to buy.

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But obstacles remain. Some humanitarian organizations still distrust businesses. They may suspect corporations that intervene in relief operations of being interested only in outmaneuvering competitors and generating profits.

One solution to the humanitarian funding gap is for the private sector to treat disasters as an opportunity not for charity but, rather, for investment. For example, the Boston Consulting Group, an adviser to the Connecting Business Initiative, a 14-country network of business groups focused on disasters, could engage its finance and investing partners to craft a financial instrument, such as a humanitarian impact bond, thats designed to tap the dynamism of capital markets. Social investors and funds such as Vital Capital, Triodos Investment Management and others are increasingly willing to put money to work doing good in the world while earning attractive returns.

The United Nations Development Program is working on a diverse set of options such as risk-layered financing, insurance and humanitarian bonds to finance recovery from disasters. Precedents already exist for such an approach. In 2017, the International Committee of the Red Cross, in collaboration with development agencies from donor countries, issued a $27 million humanitarian impact bond to fund physical rehabilitation centers in Africa for five years. Investors would get their money back at the end of the loan depending on the success of the project.

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The U.N. could similarly partner with donor institutions or even the World Bank to issue a humanitarian impact bond that would be focused on victims of calamities. It could fund housing for the displaced, a need chronically underfunded, or the rehabilitation of small businesses. Recipients would repay the loans once they have jobs or, in the case of businesses, once they start earning revenue.

Private enterprise, acting in the public interest, can keep saving the day. But financing rescue initiatives for people desperately in need will require imagination and innovation. Issuing bonds to cope with humanitarian crisis promises to deliver a value that goes well beyond mere dollars and cents.

Butch Meily is president of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation. He is the author of the memoir From Manila to Wall Street: An Immigrants Journey With the First Black Billion-Dollar Dealmaker, which Heliotrope Books will release in 2025.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Alan Arkin, Oscar-winning actor best known for 'Little Miss Sunshine' and 'Argo,' dead at 89

Alan Arkin, Oscar-winning actor best known for 'Little Miss Sunshine' and 'Argo,' dead at 89

Oscar winner Alan Arkin, the memorable character actor best known for his work on "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Argo," died in California this week, family members said Friday.

Arkin was 89 when he died Thursday in the San Diego County community of Carlsbad.

Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed," according to a family statement to NBC News.

No cause of death was immediately disclosed.

Arkin was a four-time Oscar nominee, gaining best actor recognition for "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" in 1966 and "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" in 1968.

He gained supporting actor nominations for "Little Miss Sunshine" in 2006 and "Argo" in 2012.

That "Sunshine" win was an upset in a field that included Jackie Earle Haley for "Little Children," Djimon Hounsou for "Blood Diamond," Eddie Murphy for "Dreamgirls" and Mark Wahlberg for "The Departed."

Alan Arkin in 2011. (Victoria Will / AP)

The dark comedy was an indie hit with Arkin playing the grandfather of an off-beat child beauty contestant played by Abigail Breslin. Arkin's character dies about half-way through the movie.

"More than anything I am deeply moved by the opened-hearted appreciation that our small film has received which in these fragmented times speaks so openly of the possibility of innocence, growth and connection," Arkin said after being handed his golden statue.

Some movie fans might know Arkin from "Argo," playing a foul-mouthed movie executive who teams up with a CIA agent portrayed by Ben Affleck and a makeup artist depicted by John Goodman to stage the production of a phony movie to sneak into Iran.

Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano and Toni Collette in

"Argo" was based on the CIA's actual rescue of several U.S. Embassy employees who hid inside the home of Canada's ambassador during the Iranian hostage crisis.

Arkin got his start with the famed Second City comedy troupe, which launched him on a decades-long career. His first big role came in the Cold War comedy, "The Russians are Coming," which included fellow comedians Carl Reiner and Jonathan Winters.

His unique brand of comedy took Arkin well into the 21st century, playing alongside Michael Douglas in the Netflix show "The Kominsky Method."

Alan Arkin and Ben Affleck in

Arkin could also play more dark and serious roles, such as "Glengarry Glen Ross" in 1992, about a dysfunctional real estate office. The famed movie co-starred Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon and Alec Baldwin.

That kind of range inspired actors like Michael McKean, who penned a multi-tweet tribute to Arkin.

When I was a young actor people wanted to know if I wanted to be a serious actor or a funny one, McKean tweeted after Arkin's passing. "Id answer Which kind is Alan Arkin? and that shut them up.

Alan Arkin Portrait (Icon and Image / Getty Images)

Alan Wolf Arkin was born in Brooklyn on March 26, 1934, the son of two school teachers who were caught up in the post-World War II red scare and often unemployed.

We were dirt poor so I couldnt afford to go to the movies often, Arkin told The Associated Press in 1998. But I went whenever I could and focused in on movies, as they were more important than anything in my life.

Other notable Arkin roles included "Catch-22" in 1970, "the In-Laws" in 1979 and "The Slums of Beverly Hills" in 1998 and "Minions: The Rise of Gru" last year.

EGOT winner Viola Davis posted a clip of Arkin from "Sunshine" and posthumously told him, "you moved us, sir."

"Your work inspired a generation of actors and reminded us how powerful our art can shift us," Davis wrote.

Arkin's passing stunned Sheryl Lee Ralph.

"I know we all die but some how I thought he'd live forever," the "Abbott Elementary" actor wrote.

"Kominsky" co-star Michael Douglas said his time with Arkin was among his most memorable.

"Today we lost a wonderful actor whose intelligence, sense of comedy and consummate professionalism over the past 70 years has left an indelible mark on our industry," Douglas wrote on Instagram.

"My experience of working with Alan were some of my most memorable. He will be deeply missed.

Arkin is survived by three sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, who all followed in their fathers acting footsteps.

In a 2007 interviews following the release of "Sunshine," Arkin said he embraced the quirky personalities that came with being known as one of Hollywood's leading character actors.

"I used to think that my stuff had a lot of variety. But I realized that for the first 20 years or so, most of the characters I played were outsiders, strangers to their environment, foreigners in one way or another," Arkin said.

"As I started to get more and more comfortable with myself, that started to shift. I got one of the nicest compliments Ive ever gotten from someone a few days ago. They said that they thought my characters were very often the heart, the moral center of a film. I didnt particularly understand it, but I liked it; it made me happy."

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Alan Arkin, a veteran actor of both the small and big screen who won an Academy Award for his role in Little Miss Sunshine, has died, according to his representative. He was 89.

Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man, his sons, Adam, Matthew and Anthony, said in a family statement to NBC News.

A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.

Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, and Toni Collette in

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Los Angeles, Arkin was an accomplished actor, whose career took off on Broadway, winning a Tony Award in 1963 for Enter Laughing.

His transition to film was a seamless one, as he racked up a pair of best actor Oscar nominations, first for 1966's The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (his first credited role in a movie) and again two years later for The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Arkin was a steady presence on the big screen, appearing in other films such as Wait Until Dark, Catch-22, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Havana, Glengarry Glen Ross, Sunshine Cleaning, "Marley & Me" and the film adaptation of the TV series Get Smart.

Alan Arkin and Ben Affleck in

He also provided the voice of Wild Knuckles in 2022's "Minions: The Rise of Gru."

He won the best supporting actor Academy Award for playing a man kicked out of a retirement home for snorting heroin in the 2006 road-trip comedy Little Miss Sunshine. In 2012, he was again nominated for an Oscar in the same category for Argo, playing a Hollywood executive tasked with producing a movie to cover for saving American hostages in Iran.

Arkin also had success on the small screen, earning six Emmy Award nominations, including his first in 1967 for ABC Stage 67. Most recently, he garnered nominations in 2019 and 2020 for best supporting actor in a comedy series for Netflixs The Kominsky Method.

Alan Arkin, and Carl Reiner in

Arkin also earned an Emmy nomination in 1997 for guest starring on Chicago Hope, a drama that starred his son Adam. In addition, he notched Emmy nods for his roles in the miniseries Escape from Sobibor and the TV-movie The Pentagon Papers. He also had guest roles on St. Elsewhere, Sesame Street, Will & Grace and BoJack Horseman. In addition, he starred in the short-lived drama "100 Centre Street."

And while he was successful in his field, Arkin tried to see the big picture in his later years.

Acting used to be my identity, he told TODAY in 2020. It used to be how I identified myself. Those were my words. Now, acting, all it is anymore, is an expression of who I am. Its not who I am. Its not what I am. Its something I do.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warns of 'economic crisis for millions of people' after SCOTUS threw out Biden's plan for student-debt forgiveness

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks during a news conference with Democratic lawmakers about the Biden administrations border politics, outside the U.S. Capitol on January 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez condemned the Supreme Court's ruling striking down Biden's student debt plan.

The New York Democrat called on Biden to continue working to get borrowers relief.

She also accused the Supreme Court of corruption.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez condemned the Supreme Court's Friday decision striking down President Joe Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan and called on her own party to continue fighting for student-debt relief.

Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat and prominent supporter of student-loan forgiveness, also accused the high court of corruption, arguing that recent reporting finding Justice Samuel Alito took gifts from a billionaire "undercuts its own legitimacy by putting its rulings up for sale."

"Justice Alito accepted tens of thousands of dollars in lavish vacation gifts from a billionaire who lobbied to cancel the student loan forgiveness," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. "After the gifts, Alito voted to overturn."

The Supreme Court's decision came in two separate rulings. The high court ruled that the plaintiffs in one case, US Department of Education v. Brown, did not have standing  but the second case, Biden v. Nebraska, prevailed and the six GOP-led states had standing to sue on behalf of student-loan company, MOHELA.

The New York Democrat noted that the SCOTUS ruling does not strip away Biden's ability to pursue student-loan forgiveness. The Higher Education Act is one option for continuing loan forgiveness before payments are scheduled to resume in October.

"We still have the power to cancel and must use it, or we're looking at an economic crisis for millions of people," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in another tweet.

Last year, the Department of Education forgave $6 billion for around 200,000 defrauded students under a sweeping settlement, including students who applied for relief over seven years ago. In 2019, former President Donald Trump also wiped out debt for disabled veterans under the Total and Permanent Disability Discharge. Advocates have also pointed out that Biden could use a different act  the Higher Education Act  to provide relief.

A slew of other Democratic lawmakers issued statements condemning the student debt ruling on Friday morning and calling on the Biden administration to take additional action to get relief for borrowers.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the decision by the "the MAGA Republican-controlled" high court "disappointing and cruel" and vowed "the fight will not end here."

Schumer and other Democrats similarly accused Supreme Court justices of hypocrisy and corruption by receiving gifts from billionaires, while denying millions of needy Americans debt relief.

Read the original article on Business Insider
After almost 50 years serving York County, she wanted to retire quietly. It didnt happen

Magistrate Judge Lynne Benfield is believed to have served as a public employee in York County longer than anyone else -- 49 years, six months.

After decades working for the clerk of court and then decades more as a magistrate, Benfield like all South Carolina judges is required to retire at age 72.

She wanted to go out quietly on her last day. But people who appreciate her decades of service threw her a surprise Thank you retirement party Thursday.

She received a courthouse ovation at the Moss Justice Center in York where she ran the magistrates office.

Benfield said at the reception that she was proud to have served the people, her neighbors and community, for more than 49 years.

Its been an honor, she said.

Of South Carolina state judge mandatory retirement age, Benfield said its the rules. She will follow the law as she always has.

Its one of those things that I have to do, but I appreciate it and I have enjoyed every minute of it, Benfield said.

What do magistrates do?

York County has a dozen magistrates. They handle misdemeanor criminal court and lower level civil court. Magistrates set bonds and bail conditions, issue arrest and search warrants, preside over preliminary hearings, and serve other functions.

Benfield served as York Countys chief magistrate for about 20 years of her stretch on the bench. She mentored and trained new magistrates while running her own court. She helped establish a drug court and central DUI court.

In what was an almost all-male field of around 300 magistrate judges in South Carolina when she started, Benfield became and stayed an iconic female judge who blazed a path for other women.

Known for fairness

She was the judge for thousands of trials, pleas, hearings and other functions. York County people went to her court looking for justice and a fair shake. Court and public officials at her retirement celebration Thursday said that is exactly what the people got.

U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman of Rock Hill told the crowd that Benfields career has been characterized by fairness and respect for all people.

Shes fair and shes honest, Norman said.

In South Carolina, state senators have the legal authority to nominate magistrate judges. The governor, and then the full senate, confirm magistrates.

S.C. State Sen. Wes Climer said he never received a complaint about Benfield. He heard many times from constituents that Benfield was fair, Climer said.

A replacement for Benfield has not yet been named.

South Carolina, America honor Benfield

Including her time as a clerks office employee and her time as judge, officials said Thursday they believe Benfields 49-plus years of service makes her the longest serving employee ever in York County.

Climer and Norman presented Benfield with the South Carolina Order of the Palmetto. An honor that can only be given by the governor, it is the states highest civilian honor for service to community and state.

Norman said he plans to have Benfields career biography and service record read into the Congressional Record on the floor of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Congress.
In Russia, the approval rating for the actions of Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has dropped by about half since the rebellion, but almost a third of Russians still support him.

Source: a survey conducted by Levada-centre, a Russian sociological institution, on 22-28 June

Details: According to the survey, on 22-23 June, 58% of respondents had a positive attitude towards the rebellion. After its end, 29% of respondents said they approved of the actions of the Wagner PMC leader.

Among the most frequently mentioned characteristics of Prigozhin, 27% of respondents mentioned his straightforwardness, openness and honesty; 23% noted his leadership qualities ("a good leader", "can unite the people", "created a strong army"); and 18% emphasised his energy. Less often, he was called a "patriot", "a good military man", and credited with the capture of Bakhmut.

Respondents who disapproved of Yevgeny Prigozhin's activities (this opinion began to prevail towards the end of the survey) said that he "staged a coup, went against the authorities/Putin/Russia/people" (34%), and also noted that he had "exorbitant ambitions", "he is running for president" and was "aggressive, arrogant, talks a lot" (8% each), and 7% called him a "bandit".

Prior to the coup attempt, 19% of respondents were ready to support Prigozhin if he ran in the 2024 presidential election. After 24 June, the share of such respondents halved to 10%.

After the coup, the level of approval of Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu's actions also dropped, as Prigozhin accused him of striking mercenary camps, attempting to destroy his PMC, and more. A week earlier, 60% of respondents approved of the minister's activities, and after the coup, 48% did so.

About 75% of respondents expressed support for Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose rating remained almost unchanged. The rating of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov remained almost at the same level (around 70%).

The use of mercenaries on the side of Russia and the participation of convicts in the war are considered acceptable by 57% of respondents, respectively, while approximately 30% share the opposite view. The participation of such groups on the side of the Russian Federation is rather unacceptable or absolutely unacceptable, according to 29% of respondents.

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Amber Heard has returned to Instagram for the first time since settling her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp in December.

On Friday (30 June), the Aquaman star, 37, shared a photo of her in attendance at the world premiere of her latest movie, In the Fire.

Thank you for such an incredibly warm reception at the Taormina Film Festival for my latest movie In the Fire. It was an unforgettable weekend, she wrote in the caption.

Heard leads director Conor Allyns thriller as a New York doctor who travels to a remote plantation in the 1890s to treat a disturbed boy with inexplicable abilities.

Soon after, her presence ignites a war of science versus religion with the local priest, who believes the boy is possessed by the devil and is to blame for all of the villages woes.

In the Fire marks the actors first movie since her highly publicised trial against Depp last spring, after the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, 60, sued her for defamation after she implied that Depp had abused her in a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post.

Heard countersued Depp, alleging that by calling her claims fraudulent, Depps lawyers had defamed her. After six weeks in court, the jury ultimately ruled in Depps favour, awarding him $10m (8m) in compensatory damages and $5m (4m) in punitive damages. This latter amount was subsequently reduced to $350,000 (287,000) in compliance with a statutory cap. Heard, meanwhile, was awarded $2m (1.5m) for her countersuit.

The trial, which was televised and live-streamed online, was one of the most discussed cultural events of the year and a frequent trending topic across social media. As a result, Heard has remained largely out of the public eye for the past year.

Im not in control of stories other people create around me, she told Deadline in a recent interview at the Sicilian film festival.

Right now, I just kind of want to not have, you know, stones thrown at me so much. So lets get the elephant out of the room then, and just let me say that. I am an actress. Im here to support a movie. And thats not something I can be sued for.
It was 1966 when Paul White, then an 18-year-old from Texas, said officers visited the young men in his high school class and told them during an assembly they had been drafted to fight in Vietnam.

"You didn't know what it's like; you don't know what you got to do," White, now a 76-year-old Army veteran living in Kansas, recalled to Military.com in a phone interview. "All you can do is hope they train you right."

Saturday, July 1, marks the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force in the American military when officials did away with the draft, lotteries and conscripting young men into the service. And some Vietnam veterans, such as White, remember the uncertainty and shock that came with having your number called on television or receiving a letter in the mail.

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According to data from the Selective Service System, more than 16 million Americans have been inducted, another term for drafted, into service for World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

"The last man inducted entered the U.S. Army on June 30, 1973 during the last draft conducted," the Selective Service System said on its website.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement on Friday that the transition from conscription to volunteerism was a bold step, one that no other military of similar capabilities had ever taken on.

"Over the past five decades, our military has recruited and retained patriotic and talented personnel from all walks of American life, resulting in a more professional and effective Joint Force," Austin said in a statement. "Today, America's All-Volunteer Force is the strongest military in human history, and it sets the global standard for military professionalism."

On Friday morning, first lady Jill Biden appeared at a graduation ceremony at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina, where she commemorated the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force and praised the young Marines for their choice to serve.

"The choice to be part of this community will shape you in so many ways, will forge and form the path of your life," Biden said. "And that choice is the foundation of our national security, the heart of our strength in times of war and peace."

But fewer and fewer Americans have been making the choice to serve over the last 50 years, and the anniversary of all-volunteer forces comes amid the toughest military recruiting environment in decades, where the services are struggling to connect with younger generations and convince them to pursue a life in the service.

The Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines all missed or barely scraped by to meet their recruiting goals last year.

Officials have pointed to numerous factors that have contributed to the shortfalls, including that the U.S. has seen some of its lowest unemployment rates in more than 50 years. Additionally, the Pentagon has released studies showing that only 23% of American youth are eligible to serve due to being overweight, using drugs or having mental and physical health problems.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall spoke with the Center for a New American Security, a nonprofit thank tank focused on the military, on June 22 during an event about the 50th anniversary of the all-volunteer force. He recalled being in the Army after graduating from West Point in 1971, where he overlapped with the final contracts of some drafted service members.

"Generally speaking, there were people who didn't want to be there and were putting up with it while they had to and couldn't wait to get out," Kendall recalled. "It was an impact on morale ... Fast-forward 50 years and we have an incredibly professional force, very dedicated force, people who all want to be there."

White said he was assigned to the 25th Medical Infantry and was stationed in Vietnam for a year. Thinking back on what he saw and what he experienced, he told Military.com that the country is likely better off without the draft.

"I probably wouldn't have went to Vietnam," White said when asked if he would have volunteered if the draft didn't exist back in the 1960s. "They don't want to go in the jungle and fight for their life."

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: Everything You Need to Know About the Military Draft
Aftermath after a third night of riots between protesters and police in France

By Juliette Jabkhiro, Layli Foroudi and Elizabeth Pineau

PARIS (Reuters) - The killing of a teenager by a police officer has revived long-standing questions about the state of the French police and the inability of consecutive governments to reform an institution bound by powerful unions.

In a country beset by regular bouts of unrest that often draw calls for a crackdown on trouble-makers, it can be hard to criticise a force that is under strain and losing staff.

But experts say the authorities can no longer turn a blind eye to accusations by right groups of rampant racism with the force, racial profiling, and questions about recruitment, training and police doctrine.

"What remains constant is a refusal by political powers to act on one of the factors of this explosive cocktail: the police," historian Cedric Mas said on Twitter.

"Riots in the US and Britain in the 60s and 80s have led to deep reforms of the police. In France? Nothing for the past 40 years," he said.

Many western governments, from Britain in 2011 to the United States with the Black Lives Matter movement born in 2013, have had to deal with race riots against police over the past decades. But officially colour-blind France has long refused to acknowledge any racial factor was at play.

Although France has introduced about 30 pieces of legislation on law and order in the past two decades, none have included an overhaul of police forces since a 1995 reform that gave broad co-management powers to unions, said Olivier Cahn, a law professor at Cergy University.

"From that point on, unions were involved in everything that's co-managed, including the managing of human resources," he told Reuters. "The concrete result in following years was unions doing deals with different interior ministers."

These broad powers, which ensure the loyalty of police officers on the ground who owe their career advancement to the union they have joined, have given union leaders outsized influence over government ministers.

"The main fear is to lose control of the police forces," Cahn said.

OUTCRY

Government ministers that have tried to reform the police and to give more independence to its watchdog have done so at their peril.

In June 2020, Macron's former interior minister Christophe Castaner, who hailed from the Socialists, detailed plans to reform the police. These included a ban of the controversial use of chokeholds during arrests, reform of the IGPN police watchdog, as well as a zero-tolerance policy for racism in the police.

After an outcry from police unions, he was replaced by the tough-talking Gerald Darmanin, a former conservative, in a reshuffle a month later.

"Either you support the police or you run into trouble," said Franck Louvrier, a former communications adviser to ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy when he was interior minister.

"The interior ministry is all about the human factor, the feelings you have for them, because police officers are under attack every day."

A proposal by Darmanin to reform the police's investigative branch angered the police this year, prompting several strikes at an uncomfortable time for the government just as the general public demonstrated against changes to pension rules.

RACISM

At the heart of the riots convulsing the racially mixed, working-class neighbourhoods around French cities are long-standing accusations by rights group of systemic racism in the police.

Just on Friday, the United Nations rights office said it was concerned by the situation in France and urged the government to tackle racial discrimination.

"This is a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement," spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.

Police unions, and the interior minister with them, say there are only isolated cases of racism and deny it is systemic or widespread.

"Yes, there are racists, nobody denies that," Anthony Caille of the CGT Police union told Reuters. "But systemic, I don't know what that means."

Because France is officially colour-blind and limits the use of ethnic statistics, it is hard to back up with data the widespread resentment among racial minorities that they are over-targeted by police and discriminated against.

But anecdotal evidence abounds.

In a significant ruling, the Paris Court of Appeal in 2021 found discrimination was behind police identity checks of three high school students - French nationals of Moroccan, Malian and Comorian origin - at a Paris train station in 2017.

Each individual received 1,500 euros in compensation, plus legal costs, the court said at the time.

But these fines are rare and rights groups say police officers often end up with light sentences, fuelling a sense of impunity.

"What we see is that it is difficult for magistrates to hand prison time to police officers  France is not an isolated case, in the U.S. and in Nordic countries, there are difficulties to condemn and sanction police officers too," sociologist Sebastian Roche, editor of the Policing and Society journal, said

After the Yellow Vest crisis of 2018-2019, which saw months of violent protests and a police clampdown, police doctrine and tactics also came under renewed criticism.

A rise in lethal police shootings over the last few years has been linked to a law reform in 2017, which broadens the circumstances in which an officer can use their firearm.

Coming into force in the aftermath of the 2016 Islamist attack in Nice, the law allows police officers to fire if they think the driver is "likely" to cause harm to people. Critics say that the provision creates a grey zone.

"It is completely vague, and it allows to shoot much more freely," said Caille of the left-wing CGT police union.

"This 2017 law should be repealed," he said.

(Writing by Michel Rose; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Analysis-New Humira rivals likely to hit US market with small discounts in July

FILE PHOTO: The logo for AbbVie is displayed on a screen at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City

By Patrick Wingrove

NEW YORK (Reuters) - At least four drugmakers are expected to launch new copycat versions of AbbVie's top-selling rheumatoid arthritis drug, Humira, over the next week, but experts expect little change in prices for the treatment even with the new competition.

Drugmakers Boehringer Ingelheim, Sandoz and Organon are expected to launch their biosimilars on Saturday, adding to U.S. competition for the drug that started when Amgen released its copy in January. Germany's Fresenius plans to release its copycat version on Monday, according to the company.

Usually prices fall, often dramatically, when multiple generic versions of a widely used medication enter market.

But manufacturers of Humira biosimilars - the name for copies of biologic drugs - are likely to keep prices high to compete with one another for leverage with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which negotiate insurance coverage on behalf of their customers - large employers and health insurance plans, industry experts said.

PBMs have come under increasing scrutiny for taking some of their fees as a percentage of the discounts they negotiate for drugs that they cover, which some lawmakers have said can lead them to favor higher-priced medicines in their negotiations.

In all, at least nine copies of Humira, which also treats conditions like ulcerative colitis and psoriasis, from companies including Pfizer and South Korea's Celltrion are expected to be available in the United States by the end of the year.

Most of the new biosimilars are expected to debut with marginal discounts to Humira's monthly price of $6,922. Boehringer Ingelheim executive Stephen Pagnotta said the companys Humira copy, Cyltezo, will be priced similarly to the branded product.

The two Humira biosimilar makers that spoke to Reuters would not comment on their pricing strategies.

Coherus BioSciences, a California-based drugmaker, is fighting AbbVie in court to launch its biosimilar in partnership with billionaire Mark Cuban at an 85% discount.

Robert Popovian, the chief science policy officer at patient advocacy group Global Healthy Living Foundation, said: "I dont foresee anyone changing their pricing policy," but added that PBMs might face political pressure to cover Coherus' significantly discounted copy.

"Cuban has a big presence," he said, "and it will be difficult for PBMs to explain why they are not covering the product that is 85% lower in price."

Even if PBMs secure discounts for the health plans they represent on the high-priced Humira biosimilars, patients who pay co-insurance costs out of pocket will probably lose out, said Vanderbilt University Professor Stacie Dusetzina.

"The thing that is really upsetting is because patients often pay based on the list price for these higher-priced drugs, they wouldn't get that price relief, even if the plans are getting the price relief," she said.

Until recently, Humira was the worlds biggest-selling non-COVID prescription drug, hitting a record $21.2 billion in sales for 2022.

Humira cost the U.S. government more than $2.9 billion in 2021, according to data from the agency that runs the Medicare and Medicaid health programs. It is expected to be excluded from government drug price negotiations that start later this year because rival medicines are now on the market.

AbbVie has forecast a 37% drop in Humira sales in 2023 due to competition. Analysts predict that sales of Humira will fall to $14.1 billion this year, before dropping to $8.7 billion in 2024 and $6.1 billion the following year, according to Refinitiv data.

The market share each of the biosimilar makers capture will be determined in part by the deals they strike with PBMs like CVS Health Corp, Cigna Group's Express Scripts, and UnitedHealth Group's Optum RX, which together control 80% of the prescription drug market.

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents these PBMs, declined to comment on the potential prices of the Humira copies. CVS said only drugmakers can set the prices for their drugs.

(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove in New York; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Matthew Lewis)
Ryan Walters For Oklahoma

A routine state audit released on Wednesday offered a remarkable list of items purchased during a 2021 federal program to help low-income Oklahoma families homeschool during the pandemic.

Big screen TVs.

Washing Machines.

Kitchen appliances.

Power tools.

A classic Pokemon video cabinet.

The program was Bridge the Gap. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt delegated its implementation to Ryan Walters, who was then head of a nonprofit called Every Oklahoma Kid Counts. Walters has since been elected Oklahoma superintendent of public instruction.

Bridge the Gaps mission was simple enough: 5,000 families would each receive $1,500 to spend at designated retailers. To facilitate the purchases, Walters joined his counterparts in 27 other states in contracting a digital outfit called ClassWallet to dispense the funds. Every other state established parameters on what the recipients could buy and reported no inappropriate purchases. But not Oklahoma.

Proper system controls were offered by the digital wallet vendor to limit the families purchases to education-related items but those controls were declined by the individual placed in charge of the BTG program, Oklahoma Auditor & Inspector Cindy Byrd wrote in her report. The audit added, Almost 20% of the total purchases were spent on items not related to educational learning.

The individual referenced was Walters. Stitt had also placed Walters in charge of a program called Stay in School, which had a budget of $10 million to provide tuition assistance to 1,500 or more low-income families with children enrolled in private school.

Governor of Oklahoma Kevin Stitt. Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

The audit determined that there was a deliberate operation to give selected private schools and individuals preferential treatment by allowing early access for application submission prior to the date this program was offered to the general public.

The audit further found that awards were provided to 1,073 students whose family attested that they had not suffered an economic hardship due to the pandemic. Sixty-five percent of the total budget, $6.5 million worth of grant funds, were identified as questionable because the grant objectives were disregarded.

The audit added, As a result, 657 students of low-income families who qualified for the SIS program did not get the financial assistance they requested because the funds were exhausted.

And that was not all; of the $6.5 million total outlay, $1.8 million was paid to private schools in excess of what they charge in tuition.

In other words, in Walters world, actual low-income kids are turned away before they even have a chance to apply because all the money has already been given to kids who are not needy, but attended preferred schools, which get extra.

The following year, Walters ran for state superintendent. He vowed to oppose all things woke and perpetuated the myth about kitty litter in classrooms for kids who identify as cats. He won even though reporters from Oklahoma Watch and The Frontier got wind of some of the outlandish things families had purchased when he was running Bridge the Gap. He simply blamed the digital wallet company, and that seemed to be that.

Then came a routine audit of the federal grant money received by Oklahoma in 2021 to ensure the funds were spent within the guidelines. Byrd released the results as Walters was preparing to head to this weekends Moms for Liberty Summit in Philadelphia. He had often echoed the far-right organizations clamoring against woke and LBGTQ indoctrination in the schools. He is scheduled to speak at a Future of Education in America panel on Friday.

The audit and numerous other failings prompted an anonymous group in Oklahoma to form Families 4 Liberty. Its stated goal is to make Walters a figure of educations past by impeaching him.

Ryan Walters is a danger to Oklahomas public schools, declared the groups website, which summarizes the audit results and cites other examples of WHY the Oklahoma legislature needs to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.

The website further notes that at the May meeting of the Board of Education, Walters debuted an attack ad on teachers which contained, by his own definition, sexually explicit material.

There were multiple minor children in attendance at this meeting where Walters proactively shared explicit material without giving any type of warning to the parents in the room, removing their option for the minor children to leave the room before being exposed to the images, the group added.

Walters did not respond to a request for comment on the audit and the various allegations made by the Families 4 Liberty. A spokesman for Byrd told The Daily Beast that she could not comment beyond her public findings because the Oklahoma attorney general is launching a second, investigative audit.

It has become a criminal investigation, the spokesman said.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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With the city labeled as having the worst air quality in the world this week, many Chicagoans donned masks for the first time since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Illinois has no control over wildfires in another country, it is fair to question why the state continues to ignore those actions within its control  actions that will significantly improve air quality.

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For more than two years, public health and environmental advocates have been urging Gov. J.B. Pritzker to adopt Advanced Clean Trucks and Heavy-Duty Omnibus rules for Illinois. These rules would dramatically reduce greenhouse gas, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions in Illinois. The Natural Resources Defense Council projects adoption of these rules would result in 765 fewer premature deaths, 874 fewer hospital visits related to polluted air and 481,090 fewer cases of respiratory problems that restrict activity and lead to lost workdays.

For reasons he has chosen not to articulate, up to this point, Pritzker has ignored our pleas, and so this week, we find ourselves faced with a serious problem made worse by Illinois inaction. Illinois residents deserve to breathe clean air. With vehicles now being the No. 1 source of air pollution in Illinois, our leaders must start prioritizing the health of its residents.

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Pritzker has the ability, with the stroke of a pen, to make that happen by making vehicle manufacturers sell cleaner and zero-emission vehicles right here in Illinois.

 Erica Salem, Respiratory Health Association, Chicago

Get big money out of elections

Chicago has been experiencing the worst air quality among cities worldwide as smoke from Canadian wildfires has covered our area. (Poor air quality puts city in the crosshairs, June 28). Earlier this month, smoke from the wildfires blanketed the East Coast.

The poisonous particulate pollution in this smoke contributes to respiratory and cardiac disease, cancer and many more health problems. Air pollution is responsible for about 10 million deaths worldwide each year.

As climate change gains momentum, wildfires and their harmful effects will worsen, as will storms, floods, heat waves, droughts and crop failures. Why is the United States not leading the world in an all-out battle against the mounting threat of climate change? Because ultrawealthy fossil fuel interests continue to pour tens of millions of dollars into political campaigns  mostly to Republicans  as they sway that party to block the transition to clean, renewable energy.

To safeguard their profitable private interest, fossil fuel companies are assaulting the public interest. From tobacco companies to gun, chemical, pharmaceutical, insurance and financial interests, it is the same story: large contributions protecting corporate profits at the expense of ordinary people.

This is a clarion call for getting big money out of politics. Public funding of political campaigns would democratize contributions and make it more difficult for the pursuit of profits to triumph over the public interest.

 Richard Barsanti, Western Springs

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Lets bring an end to fossil fuels

How many disturbing climate news stories about climate-fueled heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods must we read before we call the climate crisis what it is? Its a moral wrong.

Governments have allowed a rogue fossil fuel industry to harm our lives, livelihoods and the very future of human civilization. Air pollution alone from burning these fuels kills millions of people annually, and the fuels heat-trapping emissions are overheating our planet.

These dirty fuels are not the only energy options we have. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has concluded that affordable clean energy, like solar and wind, is readily available to replace these polluting fuels. The only obstacles to a clean energy future, the group says, are fossil fuel companies and their political allies.

When we bring moral values to climate action, the solution to the crisis becomes crystal clear: Stop burning fossil fuels and deploy clean energy as quickly as possible.

 Robert Taylor, Santa Barbara, California

Consider sweltering heat in Texas

With all of the adverse publicity regarding the poor air quality thats recently descended upon Chicago, its easy to overlook the positives. For one thing, pedestrians are more alert at street corners now that the other side of the intersection is less visible. Whats more, rats appear much less menacing in the gloaming.

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Actually, things really could be much worse, considering the heat index in Texas has been more than 100 degrees for days with little relief in sight. So, suck it up fellow Chicagoans. Better yet, stay indoors.

Chicago Tribune Opinion Weekdays Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

 Bob Ory, Elgin

Put more money into electric rail

Congress appropriating $1.7 billion for electric buses is good, but we still need to concentrate on electric rail.

Chicago needs to extend its rapid transit system back to what it was in the early 1900s. Metra needs to expand its service to Kankakee. All Illinois expressways should already have a rail option in the median or frontage areas.

If climate change is truly a national emergency, then we can find the funding and the will to do it.

 Ira Schafer, Bourbonnais

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Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., faced an onslaught of criticism Thursday after she provided her take on the Supreme Court's affirmative action ruling and suggested the high court isn't serious about its "ludicrous colorblindness claims" or else it would have "abolished" legacy admissions.

"If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous 'colorblindness' claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet.

The "Squad" Democrat went on to note "70% of Harvards legacy applicants are white" and that the Supreme Court "didnt touch that - which would have impacted them and their patrons."

Ocasio-Cortez's remarks came shortly after it was announced that the court rejected the use of race as a factor in college admissions as a violation of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES CALLS OUT 'RICH WHITE PEOPLE' AFTER SCOTUS RULING, ADDS CLARENCE THOMAS 'IRRELEVANT HERE'

Responding to Ocasio-Cortez, several social media users who took issue with the lawmaker's remarks were quick to point out that the Supreme Court did not hear a case about college and university legacy admissions  the practice of giving preference to the children of alumni.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

"Absolute gibberish. There is no case before SCOTUS that is related to legacy admissions," one user explained in a tweet. "Also, the Constitution specifically disallows racial discrimination, not [privileges] for relatives of alumni. Thats what makes this a legal issue, instead of just a policy preference."

"This is how AOC thinks the court operates," Washington Free Beacon investigative reporter Joe Gabriel Simonson wrote in a tweet.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Thursday that the Supreme Court "would have abolished legacy admissions" if the justices were serious about "their ludicrous 'colorblindness' claims."

Another user wrote, "But the point of legacy admissions isnt to admit students based on race. Its just an outcome you dont like. As opposed to affirmative action, which uses race as a criteria for selection."

"There's bad politics, and then there's 'the court should have abolished a thing that's never been brought before the court,'" another said in a tweet.

Others, like attorney and conservative commentator Viva Frei, drew parallels between the percentage of white Harvard legacy applicants and the total population of white people in America as they took aim at Ocasio-Cortez.

GOP LAWMAKERS APPLAUD SUPREME COURT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION RULING: 'GREAT DAY FOR ALL AMERICANS'

"According to @AOC, Harvard is racist because 70% of legacy applicants are white. Just ignore the fact that 71% of America is white," Frei wrote in a tweet.

Highlighting the population total of white Americans, Shri Thakur, head of political affairs for the Notre Dame College Republicans, suggested that Harvard's legacy admissions program "suggests legacy helps minorities."

"Furthermore, can any of these people discuss affirmative action without whataboutism? AOC is not very smart," Thakur added in the tweet.

During a Thursday evening interview with MSNBC's Katy Tur, Education Secretary Miquel Cardona suggested that legacy admission programs offered by Harvard and other institutions should be looked into, saying they "expand privilege, not opportunity."

"We need to recognize that if we're gonna look at the tools that are being used for college admissions, we have to look at all of them," said Cardona, who previously served as the commissioner of education in Connecticut. "So, right now, our focus is on providing information to colleges around the SCOTUS decision and what tools they still have available."

South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, a 2024 presidential candidate, called for colleges to end legacy-based admissions.

Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, speaks at a campaign event at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester, N.H., on May 25, 2023.

"I think the question is how do you continue to create a culture where education is the goal for every single part of our community? One of the things that Harvard could do to make that even better is to eliminate any legacy programs where they have preferential treatment for legacy kids, not allow for the professors  their kids to come to Harvard as well," Scott said during an appearance on Fox News Channel's "The Faulkner Focus."

In February, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., introduced the Fair College Admissions for Students Act in an effort to "reform the legacy and donor admissions practices at universities across the country and ensure equity in the admissions process."
Muslims gather early morning to offer Eid al-Adha prayers at the Jama Masjid or Mosque, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, June 29, 2023. Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, slaughtering sheep, goats, cows and camels to commemorate Prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son Ismail on God's command. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

June 23-29, 2023

Muslims gather in the early morning to offer prayers in mosques and celebrate Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice. Chinese and Hong Kong flags are strung to mark the 26th anniversary of the citys handover from Britain to China. Chinese authorities issues a rare red alert for high temperatures in the capital.

This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images in Asia made or published by the Associated Press in the past week.

The selections were curated by AP photo editor Shuji Kajiyama in Tokyo.

Follow AP visual journalism:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews

AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images

AP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.com
apache blues

Ive had some very interesting debates with the Chaplain about how to justify the existence of God and war in the same universe, shares a voice of a Vietnam War veteran in the trailer for APACHE BLUES: Welcome Home, a documentary about some of the men from the 1st Squadron of the 9th Cavalry Regiment, the first Air Assault unit in history.

In the 18-month, 22,000-mile journey to sit down with the men of Alpha Troop 1/9 and listen to their stories, two filmmakers discovered that, while education about the Vietnam War is important, processing the war remains vital for the service members who came home from it.

Vietnam War veterans faced indifference and even hostility when they returned home from combat. The Vietnam War was unpopular in America, and the country took out its rage on the troops who fought in it  whether they volunteered or were drafted. They have spent the five decades since holding their stories and their memories inside. For many, this has wreaked havoc on their lives.

For some of the men in APACHE BLUES, this film was the first time in 47 years they had ever talked about their experiences. The therapeutic effect that these talks had on their lives has been undeniable.

WATCH THE TRAILER:

https://youtu.be/l-dDw5AiA90

Dave Merlino and Dustin Sweet, the filmmakers who helmed APACHE BLUES in true indie-filmmaking fashion, arranged and conducted the interviews, provided the bulk of the funding themselves, and directed and edited the film to completion.

It is our hope that this film will encourage more and more veterans to be willing to talk about their experiences and more and more friends and family members will be willing to listen. It is never too late to talk and it is never too late to tell a veteran, Welcome home, shared the Merlino and Sweet.

In addition to their writing and directing work, the duo also hosts the Know Their Story podcast, which seeks to amplify the voices of veterans by having guests who were deployed and honorably or medically discharged from their service on to share their experiences. By giving a voice to veterans, they are able to find healing and community while educating others about the cost of war.

The film is set to make its world premiere at the prestigious Dances With Films Festival on July 2, 2023, at the Mann Chinese Theater in Hollywood, CA.
Aramark to lay off 386 employees in Bellingham after Western U. food service contract ends

Aramark, a major food service and uniform provider, plans to lay off 386 Bellingham-based employees after the companys contract to provide dining services at Western Washington University ended.

A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) has been filed by Aramark with the Washington State Employment Security Department.

Aramark declined to comment on the workforce reduction but issued this statement:

Our contract to provide food/facilities/concessions services at Western Washington University has concluded. It is our understanding that affected employees will have the opportunity to apply for positions with the Universitys new provider. We are also working with impacted employees to access other job opportunities within our company, a spokesperson for Aramarks Corporate Communications wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald.

According to the WARN, the 386 permanent layoffs are expected to begin Aug. 31.

Its not known how many people are employed in the Bellingham facility and whether all or only part of the workforce is being affected by the loss of the Western Washington contract.

Western Washington University announced that Chartwells Higher Education will be its new campus dining partner.

The vast majority of our front-line staff and student workers will have the opportunity to work for Chartwells on Sept. 1, and the majority of those conversations between student employees and Chartwells have already occurred, a WWU spokesperson wrote in an email to The Bellingham Herald.

The state employment security department is assisting Aramark in the transition.

Staff from the local rapid response team and WorkSource center will perform outreach to employees of the organization to ease the transition, the department said in the WARN.

This is the second major layoff in the past 2 1/2 years by the Bellingham facility.

In January 2021, The Herald reported that with Western Washington offering mostly online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, Aramark was being forced to reduce its staff by 183 people.

Unfortunately, like other companies and industries across the economy impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had to make some very difficult decisions. Due to a reduction of in-person instruction and on-campus residents, we had no choice but to modify staffing levels, according to a statement.

The company said at the time it expected those layoffs to be temporary and that workers would be called back once on-campus classes resumed.

Aramark is a national company with headquarters in Philadelphia. It has more than 300 service locations, including Bellingham, Spokane and Seattle in Washington state, according to the companys website.

The company provides facilities management and uniform services in addition to food services for schools, hospitals, prisons and leisure companies and stores.
An Area 51 blogger was raided at gunpoint by federal agents. He says the US Government is trying to silence him

Area 51 blogger Joerg Arnu says he has been stonewalled in his attempts to find out why armed FBI and Air Force counter-terrorism agents stormed his homes (Getty / Joerg Arnu)

Joerg Arnu has been obsessed with Area 51 ever since his first visit to the perimeter of the secretive military base in 1998.

The rumours of alien life forms, CIA spy plane testing programmes, and sense of forbidden mystery surrounding the massive military base in the southern Nevada desert instantly intrigued the 61-year-old retired software developer.

In 1999, he launched the DreamlandResort blog as a comprehensive one-stop-shop for photos, videos and discussion about the base and the top secret military aircraft that are built and tested there.

The site tapped into a community of curious minds who, like Mr Arnu, had been looking for a way to exchange their findings, he told The Independent.

He eventually bought a second home near the gates of the military base in the tiny settlement of Rachel, which Mr Arnu describes as a virtual melting pot for aircraft aficionados, stargazers, researchers and UFO seekers.

On the morning of November 3 last year, he was in bed when around 20 armed counter-terrorism agents in tactical gear raided his Rachel home, handcuffed him and led him out of his home in the freezing cold for questioning, he told The Independent.

Agents simultaneously kicked down the door of his home in Las Vegas, where his girlfriend Linda Hellow awoke to find a dozen FBI officers in the living room. She says she was ordered at gunpoint to come down the stairs from her bedroom dressed only in a t-shirt and underwear.

We are senior citizens, were not armed, fully cooperated with the agents and yet we were treated in the most disrespectful and humiliating way possible, he told The Independent.

The agents seized four of Mr Arnus computers, containing his lifes work on Area 51, along with treasured photos of his deceased parents, and medical and tax records. Hard drives, phones, cameras and a drone were also taken.

Arnu and his girlfriend Linda Hellow say they were left traumatised after federal agents raided their Nevada homes (Courtesy of Joerg Arnu)

After the search was finished, the agents handed Mr Arnu a search warrant signed by a federal magistrate judge. The first 39 pages were missing, and it only provided vague hints of what the agents had been looking for.

He would later learn that a joint team from the FBI and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (USAF OSI) had conducted the raids.

He believes his interrogation was led by an agent from the OSI, a counter intelligence wing whose stated goal is to investigate hostile intelligence services and terrorist groups that target the Air Force.

Eight months on, he still has no idea whether he will face charges, or if hell ever get back the more than $30,000 he says hes out of pocket for as a result of seized equipment, property damage and legal fees.

Mr Arnu told The Independent he had taken care to avoid publishing any material that could harm national security interests, relying on extremely knowledgeable members in his network who include former workers at the base and veterans.

We all understand that there are limits to what can be shared.

He believes the raids were a deliberate tactic by the US Government to try to intimidate and silence the Area 51 research community.

Little green men

Area 51 has been a magnet for military buffs, conspiracy theorists and alien enthusiasts since the late 1950s, when rumours of little green men and UFO sightings began circulating.

Lying about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Area 51s official name is the Nevada Test and Training Range at Groom Lake, which is a part of the Nellis Air Force Base.

Somewhere between mile markers 29 and 30 on the Extraterrestrial Highway lies an unmarked dirt road that leads to the base that is believed to be the preferred location for the testing and development of the USs most advanced military technology, including drones, stealth spy planes and cutting-edge sensor systems.

Some believe the US government stores and hides extraterrestrial bodies and UFOs at the site.

Arnu at the gates of the secretive Nevada military base (Courtesy of Joerg Arnu)

The sites existence was first confirmed in 1998, when the US Air Force issued a terse response denying that it operated a base called Area 51.

There are a variety of activities, some of which are classified, throughout what is often called the Air Force's Nellis Range Complex, a US Air Force major wrote.

It would take another 15 years before the Government confirmed the existence of specific military programmes at the base, when the CIA responded to a Freedom of Information Act request by George Washington University National Security Archive senior fellow Jeffrey T Richelson.

The declassified CIA documents revealed for the first time information about the Cold War-era Lockheed U-2 spy plane reconnaissance programme that were built and tested at the base.

There certainly was  as you would expect  no discussion of little green men here, Mr Richelson told the New York Times in 2013.

The confirmation came as little surprise to Mr Arnu, who had been photographing mystery aircraft from vantage points around the base for more than a decade.

He first laid eyes on the base in 2000 on a hike with a group of like-minded enthusiasts to Tikaboo Peak, the closest public viewing spot.

Sightings of several mystery aircraft, including a suspected Russian MiG 23 Flogger, prompted spirited debate among the group, and a hint of anxiety.

Some of us anticipated a visit from the famed Blackhawk helicopters, he wrote in a journal entry. We thought we heard a faint hum, but alas we waited in silence with no results.

Arnu says he was buzzed by two F-117 stealth fighters while taking photos near Area 51 in 2021 (Joerg Arnu / DreamlandResort.com)

In 2005, Mr Arnu organised a camp out at the perimeter to mark the 50th anniversary of the bases creation. Around 60 enthusiasts ate barbecue, drank cocktails and sang Happy Birthday Area 51 to the ever-present cammo dudes who monitored their presence.

Mr Arnu was later invited to become an associate member of the Roadrunners, an organisation of pilots who flew secret spy planes such as the U-2 and A-12 at the base in the 1960s, and has become a custodian of the groups website.

In 2019, a spoof Facebook page calling for people to ambush the military base saw around 3.5 million express an interest in taking part.

Mr Arnu, who advises visitors on how to legally visit the perimeter, urged the intruders to stay away.

His most treasured Area 51 photo was taken in 2021 when he says he and a friend were buzzed at low altitude by two F-117 Stealth Fighters.

He says the planes came so close to his vantage point at Coyote Summit that he could make out a pilot staring back at him as he shot photos.

Denied and ignored

Mr Arnu has spent the past eight months seeking answers about why he was targeted, and says he and Ms Hellow remain deeply scarred by the way they were treated in November.

The couple often wake up in a panic in the middle of the night, wondering if they are coming back, he said.

In an unredacted section of the search and seizure warrant, the Government referred to violations of Title 18 of the United States Code for conspiracy, photographing and sketching defence installations, and publication and sale of such photographs.

Mr Arnu says that his site contains the same type of imagery shot daily by the dozens of tourists who visit the Area 51 perimeter.

Most people seriously interested in Area 51 follow my site and the reasoning probably was that targeting me would have the greatest impact on the community, he told The Independent.

But I have never crossed the Area 51 boundary and as far as I know all material shared on my Dreamland Resort web site is perfectly legal.

Google Earth has better images of Area 51 than you could ever take from public land, he added.

Mr Arnu said he had been stonewalled at every turn in his attempts to find out what he did wrong.

Women dressed as aliens at a Storm Area 51 spinoff event called Alienstock in Rachel, Nevada, in 2019 (Getty)

FOIA requests to the FBI and Air Force have been denied. A request for restitution for the damage was also knocked back. A complaint to the Department of Justices Office of the Inspector General went nowhere.

Mr Arnu has also written to a dozen lawmakers, who have either ignored him or claimed they are powerless to intervene.

When contacted by The Independent, a spokesperson for the FBIs Las Vegas field office declined to comment.

The Air Force did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr Arnu said the Area 51 research community had rallied around to support him, and he has set up a GoFundme to try to recover the losses.
Arrest made in shooting death of 19-year-old woman at Livingston party

A Turlock man was arrested on suspicion of murder in the shooting death of a 19-year old woman in Merced County, according to authorities.

Josiah Lawrence Williams, 22, was arrested on Wednesday, according to a Facebook post by the Merced County Sheriffs Office.

Deputies responded early Sunday to a reported shooting at a party in the area of Washington Boulevard and Sunset Drive in Livingston.

When deputies arrived on the scene, they located victim Liliana Zaragoza and a female juvenile, who also had been injured in the shooting.

Zaragoza was pronounced dead at the scene.

The juvenile victim was flown to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.

According to Merced County Sheriffs Office spokesperson Michelle Oliver, there has been no update on the juveniles condition other than she is recovering.

Zaragoza was attending a party in Livingston at the time of the incident.

Authorities said it is unclear how many people were at the residence at the time of the shooting. A motive for the shooting is unknown at this time.

Williams was transported to the Merced County Jail and charged with murder. His bond was set at $1 million, according to jail records.

A GoFundMe donation page has been created to help with funeral expenses for Zaragoza. Over $23,000 has been donated as of Thursday afternoon.

The Merced County Sheriffs Office is asking anyone with information about this incident to call their Investigation Bureau at 209-385-7472.
Arts Fest 5K, 10 mile races returning to Happy Valley after three years, but in a new spot

The Arts Festival Races are returning to this years festival but will be in a new location.

The Nittany Valley Running Clubs arts festival races are the oldest races in central Pennsylvania and have been on a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But that will end this year as the 10-mile, 5K and kids fun run events will return this summer, organizers announced in a press release Thursday.

The Sue Crowe Memorial NVRC Arts Festival 5K and 10 Mile Races  named in honor of the local running legend who died in 2006  will be held at 8:30 a.m. July 16 at the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg. The races were previously held on Penn States campus.

The 5K course will follow roads behind the museum. The 10-mile run will begin in the same area and follow the 5K course before running along Warner Boulevard toward Oak Hall and Linden Hall, and completing the Linden Loop before returning to the museum.

Race participants will have plenty of time to be back in downtown State College before the Arts Festival booths open for the final day at 11 a.m., the release states.

Participants can pick up race packets or register from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 15 at the Nittany Valley Running Clubs booth at Arts Fest, in the Mount Nittany Health tent across from Schlow Centre Region Library.

Online registration or via mail is available at runsignup.com/Race/PA/Boalsburg/NVRCArtsFest5Kand10MileRaces. The registration fee is $25, plus processing fees.

Day-of registration and packet pick up will occur from 7-8 a.m. at the Boalsburg Fire Hall. Parking is available at the Fire Hall and vehicles will be allowed to remain there throughout the race.

For more information visit www.nvrun.com.
Some Asian Americans say affirmative action ruling used the group as pawns

Many Asian American groups and leaders are speaking out against the Supreme Court ruling that struck down affirmative action Thursday.

Some experts and activists argued that the decision is an example of Asian Americans being used as a wedge to erode civil rights.

They point out that while the two cases, led by the conservative activist Ed Blum  who is white  argued that Harvards and the University of North Carolinas policies discriminated against Asian Americans, no Asian American students came forward to testify to having experienced discrimination.

The white supremacist agendas behind these lawsuits use the small number of Asian Americans against affirmative action as pawns in their efforts  weaponizing the model minority myth to divide our communities, the nonprofit Georgia-based group Asian American Advocacy Fund said in a news release. Affirmative action policies have played an important role in securing Asian American access to higher education.

Polling has found that a higher share of Asian Americans support affirmative action, with 53% who have heard of the policy saying its a good thing. Another 19% say its a negative thing. A separate 2022 survey from the nonprofit group APIAVote, which polled registered Asian American voters, found 69% favored affirmative action programs designed to help Black people, women, and other minorities get better access to higher education.

Some, however, expressed support for the ruling, including Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif.

I am living my American Dream because, in this country, your actions determine your success- not your race and ethnicity, she wrote on Twitter.

But Sally Chen, the education equity program manager at the nonprofit group Chinese for Affirmative Action, said the characterization of the impact of race-conscious admissions on Asian Americans throughout the case was concerning.

Addressing racial inequity is not de facto racism. Addressing segregation and advancing diversity is not disadvantaging any group, she said. Throwing the idea that Asian Americans are somehow being harmed by efforts to address inequity, by efforts to address segregation, is a really concerning cover for what the proponents of this case have been trying to do.

Representatives of Asian Americans Advancing Justice said that the decision is anti-Black and that it perpetuates a systemic racism that has always been present in higher education. They also reflected on the disproportionate impact it could have on underrepresented communities under the Asian American Pacific Islander umbrella.

This ruling will particularly harm Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian and Southeast Asian communities who continue to face significant barriers to higher education, said Aarti Kohli, the executive director of Advancing Justices Asian Law Caucus.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., the chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said removing affirmative action is not a win.

Referring to Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, she said: For AANHPI communities, the end of race-conscious admissions is unlikely to change the net numbers of Asian American acceptances at elite institutions, but AANHPI students from low-income, refugee or Indigenous backgrounds will encounter more hurdles to acceptance. Thats no net positive, and its why the majority of AANHPIs in America have expressed support for race-conscious admissions.

Groups say they will continue to hold colleges accountable for making sure their campuses are diverse and their admissions processes are fair.

We are outraged that the Supreme Court has chosen to ignore long-standing legal precedent in favor of supporting racial inequity that harms all people of color, including Asian Americans, John C. Yang, Advancing Justices president and executive director, said in the statement. We will not let this court decision keep us from pushing colleges and universities, Congress, and others to keep todays ruling from undermining the progress made.

Advocates say they are also committed to creating opportunities for students of color who are trying to pursue higher education.

The Courts decision is a major setback for the ability of colleges and universities to create true equality in education, Chinese for Affirmative Action said in a statement. However, it is important to recognize that the ruling is strictly limited to race-conscious admissions, and not other important measures such as targeted outreach and recruitment, or ensuring more diverse faculty and college leadership.

Students of color should still apply to elite schools, experts said.

This decision is unrepresentative of what the majority of Americans support, the Asian American Advocacy Fund wrote. Despite attempts by those seeking to divide us to maintain white supremacy and existing power structures, communities of color are stronger than ever.

Ultimately, it isnt just about a few seats at Harvard, Kohli said.

Its about this courts denial of the continued reality that racism and segregation continue to warp and shape every aspect of our public lives, including access to education, she said. Turning away from racism and inequality in our country doesnt make it go away.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian and European Union trade ministers spoke on Thursday evening, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, as optimism builds that sticking points over a free trade agreement (FTA) can be overcome with more negotiation.

A trade deal with the EU, a market of around 450 million consumers, would be a significant boost for Australia's push to diversify its export markets, after major trading partner China imposed blocks on a raft of Australian agricultural products in a 2020 political dispute.

Negotiations between Trade Minister Don Farrell and EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis stalled in Brussels in June.

However, Australian assistant trade minister Tim Ayres said on radio on Friday another meeting could be held in the next fortnight.

"I think it's likely that there will be a return to ministerial-level negotiations," Ayres told ABC Radio.

"There has to be a very clear indication on the European side that we're going to make commercially meaningful access in terms of agriculture," he added.

The source told Reuters that Farrell and Dombrovskis spoke on Thursday evening.

Farrell has previously said Australia wants better access for Australian beef, sugar and sheep meat before it signs a deal.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt will meet with the EU agriculture commissioner, and ministers from several European nations, to push for better market access for Australian producers when he attends the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organisation conference in Rome this week, he said.

"We believe it is possible to reach an agreement which benefits both Australia and the EU and we will continue striving to achieve that," Watt said in a statement on Friday.

There is optimism that an agreement could be struck by mid-year.

Dombrovskis wrote in a Tweet he had discussed the FTA in a meeting with the European Australia Business Council, a business organisation, in Brussels on Wednesday, and sent his condolences on the sudden death in Germany on Sunday of the council's chairman Simon Crean, a former Labor party leader.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Mark Potter)
Elena KaganLea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Joe Biden's student debt relief plan, which would cancel over $400 billion in student loan debt, on the grounds that the secretary of education's enactment of the program oversteps the bounds of the Biden administration's authority.

The court ruled that Biden's program presents an executive overreach because of its wide scope  endeavoring to release 43 million student loan borrowers from a total of $430 billion of debt  which would alter large portions of the nation's economy without undertaking the necessary legislative procedures in Congress. The justices voted 6-3 in favor of the suing states after unanimously voting that the private plaintiffs who also challenged the relief plan did not have the standing to do so.

The case hinged on the 2003 HEROES Act, which allows the secretary of education to "waive or modify any statutory or regulatory provision" regarding student financial aid under Title IV of the Education Act as they deem it necessary in times of war or national emergency.

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The court determined that Biden's student debt relief plan, enacted in 2022 as a response to the widespread financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic departed too far from the "extremely modest and narrow" scope of previous applications of the Act, citing a 2003 waiver easing a requirement for borrowers seeking loan forgiveness through public service provisions as an example.

In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts defended the decision, saying that it aligns with the court's longtime precedent requiring Congress' input before secretaries can "unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy."

"The dissent is correct that this is a case about one branch of government arrogating to itself power belonging to another," he wrote, addressing the dissent's accusation that the court is overstepping its authority in the decision. "But it is the Executive seizing the power of the Legislature. The Secretary's assertion of administrative authority has 'conveniently enabled [him] to enact a program' that Congress has chosen not to enact itself."

Joined by fellow liberal Justices Ketanji Brown-Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan delivered the dissenting opinion, arguing that "the Court, by deciding this case, exercises authority it does not have. It violates the Constitution."

"In every respect, the court today exceeds its proper, limited role in our nation's governance," the dissent said.

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The six plaintiffs in the case  Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Carolina  "oppose the Secretary's loan cancellation plan on varied policy and legal grounds," Kagan wrote. "But as everyone agrees, those objections are just general grievances; they do not show the particularized injury needed to bring suit.

"And the States have no straightforward way of making that showingof explaining how they are harmed by a plan that reduces individual borrowers' federal student-loan debt," she continued. "So the States have thrown no fewer than four different theories of injury against the wall, hoping that a court anxious to get to the merits will say that one of them sticks.

"The most that can be said of the theory the majority selects, proffered solely by Missouri, is that it is less risible than the others. It still contravenes a bedrock principle of standing lawthat a plaintiff cannot ride on someone else's injury," she said.

More from Kagan's dissent: "the Court, by deciding this case, exercises authority it does not have. It violates the Constitution." pic.twitter.com/3Y2UX57NuD  adam harris (@AdamHSays) June 30, 2023

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Missouri's claim of injury in the case, which the court's majority accepted and Kagan derided in her opinion, centers around the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, a state-created corporation that bills and collects payments on loans for the federal government.

While MOHELA ordinarily receives an administrative fee for every loan it services, Biden's plan, in canceling loans, would swipe whatever fee MOHELA would have received from handling the loan, effectively costing them money.

The majority concluded that, because the corporation is a "public instrumentality" and part of its government, the state of Missouri will be harmed by the student debt relief plan. In her opinion, however, Kagan argues that the state of Missouri does not have the standing to sue because the legal theory points to the corporation as the "proper plaintiff."

Biden's debt relief plan strove to forgive up to $10,000 for borrowers with eligible loans who make less than $125,000 and wipe up to $20,000 of debt from qualified Pell Grant recipients.

A source from the White House told Reuters, that, in light of the Supreme Court's decision, President Biden will announce new actions to protect student loan borrowers.

Reuters: BIDEN WILL ANNOUNCE NEW ACTIONS TO PROTECT STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS -WHITE HOUSE SOURCE  Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 30, 2023

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